I get the hubbub around Apple Watches, but I don’t necessarily love Apple Watch prices. Maybe you’re in the same boat, secretly wishing you could join the bandwagon without burning a hole in your wallet. Well, you can! Walmart is currently selling the Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) for just $189 (was $249), which is a solid deal indeed. This deal is for both the 40mm GPS version as well as the 40mm GPS + Cellular version of the watch, by the way, although the latter is already starting to sell out—so maybe act fast if you’re interested. (In fact, two of the Sport Loop variants are even marked down to $169!) The Apple Watch SE 2 has everything you could want in a smartwatch without shelling out a premium price. It keeps you motivated to work out with reminders, it tracks your activities and health metrics, and it connects to your phone and serves up notifications. But my favorite are the safety features, like Crash Detection, Fall Detection, Emergency SOS, and special alerts when it detects unusual health events like an irregular heart rhythm or high heart rate levels. Walmart has the Apple Watch SE 2 in multiple colors and all of them are on sale. Make sure to get your order in soon because this kind of $60 discount is rare. Who knows how long it’ll stick around? The Apple Watch SE 2 is slashed down to $189 (was $249)Buy now from Walmart Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Well-rounded hardware configuration for the price Large touchpad with virtual dial Good balance of modern and legacy connectivity Strong battery life for a laptop with a discrete GPU Cons Rigid and light chassis looks a bit mediocre Modest CPU and GPU performance Our Verdict The Asus ProArt P16 strikes a balance between portability and performance. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Asus ProArt P16 (2025) Retailer Price $2,929.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Asus ProArt P16 is a laptop that’s meant for creative professionals. Technically, just about any laptop with a fast CPU and GPU could do the job—and some pros turn towards gaming laptops for that reason. But the ProArt P16 seeks its niche by pairing performance with better battery life and a more compact chassis. Asus has to slightly reduce performance to make this possible, but the end result is alluring if you want a powerful Windows laptop that can also handle travel. Asus ProArt P16: Specs and features as-tested The Asus ProArt P16’s basic specifications are well-balanced and competitive with many mid-range laptops in the $2,000 to $3,000 price bracket. It pairs an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor with Nvidia RTX 5070 graphics, supported by 32GB of RAM and 2TB of solid state storage. Model number: H7606WP CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Memory: 32GB LPDDR5-7500 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5070 8GB (105W TGP) NPU: Up to 50 TOPS Display: 16-inch 2880×1800 OLED 120Hz touchscreen Storage: 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 solid state drive Webcam and microphone: 1080p with dual microphone array Connectivity: 1x USB-C 4.0 40Gbps with Power Delivery and DisplayPort, 1x USB-C 3.2 10Gbps with Power Delivery and Display Port, 2x USB-C 3.2 10Gbps, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x SD card reader, 1x 3.5 mm audio jack, 1x power connector Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition Battery capacity: 90 watt-hours Dimensions: 13.97 x 9.72 x 0.68 inches Weight: 4.08 Operating System: Windows 11 Home Price: $2,399.99 MSRP The model I reviewed is available for $2,399.99 at Best Buy. Asus also sells several alternative models with higher display resolutions and up to RTX 5090 graphics, as well as up to 64GB of memory. That will set you back $2,899.99. Alternatively, you can save a few hundred dollars with a $2,199.99 entry-level model that has RTX 4060 graphics and just 1TB of storage. Asus ProArt P16: Design and build quality Foundry / Matthew Smith The Asus ProArt P16 heard you like matte black, so it put matte black on your matte black so you can matte black while you matte black. The exterior, the key caps, the power button, the speaker grills, the touchpad, the little faux-dial are all matte black. Asus gets a little wild with the ProArt logo on the lid, though. It’s glossy black. Personally, I think the laptop is a bit boring, but has it where it counts. Asus finishes the laptop’s metals with a subtle but noticeable metallic luster and the shade of black is wonderfully deep. Many laptops that are supposedly black (like Apple’s MacBook laptops) look slightly blue or gray compared to the ProArt P16.  