TL;DR: This Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 + The Premium Learn to Code Certification Bundle is currently on sale for $59.99, that’s 97% off the $1,999.99 retail value.

Developers, take note: one of the most capable IDEs on the market just got bundled with a full coding education, and the price is hard to argue with.

Save big on a fully featured development environment with storied software and a newly enhanced AI integration system, along with a bundle of development and AI courses for beginners to experts. Grab the Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 + The Premium Learn to Code Certification Bundle on sale for $59.99 (reg. $1,999.99).

Visual Studio Professional 2026 is a 64-bit IDE built for serious development work. It supports .NET MAUI for cross-platform mobile and desktop apps, Blazor for responsive web UIs, and hot reload across .NET and C++ projects. IntelliCode AI handles code completion and next-best-step suggestions, while Live Share enables real-time team collaboration without requiring teammates to clone repos or configure environments.

The bundle also includes 15 courses totaling more than 200 hours of content covering Python 3, C++, JavaScript, Java, and MySQL. Whether sharpening existing skills or building a development foundation from scratch, there’s plenty here to work through.

Visual Studio Professional 2026 requires Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) with at least 4GB RAM and an internet connection for activation.

Get this Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 + The Premium Learn to Code Certification Bundle for $59.99 (reg. $1,999.99).

Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2026 + The Premium Learn to Code Certification BundleSee Deal

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Pick up a Lenovo 300e 11.6″ 2-in-1 Touchscreen Chromebook for $79.99 (reg. $284.99), that’s 72% off a fully functional, refurbished machine with 4GB RAM, touchscreen display, and a 30-day warranty.

A refurbished label can raise eyebrows. A Grade B label can raise more. Here’s what it actually means: this Lenovo 300e may have light scuffs on the casing or minor cosmetic wear on the body. What it does not mean is that anything under the hood has been compromised.

Get this refurbished laptop on sale. This Lenovo 300e 2-in-1 Touchscreen Chromebook is available for $79.99 (reg. $284.99).

Under the hood

Internally, this 2-in-1 is all business. The Intel N3450 Quad-Core processor pairs with 4GB of RAM to handle multitasking without the usual budget-laptop lag, and the Intel UHD Graphics 500 keeps video playback and image processing smooth. The 11.6-inch IPS touchscreen delivers sharp 1366×768 visuals, while Chrome OS gives you access to thousands of apps including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 round out the connectivity options, and the OS stays supported through 2028.

With 10,000+ refurbs already sold and a 4.7-star rating from verified buyers, the track record speaks for itself.

Get this Lenovo 300e 2-in-1 Touchscreen Chromebook for $79.99 (reg. $284.99).

Lenovo 300e Chromebook (2018) 11.6″ Touchscreen 4GB RAM 32GB Storage (Refurbished)See Deal

StackSocial prices subject to change.

The Artemis II crew is expected to make its way back to the “Blue Marble” (aka Earth) tonight, and my heart is already in my throat–I can’t wait to witness this historic event. Here’s how it should ultimately play out:

First, the crew will re-enter the earth’s atmosphere at 7:43 p.m. Eastern. This is the most hair-raising part of the return journey because of the intense speed and blackout period, during which there will be no communications for a brief stint of time. Next, they’ll land or “splashdown” in the ocean at 8:07 p.m. Eastern time (5:07 p.m. Pacific). 

If you’re looking to tune in, you’re in luck. There are multiple ways you can watch online.

Where to watch it

NASA’s official website is the place to go for anything to do with the Artemis II mission. You can also watch the landing live on NASA+, which is the program’s dedicated streaming service app. It’s ad-free too, so you won’t get interrupted. 

You can also watch the landing on NASA’s official YouTube channel if you prefer or on other digital platforms like Facebook and X.

What to expect

Coverage will probably begin long before the scheduled landing time, so make sure you tune in sooner rather than later if you’re able. Landing a spacecraft is complicated business, so it could happen later than the intended time.

If streams go kaput

Make sure you have an alternative streaming service ready to go because it’s entirely possible that one stream will get inundated with viewers and go down as a result. Personally? I’d flip between NASA’s website, YouTube, and Facebook. All three should have the same live feed, so you should be able to reconnect quickly.

If you want an ongoing tally of how bad the “AI” bubble is for consumers, all you need to do is look at RAM prices. Laptops, game consoles, and cell phones are going up, too, but seeing a RAM DIMM that’s 500 percent more expensive than a year ago is a real shock to the system—and no company has felt this more keenly than Framework, who’s only one step above consumers in the supply chain.

Framework is a darling of the tech press, a favorite among right-to-repair enthusiasts and those who want a laptop that can last theoretically forever. The company was already reeling from the Trump administration’s tariffs in 2025, and now things have gone from bad to worse.

RAM and storage prices can be seen going up on the configuration pages for Framework’s laptop designs. Without the deep relationships with hardware suppliers that only billions of dollars in orders can buy, Framework has had to adjust its prices as its supply dwindles, even limiting secondary sales to prevent scalpers from buying up parts meant to upgrade customer laptops.

Framework Computer

The danger here is real. Framework is a relatively small, US-based system builder. While it’s doing some amazing work (its 13-inch laptop is one of our favorite recommendations), its size and market specialization make it vulnerable. Framework cannot, for example, repurpose an internally developed smartphone chip to leverage an affordable laptop design. It has to weather the tides of the market and hope that its customers—who are mainly looking for value—keep coming back.

This is all preamble to Framework’s latest blog post from CEO Nirav Patel, ostensibly announcing a promotional event coming in a couple of weeks. But it reads more like a dire warning. On the state of the tech world seeking never-ending profit in the “AI” bubble, Patel writes: “There is a very real scenario in which personal computing as we know it is dead… The industry is asking you to own nothing and be happy.”

As if reading the room, the post continues with a defiant tone: “You might be reading all of this and thinking, is this a farewell letter to personal computing? Is this the end of Framework? No, this is a manifesto.” Patel promises that “as long as there is a person in the world who still wants to own their means of computation, we will be here to build the hardware that enables it.”

IDG / Matthew Smith

The post then goes on to announce the next live promotional event, a San Francisco presentation on April 21st at 10:30 AM US Pacific time, which will be live-streamed on YouTube. Also, Framework is now selling to New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and Singapore. Framework is not going gently into that good night. At least not yet.

I can’t help but worry. Framework was riding high last year, as it announced its first 2-in-1 laptop design that was also a budget laptop, a new mini-PC based on powerful AMD hardware, and some much-needed updates to its 16-inch laptop with a discrete GPU option. Then the Trump tariffs hit. Those have now been declared illegal by the US Supreme Court, but the damage is done.

And now laptops, desktops, and almost everything else are getting prohibitively expensive for most buyers, at the same time that global tensions are making the price of oil and food go up. These are macroeconomic problems that everyone has to worry about, of course… but for a small company that’s trying to hold back the tide of “AI”, they’re immediate and personal. Shoppers are suddenly re-evaluating whether they really need a new laptop this year, and if they do, maybe a $600 MacBook is the way to go rather than an admirable but expensive Framework laptop that can be infinitely upgraded.

Checking Framework’s site today, the cheapest complete Laptop 13 you can build with just 8GB of RAM and a years-old CPU is over $1,200. The Laptop 12, perhaps a more fair comparison, is still over $950 with Windows 11 Home. As a tech fan and someone who loves what Framework has been doing, I think it’s worth the extra expense. But as someone who has to fill up a gas tank a couple of times a month? I can’t blame anyone for going with the cheaper option.

Foundry

Framework’s defiant tone is encouraging. The intention is clearly a rallying cry, Aragorn facing down the armies of Mordor, Cap standing up to Thanos. But this is real life, not a blockbuster. Framework and other small hardware manufacturers cannot rely on plot armor to save them. A true win here would be nothing less than the collapse of the “AI” investment bubble, a sudden reversal of a year-long trend that’s projected to last until the end of the decade.

How likely is that? Well, it’s not impossible. OpenAI shut down its Sora video generation tool as it buckled under the unprofitable weight of millions of slop videos. Data center construction, the fire which is burning up RAM and storage future supply, appears to be slowing as investors get wary and locals fight back against rising power bills and environmental impact. There’s even some anecdotal evidence that RAM prices may have peaked, as some isolated markets are seeing the first signs of adjustments, if not a return to sanity.

But I still worry. Even if the “AI” bubble pops right now, it’ll take months at least for hardware prices to correct themselves, possibly much longer. And that’s assuming the entire economy doesn’t go into a recession or depression from the fallout. In such a scenario, it’s hard to imagine Framework surviving. I can’t help but wonder if I’m writing up a preliminary eulogy for my favorite laptop maker.

