Black Friday and Cyber Monday may have already come and gone in a flash, but there are still plenty of VPN deals from top providers to be had this holiday season. Whether you’re looking for something that will give you the privacy you need or access location-restricted streaming content, we’ve got you covered with the very best VPN deals currently available. But not all deals are worth it, so we only highlight those offered by reputable providers that we’ve personally reviewed and recommend.

We’ve also included some helpful answers to common questions about VPN shopping at the bottom of this article. Before you decide on a new VPN, be sure to check out our roundup of the best VPNs to help you choose the right service for your needs.

Note: Tech deals come and go quickly, so it’s possible some of these VPN discounts will have expired before this article’s next update.

Best VPN deals

• ExpressVPN, now $4.99 per month for 24 months + 6 free months (61% off at ExpressVPN)
• Surfshark VPN, now $2.49 per month for 24 months + 4 free months (86% off at Surfshark)
• NordVPN, now $3.89 per month for 24 months + 3 free months (74% off at NordVPN)
• FastestVPN, now $23 for lifetime plan (93% off at FastestVPN with coupon)
• Private Internet Access, now $2.03 per month for 36 months + 3 free months (83% off at PIA)
• Norton Ultra VPN, now $4.17 per month for 12 months (54% off at Norton)
• Proton VPN, now $4.49 per month for 24 months (55% off at Proton VPN)
• PrivadoVPN, now $1.48 per month for 24 months + 3 free months (87% off at Privado VPN)
• IPVanish VPN, now $3.29 per month for 24 months (64% off at IPVanish)

Our Editors’ Choice and top overall VPN pick, ExpressVPN is offering a great deal on its long-term 2-year plan for $4.99 per month (61 percent off). The real kicker, though, is the extremely generous six extra months thrown in for new subscribers. That means not only are you getting the best VPN on the market at a steep discount, but you’ll also enjoy the service for an additional half a year without paying an extra cent.

Surfshark is another of our top picks here at PCWorld, and this one’s on sale for just $2.49 per month for two years (86 percent off). It also provides an additional four extra months for free when you sign up. Alternatively, you could opt for the NordVPN deal that’s currently $3.89 per month for two years (74 percent off). Both services come with a stacked line-up of privacy and security features. Personally, I think the Surfshark deal is a bit better — it comes with fewer features and the speeds are just a tad slower, but the price can’t be beat.

FastestVPN also has an outstanding deal going for its unique lifetime plan. Using the coupon code BFCM24, you can get a lifetime subscription to the service for a one-time charge of only $22.90. On top of all of the basic protections you would expect from a VPN, FastestVPN’s lifetime plan also includes 15 simultaneous device logins and access to its password manager service for free.

If you feel like you don’t have enough outlets at home, here’s something really cool that’s on sale: an outlet extender with built-in surge protection, which turns one outlet into nine ports. And it’s seriously just $10 on Amazon right now, a cool 23 percent off its usual price.

This thing plugs right into any wall outlet, covers the entire plate, fastens with a single screw, and sits flush against your wall. Then, instead of your normal two-outlet receptable, you now have a total of five three-pronged AC outlets, three USB-A ports, and a USB-C port. (That screw is important as it prevents the whole thing from accidentally being pulled out.)

Of course, when plugging this many devices into a single receptable, you’re bound to increase your risks. Rest assured, though, that this outlet extender provides at least 1,680 Joules of three-level surge protection. It also has a fireproof shell.

Over 87,000 people have rated this outlet extender on Amazon, giving it an astonishing 4.7 stars. They found that it’s not just functional, but also well-organized, well-built, and aesthetically pleasing.

Don’t miss out on this chance to grab one or more of these awesome outlet extenders for less than $10 a piece on Amazon.

Now that wireless gaming mice are just as fast and feature packed as their wired counterparts, going wireless can be a smart move, giving you greater flexibility as a gamer. But before you cut loose and buy one, it’s worth noting they’re not all alike. You’ll still need to consider factors like weight, dots per inch (DPI), and battery life which can be telling factors in how your gaming mouse performs and ultimately how you will perform in games.

Our expert reviewers have put these mice through their paces, testing them across a range of scenarios, and over extended periods of time — you can find out all about our extensive testing process in the article “How we test gaming mice at PCWorld.”

Below are the results of that effort. While these are the current best wireless gaming mice available, for a no holds barred list, including both wired and wireless models, be sure to check out PCWorld’s all-inclusive selection of the best gaming mice.

Why you should trust us: We aren’t just tech enthusiasts we’re also keen gamers and we’re always on the lookout for better gaming gear to get an edge in our favorite games. We know that we’re adding our expertise to a large body of PCWorld product news and reviews that goes back 40 years — that’s credibility we’ve built up over four decades. Consequently, we want to tell you exactly what we find in a product — the good, the bad and the in-between.

Razer Cobra Pro – Best wireless gaming mouse overall

Pros

• Its Razer Focus Pro 30K sensor is superb
• Dedicated DPI up/down buttons makes switching DPI on the fly easy
• Having all 11 zones of RGB is brilliant

Cons

• The dimensions won’t suit large hands
• Buying the Cobra Pro with a Hyper polling dongle costs extra
• It’s a little heavier than its stablemate the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro

Best Prices Today:

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$108.99

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$123.38

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$108.99 at Amazon$123.38 at Best Buy

What I like about the Razer Cobra Pro

While some mice have fantastic sensors but fall short in the connectivity department, the Razer Cobra Pro seemingly has it all. It sports both a very high-resolution 30,000 DPI sensor as well as dual wireless connectivity. Not only is its 30K Razer Focus Pro sensor exceptionally smooth and accurate it also allows me to set my preferred lift-off distance from a total of up to 26 granular settings—that’s 23 more than most mice with this functionality.

There’s little to fault about the Cobra Pro’s design either—it’s symmetrical and feels balanced and I also get the benefit of dedicated DPI up/down buttons, which is a rare luxury in pro-grade mice. This allows me to change DPI settings on the fly so I can get the drop on opponents in an instant. To top all that off, the Razer Cobra Pro looks fantastic thanks to 11 programmable RGB lighting zones.

Who should buy the Razer Cobra Pro

Serious gamers looking for a do-it-all mouse with some of the best specs you can currently get. I’d also strongly recommend this mouse to gamers that tend to lift their mouse and want to have precise control over their mouse’s tracking when they do.

If you need a little more ergonomic glide, the kind only a thumb rest will give you, then be sure to check out the Logitech G502 Lightspeed. This mouse has a secret weapon — a side trigger button that lets you fire of commands at lightning speeds.

Read our full Razer Cobra Pro review

Lemokey G1 Wireless mouse – Best value-for-money option

Pros

• Smooth glide and excellent maneuverability
• An 8,000Hz wireless polling rate makes it very quick
• RGB indicator lights denote polling rate and DPI
• It weighs just 1.94 ounces (55 grams)

Cons

• The very thin plastic lacks durability
• Its compact size isn’t ideal for palm grippers
• You make settings changes on a website rather than a desktop app

Why I like the Lemokey G1 Wireless

The Lemokey G1 Wireless is one of the most maneuverable mice I’ve ever played with, able to change direction and perform micro movements with almost no friction. That makes it incredibly precise.

Why it can do that is obvious — it weighs just 1.94 ounces (55 grams) and has very large and smooth feet. From a hardware perspective, the Lemokey G1 Wireless leaves more expensive esports mice lagging. Its sensor is extremely sensitive, with a maximum DPI of 30,000. A whopping 8,000Hz polling rate — that’s twice as fast as some leading esports mice on the market — allows you to get more of your shots in on target.

Who should buy the Lemokey G1 Wireless?

Definitely esports players and gamers that want the very best performance they can get in quick competitive matches, but don’t want to pay more than $69 (the Lemokey G1’s price). That goes especially for players that like medium-sized mice since the Lemokey G1 Wireless isn’t as large.

Two other great value options for fast competitive play are the Keychron M3 mini 4K Metal Editon and the HyperX Pulsefire Haste 2 Wireless. The Keychron M3 mini 4K Metal Edition has a quick 4,000Hz polling rate, which is still lightning quick for esports. A hard metal case makes this mouse highly durable for carrying around.

Read our full Lemokey G1 Wireless mouse review

Razer Naga V2 Pro – Best wireless gaming mouse for MMO / MOBA games

Pros

• The Swappable button plates let you tailor your button setup to your game’s command load
• The sensor is very accurate and without a hint of lag
• There’s tons of comfort and the build quality is excellent

Cons

• The Razer Gen 3 Optical Switches are a little stiff at first and need wearing in
• It weighs 134 grams which is quite heavy even for an MMO mouse
• It’s currently very expensive

Best Prices Today:

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Price

$132.40

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$178.29

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$179.99

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$132.40 at Best Buy$178.29 at Amazon$179.99 at Razer

Why I like the Razer Naga V2 Pro

The Razer Naga V2 Pro follows in the footsteps of the Razer Naga Trinity, featuring magnetic swappable side-button plates that let you customize your button setup to match your gameplay. The side-button plates include a 12-, 6-, and 2-button option. It’s also stacked with upgrades such as a sporty 30,000 DPI pro-grade Optical Sensor, wireless connectivity, and Razer Gen 3 Optical Switches for lighting-fast button responses.

Admittedly, at 4.72 ounces (134 grams) the Razer Naga V2 Pro does weigh a lot even for an MMO mouse. But in my playtesting, I found the weightiness provided a nice authenticity to weapons play that I scarcely ever get from wireless gaming mice. At its current price of $180 USD, it’s not cheap. But considering how well it performed for me, it’s unlikely you will regret shelling out for such a capable mouse.

Who should buy the Razer Naga V2 Pro

The Razer Naga V2 Pro is perfect for gamers needing lots of buttons for MOBA and MMO games. With the mouse’s 12-button plate attached you get a maximum of 22 programable commands, which is just ideal for letting fly spells and other commands in games like WoW.

We have two more excellent options to recommend for MMO gamers: First is the SteelSeries Aerox 9. It’s a great all-around MMO mouse with a side grid of 10 buttons. If you don’t need a grid, however, it’s hard to beat the smooth glide, solid feeling, and accurate performance of the Razer Basilisk Ultimate. Alternatively, I recommend the Turtle Beach Kone II Air if you want to save a few bucks. It’s well-built, has a great command load and is perfect for MMOs. It costs just $120.

Read our full Razer Naga V2 Pro review

Corsair M75 Wireless – Best ambidextrous grip

Pros

• Swappable side buttons accommodate both left- and right-handed players
• The sensor is very precise and accurate
• Attractive RGB accents

Cons

• At 3.13 ounces (89 grams) it’s not the largest FPS gaming mouse
• It costs more than its stablemate the Corsair M75 Air
• The main buttons have along travel

Best Prices Today:

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$89.99

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$89.99 at Amazon

Why I like the Corsair M75 Wireless

A lot of gaming mice claim to be ambidextrous, but most have little more than a symmetrical design to accommodate true ambidextrous play. Not so the Corsair M75 Wireless which, yes, boasts a symmetrical design, but also buttons on both its left and right flanks. That means it can be just as easily used with a left- or right-handed grip and with full button functionality.

Apart from that bonus, the Corsair M75 Wireless is just a great all round gaming mouse with a weight profile ideal for casual play. It sports a powerful 26,000 DPI Optical sensor, 1,000Hz polling rate and buttons featuring Corsair QuickStrike switches that feel soft and quick.

