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A new entry in Capcom's cult-classic Onimusha franchise has been a long time coming, and there was no better time than now for its resurgence, during the developer's largely successful RE Engine era.
So far, it seems that the resurgence will pay off extremely well: I spent three hours with the upcoming demon-hunting slasher, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and I came away absolutely amazed by just how well Capcom has taken the formula from previous entries and modernized it brilliantly.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword absolutely shines within every combat encounter, with its weighty, methodical, and stylish sword clashes. It very much reminds me of From Software's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which might sound concerning for those who aren't fans of excessively hard souls games.
You can throw that thought out, though: Way of the Sword is a challenging but very accessible and enjoyable experience, with a variety of boss battles that will test your mettle.
However, with enough practice via boss rematches or against standard enemies in training arenas, similar to previous entries, you'll become accustomed to its combat in no time.
Poised to be the best yetRasho-gan's boss battle was intense; a clash with one of the best-designed demons in the game I saw. The opening cutscene was creepy, and it quickly became apparent how cruel the demons are. (Video credit: Capcom)
Onimusha: Way of the Sword is poised to be the best entry in the franchise, without a doubt. It's fair to say that potential acclaim is heavily carried by Capcom's magical RE Engine, responsible for major hits like Resident Evil 4 (2023), Resident Evil Requiem, Monster Hunter World, and other titles in both franchises for almost a decade.
Visuals are at their best in Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Character models, environment details, and the art style all lend to the immersive samurai demon-hunting experience Capcom is trying to deliver — but it's not just about visuals.
I spoke highly of the animations during combat in my coverage of the public demo. After the three-hour preview, I'm convinced that Onimusha: Way of the Sword will set a new standard for sword clashes and how detailed they are.
The 'Issen' technique (evident in the video above) was a core aspect of combat in previous titles and is back and better than ever. It allows players to perform a deadly counterattack right before an enemy attack, and it was a maneuver I spent plenty of time practicing during the preview.
It's not easy to pull off, as it requires very precise timing, but it comes in clutch when outnumbered or facing off against the three tough bosses during my preview (which I won't spoil), by doing plenty of stagger damage. Once I unlocked Chain Issen, I could take out multiple enemies in rapid fashion — and the new flashy and stylish animation makes it so much more satisfying.
Byakue is the hardest boss I've come across in Way of the Sword so far, with constant erratic and unpredictable movements. You've got to have your guard up at all times against this one. (Video credit: Capcom)
My mention of stagger damage is important because Onimusha: Way of the Sword's combat, especially during boss battles where parries are pivotal, reminds me very much of From Software's Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Again, this isn't a souls-like, so don't expect much similarity to Sekiro elsewhere, and thankfully, Way of the Sword is much more forgiving for mistimed parries.
However, the sword clashes with bosses like Byakue are incredibly well designed, with audio and visuals that are fantastically gripping, creating the same back-and-forth flow that worked so well in Sekiro.
The great thing is that it seems as though Capcom has used Sekiro as inspiration for combat and built on it, adding extra details like a brief slowdown and zoom when a perfect parry is performed, creating openings for further attacks.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword is also not heavily reliant on parries in normal enemy encounters or boss battles, thanks to the presence of perfect dodges and Issen. Those three elements combined make for a pleasant experience — and outside of the practice arena, there are side quests you can take on for non-player characters (NPCs) with semi-open hubs (similar to Resident Evil 4's boat segment) to explore.
Wind-Whipper is a secondary weapon, but it's certainly a room clearer. It saved me numerous times when encountering more formidable foes while travelling across one of the game's semi-open hubs. (Video credit: Capcom)
Perhaps the only worry I do have is that Way of the Sword seemingly won't have any other primary weapons for Miyamoto Musashi, the main protagonist, to wield. There are indeed secondary weapons, but they are seemingly limited to Oni Armaments, which can only be used when their meters are filled when engaging in duels.
Don't get me wrong, those secondary weapons like the Two Celestials (dual blades) and the Wind-Whipper spear-like weapon I unlocked in my three-hour run are great — but I'm hoping there are enough skills for Musashi's katana to keep gameplay fresh through the game's runtime.
Either way, I'm incredibly excited for Onimusha: Way of the Sword's launch on September 4, 2026, releasing on PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC — and I'm sure it will be yet another massive hit.
- VulnCheck CTO Jacob Baines reported Zbtlink routers shipped with a built‑in backdoor dubbed ENDLESSDOORS, allowing remote root commands and reverse shells
- Zbtlink denied malicious intent, calling it an after‑sales maintenance feature, but quietly pulled vulnerable firmware and promised patches
- Researchers warn all firmware images are hijackable; mitigation advice is to replace devices or enforce strict egress controls and treat LAN as untrusted
Chinese networking firm Zbtlink has been accused of shipping its products with a backdoor - and while the company denies the allegations, it has still apparently moved to address the issue.
CTO of cybersecurity company VulnCheck, Jacob Baines, recently published an in-depth report stating a Zbtlink device he runs “continuously attempts to reach a command-and-control server on the internet.”
“Zbtlink routers phone home, waiting for orders. Not because they were hacked. Because they were shipped that way.”
Detention and escape attemptsBaines dubbed the flaw “ENDLESSDOORS” and says it was uploaded to GitHub in early 2015 and “never touched again”. “It can send the client individual shell commands or tell the client to spawn a reverse bash shell.”
“The vocabulary of this protocol is two phrases: run this as root, and give me a root shell,” he further explained, saying that anyone along the path can hijack the client/server communication. VulnCheck researchers tried it, and apparently - succeeded.
Baines said that every firmware on the company’s download page (roughly two dozen images) is all “hijackable in the same way”, and said the company decided not to “responsibly disclose” the vulnerability since that assumes the vendor did not intend the behavior. "That assumption doesn't hold here."
In response to the allegations, Zbtlink told The Register VulnCheck mischaracterized the code.
“This feature is solely intended for after‑sales maintenance and serves no other purposes,” the company told the publication. “It is generally retained only on sample units to assist customers with software debugging and will not be included in mass‑production shipments.”
The Register didn’t see it as a credible explanation since, in the meantime, the company posted a warning on its downloads page:
“We have detected firmware security vulnerabilities affecting selected router firmware releases. As a precautionary measure, the impacted firmware versions have been temporarily taken down from download channels. Our engineering team is working intensively to develop and validate secured patched firmware.” This warning was allegedly posted sometime in the past seven days.
Baines gave a list of suggestions how to mitigate the risk but ended up saying that “for anything carrying real traffic, our advice is to replace the device, or at minimum move it behind strict egress control and treat its LAN as untrusted.”
- Fortinet experts found malicious code in QuickFox VPN's Windows installer
- The attack actively avoided personal gaming computers
- QuickFox has since removed the malicious components from version 3.59.6
Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a severe supply chain attack targeting QuickFox, a popular Chinese Windows VPN application.
According to a new report from Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs, attackers trojanized the software's installers for over a year to quietly deploy malicious backdoor implants onto users' machines.
As Fortinet's experts explain, QuickFox "is a VPN proxy and game accelerator typically employed by Chinese users to speed up access to Chinese-based resources, often to improve video game user experience."
However, experts found that malicious actors altered the application's underlying code to deliver a highly targeted malware campaign. The threat actors modified an HTML file within the app's installer to automatically download and execute malicious JavaScript.
To avoid raising suspicion, this malicious code was pulled from a fake domain intentionally registered to mimic QuickFox’s legitimate infrastructure. Fortinet notes that the campaign had been active since at least August 2025, with QuickFox removing the malicious code with version 3.59.6.
TechRadar has not independently verified Fortinet's findings, but we have reached out to QuickFox for comment and will update this article if we receive a reply.
A highly targeted backdoor(Image credit: QuickFox)The malware didn't infect everyone who downloaded the compromised VPN software. Instead, it used clever guardrails to filter out standard consumers.
If the malicious script detected Steam — the popular distribution service for online games — running on the victim's device, it immediately stopped the infection process to avoid personal gaming computers.
However, if it found tools used by developers, IT administrators, or cryptocurrency users, such as Visual Studio Code, Telegram, or various cryptocurrency wallets, it proceeded with the attack. This behavior suggests the hackers were explicitly hunting for high-value corporate environments and professionals rather than casual gamers.
When a target was deemed suitable, the script abused a legitimate Microsoft utility to secretly install the FDMTP implant and inject the malware. This persistent backdoor allowed attackers to collect sensitive system information, including IP addresses, active processes, MAC addresses, and usernames.
Because FDMTP is highly modular, it also enabled the hackers to remotely download and execute additional malicious plugins, granting them long-term access to compromised machines.
While macOS builds contained the modified file, the infection process only executed on Windows endpoints. Android and iOS apps were completely unaffected.
How to stay safeWhile Fortinet researchers have not confidently attributed the attack to a specific group, they noted significant technical crossovers with Twill Typhoon, a known threat actor.
The good news is that the threat now appears to be contained. According to the cybersecurity firm, "QuickFox has removed the described malicious components from their Windows installer from v3.59.6," following responsible disclosure.
If you have used QuickFox on a Windows machine over the last year, you should immediately update to the latest version directly from the vendor and run a full antivirus scan on your system.
Organizations are also advised to check their networks for any unusual activity or unrecognized file transfers originating from QuickFox installations.
AI has acquired an unusual new enemy. A growing AI data poisoning online movement wants to attack the models themselves. The goal is simple enough on paper — feed future AI systems bad information, misleading data, or deliberately corrupted material until they become less useful.
If future versions of ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI models learn from enough misleading, corrupted or intentionally manipulated material, perhaps those systems will become less reliable. Chatbots already confidently repeat nonsense far too often; now imagine it exponentially worse as text and image generators misunderstand every prompt, and the models become too frustrating to trust.
