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Asus Zenbook S 16: Two-minute review

(Image credit: Future)

The Asus Zenbook laptop line has long been one of my favorites, sitting among the best ultrabooks alongside rivals like Dell's XPS series and the LG Gram collection. Now, Asus has given its premium laptop lineup a fresh lease on life, thanks to AMD's mighty new Ryzen AI chips and the magic of something called 'ceraluminum'.

I'll get further into that mysterious new material further down in this review, but here's the short version: the lid of the new Asus Zenbook S 16 is made from a futuristic composite of aluminum and ceramic, giving it a soft matte feel while also being more durable, lighter, and fingerprint-resistant than the traditional aluminum and plastic used in the construction of most modern laptops.

Of course, a fancy outer casing doesn't guarantee you're getting a high-quality product. But the Zenbook S 16 delivers a premium experience in other areas too, with great performance across a variety of workloads and a generally very comfortable user experience.

(Image credit: Future)

Although I always spend at least a full workweek using any laptop I review in lieu of my regular daily driver (the ever-faithful HP Spectre x360), I was actually forced to use this laptop for a few days. See, my boiler needed replacing, and unfortunately, it's situated in my home office - meaning that for two days, I was jettisoned from my desktop setup to the breakfast bar downstairs while the installation engineer resolved my lack of hot water.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a creature of habit, and was initially unhappy to be displaced from my usual workstation. But honestly, I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't drop Asus a line politely asking (read: begging) to keep this Zenbook. The 16-inch OLED touchscreen is gorgeous, and the large touchpad and keyboard make for a very comfortable user experience. It's perhaps the closest I've felt to using a MacBook Pro while actually on a Windows laptop - and while I'm a known macOS hater, I've always maintained that Apple's Mac products are very well-designed devices.

Starting at $1,599 / £1,499 / AU$2,999, the Zenbook S 16 isn't exactly cheap, but for that price tag, you're getting some pretty impressive performance and a really, really nice piece of physical hardware. I'll dig into the details more in the Price and Availability section, but the key takeaway here is that the value proposition is solid.

There's only one real drawback here, in my opinion: the battery life. It's perfectly serviceable, don't get me wrong, but it's nothing spectacular within the current market space. Still, it'll last you through a full day's work and then some - so as long as you don't mind putting it on charge overnight.

Asus Zenbook S 16: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? Starts at $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,999
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

With a price tag starting at $1,599 / £1,499 / AU$2,999, the Asus Zenbook S 16 certainly leans towards the premium end of the market, but you're getting plenty of bang for your buck here.

There are a few different configurations, with the main difference being the Ryzen processor model and the amount of RAM. Every model comes with the same 3K OLED display and 1TB of storage - a 2TB model would've been nice, but at least the SSD is user-upgradable. The base configuration, priced as above, comes with a Ryzen AI 7 350 chip and 24GB of RAM (an unusual amount, but still better than the more commonplace 16GB industry standard).

(Image credit: Future)

My review unit is a higher-end model, featuring a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor and 32GB of RAM, and it will cost you $1,799 / £1,599 - and at the time of writing, this model unfortunately isn't available in Australia. I say 'unfortunately' here because for my money, that extra $200 / £100 is well worth it for the internal hardware upgrade.

For comparison, a 16-inch MacBook Pro will cost you $2,499 / £2,499 / AU$3,999 - and that's just for the base M4 Pro model. Granted, there's no denying that Apple's pro-grade laptop can offer better performance in many areas than this Zenbook, but the point stands that the Zenbook S 16 is very good value for money.

• Price score: 4.5/5

Asus Zenbook S 16: Specs

Asus Zenbook S 16

CPU

Up to AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370

GPU

Up to AMD Radeon 890M

RAM

Up to 32GB LPDDR5X

Display

16-inch 3K (2880 x 1800) OLED, 120Hz

Storage

Up to 1TB SSD

Ports

2x Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, 1x USB 3.2 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x SD card reader, 1x 3,5mm combi audio jack

Wireless

Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Weight

1.5kg / 3.31lbs

Dimension

35.4 x 24.3 x 1.29cm / 13.9 x 9.6 x 0.51 inches

Asus Zenbook S 16: Design

(Image credit: Future)

• Super comfortable keyboard and trackpad
• Ceraluminum casing is impressive
• Surprisingly lightweight

Aesthetically speaking, this is undeniably one gorgeous laptop. With the 'Scandinavian White' colorway, it feels as clean and striking as any of the best laptops. The back of the screen is not only made from Asus's fancy ceraluminum material, but it also has a kintsugi-inspired pattern of sharp lines inlaid in silver, which strikes the perfect balance between eye-catching and minimalist.

A little more about that revolutionary new material, though: you can read about my first time encountering ceraluminum right here, but I'll give you a quick breakdown in case you don't feel like reading a whole different article. It's created by electrochemically bonding aluminum with a ceramic component, producing a strong plated material with a matte surface that feels like unglazed pottery to the touch.

