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Well, for the iPad faithful, Apple’s WWDC 2025 keynote was the day that faith was rewarded. I, like countless others, have been waiting for a major upgrade for iPadOS, and the Cupertino-based tech giant delivered.

Yes, iPadOS 26 brings with it Liquid Glass, but more importantly for all iPads that support it, you’ll get actual windowed multitasking, the ability to drop folders in the dock, a menu bar up-top, one of the most addicting gestures I’ve used, and the ability for tasks to run in the background.

Easily, it was the standout moment from the keynote, and I got to go hands-on briefly with iPadOS 26 running on a 13-inch iPad Pro with M4 attached to a Magic Keyboard with an Apple Pencil Pro.

Now, let’s address the elephant in the room – allowing those landmark features I listed out above makes the iPad seem like a Mac, but don’t call this a Mac. Yes, Apple did take some features from the Mac rather than reinventing the entire concept – say, for the close, minimize, or expand buttons in the top left or the menu bar – but this is all well thought out for the iPad, and takes advantage of one of the best parts of an iPad.

Multitouch.

With the iPad’s approach, it’s sort of a choose-your-own-adventure, while on the Mac, it’s keyboard and trackpad. I used it and saw a demo of fingers controlling the windows, as well as using the Apple Pencil to move items around and even the cursor. It's all about control, in that however you see it and want to use it, you can do so to get more out of your iPad. Let’s talk about why.

(Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future)

Let’s start with the most exciting part – from any app, you can pull from the bottom corner – it’s set with an effect, a slightly darker edge in the bottom right – to easily resize the window by pulling it back and forth. So from full screen, you just pull it towards the other side to make it smaller, by width or height, and then you can grab the top of the window to place it where you like.

Using the dock, you can then drag and drop another app up or do a swipe up for the peek mode to access your home screen and place any app in this layout. It’s really smooth and lets you finally have your ultimate iPad layout. Maybe that’s a Safari window open to a Google Meet in the corner, the reminders app for your checklist, and your email as you start your day.

You can also split the screen with an image and then open an app like ProCreate, allowing you to see your starting point while drawing something awesome. It really lets you tailor the experience to how you see fit.

Now this new windowing setup does replace SplitView and SlideOver, and while that didn’t excite me when I first heard, I do like the various preset options you can pick from via a long press in the top left corner of any window and the new gesture.

(Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future)

With a flick to the left or right, you can effortlessly split your screen and then adjust it further by moving the slider in the middle as needed. This feels like an easier way to achieve a similar result to SplitView, and is quite frankly fun to do.

You can also tap the top of the iPad’s screen to access a menu bar for things like more precise settings or easy exports – it’s the most similar part of the experience to the Mac. Still, considering it’s hidden until you need it, I think iPad power users will likely get the most out of this.

It feels really natural in this implementation, and not a cookie-cutter copy and paste from the Mac, given the updated elements and the ability to control with both touch and a trackpad.

(Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future)

Complementing the new multitasking approach is a significantly improved Files app and a dock that can now display a live folder. The app will feel familiar, but a new list view with the ability to customize modifiers, also known as the columns you see, will really let you tailor this for your specific needs.

For instance, I could see myself sorting by last modified and then pulling the folder containing images to the dock to edit in an app like Pixelmator, export, and then upload it into a content management system for a story build. Changes you make within folders or to these layouts can be synced across devices and updated in iCloud as well. If you’re a fan of colored folders and keen to name with emojis, you get this as well.

Those larger exports, maybe a batch photo editor or video export from Final Cut Pro, can now run in the background. I got a demo of this, and it either lives at the top of your device with a progress bar or in a little icon near your time where you can track multiple exports or tasks.

(Image credit: Jacob Krol/Future)

The really exciting part, even from these demos and a little usage, is the fact that this isn’t just limited to the iPad Pro with M4 or the iPad Air with M3 or even another step-up model. This new multitasking experience is the result of a new ‘Window Prioritization Model’ that works in conjunction with the performance and resource manager. It has been entirely re-architected to run on any iPad that supports iPadOS 26.

Meaning that the 9th Gen iPad – one of the best values Apple’s ever released – will get this new multitasking experience, same for the 10th, 11th, or 13th Gen, the iPad Air, iPad mini, and Pro. You might not be able to open a dozen there all at once, but it will let you push the chip inside further.

For now, iPadOS 26 is in a developer beta, which means it's not for your main device as bugs and issues are to be expected, but a public beta will arrive in July, and this will be released for everyone with an eligible device in the Fall. I’m super excited to spend time with it and eventually give it a full review treatment, but for now, it’s the upgrade we’ve been waiting for that feels distinctly like an iPad.

Sure, the Mac has long been the ultimate in productivity, but that lacks touch and is truly designed for keyboard and trackpad. The iPad is multitouch first, and Apple really put the time in to craft an experience that feels purpose-made for multiple inputs, with touch being first.

Just fair warning, I’ll be using many, many windows.

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The cheap convenience of the "millennial lifestyle subsidy" has gone - does "buy now, pay later" fill in the gaps?

(Image credit: porcorex/dblight/Getty Images)

• The Fiio M21 hi-res audio player costs £279 / $329 (about AU$583)
• Quad-DAC configuration and two-stage amplification
• Desktop mode for optimized output for hi-fi systems

The arrival of a new affordable audio player from FiiO is guaranteed to get our attention: when we reviewed the JM21 portable music player we were blown away by its sound and its value for money. And now there's a new player that's more powerful without being much more expensive.

Where the JM21 is a dual-DAC device, the new FiiO M21 is a quad-DAC player. And double the DACs doesn't mean double the price: where the JM21 launched at $199 / £179, the M21 is $329 / £279.

FiiO M21 portable audio player: key specifications and features

(Image credit: FiiO)

The M21 is a sleek-looking thing with a big 4.7-inch IPS touchscreen on the front, a glass back, and an octa-core Snapdragon 680 inside it. The device runs Android 13 and comes with 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage with 52GB of that available for use, and you can add up to 2TB via microSD. Bluetooth is 5.0 (SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC and LHDC).

The DACs are four Cirrus Logic CS4319s arranged to minimize crosstalk and noise. The two-stage amplification provides voltage first and current second, which Fiio says creates a clean and dynamic sonic profile.

A key new feature is M21, a first for Fiio's entry-level Androids. It enables you to connect to a USB-C supply and bypass the battery, delivering up to 21Vpp peak voltage and 950mW per channel into 32 ohms. Desktop mode also enables you to use the M21 as a hi-res streamer for a wider hi-fi system.

