Today, Lenovo is introducing the Smart Clock 2, along with a range of new Android tablets. Among them is a new Yoga Tab 13 with HDMI in, a Tab P11 Plus with an attachable keyboard, and more.
Probably the most exciting is the Yoga Tab 13, something that we spotted back in May. With the HDMI in port, you can use it as a second display. Lenovo uses the example of using it as a second monitor for your PC, but it can also be a way to play games on the go with something like a Nintendo Switch.
Yoga Tab 11 and Yoga Tab 13
The Lenovo Yoga Tab 13 comes with a bunch of premium features, such as a 2,160×1,350 resolution on the 13-inch screen and a Snapdragon 870 chipset. Along with that, you’ll get 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, and either 128GB or 256GB of storage.
Audio quality is another thing that Lenovo is touting with this large tablet. It has four JBL speakers, two of which are built into a soundbar on the device. All of that is powered by a 10,000mAh battery.
Yoga Tab 13
The back of the device is covered in Alcantara. something that Microsoft Surface fans are sure to enjoy. The Lenovo Yoga Tab 13 is coming in July, starting at $679.99.
The Lenovo Yoga Tab 11 is a bit more casual. It comes with a MediaTek G90T, and the 11-inch screen comes in at 2,000×1,200.
You’ll also notice that there’s a redesigned kickstand, something also found on the Lenovo Yoga Tab 13. These tablets are meant for a variety of use cases. You might use that to prop it up, to stand it up, or even to hand it on the wall.
The Yoga Tab 11 also comes with four JBL speakers, and there are two configurations: 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, and 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. It’s coming in August, starting at $319.99.
Tab P11 Plus
You might remember a product called the Chromebook Duet. It was a super inexpensive Lenovo tablet that ran Chrome OS, and it has an attachable kickstand and attachable keyboard. The Tab P11 Product is a nearly identical product, but it runs Android.
It’s powered by a MediaTek Helio G90T processor, but unlike the Yoga Tab 11, there’s no cellular variant. Other than that, the specs are somewhat similar to the Yoga Tab 11, including the 11-inch 2,000×1,200 display, and there are similar memory configurations. It even has the same 7,500mAh battery.
The Lenovo P11 Plus is coming in August, starting at $259.99.
There are actually two more Android tablets that Lenovo is announcing, the Tab M7 and the Tab M8. These are pretty straightforward. The Tab M7 is entry-level, including a MediaTek MT8166, or an MT8766 in the LTE model. It’s got 2GB RAM and 32GB storage, along with a 1,024×600 display. The Tab M8 has a MediaTek Helio P22T, 2GB or 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, and a 1,280×800 display.
The Tab M7 is coming in July, starting at $109.99, while the Tab M8 is coming some time later this year, but it won’t be in the U.S.
Lenovo is also introducing the Smart Clock 2. You might remember the original one, which was a super-inexpensive, 4-inch, Google Assistant-enabled smart display. It somehow wasn’t cheap enough for Lenovo, which came out with the Smart Clock Essential for even less.
The Smart Clock 2 comes with an optional wireless charging pad, so you can charge your phone while you sleep. It’s also got a new design, and it comes in three colors: Shadow Black, Heather Grey, and Abyss Blue.
The Smart Clock 2 with the wireless charging dock will start at $89.99, and it’s coming in September.
Samsung just released the Galaxy Buds Pro earlier this year, but the company is also working on updates for its lower-end wireless earbuds. We’ve known for a while that a hardware refresh for the regular Galaxy Buds was in development, and now press images of the Galaxy Buds 2 have been leaked, showing off the color options and new case design.
The first evidence for the Galaxy Buds 2 appeared back in March, when an update to the Galaxy Wearables app (the app that’s used to change settings on Samsung accessories) included code that mentions the product name. The new wireless earbuds were later spotted through certification documents filed with the FCC, giving us the first low-resolution photos and hardware specifications. Now, we have finalized press renders to look at, courtesy of 91mobiles.