That would be a genuine tragedy for PC hardware enthusiasts… but hardly their primary concern. You need a place to live and something to eat a lot more than you need an upgradeable laptop.

According to BleepingComputer, there’s a serious vulnerability in Acrobat Reader that can be exploited to steal sensitive data.

Security researcher Haifei Li says that hackers have been abusing this “highly sophisticated, fingerprinting-style PDF exploit” since December, meaning just over four months.

“This ‘fingerprinting’ exploit has been confirmed to leverage a zero-day/unpatched vulnerability that works on the latest version of Adobe Reader without requiring any user interaction beyond opening a PDF file. Even more concerning, this exploit allows the threat actor to not only collect/steal local information but also potentially launch subsequent RCE/SBX attacks, which could lead to full control of the victim’s system.”

In short, all it takes is opening an infected PDF file to expose your system to an attacker. From there, the attacker could steal your data or even run their own code and take full control of your machine.

Until Adobe patches the vulnerability, Acrobat Reader users are advised to not open PDF files from untrusted sources—which is honestly good sense even without the threat of this exploit.

Are you ready to turn your yard into the coolest spot in your neighborhood? Govee’s outdoor neon rope lights are 37% off at Amazon, bringing their price down to $126 (was $200). They’re listed as $140, but you get an extra discount off at checkout right now!

Measuring about 33 feet in length, this versatile lighting system uses RGBIC technology to display multiple colors simultaneously. You can use the Govee app to customize from 16 million colors or pick from 64 preset scene modes. Create a vibrant atmosphere across your garden, yard, patio, what have you. And not to worry about weather because its IP67 rating keeps it protected in all but the harshest of conditions.

This Govee product integrates seamlessly with voice assistants like Alexa and Google, allowing you to set up timers, change colors, and so on. The built-in music sync capabilities can also make the lights “dance” to the rhythm of your favorite tracks.

Frankly, it’ll transform your yard and make for more memorable parties and summer evenings outside. If you want eye-catching outdoor RGB lighting, this sale for $126 is a good one to jump on.

Not all gaming laptops are made the same. Some chase raw power while others focus on flashy looks and features. What really matters is how the laptop performs when you’re in the middle of a game. You want smooth frame rates, cool temperatures, responsive keys, and a screen that actually looks good.

And that’s where we come in!

We’ve tested every laptop on this list ourselves, and we didn’t just look at the raw specs. From intense battles to long story sessions, we checked out how they handle it all.

Why you should trust PCWorld for laptop reviews and buying advice: It’s in our name! PCWorld prides itself on laptop experience and expertise. We’ve been covering PCs since 1983, and we now review more than 70 laptops every year. All of the picks below have been personally tested and vetted by our experts, who’ve applied not only performance benchmarks but rigorous usability standards. We’re also committed to reviewing PC laptops at every price point to help you find a machine that matches your budget.

Alienware 16X Aurora – Best gaming laptop overall

Pros

• High-end CPU performance
• Bright and beautiful display
• Great gaming experience
• Very competitive price

Cons

• You can get better gaming performance with a faster GPU (of course)
• Some hot air blows out the sides

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Who should buy the Alienware 16X Aurora?

If you want a high-end gaming laptop that punches well above its price point, the Alienware 16X Aurora is the one to spring for. It’s fast, powerful, and surprisingly good value for what you’re getting. The Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU is an absolute beast for gaming (or productivity!), and the RTX 5070 graphics handles modern titles just fine at high settings, even at higher resolutions. Whether you’re jumping straight into AAA games or streaming your favorite titles, this laptop will definitely keep up.

The 16-inch 2560×1600 IPS display is bright, colorful, and buttery-smooth thanks to its 240Hz refresh rate. It’s great for competitive gaming or fast-paced action games. You also get a full-sized keyboard, a responsive trackpad, and a crisp 1080p webcam with Windows Hello face login. The build is solid, too. It feels premium and the design doesn’t lean very much into the flashy gamer aesthetic.

Alienware 16X Aurora: Further considerations

The Alienware 16X Aurora isn’t the lightest laptop in the room at 5.86 pounds and that’s okay. The aluminum and plastic construction keep it premium-feeling, though it does pick up fingerprints more than we’d like. The keyboard and trackpad also aren’t the best.

The RTX 5070 GPU isn’t top of the line, but it offers plenty of oomph for high-end gaming at 1440p. If it’s a fancy OLED display and an all-metal build you’re after, you’ll definitely pay significantly more for those features. Finally, battery life is about average for a gaming laptop (we eked out seven hours on a single charge), but you’ll probably be plugged in anyway for those intense matches.

Read our full Alienware 16X Aurora review

Acer Nitro V 16 – Best gaming laptop under $1,000

Pros

• Large touchpad compared to alternatives
• 16-inch 1200p display at a low price
• Lots of physical connectivity
• Good battery life for a budget gaming laptop

Cons

• Sub-par CPU performance
• Terrible audio quality from built-in speakers
• Wireless connectivity stuck on the Wi-Fi 6 standards
• Slightly more expensive laptops offer better value

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Who should buy the Acer Nitro V 16?

If you’re a gamer on a budget who wants modern RTX 50-series performance, you can’t get much better than the Acer Nitro V 16 AI. The RTX 5050 GPU handles most 1080p games smoothly, hitting high frame rates in titles like Rise of the Tomb Raider and even running more intensive games like Cyberpunk 2077 at playable settings.

This laptop also offers surprisingly good battery life. You can get anywhere from eight to 12 hours on a single charge depending on usage. Plus, the 16-inch 1200p display at 180Hz is slightly better and smoother than the standard 15.6-inch 1080p screens on similar budget laptops.

Acer Nitro V 16: Further considerations

There are some trade-offs to keep in mind. First, the Ryzen 5 240 CPU is entry-level, so CPU-heavy tasks like video editing or streaming may feel sluggish if you’re pushing the machine pretty hard. Storage and RAM are also limited to 512GB and 16GB. That’s fine for gaming, but it could require updates over time. Speakers and webcam are also basic, and Wi-Fi isn’t cutting-edge.

Read our full Acer Nitro V 16 AI review

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 – Best high-end gaming laptop

Pros

• Top-notch performance
• Excellent display
• Fast wired and wireless connectivity
• Supports USB-C charging

Cons

• Premium pricing
• Has the short battery life of gaming laptops
• Trackpad could be bigger

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Who should buy the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10?

If you want a no-compromises gaming machine, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10 is where it’s at. It has an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX chip and RTX 5080 graphics, which is more than enough for buttery-smooth AAA gaming. The 16-inch OLED screen looks awesome, and that crazy fast 240Hz refresh rate makes everything feel super smooth when you’re gaming.

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10: Further considerations

The Legion Pro 7i is pricey and not exactly backpack-friendly at more than five pounds, but if you’re chasing high frame rates and gorgeous visuals, this laptop delivers. Battery life isn’t its strong suit, so plan to stay plugged in for long sessions. But when it comes to raw gaming power, this one’s a beast.

Read our full Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 review

Razer Blade 14 (2025) – Most portable gaming laptop

Pros

• Thin, light, and compact
• Solid gaming performance
• Beautiful OLED display
• Premium quality all around

Cons

• Expensive
• Bulkier gaming laptops will perform better

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Who should buy the Razer Blade 14 (2025)?

Looking for a gaming laptop that won’t kill your back? The Razer Blade 14 (2025) is only 3.59 pounds, which is crazy light for a beast like this. It’s packing an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU and an RTX 5070 GPU, so it can easily handle modern games on High or Ultra settings. The 14-inch 2880×1800 120Hz OLED screen is a delight to behold and, somehow, the laptop itself manages to stay cool and quiet even when it’s under load. Oh, and that matte-black finish? Pretty slick.

Razer Blade 14 (2025) : Further considerations

It’s not cheap or super flashy, but it hits the sweet spot for power and portability. Battery life is pretty good for a gaming laptop (just over 11 hours!), but don’t expect to game unplugged all day. The keyboard and touchpad are fine, speakers could be better. Still, if you want a capable gaming rig that you can carry with ease, this one’s worth it.

Read our full Razer Blade 14 (2025) review

Other gaming laptops we’ve tested

We’ve also tested a few other gaming laptops that impressed us, even though they didn’t make the final cut in the end. The Maingear Super 16 is an absolute beast of a laptop with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, an RTX 5070 Ti, 32GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, and a 16‑inch 2560×1600 300 Hz display, but it’s pricey–you’ll spend well over $2,000.

