Using a virtual private network (VPN) is most commonly associated with protecting your privacy and staying safe on public Wi-Fi. But VPNs also provide an excellent solution for improving accessibility to the streaming services you already subscribe to, and Norton’s latest version is an effective, affordable way to augment your online streaming. There is a range of extras you can bundle in for just a few dollars more, too.  Unfortunately, the streaming experience isn’t consistent around the world. Different territories have access to different streaming services and different content on those services. That makes mainlining episodes of your favorite show every night a bit tricky when you’re travelling for work or vacation. Did you know you can use a VPN to keep watching your favorites, no matter where you are? Save up to 72% on Norton VPN in the Cyber Week Sale and take your favorite shows away with youView Norton VPN Be where you want to be One of the neatest aspects of using a VPN is that you can decide where you appear to be. So if you’re holidaying in Europe, you can use a VPN like Norton’s to make it seem as if you’re in the US. So you can still get on to your favorite streaming platform and watch your favorite shows like normal. The same goes for new film releases you were excited for. No need to miss out if you’re out of the country. Just set your location back to home and whatever you could watch there, you can watch it wherever you are.  The IP masking effectively hides where you are, which is what makes VPNs so good for protecting your privacy, too. As far as whatever streaming service you’re watching is concerned, you’re located wherever the VPN says you are. You could be working on a remote research station in the Antarctic, dodging penguins and snow drifts, and still have access to all the latest releases from back home.  Additional security protection Norton’s Cyber Week Sale is now running until December 2, with crazy prices on Norton VPN subscriptions. With the Norton VPN Standard package, you can get the full VPN functionality for the equivalent of just $3.33 $2.08 a month for the first year thanks to a 50% 68% off discount. That gets you protection and easier streaming on up to five different devices. Find a streaming service has clocked you’re using a VPN? There’s a built-in double VPN service with IP rotation to make your real location more difficult to detect.  For a handful of useful extras, the Norton VPN Plus package is at 54% 72% off right now, with the equivalent of $4.17 $2.50 a month for the first year. Along with the standard VPN features, you also get Norton’s effective Antivirus software, AI-powered scam-detection with its new Genie service, a secure password manager, and 10GB of encrypted cloud-backup service.  If you’re part of a larger family you want to protect, or you have a number of devices on which you want to use the VPN, the Norton VPN Ultimate package is equivalent to $5 $3.33 per month for the first year, and gives you support for up to 10 simultaneous devices. It also has a selection of robust parental controls you can take advantage of, and with a handy device finder for all the kids’ smart gadgets and devices.  Whichever package is right for you, Norton the VPN is effective and easy to use. If you’re finding yourself frustrated by streaming roadblocks, particularly when travelling, a VPN like Norton’s might be the way to go. Norton VPN is available from just $24.99 in the Cyber Week Sale!View Norton VPN >> Read our Norton Security Buyer’s Guide Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Sharp 1536p head-to-toe video Flexible battery or wired installation Smart alerts microSD card slot for local storage Cons Advanced AI requires paid subscription Chime sold separately No Apple HomeKit support Our Verdict The Wyze Battery Video Doorbell delivers crisp video, solid smart features, and flexible setup, making it an especially good choice for renters or anyone who wants simple, reliable front-door security without the wiring. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Wyze Battery Video Doorbell (model MR_BVD) Retailer Price $65.98 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The Wyze Battery Video Doorbell is aimed squarely at people who want front-door security without the hassle of wiring or facing a high price tag. Like most Wyze products, the appeal is straightforward: it’s easy to set up, simple to use, and at just $65.98, inexpensive enough that installing one doesn’t feel like a commitment. Design and features The Wyze Battery Video Doorbell is a slim black rectangle measuring just over five and a half inches tall and less than two inches wide, small enough to fit on most doorframes without crowding them. The camera lens sits above a large button ringed with a soft LED light. It feels solid for the price, with tight seams and a sturdy mount that locks the body in place. Wyze gives you plenty of flexibility in how you install it. The doorbell can run entirely on its built-in 6400mAh battery for three to six months at a time, or you wire into to a transformer and an existing chime circuit for uninterrupted power. A corner-mount plate comes in the box, letting you angle the camera toward your walkway or doorstep for a better view of people and packages. The Wyze Battery Video Doorbell comes with everything you need for an easy wired or wireless installation.Michael Ansaldo/Foundry The camera captures square 1536 × 1536 HD+ video with a 1:1 aspect ratio and a 150-degree horizontal and vertical field of