TechRadar News

I'm always on the look-out for the best home office gear and desk gadgets. And with Amazon launching its Early Prime Deals ahead of Prime Day on October 6-7, I've been digging through the sale to find the more interesting upgrades for home and office workspaces. Sure, we all want a nice wireless mouse, a mechanical keyboard, and a comfortable office chair. But I wanted to find the hidden gems that go beyond the basics, to create an office setup that's more tailored, efficient, and, dare I say it, a lot cooler.

Ugreen Uno 65W 3-Port USB-C Charger

Vivo Under Desk Keyboard Tray

ProtoArc Ergonomic Mouse Pad with Wrist Rest

Hoto 25-Piece Electric Screwdriver Kit

Elgato Stream Deck Neo with 8 Custom Keys

Lamicall 6 Pack Rotating Magnetic Cable Organizer

Wolfbox MF200 Compressed Air Duster

Brother P-Touch Handheld Bluetooth Label Maker

Ninja Single Serve Coffee Maker Combo Machine

Livho Blue Light Blocking Computer Glasses

InnoView 18.5in Dual Portable Monitor

Iniu Mini Portable Charger 10KmAH

• See all Early Prime Day deals at Amazon.

We found the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x a glorious ultra-portable, with this deal shaving $550 off a Snapdragon laptop equipped with 32GB of memory and literal all-day battery life.

• Best for: Professionals and students who want a tablet-thin, lightweight laptop that doesn't sacrifice day-to-day performance.

• The deal: The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is now $1550 (was $2100) at Lenovo.

• Why we like it: We scored the Yoga Slim 7x 4 stars in our review, praising its impressively thin design, performance that easily handled everything from basic productivity to 4K streaming, and battery, which lasted just under 24 hours in our tests.

Snapdragon X2 Elite X2E-80-100 | 32GB RAM | 1TB SSD | 14-inch OLED

Loaded with Windows 11 Home, the Yoga Slim 7x is ideal for remote workers, commuting professionals and students who need a premium-quality laptop that's remarkably thin. View Deal

Why we recommend it

This might just be the thinnest laptop we've ever tested - and the build quality is, and I quote, "exquisite." We awarded the Yoga Slim 7x 4 stars in our review, and found Lenovo's ultra-portable excelled at day-to-day tasks like running office software, multi-tab browsing, and streaming movies. We even managed to play Cyberpunk 2077 on low settings, although it's best-suited to productivity with casual gaming on the side. For content creation, I'd stick to design and photo editing over full-scale video production, with the 14-inch Full HD OLED hitting 100% DCI-P3.

For more options, see my guide to the best business laptops.

Value verdict

Good. Most Snapdragon-powered laptops cost around $1100 to $1300, but those base configurations are usually capped at 16GB of memory and 512GB storage. Here, you're doubling both specs with 32GB LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB Gen4 SSD for smoother performance, justifying the $1550 price tag.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x if...

You want a backpack-friendly ultraportable for work and study. It measures 0.55 x 12.28 x 8.70 inches, and 2.58lbs in weight.

❌ Skip the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x if...

You need a laptop for dedicated graphics workloads like video editing, 3D rendering, or gaming.

FutureFutureFutureFutureFuture

• Shop all doorbuster deals at Lenovo

• Seagate study finds 99% of firms expect AI to increase their storage requirements within three years
• Only 38% of organizations consider themselves fully prepared for future demands
• Storage infrastructure ranks among the biggest obstacles facing AI deployment

New data from Seagate has claimed AI is increasing the business importance of stored information while exposing weaknesses in infrastructure readiness.

The company's research found 99% of respondents expect AI workloads to increase their storage requirements in the next three years.

Yet only 38% describe their organizations as completely prepared, while 43% identify storage infrastructure among the leading obstacles to wider AI deployment.

AI is raising the stakes for storage planning

The survey gathered responses from more than 2,700 technology decision-makers and found that 86% reported moderate or significant returns from AI investments.

Among those respondents, 33% said their organizations were already seeing substantial measurable financial or operational benefits from AI initiatives.

Those returns increase the importance of retaining information that can support future models, applications and decisions across changing business requirements.

Nearly 7 in 10 respondents expect storage requirements to increase by at least 26%, including 32% anticipating growth exceeding 50%.

Furthermore, 98% of respondents regard storage as strategic infrastructure rather than simply an administrative technology function.

The survey nevertheless shows that preparedness remains incomplete, with data quality and readiness identified by 53% as another major deployment difficulty.

Storage therefore ranks ahead of compute availability, cited by 27%, and energy constraints, which were identified by 24% of respondents.

The figures indicate that adding computing capacity alone does not resolve the infrastructure limitations organizations encounter when deploying increasingly data-intensive AI systems.

Sustainability is becoming part of the storage equation

Infrastructure expansion is also encountering sustainability concerns, with 77% of respondents reporting delays or changes to planned growth.

Within that figure, 36% said investments had undergone major changes, while another 41% experienced smaller postponements linked to sustainability considerations.

Power consumption was the most frequently considered environmental factor for storage hardware, cited by 62% of respondents.

Equipment lifespan followed at 55%, while respondents broadly connected longer hardware service periods with improved sustainability across data center operations.

Current confidence remains below future expectations, with 39% describing their storage operations as highly sustainable under present conditions, according to survey responses.

That proportion rises to 61% when respondents assess where their organizations expect storage sustainability to stand five years from now.

Funding levels also influence those expectations, with 70% of organizations holding sustainability budgets above $100 million expecting highly sustainable operations within five years.

By comparison, 48% of organizations with annual sustainability budgets below $1 million anticipate reaching that same level during the period.

Training material, active datasets, model checkpoints and retained outputs can impose substantially different infrastructure requirements throughout an AI system’s lifecycle.

For organizations expanding AI operations, those differences make storage architecture, equipment lifespan, energy consumption and capacity planning increasingly interconnected decisions.

The survey does not establish that every organization will face identical costs, although its findings indicate that storage growth is widely anticipated.

• AMD is rumored to be hiking prices for its chips
• Industry insiders in the supply chain indicate that a rise of around 10% will be applied across AMD's "entire chip line"
• This means GPUs and processors, as well as motherboards, and the hike is expected in Q4, so it could happen next month

AMD's processors and graphics cards could soon get more expensive in the latest blow from the RAM crisis rumor mill.

Wccftech spotted that leaker Harukaze5719 highlighted a post from ChannelGate (the Board Channels over in Asia) that cites sources in the supply chain who claim that TSMC has informed its customers of a 10% price rise.

The post observes that most of AMD's chips are manufactured by TSMC, and that Team Red has in turn notified its customers of a 10% "price adjustment" across its "entire chip product line".

