Meta AI can create content and make suggestions based on what it “sees” on your screen. | Image: Meta
Meta is launching a new Mac app dedicated to its AI chatbot. In an announcement on Wednesday, Meta says you can share your window with its AI chatbot, which can provide suggestions, answer questions, or create content based on what's on your screen. Meta AI on the Mac also supports dictation across all apps.
Apple is simplifying its EU App Store fees, replacing its per-install fee with a 5% commission for apps distributed outside the App Store and making it easier for developers to operate alternative app marketplaces.
Apple is once again overhauling App Store rules in the European Union, which the company says will resolve its "disagreements with the Commission over business terms and alternative distribution." As part of the changes, every developer that distributes apps will be moved to a single set of business terms, and digital transactions for apps distributed outside of the App Store will be subject to a Core Technology Commission fee of 5 percent.
The new terms go into effect on October 1st. They will include a 26 percent commission for App Store apps that use Apple's in-app purchase system, or a 20 percent fee for developers using alternate payme …
Pets, like children, come with the responsibility to keep them happy, healthy, and mentally stimulated - obligations I readily committed to before getting my cat, Trevor. I work from home, so he's never lonely, and play with him using a mountain of toys at every opportunity outside of my working hours. But younger cats can be incredibly demanding of your attention. I simply don't have the capacity to physically entertain Trevor every time he yowls at me (constantly) or distract him from chewing every cable he can get his paws on (also constantly).
Unlike children, one of the perks of having a blissfully simple animal is that there are far f …
The AirPods in the video look like a chunkier version of Apple’s AirPods Pro 3. | Image: Apple / MacRumors
We may have our first glimpse of Apple's rumored camera-equipped AirPods, thanks to a video that MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 Release Candidate. The short video clip features a man - who is wearing the new AirPods - holding up a book with the cover displayed, so that Visual Intelligence can see the book title.
A Siri voice-over plays over the clip, saying "with Visual Intelligence, your world becomes savable. See something you like? Just ask me to save it for later." Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has previously reported that the rumored AirPods with cameras are designed to take in "visual information in low resolution" and act as eyes …
Sonos released an update to its mobile app that finally introduces support for iOS' Live Activities, giving iPhone users quick access to playback controls on their lockscreen. The added functionality is a "much requested, anticipated, and needed feature," according to a post Sonos shared to Reddit today that was spotted by 9to5Mac.
While some features like displaying album art are not available, the Sonos Live Activity provides basic details and controls when listening to music or podcasts through a Sonos system without having to fully unlock your iPhone and open the app.
Support for Live Activities and lockscreen controls similar to wha …
Apple's changing its rules for data collection consent prompts after Germany's Federal Cartel Office accused Apple of giving the prompts a design that favored its own apps. Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompts reportedly cost social media apps nearly $10 billion when they launched with iOS 14.5, making cross-app tracking of users largely opt in. But as a designated "gatekeeper" under the EU's DMA rules, it is facing additional scrutiny over whether the program provides a level playing field.
The regulator says the prompts steer users away from agreeing to let third-party apps use their data, while encouraging them to give consent for …
The good news? Despite that, there are still many great options, including the selection we’ve tested and highlighted below.
Before you go for the cheapest option you can still find, consider biting the bullet on a more powerful laptop, especially if you’re buying for a college student. Prices are likely to continue rising well into next year — especially since all the memory being made through 2027 is already allocated. You can get a mostly tolerable laptop for under $500 and a good one for around $700, but spending more to get something like a MacBook Air gets you better build quality and enough performance headroom to last through four years of college and well beyond. (Many Verge writers and editors are still using M1 MacBook Airs from 2020). But even the modest options below (new or refurbished) should easily be good for more than a few years. The key is to avoid something that feels slow or janky on day one, if you can. It’ll only get worse from there.
If your school or curriculum recommends certain laptops or minimum specs, then you already know what to aim for. If not, our rule of thumb is to go with a Mac running Apple silicon or a Windows laptop running Intel or AMD chips released in the last few years. (For Windows machines, don’t go any older than 2022 or 2023 — Intel’s 13th-gen “Raptor Lake” or AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series.) Snapdragon X chips are also great options unless you’re a college student who needs to run specialized software not compatible with Windows on Arm (or if you want to play games).
But try to get 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage or more if you can — especially for college students. Eight GB of RAM is workable on macOS with the MacBook Neo, but Windows laptops struggle a bit with it. And for the most budget-conscious or anyone shopping for younger kids, a quality Chromebook is still great.
The best cheap laptop
Apple MacBook Neo
Score: 9
Pros
Cons
Impressive performance for the price
Perfect for a middle school or high school student
The best mechanical trackpad around
Solid speakers and screen
Small limitations: 8GB of RAM, slow storage, no keyboard backlighting, and only 20W charging with the included charger
Wish it weighed a little less, and its colors were more vibrant
The MacBook Neo is the easy pick for students from middle school to high school who need a laptop. There’s still no beating its balance of build quality and good-enough performance at this price. Students and teachers can get it starting at $599, and Apple offers refurbished models for $599 for the rest of us as well. If you can justify spending an additional $100, it’s worth getting the model with twice the storage and a Touch ID fingerprint sensor, which makes logging in and entering passwords much less of a hassle.
