INSIDE: IS YOUR PHONE SECRETLY LISTENING TO YOU?

JUNE 2025

13 ESSENTIAL
CHROME
FEATURES
YOU NEED
TO START
USING
PLUS
20 GREAT
TRAVEL
GADGETS
FOR YOUR
NEXT TRIP
 KEEP TOW CHAINS FROM
DRAGGING SO THEY DON’T SPARK

[Link]
 CONTENTS

JUNE 2025

≥ DEPARTMENTS ≥ FEATURES

7 News

31 Reviews & Ratings 68 13 essential Google Chrome features

91 Here’s How

108 Tech Spotlight 78 20 travel gadgets you need for your next trip or vacation

COVER IMAGE COURTESY OF GOOGLE JUNE 2025 PCWorld 3

MASTHEAD

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Jon Phillips

DESIGN DIRECTOR Robert Schultz

EDITORIAL
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brad Chacos
MANAGING EDITOR Katherine Stevenson
SENIOR EDITOR Mark Hachman, Alaina Yee
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DESIGN
ART DIRECTOR Steve Traynor
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ADVERTISING
SALES INQUIRIES [Link]/contact-us/

FOUNDERS
FOUNDER David Bunnell
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PRESIDENT Mike Finnerty

4 PCWorld JUNE 2025

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JUNE 2025 PCWorld 5

It’s always been
easier for me to
help others
than to
help myself

As a Veteran, when someone raises their hand for help, you’re often one of the first ones to
respond. But it’s also okay to get help for yourself. Maybe you want or need assistance with
employment, stress, finances, mental health or finding the right resources. No matter what it
is, you earned it. And there’s no better time than right now to ask for it. Don’t wait. Reach out.

Find resources at [Link]/REACH

News TECH NEWS AND TRENDS THAT WILL
AFFECT YOU TODAY AND BEYOND.

Tech manufacturers are

suspending U.S. shipments
amid tariff woes
Smaller companies are shutting down shipments to the U.S. while larger manufacturers
are scrambling to deal with the chaotic tariff situation. BY MICHAEL CRIDER

A
s the Trump administration’s the uncertainty of prices that might double
trade war ([Link]/4k6v3Xh) tomorrow—so they’re out, at least as far as
oscillates, tech manufacturers shipping to customers in the U.S goes.
are trying to deal with the The latest example is Keyboardio, a
unpredictable nature of an economy held custom keyboard shop run by two people in
hostage to a single man’s whims. But smaller, California. Keyboardio specializes in the kind
more niche businesses simply can’t deal with of gorgeous, wood-cased ergonomic

IMAGE: ROBERT V SCHWEMMER/SHUTTERSTOCK JUNE 2025 PCWorld 7

NEWS US TECH SHIPMENTS SUSPENDED

designs that always draw crowds at keyboard that Anbernic—a favorite of the exploding
meetups. But because essential parts like retro handheld emulation gadget scene—
PCBs come from China, even if their wooden announced that it would be “suspending all
cases are sourced from American wood, both orders shipping from China to the United
the standard tariffs and the crackdowns on de States.” Stock currently available in American
minimis shipping exceptions make it warehouses will be the last available to U.S.
impossible to remain profitable for U.S. sales, residents until further notice.
as the two explain in a lengthy blog post (fave. Bigger brands are feeling the pinch, too.
co/3Sosvbg). The post was updated four Razer’s high-powered gaming laptops briefly
times in three days in April to deal with the disappeared from its ordering page (fave.
U.S. and China’s dueling policies. co/4kdRBWq) earlier this month even as it
But starting May 2, there will simply be no was announcing new accessories, and
way to keep sales going while remaining Logitech’s mice and keyboards have jumped
profitable. Keyboardio announced (fave. in price by up to 25 percent. Yesterday,
co/4mcx5aul; spotted by Tom’s Hardware, logistics giant Hapag Lloyd says that among
[Link]/3GJMrms) that it will “suspend all its customers, 30 percent have simply
shipping to the United States until we’re canceled shipments originating from China
confident that your orders will get to you and bound for the U.S. The International
quickly and reliably.” Monetary Fund predicts a slowing impact to
Keyboardio isn’t the first small gadget the broader global economy as companies
supplier to make this call, and it won’t be the try to account for the apparent self-sabotage
last. Retro Dodo ([Link]/3GXqLmJ) reports of the U.S. buying public.
If you’d like to dig deeper into
how the Trump tariffs are affecting
both U.S. businesses and
technology buyers, Gamers Nexus
has an exhaustive breakdown (fave.
co/4k2rr8K) available on YouTube.
Notably, PC case and component
maker Hyte ([Link]/43X8jkx,
who’s based in California) is
shutting down all shipments to the
Razer’s high-powered gaming laptops briefly disappeared U.S. Hyte broke down the
from its ordering page recently. component, manufacturing, and

8 PCWorld JUNE 2025

shipping cost of individual cases,
California-based
explaining how and why simply
PC case and
shifting manufacturing to the U.S. is component
economically impossible. maker Hyte is
shutting down
Cooler Master, Thermal Grizzly, all shipments to
Corsair, and CyberPowerPC all the U.S.
expressed similar woes, saying that
the unpredictability of the tariff
situation can lead to disaster. A
shipment could leave port in China
when the tariff rate is 20 percent but arrive
when it’s 150 percent—and that alone can be refusing to bow to Trump’s demands and
so detrimental to the business that it directly several rounds of one-upmanship between
results in employee layoffs. Larger companies the countries, as of this writing the rate on
can try to compensate with fewer products most Chinese imports to the U.S. is a
on offer shipped in bigger batches when the staggering 145 percent. A television made
situation is less chaotic, but smaller in China and valued at $100 will be
companies will simply shut down sales in the charged $145 to enter the country,
U.S…or may be in danger of complete effectively making its price $245.
collapse altogether. Apparently, reacting to panic in the tech
The full video is almost three hours long, industry specifically, the administration later
but it’s absolutely worth watching if you’d like scaled back the China tariffs on computers,
to see an incredibly detailed breakdown of computer components, smartphones, and
how U.S. companies are being clobbered by some smaller parts to “only” 20 percent
constantly shifting policies that are beyond ([Link]/4d93Ot4). Messaging on what
anyone’s ability to predict. counts and what doesn’t, and how long
The Trump administration has these and other policies will remain in place,
temporarily scaled back import tariffs from is confused at best.
most countries to “just” 10 percent, a The Trump administration claims that it is
policy that would already have been actively negotiating with China and that the
considered a huge burden. Dozens of tariff rate will go down substantially in the
countries have indicated a willingness to near future. Chinese officials have denied
bargain to avoid the more onerous tariffs that active negotiations are occurring (fave.
announced earlier this year. But with China co/4kcd5ml).

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 9

NEWS

Microsoft’s tiny new Surface

Laptop and Pro shrink in other
ways, too
Microsoft isn’t talking tariffs, but you can feel the effects anyway. BY MARK HACHMAN

S
maller Surfaces have finally arrived. Laptop 7 ([Link]/3X7OXJ5), which actually
Microsoft is announcing smaller, ships for as low as $999.99 with a
less powerful revisions of the Snapdragon X Plus chip inside. Meanwhile,
Microsoft Surface Pro tablet and the smaller 12-inch Surface Pro will cost as
Surface Laptop, all built around a more little as $799.99, below the $999.99
conservative version of Qualcomm’s battery- Microsoft charges for its existing 13-inch
sipping Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chip. Surface Pro 11 ([Link]/3YPPm3T) with a
Smaller doesn’t necessarily mean Snapdragon X Plus inside. As you’ll see
dramatically cheaper, however. And while below, you’re getting a lot less.
earlier reports ([Link]/3EKWO94) said What’s new? The smaller sizes, of course,
Microsoft would ship both devices with 12-inch plus new colorways like Ocean and Violet,
screens, that’s not quite what we’re getting. and a special Slate color for the Surface Pro.
The new $899 13-inch Surface Laptop is The Pro features yet another redesigned
very similar to the existing 13.8-inch Surface keyboard, while the Laptop’s chief selling

10 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: MICROSOFT

point is a 16-hour battery life (23 hours for devices will eventually be offered to
video playback) that Microsoft says is its businesses, but they appear to be sold to just
longest yet. Microsoft is also using these consumers for now. (Only Windows 11 Home
Copilot+ PCs and the X Plus chip’s 45 TOPS is offered, and not Windows 11 Pro.) A
as showcases for AI technologies like Recall, Surface Laptop in Violet is probably more
Click to Do, and its improved semantic search suited to a classroom rather than a
capabilities, while promising even new boardroom, anyway.
AI-powered features for the future—like
agentic AI ([Link]/3GEisMO). SURFACE LAPTOP 13-INCH:
Microsoft is also waving goodbye to the CUTTING CORNERS
Surface Connect port ([Link]/4d6vGOx), At 0.61 inches thick and 2.7 pounds, the
the iconic magnetic power connector that 13-inch Surface Laptop is the thinnest and
defined Surfaces for a decade. Now, Surface lightest Surface Laptop Microsoft has ever
is using USB-C ports only for charging and created, executives said, with the longest
expansion, though there’s an extra USB-A battery life. The existing 13.8-inch Surface
port on the Laptop for legacy connections. Laptop, also with an Snapdragon X Plus chip
It’s hard to look at those prices and not inside it, weighs 2.96 pounds, while the
think “tariffs,” though that’s not the word 15-inch Surface Laptop weighs
Microsoft executives are focusing upon. 3.67 pounds. But
“We think that these new Surface Pro and Microsoft cut some
Surface Laptops are for a set of customers corners to achieve the
for whom affordability is going to be low price and smaller
important,” Pavan Davuluri, the corporate display size.
vice president for Windows and Devices, First, there’s the
told reporters. processor. Both X
“Tariffs are a moving target for us,”
Davuluri said. “We don’t have good
information yet to share about where
we’re going to land” on the topic of
Microsoft’s
tariffs, he added.
new Surface
Keep in mind, too, that these Laptop (13-
new devices straddle the inch) in various
color options:
commercial and consumer Platinum, Ocean,
markets. Microsoft executives said that these and Violet.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 11

NEWS NEW SURFACE L APTOP AND PRO

Plus chips are not the same: The existing

13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7 ([Link]/
X7OXJ5) includes a 10-core X Plus chip; the
new 13-inch Surface Laptop offers an 8-core X
Plus chip instead.
Microsoft appears to be offering a single
processor option with 16GB of LPDDR5X
memory, but the choice of either 256GB or
512GB of removable storage. Only
the 256GB SSD is removable; the
512GB model uses what’s known as
Universal Flash Storage ([Link]/ The Surface Laptop (13-inch) in Ocean.
4d4bVHc), a lower-power option that in this
case appears to be soldered on to the Laptop delivers. The larger Surface Laptop’s
motherboard. display also puts out 600 nits of rated
It’s easy to wonder where the new 13-inch brightness with a refresh rate up to 120Hz; on
Surface Laptop will fit into Microsoft’s existing the 13-inch, expect 400 nits of brightness
Surface clamshell laptop lineup. The Surface with a basic 60Hz-refresh rate instead on the
Laptop Go 3 ([Link]/44oAHQ4) fizzled out newest 13-inch model.
in 2023, though the $799 ($999 as tested) Microsoft refers to the two external USB-C
clamshell with a 12.4-inch display certainly ports as capable of DisplayPort 1.4a with
lives on in spirit inside the new 13-inch support for up to two 4K displays at 60Hz,
Surface Laptop. Physically, too! The but stops short of calling them USB4 or
new Surface Laptop carries over the Thunderbolt ports. There’s also a USB-A (USB
fingerprint sensor that was embedded in 3.1) legacy port. As noted above, the Surface
the Surface Laptop Go’s power button. Connector is gone, which means that you
The Surface Laptop Go 3 was known for won’t be able to use Surface chargers from
its sub-1080p display. The 13-inch Surface earlier laptops anymore. Inside the laptop is
Laptop doesn’t go that far, but it offers a 1920 Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth Core 5.4, however.
x 1280 display. That’s fine or even better than
what you might expect on some cheaper Specifications
laptops, given the small screen size, but the Display: 13-inch PixelSense (1920×1280,
178 PPI it offers pales in comparison to the 178 PPI, “strengthened glass“), up to 60Hz
2304 x 1536 (201 PPI) the 13.8-inch Surface and 10-point multitouch

12 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon X
Plus 8-core
Graphics: Qualcomm Adreno
NPU: Qualcomm Hexagon (45 TOPS)
Memory: 16, 32GB LPDDR5X
Storage: 256GB SSD, 512GB UFS
Ports: 2 USB-C (USB 3.2 with DisplayPort
1.4a), USB-A 3.1
Security: Camera (Windows Hello),
Fingerprint reader, TPM 2.0 chip
Camera: 1080p (user-facing) with
Windows Studio Effects and Windows Hello
Battery: 23 hours video playback; 16
hours Web browsing The Surface Pro (12-inch) in Violet, with a new
Wireless: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth Core 5.4 dedicated keyboard.
Operating system: Windows 11 Home
Dimensions: 11.25×8.43×0.61 in. too uses the downgraded processor, and the
Weight: 2.7 pounds 2196×1464 offers a lower pixel density (220
Color: Platinum, Ocean, Violet PPI versus 267 PPI) than the existing Surface
Price: $899 and up Pro. It’s protected by “strengthened glass,”
without any mention of Gorilla Glass.
SURFACE PRO 12-INCH: As you might expect, the former OLED
A NEW KEYBOARD option has gone missing. However, the refresh
COMPLEMENTS A rate isn’t 60Hz, but 90Hz, which is a cut above
CHEAPER LOOK what you might expect at the low end.
Microsoft’s revamped 12-inch Surface Pro is Microsoft is offering a configuration with just
interesting, in part because Microsoft sells 16GB of LPDDR5X memory, like the Surface Pro,
the 13-inch Surface Pro with an LCD display, and the a removable 256GB of storage or
16GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD for 512GB of UFS storage soldered down.
$799.99—or did, as Microsoft’s site Microsoft’s port choice mimics the Surface
currently lists it as being sold out. Laptop, too, as do the wireless options.
Now, Microsoft is offering the 12-inch The Surface Pro’s camera quality
Surface Pro at the same minimum price. Again, decreases, too. Unfortunately, the user-facing
it’s not the same Surface as its predecessors. It camera is now just a generic 1080p option

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 13

NEWS NEW SURFACE L APTOP AND PRO

with Windows Hello, instead of the 1440p says it contains 82.9% recycled content in
option Microsoft offered before. Support for the enclosure and is the first Pro to contain
AI-powered Windows Studio Effects is still 100% recycled cobalt in the battery cell.
offered, however.
Microsoft also adjusted the keyboard yet Specifications
again. A 13-inch Surface Pro would demand its Display: 12-inch PixelSense (2196×1464,
own keyboard, but Microsoft hasn’t chosen to 220 PPI, “strengthened glass” ),
follow the almost ludicrously good connectivity up to 90Hz with dynamic refresh
of the Surface Pro Flex Keyboard. Instead, rate and 10-point multitouch
Microsoft describes the 13-inch Surface Pro Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon X
keyboard as one that folds completely flat with Plus 8-core
the Surface Pro for easier inking and typing, Graphics: Qualcomm Adreno
and that features a “customizable precision NPU: Qualcomm Hexgaon (45 TOPS)
touchpad with adaptive touch mode.” Memory: 16, 32GB LPDDR5X
The new Surface Pro can be used with the Storage: 256GB SSD, 512GB UFS
Surface Slim Pen 2, which now charges when Ports: 2 USB-C (USB 3.2 with
clipped to the back of the tablet. Microsoft DisplayPort 1.4a), 1 Surface Keyboard Port
Security: Camera (Windows Hello),
NFC/smartcard reader; TPM 2.0 chip
Camera: 1080p (user-facing) with
Windows Studio Effects and Windows
Hello, 10MP rear-facing
Battery: 16 hours video playback;
12 hours Web browsing
Wireless: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth Core 5.4
Operating system: Windows 11 Home
Dimensions: 10.8×7.47×0.30 in.
Weight: 1.5 pounds without accessories
Color: Platinum,
Ocean, Violet
Price: $799 and up
Optional accessories: Surface Slim
The Microsoft Surface
Pen 2 ([Link]/4mcyAp8), $90 on sale at
Pro (13-inch) tablet. Amazon.

14 PCWorld JUNE 2025

An AI-driven ‘Fix it’ button is just
what Windows needs
It’s the perfect phrase for the moment, right? BY MARK HACHMAN

M
icrosoft has a branding alongside a smaller Surface Laptop and
revolution sitting in its back Surface Pro (see page 10), it did so by
pocket, and I don’t think the showing off what it presented to the public
company realizes it. ([Link]/437VF3y): a collection of
When Microsoft previewed its upcoming experiences that could take advantage of the
Windows AI experiences ([Link]/3GEisMO) NPU within Copilot+ PCs. One of the most

IMAGE: MICROSOFT JUNE 2025 PCWorld 15

NEWS AI-DRIVEN ‘FIX IT’ BUT TON

important experiences is
the agentic AI that’s
coming to the Windows 11
Settings menu.
Agentic AI will allow
Windows to basically
research, troubleshoot,
and solve your PC
problems for you. If your
screen is too dim,
Windows will show you
how to adjust the Notice how the term “Fix It” is being used here.
brightness. If the font is
too small, Windows will show you how to department (“How do I make my screen more
enlarge it. More importantly, Microsoft says legible?”) for answers and assistance. Nobody
that the agentic AI can (and will?) simply do it knows the cause of that clunking noise in their
all for you. engine or why they’ve suddenly developed
HOW it’ll do all of that isn’t clear. But in one aches and pains. But every one of those
example, Microsoft showed a list of problems interactions ends with the same plea: “Fix it!”
that a user could experience, such as “How I’m not going to sit here and tell you that
do I reduce eye strain from screen time?” Windows can solve every problem or that AI
Microsoft showed two solutions—turning on is going to make all of your ills go away. But
dark mode and increasing text size—as well as Windows already has enough built-in
a button labeled “Fix it.” There’s a ton of troubleshooters for when you have issues,
potential brewing in that little button. and they do a pretty decent job of
autonomously diagnosing and fixing common
THE “FIX IT” BUTTON IS PC problems. A focused, AI-driven approach
WHAT WE WANT to a finite number of problems doesn’t sound
Every single day, people march over to their like a bad idea.
doctor (“My stomach started hurting and it There’s a lot of cynicism about AI these
hasn’t gone away”) or their mechanic (“My days—and about Windows, too. But a button
car’s making this weird sound”) or their like “Fix it” sounds like the solution Americans
representative (“Why am I paying all these are increasingly asking for, Microsoft. Why
taxes for a library with no books?”) or their IT not try it?

