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4 Amazon privacy settings you should change right now
Like most big tech companies, Amazon collects large amounts of data on its users, in part of the purpose of targeting ads and training its Alexa voice models.
Look in the right places, though, and much of this data collection can be minimized or prevented, and you can even opt out of Amazon’s targeted ads entirely. If you’re an Amazon customer in any capacity, it’s worth taking a minute to sweep through the company’s labyrinthine privacy menus and put some limits on its vast data collection apparatus.
Opt out of Amazon’s targeted ads
Jared Newman / Foundry
First, visit Amazon’s Advertising Preferences page and select “Do not show me interest-based ads provided by Amazon.” This will prevent the items you buy on the site from creepily following you around the web.
While here, you can also hit the “Delete ad data” button to remove existing information from Amazon’s ad systems.
Limit Alexa data collection
Jared Newman / Foundry
If you use an Amazon Echo speaker or other Alexa device, swing by Amazon’s Alexa privacy page and make the following adjustments:
- Under “Voice Recordings,” click the arrow next to “Choose how long to save,” then select “Don’t save recordings.” This stops Amazon from storing the audio of your voice commands.
- Under Smart Home Device History, click the arrow next to “Choose how long to save,” then select three months, the minimum timeframe available.
- Repeat these steps for “Detected Sounds History.”
- Under “Help improve Alexa,” turn off “Use of voice recordings” and “Use messages to improve transcriptions.”
Minimize Amazon device data collection
Jared Newman / Foundry
If you have any Fire tablets or Kindle e-readers, you should also head to Amazon’s Devices Privacy page. Select your device, then disable Device Usage Data, Interest-based ads, and Collect App Usage Data. You’ll have to repeat this process for each device on the list.
Hide your Amazon browsing history
Jared Newman / Foundry
Finally, consider turning off Amazon browsing history on a shared computer if you don’t want other folks seeing what you looked for. Head to Amazon’s Browsing History page, click the down arrow next to “Manage History,” then toggle Turn Browsing History on/off.
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Are Intel Arc GPU drivers still buggy, or getting better?
The Intel Arc GPUs have been an interesting new release in the GPU market for one big reason: It’s a third player in a market that sorely needs competition for prices to stay sane. Nvidia and AMD currently have a strong grasp on the market, with Nvidia maintaining a dominating lead.
Here comes Intel, a behemoth company in its own right. There’s a problem, though. The Arc GPUs such as the A750 and A770 are promising, but full of early teething issues. The hardware seems capable, but the driver software side is playing catchup.
Today we’re going to answer whether daily driving an Intel Arc A770 is reasonable in 2023. Is it going to be too buggy to even consider? We’ll take it through the basic driver installation, and the quality of that experience. We will then put it to work in some popular games and see if it’s up to snuff in real-world use. Questions about performance metrics compared to the competition aside, our goal is to find a smooth, competent experience foremost.
In Brad Chacos’s initial Arc A750/A770 review, he ran into several driver and game issues early on with the initial release. Intel is up against tough competition in the software world. Nvidia and AMD have had years to develop their drivers, so if Intel also wants your hard-earned dollars, it’ll have to prove it’s worthy.
Check out PCWorld’s YouTube channel for Intel Arc updates as well as how the performance has improved with each driver update.
Intel Arc: The drivers
Intel claims that its latest drivers for the Arc-series GPU fixes previous bug issues.
Thiago Trevisan
Our first order of business after installing the Arc A770 is to download drivers from the Intel website. You’re presented with a choice of either the newest certified release, or if you’re feeling frisky, beta drivers. We’ll go with the standard stable release for our test.
While we’d usually recommend the stable release for most users, Intel Arc GPUs are a rapidly evolving breed. In some cases beta drivers may likely cover more recent game releases and squish more bugs. (In theory, your mileage may vary.)
