The new AI tool ChatGPT has inspired excitement and worry with its ability to instantly answer complex questions. In the days after its debut, people have discovered many ways it can make their lives easier — including five we’ve found that rise above the rest.
ChatGPT is a chat-based tool built by research lab OpenAI that answers questions with somewhat conversational dialogue. Its natural language abilities will delight anyone who’s had to rephrase questions to get answers out of Siri or Alexa. The AI, trained on the vast tracts of text available on the internet, knows about information only through 2021. But it’s got an abundance of information on nitty-gritty details and big concepts. That’s got some educators agitated, but as long as you use it carefully, it can be something of a bonus brain.
To be clear, ChatGPT isn’t a perfect substitute for doing your own research — it doesn’t separate fact from fiction, as CNET science editor Jackson Ryan noted while detailing its present weaknesses in critical thinking. ChatGPT can answer questions and explain complex concepts, but its potential for inaccuracy has led StackOverflow to temporarily ban ChatGPT generated software.
That said, there are several ways ChatGPT can make your life easier, cooked up by people looking for AI benefits. If you just want to save time on some tasks — and aren’t cheating on your English Lit paper — here are some cool ways to use ChatGPT.
Get a chatbot to save you money
In a matter of weeks, a GPT-powered bot could lower the prices of your bills. Joshua Browder, CEO of DoNotPay — the “world’s first robot lawyer” that helps people fight traffic tickets and other bills — tweeted that the company is building a Chrome extension based on ChatGPT’s tech foundation to negotiate lower bills from internet providers, hospitals and more.
The extension will enter closed beta testing in mid-December, before an open beta in the first week of January. Though DoNotPay has been lowering bills for years, its rules-based model could only pick fights wherever users could submit online complaint forms. After integrating the conversational tech behind ChatGPT, DoNotPay can negotiate back-and-forth with any service that has chat for customer service, opening up the range of bills that can be challenged to include medical bills, credit reports and landlord-tenant disputes.
“You can say to the bot, ‘Go get me a refund for poor in-flight Wi-Fi’; it’ll have your personal details saved and send [the complaint],” Browder told CNET. He believes the more natural language of the requests will be less suspicious than the rigid form letters DoNotPay had been sending before, allowing it to challenge more discerning — and expensive — institutions, like hospitals.
The GPT-powered extension will be free for part of its beta testing phase then eventually be added into DoNotPay’s current bill-challenging subscription service, which costs $36 every three months.
Like Google’s Duplex AI making voice calls for you, the future could be bots doing all the tedious legwork to get you better deals and cheaper bills.
Make a diet and workout plan
Changing your diet and planning an exercise routine takes work. To make it easier, Alex Cohen, a senior director of product at Carbon Health, used ChatGPT to make a health-improving plan with a daily calorie target, exercise suggestions, a weeklong list of meals and even a shopping list for all the necessary ingredients. He tweeted out his method in an illuminating thread:
Cohen broke down his plan in a series of steps, calculating his personal health metrics, asking for meals that would fit his daily caloric and nutritional needs, asking for a shopping list, and then an exercise plan to meet his needs.
ChatGPT is no substitute for a physician and dietitian who can cater a plan to your specific needs and physiology — a caution the tool will tell you if you repeat Cohen’s search terms. But it’s an easy way to sketch out a health plan blueprint that you can check over yourself or bring to a health care professional.
Generate the next week’s meals with a grocery list
A variation from the last point is worth spotlighting for anyone planning a week’s worth of meals for multiple people.
First, ask ChatGPT for a list of meals, explain how many people you’re cooking for and whether you’re interested in dinners, breakfasts or lunches. Include any preferences and dietary restrictions. Detail how many days you want dining ideas, and poof, you have a list of meals.
Next, ask for a shopping list for those meals. You’ll get a pretty basic list of ingredients, so if you want exact amounts, you’ll need to fine-tune your request. For example, you might want to ask for the total amount of ingredients for all the meals listed. GPT produces a shopping list with the number of cans, ounces, pounds and cups of each ingredient you’ll need for a week’s worth of meals.
Create a bedtime story for kids
ChatGPT-generated prose hasn’t topped the bestseller lists yet, especially since it hasn’t gotten the knack for creative style. But the tool can make a passable bedtime tale for children, concocting simple plots and language from basic prompts. For instance, I chose a cat who wanted to go to space, and ChatGPT gave me the tale of Max, who clawed his way past many obstacles to achieve his dreams among the stars.
Stanford grad student in machine learning Eric Zelikman tweeted the idea of using ChatGPT to generate a bedtime story and then feeding that text into OpenAI’s DALL-E image-generating tool for illustrations.
It isn’t going to replace traditionally published children’s books. But if you’re pressed for time or away from your kid’s trove of bedtime tales, generating one through OpenAI’s tools can be helpful.
Prep for an interview
If you need to prepare to interview an exciting source, you can ask ChatGPT to generate some thought-provoking questions, as entrepreneur Seth Bannon tweeted.
That could be handy if you’re a journalist, or if you’re grilling somebody on stage at an industry conference, prepping for a job interview or preparing for a dinner with someone you want to impress.
You can even use it as a chat partner to set up mock conversations to practice what you’re going to say. You can instruct it to respond in other languages or translate specific phrases, too. You could also use it to help refine your cover letters and emails for a bit of professional polish. ChatGPT isn’t perfect, but when there’s a lot of example copy on the internet it can crib from, it can be an adept communicator.
Here at CNET, we rigorously test virtual private networks to determine which service is deserving of the title best VPN. To see how VPN services compare against each other, we use a combination of our own hands-on testing and the latest real-world research from industry experts. To earn the top accolade, a VPN needs to demonstrate excellent speed, privacy and overall value in our evaluation. Currently, ExpressVPN is our Editors’ Choice for best overall VPN. Most recently, ExpressVPN passed its latest set of third-party audits, contributing to a growing record of industry-leading transparency efforts.
A reliable and well-tested VPN is a cornerstone tool for protecting your privacy online, and can help you get the best value out of your online gaming and streaming. A VPN service is a mobile app or other software that encrypts the connection between your device and the internet, preventing your internet service provider from seeing which apps or websites you are using. It also prevents most of those websites and apps from seeing what geographic location you’re connecting from. And, if configured correctly, a virtual private network can stop your internet service provider from throttling your speeds.
The best VPN delivers unprecedented digital privacy without compromising on performance. Though many people forgo VPNs in favor of other types of network connections, we strongly recommend using a good VPN for work, especially if you deal with sensitive information.
A VPN can also give you an added layer of security on public Wi-Fi networks, even though they’re far less of a security threat than they were in previous years. And with football season now in full swing, it’s a good time to note that VPNs can also be used to correct wrongly applied league blackouts and geographic restriction glitches. In addition, VPN services allow you to bypass content blocks in some countries to access critical news and educational information, while also opening up your streaming entertainment options.
While we believe the best VPN overall is ExpressVPN, we’re also eager to find the best VPNs for different uses. That’s why we also recommend Surfshark VPN as the best cheap VPN for the budget-savvy. Each VPN in the list below has an excellent value for a specific use case, and we point out the ideal user for each one. We’re also in the process of re-evaluating ProtonVPN and will update our recommendations based on that review in the coming months. In the meantime, keep an eye out for holiday VPN deals, which are in play for some providers, including many of our top picks.
ExpressVPN received a CNET Editors’ Choice Award for best overall VPN. We evaluate VPNs based on their overall performance in three main categories: speed, security and price. Express isn’t the cheapest, but it’s among the fastest and, so far, is the most secure.
Surfshark is a close second among our picks. In 2022, it also earned a CNET Editors’ Choice Award as our VPN value pick, thanks to its low first-year price support for unlimited devices.
NordVPN, our third choice, is a die-hard heavy hitter. It costs more than Surfshark but less than Express, has an enormous network that’s constantly getting faster and more secure, and is easily the most reliable service we’ve tested.
Over the past several years, a flood of VPN providers has entered the marketplace, and that comes with both benefits and drawbacks. On one hand, the array of affordable VPN options now available means that — no matter how critical or casual your privacy needs — there’s a VPN service suited to your purpose. But it also means consumers have to wade through even more VPN advertising hype.
How we test VPNs
Our hands-on testing and review process is designed to cut through that hype. When we look at each VPN service, we’re not just examining them for their technical weaknesses, but we’re also scrutinizing their individual performance strengths. We want to know what each service does best. We test each VPN across over 20 factors, and we’re continually improving our methodology as we learn more.
We test VPNs for browsing and streaming speed in multiple countries as well as their connection stability and even the smallest potential privacy leaks. By testing across multiple devices and platforms, we’re able to assess which VPNs are best for gaming versus those best for streaming, torrenting or sharing sensitive information. Most importantly, we focus on doing the deep-dive research necessary to vet each VPN’s historical credibility and its ownership in a notoriously murky market.
The VPNs on this list earn our recommendation for more than just boosting their digital privacy strengths — they enable easy streaming to overcome geoblocked media, have torrenting-friendly servers, and are fast enough to support gaming globally. Based on those continued evaluations, you’ll see a few bullet points on each entry in our list, highlighting each VPN’s strengths and the uses we recommend it for most. And because we strive to keep on top of a fast-changing market, you’ll notice that the rank of each VPN service changes as we learn more and retest.
Best VPN services in 2022
Let’s look at each of our VPN vendors below in more depth. Keep in mind that this list is constantly being updated. We’re actively working on more VPN testing and research, so expect this guide to change throughout the year as we put each VPN through its paces.
The list below presents our favorites overall in 2022 so far. We’ll call out when specific traits make for a better choice in a more narrow evaluation.
Latest tests: No leaks detected, 2% speed loss in spring 2022 tests
Network: 3,000-plus servers in 160 locations across 94 countries
Jurisdiction: British Virgin Islands
Price: 5 simultaneous connections for $13 per month, $60 for six months or $100 for a year (current discount: 3 months free). 2-year subscriptions available.
ExpressVPN is currently the fastest VPN we’ve tested in 2022, causing us to lose less than 2% of our total internet speeds. Its apps for iOS and Android are designed with a streamlined approach aimed at connecting fast without a fuss. A single button on its landing screen directs you to connect quickly, with the only accompanying option a drop-down server location selector with your fastest nearby city selected by default.
ExpressVPN’s other options — its security and privacy tools, account and settings options, and support page — are all kept neatly tucked away under a garden variety three-bar icon in the screen’s top left corner. And they’re worth checking into. ExpressVPN has included an on-board IP address checker, along with two leak testers and a password generator.
In the past year, ExpressVPN increased its independent third-party audit count, published details about its TrustedServer deployment process, joined the i2Coalition to call for improved VPN industry ethics, and released an open source Lightway encryption protocol.
All of our top-rated VPNs have wide compatibility across platforms and operating systems, but ExpressVPN’s collection of setup guides, detailed FAQs and troubleshooting articles give it a clear advantage for users. So does its 24/7 customer support, and its no-questions-asked, 30-day money back guarantee.
