Laptops felt different at CES 2026. I mean, literally. While new hardware from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm stole the show, advances in laptop materials flew under the radar. Forget plastic versus metal. PC makers are now competing on physical feel—and there’s a whole new world of different metals and alloys to choose from. Laptop chassis materials are something else these days. I recently wrote about how plastic laptops are underrated—plastic isn’t a bad material for laptops these days, with well-made plastic laptops sporting a comfortable rubbery touch that doesn’t creak like they once did. In a world where spec sheets have less and less to differentiate them, this is the next path for PC makers who want to stand out. Different makers, different philosophies At CES 2026, I found myself touching a lot of Asus laptops with Asus’ new lightweight material called “ceraluminum.” Laptops like the Zenbook A14 aren’t just incredibly lightweight—Asus wants you to know that ceraluminum (i.e., ceramic-coated aluminum) is more durable than a typical aluminum chassis while also weighing less. The Asus Zenbook A14 sports the company’s new “ceraluminum” material.Michael Crider/Foundry Later, I was holding the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 while an HP representative explained that it was made of forge-stamped metal for a solid, heavy feel. Consumers tend to regard thin-and-light laptops as fragile, so HP made this laptop out of forge-stamped metal—”like a sword”—so that it would feel more durable and inspire confidence. While both companies were showing off new laptops with new hardware and their own approaches to marketing, one thing was clear: each went above and beyond the typical aluminum chassis laptop. Not all metal laptops are the same People tend to lump laptops into two categories: metal and plastic. But some of the strongest and lightest laptops are made of carbon fiber, like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. And even within the metal laptop market, not all metal laptops are made from the same type of metal. Many metal laptops are made from aluminum, while others are made from magnesium alloys. Other laptops are even made from magnesium-aluminum alloys. The HP OmniBook 7 Aero has a premium magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis.Michael Crider / Foundry Aluminum laptops are less expensive to produce and heavier than magnesium, while magnesium alloys are more expensive and lighter than aluminum. But magnesium scratches more easily and isn’t as robust. That’s why some premium laptops have magnesium-aluminum alloys that are lighter than aluminum and stronger than magnesium, but these laptops tend to be more expensive. Asus’ ceraluminum isn’t pure metal but more of a hybrid material: a ceramic material that’s bonded to aluminum. It’s incredibly lightweight and doesn’t feel like metal—your fingers are touching the ceramic coating—but Asus says it’s stronger than aluminum. There are also different ways of manufacturing the metal body of the laptop. Most aluminum laptops are made with CNC milling where a machine precisely cuts from a sheet of metal. HP’s forge-stamping is a different approach. As HP explains: “You heat it up, you fold it over, you tamp it down—you make it stronger.” Carbon fiber is still underrated Carbon fiber is an even better laptop material than metal and alloys. It’s stronger and lighter—there’s a reason why this material is used in spacecrafts and sports cars. You don’t see it as much in laptops because it’s expensive compared to both metal and plastic. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition has a carbon-fiber chassis.Matt Smith / Foundry At CES 2026, Lenovo showed off the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition, which starts at just 2.2 pounds thanks to that carbon fiber. The high-end Asus ROG Flow Z13-KJP, made in partnership with Kojima Productions, also features carbon-fiber elements. If money was no object, I’d skip metal and get a machine with a strong and lightweight carbon-fiber body. That’s my professional opinion as a laptop reviewer, despite the fact so many believe a “metal laptop” is more premium. (That’ll change when they discover carbon fiber!) Recycled materials are huge once again When I speak to PC manufacturers, they’re always eager to explain how much of their laptops are made from recycled materials. Many are made from “ocean-bound plastic” (i.e., waste plastic that might’ve ended up in the ocean if it wasn’t recycled). But recyclying and eco-conscious messaging includes metal and carbon-fiber machines, too. I took a look at Lenovo’s spec sheet for the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14, where the “Responsible Design” section proudly advertises that the carbon-fiber plate is made from 100% biological materials and that the frame incorporates recycled carbon-fiber materials. Joel Lee / Foundry Elsewhere, the laptop’s metal components feature recycled magnesium and aluminum with specific percentages. Laptop manufacturers are increasingly competing on those percentages and on how much of their laptops’ bodies are made from recycled materials. Laptop marketing blurbs often advertise that a machine was made with recycled materials. It doesn’t make a difference in how a material feels, but manufacturers are increasingly using the providence of their materials as part of their overall sales strategies. Don’t underestimate chassis materials when you buy a laptop I enjoy using all sorts of laptops. Some of my happiest computing moments happened on creaky plastic laptops decades ago. You don’t need a fancy laptop material to be happy—and even the average plastic laptop in 2026 feels surprisingly nice. But a laptop’s material does make an undeniably huge difference in the day-to-day experience. Different materials can have significant impacts on weight, durability, and tactile pleasure. A smooth-and-shiny aluminum laptop feels very different from a matte-surfaced magnesium laptop although they’re both “metal laptops.” So, don’t underestimate chassis materials! If you can afford it, you should definitely consider a laptop’s materials when choosing a winner. With pretty much all laptops having Intel, AMD, or Qualcomm parts, this is one way PC makers are really starting to make themselves stand out. Chris Hoffman is always thinking about PCs. Sign up for his free newsletter, The Windows ReadMe, for more thoughts from a real human. Read...

Adobe has unveiled several new AI-powered features for its Premiere Pro and After Effects video editing and effects software, Engadget reports. Premiere Pro introduces a new AI-powered Object Mask tool that makes it possible to quickly select and track people or objects in moving footage. By holding the mouse pointer over an object and then clicking, a mask is automatically created in a few seconds, which can then be adjusted manually if necessary. Adobe says all processing takes place locally on the user’s computer and that the material is not used to train the company’s AI models. At the same time, Premiere Pro’s existing mask tool just got a performance boost and can now track objects up to 20 times faster than before. Workflows will also be simplified through better support from Adobe’s AI-based Firefly Boards, while Adobe Stock is now fully integrated into Premiere Pro. After Effects is also being updated with new features that enhance graphics and 3D work, including support for importing SVG files and new parametric 3D mesh objects. Read...

