If you’re going to upgrade your computer, then you might as well get a mini PC these days because they’re a lot smaller, just as powerful, and more affordable. The Geekom AX8 Max is currently 23% off at Amazon, which means you can purchase it for $579 instead of the usual $749. The beautiful thing about this mini PC is that it’s not just going to be a good choice for work, but also for leisure since the built-in Radeon 780M graphics card will enable you to play some games. That’s one of the most powerful integrated graphics solutions around. While you can’t expect to play games with the graphics pushed at max level, you can still have some fun (as long as you temper your expectations!). You’ll also use the mini PC for work and your daily internet activities just fine. There’s a speedy AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS CPU on board and it comes loaded with a massive 32GB of DDR5 RAM. Now that’s a speedy combo that will serve you well day after day. It also doesn’t hurt that it features a 1TB SSD because that’s a ton of storage space! Plus, if you really want a speedier device, you can upgrade to 96GB of RAM and 4TB of storage without issue. Connectivity won’t be an issue with this mini PC because there are two USB4 type-C ports and two HDMI ports available, so you can hook up to four 8K screens. There are also tons of other ports for peripherals and data transfers, and even an audio jack if you want to take the old-fashioned approach to listening to music. So, snag this uber-powerful mini PC for $579 while this deal still lasts. Keep in mind this is a Prime deal, so you’ll need to have a Prime subscription to access it, which you can get with a 30-day free trial. Timing is perfect because Prime Day is coming July 8th to 11th with a gazillion discounts. Get a mini PC for 23% offBuy now at Amazon Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Good PCIe 5.0, host memory buffer performance Fastest native-writing QLC NAND we’ve seen Affordable Cons Still slows to 450MBps writing natively Our Verdict Up against some stiff competition, the Lexar NQ780 proved itself with aplomb. Buy it at the right price. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Lexar NQ780 SSD Retailer Price $73.25 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket I love it when new stuff shows up, and from the faster native-write performance and much larger TBW rating, the QLC NAND inside the Lexar NQ780 reviewed here seems to be new to the party. Woohoo! Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best SSDs for comparison. What are the Lexar NQ780’s features? Lexar’s NQ780, NVMe 2.0, 2280 (22mm wide, 80mm long) SSD uses the PCIe 4.0 transfer protocol (x4). And as you might guess from the Q in the model name, it uses stacked QLC NAND. The controller is an Innogrit IG5326. The design uses host memory buffer (system memory) for primary caching, so there’s no DRAM on board. The flipside of the NQ780. Lexar warranties the NQ780 for five years and/or 600TBW (terabytes that may be written) per terabyte of capacity. Write more than that (unlikely) and the warranty is dead –though not necessarily the drive. You won’t lose data when the percentage used reaches 100 percent, just the ability to write more. By the way, that’s a very high TBW rating for QLC NAND, which usually is in the 200- to 250TBW region. That reinforces my belief that this is a new type of QLC. How much is the Lexar NQ780? At the time of this writing you could glom onto a 4TB (tested) NQ780 for $290, a 2TB for $150, and a 1TB for $80. That’s about standard for bargain SSDs, but not outstandingly cheap. How fast is the Lexar NQ780? I’m always happy when faster NAND shows up, especially QLC NAND, as in Lexar’s NQ780. It nearly tripled what I normally see from quad-level cell flash memory writes, though it could of course be a controller trick. All NVMe SSDs are fast. That said, the 4TB NQ780 placed about middle of the pack in performance. It ranked third out of six HMB/QLC SSDs, 13th out of all 32 HMB SSDs, and 39th out of the 57 NVMe SSDs of all types that I’ve tested. It more than held its own in CrystalDiskMark 8’s sequential testing, though. The NQ780’s CrystalDiskMark 8 random performance was good, but behind the pack, and way short of the WD Black SN7100. The 48GB transfer times were also good, if not record-setting. Writing 450GB took the NQ780 just over two and a half minutes — within shouting distance of the Kingston NV3, which was the fastest of the listed drives. The other being the Teamgroup MP44Q. Note that the WD uses TLC NAND. While it’s not the fastest drive listed here, the NQ780 is easily fast enough for most purposes and the native write rate (secondary write as SLC cache is exhausted) is two to four times that which I’ve seen from other QLC NAND SSDs. See the image below. The NQ780’s native write rate (secondary write as SLC cache is exhausted) is two to four times that what I’ve seen from other QLC NAND SSDs. Should you buy the Lexar NQ780? Given the right price, I wouldn’t say no to the NQ780, with it’s newly faster-off-cache QLC NAND. While it’s not the speediest kid on the block, it is affordable. How we test Our storage tests currently utilize Windows 11 (22H2) 64-bit running on a Z790 (PCIe 5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 modules (64GB of memory total). Intel integrated graphics are used. The 48GB transfer tests utilize an ImDisk RAM disk taking up 58GB of the 64GB total memory. The 450GB file is transferred from a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB, which also contains the operating system. Each test is performed on a newly formatted and TRIM’d drive so the results are optimal. Note that as any drive fills up, performance will decrease due to less NAND for secondary caching, and other factors. The performance numbers shown apply only to the drive we were shipped as well as the capacity tested. SSD performance can vary by capacity due to more or fewer chips to read/write across and the amount of NAND available for secondary caching (writing TLC/QLC as SLC). Vendors also occasionally swap components. If you ever notice a large discrepancy between the performance you experience and that which we report (systems being roughly equal), by all means — let us know. Read...