The best thing about this is that it brings the lightweight, durable nature of aluminum - a popular choice among manufacturers when it comes to laptop construction - while also providing a grippier surface that is more resilient against both damage and smudging from fingerprints. I've criticized more than a few laptops over the years for being 'fingerprint magnets', and happily that doesn't apply here. The whole thing feels impressively sturdy despite being very thin and light for a 16-inch laptop.

(Image credit: Future)

Opening up the lid, you're met with a more conventionally constructed aluminum keyboard housing, with a large glass touchpad and nicely spaced keys that make it very comfortable to type on. I also found the touchpad to be sensitive and responsive, with a firm click, although I typically prefer to connect a wireless mouse when using laptops.

Above the keyboard, a wide cooling grille sits with a subtle Asus logo in the corner. The keys are backlit with white LEDs, which can be set to three different brightness levels; it's not often I take much time to comment on keyboard backlighting, but the Zenbook S 16's is particularly vibrant.

Speaking of vibrancy, the display on this laptop is fantastic, offering rich color and sharp contrast thanks to its 3K OLED panel. While the maximum brightness isn't quite as high as I've seen on some other OLED laptops, it's certainly bright enough to use in well-lit environments, and it's also a touchscreen. Somewhat surprisingly, this display has a 120Hz refresh rate, a pleasing upgrade from the 60Hz panels you see on most non-gaming laptops.

In terms of physical connectivity, we've got a good selection of ports here, including USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, and even an SD card reader - the latter of which may be a boon for photographers when combined with the excellent display. Lastly, the speakers are quite good, providing detailed audio for both music and dialogue - it's perhaps lacking a tiny bit of kick in the bass department compared to some laptops I've seen, but overall I really can't complain about the speaker quality.

• Design score: 5/5

Asus Zenbook S 16: Performance

• Solid all-rounder performance
• NPU provides support for AI features in Windows
• Playing games is certainly an option, though it's no gaming laptop

The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is a powerful chip backed with 32GB of RAM in my review unit, and I'm pleased to say it performs admirably. General responsiveness is great and everyday tasks run smoothly, to the point where anyone who just wants a laptop for office work could probably consider downgrading to a Ryzen AI 7 model.

When it comes to more demanding workloads, the Zenbook S 16 offers good performance across a variety of areas, including 3D rendering, AI functionality, and gaming. Sure, it's not going to beat out an actual gaming laptop with a dedicated GPU, but the AMD Radeon 890M integrated graphics are surprisingly competent even in more demanding games, provided you're willing to dial back the graphical settings a bit and turn on AMD's FSR 3.0 resolution upscaling mode.

Asus Zenbook S 16 review: Benchmarks

Here's how the Asus Zenbook S 16 (AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370) performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark: Night Raid: 34,618; Fire Strike: 8,516; Time Spy: 4,407; Steel Nomad: 889
Cinebench R23: Multi-core: 13,441; Single-core: 1,953
Geekbench 6.4: Multicore: 14,102; Single-core: 2,845
Geekbench AI: Single Precision Score: 2,359; Half Precision Score: 1,217; Quantized Score: 4,811
PCMark 10: 6,827
Crossmark: Overall: 1,744; Productivity: 1,637; Creativity: 1,940; Responsiveness: 1,537
Sid Meier's Civilization VII: (1080p, Medium, No Upscaling): 45fps; (1800p, High, No Upscaling): 16fps; (1800p, High, Balanced FSR 3 Upscaling): 22fps
Cyberpunk 2077: (1080p, Medium, No Upscaling): 22fps; (1800p, Ultra, No Upscaling): 6fps; (1800p, Ultra, Balanced FSR 3 Upscaling): 10fps
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 14 hours, 55 minutes

In real-world testing, I had no issues whatsoever with the performance of the Zenbook S 16. Running Spotify in the background while working across 20+ open Chrome tabs didn't cause the slightest bit of slowdown, and image editing in GIMP 3.0 was smooth and effective - a far cry from the rather sluggish experience I get when trying to edit images on my usual laptop.

AI performance is also reasonably good; again, you're ideally going to want to spring for a laptop with a dedicated Nvidia GPU if you want to be running serious AI workloads locally, like producing your own language models, but for running the local aspects of something like Microsoft's Copilot+ AI assistant, the average user will have no problems.

(Image credit: Future)

To dig into that gaming performance a little more (there's overlap here with other 3D rendering and modeling software), I needed to drop the resolution to FHD+ rather than the native 3K and enable AMD's FSR 3 upscaling to make most games playable - this machine isn't coming close to any of the best gaming laptops - but for anyone who just wants to play casual titles or indie games on their off-time, the Zenbook S 16 is more capable than I had expected. I used it for a spot of Stardew Valley after work on multiple occasions, which unsurprisingly ran great.