That means everything, so on the consumer front, we can expect AMD's GPUs and Ryzen processors to be hit with price increases — and motherboard chipsets are also affected, so the price of those AMD boards will climb, too.

It's worth noting that processors aren't referred to explicitly in the post on the Board Channels, but given the mention of the entirety of AMD's chips, I think we can take that as real (as the leaker Harukaze5719 indicates).

The sources believe that AMD will enforce this new policy in Q4, so it could happen next month, in theory (although all of this remains a rumor).

In other RAM crisis bleakness, the Steam Frame arrived earlier this week with a much-inflated price tag compared to what Valve first envisioned for the VR headset. It starts at $1,059 / £889 / AU$1,609, which is a few hundred more dollars than what Valve was thinking originally.

As PC Gamer reports, a hardware engineer at Valve, Joy Lyons, said, "We set out to design [the Steam Frame] with one particular price in mind, but we've made choices to make sure that we're making a product that is choiceful, that people can purchase. They can upgrade with different features later. But we wanted to make sure we had a base product with really great performance. Then that price target shifted due to the ongoing RAM crisis around the world."

Analysis: a believable enough prediction

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Sadly, the AMD rumor is another worrying doom nugget from what seems to be a never-ending supply of bad news in the past couple of months. Just this week, we've had a report that shows DDR5 RAM is somehow getting even more expensive, blowing past the levels I'd expected — not to mention the laptop price hikes.

The RAM crisis was forecast to worsen as 2026 rolled on, and that appears to be unfolding just as predicted — and there's very possibly worse to come in 2027, going by rumors elsewhere. If the pundits, analysts and insiders were right about this year, there's a fair chance they'll be right about next year, too.

Okay, so that's not a foregone conclusion, and some kind of more positive developments could yet happen — we can hope. This particular rumor must also be treated with some caution, as a Board Channels post may not have everything right (by any means), but the problem is that given the current climate, it's believable enough that AMD has price hikes in the works. Team Red already warned us earlier this year about pricing pain for the second half of 2026, after all.

• ESET reports Salt Typhoon shifted focus to Latin America, hitting Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, and others
• Group deployed new SparroWocky backdoor with 30+ commands for profiling, exfiltration, and surveillance
• Researchers link pivot to Trump’s renewed US push in the region, threatening China’s long‑term investments

Salt Typhoon has been reassigned to Latin America, and it’s apparently all due to Donald Trump’s renewed “interest” in the continent.

Cybersecurity researchers ESET have been tracking Salt Typhoon, a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor for years. This is the same group that was seen hacking telecommunication giants and government agencies across the western world since at least 2019.

According to the researchers, from mid-2025 and well into 2026, the group has been targeting a number of Latin American countries: Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. They were seen deploying brand new malware, a backdoor called SparroWocky, that features around 30 commands such as system profiling, file exfiltration, screenshot grabbing, and more. ESET says that around 90% of all Salt Typhoon’s recent activity was devoted to this specific region.

A rare occurrence

The discovery of China-built malware in these countries comes as somewhat of a surprise. Latin America cannot be considered an open ally to the Chinese, but they are quite influential in the region, both economically, and diplomatically. ESET sees the development as a “rare occurrence”, and stresses that this is most likely a response to Trump’s initiatives in the region.

“Donald Trump’s second presidential term has brought about an aggressive reaffirmation of US interests in Latin America, which threatens various long-term investments that China has cultivated throughout the continent in the last decade, in domains such as energy, mining, and telecommunications,” ESET says. “We suspect that FamousSparrow’s (their name for Salt Typhoon) activities are intended to help China better monitor and anticipate the reaction of local governments to current US pressures.”

ESET says the backdoor is being delivered via a trident loader scheme that consists of a legitimate executable, a malicious DLL, and a file containing the encrypted malware. By side-loading the DLL, the crooks can deploy the malware without being spotted.

Via The Register

• Nats report reveals a software defect caused days of flight disruption
• The defect occurred in the 'space of a millisecond'
• Severity of the incident was not identified until 2.5 hours later

The UK airspace came to a grinding halt earlier this month after the UK’s National Air Traffic Services (Nats) announced that there was a glitch in its flight processing system.

Following an investigation, NATS has determined that the fault was caused by a manual request for a squawk code that became corrupted, forcing the National Airspace System (NAS) that covers the UK to be restarted, grounding and diverting thousands of aircraft.

The disruption began in the morning of 8 September, and while the initial glitch was fixed within six hours, the subsequent disruption across the UK lasted over two days leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded.

Squawk code corrupted in the ‘space of a millisecond’

Squawk codes are used to track and identify aircraft during flight plans, allowing air traffic controllers to monitor altitude, speed, direction, and flight progress.

The glitch occurred when a flight manually requested a squawk code, with the report noting that there was “nothing abnormal or invalid” about the request. During the processing of this request, a second “higher priority activity” came through to NAS, temporarily pausing the processing of the manually requested squawk.

When the process resumed the generated squawk was corrupted, causing some subsequent flight data to suffer the same fate. All of this occurred within the “space of a millisecond”, the report states.

With flight data now inaccurate for some flights, safety had to be prioritized due to the limited information available at the time. Only flights within the London Area Control Centre were affected by the software defect, but in order to safely restart the NAS, flight restrictions were put in place for around six hours across the UK.

But the report also notes that the severity of the issue was only discovered two and a half hours

Due to the number of cancelled and delayed flights, disruption continued for two days as stranded passengers waited to catch rescheduled flights.

All in all, 2,163 flights were affected by the restrictions and 300,000 passengers were impacted across airports of all sizes, including major international transport hubs such as Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester.

Scrutiny and criticism directed at Nats

The UK government, which owns just under half of Nats, has placed additional pressure on the service, with Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander labelling the disruption as “completely unacceptable”.

“I have now received Nats' report and, while I am pleased to see that the safety of passengers was protected, it’s clear we need to urgently understand why this issue was not discovered and fixed before it caused chaos,” the transport secretary said. “I have therefore tasked the CAA with conducting an independent review to check Nats’ findings and investigate their investment plans to enhance resilience in the future, along with regulatory accountability.

“It is crucial that our national infrastructure is fit for the future, and this government will make sure the aviation sector is as resilient as possible, so passengers can get to where they need to be.”

“I would like to apologise again, very sincerely, to everyone who was affected last week,” Martin Rolfe, Chief Executive of NATS, said in a statement. “It's our job to get people where they want to go, quickly and without delay and we are devastated when that goes wrong. However, our primary role is to keep our skies safe, and everyone who flies through them. At no point last week was safety in question.”

Affected passengers have also raised questions about the level of support they received. Due to the extraordinary circumstances involved in the disruption, almost all of those affected will not receive compensation. According to the Civil Aviation Authority, passengers had the option of choosing between a rescheduled flight or a refund, and were entitled to care and assistance from airlines including food, drink, accommodation, and transfers.

