Feeling bad for the “plus” sign that Apple TV shed earlier this week? Well, good news: that abandoned word now has a new home, thanks to Amazon.  Starting today, Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K is now called the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus—not the exact “+” that the Apple TV streaming service removed, but it’s close enough.  In a statement to TechHive, Amazon was careful to note that the Fire Stick 4K Plus doesn’t come with any new or plus-sized features; instead, we’re simply talking a new name, nothing more.  The reason for the (somewhat random) name change is to “help customers differentiate between” the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus and the new Fire TV Stick 4K Select, which Amazon unveiled during its big fall hardware event late last month.   The $39.99 Fire TV Stick 4K Select sits on the lower end of Amazon’s three Fire TV 4K sticks, while the $49.99 Fire TV 4K Plus takes the Select’s features (including 4K HDR output) and adds Dolby Vision HDR as well as Dolby Atmos audio.  Then there’s the high-end $59.99 Fire TV Stick Max, which offers Wi-Fi 6e support (versus Wi-Fi 5 and 6 for the Fire TV Stick Select and Plus, respectively), 16GB of storage (double the storage of the other two sticks), and the Fire TV Ambient Experience, which serves customizable Alexa widgets, the ability to turn your TV screen into a photo frame, and “dynamic art” that changes according to the ambient light in the room, the current weather, and the time of day.    There are also a couple of other Fire TV players: the Fire TV Stick HD ($34.99), which doesn’t do 4K streaming, and the Fire TV Cube ($139.99), a larger cube-sized streaming player that can control TV components with voice commands.  Name changes for streaming services and devices have been something of a thing over the past few months. This past summer, HBO Max got its old name back (it was briefly rebranded as “Max,”) while Paramount+ shaved the “with Showtime” branding off some of its subscription tiers.  Just on Monday, Apple announced that its Apple TV+ streaming service will now be called simply “Apple TV,” similar (some would say too similar) to its Apple TV 4K streaming box.  This story is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best streaming media players. Read...

Officially, yesterday was a wrap on Windows 10. Microsoft has ended support for the operating system, with users now left with only a handful of options: extend Windows 10 support, upgrade to Windows 11, or switch to another operating system altogether. If Windows 11 is on the table for you, today is your lucky day because you can get Windows 11 licenses for super cheap on the PCWorld Software Store right now. Seriously, both Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro are currently priced at $14.97 each. That’s down from $139 (89% off) and $199 (92% off), respectively. Huge savings! Casual users who don’t need all the fancy features of the Pro version can get away with Windows 11 Home, although given that they’re on sale for the same price, you might consider getting Windows 11 Pro for the heck of it. Windows 11 Pro unlocks advanced features like BitLocker encryption, Remote Desktop Server, Hyper-V virtualization, and Windows Sandbox. (See our breakdown of Windows 11 Pro versus Home.) Get Windows 11 for up to 92% off right nowBuy now via PCWorld Software Store How to activate your Windows 11 license After you’ve made your order, you’ll have to check your email inbox for the license key. Once you have that and your chosen Windows 11 copy is installed, here’s how to activate the license: Go to Start > Settings > System > Activation. Go to Change Product Key and enter the key you received via email. Copy/paste works just fine for this. Select Next and you’re done! Read...

If you work with PDF files regularly then a PDF editor is an indispensable tool. Whether it’s part of your job, you manage PDF files for your own personal use, or you just need to complete a one-off editing task, a top editor program is an essential piece of software. Full-featured editors such as Adobe’s Acrobat Pro DC might provide all of the bells and whistles, but a free PDF editor can still offer most of the important tools of a paid service for no additional charge. Plus, many free PDF editors are browser based, which means you don’t need to worry about about platform- or device-compatibility issues. Of course, free products won’t come with every feature of their premium counterparts. So, if you find that you need more advanced tools such as password protection, Bates numbering, or e-signatures, then you’re probably better served by a premium PDF editor. PROMOTIONEaseUS PDF Editor – Edit, Convert, Compress & Protect PDFs EaseUS is a free PDF editor that offers options to read, create, edit and convert PDFs both in program and online. The streamlined interface allows you to edit or convert with ease for any formats like doc, excel, ppt, jpg, png or epub, even merge, split, compress, watermark e-sign or OCR PDF files.Pricing upgrades – 25% OFF Exclusive Code: PCWORLD25Free Download Get Advanced Features | 25% off Why you should trust PCWorld for PDF editor reviews and buying advice: At PCWorld, we’ve been testing PC hardware and software for decades. Our evaluation process is thorough, always hands-on and focused on real-world usage needs. We won’t ever recommend something we wouldn’t be comfortable using ourselves. PDF Candy – Best free PDF editor overall Pros Many advanced features OCR capability Very easy to use Cons Lacks a single interface, which some users may not like Free version limits you to one task per hour Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket PDF Candy is the rare free PDF editor that offers a lot of the features you’d typically have to pay for. We’re talking scanning, multiple file-conversion options, and OCR functionality. While the free version has access to the expansive toolset of the paid version, you’re limited to one PDF task per hour. For unfettered access, you need to shell out $6 month. Read our full PDF Candy review PDFgear – Most sophisticated free PDF editor Pros Full set of editing capabilities AI assistant helps streamline workflow Polished interface Free Cons Doesn’t support form creation Doesn’t directly integrate with cloud services Best Prices Today: Retailer Price PDFgear Free View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket PDFgear is a robust free editing application with