The M75 Wireless also benefits from very quick sub-1 millisecond Wi-Fi connectivity which, suffice to say, proved a real asset in our playtesting. It meant our shots hit home on targets with lightning speed and accuracy.

Who should buy the Corsair M75 Wireless?

The Corsair M75 Wireless’s ambidextrous buttons make it a great option for southpaws or if you share your gaming mouse with a southpaw. If that’s you, then look no further – you’ve found your gaming mouse!

If you’re a right-hander and like the idea of having that extra versatility at your fingertips, you’ll find the Corsair M75 Wireless handles as well as any other right-handed gaming mouse – so it’s not just for ambidextrous folks.

Our playtesting revealed the M75 to be best suited for causal gaming rather than competitive FPS gaming. It’s also a great mouse for gaming in a range of genres. If you’re more into esports, or fast competitive FPS matches you might want to consider the Corsair M75 Air as an alternative. It’s a lot lighter and also $20 cheaper.

Read our full Corsair M75 Wireless review

Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro – Best pro-grade wireless gaming mouse

Pros

• Ultra light and quick off the mark
• Perfectly chiseled to the contours of your hand
• The 30,000 DPI sensor is very impressive

Cons

• It’ll cost you extra to upgrade to 4000Hz hyper polling
• Has fewer buttons than its predecessor
• DPI button is located on the underside

Best Prices Today:

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Price

$129.99

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$149.99

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$129.99 at Amazon$149.99 at Razer

Why I like the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro

The Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro has everything you need to perform at your best in quick, competitive matches, including a comfortable ultra-lightweight 2.22-ounce (63 grams) design that’s perfectly chiseled to the contours of your hand, a flawless 30,000 DPI optical sensor, and very quick Razer Gen 3 Optical Switches in the buttons, which incidentally are some of the quickest I’ve used.

Better still, the V3 Pro incorporates a few sweetener technologies that can provide big performance boosts if you’re willing to take the time to apply them. Two of these are, Asymmetric Cut-off distance, and hyper polling. The former lets you set a very precise landing distance up to 26 granular levels of adjustment — that’s 23 levels more than what you get in some pro-grade gaming mice. The latter, ramps up the V3’s default 1,000Hz polling rate to a lightning-quick 4,000Hz, although you will need to shell out an extra $29.99 for a HyperPolling dongle for the privilege.

And therein lies the biggest drawback with the V3 Pro — its cost. It’s currently wearing a $150 USD price tag which makes it quite an investment. Still, if you’re looking for the very best performance you can get, it’s totally worth it.

Who should buy the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro

When I’m talking the absolute best of the best esports mice that money can buy, there’s only a few mice that come to mind, and the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro is one of them. Yes, it’s expensive but if you’re a pro gamer or just seriously into your competitive FPS games, you won’t regret buying this mouse.

Buying a pro grade mouse is like buying a Ferrari, you really want one that looks and feels perfect for you specifically. So, be sure to read up on these other excellent options that come highly recommended by us: the Logitech G Pro X 2 Superlight, Logitech G Pro X Superlight, and Asus ROG Harpe Ace Aim Lab Edition.

A more affordable option than these giants of esports is the Razer DeathAdder V3 Hyperspeed. This esports mouse is extremely well-honed for the fastest competitive play, but it costs just $100. It’s also a better option for many claw grippers because of its slightly shorter length.

Read our full Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro review

Roccat Burst Pro Air – Best RGB lighting

Pros

• Owl-Eye sensor is very precise and quick
• You won’t find a mouse with more stunning RGB lighting
• Dual wireless as well as wired connectivity

Cons

• 81-gram weight can feel heavy if you’re used to a lighter mouse
• Mouse wheel lacks left and right lateral clicks
• Pricey compared to some rivals

Best Prices Today:

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Price

$34.95

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ROCCAT

79.99

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$34.95 at Amazon79.99 at ROCCAT

Why I like the Roccat Burst Pro Air

While some gaming mice only have limited RGB lighting around their buttons or periphery, the Roccat Burst Pro goes all out with four dedicated programmable RGB lighting zones that light up the whole mouse like a firecracker. Suffice to say, with 16.8 million color options in Roccat’s Swarm software app to play with, you can get some dazzling lighting effects on this mouse.

But while the Pro Air is genuinely stunning to look at, it’s equally as proficient in games, thanks to its comfortable eight-button configuration, powerful 19,000 DPI Owl-Eye optical sensor, and low-latency switches, which have a 100-million-click durability rating.

The Pro Air is also an extremely versatile mouse, thanks to its multiple connectivity options, which include a low-latency 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, and a USB-A to USB-C cable for wired connectivity.

Who should buy the Roccat Burst Pro Air

This is a great choice for gamers who like to really make a visual impact in their gaming dens. What you see in my photo is just one example of the dazzling affects you can get with this mouse, the sky’s the limit really!

Read our full ROCCAT Burst Pro Air review

Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse – Most versatile esports mouse

Pros

• 4KHz wireless polling rate
• The buttons are soft and have a quick debounce
• The Alienware styling looks awesome
• One of the most precise mouse wheels I’ve used
• Weighs just over 2 ounces

Cons

• The back could do with more height
• There’s no RGB lighting
• It’s quite large so won’t suit everyone

Best Prices Today:

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$124.99

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$124.99 at Amazon

Why I like the Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse

Gaming mice manufacturers are gradually releasing their premium-grade esports mice to include 4KHz polling rates, a reporting rate so quick that previously only tethered mice had it. The Alienware Pro Wireless isn’t the first to have this functionality, but it is one of the first to make it a feature right out of the box, without you needing to pay for an additional hyper-polling dongle.

That functionality alone means you’re going to get the quickest wireless reporting rate for aiming and tracking players in FPS games that you can in a wireless mouse. But it’s not the only thing that makes the Pro Wireless such an excellent performer for esports. It also has a very precise 26,000 DPI sensor, very soft buttons with a very quick debounce, and a comfortable symmetrical grip that is perfectly molded to your hand. If you need more speed and precision in your game, one of these speed demons is just what the doctor ordered.

Who should buy the Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse

Pro gamers who want the quickest wireless polling rate that you can currently get in a mouse. It’s also a red-hot performance dynamo so if you want to perform at your best, this mouse can get you there. If you’re a fan of Alienware laptops, as I am, you’ll also get a big kick out of having an Alienware mouse; it’s one-of-a-kind among pro gaming mice.

If you’re in the search for an ultralight esports mouse you might also want to consider the Cherry Xtrfy M8 Wireless. This featherweight mouse feels barely there in your palm, weighing just 1.94 ounces (55 grams). It also lets you set a debounce rate of 2,4,8 or 12 milliseconds so that you can reduce double clicks or hone your clicks per second.

Read our full Alienware Pro Wireless Gaming Mouse review

MSI Clutch GM51 Lightweight Wireless – Easiest to recharge

Pros

• Charging dock included
• Long battery life
• Current high-end sensor from Pixart
• Omron switches
• Three connection modes (2.4GHz, Bluetooth, wired)
• Good price-performance ratio

Cons

• A bit heavy for “Lightweight”
• Software is a little convoluted

Best Prices Today:

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$97.99

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$97.99 at Amazon

Why I like the MSI Clutch GM51 Lightweight Wireless

The MSI Clutch GM51 is flanked by unique RGB Diamond Lightgrips that bestow a drool-worthy gamer-centric look. These grips also provide your hand with excellent grip and precision control of movement. For hardware, this mouse boasts quick Omron Switches in its buttons and a 26,000 DPI Pixart PAW-3395 sensor supporting three-pronged connectivity — 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a wired connection.

In our playtesting we found the sensor to be very fast and precise. It was also extremely smooth thanks to an MSI technology called “Motion Sync” that kept our mouse movements precisely in sync with our game.

By far one of the best features of the GM51 is its excellent rechargeability. Not only does it come with a convenient charging dock, but it’s also one of the fastest USB charging mice you can buy, with 15 minutes charging time being all that’s needed for 27 hours of wireless play.

Who should buy the MSI Clutch GM51 Lightweight Wireless

Gamers who want a lightning-fast FPS gaming mouse, but also don’t want to compromise on how their gaming mouse looks — you simply don’t see many FPS gaming mice with stunning RGB accents like this one. It also suits gamers who like the convenience of having a charging dock to charge between games.

Read our full MSI Clutch GM51 Lightweight Wireless review

SteelSeries Rival 650 – Best for lifters

Pros

• Gets 10 hours of charge in only 15 minutes
• Comfortable and attractive design
• Removable weight system provides plenty of options

Cons

• Heavier than some might like
• Expensive
• Third thumb button is small and awkwardly placed

Best Prices Today:

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Price

$64.99

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SteelSeries

$79.99

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$64.99 at Amazon$79.99 at SteelSeries

Why I like the SteelSeries Rival 650

On the surface, the SteelSeries Rival 650 could be any other wireless gaming mouse, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find it has two big advantages over rivals — its dual-sensor hardware configuration and its fast-charging capability.

To improve your accuracy, the Rival 650 pairs a primary sensor, the PWM3360 TrueMove 3, with a dedicated depth sensor whose job is solely to cease input when your mouse leaves your mousepad. If you mainly keep your mouse flat on your mouse pad or table top, chances are you won’t notice much difference in your gaming accuracy. However, if you do lift your mouse a lot, this feature should make aiming a tad easier.

SteelSeries claims 15 minutes fast charging is all the Rival 650 needs to run for 10 hours straight. We put this claim to the test and found it to be mostly true; 15 minutes or sometimes just a few minutes more was enough to power it through more than a day of gaming, which made us very fond of this mouse.

Who should buy the SteelSeries Rival 650

If you’re prone to lifting, then this mouse is just the ticket. It helps eliminate the kind of jumping and jittering that lifting can cause in your mouse’s movement, which ultimately is going to have payoffs to your gaming performance.

Read our full SteelSeries Rival 650 review

Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed – Best replaceable battery option

Pros

• Quick and accurate sensor
• High sensor positioning
• Very long battery life
• Hyperpolling support

Cons

• No RGB lighting
• 2.4GHz Wi-Fi connectivity only
• Weighs less than 3 ounces

Best Prices Today:

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$59.99

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$59.99 at Amazon

Why I like the Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed

It may sport modest looks, but the six-button Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed is a real performance juggernaut. With its extremely quick and accurate 30K Razer Focus Optical Sensor, 1,000Hz polling rate, and a chassis that weighs less than 3 ounces, this mouse is built for speed right out of the box. But what really made it cook with fire in my playtesting was the mouse’s high sensor positioning, which registered my hand’s movements at its origin point, so a little quicker than I’ve experienced with some other six-button FPS mice.

The Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed is also unique in its class in that it houses a single AA battery instead of a rechargeable one. That means you get a little extra battery life than some FPS mice in Razer’s lineup; Razer says it gives you up to 280 hours with the default 1,000Hz polling rate, or 75 hours at the maximum 4,000Hz HyperPolling rate. That outdoes the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro by 190 hours at 1,000Hz and by 51 hours at 4,000Hz. A downside is that if you want 4,000Hz HyperPolling functionality, you’ll need to buy an additional part from Razer’s website. This mouse also lacks Bluetooth connectivity.

