This is the laptop to get if you're trying to buy something for gaming on a budget. Not only does it come from a reputable brand, but the specifications are also pretty good, considering the $580 price tag. This laptop has more than enough power for your favorite AAA games and can even work with your favorite photo or video editing software.

If you’re the kind of person who owns leather driving gloves in multiple colors to match your different Jaguars, then there hasn’t been a digital paper option that could live up to your lofty luxury standards until now. But Montblanc is finally delivering a truly bougie take on the e-ink writing tablet. The $905 Montblanc Digital Paper writing tablet combines a basic black-and-white e-ink screen with a digital pen modeled on the company’s Meisterstück. As you’d expect you can jot down notes, sketch, and even annotate books in epub or PDF format.Technical details are relatively light. There’s a 3740 mAh battery inside its aluminum shell, but there’s no mention of how long it’s expected to last under normal use. There’s a leather side bar where the pen attaches magnetically and charges wirelessly, and we know that it overs “over 4,000” levels of pressure sensitivity. But the tech specs are clearly besides the point. Montblanc isn’t selling you a cutting edge device, it’s selling you a luxury experience. What’s important isn’t the resolution of the screen, it’s the interchangeable tips that mimic three different paper textures. The company has dipped its toes into digital writing before with its Augmented Paper line and styli for Samsung, but this is largely new territory for Montblanc. If you’re in the market for a e-ink writing tablet you’re probably going to get more for your money (like color) by going with the $629 Remarkable Paper Pro. But if you’re looking for a lux e-ink experience that will look at home on a solid oak desk nestled between your gold name plate and humidor, the Montblanc Digital Paper pad (in its $205 calf leather folio, of course), might fit the bill.

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 98, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, please tell me if you bought an orange iPhone, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I've been reading about competitive massage and space soda and how people really use AI, checking out Adolescence now that it won all those Emmys, playing The New York Times' new domino game, finally listening to The Lazarus Heist, doing a bunch of writing in Ulysses, using Remind Me Faster for all my task-writing needs, and taking copious notes on Federico Viticci's iOS 26 review.I …Read the full story at The Verge.

Amazon is about to face a roughly month-long trial against the US Federal Trade Commission in Seattle to defend its Prime program from claims it tricked tens of millions of customers into signing up for the membership and made it hard to quit.It's one of several Big Tech trials the US government has initiated that's taking place this year, but the first major one in recent history against Amazon. Jury selection in the case will begin on Monday, which will be followed by opening arguments in the case. The FTC has separately sued Amazon for allegedly anticompetitive practices in a case that's set to begin in early 2027. The case beginning …Read the full story at The Verge.

Voice control has become the default interface for many smart homes, but it usually comes at a cost. Amazon, Google, and Apple all push their own ecosystems where your voice data lives in the cloud, limiting your choices while expanding theirs. Wyoming Satellite takes a different approach. It is a free, open-source project that lets you turn nearly any PC into a local voice controller for Home Assistant. That alone makes it appealing, but there are deeper reasons why this project matters and why it deserves serious consideration.

Donald Trump has never made his distaste for immigrants a secret. It's been a cornerstone of his political movement since he descended that escalator on June 16th, 2015 and started hurling racist vitriol in the general direction of Mexico and Mexican Americans. On the surface, his assault on the H-1B visa program seems like part of the White House's ongoing campaign to reduce the number of immigrants in the country. It might have that effect, but the biggest goal for Trump may not be forcing companies to hire more Americans or cutting down on the number of workers from India moving to the US. It's giving the government more leverage over his …Read the full story at The Verge.

External graphics cards have occupied a niche market over the last decade. When Thunderbolt 5 was announced, some of us thought it would make eGPUs viable, but the truth is somewhat complicated. The popularity of PC gaming handhelds gives eGPUs another chance at being relevant, but the slow adoption of Thunderbolt 5 has somewhat limited their effectiveness. For those of you who need the extra GPU grunt, eGPUs still have their place, but it's important to know exactly what you're getting into when you decide to purchase one, as your expectations might not match up with the reality.

We all waited 8 long years for Hollow Knight: Silksong to finally arrive, and it's genuinely a perfect sequel that builds on the first game's success, learns from it, and gives us more of the same, but better. In the meantime, however, the community didn't just sit on its hands and wait (although there was a lot of that involved as well). Instead, Hollow Knight became supported with mods by the truckload, with some of them capable of transforming our entire experience of the first game.

Although your life doesn't necessarily depend on it, the M.2 slot roulette is real, and you need to take note of all the available slots, ensuring you make the most of your expensive NVMe SSD. This standard has become the norm for connecting super-fast storage to your PC, be it a range-topping desktop system, portable laptop, or compact mini PC. Depending on which PCI generation you have available on the motherboard — this all boils down to your CPU and motherboard chipset — you could experience speeds up to 15,000 MB/s. The issue is that not all PCIe M.2 slots are the same, and you could end up hampering your PC's performance.

If you’ve finished Hollow Knight: Silksong and want more adventures in the same spirit, you’re in luck. The platforming/Metroidvania genre is filled with games that have atmospheric worlds, tough battles, and rewarding exploration. Here are five great games that capture what made Silksong feel so special.

The choice between air and liquid cooling comes down to several factors. Most users pick one or the other based on esthetics or price, unless they're using the highest-end CPUs. In that case, performance is often the deciding factor. For the majority of PC users, however, air coolers are predominantly the smarter choice. Liquid cooling is not only unnecessary for most modern CPUs, but also comes with additional concerns around installation and longevity.

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the intersection of gaming and technology, follow Sean Hollister. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.How it startedThey used to be called the "console wars," and to the victor went the spoils. When Sony's PlayStation and PlayStation 2 dominated the Sega, Nintendo, and Microsoft competition, selling over a hundred million boxes into our living rooms - each! - they created a profitable virtuous cycle. More consoles meant selling more games, which meant attracting more developers …Read the full story at The Verge.