Eliana Willis

If that five-year-old laptop that keeps freezing during class is killing your back-to-school mood, it’s time for an upgrade. Students have many options for laptops that are great for studying, but lightweight and speedy Chromebooks are some of the best. They typically cost far less than Windows PCs or Apple MacBooks, and are streamlined with ChromeOS, a lightweight operating system. ChromeOS makes it easy to navigate to popular apps like Google Docs, Google Drive, and Gmail so you can stay on task and in touch with teachers and classmates. They’re also perfect for submitting work online. What is the best Chromebook for students right now?ZDNET staff have extensive hands-on experience with PC hardware, including our top laptop choices and a variety of Chromebooks. While deciding on the best Chromebooks for students, I took into account this experience as well as customer feedback and pricing. My favorite Chromebook for students is the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE More

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETThe latest numbers are in, and Apple still reigns supreme in terms of cellphone sales, but there has been a bit of a shakeup. Counterpoint Research has released its Global Handset Model Sales Tracker for the first quarter of 2025, highlighting the 10 most popular cellphone models by global sales. Also: I test dozens of phones every year: Here’s how Apple and Samsung stack upAs no surprise, an iPhone leads the way. It’s the base model, though — the iPhone 16 More

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETApple finally entered the AI race at last year’s Worldwide Developer Conference when it revealed Apple Intelligence. However, some of the biggest updates announced at WWDC 2024 — such as a new and improved Siri and an AI that’s aware of your personal context from your daily phone use — have yet to deploy, leaving users frustrated. Still, I think there is hope. Apple has done a lot well with the limited features it has shipped — and offered a promising glimpse of what’s to come. For example, many of the new features — including Genmoji, voice memo transcriptions, and photo clean-up — are useful and easy to access, while also not being forcefully pushed to iOS users. Also: Forget Siri: Apple Intelligence’s true potential on iPad and Mac lies in third-party appsMost importantly, Apple’s A18 chip provides the iPhone 16 models with the infrastructure and compute necessary for Apple to support more compute-heavy AI features, while keeping Apple’s promise of on-device processing that can preserve your information’s privacy and security. Although the full Apple Intelligence suite of tools has yet to be revealed, the foundation is there. Here are three features that would make me a believer in Apple Intelligence. 1. A more Siri-ous voice assistantWhile Siri has a new look, with the screen glow showing up every time it’s activated and a new way to interact with the AI via text, it’s still trailing behind most AI voice assistants.   The biggest perk of conversational chat with a voice assistant is having it provide you — almost instantly —  with feedback on anything you may be thinking of, from simple tasks such as the weather and notifications to more complex ones such as advice and math problems. Siri doesn’t yet have the knowledge or intelligence to support this breadth of assistance.  More

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNETSamsung has officially launched its One UI 8 beta program, and you can sign up to be among the first to test it out — if you have a compatible device.In an announcement today, Samsung said the new platform, which is based on Android 16, would bring “a new era of software intelligence” to Galaxy devices along with several other upgrades. Here’s a look at what’s new and how you can join.Also: The best Samsung phones to buy in 2025Which phones are eligible for the One UI 8 beta?For now, the rollout is only for three devices in the S25 series – the S25, the S25 Plus, and the S25 Ultra. Sorry, S25 Edge owners. Samsung didn’t offer an explanation for why it left out the S25 Edge, but it could be because the phone is already facing criticism for its reduced battery life. This follows the same pattern as last year’s One UI 7 beta, which debuted for select S24 devices. One UI 8 will be available on Samsung’s newest foldable devices this summer and will gradually expand to other Galaxy devices later this year. One UI 7 was exclusive to the S24 for about three months, which was frustrating for fans with other devices, but that might not be the case this time around.  More

Craftsman/ZDNETWhether you’re looking to start your DIY home toolkit or add to your existing tool collection, you can’t go wrong with a solid set of versatile hand tools like crescent and ratchet wrenches. Right now at Lowe’s, you can grab the 230-piece Craftsman VersaStack toolkit More

Jason Hiner/ZDNETUpgrading both your TV and home audio setup can be an expensive venture. But right now at Samsung, you can snag a bundle More

QVC There have been countless times I’ve been stuck out in the blistering heat, whether it’s at a baseball game, a music festival, or just hanging out outside in the yard, when a portable fan would have been extremely helpful. QVC is offering a great deal on just that — the Cascade set of 2 portable […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The RingConn Gen 2 is a subscription-free smart ring that retails for $300. It monitors your sleep, activity, stress, and vitals, and it’s got a marathon battery life. The only downside is the user interface feels underdeveloped. more buying choices Most smart rings these days claim to offer marathon battery lives, […] More