view. That’s wide and tall enough to see faces, feet, and packages left right against the door. Audio is handled through full-duplex two-way talk in the Wyze app, along with canned voice replies and an optional motion-triggered deterrence that tells visitors they’re being recorded. There’s also a built-in 90dB siren you can activate manually from the app if you need to draw attention or scare off an unwanted visitor. On the smart side, motion detection works through an infrared sensor and edge processing, while Wyze’s Cam Plus subscription ($2.99 per month or $19.99 per year per camera, or $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year for unlimited cameras) unlocks person, package, pet, and vehicle recognition. You can save recordings locally to a user-provided microSD card (up to 256GB) if the doorbell is on wired power, or rely on a Cam Plus cloud storage for event clips. Be sure to check out our comparison of the subscription plans from all the major security camera manufacturers. The Wyze’s doorbell is rated IP65 rating, meaning it’s dust tight and protected against water projected in jets from any direction. (Read our IP code guide for more details on that topic). The Wyze Battery Video Doorbell ties neatly into most smart ecosystems, working with Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT, and Wyze Automations, but it doesn’t support Apple’s HomeKit smart home ecosystem. In Wyze’s lineup, it slots between the wired Video Doorbell v2 and the pricier Doorbell Pro, keeping the focus on flexibility and value. Setup and performance Everything you need to set up the doorbell is in the box: a mounting bracket, screws, wall anchors, a corner wedge for angled installation, and a small release pin for removing the doorbell when you need to charge its battery (if you don’t hardwire it). The Wyze app walks you through the Wi-Fi connection process step by step, starting with pressing the setup button to initiate the pairing process. You control the doorbell through the Wyze app, which allows you to answer calls and manage security settings. Michael Ansaldo/Foundry Whether you opt for a straight-ahead or angled view, you’ll need a Phillips  screwdriver for installation, and if you’re mounting on a harder surface such as brick or stucco, Wyze recommends drilling pilot holes first. The doorbell attaches securely to the back plate and corner kit with the provided screws. If you plan to run the doorbell on battery power, as I did, you’re done. If not, Wyze provides detailed instructions for hardwiring in its quick-start guide. You’ll manage the doorbell through the Wyze app. It displays a live camera feed with quick controls for recording, snapshots, and toggling the siren. You can review recent events as thumbnails with clear timestamps and see which were triggered by motion and which resulted from button presses. The app also offers practical extras, such as canned voice responses (“Can I help you?” or “Please leave the package at the door”) and an optional motion warning that plays a “You are being recorded” message when someone approaches. The camera captures crisp detail, and the 1:1 aspect ratio keeps both faces and packages in view. You can toggle between standard and wide-angle views in the Wyze app, which helps fine-tune framing depending on your doorway layout or how close visitors stand. At night, the color night vision looked better than I expected, producing clear, evenly lit footage instead of the flat gray you get from many budget doorbells. The motion sensor worked reliably and push notifications hit my phone within a second or two of detection. Out of the box, the camera flags most movement in front of the door, but with the optional subscription, you can fine-tune alerts to trigger only on people, pets, vehicles, or packages. That should dramatically cut down on false alarms, especially if your front door faces a busy street or sidewalk. Wyze also offers a Cam Unlimited add-on ($12.99 per month or $129.99 per year) that introduces its “Friendly Faces” feature, which recognizes familiar people and sends alerts when, say, a family member gets home. Pressing the Setup button on the back of the doorbell intiates the process for connecting it to your Wi-Fi. Michael Ansaldo/Foundry Battery life will vary depending on motion frequency and video length; in typical use, expect around four months before recharging through the USB-C port. Wired installation adds a few perks, including pre-roll clips that capture a few seconds of activity before motion is registered, and the option for continuous 24/7 recording. Should you buy the Wyze Battery Video Doorbell? Wyze isn’t trying to reinvent the video doorbell here; it’s just making it accessible to people who’ve been priced out of the category. And at $65.98, it’s among the lowest-priced full-featured options available. That said, there are a few extras you may need to budget for. To unlock person, package, pet, and vehicle detection you’ll need to factor in the additional cost of at least a Cam Plus subscription. And if you want a chime for indoor alerts, that’s sold separately—the plug-in Wyze Wi-Fi Universal Chime costs $19.98, and the Wyze Chime Controller for wiring the doorbell to a mechanical chime is $17.99. If you’re a renter, a first-time buyer, or simply want video coverage for your front door without spending hundreds, you’ll get a capable, smart, and affordable front-door camera that performs well above its price tag. This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best video doorbells. Read...

