So there it is–my new mini PC, the A9 Max from Geekom. A smart little powerhouse, barely bigger than a sandwich tin, whisper-quiet and amazingly powerful. I unpacked it, plugged it in, and completed the initial setup. Everything works perfectly, as my test shows. And yet I realize after just a few minutes: it won’t stay this way for long. As soon as the software is installed, my fingers start itching for a screwdriver. Why? Because an off-the-shelf PC is always a compromise–a very good one, but not my personal ideal. Christoph Hoffmann As a technology journalist and IT expert, I look at ready-made PCs from a different perspective. Manufacturers have to appeal to a wide audience and, above all, put an attractive price on it. This inevitably means that costs are cut in certain areas. Not in the CPU, since that’s the showpiece, but in components whose true performance is only revealed in demanding everyday use. For me, the purchase of such a mini PC is therefore not the end, but the beginning of an optimization project. I’m buying an excellent foundation on which to build my customized system. More RAM brings a performance boost The first and easiest upgrade is almost always the RAM. The Geekom A9 Max comes with 32GB of RAM, which is more than enough for most users and everyday tasks such as browsing, office work, and streaming. But my everyday use is different. I often run a virtual machine for testing software, dozens of browser tabs with CPU-intensive web applications, image editing programs, and communication tools at the same time. This is where 32GB quickly becomes a bottleneck. The system starts to feel sluggish, switching between programs takes longer, and productivity suffers. The solution is simple and inexpensive: an upgrade to 64GB, for example with the Kingston FURY Impact SO-DIMM 64GB DDR5-5600 CL40 kit. Replacing the RAM modules usually takes just a few minutes, and the results are immediately noticeable. Everything runs more smoothly, the system has more headroom, and it’s better prepared for tomorrow’s software. For me, this small investment offers the best bang for your buck. SSD upgrades: more speed and storage The second candidate for an immediate improvement is the mass storage device, i.e. the SSD. Here, manufacturers save on two fronts: capacity and speed. Models with 512GB or 1TB are often installed. The NVMe SSD with 2TB of capacity in our A9 Max comes from Lexar and is labeled LNQ7A1X002T. Christoph Hoffmann That sounds like a lot at first, but I traditionally separate the Windows installation on the C: drive from my data, which I sync with Dropbox. That’s why I’m putting a second SSD in the mini PC–an external hard drive would be an option, but internal storage is unbeatable for quick access. However, speed is even more important to me. Not every NVMe SSD is the same. Manufacturers often install cheap models that are faster than old SATA hard drives, but are nowhere near the potential of modern interfaces. The NVMe SSD from Lexar installed in the Geekom delivers a read performance of 6,242 MB/s and a write rate of 5,423 MB/s in CrystalDiskMark. That’s an above-average result for a PCIe 4.0 SSD, so there’s no reason to replace it for performance reasons. The system includes a short M.2 slot (M.2-2230) for an additional SSD. The selection of compatible drives is somewhat limited. For our upgrade, we chose the Crucial P310 SSD 2TB. The alternative is the Corsair MP600 Mini, which comes in 1 and 2TB versions. If the standard SSD installed in the mini PC delivers below-average values, it makes sense to replace it with a high-end SSD. It transforms the mini PC into a real powerhouse. Programs start without delay, large files are copied in seconds, and the entire system feels more direct and responsive. It’s a level of comfort I wouldn’t want to miss in my daily work. Upgrading is easy Before you start ordering or visiting a local dealer, you should check the exact specifications of the mini PC. The Geekom A9 Max has a short M.2 interface (M.2-2230) for an additional SSD, suitable for the Crucial P310 SSD 2 TB M.2. The RAM configuration is interesting. The A9 Max (and many other models) comes with 32GB of RAM with two 16GB modules. To upgrade to 64GB, both sticks must be replaced. There’s a good selection of compatible 64 GB kits (2 × 32 GB) dual-channel DDR5 with 5600 MHz. Popular options include the Crucial CT2K32G56C46S5 and the Crucial Pro CP2K32G56C46U5. Alternatively, you can choose a single (though more expensive) memory stick to keep the option of upgrading to 128GB open. Before you begin the upgrade or installation, make sure the mini PC is completely switched off and disconnected from the power supply. To discharge any residual power from the system, press and hold the power button for about five seconds. Opening the case can be a bit tricky (see section: Troubleshooting: No more Wi-Fi and Bluetooth). The screws on the underside are hidden behind the rubber feet, which can be pried out with a pointed object. Once the screws are loosened, handle everything with care. Christoph Hoffmann Once the inner workings of the mini PC are exposed, you can access the slots for the two SSDs (1 × M.2 2280 and 1 × M.2 2230) and the two memory slots. Some mini PCs also include a mounting bracket for a 2.5-inch SATA SSD, such as the Samsung 870 EVO. With the Geekom A9 Max (and most other models), insert the M.2 SSD at a slight angle into the slot provided. Then carefully press it down and secure the end with the small screw provided. That’s it! The RAM modules are held in place by small metal or plastic retaining clips on each side. Gently push these clips outwards to release the RAM module, which will lift up slightly and can be removed. Take the new RAM module and pay attention to the notch. This must match the corresponding guide in the slot to prevent incorrect installation. Insert the module into the