16 PCWorld JUNE 2025

The vultures are circling for Chrome
It’s the perfect phrase for the moment, right? BY MARK HACHMAN

G
oogle has a monopoly, and But who would buy it? Unsurprisingly,
that’s the official line of the US there are beaucoup business beaus lining up
federal government. In fact, it around the block for this browser
has two of them ([Link]/ bachelorette. We’ve already heard that
4jHRORz), losing two separate antitrust cases ChatGPT maker OpenAI is very interested
that threaten to cripple the tech giant. The ([Link]/4jM2JKh), as testified in court by an
Department of Justice has proposed forcing executive. And another notable name in the
Google to sell or otherwise divest itself of AI space, search engine Perplexity, told a
the Chrome browser as the first and judge much the same thing (fave.
preferred remedy. co/4jFAgWl). Bloomberg reports that Yahoo,

IMAGE: ETIENNE OUTRAM/SHUTTERSTOCK JUNE 2025 PCWorld 17

NEWS VULTURES ARE CIRCLING FOR CHROME

which almost feels like legacy media at this Maps and YouTube, and so forth. Divorced
point, would also be interested (fave. from all that, Chrome still has tons of value as
co/436L5tk) if Chrome becomes available. the most popular browser on the planet (and
That’s three potential new homes for the the Chromium guts of many others, including
world’s most popular browser. But it’s Edge), but it’s undeniably less. For the sake of
important to note that federal judge Amit simplicity, let’s cut my conservative estimate in
Mehta hasn’t yet made a determination on half and call it $25 billion.
how Google will be punished for violating the Who could afford that? OpenAI could
Sherman Antitrust Act. Just because probably manage it, though it would be
prosecutors suggest breaking off Chrome taking on a lot of debt to do so. The leading
doesn’t mean he’ll agree it’s an appropriate AI product maker is valued at over $150
end. And whatever happens, Google will billion ([Link]/4m6DXpv), but that’s based
certainly exhaust its legal options with on various investment rounds. The company
enough money to make Solomon blush. has yet to turn a profit and doesn’t expect to
Google losing control of Chrome is not a for years (though that’s not necessarily a mark
foregone conclusion, even if it feels that way of shame in the tech world—just look at
from recent reports. Amazon). And it’s undeniable that gaining
Let’s proceed under the assumption that billions of browser users would give ChatGPT
Google does have to sell off Chrome, along an even bigger audience…and a massive
with the open-source Chromium project treasure trove of data to train on.
that underpins it. Who’s actually capable of Perplexity is the newest player in this
buying it? Well, that first depends on the equation, officially releasing its large
price. The value of Chrome—a free language model–powered search less than
download for all desktop and mobile three years ago and using OpenAI’s GPT
platforms—is hard to pin down to a dollar system. The latest valuation of Perplexity puts
amount. I’m no business guru, but if you’d it at under $10 billion…which wouldn’t be
asked me a year ago, I would have guessed enough to buy Chrome without acquiring
a somewhere between $50 billion and huge debt. It would be more like Perplexity
$100 billion. shifting its entire business model to browser-
But that’s the value of Chrome to Google, first instead of search—not impossible, but
incorporated with its search, advertising, and considering that Perplexity has also made
mobile properties ([Link]/44sEqMD), to say some overtures toward buying TikTok (fave.
nothing of the entire Chromebook market co/44unipF), it strikes me as a startup
segment, ancillary products like Google desperate for a new angle or identity.

18 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 co/4mc4bqU. Hi,
business daddy!)
Anyway, I don’t
doubt Yahoo would love
to get its hands on
Chrome, if only to claw
its way back into
relevancy for a massive
number of internet users.
But I simply don’t think it
has the money, not when
OpenAI is splashing
around investor cash like
Chrome still has value as the most popular browser on the planet. it’s puttin’ on the Ritz.
Microsoft makes the
And Yahoo. Poor, poor Yahoo. Some of most sense to me as a new home for Chrome,
you reading this might not be able to as it’s been trying to regain browser
remember when Yahoo was the dominant dominance ever since Internet Explorer lost it
search engine before Google came along— two decades ago. The company has been so
it’s been that long since Yahoo was truly insistent that people switch to Edge that it’s
relevant. These days, Yahoo is more of a been willing to engage in some, ahem,
media amalgamation after it has been questionable activities ([Link]/4iSEicy) to
tossed around between several parent get them off Chrome. If Chrome was shifted
companies. It was most recently bought for into the “official” Windows browser—to say
$5 billion. Its most notable remaining nothing of its dominance on other platforms—
products are probably sports news and Microsoft would be pleased as punch.
fantasy sports platforms. But Microsoft is no stranger to browser
The company still owns tech site controversy or run-ins with monopoly
Engadget and what remains of the AOL regulation. That might be enough of an issue
brand, but it sold the finance-focused to keep the company at a safe distance from
TechCrunch to private equity firm Regent in the proceedings, especially if it’s clear that
March ([Link]/453NAPN). (Full disclosure: the Department of Justice under a Trump
Regent also bought PCWorld parent administration isn’t afraid to swing a big stick
company Foundry the day before that, fave. against monopolies.

IMAGE: KONSTANTIN SAVUSIA / SHUTTERSTOCK JUNE 2025 PCWorld 19

NEWS

Windows Recall is too risky for

your Copilot+ PC. Turn it off, now
The world is just not safe enough for Windows Recall. BY MARK HACHMAN

M
icrosoft’s controversial Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs as well as PCs
Windows Recall has now with qualifying processors from AMD and Intel.
been generally released, A few features—Click to Do, Live Captions, and
and it poses as much of a Voice Access—are available for Copilot+ PCs
risk to your privacy as it could be a boon to running on Snapdragon, but support for AMD
your productivity. and Intel chips isn’t quite available.
Recall is just one of several new features For Microsoft, the release of these
that either have arrived or will be arriving on AI-powered features is cause for celebration,
Copilot+ PC, Microsoft said in late April. finally delivering on promises of an
Recall, Windows’ improved semantic search, AI-powered world that the company first
Live Captions, Cocreator, and Restyle Image made a year ago. But in the months since
and Image Creator within Photos are now all Microsoft first announced Recall, a darker side
available for Copilot+ PCs that include of its potential has emerged.

20 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: MICROSOFT

 Now, Recall and its saved
snapshots provide a record
of information that could be
used against you. Fortunately,
Microsoft hasn’t shied away from
allowing you to remove Recall
altogether, deleting these saved Windows Recall’s taskbar icon.
records entirely.
It’s also important to put Recall in Essentially, Recall could search your PC for
perspective. Now, by default, Recall is opt-in, a piece of information without knowing the
which means you’ll have to explicitly enable app in which it was captured or when it was
it. But even if you want to use Recall, it’s only stored. In concept, Recall’s premise appealed
available to Copilot+ PCs, which are a tiny to me ([Link]/4bVAAwo).
subset of the available PCs on the market. Just Privacy experts disagreed, big time (fave.
because Recall is available doesn’t mean that co/4d1eVDb). Instead of serving as a useful
your PC will necessarily receive it. Even the tool, Recall could store snapshots of
most modern PCs, such as Intel’s Core Ultra information that weren’t necessarily secure,
200 series (Arrow Lake), don’t have the opening them up to hackers and whoever
necessary NPU power to run Recall. else gained access to your PC. Meanwhile,
others were concerned with the vast amounts
WHAT IS WINDOWS of storage needed to store all of that
RECALL? information ([Link]/45v5CZt). Cowed,
Microsoft first announced Recall at a May Microsoft pulled Recall ([Link]/4eXeCLf)
2024 event at its headquarters in Redmond, from the original Copilot+ launch and
Wash., where the company debuted several promised to perform more testing. Recall
upcoming Windows features to complement would debut in October ([Link]/4k6EpCn),
its newly announced Copilot+ PCs (fave. Microsoft said then.
co/3B3IDKs). Recall was designed as a sort of In September, Microsoft began making
search assistant: As you went about your the changes users had asked for: making
day-to-day business, Recall would periodically Recall opt-in ([Link]/3YhvZjC), and even
take and store “snapshots” of your PC, which uninstallable after a user had decided to
its optical character recognition AI could enable it. But it was delayed yet again. I went
“read.” (At the time, Recall wasn’t designed hands-on with Recall ([Link]/3Z6pTT6) in
to be opt-in.) early December, but by then my stance had

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 21

NEWS WINDOWS RECALL

included a toggle
switch that allowed
me to turn off the
ability to save Recall
snapshots entirely, or
exclude specific
applications. (It
still does.)
(After this story
was published, a
Microsoft
Windows Recall allows you to search for a keyword or specific data, and it representative also
returns a list of snapshots or screenshots. emphasized that
you’ll need to log in
changed—I found Recall to be a useful tool, via Windows Hello to access any screenshots
but government attitudes toward privacy and as well. That’s true, but I’m not sure it solves
free speech had begun changing. Also at that the convenience issue outlined below.)
time, Microsoft opened up Recall to Copilot+ Even with all of these safeguards, I don’t
PCs using AMD and Intel processors, paving trust Recall. That’s not to say I distrust
the way for a final test run ([Link]/3GHud4U) Microsoft’s implementation of it—Recall is
before releasing it. protected by Windows Hello, which is a
secure and convenient way of locking down
RECALL’S RISKS OUTWEIGH information on your PC.
ITS BENEFITS It’s the convenience of Hello that worries
Recall will be shipped as a feature of new me. I can imagine a scenario in which I’m
Copilot+ PCs, though you should be able to directed to unlock my PC via Windows Hello,
opt in during the original setup process. which would give someone access to my
When I tested Recall ([Link]/3Z6pTT6), I had documents and email—even as a journalist,
to manually download a new Windows build whose legal protections should safeguard
and then manually launch the Recall app, that correspondence. I have major concerns
which then stepped me through its setup about Hello also unlocking a searchable
process. Finally, I had to specifically choose to database of everything I’ve done on that PC
enable Recall and store snapshots. Even after for the last few months using Windows Hello.
doing so, the Windows 11 Settings menu No, I don’t have anything to hide, but I also

22 PCWorld JUNE 2025

don’t want anyone poring through anything I To uninstall Recall, you can simply uncheck
consider private. You shouldn’t, either. the Recall box. Recall will be uninstalled and
It’s my recommendation, then, that you your PC will be rebooted, so be careful to save
don’t let Recall on your system. your work. As Microsoft removes Recall, it will
delete your stored snapshots, too. You can
HOW TO REMOVE RECALL reenable Recall by checking the box at a future
If your PC is managed by a corporation or time, though doing so won’t restore the
school, Microsoft says that Recall won’t be on deleted snapshots.
it. Otherwise, Recall “is available by default,” Recall is an optional feature; the other new
Microsoft says on its Recall support page AI features arriving on your Copilot PC are
([Link]/3KHmqmr). not. On the other hand, something like
“An IT admin can’t, on their own, enable Photos’ new Restyle Image doesn’t offer
saving snapshots on devices that are anywhere near the privacy concerns that the
managed by an organization or school,” other applications do.
Microsoft says. “IT admins can only give you If you’ve followed our coverage, you’ll
the option to enable snapshots.” know that I was in favor of Recall from the
Recall can be turned on and off via the beginning. But upon further reflection and
optional Windows features. To access them, changing world events, I’ve become
type “Turn Windows features on or off” within uncomfortable with the threat Recall poses to
the Windows search bar. That will bring up a our privacy. Remove it immediately.
list of optional features that can
be turned off or on depending
on whether the appropriate box
is checked.
Microsoft shouldn’t enable
Recall without telling you, as
per my earlier test. But if
you’re simply not sure, you
can double check by running
down the list of optional
features and seeing if Recall is
installed. (If it is, the box
marked “Recall” will be To remove Recall, you’ll need to search for “Turn Windows
checked.) features on or off,” then uncheck the Recall box.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 23

NEWS

Google’s ‘AI Mode’ search is ready

to replace a list of links
Is this it for the traditional Google Search? BY MARK HACHMAN

G
oogle said Thursday that it has regurgitating answers that others have
begun migrating its “AI Mode” already provided.
out of its experimental Labs Google first began revamping its search
effort and into the real world. algorithm in 2023, when it started
Google said ([Link]/4k6Wf8n) that a aggregating AI-powered summaries of, say,
“small percentage of people” in the the best laptops ([Link]/4k7tgBj). AI has
“coming weeks” will see what Google calls been used elsewhere by Google services
AI Mode, or entirely AI-generated like Chrome to sum up web pages as well
responses to queries users ask. It’s Google’s ([Link]/4dbCBG7). (The Department of
response to services like Anthropic, which Justice is attempting to break up Google,
“answer” queries using AI, slurping up and including spinoff its Chrome browser [see

24 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: GOOGLE

 links or any sign of a traditional
search page—it’s whatever
Google itself has curated, and
nothing more.
IMAGE: [Link]/SHUTTERSTOCK

The clock icon to the left

reveals queries you’ve made
before, so Google will
understand your preference for
a given topic.
Unfortunately, Google
doesn’t really draw a visual
distinction between a site that
Google first began revamping its search algorithm in 2023. has spent hours testing
products, and those that, well,
page 17], as punishment for forming what it haven’t. You either have to simply trust
calls an illegal monopoly.) Now, AI Mode is Google’s expertise, or visually hunt and track
another attempt by Google to step in and the link icon—which is now about the size of
interject its own results when users begin the X button for close an annoying pop-up.
searching for a query. Google obviously believes you simply won’t
On a desktop PC, AI Mode places the bother, which itself is probably just another
source of Google’s answer to the right, in depressing sign of the times.
several visual links. But the
information that the user is
searching for is culled into
the left-hand column. While
occasionally a site may be
called out as a source for
information, any links to the
source of the content are left
as tiny, monochrome
“chainlinks” at the end of the
individual summaries.
At least for now, AI Mode AI Mode doesn’t provide a list of blue links or any sign of a traditional
doesn’t provide a list of blue search page at the moment.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 25

NEWS

Xbox massively hikes prices on

consoles, games, and controllers
Everything Xbox just got more expensive, including $80 games coming later this year.
The Xboxalypse is upon us. BY MICHAEL CRIDER

A
re you tired of paying more and it’s not even waiting for a new console
more for video games? Too launch to do it.
bad. Game prices from major As of today, U.S. prices of every current
publishers have been creeping Xbox game console have shot up. IGN
up for the last few years, with plenty of reports ([Link]/3GJO7fP) that the base
gamers spotting a recent jump in Nintendo’s model Xbox Series S with 512GB of storage is
first-party prices ([Link]/43cjdUT). now $380 (up from $300), and the Series X
Microsoft’s Xbox brand is following suit, and gets a $100 bump across the board, with the

26 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: MICROSOFT

top-end 2TB model going from $600 to subscription and streaming, and pushing
$730. Some Xbox controllers—still the hard on a campaign that says the screens
de facto standard for PC gaming (fave. you already own are an Xbox with no
co/4d5tTZP)—are bumping up by $10, while console purchase required. And that’s
the much-loved Xbox Elite Wireless Controller saying nothing of Microsoft spending a
Series 2 ([Link]/4lXEQAK) has jumped $10 hundred billion or two on first-party
to $20 based on what extras you get. publishers, like Activision-Blizzard and
According to the announcement page on Minecraft maker Mojang. Microsoft has also
Microsoft’s Xbox support site ([Link]/ been spreading its major published games
3F0sLKq), “some of our new, first-party games onto the PlayStation and Switch.
will launch at $79.99 beginning this holiday Game Pass, if not Xbox itself, is emerging
season.” It doesn’t make a distinction as a more affordable option ([Link]/
between console and PC titles, which 3vohwCJ) for those who want to play new
typically launch at the same time. While games without sinking hundreds or
Microsoft didn’t explicitly point to the Trump thousands into new consoles or gaming PCs.
administration’s unprecedented taxes on Price increases won’t exactly help Game Pass,
imports from China ([Link]/4ieSHQe) as a but it might make it look more appealing in
reason for the hardware price increases, the context. But that won’t make it any easier to
fact that headset pricing increases apply only pony up $200 for an Xbox Elite controller,
to the U.S. and Canada would seem to point especially since more affordable options are
the finger at tariffs. disappearing ([Link]/3RWP5aO).
The aggressive price
increases might seem insane
considering how far Microsoft
has fallen behind Nintendo
and Sony in the home
console space, but Microsoft
is arguably in a pretty
advantageous position when
it comes to rising prices for
hardware and software.
Microsoft has spent years
hyping up its games-as-a- Game Pass is emerging as a more affordable option for those
service Xbox Game Pass wanting to play the latest games.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 27

NEWS

A Windows security developer

says this is the biggest threat to
your PC
This simple fix closes one of Windows’ biggest security gaps. BY ALAINA YEE

C
ybersecurity can be complicated. opposite. It’s pointing to the Administrator
(I sat in on a penetration testing account. That is what David Weston, CVP of
session during the RSAC’s Enterprise and OS Security at Microsoft, says is
cybersecurity conference this the biggest security threat to your PC.
week, and I don’t envy them their jobs.) But The reason: Admin permissions are a
not all of it is—especially when it comes to big major opportunity for hackers. Think of it like
wins for us everyday users. your house—once someone’s inside, they can
Take a look at the big red arrow on the page go into any part of it and mess around. In

28 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: DAVE MCDERMOTT / UNSPLASH

 log out of your
normal account, so
it’s pretty seamless.)
Next, downgrade
your existing account
to a Standard user.
It’s a quick change
and easy to do.
You can
reference our past
guide ([Link]/
This account type is a security problem. 4d8zBKF) on how to
create the new
particular, if you use an Administrator account Administrator account and downgrade your
daily, then remote access to your PC is existing account to a standard user for step-
possible—and those two things combined by-step instructions. While it refers to
can enable real damage. Hackers can not Windows 10, I’ve verified that the instructions
only slip into your PC, but also spy on you, apply to Windows 11, too.
add software to your system, run malicious Once you complete these tasks, you’re
code, change software settings, and more. good to go. For something so big, the fix is
The solution: In your Windows settings pretty small.
(Accounts), create a
separate local
Administrator
account with a
strong, unique
password.
Whenever you need
higher-level
permissions, you’ll
be prompted for
your admin
account’s password. Create additional users on this screen. Once done, you must elevate the
(You won’t need to account’s permissions from Standard User to Administrator.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 29

Time is running out to protect vulnerable wildlife.
Act now. [Link]

[Link]
 TESTED IN PCWORLD LABS
Reviews & Ratings WE PUT HARDWARE & SOFTWARE
THROUGH RIGOROUS TESTING

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10:

The new king of gaming laptops
Lenovo delivers another knockout gaming laptop. BY MARK KNAPP

Lenovo’s Legion laptop family tends to mark a balance of class-leading

has been setting a high bar for performance, build quality, and value. The
gaming laptops ([Link]/ Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 continues
3n3aNKv) over the last few that legacy nicely, offering extreme CPU and
years. While the Legion 9 series may be top GPU performance, all in a robust chassis with
dog in that family, the Legion Pro 7 series an excellent display.