The A18 Pro chip is powerful enough for most high school students (and adults), and everything from its trackpad to its speakers and screen range from good to great, which is not the case for Windows laptops in this price range. Its only shortcoming by comparison is having just two USB-C ports. The 8GB of RAM and 256GB of base storage mean a student eventually pushes the limits of what this laptop can do sooner than a more powerful MacBook Air, but the Neo is still significantly cheaper.
The Neo is the best cheap laptop, but the MacBook Air is still the best laptop for most people, and the standard recommendation for college students. Every part of it is a step up from the Neo: It has a much more powerful processor, and it starts with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of much faster storage. And few laptops can match the Air’s overall build quality. It also means spending $1,299 (or $1,199 for students) on a 13-inch model, or $1,499 for the 15-inch. It’s a shame the Air no longer starts at $999 like it did just last year, but it’s still worth springing for if you’re buying for the long term.
The Airs have been so good for so many years now, you don’t miss out on much by buying a refurbished model if it’s substantially cheaper. Keep an eye on Apple’s refurb store, and retailers like Best Buy sometimes have great deals too.
Asus’s Zenbook A14 is a bit of a MacBook Air wannabe, but it’s a compelling alternative if you value a superlight Windows laptop with long battery life. The 2025 model sports an Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chip, a nice 14-inch OLED display, and a sleek textured beige finish.
Asus Zenbooks are some of the sleeker, better-looking Windows laptops, and the Zenbook A14 is Asus’ wannabe MacBook Air. It has a good Snapdragon X Plus chip, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a lovely OLED display in an ultra-light chassis (it’s just 2.4 pounds / 1.09kg), all for $1,000 or as low as $700 on sale. It even has a solid port selection, with one USB-A, two speedy USB4, and HDMI 2.1. I really enjoyed the larger Zenbook A16 version when I reviewed it, but the A14 is even lighter and significantly cheaper. Like its larger sibling, the A14 is coated in Asus’ Ceraluminum finish that gives it a nice textured feel and unique look. (It’s a beige laptop!)
A cheap laptop with a great processor
Acer Aspire 14 AI
Score: 6
Pros
Cons
A great, well-rounded processor in a cheap laptop (if you get it on sale)
Acer’s Aspire 14 AI didn’t impress me with its screen, speakers, or build quality when I tested it against the Neo, but for $500 or $600 on sale, which it often is, it’s hard to beat. It has a solid Intel Lunar Lake processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a bunch of speedy ports. Getting two USB-A, two Thunderbolt 4, and HDMI 2.1 on a $600 laptop? Hell yeah.
A Lunar Lake chip means you get great battery life, and you can even do some light gaming. Its screen isn’t pretty and everything creaks, but with the money you save you can overcome some of its shortcomings with a mouse and monitor. Just keep in mind that the appeal of this laptop is what you’re getting for the price. If the deal winds change and Aspire 14 AIs are selling for $700 or more, consider something else.
I’m still testing the HP OmniBook 3 for a full review, but I’ve used it enough and I like it enough at around $500 to give it a nod. Its speakers and screen are not good quality, but they’re slightly better than the Acer Aspire above — just don’t look too close, or you’ll notice that its 1920 x 1200 resolution isn’t very sharp at this scale. At 16 inches you’re getting a big screen for cheap, but this laptop doesn’t feel large, as it weighs only 3.65 pounds / 1.66kg and is about 0.63 inches / 16mm thick (at its hinge, where it’s slightly thicker). And its sizable battery and efficient Snapdragon X chip allow it to last long on a charge. Plus, it’s got an ample-sized numpad for you numbers people.
Consider a refurbished ThinkPad
Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 4 (Intel 13th-gen, refurbished)
Lenovo ThinkPads are workhorse enterprise laptops, making older refurbished models a great pickup on the cheap. The T14 Gen 4 from 2023 came with Intel Raptor Lake chips, a 14-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS display, and plenty of ports — among them, Thunderbolt 4.
ThinkPads are awesome. They have great keyboards and trackpads, sturdy builds, lots of ports, and even a TrackPoint. They’re typically very expensive when bought new, and they have a reputation for lasting a long time. They’re Lenovo’s business line, so there’s a constant stream of used ThinkPads entering the secondhand market when companies refresh their fleets. That makes them a great candidate for buying refurbished or used. Lenovo sells many refurb units directly, so you know you should be getting something in good shape. Many of them are still expensive, but this ThinkPad T14 is an attractive example, offering a 13th-gen Intel chip, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage for around $700. Or for a bit more you can get this ThinkPad L14 Gen 5 with a newer Intel Meteor Lake chip for around $1,000.