The Acer Predator Helios Neo 14 AI, on the other hand, is a more compact machine. It’s got an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H processor, an RTX 5070, and a 14.5-inch 2880×1800 120Hz OLED panel, and it’s on sale for just $1,499.99 at Amazon right now. at the time of this writing.

How to choose the best gaming laptop

To find the best gaming laptop for your needs, pay close attention to the following features.

What’s the best screen for a gaming laptop?

When you buy a gaming laptop, one of the most important decisions you’ll need to make regards the screen. After all, what you get on day one is what you’re stuck with until you junk the device. You could run an external monitor, but then what’s the point of a laptop? Look for an IPS or OLED display, though gaming laptops under $1,000 sometimes feature a TN panel. You can get by with a 60Hz display if you mostly play single-player games, but thankfully, most gaming laptops these days opt for faster 120Hz+ panels instead.

What’s the best screen size for a gaming laptop?

The size of the screen dictates the size of the laptop itself, and thus weight. Think long and hard about whether you’re willing to take the weight penalty in exchange for the screen real estate.

What’s the best screen resolution for a gaming laptop?

The buzzword today is “4K.” That high resolution delivers sharper photo viewing and more space for video editing, but that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. Anything not using the panel’s native resolution of 3840×2180, such as games running at lower-than-4K resolution, won’t look quite as sharp unless you exponentially increase the graphics power of the laptop.

If you’re running at 1920×1080 resolution because your GPU can’t hit 60fps at 4K, that feature is moot. For many gamers, 1920×1080 (1080p) or 2560×1440 (1440p) is more optimal.

IPS vs. TN vs. OLED: What’s the difference?

The panel technology is a key feature. IPS (in-plane switching) generally produces much greater color accuracy and superior off-axis viewing, but tends to lag in response times, which can lead to blurring. TN (twisted nematic) panels can offer far higher refresh rates and usually better response times than IPS, but can look washed out or just blah.

A middle-ground technology that’s appearing more often is VA (vertical alignment). VA is sometimes alternately referred to as “wide viewing angle” technology. (Many assume this spec to be IPS, but it’s not). In our experience, we’ve found VA panels to run the gamut from being worthy competitors to IPS to being worse than the better TN panels.

The wildcard in all this is OLED. Unlike IPS, TN, and VA, OLED panels don’t rely on edge- or backlighting where “black” is produced by a shutter-like mechanism that blocks light from coming through. Instead, each pixel generates its own light. To produce black, it just switches off the light. This amounts to truly stunning contrast ratios and vibrant colors. OLEDs also boast fantastic response times.

The negatives include smaller screen sizes (we haven’t seen anything larger than 15.6 inches yet), higher cost, and lack of support for variable refresh rate. OLED panels can also use more power than conventional methods if the image is on a white background.

Should a gaming laptop have G-Sync or FreeSync support?

Okay, we called this section G-Sync and FreeSync, but the reality is, when it comes to beefy gaming laptops, it’s a GeForce GPU world. And that means it’s a G-Sync world. In a nutshell, Nvidia and AMD’s respective variable-refresh-rate technologies help synchronize the monitor and the GPU to greatly reduce screen tearing. Variable refresh rates can make gaming at 40fps far smoother to your eyes than a screen without it.

The first variable-refresh-rate panels for laptops maxed out at 75Hz, only marginally better than the standard 60Hz. More recently, we’ve begun to see laptop panels that can push 120Hz, 144Hz, and even 240Hz. This generally means smoother and sharper gaming to your eyes. It even helps smooth out everyday tasks such as scrolling a browser page or Word document.

One last very important note: G-Sync screens have to be connected directly to the laptop’s discrete GPU, which means a large hit on battery life. In most laptops without G-Sync, the Intel integrated graphics is connected directly to the screen, so the GPU can be turned off when not being used. So while G-Sync is beautiful to behold, the cost in battery life is huge.

What should you look for in a gaming laptop keyboard and trackpad?

A new trend in gaming laptops is the offset trackpad, which is more conducive to gaming than a dead-center trackpad. The concept is sound, but anyone who actually cares about PC gaming will just plug in a mouse. The worst thing about that offset trackpad is when you try to use it for non-gaming purposes.

As far as keyboards go, the most important gaming feature is n-key rollover. This means the keyboard physically scans each key separately. If you wanted to, you could press 20 keys simultaneously and they’d all register, as each is independently wired. That probably sounds excessive, but keyboards that lack this feature can suffer missed keystrokes, which both ruins gameplay and hurts in everyday tasks.

Other keyboard considerations include LED backlighting (which adds ambiance but does nothing for gameplay) and mechanical keys vs. membrane. Mechanical keys are excellent, but are available on only a handful of laptops that usually weigh a ton. We have seen a few designs with low-profile mechanical keyboards, but even we admit they can be an acquired taste.

What kind of storage is best for a gaming laptop?

Having your games load from an SSD instead of a hard drive significantly cuts down on load times. But beyond that, we haven’t found it to matter that much whether it’s a super-fast NVMe PCIe drive or a slower SATA SSD.

What does matter more today is the size of the SSD rather than the interface it uses. With games now topping 50GB and some touching 100GBs, a once-spacious 256GB SSD will feel too small with just four games installed.

So when spec’ing out that gaming laptop, be mindful of just how much total storage you have. If you go for a laptop with a small SSD and large hard drive combo, expect to install your games to the hard drive. If the laptop will have an SSD only, choose an absolute minimum of 512GB, with 1TB preferred.

How much RAM do you need in a gaming laptop?

When laptop makers spec out gaming laptops, one of the levers they use to try to convince you to buy their product is upping the amount of RAM. It’s not hard to find gaming laptops with “upgraded” configurations that go from 16GB of RAM to 32GB.

While having an adequate amount of RAM is important for gaming, today’s games typically top out at 16GB of RAM, and sometimes can run fine with just 8GB of RAM. Most people should invest in a gaming laptop with 16GB of memory if possible, and it makes sense to opt for 32GB if you plan on holding onto your gaming laptop for a long time. Modern games are only getting more memory-hungry.

Should a gaming laptop have dual-channel or single-channel RAM?

Besides the amount of memory, a couple of other important, but not critical, questions to ask is what clock speed and what mode. Modern CPUs let you run RAM in sets to increase the memory bandwidth. 

More memory bandwidth immediately helps laptops that are running integrated graphics, but the conventional wisdom has long been that discrete GPUs in laptops don’t benefit as much because they have their own dedicated, much faster GDDR5 RAM to use. That’s typically the case, but the performance of today’s GPUs and CPUs can make this conventional wisdom wrong. 

Gaming performance is often about a balance between the CPU and the GPU, and how graphically intensive a game is. With games that are graphically intensive, the GPU is the primary bottleneck on performance. Play a game that isn’t graphically intense, though, and the CPU can rapidly become the bottleneck on performance.

With the power of today’s GPUs, a lot of games, especially at a sedate resolution of 1920×1080, have shifted more performance to the CPU. The reason we’re talking about this now is if you rob the CPU of memory bandwidth, even a decently fast one, you can take a sizable hit in gaming performance.

The basic lesson is you should opt for dual-channel memory bandwidth configurations when possible. On a laptop spec sheet, you typically would see this expressed as “dual-channel” or “2 x 8” to indicate that two 8GB memory modules were used in a laptop.

Some laptop makers will express memory in clock speed, so you’ll see “DDR4/2,133 or DDR4/2,400.” While a higher memory clock does increase memory bandwidth, the impact isn’t quite as great as going from dual-channel to single-channel mode.

How many CPU cores do you really need in a gaming laptop?

For most people on a budget, a 4-core CPU with Hyper-Threading will function just fine in most games, especially when combined with a lower-cost and lower performance GPU.

Still, if you have the extra cash, a 6-core CPU with Hyper-Threading is likely the sweet spot for today and tomorrow. If you plan to stream your gaming live or edit it, investing in a 6-core is recommended.

Intel and AMD’s top-end 8-plus-core CPUs will deliver the greatest benefit to those who might do other graphics-intensive tasks, such as 3D animation or video editing. If you also plan to record and stream video, the 8-core will offer a performance benefit there, too.

If you’re thinking, great, let me buy a 4-core Core i5 or Ryzen 5 CPU with a luxury laptop to save money, you usually can’t, because PC makers typically only offer budget CPUs with other budget parts. Why? Well, most budget shoppers can’t afford any luxury items, and most PC makers like to add in the extras to increase the profit.