The Galaxy Buds 2 don’t look radically different than the existing Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Buds+, with similar rubber tips and charging pins. Two microphones are visible on the outside, and four colors will be available: Black, White, Purple, and Green. Interestingly, these wireless earbuds are expected to lack Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) — Samsung seems to be keeping that functionality exclusive to the Galaxy Buds Pro.
The case design looks similar to the cases for the Galaxy Buds Pro and Galaxy Buds Live, with a roughly square shape and a USB Type-C port for charging. Again, nothing groundbreaking here.
The Galaxy Buds 2 are expected to be officially revealed soon or sometime in August alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3. Either way, we won’t have to wait much longer to see what Samsung has up its sleeve.
Dell’s XPS lineup includes some of its most premium laptops, and they’re among the best laptops you can buy today. They pack high-end specs in a sleek and stylish chassis, so you can truly use them anywhere. The Dell XPS 15 and 17 are particularly impressive since they pack 45W CPUs and discrete graphics in some cases. However, as portable as the laptops are, carrying chargers around can still be a chore, especially if you end up forgetting them somewhere. Or, worse yet, it can happen that your charger stops working and you need a new one. To help you out, we’ve rounded up the best replacement chargers you can get for your XPS 15 and 17.
Finding a replacement charger, in many cases, has got a lot easier in recent years thanks to the advent of USB Type-C and the Power Delivery standard. These chargers can deliver up to 100W of power, which is enough for many ultrabooks. Plus, they can often charge smartphones and other devices too. But the Dell XPS 15 and 17 come with 45W CPUs, and some of them also have discrete graphics. Because of that, standard Power Delivery chargers, and even Thunderbolt docks, may not be enough. You need to find specific chargers that work for your XPS 15 or 17, and that’s what we’ve done. Here are some of the options you can get.
We just said you might need more than 100W of power for your XPS 15 or 17, but if you have a model without discrete graphics, the 90W power adapter will get the job done just fine. You can save some money by going this route, and it won't affect your usage.
If the official Dell charger seems a little too expensive for you, this Nekteck alternative can deliver up to 100W, too. It's significantly cheaper, and it uses gallium nitride to achieve a very compact adapter size. It can charge your phone, too.
If you do have an XPS model with a dedicated GPU, you're going to need some extra power. Dell has an official 130W power adapter you can get as a replacement or as a second charger for the office, and it can power more intensive tasks.
More power tends to be more expensive, and the official Dell 130W adapter is definitely pricey. This alternative offers the same power but comes in at a much lower price point. You can power your gaming sessions without breaking the bank.
If you need more than a charger, Dell's WD19S docking station not only delivers up to 130W of power to your XPS 15, but also expands your connectivity. It has three USB ports, Ethernet, and display outputs so there isn't much you can't do.
This is very similar to the previous dock, but it now adds Thunderbolt connectivity, meaning you can get up to 40Gbps of bandwidth for your ports. That means you can use dual 4K monitors at the same time, or get more bandwidth out of the USB ports when using them all at once.
These are some of the best chargers you can get for your Dell XPS 15 and 17. The 90W and 100W power adapters are more suited for models without discrete graphics, so they won’t be ideal if your model has an Nvidia GPU. However, they’ll work fine if you only have integrated Intel graphics. For models with discrete GPUs, the 130W adapters are the way to go since they’ll be able to charge the laptop while you’re using it.
Additionally, the docking stations can be a great way to expand your office setup without additional docks. They provide power and plenty of connectivity options, particularly the Thunderbolt model. They can be pricey, but Thunderbolt docks on their own are fairly expensive, so it might be worth the investment.
Last week, Microsoft announced Windows 11. When it did so, it promised that Windows Insiders would be able to start testing out the Windows 11 beta beginning the next week. If you want to install this thing on day one, there are some things that you can do to get your PC ready.
Check if your PC is eligible for Windows 11
It’s worth noting that the requirements for using Windows 11 this holiday season when it comes out are different from the requirements for running the beta through the Insider Program.
The following table represents eligibility if you’re already in the Windows Insider Program and testing Windows 10.