In Civilization VII, I was easily able to get a decent framerate at 1200p, while the infamously hardware-demanding Cyberpunk 2077 was completely unplayable at native 1800p but produced an fps of 35 at 1200p with Low settings and FSR 3's Performance mode enabled (and frankly, even with those settings, this game still looks bloody fantastic). It's a true testament to the power of AMD's resolution upscaling tech for integrated GPUs; I'm quietly awed by the fact that a game like Cyberpunk is playable at all on an ultrabook like this.

I will note that the fans on the Zenbook S 16 get a tad noisy when you're running more intensive software - it's nothing too onerous, and I found it ran quietly during regular tasks like web browsing, but be aware that you might want headphones to play games on it. It's worth adding that the laptop didn't get uncomfortably hot at any point (aside from directly on the vent above the keyboard), even during stress testing.

(Image credit: Future)

• Performance score: 4.5/5

Asus Zenbook S 16: Battery

The battery life on the Zenbook S 16 is pretty good. That's almost all I can really say about it; it's not mind-blowing, beaten out by several competitors, but it's still sufficient for a full day's work (or two) without needing to plug in provided you turn off the keyboard backlight and don't work at maximum brightness.

In our battery life test, which involves running a looped video file at 50% brightness, the Zenbook S 16 ran out of juice just shy of the 15-hour mark, which for a 16-inch OLED laptop is respectable, if unspectacular. In real-world use situations, I was getting between 10 and 12 hours out of it at a time on average, and it holds its charge remarkably well when not in use.

Since it charges via USB-C, you can easily make use of other charging cables, though the supplied 65W adapter provides fast-charging capabilities that provide 50% battery charge in a little over half an hour.

• Battery score: 4/5

Should you buy the Asus Zenbook S 16?

Notes

Rating

Value

It's no budget machine, but the price-to-performance ratio here is great.

4.5/5

Design

A stylish and robust design combined with a comfortable user experience makes for a truly premium-feeling laptop.

5/5

Performance

Performance is solid across productivity, creative, and gaming workloads, with good responsiveness and fans that only kick in when you're running demanding programs.

4.5/5

Battery

The battery can comfortably run for more than an 8-hour workday, though it is beaten out by some competing laptops.

4/5

Total

While the pre-installed Asus software is a bit annoying, this is a fantastic laptop that delivers a great aesthetic and strong performance at a sensible price point.

4.5/5

Buy it if...

You want a laptop that looks great
Between its sleek shell, excellent display, and pleasantly understated keyboard backlighting, the Zenbook S 16 is certainly an aesthetically pleasing laptop.

You want something thin but powerful
Despite its relatively light overall weight (for a 16-inch laptop) and thin chassis, the next-gen Ryzen chip inside this Zenbook is fantastic for productivity workloads and can even handle some light gaming.

You want to use Windows 11's AI features
Since this is a 'Copilot+ PC' with a built-in NPU and a dedicated button for summoning Microsoft's AI assistant, it's a solid pick for anyone who wants an AI laptop.

Don't buy it if...

You’re on a tight budget
The price tag on the Zenbook S 16 is actually very reasonable for the specs, but it's certainly not a cheap laptop.

You want the best in battery life
While this Zenbook's battery is alright, there are competitors that do a better job - and if you really want ridiculously good battery life, a smaller laptop is usually the way to go.

Also Consider

Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro)
Beating the Zenbook S 16 in both performance and battery life, Apple's latest MacBook Pro 16-inch is a staunch competitor - though bear in mind that it'll cost you more, and macOS isn't for everyone.

Read our full Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch review

Dell XPS 17
If you're looking for a similar premium-feeling laptop but with an even larger screen, the Dell XPS 17 is arguably the best 17-inch laptop out there right now.

Read our full Dell XPS 17 review

How I tested the Asus Zenbook S 16

• Replaced my regular laptop with the Zenbook S 16 for several weeks
• Used the laptop both for day-to-day work and personal projects
• Ran it through our full suite of benchmarks, plus some extra tests

As is typical for my laptop review process, I swapped out my daily driver for the Asus Zenbook S 16 - and actually ended up liking it so much that I kept using it after my usual week or two of real-world testing. Asus, if I could keep this one, that would be great...

This involved all my day-to-day work, which is mostly emailing, word processing, web research, and image editing, plus some work on personal projects and a bit of gaming in my off hours. I also ran our suite of benchmarking and battery tests to provide a clearer image of the Zenbook S 16's overall performance.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed July 2025

As enterprise AI becomes more embedded into the fabric of everyday tools, the biggest challenge facing organizations isn’t AI adoption; it’s AI management. Gone are the days when AI features like meeting transcriptions or document summarization stood out as cutting-edge.

Today, they are expected. According to McKinsey's 2024 State of AI report, 72% of organizations have adopted at least one form of generative AI, and over half report using it in more than one business function. But this surge in adoption has led to a new operational crisis: AI sprawl.

What Is AI Sprawl and Why Does It Matter Now?

