Best gaming laptops: Know what to look for and which models rate highest

The gaming laptop landscape is experiencing an earthquake-like shift. With the near-simultaneous launches of AMD’s Ryzen 4000 and Intel’s Comet Lake-H mobile CPUs, we have a real fight for the first time ever, focusing on Ryzen 4000’s cores vs. Comet Lake-H’s clock speeds. We have to say, Ryzen 4000 is looking awfully good--check out our new top budget 15-inch laptop, the Acer Nitro 5, below. Meanwhile, Nvidia has unveiled a new generation of mobile graphics technologies. Check out our top picks immediately below, and keep reading to catch up on the latest news and reviews. 

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Did you just get your iPhone 12 mini or iPhone 12 Pro Max? Do these things first!

Before you even peel the plastic off your new iPhone 12 mini or iPhone 12 Pro Max (or maybe even a new iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro), read this setup guide.

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Serena by Lutron Smart Wood Blinds review: Pretty enough, but also pretty expensive

Wood blinds look more elegant than fabric shades, but their greater mass limits the onboard motor in this smart model to tilting the slats—you’ll need to raise and lower the blinds by hand.

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The best smart shades: These luxurious window treatments blend high tech with high fashion

Smart, motorized shades and blinds cost a pretty penny, but do they ever bring the wow.

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Tested: Do high refresh rate monitors make games faster?

PC gamers know that high refresh rate monitors make games look smoother. But do higher refresh rate displays make games feel smoother, too? After getting our grubby paws on gear that measures system latency, we can definitely say that yes, fast monitors provide more responsive gameplay experiences for esports enthusiasts—though its effectiveness depends on the visual settings you’re using to play those games, and the tangible benefits taper off the faster you go.

We recently received a 1080p Asus ROG Swift PG259QNR display in our labs. This silky-smooth 360Hz G-Sync monitor runs a whopping six times faster than a typical 60Hz screen. Better yet, it comes with Nvidia’s Reflex Latency Analyzer tool. Built into select 360Hz G-Sync Esports monitors, Nvidia Reflex Analyzer can measure how long it takes for your mouse clicks to register as an action on-screen. Check out our Nvidia Reflex primer if you want to learn more about GeForce’s suite of responsiveness-focused features. 

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Vava VD009 Dash Cam review: Excellent features and video

Vava’s VD009 dash cam takes some of the most detailed video we’ve seen—day and night, front and interior. We were slightly disappointed that it doesn’t feature Vava’s usual hockey-puck form factor, but given its features and performance—we’ll get over it. That’s a joke folks; it’s a very nice dash cam, even if it is a little pricey ($180 on Amazon).

This review is part of our ongoing roundup of the best dash cams. Go there for information on competing products and how we tested them.

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I really really want to buy an M1 MacBook Pro. Here’s why I’m not yet

Apple's new M1 MacBooks are closer than ever to the update I've wanted for years, but I'm still saving my money.

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Aukey Basix Slim 10,000mAh review: A battery pack that offers more than what you pay for

Aukey’s accessory lineup is wide-ranging, with items like charging cables, wall adapters, and battery packs. The company’s packs have performed just okay in the past, with overall efficiency failing to crack the top half of all the portable battery packs we’ve tested.

That changes with the 10,000mAh (37Wh) Basix Slim battery pack from Aukey. This $19.99 pack punches above its price in performance, although the overall build quality leaves us somewhat disappointed.

Note: This review is part of our roundup of portable power banks. Go there for details on competing products and our testing methods.

As its name implies, the Basix Slim is rather, well, basic and slim. It’s small enough to fit into a side or front pocket on your favorite backpack, or even your pants pocket if you’re in a bind. There are four total ports on it, three of which are in the front of the pack. There are two full-size USB ports, with a USB-C port in the middle. On the right side of the housing is a microUSB port (more on that in a minute). On the left side you’ll find the power button—well, really more of a status button, as you don’t need to press it in order to start charging a device. Just plug something in and the pack automatically wakes up and starts charging. 

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AirPlay on Roku: This changes everything

Roku gets AirPlay support, and it changes everything.

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How Google's new policy affects your free storage in Photos and Drive

On Wednesday, Google announced a major change to its policy on storing photos and other documents: All will start contributing to your overall storage cap, pushing you to eventually pay for Google’s Google One cloud storage, or risk having files deleted.

The changes won’t take place immediately. Beginning on June 1, 2021, any new photo that you take with a smartphone not made by Google will count towards your cap, which is currently 15GB within Google’s free tier. The same is true of any new Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, or Jamboard files. Existing photos and documents, however, will not.

The change is a major one for Android smartphone users, but can affect iOS users too. Generally speaking, when you take a photo with your Android smartphone, it’s backed up to Google, as well as any other services you’ve linked to your phone, such as Box or Microsoft’s OneDrive. Likewise, iPhone users can back up their photos into Google Photos as well as iCloud.

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Best VPN services: Reviews and buying advice

Choosing the right virtual private network (VPN) service is no simple task. A VPN should keep your internet usage private and secure, but not every service handles your data in the same way. 

