Latest News

David Carnoy/CNET

The Anker Nano II 30W is a next-generation fast charger powered by gallium nitride (GaN II) technology. It’s about the same size as the original 20W Nano charger but delivers more fast charging power. The Nano II will not only charge your phone but a MacBook Air, iPad, and other Apple devices. Anker also sells 45- and 65-watt chargers. Read our first take on Anker Nano II chargers.

David Carnoy/CNET

Anker’s Nano is literally the size of old Apple’s 5-watt USB charger that used to ship with iPhones but offers 20-watt charging. Featuring Anker’s PowerIQ 3.0 technology, it charges more than 2.5x faster than that 5-watt charger (with a USB-C-to-Lightning cable). It was recently upgraded from 18 to 20 watts.

Amazon

A GaNFast charger, Spigen’s 20-watt ArcStation Pro is one of the smallest fast-charging USB-C chargers you’ll find. While the Anker Nano is a bit smaller, it doesn’t have a foldable plug like this model. Using a USB-C-to-Lightning cable, it charges close to three times faster than Apple’s standard 5-watt USB charger.

Amazon

This 30-watt, dual-port charger delivers the full 30 watts of juice if used alone and 18 watts if used while charging a second device via the USB-A port, which delivers 12 watts of charging. It’s a GaNFast charger, and it includes a USB-C to Lightning cable. It’s on sale for $26, and you can save an extra 30% when you use the promo code NL144 at checkout.

Amazon

This svelte Anker 30-watt charger with foldable plugs is pocket friendly and can charge your iPhone impressively fast with a USB-C-to-Lighting cable. Like many other compact chargers, this uses gallium nitride (or GaN) technology.

Amazon

I originally had an Aukey cigarette-lighter power adapter on this list, but it’s out of stock and this low-profile Ainope mini fast USB Car Charger offers even faster charging (up 24 watts) and costs less. It has both a USB-C and USB-A port so you can charge two devices at the same time, but to get 15-watt wireless charging, you’re going to be better off charging one device.

David Carnoy/CNET

Yes, a 100-watt charger is overkill for charging your phone. But if you want a charger that can charge any USB-C laptop, including the 16-inch MacBook Pro (which happens to be my work computer), the new Baseus 100W GaN II Fast Charger with Qualcomm Quick Charge 5.0 is the latest and greatest high-wattage fast charging USB-C charger. As its name implies, it features GaN II technology. It’s both significantly smaller than earlier 100-watt chargers and more energy efficient, so it doesn’t heat up as much. It adapts to whatever device you’re charging, delivering the highest charging speed that the device is capable of.

David Carnoy/CNET

Nimble is all about making its products from recycled plastics, and not having any plastic in its packaging. Its Wally Mini is a dual-port 20-watt PD charger with fast-charging capabilities. You can charge two devices at once, but to get to top charging speed for your iPhone you’ll need to connect it using a USB-C-to-Lightning cable (to the USB-C port) without having any other devices connected to the USB-A port.

It has retractable prongs, is quite compact and also feels pretty light. If you didn’t know it was made out of recycled plastic, you might not guess that it was. But since I did know, I did think, “Yes, this feels like recycled plastic.” Not that it feels bad, but it does look and feel a little different.

Nimble also includes a bag in the box for your e-waste items. If your old electronics product is on Nimble’s list of approved electronics for recycling, you can print out a free shipping label to send in your gear for recycling.

Amazon

No, this isn’t a fancy new MagSafe charger — but it doesn’t cost $60, either. I like this RAVPower charging pad because it’s relatively inexpensive and comes with a power adapter that allows you to get the faster 10-watt wireless charging speeds (some top out at 7.5 watts, and a lot of cheap wireless charging pads don’t include a power adapter).

Amazon

Another good choice in the best all-around wall charger category is RAVPower’s 65-watt dual-port charger. It’s very similar to the Aukey and often costs within a few bucks of the same price. This is also a GaNFast charger.

Amazon

Another GaNFast charge, this compact 65-watt USB-C charger will not only charge your iPhone at maximum speed (if you spring for a USB-C-to-Lightning cable), it also charges most USB-C charging laptops. Additionally, you can charge a second device via the USB-A port.

