News

• Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says Sony's decision to scrap physical discs is "fairly dramatic"
• Layden recalls a time when digital sales "were zero percent" because Sony didn't have a market
• He believes the move will also mean the PS6 won't have a disc drive

Former PlayStation Worldwide Studios boss Shawn Layden has shared his opinion on Sony's decision to stop producing physical discs and its plan to move all-digital, calling it "a fairly dramatic decision."

Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer following the bombshell news, the PlayStation veteran of 32 years confirmed that he had "no idea it was going to happen and "don't necessarily agree with it."

As for why he thinks Sony has made the decision, he suggested, "Maybe it's just too prohibitively expensive to stamp out discs," but believes that any big move to discontinue a product, feature, or model is "largely" a "straight spreadsheet [decision]."

"What are disc sales compared to digital sales? And I'm old enough to remember when digital sales were like 10 percent - I'm old enough to remember when digital sales were zero percent because we didn't have a digital market! And that number just grew over time," Layden said.

The ex-PlayStation leader suggested the COVID pandemic played a role in accelerating the purchase and consumption of digital games over physical, and believes that Sony's decision could mean the PS6 won't have a disc drive.

Analysts have also determined that the next-gen PS6 console will launch in late 2028 and won't have a disc drive, or at the very least, one will be sold separately "to play older PS4 and PS5 games on disc."

In fact, Layden revealed that ditching the PlayStation's disc drive was something the company considered for a year while he worked there.

"I've been asked this question every year for the last 20 years. 'When are you guys going to just give up on the disc drive?' My feeling with that was always: well, when I get to a place where I'm comfortable enough to believe that worldwide, broadband throughput is good enough to support that download experience, good enough to reach the majority of customers," Layden said.

He clarified, "Majority does not mean entirety, so there is a point, a tipping point, where if I have 80 percent of the opportunity, which represents 95 percent of the revenue source, what's my incentive to keep the lights on for the other 20 percent if it's effectively only 5 percent of the business? See what I'm saying? At some point, it just becomes obvious that we can't keep this whole thing running just for this very small slice of opportunity."

While Layden admits that Sony had always been "pretty good" at determining the risk of overestimating regional internet infrastructure, "because unlike Xbox, PlayStation had a wider global fanbase, and not just in the numbers, but in the reach, because Sony Corp had reach all over the world," there are also players who do not have access to the internet, such as people in military bases.

"The idea that they could still buy a PlayStation 4 game, throw it in a machine, and play was important. You don't want to leave those people behind," Layden said.

"I don't know what went on in those conversations, but it's a fairly dramatic decision."

As Sony plans to scrap physical discs, there are also concerns about the inability to resell games or buy them second-hand in the future, which Layden said "used to be a huge factor" in the business, but the rise of digital games "kind of quashed that used-game business, and made it hard for folks who were making a nickel in the secondary market by selling them."

However, he doesn't necessarily believe this drove Sony's decision because it's been happening over time, but thinks "we've reached some kind of homeostasis where it's in a weird sort of balance."

"Second-hand gaming still occurs, obviously, but it's not material anymore to the business to worry about, I think," Layden added.

Following Sony's announcement, new reports claimed that the company is testing a disc-to-digital feature for existing consoles and could also release a next-gen Project Helix console without a disc drive.

While there's no telling whether Microsoft plans to follow Sony's all-digital business practice later on, Layden believes the huge decision could influence other companies, including Microsoft and Nintendo, to follow suit.

"Certainly, this is an industry where if one company, particularly the leader of the industry, makes a decision of this magnitude, that's going to heavily influence what the other ones do," he said.

Spoilers for Dutton Ranch episode 9 ahead.

I knew that the season finale of Dutton Ranch was going to be a corker, and the Yellowstone spinoff hasn't let me down.

Last week, episode 8 saw Carter (Finn Little) flip out at Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser) separately, both feeling alienated after their move to Rio Paloma and suffocated by their decisions for his life.

A week on, and Carter is no longer the main player in our drama. Beulah (Annette Bening) is now out of the hospital after a heart attack at the 10 Petal anniversary party, and her decision to announce Rob-Will (Jai Courtney) as her successor is now starting to have serious repercussions.

