You don’t have to spend a fortune for a decent set of noise-canceling earbuds. And with solid sound quality, active noise cancelation and a transparency mode, the Beats Studio Buds are a great option to consider. Right now, they are back on sale at Amazon with $50 off their usual price and a variety of colors to choose from. At $100, they’re down to a 2023 low price and just $10 more than we saw during holiday sales late last year.
Beats Studio Buds are small, lightweight, comfortable to wear and fit most ears securely. Despite being made by Apple these days, Beats products work great with both iPhones and Android phones and there are plenty of features to love, including quick pairing and sound quality that CNET’s David Carnoy said beats out AirPods Pro and Powerbeats Pro in his review.
Unlike some other Apple-made Beats products, the Studio Buds lack a few of the fanciest features like in-ear detection and the ability to pair to all of your Apple devices via iCloud and switch between them automatically. That probably won’t be a deal-breaker for most folks, especially given the price differential between the Studio Buds and something like the AirPods Pro.
The Beats Studio Buds provide up to 8 hours of listening time on a single charge, with up to 24 hours when combined with the charging case. They are also IPX4-rated sweat and water-resistant, so they’re a solid option to use on your commute or at the gym.
And if the Studio Buds aren’t quite the right fit for you, check out the other Beats headphones deals currently available.
If you’re considering getting a two-in-one laptop or want to upgrade your existing device, there’s a one-day deal at Best Buy that you won’t want to miss. Today only, you can grab Acer’s Chromebook Spin 514 laptop that doubles as a 14-inch touchscreen tablet for just $299 (save $250). This deal ends in a few hours, so hurry now while the price is still this low.
Two-in-one laptops can be a game-changer. Also known as convertible laptops, these devices have become popular over the years due to their versatility and functionality. For a lot of folks, they offer the best of both worlds by combining the familiarity and productivity features of a traditional laptop with an easy-to-use touchscreen tablet.
The model on sale at Best Buy is the CP514-3H which is similar in design to the Acer Chromebook Spin 514 CP514-1H that we reviewed in early 2022 but it’s had some important internal upgrades. Released in late 2022, this latest version of the Chromebook Spin 514 is the first to use AMD’s eight-core Ryzen 5000 C-series processor for Chromebooks for improved multitasking performance. It’s the base-spec variant of this Chromebook on sale at Best Buy today, so it features the AMD Ryzen 3 5125C processor and offers up to 10 hours of battery life. It’s also equipped with 8GB of RAM, AMD Radeon graphics and 128GB of internal storage.
Other features include a 1080p HD display, Wi-Fi 6 support, two USB-C ports and Chrome OS updates through June 2030 making it a solid choice for under $300.
I always need a reliable, high-speed internet connection on my iPhone, whether it’s for work or leisure. That’s why, when my cellular connection is weak, I seek out and connect to Wi-Fi at home, friends’ houses, coffee shops, restaurants, airports and libraries. But with so many networks, it’s impossible to remember all these passwords.
For the most part, I don’t need to remember any Wi-Fi passwords — once I connect to a network, my iPhone automatically reconnects to it when it’s nearby.
But there are times when I do need to know the actual password, if, for example, a friend or family member wants to connect to that same network and there’s no other way to share the password with them.
Helpfully, iPhones store the passwords of all the Wi-Fi networks you connect to — you just need to know where to find them.
The Lisen phone stand is ergonomically designed to provide you with a more comfortable viewing angle to help reduce strain on your neck and back. Simply adjust the height, set down your phone (vertically or horizontally) and read the news or watch videos on your phone while you multitask.
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View password for Wi-Fi network you’re currently connected to
This first method allows you to view the password of the Wi-Fi network you’re either currently connected to or have connected to in the past and are near enough to the router for the network to appear in your settings.
If you meet these requirements, go to Settings>Wi-Fi, find the Wi-Fi network you want the password for and tap the information icon. Next, tap Password and use Face ID, Touch ID or enter your passcode to view the Wi-Fi network password. Finally, hit Copy to save the password to your clipboard.
You can view passwords for any Wi-Fi networks you’ve ever connected to, as long as you’re currently connected to it or near enough that it appears under My Networks.
Screenshots by Nelson Aguilar/CNET
However, as mentioned, this only works for Wi-Fi networks you’re currently connected to or near to, but there is a way to find the passwords to all the other Wi-Fi networks you’ve connected to in the past.