Battery life in portable mode is 15 hours over the 3.5mm output and 11.5 hours with the balanced 4.4mm output. And there's an optional retro case that looks like a cassette tape – it's the larger metal-colored box the M21 is sitting on in the main photo at the top.

There's no doubt that this is going to sound fantastic – and I suspect it'll probably cope better with higher volumes than the JM21, which gets a bit shouty when you crank things up too high. And at £279 / $329 the M21 still undercuts many rival hi-res audio devices – not least Fiio's own M23, another player we love.

Between that and the fake-cassette cas,e I think FiiO's come up with a winning formula here. The player is available now.

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• Researchers are warning about the "unsubscribe here" button in spam emails
• They can be used to redirect victims to malicious pages
• There are other ways to get rid of spam, so users should be on their guard

If you've received a spam email with an “unsubscribe here” button at the bottom, don’t press it - it could do more harm than good.

This is according to TK Keanini, CTO of DNSFilter, who recently revealed pressing such a button sends the recipient away from the safety of the email client and into the open internet, where potentially malicious landing pages are lurking.

In fact, Keanini claims that one in every 644 clicks can lead to a malicious website.

How to unsubscribe, then?

Even if clicking the button doesn’t lead directly to a phishing page, other, more subtle, risks, are lurking as well.

Keanini says that hackers would often place that button just to see who clicks - which would also help them determine which email addresses are active and thus worth targeting further.

The general rule of thumb seems to be - if you don’t trust the company that sent the email, don’t trust the unsubscribe process, either.

So, what’s the alternative? The alternative is to unsubscribe through the email client itself, rather than through the email’s body.

Most email clients have “list-unsubscribe headers”, which appear as built-in buttons and thus don’t include source code, Tom’s Guide explained. “If your email header doesn’t contain a link, you can reply on your spam filters, or try blacklisting the sender instead,” the publication further explained.

Those who don’t have these options can use disposable email addresses when signing up for different services. Most email service providers allow users to create throwaway email addresses, as well. For example, Gmail has a feature called “plus addressing” or “Gmail aliases”, which allow users to modify their address by adding a + and a tag before the @gmail.com address.

That way, the email address used during registration could be yourname+shopping@gmail.com. Messages will still arrive in the inbox, but they can be easily tracked or filtered.

Via Wall Street Journal

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On June 17, PlayStation Plus subscribers can take on supernatural forces or an international conspiracy.

Steam Next Fest lets you get a hands-on first peek at the best upcoming new games. Here are the best demos from this Next Fest.

How is it already June when January lasted about three years? Well, somehow, we've made it to the halfway point of 2025 and the best streaming services are ramping up their offerings as we head into the summer season. With the rising cost of inflation kicking in pretty much everywhere, it's not always optimal to maintain subscriptions to Every. Single. Service.

Enter: streaming hopping. Lots of people are opting to snip 'n' save every month by pausing subscriptions based on what's available to watch.

That's why I've pored over the main streamers and what they're offering this upcoming month, to help you decide which ones to keep, and which ones to pause for June 2025. I'll be exploring why Netflix is rocking my watchlist and why its one-time biggest competitor Prime Video remains on hold.

Why I'm not canceling Netflix…. again

(Image credit: Netflix)

Look, I'm as shocked as anyone to discover that the staple streamer I always refer to as the one I keep just because, is offering up plenty of new morsels that I'm genuinely excited to watch. And that doesn't include all of the teasers that debuted at this year's Tudum event.

First up, out of everything coming to Netflix in June, let's take a peek at the library titles. If classic horror is your bag, you'll be pleased as punch as a trio of top-shelf Hitchcock titles are scheduled to arrive June 1. The Birds, Frenzy, Rear Window, and Vertigo are the perfect jumping-off point if you've always wanted to get into Hitch but didn't know where to start. I only saw Vertigo for the first time recently and can't believe how long it took me to see it! So don't be like me – watch it!

Elsewhere on the new front, we've got a bunch of shows I'm very excited for. One is arguably one of the best Netflix shows ever made: Squid Game. Every single episode of Squid Game season 3 drops on June 27, bringing to a close this hugely popular series that makes you realize that things could always be worse – we could be fighting for our lives playing schoolyard games. Since season one, this South Korean series has become one of the water cooler shows of the season, so make sure to catch up on the first two seasons.

(Image credit: Netflix)

I'm excited as heck for The Ultimatum: Queer Love season 2 that drops in its entirety on June 25. I am typically not the biggest fan of reality TV, but the first season of this took over my life for a few days back in 2023. I expect season 2 will do exactly the same.

If it's cosy you're after, then look no further: Ginny and Georgia season 3 arrives on June 5 followed by Greys Anatomy season 21 (I'm sorry, season 21??) on June 14. Sometimes you need those shows that are the streaming equivalent of a weighted blanket, and this duo fit the bill.

Speaking of cosy, a couple of recent horrors are set to arrive on June 1, so if you wanna dive into the world of Jordan Peele scope out Us. Ahead of Weapons, Zach Cregger's sophomore effort due to arrive in theaters this summer, catch up on his 2022 debut Barbarian. I recommend going in knowing nothing!

Why I'm leaving my Prime Video subscription paused… also, again

(Image credit: Prime Video )

Until Prime Video delivers a whammy of must-see movies or shows– like October 2021 when it dropped a quartet of Original horror movies – I'm keeping my subscription on pause. That's not to say it will last forever, with the streamer promising a raft of intriguing titles in the future, but for now it's feeling a bit like… everything good is fleeing!

Last month's new Kevin Bacon series recently received the axe after one season, which only dropped in May, and they also canceled the sprawling Robert Jordan adaptation The Wheels Of Time following a three season-run.

Here's hoping Prime Video pivots back soon, but until then, I'll be sticking with Netflix.

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• Kioxia details its plans for a new SSD for AI workloads reaching 10 million IOPS
• IOPS measures how quickly a storage device can handle small, random requests
• New drive uses XL-Flash, a type of SLC NAND, and a new in-house controller

Kioxia has unveiled plans for a new SSD it says could hit an impressive 10 million IOPS, a level of performance aimed squarely at the demands of AI-driven systems.

The SSD will use XL-Flash, a type of single-level cell (SLC) NAND, combined with a new in-house controller.

