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Tom's Guide
3 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
Tom's Guide Awards 2025: Our favorite laptops, monitors, tablets and more
No matter if you need a powerful laptop for creative work, a lightweight 2-in-1 for on-the-go productivity, or a gaming laptop with crisp graphics and high frame rates, the world of computing has never looked brighter. From AI-powered laptops with extra processing power and dual-mode monitors that support multiple resolutions, to blazing fast Wi-Fi 7 routers for lightning-fast downloads and security software designed to help keep you safe online, you have loads of different options for your next upgrade. We've tried the best computing and home office gear you can get. Our team of experts has tested and reviewed all of the latest laptops, tablets, monitors, accessories and networking gear for the Tom's Guide Awards 2025. Below, we highlight our favorite computers, displays and essential gear from the last 12 months which have made doing our own jobs a bit easier. The latest 13-inch MacBook Air M4 is the best MacBook for most people. Though it retains the same design as its two immediate predecessors, this thin and lightweight laptop delivers astonishing performance and long-lasting battery life. The fact that it starts at $999, which is $100 cheaper than before, makes the MacBook Air M4 a no-brainer choice. As before, the 13-inch MacBook Air 13-inch M4 features a 13.6-inch Retina display that's ideal for everyday work, watching videos and playing games. The M4 chip inside has more than enough power to handle whatever you throw at it. Apple's silicon also allows the laptop to last for nearly 15 hours on a single charge. On top of that, you get a responsive keyboard and MagSafe charging in an elegant ultraportable design. Thanks to everything it offers, the MacBook Air M4 is still the MacBook to beat and easily earns its award for best laptop of 2025. The MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo is an excellent Windows ultraportable with AI features that are actually useful in day-to-day work. The model we reviewed came with a high-end Intel Core Ultra 9 285H CPU inside, and while its NPU (Neural Processing Unit) can't match the power of Apple silicon or Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chips it's more than capable of helping out with AI tasks. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. That frees up the CPU and Intel Arc GPU for other tasks and helps you cut down on battery usage, especially if you enable the AI Engine feature that automatically adjusts the laptop's settings to help you achieve peak battery life. Additional AI features like noise cancellation, Windows Studio Effects and the AI Lan Manager (which automatically analyzes your network traffic and tries to reduce latency) integrate seamlessly into your work day without distracting you, giving us the first real taste of how an AI laptop should work. Plus, it's just a nice laptop. The 16-inch 1600p display gives you plenty of screen real estate, and the spacious full keyboard is comfy to type on. It's also surprisingly light and easy to carry (for a 16-inch laptop) at just 3.5 pounds and 0.7 inches thin. The Wi-Fi 7 support and useful port array are nice to have, as is the 15+ hours of (tested) battery life we recorded in our testing lab. So while the MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo might not put AI features front and center, the subtle integration of them into this already excellent laptop make it the best AI laptop we've tested all year. The ZSA Moonlander looks a little odd at first, but once you get to grips with how it works you'll appreciate what a smartly designed keyboard this is—especially if you like to tinker and fine-tune your desk setup. We think it's the best keyboard we've reviewed all year because of its one-two punch of great ergonomic design and robust customization software. The Moonlander is modular and customizable, so you can push one side away and use only the left half when PC gaming or use the built-in legs to tent each half off the desk so it feels comfortable under your hands. The mechanical switches are easy to swap out, too thanks to the fact that ZSA includes a keypuller (as well as a carrying case) with every keyboard. The Moonlander also has a pair of unique 'Meh' and 'Hyper' keys that trigger complicated key combos when pressed (pressing Meh defaults to Ctrl + Shift + Alt, for example, while pressing Hyper triggers Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Windows/Command), so you can use them to easily build your own unique keyboard shortcuts using ZSA's Keymapp software. This software is the best we've ever seen for a keyboard, as it allows you to not only rebind any key on the keyboard but also create custom layers of commands for each key that can be further customized based on whichever app you happen to be using. You can even use the software to see heat maps of which keys you use most and run through typing drills to test your new configuration, making this a keyboard you can easily fine-tune to your exact needs. Oh, and did we mention there's a modding community? For all of these reasons and