For eight grueling months leading up to the end of last year, engineers from Microsoft and Nvidia worked side by side from the silicon bootstrap level upward. And the goal? Making Windows 11 play nice with an unprecedented architectural shift: an Arm-based CPU sharing massive unified memory with a desktop-class Nvidia RTX GPU.

And then, the first RTX Spark machine finally booted. The red LED lit up, and as Microsoft's Principal Product Manager, Peter Dawoud, recalls it: “half of Santa Clara was jumping.” This was a huge undertaking, but now the real work begins: fine-tuning everything.

RTX Spark isn’t just another laptop sticker; it pushed Microsoft to fundamentally overhaul five foundational subsystems inside Windows 11 to bridge the gap between low-power Arm efficiency, top-tier AAA gaming, and local agentic AI.

I spoke to Dawoud about the software underpinning Team Green’s hardware because, as he said, “Windows kind of had to get all these subsystems right all at the same time, so that you can enjoy an RTX Spark device and take the most advantage out of it.”

A Prism Emulator overhaul

Take it from someone who has watched the many attempts to run Windows on ARM chips (and covered the Snapdragon X Elite launch): emulation has always had an Achilles’ heel when it comes to gaming: micro-stuttering and frame pacing.

“When you're playing video games, it's not just about your average FPS. 1% lows, stuttering is really critical, and your CPU actually plays a very big role in stuttering control,” Dawoud explained.

While average frame rates look acceptable, CPU timing can get erratic when you try to emulate a game and play it at the same time, which can make fast-paced gaming feel jerky. When somebody buys an Nvidia laptop in October, the chances are likely that they will want to play games on it — it’s an RTX GPU after all.

So work needed to be done, and Microsoft has overhauled the Prism emulation layer for RTX Spark’s pipelines. By shoring up how tasks are assigned to each of the CPU’s threads, frame rates are much more stable in my testing, and the improvement over past versions is night and day.

UI polish & the agentic future

If you’re going to make what I believe could be a MacBook Pro killer, you need to make sure the UI is ready for power users as well as casual users. And the mission in Dawoud’s mind to do this is clear: “make the OS kind of get out of the way, for you to do the work that you want to do.”

Microsoft is cleaning up Windows 11 for this kind of user: native taskbar customization, customizable notifications, killing unwanted widgets, and remembering displays you connect to—to preserve specific screen layout settings.

Then we turn our attention to the “reinvent the PC” part of the RTX Spark, which comes down to local agentic AI. I saw a demo of Hermes Agent connected to a user’s Google account that acted like his personal chief of staff: setting an agenda for the day, drafting email responses in Gmail, and updating a project tracker in Google Docs. And it all happened on-device without a single bit of cloud AI.

But without guardrails, this could get scary. “Having an agent that you can't control is probably the thing you don't want,” he stated. So the answer is Microsoft Extension Containers (MXC) — isolated sandboxes for your local models to act across your desktop securely without sensitive system control leaking.

Killing OEM bloatware

It’s always been a dream of mine to have a laptop that doesn’t come packed with OEM-specific power management software or an antivirus scanner. While this may not fix the latter, it goes a long way toward killing the need for the former.

Dawoud emphasized the need to eliminate the clunky tug-of-war between Windows and external software. Currently, there are several ways to tweak power management across different apps, but RTX Spark uses the open-source Modern Power and Thermal Framework—letting Windows natively control all thermal and power tuning.

“Users, when they want to set the best performance, they can do it in Windows, and they'll know that the OEM's tuning for best performance has now been set,” he said. “They don't need to go to another app and be like, 'Okay, is that app saying good performance and Windows is saying good performance at the same time?'”

This also helps these laptops maintain the same performance on and off the charger.

The UMA secret

On paper, a Unified Memory Architecture (UMA) sounds great — a big pool for both the CPU and monstrous GPU to dip into at leisure, and take however much (or little) they need. But in reality, CPUs and GPUs digest memory completely differently.

CPUs crave small memory chunks (4-kilobyte pages) to distribute tasks across their many cores. They take a pizza, pull all the ingredients off of it, and share them around. GPUs, however, take that entire pizza, fold it in half, and eat it taco-style. They need massive blocks (up to 2-megabyte pages) to plow through parallel 3D rendering or AI tasks.

“RTX Spark has a very powerful GPU, so making sure that we give it as much memory as possible when it needs it, but also give it the right page sizes, is really critical,” Dawoud commented.

So Microsoft's fix is to add variable page sizing directly to the memory manager. This is a bit complex, but it means Windows can dynamically read the pages of data flowing through and send them to the right places—the 2MB to the GPU and 4KB to the CPU simultaneously.

“Optimizing that is the way you can weaponize the entire stack to get the most performance out of it,” He emphasized.

Taming Nvidia’s custom CPU cores

Unlike Qualcomm’s standardized Snapdragon X chips, Nvidia’s 18- and 20-core Grace CPUs use a proprietary cluster arrangement of performance and efficiency cores to maximize speed while delivering all-day battery life.

Dawoud explained that Nvidia's core configuration is entirely unique, and “previous Arm cores that have run on Windows are not like that.”

Now, historically, supporting an exotic CPU layout required rewriting the entire kernel underpinning Windows — a risky move for sure. But Windows 11 has a new profiling stack that can tune itself dynamically on the fly, meaning the scheduler that throws tasks everywhere can adapt to Nvidia’s unique chip here without breaking legacy compatibility.

The PC has finally grown up

The 14-year partnership between Microsoft and Nvidia finally feels like it is paying off. Dawoud pointed out that this wasn't a sudden alliance — the journey started over a decade ago with the Tegra-powered Surface RT.

But this specific launch represents a fundamental shift in how the two giants collaborate. By letting Microsoft engineers rebuild the OS from the silicon bootstrap level upward, RTX Spark gave Windows the foundation it needed to finally make Arm-based PC gaming a reality.

Microsoft and Nvidia haven’t just bolted a GPU onto an Arm processor; they’ve rewritten the rulebook beneath the surface. This is a huge moment for both companies, and if Windows on Arm succeeds where previous attempts faltered, it will all be traced back to that one moment Microsoft spent eight agonizing months building the foundation to make it feel effortless.

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The next Xbox system might not be a single console but a family of devices. That’s not wild speculation, as Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has now hinted at this possibility.

In an interview with BBC News during Gamescom 2026 (via Digital Trends), Asha Sharma said that Project Helix, which is the codename for the next Xbox console, is a “great family of devices.” Now, you can’t have a family of one, so Sharma’s statement heavily suggests that we could see more than one Helix device.

We’ve previously reported that Project Helix could be more akin to a gaming PC than a console, and that Xbox is also reportedly manufacturing its own in-house handheld system. Combine those reports with Sharma’s statement about a family of devices, and we start getting a clearer picture of Microsoft’s potential next-gen plans.

Play anywhere: The next generation

Xbox’s “Play Anywhere” initiative currently lets you buy a digital game once and play it on your Xbox console, Windows PC, and supported handhelds like the Asus ROG Xbox Ally. If there is a family of Helix devices, then it seems Xbox will bring the existing Play Anywhere initiative to the next generation.

So what could this “family” of systems consist of? The Project Helix console could provide the traditional living room experience, while an Xbox-developed handheld could let you take your games on the go. That’s something that currently exists if you own an Xbox Series X and Asus’ Xbox-centric handheld, but what if Xbox goes beyond even this?

Reports suggest the Helix will be more like a PC, but what if that system is a higher-end model for hardcore players with money to spare? That’s speculation on my part, but if we’re talking about a family of devices, I have to imagine there could be more than just two systems. Given how Xbox already caters to console, handheld, and PC gamers, it’s not outlandish to wonder whether the Helix will exist for all of those customers.

All-digital future?

Ever since Sony announced it would stop manufacturing physical discs starting in 2028, many have wondered whether Xbox would follow suit with an all-digital initiative. Asha Sharma hasn't directly answered this question, but if Xbox really wanted to stick it to Sony and potentially win over some of Sony’s disgruntled customers who want physical media, adding a disc drive to the Helix would be a savvy move.

Xbox recently launched its disc-to-digital program, which lets you convert eligible physical game discs into permanent digital licenses linked to your Microsoft account. If the company wants to continue this beyond Xbox Series X systems, it would make sense for Helix to either include a disc drive or for Xbox to release a detachable disc drive similar to the one for PS5 Pro.

It’s still anyone’s guess whether Project Helix will be an all-digital system. Microsoft is still largely a software company, so going all-digital seems logical. That said, if it plans to keep releasing gaming hardware, it would be smart for Helix to support discs in some fashion.

Outlook

Naturally, we don’t have firm details about what Project Helix will be, so we’ll have to hold tight until Sharma or anyone else from the Xbox camp decides to share more. Regardless, it seems Xbox could be trying something relatively unusual and potentially game-changing for its next major console launch.

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For years, my ultimate computing friction point has been the two-device compromise: I buy a thin and light MacBook for productivity, and keep a massive gaming rig at home for play. But after going hands-on with six Nvidia RTX Spark laptops launching later this year, I can confidently say that era is over.

Put simply, this is shaping up to be a game-changer. Packing 6,144 CUDA cores into thin and light notebooks like these, it’s bridging the gap between serious productivity and high-end gaming. And crucially, game developers are already jumping on board to support it — ensuring vital anti-cheat software compatibility is ready to go.

But packing a powerful GPU into a sleek chassis doesn’t automatically make it a great gaming machine. Other factors are just as vital like how the keyboard feels, how loud the fans are and display quality.

I spent extensive time playing on six different models, and here’s my definitive RTX Spark gaming tier list, ranked from worst to best.

A dream for gamers

Before I get there, though, this isn’t my first rodeo with Spark. I did get to try the chip out at Computex this year (on my Birthday of all days). And since that was a much earlier version of what I saw here at Gamescom, here are some general updates:

• More laptops, more fun: At Computex, only the Surface Laptop Ultra was turned on and usable. However, this time around they were all active and usable.
• Backing up their claims: Nvidia is touting 1440p gaming at over 100 FPS. Of course, with no visible FPS counter, I can’t confirm that specifically, but to the eye, all the games were running significantly over 60 FPS — settings at a range of medium to high (depending on the title) and DLSS turned on.
• So many developers on board: Turns out if you’re Nvidia, you have a fair bit of influence to get publishers on board. Windows on Arm is getting a shot in the arm thanks to anti-cheat support and a massive number of studios jumping on board to work on Arm-native versions of their games.
• Emulation looks much better: The fact Pragmata was even running through the Windows Prism emulation layer to make it play nice on an Arm chip was quite the achievement at Computex. But there definitely was a little bit of fuzziness to the gameplay looking back. Now, with four games including 007 First Light all emulated, they’re all crystal clear and playing great with no discernible latency.

Put simply, things have definitely moved on since June, and anything with that RTX Spark sticker on the body is going to be a mighty tasty machine to get, come this fall. That being said, I’m here to talk about how some of these specific laptops fare for gaming on a build level — not a chip level.

RTX Spark laptop (for gaming) tier list: Specs

C-tier: A laptop wearing a suit

Now don’t get me wrong, the Dell XPS 16 is an undeniably good-looking laptop that will easily elicit an “oh that’s a cool thing” reaction when you pull it out in a meeting. The utilitarian body is sleek and that Tandem OLED display is super vivid.

But is this a safe space? Because that keyboard is problematic for gaming to put it mildly. It’s a flat chiclet board with zero gaps between the keys. Doom: The Dark Ages exposed the gaming flaws of a keyboard like this, as the lack of key definition had me panickedly looking down mid-battle to ensure I was on the WASD.

Like I said earlier this year, with a little time you can get used to this for productivity. But for gaming, it's not quite there.

B-Tier: Productivity first, gaming second

These two are quite a bit better for gaming on an ergonomic level, but aren’t all the way there compared to some superior tactility further up this list.

First up is the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: packing a delicious 15-inch mini-LED PixelSense Ultra touchscreen display with 3:2 aspect ratio. That taller screen may be more productivity-focused, but it’s gonna be great for RTS games too.

But again, the keyboard falters here slightly. Not that it’s bad, it’s a great-feeling tactile set of keys for productivity for sure. But for gaming, the dish of each key is far too subtle and the sharpness of those edges do cut into your wrists. So it firmly sits in the “it’s okay” category for gameplay.

Slightly better for play is my original personal favorite from Computex — the Asus ProArt P14. Basically, Asus understood the assignment and gave me a Windows equivalent of a MacBook Pro in its design and ergonomics. The keyboard’s better here for demanding gameplay too, and that 3K OLED display is mesmerizing.

But what do you get when you cram this much power into a small body? Loud fans to get all the heat out. To my ears at least, this was the loudest laptop in the testing room. It’s a great hybrid machine, but make sure you get a good gaming headset to drown out that fan noise.

A-Tier: Great all-rounders

Now we’re moving closer to the elite if gaming is a priority for your RTX Spark machine. The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9n boasts a great premium design with another vivid OLED display.

For gameplay, there are very few genuine downsides here — capped off by Lenovo’s trademark excellent keyboard ergonomics. The only reason it’s here in the A-tier is because one company has pulled a blinder with its board (more on that in a moment).

Then there’s the MSI Prestige N16 Flip AI+. Yes, the keyboard is a little too heavy on the RGB lighting for my personal taste, but it feels good to tap away on, the OLED screen is a lovely flash flood of color, and it’s a 2-in-1 form factor that allows for tent mode gaming with a controller. That’s something none of these other options can do.

S-Tier: The unexpected champion

Which leaves one: the HP OmniBook Ultra 16. When I first saw this laptop at Computex, it looked like a decidedly “just fine” device. I expected it to just be another laptop more suited to work over play. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

There’s of course a crispy and gorgeous OLED panel here that moves fluidly, but that’s not the real champion feature here. That belongs to the keyboard, which elevated this machine to the top of the list. It’s a chiclet board, but the well defined keys and travel make it feel almost mechanical-like. It feels fantastic during gameplay, and with slick stylings to the chassis, it’s the ultimate stealth gaming laptop.

Plenty to look forward to

The RTX Spark lineup proves that the days of compromising between a sleek daily driver and a capable gaming machine are finally coming to a close. These six distinct options will hit the market soon, and while I can scrutinize them from a gaming perspective, they’re meant for so much more.

As CEO Jensen Huang said himself when I got the chance to talk to him: “we’re focused on reinventing the PC.” There’s going to be something for everyone in this range. So I have to ask — if you’ve got the budget for one of these notebooks, which one would you spend your money on?

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In a new essay published Tuesday, Bill Gates argues that society needs to start making some difficult decisions about artificial intelligence now, rather than waiting until the technology is capable of doing substantially more of our work.

One of his most interesting suggestions is something he calls “Human Reserved.” The idea is essentially that certain jobs or activities would remain in human hands, even if AI eventually becomes perfectly capable of doing them.

“We should designate some jobs as Human Reserved,” Gates writes.