It's not just theory. Data poisoning is an actual area of AI security research. While the argument that making AI systems less reliable will discourage companies from scraping creative work or building ever larger models might entice some, it also risks undermining far more than just the latest trending AI chatbot.
Trying to teach AI all the wrong lessonsLarge language models are often described as reading the internet. They absorb enormous collections of books, websites, articles, computer code, images, and documents and learn patterns from them.
Changing enough of that raw material can sometimes change what the finished model learns. Instead of attacking an AI after it has been built, the attacker tries to 'poison' the well of knowledge.
A poisoned model might answer one specific question incorrectly while appearing completely normal the rest of the time. Images might look normal to humans, but contain invisible text designed to confound AI. Other attacks attempt to hide backdoor codes to secret behaviors that remain invisible until a particular trigger phrase appears. The point is precision rather than chaos.
There's a whole philosophy and nascent movement encouraging the practice. Some want to flood the internet with misleading AI-generated content. Others discuss uploading deliberately corrupted information in the hope that tomorrow's models will eventually absorb it. Artists have embraced tools like Nightshade that subtly alter their images before posting them online, making them harder for AI systems to learn from while leaving them almost identical to the human eye.
Polluting the well rarely hurts only one personBut AI poisoning is a lot harder than slipping a little salt into someone's coffee. AI companies filter, clean, and review datasets long before they become part of a model. Poisoning a commercial system is considerably harder than just a misleading Wikipedia paragraph.
That doesn't mean it can't be dangerous. Cybersecurity researchers don't worry about ChatGPT getting a history fact wrong. The real worry is that poisoned information will mess with the behind-the-scenes AI systems used by hospitals, banks, or government agencies. Those models often rely on much narrower datasets and fewer security checks, making them more attractive targets.
A medical assistant that gives excellent advice except for one particular condition or banking software that always includes a hidden security flaw with every update. That's what poisoned data might do if it isn't caught in time. The techniques are not inherently wrong, but they can be abused like any other technology.
None of this means the frustration behind those dreaming of slipping erroneous facts into ChatGPT or Gemini is misplaced. Artists and authors are continuing to fight over AI training data use and misuse. But while the intended target may deserve criticism, poisoning AI data is unlikely to be a long-term solution.
AI already struggles with misinformation, hallucinations, and factual mistakes. Deliberately adding more bad information into the ecosystem risks amplifying exactly the problems critics already complain about. Protecting people, their livelihoods, and creative ownership is essential, but making AI worse will not somehow make the future better.
- A new Ghost Recon game is in development
- Ubisoft is asking players to sign up for its Ghost Recon Insider Program for closed testing
- A free Ghost Recon Wildlands DLC, Last Rites, has also been released
Ubisoft has confirmed that a new Ghost Recon game is in development as it launches a free story mission for Ghost Recon Wildlands titled Last Rites.
Announced during the Ghost Recon 25th anniversary showcase today, the publisher confirmed that "For the past few years, we've been building the next chapter of Ghost Recon," and it's now ready for private testing.
"We want to deliver a fun, fresh experience that stays true to everything that defines Ghost Recon: tactical action, large scale operations, credible military storytelling, and of course, the Ghost Unit," said Live Producer Irina-Gabriela Popa.
With the launch of the new Ghost Recon Insider Program, players who sign up at via the official website will get early access to closed tests and provide feedback to the development team.
Alongside news of a brand new game and the return of the fan-favorite Predator mission, Ubisoft has also released Last Rites, a free-to-play downloadable content (DLC) for Wildlands, featuring a new story mission.
In Last Rites, players will face a new threat named La Llorona in Bolivia, a "complex antagonist" with a dark backstory, on the path to redemption, but also revenge, as well as her cultists, Los Penitentes.
"We crafted this new experience with a view to keeping players on the back foot. So think low visibility, difficult terrain, little to no support, and new gameplay elements that introduce a new kind of danger," said creative director Olivier Leonardia.
"As for La Llorona, players will progressively come to realize that things are not exactly as they were when they started the mission. As they gradually peel off the layers of her world, the mission shifts into something far more unsettling."
Leonardia added, "Ghost Recon wouldn’t be where it is today without the passion, dedication, and feedback of its community over the past 25 years. With Last Rites, we wanted to create an experience that honours that legacy—something that feels authentic to longtime Ghosts, celebrates what makes this franchise special, and reflects our appreciation for the players who have been with us every step of the way."
Ubisoft has also confirmed that a 60fps 4K resolution mode for current-gen consoles and PC, alongside other gameplay improvements and features, will be added to Wildlands.
To celebrate the series' anniversary, Ghost Recon Wildlands and Ghost Recon Breakpoint will be free to play from August 6 to August 10, and fans can claim Ghost Recon: Future Soldier for free on PC through Ubisoft Connect from August 6 to August 13.
In September, the Ghost Recon Breakpoint 25th Anniversary Bundle will also be available and will include free items such as the M4A1 Tactical Brown, Wolf Enhanced Helmet, and Opheis Mk.II Hunter.
- Ghost Recon Wildlands is getting a new 60fps 4K resolution mode for current-gen consoles and PC
- Additional gameplay and UI features have also been added "to improve immersion"
- Game director Benjamin Lemaire says the team wanted to "give more tools to imagine scenarios while respecting the game systems"
As Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series celebrates its 25th anniversary, Ubisoft has announced a free Ghost Recon Wildlands 60fps 4K resolution mode for current-gen consoles and PC, alongside other gameplay improvements.
Revealed during the Ghost Recon 25th anniversary showcase today, the 60fps 4K resolution update will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.
Ubisoft Bordeaux's creative director Olivier Leonardia and game director Benjamin Lemaire shared more details about the patch, explaining that the team has "listened to all your comments and suggestions" and wanted to deliver on the feature.
But that's not all. The development team went "further" and delivered something called "Ghost Parameters," new gameplay and UI features for both casual and role-playing enthusiasts.
"We wanted to find new ways to improve immersion," Lemaire said, "to give more tools to imagine scenarios while respecting the game systems."
Some of these tools include features that were previously exclusive to the Ghost and other PvE modes, such as authentic reloading, the choice between one or two primary weapons, and optional friendly fire "to enable more realistic play."
"It basically gives more freedom to create the craziest possible scenarios," the game director explained.
On the UI side, players can tune more game elements to their liking, including an intel HUD, input reminders, deactivating the glow on highlighted items and weapon crates, deactivating the preview of throwable items, and more.
The update also adds a time of day feature, a way to define weather controls and fix it to your preference, "so if you want to play a specific mission or scenario at night in the rain, you can do so."
On top of all this, difficulty levels are changing to presets, so players can tweak difficulty parameters however they like. Whether that be adjusting the health regeneration delay, enemy endurance, or vehicle breakability, this option offers "more freedom and a more personalized experience."
Alongside these new features and 60fps/4K resolutions, Ubisoft has launched a free-to-play downloadable content (DLC) for Wildlands, featuring a new story mission and a "complex antagonist" known as La Llorona.
- Capcom doesn't think it will be impacted by the physical game market's decline
- The Resident Evil publisher says "approximately 90% of our unit sales are digital" and it doesn't "anticipate a significant impact at this time"
- Sony recently announced plans to end the production of game discs
Capcom has revealed that 90% of its unit sales are digital, so it's unlikely to be significantly impacted by the steady decline of the physical game market.
Things are not looking great for physical media. We recently learned that Sony plans to end physical disc production by January 2028, a decision that has driven a huge wedge between it and the PlayStation fanbase.
Organizations like the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) have also condemned the plan, calling it "a triumph of corporate convenience over consumer choice" and said that "the industry should be embracing every legitimate way consumers want to buy games, not narrowing their choices."
"Digital distribution has transformed gaming and is hugely popular, but it should complement physical formats, not replace them," CEO Kim Bayley said. "Consumers deserve the freedom to choose how they buy their entertainment. Removing discs doesn’t represent progress – it simply removes choice. That’s bad for gamers, bad for retailers and ultimately bad for the long-term health and preservation of our games industry."
With Sony seemingly steadfast in its decision despite the backlash, there's also speculation that the PS6 could be an all-digital console. Xbox is also reportedly working on a disc-to-digital feature, which would allow players to digitize their existing physical Xbox game library, and it all seems to be pointing towards a future where digital will reign over physical media; analysts also determine that the $7.2 billion second-hand video game market could be in danger as a result of Sony's decision.
While some game companies are willing to fight to keep physical games alive, others such as Capcom don't necessarily see it as a negative for the company, for now.
During its latest investor Q&A (via IGN), the Resident Evil publisher responded to a query about whether it would be impacted by these recent developments to the physical game market.
"Approximately 90% of our unit sales are digital," Capcom said. "We do not anticipate a significant impact at this time."
In its Q1 financial results, the publisher also revealed that Resident Evil Requiem has now sold over eight million units, noting that the series continues to "increase in popularity with a broad, global audience while sales of the previous titles in the series also grew steadily due to pricing initiatives." However, it's unclear what the divide is between digital and physical sales.
- A game developer claims Gemini leaked information in his private Google Docs
- Per screenshots shared online, the AI told players info the dev claims was never made public
- TechRadar has tried recreating the results, without success
Is Google Gemini secretly scraping our Google Docs to train its AI? That’s something one game developer is wondering after a player was able to learn unreleased information about their game from the AI — including specific details the dev claims were never shared outside of a private Google Doc.
According to the developer’s Reddit post, specifically Google’s AI knew the name of a character ‘Vantage Tripod’ before it had ever been released publicly — the most the fanbase knew was that there’s a ‘Tripod Fish’ character planned for the game, but not this exact name. It also seemed to be able to regurgitate accurate information related to unreleased mechanics that the developer says they had only written into GDocs the day before the player’s AI interaction.