IMAGE: LENOVO JUNE 2025 PCWorld 31

REVIEWS LENOVO LEGION PRO 7I 16 GEN 10

With a starting price of $2,849

and a bump up to $3,599 to get
the RTX 5080-equipped system
tested here, the Lenovo Legion
Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is solidly in the
high-end gaming laptop category.
But from our first benchmark to the
last, it wastes no time cementing
itself as one of the best gaming The Lenovo packs a lot inside and aims to run at high wattages,
laptops you can get right now. so the size and weight make sense.

SPECS AND FEATURES largely similar configurations. The one tested

Model number: 82WQ002SUS here costs $3,599 and is built around the RTX
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX 5080. It is the only configuration listed on
Memory: 32GB DDR5X-6400 Lenovo’s website, but B&H also has
CSODIMM configurations that swap in the RTX 5070 Ti
Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5080 for $2,849 or the RTX 5090 for $3,999.
(175-watt TGP) Lenovo often starts off some of its laptop
Display: 16-inch 2560×1600 240Hz models with just a few configurations but
OLED, Anti-glare expands on them later on, so don’t be
Storage: 2× 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD surprised if more options trickle in later on.
Webcam: 5MP For now, all of these configurations include
Connectivity: 1× Thunderbolt 4, 1× the same 32GB of DDR5 memory on two
USB-C 10Gbps (with DP 2.1 and 140W PD CSODIMM sticks, the same pair of 1TB PCIe
input), 1× USB-A 10Gbps, 2× USB-A 5Gbps, 4.0×4 SSDs, the same OLED display, and the
HDMI 2.1, 2.5GbE, 1× 3.5mm combo audio Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX.
Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Biometrics: n/a DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY
Battery capacity: 99 watt-hours The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is a
Dimensions: 14.35×10.9×1.05 inches hulking machine, much like its predecessors.
Weight: 5.84 pounds It packs a lot inside and aims to let it run at
MSRP: $3,599 as tested ($2,849 base) high wattages, so the size and weight make
At the time of writing, the Lenovo Legion sense. Lenovo didn’t push much beyond the
Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is available in just a few necessary bounds, though, with the screen

32 PCWorld JUNE 2025

featuring narrow bezels and the rear of the While some of Lenovo’s prior gaming
laptop sticking out just an inch behind the laptops situated extra ports along the back
display hinge to accommodate the beefier edge of the system, the dedication to heat
cooling required for this kind of application. dissipation in the rear meant Lenovo had to
Unsurprisingly, the laptop ends up over an shift all of its I/O to the side of the laptop.
inch thick.
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is KEYBOARD, TRACKPAD
blacked out with a matte-black aluminum The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 offers a
frame spanning the keyboard deck, display solid keyboard. The keys are lightly contoured,
lid, and underside of the laptop. This metal helping me keep my fingertips centered on
build has some minor flex to it but altogether them. They’re also very well stabilized for a
feels quite sturdy. laptop keyboard, helping keep the stroke even
Despite being a gaming laptop, the and avoiding rolling off the edge. They’re also
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 offers a tame not mushy and offer 1.6mm travel. Despite
look. There’s no needlessly aggressive these quality aspects of the keyboard, the deck
embossing or angularity to most of the is long and can make it a bit uncomfortable to
chassis. It has per-key RGB keyboard type on unless the ergonomics of the desk or
lighting and a thin light bar at the front edge table are just right. I was able to get up to 116
of the deck, but beyond this lighting (which is words per minute with 97 percent accuracy in
easy to turn off), the only real hint to the Monkeytype, but this was a hair slower and
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10’s gaming more error-prone than I’d like to see, and it
nature is the fighter-jet-like exhaust at the required removing my watch to manage.
rear of the system, which houses
a massive radiator that spans the
entire rear edge.
There are three intake fans
tucked behind the bottom
grille—two large ones on either
side and a smaller one slightly
offset from the center that seems
meant for the memory modules.
They pull air in from the bottom
and sent it out of the The keyboard’s backlighting is bright and thoroughly illuminates
aforementioned radiator. the key legends.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 33

REVIEWS LENOVO LEGION PRO 7I 16 GEN 10

The rest of the

keyboard is quite nice
as well. The
backlighting is bright
and thoroughly
illuminates the key
legends. Lenovo
includes full-size arrow
keys slightly offset from
the rest of the
keyboard, making
them easy to use and
feel out—great for The Lenovo has a wonderfully sharp display.
quick navigation.
There’s also a large number pad, and while eliminates ghosting, which can be quite a bit
the keys are slightly narrower than the rest of worse on laptop IPS displays than desktop
the keyboard, they still allow for convenient ones in my experience. That combines with
touch typing. infinite contrast, a bold peak brightness of
The trackpad is a slightly sore point in the 509.8 nits, 100 percent coverage of the
inputs. It’s a fine trackpad, offering smooth DCI-P3 color space, and color accuracy with a
swiping and a satisfying tactile click when maximum dE of 1.47—good enough for
depressed. But it’s rather small for a system professional uses.
this large, and it’s so far to the left that I find Lenovo says the display is anti-glare, and
I’m almost constantly right-clicking. This may while it’s certainly no mirror, it’s not matte
not be a concern if you’re left-handed, but either. I can clearly see my reflection in it when
righties will likely find it a slight bother I’m in bright environments. It can get bright
reaching so far over to use the trackpad. enough to help subdue some reflections, but
that will draw more power and still leave
DISPLAY, AUDIO reflections visible in darker areas of the screen.
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 includes The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10
an excellent display. It’s wonderfully sharp boasts a set of four speakers. Two are situated
thanks to its 2560×1600 panel, and gamers above the keyboard on an elevated shelf by
will get a lot out of its 240Hz refresh rate. the display hinge, and two are on the
Better still, it’s an OLED panel that effectively underside of the laptop. These pump out a

34 PCWorld JUNE 2025

ton of volume with crisp mids and a nice bit of HDMI 2.1 port on the left side. Only one of
bass. If you’re trying to game or watch movies those USB-C ports is Thunderbolt 4, but the
on the laptop, you won’t immediately be other at least supports DisplayPort 2.1 and
running for headphones or external speakers 140W PD input. That USB PD input actually
here. They’re excellent for laptop speakers. lets the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10
recharge over USB-C when it’s set in Hybrid
WEBCAM, MICROPHONE, Mode (the GPU would drain too much power
AND BIOMETRICS otherwise), providing some bonus flexibility if
You’ll get a great-looking webcam on the you don’t want to carry the 400W charger
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10. It offers 5MP everywhere you go. An SD card reader would
resolution stills and can record at have been a good addition given the system’s
1440p/30FPS. Even without perfect lighting, productivity and creative application chops.
it’s surprisingly low on noise, and it does an Wireless connectivity is a strong point,
impressive job exposing the picture without with the system supporting Wi-Fi 7 and
blowing out highlights. Its wide field of view Bluetooth 5.4. In testing, it had no issues on
will also help if you want to record yourself the wireless front and offered plenty of
and a friend side by side. It comes paired with bandwidth when downloading games on my
a solid microphone system as well. Even in a Wi-Fi 6 network.
large room, my voice sounded clear and full
to the mics, avoiding room echo. PERFORMANCE
Unfortunately, you won’t get any The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is geared
convenient biometric login capabilities on the up for major performance, and it’s no surprise
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen
10. There’s no fingerprint
reader or facial recognition.

CONNECTIVITY
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16
Gen 10 has decent wired
connectivity for a laptop of its
size. It has USB-A ports on
either side, a 3.5mm jack and
2.5GbE port on the right side,
and two USB-C ports and an The Lenovo has decent wired connectivity for a laptop of its size.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 35

REVIEWS LENOVO LEGION PRO 7I 16 GEN 10

PCMark 10 Overall Handbrake 0.99 Encode

CPU performance Seconds
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16
Gen 10 Core Ultra 9 275HX 8,859 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16
Gen 10 Core Ultra 9 275HX 410
MSI Raider 18 HX A2XW
Core Ultra 9 285HX 8,538 MSI Raider 18 HX A2XW
Core Ultra 9 285HX 381
Lenovo Legion 9i
Gen 9 Core i9-14900HX 8,719 Lenovo Legion 9i
Gen 9 Core i9-14900HX 581
Gigabyte Aorus 17X
Core i9-14900HX 8,175 Gigabyte Aorus 17X
Core i9-14900HX 685
Alienware x16 R2
Core Ultra 9 185H 7,664 Alienware x16 R2
Core Ultra 9 185H 728
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E S H O R T E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

to see it zoom through our benchmarks with but showed a particular weakness in office
aplomb. It’s one of the first few gaming productivity tasks.
laptops powered by an RTX 50-series GPU The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 gets
that we’ve tested, so it presents a good a high-end CPU, so it’s no surprise to see it
opportunity to not only see the potential of ripping away at encoding tasks. It pulls off our
the chips in mobile platforms but also see 4K video encode in just under seven
what improvements have come over the prior minutes—an impressive pace that pulls ahead
generation, if any. of even the Core i9-14900HX in some of its
Lenovo tends to make well-rounded competitors. It didn’t quite keep up with the
configurations with its Legion series, and the MSI Raider 18 HX’s Core Ultra 9 285HX,
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is no which has the same core configuration but
exception. In the holistic PCMark 10 benefits from slightly faster clock speeds. That
benchmark, we see strong overall said, Lenovo didn’t let the MSI’s high-end
performance. By combining a fast CPU, CPU always take the lead.
GPU, memory, and storage, it performs In Cinebench R20 and R23, it actually led
impressively in every test that PCMark 10 the MSI Raider 18 HX in single- and multi-
throws at it, leading the pack here. That core performance, though MSI takes back the
said, it’s only a minor uptick over the earlier performance lead in Cinebench R24, which
Legion 9i Gen 9 ([Link]/3GHS8RK). can benefit from extra cooling thanks to its
Impressively, it beat the MSI Raider 18 HX longer run time. While the Lenovo Legion Pro
A2XW ([Link]/4jOyv9t)—a bigger, 7i 16 Gen 10 and MSI trade blows with
heavier laptop that ought to have narrow margins, offering extreme CPU
benefited from extra cooling to run faster performance, they simply blow the rest of the

36 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 Cinebench R23 3DMark Port Royal
CPU multithread performance GPU performance
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16
Gen 10 Core Ultra 9 275HX 38,846 Gen 10 Core Ultra 9 275HX 14,773
MSI Raider 18 HX A2XW MSI Raider 18 HX A2XW
Core Ultra 9 285HX 38,342 Core Ultra 9 285HX 14,044
Lenovo Legion 9i Lenovo Legion 9i
Gen 9 Core i9-14900HX 31,569 Gen 9 Core i9-14900HX 14,485
Gigabyte Aorus 17X Gigabyte Aorus 17X
Core i9-14900HX 27,922 Core i9-14900HX 13,733
Alienware x16 R2 Alienware x16 R2
Core Ultra 9 185H 19,948 Core Ultra 9 185H 11,782
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

pack out of the water here with double-digit

performance advantages.
Metro Exodus
Frames per second; 1080p Extreme
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10’s
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16
CPU is matched well with its GPU. In Gen 10 Core Ultra 9 275HX 98
MSI Raider 18 HX A2XW
3DMark’s synthetic gaming benchmark Port Core Ultra 9 285HX 94
Lenovo Legion 9i
Royal, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 Gen 9 Core i9-14900HX 95
Gigabyte Aorus 17X
offers the fastest performance we’ve seen Core i9-14900HX 86
Alienware x16 R2
from a laptop. It not only clears the MSI Core Ultra 9 185H 72
Raider 18 HX with its own RTX 5080 but also LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

beats the RTX 4090 in the Legion 9i and

Gigabyte Aorus 17X.
While synthetic benchmarks are a useful the other systems here and yet again offering
guide for gaming performance, it always some of the fastest laptop performance we’ve
helps to see actual games run on a GPU, so seen in this test.
we put each gaming laptop through a battery Shadow of the Tomb Raider also proves a
of demanding game benchmarks. rather demanding game but isn’t quite as
Unsurprisingly, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 hard on the GPU and therefore lets the CPU
Gen 10 keeps up its lead. Despite its age, help push performance even further. Here,
Metro Exodus remains a demanding game at the powerful combination of the Lenovo
its Extreme graphics setting because of its Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10’s Intel Core Ultra 9
heavy use of ray-traced effects. Still, the 275HX and RTX 5080 achieves an impressive
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is able to run average of 238 frames per second, nearly
it at nearly 100 fps on average, leading all of topping our charts.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 37

REVIEWS LENOVO LEGION PRO 7I 16 GEN 10

BATTERY LIFE
Shadow of To conserve battery, Lenovo has set the
the Tomb Raider Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 to go from Windows’
Frames per second; 1080p Very High Performance mode when plugged in down to
Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16
Gen 10 Core Ultra 9 275HX 238 its Balanced mode when it’s running on
MSI Raider 18 HX A2XW
Core Ultra 9 285HX 194 battery. Not having to manually make this
Lenovo Legion 9i
Gen 9 Core i9-14900HX 220 change can help ensure you don’t find out
Gigabyte Aorus 17X
Core i9-14900HX 184 the laptop is needlessly churning through
Alienware x16 R2
166 battery power only after it has wasted a good
Core Ultra 9 185H

LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E
chunk of charge. And you’ll want to conserve
as much as you can. That said, laptops have
been making improvements to battery life in
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is leaps and bounds, with some Windows
even capable of running Cyberpunk 2077 at machines scratching 24 hours.
native 1080p with Ultra settings without ray While gaming laptops have made
tracing or DLSS at 151 fps. That drops to improvements, they’re still lacking in this area.
just 41 fps with the fully path-traced RT With the display set between 250 and 260
Overdrive mode, but again, that’s before nits and the system on airplane mode, the
tapping into DLSS for any performance Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 managed a
improvements. little under six hours of runtime in our local
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 will video playback test.
default to the performance power profile Bear in mind, video playback can offer
when plugged in, helping ensure you get the some favorable results where the battery is
most out of it. But that’s not to say this is its
peak. Lenovo’s Legion Space software offers
customizable performance settings that could Battery Life
see it eke out even higher speeds. Minutes
All this performance does come with Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16
344
Gen 10 Core Ultra 9 275HX
some cost: The fans kick up when the system MSI Raider 18 HX A2XW
226
Core Ultra 9 285HX
goes into high gear. They’re not too shrill, but Lenovo Legion 9i
281
Gen 9 Core i9-14900HX
they’re fairly loud, and there is still a high- Gigabyte Aorus 17X
Core i9-14900HX 348
pitched element to it that will wear on you Alienware x16 R2
Core Ultra 9 185H 425
after long. Also, the system relies on a massive
LO N G E R B A R S I N D I C AT E B E T T E R P E R F O R M A N C E

400W power brick.

38 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 above-average keyboard, an
excellent display, and a healthy
selection of ports for most uses.
With all its packing, it’s not
surprising to see the Lenovo Legion
Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 costs a tidy sum.
But at $3,499, it’s still a fair price.
It’s cheaper than the prior-
generation Legion 9i—a higher-tier
system—and yet it outperforms
This is an extreme-performance laptop. that system in most respects. It’s
also quite a bit cheaper than the
concerned, especially when an OLED display $4,499 MSI Raider 18 HX A2XW, which it
gets to show letterboxes (black pixels don’t squares off against, trading blows and
use power, after all). In actual use, the battery landing quite a few victories over. The
life is shorter. Even with the dGPU disabled Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 sets the
and performance set to balanced profiles in stage nicely for high-end gaming laptops
Windows and Lenovo’s LegionSpace, the running on the latest GPUs.
system lasts closer to 3 hours in normal use,
browsing the web and watching the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10
occasional video. On the bright side, the
400W charger can juice the Lenovo Legion PROS

Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 back up quickly. • Top-notch performance.

