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Who doesn’t remember PC games such as Maniac Mansion, the King’s Quest series and the dubious adventures of Leisure Suit Larry or software such as Microsoft Works and Lotus Smart Suite? These titles originally came from the 80s and 90s, ran under MS-DOS or Windows 3.1 and were delivered on floppy discs or—very modern back then!—CD-ROMs. In our guide, we want to breathe new life into these treasures from the past and get them running on a current PC with Windows 11. We describe two scenarios: Firstly, we use the original data carriers for MS-DOS or Windows 3.1. The second scenario describes the case where installation media are no longer available. Even then, there is a way for you to delve back into all your favourite games and programs from back then. Prerequisite: DOSBox as MS-DOS emulator To run old applications and games under Windows 11, you need an emulator such as DOSBox. This command line tool, which was primarily developed for games, provides the MS-DOS platform and simulates an IBM PC-compatible computer with an x86 processor, the speed of which you can adjust. This means that old 16-bit programs can also be run under DOSBox, and you can even install Windows 3.1 and then run compatible software on it. Since not every user knows how to use a command line tool or still has the handling of MS-DOS including all commands ready at hand, DOSBox comes with a very good help function and also offers tutorials and instructions on the project website, simplifying operation enormously.Foundry DOSBox also provides the required hardware environment: In addition to mouse and keyboard, the tool controls input devices such as joysticks and gamepads, which is indispensable for games. It also supports (virtual) CD-ROM drives and sound cards for audio output. The emulator works independently of the actual equipment of the PC on which it’s running. The operation of DOSBox requires rudimentary knowledge of command line tools. However, you can always call up a short introduction and the help function each time you start it, and there are excellent instructions on the project website. There is also an alphabetically sorted list of supported games at www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php. Setting up DOSBox and mounting the necessary drives For the sake of clarity, install DOSBox in a newly created directory called Oldies on your hard drive “C:\” and create another folder called DOSSoft in which you’ll later store your games and applications. When naming folders, please note that DOSBox, like MS-DOS itself, abbreviates all names that are longer than eight characters. As you’ll have to type the folder names into the command line later, you should therefore avoid names that are too long. For our article, we first want to run the MS-DOS game Shadowlands (1992), which we still have the original 3.5-inch floppy disc for, under DOSBox. Next, install Windows 3.1 from the original floppy discs and install the graphics program Aldus Photostyler (1991) – available on four 3.5-inch floppy discs – and an image of Microsoft Works (1988). The most important command in DOSBox is mount. You use it to provide the drives and folders that you’ll need later to install and start your software. The dir command shows you the contents of a directory, for example the floppy disc of the game Shadowland (1992).Foundry To read the media, use a USB floppy drive that is mounted in DOSBox, i.e. make it available to the emulator as a physical drive. To do this, start the program and type for the USB floppy drive mount A A:\ -t floppy This preserves the drive’s letter A. The “-t” and the subsequent designation stand for the drive type that is mounted. The drive letter is capitalized. Otherwise, upper and lower case is not important. If the mount was successful, a corresponding message appears. Please be patient, however, as the process may take a few seconds. Important: Every time you exit DOSBox, you must remount your drives. In addition, the contents of the mounted drives and folders are not updated. So if you copy new files into a mounted directory, you must remove it with mount -u : and then remount it. By the way: If you still have programs on 5.25-inch floppy discs, installation can be difficult or even impossible. We did not find any external drives for this in our research, and the current mainboards do not have the controllers for used internal devices. So if you want to use a program that originally comes on 5.25-inch floppy discs, you have to get the ISO from the Internet. But more on this later. Running games from 3.5-inch discs under MS-DOS The fantasy role-playing game Shadowlands was released in 1992 for MS-DOS, Amiga and Atari, and