But in the season finale, everyone needs to watch their back. Here's a full Dutton Ranch episode 9 breakdown, including what you need to watch out for when season 2 hits Paramount+.

We join episode 9 as Rip and Beth are intercepting a cattle shipment arriving at 10 Petal. Rob-Will arrives and tells the pair to get off his property, causing Rip to punch him in the face when he insults Beth.

An incredibly satisfying fight unfolds, leaving Rob-Will on the floor with a bloodied nose. Beth picks up his cattle book, calling out numbers to be hauled to one side.

Everett (Ed Harris) is called, and the separate cattle are tested. Making an incision in the first, Everett finds packages of drugs — that we later learn are filled with fentanyl — hidden in the cow, confirming that 10 Petal has been running an illegal drug smuggling business across the Mexican border.

After working through them all, Zachariah (Marc Menchaca) and Azul (J.R. Villarreal) estimate that the drugs have a street value of around $2 million, meaning that somebody is bound to come looking for it... and soon.

After examining the cattle, Everett returns home to question Beulah. He's furious that she's been lying to everyone around her for so long, especially after claiming that she wanted to "run away" with him at the end of episode 8.

Immediately, she tells him everything. As we already saw in episode 7's flashback scenes, Beulah confesses to ranch hand Mariano (Raoul Max Trujillo) helping her hide Luke’s body.

What we didn't already know is that Luke is Rob-Will’s father, and Beulah’s dad blames Mariano for her assault. He offered Mariana a deal: take the heat and escape to Mexico, and the family would take in baby Joaquin (Juan Pablo Raba).

However, Mariano's wife was killed back at the border, meaning he had extra leverage on the Jackson family. Cut to 15 years before the events of Dutton Ranch, and 10 Petal was on its knees after a drought ruined everything they had.

Joaquin stepped in and offered financial help to Mariano, and the drug smuggling scheme was born. Beulah claims that she's been looking for a way out of it for years, but Everett tells her to leave.

As you might have guessed from Joaquin's phone call at the end of episode 8, Mariano is officially back on the scene. After refusing to help Rob-Will when Beth and Rip unearth the smuggling scheme, Joaquin meets Mariano at a nearby motel.

Joaquin fills Mariano in on basically everything that's happened in the present day, with Mariano seething with rage at the idea of "strangers" being brought in to manage the ranch.

Rob-Will arrives and tells Mariano about the compromised cattle, leading Mariano to call Beth and Rip and threaten them over the phone. He then asks his guys to kill the rest of the 10 Petal ranchers and asks Joaquin to kill Rob-Will.

While all of this is going on, Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind) finds herself at a crisis point. She finds out that she's pregnant after spontaneously doing a test, having to play off her fear when Beth arrives to ask if Oreana has seen Carter.

Without Beth knowing, Oreana immediately tracks Carter down to Dwight's (Ray McKinnon) old farm, where the pair share beers and talk about their woes. Oreana convinces Carter to call Beth, who's been relentlessly trying to get hold of him since his episode 8 disappearance. He does, but puts the phone down when Beth asks him to come home.

Back at 10 Petal, Oreana convinces Carter that they should elope, not telling him about the pregnancy. Carter is only too happy to do so, and the pair begin to pack their bags while Carter sneaks home to get his stuff.

While Oreana is packing, Rob-Will arrives home to see her. Oreana tells him that she's leaving, and instead of discouraging her, Rob-Will says that there's nothing for either of them at 10 Petal or in Rio Paloma, and kisses her.

However, Oreana never actually goes anywhere. A few seconds after leaving her bedroom, Rob-Will is found bleeding to death in the house's hallway following a loud gunshot. Oreana comes down the stairs quickly enough in time to see a black SUV speeding away, breaking down in tears over her dad's body.

She stays there until Beulah arrives, who cannot believe what has happened. We cut to Joaquin in the car, who is struggling to collect himself.

Not knowing what to do for the best, Beth and Rip have huge decisions to make. Beth raids Beulah's slaughterhouse, but finds nothing aside from a wrangler who wants to beat her up (don't worry, Rip gets there first).