The ProArt P16’s lower chassis, display lid, and keyboard deck all feel rigid when pressed or handled roughly. You’ll still find flex if you try, but the laptop is more than rigid enough to provide a luxurious, professional feel. There’s also a nice plastic lip around the display bezel. It’s a subtle element but should help keep dust and dirt out of the interior when the laptop is in your bag. Overall, the ProArt P16 is on par with top-end competitors like the Razer Blade 16 and Lenovo Yoga 9i.  It even resists fingerprints well enough. Some marks are inevitable, but a quick rub with a microfiber cloth will clean it up. I expect the palmrests and keyboard will show wear after a few months of heavy use, but the same is true for every darkly-colored laptop I’ve ever used. Asus ProArt P16: Keyboard, trackpad, mouse Foundry / Matthew Smith Asus provides a spacious, centered keyboard layout without a numpad. The lack of numpad is notable, as this is a 16-inch machine and Asus could have found room. But the company instead elects to keep the keyboard centered for better typing ergonomics. The extra space on each side of the keyboard is used to provide large, user-facing speakers, which I’ll discuss shortly.  Key feel is good, if not exceptional. The keyboard offers good key travel and a smooth action that feels pleasant and doesn’t tire my fingers. Each key bottoms with a vague and subtle action, though. I prefer more tactile and audible feedback. Still, it’s a good keyboard. Keyboard backlighting is standard, though it’s not great. The keys allow a lot of light leak from around the key caps, creating an uneven look, and the minimum brightness is higher than I like to see when typing in a dark room. Still, it ultimately does the job.  The touchpad, on the other hand, is a treat. It’s spacious, measuring about six inches wide and four inches deep, and provides a surface that’s smooth yet still just rough enough to provide a sense of tactile feedback.  It includes Asus’ dial control engraved in the upper left corner. This can be used in any situation where a dial might be handy, from scrolling down a page to adjusting exposure in a photo editing app. It lacks the reassuring tactile feel of a real dial, but it’s a feature unique to Asus’ ProArt, and certainly beats fiddling with sliders by clicking with the mouse cursor and then dragging them to and fro. Asus ProArt P16: Display, audio Foundry / Matthew Smith The Asus ProArt P16’s display is a real treat. It’s a 16-inch OLED touchscreen with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 2,880 x 1,800 resolution. Like all modern laptop OLED displays, it provides incredible contrast and rich color.  It also goes the extra mile with a maximum brightness that exceeds 400 nits in HDR, which means the display doesn’t look overly dim in bright rooms (this can still be an issue with OLED displays in less expensive laptops). HDR is supported and offers decent brightness for a laptop. The display is extremely glossy, though, so you can expect mirror-like reflections from any light source sitting behind you. The refresh rate maxes out at 120Hz, which provides great motion clarity while scrolling rapidly through a video timeline or document and also, of course, looks superb in games. The display doesn’t support G-Sync, though, so you’ll have to use V-Sync in games to ensure smooth frame pacing. Interestingly, the OLED display on the ProArt P16 I reviewed is actually different from many other configurations sold by Asus. Most ProArt P16 models have an even higher display resolution of 3,840 x 2,400, but a lower refresh rate of 60Hz. Personally, I prefer an OLED display with a lower resolution and higher refresh rate. Still, creators who want to be able to see a full 4K image at its proper resolution should be wary and purchase a model with the display that meets their needs. While the display is very good, it’s not an advantage. Nearly all mid-range to high-end Windows laptops now have an OLED display. And since they’re all supplied by Samsung, they all tend to offer similar performance.  The ProArt P16 provides user-facing speakers on each side of the keyboard. They offer good audio volume and a crisp presentation in most situations. The speakers do produce a hint of bass, but they become muddy in bass-heavy music when listening at maximum or near maximum volume. Still, the speakers are above-average for a laptop. Asus ProArt P16: Webcam, microphone, biometrics A 1080p webcam and dual microphone array are tucked into the Asus ProArt P16. The webcam provides solid video quality, though it’s nothing amazing by modern standards. It’s suitable for video conferences, but the image can still look grainy in dark lighting. The dual microphones pick up quality audio and are able to cancel out moderate, repetitive background noises. The webcam and