Who should buy the Razer V3 Hyperspeed

If you travel a lot for work or take your gaming mouse with you when you’re on the road, then the Razer Viper V3 HyperSpeed is the perfect companion. With an insanely long battery life of 280 hours at 1,000Hz polling mode and 75 hours at 4,000Hz HyperPolling mode, it’s a great fit for players who want a low maintenance mouse with premium specs.

Read our full Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed review

How we test wireless gaming mice

To make sure our wireless gaming mice picks are the best of the best, the PCWorld team puts them through a legion of tests. We look at everything from how well they’ve been designed and perform in games, to the suite of software that helps you personalize them. Here’s a list of the main categories our tests fall under:

• Design and ergonomics: Here we factor in the mouse’s physical characteristics, including its shape, styling, buttons, and RGB lighting (if any). We also consider how comfortable it is, what size hands it fits and, importantly, what grip type it will ideally suit (palm, fingertip, or claw). Last of all, we consider how tough it is, including how likely it is to survive the rigors of gaming life.
• Wireless performance: This is the fun part of our testing where we get to try out our mouse in a bunch of games, while at the same time evaluating factors like its tracking accuracy, sensitivity, and how fast it reacts to our movements. We’re testing the mouse’s sensor in a big way here, but also our mouse’s wireless, and or Bluetooth connectivity.
• Software support: What you can actually achieve with your wireless gaming mouse sometimes comes down to what its supporting software allows. When testing our mouse’s software app we consider how easy it is to navigate, change settings, program buttons, set up profiles for games, and make changes to RGB lighting (if any).

For more details about our evaluation process, see our article on how we test gaming mice at PCWorld.

Being able to expand storage capacity is always great, especially when it lets you save money on, say, a phone with less storage out of the box. Right now, you can expand your storage with Lexar’s 1TB microSD that’s down to $75 on Amazon, a solid 42 percent off its $130 MSRP.

Whether you want to use this with your phone, tablet, security camera, action camera, Nintendo Switch, or another gaming device, this microSD card will be ready for anything.

The 1TB storage space is massive, especially at this price. That’s dozens of games for your console, tons of apps and photos for your phone, and lots of hours of video for your camera.

Speaking of video, this card supports up to 160MB/s read speeds and 100MB/s write speeds, so not only will you transfer files back and forth really quickly, but you can capture 4K video without frame drops.

Other capacity options for this Lexar Play microSD are also on sale, but they aren’t as good in terms of savings. Don’t believe me? Here they are for your reference and comparison:

• Lexar Play, 128GB, now $14.37 (18% off)
• Lexar Play, 256GB, now $19.99 (30% off)
• Lexar Play, 512GB, now $37.99 (24% off)

Take your pick and save a lot of cash on microSD storage as we head into the holidays. The 1TB version is still the best bang for your buck, though, and you won’t run out of space for a long time with it.

AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the new hotness around the gaming PC picnic table. The CPU is so in demand and hard to find that it’s going for hundreds of dollars over retail price on secondary markets. If you’ve been patiently waiting to get one without giving in to resellers, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel — AMD says it’s working on it.

According to a statement given to Tom’s Hardware, AMD is aware of the supply issues and working to fix them. “We expect availability to get better as shipments ramp throughout the quarter,” said a representative.

I’m sure that’s comforting to at least a few people, but it’s also a bit of a non-statement. Of course supply will get better as time goes forward and AMD works out the kinks that are always present for a new high-end CPU. It’ll also happen naturally as the PC gamers who are eager to get the initial batch become satisfied. (We’ve already seen the aftermarket price go down following the launch sales rush.)

What might be a little more encouraging is the declaration that AMD is shipping more processors “every week.” If you’re desperate to get the 9800X3D at retail price, I’d ask around at local brick-and-mortar stores, like Best Buy or (if you’re lucky) Micro Center, to see when they typically get new shipments from AMD. Hit the store first thing the following morning and you might just have a chance.

It’s also worth noting that the 9800X3D is the first (and so far only) member of the Ryzen 9000 series to feature the extra V-cache that makes the X3D processors so enticing to gamers. It hit the market a lot faster than the X3D variants in the Ryzen 7000 and 5000 series, and if I had to guess why, I’d say it’s because AMD wanted a hit in 2024 after its standard 9000 CPUs landed with a bit of a flop.

So, if you want a more powerful X3D variant, or a more affordable one, expect different 9000X3D processors to come along in 2025. And by that time, they should be a lot easier to find.

Not even a week ago, Microsoft doubled down on its policy that requires PCs to have TPM 2.0-compatible hardware in order to install Windows 11. But now, in an unexpected and puzzling move, the company is issuing instructions for installing Windows 11 on incompatible PCs.

You can find those official instructions on this support page. However, Microsoft begins the instructions with a direct warning:

“Installing Windows 11 on a device that doesn’t meet Windows 11 minimum system requirements isn’t recommended. If Windows 11 is installed on ineligible hardware, you should be comfortable assuming the risk of running into compatibility issues.”

The risk alluded to here includes system crashes and the lack of crucial security updates that would otherwise keep the PC safe and protected against malware, hackers, and scammers.

Therefore, anyone wishing to install Windows 11 like this must first accept the following disclaimer:

“This PC doesn’t meet the minimum system requirements for running Windows 11 — these requirements help ensure a more reliable and higher quality experience. Installing Windows 11 on this PC is not recommended and may result in compatibility issues. If you proceed with installing Windows 11, your PC will no longer be supported and won’t be entitled to receive updates. Damages to your PC due to lack of compatibility aren’t covered under the manufacturer warranty. By selecting Accept, you are acknowledging that you read and understand this statement.”

Installing Windows 11 on incompatible PCs

With Windows 11, Microsoft’s chief requirement is the availability of a TPM 2.0 chip. We previously explained what a TPM is, and we also wrote about how you might not actually need to buy a TPM for Windows 11. But in most cases, you did need TPM 2.0 for Windows 11.

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Windows 11 Pro

Until now. Users can now upgrade directly to Windows 11 even without the needed hardware. Microsoft doesn’t explain the actual “upgrading to Windows 11” steps in the document, but we assume it’s done via the Windows Update app and the PC Health Check app.

After installing Windows 11, if your device doesn’t meet the requirements, you’ll see a watermark added to the desktop and you’ll see a notification in the Settings app. These can only be removed with registry tweaks.

Can I go back to Windows 10 afterwards?

For anyone who updates to Windows 11 despite not meeting the requirements, Microsoft offers the opportunity to return to Windows 10. However, this is only possible for 10 days after upgrading.

The option to revert can be found in Settings under System > Recovery > Recovery options. The step-by-step process will then take you back to Windows 10. However, you should create a backup before upgrading to be on the safe side in case something goes wrong.

Further reading: Want to stay on Windows 10? It’ll cost you

You should definitely be using a password manager. Data breaches now happen constantly—and that flood of stolen info has made cracking passwords even easier. And it’s not just the “password12345” variety that is at risk (despite those being really common), but also passwords that use variations on a single password or substitute numbers for letters. Even if you’re using unique, random passwords, storing them in a document or spreadsheet is not truly keeping them safe and secure.

While paid password managers offer nice extras, a free password manager still protects you from the risks of using weak passwords (or worse, using the same one everywhere). Instead of remembering all of your passwords and/or passkeys, you just need one to access a single, secure place where all of the rest are stored.

And because free password managers come in different flavors and styles, you should be able to find one that fits your needs. Even Google’s password manager, built into Chrome and Android, can work as a no-cost option with a nifty Windows tie-in. Plus, if you find that the free versions aren’t enough, down the road you can always upgrade to a paid service.

Not sure what features you’ll need? Generally, you want a service that offers password generation, auto form-filling, two-factor authentication, and the ability to move between different devices and device types. For more info, you can read our explanation of what you need to know about password managers.

Bitwarden – Best free password manager for most people

Pros

• Free plan offers unlimited vault entries and device syncing
• Paid plan is 70% cheaper (or more!) than rival services
• Supports two-factor authentication
• Send feature allows you to securely share notes and files with others

Cons

• Has occasional trouble capturing and filling credentials on websites
• Requires more manual setup than many paid password managers

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Bitwarden offers a free tier and a paid tier—but its free plan packs in so many features that most individuals won’t need more. You can access the service across an unlimited amount of devices and a multitude of device types, enable basic TOTP two-factor authentication to protect your Bitwarden account, and fill your vault with as many passwords and passkeys as you’d like. The free personal plan also allows privacy-minded users to avoid the company’s cloud hosting and instead self-host. And more recently, the service integrated features that let you generate random user names and email aliases (via integration with email masking services) as well.

Rivals dole out far less to their free users, and it’s particularly rare for them to grant unrestricted movement between multiple device types. (LastPass and Dashlane begin charging as soon as you leave the confines of a single device.) Most competitors are also not open-source like Bitwarden, which prevents their communities from being able to hunt for hidden backdoors or security holes.

The free personal plan even includes real-time password sharing with one other account—perfect for couples or people otherwise closely linked. This feature allows unlimited password sharing between the two users, thus allowing both individuals to safely access current passwords for shared accounts.

Bitwarden’s other advantage is that, should you need more features down the road, the transition to a paid plan won’t cost much. A premium personal plan is just $10 per year (compared to $36 or more per year for rivals), and a family plan is $40 per year for up to six users (compared to $48 or more per year for rivals). You’ll get concrete benefits for your cash, too: support for more sophisticated forms of two-factor authentication, storage of 2FA tokens for other services, evaluations of your passwords’ health (e.g., strength, public exposure, etc.), encrypted file storage, and emergency access for trusted individuals.

Finally, if you decide to move elsewhere one day, Bitwarden allows you to export your passwords—with the option to do so as an encrypted file. But with such a generous and thorough set of features, you’ll likely not want to go elsewhere.

Read our full Bitwarden review

KeePass – Best free password manager for DIYers

Pros

• Free to use
• Highly customizable
• Provides full user control of data

Cons

• Requires a higher degree of technical proficiency than modern password managers
• Dated interface
• Core program lacks auto capture and replay and other basic password management features

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KeePass may not look like much, as our review points out, but under the hood this desktop-application-based password manager has all the features the privacy- and security-minded could want, provided you don’t mind rolling up your sleeves a bit.

You retain full control over who accesses your password vault—the program and its encrypted database file(s) are stored locally on your computer by default, unlike a cloud service, where you have to trust that servers are set up correctly and that the employees are trustworthy. Moreover, you don’t even have to install it on your system, but can run it via a portable .exe application kept on a USB stick.

KeePass is also an open-source program, which means that the community can always vet it for any hidden backdoors or just plain old security-crippling bugs. And you can enable two-factor authentication through the use of key files (which augments your master password), plus lock the database file to the Windows account that created it, too.

You’re not restricted to a Windows desktop system, either—because the program is open source, you can find community-created ports of KeePass for MacOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, as well as a boatload of plugins that let you customize it to your taste. With plugins, you can re-create most of the features you’d find in paid cloud-based services, like checking to see if any of your passwords have been found as part of a data dump.

You can also get creative with how you store your database file—for remote access, you can put it on a home server, or if you’re comfortable, a cloud service of your own choosing. (Perhaps you’re more comfortable with how Google safeguards its accounts than a dedicated password manager service, for example.) And should you ever decide to hang up your hat as a DIY password manager administrator, KeePass allows for easy exports of your passwords.