we want to run it from the original 3.5-inch floppy disc in DOSBox. After mounting our floppy drive as described above, we must do the same with our installation directory. So we type mount C C:\Oldies\DOSSoft – the folder now has the drive letter “C:” -, then change the drive letter with A: to the floppy drive and install Shadowlands using the command install A: C: into our game folder. A “SHADOW” folder is automatically created. The message “Install Complete” appears as confirmation, and we switch to the next folder with C: to automatically switch to the SHADOW folder. With dir to display the contents and finally start our game with shadow. The Lucas Arts adventure game The Dig was distributed on a CD in 1995. The game can still be started and played directly from this disc in DOSBox. To do this, we mount the external drive, change to the directory of The Dig and execute the start file. Foundry By the way: If there are several subfolders, the cd command is used to change the subfolder manually. You can go one level higher with cd . (two dots). After starting Shadowlands, select the resolution, i.e. whether we want VGA with 640 x 480 pixels or EGA with 640 x 350 pixels. We prefer the “newer” VGA. Shadowlands then starts with sound output and lets us create a hero for our epic adventure. Conveniently, we can use the mouse, as DOSBox can provide this as well as the keyboard. While you’re in an emulated game, the mouse and keyboard are disabled for your “real” PC. You must then exit the game or briefly interrupt it with Ctrl-Alt-Del to restore functionality. If you then want to switch back to the game, simply click with the mouse in the relevant window. By the way: If you want to install an old game from CD, mount the corresponding drive with mount E E:\ -t cdrom whereby the drive retains the letter E. Then switch to it with E:, display the contents with dir to find the setup file and then execute it. Proceed in the same way if a game can be started directly from CD. Then run the start file instead of the installer. Installing Windows 3.1 from disc or image on DOSBox Next, we want to install Windows 3.1 from our seven 3.5-inch floppy discs under DOSBox. To do this, mount our floppy drive and the installation folder as described above. With dir to display the contents of the first floppy disc and then start the installation with setup The familiar screen appears and you can run through the installation. Change the discs when the installation wizard prompts you to do so. The data is automatically stored in your installation directory in a (new) folder called WINDOWS. To start the operating system, mount this folder as drive F, for example, with mount F C:\Oldies\DOSSoft\Windows mount, then change to the directory with F: and start Windows 3.1 with win to start it. To return to DOSBox, click on “File” and “Exit Windows” in Windows 3.1. You can even install Windows 3.1 in DOSBox using the original discs or an image of them and then use other programs in it. Today, installation via image only takes a few seconds – no comparison with the numerous floppy disc changes in the past. Foundry Caution: Older floppy discs in particular may no longer be readable! In this case, you can alternatively obtain an image of the desired program from the Internet. Remember, however, that you cannot legally use the software without a valid serial number! In the case of Windows 3.1, for example, we found what we were looking for at winworldpc.com. After downloading and unpacking the ZIP file, move the six disc images to a newly created folder called Win31, which you then move to your installation directory. Also unpack the IMG files so that all installation files are in one folder. Now mount the directory as drive E with mount E C:\Oldies\DOSSoft\Win31 then change to the directory with E: and carry out the installation with setup. As with the installation via floppy discs, a folder “WINDOWS” is created, which you must mount in order to install from it with win to start the operating system. Running applications in DOSBox under Windows 3.1 To install a program under Windows 3.1, you’ll need to store the installation files in a folder to which we have access under Windows 3.1. This is the case for your installation directory, so create a folder called Aldus for Aldus Photostyler and copy the files from the Aldus discs into it. Under DOSBox, change to the (newly) mounted drive “C:” and make sure that the folder is also available. Then start Windows 3.1 in DOSBox and open the “File Manager” in the “Main Group” folder. The Office predecessor Microsoft Works (1988) included a word processor, a spreadsheet and a database and can still be installed under Windows 3.1 in DOSBox without any problems. It’s