Amazon

This Power Bank from Aukey has both wired and wireless charging options. If you use the USB-C port, you can get 18 watts of charging. Go wireless and lay your phone on the charging dock battery and it will wirelessly charge at 10 watts, which is where the iPhone currently maxes out for wireless charging. You’re paying a premium, but this phone charger unit has a massive battery (20,000 mAh), a built-in kickstand and a digital readout listing the remaining charge. It comes with a USB-A-to-USB-C cable, but you’ll need to supply an adapter to charge it.

Amazon

Looking for a compact single-port fast-charger? Aukey has a number of options that won’t put a dent in your bank account.

Amazon

Why carry around both a power adapter and a portable battery when you can have both in one device? We loved the earlier version of this model, and now it’s back with both USB-A and USB-C ports, with power up to 18 watts. Yes, it’s bigger and heavier than most of the power adapters on this list, because it does have that integrated battery.

• Best Laptop for 2022
• Best Windows Laptops
• Best Laptop for College
• Best Laptop for High School Students
• Best Budget Laptop Under $500
• Best Dell Laptops
• Best 15-Inch Work and Gaming Laptops
• Best 2-in-1 Laptop
• Best HP Laptops

• Best Gaming Laptop
• Best Cheap Gaming Laptop Under $1,000
• Best Chromebook: 8 Chromebooks Starting at Under $300

Atlas Coffee Club

When you enjoy drinking coffee, there is nothing better than the flavor of it in the morning. Give that coffee drinker in your life the tastiest cup of coffee with an Atlas Coffee Club subscription. Three-, six- or 12-month subscriptions are available, with the six-month option being the most popular at $99. Customize this subscription with options for whole bean, ground and Keurig pods as well as the roast type and bags per shipment.

Fresh n’ Lean

Meal kits are all the rage. If you want the best meal kit service we’ve ever tried check out Fresh N Lean. You’ll get pre-made meals that are portioned and fit with a number of food needs. Give your friends and family access to Fresh N Lean, with a gift card for as low as $100 and up to $200 that they can use towards meal plans or a la carte.

While you can’t send a subscription box to a friend, you can get them the next best thing, a gift card they can use to buy their own subscription box. Values start at $50 and go up to $500. With this gift card, your loved one can get curated Japanese snacks for a taste of Japan each month.

Harry’s

Grooming habits for men are just as important as they are for women. For the man who loves perfectly coiffed hair and using high-quality razors, this is the gift for them. You can enter increments of 20 (starting at $20) or a custom price and send it via email or text message.

Atlas

Know someone who prefers tea instead of coffee? If so, Atlas Tea Club has them covered with three-, six- and 12-month subscriptions that serve up sampler, herbal, black or green tea to suit any tastes. (The six-month option is the most popular.) If you want to get more bang for your buck, get the six-month subscription for $99.

James Martin/CNET

If there is someone in your life who loves learning something new, pick up a Masterclass subscription for them. Right now, you can get two memberships for the price of one. That’s literally a free subscription (instead of $15 a month for each individual membership) to learn from experts and celebrities in the industry.

Disney+

Provide a family member the gift of nostalgia and wonder with a Disney Plus bundle subscription. With this bundle, they’ll have access to Disney originals such as Andor all for $110.

Rosetta Stone

Learning a language can be done online and at your own time these days. If you know someone who wants to learn a new language in 2023, give them lifetime access to all 25 languages for $179.

James Martin/CNET

Didn’t think you could give someone an Amazon Prime membership did you? Well, you can! With an Amazon Prime membership, your favorite person will have access to millions of items and products from shopping to award-winning shows. You can choose to give a three month subscription for $45 or the 12-month subscription for $139.

Sephora

People love skin care, hair care and other essentials for self-care. Splurge a little and get them a gift card that gives them the option to shop hundreds of beauty products to support their beauty routines.

Microsoft

Getting access to Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus or Nintendo Switch Online will give your friends and family the opportunity to play games online, get special perks and day of releases. Pick up one of these gift cards so they can buy the subscription orgames easily.

Sam’s Club

This $20 one-year membership has so many perks. Not only does this membership work for an additional person, but there’s savings on pharmacy, optical, tires and more. Plus, there are bonus offers on dining and subscriptions outside of Sam’s club.

