Best laptop 2019: the best laptops money can buy in 2019

Microsoft's Surface Pro 6 laptop is $200 off at Best Buy and Walmart right now The Microsoft Surface 6 2-in-1 laptop offers relatively powerful specs with a portable and sleek design.

The device comes with Windows 10, an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of solid-state storage.

For a limited time, the laptop is on sale for $699, which is $200 off its normal price at Best Buy and Walmart.

Microsoft's Surface lineup of 2-in-1 laptops has long been the go-to for those who want a laptop that's sleek and portable, yet still relatively powerful. And now, for a limited time, the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 is on sale for $200 off its normal price, bringing the total down to $699 at Best Buy and Walmart.

This particular model of the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 has a lot going for it. The laptop has an Intel Core i5 processor built into it, along with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of solid-state storage — so it should be more than powerful enough for most users. Powering it all is a battery that should last for a full day's work and then some. Microsoft says you'll get 13.5 hours of continuous video playback on a charge.

Along with the powerful specs, the device has a nice, slim design. The Surface Pro 6 is only around 8.5mm thick, which makes it easy to put into a backpack or take on the road with you.

The device is actually more of a Windows 10 tablet than a laptop, and you will have to buy the much-loved Signature Type Cover separately if you want to use it as a laptop.

Safe to say, the Surface Pro 6 is a great option for those who need a portable laptop for productivity or who just want a relatively powerful device they can take on the road. As mentioned, it's available for $200 off at Best Buy and Walmart, but we don't know how long the sale will run.

Get the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 from Best Buy, $699 (originally $899) [You save $200]Get the Microsoft Surface Pro 6 from Walmart, $699 (originally $899) [You save $200]Get the Microsoft Signature Type Cover from Best Buy, $159.99 02 Improvising a Laptop Recorder and Chewing Gum at the Same Time

How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives?

Davey Alba, who covers disinformation, discussed the tech she’s using.

You joined The Times in August. How does the tech setup in The Times newsroom differ from other places that you’ve worked?

One thing that’s unique about working in the Times newsroom is how security-focused it is. Not only does The Times give away webcam covers during orientation (along with stickers and swag), but the Slack culture in the newsroom is rather … quiet. I guess it makes sense if you think about all the unflattering chat and data leaks that have made the news in recent months, but it’s a change I have yet to get used to.

The upside is that this has prompted me to get coffee with other reporters and editors in my first few days here, and that’s been nice! Imagine that: a tech reporter who is used to communicating virtually and online being forced to meet colleagues in person to chat.

In terms of gadgets, software and apps, the usual suspects are standard at The Times. I use end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp to speak with sources securely. I use Dataminr to surface the news that’s starting to bubble up in social media. And I’m ashamed how long this took, but I finally set up an account with a password manager for all my online logins. I use 1Password — the company made accounts for journalists free on World Press Freedom Day, and I really appreciated that.

LinkedIn does the same and offers journalists the Premium tier if you go through its annual training. LinkedIn messaging has saved my butt several times while I was reporting.

What are your go-to tech tools for work?

Some of this is going to be embarrassingly low tech, but the best work hacks often are.

Every day, I make sure these things are on hand for me while writing and reporting: gum, stamps, AAA batteries, my voice recorder and telephone pickup microphone, the TapeACall app on my phone, and noise-canceling headphones.

I’m a gum addict. Chewing steadily helps me think while I’m typing away, but I also toss gum pretty quickly — as soon as it loses its flavor. So I’ve got to have a good supply right at my desk and at home, too. (Fun fact: Some of my ex-colleagues and I used to take turns buying packs of gum in bulk, and we worked on a spreadsheet of the best gum brands. Right now, my favorite is Ice Breakers Peppermint Ice Cubes.)

The stamps are for filing Freedom of Information Act requests. Maddeningly, there are still government agencies that don’t list emails for their public records offices, or don’t have online portals for them, and I’m a pretty impatient person. When I get an idea for a FOIA, I try to write, address and affix the stamps to the letters and send them off in the same day. (Government agencies can take a long time to respond to FOIAs.)

My AAA battery reserve (40 pieces), voice recorder and telephone pickup mic are a trio that always stay together. (I use TapeACall, the voice call recording app, as backup when I somehow forget these things at home.) One trick I learned a few years ago is that you can record audio webcasts from your laptop by putting the telephone pickup earbud in your ear while it’s connected to your recorder; then you wear your headphones over the earbud. Voilà — that lets you create an audio recording of anything playing on your laptop.

You cover disinformation. What is the difference between disinformation and misinformation?

Disinformation involves nefarious individuals — state-sponsored actors, or just online trolls — seeking to deliberately and maliciously spread harmful, false messages to a vulnerable public.

In my opinion, it is much more insidious than misinformation, the process by which false news spreads by accident, with people often unwittingly sharing fake or conspiracy content.

How big an issue do you expect disinformation to be in the run-up to the 2020 American presidential election?

Huge. It’s almost cripplingly terrifying to imagine the machinations being planned right now.