By the time they get home, Beulah is there, with Beth pulling a shotgun on her. Rip convinces Beulah to be let inside the house, where she details the same story that she told Everett earlier.

Beulah claims that she needs the drugs before Mariano can find out that they're missing, with Rip telling her that he's already got Zachariah to load them up in her car.

Obviously, the threatening phone call means that Mariano already knows what's up, so Beth, Rip, Azul, Zachariah, and later Everett get ready for Mariano's men to storm their ranch. Sure enough, they surround the house in the dead of night, with a classic shootout then taking place.

All of Mariano's men end up dead, except one, whom Rip takes to a nearby barn and interrogates while suspending him in the air.

At the same time, we see another group of Mariano's men storm into Carter's bedroom, pinning him to the ground before bundling him into a van. Beth gets another phone call, with Mariano confirming that they've kidnapped Carter.

The final scene of episode 9 shows Beth running into the barn in tears and telling Rip, "They've got him."

Obviously, there are quite a few questions that need answering here. The most pressing is whether Carter will survive his kidnapping, and whether Beth and Rip can get to him before anything bad happens.

Then we'll have the fallout of Rob-Will's death, which will definitely have messed with Joaquin's mind. This is also going to affect Mariano's standing in the 10 Petal business, arguably likely to see even more power than he had before.

Beulah, meanwhile, has absolutely nothing to her name. She needs to grieve Rob-Will, but Everett wants nothing to do with her, so her next moves cannot be immediately guessed.

Then, there's Oreana. Will she keep the baby? Will Beth be there to support her? And will Rio Paloma ever be the same again?

Right now, you can get the Bose QuietComfort Headphones at Amazon for $179 (was $359). That's the lowest price yet for the excellent headphones and a continuation of the same deal we saw during the recent Prime Day sale.

Sales are cyclical, and it's already halfway through the year. Since this is the lowest price we've seen for the Bose QuietComfort Headphones, once it expires, I wouldn't count on seeing it again until a major commercial holiday like Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

The Bose QuietComfort Headphones are the manufacturer's flagship pair of headphones — and they still hold up three years later. These budget-friendly wireless headphones offer great ANC, comfort, and portability for less than the average competitor. At 50% off the launch price, these are unlikely to go lower than this record-low price before Black Friday or Cyber Monday season.View Deal

The QuietComfort are some of the best Bose budget headphones, even if the word "budget" is more comparative to the price of the QuietComfort Ultra. They are intentionally designed to be light, offer a comfy fit and focus on active noise-cancellation for an affordable price.

Overall, these cover the basics well and keep the noise out for much less than the pricier but more powerful QuietComfort Ultra counterpart. These have stayed a popular, fuss-free choice if you're looking for a reliable brand with ANC and aesthetics.

In our Bose QuietComfort Headphones review, we rated it four out of five stars for the ANC, comfort, portability, and ease of use. Our reviewer clocked up to 26 hours of battery life during testing, which is lower than many other competitors but still acceptable given the specs.

For more, see our best headphones (for more than just wireless) and best wireless headphones. We even have a list of best wireless earbuds for those who prefer in-ear listening.

• Planning permission isn't usually required unless you're in a conservation area or listed building
• Cooling-only systems aren't covered by permitted development rules
• If in doubt, speak to your council

If you're looking for a way to avoid the sweltering heat of yet another heatwave arriving soon, air conditioning looks awfully tempting – so much so that in the UK, portable AC units are sold out almost everywhere or going for silly money on eBay, while air con installers are booked far into the future.

With future summers expected to get even hotter, many of us are now looking into fully installed AC as a long-term investment for our homes and our health, and that means we're likely to encounter a lot of confusion and misinformation about what you can and cannot do under UK planning and building regulations.

That confusion has been partly fuelled by social media and very misleading newspaper headlines suggesting that Net Zero-crazed councils are demanding innocent homeowners 'RIP OUT' their expensive installations.

The UK government's ministry of housing, communities and local government (MHCLG) says that such coverage is incorrect. "In most cases, planning permission is not required to install [air con] for a small home if it would not materially effect the appearance of the building from outside."

