NZCity NewsLinks -

All Links

22 Nov 2024

Search

My favorite Edifier desktop PC speakers are 30% off right now
You don’t need incredible, teeth-rattling power for a desktop, even a gaming desktop. But you do need something better than the crappy little five-watt nothings that are included in your monitor. Right now, Amazon has the bookshelf speakers that I personally use in my own setup on sale. I’m talking about the Edifier R1280T speakers for just $84, which is 30 percent off its $120 retail price. These speakers have been a staple of PC power users for years, and you’ll see them all over communities like Reddit’s /r/battlestations. They sound great, with crystal-clear mids and a bit of bass power without needing a separate subwoofer. With 42 watts, four-inch primary drivers, and 13mm tweeters, it’s powerful enough to fill an office easily without breaking the bank. And they’re refreshingly simple — you get two analog inputs, a few adjustment dials, and a remote. That’s it. Nothing to mess up. You can read PCWorld’s full review of them here. I’ve been using the R1280T for years with no issues, and I bought a second set for my brother-in-law. Though I’m no audiophile, I can recommend them heartily to anyone who wants to upgrade their desktop sound setup. If you need Bluetooth, the nearly identical R1280DB model is discounted down to just $100 right now. Amazon is calling this a “Black Friday Deal,” so I expect it to stay at this price for the next week. That said, it’s always a popular seller, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes out of stock. Get one quick if you’re interested — you don’t want to miss out. My favorite desktop PC speakers are 30% off right nowBuy now on Amazon

Windows 10 gets full-screen ads that say buy a new PC already
Microsoft wants to be done with Windows 10 and have everyone move to Windows 11. It’s given the nine-year-old operating system an official expiration date next year, and it’s not shy about leaving those users behind. But its latest attempt to spur them on is its most brazen yet: full-page ads telling you to just go buy a Copilot+ laptop. This isn’t Microsoft’s first alert to users that Windows 10 is being retired, and it’s not even the first time it has resorted to full-screen alerts to drive the message home. But the newest flavor of the, ahem, helpful message is much more blatant about being an advertisement. It isn’t telling users to upgrade their current operating system, which would be a legitimate and fairly easy option for any machine sold in the last three years or so. It’s something that similar alerts offered earlier this year. Get Windows 11 Pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro Rather, this new alert spotted by The Verge is just a full-on advertisement for a brand-new laptop. Specifically, Microsoft’s own Surface Laptop line, though it’s merely pictured instead of named. “Want the ultimate Windows 11 experience?” asks the message. “Level up to the new Copilot+ PCs — the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever.” The message reminds you that Windows 10 will no longer be supported after October 2025. There are ways around that, but they’re expensive and temporary. Microsoft seems increasingly insistent — or possibly desperate — to get users off the older operating system. While Microsoft tells users that they’re running out of time, you might say the same for the company itself. Less than a year away from its ultimatum, just under 61 percent of Windows machines are still running Windows 10 while Windows 11 only makes up about 35 percent. The numbers are shifting — six months ago, Windows 10 was almost 70 percent of the Windows market — but it’s a slow drift. Let’s compare that to the same figures for Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, respectively, a year before Windows 8.1 was retired for Windows 10. According to Statcounter, at the same point in January 2017, Windows 8.1 was just 9.65 percent of the market while Windows 10 was 32.84 percent. There’s an X factor here in Windows 7, which was still running on an astonishing 47.46 percent of machines. It would take another year for Windows 10 to overtake it. Microsoft has had a tumultuous time with the last few major releases of Windows, even while it maintains its dominance of the desktop and laptop market. In brief, people hated Windows Vista, loved Windows 7, hated Windows 8, tolerated the less-radical Windows 8.1, and loved the more conventional and powerful Windows 10 again. I wouldn’t say that people hate Windows 11, but it’s definitely gotten a much colder reception than its predecessor due to some major interface shifts and a lot more in-your-face advertising and promotion. The forced integration of Copilot AI features is also turning off a lot of power users. Microsoft probably feels comfortable trying to strong-arm users off its older OS — it’s no stranger to doing that, after all. But 2024 is a very different time than 2017. A lot of users (possibly even the majority?) now interact with their phones more than their primary PCs, and both Macs and Chromebooks are more competitive. Microsoft still has a stranglehold on the business market, but general consumers have a lot more options in a lot more form factors. I wonder if trying to nag people off of an OS they like and onto one they don’t is the wisest move.

This giant LG 240Hz OLED ultrawide monitor is $700 off right now
Oh boy. We’re just over a week away from Black Friday and the OLED monitor deals are starting to pop out of the ground. We’ve seen multiple stores offering 27-inch gaming OLEDs for as little as $500, but if you want something bigger, Best Buy has this 45-inch LG ultrawide OLED monitor for $1,000. That’s an amazing $700 off its original price. The LG UltraGear 45GS96QB is a unique design. Other ultrawide monitors in this size range tend to go with doubled-up resolutions, but this one has the semi-standard 3440×1440, so it’s basically stretching a 34-inch display to a 45-inch frame. Depending on how you prefer to play, that’s either very weird or very smart — you get a physically larger picture without the big frame rate hit you’d see from, say, a 5120×1440 option. And you’ll want those frames. With its 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time, plus compatibility with both AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync, this thing is made for gamers. It doesn’t skimp on connections either, with DisplayPort, double HDMI, and USB-C video with 65 watts of power output to charge a laptop. It can even function as a decent console display with an included remote control. I’ve seen this monitor at Best Buy retail stores, so there seem to be lots of units on hand. It’s available to pick up today at my nearby store… and you might want to try to do the same since it’s showing a massive $200 delivery charge. (To be fair, it is an enormous monitor.) If I had to guess, I’d say this price is likely to remain good through Black Friday, but stock at nearby stores might sell out fast. Take $700 off this 45-inch LG OLED gaming monitorBuy now at Best Buy Looking for other Black Friday monitor deals? Be sure to check out our roundup of early Black Friday deals on monitors.