The developer admitted Google’s AI made a few mistakes, but said that some details were scarily accurate in many ways — accurate enough that the developer is certain Google must have scrapped his private documents.
Google says Gemini can access Google Docs information, but only does so when given express permission — such as being asked to summarise a document — and it adds that even when it does go into your files, Gemini handles data transiently. That is, Google’s AI won’t retain anything.
(Image credit: Google)There are a couple of exceptions to this. If a Google Doc is accessible to ‘Anyone with the link’ and that link is posted publicly online (such as on a page or in a forum) Google could scrape it for training data. Alternatively, if you’ve allowed a third-party extension to scrape your Google Docs, it’s possible Gemini could get access to that data — indirectly seeing what’s in your docs.
If you were to type out info from your docs into Google Gemini, it would also learn about what you had written that way.
Despite Google’s promises, some aren’t entirely convinced. The thread I shared above (along with plenty of anti-AI and anti-Google subreddits) is full of people certain that Google has drained their digital files for all the data it can find. Privacy company Proton has also published an article outlining details such as Google’s privacy hub not explicitly saying it won’t use your content for AI training.
So many unknownsI’ve reached out to Google with a request for comment about what has happened here (it has yet to get back to me), and while waiting for an answer I had an attempt at recreating the responses by prompting Gemini myself with no luck. It’s only reference to these details was the Reddit post information.
Later screenshots shared by the developer show the friend who got the AI to divulge the details originally also failed to recreate the “fluke.”
What does it know? (Image credit: Google)
The whole situation is very weird and it’s impossible to tell exactly what has happened, based on the information available. While it certainly looks like Gemini has used information it shouldn’t have, it's equally possible that the developer has provided the AI or the friend with access to that information without realising — allowing Gemini to respond the way it did.
The AI could also have hallucinated the information in some way, or perhaps taken inspiration from previous prompts to inform its comments. Further, it’s worth noting that the only responses that would stand out are these two that get very close to the truth, the sea of incorrect guesses that the AI could have given wouldn’t bat an eyelid.
Regardless of what happened it’s another situation that reminds us to be careful with our personal info. Digitally storing personal data has its risks beyond possible AI scraping, and sharing data with an AI often means your private info won’t be private anymore.
- The Do Hiemon Box will cool you down for 20 minutes
- It blasts air on you at temperatures of 5°C or 41°F
- The units are being sold to construction sites and golf courses
If you're in Japan, you have an alternative to air conditioning units and portable fans when it comes to staying cool in sweltering temperatures: a human-sized refrigerator that you can sit inside when the heatwaves get too much.
This is the Do Hiemon Box from Trusco Nakayama (via The Japan Times), and it'll blast your body with air cooled down to a refreshing 5°C or 41°F — about the same temperature as a chiller in a standard refrigerator.
It requires no installation, can be moved on wheels, and according to Trusco Nakayama it beats other solutions by cooling the entire body down evenly. After 20 minutes, the unit automatically switches off to prevent overcooling, and you're back out into the heat.
As per The Japan Times, a couple of hundred of these units have been sold across construction sites, golf courses, leisure facilities, and university campuses since the chamber went on sale earlier this year.
It'll cost youYou need a standard electrical outlet for this to work, and you also need access to the 1.5 million yen it costs (that's about $9,480 / £7,040 / AU$13,460). These personal cooling machines don't exactly come cheap.
The idea is that you get quick, temporary protection against heat exhaustion and heatstroke — a growing problem in our warming world — rather than using this as an air conditioned office or a space to relax in.
According to a Trusco Nakayama executive speaking to The Japan Times, enquiries about the fridge have come from as far afield as Germany and the US. The company is hoping to find more business at summer festivals and shopping malls.
Before long you might find yourself queuing up for a slot in the human fridge as well as for the loos at your next festival trip — another depressing sign of the consequences of climate change that show no signs of being reversed.
If the clue is in the name, it's not hard to clock who the BenQ Creative Pro PD2732U is aimed at. This is a very well specified 27-inch 4K IPS monitor that's been carefully optimised for creative workflows while hitting an accessible price point.
For sure, there are still much cheaper 27-inch 4K monitors. But not with the suite of connectivity and colour management features offered here.
On the connectivity side, that includes Thunderbolt 4, an integrated KVM switch and display daisy chaining support. If anything, however, the features for creative workflows are even more comprehensive.
That starts with excellent colour coverage given the price point and extends to factory calibration and hardware calibration support, Pantone Validation, Calman certification, specific support for MacOS devices and more. There are also some neat extras, including a wireless control puck that makes it as quick and easy as possible to switch between colour modes and inputs.
The one obvious feature omission is true HDR capability. There is HDR10 support. But without local dimming hardware, the actual HDR performance is very limited. But then this monitor is not intended to replace an HDR reference monitor, which is a very different market with monitors costing upwards of 10 times the price.
On paper, then, the BenQ Creative Pro PD2732U looks set to take its place as the affordable display of choice for creative pros among the best photo editing monitors we've tested. But does it actually deliver?
BenQ Creative Pro PD2732U: Design and featuresFutureFutureFuture- Slick design
- Excellent connectivity
- Creator-centric feature set
Panel size: 27-inch
Panel type: IPS
Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160
Brightness: 400 nits
Contrast: 1,000:1 (static)
Pixel response: 5ms
Refresh rate: 60Hz
Color coverage: 99% DCI-P3, 99% Adobe RGB
HDR: HDR10
VESA: 100mm x 100mm
Connectivity: HDMI 2.0 x1, DisplayPort 1.4 x1, Thunderbolt 4 x2 with 90W PD and daisy chaining, USB hub with USB-C x1 and USB-A x3
The BenQ Creative Pro PD2732U looks familiar and that's no bad thing. It sports BenQ's premium design ethic of the last few years and it remains a cut above much of the competition in terms of both visual appeal and overall build quality.
The part metal construction and gun metal colorway is certainly more appealing than the often creaky feeling and anonymous black plastic of much of the monitor market, that's for sure. OK, Apple's displays including the latest Studio Display XDR, feel quite a bit better built still. But then they're much more expensive, too.
If styling is ultimately a subjective call, what can't be objectively denied is the BenQ Creative Pro PD2732U's excellent all-round feature set that's been fully optimised for creative professionals.
First up, there's good color coverage, including 99% of both DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB. Those figures are better than you'll find on cheaper 4K IPS monitors, which tend to be around the 95% to 97% range. The PD2732U also comes factory calibrated with sub-2 DeltaE across the board and further supports hardware calibration.
(Image credit: Future)What's more, it's Pantone Validated, Pantone SkinTone Validated, and has Calman Verified certification. When you factor in the wide Adobe RGB coverage, this monitor is particularly well suited to digital-to-print workflows and photography, including SDR color grading.
It's also well specified for SDR video workflows, though with a peak brightness of 400 nits and no local dimming, it's far less optimised for HDR content, albeit with HDR10 and HLG support, it can at least accept an HDR signal.
Connectivity is another major part of the PD2732U's appeal, starting with a main Thunderbolt 4 interface and 90 W of power delivery. That's supported by a Thunderbolt out port, allowing for display daisy chaining and dual-monitor setups via a single cable. Incidentally, all of the primary connectors hook up perpendicularly on the rear as opposed to up from the bottom, which is generally a plus in terms of ease of use and access.
There's also Smart KVM, allowing you to use a single keyboard and mouse with two computing devices, handy if you regularly switch between, say, a Mac and PC. Speaking of Apple Macs, BenQ has included its M-Book color space mode, which BenQ says, "minimises the visual differences between the monitor and the connected MacBook series product."
Exactly how it differs from the P3 mode which BenQ also includes and aligns with the default P3 operation of MacOS isn't clear. But the results are good, all the same. With M-Book mode enabled, this display is an excellent visual match for MacBook displays.
Rounding out the main features both physically and figuratively is the BenQ Hotkey Puck. It's basically a wireless controller that simplifies settings access via shortcut functionality. It offers three customisable keys for quick access to Color Mode, Input, KVM, or app launch. It also has a rotary dial for precise control over brightness, contrast, and volume.
BenQ Creative Pro PD2732U: PerformanceFutureFutureFuture- Good color coverage
- Nicely calibrated
- Limited SDR brightness
If you want a really succinct summary of the BenQ Creative Pro PD2732U's performance, what you're looking at is a 27-inch 4K IPS monitor with some added color coverage and capability.
Out of the box, it's very nicely calibrated, both in sRGB mode on PC or in M-Book mode with a Mac. In both cases, color rendering is accurate and pleasing. The one potential snag is brightness in SDR mode.
For most serious professional SDR content creation workflows, this is not going to be a problem. You'll likely be targeting a brightness level well below 200 nits, which this display will easily achieve. But it won't do the full 400 nits in any of its SDR modes.
If anything, what the capped SDR brightness does is underline that this monitor isn't an ideal choice for generic computing remits, where you might want a bit more day-to-day pop. You can pay less and get more in that regard from what you might call a standard 27-inch 4K monitor.
That said, you can see the full capability, in brightness terms, of the PD2732U in HDR mode. Indeed, if you then crank up the brightness of SDR content in either the MacOS or Windows display settings, the result is actually nicely calibrated SDR colors and plenty of visual punch. But that's ultimately something of an aside given that this monitor lacks local dimming and has very limited actual HDR capability.
It's also worth noting that the refresh rate is limited to 60Hz. Again, for the content creation remit, this is not a technical limitation. It's just that if you are used to 120Hz-plus displays, 60Hz doesn't feel terribly slick or responsive. It's a day-to-day feel issue rather than being relevant to the vast majority of content workflows.
Of course, as a 27-inch 4K monitor, you also get decent pixel density and thus good image detail and crisp text rendering. The pixel density of around 160DPI isn't up to full Apple Retina display standards, which would require something above 200DPI and a native resolution of 5K on this display size. But it's still pretty sharp.