It's an interesting concept considering much of the conversation about AI and jobs has focused on what AI can replace. Gates is asking a different question: What shouldn't we allow it to replace and what should we maintain as human?

Some jobs may be worth keeping human

In his essay, Gates compares the idea to setting aside land as a nature reserve. We don't preserve a forest because humans are incapable of building on it. We preserve it because we've decided there's value in leaving it alone.

He argues we may eventually need to make similar decisions about work.

Child care is one example Gates has raised. Even if AI and robotics eventually reach a point where machines can safely look after children, parents may still decide that caring for kids is something humans should do.

Jury service is another. Those examples make “Human Reserved” sound relatively straightforward, but the idea gets considerably more complicated when you start applying it to professions that AI is already entering.

Education and health care, for example, could use AI while still keeping people at the center. A teacher might use AI to create personalized lessons or identify where a student is struggling without handing the entire classroom over to an AI tutor. A doctor could use an AI system to analyze medical information while remaining responsible for the patient's care.

In other words, reserving something for humans doesn't necessarily mean banning AI from it. It could mean deciding where AI remains a tool rather than becoming the worker.

Gates doesn't think retraining everyone will be enough

Gates' argument goes beyond the prediction that AI will eliminate some jobs while creating others.

For years, one of the most reassuring responses to fears about automation has been that workers can simply retrain for whatever jobs come next. Gates isn't convinced that will be enough this time.

If AI systems and robots eventually become capable of performing an enormous range of physical and cognitive work, there may not always be another economically necessary human job waiting on the other side of retraining.

That's a much bigger problem than learning how to use ChatGPT to do your job better. As Gates argues, governments may eventually need to intervene in other ways, including potentially taxing AI tokens or robots. The idea would be to change some of the economic incentives around replacing workers while generating money that could help people affected by automation.

Those proposals are a long way from becoming policy, and Gates isn't presenting “Human Reserved” as a fully formed regulatory framework.

The takeaway

AI capability shouldn't be the only test of where the future of work is headed. We've become accustomed to judging AI by capability such as can it write this? or can it diagnose that? And while every improvement gives us another demonstration of something AI can now do, the capability doesn't automatically answer whether we want AI doing it.

That's what makes Gates' “Human Reserved” idea interesting to me. It introduces a second test. We need to start asking do we want AI to do this for us? Frankly, believe those two questions have very different answers.

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This week two different Windows vulnerabilities were revealed that attack your PC from different angles. However, there is one unfortunate thread that connects them; both are capable of allowing a malicious actor to gain system privileges on your Windows device, and neither has been patched yet.

The flaws are a zero-day vulnerability that can circumnavigate a previous RoguePlanet and a new "Plug and Pwn" attack that emulates USB devices.

Read on to find out what each attack can do and how to potentially stay safe until they get patched.

Shieldbreak Zero-Day

The zero-day vulnerability was found by Nightmare Eclipse, a bug hunter who reportedly has major beef with Microsoft and no qualms sharing the latest vulnerabilities they've discovered before a patch has released.

The latest, dubbed ShieldBreak, can apparently get around the RoguePlanet patch and allows attackers to gain system privileges on patched Windows 10, Windows 11 and Windows Server system.

Per The Register, the exploit has been tested by other security researchers and confirmed.

ShieldBreak apparently uses a "user-mode callback hook" to change file contents during a Defender cloud-hydration scan via cfapi (Cloud Filter API)," according to security researcher Kevin Beaumont.

Basically, it uses Microsoft Defender, if enabled, when it runs a scan. Then the flaw can be exploited to gain System privileges. Another researcher, Will Dormann, says that Defender has to be active for the exploit to work.

How to stay safe from Shieldbreak

Until Microsoft patches this vulnerability, one way to stay safe is to disable Microsoft Defender.

If you think your system might be vulnerable, Kevin Beaumont did publish three detections that are supposed to be able to catch Shieldbreak in action. If you have the knowledge, you could try running them.

Plug and Pwn

The other flaw is a new "plug and pwn" disclosed by security researchers Alejandro Hernando and Borja Martinez (via Bleeping Computer) during the recent DEF CON 34 hacking conference. This vulnerability exploits how Windows identifies and automatically connects USB hardware, finds matching driver packages and then installs software as the Authority/System account.

Simply, the flaw emulates USB devices and can be used to force Windows to install vendor packages with exploitable components that can be used to gain system privileges on a Windows device.

Apparently, in some attacks, they didn't even require user interaction or physical USB hardware to gain access. This is enabled because Windows uses something called a co-installer, which automatically downloads and installs software and drivers when a new USB device is inserted in the computer.

This specific version is different from previous ones because it follows the Windows installation path and not something from a specific vendor. Notably, the remote attacks only seem to work on systems where USB redirection is enabled, which Alejandro Hernando said is common with virtual desktop environments.

Bleeping Computer gets far more granular if you're interested in how Hernando and Martinez discovered the flaw and the tools they used to instigate it.

How to stay safe from this USB attack

If you are concerned about this kind of attack and willing, you could enable a 'DisableCoInstallers' registry value. This prevents driver packages from utilizing co-installers during device installtion.

You can do this by searching for it in the Start menu or using the keyboard short cut of the Windows key +R. Then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Device Installer Registry key. Then add DWORD-32 value named DisableCoInstallers and set it to 1.

It doesn't totally eliminate plug and pwn attacks, but it could break some of them.

"In anything sensitive I'd pair it with device installation restrictions or hardware-ID allow-lists, and turn off PnP device redirection on RDP and VDI hosts that don't need it (`fDisablePNPRedir`)," Hernando told BleepingComputer.

It's a good reminder either way to make sure you're only plugging in trusted devices to your system or downloading software from official sources when you can to ensure the safety of what you're putting into your computer.

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It’s a little sad being a fan of tech these days. AI is consuming the world’s art and emotion and spitting out slop, and it’s driving up the price of just about every piece of consumer electronics as it does.

If you don’t need to upgrade your computer anytime soon, then you’re in a good spot - except Windows 11 is doing its damnedest to be a mess of Copilot and bugs. While Microsoft is moving to improve things (with Windows head honcho Pavan Davuluri promising big changes back in March), it feels as though we might be better off nuking the whole thing from orbit.

A bloated mess

In an update published last week, Davuluri shared a number of changes the team had made in the months since committing to improving Windows 11.

It’s well worth a read, but what strikes me are the elements that feel so foundational to Windows. Windows 11 is almost 5 years old, and yet the team is now working on a “faster and more dependable File Explorer” and allowing “more taskbar customization”.

In many ways, these feel like table stakes. These are things that should have been hammered home a long time ago, and it shows how disconnected from its consumers’ reality Microsoft is at this point. People have been using Windows 11 and calling for a smaller memory footprint for 8GB machines, and now Microsoft is finally on board.

The Copilot-addled, bloated mess that Windows 11 has become can no longer be considered the price to pay for a more modular, customizable OS than its Apple or Linux contemporaries.

My MacBook Air M3 is the device I reach for to do work, despite having a beefy gaming rig with more RAM than I know what to do with. It’s perhaps unsurprising that Microsoft can’t seem to pick a lane.

The company is all about AI now, but not long ago it was being able to run Android apps on Windows, before that it was mixed reality and before that it was Cortana.

The company keeps chasing trends while ignoring what many customers want: A steady, stable, secure OS.

Recent updates have helped fix those cracked foundations, but I fear Windows 11 might be too far gone, even with the upcoming option to uninstall AI models from Copilot+ PCs, the app toggles, and more.

I don't know if it can rebuild

Back in 2024, former Windows developer Andy Young showcased how even with 128GB of RAM, Microsoft’s Search Bar was a laggy mess and causing major issues when just trying to find something.

In the months that followed, Microsoft fixed it, but it took one of their own to put them on blast to achieve it. It’s almost as if the staff there aren’t using Windows 11 day-to-day; seeing adverts, the constant Copilot interjections, and more.

That makes me think that it’s run its race, and that the company is moving to Windows 12 (or at least thinking about it), almost certainly with a sizeable AI component.

One only has to look across the platform divide to see that Apple has taken its own kickings in recent years. Customers became so used to the thoughtful updates to macOS that something like the borders of windows not lining up was seen as a huge issue as part of the Liquid Glass rollout last year.

Windows 11’s modularity has always been one of its strengths: It’s a gaming platform, it’s a workspace, it’s somewhere you can install something for everything and get what you need done. But in recent years, it’s lost its way big time, and I feel like Microsoft simply doesn’t know how to turn this massive ship around without rebuilding it all from scratch.

But hey, those are just my thoughts. Do you agree with me? Or are you happy with the way Windows 11 is running for you? Drop me a message in the comments with your thoughts.

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You already know about Microsoft’s desperate ploys to get you to use Edge on Windows 11 — chances are you’re one of the folks who have gone through the test of patience to install Firefox or Google Chrome.

Well, new research by Mozilla reveals that the Redmond crew are not only still up to their old tricks, but getting worse. All kinds of “harmful design” shenanigans are at play here, in order to “not allow people to download and install an alternative browser, to set it as their default, or to continue using it as their default, without harmful interference.”

If only we could only get the same treatment as Windows users get in the EU...

Staying desperate

So what did the research find? Well, Mozilla discovered that a lot of the shady tricks Microsoft was called out for in the past are still happening:

• Visual interference: Searching for different browsers to download in Edge still brings up the “All you need is right here” banner, as well as a banner promoting the browser when you go to Chrome’s download page.
• Default browser selection trickery: There is a button at the top of the default apps screen to change to a different browser, but not every file type is switched over.
• Trick wording: Things like “Use Microsoft’s recommended browser settings,” “You’re almost done setting up your PC” and more still persist.
• Dark patterns: In the setup screens you normally see a few days later, Edge-preferential options are shown as big blue buttons, whereas keeping the same settings is usually smaller, greyed-out text.

And that’s just a few of the many different harmful patterns Mozilla found — including Copilot opening links in Edge instead of your default browser, pre-selecting checkboxes to sync data to Edge, and resetting it as the default browser when you migrate from Windows 10 to 11.

Just make a better browser

It screams “inferiority complex” if I’m being real, which is a shame because Edge is indeed a good browser. It runs on the same Chromium engine as Chrome (to support all the same extensions), but also has some efficiencies built into it to not drain the battery as badly.

But this aggressive lock-in, some high RAM resource usage in the background and the clutter of Copilot and MSN news does make it falter. It’s not like Microsoft doesn't have a history of doing this — they were taken to court over an antitrust lawsuit in 1998 for bundling Internet Explorer with Windows and making it difficult to install a competing browser.

The only difference now is that users are committed enough to jump through those hoops to get to their favorite browsers. I mean “Google Chrome” is one of the most searched terms on Bing after all!

If you want to compete, build something better. Don’t go about it this way.

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Most of today's AI assistants can use at least some customer conversations to improve future models, although the rules vary dramatically depending on which service you're using, whether you have a personal or business account, and which privacy settings you've enabled.

After reading about Google's latest changes around Search and AI training, I decided to spend some time checking the privacy controls for every major AI chatbot I use regularly.

I wanted to know exactly which companies actually make it easy to control how your data is used. I did the work so you don't have to — here's how they actually compare.

Not every AI company plays by the same rules

It's tempting to believe that all chatbots have similar privacy rules considering how similar they all seem. But behind the scenes, they're collecting and handling your data in very different ways.

Some make it easy to opt out of having conversations used to improve AI models. Others bury the controls several menus deep. And in some cases, there isn't a meaningful opt-out at all.

After comparing ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Meta AI and Grok, one thing became obvious: there is no industry standard for AI privacy.

ChatGPT: The most straightforward

The biggest surprise for me was ChatGPT. I was not expecting the settings to be as easy to understand. Quite the contrary, I expected the settings to be buried somewhere inside a privacy dashboard. Instead, they're right where most people would think to look.

Open Settings > Data Controls and you'll see a switch labeled "Improve the model for everyone."

Turn it off, and OpenAI says your future conversations won't be used to improve its models.

You can also use Temporary Chat, which doesn't save conversations to your history or use them for model training.

It took less than a minute to change. Whether you're comfortable sharing conversations or not, I appreciated how straightforward the process was.

Google Gemini: Transparent, but with a tradeoff

Google's controls weren't especially difficult to find either. Gemini Apps Activity lets you decide whether your conversations are stored and used according to Google's policies.

The catch is that disabling activity also changes how Gemini works. You'll lose saved chat history, and some personalized experiences disappear along with it. That's not necessarily a bad tradeoff, just something you'll have to weigh before making the switch.

As mentioned, Google recently confirmed that some Search interactions — including uploads used with AI-powered Search features, may contribute to improving its AI systems unless you disable the relevant activity settings.

Claude: Clear controls, with some fine print worth reading

Anthropic introduced a training opt-in for its consumer Claude products (Free, Pro and Max) in August 2025. Users were asked to decide whether their conversations could be used to improve future models, with a deadline to make their choice.

The setting lives under Settings > Privacy, where you'll find a toggle labeled "Improve Claude for everyone." Turn it off and Anthropic says your future conversations won't be used for model training.

Like ChatGPT, the change is forward-looking — it doesn't pull your data out of models that have already been trained. And if you leave the toggle on, Anthropic's retention period for that data extends from 30 days to up to five years.

There's also an Incognito mode, accessible via a ghost icon in the interface. Incognito conversations aren't used for training regardless of your main toggle setting, which is a useful option for one-off sensitive queries.

One thing worth noting: Anthropic's privacy policy includes a carve-out for conversations flagged by its safety classifiers. Even if you've opted out, flagged content may still be used to improve Anthropic's internal trust and safety systems. The policy doesn't define exactly what triggers a flag or commit to notifying users when one occurs.

Business and API users operate under separate commercial terms, and their data isn't used for model training by default.

Microsoft Copilot: It depends on which product you're using

Microsoft was the hardest to summarize because the answer changes depending on where you're using AI.

For the consumer Copilot experience (used with a personal Microsoft account), Microsoft does use conversation data — including voice interactions and uploaded files' context — to train its AI models by default.

However, an opt-out exists. On copilot.com or the desktop app, go to your profile icon > your profile name > Privacy >Training on conversation activity.

On mobile, the path is Menu > profile icon > Account > Privacy > Training on conversation activity. Opting out excludes your future conversations from model training.

One detail that separates Microsoft from the pack is that even if you don't opt out, Microsoft says personal identifiers are anonymized before data is used for training. Uploaded files themselves are never used for training and are deleted after 30 days.

For Microsoft 365 Copilot used through a work or school account, the picture is much cleaner. Microsoft explicitly states that enterprise data is not used to train its foundation AI models. Your organization's IT administrator controls the relevant settings, and users in those environments won't even see a training toggle.

The gap between these two experiences is significant because a personal user who doesn't dig into settings is opted in by default. An enterprise user is protected by contract. If you're using Copilot casually with a personal account, it's worth the two minutes to check.