If you want a daily driver laptop that won’t cost an arm and a leg, $500 will buy you the perfect HP setup—if you jump on this deal before it’s gone. Right now, you can save $300 on this 15.6-inch HP laptop, a fantastic budget find with this heavily discounted price. View this Best Buy deal The laptop is powered by a 13th Generation Intel Core i7-1355U CPU coupled with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. That’s not a rocket-level combo, but it’s one that’ll have you juggling whatever apps you need on a daily basis with ease. Half a TB of storage is also more than enough for apps and files, though perhaps not photos and videos. The 15.6-inch 1080p touchscreen is great for day-to-day use and productivity. This HP laptop comes pre-installed with Windows 11 Home and it has enough RAM that the operating system won’t choke. The device is fairly light at 3.52 pounds, while the battery will last about 7 hours before needing a recharge, and there’s a 720p webcam on the front. This HP machine comes with everything you need connectivity-wise, including USB-C 3.0, double USB-A 3.0, HDMI 1.4, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5.3. For the price, the hardware is more than decent and the features are passable—but given the RAMpocalypse and rising prices of all consumer electronics, this is a solid machine for $500. Get it while you can! Save $300 on this excellent budget-friendly daily driver HP laptopBuy now at Best Buy Read...

Microsoft’s Copilot “AI” system isn’t exactly a smash hit among its users. While the company has rebranded at least some of the features as enhancements for gaming, PC gamers don’t seem to be taking to it any better. The latest software update for Asus’ ROG Ally series of handhelds— notably the only ones with Xbox branding—let you ditch it entirely. “Remappable Gaming Copilot and Push-to-Talk” is the feature highlighted in the latest update to Armoury Crate SE, the Asus software that handles a lot of the in-between stuff for its gaming hardware. “Added the ability to remap Gaming Copilot and Push-to-Talk under the ‘Action’ section of the keymap configuration menu,” reads the relevant entry. This effectively lets you remove Gaming Copilot from the interface, normally bound to a long-press of the Library button. The update comes along with BIOS updates and Armoury Crate SE 2.1.20.0, according to Windows Central, which also includes fixes for standby mode, UI scaling, and Xbox 360 controller emulation. I’m not seeing the official changelog from Asus directly, or any place to download it. (Normally these appear on this support page.) The ability to remap the Gaming Copilot feature and effectively ignore it is an interesting move from Asus, especially since it was the first company to partner with Microsoft on its official push for Windows 11 handhelds. Over the last two years, Microsoft has been… a bit pushy when it comes to Copilot “AI” features, and users haven’t embraced it with open arms. Between that, a seemingly forced migration from Windows 10 to Windows 11, and longstanding resentment as Windows itself becomes chock-full of advertising and features no one asked for, Microsoft isn’t really winning fans at the moment. The timing for Asus’ update is interesting, too: just yesterday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was all but begging people to use “AI” in general and Copilot in particular… which is probably a coincidence. Meanwhile, Valve’s Steam Deck is still incredibly popular (in this admittedly small niche), and the company is pushing a new wave of hardware to expand its PC gaming dominance into the console space where the Xbox brand is actively retreating. Read...

I’ve reviewed lots of laptops powered by Intel CPUs over the last year, and I’ve had gripes. The Core Ultra Series 2 generation was a branding mess with its mix of Lunar Lake, Arrow Lake, and Meteor Lake architectures. But at CES 2026, Intel turned a corner. Intel Core Ultra Series 3—codenamed Panther Lake—looks like it’s actually a coherent platform to go toe-to-toe with AMD and Qualcomm. Intel seems to have its swagger back, too. Intel had TSMC manufacture its Lunar Lake CPUs last generation, but Intel is now back to manufacturing its own CPUs again. This year, Intel struck a huge deal with Nvidia and the US government became a large shareholder in its operations. Despite recent struggles, the big chipmaker shouldn’t be written off yet. I didn’t have the opportunity to benchmark any of these new Panther Lake-powered machines at CES, so stay tuned for that once we get our hands on review units. But I’m still impressed—and here’s why. Battery life and performance in one Intel’s Lunar Lake was a strange beast. Made by TSMC instead of Intel, it was Intel’s attempt to jump on board the power-efficient laptop revolution, complete with onboard memory that couldn’t be upgraded, a speedy NPU for running overhyped Copilot+ PC AI features, and a surprisingly capable integrated GPU. Mark Hachman / Foundry But Lunar Lake’s big limitation was multithreaded performance. It came far behind Arrow Lake and even Meteor Lake CPUs in our Cinebench and Handbrake benchmarks. That’s why most laptops I reviewed throughout the year eventually went with Arrow Lake or Meteor Lake chips. Yet, while those offered stronger performance, they sacrificed battery life and also ran hotter than Lunar Lake. With Panther Lake, Intel says we should expect more than 50 percent better multithreaded performance over Lunar Lake and Meteor Lake, with 10 percent less power usage than Lunar Lake. Intel also claims that Panther Lake’s performance is similar to Arrow Lake. This time around, it sounds like we’re getting both battery life and solid multithreaded CPU performance in the same hardware package. (Want to dive deeper? Learn more about Panther Lake’s technical details.) New integrated GPUs look impressive Intel has been hard at work on upgrading its integrated graphics over the last few years, and it’s now marketing its new Arc B390 iGPU as being on par with Nvidia’s RTX 4000-series discrete graphics cards. We benchmarked the hardware at CES 2026… and it’s close! With Lunar Lake, Intel delivered seriously impressive integrated Arc graphics—but Lunar Lake wasn’t the place for serious iGPU upgrades. Lunar Lake was focused on battery life and not CPU performance, which meant Intel’s best-performing integrated graphics was paired with a CPU platform that struggled in multithreaded performance. Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake had even worse iGPUs. Benchmarking Intel’s Panther Lake with Cyberpunk 2077.Mark Hachman / Foundry By bringing Intel’s fastest iGPUs together with an even faster CPU, Panther Lake promises to power laptops with impressive gaming performance on integrated graphics. That’s something a few PC manufacturers were eager to tell me about at CES 2026. Intel’s new Core Ultra Series 3 hardware could power PC gaming experiences without a discrete GPU. Companies like HP were showing off demos of PC games running on Intel’s new iGPUs. Competing with AMD in handhelds With Panther Lake, Intel is talking about bringing more competition to the gaming handheld space. Steam Deck-style handheld gaming PCs largely use AMD processors, and there’s speculation that companies like Valve may release hardware with Arm chips in the future. Intel had so much swagger that one executive even talked smack at CES 2026, accusing AMD of “selling ancient silicon” for handhelds. Intel is promising custom Panther Lake hardware for the gaming handheld market—something that could be seriously impressive, considering how good Intel’s integrated graphics are getting. AMD disagreed (naturally), saying Panther Lake would come with a bunch of baggage and be a bad fit for handhelds. We’ll see who’s right after the hardware is released. I’m just excited to see more competition. NPUs that catch up to Windows 11’s minimum specs While lots of PC manufacturers are still eager to talk about Copilot+ PCs and AI laptops, Microsoft looks like it’s moving on from its NPU obsession. Companies like Dell are shifting away from AI laptops, too. The NPUs Intel has been shipping for the last few years have been far below Microsoft’s minimum specs. After Microsoft announced back in May 2024 that Copilot+ PCs would require an NPU with at least 40 TOPS of performance, Intel has mostly been shipping laptop hardware with 13 TOPS NPUs—far short of Microsoft’s minimum target. Only Lunar Lake and now Panther Lake cleared the floor for Copilot+ PC features. Meanwhile, all Qualcomm Snapdragon X hardware met the minimum, and AMD’s Ryzen AI CPUs delivered solid performance on a traditional x86 platform with the NPU specs Microsoft asked for. Matthew Smith / Foundry It’s been a big black eye for Intel that most Intel CPU-powered laptops still don’t meet Microsoft’s minimums for these hyped AI features, over 18 months after Microsoft’s announcement. The good news? Most PC buyers don’t care much about Copilot+ PC features, and Microsoft now appears to be deemphasizing them. But at least Intel has finally caught up to Microsoft’s minimum specs. Renewed focus on manufacturing process Intel’s choice to outsource Lunar Lake manufacturing to TSMC was a huge shift in its priorities. Up until then, the company had always manufactured its CPUs in its own foundries. Intel even threatened to abandon manufacturing going forward. Back in July 2025, Intel said it would give up on its next-generation 14A manufacturing process if it couldn’t find a customer, and some speculated that Intel could abandon its own chip fabrication processes. The US government took a stake in Intel a few weeks later, and I’ve always wondered if that dire announcement to shareholders was a negotiation move. Intel signaled that its US-based manufacturing business was struggling and soon after landed the federal government as a shareholder. Now, Intel’s CEO said at CES 2026 that it’s very excited about investing in its 14A process. It’s a huge shift from how the company was acting just last summer. Panther Lake is the first product built on Intel’s 18A manufacturing process, and Intel is no longer depending on TSMC. Intel is also abandoning some of the weirder decisions of Lunar Lake. For example, Panther Lake no longer has on-package memory. In a world where RAM is driving up the price of PCs, that’s valuable. Will Intel’s “Core Ultra Series 3” be watered down, too? While Intel is cleaning up its naming a bit, I’m a little concerned about one thing: does “Core Ultra Series 3” mean anything this time around? A year ago, “Core Ultra Series 2” meant “Lunar Lake”… until Intel released a bunch of Arrow Lake and Meteor Lake chips with Core Ultra Series 2 branding, muddying the brand. Now, at CES 2026, everyone seemed to be using “Core Ultra Series 3” as a stand-in for “Panther Lake.” But will Intel once again release older architectures with Core Ultra Series 3 branding in the coming year? Will we get another round of rebranded Meteor Lake chips? Or Lunar Lake chips? If so, “Core Ultra Series 3” might not mean anything. Either way, Intel’s hardware platform feels like it’s getting where it needs to be. The company is combining performance with battery life, delivering serious integrated graphics power, making its own CPUs, and no longer issuing dire warnings that it may abandon its future manufacturing processes. I look forward to reviewing Panther Lake-powered PCs because they sound impressive. More competition is always good for PC users. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Attractive mesh-fabric design Volume and mic-mute buttons are much more accessible Zigbee and Matter hubs, as well as Amazon Sidewalk support Improved bass response compared to the Echo Dot Cons Sound quality is still only so-so No Z-Wave support Alexa+ is a work in progress Our Verdict Built for Alexa+ and packed with smart features, the Amazon Echo Dot Max makes for a solid smart-home foundation, but that doesn’t mean every Echo Dot owner should automatically move up to it. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Amazon Echo Dot Max Retailer Price $99.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The first wave of “made for Alexa+” devices has arrived, and among them is Amazon’s flagship Echo speaker—the Echo Dot Max, the successor to the earlier, fourth-generation Amazon Echo speaker.  The Echo Dot Max is both a direct replacement for the more than six-year-old Echo speaker as well as an upgrade over the ever-popular Echo Dot, which is still very much a part of Amazon’s Echo speaker lineup. Amazon has also unveiled new Echo Show 8 and 11 smart displays as well as the music-focused Echo Studio. (We’ll have full reviews of the eight-inch Echo Show and the Echo Studio soon.)  I’ve been testing the Echo Dot Max ($99, the same price as the older Echo speaker) for roughly two months now—I also have several other Echo devices scattered around the house, including the fifth-generation Echo Dot and most recent Echo Show 8—and I’ve also been kicking the tires on Alexa+, the AI-enhanced version of Alexa that’s still in a free early-access mode.  Is the Echo Dot Max an automatic upgrade from the Echo Dot? Not necessarily. After a couple months with the Echo Dot Max, I have mixed feelings. The speaker comes packed with smart-home functionality, including Zigbee, Matter, and Amazon Sidewalk hubs, although its lack of Z-Wave support keeps it from being a universal smart home bridge for hardcore smart home users. It’s upgraded audio is certainly better than that of the $49 Echo Dot, but it also pales compared to some competing smart speakers at the same price point.   