also easy to use.Foundry Find your “Aldus” folder in the “C:” drive, and then open it. Start the installation with the “pssetup.exe” file. Then close the file manager using the button of the same name and find Aldus Photostyler in its own folder. Double-click on the icon to start the application. Next, to install the Microsoft Works 2.0 image proceed in the same way as with the Windows installation: Download the ZIP file from winworldpc.com, unzip it into a previously created “Works” folder in your installation directory and unzip the eight disc images into it so that all the files are in the Works folder. Then remount the folder in DOSBox, start Windows 3.1 and open drive “C:” via the file manager as already described. In the “Works” folder, start the installation via the “setup.exe” file. Create disc images If you have software on original floppy discs and want to store their contents as securely as possible, you should create images of them. This is possible with the freeware Floppy Image, which you simply run via the exe file without installation. The program can create IMZ, IMG, and EXE files. You can create images of your floppy discs with the Floppy Image freeware. The old media are notorious for often causing difficulties when being read so this is a good way to protect your software and install it later.Foundry Click on “Browse” under “Read Floppy” in the program, specify the name, the storage location and the desired image format and click on “Save”. Now enter a description and start the process by clicking on “Start”. Read...

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At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros USB-C connectivity with 65 watts of power  Attractive contrast, particularly at lower levels of brightness  Very wide color gamut and accurate color performance  Good HDR in bright scenes  Cons Stand is larger than it needs to be  200Hz refresh rate is not that impressive for the price  HDMI ports only hit 100Hz  “Blooming” effect is distracting in darker content  Our Verdict The Acer Predator X34 X0 is an affordable Mini-LED monitor that delivers a bright and vivid image with good HDR and contrast, but distracting “blooming” will turn off some shoppers.  Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Acer Predator X34 X0 Retailer Price $479.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Remember Mini-LED monitors? If not, I can hardly blame you. Though they seemed as if they might be a popular alternative to OLED several years ago, the rapid decrease in OLED monitor pricing pushed many of them aside.  Mini-LED still has its perks, though, and the Acer Predator X34 X0 is a new, affordable Mini-LED option for those who want very bright HDR and a low-glare display on a budget. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best gaming monitors for comparison. Acer Predator X34 X0 (X34 X0bmiiphux) specs and features  The Acer Predator X34 X0’s size and resolution are precisely the same as hundreds of 34-inch ultrawide monitors sold over the past half-decade. It’s a 34-inch diagonal display with a 21:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 3440×1440.  Display size: 34-inch 21:9 aspect ratio  Native resolution: 3440×1440 Panel type: Mini-LED VA panel with 1,152 dimming zones  Refresh rate: 200Hz Adaptive Sync: Yes, AMD FreeSync Premium HDR: VESA DisplayHDR 1000 Ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB Type-C with 65 watts of Power Delivery, 1x 3.5mm audio out Audio: 2x five-watt speakers Price: $599.99 MSRP, $479.99 current retail What makes this Acer different from most monitors is the Mini-LED backlight with 1,152 independent dimming zones, which is paired with a Vertical Alignment (VA) LCD panel. The monitor also has built-in speakers and a USB-C port with up to 65 watts of Power Delivery, both of which are uncommon for a gaming monitor.  Acer released the Predator X34 X0 at a $599.99 MSRP, but it’s already on sale for $479.99 on Amazon. I expect sales to be frequent on this model, as Acer is often highly competitive on price.  Acer Predator X34 X0 design  The Acer Predator X34 X0 looks handsome, though basic. It uses a simple matte-black color scheme with a bit of flair, which includes a faux heatsink on the rear and an attractive fabric cover over the monitor’s speakers located on the lower lip.  Build quality is average but good enough. Aside from the stand, which includes some metal, the monitor’s exterior is plastic. That’s typical for a monitor at any price bracket, and the few monitors that buck that trend, like some Samsung Odyssey monitors, are more expensive.  