more, the ZSA Moonlander is the best keyboard we've tested this year. The Alienware Area-51 lives up to its name thanks to its otherworldly design. It demands a steep asking price, but it's worth every penny thanks to the incredible gaming performance it delivers. If you're looking for a beast of a gaming laptop, this is the one. This gaming laptop's Liquid Teal anodized aluminum chassis gives it a distinctive iridescent sheen that shifts colors when viewed under different lighting conditions. The RGB lighting on the back mimics the motion of the aurora borealis, which adds to the alien-like flair. The clear Gorilla Glass window on the bottom lets you see inside the laptop, which is also fancy. Inside, the Alienware Area-51 packs a fast Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU and up to a powerful RTX 5090 GPU. Toss in up to 64GB of RAM, and you have a powerful gaming rig that can deftly handle the most graphically demanding games, especially with DLSS 4 enabled. And of course, said games look astonishing on the laptop's 16-inch 240Hz display. PC gaming has been dominated for decades by one thing — dedicated GPUs. They have been the driving force behind gaming laptops for ages now, but something fascinating is starting to happen. Bit by bit, integrated graphics are no longer becoming a dirty word, but rather a great way to play games while being more power efficient. And the Asus ROG Flow Z13 is the pinnacle of this in 2025, and easily the best 2-in-1 of the year. With AMD Ryzen AI Max inside, you're getting up to the same performance as a whole RTX 4070 without the additional power drain of a dedicated GPU. Throw in a gorgeous display, slimline construction, an impressive battery life and the best keyboard I've ever used on a 2-in-1, and you're onto a winner for gaming on-the-go. While the LG UltraGear 45GX950A-B is a gaming monitor, we actually think it's one of the best monitors for productivity. That's because of its 45-inch ultrawide 21:9 curved display that allows you to easily have multiple windows open across the screen. If you want to boost your productivity, this giant monitor will help you. For gaming, this monitor's main draw is that it has two display modes: 5K resolution at 165Hz and 2K resolution at 330Hz. The former is ideal for cinematic games, while the latter is made for competitive games. The OLED panel also delivers fantastic contrast and vivid colors. Though big and expensive, this is one of the best monitors for productivity. If you want the absolute best of the best in AR glasses, the clear option is Xreal One Pro. The price may be a little steep compared to its competition (and the Xreal One), but the technology here is a generational leap forward. AR glasses experts like me have been looking for two key things to happen — make the display bigger with a wider field of view, and make said display tech smaller. Up until this point, we've dealt with what are called 'bird baths' in the industry: the giant glass prisms you see behind the lenses of specs that project the image into your eyes. Xreal has managed to drastically reduce the size of these with their own flat prism tech, which makes this pair of glasses a lot more inconspicuous on the face. And on top of that, the company has packed a giant 1080p display with great color reproduction and a 57-degree field of view. But the real magic here is that X1 chip built into the glasses. For all of the fancy spatial computing tricks so far like creating multiple monitors through your specs of 3DoF tracking, you normally have to rely on software to do it. That brings compatibility issues and potential latency between software and glasses. On Xreal One Pro, however, you've got all of this done through silicon via this one-of-a-kind chip — which can project an ultrawide display perfectly tracked to the back of an airplane seat wherever you want. The Insta360 Link 2C is the only webcam we've ever awarded a 5-star rating too, and that's thanks to its ability to capture sharp and detailed stills, next-gen AI subject tracking and autofocus. It's one of the most premium snappers on the market, utilizing a combination of plastic and metal to deliver a sturdy webcam. What we love most about the Link 2C is just how many details it captures with its 1/2-inch sensor. We could see fine details in our faces when we tested it, and really appreciated its ability to record and transmit 4K/30fps and 1080P/60fps video. It's also equipped with AI features such as hand tracking and gestures, as well as product prioritization which puts the object closest to the lens in focus. There really isn't a better professional webcam out there — at least not one that makes you look like you're dressed to the nines at such a low price tag. It's hard to improve on excellence, but the iPad Air M3 manages to do it anyway. It's not a revolutionary jump over its predecessor, the iPad Air M2, but with the might of Apple's M3 chip onboard, not only does it deliver helpful Apple Intelligence features, but also a way to breeze through demanding apps and even play AAA titles at a steady frame rate. All in that minimalist, lightweight design with an incredibly vivid display? That's a tablet that deserves praise. Apple has found