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AMD just debuted its new FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4) upscaling tech on the latest Radeon RX 9070 and 9070 Ti GPUs, and it sounds like it might not be limited PCs. According to a new Digital Foundry interview with Mark Cerny, some version of FSR 4 will make it into the PlayStation 5 Pro via a software update rather than new hardware.

"Our target is to have something very similar to FSR 4's upscaler available on PS5 Pro for 2026 titles as the next evolution of PSSR," Cerny tells Digital Foundry. The PS5 Pro's PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) is a custom upscaling technology that lets the console run lower-resolution versions of games and make them appear like they're 4K, and by Cerny's own lengthy explanation, it was created using a combination of existing and future AMD tech. 

Based on our review of AMD's new GPUs, FSR 4 is not a miracle worker. In some cases it leads to a lower frame rate than you might get from FSR 3, but in exchange for more detail. That extra crispness, while subtle, will probably make a difference to someone who's already spent $700 on a "Pro" console. The comparison video below does a pretty good job of illustrating the improvements FSR 4 actually makes:

Sony believes implementing FSR 4 on the PS5 Pro is even possible in the first place because the company also directly contributed to the development of the tech through its "Project Amethyst" collaboration with AMD. "The neural network (and training recipe) in FSR 4's upscaler are the first results of the Amethyst collaboration," according to Cerny.

The company's work with AMD was announced with a focus on building new machine learning architecture for game graphics, but it will clearly have more immediate impacts on PSSR and current PlayStation consoles, too. "FSR 4 and this next evolution of PSSR are a paradigm for our future," Cerny tells Digital Foundry, "going forward we expect to have our own implementations of each of the algorithms developed through the collaboration."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstations-mark-cerny-says-a-version-of-fsr-4-could-be-implemented-on-the-ps5-pro-191802108.html?src=rss

The fantastic third-person adventure Control, developed by Remedy Entertainment, just got a surprise software update. The biggest news here is HDR support, which should be a real boon for graphics-minded gamers.

Interestingly, HDR support started as a mod. It was made by a Remedy dev as a passion project and now it’s in the actual game. That’s always nice to hear. There’s a video below with a lot more information as to how this was done.

The update also brings improved DLSS support. The game now integrates with DLSS 3.7. This isn’t the latest DLSS 4.0 release, but it’ll get the job done. Film grain has been added back to DLSS SR and the devs have enhanced shadow resolution when DLSS is enabled. Otherwise, the update brings a new “Ultra” ray-tracing preset, which the dev promises “more rays per pixel and higher temporal stability.”

There’s ultrawide monitor support for up to 48:9 displays, a new FOV scaling setting for the camera and rendering resolution support beyond 4K. This is very much a graphics-focused update.

The newly-released features do, however, go beyond looks. All outfits that were formerly pre-order or console-specific exclusives will now be available to everyone. Also, all players can now access a mission called Dr. Yoshimi Tokui’s Guided Imagery Experience. This is the one that includes voice work by Hideo Kojima. This mission was previously exclusive to the PS4 Digital Deluxe version of the game.

Beyond that, there are the usual minor bug fixes, including one for the end game credits. The update is available right now for PC players, with a console version on the way.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/a-surprise-control-update-brings-hideo-kojima-and-hdr-to-the-pc-version-190051559.html?src=rss

TCL just unveiled a new TV in its Precise Dimming Series. The QM7K is a Mini LED TV and a follow-up to the recently-released QM6K. It uses the company’s Halo Control Technology Suite, which is kind of a catch-all name for a bunch of tweaks the company has made to the dimming and picture quality of its Mini LEDs.

The company says the QM7K offers higher peak brightness than its predecessors and a new anti-reflective panel. TCL also promises “enhanced color accuracy, gray scale accuracy” and “virtually no blooming.” This is thanks to the company's Super High Energy LED Chip, which combines high brightness with increased light efficiency, and the Super Condensed Micro Lens, which uses a “narrower light path for more precise” control.

TLC

Additionally, newly-enhanced technology minimizes the optical distance between the backlight and the diffuser, which eliminates blooming, reduces the halo effect and avoids LED light overlap. The new features, in conjunction with the anti-reflective panel, create a picture with a better contrast and deeper blacks.

On the software side of things, there’s a new color optimization algorithm for improved accuracy. The Halo Control System also adds a bi-directional 23-bit backlight controller, which allows for granular control of over 65,000 levels of brightness for each and every LED. There’s also a new algorithm that “intelligently optimizes” incoming SDR signals at “near HDR level.”

The QM7K features Bang & Olfusen speakers and select sizes ship with a pedestal stand. Sizes range from 55-inches all the way up to 115-inches. Prices fluctuate from around $1,300 for the smallest one to a whopping $20,000 for the 115-inch monster. Traditional sizes are availright right now at retailers nationwide, with the large models coming soon. Some purchases come with a $500 Visa gift card, which is a nice bonus.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/tcls-new-mini-led-tv-offers-higher-peak-brightness-and-better-contrast-than-earlier-models-175237076.html?src=rss

Apple used to treat every public-facing announcement like an event. (Well, at least the good news.) Even its keynotes — ostensibly for investors and press — were well-orchestrated circuses. If there's any conclusion to be drawn from the sheer number of new products the company's launched without any kind of event since the iPhone 16 series was introduced six months ago, the time for hanging on Apple's every word has passed. 

Some of it can be chalked up to the company's new preference for recorded, highly-edited video presentations rather than live shows. Some of it might also have to do with the fact that since Apple started making the chips that power its smartphones, tablets and computers, most of the "new" things it introduces amount to spec bumps. Apple's managed to announce eight new products since the iPhone 16, nine if you count a new chip that debuted in one of the company's updated desktop computers. That list includes Apple's latest iPad Air, which we have just reviewed. Here's a look at all of that new hardware, from Apple's most recent releases to the new computers it used to close out 2024. 

M4 MacBook Air Apple

The MacBook Air is one of Apple's most popular laptops, so it's only natural it should get the latest M4 chip. Luckily, that extra power didn't come at the cost of a more expensive computer. A 13-inch MacBook Air now starts at $999, with the 15-inch model coming in at $1,199, down from the $1,099 you used to have to pay to get an M3 MacBook Air. The new laptops also come with an improved 12MP Center Stage webcam, and a new metallic color option Apple's dubbed "Sky Blue." It's not the most exciting announcement, but a new laptop that's twice as powerful as Apple's M1 computers for a lower price is welcome all the same.

Mac Studio Apple

Apple's update to the Mac Studio, announced alongside the MacBook Air, is even more of a pure spec bump. No cosmetic changes were made to the Studio: The short and stout computer still has USB ports and an SD card reader on the front, with even more I/O options available on the back. What's different are the chips powering the Mac Studio on the inside. Apple offers either an M4 Max with a 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU or new M3 Ultra chip, which gives the Studio enough wiggle room to handle most professional creative workloads. With the M4 Max you can get up to 128GB of unified memory but if you opt for the M3 Ultra, that can go all the way up to 512GB. All of that power will cost you, though. The Mac Studio with the M4 Max starts at $1,999, while the M3 Ultra version starts at $3,999.

M3 Ultra Apple

The M3 Ultra is the truly novel part of the Mac Studio update. The late-arriving chip fills the top spot in Apple's M3 lineup, with a 32-core CPU (24 of which are performance cores), up to a 80-core GPU and a 32-core Neural Engine. Apple claims the M3 Ultra is over two times as powerful as the M1 Ultra, likely because it's technically two M3 Max chips connected together with the company's "Ultrafusion" architecture. The new chip also supports Thunderbolt 5 for faster connectivity and specced with up to 512GB of unified memory. Currently, the M3 Ultra is only available on the Mac Studio, which oddly leaves the Mac Pro out of the loop. It's possible Apple's most expensive Mac will be updated soon, or maybe there's an even more powerful chip waiting in the wings.

M3 iPad Air Apple

The same week Apple updated the MacBook Air and Mac Studio, it also tweaked the iPad Air, giving the 11- or 13-inch tablet a new M3 chip, and an updated version of the Magic Keyboard with a function row and a slightly larger trackpad. The iPad Air was already capable of Apple Intelligence and plenty fast with the M2 chip it received in 2024, so Apple's announcement mainly keeps it competitive, unless you're interested in ray-tracing, which admittedly is offered in some console games that have been ported to the iPad. The new iPad Air starts at $599, while the new Magic Keyboard starts at $260, and strangely, only comes in white.