And finally, there’s Alexa+, the AI-enabled revamp of the “classic” Alexa, which arrives with great promise but plenty of rough edges. But while the Echo Dot Max was “built for” Alexa+, the AI-upgraded assistant is not exclusive to the speaker—in fact, you can use Alexa+ on all of Amazon’s current Echo devices, including the much more affordable Echo Dot. So, should you buy the Echo Dot Max? Should Echo Dot owners pony up for the upgrade? Here’s where my head’s at after two months of testing. Note: Alexa+ is also free while in its early preview period; so for this review, I’ll be focusing more on the Echo Dot Max’s hardware and features rather than Alexa+ itself. Design  Amazon is sticking with the spherical design that it introduced in 2020 with the fourth-generation Echo Dot. Come to think of it, all the major smart speakers are now shaped like softballs, including the upcoming Google Home Speaker, the Apple HomePod mini, and the Echo Dot Max we’re reviewing here.  Measuring 4.27 x 4.27 x 3.9 inches (WxDxH) and weighing a little shy of 18 ounces, the Echo Dot Max is considerably smaller and lighter than the fourth-generation Echo (5.7 x 5.7 x 5.2 inches, 34.2 oz) it’s replacing. At the same time, the Dot Max is just slightly larger than the current fifth-gen Echo Dot (3.9 x 3.9 x 3.5 inches, 10.7 ounces). The size difference between the Echo Dot Max and Echo Dot is apparent when you place the two speakers side by side, but the Dot Max looks decidedly Dot-sized.  The fifth-generation Echo Dot (left) next to its bigger sibling, the Echo Dot Max (right).Ben Patterson/Foundry While the basic shape of the Echo Dot Max hasn’t changed, the details have evolved. Aside from the larger weave of the fabric around the Dot Max compared to the Dot, the newer speaker (along with its bigger sibling, the Echo Studio) moves the volume and mic-mute buttons from the top of the device to a shallow dish on its face, surrounded by the telltale Alexa ring. The Dot Max also jettisons the Action button, which was mainly used for stopping alarms, timers, and notifications; now, you just tap the top of the speaker to perform the same function, same as on the fifth-gen Echo Dot (which still had an Action button).  The Echo Dot Max moves the volume and mic-mute buttons from the top of the device to a shallow dish on its face, surrounded by the telltale Alexa ring.Ben Patterson/Foundry Moving the Echo Dot Max’s buttons to a more visible spot on the speaker was a good idea on paper. But while the speaker has some heft to it, it’s not heavy enough to stay in place when you try to press one of its buttons; instead, it will scoot backward with the force of a button-press unless you hold it down with your other fingers or another hand.  In the back of the speaker is a barrel-shaped socket for the power cable, which terminates in a relatively compact wall wart. As with the fifth-gen Echo Dot, there’s no 3.5mm jack for connecting a wired speaker, meaning you’ll have to settle for Bluetooth if you want to pipe the Dot Max’s audio to another device.  Setup  Getting Amazon’s various Echo speakers up and running has always been a breeze, and it’s no different for the Echo Dot Max.   First, you plug in the Dot Max; after a few seconds, the Alexa ring should glow yellow, indicating it’s awaiting activation. Then, fire up the Alexa app, and the new speaker should pop up automatically; if not, just tap the “+” button in the top-right corner of the screen to add a new device, then follow the prompts.   Among the setup screens you’ll need to traverse are various privacy disclosures and terms-of-service agreements. You’ll also need to designate which room in your home the Dot Max will reside in, as well as set default music services. All told, the setup process takes between five and 10 minutes.  In the back of the Echo Dot Max is a barrel-shaped socket for the power cable.Ben Patterson/Foundry Smart hub connectivity  The Echo Dot Max is taking over from the older, fourth-generation Echo speaker as Amazon’s workhorse smart speaker, and as with its predecessor, it comes with everything—well, almost everything—you’ll need to connect to your smart home devices.  Aside from Wi-Fi, the Echo Dot Max boasts a Zigbee hub, good for connecting to Zigbee-enabled sensors, light bulbs, smart locks, smart plugs, remotes, and other low-power smart devices that thrive in mesh-network environments. The Dot Max also acts as a bridge device for Amazon Sidewalk, the so-called “neighborhood” network that leverages other nearby Echo and Ring devices to connect smart devices that might otherwise be beyond Wi-Fi range. Finally, a Thread border router allows the Dot Max to connect Thread-enabled Matter devices to the internet and to each other.  The missing link is—and remains—Z-Wave, a popular mesh protocol similar to Zigbee that offers its own rich ecosystem of devices ranging from light switches and dimmers to smart locks and garage door openers. Amazon’s previous flagship Echo speakers are missing Z-Wave hubs, too. Amazon-owned Ring brand does offer some Z-Wave sensors that work with its Ring Alarm and Ring Alarm Pro base stations, but those sensors have recently been supplanted by a new generation based on–you guessed it–Amazon Sidewalk.  While not strictly in the category of smart hubs, the Echo Dot Max does act as a repeater for Amazon’s line of Eero mesh Wi-Fi routers, boosting their range by up to 1,000 square feet. It’s worth noting that the cheaper Echo Dot will also work as an Eero signal repeater, but it lacks the Dot Max’s Zigbee hub and Thread border router features. Smart sensors  The Echo Dot Max comes loaded with a variety of onboard smart sensors—including ambient temperature and light sensors—that are mainly aimed at detecting the presence of nearby people. Specifically, Amazon touts its new “Omnisense” technology, which pools data not just from the temperature and light sensors but also from the Dot Max’s microphone array.   Also available on the larger Echo Studio as well as Amazon’s latest-gen Echo Show displays, Amazon bills Omnisense as a way to help Alexa—and particularly Alexa+ — to “intelligently act on various events happening in and around your home,” such as triggering custom routines for specific people, or proactively letting you know that your garage door is unlocked at bedtime.  Alexa+ and smart home functionality  One of the biggest draws of the Echo Dot Max is that it was built for Alexa+, the long-awaited AI revamp for Alexa. Specifically, the Echo Dot Max runs on Amazon’s custom AZ3 chip, which powers the speaker’s four-microphone array and is designed to enable more responsive chat with Alexa+ by filtering out background noise and boosting wake-word sensitivity. You don’t need to stick with “Alexa,” by the way. You can change it to “Amazon,” “Computer,” “Echo,” or “Ziggy.”  