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| PC World - 7 Jan (PC World)At a glanceExpert`s Rating
Pros
Clean, extremely simple interface
Alternative ID lets you mask your whole identity, not just an email address
VPN service is solid
Cons
Full scans hit PC performance hard
Very few settings to adjust
Not as many features as similarly priced rivals
Our Verdict
If VPN coverage is your first priority, and you’re already sold on Surfshark’s VPN, subscribing to Surfshark One will give access to seemingly adequate antivirus protection. However, if you’re primarily in the market for antivirus software, you’ll get more bang for your buck with a different suite—and a rival won’t hit your system performance nearly so hard.
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Surfshark is well-known for its VPN service, but if you subscribe to its higher tier plans, antivirus gets included as part of the package, too.
That can be a plus for those who already know and love Surfshark’s interface, as the app is extremely clean and simple. But while Surfshark offers adequate malware protection, a couple of caveats make it a harder sell, especially if you’re seeking lightweight, antivirus-focused security software.
Further reading: Do you really need a VPN as part of your antivirus software?
Surfshark One: What does it include?
Pricing for a 12-month term.PCWorld
Surfshark offers real-time scanning that hunts for malware, suspicious links, and dodgy email attachments; web protection that blocks dangerous links and remote access initiated by bad actors and unauthorized webcam access (currently a beta feature, but available to users). Additionally, system scans dig into vulnerable parts of your PC (like registry items) to look for oddities or changes.
The Surfshark One suite also includes access to the company’s VPN service (arguably the star of the show—more on that below), data breach monitoring, its “alternative ID” service that lets you create a profile with a fake email address, name, address, and birth date to feed to websites, and a private search engine.
Unlike many security suites, Surfshark does not include a firewall as part of its software.
If VPN coverage is your first priority (and you’re already sold on Surfshark’s VPN), subscribing to Surfshark One should expand your security protection to include seemingly adequate antivirus protection.
Surfshark One: How much does it cost?
Surfshark One supports up to five devices for antivirus and lets you install the software on Windows, macOS, and Android devices. For the VPN, you can install the software on unlimited devices and more platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and three browsers (Chrome, Firefox, and Edge).
Surfshark One gets cheaper the more time you pay for upfront. If you buy a 12-month plan, it currently costs $55 for the first year, and includes four bonus months. If you buy a 24-month plan, it costs $70 for the first year and also includes four bonus months.
Afterward, Surfshark will charge $79 per year (or whatever renewal price is most current). Two-year plans will revert to one-year plans for renewal. Otherwise, a monthly subscription is $18 per month.
By default, users are enrolled in auto-renewal. Renewals are charged 30 days before the term refreshes. The company offers refunds if requested within the first 30 days of signup.
Surfshark One: Key features
Installation & account setup
To install the Surfshark app, you’ll first need to create an account and purchase a subscription—and the process can be slightly awkward. A standard passphrase from our password manager (e.g., correct-horse-battery-staple) wasn’t accepted. We had to add a special character to meet the requirements. Also, you only enter the password once, so you can easily type in something different than you think you entered.
Surfshark does allow password resets, but they can be quirky. After I performed one, trying the new password gave a “There have been too many attempts to log in” error message. I had to wait about five minutes before the new password worked.
Once you have an account, you’ll use your login for the app and the web interface.
User interface
Surfshark’s first screen (and tab in the left navigation bar) is for the VPN.PCWorld
Currently, Surfshark’s antivirus protection serves as an addition to its VPN—not the other way around, as with most antivirus suites.
The app’s layout puts the emphasis on the VPN: It’s the first item in the left navigation bar, which fully slides out when you hover your mouse on that side of the window. The second and third tabs are for the Alternative ID and Alert features, which link to the web interface. Then finally comes Antivirus… but you must first install the antivirus component of the software for your PC to be protected. If you’re expecting antivirus protection from the start, this extra step can feel cumbersome (and a little annoying).
Overall, the app is pared down and minimalist—not at all technical. Every screen is simple but clean and easy to understand. There’s no home screen or dashboard. For each feature, the window is divided into two sections, with a main center pane and a right-hand sidebar.
The main area shows information related to the feature (e.g., scan options for antivirus) while the sidebar shows the feature’s status (e.g., if scan is occurring and its progress). Surfshark puts all options in these screens, so you don’t have to dig elsewhere. Also, in a nice touch, you can resize the window to see more (or less) information at once.
Surfshark’s antivirus screen.PCWorld
Meanwhile, Surfshark’s settings are sparse, especially in the app. The only real adjustment you can make to scans are if they automatically include external drives, for example. Outside of the options within each feature screen, you can really only tinker with the VPN.
The companion web interface isn’t much more robust. Though it mirrors the look of the app, with a similar layout of left navigation bar, main screen, and right sidebar, you primarily use it to manage just two features: Alternative ID and Alert. If you also subscribe to Surfshark’s separate, optional “Incogni” data broker removal service (an additional $4 per month), you’ll control it via the web as well.
However, the web interface does have a few more extended settings for features—manual VPN settings live here, as well as device management for antivirus coverage. It can be confusing at first, but with how simple Surfshark is, adapting to the split interfaces comes pretty quick.
Virus, malware, and threat protection
Real-time protection
Like other antivirus software, Surfshark remains on alert for threats, both local and online. On your PC, it examines opened or added files, screens downloaded email for sketchy links and attachments (including .zip and other archive files), and watches for unusual behavior from apps.
When you’re online, the app stays on the lookout for malicious downloads, as well as suspicious links (including phishing attempts). It’ll also block unauthorized use of your webcam, so long as you enable webcam protection, which is still a beta feature.
Scheduled and manual scans
Among the few options you can tweak for Surfshark’s antivirus is the scheduled scan timing.PCWorld
By default, Surfshark scans your system on a daily basis. A quick scan runs on six of the days, while a full scan happens on the seventh. Both are set for the time you first install the app. You can also perform an on-demand scan—this defaults to just the installed drive on your PC, unless you’ve turned on scans of external storage drives. You can also choose a specific file or folder.
During both quick and full scans, Surfshark examines registry items, network settings, Windows’ boot sector, drivers (and affiliated areas), as well as often targeted folders (Downloads, Documents, Desktop). For a broader critical look at your files, run the full scan.
For quick and full scans, you can adjust schedule and timing, but not what is scanned. Settings are also extremely minimal—you can choose to turn on automatic scanning of external storage drives during quick and full scans, automatic scanning of external storage drives when first connected, and if quarantined items are automatically deleted.
VPN
Surfshark’s primary service is its virtual private network, which securely routes your traffic so that it registers as coming from a different location. (Useful if you want to remain anonymous, or look at content not available in your region.) Its antivirus is not available as an independent subscription—rather, malware protection is an add-on feature as you move up to more expensive plans.
You can read PCWorld’s full thoughts on Surfshark’s VPN in our review, but overall, the experience is mostly smooth and streamlined when it works. (More on that in just a moment.) You can use the VPN on an unlimited number of devices, and while active, the service automatically blocks ads and pop-ups, as well as cookie consent notifications.
You also have the option to do multi-hop connections, which sends your online traffic through two VPN services for greater anonymity. If you need to run an app or access a website independent of the VPN, you can specifically set them to bypass it.
For the VPN’s advanced settings, you must head to the web portal.PCWorld
I found that Surfshark didn’t work at all locations. While on a Hilton hotel’s public Wi-Fi network, the app struggled (and effectively failed) to connect, citing limited access through the hotel’s network. Meanwhile, rival ProtonVPN connected immediately. When asked, Surfshark cited possible firewall rules, DNS filtering, or port management that could have blocked access to the VPN servers.
