Apparently, the introduction of Windows Copilot signaled the end of Cortana on Microsoft's desktop OS. In a new support document first spotted by Windows Central, the tech giant has announced that it will stop supporting the standalone Cortana app for Windows in late 2023. Microsoft launched Cortana as a voice assistant for Windows mobile devices back in 2014. It was supposed to be the company's answer to Apple's Siri, and it even predates Amazon's Alexa, but it never quite achieved their level of recognition and popularity. 

Over the year, Microsoft scaled back its plans for the voice assistant until it discontinued its Android and iOS apps back in 2021. The company even removed it from partner manufacturers' devices, such as smart speakers. For Windows, in particular, Microsoft changed its status as a baked-in digital assistant and spun it out into its own app for computers. That's the app we're bidding farewell to by the end of the year. 

In its announcement, Microsoft pointed out that users will still have access to "powerful productivity features in Windows and Edge, which have increased AI capabilities." It specifically mentioned the new Bing that's now powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 technology. Microsoft introduced the Microsoft 365 Copilot tool that can create content within Office apps with text-based prompts in March. 

And then in late May, the company revealed at its Build developer conference that it's making AI a deeply integrated part of Windows 11 by putting a Copilot tool in the platform's sidebar. Users can ask it to perform tasks within the OS, such as changing the computer background, or even editing photos and summarizing documents, without having to launch apps or to search for particular settings. Most likely, very few people will be missing Cortana. Those that do use the assistant can transition to using Copilot, which will be available as a preview version for Windows 11 starting this month. 

Apple is expected to launch a collection of new products at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in a few days, and two of them might be new Mac desktop computers. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the tech giant has been testing a couple of high-end Macs powered by its new M2 Max processor and the M2 Ultra chip that the company has yet to announce.

If you'll recall, Apple debuted the M2 Max on its 14- and 16 MacBook Pro laptops, as well as its Mac mini computer earlier this year. The desktop PC with the chip will reportedly have 8 high-performance cores, 4 efficiency cores and 30 graphics cores. It will also have 96 GB of RAM and will run macOS 13.4, the company's latest software for computers, out of the box. 

Meanwhile, the unannounced M2 Ultra chip is supposed to be the more powerful option between the two, with twice as many processing cores. Specifically, the chip is expected to have 16 high-performance, 8 efficiency and 60 graphics cores, though Bloomberg says the company will offer a more powerful version with 76 graphics cores. Apple is even reportedly testing the computer with M2 Ultra in configurations with 64GB, 128GB and 192GB of memory. 

Gurman also says that the M2 Ultra was originally designed for future versions of the Mac Pro, which still uses Intel processors. But the Mac Pros are testing at the momentare codenamed Mac 14,8, while the new high-end desktops with the M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips are codenamed Mac 14,13 and Mac 14,14. Presumably, that means they're a different desktop PCs altogether, perhaps new models of the Mac Studio that's currently powered by the M1 Max or the M1 Ultra. 

In addition to high-end desktop computers, Apple might also launch new laptops at WWDC. Some possibilities include a 15-inch MacBook Air that could be powered by a processor "on par" with the tech giant's current-gen M2 chip, as well as a more affordable version of the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Acer just announced two new laptops at this year’s Computex expo in Taiwan. For gamers, there’s the new Predator Triton 16 line and for creatives (and everyone else), there’s the Swift Edge 16.

The new Predator Triton 16 is a serious gaming computer that Acer says can easily handle “intense AAA” titles, though it also features a relatively modest design that could fit into office environments. Did somebody say dual-use? This laptop boasts a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPU, up to a 13th Gen Intel Core i9 processor, up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM and up to 2TBs of storage.

This is a gaming laptop, so visuals get special attention here, with a 16-inch WQXGA 2560 x 1600 display that features a 240Hz refresh rate, 500 nits peak brightness and full support for NVIDIA G-Sync. It’s still plenty thin, at 0.78-inches, and ships with next-generation cooling fans for those times when you just have to max out a game’s settings. The Triton 16 launches in September, with a starting price of $1,800.

The thin and light Swift Edge 16 is made for those who game a bit on the side but primarily use a laptop for creative work or just for browsing the web. You get the latest AMD Ryzen 7040 series processor, AMD Radeon 780M graphics, a 16-inch 3.2K OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and integration with the newest wireless standard on the block, the mythical Wi-Fi 7. The Windows 11 PC ships with up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, up to 2TB of SSD storage and enhanced fans for cooling. It launches in July at a starting price of $1,300.

Acer didn’t stop with just laptops. The company also announced a forthcoming tri-band router called the Acer Connect VERO W6m. This is billed as the company’s first “eco-friendly router” and is designed for data protection, as it adheres to strict European cyber security standards.