Meta AI: No simple opt-out for most users

Meta AI is where the comparison gets uncomfortable. Unlike every other service on this list, Meta doesn't offer U.S. users a simple toggle to opt out of AI training. Your public posts, comments, captions and interactions with Meta AI across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp can all be used to train Meta's generative AI models.

EU and UK users have stronger protections, they can submit a formal objection through Meta's Privacy Center under GDPR rights, and Meta is required to review it.

But for users in the United States, the only available option is a third-party information form designed for cases where your personal data appeared in an AI-generated response. Meta doesn't guarantee it will honor these requests.

There's also no way to submit an opt-out request specifically for Meta AI interactions on WhatsApp. Meta says private messages aren't used for training, but any conversation you have directly with Meta AI can be.

Making your accounts private reduces your exposure, since Meta says it doesn't scrape private posts. But that's a blunt instrument, it changes your entire social media experience to address an AI training concern.

To make matters more complex, as of late 2025 Meta began using AI chat interactions for ad targeting across its platforms, with no opt-out available for that specific use.

Grok: An opt-out exists, but the scope is wider than you'd expect

Grok, built by xAI and integrated into X (formerly Twitter), does offer a training opt-out, but the situation is more complicated than it first appears because there are actually two separate data flows to manage.

First, there's your Grok conversation data. You can disable training use by going to Settings > Data Controls within Grok and turning off the relevant toggle. xAI has confirmed that once disabled, your future chats won't be used for model training.

Second, there's your X platform data. By default, your public posts, likes and interactions on X are also used to train Grok, regardless if you've ever opened the chatbot. To disable this, go to Settings and Privacy > Privacy and Safety on X and find the Grok data-sharing section.

Both settings need to be turned off separately. Disabling one doesn't affect the other.

That dual structure is the key difference between Grok and standalone chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude. Those services only train on what you tell them directly. Grok can train on everything you've ever posted publicly on X, and opting out doesn't retroactively remove data that's already been collected.

Grok also offers a Private Chat mode, where conversations aren't saved and are deleted within about 30 days, similar to incognito features on other platforms. But the broader X data pipeline makes the overall privacy picture murkier than the conversation-level toggle alone would suggest.

What I learned

At one end, ChatGPT and Claude offer clear, easy-to-find toggles that take under a minute to change. Google is similarly accessible but comes with a functional tradeoff. Microsoft splits the difference depending on whether you're a personal or enterprise user.

At the other end, Meta offers U.S. users no meaningful conversation-level opt-out, and Grok requires managing two separate settings across two different interfaces to fully limit your exposure.

As AI becomes part of everyday life, it's important to really understand the privacy settings. Choosing a chatbot may involve more than deciding which one writes the best email or creates the best image and come down to a much simpler question: Which company do you trust with your conversations and how hard do they make you work to answer that for yourself?

Let me know in the comments which chatbot you prefer and why.

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Good news for those of you who have yet to upgrade to Windows 11: You're going to get another year of reprieve.

Microsoft officially ended support for Windows 10 in October 2025, but you could sign up for the Extended Security Update (ESU) program, which will keep support going through October 13, 2026.

At that point, support was going to be cut off for good. However, that's changed thanks to a quiet change Microsoft introduced this week and spotted by GSMArena. The new end date has been extended to October 12, 2027.

RAM crisis relief

I can't find anything beyond the FAQ page, but Microsoft hasn't really promoted this update. The company is desparate for people to upgrade to Windows 11, something users have avoided because of core problems with the operating system.

Still, this is extra breathing room for people who haven't upgraded. Plus, it alleviates the need to purchase a new laptop, just as every tech company is raising prices due to the ongoing memory shortage.

PC makers have been ringing the warning bell since early 2026, with Lenovo saying "Buy it soon as you can" in February.

Apple just raised prices on its laptops and Microsoft hiked Xbox console prices for the third time in a year while blaming the memory shortage this week.

With purchasing power becoming untenable, even a year is a nice break.

How to sign up for the ESU

To sign up for the ESU program, your device needs to run Windows 10, version 22H2 Home, Professional, Pro Education or Workstations edition. It also needs to have the latest Windows update installed.

You need to have a Microsoft account that is an administrator.

There's no cost if you sync your PC settings. You can also redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points or make a one-time $30 purchase.

To get the ESU running you can go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update. If you meet the requirements you should see an Enroll Now button for ESU.

You can extend the ESU license on up to 10 devices.

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Three days ago in a sprawling interview with Entertainment Weekly, new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said, "gaming is unaffordable in many cases." Today, Xbox announced price hikes for its consoles, the third in the last year.

The increases don't go into effect until August, but it does hit 512GB models with a $100 bump, while 1TB consoles are going up $150. Xbox is also discontinuing its 2TB model.

The Xbox announcement takes a contrite tone and even says that the company "hoped another price increase would not be necessary" after last October's hike.

It all comes only a couple of weeks after a missive from Sharma and Xbox Studios head Matt Booty discussing how Xbox needed a reset, which was quickly followed by news of significant layoffs.

It's a worrisome sign that Xbox knows this will be a problem when most of the announcement is loaded with buy now, pay later and other financing options.

As with most price increase; blame AI

Since the end of 2025, the ongoing memory shortage has slowly but steadily affected every tech company in the world, from phones and laptops to gaming.

Apple, one of the last holdouts, also announced broad price increases today for every device the company makes. At the far end, one version of the flailing Vision Pro now costs $3,699. The lowest announced increase was a $70 bump for the Apple TV 4K, an aging device that many expect to be replaced this year.

Last year, it was the roller-coaster tariffs from the Trump administration that were to blame for varying increases. This year, every single price hike has blamed the memory shortage, which us and others have taken to referring to as RAMaggedon.

"Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x, and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027," Xbox's announcement reads. "The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles."

AI greed and the massive AI data center boom have been driving RAM and storage prices through the roof for months.

As an example, the WD Black m.2 SSD, a hard drive we recommend for upgrading your PS5's internal memory cost around $125 last June. It's on sale for Prime Day right now, but current prices have it at $250, a current low after the SSD hit nearly $300 in April.

Microsoft partly to blame

There are other companies to truly hold accountable for the memory crisis. Nvidia, OpenAI, and Google have made massive investments in what they call artificial intelligence.

But we can't absolve Microsoft (or Apple) as both companies, laggards in the headlong race toward AI, have also invested heavily in AI, with varying degrees of success.

Just this month at Microsoft Build 2026, the company spent the majority of the event discussing AI and "agentic" systems. Most of the work is business-focused, but it's clear AI is what has the company's attention right now. This is despite promises to pull back on stuffing Windows 11 with AI earlier in the year.

Gamers don't want it

Gamers on the whole are a capricious bunch, to put things nicely, but as a recent Game Oracle study found, they don't want AI. Titles with the AI-generated assets tag on Steam received 53% fewer ratings, indicating a lack of interest, and were more likely to be negatively reviewed.

Now, it's possible that AI is allowing more lazy developers to push out more slop, a veritable abyss that will seemingly never go away, AI or not.

Still, it speaks to a wider trend of consumers rejecting AI. Marketing Brew reports that 65% of respondents to a study said they never wanted to hear about AI again.

CBS News just reported today that despite humongous investments in AI, companies don't really have customers. That's both consumers and businesses that are discovering that firing workers for "AI solutions" has netted next to zero in returns.

Our friends at Tom's Hardware reported in February that two-thirds of customers reject AI on their devices.

Between increasing prices for the companies themselves and their customers rejecting their AI-focused products, there will be a breaking point. The question is, how close are we to reaching it?

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Training and running AI models requires enormous amounts of computing power, and keeping those powerful chips cool often means consuming large amounts of water. It's become a growing source of concern as tech companies build massive AI data centers across the United States.

Now NVIDIA says it has a solution. The company recently unveiled a new liquid-cooling system designed for its next-generation AI infrastructure that it claims could reduce cooling water consumption to nearly zero in certain environments.

The announcement arrives as public scrutiny of AI's environmental footprint continues to grow, with communities questioning whether new data centers are placing too much strain on local resources.

So what exactly is NVIDIA proposing, and does it really solve AI's water problem?

Why AI data centers use so much water

AI systems run on specialized chips called GPUs, many of which are designed by NVIDIA. These chips generate enormous amounts of heat when processing AI workloads.

Historically, many data centers have relied on cooling towers that use water evaporation to remove heat. While effective, the process can consume millions of gallons of water annually.

As AI models become larger and more powerful, cooling demands have increased alongside them, turning water consumption into one of the most controversial aspects of the AI boom.

The issue has become especially sensitive in regions already facing water shortages or drought conditions.

NVIDIA's new approach

According to NVIDIA, its latest cooling system circulates warm liquid directly around AI hardware at temperatures reaching approximately 45°C (113°F).

Rather than relying on traditional cooling towers, the warmer liquid can be paired with dry coolers, which function more like large radiators and do not require significant water consumption.

NVIDIA says this could reduce facility cooling water use from roughly 2.6 million gallons per megawatt annually to nearly zero in favorable climates.

The company also argues that operating at higher liquid temperatures improves overall energy efficiency while creating opportunities to reuse waste heat elsewhere.

In other words, NVIDIA's goal is o redesign the entire thermal management process around water conservation.

The important caveat

The company's claims primarily address one specific category of water use: cooling. And while that matters, cooling isn't the only way AI consumes water.

Water is also used throughout the broader AI supply chain, including electricity generation, semiconductor manufacturing and data center construction.

Even if cooling water usage falls dramatically, AI systems still carry an environmental footprint beyond the walls of the data center itself.

Of course, there's also the question of scale. AI demand continues to grow at an extraordinary pace. Critics argue that efficiency gains can sometimes be offset by rapid expansion, meaning total resource consumption may continue rising even as individual facilities become more efficient.

Why this matters

The industry's largest companies are now under pressure to demonstrate that future AI growth can occur without placing unsustainable demands on water and energy resources. NVIDIA is not alone here — Microsoft has made similar zero-water cooling claims for its newest data centers.

NVIDIA isn't claiming that AI no longer has an environmental footprint. Instead, it's targeting one of the most visible concerns surrounding modern data centers: water-intensive cooling system

Whether NVIDIA's approach becomes the new standard remains to be seen, but it offers a glimpse of how the industry may attempt to address one of its most persistent criticisms.

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Now that Microsoft Build 2026 is in the rearview, we have a much clearer picture of the future of Windows 11. Agentic AI systems! Smart work ID badges! Always-on personal assistants! The path ahead for Microsoft’s current operating system will clearly feature AI in some form or fashion at every turn. But what about Windows 12?

Though it wasn’t a surprise that Microsoft didn’t announce its next OS during this year's Build keynote, we’d be amazed if work on Windows 12 hasn’t been motoring away in the background for quite some time over in Redmond. As such, we thought now would be an opportune time to speculate on a platform that will likely usher in a new era of AI integration.

Whether dealing with the petaflop power of the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box or the potentially paradigm-shifting Project Solara, AI agents will be run both locally and through the cloud to forge next-level hybrid computing on Windows 12.

But it’s not all about AI with our predictions for an OS we’re expecting in the not-too-distant future. The future of Xbox could also be intrinsically tied to Windows 12. With Xbox Mode continuing to bloom on Windows 11, don’t be surprised if Microsoft commits hard to PC gaming going forward, with more focus on creating a UI that can truly compete with Steam.

Without further ado, let’s get into some Windows 12 predictions, even if it does seem ludicrously early to be making them.

Windows 12 will be all about AI

Forget Copilot. The level of AI integration Windows 12 is going to embrace will be far more impactful than asking a digital assistant what the weather will be in a couple of hours. Microsoft’s new OS will have AI baked into its very core, with agentic systems that exhibit real autonomy handling the jobs you’d previously have done with apps.

This year’s Build made it clear that AI agents are a huge priority for Microsoft. As much as they’re shaping the future of your current OS, the use of agentic systems will likely leap to a new level with Windows 12.

Just take Microsoft Scout. This new Autopilot AI agent acts as an always-on personal agent. Rather than needing to be prompted like Copilot, Scout uses the MAI-Thinking-1 reasoning model to act autonomously. As such, it learns how you work over time, quickly becoming aware of your routines in order to better service your needs on any given day.

By the time Windows 12 launches, Scout and similar agentic systems will have had plenty of time to percolate. When Microsoft’s next OS is out in the wild, we could be looking at a platform where AI runs far deeper than mere surface-level window dressing. The days of manually setting meetings or switching between spreadsheets and emails could be over, as AI agents like Scout take control of your workflow, autonomously handling tasks so that you can fully focus on the most important aspects of your job.

Essentially, Windows 12 is going to be an AI OS, one that could potentially transform the way you work.

Hybrid computing will be central to Windows 12

The era of AI PCs has been around for a while now, yet it looks like Windows 12 could fully realize the potential of AI, in part, by turning the focus more heavily on hybrid computing. In this future of Jaws 19, hoverboards and flying Deloreans, users won’t need to worry about whether tasks are running on their NPU, CPU or GPU. Instead, Windows 12’s AI-influenced OS will autonomously figure out where workloads should be handled.

This isn’t about Microsoft pitting cloud AI and local AI against each other. The future we envisage for Windows 12 is where hybrid workflows are commonplace, with AI agents running locally on the systems like the Spark Dev Box (which we’ll touch on shortly) and through the cloud, too.

Ideally, users won’t even know where tasks are running. Less demanding AI tasks may operate locally, while heavy duty rendering could be split up between hardware and cloud-based infrastructures. If Windows 12 fully embraces the concept of hybrid computing, the end result will hopefully be an OS that balances performance more efficiently, as tasks run discretely across local hardware and the cloud.

AI agents will replace apps

Much of the focus of this year’s Build centered around agentic systems. AI agents aren’t just the future of Windows, they’re the here and now. We’ve already touched on Microsoft Spark being rolled out to Frontier customers, and before too long Project Solara will be upon this.

Built from the ground up on a Microsoft-tailored Android platform, the focus for Solara is on AI agents, not apps. Indeed, Solara seems keen to move away from traditional Windows hardware, instead taking the forms of a smart clock-like device and a work ID badge. The latter has been designed to assist users on the go, and it’s capable of recording notes before using AI to clean up audio that can then be sent to colleagues. It potentially represents a future of computing where you no longer need to be chained to a laptop to get work done.

Microsoft is clearly betting the farm on AI, and it’s entirely possible Windows 12 will be a heavily AI-assisted OS. Unlike past operating systems, AI agents will have far more importance than old-school apps. In this (potentially soon to be realized) future, your day will no longer be taken up by sifting through emails and spreadsheets. Rather, agentic systems will act as personal AI assistants, acting autonomously as they help declutter your workday to help you complete tasks more effortlessly and efficiently.

Windows 12 will light the Spark

There’s a line of thinking that’s easy to buy into following Microsoft's Build keynote: Windows 12 will be a “dev-first” OS. Now, Redmond isn’t suddenly going to forget regular consumers. But looking forward, it’s hard not to see the Big M being more focused on servicing developers' needs than at any other point in its history.

