Devices View – Page 2 – a Techsponential Company

Need a Laptop? Microsoft Offers College Students $500 In Software, Gaming

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

With PC prices rising — and new competition from Apple at lower price points — Microsoft is putting together a compelling software and gaming package for college students who need a new laptop for finals. The promo includes a year of Microsoft 365 Premium, a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, and a custom Xbox controller. Microsoft is putting the value at over $500, and while most college kids aren’t buying Microsoft’s productivity software (either at all, or at retail prices), it really is a nice package. Offsetting rising hardware prices in this way is smart. The controllers are terrific …

Accessories

Anker 10-in-1 Charging Station Adds Versatility, Keeps Your Desk Clean

April 1, 2026 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Today’s gadget: Anker sent over this clever 70W charging station that clamps onto your desk so it appears to be tiny on the surface, yet has 6 outlets, 2 USB-A, and 2 USB-C. It does not have a screen or touch controls (unlike some of its other chargers), it just charges things and stays out of view. I like it! I installed it on my desk in place of a larger charging station that had fewer outlets. Not much more to say! It charges all the things. It should work with most desk edges; mine is from IKEA.Link for convenience …

Computing

MacBook Neo: Apple Sets the Bar for How Nice Budget Laptops Can Be

March 12, 2026March 13, 2026 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Summary The MacBook Neo is a good small laptop for general purpose computing, and an astonishing value. A MacBook that runs MacOS and MacOS apps at $599 is disruptive, finally hitting the price points that drive the volume segment of Windows PCs. Apple has reset the bar for how nice a budget laptop needs to be. Is a Phone Chip Fast Enough for MacOS? The MacBook Neo comes in two versions with a significant education discount: $599 for 256GB storage or $699 for 512 GB storage plus TouchID fingerprint reader on the power button. In both cases, anyone with an …

Accessories / Audio

Cleer ARC 4 Plus: On-Ear Earbuds Can Sound Good!

March 12, 2026March 12, 2026 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Cleer Audio is not as well-known a brand as Bose or Sony, but it was one of the early pioneers of the on-ear earbud design with the ARC back in 2021. While Cleer now has plenty of competition — I have at least a half dozen similar products in a pile in the corner of my office — Cleer has been continually iterating on the concept ever since. Cleer calls these “Open Ear Headphones,” but they aren’t headphones — they’re earbuds that sit on the outside of your eardrum, with stems that wrap around your earlobes to hold them in …

Accessories

Function101 WorkPad: Portable Flat Surface Saves Me From Freezing

January 29, 2026January 29, 2026 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

It’s freezing in my basement office right now, so I went up to our kids’ 2nd floor homework area where it’s toasty. However, the surface on the 30-year-old desk up there is really …gross. A small business, Function101, has a solution to this problem that they sent over. The $50 WorkPad desk mat lies flat, folds up for easy transport, and feels great. There is some metal inside the WorkPad and Function101 includes a magnetic cable stay to keep cords organized, even in temporary workspaces. It’s fantastic. I usually have a dedicated home office but if your work-from-home space is …

Accessories / Smartphones

Anker 45W Charger: How Much Better Can an Accessory Get?

January 28, 2026January 28, 2026 - by Avi Greengart - 1 Comment

Anker’s new Nano Charger shows the power of iterative improvement and the extent that the smartphone supply chain has made everything from silicon to displays incredibly inexpensive. Thankfully, the smiley face is not a chatbot, there is no microphone or camera on the charger, and the inclusion of a display adds value without adding too much cost to what is still just an accessory. Critically, Anker has managed to sell the charger for $40. MSRP on the 45W charger is $50 to establish perceived value, but even at launch there is a $10 coupon automatically applied on Anker.com and as …

Smartphones

Lock Your Wallets: Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold Goes on Sale in U.S. on Jan 30 for $2900

January 27, 2026January 28, 2026 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

Samsung announced U.S. pricing and availability for the Galaxy Z TriFold — the first dual-hinge smartphone available in this market that has the thickness of a robust bar phone but opens up into a full-sized, 3.9mm thick 10″ tablet. Other key specs include a Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, 200 MP main rear camera, titanium hinge, reinforced display, and a design tested for 200,000 folds. The interface allows tablet-sized apps, a native DeX windowing environment, or just running up to three phones apps side by side. (But is there AI? Of course there is!)This is early adopter tech, not a mainstream phone, …

Accessories / Computing

FKCaps: Exciting – If Imperfect – Topre Keycaps Option for Fujitsu Realforce Keyboard

December 31, 2025December 31, 2025 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

TL;DR: If you like keyboards with Topre switches, there are few aftermarket keycap options. FKCaps has a Minitel-inspired version with a great URSA profile, but the set’s color is off and is inexplicably missing a few keys for my Realforce PFU keyboard – one of the few Topre options. Topre keyboard switches have some of the qualities of cheap rubber dome keyboards and some of the best mechanical switches. They’re quiet like the cheap stuff, tactile like mechanical switches, and smoother and often significantly more expensive than both combined. There aren’t that many keyboards that use them, with most coming …

Computing

Quick Take: HP OmniBook X Flip 16

December 25, 2025December 25, 2025 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

I need to get through my backlog before the new product barrage at CES! This is HP’s OmniBook X Flip 16, an Intel-powered 2-in-1. Highlights: Cons: At over 4 lbs it’s too bulky for use as a handheld tablet, but fine as a budget digitizer with the pen, or for use in tent mode for media consumption or presentations. Overall, it’s a solid value in the maxxed out configuration I’m testing, and an absolute bargain in mid-tier configurations on sale in the $700’s. Entry models start in the $500’s and the performance hit is acceptable but you lose the gorgeous …

Smartphones

OnePlus 15 Review: Specs Monster

December 22, 2025December 23, 2025 - by Avi Greengart - Leave a Comment

The OnePlus 15 offers specs you simply don’t find on other smartphones outside of China. U.S. carriers aren’t offering this one, either, but consumers can buy them directly. Finally. After a month of teasing and then a formal announcement, OnePlus had to wait for the U.S. government to reopen so the FCC could rubber stamp its approvals for sale in the U.S. In the meantime, OnePlus has started talking about the OnePlus 15R – a lower spec’d model – and the OnePlus Pad Go 2 tablet, but the OnePlus 15 is now available for general sale and it’s worth considering. …