a full set of features you’d only expect to find in a paid service. Not only do you get the standard PDF editor capabilities such as edit, annotate, covert, merge, and split, but you also get more advanced functions such as compress, password protect, and E-sign. On top of all of that PDFgear includes a really interesting and unique AI co-pilot function that helps streamline your workflow by understanding and executing commands you type into a chat window. Overall, PDFgear is easily one of the best free PDF editors available. Read our full PDFgear review Sejda PDF editor – Most versatile free PDF editor Pros Online and desktop versions available Performs dozens of PDF tasks No frills interface is easy to use Cons There are daily usage limits without a subscription Limited font options Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Sejda Free View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Offered as both an online tool and a desktop editor, Sejda is capable of performing dozens of tasks including editing, form creation and filling, Bates stamping, file encryption, and more. If the daily usage limits are too restrictive for you, you can upgrade to the affordable paid version, with weekly, monthly, and annual options available. Read our full Sejda PDF editor review Apple Preview PDF editor – Best free PDF editor for Mac users Pros Full set of PDF markup tools Supports form filling PDFs can be protected with passwords, encryption, and permission controls Cons Limited native sharing options Only available to Mac users Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Mac users have an excellent PDF editor built right into their operating system. Although its ostensibly a photo viewer, macOS’s Preview app is rife with PDF-editing capabilities including tools for adding text and shapes, redacting content, making freehand drawings, inserting sticky notes, and capturing your signature using your trackpad, camera, or iPhone. Read our full Apple Preview PDF editor review What to look for in a free PDF editor Content editing: As its name indicates, a PDF editor’s primary function is to enable you to edit a document. That includes the ability to add and modify text; insert, resize, and move images; and reorganize pages in the PDF. Most free PDF editors will let you perform these tasks, though they may impose daily limits on how many you can perform or how many documents you can edit. Create, convert, and export PDFs: A common need for a PDF editor is to create PDF files from scanned hard copies or by converting digital documents. A good free PDF editor will be able to convert common file formats such as Word, JPG, and HTML to a PDF and preserve the original formatting. It should also be able to export PDFs into other editable formats such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, HTML, or plain text, maintaining the original files hyperlinks, images, and other elements. Review and annotate: Most free PDF editors allow you to add comments and other annotations to PDF files during review. Typical annotation tools include sticky notes, shapes, and drawing markup options. Signatures: Often all you need a PDF editor for is to sign a document. This used to be a premium feature only available on paid desktop editors, but more free PDF editors are allowing users to create and add electronic signatures to documents. FAQ 1. Is there a difference between a PDF document and a PDF form? While there are a number of different types of PDF file formats, they all fall under the umbrella term of PDF documents. A PDF form is a type of PDF document that has editable form fields a user can fill out. Typically, parts of the document are static and can’t be changed in a PDF form. These usually include questions and instructions for those who end up filling out the form later on. In a PDF form, the content fields a user fills out are typically open to editing and can offer a list of possible answer options or can be written in freely. 2. Are Word files and PDF documents different? Yes. They are two entirely different document formats. While you can export from one file format to another, they are not the same. Word file formats are usually used for word processing, editing, and making changes to text. PDF documents on the other hand, are most often utilized for viewing, sharing, and printing documents. Additionally, Word files can be read and/or written to and contain some version of the “.doc” file format. Whereas PDF files are typically read-only and contain the “.pdf” file format. 3. Can you stop other people from editing your PDF documents? Yes. If you have a PDF document that you do not want anyone else to be able to edit, you can protect the file. You can do this by opening the file in Acrobat, clicking Tools > Protect. Then you have a few options as to whether you want to just restrict editing with a password, or if you want to encrypt the file for further safety. Once you choose how you want to protect the PDF document, you can set a password and save. 4. Can I merge PDFs with a free PDF editor? Yes, many free PDF editors such as our top pick PDF Candy, allow you to merge two or more PDFs into one. As most free PDF editors are browser-based, you will just need to open up the PDF editor application or website in your browser and click the “Merge” option. It will then ask you to add the files of all PDFs you wish to merge. Once the files have been added, just make sure that they are in the correct position and alignment you want before proceeding with the merge. Afterwards, all of your previously PDF files will be merged together into one new PDF document. 5. Does Google have a free PDF editor? Yes and no. Google doesn’t provide a designated free PDF editor itself, but there are third-party Chrome extensions that you can use to help get the job done. Alternatively, you can make use of Google Drive to edit a PDF document. Simply upload the document onto your Google Drive and then select the file and right-click and select Open with > Google Docs. The file will be opened as an editable Google Docs text document. Then just make your edits and when you’re finished click File > Download > PDF Document to revert it back to a PDF file. This method is a quick and easy way to edit a simple PDF document, but be careful as Google Docs can run into formatting issues if your original document has complex visual formatting such as tables and graphs. In this case, it’s best to use a designated free or premium PDF editor. Read...