BenQ Creative Pro PD2732U: Final verdictFutureFutureFutureThe BenQ Creative Pro PD2732U is either very sharply priced or not great value depending on what you're looking for. As a general computing display it's both pretty expensive and slightly flawed.
You can get far cheaper 27-inch 4K IPS monitors than this. Indeed, you can have one with 144Hz refresh for under half the price. What you won't get for less money, or arguably even the same price as the PD2732U's $699 / £649 asking, is anything like the same feature set for content creation.
The combination of excellent color coverage, various validation standards, and good factory calibration makes this an excellent choice for a sensible-money monitor for SDR content creation of pretty much any kind.
Sure, it's arguably still more of a prosumer display than, say, a true professional class grading monitor. But even in a really demanding professional context, it wouldn't be at all shabby, which is impressive for the price.
Then factor in some neat touches, like the wireless control puck, and excellent connectivity and you have a recipe for one of the most compelling content creation monitors currently available at an affordable price point. That's very much the remit BenQ was aiming for and fair to say the company has nailed it.
FutureFutureFutureFor more displays, we've tested the best business monitors and the best monitors for video editing.
- The World Wide Web was created 35 years ago today
- It was initially designed for sharing documents at CERN
- Its creator says we can return to its spirit of openness and collaboration
These days, it’s hard to go long without connecting to the Internet in one way or another: whether through one of the best web browsers or by connecting to a smart home device, it’s something we often take for granted. The primary means of interacting online — the World Wide Web — has just turned 35 years old today, and its creator has a timely message that couldn’t be more relevant for modern users.
The World Wide Web is the creation of British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. Working at the scientific body CERN in the 1980s and 1990s, Berners-Lee wanted a way to store, update, and locate documents within the sprawling organization. At the same time, he sought a solution that would allow for these documents to be shared with outside bodies quickly and straightforwardly.
That desire led to his creation of the World Wide Web. It was announced to the public on August 6, 1991, with Berners-Lee humbly stating that “We are very interested in spreading the web to other areas.” It was a platform whereby anyone could link to any document in a database using hyperlinks, or links embedded in text, images, and other media. Importantly, multiple users were able to access this platform simultaneously and independently of each other.
Adoption quickly spread from CERN to other research organizations before being opened up to the wider public, whereupon it exploded in popularity. And 35 years later, it’s an invention that has turned the world on its head.
An absolutely vital component of this system was that it had to be both free and decentralized. Berners-Lee was adamant that anyone should be able to create a website and implement hyperlinks on their own, without paying a fee and without a central body dictating what could and could not be done. That principle of openness still stands today — but it’s increasingly under threat.
‘It’s not too late’(Image credit: CERN)Speaking to The Guardian in September 2025, Berners-Lee lamented that plenty of the web today is no longer free and open. “We see a handful of large platforms harvesting users’ private data to share with commercial brokers or even repressive governments,” he noted, adding: “We see ubiquitous algorithms that are addictive by design and damaging to our teenagers’ mental health. Trading personal data for use certainly does not fit with my vision for a free web.”
At the same time, user data is sold “to actors we never intended it to reach,” with the result being “deliberately harmful content that leads to real-world violence, spreads misinformation, wreaks havoc on our psychological wellbeing and seeks to undermine social cohesion.”
This is especially challenging in the age of AI, Berners-Lee argued. To put things right and get back to the original vision of his creation, the father of the web advocated for strong AI governance and guidance from organizations that are not motivated by data and profit but instead by collaboration and the needs of the individual. On this point, Berners-Lee quipped: “It is hard to imagine a big tech company agreeing to share the world wide web for no commercial reward like CERN allowed me to.”
As the World Wide Web turns 35, the spirit of “collaboration, creativity and compassion” that allowed it to be given away for free is being increasingly challenged by Big Tech — but Berners-Lee still thinks there’s time to put things right: “We can re-empower individuals, and take the web back. It’s not too late.”
Spoilers for My Life with the Walter Boys season 3 ahead.
If you watched My Life with the Walter Boys season 3 with the hope that Jackie (Nikki Rodriguez) and Cole (Noah LaLonde) would be more loved up than ever before, you were sadly never going to get your wish.
Just before the season finale, Netflix pried the two apart once again, with Cole listening to Jackie's uncle Richard's (Alex Quijano) 'advice,' and believing that he was holding Jackie back from fulfilling her full potential.
Not only did this leave Jackie rightly heartbroken, but it's thrust her into the arms of newcomer Eliot (Naveen Paddock), who is all too happy to back Richard's beliefs up. While Jackie and Eliot move in for their first kiss at the community space launch party, Cole leaves his drag race final to try and win her back.
But before he can, disaster strikes. A mysterious car pulls up while Cole is driving to the party, and we see that it's the drag racing contestant who Cole left behind in the final.
He's clearly annoyed that the race has been cancelled, and is looking to take his revenge. Finally, the two cars clip, sending Cole's car into a nearby field, where it continues to roll.
Heading into the already-renewed My Life with the Walter Boys season 4, Cole has been left for dead. Or has he? I'm convinced that the first details Netflix has revealed about the next season have also confirmed that Cole is still alive.
Noah LaLonde will be returning for My Life with the Walter Boys season 4 — and that's good newsAccording to Netflix, actor Noah LaLonde will be returning for season 4, with filming having started in Calgary in May 2026. He's seen in a new image of him, Rodriguez, and Ashby Gentry (Alex) on set, with the streamer confirming that the trio is "embarking on the next chapter."
Given that the endgame of the Netflix series is surely to romantically unite Jackie and Cole for good — they just have to go through the worst in order to get there. Frankly, it would be ridiculous for showrunners to kill Cole off completely, especially considering that Alex has finally admitted his feelings for Kiley (Mya Lowe).
Hopefully, Cole's accident is the catalyst for bringing him back to Jackie, and will allow Jackie to fully forgive Cole for so coldly dumping her during season 3. Then, of course, there's the question of whether Jackie actually follows through with her kiss with Eliot at the same time that Cole crashes.
I've got a sneaking suspicion that she'll pull away at the last second... but perhaps that's wishful thinking. It's certainly a moment that her future relationship with Cole could hinge on, if he pulls through.
There is a worst-case scenario, however. LaLonde could simply be returning to film flashback scenes, or to communicate with Jackie through visions from beyond the grave. It's not something we can totally rule out, but it certainly would take My Life with the Walter Boys down a much darker route.
But how likely is this? At the moment, it's far too early to make a call. However, my educated guess is that Cole and Jackie will be just fine in the long run... sometimes, it takes the worst kind of tragedy to realize what you really want.
The Apple AirPods Pro 3 have just received a surprise price cut at Amazon, bringing the excellent premium earbuds down to just $189 (was $249) at the retailer.
That's the lowest price since the retailer's annual Prime Day mega-sale back in June, and likely the best deal we'll see for a while. Ever since Prime Day, these buds have stubbornly held at $199, which is the usual 'sales price' for Apple's premium buds.
Even though the record low is officially $169, the AirPods Pro 3 only hit that on one occasion over Prime Day, so today's price cut is definitely worth considering. Even at $189, the AirPods Pro 3 are an excellent buy for anyone looking for some high-end buds. Not only do they feature excellent noise cancellation, but they're packed with new features like heart rate monitoring and Live Translation.
The AirPods Pro 3 are cheaper today at AmazonAmazon has dropped Apple's AirPods Pro 3 to $189.99, which is the best deal I've seen on these buds in well over a month. Upgrades to the AirPods Pro 3 include improved Active Noise Cancellation and audio, a new comfortable in-ear design, and new features such as live translation and the ability to track heart rate, workouts, and calories burned.View Deal
- See more: check out all of today's deals at Amazon
We awarded the buds an impressive four and a half stars out of five in our AirPods Pro 3 review, calling them 'near-perfect noise-cancelling earbuds' at the time. While not exactly cheap, they offer excellent noise cancellation and sound quality.
If we had to draw any criticisms, we'd mention that the AirPods Pro 3 don't have class-leading battery life (around 5.5 hours in our testing). You'll also need one of the latest iPhones to really take advantage of their full suite of features like Live Translation and personalized fitness insights. They're still great with older devices, but iPhone 15 and newer devices support Apple Intelligence, which is required for the newest bells and whistles.
- MSI's Nvidia GPUs are rumored to be getting price hikes
- They'll be 20% more expensive (or worse) in China, and that kind of increase will surely be seen elsewhere
- This is happening against a backdrop of wider price hikes for graphics cards – although Nvidia is offering a rare chance at an RTX 5080 or 5090 at MSRP
As fresh rumors reveal that another graphics card maker is set to hike prices, Nvidia has a plan to let you buy a Founders Edition Blackwell GPU at the MSRP, even in the case of the RTX 5090 — although you'll need to travel.
And you'll need to move very fast, attend QuakeCon in Texas, which starts today, and get yourself to the GeForce booth (hat tip to VideoCardz) before supplies of RTX 5070, 5080, and 5090 Founders Edition graphics cards run out. And I don't think that they will last for long (a matter of minutes, at a guess, although hopefully that won't be the case).
Nvidia describes this as 'Verified Priority Access' in real life, and at least it does give gamers a chance to buy an RTX 5080 and 5090 at the intended price, which is not something you can get anywhere near when purchasing one of these high-end Nvidia GPUs at retail.
As for the most recent news on GPU price hikes, Wccftech spotted that MSI is the latest graphics card maker to announce that its products will be considerably more expensive.
This is just a rumor, one that arrives via the Board Channels in China, and so should be served with some seasoning — but the theory is that MSI's Nvidia GPUs are set for price hikes of 20% or more. This is due to rising memory prices, of course, and what Nvidia charges its partners for video RAM modules (as Team Green is paying more, it passes that bill on, of course).