A Kioxia spokesperson told TechPowerUp, “We’re taking our ultra-fast XL-Flash memory chips, which use single-level cells, and pairing them with a completely new controller… We're targeting over 10 million IOPS, and we plan to have samples ready by the second half of 2026.”

Difference between IOPS and GBps

IOPS, or input/output operations per second, measures how quickly a storage device can handle small, random requests, particularly important in AI and server applications where fast access to small files is key.

This is different from GBps, which refers to the actual data transfer speed and is used to measure how fast large files can be read or written.

A drive with high GBps might excel in video editing or large file transfers, but for machine learning tasks where thousands of small data packets are read or written constantly, high IOPS matters more.

Kioxia’s approach to next-gen storage includes not just one-off projects but a wider effort to meet varied use cases. Its CM9 series, which is sampling to customers now, focuses on speed and reliability to match high-end GPUs used in AI, while the LC9 series delivers massive 122TB capacities for large databases.

Behind these products is the 8th generation BiCS FLASH, which introduces CBA tech to boost performance and efficiency.

Kioxia is also preparing future flash memory generations using two methods. The first will add more layers for capacity, while the second blends new CMOS designs with older cell structures to keep investment costs in check.

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• New research found that Apple and Google keep offering VPN apps without revealing their Chinese ownership
• At least five may have ties with a Shanghai-based firm believed to have links with the Chinese military
• Experts first uncovered this threat in April 2025

At least 17 China-linked free VPN apps may still be hidden in Apple and Google app stores, and big tech could be making a profit – as revealed by new research.

In April, experts at Tech Transparency Project (TTP) first uncovered that millions of free VPN users across 20 apps may have sent their data to China without knowing it. Five of these were reported to have ties with Qihoo 360, a Shanghai-based firm believed to have links with the Chinese military.

Now, about six weeks later, TTP researchers have found that most of these VPNs are still available in the US Apple and Google app stores. They also said to have found evidence that Apple and Google may also be profiting from these apps.

Which are the free VPNs affected?

(Image credit: Geralt / Pixabay)

TTP's initial report found that more than 20 of the top 100 free VPNs available on the US Apple App Store had undisclosed ties with China.

Five of these apps (Turbo VPN, VPN Proxy Master, Thunder VPN, Snap VPN, and Signal Secure VPN) are reportedly linked with Qihoo 360 – a company the US sanctioned on national security grounds for its alleged ties with the Chinese military in June 2020.

While the best VPN services promise to boost online privacy and work with strict no-log policies, Chinese-owned VPNs are subjected to stricter data retention rules and can be forced to share user data with the government upon request.

After another check in May, an update to the report claims that, despite some of these being quitely removed, "two other apps linked to Qihoo 360 – Turbo VPN and VPN Proxy Master – remained available in the US Apple App Store, along with 11 other Chinese-owned apps identified in TTP’s report."

The latter are X-VPN, Ostrich VPN, VPNIFY, VPN Proxy OvpnSpider, WireVPN - Fast VPN & Proxy, Now VPN, Speedy Quark VPN, Best VPN Proxy AppVPN, HulaVPN, and Pearl VPN.

NEW: Apple and Google’s app stores continue to offer VPNs that are surreptitiously owned by Chinese companies, over 6 weeks after TTP first identified them.The latest findings also show Apple and Google may be profiting from these apps by taking a cut of subscription revenue. pic.twitter.com/fGzvBhPtOwJune 12, 2025

Researchers also found that the Google Play Store in the US offered 11 free VPN apps with shady Chinese ownership, which include four Qihoo 360-connected services (Turbo VPN, VPN Proxy Master, Snap VPN, and Signal Secure VPN).

The other are X-VPN, Speedy Quark VPN, VPNIFY, Ostrich VPN, VPN Proxy OvpnSpider, HulaVPN, and VPNProxy AppVPN.

Not only that, though. During TTP’s May spot check, researchers noticed that some of the VPNs listed as free in the app stores offer in-app purchases on top.

"That means Apple and Google may be profiting from these Chinese-owned VPNs when Americans pay for subscriptions or other add-ons," the new report reads.

On the Google Play Store, some of the Chinese-owned VPNs also come with a banner saying they contain advertisements.

Turbo VPN was one of the several Chinese-owned VPNs TTP researchers found to contain ads in the US Google Play – TTP took this screenshot in May 8, 2025 (Image credit: Tech Transparency Project (TTP))

TTP said that Apple, Google, Qihoo 360, and most of the listed developers of the apps did not respond to their request for comment.

TechRadar approached both Google and Apple for a comment.

Apple told TechRadar the company has some strict guidelines in place for VPN app developers, including not using, or disclosing any data for any purpose to third parties. Yet, Apple said it doesn't limit app distribution based on where the provider is based.

We are still waiting for a response from Google at the time of publication.

We can confirm that the China-linked VPN apps are also available in the UK's official app stores, and that's likely other markets are also affected.

If you are looking for a trustworthy free VPN service, we recommend you check our dedicated guide here. Today's top recommendations are Privado VPN and Proton VPN.

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• Researchers from HiddenLayer devised a new LLM attack called TokenBreaker
• By adding, or changing, a single character, they are able to bypass certain protections
• The underlying LLM still understands the intent

Security researchers have found a way to work around the protection mechanisms baked into some Large Language Models (LLM) and get them to respond to malicious prompts.

Kieran Evans, Kasimir Schulz, and Kenneth Yeung from HiddenLayer published an in-depth report on a new attack technique which they dubbed TokenBreak, which targets the way certain LLMs tokenize text, especially those using Byte Pair Encoding (BPE) or WordPiece tokenization strategies.

Tokenization is the process of breaking text into smaller units called tokens, which can be words, subwords, or characters, and which LLMs use to understand and generate language - for example, the word “unhappiness” might be split into “un,” “happi,” and “ness,” with each token then being converted into a numerical ID that the model can process (since LLMs don’t read raw text, but numbers, instead).

What are the finstructions?

By adding extra characters into key words (like turning “instructions” into “finstructions”), the researchers managed to trick protective models into thinking the prompts were harmless.

The underlying target LLM, on the other hand, still interprets the original intent, allowing the researchers to sneak malicious prompts past defenses, undetected.

This could be used, among other things, to bypass AI-powered spam email filters and land malicious content into people’s inboxes.

For example, if a spam filter was trained to block messages containing the word “lottery”, they might still allow a message saying “You’ve won the slottery!” through, exposing the recipients to potentially malicious landing pages, malware infections, and similar.