This has been a big year of announcements for the company. In just the past few months, we’ve seen a new Chromebook Spin with a 2K webcam, the Swift X 16 flagship notebook and much more.

While the performance of its gaming chips often steals most of the attention, AMD's processors have made some serious jumps in power efficiency over the past few years. And as part of the company's goal to bring even better battery life to mobile devices, today AMD is announcing a handful of new 6nm Ryzen and Athlon 7020 C-series APUs for Chromebooks. 

The two fastest new chips will be the Ryzen 3 7320C and Ryzen 5 7520C which both feature four cores and total of eight threads with 6MB of cache, a 15-watt TDP and Radeon 610M graphics. Meanwhile, the new Athlon Gold 7220C and Athlon Silver 7120C will sport slightly slower performance with either 2-core/4-thread or 2-core/2-thread chips with up to 5MB of cache and the same 15-watt TDP and Radon 610M graphics.  

AMD

On the Ryzen 3 7320C, AMD is promising up to 1.8 times faster performance compared to rival ARM-based chips or around 15 percent better performance versus similar x86-based silicon from Intel. More importantly, the new C-series processors should also deliver a significant boost in longevity with AMD claiming upwards of 17 hours of battery life for the Ryzen 3 7320C chip, which is about three and a half hours longer than what you'd get from either MediaTek's Kompanio 1380 or Intel's Core i3-N305.

In addition to extended battery life and improved performance, AMD's new Chromebook chips come with support for Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and faster memory bandwidth for LPDDR5 RAM. And thanks to AMD's Radeon 610M graphics, devices based on these chips should also be capable of sending video out to three 4K/60Hz external displays. 

AMD

But perhaps the best news is that for anyone who might be shopping for a new Chromebook in the not-too-distant future, systems featuring AMD's latest 7020 C-series processors should be available soon. Dell and ASUS already have plans to release new Chromebooks sometime in Q2, with Dell's Latitude 3445 Chromebook sporting a standard clamshell design, a range of new C-series silicon and up to 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Alternatively, ASUS' Chromebook CM34 Flip will be a 2-in-1 with a 360-degree hinge, a 16:10 14-inch touchscreen, a built-in fingerprint sensor and up to a Ryzen 5 7520C processor, and later this year we're expecting to see even more systems with these chips from Acer and ECS. 

A software update Hewlett-Packard released earlier this month for its OfficeJet printers is causing some of those devices to become unusable. Since about the second week of May, the HP support forums have been rife with complaints of OfficeJet printers bricking after they automatically installed the company’s most recent firmware update.

After downloading the faulty software, the built-in touchscreen on an affected printer will display a blue screen with the error code 83C0000B. Unfortunately, there appears to be no way for someone to fix a printer broken in this way on their own, partly because factory resetting an HP OfficeJet requires interacting with the printer’s touchscreen display. For the moment, HP customers report the only solution to the problem is to send a broken printer back to the company for service.

Among the affected printers are OfficeJet 902x models, including the Pro 9022e, Pro 9025e, Pro 9020e All-in-One and Pro 9025e All-in-One variants. If you own an OfficeJet printer, for the time being, your best bet is to disconnect your printer from the internet so that it doesn’t automatically download the buggy update.

On Saturday, HP acknowledged the issue and told Bleeping Computer it was working on a fix. “Our teams are working diligently to address the blue screen error affecting a limited number of HP OfficeJet Pro 9020e printers,” the company said. “We are recommending customers experiencing the error to contact our customer support team for assistance: https://support.hp.com.”

This isn’t the first time one of HP’s recent software updates has created a headache for its customers. In March, the company appeared to double down on its unpopular ”dynamic security” policy and began rolling out a security update that saw more of its printers not work with third-party ink cartridges.

We're still a couple of weeks away from the unofficial start to summer, but some Memorial Day sales are already popping up, including one on mostly smokeless fire pits from Solo Stoves. Discounts there range up to 45 percent. BioLite's sale takes up to 25 percent off of outdoor power gadgets and Ring security devices are discounted up 30 percent so you can keep tabs on your home for less. Outside of site-wide sales, Apple's second-gen AirPods Pro are back down to $200 and the Apple Watch Ultra is the cheapest we've seen it, but only with a yellow strap. For anyone thinking ahead to back to school, we found deals on threedifferentlaptops, a smart monitor and a Mac mini. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

Solo Stove Bonfire

Late summer nights outdoors are better with fire pits. Solo Stove is currently hosting a site-wide sale that runs through June 4th and includes discounts of up to 45 percent. The Bonfire is the brand's most popular pit and falls between the portable Ranger and extra large Yukon in size. Usually $400, the sale brings the Bonfire down to $250. Plenty of bundles are on sale too, including an ultimate bundle that pairs up the Bonfire with a stand, lid, shield and tools for $555 which is $530 off the regular price. 

