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Black Friday isn’t here yet, but deals are already starting to pop up. Chromebooks see some of the best prices during Black Friday because $100 or $200 off an already-low cost makes for some really great price points. Now is a great time to spring for a Chromebook or Chromebook Plus device, as we’ve seen lots of upgrades and new features in ChromeOS this year.  Also: The best Black Friday deals so far With manufacturers…

ZDNET’s key takeaways The iMac M4 is available for preorder now, starting at $1,299, and shipping from November 8. The base model comes with 16GB of memory for the same price, and the hardware makes for a fast, powerful desktop flexible enough to handle virtually any use case. The base model M4 might not feel as impactful for M3 users looking for a high-end machine. more buying choices Apple’s new M4 iMac looks as slick…

ZDNET’s key takeaways The M4 MacBook Pro starts at $1,599 and features improvements in the most subtle places. Upgrades to graphical performance, battery life, and transfer speeds are the most notable. Be prepared to overpay for almost every spec bump. more buying choices I’ve been using the M4 MacBook Pro for about a week now, and it’s the most boringly awesome device I’ve tested this year. Without making my 14-inch M1 MacBook Pro jealous, the…

Apple/ZDNET Black Friday is still a few weeks away, but some retailers are offering seasonal savings much earlier. The new Apple Watch Series 10, released in September, is already one of the items seeing early holiday savings. The Watch Series 10 is discounted by 8% at Amazon and Walmart in the Jet Black model, so you can swoop one up for $369 (save $30). You can save $20 at both retailers on the same watch…

ZDNET’s key takeaways The Canon EOS R100 mirrorless camera is a great starter for aspiring photographers. It features a 24-megapixel sensor for great image quality and color and can capture 4K (UHD) video at 24 frames per second. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a flip-out preview screen. more buying choices It’s a great time to be a photographer these days, as it’s easier than ever to access great cameras. Specifically, mirrorless cameras like Canon’s EOS R100….

Kerry Wan/ZDNET Along with the usual security updates and bug fixes, the latest Android update is quietly introducing a new feature that will help prolong your phone’s battery life. Similar to Apple’s recent “80% Limit” feature, Android is releasing a feature that lets you cap your phone’s charge at 80%.  As ZDNET’s Senior Reviews Editor Kerry Wan explained last year, it’s not that phone batteries aren’t lasting as long as they used to, “it’s just…

Jason Hiner/ZDNET iPhone users who want to check out the second round of AI-powered features via Apple Intelligence can now download the new public beta for Apple’s iOS 18.2. Assuming you have a supported iPhone, you’ll be able to try the integrated ChatGPT and a few other AI-inspired tidbits. However, certain features won’t be available immediately. The latest features are also available in iPadOS 18.2 for iPad and MacOS Sequoia 15.2 for Mac. Though you can…

Thanasis/Getty Images After months of beta testing, Microsoft officially released its major 2024 update for Windows 11 on October 1. Known as Windows 11 24H2, the latest version enhances the Copilot AI, spruces up File Explorer, promises faster performance and greater stability, and kicks in other improvements. Also: Microsoft blocked your Windows 11 upgrade? This tool can fix that With the update rolling to some Windows 11 users, you may find it appearing on your…

AI chatbots like ChatGPT have taken the world by storm because they can generate nearly any kind of text — including essays, reports, and code — in seconds. AI image generators, however, are even more fun because they can take a simple prompt and generate a visual representation of whatever you’re imagining. Use cases for text-to-image AI generators can range from personal projects, such as creating greeting cards, event invites, and wallpapers, to professional projects, such as…