PCWorld June 2021

Only a few short months after Intel launched the 11th-gen Core H35-series microprocessors for mobile gaming, Intel is at it again: On Tuesday, Intel officially launched the 11th-gen Core Tiger Lake H-series processors for mainstream and gaming laptops. The product line includes five new processors, including the premium unlocked Core i9-11980HK, the Core i7-11800H, and a pair of Core i5 processors. Quad-core processors have disappeared from the lineup. Instead, the new chips include hyperthreaded six-core and eight-core processors, offering double the cores of the 11th-gen Tiger Lake cores Intel launched in September. Versus last year’s 10th-gen Core mobile gaming chips, base core clock frequencies are slightly up across the board. The maximum single-core boost clock has dipped, though—possibly a black mark for gamers. However, Intel is once again publishing its all-core turbo…

Most security experts agree that two-factor authentication (2FA) is a critical part of securing your online accounts. Google agrees, but it’s taking an extra step: It’s going to sign up Google account holders up for two-factor accounts automatically. Google sees two-factor authentication as a replacement for passwords, which Mark Risher, Google’s director of product management for identity and user security, in a statement called “the single biggest threat to your online security.” Because they’re easy to steal and hard to remember, users will end up reusing passwords. If stolen, they can be used to unlock multiple user accounts, adding to the risk. Google already uses 2FA to secure accounts, but it’s been optional until now. If you have 2FA enabled on your Google account, for example, you can view the passwords Google…

Samsung recently unveiled its new Galaxy Book Pro and Galaxy Book Pro 360 laptops. The four thin-and-light systems are designed with premium features, innovative enhancements, and close ties to the rest of Samsung’s product ecosystem. Announced at the company’s virtual Samsung Unpacked event on April 28, the laptops started shipping May 14. Prices will start at $1,000 for the Galaxy Book Pro 13 and $1,100 for the Galaxy Book Pro 15 clamshell notebooks. The convertible models (with 360-degree hinges) start at $1,200 for the Galaxy Book Pro 360 13 and $1,300 for the Pro 360 15. Samsung is also offering special discounts through Amazon, Best Buy, and its own online store. We’ll discuss some of the highlight features of the Galaxy Book Pro laptops, and you can find the specs for all…

First, the bad news: Security researchers recently discovered five high-severity flaws in Dell’s firmware update driver—and they’ve been pushed to customer computers ever since 2009. Now the good news: A fix is already (or finally?) available for people who own Dell desktops, laptops, and tablets. You’ll want to take advantage if you’re affected, as the secretive code won’t stay a secret for long. “These multiple high severity vulnerabilities in Dell software could allow attackers to escalate privileges from a non-administrator user to kernel mode privileges,” writes Kasif Dekel, a security researcher at SentinelOne, which sniffed out the vulnerability. That could let attackers bypass security software or assault the network of an organization that deploys Dell PCs. “Over the years, Dell has released BIOS update utilities which contain the vulnerable driver for…

If you use multiple monitors with Windows, you’ve probably encountered this frustrating bug: When your PC resumes from sleep, all your application windows arbitrarily rearrange themselves. Microsoft is finally fixing this. Microsoft calls this Rapid Hot Plug Detect (Rapid HPD), and it tends to affect multimonitor setups that can use the DisplayPort interface or that run DisplayPort over another cable, like Thunderbolt. Now Microsoft says an upcoming Windows update will finally fix the problem. Here’s the scenario that Microsoft says the Windows update fixes: Your PC is connected to an external monitor, with apps scattered across all of the screens. Then you either put the PC to sleep or your PC falls asleep after you’ve left it alone for a while. When you return and your PC resumes from hibernation, Windows moves…

If you’re the kind of person who puts doing work ahead of playing games, you’ll understand why I think the Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX might be the perfect monitor. Announced at CES 2020 (not 2021!) and finally due to ship by the end of May, the ROG Swift PG32UQX is a feature-packed panel possessing just about every acronym you can find, including miniLED, DisplayHDR 1400, IPS, 10-bit, G-Sync Ultimate, 144Hz, and 4K. That’s probably just alphabet soup to regular people, so let me translate it for someone who works more than they game—but is tired of staring at compromise every day in the form of some random 1080p LCD. The top feature of the ROG Swift PG32UQX is its use of miniLEDs. These smaller, highly efficient light sources are still rare in PCs—we…