something magical in putting full-blown MacBook chips into its tablets, and the latest iPad Air never fails to impress in terms of bringing speedy performance to a tablet. With an updated Magic Keyboard (albeit pricey) boasting a 14-key function row and larger touchpad, this tablet can easily be a laptop alternative, and that already says a lot. Throw in its usual sharp 11-inch (2360 x 1640) Liquid Retina display, good near 10-hour battery life and thin, portable design, and the iPad Air M3 shows why Apple's tablets still wear the crown. Upgrading to a Wi-Fi 7-powered router used to cost a fortune but that's no longer the case as the latest wireless standard is inching closer to becoming mainstream. While still on the expensive side, the $500 Netgear Nighthawk RS600 gives you blazing fast speeds and all of Wi-Fi 7's best features at a much lower price than the company's RS700 router from a few years ago. The Nighthawk RS600 is a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router that comes in a much smaller package than the top-of-the-line RS700. Thanks to its 10 gigabit per second (Gbps) input port, this router is ideal for multi-gig internet plans and in our testing, it reached speeds of 1.4 Gbps at close range. However, it was at middle distances where other routers often fall short that the RS600 really excelled. If you're after a high-performance Wi-Fi 7 router that isn't priced like one, Netgear's Nighthawk RS600 delivers and then some. The main thing that sets Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7-powered routers apart from previous Wi-Fi generations is support for the faster 6 GHz band. Well, with the ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro, Asus doubled down on this to achieve some of the fastest speeds we've seen yet from a mesh Wi-Fi system. During our testing, it reached a max speed of 2.6 Gbps, making it one of if not the fastest router we've tested yet. The reason for this is that the ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro is a quad-band mesh router with dual 6 GHz bands. Besides its blazing fast speeds, we also really appreciate how Asus includes its built-in AiProtection security software for free while other companies require a monthly subscription for similar solutions. Likewise, thanks to the USB port on the back of the ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro, you can also connect your phone and use its mobile hotspot to keep your home network running during an internet outage. This mesh Wi-Fi system also features not one but two 10 Gbps Ethernet ports so you can take full advantage of even the fastest internet speeds. If you want a mesh Wi-Fi system that's as fast as it is capable, the Asus ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro is easy to recommend. Norton 360 Deluxe has a lot to offer those in need of a security suite – and we mean a lot. In addition to excellent real-time malware protection against everything from botnets and brute force attacks it adds a long list of additional features that protect you and your devices while you're online. Apps can be started in sandbox mode, your webcam access can be blocked, and Safe Search can show you a warning if you navigate over to any websites that might be shady. There's a rescue disk that will give you an ISO (digital copy) to protect your data in case of a ransomware attack, and you still get dark web scanning, a software check that scans for outdated programs, cloud backup, parental controls, a password manager, a VPN and a firewall. That's an awful lot all under a single subscription, and Norton's fee will cover five devices annually. During testing, we appreciated the multiple scan options which were all speedy and didn't make a dent in overall performance, as well as a familiar and easy to navigate interface that made it easy to find functions and advanced features alike. In independent testing, Norton performed well in blocking general and targeted virus attacks, but did produce a high rate of false positives. We recommend Norton as our best features pick for obvious reasons, but it's also a good choice for anyone who has multiple devices to cover and doesn't want to pay extra for features to stay safe online. NordVPN is practically a household name at this point – and for good reason. In our reivew, it sailed through our privacy checks with flying colors, and multiple independent audits back up its solid no-logs policy. NordVPN is also seriously powerful when it comes to unblocking regional libraries on sites like Netflix and Disney Plus – earning it a spot on our guide to the best VPNs for streaming. With apps for almost every platform imaginable, it's a great choice whether you're an occasional VPN user looking to unblock streaming content and improve your online privacy, or a journalist working in a dangerous, restrictive country. Additional features like Meshnet and Threat Protection Pro – the latter independently rated as the best VPN-bundled malware protection by AV-TEST – add to NordVPN's impressive package of privacy tech. Overall, no VPN can match NordVPN completeness as a privacy suite, and excellent pricing is the icing on the cake. 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.
