LG's StanbyMe 2 is an unquestionably cool TV at a questionably high price
We knew earlier this month that the StanbyMe 2 would be coming soon, but LG waited until it was available to share that it costs $1,299.99 — $300 more than its predecessor did at launch. Just as with the original StanbyMe, I have to take a moment to resist the urge to call this a terrible value, since OLED TVs and brilliant monitors are readily available well under $1,000. But for those who were, at least, mildly enthused about a major manufacturer putting a screen on wheels, perhaps the added versatility in the StanbyMe 2 makes it worth actually considering for your home.
As if one rolling screen wasn't enough for 2025, LG's Smart Monitor Switch is another option, although it only works while connected to a power outlet. Similarly, it costs $1,299.99, but it has a bigger 31.5-inch 4K IPS touchscreen display, as well as a stand that offers more points of articulation. It's more flush with ports, offering three USB-C ports with 65W Power Delivery, and two HDMI 2.0 ports.
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Tom's Guide
2 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
Here's how to set up parental controls on your smart TV — Samsung, Google TV, Roku and more
If you have a young child and want to control the content they have access to and see, parental controls on your TV are key. You could enable these on each app individually, but that can a bit of a pain, and most of the best TVs come equipped with their own special parental controls to streamline app access, restricted content, and more. While many displays do have parental controls, some will have more extensive controls than others. For instance, Google TV has some of the widest and most advanced parental controls for TVs, while LG and Samsung don't quite hit all of the features you might want. I've listed below the steps to find and enable parental controls on Google TV and Samsung Tizen OS. Unfortunately, Roku TVs don't have any settings on-device, so you'll have to go to your account and set that up separately. Read on to find out why you should use — and how to enable — parental controls on your smart TV. Parental controls are a great way of keeping your kids safe from seeing unwanted and inappropriate content. Whether it's an R-rated movie or a YouTube video filled with expletives, there's a ton of content you'll want your child to avoid, but you can't always be there to make sure they stay safe. That's where parental controls come in. You can lock different apps so your kids can't access them, set screen time so they aren't watching the TV all day, and filter content that matches what you want them to see. Parental controls can even make it so your child can't access external devices, like Blu-ray players and USB drives, too. They simply give you peace of mind if you're not home or not in the same room with them while they're using the TV, preventing them from seeing anything untoward. Depending on the Google TV you're using, you should have a button on the remote that instantly access the Settings menu. Otherwise, you can click up on the home screen and press the gear icon. Scroll down to the bottom of the menu and click on System. You'll find this under the Apps section and right above Remotes & Accessories. Head down to Parental Controls located right below system sounds and right above Gesture Control. It's here where you'll be able to find a slew of settings you can tailor to your preferences. Google TV has a ton of various settings under its parental controls. Screen time is a good one, allowing you to set a time limit and specific hours when the TV can be used. You can also restrict apps and channels to your liking, and setting a pin ensures your child can't access these places unless you let them. Proximity alert is a more niche setting, but could be worth it for families with more children or more active kids. You will have to connect a special camera to the TV, which might not be to everyone's liking. Google TVs also have an "Add a kid" account portal, which is a handy feature for a TV inside of a child's bedroom or for separating content across those who live in the house. Samsung TVs have a quick settings bar, so you'll need to click the Settings button on your remote then access the All Settings menu before proceeding. Scroll down to the bottom of the settings menu and look for General & Privacy. You'll see it right below Broadcasting and right above Support. You'll find Parental Settings closer to the bottom of the list alongside System manager. Samsung's Tizen OS doesn't have a robust parental control system like Google TV, but you can restrict apps and various programs. There's a program rating lock setting, which essentially lets you hide content on Samsung's free channels based on the rating of the program. You can also hide apps, and both will require a pin so your child can't access them. It would be nice if Samsung added a bit more controls for parents to use in keeping their kids safe while accessing Tizen OS, but these should be more than adequate for most users. Unfortunately, Roku doesn't offer any TV-specific parental settings for you to set, but you can create a four-digit pin in your account online. You'll have to head to and login to set this up. Once you're logged in, you'll see a page full of different settings. There will be four main sections, including Account, Payments & subscriptions, Streaming Store, and Device settings. You'll want to look directly under the latter option for PIN/Parental controls. From here you'll be able to create a four-digit PIN and enable two different settings. The first is Subscribing, making purchases, and adding apps, which I recommend setting to the top-most function. This makes it so a PIN is required whenever someone wants to subscribe, rent, or buy shows and movies, or add apps to the system — all of which are things you'll definitely not want your child doing unsupervised. You can also set Parental controls for The Roku Channel dependent upon the rating. This will obviously come down to preference and how old your child is, but there are a good selection of options that will keep your child safe when watching the Roku Channel. You can also check out Roku's own support page called How to block content using parental controls for more information on blocking content on your Roku TV or device. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