The initial install process went smoothly, and Intel Arc Control performed well. Brad Chacos remarked how it felt “laggy” during his initial review, so it appears to be improved with the newest drivers. After you’ve become familiar with the layout, it’s easy to navigate through and functions well. Brad had also noticed that Windows would constantly ask if you “allow” it to run Intel Arc Control, an issue that’s also fixed.
The third-party software MSI Afterburner also seemed to work fine with the Intel Arc GPU, reporting the on-screen GPU temperatures and data as one would expect.
The test system:
- Intel Arc A770 16GB
- Intel Driver 31.01.101.4146 (Feburary 22, 2023)
- Asus ROG Hero X670E motherboard
- AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
- 32GB of DDR5
- Samsung NVMe
Let’s discuss some issues that may still pop up for some. The first concerns booting into BIOS. On the Asus X670E Hero motherboard, the Intel Arc seemed to not display an image through DisplayPort when attempting a BIOS boot. Using HDMI, it immediately worked. DisplayPort worked fine when in Windows and had also worked in the BIOS when an Nvidia GPU was present with the same settings.
This may vary and be dependent on the interaction between a specific motherboard or BIOS, so you may have a different experience. (We can confirm that the Arc GPU will boot into the BIOS with DisplayPort in a different system)
Another known issue some users may experience concerns Resizable BAR showing incorrectly in Intel Arc Control as “unsupported”—even when correct settings are applied, which can be confirmed as active in the free software GPU-Z. Device Manager can also confirm by selecting the Intel Arc GPU in Display adapters, selecting Resources, and checking that Large Memory Range is there.
(The issue was reportedly fixed in more recent Arc Control versions, but some users have still encountered this.)
As Resizable BAR, or “reBAR,” support is very important for the performance of Intel Arc GPUs, this is certainly relevant to the experience. While it will be active, it’s nice to see confirmed that it is working, or you’ll have doubts about the performance of the GPU itself.
The above aren’t complete deal breakers, but still show how buggy issues may crop up on occasion. In general, Arc is much less buggy with the newest drivers than the initial release, so it’s certainly good progress.
Intel Arc A770 16GB: Game performance
Let’s look at Intel Arc in some popular games. Keep in mind there may be some variation of bugs that may be hardware-specific, and some that may come down to DX9, DX11, and DX12 games. Intel Arc certainly has the best expected performance in DX12 games, but Intel has also recently made a big deal about how DX9 has been optimized in the latest drivers.
Intel Arc A770 16GB: Hogwarts Legacy
Hogwarts Legacyon the Intel Arc A770.
Thiago Trevisan
Hogwarts Legacy is one of the latest popular releases. It’s also a graphically intensive game, with ray tracing included. These types of games absolutely love VRAM—making a good test subject for the Intel Arc A770 with 16GB of the good stuff. It’s also a good test to see if ray tracing and Intel XeSS are functional and bug-free.
I wanted the first test to really push the Arc GPU and see if it would throw in the towel. Intel Arc A770 is certainly best suited to 1440p, but we’ll start with 4K—for maximum effect.
I placed the settings on Ultra, turned off ray tracing, and set Intel’s upscaler XeSS on balanced mode.
The Intel Arc A770 did very well. Even in the busy Hogsmeade town area, it maintained very playable frame rates, without any serious dips. Inside Hogwarts, FPS would be even higher.
What was most surprising was that it was all still very smooth—there were no aggressive FPS dips, stutters, or skipping about. The extra VRAM on this Arc A770 16GB really helps at these resolutions—it’s also 256-bit bus width. Compare this to the 4070 Ti 12GB’s 192-bit bus, which is quickly saturated and often results in poor performance at these resolutions.
Turning ray tracing on brings the FPS down below 30—but even then it was still consistently smooth. If you play at a more reasonable 1440p, the overall gaming experience is quite positive on Intel Arc for this game.
It’s no surprise: Intel even had drivers at the ready for Hogwarts before AMD released its own recently—which is a good sign for Intel’s software. Everything worked as you’d expect—menus loaded quickly, and there were no errant game crashes to report.