And then there’s Alexa+ itself, a new version of Alexa with generative AI smarts. Still in an early-access phase and therefore free for now (it will eventually be included with a Prime subscription, while non-Prime users will need to pay $19.99 a month), Alexa+ promises more natural voice exchanges, agentic functionality (that is, the ability to carry out multi-step tasks on your behalf), more adept handling of media playback, and smarter smart-home control.  The reality of Alexa+ is a mixed bag. (As Alexa+ is still in early access, I’m not giving it a full review yet.) Sometimes it’s quite smart, as when it creates routines based on voice prompts (“Alexa, make a routine that turns the bedroom lights on at 8 a.m.”), or when it correctly guesses the name of a song based on a vague query (“Alexa, what’s the name of that song that was the title track for the TV show called The Hills?”). Other times, not so much—and frustratingly, Alexa+’s success and failure for various tasks changes over time.   For example, when I asked Alexa+ to play that tune from The Hills–”Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield—it told me that it currently lacks the functionality to play music from such a query on Apple Music, my default music service for Alexa (presumably because Alexa+’s Apple Music API doesn’t have that ability yet). When I told it that the living room carpet was dirty, hoping it would send my Roomba out for a quick vacuum job, it instead gave me a treatise about eco-friendly trends in the living room carpet “industry;” looking back over the chat logs, I learned Alexa+ had misheard my initial comment.  And while Alexa+ was able to quickly create routines based on voice commands (“Alexa, create a routine that says ‘Welcome to the office’ whenever I enter the room,”), I had a heck of a time getting the routine to trigger properly, and Alexa+ only offered limited help in terms of debugging the routine.  Amazon has been careful to point out that Alexa+ is still in early access modem, and that it’s not charging for the AI-enhanced voice assistant. Also, you can always go back to the “classic” Alexa (“Alexa, exit Alexa+”) if you prefer it, and the original Alexa remains quite capable at carrying out smart home commands, managing shopping lists, playing music, and performing other household duties, albeit without Alexa+’s loquaciousness. Finally, it’s worth noting that Google’s competing Gemini at Home suffers from its own annoying foibles—and unlike Alexa, there’s no reverting back to Google Assistant from Gemini.  Still, in its current form, Alexa+ elicits as many groans of frustration as it does gasps of delight—or at least, that’s been my experience over the past couple of months. As with LLMs like Google’s Gemini, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Anthropic’s Claude (Amazon is a major stakeholder in Anthropic), I do expect to see improvements in Alexa+ over time.  The Echo Dot Max with its mic-mute button engaged.Ben Patterson/Foundry Music playback and audio quality  Aside from its new AZ3 processor, the Echo Dot Max comes with an all-new acoustic setup, including a 0.8-inch tweeter and a 2.5-inch high-excursion woofer tuned to deliver three times the bass of the smaller Echo Dot. The speaker can also handle lossless music tracks.  If you like, you can create an entire 5.1-channel home theater experience with up to five Echo Dot Max speakers and an Echo Sub, so long as you pair the speakers with a second-generation Fire TV Strick 4K, the second-gen Fire TV Stick Max, the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, or the Fire TV Cube (3rd-gen).   So, how does the new Echo Dot Max actually sound? I don’t claim to be an audiophile, but I do have extensive experience with a variety of smart speakers as well as Sonos wireless speakers, and I found the Echo Dot Max’s audio performance to be a) better than the Echo Dot (as it should be, given that it’s double the price) and b) still somewhat mediocre. It certainly does pack more bass than the older Echo Dot, but I still found its overall sound a tad small and mushy. At the same price point, I much prefer the clear, detailed, and punchy sound of Google’s Nest Audio speaker, although that device is for a very different ecosystem. If you’re looking for an Echo speaker that strives for top-shelf audio, consider the $219 Echo Studio (2025 release), which offers a trio of full-range drivers, a woofer, and support for spatial and Dolby Atmos sound. We’ll have a full review of the Echo Studio soon.  As far as music streaming support goes, the Echo Dot Max supports Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Pandora, SiriusXM, Tidal, and other streaming services. Two notable omissions: YouTube Music and Qobuz (the latter service’s Qobuz Connect is mostly compatible with higher-end audio devices and systems).  Should you buy the Amazon Echo Dot Max? The Echo Dot Max is a natural evolution of Amazon’s Echo line of smart speakers, taking the core of the older Amazon Echo and upgrading it with cutting-edge hardware, including a processor designed specifically for Alexa+. If you’re starting your smart home journey and are ready to go all-in on the Alexa ecosystem, the Echo Dot Max makes for a great foundation. It packs a Zigbee hub, a Matter hub, and an Amazon Sidewalk bridge. Most users will get by without Z-Wave support, and you can always add a separate Z-Wave hub that will work with Alexa. The design with the buttons in front is also an improvement, and its audio performance is solid, if short of superior. As for Alexa+, it might not be fully baked, but it’s free for now, and I’m certain it will improve as time rolls on. If you don’t want to (eventually) pay for Alexa+ or you’re dissatisfied with its abilities, you can always fall back on the “classic” Alexa, which will remain free. Is the Echo Dot Max an automatic upgrade for Echo Dot owners? Not necessarily. The Echo Dot supports Alexa+ just like the Dot Max does, and while it lacks the the beefier speaker’s Matter and Zigbee capabilities (which you might already be getting from other devices in your home), it will double as an Eero mesh extender (assuming you have an Eero router or a Ring Alarm Pro and you use the Eero router inside it). In short, the Echo Dot packs a lot of heat for just $49, it’s frequently on sale, and it remains our Editors’ Choice for best budget-priced smart speaker. If you already own the Echo Dot and have other devices that serve as Zigbee hubs and/or Thread border routers, it might make sense to give the Echo Dot Max a pass. This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Unique aspect ratio for extra vertical space Useful extra features Higher resolution than 4K, excellent sharpness Now has a 120Hz refresh rate Cons HDR is supported, but not great MSRP is expensive for the display size Our Verdict The BenQ RD280UG is an outstanding coding display, with a unique 3:2 aspect ratio, an ambient light sensor that can automatically adjust display brightness, and an ultra-high resolution superior to a typical 4K monitor. All of this makes for an outstanding coding display. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: BenQ RD280UG Retailer Price $699.99 View Deal BenQ $699.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The BenQ RD280UG is a monitor designed from scratch for coding. Of course, just about any display can be used for coding—but the BenQ RD280UG goes much further than most. It has a unique 3:2 aspect ratio, an ambient light sensor that can automatically adjust display brightness, and an ultra-high resolution superior to a typical 4K monitor. All of this makes for an outstanding coding display. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best monitors for comparison. BenQ RD280UG specs and features It’s hard to miss the BenQ RD280UG’s headline feature. The 28.2-inch display, which has a 3:2 aspect ratio, is instantly set apart from most monitors. It’s a sharp display, too, with a native resolution of 3840×2560. That’s a higher pixel count than a 27-inch 4K monitor, but due to the BenQ RD280UG’s larger physical display size, the pixel density is almost identical. Display size: 28.2-inch 3:2 aspect ratio Native resolution: 3840×2560 Panel type: IPS-LCD with LED edge lit backlight Refresh rate: 120Hz Adaptive sync: VRR HDR: Yes, VESA DisplayHDR 400 Certified Ports: 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and 90 watts USB Power Delivery, 1x USB-C downstream with DisplayPort MST and up to 15 watts of Power Delivery, 2x USB-A downstream, 1 USB-C downstream with 7.5 watts of Power Delivery, 1x USB-B upstream Audio: Yes, 2x 3-watt speakers Extra features: Moonhalo ambient light, KVM switch, ambient light sensor Price: $759.99 MSRP The BenQ RD280UG makes several improvements over its predecessor, the BenQ RD280U. The refresh rate has increased from 60Hz to 120Hz and VRR is now supported, though BenQ stops short of support for any particular standard (such as AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync). The new model also lists slightly more powerful speakers, up to 3 watts from 2W before, replaces one USB-A downstream port with USB-C, and lists a better contrast ratio of 2000:1, up from 1200:1. BenQ RD280UG design The BenQ RD280UG’s design is dominated by its highly unusual 3:2 aspect ratio. While there are now a couple other 3:2 monitors available, it remains extremely rare. The aspect ratio results in a display that’s almost exactly as wide as a 27-inch widescreen monitor, yet nearly as tall as a 32-inch widescreen monitor. Because of that, the RD280UG’s 3:2 aspect ratio can provide a tad more than two extra inches of vertical display space (compared to a 27-inch widescreen). This is useful not only for coding but also for writing or editing all sorts of documents. Put simply, you can see more on the display at once. The display’s size is also a great fit for viewing two vertical windows side-by-side. Matthew Smith / Foundry The 3:2 display is housed in a robust chassis with a distinct ridged design on the rear of the monitor. It sets the monitor apart from other brands, yet still looks professional. This is also where you’ll find the MoonHalo, an ambient light that can create a pleasant glow around the display in a bright environment. While the MoonHalo is meant to reduce eye strain, I like it for a more basic reason: It just looks nice. The ambient glow cast by the MoonHalo is pleasant and bright enough to be a genuinely useful light source in a dimly lit room. BenQ mounts the monitor to a hefty stand with a flat base that doesn’t cause too much disruption on your desk. The stand can adjust for height, tilt, and swivel. It can also pivot, which is an upgrade from the BenQ RD280U. A 100x100mm VESA mount is used, so the monitor can be attached to third-party monitor arms and stands. BenQ RD280UG connectivity Around back the BenQ RD280UG provides three video inputs: one HDMI, one DisplayPort, and one USB-C with DisplayPort. The USB-C port also provides up to 90 watts of Power Delivery for powering a connected laptop or tablet. The monitor also has a USB-C downstream port with 15 watts of Power Delivery and DisplayPort multi-stream transport. This feature lets you connect a second display to the BenQ RD280UG and “daisy-chain” the video signal to it. That’s useful if you have a laptop with just one video output, or if you want to reduce cable clutter on your desk. The USB-C port extends USB connectivity to two USB-A ports and one USB-C port. These ports can also be driven by a USB-B upstream connection. This makes the RD280UG a fairly useful USB hub, though it lacks some more extravagant features that can be found on some competitors. The Dell U3225QE, for example, has 2.5Gbps Ethernet. KVM switch functionality is included, too. That means you can connect multiple devices and use the monitor to switch between which has access to the monitor’s USB ports. It’s a good way to quickly swap between two connected PCs, though also included by most of the BenQ RD280UG’s competitors. BenQ RD280UG menus and features The BenQ RD280UG has several extra features aimed at programmers. My favorite is the ambient light sensor. An ambient light sensor can automatically adjust the brightness of a display throughout the day to keep the brightness at a comfortable level. That’s handy, as manually adjusting brightness is annoying and easy to forget. Most monitors in the BenQ RD280UG’s price range don’t have this feature, though a few do, including some Dell Ultrasharp, Asus ProArt, and BenQ P-Series displays. BenQ doubles down on comfort with several display modes, such as E-Paper and a Coding Dark Theme, which drastically change the image presentation. These modes are not technically “accurate” but might ease eye strain due to reduced brightness and enhanced contrast. Keep in mind, however, that the usefulness of these features can vary from person to person. The BenQ RD280UG also has a “Function Bar” on the front of the display. This is a touch-sensitive control that can be used to quickly engage or change monitor settings. The idea is that coders may want to frequently move from a coding-specific image quality mode to another, more typical mode. I would have preferred a remote or physical button for this, but the Function Bar is better than nothing. The monitor’s settings can otherwise be changed in one of two ways. You can use a joystick behind the lower bezel to control the on-screen menus or use BenQ’s DisplayPilot software. The DisplayPilot software supports Windows, Mac, and Linux, which is notable. Most competitors don’t support Linux. Whichever method you choose, you’ll find a lot of options. The monitor has many color modes and gamma modes that target precise gamma values. It also has color temperature adjustment, but those adjustments do not target