Via BBC

• FBI and US Coast Guard boarded tanker VL Prosperity after foreign cyber compromise indications
• Iranian media claimed attackers sabotaged engine systems and communications; Kohaku vessel also affected
• No group claimed responsibility; US agencies investigating “malicious cyber activity” on targeted ships

Last month, two tankers heading for the United States were hit by a cyberattack, forcing the FBI and Coast Guard to board at least one of the vessels and investigate.

The first vessel is called VL Prosperity, which was allegedly transporting 2.3 million barrels of oil. It is a Liberian crude oil tanker, travelling from Egypt’s Sidi Kerir Oil Terminal towards Galveston, Texas, where it was supposed to dock on August 24. On its route, lasting roughly 25 days, it passed through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Some three days before arriving, it requested assistance from law enforcement, prompting a “highly specialized team” of FBI and Coast Guard cyber experts to board. The ship is currently sitting in the Gulf of Mexico.

Iranians (indirectly) claiming responsibility

“On August 21, a highly specialized team – comprised of USCG Law Enforcement personnel, USCG Cyber Protection Team members, a vessel inspector, and FBI Cyber Action Team operators – embarked the vessel to conduct a comprehensive cyber security boarding and investigation,” a US Coast Guard spokesperson told Cybernews.

The spokesperson also said the team’s activity is “designed to ensure the integrity of the vessel’s operational and information technology systems." The Coast Guard apparently saw “indications that the vessel’s network were compromised by foreign cyber actors.” It later described the incident as “malicious cyber activity.”

The second vessel in question is called Kohaku, flying under the flag of the Marshall Islands. It was travelling towards Texas to load liquefied petroleum gas, as per Wall Street Journal, and has been sitting near Malta for the past couple of days. At press time (Friday morning), it was travelling through the East Mediterranean Sea.

So far, no threat actors have publicly claimed responsibility for these attacks. However, the Iranian Mehr News Agency allegedly hinted the attack was a “message from Iran’s “Resistance Front” to Washington and the broader Middle East.”

The same publication - also the first one to report on the incident and name VL Prosperity as one of the victims - said the attackers infiltrated engine-room systems, reduced the engine’s cooling flow, increased the engine speed, and disabled the ship’s fuel and engine-oil tank, all citing an unnamed crew member. Apparently, the ship’s communications were knocked offline for a day and a half, as well.

Via Cybernews

In the midst of hype for Apple’s new A20 Pro chipset and slick foldable software, the company’s durability department is quietly having a moment.

Its Ceramic Shield 2 display glass — first introduced on the iPhone 17 line and returning this year on the iPhone 18 Pro — is earning plaudits for delivering on the promise of 3x better scratch resistance 12 months on from its release, while the iPhone Duo is set to arrive next month with a host of impressive durability credentials (including, notably, a Galaxy Z Fold 8-beating IP68 resistance rating).

But while features like ingress protection and corrosion resistance aren’t the sexiest topics of discussion at Apple Park, they are some of the most important for ensuring Apple’s products stand the test of time — and Tom Marieb, the company’s new Vice President of Hardware Engineering (a role formerly occupied by CEO John Ternus), knows that better than most.

I had the chance to quiz Marieb on the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo in a group interview at Apple’s London HQ, and he lifted the lid on how Ceramic Shield 2 — which we described as “the first iPhone glass we fully trust” earlier this year — managed to deliver such a noticeable jump in quality versus the original Ceramic Shield, and why he’s “especially proud” of the iPhone Duo’s hinge durability.

Both the iPhone 18 Pro (above) and iPhone Duo feature Ceramic Shield 2 on their respective front displays (Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

“Personally, when I see someone put a screen protector on their iPhone, it makes my skin crawl, because we work so hard to make beautiful front screens,” Marieb told me. “So we very much wanted to develop new coatings that could withstand [scratches], but also make sure that these coatings were wear-resistant as well. We worry about scratching, which is obviously very dependent on having [material that can withstand] very sharp things going into the screen. But we also worry about wear over time; as people use the screen, whether they’ll wear away that surface. And it turns out that those things are a little counterindicated in a lot of materials.

“So we had to try to optimize both of those [qualities] simultaneously [...] And I think we finally hit on a nice balance between the two [in Ceramic Shield 2]. We could have made it more scratch-resistant, but it would have been a little less wear-resistant. It’s the long life we’re looking for against both of those loads over time.”

We try to say, ‘How are customers actually using this? What exactly are they exposing it to in the real world?’ And we make tests that mimic those things.

Tom Marieb, VP of Hardware Engineering, Apple

Marieb added that, in testing Ceramic Shield 2, Apple accounted for half a decade’s worth of use in a comparatively minuscule testing period: “We very much try to meet the customer where they live, and so we don't design tests that measure old military specs or old standards; we try to say, ‘How are customers actually using this? What exactly are they exposing it to in the real world?’ And we make tests that mimic those things.

“And as you said, people waiting a year or two to actually see the benefits of [Ceramic Shield 2] means we've correctly predicted how people would use it. We accelerate time to try to compress those things into the engineering cycle, so that we can feed back as we try one thing after another, and can represent five years of life — or even more — within a couple of weeks of testing.”

It all hinges on the hinge

The iPhone Duo in ‘Seated’ mode (Image credit: Getty Images / Karl Mondon)

The display is the most important part of any iPhone, but the foldable iPhone Duo saw Apple tasked with protecting a new, equally crucial component: the hinge.

Like any foldable, the Duo can be used open or closed, and Apple has also developed dedicated ‘Seated’ or ‘Standing’ modes that will see the Duo bent at various angles for extended periods. The former displays visual content on the top half of the screen and viewing controls on the bottom (picture a Game Boy Advance), while the latter turns the Duo into a bedside clock, photo gallery, or weather screen via StandBy.

Whichever orientation you choose, the Duo remains fixed in place — but the work to make that happen wasn’t easy.

“I'm glad you hit on this, because this is something I'm especially proud of, and it took us a long time [to crack],” Marieb explained. “What we worry about with this device is that people see how thin it is and they think it's fragile. People seem to be worried about the Air, too, but it's honestly one of the most reliable phones we’ve ever made. And so we thought, ‘How do we design a hinge that feels very solid when you close it, but also really solid when you open it?’

The iPhone Duo in a half-folded orientation (Image credit: Getty Images / Benjamin Fanjoy / Stringer)

“We really worked on the torque profile very heavily, and that means changing a lot of the mechanical properties of the hinge to have it feel solid, like a high-end automobile's car door, when you shut it. That was design intent, so people would have a feeling like, ‘Oh, it's okay. This is well crafted, and it's safe for me to use and not worry about it.’