slot and press it down firmly and evenly until you hear the retaining clips on the side click into place. Done! After installation, close the case and reconnect all cables. Start the mini PC and enter the BIOS (usually by pressing F2 or Del) to confirm that the new RAM is recognized. Once installed, the new SSD won’t automatically appear as a drive in Windows. It must first be initialized in Disk Management. That’s it! The mini PC now has more storage space and, thanks to the RAM upgrade, extra performance headroom. Troubleshooting Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues Please note: When opening the case and removing the inner metal cover, the black and gray cables may become disconnected. These are soldered to the metal cover and connected to the Wi-Fi card. If the connection is lost, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth functionality will no longer be available. The cables are fixed to the metal cover with adhesive strips, which limits their length. To ensure that the cables stay firmly attached when the cover is lifted, it’s best to remove the strips and reposition the cables so they remain plugged in. Christoph Hoffmann If the cables have already been disconnected, the ends must be reconnected to the Wi-Fi card. This is located underneath the M.2-2280 connector, which is why the SSD must first be carefully removed. After exposing the Wi-Fi card, carefully lift the self-adhesive, transparent plastic cover with tweezers or fold it back. Then carefully reconnect the black cable to the connection labeled “Main” and the grey cable to the “AUX” connection. This process requires patience and may take several attempts. Make sure the cover is properly closed before reinserting the SSD. Read...

TL;DR: Get an IONOS Web Hosting Plus 3-year subscription plan for $99.99 (MSRP $288). Web hosting can cost $10+ monthly—especially if you’re building multiple projects or want enterprise-grade reliability. But this deal brings the cost way down. With IONOS Web Hosting Plus, you’ll get three full years of hosting for about $2.78 per month without compromising on performance, security, or features. The plan includes unlimited websites, storage, databases, and bandwidth, plus enhanced CPU and memory resources to handle demanding workloads. Your data is hosted on geo-redundant infrastructure with a 99.99% uptime guarantee, so your sites stay online even if one data center goes down. Built-in daily backups, malware scanning, DDoS protection, and a free Wildcard SSL certificate help keep everything secure from day one. Setup is simple with 1-click installs for over 70 apps and CMS platforms, SSH and SFTP access, and full Git integration. You’ll also get a free domain for a year, professional email, and 24/7 support. Whether you’re launching a portfolio site, managing client projects, or hosting resource-heavy web apps, this is a cost-effective way to scale without recurring monthly bills. Save 65% on IONOS Web Hosting Plus with a 3-year subscription plan. IONOS Web Hosting Plus Plan: 3-Year SubscriptionSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

With privacy all but nonexistent now thanks to web advertising and monetized tracking, there’s a definite niche for browsers and other tools that specialize in keeping you safe and anonymous online. Brave, DuckDuckGo, Mullvad, and Tor are all great examples. But one “privacy browser” is allegedly made by cyber criminals specifically to harvest data—and it has millions of downloads. According to a security report from Infoblox, in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the China-focused Universe Browser is advertised as a safe and private way to bypass censorship and web blocks. It has a specific use case for would-be online gamblers. But just underneath its surface, the browser is recording the user’s location, routing all traffic data through servers in China, installing keyloggers, and changing network settings. “These features are consistent with remote access trojans (RATs) and other malware increasingly being distributed through Chinese online gambling platforms,” says Infoblox. While the report stops short of accusing the developers of the browser of being straight-up criminals, it’s hard to imagine any software doing all that nasty stuff for benevolent purposes. The data collected would be easy to leverage into tracking wealthy gamblers and targeting them for Trojan deliveries, identity theft, or blackmail attacks… just as examples. The Chrome-derived Universe Browser has been promoted as a way to access gambling sites to customers of the Baoying Group, closely associated with Triad criminal actors (labelled “Vault Viper” by researchers) that profit from illegal online gambling, cybercrime, money laundering, and human trafficking. Once installed, the program attempts to evade antivirus detection, injects code, and monitors system information like the contents of a user’s clipboard. After a few checks to make sure it’s properly evading security, the Windows version can even replace your original Chrome executable file. Once it’s well and truly embedded in both the system and the user’s habits, things start to get really interesting. The browser’s base function has almost all user-accessible settings disabled, and it includes an extension that can take screenshots of web browsing and upload them to a remote server. The browser appears to be sending encrypted data to specific servers associated with Vault Viper. Universe Browser seems to be custom-made for the Baoying Group and its associates, and it’s only advertised on their sites, mostly targeting gamblers in China and Taiwan where online gambling is illegal. It’s available on the iOS App Store and as a sideloaded Android app, but according to Wired, it’s not known whether these mobile versions are as dangerous as the Windows version. I’d avoid all of them if I were you. Read...