precise values. The monitor provides many options for controlling special features, such as the MoonHalo, ambient light sensor, and function bar. On the whole, I think the BenQ RD280UG provides a good range of features and options for the price. My favorite feature is the automatic brightness adjustment of the ambient light sensor — manually adjusting brightness is annoying. BenQ RD280UG audio The BenQ RD280UG includes a pair of 3-watt speakers. According to the specification sheet, these are an upgrade over the RD280U, which used 2-watt speakers. And many similar monitors lack speakers at all. Still, the RD280UG’s audio isn’t great, lacking volume and depth. The speakers are okay for listening to a podcast but that’s about it. BenQ RD280UG SDR image quality I think it’s fair to say the BenQ RD280UG’s image quality is not important to the monitor’s core use case. Coding does not require a high contrast ratio or, in most cases, a wide color gamut. The BenQ RD280UG’s image quality reflects this, though it’s still decent. Matthew Smith / Foundry I measured a maximum sustained SDR brightness of 340 nits. That is a small upgrade from the older RD280U, which hit about 325 nits.As the graph shows, most competing monitors can be brighter, and some are significantly brighter. However, the RD280UG is bright enough to be comfortable in most interior rooms. It’s also clearly skewed towards use in dim rooms, as many of the monitor’s features are designed to make it comfortable when viewed in such a room. So, while the RD280UG is not that bright, it’s bright enough, and I can’t say it’s a problem for how the monitor is meant to be used. Matthew Smith / Foundry The BenQ RD280UG promises improved contrast over its predecessor, and it delivers. I measured a contrast ratio of 1980:1, which is a significant improvement over the prior monitor’s contrast ratio of 1310:1. It also compares well to similar monitors, many of which have a contrast ratio around 1000:1 to 1500:1. In practice, this means the BenQ RD280UG has a reasonably deep, rich, and immersive look. However, some backlight glow will still be visible when viewing dark images in a very dark room. Matthew Smith / Foundry Next up is color gamut, which is the range of colors the monitor can display. Here, we see a weakness of the BenQ RD280UG, and an area where the BenQ RD280UG doesn’t perform as well as its predecessor. The new RD280UG was able to display 88 percent of DCI-P3 and 82 percent of AdobeRGB, while the old model displayed 93 percent and 87 percent, respectively. This is not a major issue, as the BenQ RD280UG’s color gamut is still enough that it appears vivid at a glance. However, when compared to better monitors, it looks less saturated and alluring. You won’t notice it when coding or working with documents, but it can be noticeable in photos and videos. Matthew Smith / Foundry Color accuracy is also so-so, as the RD280UG has an average color error that’s higher than many competitive monitors—particularly those from Dell. The average color error is expressed across many colors, rather than any single color. The RD280UG is not meant to be a monitor for creative professionals, and for the price, would not be a good pick for that use. The RD280UG’s color temperature came in at 6700K, slightly off our target of 6500K. That means the image is a bit cooler than ideal, and it’s a noticeable difference, but not punch-you-in-the-face obvious. Gamma, meanwhile, was good with an on-target gamma curve of 2.2. The monitor provides a range of gamma presets in case you feel the need to change to another gamma setting. Together, these results contribute to a well-balanced presentation of the RD280UG’s image. Sharpness is a perk. The RD280UG provides 3840×2560 resolution, which is a higher total pixel count than a 4K widescreen monitor. However, because the monitor is also physically larger, this still works out to a pixel density of about 164 pixels per inch. Most 27-inch 4K monitors have a similar pixel density. Still, this is an excellent level of sharpness for a computer monitor. Small text looks crisp and detailed, which is important, since coders often view small text.The RD280UG’s overall image quality is not exceptional but seems well-suited for the monitor’s intended purpose. Programmers care most of all about sharpness when viewing small fonts and a well-balanced, reasonably accurate image. The RD280UG provides that. BenQ RD280UG HDR image quality The BenQ RD280UG is capable of HDR and is VESA DisplayHDR 400 certified, but I wouldn’t recommend it for viewing HDR. The monitor lacks the brightness and contrast to truly do HDR justice and generally won’t look much better than SDR—just different. On top of that, the monitor lacks the sort of HDR brightness and image adjustment features that you’ll find on a high-end gaming and entertainment monitor, such as the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27AQWP-W. BenQ RD280UG motion performance BenQ’s RD280UG can reach a refresh rate up to 120Hz. That’s an improvement over the RD280U, which could only achieve 60Hz. It also allows the BenQ to catch up with recent Dell Ultrasharp and Asus ProArt monitors, many of which achieve a refresh rate of at least 120Hz. Whether the 120Hz refresh rate is adequate will depend on your expectations. The quickest monitors can now hit refresh rates up to 1,000Hz, and 240Hz monitors are extremely common, so 120Hz is a long way from cutting edge. However, many monitors meant specifically for coding or productivity are still stuck at 60Hz, and improving the RD280UG’s refresh rate to 120Hz delivers a big improvement. Refresh rate is often thought of as a feature for PC gaming but, in this context, it provides better text clarity when scrolling through code, as well as a more responsive feel when navigating a desktop, apps, or an integrated development environment. The monitor also supports variable refresh rates. It does not state official support for VESA AdaptiveSync, AMD FreeSync, or Nvidia G-Sync. However, in my testing, AMD FreeSync did function with the RD280UG. Should you buy the BenQ RD280UG? The BenQ RD280UG is one of the most unusual monitors on the market right now, yet in many ways, it makes perfect sense. It’s designed for coding and, to that end, it provides more screen real estate, an ultra-sharp image, and multiple modes and features designed to either reduce eye strain or make working in a dark room more enjoyable. The BenQ RD280UG also provides important upgrades from its predecessor, the RD280U, including a leap from a 60Hz to 120Hz refresh rate. The RD280UG’s retail price of $759.99 is expensive, and because you can code well enough on just about any display, it won’t make sense for everyone. However, if you have strong opinions on how a display you use for coding should function and look, the RD280UG will be ideal for you. Read...