I don’t like the fact that Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 as much as anyone else, but it’s definitely a sign that you need to upgrade to a more modern software. I know the price is something that’s keeping most of us from getting new Windows 11 licenses, so I’m always digging for discounts—especially this time of the year. Fortunately, Black Friday deals have hit the PCWorld Software Store, which means you can get a lifetime Windows 11 Pro license for 65% off, bringing the price down to $70 (was $200). View this deal Whether you’re getting a new mini PC, laptop, or desktop this Black Friday season, or whether you simply have to get a fresh copy of Windows 11 Pro for your device, this Black Friday deal at the PCWorld Software Store is one you don’t want to pass up. The price includes a license for a single PC, so if you have multiple devices, you’ll need to buy multiple licenses. The good thing is that this license won’t need renewing and you’ll be able to use it forever… well, at least until Microsoft cuts support for Windows 11 one day. Windows 11 Pro comes with all the cool features we love in Windows 11 Home, plus a ton of business functionality for advanced data encryption, sandboxing for extra security, remote desktop control, and virtual machines. If you want it for cheap, now’s your chance: get Windows 11 Pro for just $70 before this deal expires! Save 65% on Windows 11 Pro with this Black Friday discountBuy via PCWorld Software Store Read...

Microsoft and Crocs—the brand of polyethelene clogs that are as divisive as they are ubiquitous—seem to have a thing goin’ on. Just a short time after causing an online sensation with the limited edition Windows XP shoes, the brands are back with an Xbox edition. The “Xbox Classic Clog” doesn’t actually play games, but it might fool you with toes covered in Xbox controller buttons and even joysticks. With typical Xbox green-on-black styling and an air of intentional ridiculousness, the crossover is perhaps leaning into the irony. And somebody at Microsoft is certainly trying to make a bit of synergy with the “This Is An Xbox” campaign, in which Xbox Game Pass flouts its near-universal availability on everything from phones to cars. Microsoft is also trying to extend the Xbox brand into the PC gaming space with devices like the Asus ROG Xbox Ally handheld, which is not an Xbox but does get access to tons of Xbox features and a streamlined Windows 11 interface tuned for gaming. That interface is now available on other handhelds (and even laptops and desktops if you’re willing to tinker with Windows Insider settings). View this post on Instagram Meanwhile, the Xbox console brand has never been weaker versus the PlayStation and Nintendo, and Valve is now positioning itself as a stalking horse for the entire gaming industry. The PC gaming giant is building off the success of the Steam platform and the Steam Deck to make a console-style mini PC in the revamped Steam Machine. But enough about industry stuff. You’re here for the shoes. They’re going for $80 on the Crocs site, which is pretty typical for the brand, in US sizes from 6 to 12 for women and 4 to 13 for men. At the time of writing, it looks like pretty much all of them are in stock. Unlike the Windows XP Crocs, these don’t seem to be limited edition. Read...

Google is in a very favorable position with its Android operating system, which comes installed on smartphones from numerous manufacturers and only has a few real non-Apple alternatives, like GrapheneOS and LineageOS. But Google isn’t content with just Android. For some time now, Google has also wanted to establish itself to a greater degree on PCs and complete more directly with Windows. ChromeOS was a step in that direction but far from the end goal—and now, we’re seeing Google move more in that direction as concrete information about its new operating system emerges. According to Android Authority, Google’s newest operating system is being developed under the name “Aluminium OS” (whether that’ll be the final name is still unclear) and will be a merger of Android and ChromeOS. As such, it’ll be used on smartphones and PCs as well as in tablets, watches, televisions, cars, and XR headsets. What’s behind Aluminium OS? Google confirmed back in September that it was working on a new operating system that merges Android and ChromeOS. Since then, there have been several leaks that paint a more concrete picture. According to these leaks, Aluminium OS is to be established as a standardized operating system for desktops and mobile devices. To this end, Google is working with Qualcomm, which not only develops powerful chips but is also increasingly focusing on AI. Given that, it’s hardly surprising that Google’s new OS will also integrate AI. Job advertisements for the project indicate that Aluminium OS is based on artificial intelligence and will therefore presumably be closely linked to Google’s Gemini AI. This would mean that AI won’t just be extra features on top but a central element of the operating system. Integration at system level would conceivably allow Gemini access to all apps and data. Will Aluminium OS be only for PCs? Initial reports assume that—unlike ChromeOS—Aluminium OS will not be limited to special laptops and tablets but will run on all types of desktop PCs, tablets, detachables, and wearables. In addition, lower-priced devices will also use the operating system, which would be an important step towards establishing it for the masses. Whether Aluminium OS can compete with both Windows and macOS remains to be seen. However, Google has gained tons of experience with both Android and ChromeOS and will surely utilize that experience to develop and market the new operating system. When will Aluminium OS be released? Google is already said to be actively working on the development of the platform. At the same time, the development of Android 17 is also underway. Experts believe that Google could release Aluminium OS as early as 2026 if the first test runs are successful. What will become of ChromeOS? Naturally, all of this Aluminium OS talk raises a curious question: what is Google going to do about ChromeOS once this spiritual successor arrives? Most likely Google won’t immediately discontinue the operating system, but will continue to develop and support both OSes alongside each other for at least a few years. In the long term, however, Aluminium OS should completely replace ChromeOS. Older systems that aren’t compatible could still receive a kind of legacy support, while compatible hardware will be fully migrated to the new operating system. However, this is likely to take several years. Read...