And then, as you said, we have a lot of use cases where the Duo is [in a half-folded state]. And so we also had to think, ‘Can people interact with this [device] and not have it feel floppy?’ So getting those torque profiles right at both those ends, as well as in the middle — not having it feel like you're pulling something open, and not feeling as if it's floppy — we spent a lot of time optimizing that. So thank you for noticing, because a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into that.”

The dual benefits of nano texture

The iPhone Duo features a custom nano-texture display (Image credit: Getty Images / Benjamin Fanjoy / Stringer)

On top (literally) of the iPhone Duo’s hinge, Apple has equipped its first foldable phone with a 7.6‑inch nano‑texture display. This new material isn’t a million miles away from the anti-reflective nano-texture glass that can be added to the best MacBooks, though, of course, the Duo version of said glass needs to bend in half.

Another journalist in my group interview with Marieb noted that foldable creases typically appear minimal out of the box, but become more prominent mere months after being used extensively. In response, the Apple executive was bullish on the longevity of the Duo’s hinge and explained that the nano‑texture display should help maintain its obscurity:

“Hold us accountable to that, please […] The choice of a matte finish — apart from it being beautiful — is part of that equation. When you look at glossy displays, their specularity makes it very easy to pick up topology differences. That’s part of the reason we picked the matte finish — it’s not only beautiful in terms of preventing glare, but it’s also more forgiving of [topology] changes over time.”

Apple, then, is supremely confident in the durability credentials of its first foldable phone — and we look forward to putting the iPhone Duo through its paces ahead of its official launch on October 23. For our full verdict on Apple's latest candybar handsets, check out our iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max review.

• Wharfedale launches four new subwoofers: 8, 10, 12 and 15 inches
• New long-throw drivers and up to 360W output
• From £799 (about $1,068 / AU$1,499)

Legendary speaker maker Wharfedale has created four new boom boxes in the form of the new Nova subwoofers. Ranging in size from an apartment-friendly 8-inches to an enormous 15 inches, all four models feature newly developed drivers, passive radiators and refined cabinet architecture.

These aren't thuggish bass monsters; they're designed for the more discerning listener who wants to hear as well as feel the low end. Wharfedale says that "rather than chasing chest-thumping, window-rattling exaggeration, the Nova Series is built around balance, texture and precision."

There are four subwoofers in the range: the Nova 8, the Nova 10, the Nova 12 and the Nova 15. The Nova 8 is designed for smaller setups and stereo installations, with the Nova 10 upping the power for medium-sized rooms. The Nova 12 is for more immersive home theater setups, and the flagship Nova 15 is made for larger spaces and the most demanding setups.

Rear view of the Nova 15 subwoofer showing its connections and controls (Image credit: Wharfedale)Wharfedale Nova 8, 10, 12 and 15: key features and pricing

All four models feature Wharfedale's newly engineered long-throw driver, which is made from rigid but lightweight speaker cones that have been treated with a proprietary coating to make them stiffer and better at self-damping without also increasing their mass.

Those cones are teamed with a heavy duty die-cast chassis, an oversized high-roll surround, and a high-excursion motor system to deliver high output while maintaining stability. A large diameter voice coil and aluminum shorting ring minimize distortion and improve transient response, according to Wharfedale.

The second key feature here is the Auxiliary Bass Radiator, which is downward firing with a dual suspension design. It's made to work alongside the new driver by extending low-frequency output without the need for a conventional reflex port.

Wharfedale says that enables it to avoid issues such as unwanted resonance, turbulence, chuffing and compression, and each Nova is optimized according to its cabinet volume, driver size, amplifier configuration and intended operating range. The goal, Wharfedale says, is the speed of a sealed enclosure with the scale of a larger reflex design.

Depending on which model you choose, you get between 200W and 360W of built-in Class D amplification with up to 80V peak output and "substantial" dynamic headroom.

The amplifier, driver, cabinet loading and DSP have been designed as an integrated system rather than separately in order to maximize power and precision. And there is an adjustable crossover, phase alignment and level calibration to fine-tune the sound to suit your space.

One of the interesting features here is the way the DSP adjusts the dynamic EQ. When you're listening at lower volumes it focuses on perceived weight and range, but at higher levels it manages the driver's excursion to keep the audio clean without overdriving, enabling the Nova to punch above its size.

All four models will be available in late September 2026 and the prices are:

• Nova 8: £799 (about $1,068 / AU$1,499)
• Nova 10: £899 (about $1,202 / AU$1,686)
• Nova 12: £1,099 (about $1,469 / AU$2,061)
• Nova 15: £1,299 (about $1,737 / AU$2,437)

"Feel the vibe here, that's what I love," said Harry Sung as he stood in the middle of a buzzing Apple Fifth Ave flagship store. Moments earlier, Sung picked up the first burgundy iPhone 18 Pro Max of the day after being ushered into the glass edifice by none other than new Apple CEO John Ternus.

It was a big day for Sung, who scored his second year in a row as the first Apple customer on iPhone launch day, and an even bigger day for Ternus, who was hosting his first iPhone launch store event as CEO.

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / Future

It's been a whirlwind few weeks for Ternus, who officially took over for former CEO Tim Cook (new Executive Chairman) on September 1 and, a week later, was on stage unveiling the iPhone 18 Pro line, new AirPods, new Apple Watches, and the exciting foldable iPhone Duo.

On this day, that flexi-phone was nowhere in sight. Even so, the atmosphere was electric, and it felt, to those of us who've been attending iPhone store launch events for almost 20 years, like the old days.

When I caught up with Ternus inside the store, he told me the day was "exciting," and I could tell he was still a little amped up from the store opening ceremony.

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / Future

At precisely 8am ET, Ternus appeared behind the frosted glass doors of Apple's Fifth Avenue flagship store and then swung open the doors. He stood for a time, waving to a cheering crowd, behind which was a small cluster of protesters shouting about, among other things, iPhone manufacturing working conditions. As the groundswell of excitement grew around Ternus, the protesters seemed to lose steam.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Ternus then turned to the long line of iPhone customers waiting outside the store, many of whom had pre-ordered the phone last week, and started greeting them. First up was Sung.

In his arm was a binder full of cards denoting the 120 Apple Stores he'd visited around the world. Sung later told me he had met Ternus once before at another product launch at Apple's "100th store" where he'd had Ternus sign the book. The inside cover also featured more than half a dozen other Apple executives' signatures (This is not surprising. In another part of the store, I witnessed Apple head of Retail Deirdre O'Brien signing someone's MacBook.)

Lance Ulanoff / FutureLance Ulanoff / Future

Ternus posed with Sung outside the store and then turned his attention to the next customer.

After collecting his iPhone 18 Pro Max, Sung briefly appeared outside the store again and held his purchase aloft. The crowd cheered again.

