Loving husband? Devoted family man? My tombstone will say He Saved 50 or 60 People From Buying the Wrong Laptop—not the highest honor, but I can claim to have learned a few things after decades of testing and reviewing for PCMag and other outlets. I've watched laptops grow from barely functional super-calculators into elite desktop replacements, workstations, and gaming rigs. I've seen innovations that transform the way people work (Lenovo's Yoga convertibles) and ones that make everything worse (the old Dell XPS webcams that looked straight up your nose). As I retire from a long career of tech journalism, I've separated the laptop features you genuinely need from ones that don't live up to the hype.
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Along the way, I've learned that high prices and whizbang specs don't always translate to real productivity. (Sure, Microsoft 365 is nice with a 20-core CPU and 32GB of RAM, but talk to us geezers who used AppleWorks with 128K.) My lists of invaluable and unnecessary laptop items may not match yours, but they might open your eyes to what truly matters.
Before separating the laptop wheat from the notebook chaff, let's establish some ground rules for the most divisive topic and users' primary interaction with laptops: keyboards. Not all of us are accountants who need numeric keypads (which are sometimes awkwardly squished, even on 16-inch or larger laptops). But we can all agree on a few things.
To begin with, let's be clear that "Up" is a full-size key located above an identical full-size "Down" key, which both sit between the full-size Left and Right arrow keys—got it?
Half-size, hard-to-hit Up and Down arrows stacked between full-size Left and Right keys are an abomination that I've excoriated in approximately 1,100 HP laptop reviews, plus more than a few from other manufacturers. (I think Apple originated this sin, but it has restored its honor and changed its ways.) You'll thank me the first time you need to navigate a long document or a giant spreadsheet.
Maybe it's because I spend most of my day word processing, but I can't live without these cursor-control shortcut keys. Laptops that foist them off as a key combination (onto the Fn key plus cursor arrows) are a pain. Chromebooks that expect you to alternate between Search+Up, Alt+Down, and Ctrl+Search+Right are even worse.
Memo to manufacturers: This is how you keyboard—inverted-T cursor arrows; dedicated Home, End, Page Up, Page Down; and Ctrl, then Fn, at bottom left. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)For one more keyboard-layout rant before I move on, the "Ctrl" key belongs in the lower left corner, with the "Fn" key to its right, not vice versa. I've praised Lenovo laptop keyboards as the best in the business, but the company came to this crucial realization only last year.
Also, the Delete key belongs at the top right, not pushed leftward to make room for the power button or something else. I don't want to unlearn muscle memory to avoid accidentally turning off my laptop.
As you can tell, I'm obsessive about small features that significantly impact power and convenience. Let's enumerate some more underrated but essential laptop items.
Apple and Dell have led the way in limiting laptop connectivity to only Thunderbolt 4 ports. It makes systems a few millimeters thinner, and it's excellent that USB-C ports have no right side up or upside down. But they aren't handy for much besides charging cell phones, wireless keyboards, and mice. (Yes, you can find Thunderbolt docking stations and disk arrays, thanks for reminding me.)
Why would anyone use a USB-C-to-DisplayPort dongle when you can just plug a monitor into an HDMI port? What are we supposed to do with all our USB-A flash drives? What was Dell thinking when it released notebooks without even an audio jack? Until you've had to live the dongle life, you may not realize how underrated the humble HDMI and USB-A are.
Apple's MacBook Air M3 has a MagSafe charging port. Yay! It has two Thunderbolt 4 but no USB-A or HDMI ports. Boo! (Credit: Brian Westover)It's and past time to boycott any manufacturer that still sells laptops with crappy 720p webcams. You should consider p resolution a bare minimum for video calls in this age of remote work, and more vendors should be like HP, which has taken the lead in providing 5-megapixel or sharper cameras.
Come to think of it, another thing we shouldn't do in is stick duct tape or Post-It notes over webcams that don't have sliding privacy shutters or on/off switches. The pandemic moved these components from second-banana consideration to starring roles. They're not going back into obscurity.
More and more laptops nowadays have power plugs or bricks with USB-C rather than proprietary barrel connectors, which is fine. It's especially fine when such systems have charging-capable USB-C ports on both their left and right edges, so you can arrange the charging cord as you like and keep it out of the way if you're using a mouse. (And, let's be honest: Sadly, gaming laptops are the thickest and heaviest around, but having ports at the rear is even better for reducing cable clutter.)
Thank heavens for Fn+Esc (Fn Lock) and the option to toggle the F1 through F12 keys to shortcuts such as volume and brightness controls instead of their Windows defaults. (Bet you can't name any except F1 for help, though I still use F12 for Save As in Word.) Smart laptops add handy functions such as microphone mute or launching Windows Settings; dumb ones still bother with media play/pause or next/previous CD track—or, shudder, an emoji menu.