Rest assured, we’ve done the legwork to determine if a VPN service has a history of good or bad behavior. A service has to protect online privacy; allow you to keep anonymity; offer a good variety of locations from which to direct your traffic; offer fast, reliable performance; and provide an easy-to-use interface.

Scroll to the bottom of this article to learn more about VPNs and what to look for when choosing one.

Updated 11/11/20 to include our review of TorGuard VPN, a good VPN with acceptable speeds, that works with Netflix, and has decent pricing. See links to all of our VPN reviews at the bottom of this article.

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Ryzen 5000 isn't a 'paper launch,' it's just extremely popular

After one of the most impressive CPU launches in an era, AMD is facing criticism from customers who cry “paper launch,” because they can’t actually buy the ”best consumer CPU we’ve ever seen.”

As summed up by PC Gamer, AMD exec Frank Azor denied that he owed anything to some rando on Twitter who had bet him the Ryzen 5000 CPU would be a paper launch, much like Nvidia’s frustratingly hard-to-get RTX 3000-series GPUs. 

Twitter

“There’s a big difference between a ‘paper launch’ and shipping tons of units but demand exceeds supply,” Azor responded. Frustrated AMD fans then piled on, insisting that because they couldn’t buy one, it was a paper launch.

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Apple’s new M1 MacBook Pro vs MacBook Air: Are the differences as small as they seem?

It's hard to tell the difference between the new M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, so we've broken them all down for you.

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Xbox Game Pass for PC gets even better next month with tons of free EA games

Microsoft’s Game Pass for PC may be the best deal in gaming, and we’ve previously listed five reasons to back that up. Now we can add a sixth: Even more games from EA Play are joining Xbox Game Pass for PC on December 15.

If you’re an Xbox owner, you already know what we’re talking about: Over 60 games from EA Play became available to Xbox owners on November 10, including sports titles like the latest Madden NFL 20, FIFA 19, UFC 2, and Fight Night Champion. Other titles included the Battlefield series, Mass Effect, and more. Now, at least some of them are coming to the PC, too. At press time, there were a whopping 229 titles available for you to play on Game Pass for PC—and that’s before EA adds the new titles.

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Nest Thermostat review: An easy recommendation for budget shoppers

Most of the features we love about the top-of-the-line Nest Learning Thermostat—at almost half the cost.

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How Apple's new M1 Macs could finally make Windows on Arm a reality

Apple’s announcement of the first Macs running on its own M1 Arm silicon just might be the boost that Windows on Arm needs to pass the finish line. Or so we can hope.

Granted, there was some tap-dancing during Apple’s Tuesday launch of a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini that all use Apple’s first M1 processor, based on the Arm architecture. With eight cores inside (four cores for efficiency, four more for higher-power loads) we’re seeing big promises, including longer battery life (18 hours for the new 13-inch MacBook Air) and faster performance.

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HP Pavilion x360 Convertible 14 review: A good laptop with better competition

The HP Pavilion x360 Convertible 14 (dw0097nr) is a competent convertible laptop for handling the day-to-day workload of a work-from-home or distance-learning experience. It also offers some unique features, including a rare cellular option and a full-sized SD card slot. The USB-C and HDMI ports allow for two additional displays, including 4K support. While these attributes work in the Pavilion x360’s favor, its middling performance and underwhelming battery life make other laptops we’ve tested in its price range seem like a better deal.

This review is part of our ongoing roundup of the best laptops. Go there for information on competing products and how we tested them. 

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Can you build a PS5 or Xbox Series X PC for $800?

Ray tracing. Zen 2. Variable refresh rate. 4K/60fps gaming. RDNA 2. 120Hz refresh rate.

The tech specs for the Microsoft Xbox Series X and Sony PlayStation 5, which hit shelves this Tuesday and Thursday, respectively, contain a familiar list of elements for PC gamers. In fact, outside of RDNA 2, they’re all old news at this point. Looking at the next-generation consoles, you could easily think, “Why not just build a PC? It’ll only be a little more expensive.”

Everyone’s favorite Greek chorus (aka the internet) would agree. Vocal commentors like to claim that a PC equivalent to a PS5 or Xbox Series X costs as little as $800—or the “true” price of those consoles after factoring in the mandatory subscriptions for online play.

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Shelly Plug US review: A European brand makes a splash in the States

Though rough around the edges, this affordable smart plug includes some excellent features, such as energy monitoring.

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7 features the new MacBook must copy to catch up to the PC

We expect Apple to unwrap its new MacBooks (or maybe PowerBooks?) on Tuesday, and we at PCWorld are as excited as anyone else—to see if Apple can finally catch up to all the things we already enjoy on Windows laptops. 

It wasn’t that long ago that Apple’s innovative MacBooks made Windows-based laptops look clunky and slow. Not anymore. Whether it was the GPU and battery problems with the 2016-era MacBook Pros, the long-reviled MacBook Butterfly keyboard that finally died, or the slow uptake of new Intel processors, Apple has fallen far, far behind in laptop technology over the last few years.

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