This is a curved monitor with a 1500R curve (a lower number means a more noticeable curve). The curve is obvious but not so extreme that it makes the display’s image look extremely warped. I do tend to prefer an even less aggressive curve, though.  Matthew Smith / Foundry Acer ships the monitor bundled with an ergonomic stand that provides height, tilt, and swivel adjustment. It does its job, but I have a beef with the stand base, which is both wide and deep. It’s so deep that I wasn’t able to position the monitor at my preferred viewing distance on my desk, which is about 26 inches deep. A smaller stand base would’ve been a better choice.  The monitor does provide a 100x100mm VESA mount, so third-party monitor arms and stands are an option.  Matthew Smith / Foundry Acer Predator X34 X0 connectivity  You’ll find two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort, and one USB-C port on the rear of the Acer Predator X34 X0. That’s a total of four video inputs, which is one more than the average for a gaming monitor. It’s also great to see USB-C included, particularly at this price point. Some brands, like Alienware, are giving USB-C the cold shoulder.  There’s a problem, though: The HDMI ports only support a refresh rate of up to 100Hz. That’s a disappointment, as it means you won’t see ideal motion clarity from any HDMI source.  The monitor also has two USB-A downstream ports, which expand USB connectivity when using the USB-C port or, alternatively, when using a separate USB-B upstream port. Acer’s specifications didn’t list the version of USB that the USB-A ports offer, but the speeds seem in line with USB-A 3.2 Gen 1.  It’s great to see USB-C included, particularly at this price point. Acer Predator X34 X0 menus  A joystick on the Acer Predator X34 X0’s rear right flank offers quick, responsive access to the monitor’s on-screen menu system. The menu itself is well arranged and provides a good range of image quality options, which include correct gamma settings, as well as six-axis color customization. I do feel the text could be larger and easier to read, though.  Matthew Smith / Foundry Acer offers a Windows utility called Acer Display Widget that can provide access to most monitor settings inside Windows. It works well enough but the user interface feels half-baked when compared to similar software from Asus and Dell.  There’s also a range of gaming options, such as a timer and on-screen crosshair. One feature to note is a mode that restricts the visible space of the monitor to a smaller, 16:9 aspect ratio with several size options. That’s handy if you want to play an older PC game that doesn’t work well with ultrawide resolutions.  Acer Predator X34 X0 audio  Acer packs a pair of five-watt speakers in the Predator X34 X0, and wants you to know it. The fabric covering the monitor’s lower lip, where the speakers are located, looks premium. Audio quality is decent though you’ll need to keep expectations in check.  The good news is that the pair of five-watt speakers are much louder than typical monitor speakers and provide a more precise, full sound. They’re enjoyable if you want to listen to ambient music while working, or if you’re playing a game where the audio experience isn’t front and center.  The Predator X34 X0 doesn’t have a built-in woofer, though, so there are still limits to what the speakers can offer. The soundstage is narrow and bass-heavy situations can make the audio sound muddy.  I also noticed a quiet but audible buzz from the speakers on my review unit, as if the wiring for the speakers wasn’t properly shielded. I didn’t pick up on it until over a week using the monitor, but it was there.  Gamers will want headphones for more immersive titles, but the speakers work well enough for the price, and most competitors don’t have speakers at all.  Acer Predator X34 X0 SDR image quality  The Acer Predator X34 X0 has a Vertical Alignment (VA) LCD display panel. This is a common type of panel found in hundreds of monitors and televisions.  What’s more unusual, though, is the Mini-LED backlight. It includes 1,152 individual dimming zones which can turn on and off independently for better control of contrast and brightness. Most LCD monitors have a lower number of LED backlights placed only along the edges of the display.  The Mini-LED backlight has advantages but also comes with downsides.  Matthew Smith / Foundry First up is brightness, where the Acer Predator X34 X0 provides a maximum of 379 nits in SDR. That is bright, though not unusually bright for an LCD display. As the HDR results will show, the monitor could get brighter, but it appears Acer placed a limit on the brightness in SDR.  It’s also worth mention the display has a matte finish with modest glare, so reflections are rarely an issue. That means the monitor appears bright and readable in a wide variety of lighting situations.  