TechSpot PC Buying Guide: Four Smart Builds for a Difficult PC Market
Building a PC in 2026 means navigating inflated RAM, storage, and GPU prices. We assembled four balanced systems that prioritize performance, value, and sensible upgrade paths.
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Does the Nvidia App Hurt Performance? We Benchmarked It.
Does the Nvidia App really hurt gaming performance? We benchmarked its background app, overlay, recording, and filters to see what affects frame rates and whether it is worth keeping installed.
RAM prices expected to rise another 40-50% in Q3 2026, and then 30% more in Q4 as AI demand outpaces supply
Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have been sued for price-fixing before. Now it's happening again
Winners & losers: The memory shortages pushing consumer electronics prices higher are expected to worsen through the rest of this year and into 2027, with possible relief not arriving until 2028. While manufacturers and industry analysts largely attribute the spike to AI infrastructure demand, a new California lawsuit accuses the three companies that dominate DRAM and NAND production of conspiring to exploit those conditions and artificially inflate prices.
REI pulls AI-generated bike ad after Meta turns it into a two-handlebar monstrosity
AI-generated ads are getting harder to spot, unless they add handlebars to both ends of a bike
By Rob Thubron,
8 comments
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55k
Game designer Sandy Petersen recalls how Quake's development "broke" id Software
An intense development cycle led to id's dream team disbanding
By Alfonso Maruccia,
23 comments
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52k
Microsoft Office is down to $29 for a lifetime license
TL;DR: If you're looking for a powerful productivity suite without recurring subscription fees, Microsoft Office 2021 is available for just $29 for a limited time, an incredible deal. This offer provides all the essential tools you need for work or personal projects at over 80% off the regular price.
Full story
By TechSpot Deals,
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45k
Sony is deleting 551 movies and TV shows you bought on PlayStation, because you don't really own your digital purchases
John Wick, Paddington, and Terminator 2 are among the titles – no refunds offered
By Kishalaya Kundu,
65 comments
44k
44k
Netflix now wants every profile to have its own email address, annoying users
The change also means Netflix can share your email address with its marketing and advertising partners
By Skye Jacobs,
40 comments
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Ford learned the hard way that AI can't replace experienced engineers
Ford's AI rollout backfired, so it hired back 350 engineers to fix it
By Skye Jacobs,
21 comments
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29k
Europe's digital euro is one step closer, designed to cut out Visa and Mastercard
The digital euro would enable private offline payments and launch in 2029
By Kishalaya Kundu,
25 comments
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Tech deals on Prime Day 2026: Our picks for PC hardware, laptops, gadgets, and more
Good deals are harder to find, but these are worth a look
By Ivan Franco,
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The latest Microsoft Office 2024 Pro suite is now $55 in this limited-time deal
Unlock your productivity with the latest versions of Word, Excel, and Outlook
By TechSpot Deals,
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Meet "loop engineering": The next evolution in AI coding isn't a better prompt, it's a system that prompts itself
"I don't write the prompt anymore – Claude writes the prompt," says Boris Cherny, the creator of Claude Code
By Skye Jacobs,
10 comments
25k
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The US government wants a working quantum computer by 2028 and quantum-resistant encryption by 2031
Trump just signed two executive orders setting hard deadlines for quantum capabilities
By Skye Jacobs,
11 comments
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PlayStation sales just had its worst May in 25 years, and Xbox's was the worst ever
Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch 2 just became the second-fastest-selling console in US history
By Daniel Sims,
12 comments
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19k
Microsoft's Windows Secure Boot certificates just expired – here's what you need to do
Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, and Acer have all published guides and are pushing BIOS updates
By Kishalaya Kundu,
12 comments
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19k
Meta has been secretly relying on Google's AI for customer service, ad tools, and content moderation – then got cut off
Google had to cut Meta off from Gemini because Meta was using too much of it
By Rob Thubron,
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Big Tech's $8 trillion AI bet is making consoles, cars, and electricity more expensive for everyone else
The cost of artificial intelligence is now showing up in the inflation data
By Skye Jacobs,
26 comments
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17k
Windows 10's free security updates now extend to October 2027
Because hundreds of millions of users still won't upgrade
Recap: Windows 10 technically reached end-of-life last October, and analysts say users have been migrating to Windows 11 in large numbers – but potentially millions are stubbornly holding on to the older OS. Microsoft appears to have quietly acknowledged that reality by tacking on another year to Windows 10's critical security support window.
The Steam Machine is sold out, overpriced, can't quite do 4K – and now scalpers are asking $3,000 for it
Meanwhile, modding allows the Steam Controller to crawl to its charger on its own
By Daniel Sims,
24 comments
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Valve quietly changes Steam Machine's 4K/60fps claim after performance criticism
Valve now says the system offers "up to" 4K gaming with FSR 4.1
By Rob Thubron,
32 comments
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HPE is quietly pivoting from servers to networking, and Cisco should be paying attention
HPE focuses on the network side of agentic AI
By Bob O'Donnell,
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You can now buy a pre-built gaming PC that boots into Steam instead of Windows
Meta PCs launches first SteamOS prebuilt with Ryzen 5 9600X and Radeon RX 7600 for $1,299
By Skye Jacobs,
11 comments
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Anthropic accuses China's Alibaba of stealing Claude's AI capabilities
The Chinese firm reportedly used a "distillation attack" to steal Claude's coding skills via 25,000 fake accounts
By Kishalaya Kundu,
47 comments
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Silicon Valley's longevity drug obsession is facing its first real reality check
From Rapamycin to ketone supplements, scientists say the evidence was never there
By Skye Jacobs,
30 comments
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