laptop Archives

Stuck at a desk all day?

💻 Upgrade your workspace for a new year of getting stuff done.

A memory foam seat cushion ($45) helps with booty and back pain. You can use it in cars and airplanes, too. Click the coupon box for 30% off!
Pair the seat cushion with a foot stand ($39) for extra relief. Ahh.
If you use a laptop, this stand (15% off, $17) is your posture’s new BFF. Plus, it helps your computer’s ventilation so it lasts longer.
A room divider is nice for more privacy or hiding all your junk on video meetings.
Quick! Name something more annoying than a cord you need falling behind your desk. You can’t, huh? A magnetic cord holder (25% off) stops that from happening.

🤑 Amazon Outlet is like the sale aisle at Target. It’s where they list all the super-cheap overstock and clearance items. I like the under-$10 section.

We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

It never hurts to ask: Some credit cards offer extended warranties on anything you buy with the card. If your expensive vacuum or laptop craps out, it’s worth asking Amex or Chase if they’ll pay to repair or replace it.

How to test-drive a laptop

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Some stores make it easy, others not so much. Here’s how to avoid surprises and get the most out of your trial run.

Very Apple-esque: Dell is ditching iconic laptop names like XPS, Inspiron and Latitude for “simplified” lines: Dell, Dell Pro and Dell Pro Max. Each has Base, Plus and Premium tiers. Pro laptops are the new Latitude, and Premium models are replacing the XPS line.

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Defense experienced the worst breach of military computers, ever. Was the source a … A.) Phishing email, B.) USB flash drive, C.) Confused employee or D.) Stolen laptop?

Find the answer here! →

MacBook battery widget: It’ll regularly remind you how much juice is left in your laptop. On your Mac, click the date and time in the top right corner. In the notification center pop-up, click Edit Widgets. Search for “batteries” and pick your favorite options.

Make an old laptop or PC work again: Install ChromeOS Flex, a free, cloud-based operating system. With processing done on Google’s servers and a bare-bones interface, you’ll get surprisingly good performance. Your PC needs to meet these minimum specs: x64 CPU, 4GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and a USB port for installation.

🍏 Bad apple: This doesn’t happen often. Move over, Newton (the $700 tiny pre-iPad), Pippin (the $600 gaming console) and Portable (the 16-pound $6,500 laptop). Make room for Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro AR headset, which has sold fewer than 500,000 units since launch. They’re not making it anymore. About 600,000 are stocked up to last the rest of the year. Don’t buy one.

Windows laptop feeling extra warm? Consider an app to monitor the temperature in real time. CoreTemp and Real Temp for Windows are good options. Anything higher than 176 degrees Fahrenheit is bad news.

Singing like a canary: Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing life in prison for sex trafficking, racketeering and a slew of other charges. But it seems his biggest worry is not having a laptop in his cell to use whenever he wants. There’s a laptop he can use with supervision from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The judge says that’s enough time for him to do diddy-squat.

💻 “An unspecified error has occurred”: That Windows message drives me nuts. Over the last few months, Windows 10 has grown in popularity, while Windows 11 has dropped in market share … despite Windows 10’s planned sunset on Oct. 25, 2025. Windows 10’s market share currently stands at 61.8%, compared to just 34.9% for Windows 11. No wonder folks are waiting to upgrade; about 240 million active PCs might not meet the new hardware requirements for Windows 11. Need a new system? Check out my three sweet laptop picks here!

Switch to the web: You can access lots of phone apps on the web, like on your laptop or desktop, instead of directly on your device. It’s nice to have a bigger screen to look at stuff and a bigger keyboard to type out posts and comments. Try it with Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.

🕺 Speaking of twisting: Lenovo’s new laptop, the Auto Twist PC, opens and closes with a voice command. Say “Open lid” and yep, it does. The screen rotates almost 180 degrees, too, and it can put itself into tablet mode. Neat? Yes. Gimmicky? Absolutely.

Trust me, it’s dusty: Your laptop and desktop gather dust just like everything else. Do yourself (and your wallet) a favor and blow out all the junk. Compressed air (whoa, 47% off) gets the job done, but I prefer a reusable air duster (54% off!).

We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

Never hurts to ask: Some credit cards offer extended warranties on anything you buy with the card. If your expensive vacuum or laptop craps out, it’s worth asking Amex or Chase if they’ll pay to repair or replace it.

💸 Old electronics lying around? Costco’s revamped trade-in program lets you swap them for a store gift card, no membership needed. The trade-in values aren’t small potatoes, either; you can get up to $1,080 for an old laptop! Go to this portal for a quote. If you’re cool with their offer, the shipping’s free and you’ll have your money in under three weeks. PSA: Amazon has a trade-in program, too, so compare both to see which gives you the better price.

We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

🚴‍♂️ Not wheelie good: Researchers found a way to hack bicycle wireless gear shifters with just a few hundred bucks of tech and a laptop. The trick works on Shimano Di2 shifters, which are used by top cycling teams worldwide. A patch is rolling out in late August.

Keep your Android automatically unlocked: Go to Settings > Security > Smart Lock. You can set it to stay unlocked when it’s on you, near a trusted device (like your laptop) or in a trusted place (like your house).

Breathe new life into an old laptop or PC: Install ChromeOS Flex, a free, cloud-based operating system. With processing done on Google’s servers and a bare-bones interface, you’ll get surprisingly good performance. Your PC will need to meet these minimum specs: x64 CPU, 4GB RAM, 16GB storage and a USB port for installation.

Single gunshot wound to the head: That’s the official cause of death for former President Trump’s would-be assassin, Thomas Crooks. The FBI says Crooks’ final search on his encrypted Samsung phone was for p*rn. A few hours before that, he flew his drone over the rally site. Now, investigators are moving on to his laptop and external hard drives found at his parents’ home.