We just finished reviewing the iPad Air and, unsurprisingly, found it to be nearly identical to its predecessor. Having a faster and more future-proof chip never hurts, and the updated keyboard is a definite improvement over the older model. If you have an M2 model, don't go out of your way to update, but if you have a iPad with an A-series chip, the new iPad Air should provide a much smoother and faster experience. We just wish it had a high refresh rate screen.

iPad Apple

Apple's changes to the entry-level iPad are even smaller. It's been upgraded from an A14 Bionic chip to an A16, which means the tablet is faster, but still not capable of Apple Intelligence. The new tablet also starts with a larger amount of storage. Rather than the frankly dismal 64GB Apple used to offer at the low-end, you now can't get an iPad without at least 128GB of storage. That's not bad, even for Apple's slightly expensive $349 starting price. Still, besides acting as the go-to option for families looking to buy a tablet for their kids or grandparents, Apple's basic iPad mainly seems like a way to drive people to a more expensive option.

iPhone 16e Brian Oh for Engadget

The wait for a replacement to the 2022 iPhone SE was long, and as it turns out, the direction Apple wants to take the idea is a little unexpected. The company started the year by turning the SE into the iPhone 16e, a new low-end for the company's smartphone lineup. The iPhone 16e is an odd mixture of iPhones old and new. It features the A18 chip, which means it can handle the little Apple Intelligence currently has to offer, it looks like an iPhone 14, but with a singular camera. And for some reason it doesn't have MagSafe. For $549, the iPhone 16e doesn't exactly feel like a deal, but is cheaper, and more importantly, interesting, as the first of Apple's phones to feature its custom C1 modem.

M4 Mac mini Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

Small computers are always crowd-pleasers and the even more compact M4 Mac mini Apple released at the end of 2024 is no different. The updated Mac mini looks much more like a tall Apple TV than the flat DVD player shape of Apple's older models and it has front-facing ports, too. For as little as $599, the Mac mini gets you access to the latest M4 chip and up to 64GB of unified memory, a pretty powerful little machine. With the option to slot in an M4 Pro, it can even be your workhorse, too. The Mac mini represents the other side of Apple's recent focus on specs. A new chip isn't the most exciting thing in the world, but if it can lead to a radically smaller computer, it's worth it.

M4 iMac Steve Dent for Engadget

The iMac's move to M4 was far less of an overhaul than the Mac mini. Apple changed some of the color options, added a 12MP webcam and introduced an optional nano-texture finish to the display, but it's otherwise the same old 24-inch all-in-one computer. Funnily, the bigger news out of the iMac refresh might have been its accessories. After switching to USB-C ports on basically all of its devices, Apple finally got rid of the Lightning port on the Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard. The mouse still charges upside down, but at least you can use the same cable for everything. That's maybe representative of the new iMac as a whole: It has the same quirks, but it's definitely better than before.

M4 MacBook Pro Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

The M4 MacBook Pros were released not long after Apple introduced the iPhone 16 and the new laptops were mainly a vehicle for the introduction of the M4 family of chips as a whole. Apple didn't really change the design of the MacBook Pro, just gave it more RAM, more Thunderbolt ports and a slightly brighter screen. The MacBook Pro comes in both 14-inch and 16-inch varieties, with either an M4, M4 Pro or M4 Max chip. The cheaper side of things, the M4 chip has a 10-core CPU and 8-core GPU, while the high-end M4 Max has a 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU. The M4 MacBook Pros started the cascading wave of spec bumps Apple's introduced over the last few months, and also the company's AI focus: The M4 chip has a larger NPU, or Neural Engine, for completing AI tasks, regardless of which version you get.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/everything-apple-announced-since-its-last-event-224536253.html?src=rss

Season two of HBO’s The Last of Us is just a month away, and as such the hype cycle kicked into full gear this past weekend. A full trailer finally arrived on Saturday during a panel at SXSW with the show’s creators and cast (not to mention an in-depth preview in Variety), and both that trailer and the panel discussion reinforced at least one major change coming this season: more action.

That could fix one of the bigger complaints fans had about season one, which garnered tons of praise from critics and fans alike. While season one brought the Infected to life in terrifying fashion, there were long stretches of the show where they simply weren’t around, making them feel like less of an ever-present threat. The new trailer shows off the town of Jackson, where Joel and Ellie settled at the end of season one along with his brother Tommy, under a massive siege of Infected, the kind of battle that might take up an entire episode. And show creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann hinted that Infected would play a bigger role this season, not just in numbers.

"It was important to us to always move the ball forward with the infected," Mazin said during the SXSW panel. "It’s not a question of just more, but something else that is meaningful to what is going on so they don’t just become NPCs. So definitely an escalation, we’re careful about it because we know we have space yet to go [in future seasons]." And in response to the panel’s moderator noting the balance between action and drama, Druckmann pointed out that, for the showrunners, "everything is drama, even the action scenes. They all have to be character-driven."

To that end, the trailer showed off a new-but-old way for the infection to spread that wasn’t present in the first season: spores. Anyone who played the games noted the absence of spores as a transmission for infection in the first season, but Mazin exclaimed "spores? They’re back!" when talking about how the Infected were evolving for the new season. "There had to be a dramatic reason to introduce [spores] now," Druckmann said, "and now there is." Unsurprisingly, he wasn’t more forthcoming about the details.

I didn’t really object to the lack of spores in season one; it felt more like a game mechanic than something crucial to the plot. But there are a few story beats in The Last of Us Part II that I can recall where having spores around leads to a crucial plot reveal, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they get integrated here, and what the on-screen excuse will be for not seeing them before now. Similarly, I chalked the smaller number of Infected up to changes made to translate a video game to a show, though I feel like the first season could have had one more big throw-down — but I feel like season two will answer those complaints and then some.

Druckmann also said part of the reason the Infected weren’t more present was simply that the showrunners "weren’t exactly sure what we were doing." That’s not in terms of the story, but specifically in terms of showing the Infected on screen. "What should Infected look like? How much should be practical effects? How much can be VFX? Now, we know what we’re doing and we swung for the fences," he said. "In the game, we talk about how Jackson has had these attacks, but now we get to show it. And the reason we do it is we show you what’s at stake, not for individuals but for an entire community."

The notion of community plays into the overarching story that Mazin and Druckmann want to tell in season two. Druckmann said that the first season followed Joel and Ellie and was a lot about them against other communities, like the group in Kansas City or David’s flock of followers late in the first season. "Now, we get to see them settled in Jackson, that’s their home, and there’s a love there for a community," Druckmann explained. "That gets us into tribalism… what happens when you go against another group and you don’t see the humanity in them and how far will that take you, especially when they hurt someone you love."

HBO

Mazin followed that up by noting that the show has tried to investigate "the cost of love" and is now trying to create a sense of a larger, communal love and how a smaller, tighter group can fit into it. "What happens if someone in your tight group is taken from you, and you feel alone? One thing Ellie said in season one was the thing she’s most afraid of is ending up alone," Mazin said. "So all these characters have to face this potential threat of being alone, and without a tribe, and then what do you do?"

The other big theme that came out of the panel focused on how new cast members Kaitlyn Dever (Abby), Isabela Merced (Dina) and Young Mazino (Jesse) would fit in with returning stars Bella Ramsey (Ellie), Pedro Pascal (Joel) and Gabriel Luna (Tommy).

"Yes, [the new cast] came in like badasses," said Pascal before then turning to Ramsey. "But you make it so easy, and so welcoming. I think we all really looked to Bella this time around as far as the cast is concerned. And this kind of open permission to be ourselves and to partner together in the scenes… I think it is the sort of unspoken leadership that made it such an easy, horrifying place to step into." With his ever-present Dad-style humor, Pascal followed that by saying "The story was horrifying. Not Canada."

"They’re not new to me, because we’ve lived all this time together and it was seamless… and I feel rather protective of you guys, and I love you guys, and you gave us everything," Mazin said. "Not a weak link in the chain," Druckmann interjected before Mazin went on to say how much he was looking forward to shooting with them yet again.