AI sprawl is the unchecked proliferation of AI tools and systems across departments, applications, and infrastructure without a unified strategy. The result? A chaotic digital ecosystem where:

• Redundancy is rampant (e.g., multiple summarization tools embedded in different apps)
• User experiences are inconsistent
• Data governance becomes unmanageable
• Security vulnerabilities go undetected

For example, companies eager to integrate AI across their tech stacks often deploy similar capabilities in silos - an AI assistant in a messaging platform, a different one in email, another in help desk software - without a shared interface or policy layer. This fragmented approach increases operational costs, confuses users, and makes compliance audits a nightmare.

The Rise - and Limits - of Vertical AI

Most enterprise AI today is what we call "vertical AI": narrow capabilities embedded directly into a specific tool, often by that tool’s own vendor. These AI features are excellent at solving bounded problems but struggle at scaling across workflows or departments.

IDC research notes that organizations are spending up to 30% more per seat due to overlapping AI functionality across their application ecosystems (IDC). While each solution may serve a use case in isolation, collectively they add inefficiency and cost.

The Real Cost of Fragmentation

Here’s where AI sprawl hurts the most:

• Wasted Spend: Gartner estimates that up to 25% of enterprise AI investment is duplicative, particularly in use-case specific tooling.
• Poor AI Literacy: Employees have to relearn how to interact with each tool’s AI assistant, eroding trust and slowing adoption.
• Regulatory Risk: Privacy settings and data policies vary app by app, creating blind spots for security teams and legal counsel.
• Broken Context: AI models can’t share knowledge between systems, meaning insights are trapped inside individual tools.

A Smarter Alternative: Interoperability as Strategy

Instead of asking, “How many AI tools do we have?” CIOs and CTOs must ask, “How well do our AI systems work together?”

Interoperability means more than just integrations or connectors; it requires AI tools that can share context, adhere to consistent governance, and surface insights across platforms. This horizontal approach avoids the trap of buying more features and focuses instead on making those features work in concert.

Three Core Benefits of AI Interoperability

1. Holistic Intelligence: AI-driven insights from one tool (ex: CRM) can inform decisions in customer support, marketing, and HR when systems talk to each other.
2. Trustworthy User Experience: Employees get consistent behavior, language, and recommendations regardless of the app they’re using.
3. Centralized Oversight: IT and security teams can manage data policies, model updates, and risk controls from a single pane of glass.

Charting a Coherent Path Forward

To navigate from fragmentation to function, enterprise leaders must pursue both operational alignment and robust governance practices. The good news is that AI sprawl is not an inevitable cost of innovation - it can be addressed proactively.

By taking a strategic approach that blends centralized governance with interoperable infrastructure, organizations can rein in AI fragmentation before it becomes unmanageable. The way forward is clear, actionable, and within reach.

• Build a centralised AI governance council that includes IT, compliance, legal, and business users.
• Define enterprise-wide AI usage policies and audit mechanisms to ensure consistent, responsible practices.
• Implement monitoring tools that track model performance, data lineage, and access across platforms in real time.
• Consolidate and rationalize tools to eliminate duplicative spend and improve oversight.
• Audit the AI landscape by inventorying every AI-enabled tool, feature, and data dependency across the organization.
• Invest in AI infrastructure by adopting open standards like MCP, APIs, and orchestration platforms that promote interoperability.
• Upskill employees through literacy programs that demystify AI, reduce risk, and build trust in intelligent systems.

In fragmented environments, IT and compliance teams are often required to support multiple incompatible permissioning models, audit trails, and deployment protocols. A centralized platform enables governance teams to monitor model performance and data lineage in real-time, reducing exposure while aligning AI use with evolving regulatory expectations.

Less Hype, More Harmony

Enterprise leaders need to stop chasing the next flashy AI feature and start focusing on cohesion, governance, and usability. The future isn’t about having the most AI, it’s about having the most effective, connected, and secure AI.

The maturity curve for AI adoption will increasingly reward organizations that move beyond fragmented experimentation. Those who consolidate capabilities and embed AI within core processes will unlock sustainable growth, resilience, and competitive advantage.

In the age of ubiquitous AI, everyone has tools, but not everyone has traction. The innovators aren’t the ones with the most features; they’re the ones who make it all work together. AI sprawl may be a modern challenge, but orchestrated intelligence is the competitive edge of tomorrow.

We list the best employee experience tool.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t something on the horizon. It’s already part of how people are getting work done.

Recent research from HP and YouGov found that 72% of UK employees using AI tools say it saves them time every week. One in ten are saving more than five hours. Some are using it to reduce manual admin. Others say it helps them focus, collaborate more effectively, or feel more in control of their day.

But these gains aren’t coming from structured enterprise rollouts. In many cases, they’re the result of quiet experimentation - employees using what’s already at their fingertips, often without training or direction from IT.

At the same time, more than a quarter of UK businesses still report having no formal AI strategy. This creates a growing disconnect: employees are forging ahead on their own, while the organization risks falling behind. It’s not a technology gap; it’s a leadership one.

In my conversations with CIOs and IT leaders across the UK and wider Northwest Europe market, I hear a mix of urgency and uncertainty. Everyone agrees AI is critical to future competitiveness. But there are open questions around where to start, how to scale responsibly, and how to balance experimentation with governance.