What GPU is best for a gaming laptop?

The single most important piece of hardware in a gaming laptop is undoubtedly the GPU. For AMD fans, the situation is as sad as it is in CPUs: It’s an Nvidia GeForce world. As with CPUs though, the good news is that the dominating products are top-notch.

The hardest part will be deciding just how much GPU you need. Our general guidance is to buy as fast a GPU as you can afford and are willing to heft. Generally, the faster the GPU (or GPUs), the larger and heavier the laptop. If you’re talking about playing on a higher-resolution panel of 2560×1440 at high-refresh rates, then keep increasing the amount of money spent on the GPU.

What kind of battery life should a gaming laptop have?

The last topic we’ll cover is battery life. The best way to understand battery life on a gaming laptop is to accept that it’ll be horrible for all things gaming.

The minute you crank up a GPU on a gaming laptop to play a game, you’re basically limiting yourself to an hour or an hour and a half of battery runtime. Period. And in some cases, far less than that.

The only reason to consider battery life on a gaming laptop is if you want to use your laptop unplugged for non-gaming purposes. In that respect, you’ll find a lot of variance, with some offering decent battery life, albeit with a trade-off in gaming performance.

In a new blog post, Google recently announced a new feature in Gemini called “Notebooks.” You can think of a Notebook as an organizational unit that keeps all related chats together (whether by topic, project, etc.) and as a place where you can upload contextual files that help Gemini better understand what you’re talking about.

For example, if you’re planning a big trip next year, you can create a Notebook for all those conversations. You can also upload files like travel documents, booking confirmations, insurance records, want-to-visit locations, restaurant lists, travel brochures, etc. These all give Gemini more context, which results in better quality responses.

Google

You can also sync Gemini Notebooks with NotebookLM, which means you can, for example, create a visual summary in NotebookLM and then continue working with the same material in Gemini.

Notebooks is currently rolling out to paid Gemini users, but will also reach free users and mobile users in the coming weeks. You might notice that Notebooks sounds a lot like Projects in Anthropic’s Claude, except Claude Projects are fully available to free users. The eventual free rollout of Notebooks might entice a few Claude users to switch over.

Microsoft’s Pavan Davuluri, President of Windows + Devices (W+D), has promised that we will see various improvements to Windows 11 going forward. The recent strategic shift is a direct response to all the harsh criticism suffered over the past year-plus of broken updates.

Windows Latest has compiled a list of 18 promised features and improvements that are slated to roll out to the public within 2026. Among other things, Microsoft promises to improve the following:

• Taskbar
• Start menu
• Copilot scaled back
• Windows Update
• OOBE installation process
• File Explorer
• Dark mode inconsistencies
• Settings app redesign
• System performance
• Hardware stability
• Bluetooth and audio
• Windows Hello passwordless security
• Touchpad and haptic feedback
• Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
• Native first-party apps
• Feature Flags for Windows Insiders
• Feedback Hub
• Fewer advertisements

The idea is that these changes will be part of the monthly Windows updates, so expect 2 to 3 improvements per month going forward.

Further reading: These Windows 11 issues still need fixing

If you love gaming with your friends, then you need a good headset that will allow you to both hear them well and be heard clearly. One of the better options on the market is HyperX’s Cloud Alpha and it’s now on sale for 40% off at Amazon: down to $120 from its regular $200.

Back when we reviewed the wired version of this headset, we gave it 4.5 stars and called it “one of the best gaming headsets for the money.” We loved how comfortable it is for long sessions and its excellent audio quality, earning our Editors’ Choice award. This sale is for the wireless version, though, so expect a few minor differences.

One such difference is the obvious lack of a cable. But you shouldn’t worry about battery life because these headphones have an incredible 300 hours of playtime per charge. Yup, not a typo—300 hours! And when time slips by and the battery finally runs out, you just use the included USB-C cable to recharge them.

Note, however, that full feature compatibility (e.g., NGENUITY EQ customization, DTS spatial audio, etc.) is only available on Windows PCs. It’ll work as a basic headset on PS4/PS5 consoles, but it won’t work at all with Xbox consoles or Nintendo Switches. It has no Bluetooth connectivity and only uses 2.4GHz wireless.

If those downsides don’t matter to you, this is a great time to buy. This is a new low price and it has never been cheaper.

If you’re looking for an affordable Windows machine under $500, a blazing fast gaming beast for those intense matches, or a portable 2-in-1 for school or work, you’ve got plenty of great choices right now.

Want to see even more? Take a peek at PCWorld’s list of the top laptops you can get right now.

Why you should trust us: It’s in our name! PCWorld prides itself on laptop experience and expertise. We’ve been covering PCs since 1983, and we now review more than 80 laptops every year. We’re also committed to reviewing PC laptops at every price point to help you find a machine that matches your budget.

Best budget laptop deals under $500

Dell

Our top pick: Dell Inspiron 15, $459.99 ($110 off at Best Buy)

Need an affordable laptop for the basic stuff? the Dell Inspiron 15 is a good pick and I’ll tell you why. The Intel Core i5‑1334U handles day-to-day activities—browsing, streaming, a ton of tabs—without slowing down too much. 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD are also enough for most workloads, and the 15.6-inch 1080p touchscreen actually makes it feel a bit fancier.

Amazon

• Asus Vivobook Go, AMD Ryzen 5 7520U processor/15.6-inch 1920×1080 display/8GB RAM/512GB SSD, $405.97 ($24.02 off at Amazon)
• Asus Vivobook 16, Intel Core i5-13420H processor/16-inch 1920×1200 display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $499.99 ($80 off at Amazon)

Best Buy

• Asus Vivobook 14, Intel Core i3-1315U processor/14-inch 1920×1080 display/8GB RAM/128GB SSD, $269.99 ($180 off at Best Buy)
• Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i, Intel Core i3-N305 processor/15.6-inch 1920×1080 display/8GB RAM/128GB UFS storage, $349.99 ($100 off at Best Buy)
• Dell Inspiron 15, Intel Core i5-1334U processor/15.6-inch 1920×1080 touchscreen display/8GB RAM/512GB SSD, $459.99 ($110 off at Best Buy)

Adorama

• Asus Vivobook 14, Intel Core 5 120U processor/14-inch 1920×1080 display/8GB RAM/512GB SSD, $499.99 ($150 off at Adorama)

Best mid-range laptop deals ($500-$900)

HP

Our top pick: HP OmniBook X Flip 2-in-1, $879.99 ($200 off at Best Buy)

The HP OmniBook X Flip 2-in-1 packs a well-rounded feature set for under $1,000. It comes with a nice 14-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen, an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. And, because it’s a 2-in-1, you can flip it around into tablet mode if that’s the vibe you’re going for.

Amazon

• Asus Vivobook 14, Intel Core i7-1335U processor/14-inch 1920×1080 display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $569.99 ($330 off at Amazon)

Best Buy

• Samsung Galaxy Book4, Intel Core 7 Series 1 150U processor/15.6-inch 1920×1080 display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $604.99 ($184.83 off at Best Buy)
• HP OmniBook X Flip 2-in-1, Intel Core Ultra 7 processor/14-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen display/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $879.99 ($200 off at Best Buy)

Adorama

• Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3, Intel Core i3-N305 processor/14-inch 1920×1080 display/8GB RAM/256GB SSD, $514.99 ($35 off at Adorama)
• HP OmniBook 3, AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 processor/15.6-inch 1920×1080 touchscreen display/16GB RAM/256GB SSD, $549.99 ($350 off at Adorama)
• HP OmniBook 7 Flip, Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor/16-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $749.99 ($260 off at Adorama)
• HP OmniBook X, Intel Core Ultra 7 256V processor/17.3-inch 1920×1080 touchscreen display/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $775 ($574 off at Adorama)

Newegg

• Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3, AMD Ryzen 7 7730U processor/15.6-inch 1920×1080 display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $549.99 ($200 off at Newegg)
• Acer Aspire Go, AMD Ryzen 7 7730U processor/15.6-inch 1920×1080 display/32GB RAM/1TB SSD, $699.99 ($200 off at Newegg)

Best gaming laptop deals

HP

Our top pick: HP Omen 16, $1,479 ($740.99 off at Best Buy)

Want a gaming laptop that’s not crazy expensive but still beastly as far as performance goes? The HP Omen 16 is the one to spring for. With a Ryzen 9 processor and RTX 5060 graphics, it should deliver smooth, high-performance gaming. The 16-inch 1920×1200 144Hz screen also keeps visuals looking nice and crisp, while 32GB of RAM and a1TB SSD ensure fast load times and plenty of room for your ginormous library of games.