Chromebooks can do AI. Did you know that? If you didn’t, you’re making someone in Google’s marketing department very sad. The Chromebook team has been pushing Google Gemini AI powers, particularly on the more capable Chromebook Plus label, for a year and change. The new Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14, with a MediaTek processor boasting 50 TOPS, is a good example. Lenovo’s new MediaTek-powered Chromebook Plus 14 Google used the upcoming Lenovo design to showcase Gemini’s latest tricks at a press event last week. But I have to confess that I found the laptop itself, particularly its value proposition, more immediately gripping than the latest attempts to sell me a subscription that’ll write my emails for me. The Chromebook Plus 14 combines a solid and lightweight build, a 14-inch OLED screen (touchscreen optional), generous memory (12GB or 16GB), and that MediaTek processor. “MediaTek” usually indicates a more budget option, such as Lenovo’s own Surface-style Chromebook tablets. But in this case it’s the Kompanio Ultra, an 8-core, 3-nanometer design that has more in common with the Snapdragon X series in recent Windows laptops than the repurposed phone boards often associated with the brand. Michael Crider/Foundry And this chip is the reason that this particular Chromebook Plus was so heavily featured. It’s packing a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that enables more powerful, efficient local processing for AI tasks, at the same 50 Terra Operations Per Second (TOPS) rating as many of the best laptop CPUs on the market. Google says that this is the first Chromebook Plus to get its latest AI capabilities, which the Chromebook Plus 14 can handle 32 percent faster and 44 percent more efficiently…than models without an NPU. A bit of a weighted comparison, that. Throw in the excellent efficiency of an Arm architecture, which is inherently less limiting on Chrome OS than on Windows (heck, it might be even better for running Android games from the Play Store), and you have the makings of an excellent option on the higher end of the Chromebook spectrum. MediaTek has highlighted this chip’s ability to perform in Minecraft specifically. Michael Crider/Foundry Other charms of the Chromebook Plus 14 include Dolby-certified speakers (which are indeed pretty good, letting me clearly hear music and speech in a crowded demo room), a fingerprint scanner, a 2.5-pound (1.13 kg) weight, and the “longest battery life on a Chromebook Plus [laptop].” A more precise number for that longevity is 17 hours, but exactly what you’ll be doing in those 17 hours will of course make it vary (especially on something so web-dependent). Using the new laptop briefly at the event, I found it to be appealing in a lot of different ways. The keyboard in particular is very good for a Chromebook, if not quite up to the standards of Lenovo’s ThinkPad line. It’s fanless, thin, and lightweight for a 14-inch model, probably helped along by a polycarbonate case bottom that reminds me of the Pixelbook Go in a good way (rest in peace, Google-produced laptops). Like other recent Lenovo mid-range designs, the 5-megapixel webcam gets a little lip above it that functions as a handy lifting edge, and includes a hardware shutter for privacy. Michael Crider/Foundry Oh, one more happy design choice: A USB-C port on both sides of the laptop. Would I be conceited if I claimed that someone at Lenovo is listening to my whiny complaints on the topic? Yes, I would, but I’m going to claim it anyway. Perhaps most impressive is the starting price for this design, $649. That’s low enough that it’s within striking distance of an upgrade for more conventionally “affordable” Chromebooks, or worth considering versus a more expensive Windows laptop with similar specs. That base model gets 12GB of RAM (low for a Windows laptop, but higher than the 8GB necessary for the Chromebook Plus designation), and sadly lacks a touch upgrade for that very pretty OLED screen. An upgraded model will get 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage — I assume 128GB for the base model, but haven’t seen that confirmed — and the missing touchscreen. How much you’ll be paying for those bonuses, I don’t know. New AI powers for Chromebook Plus So what exactly will you be able to do with all those AI powers enabled by the fancy new chip inside? Here’s a quick list. Some of these will be exclusive to the new Lenovo model, at least to start, but will presumably expand to more Chromebook Plus models as the Kompanio Ultra chip proliferates across new and updated models. Select to search with Google Lens: This is essentially a desktop/laptop version of Circle to Search, as seen on recent Android phones. Google Text capture: It’s a more powerful version of optical character recognition (OCR) built into the same tool. More structured data, like an expense report, can be exported to a Google Sheets spreadsheet if the tool recognizes it. Ditto for events and Google Calendar. Google Image generation in Quick Insert: Google is expanding its generative AI offerings enabled by the Quick Insert button, which replaced the search/Caps Lock button on the most recent Chromebook Plus designs. Now you can use the same contextual tool to insert Gemini’s AI-created images, anywhere in the interface, and across any web-connected tool. You’ll have four images to choose from when you invoke the tool…but I couldn’t get it to work in the demo. Google Image editing (exclusive to Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14): Chromebook Plus models are getting more powerful image editing tools in the basic gallery app, powered by Gemini AI. Help Me Read, Simplify: Chromebook Plus models will get a contextual option to sum up a selection of text or a page using the Gemini LLM. This is different from “Summarize,” and currently in an experimental mode. I get the impression that this is meant for children or others who want to read as little as possible for a large amount of info. Smart Grouping (exclusive to Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14): This is the one that’s most interesting to me, an “AI” skeptic. Using this new function you can create a new Smart Group for whatever you’re looking at, and Gemini will create a new “desk” (Chrome OS’s term for virtual desktops) with all the relevant info you currently have open. This works across Chrome browser tabs, apps, and anything else you happen to have open. Google I can see how this would be extremely useful for anyone who tends to let their tab bar fill up, just a couple of seconds will give you a focused, streamlined interface for a single task and tons of information. That’s the intention, anyway — I get the feeling that, like virtual desktops themselves, I might bounce off this feature unless it proves to be