Image by Cath Virginia / The Verge Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 31, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, hi, sorry for my bad taste in TV, and also, you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about LA crime rings and AI music tools, watching March Madness even though all my brackets are already busted, watching the story of Mickey Mouse and pretending I don’t care about Love Is Blind while my wife watches even though I’m now kind of obsessed with Love Is Blind, and trying to understand all the basketball terms LeBron James uses in his new podcast.I also have for you a huge new Netflix show, a super-cheap USB charger, a newish messaging app, the new X-Men series... Continue reading…

Arctic launched the Liquid Freezer III series of all-in-one (AIO) CPU coolers with a variety of sizes. I already reviewed the 360mm version of this cooler and in this review, I'll be sharing my experience using the 280mm Arctic Liquid Freezer III A-RGB. The main difference between the two coolers is the size of the radiator and included fans. The Liquid Freezer 360 A-RGB uses three 120mm Arctic blowers while the 280 version uses two 140mm fans. It's more affordable than the larger sibling and should still provide great cooling performance for mid-range processors.

The home screen is the central hub for all of your apps, and different systems give you different levels of control over how your apps are arranged. When it comes to iOS, the system doesn't give you quite as much freedom to move your icons around as some may like. Fortunately, an insider has revealed that Apple is planning to change this with iOS 18, giving the user more freedom over how they arrange their home screen.

It's 2024, and the operating system wars are all but over. Windows dominates the global desktop OS market share, with macOS coming in at a distant second, bringing along a few key advantages. There's Linux, too, which is still gaining market share marginally even today. But it wasn't always this way. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, companies like Apple, Microsoft, and others were competing to create the desktop operating system of the future. And Apple was falling behind, at least until it launched its game-changing Mac OS X on this day 23 years ago.

If you've seen the viral videos of Flipper Zero devices being used to hack into different places and gain access to things that the user shouldn't, you would understandably be pretty spooked. But what if I told you that this isn't something unique to the Flipper Zero, and tools that are capable of all of that have existed for quite a while already?

Nvidia's new companion software is not ready to fully replace the Control Panel and GeForce Experience yet, but it's definitely a good start to what could potentially be a one-stop solution to all your graphics needs in the future. There are plenty of ways Nvidia can improve the software experience for its users, but there's one feature in particular that I would like to see it borrowing from AMD's software — GPU tuning.

It’s no secret that the best graphics cards have substantially increased in price lately. Even what’s considered a budget graphics card has redefined what ‘budget’ means in this context. But what if you have a constrained budget and still want to get gaming? Or if you have modest requirements for a graphics card that only really needs to be able to put an image on your screen? I’ve been scouting the internet for the best graphics cards under $100, and here are my choices.

In the world of large language models, it's been dominated by ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini. If you've heard of Anthropic, its new LLM dubbed "Claude" has been doing rounds as a potential major competitor in the space. Claude 3 Opus recently launched, and it's managed to really, really impress. This is how it stacks up against Google Gemini Advanced in particular.

I've been waiting for the Snapdragon X Elite for seven years. Ever since Qualcomm and Microsoft announced Windows running on Arm processors with emulated x86 apps in 2016, I've been hyped for it. Finally, we were going to have some real competition to Intel and x86.

If you're spending the money on a gaming laptop, you want it to give you a distinct advantage while gaming or have the functionality to be used for other reasons. Gaming laptops are packed with some of the best CPUs and GPUs and offer some of the best refresh rates on crystal-clear displays you're going to find. Because of all they can do, many of the best gaming laptops can also be considered the best laptops for creators. The power and versatility of the Razer Blade 16 and Lenovo Legion Pro 7i make them both of the best laptops for users. If you're trying to decide which is better, we've got you covered. Here is our breakdown of the two.

Gaming is a sport where having the best components gives you an edge over the competition. You want high-performance CPUs and GPUs, a display with a high refresh rate, a comfortable keyboard, and customizable RGB lights for that gamer aesthetic. The Legion Pro 7i (2024) and Legion 9i laptops from Lenovo offer the elements above in a small form factor, allowing you to gain an edge over your competition and game on the go.

Even if you're a PC-building beginner, you probably know the importance of choosing the best CPUs and GPUs for your build. Essential components of a PC, such as the motherboard, storage, RAM, PSU, and case, can greatly impact its performance and appearance. However, some PC parts, although not absolutely needed, can have a huge impact on how your PC looks and feels.