The company has been in business since 2009, and ExpressVPN has a substantial network of more than 3,000 RAM-only servers spread across 160 locations in 94 countries. ExpressVPN’s best plan offers five simultaneous connections for $100 a year (which includes three extra months, for a limited-time deal totaling 15 months of service). You can also opt for a $13 per-month plan, or pay $60 for six months.
Latest tests: Zero data leaks and 19% internet speed loss in fall 2022 tests
Network: 3,200-plus in 99 countries
Jurisdiction: Netherlands
Price: Unlimited connections for $48 for the first year (then $60 annually) or $13 per month. 2-year subscriptions available.
Surfshark boasts an impressive suite of privacy and security features, unlimited simultaneous connections, easy-to-use interface and expansive global network. And it’s still significantly cheaper than most of its competitors. That’s what helped Surfshark earn CNET’s Editors’ Choice for Best Value VPN in 2022.
Along with standard VPN features such as a kill switch and DNS leak protection, some of the more notable Surfshark features include camouflage mode (which hides the fact you’re using a VPN), split-tunneling, NoBorders mode (which lets you use Surfshark in regions where VPNs are restricted) and multihop VPN connections. You’ll also get access to Surfshark’s CleanWeb technology, which blocks ads and malware and helps you avoid phishing attacks.
One innovation we’re excited to see Surfshark roll out over the next year is its Nexus network, which connects the VPN’s entire network of servers together and allows you to choose multiple servers to route your connection through. The functionality is somewhat similar to Tor, but Surfshark says it’s faster. With its Dynamic MultiHop, IP Randomizer and IP Rotator functions, the Nexus network can give you a few extra layers of protection while you use the VPN — which can be particularly beneficial to users with critical privacy needs.
Surfshark says it doesn’t log any user activity. And although no-logging claims are virtually impossible to prove with 100% certainty, German cybersecurity firm Cure53 declared Surfshark’s security to be “solid” in its 2021 security audit of the VPN. Surfshark says a new audit is forthcoming by the end of this year.
As of February 2022, both Surfshark and NordVPN have the same corporate parent (Tesonet), but Surfshark said it is legally bound not to share any information between the entities that would go against its privacy policy or terms of service. We didn’t find any language in either document that would indicate Surfshark has any obligation to share user data with its parent company or any sibling companies, which include NordVPN.
Surfshark rates consistently as one of the fastest VPNs available. Which is why we were surprised that one of the only issues we had with Surfshark came in our speed test. While it still ranks as one of the fastest VPNs we’ve tested — with an internet speed loss of just 19% — we were disappointed with the inconsistent speed results we got to certain locations. Speeds to Europe and Singapore were erratic (dipping as low as 9Mbps to Singapore), while speeds to New York were slower than speeds to the UK and even Australia. Surfhark is in the process of significantly expanding its server network, now offering more than 3,200 servers in 99 countries. The continued expansion of its server network could potentially help bring some more consistency to the VPN’s speeds.
In our tests, Surfshark had no problems unblocking Netflix and Amazon Prime Video content, but we did run into a fair bit of trouble accessing Disney Plus. After testing various servers in the US and other countries where Disney Plus is available, we were finally able to access the content when we connected to a server in Boston. You may need to test a few servers yourself before gaining access to Disney Plus content with Surfshark.
Surfshark offers cheaper introductory prices that jump after the first billing cycle. Even so, Surfshark manages to keep its prices lower than most other VPNs — helping it earn CNET’s Editors’ Choice for Best Value. The yearly plan starts out at $48 for the first year, then jumps to $60 for any additional years of service. If you opt for the two-year plan, you’ll pay $53 up front for the initial two years combined, plus two free months, then $60 per year for any additional years. Surfshark’s monthly plan stays constant at $13 a month. If you’re not satisfied with the service for any reason, Surfshark offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Latest tests: No leaks detected, 13% speed loss in summer 2022 tests
Network: 5,600-plus servers in 84 locations across 59 countries
Jurisdiction: Panama
Price: 6 simultaneous connections for $12 per month or $67 for a year (current discount: 3 months free). 2-year subscriptions available.
NordVPN is one of the most recognized brands in the VPN field. It offers a generous simultaneous connection count, with six simultaneous connections through its network, where nearly all other providers offer five or fewer. NordVPN also offers a dedicated IP option, for those looking for a different level of VPN connection, and the ability to VPN into Tor. More than half of Nord’s 5,000-plus server fleet is optimized for peer-to-peer sharing, though Nord has blocked torrenting in 14 countries.
In our latest test rounds we noticed a few hiccups in Nord’s killswitch when using its iOS app, which could be a concern for torrenters. However, Nord has a sideloaded iOS available on its website that it recommends for users. In our most recent speed tests, NordVPN’s performance recovered from middling speed scores of 2021 and zoomed back into the ranks of the fastest VPNs we’ve tested, causing us to lose just 13% of base internet speeds.
NordVPN doesn’t accept PayPal payments, but you can purchase a subscription with any major credit or debit card, AmazonPay, Google Pay or ACH transfer. If you’d rather pay anonymously, you can pay with a variety of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether and Dogecoin. NordVPN has also partnered with a handful of retail stores like Staples, BestBuy and Walmart where you can even purchase your VPN with cash.
Latest tests: Zero data leaks and 17% internet speed loss
Network: 1,885 servers in 67 countries
Jurisdiction: Switzerland
Price: $72 per year or $10 per month
Proton VPN is a solid choice for VPN power users and anyone with critical security needs, but it’s also excellent for casual VPN users who are simply looking to give their online privacy a boost or access geographically restricted content. It’s fast, easy to use across all platforms and can unblock streaming services like Netflix, Disney-plus, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video.
Proton VPN hasn’t been around nearly as long as some of its peers like ExpressVPN and NordVPN, but in a few short years, it has earned a sturdy reputation for security and transparency. Much of that reputation was built on the back of Proton Mail’s already established strength as a secure email solution, but Proton VPN has become a solid product on its own merit since it launched in 2017.
All of its apps across platforms are fully open-source, making Proton VPN the only provider in our top five to have its software’s source code publicly available for anyone to scrutinize. The apps are also routinely audited by third-party cybersecurity professionals who confirmed that “no important security issues were identified” during their latest audit.
Proton VPN has all the standard security features you’d expect from any VPN provider worth its salt, including a kill switch, DNS leak protection and AES 256-bit encryption. The provider also offers additional security protections like an ad/malware blocker, Tor over VPN and a stealth protocol to help cloak your VPN connection and bypass firewalls.
But the pièce de résistance of Proton VPN’s security suite is its fleet of Secure Core servers. Essentially, these servers operate in the same way as other VPN providers’ multi-hop functionality does, but Proton’s Secure Core servers are wholly owned by the company, equipped with hard disk encryption and housed in secure data centers in a defunct military base in Iceland and in underground bunkers in Switzerland and Sweden. Route your traffic through Proton’s Secure Core servers first to add a robust layer of physical and technical protection before exiting through another VPN server in a different country.
And if you’re looking for a free VPN, look no further than Proton VPN, because its unlimited free tier is truly impressive, and really the only free VPN we’ve encountered that’s worth using. It lacks support for torrenting and doesn’t include all the bells and whistles as the paid tiers, but Proton VPN’s free tier is secure and doesn’t put limits on speed, data or usage time like most other free VPNs do. Free users get access to servers in three countries (US, NL and JP) and can connect one device at a time.
Proton VPN’s paid plans cost $72 per year or $10 per month and include access to servers in 67 countries and support for 10 simultaneous connections. Paid plans also include a 30-day money-back guarantee. Read our Proton VPN review.
Latest tests: DNS leaks detected, 58% speed loss in spring 2022 tests
Network: 2,000-plus servers in 75 locations across 52 countries
Jurisdiction: United States
Price: Unlimited connections for $11 per month, $16 for 3 months ($30 quarterly after the first 3 months) or $48 for a year ($90 annually after the first year).
A big win for IPVanish is its fun, configurable interface, which makes it an ideal client for those who are interested in learning how to understand what a VPN does under the hood.
If you’re looking for the ability to do some precision tuning to your VPN connection, IPVanish is a solid bet. With a bevy of switches controlling things like the kill switch, split tunneling, VPN protocol and LAN connection allowance, IPVanish is an app for the methodical tech tweaker who enjoys having exact control over their mobile internet traffic.
IPVanish has long been geared toward peer-to-peer traffic and is a solid choice for torrenters who are looking for a VPN that comes with a SOCKS5 proxy.
With its newly redesigned apps for Windows and Android, IPVanish manages to pack the same extensive suite of digital knobs and dials into a refreshingly clean mobile interface to impressive effect.
Its multiplatform flexibility is also ideal for people focused on finding a Netflix-friendly VPN.
While IPVanish isn’t the fastest VPN, the 58% speed loss we measured in our most recent speed tests is about on par with most VPN providers. However, we noticed that IPVanish’s Quick Connect feature doesn’t always connect you to the best available server, so you may need to optimize your speeds by connecting manually to a server showing a lighter load by selecting the Locations option in the client.
Charging $11 for its monthly plan, IPVanish is trying to move you toward its yearly program, which costs $48 for the first year, but then jumps to $90 for subsequent years of service. The provider offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, but only if you purchase the yearly plan — which could be a disappointment to anyone who purchased a monthly subscription and decided they didn’t like it.
That said, the company gets kudos for allowing unlimited simultaneous connections. We also liked its connection kill-switch feature, a must for anyone serious about protecting their privacy while surfing.
Not every VPN can be a favorite. These are ones we reviewed, but they’re not full-throated recommendations for one reason or another, including limited features and concerns over adequately hiding your identity.
Platforms: Windows, Android, MacOS, iOS, Linux, Amazon Fire TV
Price: $8 per month or $95.88 billed annually. Month-to-month plan at $13
Hotspot Shield VPN’s TLS-based Hydra Catapult protocol, US jurisdiction, 128-bit AES encryption support and large percentage of virtual servers might strip away our trust in its ability to provide more privacy protections than its competitors — but those are all key components to its ability to achieve the blazing speeds it delivered during its most recent speed tests.
It’s the second-fastest VPN I’ve tested, effortlessly delivers smooth-streaming media and can dance between server connections without missing a beat, no matter how many interruptions you throw at it. A 26% speed loss puts it in second place, falling behind Surfshark — which lost just 16.9% of its speed the last time I tested it — and knocking ExpressVPN down to third place with a 51.8% speed loss at last measurement. Speed losses on UK connections were under 8%. Gaming, torrenting, browsing, streaming — these speed-dependent services won’t be slowed down for Hotspot Shield users.
We’re not excited about Hotspot’s privacy and security, though. Since the services uses a closed-source proprietary Catapult Hydra protocol, instead of the more transparent open-source OpenVPN protocol, we’d like to see Hotspot give the public more third-party audits — a necessary step to bring Hotspot up to speed with routinely audited VPNs like TunnelBear. As recently as April 2021, review site VPNMentor discovered a DNS leak in Hotspot Shield’s plug-in for Google Chrome. Hotspot acknowledged the issue at the time and aimed to improve the product.