For locations, you can choose dedicated servers in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Additional virtual servers are available as well, though they’re of most use to those who care about location rather than privacy. Surfshark also makes clear in the app which are the fastest servers.
Surfshark One: Additional features
Alternative ID
One of Surfshark’s more unique features is Alternative ID, which not only creates masked email addresses but a whole false identity to help preserve your identity online.
By default, these are randomly generated. For email masks, ten domains exist (the part that comes after “@”), with an oddly strong sea theme. Five of the domains are obviously based on fish names and the randomly generated usernames often use the name of an aquatic creature. Fortunately, you can manually edit the suggestions, in case you’re aiming for a different vibe.
Alternative ID is a unique feature that lets you mask your identity online, not just your email address.PCWorld
For the identity, you get assigned a full name and address. (I became Hector, a guy living in Tasmania, Australia.) Like the email masks, you can edit what the app spins together, in case you want a different name, gender, or general locale. You can’t choose a specific address, only the country and state/province, with just six countries as options—the US, Denmark, Australia, Germany, Portugal, and Brazil.
The suggested addresses are real—Surfshark says it uses a “publicly available address database provided by governmental institutions.” So if your home is part of a public database (and it very likely is), it could get used for someone else’s fake identity.
Surfshark also offers the ability to mask your phone number, but you must pay an additional subscription fee of $2.50 per month. Virtual phone numbers are limited to USA country codes, and can receive calls and text messages. You can reply to text messages through your virtual number but not return calls.
Surfshark Alert
Labeled simply Alert, this feature looks for appearances of your email addresses in data breaches—as well as any leaked passwords, personal information, or IP addresses tied to a particular email address. For the Surfshark One subscription, you can track an unlimited number of email addresses. You can also monitor unlimited credit card and ID numbers (e.g., social security number) through this feature.
Alerts are managed in the web interface, with several settings you can tweak related to data breach reports and data breach alerts.
Surfshark Search
Surfshark says its search feature relies on third-party APIs.PCWorld
Surfshark offers a search engine that it says allows private searching for “truly organic results.” The company does not maintain the engine itself; instead it says it relies on “third-party APIs.”
You can initiate a search from the web interface or the app, but ultimately, you’ll get pointed to https://search.surfshark.com/. You can just bookmark this address for use, though it’s only available if you’re logged into your Surfshark account on that browser.
Search results are generally streamlined, with a mix of sources that include Reddit posts and YouTube videos. You can choose between Web, Images, and Videos for result types, and also change the locale to a different country. If you’re used to the additional helpful answers and suggested links from search engines like Google and Bing, Surfshark’s results may feel a bit bare-bones.
Surfshark One: Customer support
You can access Surfshark’s support and help pages through the app (Settings > Get help). From there, you can jump directly to popular support pages. Alternatively, you can head to the company’s help and contact page. To get in touch with Surfshark, you’ll file a help request or use chat.
From these settings, you can also run Surfshark’s troubleshooting tools—Collect Diagnostics (which aids the Surfshark team in identifying issues), Reset network, and Restore original settings.
Surfshark One: Updates and maintenance
Virus database updates happen automatically in the background every three hours, as well as every time a scan starts. You can’t otherwise adjust the timing, though you can manually check for new virus definitions.
Surfshark One: Performance
Currently, Surfshark does not have data for the most recent tests from AV-Test and AV-Comparatives, two independent security organizations who evaluate antivirus software performance. However, in AV-Test’s zero-day exploit and malware tests for May and June 2024, Surfshark took home perfect scores. It caught 100 percent of the 225 zero-day attack samples and 14,498 widespread and prevalent malware samples.
(Note: Antivirus software companies voluntarily elect to participate in AV-Test’s benchmarks. When asked about its participation frequency, Surfshark said: “We don’t see the need to perform these every couple of months, as these tests are exactly the same month over month with just different malware samples. We normally perform these tests when we see a change in the malware landscape, or we want to test a new backend feature and verify the improved performance independently”).
Surfshark last elected to be evaluated by AV-Test in June 2024.PCWorld
When left to run in the background, Surfshark affects system performance fairly little. The real-time scanner only caused under a two percent decrease for the score in PCMark 10, which simulates video conferencing, web browsing, and editing in open-source document and image apps.
Similarly, in our Handbrake encode test, which involves crunching down a large video into a smaller 1080p30 file, the increase in time to complete the task was also under two percent. Surfshark’s screening does increase when editing documents in Microsoft Office programs like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint—UL’s Procyon benchmark scores dropped by almost nine percent.
On the flip side, Surfshark can drag hard on your PC’s resources during full scans. On our budget laptop, running a continuous scan dropped PCMark 10 scores by a notable 36 percent—and that was the smallest impact. Procyon results decreased by a whopping 53 percent, and Handbrake encodes shot up in time needed by a painful 72 percent.
Of course, you can mitigate this effect by changing the schedule of system scans (especially full scans) to happen during off-hours. And with this much of an effect, you definitely want to steer clear of scan times—which could be a potential issue for those who are active on their PCs for most hours of a day.
Surfshark One: Is it worth it?
If VPN coverage is your first priority (and you’re already sold on Surfshark’s VPN), subscribing to Surfshark One should expand your security protection to include seemingly adequate antivirus protection. However, if you’re primarily in the market for antivirus software, you’ll get more bang for your buck with a different suite—and a rival won’t hit your system performance nearly so hard. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 7 Jan (PC World)Tackling climate change is a team sport, and we all have to be in it together if we want to win. So, not only should we hold companies to high standards as far as mitigating their environmental impact, we should also laud them when they make positive steps in the right direction.
With almost 190 million laptops expected to ship throughout 2024, laptop manufacturers are some of the companies we should be forcing to do better — and fortunately, many of them already are.
From using recycled cardboard for packaging and ocean-bound plastic in laptops themselves, to relying on renewable energy on company property and closed-loop industrial practices. Here’s what the top laptop manufacturers are doing to go green and help save the world.
Dell
Dell has been a household name in laptops for decades, having become one of the top five manufacturers by market share since the late 90s. The company expanded over time and acquired brands (like the gaming-focused Alienware), while also supplying some of the most iconic product lines in the industry (like its XPS line of premium laptops).
As with many modernizing brands, Dell has taken on several eco-driven initiatives that help reduce its carbon footprint: the reduction of non-recycled and non-recyclable materials in laptop construction; improving the repairability of its devices; and making it easier to recycle its products once they’ve reached the ends of their lives.
Dell continues to drive up the repairability of its devices, in an effort to extend their lifespans and reduce transport and manufacturing costs for new devices.Dell
Dell incorporates several different sources for its recycled materials, too. Some of its laptops use plastics recycled from post-consumer devices, while others utilize recycled ocean-bound plastic, while still others use recycled steel, magnesium, and cobalt. Recycled materials don’t just reduce their impact on landfills and ocean-dumping, but cut down on the carbon output that goes into producing those materials (since metals and plastics don’t need to be harvested and refined to the same extent).
Dell makes it easy to recycle your laptop as an individual and for businesses to do the same. It’s an incentivized scheme, too, which ensures destruction of sensitive company data and leads to money back on future purchases. Overall, it helps cut down on laptop e-waste.
In the company’s sustainability brochure (PDF), Dell promises that “100 percent of [their] packaging and more than 50 percent of [their] product content will be made from recycled or renewable materials” by 2030.
