Sommaire pour July 2024 de PCWorld

To date, PC vendors have shipped AI PCs. On Monday, Microsoft announced the next step in the AI PC’s evolution, the Copilot+ PC, and announced AI-powered Windows 11 features like Recall. “The pursuit has always been about how to build computers that understand us, instead of having us having to understand computers, and I feel like we really are close to that breakthrough,” said Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, in a briefing with reporters on Microsoft’s campus. A Copilot+ PC combines local, on-device AI with cloud AI, according to Microsoft, to provide a range of services. Some of the new laptops shipping with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus processors will be classified as Copilot+ PCs, taking advantage of the NPU found within both chips. That NPU will…

Did you know that computers have artificial intelligence now? You didn’t? How’s that? We’ve been subjected to an absolute avalanche of marketing touting AI from seemingly every tech company, from Microsoft and Nvidia to laptop makers and even thermal paste sellers. Well if you’ve somehow avoided the AI blitz, possibly by using a Chromebook, you’re about to get it in spades from Google. The company has been pushing its Gemini (nee Bard, fave.co/3VoaOcZ) AI tools into most of its high-profile products, most notably Chrome and Android. Now Chromebook Plus, Google’s higher tier of ChromeOS laptops revealed last year, are slated to be Google’s flagship platform for the best and brightest of Gemini, with a few tools and options that aren’t available elsewhere. With all this coming just a week after Microsoft’s big push…

At its Build 2024 conference, Microsoft unveiled a new AI trick for Windows PCs—one that can help users locate or remember details from their digital past. It could be looking for a PDF file worked on a couple of weeks ago. Or perhaps finding the name of a restaurant recommended by a friend earlier this year. Called Microsoft Recall, this feature could save you many lost minutes trying to hunt down whatever’s eluding your memory. Yet even before its launch, Microsoft Recall is already giving security experts indigestion. Underneath the futuristic shine, Recall comes with a potential massive hit to user privacy—and by extension, security. Here are the reasons for the unease—and what you should do when you actually encounter Microsoft Recall in the wild. 1. IT WATCHES AND RECORDS EVERYTHING…

NordVPN is one of the most well-known VPN services with an absolutely massive user base. The trusted premium service is notable for its excellent speeds, generous and wide server spread, and impressive set of security features. And in its aim to be more than just a VPN, the service has expanded into a larger umbrella organization known as Nord Security, offering other services such as the NordPass password manager, NordLocker for secure file storage, and business tools like NordLayer and NordWL. NORDVPN IN BRIEF: P2P allowed: Yes, on dedicated servers Simultaneous device connections: 10 Business location: Panama Number of servers: 6,000-plus Number of country locations: 110-plus Cost: $12.99 per month or $83 for two years FEATURES AND SERVICES Let’s get this out front right away: NordVPN is one of the…

Those looking for an OLED monitor have a lot of choices in 2024, but if you want a 27-inch 1440p display, those choices have primarily used Samsung’s QD-OLED panel. Now, however, Asus is changing that with the ROG Strix XG27AQDMG. This new 27-inch 1440p 240Hz gaming monitor has an OLED display from LG. It is similar to QD-OLED in many respects but takes the lead in HDR performance. SPECS AND FEATURES You wouldn’t know the Asus ROG Strix XG27AQDMG from other OLED monitors by glancing at the spec sheet. It is a 27-inch display with a 2560×1440 resolution and a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz. Also, like similar monitors, it sticks to HDMI and DisplayPort for video input and keeps USB connectivity minimal with just two USB-A ports. Display size:…

At Computex 2024, everyone was talking about AI again. Intel’s Lunar Lake hardware and AMD’s Strix Point chips will deliver faster AI performance, with upgraded neural processing units (NPUs), that meet and exceed Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC requirements (see page 7). That’s great. But the big promise of Qualcomm’s soon-to-be-released line of Snapdragon X Elite–powered laptops is the huge battery life numbers we’re being promised over Intel and AMD-powered laptops. “We know we haven’t necessarily been the highest battery life design point,” said Intel’s Dan Rogers in an interview with PCWorld’s Mark Hachman at Computex. Intel is talking like it’s solved the problem—but we haven’t heard any concrete numbers yet. Now the race is on. At Computex, Arm CEO Rene Haas told us Apple “woke up the industry on the art of…