extremely reliable. Google is still using buyers of new Chromebooks, and especially those that qualify for Chromebook Plus features, as a testing ground for the pricey $20-a-month Google AI Pro plan, which comes with 2 terabytes of cloud storage. In addition to a year of free access with a new Plus device purchase, Google will now throw in access to the Veo 3 video generator and flagship NotebookLM large language model across that year. Google claims this is worth $240 for the year. You can use it to generate “up to 20 podcasts daily.” Having seen plenty of AI slop on YouTube trying to pass off a NotebookLM “podcast,” in which two AI-generated voices talk to each other with painful approximations of human dialogue and vocal tics, I can’t imagine a more painful way to try and absorb information. But perhaps I’m just getting old. And bitter. Chromebook’s future in question without Chrome Before I left the event, I cornered John Malentis, Google’s VP of Chrome OS Product Management to ask a few questions. I was glad to hear that teachers, and to a lesser degree parents, can turn off access to text and image generation powers in Chrome OS with management tools. That’ll make it harder — if far from impossible — for kids to get Google to do their homework. More promising was the news that Google’s live translation of video and audio is rolling out to more education devices later this year. I also asked Malentis if he had any comment on the future of Chrome OS, in the theoretical event that a judicial branch of a large government forced Google to sell or otherwise divest itself of the Chrome browser. I fully expected him to be unable to comment on this, and he fulfilled my expectation. Exactly what the future of Chrome OS looks like when and if the United States determines that Google must get rid of Chrome remains the most interesting, and concerning, variable for Chromebooks in the near future. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Extremely affordable for its size class Very simple to use Reasonably easy to clean Cons Short operating cycle due to its limited battery life Misses a fair amount of debris Zero smart features Our Verdict This robotic pool cleaner has no smart features and offers slightly limited performance; but you might not find anything as capable at this very low price. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Airrobo PC10 Retailer Price $369.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Sometimes there’s a place for simplicity in and around the home, and pool owners who only need the absolute basics might want to give the affordably priced Airrobo PC10 a look for handling their pool-cleaning duties. Airrobo manufactures robot vacuum cleaners primarily; the PC10 and the similarly priced PC200 Lite are its only forays into pool-cleaning tech. Specifications This robotic pool cleaner certainly looks the part, weighing in at 22 pounds and featuring the tread-based design and central, scrubbing rollers that are typical of higher-end cleaners. Powered by a modest 5200mAh battery, the PC10 offers two hours of running time and a specified maximum coverage area of 1,076 square feet–roughly double the surface area of my pool’s floor (not including its walls). The unit charges via a burly connector on the side of the robot; a screw-on cap keeps water out while it’s at work. The Airrobo PC10’s tread design mimics the look of higher-end, higher-priced robotic pool cleaners, although this machine doesn’t perform at their level.Christopher Null/Foundry There’s no mobile app and no remote control here; in fact, the only control on the entire device is a switch on the top of the robot that allows you to choose between three operating modes: floor only, wall/waterline, or both. This switch is more convenient than the typical selector buttons on competing devices, in part because it makes it easy to remember to turn the robot off after a run, even if its battery is dead. The Airrobo PC10 is far cheaper than the other midrange robots with which competes. Too many times I’ve forgotten to turn off a robot, only for it to attempt to come back to life after it’s been plugged in and charged for a bit. A large LED bar near the switch provides a color-coded indication of either battery level or a fault condition, but that’s it. Performance The Airrobo PC10 is dutiful in the water, pathfinding with reasonable efficacy, though it’s not always 100-percent effective at actually suctioning up debris. In observing the robot on its rounds, I found it often rolled over leaves without successfully picking them up—and sometimes created a current that pushed those leaves up and over the robot as it approached. Christopher Null/Foundry It’s perhaps a strange quirk of the unit’s aquadynamics, and the primary reason why the Airrobo was only about 85-percent effective—at most—collecting both organic and synthetic debris in my testing. As with most robotic pool cleaners, the Airrobo was unable to clean steps, and it struggled with tight corners, although it never got stuck anywhere. Wall/waterline cleaning performance was about average in my testing. The unit is designed to park itself near a wall upon completion of its two-hour cycle, which it did successfully in my testing, after which it must be retrieved with the included hook and a pole. Debris is captured in a mid-sized, tight-meshed filter basket, which is accessed through a hatch on top of the robot. The basket is a simple unit with a single, hinged lid. Cleaning it out with a hose is not the easiest because debris can’t pass through, but the size of the basket is small enough to make the process fairly uneventful. The Airrobo PC10’s The filter basket fits beneath a top-mounted hatch. You’ll use a hose to clean it out.Christopher Null/Foundry This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best robotic pool cleaners. The Airrobo PC10 is available in two colors, both two-toned in white and either gray or blue. Both were priced at $360 at the time of this review, a steep discount over the perhaps over-ambitious $800 MSRP and far cheaper than other midrange robots with which Airrobo competes, such as the Wybot S2. At the same time, it’s a more effective device than the entry-level Aiper Seagull SE and similar robots, which are designed for very small pools that don’t get overly dirty. Other robotic pool cleaners in this class typicall don’t scrub walls, either. You can read more about Airrobo’s other pool-cleaning bot, PC200Lite, if you’re curious. Should you buy the Airrobo PC10? The Airrobo PC10 is a bit underpowered for my pool, though perhaps with a larger battery and a revamped suction system, it could be a contender down the line. For now, it’s best directed at users who want to upgrade from even smaller units without spending significantly more. Read...