Read our full KeePass review

KeePassXC – Best free password manager for easy offline use

Pros

• Full control over login data
• Simple, straightforward interface
• Native support for browser extensions
• Free to use

Cons

• Very basic browser extension functionality
• Setting adjustments are necessary to get the most out of the app

So an online password manager makes you nervous. Or you instead prefer to have 100 percent control over your passwords. You could use KeePass, but that program can be…a little intense.

A great middle ground is KeePassXC, a streamlined alternative of the official KeePass app. It boasts a more modern interface, and is much more newbie-friendly. It also has a few features you’d expect from an online manager, like a browser extension.

Despite its simplified interface, you’ll still find many of KeePass’s best attributes in KeePassXC. It’s equally open source and free, for starters. Its file format is also the same as KeePass (and generally visa versa), so switching between the two programs is easy. You can download it for Windows, Linux, or macOS as well. And the app stores its encrypted database files on your device by default, so you have full control over your passwords. You can keep them offline, or upload to the cloud if you wish.

Using KeePassXC is a cinch. It’s hard to get overwhelmed by it—you can only create one type of entry in a database: Just logins, and you only get five fields to fill out within each entry. Set up of two-factor TOTP tokens, attaching files, and adding custom text fields is also supported, but that’s it. And unlike the official KeePass app, KeePassXC doesn’t support plugins.

You will still need to apply a little elbow grease to get the most of this app—for example, password sharing isn’t enabled out of the box. But good documentation makes light work of configuring the app. Generally, with KeePassXC, what you see is what you get, and that’s exactly the appeal of this offline password manager. Even leaving it (by exporting all your passwords) is an easily found option in the menu.

Read our full KeePassXC review

Best free password manager for simplicity: Google, Apple, or Firefox

• Website: Google Password Manager, iCloud Keychain, Firefox Password Manager
• Devices: Varies
• Open source: No
• Two-factor authentication (2FA): Yes

Password managers within mobile operating systems and major browsers have come a long way. Just a few years ago, we wouldn’t have advised using them at all, but now they’ve shored up their security and features to become a viable option. Moreover, they’ve continually been updating their services, with Google recently enabling cross-device use of passkeys saved to its password manager, and Apple releasing a free standalone Passwords app meant to compete with Bitwarden, LastPass, and other dedicated password managers earlier this year.

But even if these options are a bit more basic than their paid rivals, the best password manager is the one that you’ll use. For some people, using a dedicated password manager can be too much to keep track of. In those cases, leaning on Google, Apple, or even Firefox can help upgrade your password security with little extra effort necessary. Their built-in password management tools can do the heavy lifting of creating and remembering passkeys or unique random passwords across the web, and you won’t need to switch to a different app for it to work.

Of course, you will lock yourself into those ecosystems by doing so, but if you live your whole life within those waters already, you won’t be bothered by that fact. Google probably will appeal to most people, as Gmail and Chrome are ubiquitous, but those who worry about data privacy can instead turn to Firefox and its pledge not to sell your data. Apple also shares Firefox’s commitment to privacy, but it’s the hardest platform to leave, as the company doesn’t make exporting passwords easy. We advise choosing Google or Firefox for the widest reach across devices, and Apple if you own both MacOS and iOS devices (and don’t plan to leave). Microsoft’s password manager in Edge can also be worth a look for people deeply enmeshed in the Windows ecosystem.

Committing to Apple and iCloud Keychain? Follow these tips on how to set it up and make the most of it.

The one primary downside to using your Google, Apple, or Firefox account to store passwords is that they’re not as tightly safeguarded as with a third-party service. Even if you secure your account with two-factor authentication (and you absolutely should if you’re storing passwords in it!), Google, Apple, or Firefox tend to be more lax about accessing passwords from a device that’s logged in. Often they don’t ask for reauthentication to use a stored password unless you specifically set it up, unlike most dedicated password managers—and that can be a security hazard on a shared device. Though if you’re using Google Password Manager on Chrome, you can at least protect access to your vault using Windows Hello.

Free vs. paid password managers

Why bother with a paid password manager if you can use a free one? Paid services provide premium features that enable more control over your passwords and how you secure them. For example, you’ll often gain access to password sharing (handy if your household members all need to know the Netflix password), support for YubiKey and other more “advanced” forms of 2FA authenticators, the ability to generate 2FA codes for other websites and services, and alerts that tell you if your password turned up in a data dump. Some paid services even have a signature feature that makes them stand out from competitors—for example, 1Password has a “travel vault” feature that hides some passwords when you’re traveling, as an extra security measure when you might encounter aggressive airport screening or simply lose access to your devices due to theft or lost baggage.

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Dashlane

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If you need these kinds of features, check out our list of the best paid password managers to see which ones offer the best bang for your buck.

Set aside all of the privacy concerns concerning Recall, Microsoft’s AI-powered memory tool within Windows. Even if I want to like it — and I do want to — I don’t think it’s quite dependable yet to solve all of my problems.

Privacy advocates don’t want anything spying on them as they browse the Web, check email, post on social media, and so on. People who chase scattered details across the Web for publication, like me, are much more welcoming. Where Recall falls short right now is that is sort of fails on both: it’s there, always watching, but not closely enough that you can depend upon it to find the critical detail that you missed.

I spent the better part of a week with Recall running in the background, trying to see a.) whether it would actually prove to be useful enough to keep and b.) whether I could either break it or it would freak me out enough to keep me from using it. Weirdly, I found a bit of both.

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Windows 11 Pro

Here’s the way to think about Recall: if you saw it on your PC’s screen, Recall saw it too. You can already search your PC for files and photos related to “birthday,” for example. You might have a list of presents saved as a text file with “birthday” in the file name. Recall goes beyond that. It promises to take that little snippet of critical data — say, “Tomas wants a PS4 for his birthday, and they’re 25% off at this link” that you know you saw somewhere while using your PC, but you can’t remember where. An email? A Slack chat? On Facebook? If that information has appeared on your screen, Recall has seen it. And you can find it in seconds.

That’s great, right? For some. For others, it will scare the crap out of you. Did Recall see and record the private note from my doctor about whether I can pay my medical bill? If it was within Outlook or Gmail on your PC, probably. If it was in a dedicated app, maybe not. What about the status of my 401K? My healthcare elections? Porn??? The answer is: it depends.

What you’ll need to enable Recall

If you’re worried about Microsoft sneaking spyware onto your machine, don’t be: Recall is being pushed out in a preview specifically to Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel. For now, you’ll need a Copilot+ PC with a Snapdragon X Elite processor inside of it to handle the local processing. (Edit: Certain AMD and Intel platforms can now test Recall, too.)

Mark Hachman / IDG

Technically, you’ll need a Copilot+ PC with a secured-core interface, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage space (with 50GB of storage space available for Recall’s snapshots alone!) and either BitLocker or Device Encryption for Recall to work. The PC also needs Windows Hello, either using a fingerprint reader or depth camera. Hello is used to identify you, every time you access Recall.

Recall, as you may, er, recall, was considered to be the flagship feature of the new Windows 11 2024 Update build of Windows 11 that debuted with the launch of the Copilot+ PCs this past spring. Recall taps into the power of the PC’s NPU — it requires 40 TOPS — taking periodic snapshots of your screen to record information. It then uses optical character recognition and AI to record metadata and the contents of those screenshots, creating a searchable record of what you and your PC have viewed. Nothing is sent to the cloud or Microsoft, Microsoft says.

Privacy advocates, however, pointed out that the stored information was being kept insecurely, and that the software could therefore be exposed by an attacker. In June, Microsoft delayed Recall, saying that it would be tested via the Windows Insider channels. It was then pushed back to October. Microsoft then reworked Recall to make opting in to Recall a “clear choice,” in the words of Microsoft vice president of security David Weston, and said that it could be removed. Then Microsoft delayed Recall once again until December, where it stands now.

Microsoft’s Recall setup: somewhat slow and stuttery

Setting up Recall required a lot of incremental back and forth, not just to download the preview build itself but also some specific files, including “image search” and “semantic analysis” controls. Without them, Recall won’t work.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Even after downloading the new build, Recall didn’t exactly trumpet its presence. In fact, nothing seemed to happen until I manually launched Recall. When that happened, I received a very pretty animation screen that said I still needed more files (oops!) including some additional tweaks to the image search files. On one test machine, everything downloaded in a batch; on another, I found I had to launch Recall, wait for new files, restart, and check again for a few cycles.

Finally, Recall launched, and with it a series of short setup screens. To its credit, Microsoft tells you specifically what the Recall icon looks like, where it lives (in the Action Center to the lower right) and what it looks like if and when it’s recording. It then describes what you can do with Recall, and how it takes those snapshots and extracts the text from them as searchable information.

Mark Hachman / IDG

During the setup process, Windows described how I could “unlock [my] photographic memory with Recall’ and then asked me if I wanted to save snapshots of my screen every few seconds.

I was offered two choices — “Yes, save” or “No, don’t save” — with neither choice highlighted. A “Learn more” link also appeared. (Interestingly, the way the screens are laid out leaves your cursor within the option to “don’t save.” Otherwise, Microsoft takes a neutral approach. I wouldn’t say the setup screen fulfilled the definition of “opt in,” but this is the first time I’ve seen what you might call a “white pattern,” where the easiest choice was to opt out.)

Recall doesn’t exactly trumpet its presence. The Recall application icon has the same twisted ribbon/Moebius strip iconography as Copilot or and Microsoft 365, and the app icon itself lives in your taskbar. The Recall status icon is a weirdly minimalist version of that icon that hides down in the right-hand corner of your screen.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Say what you want about Microsoft’s privacy features, but the company explicitly details what information it wants to collect within the Privacy & Security page of the Windows 11 Settings menu. A separate sub-page, dubbed Recall & snapshots, allows you control over how Recall is used and how much of your PC’s resources it can take advantage of. At the top of the page is a toggle switch, allowing you to turn off Recall’s ability to save snapshots entirely.

This new build of Windows 11 also includes a new entry in the Storage tab (Settings > System > Storage), which lists the amount of storage space Recall’s snapshots consumed. From Nov. 26 until Dec. 3 (with some time off for the Thanksgiving holiday) my snapshots consumed 1.24GB. That’s a decent amount. You can tell Recall how much space it can use for snapshots — or, alternatively, how far back in time it should cache data. Put another way, if you want it to automatically dump any snapshots older than 30 days, you can.

Mark Hachman / IDG

How to use Recall

For those of you who want to know more about how Recall interacts with your privacy protections, don’t worry; I go into that as part of the next section. For now, however, let’s talk about how to use Microsoft Recall itself.

Recall only runs on Windows PCs, not phones or other devices. Every single time you open Recall, it will ask you to use Windows Hello to authenticate yourself. Occasionally, if you haven’t used it or have minimized the window, Recall will “time out” and again ask you to log in via Windows Hello. Be careful; Since Windows Hello will default to a PIN, make sure that the PIN isn’t simple or easily guessed.

Recall itself is a pretty simple interface. At the top is a search bar, as well as a slidable timeline “bar” to pan backwards and forwards in time. Type in a search term, such as “Black Friday plan,” and you’ll see whatever it was that you interacted with on the subject. Recall provides both “text” and “visual” matches to each, without really differentiating between the two. It also allows you to select which application you think the information you seek may be hidden away. There’s a small link that will bring up matches within File Explorer, too.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Recall provides a screenshot of each result, which you can click on for more information. From scrubbing back and forth in my overall timeline, it appears that Recall takes snapshots about every minute.