Ramsey spoke to how well the new cast integrated itself during season two’s filming. "I think it’s such a hard thing to do, to come into a world and a show that’s already really established, it must be so intimidating and these people just came in and made it their own and fit in so well," they said. "Izzy brought a lot of joy and laughter and made everyone laugh consistently… it’s just a joy to work with all three of these guys."

HBO

Kaitlyn Dever owned up to the anxiety the shoot produced, saying that stepping into a world that was so beloved was "nerve-wracking and anxiety-inducing" — and that’s without mentioning the online hate that the character she’s portraying (and its voice actor) received in 2020 when The Last of Us Part II was leaked two months before its release. Dever didn’t get into that specific hornet’s nest during the panel, but did say that "there are so many expectations going into this, and it's just a matter of balancing that and also coming to it with my own ideas and building the character with Craig and Neil."

The cast was an undeniable highlight of the first season of The Last of Us — everyone on the show absolutely killed, regardless of whether they were in six episodes or were on the screen for six minutes. Projecting familial friendliness during a press tour is one thing, but the love and respect the actors have for each other as well as Mazin and Druckmann has been continually obvious over the last few years, particularly between Ramsey and Pascal.

A fan shot a clip of Pascal watching the season two trailer during the panel, and he clearly gets emotional at the end of it, leaning over and giving Ramsey a big bear hug. As much as the show might be, on the surface, about fungal zombies, it only works because of the relationships between the characters on screen, whether that’s Joel and Ellie or now Ellie and Dina or Abby and her WLF crew. Assuming everyone gets that right in season two, the show should satisfy again — regardless of how many Infected are on screen.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-last-of-us-season-two-promises-a-lot-more-action-alongside-devastating-drama-170044014.html?src=rss

Every new gadget you buy comes at a cost to your wallet, but there’s a hefty environmental price to pay as well. Every phone and laptop out there is a non-compostable mass of metal and plastic, and every new generation of them means more rare earth metals pulled out of the ground. Then there’s the human labor required to put them together, and the water and fuel used in manufacturing and shipping. It all adds up, but you can help bring that cost down a bit by recycling your old devices.

Fortunately, companies and governments alike have made it possible to dispose of your old devices responsibly. You can take your items to a recycling center, drop them off at a store, or even mail them in. Here’s how to find places that will take your old gadgets.

National chains

There is no national electronics recycling law at this time, so you won't find any federal programs to assist you with getting rid of old devices. The USPS does run a program for federal agencies and their employees, but it's not available to the general public. Instead, the rest of us have to rely on nationwide retailers to toss out our old stuff.

Best Buy

With more than 1,000 locations in the United States, there may be a Best Buy close to you, in which case, you can go to a location to drop off items to be recycled. You just need to take it to the customer service counter. They'll issue you a receipt, but keep in mind that you can't claim the drop-off as a deduction on your taxes because Best Buy isn't a charity.

As of 2025, Best Buy also has a mail-in option. You can purchase a small- ($23, up to 6 pounds) or medium-sized ($30, up to 15 pounds) box from the retailer, fill it up with as many approved gadgets as you can (while staying under the weight limit) and ship it back to Best Buy to be recycled. You can either drop off your boxes at a UPS drop-off point or schedule a UPS pickup (do not drop the boxes off at a Best Buy store).

You can even recycle televisions and monitors, though in most places you'll be charged a fee of $30 per item to cover the higher costs of transporting and disassembling them. Best Buy’s in-house TV brands, Insignia and Dynex, will always be accepted for free, though, as long as they’re smaller than 50 inches. (Consumers in California are not charged the $30 fee, while locations in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan charge the fee but offer a $30 gift card as reimbursement. Connecticut locations will only accept Insignia and Dynex sets for recycling.) If you're turning in any desktops, laptops or PC gaming accessories, you’ll get a voucher for 20 percent off toward the purchase of a new Logitech mouse, keyboard, webcam or headset. Just be aware that Best Buy limits you to three items per household per day, including up to two televisions or monitors.

Staples

Recycling your stuff at Staples is similar to Best Buy — just bring your products to the checkout counter and an associate will help you out. But you can only bring in seven items a day, and the store won’t accept televisions at all (monitors are allowed). Staples Easy Rewards members also receive points for bringing in goods to be recycled or shredded; the points can be redeemed at checkout for discounts on purchases (200 points = $1 off).

If you can’t make it to a store, Staples also offers a mail-in program. You’ll need to purchase a recycling box first, which starts at $14 for a small box and goes up to several hundred for a full pallet (only available for commercial locations). You can put as much as you want into a box as long as it fits inside and doesn’t exceed the weight limit (a large box can accept up to 70 pounds). A “serialized” option is also available for an additional charge, which includes an inventory list for everything you send back. The boxes are shipped to you and then back to Staples at no extra cost; just drop off the sealed packages at your local UPS drop-off point or call for a pickup.

Office Depot / OfficeMax

Office Depot and OfficeMax have almost 1,000 locations around the United States but, unlike Staples and Best Buy, the company won't recycle your old gadgets for free. If you're only getting rid of a few phones, batteries or ink and toner cartridges, those can be turned in at any Office Depot or OfficeMax store for no charge.

For everything else, you must purchase a Tech Recycling Box ($8.39 for small, $18.29 for medium, and $28 for large) even if you’re already at the store. Once you have the box, you can fill it with as many items as you can fit inside, including smaller televisions, as long as it doesn’t exceed the weight limit. So it's a great deal if you have a lot of stuff you want to dispose of. These must be turned in at an Office Depot or OfficeMax store; an associate will check to make sure all the items are acceptable and prepare the box for shipping (you’ll be asked to fill out a form).

You can also return used ink and toner cartridges and get $2 each, up to 10 a month, if you’re a rewards member and spend at least $10 in-store on products within the same month.

Home Depot and Lowes

You can dispose of old rechargeable batteries, old phones and CFL bulbs in the dropoff boxes at any of 2,300 Home Depot or 1,700 Lowe’s locations. The bins are usually located in the front of the store, and Home Depot has an 11-pound limit on individual items, while batteries must be under 300Wh.

Target

Target locations have drop-off bins for recyclables located near the entrance; in addition to bins for paper and plastics, there is a specially-designated bin for e-waste like cellphones and used ink cartridges.

Manufacturers

If you can't make it to a retail location, especially when you need to get rid of only one or two items, many companies offer recycling programs for their own products. They'll even pay for shipping. Some run their own programs while others use outside organizations. We've outlined policies from a handful of manufacturers below.

Amazon

Amazon would love for you to use its trade-in program and, if you’re looking to recycle Amazon-branded products like Kindles, Fire TVs and even Ring doorbells, you absolutely should. Amazon will send you a gift card as well as promotional discount to use on a future Amazon device purchase, even if the returned product is non-functional.

For products from other manufacturers that can’t be resold, Amazon offers mail-in recycling through its partner Re-Teck. You can send in your busted phones and tablets, as well as select peripherals like keyboards and mice. You'll just need to fill out some forms online and generate a shipping label, which you can slap on any box. Drop it off at a UPS location, and you're good to go; Amazon will cover all the costs.

Apple Apple

If your iPhone or MacBook is still in good shape, you should consider selling it, but if it's too old or beat up you can still score a gift card by using Apple's trade-in program. For iPhones (as well as select handsets from Samsung and Google) and iPads, you'll be asked to fill out a form attesting to the product's condition and given a trade-in quote (at the time of writing this, a working iPhone 8 snags you a $40 gift card and an iPhone 12 scores you $170). For Macs and Apple Watches, you'll be asked to provide a serial number as well. Though Apple won't give you cash for anything it deems too old, broken or otherwise unacceptable, you can still mail it in or bring it to any Apple Store so it can be responsibly disposed of.

Dell

Dell offers drop-off recycling via a partnership with Goodwill. Not every location participates, but there are more than 2,000 that do. And, because it's a charity, you may even be able to deduct it as a donation on your taxes. Dell also has a mail-back program on its site where you can generate and print out a shipping label and drop the package off at a FedEx location instead.

Epson

You can ship old products back to Epson by simply creating a shipping label on its site and dropping it off at a FedEx location. If you’re located in New York, you can even get free packaging sent to you by calling 866-922-8252. Epson also recommends getting in touch with a local charity via Digitunity, where your old equipment may be refurbished for use by people in need.