Engadget
21 hours ago
- Business
- Engadget
Apple's MacBook Air M4 is on sale for a record-low price
If you've put off getting a new MacBook then today is your lucky day. Right now, the 2025 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air M4 are available on Amazon for record-low prices. The 13-inch model is our pick for best MacBook to buy this year. You can pick up the 13-inch MacBook Air M4 for $799, down from $999 — a 20 percent discount. This model comes with 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. You can upgrade to 512GB SSD for $999, down from $1,199, another all-time low price, or 24GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD for $1,199, down from $1,399. Then there's the 15-inch MacBook Air M4, whose cheapest model is on sale for $999, dropping from $1,199. The 17 percent discount is the best deal we've seen since the pair debuted in March. As with the 13-inch model, the 16GB and 512GB SSD option is also a record-low price, dropping to $1,199 from $1,399. Then there's the 24GB upgrade, which is $1,399, down from $1,599. We're big fans of the MacBook Air M4, giving it a 92 in our review. Part of that comes from an already lower starting price for the MacBooks than their predecessors. The 2025 models also get a speed boost thanks to the M4 chip and are very thin with a 0.44-inch thickness. Neither the 13- or 15-inch will drag you down, weighing 2.7 pounds and 3.2 pounds, respectively. Plus, they both have excellent battery life, lasting over 18 hours while playing an HD video. The big differences in the 15-inch model mostly come down to size. The screen is obviously bigger, as is its trackpad. Other than that, it offers better speakers than its 13-inch sibling. Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Back-to-school bargain: the best MacBook students can buy is $150 off at Best Buy
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Apple's MacBook Air M4 has been crowned TechRadar's best laptop of the year, and just in time for the new school season, the 13-inch model is on sale for only $849 (originally $999) at Best Buy. That's a $150 discount and the best price you can find for the powerful MacBook.• Shop more back-to-school deals at Best BuyReleased in March of this year, the MacBook Air M4 features a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display and a super-lightweight design, which is perfect for students on the go. The MacBook packs Apple's powerful M4 chip, which combines a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, resulting in exceptional speed in everything you do. The latest MacBook Air also features Apple Intelligence, a 12MP Center Stage camera, a seven-speaker sound system, and up to 18 hours of battery 13-inch MacBook Air M4 is the perfect laptop for students, thanks to its compact size and its ability to handle any task you throw at it. While we've seen the MacBook drop to $799 once before, today's discount from Best Buy is the best deal available and an excellent price for an Apple laptop with an M4 chip. Today's best back-to-school MacBook deal Display - 13.6 inchesProcessor - Apple M4RAM - 16GBStorage - 256GB The MacBook Air 13-inch (M4) is the newest version of Apple's popular laptop and it's now down to a great price at Best Buy. You get a great-looking 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display, while the boost to 16GB of RAM keeps all your programs running smoothly. It's just a shame Apple still insists on only 256GB of storage as standard, which feels a little miserly in 2025. Nevertheless, this is still one of the best laptops you can buy if you need a performance powerhouse for productivity and creative tasks – especially after this $150 discount. View Deal More of today's best MacBook deals Display - 13.6 inchesProcessor - Apple M2RAM - 16GBStorage - 256GB Newer M3 and M4 models are now available, but this is an unbelievable price for the MacBook Air 13-inch with an M2 chip. Sure, that's an older version, but this is still an incredibly powerful laptop for those needing a premium powerhouse for school and productivity, coding, or creative work. You also get double the amount of RAM at 16GB, although the 256GB of storage feels a little paltry in 2025. Still, we rated it highly in our MacBook Air M2 review, thanks to the stylish design, clear display, impressive performance, and long 18-hour battery Deal Display - 15 inchesProcessor - Apple M3RAM - 16GBStorage - 256GB It may essentially be just a larger version of the MacBook Air 13-inch, but if that's what you want, then that's what you get – and it's now reduced to its lowest-ever price at Best Buy. Our MacBook Air 15-inch review praised the display, performance, design and speaker array, although we did think the jump in size hurt one of the MacBook Air's key selling points – its portability. Nevertheless, this is still an impressive laptop that was awarded a full five Deal You can see more of the best laptop deals and see our guide to the best laptops for students.