Enter the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box. Initially shipping as a Windows 11 Pro mini PC that’s built around the Nvidia RTX Spark superchip, there’s no question more enhanced versions of this little rig will support Windows 12 in the future. Designed to support locally-based AI development, this is a box that has been built to service agentic workflows that eat up huge compute costs. Thankfully, the numbers suggest the Spark Dev Box will be more than capable of handling such tasks, as this dev-focused mini marvel gives users up to an astonishing 1 petaflop of AI compute and 128GB of unified memory.

Rocking the power of a combined Nvidia Blackwell RTX GPU and Nvidia Grace CPU, the Spark Dev Box can power 120B+ parameter models locally. And that last word really is key. Spark has been designed to service the most demanding local AI tasks, in turn taking the focus away from cloud-based AI pipelines. Spark feels like a test run for what the future of high-end Windows 12 devices will look like: a workstation where the emphasis is on locally supporting AI agents to give developers more control.

Xbox Mode could change the game

Microsoft didn’t shine any light on its gaming endeavors during the dev-focused Build keynote, and that wasn’t a surprise. That doesn’t mean there aren’t big plans for the future of Xbox, particularly with how it ties into Windows 12 going forward.

With Phil Spencer gone, replaced by new Head of Xbox Asha Sharma, don’t be shocked if Microsoft’s gaming division goes through big changes in the next couple of years. We’ve known about Project Helix for ages at this point. And with the next Xbox promising to bridge the gap between consoles and PCs like never before, how Windows 12 handles Microsoft games may look quite different to the way Windows 11 currently deals with Xbox titles.

Xbox Full Screen Mode rolled out on Windows not too long ago, giving gamers an experience that’s more in line with Steam’s Big Picture. As Xbox integration continues to evolve, it would make sense for Microsoft to double down on providing a more console-like OS for next-gen games.

As for what Xbox Mode on Windows 12 could look like, there’s a reasonable chance we could see a gaming-focused app that’s more deeply integrated with Microsoft’s next OS. Imagine a more streamlined platform that you could boot directly into as soon as you fire up your PC. One that uses fewer Windows background processes to provide an experience that’s every bit as seamless as Steam.

It seems clear the future of Xbox is more deeply tied to Windows than ever before. As rumors swirl suggesting Sony could soon stop releasing PS5 games on PC, next-gen Xbox titles could provide the most premium console-like experience on Windows 12.

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Microsoft’s latest Surface devices won’t be cheap. As Windows Central reports, consumer versions of the Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 powered by Snapdragon X2 chips have just been unveiled. Though these models are more affordable than the current enterprise models powered by Intel, they still cost significantly more than their respective predecessors.

The Surface Laptop 8 starts at $1,599, while the Surface Pro 12 starts at $1,499. Those prices sting on their own, but it’s made worse when you consider that they both started at $999 in 2024. Yes, the new devices pack the more powerful Snapdragon X2 Plus chip and more storage, but their respective price tags still sting.

One saving grace is that Microsoft is offering incentives. For instance, buying the Surface Pro 12 between now and June 30 gets you a free Surface Pro keyboard. Preordering the Surface Laptop 8 gives you a free Surface Arc Mouse and a 50% offer for Microsoft Complete. The free keyboard with the Surface Pro is especially useful since it's essential for using the tablet like a laptop. You can also save up to $900 when trading in an older Surface device for a new one.

I reviewed the business model of the Surface Laptop 8 with an Intel Core Ultra X7 chip and found it to be an overall excellent, if expensive, notebook. I haven’t tested the Snapdragon X2 consumer model yet, but it has the same design as the Surface Laptop I reviewed. Microsoft says the new Surface devices offer 53% faster graphics performance over last gen, and up to 15 to 20 hours of battery life.

Thanks to the ongoing RAM crisis driving up the cost of electronics, I can’t say that I’m surprised that the latest Surface devices cost so much more than the 2024 models. This is a story we’ve seen over and over again this year. However, thanks to the incentives and freebies Microsoft is offering, you might save by choosing to upgrade. The consumer versions of the Surface devices are available now.

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One thing was clear at Computex 2026: every laptop maker is terrified of the MacBook Neo, and they’re fighting back in a big way. But I’m worried about whether Windows 11 is actually ready for this shift.

A $599 machine powered by an A18 Pro chip, Apple has essentially forced the hands of PC manufacturers who had gotten far too comfortable giving us mid systems at this price. But I’m glad the Neo-shaped earthquake has shaken up some change here. The new Dell XPS 13 is looking mighty tasty at that lower price, but with better I/O and a touchscreen display, alongside that aluminum body.

But there’s a big Windows 11-related question here, because as I found out testing it, the way it's built makes it quite RAM hungry. I caught it using nearly 3X more memory than macOS, and with all the new features announced at Microsoft Build, things could get worse.

So while it’s all fair and good in the world of RAMageddon to shift to 8GB (not something I like to see, but something that is necessary given the insane pricing), Windows has to follow suit and trim some of the fat. Here are some ideas.

Give me a compact mode

Right now, Windows 11 treats a $600 8GB thin-and-light the same way it treats a $3,000 workstation with 64GB of RAM. Yes, the OS’ memory management can be highly dynamic, but the core fundamentals take around 6GB, and the system aggressively caches background apps, so as to not waste any unused RAM.

This may work if you have a ton of memory, but we’re not in that world at the moment and every precious bit is sacred. So what we need is a modular, adaptive OS shell. If Windows 11 detects 8GB, it should trigger an aggressive “Compact mode” right out of the box to throttle background tasks, pause any non-essential tasks and prioritize anything active in the foreground.

Kill the “widget and web” overhear

There’s this thing called WebView 2, which is actually the culprit behind some of the most unnecessary bloat within Windows 11 — namely web-heavy dependencies like news widgets you never look at or some of the always-connected elements like Start Menu details or Copilot feeds.

A user should never have to lose up to 1.5GB of RAM to useless stuff like this, so it needs to be decoupled from the core UI. If a feature isn’t actively on screen (or used) it’s background RAM allocation should be aggressively cut down.

Standardize the vanilla baseline

Bloatware. You hate it — you’ve heard us complain excessively about it. Asus, Dell, MSI and Acer all ship their budget laptops layered with their own resource-heavy management software, which on an 8GB system is a death sentence.

Microsoft needs to enforce strict RAM-usage guardrails for laptop makers who create 8GB configurations, ensuring that third-party battery trackers, lighting software and trial anti-virus programs don’t choke that last slot of 2GB remaining after the OS.

Outlook

PC makers have just proven they can match Apple’s budget hardware pricing. Now, it’s up to Microsoft to prove that Windows 11 can survive the diet Apple forced upon it.

And sure, there are other things that can be done here, such as smarter compression of background apps, getting on with moving the entire OS over to WinUI 3 framework (the thing that’s removing some of that memory overhead) and much more. But these three items are the main RAM killers here.

Will it happen? God I hope so, otherwise this fightback against the MacBook Neo is over before it even begins.

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Now that Microsoft Build 2026 is officially in the can, a clearer picture of the future of Windows 11 has appeared. Rather than announcing Windows 12, Microsoft is utterly dedicated to its current OS. That doesn’t mean the operating system you’re currently using is going to remain the same, though. Far from it.

After CEO Satya Nadella wrapped his keynote, it was hard to shake the feeling that the traditional desktop OS may soon be a thing of the past. Microsoft’s focus seems to be squarely aimed on delivering an AI-centred platform, where agentic systems are cooked into every corner of the Windows 11 experience.

Perhaps the main takeaway from Build concerning Windows 11’s future is that the OS could well make your day job easier going forward… well, unless you're a trapeze artist or a lion tamer. Using Microsoft IQ and MAI-Thinking-1, always-on AI agents will deploy real workplace knowledge to help users structure their daily workflow. The first of these to be announced was Microsoft Scout, and it could be a legit lifesaver for folks who struggle to organize hectic work schedules.

Microsoft is giving developers more tools to assist users with day-to-day tasks. That’s where the GitHub Copilot app (that uses the Big M’s new reasoning model) enters the equation. It’s available in preview to Microsoft Insider Program members now, and it’s just one of a number of productivity-focused features that could transform Windows 11 going forward. Let’s get into what that shiny new future might look like.

Scout and about

Following the latest Microsoft Build keynote, there can be little doubt as to where Microsoft’s focus is on when it comes to the future of Windows 11. Productivity-focused AI agents are going to play a key part in the evolution of the operating system, which is where Microsoft Scout enters the picture.

Available now to Microsoft Frontier customers, Scout is Microsoft’s first Autopilot agent. Focused on full Microsoft 365 app integration, this “always on” agentic AI can operate across the cloud, web and desktop, allowing users to connect to Outlook, Teams and OneDrive. To put that in more digestible terms, think of Scout as your very own personal assistant; one that constantly organizes your day as it learns and adapts to how you work.

Whereas traditional agents constantly needed to be prompted, Scout has been designed to work autonomously, allowing it to take proactive actions. This means it can help shape your working day by coordinating your schedule through 365 apps, be it organizing meetings across time zones or monitoring your inbox and Teams to flag any outstanding responses that need to be made. In theory, this should mean you no longer have to constantly flit between emails, docs and browser tabs, as much of this plate-spinning busywork can be delegated to Scout.

Powered by OpenClaw, Scout monitors your working habits through Work IQ, in turn becoming more efficient at helping you complete tasks the more it observes your daily practices. Clearly, Scout is going to be more useful for business environments than Windows 11 users lounging around on the couch. Yet if this Autopilot agent lives up to its virtual co-worker potential, it could genuinely change the way people go about their jobs.

Windows is thinking on its feet

Another huge announcement at Build — one that is directly tied to Scout — was the unveiling of MAI-Thinking-1. Microsoft’s new reasoning model helps the Autopilot AI out with planning tasks, and senior product manager Tanaya Yadav briefly demoed the tech during the keynote. While the task of training Scout could take hours, the endgame benefit should hopefully be AI agents that prove hugely useful for workflow purposes.

MAI Thinking could have a big and broad impact across Windows 11 going forward. With the future of Copilot and 365 tied to agentic systems, this reasoning model may shape Microsoft’s AI-focused goals going forward.

The pivot to MAI is also interesting in that it looks to free Microsoft from being reliant on OpenAI. As Windows 11 continues to evolve, Copilot should primarily take instructions from the Redmond giant’s internal reasoning tech. MAI is just the starting point too, as Microsoft’s AI Superintelligence Team (that must be one seriously cool business card) is also developing a further six in-house reasoning models.

Say hello to Solara

One of the most pleasant surprises to come out of Build this year was the announcement of Project Solara. This chip-to-cloud platform has been built from the ground up to ensure interacting with AI agents works in seamless fashion.

Probably the coolest feature of Solara is its eye-catching form factor. Because it’s been designed for spaces where traditional PCs and laptops might not be around, Microsoft has focused on delivering products that don’t take up much space. Enter devices which resemble a smart clock, and even more niftily, a work ID badge.

The clock-aping gizmo is intended to remain stationary, whereas the badge has been designed to be used while you’re on the move. On the latter, it can be unlocked with your fingerprint. The badge can even record video and take voice instructions, and it will subsequently clean up said audio so that you can send the note to colleagues in easily decipherable chunks.

Engineered with a new era of AI agents in mind, Project Solara takes cues from Android devices. The daring design of this new agent-focused OS seems to suggest Microsoft is fully committed to a new era of AI that thumbs its nose at traditional hardware by embracing imaginative new forms.

Security is being geared for AI agents

With Microsoft increasingly pivoting towards AI as the future of Windows 11 takes shape, the matter of security becomes ever more vital. While the prospect of Scout mapping out your workday as you sip on your morning mocha is undoubtedly an appealing one for folks who get easily flustered, protections do need to be in place.

This is where the announcement of Microsoft Execution Containers (MXC) becomes crucial. Now in preview, this security framework allows developers to run containment boundaries that are enforced by Windows 11. Essentially, a dev describes the security parameters it needs its agents to adhere to, then the OS enforces them everywhere these agentic systems run.

Now, while this probably sounds roughly as exciting to you as the prospect of dining in a restaurant that only serves steamed celery, MXC is important to the future of AI agents. As they become more autonomous, it’s crucial that these agents can’t accidentally access sensitive info or make decisions they’re not permitted to. With MXC in place, admins should be able to rest safe in the knowledge that this agent-native runtime is operating under safe security parameters.

GitHub Copilot shifts the focus to devs

Now available in preview to developers, the GitHub Copilot app is an AI-assisted engineering platform that brings agentic workflows to native desktop experiences. One of the major Build takeaways concerning the app is how it will work autonomously, though not in an unfettered manner (devs will most definitely still be in control).

GitHub Copilot will use the newly revealed MAI-Code-1-Flash, an internal coding model that should improve coding performance through latency reduction. The deployment of this MAI model is to ensure the GitHub Copilot app is more aware of good workspace practices. In turn, this allows it to function like a true agentic assistant, rather than a glorified chatbot that continually needs to be prompted.

Going forward, GitHub Copilot should make developers' lives easier, taking some coding pressures off their shoulders as it tests and deploys code with genuine autonomy thanks to AI agents. In an ideal world, this app will decrease developer workloads, rather than physically replacing them.

Again, none of this is particularly focused on the Average Joe/Jenny Windows 11 experience. Then again, Build has always been focused on developers over consumers. Ultimately, the agentic benefits of GitHub Copilot that developers receive will ideally lead to smoother OS experiences for all of us.

The future of Windows 11 centers around AI

If Windows 11 is just a gateway that allows you to jump into the best PC games, there likely wasn’t much for you to get excited about coming out of Build 2026. Yet if you’re a dev or someone who is looking to use AI tools to coordinate workflows, the latest keynote definitely provided a peek into the future of Microsoft’s OS.

Rather than revealing Windows 12, Microsoft doubled down on its commitment to its current operating system. Moving forward, AI is clearly going to be the cornerstone of everyday Windows functions. With agentic systems like Microsoft Scout leaning on reasoning models to help business-minded folks map out their day by coordinating schedules, and Project Solara devices that have been crafted to replace traditional hardware, the focus is on agents that have real autonomy in order to assist users. The Redmond Giant is going hard on a vision for Windows 11 where agentic AI is baked into its very fabric.

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Eight laptops are launching with Nvidia RTX Spark inside at Computex 2026, and the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra is easily one of the best — so beautifully designed it almost makes Spark feel like a side character.

Gunning for the 16-inch MacBook Pro, Microsoft doesn’t miss with a seriously luxurious build, great I/O for pros, fantastic ergonomics (including a breakthrough touchpad) and a mesmerizing display.

And you’ve seen what it will be able to do from all the RTX Spark testing I’ve done. This will not be a cheap laptop with that chip inside, so Microsoft has rolled out the red carpet in utilitarian aesthetics. Let me tell you about it.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: Specs

A seriously good looker (and worker)

Make no mistake about it — the Surface Laptop Ultra is built different. On the face of it, this is a Surface Laptop if it started bulking for a few months. But once you get into the details, you realize it’s so much more than that.