We’re also not thrilled about the amount of user data Hotspot collects, and its privacy policy. With its premium product, it gathers and retains much more information about users than most other VPNs. And if you’re using the free version of its product, it shares that information — along with even more finite data, including your MAC address and specific phone identifier — with advertising companies.
While its interface is user-friendly and its speeds are thrilling, spending time with Hotspot is going to leave your wallet a little lighter than you might prefer. Its current price is higher than its nearest competitors, its speeds slightly slower and its privacy more questionable. If you’re looking for a VPN purely on the grounds of speed, we still recommend passing on Hotspot until it improves.
TunnelBear’s gotten a lot of hype in the last couple of years. But when we looked under its hood and compared it with its VPN competitors, our excitement waned.
TunnelBear’s speeds are reasonable. We lost nearly 63% of internet speed overall when we used it, which is about average for a VPN. TunnelBear’s speeds have steadily improved over the years as measured by other review and testing sites, though, and the US scores we recorded saw a speed loss of only 54%.
On the plus side, TunnelBear is holding its own in the transparency competition among VPNs by publishing the results of its independent security audits and annual transparency reports. No IP address, DNS or other potentially user-identifying data leaks were detected during our testing, but in the past TunnelBear was observed to have been leaking WebRTC information. TunnelBear’s VPN encryption is standard AES-256 and it supports Perfect Forward Secrecy.
However, it’s also a Canadian business owned by US-based McAfee, so if you’re looking for subpoena-proof international online privacy, you’re playing with fire. It holds a paltry 23 server locations from which you can’t manually choose your VPN server or even a city. It doesn’t offer Tor-over-VPN, it offers split tunneling only on Android and it can’t even unblock Netflix.
On a per-month breakdown, the least expensive TunnelBear plan is its $120, three-year plan. You can also go month to month for $10, or pay $60 up front for a single year. Either way, TunnelBear accepts payment via credit card and bitcoin. Unlike other VPNs, it doesn’t take PayPal. Also unlike other VPNs, it doesn’t support Amazon Fire Stick or Android TV.
In CNET’s previous coverage of virtual private networks, we’ve praised CyberGhost for its roster of competitive features. Our in-depth review of CyberGhostin 2019 included speed testing, security verification and an analysis of its full suite of privacy tools. Since then, the VPN company has increased its number of servers and is prepared to roll out new privacy tools, all while remaining one of the cheapest VPNs we’ve reviewed — at $2.03 per month for a two-year plan.
As we’ve bolstered our approach to VPN reviews, however, CyberGhost has raised some red flags. Its parent company’s history warrants skepticism; our previous tests have shown it to expose your VPN use to your ISP; its website and app trackers are more numerous than warranted; and its ad blocker uses an untrustworthy method of traffic manipulation no VPN should even think about. Its low price previously made it worth considering if you needed to change the appearance of your location online, but not if you wanted best-in-class security.
While CyberGhost’s connection speed and security features appear to be improving, we don’t currently recommend using the VPN service provider if you’re in a country where VPNs are illegal. We also recommend that anyone in the US review CyberGhost’s parent company before deciding whether to pay for a subscription.
On the plus side, however, CyberGhost is still faster than Norton Secure VPN and was less taxing on the processing power of our devices. It also offers split tunneling in its Windows client and has its servers neatly organized into categories: NoSpy servers, servers geared for torrenting, servers best for streaming and servers best for use with a static IP address. CyberGhost imposes no data caps, allows unlimited server switching and offers a 45-day money back guarantee on subscription plans of a year or more.
NortonLifeLock, long known for excellence in security products, has a relatively limited offering in its VPN product. Norton Secure VPN does not support P2P or BitTorrent, Linux, routers or set-top boxes. Its Netflix and streaming compatibility is somewhat limited. Even worse, during testing, we experienced privacy-compromising data leaks.
During CNET’s testing, Norton Secure VPN speeds were comparable to other midtier VPNs but not particularly competitive. Although its VPN is only available on four platforms — Mac, iOS, Windows and Android — Norton gets points for its 24/7 live customer service phone support and 60-day money back guarantee.
Norton Secure VPN’s pricing structure is a bit different than what you typically find in the industry. Pricing is tiered based on how many simultaneous connections you want with your account. For a single device, you’ll pay $30 for the first year and $50 for any subsequent years, or $4.99 a month for the monthly. For five simultaneous connections, the price jumps to $40 for the first year and $80 for subsequent years, or $8 a month for the monthly plan. If you want up to 10 simultaneous connections, the price is $60 for the first year and $100 for subsequent years, or $10 a month for the monthly plan.
Mullvad is an independent and open source VPN provider that is focused on building trust through transparency and its commitment to protecting the privacy and security of its users. Although there are other VPNs that are considerably more well-known in the industry, Mullvad’s offering overall is just as polished and easy to use as many of the bigger players in the market.
Mullvad’s primary focus is on security. Like most other top VPN providers, Mullvad employs industry-standard AES 256-bit encryption to secure users’ connections. Mullvad’s kill switch feature and DNS leak protection are enabled by default and cannot be disabled. During our testing, the kill switch worked as expected and we detected no leaks of any kind. The company says it doesn’t keep any logs of its users’ activity, and is, for the most part, pretty transparent about how it operates and what it does to protect user privacy. Mullvad is unique in that it doesn’t require any personal information at signup. While most VPN providers ask users to provide an email address and enter a username, Mullvad generates a random 16-digit account number to activate each new user account. You don’t even need to provide any payment information since Mullvad accepts cash sent via mail.
Mullvad’s source code being entirely open source is a testament to the company’s transparency, but we’d still like to see Mullvad issue an annual transparency report to give the public a view of how many legal requests the company gets and where they’re coming from. Though Mullvad tells us a new security audit is forthcoming, the company’s 2020 security audit (conducted by German cybersecurity firm Cure53) concluded at the time that the VPN “does a great job protecting the end user from common PII leaks and privacy-related risks.”
With servers in 68 locations across 38 countries, Mullvad’s VPN server network is comparatively small. Even so, the network covers the most in-demand locations and is pretty well spread out across the globe. And what its network may lack in size, it makes up for in speed. In our latest round of speed testing, we measured just a 23% drop in average speeds (most VPNs will slow you down 50% or more), easily making it one of the fastest VPNs we’ve tested. Though Mullvad’s speeds are fantastic, it’s not the best for geographically restricted content. We were able to access Netflix without any issues, but were denied access to stream Disney-plus when connected to Mullvad’s US servers.
However, Mullvad’s straightforward approach to pricing is a breath of fresh air, especially with so many other VPN providers concocting ever-more convoluted pricing structures. Mullvad costs about $5 a month, whether you want to use it for a month, a year or a decade — and you’re never locked into a long-term subscription plan. If you’re not satisfied with the service, you can get a refund within 30 days of purchase.
PureVPN says it doesn’t log connection information. The company joined the “no log” movement in 2018, and underwent a third-party audit by Althius IT (albeit one commissioned and paid for by PureVPN).
We like that PureVPN offers a 31-day refund policy and supports Bitcoin payments. We also like that PureVPN has both Kodi and Chromebook apps available. In addition, PureVPN was the first VPN service we noted to fully implement GDPR compliance.
StrongVPN blasts onto our list with excellent infrastructure and a decent price. StrongVPN has a strong no-logging policy, and picks up kudos for its large base of IP addresses. It has a solid collection of servers and worldwide locations. For those of you who need a dedicated IP, you can get one from the company but you’ll need to contact customer support to get help setting it up.
One of StrongVPN’s strengths is the company’s network. It owns and operates its entire network infrastructure, which means it has no externally dictated limits on bandwidth or the type of internet traffic allowed on the network.
StrongVPN’s regular monthly price of $10.99 is in the middle of the pack, but its regular yearly price of $80 is among the lowest of our contenders.
If you’re looking for one of the least expensive VPN providers, Private Internet Access fits the bill.
The best value offered by Private Internet Access is the two-year plan, which works out to $2.19 a month, and includes two free months. But if you don’t want to lock in for an extended period of time, you can get a six-month subscription for $45 (which comes out to $7.50 a month), or a monthly plan for $12 a month.
PIA has quite an expansive network of servers, spanning 84 countries, including servers in 18 different US cities. Though not as expansive as the fleets for ExpressVPN or CyberGhost VPN, the 84 countries gives PIA one of the largest server networks you’ll find in a VPN provider.
Operating since 2010, Private Internet Access offers 10 simultaneous connections, a kill-switch feature and a 30-day refund period.
In today’s hyper-connected world, online privacy and security are increasingly critical. From online banking to communicating remotely with colleagues, we’re transferring more data on our computers and smartphones than ever before. Much of that data is confidential information that we need to keep safe from hackers and snoops, so VPN use is on the rise as people take steps to secure their digital lives.
What is a VPN?
A commercial virtual private network is technology that allows you to create a private connection over a less private network by creating an encrypted tunnel between your computer and the internet. You can install a VPN just like you would any other app or program on your smartphone or computer. A VPN can let you get around censorship in your country or access georestricted media content from another country — and prevents your internet service provider from being able to intrude on your privacy by snooping on your web browsing. VPNs do this by allowing you to appear as though you’re connecting from a different location or country.
A VPN is great for anyone using public, unprotected Wi-Fi, such as what’s offered in airports, bars or coffee shops. Your VPN protects your sensitive information — from your work projects to bank account login information — from being seen by malicious actors who trawl public Wi-Fi networks. When you browse the internet while on a VPN, your computer will contact the website through your VPN’s encrypted connection. The VPN will then forward the request for you and forward the response from the website back through its secure connection.
For more beginner-focused VPN help, we’ve demystified some of the jargon in our guide to all the VPN terms you need to know.
How do I choose the right VPN for me?
Picking a VPN requires knowing two basic things to start with: What you want to use it for, and what you’re willing to pay. The range of VPN offerings is vast, but those two things will help you find a VPN that has the right blend of speed, security and cost.
Below, you’ll find specific FAQ sections on picking a VPN based on the most common needs: gaming, streaming media, working from home and privacy-critical professions. But in general, you’ll want a VPN that provides sufficient encryption, doesn’t log your activity, offers essential security features like DNS leak protection and a kill switch, has server locations where you need them and can give you fast connection speeds. Our top five VPNs have all these features, although connection speeds will vary based on your internet provider and the server you connect to.
For a deeper dive, check our detailed walk-through of how we evaluate and review VPNs. If you’re looking for some quick pointers, here are universally applicable advice guides for beginners:
Should I be worried about consolidation in the VPN industry?
The recent trend of consolidation in the VPN industry isn’t showing signs of slowing down. We saw the latest example of this trend in February when NordVPN and Surfsharkannounced they were merging. As of right now, just three companies control many of the biggest VPN providers, including some of CNET’s top picks listed in this guide.