Now that Microsoft is not-quite-forcing you to upgrade to Windows 11, it’s time for them to take break, let you settle in, lay off some of the heavy-handed marketing that’s been the company’s staple for the last two years… Ha, just kidding. They’re actually burying users under more Copilot features and integrations. Try to contain your excitement. In a sprawling marketing post yesterday, Microsoft announced a bunch of new features for Copilot… not a single one of which requires a laptop or desktop that meets the Copilot+ requirements. “Copilot now connects you to yourself, to others, and to the tools you use every day. It’s there for you, helps you stay organized, and even supports your health,” says the blog post from Microsoft’s CEO of AI. Here’s a breakdown of all the new and updated stuff announced: Mico, Microsoft’s AI companion character: It’s Clippy 2.0. And the new video showing off the character, which is supposed to be conversational, has no audio. What? Thankfully, Mico is only an “optional visual presence”; you can still use Copilot in its standard text-based interface. Mico is currently rolling out in the US, though I haven’t seen it in action yet. (Oh, by the way. It’s called Mico because it’s an interface for Microsoft Copilot. Riveting.) Copilot Mode in Edge: Microsoft is pushing the Copilot integration to compete with new “agentic” browsers like Comet. Copilot will be able to “read” the pages you’re looking at and remember your internet history, in a method that whiffs of Recall on Copilot+ PCs. Don’t everyone jump at once to give Microsoft even more of your web browsing information. Copilot Groups: Up to 32 users can join in a Copilot LLM session at once for collaboration. Long-term memory: Copilot’s LLM can now “remember” important information you offer up to it, mirroring features from other “AI” chatbots like ChatGPT (which forms the basis for much of Copilot’s functionality) and Google Gemini. Users can update, edit, or delete specific conversations in their history, allowing a measure of control over what Copilot remembers. Integration with Google services: Copilot can now get into your Google account to “see” Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar, something that was already announced. In Deep Research mode, it will offer up more insight based on recent activity. Copilot for health: Microsoft promises some more credible search results, including “sources like Harvard Health.” It’ll also help you find the correct local doctors based on your health needs, including location and language. All of these things are, of course, completely impossible to do with a standard search engine, like the one Microsoft has been making for a couple of decades. I’ve yet to see anything in Copilot that makes me want to leave it running on my PC, much less pay $20 per month for a Microsoft 365 subscription to get at its more potent capabilities. But if you want to try this stuff out, Microsoft says that all the above capabilities are rolling out in the US now, with the UK, Canada, “and beyond” coming later. Read...

Owners of Eight Sleep smart beds woke up in a sweat Monday night, and not because they were having bad dreams.  Instead, they were literally sweating as their malfunctioning beds—which had been knocked offline due to Monday’s massive Amazon cloud outage—began overheating and got stuck upright, or in other ungainly positions.  It was an embarrassing situation, no question—a bed got knocked offline?—and it led to a hoard of angry Eight Sleep users, an apology from the company’s CEO, and a slew of bad headlines.  The Eight Sleep snafu served as yet another example of smart technology that suddenly turns dumb once there’s an internet or server outage. Indeed, a “dumb” bed with heating and position controls that actually work was briefly smarter than Eight Sleep’s $2600-and-up smart “pods,” which completely froze up during the global AWS crash.  But then something interesting happened. Eight Sleep acted, and it acted fast.  Within two days of the AWS outage, Eight Sleep delivered what its CEO promised Monday: an offline “Backup Mode” that allows the Eight Sleep app to connect locally to the company’s smart beds via Bluetooth during a Wi-Fi or internet outage.  Backup Mode offers only limited functionality compared to the cloud-enabled Eight Hours experience—no sleep schedules, for example, nor will the bed’s temperature be automatically regulated.   But at least you’ll be able to manually adjust the temperature and bed position, as well as turn the beds on and off. (Eight Sleep owners had to unplug their overheating beds during the Amazon cloud downtime.)  Eight Sleep’s Backup Mode certainly isn’t perfect—and, arguably, should have shipped a long time ago. Still, it’s here now, and hats off to the company for getting its fix out so quickly.  Eight Sleep’s fast reaction to a critical dependency on the cloud is, sadly, more than the exception than the rule when it comes to the smart home market. Take Amazon’s Ring and Blink cameras, which went down for the count during the AWS outage. Yes, the Ring Alarm Pro home security system and some Blink Sync Modules (specifically, the Sync Module 2 and Sync Module XR) both offer local storage of video recordings, but the cameras themselves were unreachable during the Amazon cloud blackout. And yes, Ring and Blink cameras are back online again, but only until the next big cloud outage comes around. Then there’s Sengled and its Wi-Fi bulbs, which were useless for weeks following a series of Sengled server outages. The good news is that Sengled appears to be sputtering back to life, but likely too late for exasperated customers who went ahead and switched to another ecosystem. (Sengled’s Matter and Zigbee bulbs, which can be controlled with local smart hubs, were notably immune to the company’s server woes.)  