Looking to upgrade your monitor without burning a hole through your wallet? This 27-inch LG UltraGear 1440p gaming display may be just what you need, and now’s a solid time to buy one because we haven’t seen its price this low in almost a year. It’s now on sale for $166.99 on Amazon, which is 33% off its original $249.99—a huge discount! The LG UltraGear 27GS60QC-B is a stunning 27-inch display that delivers exceptional performance you can rely on. It has a crisp “sweet spot” 2560×1440 native resolution, which is great whether you’re gaming or streaming Netflix. Add in the fast 180Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time and you have a liquidy smooth visual experience that’s lag-free even during the most action-packed scenes and games. This monitor has a nice 1000R curvature that bends around your vision, easing eye fatigue and making for more comfortable sessions whether you’re gaming, tackling work projects, or just mindlessly browsing the web and doomscrolling on social media. Other nice features include HDR10, AMD FreeSync, and a sleek “borderless” bezel. It also has both DisplayPort and double HDMI ports, plus a 3.5mm audio jack. Right now, you can grab this 27-inch 1440p gaming monitor for just $169.99, and that’s an excellent deal for an LG display with these specs, so don’t wait and miss this opportunity. That`s a stellar deal for a curved 27-inch 1440p 180Hz monitorBuy this LG monitor on Amazon Read...

If you’re on the lookout for a powerful charger for your phone and other gadgets, then you’re gonna want to jump on this fast Anker Nano USB-C charging block (which comes with a free cable included) that’s now on sale for just $34.99 on Amazon (was $49.99). That’s a lovely 30% discount on a lovely accessory you won’t regret. This tiny power adapter features three ports: two USB-C and one USB-A. The USB-C ports are faster, each delivering up to 70W of charging, which will juice up your phone in under an hour and is even fast enough to power many laptops, including MacBooks. That’s only when the USB-C ports are used on their own, though. When multiple are being used, the 70W total gets split up. (The USB-A maxes out at 33W, by the way.) Apart from being able to charge three devices at once, what I love about this wall plug is that it’s compact with foldable prongs. It fits easily into pockets and bags, and you can take it with you while traveling without worrying that it’ll get damaged or scuff up anything else. And don’t forget that it comes with a free USB-C cable that’s capable of handling the fast charging power of this power block. This is a must-have for anyone, so don’t miss out on this deal. Get this Anker Nano USB-C charger block with cable for $34.99 before this discount expires! It’s the best price we’ve ever seen for it. A fast 3-port USB-C charger with a cable for $34.99? That`s a bargain!Buy this USB-C charger with cable on Amazon Read...