Later, when I asked Sung, 21, how he secured his pole position, he told me that first he pre-ordered his burgundy 256GB iPhone 18 Pro Max online (he never leases and always buys), and then he arrived at the store yesterday at 8:30pm ET — and waited.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

I asked Sung, who is a native of China but is currently living in New Jersey and attending university, if he's ever owned an Android. He shook his head and then told me his first iPhone was the iPhone 15.

Why, though, does Sung visit all these stores, and why was he here right now? Sung looked at me like I had lobsters dancing on my head. "I love Apple," he told me, as if nothing could be more obvious.

• A new report has warned that efforts to install Chinese AI within Venezuela's surveillance network could still go ahead
• The plans were drawn up before former-President Nicolás Maduro was ousted by the US
• Report warns there has been no shift in policy, and calls on the US to take action

When the United States decided to oust and capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a daring nighttime operation, the capital of Caracas was turned to complete darkness as the United States Cyber Command allegedly knocked power generation offline.

But this goes beyond giving US troops favorable conditions to infiltrate Maduro's compound. Since coming to power in 2013, Maduro had been building a huge surveillance network to help keep an eye on and - if necessary - quell opposition. A surveillance network that could capture the whole operation on tape.

But as a President at odds with the US, Maduro sourced much of the surveillance tech from China with future plans to integrate banned Chinese AI systems into the network. While Venezuela may have changed allegiances, a new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has warned that the implementation of Chinese AI could still go ahead.

Venezuela looks to integrate Chinese AI into surveillance infrastructure

ASPI’s latest report, titled ‘Warning signals: Venezuela and the risk of Chinese AI-enabled digital authoritarianism’ [PDF], warns that before the ousting of Maduro, then Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez sought to sign “an agreement to adopt Chinese-built AI systems … to use Chinese AI to enhance existing state-sponsored surveillance.”

Following the operation to remove Maduro, Rodríguez was installed as the Venezuelan President just two days after. But since then ASPI warns that there has been nothing to signal a change in direction from Rodríguez’s plans, meaning that the US could be heading a nation filled with Chinese AI-assisted surveillance tech.

“Venezuela will become one of the first countries outside China to import China’s new generation of LLM-based AI systems for surveillance and control, and the most advanced adopter in the Western Hemisphere,” the report states.

In the immediate aftermath of the likely fixed 2024 Venezuelan presidential elections, protesters and dissidents were identified online and subsequently monitored using video and drone surveillance. Numerous protest leaders disappeared, likely captured by the authorities for their activities.

Plans to adopt Chinese AI technologies as part of Venezuela’s surveillance network would likely enable the state to continue repressing opposition. “Chinese or other AI tools could strengthen a domestically directed apparatus already used to manage dissent, restrict information and preserve political power,” the report says.

One of the companies looking to provide its technology for use in Venezuela is iFlytek. The US held iFlytek as a responsible party during China’s attempts to round up and detain the Uyghur Muslim in the Xinjiang region, and banned the sale of the company’s products in the US in 2019.

Moving Venezuela away from China

The ASPI report calls upon US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to spearhead efforts to dismantle the surveillance network and prevent the import of Chinese AI systems into Venezuela’s apparatus.

“China’s leaders appear to understand that assets and investments of its national champions are at risk in Venezuela. Beijing’s approach seems to be, in part, strengthening oversight of state-owned assets abroad to assist in risk protection and management,” the report states.

The report states that dismantling Venezuela’s surveillance infrastructure would align efforts to combat Chinese surveillance tech, and encourage others to dismantle mass-surveillance systems. The dismantling of Venezuela’s surveillance infrastructure would also help position the US’s image as a liberator, rather than just a new face of an old regime.

But the slight irony therein is juxtaposed with the US’s own current surveillance woes, especially in the wake of opposition to Flock camera systems, and AI companies refusing to provide government access to their models for domestic surveillance purposes.

September has been an absolutely mega month for games, and we're barely past the halfway mark!

With the weekend just hours away, you're probably wondering which new games are actually worth your money and attention. That's exactly why I've put together this little personality quiz, which is designed to match you with a recent release that you are almost certain to enjoy!

Of course, this isn't an exhaustive list of all the latest games, and there are sure to be some big releases that I've missed. Still, I've tried to include a wide range of genres from platformers to horror games and open-world adventures so that many different tastes are catered to.

What result did you get? Do you agree with my recommendation? You can let me know in the comments and share what you'll be playing this weekend.

Lanterns' endgame is fast approaching. Indeed, only three episodes remain of the increasingly popular sci-fi crime show's debut season, so it won't be long until it no longer lights up our screens.

Right now, though, you just want to know when the DC Universe (DCU) TV series' next chapter, which will pick up the story 10 years after the devastating Rushville-based events we saw in last week's entry, will air. So, read on to find out when HBO's Green Lantern TV show will return for its sixth episode.

When does episode 6 of Lanterns come out?

Titled 'Bad Optics', Lanterns episode 6 will arrive in the US and Canada on Sunday, September 20 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET.

Don't live in those nations? You'll have to wait until Monday, September 21 to catch the DCU Chapter One TV series' sixth chapter. I can point you in the right direction of its launch time where you're based, too, so check out the list below for more details:

• US — Sunday, September 20 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• Canada — Sunday, September 20 at 6pm PT / 9pm ET
• UK — Monday, September 21 at 2am BST
• India — Monday, September 21 at 6:30am IST
• Singapore — Monday, September 21 at 9am SGT
• Australia — Monday, September 21 at 11am AEST
• New Zealand — Monday, September 21 at 1pm NZST

Where can I watch Lanterns episode 6?

Lanterns will finally start to look into the person(s) behind Hal Jordan's demise (Image credit: John Johnson/HBO Max)

I sound like a broken record at this point, but every episode of Lanterns — including this week's entry — will drop on HBO Max, aka one of the world's best streaming services, in countries that it's launched in.

Live somewhere that the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned platform hasn't come to yet? There are other TV networks and streamers that the DC comic book show is available on. Read on to see where you can see it in your neck of the woods:

• US — HBO and HBO Max
• Canada — Crave
• UK — HBO Max, Sky Atlantic, and Now TV
• India — JioHotstar
• Singapore — HBO Max
• Australia — HBO Max
• New Zealand — HBO Max

Lanterns full release schedule: when do new episodes come out?

As I mentioned above, there are only three more episodes of the Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler-fronted TV program to enjoy before it'll go off air.

Read my Lanterns coverage

- Lanterns episode 1 ending explained
- Sinestro in Lanterns explained
- Lanterns' Manhunters explained
- Lanterns' Guardians of the Universe explained
- Lanterns episode 4 ending explained
- Lanterns episode 5 ending explained

So, when will that final trio arrive? If you've been watching from the start, you'll already be aware that new installments premiere every Sunday in North America, and on Mondays in other territories.