This is very important, because if you start testing out Windows 11 and you don’t meet the minimum requirements, you’re going to have to roll back to Windows 10. That means that you’ll have to do a clean installation of the OS.
To check if your PC is eligible for Windows 11, you can run Microsoft’s PC Health app. That’s going to let you know if your PC meets the minimum requirements.
Again, this isn’t about finding out if your PC can run the Windows 11 beta in the Insider Program, because those are different requirements. This is about knowing if your PC will be able to run Windows 11 when it comes out this holiday season, so you can make an informed decision on whether to go ahead with installing the preview.
Getting ready for the Insider Preview
By now, you should be mentally prepared for what you’re about to do. In case you’re not, keep in mind that this is an early build. There are going to be some that are unstable, and the only way to roll back (after a 10-day period) is to do a clean installation of Windows 10.
Also, this isn’t like an Android or iOS beta, where the company releases a rough build to start, and then is gets refined as we slide into general availability. There are going to be Windows 11 preview builds that are more stable than others, and then there are going to be some that make you want to throw your PC out the window. Here in the Windows Insider Program, we just sort of roll with the punches.
All set? Good, here’s how you enroll your PC.
Go to Settings -> Update & security -> Windows Insider Program.
Click Get started, and when prompted to, sign into your Microsoft account.
When asked to choose a ring, choose the Dev channel.
Reboot when prompted to do so.
Go to Settings -> Update & security -> Windows Insider Program again, and make sure that your settings are correct.
Go to the Windows Update tab and check for updates. That way, your PC will be up to date on the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview build, and you won’t end up downloading that instead of Windows 11.
Once the Windows 11 preview is available, go to Settings -> Update & security -> Windows Update -> Check for updates.
That’s it. If you want to skip over the first few builds, you can enroll in the Beta channel to get Windows 11 when it’s a little more stable. The Beta channel is for when it’s in the RTM phase, so at that point, Microsoft should just be servicing Windows 11 with cumulative updates. Windows 11 should arrive in the Beta channel this summer.
The third option is the Release Preview channel, and that’s reserved for testing things that are about to go live. Windows 11 should be in Release Preview roughly a month before its release.
Windows is by far the most popular choice when it comes to PC operating systems, and you can find it on the best laptops out there. That includes Dell laptops, most of which run Windows 10 out of the box. It makes sense why this happens, since Windows offers the broadest app and game compatibility of any desktop OS. But if you’re a Linux fan and you want the premium design and performance of the Dell XPS 13, it can be a bummer. Don’t worry though, because you can get the XPS 13 with Linux out of the box, and if you already have an XPS 13 with Windows, you can still install Linux, too.
Buying the Dell XPS 13 with Linux
The selection of premium laptops you can buy with Linux pre-installed is fairly limited, but Dell actually sells the latest XPS 13 with Ubuntu as an option. Dell calls it the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition, and it actually doesn’t make any big sacrifices compared to the Windows variant. You can choose between an Intel Core i5-1135G7 or a Core i7-1165G7 for the CPU, and it comes with up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. That Intel processor also means you get Thunderbolt support, so expansion options won’t be a problem if you want to get a Thunderbolt dock. Even the UHD+ touchscreen model if you want the most premium experience.
There are two color options to choose from, too. It comes with Ubuntu 20.04, which is no longer the newest release, but you can easily update to version 21.04 if you want the latest bits. It’s truly one of the best Linux laptops you can get.
If you want a premium laptop that runs Linux out of the box, the Dell XPS 13 is one of the best options out there. It has high-end specs with plenty of configuration options, including an Ultra HD+ touchscreen.
Say you’ve already made your purchase but you got the XPS 13 with Windows 10 instead of the Ubuntu version. It’s not too late if you want to see what life is like on the other side. Installing new operating systems on a PC can seem challenging, but it’s certainly doable.
