If you’ve ever tried to buy a used car in America, you know about Carfax. It’s a service that gives you a breakdown of a specific vehicle’s history, including important stuff like confirmed mileage, services, and any accidents. HP wants to make something similar for used computers. It’s calling it PCFax. No points for originality. In a report from the IEEE (via Tom’s Hardware), HP lays out a plan for a system that can analyze a used computer’s hardware and spit out a history and health report based on telemetry collected by the firmware. The necessary data is saved on the SSD and unable to be altered by the user (at least in theory). The report includes crucial data like the computer’s model, hardware stats, manufacturing date, warranty info, a history of both software and hardware service, and ownership history. Of course, a lot of that info relies on human input and documentation—which is where the other shoe in this story drops. PCFax is a proprietary system relying on HP hardware and software, and at least at the moment it’s only being made available to HP’s enterprise and industrial clients. So, unlike the Carfax system that HP invoked in its description, it’s not exactly universal information. You can’t just say “show me the PCFax” if you’re buying a laptop on eBay or Facebook Marketplace. HP Still, there’s indication that HP is planning to bring this system to more than just the button-down brigade after it launches in 2026. “For enterprises and consumers purchasing second-life PCs, it provides detailed visibility into the complete service and support history of each system, including any repairs, upgrades, or performance issues encountered during its initial deployment.” It would be nice if HP opened up this system to other manufacturers with a more standardized approach. Ifs and buts, candy and nuts, etc. But cynicism aside, it’s nice to see a corporation committed to squeezing some more life out of its hardware and opening up more economical options to reduce e-waste. Read...

About a week ago, I decided I would never buy another Ethernet cable, ever. If you’re like me, you have a box or drawer with dozens of cables. And while some cables have specific connections, like USB-C, my wired network (such as it is) is just a random collection of colored Ethernet cables with tiny little markings telling me what they can or can’t do. How much data can that cable transfer? I had no idea. And that’s bad. I had never really thought about which Ethernet cables were being run between my cable modem, router, Xbox, and desktop PC. But I had performed speed tests more than once, and worried that my network was running slower than usual. And I also knew the problem: my network would run only as fast as its slowest segment. If my Ethernet cables were transferring less data than my router or gateway, I was potentially wasting money. I didn’t need to spend time researching the fastest mesh router or the best Internet gateway. If my cables were ancient, my entire network would be bogged down by my slowest cable. If my ISP quietly increased the speed of my broadband connection, I might not see any benefit. And I had already found an old Cat5 cable hooked up to my Xbox, a standard which had been basically extinct for about two decades. Ew! A Cat5 cable may be good enough for your current router, but it might not be for long.Mark Hachman / Foundry About a week before my colleague Dominic Bayley published a helpful explainer on the differences between Ethernet cables, I researched the problem myself. Ethernet comes in different categories, all the way from the ancient Category 3 to the latest Category 8. So Category 8 is the latest and greatest? OK, fine. How much does a Category 8 cable cost? Basically nothing, as it turns out. I discovered I could buy a five-pack of color-coded, nylon-braided Category 8 Ethernet cables for $35.99 on Amazon. Broadband services are always getting faster. Cable modems are, too. But even the fastest cable modems and broadband plans offer just a few gigabits per second, while this Cat8 cable offers a whopping 40Gbits/s of speed. Owning color-coded, braided Ethernet cables for about the price of a nice lunch made me happy.Mark Hachman / Foundry For me, it was a no-brainer. I bought the cables from Amazon, quickly swapped out my existing cables for the new color-coded options, and resolved never to think about what Ethernet cable I owned ever again. Get a five-pack of color-coded, nylon-braided Cat8 Ethernet cables for $35.99Buy Now at Amazon Read...

I’ve been enamored with the Asus Zenbook A14 laptop since I saw it at a presentation event earlier this year. Unfortunately, its featherlight build and incredible battery life didn’t quite justify its price of over $1,000. But Best Buy is addressing that imbalance today with a sale on the base model, bringing it down to just $649.99—the cheapest it’s ever been. The Zenbook A14 is basically Asus’ answer to the MacBook Air, with Asus representatives even telling me that the “A” very unofficially stands for Air. It’s a 14-inch model with an incredibly light weight of just 2.16 pounds (or 0.98 kilograms if you live in a civilized country). This base model is running on a Snapdragon X chip with 16GB of RAM, and though the 1200p display is a gorgeous OLED panel, it doesn’t have a touchscreen. It’s packing 512GB of storage. You can read all about this laptop in Chris Hoffman’s review of it for PCWorld. In short, it’s tiny, it’s featherlight, it has a unique “ceraluminum” finish that makes it stand out, and the battery life is absolutely astonishing—70 watt-hours in a laptop this small gives it a full 24 hours in a standardized battery test. For downsides, that 8-core Snapdragon X chip (the slowest of these Arm-based options) won’t blow anyone away, and it might just refuse to play some 3D-based games. (Note that this model sold by Best Buy isn’t the same one in the review. It’s a lighter sand color and has half the RAM and storage, 16GB/512GB, respectively.) I’ve been keeping an eye on this one, and this is $100 less than the best sale I’ve seen yet for the 16GB version of the Zenbook A14. I’d be very surprised if you find a better price for a new version of this laptop any time this summer, even with Prime Day approaching. But if you need something with more power or more ports, be sure to check out PCWorld’s picks for the best laptops. Get this super-light, long-lasting Zenbook A14 laptop for $650Buy now from Best Buy Read...