Roku is jumping onto the AI bandwagon with its next batch of software updates. In the months ahead, the company will add AI-powered voice search for its smart TVs and streaming players. While Roku’s existing voice search can find specific programs, actors, or genres, the upgrade will allow for more conversational queries, such as “What’s the Barbie movie about?” or “How scary is The Shining.” It will also support follow-up questions. Other forthcoming Roku features include a “What do you like to watch?” feature to tweak Roku’s home screen recommendations, live scores in the Sports section, and a search function in Roku’s live TV guide. Roku is also updating its recently-launched Streaming Stick and Streaming Stick Plus to support private listening through Bluetooth headphones and earbuds. TV-focused AI Unlike rivals Amazon and Google, Roku isn’t trying to launch an all-purpose AI that also happens to work on TVs. Roku doesn’t sell its own smart speakers, and users primarily interact with voice control through the mic button on Roku remotes. “Even in this case, with us evolving Roku voice to now answer entertainment Q&A, we are specializing in a TV-related solution only,” Amit Desai, Roku’s director of product and UX for voice and conversational AI, told reporters. He added that the feature will use a combination of in-house and commercial AI technology. Roku While it’s not yet clear what will happen if you ask about non-entertainment topics, Desai said Roku will tailor its responses for TV users, for instance by offering links to the shows being discussed along with related programming. Other streaming platforms haven’t quite nailed that experience. You can ask the same questions on a Google TV or Fire TV device, for instance, but you might get a voice-only response with no quick way to access the movie or show in question. (In Google’s case, that’s because it’s using completely different voice assistant technologies for conversation and navigation.) We’ve yet to see a live demo of Roku’s AI, but it could make for a less frustrating voice control experience if it works as advertised. More features to come Roku Along with Roku’s AI voice upgrade, the company announced a slew of other software features and some hardware news: “What do you like to watch?” This feature will present a series of movie and show tiles that users can mark with a thumbs up. Roku will automatically add suggestions to users’ Save Lists and tweak its home screen recommendations accordingly. Sports scores and reminders: Roku’s Sports section, which tracks upcoming live events from across different streaming services, will display scores (which can be hidden). Users can also set reminders that will trigger a notification in Roku’s mobile app. Roku Channel search: Roku will add a search button to its Live TV menu, with a search function in its live TV grid guide to follow. Trailer links: Trailers that you watch from Roku’s home screen will have quick links in the video player to add the program to your Save List or see where it’s available to watch. Mobile app updates: Roku’s iPhone and Android apps are getting some quick shortcuts for things like closed captions, sleep timers, the remote finder function. The app will also get links to sections such as TV Shows and Sports, along with an easier way to rate shows or mark them as watched. Roku More hardware: Walmart will soon sell a $198 portable projector from Vankyo with Roku’s software built-in. It looks pretty similar to the Aurzen model that launched on Amazon last month for $250 (but quickly dropped to $180 as of this writing). The company has also added Pioneer to its stable of brands building Roku TVs. Streaming Sticks add Bluetooth: It turns out that the Roku’s $30 Streaming Stick and $40 Streaming Stick Plus support Bluetooth after all. A software update will allow them to play TV audio through wireless headphones or earbuds. That’s one less reason to consider the $100 Roku Ultra instead. It’s unclear exactly when the new software features will arrive, other than in the “coming months.” The updates will likely trickle out to Roku TVs and streamers over time, making it tough to product when you’ll start seeing them on yours. Read...

Apple on Wednesday announced the launch of its M5 processor, saying the chip “ushers in the next big leap in AI performance for Apple silicon.” The M5 appears in new editions of the iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, and Vision Pro, all of which are available for U.S. and U.K. customers to pre-order as of today. ‘A faster, more efficient, and more capable chip’ The M5, as you would expect, is a higher-performance chip than its M4 predecessor. Although it’s still built using 3-nanometer technology (albeit 3rd-gen, compared to 2nd-gen on the M4), Apple claims substantial improvements in graphical speed in particular. According to the announcement, the M5’s 10-core GPU architecture, with a Neural Accelerator in each core, delivers “over 4x the peak GPU compute performance compared to M4” as well as “enhanced graphics capabilities and third-generation ray tracing.” Overall, Apple claims, the new chip is capable of up to 45 percent higher graphics performance than the M4. On the CPU side, what Apple describes as “the world’s fastest performance core” promises a 15 percent bump in multithreaded performance compared to the M4. And unified memory bandwidth has been improved by almost 30 percent to 153GB/s. All of which sounds good on paper, but what’s all this theoretical power for? Apple makes this very clear: AI. Unlike the M4 announcement in May 2024, which referenced AI only twice in the first seven paragraphs, the M5’s press release mentions the current tech obsession in the headline, the standfirst, the first subhead, the captions