Our first real-world game experience resulted in various sessions of smooth gaming, with no real bugginess to speak of in this particular game. Ray tracing worked as it should, performance penalty aside. Intel XeSS also provided some good results, making an otherwise unplayable setting much more palatable.
Intel Arc A770 16GB: Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 on Intel’s Arc A770.
Thiago Trevisan
Jumping into Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p, the Intel Arc continues to be fairly bug-free. At Ultra with FSR 2 on Balanced, we’re not quite at 60 FPS, but the performance is smooth enough. Even though Intel Arc GPUs actually do ray tracing rather well, this is a heavy game that makes the RTX 4090 break a sweat. Regardless, even with a taxing workload on the GPU, it’s still reasonably smooth and at least remains consistent.
Everything loaded and performed as it should, and any performance or lack thereof would just come down to the power of the GPU itself. This is great news and puts it on better ground versus the competition. Ideally, as Arc drivers improve, we can compare hardware to hardware without splitting hairs over buggy drivers.
AMD’s FSR 2 also worked great on Balanced here, giving a much-needed FPS boost.
Intel Arc A770 16GB: Dead Space
Dead Space is a popular remake and can be graphically intensive. This is the first game where I faced some issues. At first, it was a less consistent frame-rate performance. Moving around would cause the frame rates to dip from playable to unplayable. Most other games seemed to at least remain consistent, but this could also be due to this game specifically—not a bug, per se, but it could be down to unoptimized drivers.
Another interesting note is that this game also caused some weird screen issues. First, it completely locked up the system when I tried to change the in-game resolution—resulting in a system reboot being needed. Secondly, it would sometimes have a hard time going into “full-screen” mode and remained in “windowed.”
It could be behavior particular to this title, as most other games did not exhibit this. It can illustrate how you may still run into a buggy experience here or there with Intel Arc. (This game has worked mostly without similar bugs on the Nvidia GPU previously used here.)
Intel Arc A770 16GB: Returnal
Returnal on the Intel Arc A770.
Thiago Trevisan
Returnal is another popular PlayStation port that’s come to the PC—and we’re going to run it at 1440p on the Intel Arc A770.
Epic settings, with ray tracing, give enjoyable performance. It’s smooth with only an odd dip here or there depending on the scene. This game also supports Intel’s XeSS, and we place it on Balanced. Performance jumps up, and the smoothness continues. The VRAM in the Arc is really helping, too—as this game likes VRAM, as well. Everything worked as it should, and it’s good to see Intel XeSS in more titles.
Intel Arc A770 16GB: Spiderman Remastered
Spiderman Remastered presented some issues during Brad Chacos’ review: It would crash when loading ray-traced reflections.
With the newest drivers, the game played very smoothly without the same crashing issue. Ray-traced reflections were turned on, and reflection resolution set to high. In both 1440p and 4K, it worked well and as intended. Combining this with AMD’s FSR 2 upscaling provided some good results as well, without any issues to report.
With Intel staying on top of its game optimizations in drivers, the results have been good. Sometimes tweaks are needed on a “per-game” basis with more individual attention, but it’s great to see many of the early issues no longer present.
Intel Arc A770 16GB: Hitman 3
Hitman 3 on the Intel Arc A770.
Thiago Trevisan
In Brad Chacos’ initial Arc review, he ran into some issues with Hitman 3. After months of new drivers, I had a much smoother experience. The game loaded and played without issue, with very smooth performance across the board.
I also did not experience any corruption of files or other odd behavior, and overall the Intel Arc GPU performed as it should.
Intel Arc A770 16GB: DX9 and DX11 game optimizations
While DX12 has great games and is the latest, how does Intel deal with the thousands of older DX9 and DX11 titles out there? Counterstrike: Global Offensive is a tremendously popular title, even though it’s been around for ages. Likewise, DX9 performance has been vastly improved in newer Intel Arc drivers. If you consider low performance a “bug,” Intel’s newer optimized drivers boost performance a great deal for these older games. Same game, new driver, higher performance—if you call it a bug or not, it’s been squashed!