There are several legitimate concerns about VPN consolidation. First, the general lack of transparency in VPN ownership structures is typically bad for users. In the VPN industry, where privacy and security are so critical, ownership transparency is equally imperative. When you sign on with a VPN and trust it with protecting your privacy online, you’ll want to know exactly what corporate entity is in control of the service, if and how your data is shared and secured within the larger organization and in what jurisdiction your data is stored. Too often, the picture isn’t as clear as it should be. Consolidation also dilutes competition in an industry, ultimately leading to higher costs for the customer and less incentive for companies to improve services.
The VPN services involved in these mergers and acquisitions insist they will all operate independently and will not share user data between entities. However, Surfshark’s communications head told CNET the company has no plans of sharing information “without notifying our customers in advance,” suggesting the door may indeed still be open for future data sharing. It’s too early to tell yet what the long-term implications will be here, but we’re keeping a close eye on the developing situation in the industry and will update our reviews accordingly.
Our top picks remain safe to use in the meantime, but it’s still a good idea to do research on what other products or other services are under the same parent company umbrella. The more you know, the more you stay in control of your digital privacy.
Do I need a VPN?
Anyone who accesses the internet from a computer, tablet or smartphone can benefit from using a VPN. You don’t have to be an activist, government dissident or journalist to need a VPN; the rise of third-party data brokers, cross-site advertising trackers, IP address collection and mobile geo-targeting have all combined to create an online browsing environment that poses significant threats to everyday users’ basic privacy. Because a VPN encrypts your connection, your browsing data is protected from your internet service provider (and any government entities who request your ISP data), and your network administrator in most cases. A VPN can also shield your private information — like passwords, usernames and bank or shopping details — from anyone snooping on your network.
What’s the best free VPN?
None of them. Seriously. While there are plenty of excellent free security and privacy apps online — and while CNET is always hunting for the best freebies — VPNs sadly aren’t among them. Because they require major physical infrastructure and hardware, safe and reliable VPNs cost companies a lot of money to operate and secure. As a result, free VPNs are almost always malware-laden data snoops. The exceptions are those VPNs, like ProtonVPN, which offer free (often speed-limited) service tiers beside their premium tiers. The other option we recommend for people who can’t afford a VPN but need online privacy is to temporarily test-drive our secure recommendations and take advantage of their cancellation periods and money-back guarantees. But there’s good news: The burgeoning VPN market is hypercompetitive right now, so prices for even the best VPNs regularly drop to less than $15 a month, with some offering annual deals around $40. Check out our quick list of budget-savvy VPNs to find one in your price range.
Does everything I use need a VPN?
If your goal is to protect your personal data from prying eyes, you want a VPN on whatever you are using. That means having a VPN to protect your laptop, your MacBook, your phone, your Xbox and your smart TV.
If your goal is to use a VPN to gain access to streaming services which have been made unavailable in your country for whatever reason, you want a VPN on whatever device you are using to access those streaming services. This could be as simple as a VPN for your Chrome browser or setting up a VPN for your Amazon Fire TV Stick.
Whatever your reason for wanting a VPN, it’s usually a good idea to have it set up and ready to go on as many of your web-connected devices as possible.
What is a mobile VPN?
A mobile VPN is simply a VPN you can use on your mobile device like your iPhone or Android phone. All of the providers we recommend have mobile versions of their desktop clients. You can use a mobile-focused VPN app to ensure greater data privacy designed for your whole device. Mobile VPNs also generally have a smaller memory footprint, and require less processing power than desktop VPNs, so they tend to yield faster connection speeds and don’t eat up your battery as quickly. Keep in mind, however, that most mobile VPN clients will use a lighter form of encryption than a desktop client to achieve those smartphone speeds. So be sure to check your VPN apps’ settings to ensure you’re using the apps’ strongest encryption if your privacy needs are heightened. Our top three VPN picks all have excellent, easy-to-use mobile VPN app options for their services. Some VPNs will only work with one type of mobile platform — like iOS or Android — and some are universally compatible. To find the right mobile VPN for you, check out our mobile-specific VPN guides below. We routinely update them with our retesting information, so check back often.
VPNs are perfectly legal to use in most countries. There’s nothing wrong with taking steps to protect your privacy online, and you shouldn’t have to worry that using a VPN as part of that process will get you in any kind of legal trouble.
However, there are countries where VPNs are either banned or outright illegal. If you’re using a VPN in a country like China, Iran, Oman, Russia, Turkmenistan, UAE or Belarus, you may find yourself in legal trouble. The irony here is that these are the countries where internet censorship and surveillance are most common. In those countries, you’ll need to make sure you use a VPN that provides strong obfuscation so your VPN traffic is disguised as ordinary HTTPS traffic, meaning government entities won’t even know you’re using a VPN in the first place.
But you won’t run into any trouble with the law for using a VPN across most of the world. One important reminder, though: VPNs are legal in most places, but engaging in illegal activity online is still illegal regardless of whether you’re using a VPN.
What’s the best VPN for working from home?
If you’re working from home, you may be sharing your internet connection with multiple devices and family members or roommates. That’s a lot of simultaneous connections to a VPN and a lot of drag on a network. Pick a VPN that lets you use one subscription on as many devices as possible and has excellent speeds so your Wi-Fi isn’t bogged down. If your job involves handling sensitive information like financial or medical records, however, your priority VPN criteria is security. Our top three VPN picks are the most secure we’ve found, and each has a different number of connections they’ll allow for a base-level subscription. There are a few other factors worth considering for a home office VPN, though, so check out our guide to picking the right VPN for working at home.
What’s the best VPN for gaming?
Most VPNs are chosen based on having a good balance of speed, security and cost. But if you want a VPN specifically to connect to game servers in another country, speed is everything. Free VPNs won’t be fast enough, but, fortunately, high-end security won’t be a cost driver, which gives you more options at modest prices. Since all VPNs reduce speed — most by half or more — that means picking one from the set that performed best in our speed tests. In tests, Surfshark managed to win our speed race while still being one of the least expensive VPNs we’ve seen. If you’re focused on VPNs for game consoles, have a look at our best VPNs for Xbox and our primer on installing them. Before choosing the one right for your needs, visit the VPN’s official website to see whether they offer servers specifically aimed at gaming in the countries where you most want to connect to other players.
What’s the most secure VPN for privacy?
If you’re a journalist, a lawyer or a professional in any other privacy-sensitive field, forget about speed and price when choosing a VPN. Focus, instead, entirely on security. Your VPN may be somewhat slower but, for both VPNs and presidential motorcades, speed is always the trade-off for privacy. Avoid free VPNs and browser-based VPNs. If you’re concerned with government monitoring in your current country, choose a VPN headquartered outside of the country you’re currently in, and avoid choosing a VPN with a jurisdiction in an allied country. For example, US journalists should avoid VPNs with a jurisdiction in the US or other Five Eyes countries. Keep an eye on encryption: Your VPN should offer a protocol called OpenVPN TCP (for its mobile apps, IKEv2 is fine). You may find our primer on VPN evaluations useful. Although speed does play a factor in our rankings, our top three VPNs were all selected by veteran journalists, scrutinized and reviewed with complete editorial independence, with the most privacy-sensitive professions in mind.
How do I use a VPN for Netflix?
If you live in a country that censors its media or are traveling to one, georestricted content is a pain. You can use a VPN to circumvent censorship or access your home country’s normal media content for an online streaming service like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video or Disney Plus. Pick a VPN that lets you manually select which country you want to connect through and has something called obfuscation. (Our top three picks offer this.) You don’t always need to use the obfuscation feature to unblock Netflix, but since streaming services actively try to block VPN connections, obfuscation can help because it disguises your VPN traffic as regular internet traffic.
If you’re looking to try out other VPNs, choose one with a large number of IP addresses, preferably 10,000 or more. This is because one of the ways Netflix and others block VPNs is by blacklisting known VPN IPs — and if your VPN has tens of thousands of IPs, there’s a better chance that you’ll be able to connect to an IP address that Netflix hasn’t flagged.
Once you have your VPN installed, connect to the country whose content you wish to view, restart your browser and go to the streaming site. If your VPN is working, the site should treat you as a resident of your selected country and serve you content assigned to that audience. If you’re still having trouble, you can try using incognito mode on your browser or try clearing your cookies and cache.
How do I know if my VPN is working?
Your first and most apparent indication that your VPN is working is that your IP address will change and your location will be registered as that of the VPN server you’re connecting through. You can check this on a site like whatismyipaddress.com.
You’ll also want to make sure your VPN is protecting your privacy and not leaking any of your data outside of the VPN tunnel, thus exposing it to your ISP and other entities that may be monitoring your online activity. You can check for leaks by going to a site like dnsleaktest.com or ipleak.net. If your location is being registered as the VPN server location, and your leak tests turn up negative, then you know your VPN is working to protect your privacy.
What is a remote-access VPN?
A remote-access VPN uses public infrastructure like the internet to provide remote users secure access to their network. This is particularly important for organizations and their corporate networks. It’s crucial when employees connect to a public hotspot and use the internet for sending work-related emails. A VPN client on the user’s computer or mobile device connects to a VPN gateway on the company’s network. This gateway will typically require the device to authenticate its identity. It will then create a network link back to the device that allows it to reach internal network resources such as file servers, printers and intranets, as if it were on the same local network.
What is a site-to-site VPN?
This is when the VPN technology uses a gateway device to connect the entire network in one location to a network in another location. The majority of site-to-site VPNs that connect over the internet use IPsec. IPsec-based encryption protocols are often considered by VPN specialists to be less secure against modern surveillance. Rather than using the public internet, it is also normal to use multiprotocol label switching clouds as the main transport for site-to-site VPNs.
VPNs are often defined between specific computers, and in most cases, they are servers in separate data centers. However, new hybrid-access situations have now transformed the VPN gateway in the cloud, typically with a secure link from the cloud service provider into the internal network.
Additional VPN factors to consider
Don’t use free VPN services:You’ll find only paid VPN options on this list above because they’re the only ones we can recommend.
Look for a no-logs VPN, but understand the caveats: The best VPNs keep as few logs as possible and make them as anonymous as possible, so there’s little data to provide should authorities come knocking. But even “no-logs” VPNs aren’t 100% anonymous.
There are limits to the privacy VPNs currently provide to iOS users: Recent independent research has surfaced suggesting iPhones and iPads running iOS 14 or later may be vulnerable to device-only VPN leaks, regardless of which VPN is used. Apple users concerned with potential leaks can take extra precaution by installing their VPN on a home router to ensure their entire Wi-Fi network is encrypted. Some iOS users may potentially reduce the likelihood of leaks while outside of a home network by enabling their VPN’s kill switch and selecting OpenVPN protocols. You can also try closing all apps, activating your VPN, and then enabling and disabling Airplane Mode before using your device normally. Apple advises users to activate their device’s Always On VPN profile for additional protection.
VPN transparency is important, but warrant canaries are only the beginning: Many services use “warrant canaries” as a way to passively note to the public as to whether or not they’ve been subpoenaed by a government entity, as many investigations from national security agencies can’t be actively disclosed by law. But — like the no-logging issue — warrant canaries aren’t always as straightforward as they seem. You should spend more time investigating whether your prospective VPN has cooperated with authorities in the past, and how and when it’s disclosed that fact.
