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Elden Ring: Nightreign Deep of Night screenshot
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Elden Ring: Nightreign is getting a new ‘high difficulty mode’ in September, including an ‘endless battle for those seeking even greater thrills’

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Back in 2024, as the soulslike difficulty discourse once again reared its silly head, Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki said FromSoft “could just crank the difficulty down,” but warned that doing so “would break the game itself.” That doesn’t seem to be a concern going the other direction, though, as Bandai Namco says a new “high-difficulty challenge mode” called Deep of Night is coming to Elden Ring: Nightreign in September.

Now, before we get too far into this, I know, Elden Ring and Elden Ring: Nightreign are two very different experiences: One an almost entirely solo soulslike, the other a co-op focused extraction game. So the analogy isn’t exact—difficulty becomes less of a pressing issue when you’re travelling with your own personal Let Me Solo Her—but even so I find the whole “We can’t go down, but we can sure as hell go up” approach quite funny.

Anyway, Deep of Night is “designed for seasoned players who have navigated through the Night many times,” Bandai said. Enemies will be stronger than in other modes, and players won’t be able to target specific Nightlords when they set out—you’ll get who you get, and good luck to you.


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“Ongoing terrain changes are not reflected,” Bandai said, which I assume means Shifting Earth modifiers are off the table, and there will be new items exclusive to the Deep of Night mode, including “Depths Relics” and weapons with multiple new—”but also detrimental”—effects. Hey, the Nightlord giveth, and the Nightlord taketh away.

“‘Deep of Night’ is a high-difficulty mode that provides a thrilling and challenging adventure,” Bandai wrote. “We encourage you to try and see if you can surpass Depth 3.” If you do, Depths 4 and 5 “will feature an endless battle for those seeking even greater thrills.” Deep of Night’s difficulty will increase as you descend, but will also “fluctuate based on wins and losses,” Bandai said.

If all of this is ringing a bell, it’s likely because you read about some Nightreign datamining earlier this month that uncovered information on the Deep of Night mode, including that it will have five “depths,” each with 999 ratings—a system seemingly similar to the one FromSoft used for Armor Core 6.

How exactly it will all work out in practice remains to be seen, but players will find out soon enough: Nightreign’s Deep of Night mode is set to go live on September 11.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra
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Samsung Is Announcing a New iPad Pro Killer at IFA Next Week

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September, which starts *checks calendar* next week, is going to be a jam-packed month for new gadget announcements. In case you thought Apple’s “Awe Dropping” event on Sept. 9 where it’ll announce the iPhone 17 family of phones, new Apple Watches, and possibly AirPods Pro 3, was the only big tech extravaganza, let me remind you that IFA is happening right after Labor Day next week. IFA is like CES, but smaller and in Berlin instead of Las Vegas. Coinciding with IFA, Samsung is doing yet another virtual Unpacked event to announce a new tablet.

Live streaming on Sept. 4 at 5:30 a.m. ET (a dead giveaway that it’s IFA-related, since it’ll be 1:30 a.m. Berlin time) on Samsung.com, Samsung’s YouTube channel, and Samsung’s Newsroom, the virtual Unpacked will take the wraps off the “next evolution of Galaxy Tab.” In typical Samsung fashion, the company has already put up a reservation page with a limited time offer to receive $50 “Samsung Credit” for use toward other Samsung products, as well as up to $800 toward the next Android tablet with an eligible device trade-in. The reservation needs to be made by Sept. 3 and the Galaxy Tab has to be purchased between Sept. 4 and Oct. 5 in order to get the $50 credit.

© Samsung

Samsung sent Gizmodo the above event “invite.” Do you guys see anything in there? If I were a betting man, I’d say those stars inside the box hint at Galaxy AI stuffed into the new Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Galaxy Tab S11?

As for the Galaxy Tab itself, we’ll likely see successors to the Galaxy S10+ and S10 Ultra that were released last year. Do tablets—including iPad Pros—need to be on an annual refresh? No, but that’s not how capitalism works. Like any consumer tech maker, Samsung’s looking at its portfolio and wondering how to sell new versions of existing things to boost its quarterly earnings. The new tablets would presumably follow the same naming convention, so it wouldn’t surprise us if Samsung calls them the Galaxy Tab S11+ and Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra.