The most sensational headlines have been about air con in London and reference the London Plan, a city-specific rule that prioritises passive cooling and discourages extensive use of air con due to the heat it emits outside, which can contribute to heat islands in built-up areas.

As a spokesperson for the Mayor of London told The Telegraph: "The current London Plan does not rule out air conditioning — its policy is only applicable to major developments and requires new developments to address overheating risk from the outset — through measures such as shading, ventilation and other cooling design features."

If you look at the detail of the newspaper stories you'll typically find that the problem wasn't the air con itself, but how and where it was installed.

The problem is that even the the Government's press release above saying "Air conditioning units are not banned" also then says "However, there is no blanket rule. People should speak with their local council to check the rules, and councils should take a common-sense approach." So that' doesn't exactly totally clear things up — but there are basic rules that apply broadly, which are then changed depending on the local council situation.

So here's an overview of what rules you need to know about when you're considering investing in permanent air conditioning, so you at least know where you're starting from, and you can look into your area's circumstances from there.

In this article we'll be focusing exclusively on adding domestic air con to an existing residential home that you own. If your home is a leasehold in England you may need to obtain the freeholder's consent in addition to the other criteria.

The rules depend very much on what kind of home you have. If you're in a listed building you'll definitely need to apply for listed building consent; if you're in a conservation area, there will be restrictions on changing the appearance of your home, so there will be limits as to where you can place the external unit on the outside of your home.

If your home is neither listed nor in a conservation area, then the rules are largely common sense: under the rules for 'Permitted Developments' you don't need planning permission provided your air con meets some reasonably straightforward technical and location criteria.

The specific criteria are similar across the UK and I've linked to them here:

• England
• Scotland
• Wales
• Northern Ireland

If you're not sure if your system meets the permitted development criteria, we'd strongly recommend a chat with your local council's planning department: get it wrong and the council can make you remove the system at your own expense. You don't want to make what could be a very expensive mistake.

The basic rules (before you get into conversation areas, and so on) differ depending on the kind of air conditioning you're thinking of installing.

If your air conditioner can heat as well as cool then it's generally allowed under Permitted Development rules under their Class G permissions, which are enforced by your local council on a common-sense basis.

Provided your external condenser unit (the part of an installed air con that goes outdoors) or heat pump isn't too big, too loud, too visible or too close to your neighbours, you don't usually need planning permission.

That's not the case if the air conditioner cools but doesn't also have a heating element. You need planning permission for that, and councils are keen to discourage such installations.

The Class G permissions allow you to install air con on your property or its "curtilage", which is the land associated with and immediately surrounding it including additional buildings. If you live in a castle the curtilage is anything inside the castle walls; if you're in a semi-detached the curtilage usually means your garden, driveway and garage, if you have one.

Most modern air con systems are Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP), which means they can both cool and heat the air they take in and expel.

The Class G permissions were revised in 2025 to specifically include the exterior units of ASHPs, and they state that in a permitted development:

• You can have up to two ASHPs on a detached house or bungalow
• If you live in a semi-detached or terraced house, you may only have one ASHP
• If you live in a block of two flats or more, that also limits you to one ASHP

For a terraced, semi-detached or detached house the ASHP must not be bigger than 1.5 cubic metres. For flats the limit is 0.6 cubic metres.

A cubic metre is 1m wide, 1m tall and 1m deep. That's bigger than a freestanding fridge: sizes differ by manufacturer and product, but as an example the outdoor units for Toshiba's current RAS multi-split air conditioners range from 0.12m³ to 0.25m³ with the very largest model coming in at 890 x 900 x 320mm — that fits easily within the house regulations.

Under Class G your equipment must comply with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme, or MCS for short. The regulations are a bit odd here because while an air source heat pump must comply with the MCS, it doesn't need to have a certificate. The details of the MCS are online here.

The rule preventing you from installing your external unit within 1m of neighbouring properties has been scrapped. However, your installation must not negatively impact your neighbours with noise: the noise level of your external unit cannot exceed 42 decibels measured at one metre from your nearest neighbour's front door or window. MCS-compliant units will not exceed that limit.

You can't install the external unit on a pitched roof, or within a metre of the edge of a flat roof.