Another example: Tablo and its over-the-air DVRs, which suffered a pair of outages back in August that left their owners unable to view their recordings or watch live TV. To its credit, Tablo manufacturer Nuvyyo did finally release an offline mode for fourth-generation Tablo DVRs, but it was a fix that long-suffering Tablo owners had been waiting years for.  The great AWS outage of 2025 should serve as a wakeup call for smart home makers who sell products dependent on the cloud—because cloud outages happen, sooner or later, rendering their smart devices stupid in the blink of an eye. At least some smart product manufacturers are doing something about it. Read...

Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. Missed the hot topics on our YouTube show or latest news from across the web? You’re in the right place. Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website!  Pretend for a moment that for a satellite, the only thing that matters is what it does while in orbit. From that view, the news about Starlink’s amped-up new V3 satellites is pretty astounding—as reported by my former colleague Michael Kan, these hulking contraptions will not only dramatically expand download capacity for customers, but also support gigabit speeds. This development definitely piques my interest. And I’m diehard fan of wired internet. Wireless technology captures the heart—it always feels futuristic, no matter how mundane the application. Or how rudimentary the tech. I remember when satellite internet was synonymous with slow. Practically speaking, you signed up for such a service only because nothing better existed. But emotionally? It was comforting to have the option available. And also, as a child of the 90s (when connecting to the web happened via whining beeps and boops), knowing the internet could be beamed to you from the sky was super cool. Heck, even spoiled now by always-connected pocketable computers (aka smartphones), I still feel joy whenever I use a basic wireless keyboard. Something about breaking free of tethers is wondrous—for me, it represents freedom. Infinite possibility. When you can connect without physical contact, the sky is the limit.  (Now literally so, thanks to hardware in literal space, blasting internet into homes at the same theoretical rates as earth-bound services.) Evgeny Opanasenko / Unsplash Still, the pragmatist in me wants to see more. Not more satellites, per se—that’s actually a potential risk, given how at least one Starlink satellite burns up each day, and such debris could add to the severity (and resulting consequences) of climate change. I’m hoping to see an even tighter closing of the gap between wireless and wired technologies. Because as good as it’s become, wireless still has one main weakness. It remains bound by physics. Signal interference will always give wired connections a leg up when rock-solid dependability matters. Starlink’s improved a lot. But heck, even the wireless keyboard I’m currently reviewing acts up if I put its receiver behind the PC. If the technology could become resilient enough to trust through thick and thin, I’d consider abandoning my wired internet. (Or at least, trusting I don’t have to have wireless access points connected via Ethernet backhaul.) Maybe my other wired tech, too. I’m hoping it will. Because even though I am a hard sell on this point, I love that we have options. I love alternatives. I love that a bunch of smart folks decided to trade one set of limitations (physical linking as a requirement) for a different set, so that you can choose what best fits your situation. I love someone asked, “Isn’t this a neat idea?” Because yeah, it is. In this episode of The Full Nerd In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Brad Chacos, Will Smith, and special guest Tom Peterson, Fellow at Intel, dive deep into Xe3 gaming, making a better GPU, and much more. As always when TAP visits us, he guides everyone through an incredible amount of detailed, insightful information—for over two hours! Plus, Tom adds yet again to The Full Nerd cookbook with two mouth-watering suggestions—chicken ballotine and “the best brownie ever.” In his words, these brownies are not chewy but cakey, and “very, very nice.” (Also, I’m hereby proposing that for every guest we have on the show, we ask for a recipe contribution so we can put it into a TFN Cookbook collection at each year’s end.) Willis Lai / Foundry Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd Network YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real-time! Don’t miss out on our NEW shows too—you can catch episodes of Dual Boot Diaries and The Full Nerd: Extra Edition now! And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds.  