Recall doesn’t list pages and pages of search results; you can imagine all of the pages of “Black Friday” results available, for example. It seems to return about eight listings in each setting. You can obviously narrow it down by refining your search results further.

Each Recall snapshot seems to be stored as an image, which is then mined for text as you open it. If I looked at a page on Reddit, for example, where the term “crime movies” appeared, Recall will store the image in its search results. Clicking on it opens the image — which, after a second or two, becomes “readable” as text, signified by an interesting sonar-like pulse effect.

Before it, you can only scroll through the page. After it takes effect, you can highlight and copy text. It’s similar to how a PDF editor can make text on a .PDF file “readable,” but done in a more visually attractive way. Microsoft calls this “Click to Go,” a totally unnecessary name. One second it’s an image; the next, text. And we all know what we can do with text.

Navigating it all, though, is weird. Within the search results, using my mouse wheel to scroll up and down navigated left and right in the search results. But each snapshot is just a screen’s worth of information. And that‘s weird. Take my layout: two 4K displays, one in portrait mode, complementing a high-res Surface Laptop screen. That means that an entire 4K screen’s worth of information is stored in a snapshot a little larger than a postage stamp. Does that snapshot hide the result you’re looking for? You won’t know until you check the result page, and sometimes more than one.

Mark Hachman

When you click on each Recall result, you’ll get a screen’s worth of information. No, not the entire Web page, just the screen Recall saw. You may have to zoom in to actually make out the text, and to do that you need to hold down the CTRL key while scrolling in and out. If you have more than one window on a page, such as my portrait monitor, you’ll almost certainly have to zoom in. (Scrolling up and down with my touchpad scrolled up and down in the snapshot. Doing the same with my mouse, however, moved from that snapshot to another in the list of search results.)

What Recall is designed to do is to hunt down the piece of information you were searching for, along with the context that whatever web page, conversation, or app surrounded with: a list of features, discussion among your team, the remainder of the email, and so on.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Some early users of Recall have reported the app falls short in terms of quickly taking snapshots of web pages, and that holds true for my experiences as well. I kept open a news story on Opera about Northern California tasting rooms for a good ten minutes or so. Recall never seemed to find it. I then read through two stories on an award-winning Chinese restaurant and a story about a church involved in a ballot scandal, viewing the same stories both in Edge and in Opera. Recall found the church story on Edge, and that’s it. It found the reference in my draft copy of this story with no problem. Arghhh!

On the other hand, I typed a made-up word into Notepad, deleted the word, but kept the app open. Recall still captured the word and saved a photographic record within Recall.

Mark Hachman / IDG

That’s a problem. You can’t specify, to my knowledge, what Recall will take a snapshot of or how frequently it happens. If you process a lot of information quickly, Recall may not snap and record it, but it may record something that really never existed at all. That’s almost a bigger problem than what it does or doesn’t record.

Recall’s privacy issue

That leads into the privacy protections, which are the most controversial aspect of Recall. Quite frankly, there will be those who will never trust Recall, or Microsoft. Some of those might use Recall if it was an Apple technology. Others would never voluntarily give Microsoft a byte’s worth of information, yet happily post every detail of their life on social media.

Remember, you’ll need to manually enable Recall. Snapshots can be paused for a period of time, turned off, and can only be accessed via Windows Hello.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Recall looks at everything, but doesn’t save everything, Microsoft says. By default, a Recall privacy setting within the Windows 11 Settings menu (Privacy & Security > Recall & Snapshots) called “Filter sensitive information” won’t save passwords or credit cards. Likewise, you can blacklist apps that won’t be snapshotted, or blacklist websites that won’t be recorded, either.

By default, private browsing on various browsers will be respected as well, and the information you view there won’t be recorded. That applies to Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Opera. Recall won’t recall private browsing on any other browser based on Chromium 124 and above, but filtering by site won’t be respected, while it will on the other browsers listed above.

Recall also doesn’t specifically tell you what it is and isn’t taking snapshots of. If you’re like me and use several apps and windows across multiple screens, when Recall tells you that “one or more windows [are] filtered,” you’ll wonder what’s being seen and what isn’t.

I didn’t test this as extensively as a security professional would, of course. However, I couldn’t get Recall to produce a saved record of information I’d stored while privately browsing on Edge, Chrome, Opera, or Firefox. Recall didn’t save a snapshot while poking through the Microsoft Wallet app at all, which can be used to save all sorts of private data, such as payment cards and passwords. (Wallet, like Recall, asked for my Windows Hello biometric ID when I accessed it.) I couldn’t find a snapshot of a password used when I logged in to various sites, even those that required a password as well as two-factor authentication. I even sent a fake credit card number, and it didn’t store the result in Outlook.

On the advice of my colleague Alaina Yee, I created an Excel spreadsheet, made up some fake Web sites, and a bunch of fake passwords to go along with them. I left it open for a few minutes, closing all the other windows. Recall didn’t take a snapshot of it, reporting that one or more windows was being filtered. Interestingly, a totally innocuous Web page open to John McEnroe’s Wikipedia page on the same display wasn’t captured either, indicating that Recall filters by screen, not by window.

The problem is that I can’t be totally sure of is whether Recall is actually taking snapshots of confidential information and voluntarily deciding not to store them, or whether it just wasn’t picking up on everything that I viewed, as I demonstrated in the previous section.

I do know that Recall may force even pro-Recall users into setting up a series of blacklisted sites, such as their bank, so that Recall doesn’t snapshot them. Surfing in private mode is the easiest way to avoid Recall’s attentions, at least temporarily, but most if not all browsers also don’t allow you to use stored credentials like your password inside private browsing. (An alternative would be to use your smartphone, where Recall isn’t installed.)

I didn’t try to break Recall as extensively as say, Mauro Huculak did, by trying to really dig in to the Windows registry files. But the ImageStore folder was empty, and I wasn’t able to see the contents of individual files stored there, as well. Of course, this was my machine, with access to administrator passwords.

At this point, I’m not convinced that Recall won’t store something that will provoke outrage from users, and I lack the expertise to state whether Recall data stored on your PC is secure. I do know that other Microsoft-designed (or co-designed) security technologies like Pluton and the Windows Sandbox have good reputations, though shouldn’t be considered absolutely, positively secure.

How to turn off and remove Recall

The Windows 11 Storage Settings (System > Storage) allows you to click through to a list of installed apps, which include Copilot, Family, and Microsoft To Do — all relatively minor Windows apps. Each of them includes an “uninstall” option. Recall isn’t even listed. Storage Settings now includes a drop-down option for “Snapshots,” which leads to the Recall settings menu.

Remember, the Windows 11 Settings Recall menu allows you to toggle taking snapshots, with an option to delete all existing snapshots from the system. That essentially turns Recall off.

Mark Hachman / IDG

To uninstall Recall, you can open the “Turn Windows features on and off” control panel, the one that a user can use to enable features like Windows Sandbox, for example. Doing so removes Recall from your PC.

If you choose this route, I’d recommend using the Windows Settings menu to first block Recall from taking snapshots, and then to delete all of the snapshots from your PC. Then uninstall Recall from your PC using the Windows features setting. You’ll need to reboot your PC. After that, Recall won’t be accessible. (Recall’s file structure, however, will still be, which is why I’d recommend using Microsoft’s tools to make those deletions.)

Should you use Recall?

Is Recall worth it? In certain cases, absolutely. If you’ve followed my coverage of Slack, Teams, and other business applications or suites, my constant complaint is that I can never find the key detail I’m looking for: was it an email? A Slack conversation? A transcript? Just hunting this piece of information down takes valuable time.

On several occasions, Recall has paid off. PCWorld had very specific, detailed plans for Black Friday, for example, and Recall came through several times in identifying the file or the deadline that I was searching for. Right now, I’d consider that capability to be a bonus. If I had been using it for several weeks and become dependent upon it, its failure to find something might be a greater sin…which is why its inconsistency is actually rather troubling, in my mind.

But Recall also worries me, quite frankly, more so than ever. Most people understand where the dividing line is between their public and private lives, especially online. Recall is not only a search engine for your private life, but the part of public life that you’d prefer to engage with, anonymously. Put another way: Do you ever post anonymously to a message board? Your neighbors may not know that your username is “CoolDad1414,” but Recall probably does, and it took a snapshot of it, too.

(Think about it this way: I had to provide real-world screenshots for this story. How much of my private life, or my employer’s internal communications, do I wish to expose?)

Recall points out something else that’s unsettling, too. Browsers ship with private modes. Outlook, Notepad, and other applications do not. I’m not the type of person who would write an angry, vicious email and never send it, or hash out a paragraph or two within Notepad about what I’d really like to do that person. But some might, and Recall is probably going to make a quiet record of it, even if it later gets deleted in shame.

I’m sure many of us would be embarrassed if their secret Chappell Roan fandom became public, but those concerns are relatively minor. I’m much more concerned about living under four years of a government whose leaders have already talked publicly about quelling dissent, including the rights of the free press. Putting your entire private life inside a searchable database that could be dissected by investigators looking for something incriminatory is pretty frightening, frankly.

So while I’ll continue to watch Recall, I’m very torn on using it. But by the time Microsoft formally releases it, you’ll probably have a better idea of whether you want to use it, too.

Updated at 8:51 AM PT to add that certain AMD and Intel platforms can now test Recall, too.

Logitech’s MX series of mice and keyboards is generally considered the cream of the crop if you aren’t specifically looking for something mechanical or gaming-focused. But they’re also pretty darn pricey.

Today, you can get a bundle that includes the Logitech MX Keys S keyboard and the newest Logitech MX Master 3S mouse, plus some other goodies, for just $144.99. That’s $65 off the retail price. You’ll need to take a few steps to unlock this bundled price, though.

First, add to cart the MX Keys S combo on Logitech’s store. That’s listed for $199.99 price, which is already $10 less versus the MX Keys S and MX Master 3S mouse separately, plus a sweet wrist rest included. Once added to your cart, you’ll notice that you also get a free POP Rubik’s cube. (Weird, but okay. Can’t complain if it’s free.) And with the additional $35 discount automatically applied in the cart, it brings the price down to $164.99.

Logitech

Now, click the “Enter Promo Code” text just above the checkout button. Add in the code FUTURE10LOGI (spotted by the deal hunters at SlickDeals) to take an additional $20 off that discounted price, bringing your total cost for the keyboard, mouse, wrist rest, and Rubik’s cube down to $144.99. You also get free shipping, and it’ll probably get there before Christmas Day if you buy today, at least for most of the US.

This is a pretty big discount on high-end Logitech gear that doesn’t often go on sale, so grab it quick. I get the feeling this bundle may go out of stock on Logitech’s store pretty fast.

When I’m leaving my house for extended periods of time, I always take a power bank with me because I never know when I’m going to need it. If you want to do the same, this high-capacity Baseus power bank is only $25 on Amazon right now — a whopping 69 percent off.

This Baseus power bank isn’t just for phones. It’s powerful enough to recharge your laptop, too, with its 65 watts of max output. Even if your specific laptop usually requires more power, it’ll still work (albeit slightly slower). And with 20,000mAh of capacity, it can recharge a MacBook Pro almost fully from zero. (Or an iPhone 15 Pro over three times.)