of the first two pictures, twice in the first paragraph, twice in the second paragraph, three times in the third paragraph… So we can expect lots more discussion of Apple Intelligence in the year to come, then. But for now, we can focus on the first three products to feature the M5 chip. Rival chips inbound: Panther Lake unveiled: A deep dive into Intel’s next-gen laptop CPU and Benchmarked: Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme crushes Intel’s laptop CPUs New iPad Pro There’s a new iPad Pro for fall 2025, and the M5 is its main, indeed almost its only, significant upgrade. The M5 Pro is the same size, the same design, available in the same colors, and appears to be otherwise virtually identical to the M4 model in every respect except four: it gets the M5 chip, Wi-Fi 6E has been bumped to Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 has been bumped to Bluetooth 6, and there’s a new fast-charging capability. The M5 is clearly the headline change, and Apple claims this means the new device offers “up to 3.5x the AI performance than iPad Pro with M4 and up to 5.6x faster than iPad Pro with M1.” The last addition on my list could be an appealing upgrade, too, however. Apple says the new iPad Pro can be charged to 50 percent in 30 minutes if you’ve got the right adapter. There’s one other change, but it only affects the cellular models. They get Apple’s C1X modem that was introduced with the iPhone 17. The M5 iPad Pro starts at $999/£999 for the 11-inch model and $1,299/£1,299 for the 13-inch model. It’s available to preorder starting today and will go on sale on Wednesday, October 22. For more details about this product, check out our iPad Pro news hub. New MacBook Pro As was rumored ahead of the announcement, Apple is only announcing new MacBooks with the standard M5 chip; there’s no sign of higher-end models with an M5 Pro or M5 Max. As before, the M5 laptop is only available in a 14-inch size. As on the iPad Pro, the MacBook Pro’s main upgrade is the M5 chip. Apple says this delivers “up to 3.5x the AI performance and up to 1.6x faster graphics than the previous generation.” But there’s also an upgrade to battery life (an estimated 24 hours, compared to 22 hours on the 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 Pro), and faster SSD performance. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 starts at $1,599/£1,599. It’s available to preorder starting today and will go on sale on Wednesday, October 22. For more details about this product, check out our MacBook Pro M5 news hub. New Vision Pro Finally, the M5 makes an appearance on a second iteration of Apple’s Vision Pro mixed-reality headset. The company says this will mean “faster performance, sharper details throughout the system, and even more battery life, setting a new standard for what’s possible in spatial computing.” Other than the M5 chip, the new Vision Pro features a new cushioned Dual Knit Band to improve comfort. Owners of the M2 Vision Pro can order a new band for $99. The updated Vision Pro is available to preorder starting today for customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the UAE, the UK, and the U.S, and will go on sale in those countries on Wednesday, October 22. Other countries will follow. This article originally appeared on our sister publication Macworld. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros HP Go 5G internet works great Multi-network 5G without any configuration Lots of ports (including Ethernet!) Cons HP GO 5G isn’t yet aimed at Consumers Dim display can be hard to read outdoors Middling CPU, keyboard, and webcam Slow GPU Our Verdict The HP EliteBook 6 G1q is a dependable business laptop for companies looking to roll out fleets of 5G-connected laptops to their employees. The 5G experience is premium, but the rest of the laptop doesn’t live up to that high bar. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: HP EliteBook 6 G1q Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The HP EliteBook 6 G1q is a 14-inch Qualcomm Snapdragon X laptop with a killer feature: Integrated 5G connectivity. HP Go is a built-in eSIM solution that delivers multi-network 5G connectivity, so it connects to AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile. It automatically switches depending on which one has the best signal, and you never even have to think about it. It’s a magical experience being able to set up a laptop without connecting it to Wi-Fi, taking it with you in a bag, and taking it out of your bag to use it wherever you want without connecting to Wi-Fi or tethering it to your phone. Being able to pull the laptop out of my bag — in downtown Boston, at the beach, or wherever else — and have an immediate internet connection immediately was magical. The HP Go 5G experience delivers five stars. This first version is mainly aimed at businesses. HP implied it might be looking to deliver more consumer laptops in the future when I asked. Unfortunately, the rest of the laptop experience here doesn’t stand out. Our review model had a lower-end Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chip and a webcam that looked grainy. And the display is on the dim side, which is a real problem for a 5G laptop you may want to use outdoors. HP EliteBook 6 G1q: Specs The HP EliteBook 6 G1q is a 14-inch business laptop available in a wide variety of configurations with different Qualcomm Snapdragon X processors. Our review model had a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 CPU. The model we reviewed is available from CDW for $1,695. HP also has a configurator where you can configure options, including buying models without 5G and choosing higher-end Snapdragon processors, but it gets expensive fast. Since this is a business laptop, businesses