The first thing you’ll need to do is download your favorite Linux distribution. There are plenty of them out there, and most of them are free, so you don’t have to worry about spending more. There are lots of Linux distributions, but if you want Ubuntu, you can find it here. This will give you an ISO file and leave you with two options — virtual machines or dual-booting.
Virtual machines are a risk-free approach because they let you run other operating systems inside your current one. You can use software like VMware Workstation Player to load up the ISO file and try Ubuntu in a safe environment. On the other hand, dual-booting requires a bit more knowledge of what you’re doing. If you choose this route, we recommend following this guide on how to install Linux on a Windows laptop. We recommend following these steps carefully to make sure everything goes well and you don’t lose important data.
Whether you’ve already bought an XPS 13 or you’re still considering one, Linux is never too far from reach. Windows 11 is right around the corner, but as good as it might be, it’s not for everyone and if you want a premium Linux laptop, the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition is a stellar choice. It has high-end specs and a premium design you don’t see too often on Linux laptops. And if you need both Windows and Linux, you can run them side-by-side.
The PlayStation 5 has well and truly arrived, being over a half-year-old and having several exclusive games. If you’ve been lucky enough to get your hands on the new console, then here are 15 games you should play.
Like its rival, the Xbox Series X/S, the PlayStation 5 is an incredibly powerful console on which you can play some of the fastest, most beautiful, most demanding games that have ever been created. The PS5 has SSD storage to cut down loading times, an intricate, complicated cooling system, and a new controller (the DualSense) with one of the best haptic feedback systems ever built. The PS5 also launched with some exclusive games, and several more have launched since the console has been on the market. Xbox Series X/S games are usually not exclusives (though the console has several exclusives coming), while Nintendo Switch games are almost nothing but exclusives. This list is a mix of games that are PS5-exclusive and PS4 games that look great on the new console.
Astro’s Playroom
The first game that any new PS5 owner should play when they get their new console is Astro’s Playroom, which is available for free with the console. It’s designed to give users the full experience of playing with the new DualSense controller. Each of the levels will give you opportunities to test the DualSense’s haptic triggers and other features.
In addition to the game’s technical greatness, it’s also just a really fun, colorful, enjoyable game. The worlds you explore are cartoonish versions of the hardware inside your PS5, and you collect various artifacts that are really hardware Sony has produced. It’s an adorable nostalgia trip, especially if you’ve owned PlayStation consoles before.
Demon’s Souls
A remake of the PS3 classic, Demon’s Souls brings the brutal difficulty of a From Software title to the next generation. If you’ve never played a From game before, this is a good game to get started with — not because it’s easy, but because it’s not. In addition to the gameplay, the game is beautiful on PS5. The atmospheric environments look good on the console, and the lack of long wait times makes the game marginally less frustrating. If you want to play the game that invented the Souls-like genre and also see what your PS5 is capable of, this is the game to get.
Marvel’s Spider-Man was one of the best games for the PS4 — and it still looks good on the PS5. But if you want the full next-gen experience, like being able to feel web-shooters as you’re swinging around New York City, then you need to play the quasi-sequel, starring Peter’s successor, Miles Morales.
I say “quasi-sequel” because the game takes place after the first game, but is more of a side story. Miles has a number of moves that Peter didn’t have in the original game, courtesy of his electric superpowers. The game is somewhat shorter than the first, but it’s still a fun game that stars a colorful cast of characters with whom Miles can interact.
One of Sony’s longtime franchises, Ratchet and Clank have never looked better than they do in their latest adventure. Their old nemesis Dr. Nefarious has stolen a weapon that opens rifts to other dimensions, and it’s up to Ratchet, Clank, and Ratchet’s alternate dimension counterpart Rivet to stop him. Rift Apart is basically designed to show off the power of the PS5’s SSD, meaning that you can jump through rifts with no loading slowing you down. It’s also one of the more kid-friendly games available on the PS5.