Use the code FREEMESA at checkout and you can get a free Mesa tabletop fire pit. Those normally sell for $120. Whichever unit you choose, you'll get less smoke thanks to the double-walled chamber that burns wood more efficiently. Solo Stove improved upon their original design on all 2.0 models, adding a removable base plate and ash pan that makes clean up much easier. 

Apple AirPods Pro

Apple's latest AirPods Pro are among the best buds an iPhone user can stick in their ears and once again, they're down to $200, which is a tidy savings over their $249 list price and within a dollar of their all-time low. Our resident audio expert, Billy Steele, gave the buds an 88 in his review, pointing out that this generation's sound is massively superior to the previous one. 

The clarity is excellent at low volume an has a more immersive and detailed sound overall. Thanks to the H2 chip, the buds are capable of impressively fast on-device processing to deliver good active noise cancellation and one of the best transparency modes available. The buds switch seamlessly between Apple devices and the battery will give you six hours of play on a charge with noise cancellation turned on. 

If it's pure sound quality you're looking for, Billy also recommends Sennheiser's Momentum 3 buds. They're also down to $200, after an $80 discount. 

BaseCharge 600

Power stations let you bring multiple hours of power for lights, devices and even small appliances when you're camping or otherwise away from an outlet. BioLite's 622 watt-hour portable battery, the BaseCharge 600 is getting its first discount today as part of a larger, site-wide sale. Usually $700, the sale dips it down to a more palatable $560. The sale runs through May 29th with discounts on other power-related devices, including 20 percent off the larger BaseCharge 1500 and the 100-watt solar panels that can recharge either battery.

I spent a few weeks with the BaseCharge 600 and used it to run my work-from-home setup (laptop, monitor, gateway, lights) for a full day with plenty of charge left over. It also ran a power drill outdoors for a small project. There are eight ports up front, including multiple USB-Cs and regular old three-pronged plug outlets. The display offers a lot of useful info, like how long the battery has left, considering your current power consumption, or the amount of time the battery will take to return to full when it's plugged into the wall or a solar panel.

Our favorite low-capacity power bank, the Charge 40 PD is also part of the sale, and down to $45 instead of $60. It's got a tough case and will revive your phone from the dead a couple of times.   

Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2

Many Ring security products are currently cheaper right now, both at Amazon and at Ring. Discounts include $75 off the Ring Video Doorbell Pro 2, which brings it down to $175 and the cheapest its gone for outside of Black Friday sales last November. The Pro 2 is a wired unit that gives you a head-to-toe view of your entryway along with two-way audio and 3D motion sensing that more accurately differentiates between people simply passing by and those actually approaching your door. 

If you don't have a wire available for your doorbell (or wanted something a little cheaper), you can go for the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus. It's down to $140 after a 22 percent discount. It also gives you head-to-toe HD video and two-way audio. The quick-release battery pack is rechargeable and should last a few months between charges.  

Apple Watch Ultra with Yellow Ocean Band

We're not in Patek Philippe territory, but a $799 timepiece is still pretty spendy. This week gave us the lowest price we've seen yet on the top-end Apple Watch Ultra, bringing it down to $702 — but only if you get it with the yellow band. If you're down with the sunny hue, or were already planning to swap out the strap, you can save nearly $100 on a watch that's best suited to athletes and outdoor enthusiasts. Our deputy editor Cherlynn Low gave the smartwatch an 85 in her review, citing it's excellent battery life, durable build and the bright display. Its GPS, Backtrack and Waypoint features also performed admirably during a hike in New Jersey's South Mountain reservation.

For those who want a capable smartwatch that's much more affordable, the current generation 40mm Apple Watch SE with the starlight case is also on sale at Amazon and at Best Buy. It's back down to $219, which is the lowest it's gone since its debut last September. Cherlynn called this one "the best smartwatch $250 can buy" in her review. The 44mm models in all three case colorways are also on sale at Amazon.  

Google Nest Learning thermostat

Right now, Wellbots is offering a total of $105 off Google's Nest Learning Thermostat when you enter the code 55ENGDT at checkout. The smart thermometer is already on sale for $199, but the code takes an additional $55 off, making it just $144. Over time, the Nest will learn your habits and adjust accordingly. By detecting when you're home and away, the device could help save energy too. 

Another discount code will save you a total of $124 on the Google Nest Camera with Floodlight. It's on sale for $220, but the code 65ENGDT will bring it down to $155. The camera pairs up bright lights and a camera to alert you when events are detected outside your home, sending HD video to your phone or smart display so you can keep tabs on your perimeter at all times.  

And finally, we've got a code for the Google Nest Indoor/Outdoor Wireless Camera too. Enter 45ENGDT at checkout for an additional $45 savings over the $140 sale price. 