It starts with a beefy utilitarian presence atop any desk. This is a hefty machine, but those premium materials and the added bulk makes this feel ready to power through any task you throw at it — just like a MacBook Pro does.

The similarities also extend to the port selection, but chalk this up as a win for the Ultra with its additional USB-A for wider support. They keyboard feels gorgeous to type on, which is something that Microsoft has really excelled in in the past — giving you a nice tactility to every key press that makes it feel intentful.

But the real star of the show on that bottom deck is the 30% larger haptic touchpad. It’s an absolute ocean with a smooth gliding surface, with every click giving me those same snappy sensations I love from the MacBook Pro’s trackpad. But as an addition here is the haptics that actually communicate back to you.

Built directly into Windows 11, you’ll feel small hints of feedback as you do key things like snap apps to sides of the screen. On top of that, the company is working with key developers to give you those same sensations in third party apps like moving your cursor over clips in a video timeline.

It’s a feeling that when returning to my MacBook Pro, I felt like something was missing! Top it all off with that gorgeously color-accurate and smooth PixelSense display up top that can get seriously bright, and you’ve got a nice-looking beast that’s ready for anything.

Monstrous performance

Speaking of ready for anything, that’s where I get to the fun stuff inside. You’ve seen a lot of the software stuff it will be able to do from the Microsoft Build announcements — in short, expect a lot of agentic AI features to take advantage of that RTX Spark chip.

And as you saw in my testing of Spark itself, there’s a lot to be had here from the massive local models changing the dynamic of how you interact with a computer from it being a tool you lays idle when you’re not using it, to an active assistant machine.

But let’s compare apples and oranges and put it up against the MacBook Pro workload. You want your laptop to get the pro stuff done speedily both on and off the charger. After flying around the most dense Unreal Engine map while connected and disconnected, that’s easily proven true. There’s also tie-ins with Adobe to use much more of that built-in RTX 5070-level GPU and turboboost creator tasks beyond levels I’d seen in equivalent Apple laptops.

But the real killer app for me is the ability to use the same laptop to work by day and play by night. Alan Wake 2 is built natively for Arm and can run at 1600p resolution with ray tracing and DLSS 4.5 ray reconstruction at buttery smooth frame rates. Even games that are not built for this architecture like Pragmata go through the Prism emulator layer and play smoothly too. And yes, both of these were on and off the charger too!

The big unanswered question here is power efficiency, which could be affected by that emulation layer. Speaking to Nvidia, they’re not giving anything away, but did give me a cheeky smile when I started talking about what all-day battery life really means. We could be in for something special here.

Outlook

Ignoring the larger USB-C port mystery (my theory is it’s a magnetic breakaway USB-C socket that replaces the missing Surface Connect), what you’re left with here is a phenomenal laptop that feels powerful.

The aesthetics are clean, the ergonomics are fantastic, the display is mesmerizing and the power under the hood is awesome! Of course, there’s a big question on price, which rumors here at Computex point to a starting cost of $3,000.

This is definitely for the pros who know how to make the most of that power, and no longer is the MacBook Pro the default option at this price. A new player has come to town.

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The Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra is the company’s answer to the MacBook Pro. Announced during Nvidia’s Computex 2026 presentation, this laptop is among the first to feature the newly announced Nvidia RTX Spark chip. It promises to be powerful enough to handle creative workloads, development, local AI use, and gaming.

Besides the Laptop Studio, Surface devices are generally designed for average use. That won't be the case with the Surface Laptop Ultra, as it will pack up to 128GB of unified memory. Microsoft also claims it can run AI models locally and that the chip delivers power comparable to a mobile RTX 5070 GPU.

If the Surface Laptop Ultra is everything Microsoft claims, it will easily be the most powerful Surface device yet — and could give the likes of the MacBook Pro stiff competition. Here’s everything you need to know about the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: Design

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra will include some of the features you’d expect from a premium notebook. For starters, it has a 15-inch mini-LED PixelSense Ultra display that can reportedly reach 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness, making it the brightest display of any Surface device ever. Microsoft says it will have strong color accuracy for creative work.

You’ll also get a full set of ports, including HDMI, USB-C, USB-A, an SD card reader, and a headphone jack. The haptic touchpad is the largest Microsoft has ever used on a Surface, and the laptop is designed to run quietly even under load.

The Surface Laptop Ultra will reportedly have “all-day” battery life, which is a claim I’m eager to verify in our lab tests. Expect it to come in Platinum and Nightfall finishes.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: Nvidia RTX Spark

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra announcement alone is noteworthy, but it’s even more interesting because it’s one of the first laptops to feature the Nvidia RTX Spark chip. In case you were wondering, yes, it’s the processor long known as the “N1X.” Different moniker aside, the chip should be a major boon for the Surface Laptop Ultra.

The chip packs up to 6,144 Blackwell RTX cores, 20 efficient Arm CPU cores, and up to 128GB of unified memory. That adds up to 1 petaflop of AI performance, enough to run 120-billion-parameter models right on the laptop without choking. The claimed power of an RTX 5070 laptop GPU should mean smoother 3D rendering, faster video exports, and potentially higher-end gaming.

If all those numbers went over your head, it means the Surface Laptop Ultra should feel like a legitimate workstation you can carry around. We’d need to benchmark this laptop and live with it to see what it can do, but RTX Spark should give it some serious power.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: Outlook

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra is set to launch later this year, so it might be a while until we can go hands-on with this machine. I’m certainly looking forward to that, but given how expensive electronics have become thanks to the RAM crisis, I’m not eager to see how much this thing will cost.

We’ll have more information on the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra as soon as we hear it, so stay tuned!

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Microsoft Build 2026 takes place on June 2-3 and promises to showcase the latest innovations the company is cooking up. Taking place at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, this developer-focused event likely won’t feature bombshell announcements like Windows 12, but instead spotlight the latest and upcoming AI tools.

The full session catalog is already live, with sessions based around agentic AI, Azure cloud smarts, GitHub Copilot, Windows development, and responsible AI. That might not sound exciting, but what we learn during the two-day event will give us a glimpse of updates that will trickle down to the apps, PCs, and services you and I use every day.

You can watch Microsoft Build 2026 online for free by registering at the official Microsoft Build 2026 website. We’ll be covering the show as well, so make sure to keep it locked here as we break down all the technical jargon and explain what is (or isn’t) important.

Here are the biggest announcements happening at Microsoft Build 2026.

Agentic AI and multi-agent systems

One term we expect to hear a lot during Build is “agentic AI.” Right now, people use LLMs like ChatGPT to ask questions. AI agents, however, can take proactive actions on your behalf. For instance, they can resolve scheduling conflicts in your calendar, collaborate with other AI agents, and handle other complex tasks. Microsoft Foundry (the evolved version of the Azure AI platform) should be the basis for this.

To that end, expect Build sessions to cover topics such as agent orchestration and debugging, and perhaps even get real-world production stories. For instance, we could see a demo of an agent researching flights, while another books hotels, and another checks your budget. This would happen without anyone micromanaging the agents.

We’ve heard horror stories about agents deleting important documents and emails, so I hope to see Microsoft address this very real concern. But if these agents work as advertised and don't torch your work, they should act as digital assistants to take some of the stress off your daily grind.

A more autonomous GitHub Copilot

Related to the previous point, GitHub Copilot could also start doing things on your behalf. This platform has already been a boon for developers, and could become even more indispensable. We could see deeper integrations with Visual Studio, VS Code, and the full dev lifecycle.

If developers have an easier time creating app or fixing code, this could result in higher-quality apps for folks like us. Think smoother interfaces on streaming platforms, bug-free banking apps, or even smarter fitness trackers. Developers shipping code more quickly and with fewer bugs means faster app updates.

Azure AI platform

Microsoft’s Azure platform is what does the heavy lifting, so expect Build to discuss the latest on the cloud-based platform. We’ll see sessions diving into things like training and fine-tuning models efficiently, multi-model orchestration, and moving prototypes to production without giant bills.

For non-developers, this could mean keeping AI features affordable, which could result in the price of subscriptions for services we use staying low. That could be wishful thinking on my part, but if the developers are saving money, then perhaps we might as well.

Windows AI Foundry

Windows AI Foundry lets developers build apps that can run AI models on-device on laptops and PCs using the NPU, GPU, or CPU. This is beneficial if you’re working on something sensitive and don’t want to do it on the cloud.

To that end, we should see sessions featuring on-device inference, WinUI 3 with agents, WSL improvements, and other developer-optimized experiences. This builds on Copilot+ PCs but works broadly, all on-device.

Local AI means faster response times since there’s no internet lag. And as mentioned above, it also means better privacy for both personal and business files. Privacy is a growing concern with AI, so I expect Microsoft to really push on-device AI during Build.

What not to expect

Let’s get the big one out of the way. While we’ve heard rumblings about Windows 12 for years, there has not been official confirmation from Microsoft. Build isn’t usually an event where major software is announced, so it’s unlikely that the company will unveil Windows 12 there. However, we’ll no doubt see elements of what could end up in the operating system at the various sessions. What actually makes it into Windows 12 is anyone’s guess, however.

Similarly, we doubt that Microsoft will make any significant hardware announcements. Surface devices for business have already launched, such as the Surface Laptop 8 I reviewed, so any kind of mention would be redundant. We also don’t think Microsoft will unveil or discuss Xbox Project Helix.

If anything, we could hear something about the next Xbox during Summer Game Fest that’s also happening next week—but that’s a whole different story.

Microsoft Build 2026: Outlook

Microsoft Build 2026 won’t be a big fancy event like WWDC or Google I/O, but it will give us some insight into the tools developers will use to (hopefully) build more useful applications and features for regular users. From agentic systems that handle your work to local AI that lets you work more privately, there’s a lot to look forward to.

We’ll be covering Microsoft Build 2026 live as it happens, so keep it locked here for all the latest developments from Microsoft’s big developer conference.

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For the past two years, the AI industry has sounded remarkably certain about the future. Dario Amodei, Anthropic's CEO suggested AI would cause massive unemployment, Bill Gates predicted the end of nearly every job and even Microsoft revealed a list of jobs that AI is most likely to replace.

Now, some of the same people that made those predictions are begining to walk back their statements or at the very least reframe them. Honestly, this feels like the clearest sign yet that nobody truly knows where AI technology is headed.

The latest example comes from a Reuters report highlighting comments from Sam Altman, who recently admitted he may have overestimated how quickly AI would eliminate entry-level white-collar jobs. Just months ago, much of the conversation around generative AI focused on mass disruption and automation. Now, the tone coming from some of the industry’s biggest leaders sounds noticeably more cautious and far less certain.

That shift matters because AI has increasingly been marketed not just as a useful tool, but as an unstoppable economic force. The messaging helped fuel an arms race involving billions of dollars in infrastructure spending, data centers and AI adoption across nearly every major tech company.

But as the technology moves from hype to reality, predictions keep colliding with actual human behavior.

AI keeps changing but society moves slower

One of the biggest surprises of the AI boom is that people haven’t adapted as quickly or as uniformly as many experts predicted.

Yes, tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Claude have become mainstream. Millions of people now use AI to write emails, summarize meetings, brainstorm ideas and analyze information. But widespread adoption doesn’t automatically translate into immediate replacement.

Many companies still struggle with hallucinations, failures, trust issues, legal concerns and workflow integration. Workers continue finding ways to use AI alongside existing jobs instead of fully automating them away. And consumers often use AI in far more casual or limited ways than the industry originally expected.

This results in a strange contradiction of AI useage. While the models keep getting dramatically better, according to Pew Research, just 10% of society say they are more excited than concerned about AI.

The AI narrative keeps changing

According to the film, The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist on Amazon Prime, more than 20,000 people are currently working on AGI — artificial general intelligence — while fewer than 200 are focused specifically on AI safety. Whether that exact number is perfectly accurate almost feels beside the point. The statistic captures something that increasingly defines the AI era: the technology is moving much faster than society’s ability to fully understand, regulate or adapt to it.

Just a year ago, some executives warned that AI agents would soon automate massive portions of knowledge work. Today, AI agents still exist mostly as early experiments for many users.

For a while, prompt engineering was described as the “job of the future.” Now many AI companies are actively building systems designed to require fewer specialized prompts altogether.

Search was supposedly on the verge of collapse. Instead, the internet has entered a strange transitional phase where AI Overviews, chatbots and traditional websites awkwardly coexist.

Even timelines for AGI seem to change constantly depending on who is speaking — and what month it is. That doesn’t necessarily mean AI companies are intentionally misleading people. It points to that predicting technological change at this scale is incredibly difficult. Especially when billions of people, governments, businesses and cultural habits are involved.

AI is absolutely changing the world, but slower than expected

One of the biggest myths surrounding the current AI boom is the idea that anyone, including Silicon Valley executives, fully understands what happens next. The technology is evolving too quickly, society is adapting unevenly and the long-term effects remain deeply unpredictable.

So when you hear bold declarations about exactly how AI will reshape work, creativity or daily life, it’s worth realizing that there's a good chance those predictions will be revised again six months from now.

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The Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 (starting at $1,949), or Microsoft Surface Laptop for Business, as it is officially called, updates the company’s eponymous notebook with the latest Intel CPU, an updated haptic touchpad, and an optional built-in anti-glare privacy screen. Though designed as a business laptop, it’s a solid device overall for anyone willing to pay its steep price.

Like the Surface Laptop 7, the new Surface Laptop is a sleek ultraportable you can easily carry. It’s just slightly larger and heavier than the 13-inch MacBook Air M5, which is very impressive. Despite its slim profile, it packs at least one USB-A port for legacy devices and a pair of USB-C ports.

One major upgrade is the optional built-in anti-glare privacy screen. The former is especially useful if you don’t want wandering eyes to see what you’re working on in a public spot. The anti-glare coating does a fantastic job of ensuring the display is visible even in direct sunlight. These are highlights of what is an otherwise average laptop panel.

Thanks to the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake” chip inside, the Surface Laptop 8 delivers stunning performance and solid battery life. Not only do you get enough power for everyday work, but you can even run some modern games for when you’re off the clock. And while battery life might not be as impressive as on a MacBook, you’re getting well over a full day of use.

Given its status as a business laptop and its high starting price, you might want to consider a regular consumer laptop with similar specs. However, if you’re a longtime Surface Laptop fan and are willing to spend big for the best iteration of that device yet, this is a machine worth considering. Find out in my full review.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 is a business laptop packing the latest Intel Panther Lake chip.
• Who is it for? For workers who need a reliable notebook for everyday work.
• What does it cost? The Surface Laptop 8 starts at $1,949.
• What do we like? We like the slim design, strong performance, anti-glare display option, and strong battery life.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like that it costs nearly $1,000 more than the previous model.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 review: Specs

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 review: The ups

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 has a lot going for it, thanks to its strong Panther Lake performance, ultraportable design, and long battery life.