© Artem Golub / Gizmodo

What I’ll be watching out for next week is whether any tablet(s) will feature the Tab S10 Ultra’s gargantuan 14.6-inch screen or potentially an even larger one. How big a display is too big for a tablet? These things are friggin’ dinner trays at this point, stupidly thin dinner trays—sorry, tablets—that you could comfortably eat off.

Samsung’s next Unpacked is a virtual one, so we won’t be live-blogging it like we did at the event for the Galaxy Z Fold 7, Z Flip 7, and Galaxy Watch 8/8 Classic in July. But stay tuned; Gizmodo will be covering all the news that’s worth checking out from IFA 2025, which officially starts on Sept. 5 and runs through Sept. 9. Press days fall on Sept. 3 and 4, so expect a torrent of product announcements to drop then.



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Jensen Huang, wearing a leather jacket, in front of a screen.
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Nvidia CEO Says More Advanced AI Models Will Keep Chip, Data Center Growth Going

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AI bubble? What AI bubble? If you ask Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, we’re in a “new industrial revolution.” 

Huang’s company, of course, makes chips and computer hardware, the “picks and shovels” of the AI gold rush, and it’s become the world’s largest business by capitalizing on AI’s growth, bubble or not. Speaking on Wednesday during an earnings call as his company reported revenue of $46.7 billion in the past quarter, he indicated no sign that the incredible growth of the generative artificial intelligence industry will slow.

“I think the next several years, surely through the decade, we see really significant growth opportunities ahead,” Huang said.

Compare that with recent comments from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who said he believes investors right now are “overexcited about AI.” (Altman also acknowledged that he still believes AI is “the most important thing to happen in a very long time.”)

Huang said his company has “very, very significant forecasts” of demand for more of the chips and computers that run AI, indicating the rush for more data centers is not stopping soon. He speculated that AI infrastructure spending could hit $3 trillion to $4 trillion by the end of the decade. (The gross domestic product of the US is around $30 trillion.)

That means a lot of data centers, which take up a lot of land and use a great deal of water and energy. These AI factories have gotten bigger and bigger in recent years, with significant impacts on the communities around them and a greater strain on the US electric grid. And the growth of different generative AI tools that require even more energy could make that demand even greater.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source on Chrome.

More powerful and demanding models

One prompt on a chatbot doesn’t always mean one prompt anymore. A source of increased demand for computational power is that newer AI models that employ “reasoning” techniques are using a lot more power for one question. “It’s called long thinking, and the longer it thinks, oftentimes it produces better answers,” Huang said.

This technique allows an AI model to research on different websites, try a question multiple times to get better answers and put disparate information together into one response. 

Some AI companies offer reasoning as a separate model or as a choice labeled something like “deep thinking.” OpenAI worked it right into its GPT-5 release, with a routing program deciding whether it was handled by a lighter, straightforward model or a more intensive reasoning model.

But a reasoning model can require 100 times the computing power or more than what a traditional large language model response would take, Huang said. These models, along with agentic systems that can perform tasks and robotics models that can handle visualization and operate in the physical world, are keeping demand for chips, energy and data center land on the rise. 

“With each generation, demand only grows,” Huang said.



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13 Best Laptops of 2025, Tested and Reviewed
Gaming Gear

15 Best Laptops (2025), WIRED-Tested and Approved

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How Much Should You Spend on a Laptop?

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If you’re shopping for a laptop, you probably have an idea of how much you want to spend. But some context might help put things in perspective. The cheapest laptops cost around $200, but they can range up to $5,000. Meanwhile, the average amount people spend, according to the best data we have, is around $750. That lands decidedly in the midrange, spitting between the more expensive devices that are over $1,000 and the budget-tier machines you find below $700.

When we talk about pricing, it’s often the “starting” price of the laptop, meaning the lowest-priced configuration. This is really important to consider, as you want to compare devices apples-to-apples as much as possible. For example, a cheaper laptop might start at $750 with 256 GB of storage, while a more premium laptop might start at this same price but come with 512 GB or even 1 TB of storage. Increasingly, you can find some really decent laptops around this price, some of which we’ve listed below.