• Excellent display.
• Fast-wired and wireless connectivity.
BOTTOM LINE CONS
• Premium pricing.
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is an
• Still has the short battery life of a gaming laptops.
extreme-performance laptop. Its combination • Trackpad could be bigger.
of potent CPU and GPU readies it for intense BOTTOM LINE
The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 continues its
gaming and heavy computing workloads family’s knack for delivering extreme performance in a
alike. That comes with some extra bulk, quality chassis at a competitive price. There are little
areas for improvement, and the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i
weight, and noisy cooling, but the Lenovo 16 Gen 10 can’t get away from typical gaming laptop
issues like weight and limited battery life, but it’s still
Legion Pro 7i 16 Gen 10 is still relatively strong excellent for what it is.
next to competing laptops. Lenovo has fit all From $2,849 (review model, $3,499)
of that power into a great frame, offering an

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 39

REVIEWS

NordVPN: More than just a VPN,

it’s a privacy powerhouse
Packed with powerful features and blazing-fast speeds BY SAM SINGLETON

NordVPN is one of the most Security, offering other tools such as the
well-known VPN services with NordPass password manager, NordLocker for
an absolutely massive user secure file storage, and business tools like
base. The trusted premium NordLayer and NordWL—many of which are
service is notable for its excellent speeds, an offered with subscriptions to the higher tiers
enormous server network, and an unrivaled of NordVPN.
set of security features.
In its aim to be a one-stop shop for all your NordVPN in brief
security needs, the service has expanded into P2P allowed: Yes, on dedicated servers
a larger umbrella organization known as Nord Simultaneous device connections: 10

40 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: FOUNDRY

 Business location: Panama extensions. It also allows for 10
Number of servers: 8,000-plus simultaneous device connections.
Number of country locations: 118 Its customer support services are available
Cost: $12.99 per month, $59.99 for one 24/7 via chat or email, and it also has an
year, or $83.43 for two years extensive blog and FAQ section on its
website should you run into trouble and want
FEATURES AND SERVICES to solve the problem on your own.
Let’s get this out front right away: NordVPN is When you first open NordVPN on
one of the largest and most well-funded VPNs Windows, you’re presented with an
around. NordVPN has a user base in the tens information hub showing the status of your
of millions and is only one part of the larger VPN connection, Threat Protection, and File
conglomerate known as Nord Security. Sharing. The left-hand rail includes quick
There’s no doubt that it’s a premier VPN links for a VPN map, Threat Protection, File
service with resources most competitors Transfers, Meshnet connectivity, and Dark
could only dream of. A subscription comes Web Monitoring. At the bottom you also
with not just a VPN,
but a whole slew of
top-quality privacy
and security
features. But for the
purposes of this
review, and to
compare apples to
apples, I’ll be
focusing mainly on
the VPN portion.
The VPN itself
is supported by
most major
platforms such as
Windows, Mac,
Android, iOS,
Linux, smart TVs, NordVPN’s homescreen isn’t the most simplistic, but it provides all of the
and browser information you need in one glance.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 41

REVIEWS NORDVPN

to choose which apps

you specifically want to
run through a VPN
connection and which
you do not. This is really
useful if you want to surf
the web while
protected with a VPN,
but also play games
without the potential
extra latency that comes
with an active VPN
connection.
Auto-connect is also
NordVPN comes with a ton of settings, allowing it to be very customizable. a nice feature that
comes standard with
have interface options for Contact Us most VPN services. However, what makes
and Settings. NordVPN’s auto-connect feature stand out is
When you click on the VPN option, the the ability to customize the connection itself.
app window changes to a world map that you You can, for example, automatically connect
can drag around and select a specific country to a double VPN or a specific country. You can
and server to connect to. There is also a small also choose whether to connect whenever
box with options for quick connect, allowing the app starts or only on “unsecure networks”
you to automatically connect to the fastest like public Wi-Fi.
available server, and a history of the last few Heading back out to the main menu,
servers you connected to for reference. you’ll be able to check out the other features
Digging deeper into Settings, you’ll find a that come included in NordVPN’s Plus,
ton of power user options, including a Kill Complete, or Prime subscription plans. Under
Switch and App Kill Switch. The latter stops the Threat Protection menu, you’ll have
any app from connecting to the internet if an options to enable Nord’s built-in security
active VPN connection drops, while the features, such as real-time protection against
former does that for the entire device. malware, as well as advanced browsing
There are also options for Split Tunneling protection, ad and tracker blocking, and file
and Auto-connect. Split Tunneling allows you download protection. Its proprietary Line

42 PCWorld JUNE 2025

Checker tool even checks website URLs for parties. It even gives users the option to
any signs of malware or phishing threats and connect to the internet via a home computer
warns you before they load. from a different location.
NordVPN also offers its Meshnet feature. Overall, NordVPN is easily the most
Powered via NordLynx (that is, NordVPN’s feature-rich VPN on the market. While most
version of WireGuard VPN protocol), other competitors are just trying to catch up,
Meshnet essentially allows you to connect to Nord continues to forge ahead year after year.
another device instead of connecting to a You might not need everything it offers, but
VPN server, thereby routing online traffic you can’t argue with the value it provides,
through another machine. Device pairings are thanks to this extensive tool set.
required to be authorized by any and all
parties, and once connected, traffic between PRICE
devices is still encrypted. NordVPN offers four levels of subscriptions:
It’s a really interesting and unique feature Basic, Plus, Complete, and Prime. The Basic
that allows users to collaborate with remote plan ($12.99 per month, $59.88 for 1 year, or
file sharing, or resurrect old-school LAN $83.43 for 2 years) provides you with just the
VPN. The Plus
plan ($13.99
per month,
$71.88 for 1
year, or $107.73
for 2 years)
gives you the
VPN plus access
to malware
protection, an
ad and tracker
blocker, a
password
manager, and
data breach
scanner. The
NordVPN’s Threat Protection is a robust anti-malware plus ad and tracker blocker Ultimate plan
included with certain plans. ($14.99 per

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 43

REVIEWS NORDVPN

month, $83.88 for 1 year, or $134.73 for 2 PERFORMANCE

years) adds to that with 1TB of cloud storage. During my testing, I measured connection
Then the new Prime plan ($17.99 per month, speeds across NordVPN’s servers in different
$107.88 for 1 year, or $188.73 for 2 years) countries around the world and then
adds NordProtect features including access compared them to my baseline internet
to its identity-theft monitoring and recovery, speed. NordVPN’s server speeds came
credit monitoring, and cyber extortion- through with flying colors.
protection services. I noted an impressive average of 75
The month-to-month subscription price percent of the base download speed and an
for all plans is definitely on the high side outstanding 81 percent of the base upload
compared to other VPNs—especially when speed. Both of those scores are
you opt for just the Basic plan with VPN improvements from the last time I tested the
only. Other top VPNs ([Link]/43k8IzX) service, and they further solidify NordVPN at
can be had for less than half the price the top. It continues to have the fastest
per month. average connection speeds of any VPN I’ve
However, when you go up to the Plus ever tested.
and Ultimate—or even the Prime—plans, With those speeds, users should have
the extra services that are offered help zero issues streaming HD video or playing
make up for the steep prices. If you can games across any NordVPN server. Please
swing it all at once, these higher note, however, that connection speeds are
subscription tier prices drop significantly dependent upon a number of factors both
when purchased in 1-year or 2-year plans, inside and outside the VPN itself, and your
making them much more affordable. experience may vary.
NordVPN also has a habit of offering NordVPN also advertises that it works with
great limited-time discounts throughout the Netflix, and during testing I found that this
year on its subscription plans, especially was true for all of the servers I tried. However,
during the holiday seasons. If you’re lucky even with top VPNs, it’s not uncommon to
enough to snag one of these VPN deals, experience streaming service issues. This is
then you can get these higher-end plans for because there’s a continual cat-and-mouse
next to nothing. game between Netflix’s anti-VPN
When you sign up, NordVPN only enforcement and VPN service providers that
requires an email address. Paying for the try to maneuver around blockages. Still,
service can be done via credit card, Amazon NordVPN seems to be winning this game at
Pay, Google Pay, or various cryptocurrencies. the moment.

44 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 NordVPN
also added
post-quantum
encryption (fave.
co/3RUtJLb) to
NordLynx
connections on
most platforms,
including Linux,
Windows,
Android, iOS,
and some smart
TVs. This feature
protects VPN
connections
against potential
quantum
NordVPN offers a number of strong protocols to choose from and now includes computer
post-quantum encryption with its NordLynx connections. attacks (fave.
co/44vmP6C). It
SECURITY AND PRIVACY may seem superfluous now, and it mostly is,
NordVPN uses standard AES encryption with but it’s good to see Nord trying to stay
256-bit keys. It also uses diskless RAM-only ahead of the game regardless.
servers, which don’t store any information on NordWhisper is the latest offering from
them at all. Since everything runs on RAM, the service and uses web tunnel technology
data is deleted after each server boot, making to imitate traditional web traffic. This can be
it extremely difficult to pull any user data from handy, as some network filters attempt to
these servers. catch and block other VPN connections.
The service offers four internet protocols: NordWhisper will provide a slower average
IKEv2/IPsec, OpenVPN, NordLynx (NordVPN’s connection speed, but may be a good option
proprietary version of WireGuard VPN), and the for those in countries that restrict VPN usage
new NordWhisper. NordVPN recommends or on locked-down networks like school Wi-Fi.
NordLynx as the go-to protocol due to its NordVPN is based in Panama, and
potential for better speeds and security. therefore it’s not subject to mandatory

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 45

REVIEWS NORDVPN

governmental data retention laws, nor is the that rival NordVPN’s. Mullvad VPN (fave.
country a member of any international data- co/3Cywibv), for example, does more to
sharing alliances. maximize anonymity, while services such as
Additionally, NordVPN states that it has a Surfshark VPN ([Link]/3Z1OmGj) and
“strict no-logs policy,” meaning it doesn’t store IPVanish ([Link]/3JUqsZh) offer unlimited
timestamps, browsing data, used bandwidth, simultaneous device connections.
traffic logs, IP addresses, or any other However, in an ultra-competitive
personally identifiable information on users. market, what ultimately makes NordVPN
This no-logs policy has been confirmed stand out is its consistent growth and
five times over the years, most recently at the optimization. It’s continually upgrading its
end of 2024 by independent security security features and incorporating new
auditing firm Deloitte. The assessment found technologies such as its latest web address
that NordVPN stays true to its privacy policy checker and NordWhisper protocol.
and found no evidence of user-data logging. If you add this perpetual improvement
There’s been a lot of effort to get users to to a service that already has the fastest
trust NordVPN since it was hacked back in speeds, admirable security features, and
2018, and I’m happy to see all of the great full Netflix capability, then NordVPN
strides it’s made. The no-logs independent deserves its reputation as one of the best
audits, the diskless servers, and the increased VPNs around.
transparency of its company structure as a
whole have all been extremely positive in NordVPN
helping repair trust among its user base.
PROS
• Loaded with great features.
BOTTOM LINE • Outstanding speeds.
NordVPN continues to be a fantastic service • Multiple independent no-logs audits.
• Included antivirus and password manager.
that only keeps getting better with each new
CONS
added feature. It’s no longer just a great VPN, • Expensive.
but a privacy and security powerhouse. BOTTOM LINE
NordVPN packs a lot into a single premium
Admittedly, you pay a rather hefty price for the subscription: tons of country connections, full
extras. But with such a rich feature set, streaming site compatibility, a wealth of configuration
options, and lightning-fast server speeds. It has
NordVPN users will undoubtedly feel they’re grown beyond just a VPN, now offering a potent suite
of privacy and security features that dwarfs most
getting their money’s worth. competitors.
Despite all of its value, there are other From $13 per month
competitors with specific individual features

46 PCWorld JUNE 2025

Sightful Spacetop: Impressive AR
display… until the bugs show up
I’d like to see Sightful’s AR solution succeed, but it’s not there yet. BY MARK HACHMAN

SO, WHAT IS THE SIGHTFUL

S
ightful’s Spacetop, a gigantic
augmented-reality supplemental SPACETOP EXPERIENCE?
monitor for your PC, succeeds as Imagine looking through a swim mask at the
a concept. But it still needs some night sky, made up of a regular grid of small
fine-tuning before you’ll be completely stars. Upon this grid floats a small taskbar and
happy with it, especially at the price various Windows windows, which you can
Sightful is charging. move around and drag, just like a desktop.

IMAGE: SIGHTFUL JUNE 2025 PCWorld 47

REVIEWS SIGHTFUL SPACETOP

Spacetop functions as a massive virtual screen quasi-headless laptop with the XReal glasses
that seamlessly replaces your laptop’s directly built into the device. Since then,
monitor. Look up, down, and to the sides, Sightful has retooled the device to run as a
and you can see your windows and apps. subscription-based app on top of a new
There’s a small floating taskbar for generation of AI PCs and made the Sightful
in-Spacetop navigation. You can run Teams or app Windows native. (Before, the Sightful
Slack in one corner and Outlook in another Spacetop was essentially a Chromebook.)
since it’s all in Windows. Instead of a swim Now, the Sightful Spacetop costs $899
mask, however, you’re using a pair of XReal ([Link]/44oGc1b), including a pair of
augmented-reality glasses. $699 XReal Air Ultra 2 AR glasses ([Link]/
Does it work? Absolutely. 4iUWeDs) that serve as the Spacetop display.
However, I felt like I was wrestling with the You’ll need to supply your own AI PC, too. If
interface as much as using it, which isn’t a you fall in love with the Spacetop, you’ll need
strong endorsement. There are workarounds. to pay $200 for a year’s subscription; the
The biggest obstacle to this review, sadly, was bundle already ships with a year’s worth of
probably myself—a product of the pre-PC Spacetop service. That’s a pricey package, in
educational system. the neighborhood of what Adobe charges
per month for Photoshop. At least the glasses
THE SPACETOP BUNDLE: are yours to keep, regardless.
OUT OF THE BOX AND SETUP Sightful asked me to review the
Sightful debuted Spacetop in May of 2023 Spacetop software rather than write about
([Link]/42vdRSm), when it was a my experiences with the XReal glasses or
the associated laptop. That’s
not entirely possible, as it’s a
holistic experience.
Sightful provided me with
an HP AIPC laptop with
Spacetop already provisioned
upon it. Spacetop’s app
appears to be just a Windows
app, and Sightful’s
representatives said that it can
Sightful concept art showing what it’s like to use the Spacetop. It’s be moved from laptop to laptop
pretty close to the real thing. just like a normal Windows app.

48 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 glasses don’t allow room for
eyeglasses, but you can ask
Sightful to serve as a
go-between if you need
prescription lenses. Prescription
single-lens inserts cost $50,
while prescription progressive
lenses cost $150. As part of this
review, I supplied my
prescription to Sightful, which
installed prescription lenses.
(I’m not sure what will happen if
your prescription changes, or if
XReal’s XReal Air Ultra 2 AR glasses, sitting on top of the HP laptop you want to swap the lenses out
Sightful provided for review purposes. for progressive ones.)
XReal’s glasses come
However, I was unable to test the setup bundled, and XReal has no connection to
process myself. Sightful’s Spacetop other than that. Still, the
“Customers who purchase the Spacetop Air Ultra 2 glasses weigh just 83 grams, and
Bundle receive a link to create an
account and download the
software (regular MSI installer),
then, following the installation, are
required to log in once to activate
their license on the laptop,” a
Sightful representative said when I
asked about setup. “If a customer
purchased an optical attachment,
they get a link to upload their
prescription, and the attachment
is shipped together with the XReal
glasses to them.”
The optical attachments are The Xreal glasses are lightweight and comfortable. Note the
just prescription inserts. XReal’s prescription inserts.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 49

REVIEWS SIGHTFUL SPACETOP

that’s absolutely critical on a device you plan needed to make any adjustments to the font
to wear for potentially hours. The glasses felt size or via Windows settings. I could read my
lightweight, comfortable, and open to the Windows apps perfectly well, and any text
side. They also include small audio speakers. was legible without needing me to adjust
That’s comforting in an unfamiliar anything. XReal rates XReal Air Ultra 2’s field of
environment, like a coffee shop, where you’d view (FOV) at 52 degrees.
like to have an awareness of your surroundings. I tried to reproduce the familiar
But on a plane or in a hotel room—trusted environment of my desktop: a large
locations, for which you might buy the landscape display in the center of my desk,
Spacetop for working—you might find the with a second portrait display to one side
gaps to the side a bit distracting. It’s a trade-off. and my laptop just below. Multiple physical
monitors confine you to the space they
SPACETOP: AR AS A offer. But Windows does offer Windows
PRODUCTIVITY DEVICE Snap, which allows you to quickly align
Plug in the XReal glasses, and you’ll see a windows in various configurations.
duplicate of your laptop’s screen, floating in Spacetop doesn’t provide this feature, so I
your vision. You’ll need to launch the had to manually adjust various apps and
Spacetop app to get what you paid for: the windows until I achieved the desired
AR environment, which extends your view alignment. The layout appears to be
about 180 degrees in all directions. If you persistent, though, so there’s that.
were to lie on your back and look up, your AR (I’d really like to show you what you can
workspace would be about what you could see as you’re using Spacetop, but I can’t
see in the sky above. really show it off. Screenshots don’t really
XReal’s OLED displays supply 1080p per work, though I’ve included one below. Even
eye at up to 120Hz, so I didn’t feel like I trying to share your screen via Zoom displays

Here’s a screenshot of what you see when using Spacetop.