The price increase is in the order of $300 (£220 / AU$420) for the RTX 5080 over in China (converting from RMB), around $200 (£150 / AU$280) for the RTX 5070 Ti, and approximately $100 (£75 / AU$140) for RTX 5060 models (and not far off that for the RTX 5050).
Sadly, not only will current-gen Nvidia GeForce graphics cards be affected, but also RTX 4000 and 3000 models (with GDDR6 video RAM getting costlier, as well as GDDR7).
Analysis: pricey times(Image credit: Nvidia)While this is a rumored cost increase for MSI products in China, these exact same pricing pressures are, of course, happening globally, so there's no reason to believe that MSI's GPUs in other regions won't follow suit.
What's more, this isn't just a problem that pertains to MSI, but Nvidia's other card-making partners, and those companies are also rumored to be implementing hefty price hikes. For example, just this week we've heard that Gigabyte GPU prices will jump between 20% and 40%. Also, on a regional basis, Nvidia RTX 5000 models in South Korea are looking at price hikes of up to 30%.
So, this is a coherent picture of hikes, and those percentages are all in a similar ballpark, indicating increases of at least 20% or a good deal more. They are also backed up by more general chatter from the grapevine about Nvidia's VRAM increases and AMD's Radeon GPUs becoming pricier.
I fear that getting any kind of current-gen graphics card at, or near, the MSRP could be a much tougher task before long, and those at QuakeCon better make the most of Nvidia's GeForce offerings at the firm's booth. As noted, I expect this to be the definition of a flash sale — as in they'll be gone in a flash — although you do have another shot at winning an RTX 5070 in the Quake III Arena RTX Remix and Doom: The Dark Ages challenges.
- HP, Asus, and Acer have qualified and begun shipping CXMT DRAM in small volumes, in a handful of notebook models sold outside the United States
- The restraint is potentially driven less by US policy than by fear of the incumbents: with Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron holding over 90% of the market, buyers say they dare not source too much from CXMT
- CXMT is not a cheaper option either currently, as sources say its DRAM costs no less than Samsung's currently and cannot be booked beyond the current quarter
HP, Asus, and Acer have begun putting DRAM from China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) into notebook computers, a report from Nikkei Asia has claimed, reporting several major PC makers completed qualification of CXMT's chips around the middle of this year.
The volumes are small, and the number of affected models is small, but perhaps more importantly, none of those models is sold in the United States.
The reason the volumes are small may have less to do with assemblers not wanting to irk a White House that has taken an increasingly tariff-heavy, America-first approach to manufacturing, but rather with market incumbents that currently account for as much as 90% of the total market's supply.
A tricky situation in a market dictated entirely by supplyPC makers are not being cautious primarily because of Washington, but rather because they do not want to upset agreements with market giants such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron.
An executive at one PC company told Nikkei that with the top three holding more than 90% of the global market, buyers have to stay low-key about using CXMT, adding: "We dare not source too much from CXMT at this moment."
That does make for an interesting conundrum: in the middle of the worst memory shortage in the industry's history, the binding constraint on diversification is fear of annoying the people you are already struggling to buy from.
Nikkei's report on the matter only reinforces what many market participants have already hinted at: CXMT is hardly the "cheaper" option.
Its DRAM quotes do not undercut Samsung's, and it reportedly cannot even be booked beyond the current quarter, as competition over who can buy it has continued to ramp up even as it reportedly chooses to prioritize local conglomerate Huawei's AI ambitions.
What PC makers are actually buying, then, is optionality. A supply chain manager who works with HP and Asus put it to Nikkei, saying they don't want to neglect a potentially important source while the market is this tight.
For context, validating a new DRAM supplier takes months of engineering, signal-integrity testing, thermal work, and platform validation, and it does not happen on a whim. HP, Asus, and Acer have now built a switch. Whether they throw it depends on conditions none of them control, but the switch exists, and eighteen months ago it did not.
With Samsung stating that the RAM crisis is here to stay, the underlying conditions have merely exacerbated an AI-driven memory crisis that has directly affected consumer electronics across the board as supply continues to get repurposed.
Spot RAM pricing has risen by 400% or more over the past twelve months. PC makers have responded by prioritizing memory allocation for premium models and lifting prices across their ranges by several hundred dollars. IDC expects the global PC market to contract by more than 11 percent this year, with supply conditions deteriorating further toward the end of it.
Smartphones are equally affected, with some makers scaling back certain models to memory configurations their predecessors already offered, while others increase pricing to offset higher component costs. Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo have each cut 2026 shipment targets more than once.
The pressure has already reached the components below the memory itself: motherboard makers have absorbed roughly 50 percent increases in PCB costs and trimmed their own shipment targets accordingly.
None of this originates in the PC market. It originates in AI infrastructure, where demand for high-bandwidth memory has pulled wafer capacity away from conventional DRAM at every major supplier.
That is precisely the gap CXMT has been expanding into, which is why a company most Western buyers ignored two years ago is suddenly qualified at three of the largest PC brands in the world.
A short term irritant for Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix?So what will Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix think? In the short term, very little, and they have every reason to say so. They are the primary beneficiaries of this shortage, with pricing power they have not enjoyed in a decade and no commercial incentive whatsoever to loosen supply. A few thousand budget laptops in Europe and Asia that carry Chinese DRAM do not register against that.
The longer view might be less comfortable. Oligopolies are usually broken not by a competitor arriving with a better product but by customers becoming willing to qualify an alternative, and customers become willing when the incumbents make life sufficiently unpleasant. That threshold has now seemingly been crossed at three of the five largest PC vendors, during a period when the incumbents were charging whatever they liked.
The alternative parts are more expensive than expected and hard to get, so nobody has switched in any meaningful volume. But the certification work is done and dusted, CXMT is building capacity at multiples of its current base, and the moment supply loosens or Washington's posture shifts, the cost of moving volume across is dramatically lower than it was.
For now, the best example of how the industry is treating this news is visible in Acer's response to Nikkei: It declined to identify suppliers, said it maintains close contact with multiple global manufacturers, and described the goal as supply chain resilience. HP also declined to comment, and Asus did not respond at all to inquiries at the time of writing. That is not the language of companies making a bet but rather those that would like to keep as many options open as possible.
The El Capitan Theatre and the Walt Disney Studios lot have long been reserved for some of Disney's biggest moments. Citizen Kane held its Hollywood premiere on that same stage in 1941, and decades later, The Lion King, the Avengers films, and a steady run of Pixar premieres have rolled out the red carpet at the same historic Hollywood venue.
This September, though, Disney is handing the spotlight to a different kind of storyteller… creators. Created in LA is a new two-day creator summit and film festival conceived by creator Jon Youshaei and presented by Disney. The event will bring 350 creators and storytellers together on September 17–18 for a premiere event at the El Capitan Theatre before moving to the Walt Disney Studios lot for a day of conversations.
Arguably, the most exciting part is that the iconic theater will premiere creator originals with the same pomp and circumstance as a studio blockbuster.
After the initial reveal earlier this summer, Disney and Youshaei have now revealed the first wave of speakers: Mindy Kaling, Zach King, AdamW, Jenny Hoyos, Sam Eckholm, and Disney's own Chief Marketing and Brand Officer Asad Ayaz.
On the surface, it's another creator event, but the setting makes it something more interesting.
For decades, the technology required to produce Hollywood-quality content was largely reserved for studios with deep pockets. Today, creators can shoot cinematic footage on flagship smartphones, edit on laptops, and publish directly to audiences. The line between a traditional production studio and a creator-led one has never been thinner, and Disney appears ready to acknowledge that.
Speaking with TechRadar, Youshaei said that shift was the inspiration behind Created in LA.
"We're in this moment right now where the quality of videos from creators is just so good that it's become cinema quality for certain creators," he told me. "How cool would it be if we could premiere videos from creators on the big screen, in one of the most historic screens in the world at the El Capitan Theatre?"
Youshaei is in a unique position to make that observation. Before becoming a full-time creator, he spent years working with creators at some of the world's biggest technology platforms before building his own production studio, giving him perspective from both sides of the rapidly evolving creator landscape.
(Image credit: Disney)He believes the biggest reason creators are reaching new heights isn't just because audiences have embraced online video — it's because the tools themselves have become dramatically more accessible.
"The fact that the tech has gotten more accessible to the fact that you could hit upload and have millions of people watch your stuff if it's good," he said, pointing to everything from improved production equipment to publishing platforms that have lowered the barriers to entry.
That accessibility has also fueled a new generation of creators who increasingly operate more like production companies than solo influencers. Asked whether the line between creators and traditional studios will eventually disappear, Youshaei doesn't think so — but he does think it's becoming much harder to define.
"I don't think it'll disappear fully; I think it'll become blurrier," he said. "More creators today have full-on studios... I think there's room for both to coexist."
Created in LA is designed to reflect that evolution. The newly announced speaker lineup blends Hollywood veterans with some of the biggest names in online video. Mindy Kaling will discuss building a career by becoming "your own studio," while Zach King, AdamW and Jenny Hoyos will pull back the curtain on the creative processes that helped them build audiences numbering in the millions.
It's also notable timing: while unrelated, the announcement comes the day after Disney revealed a separate partnership with TikTok that will bring select creator-made vertical videos to Disney+. Taken together, the initiatives suggest Disney is expanding how it works with creators across multiple parts of its business — not simply as influencers promoting a movie, but as storytellers with audiences of their own.
That doesn't mean technology is replacing creativity, however. As AI becomes increasingly capable of generating images, videos and editing assets, Youshaei sees it as another tool in the production pipeline rather than a replacement for the people behind the camera. He doesn't think AI makes it harder for creators to stand out, either — if anything, he says it rewards what he calls a "second-mover advantage."