If your budget needs to be under $750, though, there are still good options. Laptops below this price tend to compromise in one area or another. Most commonly, it’s the quality of the display and touchpad that suffers, as these are things you can’t see from a spec sheet or reference photo. Chromebooks often give you the best bang for your buck, especially if you’re trying to spend $500 or less.

So, why spend more? Well, there are two primary reasons. First, you might want a more premium design, perhaps one that has a more daring aesthetic or high-end components. Take the MacBook Pro, for example. It starts at $600 more than the MacBook Air but comes with a brighter Mini-LED display, significantly better speakers, and more ports. The second primary reason to spend more than $750 or so is to get more performance. Whether for gaming or for content creation, laptops with discrete GPUs are more expensive, which is why it’s hard to find a worthwhile gaming laptop under $1,000. If you’re buying a gaming laptop, plan to spend at least $1,500.

What Are the Best Laptop Brands?

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Unlike the smartphone world, the biggest laptop brands have been around in the tech industry for over 40 years by now. Taking Apple out of the picture, there are four laptops brands that stand above the rest, following the latest trends and technology, while backing that up with reliable support and services.

Lenovo is the biggest PC brand in the world, at least in terms of global shipments. It’s perhaps most well-known for its familiar sub-brands like ThinkPad and Yoga, but it also isn’t afraid to take risks with more experimental designs and advanced technology. Lenovo has also made a name for itself in the gaming space too with its Legion laptops, known for balancing performance and features at the most competitive prices.

Asus has quickly become a favorite, notable for its sheer number of laptops available in the consumer market. The company takes a similar approach to Lenovo, and that’s led Asus to being able to quickly innovate on new technology and designs, while also launching premium clamshell laptops at more affordable prices than its competitors. Gaming laptops in particular are a space that Asus has come to dominate in, with the ROG Zephyrus, Strix, and TUF brands leading the way.

Dell and HP are a bit more conservative, though they aren’t without their notable designs as well. Interestingly, the companies have both gone through a significant laptop rebrand in the past year. HP has introduced “Omnibook” as a replacement to the Spectre and Envy sub-brands in 2024, while Dell started 2025 by removing its well-known sub-brands entirely, including Inspiron and XPS.

Other laptop makers in the mix include Microsoft Surface, Samsung, Acer, LG, and MSI, though none of them have as big a footprint globally as the top four.

How Do I Choose the Right Laptop?

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If none of these laptops quite rings your bell, that’s OK! There are far more laptops than we have time to test. To help you make smart choices, we put together a complete laptop buying guide. We also have the details about all the CPU and GPUs you need to know about for 2025. We recommend sticking to these guidelines:

RAM: In most cases, make sure you get 16 GB of RAM. That’s become the new standard, in even more affordable laptops. Upgrading to 32 GB is even better and means you never have to worry about running out of memory, especially if you’re a gamer or video editor.

CPU: In the world of Windows laptops, you have three CPU brands to choose from: Intel, AMD, or Qualcomm. Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 launched in late 2024, providing a huge increase in battery life. It also has the best integrated graphics of the three. AMD chips are primarily reserved for gaming laptops, as they’ve struggled to take much ground from Intel. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips, however, have challenged Intel in a serious way over the past year with its ARM-based chips, offering some of the best battery life we’ve ever seen on Windows machines.

Discrete graphics: Want to play AAA PC games or edit video on your laptop? You’ll likely want a standalone graphics processor, and at this point, Nvidia is the primary option. The RTX 5090 launched this year as the most powerful new GPU available, but the 40-series still remains a good option. Integrated graphics have improved significantly over the years though too, especially with Apple’s M4 line.

Screen: The display depends on the size of the laptop. A 1200-pixel resolution (HD+) screen on a 13- or 14-inch laptop looks sharp enough, but you’ll want more pixels on larger displays. While IPS screens will be good enough for most people, OLED or Mini-LED are becoming more common, which provide better color accuracy, contrast, and even decent HDR performance.

