At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Super-tiny, convenient design SSD is IP65 rated Fast 10Gbps performance with everyday tasks Cons Pricey Drains your phone battery quickly Our Verdict Though it’s not cheap, the Lexar Go w/Hub is certainly an uber-convenient way to add a ton of 10Gbps storage and extra USB ports to your phone. It’s also moisture- and dust-proof to the tune of an IP65 rating. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Lexar Go portable SSD/Hub Retailer Price $169.99 View Deal B & H Photo $189.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket When I first opened the attractive case housing the Lexar Go with Hub my overriding thought was, “Where the heck is it?” Both the Go storage module and hub are so tiny, that tucked away in the side pocket they almost disappear. Once discovered, I marveled at both the diminutive dimensions and the clever design. Up to 2TB of 10Gbps portable storage with extra Type-C ports that marries nicely to your phone. What’s not to like? What are the Lexar Go’s features? The Go SSD is tiny indeed, measuring around 1.75-inches long, an inch wide, and 0.35-inches thick. It’s also extraordinarily light at less than half an ounce. Throw in an IP65 rating and you have a nice ruggedized storage add-on that doesn’t make your phone an ungainly monster. The SSD with Hub ships with small male/female (SSD only) and male/male (hub and SSD) Type-C hook connectors that lets you attach the SSD and/or hub so that they rest flat against that back of the phone. How flat depends on the thickness of your phone, but it was certainly close enough on my Motorola 5 Edge. Alas, my older iPhone 11 (don’t write me about this) sports a Lightning connector, but it seems as if it would fit nicely to Type-C models. You can also plug the SSD by its lonesome into the phone’s Type-C port if you don’t mind the extra length. The three port hub (the larger unit above), which marries nicely to the SSD (below) isn’t much larger at 1.75-inches square and the same 0.35-inches thick. It adds a mere 0.8 ounces to the mix, making the combined weight 1.2 ounces. The final piece in the kit is a screw-on tripod adapter (arching over everything in the image above) with its own Type-C connector for the phone and a captive Type-C cable that you can run to the hub (or male/female adapter and SSD). Note that I found the male Type-C connector on the Go SSD a tighter fit than normal. Indeed, it was a bit of a pain marrying it solo to the back of PCWorld’s test rig. The advantage to the tight fit is that the Go SSD won’t fall off your phone at an inopportune moment. A more than fair trade-off. The Lexar Go travel case. You’ll want to keep it in here most of the time to avoid battery drain. The whole deal (all the components) ships wrapped in a soft 6-inch by 4.5-inch case (shown above), which as I mentioned, is large enough that you’ll look inside and wonder where the heck everything is. Again, all the components are in side pockets, wrapped in protective coverings. You might be tempted to buy the Lexar Go SSD on its own, simply for its tiny size. Feel free, however, the orientation of the Go SSD’s body means that the entire unit sits flush which may block other ports. It did on the back of PCWorld’s test bed. The Lexar Go performance easily exceeds what you’ll need for high-resolution video recording. How much is the Lexar Go? I said up top that this is a pricey unit. Sans the hub, the 2TB Go SSD with Hub that I tested was $320 on Amazon at the time I started writing, but was back up to its $349 retail price in short order. The drive itself is $300. In the grand scheme of 10Gbps USB SSDs, that’s nearly twice what you pay for something of the same capacity hanging off a USB cable. There’s also a 1TB version of the Go SSD with Hub available for $240 ($190 solo). Again, about twice what a generic 10Gbps USB SSD will set you back. So you’re ponying up a rather hefty premium for the uber-svelte form factor, and what I consider outstanding convenience. Whether you find those things worth the extra moola, only you will know. I suspect many mobile content creators will. How fast is the Lexar Go? The Lexar Go performed largely on par for a 10Gbs USB 3.2 SSD when you weigh both the synthetic benchmark and real-world results. That said, its CrystalDiskMark 8 sequential transfer numbers suffered distinctly compared to the SK Hynix Tube T31. Note that the Tube T31 is significantly larger than the Go. The Lexar Go’s CrystalDiskMark 8 sequential transfer numbers suffered distinctly compared to the SK Hynix Tube T31. Longer bars are better. The Lexar Go couldn’t keep up with the SK Hynix Tube T31 in CrystalDiskMark 8’s 4K tests either, though it’s still no slouch. Given the small amount of surface area, thermals might come into play — proactively or during long writes. The Lexar Go couldn’t keep up with the SK Hynix Tube T31 in CrystalDiskMark 8’s 4K tests either, though it’s still no slouch. Longer bars are better. On