microphone are competent, but par for the course in this price bracket. The webcam doesn’t provide a physical privacy shutter. An electronic webcam disconnect is available, though, and can be selected with a keyboard shortcut. Biometric login is available through Microsoft’s Windows Hello facial recognition. I generally prefer this to a fingerprint reader, and a fingerprint reader is not available on the ProArt P16. The facial recognition is speedy, reliable, and works in both dark and bright rooms. Asus ProArt P16 : Connectivity Asus has the ProArt P16’s connectivity dialed in. It includes one USB 4 port with up to 40Gbps of data, plus a USB 3.2 port with up to 10Gbps of data. Both are USB-C ports that provide DisplayPort and Power Delivery to charge the laptop, though be warned they don’t provide enough power to charge the laptop at full speed or prevent the battery from discharging at full load. Still, they provide a good range of options for connecting to a hub, dock, or USB-C monitor.  Thunderbolt is absent, however, as is often the case with laptops that have AMD inside. I don’t think this is a major issue, but shoppers should note that a laptop with Thunderbolt 5 can achieve even higher data rates of up to 80Gbps. That might be a factor if you often move very, very large files between your laptop’s storage and external storage.  The two USB-C ports are paired with two USB-A 3.2 ports, each with 10Gbps of data. There’s also HDMI 2.1, an SD Express card reader, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. These ports give the ProArt P16 a good range of options that will have particular appeal to photographers and videographers. The HDMI-out is great for connecting to a variety of media devices and the SD Express card reader removes the need to carry a hub or adapter.  On the whole, I think the ProArt P16’s connectivity strikes the right balance of connectivity for most people. A MacBook Pro 16 has more high-speed Thunderbolt / USB-C connectivity, but it lacks USB-A. Other high-end consumer and prosumer laptops, like the Dell 16 Premium and Lenovo Yoga 9i 16, rely almost entirely on Thunderbolt / USB-C for connectivity. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, which are the latest versions of each wireless standard. Most competitive laptops also support Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, but it’s good to see Asus didn’t skimp here. Asus ProArt P16: Performance The Asus ProArt P16 comes in a variety of configurations, but all the current 2025 models, including the one that I reviewed, have an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. That is paired with up to Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics, but the more affordable model I tested stuck to the RTX 5070. 32GB of LPDDR5X-7500 memory and a 2TB PCIe 4.0 solid state drive round out the specifications. Foundry / Matthew Smith We start with PCMark 10, a holistic system benchmark, where the Asus ProArt P16 scored 8,017. That’s an improvement over the 2024 model, which scored 7,608. However, the ProArt P16 is still towards the bottom half of this pack. It basically ties the Razer Blade 16, which scored 8,048, but ends up a few hundred points behind other 16-inch gaming and workstation laptops PCWorld has reviewed this year.   Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is Cinebench 2024 where, perhaps unsurprisingly, the new Asus ProArt P16 doesn’t outperform last year’s model. That’s unsurprising because they both have the same AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor inside. As the graph makes clear, Intel’s Core Ultra 9 is undoubtedly a better performer in heavily multithreaded tasks. All of the Intel powered laptops leave the AMD alternatives in the dust. Foundry / Matthew Smith It’s the same story in Handbrake. The laptops with AMD Ryzen AI 9 chips are slower than the Intel alternatives. Still, the new Asus ProArt P16 can at least keep up with latest Razer Blade 16 in this test, which is good to see. Foundry / Matthew Smith CPU performance doesn’t seem to be the Asus ProArt P16’s forte, so what about the GPU? Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the Asus ProArt P16 with RTX 5070 sees a healthy boost over last year’s model with the RTX 4070. The 3DMark Time Spy and Port Royale scores increase by roughly 20 percent. However, the Asus ProArt P16 is still towards the lower end of the performance that can be expected from an Nvidia RTX 5070 mobile GPU. The ProArt P16 is a relatively slim and light laptop for a Windows machine with discrete graphics and that seems to throttle its performance. Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is Shadow of the Tomb Raider, an older title that most modern laptop GPUs can handle without much trouble. The RTX 5070 in the Asus ProArt P16 is no exception with an average of 140 frames per second. However, it’s not any quicker than last year’s model, and a bit behind other RTX 5070 laptops we’ve recently reviewed. The CPU may be a factor here: both the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S and Alienware 16X have the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX. Foundry / Matthew Smith Metro Exodus is a more demanding title when played at the Extreme preset. The Acer ProArt P16 averages 53 frames per second here, a slight increase from the prior year’s model, and more competitive compared to other RTX 5070 laptops. Foundry / Matthew Smith We finish things off with Cyberpunk 2077, which speaks favorably of the Asus ProArt P16. The 2025 model with the RTX 5070 sees a major improvement over the 2024 model with RTX 4070. The average frame rate is boosted from 74 to 94 when playing at 1080p with the Ultra preset and no ray tracing in use. The Overdrive ray traced preset is still more than Asus ProArt P16 can handle, which is to be expected. None of the RTX 5070 laptops do well in that extremely demanding workload. Keep in mind, though, that Overdrive is a real system-killer, and we are not using DLSS or FSR in our testing. Sticking to a lower ray traced preset and engaging DLSS will result in a perfectly playable experience. It’s a laptop that can easily hit 60 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra detail settings, but also lasts up to 10 hours on a charge—and there aren’t many Windows laptops that manage that in 2025. Overall, the Asus ProArt P16’s performance is decent but not exceptional. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 remains behind the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX in mutlithreaded CPU benchmarks. The P16’s graphics performance is also healthy but in some situations lags behind thicker, beefier machines with the same GPU. That’s not too surprising, as a thicker chassis often allows space for improved cooling. Asus ProArt P16: Battery life and portability The Asus ProArt P16 is portable for a 16-inch laptop. It measures a tad under seven-tenths of an inch thick and weighs a few ounces over four pounds. It’s compact for its display size, too, so it should fit in most backpacks designed for a 15-inch laptop. You can find more portable laptops, like those in the LG Gram series, but the ProArt P16 weighs less than a Razer Blade 16 or MacBook Pro 16.  A 90 watt-hour battery powers the laptop, which is a typical size for a laptop with discrete graphics. The laptop tries to make the most of the battery with a switchable graphics solution that can turn off the Nvidia GPU when its performance isn’t required. Foundry / Matthew Smith That works to the Asus ProArt P16’s favor. The laptop managed to reach 10 hours and 42 minutes in our standard battery test, which loops a 4K file of the short film Tears of Steel. This is a light-load test, but my subjective experience showed the laptop’s real-world battery life is often close to that number. I saw eight to nine hours of battery life in a mix of web browsing, document editing, and photo editing. These results aren’t going to beat Apple’s MacBook Pro 16, of course, but they’re good for a Windows laptop with discrete graphics and a capable CPU. The ProArt P16 compares well to other laptops that provide similar performance.  AMD also deserves credit here. The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 doesn’t hold a candle to the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX in multi-core CPU workloads, but it’s more miserly about power consumption. The Intel-powered alternatives posted far less impressive battery life results. When it comes time to recharge, you’ll need to connect the beefy 200-watt power adapter over a proprietary power connection. USB-C charging is possible, but the charging speed will be reduced, and USB-C won’t supply enough power to charge the laptop while you’re using it for a demanding task (like gaming or heavy video editing). Asus ProArt P16: Conclusion The Asus ProArt P16 is a laptop that delivers what it was designed to deliver. It’s expected to provide the performance required for more demanding workloads, from 4K video editing to modern PC games. Yet it must also be portable enough for travel. Balancing these competing priorities means the ProArt P16 must give up performance when compared to bulkier alternatives. But it also means the ProArt P16 provides a better balance of portability and performance. It’s a laptop that can easily hit 60 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra detail settings, but also lasts up to 10 hours on a charge—and there aren’t many Windows laptops that manage that in 2025. Read...