Connectivity: Ports are important; though everyone needs something different. For most people, though, we suggest at least two USB-C ports and at least one USB-A and HDMI for those legacy devices. (Remember that nearly all laptops today use one of those USB-C ports for the power adapter.) Thankfully, most laptops still have headphone jacks, but always check, because a few daring machines have dropped it. Lastly, make sure there’s Wi-Fi 6E support or newer. Even if you don’t have a Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 router yet, it’s a good bet you will in the future (see our Best Routers or Best Mesh Systems guides if you need a new one).

Battery life: Battery life is extremely competitive these days, with Apple, Qualcomm, and Intel all making highly ambitious battery life claims. Most laptops with the latest chips (and without discrete graphics) will get you over 10 hours of battery life, or many more if your workload is lighter.

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I have been reviewing laptops for a decade, and WIRED contributor Chris Null has been testing these machines for 25 years. We test each laptop we review in a variety of situations, including both synthetic benchmark tests, real-world use cases, and comparisons against similar equipment. We don’t consider hardware in a vacuum: Our reviews aim to match laptops with the users that will benefit from them the most, taking performance, usability, portability, and price all into account.

We put every laptop through a gauntlet of tests before writing a review and assigning them a rating.

Hands-on use: Here’s we evaluate the exterior of the device. We compare how thin and light it is against other laptops. We repeatedly open and close the lid to test the quality and ease-of-use of the hinge. We push on weak points like the keyboard and lid to test build quality. We furiously type on the keyboard and swipe around on the touchpad to ensure it’s comfortable and precise. These are all things you can’t see just by looking at a device’s landing page on Amazon. We use the laptop itself for many days (and sometimes weeks) to report on any quirks that might pop up, such as oddly placed ports, a surfeit of preloaded shovelware, or unexpected problems that make using the laptop difficult.

Sights and sounds: Once we boot up a device itself, it’s all about the sights and sounds of the laptop. The screen is paramount, as its the world through which you experience the entirety of the device. There’s a lot you can tell about the brightness, colors, and contrast of a display just by looking at it. Beyond just subjective testing, we also use a Spyder colorimeter to measure the brightness, contrast, color space, and color accuracy of a display. If it’s an HDR-capable screen, we also test the peak brightness of the display in HDR content. We also test the webcam and speakers of a laptop to see if they are worthy of your video calls and music streaming sessions.

Performance testing: Finally, we test performance. There’s a lot of ways to go about this, but we always evaluate a laptop’s performance based on what it’s intended for. We don’t expect a $500 budget laptop to performance like a powerhouse gaming laptop, nor we expect a gaming laptop to get 18 hours of battery life. Our testbed includes more than 20 synthetic benchmarks, though this is constantly evolving and is dependent on the unit’s CPU and operating system, as macOS and Snapdragon-based laptops have fewer benchmarks available. Those benchmarks include various tests within the latest versions of Geekbench, PCMark, 3DMark, Procyon, GFXBench, Pugetbench, Superposition, Cinebench, and various gaming-related tests such as 3DMark and Cyberpunk 2077. Note that WIRED does not, in general, report raw benchmark scores. We don’t only pay attention to the scores these benchmarks produce, but also the volume and speed of the fans, the surface temperature of the laptop, and the affect it has on battery life.

It’s a lot, I know. But we’re thorough because we want to stand by our recommendations, and ensure that the laptops we rate highly are worth the money.

Compare Top 15 Laptops

Other Good Laptops We’ve Tested

Dell 14 Premium

Photograph: Luke Larsen

Dell 14 Premium for $2,000: It might be one of the prettiest laptops ever made, but it’s also one of the most controversial designs in recent years. The Dell 14 Premium (6/10, WIRED Review) is the renamed successor to the Dell XPS 14, sporting the same divisive function row keys, invisible haptic trackpad, and limited ports. I’d have been happy to overlook those design elements (as they make for an ultra-modern aesthetic) if only Dell had been able to upgrade this from the RTX 4050 to the RTX 5050 series graphic cards. Without that GPU performance upgrade, my excitement has dulled for what this could be.

