At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Solid build quality with ergonomic stand, tripod mount Good image quality for the price Easy-to-read menu system with plenty of options 120Hz refresh rate with adaptive sync Cons Lackluster cable management Only one HDMI and one DisplayPort No USB ports Our Verdict The Acer Vero B247Y G looks boring at a glance, but it delivers good image quality and motion clarity for about $150. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Acer Vero B247Y G Retailer Price CDW $139.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Shoppers looking for a 24-inch 1080p monitor may be tempted by budget options that dip below $100. If you extend your budget to about $150, however, you can afford a more capable display like the Vero B247Y G. Though still basic, it delivers extras like an ergonomic stand and a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes it a good choice for both productivity and entertainment, including PC games. Acer Vero B247Y G specs and features The Acer Vero B247Y G’s basic specifications are nothing to get excited about. It’s a simple 24-inch, 1080p widescreen monitor with an IPS LCD panel. Dozens of competitors provide similar specifications, and quite a few are less expensive. Display size: 23.8-inch 16:9 widescreen Native resolution: 1920×1080 Panel type: 8-bit IPS LCD Refresh rate: 120Hz Adaptive sync: Adaptive Sync HDR: No Ports: 1x VGA, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort, 1x 3.5mm audio-in, 1x 3.5mm audio-out VESA mount: 100x100mm Audio: 2x 2-watt speakers Price: $154.99 MSRP ($139.99 typical retail) However, the Vero B247Y G offers a few extras. It has a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and supports Adaptive Sync. Budget gaming monitors offer this but monitors that target office and productivity usually skip it. The monitor also has a VGA port, which again speaks to its target demographic: This is a monitor Acer expects will be used alongside older, less capable PCs. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best monitors for comparison. Acer Vero B247Y G design It’s hard to imagine how the Acer Vero B247Y G could look more generic. The panel is surrounded by slim bezels, while the rear of the display and stand are clad in matte-black plastic. Nothing about the monitor stands out. Of course, that’s the point. The Vero B247Y G is meant for a basic home or small business office, so it’s not supposed to stand out. While it doesn’t look like much, the Vero B247Y G provides good build quality for the price. The monitor’s plastics feel reasonably thick and sturdy, which makes the monitor seem more premium than expected. Foundry Cable management is a bit of miss, as the monitor only provides a plastic clip. It more-or-less does the job, but it’s thin and the cables can bind up if you frequently adjust the monitor’s position. Speaking of which, the included ergonomic stand is a big perk. It easily clips onto the monitor with a quick-release mechanism. The stand adjusts for height, tilt, swivel, and pivot. While this isn’t unheard of for a monitor priced around $150 or less, it’s far from guaranteed. The stand’s support for pivot into portrait mode is especially uncommon. A 100x100mm VESA mount is also available for use with third-party monitor stands and arms. The last design trait worth mention is the 1/4-inch tripod mount on the top of the stand. It can be used to attach all sorts of peripherals, such as cameras or ring lights. I’m not aware of any price-competitive alternative with a tripod mount, and while it’s certainly a niche feature, it will rocket the Vero B247Y G to the top of some shopping lists. Acer Vero B247Y G connectivity The Acer Vero B247Y G’s connectivity is extremely basic. It has one VGA port, one HDMI port, and one DisplayPort. The HDMI and DisplayPort connections support the monitor’s full refresh rate and resolution, but the VGA port is limited to 1080p at 75Hz. VGA’s presence might seem old-fashioned, but it’s still common on budget monitors that target office and productivity use, since older PCs are common in these settings. However, providing VGA means the monitor is effectively limited to two video inputs when it’s paired with newer PCs that don’t support VGA. The audio connectivity is also a bit unique, as the monitor includes both a 3.5mm audio input and an audio output. I assume the audio input is included because the monitor has a VGA input. HDMI and DisplayPort can carry audio, but VGA can’t. USB connectivity is absent and arguably the monitor’s most significant downside. While it’s true that many budget monitors skip USB-A ports, it remains sorely missed. The lack of USB-A also means the monitor doesn’t have a KVM switch function, which is found on a fair number of budget and mid-range productivity monitors. A 1/4-inch tripod mount on the top of the Vero B247Y G’s stand can be used to attach all sorts of peripherals, such as cameras or ring lights. Acer Vero B247Y G menu and features I was pleasantly surprised by the Acer Vero B247Y G’s on-screen menu system. It’s controlled by a quick, responsive joystick. The on-screen menu system includes clear feature descriptions and uses relatively large, easy-to-read text. This is an area where many budget monitors fall short, as they often have tiny, confusing menu systems. The range of image quality adjustment is quite limited, but it’s fine for the price. There’s a wide variety of preset modes and adjustments for adaptive sync and response times, among other things. It covers the basics. Foundry I did notice one oddity. The monitor has a Max Brightness setting that must be turned on to reach the full monitor brightness; the monitor ships with this setting turned off, which restricts its brightness to about 115 nits. I expect this has to do with energy consumption certifications. A pair of 2-watt speakers round out the monitor’s features. They’re thin and tinny but do provide enough volume for basic use, like video calls or podcasts. Still, external speakers or a headset is highly recommended.  