Trackpads on laptops have come a long way over the years, and that is doubly the case for Windows machines. These input devices used to be tiny, sluggish, and only able to detect a single touch input. Naturally, mice were more efficient in those days, but modern Windows trackpads support myriad gestures to make your computing experience more efficient. In fact, you might not even know all the cool things your trackpad can do in Windows 11. Let’s dig in. WINDOWS ON TAP If you’ve always been a single-finger trackpad user, you can start slow with advanced tapping. Instead of clicking the trackpad and dragging, you can initiate a drag wherever your finger happens to be. Simply double-tap and hold on the second tap. Then you can drag your finger…

AMD’s Zen 5 is here! AMD launched its next-generation Ryzen 9000 series of desktop PC processors at Computex in early June, kicking off the next round of processor competition between AMD, Intel, and (now) Qualcomm. If you recall our Ryzen 7950X review, you’ll remember that chip was accompanied by three others. That’s still the case: AMD launched the flagship Ryzen 9 9950X, plus the Ryzen 9 9900X, the Ryzen 7 9700X, and the Ryzen 5 9600X. This is AMD’s Granite Ridge architecture, supported by new X870 motherboards. There’s a treat for existing customers, too: AMD is formally extending the lifespan of its AM5 socket through 2027, up from the previously pledged 2025, and is adding the Ryzen 9 5900XT and Ryzen 7 5800XT too on the AM4 platform. (AMD continues…

AMD should enter the Copilot+ generation of PCs (see page 7) with the new Ryzen AI 300 series, a mobile processor with an NPU that AMD claims will lead the industry with 50 TOPS of artificial intelligence power. AMD’s Ryzen AI series breaks ground not only in terms of AI, but in CPU capabilities as well. The chip family is AMD’s first Zen 5 processor, featuring double-digit performance gains compared to the previous generation. It also contains a robust integrated GPU, plus an RDNA 3.5-capable Radeon core with up to 16 compute units, depending upon the model. “We’re reimagining what it means to build a truly intelligent and personalized PC experience,” said Mike Jasinski, an AMD product manager, in a recorded briefing with reporters. AMD and its partners—Acer, Asus, HP,…

Microsoft has released a preview version of Windows 11 24H2, this year’s major annual Windows update. But watch out: When Microsoft installs the autumn update on your Windows 11 computer, a number of older applications and features will be removed forever. Cortana, Tips, and Wordpad are perhaps the most well-known victims of this cleanup. Microsoft said about Cortana: “Cortana in Windows as a standalone app is deprecated. This change only affects Cortana in Windows. Your productivity assistant Cortana is still available in Outlook Mobile, Teams Mobile, Microsoft Teams Display and Microsoft Teams Rooms.” And about the Tips app: “The Tips app is deprecated and will be removed in a future version of Windows. Content in the app will continue to be updated with information about new Windows features until the…

The eMeet SmartCam C960 2K pushes into midrange webcam territory by offering 1440p video at a 1080p price, but you’ll still find some areas in which this webcam feels more like a budget offering. Will that matter to you? Probably not. eMeet’s SmartCam C960 2K is the upgraded version of the eMeet SmartCam C960, a rather decent webcam and one of the most popular on Amazon by virtue of its reasonable price and feature set. As the name suggests, the autofocusing C960 2K offers “2K” resolution, which is another way of saying that it produces 1440p video (at 30Hz) and 2560×1440 images. BUILD QUALITY At 3.9×2.3×2 inches., the C960 2K is a compact little webcam that perches on top of your monitor. A pair of noise-canceling mics is mounted to…

This year’s Computex was one of the most monumental in ages. Funnily enough, that made it feel both insanely packed and curiously quiet on the PC front. Qualcomm’s imminent entry into the premium PC space with Snapdragon X Elite–powered Copilot+ laptops cast a shadow over Computex after it was announced in late May, with a wide array of top PC makers already on board  for a June 18 launch. AMD’s and Intel’s keynotes focused heavily on their AI-infused laptop chips in response—but those aren’t launching until July and this fall, respectively. So we heard a lot about the chips underpinning the next generation of laptops, but little about the laptops they’ll actually be in, with a few exceptions. On the desktop, Nvidia focused on AI, natch, but AMD rolled out…