buying fleets of PCs might end up negotiating pricing closer to the CDW model. Thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon hardware, these are all Copilot+ PCs with a fast enough NPU to run the AI features Microsoft is adding to Windows. Model number: HP EliteBook G6 G1q with HP GO 5G CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 Memory: 32GB RAM Graphics/GPU: Qualcomm Adreno NPU: Qualcomm Hexagon NPU (45 TOPS) Display: 14-inch 1920×1200 IPS display with 60Hz refresh rate and 400 nits of brightness Storage: 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD Webcam: 1080p webcam Connectivity: 2x USB Type-C (40 Gbps), 2x USB Type-A (5Gbps), 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x combo audio jack, 1x RJ-45 Ethernet, 1x nano SIM slot, 1x security lock slot Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, Ethernet, 5G with HP Go Biometrics: Fingerprint reader Battery capacity: 56 Watt-hours Dimensions: 12.54 x 8.83 x 0.43 inches Weight: 3.17 pounds MSRP: $1,695 as tested The HP EliteBook 6 G1q delivers 5G connectivity that just works. It transforms how you use a laptop like this one, and I hope to see more laptops delivering seamless 5G out of the box in the future. HP EliteBook 6 G1q: Design and build quality Foundry / Chris Hoffman The HP EliteBook 6 G1q is a lightweight silver laptop made of a mix of aluminum and plastic, and HP is proud that it includes recycled materials. At 3.17 pounds, this 14-inch laptop isn’t heavy, but it’s not the lightest laptop either. Some thin-and-light laptop designs would shave off a half pound or more here. The build quality is good but not fancy. This is a business laptop through and through: A design made for corporations to buy in bulk for their employees, not to buy as a premium one-off machine for the CEO. It’s a solid design with a hinge that feels good, and it feels sturdy. But it doesn’t feel like a premium all-metal machine: When I run my fingers over the edges of the laptop — down from the keyboard tray, over the ports, and then to the underbody, I can feel the edge of where the aluminum keyboard deck meets the plastic bottom. It’s not going to cut me or anything, but every time I pick up the machine, I can feel that metal-meets-plastic feeling. In summary: It’s a workhorse, and not a premium machine. A more premium design would be lighter and have a unibody construction without a seam you could feel. HP EliteBook 6 G1q: Keyboard and trackpad Foundry / Chris Hoffman The keyboard and trackpad on the HP EliteBook 6 G1q are serviceable. Since this is a 14-inch machine, there’s plenty of space for a large keyboard. The chiclet-style keys don’t feel mushy, but they don’t exactly feel snappy either. Key travel is a little low. That’s a tad disappointing for a business laptop, where keyboards are usually a focus. The trackpad is also fine. It’s a good size and smooth enough, but it’s not the kind of premium glass surface you’ll find on higher-end business machines. Our review model didn’t have a touch screen, only a few configurations of this laptop do. This is the kind of business laptop a company can hand out to its employees and know they’ll be able to work everywhere, but not the kind of business laptop an individual seeks out for the best typing experience. HP EliteBook 6 G1q: Display and speakers Foundry / Chris Hoffman The HP EliteBook 6 G1q has a display that does the job in indoor lighting conditions, but it doesn’t go above and beyond. It’s a 14-inch 1920×1200 IPS panel running at 60Hz and delivering up to 400 nits of brightness. That’s not going to win any awards, but I’m grateful I had the 400 nit display: HP also sells configurations with a dimmer 300 nit panel! For a 5G laptop, I’d say this is a real problem. The ideal 5G laptop would let me work from anywhere, whether that’s at the beach or on a park bench in downtown Boston (I tested both.) At 400 nits of brightness, this panel doesn’t have enough brightness to compete with the sun on a bright day, making it near unusable in many lighting situations. Many laptops like that, but a 5G laptop — where the goal is to use it on the go — really deserves a brighter panel than this. The speakers have enough volume, but they didn’t wow me, either. I test all the laptops I review by firing up Spotify and playing both Steely Dan’s Aja and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky. The sound is a little muffled and muddy. Instrument separation in Aja wasn’t particularly clear and bass in Get Lucky wasn’t particularly distinct. These speakers are usable in a pinch, but you’d definitely want headphones for music and media. HP EliteBook 6 G1q: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The HP EliteBook 6 G1q has a 1080p webcam, which sounds good on paper. But the webcam was incredibly grainy and washed out in non-ideal lighting, which is a disappointment for a business machine, where nicer webcams are often a feature. It did better in brighter lighting, but it’s not up there with many higher-end business laptop webcams. HP includes a physical webcam shutter switch you can slide to block the webcam, which is always nice to see. The microphone sounds reasonably clear with good noise cancellation. I’d say it’s better than the webcam, but neither are particularly impressive. If you need to be visible and audible in an online meeting, this machine will do the job. But it won’t deliver high recording quality. Our review model had a fingerprint reader for Windows Hello on the keyboard deck. It worked fine. But an IR camera for facial recognition would’ve been a nice option — it does appear like that is an option on some other configurations. HP EliteBook 6 G1q: Connectivity Foundry / Chris Hoffman The HP EliteBook 6 G1q’s connectivity is its crown jewel. 