Acer Vero B247Y G SDR image quality The Acer Vero B247Y G is a budget monitor, so expectations about its image quality should be kept in check. However, while it’s obviously no threat to more expensive monitors, the Vero B247 G scores well overall. Foundry I measured a maximum sustained SDR brightness of 305 nits, which is great for a budget display. The Gigabyte M27QA ICE is the only similar, recently reviewed monitor that’s brighter, but it’s also starting the creep outside of budget territory at a price of $279.99 The Vero B247Y G’s brightness, along with the monitor’s matte coat, will make the monitor easy to view in most rooms. A higher level of brightness is only required in very bright, sunlit rooms, or in a very bright office. But you’ll typically need to up your budget to $300 or more if you want an LCD monitor that reaches above 400 nits. Foundry The Vero B247 G’s contrast is surprisingly good. I measured a maximum contrast ratio of 1530:1 which, as the graph shows, is much better than usual for an IPS LCD monitor. This level of contrast helps the monitor deliver a deeper, more immersive image. It doesn’t make much difference in office productivity, but it’s appreciated when viewing photos, videos, and games. Foundry Color gamut, on the other hand, is a minor weakness. The Vero B247 G spanned 99 percent of sRGB, 84 percent of DCI-P3, and 77 percent of AdobeRGB. These results aren’t bad, and they’re good enough to provide a vivid and colorful image. They’re also in line with some budget competitors, such as the Pixio Wave. Still, it’s possible to find similar monitors with superior color, such as the KTC H24T09P. Foundry Color accuracy is a bit of a wash. While these numbers appear to differ greatly on the graph, in truth, numbers clustered this tightly tend to look rather similar, and the Vero B247 G lands right in the middle of the pack. Though its color accuracy is far from the best monitor, which can achieve an average error of around 0.5 (lower is better), the overall color accuracy is solid. It’s a similar story with the monitor’s gamma and color temperature. I measured a gamma curve of 2.3, which is slightly off the target of 2.2. This means the image looks a tad darker than it should. I also measured a color temperature of 6600K, only a hair off the target of 6500K. This technically means the image is a bit cooler than preferred, but I found the difference hard to appreciate in real-world use. The monitor’s 1080p resolution works out to 92 pixels per inch across the 23.8-inch panel. That’s not particularly sharp for a monitor in 2025. The image is crisp at a glance, but small fonts and high-contrast edges can reveal some aliasing or pixelation, while video can look a bit soft. This is typical for a budget monitor, however; it’s difficult to find a feature-comparable 1440p display. Overall, the Acer Vero B247Y G has good image quality for a monitor in its price bracket. It does best in brightness and contrast, where it outperforms many similar monitors. While the monitor’s budget price means shoppers should keep expectations in check, it’s generally a vivid, sharp monitor that looks good in a wide range of content. Acer Vero B247Y G HDR image quality The Acer Vero B247Y G doesn’t support HDR. That’s preferable for a budget monitor, as displays in this price bracket lack the image quality to make HDR pop. Some budget monitors technically support HDR, but the quality of the HDR image makes it pointless. Acer Vero B247Y G motion performance The Acer Vero B247Y G has a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and supports Adaptive Sync (including FreeSync and G-Sync) for smooth frame pacing. These features aren’t hard to come by even among budget monitors, but monitors meant for office use tend to skip them, so these features give the Vero B247Y G an edge. Motion clarity is decent. Fast-moving objects present with good clarity, though some small details remain easy to miss. Scrolling through text also reveals better clarity, which makes it easier to flip through documents, and generally makes the monitor feel more responsive than competitors stuck at 60- to 75Hz. And wait — there’s more! The Vero B247Y G also has Acer VRB, a black frame insertion feature. It inserts blank frames between real frames which, due to a trick of human perception, improves motion clarity. While it does lead to a “double image” effect and reduces brightness, it’s successful in improving clarity, which can be useful in competitive games. Keep in mind, however, that VRB doesn’t work alongside Adaptive Sync (you can’t have both turned on at the same time). The Vero B247Y G’s combination of a 120Hz refresh rate, Adaptive Sync, and black frame insertion is odd for an office monitor. These features are more likely to be found in a gaming monitor, and their inclusion makes the Vero a good choice if you need one budget monitor that can handle both productivity and gaming. Should you buy the Acer Vero B247Y G? The Acer Vero B247Y G is a good choice for shoppers looking to buy a capable, versatile monitor for a home office or small business. Its retail price of $154.99, sometimes discounted to $139.99, is towards the high end for a 24-inch 1080p monitor. However, it’s justified by the monitor’s build quality, ergonomic stand, image quality, and improved refresh rate. In fact, I’d really urge most shoppers to buy the Vero B247Y G over the least expensive 1080p alternatives. It’s possible to buy a 24-inch 1080p monitor for as little as $80, but pricing that low forces a monitor to compromise on build and image quality. The Vero monitor’s slightly higher pricing helps it avoid mistakes and allows it to offer extra features, like a 120Hz refresh rate and Adaptive Sync, that competitors may lack. Read...