That hesitation is understandable, especially in industries where risk and compliance frameworks are tight. But as more teams adopt AI organically, the absence of a centralized plan introduces its own risks - from data leakage to inconsistent performance and lost opportunities for enterprise-wide value.

A rare opportunity to re-architect from the ground up

The end of Windows 10 support in 2025 presents a strategic window. Many organizations are already reviewing their device strategies and digital estate planning. This moment, whether viewed as a compliance trigger or a chance to modernize, is an ideal time to align IT infrastructure decisions with longer-term goals around workplace tools and AI integration.

We’re seeing growing interest in AI-capable endpoint devices as part of that strategy. These systems offer local processing, reduced latency, and better data control-critical features for organizations managing hybrid environments or strict regulatory requirements. But while improved performance and privacy are important, the real benefit is this: AI becomes embedded, accessible, and usable without disrupting the way people already work.

I’ve spoken with IT leaders who are introducing AI incrementally through use cases that matter to employees: summarizing meetings, creating first drafts, reducing clicks. It doesn’t need to be complex to be effective, but it does need to be intentional.

From pilot mode to platform mindset

Too many organizations remain stuck in test-and-wait mode. A pilot project goes well, but momentum fizzles. There’s no clear business owner, no framework to expand, no metrics to track long-term impact. Here, AI remains confined to one team or workflow, useful but limited.

To unlock real value, businesses need to stop thinking in projects and start thinking in systems. That means moving AI out of isolated pockets and into the core of IT and business strategy. From what I’ve seen across sectors, this shift requires three mindset changes.

First, move from experimentation to prioritization. AI isn’t a side initiative anymore. It needs sponsorship, resourcing, and KPIs tied to outcomes the organization cares about - whether that’s productivity, cost savings, or faster decision-making.

Second, move from scattered adoption to secure design. Governance, data privacy, and accountability must be built in from the beginning. In regulated industries, this is non-negotiable. But even in more flexible sectors, employees need to know where AI fits and what the boundaries are.

Third, move from short-term rollout to long-term enablement. AI success isn’t about deployment alone. It’s about building trust, training users, and supporting adoption in ways that stick. That means investing in support infrastructure-not just software licenses.

Some of the most effective CIOs I’ve worked with are building cross-functional AI working groups that bring together IT, data, ops, HR, and business units. These teams aren’t just coordinating rollouts-they’re shaping roadmaps, reviewing risks, and evolving policies together. That kind of alignment isn’t flashy, but it’s what allows AI to move from tactical to transformative.

AI that works - for people and the business

Beyond the tech stack, there’s a broader benefit to consider. In the same HP and YouGov research, AI users reported lower stress, improved work-life balance, and greater satisfaction with their roles. When implemented well, AI doesn’t just make work faster, it makes it more manageable and more meaningful. That translates into retention, productivity, and culture shifts that directly affect the bottom line.

As IT leaders, we don’t just manage systems, we shape environments. Our job is to build the foundations that allow people to do their best work. And increasingly, that means designing ecosystems where AI can be adopted confidently, used securely, and evolved sustainably.

The momentum is already there. Employees are experimenting. The tools are ready. The opportunity now is to implement structure and take those individual wins and build a strategy that turns them into lasting, measurable impact.

We list the best employee management software and the best employee experience tool.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

U.S. agriculture officials halted live cattle crossing the border in July due to concerns about the flesh-eating maggot which has been found in southern Mexico and is creeping north.

(Image credit: Fernando Llano)

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Aug. 6

Under the terms, ESPN will acquire NFL Network, NFL Fantasy and the rights to distribute the RedZone channel to cable and satellite operators and the league will get a 10% equity stake in ESPN.

(Image credit: Kamil Krzaczynski)

The Department of Health and Human Services will cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines that are being developed to fight respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu.

(Image credit: Mark Schiefelbein)

Two years after passengers hoping for a glimpse of the Titanic wreckage died in the Titan submersible implosion, the Coast Guard issued a scathing report, saying the tragedy shouldn't have happened.

(Image credit: Image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard)

It's reportedly "preparing to introduce" the unique form factor later this year.

• Microsoft's VP for OS Security has provided his vision of Windows in 2030
• It will be multimodal and involve 'more talking to our computers'
• AI will power the ability to 'do much more sophisticated things'

Ever wondered what Windows will be like at the turn of the decade, when 2030 rolls around?

Windows Central discovered a video clip uploaded on Microsoft's YouTube channel in which its Corporate VP for OS Security, David Weston, provides his vision for Windows in 2030 (you can watch it below).

In the short interview, Weston delivers answers to some set questions which are mostly on the topic of security (unsurprisingly, given that's his expertise), AI, jobs, and the business world. He does address the title of the video at one point, though, and gives us his thoughts on how Windows might look by the end of the decade.

Weston observes: "I think we will do less with our eyes and more talking to our computers. And I truly believe that a future version of Windows, and other Microsoft operating systems, will interact in a multi-modal way."