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

A sale at Amazon is lowering the price on many configurations of Samsung's latest Galaxy phones. The S23 Ultra, the S23+ and the base model S23 are all seeing discounts of between $50 and $150. The sale brings the S23 Ultra with 256GB of storage down to $1,050. 

These aren't the largest discounts we've seen on Samsung's latest smartphones, but it's a decent discount on what are still pretty new phones. The discounts apply to all storage configurations and all colorways are included. 

We gave the Galaxy S23 Ultra an 89 in our review, praising the powerful performance, "dazzling" display and larger, 200MP rear camera that produces great-looking images. The S23+ earned an 86 review score from us thanks to its bright display and excellent battery life, which went longer than two days before needing a charge.  

Samsung M70B Series Smart Monitor

Multiple models of Samsung monitors are currently on sale at both Amazon and directly from Samsung's site, including the 43-inch M70B smart monitor. It's currently $380, which is $120 off the list price and the lowest its gone for since the shopping holidays late last year. It's got 4K resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate and thanks to the built-in smart TV capabilities, you can stream, video conference and control your smart home without connecting to a PC. The sale also includes the 32-inch Odyssey Neo G8, which is $1,200 instead of $1,500. The curved 4K monitor has a 240Hz refresh rate with a latency as low as 1ms.  

Hulu

If you cancelled Hulu and want to come back, you can get the next three months for just $2 per month. The deal is valid through May 27th and is available to new and returning subscribers — as long as it's been at least a month since you cancelled. This is the ad-supported version of the service, which usually goes for $8 per month. If you don't want your episodes of Abbot Elementary interrupted by ads, you can go for the ad-free plan for $15 per month. Either way, we think Hulu is one of the better streaming services out there and it will be the only place to catch new (yes) episodes of Futurama. 

Apple 2023 Mac mini M2 

Apple's latest system-on-a-chip is the M2 processor, which you'll find in the newest MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros and the Mac mini. The diminutive computer is the cheapest way to get the speed of the M2 and right now you can grab a mini for just $500, which is $100 off the list price and matches the lowest price so far. This is the model with 8GB of memory and 256GB of storage, which is the same capacity offered by the base model MacBook Air — but the mini delivers it for about half the price. 

Of course, you'll need to add a monitor, but if you've already got on on hand, you can save a significant amount. We gave the Mac mini an 86 in our review, praising the performance, solid design and generous amount of ports for accessories and monitors. 

Eero Pro mesh WiFi router

Amazon is selling many of it's previous-generation Eero routers for 24 to 50 percent off right now. The sale includes the Eero Pro mesh WiFi router which is half price and down to $80. It's a tri-band router that simultaneously supports 2.4GHz, 5.2 GHz and 5.8 GHz signals. A single unit will cover up to 1,750 square feet and if you add more routers, you can expand that coverage easily. Once you install an Eero router, you can even use current-model Echo speakers as WiFi extenders too. Note that the Eero Pro is a previous generation model that supports WiFi 5 — the newer, WiFi 6E model is currently $250 and not on sale. 

Razer BlackWidow V3 Mini HyperSpeed 

If you're dealing with limited desk real estate, a 60 percent keyboard might help. Right now, Razer's BlackWidow V3 is on sale for $180 or 39 percent off at Amazon and Best Buy. Though it's technically a 65 percent keyboard, it's still our top pick for the best 60 percent keyboard with arrow keys. It offers both 2.4G and Bluetooth connectivity A switch lets you pick between a clicky typing experience or a much quieter (though not completely silent) mode. 

KitchenAid Cordless Variable Speed Hand Blender

We named the KitchenAid immersion blender the best cordless option in our in our guide to immersion blenders. Our reviewer, Sam Rutherford, says it easy to use and liked that instead of discrete speed settings, you can adjust the speed by applying more or less pressure on the trigger. Kitchen Aid claims it can blend 25 bowls of soup on a charge. Sam didn't have that much soup on hand, but still found the battery to last a long time. Just keep in mind that you can't charge it while you use it, so plug it in before you plan on cooking.  

Apple MacBook Pro M2, 14-inch

Our senior editor Devindra Hardawar called the new MacBook Pro a "blessing for creatives" when the new laptop came out earlier this year, awarding it a 92 in his review. Right now the base-level configuration, with the M2 Pro chip, 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage is back down to an all-time low of $1,749 at B&H Photo. That only goes for the space gray colorway — you'll pay $50 more for the silver version. 

We named the it the best MacBook for creatives in our guide thanks to the laptop's powerful processing power that easily handles 4K video editing and complex musical arrangements. It has plenty of ports, including a 3.5mm, one HDMI, three Thunderbolt 4 ports and an SD card slot. You can get the same deal on Amazon.