Amazon

• Asus TUF Gaming F16 (2025), Intel Core i5 13450HX processor/RTX 5050 graphics/16-inch 1920×1080 display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $1,099.99 ($200 off at Amazon)
• Asus ROG Strix G18, AMD Ryzen 9 8940HX processor/RTX 5050 graphics/18-inch 1920×1080 display/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,599 ($100.99 off at Amazon)

Best Buy

• Lenovo LOQ, AMD Ryzen 5 7235HS processor/RTX 4050 graphics/15.6-inch 1920×1080 display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $799.99 ($160 off at Best Buy)
• Lenovo LOQ, Intel Core i5-13450HX processor/RTX 5050 graphics/15.6-inch 1920×1080 display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $1,124.24 ($50.75 off at Best Buy)
• HP Omen 16, AMD Ryzen 9 8940HX processor/RTX 5060 graphics/16-inch 1920×1200 display/32GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,479 ($740.99 off at Best Buy)

Adorama

• HP Victus, Intel Core i5-13420H processor/RTX 2050 graphics/15.6-inch 1920×1080 display/8GB RAM/512GB SSD, $799.99 ($100 off at Adorama)
• Lenovo LOQ, Intel Core i5-13450HX processor/RTX 5050 graphics/17.3-inch 1920×1080 display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $1,074.99 ($125 off at Adorama)
• HP Omen, Intel Core i7-14650HX processor/RTX 4060 graphics/16-inch 1920×1080 display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $1,149.99 ($350 off at Adorama)

Newegg

• MSI Stealth 14 AI, Intel Core Ultra7-155H processor/RTX 4050 graphics/14-inch 1920×1200 display/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,069 ($730 off at Newegg)
• Acer Nitro V16, AMD Ryzen 7 260 processor/RTX 5070 graphics/16-inch 2560×1600 display/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,249.99 ($150 off at Newegg)
• Lenovo Legion 5i, Intel Core i7-14700HX processor/RTX 5060 graphics/15.1-inch 2560×1600 display/16GB RAM/512GB SSD, $1,299.99 ($100 off at Newegg)

Best premium laptop deals ($900+)

Dell

Our top pick: Dell Pro 16, $990.95 ($409.04 off at Amazon)

Need a good laptop that actually keeps up with you and your workflow? The Dell Pro 16 has an Intel Core Ultra 7 265U processor, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD, so juggling spreadsheets, apps, and big files is no problem. The 16-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen also gives plenty of space to work or stream. It’s really the perfect laptop for anyone who wants serious power without overpaying.

Amazon

• Dell Pro 16, Intel Core Ultra 7 265U processor/16-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen display/32GB RAM/1TB SSD, $990.95 ($409.04 off at Amazon)
• Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 360, Intel Core Ultra 7 256V processor/16-inch 2880×1800 AMOLED display/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,478 ($221.99 off at Amazon)

Best Buy

• Dell Plus 16, Intel Core Ultra 7 256V processor/16-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen display/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $940 ($259.99 off at Best Buy)
• HP OmniBook X Flip 16, Intel Ultra 7 256V processor/16-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen display/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,179 ($510 off at Best Buy)
• Asus Zenbook S 16, AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 processor/16-inch 2880×1800 OLED touchscreen display/24GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,389 ($110.99 off at Best Buy)

Adorama

• Lenovo Slim 7, Intel Core Ultra 7 256V processor/14-inch 1920×1200 OLED touchscreen/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,049.99 ($250 off at Adorama)
• LG Gram 14, Intel Core i5-1350P processor/14-inch 1920×1200 display/16GB RAM/256GB SSD, $1,149.99 ($199.01 off at Adorama)
• Asus Vivobook V16, Intel Core 7-240H processor/RTX 5060 graphics/16-inch 1920×1200 display/32GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,499.99 ($199.01 off at Adorama)

Newegg

• MSI Venture 16 AI, Intel Core Ultra 9 285H processor/16-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen display/32GB RAM/1TB SSD, $999 ($200.99 off at Newegg)
• Lenovo ThinkPad E16, AMD Ryzen 7 7735U processor/16-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen display/32GB RAM/2TB SSD, $1,179 ($340 off at Newegg)

For more options, check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops available right now.

If the frame rate suddenly drops, the PC gets very noisy or games crash unexpectedly, an overheating graphics card is often to blame. The good news is that you can identify and fix many of the causes yourself. If you take a systematic approach, you can usually improve cooling significantly without having to buy new hardware straight away.

The first step is a thorough assessment. Start by opening a program — such as GPU-Z, Hwinfo, or the Radeon Software or Nvidia app — to check the graphics card’s temperature. Monitor the readings at idle and under load.

Temperatures significantly above 80 degrees Celsius under moderate load are a warning sign. If the fans take an unusually long time to speed up or fail to do so at all, the fan profile may also be faulty.

Wolfbox

Next, check the airflow inside the PC case. Remove the case dust filters, then check the intake and exhaust air paths and ensure that no cables are blocking the airflow.

Many systems benefit simply from front fans bringing in more fresh air or an additional exhaust fan reliably drawing out warm air. If the computer is positioned very close to a wall or in a closed compartment, you should create more space for it.

It is then worth checking the fans and heatsinks on the graphics card. Dust accumulates there quickly and can significantly impair cooling performance. Careful cleaning with compressed air or a soft brush will restore airflow to normal levels.

If the fans are not spinning or are only spinning intermittently, there may be a fault that will require replacement in the long term. If temperatures remain too high, dried-out thermal paste may be the cause.

Foundry

With older graphics cards, it is worth replacing the paste, as modern variants offer significantly better heat transfer. This step requires care, but can be carried out safely with a little guidance. Please ensure you apply only a thin layer to optimize contact between the chip and the heatsink.

The thermal pads covering the memory and voltage regulators can also dry out due to aging. If you notice that individual components are becoming unusually hot, you should replace the thermal pads. This procedure is somewhat more challenging, but it is worth it to bring the temperature under control.

Foundry

Finally, it is advisable to fine-tune the fan curve. Many users benefit from a more aggressive profile that ramps up the fans earlier, thereby reducing temperature spikes. Alternatively, you can try slight undervolting, which reduces power consumption and thus minimizes heat generation.

These measures reliably resolve the vast majority of overheating issues. A well-cooled graphics card operates more stably, delivers greater performance and remains reliable in the long term — all without the need for an expensive replacement.

Related content

• How to check your PC’s CPU temperature
• Is your PC slowing down? Here’s how to find the problem
• 7 settings every PC gamer should tweak immediately

If you want a spacious ultrawide monitor but don’t want to pay well over $500 for one, here’s a superb deal worth jumping on: Innocn’s 40-inch ultrawide is down to $380 at Amazon, which is 28% off its MSRP. That’s a savings of $150 and the lowest price this display has ever been.

The Innocn 40C1R with its 40-inch screen and 3440×1440 ultrawide resolution is excellent for home offices and general purposes, giving you far more screen real estate than a regular 16:9 monitor for side-stacking your apps and windows. The rapid 144Hz refresh rate delivers ultra-smooth animations and responsiveness, resulting in a premium day-to-day experience you’ll certainly feel.

The IPS panel is great for clean color accuracy and the HDR 400 pushes the color vibrancy up even further. This monitor features a versatile USB-C video port with 90W of power delivery, which means you can use it with your laptop and keep it charged without the clutter of your charger block. Other ports including HDMI and DisplayPort. It also has 100×100 VESA support for mounting on a monitor arm.

It’s not every day you can snag a 40-inch 1440p ultrawide for just $380, making this a smart buy for anyone who’s on a tight budget. Monitors like this would normally cost double or more. If you’d rather keep shopping, check out PCWorld’s picks for the best ultrawide monitors.

Anker’s Zolo power bank is easily one of my favorites, mainly because it has a built-in USB-C cable that doubles as a carrying strap. Now Amazon is selling the upgraded version with TWO built-in cables on sale for just $38, down from its original $50 price.

While the fact that it has two USB-C cables for convenient double charging while on the go is a game-changer, there are other things you’ll love about this battery pack. One of those great features is its 20,000mAh capacity, which is enough to recharge a modern phone about four times. And with the additional USB-C and USB-A ports, you can actually charge up to four devices at once with this thing.

The Anker Zolo delivers 45W of high-speed charging, which is great for single-port use but slows down a lot when you’re using three or four ports simultaneously. Still, if you’re only using it with the built-in cables, you’ll be getting great performance out of it. It’s good for the occasional multi-device charge-up—if you’re constantly rejuicing three or four devices at a time, you might want one that’s bigger and faster.