If you’ve got an old laptop sitting at home and taking up space, you may be tempted to dispose of it. But before you give it the heave-ho, know this: Your old laptop actually has more potential than you think and that’s worth exploring, even if you have a new laptop up and running. You can do a lot of neat things with an old laptop, both practical and recreational. To boost productivity, you can turn it into a second monitor or a distraction-free writing device. If you’re looking to have a bit of fun, you can even set it up to play your favorite retro games. If you can avoid ditching your old laptop and adding to the e-waste problem, I’d really recommend it. You’d be saving money and helping the environment–that’s a win-win right there. Here are five creative ways to repurpose your aging laptop.  Install Plex to stream movies, TV shows, and music You can use your old laptop as a central location for all of your movies, music, TV shows, and so on. This is a great solution if you’re sick of juggling files between different devices. I’d recommend downloading the free version of Plex onto your old laptop as a way to store and organize all of your digital media. This app allows you to access your content remotely and from any device that’s connected to your Wi-Fi. It also automatically organizes your movies and grabs information like plot summaries and ratings, saving you a ton of extra work. Plus, you don’t have to pay for multiple streaming devices, which can be a real drag as it adds up and gets criminally expensive. Let the film festival begin!Ben Patterson/Foundry Turn it into a distraction-free writing device If you’re looking to boost your productivity, I’d recommend installing FocusWriter on your old laptop. It’s a simple, lightweight word processor with an interface that hides your menus and toolbars until you’re ready to use them again. It also has a lot of cool features like typewriter sound effects, daily word count goals, timed sessions, and more. It’s free to use and it’s available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Download a lightweight OS for basic tasks Installing a lightweight operating system like Ubuntu or Puppy Linux can breathe new life into your machine. It doesn’t need a lot of power to run and it’s great for day-to-day tasks like checking Facebook, writing papers, and so on. Not only is this an excellent way to extend the life of your old laptop, but you’re also saving money you would’ve spent on a Chromebook or a comparable machine that’s designed for daily use. If you’re going the Ubuntu route, make sure you’ve got at least 4GB of RAM and a dual-core processor to ensure smooth performance. You can also use Ubuntu’s lighter version Lubuntu, which runs on as little as 512MB-1GB of RAM.  Lubuntu is an even lighter version of Ubuntu. Lubuntu Use it as a second monitor I’m a big fan of dual monitor setups. It helps me be more productive at work and it’s also useful when I’m playing a game and need to reference the accompanying Wiki page without minimizing or pausing the window I’m on. If you fancy the idea of using your old laptop as a second monitor, there are a couple ways to go about it. However, make sure both devices are running Windows 10 or 11, otherwise this won’t work. If you’ve got a Windows 10 or 11 PC, you can wirelessly connect to another Windows PC (aka your old laptop) with the Wireless Display feature. The first thing you’ll need to do is set up the Wireless Display feature on your old laptop. To do this, go to Settings > System > Projecting to this PC and set “Some Windows and Android devices can project to this PC” to “Available Everywhere.” Next pick “First Time Only” and then open the Connect app. On the PC you’re projecting from, press Win+P, select Extend, and click on “Connect to a Wireless Display.” Select your old laptop from the list of available devices and voila! You’ve officially transformed your old laptop into a usable secondary display. If the built-in Wireless Display feature doesn’t work for some reason, you can always use Spacedesk, a third-party application that allows you turn another device into a secondary monitor. Once you’ve installed Spacedesk on your main PC and on your old laptop, you’ll want to make sure both devices are on the same Wi-Fi. Now open the Spacedesk app on your old laptop and connect to your main PC. That’s really all there is to it! Play your favorite retro games Sometimes you just want to relive your childhood by playing your favorite NES games, you know? Fortunately, you can do this on an old laptop. All you have to do is install an emulator, which mimics a gaming console, onto your old laptop. Personally, I’d recommend installing RetroArch. The interface is easy to navigate and it houses multiple consoles in one program, so you don’t have to go installing separate emulators for each console. It also has tons of popular classic games like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy VII, Spyro the Dragon, and more. To get the most out of your gaming experience, I’d recommend using a USB or Bluetooth controller and connecting an HDMI cable to play on a TV screen. RetroArch Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Exclusive access to the Operator agent Full access to GPT-4o and all reasoning models Full access to o1 pro mode Increased rate limits for Deep Research, Sora, Advanced Voice, and other features Cons Far cheaper to subscribe individually to alternative AI tools à la carte Dall-E (image generation) and Sora (video generation) just aren’t that good Operator’s usefulness is still limited and impractical Our Verdict While ChatGPT Pro’s exclusive Operator agent is novel and fun to play with, it doesn’t provide enough practical value yet. The best part of ChatGPT Pro is the boost to rate limits, especially for Deep Research. If you aren’t making heavy use of Deep Research, then ChatGPT Plus offers better bang for your buck. Or you might be better off cobbling together a bunch of other premium AI services to suit your specific needs. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: ChatGPT Pro Retailer Price OpenAI $200 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket OpenAI’s ChatGPT Pro — the highest tier of access for individuals — is far from cheap. It costs $200 per month and, unlike most competitors, OpenAI doesn’t offer any discounts for an annual subscription. The company also avoids limited-time sales. That’s a hefty price to swallow. At $200 per month, it’s more than twice the price of Adobe Creative Cloud’s Business Plan. It’s enough to finance the monthly payment on a Hyundai Ioniq 5 lease. It’d even make a huge dent in paying down student loans or credit card debt. So, is ChatGPT Pro worth it? To find out, I spent $200 of my own money and used ChatGPT Pro’s features for a month so you don’t have to. What you get with ChatGPT Pro What exactly do you get with ChatGPT Pro that you can’t get in the free version? Or even the much cheaper ChatGPT Plus plan that only costs $20 per month? The short answer is, every single feature OpenAI has to offer — and that list continues to grow quite quickly. The longer answer is that ChatGPT Pro provides access to all OpenAI LLMs (including GPT-4o, GPT-4.5o, o3-mini, o3-mini-high, and o1) along with all the latest features like Operator and Deep Research. On top of that, ChatGPT Pro includes full access to the company’s AI models for media generation, which includes Dall-E for image generation and Sora for video generation. Pro users get priority video generation and, in the case of Sora, access to better resolutions (up to 1080p) and extended durations (up to 20 seconds). ChatGPT Free vs. Plus vs. Pro If you’re still feeling a bit confused about what you get with the different ChatGPT plans, don’t worry, you aren’t alone. Here’s a quick chart I whipped up to help you visualize the differences: Matt Smith / Foundry, made with Claude As the chart shows, upgrading from ChatGPT Free to ChatGPT Plus unlocks access to multiple features, while upgrading from ChatGPT Plus to ChatGPT Pro only unlocks one wholly exclusive feature: Operator. However, I want to draw your attention to the last feature listed in the comparison, which is rate limits. OpenAI regularly changes the rate limits for ChatGPT Free, Plus, and Pro, and they aren’t always documented. ChatGPT Free Generally, though, the rate limit for ChatGPT Free is extremely low. You can exhaust resources with just a few conversations, forcing you to wait hours before you can ask another question. ChatGPT Free’s rate limits for more advanced features (like the o3 reasoning model and Dall-E image generation) are so low that they border on useless. ChatGPT Plus ChatGPT Plus is much more generous. While OpenAI’s LLMs still have firm rate limits in this tier, they’re high enough that most people won’t hit them with typical usage. The rate limits for other advanced features (like Dall-E, Sora, and Deep Research) are still tight, though. ChatGPT Pro ChatGPT Pro’s rate limits are much higher. Certain advanced features are still kind of limited (e.g., Deep Research is capped at 120 generations per month) but high enough that most people won’t come close to hitting them. I used ChatGPT Pro heavily, racking up more than a dozen full conversations a day, and never hit any rate limits. In other words, the rate limits on ChatGPT Pro will only become an issue if you’re incorporating it into automated workflows — in which case you’re really meant to access OpenAI’s models through its APIs. ChatGPT Pro vs. Claude with Perplexity, Midjourney, ElevenLabs, and Kling OpenAI is the most famous of AI companies, but it’s far from the only one. Its many competitors include DeepSeek, Anthropic, Midjourney, ElevenLabs, Meta, and Google to name a few. Which raises the question: If ChatGPT Pro is so dang expensive, how does it compare to the competition? Well, the $200/month spent on ChatGPT Pro would actually be enough to cover the monthly plans for several different AI alternatives, spreading the cost across multiple. For this review, I tried ChatGPT Pro against five alternative services: Anthropic Claude Pro (AI chatbot) — $20/month Perplexity Pro (web search) — $20/month Midjourney Standard (image generation) — $30/month Kling AI Pro (video generation) — $25/month ElevenLabs Creator (speech-to-text/text-to-speech) — $22/month Total cost — $117/month Choosing a suite of competitive AI services with capabilities similar to ChatGPT Pro certainly looks appealing on paper. The total cost is nearly half the price, a steep discount compared to ChatGPT Pro. Matt Smith / Foundry This à la carte approach arguably provides access to a better selection of AI services, too. Coders generally prefer Claude over ChatGPT while Perplexity is better for web search than ChatGPT’s built-in search, for example. Creatives hugely prefer Midjourney’s image generation model to Dall-E, and Kling AI’s titular video models are often recommended over Sora. ElevenLabs, meanwhile, offers speech-to-text and text-to-speech capabilities that ChatGPT doesn’t even provide. On the other hand, ChatGPT Pro offers some features that competitive services don’t emulate. Claude doesn’t offer alternatives to Deep Research or Operator. ElevenLabs’ text-to-speech and speech-to-text are useful but not the same as ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice. And while a variety of AI agents exist, no competitor offers a simple, ready-to-use AI agent like OpenAI’s Operator. This comparison between ChatGPT Pro and a suite of alternative services shows an important point: if you’re subscribing to ChatGPT Pro, it’s likely for access to features that are exclusive to ChatGPT Pro (or rate limited in such a way that they’re only useful with ChatGPT Pro). In that case, we need to dive into those exclusive ChatGPT Pro features and evaluate them for value. Are they worth it? Let’s find out. ChatGPT Pro’s reasoning models Let’s start with ChatGPT Pro’s access to OpenAI reasoning models. These models use chain-of-thought reasoning to prompt themselves as they try to work through a problem. This helps the model whenever it’s asked to deal with something that involves logic or requires understanding the real world to reach the correct answer. Reasoning models score well across a wide range of publicly available benchmarks, but they stand out in math, coding, science, and related fields. Matt Smith / Foundry For example, when asked to write code for a particular feature in an app, a reasoning model will often do a better job. It can reason through potential use cases for the feature, as well as the varying approaches to implementation, as it looks for an adequate response. This is more likely to result in code that’s immediately useful without modification. Because of this, reasoning models like OpenAI o1 tend to dominate AI benchmarks focused on math and coding. It’s not all good news for reasoning models, though. They’re slower than conventional AI chatbots, and the more reasoning an AI does, the slower it gets. (ChatGPT o1 can leave you waiting for a minute or longer before it starts to generate a reply.) Reasoning models also tend to have more limited access to files and tools. If you want to use OpenAI o1 to analyze a PDF, for example, you can’t upload it. The best you can do is copy and paste the text into the prompt, which limits the usefulness of reasoning models depending on what you want ChatGPT to do. Reasoning models are great if you want an AI model to help you brainstorm difficult problems or write code that’s more relevant to your software. But if you want to use ChatGPT as a writing or editing assistant, or to analyze files and information, or to answer complex questions, then reasoning models are often less useful than GPT-4.5o. Deep Research is pretty awesome Deep Research is a ChatGPT feature that employs an AI agent