If you're not in a conservation area or listed building, you may install the external unit on the front wall provided it's on the ground floor.

If you're in a conservation area you cannot install an external unit on any elevation that faces a highway.

The location of your external unit is where the common-sense criteria come in: the external unit, its cabling and any ducting must be sited in such a way that it is "so far as practicable, sited so as to minimise its effect on the external appearance of the building" and sited "so as to minimise its effect on the amenity of the area".

If you have a wind turbine in your garden you're out of luck: Class G doesn't give permission for any air con installation for properties with a turbine within their curtilage.

Your air con installer will be well aware of the regulations and should be able to ensure that your air con meets all the relevant requirements, but if you have any doubts please do talk to your local council's planning officers, because again you really don't want them to actually have cause to force you to remove it.

Your council will likely have a whole website dedicated to helping with planning information, including potentially a map showing whether your home is included in any conservation areas, and what the specific orders around those areas are, so you can work out whether they'd affect air con installation.

If not, or if it's still unclear, you council will have a system for enquiries around planning permission, so you can ask if what you're planning needs a permit without going through the process — and it means that if you need one, they can tell you exactly what's needed.

• A user got bugged to verify their identity on their new iPhone
• They shouldn’t have needed to, as their local laws didn't require this
• The culprit was their iPhone, which was imported from the UK

Apple has just jacked up its prices across the board, and while the iPhone is safe for now, many users are wondering if it’s only a matter of time before Apple’s best iPhones feel the weight of price rises. If that sounds familiar, you might have snapped up a second-hand iPhone in a bid to get ahead of the game — but that could leave you falling foul of an annoying, unforeseen consequence.

That’s exactly what happened to Reddit user, who said that their new iPhone was forcing them to verify their age, despite the fact that they live in Bulgaria, an EU country where age verification is not required by law.

Understandably, they were reluctant to upload their ID documents, describing the process as a “huge privacy black hole.” But due to their refusal to do so, they were unable to access “certain types of content, social apps, GTA games and other things I paid for.” As they put it, “Content and privacy restrictions, scanning my chats, FaceTime calls and photos in gallery are forced upon me without my will and consent.”

The case seems to be a confusing one, as Bulgarian users are not subject to ID verification laws that mandate them to confirm their age before accessing certain apps and services. But there is one nearby country that does have laws like this, and it proved to be the key to unlocking the mystery.

The UK has enacted laws that necessitate users to verify their identities in order to access certain apps and services on their devices, with the stated aim of protecting children from online harms. But the regulations — specifically the Online Safety Act — has caused much controversy among privacy advocates and has resulted in a surge of angry users downloading the best VPNs to protect their identities and sidestep the requirements.

Back on Reddit, the age verification mystery was solved when the Redditor discovered where their iPhone originally came from. This is something you can find in the Settings app by going to General > About and looking in the Model Number section.

The iPhone's model was MFYP4QN/A and this contains several clues about its origin. For example, "MFYP4" refers to the iPhone 17 Pro Max in Deep Blue with 256GB of storage. The “QN” part of the code, meanwhile, relates to the regions where this model is sold: “Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, United Kingdom, Israel.”

In other words, although the Redditor bought their iPhone in Bulgaria, the device was likely imported from the UK. As a fellow Redditor noted, there is no official Apple presence in Bulgaria, making an import the probable answer. As they put it, “If it is a UK model, it will behave like a UK model” — which would explain why the device was asking the user to verify their identity, even though local Bulgarian laws did not require that to be done.

With different regions enforcing different privacy and age verification laws, the risk — as demonstrated on Reddit — is that you can buy a second-hand iPhone in a country that doesn’t compel you to confirm your identity, yet still get forced to do so by an imported iPhone. It’s all a bit of a mess.

If you’re thinking of buying a used iPhone and you’re at all able to check it in person, make sure you note down its model number first in the Settings app. As explained by The Apple Wiki, if the code contains the letters B, KN, QN, Z, ZD, ZF or ZM just before the forward slash — for example, MFYP4ZD/A — then it might be a UK device and therefore might act as if it is governed by UK laws, regardless of where you bought it. And that could have big consequences if you’re not prepared.

