At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Amazing software utility package 4K, 1080p/60Hz options AI glowups work Smooth, configurable zoom PDAF autofocus Cons Magnetic connection to the mount is a bit flimsy Stick-on privacy shutter Our Verdict This tiny little 4K webcam asks for a few dollars more than its competition, but it’s worth it. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Obsbot Meet 2 Retailer Price $129 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The Obsbot Meet 2 may be the tiniest 4K webcam I’ve ever seen. Mounted on your laptop or monitor by a magnetic mount, the Meet 2 delivers surprisingly solid quality for such a tiny device, though the company insists that a stick-on privacy shutter is more effective than a flip-over lid. The camera comes in three different colors: gray, white, and a faintly metallic “aurora green,” and can either use the Windows settings for camera controls or Obsbot’s own utility software. Inside the box is the webcam, the mount, and a USB-C to USB-C cable that stretches a very generous 4.5 feet. (Obsbot also tosses in an USB-A adapter for older laptops.) The Meet 2 offers up to 4K (30Hz) at the top end, with various lower resolutions (including 1080p, at both 60Hz and 30Hz) as you step down. The Meet 2 features what’s known as Phase Detection Auto Focus, or PDAF, a very quick way to pick up and focus on your face. The Meet 2 also does a stellar job of cropping into your face, providing up to 4X digital zoom, which is more than what you’ll need for a standard video call. I’m not a huge fan of the Meet 2’s mini-magnetic mount, though it does have one advantage that other webcams do not: Three out of the four sides of the webcam are magnetic, so the webcam can sit in landscape mode or rotate into portrait mode simply by picking it up and repositioning it. The magnetic grip is strong enough to hold the webcam tight on the mount when connected to a monitor or fixed display, though you’ll have to be mindful of its grip on a laptop: Moving it quickly around might cause it to wiggle or even fall. Since the Obsbot Meet 2 is magnetically mounted, it’s easy to pop on and off.Mark Hachman / Foundry Some webcams use an angled “jaws” mount, so that the webcam sits flat and a hinged jaw supports it by leaning back into the display. In this case, Obsbot added an extra “lip” or flat surface to the top of the mount, upon which the Meet 2 magnetically attaches. It works just fine on a desktop monitor or display. On a laptop, though, the weight of the cable always threatens to yank the webcam off, especially as you’re orienting it for the first time. It’s a weak point. The Meet 2 camera itself also includes the standard threaded hole so that it can be screwed into an external mount, if that’s your preference. In part, the fragility is a consequence of the webcam’s small size. It only measures 1.78 x 1.4 x 0.87 inches and weighs about 1.5 ounces. The Obsbot Meet 2 is a little fragile with its magnetic connection to the mount.Mark Hachman / Foundry Again, I’m not a huge fan of the privacy protection, which requires you to snap on a small privacy cover that’s held magnetically. Of course, you can also lose the privacy protector, too, if you put it down and it disappears into the clutter. You’re probably better off sticking it to the side of the camera itself, or underneath the mount. That worked well. Windows can be used to control the webcam itself — complete with upcoming controls for pan and tilt — or you can use the Obsbot software. Previous Obsbot webcams, like the stellar Tiny 4K, used a swiveling AI gimbal to literally follow you around the room. The Meet 2 is fixed, with no pivot points for it to do that. But it can use the 4K resolution to crop and zoom and “follow” you as you move, or accommodate either tight shots on just you or a group of people in frame. Here, it really can’t do too much beyond what even Windows’ “panning” capabilities can handle. Obsbot continues to offer one of the most sophisticated software utility packages of any webcam I’ve tested, and the company puts an amazing amount of work into the various options. The only hitch is that the Obsbot Center control software might not allow you to preview any changes while another Windows app that uses the camera is open. Obsbot Control isn’t necessary for the camera to work, and the package is 450MB by itself. But it lures you in with its convenience alone. There are menus galore to dive into with the Obsbot Meet 2, as well as ways to give yourself a little glow up before your next video call.Mark Hachman / Foundry Samsung began offering “beauty” options ages ago, but Obsbot provides them by the truckload: options to slim your face, add virtual blush and eye shadow, adjust the position of your nose, even rotate your eyes. Want your eyes to sparkle? Obsbot’s software allows you to do that. Filters? Of course. There are packages for both women and men, and that’s not even including the tweaks you can make to your virtual appearance while standing up. About the only deficiency I found is that the software seems to be packaged for all of Obsbot’s cameras, so certain functions (like the gimbal on Obsbot’s Tiny cameras) are there but unavailable. I also wasn’t able to force the webcam to lock on or zoom in using gestures. Yes, it does sound like overkill. And it is, in places: You really don’t need to dial up the “smoothing” features unless you want your face to look artificially young. Accept yourself for who you are, even if this webcam encourages you to touch things up here and there. Obsbot Meet 2: (Superb) Performance Inside the Meet 2 is a 1/2-inch CMOS sensor and ƒ/1.8 large aperture — perhaps not the most powerful in the industry, but capable of delivering great visuals nevertheless. The camera did a very nice job picking up my face, lit with my monitor and some ambient light down in my office. Just tweaking a filter here and there improved it even further, perhaps indicating that AI has a future in webcams. I probably should smile for these photos, but I really think the color and lighting are great. Well done, Obsbot Meet 2.Mark Hachman / Foundry I turned off all of the assistance in shooting photos, however, as I normally do. Upstairs in my living room, lit by all natural light, the Meet 2 also performed well. I figured that while my sofa pillows did a nice job conveying colors, a more unified color card would be a better solution. Everything looks good, to my eye. I didn’t notice as much difference as I thought I would between the 4K and 1080p resolutions. I liked how this webcam made me look just using the 1080p, 60fps/Hz preset. I’ve always been a fan of zooming in a bit, and the sliding zoom controls on this webcam do an excellent job of allowing you to tweak things as you’d like. Clouds and rain darkened this shot, but the Obsbot Meet 2 still looks pretty good.Mark Hachman / Foundry Obsbot has a pair of of omnidirectional mics inside the Meet 2, and I thought they did a very nice job of capturing my voice and eliminating background audio. Since most people naturally focus on the image quality, the audio is where some webcams skate by with poorer quality. The Obsbot Meet 2 offers images that rank just under the category’s best, a function of excellent hardware and an integrated software package that ranks second to none. Should you buy the Obsbot Meet 2? Yes. There are two sticking points: the mount (fine for the camera, but a risk to be yanked off by the cable) and the lack of an integrated privacy shutter. Otherwise, the superb software package and controls, plus the webcam itself, more than make up for it. The Obsbot Meet 2 may be somewhat on the pricier side for a 4K camera at roughly $100. You can go cheaper and still buy a 4K webcam. But I suspect that the Obsboot Meet 2 might make it into the ranks of PCWorld’s best webcams, even so. Read...