There will be things we expect, and things we haven’t even discovered yet. We’ll need a lot of people working on raising the curtain on disinformation in the next few months. And it won’t just be in the run-up to the 2020 election in the United States — this will happen all over the world.

One thing I always meditate on is how shallow my understanding of George Orwell’s “1984,” and the idea of propaganda in general, was when I was a kid. It was unfathomable to me that you could blast something on television, or inundate the streets with fliers, and people would unquestioningly believe the messages these mediums carried. Growing up, I’d think: Surely the internet, with all of its ability to deliver instantaneous fact-checking, would render the tactic useless, a relic of the past?

Turns out all you needed was Facebook to make propaganda as effective as ever.

Outside of work, what is your favorite tech gadget or app or tool, and why?

Hurrah, a non-doomsday question!

Outside of work, I love spoiling my two cats, Vivienne and Laser Beam, with high-tech things.

Don’t judge me.

I’ve got an automatic feeder (necessary), I have customized Popsockets with their faces on it, and I have bought this thing called the Mousr — a robotic mouse with a feather tail that you can drive with your smartphone. (Vivienne loves it, and Laser Beam is so afraid of it.)

You have family in the Philippines. What tech is big there, and what do you use to communicate with family there?

Oh, it’s all Facebook. And (the Facebook-owned) WhatsApp for instant messaging. My relatives, friends and everyone I met growing up have accounts on the platform, and without it I would never be able to keep up with family or reconnect with old pals.

I make sure I don’t upload my WhatsApp backups to the cloud, though. I’m not going to pull a Paul Manafort and have my messages subject to subpoena by the government — even if most of my WhatsApp messages are just silly texts to my mom.

03 Pixelbook Go: Everything we know so far about Google’s next laptop Thanks to its clean design and powerful internals, the Google Pixelbook remains one of the best Chromebooks on the market today, and a capable Windows or Mac replacement. It’s been more than two years since the Pixelbook went on sale, however, leaving us hoping for its successor to soon be announced.

It’s been over year of rumors and speculation, but it’s become increasingly apparent that the successor to the Pixelbook is coming soon, and may be called the Pixelbook Go. Here’s everything we know so far.

Release date and pricepixelbook vs. macbook pro Google has a hardware event currently scheduled for October 15, 2019. Though the Pixel 4 will undoubtedly be in the spotlight, it might make sense for the Pixelbook Go to also make an appearance. In addition, 9t05Google’s latest report on the matter says that “multiple sources familiar with the plan” have said that the technology company does plan to debut a new Pixelbook during the October 15 event.

Rumors originally suggested the Pixelbook successor would initially launch at Google’s October 2018 hardware event, but instead Google announced the ill-fated Pixel Slate. The was canceled less than a year after its launch.

The exact pricing of the Pixelbook Go is still unknown. The original Pixelbook was priced starting at $999. It’s always been the most expensive Chromebook you can buy, and we don’t expect that to change for the Go. If Google ends up offering a 4K model, you can expect it to be even more expensive. The official price and release date is likely to be announced during Pixelbook Go’s unveiling at next month’s hardware event.

The Pixelbook Go? Not the Pixelbook 2?

The original Pixelbook was a 2-in-1, meaning it had a 360 hinge that could be flipped over into a “tablet mode.”

According to a recent report by 9to5Google, the next Pixelbook is expected to resemble more of a traditional clamshell Chromebook, sporting a 16:9 13.3-inch screen, 4K resolution, and support for the Pixelbook Pen. After the failure of the Pixel Slate, it seems like a bit of a pivot in terms of direction for the design.

Furthermore, it’s not going to be called the Pixelbook 2. This new laptop will be named the Pixelbook Go; a name that undoubtedly is a reference to how its design has a clear emphasis on portability.

10th-gen processors?

The Pixelbook Go is expected to offer variety of options when it comes to its processor, RAM, and storage size. According to the same 9to5 Google report, the Pixelbook Go may become available with different processor configurations including: Intel Core i3, i5, and i7. Two choices for RAM (8 or 16 GB) and three tiers for storage (64, 128, or 256GB).

We don’t yet know, however, exactly what processor generation Google will use. Given the recent launch of Intel’s 10th-gen Ice Lake processors, that seems like the best choice for the Pixelbook Go. The mobile processors are available in either Y-series or U-series chips, both of which offer quad-core chips and improved Iris Plus graphics.

When it launched in late 2017, the original Pixelbook shared the same 7th-generation Intel mobile processors as Apple’s 12-inch MacBook, making it a capable machine for a Chromebook. Google eventually did make the switch to Intel’s 8th-generation processors in October when it announced the Pixel Slate. That device debuted with Intel’s Amber Lake YSeries processor, coming in a dual-core, four-thread architecture that’s designed for thin and light devices.

Sticking with Intel chips this year could help the Pixelbook Go improve on the performance of the original, but it could also help Google bring dual-boot support to Chrome OS. The feature could have allowed Chrome OS hardware to also boot into Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system, making the Pixelbook Go a more competitive device for business users. Unfortunately,

Google did not debut the dual-booting feature when it unveiled the Pixel Slate, and it’s unclear if dual-boot support is in the works anymore.