Stop the presses! Samsung’s T9 portable SSD just dropped to the best price we’ve seen in 18 months. You can now get the 2TB model for $170, which is a huge cut down from its $300 MSRP. You’ll need Prime to score this price, but that’s not a big deal when you can start a free 30-day Prime trial. (Afterwards, you can use the Prime trial to save even more on deals when Prime Day starts next week.) When we reviewed the Samsung T9, we gave it 4.5 stars and our Editors’ Choice award, appreciating its overall fast performance, its grippy textured surface, and its reassuring five-year warranty. At this price, the T9 is a fantastic deal. You’re getting a super-sleek and super-fast portable SSD that hits data speeds up to 2,000 MB/s, plus protection against accidents like bumps and drops. You’ll be able to use the Samsung T9 with just about any device you have at home, be it your laptop, smartphone, gaming console, or camera. And don’t worry about carrying this one with you anywhere you go because it’s compact, slim, and lightweight. It’s barely larger than your credit card, measuring 0.55 inches thick and weighing just 0.27 pounds. So, what are you waiting for? Snag the 2TB Samsung T9 for $170 before this deal vanishes into thin air. And remember, it’s a Prime deal, so start a 30-day free trial if you aren’t a Prime member yet. Not the right SSD for you? Check out our other best portable SSD picks. Save 43% on Samsung`s super-fast T9 portable SSDBuy now at Amazon Read...

The mouse is configured by default in Windows for use by right-handed users. This primarily means that the left button is the default “click” button. But it’s possible to change the mouse for left-handed use in two ways: The first way is via the Windows “Settings.” Open “Settings” via the Start menu and go to “Bluetooth & devices.” Select the “Mouse” option. Next to the “Primary mouse button” option, select “right” if you’re left-handed. You can also make the change via the Control Panel. To do so, click on the “View by” option near the upper-right corner and select “small icons.” You’ll see a “Mouse” option appear; click on it. In the window that opens, select the “Buttons” tab. Tick the “Switch primary and secondary buttons” box and close the window with “OK.” Read...

GPUs are getting insanely expensive. With the latest increases in prices and gaming demand, some gamers were already scoffing at 8GB of VRAM on allegedly mid-range cards. But if sales data is any indication, there’s a shocking lack of interest in that part of the market, with a 16GB card outselling the 8GB variant by more than 10-to-1. The RTX 5060 Ti is the subject of this particular chunk of data. When it launched in April, Nvidia offered it at two different memory capacities: 8GB for $379 and 16GB for $429. (Those are the base retail prices. Real prices are significantly higher for most models.) Nvidia declined to offer advance reviews for the 8GB model, and based on sales data, it looks like gamers themselves are similarly disinterested. According to TechPowerUp, German retailer Mindfactory.de has sold 16 times as many RTX 5060 Ti 16GB versions as 8GB versions. In the small slice of available data, 16GB cards from various OEM partners sold 1,675 units while 8GB versions moved only 105. TechPowerUp indicates that this isn’t a supply issue. It’s no surprise that the more powerful version of the card is more popular, given that it’s a relatively small price increase for a pretty huge bump in VRAM. But the sheer scale of the demand for one card over the other seems very telling. I should highlight that even tech media rarely gets this kind of glance behind the retail curtain, usually having to rely on much broader market reports to try and get a finger on the pulse of industry trends. And this is, indeed, just one retailer in one country with a relatively narrow view of the market. Obviously, you can’t apply the same thinking for a $400+ graphics card to a “budget” one… though I’ll point out that the $220 Intel Arc B570 uses 10GB of somewhat-dated GDDR6 memory, still more than Nvidia’s $250 RTX 5050. Drop the price down into that $200 range and 8GB is probably a lot more acceptable to buyers. A single model of a graphics card being a sales dud wouldn’t exactly be unprecedented, even for the near-monopoly giant that is Nvidia. Just last generation, the company canceled a 12GB variant of the RTX 4080 after getting negative feedback on its pricing, and even then the 16GB version of the card has sold far less than the RTX 4070 and 4090. We’ll have to wait for a more complete look at how the RTX 5060 Ti breaks down when it comes to actual gamers. It’s possible that sales of the 8GB model are far greater for system integrators, and it’ll be crucial to see how things stack up versus AMD’s competition. The Radeon RX 9060 XT is also offered in both 8GB and 16GB variants, though it’s considerably less expensive at $300 and $350, respectively, competing more directly with the $300 8GB RTX 5060 (non-Ti). Again, those are MSRP numbers—actual prices may be considerably higher. Read...