Tom's Guide
5 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
I spent a month testing this stylish rose gold mini PC — and it's easy to recommend at $300 or less
The Geekom A5 2025 Edition is a refreshed but more affordable version of the original A5 that shows just how capable budget mini PCs have become. Often available for less than $300, this rose gold-colored mini PC doesn't skimp on style or ports. The chrome edge along the top and the lined airflow cutouts give the Geekom A5 2025 Edition a more premium look, and you'll find full-sized ports around every corner of this mini PC. While this refreshed version of the A5 has a slightly less powerful processor than its predecessor, it more than makes up for that in upgradability. The case opens easily, allowing you to add more storage in the extra M.2 SSD slot or even the 2.5-inch drive bay. Likewise, while it uses older DDR4 memory, you can easily swap out the included 16GB of RAM and go all the way up to 64GB. My Geekom A5 2025 Edition review will help you decide if this small, budget-friendly desktop computer is the best mini PC for you or if it's worth spending slightly more for something more powerful. Geekom A5 Geekom A5 2025 Edition (as tested) Price $449 $399 CPU AMD Ryzen 7 5800H, AMD Ryzen 7 5825U AMD Ryzen 5 7430U GPU AMD Radeon Vega 8 AMD Radeon Vega 7 RAM 16GB DDR4 (up to 64GB) 16GB DDR4 (up to 64GB) Storage 1 x 512GB NVMe SSD, 1 x M.2 2242 SSD (up to 1TB), 1 x 2.5-inch HDD or SSD (up to 2TB) 1 x 512GB NVMe SSD, 1 x M.2 2242 SSD (up to 1TB), 1 x 2.5-inch HDD or SSD (up to 2TB) Ports 2 x USB-A, 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack (front), 1 x SD card reader (side), 2 x USB-A, 2 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 2 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x 2.5G Ethernet (rear) 2 x USB-A, 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack (front), 1 x SD card reader (side), 2 x USB-A, 2 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 2 x HDMI 2.0, 1 x 2.5G Ethernet (rear) Connectivity Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 Size 4.61 × 4.41 × 1.94 inches 4.61 × 4.41 × 1.94 inches Weight 1.4 pounds (652 grams) 1.4 pounds (652 grams) From its unique colorway to its wide selection of front and rear ports, the Geekom A5 2025 Edition certainly has a lot going for it. However, this refreshed model's more affordable price is what makes it truly shine. Compared to other mini PCs, which typically come in silver or black, the Geekom A5 2025 Edition is a breath of fresh air with its rose gold case. This unique colorway adds just a pop of color that isn't overly distracting or garish. Geekom took things a step further with this mini PC's design by using a pattern of lined cutouts for ventilation on its sides, along with a reflective chrome edge around the top. Likewise, the sides have a matte feeling to them, while the top of the A5 2025 Edition is smooth to the touch. All in all, this makes for a mini PC you'll want to display prominently on your desk instead of tucking it away. For those who prefer a cleaner look, Geekom also provides a VESA mounting plate to hide it behind a monitor. The A5's rose gold colored case certainly won't be for everyone, but it's nice to see a mini PC maker mix things up for a change. Downsizing to a mini PC often means sacrificing ports, but that definitely isn't the case here. Like its more powerful sibling, the Geekom A6, the A5 2025 Edition features ports at the front, back and even on the sides. Up front, you get two USB-A ports and a headphone jack next to the power button. While I would have liked to see at least one USB-C port here, this isn't a dealbreaker, especially at this price. Around back, the A5 2025 Edition has more ports than you'll find on most other mini PCs. In addition to two more USB-A ports, you get two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ones, which are capable of video out, two HDMI 2.0 ports and surprisingly, a 2.5 gigabit per second (Gbps) Ethernet port. One of the most useful additions to the A5 2025 Edition is the SD card reader slot on the left side. It's great for quickly getting photos off my camera, and its placement made it very easy to reach with this mini PC on my desk. I spent about a month using the Geekom A5 2025 Edition as my daily driver. Despite its budget price, it held up surprisingly well against my demanding workload, which typically consists of having three Chrome windows with multiple tabs open across two monitors. I did notice the occasional slowdown if I had too many tabs open at once. However, given how easy Geekom made it to open this mini PC's case to add more RAM, this is the type of problem that could be easily rectified. Likewise, if the included 512GB SSD isn't enough, you can also add another M.2 SSD as well as a 2.5-inch HDD or SSD. Although you might think you need a larger computer or a powerful graphics card for a multiple monitor setup, the A5 2025 Edition is actually capable of driving four monitors simultaneously. During the majority of my testing, I had it connected to my