Early last month, when I was planning this half-year look at the best laptops that have so far been released in 2026, it was easy for me to pick the number one spot: the MacBook Neo.

Launched in March for $599 / £599 / AU$899, it was a shot across the bows of other laptop and Chromebook makers, as Apple showed that you could have a stylish and well-built budget laptop that didn’t have to feel cheap.

Sure, there were compromises, such as the 8GB of memory and slow USB ports, but those were easily forgiven thanks to such an affordable price — especially when so much of the MacBook Neo puts similarly priced budget laptops to shame.

However, at the end of June, Apple announced a Neo price increase, taking it up to $699 / £699 / AU$1,049. While that’s not the biggest price rise in a world that, at the moment, seems to be full of them, it’s enough to make the MacBook Neo less of an easy recommendation. Suddenly, all those compromises are harder to accept.

The MacBook Neo still earns a spot in this list, however, due to the huge influence it’s had on the laptop market. Since its launch, I’ve seen numerous laptop makers, including Acer and Dell, release products directly aimed at challenging the MacBook Neo; offering slim and stylish designs, strong performance and screens, all for around the Neo's original $599 / £599 / AU$899 price. While Apple has raised the price of the MacBook Neo, many of those new challengers haven’t — yet — done the same, which makes them even better value in comparison.

Now, it’s probably inevitable that those new MacBook Neo rivals will eventually increase in price too (thanks, AI, for gobbling up all the RAM and making price rises an everyday reality for a lot of tech). However, due to the variety of Windows 11 laptops available and where they’re sold compared to MacBooks, if you shop around you should find prices remain relatively competitive.

So, Apple might have just inspired its rivals to make better, and cheaper, alternatives. That might not be great for Apple, but for us consumers, it certainly is. So, as we’re at the halfway point of the year, let’s look at the five best — or most influential — laptops that have been released so far in 2026.

• Reviewed: February 2026
• Rating: 4.5/5

The HP OmniBook 7 Aero is a brilliant example of how Windows laptops are looking to beat Apple at its own game. The HP OmniBook 7 Aero is a thin, light and stylish laptop, with a capable AMD AI 5 or AI 7 CPU, integrated graphics, and a starting RAM configuration of 16GB, plus a 512GB SSD.

It launched at $949.99 / £649 (around AU$1,420), undercutting the MacBook Air and even (in the UK) the MacBook Neo after the price rise. For such a nicely designed laptop, this price is incredibly good value.

In our review we were impressed with the clear, bright, and vibrant screen and huge 26 hour battery life. Depending on the tasks you use it for, this laptop could go for multiple work or school days on a single charge, which is seriously impressive. It even manages to play games, such as Cyberpunk 2077, and while you certainly wouldn’t want to buy it as a gaming laptop, it shows how far Windows laptops, and the mobile components they use, have come in recent years.

• Reviewed: June 2026
• Rating: 4.5/5

This year’s Razer Blade 18 is another hit from the gaming laptop pros, which my colleague Christian Guyton, in his review, claimed "annihilates the competition". It features cutting edge mobile components such as an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX or Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti – RTX 5090 laptop GPUs, up to 128GB of RAM and a stunning 18-inch Dual UHD+ 240Hz / FHD+ 440Hz screen, which allows you to switch between resolutions to get even higher refresh rates. All of this is packed into a slim and stylish body that once again proves that gaming laptops don’t need to be big and bulky these days.

Gaming-wise, it’s a beast, hitting up to 160fps when playing Cyberpunk 2077, and 218fps with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Basically, it’ll handle any modern game you throw at it, and allow you to play at 4K resolution and the highest of settings. Its battery life — often the Achilles’ heel of gaming laptops — is pretty impressive, hitting almost eight and a half hours in our tests.

What’s the catch? Well, there’s the price, starting at a whopping $3,499.99 / £3,299.99 (around AU$4,870), but going up to $6,999.99 (around £5,200 / AU$9,735) for the highest specification. Ouch.

Razer’s devices are premium products, and when you combine that with some of the most powerful components you can get, and the ongoing memory crisis driving up prices, you end up with a brilliant laptop that’s wildly expensive. It’s a brilliant investment if you can afford it, it’s just a shame so few of us can.