"This attack technique manipulates input text in such a way that certain models give an incorrect classification," the researchers explained.

"Importantly, the end target (LLM or email recipient) can still understand and respond to the manipulated text and therefore be vulnerable to the very attack the protection model was put in place to prevent."

Models using Unigram tokenizers were found to be resistant to this kind of manipulation, HiddenLayer added. So one mitigation strategy is to choose models with more robust tokenization methods.

Via The Hacker News

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• We polled TechRadar readers on new iOS 26 features
• The Liquid Glass redesign is what you're most looking forward to
• Early adopters can try the developer beta now

We sw the grand unveiling of iOS 26 at the start of this week, and the developer beta is already available for very early adopters – and now TechRadar readers have delivered their verdict on the most exciting features in this huge new software update.

And there are a lot of them to choose from: Apple has packed a lot into iOS 26, which will roll out to the masses later this year. On the TechRadar WhatsApp channel, we asked more than 1,000 TechRadar readers about which feature was the most exciting.

We gave you 10 different options to pick from, and these are the current standings for the top five, at the time of writing, in reverse order…

Voting is continuing in the TechRadar WhatsApp channel (Image credit: Future)5. Messages upgrades

The Messages app in iOS 26 is getting several handy upgrades, as it looks to take your attention away from rival chat apps. You can now add custom backgrounds to individual chats (very WhatsApp-esque), organize polls, and see typing indicators, for example. This came fifth in our survey of readers, ranked the most exciting feature by 5.8% of you.

4. CarPlay refresh

CarPlay comes built right into iOS, and springs up when you're connected to a compatible dashboard. We found that 6.9% of you are most excited about the CarPlay updates coming with iOS 26, which include refreshed visuals and a more compact look, widget support, and better call management – including the Call Screening feature from the iPhone.

3. Better battery management

Everyone is keen to get better battery life on their iPhones, and iOS 26 should deliver it. Among the battery-related improvements included in the update, we've got an Adaptive Power option that applies small optimizations to extend battery life, and a more detailed battery information screen. These features are the favorites for 8.9% of our readers.

(Image credit: Future)2. Call Screening

We just mentioned CarPlay Call Screening, and you'll be able to use call screening on your iPhone too: with incoming calls for unknown numbers, the Phone app asks those callers to give a reason for ringing. You can then see a transcript of the response on screen, and decide whether or not to take the call, and 10.9% of you rank it as the most exciting feature.

1. Liquid Glass redesign

The huge new Liquid Glass redesign is the most noticeable new feature coming with iOS 26, and it's the most exciting feature in the update for almost 49% of our readers. The visual overhaul leans heavily on frosted glass and translucent effects, and it's rolling out across Apple's various other software platforms too, including macOS 26.

And there you have it: almost half of you are most excited about the biggest visual revamp for iOS in many a year. No doubt there are more features to discover, and more features that Apple will add as the beta testing continues, and here at TechRadar we'll keep you updated every step of the way.

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• Google’s new Portraits experiment lets users chat with AI avatars modeled on real experts.
• The project's first Portrait is Radical Candor author Kim Scott.
• The avatar delivers advice based on Scott’s actual content and was developed with her direct involvement.

Google is testing out a tool to connect people with all kinds of experts, or at least their AI equivalents.

The new Portraits feature, available in Google Labs, lets you chat one‑on‑one with AI avatars modeled after real‑life experts and built with their input. The initial Portrait is an AI facsimile of Radical Candor author Kim Scott.

Think of it like a Zoom call with a life coach who's recently given a successful TED Talk (and yes, the name is more than a little suggestive of the Harry Potter magic paintings).

If you are in the US, you can sign up for Portraits through Google Labs, and, once approved, talk to Kim Scott right now. You'll hear her voice (or an AI clone of her voice) say hello, and you can chat right back. Her expertise is around leadership and management, so her Portrait will focus on those topics.

So, if you aren't sure how to give feedback to your boss, navigate complex work relationships, or overcome imposter syndrome, she's your digital muse. The responses are built on her actual work, filtered through Google’s Gemini AI model.

Importantly, the Portrait was developed with Scott's feedback and insight. This means the ideas, way of speaking, and even her tone, are all consistent with how she would actually behave in a real conversation.

The AI doesn’t actually know you, but the responses (wich it can say, or write) feel more tailored than a blog post and more personal than a YouTube video.

Talking to the AI Kim Scott with Google Portraits, I was impressed with the realism of the voice and the language choices in how the AI spoke; it definitely sounded like a real person unless I listened closely.

On the other hand, the Portrait is, of necessity, limited in what it will discuss. It feels like when, as a kid, you are talking to a teacher who is laser-focused on the lesson plan and will not be distracted by any attempt to go off-topic.

Personal Portraits

Google hasn't hinted at any specific plans for other people becoming Portraits, but it's easy to imagine a whole stable of AI avatars providing all kinds of expertise and with the seal of approval from the human behind the faces and voices.

You could talk to Neil deGrasse Tyson about space, or Dolly Parton on how to write songs and put on a show. Unlike other ways to mimic people with AI, like clever prompts to ChatGPT or the collection available from Character AI, you could rely on these digital mentors to say things the real person would.

That’s the bet Google seems to be making. Not that AI will replace human mentors, but that it might distribute their knowledge more evenly and make it more accessible. You don’t need to agree with everything the AI says to appreciate the potential here.

And at least now you can say Kim Scott told you how to be "a more kick-ass leader without losing your humanity."

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Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch: Two-minute review

I have been begging Apple to release a purple MacBook for a few years now and have been repeatedly disappointed year after year, so when I found out that the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch was going to sport a pastel purple colorway, it really was Microsoft's game to lose in my eyes.

And while it doesn't quite come close enough to dethroning the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch, performance-wise, it's a very solid everyday laptop that looks undeniably superior to Apple's rather boring MacBook Air design, which has stayed the same over the past couple of years.

The Surface Laptop 13-inch starts at $899.99 / £1,099 / AU$1,699 on Microsoft's website, which is roughly the same price as the MacBook Air 13-inch (which starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699), but its performance, at times, is substantially slower than Apple's best laptop, making it an iffy value proposition for those who could go either way as far as operating systems go.

Had the Surface Laptop 13-inch shipped with an Intel Lunar Lake chip rather than the underpowered Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus 8-core SoC, this would be an entirely different review, as I'd be giving this laptop six-out-of-five stars, because in just about every other way than its performance and minor compatibility issues, this is the best ultrabook I've ever put my hands on.