ultrawide monitor up top via HDMI and to a portable monitor underneath it using one of the USB-C ports at the back. The flexibility of having dual HDMI ports is a huge plus, as not every display has a USB-C connection but all of the best monitors have at least one HDMI port. The Geekom A5 2025 Edition gets a lot right, especially at this price. However, it's not without its downsides, which include a slightly weaker processor compared to the one in the original A5 and the fact that the A6 isn't that much more expensive if you don't pick this mini PC up on sale. As I mentioned earlier, the Geekom A5 2025 Edition isn't a brand-new mini PC. Instead, it's a refreshed version of the original A5 that uses the same case and has an identical port array. The big difference between the two is that while the A5 came with either an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H or Ryzen 7 5825U CPU, the A5 2025 Edition sports an AMD Ryzen 5 7430U processor. Newer isn't always better, and that's the case here. While this new processor is more power efficient, it has fewer CPU cores (6 vs 8) and fewer threads (12 vs 16). Both processors are built on the same Zen 3 architecture, but for multi-threaded workloads like heavy multitasking or video rendering, the original A5 is the better bet. Still, this refreshed model is slightly cheaper than the original, and it frequently goes on sale, which makes it even more affordable. While you can often find the Geekom A5 2025 Edition for $300 or less, its full retail price is actually $399. If you're paying full price, you might want to consider going up a tier to the Geekom A6, which is slightly smaller and significantly faster. Geekom A5 Geekom A6 Kamrui E3B Geekbench 6.3 single-core 1932 2126 1947 Geekbench 6.3 multi-core 6492 10547 5836 25GB file copy test (MBps) 1092 1200 449.60 Handbrake (Mins:Secs) 9:31 5:44 8:35 In our lab test results, you can see the benefit of doing so, especially for more demanding workloads. For instance, in Geekbench's multi-core benchmark, the A5 2025 Edition had a score of 6,492 while the A6 scored a lot higher at 10,547. Geekom A5 Geekom A6 Kamrui E3B Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm 26.28 51.690 19.73 While the A5 and A6 aren't gaming-focused mini PCs, the extra power in the A6's AMD Ryzen 7 6800H processor with Radeon 680M graphics provided a big boost in the one game we tested across both devices. While the A5 2025 Edition managed to hit just over 26 fps in Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, the A6 was a lot closer to the sweet spot of 60 fps. The other main reason you might want to opt for the A6 over the A5 is due to the fact that the former uses faster DDR5 RAM. It also comes with 32GB of memory pre-installed, while the A5 only has 16GB. Sure, you can upgrade the RAM on either model and DDR4 memory has really come down in price, but if you don't want to mess around with opening up your new mini PC and prefer a more standard silver colorway over rose gold, then the A6 could be the better option. That is, if you don't find the A5 on sale. The Geekom A5 2025 Edition definitely punches above its weight for a budget-friendly mini PC. It comes with a full array of front and rear ports, with quad-monitor support, and it's very easy to upgrade. The rose gold color may not be for everyone, but the other tweaks Geekom has made to its case definitely give this mini PC a more premium look and feel overall. If you can find the A5 2025 Edition on sale at $300 or even lower, this mini PC is an absolute steal and easy to recommend to those on a budget. However, if you want to tackle more demanding workloads, it's worth paying a bit more for the A6.
Android Authority
11 hours ago
- Android Authority
Deal: Only have one HDMI input? Multiply it with the Anker HDMI Switch
Some monitors and TVs only have a single HDMI port. This is fine if your entertainment system is simple, but if you have multiple devices, it can get really annoying to plug and unplug the HDMI port constantly. This is when something like the Anker HDMI Switch comes in handy. It can turn one HDMI input into two, and you can take it home for a mere $9.99 right now! Buy the Anker HDMI Switch for just $9.99 ($10 off) This offer is available from Amazon. It's a 'limited time deal,' meaning it should go away relatively soon. It's also an automatic discount, so just add it to your cart and check out. Anker HDMI Switch Anker HDMI Switch See price at Amazon Save $10.00 Limited Time Deal! I am a fan of affordable TVs and monitors, mainly because modern ones are pretty good and they have no smart TV OS. I have no need for a built-in operating system, as I always use a Chromecast with Google TV, anyway. Not to mention, saving money is always nice. The one downside is that these cheaper TVs usually come with a single HDMI port. Switching the cable around is no fun, but there is a cheap and straightforward solution. Just get an HDMI switch! The Anker HDMI Switch is only $9.99 right now, which equates to a 50% discount. The premise is simple. You'll get a single HDMI output on one end, and a couple of HDMI inputs on the other. The output connects to the TV, and the other two can be computers, consoles, Blu-ray players, or whatever you prefer. You can then press the single button on the accessory to switch between video sources. The Anker HDMI Switch supports resolutions of up to 4K@60fps. Other features include Dolby, HDR, and 3D content. It's also conveniently small, measuring only 2.17 x 2.17 x 0.57 in. It also has a metallic finish, so it won't really feel like a cheap accessory. Are you interested? This is a record-low price for this accessory, and at only $9.99, it is truly a no-brainer if you can find value in get yours while it's hot! Follow