This week’s wild nerd news So apparently, I should take vacation more often—I was not expecting to come back to word of an itty bitty PCs housing a desktop 5060 Ti 16GB chip, much less a report on butt-breathing could become an actual medical treatment (yes, you read that correctly). Now that is a toy I’d want under my Christmas tree.Mikael Lindkvist ‘Butt-breathing might soon be a real medical treatment’: Look, I can’t summarize this article better than its headline, so I’ll just once again tip my hat in respect to the fine writers at Ars Technica. Also, what clever science. This takes me back: This week’s dose of 90s nostalgia comes courtesy of a Microsoft devblog post, which digs into Windows 95’s most iconic icons. Seeing that desktop computer PC icon hit me hard. Never change, Japan: I sincerely hope Japan never loses its love for physical media—books, discs, and the like. I love the charm of disc drives and calculators (yep, a whole bin full of basic, desk-sized ones) stocked alongside $1,000 AM5 motherboards in Akihabara stores. Fingers crossed mini-disc players have a revival. It doesn’t snow where I live, but I want one: OK, this smart snow blower isn’t computer hardware. It’s also $5,000. But you control it with a dupe of an Xbox controller and it looks like one of my favorite construction toys from when I was a kid. I’m in. Mini but mighty: I built a big PC just a few weeks ago, but I love tiny gaming PCs. And Zotac’s sub-3L offering with a desktop 5060 Ti stuffed inside is delightful. Turns out, enshittification has nuance: At least, Cory Doctorow (the original inventor of the term enshittification) takes this approach to the concept. After reading this interview, I can’t wait to get my hands on his full book. Why put Battlefield 6 on an AIO screen? Why not?Allround-PC.com Battlefield 6 blinding you? The fine folks over at PCGamer have you covered—try their suggestion for adjusting the brightness settings. Or I guess you could just play Battlefield 6 this way instead: I’m betting on a screen that small, it won’t blind you. Well, not from brightness. I’m not the only one: When an astoundingly broad range of people sign an open letter asking for AI development to be paused until it can be done safely—and with large public buy-in—it seems like maybe the tech industry is ignoring how problematic the current approach is. GoG Games has some crazy tales: I think none of us appreciate enough the lengths GoG has gone to preserve gaming—at least, I feel I didn’t after reading about this particular tale. Wow. Well, it was a good run while it lasted: I like how the earth gets a finite end date, but the calculus for humanity’s survival is generalized to, “Well, definitely not as long as earth’s lifespan.” More lucky thrift shopping: On a more cheerful note—$500 for a PC with a 2080 Ti inside. Hot dang. Catch you all next week—I believe the whole TFN crew will be celebrating Halloween in full style. At least, we will be if Adam has anything to say about it. ~Alaina This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Well-rounded hardware configuration for the price Large touchpad with virtual dial Good balance of modern and legacy connectivity Strong battery life for a laptop with a discrete GPU Cons Rigid and light chassis looks a bit mediocre Modest CPU and GPU performance Our Verdict The Asus ProArt P16 strikes a balance between portability and performance. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Asus ProArt P16 (2025) Retailer Price $2,929.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Asus ProArt P16 is a laptop that’s meant for creative professionals. Technically, just about any laptop with a fast CPU and GPU could do the job—and some pros turn towards gaming laptops for that reason. But the ProArt P16 seeks its niche by pairing performance with better battery life and a more compact chassis. Asus has to slightly reduce performance to make this possible, but the end result is alluring if you want a powerful Windows laptop that can also handle travel. Asus ProArt P16: Specs and features as-tested The Asus ProArt P16’s basic specifications are well-balanced and competitive with many mid-range laptops in the $2,000 to $3,000 price bracket. It pairs an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor with Nvidia RTX 5070 graphics, supported by 32GB of RAM and 2TB of solid state storage. Model number: H7606WP CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Memory: 32GB LPDDR5-7500 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5070 8GB (105W TGP) NPU: Up to 50 TOPS Display: 16-inch 2880×1800 OLED 120Hz touchscreen Storage: 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 solid state drive Webcam and microphone: 1080p with dual microphone array Connectivity: 1x USB-C 4.0 40Gbps with Power Delivery and DisplayPort, 1x USB-C 3.2 10Gbps with Power Delivery and Display Port, 2x USB-C 3.2 10Gbps, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x SD card reader, 1x 3.5 mm audio jack, 1x power connector Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition Battery capacity: 90 watt-hours Dimensions: 13.97 x 9.72 x 0.68 inches Weight: 4.08 Operating System: Windows 11 Home Price: $2,399.99 MSRP The model I reviewed is available for $2,399.99 at Best Buy. Asus also sells several alternative models with higher display resolutions and up to RTX 5090 graphics, as well as up to 64GB of memory. That will set you back $2,899.99. Alternatively, you can save a few hundred dollars with a $2,199.99 entry-level model that has RTX 4060 graphics and just 1TB of storage. Asus ProArt P16: Design and build quality Foundry / Matthew Smith The Asus ProArt P16 heard you like matte black, so it put matte black on your matte black so you can matte black while you matte black. The exterior, the key caps, the power button, the speaker grills, the touchpad, the little faux-dial are all matte black. Asus gets a little wild with the ProArt logo on the lid, though. It’s glossy black. Personally, I think the laptop is a bit boring, but has it where it counts. Asus finishes the laptop’s metals with a subtle but noticeable metallic luster and the shade of black is wonderfully deep. Many laptops that are supposedly black (like Apple’s MacBook laptops) look slightly blue or gray compared to the ProArt P16.  