CNET

Learning how to relax your mind is a hard thing to do for a lot of people. Using Headspace, that can get a lot easier with mindfulness tools and guided meditation. Right now, you can get these gifts for 25% off.

Uncommon Goods

Sometimes you come across someone who has everything. This is when you should turn to more creative gifts such as learning mixology, crafting and even mastering knife skills. With Uncommon Good’s Uncommon Experiences, you can surprise a loved one with something new at an affordable price.

Apple

Give this gift card to an Apple fan so they can spend it all on Apple products. You can get this gift card starting at $15, but you can spend up to $200 too. Whoever gets this card can spend it on anything, including Apple gear and music.

Getty/NurPhoto

There are plenty of people who can’t live without their favorite Starbucks drinks. Help them out by giving them a gift card starting at $15. You also have the option to purchase the gift card for $25, $50 and $100 if you choose.

IBM

One of the top weather apps for both iOS and Android, The Weather Channel app offers local hourly, daily and weekly forecasts, as well as a “Feels like” feature to let you know what to prepare for when leaving the house. Owned by IBM, the app also offers real-time rain alerts with radar, and the ability to track seasonal allergies, flu risk and COVID-19 cases. The app is free to download, but ads are more apparent here than on some of the others. You can remove them by upgrading to premium for $10 per year or $1 per month.

The Weather Channel app, its service providers and its ad and analytics partners may collect information, and share it with third parties, according to its privacy policy. You can request access to or delete your usage data. If you give the app permission to collect location information while apps are running in the background, it will do so. You can turn off direct location collection through your device settings.

Weather Underground

Weather Underground offers hyper-local forecasts for your neighborhood, along with interactive radar, satellite maps and severe weather alerts. On the homepage, you’ll see the current temperature, what it actually feels like, the daily high and low and precipitation and wind information, along with a radar map. If you tap “more,” you’ll find information on humidity, dew point, visibility, UV index and flu outbreaks. Scroll down to find hourly and weekly forecasts, the air quality index, sunrise and sunset times, and tabs that take you to news stories and weather forecast videos.

Like The Weather Channel, Weather Underground is also owned by IBM. The app is free, but you can upgrade to a premium ad-free version for $20 per year or $4 per month, which also includes detailed visual forecasts up to 15 days out.

Weather Underground has perhaps the most impressive privacy policy of the pack: It lets you know up front when you open it for the first time that it will be using your information to target ads. But when you open the Privacy Settings tab, it gives you the option to directly open your phone settings to change permissions, see data usage information and toggle off “Allow background data usage.” There’s also a choice directly in the app’s privacy settings page for either “standard advertising settings” (allowing ad partners to use your device information to target ads and for other purposes) or “do not share my information other than for ads in this app.” There’s also a tab to let you request a portable copy of data, manager permissions and request a data deletion.

AccuWeather

When you open AccuWeather, you’ll see a snapshot of the day’s weather, in terms of current conditions, the “RealFeel” temperature in the sun or shade, the UV index and the wind speed, as well as a look ahead to the next day. You also have the option to select if you want theweather application to tell you to bring a jacket or umbrella. Keep scrolling and you’ll see the different allergy levels (like tree, grass and ragweed pollen) broken down for the day. At the top, you’ll have the option to check hourly and daily temperatures, along with a radar map. There’s also a news tab where you can watch short news videos.

You can upgrade the app for a one-time $4 fee to remove ads and get an additional 10 days of forecasts.

AccuWeather collects user information and may disclose it to “unaffiliated third-party providers” for targeting advertising in this app and in others, according to its privacy policy. It does give you a list of who those providers are. You can change your permissions on your device (such as turning off location-based services).

RadarScope

One of the top paid weather apps in the Play Store, the $10 RadarScope app is aimed at more serious weather enthusiasts and meteorologists. It gives you access to NEXRAD Level 3 and Super-Resolution radar data, along with tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and special marine warnings. If you’re really into tracking weather patterns, this is the app for you.

If you upgrade to a Pro Tier 1 subscription ($10 per year), you’ll access real-time, nongridded lightning data, extended radar loops and inspector tools to better investigate radar imagery. A Pro Tier 2 subscription ($15 per month or $100 per year) will give you that as well, plus archived radar data from the past 30 days, tools that help you predict where there could be a tornado, hail size and probably information and local storm reports from the National Weather Service.