It features three charging ports you can use: one USB-C port and two USB-A ports. That USB-C port is the only one that goes up to 65W while the USB-A ports cap out at 30W. The USB-C port also doubles as an input for recharging the power bank itself. (There’s also a separate Micro USB port for that, in case the USB-C port is occupied.)

Plus, this power bank is small enough to fit into any bag, so you’re a lot more likely to carry it with you on the go.

So, what are you waiting for? With it being just $25 right now, now is the perfect time to grab this high-capacity Baseus power bank on Amazon and never worry about going empty on battery again.

There are now so many OLED monitors on the market that new ones need to be notably cheap in order to attract attention. But ASRock is trying a different approach with its newest models: the ability to boost your PC motherboard’s Wi-Fi signal. Intriguing.

To be clear, these new ASRock monitors do not have onboard Wi-Fi, and they don’t have any smart TV features for standalone streaming apps. That was my first thought, but nope. Instead, the monitors function as a gigantic extension for the little barrel ports on the back of your Wi-Fi-equipped motherboard, the kind that usually lead to a cheap plastic antenna included in the box.

As a desktop guy who obsesses over cable management, I can see the appeal. According to the spec sheet, the antennas in the monitors are compatible with Wi-Fi versions 4 through 7.

ASRock

On top of that interesting little tidbit, the new Phantom Gaming displays pack a variety of specs and options at (presumably) different price points.

There are five different models with the Wi-Fi antenna feature, the flagship one being the 32-inch 4K PGO32UFS, which comes with USB-C video, dual refresh rates at 240Hz (4K) or 480Hz (1080p), and an integrated KVM switch. The monitor’s base includes a tiny secondary screen that can show a logo and not much else, which is dumb. Seriously, it’s a dumb idea, stop doing that, please.

There’s also a 27-inch 1440p OLED with the same antenna and teeny-tiny secondary screen features, though it’s missing the KVM. If you really like that Wi-Fi extension feature, you can also get it with a more conventional VA gaming panel in 34-inch and 27-inch form factors. Exact pricing, and which markets will get which models, are not available as of yet.

According to Microsoft, users who have updated to Windows 11 24H2 may run into issues when opening Outlook if they have Google Workspace Sync installed on their system.

Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook makes it easier to manage and organize Google Workspace emails, calendar events, contacts, notes, and tasks from directly within Outlook, making it nearly essential for anyone who works with both Google Workspace and Outlook.

Unfortunately, after updating to Windows 11 24H2, you might observe that Microsoft Outlook fails to launch altogether — and because of this, you can’t uninstall Google Workspace Sync. The solution is to update Google Workspace Sync to version 4.3.68.0, which should get everything back in order again.

For those who are still running older versions of Google Workspace Sync, the Windows 11 24H2 update has been blocked and won’t be available again until Google Workspace Sync is updated.

More information can be found on Microsoft’s support page.

It looks like it’ll soon be easier to quickly see how much battery you have left on your Windows 11 laptop. Neowin reports that Microsoft has hidden a new battery indicator in Build 26120.2510 of Windows 11, currently only available to Insiders on the Dev Channel.

The new battery indicator will be larger than the current battery icon, and it will be a bit more colorful as well. Instead of the current black-and-white design with small symbols in the corners — a lightning bolt for charging and a heart for smart charging — the new design turns green when charging and yellow when Power Saving Mode is activated.

As of this writing, the new design is only seen in the taskbar whereas the old design remains on the lock screen. We expect the new design to hit the lock screen once it’s fully tested and approved.

It’s unclear when Microsoft is going to roll out the new battery indicator design to the general Windows 11 public. Build 26120.2510 also includes several other features, including new experiences for Copilot+ PCs running on AMD and Intel hardware.

Further reading: I like Windows Recall but I just can’t trust it

Despite the oddball corporate moniker, Ashampoo makes some very effective software. Not the least of which is Backup Pro 26. For the average home user, it’s a friendly and solid backup solution. However, it’s missing a couple of features that would make it truly “pro.”

What are Ashampoo Backup Pro 26’s features?

If there’s a backup task or methodology, Backup Pro 26 generally offers a user-friendly implementation of it. Imaging of entire partitions and drives, backup of files and folders, real-time backup, incremental (not differential) backup, and disaster recovery — including boot media.

Note that the real-time backup was so laggy in my testing (up to a couple of minutes), that I asked if it’s actually continuous. Real time means that any file change instantly invokes a backup, which is how Ashampoo describes it, while continuous is simply very granular (a couple of minutes or so) scheduled backup. I had not received an answer as of the time of this writing.

Backup Pro 26 steps you through creating backup plans, with both simple (Easy Backup) and more comprehensive (Wizard) options, the latter featuring tons of options compartmentalized to single pages. Options such as very granular scheduling, the number of backups to keep, notifications, compression, encryption, etc. Why the confusing naming, I can’t tell you — both options step you through the process. Think of the two as “Basic” and “Granular.”

Jon L. Jacobi

The clarity of baby steps in the Wizard option makes the process a bit more fool-proof for new users. Pros might prefer fewer steps and more options per page. But both wizards spell out the steps nicely in plain language. Kudos for that.

Though the interface overall is very friendly, it can be tedious in spots. For instance, manual file selection requires clicking through two dialogs rather than one. I’m being picky, and as I said before, the average user will spend a lot more time running backups than defining them.

Backup Pro uses the common .vmdk format as its backup container, which can easily be attached to VMWare or VirtualBox virtual machines. However, this is only if you don’t encrypt them (you can compress). Otherwise you must use Backup Pro to restore files. The same goes for encrypted, and/or compressed file/folder backups.

Unencrypted, uncompressed file/folder backups may be browsed using nothing but Windows Explorer. Backup Pro can mount any of the image files it creates for browsing as well as browse compressed or encrypted file/folder backups. Versioning is supported, so you can also go back in time to previous iterations of files. Nice.

Jon L. Jacobi

While Backup Pro will create a rescue USB stick or CD/DVD, the usual option to create a ISO image is missing. This won’t affect many users, but it forced me to create my own using Rufus for grabbing screen shots inside a virtual machine. Yes, woe is me.

Additionally, the rescue disk is restore-only — i.e., there’s no facility for creating new backups. Most users won’t care, but I have on many occasions found it necessary to create a backup of a failed installation before trying to repair it, and that requires backup software on an external boot disc.

Note that even if your subscription (see the pricing section below) expires, the rescue disc can still restore backups.

Backup Pro handily supports cloud destinations, including OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, Google Drive, Dropbox, Strato HiDrive, 1&1, MagentCLOUD, OwnCloud, nextCloud, as well as any WebDAV server. Some of those might be unfamiliar, which reflects the European roots of the program.

Conspicuously missing from the cloud destinations are Amazon S3 and S3 compatibles, which often offer the best value. To utilize these with any backup software, use one of the utilities in our roundup of cloud managers.

Jon L. Jacobi

One thing I did not particularly care for with Ashampoo was its somewhat confusing presentation of partitions and disks when defining a full system backup. There is a note saying pertinent hidden and system partitions will also be backed up when you select any partition on a bootable disk. A good thing, as a full system restore absolutely requires these.

Jon L. Jacobi

I’d much prefer Backup Pro 26 displayed partitions grouped by drive as R-Drive Image does. See below.

A couple of the very useful Backup Pro features are the ability to trigger backups on media insertion, and network locations are supported as both sources and destinations. These do drift towards the “pro” side of the equation.

How does Ashampoo Backup Pro 26 perform?

Ah software… While the version 25 that I initially tested (26 was just released) performed without issue on our software test bed, version 26 started out with a thud — unable to communicate with its background service. The issue turned out to be that removing version 25 without deleting a real-time backup job (plan, in Ashampoo speak), bollixed the background service installation.

If you’re upgrading from version 25, be sure you delete (after noting which folders are being backed up) any real-time backup plans first — even if it’s a bit of a pain.

Backup Pro 26 never glitched during any of the multiple tasks I threw at it: imaging and file backup, local and online, encrypted/compressed, unencrypted/uncompressed, plus restore of all. A nice change from the initial install woes.

That said, one backup report had the start time at 06:00 when in fact it was 14:00. Also, the Backup Pro progress meter starts from six o’clock. Is this a Euro thing, or just an obsession with the number six?

Speed-wise, all was about par for the course given the media used for the destination. When I say par, backup software generally operates at around half the maximum transfer rate of any given media.

How much is Ashampoo Backup Pro 26?

A perpetual license for Backup Pro 26 was available at the time of this writing for $33, discounted from $66. You can also rent it for $18 a month though I’d stick with uncompressed, unencrypted backups if a subscription is your choice. Otherwise you’ll only be able to restore compressed/encrypted backups from the recovery disc if and when the subscription lapses.

Should you buy Ashampoo Backup Pro 26?

Backup Pro 26’s overarching support for so many backup chores, plus its comprehensive, easy-to-understand wizards are major selling points for less experienced users. But the lack of backup from the recovery disc and no differential backup are definitely not “pro” in my book.

Still, I encourage you to download the demo and decide for yourself if you like Backup Pro 26. I recommend the perpetual license to avoid restore hassles in the future, or as I already said — stick with uncompressed, unencrypted backups. Also, feel free to peruse the reviews of our favorite backup programs such as R-Drive Image.

The Raspberry Pi 400 was a hit when it came out in 2020, harkening back to the days when people would stuff a whole computer under the gigantic keys of an old-fashioned keyboard. If you love that form factor but need something a little more beefy, the new Raspberry Pi 500 is here with the same design but upgraded Pi 5 guts.

The Pi 500 is a standalone computer with all the connections you need along its top edge. But if you’re also looking for a matching monitor, you’re in luck because the company just released its first home-grown monitor, a spiffy-looking 15.6-inch model. It can work as a travel display or a small conventional desktop monitor thanks to its VESA mount, and it’s a pretty darn good deal at just $100. It’ll even power up from a Raspberry Pi alone, so long as you have a spare USB-A port to deliver a little extra juice.

I really like the look of the monitor, with its red-on-white coloring, a kickstand that doubles as a carry handle, and a stylish cutout on the lower bezel. Normally, I’d be down on its inclusion of a pair of extremely low-power speakers, but considering this is meant to be a companion to extremely flexible, affordable computer designs, I guess it makes sense.

Raspberry Pi

The 1080p panel isn’t exactly the sharpest in the world, but with a standard HDMI port it can work as a pretty good and affordable monitor for a small space. Just be aware that it doesn’t come with a power supply, so you’ll need to supply 15 watts if you’re not powering it directly from your Pi or another computer. Also note that while the monitor is powered by USB-C, it doesn’t actually get its video signal via USB-C, so it needs more cables than your typical portable monitor.

The upgraded Pi 500 keyboard uses the Pi 5 as its base with 8GB of memory and the 2.4GHz quad-core Cortex A76 processor. The top edge has dedicated ports for Ethernet, USB-A (three, at various speeds), USB-C for power, double Micro HDMI for dual 4K output, and a microSD card slot, in addition to the exposed 40-pin GPIO port loved by modders. The Pi 500 flips the port layout versus the original design, and also ditches that red bottom of the case, which is a bit of a bummer.

So far, the only place that has the Pi 500 in stock is CanaKit, which is selling just the primary hardware (without the power supply, mouse, and Micro HDMI adapter that’s sometimes bundled with the Pi 400) for $90. It looks like it might not include a microSD card (where the operating system lives) either, so plan accordingly.