50 PCWorld JUNE 2025

a pair of screens, as
both of the XReal’s
displays are
projected.)
Look up, and the
virtual space extends
to about your ceiling.
On my setup, the
“bottom” of the
workspace reached
the top of my laptop
tray in front of me,
extending to about 90
degrees to either side.
You can adjust the AR
display by moving it Spacetop’s toolbar sits plopped in the center of your screen. Yes, you can put
windows above and below it, but it seems like it should live somewhere else.
closer or farther away Note that the apps menu only pops out when you click on the grid icon, on
or tilting it. The little the left of the toolbar.
dots that describe the
virtual landscape layout don’t always signal windows, which have to be readjusted to
how far you can go, but dragging a window accommodate it. Sightful representatives
to the side will expand the AR space until it say the toolbar is not adjustable; I’d say it
can go no further—a bit like adding new needs to be.
tables and charts to an Excel spreadsheet. There’s one more interesting twist: travel
In the center of your screen perches the mode. Let’s say that you’re waiting for an
Spacetop toolbar, which basically stands as appointment and need to move into a
a minimalist representation of your conference room. When used normally, what
Windows toolbar. You can open and launch you see in the Spacetop environment won’t
apps via a Start-like button to the left, change orientation if you move about. In
access Windows settings, and more. travel mode, Spacetop syncs the center of its
Unfortunately, it just sits there, plopped in workspace to the way your laptop is facing,
the center of your screen, without any easy helping you to keep everything in its place. I
way to move it around. That becomes a never really thought about it, but it’s a smart
pain when it accidentally blocks part of your idea that works.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 51

REVIEWS SIGHTFUL SPACETOP

If you get “lost,” a small little icon will other windows—a collection of Microsoft
show you the location of your mouse cursor. Edge browser tabs, for example—sometimes
would glitch repeatedly and wouldn’t move.
GLITCHES DON’T I think that has to do with being a
OVERWHELM SPACETOP, left-handed user, and possibly that certain
BUT THEY ARE THERE elements within the Spacetop environment
Spacetop is a gigantic virtual display for your respected my choice of mouse or taskbar
laptop. That’s easy enough to understand. buttons, and others did not. (When I
But the road to that experience is bumpier dropped out of the Spacetop environment,
than it needs to be. the laptop’s trackpad worked as expected
I really disliked two things about the for moving apps and windows around.)
Spacetop experience. First, the app provides That drove me mildly insane until I
you a window with your laptop’s desktop in connected a mouse to the laptop. As a
case you need to access any files stored there. left-handed user, I’m not impressed.
I was able to move that screen around, like a Second, I’m not sure if I triggered a
window, with absolutely no issues at all. But Ctrl-Lock function on the laptop, but the
application absolutely
refused to allow me to
type a URL inside Edge
until I tapped the Ctrl
key a few times.
(Typing “O” would
bring me to a File
“Open” function within
File Explorer instead.) I
solved my issue by
tapping the Esc or Ctrl
keys until the problem
went away.
I also encountered
a couple of other bugs,
including one where
I challenge anyone to not have to look at their keyboard while navigating the audio would cut
these shortcuts! out over the XReal

52 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 make sure that I
wasn’t accidentally
tapping the Caps
Lock key when I was
trying to type the
characters located
next to it. The issue
wasn’t Sightful’s
fault. But it still
meant that I
preferred my
Not a glitch, just a restriction: Apparently Spacetop is a connected application. traditional laptop
keyboard, and I
speakers unless I adjusted the spatial sound ended up feeling more productive in my
within Windows. In another, a small Favorites everyday work environment.
window within Edge apparently hooked onto But yes, Sightful’s Spacetop can be used
the toolbar and wouldn’t let go. Other popup to get work done. I previously tried Meta’s
windows, several of which asked for implementation of a virtual workspace within
confirmation, weren’t responsive until I Horizon Worlds ([Link]/42D5mod), and it
repeatedly tried to interact with them. just didn’t work; the virtual displays were too
But the biggest handicap? Me, faraway, and low-resolution that I couldn’t
unfortunately. What Spacetop instantly really see myself getting anything done.
exposed was that I’m not the typist I thought I Spacetop running on top of the XReal glasses
was. I learned typing as sort of a hybrid of works, and I liked it the more I used it.
two- and multi-fingering, and I work best upon
a familiar keyboard. The associated XReal IS SPACETOP BETTER THAN
glasses basically block you from looking at YOUR HOME OFFICE?
your fingers for any reason, so I found that the Was using the Spacetop comfortable?
unfamiliar laptop keyboard caused me to make Surprisingly so, though I grew into it.
more errors than usual. I wanted to check my Originally, I found it easiest to work in
finger placement before I began typing, which quick bursts before I solved some of my
the glasses wouldn’t allow me to do. pointing issues. As I became more familiar, I
Eventually, I learned to “cheat” by worked for longer stretches. I wrote a draft of
stealing glances down below the glasses to this review entirely within the Spacetop

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 53

REVIEWS SIGHTFUL SPACETOP

environment. It was as easy to pull up well suited for both indoor and outdoor work.
supplementary documentation in separate Over time, the unfamiliar weight of the glasses
windows as it was within a more conventional caused a slight strain on my neck.
laptop with multiple monitors. XReal’s glasses All told, I got to the point I would work for
provide audio, so I was able to skim a video about 45 minutes to an hour at a time. I do
on the web and jot notes as well. think my experience improved over time, and
But there’s definitely some element of I’m not entirely sure why. I didn’t specifically
fatigue. My eyes grew somewhat tired after test how long the laptop battery would last,
a while, and I found I needed to take though I noticed it dropped from 48 percent
breaks. I also felt some traces of vertigo on to 21 percent in about 45 minutes, as
a single occasion. measured by the toolbar battery meter. Most
I think I solved it by adjusting how much planes now offer power plugs, so I don’t think
light the XReal glasses let in—from nearly this will be an issue.
black to nearly transparent—all by tapping a I still prefer my trusty desktop setup,
button on the glasses. It also makes Spacetop though plugging in a USB mouse to the
laptop made the
Spacetop experience
significantly better. On
the other hand, certain
scenarios throw you
into situations where
you simply don’t have
the luxury of working
under your preferred
conditions, such as on
a plane. I didn’t hop a
flight to write this
review, but I did
simply flip off my
screens and use my
keyboard drawer as a
tray table, writing this
My wife burst out laughing when she took this picture, but at least it’s a little review under those
less dorky than the Apple Vision Pro or a Meta headset. conditions.

54 PCWorld JUNE 2025

Sightful’s Spacetop is undoubtedly useful as a massive AR alternative for those who can’t access a
number of physical displays.

BOTTOM LINE for the Windows world. It’s a useful trick, yes,
If I flew to Asia every week, would I find value but an expensive one.
in the Spacetop? I think I would.
Sure, Windows already offers you options Sightful Spacetop
to see “more” than just a single screen’s worth
of data, especially via the virtual desktop PROS

feature ([Link]/3pOJEAo) that allows you to • It accomplishes its goal: It provides a usable AR
workspace.
slide screens’ worth of data back and forth. I • XReal glasses are lightweight and comfortable.
do like the option to keep a few lightly used CONS
• Numerous bugs.
apps off to the side, however, and Spacetop • Subscription cost is a significant investment.
accomplishes that nicely. Is it all worth $899 BOTTOM LINE

plus $200 per year? That’s the real question. Sightful’s Spacetop is undoubtedly useful as a
massive AR alternative for those who can’t access a
For the premium flyer zipping back and forth number of physical displays. But a number of fixable
bugs still soured my experience, and that was
on a corporate dime, yeah, maybe. But for the capped off by a fairly hefty subscription price.
average consumer? Probably not. This is a $899, plus $200 annual subscription
one-trick Apple Vision Pro ([Link]/3XkNyh2)

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 55

REVIEWS

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti

16GB, tested: A great GPU for
1080p gaming
Adam and Will have run the Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti through a few initial tests in the lab.
Long story short, it’s an impressive leap over the last generation. BY MICHAEL CRIDER

T
he wait may be over at last… PCWorld labs got their hands on both of
assuming you’ve been waiting for them. Check out how they performed in the
new Nvidia graphics cards that latest YouTube video ([Link]/43a5bmt).
don’t cost $500 or more. The RTX Sadly, the only review units Nvidia sent
5060 Ti recently launched officially (fave. out were variations on the 16GB version of
co/3RWwXxT), and Adam and Will in the the RTX 5060 Ti. The 8GB version should

56 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: NVIDIA

be on store shelves, at least theoretically the 4060 Ti, bumping up 32 percent on pure
and for a few seconds before it sells out, raster performance. It gained 14 percent on
but it didn’t look like many reviews were the intense path tracing and upscaling test
popping up on launch day. But the good with DLSS but no frame generation. When
news is that the 16GB version, which has an you flip on frame generation (wherein Nvidia
MSRP of $429 (yeah, we’ll see about that, can insert three card-generated frames, fave.
[Link]/3G4zOSA), is pretty darn good. co/4gAfWDu, for every one rasterized frame),
In the initial benchmark rundown, it more than doubles the performance versus
Adam kept the comparisons as relevant as the 4060 Ti…which you’d expect, since that
possible: an apples-to-apples comparison generation of card can only do x2 frame gen
with the last-gen RTX 4060 Ti, also in 16GB instead of x4. Limiting it to the same x2 bump
flavor, the step-up RTX 5070, and the on both cards, the 5060 Ti can get a 14
Radeon 7700 XT (which is AMD’s percent boost.
comparable card for the Nvidia 40-series). AI and video editing performance
In short, the new card is pretty darn good, showed approximately the same 15 to 20
even if you’re not interested in Nvidia’s percent boost, and the power consumption
heavily pushed upscaling, frame generation, for the new card showed that it’s running at
or ray-tracing goodies. about the same level of electricity as the 4060
Restricting the testing to pure raster-based Ti, and well below the AMD card tested. But
benchmarks at 1080p, the RTX 5060 Ti the big question remaining is, how much
16GB saw a boost from 8 percent to 32 these cards will really cost you…and how
percent over the last generation. That wasn’t long those prices will remain stable as the
always enough to beat AMD’s 7700 XT, but it U.S. taxes and trade war with China (fave.
was in some games like Rainbow Six Siege co/4ieSHQe) create extreme instability in this
and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Things and other markets.
were similar with a little bit of ray-tracing You also might want to wait for the
goodness added on top, with the new cheaper 5060 non-Ti ($300 MSRP) and
card edging out AMD and beating the 5060 Ti 8GB ($380) for a more even
4060 Ti by 10-20 percent. For heavy ray comparison. While you wait, be sure to
tracing like Black Myth Wukong, you can subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube (fave.
see even more than that. co/43VPiik) and check out our weekly
Cyberpunk 2077 is a great all-in-one test podcast, The Full Nerd ([Link]/4jRwMjL).
bench for new cards. And the GeForce RTX We had a recent episode all about the new
5060 Ti got dramatically better results than Nvidia cards.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 57

REVIEWS

Televes Dinova Boss Mix:

A fantastic, less conspicuous
TV antenna
Mount this antenna in your attic, on the side of your house, or on a mast above your roof,
and it will pull in lots of channels. BY MARTYN WILLIAMS

There’s a lot to like about The Televes Dinova Boss Mix isn’t
outdoor TV antennas. They beautiful, but it does look very different from
offer better and more stable a typical antenna and is likely to stand out
TV reception and usually much less when mounted on the roof or the
bring in more channels than indoor models, side of a house. It can also be installed in an
which is why we always recommend them, attic (if you don’t have a metal roof) for even
but they won’t win any neighborhood less visual distraction, albeit at the cost of
beauty contests. some reception.

58 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: FOUNDRY

 side of the antenna: Give
each of these a tug to extend
a set of telescoping antennas
and you’ll get better VHF TV
stations that broadcast on
channels 13 and below.
These channels can
sometimes be tough to catch
with smaller antennas like this
one, so that’s a great feature.
The antenna’s built-in
signal amplifier, powered by
The Televes Dinova Mix Boss comes with everything you need to the 12-volt power supply
install it, including a short mast if you want to mount it on the side you’ll also find in the box,
of your house.
will boost reception.

SPECIFICATIONS IN USE
The antenna is enclosed in a white plastic After installing the Dinova Boss Mix, I found
shell with a built-in bracket on the rear for that it provided good reception of all local
mounting on a pole. You’d typically mount it channels and strong signals from a
horizontally, but there could be a situation neighboring market. That’s impressive for an
where a vertical mount would be
better, and the bracket
accommodates both scenarios. It
comes complete with a short mast
you can use to mount it to the side of
your house; so, everything you need
is in the box—apart from the coaxial
cable needed to connect it to your
TV tuner.
Don’t overlook one of the
Dinova Boss Mix’s best features
when you unbox it: There are a Be sure to extend the telescoping antennas on each side of
couple of small, silver nubs on either the Televes Dinova Mix Boss.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 59

REVIEWS TELEVES DINOVA BOSS MIX

better on reception of
UHF stations over VHF.
PCWorld’s guide to
choosing an antenna
([Link]/438qMvS)
explains how to
determine the signal
levels of the broadcast
towers where you
live before you buy,
so check that out
before making a
final decision.
Whether it’s
The Televes Dinova Mix Boss viewed from below. mounted on your roof,
on the side of your
antenna of this size. In terms of the number of house, or in an attic space, the Televes Dinova
channels, it was only a little behind my daily- Boss Mix offers a more pleasing profile than
use antenna, the Televes Dat Boss Mix (fave. more typical TV antennas, and it still delivers
co/42Ssti8). great reception.
While that didn’t matter in the tests, I
always prefer to get as strong a signal as Televes Dinova Boss Mix
possible, especially on more distant stations
that can be affected by weather conditions. PROS
• Good reception of local and some distant channels.
The Dinova Boss Mix even pulled in a • Comes with mounting hardware, including a
low-power VHF station that presents a tricky short mast.
• Compact design will stand out less in
signal for me most of the time. Reception of neighborhoods.
that station wasn’t perfect, but the fact that it CONS
• Not well suited to locations that are distant from
was coming in at all demonstrated the broadcast towers.
antenna’s sensitivity. BOTTOM LINE
The Televes Dinova Boss Mix is a sensitive TV antenna
with a built-in signal amplifier that will do a good job
BOTTOM LINE of pulling in TV stations while looking a lot less
conspicuous on the side or roof of a house.
The antenna should work well in areas with
$119
strong to average reception and will perform

60 PCWorld JUNE 2025

Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5
dock: Simply the best right now
Thunderbolt 5 docks are still in their infancy, but Sonnet’s dock is an auspicious sign of
things to come. BY MARK HACHMAN

Sonnet’s Echo 13 Thunderbolt Sonnet’s dock is the second Thunderbolt

5 SSD Dock carves out a new 5 ([Link]/3txpsEA) docking station I’ve
tier in both price and tested, and the first with an integrated SSD.
performance, blowing away The integrated SSD drives up the cost
conventional Thunderbolt 4 docks as a new substantially, but its performance sits well
tier of ultrapremium Thunderbolt 5 docking above a conventional external SSD. (Intel’s
stations takes hold. original reference design included an
I fully expect more Thunderbolt 5 docking integrated SSD, my contacts say, so some
stations to be released. Hopefully, their manufacturers followed suit.) It’s a smart
performance meets or even exceeds that of decision, nevertheless, and one that is a killer
the Sonnet Echo 13, which should place selling point for this laptop docking station.
among the best Thunderbolt docks (fave. Sonnet’s dock measures about 8.5 inches
co/3vtA0BE) we recommend you buy. long and about 3.75 inches deep, and is

IMAGE: SONNET TECHNOLOGIES JUNE 2025 PCWorld 61

REVIEWS SONNET ECHO 13 THUNDERBOLT 5 DOCK

slightly thicker than an inch. There is no Unfortunately, given the price of the dock,
option to mount it vertically. The dock is made there are no dedicated HDMI or DisplayPort
of plastic, with what appears to be venting on ports, which may require you to purchase
the top and sides. additional cables. On the other hand, my 4K,
On the front of the dock is a power 160Hz test displays support high-speed
button, with LEDs signaling power and an USB-C inputs, and if you’re in the market for
active Thunderbolt connection. The power such a dock, yours might as well. Remember,
button needs to be held down for a second Thunderbolt 4’s base spec supports two 4K
or two to turn the dock on and off. displays at 60Hz; Thunderbolt 5 (fave.
Sonnet clearly labeled both front ports: a co/3txpsEA) supports three 4K, 144Hz
140W Thunderbolt 5 port that connects via a displays. In this case, I simply reused existing
31-inch Thunderbolt 5 cable, as well as a 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 cables.
second, 60W Thunderbolt 5 port. On the Two of my test displays reliably connected
front is a 10Gbps USB-A port, a UHS-II SD and at 4K, 144Hz resolution, but not three. (The
microSD card slot, and a headphone jack. On dock sent content to all three 4K displays, at
the rear of the dock are two more Thunderbolt 144Hz—but just two at a time.)
5 ports, two more 10Gbps USB-A ports (and a Given the issues I had with this same
5Gbps USB-A port, too), and an RJ45 laptop and a Kensington dock (fave.
connector for up to 2.5Gbit Ethernet. co/4iQigas), I suspected that my test laptop
might be the issue. At press
time, there were virtually no
Thunderbolt 5 laptops to test
with; after consultation with
Sonnet’s engineers and other
sources, I’ve concluded that
the laptop’s Thunderbolt 5
controller may be split
between the two ports. That
won’t allow the laptop to
display on three external
4K144 displays, even if the
dock allows it. I’ll be
updating my test laptop as
The Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock can pass data at up to 120Gbps. soon as I can.

62 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 PC was concerned. Sonnet’s
original documentation said
nothing about this, and even an
updated version that the company
sent electronically barely
mentioned it or what to dot.
Update April 21, 2025: After this
The front of the Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock, with
power and LEDs, plus the Thunderbolt 5 connection to your review published, Sonnet now says
PC, USB-A, and SD/microSD card slots. that it will preformat the SSD (as
ex-FAT) before shipping and add
Note that while this dock is backward- instructions on how to reformat and repartition
compatible with a Thunderbolt 4 laptop, the SSD, if needed. Put another way, Sonnet
you’ll receive the best value using believes that you’ll never experience the
Thunderbolt 5 hardware. Sonnet notes that pre-formatting issues I experienced.
the slower Thunderbolt 4 I/O connection will It’s not hard to search for how to solve this
throttle the SSD, which is a key selling point problem; using Windows’ own search tool
for this dock. and looking for “create and format hard disk
partitions” brings up the Disk Management
INTEGRATING AN SSD window under the Windows Control Panel.
OFFERS BENEFITS AS That tool shows the unformatted drive, which
WELL AS CONCERNS you can right-click on to format and make the
As someone who typically leaves a USB key drive usable. A Thunderbolt dock, however, is
plugged into the dock to serve as a
“sneakernet” of sorts, the idea of
having dedicated storage in a dock
appeals to me. Sonnet ships this
dock with either a 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB
SSD inside; my review unit had a
2TB SSD.
You’d never know it, though. My
review unit came with the drive in an
unformatted state, meaning that it
didn’t show up in File Explorer and There are a pair of lock slots on the end of the Sonnet Echo 13
essentially didn’t “exist” as far as my Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 63

REVIEWS SONNET ECHO 13 THUNDERBOLT 5 DOCK

essentially plug-and-play,
and formatting an
external SSD most
decidedly is not. I’d
recommend that Sonnet
either pre-format the
drive or include a
dedicated, detailed
tutorial on how to do so. The rear of the Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock includes three
The drive is not USB-A ports, 2.5Gb Ethernet, and two upstream Thunderbolt 5 ports.
encrypted by default,
though it is surrounded by the dock itself PERFORMANCE
and is not designed to be user-accessible. My earlier experience with the Kensington
Windows does provide drive encryption, SD5000T5 EQ Thunderbolt 5 Triple 4K
known as BitLocker ([Link]/4hGDZ43), Docking Station ([Link]/40mKzrJ), the first
though that’s a feature that’s exclusive to TB5 dock I’d tested, was a huge bust. At the
Windows 10/11 Pro. (A Windows 10/11 time, I didn’t feel confident in trying to assign
Home machine can access a BitLocker- blame, since I was working with a new laptop,
encrypted external SSD via a dedicated new cables, and a new dock. For this testing,
password that must be typed in.) If you I used the same Maingear laptop (with a
don’t encrypt the embedded SSD, that 14th-gen Core HX chip and an Nvidia
means that there’s a drive that anyone can GeForce RTX 4090 GPU) that I did for that
access just by docking their laptop. Could previous test.
someone malicious plant spyware or My experience with the Sonnet dock was
malware on it? Possibly. far better, and what I’d expect from the
A portable SSD can also be picked up and Thunderbolt 5 experience.
carried with you, or secured elsewhere. This Stability-wise, the Echo 13 demonstrated
isn’t an argument for or against Sonnet’s a decent amount of what I call “display
dock! But it is a list of things to think about if bounce.” Plugging a laptop into the dock—
you’re considering buying it. which was already connected to a pair of 4K,
Sonnet does claim that the integrated 144Hz displays—produced a situation where
SSD, connected via Thunderbolt 5, will be the displays flipped off and on and realigned
faster than an SSD connected to your PC via themselves for a few seconds. That’s not
USB. And boy, is it ever. particularly unusual.