The ProArt P16’s lower chassis, display lid, and keyboard deck all feel rigid when pressed or handled roughly. You’ll still find flex if you try, but the laptop is more than rigid enough to provide a luxurious, professional feel. There’s also a nice plastic lip around the display bezel. It’s a subtle element but should help keep dust and dirt out of the interior when the laptop is in your bag. Overall, the ProArt P16 is on par with top-end competitors like the Razer Blade 16 and Lenovo Yoga 9i.  It even resists fingerprints well enough. Some marks are inevitable, but a quick rub with a microfiber cloth will clean it up. I expect the palmrests and keyboard will show wear after a few months of heavy use, but the same is true for every darkly-colored laptop I’ve ever used. Asus ProArt P16: Keyboard, trackpad, mouse Foundry / Matthew Smith Asus provides a spacious, centered keyboard layout without a numpad. The lack of numpad is notable, as this is a 16-inch machine and Asus could have found room. But the company instead elects to keep the keyboard centered for better typing ergonomics. The extra space on each side of the keyboard is used to provide large, user-facing speakers, which I’ll discuss shortly.  Key feel is good, if not exceptional. The keyboard offers good key travel and a smooth action that feels pleasant and doesn’t tire my fingers. Each key bottoms with a vague and subtle action, though. I prefer more tactile and audible feedback. Still, it’s a good keyboard. Keyboard backlighting is standard, though it’s not great. The keys allow a lot of light leak from around the key caps, creating an uneven look, and the minimum brightness is higher than I like to see when typing in a dark room. Still, it ultimately does the job.  The touchpad, on the other hand, is a treat. It’s spacious, measuring about six inches wide and four inches deep, and provides a surface that’s smooth yet still just rough enough to provide a sense of tactile feedback.  It includes Asus’ dial control engraved in the upper left corner. This can be used in any situation where a dial might be handy, from scrolling down a page to adjusting exposure in a photo editing app. It lacks the reassuring tactile feel of a real dial, but it’s a feature unique to Asus’ ProArt, and certainly beats fiddling with sliders by clicking with the mouse cursor and then dragging them to and fro. Asus ProArt P16: Display, audio Foundry / Matthew Smith The Asus ProArt P16’s display is a real treat. It’s a 16-inch OLED touchscreen with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 2,880 x 1,800 resolution. Like all modern laptop OLED displays, it provides incredible contrast and rich color.  It also goes the extra mile with a maximum brightness that exceeds 400 nits in HDR, which means the display doesn’t look overly dim in bright rooms (this can still be an issue with OLED displays in less expensive laptops). HDR is supported and offers decent brightness for a laptop. The display is extremely glossy, though, so you can expect mirror-like reflections from any light source sitting behind you. The refresh rate maxes out at 120Hz, which provides great motion clarity while scrolling rapidly through a video timeline or document and also, of course, looks superb in games. The display doesn’t support G-Sync, though, so you’ll have to use V-Sync in games to ensure smooth frame pacing. Interestingly, the OLED display on the ProArt P16 I reviewed is actually different from many other configurations sold by Asus. Most ProArt P16 models have an even higher display resolution of 3,840 x 2,400, but a lower refresh rate of 60Hz. Personally, I prefer an OLED display with a lower resolution and higher refresh rate. Still, creators who want to be able to see a full 4K image at its proper resolution should be wary and purchase a model with the display that meets their needs. While the display is very good, it’s not an advantage. Nearly all mid-range to high-end Windows laptops now have an OLED display. And since they’re all supplied by Samsung, they all tend to offer similar performance.  The ProArt P16 provides user-facing speakers on each side of the keyboard. They offer good audio volume and a crisp presentation in most situations. The speakers do produce a hint of bass, but they become muddy in bass-heavy music when listening at maximum or near maximum volume. Still, the speakers are above-average for a laptop. Asus ProArt P16: Webcam, microphone, biometrics A 1080p webcam and dual microphone array are tucked into the Asus ProArt P16. The webcam provides solid video quality, though it’s nothing amazing by modern standards. It’s suitable for video conferences, but the image can still look grainy in dark lighting. The dual microphones pick up quality audio and are able to cancel out moderate, repetitive background noises. The webcam and microphone are competent, but par for the course in this price bracket. The