• Reviewed: March 2026
• Rating: 4.5/5

As I mentioned earlier, if I’d written this article before Apple’s price rises, the MacBook Neo would probably be number one in this list. When it launched, it really was a game-changer. It proved that affordable laptops could still feel premium, with exceptional build quality, modern features and solid performance.

Unlike other recent MacBooks, the Neo is powered by the A18 Pro chip (which powered the iPhone 16 Pro), rather than Apple’s more powerful M-series chips. Compared to chips found in budget Windows 11 laptops and Chromebooks, the A18 Pro proved impressive on test, handling regular macOS apps with ease.

It's possible to use an iPad as a second screen, and see your iPhone’s messages and answer calls all from the desktop — features we’ve come to expect from more expensive MacBooks. The bright and vibrant screen makes a mockery of other cheap laptops that often feature dim, low resolution screens, to keep down prices.

When it first launched, this budget laptop (from a brand that’s more associated with luxury devices), which undercut and outperformed the competition, was a surefire hit. Apple has commented about how well the Neo sold, and even more importantly, it seemed to light a fire underneath many of its competitors. Not only was the MacBook Neo one of the best laptops of 2026, it was one of the most impactful.

What a difference $100 / £100 makes. While the new price doesn’t completely undermine the MacBook Neo’s value proposition, it makes it harder to recommend to everyone.

It makes some of Apple’s compromises to keep the price down, particularly the rather paltry 8GB of memory, slow USB speeds (it has two USB-C ports, but uses older USB 3.0 and the practically ancient USB 2 technology) and lack of a backlit keyboard, much harder to justify as well.

Worse, those competitors that Apple ‘inspired’ are fighting back. Acer’s Swift Air 14 (2026) will launch at the same original price of the Neo, with a great-looking display, and an Intel Core Series 3 processor. An Acer employee I spoke to at Computex 2026 was particularly pleased to point out that the Swift Air has faster USB-C ports than the Neo, an extra USB-A port and is thinner and lighter as well. The fact that it’s also now cheaper spells trouble for Apple, and it’s why the MacBook Neo has slipped down in my ranking.

• Rating: 4.5/5
• Reviewed: February 2026

I’ll be honest: I was torn between putting the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra or the MacBook Air (M5) in this spot. The reason I went for Samsung’s ultrabook in the end is that while the latest MacBook Air is undoubtedly a fantastic device (it sits atop our best laptops list for a reason), it’s also a bit… well… boring. It’s a simple spec update to the M5 chip, with no new design flourishes, but a new, higher price (which has since risen even higher after Apple’s price hikes).

The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra, on the other hand, feels a lot more ambitious. Samsung's laptops have never particularly impressed me, but with the Galaxy Book series, that’s changed.

As with Samsung's Galaxy phones and tablets, Galaxy Book laptops are high-end, premium devices, and as the name suggests, the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra is the pinnacle of this. It’s thin, light and powerful (especially if you go for the option with a dedicated Nvidia RTX 5070 GPU), and with a strong battery life of over 15 hours, this is a great choice for anyone seeking a stylish workstation laptop that can handle heavy duty tasks such as 3D modeling.

Its AMOLED screen is also stunning, and easily one of the best displays you can get on a laptop (another category that Apple was once untouchable in).

What I really like about the Galaxy Book6 Ultra is how Samsung has been working on integrating its ecosystem of devices, so its laptops, earbuds, smartphones, and tablets can all work nicely together. It leads to some very Apple-like features, such as the ability to use a Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet as a second screen for the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra, simply by moving the devices close together.

It’s not quite as seamless as Apple’s implementation, mainly because Samsung doesn’t make the software its products run on (Windows and Android), but it’s come a huge way. If you have a few Samsung devices, the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra is particularly great, then, but even if you don’t, this is still a brilliant laptop that’s doing new things, not just resting on its laurels.

• Rating: 4.5/5
• Reviewed: May 2026

The Dell XPS 16 is a remarkable laptop for many reasons. It’s a beautifully crafted device with a stunning OLED screen, as well as premium — and powerful — components, and it’s a great showcase for how good Windows 11 laptops can be.