The same is true of other games like Starcraft 2, and Guild Wars 2. DX9 optimizations are a very good demonstration of Intel’s ability to improve the product by significant amounts, which bodes well for future improvements.
DX11 performance will certainly be a lot more varied, and it’s an area that Intel should focus on improving further. That’s an important component as not every game will be simply DX12. Gamers want to play a variety of titles, both old and new.
Thiago Trevisan
The verdict: Is the Intel Arc still too buggy to recommend?
After taking the Intel Arc GPU through its paces on the newest available driver, there’s a lot of good news. We’re happy to see new game releases such as Hogwarts Legacyget fast driver releases accompanying them. This shows that Intel is on the ball, and really trying to improve. Intel Arc therefore can be recommended, with a few things to keep in mind.
Coupled with recent price drops of the A750 GPU to $249, Intel may find a much more willing buyer with these driver improvements. It seems like most of the big early issues with daily use of the drivers are mostly gone, resulting in a more seamless process.
Is Intel Arc still buggy? It’s not all perfect—some minor issues persist and may still occur due to the new nature of the software. It seems to be stable enough that one can recommend it now, so that’s good news. Brad Chacos included it in his recent 2023 GPU recommendations.
With some minor caveats, and if you’re willing to work through some teething issues, Intel Arc is maturing nicely enough to be considered against the Nvidia and AMD competition. That’s good news for everyone!
Graphics Cards -
This is the best price you’ll find on Rosetta Stone
World travelers know all kinds of tips for getting around safely and on a budget, from using credit card points to employing a VPN. But the best asset you can have when you’re traveling abroad is knowing how to speak the language.
If you have some international travel planned (or even if you don’t), take advantage of this special offer on Rosetta Stone during our Spring Digital Blowout. The Wall Street Journal says Rosetta Stone “may be the next best thing to living in a country” when it comes to learning a new language, which is why it has been trusted for nearly three decades by international organizations like NASA and TripAdvisor.
Between March 22 and April 3, you can get a lifetime subscription for more than half off at just $144.97 (reg. $299) with promo code SPRING20. You’ll have access to all 24 languages in the Rosetta Stone ecosystem, with award-winning interactive software and proprietary speech recognition technology to help you learn how to read, write, and speak a new language in your own time.
This deal ends at 11:59 p.m. on April 3, so jump on it now. Grab a lifetime subscription to Rosetta Stone for just $144.97 with promo code SPRING20.
Rosetta Stone: Lifetime Subscription (All Languages) – $189
Prices subject to change.
Entertainment -
Google Bard’s AI search launch was, well, boring
Already months behind, Google is slowly rolling out its AI-powered chatbot, Bard, today. But Google—once a powerhouse in search—looks like it’s taking an extremely conservative approach to its new chatbot.
What is Bard? Google describes it as a “complementary experience to Google Search,” in its blog post Tuesday. Google announced the Bard chatbot in February, noting that it uses a different language model, called LaMDA (or Language Model for Dialogue Applications), which it will use to power the chatbot.
But if you’re wondering if Google is taking a mighty swing at chat-powered search? No, not right now. In fact, its blog post seems quite muted, as if it’s simply trying to stand at the plate and not strike out.
For one, there’s simply the approach: Complementing Google Search sounds rather conservative—since Google already controls roughly 90 percent of the search market, it’s clearly not willing to swing for the fences quite yet. Bard looks like the first instances of Bing’s AI chat: simple answers, idea generation, that sort of thing. We don’t know, for example, how long answers can be, and whether Bard will allow for creative responses like Bing and ChatGPT generate. It will, however, allow you to select from various “drafts” of the response, where you can actually see a sentence or two. Um, cool?
Right now, Google Bard’s differentiating feature appears to be a “drafts” view. If you search within Bard, you’ll have the option to “Google It” to receive even more responses—but without any attribution for you to see where Bard is pulling its answer from.