You probably started shopping for the holidays a while ago now, but if you’re in need of a monitor upgrade or an extra display for your workstation, now’s the time to grab one — not only because you deserve it, but because there are some hot sales right now.

I’ve gone ahead and dug up the best monitor deals going on. Even though Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind us, you can still snatch some incredible deals if you know where to look.

See below for the hottest monitor discounts, sectioned depending on what you’re looking for. I’ll be refreshing these deals to keep them fresh, so if you don’t find one you like just yet, check back again later!

Best holiday deals on standard monitors

• Sceptre 27-inch VA 1080p 100Hz, now $97.97 (18% off at Amazon)
• Acer KB252Q 24.5-inch IPS 1080p 100Hz, now $74.99 (25% off at Amazon)
• Samsung Essential S3 27-inch VA 1080p 100Hz, now $99.99 (44% off at Amazon)
• Samsung T35F 27-inch IPS 1080p 75Hz, now $99.99 (33% off at Amazon)
• Samsung ViewFinity S50GC 34-inch VA 1440p 100Hz, now $219.99 (42% off at Amazon)

My top pick: If you need a solid monitor for everyday activities, then Samsung’s 27-inch T35F series monitor is a fantastic pick at this price. It has an IPS panel for amazing color accuracy, a 1080p Full HD resolution, and a decent 75Hz refresh rate.

Best holiday deals on portable monitors

• Arzopa 15.6-inch IPS 1080p 60Hz, now $72.19 (38% off at Amazon)
• KYY 15.6-inch IPS 1080p 60Hz, now $65.99 (49% off at Amazon with Prime)
• Arzopa 16.1-inch IPS 1080p 144Hz, now $99.99 (41% off at Amazon with Prime)
• InnoView 15.6-inch IPS 1080p 60Hz, now $79.99 (43% off at Amazon)

My top pick: If you’re always working on a laptop while on the go, then a portable monitor can vastly improve your productivity. My favorite here is the 16.1-inch Arzopa display with its IPS panel, fantastic 144Hz refresh rate, and 1080p resolution, all for just $100 with Prime. Even though it’s the most expensive on our list, its improved specs are worth it. (Don’t have Prime? Sign up for a free 30-day trial to snag this deal price!)

Best holiday deals on gaming monitors

• Acer Nitro XV271U 27-inch IPS 1440p 180Hz, now $178.94 (38% off at Amazon)
• Sceptre 34-inch VA 1440p 165Hz, now $217.97 (19% off at Amazon)
• Acer Nitro KG241Y 23.8-inch VA 1080p 165Hz, now $94.99 (45% off at Amazon)
• Asus TUF 27-inch VA 1080p 165Hz, now $139.00 (30% off at Amazon)
• Samsung Odyssey G55C 32-inch VA 1440p 165Hz, now $199.99 (39% off at Amazon)
• LG UltraGear 27-inch IPS 1440p 144Hz, now $233.00 (22% off at Amazon)
• Samsung Odyssey Ark 55-inch VA 4K 165Hz, now $1,799.99 (40% off at Best Buy)
• HP Omen 27-inch IPS 1440p 240Hz, now $279.99 (35% off at Best Buy)

My top pick: Picking a gaming monitor is hard, but I think the choice is clear here. The 27-inch LG UltraGear is one of the best gaming monitor deals you can get right now, complete with an IPS panel, a “sweet spot” 1440p resolution, and respectable 144Hz refresh rate, all for a little over $200. It’s not the hottest price ever, but it’s still pretty darn good.

Best holiday deals on OLED monitors

• Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 49-inch 1440p 240Hz, now $949.99 (41% off at Amazon)
• Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 27-inch 1440p 240Hz, now $599.99 (25% off at Amazon)
• LG UltraGear 27-inch OLED 1440p 240Hz, now $626.99 (30% off at Amazon)
• MSI MAG341CQP 34-inch OLED 1440p 175Hz, now $649.00 (5% off at Amazon)
• Alienware AW3423DWF 34-inch OLED 1440p 165Hz, now $644.99 (28% off at Amazon)
• Acer Predator 31.5-inch OLED 4K 480Hz, now $899.99 (25% off at Best Buy)

My top pick: At its deal price, the 27-inch LG UltraGear OLED is a fabulous choice for its 1440p resolution and fast 240Hz refresh rate that’s great for gaming. Competitive gamers may want to look into the 480Hz Acer Predator or the larger Samsung Odyssey OLED G9.

Microsoft has finally incorporated the updated WebUI 2.0 framework in the latest versions of Edge for Windows 11, which significantly improves the company’s browser performance, reports Windows Latest.

The updated framework reduces loading times for elements of the user interface, resulting in a faster and more responsive experience. For example, “Browser Essentials” should now load 42 percent faster while the “Favorites” bar opens 40 percent faster than before.

These improvements should be particularly noticeable on lower-performance computers, such as those with less RAM and without SSD storage. For budget laptops, this adds one more reason to consider Edge over Chrome as your day-to-day web browser.

Microsoft will gradually convert more elements of Edge to WebUI 2.0, instead of doing the entire browser at once, so expect to see even more incremental performance boosts over the months ahead.

Further reading: The fastest web browsers, tested and compared

Qualcomm’s 2024 debut of new Arm processors for Windows laptops was arguably the most important PC hardware announcement since the introduction of Intel’s 486 processors in 1989. Just as that CPU line heralded an age of Intel-driven x86 dominance, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips have now taken us into a new era of competition.

But 2024 was only the preview. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon debut was limited, targeting a specific subset of premium, thin-and-light Windows laptops that don’t require discrete graphics. 2025 will be the year that shows us the true extent of Arm innovation in PCs.

I spoke with two expert analysts in the hardware space for insights on how Arm PCs will continue to grow going forward.

Qualcomm chips will expand their reach

The launch of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite was bumpy, to say the least. Microsoft branded those new Qualcomm-powered laptops as “Copilot+ PCs” and touted their AI performance, only to recall their headline feature at launch due to public backlash. After multiple delays, it’s just now trickling out to Windows Insiders.

“I think the messaging fell apart largely due to Microsoft having the snafu with Recall,” says Leonard Lee, executive analyst and founder at Next Curve, who has decades of experience in technology and business strategy, business and product innovation, and market intelligence.

When it comes to the hardware, though, Snapdragon X Elite has proven its worth with reviewers, analysts, and enthusiasts. Lee says Snapdragon improved the performance-per-watt for Windows laptops, regardless of AI workloads. If you want a laptop with high performance and ample battery life, those Snapdragon PCs are modern trailblazers.

Matthew Smith / IDG

Anshel Sag, vice president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, agreed with Lee and had special praise for the less expensive Snapdragon X Plus chips that are now available in $800 laptops like the Lenovo IdeaPad 5x 2-in-1. “I think they’re going to kill it with that eight-core chip,” says Sag. “It’s performant and delivers an experience that wasn’t possible at that price point.”

Though we’re already seeing these less expensive Snapdragon chips in laptops, CES 2025 (which takes place in January) is likely to become the platform from which laptop makers launch a new salvo of competitively priced Snapdragon-powered machines.

The one thing that’s still missing, though, is a “halo product.” Qualcomm is rumored to be working on an upscaled Snapdragon X Elite chip, with up to 18 processor cores (current chips have up to 12). Whether we’ll see such a chip in 2025 is hard to say, but it’s not hard to imagine.

Qualcomm’s current hardware also lacks support for discrete GPUs, which excludes them from most workstation and gaming laptops. Adding support for discrete graphics could expand Snapdragon to new areas.

Nvidia and MediaTek will enter the ring

There’s absolutely no doubt that more Qualcomm Snapdragon X hardware will show up in 2025. If there’s any question, it’s this: Will more companies enter the Arm PC market?

MediaTek and Nvidia are obvious candidates. MediaTek already produces Arm chips for a wide variety of devices, including ChromeOS laptops. Nvidia also has experience producing Arm SoCs (such as Tegra) and uses Arm cores in its datacenter CPUs. Rumors suggest they’ve partnered together to make new Arm chips starting next year.

Sag says this partnership, if it happens, could be complex. “I think the only way MediaTek could do it is if they work with Nvidia, so they don’t have to worry about graphics drivers.” He predicts that MediaTek could partner with Nvidia by licensing an RTX GPU, something they’ve done previously for their Dimensity Auto SoC (for self-driving vehicles).

Lee also felt this prospective partnership will be tricky to navigate. “Just because you’re Nvidia and you’re the king of GPUs doesn’t mean you have an automatic win,” says Lee. “You need the CPU, the GPU, and now the NPU. I don’t think MediaTek or Nvidia have any inherent advantage here versus Qualcomm.”

Matthew Smith / IDG

And it’s not just about Windows PCs. Sag thinks MediaTek’s play in laptops is still strongest with ChromeOS. “I believe that Google is basically going to make ChromeOS run as Android. And I think MediaTek is going to go after that,” he says. He might be right on the money there, with sources indicating that Google is indeed turning ChromeOS into Android and making Android into a unified desktop OS.

The threat of such a move from Google shouldn’t be discounted. Though Google’s efforts to bring AI features into Chrome have gained less public attention than Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC push, they aren’t insubstantial. Many users on the latest version of ChromeOS already have access to AI features like Gemini, Google’s own AI large language model, which can be used for summarization, translation, and other tasks.

Personally, I think a renovated ChromeOS powered by MediaTek chips (which tend to allow lower pricing) and infused with AI features already found in Pixel smartphones could outflank Microsoft’s blundering attempt to add AI to Windows PCs.

How will x86 PCs defend their turf?

2025 will likely see a surge in Arm-powered Windows and ChromeOS laptops, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to put x86 out to pasture.

On the contrary, x86’s continued relevance is precisely what makes the new era of Windows different from the last three decades. PC hardware will no longer be dominated by one company or one instruction set, but instead span multiple instruction sets and chip makers.

Mark Hachman / IDG

“Intel and AMD have demonstrated they can put a competitive offering out there that’s x86-based,” says Lee. He points out that Intel’s new Lunar Lake chips and AMD’s new Ryzen AI line are highly competitive with Qualcomm on performance and battery life. Laptops like the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro, which we reviewed with Intel’s Core Ultra 7 258V CPU inside, can exceed 20 hours of battery life just like their Qualcomm-powered counterparts.

This competition will benefit you, the laptop shopper and enthusiast. It means more options and lower prices. Sag says it should also benefit the OEMs, such as Asus, Lenovo, and Dell.

“The complexity is challenging, but OEMs are optimistic about how it works out for them,” says Sag. “I’m seeing a level of silicon that’s never existed in the industry. And it’s cool because I’m hearing about prototypes and concepts — things that I never would’ve thought of happening — from OEMs I never would’ve expected it from.”

Best Prices Today: Acer Predator X32 X3

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The current crop of 32-inch 4K OLED monitors are a personal favorite. They offer gorgeous image quality in both SDR and HDR alongside top-tier motion performance. However, most 32-inch 4K OLED monitors have two downsides: high pricing and a lack of USB connectivity. The Acer Predator X32 X3 tackles both issues.