Even so, regardless of whether you're a long-time reader or new around these parts, you'll want to know the exact date that every remaining chapter will come out on. For more details, scroll on:

• Lanterns episode 1 — out now
• Lanterns episode 2 — out now
• Lanterns episode 3 — out now
• Lanterns episode 4 — out now
• Lanterns episode 5 — out now
• Lanterns episode 6 — September 20/21
• Lanterns episode 7 — September 27/28
• Lanterns episode 8 — October 4/5

For more on the hit series' ahead of its next episode, read about the five big questions I need Lanterns episode 6 to answer. Then, see what Lanterns' midseason trailer tells us about its final three chapters. Lastly, find out why I'm fearing the worst for Lanterns season 2.

A few days ago, I wrote about how upgrading to iOS 27 doesn’t automatically give you the new Siri AI. To get Apple’s upgraded assistant, you have to jump through an additional hoop: go into Settings, find Siri and apply to join the waitlist for the Siri AI beta.

The good news is that I didn’t have to wait long. Yesterday, my application was approved and Siri AI quietly installed itself on my iPhone.

It feels like years since Apple first talked about giving Siri a much-needed intelligence upgrade, and I almost can’t believe it’s finally here. Well, almost here — it remains a beta — but the important thing is that it does what it says on the tin.

Before Siri AI, “Would you like me to use ChatGPT to answer that?” had become Siri’s standard response to almost anything interesting I asked it to do beyond setting a timer. Now Siri can produce proper answers of its own.

You can still activate Siri AI in the familiar way by saying “Hey Siri,” but there’s also a new Siri app on the Home Screen. Inside the app, you can either type to Siri or talk using your voice, much as you can with ChatGPT.

Things look different, too. A new floating globe animation appears when Siri AI is listening. There are so many things it should now be capable of that I almost didn’t know where to start.

So I kept it simple. I picked five things I regularly use ChatGPT Voice for and tested whether Siri AI could now handle them.

This isn’t a comparison of everything ChatGPT can do. Outside Voice mode, ChatGPT is capable of far more. I wanted to compare the two assistants as I would actually use them on my iPhone: by talking to them.

Siri AI is still technically in beta, but Apple has decided it’s ready enough for people to use, so I’m going to test it.

Test 1: Can it actually have a conversation?

(Image credit: Apple)

The first test involved finding information and, more importantly, explaining it clearly. I asked Siri AI about something I’d written about a few days earlier: AI voice-cloning scams.

“Why are people worried about AI voice-cloning scams, and what should I actually do to protect myself?” I asked.

In response, Siri AI produced a massive slab of text about voice scams, displayed it on screen and read it aloud in a slightly stilted voice. The information was accurate and factual, but the response was long and boring, and Siri’s voice had no real personality.

I interrupted it with my next question: “What is the single most important thing I should actually do?” To its credit, it stopped and answered the new question.

ChatGPT Voice, by comparison, talked to me like a human who was interested in the subject. It sounded conversational rather than as though it was reading from a block of text. It didn’t waffle and gave me the information I needed neatly and succinctly.

Verdict: Siri AI can now deliver useful information on its own, but it still doesn’t feel like a proper conversation, and its voice needs work before it sounds natural.

Score: 3/5

Test 2: Does Siri know what’s happening in my life?

(Image credit: Apple)

For the second test, I asked Siri to retrieve something I vaguely remembered from my Gmail inbox, which I access through Apple’s Mail app, rather than giving it precise keywords.

“Find the email with my tickets for Hubris in October and tell me what date it’s on.”

Siri AI checked Mail but initially couldn’t find anything, so I followed up with: “They’re at the Griffin.” Sure enough, it then found the tickets in my inbox and gave me the information I needed.

Next, I asked: “What do I need to bring?”

Siri AI told me I would need to have my tickets downloaded to my phone or printed out. Once again, its answer was functional and cold — and focused entirely on the tickets. There was no consideration of anything else I might need for a concert.

I fired up ChatGPT Voice to compare the answers, and this is where Siri AI had a major advantage. While text-based ChatGPT can connect to my Gmail and search my inbox, ChatGPT Voice can’t currently do that. It therefore failed to retrieve the information I wanted, although it performed a web search and found the date of the concert.

ChatGPT shone when I asked, “What do I need to bring?” Its answer was like night and day compared with Siri’s because it offered genuinely useful advice:

“For a night like that, comfy clothes plus good shoes are key. Maybe a light jacket. Bring the ticket on your phone with a backup screenshot. Photo ID, card for the bar and maybe earplugs. And if you’re meeting anyone, set a rough time and place outside, just in case.”

Verdict: Siri AI beat ChatGPT Voice at the practical part of the test because it could search the Gmail account connected to Apple Mail. However, ChatGPT was much better at understanding the wider context and anticipating what I might actually need for the concert.

Score: 3/5

Test 3: Can Siri see what I’m seeing?

Siri AI is supposed to be able to “see” what’s on your screen and answer questions about it. This is potentially one of its most useful new features, so I gave it a thorough test.

I opened a range of things on my screen—a document, an email, a graph, a photo and a webpage—and asked: “What’s the important thing I need to know here?” Each time, Siri AI successfully picked out the relevant information.

While browsing Crunchyroll, the popular anime streaming service, it gave me a decent explanation of each anime featured on the screen. Siri talks to you while simultaneously displaying its answer over whatever you’re viewing. For example, this is how it looked when describing the anime Black Torch, which happened to be featured on screen:

(Image credit: Apple / Crunchyroll)

When I opened an Amazon product page for an unavailable item, Siri AI correctly identified that the most important detail was that it was out of stock. When I viewed an invoice from my accountant, it correctly identified the amount and the payment deadline.

Siri AI could also see through the camera and identify objects very well. Being able to invoke it with “Hey Siri”—or simply move the slider from Photo to Siri while the Camera app is open—is genuinely convenient. It involves much less messing around than entering Live mode in Gemini or opening the camera through ChatGPT Voice.

Verdict: I’ve got to say, Siri AI smashed this test. I’m going to use this feature all the time.

Score: 5/5

Test 4: Can it think with you?

(Image credit: Apple)

Next, I gave Siri an open-ended problem that I would normally bring to ChatGPT:

“I’ve got 30 minutes tonight, don’t want to go to the gym, but want some exercise that’ll actually raise my heart rate. What should I do?”

I then changed the rules:

“Actually, I’ve only got 15 minutes and I don’t want to leave the house.”

This is the kind of test that reveals whether Siri has become useful for open-ended judgment rather than simply following commands.

Siri recommended a 30-minute high-intensity interval training workout. It presented me with a simple plan and then asked whether I would like to start a timer so I could begin. When I said I had only 15 minutes, it adapted the workout accordingly. Not bad.