It’s often hard to find a gaming or creator laptop that isn’t super large and heavy—at least not without paying a small fortune. Best Buy is slashing the price of the Gigabyte Aero 14 by $600, which means you can get it for $1,100. Not only does it weigh a little over three pounds, but it also pairs a stunning OLED display with solid hardware — including an RTX GPU — for peak content creation performance. The OLED screen is one of the main highlights of this laptop, delivering crisp visuals at 2880×1800 resolution. The 13th-gen Intel Core i7 processor is also a strong performer for both everyday tasks and gaming. While we’d like to see more RAM than the 16GB DDR5 available, it’s enough for most games. This model comes equipped with an RTX 4050 graphics card. It’s definitely on the entry-level side, but so is the price. It’s fine for 1080p gaming, but you may need to dial things back on more visually demanding games. If you’re a creator, on the other hand, you’ll appreciate the Nvidia/Intel combo joining forces with a crisp OLED display. As for connectivity, the Aero 14 has you covered. It features two Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, and multiple USB ports. There’s even a microSD card reader, which is hard to come by these days. Snag the powerful Gigabyte Aero 14 laptop for $600 off at Best Buy right now! It’s a rare sight to see this laptop down to $1,100, so make the most of it and add it to your cart. Save $600 on a speedy gaming laptopBuy now at Best Buy Read...

I don’t use a Windows Copilot+ PC as a daily driver, though I have several in my office. But there’s one absolutely critical Copilot+ feature that forces me to swap out my current laptop, attach a Copilot+ PC to my docking station, and boot it up. Very few people have bought a Copilot+ PC in the last year. So these features, which are currently locked to Copilot+ PCs and their NPU, aren’t well known: Windows Recall; Paint’s Cocreator, Generative Erase, Object Select, and Sticker Generator; Click-to-Do; Photos’ Super Resolution, Relight and Restyle Image; the intelligent search features within the Settings menu; Windows Studio Effects; and Live Captions. My editor assumed I would prefer the last feature, Live Captions, probably because it’s both useful and cool. But no! I actually have one Copilot+ feature I frequently use instead: Image Resizer, now called Super Resolution. What are these Copilot+ features, anyway? Our explainer on what a Copilot+ PC is focused on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite processor and laptops that can use it. Certain Intel Core Ultra (Lunar Lake) and AMD Ryzen AI 300 laptops now qualify, too. They all depend on the power of an NPU, the AI engine at the heart of these chips. Microsoft, in turn, uses the NPU to power some of its AI features that have arrived on Windows PCs with an NPU installed. Here’s a brief list of those features that I explained above, and you can use the link for a deeper dive. Note that these are features that require an NPU, and you won’t receive them if you don’t own a Copilot+ PC. Windows Recall: Microsoft’s handy but controversial tool that snapshots your PC to help you find misplaced bits of information Paint’s Cocreator: An art tool that generates art in near-real time as you sketch, preserving the layout of your drawing. Click-To-Do: Think of this as an intelligent right-click menu, that uses AI to guess what you want to do. Windows Photos’ Restyle Image: If you want to turn a photo into a mosaic or a Monet, you can ask Photos’ AI to do that for you. Windows Studio Effects: A collection of tools to blur your background, filter out noise, and help you look like you’re paying attention. Live Captions: This provides AI-based captioning and translation of pre-recorded and streamed video. Photos’ Image Relight: a subtle editing tool to provide additional lighting effects. Microsoft is also testing semantic search, both for files as well as the Settings menu. The latter is now live. Why do I love Super Resolution? For every story we write, we need to have art to accompany it. If you’re reviewing a laptop, your work is practically done for you. We need an illustration that meets certain image size guidelines, and sometimes that means working with a very small icon — for example, the Microsoft Store icon on your taskbar, or the Copilot icon. Sometimes, you can’t find an image that’s large enough. If you choose to edit a photo within the Windows Photos app, you can turn on Super Resolution. Here, you can choose to upscale a photo to a larger resolution, and Windows performs some AI editing effects to try and smooth out any graininess. Here, I’ve taken the tiny OneDrive icon on my Windows taskbar and increased the resolution. A slider bar demonstrates the differences. Super Resolution within the Windows Photos app, for Copilot+ PCs.Mark Hachman / Foundry Super Resolution is the perfect tool for the job. I can take a small image and simply enlarge it within Paint, but a tiny icon can look blurry and indistinct when enlarged. The image resizing tool works very well for enlarging and sharpening an image, so that it looks pretty good. And, of course, it’s free. Of course, you can use Super Resolution for something like a scanned photo, or something else. It’s not a tool you’ll need to dig out frequently, but it’s very helpful for me when I need it. It’s not a miracle worker, and there are paid services like Topaz.ai that promise to do a better job. But again: Super Resolution is free, convenient, and right on my laptop. Why don’t I use Live Captions? I don’t watch that much video, basically. I’ll watch foreign TV (my wife is a K-drama fan on Netflix) and I’ll read foreign reporting. I don’t often find myself watching foreign TikToks or other video, and many of those platforms already have built-in translation, anyway. I’m also never sure if Live Captions is giving me the correct translation. Live Captions supplies translated captions on your screen (here, at the very top). But the translated audio is entirely different from the captions. As a non-native speaker, I’m not sure what’s correct. Live Captions is still pretty magical — it’s easy to take it for granted, but it’s something from Star Trek come to life. But it’s the little things that matter in my daily work, and Image Resizer fill the bill. A bonus feature for you: Generative Erase One of the issues with Microsoft’s latest AI blitz is that some functions demand an NPU, while others don’t — and there’s no messaging to that effect. It’s chaotic. I do really enjoy how Microsoft has quietly taken some of the better features in apps like Photoshop and brought them inside Windows, such as layers in the Paint app. Microsoft For ages, Photos also had a tool called Spot Fix, a very early use of AI for photo editing. I don’t like to heavily edit photos, only because we often have a journalistic responsibility to show things as they are. If a laptop attracts fingerprints, it’s sometimes useful to show that. In certain cases, I’d use Spot Tool to edit out a speck of dust, a spot on a background wall, or occasionally an object. In the latter case, that’s