Samsung S95B OLED

Samsung's S95B OLED 55-inch TV is on sale for $1,298, which is a steep, 41 percent discount over the $2,198 price tag it had when it first came out. You can grab the same deal at Samsung too. The S95B smart TV made our list for one of the best TVs for gaming you can buy. The QD-OLED display combines an OLED panel with a layer of quantum dots so it can offer the deep blacks that you get with quality OLED screens, but also gives enough brightness to play in a daylight-lit room. You'll be able to play 4K games with a smooth 120Hz refresh rate and there are four full HDMI ports.  

The 2023 version, the S95C, is now available, but you'll pay about $2,400 right now, after a $100 discount from Samsung. If you want our top pick for a gaming set, check out the LG C2, which is on sale for $200 off at both B&H Photo and at Amazon. That's not the lowest price ever, but a good way to save a few dollars on a great gaming TV. 

Apple MacBook Air M1

The previous generation MacBook Air with the M1 chip is our top pick for a budget Apple laptop, and right now, it's an even better deal at just $800, which is $200 off the list price. It doesn't have the latest system-on-a-chip that Apple makes, but it's still a powerful ultraportable that earned a score of 94 when Devindra reviewed it. He appreciated the display, performance and lack of fan noise from the passive heat sink. It weighs just 2.8 pounds, making it ideal for students taking it to class or for digital nomads who move around a lot. 

If you want the latest model, B&H Photo is offering the 2022 MacBook Air M2 for $150 off, bringing it down to $1,049. That's about $50 more than the lowest price we've seen, but still a nice discount for anyone who wants the laptop that Devindra called a "near-perfect Mac."

Dell XPS 13 Plus Laptop

If you don't want a Mac, consider this laptop instead. We named the Dell XPS 13 Plus the best Windows laptop for college students and it's currently $500 off on clearance at the manufacturer's site. It offers an ample keyboard and an OLED screen with thin bezels that Devindra says looks fantastic. This model packs a 12th-gen Intel Core i5 chip with 8GB of memory and 512GB of storage. It runs on Windows 11 and has a touch screen and capacitative buttons at the top of the keyboard. The glass haptic touchpad blends into the palm rest lending to the overall minimalist design. Unfortunately, that minimalism means Dell ditched the headphone jack, so your personal listening options are limited to Bluetooth. 

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Human-computer interaction company Sightful is releasing its first product, Spacetop, a screen-less “augmented reality laptop” projecting tabs across a 100-inch virtual screen. The laptop — if you can call it that — is a hardware deck and full-size keyboard with a pair of tailored NReal glasses. The glasses project tabs directly in front of whatever the user is looking at while remaining invisible to anyone else.

Specs-wise, Spacetop is running a Snapdragon 865 paired with an Adreno 650 GPU, 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, putting it in the same class as some of the smartphones that are already capable of driving AR glasses. It’s not smartphone-sized, however, measuring 1.57-inches high, 10.47-inches wide and 8.8-inches deep, and it weighs in at 3.3 pounds, the same as plenty of laptops we could choose to mention here.

Sightful is clearly gunning for a crossover hit in the the work-from-home-or-anywhere market. “Laptops are the centerpiece of our daily working lives, but the technology has not evolved with the modern, work from anywhere, privacy matters, ‘road warrior’ mentality. Meanwhile, augmented reality is full of potential and promise but is yet to find its daily use case,” said Tamir Berliner, Sightful co-founder who previously worked at both Leap Motion and Primesense. “We are at the perfect moment for a significant paradigm shift in a device we all know and love.”

For now, Spacetop is only available to buy for 1,000 early adopters through an application-based program. Right now, we don’t have word on how much this will cost you, or when you’ll be able to pick it up, but we’ll watch this project with interest to see if it’ll succeed where so many others have failed. 

Now that AMD has rounded out its high-performance mobile CPUs, it's turning its attention to chips for thin laptops. The company has introduced Ryzen 7040U processors that it claims can outrun the competition, particularly for gamers who may need to be content with integrated graphics. They all tout RDNA 3-based Radeon 700M GPUs that tout the enhancements seen on desktop video cards. A Ryzen 7 with the Radeon 780M runs between 30 percent to 139 percent faster than an equivalent Intel 13th-gen Core i7 P-series chip, AMD claims. That's at 1080p with low graphics settings, but it could make some games playable that weren't an option before.

AMD also believes the Ryzen 7040U line offers better raw computing power than rivals. The Zen 4 architecture is said to deliver between 29 percent to 128 percent better app performance than not just the Core i7, but 5 percent to 75 percent over the M2 found in Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro. AMD is relying on synthetic benchmarks to make the claim and is testing its highest-end Ryzen 7 part, but that may be worth considering if you plan to edit videos or juggle multiple productivity apps.