Bard is also limiting responses. Early versions of Bing Chat tended to get weird, or worse, when users engaged in long conversations with Bing. Bard isn’t risking the same sort of interaction, either, and will limit responses as well. That’s designed to keep responses on topic, according to Google.
Google Bard also makes it clear that it can get it wrong. Finally, Google seems very conscious of the fact that its first demonstration of Bard included a well-publicized factual error by misidentifying the James Webb Space Telescope as the first to take pictures of a planet outside of the solar system. In an example today, Google even highlighted a search result where Bard got it wrong.
But on a day when Microsoft added AI image generation to its Bing Chat, and shortly after Runway debuted AI text-to-video, you can forgive the world for just shrugging its shoulders at Bard.
Google, in fact, doesn’t even characterize Bard as a product, but as an “experiment.” It all leaves one with the distinct impression that Google, once the home-run king of search, may be more of a minor leaguer among a number of new AI star players.
Internet -
Best laptops under $1,000 in 2023: Best overall, best for students, and more
Nowadays, you don’t have to drop a ton of cash on a premium laptop to get everything you need. It’s entirely possible to get an excellent laptop for under $1,000. Whether you’re talking about a traditional Windows clamshell or a fully loaded Chromebook, spending less than a grand can get you a laptop you’ll enjoy using. Moreover, at this price point, you don’t have to sacrifice your budget to get excellent performance, a crystal-clear screen, or long battery life.
The overwhelming amount of options on the market now means that it can take some time to find the right model for you, so we’ve highlighted our top picks to make the search easier. Read on to find your match. (To find laptop recommendations that span all price ranges, see our roundup of the best laptops).
Updated 03/16/2023:Check out our review of the MSI Sword 15 A12UE. With a really unique and attractive design, the Sword 15 will definitely turn heads. It also features good budget level performance, but its price is a bit high for the features included. Also, be sure to read our latest review of the Acer Chromebook Spin 513. It offers a sharp screen with plenty of real-estate due to its 3:2 aspect ratio and an excellent battery life.
Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon – Best overall under $1,000
Pros
- 2.8K OLED display is gorgeous
- Booming audio
- Quiet operation
- Strong application and multimedia performance
Cons
- So-so keyboard
- Lid is so thin it flexes a bit too much
- Below-average battery life
Best Prices Today: $979.99 at NeweggRead our full Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon reviewFrom zippy multimedia performance to punchy audio, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon has a lot to offer at a reasonable price point. The real star of the show is the 14-inch 2880×1800 OLED display. According to the reviewer, “the contrast is outstanding, with the deepest blacks and brightest whites.” As for colors, they’re “accurate and noticeably vibrant.” The screen is a perfect fit for creative professionals who do a lot of photo editing. In addition to its stunning panel, the laptop also weighs just a little over 2 pounds, making it a capable travel laptop. There are a few minor shortcomings, though. The keyboard isn’t the best and battery life is less than stellar. But in the end, the pros really outweigh the cons here.
Asus Vivobook Pro 15 – Best gaming laptop under $1,000
Pros
- Good productivity performance
- Superb display
- Rugged design
- Great battery life
Cons
- Boring aesthetics
- Unimpressive 720p webcam
- Unreliable fingerprint scanner
- Poor port selection
Best Prices Today: $749.99 at Adorama$919.99 at Best Buy$1,074.98 at AmazonRead our full ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 OLED Ultra Slim Laptop reviewThe Asus Vivobook Pro 15 provides an outstanding price-to-performance ratio. Sporting a Ryzen 7 processor, an RTX 3050 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB M.2 NVMe hard drive, this laptop includes a lot of the same performance components of higher-end alternatives but for much cheaper. While the performance features are admirable, what makes the Vivobook Pro 15 stand out from the rest of the sub-$1,000 crowd is the stunning 15.6-inch OLED display. It’s almost unheard of to get an OLED screen on a laptop for this price and it doesn’t disappoint either, giving crisp visuals and a near-perfect contrast ratio.
