Despite their huge storage capacities and better terabyte-per-dollar ratio, even the best hard drives have extremely slow read and write speeds compared to a solid-state drive, especially if you're using your HDD as the boot drive. If your PC takes ages to launch an app and even longer to boot up, swapping your mechanical hard drive with an SSD is the cheapest and easiest way to improve its performance.

While there are plenty of Microsoft Office alternatives these days, none of them quite fit the needs of office workers quite like the real thing. Microsoft Office is an essential productivity suite for the modern workforce, whether that's to handle email, create presentations, or keep track of your taxes on a spreadsheet. For a limited time, you can get lifetime access to Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 for Windows or Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for Mac for just $30. That's the lowest price we've seen and gives you a lifetime license for 86% off the usual cost.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has finally released a successor to the Raspberry Pi 4, and the latest version of the Arm-based single-board computer series packs more horsepower than ever. Sadly, the hardware improvements come with a significant price bump as the base Raspberry Pi 5 model costs $60, which is almost double the $35 starting price of the Pi 4. Factor in the cost of SD cards, cases, and the other gizmos you’ll need to make the most out of the Pi 5, and you could end up spending more than $150!

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images Many Peloton users were unable to get into Thursday’s Thanksgiving ride, prompting the company’s CEO to apologize. At 10AM ET Peloton kicked off its 10th annual “Turkey Burn” event, with the goal of breaking the Guiness World Record for “largest live cycling class.” But the company struggled with the demand, and many users were unable to participate at all. “We let you down,” CEO Barry McCarthy said in a statement.According to McCarthy, over 37,000 people were able to participate, while it’s unclear how many couldn’t get in. “The number of members trying to join the ride overwhelmed our technical infrastructure and we were unable to support all those attempting to participate in the class,” he said. The Peloton status page notes... Continue reading…

I recently built one of the fastest gaming PCs out there using some of the best PC components on the market right now. It's an incredibly powerful machine that can handle pretty much any modern AAA title you throw at it without a hitch, be it Cyberpunk 2077 with Path Tracing or Alan Wake 2 at max graphics settings. I was able to get some discounts on a few components to save me enough for a couple of case fans, but — if I’m being honest — I should've just waited for Black Friday before getting new parts for my PC.

Image: triddell24 (Reddit) Ubisoft is blaming an unspecified “technical error” for a fullscreen pop-up ad that appeared in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey this week. Reddit users say they spotted the pop-up on Xbox and PlayStation versions of the game, with an ad appearing just when you navigate to the map screen. “This is disgusting to experience while playing,” remarked one Reddit user, summarizing the general feeling against such pop-ups in the middle of gameplay.“We have been made aware that some players encountered pop-up ads while playing certain Assassin’s Creed titles yesterday,” says Ubisoft spokesperson Fabien Darrigues, in a statement to The Verge. “This was the result of a technical error that we addressed as soon as we learned of the issue.” ... Continue reading…

Capable of switching between laptop and tablet modes on the fly, convertible laptops are flexible enough to be used for both productivity and entertainment purposes. Sure, they may lack the sheer processing capabilities powerful gaming laptops, but they offer the highest versatility out of all the laptops available on the market. While most companies have released plenty of 2-in-1 laptops in recent years, convertibles continue to cost an arm and a leg.

At this point, we’ve been highlighting Black Friday deals for what feels like the better part of a month. Now that the annual shopping holiday is officially here, however, we can tell you with the utmost certainty what the best deals are — including the budget-friendly tech you probably didn’t know you needed, much of which can be had for under $50.We’ve sifted through the deluge of deals at Amazon, Best Buy, and other retailers to bring you an assortment of cheaper deals below, several of which can be had for as little as $10. And while you’ve likely heard of many of these items before — AirTags, anyone? — we’ve also made an effort to include lesser-known favorites of ours like Sharge’s adorable Retro 67 charger, Anker’s gym-friendly S... Continue reading…

As the market for the best laptops continues to grow, so does the demand for larger screens. While 18-inch laptops are still relatively rare, they are becoming more popular, especially among gamers and creative professionals looking for the largest canvas in a portable workstation. Larger laptops tend to be more expensive, but whether you're looking for something with the most powerful specs or something on a bit of a budget, there's an option for you.

Scavengers Reign. | Image: Max Thanksgiving is a time to spend with friends and family, and also a time full of periods where you definitely don’t want to move from the couch. You could spend that time mindlessly scrolling on your phone, or you could squeeze in a game or streaming show that fits nicely into a long weekend. If you aren’t planning to catch up some of the big recent TV shows or video games, here are a few things that I’ve been digging lately.Scavengers ReignStreaming on MaxThis show manages to be silly, scary, and strange all at once. It’s a story about a group of humans stranded on an alien planet, but it’s the latter that’s really the star here. Each episode of Scavengers Reign is packed with absolutely bizarre alien life, from hypnotic killer... Continue reading…

Illustration by Aaron Fernandez for The Verge Black Friday is here once again, even though the deluge of early deals has made it feel like the holiday shopping season is perpetually hitting its peak for all of November. Regardless, though, today is the day where you should be able to score the very best deals of the year on all things tech.Whether you’re checking off everyone on your list for the upcoming holidays or you’re just shopping for the very best prices for yourself (we don’t judge), we’re scouring all the quality deals Black Friday has to offer and logging them right here. But keep in mind that our Black Friday and upcoming Cyber Monday coverage goes well beyond this one post. You can find it all right here, and you definitely don’t want to miss some of our... Continue reading…

Black Friday deals might already be popping up in your feeds, but while you get swept up in the wave of Nvidia and AMD GPU Black Friday deals, don't forget to look back at that longstanding monitor upgrade to fully appreciate your fancy new GPU. If you have a budget of around $300 for one of the best 1440p high refresh rate monitors to come out in recent years, you're in luck. The LG 27GP850-B is currently down to its lowest price ever at $280 in this hard-to-miss Black Friday deal.