How-To Geek

Tired of your laptop crawling with Windows updates? Considering switching to Linux on your laptop but overwhelmed by hundreds of distro options? Well, here are the three best Linux distros for laptops that promise excellent hardware compatibility and user experience.

I adore books, and not just reading them. I mean, I truly adore the physical nature of books. How they smell, how they feel to read, and I like seeing them on a shelf. It's a promise of knowledge or adventure to come. As I write this, I own a few hundred physical books. Enough to take up three or four moderate bookshelves, and a few boxes on top of that.

I'm always excited to try out a new sort of keyboard, so when the "world's first ceramic keyboard" came around, I couldn't resist reviewing it. Unfortunately, the Keychron Q16 HE 8K is an awful keyboard by even basic metrics, let alone as a new and unique build.

When you first gain access to a 3D printer, you might be tempted to print everything and anything you can. This urge can be amplified by the number of models available online and the passion of the 3D printing community.

Kia arrived in the US in 1993 with the Sephia and Sportage 4x4. Back then, it was all budget-friendly cars with few bells and whistles, but that’s no longer the case.

It's safe to say that the ongoing component shortage has well and truly hit SSDs now, too. Many models are sold out entirely, but there's still plenty of options if you want to shop—provided you don't mind spending way more than you should, that is.

It’s summer here in Australia, and in the sub-tropics where I live, that means high temperatures, harsh sun, and punishing humidity. This prompted a pricey investment that we’ve been putting off for years: a whole-house ducted air conditioning system.

With the command-line shell, Linux provides countless tools and programs to wield power over your system. But many of these features are hidden below the surface, waiting for you to discover them.

Windows 11, especially in the latest versions, has become a big, bloated mess. It's slow, cluttered, and feels like a billboard to advertise Microsoft services more than an operating system. I tried a version of Windows that strips all of that away and makes your computer feel like yours again.

Of the 17 different types of charts in Excel, I'd confidently speculate that only a few are used frequently. Actually, they all have their benefits in different circumstances and allow you to display your data in diverse ways.

We all have at least one TV collecting dust after an upgrade. If you’re like me, you probably have a few older sets tucked away around your home.

If you're someone who works from home like our editorial staff, there are no doubt times when you'll be wondering if there are ways to make your workspace better. Perhaps there are too many distractions around, or sitting around your home workspace is making you antsy.

Google is known for a lot of things, and one of those things is killing its own products. The graveyard is filled with Google apps and services you may have heard about, but there are interesting, lesser-known hardware projects, too. Some were ahead of their time, others were just not good.

Don’t ignore your kitchen when building out your smart home; the technology has so much potential to make your life easier and provide more convenience and peace of mind. Start with a few considered upgrades, rather than needlessly “smart” appliances.

Cron has enjoyed decades of development and widespread use and is still an effective and reliable way to schedule scripts on Unix systems. But it’s not the only scheduling utility. In fact, many would argue that it’s time we all ditched Cron for systemd timers since they are the superior, more modern way to schedule scripts.

Although we live in an era of constantly evolving technology, it sometimes feels like the truly innovative, unapologetically "out there" devices have already been invented and forgotten. One of those devices marks the origin story of the Microsoft Surface line of products. Yes, I do mean the laptops and the tablets like the Surface Pro ... only this one was neither.

Luxury coupes are often marketed as high-performance machines, but many buyers are really looking for something else entirely: quiet comfort, elegant design, and stress-free ownership. In a segment crowded with expensive European options that can quickly turn into maintenance nightmares, one Japanese luxury coupe takes a calmer, more sensible approach. It prioritizes refinement, long-term dependability, and everyday usability over chasing lap times or aggressive driving dynamics.

Have you ever found yourself on a system that's lacking the necessary tools? Maybe it was a rescue or installation environment, an unfamiliar system you were repairing, or a Docker container you were debugging. If you've used Linux for a while, you've likely encountered these scenarios, and installing the required tools can be a hassle when all you want is to finish the job. That's where a convenient toolkit becomes a lifesaver, and I have one that fits the bill perfectly.

I’ve manually turned lights off for movie nights for the last time. While I had a HomeKit scene to semi-automate this, I had no idea that I could integrate Plex into my smart home through Home Assistant, and I wish I had done this sooner.

I’m probably not alone in feeling that movies rarely live up to the hype. While standout feature films are becoming increasingly rare, TV shows have quietly taken the crown. Thanks to streaming, there’s never been a more abundant and high-quality landscape of rich, immersive series to get lost in.