TL;DR: Get a lifetime license to Microsoft Visio Professional 2021 for Windows for just $14.97 (MSRP $249.99) and bring clarity to complex data with powerful templates, shapes, and collaboration tools designed for professionals. If you’ve ever tried explaining a process using just bullet points, you know how fast people tune out. Microsoft Visio Professional 2021 aims to change that — helping you turn data into visuals that actually make sense. And right now, it’s yours for a one-time price of $14.97 (MSRP: $249.99). From org charts and floor plans to technical diagrams and brainstorming maps, Visio gives you dozens of templates and thousands of customizable shapes to transform any workflow into a visual masterpiece. It’s especially handy for project managers, engineers, IT pros, designers, or business owners who need to share information quickly and clearly. With collaboration features, touch-screen drawing support, and live data linking from Excel or Microsoft 365, Visio makes it easy to keep your team on the same page. You can go from explaining your ideas to showing them, and that’s the difference between being heard and being understood. Get lifetime access to MS Visio Pro 2021 while it’s just $14.97 (MSRP $249.99). Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional: Lifetime License for WindowsSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

OpenAI recently launched ChatGPT Atlas, which is “a new web browser built with ChatGPT at its core.” It’s based on Chromium—which is true of pretty much all browsers these days except Firefox and Safari—and its unique selling point is that it integrates ChatGPT right into the browser, allowing users to chat with their search results and use a side panel that automatically provides ChatGPT with on-screen context. ChatGPT Atlas also has access to your browsing history, allowing the AI assistant to customize its responses based on your activity. For paid ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Business users, Atlas also has an “agent mode” where the AI can perform simple web-based tasks on your behalf. ChatGPT Atlas is currently only available for macOS, but support for Windows, iOS, and Android is on the way. The browser will be available to all free users at launch with some paywalled features. Furthermore, head of ChatGPT Atlas team Adam Fry posted on social media a list of “post-launch fixes” that will be addressed “over the coming weeks,” including multiprofile support, tab groups, opt-in ad blocker, and various user experience improvements. Read...

Microsoft is rolling out a new version of the Snipping Tool in Windows 11, which might be worth paying attention to. The big news with this update is that Microsoft is adding a visual search feature powered by Bing. If you’ve ever used Google Lens, then you know what to expect here. According to Windows Latest, it works like this: whenever you make a selection on screen with the Snipping Tool—which is accessible using the Windows key + Shift + S keyboard shortcut—you’ll now see a new action in the toolbar called “Visual Search with Bing.” Clicking it launches a Bing search that tries to identify the subject in the selection. The Snipping Tool is one of Windows 11’s best features because it can do so much more than just take screenshots. For instance, it can extract text from an image using OCR, it can record screencast videos, and it can export screencasts as animated GIFs. Visual Search is an excellent addition to the arsenal—and Windows Latest even says that it performs slightly better than Google Lens in their tests. Visual Search with Bing is currently only available in Snipping Tool version 11.2508.29.0 and only to users in the US for now. Further reading: Overlooked Windows 11 features I wish I tried sooner Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Clear refined sound Lightweight and portable Large volume knob control Cons Lacks a strong bass No dedicated software app Sound is quite localized Our Verdict The Bluedee Computer Soundbar is a compact, portable speaker ideal for small spaces. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Bluedee Computer Soundbar Retailer Price $59.49 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The Bluedee Computer Soundbar is a compact, straightforward PC speaker that’s ideal for small rooms. Its low profile makes it easy to place beneath a monitor or beside a laptop. You can charge and use it without keeping it plugged in, allowing it to double as a portable Bluetooth speaker. It delivers clear, crisp audio that’s strongest in the mid-range tones. Read on to learn more. Bluedee Computer Soundbar: Design and build The Bluedee Computer Soundbar consists of a single soundbar including two full-range 20W speakers. Those speakers are situated next to mica fiber diaphragms for the sound resonance. The soundbar itself has a low profile. It measures 18.1 x 3.1 x 2.9 inches, so it fits neatly underneath a monitor or beside a laptop without taking up much space. The design is made of hard plastic with a plastic speaker grille that takes up the whole front section. It weighs two pounds, so it’s very lightweight and portable. The unit comes with two non-slip feet on each side of the bar. They’re made of foam and have a fair amount of cushioning, which works as a protection against vibrations from the desk. Overall, the Bluedee Soundbar is sturdy and well made. Bluedee Computer Soundbar: Connectivity and controls On the back left side of the device, you’ll find the ports: an AUX In port, a USB port, and a power port. Included in the box are a USB-C charging cable and a 3.5 mm audio cable for connectivity. Dominic Bayley / Foundry The Bluedee Computer Soundbar supports Bluetooth 5.3 by default, but you can plug in a USB flash drive or use the 3.5mm cable connection if you wish. All the controls are located on the left end of the soundbar. Here, you’ll find a power button, a large volume control knob, play and pause buttons, a mode button, and the next track/previous track buttons. I liked the large volume knob, which let me adjust the sound without moving the soundbar while playing music. However, the mode button and the next/previous track buttons look very similar, making them a bit hard to tell apart. The soundbar features a 3600mAh battery, and once it’s charged, it stays powered on even when unplugged, allowing you to use it as a portable Bluetooth speaker. The device has voice notifications that announce the different modes as you change between them. That meant I never had to guess what mode I was in. Bluedee Computer Soundbar: Sound To test the Bluedee Computer Soundbar, I first played Paradise by Coldplay followed by All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor. The Bluedee rose to the occasion on both counts, producing clear, crisp audio that was on par with what you’d expect from a quality 2.0 speaker system. It’s rare to find speakers at this price point with this level of clarity. I was surprised at how crisp the audio was in Paradise, considering the Bluedee Soundbar costs well under $100. The vocals were the hero. The Bluedee delivered them with a warmness that highlighted the mid-range tones. The instrumentals flew over the top of the vocals too, which showcased the soundbar’s treble range. The Bluedee Computer Soundbar controls.  Dominic Bayley / Foundry In All About That Bass, the instrumentals popped above the vocals also, but the bass was pretty light. I had to turn the volume up high to get a response out of it. You’ll need to keep the volume up anyway to get projection throughout a room since the sound is quite localized. For that reason, the Bluedee Soundbar is better suited to smaller rooms. On the plus side, the soundbar does a great job of reducing vibrations. Even with the volume cranked up very high, the unit held out on the kind of vibrations that would cause the sound to be muffled. I also tested the speakers for video conferencing. Voices came through clearly and without distortion, so the soundbar can just as easily be used for work as for music or general PC audio. After a full charge, the soundbar’s battery lasted for two and a half hours of continuous play. There’s no software app support though, which is a shame because you have to guess how much power you have left. Bluedee Computer Soundbar: Conclusion Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Bluedee Soundbar. It’s rare to find speakers at this price point with this level of clarity, making the Bluedee a solid choice for anyone looking for a lightweight, portable soundbar for their home PC setup. While the Bluedee lacks strong bass and dedicated software support, it still offers excellent value at its current price of just $59. Read...