Yes, this is a desktop Logitech Wave Keys keyboard, but the top-row icons are noteworthy: Volume and microphone mute, good. Smiley-face emoji, bad. Same applies to laptops. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Actually, the emoji key reminds me—I look forward to reading your favorite underrated features (or dissents) in the comments. But how about overrated or useless laptop design choices? Believe it or not, I have pet peeves besides compromised page keys.
Design professionals appreciate mobile workstations with Pantone-certified displays, but I confess: I don't pay attention to Eyesafe or other blue-light-reducing screen labels. To paraphrase George Washington reaching for his spectacles, I've gone gray in the service of technology and am now going blind.
And HP Sure View and other laptop screens with built-in privacy filters don't work. OK, technically, they do. They discourage your airplane seatmate from sneaking a peek at your spreadsheet by making the screen so dim you can't see it yourself.
At that, they're more useful than IMAX Certified displays. Do you know what IMAX Certified means? A few more pixels at the top and bottom of Marvel movies on Disney+. Big whoop.
Flash-card readers are cool for cheap Chromebooks that need ways to expand their limited eMMC storage. But because most of us have ditched digital cameras for smartphones, those slots have lost their value as file-transfer media or the last heirs of floppy disks. You'll seldom use these slots unless you're a photo pro who needs to swap cards from your DSLR into your laptop for fast bulk file access. Bluetooth utilities like Windows Link, Mac AirDrop, or the excellent Google Quick Share do the job better.
Most owners of the Alienware m16 R2 will use its two USB Type-A ports often. Its microSD slot, not so much. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Lines from laptop reviews are rarely carved for posterity in granite, but I'd like to be remembered for "On-screen virtual keyboards suck eggs and are tools of the devil." Add to that Apple's Touch Bar. Likewise, the skinny strip that replaces mouse buttons above touchpads on some Lenovo ThinkPad Z models. Whether it's laptops, washing machines, or cars' climate controls, trading good old pushable buttons for fussy touch panels, touch strips, or "areas" is never a smart idea.
Asus bundles these fancy fabric envelopes with a few of its notebooks. A nice gesture, but they've always struck me as useless. When am I going to be carrying a laptop and nothing else? Where am I supposed to put the AC adapter—strap it to my ankle? Have you ever heard of a briefcase? Sleeves may seem like a nice throw-in, but I bet you'll seldom use yours.
Now, to leave you with some words of warning. These days, a growing number of notebook advertisements, boxes, and store displays say "Now with AI!" This offer is only narrowly preferable to a laptop festooned with early aughts levels of bloatware or the number 666.
I'm not a Luddite; I've made a living celebrating tech for 43 years. I don't miss the days we had only three TV channels, and visiting the Library of Congress required traveling to D.C. instead of reaching into one's shirt pocket. But I hate that social media has put the drunk at the end of the bar on a level with Walter Cronkite, and I hate that AI has opened a Pandora's Box of suck—factually wrong reports illustrated with pictures of smiling seven-fingered mutants.
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Before you kids get off my lawn, let me say that assistive AI, which helps you do things, shows real promise. But generative AI—tech that promises to do things for you—hasn't even matched cryptocurrency, which is at least useful for crime. As Ed Zitron has eloquently written, every company participating in the generative AI bubble is losing billions and trashing the environment to produce complete crap.
Awkward, non-inverted-T arrows; fake Home, End, and Page Up/Down; and a Copilot key? Maybe there are worse things than an emoji key after all. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Generative AI is a scam and a delusion, and Acer putting a squiggle on its laptop touchpads that lights up when running an "AI app" doesn't change that. Do you want Microsoft to ram Copilot down your throat (raising Word and Excel subscription prices in the process)? Or Google with Gemini? Or Apple Intelligence? We need to just say no. We must scream it, then hang on for the inevitable market crash.
Even if you’ve been using Windows for decades, it’s so sprawling and complex that there might be truly helpful, yet more obscure features that can still surprise you. We’ve tracked down ten little-known Windows features that might just improve your efficiency, your comfort, or possibly even your fun while using your PC.
All of them should work on both Windows 10 and 11 alike, and each only takes a few seconds to try out. Here we go, in no particular order:
Whenever I use a new PC, this is the very first feature I enable. Technically it’s part of the accessibility tools, but many users might find it useful no matter what their level of mobility. This setting allows you to activate a window simply by moving your mouse cursor over it, instead of requiring an extra click before interacting with the program. It’s a tiny change, but one that makes a huge difference, especially on a laptop trackpad.
To change this setting, go to Control Panel, then click the Ease of Access Center. Click “Make the mouse easier to use.” Under “Make it easier to manage windows,” select “Activate a window by hovering over it with the mouse.” Click Okay to enable the setting.