A Chromebook is good for web browsing, doing homework, and nailing the basics of browser-first computer use — when done well. The Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 is a mainstay of The Verge’s laptop recommendations, despite being a few years old. It’s very affordable at just $350, and even with its 12th-gen Intel chip and 8GB of RAM it’s more than serviceable for ChromeOS. Google’s new Googlebooks are coming in the fall, but some earlyleaks are pointing at those potentially being pricier laptops (making me wonder what exactly their appeal will be).
A great convertible Chromebook
Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 (2025)
Score: 7
Pros
Cons
Excellent battery life
Speedy performance
Stylus support
Crummy, muffled-sounding speakers
No biometric login
Feels slightly pricey at $700 when a Lenovo with OLED and more RAM is just $50 more
If you can afford a slightly pricier, newer, and better Chromebook than the Asus, check out the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514. Its full price of $749 is a bit much, but when discounted to $600 like it is at the time of this writing it can be worth it. The Arm-based MediaTek Kompanio Ultra in this Chromebook paired with 12GB of RAM gives it very good performance and excellent battery life. And since it’s a convertible, it’s also great to use with an optional stylus for note-taking, drawing, and sketching.
Apple has reportedly trained a custom AI model for the China market alongside domestic tech giant Alibaba, a rare cross-border partnership that cuts across growing tensions between Beijing and Washington.
The China-focused large language model was developed in partnership with Alibaba and trained with the company's support, Reutersreports, citing three unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Developing a custom model of its own marks a departure from Apple's previous strategy in the country and would give the company more control over its products in the competitive Chinese smartphone market. Historically, Apple has used domestic Chines …
In a new filing in its long-running legal dispute with Epic Games, Apple has proposed a structure that would allow it to collect fees on digital purchases made via external links that don't use the company's in-app purchase system. Epic has already responded, saying that Apple's request is "far outside of the bounds" of the court's guidance.
Right now, Apple cannot take a commission on external purchases after California district court judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled in April 2025 that the company "willfully" didn't comply with her 2021 Epic Games v. Apple injunction. However, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel said that Apple should …
The iPhone 17’s successor might not arrive until 2027. | Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge
According to an Economic Daily News report spotted by MacRumors, executives for Apple supplier Pegatron confirmed during an earnings call that the iPhone 18 Pro series phones will launch this fall, but the base iPhone 18 won't arrive until the first quarter of next year. The more affordable iPhone 18e and a new iPhone Air are also rumored to launch around the same time, in line with rumors that have been circulating for more than a year.
I’ve managed to get away with not using a case or protective sleeve on my MacBook for many years because, well, it’s a laptop. It stays put on a table or a desk. But my iPad Air travels around with me and gets tossed onto coffee shop tables, TSA airport security bins, and train seats way too much to survive for long naked and caseless out in the world.
When it came time for me to buy a case for my iPad Air, I bought an ESR case. I was flying blind, because I’d never had an iPad, let alone a case for one. I chose well, and so now I can raise the flag and point out to you that a good, solid, affordable iPad case is even more affordable because it’s on sale (select colors) for $41-47, depending upon which you choose.
Have an iPad that isn’t an iPad Air? Don’t worry. Gotchu covered. Scroll to the end for more ESR cases to fit your iPad.
the case for a good, er, case
The ESR iPad Air Case grabs onto the iPad magnetically, rather than snapping the device into the case like an iPhone case. If that sounds dodgy, as if it’d fly off if you gave it a crooked look, I had the same worry when I bought mine. I’ve tossed mine down carelessly on the bed and sofa plenty of times, and it’s never dislodged. The magnet is strong enough not to come loose and shed its iPad accidentally.
The case material is soft enough not to scratch the iPad’s bare aluminum and glass, too. One of the things that initially attracted me to the ESR was that I could angle it, when open, to prop the iPad up at various angles. Watching a movie on an airplane has been a lot less fatiguing when I can just set it down like that on the tray table, rather than having to hold it out in front me for three hours. There are nine different angles available to choose from, just by orienting that case’s flap in different ways.
Pricing varies by the generation of iPad Air you have, its size (11″ or 13″), and color. Why do the two blue options cost full price, while most of the rest of the palette are a few bucks off? Who knows. Deals in the internet age are funny.
The ESR iPad Mini Case doesn’t have as many viewing angles as the ESR case for the larger iPad Air, but it also only costs a cool $16, a very Mini price.
The ESR Case for iPad Pro fits M4 and M5 iPad Pros. These are the latest two generations of Apple’s top-of-the-line iPad. Like with the ESR iPad Air case, the sale price varies based upon color and size.
Apple is seemingly developing an iOS feature that can verify when a photograph was taken using an iPhone camera. 9to5Mac reports that the iOS 27 beta 5 includes code references for an "Apple Reference Image" system that can embed provenance metadata into iPhone photographs at the point of capture - enabling users to prove where the photo originated, and that it isn't AI fakery.
Apple Reference Image isn't currently live, but a privacy disclosure in the iOS beta notes that the feature will be off by default. When (or if) it does roll out, 9to5Mac says it can be enabled via Settings > Camera > Reference Image > Reference Mode, and that only p …
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