to search the web, ingest relevant information, and compile it into a lengthy summary with sources cited. That report can be used for more serious topics (like researching career opportunities in a specific industry) or for more casual pursuits (like compiling a history of cat memes). No matter how you decide to use it, Deep Research’s reports deliver generally useful information and often pick up on details that would be hard to find when searching the web manually. Matt Smith / Foundry Say you want to open a restaurant. You can ask Deep Research to write a report on the restaurant industry for your specific region, and you can even prompt it to find competitors and look for gaps in the market. Deep Research can provide granular recommendations that include underserved niches you can fill, and it can make recommendations down to the neighborhood level, citing specific competitors in said neighborhood to justify its conclusions. The reports aren’t perfect, though. Hallucinations can cause Deep Research to generate incorrect information. And because it searches the web to build its report, it’s susceptible to oft-repeated generalizations, myths, and inaccuracies. Then again, even if you tried compiling that research on your own, you’d likely run into the same issues. So, it’s up to you to decide what to trust and what to filter out. Yes, it has its limits and flaws, but Deep Research is a great feature. The information it compiles is often more detailed than what I could hope to achieve on my own, and it tends to find deeper web sources that I might otherwise miss, skip, or overlook. Deep Research is the best feature currently bundled in ChatGPT Pro, and while competitors are rapidly trying to mimic it, none have matched it yet. Deep Research is available with ChatGPT Plus, but Plus users are limited to 10 queries per month. ChatGPT Pro gives you 120 queries per month (as of March 2025), and that number will likely increase later. Dall-E and Sora sadly disappoint OpenAI’s Dall-E image generator and Sora video generator aren’t exclusive to ChatGPT Pro, but upgrading to Pro makes them more useful. It also exposes some limitations. Dall-E Dall-E is tightly integrated into ChatGPT. The chatbot doesn’t just generate images on request, but also whenever it thinks a visual response is warranted. But Dall-E’s quality is lacking and it hasn’t improved much over the past year, even as competitors like Midjourney continue to make progress. Most competitors also offer advanced features Dall-E lacks, such as storyboarding, detailed image editing, and concurrent jobs. ChatGPT Free has access to Dall-E, but usage rate limits with Free and Plus plans are tight. You’ll need ChatGPT Pro if you want to generate dozens or hundreds of images in a session. Sora Unlike Dall-E, Sora video generation isn’t accessed through ChatGPT itself. It’s a separate tool — one that still requires a ChatGPT subscription to use. While ChatGPT Plus users get limited access to Sora, ChatGPT Pro users enjoy enhanced quality (up to 1080p) and longer videos (up to 20 seconds versus Plus’s limit of 5 seconds). Rate limits on ChatGPT Plus are tight, too, so if you’re looking to use Sora as anything more than a toy, you’ll need a ChatGPT Pro subscription. Matt Smith / Foundry Unfortunately, Sora disappoints. It struggles with basic tasks like stable camera pans and fails almost completely with fast action sequences. Competitors like Kling AI can produce better results while other services like Runway and Pika Labs offer specific AI models for different tasks (like character animation or special effects) with more reliable results. Dall-E and Sora are weak spots in the ChatGPT Pro subscription. Professional artists and creators looking to make ChatGPT part of their workflow are likely to find it isn’t up to snuff. Operator falls short of its potential Operator is OpenAI’s advanced reasoning agent for executing simple tasks in a web browser. It’s notable for being the only feature exclusive to the ChatGPT Pro tier subscription (as of March 2025). Like Sora, Operator is a separate tool outside of ChatGPT that still requires a ChatGPT Pro subscription to use. After entering a prompt with your requested action(s), you’ll see a real-time feed of the agent attempting to fulfill your request in a virtual machine. In the video below, you can see OpenAI’s real-world demonstration of Operator: In theory, an AI agent like Operator could function as a virtual assistant that handles everything from online shopping to completing forms or organizing emails. Operator sometimes succeeds with these tasks. Beyond the basics, however, Operator remains quite limited. It can’t bypass security measures like CAPTCHAs, instead prompting you to complete them. It won’t automatically enter payment details either. (The reasons for that are obvious, right? I wouldn’t trust Operator with my credit card details.) Even so, these limitations make Operator a lot less useful. As of now, you still have to help Operator over various hurdles, which defeats the point of an autonomous AI agent. Should you pay up for ChatGPT Pro? As this lengthy review shows, ChatGPT isn’t just an AI chatbot. It’s a bundle of AI tools that each target completely different tasks. That’s actually one of ChatGPT Pro’s greatest weaknesses compared to alternatives. You can cobble together multiple competing AI services that are each optimized for their particular tasks, and it’ll likely cost significantly less. This piecemeal approach does mean managing more subscriptions, but it feels more practical than OpenAI’s strategy of bundling everything into one flat subscription fee. To be fair, ChatGPT Pro does offer some features that you can’t get elsewhere or don’t live up to OpenAI’s quality. Deep Research is especially compelling if you want an AI research assistant at your beck and call. But the other stuff, like OpenAI’s Operator agent, aren’t reliable enough yet to deliver enough value for the price. As of this writing, the best reason to get ChatGPT Pro is to boost usage rate limits. The rate limits with ChatGPT Pro are high enough that they’re virtually non-existent. Competing services, like Anthropic’s Claude or DeepSeek, can get bogged down at peak times and will throttle you even if you’re a paid subscriber. Even so, the exorbitant price of ChatGPT Pro is hard to justify unless you’re hitting its AI services with hundreds of requests every day. And if that’s the case, you might be better off accessing OpenAI’s models directly through its API services (which charge you per millions of tokens instead of a flat monthly fee). For most people, ChatGPT Plus should suffice. Otherwise, if you’re a power user, professional, or enthusiast looking to benefit from the latest AI advancements, I recommend subscribing to multiple different AI services that each target more specific use cases rather than adopting ChatGPT Pro’s all-in-one package approach. Read...