Matthew Smith / Foundry The monitor’s contrast is difficult to sum up in one graph.  As shown above, I measured a contrast ratio of 8,930:1 at 50 percent of maximum brightness. But contrast can vary greatly depending on the brightness of the display, which is not typical for most displays.  The contrast ratio is effectively infinite at lower levels of brightness, where the display’s minimum brightness registers a perfect result of zero nits. At 100 percent brightness, meanwhile, I measured a contrast ratio of 16,470:1, which is still a great result.  I suspect most gamers will use this display at lower levels of SDR brightness, in which case the contrast ratio is effectively infinite.  But the Mini-LED backlight further complicates the issue because, unlike OLED monitors such as the Alienware AW3425DW, it can’t dim or brighten individual pixels. The Predator X34 X0’s 1,152 dimming zones are a lot, but you’ll still see a splotchy “halo” or “blooming” effect around small bright objects—like your mouse cursor—when they’re on a dark background.  This is often not that noticeable in games, but it’s more obvious on the Windows desktop. Even something as simple as white text on a dark background can cause an obvious blooming effect. This will also be an issue if you turn on subtitles in movies or games.  Personally, I don’t mind this overly much, but your mileage will vary. Some people may hardly notice while others may find it completely unacceptable.  It’s worth mention, too, that the dynamic backlight can be turned off. I wouldn’t recommend that for games, as you’ll lose the contrast benefits of the Mini-LED backlight, but it’s a fine option if you dislike how blooming looks in Windows desktop apps.  Matthew Smith / Foundry Next up is color gamut, and the Predator X34 X0 knocks this metric out of the park. It managed to cover 100 percent of sRGB, 98 precent of DCI-P3, and 95 precent of AdobeRGB.  Those figures are similar to OLED monitors and mean the Predator X34 X0 can deliver a vivid, colorful, highly saturated experience. The monitor also covers enough of the DCI-P3 and AdobeRGB color gamut to be useful for photo and video editing or digital art in those wider color spaces.  Matthew Smith / Foundry Color accuracy is good, too. Though not the very best, the average color error was consistently low, which means the image looks realistic. The monitor also hit the preferred gamma target of 2.2. Color temperature was only slightly off at 6600K, slightly cooler than the target of 6500K. Overall, the monitor’s image feels balanced and true-to-life.  Sharpness is just okay. The monitor’s 3440×1440 resolution works out to roughly 110 pixels per inch across the 34-inch ultrawide panel. That’s fairly sharp, but a lot less so than the ultrawide equivalent to 4K resolution, which is 5120×2160 and delivers about 163 pixels per inch. However, 34-inch ultrawides with 5120×2160 are rare, so you’ll probably have to settle for 1440p if you want a 34-inch ultrawide monitor.  The Acer Predator X34 X0 puts in a solid SDR performance for the price. It has color performance similar to more expensive OLED competitors alongside higher brightness and somewhat competitive contrast. The question you need to ask yourself is whether you can put up with Mini-LED’s “blooming” effect, which I think most users will notice and can be distracting.  Personally, I find it most noticeable in games with a lot of menus, like Crusader Kings 3, and much less so in games where you’re typically immersed in the world, such as Cyberpunk 2077. The monitor’s competitive retail price of $479.99 may also help budget-conscious shoppers overlook the blooming effect.    Acer Predator X34 X0 HDR Image Quality  HDR used to be an advantage for Mini-LED, as OLED displays couldn’t reach brightness levels high enough for good HDR. OLED has improved, however, and the competition between Mini-LED and OLED is now mixed.  Matthew Smith / Foundry As the graph shows, the way the Acer Predator X34 X0 performs in HDR is much different from how an OLED monitor will perform.  The Predator X34 X0 actually displayed a lower maximum brightness than some recent OLED monitors, which surprised me. However, the Predator X34 X0 still shows a significant advantage in HDR brightness when larger areas of the display are lit.  Subjectively, I think there’s a brilliance with Mini-LED that you don’t quite get from OLED. This was most obvious in the “Into the Storm” scene from Mad Max: Fury Road. Here, bursts of lighting weave their way through a dust storm. The best OLED monitors also perform well here, but the lighting seems to leap from the scene on the Predator X34 X0.  