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9 Jul 2025

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Senior doctors' union welcomes Health NZ U-turn on axing Wellington Hospital maternity beds
Health NZ says it will no longer go ahead with a trial to use maternity and gynaecology beds for emergency department overflow.

This 16-inch Asus laptop with 16GB of RAM is just $450
It’s hard to find an affordable laptop to recommend these days, since I consider 16GB of RAM the minimum to run Windows 11 smoothly. If you want a roomy screen on top of that, fahgeddaboudit… unless you happen to be shopping during Amazon’s Prime Day sale. Right now there’s an Asus Vivobook 16 that fits the bill for just $449.99, over $100 off. The Vivobook 16 is definitely on the budget side of things, but with a 13th-gen Intel Core i5 processor, it’s not lacking in punch. 16GB of RAM — again, my personal minimum for a Windows laptop — and 512GB of storage aren’t anything to sneeze at, either. But if you’re looking at this laptop in particular versus some of the alternatives, you want that 16-inch, 1920×1200 screen. It’s not the most pixels around, and at 60Hz it won’t wow anyone for gaming, either. But the extra space is great for anyone who tends to squint at the smaller screens on ultraportable machines. That extra size also means a backlit keyboard with a full number pad, nice for those of you who spend a lot of time in spreadsheets, not to mention a decent array of ports. Just one USB-C and HDMI port, but there are three USB-A ports, making quick attachments for flash drives super easy–barely an inconvenience. But be aware that at over four pounds, this thing isn’t exactly a featherweight, and a small-ish battery and large screen mean you’ll want to keep your charger handy. This laptop won’t blow away anyone in terms of raw power, and I’d go with a more recent AMD model if you want more gaming options. But for handling basic web browsing, video, and office stuff, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better deal on Prime Day. That said, if this one isn’t quite what you’re looking for, here are the rest of the deals from Amazon and beyond. Get an Asus laptop with 16GB of RAM for $450View Deal

Kids in crisis and a system buckling under pressure
As mental health data shows children being turned away from specialist care, in Dunedin, one service is seeing the fallout.

New KiwiRail director Scott O'Donnell linked to NZ First donation, government loan
Scott O'Donnell is one of the four directors of Dynes Transport Tapanui, which donated $20,000 to Winston Peters' party in 2024.

Ugreen’s $160 Thunderbolt dock deal is the best I’ve seen today
Prime Day deals on docking stations have been leaner this year than usual, probably constrained by concerns about foreign tariffs. But one Thunderbolt 4 dock I’ve found has a Prime Day deal you should be interested in, from a reputable manufacturer. The Ugreen Revodok Max 208 8-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 dock is on sale from Amazon for $159.99, 36 percent off for Prime Day. I usually expect Thunderbolt docking stations to ship for over $200, and $250 isn’t unusual, either. Ugreen might not be a name you’re familiar with, but it has an excellent reputation among dock enthusiasts. Our sister site TechAdvisor reviewed this specific dock, and assigned it four out of five stars. I reviewed the slightly larger Ugreen Revodok Max 213 myself, and I’ve also reviewed other Ugreen Revodok docks as part of our recommended docking stations. (It’s a good sign for you when we characterize a product as “overpriced,” as a Prime Day deal makes it even better!) The Max 208 includes three USB-A ports as well as a gigabit Ethernet connection, foregoing some of the other niceties (an SD card reader, for example) that accompany some more full-featured, expensive docks. There’s a slight catch: The Max 208 is technically a Thunderbolt hub, which means that it offers three Thunderbolt 4 outputs as well as a Thunderbolt 4 input cable from your laptop. All that means in the real world is that you’ll have to supply your own cables to the monitor, whatever those might be. If your display includes a USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 input and it includes the correct cable, you’re fine. If it includes just an HDMI or DisplayPort, you’ll have to buy a separate cable to connect them. Again, this isn’t a big deal. I use uni’s high-speed USB-C to HDMI cable myself, and they’re $13 for Prime Day — so it’s a bit more, but not too much. While Ugreen is a Chinese manufacturer and could be subject to tariffs, the current administration has paused its tariffs with China. The Max 208 has also been out for a while, which means that Amazon could have accumulated a stockpile before all this tariff nonsense began being applied. In any event, I was able to put the dock into my cart without seeing anything about tariffs at all. While you’re here, you might as well check out the best Prime Day tech deals we found and the really hot discounts our team has dug up in our Prime Day live blog. Grab this Prime Day deal on Ugreen's Revodok Max 208 dock for $159.99 at AmazonBuy now at Amazon