Think twice about using a US-based VPN: The Patriot Act is still the law of the land in the US, and that means US-based VPNs have little recourse if and when the feds show up with subpoenas or national security letters in hand demanding access to servers, VPN user accounts or other data. Yes, they may have little data to access if the service has a strong no-logs policy, but why not just choose a service that’s based outside Uncle Sam’s jurisdiction? (If this is a concern for you, you’ll want to avoid countries that the US has intelligence-sharing agreements with, too.)
When you’re spending several hundred dollars on a device, you want to make sure you get something that meets your performance needs, but you also don’t want to spend big money on features you don’t need. The best budget laptop models can handle all your everyday tasks like checking emails, scrolling through social media, typing up documents and more, and they can be available for less than $500.
The chip shortages of the past couple of years have made finding a good budget-friendly laptop a little trickier, though. With fewer chips available, PC makers made more midrange and premium laptops than lower-end models made to handle essential, day-to-day tasks. Inflation has driven up prices, too. So while it’s possible to find a good laptop under $500, you may need to shop around and wait for a discount. Otherwise, you may need to spend closer to $700 to get a laptop that’ll last you several years.
The good news is, we’re here to help. If you’re searching for a laptop under $500, here are the best budget laptops you can buy right now that we’ve tested and reviewed. Not sure what to look for in a good budget laptop? Jump to the buying advice right below our recommendations. This advice is based on our years of testing and review experience to figure out what to expect from a laptop priced under $500. It will also let you know what to look for if you want to continue your budget laptop hunt on your own.
Use these picks to sort through the competition. Because there are a lot of cheap laptops that aren’t worth it, try not to make rash decisions when buying.
The HP Laptop 17 is a good pick if you want everyday performance and a bigger display. It’s perfect for home office tasks, entertainment and just general computing. Battery life is alsogood at nearly 9 hours in our tests. Plus, HP offers many configuration options so that you can balance price and performance to match your needs. And if you’d rather have a smaller laptop, HP makes both 14- and 15.6-inch models in this line too.
The Acer Aspire 5 continues to be one of the best laptop deals available. Available in 14-, 15.6- and 17.3-inch sizes, I am partial to the 15.6-inch size because it’s relatively compact and lightweight but still full-featured. Acer has a wide range of configurations to choose from starting under $400. This budget laptop also features a USB 3.2 Gen 1 USB-C port, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, Ethernet and an HDMI port. The Acer Aspire 5 regularly includes a backlit keyboard and fingerprint reader for quick sign-ins — rarities at this price.
This Lenovo 13-inch Chromebook two-in-one has a full-HD display as well as excellent performance and battery life for the money, thanks to an Intel Core i3-1115G4 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive. Battery life is great, too, at nearly 11 hours.
While it’s not overflowing with extras, the Flex 5i Chromebook does have a privacy shutter on the webcam so you can physically block it when it’s not in use. The touch display is also pen-enabled so you can write or draw it with a USI pen. It is definitely one of the best Chromebook models for its price, power and size.
Lenovo has another two-in-one option on our best budget laptop list, the Lenovo Duet Chromebook. The Lenovo Duet Chromebook is similarly priced to the Flex 5i but is a detachable two-in-one i.e. a tablet with a removable keyboard cover. If you need a Chromebook for full-day use, go with the Flex 5i. The Lenovo Duet Chromebook is better as a secondary device for on-the-go productivity tasks and entertainment.
The Windows version of the 14-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i is also an excellent value. Along with the latest 12th-gen Intel processors, Lenovo includes higher-end features like a Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port, an SD card reader, a 1080p webcam with a privacy shutter and a fingerprint reader. Plus, it reached nearly 11 hours of battery life in our tests. It regularly sells for around $700, though, so it’s definitely one you’ll have to wait for a sale to get it for $500.
The HP Pavilion 14 is a budget laptop that looks and performs above its price. At 3.2 pounds (1.4 kilograms), the laptop can easily be a daily carry for school or work. It could also be a good home office laptop that can be easily connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse at a desk, but also has a screen that’s comfortably large enough for full-time use. It’s just a solid everyday laptop with a clean design. The starting price is $650, and the configuration we tested is normally $800, but it goes on sale for much less (most recently it was $550).
The Lenovo Duet Chromebook (aka Chromebook Duet 3) is an awesome little 11-inch ChromeOS tablet with a detachable keyboard and touchpad. Its small size and performance aren’t ideal for full-time use. But the Chromebook Duet 3 is a good pick if you’re looking for an affordable ultraportable device to get some work done on the go, sketch or jot down notes in class, or do simple stuff like email, web browsing, gaming, reading and streaming video.
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Budget laptop FAQ
Are laptops under $500 any good?
As a rule of thumb, resist buying out of desperation — don’t spend $500 because you can’t find a cheaper laptop deal available, for example. Buying a need-it-now laptop can be like shopping for food while hungry.
Even for a laptop, $500 can be a lot of money, and you’ll likely be holding onto it for at least three years, if the statistics Intel and PC manufacturers hurl at us are correct.
You can also try to make your current laptop last a little longer. If you need something to tide you over for a few months, dig into possible places to buy refurbished machines and explore nonprofit or educational discounts if you’re eligible.
Also, if there’s something you really want in a laptop, like a touchscreen, a backlit keyboard, DDR4 RAM, an HD webcam, Intel UHD Graphics, AMD Radeon Vega Graphics or an HDMI port, check the manufacturer’s specs closely to make sure it has it. You’ll regret it if you don’t.
If you suspect you’ll be holding onto your new laptop for a while, see if you can stretch your budget to buy a slightly more expensive laptop to accommodate more than 8GB of RAM or a processor with more cores than you were otherwise considering.
If you haven’t thought about it, look at AMD Ryzen processors as alternatives to Intel Core for Windows laptops or alternatives to Intel Celeron and Pentium for Chromebooks.
Even better, if you’re comfortable with it, think about an affordable laptop with a replaceable battery (if you can find one), upgradable memory, graphics card and storage, or all of the above.
Remember to consider whether having a lighter, thinner laptop or a touchscreen laptop with a good battery life will be important to you in the future.
When it comes to storage, you can always add an external drive or two (or five, if you’re me) at some point down the road or use cloud storage to bolster a small internal drive. You can frequently set a system to boot from an external solid-state drive if necessary, too. You may see references to Intel Optane in less expensive laptops; Optane is fast solid-state memory that acts as a temporary storage space for frequently accessed files on the hard drive to speed things up. It helps, but not as much as an SSD drive.
And finally, if you’re replacing an old Windows laptop that’s not up to running Windows anymore, consider turning it into a Chromebook.
What are the trade-offs on laptops under $500?
As long as you manage your expectations when it comes to options and specs, you can still get quite a bit from a budget laptop model, including good battery life and a reasonably lightweight laptop body.
A bright spot is you don’t have to settle for a traditional clamshell laptop with a fixed display and keyboard. You can also get a convertible laptop (aka a two-in-one), which has a screen that flips around to turn the screen into a tablet, to position it for comfortable streaming or to do a presentation.
Keep in mind that all convertibles work as both laptops and tablets. A touchscreen is a prerequisite for tablet operation, and many support styluses (aka pens) for handwritten and sketched input. Don’t assume a stylus is included, though.
One thing you won’t find at these cheap laptop prices: a MacBook or any other Apple laptop. An iPad will run you more than $500 once you buy the optional keyboard (though it might work out to less if you look for sales on the tablet or keyboard), which is above our budget here. A base-model iPad with an inexpensive Bluetooth keyboard and cheap stand for the iPad might suffice.
You’ll see a lot of cheap laptops listed as coming with Windows 10 S, a stripped-down and locked-down version of the operating system intended for use by schools — it only allows you to install applications from the Windows Store, forces you to use Microsoft’s Edge browser and includes a subset of the administrative tools in Windows 10 Pro. You can upgrade to the full version for free, though.
It’s easier to find inexpensive Chromebooks than Windows laptops, making them one of the most popular budget laptops on the market, though we’re also seeing a lot more Chromebooks in the $500-to-$1,000 range.
Google’s ChromeOS isn’t nearly as power-hungry as Windows (check the specs), so you can get by with a lower-end processor, slower storage and less screen resolution or RAM — just a few of the components that make a laptop expensive.
But the flip side is Chrome and Google apps are more of a memory hog than you’d expect, and if you go too low with the processor or skimp on memory, the system will still feel slow.
ChromeOS is also a much different experience than Windows; make sure the applications you need have a Chrome app, Android app or Linux app before making the leap. Since Chromebooks are cloud-first devices, however, you don’t need a lot of storage built-in.
That also means if you spend most of your time roaming the web, writing, streaming video or playing Android games, they’re a good fit. If you hope to play Android games, make sure you get a touchscreen Chromebook.
For a cheap gaming laptop, though, you’ll still have to break the $500 ceiling to support most games. The least expensive budget laptops suitable for a solid gaming performance experience — those with moderately powerful discrete graphics processors — will run you closer to $700. Here are our recommendations if you’re looking for the best gaming laptop under $1,000.
Although, if you like to live on the bleeding edge, cloud gaming services such as Nvidia GeForce Now and Microsoft Xbox Game Pass Ultimate’s Cloud Gaming will let you play games on laptops with specs that hit the under-$500 mark.
What to look for in laptops under $500
While Chromebooks can run ChromeOS-specific and Android apps, some people need the full Windows OS to run heftier applications, such as video-editing suites. With that comes a need for a faster processor with more cores, more memory — 8GB RAM is the bare minimum — and more storage for applications and the operating system itself.
A lot of sub-$500 laptops have 4GB or 8GB, which, in conjunction with a spinning hard disk, can make for a frustratingly slow Windows laptop experience.
A lot of Windows laptops in this range use AMD Athlon and lower-end A series or Intel Celeron and Pentium processors to hit the lower price. I don’t recommend going with an Athlon instead of a Ryzen or a Celeron/Pentium instead of a Core: Windows is too heavy for them, and in conjunction with the 4GB memory a lot of them have, you may find them abysmally slow at best.
Because of their low prices, 11.6-inch Chromebooks are attractive. But we don’t recommend that size for any but the youngest students.
SSDs can make a big difference in how fast Windows performance feels compared with a spinning hard disk. However, not all SSDs are equally speedy and cheaper laptops typically have slower drives. Still, even a slower SSD is faster than a slow 5,200rpm hard-disk drive.
In the budget price range, you have to watch out for screen terminology when it comes to specs: An “HD” screen may not always be a truly high-definition screen. HD, which has a resolution of 1,920×1,080 pixels, is called “Full HD” so marketers can refer to lesser-resolution displays (1,280×720 pixels) as HD. In Chromebooks, HD usually refers to a screen with a resolution of 1,366×768 pixels. On the upside, the boom in 14-inch laptops trickles down to this price range, which allows for more FHD options in the size.