The flipside is that OLED will perform better in dark scenes, which can make Mini-LED’s “blooming” issue obvious. You can expect to see obvious orbs of light surrounding small, bright HDR details.  It’s worth keeping price in mind, too. At $600 MSRP, and sub-$500 current retail, the Acer Predator X34 X0’s HDR performance will be difficult to beat. OLED ultrawides are often $100 to $200 more expensive. The Predator X34 X0’s HDR performance has pros and cons, but it’s the best I’ve seen recently in a monitor sold under $500.  Acer Predator X34 X0 motion performance  The Acer Predator X34 X0 provides a refresh rate up to 200Hz.  That’s definitely a lot higher than 60Hz, and it means the Predator X34 X0 can feel rather smooth. But 240Hz monitors are now very common, so 200Hz doesn’t feel as special as it used to. You can buy 34-inch ultrawide monitors with a 240Hz refresh rate for less than $300.  Because of that, the Predator X34 X0’s motion clarity is merely okay for the price. It’s smooth and reasonably crisp in fast-paced content. I could use the monitor for many game genres and never have an issue with the clarity. But if you’ve ever used a 240Hz OLED, or even a 240Hz IPS monitor with a low pixel refresh time, you won’t be impressed.  Also, as mentioned earlier, the 200Hz refresh rate is only available over DisplayPort and USB-C. HDMI is stuck at 100Hz. That’s a bit weird. I even thought it might be a typo in the monitor specifications, but I tried it with HDMI and I can confirm 100Hz is the limit at 3440×1440 resolution.  The Predator X34 X0 supports adaptive sync with official AMD FreeSync Premium certification. Nvidia G-Sync support is not official, though it did work with an Nvidia-powered laptop I had on hand.  Should you buy the Acer Predator X34 X0?  The Acer Predator X34 X0 is an interesting addition to the sub-$500 monitor market. It delivers a Mini-LED panel with high brightness, solid contrast, a wide color gamut, and good HDR performance, though these traits come paired with a “blooming” effect that can be distracting.  The monitor also provides USB-C and decent speakers, both of which are an advantage at this price, though it also has a refresh rate of only 200Hz (and just 100Hz over HDMI), which isn’t all that impressive for close to $500.  That makes the Predator X34 X0 a confusing monitor to consider. I can’t recommend it to everyone, but the Predator X34 X0 is a solid pick if you want a vivid ultrawide monitor with decent HDR and USB-C connectivity in the sub-$500 price bracket. Read...

I’ve reviewed a lot of laptops for PCWorld and I’ve been noticing something I don’t like: the more expensive the laptop, the fewer ports it tends to have. It’s been trending this way for a while now, but lately it’s gotten a lot worse—and that sucks. In my time as a laptop reviewer, I’ve seen budget options packed with ports, sometimes even managing to fit Ethernet jacks into their small frames. But I’ve also seen luxurious top-end models with almost no ports at all, and that’s downright wrong. Some even omit the headphone jack! These days, if you’re in the market for a premium laptop, there are some real gotchas to be aware of… and connectivity is one of them. Premium laptops often skimp on ports Laptop manufacturers seem to think customers want to pay more money for fewer ports, but that’s nonsense. The idea that a professional spending $3,000 on a 4.5-pound laptop doesn’t want the option of plugging in an HDMI cable is simply ridiculous to me. But going by the many laptops I’ve reviewed, laptop manufacturers don’t agree with me. They think you’ll pay extra if it means fewer ports. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 is beautiful, but it should have an audio jack.Chris Hoffman / Foundry Here are a few examples of laptops I’ve reviewed over the past year alone that exhibit this sort of attitude towards ports: The Dell 16 Premium is a $3,199 high-end laptop with discrete Nvidia graphics, but it omits HDMI and USB-A ports. The Acer Aspire Go 15 is a brilliant $499 laptop that delivers both USB-A ports and an HDMI port. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 is a $1,899 premium laptop that lacks a headphone jack. You get two USB-C ports… and that’s it! The HP EliteBook 6 G1q with 5G is a $1,695 business laptop with 5G driving up its price, but it somehow manages to also pack Ethernet and HDMI into a compact mobility-focused machine. Over and over, it’s the same story played out: manufacturers design high-end laptops with aesthetics, thinness, and tapered edges in mind while budget laptops are designed for practicality. Somewhere out there, I’m sure there’s a laptop designer who’s dreaming about wireless charging with the ultimate goal of creating a port-free laptop. Ugh. If you ask me, it feels like the true luxury day-to-day experience these days is to opt for a “budget” laptop that doesn’t force you to plug in a USB hub or hook up a high-speed dock just to output to HDMI, connect a traditional USB-A drive, or even plug in a pair of headphones. Business laptops tout their ports What’s amusing is that manufacturers are pushing sleek designs with minimal ports as premium options, but when it comes to business laptops they’re all about marketing the port selection. “This laptop has lots of ports so you don’t have to worry about taking a dongle with you,” they say. “That’s a big upgrade for workers.” The HP EliteBook 6 G1q’s port layout feels downright luxurious.Chris Hoffman / Foundry It’s absolutely true and PC manufacturers should tout it. But PC makers themselves are to blame for ports becoming a rare commodity. A budget laptop has plenty of ports, a premium laptop costs extra because it removes those ports, and then a business laptop built for work costs extra and delivers a reasonable selection of ports. That’s the landscape we find ourselves in right now. Even Apple’s MacBook Pro has HDMI and a headphone jack You might assume this state of affairs is Apple’s fault and that PC manufacturers are chasing Apple’s design choices. That’s not true. MacBooks offer more ports than “luxury” Windows laptops. For starters, all of Apple’s MacBooks still have audio jacks. Meanwhile, a handful of Lenovo machines don’t have any headphone jacks, including the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 14 and Lenovo Yoga Book 9i. If 3.5mm audio is important to you, beware of buying high-end Lenovo laptops! I appreciate the fact that this MacBook Pro still has an HDMI port.Foundry To be fair, Apple has dropped the USB-A port from its machines and the base MacBook Air only offers two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports. Still, all MacBook Pro models have HDMI ports and SDXC card slots. So no, Apple isn’t to blame here. Only a PC manufacturer would sell a high-end $3,199 machine for professionals and skip the HDMI port. Only a PC maker would decide a laptop doesn’t need an audio jack. Even Apple refuses to remove the traditional 3.5mm audio jack from laptops! Thin laptops are the new small bezels Thin laptops are nice to hold. When I pick up a review laptop and feel smooth metal and glass with a tapered edge and an almost impossibly light weight, I’m immediately impressed. But once I try to plug in devices and realize there’s no USB-A or HDMI, I wince. If there’s no 3.5mm audio jack, I scratch my head in confusion. That’s not what I want from a laptop. Instead of just carrying a laptop, you now have to carry a laptop plus a hub. It reminds me of the thin bezel craze a few years ago. Laptop reviewers focused so much on the size of the bezels around a laptop’s screen—the smaller the bezel, the more premium the machine. The Dell 16 Premium is sleek and portable, but at what cost?Chris Hoffman / Foundry Personally, I don’t see the point. Yes, a streamlined laptop design can be nice. But you can see exactly how the bezels look in photos—you don’t need me measuring the bezel with a ruler and assigning a laptop review score based on the size of a machine’s bezel. There’s way more to a laptop than that. In the same way, laptops are increasingly differentiating themselves more on design than functionality. If removing the HDMI port or even the headphone jack makes the laptop look like an impressive art piece in a photo or in-store display, manufacturers will go for it. Ports aren’t the only things that get sacrificed either. Sometimes a beautiful laptop will feel light as a feather but lack the battery life to get me through a workday. Why? Because the laptop manufacturer has prioritized light weight over long battery life. Note the ports when buying a laptop If you’re buying a laptop, I always recommend paying particular attention to its ports. There’s a good chance you’ll want at least HDMI, an SD card slot, and maybe even Ethernet. Extra USB-C ports are nice, too, especially on laptops that charge via USB-C. (I like to see a USB-C port on each side of the laptop so you can plug in on either side to charge.) When we review laptops here at PCWorld, we always list the ports they offer, and I always take that into consideration when writing up the pros and cons of a laptop. That’s how important they are. Sadly, if you want a ports-packed laptop these days, you’ll probably have better luck with a budget laptop than a premium one. On the other hand, if you almost never plug anything into your laptop, you might love a thin-and-light premium laptop with minimal ports. As for me? I don’t want to live with a laptop so “luxurious” that it has no audio jack. Read...