Over a decade old with a dozen games under its belt, the Assassin’s Creed series continues to expand and improve. The latest, Valhalla, is a Viking adventure starring the warrior Eivor, who gets drawn into the eternal conflict between the Assassins and Templars while raiding England. The British countryside looks stunning with the PS5’s GPU, and the gameplay is as smooth as it’s ever been. While the game is a typical Ubisoft adventure, it’s also a good entry point if you’ve never played an Assassin’s Creed game before.
God of War is the latest adventure of mature, somber Kratos, formerly the Greek god of war, as he and his son Atreus embark on a long journey to put their wife and mother to rest, which somehow leads to an epic quest that would put the ancient poems to shame. As with all games, it not only looks better on the PS5, but it also plays more smoothly. If you haven’t already played it, it’s part of the PS Plus Collection, a group of PS4 classics offered to PS5 users also subscribed to PlayStation Plus.
This PlayStation exclusive has a lot of different genre names — it’s a roguelike sci-fi third-person shooter. What you might not be able to glean from looking at the trailers is that Returnal is also a horror game, and a pretty effective one at that. It’s a great test of the PS5’s hardware, and it’s not an easy game to master — the lack of a save feature was such a problem for gamers that they pleaded with the developers to add one. But if you want a game that’s a little more serious for the PS5, this is your game.
Released just a few months before the launch of the PS5, Ghost of Tsushima is a grand tale of Jin Sakai, a noble samurai who must become a nascent ninja in order to save his home island of Tsushima from invading Mongols. It’s a fun game if you’re a fan of third-person action-adventure or Japanese history for that matter. It’s also a stunning game, and the open world looks beautiful on the PS5 with a sufficiently powerful TV.
The sequel to one of PlayStation’s most successful titles, The Last Of Us Part II tells a harrowing story about flawed people attempting to survive an impossible situation. The star, Ellie, is a character you can both love and be incredibly uncomfortable with, and characters around her aren’t much better. The game is also a tense, frightening horror action game that refuses to let you get too relaxed, and it looks better on the PS5 than anywhere else.
This curious little game casts the player character as a reporter in a world full of muppet-like creatures called Grumpuses trapped on an island populated by animals that look exactly like food. When the Grumpuses eat the titular Bugsnax, parts of their bodies become like the thing they just ate. What I’ve just described sounds very cartoonish and silly, but don’t let the colorful graphics fool you — the game is an adventure/horror hybrid that, were it just a little darker, would fit neatly into a Lovecraft story. It may not tax the PS5’s hardware, but it’s an enjoyable game perfect for someone who might not have enough time for a longer title.
The Persona RPGs are a bit of an odd cookie. You play high school students who fight using their Personas, hidden aspects of their own personalities. In Persona 5, you play as the Phantom Thieves, lovable rogues attempting to steal bad feelings from the hearts of those around them — yeah, this is a strange game to describe. But it’s also very absorbing and enjoyable, and its characters are all great. Persona 5 Royal is an updated re-release that adds lots of new content to the game, and a PS5 must-play if you like RPGs.
Nathan Drake’s last great adventure (at least for now) follows him as he attempts to find a lost treasure with his no-longer-lost brother. All Uncharted games were designed to take full advantage of the PlayStation’s graphics, being very cinematic adventures with panoramic camera angles, and this one looks even better on the PS5 than it did on the PS4. It’s an emotional and involving adventure, and it’s one offered to PlayStation Plus subscribers on the PS5 for free in the PS Plus Collection.
The latest entry in the long-running Resident Evil series, Village tells possibly the campiest, most enjoyable story in the series. RE7’s Ethan Winters returns, and he’s in a lonely, isolated European village searching for his lost daughter. What he finds is possibly the strangest infected population that has appeared in the series so far. So Ethan must fend off monsters like werewolves and vampires, and it’s both an enjoyable and scary adventure, and one of the PS5’s must-play horror games.
Sony recently announced it’s bringing the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, called Horizon Forbidden West, to the PS5 sometime later this year. So now’s the perfect time to catch up on the series by playing the beautiful adventure game on PS5. A game that captivated gamers the moment it was originally revealed, HZD is a post-apocalyptic story in which humanity has been replaced as the dominant species by giant, animal-like machines. It was a must-play on the PS4, and it deserves a second look on the PS5.