64 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 After that, everything settled down, all the Ethernet cable, everything went perfectly—the
displays remained connected, and the dock dropped 6 out of 10,000 frames, which is
performance was smooth and pretty stable, negligible. I did notice a little judder from
as you’d expect. But there were several times simultaneously playing a second video on a
that the dock struggled to light one display second display, which I normally didn’t do. But
after resuming from sleep, and rarely (once YouTube didn’t note any dropped frames, so
every couple of days) one display that might have been an issue with the GPU.
disconnected for a second, resumed, and But the storage performance is revelatory.
continued normally. (Powering the dock on Sonnet describes the internal SSD’s speed as
and off solved this.) I suspect that this was the “ridiculous,” and this is one of the few times
laptop’s fault. The SSD remained accessible at I’d agree with the marketing copy. Ludicrous
all times. speed, even!
The dock is rated to supply 140W of I check SSD speeds by connecting a
output power to a laptop. While my test standard SSD to the dock’s USB-C port and
laptop, Maingear’s ML-17, supports running PCMark 10’s external benchmark,
Thunderbolt 5, it can’t accept the 140W of which reports the transfer data in
power the dock theoretically provides. (Dell’s megabytes per second as well as an
latest workstation-class laptops do, fave. abstract score. To date, the very best scores
co/44uQehh, though I do not have one to I’ve ever seen are about 135MB/s, with a
test.) So while I can’t confirm how much score of 850 or so. Directly connected to
maximum power the dock can provide over the laptop, my test SSD delivers 160MB/s
the Thunderbolt cable, it did provide 78W and a score of 1,042.
over the main TB5 connection, and 56W (out Sonnet’s Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD
of a rated 60W) via the other front Dock delivered data to the laptop at
Thunderbolt connection. That’s just fine to 279.8MB/s for a score of 1,891. That’s a 75
fast-charge a smartphone. percent increase in pure throughput! Put
(Note that the 85W passed via the another way, when testing the drive using
Thunderbolt 5 cable will not be sufficient to CrystalDiskMark 8.0, sequential read
charge gaming laptops, such as the first few performance was 3,977MB/s, almost double
with Thunderbolt 5 connections. You’ll still the read performance of 2,036MB/s from the
need to charge those devices via their Lexar SL600 ([Link]/4aEXabR), an external
dedicated chargers.) 20Gbps SSD.
During my streaming tests, where I stream I also simply copy a folder of raw
a 4K, 60Hz video over the internet via the multimedia files from the SSD to the desktop.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 65

REVIEWS SONNET ECHO 13 THUNDERBOLT 5 DOCK

All of these tests are pushing this data through bed that can adequately measure the
the dock’s internal circuitry over the power a Thunderbolt 5 dock provides, and
Thunderbolt 5 cable. About the best score I’m pretty sure that the dock’s inability to
I’ve seen is 1 minute, 2 seconds, tacking on output to three 4K/144 displays (as
an additional 4 more seconds if I’m opposed to just two) may be the fault of the
streaming video during the copy process. laptop, not the dock. We already know that
Sonnet’s Echo 13 copied the files in 13.9 not much Thunderbolt 5 hardware is
seconds, or 14.2 seconds while streaming. available ([Link]/4ke3BHp).
That’s a 78 percent decrease in the time Otherwise, I’m extremely pleased with
taken by that test alone! the Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock
It’s worth noting that I still connected my and would recommend it even in the current
traditional test SSD to the dock’s USB-C port, state of the market and at its current price.
and here Sonnet’s dock wasn’t nearly as Sonnet’s Echo 13 offers both amazing
impressive: 106.2 MB/s, or a score of 682. performance and reliable stability, and sets
That’s lower than the competition, if you the bar for other ultrapremium Thunderbolt 5
decided not to use the internal SSD. docks to trail in its wake. Others will follow,
Throughout all of that, the dock was as certainly. But right now, Sonnet’s dock is the
cool as the other side of the pillow—quite best I’ve ever tested.
literally. It didn’t even warm to the touch,
probably because it sounds like it has a quiet, Sonnet Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5
active fan cooling the dock. dock

BOTTOM LINE PROS

• Premium price, premium value.
The integrated SSD is a significant cost • Integrated high-performance SSD.
• Generally stable.
addition, and not necessarily worth it if your
CONS
storage needs are already served. • Eye-popping price, period.
On the other hand, the performance of • You’ll need a PC with Thunderbolt 5 to get the
best value.
the dock’s SSD certainly makes up for it. A • You’ll need displays with USB-C ports or dongles
premium Thunderbolt dock plus the price to connect.

of a 2TB SSD works out to about $450, BOTTOM LINE

Sonnet’s Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock is one of
which isn’t too much less than what Sonnet the best docks I’ve ever reviewed, with a premium
SSD hidden inside. If you can afford it, this dock is
is charging. very much worth the price.
In general, this dock did everything I’ve From $439
asked it to do. I’m still struggling with a test

66 PCWorld JUNE 2025

We can do this.
Breathe.

Love,

P.S. Find mental health resources

[Link]
FEATURE

ESSENTIAL
GOOGLE
CHROME
FEATURES
YOU NEED
TO START
USING NOW
ARE YOU USING CHROME TO
ITS FULL POTENTIAL? THESE KEY
FEATURES WILL MAKE SURE YOU DO.
BY DAVE PARRACK & JOEL LEE
68 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: WACHIWIT/SHUTTERSTOCK
JUNE 2025 PCWorld 69
FEATURE 13 ESSENTIAL CHROME FEATURES

A
round two-thirds
of all internet
users use Google
Chrome,
according to StatCounter (fave.
co/4m6ZQVL). That’s about 3
billion to 4 billion people! And
yet many Chrome users still
aren’t using Google’s browser
to its full potential.
Chrome works well out of
the box, but if you delve just a
little deeper beneath the Click the user profile photo to see your current profile.
surface, you’ll find plenty of
Chrome features that you might find helpful but different profiles for work, hobbies, personal
aren’t using yet. These features aren’t going to stuff, and more. My work profile is where all
radically change your life, but they’re practical. my work-related stuff goes, including
Some are small and easy to enable, while others bookmarks, open tabs, and account
are more work but worth the effort. passwords. When I’m done for the day, I can
Here are some key Chrome features that close that window and switch to my hobby
are worth trying out to see if they improve profile for fun.
your day-to-day web browsing experience. Click the user profile photo at the top
right of Chrome to see your current user
USE MULTIPLE USER profile. Here you can add new profiles,
PROFILES manage existing ones, tweak your current
Chrome has built-in support for user profile, and more.
profiles, where each profile has its own
separate collection of data: settings, open USE GUEST PROFILES WHEN
tabs, bookmarks, passwords, browsing SHARING YOUR PC
history, synced accounts, and so on. Each Chrome also has support for a so-called
profile opens as a separate Chrome Guest profile, which is like a blank slate for
browser window for your convenience. one-time use. For example, if your friend
You should be using multiple profiles for wants to check their email, you can let them
different purposes. For example, I have in a Guest profile window. Then, when you

70 PCWorld JUNE 2025

close that window, none of
their data is saved.
How is this different
from Incognito mode?
When you open a private
Incognito window, it still
has access to your current
profile’s settings and data,
but it doesn’t save
browsing history.
The Guest profile
similarly doesn’t save
browsing history, but it also A Guest profile doesn’t have access to the settings or data of any of
doesn’t have access to the your other Chrome profiles.
settings or data of any of
your other Chrome profiles. SYNC CHROME BETWEEN
You can launch the Guest profile by MULTIPLE DEVICES
clicking on your user profile at the top If you use Chrome on multiple devices—like
right of Chrome, then selecting Open your desktop PC, work laptop, MacBook Air,
Guest profile. and Android phone—then you should set up
synchronization. Your
settings and data are
shared across all devices,
and you can select
which settings and
data are shared.
To sync, you first have
to log into Chrome using a
Google account. To do
this, click the three-dot
menu at the top right and
open Settings, then
navigate to You and
You can sync your settings and data across all your devices. Google in the sidebar.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 71

FEATURE 13 ESSENTIAL CHROME FEATURES

Click Sign in to Chrome and follow the Before you can do this, you’ll need to link
prompts. Once signed in, click Turn on your devices to your Google account.
Sync, then follow the prompts to select what Fortunately, that’s really easy: Just log into
exactly you want synced. your Google account via Chrome on each
Lastly, sign into Chrome with the same device you want to link.
Google account on every device you want Another cool tip is that if you’ve enabled
synced. Now you’ll have access to all your sync (see above) and you’ve allowed syncing
saved passwords, bookmarks, browsing of your bookmarks, you can just save any web
history, and so forth on each synced device. page as a bookmark and it’ll sync to all your
synced devices.
SEND TABS OR LINKS TO
OTHER DEVICES GRAB OPEN TABS FROM
If you’re reading a web page on your PC but OTHER DEVICES
you want to read it on, say, your phone or Let’s say you’ve synced Chrome between
tablet, then you can simply right-click the multiple devices (see opposite) and you’re
address bar (or the tab for the web page), doing a lot of research on your desktop PC
then select Send to your devices. From with tons of open tabs. Later, you head out for
the pop-up, you can select which device to the day with your MacBook Air. You hit a lull
send it over to. and want to continue your research—but
those tabs are on your PC.
No worries! You can
actually open tabs from
other devices right on your
current device, as long as
Chrome is synced on both
devices and you’ve allowed
syncing of open tabs.
To open a tab from
another device, click the
three-dot menu at the top
right of Chrome and select
History > History. In the
Sending tabs to other devices allows you to continue reading a web left sidebar, click Tabs
story on a different device. from other devices. You’ll

72 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 Chrome, then you need to be
using tab groups. A tab group
lets you organize multiple tabs
together, and then you can
collapse or expand the group as
needed to save space in your
tab bar.
By using tab groups effectively,
you can organize your tabs in a
more logical fashion, whether by
subject matter, or project, or even
Chrome allows you to open tabs from other devices right on progress or timeliness. For
your current device. example, you might have tab
groups for “Vacation Planning,”
then see a list of all tabs on your other “Archery Tips,” “Home DIY,” and so on. If you
devices, grouped by each device. Just click to no longer need a tab group, you can always
open them. ungroup those tabs.
There are two ways to create a new tab
CREATE AND MANAGE group. The first way is to click the three-dot
TAB GROUPS menu at the top right of Chrome, then
If you’re the kind of person who keeps selecting Tab groups > Create new tab
dozens and dozens of open tabs in group. The second way is to right-click any
tab in the tab bar, then select Add
tab to new group. You can also
right-click on any tab group to
rename it and/or change its color.

REOPEN THAT TAB

YOU ACCIDENTALLY
CLOSED
We’ve all been there. You
somehow close a tab without
meaning to, and now you don’t
Tab groups let you organize your tabs in a more logical fashion. know how to get back to where

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 73

FEATURE 13 ESSENTIAL CHROME FEATURES

you were. Or you think

you’re done, so you close
that tab…except wait! You
wanted to check one more
thing, and now you can’t.
Fortunately, the answer is
simple: Press Ctrl + Shift
+ T to reopen the last
closed tab. In fact, you can
hold Ctrl + Shift and then
press T multiple times to
keep reopening tabs in
reverse order of how you Pressing Ctrl + Shift + T reopens the last closed tab.
closed them.
You can also click the three-dot menu at Yes, it’s a simple thing. But I do it multiple
the top right of Chrome, hover over the times every day. Once you start using this
History submenu, then look at the Recent keyboard shortcut, you’ll never stop.
tabs list. Here you’ll find your eight most
recently closed tabs, which you can open by RETRACE YOUR STEPS
simply clicking on them. WITH GROUPED HISTORY
As you use Chrome to browse
the web, it keeps track of what
sites you visit. That history of
all your visited web pages can
be viewed in list format,
making it easy to revisit any
sites from before.
To explore your browsing
history, click the three-dot menu
at the top right and select
History > History. Here, you
can see your journey across the
You can view your browsing history in list format, making it easy web either By date
to revisit any sites. (chronological) or By group

74 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 along with options to enable or disable
them. You’ll also be able to search for a
specific flag if you have one in mind.
Google warns you against
messing around with flags too
much, and I would urge caution here.
But if you’re at least semi-technically
literate and are happy to mess
around under the hood a bit, you
can use flags to change the look
or functionality of Google Chrome
Flags allow individual users to test new or niche features. ([Link]/43dX6NE).

(topical). The grouped history is surprisingly FORCE ALL WEBSITES

useful when you need to retrace your steps! TO GO DARK
If you want to clear your history for any While I’m personally not a fan of dark mode, a
reason, you can do so by clicking Delete lot of people prefer it—even when it isn’t
browsing data in the left-hand sidebar. This night time. Maybe you find it easier on your
opens a separate tab with various elements to eyes, or maybe you just prefer the darker
delete as well as the time range you want it to aesthetic. Fortunately, Chrome offers a few
cover (from the last hour to all time). ways to enable dark mode.

ENABLE FLAGS TO
TEST EXPERIMENTAL
FEATURES
If you’re feeling adventurous, you
can enable experimental Chrome
features through the use of flags.
Flags allow individual users to test
new or niche features that haven’t
yet made it to stable release.
To enable flags, type
chrome://flags into the address
bar. You’ll find a list of available flags Chrome offers a few ways to enable dark mode.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 75

FEATURE 13 ESSENTIAL CHROME FEATURES

The first way is to apply it via the settings. closed Chrome, or starting fresh with a
Click the three-dot menu at the top right and certain tab or tabs.
select Settings. Under Appearance, you’ll Click the three-dot menu at the top right
see Mode, with the option to select Light, of Chrome, open Settings, then select On
Dark, and Device. Select Dark to force startup in the left sidebar. The first two
Chrome to go dark. options require no further customization, but
Or you can enable dark mode via an with the third you’ll have to specify which
experimental flag. To enable it, type page(s) you want opened at launch. (I find
chrome://flags/#enable-force-dark into that “continuing where you left off” is the
the address bar, and change the setting to most convenient way to use any browser.)
Enabled. Once enabled, this will automatically
apply dark mode to all web content. MANAGE YOUR
BOOKMARKS AND
CHANGE WHAT CHROME READING LIST
DOES AT STARTUP To manage your bookmarks and/or reading
The startup page is what you first see every lists, click the three-dot menu at the top
time you open Chrome. You have three right of Chrome, then hover your cursor
main options to choose from: starting with over the Bookmarks and lists submenu.
a blank new tab, continuing with all the What you click from there will depend on
same tabs that were open when you last what you want to do, and you have
different options.
You can show or
hide the bookmarks
bar; open the
bookmarks manager
for more control over
adding, removing, and
rearranging bookmarks;
add open tabs to your
reading list; or import
bookmarks and
settings from other
browsers. It’s all very
You can choose what Chrome does on startup in the Settings menu. useful stuff.

76 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 add or change features,
automate certain tasks that
are normally manual or
cumbersome, and more.
To manage your
extensions, click the puzzle
piece icon next to the
address bar, then click on
Manage extensions. This
will open a new tab where
you can see and tweak your
installed extensions. You’ll
also be able to install more
You can use extensions to customize the appearance of Chrome. extensions from the Chrome
Web Store ([Link]/
I highly recommend creating a reading 43d3x3F), including extensions for
list, which basically lets you store tabs away productivity and lifestyle, with specific
for later and prevents them from clogging up categories for everything from
your tab bar. Use bookmarks for frequently communication to entertainment.
revisited sites, and use
the reading list for pages
that you’re probably only
going to read once.

INSTALL SOME
CHROME
EXTENSIONS
Chrome extensions are
essentially plugins that
extend or enhance what
the browser can do.
Extensions can be used
to customize the
appearance of Chrome, We recommend setting up bookmarks for frequently visited sites.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 77

FEATURE

78 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: GORODENKOFF/SHUTTERSTOCK

 TRAVEL
GADGETS
YOU NEED
FOR YOUR
NEXT TRIP OR
VACATION

TAKE YOUR TRAVEL

EXPERIENCE TO A WHOLE
NEW LEVEL WITH THESE GREAT
ITEMS. BY SAM SINGLETON &
GABRIELA VATU
JUNE 2025 PCWorld 79
FEATURE 20 BEST TR AVEL GADGETS

I
t’s never easy to decide what to pack for
a trip. Whether you’re packing light for
some quick business or heading out on
the next big family vacation, it’s
important to bring the right tech.
Here at PCWorld, we’re
continually testing the latest
gadgets to sort the good from the
bad. This means we’ve had the
opportunity to find the best tech gear
and accessories built for travel.
From voltage converters to noise-
canceling headphones, we’ve curated a list
of the very best tech gear to optimize your four USB
next travel experience. The items below are ports. Plus,
worthy of any packing list and will help you 1. the product comes with
prepare for anything you may encounter on a couple of extra plug adapters.
the road—or in the sky. If a more compact version is all you need,
then the Mapambo converter (fave.
1. MANAGE ELECTRICAL co/3S0F2Sg) will work just fine with one AC
NEEDS WITH A VOLTAGE plug, two type-C, and two type-A ports.
CONVERTER
Bestek Universal Travel 2. TAKE CONTROL OF
Adapter 220V to 110V TANGLED CORDS
When you’re traveling from the U.S. to Rolling Square inCharge 6
Europe, for instance, you don’t just need a Portable Keychain Charger Cable
different type of plug for your chargers and If you’re like most travelers, you bring multiple
gadgets, but also a voltage converter, electronics to make the most of your
because Europe runs on different settings. experience—we’re talking camera, phone,
The Bestek Universal Travel Adapter (fave. laptop, headphones, and so on. But along
co/4iXzZg4) will convert 220V outlets to with all of these items, you’ll need to carry all
U.S.-standard 110V, thus ensuring that your of their charging cables. That can take up
devices don’t burn out. Not only is it space and lead to a tangled web of cords in
affordable, but it has three AC outlets and your bag if you’re not careful. With the Rolling

80 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 2.