Google Aluminium will be an Android-based operating system for laptops and tablets — “built with AI at its core,” according to Google. While Google hasn’t yet announced its grand plans, the future looks like it will involve Android laptops. Google wants a shiny AI-first laptop experience sitting next to Windows laptops, MacBooks, and iPads. But, while I use an Android phone, I don’t plan on switching to an Android laptop any time soon. What is Google’s Aluminium OS? Google has spent the last year dropping hints about merging Android and ChromeOS. At Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit back in September, Google’s Rick Osterloh talked about how Android would soon serve PC users, too. Recently, Google put up a job listing for a “Senior Product Manager, Android, Laptop and Tablets.” The job-posting name-dropped “Aluminium,” describing it as “a new operating system built with Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the core” and said it was “Android-based.” Mishaal Rahman spotted it and wrote up all the twists and turns of Google’s product strategy at Android Authority. ChromiumOS is the open-source project that ChromeOS is based on. Aluminium sounds like the perfect codename for an operating system that combines Android and ChromeOS. Google doesn’t seem like it’s about to axe ChromeOS any time soon, however. The job posting described how the product manager would be “curating a portfolio of ChromeOS and Aluminium (ALOS) Commercial devices across all form factors.” Lots of businesses and schools have standardized on Chromebooks, and it sounds like Google won’t be ditching the ChromeOS experience overnight. Google’s job posting even describes hardware tiers we should expect: “Chromebook, Chromebook Plus, AL Entry, AL Mass Premium, and AL Premium.” Chromebook Plus is a higher-end experience with specific hardware requirements, and Google looks like it’s planning on offering an experience with hardware tiers for these Android-based laptops and tablets, too. Android desktop experiences already exist An Android desktop experience is nothing new. You can use an Android environment as a desktop OS today, complete with floating windows! Samsung has offered this for years as part of its DeX software. Just connect a DisplayPort cable to your Samsung Galaxy phone and connect it to a monitor — or project wirelessly — and you get an environment with floating desktop windows. You can connect a wireless keyboard and mouse and use it as a desktop environment. You could just dock your phone at your desk and use it as your desktop PC. Chris Hoffman / Foundry Android 16 has its own desktop mode based on Samsung’s DeX, and you can use it on a Google Pixel phone. You don’t need a Samsung Galaxy phone for this anymore. After years of ignoring this and letting Samsung go its own way, Google is taking an interest. Desktop mode can be a little glitchy — while Android apps can run in windows and be resizable, they really aren’t designed for this type of experience. Android’s desktop mode is technically impressive and neat in a pinch, but I don’t plan on trading my traditional desktop operating system for it. Windows, desktop Linux, or even macOS is an upgrade. IDG / Chris Hoffman I’ve even used Android on a traditional clamshell laptop form factor. I reviewed the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5, which offered both Android and Windows on one computer, swappable at the press of a button. It was a very cool concept, but it didn’t make me crave a full-time Android laptop experience. I don’t enjoy Android apps on a laptop The idea of a desktop experience full of Android applications has been tried repeatedly and just hasn’t caught on. But tech companies just keep trying to make this happen. Microsoft itself dabbled with this and got burned: One of Windows 11’s big features was the ability to run Android apps, and that feature was canned pretty quickly. Very few people cared when Microsoft discontinued it. Most people just weren’t running Android apps on their Windows desktops. You can still run Android apps on Windows PCs with other tricks. But, again: Few people do. Google itself already has Android apps running on Chromebooks. This has been available for years. Every time I use a Chromebook, I try out Android apps and always prefer web apps if I can find them. Android apps built for touch screens just don’t work that well on a laptop with a mouse and keyboard, and transforming the entire operating system into an Android experience won’t solve this problem. Heck, even Apple hasn’t had much luck here. While you can run iPad and iPhone apps on a modern M-series ARM Mac, the Mac users I know stick to Mac desktop software on their machines — not mobile apps. And, while Apple is making iPads better at multitasking, Apple isn’t discontinuing MacBooks: Most traditional computer users want a laptop experience and not just an iPad with a keyboard case masquerading as a laptop. So why would I want an Android laptop? I could already run Android apps on a laptop by buying a Chromebook. So what does an Android laptop experience buy me? Under the hood, it might be better for Google to have a single app and development platform, sure. But, as a user, I don’t get it. On a laptop, I’d rather use ChromeOS, which is designed first and foremost for mice and keyboards. An Android-based laptop experience doesn’t appeal to me. I want a traditional PC experience with traditional PC software — the whole archive of Windows PC applications and games — and applications designed with a keyboard and mouse in mind. If Google’s big pitch is that Aluminum will have “AI at its core,” I’m not sure that will really appeal to a wide audience of PC users. Every operating system is getting deep AI integration these days — aside from traditional desktop Linux distributions and SteamOS. I hope Aluminium OS laptops surprise me Who knows what will happen — maybe Android will be the next great laptop operating system. Maybe this is the moment that Android and ChromeOS fuse into a supremely powerful desktop operating system — a mass-market PC operating system alternative to Windows that’s more widely supported by device manufacturers than desktop Linux is. It was always obvious to me that some voices inside Google wished they had pushed Android as a laptop operating system, too. Those voices are clearly winning. But I remember covering Google’s ChromeOS for my World Beyond Windows column here at PCWorld more than a decade ago. While I always found the idea of a lightweight, browser-based Linux operating system intriguing, I was never a fan of taking touch-first smartphone apps and running them on a laptop. Hopefully, Aluminum OS will be more interesting than that. But I’m concerned Google is just looking for a way to roll out AI features as quickly as possible to both phones and laptops by standardizing on a single OS. We’ll see whether shiny Gemini-powered Android laptops will appeal to consumers. Maybe they will — but I doubt people will be switching from Windows laptops or MacBooks. Google’s going to have to do something seriously transformative. The “I want a laptop running a mobile OS” crowd already bought iPads with keyboard cases. Read...

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It’s amazing who you can run into at CES, the world’s largest electronics show. For example, Adam Patrick Murray ran into Eddie Lin, the CEO of Gigabyte. Granted, it was at Gigabyte’s showcase, and he went there specifically to meet him for an interview. But who’s to say that isn’t amazing? The big theme of CES 2026 is “AI” in everything, as has been the case for the last two years. And Lin was quick to hype up Gigabyte hardware’s abilities in the area, saying that the company is focused on bringing the benefits of the new tech to gaming. Exactly how Gigabyte intends to deliver a “totally fresh experience” via hardware was less clear. If there’s a secondary theme of CES 2026, it’s the incipient pricing crisis, thanks to memory costs exploding. This is causing the price of RAM, storage, graphics cards, and by extension pretty much everything having to do with laptops and desktops, to rise precipitously. Lin’s solution is what he calls a “performance matrix,” i.e., measuring every detail for components that actually contribute to gaming performance. “For example,” he says, “we measured 16 gigabytes versus 32 gigabytes [of RAM] for gamers, and the performance gap is only one or two percent.” Lin also spoke on motherboard design, incorporating features like back-facing connectors for clean builds, and stylish accents like wood panels. There’s exciting news on the OLED front, as he believes that transparent OLED monitors are only one to two years away (and I assume that means prototypes we might see at, say, CES 2028). Adam wants to know about handhelds, because he’s possibly the biggest fan of the Steam Deck and similar hardware on the PCWorld team. (He was playing in the taxi on the way to the hotel.) “…Lots of Chinese makers also build handhelds,” says Lin. “The most important thing is, just like with a tablet… what’s the differentiation we can have? That’s the only thing I think, how to build with differentiation.” For more live looks at CES, be sure to check out the PCWorld YouTube channel. And for deeper dives, watch our podcast on its dedicated channel, The Full Nerd. Read...