"The computer will be able to see what we see, hear what we hear, and we can talk to it and ask it to do much more sophisticated things. I think it will be a much more natural form of communication."

Weston adds: "The world of mousing around and typing will feel as alien as it does to Gen-Z to use MS-DOS."

Much of the rest of the video discusses AI and jobs, as mentioned, and how we can expect AI to take over grunt work to free us humans up to do more interesting and creative tasks (or that's the long-held theory anyway).

And indeed, how future security experts will be AI bots that you'll interact with just like a real person, talking to them in video chats and meetings, or emailing to give them tasks.

Analysis: Far-fetched?

To me, this doesn't feel like a vision of Windows in five years' time (well, it's nearer four if we want to nit-pick, and I do), but a good deal further out than that. Although Weston does hint that this is a broader vision of a 'future version of Windows', and I get the gist: the future is 'multimodal' - moving away from the simple mouse and keyboard as the main inputs for the PC - and, of course, everything's built around AI (naturally).

Will the future of Windows be like this, though? I'm certainly not betting against it being focused heavily on AI, as that very much looks to be the case. In general, AI feels like an almost irresistible force in terms of where computers are heading, and Microsoft is clearly trying to jam more AI into Windows wherever it can - a path that the software giant is doubtless going to forge ahead with.

Today, I've been writing about clues hidden in the background of Windows 11 that suggest another AI agent might be coming to the taskbar in the desktop OS. That possible addition would live alongside the agent already introduced to the Settings app, which is a smart addition.

With powerful NPUs potentially set to be included in desktop chips soon, as well as Copilot+ laptops, AI is likely to become much more widespread in the world of PCs pretty swiftly. I'd even go as far as to guess that the next version of Windows won't be Windows 12, but Windows AI (or Windows Copilot maybe, if that's still the brand for AI), the focus on this arena is likely to be that strong.

There are promises, lofty ideas, and marketing around AI, though - and then the reality of what Microsoft can achieve. Remember when Copilot was first introduced to Windows 11? We were told it would be able to change a swathe of settings in the operating system based on a vague prompt from the user (like 'make me more productive'). That still hasn't happened, and appears to be firmly on the back burner.

Which is to say that while I don’t doubt that Microsoft has these big ambitions, whether a very different way of working with a Windows PC will happen in 2030 seems doubtful to me.

Granted, I can indeed envision that talking - giving voice commands (which are coming along nicely in Windows 11) - could become a much more important, but still supplementary, part of the Windows experience and interface. And AI (presumably) doing more sophisticated things, yes, fair enough - maybe even manipulating Windows settings in one fell swoop at the behest of the user will be realized in a manner that works well.

Hey, maybe Windows AI, or Windows 2030, or whatever it ends up being called, will finally get rid of the legacy Control Panel, as a commenter on Weston's video amusingly observes. Hah - it makes me feel giddy just to imagine it. This is a battle Microsoft has been fighting for far too long, after all,

But mouse-and-keyboard usage is being made to feel like the equivalent of us being forced to revert to the days of DOS, all text and tinkering with the config.sys and autoexec.bat files to get a PC game to work? That feels like more than a stretch, and something much, much further away in the Windows computing timeline - but I could be wrong.

You might also like

• Microsoft promises to crack one of the biggest problems with Windows 11: slow performance
• Microsoft finally plays its trump AI card, Recall, in Windows 11 – but for me, it’s completely overshadowed by another new ability for Copilot+ PCs
• Microsoft has all but given up on Windows 11 SE – and it looks like the war against Chromebooks has been lost

• Microsoft is prepping Windows XP Crocs, dubbed the '50th Anniversary Exclusive'
• It'll be the first version of Windows to take this step, if true
• The Crocs come with six Jibbitz and a carrying tote

Yes, Microsoft is still celebrating its 50th anniversary, and while the company has done a lot of looking back, it’s also looking forward. Err, at least taking a step forward.

Sure, we’ve seen some iconic Windows ugly sweaters, including one with Minesweeper and one with Clippy, but Windows XP is going where no other version of Windows has ever gone before – to Crocs.

TechRadar's confirmed with the tech giant that the Microsoft 50th Exclusive Crocs – aka the Windows XP Crocs – are official, and got five images of the shoes.

According to a report from The Verge, Windows XP Crocs are currently available for internal order by Microsoft employees – priced at $80 – with the story noting that the employees “get first dibs” ahead of a “worldwide launch.”

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(Image credit: Microsoft)

We’ve seen other collaborations from the Croc brand, with plenty of Disney properties included – I mean, kachow, Lightning McQueen Crocs that light up – along with fashion houses, and even McDonald's. The Windows XP Crocs, though, take the iconic green hills and blue skies wallpaper to the shoe form.