Square inCharge 6 Portable

Charger Cable ([Link]/4kk8YF4)
on Amazon, you have the option of USB-C or
USB-A inputs and Micro USB or USB-C
outputs, all on a cable that is small enough for 3.
your keychain.
charge your phone twice over (or close to
3. KEEP YOUR DEVICES that). There are three ports on this Anker
CHARGED WITH A hybrid charger, two of which are Type-C,
PORTABLE POWER BANK which can reach 65W charging. It’s available
Anker GaN Prime Power Bank 2-in-1 for $110, but you can often find it closer to
10,000mAh portable power bank $70 when it’s on sale.
with wall charger
Traveling is always fun, but ending up with a 4. NEVER LOSE YOUR
depleted phone battery in an unknown place VALUABLES AGAIN
can be a bummer. This Anker Prime power Apple AirTag, Tile Pro, Samsung
bank ([Link]/4dbaPJH) takes up two roles in SmartThings, Tile Slim
one. On one hand, it can plug into a wall We’ve all been there. You arrive at your
outlet and give you the recharge you need destination and you’re waiting for your
while you’re at your hotel. It can also act as a checked bag to show up on the carousel, but
power bank when you’re out and about it never does. Baggage handling is at it again.
exploring. And 10,000mAh is enough to With a Bluetooth tracker, you can easily keep

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 81

FEATURE 20 BEST TR AVEL GADGETS

tabs on where your bag is

and maybe even help TSA
locate it, should it be lost.
There are quite a few
Bluetooth trackers on the
market that you can
get. Apple users
should look into the
AirTag (fave.
co/4dbb9bn), while
Android users can 4.
choose Samsung’s wireless Bluetooth transmitter. Simply plug
SmartTag2 ([Link]/4megrak). Anyone can the device into the headphone jack on the
go for the Tile Pro ([Link]/3GOJjWt). If back of the airplane seat and connect your
you’re more worried about your wallet, Tile’s wireless headphones. Then sit back and relax
Slim tracker ([Link]/4kk9oLE) will neatly fit in while you enjoy the in-flight entertainment on
there. These are all around $30 apiece, but your sweet noise-canceling headphones.
you can quite often get them for less or in Alternatively, you can also go for the more
bundles, thus lowering the price. affordable Ugreen Airplane Bluetooth
Transmitter Receiver ([Link]/4jRGane),
5. ENJOY AN IN-FLIGHT which is $36.99 but often drops below $30.
MOVIE WITHOUT Either will allow you to connect up to two
ANNOYING earbuds or headphones.
HEADPHONE CABLES
Twelve South AirFly
Pro or Ugreen
Airplane Bluetooth
Transmitter Receiver
Twelve South’s AirFly Pro Bluetooth
wireless audio transmitter (fave.
co/3YI7Nqu) for $54.99 on
Amazon (although it’s
frequently on sale) allows you
to turn any audio jack into a 5.

82 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 an Android user, you may
want to look into the Bose
QuietComfort Earbuds 2
([Link]/436iapj), which
deliver something our
buddies at Tech Advisor
([Link]/44yBMVF) have
called “astonishing noise
cancellation” on top of
superb sound quality
6. and a secure fit.

6. DROWN OUT NOISE 7. …OR GET SOME NOISE-

WITH NOISE-CANCELING CANCELING HEADPHONES
EARBUDS… Sony WH-1000XM5 or Apple
AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) or AirPods Max
Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 If earbuds aren’t for you, then perhaps a pair
Flying on an airplane is loud. Engines roar, of proper headphones will do the trick. The
babies cry, passengers snore. That’s why you Sony WH-1000XM5 ([Link]/43pQYDj) are
need noise-canceling headphones, which easily some of the best noise-canceling
have become essential tools in making your headphones out there (as our friends at Tech
flight as easy as possible. And
because you’re traveling and
bag space is a premium, your
headphones need to be small.
Not just for iPhone users, but
for anyone who needs good
headphones, the AirPods
Pro 2 ([Link]/44tzZ46)
for $225.00 on Amazon
continue to be the best
choice due to their
convenient size and noise-
canceling capability. If you’re 7.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 83

FEATURE 20 BEST TR AVEL GADGETS

Advisor attested with a 5-star review, fave. Polaroid—you can take a picture and instantly
co/4j4Hr9x), delivering phenomenal audio print it out to capture the moment. Just be
and a comfortable build. Apple fans may want aware that you’ll need to purchase and carry
to look into the AirPods Max ([Link]/ the film separately.
42VJM1C), which are also known for what our
friends at Macworld ([Link]/3YJ0L4J) call 9. KEEP YOUR WIRES FROM
“industry-leading active noise canceling.” GETTING CROSSED
Bellroy Tech Kit
8. CAPTURE AND PRINT Bellroy is known for making great tech cases
YOUR FAVORITE MEMORIES and kits, and the Bellroy Tech Kit (fave.
Fuji Instax Mini 12 instant camera co/4keXAdd) for $59 on Amazon is our
Sure, you could bring a giant SLR camera with favorite. This well-designed, travel-friendly
multiple lenses and an extra special carry-on bag allows you to keep all of your cables and
bag to store everything. Or for those who small peripherals stored and organized with
aren’t professionals, you can opt for a small, ease. The folio style means that you can open
retro instant camera such as the Fuji Instax the entire kit out flat for easy access to
Mini 12 ([Link]/4mdFI4e) for $143.95 on everything stored inside. Plus, the fabric is
Amazon. It’s just like an old-school waterproof, so you shouldn’t have to worry

8. 9.

84 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 long-haul flights a breeze. If
you’d rather go for a
different platform, the
Switch OLED (fave.
co/4jZ1EPq) is an
absolutely fantastic
about a bit gaming console. And yes,
of liquid we know the Switch 2 is on the way,
spilling on but good luck getting your hands
any of your on one of those anytime soon.
precious gear. 10. If you’d rather play on your phone
but get an upgraded experience, the
10. GAME EN ROUTE TO Backbone One ([Link]/4kaIgyh) will mold
YOUR DESTINATION to your phone, whether it’s an Android or
Steam Deck, Switch OLED, or iPhone model, and help you play anything
Backbone One you want, including titles in your Xbox,
The Steam Deck ([Link]/3HlY1Qt) for $399 PlayStation, or Steam libraries.
on the Steam store is a great handheld
gaming system that allows you to play your 11. KEEP YOUR HANDS
favorite PC games on the go. It wasn’t so long AND WRISTS HAPPY
ago that the Steam Deck was sold out WHILE TYPING
everywhere and people were clamoring to Logitech MX Keys Mini
get one. Thankfully, Valve has increased its Laptop keyboards are cramped and can lead
supply, and it’s easier than ever to get your to some serious wrist pain if you type on them
hands on this
excellent gaming
portable. Play
games from your
Steam library on
the go, or load up
on new titles for
your next
vacation. Gaming
makes those 11.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 85

FEATURE 20 BEST TR AVEL GADGETS

long enough. Save yourself the carpal tunnel precious space in your luggage. Instead opt
and grab a wireless keyboard like the for an e-reader like the Kindle Paperwhite
Logitech MX Keys Mini ([Link]/4b1VOZO). ([Link]/3ENknhy) for $159.99 on Amazon,
This compact keyboard is not only easy to and bring an entire library worth of books in
travel with but offers convenient features such this lightweight tablet. Plus, the Paperwhite
as a semi-customizable layout, multi-device version comes with an anti-glare screen and
switching, and more. And the most important adjustable brightness settings, making it
part is that it offers a great typing experience perfect for a bright beach or a dark airplane.
with comfortable and quiet keys that won’t You’re not sure which Kindle to buy?
bother your fellow travelers. The MX Keys Check out our handy Kindle buying guide
Mini ([Link]/3SvtCWz) is currently $99.99 ([Link]/3tYgr5x) to help you make the
on Amazon. right choice.

12. CARRY A LIBRARY 13. GRAB A MOBILE

EVERYWHERE YOU GO HOT SPOT TO STAY IN
Kindle Paperwhite WI-FI RANGE
Books are a great thing to have around on Solis Lite 4G LTE WiFi Mobile
vacation, but they’re heavy and they take up Hotspot
Those who travel a lot know that Wi-Fi is
essential. From being able to work online
while on the road or just looking up restaurant
recommendations in another country, it’s an
invaluable tool to get the most out of your
travel experience. There are quite a few
services
nowadays
offering
pocket
Wi-Fi for
travelers,
but Solis
is one of
the best,
12. with reliable 13.

86 PCWorld JUNE 2025

global coverage across 135 countries. Plus, it percent of viruses in just a few minutes. Even
has flexible plans depending upon your when empty, the cap can disinfect your bottle
needs. You’ll need to purchase the Solis Lite and remove odors. Made out of stainless steel
Mobile Hotspot ([Link]/4jRI7A4) for and double-walled, the bottle won’t just
$159.99 on Amazon before registering for a purify your water, it will also keep your drinks
Wi-Fi plan, but it’s only a one-time fee, and hot for up to 12 hours or cold for 24 hours.
you can then use it on all of your future trips.
15. MOUNT YOUR
14. NEVER WORRY ABOUT SMARTPHONE ON
SAFE TAP WATER AGAIN ANYTHING
Philips Water GoZero self-cleaning Universal in-flight airplane phone
water bottle holder mount
No matter if you’re traveling to a new city or This Universal in-flight airplane phone holder
going camping, making sure that you have mount ([Link]/4klzNbX) for $13.97 on
access to clean and potable water is a Amazon allows you to easily clip your phone
necessity. The Philips Water GoZero bottles onto an airplane seat for hands-free
([Link]/44AnljN) bring in some smart convenience. Maybe you loaded up that
technology to ensure the water is safe to latest season of your favorite show or have a
drink. Available for $73.89 at game to occupy that long-haul flight. Either
Amazon (or lower when on way, holding your phone with a craned neck
sale), the bottle uses UV for hours and hours is bound to give you a
technology to eliminate
up to 99.999
percent of
bacteria and
99.9

14. 15.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 87

FEATURE 20 BEST TR AVEL GADGETS

17. …OR OPT FOR A

2-IN-1 FOR EVEN
MORE VERSATILITY
HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14
If you want a more versatile laptop, then
a 2-in-1 model ([Link]/43cJ8vu) will
do, like our very favorite HP OmniBook
Ultra Flip 14 ([Link]/4jRkVSH). The
360-degree hinge will make it easy
for you to turn this laptop into a
16. tablet and then a Netflix-
watching tent in a blink. The
strain. Just hook this bad boy up to the back of 14-inch 2880×1800 OLED touch display is
the seat in front of you on the airplane, then absolutely gorgeous, and the 500 nits make it
sit back, relax, and enjoy. perfect to use everywhere you go.

16. TRAVEL WITH AN 18. INCREASE YOUR SCREEN

ULTRAPORTABLE LAPTOP… REAL-ESTATE WITH A
Asus Zenbook S 14 TRAVEL MONITOR
If you’re going to get a super-light laptop, the Azorpa A1 Gamut
Zenbook S 14 ([Link]/3Z4lvUX) is a fantastic Sometimes you just need a second monitor,
pick because it weighs just 2.65 pounds, even when you’re traveling. The extra screen
which makes it sit lighter than the 13-inch really helps productivity for business travelers,
MacBook Air. We gave this one a
4.5-star rating ([Link]/3SBU6pm)
and our Editors’ Choice award,
appreciating the fantastic battery life
and lovely large OLED screen. Plus,
the laptop has an Ultra 7 processor,
32GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
Check out our other best
ultraportables ([Link]/436kfS9)
or our best laptop roundup (fave.
co/4k7tgBj) for more options. 17.

88 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 19. GRAB SOME
EXTRA STORAGE
Crucial X9 Pro
If you plan on taking about a million
pictures and videos, and you want to
have a safe way to back them up without
relying on random hotel Wi-Fi, then you
can also grab a portable SSD. The
Crucial X9 Pro ([Link]/3GPFbFL) is the
best external SSD for most folks
18. because it’s not only affordable but also
super fast. We gave the X9 Pro (fave.
and it makes for a great way to play your co/4aSzbWd) a near-perfect score and our
portable games on a larger screen while Editors’ Choice award, utterly impressed
you’re on the road. We really like the Azorpa with the 10Gbps performance and the small
A1 Gamut ([Link]/4kamuLP), which delivers form factor.
good image quality for an extremely budget-
friendly price—the A1 Gamut is usually about 20. STREAM CONTENT
$70 on Amazon ([Link]/4kamxHv). It also IN YOUR HOTEL ROOM
comes with useful connectivity options and a Amazon Fire TV Stick HD
solid build quality that will stand up the rigors If you’re going to travel, you may as well keep
of travel. up with your shows. The Amazon Fire TV Stick
HD ([Link]/4jPwfyu) makes it super easy to
bring all your favorite shows with
you anywhere you go. You’ll just
need to pop this thing in the TV,
connect it to the hotel’s
Wi-Fi (or the hot spot
you set up), and just
have fun. It’s also super
affordable, available for
$35 (although it’s
frequently on sale for
19. $20 or less). 20.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 89

 Your buzz
could kill.
B u z z ed driving is drunk driving.
Here’s How HOW TO BUILD, MAINTAIN,
AND FIX YOUR TECH GEAR

Speed up your Windows 11 PC:

12 must-do tweaks
Make your Windows 11 computer boot faster, get rid of unnecessary features, and
maximize performance with these tips. BY ANDERS LUNDBERG

A
re you getting used to Windows manufacturer has included a bunch of
11 but wish it was a bit faster? programs, often completely unnecessary or
Do you feel like your computer pure junk. But even if you installed the system
has become slower or starts up yourself, Windows 11 comes with a lot of
unusually slowly? Follow along and I’ll go programs you may never use.
through various tricks that can speed up Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps,
your system. where you’ll find a complete list of installed
programs (Microsoft, like Apple, has started
1. UNINSTALL calling common computer programs
UNNECESSARY PROGRAMS “apps”). Click the “more” button to the
If you’ve bought a new computer with right of a program you want to remove and
Windows pre-installed, chances are the select Uninstall.

IMAGE: MICROSOFT JUNE 2025 PCWorld 91

HERE’S HOW SPEED UP YOUR WINDOWS 11 PC

installed via the Microsoft Store the

first time you click on them. You can
remove these too, and you don’t
need to go through Settings. Right-
click on an icon directly in Start and
select Uninstall.
While you’re cleaning up
Windows’ bundled programs, you
can also take the opportunity to
uninstall programs you’ve installed but
never use. Some installed programs
are running in the background all the
time, and even if they don’t take up a
The vast majority of programs shown here can be lot of resources, it’s unnecessary work.
uninstalled, including the Edge browser. You also reduce the risk that a
program you haven’t updated for a
Nowadays, the vast majority of programs long time will turn out to have a security flaw
shown here can be uninstalled, including the that can be exploited by hackers.
Edge browser.
Microsoft also insists on adding shortcuts 2. CLEAN UP OTHER JUNK
to various games and programs in the Start If you’ve updated to Windows 11 from
menu, which aren’t even installed but are Windows 10 and have had that system for a
few years, it’s likely to
have accumulated some
junk. Take the
opportunity to do some
spring cleaning while
you’re at it! There are
plenty of third-party
programs that claim to
help with this, but I
recommend sticking to
While you’re cleaning up Windows’ bundled programs, you can also take Windows’ built-in tools
the opportunity to uninstall programs you’ve installed but never use. and manual cleaning.

92 PCWorld JUNE 2025

Disk Cleanup Windows also offers a way to
helps you
remove old components via the
remove
accumulated command prompt.
junk from a PC. Type command prompt in
Windows search, select
“Run as administrator,” and enter the
following command:
[Link] /online /cleanup-
image /AnalyzeComponentStore
After a while, the results will come up
and you can see if the program
recommends running the cleanup
function, which removes duplicates and
Start by running the Disk Cleanup copies of some system components that can
application. Here you can tick the options accumulate after updates. To run the cleanup
you want to empty, and you’ll see on the function, type:
right how much space each category dism /online /cleanup-image /
represents. Click on an option to see a startcomponentcleanup
description below. For example,
Lifetime Optimization Files are files
that Windows Update has
downloaded and not used yet, but
sometimes there may be unused
files here even though you have
installed all available updates.
The next step is to open
Explorer and go to the
Downloaded folder. If you’re like
me and leave most of the files
you’ve downloaded here without
ever deleting older files, you can
free up tens of gigabytes. Sort in
order of size and delete everything Windows also offers a way to remove old components via the
you don’t need anymore. command prompt.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 93

HERE’S HOW SPEED UP YOUR WINDOWS 11 PC

lists sorted by size and as a

color-coded chart. You can
then go through the results
from top to bottom and delete
what you don’t need. But
avoid folders like Windows
and Program Files, and
anything you don’t know what
it is (if you’re not sure, do a
web search).

Wiztree makes it easy to find large files you may not need. 3. CHOOSE
WHAT TO START
Once it’s done, you can run the first AUTOMATICALLY
command again to see how much space it When you start your computer and log in, a
managed to free up. For me, it was almost five number of processes and programs start
gigabytes, despite the fact that I installed a automatically. Some are completely in the
fresh copy of Windows 11 version 22H2 less background, others are visible in the Taskbar,
than two years ago. and a few open with application windows. In
An exception to the above rule about most cases, you can control this from Settings >
third-party software is a program that scans Apps > Startup. Switch off the programs/
the disk and displays all files and folders in processes you don’t want to start automatically.
order of size, making
it easy to find large
files that you may not
need at all. My
recommendation is
Wiztree (fave.
co/4hXVEVo).
When you start
the program and let
it scan the disk, the
contents are
displayed both as You can control which apps you don’t want to start automatically.