More and more AI tools are now becoming agentic, meaning they can perform actions on your behalf. Microsoft really wants to get in on the fun and hopefully convince users that they should switch over to Copilot, and they’re doing so with a new agentic AI tool called Copilot Tasks. Microsoft describes Copilot Tasks as a to-do list that handles all the tasks for you. You can ask Copilot Tasks to take care of recurring tasks, such as creating a weekly plan every Monday or picking out the most important emails in your inbox every evening and suggesting replies. Copilot Tasks will also be able to do things like plan, book, send out, and collect invitations to birthday parties, keep track of your paid subscriptions and cancel the ones you don’t use, and find, compare, and book the best tradespeople as needed. Microsoft states that these agentic AI features are still a “research preview,” so it may be quite some time before they’re actually launched to the general public. If you want to try out an early version of Copilot Tasks, you can sign up for the waiting list. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Easy to assemble and move Includes TizenOS with remote control Good contrast ratio Less expensive than alternatives Cons Short power cord, no built-in battery Modest color gamut Lackluster HDR and motion clarity Our Verdict The Samsung Movingstyle M7 is a mobile display with a smart TV operating system. It’s not perfect, but it delivers on its core features and undercuts the competition on price. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Samsung Movingstyle M7 Retailer Price $699.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Most computer monitors are meant to be used at a desk, but the Samsung Movingstyle M7 is a different breed. It ships with a heavy, wheeled base and pole stand that makes it possible to use nearly anywhere in your home, at least so long as a power outlet is nearby. The monitor also has Samsung’s smart TV operating system and a long list of standard features including Wi-Fi, a remote control, and built-in audio. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best monitors for comparison. Samsung Movingstyle M7 (M70F) specs and features Technically, the Samsung Movingstyle M7 isn’t really a monitor. It’s a bundle that includes the Samsung Smart Monitor M7 and the Movingstyle base. However, it’s not possible to buy the Movingstyle base alone. Display size: 32-inch 16:9 aspect ratio Native resolution: 3840×2160 Panel type: VA-LCD Refresh rate: 60Hz Adaptive sync: None HDR: HDR10 compatible Ports: 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x USB-C with DisplayPort and 65 watts of Power Delivery, 3x USB-A 2.0 Audio: 10-watt speaker system Extra features: Remote control, TizenOS, wheeled stand, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.2 Price: $699.99 MSRP Samsung asks $699.99 for the Movingstyle M7, and it’s currently sold at that price online. That might seem expensive, as the Smart Monitor M7 that is bundled with the Movingstyle M7 retails for less than $250. However, the Movingstyle M7 is actually less expensive than competitive displays like the LG Smart Monitor Swing. Samsung Movingstyle M7 unboxing and assembly PCWorld monitor reviews don’t normally include a section dedicated to unboxing and assembly. With most monitors, the process is straightforward enough to skip. The Samsung Movingstyle M7, with its large floor stand, is a bit different. The monitor arrived in a single outer box containing two inner boxes: one with the Samsung M7 monitor, which can be purchased separately, and one with the Movingstyle stand. Both were tightly packed and the stand’s base weighs nearly 40 pounds, so unpacking takes some effort. I managed to unpack it solo, but it would be best to have someone help. Once everything is out of the box, assembly is straightforward, though it does require tools (which are included). First, the power cord is cabled through the tall pole stand, then the pole attaches to the base with screws and the monitor mount clamps onto the neck. The mount’s vertical position offers a good degree of adjustment. Matthew Smith / Foundry Finally, the monitor attaches to the mount with a VESA bracket, which screws to the back of the monitor. The bracket slides onto the mount and a final screw secures them tightly together. Setup definitely takes some doing. It took me about half an hour from start to finish. However, aside from the tightly packed box, I don’t have any complaints. The assembly instructions were useful and the various pieces screwed or clamped together without issue. Samsung Movingstyle M7 design Once assembled, the Samsung Movingstyle M7 has a clean, if obviously unusual, aesthetic. It is basically a 32-inch monitor mounted to a pole, so it is not exactly subtle, though the white colorway and curved design help it blend into a typical home environment. Matthew Smith / Foundry Samsung pitches this monitor squarely at home users, though it would also work well in a conference room. It is envisioned as a mobile display that can move between a kitchen, a home office, or a guest room as needed. The wheeled stand provides that mobility, allowing the monitor to be positioned where it is needed and rolled aside when it is not. The wheels are small and the clearance on the base is slim, however, so the stand will only roll on flat surfaces like hardwood or tile. One of my biggest concerns before I assembled the Movingstyle M7 was its stability. Fortunately, the stand holds up well in normal use. The base weighs almost 40 pounds, which is roughly four times the weight of the monitor itself, so an accidental bump or jostle is not going to send it to the floor. A determined shove can still tip it, though, so I would be cautious about using this monitor in a home with young children or a rambunctious dog. You will also want to think about the power cord. The Movingstyle M7 doesn’t include a battery and so requires a connection to a power outlet. Samsung’s marketing materials show the monitor with a lengthy white cord, but my review unit shipped with a black cord roughly 10 feet long. Though the wheels on the base make the monitor mobile, you won’t always need to move it for use, as the mount also adjusts for swivel, tilt, and height—though the height adjustment requires unclamping the mount from the pole, which is a bit finicky. The mount also supports 90 degrees of rotation into portrait orientation for those who want to use it that way.Curious readers might wonder if the Movingstyle stand can be used with other monitors. This is physically possible, as it uses a standard 100x100mm VESA mount, but the monitor’s documentation warns against it. I suspect that’s because the weight of the monitor attached has an impact on stability and Samsung doesn’t want to be liable for a too-heavy monitor tipping over. In any case, Samsung doesn’t sell the stand alone. It’s a complete package. Though the wheels on the base make the monitor mobile, you won’t always need to move it for use, as the mount also adjusts for swivel, tilt, and height… Samsung Movingstyle M7 connectivity Connectivity is not the Samsung Movingstyle M7’s most important feature, and it shows. The monitor offers two HDMI 2.0 video inputs and a USB-C port that supports DisplayPort alternate mode. The absence of a standard DisplayPort input may frustrate users who want to connect a desktop PC, though that is probably a less common use case for a monitor like this. The USB-C port also functions as an upstream data connection, linking to three downstream USB-A 2.0 ports. The monitor also has Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2. The Wi-Fi connection allows the monitor to stream content directly from the internet without a connected PC, and the Bluetooth connection supports peripherals including game controllers. The monitor also supports AirPlay for wireless video from Apple devices. Samsung