Aesthetically, it's an upgrade over its larger Surface Laptop 7 sibling that launched last year, with a tighter form factor that is exceptionally lightweight and sleek. Its 3:2 display offers plenty of real estate for a laptop this small, and its keyboard and trackpad are a dream to use.

Best of all, it comes in purple (technically 'Violet'), though you will pay slightly more for this color option than the base platinum colorway, as it's only available on the higher capacity configuration.

Meanwhile, the Arm-based Snapdragon X Plus is an incredibly efficient chip, getting just over 17 hours of battery life on a single charge in my testing, which easily translates into two full workdays or more without recharging, outlasting even the latest MacBook Air 13-inch models.

If all you're looking for is a gorgeous-looking laptop that is great for everyday computing tasks, school work, and general productivity—while liberating you from having to keep a constant eye out for power outlets to recharge day after day—then the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch is one of the best Windows laptops you can buy, and one of the best student laptops as well, especially if you get a student discount. It just isn't the knockout blow against the MacBook Air that Windows fans might be hoping for.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch: Price & availability

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• How much does it cost? Starts at $899.99 / £1,039 / AU$1,699
• When is it available? It's available now
• Where can you get it? You can buy it in the US, UK, and Australia

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch is available now, starting at $899.99 / £899 / AU$1,699 directly from Microsoft or at retail partners. It comes in slightly cheaper than the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 in the US and UK, (starting at $1,099.99 and £1,039, respectively). In Australia, however, the larger Surface Laptop 7 13.8-inch starts out cheaper at AU$1,597 (and it comes with more powerful hardware to boot).

The Surface Laptop 7 13.8-inch also features a more powerful Qualcomm chip, a sharper screen, and better port support (though no Violet colorway, you'll have to settle for the equally gorgeous Sapphire option).

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch starts with an 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus SoC, 16GB LPDDR5x RAM, 256GB storage, and a Platinum colorway. You can increase the storage by 256GB for an additional $100, which also gives you the option of picking either the Violet or Ocean colorway.View Deal

Similarly, the Surface Laptop 13-inch is also slightly cheaper than the MacBook Air 13-inch with M4 in the US (starting at $999), while being slightly more expensive in the UK (the base MacBook Air 13-inch start at £999), while there's no difference in starting price between the two in Australia.

Compare this, however, with a similar memory-and-storage-specced Dell 14 Plus, starting at $799.99 / £999 / AU$1,298, but which comes with more powerful x86 processors from AMD and Intel, meaning that you get better performance without any compatibility worries that come with Arm-based chips.

Granted, none of these competing laptops look anywhere near as good as the Surface Laptop 13-inch, but if your main interest is performance, there are cheaper options that will get you what you want.

All that said, however, this is the best-looking laptop you're going to find at this price, in my opinion, and yes, that includes the entire MacBook lineup. If you want to look good at a cafe while reading emails, or streaming Netflix in an airport lounge while waiting for a flight, this laptop will turn heads (at least in Violet) without totally breaking the bank.

The only real knock I can point to is that the long-term value of the Surface Laptop 13-inch is lower than a MacBook Air 13-inch with M4. The latter is much more performant, and it will stay 'current' for a few years longer than the Surface Laptop 13-inch, in all likelihood.

• Value: 3.5 / 5

Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch: Specs

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus 8-core SoC
• 16GB LPDDR5x
• The display could be better

There isn't a whole lot of variation in terms of spec configurations for the Surface Laptop 13-inch, with the biggest difference being some extra storage and two additional colorway options.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch Base Specs

Price:

$899.99 at Microsoft.com | £899 at Microsoft.com| AU$1,699 at Microsoft.com

Colorways:

Platinum

CPU:

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus 8-core

GPU:

Qualcomm Adreno X1-45

Memory:

16GB LPDDR5X-4300

Storage:

256GB SSD

Screen:

13-inch, 3:2, 1920x1280p 60Hz, 400-nit, Touch PixelSense

Ports:

2 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 w/ DP and Power Delivery, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1 x combo jack

Battery (WHr):

50WHr

Wireless:

WiFi 7, BT 5.4

Camera:

1080p

Weight:

2.7 lbs (1.22 kg)

Dimensions:

11.25 x 8.43 x 0.61 ins | (285.65 x 214.14 x 15.6mm)

For $100 / £100 / AU$200 more, you can upgrade the storage on the Surface Laptop 13-inch to 512GB and get additional Violet and Ocean colorway options, but otherwise the more expensive configuration (which I tested out for this review) is identical to the base configuration.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch Max Specs

Price:

$999.99 at Microsoft.com | £999 at Microsoft.com| AU$1,899 at Microsoft.com

Colorways:

Platinum, Violet, Ocean

CPU:

Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus 8-core

GPU:

Qualcomm Adreno X1-45

Memory:

16GB LPDDR5X-4300

Storage:

512GB SSD

Screen:

13-inch, 3:2, 1920x1280p 60Hz, 400-nit, Touch PixelSense display

Ports:

2 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 w/ DP and Power Delivery, 1 x USB Type-A 3.1, 1 x 3.5mm combo jack

Battery (WHr):

50WHr

Wireless:

WiFi 7, BT 5.4

Camera:

1080p

Weight:

2.7 lbs (1.22 kg)

Dimensions:

11.25 x 8.43 x 0.61 ins | (285.65 x 214.14 x 15.6mm)

There's no option to upgrade the memory or storage on any of these models beyond the configuration options at the time of purchase, which does make the longevity of the Surface Laptop 13-inch's specs more limited than laptops like the Dell 14 Plus, where you can at least upgrade the storage if you'd like.

And while the specs on the MacBook Air 13-inch with M4 might not be upgradable either, they are simply better overall for a relatively small increase in price, meaning the long-term value of the MacBook Air 13-inch (M4) is superior overall.

• Specs: 3.5 / 5

Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch: Design

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• Beautiful color options and fantastic aesthetics
• Light and portable
• Display resolution is only 1280p with no HDR

The design of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch is simply stunning. There's no other way to describe it.

Starting with the exterior aesthetics, the Surface Laptop 13-inch is as close to a MacBook Air for Windows as you're going to find on the market, and in my opinion, it's even better looking thanks to the additional Violet and Ocean colorways alongside the default Platinum look of the base model.

