Eliana Willis

ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable <!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 is available now, starting at $3,300. The 120Hz, OLED, portrait-style 16.7-inch display delivers an expansive workspace, supported by a haptic touchpad. It has limited I/O, has some visible creasing on the rollable display, and has a sky-high price. –> Lenovo unveiled […] More

Manufacturers typically offer different runtimes for lamps, refrigerators, CPAP machines, and so on, but if you want to work this out for yourself, you may need two figures, and a bit of math!First, you need the power rating of the device you plan on running, which can usually be found on a label on the device and is measured in Watts (W). You also need to know the capacity of the power station, measured in Watt hours (Wh), which should be printed somewhere on the device. Let’s say you have a device that consumes 200W and a power station that has a capacity of 2,048Wh, you can get a ballpark runtime for the device using the following equation:(2048 x 0.85)/200 = 8.7 hoursNote that the capacity of the power station is multiplied by 0.85 to account for efficiency losses that happen. More

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETChoosing the right laptop can feel overwhelming — even for someone like me who’s lived and breathed laptops for years. You get all these options, configurations, and feature lists that it’s impossible not to know up from down. So, to make things easier for you, I’ll be breaking down laptops and their essentials using three broad usage categories: school, work, and gaming.Also: The best laptops you can buy: Expert testedMost laptops fall into one of these buckets, and while there is some crossover regarding hardware, each type is designed with a specific purpose in mind. Below, I walk through what defines each category, highlighting key features to look out for and providing example products along the way.Keep in mind, this advice is based on my own experience and expertise. Ultimately, the best laptop is the one that fits your needs best.How to pick a laptop for school More

Jack Wallen / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETZDNET’s key takeawaysLinux offers more security, privacy, and freedom from vendors.Modern Linux distros are user-friendly — even for non-techies.Linux Mint, Zorin OS, MX Linux top beginner distro list.Why would you want to switch to the Linux desktop? There are many reasons, but the short version is that the operating system is more secure, provides far more privacy, and frees you from vendor lock-in. For current Windows users, it also provides a way to continue using your Windows 10 PC even if your machine cannot be upgraded to Windows 11.Besides, contrary to popular opinion, anyone can use and enjoy Linux as a desktop operating system. I taught my then-mother-in-law, who was 79 years old, how to use Ubuntu Linux, and we didn’t even speak the same language! If she could do it, you can do it. Also: 8 ways I quickly leveled up my Linux skills – and you can tooYes, Linux was once difficult to learn, but those days are long gone. Don’t believe me? Ever use an Android phone? A Chromebook? Congratulations, you’re already a Linux user, but maybe you didn’t know it. If you want to, you can dive deep into Linux shell scripts and do all your work from the Bash shell, but nobody must do that anymore. There are old-school desktop distributions, such as Gentoo and Linux From Scratch, where you need to be a Linux maven to make the most of them. But those distros aren’t for you. Also: The best Linux laptops you can buy: Expert tested for students, hobbyists, and prosYou need a Linux distribution that looks like Windows with a gentle learning curve. I get that. While I’ve used Linux for over three decades and Unix desktops before that, I know what it’s like to be a new user. It also doesn’t help your situation that there are hundreds of desktop Linux distributions to choose from. Some are hard, but most are simple. I’m here to help you select the version of Linux that will get you started on the right foot. I’ve tested all these myself. 1. Linux Mint Best Linux distribution for beginners overall Price: Free | Core code: Ubuntu 24.04 | Open source: Yes More

Motorola Razr (2025) <!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Motorola Razr (2025) is on sale for $700 and comes in four distinct colors. Its OLED touchscreen, robust camera system, and flexible design combine to create one of my favorite smartphone experiences in 2025. However, the performance from the MediaTek chipset is rather lackluster. more buying choices […] More

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETZDNET’s Key takeaways:Apple Intelligence will be upgraded with GPT-5. GPT-5 is OpenAI’s recently launched most capable model.Users will be able to access GPT-5 in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26. OpenAI released GPT-5 on Thursday, saying it’s the company’s most capable, smartest, and fastest model to date. While everyone, including free users, can access the model for free today via ChatGPT, Apple device users will be able to try it out even more easily. Apple’s first foray into the AI race was the launch of Apple Intelligence in 2024. Taking its time to enter the AI space, the company took a different approach from competitors, forgoing the release of its own AI models and choosing to use OpenAI’s instead via an integration with ChatGPT. Soon, that integration will use GPT-5. Also: 3 Apple Intelligence features that would convince me to ditch Gemini and ChatGPTApple confirmed to me that the iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and MacOS 26 operating systems, which are slated to launch in the fall, will be accompanied by GPT-5. Currently, with the existing ChatGPT integration, Apple users have the option to send Siri queries to ChatGPT instead if they’re better suited for the chatbot’s capabilities. Other integrations are ChatGPT with Writing Tools, which uses the chatbot to compose text or images in different areas of the interface, and ChatGPT with Visual Intelligence, which leverages ChatGPT’s multimodal capabilities to give users insights into their surroundings. Because of the update, all of the aforementioned functionalities should give users better answers. For example, at launch, OpenAI claimed GPT-5 is its most capable writing collaborator, which should improve users’ output when using Writing Tools to compose emails, texts, and more. The model is also more accurate than any previous reasoning model and has fewer hallucinations. GPT-5’s responses are 45% less likely to contain a factual error than GPT-4o with web search enabled on anonymized prompts, according to OpenAI. Also: This free GPT-5 feature is flying under the radar – but it’s a game changer for meGPT-5’s biggest appeal is that it is a unified model that combines a smart model for most queries with a deeper reasoning model for harder problems. Then it uses a real router feature that allows GPT-5 to understand which model to use automatically based on the conversation, complexity of the prompt, and more. This allows users to take advantage of the best OpenAI’s models have to offer in terms of quality and speed. Now, Apple users should be able to experience the same thing natively, which should, in theory, improve the Apple Intelligence experience as a whole. Do I think it will make a big change? No, only because I don’t know many Apple users who rely on ChatGPT integrations very often. However, it is nice knowing that even when you do reach for the features once in a while, they will be reportedly state of the art. I am more excited about the many iOS 26 AI features that have been announced and are slated to be released. While less flashy, they are bound to improve the user experience. Some favorites include the Visual Intelligence expansion to the iPhone screen, real-time translation on FaceTime and Messages, and AutoMix in Apple Music.Also: I used Perplexity to make a restaurant reservation – now I’m wondering if Google is holding us backIf you can’t wait to get started with GPT-5 and want to try it out for yourself, you can do so simply by visiting the ChatGPT website or app and signing in to your account. If you don’t have one, creating one is easy — just use Google, Microsoft, Apple, or even your phone number. Once you’re signed in, the model picker will automatically be set to GPT-5.  Artificial Intelligence More