Google plans to launch ChromeOS 134 in March 2025. The latest version of the operating system for Chromebooks will birng some new features, one of which will help extend the battery life of your Chromebook. Once ChromeOS 134 is here, you’ll be able to set a maximum battery charge limit so your laptop will never fully charge. Why? Constantly charging a battery to 100 percent shortens its lifespan, so you get more overall lifespan out of it if you stop short. (The optimal battery charge window to minimize wear and tear is between 30 and 70 percent.) The new feature will be automatically enabled when ChromeOS 134 launches, but the battery charge limit will remain at 100 percent by default. If you want to protect your laptop’s battery lifespan, you’ll have to adjust the charge limit yourself when available. Further reading: Beginner tips for Chromebook users Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Easy setup Compact design Power-failure protection Not dependent on Wi-Fi or a broadband connection Cons No smart home integration No control when you’re away from home No less expensive than connected smart plugs offering more features Our Verdict The Tessan Remote Wall Outlet is a simple and reliable way to wirelessly control lamps and small appliances. Some will value its independence from the internet; but for a similar price, a smart plug with app and voice control offers far more versatility. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today The Tessan Remote Wall Outlet is a no-frills way to control lamps, fans, and other household devices without getting off the couch. Instead of relying on Wi-Fi, an app, or a voice assistant, it uses a simple remote to turn a plugged-in light or small appliance on and off. That makes it an easy option for anyone who wants wireless control without dealing with smart home hubs, apps, or the accounts associated with them. And since it doesn’t connect to the internet, it erases privacy and security concerns, too. But those benefits come with significant trade-offs. Without a connection to the cloud, this outlet can’t work with Alexa, Google Home, or Siri. Nor can it be integrated with a Matter, Zigbee, Z-Wave, or any other flavor of smart home hub. If you’re looking for a smart plug that fits into your chosen smart home ecosystem, this isn’t it. It’s a purely standalone solution—handy for some, but limiting for everyone else. Specifications The plug has a compact design that won’t block the adjacent socket in a duplex outlet (it might block one in an outlet strip, depending on the strip’s design). It’s a simple white box with no extra bulk, just a power button on the side and an LED indicator on its face to display its state. For anyone who wants a simple, hassle-free way to control a lamp or appliance, this plug does the job. The included remote control is equally straightforward, with just two buttons: On and Off. The remote has a magnetic backing that makes it easy to stick to a fridge or any metal surface, so you won’t have to worry about misplacing it. Tessan also offers a $32.99 3-pack of these smart plugs that comes with a 6-button remote (On and Off for each outlet). The Tessan Remote Control Outlet is compact and won’t block adjacent sockets. Tessan The remote operates at a range of up to 100 feet, even through walls and doors. The outlet itself supports devices up to 15A/1875W, which covers lamps and most small household appliances, including fans, space heaters, and coffee makers. Needless to say, it doesn’t have a dimmer function. It offers practical power-failure protection: If the power goes out, the outlet remains off when the power comes back on, preventing unexpected restarts that could damage sensitive electronics or waste energy. It’s a small but useful touch for devices you don’t want turning on automatically after an outage. Setting up the outlet is as easy as it gets. Just plug it into a wall outlet, plug in a device, and you’re done. There’s no need to download an app, create an account, pair it to your smartphone, or look up your Wi-Fi password. The remote comes pre-paired, so it works right out of the box. For anyone who wants a simple, hassle-free way to control a lamp or appliance, this plug does the job. It’s especially useful for people with limited mobility who might struggle with hard-to-reach switches. Instead of getting up or reaching behind furniture, you can just press a button on the remote. The remote operates at a range of up to 100 feet, even through walls and doors. Michael Ansaldo/Foundry Day-to-day use In my testing, the remote worked consistently within its advertised 100-foot range, providing reliable control from across a room or even another part of the house. There’s no noticeable lag between pressing the button and the device responding. Unlike Wi-Fi-connected smart plugs, there’s no risk of connectivity issues, router resets, or cloud outages interfering with operation. The biggest downside is its lack of smart home integration. Smart plugs that support Zigbee, Z-Wave, or Matter integrate seamlessly with smart home ecosystems, letting you control them with Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple Home. They can be grouped with other devices, scheduled to turn on and off automatically, and controlled remotely from a smartphone. Standards-compliant smart plugs also give you multiple control options: voice commands, app-based toggles, and automation rules that trigger actions based on time, motion, or other factors. A Matter or Zigbee smart plug can be integrated into routines—for example, turning on a lamp when the front door unlocks or a security camera detects motion. [Further reading: This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart plugs.] With the Tessan outlet, there’s no voice control, no automation, and no remote access beyond the included clicker. That’s important to consider because at $18.99, the Tessan plug is affordable, but it’s not significantly cheaper than many other smart plugs that do support voice control and automation. Should you buy a Tessan Remote Wall Outlet? If all you need is a simple way to turn devices on and off without fussing with apps, accounts, or Wi-Fi connections, it’s a solid choice. It’s reliable, easy to use, and the included remote makes it a convenient option for those who prefer physical controls over smartphone apps. But if you’re looking for more than basic power toggling, a true smart plug is the better buy. Read...

They say there’s a great laptop out there for every wallet, and I certainly think that’s true — especially if you can wait for deals like this one. Right now, B&H is selling Lenovo’s 15.6-inch LOQ gaming laptop for just $750. That’s a sizeable $370 discount off its retail price. There are plenty of reasons to like the Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9 on top of its price. It runs on a 13th-gen Intel Core i5-13450HX CPU and a decent 16GB of DDR5 RAM as well as a 512GB SSD. It also features an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card — far from the newest, but the best you can get this far under $1,000. Seriously, this is a steal for $750. The LOQ 15IRX9 has a 15.6-inch 1080p display with 144Hz refresh rate, which is perfectly adequate for decent gaming with that RTX 4060. It also comes with Lenovo’s AI Engine+ and LA1 AI chip, which automatically optimizes laptop performance depending on whether you’re gaming or working or merely chilling out to Netflix. Get yourself the super-affordable Lenovo LOQ 15IRX9 laptop for the bargain price of $750 while this deal still holds at B&H. Save $370 on this affordable RTX 4060 gaming laptopBuy now from B&H Read...