Wyze Labs expands its budget-priced smart home security lineup this week with two new wireless outdoor cameras: the Battery Video Doorbell and the Solar Cam Pan pan/tilt camera. Wyze Battery Video Doorbell The Wyze Battery Video Doorbell is built for easy installation and full front-door coverage. Its 1:1 aspect ratio, 150- × 150-degree field-of-view lens captures any activity on your porch with resolution of 1536 x 1536 pixels. The doorbell can operate wire-free for three to six months on a charge, or you can connect it to your existing low-voltage wiring for continuous power. Opting for the latter enables a pre-roll feature that captures an additional 3- to 6 seconds of video before a motion event triggered the camera to record. With an optional Cam Plus subscription ($3 per month/$20 per year for each Wyze camera you own), you’ll get AI-powered person and package detection, 14 days of storage in the cloud, and other benefits. A Cam Unlimited subscription, priced at $10 per month/$100 per year, unlocks additional features, including facial recognition, and covers all the Wyze cameras you might own. The Wyze Battery Video Doorbell can run wire-free for up to six months. Connect it to your existing low-voltage wiring for continuous power and pre-roll video capture.Wyze Other features include two-way talk, quick auto-responses, and a motion-activated voice deterrent that alerts visitors they’re being recorded. The unit carries an IP65 weather-resistance rating and can record locally to a user-provided microSD card (capacities up to 256GB are supported). The doorbell can record video to the card 24/7 when it’s hardwired to power. Smart home aficionados can integrate the Wyze Battery Doorbell with Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT, and Wyze Automations. It’s available now for $65.98. Wyze Solar Cam Pan The Wyze Solar Cam Pan is the company’s first solar-powered, wire-free, pan-and-tilt camera. It provides 360 degrees of horizontal and 70 degrees of vertical movement, and it records in 2K resolution with color night vision and what Wyze describes as “Wide Dynamic Range.” The camera’s ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) solar panel is designed to deliver continuous power with exposure to about an hour of sunlight per day, supplemented by a built-in 6,400 mAh battery that Wyze says can last up to six months on a full charge of its own. Other features include AI-powered person tracking, a 105dB siren, a motion-activated spotlight, and motion-activated warnings to deter intruders. The Solar Cam Pan provides 360 degrees of horizontal and 70 degrees of vertical movement and records in 2K resolution. Wyze The Solar Cam Pan is rated IP65 for protection from the elements, meaning it’s impervious to particulate-matter (e.g., dust) ingress, and that it’s protected against water projected in jets from any direction (short of a pressure washer, that is). The camera supports up to Wi-Fi 6 networking (initial setup connection is via Bluetooth), and it can accommodate up to a 512GB microSD card for local recording. The provided mounting kits enable you to mount the camera can be mounted on a vertical wall or under an eave, with the solar panel installed on top or at a nearby location thanks to its 10-foot cable. The Wyze Solar Cam Pan is available now for $79.98. We’ll have reviews of both devices soon. Read...