"I think creators today have what I like to call the 'second-mover advantage,'" he said. "...I think nowadays having a second-mover advantage where you can understand what ideas have taken off, why have they taken off, how are they packaged, and then be able to put your own spin on it, is really powerful."
He told TechRadar that his team already uses AI to brainstorm ideas, generate mockups and accelerate creative workflows, but that taste, perspective and authenticity still come from the creator.
Ultimately, Youshaei hopes Created in LA becomes more than a conference. His ambition is for creators to one day aspire to premiere their best work there in much the same way that filmmakers dream of debuting a movie at a major film festival.
Whether it reaches that point remains to be seen. But opening the doors of the El Capitan Theatre and the Walt Disney Studios lot to creators already says something about where entertainment is headed. As the technology behind high-quality video production has become more accessible, Disney appears to be betting that great storytelling can come from anywhere — and increasingly, anyone.
Creators hoping to attend can still apply through the Created in LA website.
- The first HBF specification defines stacks of up to 512GB with three bandwidth grades from roughly 0.4TB/s to 3.0TB/s, connected to processors over UCIe and published openly through the Open Compute Project
- Google and Tenstorrent have joined the consortium, but Nvidia is not among the named participants, which matters more to HBF's prospects as a de facto alternative to increasingly pricey HBM
- Samples of the first AI inference devices built with HBF are expected to show up in early 2027
SK Hynix and SanDisk have published the first technical specification for High Bandwidth Flash.
Released through the Open Compute Project to coincide with the opening of the Future of Memory and Storage conference, it makes for an impressively fast milestone, arriving six months after the HBF workstream was convened at SanDisk's Milpitas headquarters and a year after the two companies first agreed to standardize the technology.
The solution, at least for now, exists only on paper, and has managed to draw two crucial partners to its consortium: Google and Tenstorrent.
A promising standard, that focuses on capacity over raw speedHigh Bandwidth Flash's specification defines capacities up to 512GB across two stack configurations, 8-high and 16-high NAND dies, and sorts performance into three grades running from roughly 0.4TB/s to 3.0TB/s.
HBF's pitch, unlike its competition, focuses on capacity rather than raw speed. A 512GB HBF stack sits against roughly 48GB to 64GB for an HBM4 stack, which is between eight and ten times the capacity, while the top HBF grade's 3.0TB/s lands inside the 2.0 to 3.3TB/s band typical of HBM4.
It also adopts UCIe, the open chiplet interconnect standard, as the link between an HBF stack and a host processor, enabling the technology to be attached to GPUs and CPUs from different vendors.
What could be challenging is delivering on its promise within a reasonable time; however, SanDisk has been working to a public roadmap since August 2025: first samples of the memory itself in the second half of 2026, and samples of the first AI inference devices built with HBF in early 2027. Neither company updated that schedule with this week's announcement.
Industry expectations put actual commercialization somewhere between late 2027 and 2028, with the volume of data center demand that would justify the investment arriving closer to 2030, in a cycle that also involves partner testing followed by ramped-up production.
This is despite SanDisk's Hsu telling SDxCentral in May 2026 that working through the Open Compute Project (OCP) let the effort move faster and that "you won't have to wait too long", which is a reasonable thing to say about a standard and a slightly generous thing to say about a product still eighteen months from sampling inside a device.
SK Hynix is equally cagey when it comes to HBF's roadmap: the same document that announces HBF also unveils the company's tenth-generation 375-layer 4D NAND, claims a 2.5x improvement in performance per watt, and states plainly that mass production of enterprise SSDs built on it begins early next year; HBF gets no date mentioned at all.
One interesting thing is that Nvidia is not among the named participants, even though it dominates the AI accelerator market.
SK Hynix has, however, expanded a strategic partnership with Nvidia covering next-generation memory as recently as July 25, and that might be a sign that things could change, but there is no official confirmation from what is arguably the biggest AI player in the market just yet. Samsung, Micron and Kioxia are likewise absent, with Kioxia pursuing a different approach to the same problem.
When HBF does eventually ship, it will probably not reach consumers in any shape or form until AI hyperscalers are sated and a viable interface for retail users is available to harness the tech. For now, HBF is unveiled but exists only on paper, allowing hyperscalers and accelerator designers to plan ahead for a technology that will become increasingly invaluable as the compute focus continues to shift from training to inference, with AI data centers coming online.
I couldn't believe it. Had Roku really just casually inserted global viral raccoon sensation Jimothy into Roku City? I'd seen a post claiming so, but knowing how easy it is to fake things with AI, I had to see it for myself.
I powered up one of my home's half-dozen Roku streaming boxes and spent 10 minutes trying to force the platform into screen-saver mode, which then opens up Roku City. Ever since the most recent Roku platform update, I see this interface far less often than I used to.
Roku City is Roku's fictional, purple cityscape populated by thinly disguised iconic characters and objects from film, TV, and life.
After a few minutes of hunting, I figured out how to set my screen saver timeout to one minute. A moment later, the side-scrolling Roku City appeared, and in it, caught mid-waddle atop a chain-link fence, was Jimothy's unmistakable silhouette.
For those who've thrown out their phones, computers, and TVs, Jimothy is a Seattle-based raccoon with a rare disorder called "short spine syndrome." Don't worry, it doesn't appear to impact his mobility or lifestyle, but once you see Jimothy, you never forget him.
Jimothy is so popular that he's been featured as the unofficial mascot at Seattle Mariners games, launched what's widely considered "Hot Jimothy Summer," and is now immortalized in Roku City.
Jimothy made it to Roku City in a matter of hoursA post shared by Kiana (@c1vrgr1)
A photo posted by on
"You share the same problem we all share, which is when we really want to get to Roku City, like right now, we wonder, 'How do we get there?" Damon Van Deusen, Roku's Vice President, Global Brand and Creative, told me this week, but added that a solution is already in the works: Roku is adding a Roku City tile to the home screen for instant access.
Van Deusen agreed to sit down and explain how Jimothy made his way — virtually — from the alleys of a Seattle suburb to Roku's iconic services.
Jimothy's appearance, while surprising, is not out of character for the screen saver enjoyed by Roku's roughly 100 million customers.
"The Jimothy journey starts six or seven years ago when we actually started realizing that social was paying attention to the screen saver," explained Van Deusen. Back in 2021, they noticed likely pandemic-quarantined consumers posting about how they'd like to visit the city, share a kiss there, or even get married in the purple space.
"We've been putting Easter eggs in the screen saver as a way to engage some fans and social ever since," he added.
Over the years, the city's been populated by, among other things, characters from popular films (like the rock monster from Galaxy Quest and Star Trek's Enterprise). Still, there was something about Jimothy's timeliness that struck me.
Seattle resident Kiana Hall posted an Instagram video about the unusual raccoon on July 16, 2026. I spotted Jimothy in Roku City on July 31, and the post I saw about the raccoon's integration in the platform was a few days older than that.
"In the last two years, we created what's called the Rapid Response Easter Egg Team," explained Van Deusen.
This cross-functional group cuts through typical product development, and "we figured out a system where we could publish these things really fast. So now everything we do is quicker and quicker and quicker."
Tracking and choosing from the Zeitgeist @lanceulanoff ♬ FREAKED OUT - Fat Papi & prodshushyThe team, which often communicates on Slack, is constantly kicking around watercooler moments like Punch the Money and Goat on Car. They choose "anything that tickles us, anything that feels really fun. I mean, again, that's the bar; it's gotta be delightful, playful, fun, lift spirits, and create conversation," Van Deusen told me, who later added that delight, or something that triggers an "unexpected smile," is "really the heart of the whole brand."
Van Deusen loved that I more or less stumbled on Jimothy's existence in the city. "An unexpected smile, if you think about it, it's like it comes out of nowhere. It's not like you're looking for it; it's just like you spotting Jimothy. It's like, 'Wait a minute, are you, wait, is that Jimothy?'"
The Jimothy journey starts six or seven years ago when we actually started realizing that social was paying attention to the screen saver,
Not every viral moment can make it in. The Rapid Response Easter Egg Team avoids bummers and negative news. However, they did do a retrospective of Moira Rose's wigs as a way to memorialize the great Catherine O'Hara, who played Moira in Schitt's Creek and died on January 30 of this year.
When the right idea comes along, the team knows it. "Then we'll be like, 'Oh my God, that's so cool,' and then we'll make it happen right away...and that's how Jimothy came about."
(Image credit: Tim Cook - Designer. Illustrator. Director. @ Roku Inc.)Looking at the Roku City Jimothy, I was struck by the silhouette's uncanny accuracy — it could be no other raccoon.
Van Deusen told me Roku has, over the last five years, built a world-class illustration team, which includes comic book illustrators and former Disney artists.
The company shared the Roku Designer, Illustrator, and Director Tim Cook's early Jimothy sketch and how he might appear in Roku City (above). Even in pencil, you can see how he captured the shape and signature gait of the lovable critter.
The making of an iconTo create Jimothy, the team focused on that "iconic sort of hunch." Van Deusen said that there was a feedback session to ensure they got the look just right.
Silhouettes also happen to be part of Roku City's DNA, giving you the clear impression of a character or viral figure without a lot of detail.
"We had tried doing less silhouetted versions of the city when we tried to localize for different markets once, and the more you see, the further you get away from the City," he said.
The suggestion of these shapes and recognizable figures forces you to lean in and engage even more with what is arguably just a screen saver.
"It's kind of a little bit of a wink, obviously, you know, and we do that on purpose; we never want to say too much. And we never reveal what the Easter eggs are; we always just sort of suggest and like elude, and again, it's so much more fun," said Van Deusen, smiling, I think, at the thought of Jimothy's unmistakable shape.
We developed a tool where we can basically come up with an idea, something we want to do, the illustration team quickly mocks something up, and we can put it in the screen saver, all within a couple of hours."