HP

If you can, HP recommends taking its products to the nearest Best Buy. HP does have a trade-in program, but it’s geared toward business customers looking to upgrade equipment that still has market value and individual consumers will be redirected to other recycling methods.

Ink and toner cartridges can be returned by mail; the company will mail you an envelope that can hold between three and eight ink cartridges and can be dropped off in a mailbox or at the post office. For toner and large quantities of ink cartridges, you can print out a label and use your own box, or request a box be sent directly to you, which you’ll fill with items and drop off at a UPS location.

Other manufacturers

Many other companies use outside recyclers to dispose of their products, and you'll often see the same names popping up again and again across different manufacturers. This should simplify things in some cases — you should be able to send in products from multiple sources in one package. You just need to fill in the make and model to generate a prepaid shipping label. However, different states have different rules on what you can return, so the drop-downs for selecting your product may vary by area.

Two major recycling companies you'll notice a lot are RLG, which covers Acer, Google, Intel, Lenovo, and Microsoft; and MRM, which recycles products for Brother, Hisense, Hitachi, HTC, Logitech, Panasonic, TCL and Wacom.

States

There may not be a national law dictating that you must recycle your electronics, but at least 26 states have passed rules that vary widely on what they demand of manufacturers and consumers. Almost all states that do collect products for recycling provide this service free, with the bill footed by the companies in some way. Most provide some local programs to help you get rid of your stuff, regardless of whether recycling your gadgets is required or optional.

States where you can no longer dispose of electronics in the regular trash and must recycle them include: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.

The following states have laws requiring manufacturers to pay for recycling, but you, the consumer, are not actually required to recycle your electronics: Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

The following states have some special circumstances worth noting:

Connecticut

Does not allow recycling centers to charge you a fee for turning in electronics, so many organizations and retailers that would usually charge for recycling televisions and monitors do not accept them. Because you cannot dispose of them curbside, you can take them to a municipal transfer station for free.

New York

New York State has a law making it illegal to charge a fee at recycling centers, so this is your best bet for disposing of old televisions (retailers can still charge for the service). If you live in a New York City apartment building with 10 or more units, contact your landlord about getting an ecycleNYC drop-off box installed in your building. It’s super convenient and free.

Pennsylvania

Does not allow retailers to charge you a fee to recycle, so places like Best Buy and Staples will not accept most televisions or monitors. Many recycling centers have also closed as a result of underfunding, so check the list of open locations first. Some nonprofit recyclers may still accept the items, and you should check to see if your local government is hosting any drop-off events. Lancaster and Dauphin Counties also still run civic recycling programs.

Virginia

This state does not have a dedicated statewide recycling program, but some localities run their own programs including Fairfax, Loudoun and Rockbridge counties, and cities like Arlington. Check each municipality’s site for details.

Cell phones

Cell phones are the easiest gadget to recycle — if you haven't already decided to sell yours off on eBay or via sites like Decluttr and ecoATM. But, if these options don’t appeal to you, you can send it to:

Call2Recycle, which has drop-off centers all over the country in many chain stores, including Lowes, Home Depot and Staples. It will also accept rechargeable batteries.

Cell Phones for Soldiers accepts phones in any condition and sells them to refurbishers or recyclers. The proceeds go toward purchasing phone cards for troops so they can call their friends and family back home. To be clear, the phones are not given directly to the soldiers. You can donate via mail: If you’re sending less than 10 devices, you’ll need to pay for shipping. More than 10 devices, and Cell Phones for Soldiers will give you a prepaid mailing label. You can also just drop it off at one of more than 3,000 locations.

The three major US carriers — Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile — all offer free recycling. You can trade in your old device in-store or send it in for a credit toward a new phone, or let them straight up recycle it. AT&T also participates in Cell Phones for Soldiers.

If you do decide to try your luck with ecoATM to see if your old phone is still worth a few bucks and it turns out it's worth nothing, you can at least rest easy knowing that the company will also recycle your phone responsibly.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/where-to-recycle-electronics.html?src=rss

If you’re thinking of selling your house, the best time to do it is just around the corner.

New data out from the real estate company Zillow says late May is the golden window. Homes sell for about $5,600 more during this time than they do on average. After years of the tumultuous post-2020 housing market, that’s a bit closer to the traditional home shopping season.

The biggest factor here is the academic calendar, according to Richard Green, who directs the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.

“It’s been the same answer for a long time, which is it’s when the school year ends,” he said.

Green added that buyers shop in the spring so they can move in the summer — when the kids are on break.

But that isn’t happening everywhere. The peak selling time in San Diego arrives in late March; in Phoenix, it won’t hit until late November. There, Green said the weather is responsible.

“It’s just a pain to move when it’s snowy and icy. Whereas in San Diego and in Phoenix, you know, the weather is similar all year,” he said.

Places like Phoenix also are less influenced by the kids’ school calendars and more by the schedule of retirees, noted Zillow’s home trends expert Amanda Pendleton — “snowbirds who may be looking to settle down into a new home before the winter.”

Pendleton said she gets that selling during the seasonal surge is not always possible. “They’ve got to sell when they’ve got to sell, right? The baby’s coming. They’re starting a new job.”

And if that happens, there are other ways to boost a home’s price. She recommends flaunting the outdoor amenities, springing for the virtual 3D home tour and getting the listing in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

Leading up to the election, economic figures said the economy was doing pretty well and inflation was slowing down significantly. Yet a lot of people just didn’t feel it.  

Now, inflation expectations are rising, polls show economists say there’s a higher risk of recession due to chaotic tariff policy, and consumers have become even more pessimistic, according to survey data. 

Gene Ludwig is chair of the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity and former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency. He’s also author of “The Vanishing American Dream: A Frank Look at the Economic Realities Facing Low- and Middle-Income Americans.” He joined “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio to discuss what’s behind the disconnect between the economic data and how people actually experience the economy. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

David Brancaccio: People’s lived experience tell us that the economy needs work. Yet — I mean, I end up reporting a lot of these — the headline economic numbers have been saying things are actually a-OK, maybe we should stop whining. How do you resolve this great divide over numbers versus what we see with our eyes?

Eugene Ludwig: We started looking at this back about, oh, five, six years ago when we held a symposium to question why things felt bad for middle- and low-income Americans. But at the time, the headline statistics were looking pretty good, so I decided with the Institute to begin to study the numbers and try to figure out why the folks at that symposium, and in my own experience growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania and seeing it deteriorate, why is this [there] disconnect between what these headline numbers tell us every day and what we’re experiencing?

Brancaccio: Some of it is we do the monthly unemployment rate. It is a crucial piece of data, but the headline one does not account for people who are so discouraged by the job market that they’ve quit looking; sometimes the payroll count that the Labor Department does [does]. Yeah, look at all these people who got jobs this month, but maybe they were working multiple jobs.

Ludwig: Well, all that is absolutely true, but sadly it’s even worse than that. What it doesn’t account for is people who have a piece of a job — they work an hour or two here and there, but they want a full-time job. It doesn’t account for that. If they worked one hour in the last two weeks, they’re counted as being employed. That doesn’t in any way suggest whether the person can earn even above a poverty wage. So unemployment — as we’d like to say it: “functional unemployment” — it’s really in the 20s, which is horrifying. And for people of color, it’s much worse.

Brancaccio: Many orders of magnitude higher than the headline figure that they hand me every month when the unemployment rate comes up.

Ludwig: That’s only one of the headline statistics that’s misleading. The inflation rate is also misleading. CPI is what it’s called, the consumer price index, [it] is a basket of 80,000 goods and services. But for middle- and low-income Americans, they use a relatively narrow group that matter to them most, which is food, housing, education, transportation to work. And if you look at the basic things that they can afford to buy, they have inflated over the last 20 years more rapidly than the CPI. So they’re worse off. And that is a big deal because it means that the net-net, their wages haven’t increased over the last 20 years. For 60% of America, they’ve actually declined or been stagnant.

Brancaccio: I mean, I remember we used to spend a lot of time, when I was a kid, focused on the Misery Index to gauge people’s well-being. But see, that was built on the faulty unemployment number that you were talking about. It was, I think, unemployment rate + inflation = misery. But we need something better, I guess.

Ludwig: We do indeed, and we’ll be coming out with, over the next couple of months, a Shared Economic Prosperity Index and a Minimum Quality of Life measure that, together, will give the country a sense of how people in the middle class are doing in reality.