And I know what you’re thinking, but the images of the Windows XP Crocs do indeed confirm the existence of a Clippy Jibbitz (aka what Crocs calls their shoe charms). The Windows XP Crocs will come with an iconic helper as well as a pointer, the MSN butterfly, a classic Internet Explorer logo, the recycling bin, and a folder. That comes to a whopping six Jibbitz in total.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

You also get a drawstring tote that's inspired by the classic, now iconic, Windows XP wallpaper. Microsoft did confirm the existence of the Crocs to us and shared these images, but didn't share anything more on pricing or availability.

At a reported price tag of $80, the Windows XP Crocs aren’t cheap, but if you’re a Microsoft collector or someone who’s also opted to get the previous ugly holiday sweaters, they might be the perfect shoe to add to your collection. Of course, I think many would be happy if Microsoft goes the route of other retro, nostalgia-fueled drops – it could be a fresh skin for Windows or even another wallpaper drop, and that would still be a great way to honor the 50th.

You might recall that Microsoft dropped a limited 50th anniversary edition of the Surface Laptop, which looked pretty snazzy. It’s also a more subtle way to celebrate 50 years of Microsoft than, say, blue and green Crocs.

Stick with TechRadar as once we learn more about pricing and how to get a pair of the Microsoft 50th Exclusive Crocs, we'll be sure to update this post.

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• The Yamaha True X Surround 90A is a new four-box Dolby Atmos soundbar
• 12 up-firing drivers, four oval full-range drivers and three tweeters in the bar
• Newly developed subwoofer, and rear speakers are also stand-alone Bluetooth speakers

What's better than having a couple of upward-firing Dolby Atmos speakers? Having a dozen of them. That's what Yamaha has delivered in its new True X Surround 90A soundbar system, aka the SR-X90A.

The True X Surround 90A is a high-end, high-spec home theater soundbar system with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support, and that builds on the firm's True X 40 and 50 models, while incorporating tech from Yamaha's Sound Projector range.

According to Yamaha it delivers "an amazing home theater experience that goes beyond the realm of conventional soundbars".

Yamaha True X Surround 90A: key features and pricing

(Image credit: Yamaha)

The SR-X90A takes the same beam technology from the YSP-1 soundbar and applies it to a dozen up-firing speakers powered by Yamaha's YDA-141 amplifier. There are six speakers dedicated to the height channels projecting upwards at each end of the speaker, and according to Yamaha the results rival true ceiling-mounted speakers.

The very best Dolby Atmos soundbars tend to use four up-firing speakers (in the case of the Samsung HW-Q990F) or even five in the case of the LG S95AR. Some custom-install Dolby Atmos home theaters might use six in-ceiling speakers. 12 up-firing speakers is… hardcore.

The soundbar also features the Surround:AI processing from Yamaha's AV receivers, which is the first time it's been made available in a soundbar.

Those up-firing speakers are teamed up with newly developed eye-shaped oval drivers, which Yamaha says can deliver powerful audio without making the soundbar massive. There are four of these large oval drivers to cover the full frequency range, in conjunction with three tweeters. The speakers are arrange in left, center and right configurations on the soundbars front.

There's a newly developed subwoofer too, which keeps Yamaha's patented symmetrical flare port, and which has an internal plate to control the airflow in order to reduce vibrations from air turbulence and speaker movement. Yamaha says port noise is reduced by up to 20dB compared to more conventional designs.

The True X Surround 90A uses Yamaha's True X wireless connectivity for soundbar, subwoofer and satellite speakers, and the rear speakers it comes with can also be used as stand-alone Bluetooth speakers.

The system also has Yamaha's MusicCast network system for multi-room audio and in-app customization and configuration, and it's Apple AirPlay compatible too.

The True X Surround 90A will be available from September 2025 with an expected recommended retail price of £2,499 / AU$4,499 (about $3,300) – you can expect a more concrete US price closer to the time, depend on the latest tariff situation.

But before then, you can expect our early verdict on this soundbar – it's on its way to us, and this looks like a very exciting addition to the world of the best soundbars.

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Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Aug. 6, No. 317

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(Image credit: Eric Lee)

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Aug. 6, #787.

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Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for Aug. 6, No. 1,509

If you struggled to solve many of the Wordle puzzles served up last month, then don't be too hard on yourself: it was the toughest month in the game's history.

I've crunched the numbers and, by my reckoning, it left every other month so far in the dust for difficulty, with an average score for the 31 games of 4.22.

That's according to the daily figures reported by WordleBot, the game's AI helper tool, which records the average among the many thousands of people who play. In turn, I've kept a list of those averages since the 'Bot launched in April 2022, meaning I now have a spreadsheet ranking 1,221 games by difficulty.

The bad news is that rather than being merely a statistical anomaly, that tough run may point the way towards Wordle's near future. My daily Wordle hints might well be even more useful from here on.

Wordle's month from hell

Regular Wordlers will be in no doubt as to the game's difficulty last month, with a string of near-impossible words causing all kinds of problems.

There was TIZZY, for instance, with its repeated letter Zs and average of 4.9, and POPPY with its triple Ps and 4.8 score.