I always thought the idea of a 5G laptop was little more than a gimmick. Public Wi-Fi is everywhere these days, plus you can always tether your laptop to your phone’s 5G hotspot in a pinch. That’s enough, right? But after doing a hands-on review of an HP laptop with built-in 5G—the HP EliteBook 6 G1q, if you’re curious what it was—I have to confess that I was wrong. 5G laptops are actually amazing! Here’s a quick explainer on HP Go and 5G laptops, plus what made me change my mind on 5G laptops and why I hope to see manufacturers start putting out a wide range of 5G models soon. What is HP Go? There are some things you need to know about 5G laptops before getting one, such as the fact they’re still pretty hard to find. Whereas tablets with cellular connectivity are common, you have to go out of your way to hunt down a laptop with 5G hardware—and even if you do find the right machine, not all 5G plans support laptops. 5G laptop plans are expensive, and they’re often just sold to businesses. Microsoft Surface Laptop 5GMicrosoft Such is the case for HP Go, which is a 5G service plan provided by HP for businesses, and it’s built right into their 5G laptops. Under the hood, HP’s 5G laptops have multiple eSIMs that can connect to AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon networks. The laptops automatically choose the strongest network without any input needed from you. Conceptually, this reminds me of Google’s original plan for Google Fi—a multi-network cellular plan that automatically switches between networks. The first version of HP Go is designed strictly for businesses, but I asked HP about a consumer version and one representative hinted they were also thinking about 5G laptops for consumers. What makes a 5G laptop so amazing? A 5G laptop transforms how you use your laptop on the go. That’s easy to say, but it actually feels unreal in the real world. I went to downtown Boston, sat on a park bench, and pulled the laptop out of my bag. As soon as I opened it, I had an active internet connection. I later drove to the beach, got out of the car, and opened the laptop. Right away, the 5G was ready to go. Chris Hoffman / Foundry It’s the speed and convenience that wowed me. You can pull out your laptop, check your email and shoot a reply, then close it in under a minute. (It beats typing the email on your phone!) You don’t have to hunt down public Wi-Fi and click through a portal while wondering if you should be using a VPN for public Wi-Fi security. You don’t have to pull out your phone, tether it to your laptop, and drain your phone’s battery to power your laptop’s internet. 5G on a laptop just works. No need for Wi-Fi or Ethernet When I was setting up the HP EliteBook 6 G1q, I took it out of the box, turned it on, signed into my Microsoft account, and configured Windows per usual… except I never connected it to Wi-Fi. In fact, I didn’t even have to set up the 5G connection! The laptop came pre-configured with a cellular profile (a feature HP offers to businesses as part of HP Go). Chris Hoffman / Foundry The experience of setting up a Windows laptop and being able to jump right into using it without connecting to Wi-Fi is surreal. The 5G laptop experience feels like magic. More than that, an always-on cellular data connection provides better anti-theft capabilities for a laptop as well as remote manageability. Like a 5G phone or tablet, you can remotely track a 5G laptop even when it isn’t connected to Wi-Fi. 5G laptops can compete with tablets I remember being at CES 2020 in Las Vegas, which was branded “the year of 5G.” Now, over five years later, it’s still difficult to get your hands on a laptop with 5G. Want a portable device with a keyboard that has 5G? You’re nudged towards an iPad or Android tablet instead. But I want a PC, not an iPad or Android tablet. For real, 5G is a feature that PCs desperately need to steal from tablets—all popular laptop models should offer the option to pay a little extra for 5G. Chris Hoffman / Foundry If PC manufacturers want to compete with iPads in a world where Apple is increasingly offering more desktop-style features on iPadOS, then they need to get serious about 5G laptop models. I want my portable productivity machine to run Windows. How many people have switched to using a 5G iPad as a “laptop” just for the connectivity alone? Cellular laptops are awesome, period I’ve previously argued against 5G laptops, and some of those arguments still hold water: you only have a few hardware options; 5G cellular plans are expensive; you can make do with a dedicated 5G hotspot device. Those are still reasons to avoid buying a 5G laptop right now. But those problems could be fixed by the industry at large, and this HP laptop powered by HP Go hints at such a future. A 5G laptop will never need to drain your phone’s battery via mobile hotspot.Chris Hoffman / Foundry Later on, when 5G laptops are easily accessible and cellular plans are reasonably priced, I’m sure most people would prefer 5G laptops. The idea of having a cellular connection everywhere is a killer business feature, so it’s no surprise that HP is mainly marketing this to businesses to start—but many consumers and individual knowledge workers (like me) would also love this in our day-to-day portable laptops. That day is still a few years away at least, so maybe don’t rush out to buy a 5G laptop just yet. But definitely keep the tech on your radar. I want to see more 5G-powered laptops from other manufacturers soon, and I look forward to the day when opening a laptop is just like taking out a phone. The only question is, which manufacturer is going to take this seriously and be the first to offer 5G laptops to consumers? Read...

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