A frequent complaint I see is about “washed-out” looking displays with poor viewing angles. Unfortunately, that’s one of the trade-offs: A lot of these use TN (twisted nematic) screen technology, which is cheap but meh. Look for IPS (in-plane switching) LCDs which are better for off-angle viewing.
Pay attention to networking. Inexpensive models with older chipsets may only support Wi-Fi 5 (aka 802.11ac) or the older Wi-Fi 4 standard (802.11n). For the sake of longevity, look for at least 802.11ac but you can find inexpensive laptops with the latest wireless standard 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6).
Considering all specs and options — battery life, storage space, screen resolution, screen size, core processor performance, general machine and battery performance — you’ll find some of our top picks for 2022’s best Windows laptops and Chromebooks under the $500 budget in the list above, along with their pros and cons.
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.
Whether you prefer to use an Android phone or an iPhone, a top-performing VPN for mobile is a good way to improve your privacy while you’re on the go. The best mobile VPN can help you avoid intrusive, location-based advertising and prevent your internet provider from tracking which sites you visit. It will also give you an extra layer of protection when you’re logging into your personal sites on public Wi-Fi. A bonus is that a VPN comes in handy for dodging restrictions on your favorite streaming services while you travel.
The battle for the best mobile VPN has been ramping up as the industry’s three biggest providers continue to roll out competitive privacy apps for iPhones and Android devices. Apple and Google have both recently broadened their mobile encryption offerings as well. But if you’re serious about your mobile privacy, nothing can take the place of an unaffiliated and independent VPN on your phone. That’s what you’ll find here in our list of recommendations for the best mobile VPN.
Keep in mind that there may be limits to the privacy VPN services currently offer iOS users. According to recent independent research, iOS (and some MacOS) users’ browsing and internet data may be sent to Apple despite the protections offered by an encrypted VPN tunnel. We’ll continue to update our recommendations as more information surfaces around this issue.
This is essentially a subset of our main best VPN list. That’s due to the fact that during our VPN research and hands-on testing process, we closely scrutinize each service’s mobile VPN app experience. While not every service is the best VPN to use with your phone, an increasingly mobile-first approach among most top VPN service providers has, in this case, paid off for subscribers. Most recently, the reigning champions on CNET’s overall best VPN list have made competitive strides with their product’s mobile VPN offering for both Android and Apple devices, and we expect that trend to continue.
For that same reason, this best mobile VPN list currently reflects the same rankings you’ll find on this list of the best iPhone VPNs and the best Android VPNs. If and when a VPN provider offers a mobile client more closely tailored to the environment of either of those phones, you’ll see those changes reflected in their respective directory.
As always, I strongly urge you to avoid free VPNs and instead use a thoroughly tested, paid VPN whenever possible. I’m actively working on more testing and research, so keep checking back. This list will be updated periodically as CNET stays on top of security improvements, user-friendliness, speed rankings and cost value for each of these mobile VPN apps.
Latest tests: No leaks detected, 2% speed loss in spring 2022 tests
Network: 3,000-plus servers in 160 locations across 94 countries
Jurisdiction: British Virgin Islands
Price: 5 simultaneous connections for $13 per month, $60 for six months or $100 for a year (current discount: 3 months free). 2-year subscriptions available.
ExpressVPN is currently the fastest VPN we’ve tested in 2022, causing us to lose less than 2% of our total internet speeds. Its apps for iOS and Android are designed with a streamlined approach aimed at connecting fast without a fuss. A single button on its landing screen directs you to connect quickly, with the only accompanying option a drop-down server location selector with your fastest nearby city selected by default.
ExpressVPN’s other options — its security and privacy tools, account and settings options, and support page — are all kept neatly tucked away under a garden variety three-bar icon in the screen’s top left corner. And they’re worth checking into. ExpressVPN has included an onboard IP address checker, along with two leak testers and a password generator.
In the past year, ExpressVPN increased its independent third-party audit count, published details about its TrustedServer deployment process, joined the i2Coalition to call for improved VPN industry ethics, and released an open source Lightway encryption protocol.
All of our top-rated VPNs have wide compatibility across platforms and operating systems, but ExpressVPN’s collection of setup guides, detailed FAQs and troubleshooting articles give it a clear advantage for users. So does its 24/7 customer support, and its no-questions-asked, 30-day money-back guarantee.
The company has been in business since 2009, and ExpressVPN has a substantial network of more than 3,000 RAM-only servers spread across 160 locations in 94 countries. ExpressVPN’s best plan offers five simultaneous connections for $100 a year (which includes three extra months, for a limited-time deal totaling 15 months of service). You can also opt for a $13 per-month plan, or pay $60 for six months.
Latest tests: Zero data leaks and 19% internet speed loss
Network: 3,200-plus in 99 countries
Jurisdiction: Netherlands
Price: Unlimited connections for $48 for the first year (then $60 annually) or $13 per month. 2-year subscriptions available.
Surfshark boasts an impressive suite of privacy and security features, unlimited simultaneous connections, easy-to-use interface and expansive global network. And it’s still significantly cheaper than most of its competitors. That’s what helped Surfshark earn CNET’s Editors’ Choice for Best Value VPN in 2022.
Along with standard VPN features such as a kill switch and DNS leak protection, some of the more notable Surfshark features include camouflage mode (which hides the fact you’re using a VPN), split-tunneling, NoBorders mode (which lets you use Surfshark in regions where VPNs are restricted) and multihop VPN connections. You’ll also get access to Surfshark’s CleanWeb technology, which blocks ads and malware and helps you avoid phishing attacks.
One innovation we’re excited to see Surfshark roll out over the next year is its Nexus network, which connects the VPN’s entire network of servers together and allows you to choose multiple servers to route your connection through. The functionality is somewhat similar to Tor, but Surfshark says it’s faster. With its Dynamic MultiHop, IP Randomizer and IP Rotator functions, the Nexus network can give you a few extra layers of protection while you use the VPN — which can be particularly beneficial to users with critical privacy needs.
Surfshark says it doesn’t log any user activity. And although no-logging claims are virtually impossible to prove with 100% certainty, German cybersecurity firm Cure53 declared Surfshark’s security to be “solid” in its 2021 security audit of the VPN. Surfshark says a new audit is forthcoming by the end of this year.
As of February 2022, both Surfshark and NordVPN have the same corporate parent (Tesonet), but Surfshark said it is legally bound not to share any information between the entities that would go against its privacy policy or terms of service. We didn’t find any language in either document that would indicate Surfshark has any obligation to share user data with its parent company or any sibling companies, which include NordVPN.
Surfshark rates consistently as one of the fastest VPNs available, which is why we were surprised that one of the only issues we had with Surfshark came in our speed test. While it still ranks as one of the fastest VPNs we’ve tested — with an internet speed loss of just 19% — we were disappointed with the inconsistent speed results we got to certain locations. Speeds to Europe and Singapore were erratic (dipping as low as 9Mbps to Singapore), while speeds to New York were slower than speeds to the UK and even Australia. Surfhark is in the process of significantly expanding its server network, now offering more than 3,200 servers in 99 countries. The continued expansion of its server network could potentially help bring some more consistency to the VPN’s speeds.
In our tests, Surfshark had no problems unblocking Netflix and Amazon Prime Video content, but we did run into a fair bit of trouble accessing Disney Plus. After testing various servers in the US and other countries where Disney Plus is available, we were finally able to access the content when we connected to a server in Boston. You may need to test a few servers yourself before gaining access to Disney Plus content with Surfshark.
Surfshark offers cheaper introductory prices that jump after the first billing cycle. Even so, Surfshark manages to keep its prices lower than most other VPNs — helping it earn CNET’s Editors’ Choice for Best Value. The yearly plan starts out at $48 for the first year, then jumps to $60 for any additional years of service. If you opt for the two-year plan, you’ll pay $60 upfront for the initial two years combined, then $60 per year for any additional years. Surfshark’s monthly plan stays constant at $13 a month. If you’re not satisfied with the service for any reason, Surfshark offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Latest tests: No leaks detected, 13% speed loss in summer 2022 tests
Network: 5,600-plus servers in 84 locations across 59 countries
Jurisdiction: Panama
Price: 6 simultaneous connections for $12 per month or $60 for a year (current discount: 3 months free). 2-year subscriptions available.
NordVPN is one of the most recognized brands in the VPN field. It offers a generous simultaneous connection count, with six simultaneous connections through its network, where nearly all other providers offer five or fewer. NordVPN also offers a dedicated IP option, for those looking for a different level of VPN connection, and the ability to VPN into Tor. More than half of Nord’s 5,000-plus server fleet is optimized for peer-to-peer sharing, though Nord has blocked torrenting in 14 countries.
In our latest test rounds we noticed a few hiccups in Nord’s killswitch when using its iOS app, which could be a concern for torrenters. However, Nord has a sideloaded iOS available on its website that it recommends for users. In our most recent speed tests, NordVPN’s performance recovered from middling speed scores of 2021 and zoomed back into the ranks of the fastest VPNs we’ve tested, causing us to lose just 13% of base internet speeds.
NordVPN doesn’t accept PayPal payments, but you can purchase a subscription with any major credit or debit card, AmazonPay, Google Pay or ACH transfer. If you’d rather pay anonymously, you can pay with a variety of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether and Dogecoin. NordVPN has also partnered with a handful of retail stores like Staples, BestBuy and Walmart where you can even purchase your VPN with cash.
Latest tests: DNS leaks detected, 58% speed loss in spring 2022 tests
Network: 2,000-plus servers in 75 locations across 52 countries
Jurisdiction: United States
Price: Unlimited connections for $11 per month, $16 for 3 months ($30 quarterly after the first 3 months) or $48 for a year ($90 annually after the first year).
A big win for IPVanish is its fun, configurable interface, which makes it an ideal client for those who are interested in learning how to understand what a VPN does under the hood. With both its iOS and Android apps, IPVanish manages to pack the same extensive suite of digital knobs and dials into a smaller screen to impressive effect.
If you’re looking for the ability to do some precision-tuning to your VPN connection, IPVanish is a solid bet. From generating visual graphs of your internet activity to a bevy of switches controlling split-tunneling, LAN connection allowance and more — IPVanish is an app for the methodical tech tweaker who enjoys having exact control over their mobile traffic.
Its multiplatform flexibility is also ideal for people focused on finding a Netflix-friendly VPN.
A unique feature of IPVanish, and one we’re intrigued by, is the VPN’s support of Kodi, the open-source media streaming app that was once known as XBMC. The integrated IPVanish Kodi plugin provides access to media worldwide.
At $11 a month or $60 a year, IPVanish VPN is obviously trying to move you towards its yearly program. We’re a little disappointed that it only allows a seven-day trial, rather than a full 30 days, but it does offer a full money-back guarantee. That said, the company gets kudos for its recent increase from 10 to now unlimited simultaneous connections. We also liked its connection kill switch feature, a must for anyone serious about remaining anonymous while surfing.