If you’ve picked up an iPad in the last five years or so, the new iPad Air will not surprise you. It is, in every way but one, identical to the iPad Air that Apple released last spring. The only difference is that the latest iPad Air has the M3 chip inside, instead of the already-capable M2. Even the (extremely muted) colors appear identical this year. Besides the 13-inch screen option Apple added last spring, the iPad Air is barely different from the one that was released way back in 2020.

That makes this iPad exceedingly easy to review — everything I wrote last May when I reviewed the 13-inch iPad Air M2 applies here. I like that it has a long-lasting battery, plenty of power, a reasonable amount of base storage and a front-facing camera on the landscape edge. The 13-inch model is still fairly large, but it’s thin and light enough to hold without issue — though if you prefer holding an iPad to using it with a keyboard, you’re probably better off with the 11-inch model. The Apple Pencil Pro released last year is a nice upgrade for serious visual artists. I don’t like that it still relies on Touch ID instead of Face ID, and I think it’s time the iPad Air had a better display.

Given that the M3 chip is the main change here, it’s worth giving it a little more attention. Geekbench 6 scores show that the iPad Air with the M3 is about 16 percent more powerful in both single- and multi-core scores. That’s pretty impressive given that the M2 iPad Air is less than a year old, but it’s not something that’ll radically change how you use the device. It does mean it’s a little more future-proof, though, and I’m always happy about that. In real use, the iPad Air handled multitasking through my workday, playing games, transcoding video and trying out various Apple Intelligence features with absolutely no hiccups and slowdowns.

Apple has been aggressive about putting extremely powerful chips in the iPad Air and Pro lineups for a few years now, and it’s nice that you basically never have to worry about slowdowns. And the newer chip had no ill effects on battery life — I easily got eight hours during a workday with the Magic Keyboard connected the whole time, and close to the 10 hours Apple promises when doing more causal activities or watching video.

Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

Apple also fixed one of my two major complaints about the last iPad Air. It has a new Magic Keyboard modeled after the much-improved one that was introduced alongside the iPad Pro M4. It’s thinner and lighter than the old iPad Air keyboard, has a row of useful function keys and the trackpad is a bit bigger. These aren’t major changes, but they are enough to make me much happier with the keyboard experience this year. It doesn’t have a few niceties you’ll find on the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard, though: The top case is smooth plastic rather than aluminum, the keys aren’t backlit and the trackpad has a physical click rather than haptic feedback. However, this keyboard is also $30 cheaper than the one it replaces. It’s still wildly expensive — $269 for the 11-inch Air and $319 for the 13-inch model.

The iPad Pro M4 on the left and the iPad Air M3 on the right. The iPad Pro's keyboard has a slightly bigger trackpad. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

In fact, this whole package I’m trying is wildly expensive. The 13-inch iPad Air with 1TB of storage and 5G connectivity costs $1,449, and that’s not including the keyboard. However, a comparably specced iPad Pro costs, wait for it, $2,099 without its keyboard. The 13-inch Air starts at $799 with 128GB of storage, a price that seems fair to me. Similarly, the 11-inch Air at $599 feels like a great value and has numerous meaningful improvements over the basic iPad.

With the new iPad Air so similar to last year’s model, I started thinking about the compromises that Apple makes to keep the price of the Air at a more approachable level, and whether those are reasonable in 2025. The major advantages the iPad Pro M4 has over the iPad Air M3 are: a much better OLED display with a higher refresh rate, more storage space on the base model, a more powerful chip, better speakers and microphones, Face ID instead of Touch ID, a thinner and lighter design, a LiDAR sensor and a few extra photo and video capture capabilities. The iPad Pro also offers a nano-texture front glass option (to reduce screen glare) on the 1TB and 2TB models, and those models with more storage also have 16GB of RAM instead of 8GB.

Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

In almost all cases, I don’t have any issue with those features staying exclusive to the iPad Pro. But after using the iPad Air for a bit, I think it’s time Apple finds a way to improve on the screen. In fact, I think there’s a solid solution waiting in the wings: deploy the mini-LED display that Apple used in the iPad Pro from 2021 and 2022. That screen refreshes at up to 120Hz, the same as others that Apple brands as ProMotion-capable, and max brightness when watching movies was 1,000 nits — and could jump up to 1,600 nits for HDR content. Brightness when not watching video maxed out at 600 nits, like the iPad Air, but given how popular iPads are for watching video, this would be a major improvement.

Chances are that between the higher refresh rate and improved brightness, Apple feels the mini-LED screen would still be too close to the iPad Pro’s OLED panel (which remains shockingly nice, probably the best portable screen I’ve ever seen). And Apple never made a mini-LED display for the 11-inch iPad Pro, so it would have to develop something new for the smaller iPad Air.

There are plenty of reasons not to do it, but I think the iPad Air deserves a better screen. In fact, I’d be happy enough if Apple just gave me the same screen with a higher refresh rate. The company still reserves that feature for its most expensive “Pro” devices, but the landscape is a lot different in 2025 than it was in 2020. Plenty of midrange phones have 90Hz or 120Hz screens. Of course, Apple has never really cared about what other manufacturers do; it has pretty consistent rules about what devices get what tech. The iPad Air’s screen is essentially the same as the one on the MacBook Air, while the more expensive iPad Pro, MacBook Pro and iPhone Pro lines all get higher refresh rates. That’s just where we’re at, but I’m ready for it to change.

Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

Of course, I also need to admit that the iPad Air’s screen remains quite lovely. Apple has fine-tuned its LCD tech to within an inch of its life, and it shows in the vibrant colors, overall sharpness and great viewing angles. Sure, I notice that blacks aren’t as “truly black” as they could be with an OLED or mini-LED, but I’m not sitting around thinking about that when I watch movies or play games. I just enjoy what I’m doing without fussing over screen specs.

The lower refresh rate is more noticeable in day-to-day usage — you’re constantly touching, swiping and scrolling through content on an iPad, and it just does not feel as fluid. My main devices are a MacBook Pro, iPhone 14 Pro and iPad Pro, all of which use ProMotion. Stepping down to the iPad Air is just a bit of a bummer. And while Apple clearly feels it doesn’t always have to respond to larger industry trends, it’s hard to imagine it sticking with 60Hz screens for most of their products much longer.

Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

My other major quibble with the iPad Air is Touch ID. At this point, Face ID really does not feel like a “Pro” feature. Excluding the iPhone SE lineup, every new iPhone since 2018 has had Face ID, but you still need to spend $1,000 or more to get it on an iPad. That feels a little extreme! Touch ID is fine, but there are a lot of sites and services I often need to log in to for work and having to constantly reach up and touch the top button is a bit of a hassle. Especially compared with just making sure my face is in frame with the front camera. This probably felt like more of a pain during my review, since the iPad Air is brand new and setting up requires a ton of logging in to various apps. Still, Face ID definitely does not feel like a feature that needs to be locked to Pro devices at this point.

Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

Everything else you need to know about the new iPad Air is covered in my review from 10 months ago, but I’ll sum it up. I think the Air remains a clear upgrade over the base iPad — I appreciate its improved display, stronger performance, more robust multitasking experience and better accessories. Not to mention the 13-inch Air is the only way to get a big-screen iPad without breaking the bank. I’m glad Apple built a better keyboard too, and if you have an older iPad Air, the new keyboard will work with it.

But the new iPad with the A16 chip is also better than its predecessor because Apple has fixed a number of issue with it since 2022. The price is lower, storage is doubled and the dumb Lightning Pencil charging situation is now gone. If you don't care about Apple Intelligence, more advanced multitasking and a better or bigger screen, a lot of people looking for "just a good iPad" won't miss the Air's upgrades, especially if they're saving $250.

However, for people who want more from their iPad, the Air is just as easy for me to recommend as it was last year. You can get 80 percent of the iPad Pro experience for a lot less money, and the vast majority of buyers aren’t going to miss the Pro’s extra features. 