In terms of privacy, RadarScope operates under the policy laid out by parent company DTN. The company says it does not sell information to third parties — which makes sense, since it’s an app you pay for. It does use Google Analytics and Eloqua web monitoring, as well as AdRoll for advertising, but you can opt out of all of them.

Dark Sky

Dark Sky has a simple interface: Its home page shows the temperature and what temperature it feels like, and gives a listed forecast for the rest of the day or night. Scroll down to find a forecast for the rest of the week, and to access weather and forecasts in your area from the past or future.

Dark Sky differentiates itself with an interactive world map feature that lets you zoom in and out of various countries, states and cities to track radar, forecasts and precipitation. You can report weather for your location to the app as well.

In terms of privacy policy, the app says it shares anonymous data with third-party analytics firms and advertisers, and links out to the privacy policies of those advertisers (Google Advertising and BuySellAds). You can disable analytics in the app’s settings to stop that collection, and disable notifications to stop it from collecting your location data while the app is not active, according to the policy.

Dark Sky is free on Android and $4 on iOS, but you can upgrade to premium for $3 per year to get down-to-the-minute forecasts, rain notifications, severe weather alerts and other custom notifications, and widgets for your home screen along with OS app and complications for your smart watch.

In March, Dark Sky was acquired by Apple. As such, the Android app will be shut down on July 1, and users will be refunded, according to Apple. Other privacy changes may be coming as well.

Carrot Weather

Carrot Weather approaches the weather report in a more fun, lighthearted way. The home page has some nice artwork and a sharp welcome message. One nice day in March under the temperature, feels like temperature, precipitation and wind information, said, “It’s springtime, meatbag! You can thank me for taking winter out behind the toolshed later.” When I opened the app again, it said, “Ah, spring — that time of year when the weather finally gets nice again, but you still say inside playing video games.” You can change the app’s “personality” in the settings, to friendly, snarky, homicidal or overkill (includes profanity), as well as its politics.

The app is relatively simple compared to some of the others: Its homepage gives you the current temperature, an hourly forecast and a weekly forecast. There’s a tab for weather alert notifications as well. There’s also a built-in geography game you can play. If you need a hint, you have to watch an ad.

Carrot Weather gets its data from Dark Sky and Weather Underground, so your location information is also shared with them when you request weather, according to its privacy policy. Your location information can also be used to support third-party ads. You can obtain a copy of your information by emailing the company, and can delete information from the app’s settings.

Carrot Weather free to download, or you can upgrade to the Premium Club for $1 per month or $4 per year to remove ads, add widgets to your screen, and view weather reports from up to 70 years ago.

Aukey

The Aukey CC-Y48 48W Dual Charger was just a few seconds behind the Satechi in charging speeds. However, it’s a lot cheaper and not as tall. It also supports both the QC and PD charging protocols, so it should fast-charge a wider variety of phones and other devices. It offers a lot of benefits for being just fractionally slower in our testing, plus it’s one of the cheapest car chargers we tested. An all-around easy choice.

Satechi

While all the chargers we tested charged with fairly similar rapidity, the Satechi charged two devices at the same time the fastest… by a few seconds. But a few seconds is a few seconds. It has a fairly typical torpedo shape, but is taller than the others we tested. That may be a strength or weakness, depending on your car’s layout. It’s on the expensive side of the chargers we tested, but wasn’t the most expensive either.

The Satechi doesn’t support the QC fast charging protocol, so if your phone only supports that, check out the Aukey instead. Overall, this is a good charger if you don’t mind the height, and a great charger if that height fits your car better.

Amazon/Screenshot by CNET

This Anker performed in the middle of the pack in our testing, which in fairness meant just a few minutes behind the leaders. However, its price at the time was the highest of any we tested. It is also the largest, with the output end roughly twice as wide as the barrel. Not a bad charger by any stretch, and if it was cheaper than our winners here, it’d be a great alternative.

Unlike many of the other options we tested, this one is still available on Amazon, too. This similar Anker model is a bit more affordable.