Lenovo
By sheer volume of PCs and laptops sold, Lenovo has been the biggest computer manufacturer in the world for over a decade — so any eco-friendly initiatives by this company will not only have a huge impact, but could also encourage its competition to do the same.
Like its contemporaries, Lenovo is utilizing more and more recycled materials in its laptop designs, including ocean-bound plastic, closed-loop post-consumer plastics, and recycled metals. Its goals aren’t quite as ambitious as Dell’s, but in Lenovo’s 2024 Sustainability Report (PDF), it has pledged to have 100% of its products contain some post-consumer recycled materials by 2025. It claims around 14.6 million net pounds of plastics containing recycled content were used in 2023.
Lenovo continues to expand its renewable energy initiatives at its facilities to reduce its energy-based carbon footprint.Lenovo
Lenovo also offers a “reduced carbon transport” service to business customers. They can also pay for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) credits, which helps offset the CO2 output by transporting the laptops and other devices to the customer. While that does rely on customers paying for the reduced carbon transport option, Lenovo is investing in that itself, too.
As part of its net-zero-by-2050 commitment, Lenovo is utilizing more rail and sea freight as lower-carbon shipping options, as well as pushing for the use of SAF in Europe and South America. It also has targets to reduce transport costs in its repairs, with a pledge that by 2026 over 84 percent of all repairs of Lenovo products will take place at a repair shop, without the need to ship it to a service center.
HP
HP has one of the most ambitious green goals for its business, aiming to achieve net-zero emissions throughout its entire value chain by 2040 — that’s a good 10 years ahead of most of its competitors.
In its 2023 sustainability report (PDF), HP claimed to have already reached a 27 percent reduction since 2019, with over 184,000 tons of CO2-equivalent emissions avoided in 2023 alone through its partnerships and energy efficiency programs.
HP’s upper-tier laptops still feel luxuriously premium even as they rely on increasingly more recycled materials, proving that greener production can still be great.tech kiga / Unsplash
The company is also innovating on its products, making them smaller and leaner with less wasted materials, all while using more and more recycled materials in their construction. Its newest print cartridges are 30 percent smaller while also using 35 percent recycled content. Some of its laptops, like the EliteBook 1040, are made from over 90 percent recycled magnesium and have 50 percent recycled plastics in its keycaps. Since 2019, HP claims to have used over a billion pounds of recycled plastics in its devices. Pretty impressive, if you ask me.
HP’s certified refurbished systems provide cheaper and more environmentally friendly pathways for companies looking to upgrade their computer systems, too. The HP Device Life Extension program (PDF) offers corporations the option to have their devices cleaned and updated with newer and faster components, extending the life of existing hardware and reducing the need to buy entirely new systems.
HP is also working to eliminate single-use plastics in its packaging, having reached a 62 percent reduction between 2018 and 2023, on track to reach 75 percent by 2025. That should coincide with a complete removal of all landfill waste solutions for HP operations that same year.
Asus
Asus offers tons of in-depth data on its carbon footprint reduction initiatives, so if you want to really dig into the numbers on what it’s done and what it’s doing, there’s loads to chew on. Want to see an exact breakdown of its CO2 emissions? It’s here. A breakdown of how it audits the recycling companies it uses for end-of-life devices? That’s here.
As for its more digestible data points, Asus claims that over 11,600 tons of CO2 have been reduced by its use of recycled materials in its products since 2017. This includes ocean-bound plastics, post-consumer plastics, and post-industrial recycled magnesium and aluminum.
Asus is pushing for more recyclable materials in its packaging and a greater recycling rate for all of its products, plus more responsibly sourced materials in general.Joachim Pressl / Unsplash
The company has also managed to use 90 percent recyclable materials in its laptop packaging, while also prioritizing lighter packaging to help cut back on transport costs and fuel usage.
Some of Asus’ goals for 2025 include: reaching 100 percent recyclable materials in its laptop packaging; reaching a 20 percent recycling rate for all Asus products; and expanding its use of responsibly sourced materials like cobalt to 100 percent. By 2030, Asus also plans to reduce company-wide global carbon emissions by 50 percent and reach 100 percent renewable energy usage in all Taiwan-based operations.
Apple
Apple stands among these companies taking aggressive action to reduce their carbon footprints. In its 2024 sustainability report (PDF), Apple claims a 55 percent reduction in overall emissions since 2015, and that doesn’t include carbon credits either. It’s all part of Apple’s ongoing drive to reduce the company’s global emissions to carbon neutrality by 2030 — by far the most ambitious of all emissions goals on this list.
On the road to that lofty goal, Apple has: reduced emissions from transporting its products by 20 percent since 2022; cut back the energy use of its product ranges by as much as 70 percent since 2008; and increased its stock of refurbished devices to nearly 13 million globally.
In 2023, Apple increased the quantity of recycled materials in its products, now using 100 percent recycled cobalt in the Apple Watch and iPhone batteries, as well as 25 percent recycled gold across all product lines. It also now uses 100 percent recycled aluminum in the chassis of its Mac, MacBook, and iPad lines.
Apple helped pioneer the elaborate unboxing experience, and now it’s helping to drive out plastic with a 100 percent fiber-based Apple Watch packaging design.Apple
By 2025, Apple will have 100 percent fiber-based packaging for all of its products, and the company will continue increasing the quantities of recycled metals and minerals in its various lines.
Apple is also driving environmental changes up the chain, too. For example, Apple has secured over 320 suppliers who have committed to sourcing their electricity from renewable sources.
Although Apple doesn’t expect to eliminate emissions entirely from its production and transportation lines, it will use carbon offsets to get the last leg of the way towards making Apple a carbon-neutral company by the end of the decade.
Acer
Acer has set its sights on 2050 to make its entire business carbon-neutral, innovating within and encouraging suppliers to join in on its ambitious climate goals. In Acer’s 2023 sustainability report (PDF), the company highlights several key achievements along this road so far, with plans to expand its initiatives as we head into 2025.
So far, Acer has managed to reach a 48 percent usage of renewable electricity throughout its business, with a goal to reach 60 percent in 2025 and 100 percent by 2035. It has also managed to get 76 percent of its suppliers to agree to a similar goal, with ongoing efforts to get that number up to 80 percent of critical supplies in 2025.
Acer is still playing catch-up to the other major laptop manufacturers when it comes to carbon neutrality, but it’s making steady progress.Raphael Brasileiro / Unsplash
Acer is slowly introducing more and more recycled materials into its products, too. Its 2024 Aspire Vero 16 used 60 percent recycled plastics, representing a doubling since the 2021 model. The kinds of innovations that make this possible are set to be introduced in other Acer product lines going forward as well, with a goal to reach 30 percent post-consumer recycled plastics in all Acer products by 2025.
As much as 90 percent of Acer’s packaging is now made from recycled pulp, which is itself entirely recyclable, but the company hasn’t quite eliminated the use of plastic in all packaging yet.
Acer also continues to expand its device recycling operations, with over 61,000 tons of e-waste recycled between 2018 and 2022.
A greener future for laptops
Some companies are certainly working harder than others in their efforts to reduce their impact on the global environment, with Apple and HP apparently the most aggressive in their goals so far. There’s plenty of room for those other companies to catch up, though.