Acer Predator X32 X3 (X3BMIIPHUZX) specs and features

The Acer Predator X32 X3 has outstanding specifications. It’s also rather mundane. Both are true because, like its direct competitors, the Acer Predator X32 X3 relies on a new generation of LG WOLED panel that can support 4K resolution at up to 240Hz or 1080p resolution at up to 480Hz. Several other monitors offer this panel.

• Display size: 32-inch 16:9 widescreen
• Native resolution: 3840×2160
• Panel type: LG WOLED
• Refresh rate: 4K up to 240Hz / 1080p up to 480Hz
• Adaptive sync: AMD FreeSync Premium Pro
• HDR: Yes, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 Certified
• Ports: 2x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode with 90 watts of Power Delivery, 3x USB-A downstream, 1x USB-C data downstream, 3.5mm audio out
• VESA mount: Yes, 100x100mm
• Speakers: 2x 5-watt speakers
• Price: $1199.99 MSRP / $879.99 typical retail

However, the Acer Predator X32 X3’s connectivity is a bit different from most. It has a USB-C port with 90 watts of Power Delivery, which is great to see and still not included on all premium gaming monitors.

The Acer Predator X32 X3 debuted with an MSRP of $1199.99, but was swiftly discounted to $879.99 (and, on Amazon, currently displays that as MSRP). That’s a big drop, and it’s significant to the Acer Predator X32’s standing against its peers. At MSRP, it’s a good choice but doesn’t stand out. At $879.99, it’s a great deal.

Further reading: See our roundup of the best 4K monitors to learn about competing products.

Acer Predator X32 X3 design

The Acer Predator X32 X3 has its strengths, but design isn’t one of them. From the front, the monitor appears rather generic, featuring slim bezels on the top and sides, a small bottom chin, and no visible Acer logo. The rear of the monitor is similarly unremarkable, with a simple matte black finish interrupted by a few textured panels. While it doesn’t look bad, it fails to stand out.

This subdued design does have its advantages, as it allows the monitor to blend seamlessly into a home office or professional environment. However, it lacks RGB LED accent lighting.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

While the Acer Predator X32 X3’s design is rather reserved, it strangely abandons that strategy with the wide, tripod-like stand. It’s nearly as wide as the panel itself and, because it’s not flat, the space it occupies can’t be used to place items on your desk. That’s a bit annoying if you want to use the monitor on a compact desk.

The stand allows the usual ergonomic adjustments, however, including height, tilt, and swivel. A 100x100mm VESA mount is included for use with third-party monitor stands and arms. 

Acer Predator X32 X3 connectivity

The Acer Predator X32 X3’s design is a miss, but its connectivity is more promising. The monitor supports two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4, and one USB-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode. That’s a total of four video inputs, all of which can support the monitor’s maximum resolutions and refresh rates.

The USB-C port also supports up to 90 watts of Power Delivery. That’s notable for a couple reasons. First, not all 4K OLED monitors bother to support USB-C upstream: the LG Ultragear 32GS95UE-B and Alienware AW3225QF are two examples. Second, the Acer Predator X32 X3’s particular arrangement of ports lets users connect two game consoles (over HDMI), a desktop PC (over DisplayPort), and a laptop (over USB-C) simultaneously.

The USB-C port connects to three additional USB-A ports and one USB-C downstream port, which makes the monitor a useful USB hub for adding wired peripherals. The USB-C port, and one of the USB-A ports, are found on the lip of the lower bezel for easy access. The USB ports conform to the USB 3.2 Gen 1 standard.  

The monitor lacks eARC support, however. Though uncommon among monitors as a whole, this can be found on 4K OLED monitors like the Alienware AW3225QF and might prove useful if you want to use a monitor with a soundbar.

Even so, I think the Acer Predator X32 X3’s ports are preferable to most of its competitors. Its arrangement of HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C provides options for every computer and game console, from a high-end gaming desktop to a MacBook Air to a PlayStation 5.

Acer Predator X32 X3 menu and features

The Acer Predator X32 X3’s menus are controlled with a joystick centered behind the monitor’s lower bezel. It’s responsive (as true of most such joystick controls), and Acer’s on-screen menus are logically arranged. The menu text is a bit small, though, so it can be hard to read. Acer also provides a software utility called Acer Display Widget, which can be used to control most monitor features from within Windows.

Image quality customization is extensive. The monitor provides several gamma presets which target specific gamma values. There are also several color temperature modes, though these don’t target specific values and instead use imprecise labels (like “Warm”). The monitor has six-axis color calibration, as well. The monitor’s color space presets include sRGB, Rec.709, DCI-P3, and SMPTE-C.

Importantly, the Acer Predator X32 X3 has a Constant Brightness mode. This minimizes the brightness swings that OLED panels can suffer when rapidly transitioning between bright and dark content. I recommend that owners use this feature when using Windows and desktop apps.

Streamers and content creators will appreciate the inclusion of a tripod mount on the top of the Acer Predator X32 X3’s stand. Strangely, Acer doesn’t seem to talk about this in the monitor’s marketing, but it’s a rare extra. Asus is the only competing brand that routinely provides it. The mount can be used to attach a camera, microphone, LED light, and anything else that you can screw into the mount.

A pair of five-watt speakers round out the features. They’re not amazing, but they’re okay to use for podcasts or listening to chill beats at low volumes. LG’s Ultragear 32GS95UE-B, which has a unique “pixel sound” system, easily defeats the Acer on audio—but most competitors, like the Alienware AW3225QF, lack speakers.

Acer Predator X32 X3 image quality

The Acer Predator X32 X3 has an LG WOLED panel that supports up to 4K resolution. It’s also a 10-bit panel, which means it should deliver great color performance in both SDR and HDR.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

We start off with sustained SDR brightness, which is a weak spot for OLED monitors. The Acer Predator X32 X3 is not different, as its maximum of 256 nits falls right in line with other 4K OLED monitors.

This level of brightness is fine for general use in a room with light control. If you can turn off the lights, or close the blinds, you’re likely to end up using the monitor at roughly half its maximum brightness, or less. But if your room has bright, sunlit windows, or you work in an office with lights you can’t control, then the Acer Predator X32 X3 could look a bit dim at times. 

The monitor has an anti-glare coating. This is a topic of some debate among OLED enthusiasts. Some prefer a glossy finish for its perceived contrast and clarity, while others prefer matte for practical use in rooms with mixed lighting. I’m in the second camp, as an anti-glare coat makes the most of OLED’s meager brightness.

While the monitor isn’t especially bright, it delivers an effectively infinite contrast ratio that provides an amazingly immersive, alluring image. This is made possible because the OLED panel can reduce the brightness of each pixel to zero nits, which enhances realism in dark scenes and amplifies contrast between bright and dark pixels. It’s a huge benefit, but one shared by all modern OLED monitors, so the Acer Predator X32 X3 has no advantage over its competitors here.  

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The Acer Predator X32 X3’s color gamut highlights the difference between LG WOLED and Samsung QD-OLED panels. The QD in QD-OLED stands for Quantum Dots, a technology that allows monitors like the Samsung Odyssey G8 OLED to achieve a wider color gamut than LG WOLED alternatives. That places the Acer Predator X32 X3, which has the LG WOLED panel, behind some of its competitors.

With that said, though, the Acer Predator X32 X3 can still display up to 96 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 87 percent of AdobeRGB. These are solid results that deliver a vibrant, saturated image.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The Acer Predator X32 X3’s color accuracy is solid across the board. Though it’s not the most accurate LG WOLED monitor I’ve tested, it’s competitive with the alternatives.

The monitor also did well in gamma and color temperature testing. The gamma curve came in at 2.3, which is only a hair off the target of 2.2. That means the image is a tad darker than it should be, but it’s hard to notice. Color temperature came in right on target at 6500K, which is our preference. That means the image doesn’t look too warm and rosy, nor too cool and sterile.

Sharpness is good. 4K resolution on a 32-inch panel works out to about 138 pixels per inch (PPI), which is much higher than a 1440p 32-inch monitor’s pixel density of 92 PPI. Small objects and fonts generally look sharp, though some pixelation and aliasing are visible if I lean in to view the monitor more closely. OLED monitors tend to suffer sub-pixel rendering issues that can reduce sharpness compared to an IPS panel monitor, but this problem is much less noticeable on a 4K 32-inch monitor like the Acer Predator X32 X3 than on a 27-inch 1440p monitor like the ViewSonic XG272-2K-OLED.

Overall, the Acer Predator X32 X3’s SDR image quality is excellent, though it doesn’t stand out from other 4K OLED monitors. It has an effectively infinite contrast ratio, a decent color gamut, good color accuracy, and reasonable SDR brightness. The monitor’s performance in all these areas is similar to other monitors that have the same LG WOLED panel, and a tad behind competitors that use a Samsung QD-OLED panel.  

Acer Predator X32 X3 HDR image quality

The Acer Predator X32 X3 supports HDR and is VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black certified. Its overall HDR performance is generally in line with competitive OLED monitors—which is good news, as modern 32-inch 4K monitors are a solid choice for HDR.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

HDR brightness isn’t exceptional, but it’s solid. The Acer Predator X32 X3 generally wasn’t as bright as the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDP and LG Ultragear 32GS95UE-B, but it’s not too far behind—I think it’s debatable whether this is a noticeable difference in real-world viewing. 

It’s also worth mention that the alternatives are stiff competition. If the Acer Predator X32 X3 is compared to a less expensive 4K IPS monitor, like the Acer Nitro XZ320QK, the Predator is clearly superior.  

Acer Predator X32 X3 motion performance

The Acer Predator X32 X3 is a “dual-mode” monitor, which means it is designed to accommodate two different native resolutions with varying refresh rates. To be specific, it supports 4K resolution at up to 240Hz or 1080p resolution at up to 480Hz.

While this might seem odd, it’s not just a gimmick. Want to get sweaty in Apex: Legends? Switch to 1080p/480Hz. Want to enjoy Cyberpunk 2077 at maximum sharpness? Flip back to 4K/240Hz. Acer is not the first monitor to offer this feature, however, as alternatives like the LG Ultragear 32GS95UE-B and Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDP also provide it.

The 1080p/480Hz mode arguably represents the upper end of motion clarity available from any modern display. Fast-moving objects look razor sharp and small text is generally readable even when it zooms across the screen. I personally find the improved clarity easy to notice. The 4K/240Hz mode isn’t as crisp in motion, but is also quite clear, and provides an obvious upgrade over older 4K monitors with a 60Hz to 144Hz refresh rate.

Adaptive sync is supported, though Acer only lists official support for AMD’s FreeSync Premium Pro. The monitor’s adaptive sync should generally function with Nvidia G-Sync and VESA Adaptive Sync compatible video inputs, as these standards are related, but I wasn’t able to test this first-hand.  

Should you buy the Acer Predator X32 X3?

The Acer Predator X32 X3 is a great 4K OLED monitor that separates itself from the competition on two key points: connectivity and price.

Acer provides a USB-C port with USB Power Delivery alongside several downstream USB-A ports, which gives the monitor an advantage over its peers when it comes to connectivity (as most lack USB-C). Acer also hits a slightly lower retail MSRP which, at time of this writing, undercuts competitors by $30 to $130 dollars. The Predator X32 X3’s stand is a bit wider than it should be, and the monitor lacks RGB LED lighting, but I expect many shoppers will be willing to overlook those small design shortcomings.  

That makes the Acer Predator X32 X3 easy to recommend so long as it maintains a slight price advantage over its peers.

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