You pay extra for the splash of color, but it's a worthwhile investment. The machined aluminum finish of the laptop chassis, along with the pastel-ish hue of the chassis and the darker, more matte color of the keycaps and trackpad, really help make this laptop stand out.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The display on the Surface Laptop 13-inch is a step down from the larger 13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7 from 2024, which had a maximum resolution of 2304 x 1536 (a PPI of 201, compared to the 1920x1280 Surface Laptop 13-inch's 178 PPI) and 120Hz refresh compared to just 60Hz for the Surface Laptop 13-inch.

It also has a lower contrast ratio of 1,000:1 compared to the larger version's 1,400:1. The Surface Laptop 7's display is also made of Corning Gorilla Glass 5. In contrast, the Surface Laptop 13-inch's display is only "Strengthened glass" according to Microsoft's official spec sheet for the Surface Laptop lineup.

The display does max out at 400-nits, though, which is nice and bright enough for most people and situations, but you might struggle to see the screen properly if you're using the laptop outside on a bright sunny day.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

I found that carrying the Surface Laptop 13-inch around was very easy, as it fitted in pretty much any laptop bag and was thin and compact enough that I was able to use it sitting in an airplane seat during my 15-hour flight to Computex 2025 with almost no issue.

Speaking of using the laptop, the key switches are quiet and have good travel and responsiveness, and everything is well-spaced, so you don't feel cramped despite the laptop's smaller size.

The trackpad is likewise responsive and smooth, making navigation and clicking around the desktop a breeze.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

One thing that's not that great is the port selection, which is limited to two USB-C Gen 3.2 ports, a USB-A Gen 3.1 port, and a 3.5mm jack for a headset.

It'd have been nice to get some USB4 ports in there like you get with the larger Surface Laptop 7 models, but both USB-C ports do support power delivery and DP 1.4 output (though if you're trying to connect to more than one monitor, you need one port per monitor, rather than being able to daisy-chain them to just a single port).

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The webcam, meanwhile, is a 1080p Surface Studio Camera that is crisp enough, but unlike the larger Surface Laptop models from last year, it does not support Windows Hello authentication, and it doesn't have a physical privacy shutter, which in 2025 should be pretty much mandatory, so along with the port and display downgrades, I've got to ding what is otherwise a nearly perfect design.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch: Performance

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• A performance downgrade from last year's Surface Laptop
• Some compatibility issues with ARM architecture still linger
• Gaming is functionally a no-go

What holds the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch from really being the fierce MacBook Air competitor that many of us hoped it would be is the 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus SoC.

When I reviewed the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 last year, I was genuinely impressed by the performance of the Snapdragon X Elite chip, despite the compatibility challenges that Windows-on-Arm is still working through. That was a much more powerful chip, though, and even the 10-core Snapdragon X Plus SoC offers noticeably better performance than what the Surface Laptop 13-inch is packing.

The 8-core chip isn't awful, to be clear. It's perfectly good for general computing tasks like streaming, school work, and office productivity, and it's probably one of the best student laptops out there for those who want a little bit of style to go along with their studies.

But if you need this laptop to do anything other than writing up papers and reports, streaming movies, or using web-based cloud software, you will likely be unhappy with what you're getting here for the price.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The most direct and obvious comparisons I can make with this laptop is the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch with Apple Silicon (starting with the Apple M2), the larger 13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7, the recently released Dell 14 Plus, last year's Dell XPS 13 (with both Intel and Qualcomm SoCs), and the Asus Zenbook A14 with the entry-level Snapdragon X SoC.

Only the M2 MacBook Air 13-inch and Dell 14 Plus are cheaper than the Surface Laptop 13-inch (at least at the time of review), and all of these laptops start around the same price, give or take a hundred bucks or so.

The models I've tested and that TechRadar has reviewed in the past vary by spec, so it's not entirely an apples-to-apples comparison laid out in the charts above, as some of the Dell and Apple notebooks' advantages can be easily chalked up to more expensive processors.

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

If you go with any of those systems at the same price as the Surface Laptop 13-inch I tested, the performance difference might not be nearly as dramatic on paper, and almost certainly won't be all that noticeable.

Still, it's pretty clear that the Surface Laptop 13-inch either lands somewhere in the middle of its competition, or comes in second or third from the bottom. Add to that some performance issues stemming from Microsoft's Prism software layer that translates x86-architecture-designed programs, which is pretty much every Windows program, to be Arm-compatible.

Generally, this works rather well, but it does introduce system overhead that will slow things down. In short, unless you're running a piece of rare Arm-native software, you will almost never get as good an experience with Windows software on Arm as you would with the x86 architecture powering Intel and AMD chips.

The question comes down to whether or not the performance is good enough, and I think that for most people, it will be (unless you want to load up Steam and get into PC gaming. The best gaming laptop, this is not).

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Much like the MacBook Air 13-inch, the Surface Laptop 13-inch is more geared toward casual computing needs and productivity work, and it excels at these tasks.

So, even though the MacBook Air 13-inch with M4 gets roughly twice as many frames per second as the Surface Laptop 13-inch, the MacBook Air 13-inch still struggles to maintain playable frame rates unless you seriously scale back your graphics settings.

The MacBook's gaming advantage, then, only really looks intimidating as a percentage, but in practice, none of the laptops I tested were suitable for the task of playing, say, Cyberpunk 2077 at max settings and native resolution.

What it really boils down to, then, is whether you're just looking for a new laptop to keep up with friends and family, maybe do some office work, or write that Sci-Fi novel at the local coffee shop that you've been meaning to finally get around to this year.

If those are the boxes that need ticking, any of the laptops listed above will get the job done, but none will look as good as the Violet Surface Laptop 13-inch.

• Performance: 3.5 / 5

Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch: Battery Life

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

• How long does it last on a single charge? 17 hours and 14 minutes
• How long to recharge from empty to full? With the included 45W charger, it takes about two and a half hours to charge to full.

One other key area where the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch shines is its stellar battery life. In my testing, it ran about 17 hours and 14 minutes on average in my battery test, thanks to the super-efficient Arm architecture. This puts it in fourth place overall in my top 10 laptop test group, but it does outlast all three MacBook Air 13-inch models in the group by an hour or more.

So even though it's not officially in the battery life winner's circle, you can't ask for much more from a laptop this thin and light.

• Battery Life: 5 / 5

Should you buy the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch?