5G just worked out of the box: I powered on the laptop, set up Windows, and started using the machine without ever connecting it to Wi-Fi or plugging in an Ethernet cable. This also enables better management of a laptop fleet. If a laptop is stolen or lost, a business can track and locate it even if it isn’t connected to Wi-Fi. From an end-user perspective, I never bothered configuring anything. It “just worked” and switched between networks as needed. At a starting price of $19 per user per month for the 5G service, that’s extremely impressive. This machine also has a lot of ports: On the left side, two USB Type-C (40Gbps) ports, one USB Type-A port (5Gbps), HDMI 2.1 out, and a combo audio jack. On the right side, a second USB Type-A port (5Gbps), an RJ-45 Ethernet jack, a security lock slot, and an optional nano SIM slot for models with cellular connectivity. This machine has both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. So the connectivity is incredible: Multi-network 5G, Wi-Fi 7, and wired Ethernet all in one machine. HP EliteBook 6 G1q: Performance The HP EliteBook 6 G1q ran cool and quiet, delivering reasonable desktop performance. The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 hardware here is some of the slowest hardware HP could choose, however. It’s the slowest Snapdragon X Plus chip you’ll find. The only thing slower is the Snapdragon X X1-26-100, which doesn’t even get a “Plus” in its name. It does the job for basic productivity tasks: A web browser, office tools, and communication apps. As always, we ran the EliteBook 6 G1q through our standard benchmarks to see how it performs. We normally start with PCMark 10, but it doesn’t yet run on Arm laptops like this one. Foundry / Chris Hoffman First, we run Cinebench R24. It’s available as a native Arm program, which lets us compare performance across laptops. CPUs with more cores do better on this multi-threaded benchmark. The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 is an eight-core CPU, so it won’t keep up with CPUs with more cores on multithreaded tasks. With a multi-threaded score of 759, the CPU here was definitely behind AMD’s Ryzen AI HX 300 series hardware, but it delivers better performance than many lower-tier power-efficient Intel chips. Foundry / Chris Hoffman Second, we run a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptop, but it’s still good to check how the GPU performs. We run 3DMark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance. This particular benchmark is written for traditional x86 versions of Windows and runs through the Prism translation layer, so you’ll get an idea of how traditional GPU-accelerated apps (and games) will perform on this machine. With a 3DMark Time Spy score of 1,066, this machine just isn’t suitable for GPU-accelerated workloads or gaming. Even the Qualcomm Hexagon GPUs in higher-tier Snapdragon X SKUs are significantly faster. Foundry / Chris Hoffman We also run 3DMark Night Raid. This benchmark does have a native Arm version, so we can compare the Qualcomm Hexagon GPU here and see how fast it runs when it isn’t being held back by the Prism translation layer here. The score here gives you an idea of how well the GPU will perform in apps written for Arm hardware. With a score of 16,819 on the Night Raid benchmark, this machine closes some of the gap with Intel and AMD systems. The translation layer isn’t slowing things down, but it’s still far behind other machines in GPU performance. Overall, the HP EliteBook 6 G1q we reviewed delivers serviceable performance for lightweight desktop PC tasks while running cool and quiet. But it’s no speed demon, and it will be quickly outpaced even by laptops with higher-end Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite CPUs. HP EliteBook 6 G1q: Battery life The HP EliteBook 6 G1q has a 56 Watt-hour battery. That’s low for a laptop that weighs over three pounds. The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus hardware here is power-efficient, so it’ll get you through a workday. But I didn’t see the kind of extremely long battery life — 24 hours — that I did on Snapdragon X laptops with larger batteries. Foundry / Chris Hoffman To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat on Windows 11 with airplane mode enabled until the laptop suspends itself. We set the screen to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks. This is a best-case scenario for any laptop since local video playback is so efficient, and real battery life in day-to-day use is always going to be less than this. The HP EliteBook 6 G1q lasted for 983 minutes on average. That’s over 16 hours. It’s a lot, probably more than most people would need, but the battery size has it behind many competing Snapdragon laptops. It’s another way the laptop cuts a corner and doesn’t aim for the high-end premium experience crown. It’s a shame because long battery life matters even more on a 5G laptop, which could be used in locations far from Wi-Fi and power outlets. HP EliteBook 6 G1q: Conclusion The HP EliteBook 6 G1q delivers 5G connectivity that just works. It transforms how you use a laptop like this one, and I hope to see more laptops delivering seamless 5G out of the box in the future. For businesses, it also makes their fleet of laptops remotely trackable and manageable just like a cellular-connected phone or tablet is. The way HP has delivered multi-network 5G you don’t even have to think about is technically impressive. Unfortunately, the rest of the laptop experience is a lower-end Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus machine. A company that wants to deliver a fleet of connected-but-mid-range laptops to a large number of employees will love these. But I bet the CEO will use a different machine. Read...