My main caveat is that this iPad Air feels like a slightly-upgraded stopgap ahead of a bigger redesign, much as the iPad Pro was in 2022. That iPad went from an M1 to an M2 and got some nice software updates, but was largely the same as its predecessor — and then Apple gave it a massive update a year and a half later. The iPad Air M3 feels like it's in a similar place, just waiting for a big refresh. I don't think it'll be too long before Apple has to update some of its older bits, particularly the display. If you’re the kind of person who really loves a good screen, it might be worth waiting another year to see if Apple finally brings faster refresh rates to more iPads.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/ipad-air-m3-review-a-modest-update-thats-still-easy-to-recommend-130045196.html?src=rss

Robot vacuums have become ubiquitous over the past few years, in the sense that there are more options to choose from now than ever before. In their early years, you'd have to dish out $500 or more to get a decent robot vacuum, but that's not the case anymore. Sure, you could pick up a $1,000 cleaning behemoth with mopping features, but it would be incorrect to assume that you need to spend that much money to get a good machine.

Now, you can get an autonomous dirt-sucker to do one of your least favorite chores (and do it pretty well) by spending $300, or less in some instances. But you get what you pay for in this space; don’t expect affordable robot vacuum cleaners to have all of the bells and whistles that premium machines do, like self-emptying capabilities or advanced dirt detection. Engadget has tested dozens of robot vacuums at various price points over the years and we've narrowed down the best budget robot vacuums you can get right now.

Table of contents

• The best budget robot vacuums for 2025

• Are robot vacuums worth it?

• What to look for in a budget robot vacuum

• How we test robot vacuums

• Robot vacuum maintenance tips

The best budget robot vacuums for 2025

Are robot vacuums worth it?

Since I've tested dozens of robot vacuums, I'm often asked if these gadgets are "worth it" and I'd say the answer is yes. The biggest thing they offer is convenience: just turn on a robot vacuum and walk away. The machine will take care of the rest. If vacuuming is one of your least favorite chores, or you just want to spend less time keeping your home tidy, semi-autonomous robotic vacuum is a great investment. Many models, albeit more expensive ones, even come with features like self-emptying bases to further reduce maintenance.

There are plenty of other good things about them, but before we dive in let’s consider the biggest trade-offs: less power, less capacity and less flexibility. Those first two go hand in hand; robot vacuum cleaners are much smaller than upright vacuums, which leads to less powerful suction. They also hold less dirt because their built-in bins are a fraction of the size of a standard vacuum canister or bag. Fortunately, some models include features like an empty station, which helps with dirt capacity, especially in homes with pet hair.

When it comes to flexibility, robot vacuums do things differently than standard ones. You can control some with your smartphone, set cleaning schedules and more, but robo-vacs are primarily tasked with cleaning floors. On the flip side, their upright counterparts can come with various attachments that let you clean couches, stairs, light fixtures and other hard-to-reach places.

What to look for in a budget robot vacuum

When looking for the best cheap robot vacuum, one of the first things you should consider is the types of floors you have in your home. Do you have mostly carpet, tile, laminate, hardwood? Carpets demand vacuums with more suction power that can pick up debris pushed down into nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, there isn’t a universal metric by which suction is measured. Some companies provide Pascal (Pa) levels and generally the higher the Pa, the stronger. But other companies don’t rely on Pa levels and simply say their bots have X-times more suction power than other robot vacuums.

So how can you ensure you’re getting the best cheap robot vacuum to clean your floor type? Read the product description. Look for details about its ability to clean hard floors and carpets, and see if it has a “max” mode you can use to increase suction. If you are given a Pa measurement, look for around 2000Pa if you have mostly carpeted floors. Pay attention to the brush roll mechanism as well, especially if you're dealing with dog hair or other stubborn debris that can cause tangles. Many of these machines also feature side brushes to help clean edges and corners.

You may find some budget robot vacuums also offer vacuum/mop combo capabilities. These bots feature a water tank, which means they can offer mopping functionality, enhancing debris pickup, and resulting in shiny floors. However, these are less common when you’re shopping in the lower price range.

Size is also important for two reasons: clearance and dirt storage. Check the specs for the robot’s height to see if it can get underneath the furniture you have in your home. Most robo-vacs won’t be able to clean under a couch (unless it’s a very tall, very strange couch), but some can get under entryway tables, nightstands and the like. As for dirt storage, look out for the milliliter capacity of the robot’s dustbin — the bigger the capacity, the more dirt the vacuum cleaner can collect before you have to empty it.

You should also double check the Wi-Fi capabilities of the robo-vac you’re eyeing. While you may think that’s a given on all smart home devices, it’s not. Some of the most affordable models don’t have the option to connect to your home Wi-Fi network. If you choose a robot vac like this, you won’t be able to direct it with a smartphone app or with voice controls. Another feature that’s typically reserved for Wi-Fi-connected robots is scheduling because most of them use a mobile app to set cleaning schedules.

But Wi-Fi-incapable vacuums usually come with remote controls that have all the basic functions that companion mobile apps do, including start, stop and return to dock. And if you’re concerned about the possibility of hacking, a robot vac with no access to your Wi-Fi network is the best option.

Obstacle detection and cliff sensors are other key features to look out for. The former helps the robot vacuum navigate around furniture while it cleans, rather than mindlessly pushing its way into it. Many also offer no-go zones, letting you block off areas you don’t want the robot to enter. Meanwhile, cliff sensors prevent robot vacuums from tumbling down the stairs, making them the best vacuum for multi-level homes.

How we test robot vacuums

When we consider which robot vacuums to test, we look at each machine’s specs and feature list, as well as online reviews to get a general idea of its capabilities. With each robot vacuum we review, we set it up as per the instructions and use it for as long as possible — at minimum, we’ll use each for one week, running cleaning cycles daily. We make sure to try out any physical buttons the machine has on it, and any app-power features like scheduling, robot mapping and more.

Since we test robot vacuums in our own homes, there are obstacles already in the machine’s way like tables, chairs and other furniture — this helps us understand how capable the machine is at avoiding obstacles, and we’ll intentionally throw smaller items in their way like shoes, pet toys and more. With robot vacuums that include self-emptying bases, we assess how loud the machine is while emptying contents into the base and roughly how long it takes for us to fill up the bag (or bagless) base with debris.

Robot vacuum maintenance tips

First and foremost, always empty your robot vacuum’s dustbin after every cleaning job, or use a self-emptying base if the model supports it. Simply detach and empty the dustbin as soon as the robot is done cleaning, and then reattach it so it's ready to go for the next time. It’s also a good idea to take a dry cloth to the inside of the dustbin every once in a while to remove any small dust and dirt particles clinging to its insides.

In addition, you’ll want to regularly examine the machine’s brushes to see if any human or pet hair has wrapped around them, or if any large debris is preventing them from working properly. Some brushes are better than others at not succumbing to tangled hair, but it’s a good idea to check your robot’s brushes regardless — both their main brush and any smaller, side brushes or corner brushes they have. These parts are often easy to pop off of the machine (because they do require replacements eventually) so we recommend removing each brush entirely, getting rid of any tangles or other debris attached to them and reinstalling them afterwards. If you have a robot vacuum with mopping capabilities, you’ll need to wash the bots’ mop pads too, to avoid any unpleasant smells or tracking mess around your home. Similarly, if your robot vacuum has a water tank, it’s worth washing this out regularly to keep it clean.

Robot vacuums also have filters that need replacing every couple of months. Check your machine’s user manual or the manufacturer’s website to see how long they recommend going in between filter replacements. Most of the time, these filters cannot be washed, so you will need to buy new ones either directly from the manufacturer or from other retailers like Amazon or Walmart.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/best-budget-robot-vacuums-133030847.html?src=rss

JBL just announced a pair of portable speakers that take advantage of the company’s AI Sound Boost technology. This software analyzes the signal and maxes out the driver while minimizing distortion. The company says this creates a boost in sound quality.

The Flip 7 features an interchangeable strap and carabiner and an updated control placement when compared to the previous generation. The Flip 6 easily made our list of the best portable Bluetooth speakers, so any improvement is just icing on the cake. It also includes an upgraded woofer with more output power, which should further improve the sound.

The battery life is solid, at 14 hours of use per charge. There’s a Playtime Boost feature that dials back the bass to add another two hours of use. The Flip 7 offers the ability for multi-speaker output that’s powered by Auracast and it can play lossless audio over USB-C, just like the Beats Pill. Preorders are open right now, with shipments going out on April 6. This speaker costs $150.