Movingstyle M7 menus and features The Samsung Movingstyle M7 is a full-fledged smart monitor running Samsung’s Tizen OS, the same operating system used by Samsung’s smart televisions. The monitor also ships with a wireless remote control. For all practical purposes, this makes it a 32-inch smart TV. It can stream content from all the major streaming apps, access Samsung’s own services, and run cloud gaming platforms without any external device connected. Matthew Smith / Foundry These features are always at least somewhat useful, but they are particularly useful here. The Movingstyle M7 can function as a fully independent display that needs nothing more than a power outlet and a Wi-Fi connection. I expect a lot of owners will purchase this monitor with no intention of ever connecting an external video source. The Tizen experience is serviceable. As with other Samsung smart monitors I have reviewed, the operating system can feel sluggish when opening settings menus and navigating between options. The interface leans heavily on icons paired with labels that are sometimes truncated and lose meaning out of context. Tizen is of course optimized for a television experience, so your opinion of it will depend on how much you intend to use the Movingstyle M7 as a TV versus a monitor. It’s frustrating if you only want to use the display as a monitor, as everything from setup (which requires Wi-Fi) to changing brightness takes longer than it should. The included remote is essential. However, there’s a multidirectional joystick and a few buttons tucked around the rear center of the display that can serve as a backup if the remote goes missing or you need to make a quick adjustment. In practice, though, you will want the remote in hand for nearly everything. Matthew Smith / Foundry Samsung Movingstyle M7 audio The Movingstyle M7 includes a 10-watt speaker system that delivers serviceable audio quality. Maximum volume is okay for a home office or guest bedroom, but it falls short in larger spaces like a living room or kitchen, especially if you are actually cooking and competing with background noise. Audio quality is clear but flat so more dynamic content like music and movies sound hollow. This is normally the part of a monitor review where I recommend external speakers and mention that most monitors don’t have great speakers, if they have any at all. The catch here is that using external speakers with the Movingstyle M7 is more complicated than usual. Any speakers you pair with this display should ideally move with it, but the stand doesn’t have a mount for them, so you’ll need to give your audio setup some thought. Samsung Movingstyle M7 SDR image quality Samsung’s Movingstyle M7 in fact pairs the stand with the Samsung Smart Monitor M7, which can be purchased on its own (the stand, however, is only available as part of the Movingstyle M7). The Smart Monitor M7 is an affordable monitor with an MSRP of $400, which is often slashed to $250 or less. So, how does its image quality stack up? Matthew Smith / Foundry I measured a maximum SDR brightness of 329 nits which, as the graph shows, is a fine but middle-of-the-road value. This level of brightness is much more than what’s required in most rooms. However, the Movingstyle M7’s mobility means it’s more likely to be used in a living room or kitchen with a lot of ambient light and no way to reduce it. In those situations, the monitor’s SDR brightness can prove merely adequate. Matthew Smith / Foundry Contrast is a win for the Movingstyle M7, as the Samsung Smart Monitor M7 has a Vertical Alignment (VA)-LCD panel. This type of panel can deliver lower levels of brightness in dark scenes, which improves overall contrast and provides a more immersive image. Of course, the Movingstyle M7 won’t match an OLED display, which will look far more alluring and pack more detail into dark scenes. Still, the Movingstyle M7 performs well enough to provide enjoyable contrast in a wide range of movies and games. Matthew Smith / Foundry Unfortunately, the Movingstyle M7’s color gamut is a weakness. I measured a gamut that spanned only 97 percent of sRGB and 78 percent of DCI-P3. As the graph shows, this is a fairly narrow color gamut for a modern display and it’s where the Smart Monitor M7’s low price is most apparent. The narrow color gamut is obvious in real-world use. Content looks unsaturated and lacks the impact it would have on a display with a wider color gamut. It’s passable, but it’s not going to impress viewers who are even moderately critical about image quality. Matthew Smith / Foundry Color accuracy is better, though the story has nuance. My testing found a very low color error across most colors, but a high color error (delta 6.3) in cyan. Subjectively, I thought the monitor lacked the ability to show much nuance in the blue-cyan range, causing colors in this range to seem particularly muted and unremarkable.The Movingstyle M7 results were once again solid in gamma and color temperature. I measured a gamma curve of 2.2, which is what I expect to see at default settings. I also measured a color temperature of 6700K, which is only a tad off the target of 6500K. That means the image looks a bit cooler than what’s ideal but is generally well-balanced.Sharpness is good, too, as the monitor delivers 3840×2160 resolution. If anything, the monitor tends to look a bit sharper than most 4K monitors in normal use. That’s because I typically viewed the monitor from further away than a desktop monitor. I was often at least 4 feet away from the Movingstyle M7 when viewing it. At that distance, a 32-inch display with 4K resolution looks remarkably crisp. The Movingstyle M7’s overall SDR image quality is not remarkable but holds up well enough. It provides solid contrast and a well-balanced image with generally good color accuracy. However, the monitor’s color gamut and brightness could be better. The vast majority of monitors in the same price range will have better image quality but, of course, they also won’t have a mobile stand. Samsung Movingstyle M7 HDR image quality The Samsung Movingstyle M7 technically supports HDR, as it can accept an HDR10 signal. However, aside from the mention of HDR10 support in the monitor specifications, Samsung doesn’t mention HDR. That’s for good reason. While an HDR10 signal can be viewed, it doesn’t look great due to the monitor’s limited brightness and color gamut. I wouldn’t say that HDR content looks better than SDR at all—just a bit different in terms of overall color presentation.In short, the Movingstyle M7 isn’t a good choice if HDR is at the top of your list of priorities. Samsung Movingstyle M7 motion performance I can say the same for the Movingstyle M7’s motion performance. The display has a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz and doesn’t offer adaptive sync, so motion fluidity isn’t great in modern PC or console games. I also noticed a lot of motion blur, which reduced motion clarity. To be clear, the motion performance looked fine for movies and shows. But if you’re interested in attaching a PlayStation, Xbox, or gaming PC, you’ll likely be disappointed. Is the Samsung Movingstyle M7 worth it? The Samsung Movingstyle M7 is a niche monitor that does what it was designed to do. It’s easy to assemble, moves across flat surfaces without trouble, and has a stand that makes the monitor usable almost anywhere you have open floor space. At a glance the $700 MSRP might seem steep, but it’s not bad for this type of display. LG’s StandByMe and Smart Monitor Swing are both currently priced around $800 at retail. You might save money if you go the DIY route and choose a stand and monitor independently, but the end result is unlikely to look as attractive (and in some cases will be downright ugly). If you want a large mobile display that you can position nearly anywhere the floor space is available, the Samsung Movingstyle M7 is a sensible choice. Read...