Dell 14 Plus for $650: This is the first laptop in Dell’s major rebranding effort, and this one is a follow-up to the Dell Inspiron Plus 14. The Dell 14 Plus (6/10, WIRED Review) is a solid midrange laptop, meaning it sports a clean but generic design and solid performance, without some of the bells and whistles that make laptops feel premium. The IPS screen is decent, as is the performance and battery life. My only big issue with this PC has been resolved: Its MSRP was way too high for the specs, but the Dell 14 Plus has continuously been on sale for $700 or less, which makes it an incredible value.

Surface Pro 12

Photograph: Luke Larsen

Microsoft Surface Pro 12 for $870: While it’s a tablet, the Surface Pro 12 (6/10, WIRED Review) is designed to be a true laptop replacement as well, which is why it’s on this list. Its price would be excellent for a fanless machine running on the Snapdragon X chip, but it doesn’t come bundled with a keyboard. Once you add that in, this becomes more of a premium laptop. Still, for the right person, it’s a killer travel device for taking your work on the road with you.

ROG Flow Z13

Photograph: Luke Larsen

Asus ROG Flow Z13 for $2,100: It’s too expensive for most people to take a chance on, but I found a lot to like about the ROG Flow Z13 (7/10, WIRED Recommends). This gaming 2-in-1, a design no one asked for, works surprisingly well. The performance isn’t full throttle, but the Z13’s use of surprisingly powerful AMD integrated graphics makes it far more powerful than you might assume, all while keeping the heat away from your hands.

Asus Zenbook A14 for $1,000: This is one of the lightest laptops we’ve ever tested, thanks to Asus’ Ceraluminum material. The Zenbook A14 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is also the first A-series laptop from the company, and it employs Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X chipset, which is the weakest and supposedly the most affordable of the Snapdragon X series. While this laptop excels in build quality, portability, and sports excellent battery life, the chipset is lackluster, only suitable for average web browsing tasks. This one occasionally drops in price by a couple of hundred bucks, so try to avoid the $1,000 MSRP.

Surface Laptop 7th Edition

Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

Microsoft Surface Laptop (7th Edition, 2024) for $1,000: Want a Windows laptop straight from the horse’s mouth? Buy the 7th Edition Surface Laptop (7/10, WIRED Review). Performance is solid, as is battery life, and you get a smooth 120-Hz display. It’s just way too pricey for what you get, so try and catch it on sale. Read our Best Surface Laptops guide for more.

Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus for $488: This was one of the first “Chromebook Plus” devices we tested, and it’s still among the best. While the newer Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is a higher-quality device, the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus (8/10, WIRED Recommends) comes in a couple of hundred dollars cheaper, which makes it attractive, especially for a Chromebook. You’ll still get 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, too.

Photograph: Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Asus Vivobook S 14 OLED for $760: Not unlike the Zenbook 14 OLED, this 14-inch machine sports an OLED panel for a reasonable sub-$1,000 price. The Vivobook S 14 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 Series 1 chipset with 16 GB of RAM and a 1-TB SSD. It can handle most daily tasks with no problem, though the screen could stand to get brighter. Battery life is OK, hitting up to 12 hours with average use. Unfortunately, the machine is a fingerprint magnet, so you’ll constantly be wiping it down. It has plenty of ports.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (Copilot+ PC) for $950: The first Intel-based Copilot+ PC we tested, the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (7/10, WIRED Review) is a winner on all fronts, boasting outstanding AI and graphics performance and some of the best battery life we’ve ever seen on Intel hardware. With its slightly oddball 15.3-inch screen, it hits its high points without breaking the bank, though the fan is loud and the system may weigh you down more than you’d like.

Acer Chromebook Plus 515 for $358: This 15-inch Chromebook Plus 515 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) has the same internal components as the Lenovo we recommend above. The battery life for this one is a solid 8.5 hours of full-screen video playback time. The Acer offers an HDMI 1.4 output jack in place of the Lenovo’s microSD card slot, making this one a better choice if you frequently need to give presentations or otherwise use the HDMI port. There’s also the smaller Chromebook Plus 514 that’s equally great.