The overall design of the Vivobook Pro 15 is a little lackluster, but that’s not what this laptop is about. Asus wasn’t trying to beat premium laptops on design or build quality with this model. They instead wanted to load it with so much power and performance that the design doesn’t didn’t matter—and it was a success. For the price of a budget-friendly gaming laptop, the Asus Vivobook Pro 15 gives you the power and features of a much more expensive midrange option.
Acer Aspire 5 – Best under $500
Pros
- Affordable price
- Rugged build
- Great keyboard
- Good selection of ports
Cons
- Subpar webcam
- Annoying bloatware comes pre-installed
- Touchpad is a little hard to us
Best Prices Today: $467.00 at AmazonRead our full Acer Aspire 5 reviewWith its affordable price point, decent performance, and robust build, the Acer Aspire 5 is an excellent sub-$500 option. Our tester was surprised by its “solid, durable feel.” Although it lacks backlighting, the keyboard is quite nice. It has a spacious layout, which is perfect for longer typing sessions. Performance is fast enough for general-use tasks like writing emails and browsing the web, but that’s about it. If you’re shopping around for a solid everyday laptop that won’t break the bank, the Aspire 5 is definitely worth a look.
Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 – Best Chromebook
Pros
- Attractive design
- Affordable
- Punchy audio
- Excellent keyboard
Cons
- Mediocre performance
- Subpar battery life
Best Prices Today: $314.00 at AmazonRead our full Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 reviewThe Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 is a good mid-range Chromebook. It’s fast enough for web browsing, editing documents, and so on. That said, it can “feel taxed by demanding tasks.” When our tester opened up multiple tabs, he noticed a sag in performance. The port selection, however, is nice combination of old and new. It has two USB-C ports, a single USB-A port, a 3.5mm combo audio jack, and a microSD card reader. As for the keyboard, our tester liked the “crisp and taut” feel of the keys. Although this laptop is a 2-in-1—meaning the screen can fold back to make it function more like a tablet—it weighs about 3 pounds, which is on the heavier side for a convertible laptop. It may not be the most portable laptop in the world, but that flexibility can still be nice for applications that favor a tablet form factor.
HP Chromebook x2 11 da0023dx – Best folio-style Chromebook
Pros
- Gorgeous 2K touchscreen
- Solid performance
- Excellent battery life
- Robust design
Cons
- Trackpad is too sensitive at times
- Light on ports
Read our full HP Chromebook x2 11 reviewAh, folio-style laptops. While some may find the detachable-keyboard design a pain to deal with, our reviewer really liked this one. The HP Chromebook x2 11 is one of the best 2-in-1 laptops you can buy. The tablet’s aluminum chassis feels rugged and like it’ll last quite a while. The detachable keyboard took some getting used to, but ended up being fine for long typing sessions. The rear plate, which transforms into a kickstand that holds up the tablet for hands-free use, connects to the back of the tablet via magnets. The reviewer found the connection to be both clean and strong. As for the performance, it’s about what you’d expect out of a Chromebook. It’s zippy enough for everyday tasks like browsing the web and so on.
Acer Swift 3 – Best for college students
Pros
- Solid chassis and build quality
- Large, attractive 16-inch 1080p screen
- Enjoyable keyboard and touchpad
- USB-C with charging and DisplayPort
Cons
- Webcam, microphone, and speakers don’t impress
- Intel processor falls behind AMD alternatives
- Disappointing battery life
- Lots of bloatware
Best Prices Today: $999.99 at AmazonRead our full Acer Swift 3 SF316-51 reviewIf you’re a college student working with a modest budget, the Acer Swift 3 is a fantastic option. It features an attractive 16-inch 1080p display, a solid chassis, and an enjoyable keyboard and touchpad. However, battery life is subpar, so you’ll want to keep the charger on hand. This is unfortunate, as the Swift 3’s slim profile makes it a good laptop for travel. If you don’t mind the lackluster battery life, this is a great laptop for watching movies and writing research papers on.