I’m not a huge PC gamer, which means I’ve never really considered buying a mechanical keyboard. In my experience, everyone I know who owns one has the fancy light-up kind for “serious” gamers. But recently I noticed how many cheap/affordable ones are available on Amazon, with numerous options going for less than $50. I even spotted one for just $20 and it looked pretty good—so much so that it felt like a bargain I shouldn’t pass up. So I jumped on it. I put in my order and waited to find out what all the fuss was about. Honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting. Could a mechanical keyboard really be a game-changer? Or would it be a disappointment that didn’t live up to the hype? How much of my experience would be “valid” considering I went for a bottom-barrel model? Would I even notice the cheaper build quality and lack of features? It was an experiment for me… and the results were mixed. As a mechanical keyboard virgin, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about Having worked in online publishing for decades, I’ve met a lot of people who are deeply passionate about technology—and so I’m used to being recommended products left, right, and center. I also love tech myself but I’m more of a skeptic, the opposite of an early adopter. I try to take a more objective view on what’s trending in the world of gadgetry and keep a level head when it comes to newfangled products. Here’s my “before” setup: an unassuming wireless membrane keyboard.Dave Parrack / Foundry Mechanical keyboards have obviously been around for a long time, stretching back as far as the 1970s, but when they became mainstream in the early 2010s, I was relentlessly pushed to try one by colleagues and friends alike. Not being a PC gamer—preferring the ease of console gaming—meant I was never persuaded to invest in one. However, the germ of the idea never quite died, thus I took a punt on it when I spotted this decent-looking mechanical keyboard for only $20. Will a cheap $20 mechanical keyboard be enough for me? It was a lot easier to keep out of the mechanical keyboard trend when everything was $100 and over, but there’s really no excuse not to give it a whirl when the entry price has come down so much. Sure, those cheapies are mainly Chinese brands that cut corners and skimp on essential features and maybe even neglect some safety precautions… But at $20, it’s hard to resist. And given how much time I spend on my PC as a working writer, I might as well try it out. If there’s even the tiniest potential for this peripheral to be an absolute game-changer that revolutionizes my productivity and makes me enjoy typing that much more, then I owe it to myself to see if that’s true. The Newmen GM611 mechanical keyboard, ready and waiting for me.Dave Parrack / Foundry The mechanical keyboard I ended up getting is the Newmen GM611. Newmen may seem like a proper brand at first glance—it’s certainly better than so many of the nonsensical all-cap ones you often see on Amazon, like VRURC and JAJAFOOK—but it’s a China-based company like the rest. Peeking at its Amazon storefront reveals a specialization in keyboards, mice, and webcams. Not too bad so far. So I bit the bullet. I sent in my order and also snagged a USB-A-to-USB-C converter with it. When it arrived, I promptly plugged it into my PC and took it for a spin… What I like about the keyboard I like the mechanical keyboard’s appearance. It somehow manages to look sleek and robust at the same time. It’s small but perfectly formed, with the only real omission being a dedicated number pad. However, it looks great sitting on my desk in front of my PC, especially when the sun sets and the multicolored keycaps light up. Dave Parrack / Foundry I also found the act of typing quite satisfying. Maybe because it was novel and something different to what I’m used to, or maybe because the clacking noise made each button press feel more definitive. Once I built new muscle memory for the key layout and started tolerating the sound (more on this below), it was surprisingly enjoyable. It’s been a while since I felt this much satisfaction just from tapping away on keys. Plus, setting up the keyboard was simple and seamless, both on my Windows PC and on my Chromebook. I plugged it in… and it worked! Right away. No extra effort on my part. I’m sure that’s the case with almost any reputable keyboard these days, but I appreciated it given the extra-cheap nature of the one I bought. No wrinkles. What I don’t like about the keyboard The first thing that struck me—and the main thing I’ve come to dislike about mechanical keyboards—was the noise. The clackety clack as I typed away on the keys? Very distracting! Maybe I’ll start to like it after a while, but I can see (or, in this case, hear) why mechanical keyboards are designed more for gaming than writing. Dave Parrack / Foundry I also had to build new muscle memory because the keys were taller and more spread out than the typical low-profile layouts I’m used to. It also surprised me how much pressure was needed to trigger each key. (I’ve been using a bog-standard membrane keyboard since my Windows 7 days—a long time spent on the same keyboard! We don’t recommend membrane keyboards, by the way.) And since this is a cheap mechanical keyboard, the customization options are limited. It has 19 different LED backlight effects that I can cycle through, plus 5 brightness levels. But that’s all. I’ve seen more expensive mechanical keyboards with much more to them. Of course, this is more an observation than a complaint. Can’t really expect all that much from something that only costs $20, can I? Do I buy a better one? Or go back to my standard membrane keyboard? Ultimately, having used this cheap mechanical keyboard for a few weeks now, I have a choice to make. Do I carry on with it? Invest in a better, more expensive model? Or return to the membrane keyboard that came with my Windows PC and is showing its age? My setup again, except this time with my new mechanical keyboard.Dave Parrack / Foundry While I enjoyed the typing experience on my cheap mechanical keyboard, I’m not enamored enough on the whole to invest further on a “better” model. If I were to ever start gaming on a PC in a big way, it might make sense then. But for now? When I really only use my keyboard to type words for work? Not going to happen. That said, given how cheap this keyboard was, I’m pleased and have no regrets. I won’t be getting rid of it. It’s still going to take some time to get used to it—especially the noise—but I’ll be going back and forth between this and my old membrane keyboard, at least until that one dies. I do like the tactile typing. Maybe one day I’ll love it. Further reading: The best mechanical keyboards Read...