I’ve taken my own Zolo to quite a few concerts and love its high capacity, slim profile, and easy-carry weight. The security of the cable-turned-carrying-strap is great for peace of mind, too. If you need an affordable hassle-free power bank, this one’s the one to get.

Microsoft is flooding every inch of Windows 11 with AI features… and if you’re like me, you aren’t thrilled about it. I’d rather choose the AI tools I want to use instead of Microsoft shoving them into my PC unprompted.

The good news: Microsoft has pledged to reduce Copilot’s reach as it reboots Windows 11. The better news: You can turn off the AI features in Windows 11 yourself, today. The bad news: Those settings are scattered across various option pages. It’s a bit like disabling all the ads in Windows—you have to hunt down the settings, but it’s possible. I’ll show you where to find them.

Replace your PC’s Copilot key

Many new laptops now come with a Copilot key on the keyboard. Yet while you can’t change the logo that’s printed on your PC’s keycap, you can change what happens when you press the key.

If your PC has a Copilot key, you can head to Settings > Personalization > Text input to configure it. Click the “Customize Copilot key on your keyboard” option. For an AI-free experience, select “Search.” The key will then open the search experience in the Start menu.

Chris Hoffman / Foundry

You could also select “Custom,” but Windows will only let you choose AI apps as custom options—for example, you could remap the Copilot key to launch ChatGPT. But if you’d like to have it perform any other non-search non-AI action, you’ll need to use the Keyboard Manager in Microsoft PowerToys or some other key remapping tool.

Remove Copilot from the system tray

Windows 11 includes two separate Copilots: one is “Copilot” and the other is “Microsoft 365 Copilot.” Confused? Yeah, you aren’t the only one. While Microsoft has business reasons for keeping them separate, the choice to include both in Windows as separate apps is still baffling. On many of my PCs, I’ve looked at the system tray and seen both Copilots happily running in the background, each with its own separate-but-similar system tray icon. That’s just silly.

If you don’t use Copilot, you can stop it from launching whenever you sign in to Windows like any other startup program. I prefer using the Task Manager to manage startup apps—launch the Task manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc, then click “Startup apps” in the left pane. There you’ll find both “Copilot” and “Microsoft 365 Copilot.” Right-click one (or both) and select “Disable” to turn them off.

Chris Hoffman / Foundry

If you don’t want to use Copilot at all, you can remove it from your PC entirely by opening the Start menu, searching for “Copilot,” right-clicking the “Copilot” result, and selecting “Uninstall.” You can uninstall Microsoft 365 Copilot in the same way. (If you want them back, both Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot are available in the Microsoft Store.)

Learn more about speeding up your Windows PC’s startup time by adjusting startup apps alongside many other tips!

Delete Copilot options from File Explorer

File Explorer now shows an “Ask Copilot” option when you right-click on files like Word documents, PDFs, and images. It’s a quick and convenient way to send files to Copilot… but what if you don’t want Copilot integrated into your right-click menu?

Well, if you simply uninstall Copilot, these context menu items will vanish. (Microsoft has fortunately made Copilot extremely easy to uninstall.) See the above tip about removing Copilot from your system tray for instructions on how to uninstall it.

If you’d rather keep Copilot installed but get rid of this option, there’s a registry hack that will block the Copilot shell extension.

Stop seeing Copilot in Microsoft Office

Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint now have Copilot integrated. With a standard Microsoft 365 subscription, you get a limited number of “AI credits” to spend each month.

Personally, I do a lot of writing in Word—I wrote this very article in Word—but I want to do the writing myself and have no interest in Copilot writing for me when I open a blank document. In fact, I’d rather get rid of the Copilot integration altogether so it doesn’t distract me.

Chris Hoffman / Foundry

To turn off Copilot in an Office app like Word, open the app, click File > Options, choose “Copilot” in the left pane, and then uncheck “Enable Copilot.” After you save your changes, it’ll vanish until you turn it back on.

Or, if you never use Copilot in Office apps, you can downgrade your Microsoft 365 plan and save $30 a year.

Hide Copilot in Notepad

Microsoft has gone as far as integrating Copilot into Notepad, allowing you to spend “AI credits” to do things like AI-generate text and summaries, complete with a Microsoft account sign-in system and a profile picture. It’s all a little much for Notepad.

Chris Hoffman / Foundry

Fortunately, it’s optional. In Notepad, you can click the Settings gear at the top-right corner of the window, scroll down, and turn off “Copilot” for a more traditional Notepad experience.

Microsoft doesn’t offer a way to turn off AI features in Paint or the Photos app, so it’s nice to see that Notepad has this user-friendly option.

Verify that Windows Recall is disabled

If you have a Copilot+ PC with all those built-in AI capabilities, Windows offers to turn on the Recall feature when you first set up your PC. It’s your choice, but it’s also easy to fly through that screen while you’re rushing the setup process. Maybe you turned it on by accident. (After all the controversy, we don’t recommend using Recall.)

Chris Hoffman / Foundry

The good news is, turning off Recall is easy now. If you’d like to verify that Recall is off, head to Settings > Privacy & security and click “Recall” under Windows permissions. (If you don’t see it, you don’t have a Copilot+ PC, so your computer doesn’t have Recall.)

If you’d rather not have Recall capture screenshots of your PC usage and store them for local AI searches, turn off “Save snapshots” here. You can also select “Delete snapshots” to delete any stored snapshots.

Turn off the Click To Do shortcut

In addition to Recall and those other AI features I’ve mentioned so far, Copilot+ PCs also have a feature called Click To Do, which presents contextual AI actions for the text and images you see on screen. Click To Do can be called up by using the Windows key + Q shortcut or by holding down the Windows key and left-clicking.

You can turn off Click To Do in Settings > Privacy & security > Click To Do. Click To Do doesn’t do anything unless you press this shortcut, but it’s easy to imagine that action getting in the way at times.

Turn off Windows Studio Effects

Copilot+ PCs have a feature called Windows Studio Effects, which is also available on some earlier AI PCs. It can perform real-time visual effects on your webcam image to make your skin look smoother and even fake eye contact so it appears you’re always looking at the camera. It also has silly AI effects that can, say, make you look like a cartoon character.

Chris Hoffman / Foundry

If you’d rather look like a real human without any uncanny valley AI effects on your live streams and video meetings, you can turn it off. Click the system status icons near the clock on your taskbar (or press Windows key + A) to open the quick settings. Look for the Studio Effects tile, click it, and customize which AI webcam effects you want to use.

If you don’t see the Studio Effects tile, your PC doesn’t have access to this feature and you have nothing to disable or worry about.

Ditch the AI features in your web browser

Modern web browsers are full of AI features, including Gemini in Chrome, Copilot in Edge, and even local AI features in Firefox. Fortunately, modern web browsers make it easy to turn off said AI features (apart from Firefox, which buries the options). Here’s how in each browser:

Google Chrome

Click the three-dot menu > Settings, choose “AI innovations” in the sidebar, then control AI features from here. You won’t actually have the full Gemini assistant on your toolbar unless you choose to pay for a Google AI Pro plan, so the current Chrome AI experience is restrained.

Microsoft Edge

Click the three-dot menu > Settings, choose “AI innovations,” and turn off experimental features. To turn off the Copilot toolbar icon as well, head to Appearance > Copilot and sidebar > Copilot and turn off “Show Copilot button on the toolbar.”

Mozilla Firefox

You have to type about:config into the address bar and press Enter to access the advanced settings. Then, search for browser.ml and turn off settings like “browser.ml.chat.enabled” and “browser.ml.enable” (which are “machine learning” features). Mozilla doesn’t provide a complete list of AI settings, but you can find user-made lists like this one.

Get rid of AI in Google Search

If you’re searching Google and would rather not see AI Overviews, you can add -ai to the end of your search queries to prevent AI Overviews on a per-search basis. But if you want to permanently disable AI Overviews, I recommend the Hide Google AI Overviews browser extension. It’s the best solution I’ve found so far.

Using AI should be your choice

To be clear, I have nothing against AI tools. I experiment with AI all the time! (As a tech writer, how could I not?) But that doesn’t mean I want every app full of AI features, nor do I want AI features forced upon me.

I’ll choose the tools I want to use and when I want to use them. Don’t feel bad if you feel the same way!

Subscribe to Chris Hoffman’s newsletter, The Windows Readme, for more PC advice from a real human—not an AI.