With newer versions of Windows, it’s easy to move windows (sorry) around your screen. Hold down the Windows key on your keyboard, then press the arrow keys. Pressing left or right will instantly move the window to the corresponding half of the screen. Pressing up or down will alternate between halving the window in the upper or lower portion of the screen, maximizing it, or minimizing it to the toolbar.
These shortcuts even work across multiple monitors. It’s a great way to quickly arrange your windows across screens and monitors with minimal effort.
If you want to quickly manage windows, you probably pin your most-used programs and tools to the taskbar. If you want to get at them even faster, simply hold down the Windows button and press the number on your keyboard that corresponds to their spot on the taskbar. On mine, opening Chrome is Win + 1, opening Photoshop is Win + 5, et cetera.
Speaking of the taskbar, the system tray (the little mini-icons on the right side) can often get crowded if you’re using a lot of software. That’s doubly true if you run a lot of programs at startup. But if it’s cluttered, you don’t have to keep it that way. Click and drag any of the icons around to re-arrange them. You can put them in the drop-down menu to hide them (just click the arrow to show them again), or set them to the right to make them permanently visible.
Those of us who have less-than-healthy computing habits tend to use our PCs late into the evening. You should probably cut it out, but if not, using the built-in night light feature couldn’t hurt. Simply search the Start menu for “Night light” to find the setting that will dim your computer’s screen and lower its blue light output. Once it’s set up, you can toggle this anytime in the quick settings menu (Win + A) or have it turn on and off automatically at specific times of the evening and morning.
This is an old trick, but with the expanded functions of the Task Manager in Windows 10 and 11, it’s become more useful. From any screen in any program, press Ctrl+Shift+Escape to open the Task Manager. From here you can manually close programs, quickly access the Run command, or click the Startup tab to track down programs that are sneakily starting with Windows.
If you haven’t done so yet, you really need to start using the official (but obscure) Windows Snipping Tool, which expands the operating system’s rather basic screenshot tool (tied to the Print Screen button) with all sorts of new goodies. Press Win + Shift + S simultaneously to see options to instantly screenshot your entire workspace, just one window, or a freeform selection drawn with your mouse. Your screenshot is then copied and ready to be pasted into a web form or image editor.
In a hurry? You can still access the old screenshot functionality (which saves a full image file in your Pictures>Screenshots folder) by pressing Win + Print Screen. Alternately, you can copy the full screenshot instead with Ctrl + Print Screen, or copy a selection of just your currently active program with Alt + Print Screen.
One of the smallest changes in Windows that I’ve gotten the most use out of is this tweak to the way you search through programs for uninstallation. It makes it easy to find the most recent program you installed, and get rid of it if you want to. Press the Windows key, search for “Add or remove programs,” and click it to open the Settings menu. You’ll be presented with a list of every program installed on your computer.
In previous versions of Windows, you’d have to hunt through this long list alphabetically. Now you can search for it, but what if it’s not listed under the same name? Just click “Name,” then “Install date.” The list is now in reverse chronological order, showing your most recently-installed programs. Click the three-dot menu on the right to get rid of any entry. Super easy!
Most of the time Windows will automatically enable a new monitor or screen when you plug it in. But if it doesn’t, there’s a quick way to adjust your display setup. Just press Win + P to open the “Project” menu. From this pop-out you can select Duplicate (mirror your primary screen to your secondary), Extend (use more than one screen at once), or Second screen only (handy for using just a monitor and not your laptop screen).
This menu is great if you’re using a multi-monitor setup and you want to quickly disable secondary screens, such as for watching a movie or playing a game, then enable them again when you’re done without diving into menus.
You probably know that you can adjust the size of what you see in Windows by changing your resolution. But unlike the days of CRTs, your laptop screen or monitor has a very specific resolution it’s meant to run at. Changing that value isn’t a great idea; it can result in a stretched or pixelated image, and video won’t look its best.
Instead of changing the resolution, go to Display Settings, scroll down a bit, and change the Scale setting. This can make text and images look bigger or smaller on your screen without changing the resolution of the image itself. Pre-set values come in 25 percent increments, but you can set a custom value if you prefer (with a system reset). There’s also an option that will adjust just the text size.
Many programs come with their own scaling and text settings, especially text-heavy apps like browsers and text editors. Tweak them to your liking to find the most comfortable combination.
If you need to see icons better in an Explorer window specifically, try this quick trick. Hold down the Ctrl button and scroll your mouse wheel up and down. Thumbnail images will get bigger or smaller in response. Scroll far enough and the view will actually change from thumbnails to lists with mini-icons. This works even on the Windows desktop, with no Explorer window in use.
Explorer isn’t the only program to use the Ctrl+mouse wheel shortcut to change the view. Browsers, clients, image editors, and text editors often use it to zoom in or out or quickly change text scaling. It’s a common tool worth learning.
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