Ultimately, fighting climate change is a goal that the entire world needs to work towards together. To that end, it’s always nice to see giant megacorporations doing something even if they could be doing more. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
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|  | | PC World - 3 Jan (PC World)At a glanceExpert`s Rating
Pros
Fabric cover converts into stand that supports landscape and portrait orientation
USB-C ports deliver up to 65 watts of USB Power Delivery
Touchscreen feels responsive in general use
Passive stylus is included
Cons
Touchscreen latency is noticeable when using the stylus
Color performance doesn’t stand out
Sticks to 60Hz refresh rate, doesn’t have Adaptive Sync
Our Verdict
The Viewsonic TD1656-2K is a portable touchscreen monitor with a sharp image and included passive stylus, but it’s better in Excel than your favorite photo editor.
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I don’t know about you, but I always prefer my computer to have a touchscreen. While I don’t constantly reach up and touch the monitor, there are situations where it’s a handy alternative to using the mouse. The ViewSonic TD1656-2K tries to fill that role, offering a portable touchscreen monitor compatible with both Windows and MacOS.
ViewSonic TD1656-2K specs and features
The ViewSonic TD1656-2K’s display panel specifications aren’t unusual for a 16-inch portable monitor. It has a 16:10 aspect ratio, a native resolution of 2560×1600, and an IPS LCD display panel with a refresh rate of 60Hz. There’s no adaptive sync and HDR is not supported.
Display size: 16-inch 16:10 widescreen
Native resolution: 2560×1600
Panel type: IPS LCD 8-bit
Refresh rate: 60Hz
Adaptive sync: None
HDR: No
Ports: 2x USB-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and up to 65 watts Power Delivery
VESA mount: No
Speakers: 2x 2-watt speakers
Price: $349.99 MSRP
Dig into the details though, and the display’s purpose stands out. It has a capacitive 10-point multi-touch screen, which you can manipulate with your fingers or with the passive stylus that is included in the box. The monitor also has two USB-C ports, both of which support video input and up to 65W of Power Delivery in both directions.
The TD1656-2K lists support for both Windows 11 and Mac. I spent most of my time with it connected to a PC laptop but also connected it to a Mac Mini to confirm that the touchscreen functioned (it did).
Further reading: See our roundup of the best portable monitors to learn about competing products.
ViewSonic TD1656-2K design
The ViewSonic TD1656-2K’s design is familiar from the front, with slim bezels on three sides and a slightly thicker chin on the bottom. Around the back you’ll find an expanse of silver metal. The shade of silver used by ViewSonic is arguably a bit too light to follow current trends (gunmetal and black shades seem in vogue right now), but it looks professional.
A fabric-covered display stand and cover ships with the monitor. Like the display itself, it looks professional but not trendy. It’s a semi-rigid cover that provides good protection from scratches or moderate falls. It doesn’t fully enclose the monitor, however, so it may still allow objects to wedge in between the case and the display.
When it comes time to use the monitor, you’ll have to fold the display stand into a desired position and attach the monitor to the stand magnetically. I found it a bit confusing at first, as it’s not immediately clear how the display should fold, and the manual offered no help.
Once I was comfortable using it, however, I discovered the stand works well. It supports several different viewing angles, from nearly upright to significantly reclined, and can also be used in portrait orientation, which is not common for any portable monitor stand.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
Matthew Smith / Foundry
ViewSonic TD1656-2K connectivity
The ViewSonic TD1656-2K relies on two versatile USB-C ports. Both support DisplayPort, which means either can be used to connect a PC to the portable monitor.
The USB-C ports also support up to 65 watts of Power Delivery in both directions. This is an uncommon feature for a portable monitor, as most only support enough Power Delivery to power the monitor itself.
It opens up some new connection options. When using the TD1656-2K with a laptop, for instance, you can connect USB-C power to the monitor and then connect the monitor to the laptop to charge the laptop while it inputs video to the monitor. That’s not possible with many portable monitors, since their Power Delivery is limited.
ViewSonic TD1656-2K features
Touch is, of course, the ViewSonic TD1656-2K’s headline feature. It has a 10-point capacitive touchscreen layered beneath a smooth, glossy panel. The touchscreen felt responsive and showed no issues with mistaken or missed inputs. I found the touchscreen especially useful with multi-touch gestures, like Windows’ five-finger pinch to close all apps.
The monitor also ships with a passive stylus. The stylus is stubby, and the tip is curved with a plastic protector that prevents it from scratching the display’s surface. Even so, I found it comfortable to hold and use. It doesn’t need power, so it’s light and never needs to be charged.
The ViewSonic TD1656-2K’s pair of 2-watt speakers can fill a small office with sound and audio quality, though modest, is clear and mostly avoids distortion.
While the touchscreen does work well in general use, it’s not perfect for creative work. The passive stylus felt comfortable in my hand, but touch input includes some latency. Though not readily noticeable when using touch to navigate apps with your fingertips, it’s obvious when using the stylus to draw in Affinity Photo, Photoshop, Paint, and similar apps. There are also no buttons or extra features. It’s a simple, passive stylus, and that’s it.
Even so, the stylus is fine for less demanding users. I prefer to use a touchscreen, when it’s available, for some photo touchups. The ViewSonic TD1656-2K felt like a good fit for my occasional editing needs. If you’re an aspiring or professional digital artist, however, the latency could be frustrating.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
The on-screen menu is controlled with the power button and volume buttons on the monitor’s right flank. The text is small, but the controls are easy to use. That, however, is in part because of the lack of options. Users can adjust brightness, contrast, volume, the audio mode, and that’s about it.
Speaking of audio, the monitor has a pair of 2-watt speakers that perform better than most. Maximum volume is high enough to fill a small office with sound and audio quality, though modest, is clear and mostly avoids distortion. There’s no bass, so the speakers are a bad choice for entertainment, but they work for listening to a podcast or having chill tunes on in the background. That’s more than can be said for most portable monitors.
ViewSonic TD1656-2K SDR performance
The ViewSonic TD1656-2K’s $349.99 MSRP is towards the upper end of pricing for portable monitors, but most of the added cost goes towards the touchscreen and USB-C connectivity with up to 65 watts of Power Delivery. The display panel itself is a 16-inch IPS display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and resolution of 2560×1600.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
ViewSonic comes out swinging with a maximum brightness of 381 nits. That’s much higher than typical for a portable monitor, and it helps the display remain usable in a wide variety of situations, including rooms with bright lighting that can’t be dimmed or turned off (like, say, a corporate bullpen). The display is glossy though, so glare can still be an issue.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
Contrast is also a strength for the TD1656-2K, though it depends on your perspective. Most portable monitors have a similar IPS display panel. Compared to such peers, the TD1656-2K’s measured contrast ratio of 1620:1 is better than average and provides an attractive image.
However, as the ViewSonic VX1655-4K-OLED shows, OLED portable monitors are in a different league. They provide a more immersive image with better depth and shadow detail in dark scenes. To be fair to the TD1656-2K, however, only a few portable OLED touchscreens exist, and they’re very expensive (around $500).
Matthew Smith / Foundry
Color gamut unfortunately proves a problem for the TD1656-2K. It delivers just 99 percent of sRGB and 76 percent of DCI-P3. These are low figures, coming ahead of only the Azorpa A1 Gamut, a budget portable monitor that’s often sold for less than $150.
The TD1656-2K’s modest color gamut means it literally displays fewer colors overall, and that results in a less alluring look. It’s not really a problem if you’re in Excel or browsing Threads, of course, but more obvious if you want to edit photos or watch YouTube.
Matthew Smith / Foundry
Color accuracy works more to Viewsonic’s favor. While the TD1656-2K’s color accuracy is not the best we’ve tested, it’s certainly more than enough to deliver a lifelike, realistic image.