the other hand, the Lexar Go proved aces in our 48GB transfers, beating out the arch-rival SK Hynix Tube T31 by 40 seconds. The Lexar Go proved aces in our 48GB transfers, beating out the arch-rival SK Hynix Tube T31 by 40 seconds. Shorter bars are better. Despite it being a 2TB SSD, the Lexar Go slowed a bit during our 450GB write, though not tragically as did the Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth. Despite it being a 2TB SSD, the Lexar Go slowed a bit during our 450GB write, though not tragically as did the Corsair Survivor Stealth. Shorter bars are better. Normally, we don’t worry too much about power consumption, but the Go had a noticeable effect on battery life. In fact, it killed the Motorola (pictured) overnight — a run-down that normally takes several days. That’s not a huge knock, as 2TB of NAND requires some juice and other SSDs will also drain the battery. We’re just saying that you should only attach the Go as needed. Overall, the Lexar Go performance easily exceeds what you’ll need for high-resolution video recording — the most taxing storage operation your phone can perform. Should you buy the Lexar Go with Hub? The Go SSD is an extremely handy, low-profile way to expand your phone’s storage. It’s on the pricey side, but if you have the need, it will fill it. As the hub is a minor expense, grab it as well. How we test Drive tests currently utilize Windows 11, 64-bit running on an X790 (PCIe 4.0/5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 4800MHz modules (64GB of memory total). Both 20Gbps USB and Thunderbolt 4 are integrated to the back panel and Intel CPU/GPU graphics are used. The 48GB transfer tests utilize an ImDisk RAM disk taking up 58GB of the 64GB of total memory. The 450GB file is transferred from a 2TB Samsung 990 Pro which also runs the OS. Each test is performed on a newly NTFS-formatted and TRIM’d drive so the results are optimal. Note that in normal use, as a drive fills up, performance may decrease due to less NAND for secondary caching, as well as other factors. This can be less of a factor with the current crop of SSDs with far faster late-generation NAND. Caveat: The performance numbers shown apply only to the drive we were shipped and to the capacity tested. SSD performance can and will vary by capacity due to more or fewer chips to shotgun reads/writes across and the amount of NAND available for secondary caching. Vendors also occasionally swap components. If you ever notice a large discrepancy between the performance you experience and that which we report, by all means, let us know. Read...

Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, the third graphics card in its newest 50-series generation, officially went on sale this morning… and less than an hour after it became available, it’s out of stock in every US online store. You might have more luck if you try to get it at physical retailers like MicroCenter, but I wouldn’t bet on it.At the time of writing, I’m unable to put any card in a shopping cart at Best Buy, Newegg, or B&H. If Amazon has any cards available, I haven’t found them… but I’m sure resellers will have listings up on there soon, as well as on places like eBay, for vastly inflated prices. That’s on top of the already-high prices for OEM card designs, since Nvidia isn’t making its own Founder’s Edition. The same thing happened a few weeks ago with the launch of the RTX 5080 and 5090 cards, despite sky-high prices. Then, as now, a combination of factors seems to have led to an even more frustrating launch than usual with new high-powered hardware. There’s pent-up demand two years after the RTX 40-series debuted, AI companies are gobbling up GPU supplies, and Nvidia seems to have unusually low supplies of the latest cards. Some retailers are projecting restock waiting times of weeks or even months. Then, throw in the usual scalpers and retailers trying to make a quick buck off of a hot item, combined with inflated prices for OEM cards with enhancements of questionable utility. Not to mention both manufacturers and retailers bumping up prices for both the usual reasons and the ongoing trade war demanded by the Trump regime. It’s a perfect storm of gotchas for PC gamers. We’re still waiting to hear the details of AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 XT cards, which should be competing with the RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti, respectively. Hopefully AMD will try to beat Nvidia on price as it cedes ground at the top of the market. There’s also news of RTX 5050, 5060, and 5060 Ti cards on the horizon, not to mention Intel showing off some impressive performance at the entry level for its second-generation Arc discrete graphics cards. But there’s no getting around it. If you demand a new, high-end Nvidia card, you’re either going to have to spend a lot of money (even more than they already cost), spend a lot of time tracking one down, or be very, very fortunate. Probably a mix of all three. Read...