Acer Aspire Vero 14 – Best eco-conscious option
Pros
- Peppy performance
- Strong battery life
- Thunderbolt 4
- Eco-friendly materials
- Convenient, fast fingerprint reader
Cons
- Bloatware
- Weak speakers
- Soldered-on RAM, not upgradeable
Read our full Acer Aspire Vero 14 reviewFor those who demand that their technology be manufactured in a more eco-conscious way, the Acer Aspire Vero 14 is for you. Made from 30 percent post-consumer recycled materials, it is blazing a path for more eco-friendly options in our personal electronics. It’s no slouch in the performance department either, sporting a Core i7 CPU, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, a solid 16GB of RAM, and a surprisingly large 1TB M.2 SSD. The only real drawbacks are the odd decision from Acer to solder on the RAM so it can’t be upgraded in the future, and the fact that it comes with some unwelcome bloatware. But both issues are minor and the bloatware can be removed with just a little bit of effort after purchase. Overall, the Acer Aspire Vero 14 provides decent performance and makes the decision to buy a new computer weigh a little less on your conscience thanks to its eco-friendly design.
How we tested
The PCWorld team puts each and every Windows laptop through a series of benchmarks that test GPU and CPU performance, battery life, and so on. The idea is to push the laptop to its limits and then compare it against others we’ve tested. Chromebooks, on the other hand, go through a series of web-based tests. It wouldn’t be fair or possible to run the same kinds of tests on a Chromebook, as they’re Chrome OS-based machines. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of each test and the reasons why we run them.
Windows laptops
- PCMark 10: PCMark 10 is how we determine how well the laptop handles lighter tasks like web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, and so on.
- HandBrake: HandBrake is more intensive than PCMark 10. It basically measures how long a laptop’s CPU takes to encode a beefy 30GB file.
- Cinebench: Cinebench is a brief stress test of the CPU cores. It does this by rendering a 2D scene over a short period of time.
- 3DMark: 3DMark checks if 3D performance remains consistent over time by running graphic-intensive clips.
- Video rundown test: To gauge battery life, we loop a 4K video using Windows 10’s Movies & TV app until the laptop dies.
Chromebooks
- CrXPRT 2: The CrXPRT 2 benchmark tests a Chromebook’s battery life.
- Speedometer 2.0: This test determines a Chromebook’s web browser performance. It simulates this by adding, completing, and removing a to-do list.
- Basemark Web 3.0: This benchmark gauges how well a Chromebook can handle web-based applications.
- Kraken 1.1: Kraken 1.1 is a JavaScript performance benchmark.
- Jetstream 2: Jetstream 2 is a combination of WebAssembly and JavaScript benchmarks. This is a way to gauge how well a Chromebook runs advanced workloads.
How to pick a laptop under $1,000
Ah, here we are at the million dollar question. Do you spring for a basic Chromebook or go for a Windows laptop with more features? Well, it really depends on your personal lifestyle and what you plan on using your laptop for. For example, Chromebooks are a great low cost option for those who just want the basics. I use a Chromebook as my primary work laptop, as it has everything I need for both editing and writing. If you travel a bunch for work, it’s probably a good idea to invest in a laptop with solid battery life. If you’re still unsure, don’t sweat it. I’ve put together a list of quick tips below.
What laptop type should I choose?
There’s traditional clamshells, 2-in-1’s, Chromebooks, and much more. The displays on convertible laptops (aka 2-in-1’s), for example, can swing around 360 degrees. This allows you to use the laptop like a tablet. They can also be propped up like a tent for viewing movies or participating in video calls. Chromebooks, on the other hand, exclusively run Google’s web-focused Chrome OS and are generally used for everyday tasks. All you need is a Gmail account and boom, you’re in. There are pros and cons to each of them. Chromebooks are affordable and generally have good battery life whereas convertibles are normally lightweight and portable.