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra for $2,500: There’s much to love with the Galaxy Book4 Ultra (7/10, WIRED Review), but that price. Ouch. You get what you pay for, at least, with the new Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, the current top-of-the-line processor in Intel’s Core Ultra CPU lineup, along with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card. The 16-inch AMOLED 2880 x 1800 pixels touchscreen is magnificent to work on, and performance blew everything else we’ve tested out of the water. But that price.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Copilot+ PC for $1,300: Lenovo’s svelte Slim 7x (7/10, WIRED Review) isn’t exciting, but it offers the best price-to-performance ratio of the many Copilot+ PCs we’ve tested. Battery life and performance are standouts, though the fan does tend to run loud.

Laptops to Avoid

Amazon is filled with laptops you shouldn’t buy. Just type in “best laptop” into the Amazon search box, and you’ll find plenty of cheap laptops that no one should buy. That includes most of the Windows laptops under $500, which all use CPUs from three or four generations ago.

It gets worse when you search for “gaming laptops” on Amazon, which presents some cheap laptops that don’t even have discrete graphics. Regardless of what companies or retailers try to say, you shouldn’t expect a laptop without a discrete GPU to be able to play modern games. Some of these include laptops from knockoff brands you’ve never heard of, like this one. There’s just no reason to buy something from an unknown brand.

When it comes to gaming laptops in general, I wouldn’t recommend buying anything RTX 30-series or older in terms of graphics. You should still be able to find some decent RTX 40-series laptops that are a better bang-for-your-buck than the new RTX 50-series laptops.

Lastly, there’s the topic of refurbished laptops. Online retailers are full of older laptops that are marked as refurbished or “renewed.” These can be good options, especially if they come heavily discounted, such as this M1 MacBook Air. But there’s always some risk with buying refurbished. Make sure you read the retailer’s return policy. With models that are only a year or two older, however, pay careful attention to the specs, especially when it comes to RAM capacity. For example, some older M3 MacBook Air models will show up with only 8 GB of RAM, not reflecting the increased base memory in the price.

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Gaming Gear

How to pick the best Apple tablet for you

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Figuring out the best iPad for you can be tricky. Apple now sells three 11-inch tablets and two 13-inch ones, each with key differences in pricing, specs and accessory support. The iPad mini is still hanging around, too. Ahead of the big changes coming with the iPadOS 26 update later this year, we’ve tested each current iPad and broken down which ones best fit different needs, whether you want a laptop replacement or just a big screen for streaming.

Table of contents

The best iPads for 2025

Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

Screen size: 11 inches or 13 inches | Display resolution: 2360 x 1640 (11-inch), 2732 x 2048 (13-inch) | Storage: Up to 1TB | RAM: 8GB | Weight: 1.01 pounds (11-inch), 1.36 pounds (13-inch) | Battery life: Up to 10 hours | Front camera: 12MP | Rear camera: 12MP

Read our full Apple iPad Air M3 review

The recently refreshed iPad Air remains the Apple tablet we’d recommend to most people. Yes, it costs more than the entry-level iPad, and yes, there’s still a gulf between it and the higher-end iPad Pro. But no iPad strikes a better balance between price, performance and features. It’s Apple’s “just right” tablet — advanced enough to be a pleasure every day but not eye-wateringly expensive.

The newest iPad Air, launched in March 2025, earned a score of 89 in our review. It starts at $599 for an 11-inch model or $799 for a variant with a 13-inch display. Outside of a higher brightness rating on the 13-inch model (600 nits versus 500 nits), the two are virtually identical, so which one is best simply depends on what screen size you prefer. Most will probably spring for the 11-inch version given that it’s cheaper and much easier to hold. But the added screen real estate on the 13-inch version is great if you typically use your iPad with a keyboard case, or just want more room for watching movies, playing games or multitasking for work.

Both models are much pricier than the base iPad, but the Air’s upgrades mostly justify the premium. It now runs on Apple’s M3 system-on-a-chip (SoC), which is the same silicon found in last-gen MacBooks and iMacs. It’s overkill for web browsing, video streaming and other basic tasks, but it means performance should rarely, if ever, be an issue.