The tiny designs, the affordable prices, the sheer power under the hood — these are all reasons to love mini PCs. And they’re even better when they’re on sale, like this Acemagician S3A mini PC that’s down to $299 on Amazon for Prime members. (Don’t have Prime? No worries! You can sign up for a 30-day free trial to score this special Prime deal.) The Acemagician S3A runs on an AMD Ryzen 7 5875U processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and a speedy 512GB SSD. It’s also pretty darn easy to upgrade — way easier than a laptop — and able to support up to 64GB of RAM and 4TB of storage. All you have to do is pop open one of the magnetic sides to access the insides. This mini PC also features integrated AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 graphics, so while you won’t be able to play the newest games at the highest settings, you can still play with good frame rates if you drop it down a bit. It can also power three 4K@60Hz displays, which is perfect for multitasking and productivity. It also has six USB-A 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet ports. If you’re on Amazon Prime, you should hurry up and take advantage of this Acemagician S3A mini PC deal for $299. And if you aren’t a Prime member yet, you can start a 30-day free trial to still take advantage of this amazing discount while it’s available. Get this powerful Ryzen 7 mini PC for 25% offBuy now at Amazon Read...

Finding high-quality music and sounds for your videos can be a challenge. It’s not only the need to scour the web for the right tones or melodies to fit the mood of your current masterpiece, there’s also the security of knowing there won’t be any problems with copyright claims afterwards. Now, in a new partnership that’s sure to delight content creators around the world, Wondershare’s award-winning Filmora video-editing suite is joining forces with Universal Music for Creators to deliver a service that not only makes your videos look their best, but sound it too. Pro-level production without the complexity The collaboration between these two excellent platforms is great news for video creators. Not only will they be able to avail themselves of the latest professional editing and enhancement features in Filmora 14, but by going to the Audio tab in the app and selecting ‘Universal Music for Creators’, they’ll now have access to the company’s sound catalog which contains over 50,000 claims-free recordings, as well as 200,000+ custom audio edits. These can be seamlessly imported onto the video timeline, cutting down the usual time-sink of sourcing audio, all while benefiting from the studio-quality recordings that are sure to upgrade the sound quality of a production. Universal Music for Creators regularly updates its carefully curated catalog with the latest music across all genres, trends and styles, so you should have no problem finding something that fits the mood of your video. Wondershare Filmora It’s not only the sounds that are powered up to make life easier for content makers, as the new features in Filmora 14 also make it quicker and simpler than ever to edit and enhance the quality of your videos. New tools like Multi-Camera Editing allow you to seamlessly switch between different angles in real-time and all on the same timeline track. Markers ensure that everything stays synced up, greatly reducing how long it takes to assemble professional-looking multi-perspective videos. If you want to change flat surfaces in videos to something more dynamic – say replacing a blank wall to one that contains text or an image – then the new Planar Tracking tool makes it simple to achieve. Just mark the corners of the space, select what you want to insert, then the software will do the rest. There many new tools and editing features in Filmora 14, all designed to streamline the creation process so you can bring your vision to life rather than stay stuck in the editing stage forever. Get going with Filmora 14 and Universal Music for Creators Combining the new video and audio enhancements with the sound options provided by Universal Music for Creators, means you’ll have everything you need to make high quality movies or short videos right there on your laptop. You can sign up to a free 7-day trial of Filmora 14 with Universal Music for Creators to see how this powerhouse partnership can bring your creative dreams to life. You might just find that the finished results are music to your ears.  GET A FREE TRIAL OF FILMORA 14 Read...