Elegant design

The Surface Laptop 8 hasn’t received a major design overhaul since the last model, which is fine, considering we still get a slim yet sturdy machine. The dark aluminum alloy chassis not only looks great but also has a soft surface that feels nice in the hand.

As before, it has a slightly tapered design, which can be seen as a throwback compared to the flatter laptops we currently see, but I like it.

You get an enjoyable typing experience thanks to the relatively roomy keyboard deck. The thick keycaps and their short travel distance allow you to type with little resistance. I’m also fond of the touchpad, which delivers satisfying haptic feedback when pressed. With some apps, you will even feel haptics when hovering over the X button on a window, which is quite fun and intuitive.

There are a decent number of ports for such a slim laptop. This includes a pair of USB-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a full SD card slot. I especially appreciate the lone USB-A port, which lets me connect legacy wired devices.

Vivid display

The Surface Laptop 8 might not have the most impressive display, but it’s plenty bright and colorful for everyday work and even recreation.

When watching a YouTube video, I had no problem seeing even the smallest details of a colorful, sun-drenched beach. Naturally, websites also look and run well thanks to the sharp 2304x1536 resolution and smooth 120Hz refresh rate.

Our lab tests corroborate what my eyes experienced. As you can see in the table above, Microsoft’s notebook delivers a good level of SDR and HDR brightness, though both fall short of 500 nits. That’s not terrible, considering how the MacBook Air couldn’t hit that mark either. The MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ also fell behind the Surface Laptop’s intensity.

Color representation (sRGB and DCI-P3) is roughly on par with the MacBook Air, which is reflected in how good the colors can look. Color accuracy (Delta-E) isn’t what it should be (closer to 0 is best), but it’s also not terrible. The Prestige 14 Flip delivers slightly oversaturated colors in comparison.

The anti-glare and privacy screens on the model I reviewed are equally impressive. Even under direct sunlight, the anti-glare technology allowed me to view the display reasonably well. I also liked how effective the privacy screen is, since you can’t see much unless the display is directly in front of you. If you’re working with sensitive documents, this privacy screen will be extremely beneficial.

Fast performance

The Surface Laptop 8 I reviewed packs an Intel Core Ultra x7 368H “Panther Lake” CPU and 32GB of RAM. Thanks to that, the laptop easily handled my average workflow, which usually consists of dozens of open Chrome tabs and the occasional YouTube video. This is just another example of Panther Lake’s stunning performance.

As you can see above, the Surface Laptop 8 keeps pace with the M5-driven MacBook Air in multi-threaded performance, though Apple’s notebook is more adept with single-core tasks. The Prestige 14 Flip, which has similar specs to the Surface Laptop 8, fell just slightly behind.

In the Handbrake test, the Surface Laptop 8 took 5 minutes and 8 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. That’s the equivalent of the MacBook Air’s time, which is nearly one minute faster than the Prestige 14 Flip.

Long battery life

In our battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi with the display set to 150 nits of brightness, the Surface Pro 8 lasted for 12 hours and 26 minutes.

Of course, the two laptops I compared lasted much longer. The big winner here is the Prestige 14 Flip, which is one of the longest-lasting laptops we’ve tested. However, it’s important to note that this laptop has a slightly less powerful, less energy-intensive Panther Lake chip, which accounts for its impressive endurance.

I should note that we were only able to run one battery test on the Surface Laptop. We may see better numbers after we run three tests as usual, but not by much. I’ll update this review with the fresh numbers once we have them.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 review: The downs

There’s a lot to like about the Surface Laptop, but it has one glaring flaw that can make it unattractive to regular users.

Steep asking price

With a starting price of $1,949, the Surface Laptop 8 costs nearly $1,000 more than its predecessor. While it’s perhaps unrealistic to expect a comparable price thanks to RAMageddon, that’s still a serious amount of cash to plunk down.

In fairness, the former and current Surface Laptops are for different users. The older model was marketed toward average consumers, so it needed to be priced competitively. However, as a business laptop, it’s understandable that the new model costs more, even if its updates are mostly iterative.

If you’re lucky enough to have your company spring for a new Surface Laptop 8, then you’ll be sitting pretty. But if you decide to buy one of these for yourself, be prepared to pay a premium.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 review: Verdict

I don’t often review business laptops, but I jumped at the chance to test the Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 since I’ve always admired this series. It’s arguably the best one yet, even though this notebook is meant for enterprise.

Though I’m impressed by what it offers, it’s hard to recommend this notebook to the average reader I normally write for. You’re better off with something like the 13-inch MacBook Air or MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+, which cost $1,099 and $1,299 (respectively). You’ll get a comparable or better experience for hundreds less.

Price aside, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 delivers where it matters. If you’re looking for a dependable business notebook and have the cash for it, you won’t go wrong.

Microsoft made the biggest change to Windows keyboards in 30 years by adding a dedicated Copilot key to its Copilot+ PCs when they started rolling out a couple of years ago.

Unfortunately, what looked like a means of leveraging Windows' massive adoption into an AI leadership position seems to have backfired. All it takes is a scroll through Reddit to see how much people dislike the button, and my colleague Tony Polanco called it the worst thing about Copilot+ PCs last year.

Now, Microsoft appears to be relenting by officially announcing it will let users remap the Copilot button back to the Right Ctrl or Context menu options it replaced.

In a recently published support document, Microsoft stated: "Customers who rely on the Right Ctrl key or Context menu key for keyboard shortcuts or assistive technologies (such as screen readers) experienced some challenges to their workflows when using these devices."

"A Windows 11 update will ship later this year that will add a setting option to let you remap the Copilot key to act as the Context menu key or Right Ctrl key. When available, you can find this setting in: Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Keyboard"

While I've never needed the Right Ctrl or Context menu for my own typical workflow, I've lost count of the number of times I've accidentally triggered Copilot by hitting that key. And while I use a number of different AI assistants over the course of a week, Copilot is very rarely among them.

Some PC manufacturers do let users remap the Copilot key with their own on-device software and we have our own Tom's Guide tutorial on how to remap the Copilot key on Windows 11. However, both of those solutions will require additional steps and won't be as simple as a native solution within the OS that applies universally to all Windows 11 laptops with a Copilot key.

Microsoft hasn't specified exactly when we may see this update, only noting it will be in a "future Windows 11 update." Microsoft typically drops major updates for Windows in October and, occasionally, in September. So in all likelihood, it could still be another five months before we see this change rolled out.

In the meantime, here are 7 genius Copilot prompts that make Windows 11 instantly more useful.

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A newly discovered zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange Server has experts sounding the alarm. On Thursday, Microsoft announced mitigations for a high-security Exchange Server vulnerability that's being actively exploited by hackers. All an attacker needs to do is send a specially crafted email that, when opened through Outlook Web Access, can execute arbitrary code within the user's browser.

Microsoft's called this security flaw (tracked as CVE-2026-42897) a spoofing vulnerability affecting fully updated versions of Exchange Server 2016, Exchange Server 2019, and Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE).

"An attacker could exploit this issue by sending a specially crafted email to a user. If the user opens the email in Outlook Web Access and certain interaction conditions are met, arbitrary JavaScript can be executed in the browser context," the Exchange Team said.

Although security patches are not yet available, Microsoft said the Exchange Emergency Mitigation Service (EEMS) can provide automatic mitigation for Exchange Server 2016, 2019, and SE on-premises servers.

"Using EM Service is the best way for your organization to mitigate this vulnerability right away. If you have EM Service currently disabled, we recommend you enable it right away. Please note that EM Service will not be able to check for new mitigations if your server is running Exchange Server version older than March 2023," per the Exchange Team.

To check the status of the Exchange Emergency Mitigation Service, organizations should follow Microsoft's instructions on running the Exchange Health Checker script.

May has been one hell of a month for Microsoft's security team. In the last week alone, Microsoft's fixed over 130 vulnerabilities as part of its Patch Tuesday cycle, many of which are driven by a new AI-powered bug-hunting system codenamed MDASH (Multi-model Agentic Scanning Harness).

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• Microsoft's urgent Window 11 patch fixes 30 'critical' bugs — update your PC now

This week Microsoft introduced a new tool that allows the company to remotely roll back bad Windows drivers even after they're delivered via Windows Update. The tool, Cloud-Initiated Driver Recovery, makes it so hardware makers and users don't need to manually fix bad drivers once they've been distributed.

According to a Microsoft Hardware Dev Center blog post, once a bad driver is identified Microsoft can initiate a recovery action that replaces the the faulty driver without intervention from you or a device maker. The problematic driver will be rolled back to the last known good version.

Seemingly, it's the latest in a series of moves from Microsoft to fix Windows 11. The company has spent much of 2026 promising to make Windows better with a Windows 11 reset, redesigning the Start menu and now, better driver patching.

How it works

The action will only be initiated if a bad driver is rejected during "shiproom evaluation." That process evaluates drivers and notes quality issues.

Currently, when a bad driver ships in a Windows Update, a hardware partner must submit a replacement driver, or end users have to manually uninstall the faulty driver, which can leave PCs with outdated drivers for too long.

"Today, when a driver published through Windows Update is identified after distribution to have quality issues, the remediation path relies on the hardware partner to submit an updated driver — or on end users to manually uninstall the problematic driver themselves.," Microsoft said.

Microsoft does note that if a "Driver Shiproom-approved" driver cannot be found a CIDR action will not be attempted.

However, if one is identified, recovery will be sent via the existing Windows Update infrastructure. You won't need a new client or update from the third-party manufacturer.

Better drivers in general

According to the blog, the company is testing the tool between May and August this year. Microsoft is shooting to roll back rejected drivers starting in September 2026.

It appears this could be part of an overall initiative by Microsoft to improve the overall quality of drivers. As pointed out by Bleeping Computer, the company announced a new Driver Quality Initiative last week at the WinHEC 2026 conference in Taipei.

"When drivers are high quality, customers experience reliable, secure, performant devices. When drivers fail, customers experience it as a device problem, regardless of where the root cause sits," the company said in an announcement.

Microsoft announced it will invest in partners and tools to improve drivers overall.

"In the months ahead, we will keep investing in the fundamentals that matter most to customers: reliability, security, performance, compatibility and quality."

If these tools and initiatives hold up, it could mean the end of frustrating driver experiences on your PC. Instead of hunting down the faulty driver, now Microsoft will do it for you. Fingers crossed this new tool works well.

More from Tom's Guide

• Microsoft's urgent Window 11 patch fixes 30 'critical' bugs — update your PC now
• Dell's own support software is crashing its PCs and laptops — the irony is strong, but there is a quick fix
• Microsoft reportedly redesigning Start Menu in Windows 11 after actually listening to user complaints

Now is the perfect time to update your laptop or desktop PC as Microsoft has released its May Patch Tuesday updates which contain fixes for 30 flaws rated as important or critical severity.

In total, the latest security patch applies fixes to 138 bugs including many that made network privileges vulnerable. Fortunately, none of the bugs are listed as publicly known or under active attack.

The patch was released at the same time as one from Google that addressed 127 security flaws in Chromium, which undergirds the Microsoft Edge browser.

Many of the flaws appear to be related to Azure and more business-focused Microsoft products. However, one of the more severe bugs impacts Windows DNS via a heap-based buffer overflow flaw that would let a malicious actor execute code over a network.

"An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted DNS response to a vulnerable Windows system, causing the DNS Client to incorrectly process the response and corrupt memory," Microsoft said in its patch notes. "In certain configurations, this could allow the attacker to run code remotely on the affected system without authentication."

Hundreds of flaws fixed this year

Since January, when the first patch Tuesday of 2026 fixed 114 flaws, Microsoft has apparently fixed more than 500 CVE bugs already this year.

According to Hacker News, this can be attributed to a greater focus by Microsoft on vulnerability discovery, some of which is heavily assisted by AI-based flagging. Microsoft claimed as much in a recent Microsoft Security Response Center report released this week.

"Microsoft engineers and the wider security community alike are increasingly using AI to examine software more carefully and more often than was practical even a few years ago," Tom Gallagher said in the report.

How to stay safe with Patch Tuesday

First and foremost, update your Windows laptop or desktop with the latest system update or patches. You also want to make sure that Windows Defender is enabled so that it can scan your system for dangerous malware.

Of course, we always recommend using one of the best antivirus software packages for extra protection.

In the MSRC report, Gallagher recommends practicing good cyber hygiene, which we wholeheartedly agree with. This includes enabling multi-factor authentication, creating strong passwords, and using one of the best password managers

As always, and in general, don't click links or attachments from unknown senders, as they could contain malware or send you to phishing sites designed to steal your personal information.

By practicing good cyber hygiene and regularly updating your computer, you should be safe from most attacks.

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If you’re a Windows 11 user, you’re already familiar with the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) — popping up when a critical error forces the operating system to stop. Normally, the blame falls on Microsoft (although its team is working hard on improving Windows soon). But if you’ve been seeing this happen on your Dell PC, it turns out the culprit is so much more ironic.

As spotted by Neowin, Dell’s own SupportAssist software (the company calls it “your personalized PC support experience”) is causing some Dell PCs to hit a BSOD every 30 minutes after a recent update. So far, we’re seeing confirmation that the following laptops are affected:

• Alienware M16 R2
• Dell Pro 16 Plus
• Dell Pro 14 Plus
• Dell XPS 16
• Dell XPS 15
• Dell XPS 14
• Dell XPS 13

This is based on what Dell forum members are saying, but given it’s widespread, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a far wider problem than this. If you’re one of these folks who just installed the Dell software update and are seeing this issue, there is a simple fix.

Just uninstall SupportAssist

The situation was revealed after keen-eyed users took a look into the system log to see what was going on. It was identified after some people reported their laptops “kept randomly rebooting” roughly every 30 minutes. This suggests that the SupportAssist is trying to check system health on a regular half-hour schedule, where it hits a corrupted piece of code and crashes it.

As you can see, there’s a lot of critical errors at the Kernel-Power level — basically the system level — and after a check, the critical process that dies has consistently been the “Dell SupportAssist Remediation” service. Giving a “CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED (0xEF)” code, it’s taking down the entire operating system with it.

And it’s not the first time this has happened, with a similar SupportAssist problem happening at the end of 2024. Luckily, just like the last time, the issue is simple. Go to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps, find Dell SupportAssist, select More > Uninstall.

Users who have already done this are reporting that it fixes the issue and they’re not seeing any more random BSOD crashes.

Can we cool it with the bloatware?

Windows 11 already has a RAM problem. It’s inherent to how the OS prioritizes preloading parts of apps into system memory before you click them, but what that means is all these little additions actually harm the experience rather than enrich it.

Things like Dell SupportAssist take up another chunk of that precious RAM that could be better used elsewhere on apps people actually use. And while the Windows K2 project may be aiming squarely at tackling some of these challenges at an OS-level, I can only imagine that the additional bloatware won’t help the situation.

So I beg of you, Dell and others, please just let us have a clean install, so we don’t have to uninstall all the unnecessary heft!