The TD1656-2K also did well enough in gamma and color temperature. It achieved a gamma curve of 2.3, which is slightly off our target of 2.2. This means the image appears a tad darker than it should, but not by much. Color temperature came in at 6400K, off the target of 6500K, which means the image is ever-so-slightly warmer than ideal.
Sharpness is a strength. The TD1656-2K’s resolution of 2560×1600, which works out to around 189 pixels per inch (PPI). That’s better than a 27-inch 4K monitor, which provides 163 PPI, and competitive with most high-end Windows laptops. The monitor looks sharp even when viewing small, high-contrast text.
The ViewSonic TD1656-2K’s overall image quality is fine but has caveats. It’s not competitive with most portable monitors sold in the same price bracket, though it makes up for that by including a touchscreen
ViewSonic TD1656-2K HDR performance
HDR is not supported on the ViewSonic TD1656-2K. While that might seem a bit disappointing, it’s for the best, as portable monitors have limitations that make them a bad fit for HDR. It mostly comes down to brightness. Higher brightness means higher power draw, which isn’t a great fit for a portable monitor’s use case.
ViewSonic TD1656-2K motion performance
Motion performance isn’t a priority for the ViewSonic TD1656-2K, either. It has a refresh rate of 60Hz and does not support Adaptive Sync for smooth frame pacing. That makes the monitor a bad choice for fast-paced games, as significant motion blur can detract from the action, and you’ll need to use V-Sync to avoid unsightly frame tearing.
While I understand the TD1656-2K is not meant for gaming, I find the lack of a higher refresh rate a bit frustrating. A portable touchscreen monitor is arguably an ideal use case for a 120Hz refresh rate, as it will help the display look and feel more responsive. Sticking with 60Hz is a minor disappointment forgiven only by the fact most other portable touchscreens make the same choice (though a few companies, like Uscreen, offer both).
Should you buy the ViewSonic TD1656-2K?
Buying the TD1656-2K nets you a bright display, a responsive touchscreen, an acceptable stylus, and a semi-rigid fabric cover that doubles as a stand and supports use in both landscape and portrait orientation. The monitor also includes two USB-C ports with up to 65 watts of Power Delivery, which provides extra flexibility in how the monitor is connected. The monitor’s color performance disappoints, however, and its motion performance is a poor fit for gaming.
Ultimately, the ViewSonic TD1656-2K is a portable touchscreen monitor that’s better in a corporate bullpen than a home office or studio. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 2 Jan (PC World)Barely more than a year ago, the idea of an AI-powered smart security camera that could describe what it was seeing truly blew our minds. Now, it’s becoming par for the home security course.
Just as it has in the general technology space, generative AI has begun to permeate the smart home and home security markets, from smart cams that can augment their video histories with self-generated captions to smart lights capable of creating lighting scenes using natural-language prompts.
The trend of AI in the smart home will be everywhere at this year’s edition of CES, where many–if not most–smart home and home security announcements will come with a generous sprinkling of LLM-powered features.
At the same time, another feature will be ubiquitous as far as smart home is concerned: Matter, the budding smart home standard that aims to unite the big smart ecosystems. That said, don’t expect any Matter security camera announcements at CES next month; we’ll explain why in a moment.
Gen AI, meet smart home
CES has become an increasingly big deal for smart home and home security (rivaled only by IFA, in Berlin), but at CES 2025, gen AI will be sharing—if not hogging—the spotlight.
To get an idea of the smart home-plus-AI announcements we might see at CES, just look at what we’ve already seen from the likes of Amazon’s Ring and Google’s Nest brands.
Earlier this year, Ring rolled out Smart Video Search, a feature that leverages AI-powered “Visual Language Modeling” to match captured video events with natural language search queries. In the real world, that means being able to find a video clip using by searching on, say, “racoon in the backyard last night.”
Google is doing something similar with its Nest cameras, which can now (provided you’re in the Google Home preview program) generate searchable text descriptions for saved videos, such as “the dog is digging in the garden” or “package with ballons.” Tap a video, and you’ll get an even more detailed description, courtesy of Google’s Gemini AI.
All this reminds us the Psync Camera Genie S, an AI-powered security cam unveiled last November that could write—or try to write, anyway—detailed descriptions of what it was seeing.
That was a unique feature a mere 13 months ago, albeit one that we called “more amusing than truly useful.” But today, AI-powered security cams that can describe what they’re seeing aren’t the novelty they used to be, and I’d be surprised if we didn’t see more of the same at CES this year.
Generative AI will continue to make its way into other smart home categories in Vegas. Think smart home systems that can generate their own automations based on your natural-language prompts (again, Google has already started down that path), or smart lights that can create lighting scenes from a short string of words (“a golden California sunset during the summer”).
Matter will matter even more at CES 2025
Launched two years ago with the promise of simplifying the thicket of competing smart home standards, Matter was initially anything but simple.
Positioned as the glue that would allow smart devices to work seamlessly with Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and other big smart home platforms, Matter arrived in fairly rough shape, with support for only a subset of device categories and a glitchy onboarding process.
Two years later, Matter has become proficient in many more device types, and its most recent update added a new multi-admin process that will—eventually—make it easier to add Matter devices to multiple smart home platforms at once.
Of course, it’s incumbent on device manufacturers to implement Matter’s new features in their products, so the days of Matter nirvana are still off in the distance.
Also, remember what I mentioned earlier about Matter and security cameras? For now, security cams aren’t included in the Matter specification (that could change as early as this year), so while we may see plenty of AI-powered cameras at CES 2025, the same won’t be true of Matter-enabled cams.
Still, the Matter logo will be a ubiquitous presence on the show floor in Las Vegas, and by CES 2026, security cameras likely will no longer be an exception. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 1 Jan (PC World)Is your computer’s CPU too hot? If your PC starts spontaneously shutting down, locking up, or acting sluggish during intense tasks, overheating could be the issue, especially when the intense summer heat is scorching. Keeping tabs on your CPU temperatures is crucial when you’re overclocking your PC’s processor, too—you don’t want to accidentally push the performance pedal too far to the metal when you’re supercharging your pricey (but worth every penny) Ryzen 7 7800X3D, after all.
Bizarrely, Windows doesn’t offer any way to check your computer’s CPU temperature. You could dive into your system’s BIOS to find the information, but that’s a lot of hassle to find a simple sensor reading. Fortunately, several free programs exist that make it easy to see your processor’s temperature. With that info in hand, you’ll know whether you’ll need to take more active steps to cool things down. We’ve included information on how to do that after the software recommendations below.
But first, make sure your fans and grills are clean of dust and debris, which can significantly impede with your system’s cooling. Every PC owner should have a supply of canned air around for this purpose.
Get a 2-pack of Dust-off canned air from Amazon
How to check your CPU temperature
The fastest, easiest way to check your CPU temp is using the aptly named Core Temp. Be mindful during installation though! Like many free programs, it tries to install bloatware unless you uncheck some boxes during setup.
Once installed, open Core Temp to see a no-frills look at the current state of your CPU, including an average temperature reading at the bottom of the window. If you want even more detail, click the Show hidden icons button in the system tray located at the right edge of your Windows taskbar. You’ll see a temperature listing for every individual CPU core in your computer.
Per-core CPU temperature readings provided by the Core Temp app.
Core Temp’s Settings menu allows you to tweak exactly what you’ll see in the system tray, and how you’ll see it, but the default configuration makes it dead-simple to see if your CPU is overheating or performing as expected.