As for how Jimothy made it to millions of screen saves so quickly, Roku's Rapid Response team can add new elements to Roku City in a matter of hours.
"We developed a tool," Van Deusen said, "where we can basically come up with an idea, something we want to do, the illustration team quickly mocks something up, and we can put it in the screen saver, all within a couple of hours."
That kind of speed puts Roku City firmly inside the zeitgeist. But that, too, is fast changing, and I wondered how long Jimothy would be waddling across Roku City screens.
Roku does rotate out the Easter eggs, though a backlog of four years or more can rotate in and out of the side-scrolling interface. Roku, by the way, recently added a user-controllable version where you can slide back and forth for a better look at all these hidden gems, including Jimothy.
The lovable raccoons should appear in Roku City "as long as Jimothy is in the zeitgeist," said Van Deusen, adding, "[he] will eventually, probably be replaced. I don't know if we'll always have a rotational raccoon, but we will find the next, you know, popping character."
Until then, enjoy Jimothy in real and virtual life.
The Chuwi UniBook is a 14-inch Windows laptop built around Intel's newly launched Core 3 304 processor, part of the Wildcat Lake family and the first Series 3 chip to appear in a laptop at this price. It weighs a claimed 1.2 kg, comes housed in an anodised aluminium chassis, and pairs a 16:10 IPS display with 8GB of memory and a 256GB SSD.
Positioning this model directly against Apple's MacBook Neo, undercutting it by around $250 while offering a larger screen, the same memory and storage as the base Neo configuration, and a far wider set of ports. Early benchmarks of the Core 3 304 from other devices suggest genuinely strong single-core performance for a chip this cheap, which makes the UniBook one of the more interesting budget launches of the year on paper.
The critical caveat is that macOS runs reasonably well with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, where Windows 11 is a singularly less spectacular experience.
While you can upgrade the storage to any Gen 3 or 4 NVMe 2280 drive, the amount of RAM isn’t able to be expanded.
Price is therefore the trade-off, which means the UniBook isn’t ideal for substantial tasks, even if it's acceptable for light work. One side benefit of not being especially powerful is that the battery will last easily more than a working day, and it might even stretch to two.
From a value perspective, the Chuwi UniBook looks like an excellent deal, but the specification precludes it from being one of the best business laptops.
Chuwi UniBook: Price and availability(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)- How much does it cost? From $450
- When is it out? Available now
- Where can you get it? Direct from Chuwiretailers
Chuwi initially opened pre-orders for the UniBook at $449 US dollars, positioning it as the cheapest laptop yet built around Intel's Wildcat Lake platform. At the time of writing, using the Global Chuwi store, it's priced at $449 for US customers, £335 for the UK and €449 for Europeans.
Given that this is a fully functional laptop with RAM and storage, and new processor technology, that price seems remarkably good.
However, there is only a single SKU that offers one processor, the Intel Core 3 304, 8GB of RAM (not upgradable) and only 256GB of storage.
I’m only aware of two other laptop makers with products built around this platform. They would be HP with the OmniBook 3 AI 14" Laptop and Lenovo’s ThinkPad E16 Gen 4.
The HP is available in the UK through Currys for £799, for a model with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
The version of the ThinkPad E16 Gen 4 that uses the Intel Core 3 304 costs £954.60 in the UK direct from Lenovo, but does come with 16GB of RAM and Wi-Fi 6E. At the time of writing, both these models have yet to be launched in the US.
The UK pricing we have strongly hints that Chuwi's pricing is remarkably competitive, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it were raised in the coming months.
It will be interesting to see how other brands price hardware based on this platform.
For those wondering, Apple's MacBook Neo sells for £699 in the UK and $699 in the USA, for a machine with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, without a charger.
- Value: 4.5 / 5
Laptop:
Chuwi UniBook
CPU:
Intel Core 3 Processor 304, Series 3 Wildcat Lake (5 Cores, 5 Threads, up to 4.3 GHz, Intel 18A process)
GPU:
Intel Graphics, Xe3 architecture, up to 2.3 GHz, 9 TOPS
NPU:
Intel NPU 5, 15 TOPS
RAM:
8GB LPDDR5, 6400 MT/s not upgradable
Storage:
256GB PCIe 3.0 SSD, single M.2 2280 slot rated up to PCIe 4.0 x4
Screen:
14.0-inch IPS, 1920 x 1200 (16:10)
Ports:
2x USB C (5 Gbps, PD, 4K@60Hz video), 2x USB A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x USB A 2.0, 1x HDMI 1.4b (4K@30Hz), 1x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x TF card slot, 1x 3.5mm audio
Camera:
720p webcam with physical privacy shutter
Networking:
Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2
Dimensions:
314.5 x 221 x 16.4 mm
Weight:
1240g
OS:
Windows 11 Pro, pre-installed
Battery:
53.38Wh Lithium Polymer
Power supply:
65W USB-C PD charger
Chuwi UniBook: Design(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)- Anodised aluminium alloy chassis
- Lightweight and thin
- Lots of ports
The chassis on the UniBook is made from anodised aluminium alloy, and Chuwi quotes a weight of approximately 1.2 kg and a thickness of 16.4 mm. Those figures put the UniBook among the lighter 14-inch Windows laptops at this price, assuming they hold up on a scale. The hinge opens to 180 degrees, and the marketing page states an 88% screen-to-body ratio thanks to narrow bezels around the 16:10 panel.
The specification lists two full-function USB-C ports, two USB-A 3.2 ports, one USB-A 2.0 port, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, a TF card slot, and a 3.5mm jack, which, on paper, is a generous selection for a budget machine. What’s odd, when I think about it, is that more expensive laptops tend to have fewer ports, forcing the owners to consider using docking stations to add those connections.
The inclusion of a LAN port is a definite advantage, especially in that awkward new Windows PC phase where Microsoft attempts to download all of human knowledge in the full knowledge that it needs almost none of it.
The USB-C and two USB-A ports are only 5Gbs, which is slightly disappointing not to have one that is 10Gbps, but there is HDMI out and a MicroSD card reader.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)The keyboard is full-size and has two-level backlighting. It’s not ideal for creating dissertations, but for small input jobs it’s fine. The provided review hardware was a US layout, which I assume is the one most buyers will get.
Since I know how the UK layout maps to the US one, this wasn’t a huge problem for me, except that this keyboard annoyingly doesn’t have a PrtScn key. That made screen capture slightly more convoluted.
As trackpads go, this one is on the smaller side, measuring approximately 120 mm by 70 mm, and it uses the flexible-click methodology.
Overall, considering the low cost of this device, its construction is much better than I’d anticipated. The use of metal skins and a simple but effective style works well. What it lacks is a fingerprint sensor or a Windows Hello camera. But with so many USB ports, it could easily use a security fob if you want to add extra protection.
However, given the specifications and price, I see this device being more oriented towards education than business, and I have some thoughts on its suitability for that in the next section.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)- Design: 4 / 5
- Wildcat Lake Intel Core 3 304
- NPU and GPU short of Copilot Plus certification
- 8GB of RAM can’t be upgraded
Wildcat Lake is Intel's answer to a question that has irked it for years. How do you bring modern chip design to the cheapest laptops without pricing them out of the market they serve? The family was announced quietly at CES 2026 alongside the much bigger Panther Lake launch, and its job is to replace the ageing Alder Lake N and Twin Lake chips that have powered budget laptops, mini PCs and Chromebooks since 2023.
Where those older chips relied on Gracemont efficiency cores alone, Wildcat Lake borrows directly from Panther Lake's playbook. It pairs Cougar Cove performance cores with Darkmont low-power efficiency cores, adds Xe3 graphics and an NPU 5 neural engine, and builds the whole thing on Intel's 18A process.
In effect, Intel has taken its flagship architecture and squeezed a scaled-down version of it into a chip built for machines costing a few hundred dollars rather than a few thousand.
Well, that’s the promise, and on paper it sounds perfect for the budget consumer. Modern architecture at 18A should bring a genuine efficiency jump over the older Intel 7 process used by the N-series chips, and early single-core benchmarks on Wildcat Lake devices back that up, with some results landing close to flagship phone silicon. For a family aimed squarely at browsing, office work and video calls, single-core strength matters more than raw multi-core muscle ever would.
However, in the time-honoured Intel tradition of grasping potential defeat from the jaws of victory, this series has become more about what Intel chose to cut.
Wildcat Lake uses a simpler organic substrate and flip chip packaging rather than the advanced packaging found on Panther Lake, which keeps costs down but limits how far the platform can scale. Core counts are modest across the board, topping out at six, and GPU configurations are similarly trimmed.
None of that is a flaw exactly, since this was never meant to compete with premium silicon, but it does mean the ceiling was made low by design.
The Core 3 304 sits right at the bottom of that stack. It carries five cores across five threads, just one Cougar Cove performance core paired with four Darkmont low-power efficiency cores, and turbo clocks reaching 4.3GHz. That single performance core is notably light even by Wildcat Lake standards, since every other chip in the family carries two. Graphics come from a single Xe3 core rated at 9 TOPS, alongside an NPU rated at 15 TOPS.
What it lacks is just as telling. There is no second performance core to lean on for heavier multitasking, no multi-core Xe3 graphics block, and no ray tracing.
Combined NPU and GPU output falls well short of Microsoft's 40 TOPS Copilot Plus threshold. The dedicated NPU is rated at 15 TOPS Int8. Combined with the GPU's 9 TOPS, that gives a platform total of 24 TOPS. Microsoft's Copilot Plus certification requires 40 TOPS from the NPU alone, so despite Chuwi's AI Laptop branding, the UniBook does not qualify and will not run Copilot Plus-specific features.
Memory is 8GB of LPDDR5 running at 6400 MT/s, a healthy speed for this class of chip even if the capacity is modest. Is it enough for Windows 11?