Microsoft Word is one of the most widely used programs in the world, yet it’s also one that many complain about. The most common criticism? That it’s heavy, slow, and a typical example of “feature bloat.” Which is true. Word is packed with tons of features. And while some critics think that most people only use it because everyone else is using it, Word is actually quite powerful and capable. It’s just a matter of getting to know it and not beating it to death, so to speak. Word has some quirks that can drive a user crazy, but in most cases it’s a setting that can be changed or a behavior that can be circumvented with another feature or the right handling. In this guide I go through a…

The biggest news at Computex in June was how Snapdragon chips are storming the beaches of the Windows-based PC market, spearheading Microsoft’s huge Copilot+ laptop push. We’ve seen Arm-based PC hardware before, but the designs have improved so much that they’re meeting and sometimes beating the Intel and AMD competition. Qualcomm’s CEO thinks they might be good enough to dominate and to do so very quickly. Speaking to Tom’s Hardware, Cristiano Amon doubled down on bullish projections from Arm, the company that designs the architecture behind the chips in smartphones, tablets, most integrated electronics, and now Macs and PCs. Amon said he subscribed to the idea that Arm-based chips could take over 50 percent of the PC market within five years. “Some OEMs are talking about 40 to 60 percent of…

What’s the first thing you think of when you read the words “web search”? According to market share data, nine out of ten of you would say “Google,” or at least that’s the web search of choice worldwide by a startling 90 percent. Google has rolled out a “Web” search option along with its usual Images, News, Shopping, Maps, and other tabs. It might just be a big deal. But wait, isn’t “web search” what you’re supposed to get with a standard Google query, without any need to click on a secondary tab? Yes and no. Google’s official SearchLiason Twitter account explains that the Web tab filters results so that only text-based results will be returned, stripping out images, videos, shopping products, maps, and all the other allegedly helpful modern additions…

Living a laptop lifestyle doesn’t require as many compromises as it once did. There are portable machines with multiple displays, desktop-level graphics, and expansive high-refresh screens. Most laptop buyers don’t need any of that, but bargain models can be a hassle with limited power and capabilities. HP’s Envy line is adept at bringing premium hardware down to Earth without giving up too much. The newest HP Envy x360 14 is compact and beautiful to look at. Most of the credit for that goes to the high-resolution OLED screen, but the PC itself doesn’t look bad, either. You won’t get the absolute best performance possible from this machine, but unless you plan to game or edit video on the go, the HP Envy x360 14 should meet your needs for a…

Antivirus makers stuff a ton of features into their most touted-plans, but not everyone needs those extra bells and whistles. Maybe all you seek is the basics for online protection in a single software package—and for just one device. Norton Antivirus Plus is one slimmed down option that hits those notes exactly, with malware protection and a password manager as the standout features. As an affordable entry-level suite, you can skip the extraneous pieces of more expensive plans without sacrificing what you really need. The only caveat: You can acclimate to Norton’s quirks, including an app with two different interfaces. FEATURES Though its name lacks the reference, Norton Antivirus Plus is part of Norton’s 360 lineup—albeit as the most stripped down version, both in features and number of devices supported.…

Intel launches Lunar Lake, its next entrant into its Core Ultra series of laptop processors, today at Computex, ushering in a new generation of AI-infused Copilot+ PCs (see page 7) that have been initially overshadowed by Qualcomm. Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Intel is prioritizing low power, perhaps feeling the pressure from Qualcomm’s just-launched Snapdragon X Elite. Several tweaks to Lunar Lake’s design, however, including shifting all of the E-cores to a low-power architecture, resulted in power savings and performance boosts. The Xe2 GPU at the heart of Intel’s Battlemage is here. Oh, and hyperthreading? Gone. But there’s a fairly major change that affects you, a potential laptop buyer: Intel is embedding the DRAM onto the chip package. Yes, the PC’s memory. For now, if you buy a…

On June 26, 2024, Facebook will change its privacy policy with regard to generative AI features such as Meta AI. From that point on, posts and photos from all users will be read by the AI to help train them and improve services such as the AI Creative Tool. Meta is currently providing information about this on Facebook. Private messages will not be affected, only public texts and images. Nevertheless, many users may be skeptical about this new regulation due to data protection concerns or for personal reasons. Meta emphasizes that every user has the “right to object.” We explain below how you can object to the use of your data. WHAT DO THE NEW FACEBOOK GUIDELINES MEAN? Firstly, an explanation of the specific consequences of the policy. Anyone who…