You might not know this, but one of the most underused productivity tools on your desk is already sitting right under your nose—technically, your hand, but you get the point. The middle mouse button is so much more than just a scroll wheel. So here’s my ode to the overlooked and underappreciated middle child of your mouse.

Most people only use the middle mouse button to scroll and that’s it. But once you learn a few simple tricks, that little button can dramatically speed up how you browse, multitask, and navigate your computer. It’s a small but overlooked tool that can open up a bunch of shortcuts.

Here are the shortcuts worth memorizing:

Browser power-user tricks

• Open links in a new tab instantly: Middle-click any link to open it in a background tab without interrupting your current page.
• Close tabs in one click: Middle-click anywhere on a tab to close it—no need to aim for the tiny “X”.
• Open an entire bookmarks folder at once: Middle-click a folder in your bookmarks bar to launch every site inside it in new tabs.
• Duplicate your current tab: Middle-click the refresh button to instantly clone your current page.
• Open back/forward pages in new tabs: Middle-click the back or forward buttons to open those pages separately, without losing your spot.
• Reopen your last closed tab: Middle-click empty space in the tab bar to reopen the tab you just closed.

Windows & desktop shortcuts

• Open a new instance of an app: Middle-click a taskbar icon (like Chrome or File Explorer) to launch a fresh window.
• Close windows from the taskbar: Hover over an app, then middle-click its preview thumbnail to close it instantly.
• Enable auto-scroll: Click the middle button on a page, then move your mouse to control scrolling speed. The farther you move, the faster it goes.

Once you start using these, they quickly become second nature—and surprisingly addictive. You’ll find yourself reborn as a browser and desktop power-user, flying through tabs and wondering how you ever put up with all those extra right-clicks.

For more helpful app and productivity recommendations, be sure to subscribe to our PCWorld Try This newsletter.

Earlier this week, when AMD revealed its price for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, I waded into a few comment sections. I expected to see a lot of scoffing (at minimum) about the $899 MSRP for this soon-to-be released halo chip—the first dual 3D V-Cache processor the company has produced.

The internet didn’t disappoint. One of the first comments I saw on Reddit: “AMD is out of their minds with that price.” Indeed, many people gasped over the price differential between the 9950X3D2 and AMD’s current flagship CPU, the 9950X3D ($699)—and clutched their pearls over the claim of 5 to 10 percent performance gain. Even an esteemed former colleague hopped on the bandwagon, his headline starting with the word “ouch.”

I don’t have this view. No, I’m excited for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2. Long-time fans of The Full Nerd may be surprised by this opinion, but don’t be fooled by my habit of deal hunting. I like value, yes. And sometimes that’s measured in another way than money.

Just three years ago, AMD steered us away from the idea of 3D V-Cache on both chiplets. Gordon asked about it point-blank during an interview at CES 2023, and the answer was “In our own tests, we saw minimal benefit to putting it on both CCDs”—stating upfront that gaming benefited most from having the 3D V-Cache on a single die (in part because they could clock single thread speeds higher with an asymmetric design). 3D V-Cache on just one die kept costs down, too.

Now AMD has delivered what enthusiasts asked for, and it’s absolutely what PC building needs right now. We’ve gone years without head-turning developments. I’d argue AMD’s X3D processors were the last thing to really push the envelope.

Adam Patrick Murray / IDG

So I’m here for this evolution. Maybe the 9950X3D2 will end up exactly as AMD described in 2023—not necessary for gamers, much higher priced. But it will also be the first processor in awhile where I eagerly await the technical minutiae of benchmark results, especially if the 5 to 10 percent boost in content creation tasks is consistent (or even understated by AMD). If the cost to see a dual 3D V-Cache CPU in the wild is 29 percent more than its predecessor, so be it. 

As Gordon always said, halo products don’t exist to put cash back into a person’s pocket. They can—AMD did spoil us with the debut Ryzen 7 1800X and its astonishingly low price for a mind-boggling number of cores and threads. But the real point is to showcase innovation. Tech that delivers the best performance by subverting expectations.

Pricing will always be an important aspect of evaluating a product, especially when deciding what to buy. But when 9950X3D2 launches on April 22, I won’t be focused on whether you should spend $899 on it. I’ll be talking about how it pulls off the technical stunt AMD originally refused to do publicly, good or bad.

That’s the value of this chip for me. It’s the rare component you can appreciate for how it furthers our interest. We need parts like it in the wild, products that show off novel new approaches to hardware instead of just contributing to the status quo. That way leads to stagnation.

I got into tech because I love the bleeding edge. This processor is that.

In this episode of The Full Nerd

In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Will Smith, and special guest Wendell of Level1Techs chat about Linux gaming, reviewing the Intel B70, and gaming on the B70. The first and foremost thing on our minds? Space. Specifically, Will being told to take down videos that discuss space coffee.

Also, I gave Adam side-eye (unseen) while listening to his take on the Artemis II’s livestreams. “Sometimes the bitrate from the camera on the outside is a little low.” Dude.

Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd Network YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real time!

Don’t miss out on our other shows too—you can catch episodes of Dual Boot Diaries, The Full Nerd: Extra Edition, and Expedition: Handheld through our channel!

And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds.

This week’s amusing nerd news

I definitely gravitated to lighter news this week—and fortunately, the tech industry delivered on uplifting developments. That includes both a McDonald’s gag gadget to save your multiplayer matches (and friendships) and the internet buzzing over a space toilet. Truly, this is the best of humanity.

McDonald’s Türkiye

• I could use this: I game on PC with my funky Azeron Cyborg + a mouse, but something like this McDonald’s doohickey would have saved me from interpersonal strife when I accidentally underestimated how fast I’d get booted for going afk in a comp match. (Also no, it’s not an April Fool’s joke. I think.)

• FINALLY: I use many browsers. My favorites? The ones that let me use vertical tabs, which meant Chrome often left me grumbling. But no longer. Vertical tabs are a go!

• Squish: Texture compression is the next target for optimizing games—and potentially squeezing more life out of older or memory-constrained graphics cards.

• What is time: How has it been ten years since the GTX 1080 Ti launched? RIP to the GOAT. 

• Yusss: Firefox is rare browser that stands apart from Chrome. It was great to hear that the company has multiple new features launching in the next couple of months.

Brad Chacos

• Welp: Researchers proved you can “break” a GPU in order to gain access to the whole PC. Fortunately, you have to be a target of someone real determined for this to be a worry. For now.

• What a headline: I’m not sure if I can repeat it here, but I did enjoy this intersection of space, science, and the human preoccupation with bathroom needs.

• The dedication: You know, sometimes you do things to prove you can. Using only poop as a weapon in a Dark Souls II playthrough falls under this banner. I respect it.

• Speaking of proving a point: Look, I liked Windows 3.1 perfectly well at the time. But not so much where I’d run it on a 9900X and 5060 Ti. But to each their own.

• Important work: Micro Center committed a grave PC sin to inform us of our real options when building a PC in dark times. Unfortunately, it turns out single-channel RAM still tanks performance in some games.

So the funny part about last week was doing a low-key April Fool’s joke, only for it to go awry. Oops. But hope you all enjoyed Episode 0 of The Full Nerd Newsletter: The Podcast. And the actual newsletter that eventually reached inboxes this past Wednesday.

Catch you all next week!

Alaina

This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld.

Whether you’re buying a high-end gaming desktop, a compact mini PC, or simply docking your laptop, those accessories you bought 5+ years ago might be showing their age—and even dragging you down.

Believe me when I say that you’ll have a much better PC experience if you upgrade with a handful of accessories that most people overlook or underestimate. After I recently set up my own high-end gaming PC, I realized the blazing-fast GPU and CPU weren’t enough. For a truly elevated experience, I needed to ditch my outdated tech.

Here are some next-level accessories and peripherals you should actually consider upgrading to, and why they’re worth every penny.

A sharp IR webcam with facial recognition

The best modern webcams have built-in infrared capabilities, allowing you to sign into your desktop PC using your face (instead of a password), just as you can on a modern laptop.

When I sit down at my desktop, I hit the spacebar on my keyboard to wake up my PC, then the webcam instantly signs me in using my face thanks to Windows Hello. No typing of a PIN or password. It may sound small, but it still feels magically easy whenever I wake my PC from sleep.

But the IR camera is just one part of a webcam package. I use a Dell UltraSharp webcam, which combines facial recognition with a 4K sensor. It’s one of our favorite Windows Hello webcams. Now I don’t look blurry and unprofessional in my meetings and recorded videos.