Rendering accurate text has long been a stumbling block for even the most advanced AI image generators, but it’s among the strongest suits of Google’s just-updated Nano Banana 2 engine. Available now in the Gemini app (you’ll also find it in Google Search, AI Studio, and other Google products), Nano Banana 2 boasts a range of new features, including up to 2K resolution that can be upscaled up to 4K, “enhanced” instruction following that helps the model adhere better to your prompts, and the ability to lean on Gemini’s “real-world” knowledge, allowing it to draw real-time information via web search as it renders images. Not bad, but even more impressive is Nano Banana 2’s text fidelity. I’ve been asking Nano Banana 2 to create images with billboards, signs, newspapers, and other objects with embedded text, and it’s been performing like a champ, largely avoiding the gibberish that earlier AI image generators typically produced when trying to render letters and words. For example, I prompted Nano Banana 2 to render an image of a robot smoking a cigarette in Times Square, with a neon marquee reading “Nano Banana 2 on Broadway” in the background. No problem, and it rendered the image (above) in roughly 10 seconds. I then asked Nano Banana 2 to create a photo of a woman reading a newspaper in a breakfast nook, with the newspaper headline reading “Nano Banana 2 makes its debut.” But for this test, I upped the ante: I asked the engine to write the sub-headline and the article itself, and directed that the story should specifically be about Nano Banana 2.  Google Well, the model got the subheadline just right, but even better, it did write the article–up to a point, anyway. The article text is a tad wiggly, but you can almost read it. I then pushed Nano Banana 2 a little more, asking it to zoom in on the article and enhance the text. Google Here, the text rendering broke down a bit, “Google has unveiled its latest akthrough [sic] in generative AI, the ‘Nano Banana 2’,” the article reads, “promising a major leap [the word “leap” is partially obscured by a finger] in image generation fidelity.” Not bad, but as you keep reading, the text fidelity does starts to crumble. Finally, I tried asking Nano Banana 2 to draw a diagram of–well, itself. “Render a diagram of nano banana 2’s architecture within the greater Gemini framework, complete with text captions,” I prompted, and about 15 seconds later I got this: Google Looking closely at the diagram, I didn’t see any text gibberish at all, and the diagram and captions seemed to make sense, or at least it did to my untrained eye. Plugging the diagram into the Gemini app, the “thinking” version of Gemini assured me it was a “remarkably accurate architectural map” of the overall Gemini framework, accurately depicting how the new model can handle up to five consistent characters within an image workflow. It also correctly referenced the brand-new GemPix 2 Diffusion Renderer, the Nano Banana 2 component that takes the engine’s native 2K image renders and upscales them to 4K. All in all, very impressive, although Nano Banana 2 also begs the question of when OpenAI will counter with a follow-up to last year’s GPT Image 1.5. That could happen any day now, if not today. Read...

It’s time to get a laptop that won’t disappoint you day in and day out. The Acer Swift 16 AI is a solid pick for that, with a good configuration and an even better price now that it’s on sale! Best Buy is currently selling it with a massive $470 discount, dropping it down to just $779.99. That’s a crazy, crazy price for a laptop of this caliber. At its core, it has a super-speedy Intel Core Ultra 7 256V CPU, which qualifies it as a Copilot+ PC that’s capable of Windows AI features and can handle pretty much all but the most demanding of tasks. Rounded out with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM (pretty decent given the current RAM shortage that’s ruining everything) and a spacious 1TB SSD, this laptop won’t disappoint. You’ll enjoy responsive usage and fast system starts, app launches, and file transfers all around. But that’s not all. Treat your eyes to the beautiful 16-inch 2880×1800 (3K) screen with vibrant OLED panel, delivering the blackest blacks and vivid contrast that’ll blow you away whether you’re gaming or watching Netflix. The 120Hz refresh rate is adequate for gaming, too, and the 340 nits of brightness is enough as long as you aren’t using the laptop out in the sun. With Intel Arc 140V graphics, it’s actually not bad for casual gaming (and it can even do some ray tracing). Other notable bits include 19.5 hours of stated battery life (expect about half that in real-world usage) and a surprising amount of connectivity via double Thunderbolt 4, double USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and an audio jack. It also has a 1440p webcam (you don’t often see that much resolution in laptop webcams) with infrared, meaning it can also do Windows Hello facial recognition for quick and secure logins. You’d normally have to pay well over a grand for a laptop like this. It’s suitable for business, productivity, gaming, or just as an everyday daily driver for leisure. At this price, you’d be crazy to skip past it. But if you happen to miss it, see our daily updated roundup of the best laptop deals to find another one worth jumping on. Get the Acer Swift 16 AI with Core Ultra 7 and 16GB RAM for $470 offBuy now at Best Buy Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Impressive battery life Colorful OLED panel Strong performance (with the right settings) Great connectivity Sleek, lightweight design Cons Display could be brighter, faster, and sharper Keyboard feel is inConsistent Battery takes a hit in practical use Our Verdict The MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ has a solid formula. It’s fast, efficient, built well, lightweight, and not exceedingly expensive. There are a few areas it could have improved, but the bargain it strikes is a good one that lets it prove a great value. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ is one of the first few laptops in the new slate of machines running on refreshed Intel hardware, bringing some exciting bumps to graphical performance and efficiency. It also gets fitted into a new design that’s sleek, slim, and a step away from the gamer aesthetic that many prior MSI machines exhibited. In our testing, the hardware held up well and the internals held up even better. With that, the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ proves a potent option for those looking for sleek performance and excellent longevity, though a few weaker aspects ultimately leave me more excited for updated models from different brands. MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+: Specs and features CPU: Intel Core Ultra X7 358H Memory: 32GB LPDDR5x-8533 Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc B390 Display: 14-inch 1920×1200 OLED touchscreen, 60Hz, Glossy, Stylus included Storage: 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD – Micron 2500_MTFDKBA1T0QGN Webcam: 1080p + IR Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C with Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6.0 Biometrics: Windows Hello fingerprint, facial recognition Battery capacity: 78.6 watt-hours Dimensions: 12.42 x 8.74 x 0.55 inches Weight: 3.02 pounds MSRP: $1299 as-tested ($1,299 base) At the time of writing, the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ was offered in just one configuration. This included the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H paired with 32GB of memory and Intel Arc B390 graphics. That said, MSI’s product details alluded to both Intel Core Ultra X9 configurations and lower-end configurations that would not include Arc graphics. So, it’s likely more models will join the stack, adding more powerful and more affordable options.  Playing offline video with the display set to 250 nits, the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ ran for an astounding 34 hours and 28 minutes — blowing everything else we’ve tested out of the water. MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+: Design and build quality Foundry / Mark Knapp The MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ is a sleekly built 2-in-1 laptop. It doesn’t do too much to be flashy or stand out, but it has curb appeal. The aluminum alloy chassis is consistent with its rounded edges and corners, which give it a comfortable feel even when in its tablet mode.  