The new hardware also brings Ryzen AI acceleration to offload some work from the chip's main compute units. AMD also boasts of improved efficiency to provide the "longest possible time" on battery power, although it doesn't provide estimates. That's likely to vary based on the CPU model and exact laptop.

The initial lineup includes four processors. The Ryzen 3 7440U is aimed at the entry level with four cores, eight processing threads, a base 3GHz clock speed (up to 4.7GHz) and 12MB of cache. At the mid-range, the Ryzen 5 7540U uses six cores, 12 threads, a baseline 3.2GHz speed (up to 4.9GHz) and 22MB of cache. The Ryzen 5 7640U is slightly faster with Ryzen AI support, a 3.5GHz clock (up to 4.9GHz). The top-end Ryzen 7 7840U includes eight cores, 16 threads, Ryzen AI, a 3.3GHz starting clock (up to 5.1GHz) and 24MB of cache. All four models have a thermal design power between 15W and 30W.

We'd expect laptop manufacturers to begin using the Ryzen 7040U relatively quickly. It's too early to say if the advertised performance gains manifest in real life, but AMD is clearly confident it has some major advantages over rivals.

Whether you’re looking to replace an aging MacBook or are diving into Apple hardware for the first time, Apple’s laptop lineup is not as simple as it seems. There are just two options, the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, but depending on the configuration, a new MacBook can cost between $999 and $6,500, so there’s considerable variation between the two makes. All current models run on the company’s own M-series processors that combine CPU, GPU, unified memory and other functions on a single chip, giving the latest MacBooks longer battery lives, better multitasking performance and faster operating speeds over the previous Intel chips. If you’re not sure which model would work best for you, we’re here to make things a little more clear. Based on our testing, here’s what we think are the best MacBooks for everyone from students to power users.

Best overall: MacBook Air M2

Our resident laptop expert Devindra Hardawar called the MacBook Air M2 a “near-perfect Mac” in his review, awarding it a high score of 96. It’s the newer of the two Air models Apple still sells, and notably a better buy than the 13-inch MacBook Pro, as the latter is both heavier and more expensive. The Air was built around the new M2 chip and completely refreshed for 2022 with a squared-off design that ditches the wedge shape.

The 13.6-inch Liquid Retina screen hits up to 500 nits, making it both bigger and brighter than the previous generation. The 60Hz refresh rate doesn’t deliver the butter-smooth scrolling you get on Pro models, but it’s lovely nonetheless. The quad speaker array pumps out great sound, filling a room at max volume without distortion, and the three-mic array does a good job of picking up your voice for video calls. The 1080p camera is an improvement over previous generations. It even beats our top Windows laptop, Dell’s XPS 13 Plus which still sports a 720p webcam, but Devindra found the image the Air captures to be drab.

Despite being thinner than ever, the M2 Air manages to hang on to its 3.5mm headphone jack and includes two USB-C Thunderbolt ports and a MagSafe connector. That means you don’t have to block a potential data port while charging. The battery life is ample, lasting 16 hours and 30 minutes in our rundown test, which should be more than enough for a day (or two) of work.

The M2 chip gives the Air enough speed to play games, particularly those from Apple Arcade. Streaming and cloud gaming work well through Safari, and you’ll find a handful of compatible titles on Steam. However, many of the bigger AAA releases still aren’t compatible with Macs – though Apple is looking to change that. Our review unit performed well in benchmark tests, beating the Air M1 and nearly matching the performance of the 13-inch MacBook Pro M2. It’s a fanless system which means it’s quiet, but to keep things cool, the CPU does have to be throttled occasionally.

Overall, it’s an excellent choice for everyday use and can handle most tasks. Of course, if you’re planning on doing intensive video editing, you’ll likely want something more powerful, such as the MacBook Pro M2, but the Air is arguably the best multipurpose, ultraportable laptop that Apple makes.

Our review MacBook Air had an M2 chip with a 10-core GPU, along with 16GB of memory and 1TB of storage. That configuration will run you $1,899. We think the Air is plenty capable without the GPU bump and the terabyte of storage is probably overkill for most casual users. Instead, we recommend the $1,599 setup with an 8-core GPU, 16GB of memory and 512GB of SSD storage.

Best budget option: MacBook Air M1

The MacBook Air M1 may not have the most current Apple silicon, but it gets so much right that it’s still an excellent laptop. It earned a high score of 94 in our review and Devindra declared it one of the fastest ultraportables you could buy at the time. Of course, now that the M2 is on the scene, its numbers are comparatively less impressive – but with a base price of $999 (and often on sale for less), it’s a relatively affordable way for students or those with tight budgets to snag a fast and capable machine.