Aukey

The Aukey CC-A3 is absolutely tiny. In most cars it will likely remain flush with the top of the 12-volt socket itself. To remove it, there’s a small handle that pivots up when needed, and folds down flush with the top when not in use. It’s a clever design. It’s also the second-slowest charger we tested. That equates to about 10% longer to 50% capacity. However, the small size likely makes up for that speed difference.

The CC-A3 supports both the QC and PD fast charging protocols.

Monoprice

Monoprice has developed a reputation for decent products at low prices, and this charger is a pretty good example of that. Speed-wise it was mid-pack, a few minutes slower than the best, a few minutes faster than the worst. However, at $13 at the time this is published, it’s one of the cheapest options here, less than half of the Satechi and in between the price of the two Aukey models at the time of testing.

The Monoprice only supports the PD fast charging protocol.

This is an interesting question. Theoretically, the maximum output from a 12-volt “cigarette lighter” socket is 180 watts, since most run through a 15-amp fuse (15Ax12V=180W). In practice, it’s far lower. The last thing any manufacturer wants is for you to blow fuses in your car trying to recharge three phones, a laptop and a curling iron or something. For the most part, the fastest car chargers will charge your phone in a similar, though probably somewhat slower, timeframe as a decent charger at home.

No.

That said, if you consider that the number is split between the different USB outputs… also, no.

The wattage output ratings for each charger is a theoretical maximum based on what could be supplied by the specific outputs. It’s always all the outputs combined into a single number; you’ll never get close to that on a single USB connection.

That all considered, they should give you an idea, within a brand, which charger offers the highest potential output. One company’s 48-watt charger should charge devices faster than that same company’s 12-watt charger. But there’s no way to know if one company’s 48-watt charger is faster or slower than another company’s 30-watt or 80-watt, as you can see in our testing.

Maybe. There are several fast-charging specifications and most phones don’t include them all. Most chargers don’t include them all either. Before purchasing any charger, even our picks, it’s worth finding out what kind of charging your phone is capable of and making sure the charger supports it. The two protocols to consider are PD and QC. PD is extremely common, QC is found in many, though not all, phones/tablets that use Qualcomm chips.

Not unless there’s something really, really wrong with your charger and your phone. The beauty of USB is that the changing device only draws as much power as it needs from the charger.

There are endless varieties of car charger outlet combinations. For any reasonable-length guide such as this, a narrowing down is necessary. That’s why we focused on chargers with one USB-C and one USB-A port, for the greatest flexibility. However, if you don’t need a USB-A port, most of the companies we’ve mentioned above also make dual USB-C chargers that likely perform similarly. Click on one of the options above that looks good to you, and there’s likely a dual USB-C option listed as a recommendation elsewhere on that page.

Most likely a good charger with four USB-C inputs will charge a single device just as fast as our picks, possibly even two devices. However, there’s only so much power that can go through one of these devices. Four USB-C devices all charging at the same time aren’t going to charge as fast as a single device on the same charger.

They’re also huge. Maybe I’m overly sensitive to this since I drive one of the smallest cars you can buy, and the last thing I want is a USB charger the size of my passenger seat taking up space. If you regularly charge that many devices, and you have the space to spare, they’re worth considering. Some of the companies we looked at also make big multichargers, but not all.

Maybe. Apple products are persnickety about their cables, so you might need a MFi-Certified Type-C-to-Lightning cable to enable fast charging. Non-Apple devices should be fine with any decent USB-C cable.

I did find a difference in charging times with longer USB-C cables, so for the best times it’s good to keep the length of the cable as short as possible.

Dell

Dell streamlined its G-series gaming laptops, going from three models down to just one — and it’s all for the best. Instead of having to decode the various feature and quality differences between them, there’s just one chassis available with a variety of configurations with an 11th-gen Intel processor or AMD Ryzen 5000 H-series processor, though those models start at over $1,000. All of the processors can be paired with up to a 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, 8GB DDR4 RAM or 16GB DDR4 RAM and 256GB SSD or 512GB SSD. They’re basically a more budget-friendly version of those from its Alienware division, but still capable of playing the latest AAA titles. Prices have been up and down lately due to supply issues, so if you’re a gamer on a budget you may have to wait to get the best deal. This gaming laptop has eight USB Ports and the laptop is available in two colors.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The Acer Nitro 5 is the best affordable gaming laptop that 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 the gamer sink in and get lost in the chosen gaming world. Unfortunately, the larger screens are currently just above $1,000 at the moment. This cheap gaming laptop comes with an 11th Gen Intel Core processor with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD.