How do I pick a CPU?
If it’s CPU power you’re looking for, look for processors with higher numerical names. A Core i7 is more suited to gaming and more intense work than everyday tasks. Intel processors are available in Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9. The higher the number, the more powerful the CPU. If you don’t need a ton of power, Intel Core i5 processors are your best bet, as they offer good performance at a decent price. Basic office and web work gets along just fine on a Core i3. As for AMD options, the Ryzen 3 is good for basic productivity and web browsing, while Ryzen 5 chips rival Intel’s Core i5 as solid all-arounders. If you need more power, the Ryzen 7 chip is well suited for content creation like video editing. Finally, if you’re dealing with 4K video, spring for a Ryzen 9.
What about GPUs?
You’ll want a discrete graphics card for hardcore gaming or editing videos. It’s separate from the processor, so you can expect higher performance out of it. Integrated graphics, on the other hand, are attached to the CPU and uses less power as a result. This is perfectly fine for everyday tasks, especially if you’re not doing anything that’s graphics-intensive.
How much RAM should I look for?
8GB of RAM is zippy enough for general use. If you’ve got a gaming laptop, 16GB of RAM is the way to go, and content creators will want even more.
How about battery life?
If you plan on taking your laptop anywhere with you, aim for something that can last 10 to 12 hours on a single charge. That’s more than a full work day, so it should theoretically get you through long flights or a day of classes. Obviously, more is always better. Just know that the bigger the battery, the heavier the laptop.
What kind of ports should I look for?
A wide array of ports is always a plus in my book, as it eliminates the need for an adapter. I’d recommend a laptop that has both USB-C and USB-A. An HDMI port is good, too. This is especially useful for hooking up to an external monitor.
FAQ
1.Do Chromebooks make good gaming laptops?
The short answer is no, but it really depends on the type of gaming you intend to do. Chromebooks will handle web games and Android games just fine. But if you’re looking to play the latest high-powered 3D games, a Chromebook won’t suffice, because a) it doesn’t run Windows, and b) it probably has insufficient graphics power.
All that said, Google is working hard to bring cloud gaming to Chromebooks. Cloud gaming services use a remote PC or console to play games streamed through the cloud down onto the Chromebook. Until this service becomes more popular, though, Chromebooks will not be able to compete in the gaming arena.
2.Can integrated graphics be used for gaming?
Yes, some of the latest processors with integrated graphics can run modern PC games at reasonable settings. For example, Intel’s latest Iris Xe line of processors with integrated graphics have been shown to run some of the latest games at 1080p and 30 fps. Be careful, however, as not all integrated graphics are up to the task.
Intel and AMD’s integrated graphics have made huge leaps in recent years with regard to gaming performance. If you’re on a budget or looking for an ultra thin laptop with integrated graphics you can still game on, we recommend checking out Intel’s Core 12th-gen Iris Xe or AMD’s brand new Ryzen 6000 RDNA 2.
3.What size laptop is best?
This is really personal preference. If you intend to travel a lot with your laptop then a smaller, more portable size in the neighborhood of 13 to 14 inches is recommended. If you want to do gaming on a laptop, then you should look for something in the 15 to 17 inch range. Also, keep in mind the weight of the laptop before you buy it. Ultra thin laptops can weigh a featherlight 2 pounds while beefy gaming computers top the scales at three or four times that.
4.What is an Ultrabook?
Originally a marketing term coined by Intel, it refers to a thin and lightweight laptop that fits somewhere between a tablet and a premium notebook. Ultrabooks typically come with more productivity features than tablets and are designed to be more portable than larger, heavier business laptops.
Ultrabooks are usually around 2cm thick, come with an Intel processor and a fast SSD, have longer than average battery life, and retail for consumer-friendly prices. However, there are so many different Ultrabooks available nowadays that these specifications have become more like general guidelines rather than rigid standards.
Gaming Laptops, Laptops