How to monitor CPU temperature
Core Temp isn’t the only option though. HWInfo is an in-depth system monitoring tool that provides deep details about every piece of your PC’s hardware. If you choose to run it in sensors-only mode, scrolling down to the CPU section—the dedicated section, not the CPU temperature portion of the motherboard listing—reveals current temps and other nitty-gritty details.
NZXT’s Cam monitoring software.
NZXT’s Cam software is another popular option with a diverse skillset. Its slick interface is easier to read at a glance than those on most other monitoring tools, and the program shows all sorts of useful info about your CPU, graphics card, memory, and storage. Cam also includes an in-game FPS overlay and overclocking tools, among other features. You can use NZXT’s Cam mobile apps to keep tabs on your software when you’re away from your PC, too.
Open Hardware Monitor and SpeedFan are other well-regarded monitoring tools that can track system information. You’ve got options! But for simply checking your computer’s CPU temperatures, Core Temp’s straightforward focus can’t be beat.
If monitoring software (like HWInfo here) displays two CPU temperatures for Ryzen processors, look for the “Tdie” reading.
Finally, note that if you’re running an AMD Ryzen system, you may see two different CPU temperature readings. You want the “Tdie” reading, depending on how the program you’re using displays the info. It’s a measurement of the actual heat on the die.
The alternative “Tctl” reading is the control temperature reported to your cooling system and sometimes includes a temperature offset to ensure universal fan speed behavior between the various Ryzen chips. Any of the programs above that list a single temperature account for the offset already.
How to check CPU temp in Windows 10
Since Microsoft’s operating system lacks any native temperature-checking tools, you’ll need to use one of the third-party programs listed above to check CPU temps in Windows 10.
What’s the best temp for your CPU?
The maximum supported temperature varies from processor to processor. Most of the free monitoring software mentioned above lists the information as “Tj. Max.” That stands for the temperature junction, or the highest operating temperature of the hardware. If you don’t see the information for some reason, search the CPU World website for your CPU’s model number to find the information. Every program listed above displays your processor’s model number, so it’s easy to find.
But that’s the maximum temperature—the point at which your processor freaks out and shuts down to avoid damage. Running anywhere near that hot regularly is bad for the long-term life of your hardware. Instead, follow this general rule of thumb regarding CPU temperatures under load.
Under 60° C: You’re running great!
60° C to 70° C: Still running fine, but getting a bit warmer. Consider cleaning the dust out of your PC if CPU temperatures continue to creep up over time.
70° C to 80° C: This is hotter than you want to run unless you’re pushing an overclock. If you’re not, definitely check to make sure your fans are working and there aren’t dust bunnies clogging up your system’s airflow.
80° C to 90° C: Now we’re getting too hot for long-term comfort. Check your hardware for broken fans or dust build-up, and if you’re overclocking, dial back your settings—especially the voltage if you’ve tweaked it. One notable exception: We sometimes see more powerful laptop processors hit the low 80s during gaming sessions when plugged in, at which point they start throttling back performance. This is expected, but if temperatures cross 85° C, be concerned.
Over 90° C: Danger, Will Robinson!
How to lower your CPU temperatures
If you’re regularly encountering high CPU temperatures, there are some steps you can take to try and fix the issue.
Roll up your sleeves.
First, clean out your PC. High CPU temperatures are often caused by years of dust and grime built up inside a PC, clogging fans and crucial air pathways. Local hardware stores usually charge outrageous prices for canned air, but you can pick up a bottle for about $13 on Amazon. PCWorld’s guide on how to clean your PC can walk you through the process. While you’re at it, check to make sure that all your fans are working correctly, pointed the right way, and that none of the vents in your PC are blocked. (Also, make sure your PC’s fans are set up for maximum cooling performance.)
Hopefully that fixes the issue. If not, more intensive steps are in order. The thermal paste that transfers heat from your CPU to its cooler might have dried out if you’ve had your PC for a few years. That can cause temperature spikes.
Removing the old thermal paste with rubbing alcohol and applying a fresh layer can potentially help lower temperatures by a large amount. You can find small syringes of thermal paste by respected brands like Arctic and Noctua for under $10 on Amazon. (I’ve been a happy Arctic Silver 5 user for years now.)
If all that doesn’t help, your cooling solution simply might not be capable of keeping up with your CPU’s heat output, especially if you’re pairing a stock cooler or a modest third-party cooler with higher-end chips—and doubly so if you’re overclocking. Buying a new CPU cooler may be in order.
One of our favorite CPU air coolers
Noctua NH-D15 CPU cooler
Best Prices Today:
Not Available at Amazon
The Cooler Master Hyper H412 ($23 on Amazon) is a solid, affordable air cooler. With its larger heatsink and fan, it’s a solid step up over stock AMD and Intel CPU coolers. Moving up in size and price, the Noctua NH-D15 ($110 on Amazon) is one of the most effective air coolers ever to hit the streets, but its large size might block memory access or not even fit in smaller cases.
Closed-loop liquid cooling solutions (CLCs) provide far cooler temperatures than air coolers with minimal hassle and easy installation. Smaller 120mm units are available, but if you plan on overclocking, consider moving up to a model with larger 240mm radiator or even a huge honking 360mm radiator if you’re handling a high-end 9-series Intel or AMD chip. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 31 Dec (PC World)The new Outlook impresses with versatile functions and customization options that make everyday work more efficient. With the right settings and tips, you can minimize distractions, manage emails optimally and always keep an eye on appointments and tasks. Check out the following useful tips.
Further reading: Windows’ new Outlook app: 4 key details you absolutely need to know
Manage emails efficiently by deactivating automatic reading
By default, Outlook marks emails as read as soon as they are clicked briefly. This can lead to important emails being overlooked. To avoid this, deactivate this function under Settings > Email > Message handling.
You can find the settings in the new Outlook via the cogwheel icon at the top right. Select the option Do not automatically mark items as “Read”. This allows you to retain control and decide for yourself when a message is considered read. This is helpful for keeping track of a large number of emails.
IDG / Ashley Biancuzzo
Customize your inbox by deactivating grouping by conversations
By default, Outlook groups emails with the same subject as a conversation. However, this can become confusing, especially for complex topics with multiple participants.
Go to Settings > Layout and deactivate the option Show emails grouped by conversation or activate Show emails as individual messages. With this setting, emails are displayed individually so that each message can be viewed separately. This makes it easier to track individual replies and avoids confusion with similar subject lines.
Further settings can also be implemented at this point to customize the view of emails to your own requirements.
IDG / Ashley Biancuzzo
Highlight important emails by setting up conditional formatting
To ensure that you do not overlook any important messages, you can highlight emails from certain senders or with specific keywords in color. To do this, go to Email > Conditional formatting and create rules.
The visual distinction makes it easier to identify urgent emails immediately and prioritize them accordingly. When creating the rule, define the condition and select the appropriate color.
Set up the management cockpit and combine calendar and tasks
A clear management cockpit in Outlook helps to combine emails, tasks, and appointments in one view. To do this, activate the calendar or tasks via the icon at the top right.
This allows you to see all relevant information at a glance without having to switch between different views. This setting not only improves the overview, but also saves time as all important information is available centrally.
Optimize notifications and focus on the essentials
Notifications can be a major distraction and impair productivity. To work in a more focused manner, it’s advisable to deactivate email notifications. You can easily customize this under Settings > General > Notifications.