webcam doesn’t provide a physical privacy shutter. An electronic webcam disconnect is available, though, and can be selected with a keyboard shortcut. Biometric login is available through Microsoft’s Windows Hello facial recognition. I generally prefer this to a fingerprint reader, and a fingerprint reader is not available on the ProArt P16. The facial recognition is speedy, reliable, and works in both dark and bright rooms. Asus ProArt P16 : Connectivity Asus has the ProArt P16’s connectivity dialed in. It includes one USB 4 port with up to 40Gbps of data, plus a USB 3.2 port with up to 10Gbps of data. Both are USB-C ports that provide DisplayPort and Power Delivery to charge the laptop, though be warned they don’t provide enough power to charge the laptop at full speed or prevent the battery from discharging at full load. Still, they provide a good range of options for connecting to a hub, dock, or USB-C monitor.  Thunderbolt is absent, however, as is often the case with laptops that have AMD inside. I don’t think this is a major issue, but shoppers should note that a laptop with Thunderbolt 5 can achieve even higher data rates of up to 80Gbps. That might be a factor if you often move very, very large files between your laptop’s storage and external storage.  The two USB-C ports are paired with two USB-A 3.2 ports, each with 10Gbps of data. There’s also HDMI 2.1, an SD Express card reader, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. These ports give the ProArt P16 a good range of options that will have particular appeal to photographers and videographers. The HDMI-out is great for connecting to a variety of media devices and the SD Express card reader removes the need to carry a hub or adapter.  On the whole, I think the ProArt P16’s connectivity strikes the right balance of connectivity for most people. A MacBook Pro 16 has more high-speed Thunderbolt / USB-C connectivity, but it lacks USB-A. Other high-end consumer and prosumer laptops, like the Dell 16 Premium and Lenovo Yoga 9i 16, rely almost entirely on Thunderbolt / USB-C for connectivity. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, which are the latest versions of each wireless standard. Most competitive laptops also support Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, but it’s good to see Asus didn’t skimp here. Asus ProArt P16: Performance The Asus ProArt P16 comes in a variety of configurations, but all the current 2025 models, including the one that I reviewed, have an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. That is paired with up to Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics, but the more affordable model I tested stuck to the RTX 5070. 32GB of LPDDR5X-7500 memory and a 2TB PCIe 4.0 solid state drive round out the specifications. Foundry / Matthew Smith We start with PCMark 10, a holistic system benchmark, where the Asus ProArt P16 scored 8,017. That’s an improvement over the 2024 model, which scored 7,608. However, the ProArt P16 is still towards the bottom half of this pack. It basically ties the Razer Blade 16, which scored 8,048, but ends up a few hundred points behind other 16-inch gaming and workstation laptops PCWorld has reviewed this year.   Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is Cinebench 2024 where, perhaps unsurprisingly, the new Asus ProArt P16 doesn’t outperform last year’s model. That’s unsurprising because they both have the same AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor inside. As the graph makes clear, Intel’s Core Ultra 9 is undoubtedly a better performer in heavily multithreaded tasks. All of the Intel powered laptops leave the AMD alternatives in the dust. Foundry / Matthew Smith It’s the same story in Handbrake. The laptops with AMD Ryzen AI 9 chips are slower than the Intel alternatives. Still, the new Asus ProArt P16 can at least keep up with latest Razer Blade 16 in this test, which is good to see. Foundry / Matthew Smith CPU performance doesn’t seem to be the Asus ProArt P16’s forte, so what about the GPU? Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the Asus ProArt P16 with RTX 5070 sees a healthy boost over last year’s model with the RTX 4070. The 3DMark Time Spy and Port Royale scores increase by roughly 20 percent. However, the Asus ProArt P16 is still towards the lower end of the performance that can be expected from an Nvidia RTX 5070 mobile GPU. The ProArt P16 is a relatively slim and light laptop for a Windows machine with discrete graphics and that seems to throttle its performance. Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is Shadow of the Tomb Raider, an older title that most modern laptop GPUs can handle without much trouble. The RTX 5070 in the Asus ProArt P16 is no exception with an average of 140 frames per second. However, it’s not any quicker than last year’s model, and a bit behind other RTX 5070 laptops we’ve recently reviewed. The CPU may be a factor here: both the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S and Alienware 16X have the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX. Foundry / Matthew Smith Metro Exodus is a more demanding title when played at the Extreme preset. The Acer ProArt P16 averages 53 frames per second here, a slight increase from the prior year’s model, and more competitive compared to other RTX 5070 laptops. Foundry / Matthew Smith We finish things off with Cyberpunk 2077, which speaks favorably of the Asus ProArt