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Since the MacBook Neo launched in early March it's proven to be so popular that Apple quickly ran out of stock and is doubling production orders. The budget-friendly laptop 'shocked' PC makers and it's clear Windows has some real competition in the space.

Thus, it's probably not too surprising to see Microsoft commission a report from Signal65 comparing some wallet-friendly Windows 11 laptops against the MacBook Neo.

As you might expect, the study comes out largely in favor of Windows laptops.

Signal65's report particularly highlights the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x, HP OmniBook 5, Lenovo Yoga 7i, and HP OmniBook X Flip as veritable contenders to the Neo. All of these come in multiple configurations, including different screen sizes and processors, which greatly affect price and capabilities.

But here's the problem: there's a lot of cherry-picking in the comparisons that undermines the point of the research.

Missing the point of the Neo

The MacBook Neo is clearly designed for people looking for a budget-friendly laptop to get them through school, work or day-to-day tasks. It's meant to be a lightweight, portable option.

And straight away, that means we have to immediately ignore half of Signal65's list. Both the Lenovo Yoga 7i and HP OmniBook X Flip cost $1,099 and $949, respectively. There is no comparison in terms of affordability when the laptops you're suggesting are nearly double the cost.

Meanwhile, portability seems to have been ignored in favor of battery life (more on that below) and storage. The MacBook Neo features a 13-inch Liquid Retina display and only weighs 2.7 pounds. It measures 11.71" x .50" x 8.12". Meanwhile, every laptop that Signal65 highlights features a 15.3- or 16-inch display, meaning they are all larger than the Neo.

As an example, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x, the cheapest and "smallest" laptop highlighted, weighs a whopping 3.52 lbs compared to the Neo. It's also measurably larger at 13.51" x 9.42" x .67-.70" — but the Signal65 report fails to showcase any dimensions or weights.

Comparing battery life

Notably, Signal65 has a series of tests that the show the Windows PCs beating the MacBook Neo when it comes to battery life from 12% to 56% improve power efficiency.

Here's where highlighting larger laptops lets the study fall in favor of Windows. A larger chassis means you can stuff a bigger battery in there.

In Tom's Guide testing, the MacBook Neo lasted a fairly robust 13 hours and 28 minutes, solidly in the top end of our comparison to other budget laptops we've tested.

We haven't reviewed every laptop Signal65 highlights or even those configurations. We have looked at smaller versions, so lets compare those to see what a smaller battery can do against the Neo.

Specifically we're looking at the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x (15.3"), HP OmniBook X Flip 14 (Intel Core Ultra 5), and the HP OmniBook 5 14.

Alternatives

Look, not everyone wants to join the Apple ecosystem. I personally swore off Apple laptops after three different hard drive failures in a two year period.

Fortunately, there are Windows options if you want. Some of them still feature premium design and a lower price. A few have higher storage.

If you need recommendations check out these three MacBook Neo rivals. If you need more data, we've benchmarked a number of budget laptops and compared them to the Neo. Don't forget about the Neo versus Chromebooks, the original super-cheap laptop.

And of course, if you like Apple there's the MacBook Air, which you can get in the M5 version or seek out the less expensive refurbished MacBook Air M4.

Finally, we want to hear from you — would you pick up the MacBook Neo as your next budget laptop? Or does Windows offer you something better? Let us know in the comments box below.

More from Tom's Guide

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• Apple just 'doubled' MacBook Neo production but its budget laptop could still face a price hike — here's why
• Microsoft reportedly redesigning Start Menu in Windows 11 after actually listening to user complaints

The shake-up at Microsoft caught a lot of people off guard. When Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond both stepped away from their roles, it marked a major turning point for Xbox.

What came next was even more unexpected: Asha Sharma, formerly leading Microsoft’s CoreAI product, stepped in as the new EVP and CEO of Xbox.

Since taking over, Sharma has moved quickly to reshape the Xbox ecosystem, and early signs are giving gamers a reason to feel optimistic again. Her initial changes include lowering the price of Xbox Game Pass from $29.99 to $22.99 per month, scrapping the “This is an Xbox” campaign, and rolling out long-requested improvements to the Achievements system.

Then came another update. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Sharma teased yet another change, one that pushed fan excitement even higher. And honestly, I felt it too. This was the kind of announcement that makes you start paying attention to Xbox again.

Copilot AI on consoles will no longer be a thing

Sharma made it clear that further development for Microsoft Copilot AI across mobile and consoles has officially been halted for good.

Before its cancellation on those devices, this feature was showcased as an AI assistant that could provide players with in-game tips, make game recommendations and even offer predictions for upcoming Xbox showcases. Gaming Copilot is currently available in the Xbox mobile app, on Game Bar for Windows 11 and across the ROG Xbox Ally family of handhelds.

Another major change that Sharma has enacted for the Xbox brand is her appointment of new leaders who will assist her in her mission to make Xbox a powerhouse once again. In a memo detailed by IGN, four of those new roles saw positions filled by Sharma’s colleagues from her time spent at CoreAI.

Those new Xbox leaders include:

• Jared Palmer, the new VP of Engineering at Xbox (former CoreAI VP of product)
• Tim Allen, the new CVP of Xbox Design (former CoreAI president of design)
• Jonathan McKay, the new Xbox Head of Growth (former CoreAI head of growth)
• Evan Chaki will “run a team of forward-deployed engineers that will look to simplify development and end repetitive work” (former CoreAI GM of AI innovation)
• David Schloss, the new Xbox Head of subscriptions and cloud (former Instacart senior director of product and growth)

Kotaku also discovered a bunch of other changes made to Xbox’s most important positions:

• Jason Ronald will now be "accountable for Project Helix and the Xbox platform" as the new VP of Next Generation at Xbox (former VP of Xbox gaming devices and ecosystems)
• Jason Beaumont will now lead product and also serve as interim head of engineering (former VP of Xbox experiences)
• Fatima Kardar will maintain her position as the corporate VP of gaming AI and fulfill her new responsibilities as the head of a “newly formed Personalization org” that will focus on solving player-facing issues like search and discovery.
• Jennifer Creegan will now lead Xbox’s media business (former VP of strategy, business model, and insights)

The takeaway

From my perspective, Sharma has made all the right moves so far to rebuild confidence in the Xbox brand.

As an Xbox Series X owner and long-time Xbox Game Pass subscriber, I’m genuinely optimistic about what comes next. With major titles like Forza Horizon 6, Halo: Campaign Evolved and a new Fable reportedly on the way, 2026 is shaping up to be a big year. I’m also hoping Clockwork Revolution makes the cut.

Dropping Copilot from the core gaming experience also feels like the right call. While I tested the Gaming Copilot feature on mobile and found its recommendations surprisingly useful, most players simply don’t need AI to handle tasks they can easily do themselves. The broader gaming audience hasn’t exactly been asking for it.

Instead, doubling down on first-party studios and focusing on delivering high-quality games—not forcing AI into places it doesn’t belong—looks like a smarter long-term strategy. If Sharma and her team stay on this path, Xbox could finally regain some serious momentum.

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Microsoft Edge apparently saves your passwords in its memory as cleartext according to a Norwegian cybersecurity researcher. This matters because it means a malicious actor could see all of your passwords if they gain access to your PC.

Update: Microsoft provided Tom's Guide with a statement, read on for the company's response.

The researcher, Tom Jøran Sønstebyseter Rønning (spotted by our friends at PC Gamer), posted a thread on X explaining how the browser decrypts "every credential at startup" and then keeps them in process memory. It even happens for sites that you don't visit that session.

"Edge is the only Chromium‑based browser I’ve tested that behaves this way," Rønning said.

To be clear, this isn't available for anyone to just stumble across. You need some know-how and administrative access to the terminal server, already a huge breach. Once that is done, a bad actor "can access the memory of all logged‑on user processes."

A person could have administrative access on one account and then use that access to compromise passwords for other logged-in users too.

Yes, someone with admin rights can wreak havoc on any computer they have access to, but you typically need passwords to access password managers or two-factor authentication. Cleartext means that passwords are more visible and in a shared environment, that would be a treasure trove for a bad actor.

"Access to browser data as described in the reported scenario would require the device to already be compromised," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement.

"By design"

Rønning posted that he disclosed this flaw to Microsoft and was told that the behavior is "by design." And it appears to be known.

In a related thread, X user LopezLucio666 responded that they reported the flaw in September of 2025. According to a screencap they posted, the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) deemed the flaw "not a vulnerability and no security boundary being crossed."

The message says that the ability to read Edge memory requires privileges "the same or greater."

Microsoft has a password manager security FAQ that does sort of address the issue. "Even if an attacker has admin rights or offline access and can get to the locally stored data, the system is designed to prevent the attacker from getting the plaintext passwords of a user who isn't logged in."

This doesn't do anything for users who are logged in, though.

Microsoft told Tom's Guide that design choices regarding this involve "balancing performance, usability and security, and we continue to review it against evolving threats."

The company added that the browser's access to password data in memory allows you to sign in quickly and securely, an "expected feature of the application."

Per Rønning and others' research, the system may not be doing enough to prevent attackers from being able to access the cleartext passwords.

In the meantime, we recommend using one of the best password managers instead of storing them in Edge or any other browser for that matter.

Microsoft statement

More from Tom's Guide

• Microsoft is hiding Windows 11's 'eyes' — here's how to find Copilot Vision (and fully delete it)
• Microsoft reportedly redesigning Start Menu in Windows 11 after actually listening to user complaints
• Microsoft quietly hiked prices on all its Surface laptops — it's now cheaper to buy a MacBook Air

When Xbox raised the price of the Game Pass Ultimate tier by 50% last October, it infuriated gamers who rushed to cancel their subscriptions. Since then a lot of changes have unfolded at Microsoft, including the ascension of new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.

Today (Apr. 21), Sharma took to X to announce a rare price decrease for the service.

"Game Pass Ultimate has become too expensive for too many players," Sharma wrote. "Starting today, we’re dropping the price from $29.99 to $22.99/month."

It's not quite back to pre-October levels, when Game Pass Ultimate was only $19.99 a month but it's a step in the right direction.

Sharma added that the service will also no longer get future Call of Duty titles on Day One via Game Pass Ultimate. I've long speculated that Call of Duty was driving up the cost of Ultimate since it is one of Activision's cash cows, so this makes sense.

When the next Call of Duty releases, it won't join Game Pass until the "following holiday after launch" or about a year. Previously released Call of Duty games will remain available on the service.

What's next for Xbox?

From the outside Xbox has been floundering in recent years between price hikes across software and consoles a lack of exclusive Xbox titles that gamers find exciting.

Longtime CEO Phil Spencer retired in February which also led to the surprise resignation of Xbox President Sarah Bond, who was seen the heir apparent.

They were replaced by Sharma who came from an AI arm of Microsoft. Though she promised she wasn't coming into shove AI into Xbox.

From the outset, Sharma promised that she would listen to gamers and Xbox fans to figure out how to right the ship saying that she was "coming into gaming as a platform builder."

So far, Xbox has stayed quiet outside of teasing Project Helix, the rumored console/PC hybrid that is expected to launch in the next couple of years. It was rumored that Sharma spent much of the recent GDC conference selling Xbox to developers, publishers and investors.

Until a new console launches, a price decrease is a nice way for Xbox to garner some goodwill from fans even if it could have been more drastic.

We'll truly know where Xbox and Sharma stand when the Helix launches. That will tell us how Microsoft views its gaming division and the path forward.

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• Microsoft reportedly redesigning Start Menu in Windows 11 after actually listening to user complaints
• Microsoft starts removing Copilot from Windows 11 — I’m saying that sarcastically because it's clearly just lip service
• Windows is using your internet to update other people’s PCs — disable this hidden setting to speed up your connection

Microsoft has been promising to improve Windows 11 since January and we may see that overhaul begin with the Start Menu. The tech giant is rebuilding the Start menu with customization options and improved performance.

According to our friends at Windows Central, Microsoft is working on an update that's designed to give you more control over how the the menu looks and operates. It fits with promises made in March that detailed more customization and performance improvements for Windows 11 as a whole.

What is Microsoft potentially changing

Per Window Central, the initial look of the Start Menu will appear similar to how it already does in Windows 11. The difference will be in customization options configurable in the Windows Settings app.

Examples include the ability to turn off specific sections of the menu and choosing between small or large layouts. Currently, you can only see the small and large layouts depending on your screen size and device. This would let you set the menu to your preferred size regardless of what kind of device you're using.

As for toggling off sections, allegedly, you can turn off different things like the recommended feed or pinning apps in the menu. You could potentially even disable the all apps list.

Beyond customization, the new Start menu is supposed to be much more responsive, even when under intense load. This is supposed to extend to the search bar in the menu where you'll be able to type and search without any noticeable slowdown or missed keys.

What could have been

The alleged changes come out as Microsoft's design team shared on its Instagram page the approach that was taken to redesigning the Start menu. Unfortunately, the comments under that post are not kind.

"I don't like the new Start Menu at all. It doesn't fulfill my personal necessities and it makes everything more frustrating and time consuming. I even pay a third party software that modify it," one person wrote.

The comments were eventually turned off.

Windows Latest points out that the Windows Design team released a blog post last year that revealed five prototype Start menus. Some commentators called the prototypes more beautiful. However, looking at some of the images, all five still appear to have the same problems that the current menu does.

To be honest, it just makes us miss the Windows 10 Start Menu, which mixed app lists and tiles in a more usable way.

Microsoft says it wants to solve the pain points in Windows 11 throughout 2026. It appears the Start Menu will be one of the first changes.

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• Windows is using your internet to update other people’s PCs — disable this hidden setting to speed up your connection
• I ditched Copilot for Claude in Microsoft Word — and I’m never going back

New Microsoft Surface Pro and Surface Laptops are expected this year, and the latter will reportedly receive an upgraded display. As Windows Central’s Zack Bowden reports, the Surface Laptop will have an OLED panel, which would be a first for the notebook line. In addition, both the Surface Laptop and Pro will be kitted with the latest Intel Core Ultra “Panther Lake” chips.

These should be the primary upgrades, as neither machine is expected to get a major redesign, apart from potentially new colors and other tweaks. OLED variants of the Surface laptops will only be available in higher-end configurations, with entry-level models getting IPS panels. Bowden also says that some models are getting a higher resolution screen.

The Surface Pro and Surface Laptops will reportedly launch with Intel Panther Lake chips this spring. These devices should start with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, with higher-end models going as high as 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage.

Bowden’s sources claim that Microsoft will launch Snapdragon models this summer when Qualcomm’s chips are more readily available. Having Intel models released before Snapdragon variants is the opposite of what happened in 2024. Microsoft is reportedly not going to offer Surface PCs with the higher-end Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chip, but only with X2 Plus and X2 Elite options. Similarly, Intel models will only be available in Ultra 5 and Ultra 7 variants, and no Ultra 9.

One thing this report doesn’t disclose is how much these machines could potentially cost. As Windows Central also reported, Microsoft quietly hiked prices on all its Surface laptops by $300 due to the ongoing RAM crisis. Given that, it’s unlikely that either of the new Surface PCs will be cheaper than their current models.