usually because I was trying to take a photo of a device at a trade show, and something distracting intruded. Spot Fill would erase dust very easily. Generative Erase is like an improved version of it. There is a Generative Erase function inside both Photos and Paint, and neither require an NPU. I know smartphones now provide photo editing right in the phone itself, but Generative Erase is handy for stored photos in OneDrive or elsewhere. Microsoft is also testing Generative Fill within Paint, which will add objects to your image — so you could add a guy in a gorilla suit to your wedding photo, or something. Generative Fill, however, will require an NPU / Copilot+ PC. Simply keeping track of what AI features are available and what hardware they require is a challenge for everyone right now! Microsoft Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Attractive design and good build quality Great image quality in both SDR and HDR Versatile webOS with smart TV features USB-C input with Power Delivery Cons Not as sharp as most current OLED monitors Speakers are included, but weak Confusing menu system Our Verdict The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W is a gigantic 39-inch ultrawide monitor that can double as a smart television, for better and for worse. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W Retailer Price $1,299.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Blink and you’d miss it, but it’s true. Smart gaming monitors are here. Both LG and Samsung now offer monitors marketed at gamers that include a fully functional TV operating system that works much as it does on each brand’s smart TVs. The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W brings this concept to a big, beautiful OLED panel. It looks great, but it’s not perfect. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best gaming monitors for comparison. LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W specs and features The most notable specification on the LG UltraGear 39GX90SA-W’s spec sheet is its size. It’s a 39-inch ultrawide with a 21:9 aspect ratio, and while a 39-inch display may not sound significantly larger than a 34-inch ultrawide, it results in a 31 percent increase in display area. Put simply, the 39-inch LG feels way bigger than a 34-inch alternative. Display size: 39-inch 21:9 aspect ratio Native resolution: 3440×1440 Panel type: WOLED Refresh rate: Up to 240Hz Adaptive Sync: Yes, Adaptive Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium, Nvidia G-Sync Compatible HDR: HDR 10, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 CertifiedHDR Ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and 65 watts of Power Delivery, 1x Ethernet, 2x USB-A (2.0), 1x 3.5mm audio-out Additional features: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth, remote control, LG webOS Audio: Speakers included Warranty: 2-year parts and labor warranty Price: $1,599.99 MSRP, $1,299.99 retail at time of review The 39GX90SA-W is also notable because it includes LG’s webOS smart television operating system. It works just as it does on an LG Smart TV and provides access to a wide variety of apps, as well as connectivity to many digital content libraries, like movies you might have purchased through YouTube. It even supports cloud gaming services like GeForce Now. Pricing is high, though not more than expected. The retail MSRP is $1,599.99, but a glance at price tracking websites shows the sale price of $1,199.99 is more typical. That’s expensive but expected for a huge, high-end OLED monitor. LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W design The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W is a 39-inch ultrawide monitor with an aggressive 800R curve. Though obviously not as large as 45-inch ultrawide alternatives, it has serious presence and takes up a lot of space on a desk. The aggressive curve stands out immediately and will prove polarizing. If you like a curved monitor, it’s great. If not, you’ll have trouble putting up with it. Size and curved display aside, the 39GX90SA benefits from an alluring ultra-white design. The rear panel and display stand both feature a stark, clean, almost clinical look that will fit in with minimalist desk setups. Most of the monitor’s materials are plastic, but the bottom half of the stand is metal, and the plastics used were sturdy when I picked up the monitor. Matthew Smith / Foundry The stand is huge. It includes a broad neck, a large base, and a deep reach that places the ultrawide display panel relatively close to the user’s face. It can be difficult, or impossible, to find an ideal position if your desk is less than 30 inches deep, or less than 50 inches wide. That’s to be expected given the 39GX90SA’s huge ultrawide screen, but it’s still important to keep in mind. Most people will find a 34-inch ultrawide a better fit for their desk. Even so, LG’s design is a win. It’s at least as premium as Samsung’s Odyssey G8 and G9 monitors, and more attractive than recent alternatives from Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI (among other brands). It works especially well as a mixed-used monitor in a room that serves as a home office during the day and a gaming den at night. The aggressive curve stands out immediately and will prove polarizing. LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W connectivity Connectivity is mostly a highlight for the LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W, with a few caveats. On the plus side, the monitor includes a lot of video connectivity. It has two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort, and one USB-C with DisplayPort. That’s a total of four video inputs and a good range of options for connecting laptops, desktops, and game consoles. The USB-C port also supports data and up to 65 watts of Power Delivery. I’m happy to see a USB-C port with Power Delivery included, as it reinforces the monitor’s identity as a display for both work and play. Owners can use a single cable to connect and charge a thin-and-light laptop that has USB-C. The monitor’s additional connectivity includes two USB-A ports (both USB 2.0) and Ethernet. The Ethernet port is useful if you plan to make the most of the monitor’s smart connectivity, which I’ll get to shortly. If you don’t have Ethernet handy, however, that’s fine: The monitor also supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. A 3.5mm audio jack rounds out the connectivity. LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W menus and features LG calls the Ultragear 39GX90SA-W a “smart gaming monitor.” What does that mean? It’s basically a smart TV. While it lacks a TV tuner (meaning it can’t accept cable or antenna TV input), it otherwise works much like any LG television that runs LG’s webOS. It provides a huge variety of streaming apps, from Netflix to Crunchyroll, and even supports cloud gaming apps like GeForce Now (which means you can technically game without a PC or console by connecting a Bluetooth game controller to the monitor). WebOS is quick, attractive, and easy to understand. However, the 39GX90SA-W suffers a few