Leaked images show black chassis with moderate bezelspixelbook go news rumors specs release date atlas google 2 shot 1 Thin bezels had been at the top of our wishlist for new features on the next Pixelbook.

According to leaked photos from 9t05Google, the side-bezels are significantly thinner than those found in the original Pixelbook, they’re not as thin as other leaks had suggested. The bottom bezel, on the other hand, seems almost as thick as the bottom bezel found in the original Pixelbook.

The Google’s anticipated successor also showed a black chassis, whereas the original Pixelbook was only available in aluminum. This was later confirmed by later reports also indicated that unnamed sources said that the Pixelbook Go would be available in the following colors: “Just Black” and a very pale pink called “Not Pink.” If that’s true, the silver model may have been replaced altogether.

Better portability, improved speakers, and USB-C Like it’s name suggests, the Pixelbook Go’s design seems to be all about being portable.

The 9to5Google report states that the bottom of the Pixelbook Go was designed to have a tactile feel to “make it easier to hold.” In addition, the Go’s lightweight design can be attributed to its magnesium-alloy body.

The same report also states that the Pixelbook Go will have “much more powerful speakers than the Pixelbook”; of which there will be two, and they’ll both be front-firing. There will also be two, front-facing microphones to capture sound and a front-facing 2-megapixel camera with the ability to capture 1080p video at 60 FPS.

FCC filing indicates updated connectivity One reason we believe that the Pixelbook Go is on its way in fall 2019 is that the manufacturer Quanta has filed with the FCC to modify a wireless chip inside an unnamed computer device.

Quanta creates Google devices, including the Pixel Slate, so it’s a good guess that this new filing pertains to upcoming chips for the Atlas project.

The change is an updated Intel chip that will improve both Wi-fi and Bluetooth capabilities for faster connections. No past Google devices have this particular update, which makes it very likely that it will be part of a new device release.

But there’s still a chance that the Pixelbook Go might not get updated connectivity, as an unnamed source also recently told 9to5Google that the Pixelbook Go would have the “same WiFi and Bluetooth” as the Pixel Slate.

The Pixelbook Go is also expected to still have two USB-C ports and a headphone jack.

A tale of two PixelbooksGoogle Pixel Slate Hands-onJuliana Jara/Digital Trends Espanol Early leaks in 2018 suggested that Google was developing two devices internally called Nocturne and Atlas. Both devices made appearances in the Chromium repository and seem quite likely to be two different renditions of a second-generation Pixelbook. When Atlas first showed up in the repository, it was said to be “closely related to eve,” with Eve being the codename of the original Pixelbook. Atlas also has the same number of ports as the original Pixelbook.

Nocturne, as we now know from Google’s event in late 2018, launched as the Pixel Slate. At the event, Google executives claimed that the Slate represents the company’s new vision for Chrome OS to deliver productivity and entertainment on the go. The Slate is Google’s first Chrome OS tablet, but also one that can convert into a laptop thanks to an optional $199 keyboard folio accessory.

Atlas was then believed to be the codename for the Pixelbook 2, a Chrome OS convertible laptop that would share a similar form factor to the original Pixelbook.

Since then, the Pixel Slate — along with all future Google Pixel tablets — have been canned.

Thinner bezels, higher resolution display, fast chargingGoogle/ChromeUnboxed

In late 2018, a leaked Google advert appeared to show a near-bezel-free Pixelbook-like device, potentially giving us our first look at what the next-generation Pixelbook looks like. This would confirm rumors reported by VentureBeat’s Evan Blass, who tweeted in late 2018 that smaller bezels are part of this year’s upgrade.

Then a second image appeared in summer 2019 showing Atlas with a new, updated silver frame, and significantly smaller bezels. The newer photos have shown that the design has changed a bit since then, showing large bezels and new color options. Another key display feature that was rumored then was a 4K resolution, which now seems more likely.

What seems a bit more clear, however, is that the next-generation Pixelbook could support quick charging through a feature known as “Zinger.” Language in a code commit mentions that Atlas, the code name for the Pixelbook Go, can push a chargers power limit to 60-watts and pull more power when it is needed. This comes as a change from most Chromebook models, which charges through 30- and 45-watt power bricks.

Fingerprint and facial recognition securitygoogle may add fingerprint scanner to pixelbook 2 tablet chrome os 70 dev render Leaked code found on the Chrome developer channel suggested that fingerprint scanning and facial recognition would be available on Nocturne, giving users the ability to login to their device without the need for a password. That would be useful for tablet logins where onscreen keyboard typing is far from ideal, and fortunately, the feature did materialize on the Pixel Slate when Google announced that tablet.

Google debuted its Pixel Imprint fingerprint scanner on the Pixel Slate, to allow users to log into their Chrome OS devices without needing to type in a password. The feature will likely also make its way to the Pixelbook Go. When it debuted earlier this year, Pixel Imprint wasn’t perfect.

If you share your Pixel Slate between multiple users, you can’t use different fingerprints to switch between profiles. Only the first user is able to use their fingerprint to unlock the Pixel Slate, Google claimed. Hopefully, Google will make profile switching easier if the Pixelbook Go debuts with this technology.