As always, take this report with a grain of salt, as Microsoft has made no official statement about the 2026 models of the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. The OLED upgrade sounds like a meaningful update, as is the potential for improved battery life and performance. We’ll keep an eye on this story, so stay tuned for any further updates as we hear them.

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Microsoft has become the latest victim of the ongoing RAM crisis, quietly hiking the prices on its consumer-facing Surface laptops by as much as $300. This shouldn't come as a surprise — after all, we've just seen the PlayStation 5 get even more expensive for the same reason.

First picked up by the team at Windows Central, the price increases took effect at the Microsoft Store, with other retailers expected to follow suit. Just about every model is affected, and Windows Central notes that flagships like the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 are now $500 more expensive than their initial launch price in 2024.

"Due to recent increases in memory and component costs, Surface is updating pricing on Microsoft.com for its current‑generation hardware portfolio," a Microsoft spokesperson told the site.

Here's how the new pricing breaks down across the Surface line-up.

These price increases make Microsoft's offerings even harder to recommend against the competition. If you were choosing between an entry-level 13-inch Surface Laptop or an entry-level 13-inch MacBook Air M5, you would have saved $200 by opting for Microsoft. Now, Apple's computer comes in $100 cheaper. And that's not even taking into account the $599 MacBook Neo.

Finally, there have been some signs that costs of RAM have started to fall in recent weeks. Which makes Microsoft's decision not to try and weather the storm even more interesting. Trendforce reported that U.S. DDR5 RAM prices fell by over 20% in the last month.

It could be the case that Microsoft is attempting to set a new pricing benchmark with an eye on the upcoming Snapdragon X2 Plus-powered laptops coming in the future. Either way, the company says it remains "committed to delivering value to customers and partners while upholding our standards for quality and innovation.”

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A huge chunk of my life involves typing, and despite all the years and experience I have at throwing keystrokes and words together, I am extremely bad at it. Well, it's not an issue of speed or proficiency, just that I have fairly clumsy hands and make a boat-load of mistakes in the process.

The severity of the mistakes depends on the kind of keyboard I'm using, too. Mechanical keyboards are the best, while touchscreen keyboards are the absolute worst. Had it not been for autocorrect, the stuff I type on my phone would be totally incoherent. Actually, that still happens with autocorrect, because there are times when my typing is so appalling that it just gives up trying to figure out what I'm trying to say.

Touchscreen keyboards are not the easiest thing to self-correct with. Cursor control is possible, but there's significantly less finesse than you'd get with a physical keyboard, and it's all due to the lack of arrow keys. Some mobile keyboards do have options, but I find that none of them work quite as well as Microsoft's SwiftKey keyboard on the best Android phones.

The alternative isn't as accurate

By now, I imagine that most people will know all about the space bar cursor shortcut. It doesn't matter which phone you have or the keyboard you use; pressing and holding on the space bar lets you move the cursor left or right, depending on how you move your finger.

This option is great in a pinch, but it doesn't offer the same level of precision that you'd get from using a physical button. The same is true for tapping at the area you need the cursor to move to, since that offers even less precision and reliability than the gesture.

In fact, I'd place money on the little stubs we humans call fingers as the reason why such a gesture exists in the first place.

There are plenty of times when I find myself unable to sit at my desk and type on a keyboard. I have a 5-month old baby right now and, as is the case with a lot of babies, he's extremely clingy. I don't know if you've ever tried carrying 16.5 lbs of dead weight on your shoulder, while trying to type with the other hand, but I can promise you it isn't easy.

In these instances, my options are to either stop working and have to catch up later, or rely on my phone to get stuff done. Even though I often resort to dictation and GBoard's speech-to-text feature, I do need to go back and fix various spelling and grammatical mistakes along the way.

Doing that with the space bar gesture, or my particularly stubby digits, does not work very well. In fact, it's a lot more frustrating than simply trying to type one-handed - which is where SwiftKey's arrow keys come into play.

All the benefits of real arrow keys, on a keyboard

There are a couple of things I need to bring up quickly. First up is that SwiftKey only seems to offer arrow keys on Android devices. If you're using one of the best iPhones or an iPad, then you're going to be completely out of luck. Secondly, I know that it's far from the only keyboard that offers some kind of arrow key-like functionality.

Various others, including Gboard, offer a specific arrow key menu that even includes some bonus features. But I don't find them nearly as convenient, especially not when I need to do some quick edits and fix my foolish mistakes before I lose my train of thought.

The thing I like about SwiftKey's arrow keys is that they're part of the main keyboard. It's an option you have to switch on, and it does mean your keyboard takes up even more screen space as a result, but it also means you don't have to go diving back and forth between menus and sub-menus to move the cursor around accurately.

As you can see with Gboard, getting to the arrow keys is a two-part process. Tap the square menu and tap Text editing before you're actually able to control the cursor. Now imagine having to do that over and over, every time you needed to go back and change something. Whether it's a text message, a social media post, or if you're writing something a little more long-winded, the fact that SwiftKey's arrow keys are just there makes the process a whole lot simpler and faster. Or, that's how it's been in my experience, at least.

Though I will admit, Gboard's text select button is a very nice feature. My one real gripe with SwiftKey, aside from all the AI Microsoft has been shoveling into the app, is that selecting large portions of text is just as irritating as trying to move the cursor without arrow keys. Human fingers are not built for such fine control — especially not mine.

Then again, changing more than a couple of letters at a time is not something I do very often. If I really need to make more substantial changes, most Android phones make it super easy to switch keyboards at the tap of a button.

Bottom line

While touchscreens are great for a lot of things, typing certainly isn't one of them, which is a shame. I imagine it's rare that most people will go longer than a day without having to type something on their phone. It doesn't matter if you're the kind of person who writes long essays correcting people on Reddit, or if you prefer to keep things short and sweet; it's all typing in the end.

Having a feature that makes it easier to fix all the mistakes you'll be making removes a whole lot of frustration from the equation. Autocorrect has improved a lot over the years, especially if you opt for third-party keyboards, but it can't fix everything. The increased popularity of the word ducking since the invention of the iPhone is a testament to that.

Arrow keys exist on physical keyboards for a reason, and it's about time that mobile keyboards figured that out. Even the ones that already have don't make the process easy, and it ensures that Microsoft retains my keyboard loyalty until they do. Which is not something I ever thought I'd say, especially not after seeing what Microsoft did to Skype.

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Let’s be real. Nobody I know has anything good to say about Microsoft Copilot. Shoved down our throats in any way possible in Windows 11, it’s turned the OS into a bloated behemoth that consumes the very thing we’re all seeing get way more expensive — RAM. And for what? Some rewriting tools, AI image generation in Paint and a searchable visual timeline of everything you do that’s quite a security risk, which is all ignored by users.

So it’s fair to say that I got a little hyped when I saw the “commitment to Windows quality” blog, which confirms a major update with reduced Copilot features and better efficiency. Microsoft listened…at least that’s what I thought. Because what we’re actually getting from the first signs of these changes is a simple rebranding. Copilot is still there — it’s just called something different.

An AI wolf in sheep’s clothing

As discovered by Windows Latest, the Notepad app and Snipping Tool are the first signs of Microsoft starting to rollback Copilot in the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview. Copilot logos have disappeared from Notepad and the Snipping Tool.

But as is clearly apparent, this is mostly just branding only. Instead of a colorful Copilot button, Notepad gets a “Writing tools” icon, whereas the Snipping Tool is actually AI-free from the looks of it. Being someone who got tired of seeing Copilot everywhere, it’s definitely a welcome change.

Though, it does make me nervous that the idea of Microsoft being “intentional about how and where Copilot integrates across Windows” may be more like “let’s just hide it in plain sight.”

Outlook

That’s not to say this Windows 11 commitment is for nothing. We could very well just be seeing a small slither of the wider changes that could reduce AI integration to only where (in Microsoft’s words) it’s “most meaningful, with craft and focus.”

But early updates do give us an indication of where Microsoft is thinking of going, and simply changing the presentation rather than removing unnecessary feature sets does not instill confidence here.

Taskbar customization, a faster File explorer and reduced Windows Updates disruption are all good things, but if Microsoft doesn’t genuinely hit the biggest performance consumer here, then we’re right back at square one — only looking prettier. I hope the company goes harder on the run up to Build 2026.

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Apple has been pretty low-key about it, but the behemoth brand turned 50 this week. Just kidding, they threw some epic parties to celebrate. While Microsoft doesn't have a big milestone in the calendar (it already celebrated its own half-century last year), we didn't want it to feel left out, so have put together some challenges for you, Microsoft fans.

So whether your favorite era was Windows 98 with wobbly Word Art headings on every doc and the little paper clip guy offering a cheerful wave, or you're a slick Windows 11 upgrader (with or without Copilot), take a moment to prove your PC prowess with the quizzes below, which we've built especially for you.

Microsoft Mastery quiz

First up, take our multiple choice quiz to be crowned a Microsoft Master. I may have just given away the first answer in my introduction (oops), but there are nine more questions to stretch your brain cells.

Don't forget to register to save your score, reveal hints for any clues you're not sure of and secure your spot on the competitive Tom's Guide leaderboards. Good luck!

Windows 10 crossword

If the multiple choice quiz wasn't enough of a challenge, this crossword is a little more niche, in my opinion. I never knew the name of 9 down, so I've learned certainly something today!

How did you do? Let us know what you think in the comments below — including any other games you'd love to see.

If you enjoyed this quiz, then check out our other puzzles and quizzes.

And if you want to revel in Microsoft nostalgia a little longer, dive into Microsoft turns 50: 25 best and worst moments.

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Since the beginning of the year, Microsoft has been quietly promising to improve Windows 11, even going so far as to refocus its engineers to resolve the "core issues" with the operating system. Today, Microsoft released a highly detailed memo committing to improving "performance, reliability, and craft."

Microsoft's executive vice president of Windows + Devices Pavan Davuluri wrote in the memo that the company had spent the last few months listening to those "who care deeply about Windows and want it better."

The memo outlines a broad plan with areas of focus that should start appearing in the April update. Davuluri says we should see "tangible progress" in preview builds throughout the rest of 2026.

Yes, based on this memo, we can expect a lot of changes, tackling everything from system performance to customization and some AI.

Davuluri says that everything announced today will be tested first by the Windows Insider community. Including a big redesign to its Feedback Hub to make it faster and easier to submit feedback on Windows 11.

"Thank you for holding us to a high standard. Windows is as much yours as it is ours," Pavan said.

What's coming?

We rarely get such a public commitment with specific types of changes. So, what is Microsoft committing to?

Initially, in April, the changes will start with the ability to reposition the taskbar to the top or sides of the screen and a reduction of Copilot integration in Windows apps like Photos, Notepad and the Snipping Tool.

Expect less disruptive Windows updates with “fewer automatic restarts and notifications." Plus, you'll get the ability to skip updates during initial device setup.

Microsoft is also planning to improve File Explorer in the first rounds of improvements. “Our first round of improvements will focus on a quicker launch experience, reduced flicker, smoother navigation and more reliable performance for everyday file tasks,” Davuluri promises.

After that, widgets in Windows 11 will get more personalization features and "quieter defaults."

Reliability and performance are two of the big promises with Microsoft promising to reduce the number of resources Windows consumes and "improving the baseline reliability." That includes what Davuluri calls craft with a focus on "raising the bar" on the overall usability of the Windows 11 experience.

In all, it's a broad list of fixes. I'm not certain it directly covers everything, including the annoying pop-ups demanding you use Edge or Bing or anything Copilot. You should read the full memo for all the promised fixes.

Still, Davuluri is promising a more nuanced approach to Copilot integration. This fits with a January report that Microsoft is pulling back on stuffing Windows 11 with AI.

It's one of the few companies that actually seems to be stepping away from AI as everyone else bull rushes through the china shop to shove it in every piece of tech.

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• Microsoft reveals new details on its Project Helix PC-console hybrid: here's all the latest on the next Xbox

The annual Game Developers' Conference (GDC) is taking place this week in San Francisco. New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma promised last week that more details about Project Helix, the next Xbox, would be revealed at GDC and Microsoft did in fact provide some new details on the upcoming device.

Helix is meant to be a hybrid console-PC. During a talk titled "Building for the Future with Xbox" VP of Next Generation Jason Ronald explained what the hybrid means. Think of Helix as akin to Valve's delayed Steam Machine as it will play both PC games and Xbox ones.

Unsurprisingly, Helix will be powered by AMD featuring the company's next-gen upscaling, frame generation and ray tracing abilities thanks to a custom chip.

Here's an overview of Project Helix features. Partnered with AMD, designed for the next generation of DirectX.

— @haydendingman.bsky.social (@haydendingman.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-03-11T23:55:07.494Z

"The days of people defining themselves as (console/PC/mobile gamer) don't really exist anymore," Ronald said in his presentation. "What we've really learned is as we look at it, PC is becoming an increasingly important part of the Xbox experience."

A summary of Ronald's speech was posted to the Xbox site.

We maybe waiting awhile

Ronald announced that alpha versions of Helix wouldn't ship to developers until 2027. Which means we might not see the console actually launch until 2028 despite hints at a 2027 reveal by AMD's Lisa Su.

Other than an AMD chip and its hybrid nature, we don't know anything else about Helix at this time.

A pushed out launch window might actually help Xbox since the ongoing memory shortage isn't supposed to even begin resolving until 2028, at the earliest. By then, new factories should be handling the demand, assuming the AI bubble doesn't pop by then.

It's part of the reason Valve has delayed the Steam Machine and is struggling to maintain Steam Deck stock. At this rate, the Steam Machine and Xbox might launch around the same time and actually go head to head a la the battle Xbox used to have PlayStation.

Xbox mode for Windows

Microsoft is apparently expanding its work on "Xbox Mode" for Windows PCs based around the work it did on the Asus Rog Xbox Ally X handheld consoles. The goal is to optimize Windows 11 to like an Xbox console with reduced background processes and a prioritization of game performance.

This would include faster boot times, better controller support and improved frame stability.

"Xbox mode lets players seamlessly switch between productivity and play, with a familiar full screen and controller optimized Xbox experience while embracing the openness of Windows," Ronald said.

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Xbox's new CEO Asha Sharma has a tough job ahead as she tries to revive the 25-year old gaming brand, or as some on the internet believe, lead it gently into the good night.

After trying to prove her gaming bona fides to the unwashed masses of X, Sharma has confirmed the next-generation Xbox is in the works with a codename, Project Helix.

"Project Helix will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games," Sharma wrote on X. She added that she'll be discussing the console with partners and studios at GDC this month. Potentially, more details could be revealed to us then.

Sharma's post seems to confirm the rumors that Xbox is working on a hybrid console/PC. Previous rumors have suggested that Xbox will reveal its new console before the end of 2026. It's also possible the company could unveil an Xbox PC.

Previous Xbox president, Sarah Bond, hinted that the next Xbox console would be a "very premium, very high-end curated experience."