However, calendar and mention notifications for documents that you or others save in OneDrive or SharePoint libraries in Microsoft 365 should remain activated. They help you not to miss important appointments and messages. This customization makes it easier to focus on important tasks without being constantly interrupted by new emails.
Convert emails into tasks or appointments
Not all emails need to be processed immediately. To process important messages later, you can convert them into tasks or appointments. Simply drag and drop the email onto the task bar or calendar. This allows you to directly create a task or appointment with all relevant content.
You can adjust the date by right clicking. This function helps you not to forget anything important and to keep your inbox organized. The email is retained, but all objects and information are also transferred to the appointment or task.
Activate calendar weeks for efficient scheduling
For a better overview and scheduling, you can activate the display of calendar weeks. You can find this setting under Settings > Calendar. The calendar weeks make it easier to coordinate appointments, especially for longer-term planning or projects with multiple participants.
IDG / Ashley Biancuzzo
If you use Outlook to plan your appointments, you should also take a look at the other settings in this area and adjust them to your requirements.
Pin emails or remind again
Outlook offers two useful functions to ensure that important emails don’t get lost in the shuffle. You can pin emails to the top of the inbox with the Pin function. To do this, right click on the message and select Pin. Alternatively, you can use the Remind me again function to automatically move an e-mail back to the inbox at a later time.
IDG / Ashley Biancuzzo
You can also find this function by right clicking, whereby you can set the date and time for the reminder individually.
Attach files more quickly
Attaching files in Outlook is accelerated by intelligent functions. When attaching a file, simply enter a forward slash (/) to display recently used documents.
Alternatively, you can search for the file name by typing the first few letters. However, this function only works for files stored on SharePoint or OneDrive. This saves you time, especially if you regularly work with the same files.
Send emails with a delay
You can use the Schedule send function to specify when an email is sent. Instead of clicking directly on “Send,” select the small arrow next to it and set the date and time. This is particularly useful if you want to prepare messages outside working hours or send them at the start of the working day.
Recalling e-mails
If an email has been sent by mistake, you can recall it within a set period of time. To do this, go to Settings > Email > Compose and reply and activate the Undo recall function when sending and specify the time period.
Alternatively, you can subsequently delete sent emails via Recall message, provided the sender and recipient use the same Exchange or Microsoft 365 mailbox.
Process emails productively
A tidy inbox starts with the consistent processing of emails. Decide the following for each message: Delete, reply, delegate, or convert into a task. This will prevent your inbox from becoming overcrowded and you will always be in control of your communication. With tools such as tasks and reminders, Outlook helps you to implement this principle efficiently. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | PC World - 31 Dec (PC World)The good news for Intel? 2024’s almost over.
Our collection of the highs and lows of Intel’s 2024 will have you reaching for the brandy. They weren’t good. I mean, aside from some of Intel’s mobile chips, what exactly did it do right? Let’s put it this way: when your ex-CEO prays for your company after he was kicked out, it was a bad year.
As we’ve done for other companies in the past, we’ve collected the best, worst, and head-scratching moments from the past year. Get yourself a hot mug of cider or a cold glass of egg nog, and sit down with as we recap Intel’s 2024. And hold on — it’s going to get bumpy.
Crashing Intel 13th-gen/14th-gen CPUs: FAIL
Intel’s year-long saga of mediocrity just would not go away. From a January advisory by RadTools through more intensive investigations that stretched through the summer, Intel’s latest 13th- and 14th-gen desktop chips were plagued by two questions: what was going on, and, more importantly, would my processor be affected?
Intel’s mobile processors weren’t affected, and the bugs translated into application crashes and hangs…but you get the idea.Mulad Images / Shutterstock
Eventually, Intel solved the problem of why desktop systems with both chips inside ran the risk of blue-screening: a combination of faulty microcode and elevated operating voltages that contributed to a bug known as Vmin Shift. But once the bug was identified, it needed to be fixed. And Intel ran through patch after patch to try to and finally nail down the problem, which lasted until September.
Right now, there’s no way of telling if your CPU has been damaged — well, except for a crash, of course. Extended warranties helped, of course, but the reputation of Intel’s Raptor Lake architecture was irrevocably tarnished. Thank goodness Arrow Lake was waiting in the wings, huh?
Intel 14th-gen Core HX notebooks: WIN
At least Intel’s Core HX mobile gaming processors succeeded, right? Well, sort of. The 14th-gen Core HX didn’t really offer that much more than the mobile 13th-gen Core HX did in terms of performance, and we all know that the combination of a Core HX and an Nvidia GeForce can product a howling dervish of a laptop.
Intel
As far as how the 14th-gen Core HX fared against the Ryzen 8000 mobile, reviews gave the edge to Intel in terms of single-threaded and multi-threaded performance, but handed AMD the crown in terms of power and battery life. The 14th-gen Core HX performed adequately, just without a whole lot of value. But it also offered AMD a chance to start stealing market share from Intel, which it eventually did. It’s not much of a win for Intel, but you have to take what you can get, right?
Intel’s desktop share decline: FAIL
Historically, Intel has commanded about 80 percent of the PC market. Everything that AMD never quite changes that equation. Except that in desktops, AMD is now approaching 30 percent of the desktop market. The Intel faithful may yawn and roll over, content that Intel would have to give up millions of PCs to AMD before it would lose its majority. But cynics may point at the deluge of bad Intel news and conclude that the market has decided accordingly.
In notebooks, however, Intel has maintained the 80-20 ratio. At stake are millions of PCs set to replace older Windows 10 hardware that will go out of support in October 2025 unless customers buy some extra time.
Windows on Arm: WIN
Intel these days is a big fat, target, and Qualcomm is taking aim. So far, however, it doesn’t seem like buyers are necessarily signing up to buy Windows on Arm PCs instead of Intel, surprisingly. (Mercury Research recently reported that combined Apple/Qualcomm Arm processor sales were 10.3 percent, flat with the quarter before.) That might be due to the unexpected success of Lunar Lake or just some old-fashioned arm-twisting under the table.
Still, a Dell XPS 13 powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon? Embarrassing. A crappy result? Intel saved face, sort of.
With Mediatek and powerhouse Nvidia rumored to be developing Windows-on-Arm processors, though, 2025 may be the year of the Arm PC.
The NPU hype: FAIL
Intel tried to convince us that its first Core Ultra chip, Meteor Lake, would usher in a wave of AI PCs. And they did — but save for Windows 11’s Windows Studio Effects, they really didn’t do too much.
So what was the NPU good for? Two things, apparently: to highlight that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X platform had an NPU that it was actually shipping, and to usher in the Core Ultra 200 / Lunar Lake, which finally had the horsepower to qualify as a Microsoft Copilot+ PC. If you bought into the AI hype with Meteor Lake, you probably ended up with a sour taste in your mouth.
Mark Hachman / IDG
At least for now, Copilot+ PCs offer just a handful of generative AI improvements within Windows 11. Recall, the feature expected to get customers slavering for local AI, still hasn’t officially shipped. Meanwhile, while both the Core Ultra 200 and the Ryzen AI 300 technically qualify for Copilot+ status, it’s only on paper. Both require Microsoft to issue Windows updates to enable Copilot+ features — though just one, Recall, has been enabled…and that’s just in preview. It’s still a huge mess.
Intel’s GPU situation: WIN and FAIL
Complicating Intel’s NPU issue was the recognition that while NPUs were more efficient at AI than anything else, there was another PC component that could execute AI far better: the GPU. If you owned a PC with a GPU inside of it — especially a desktop — you already owned the most powerful AI engine in the PC ecosystem. The problem? Intel didn’t have one.