The Air’s 13.3-inch Retina display looks beautiful and is ideal for binge sessions. The laptop’s sturdy, wedge-shaped unibody case weighs just 2.8 pounds, making it easy to take to class or work. You can even fire it up in the quietest library without making a sound, thanks to a heat sink and passive cooling that eliminate the need for a fan. The keyboard offers a satisfying amount of depth despite its thin profile and the trackpad is smooth.

The performance of the M1 chip really makes the MacBook Air M1 stand out. It’s impressively responsive, launching apps nearly instantly and running them effortlessly. Safari delivers a slick browsing experience, loading complex pages quickly. The M1 chip is also behind the Air’s great battery life. We managed to get 16 hours and 20 minutes during our video rundown test, which should be more than enough to get you through a full-day grind.

Of course, it’s not without drawbacks. The M1 Air houses a 720p webcam, which isn’t as sharp as the M2 Air’s 1080p camera and it only comes with two Thunderbolt ports and a headphone jack. If you’re charging your computer, there’s only one available plug for accessories. There’s no SD card slot, either, and since Apple hardware isn’t the easiest to upgrade yourself, you’ll want to buy all the storage you need right out of the gate.

We recommend sticking with the base configuration (8GB RAM/256GB SSD) if you’ll mostly be using web-based programs and cloud-based apps. For an extra $200, you can upgrade to 16GB of memory which is good if you stream heavily, like to have a lot of open tabs or want to run a ton of apps at once. Alternatively, the same amount could get you 512GB of storage if you want to keep a lot of files and photos locally.

Best for creatives: MacBook Pro M2 

The 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros came out in January of 2023, both using more powerful versions of the M2 chip: the M2 Pro and the M2 Max. For professional video or music creators, the new machines are a blessing.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with a 19-core GPU M2 Pro chip can easily handle 4K video editing, effects processing and whichever Mac-compatible digital audio workstation you prefer. The 14.2-inch screen is a bright and vibrant MiniLED Liquid Retina XDR display with a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling and animations. A six-speaker array produces crisp, punchy sound that’s better than what most laptops can deliver and the built-in mics are great for video calls.

As you’d expect with a Pro model, you get a full complement of ports, including an SD card slot, headphone jack, HDMI port and three Thunderbolt sockets. There’s even a MagSafe power connector dedicated to charging. We got a respectable 15 hours and 10 minutes of battery life out of the 14-inch model and, according to Apple, the 16-inch model can get up to 22 hours on a charge.

If you’re planning on processing a lot of 8K video, complex 3D scenes or more expansive music compositions, you may want the faster M2 Max chip. In that case, we recommend the 16-inch model, as its larger battery can better match the chip’s higher power consumption. As long as cost isn’t a deciding factor, the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M2 Max is the way to go. It’s one of the more powerful MacBooks available, with a 12-core CPU and 38-core GPU, paired with 64GB of memory and 2TB of storage. Those options will run you $4,299, but should serve even the most demanding user well for years.

The Razer Blade 16 is one of the most unique laptops we’ve ever seen – I just wish I could recommend it as easily as the Blade 15. It can handle 4K gaming just as well as high-speed 1080p gameplay, thanks to a dual-mode screen. And it’s one of the fastest notebooks around, featuring Intel’s latest CPUs and NVIDIA’s newest GPUs. And notably, it can be configured with an RTX 4090.

But all of that comes at a cost. It’s noticeably heavier than the Blade 15, and you’ll have to pay at least $3,300 to own one with the dual-mode display. It’s like Razer put another Razer tax on top of its already high prices.

For some, though, the cost will be worth it. The Blade 16’s MiniLED display can natively handle 4K+ 120Hz (meaning it can show up to 120fps gameplay), and 1080p+ 240Hz. You could always configure a 4K panel to scale down to 1080p or lower resolutions, but that usually leads to a muddy mess, and 4K screens are typically limited to 120Hz at best. What’s special about the Blade 16 is that it delivers those resolutions as sharply as standalone monitors.

According to Razer, the Blade 16’s dual-mode MiniLED technology was developed together with the display maker AUO. The screen is natively a 4K+ 240Hz panel that can sync pixels together to accurately scale down to 1080p, something that looks far better than typical downscaling. Razer says there’s no mobile GPU or data pipeline that can effectively deliver 4K at 240Hz, so that refresh rate is only possible in 1080p. (It’s still rare to find 4K 240Hz on desktop monitors, and even a 4090 would have trouble hitting 240fps at that resolution.)

Previously, you'd have to choose between a 4K screen with a much lower refresh rate, or a faster 1080p or 1,440p display. The Blade 16 lets you have your gaming cake and eat it too. The only downside is that switching between those two modes requires a complete reboot. Given how miraculous technology seems, though, I don't think that's a huge problem. If you care more about resolution, stick with the 4K 120Hz mode until you need to dive into some fast-paced competitive gaming.