FOIST might not look as difficult, but that was a classic example of Wordle's letter-trap games, where the first letter can be changed to make several other words, in this case JOIST, HOIST, and MOIST; that one also came in at 4.8.

SAVVY, with its double Vs, also hit that score, while BALER at 4.7 was one of the nastiest ER games we've had recently. EXILE (4.6), NERVY (4.5), and FRILL also caused problems, and the fact that LORIS (4.2) can be considered easy in this company points towards the overall difficulty.

July 2025 in Wordle: the 10 toughest

Game

Answer

Date

Average score

My score

1497

GOFER

Friday, 25 July 2025

5.6

5

1482

JUMPY

Thursday, 10 July 2025

5.2

5

1493

TIZZY

Monday, 21 July 2025

4.9

4

1475

POPPY

Thursday, 3 July 2025

4.8

6

1487

FOIST

Tuesday, 15 July 2025

4.8

4

1500

SAVVY

Monday, 28 July 2025

4.8

4

1477

BALER

Saturday, 5 July 2025

4.7

4

1484

EXILE

Saturday, 12 July 2025

4.6

4

1488

NERVY

Wednesday, 16 July 2025

4.5

4

1503

FRILL

Thursday, 31 July 2025

4.4

4

But the two worst last month were JUMPY and GOFER – with scores of 5.2 and 5.6, respectively.

Only 21 games in Wordle's history have passed the 5.0 mark (with another nine at exactly that score), so to get two in the space of two weeks is the stuff of nightmares.

JUMPY's problem was that J at the start; as my analysis of every Wordle answer shows, J is the least common letter in the game by far, so spotting it is rarely easy. The existence of LUMPY, DUMPY, and BUMPY will also have been a factor.

With GOFER, meanwhile, it was the combination of an ER ending (the most common in the game) and the not-so-common letters G and F that caused the issue. Its 5.6 score places it as the equal fourth hardest ever, behind only PARER, MUMMY, and CORER, and level with ROWER.

If you failed to solve any of them – or even all of them – then it's entirely understandable; Wordle is a simple game, but it can be fiendishly tricky at times.

Tougher than the rest

WordleBot only launched in April 2022, a couple of hundred games into the series, so it's possible that December 2021 or March 2022, or another month, was even more difficult. But I doubt it. I've played every Wordle so far and lost only once, and I certainly don't recall anything like July 2025.

To confirm my hunch, I tallied the average score for each day to get the overall average for July, then repeated the process for each of the other 38 months for which I have full details.

One thing I found interesting was that July 2025 wasn't just the most difficult so far – it was the most difficult so far by a long way.

The month's overall average of 4.22 might not sound that much higher than that for October 2024, the next highest in the list at 4.15, but it's statistically significant given that there's only a 0.04 difference between months #2-7 in the list.

Plus, it's a whopping 0.57 guesses harder than the easiest month, December 2023 – which came in at 3.65 – and way higher than the game's overall average of 3.97.

Hard times are coming

One notable feature of July's Wordles was that there were five 'non-original' answers among the 31 games.

When Josh Wardle created Wordle, he and his partner drew up a list of 2,315 words which would form the game's answer list, then scheduled them to appear one a day for the next six or so years.

The New York Times removed a few of those when it bought Wordle in 2022, then left the list more or less unchanged for the next year. Then, in March 2023, it gave us GUANO – the first 'extra' solution added to the original pool and the start of a new era for Wordle.

More have followed since then, 17 in total, including such gems as UVULA, SNAFU, PRIMP, and MOMMY, all of which have been hard in their own right. But these words have been spaced apart, with most months seeing just one or none at all.

There have been exceptions, with June 2023, November 2024, and May 2025 all having two, and January 2025 having three. But to get five in a month, as we did in July, was unprecedented.

(Image credit: New York Times)

And all were difficult: ATRIA was a 4.1, NERVY a 4.5, LORIS was 4.2, TIZZY 4.9, and GOFER that immense 5.6. The average across those five games was a staggering 4.66; these were all genuine head-scratchers.

And the thing is, the NYT is going to have to keep adding more of these as time goes on. That's because we're now past 1,500 Wordles, meaning we have only around 800 original games left, with as yet no idea what will happen to the game when that list runs out.

The smart thing for the NYT to do is extend it for as long as possible, which means adding more words. And there lies the problem. Wardle's list already covers many of the most obvious five-letter words in English, so we can expect the majority of the newly added words to be more difficult than the average.

So you can forget about classic Wordle start words such as STARE, CRANE, and SLATE being added – they've all already been and gone. So too ultra-common English words such as HOUSE, TODAY, and BELOW; they've all been past Wordle answers too. Instead, you can look forward to more like BALSA, KAZOO, BEAUT, SQUID, and TAUPE; uncommon words, slang words, words with uncommon letters…

August initially continued the July trend, with BANJO and DAUNT both coming in at 4.4, but the next few games were a little easier; maybe the NYT was giving us all a breather. But don't be surprised if things get tougher again soon, because this game is only going one way from here. Don't say you weren't warned.

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