Dell UltraSharp 4K Webcam (WB7022)

Best Prices Today: $175.99 at Dell Home

A high-quality mechanical keyboard

Mechanical keyboards are one of the best things about using a desktop PC. Even the rare gaming laptop with a built-in mechanical keyboard can’t reproduce the tactile joy of typing on crisp keys with satisfying switches. Plus, mechanical keyboards are customizable—the keycaps, the switches, the RGB, and almost anything else about them.

Take a look at PCWorld’s list of the best mechanical keyboards for shopping advice. You owe it to yourself to try one. If you’d like to save some desk space and don’t find yourself using the number pad on full-sized keyboards, no worries! Consider a TKL (“tenkeyless”) keyboard, which is more compact and omits the number pad.

Keychron Q3 Max keyboard

Read our review

A separate keypad for macros

Back in 2005, PC geeks loved the idea of the “Optimus keyboard” that sadly turned out to be vaporware. The idea was flashy: a keyboard where every key was actually a little mini display, and the images on each key could change based on context.

Twenty years later, I recommend grabbing a Stream Deck if that sort of thing sounds interesting. With its customizable keys, you can seriously boost your productivity by configuring each key to trigger actions, launch apps, automate tasks, and perform keyboard shortcuts.

I love the Stream Deck Neo, which is compact and feels just right next to my TKL keyboard that lacks bonus macro keys. For me, the Stream Deck Neo is an essential accessory that speeds up my workflow.

Elgato Stream Deck Neo

A comfortable mouse that fits your hand

I can’t tell you what the “right mouse” is for you, but I can tell you that finding the right mouse will make a world of difference. If you’re on the computer for hours every day, it’s critical that you’re using a mouse that’s actually comfortable in hand.

Are you already happy with your mouse? Perfect! Nothing to see here, hop on down to the next accessory. But if you aren’t happy with your mouse, it’s time to make that upgrade. You won’t regret it.

Check out PCWorld’s recommendations—best wireless gaming mice, best budget gaming mice, and best overall gaming mice—and try out mice in person at local stores if you can. The various shapes of mice will feel different depending on your grip style, and there’s a lot else that goes into comfort, including size, design, and button placement.

Razer Cobra Pro

Read our review

Best Prices Today: $98.99 at Best Buy

A fresh fabric mousepad

Not all mousepads are equal. In fact, most mousepads aren’t great. The average mousepad is designed more for looks than for performance. Meanwhile, there are uber-premium mousepads with built-in wireless charging that are luxurious but arguably overkill.

I recommend getting a mousepad with a fabric surface. I’m a big fan of SteelSeries QcK mousepads because they’re pretty inexpensive—as cheap as $11 for the medium-sized one I use. The cloth surface feels great and will help you move your mouse precisely and accurately. Learn more about the differences between hard and soft mousepads.

My first QcK mousepad lasted eight years before I replaced it with a new one. At this rate, I expect I’ll buy a third one in another eight years.

SteelSeries QcK Series (Medium)

A stunningly beautiful 4K OLED monitor

It’s tempting to get a new PC and plug it straight into your existing monitor—and you can definitely do that if you want to. There’s no rule that says you have to buy a new monitor with a new PC. But if your monitor is dated or low-spec, an upgrade could be massive.

Things like 4K resolution, HDR technology, vivid OLED colors, and high refresh rates are more than just marketing terms. They’re actual benefits that you don’t want to miss out on, at least if you want a high-end PC experience while streaming videos or playing games.

And the best part? You can get an incredible PC monitor for a lot less than you might think. Check out our list of the best monitors and maybe even see a few displays in person at a local store to see how they compare.

MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED

Read our review

Desktop speakers worthy of your PC

Speakers aren’t like most other PC peripherals. You can have a fantastic experience with the right PC speakers from decades ago. But the average pair of inexpensive speakers—and especially the speakers built into most PC monitors—don’t offer a great audio experience.

If you use speakers with your PC on the regular, consider investing in a better setup. I own a pair of Audioengine A2 Plus desktop speakers purchased nearly a decade ago, and they’re still going strong. They’re convenient for any desk—just two speakers with no subwoofer required, though you can add a subwoofer for more bass if you want.

Audioengine A2 Plus

Comfortable, high-quality headphones

How are your headphones? You don’t necessarily need modern headphones—if you have a pair you love, then great! Stick with ’em. And if you don’t use headphones at all, fine. Jump on down to the next item.

But if you’ve been settling for a lesser pair of headphones, you should make the upgrade. A high-quality set of cans will transform your audio experience, whether you’re listening to music or gaming. And unless you’re an audiophile, make sure to prioritize comfort over sound quality.

My Sennheiser headphones were on their last legs and I had already repaired them once with a soldering iron. It was time for something new, so I bought Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X headphones and love them! You don’t know what you’re missing out on until you get there.

Check out our list of the best gaming headsets, but if you don’t want an integrated microphone or wireless audio, you don’t need a gaming-specific headset. Headphones can be bulky, though, so I also recommend using an AnchorPro under-desk hook.

Beyerdynamic DT 900 PRO X

A microphone that sounds great

Microphones are often overlooked, but they shouldn’t be. Whether you’re participating in video meetings, recording videos, or just voice chatting while gaming, a good microphone is a solid upgrade.

After mixed experiences with microphones built into headsets, I bought a Logitech Blue Yeti a few years ago and haven’t looked back. It’s big, but the sound quality is amazing for the price range. You’ll see professionals using these in YouTube videos, and for good reason.

If you’d rather add a microphone to a headset you already love, there’s always the classic ModMic, too. It’s a microphone you can attach to your existing pair of preferred headphones.

Logitech Blue Yeti

Best Prices Today: $87.99 at Best Buy | $89.99 at Logitech G | $89.99 at Logitech Gaming

A dongle-free gaming controller

If you’re a PC gamer who uses an older Xbox controller, it may be time to replace it. A modern Xbox controller connects to your PC wirelessly via Bluetooth, and you can also use it as a wired controller by plugging it in with a USB-C cable. Older ones rely on those obnoxious wireless receiver dongles, and who wants to deal with those anymore?

Meanwhile, if you don’t have a PC gaming controller, maybe it’s time to get one. Keyboard-and-mouse setups are fine, but sometimes it’s nice to kick back with a controller. Not sure where to begin? Check out our guide to buying a PC gaming controller you’ll love.

Microsoft Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 (Xbox One/PC)

Further reading: The most life-changing PC desk accessories

TL;DR: Get lifetime access to the Nibble learning app for $69.99 (MSRP $599.99).

You probably have a backlog of things you want to learn—AI, finance, history, or whatever you didn’t get to study in college—but never get around to because most courses demand too much time upfront. The Nibble app lets you learn in as little as 10 minutes, and it’s actually fun.

Learning that isn’t a total snoozefest

Instead of long sessions, Nibble focuses on short, structured bursts. Lessons aren’t just text. You get videos, audio, interactive games, and even AI-powered conversations that let you explore ideas in a more hands-on way.

Maybe you want to learn about AI to keep up, personal finance so you can budget better and actually own a house someday, or fine art so you can impress your date next time you go to a museum.

With lifetime access, you don’t have to feel rushed to get the most out of the subscription in only a month or two. Come back any time you want and see what new content’s been added.

Grab a Nibble lifetime subscription here for $69.99 (MSRP $599.99).

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StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office 2024 Home & Business and Windows 11 Pro for $104.99 (MSRP $448.99).

A sluggish PC usually isn’t just one problem—it’s an outdated OS, older software, and a setup that’s been patched together over time. Instead of trying piecemeal fixes like cleanup tools, this exclusive bundle of Office apps and Windows 11 Pro offers a complete overhaul for your computer that gives it a newer feel until you actually need to upgrade.

A cleaner, faster operating system

Windows 11 Pro brings better performance tuning and tools that actually help with multitasking, like Snap layouts, improved search, and virtual desktops, making it easier to stay organized without slowing down.

You also get pro-level features like BitLocker encryption, Hyper-V, and Windows Sandbox for testing apps or isolating files safely.

Office 2024 apps for a new feel

On top of your new operating system, you can install the newest version of Microsoft Office. It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote, all installed locally, so you’re not relying on a subscription or constant internet access.

Performance improvements—especially in Excel—make handling large files smoother, while built-in AI tools help speed up writing, formatting, and data analysis.

Get a like-new computer feel with this Microsoft Office 2024 and Windows 11 Pro bundle, now $104.99 (MSRP $448.99).

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StackSocial prices subject to change.