It should also make the Air a little more futureproof, as a number of iPadOS features are only accessible with M-series chips or newer A-series silicon. All of the Apple Intelligence AI tools, for instance, aren’t available on the newest entry-level iPad, nor are the ports of demanding video games like Death Stranding and Resident Evil 4. The Stage Manager multitasking mode is also restricted to more powerful iPads today — though that’s changing with the upcoming iPadOS 26 update, which will bring a more robust windowing system in general. (The base iPad still won’t have full external display support, however, and it may not run Stage Manager as well on the whole.) The M3 Air also has a healthy 8GB of RAM and 128GB of base storage; the standard iPad also starts with 128GB now but still has a bit less memory at 6GB.

The iPad Air’s 60Hz LCD display isn’t as vibrant or smooth in motion as the 120Hz OLED panel on the latest iPad Pro, and it’s starting to show its age in 2025 when some smartphones offer a higher refresh rate for hundreds of dollars less. Still, it’s bright, sharp and relatively accurate. It’s also a step up from the entry-level iPad, as it’s fully laminated, which means there’s no visible gap between the display and the front glass. That may not sound like much, but it’s one of those things that’s hard to ignore once you’ve seen the difference. The Air’s panel also has an antireflective coating to further minimize glare, plus it supports a wider P3 color gamut.

The iPad Air has had virtually the same square-edged design for four generations now, but it remains sturdy, elegant and reasonably comfortable. It still offers a solid 10-ish hours of battery life, a USB-C port and a Touch ID fingerprint scanner built into its power button (but no Face ID, annoyingly). Apple moved the front-facing camera to the tablet’s long edge with the previous-gen model, and that remains a much more natural position for FaceTime calls in landscape mode.

Unlike the entry-level iPad, the Air works with the Pencil Pro, Apple’s most featured stylus. (Though it’s not compatible with the older second-gen Pencil — yes, the stylus situation is messy.) It doesn’t work with the company’s best aluminum keyboard case, but it supports a new Magic Keyboard with some of that model’s upgrades, including a more spacious trackpad and a dedicated function row. This version is still mostly made of plastic, and its lack of backlit keys is hard to excuse when the older Magic Keyboard — which is thankfully still available — didn’t have that issue, but it remains highly comfortable for typing. All of these accessories add a good bit to the Air’s bottom line, but for digital artists or frequent typers, they’re there.

The M3 iPad Air is a straightforward spec bump, so there’s no real need to upgrade if you’re coming from the M2 or M1 models. In fact, if you can still find a refurbished version of the M2 Air at a lower price, that’ll be a better value on the whole. But if your iPad is slowing down, you’re buying your first Apple tablet or you want a 13-inch iPad without totally torching your savings account, the Air should be the first model you consider.

Pros

  • Powerful M3 chip
  • Better display, performance and multitasking capabilities than base iPad
  • 13-inch model is Apple’s most affordable large-screen iPad
  • Supports Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard

Cons

  • Basic 60Hz refresh rate
  • No Face ID
  • Accessories can drive up price quickly

$449 at Amazon

Jeff Dunn for Engadget

Screen size: 11 inches | Display resolution: 2360 x 1640 | Storage: Up to 512GB | RAM: 6GB | Weight: 1.05 pounds | Battery life: Up to 10 hours | Front camera: 12MP | Rear camera: 12MP

Read our full Apple iPad (A16) review

The entry-level iPad (A16) isn’t as nice as the iPad Air, but the two share the same design language, and the cheaper model is still perfectly competent at the core iPad Things. For $349, that makes it a compelling bargain for those who want a modern iPad for as little cash as possible.

The base iPad looks virtually identical to the iPad Air from afar. It’s only marginally thicker and heavier, while its 11-inch panel is just as sharp and bright. Battery life comes in at the same 10-ish hours, and there’s still a USB-C port and Touch ID sensor. The cameras are nearly the same, too, with the selfie cam located along its long edge. Most importantly, it gets you nearly all the same conveniences of iPadOS for $250 less.