According to the latest statistics from Statcounter, 47.8 percent of desktop Windows users are now running Windows 11, which means that the operating system has pretty much caught up with its predecessor Windows 10, which now sits at 48.9 percent of market share. The data shows a noticeable jump in Windows 11 users between May 2025 and June 2025, with market share getting a significant boost of 4.76 percentage points—and nearly all of it taken away from Windows 10. Microsoft’s recent hard push to promote Windows 11’s benefits and scare Windows 10 users with the looming end-of-support deadline seems to be working. If the pace keeps up, Windows 11 should officially sit atop the throne by the end of July and the market share numbers will likely continue to grow from there. The Statcounter data also shows that 2.2 percent of Windows users are still on Windows 7, while 0.6 percent are still on Windows 8 or 8.1. An astonishing 0.43 percent are somehow still managing to get by on Windows XP, which lost support over a decade ago. Read...

Elon Musk`s controversial role in the Trump administration has been blamed for the collapse in sales. Read...

Finding the right gaming laptop can be difficult with so many options out there and so many factors to consider. And if price is a priority for you, it’s even harder—you want a good processor, enough RAM, and maybe even a dedicated graphics card, all without burning a hole in your wallet. Fortunately, here’s a deal you can jump on: the Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9 is only $800 at B&H right now (was $1,100). This laptop has a pretty standard 15.6-inch IPS display with 1080p resolution, but the 144Hz refresh rate is great for gaming—and you’ll be gaming well on this machine thanks to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 dedicated graphics card. Sure, it’s not the newest or the best you can get, but it’ll let you take advantage of new tech like DLSS without breaking the bank. Given the price, you can’t really complain. What else do you get? An Intel Core i5 CPU (not bad, not great), 16GB of DDR5 RAM (adequate), 512GB of SSD storage (also adequate). This combo is enough to handle Windows 11, your work apps, your Chrome tabs, and your games without falling apart. The RAM and SSD are user-upgradeable in case you want to add more power. Other features include HDMI, USB-C video, three fast USB-A, 3.5mm headset jack, Gigabit LAN, and built-in Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. The Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9 has always been quite affordable, but it’s even more enticing now that it’s only $800 at B&H. Snap to it and add this one to your cart before the deal vanishes into thin air! Save $300 on this affordable RTX-powered gaming laptopBuy now from B&H Read...

For years, Notepad has existed as a bare-bones text editor. No longer. Microsoft keeps adding to it, including a new update that includes capabilities that you might have expected in another Windows application, WordPad. In May, Microsoft said in this blog post that it was adding “lightweight formatting” in Notepad, including Markdown input and file support, but also bold and italic fonts, bullet and numbered lists, and even hyperlinks, which would all be accessible via a new toolbar. According to Windows Latest, these features are now rolling out to all users outside the Windows Insider Program. Microsoft says the new features won’t gobble up resources or impact Notepad’s performance. Two things seem to be going on here. In late 2023, Microsoft killed off WordPad, the rich text editor that served as a poor man’s alternative to Microsoft Word. (There’s a way to bring WordPad back, but you’d need access to an older version of Windows where WordPad still exists.) Traditionally, Notepad has been the Windows answer to a lightweight text editor that coders can use or write in, although more sophisticated alternatives like vim exist. It seems Microsoft is adding more features to try and help those users, while moving towards a WordPad replacement. Microsoft, meanwhile, is bringing the Edit app to Windows as well. Edit is an open-source app that was basically designed as a command-line interface (or CLI) and Microsoft specifically referenced how obtuse vim was to use when announcing it. Either way, by beefing up Notepad—heck, even with Copilot!—and adding the Edit option as well, Windows is offering a number of lightweight CLI and text-editing interfaces without bloating the operating system even further. Editor’s note: This article was originally published on May 30 when the feature was announced, and updated when the new Notepad capabilities went live. Read...