Maybe instead of thinking of the Blade 16 as a slight upgrade from the 15-inch model, it's better to think of it as a shrunken down Blade 17. That's another massive and expensive computer, but potential buyers are likely aware of its downsides. More importantly, the Blade 17 was the fastest Razer laptop for years — now that title belongs to the Blade 16 and the new Blade 18.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Both of these laptops feature Intel's 13th-gen mobile CPUs, as well as NVIDIA's more powerful RTX 4080 and 4090 GPUs. This is the first time we've seen NVIDIA's 90-series hardware on any notebook, so that alone is sure to be a hook for power hungry gamers. Strangely, though, Razer's dual-mode display is only available on the Blade 16 — the tech likely isn't there yet to make it happen on the bigger computer.

In practice, the Blade 16 excelled at both 4K and 1080p gaming. Cyberpunk 2077 and Halo Infinite looked absolutely crisp in 4K with their graphics and ray tracing settings maxed out. Both games also looked far brighter than I've ever seen on a laptop thanks to the MiniLED panel. That's particularly useful for bright HDR highlights, something most notebooks and monitors handle poorly.

Given the sheer power of the RTX 4090 in our review unit, the Blade 16 was also able to play games in 4K well beyond 60fps. Depending on your graphics settings, you may even be able to reach 120fps to fully max out its screen. Halo Infinite hit a very playable 80fps with ultra graphics settings, while Cyberpunk 2077 hit 70fps with Ultra ray tracing settings thanks to DLSS 3.

Not surprisingly, the Blade 16 had no issue getting above 200fps in Halo Infinite and Overwatch 2 when I flipped over to 1080p mode. Personally, I've never really seen the point of gaming screens beyond 120Hz — I just can’t really perceive much of a difference by bumping up to 144 or 240Hz. But after switching between the Blade 16's various modes, I noticed that I played better as I approached 200fps — I hit headshots more regularly, and I was faster to react whenever enemies popped up. Maybe it was just luck, or me feeling more comfortable over time — or maybe those extra frames actually helped.

As much as I enjoyed the Blade 16's gorgeous display and incredible performance, I didn't love lugging it around my house or hauling it in a bookbag. It weighs 5.4 pounds, a full pound heavier than the Blade 15. Now that might not seem like much, but it makes a huge difference for portability. Living with the Blade 15 was no different than most other 15-inch notebooks, but the Blade 16 feels noticeably bulkier.

But again, maybe I should be judging it against the Blade 17 instead, which weighed a little over 6 pounds. When compared to that, the Blade 16 seems like a remarkable engineering feat. That's not the way most people think of 16-inch notebooks though: The MacBook Pro 16 replaced the 15-inch model, and many other laptop makers are following suit with their larger notebooks.

On the non-gaming front, the Blade 16 also excelled at everything I threw at it. Scrolling through websites and documents was a dream, thanks to that high refresh rate screen. And while it doesn’t include a mechanical keyboard like Alienware and other competitors, the Blade 16’s typing experience was solid. The trackpad is also far larger than the Blade 15’s, but it’s just as smooth and responsive. And you can actually expect to do a decent amount of work before recharging: In PCMark 10’s battery benchmark, it lasted 5 hours and 15 minutes, two hours more than the Blade 18. It also has every port you’d want: three USB 3.0 Type A connections (two on the left side, one on the right), HDMI, two USB-C ports (one of which supports Thunderbolt 4) and a microSD card slot.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

As I spent time with the Blade 16, I couldn’t help but ask myself: Is it really worth spending more for a dual-mode screen, when fast 1,440p laptops are becoming increasingly affordable? Personally, I think that resolution sits at a sweet spot between delivering more pixels than 1080p, but also achieving faster refresh rates than any 4K panel. For most people, a 1,440p laptop (like the Zephyrus G14) simply makes more sense – especially when you can find them for $1,000 (or more) less than the Blade 16.

Given its added heft, as well as its higher $2,700 starting price (with an RTX 4060), I can't recommend the Blade 16 to most buyers – not when the Blade 15 is still around and starts at $2,000 with a 3070 Ti. If you want the 4060, be prepared to shell out another $500. And if you’re mainly intrigued by the dual-mode display on the Blade 16, that costs $3,300 with an RTX 4070. Honestly, that’s a ridiculously high price for a laptop with that GPU. Our review unit cost a whopping $4,300 with the Core i9-13950HX, RTX 4090, 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD.

But, just like much of Apple’s hardware, the Razer tax may be something we have to pay for innovation. The Blade 16’s dual-mode screen is one of the most remarkable things I’ve seen in a gaming laptop lately – but for most shoppers, the Blade 15 will be far more practical.