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It’s long been possible to say “Hey Google” to your Google smart speaker to request a playlist from, say, YouTube Music, Spotify, Pandora, and even Apple Music. But can you spot the major music service that’s missing?  Until now, Amazon Music had been conspicuously absent from the list of music streamers that Google Assistant could easily control on your Google Nest smart speaker or display. Recently, though, Google has begun changing its tune in regard to Amazon Music support on its Nest devices.  As spotted by 9to5Google, Amazon Music can finally be set as a default music service on your Google smart speakers. The other supported streaming services include the aforementioned YouTube Music (no surprise there), as well as Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, iHeartRadio, and Pandora.  Google Nest devices such as the Nest Hub Max and the Nest Audio had previously been able to stream Amazon Music tunes via Chromecast casting. But if you wanted to use Google Assistant voice commands to tee up Amazon Music playlists on Nest devices, you needed help from a Bluetooth-connected phone. Now, however, you can ask Google Assistant to fire up your favorite Amazon Music playlist directly on your Google smart speakers, no phone required. To get started, fire up the Google Home app, tap Settings > Google Assistant > Music (you may have to tap “More Google Assistant settings” to get to the Music menu), then tap Amazon Music to link your account to Google Assistant.  Once that’s all set, you can say “Hey Google, play 1989 by Taylor Swift” to your Nest smart speaker to start playing the album, or say “Hey Google, play ‘Blank Space’” to play a particular track.  You can use the “Hey Google” wake phrase with music-centric commands such as “play songs like Taylor Swift,” “play happy music,” “shuffle,” or “play 1989 and shuffle.”  Some Amazon Music-specific voice commands include “play my songs” (which will queue up tunes from your Amazon Music library), “play ” (to play a particular playlist, including your own or one curated my Amazon), “skip forward [x] seconds,” “play it again,” and “repeat on” or “repeat off.”    Other “Hey Google” playback commands include “pause,” “stop,” and “skip,” as well as “set volume to 50 percent” or “louder.”  Finally, you can play tunes over a Google speaker group by saying (for example) “Hey Google, play Taylor Swift on downstairs speakers.” Read...

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The lead researcher has told the BBC he was so astounded he assumed his computer had been hacked. Read...

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At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Robust, sturdy hardware Fast performance Cool dual-screen form factor Includes stylus and removable Bluetooth keyboard Cons High price Half a pound too heavy Middling battery life Some confusing software quirks Our Verdict The second-generation Asus Zenbook Duo offers unparalleled multitasking prowess with its dual-screen configuration, but it’s hefty and expensive. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Laptops are infinitely more portable than a desktop system, but you have to sacrifice a lot of computational might for a computer that slips in your bag. The Asus Zenbook Duo gives you some of that power back with a second built-in display under the keyboard. And behind that second screen is some of the best hardware you’ll find in a 2025 laptop. With double the screen real estate of most laptops, this machine can help you get more done on the go, and the design is surprisingly well-thought-out. However, it’s still a heavy, expensive laptop that you should only consider if you demand the most from your PC experience, even on the road. Asus Zenbook Duo: Specs and features This is the second-generation version of the Asus dual-screen Zenbook. The original Zenbook Duo shipped with Intel Meteor Lake processors, but the machine has now been updated with the latest Lunar Lake chips. The model I’ve been testing has two identical 2880×1800 OLEDs, but there is another model with 1200p OLED panels and twice the storage that will be available at Costco for the same $1,699.99. There is one cheaper model coming at a later date, featuring the 1200p OLED and a Core Ultra 7 265H instead of the Core Ultra 9 in the other SKUs. However, it’s only $100 cheaper. For my money, the model featured in this review (UX8406CA-PS99T) is the one to get. Model number: UX8406 CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285H Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X Graphics: Intel Arc 140T Display: 14-inch 2880 x 1800 OLED Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD Webcam: 1080p IR Webcam Connectivity: 2x USB-C (Thunderbolt 4, 40Gbps), 1x USB-A (5Gbps), 3.5mm audio jack, HDMI 2.1 Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Battery capacity: 75Whr, 65W charging Dimensions: 12.34 (W) x 8.58 (D) x 0.57-0.78 (H) inches Weight: 3.64 lbs (1.65 kg) MSRP as tested: $1,699.99 The 2025 Asus Zenbook Duo is an undeniably cool laptop. It’s a fast machine with two gorgeous OLED displays. Along with the clever removable keyboard, this machine offers unparalleled multitasking capabilities on the go. Asus Zenbook Duo: Design and build quality IDG / Ryan Whitwam Looking at the Zenbook Duo, you might not immediately realize it’s far from your average laptop. The aluminum-magnesium chassis is a bit chunky but not enough that