Microsoft recently announced important new features relating to Windows 11. As usual, these will be first introduced to Windows 11 Insiders, then eventually to everyone else. One important change is a new laptop battery indicator that visualizes the charge level with new symbols. This change was actually supposed to be implemented last month, but the release was postponed on short notice. But now the time has come and Windows 11 Insiders are getting their first taste of the new battery display, as Windows Latest reports. The new battery icons in Windows 11 The battery icon in the taskbar is getting a completely new look in Windows 11. Previously, the small black symbol wasn’t very informative and didn’t tell enough about battery status at a glance. Going forward, the new battery icon will look a lot more like what you see on smartphones, which have long understood what users want to know about their batteries. The indicator will use a new design along with new colors, replacing the bland and useless one we’ve had thus far: Microsoft / Windows Latest Battery (when the PC isn’t connected to the power supply) Energy saver (colored yellow when this feature is active) Charging (a lightning bolt icon with a green fill) Smart charging (to indicate battery charging protection) Slow charging (an error symbol with a solid color fill) Low battery level (a narrow red bar when between 1% and 5%) Battery unknown (a cross symbol indicating there’s no battery) It’s also notable that the new icons are slightly longer than the previous ones. This makes it easier to see how much battery remains as the bar fills up or empties. Testers have already been able to try out this improved battery display in an earlier preview, as we reported in this article. Get Windows 11 Pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro However, the red, yellow, and green colors are the clearest way to draw attention to the current charge level. Overall, this new look is much more user-friendly and, as already mentioned, is based on Android and iOS devices, which gives it a certain recognizable value. According to Microsoft, the display will continue to be based on your selected theme. If you’re using the classic light theme, the battery will be black at 100% charge. With dark theme, the battery will be white. When is this change coming? For Windows 11 Insiders, the new battery display is expected to be introduced with one of the next updates. The majority of Windows 11 users will have to be patient until they can test the new look. However, we assume that the new battery indicator will be introduced for everyone within the next few months. Further reading: How to check your laptop battery’s health Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Fast PCIe 5.0 HMB performer Affordable for the speed Maintains a decent write rate after secondary cache is exhausted Cons Not as fast as PCIe 5.0 DRAM designs Our Verdict The PNY CS2140 is affordable for PCIe 5.0, and excelled (for a host memory buffer design) in both synthetic benchmark and real-world testing. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: PNY CS2150 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD Retailer Price PNY $103.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The PNY CS2150 is the second host memory buffer PCIe 5.0 SSD we’ve tested and it’s a very good performer. It can’t quite match the best DRAM designs, but it’s also a heck of a lot cheaper and very fast in the grand scheme of SSDs — 9th fastest among all. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best SSDs for comparison. What are the PNY CS2120’s features? The CS2150 is a PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe SSD in the 2280 (22mm wide, 80mm long) form factor, built around a Phison PS5031-E31T controller. As noted, it’s a host memory buffer design (your device’s memory serves as primary cache) utilizing 218-layer, Kioxia BiCS8 TLC NAND. Secondary caching is implemented by writing portions of the TLC as SLC. The reduced error checking required for two-state cells makes this much faster than checking the eight possible voltage states of TLC written natively. The CS2150 carries a five-year warranty that’s mitigated by a 600TBW (terabytes that may be written) per 1TB of capacity rating — i.e., the warranty expires after you’ve written that much data, like car warranties expire after you’ve driven the allotted number of miles. How much does the PNY CS2150 cost? The CS2150 is $104 for the 1TB model and $188 for the 2TB capacity on the company’s website at the time of this writing. That’s not strictly bargain basement, but not bad at all for a PCIe 5.0 SSD with its type of performance. How fast is the PNY CS2150? The 2TB CS2150 I tested is very fast in the grand scheme (9th place), nearly dead even with the other PCIe 5.0 HMB SSD I previously tested — the Corsair MP700 Elite. However, it’s not particularly fast for a PCIe 5.0 SSD if you include DRAM designs such as the big daddy Crucial T705 shown in the charts below. The WD Black SN7100 is a PCIe 4.0 HMB design included to show the real-world transfer differences between PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0. Due to Windows limitations, the difference is not nearly as large as it is in the synthetic benchmarks. The CS2150 barely lost to the MP700 Elite in CrystalDiskMark 8’s sequential transfer tests. But lose it did — by less than a percentage point. The CS2150 barely lost to the MP700 Elite in CrystalDiskMark 8’s sequential transfer tests. But lose it did — by less than a percentage point. Longer bars are better. The CrystalDiskMark 8 random tests were a mixed bag for the CD2150, winning one and losing on three tests to the MP700 Elite by a small but noticeable margin. The CrystalDiskMark 8 random tests were a mixed bag for the CD2150, winning one and losing on three tests to the MP700 Elite. The contest was very close but again was in favor of the CS2150’s rival. Longer bars are better. In truth, the CS2150 and MP700 Elite are basically the same drive — same controller, same NAND — which is reflected in their tie in the 48GB transfers. The margin of error in these tests is a couple of seconds. The CS2150 and MP700 Elite are basically the same drive — same controller, same NAND — which is reflected in their tie in the 48GB transfers. The margin of error in these tests is a couple of seconds. Shorter bars are better. Even though the CS2150 lost to the Corsair MP700 Elite in the 450GB write, it was a relatively close contest. This write can be affected by the current state of the SSD. We format and TRIM the SSDs before each test, but not every SSD recovers in the same amount of time. Even though the CS2150 lost to the Corsair MP700 Elite in the 450GB write, it was a relatively close contest. Shorter bars are better. The CS2150 even survived our post-main testing 900GB write test. While the drive slowed from 3GBps to around 2GBps in short order, it didn’t dip further until about 90 percent of the data had been written. Even then it was only to a tolerable 600MBps. Nice. In total, the CS2150 is a very fast SSD that on another day might have outperformed the Corsair MP700 Elite. It’s a toss-up really. Should you buy the PNY CS2150? If you’re looking for top performance, without a top-shelf expenditure then the PNY CS2150 should be on your short list. It can’t match a good PCIe 5.0 DRAM design, but it’s still darn fast and again — a lot more affordable. Indeed, while it’s in a near dead-heat with its HMB peer Corsair MP700 Elite, the CS2150 is about $30 less than that SSD in both 1TB and 2TB options, making it the clear value choice for PCIe 5.0. How we test IDG’s storage tests currently utilize Windows 11 (22H2) 64-bit running on an X790 (PCIe 5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 modules (64GB of memory total). Intel integrated graphics are used. The 48GB transfer tests utilize an ImDisk RAM disk taking up 58GB of the 64GB total memory. The 450GB file is transferred from a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB, which also contains the operating system. Each test is performed on a newly formatted and TRIM’d drive so the results are optimal. Note that as any drive fills up, performance will decrease due to less NAND for secondary caching, and other factors. The performance numbers shown apply only to the drive we were shipped as well as the capacity tested. SSD performance can vary by capacity due to more or fewer chips to read/write across and the amount of NAND available for secondary caching (writing TLC/QLC as SLC). Vendors also occasionally swap components. If you ever notice a large discrepancy between the performance you experience and that which we report (systems being roughly equal), by all means—let us know. Read...