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15 Jul 2025   
  
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This fast USB-C wall charger with retractable cable is so cheap right now
If you missed out on all those amazing Prime Day deals we saw on chargers last week, don’t worry—there are still amazing deals available. For instance, this Ugreen Nexode 3-in-1 charger has a 35% discount and you can snag it for just $19.49 on Amazon right now. This awesome device can charge three devices simultaneously with a maximum 45W output for fast charging, but that’s not what makes it stand out. What I really love about it is that it has a built-in retractable USB-C cable that stretches out up to 2.3 feet in length. You can take this with you anywhere and never worry about packing a cable with it. In addition to the cable, it also has two other USB-C ports (you will need separate cables for those). When charging more than one device at a time, the 45W throughput will get split between all the ports being used—but the retractable cable will still deliver 30W, so make sure to prioritize that one over the other two USB-C ports. Between the built-in retractable USB-C cable, the fast charging speed, the compact size for portability, and the foldable prongs for safe traveling, this thing is awesome… and it’s a heck of a deal now that it’s available for just $19.49 on Amazon. Get it on sale while you can! This fast 3-device USB-C charger with retractable cable is 35% offBuy now at Amazon 
© 2025 PC World 2:45am 

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This SSD will literally self-destruct in 10 seconds
Data security has never been more important… and never been easier to mess up. You probably know that simply deleting your files isn’t really enough to “destroy” them—a basic tech support worker might be able to recover them, while a forensic analyst certainly could. TeamGroup is hoping to market a new “self-destructing” SSD to those who need their data absolutely, completely destroyed on demand. The P250Q-M80 solid-state drive (spotted by VideoCardz.com) features a “one-click data destruction” tool, which includes a dedicated circuit that will just straight-up destroy the drive’s flash memory at the press of a button. And that’s no turn of phrase: you can literally wire up this feature to an actual button—one that’s completely separate from your computer—to manually initiate the destruction process. Its progress will be read out on a series of LEDs, and it should keep working even if the system loses access to electricity in the middle of the process. An official video from the Computex YouTube channel shows the feature in action, with a 10-second hold of an external button physically destroying the NAND chips. There’s also a bit of smoke coming off the drive, though I honestly don’t know if that’s real or a bit of Mission: Impossible-inspired showmanship. The drive features all the conventional bells and whistles of a secure Gen 4 SSD, including slower methods of permanent data erasure that don’t actually brick the drive. But TeamGroup reckons that this functionality will be useful for defense or automation customers. And if I may wax editorial, I’m sure there are plenty of people who have an (ahem) interpretive approach to the law who might be interested in it, too. At 7,000 MB/s read and 5,500 MB/s write, this drive is pretty zippy but nothing compared to the fastest on the market. And with a maximum capacity of 2TB, it won’t break any records there either. But we’re talking about very specialized hardware made for an incredibly specific purpose. In fact, it’s so specialized that TeamGroup isn’t saying how much it costs, though you’re welcome to inquire on the company’s website. 
© 2025 PC World 2:45am 

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OWC USB-C Travel Dock review: Compact professionalism on the go
At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Compact A good mix of ports Cons A little on the slow side USB-C cable feels a little short for comfort Our Verdict OWC’s USB-C Travel Dock provides a nice, compact, affordable alternative to a traditional USB-C dongle. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: OWC USB-C Travel Dock Retailer Price $34.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket OWC’s USB-C Travel Dock isn’t that different than any other hub or dongle, save for its shape: a small rectangular puck that might appeal more than other dongles. When you take your laptop on the road, I always advise taking along a USB-C hub or dongle, which typically attaches via a short cable. A dongle isn’t the most ergonomically convenient option; it sort of flops around your desk, dragged this way and that by any devices you connect it to. There’s a small cadre of devices that offer a different approach. One of my favorites, the now-discontinued IOGear Thunderbolt 3 Travel Dock, packed Thunderbolt power inside a compact little plastic slab. Another, the still-available $65 Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core, does this too. OWC’s USB-C Travel Dock doesn’t include Thunderbolt, but it retains that compact little form factor that I find surprisingly appealing. Measuring 3.2 inches to a side (and 0.9 inches thick), the OWC USB-C Travel Dock connects to your laptop via a short USB-C cable that measures a bit more than 6 inches. It stores itself neatly into the base of the Travel Dock itself, a nice touch. On the base of the aluminum chassis are four small shallow pads, used to hold the dock in place. The bottom of the OWC USB-C Travel Dock. The cord feels a bit short, but any longer and it couldn’t be stowed away.Mark Hachman / Foundry Technically, this is a 5-in-1 hub, as the name is a bit misleading. I typically equate “docking station” as a powered device; in this case, OWC’s device includes a USB-C port for input power only, accepting up to 100W. On either side of the dock sit a pair of clearly labeled 5Gbps USB-A ports. Otherwise, there’s an Ethernet port of undisclosed speed, an SD 4.0 card reader, and an HDMI 2.0 port. PCWorld’s roundup of the best USB-C hubs and dongles are based on my recommendations, and a USB-C hub is extremely price-sensitive. (Here’s how we test USB-C hubs at PCWorld.) No one wants to pay $100 when a $30 dongle will offer equivalent features. That’s what I like about OWC’s Travel Dock: At press time, it sits around $30. That’s right smack in the middle of my best picks, which range from $20 to $40. From a stability standpoint, I didn’t notice any problems while working with the OWC USB-C Travel Dock. It connected to various devices and a single display without issue. Ports are divided up among three sides of the OWC USB-C Travel Dock.Mark Hachman / Foundry OWC’s USB-C Travel Dock is a compact, affordable dock that provides tidy alternative to a traditional USB-C dongle. OWC’s USB-C Travel Dock performed flawlessly, streaming a 4K video across a 4K single screen without a hitch, at 60Hz. (It dropped 8 frames in about 72,000 frames overall.) I’ve seen USB-C docks try and output to two 4K displays, and sometimes struggle, so a single display is perfect. The dock didn’t even heat up to temperatures I’d find warm. Since the USB-C connection is 10Gbps from the laptop, the more data you push across the USB-C cable, the more congestion will occur. While simultaneously transferring data from an SSD and while streaming a 4K video, I noticed evidence of congestion in hitches and stuttering. That’s to be expected, however. As the icon indicates, the USB-C port on OWC’s USB-C Travel Dock is for power only.Mark Hachman / Foundry PCMark returned a score of 97.45MB/s while a test SSD was connected. That’s slower than I expected, though I wasn’t sure if OWC’s dock would deliver performance comparable to the Dockcase Smart USB-C Hub 10-in-1 Explorer Edition, which delivered performance of about 130MB/s, accompanied by some stability problems. I have to mark down for that, but otherwise OWC’s USB-C Travel Dock ran smoothly, cooly, and affordably. I recommend it. 
© 2025 PC World 2:45am 

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