it stands out. The body is robust enough that there’s very little discernible flex. Even the fan grilles on the bottom feel sturdy. The Zenbook has a bright 14-inch OLED touchscreen and what appears to be a standard laptop keyboard. However, the keyboard is held in place by magnets, making it quick to remove. Under that is a second OLED touchscreen with plenty of options for expanding your mobile computing experience. The keyboard feels solid when attached—not at all like something you can yank free with one finger. It connects to a cluster of pogo pins on the machine when attached, but it has Bluetooth to stay connected when removed. There’s also a USB-C port on the keyboard for charging (no data), as well as an on/off switch. The machine’s actual ports are on the left and right edges on the lower screen portion. There’s a full-sized HDMI and USB-C on one side, and opposite that is another USB-C, and USB-A, and the 3.5mm jack. I appreciate that the USB-C ports are split up, allowing you to attach a charger to either side. With the keyboard removed, you have several options to use the Zenbook’s dual screens. There’s a custom on-screen keyboard that can consume half or all of the lower screen, giving you a virtual trackpad to control the mouse. Alternatively, you can use handwriting input with the included Asus stylus. However, I didn’t find the handwriting input to be very accurate. Typing on the screen isn’t ideal, either, but it’s fine for tapping out a short email or social media post. If you intend to get more writing done, you should make use of the Bluetooth-enabled keyboard. There’s a 1080p webcam above the main OLED screen. It has acceptable video quality and is good at keeping you in the frame. Since this is a Copilot+ machine, it also has AI-assisted video effects. The webcam also supports IR for Windows Hello biometric login. That’s good as there’s no fingerprint sensor on this computer. Around back, the second-gen Zenbook Duo has an aluminum kickstand that can prop it up vertically, making the two screens easier to see. This “stacked” mode, combined with the wireless keyboard, was the most compelling way to use both of the Zenbook Duo’s screens in my testing. You can also turn the machine sideways to use the panels vertically. Regardless of orientation, the dual-screen setup is great for multitasking, which is usually difficult on laptops that lack screen real estate. Admittedly, the Asus Zenbook Duo isn’t the most practical machine. It’s noticeably heavier than other 14-inch laptops, and using both screens will drain your battery quickly. However, no other laptop can match its multitasking and productivity chops. Asus Zenbook Duo: Displays and speakers IDG / Ryan Whitwam Both of the 2880×1800 OLED panels on this machine look superb. The resolution offers a crystal clear image, along with the perfect blacks and vibrant colors of OLED. The brightness is excellent, clocking in at 500 nits for both panels. That’s bright enough to display HDR content (which is supported) the way it’s meant to be seen. The touch response on both screens is precise, as well. The only issue with the screens is the extremely reflective glass cover. You’ll need every bit of that high brightness to make the Zenbook Duo readable outdoors or under very bright lights. Asus brands its OLEDs as “Lumina,” which guarantees a set of capabilities and features; the screens are certified for Dolby Vision, Pantone Color, and more. Lumina screens also get Asus’ OLED Care features, which refresh and shift pixels over time to reduce image persistence and burn-in, which is a concern for any OLED that will display the same UI elements (like the Windows taskbar) day after day. I haven’t used the laptop long enough to know if these features make a difference, but it’s nice that Asus is cognizant of this potential issue. The Zenbook Duo does not double up on speakers like it does screens. You get two speakers on the bottom with Dolby Atmos support. If you’re hoping for home cinema-level Atmos audio, think again—there’s only so much you can do with down-facing laptop speakers. That said, the speakers get very loud, and audio is crisp even if it’s turned almost all the way up. The speakers are above average for a non-gaming machine.  Asus Zenbook Duo: Keyboard and trackpad IDG / Ryan Whitwam The Zenbook Duo’s keyboard feels surprisingly similar to other Asus laptops despite being a removable Bluetooth-enabled slate. There’s a small USB-C port on the left edge to recharge the board, but it also receives power from the laptop when connected. Next to the port is an on/off switch for the Bluetooth functionality. There’s very little key travel, which is expected given the thin form factor, but the bottom of each press is at least quite solid and not mushy. Unfortunately, there’s no backlight in the removable keyboard. The layout is at least pretty standard, so touch typists won’t need the LEDs. The only aspect of the layout I don’t like is the arrow cluster, which uses half-sized keys even though there’s plenty of wasted space. The trackpad is integrated with the keyboard. Like the keys, the trackpad feels surprisingly sturdy for something not permanently attached to the laptop. It’s reasonably large—bigger than the trackpad on business-oriented machines like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. The click mechanism is quiet and consistent, and touch response has been perfect. The only issue I noticed was a bit of lag for a few seconds after