Use a mobile-friendly VPN solution to avoid slower speeds and ensure greater data privacy for your whole device. Mobile VPNs generally have a smaller memory footprint, and require less processing power than desktop VPNs, so they run faster and save more battery. Our top three VPNs listed above all have excellent, easy-to-use mobile app options for their services. Some VPNs will only work with one type of platform — like Apple or Android — and some are universally compatible. To find the right mobile VPN for you, check out our other mobile-specific VPN guides below. We routinely update them with our re-testing information so check back often.
None of them. Seriously. While there are plenty of excellent free security and privacy apps online, VPNs sadly aren’t among them. Safe VPNs cost companies a lot of money to operate and keep secure, and a free VPN app is almost always a malware-laden data snoop. But there’s good news: The burgeoning VPN market is hyper-competitive right now, so prices for even the best VPNs regularly drop to less than $5 a month. In fact, the least expensive VPN client we’ve seen so far ranks in our top three VPNs overall for security and speed. Check out our quick list of budget-savvy VPNs to find one in your price range.
The Geminid meteor shower, typically the strongest meteor shower of the year, is starting to intensify ahead of its peak next week, and it’s already producing shooting stars and fireballs.
The Geminids have technically been active for a few weeks, but the shower will begin to increase significantly this weekend when it may become possible see around a dozen or more meteors per hour under ideal conditions, according to the American Meteor Society.
It’s a big windup to a far bigger crescendo, when the Geminids can deliver more than a hundred meteors per hour on peak nights. This is also the rare shower that doesn’t require you to wake up at atrocious hours before sunrise for the best viewing experience.
In 2022, the shower is active from Nov. 19 until Dec. 24, peaking on the evening of Dec. 13 into the following morning. The moon will be more than two-thirds full that night, which is a bit of a bummer but certainly not enough to discourage skywatchers from heading outside for a look. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere you’ll do better to go looking for Geminids later in the night, but fortunately it’s summer for you, requiring fewer warm layers than many watchers above the equator will want to bring.
The Geminids are the rare meteor shower that don’t seem to be traced to an active comet that makes intermittent visits to the inner solar system spaced out by several years or longer. Instead, the source seems to be the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which astronomers think may be an extinct comet or new kind of object called a “rock comet,” according to NASA.
Stellar 2021 Perseid meteor shower shines in shots from around the world
Whatever it is, the pieces of debris and detritus that have broken away from Phaethon over the years form dusty clouds that are more dense than what most comets leave behind. This explains why the Geminids are consistently one of the stronger annual showers. Each December we drift through the most dense part of this cloud and hundreds or thousands of bits roughly the size of a pebble burn up as they collide with our upper atmosphere.
For the best chance of catching as many Geminids as possible, the most important thing to do is to find an observing spot untainted by light pollution that has a broad view of the sky, which is hopefully cloudless. While it’s best to mark the peak night on your calendar, it’s possible to catch a few meteors an hour right now, especially as other showers like the Leonids and Taurids are still active.
If the moon is up, you can try to orient yourself so it’s at your back as much as possible.
Once you’ve got the ideal spot, lay back, relax and give your eyes time to adjust. Then just watch. Plan for at least an hour for the whole experience as there are always lulls in activity. On the peak night, if you’re lucky with ideal conditions, you might see up to 150 meteors in an hour.
Your best chance to see that many is probably around 2 a.m. when the radiant that the Geminids appear to radiate outward from (in the direction of the constellation Gemini, hence the name) is highest in the sky. That said, the radiant is above the horizon earlier in the evening as mentioned earlier, and these more friendly hours are also the best time to see a bright “earth-grazer,” which is nickname for a brilliant fireball that appears to flame out spectacularly just above the horizon.
However you do it, be sure to dress appropriately and bring refreshments so you aren’t tempted to head back inside and ruin your night vision. Happy spotting!
Elden Ring took home the Game of the Year Award at Thursday’s The Game Awards show. The ceremony brings together the biggest names in gaming to honor the year’s best titles while also revealing some huge games coming in the future.
FromSoftware’s Elden Ring won three awards to go along with the GOTY prize — best role playing game, best game direction and best art direction — while God of War: Ragnarök had the most trophies at the end of the night, with six. Long-running massively multiplayer online RPG Final Fantasy 14 and indie darling Stray both took home two awards.
Privacy is more of a priority than ever for browser developers, but your browser’s default settings still may not be as robust as you’d like in fighting pervasive ad industry trackers. You can take your online privacy into your own hands and outsmart that online tracking, though.
One of the best and easiest ways to start is by adjusting some of your browser settings.
Incidents like Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018 elevated privacy protection on Silicon Valley’s priority list by revealing how companies compile reams of data as you traverse the internet. Their goal? To build a richly detailed user profile so they can target you with more tailored, clickable and thus profitable advertisements.
Apple and Google are in a war for the web
, with Google pushing aggressively for an interactive web to rival native apps and Apple moving more slowly — partly out of concern new features will worsen security and be annoying to use. Privacy adds another dimension to the competition and to your browser decision.
Apple has made privacy a top priority in all of its products, including its Safari browser. For the Brave browser, privacy is a core goal, and Mozilla and Microsoft are touting privacy as a way to differentiate their browsers from Google Chrome. But despite Google’s reliance on ad revenue, Chrome engineers are working on rolling out a new privacy-preserving ad-targeting technology called Topics, which the tech giant is testing as a replacement to its failed FLOC project.
One quick way to give yourself a privacy boost across all of the browsers listed here is by changing the default search engine. For instance, try the privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo. Although its search results may not be quite as useful or deep as Google’s, DuckDuckGo is still pretty close — and it’s long been favored by the privacy-minded for its refusal to track user searches.
Other universal options that can boost your privacy include disabling your browser’s location tracking and search engine autocomplete features, turning off password autofills and regularly deleting your browsing history. If that’s not enough and you want to take your privacy to the next level, consider trying one of the virtual private networks CNET has reviewed that work with all browsers. (You can also check out our roundups of browser-based VPNs to try
as well as the best VPNs for Windows.)
In the meantime, though, here are some simple settings you can change in your browser to help keep a good portion of advertising trackers off your trail.
Chrome browser privacy settings to change
James Martin/CNET
The world’s most popular browser is also generally thought to be one of the least private when used straight out of the box. On the plus side, however, Chrome’s flexible and open-source underpinnings have allowed independent developers to release a slew of privacy-focused extensions to shake off trackers.
In the Chrome Web Store, click Extensions on the left and type the name of the extension you’re looking for into the search bar. Once you find the correct extension in the search results, click Add to Chrome. A dialog will pop up explaining which permissions the extension will have for your browser. Click Add extension to bring the extension into your browser.
If you change your mind, you can manage or remove your extensions by opening Chrome and clicking the three-dot More menu on the right. Then select More Tools and then Extensions. From here, you’ll also be able to see more about the extension by clicking Details.
If you’re on Android, sorry: extensions don’t work. So you’ll have to switch browsers altogether to something like DuckDuckGo’s app.
In the same three-dot menu in Chrome, you can also block third-party cookies by selecting Settings, then scrolling down to the Privacy and security section and clicking Cookies and other site data. From here, select Block third-party cookies.
There are several other settings to disable in the Privacy and security menu. Here are a few more.
Clear browsing data > Advanced > Select an option under Time range and hit Clear data.
Security > Under Safe Browsing, select Standard protection > toggle off Help improve security on the web for everyone.
Security > Under Advanced, toggle on Always use secure connections
But it’s not that simple. By going back to the Settings menu — or accessing it directly by typing chrome://settings into your address bar — you’ll see an entire list of options on the left, and each of them have privacy-related options to enable or disable. Listing them all would require an article of its own, but here are a few key settings to get you started.
Settings > You and Google > Sync and Google services > toggle on Allow Chrome sign-in. This tells Chrome not to associate your browser activities with your account until you’ve signed into your Google account. While you’re in this screen, toggle off the following:
Autocomplete searches and URLs
Help improve Chrome’s features and performance
Make searches and browsing better
For core privacy, you should turn off all functions under Settings > Autofill. If you’re looking to maintain the convenience of logging into familiar sites, you shouldn’t let Chrome keep your passwords. Instead, choose a password manager like Bitwarden and install its extension in Chrome.
Chrome is also a browser that can access data about what you do outside of it. If you’re a MacOS user, you can restrain some of that data-grabbing by doing two things. First, you can disable IPv6. Then, you can select System Preference under your Apple menu, followed by Security & Privacy.
In this window, click the lock icon in the bottom to begin making changes. Then go through each of the items one at a time on the left-side pane. Every time you select an item and see Chrome among the list of apps appearing in the right-side pane, click Chrome to highlight it and then click the minus-sign icon beneath the pane on the right side to remove Chrome from the list. This is also a great place to see the overwhelming amount of personal data other apps may have access to.
Don’t forget to click the lock icon again to save your choices before exiting the Security & Privacy window.
By default, Safari turns on its proprietary Intelligent Tracking Prevention tool to keep you a step ahead of privacy pests. Even so, the tool hasn’t always worked smoothly since its 2017 debut. Google researchers spotted how Intelligent Tracking Prevention itself could be used to track users, though Apple buttoned down the problem.
Safari is able to tell you which ad trackers are running on the website you’re visiting and give you a 30-day report of the known trackers it’s identified while you were browsing. It’ll also tell you which websites those trackers came from.
To check that blocking is on, open Safari and click Preferences, then Privacy. The box beside Prevent cross-site tracking should be checked. While you’re there, you can also manually delete your cookies. Click Manage Website Data to see which sites have left their trackers and cookies hanging out in your browser. Click Remove next to any of the individual trackers you’re ready to get rid of, or just nuke the whole list by clicking Remove All at the bottom of your screen.
Cookies can be helpful, not just invasive, but for stronger privacy you can block them altogether — both first-party cookies from the website publisher and third-party cookies from others like advertisers. To do so, check the box beside Block all cookies.
You can also enable the Hide IP address from trackers function from the Privacy menu to keep your IP address hidden from known online trackers. And if you have an iCloud Plus account, you can use Private Relay to hide your IP address from trackers as well as websites.
If you’re still looking for another layer of privacy, you can also install helpful extensions from the App Store like AdBlock Plus or Ghostery Lite for Safari.
Microsoft’s Edge browser includes some simplified privacy and tracker-blocking options on its Tracker prevention screen. Within Edge, select the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner and select Settings. From the menu that then appears on the left, select Privacy and services.
You’ll be offered three settings to choose from: Basic, Balanced and Strict. By default, Edge uses the Balanced setting, which blocks trackers from sites you haven’t visited while still being lenient enough to save most sites from some of the loading problems that may come with tighter security. Likewise, Edge’s Strict setting may interfere with how some sites behave, but will block the greatest number of trackers. Even the Basic setting will still block trackers used for crypto mining and fingerprinting.
Depending on your settings, Edge may send your browsing history and diagnostic data to Microsoft. If you want to prevent that from happening, you can go to Privacy, search, and services from the Settings menu and disable Help improve Microsoft products by sending optional diagnostic data about how you use the browser, websites you visit, and crash reports.