ChatGPT Voice took a different approach. It didn’t give me a workout plan in advance; instead, it immediately launched into a session that it wanted me to follow along with.

That was quick and direct, but I preferred Siri AI’s approach of showing me the workout before asking me to begin. Siri can combine text and voice in a way that ChatGPT currently doesn’t in Voice mode, and that worked particularly well here.

Verdict: Siri AI and ChatGPT Voice approached the task differently, but I preferred Siri’s ability to present the plan visually before helping me get started.

Score: 4/5

Test 5: Can it actually do something ChatGPT can’t?

(Image credit: Apple)

One home-field advantage Siri AI should have is the ability to perform multistage tasks involving real iPhone apps, so I asked it:

“Find the details of the next concert I have tickets for, add it to my calendar and remind me the evening before.”

Siri AI worked like a dream:

“The next concert you have tickets for is The HU on Thursday, October 1, 2026, at 19:00. I’ve added this to your calendar and set a reminder for the evening before.”

The HU are a Mongolian folk-metal band — so no, Siri hadn’t misheard The Who — and that was a perfect execution of the task.

ChatGPT Voice couldn’t search my Gmail, so it had to rely on previous conversations and web searches. It got close, but it needed more details from me to complete the request. It also told me: “I can’t add it to your iPhone calendar from here.”

Verdict: Siri AI’s system-level integration allowed it to behave like a true virtual assistant, completing a useful multistage task that ChatGPT Voice simply couldn’t perform.

Score: 5/5

Will I keep using Siri AI?

What became clear during these tests is that Siri AI’s greatest strength is its position inside the iPhone.

It can see what I’m doing, access information held inside my apps and turn a spoken request into an action without making me copy details between different services. That gives Siri an immediate advantage over ChatGPT Voice on iOS.

Siri AI still has a long way to go before it sounds as natural as ChatGPT Voice. ChatGPT remains the assistant I would choose when I want to explore an idea, work through a problem or simply have a convincing conversation. Outside Voice mode, ChatGPT is also much more capable and can even complete bookings or code apps to solve problems.

But when I want something done on my iPhone, Siri is suddenly the more useful option.

Apple has done enough to make me start using Siri again, and after years of disappointment, that might be the most surprising result of all.

• Creative Assembly says Alien: Isolation 2's exterior setting will force players to adapt to their surroundings
• The game's Xenomorph will also adapt at the same time to both player and environment
• Things like the weather system will impact the cat-and-mouse experience, forcing players to "improvise"

Alien: Isolation 2's exterior setting will increase both tension and danger, according to Creative Assembly, because as the player adapts to the new environment, so will the Xenomorph.

Unlike the first game, where players were isolated in a space station and actively hunted by the Xenomorph, the sequel will have an expanded setting, spanning an outdoor colony world and the confines of the Weyland-Yutani outpost.

Players will once again be caught up in a cat-and-mouse experience as they navigate their new environment, but the alien's intelligence will raise the stakes.

"I think the contrast between claustrophobia and pressure versus vulnerability and exposedness, it will make the player have to think on their feet," said principal UI artist Laura Mouther.

The game's weather system will also affect how players approach the outdoors, since storms will impact the sound of the approaching alien, and players will need to "improvise."

"The alien is the perfect hunter," Mouther added. "It will adapt to those situations, to those environments. And you will have to adapt to our environment."

She added that it will feel like a "new experience," but the game will give players the time to understand the mechanics of the game and the world, even if they didn't play the first game.

"It's not unfair," Mouther said. "This alien is also not cheating. If it can't see you, it can't see you, right? If it can't hear you, it can't hear you. We will give players enough time to get to grips with it. But it is an intense experience and a tough game, and that is what the community loved about [the first game]. And we will stick through to that."

Alien: Isolation 2 is now in development and will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

• This new Act, with overwhelming, bipartisan support, could soon be enforced on a per-state basis
• 100MW+ data centers would have to pay for new power generation and grid infrastructure
• Public Citizen says the bill doesn't address other "consumer and community impacts"

With energy consumption now one of the most hotly debated topics surrounding new data center development, new rules could be set to come into play to force developers to pay for grid upgrades without pushing the impact onto local citizens.

The Ratepayer Protection Act, which passed on September 16 with 417 votes (and just three against it) would apply to medium and large campuses with peak demands of 100MW+.

Impacted developments could end up having to foot the bill for new electricity generation capacity as well as the transmission and distribution infrastructure that goes along with it.

US data centers could soon be required to pay for grid upgrades

We also know that new projects can be years in the making, from initial ideation all the way through to construction and a go-live date, but under the proposed bill, operators would have to pay for the upgrades regardless of whether they pull out or stop buying grid power.

However crucially, it's unlikely to be a blanket action that affects every region equally, because state regulators would need to consider adopting the rules on a more local basis.

What this overwhelming, bipartisan support also confirms is that data centers have become a major political discussion, with US midterm elections just around the corner and citizens increasingly worried about rising utility bills.

The Ratepayer Protection Act comes after the White House announced the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which set out similar plans. President Trump called on major hyperscalers to "build, bring, or buy the new generation resources and electricity needed."

The difference is that the Pledge would be a voluntary move by data center operators, whereas an enforced Bill would make it a legal requirement.

Still, consumer rights org Public Citizen has criticized the Act for not going far enough. "While a federal mandate forcing states to consider such a step provides opportunities for advocates to press for consumer protections, there are a myriad of other ⁠consumer and community impacts from data centers unaddressed in this bill," Energy Program director Tyson Slocum wrote (via Reuters).

The Apple Watch Series 12 is officially available, and Best Buy offers an excellent trade-in deal that lets you get the smartwatch for as little as $199.

The feature-packed Apple Watch 12 is $399 for the 42mm GPS-only model, but if you have an older smartwatch to trade in, Best Buy can shave up to $200 off the retail price. Discounts on new Apple devices are extremely rare, and this is the best deal we've spotted.

The Apple Watch Series 12 features new Apple silicon and advanced health sensors, which Apple claims are the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable. Apple's newest Health Sensing System, along with its S11 chip, offers a suite of health and fitness features including a new readiness score. The Series 12 also includes advanced workout and sleep tracking and offers up to 24 hours of battery life and up to 10 hours during an outdoor workout, a 25% improvement over the previous model.

Get the new Apple Watch 12 for as little as $199

Apple Watch Series 12 at Best Buy: starting at $199 with qualifying trade-in
The Apple Watch 12 is officially available to buy at Best Buy, and you can get the smartwatch for as little as $199 with a qualifying trade-in. The Apple Watch 12 features new Apple silicon and advanced health sensors, which offer advanced heart rate, workout, and sleep tracking.View Deal

To find out how much you can save, you'll click on 'Check your trade-in value' on the Apple Watch 12 product page. You'll then answer questions about your trade-in device, and Best Buy will show you the value. The retailer will email you shipping instructions for your trade-in device, and once it's received, Best Buy will refund the amount to your original payment method.