problems when it comes to how the monitor interacts with PC inputs. For example, when a new PC input is connected, the monitor will ask if you’d like to switch to that input. The prompt doesn’t stay on-screen for long, though, so I often found it had disappeared by the time I climbed out from under my desk to connect my desktop. I also had small but noticeable issues with the responsiveness of the monitor’s on-screen menu, which occasionally hesitated as I moved through options. I even encountered a loading screen icon while swapping between monitor menus. That’s not something you’ll see on a monitor that lacks a smart TV operating system. This is most obvious when using the Game Optimizer mode. Opening the on-screen menu in this mode opens a Ultragear-branded menu that otherwise doesn’t appear. It doesn’t support adjusting many features, however, and the swap from the Ultragear menu to the standard menu takes a few seconds, during which a loading icon appears. On the other hand, the 39GX90SA-W ships with a compact remote that provides easy access to monitor options. While the menu system’s sometimes slow performance is annoying, it’s less annoying than adjusting monitor menus using a joystick or buttons on the monitor itself (a joystick is still found on the monitor, though, in case you lose the remote). The streaming apps I tested, such as YouTube and Netflix, worked as expected. Matthew Smith / Foundry Speakers are bundled in the 39GX90SA-W, but they’re not loud enough to be useful in most situations. I found them tepid at maximum volume even in my home office, which has no significant noise besides my home HVAC. The 39GX90SA-W’s speakers could hardly compete with that. I’m not sure everyone will find the 39GX90SA-W’s smart features a win, but it’s always interesting to see them on a big, ultrawide monitor. This is effectively a 39-inch ultrawide smart TV—something that doesn’t exist in the traditional HDTV market. It’s unfortunately not large enough for use in most TV dens, but I do think this concept will appeal to shoppers mostly interested in viewing movies or playing PC games. LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W SDR image quality The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W utilizes an LG WOLED panel. These panels have been tested in numerous monitors and are generally slightly less vibrant compared to Samsung’s QD OLED panels, although they still perform well in terms of contrast and brightness. The LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W remains on-script. Matthew Smith / Foundry I measured a sustained SDR brightness of about 246 nits from the 39GX90SA-W. As the graph shows, that is a typical level of brightness for a modern OLED monitor in SDR. Although it’s not especially bright, it’s enough for use in a room with some light control, like blinds or curtains. If you are sitting near sunlit windows, however, glare can become an issue. The monitor has a semi-gloss coat, but its aggressive curve can have the effect of focusing light sources depending on their angle, which can amplify glare. Matthew Smith / Foundry Contrast is a strength of OLED panels. They can reach a minimum brightness of zero nits, which means they have an effectively infinite contrast ratio. The result is the deep, immersive image that propelled OLED to the top of image quality rankings. The 39GX90SA-W is no exception, but it also doesn’t stand out. All the OLED panels found on modern monitors reach a minimum luminance of zero nits, so there’s no meaningful difference here. Still, contrast is a key reason to select the 39GX90SA-W instead of an ultrawide LCD competitor. Matthew Smith / Foundry The 39GX90SA-W’s color gamut spans 100 percent of sRGB as well as 96 percent of DCI-P3 and 88 percent of Adobe RGB when tested in the standard monitor preset. That’s an excellent result and enough to provide a vibrant, highly saturated image that most people will find pleasing. As the graph shows, QD-OLED monitors like the Alienware AW3425DW tend to have slightly better color saturation. The advantage is subtle, but noticeable, though the LG’s color gamut is still excellent. Matthew Smith / Foundry The 39GX90SA-W has good color accuracy in its standard image preset, although as the graph shows, it’s not the best in its category. The image looks realistic, and I had difficulty noticing any major color issues aside from color temperature. It is important to note that the monitor offers a comprehensive range of image quality presets, including expert presets. These presets significantly enhance color accuracy, reducing the average color error to an impressive 0.85. In standard mode, the gamma was 2.3, which is above my target of 2.2, and the color temperature was 7400 K—which is cooler and more sterile than the preferred 6500 K. The expert image quality preset again improved matters dramatically, shifting both gamma and color temperature to our preference. Sharpness, however, is a problem that can’t be mitigated. The 39GX90SA-W has a native resolution of 3440×1440, which is typical of most ultrawide monitors. But most alternatives have a smaller 34-inch panel, and spreading the same number of pixels across a 39-inch panel noticeably degrades sharpness. Small fonts have clear pixelation and color artifacts around them, while small buttons and interface elements can look blocky. It’s tolerable, but the 39GX90SA-W is not for those who want a crystal-clear display. The 39GX90SA-W’s overall image quality is good, but it’s a bit below-average for an OLED monitor. It shares common OLED strengths, including an incredible contrast ratio and wide color gamut. However, LG’s WOLED still doesn’t rival Samsung’s QD-OLED in color volume, and the 39GX90SA-W’s sharpness will be an issue for eagle-eyed buyers. It’s an attractive display but doesn’t stand out from the OLED crowd. LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W HDR Image Quality LG’s UltraGear 39GX90SA-W supports HDR and is VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 certified. That’s the typical level of certification for an OLED monitor. However, as the graph below shows, the monitor can reach a higher level of brightness than that certification would suggest, with a maximum sustained HDR brightness of 783.5 nits. Matthew Smith / Foundry When I compare the 39GX90SA-W to its competitors I’m forced to repeat myself, as once again it performs about as well as most other OLED monitors on the market. Its HDR brightness figures are similar to recently tested WOLED monitors. Samsung QD-OLED are currently a better choice for HDR overall, but I wouldn’t call it a night-and-day difference, and it should only sway you if HDR performance is among your top priorities.  