The hinges are the simple 360-degree style we see on most 2-in-1 models, not something more lavish or unique. They’re functional, but they do let the screen wiggle a bit after making adjustments. It can also be a little tricky to open the lid with just one hand.  Even though you’re getting an all-metal construction for the chassis, it does flex a little bit. It’s more than I’d expect, but not a worrying amount. On the flip side, the display lid flexes less than a lot of other laptops. Altogether it’s a fair showing for a laptop this thin. The screen gets a Gorilla Glass finish that extends all the way to the edges rather than swapping over to plastic for the bezels. Those bezels are thin on the sides but thicker at the top and thickest at the bottom — pretty typical for 2-in-1s. The upper bezel squeezes in a webcam with a physical privacy shutter that’s easy (but not too easy) to slide into place and two mics. MSI actually built in a third mic on the keyboard deck just to the left of the Caps Lock key.  Underneath, the laptop sits on rubber feet with one wide foot stretching across the back, which helps prevent reintake of the hot air exhausted out of the back edge of the system. Foundry / Mark Knapp Between the two front feet, there’s a charging slot for the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+’s included stylus. The stylus fully tucks away into this slot. It pops out using magnetism when a small latch is pulled out of the way. Unfortunately, this system makes it very fussy to get back into place. The magnets want to push it right back out and rotate it so that the charging pins don’t line up right, and it’s a very fine line between fully inserted and not quite inserted enough to avoid having the laptop pop it right back out.  The stylus is a very thin, akin to the kind you’d find for phones. It tracks accurately and makes for a more precise input than the trackpad or fingers for jotting notes or doodling. But it’s not a high-performance stylus with pressure or tilt sensitivity. At least it triggers hand rejection after it’s been used (but not before).  MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+: Keyboard, trackpad Foundry / Mark Knapp The MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ features a decent keyboard that some may like. The keys have a short travel that can make for quick, light-touch typing. The stabilization is also pretty good. But they lack much tactility, and the keycaps are quite smooth and don’t have much contour, which I found held me back as I had a hard time confidently feeling each key and keypress. I was able to get up to a typing speed of 112 words per minute in Monketype, but struggled to keep my accuracy up above 95 percent. The keys get white backlighting, and thankfully MSI kept the keycaps black and legends white, which helps with visibility, though it can be a little hard to tell the backlighting is on (and wasting battery) in bright conditions.  The trackpad is large and fairly smooth, but it’s otherwise unremarkable. The physical click is light, plasticky, and quickly becomes too stiff above the bottom third of the trackpad. The top corners of the trackpad include shortcuts to the calculator and the MSI Center S software, which is fine, I suppose, but MSI Center S has a second shortcut on the F7 key. The trackpad also supports several other gestures and users can set up three additional gestures. But, crucially, MSI has locked the defaults — no customizing those — and made the whole system all-or-nothing, forcing you to either enable all of its gestures or disable all of them.  MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+: Software note The system comes with Norton pre-installed, which normally I would say isn’t too big a deal. I don’t care for it personally, but a freebie is a freebie. However, in this case, Norton created issues. I found many webpages failing to load frequently with no clear reason why. I’d go to Amazon, LinkedIn, or Facebook — common websites — and the loading wheel would just spin and spin even as I ran a speed test in a different tab that showed a fast connection. After having had enough, I tried uninstalling Norton and as soon as it finished, those pages finished loading. Norton also appears to have been responsible for another annoying behavior where instead of going to sleep when the lid was shut, the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ would simply power down. It was plenty fast to boot back up, but this still closed all my browser tabs. As soon as I uninstalled Norton, this behavior went away.  It’s all the more curious that any of this happened in the first place, as I had at least disabled Norton from the start.  MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+: Display, audio Foundry / Mark Knapp The MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+’s display is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it has some lovely qualities. It achieves 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space and it even proved quite accurate with a measured average dE1976 of 0.57 and a max of 1.41. Those are great results. As an OLED panel, it’s also naturally responsive and has an infinite contrast ratio.  But the display is just 1920×1200, which is decent but not super sharp next to the glut of 2880×1800 competitors in this space. The display is also not impressively bright. It maxed out a surprisingly low 294 nits. In an office space or dimmer interiors, it’s not an issue, but that combined with the glossy display makes it harder to use effectively in bright spaces even with the screen dialed up to its max brightness. There’s a definite downside to the support for touch and the stylus: You can see the digitizing layer. On areas of the screen that are one solid color like the white background or a word document, the little dots that comprise the digitizing layer are readily visible, looking like tiny little speckles on the screen. It’s subtle and hides away better on darker and non-uniform backgrounds, but it gives a softness to visuals that impacts fine details. It may not irk everyone, and it naturally becomes more subtle the further away you view the screen, but I still find it hurts the overall experience even at reasonable viewing distances.  The laptop combines a pair of two-watt woofers and a pair of two-watt tweeters, which give it a pleasant sound without being too harsh in the mids or lacking fullness. The bass is still mild at best, and you’ll miss out on plenty of impact if you’re listening to music or watching movies. But you’re still getting loud, crisp speakers that more than do the job. MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The webcam on the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ supports Windows Hello facial recognition, which is a quick and convenient way to sign into the system. Beyond that, it’s kind of bad. Even with a 1080p resolution for video, it looks grainy and like everything it captures is smeared in grease, erasing any sort of fine detail. It gets its exposure right, but seeing such poor results even in good lighting conditions is a disappointment. Thankfully, the triple mic array performs far more admirably. It picks up my voice quite well, providing a clear reproduction of what I say while also suppressing background noise decently. An ambulance siren and a fan (that started squealing due to some fault) during my test recording were both audible in my test, but the siren was hushed and the squealing fan didn’t stop the mics from picking up my voice clearly.  