After a few days of relative quiet on the deal front, things are suddenly cooking all over. Amazon has a bunch of new pre-Prime Day deals, Google is giving away its new Chromecast (with purchase) and a $200 true wireless earbud set is on sale for $65. Before all that (and more), a few notes: …
Read More »
Samsonite’s new smart backpack can connect to your phone and control music and Google Assistant remotely. In a year where many people aren’t commuting or traveling much, it’s a weirdly timed product. But the Konnect-i looks like a well-made but expensive Google-powered backpack ($200 or $220 for the slim or full-sized versions). Google’s Jacquard tech, which weaves touch-enabled controls into …
Read More »
Google’s original Chromecast helped popularize streaming to TVs when it first came out in 2013. The $35 device allowed you to “cast” video from apps on your phone, like YouTube, Hulu and Netflix, to watch on a big TV. That’s a common feature in TVs now, but subsequent iterations of the dongle have gained new capabilities like 4K streaming. On Wednesday Google …
Read More »
It seems like laptops with 3:2 screen ratios are officially a trend. The HP Spectre x360 14 is the company’s first Spectre two-in-one with a taller display than the 16:9 widescreen displays you’re probably used to seeing. Acer has already released a laptop and a two-in-one with 3:2 displays and, Thursday Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop Go with the same screen ratio, which …
Read More »
A truly great budget laptop is a PC holy grail, but also about as hard to find. Laptops around the $500 mark tend to compromise on design, materials, performance or features, doing well in one area, but poorly in others. In 2020, it’s been even more difficult, as remote workers and students quickly snatch up any half-decent budget laptops, leaving …
Read More »
PC gaming has rarely been more popular than it is now, what with the pandemic and all. If you’re limping along with old hardware or just looking for an alternative to consoles, Dell has a deal that might be just the ticket. For a limited time, and while supplies last, the Alienware Aurora R9 Gaming Desktop drops to $833 with …
Read More »
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold is the future of the PC market. Or not. It really all depends on where you fall on the value of foldable displays. Having a 13.3-inch OLED tablet PC that folds in half is ostensibly cool, as is the option to use it as dual, 9.6-inch screens. You can fold it a little to read …
Read More »
Microsoft’s Surface line of computers and tablets usually get updated in the fall, and it seems like at least some of the Windows-maker’s hardware lineup is going to get an update this week. According to WinFuture, Microsoft is set to announce a new 12.5-inch Surface Laptop on Thursday that will have 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage (with options for …
Read More »
Wires are one of the last remaining mundane hassles of the tech world. Not all gadgets come with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so every once in a while I have to haul out an old fashioned cable to connect two devices — like plugging headphones into the home theater AV so I can watch Raised by Wolves quietly late at night. …
Read More »
TCL has gone from strength to strength with its TVs — CNET’s David Katzmaier recently said its 6-Series Roku TV offers “the best picture quality for the money I’ve tested this year.” As a complement to its 2020 TV range the company has announced five new soundbars, and they’re competitively priced. The Alto 9 Plus flagship, for example, tops out at $300. …
Read More »