Still, I was pleased with the LG’s HDR picture. It’s vivid in most scenes and games, with only scenes that attempt to push brightness across the entire display really challenging the monitor. LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W motion performance The LG UltraGear 39GX90SA-W has a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz, which provides a buttery-smooth image in PC games that can reach frame rates that high. It also benefits from OLED’s low pixel response time, which drops as low as 0.03 milliseconds. In practice, this further reduces motion blur. As a bonus, it also translates to relatively minor motion blur at lower refresh rates (like 60Hz or 120Hz). There’s more to it than just motion clarity, because the monitor also provides broad adaptive sync support with official support for Adaptive Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium, and Nvidia G-Sync standards. While most monitors that support any of these will also unofficially work with all three, it’s good to see official support to give gamers peace of mind. As with other aspects of the 39GX90SA-W, the monitor’s only downside is that it’s basically the same as other OLEDs on the market. There’s a very wide variety of monitors that have a 240Hz refresh rate or higher, so while the LG looks great in fast-paced games, it doesn’t look better than the competition. Should you buy the LG Ultragear 39GX90SA-W? The Ultragear 39GX90SA-W is another competent entry into LG’s ever-growing line-up of OLED monitors. It delivers an immersive, colorful, contrast-rich image with superb motion clarity, though it suffers from sub-par sharpness. The monitor also provides LG’s webOS smart TV operating system with access to familiar apps including Netflix and GeForce Now, alongside Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. That means it can serve as an all-in-one gaming and entertainment display even without a PC attached. That makes the 39GX90SA-W alluring if you want an ultrawide monitor that’s larger and more feature-rich than most competitors. If you don’t care about smart features in your monitor, however, a smaller and less expensive alternative like the Alienware AW3425DW will make more sense. Read...

The looming vote on the assisted dying bill features prominently on the front pages of Friday`s papers. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Intuitive web-based interface Robust security options Lots of business-ready capabilities Cons Business features won’t be needed by some users Requires annual commitment to get best value Our Verdict pdfFiller is an impressive PDF editor and document management solution with plenty to offer individuals and businesses. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today pdfFiller is a browser-based document management tool aimed at both individual and enterprise users. The end-to-end PDF solution allows you to do everything from editing to securing to sharing and storing your PDF files from its simple web interface. The app is designed like a desktop editor with a toolbar above the document pane and thumbnails down the left side that make it easy to manage multipage documents. Working with PDFs is impressively straightforward. Adding elements like text boxes, shapes, sticky notes, and even the date is as simple as clicking the appropriate icon and dragging that item to the page. Other tasks such as adding images and signatures require a few more steps, but typically employ a wizard to streamline the execution. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best PDF editors for comparison. Editing and annotation To open a PDF, you can drag-and-drop the file directly onto pdfFiller’s home page. Alternately, you can upload files from your hard drive or from Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, a URL, or pdfFiller’s own online document library. You can also import a PDF from email by sending the file yourself or requesting it from a third party. You can simply drag elements like text boxes, shapes, and the date to your PDF. Michael Ansaldo/Foundry The editor enables you to work with PDFs much as you would with a Word document, allowing you to add, delete, and copy/paste text, change font style, size, and color; and so on. It also offers a standard set of markup tools. You can highlight, erase, or redact text; add sticky notes and comments; and scribble marginalia. A new “AI Replace” tool leverages ChatGPT to search across the PDF and automatically replace your target words or phrases while retaining original fonts, layout, and formatting. This makes batch updates — like changing company names, dates, or terms across a multi-page PDF — fast, accurate, and formatting-safe. Form hosting PDFs are often used to distribute contracts, questionnaires, and other types of forms. pdfFiller allows you to create, host, and edit these as easily as Word-style documents. You can also collect payments through PDF forms by linking a payment gateway. Document library One of pdfFiller’s most impressive features is its document library. If you can’t create the document you need from scratch, you can likely find it in this trove of government, legal, and business forms, any of which can be downloaded and customized to your needs. You can also save any document you create as a template for reuse. You can create PDFs from a library of government forms in pdfFiller’s document library. MIchael Ansaldo/Foundry One of pdfFiller’s most impressive features is its document library. Sharing Once your PDF is edited, you can securely share it with teammates through a link. You can also send it via email, text, fax, or USPS, or have it notarized directly from your pdfFiller account. Encryption and security pdfFiller offers robust encryption and security features for users that frequently handle sensitive data. Documents can be locked in an encrypted folder and require two-factor authentication for access. The editor offers dedicated HIPAA compliance settings to ensure patient healthcare information is protected according to standards outlined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It also helps keep track of your account activity with an Audit Trail feature that shows which forms you’ve opened and shared, what time you logged into and out of your pdfFiller account, and other user activity. How much is pdfFiller? The Basic plan is best suited to individuals. It provides standard PDF editing and annotation features, cloud storage for PDF files, and customer support within a day for $20 month-to-month or $8 a month with an annual commitment. The Plus plan adds the ability to create reusable templates; merge, rearrange, or add pages; and add basic fillable fields, plus support within an hour for $30 month-to-month or $12 a month with an annual commitment. The Premium plan includes all the features of the Basic and Plus plans and adds e-signature workflows, access to the U.S. Legal Forms Library, and other business-ready features, plus instant chat support. There’s a 30-day free trial period, which should plenty of time to determine which plan is right for you. Is pdfFiller worth it? pdfFiller is an incredibly versatile PDF editor with an uncommonly deep set of features. Not all of them will suit everyone, but fortunately, pdfFiller offers three subscription tiers that logically tailor features to different users. It’s a particularly good option for businesses, but anyone can benefit from pdfFiller’s comprehensive skill set. Editor’s note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article. Read...