Find the rest of your saved Wi-Fi passwords
If you want to view every single stored Wi-Fi password on your iPhone, go to Settings>Wi-Fi andtap the Edit button on the top right. A list of your known networks, or every single Wi-Fi network you’ve ever connected to, will appear in alphabetical and numerical order.
To view a password, tap the information icon and then hit Password.
You can copy the password to your clipboard or have the password spoken out loud to you.
Warner Bros. Discovery revealed on Wednesday that “HBO Max” is out, and “Max” is the name of its rebranded streaming service. The reworked platform will house merged content from HBO Max and Discovery Plus, giving you shows like Euphoria and Succession next to greige-tinted unscripted series like Fixer Upper. Along with the new name comes a new tagline: The One to Watch.
The company is touting a larger library and a better user interface, but you may have some basic questions about how all these changes will affect your existing account. And newcomers may be curious about what’s up with Max and what the service has to offer. Here are answers to some of your questions.
When will Max roll out in my country?
US customers will have access to Max on May 23. Users in Latin America will see the rollout in fall 2023, with certain Europe and Asia markets receiving Max access in early to mid 2024.
Once the service launches, it will automatically upgrade with the new Max logo, interface and features. According to Warner Bros. Discovery, existing subscribers will see their profiles, billing information and watch lists seamlessly transfer to the updated version and they’ll only have to open the app to use the platform. However, the company said some users will be prompted to download the new version of the streaming app.
New Max customers can either sign up for HBO Max now, or wait to subscribe to the new service on May 23 to start streaming instantly.
The price will remain the same as current HBO Max subscriptions, but there’s one new premium plan that will cost more than the standard two options. Max Ad-Lite will cost $10 per month and come with HD and two streams, while ad-free Max is priced at $16 monthly for HD, two streams and 30 downloads.
When the new service arrives in May, there will also be a $20-per-month Ultimate Plan, which offers four concurrent streams, 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos sound and 100 downloads. This is a change, as HBO Max currently offers three streams for both plans with the ability to watch some titles in 4K Ultra HD. Yes, you’ll have to pay more for 4K, but some existing HBO Max features will still be available for up to six months after Max’s launch.
Note that Discovery Plus will continue to be a standalone streaming option. It’s currently priced at $5 a month for the ad-supported plan and $7 per month without ads.
What TV shows and movies will be on Max?
Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming offering will bring together content from HBO Max and Discovery Plus. Max will have HBO originals, Warner Bros. movies, Max originals, DC Comics and Harry Potter alongside programming from brands including Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC and ID. The entire HBO Max library will be found on Max with a selected collection of Discovery titles.
WBD’s head of content, Kathleen Finch, and Max’s content boss, Casey Bloys, emphasized that family and children’s content will also take center stage on the new service, with an aim at audiences of all ages. Viewers will get more animation and entertainment releases from popular brands like Cartoon Network, Hanna-Barbera, Boomerang, Looney Toons and DC. This includes a new animated version of Peter & the Wolf from U2’s Bono.
Subscribers can also expect films to find Max as their streaming home after their theatrical runs. Shazam! Fury of the Gods will arrive on launch day, and Blue Beetle, Dune 2, Barbie, and The Flash are among the other movie titles you’ll find on the platform. The Flash will hit Max in the fall.
A new take on Peter & the Wolf is coming to Max, courtesy of Bono.
Max, Warner Bros. Discovery
Is there a way to opt out of Discovery or HBO Max content?
No. But you can choose to have a standalone Discovery Plus subscription instead of subscribing to Max. While there won’t be a separate version for HBO Max and HBO-branded content, Warner Bros. Discovery says the updated app will have an interface that’s more tailored to a user’s personal tastes. It’ll also feature genre hubs and a new content navigation menu at the top of the screen to make it easier to find what you want.
According to the company’s global streaming boss, J.B. Perrette, Max will “have differentiated and high-performing personalized experiences including elements such as ‘Because You Watched’ recommendations, and immersive hero images tailored for each user.” He indicated that the app’s recommendation engine will eventually learn to surface content that matches your viewing habits.
Should I cancel my current HBO Max or Discovery Plus subscription if I have both?
There’s no need to cancel your subscriptions right now unless you’re no longer enjoying them. All existing HBO Max subscribers will transition to Max when the app relaunches in May. Max will include Discovery Plus content, but Discovery Plus will also remain a separate, lower-priced streaming option that has content only from Discovery networks. If you like Max’s fully merged lineup, then you may want to wait and drop Discovery Plus in May.