P16. The 2025 model with the RTX 5070 sees a major improvement over the 2024 model with RTX 4070. The average frame rate is boosted from 74 to 94 when playing at 1080p with the Ultra preset and no ray tracing in use. The Overdrive ray traced preset is still more than Asus ProArt P16 can handle, which is to be expected. None of the RTX 5070 laptops do well in that extremely demanding workload. Keep in mind, though, that Overdrive is a real system-killer, and we are not using DLSS or FSR in our testing. Sticking to a lower ray traced preset and engaging DLSS will result in a perfectly playable experience. It’s a laptop that can easily hit 60 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra detail settings, but also lasts up to 10 hours on a charge—and there aren’t many Windows laptops that manage that in 2025. Overall, the Asus ProArt P16’s performance is decent but not exceptional. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 remains behind the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX in mutlithreaded CPU benchmarks. The P16’s graphics performance is also healthy but in some situations lags behind thicker, beefier machines with the same GPU. That’s not too surprising, as a thicker chassis often allows space for improved cooling. Asus ProArt P16: Battery life and portability The Asus ProArt P16 is portable for a 16-inch laptop. It measures a tad under seven-tenths of an inch thick and weighs a few ounces over four pounds. It’s compact for its display size, too, so it should fit in most backpacks designed for a 15-inch laptop. You can find more portable laptops, like those in the LG Gram series, but the ProArt P16 weighs less than a Razer Blade 16 or MacBook Pro 16.  A 90 watt-hour battery powers the laptop, which is a typical size for a laptop with discrete graphics. The laptop tries to make the most of the battery with a switchable graphics solution that can turn off the Nvidia GPU when its performance isn’t required. Foundry / Matthew Smith That works to the Asus ProArt P16’s favor. The laptop managed to reach 10 hours and 42 minutes in our standard battery test, which loops a 4K file of the short film Tears of Steel. This is a light-load test, but my subjective experience showed the laptop’s real-world battery life is often close to that number. I saw eight to nine hours of battery life in a mix of web browsing, document editing, and photo editing. These results aren’t going to beat Apple’s MacBook Pro 16, of course, but they’re good for a Windows laptop with discrete graphics and a capable CPU. The ProArt P16 compares well to other laptops that provide similar performance.  AMD also deserves credit here. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 doesn’t hold a candle to the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX in multi-core CPU workloads, but it’s more miserly about power consumption. The Intel-powered alternatives posted far less impressive battery life results. When it comes time to recharge, you’ll need to connect the beefy 200-watt power adapter over a proprietary power connection. USB-C charging is possible, but the charging speed will be reduced, and USB-C won’t supply enough power to charge the laptop while you’re using it for a demanding task (like gaming or heavy video editing). Asus ProArt P16: Conclusion The Asus ProArt P16 is a laptop that delivers what it was designed to deliver. It’s expected to provide the performance required for more demanding workloads, from 4K video editing to modern PC games. Yet it must also be portable enough for travel. Balancing these competing priorities means the ProArt P16 must give up performance when compared to bulkier alternatives. But it also means the ProArt P16 provides a better balance of portability and performance. It’s a laptop that can easily hit 60 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra detail settings, but also lasts up to 10 hours on a charge—and there aren’t many Windows laptops that manage that in 2025. Read...

Versa has launched automated integration of its Secure SD-WAN with Microsoft Entra Internet Access, simplifying secure networking for branch offices and enhancing SASE solutions. Read...

Power is still out in Eketahuna and internet and cell phone reception is patchy. Read...

OpenAI recently launched ChatGPT Atlas, which is “a new web browser built with ChatGPT at its core.” It’s based on Chromium—which is true of pretty much all browsers these days except Firefox and Safari—and its unique selling point is that it integrates ChatGPT right into the browser, allowing users to chat with their search results and use a side panel that automatically provides ChatGPT with on-screen context. ChatGPT Atlas also has access to your browsing history, allowing the AI assistant to customize its responses based on your activity. For paid ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Business users, Atlas also has an “agent mode” where the AI can perform simple web-based tasks on your behalf. ChatGPT Atlas is currently only available for macOS, but support for Windows, iOS, and Android is on the way. The browser will be available to all free users at launch with some paywalled features. Furthermore, head of ChatGPT Atlas team Adam Fry posted on social media a list of “post-launch fixes” that will be addressed “over the coming weeks,” including multiprofile support, tab groups, opt-in ad blocker, and various user experience improvements. Read...