Keep in mind this is a limited-time offer and an excellent deal if you have an older smartwatch and want to upgrade to Apple's latest and greatest.

We're big fans of docking stations for adding extra ports and practicality to a work setup. Now, this Wavlink triple-monitor dock has got a discount with plenty of connectivity. Better still, it's compatible with USB-C, Thunderbolt 3/4, and USB4 laptops.

• Best for: Remote workers and office professionals who work from a laptop and need a more capable setup without constantly connecting and disconnecting peripherals.

• The deal: The Wavlink Triple Monitor Docking Station is $120 (was $160) at Newegg
• Why it matters: You can drive up to three external monitors and connect six 10Gbps USB devices, plus there's Gigabit Ethernet and audio. The included 130W adapter can also deliver up to 100W power delivery to a compatible laptop.

USB-C Triple Monitor Docking station: was $159.99 now $119.99
This USB-C dock supports three external monitors, 100W laptop charging, six 10Gbps USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet and audio, with DisplayLink support for compatible Windows and Mac computers and other devices.View Deal

Why we recommend it

This single dock comes with three HDMI and two DisplayPort connections, with the HDMI Alt Mode output supporting up to 4K at 60Hz and the other display outputs supporting resolutions up to 2560 x 1600 at 60Hz.

DisplayLink support is especially useful for Mac owners because it allows compatible Macs to extend their desktops across multiple external monitors even when their native display support is more restrictive. It also works with Windows systems.

Price context & historical value

Newegg has reduced the Wavlink dock from $159.99 to $119.99, which is a $40 saving of 25%. You're also getting the 130W power adapter and USB-C cable in the box, so you don't need to budget for a separate power supply to take advantage of its laptop-charging capability.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the Wavlink USB-C dock if...

You want to connect several monitors and peripherals to a laptop while keeping your desk setup relatively simple. Six 10Gbps USB ports also give you plenty of high-speed connections for external SSDs and other accessories.

❌ Skip the Wavlink USB-C dock if...

You only need a couple of extra USB ports or a single external monitor. A much simpler USB-C hub will do the job for considerably less money.

• Shop all docking stations at Newegg

A 4TB SSD gives you plenty of storage, but high-capacity drives can be expensive. SanDisk's WD_BLACK SN7100 is a compact M.2 2280 drive that combines PCIe 4.0 connectivity with TLC 3D NAND and a DRAM-less HMB design.

• Best for: Professionals, PC builders, and gamers who needs a high-capacity SSD for a laptop or desktop and wants a lot of room for applications, media and large files.

• The deal: The 4TB WD_BLACK SN7100 is now $560 (was $580) at Newegg when you use promo code SSF73634

• Why it matters: The SSD delivers sequential read speeds up to 7,000MB/s and writes up to 6,700MB/s, alongside a solid 2,400TBW endurance rating.

4TB WD_BLACK SN7100 M.2 2280 SSD: was $580 now $559.99
This SSD uses PCIe 4.0 x4, TLC 3D NAND and HMB, delivering up to 7,000MB/s reads, 6,700MB/s writes, 1.35 million IOPS and 2,400TBW endurance for gaming systems. Use coupon code SSF73634 for the biggest saving.View Deal

Why we recommend it

The SN7100 delivers plenty of storage and performance suited to creative laptops and desktop PCs. Its maximum operating power is rated at 4.5W, and it offers up to 100% better power efficiency than the previous generation. The 4TB model also has an endurance rating of 2,400TBW.

For more options, look at our roundups of the best SSDs and the fastest SSDs.

Price context & historical value

The saving from $580 to $579.99 is obviously minuscule on its own, but promo code SSF73634 brings the price down to $559.99. It's not a huge discount, but with storage prices so high right now, any reduction is welcome.

That said, this is nowhere near its historical low. The 4TB WD_BLACK SN7100 was available to buy for $209.99 in 2025, illustrating just how dramatically SSD prices have risen since then. Not so long ago, it was priced at $1,379.99 at Amazon, where it is currently $579.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the 4TB WD_BLACK SN7100 if...

You want to increase your storage without compromising on speed. With 4TB available, there's plenty of room for large files, applications and media without constantly managing free space.

❌ Skip the 4TB WD_BLACK SN7100 if...

You regularly handle sustained, storage heavy workloads, as it's a DRAM-less SSD (dedicated DRAM is better). It also comes without a heatsink, so check the cooling arrangements and available space in the device where you plan to install it.

• Shop all internal SSDs at Newegg

Portable monitors give your laptop a second screen wherever you work. The Asus ZenScreen MB166C has a 1920 x 1080 resolution, 60Hz refresh rate and anti-glare finish, with a single USB-C connection handling DisplayPort video.

• Best for: Professionals and travellers who want a second laptop screen they can easily carry between home, the office or trips away.

• The deal: The Asus ZenScreen MB166C is £73 (was £94) at Amazon.

• Why it matters: At just 780g, it's easy to carry in a laptop bag, while automatic orientation, a foldable sleeve and built-in tripod socket give you plenty of flexibility when setting it up.

ZenScreen MB166C Portable USB Monitor: was £93.98 now £72.68
ZenScreen MB166C has a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display, 60Hz refresh rate, anti-glare finish, USB-C connectivity, automatic screen orientation, Eye Care technology, tripod socket and foldable protective sleeve.View Deal

Why we recommend it

We've had good experiences testing out previous Asus portable monitors in the ZenScreen line, but this is one of the more practical models. This ZenScreen is light enough to carry alongside a laptop. Its 15.6-inch panel gives you a lot more working space and it can automatically switch between landscape and portrait orientations. There's a tripod socket on the back if you don't want to use the included foldable sleeve. The 178-degree viewing angles should also make positioning it easier when you're working in a cramped space.

For more options, take a look at our roundup of the best portable monitors.

Price context & historical value

Amazon has reduced the price from £93.98 to £72.64, giving you a £21.34 saving of approximately 23%. This is not the cheapest we've seen this screen however. It has been as low as £69 in the past, but that's only £4 less than the current deal price.

Should you buy it?

✅ Buy the ZenScreen MB166C if...

You regularly work away from a permanent desk and miss having the additional screen space of a desktop setup. It's particularly useful for keeping email, documents or reference material on a second display while working on your laptop.

❌ Skip the ZenScreen MB166C if...

Your laptop doesn't support USB-C connectivity, or you're a creative professional, as the 60Hz refresh rate and 250-nit brightness are geared more toward productivity and general use.

• Shop all monitors at Amazon.co.uk