Proton VPN has quickly established itself as one of the best VPNs on the market thanks to its outstanding privacy practices, solid speeds, and top-tier feature set. The service offers a veritable treasure-trove of extra security features, especially if you opt for one of the higher-tier plans. Not all of these features are configured to work automatically though. But with a little bit of know-how you can have the VPN optimized in no time. Below I’ll show you the top five settings that I think everyone should change in Proton VPN to get the most from their subscription. Turn on the kill switch Proton VPN’s kill switch is a must-use feature that will keep your privacy intact in the event of an accidental disconnection.Sam Singleton This is something that I recommend for all VPN users. Turn on your kill switch and leave it engaged at all times. A kill switch will automatically disable your internet access should the VPN connection drop unexpectedly. This prevents your personal data from being exposed in the event that your VPN accidentally fails. It’s an easy, fail-safe way to ensure your privacy continues to remain intact the entire time you’re using a VPN. Proton VPN offers two versions of its killswitch feature: a Standard version that temporarily disconnects the internet when a VPN connection is lost, and an Advanced version that will only ever allow internet access when connected to the VPN. I personally use and recommend the Standard version as there are times when I want to surf the web or play games without the need for a VPN connection, but with the added security of the fail-safe auto-disconnect.  Either way, to turn on the kill switch feature in Proton VPN, just click on the “Kill switch” icon along the right side of the main screen. Toggle it on and select your preferred version. Activate Netshield Turn on Proton VPN’s NetShield to block ads, malware, and trackers while using the service. Sam Singleton Netshield is Proton VPN’s malware and ad- and tracker-blocker feature. It is offered with Proton’s Plus and Unlimited plans, but not the free version. While paying for separate antivirus or ad-blocker programs might provide more comprehensive coverage, if you’re just looking for the basics then Netshield has you covered for no additional cost. It’s also extremely easy to set up. To turn on Netshield simply click on the Netshield icon on the right side of the homescreen and toggle the feature on. Then choose whether you would like to block only malware or ads, malware, and trackers. I recommend blocking everything as ads and trackers are not only annoying, but may be secretly compromising your privacy or collecting and selling your data to third parties.  Set WireGuard to be your automatic protocol WireGuard is almost always the best protocol option for most people. Sam Singleton VPN protocols play a crucial role in the speed and security of your connection. They can be thought of as both the traffic laws and road map that guides your traffic through a VPN. Nearly every VPN provider offers up a handful of protocol options to choose from, but you’ll almost always want to stick with WireGuard. Not only does it provide the best combination of high speeds and strong security, but it’s also open source, meaning it’s constantly being vetted and checked for vulnerabilities. As such, I recommend that everyone choose WireGuard as their default protocol at all times. To change your protocol options in Proton VPN, open up the Settings menu from the homescreen, then click on Protocol. From here, simply select the WireGuard option as your default. You’ll likely notice that there are both WireGuard UDP and WireGuard TCP options available. UDP is a good choice when speeds matter, such as with streaming and gaming, but TCP is going to be better when reliability is paramount, such as with file transfers. Take some time to configure split tunneling Setting up split tunneling can pay huge dividends in optimizing speed and privacy for each app.Sam Singleton Split tunneling is one of the most underutilized features among VPN users and those who aren’t taking advantage of it are losing out. It allows you to pick and choose which apps or websites you wish to run through the encrypted VPN tunnel and which you wish to keep outside of it. Proton VPN comes with a really versatile split tunneling feature that is also easy to set up. From the homescreen, click on “Split tunneling” and then toggle it on to enable the feature. There are two versions of split tunneling here, Standard and Inverse. Standard will allow you to pick and choose which apps or IP addresses to exclude from the VPN connection—keeping them routed through your home IP instead. Inverse will automatically exclude everything and you will then choose which apps or IP addresses to run through the VPN connection instead. It’s worth taking some time here to optimize your VPN connection. Personally, I run my browser and work applications through the VPN, but keep my online videogames excluded. This way, I can protect my web surfing, get around streaming blocks, and keep my work data secure while simultaneously keeping my gaming latency as low as possible. Enable VPN Accelerator The VPN Accelerator feature with Proton is a handy way to increase connection speeds, especially over long distances. Sam Singleton Proton VPN comes with a unique and helpful feature called the VPN Accelerator. Through a series of design optimizations such as CPU load redistribution, a TCP flow control algorithm for reduced latency, and the use of bare-metal servers, it claims to increase connection speeds by up to 400 percent. While my tests unfortunately did not show speed increases that great, they did moderately improve with the feature turned on.  The feature is designed to work best at longer distances and when I connected to European servers from the U.S. I did notice significantly reduced latency compared to when the feature was turned off. Proton VPN has turned on VPN Accelerator by default, but just to be sure, you can check by going to the Settings menu from the homescreen and clicking on “VPN Accelerator.” Make sure it is toggled on and you should be good to go. There are practically no downsides to enabling VPN Accelerator—I’ve only read rumors that it may cause instability issues, but I’ve never personally experienced them nor seen any credible evidence to support these claims.  The feature works with all protocols and is available for all platforms. Related Content Proton VPN review NordVPN vs. Proton VPN: Which VPN is better in 2025? 9 things you realize when you first start using a VPN 5 VPN features you need to start using today Which VPN protocol should you use? It makes a big difference Read...