switching from attached to wireless modes. Asus Zenbook Duo: Software and performance The Asus Zenbook Duo runs the same underlying Windows 11 software as every other 2025 Windows laptop. However, Asus has included a suite of tools to help you take advantage of its distinctive form factor. For example, you can instantly move windows between the screens, open and close the custom on-screen keyboard with a floating icon, and launch customizable control interfaces specific to your apps. Most of these features are accessible from the Asus ScreenXpert software. Unfortunately, these features aren’t very discoverable. There’s no tutorial when you start up the computer for the first time, and the included manual had nothing to say about the software. It’s not the smoothest software experience, but with some tinkering, you’ll be able to make the most of the dual screens. There’s also an Asus app that includes system settings and updates. This app does fire off some notifications hoping to upsell you on the premium version of the Asus GlideX cross-device software, which is also pre-installed. After silencing these pop-ups, you can ignore the Asus app until you need it. With 32GB of RAM and the top-of-the-line Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, the Zenbook Duo is a very fast laptop. I never felt like I was waiting on the machine to catch up, even when running multiple apps across both screens. While this is a Copilot+ machine, Asus didn’t go out of its way to add generative AI tools. Those have been more miss than hit on other AI PCs, so that’s no great loss. To give you a better idea of how the laptop performs, here are our standard benchmark tests. IDG / Ryan Whitwam PCMark 10 is designed to test a machine across a variety of metrics like web browsing, video chat, and photo editing to produce scores for various tasks as well as an overall score. The Asus Zenbook Duo managed a very impressive overall score of 7,261, topping the charts for Intel-powered laptops. The latest high-end chips from AMD are a few hundred points ahead, but the Core Ultra 9 is no slouch. IDG / Ryan Whitwam Cinebench is a CPU-focused test that shows how a PC handles heavy but brief multi-core workloads. More CPU cores grant higher scores in Cinebench and cooling doesn’t matter very much. Intel’s Lunar Lake chips struggle a bit more in Cinebench because they lack hyperthreading. As a result, the AMD-powered HP Omnibook Ultra 14 takes the lead. The Core Ultra 9 285H does show a substantial improvement over other Intel CPUs, though. IDG / Ryan Whitwam The Handbrake test is similar to Cinebench in that it shows how a computer handles multithreaded tasks, but this is a longer-duration test where thermals matter more. It’s the same story here, with the Ryzen 9 and its gaggle of processing threads way out in front. The Zenbook Duo is king among Intel laptops, though. IDG / Ryan Whitwam Our main gaming test is 3DMark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance. This isn’t a gaming laptop, but Intel’s latest iGPUs are quite good, and the Core Ultra 9 285H has the best version of Intel’s Arc graphics. The Arc 140T iGPU beats out all the other Lunar Lake variants, as well as the latest from AMD. Intel’s latest chips are good enough to play simpler modern games or premium titles that are a few years old. Asus Zenbook Duo: Battery life The 2025 Asus Zenbook Duo has a healthy 75Whr battery, slightly larger than most 14-inch laptops. However, its power demands are significant with dual OLEDs and a Core Ultra 9. The machine comes with a bulky 65W USB-C charger, but I’ve tested it with a variety of more compact third-party USB-C chargers that hit the same 65W peak charging speed. IDG / Ryan Whitwam In the standard PCWorld battery rundown test, the Zenbook Duo trails other recently released laptops by an hour or more. It’s still a usable laptop for a full workday, but you won’t have as much buffer as some of the competition. That’s just in single-screen “laptop” mode. If you have both screens running, the battery life takes a predictable dive of a little more than one-third. It might be hard to get a full workday out of the Zenbook Duo in dual-screen mode, especially as the battery ages. This benchmark was run in the default 60Hz mode, so switching to 120Hz will also reduce its longevity. Asus Zenbook Duo: Conclusion The 2025 Asus Zenbook Duo is an undeniably cool laptop. It’s a fast machine with two gorgeous OLED displays. Along with the clever removable keyboard, this machine offers unparalleled multitasking capabilities on the go. And the Core Ultra 9 is more than fast enough to keep up. However, the battery life is just okay. Windows 11 is still not a very compelling touch OS, but Asus has included several features that improve matters somewhat. The on-screen keyboard is better than the default Windows version, and the customizable control panels are useful. I also appreciate that the Zenbook Duo comes with a stylus, even if handwriting input is hit and miss. For people who want all this dual-screen power, they won’t be disappointed. However, the Zenbook Duo is a bit heavier and thicker than competing laptops. The price, while reasonable for a machine with two 1800p OLEDs, is still objectively a lot of money for a laptop. There are machines that are just as good at being a laptop while also offering a thinner, lighter frame and a lower price. So, you should only pick up the Zenbook Duo if you intend to unleash the dual-screen power. Read...