Tom's Guide
20-07-2025
- Tom's Guide
I test laptops for a living — and these are my 3 favorite laptops of 2025 (so far)
I can't say that 2025 has been a particularly exceptional year for laptops, at least so far. That's not to say there haven't been new developments. After all, the first RTX 50-series notebooks are now available, offering a decent (if unremarkable) performance bump from previous generations. There are also a good number of Intel Lunar Lake laptops that finally give the best Windows laptops comparable battery life to the best MacBooks. I test and review laptops for a living, and these three have stood above the rest. Below, I'll detail what I like about each of these laptops and hope that this can help you if you're in the market for a new notebook, whether it's for work or fun. The MacBook Air 15-inch M4 is currently the main laptop I use at the office, so it instantly makes it on this list. But why this specific laptop instead of something that's either smaller or perhaps more powerful? This MacBook has everything I need to get work done as efficiently as possible. I have the 15-inch MacBook Air M4 connected to an external monitor, with the latter serving as my primary monitor. The MacBook Air M4 serves as my secondary display, which I specifically use to view and respond to Slack messages. Its large screen ensures I don't have to squint when reading messages from my colleagues. Thanks to the M4 chip inside, the Air M4 can easily handle my everyday workload, which often consists of 20 to 30 open tabs and the occasional YouTube video (or two) running in the background. And when I need to head into a meeting room, this laptop is light enough to easily carry around the office. The big screen also means I don't have to make a big compromise when I have to work with a single screen. When it comes to everyday work at the office, the 15-inch MacBook Air M4 fits all of my needs. Plus, it just looks nice sitting on my desk! The MacBook Air 15-inch M4 is one of the finest laptops out there, thanks to its gorgeous display, fast M4-driven performance, sharp 12MP camera and new Sky Blue color. The fact that it costs $100 less than the previous model makes it irresistible. However, those who own the M3 model don't need to upgrade. While they don't get as much attention, I'm a fan of Samsung's laptops due to their general lightweight design and OLED panel options. The last one I tested was the Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro, and it exemplifies everything I love about the company's laptop line. The main reason I like this notebook is its gorgeous 16-inch (2880 x 1800) OLED. This screen makes everything pop, so movies and shows look spectacular. It also gets pretty bright for both SDR and HDR content, meaning you won't miss a single detail in videos or on websites. While relatively large, this laptop's lightweight and thin design make it a great travel companion. I also like the generous port selection, which is something you don't always find on machines this thin. Inside, it packs a Lunar Lake chip that gives it plenty of power for everyday work and nearly 12 and a half hours of battery life, which is better than average for a Windows laptop. Even if Lunar Lake isn't as energy efficient as Snapdragon X Elite, Intel's CPU generally plays nicer with a broader range of apps and programs compared to Qualcomm chips. The Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro is a svelte laptop featuring a gorgeous 16-inch OLED display, fast Intel Lunar Lake performance and a spacious keyboard. Though its AI capabilities aren't anything special and it has too many superfluous Samsung apps, the Galaxy Book 5 Pro is still an overall excellent laptop for work and play. I initially had reservations about RTX 50-series gaming laptops since I felt the previous-gen RTX 40-series machines were still good enough for gaming. While that's still true, testing rigs like the HP Omen Max 16 and Alienware 16 Area-51 Gaming Laptop have made me an RTX 50-series believer. This is especially true with Alienware's incredible laptop. The Alienware 16 Area-51 has style and substance. Its Liquid Teal finish gives the laptop a dark iridescent sheen that shifts colors when you view it under different lighting. Combine that with the RGB lighting that mimics the motions of the aurora borealis, and you have a machine that looks like it was created by aliens! Though this Alienware laptop is big and bulky, there's no denying that it's one beautiful piece of kit. Then there's the incredible gaming performance. I got Doom: The Dark Ages to run at 120 fps with DLSS 4 off and 240 fps with DLSS 4 enabled. The latter's fps effectively matches the display's refresh rate. This laptop can even run the graphically demanding Cyberpunk 2077 at 70 fps with DLSS off and 240 fps with the frame-generating tech turned on. You can read my full Alienware 16 Area-51 review for more details (and gushing), but suffice it to say this is my favorite gaming laptop of 2025 right now. The Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptop makes a bold statement thanks to its (inter)stellar design, powerful RTX 50-series performance and vibrant 16-inch display. Though it demands a steep price and can be heavy to carry, this laptop delivers an out-of-this-world gaming experience.