Racing games are always great tests of a new console’s hardware — by design, they require high framerate, low-to-nonexistent loading times, and high visual fidelity. WRC 9 delivers on all of those, and it makes great use of the DualSense’s haptic feedback, more so than any other racing game available on the platform. Racing games aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but there are several available for the platform, and WRC 9 is the one to beat right now……though that might change when Gran Turismo 7 launches, whenever that might be.
This list is only going to get longer the more the PlayStation 5 is on the market, and the more people are able to buy the elusive console. There are a number of other great cross-platform releases that are fun to play on PS5 — check our list of the best Xbox Series X/S games, which has several games that are also available on PS5. If you’re more of a mobile gamer, we have lists of great Android games and the best Switch games to play.
Windows 11 is coming to new and existing PCs later this year, and it brings a lot of changes. It looks significantly different from Windows 10, and it adds a bunch of new features. But that’s not all that’s changed. Windows 11 has much higher system requirements than previous versions, too. There are a few PCs that won’t be supported by the new OS, but what about peripherals? If you’re worried about whether your printer will work with Windows 11, you shouldn’t have to. Most peripherals and accessories that work today should continue to work with the new OS.
Can my PC run Windows 11?
First off, your biggest concern should be whether your PC meets the minimum requirements to run Windows 11. There are a few big changes, such as the need for a 64-bit processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. A few devices will be excluded based on those changes alone.
In addition to checking the list of requirements, Microsoft has a PC Health Check app that can help you make sure you’re ready to run Windows 11. One hurdle that may be tougher to clear is TPM support, which some users have been having trouble with when they run the app. If your PC meets the requirements, you should be good to go.
Will my printer work?
Despite all those changes though, Windows 11 is built on the same foundation as Windows 10. Most of the same capabilities are there, and external devices should work all the same. Microsoft says that, as long as your device supports Windows 10 and meets the Windows 11 minimum requirements, it should work. There aren’t any minimum requirements for printers, so if it works right now, it should continue to work in Windows 11.
There are many different devices out there, so there’s always a chance that something won’t work quite the same. But if you’re coming from Windows 10 and things work, you can probably expect them to keep working in Windows 11.
Image credit: HP
If you’re going into Windows 11 by buying a new laptop, something you may have to consider is the ports. Some laptops today don’t include a USB Type-A port, but they do have Thunderbolt 4. That means you can get a Thunderbolt dock, which you can then use to connect your printer. If your printer is wireless, that shouldn’t be an issue either way.
If you’re still using an older version of Windows, things may be a little more complicated. The best thing to do in this case is to check your manufacturer’s website and see if Windows 10 drivers are available. If the printer works with Windows 10, it’ll likely work with Windows 11 as well, so you can use that as an indicator. Most printers should still be supported if they worked in Windows 7 or 8.1, but some older ones might not.
You can always go back
Another thing to keep in mind is you can always go back to Windows 10 if your printer doesn’t work with Windows 11. The upgrade process is just like taking a feature update for Windows 10, and you can easily roll back the changes. You have ten days after the upgrade to go back to Windows 10 while keeping all your files. If it’s been longer than ten days, you can download a Windows 10 ISO and do a clean install. This will require you to backup your data to external storage since you will be removing everything from your PC.
That’s not ideal, but it’s a good idea to plan the upgrade so the 10-day period allows you to test everything you might need. That way, you can find any compatibility issues and go back to Windows 10 if it works better for you. Windows 10 will continue to be supported until October 14th, 2025, so there’s nothing stopping you from using it for a good while longer. By the time you need to get Windows 11, you might have a new printer that works with it anyway.
That’s essentially all you need to know about using your printer with Windows 11. The gist of it is if you’re using your printer with Windows 10, it should work just fine with Windows 11, too. Your mileage may vary slightly, but you can always go back to Windows 10 if something isn’t right. If you’re coming from an older version of Windows though, you’ll want to check with your printer manufacturer.