In addition to facial recognition, the laptop includes a fingerprint scanner in the power button, which sits near the top-right corner of the keyboard. The scanner unlocked the laptop quickly after registering my fingerprint, which it did successfully about 50 percent of the time — a pretty good result in my experience using laptop fingerprint scanners. MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+: Connectivity Foundry / Mark Knapp Other thin-and-light laptops have been warned: there’s no excuse for skimping on connectivity. Even with the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ measuring just over a half-inch thick, it squeezes in a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports, a pair of USB-A 10Gbps ports, a headset jack, and an HDMI 2.1 port. The fact that it even found space to house its skinny little stylus and charge it is icing on the cake. Any small laptop rocking fewer ports looks stingy in comparison. An SD or microSD card slot could have been a good bonus, but the USB ports are good enough for peripheral readers and hubs.  The system goes heavy on wireless connectivity, too, with Intel Killer Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 connections. Both have worked consistently in my testing, providing fast and reliable wireless connections.  MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+: Performance The MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ has abundant performance thanks to its new Panther Lake chip, which combines both a very capable CPU and an integrated GPU that goes well beyond what we’re used to seeing. Though, to be upfront, the default power plan for the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ doesn’t let the system put its best foot forward. With ample memory and fast storage, it’s little surprise to see the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ score high marks in PCMark 10’s holistic benchmark, which examines how well a computer can perform routine office tasks like browsing, web-conferencing, spreadsheets, and media editing. The system gets a strong boost in the photo editing sub-test thanks to its graphics performance.  The MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ gets well ahead of recent thin-and-light champs like the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI and the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition, showing some of the benefit of having newer hardware. But we can also see that the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ isn’t always going to lead the way. By default, the system comes in a balanced power profile, and that conservative setup can be enough to hold it back.  Running our Handbrake test, which tasks the system with a hefty encoding task that slams the CPU long and hard, the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ fell well behind the pack. It took almost twice as long as the Dell XPS 14 running the same CPU and lagged behind even a last-gen CPU in the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition. Perhaps the only reason it beat the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI is because that system, too, ran in a balanced power profile by default. You might assume the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ has weak cooling that throttles it during long tests, but that’s not quite it. Instead Handbrake helps demonstrate what a crucial difference simple power settings can make.  Managing power use is good for battery life, but it’s worth knowing just how much power the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ is willing to sacrifice. So I repeated a few of the tests in a performance power profile and the difference was stark. The MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ actually has plenty of speed to offer and a decent cooling setup that combines a vapor chamber and two cooling fans that work quite well without getting too loud. While its balanced profile again showed so-so results in Cinebench, narrowly beating some last-gen Intel-powered systems, the performance profile was enough to turn it into a leader. It managed a single-core performance bump of 7 percent in Cinebench R23 and 5 percent in R24, and a multi-core performance bump of 19 percent in Cinebench R23 and 49.5 percent in Cinebench R24. Not only did the system prove willing to boost its performance, but it also sustained longer tasks better rather than quickly throttling under a load.  This performance held true for the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+’s graphics as well. Even in its balanced mode, the new Intel Arc B390 graphics were enough to give it an edge over earlier Intel Arc 140V systems, but it still lagged well behind the Dell XPS 14 running in performance mode. But as soon as the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ toggled over to performance mode, it leapt ahead. Its performance even puts it in league with some systems running discrete GPUs like the RTX 4050 or RTX 3060, though it tended to fall a little short of those, especially in thicker, higher-wattage systems.  The MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ proved capable of some heavier gaming as well. It hit an average of 68fps (49fps in Balanced mode) in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p and the Highest graphics preset. And it held a steady 30-40fps in Helldivers 2 at Native 1920×1200 (no DLSS/XeSS/FSR) and Medium graphics settings. Even while running hard, the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ doesn’t get too hot or loud. The fans can be a little shrill, but not horrible.  MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+: Battery life The flip side of the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+’s conservative Balanced power profile is that it can chug along like no laptop I’ve ever seen. We’ve seen laptops leap up in battery life over the last couple years, doggedly trying to catch up to Apple’s first-party silicon, and there have been some huge successes (Lenovo’s ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 breaking records when we first tested it). And the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition dazzled with plenty of performance, a gorgeous design and display, and nearly 24 hours of runtime in our standard battery test. Even then, the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ puts it to shame.  Playing offline video with the display set to 250 nits, the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ ran for an astounding 34:28 (a result so staggering I almost wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t already seen the laptop muster 29:45 in the same test when I had started it from 93 percent charge because it was refusing to charge to 100 percent for an unknown reason). This not only blows everything we’ve tested before out of the water but it also trounces the Dell XPS 14 running on the same chip and an only slightly smaller battery. The MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ had still more to offer. Running PCMark 10’s built-in battery benchmark, still at 250 nits and this time with Wi-Fi still on to better simulate real-world use, the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ lasted 18:14. That saw it run nearly as long as the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI managed in its offline video playback test. All that said, actual battery life can still vary quite a bit. In my regular use, which involves a good few Google Docs and Sheets open in a tab-heavy Chrome browser with side-by-side windows and frequent video or music playback, the MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ was on pace for nine to 10 hours of runtime. It’s very respectable, but still shows that scenario and usage play a huge role.  MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+: Conclusion The MSI Prestige Flip 14 AI+ has a lot going for it. It’s a nicely built machine and is surprisingly light for all it packs inside. It’s all the more impressive to see the levels of performance it can eke out thanks to Intel’s latest hardware, especially with its graphics solution. To pair all that with battery life that tops the charts in our testing simply makes it an astounding thin-and-light option. It would have been a lot more exciting if it were paired with a sharper, faster, and brighter display. And even with its excellent efficiency, battery life in actual use falls back to earthly lengths. Ultimately, that prevents it from being a truly brilliant machine, but it has enough going for it to be otherwise great. Read...