Intel’s Battlemage appears to be a bright spot in an otherwise bad year.ASRock / Amazon
The delays between Intel’s first-generation “Alchemist” and second-generation “Battlemage” parts was so big that Intel essentially fell out of the desktop GPU market. Yes, Battlemage (in the form of the Intel Arc B580) is here, it rocks, and its $249 price point will prove to be a boon for cash-strapped PC gamers. But as of this writing both AMD and Nvidia are expected to release far more powerful next-gen GPUs at CES in January 2025, including Nvidia’s Blackwell/GeForce 5000. All either company has to do is decide to release a stripped-down version that competes with Intel on price, and Intel could be toast — though that is unlikely to happen until later in the year, if the competition is even able to compete with the Arc B580’s spectacular value.
Another plus? Intel’s GPU driver issues are largely a thing of the past now.
Intel Core Ultra 200 / “Lunar Lake”: WIN
Let’s be real: Qualcomm is only competing against Intel. AMD is too. But Intel has to compete with both companies, on two different metrics: performance and low power. Lunar Lake, or the Core Ultra 200 series, is Intel’s response to the power-sipping Snapdragon X Elite. And Lunar Lake did very well, offering killer, competitive battery life with Qualcomm’s best. While the CPU performance was middling, Lunar Lake’s gaming performance certainly improved over the prior generation.
Mark Hachman / IDG
What was impressive about Lunar Lake was that it competed with the Snapdragon while also competing with the Ryzen AI 300 — and without any lingering compatibility issues associated with Windows on Arm. I think Matt Smith’s gaming review echoed my own conclusions: Lunar Lake should really be evaluated on a notebook-by-notebook basis, as the performance has been a little inconsistent. Overall, however, Lunar Lake debuted impressively.
Intel “Arrow Lake” desktop (Core Ultra 9 285K): FAIL
When you hold a post-mortem interview acknowledging that the Arrow Lake launch “didn’t go as planned,” you can’t help but call the chip a failure. “I will say that the performance we saw in reviews — to be very clear, through no fault of reviewers — was not what we expected, not what we intended,” Intel vice president and general manager Robert Hallock told Hot Hardware.
Actual users could see even lower performance, too, as Intel’s testing assumed some tweaked settings. (It wouldn’t be the only time during 2024 that Intel was linked to some benchmark hanky-panky, either.)
IDG
Arrow Lake’s performance in gaming matched or declined compared to the 14th-gen Core chips, while not delivering amazing gains in terms of power consumption. Contrast Arrow Lake’s disappointing launch with AMD’s outstanding Ryzen 7 9800X3D chip — which obliterated Intel in terms of performance and power — and it was a miserable 2024 for Intel’s desktop chips.
Thunderbolt 5: FAIL, for now
Part of my job requires me to test Thunderbolt docks for a living, and Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 have been quite successful. But Thunderbolt 5 hardware simply hasn’t been as widespread as I anticipated, and a bad first experience with Thunderbolt 5 left a sour taste in my mouth. There’s been a noted lack of Thunderbolt 5 docks, and laptop makers haven’t exactly rushed to include Intel’s discrete Thunderbolt 5 controller, either. Part of the blame must be left at the feet of Intel, which still hasn’t integrated a Thunderbolt 5 controller into a laptop chipset.
Intel
The other Thunderbolt flop of 2024 is probably Thunderbolt Share, a cool concept weighed down by licensing and just general unavailability. I’ve seen a couple of Thunderbolt Share docks, but few if any notebooks have adopted the technology. Intel has some work to do here.
Intel’s massive layoffs: FAIL
Let’s face it: 2024 was a pretty lousy year for Intel. Chip nerds had been circling the company for some time — persistent GPU delays, desktop chip problems, and suspicions about the value of AI swung enthusiast perception away from Intel to AMD earlier in the year. But on August 1, Intel announced it would lay off 15,000 workers or so and (*gasp*) eliminate its corporate dividend. Wall Street painted a big red bullseye on Intel’s back and took aim. Public perception changed overnight.
On Halloween, Intel pulled off a tried-and-true strategy: dump all of the bad stuff into a single quarter’s worth of results, losing $16.6 billion after charges on $13.3 billion in revenue. Intel’s stock price plunged. We didn’t know it at the time, but there would be further consequences, too.
The CHIPS Act: WIN
In 2022, President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law, providing $280 billion for domestic chipmaking and related activities, of which $52 billion was specifically marked for manufacturing and research. According to this nice breakdown of the CHIPS Act funding by our friends at Computerworld, Intel is scheduled to receive $8.5 billion (now $7.86 billion, plus $3 billion in additional funding for participating in the Secure Enclave program as well.) That agreement was signed on Nov. 26, 2024.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger (left) speaks with U.S. President Joe Biden during a tour of an Intel semiconductor factory in Chandler, Arizona, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Intel
That was great news for Intel and then-chief executive Pat Gelsinger. Free money! Subsidies to build out an American foundry business to rival Taiwan and TSMC! But it came with a catch: to receive it, Intel has to hold on to at least 50.1 percent of its foundry business or give up the funding. No problem, right? Well…
Intel’s manufacturing business: FAIL
Intel chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger took a risky gamble almost as soon as he took office: Regain Intel’s manufacturing leadership by jamming through five manufacturing process node upgrades in four years. If Intel can pull off manufacturing Panther Lake on its 18A process in 2025, it will have succeeded.
Mark Hachman / IDG
But Gelsinger also pledged to open a separate foundry initiative to manufacture chips, essentially becoming a competitor to TSMC. The problem? No one bought the concept. Wall Street grew impatient waiting for Intel to fill its foundry business, though Microsoft signed on in February for an 18A chip and the company has claimed other, undisclosed customers have signed checks. Now, who knows what the future holds.
Should Intel have waited until after its manufacturing turnaround had been established to launch a foundry business? It certainly appears so. Meanwhile, Intel built several tiles within both Core Ultra chips at TSMC, rather than its own fabs, while collecting CHIPS Act checks from the federal government. Not a great look.
CEO Pat Gelsinger steps down: FAIL
As a cub reporter, I interviewed Gelsinger when he was in charge of Intel’s USB efforts. He oversaw the Intel Developer Forum. I’ve had a chance to ask questions off and on over the years, and liked the guy. But he never sat down for an interview with PCWorld, and now he’s gone. Learn your lessons, folks.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Gelsinger stepped down just over a month after a blistering Reuters expose pointed out his missteps, including ticking off TSMC founder Morris Chang, who called Gelsinger a “very discourteous fellow.” Insiders said that Gelsinger had a choice: retire or else.
In my opinion, Gelsinger failed for two reasons: He missed the opportunity to challenge Nvidia in enterprise AI, and the Intel Foundry initiative hasn’t taken off so far. But resuscitating Intel’s process technology roadmap should pay off in a big way. The man bled Intel blue, no question about it.
Now, the torch has been passed to Michelle Johnston Holthaus as co-CEO and head of the newly formed Intel Products business. Holthaus has sat down for an interview with PCWorld, so she’s off to a great start.
Hope your new year is happier than Intel’s 2024. Read...Newslink ©2025 to PC World |  |
|  | | BBCWorld - 28 Dec (BBCWorld)TUC general secretary Paul Nowak tells the BBC proposed 2.8% public sector pay rise is not credible. Read...Newslink ©2025 to BBCWorld |  |
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