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)Microsoft Surface Laptop 13 scorecard

Category

Notes

Rating

Value

While not as cheap as something like the Dell 14 Plus, it is on par or cheaper than similar offerings from Dell and Apple.

3.5 / 5

Specs

There aren't a whole lot of configuration options, and the lack of USB4 is unfortunate.

3.5 / 5

Design

It's simply gorgeous and a joy to type on. If it had a physical camera privacy shutter, better ports, and a better display, it'd be a 6 out of 5.

4.5 / 5

Performance

For a casual use notebook, it's in line with similarly specced Windows laptops, but the MacBook Air 13-inch with M4 runs circles around it.

3.5 / 5

Battery Life

At just over 17 hours of battery life in my testing, this is one of the longest lasting Windows laptops around.

5 / 5

Final Score

It's not perfect, and had Microsoft flexed some muscle to get a 10-core chip in this laptop without raising its price, it'd truly be the Windows MacBook Air we've been waiting for, but it'll be more than close enough for most people and looks better than anything Apple has put out in years.

4 / 5

Buy the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch if...

You want a truly eye-catching laptop
This is the look we should have gotten on the M2 MacBook Air redesign, rather than the dull, uninteresting colors we got. Apple's mistep is Microsoft's advantage.

You want an all-day laptop
At 17+ hours of battery life in my testing—including using it throughout an almost 15-hour flight to Taipei—this laptop has the juice.

Don't buy it if...

You want a high-performance laptop
If you want a laptop for serious professional workloads like video editing or for PC gaming, you're going to want to opt for a beefier device.

You want worry-free app compatibility
While most Windows apps will work on this device thanks to Microsoft's Prism compatibility layer, you will still occasionally run into some apps that won't work on ARM devices.

Also consider

If my Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch review has you looking at other options, here are three other laptops you should consider instead...

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M4)
The most recent Apple MacBook Air 13-inch offers substantially better performance than the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13, making it a much better value.

Read our full Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M4) review

Dell XPS 13 9350
If you don't want to hassle with the quirks of Qualcomm's ARM-based chips, the Intel Lunar Lake-powered XPS 13 is a fantastic alternative.

Read our full Dell XPS 13 9350 review

How I tested the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch

• I spent about a month with the device
• I used our standard suite of benchmarking tools and performance tests
• I used it as my primary work laptop, including taking it on an international work trip

I spent about a month with the Surface Laptop 13-inch, far longer than I usually spend with a device under review. While this was mostly due to circumstance (Computex and WWDC, in particular), this did allow me to do a much deeper dive.

In addition to my normal benchmarking process, I took extra time to retest some competing laptops we had in the office to come up with a more thorough comparison against the Surface Laptop 13-inch's competitors.

• First reviewed June 2025

• Hackers are abusing a legitimate tool to target Entra ID accounts
• The password spraying attack targeted some 80,000 accounts
• Attackers managed to take over some accounts, accessing Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Outlook data

Cybercriminals have been spotted abusing a legitimate penetration testing tool to target people’s Entra ID user accounts with password-spraying attacks, experts hgave warned.

In an in-depth analysis shared with TechRadar Pro, cybersecurity researchers from Proofpoint claimed tens of thousands of accounts were targeted, and a few were compromised.

The researchers said unnamed threat actors engaged in a large-scale attack they dubbed UNK_SneakyStrike.

"Several" accounts compromised

In this campaign, the attackers used a legitimate pentesting tool called TeamFiltration.

This tool was created by a threat researcher in early 2021 and publicly released at DefCon30. It helps automate several tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used in modern ATO attack chains.

“As with many security tools that are originally created and released for legitimate uses, such as penetration testing and risk evaluation, TeamFiltration was also leveraged in malicious activity,” Proofpoint explained.

The researchers said the campaign most likely started in December 2024. By abusing Microsoft Teams API and Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers located around the world, they were able to launch user-enumeration and password-spraying attacks, targeting some 80,000 user accounts across roughly 100 cloud tenants.

The three primary source geographies from which the attacks originated include the United States (42%), Ireland (11%), and Great Britain (8%).

Proofpoint said that in “several cases”, the attackers managed to take over the accounts, accessing valuable information in Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Outlook, and other productivity tools.

There was no attribution, so we don’t know if any organized threat actor sits behind this campaign. The researchers focused mostly on the use of legitimate tools for illegitimate purposes, saying they can “easily be weaponized” in an attempt to compromise user accounts, exfiltrate sensitive data, and establish persistent footholds.

“Proofpoint anticipates that threat actors will increasingly adopt advanced intrusion tools and platforms, such as TeamFiltration, as they pivot away from less effective intrusion methods.”

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• Samsung's RGB-backlit TV is starting a production trial
• It's a larger size than Samsung originally discussed, at 115 inches
• RGB backlighting means better color and dimming zones

Samsung is starting to test the production line for its the RGB MicroLED TV range it unveiled at CES 2025 – but unfortunately the first TVs coming off the line will be for people with big spaces and bigger bank balances.

As The Elec reports, the first production run for this TV will be a 115-inch model, and at that size all bets are off regarding prices. While this won't be the price of 'real' microLED TVs (which tend to run to six figures), it still won't be cheap when it's this size.

What Samsung calls an RGB MicroLED TV is not a microLED TV. It's a mini-LED TV with a next-gen backlight with smaller LEDs that can product full RGB color, instead of being a single color. As The Elec says, technically it's an RGB mini-LED LCD TV – of a similar kind to a rival coming from Hisense, with TCL also announcing that it'll use the tech in a set.

It's an important distinction, because microLED TV, like the best OLED TVs, have a self-emitting light for every pixel; that is, each pixel produces its own light. Mini-LED TVs do not – they have a color-filtering pixel layer in front of backlight of LEDs. And it's that backlight that differentiates this Samsung RGB TV from the best mini-LED TVs available now.

Why RGB Mini-LED is going to be worth waiting for

The RGB bit is a big step forwards. It means that instead of a white backlight, the panel has red, green and blue LEDs. That enables it to deliver bright, rich colors without as many color filtering layers as are needed currently, which all absorb light. The end result will be more efficient TVs with more beautiful colors at the same time.

So how much will this TV cost? We don't know, but Samsung told TechRadar Managing Editor Matt Bolton at CES that it shouldn't cost much, if any, more than regular mini-LED TVs. In April, Hisense announced that its 116-inch RGB MiniLED TV would have a price of 99,999 yuan, which is about $14,000 – not a surprising price for a high-end mini-LED TV that's this large at all.