The fact is that when you fire up the machine with the default installation, 6.3 GB of RAM has already been eaten before the first app is launched. Launch a browser and open 10 webpages; the system starts paging, and things get jerky from that point onwards. Where it really struggles is multitasking, since there is only a single performance core, alongside the four efficiency cores.
There may be ways to reduce Windows 11's memory usage, and you’ll need to use them all if you intend to run multiple apps and not find yourself waiting on this system. In times long gone, you would open the laptop, find the 8GB SODIMM, and replace it with a larger one, but that’s not possible with this design.
The very week I wrote this review, Microsoft threw a few of its disposable developers at members of the press to talk about changes they intend to make Windows 11 work better with less memory. Technically, the minimum memory requirement is 4GB, but Microsoft have focused apparently on improving the 8GB experience. While these updates are not yet launched, and when they will be is unclear, these are clearly driven by the catastrophic price hikes in RAM cost.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)I need to point out that Windows 11 launched in 2021; therefore, for five years, Microsoft sat on its overly profit-padded backside, ignoring users who complained that their operating system wasn’t an efficient user of memory.
But a few PC makers whine that they need to reduce the RAM complement to 8GB from 16GB on some of their lines, and those in Redmond leap into action? The poor optics of these announcements won’t surprise many.
It’s also interesting to note that this machine was built to compete with Apple's MacBook Neo, and that comes with the same 8GB+256GB entry-level profile, but nobody is complaining that it doesn’t work smoothly with macOS.
This would be less of an issue for laptops in general if the makers all hadn’t chosen to make memory non-upgradable. A choice they made, not the people buying them.
The only upgrades available here are the M.2 Wi-Fi adapter and storage, and getting to them is relatively easy if you remove the 11 screws that hold the underside in place.
If anyone is reading this and has this system, just be aware that 8 of the screws are short and three are long, and getting them mixed up could have dire consequences when you reassemble the system.
There is only one M.2 2280 for storage, so you will need a USB caddy to do a drive cloning, and there isn’t room for a drive with a heatsink inside.
One major disappointment I noticed is that the pre-installed drive is only PCIe 3.0 x4, where the slot is rated for PCIe 4.0 x4. And, as the drive is only 256GB, finding a 500GB or 1TB replacement drive that’s PCIe 4.0 would be a good upgrade.
Overall, this system is cut to the bone in some critical areas, specifically RAM, making it less than ideal for those who like to load multiple apps and multitask between them.
It needed those Microsoft efficiency upgrades yesterday, or it's likely to be a contributing factor in the switch to Linux for those owning this hardware.
- Hardware: 3.5 / 5
Laptops
Chuwi UniBook
Chuwi CoreBook X 7430U
CPU
Intel Core 3 304
AMD Ryzen 5 7430U
Cores/Threads
5C 6T
6C 12T
TPD
15W
15W
RAM
8GB LPDDR5
16GB DDR4 (1x 16GB)
SSD
HOGE H750L 256GB
512GB Wodposit WPBSNM8
Graphics
Intel UHD Graphics (Gen 12.2)
AMD Radeon Graphics
NPU
Intel NPU (15 TOPS)
N/A
3DMark
WildLife
5,198
4,581
FireStrike
1796
2085
TimeSpy
830
836
Steel Nomad.L
590
716
CineBench24
Single
N/A
63
Multi
N/A
254
Ratio
N/A
4.05
GeekBench 6
Single
1962
1442
Multi
5338
4848
OpenCL
6006
11015
Vulkan
7304
10122
CrystalDIsk
Read MB/s
2315
3588
Write MB/s
2087
1852
PCMark 10
Office
4351
4676
Battery
20h 26m
9h 30m
Battery
Whr
55.38
46.2
PSU
65W
65W
WEI
Score
8.1
6.6
It was difficult for me to find laptops I’ve reviewed that would make a suitable comparison, since most of them use much more powerful chips than the one in the UniBook.
In the end, I found that the results for the Chuwi CoreBook X 7430U are reasonably comparable, especially with respect to GPU performance. However, one massive advantage that the CoreBook X 7430U had was 16GB of RAM, even if it was DDR4. That allows it to share more with the GPU, which is why the scores for that hardware improve as the graphics challenges increase.
One unexpected casualty of the 8GB memory capacity was the CineBench24 benchmark, which failed to run due to the amount of RAM allocated to the Intel UHD Graphics (Gen 12.2) GPU.
Another disappointing result is the NVMe drive's speed. But this is exactly what happens when you use a cheap Gen 3 drive in a Gen 4 slot. The battery performance is thankfully a more positive story.
Chuwi's own promotional material quotes up to 13 hours of 1080p video playback from the 53.38Wh battery, tested at 50% brightness and volume with Wi-Fi on, Bluetooth off, and Best Efficiency Mode engaged.
However, you can use this machine with the screen much less bright, and in my testing, it lasted over 20 hours at full capacity on its 55.38Wh battery. Easily the best result of these tests.
That’s a couple of busy days at least, or one dawn-till-dusk exercise. That capacity can be replaced on the provided 65W charger in a little over 2 hours, enabling a quarter of the capacity to be recovered in just 30 minutes.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)The screen performance levels that Chuwi quotes are 100% sRGB and 300-nit peak brightness. While the 300nit value is reasonably accurate, the colour gamut of the screen on the supplied UniBook sample came nowhere near 100% sRGB. It managed just 63% of sRGB, 43% of AdobeRGB and 34% of Rec2020.
Gamut is certainly a weakness, but contrast, uniformity (brightness and colour) and tone response are all decent. My conclusion was that this isn’t a bad screen, unless you are specifically looking for colour accuracy.
Those looking for a performance laptop won’t be interested in this hardware, which is nailed down by a processor with only five cores and only 8GB of RAM running on a PCIe 3.0 SSD.
When using this system, keep your expectations low, and keep the number of web pages open small.
I was almost tempted to put a PCIe 4.0 SSD drive in the review unit, and put a modern Linux distro on it to see how much better the experience might be, but time was against me.
In short, this system is cheap for a reason, and even with Intel’s new silicon, the performance is undermined on numerous other fronts.
- Performance: 3 / 5
UniBook is a genuinely interesting proposition on paper. It is the first widely available laptop built around Intel's new Wildcat Lake platform; it undercuts Apple's MacBook Neo on price while offering more ports and a bigger screen, and early third-party benchmarks of the Core 3 304 hinted at unusually strong single-core performance for the money.
However, a Windows 11 system with 8GB of RAM that can’t be upgraded and a storage drive that undersells the socket it sits in combine to undermine what could be a much more useful system than it ultimately is. The overselling of its AI capability doesn’t help either.
What is good about this system is the excellent battery life and the wide number of ports, even if the best it can offer is USB 3.2 Gen 1.
None of that rules the UniBook out. It simply means the value case pivots on the purchaser's use case, and it needs to be modest. For that reason, I wouldn’t recommend this to a student, as they’ll discover its limitations on the first day of use.
Should you buy a Chuwi UniBook?Value
Competitively priced for the specification
4.5/5
Design
Lightweight chassis with plenty of ports
4/5
Hardware
New Intel Wildcat Lake platform but only 8GB of RAM
3.5/5
Performance
Only suitable for light tasks due to Windows 11
3/5
Overall
Inexpensive hardware suitable only for light tasks
4/5
Buy it if...You need a low cost Windows 11 machine
The best aspect of the UniBook is its price; considering the build quality and screen size, it looks like a bargain. However, there is no ‘free lunch’ with this machine, and it does have some limitations that mean it's only useful for light tasks.
You expect all-day battery life
In a continuous test, the UniBook lasted over twenty hours, and that’s with the screen brightness turned down somewhat. Even the makers quote more than thirteen hours of continuous video playback, making it suitable for a long journey.
Don't buy it if...
You need multiple apps open
With only 8GB of RAM, most of which Windows 11 has already earmarked, running multiple apps or those with high demands isn’t practical on this hardware.
You use external SSDs
The lack of a Gen 2 USB port means the fastest file transfers from the Chuwi UniBook can achieve are capped at 500mb/s. Using 1,000mb/s rated external SSDs or even faster options won’t operate to their full potential.
- A24 dropped the full trailer for Primetime on August 6, ahead of its theatrical release on September 25
- It gives us our first look at Robert Pattinson, who plays To Catch a Predator presenter Chris Hansen
- In addition, the trailer teases roles for The Office star Creed Bratton and singer Phoebe Bridgers
Primetime just got a trailer ahead of its September 25 theater release. It packs a lot into just over 2 minutes, including an appearance from The Office icon Creed Bratton, according to TV Insider.
In Primetime, Robert Pattinson stars as Chris Hansen, the host of NBC's To Catch a Predator, which was a hugely popular reality show in the 2000s. But while Pattinson's performance is sublime, there are some other key details to get excited about.
We only see a flash of Creed Bratton's character, and it's not clear who he plays, but it's certainly exciting to see him in a big upcoming movie like this.
Elsewhere, singer Phoebe Bridgers makes her acting debut in Primetime, in another as-yet-unnamed role. Hopefully we'll get more details about both soon.
Take a look at the trailer below and prepare to be blown away.
Primetime is one of my most anticipated new movies of 2026. Directed by Lance Oppenheim, it tells the story of To Catch a Predator's origins as Chris Hansen gets a primetime television slot and makes television history by blending reality TV with vigilante justice.
To Catch a Predator centered around confronting child predators who would arrive at a sting house and typically get arrested as a result of Hansen and his team's intervention, resulting in a show that was as popular as it was controversial.
Primetime feels like a thriller rather than a straight biopic, as even in the short trailer above, there's plenty of tension ahead. I'm hoping it really deep dives into what it was like behind the scenes of this infamous reality program.
For more A24 news, check out my ranking of all the A24 horror movies available on streaming.