Sarah Tew/CNET

It’s the bright screamin’-green backlit keyboard that really gives away that HP’s 15.6-inch Pavilion Gaming laptop isn’t just a normal midsize notebook. Sure, there are some pretty large rear fan vents, but otherwise the chassis is fairly tame and all black except for a slight green tint to the HP logo on the lid. Inside the gaming notebook is an excellent mix of components that are good for gaming as well as work.

Lenovo

The Legion 5 is an updated version of the Y540, which was one of our favorite gaming laptops for its design and best gaming laptop value. There are a few changes to this gaming machine’s design, but mostly it’s what’s inside that’s changed, including a choice between AMD (Legion 5) and Intel (Legion 5i) processors. Prices still start at just under $1,000 for the AMD models but if you can spend closer to $1,300, you’ll get more for your money. If you are a gamer who needs to keep costs down, the company’s budget gaming IdeaPad Gaming 3 laptop starts down around $750.

You can find a good cheap gaming laptop, but they certainly have performance limitations compared to more expensive laptops. The components necessary for an enjoyable PC gaming experience are expensive, which means even entry-level gaming laptops are still typically between $700 to $1,000. Also, because these models use lower-end components, the gaming performance they’ll have on today’s demanding AAA games might not hold up for future titles.

Cheap gaming laptops are worth considering if you typically play older games or games that aren’t graphically demanding or you’re OK playing at reduced graphics quality to maintain fast frame rates. They’re also a suitable option if you’re looking for a laptop for work or school, but with enough graphics power for casual gaming during your downtime.

For the best gaming experience with a budget gaming laptop, you want to make sure you get the most graphics power affordable from the start since this can’t be upgraded later, unlike memory or storage.

A cheap gaming laptop with an entry-level Nvidia GTX 1650 normally starts around $700, though the current chip shortage has prices up and supplies low. That chip gives you enough graphics performance to play the newest demanding games at medium settings. Spending between $800 and $1,000 (or perhaps a little more) will get you a laptop with a GTX 1650 Ti, a 1660 Ti or even a 3050 Ti for a better gaming experience.

If you’re on a strict budget when shopping for a cheap gaming laptop, again, go with an Nvidia GTX 1650 graphics chip. If you can afford to spend closer to $1,000, you’ll be better off in the long run as you’ll be able to play more demanding games now and later.

With the CPU, memory and storage, your choices are a little more flexible for a budget gaming laptop, especially the latter two. Because many games such as first-person shooters rely more on the graphics chip than the CPU, you don’t necessarily need the fastest available. Going with a more midrange CPU like an Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 is a safe bet.

Also, gaming laptops, especially cheaper ones, let you easily expand or upgrade your memory and storage. If you’re going to skimp, this is the best place to do it with the expectation you’ll upgrade eventually and put your cash into the GPU and CPU instead.

Beyond the graphics chip, look for:

• A 10th-, 11th- or 12th-gen Intel Core i5 or i7, or AMD Ryzen 4000 or 5000 series processor.
• At least 8GB of memory (aka RAM) and the capability to add more post-purchase.
• At least a 512GB solid-state drive or a combo of 256GB SSD storage and a larger hard drive.

Most of your money is going toward components, so the other parts — the display, keyboard and trackpad and build quality — are going to be OK, but not fantastic. This is why I lean toward models like the Dell G15, which has its power input and other ports on the rear for a cleaner setup when connected to external peripherals. It also has a decent battery life, which is something that typically falls by the wayside on cheap gaming laptops.

That said, display quality has improved on entry-level gaming laptops in the past couple of years, particularly when it comes to refresh rates. It’s now common to find 120Hz or 144Hz displays offered, which will make fast movement in your games look smoother and give you a more responsive experience. It’s not worth paying extra for, though, unless the GPU is capable of faster frame rates for your games, too.

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.

The list of benchmarking software we use changes over time as the devices we test evolve. The most important core tests we’re currently running on every compatible computer include: Primate Labs Geekbench 5, Cinebench R23, PCMark 10 and 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra.

A more detailed description of each benchmark and how we use it can be found in our How We Test Computers page.