No operating system is without its merits, and that includes Windows 11, even as much as I complain about Microsoft’s latest operating system. Its handful of useful features continues to grow as time goes on, with more and more being rolled out every year. get win11 pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro But with helpful utilities and settings trickling out slowly, it’s easy to miss a few here and there, especially when the flashier features hog the news headlines. We’ve pulled out 10 features that we don’t think get enough love—if you’ve heard of them and haven’t tried them yet, now’s the time. Further reading: The Windows 11 survival guide for Windows 10 refugees Notepad tabs You no longer need to keep multiple Notepad windows open on the Taskbar.PCWorld Notepad actually predates Windows, but it’s still fully relevant (and useful!) today. The streamlined app lets you open a window to make quick notes. And in Windows 11, you can now manage and navigate between open files in a single window, thanks to the addition of tabs. It’s far tidier than opening a new instance of Notepad for each file—and combined with the new dark mode, it makes the app look and feel modern. Widgets Widgets for Facebook, Spotify, and PC performance monitoring could be coming soon.PCWorld Windows 11 makes a wealth of info available with just one mouse click (or quick tap of Win + W). Right now you can get weather, stock prices, sports updates, and entertainment news, and those cards are slowly being joined by new additions, like for Xbox Game Pass. It’s a much easier way to stay up to date than fully shifting to a browser and poking around in your tabs. Screen recording Click the video icon, then New to start recording a portion of your screen.PCWorld Previous versions of Windows had a Snipping Tool app, but you could only take screenshots. In Windows 11, screen recording finally gets added—and unlike Windows’ Xbox Game Bar’s recording feature, you can use it to capture specific parts of your screen. If you serve as informal tech support for family and friends, this feature can make your life a lot easier when explaining how to tinker with an app or in Windows. (Note: You’ll have to open the full Snipping Tool app for screen recording—it doesn’t appear in the Win + Shift + S keyboard shortcut overlay.) Quick Assist If you need help, you’ll first generate a code to share with the person doing the troubleshooting.PCWorld If your loved ones can manage unfamiliar but basic interactions with a PC, a Windows Pro license isn’t necessary to provide them remote support. You can have them fire up Quick Assist instead. (Remember this app from Windows 10? It’s still around in Windows 11.) Once in the program, they’ll log in to their Microsoft account, and then generate a six-digit code to send to you. You’ll input that code into Quick Assist on your PC, at which point you can then see what’s happening on their end, and even request full control of their PC. Clock info This tiny tweak adds more precision to your clock readout.PCWorld If you’ve needed more precision in your clock readout on the Windows 11 taskbar, you’re in luck. You can now add seconds to the display—but you’ll have to head to taskbar settings to flip it on, rather than your date and time settings. Under Taskbar behaviors, scroll to the bottom of the list and check the box for Show seconds in system tray clock. File Explorer tabs Now if Microsoft would just add a Ctrl + Shift + T keyboard shortcut to quickly bring back closed tabs.PCWorld Microsoft didn’t just add tabs to Notepad. File Explorer got the upgrade, too. You no longer need third-party software to enable the feature (like Stardock’s excellent Groupy). All your numerous Explorer windows can now be grouped as tabs in a single container. Just click the “+” button in the top-most menu bar (or hit Ctrl + T on your keyboard)—each new tab will appear along the top of the window, just like a web browser. Fast Snap Bar access We love Snap, and having fast access to the default layouts makes it even easier to get the right arrangement for your open windows.PCWorld Snap is one of our favorite features in Windows—being able to automatically resize and align windows saves time and makes working a lot easier. And not only do you get more layouts to choose from in Windows 11, but you can access them faster, too. Just hover your mouse over the maximize button in the upper right-hand corner of any window. A small pop-up menu will appear showing six different template options. Roll your cursor over any of the grids, and your current window will get sent to that position. Keyboard users can instead tap Win + Z, then the number of the layout they want. Further reading: 12 handy Windows shortcuts you probably don’t know Power savings Microsoft’s Energy Recommendations can help reduce your power bill.PCWorld Energy costs keep climbing—and in some parts of the world, they’re still at record prices. While you can of course switch your power plan in Windows to something lighter, Windows 11 has a few specific settings you can turn on to reduce idle power consumption. (After all, why pay for the higher electricity use when you’re not active on the PC?) You’ll find these under Settings > System > Power & battery > Energy recommendations. You can then turn on one or more of the suggestions. These more stringent settings will help extend battery life on laptops, too. Virtual desktops You can set different backgrounds for each of your virtual desktops to tell them apart.PCWorld This feature might be one of the most underrated in Windows. Virtual desktops, which first launched in Windows 10, let you spread your active apps and windows among different home screens—it reduces clutter and makes your primary desktop less overwhelming. Some people use their virtual desktops to separate out work from play (or research from daily tasks), while others separate programs by category or function. Navigating between your desktops is as fast as clicking on the Virtual Desktop taskbar icon or tapping Win + Ctrl + Left/Right Arrow. Clipchamp Clipchamp’s video editing capabilities amply cover the basics.PCWorld Davinci Resolve is great if you need deep video editing capabilities, but Microsoft has an alternative free option that’s easier to jump into. Clipchamp can handle quick cuts, fades, and media insertions with ease, and the interface is far less intimidating. It also handles direct uploads to services like YouTube and TikTok, as well as cloud saves for OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox. Combine this program with the built-in recording features in Windows (i.e., Xbox Game Bar or Snipping Tool) and you can be on your way to internet fame quickly. get windows 11 pro for cheap in pcworld`s software store Windows 11 Pro Read...

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