Time of India
19-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Apple MacBook Air M4 is available for just Rs 59,990 on Flipkart; check bank offer and exchange deal
Apple MacBook Air M4 Apple unveiled the MacBook Air M4 in March 2025, bringing a major upgrade with its new M4 chipset, offering significantly faster performance and greater power efficiency than the previous M3 version. For those still considering the MacBook Air M3, a great opportunity is currently available on Flipkart. The Apple MacBook Air M4 , featuring 16GB of RAM, 256GB of internal storage, and a 13.6-inch display in the sleek Silver color, is being offered at a substantial discount. Originally priced at Rs 99,900, this model is now available at a reduced price under Rs 60,000 , making it an excellent option for those seeking powerful Apple devices at more accessible rates. Apple MacBook Air M4 Flipkart offer: Bank discount and exchange deal After a 4 percent discount, the Apple MacBook Air M4 is now priced at Rs 94,990, making it more accessible for those looking to upgrade their devices. Customers can further benefit from an attractive exchange offer, receiving up to Rs 25,000 off by exchanging in an Apple MacBook Air M2 in flawless condition, which brings the effective price down to Rs 69,990. Additionally, buyers using an ICICI Bank credit card for their purchase are eligible for an instant discount of Rs 10,000. Apple MacBook Air M4 exchange deal Flipkart With all offers combined, the final price of the MacBook Air M4 (16GB, 256GB) drops to Rs 59,990 . These substantial savings position the MacBook Air M4 as an excellent choice for individuals seeking premium performance and innovation at a highly competitive rate. Apple MacBook Air M4 specifications Powerful performance with M4 chipset : The latest Apple MacBook Air M4 is powered by Apple's new M4 chipset, ensuring faster performance and enhanced efficiency. It comes with a standard 16GB of RAM, offering smooth multitasking for everyday and professional tasks. The laptop operates on the newest version of macOS Sequoia, which brings Apple Intelligence features, including capabilities specifically available to users in India. Display and design : The MacBook Air M4 is available in two size options — 13-inch and 15-inch — both featuring a Liquid Retina Display. These displays offer a 60Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 500 nits, delivering vibrant visuals and excellent clarity for all kinds of content. Connectivity features : In terms of connectivity, the MacBook Air M4 supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, ensuring faster and more stable wireless connections. It also comes equipped with two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports that facilitate fast charging and allow DisplayPort connectivity for external displays. Camera and audio : For video calls and recordings, the MacBook Air M4 includes a 12MP Center Stage Camera, offering features like Desk View and 1080p HD video recording. On the audio front, the laptop features a four-speaker sound system that supports Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos, providing an immersive audio experience for music, movies, and video calls. Battery life : The 13-inch MacBook Air M4 variant is backed by a 53.8Wh battery, designed to offer extended usage time without frequent recharging. This ensures users can stay productive and entertained for longer periods on a single charge. Also read | Telegram CEO Pavel Durov urges students to study math; Elon Musk says physics is the real key AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