What if I get HBO or HBO Max through cable?
If you currently receive HBO Max or HBO through a mobile carrier or your cable/satellite TV provider, you’ll have access to the updated Max app. You won’t have to cancel and resubscribe. Upon launch, it’ll be available through AT&T, Hulu, Cox, Xfinity, Verizon, DirecTV, Prime Video channels and other services. You can view the list on the Max website. Max will be accessible on most devices, including TVs, gaming consoles and mobile phones.
If you’re new to Max or Discovery Plus, you can sign up now or wait until May 23.
Your iPhone is packed with helpful features — like voice isolation for calls and the option to view all your Wi-Fi passwords — and, Apple’s Notes is no exception. The app is one of the most powerful note-taking tools in the mobile world. It’s clutch for shopping lists, on-the-fly reminders and jotting down any other important tidbits you can think of.
There are an abundance of ways to use the Notes app to track everything in your life. But if you’ve had an iPhone for a long time, there’s a good chance you’ve built up a large collection of notes, which can make it tricky to track down the notes you actually need on a regular basis.
One of the handiest solutions came in the form of tags, which were added to iOS 15 in 2021.
Tags, which are similar to the hashtags used on social media sites such as Instagram or TikTok, can be added anywhere on a note, including the title. You can add them at any time, even retroactively. You can also organize your notes into regular folders, but that requires a bit of forward planning and thought work.
To add a tag to a note, type # then enter a new tag name and press the space bar. You can also choose an existing tag. Type # and select the tag you want from the suggestions that appear above your keyboard where autocorrections usually are.
Three tags I regularly use are the #recipe, #grocerylist and #receipt tags. When I tap on the #recipe tag, Notes will pull up a collection of recipes I’ve tagged irrespective of the folder they’re stored in. I’ll hit up my #grocerylist tag, which will serve up all my previous grocery lists, when it’s time for me to restock. And I’ll refer to my #receipt tag, which brings up tagged receipts, when I’m reconciling expenses against my credit card statement.
Tags don’t need to be one continuous word, but they can’t contain spaces. You can use hyphens, numbers and underscores — for example #receipts-feb2023 or #grocerylist-vegan. You can also add multiple tags to a single note or use tags to create smart folders, which is essentially a collection of notes assembled by tag regardless of which folder they’re stored in.
Using tags, like the travel one in this image, is a great way to organize your iPhone notes and avoid losing them.
Apple/Screenshot by Sareena Dayaram
Don’t worry if you’ve never used tags before, and want to start organizing your notes. You can tag multiple notes retroactively — here’s how.
1. Go to the folder with the list of notes 2. Tap the More button (three dots), then select Notes 3. Select the notes you want tagged, then tap Tags at the bottom of the screen. If you already have a collection of tags, the iPhone will pull up the ones you already have for you to choose from. (So when selecting notes, its more efficient to choose the ones that have similar topics if possible so you can tag them in one fell swoop.) If you don’t have any pre-existing tags, the iPhone will serve up tag suggestions for you to choose from. 4. Select the tags you want to add to the notes, then tap Done.
The smart folder act like a filter and collects all notes with specific hashtags.
Apple/Screenshot by Sareena Dayaram
If you want to collect your tagged notes into a folder, use the Smart Folder feature (introduced alongside tags in iOS 15) like so:
1. Tap the New Folder button 2. Enter a name and tap Make Into Smart Folder 3. Choose which filters you want — certain tags, when notes were created, when they were last edited and more — those notes will automatically be included in the folder 4. Tap Done, and your Smart Folder is created
You can also convert a regular folder into a Smart Folder by tapping the More button and choosing the “convert” option.
Gaming laptops are great for playing PC games on the go. Though they aren’t the most portable laptops, the best gaming laptops are a somewhat portable alternative to the powerful and towering desktop PC.
But there’s a lot more you need to know than just the laptop’s raw power. A laptop with the best graphics card, SSD and processor may have the specs to blow your mind, but it could all underperform if the components overheat easily and don’t have proper airflow.
Battery life can also impact the stability of your gaming performance. And though you probably don’t want to always use an external mechanical keyboard with per-key RGB backlighting, a system’s WASD keys can feel like mashed potatoes under your fingers.