Firefox’s default privacy settings are more protective than those of Chrome and Edge, and the browser has more privacy options under the hood, too.
From inside Firefox’s main menu — or from inside the three-lined menu on the right side of the toolbar — select Settings. Once the Settings window opens, click Privacy & Security. From here, you’ll be able to choose between three options: Standard, Strict and Custom. Standard, the default Firefox setting, blocks trackers in private windows, third-party tracking cookies and crypto miners. The Strict setting may break a few websites, but it blocks everything blocked in Standard mode, plus fingerprints and trackers in all windows. Custom is worth exploring for those who want to fine-tune how trackers are being blocked.
To apply your new tracking settings after you’ve selected your level of privacy, click the Reload All Tabs button that appears.
From the Privacy & Security menu, you can also tell Firefox to send a “Do Not Track” signal to websites to let them know you don’t want to be tracked. You can set this to Always or Only when Firefox is set to block known trackers.
When it comes to anti-tracking tools, Safari’s latest privacy updates are still short of most of those found in the Brave browser
. By default, Brave blocks all ads, trackers, third-party cookies and fingerprinters while still achieving blazing speeds
. Brave also offers a built-in Tor private browsing mode, a heavy-duty tracker-blocking option, and added a built-in VPN for iOS users.
Inside Brave’s main menu, select Settings and then select Shields to see a list of things you can block, like trackers, ads, scripts and fingerprinting. You can set the Trackers and ads blocking to Standard or Aggressive, and you can set the Block fingerprinting function to Standard or Strict. You’ll also be able to block login buttons and embedded content from Facebook, Twitter, Google and LinkedIn from the Social media blocking tab in your Settings menu. For even more protection and privacy fine-tuning, explore the Privacy and security menu.
Passkeys, which arrived in iOS 16 and MacOS Ventura in recent weeks, most often use a biometric check on your phone or laptop to authenticate your access to an app or website. With Passkeys now available in Chrome, Google’s password manager can synchronize passkeys across Chrome on different devices and with Android itself.
The combination of having your hardware with you and passing the biometric check is more secure than conventional passwords alone and than flawed two-factor authentication systems like verification codes sent by text message.
“We need to move towards passwordless authentication,” said Ali Sarraf, a Chrome product manager, in a blog post Thursday. “Passkeys are a significantly safer replacement for passwords and other phishable authentication factors. They cannot be reused, don’t leak in server breaches, and protect users from phishing attacks.”
Passkeys remain unusual in the real world so far. But websites and apps have begun supporting the technology. For example, PayPal added passkey support in October.
Fortunately for Apple users, the company has made some much-needed changes to MacBook Pro in the latest generations. That means no more awful keyboard, annoying Touch Bar or overreliance on Thunderbolt/USB-C connections.
But the fact remains that there are far more designs, feature sets and display choices for Windows laptops and Chromebooks. Moreover, Windows remains the preferred platform for playing games locally. While cloud gaming lets Macs circumvent the gaming problem to a certain extent, only a fraction of the universe of games is playable via the cloud. Thankfully, there are MacBook Pro alternatives on the market.
This list is a great place to start to get an idea of what’s available. If you need advice on whether a particular type of laptop or two-in-one is right for you, jump to our laptop FAQ at the bottom of the list.
For a lot less than an entry-level MacBook Pro 13, The HP Envy x360 13 makes a great pick for an older high school or college student — or anyone looking for a small, stylish and easy-to-travel-with two-in-one. It’s light at just less than 3 pounds (1.3 kg) and battery life is long despite the size. It’s also available with a choice of Intel processors like the i5 or i7.
A slightly updated and renamed version of the Yoga C940, the Yoga 9i is just a little bigger than a 13-inch MacBook Pro, fast, attractive and feature-packed. Plus it gives you something you can’t get in a MacBook: the 360-degree screen that lets you use it like a tablet or prop it up in a tent or kiosk configuration.
If, like me, you’re not a fan of OLED screens for photo editing — they’re not optimized for Adobe RGB and aren’t great at tonal range in the shadows — then what you need is a laptop with a good IPS display. The Dell XPS 17 9720 with the 4K screen option delivers that, and it’s not as reflective as the OLED screens I’ve seen. Dell’s PremierColor software isn’t perfect, but it gives you more control over screen settings than most I’ve seen, and it has two Thunderbolt 3 controllers to make your external drives happy. It’s heavier than the MacBook, but not much bigger, especially given its larger 17-inch screen. And while its battery life isn’t terrific, its performance can certainly keep up.
And a great lower-cost alternative is the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus, which doesn’t head to the front of the line primarily because of its lower build quality, and I’m assuming that if you’re looking for a MacBook Pro equivalent you want the metal chassis, better screen and higher-end components. But if you also want to save hundreds of dollars, it’s worth considering.
Cheaper than even the MacBook Air, with roughly the same footprint but lighter. The 13-inch Flex 5 has the flexibility of a two-in-one if everything you do is cloud-based. Its sleek look and feel at a Chrome OS price make it a cost-effective alternative.
If you’re drawn to a MacBook Pro for its featureless-slab aesthetic, Razer’s your Windows go-to. If you want one that roughly matches the 14-inch Pro for design, size and weight, the Blade 14 is your option; its little brother, the Razer Book 13 makes a great alternative to the 13-inch MacBook Pro when you want something a bit smaller and less expensive.
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, and one that Apple doesn’t need to worry about — but has 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.
Dell’s XPS 13 is a 13.3-inch laptop that’s so trimmed up that the body is basically the size of an older 11.6-inch laptop. Being part of the company’s XPS line means both its chassis and components are top-notch for its class, so you’re getting great battery life and performance, too. Power delivery is via USB-C and it comeswith a microSD reader and headphone jack. It comes in both a standard clamshell as well as the two-in-one, but I prefer the two-in-one because you can fold it up into a tablet if you have to work in a cramped space.
What’s better than the Touch Bar? An entire half-screen second display, that’s what. The Duo’s tilt-up second screen can act as an ancillary display, an extension of the primary display (for viewing those long web pages) or a separate control center from which you can run Asus’ custom utilities or as control surfaces for select creative applications. Plus, Asus excels at squeezing every bit of performance out of its high-end laptops, and the 14-inch delivers great battery life, as well.
It comes in two models, 15-inch and the 2021 14-inch Duo 14 that we reviewed. The Duo 14 has either 11th-gen Core i5 or i7 processors, optional Nvidia MX450 discrete graphics and up to 32GB of memory.
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Commonly asked questions
Which is faster, a MacBook or a Windows laptop?
That’s an almost impossible question to answer.
For one thing, it’s a moving target. We’re starting to see Windows models featuring Intel’s new 12th-gen CPUs, which has the same hybrid core architecture as Apple’s M1 chips, as well as new mobile GPUs. We haven’t yet had a chance to test out many of these next-gen models, but it’s safe to assume that Apple’s M1 processors will be facing some stiff competition.
And thus far, Apple hasn’t even launched an M1 MacBook with a discrete GPU, though its integrated graphics seem to scale up to compete with current low-end Nvidia and AMD graphics up to about the RTX 3070 and Radeon RX 6800M, and definitely improves on previous Intel-based Macs though neither is really surprising. But it means that at the high end we’re still in sort of a MacBook holding pattern when it comes to comparisons with heavier Windows options.
Plus, differences in operating systems complicate things. Mac OS has long been more efficient than Windows and that’s only improved now that Apple owns its entire food chain. But it doesn’t need to worry about compatibility with partner systems and myriad different components. Then toss in difficulties getting repeatable, comparable, representative and broad-based benchmark results for cross-platform comparisons… well, I don’t feel like going down that rabbit hole right now.
Is a MacBook Pro better for content creation than a Windows laptop?
Once again, a difficult question to answer because there’s no sweeping generalizations you can make. If you’re basing the concern on Windows’ old reputation for being inferior for graphics work, it was accurate at the time but is no longer true.
Screens on Windows laptops have come a long way, and convertibles (aka two-in-ones) mean you can paint or sketch directly on the laptop screen. With a MacBook you’d need to buy an iPad as well.
Some graphics applications are only available on one platform or the other, so figuring out which ones you need and which you can switch away from is the first thing to decide before you choose between Windows and MacOS. Also consider that MacOS no longer supports 32-bit applications, so if you’ve got an old favorite that hasn’t been updated — this happens most with small utilities — but still exists on Windows, that’s something to think about.
Some applications may also be better optimized for one platform than the other, or rely on a specific GPU from AMD or Nvidia for their best acceleration. Since you can’t really use an Nvidia card with a Mac and none of the M1 MacBooks incorporate any discrete graphics, Windows is probably a better bet, especially for programs that rely on Nvidia’s CUDA programming interface. Think about any accessories you need, as well — the drivers and utilities you need to use them may not be available or be stripped down on one or the other.
MacBooks may run faster than equivalently configured Windows laptops simply because MacOS is a lot more tightly integrated with the hardware than Windows can ever be on its side of the fence. Microsoft simply has to support a much wider variety of hardware than Apple will ever need to, and that adds performance overhead; this can be especially important for activities sensitive to latency, like audio recording. Windows’ flexibility is both its strength and its weakness.
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.
This story is part of Welcome to Mars, our series exploring the red planet.
Usually when I spot faces on Mars, it’s because the local rock formations resemble them. A new face on Mars, however, is the work of NASA’s Perseverance rover. The accidental artistic masterpiece is the result of two sample collection holes combined with a wheel scuff mark. Move over, Mona Lisa.
There’s a scientific explanation for what turned out to be a serendipitously goofy portrait. The two holes are where the rover picked up samples of sandy regolith — crushed up rock and dust — as part of its growing rock collection. Percy used a special drill bit to gather and stash the samples in hopes of sending them back to Earth for future study.
The wheel scuff came from a little earlier in the mission. The rover team commanded Percy to make the mark to get a look at the regolith below the surface. They liked what they saw and returned to the spot to collect the samples.
I’m not the only person who saw a face in the Martian ground after Percy got done with the sampling site. Rover engineer Daniel Zayas had a delightful interpretation, likening the shape to a Yip Yip from Sesame Street. If you need a refresher, Yip Yips are big-mouthed, googly-eyed aliens from Mars, so it couldn’t be more perfect.
Most of Percy’s samples up to this point have been drilled out of rock, so the regolith is special. Scientists would love to get a closer look at the material in a lab. “If we have a more permanent presence on Mars, we need to know how the dust and regolith will interact with our spacecraft and habitats,” Perseverance team member Erin Gibbons said in a NASA statement this week.
The face is an excellent example of pareidolia, the human tendency to see familiar objects in random shapes. It happens all the time on Mars, with recent examples of a duck rock and a loaf-shaped cat. It’s all in good fun. We have no evidence of aliens hanging out carving Earth-shaped things into the local rocks on Mars.
While Percy’s artwork is sublime, the rover probably shouldn’t quit its day job as a mobile robotic laboratory.