JBL

The Charge 6 also includes a new design with an updated button layout and a detachable and reconfigurable strap. Just like the Flip 7, it includes a redesigned woofer for an audio upgrade. The battery life here is astounding, at 24 hours of use per charge. This is several hours more than the Charge 5. It also includes Playtime Boost, for even more juice, and a quick-charge feature.

This speaker can be used as part of a larger system via Auracast. Preorders are available right now and shipments go out on April 6. That extra battery life does tick the price up a bit, as the Charge 6 costs $200.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/jbl-just-announced-two-new-portable-speakers-that-support-ai-sound-boost-technology-120052295.html?src=rss

Not everyone needs a super-expensive, top-of-the-line laptop, and the good news is you don’t have to break the bank to get a solid machine. Whether you're a student, a casual user or just looking for an affordable device for everyday tasks, there are plenty of great options out there. The trick is finding the best cheap Windows laptop that balances performance, build quality and battery life without making too many compromises.

A good budget laptop computer should still be fast enough to handle web browsing, office work and streaming, which means looking for models with a decent processor, a solid state drive (SSD) for speedy boot times, and at least an FHD display so everything looks crisp. Some affordable options even come with a dedicated GPU, which can help with light gaming or creative work. Whether you need a lightweight notebook for school, a workhorse for productivity or an affordable FHD laptop for entertainment, there’s something for everyone. We’ve rounded up the best cheap Windows laptop choices available today, covering different price points and features to help you find the right fit for your needs.

Table of contents

• Best cheap Windows laptops for 2025

• What about Chromebooks and tablets?

• What Windows laptops do well

• What to look for in a budget-friendly Windows laptop

Best cheap Windows laptops for 2025

What about Chromebooks and tablets?

You may be inclined to recommend a Chromebook or a tablet to anyone considering a budget Windows laptop computer. Those instincts aren’t wrong, but Chromebooks and tablets aren’t the best buy for everyone. Tablets have the most portability, but they will only work for the most mobile-competent users like kids who have been grabbing smartphones out of their parents’ hands since they’ve been dexterous enough to do so. Tablets can also be just as expensive as some of the cheapest Windows laptops, and that’s without a mouse or keyboard.

Chromebooks are a good alternative for those that basically live in a browser, the trade-off being you must give up the “traditional desktop.” And Chrome OS is a more limited operating system than Windows when it comes to the programs you can install and run.

What Windows laptops do well

What can you realistically accomplish on a cheap Windows laptop? Quite a bit, especially if you’re doing one thing (or a limited number of things) at a time. They’re great for everyday tasks like web browsing, checking email, video streaming and more. All of those things can be done on Chromebooks as well, but Windows laptops have a big advantage in Microsoft Office. While yes, there is a browser based version, the native, desktop apps are considered a must have for many and will run smoothly on even the most bare-bones budget laptop. The only caveat is that you may run into some slowdown on low-powered devices if you’re multitasking or working with large data sets in Excel or a lot of photos and graphics in Powerpoint.

When it comes to specs, a bright spot for Windows laptops is storage. Even the most affordable devices tend to have at least a 128GB solid state drive. That will come in handy if you prefer to keep your most important files saved locally on your laptop's hard drive. In contrast, cheaper Chromebooks often have less storage because they’re built on the assumption that you’ll save all of your documents in the cloud. Not only is that less convenient when you need to work offline, but it also limits the size of programs and files that you can download. So, Chromebooks aren't the best for hoarding Netflix shows before a long trip or for use as a gaming laptop.

Windows also has thousands of apps that you can download from its app store. Chromebooks have some Chrome apps, numerous browser extensions and the ability to download Android apps, but quality control is… inconsistent. Android apps, in particular, often haven’t been optimized for Chrome OS, which makes for a wonky user experience. Windows may not have as many apps as Android, but at least the experience is fairly standard across the board.

Windows also gives you the ability to download and use programs from other sources, like direct from the developer. You can run things like Adobe Creative Suite, certain VPNs and programs like GIMP, Audacity and ClipMate on a Windows device, which just isn’t possible on Chrome OS. Chromebooks limit you to the apps and programs in The Play Store and the Chrome Extensions store, reducing any others to unusable, space-sucking icons in your Downloads folder.

What to look for in a budget-friendly Windows laptop

While you can do a lot even when spending little on a Windows laptop, you must set your expectations accordingly. The biggest downside when purchasing a budget laptop (of any kind, really) is limited power. Many Windows laptops under $500 run on Intel Celeron or Pentium processors, but you can find some with Core i3/i5 and AMD Ryzen 3/5 CPUs at the higher end of the price spectrum.

Specs to look for in a sub-$500 Windows laptop

• Intel Core i or AMD Ryzen 3 processors

• At least 8GB of RAM

• An SSD with at least 128GB of space

• 1080p FHD display

• Mostly metal designs

We recommend getting the most powerful CPU you can afford because it will dictate how fast the computer will feel overall. RAM is also important because, the more you have, the easier it will be for the laptop to manage things like a dozen browser tabs while you edit a Word document and stream music in the background. However, with sub-$500 laptops, you’re better off getting the best CPU you can afford rather than a laptop with a ton of RAM because the CPU will have enough power to handle most everyday tasks that cheap Windows laptops are designed for (If you’re editing RAW images or 4K video, you’ll want to invest in more RAM… and a laptop well above $500).

When it comes to storage, consider how much you want to save locally. If you primarily work in Google Docs or save most things in the cloud, you may not need a machine with a ton of onboard storage. Just remember that your digital space will also be taken up by apps, so it may be worth getting a little extra storage than you think you need if you know you’ll be downloading big programs. A final side note: solid state drives are ubiquitous at this point, not to mention faster and more efficient than HDDs, so we recommend getting a laptop with that type of storage.

You also don’t have to settle for an entirely plastic notebook either. There are options in the sub-$500 price range that are made, at least in part, with metals like aluminum. Those will not only be more attractive but also more durable. As for screens, there’s a healthy mix of HD and FHD options in this price range and we recommend springing for a notebook with a 1080p display if you can. Touchscreens aren’t as common in the under-$500 space as standard panels, but you’ll only really miss one if you get a 2-in-1 laptop.

See Also:

• Best Laptops for 2025

• Best Gaming Laptops

• Best 2-in-1 Laptops for 2025

• Best Chromebooks

• Best Laptops for College Students

It’s essential to prioritize what’s important to you. But at the lower end of the budget, a good laptop may not offer everything you need, whereas a great one might. Although most machines come with features like Bluetooth, built-in Wi-Fi and additional ports, you might find not all of them come with the specifics you require, like an SD card slot, webcam, charger, and so on. Be sure to check the spec list of any laptop you’re considering before you buy, especially if you need specific connectors and capabilities.

A final note before we get to our picks: The best cheap laptop models change all the time. Unlike more expensive, flagship machines, these notebooks can be updated a couple times each year. That can make it hard to track down a specific model at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart or any other retailer. Also, we’ve seen prices vary widely depending on the configuration and retailer you’re looking at. We’ve listed some of our current favorite models below, but if you can’t find any of them available near you, just keep in mind our list of specs to look for in a cheap laptop – they’ll guide you to the best laptops available at the moment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/best-affordable-windows-laptops-123000512.html?src=rss

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is coming to PlayStation 5 on June 26. At SXSW, Kojima Productions dropped a 10-minute trailer for the upcoming game, giving us our best look yet at the sequel to 2019’s Death Stranding. Pre-orders open on March 17 at 10AM local time, and those who buy the Digital Deluxe or Collector’s Edition will get early access two days before the game officially becomes available.

Hideo Kojima was joined by Norman Reedus and Troy Baker on stage at SXSW 2025 to discuss the much anticipated new game. The trailer reveals Death Stranding 2 takes place 11 months after the creation of the United Cities of America. As previous glimpses have shown, Reedus is back as Sam, along with Léa Seydoux, who voices Fragile, and Baker as Higgs. There’s otherwise a lot to take in over the course of the video’s 10-minute run, including a slew of new faces joining the cast. 