Quality doesn’t come cheap, but if you’re on a tight budget and know where to compromise — such as looking for a model with components you can upgrade later to make your up-front cost a little lower, or opting for a screen that’s lower resolution and slower — you can still get something that’ll ensure a good gaming experience.
Plus, advances in cloud gaming mean you can play more games on lower-end hardware than ever before. So it’s not a given that you’ll need to bust your budget to pay for a new laptop. With cloud gaming, you do have subscription fees, so make sure to factor that in.
Check out our recommendations for best gaming laptops below. This list is periodically updated as we test and review products so you can find your own best gaming laptop.
The HP Victus 16 is a strong, affordable option. It offers a respectable balance for people with different needs for play and work. Spending more will likely get you better build quality and more enjoyable audio. But if you can get past the screen wobble, the Victus can hold its own against pricier models.
Prices start at about $700 for the 15-inch model, but I really recommend avoiding configurations with 8GB RAM; MacOS can get away with that, but Windows has more overhead. For a little more ($890), you can get a reasonable low-end model that you won’t outgrow quickly with an Intel i5-12450H, 12GB RAM, 512GB PCIe NVMe, a 144Hz 1080p screen and GeForce GTX 1650.
The cheapest model should still be able to play most games in 1080p with the graphics settings at medium to high.
The Acer Nitro 5 comes in both 17.3- and 15.6-inch sizes. A 17-inch cheap gaming laptop is a rarity with entry-level gaming laptops; most sub-$1,000 gaming laptops have 15.6-inch displays, and the Acer’s larger screen lets you sink in and get lost in your chosen gaming world. The 17-inch version we reviewed starts at less than $900 with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600H,1080p screen and an GTX if you’re OK with 8GB RAM. If you can manage about $200 more though, you can get a significantly better system, with an i7-11800H, RTX 3050 Ti and 16GB RAM.
At this level, you’ll be able to play current games at FHD resolution with the graphics settings at medium to high, depending on the game you’re playing, of course. Still, Acer makes an affordable gaming laptop that packs in some nice extras like direct controls for power and cooling and upgrades access to memory and storage.
A smaller version than the 15-inch staple, the 14-inch Razer Blade delivers a lot of gaming power for its size without feeling small — an important consideration for a gaming laptop. It also offers decent battery life, a nice size for travel and a subtle design (for a gaming laptop) that’s buttoned-up enough for sitting in a meeting with the top brass or clients.
Asus pairs an ultraportable 13-inch two-in-one that has a relatively powerful AMD CPU with an external GPU dock equipped with a near-top-of-the-line Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 mobile processor, and the result is an incredibly flexible system for both work and play that outperforms many bigger, clunkier gaming laptops. Because it’s a two-in-one, you can comfortably use an external gaming keyboard without the built-in keyboard getting in the way. The stand-alone model has gotten an upgrade to an Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti since I reviewed it, but the bundle with the XG Mobile still has a GTX 1650.
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Other notable gaming laptops we’ve tested
We’re working our way through a raft of 2022 systems, and we’ll update here with those that stand out — just not quite enough for a blanket recommendation.
Razer Blade 15 ($2,600): The 2022 refresh of the Blade 15 retains the title of least-gaming-like gaming laptop, but doesn’t forgo the speed. Like all Razers it’s pretty expensive. The 14-inch is our pick between the two, though, because it’s less expensive and more portable. However, if you need more speed you may need to splurge a little for a bigger system that has more power to cool the hot components. Read the Razer Blade 15 review
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 ($1,529): Asus’s latest version of its all-AMD 14-inch laptop is compact and definitely turns in some excellent performance when it’s plugged in, but when you pull the plug it can get subpar speeds on the types of things you’d frequently do unplugged. Like work. Read the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 review
Gaming laptop FAQs
Do you still have to compromise on battery life?
A compromise you’ve traditionally had to make has been battery life, which has typically lasted as little as 2 hours of nonstop gaming. You also couldn’t play most complex games — GPU- or CPU-intensive ones — on battery power. Processors would get throttled back and screens dim during hard-core gaming sessions, so a laptop that felt nimble when connected became a slog on battery power, turning your epic battles into battles of frustration.
That’s been changing recently, as Intel, AMD and Nvidia have concentrated on improving their power management technologies. No, you still can’t play for 10 hours on battery power, but now you can find some great gaming laptops with 10-hour battery lives to make gaming on the road more feasible.