94 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 finish after each restart.
On a new computer with a
fast SSD, this may not make
much difference, but on
older hardware it can make a
big difference.

SETTINGS THAT
SPEED UP
To add a program to start automatically, you can place a shortcut to WINDOWS 11
the program’s .exe file in a startup folder. If you have a slightly older
computer and find that
If you want to add a program to start Windows 11 feels a little sluggish from time to
automatically yourself, you can place a time, you can go through the system settings
shortcut to the program’s .exe file in one of and trim the computer a little.
the following folders:
• shell:startup (for your user account) 4. Performance mode
• shell:common startup (for all users) Open Settings and go to System > Power &
Locate the application you want to battery. Click on Power Mode to display
autostart in Applications or Programs (x86) those settings, then select Best Performance
and copy it. Then type in any of the above from the drop-down menu to the right of
shortcuts in Explorer to go to
the folder in question. Right-
click in the window and select
“Show more options,” followed
by “Paste shortcut.”
Many programs have a
built-in setting to start
automatically at startup, adding
themselves to the registry
instead. By minimizing the
number of programs that start
automatically, you will not have
to wait as long for the system to You can view energy and battery settings in Power mode.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 95

HERE’S HOW SPEED UP YOUR WINDOWS 11 PC

Plugged in. If you have a laptop, there will to “low,” which means that other applications
also be a separate setting for when the with higher priority take precedence over the
computer is not connected to the mains, processor, and something called Ecoqos is
where you should select Balanced or “Best activated. The latter means that the program
power efficiency” instead. runs as energy-efficiently as possible. Exactly
In previous versions of the system, these how this is done varies depending on the
settings were in the Control Panel, but as part processor and other factors, but it can
of Microsoft’s efforts to move as much as include running without turbo or only on
possible to Settings, they appeared there in efficiency cores.
24H2. If you want to fine-tune individual To activate it, right-click on a process in
settings, you can still do so in Control Panel, the list and select Efficiency Mode. A dialog
but for most people, the new Power Mode box will appear warning that it can make
setting will suffice. some programs unstable, but if you find one,
you can always turn it off afterward.
5. Efficiency mode
Programs running in the background rarely 6. Switch off search indexing
take up a lot of computer resources, but if Another feature that is useful on newer
you’re running a really heavy program or hardware but can slow down an older
game, such background processes can still computer is indexing. This is especially true if
lead to a drop in performance. Then you can you have the system on an old-fashioned hard
take advantage of a relatively new feature that drive and not an SSD.
Microsoft added to Task Manager in 2022 Click on the magnifying glass in the Start
called Efficiency Mode. search and type in index, and you should
With efficiency mode enabled, two things find the Indexing Options control panel.
happen: The application’s priority is lowered Open it and check which locations the system
is set to index for faster
searching. Click Modify to
change your choices.
If you rarely search for
anything outside your home
folder, you can delete
everything except that
Efficiency mode allows you to ensure that programs run as energy- folder to make indexing
efficiently as possible. faster. If your home folder is

96 PCWorld JUNE 2025

The Indexing In the window that opens, you
Options
can change from “Let Windows
control panel
lets you see choose what’s best for my
check which computer” to “Adjust for best
locations
the system is performance” (to turn off all effects)
set to index or Custom, which lets you tick off
for faster
the effects that you think you can
searching.
do without.

8. Switch off transparency

A special effect found in many
places in the system is missing
from the above settings.
Transparency effects can instead
very full, you can go down to the next level be found in Settings > Personalization >
and deselect individual folders in your home Colors. Switch it off and the graphical
folder that you don’t need to search quickly. interface will be a little less cumbersome.
Sometimes it’s enough to make the system
7. Switch off special effects feel like it used to be, and you can leave
If your computer doesn’t have a standalone shadows and other effects enabled.
graphics card and the processor is a few
years old, the integrated graphics circuit
may struggle to keep up, especially if
you have a high-resolution screen. This
can make Windows 11 feel slower than
older systems like Windows 7 and XP.
One thing you can try to speed up the
interface is to turn off special effects like
shadows and animations.
Open Windows search and type
[Link], which will take you to the
System Properties control panel. Select
the Advanced tab and click Settings in Turn off the Transparency effect and the graphical
the Performance pane. interface will be a little less cumbersome.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 97

HERE’S HOW SPEED UP YOUR WINDOWS 11 PC

9. MAXIMIZE GAMING computer, it might be worth trying to switch

PERFORMANCE WITH it off and seeing if that improves gaming
THESE TRICKS performance. Open Windows Security,
Windows 11 has been accused of being select Device Security > Core Isolation, and
slower in games than Windows 10, and that’s switch off Memory Integrity.
not entirely off the mark. One reason it may The second feature you can experiment
feel that way is that the new system has with turning off is called Virtual Machine
several security features enabled by default Platform, and you’ll find it in Windows
that users previously had to actively go in and Features, which you can easily find via
switch on, and which, when running, can Windows Search. Tick it off and click OK.
contribute to lower performance in games,
among other things. 10. CHECK THE DRIVERS
Memory Integrity is a feature that uses Old drivers for various hardware components
virtualization to protect Windows from can also make your computer less stable or
certain types of attacks. It’s one of the slower than necessary. This is especially true
reasons Microsoft has raised the system for the graphics card, especially if you’re
requirements for Windows 11 so much, but playing newer games, but even drivers for
for those who mostly play games on their simpler components can crash the system if
they have bugs.
For graphics cards, I
recommend that you check
which card you have and
install the manufacturer’s
latest driver for that particular
card—that is, directly from
AMD, Intel, or Nvidia.
Windows can install
working drivers automatically
for many cards, but it’s
better to go to the source.
Other drivers can be
searched for by opening
If you’re a gamer, you may want to check whether turning off Settings > Windows Update
Memory Integrity improves gaming performance. > Advanced Options >

98 PCWorld JUNE 2025

 printing, and the Sensor Service
handles various physical sensors
such as GPS and light meters.
The Services application allows
you to manually switch off services
that you and your installed
applications never use, which can
make your computer feel a little
quicker. This is a slightly more
advanced intervention, and you
should check each service to make
sure you don’t accidentally switch
For graphics cards, check which card you have and install the off something important that you
manufacturer’s latest driver for that particular card. actually need.
Even if you can’t make your
Optional Updates. After a fresh installation computer much faster, Services is a great way
of Windows on a computer, a lot of drivers to learn more about how Windows works,
may pop up here for various components and if you’re curious, I highly recommend
on the motherboard like audio circuit and taking a deep dive. Try it out—if you find your
control circuit. system unusable, you can always restore from
You can also manually update drivers for backup or reinstall Windows.
individual devices in Device Manager,
but this is rarely needed nowadays.

11. SWITCH OFF

UNNECESSARY
WINDOWS FEATURES
Windows has a large number of built-in
features that run in the background
and handle various things. They are
called services and are often used by
the system or other programs to
perform various tasks. For example, The Services application lets you manually switch off
the Print Spooler service handles services you and your installed programs never use.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 99

HERE’S HOW

Is someone spying on your

Facebook account? Here’s how
to find out
Your personal life may be less private than you think. BY ALAINA YEE

U
nless you fly strictly under the How? Primarily, you’ll want to look over
radar, your Facebook account the devices logged into your Facebook
has valuable data about you—like account. If someone has stolen or
who you speak with the most compromised your password, it’s possible
and what you talk about. It can also be a that they are lurking in the background.
treasure trove of other personal details like Perhaps it’s a hacker looking for data to use
your family members, close friends, and for a scam or extortion, but don’t discount
social plans. You should be the only one to romantic partners, roommates, family, and
control your account. To ensure this, friends, too.
periodically verifying that everything’s You can use a PC or a mobile device to
secure is a wise idea. check over the devices logged into your

100 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: MICHAEL CANDELORI/SHUTTERSTOCK

Facebook account. If you spot one you don’t 4. In the first section (Accounts Center),
recognize, you can remove it easily—as well tap on “See more in Accounts Center.”
as follow up with a password change to 5. Choose “Password and security.”
protect against future intrusions. 6. Under Security checks, click on
“Where you’re logged in.”
ON A PC You’ll see a new screen with your name,
Meta buries this info in its account center. To the phone or tablet you’re on, and then the
go directly there, head to [Link]/3H3jl1j. number of other devices signed in.
You can also navigate there manually: Tap on that info box to see the full list of
1. Open the Facebook website in devices logged into your account. To log out,
your browser. scroll down and tap “Select devices” to
2. Click on your profile icon at the top remove any you don’t know or use. Then
right of the window. select the boxes for those you want to nuke.
3. Choose “Settings & privacy.”
4. Select Settings. WIPE YOUR LINKED APPS
5. Under Accounts Center in the upper AND WEBSITES, TOO
left, click on “See more in Accounts Center.” Unauthorized access to your Facebook
6. Choose “Password and security.” account may be your biggest concern,
7. Under Security checks, click on “Where but third-party services can be a security
you’re logged in.” hazard, too. If you linked Facebook to
A pop-up will appear with a box showing external apps and websites (either by
your name and the device you’re currently signing into them using Facebook or
using, plus a small number showing the other connecting an account with them to
devices logged in. Facebook), a hacker could secretly access
Click to review the list. If you don’t your Facebook data if those services are
recognize a device, click the red Select ever compromised.
devices to log out link at the bottom, then tick To check what has access to your
the ones you want to revoke access for. Facebook, head to [Link]/43qxmio. You
can then remove any unused or questionable
IN THE FACEBOOK apps or websites from the list (if any exist).
MOBILE APP Once you’ve completed that, you’re
1. Tap on your profile icon at bottom right. ready, but it’s also a good idea to perform
2. Select “Settings & privacy.” additional digital spring cleaning on your
3. Choose Settings. Google account ([Link]/3GJXSL0).

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 101

HERE’S HOW

So long, passwords: 5 easy ways

to use passkeys
There’s nothing to memorize—unless you count where you’ve stored your passkeys.
BY ALAINA YEE

B
y this point, you’ve probably heard But it’s dead easy. You just have to pick a way
of passkeys, a much simpler (and to store your passkeys. Here’s a brief overview
more secure) alternative to of the different options:
passwords. You don’t have to Your smartphone. This one’s seamless,
memorize anything or mess with complicated especially if you’re most often on your phone
mixes of numbers, letters, and symbols. Plus, instead of a laptop or PC. Creating passkeys is
they’re phishing resistant—an advantage generally automated when initiating the
given the increase of scams on the web (fave. process from a mobile app or browser. This
co/43cjdUI). works for both iOS and Android.
People I speak with are usually sold on this Your tablet. This is an identical
idea but often don’t know how to get started. experience to the one on a phone. It’s possibly

102 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: PEACHSHUTTERSTOCK/SHUTTERSTOCK

an ideal alternative for those who leave their can’t be spoofed or compromised if a
tablet at home and also worry about losing website is hacked.
their phone and thus all their passkeys. Their only weakness: If you lose the device
Your PC. Windows will save passkeys for you’ve stored them on, you can’t use them.
you if you initiate the process of creating one However, this problem is quickly solvable.
on your laptop or desktop PC. While you can’t back them up (each passkey
A hardware key. YubiKey (fave. is unique), you can create additional passkeys
co/3EOMA7F) and the Google Titan on other devices as your alternate method(s)
Security Key ([Link]/44tdyfo) are examples for logging in. Keeping an existing password
of dongles that can not only serve as a is also a viable backup sign-in method,
strong two-factor authentication (fave. provided you combine it with two-factor
co/41SY7rQ) method but also store authentication to block hackers from access.
passkeys. (If you have an older version, it will Currently, support for passkeys continues
need to support the FIDO2 protocol to be to grow. Major services like Google, Apple,
compatible with passkeys.) and Microsoft have already implemented
Your password manager. Passwords them, as have major retailers (think Target,
won’t die out just yet, but even when they do, Best Buy, and so on). Even if passkeys haven’t
password managers will still have value by taken over the web yet, most people who try
being a place where you can store your them find that switching over some accounts
passkeys. You will trade some potential to passkeys saves a lot of headache.
security if the manager is
cloud-based—don’t use a
weak password to protect
the account!—but generally,
this method is reliable.
You can read more about
how passkeys work in our full
rundown ([Link]/3RZ58Vy),
but basically, all you need to
know is that you only need
to create them and then
authorize their use with
either biometrics (that is, Microsoft has embraced passkeys—the company has the ambition to
fingerprint) or a PIN. They convert a billion users away from passwords.

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 103

HERE’S HOW

Is your phone secretly listening to

you? Here’s how to find out
Your phone might be listening to you, but it probably doesn’t need to. BY SAM SINGLETON

I
f you’re a smartphone owner—and could it be that these devices are also secretly
chances are that’s everyone reading eavesdropping on your conversations (fave.
this—you’ve probably encountered an co/3RZTrxR) in order to serve you ads? Here’s
eerie but all too common scenario: One everything you need to know, plus a simple
day you’re talking about a random topic while test to find out.
your phone is next to you, and the following
day you notice ads start popping up related FIND OUT IF YOUR PHONE IS
to that same topic. It’s unsettling. How do LISTENING TO YOU
these ads know what you were talking about? To test if your phone is listening to your
Your smartphone may be the culprit. Every conversations, start by openly discussing a
smartphone has its built-in microphone unique topic that you’ve never searched for or
constantly turned on in order for the virtual discussed previously while your phone is
assistant to hear your voice commands. So turned on next to you. It’s crucial that this be

104 PCWorld JUNE 2025 IMAGE: RANGIZZZ/SHUTTERSTOCK

something that isn’t related to your usual
interests or search queries.
Spend a day or two discussing this
topic out loud with your phone next to you
the whole time. Make sure that you don’t
search about this topic on any of your
devices—not just your phone.
You can also try talking about specific
things related to this topic. For example, if
you’re discussing traveling to Spain, you
can discuss learning Spanish or what the
best restaurant is for paella in Madrid.
During this time, pay close attention
to the ads you’re served while online—
ads on social media feeds, websites you Under the respective settings menus, you can turn
visit, apps you use, and those on your off Google Assistant on Android phones or Siri on iOS
devices to make sure they aren’t eavesdropping.
smart TV if you have one. Then, if you
begin seeing ads about the topic you
chose to discuss, chances are you’ve on your phone and limit apps that don’t need
confirmed the eavesdropping and caught access to your microphone, camera, or
your phone red-handed. location settings.
Next, clear the voice history and disable
WHAT TO DO IF YOU THINK your phone’s digital assistant. Google, Siri,
YOUR PHONE IS and Alexa are all very convenient, but they
EAVESDROPPING might be actively (and passively) recording
Before you go taping over the microphone everything you say without you knowing.
and camera on your phone or throwing it in a Just last year, 404 Media reported (fave.
lake, there are a few less drastic things you co/3YF6BUW) that a third-party company
can do to curb the potential eavesdropping. named Cox Media Group (CMG), which
The first is to carefully review the app offers “Active Listening” technology, was
permissions on your device. It’s likely that you working with companies such as Amazon,
downloaded an app and allowed it to access Google, and Microsoft.
your microphone without ever realizing it. While these companies have since denied
Comb through the permissions for each app using this technology to spy on phone users,

JUNE 2025 PCWorld 105

HERE’S HOW IS YOUR PHONE SPYING ON YOU?

the fact is that the capabilities exist and it’d be about any other meter you can think of. The
foolish to assume companies wouldn’t take data collected from these sensors can
advantage of ways to more effectively provide a shocking amount of information
advertise to consumers—after all, ads drive about our routines, habits, and personalities.
most of their revenue. Everywhere you visit, other people you
Finally, while companies are the most talk to or spend time with, lifestyle choices,
likely source of eavesdropping, there is and personal health data are just some of the
always the potential for hackers to exploit metadata and telemetry—phone sensor
vulnerabilities on your device and take control data—collected by your phone. That’s not to
of the microphone or camera as well. The mention all of the vast amounts of data you’ve
best way to combat this is to make sure you already provided over the years to your apps
always have the latest updates for both your and via Google searches.
phone’s OS and all of the installed apps. Your phone and the installed apps hoover
All of these steps will help cut off up all of this data and send it off to third
unwanted access to your phone’s parties such as data brokers to be analyzed,
microphone, but if you’re still unsure, there’s a sold, and regurgitated back to you in the form
simple solution. Just turn off your phone or of personalized ads.
leave it behind when you want to discuss So, even though you may not have talked
private matters. It’s the best way to ensure about or searched for that trip to Spain, your
your phone can’t hear you. phone may have intuited what you were
thinking and come to the conclusion on its own
IF YOUR PHONE ISN’T based on the data it collected. Maybe your
LISTENING, THEN HOW’S IT friends were searching for Spanish Airbnbs
GETTING YOUR DATA? while they were next to you, or maybe you
While the prospect of your phone constantly downloaded Duolingo and started learning
eavesdropping on your every conversation Spanish recently, or maybe your shopping
may be disconcerting, there are myriad ways trends show a recent uptick in the amount of
you could be divulging this same info without saffron and jamón you’ve been buying.
ever saying it out loud. Any and all of this metadata could be the
Each smartphone is a veritable treasure reasoning for the eerily relevant ads you’re
trove of personal data for any and all apps to seeing. And while your phone could truly be
pull from. They are essentially mini-computers listening in on you, it might just be the
packed with sensors: gyroscopes, unspoken data you’re sharing in other ways
accelerometers, magnetometers, and just that gives you away.

106 PCWorld JUNE 2025

Time is running out to protect the Northern Great Plains.
Act now. [Link]

[Link]
Tech Spotlight A video showcase
of the latest trends

Watch the
video at
[Link]/
live/6xXz1LlEyKE

GamersNexus talks tariffs,

pricing, inventory, more
≥ Steve Burke and the team at Gamers
Nexus published an incredible breakdown
video explaining how the Trump tariffs are
crippling PC makers. Burke joined us on
The Full Nerd for a far-ranging chat about it.

108 PCWorld JUNE 2025