Death Stranding 2 was first announced back in 2022, and last year’s PlayStation State of Play brought a 9-minute look into the game. Come summertime, you'll finally be able to play it. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/death-stranding-2-just-got-its-release-date-and-a-10-minute-new-trailer-231240932.html?src=rss

A report from The Washington Post details allegations made by whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams about Facebook in a 78-page complaint filed last April with the SEC, including that the company built a censorship system in hopes to be allowed to operate in China and that it considered allowing the Chinese government to access users’ data in the country. Claims that Facebook developed a content suppression tool to appease China, where it has been blocked since 2009, were first reported as far back as 2016 by The New York Times. Wynn-Williams has a memoir about her time at Facebook, Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work, coming out this week.

Wynn-Williams — a former Facebook global policy director who was fired in 2017 — said in the complaint that the company formed a team in 2014 focused on creating a version of Facebook that would comply with China’s laws, under the code-name “Project Aldrin,” The Washington Post reports. In addition to building a censorship system, it was reportedly proposed during negotiations with Chinese officials that the company allow a Chinese private-equity firm to review content posted by users in China, and that Facebook hire hundreds of moderators dedicated to the effort of squashing restricted content.

In a statement to The Washington Post, spokesperson Andy Stone said the company's past interest in the Chinese market is “no secret,” and that CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced a move away from these efforts in 2019. But Wynn-Williams’ complaint paints a fuller picture of how far Facebook (pre-Meta) was allegedly willing to go to gain a Chinese userbase. Read The Washington Post’s full report here.

Zuckerberg has since become vocal about “free expression” and made changes to how Meta’s platforms approach moderation. Earlier this year, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook and Instagram would end fact-checking and instead adopt X-style Community Notes.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/whistleblower-complaint-expands-on-claims-that-facebook-once-built-a-censorship-tool-to-win-over-china-215047102.html?src=rss

After months of Retroid Pocket Mini buyers reporting issues with the appearance of games when using shaders, Retroid has opened a new return window for people seeking a refund. But there are limitations. Per a screenshot shared by Retro Game Corps, the China-based company said in a Discord message that the return window will be open only from March 8 to March 14, only 200 overseas returns will be accepted and customers will have to pay for shipping. As consolation, the company is offering all owners “a $10 stackable coupon for the upcoming Retroid Flip2 and Retroid Classic.”

Retroid released a statement about the RP Mini screen issue:

- March 8-14 return window for those affected
- Returns capped to 200 units to limit a flood of returns for unrelated reasons
- Asking customer to pay return shipping
- $10 stackable coupon for all RP Mini customers pic.twitter.com/UpLN9rPL3a

— Retro Game Corps (@RetroGameCorps) March 8, 2025

Retroid Pocket Mini owners have been trying to get to the bottom of the issue since shortly after the device’s release last fall. As RetroHandhelds explains, “The shader issue is mostly only noticeable when specific CRT shaders are applied to older games. Users can expect to see misplaced scanlines, uneven pixels, or a slightly distorted image” in such cases. After much back and forth, the company recently said the issue can’t be fixed, linking it to the screen driver, Discord screenshots shared by RetroHandhelds show.

Prior to the latest update from Retroid, some buyers said their return requests were denied. In the Discord message this weekend, the company said, “Please note that this is a large and costly endeavor for our team, and we expect a lot of return requests outside of screen-related issues.” Further down, it added, “For users who do not heavily rely on CRT shaders or pixel grid effects, we encourage you to reserve this opportunity for those who genuinely need it.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/retroid-says-it-will-accept-limited-pocket-mini-returns-due-to-screen-scaling-issue-183143391.html?src=rss

It may be a while still before we see the smart home hub Apple is rumored to be working on. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company has postponed the announcement of the upcoming product due to the issues it’s run into developing its “smarter” Siri. Gurman reported last month that the release of Apple’s upgraded Siri may be delayed, and Apple confirmed as much in a statement to Daring Fireball last week, saying it expects to roll out Siri’s more personalized features “in the coming year.” The smart home hub, according to Gurman, “to an extent, relies on the delayed Siri capabilities.”

Gurman previously reported that the first version of the smart home display could be revealed as soon as March. It would be a competitor to Amazon’s Echo line of devices and Google’s Nest Hub. While a March release is looking unlikely, Gurman reports that Apple is now allowing some employees to test it at home.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/apples-rumored-smart-home-hub-has-reportedly-been-delayed-151515192.html?src=rss

Mario Day, otherwise called Mar10 Day or just March 10, is nearly here. This is a yearly celebration to commemorate Nintendo’s iconic plumber. It’s not his birthday or anything, but rather a totally random day that sort of looks like his name when spelled a specific way. It’s just like how Star Wars Day falls on May 4.

The main feature of Mar10 Day is deals, on both Nintendo consoles and Mario-themed games. Walmart is selling a Nintendo Switch OLED bundle for $349 that comes with a digital download code for the fantastic Super Mario Bros. Wonder and a three-month subscription to Nintendo Switch Online. That’s a savings of nearly $70.

GameStop is also selling just about every notable Mario game for $20 off, making them $40. This even includes the recently-released Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, which is a great port of a 3DS classic.

Gamers can pick up Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario 3D World Plus Bowser's Fury, Super Mario Odyssey and Princess Peach: Showtime, all for $40. The remake of the very first Mario Vs. Donkey Kong is down to just $30.

There’s one last little goodie here for Nintendo fans. The company’s famous (or infamous) alarm clock, Alarmo, is now available for purchase from both Walmart and Target, in addition to pre-existing availability on the Nintendo online store.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/mario-day-deals-include-a-switch-oled-that-comes-with-super-mario-bros-wonder-for-349-130030476.html?src=rss

Nintendo added an absolute gem to its Switch Online library of classic titles this week: the 1994 Game Boy game, Donkey Kong. The beloved game arrives alongside the 1995 puzzle game, Mario’s Picross. Both are available now for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, right in time for Mario Day (March 10).

Donkey Kong built upon the arcade game that came before it, and features roughly 100 stages. The story should feel pretty familiar even to those who don’t have a nostalgic connection to it — Donkey Kong has kidnapped a beautiful woman (Pauline) and Mario is in hot pursuit to rescue her. While the Super Game Boy brought some enhancements for the original game, those haven’t been carried over for Nintendo Switch. But it should still be a treat to revisit as is. Mario’s Picross offers a totally different experience, presenting the player with a couple hundred puzzles to solve by chiseling away at boxes and uncovering the secret image below.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/you-can-now-play-donkey-kong-94-through-nintendo-switch-online-225857703.html?src=rss

Employees of the General Services Administration, which manages government real estate and certain IT efforts, have been given a custom chatbot from Elon Musk’s DOGE to help automate tasks, according to a new report from Wired, with an internal memo telling workers it can be used to “draft emails, create talking points, summarize text, write code.” The chatbot, GSAi, gives users a choice of three models — Claude Haiku 3.5 (the default), Claude Sonnet 3.5 v2 and Meta Llama 3.2 — and is ultimately meant to be used to “analyze contract and procurement data,” Wired reports.

The GSA is one of the many agencies that have been affected by the federal government’s mass job cuts, and has so far let go upwards of 1,000 workers, sources told NPR in a report published this week. That includes roughly 90 people from its tech branch, according to Wired. In memos about the new chatbot seen by Wired, workers were told not to input “federal nonpublic information,” personally identifiable information or “controlled unclassified information.” It was reportedly tested among a smaller group last month before rolling out to the roughly 1,500 workers who now have access, with plans to expand down the line.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/doge-has-reportedly-started-rolling-out-a-custom-chatbot-to-automate-some-government-tasks-211616079.html?src=rss

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix has tapped Fast & Furious director Justin Lin to direct its upcoming movie adaptation of BRZRKR, the popular comic by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt about an immortal warrior. Netflix first announced plans to create both a live-action movie and an anime based on BRZRKR back in 2021, with Reeves starring in the former and returning to voice his character in the animated show. But, we’ve heard little about the projects since. In the meantime, Reeves and author China Miéville dove back into the BRZRKR lore with The Book of Elsewhere, which was released last year.

There are still no details on when the Netflix adaptations will air, but we can safely expect both to bring violence and plenty of action. BRZRKR follows a half-mortal, half-god man known as “B” who has fought his way through 80,000 years of life. By the time he accepts a job killing for the US government, he’s very much over his immortality and looking for a way out. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Terminator Zero showrunner Mattson Tomlin is writing the script for the movie and the anime.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/the-netflix-film-adaptation-of-keanu-reeves-brzrkr-now-has-its-director-184902694.html?src=rss