The Asus ROG Flow X13 with its optional sidekick the Mobile XG offers a blended option for gamers: The small, lightweight laptop has a powerful AMD Ryzen 5900HS CPU and an Nvidia GTX 1650 GPU for lightweight gaming, while the external dock incorporates an RTX 3080 mobile GPU and extra connections.
Lori Grunin/CNET
What do I need to know about a gaming laptop’s GPU (beyond speed)?
The fastest graphics card currently available in a laptop is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti with the usual Max-Q variants. The Max-Q versions run at slower frequencies than their full-size siblings — that keeps down the noise and heat and allows them to fit into thinner designs. RTX models also accelerate ray-traced rendering and provide intelligent upscaling (also known as DLSS) where it’s explicitly supported. If your favorite games don’t use it, the lower-end Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti incorporates Turing, the last generation of Nvidia’s technology, without the extra cost or power burden of the RT cores.
The problem with the Max-Q, though, is that with its last-generation Optimus technology that’s still used by a lot of laptops, you have to reboot to switch between a dedicated GPU mode and a power-saving mode, which only uses the GPU for accelerating, not actually drawing the screen (so every frame has to travel from the GPU’s dedicated memory over the system bus to the CPU and then to the screen rather than going directly from the GPU memory to the screen).
That means it can’t take advantage of adaptive refresh-rate technologies and it can negatively affect frame rates. So why not leave it on the GPU mode all the time? Because you’ll frequently get poorer CPU performance and even lesser graphics performance in games that balance CPU and GPU usage rather than going all-out on the GPU.
Nvidia launched the new generation of its Max-Q architecture, which introduced Advanced Optimus, in 2020. It’s smarter, with the integrated and discrete graphics sharing (rather than switching) the pipeline to the display, no reboot necessary. But Advanced Optimus needs a major change to system design, so laptops supporting Advanced Optimus still aren’t plentiful.
You can spot systems that require a reboot, both AMD- and Nvidia-equipped models, when they say they offer a MUX switch. That just means it’s more convenient than the next-step-down alternative, which is having to manually change it in the BIOS.
AMD’s current high-power laptop GPUs, the Radeon RX 6600M, 6700M and 6800M, don’t quite reach the level of the fastest Nvidia RTX models, but the 6800M has gotten pretty close, with performance on average falling between the RTX 3070 and 3080. AMD also launched its first line of S-series mobile GPUs, which require less power, and thus less cooling, for new thin-and-light gaming laptops like the 2022 ROG Zephyrus G14.
Yes, but not always. In general, sims benefit from faster clock speeds and more cores since those are required for the heavy calculations when worlds get complex. More and more AAA games are also starting to balance loads better between the CPU and GPU where possible as well. And if you bounce back and forth between a game and the rest of Windows, it can help speed that kind of multitasking a bit.
Still, a lot of games, especially first-person shooters, don’t take advantage of more than four cores. That was partly Intel’s rationalization for its continued reliance on its old 14-nanometer architecture for the 10th-gen high-performance (H series) processors. It let the company boost single-core clock frequencies, compared with gains it would have made by moving to a smaller process technology such as Ice Lake, which is designed to support more cores on less power draw.
Intel recently jumped to 10nm Alder Lake for its 12th-gen CPUs, which combines performance and power-efficient cores similar to Apple’s M1 and M2 chips. What we’ve seen thus far (like in the MSI Raider GE76) does show how fast the 12th-gen H-series CPUs can run and how it can help extend battery life.
What do I need to know about screen size and refresh rate?
And then there are the screens. All the major companies bumped their flagship 1080p configurations to 360Hz, but for many a gamer, they’re not essential: 240Hz max should be fine for those few times you can get frame rates above 240fps. Even 144Hz will do for many people, but artifacts like tearing, caused by the screen refresh rate becoming out of sync with the frame rate, depend on your games as much as your laptop brand and hardware.
We’re also seeing a lot more 120Hz 4K screens in the flagship models in both 17- and 15-inch sizes and a ton of 165Hz and 240Hz QHD (1440p) options. The latter are my favorites, balancing higher resolution — certainly enough on a laptop screen — with gaming-friendly refresh rates.
How we test computers
The review process for laptops, desktops, tablets and other computer-like devices consists of two parts: performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use by our expert reviewers. This includes evaluating a device’s aesthetics, ergonomics and features. A final review verdict is a combination of both those objective and subjective judgments.