Whether you’re going camping or you just need a reliable source of backup power in case the power goes out at home, you’re going to love this high-capacity portable Anker power station. It’s on another level than your typical power bank, and it has some nifty built-in features that aren’t just gimmicks. And right now, with this Amazon Black Friday deal, you can get it for $80 (normally $150). View this Amazon deal This handheld power station has a massive 60,000mAh capacity, which is enough to recharge a modern laptop about three times over or a flagship smartphone nearly eight times over. If you’re at home and your power goes out for the day, this thing can easily keep your laptop going for the entire workday. Meanwhile, if you take it camping, you can use it to keep your phone juiced up at all times. There are four USB ports you can use: two USB-C and two USB-A. That means you’re able to charge four devices at once if needed, which is great for the whole family. When charging solo, the USB-C ports can hit up to 60W while the USB-A ports max out at 18W. When multiple ports are being used, the power station has a total output of 87W max. As for recharging, this power station can connect to any power outlet via its main USB-C port (power adapter not included). Another option is to hook it up to a solar panel via the XT-60 connector, which is fantastic as you can keep it full even when you don’t have power. One of my favorite bonus features is the retractable LED lamp, which can last just over 42 hours on a full charge (if you aren’t using it to charge any devices, of course). Use it like a lantern when you’re stumbling around in the dark, whether at home or a campsite. The lamp even has a flashing SOS mode so you’re easier to find in case of emergency. Frankly, this Anker power station is worth every penny even at full price. It’s downright sweet with this Amazon Black Friday discount! Anker`s 60K power station is the perfect emergency power sourceBuy via Amazon Read...

My, oh my, the gorgeous 55-inch Samsung Odyssey Ark 2nd Gen really is $1,000 off for Black Friday! Now that’s a deal that’s simply surreal. Instead of spending an eye-watering $2,700 on this cutting-edge monitor that’s sure to blow you away, you can now get it for “only” $1,700. View this Samsung deal Okay, I know, that’s still pretty dang pricey. But this truly is a cutting-edge display that’s well worth every penny if you want a next-gen experience. The Ark 2nd Gen features a mini-LED panel that delivers better peak brightness levels for HDR content, deeper blacks and higher contrast ratios, as well as a wider color gamut and better color accuracy. OLEDs are still better for dark rooms, but mini-LEDs rock in bright spaces. It also doesn’t hurt that this monitor delivers crisp 4K images, which ensures you get to notice every little detail. Oh, and this monitor is more than ready for gaming as it can reach a 165Hz refresh rate, which is great if your gaming machine can push out that many frames. Plus, the monitor’s Neural quantum processor will upscale all non-4K visuals with maximum clarity so you get the best experience no matter what. This monitor supports up to four input sources, and you can even split the display between them all so you can easily run streaming content on your mini PC in one corner, your laptop’s email inbox in another, and maybe even a game if you’re hooked up to your desktop tower. If you’re looking for the ultimate PC gaming upgrade to grab during this year’s holiday season, you can’t do better than the Samsung Odyssey Ark 2nd Gen for $1,000 off. Save a whopping $1K on this insane 55-inch 4K mini-LED monitorBuy via Samsung.com Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Great design Excellent display and speakers Long battery life Capable gaming performance Cons Soldered memory Default profile leaves performance on the table Our Verdict The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 isn’t the beefiest gaming laptop, but it’s a lean, mean machine with stable performance, largely silent cooling, and an overall great package. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 Retailer Price $2,489 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Asus already had a great laptop on its hands with 2024’s ROG Zephyrus G16, and the 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 doesn’t change too much. The outward appearance of the laptop is largely the same, continuing to offer a thin and light gaming laptop with an elegant metal build and great display. Asus seems to have taken some of the criticism to heart, though, as it proves a largely quiet running device even when it’s cranked to Turbo settings. And though it has a premium price and trails beefier machines in performance, it remains conveniently portable and even undercuts other design-focused laptops. Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Specs and features CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 285H Memory: 16GB LPDDR5X-7467 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5070 8GB 115W Display: 16-inch 2560×1600 240Hz OLED, Glossy, G-Sync Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD Webcam: 1080p IR Connectivity: 1x Thunderbolt 4 with Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 with Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x SD card reader, 1x 3.5mm combo audio Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition Battery capacity: 90 watt-hours Dimensions: 13.97 x 9.72 x 0.66 inches Weight: 4.01 pounds MSRP: $2,149 as-tested ($2,149 base) This test unit is a special Best Buy model with lower base specifications than Asus’s own store offerings. It has a $2,149 starting price. To get the Zephyrus G16 from Asus directly, you’ll pay $2,799, but you’ll also get bumped up to an RTX 5070 Ti, 32GB of memory, and 2TB of storage. Additionally, Asus offers two even higher configurations. Bumping up to an RTX 5080 and 64GB of memory raises the price to $3,599. For an RTX 5090 and otherwise identical specs, that raises further to $4,599.  The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is an impressive machine. It offers an excellent build, great speakers, a gorgeous display, and fits potent hardware all into a laptop that’s surprisingly thin and light. Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Design and build quality Foundry / Mark Knapp The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is wonderfully built and far sleeker than you’d expect from a gaming laptop, even with the impressively slim models that have been coming out in recent years. It boasts a largely aluminum design with the keyboard deck, base, and display lid all made of metal. The display also has an all glass cover — no plastic bezels. It would be more impressive if it weren’t essentially the same hardware as last year’s Zephyrus G16, but there’s no need to fix what isn’t broken, and the internal components haven’t changed enough to justify a major redesign. All the metal here makes for a firm construction that doesn’t flex much. And even though this is a 16-inch gaming laptop, it weighs only a hair over four pounds. The chassis itself is also just 0.66 inches thick, though its rubber feet add to its overall height. The slim design still has plenty of air intake underneath with a large grille on the bottom panel, but there’s very little exhaust along the back edge, which aims all the exhaust downward. Fortunately, the long rubber foot at the rear of the base prevents any of the exhaust from feeding directly back into the intake fans.  The display has uneven bezels, including a slightly larger one at the bottom that doesn’t look terribly modern but is at least not too unsightly. The thicker top bezel fits in the webcam with Windows Hello tech, which makes it easier to excuse given how convenient this is for quick sign-ins. Chamfered edges around the frame provide a good lip for opening the lid with one hand, and the base keeps planted while doing so. The back of the lid has a stylish slash across it that also integrates some flashy lighting, though it’s not colorful like the RGB keyboard lighting. Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Keyboard, trackpad Foundry / Mark Knapp The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 packs in a great keyboard and trackpad. The keyboard isn’t quite excellent, as it has only subtle contour to the keycaps that doesn’t help with finger centering, and edge stability could use a little improvement. The RGB backlighting also struggles to evenly illuminate larger key legends and secondary functions. But it’s still quite a pleasant keyboard to type on. I was able to reach a typing speed of 126 words-per-minute at 99 percent accuracy. Given this is a 16-inch laptop, it would have been nice to see a number pad, but at least without it the keyboard ends up nicely centered. Asus has squeezed in a massive trackpad that uses up almost all the vertical space available to it with only a thin strip bordered its top and bottom edges. It also spans an extreme width. Between the abundant space for swiping around, the pleasantly soft physical click, and the smooth glass surface, it’s a joy to use. The trackpad also has proven to offer good palm rejection, an issue that held back the Razer Blade 16 and its massive trackpad. Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Display, audio Foundry / Mark Knapp The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is set up well for media. It combines an excellent display and speaker setup. The sizable 16-inch display offers a 2560×1600 resolution and runs at 240Hz for super-smooth visuals. That’s aided along by the panel’s OLED tech, which has fast pixel response times for crisp gameplay and G-Sync support to ensure clean frames and no screen tearing. The display is also wonderfully bright and colorful. It proved capable of hitting 419 nits in SDR and 444 nits in HDR with smaller highlights going brighter still. A 10 percent window in HDR was able to hit 640 nits, and that comes alongside infinite contrast and 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 and sRGB color spaces. Color accuracy was also high with an average dE1976 measured at 0.85 and a max dE of just 2.33. Plenty of high-end gaming laptops have similarly impressive displays, and even some cheaper ones come close. But many laptops skimp on speakers. Asus didn’t. This laptop’s speakers are exceptional. It combines four woofers that balance each other in pairs providing surprising depth for the sound; meanwhile two extra tweeters can deliver crisp high-end. Together, the speakers pump out plenty of volume without distorting or sounding boxed in. Strong sub-bass is still out of the cards, but the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16’s speakers remain impressive for a laptop audio system.  Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The webcam’s performance is mixed. On one hand, it handles exposure well, avoiding blown out highlights or sunken dark details. Even though it’s a 1080p sensor, the visual fidelity is a little lacking with grainy detail anything other than bright lighting and then odd sharpening even in bright light. But the visuals look natural at least, and if you’re just appearing as a small window in a group video call, the quality will be sufficient. The webcam also supports Windows Hello facial recognition, providing a quick and easy way to sign in that has proven handy in testing.  The mics also have mixed performance. They capture my voice quite fully, but they don’t seem to have any processing going on to cancel out room noise. This leads to a bit of room echo, and the mics will pick up background noises quite well, so you’ll want to avoid typing or clicking around with your mouse while you’re on calls.  Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Connectivity Foundry / Mark Knapp The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 offers decent connectivity. It’s a joy to see a laptop spreading out ports of the same type, and the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 puts one USB-A and one USB-C port on each side. Both USB-A ports are 3.2 Gen 2 ports with 10Gbps speeds. The left USB-C port provides Thunderbolt 4 while the right one is only a USB 3.2 Gen 2, and either can support DisplayPort output, though only the right one runs through the GPU for G-Sync support. Asus rounds out the connections with an HDMI 2.1 port and 3.5mm audio jack on the left edge and a full-size UHS-II SD card slot on the right edge. Since the laptop doesn’t include any side vents, all of the ports are situated toward the back half of the laptop as well.  The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 includes a dedicated 200W power brick with a proprietary port on the left edge of the laptop. This is key to getting the full power of the system, but may be a lot to lug around everywhere you go. Thankfully, the system’s USB-C ports can also support power input, letting you juice up on the go with something smaller if you have a GaN charger or other USB-C power source. I was able to trickle charge with a compact 65W PD charger I had handy. Wireless connectivity is also strong. The system supports Wi-Fi 7 and has offered high bandwidth and stability connectivity throughout testing. It’s disappointing to see Bluetooth 5.4 still now that 6.0 exists, but the laptop’s Bluetooth connection at least provided reliable, quickly reconnecting to a paired set of headphones whenever I turned them on and never once dropping that connection.  Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Performance The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 packs in powerful components, so it stands to reason that it would have plenty of performance. And for the most part, this is the case. We can see in the holistic PCMark 10 benchmark that the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 offers plenty of speed for everyday office tasks and even creative workloads, dramatically exceeding the 5,000-point threshold that tends to mark a machine that’ll readily handle most office tasks. It largely keeps pace with similar systems running Intel and AMD hardware.  While general tasks will be a breeze on the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16, once you start getting into more demanding tasks that put serious strain on the system, you may begin to encounter some of its limitations. The CPU included is simply not as potent as what you can get in some of its competitors. The Intel Core Ultra 9 285H’s single-core performance is excellent, but it’s no match for HX-series CPUs from Intel, which many of its competitors include. Across Cinebench R15, R20, R23, and R24, it falls well behind. This lower performance also sees it take longer in our Handbrake video encoding test. While heat could be a factor for the thin Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 in Cinebench R24’s and Handbrake’s longer tests, the lower performance in Cinebench R15, R20, and R23, which are much quicker, suggests it’s just a limitation of this CPU next to the competition.  Graphical performance is also respectable in the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16, though not necessarily what you’d expect from a system with an RTX 5070 and a price tag over $2,000. In the graphically demanding 3DMark Port Royal test, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 lags behind RTX 5070-equipped systems like the Alienware 16X Aurora and Asus ProArtP16, but perhaps more embarrassingly, it even falls short of the RTX 5060-powered Lenovo Legion 5i 15IRX10 — a system that costs almost half as much. The same fate befalls the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 in Time Spy as well. The curious thing is that the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 isn’t limited to that performance level, but Asus just defaults to it. In fact, using the laptop’s Turbo profile, its Port Royal score leaps up to 8,552 points. This kind of bump from changing power profiles is fairly common, but the fact Asus’s default Performance profile sees the RTX 5070 nerfed to RTX 5060 levels is an odd choice that its competitors don’t seem to be making.  