TL:DR: Sometimes a faster computer is just an OS upgrade away — get Windows 11 Pro for $12.97 (MSRP $199). When a computer starts feeling slow, most people assume the hardware is done for. But a surprising number of performance issues come from outdated software — cluttered menus, inefficient multitasking, and security processes working harder than they need to. That’s where an operating system refresh helps. And right now, Windows 11 Pro is $12.97 (MSRP $199), and installing it can feel less like an upgrade and more like clearing years of clutter from your screen. The interface is cleaner, windows snap into organized layouts, and virtual desktops make separating work and personal apps much easier. Security is also built deeper into the system. Features like TPM-based protection, BitLocker encryption, and Smart App Control run in the background rather than relying on extra utilities. Then there are the practical improvements: faster wake-from-sleep, improved search, better external monitor handling, and built-in Copilot assistance for quick actions and summaries. None of this turns a decade-old machine into a gaming monster — but it often makes everyday use smoother, with browsing, documents, video calls, and multitasking feel less cluttered and more predictable. Don’t miss grabbing Windows 11 Pro for just $12.97 (MSRP $199). Microsoft Windows 11 ProSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

With the new Firefox 148 browser update for Windows, macOS, and Linux, Mozilla is introducing a number of new features and improvements. For example, the backup feature is now available to more users, and you can disable all AI features with a single click. The developers have also fixed a large number of security vulnerabilities. Mozilla plans to release Firefox 149 in four weeks on March 24th. What’s new in Firefox 148? Probably the most important new feature is the AI Settings section of the browser settings. Here, you can disable all “AI”-based functions, then manually re-enable the ones you do want. For example, you might want to keep the translation function, which works locally and not in the cloud. You can also select which AI chatbot you want to use in the dedicated sidebar (unless you, of course, disable everything). Windows 10 users who have Firefox set to delete browser data upon exit can now also use the data backup feature. Data that’s set to be deleted won’t be backed up. This feature is under Synchronization settings. Security fixes in Firefox 148 Mozilla lists over 50 vulnerabilities that have been fixed in its 2026-13 Security Advisory for Firefox 148. Mozilla classifies more than half of the externally reported security vulnerabilities as high risk. Five of these relate to ways of breaking out of the browser sandbox, and eight use-after-free vulnerabilities have been plugged in the JavaScript components. Many of the vulnerabilities could be exploited to inject and execute code on a system. None of these security vulnerability are knowingly being attacked in the wild. The last three entries in the Security Advisory list an unspecified number of internally discovered vulnerabilities, which are summarized under CVE numbers CVE-2026-2807, CVE-2026-2792, and CVE-2026-2793. These problematic memory access errors are also considered high risk, and some of them even affect Firefox ESR and Thunderbird. Firefox ESR and Thunderbird In addition to Firefox 148, Mozilla has also released Firefox ESR versions 140.8.0 and 115.33.0, although the latter is only available for Windows 7/8.1 and macOS 10.12 to 10.14. In the ESR versions, Mozilla has fixed the aforementioned vulnerabilities that are present in the partly-well-established code of these older browser generations. In Firefox ESR 140.8, there are 37 fixed vulnerabilities; in Firefox ESR 115.33, there are 21. Note that Firefox ESR 115.33 is the last release of its branch, to be discontinued this month. Thunderbird 148.0 and 140.8.0esr have also been released. In these versions, the developers have also fixed dozens of security vulnerabilities inherited from Firefox. Read...

Linux gaming is kind of having a moment. Granted, that’s almost entirely on the back of Valve’s Steam Deck, and the Linux hippies probably don’t love having to thank a billionaire for their platform gains. But with the Steam Machine on the horizon (hopefully), even Nvidia is taking notice, according to a couple of new job listings. Nvidia’s job postings now include a “Linux Graphics Senior Software Engineer” and a “Senior System Software Engineer, Vulkan Performance.” The former is self-explanatory; the latter is all about the Vulkan graphics API, a cross-platform alternative to DirectX. And perhaps more pertinently, it’s a core component of Proton, the Valve software that makes it super easy and barely an inconvenience to run Windows games on the Linux-based SteamOS that powers the Steam Deck. While it’s not perfect, notably missing out on core features (some would say “drawbacks”) of some anti-cheat software for online multiplayer, Proton is reliable enough that it makes even brand-new games playable on the Steam Deck and Linux. So it’s not surprising that Nvidia is looking into it, even though most of the relevant hardware is running on AMD graphics (an integrated APU for the Steam Deck and most handheld gaming PCs, and a discrete Radeon card for the Steam Machine). The job listing for Vulkan specifically calls out “Diagnosing GPU and CPU performance bottlenecks in Vulkan and Proton titles” as well as “Implementing driver performance improvements,” as noted by VideoCardz.com. That sure sounds like Nvidia is trying to buck its reputation for poor driver support on Linux, specifically for gaming. Nvidia might be keeping an eye open to the expansion of SteamOS and other Windows alternatives among gamers, too. Read...