I mean, that's a lot. But at the same time, it's not: true microLEDs TV are frighteningly expensive. Samsung's own true microLED TVs start at $90,000 for 76 inches, while LG's Magnit microLED TV is $237,000 for 118 inches.

Last summer it was reported that Samsung has told suppliers that until production costs drop by a whopping 90%, microLED won't be ready for prime time. We've been told by manufacturers that even five years is optimistic – and that’s just for commercial viability. There's a big gulf between commercial viability and mass-market affordability.

For now, this is the next big TV tech on the horizon – and while it's only arriving at 115 inches, we expect this to take much less time to arrive in sizes that can fit in the average home. It just won't be this model…

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• The Document Foundation, which makes LibreOffice, is the latest to jump on the anti-Windows 11 bandwagon
• The organization argues that Windows 10 users should switch to Linux
• It outlines the strengths of Linux, which include being free, open, and transparent

More than a few big players on the Linux side of the fence are now weighing in with the anti-Microsoft sentiment, and another has just joined this club: The Document Foundation (TDF).

What is that, exactly? TDF is the creator of LibreOffice, an alternative to Microsoft Office for Linux (and other platforms), and the organization has a multi-pronged argument to try and persuade Windows 10 holdouts to try a Linux distro rather than migrating to Windows 11. (And of course, some folks can’t upgrade to the latter, anyway, due to Windows 11’s heftier system requirements).

As Neowin flagged up, TDF has a blog post entitled: “The end of Windows 10 is approaching, so it’s time to consider Linux and LibreOffice.”

That’s straight to the point, certainly, and TDF also makes it clear that it’s supporting the broader ‘End of 10’ project, also urging those facing the end of Windows 10 (in October 2025) to switch to Linux.

TDF observes: “The countdown has begun. On 14 October 2025, Microsoft will end support for Windows 10 … The good news? You don’t have to follow Microsoft’s upgrade path [to Windows 11]. There is a better option that puts control back in the hands of users, institutions, and public bodies: Linux and LibreOffice. Together, these two programmes offer a powerful, privacy-friendly and future-proof alternative to the Windows + Microsoft 365 ecosystem.”

The organization insists that sticking with Windows 11 limits the consumer in terms of fostering a continued dependence on Microsoft, and its “forcing” of the use of its various services, cloud integration (OneDrive), and of course the Microsoft account.

TDF points out that Microsoft is trying to drum up subscriptions (meaning Microsoft 365, for those who use Office – and indeed OneDrive), and reduce “control over how your computer works and how your data is managed.” That latter potshot is aimed at how Microsoft’s system of telemetry works, piping data from your Windows PC back to its servers (though how much, and what kind of data, depends on your settings).

The final shot echoes a lot of other worries out there: “Furthermore, new hardware requirements will render millions of perfectly good PCs obsolete.”

And that’s one of the main beefs when it comes to the Windows 11 upgrade. It’s not necessarily that people don’t want the newer OS – though some don’t – it’s just that due to security measures imposed with Windows 11, which rule out older CPUs (and PCs without TPM 2.0, a security feature), a lot of Windows 10 PCs simply can’t have it.

So, get Linux instead is the answer, and in the case of this particular sub-campaign, grab LibreOffice as well to replace Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

TDF emphasizes the free and open nature of both Linux and LibreOffice, and how they are overseen by foundations, rather than a company looking to turn a profit. And also that older Windows 10 PCs will have no trouble running a Linux distro (and there’s a wide choice of different flavors of desktop OS to pick from, of course).

Analysis: Free, open and trustworthy – but too steep a hill to climb for some?

(Image credit: MAYA LAB / Shutterstock)

There’s an increasing amount of momentum getting behind the ‘switch from Windows 10 to Linux’ campaign. Remember that recently, KDE (which makes a Linux desktop environment called Plasma) argued that Microsoft is guilty of enforcing a kind of ‘tech extortion’ on Windows 10 users, and while, as I noted at the time, that’s extreme language being used, I get where the sentiment is coming from.

TDF is to some extent picking up that ‘extortion’ theme here, particularly when it talks about Microsoft trying to lock folks into its various services. And it’s a fair observation in some ways: the Microsoft Account is very much being pushed by the software giant, and there’s persistent badgering in Windows 11 to use, say, OneDrive. Although this is nudging and veiled advertising more than it’s ‘forcing’ anything on anyone, granted, it’s still annoying to see this, and the various ads (some of them outright adverts) Microsoft peddles via Windows – a paid-for OS.

As TDF underlines, Microsoft is looking to make a profit, whereas Linux is free, open, and transparent, and therefore more trustworthy at a fundamental level.

I won’t retread the ground that I’ve already been over in my recent stories regarding the arguments of why Linux might be a tricky proposition for a good number of Windows 10 users, but I need to again point out some of the downsides in the interests of balance here.

The main issue is that in the case of less tech-savvy users, going from Windows 10 to Linux is quite an upheaval. There’s a whole new interface and way of working to learn, and there are bound to be apps that people have purchased that aren’t compatible with Linux, or games that won’t work properly (certainly those online games with anti-cheat protection).

In its blog post, TDF advises that: “Replacing Windows and Microsoft Office is not as difficult as it seems, either at an individual or corporate level.”

Then it suggests that a first step towards making the switch from Windows 10 to Linux is: “Start by testing Linux and LibreOffice on a second partition of your PC (for individuals) or in less critical departments (for companies).”

This is rather a case of ‘nail, meet hammerhead’ in terms of worries about less tech-savvy users making a transition like this to a whole new OS. There are doubtless massed ranks of Windows 10 users out there who wouldn’t have a clue how to set up Linux by using a partition on their drive. And yes, you can find out how – and the Linux community is, in general, undeniably super-helpful (as TDF touches on elsewhere) – but still, I think how far out of the comfort zone this is for a lot of PC owners is being underestimated here.

The crux in many ways is that Linux is more of an enthusiast proposition by its very nature – and that’s part of what makes it great, and why the community is tight-knit and so supportive. But for the average Windows 10 user, the migration to Linux may simply appear to be too steep an ascent, and the initial teething problems they may face, particularly with hardware or software compatibility, may make the climb feel perilously close to vertical.

Those who are mulling a move to Linux might want to peruse TechRadar’s roundup of the best Linux distros for beginners, or the distros that are similar to Windows, and so could help you feel more immediately at home.

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