The shortcoming in graphical performance stemming from Asus’s settings combine with the weaker CPU in the system to leave the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 falling behind the pack in actual games. We see it lag the whole field in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which tends to lean a bit more heavily on the CPU than some other games, thus giving those systems with more powerful processors an edge. Again, enabling Turbo mode brings the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16’s average frame rate up to 159.  Cyberpunk 2077 is an especially demanding game, enough so that even the power-limited RTX 5070 could at last come out ahead of the Legion’s RTX 5060, likely aided along by the faster single-core performance of the CPU, which tends to improve frame rates. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 doesn’t pull ahead of its competitors though, unless Turbo mode is enabled, then its average frame rate jumps to 99.  While the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 tends to fall behind the other systems in its default Performance profile, a perk of the system is that it musters that performance while remaining rather quiet. Even under load in its Performance mode, the fans are hushed and hardly a bother. For some, that may be a worthwhile trade-off, and from time to time, when serious performance isn’t essential, it can certainly be a benefit. The system even remains stable with that light fan operation, with it providing 99.1 percent stable performance in 3DMark’s 20-run Steel Nomad Stress Test. The fans really only kick into high gear in Asus’s Turbo mode, and even then they’re not shrill, just a noisy breeze. They also manage the heat well, with the system again maintaining stable performance in the Steel Nomad Stress Test and the surface of the laptop not even getting hot over the course of the test. It’s great to see that Turbo mode can bring the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 largely back into performance parity with its rivals, though it’s equally likely that those systems would recover a good chunk of their leads if they, too, flipped over to their highest power settings.  Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Battery life Conservative power management tends to have a benefit where battery life is concerned, and that proves the case for the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16. In our offline video playback tests, which run a locally stored 4K video on repeat with the display brightness set between 250 and 260 nits, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 managed an impressive 12 hours and 46 minutes, showing past Asus’s own ProArt 16 and dramatically outpacing the other systems running on HX-series Intel processors.  As great a result as that is for a gaming PC, you still shouldn’t expect the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 to be an all-day performer for actual use outside of video playback. It’s good for a gaming PC, but real-world office use tends to see the battery drain after five to six hours. That still beats the two to three hours you can expect from a lot of gaming laptops.  Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Conclusion The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is an impressive machine. It offers an excellent build, great speakers, a gorgeous display, and fits potent hardware all into a laptop that’s surprisingly thin and light. All the more surprising is the fact that the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 doesn’t show much of a struggle managing its heat. By default, it doesn’t take full advantage of its hardware, and it remains quiet thanks to that decision, but full performance is just a couple clicks away and helps the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 keep pace with its competition better. While you’ll still likely want a beefier laptop if you want full performance all the time, there’s something to be said for the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16’s ability to deliver solid performance sometimes and good portability the rest of the time. The pricing on the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 also makes it a true threat to the Razer Blade 16, a system that is thicker, heavier, and generally more expensive for like configurations. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Fast PCIe 5.0 performer Up to 4TB capacity, with 8TB in the works Higher-than-average TBW rating Cons Not the least expensive in the class Our Verdict Corsair’s latest MP700 Pro XT ups the performance ante for the MP700 series. It’s fast and affordable, though it doesn’t quite lead the pack in either department. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Corsair MP700 Pro XT Retailer Price $151.99 View Deal Corsair $160 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices If it seems as if we’ve reviewed quite a few MP700’s from Corsair, it’s because we have (MP700 Elite, MP700 Pro, MP700 Pro SE). The company keeps upping the ante with performance or other features, so we’re back with yet another — the MP700 Pro XT. Is it better than its predecessors? Yup. Not by a ton, but hey! Every little bit counts. All that aside, the MP700 Pro XT is a top-notch PCIe 5.0 SSD. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best SSDs for comparison. What are the Corsair MP700 Pro XT’s features? An M.2 2280 (22mm wide, 80mm long) SSD, the MP700 Pro XT features PCIe 5.0, a Phison E28 controller, and 218-layer TLC NAND. The drive is a DRAM design for faster random ops, with 1GB of cache per terabyte of capacity. The MP700 Pro XT carries a 5-year warranty and a 700TBW (terabytes that may be written before read-only mode commences) per 1TB of capacity endurance rating. The former is standard, and the latter slightly more generous than the 600TBW norm for this class of drive. How much is the Corsair MP700 Pro XT? The MP700 Pro is available in 1TB/$160, 2TB/$250, and 4TB/$460 capacities, with an 8TB model apparently in the works. Those are the prices from the company’s own web store. You might see them cheaper eventually on Amazon. Compared to the competition, those prices are higher than the Samsung 9100 Pro and slightly higher than the WD SN8100, and lower than the Kingston Renegade G5 and Crucial T710 at the time of this writing. Shop around. How fast is the Corsair MP700 Pro XT? The MP700 Pro XT was very fast, though the benchmarks were a bit sunnier than our real-world transfers. A rather lackluster time in our 450GB write test using Fast Copy hurt its overall ranking, which was still 5th fastest among NVMe SSDs. The MP700 Pro XT’s numbers in CrystalDiskMark 8’s sequential tests were excellent. The MP700 Pro XT’s numbers in CrystalDiskMark 8’s sequential tests were excellent. Longer bars are better. Random performance, on the other hand, was slower than the competing drives (also DRAM designs) when only one queue was used. Windows itself normally uses only a single queue. Random performance from the MP700 Pro XT was slower than the other drives when only one queue was used. Windows itself normally uses only a single queue. Longer bars are better. The MP700 Pro XT was just a hair off the pace in our 48GB transfers, especially with the folders. The MP700 Pro XT was just a hair off the pace in our 48GB transfers, especially with the folders. Shorter bars are better. It was the slowish (for PCIe 5.0) 450GB write with Fast Copy that sabotaged the MP700 Pro XT’s overall score. Not that it’s slow in the grand scheme of things, but its competitors, especially the Samsung 9100 Pro were much faster. It was the slowish (for PCIe 5.0) 450GB write with Fast Copy that really hurt the MP700 Pro XT’s overall score. Shorter bars are better.Jon L. Jacobi During the second consecutive 450GB write (no pause in between), speed dropped, but only to 1.5GBps. Not too shabby. This speed drop occurred after around 600GB of data had been written, and I’m not particularly concerned about a reduced write rate that’s still 1.5GBps. All told, the MP700 Pro is well within the PCIe 5.0 DRAM performance ballpark. I’d still like to see a bit better performance transfers with Fast Copy, but otherwise, it’s all good. Should you buy the Corsair MP700 Pro XT? Yes, given the right price. It’s a very good performer, but so are its competitors. In truth, you’d be more than happy with any of the top contenders. Shop for the best price. How we test Drive tests currently utilize Windows 11 24H2, 64-bit running off of a PCIe 4.0 Samsung 990 Pro in an Asus Z890-Creator WiFi (PCIe 4.0/5.0) motherboard. The CPU is a Core Ultra i5 225 feeding/fed by two Crucial 64GB DDR5 5600MHz modules (128GB of memory total). Both 20Gbps USB and Thunderbolt 5 are integrated into the motherboard and Intel CPU/GPU graphics are used. Internal PCIe 5.0 SSDs involved in testing are mounted in an Asus Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 adapter card sitting in a PCIe 5.0 slot. We run the CrystalDiskMark 8.04 (and 9), AS SSD 2, and ATTO 4 synthetic benchmarks (to keep article length down, we report only the former) to find the storage device’s potential performance. Then we run a series of 48GB transfer and 450GB write tests using Windows Explorer drag and drop to show what users will see during routine copy operations, as well as the far faster FastCopy run as administrator to show what’s possible. A 25GBps two-SSD RAID 0 array on the aforementioned Asus Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 is used as the second drive in our transfer tests. Formerly the 48GB tests were done with a RAM disk serving that purpose. Each test is performed on a NTFS-formatted and newly 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 issue has abated somewhat with the current crop of SSDs utilizing more mature controllers and far faster, late-generation NAND. Note that our testing MO evolves and these results may not match those from previous articles. Only comparisons inside the article are 100% valid as those results are gathered using the current hardware and MO. Read...

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