It’s also noteworthy for bringing the XPS lineup back with a bang. Last year, Dell made the baffling decision to drop its XPS branding. It was one of the few product names outside of Apple that had mainstream recognition, and had long been associated with Dell’s most premium laptops. Thankfully, Dell realized its mistake and has resurrected the XPS brand for 2026, and the new Dell XPS 16 makes a fantastic statement: XPS is back, and it’s better than ever.

In our review, we gushed over this laptop's slimline design and high resolution OLED display, whilst also praising its performance. Powered by an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H, which has an Arc B390 integrated GPU, the Dell XPS 16 can handle demanding tasks, and even a spot of gaming. Battery life is also superb, with the Dell XPS 16 (2026) lasting well over 17 hours in our tests.

It’s pricey, but the quality on offer helps justify the investment. Welcome back, XPS. You’ve been missed.

• SAP is cutting travel spend on refocusing on AI-related hiring
• Company shares are down 46% in 12 months over software concerns
• Redeploying existing workers is a priority over laying off more employees

SAP is reportedly revising how it spends money to free up more money for its AI strategy, with a new internal memo seen by Bloomberg seemingly confirming the company's intentions to restrict new hiring, pause internal travel and reduce other spend related to suppliers.

It's believed the company will still continue hiring across certain AI roles, showing a shift toward AI engineers, researchers and other specialists, but other roles will likely see a slowdown or pause.

The company told employees that AI is reshaping enterprise software, so targeting investment to keep it competitive long-term would be crucial.

According to the report, citing an internal email, company travel unrelated to AI projects and customer relations has been suspended. The company also wants to redeploy existing workers to plug new gaps, rather than firing and rehiring. SAP laid off around 12,000 workers between 2023 and 2024.

"We are prioritizing investments in AI-related capabilities, talent, and technologies while applying greater discipline to hiring, external spending, and internal travel," a company spokesperson said.

"I don’t expect to operate with a smaller work force, but with a very, very different work force," CEO Christian Klein had previously told the New York Time (via Investing.com), implying that jobs would continue to evolve.

Despite posting a 6% increase in its most recent quarter's revenue, SAP shares have dropped around 46% over the past 12 months amid concerns that its software business might face longevity struggles amid the ongoing AI boom.

• Sony is already repurposing its Austrian disc-making factory
• It's the only physical media plant of Sony's that's left
• Existing staff will be retained to work with micro optics

We're still reeling from Sony's announcement earlier this week that it will stop releasing PlayStation games on physical discs from the start of 2028 — and now there's news that Sony's last remaining physical media factory is already being repurposed.

According to ORF Salzburg (via The Verge and Google Translate), production at the Austrian plant is going to drop to around 10% of its current levels by 2028. The factory currently makes 600,000 blank Blu-rays every day (half of which are used for PlayStation games), and Sony has made some 26.4 billion discs in total across its sites.

The existing 300 staff are going to be kept on though, as per Dietmar Tanzer, CEO of Sony DADC (Digital Audio Disc Corporation). They'll be retrained in micro optics — squeezing optical components into the smallest spaces possible.

Instead of discs, the plant's assembly lines will be producing optical microlenses instead. One of the uses of these elements mentioned in the report is for projecting car turning signals on to the street surface, but there are a multitude of potential applications.

The report also quotes Markus Streibl, head of Micro Optics at Sony DADC, who says that the company recently invested €30 million (about $34 million / £26 million / AU$49 million) in the tech as it looks to develop this part of its business.

As spotted by The Verge, there's evidence that the plant in Austria has been making microlenses since at least as far back as 2024. These small components are actually produced on discs, so there'll be some crossover in terms of equipment and processes.

While Sony seems immediately ready to move on and look to the future, many of us are having a less easy time moving on: gamers are promising to quit the PlayStation platform over concerns about what these means for game ownership ("we literally own nothing now" was a comment left by one disgruntled user).

The news has tempered some of the excitement around the opening up of GTA 6 pre-orders, and it also means the PlayStation 6 is highly unlikely to have a disc drive built in. Sony has also announced the closure of the PS3 and Vita stores at the same time.