It's easy to get excited about all the new portable devices, but there's always the lingering fear of what they're like to repair. Sure, that shiny new tablet or laptop looks good now, but when something goes kaput in the near future, can you fix it yourself? If you can't, can your local repair store do it? Or do you have to give up and ship it to the manufacturer? If reparability is important to you, you'll be pleased to know that the new Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 both scored highly on iFixit.

No one likes slow internet. Whether you're working on an important project, dealing with work calls, gaming, or watching your favorite movies, bad internet can ruin the whole experience. Now, you could go all out and buy a new Wi-Fi 7 router, get Gigabit internet, and completely overhaul your home network. But let's be real here, that's not always a realistic or affordable option.

Last week, someone made a tool to strip the Microsoft Edge browser of its unnecessary capabilities, and it's one of the most exciting things that happened last week. In addition, the same week saw Microsoft quietly updating its roadmap website with new Microsoft 365 features.

Can you imagine what the mobile phone market would have looked like if Windows Phone was still a thing? With Apple Intelligence and Google Gemini battling it out in the mobile market, Windows' Copilot+ service could have offered a third option in an AI-saturated market. Unfortunately, all we can do is imagine what Windows Phone in 2024 would have looked like, much like how someone on X posted a full range of mockups showing us the device we never got.

Troubleshooting issues in Windows 11, unfortunately, will be part of the experience of using a laptop or a desktop. Some issues are certainly more annoying than others. One category that always irritates me is anything to do with networking, as it can take multiple troubleshooting steps to resolve even basic issues. Maybe you've upgraded your Wi-Fi router, or set up a mesh network, and you've noticed that Windows is saying it could not automatically detect this network's proxy settings. Or, perhaps you've been using your laptop at school or work, and received this error when connecting back to your home network. Whatever the circumstances, this issue can be fixed fairly quickly, and I've highlighted the most useful troubleshooting steps below.

We've seen the need for USB docks and hubs grow drastically over the last decade as devices embrace the Type-C port instead of a variety of dedicated ports. Dockcase is one company that's trying to make USB-C hubs that stand out from the rest, and it's doing so by including a screen on many of its products. To date, many of the Dockcase accessories we've reviewed have fallen short in one way or another. That changes with the Dockcase Studio, which has a level of polish we haven't really seen from a Dockcase hub yet. It's still launching as a Kickstarter project, and has a high MSRP of $199. But there's a lot to like about the Dockcase Studio, especially if you're a creator working with photos and videos.

The PC industry is no stranger to shooting itself in the foot, especially when it comes to launching inconsequential or downright terrible products. But, some scandals go beyond disappointing products into the realm of unbelievably bad decisions, drawing universal ire from the community and industry, entering the record books in the most infamous of ways.

Remember when you could use a Local account on Windows without a problem? Microsoft added a way to sign into your PC with a Microsoft account, which began the company's crusade to get people off of using Local accounts. Now, the company has doubled down on its stance by removing a guide informing users on how to convert a Microsoft account into a Local one.

Although Samsung has released the new Galaxy S24 series, there are still plenty of reasons you still might want to pick up a Galaxy S23. For one, it's going to get the same new Galaxy AI features coming to the newer phones.

People really, really want Wordpad back. When Microsoft released Windows 11 24H2, it added a few new features and removed some old ones, including getting rid of the free word processor that has been around for years. Notepad has already superseded Wordpad, and there are plenty of other free word processors out there you can use instead, but people aren't happy with letting Wordpad go just yet. Someone has found a way to bring Wordpad back onto Windows 11 24H2, and you can do the same if you want this member of the Windows old guard back.