This model runs on a slightly cut-down version of the A16 Bionic chip found in 2022’s iPhone 14 Pro and 2023’s iPhone 15, plus 6GB of RAM. This combo won’t hold up as well as higher-end iPads years down the road, and it can’t run Apple Intelligence or extend to an external display via Stage Manager. Plus, the M3 Air is already noticeably faster for exporting 4K videos or playing the most taxing iPad games. 

But the A16 is more than quick enough for the tasks most people actually do with an iPad, be it watching Netflix, sending emails, playing casual Apple Arcade games or even editing photos in Lightroom. If anything, many people will prefer to not have their tablet push AI on them. And with the iPadOS 26 update later this year, this iPad will have access to many of the same Mac-style productivity and multitasking features as its pricier siblings. Beyond that, it starts with the same healthy 128GB of storage as the Air.

The iPad (A16) does have a worse display than the Air, with no lamination, no support for the wider P3 color space and no antireflective coating. Put the two side by side and the Air indeed produces slightly bolder colors and holds up better against glare. The lack of lamination makes writing with the Apple Pencil feel more abstracted on the cheaper model, too.

For the price, though, this screen is still sharp, comfortably sized and devoid of major color accuracy issues. The gap here isn’t nearly as dramatic as the one between the Air’s and iPad Pro’s displays. Likewise, while the Air’s dual speakers sound fuller and more rounded, the base iPad gets loud and clear enough to avoid serious problems.

There are other downgrades. The iPad (A16) isn’t compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro, just the lesser USB-C Pencil — which lacks pressure sensitivity — and ancient first-gen model. It doesn’t work with the same Magic Keyboards; instead, it uses its own Surface-like accessory called the Magic Keyboard Folio, which has a function row but isn’t as stable on your lap. It supports Wi-Fi 6 but not Wi-Fi 6E. The USB-C port is technically slower for data transfers, too, maxing out at 480 Mbps instead of 10 Gbps.

Like we said with our top recommendation, a refurbished M2 iPad Air is worth considering over the iPad (A16) if you can find one at a good price. It’s been discontinued, so we can’t make it a formal pick, but it remains a better piece of hardware. But if that’s not an option, the base iPad is a strong bargain. It’s worse than the iPad Air, but it’s not $250 worse for those on a tighter budget, folks upgrading from the 9th-gen iPad or anyone who just doesn’t push their iPad to the limit most of the time.

Pros

  • The most affordable iPad
  • Fast enough for most common tasks
  • 128GB of storage in base model
  • Solid battery life
  • Available in fun colors

Cons

  • Display is due for some updates
  • Not as powerful or futureproof iPads with M-series chips
  • Doesn’t support the best Apple Pencil or Magic Keyboard

$299 at Amazon

Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

Screen size: 8.3 inches | Display resolution: 2266 x 1488 | Storage: Up to 512GB | RAM: 8GB | Weight: 0.65 pounds | Battery life: Up to 10 hours | Front camera: 12MP | Rear camera: 12MP

Read our full iPad mini 7 review

The iPad mini is exactly what it sounds like: the small iPad. Apple updated it in late 2024 with a new chip and support for the Apple Pencil Pro, and it’s still the shortest and lightest iPad in the current lineup by some distance. As before, it has an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display that’s easier to use with one hand.

We gave the iPad mini a review score of 83. Its design follows closely after that of the iPad Air: squared-off edges, thin bezels, no Home button, a Touch ID sensor in the power button, stereo speakers, decent cameras and a USB-C port. Its display is technically sharper, but otherwise gives you the same max brightness, lamination, antireflective coating and wide color gamut. It doesn’t have a “Smart Connector” to hook up Apple-made keyboards, but it does work with the top-end Apple Pencil Pro and the less expensive USB-C Apple Pencil. The Pencil Pro is a step up over the older second-generation Apple Pencil the prior mini used, with haptic feedback, a gyroscope and a “squeeze” feature for opening up a brush palette.

The mini runs on Apple’s A17 Pro chip, the same as the one in 2023’s iPhone 15 Pro series. While this chip isn’t quite as powerful as the M3 in the iPad Air, it’s more than capable enough to handle what most people will want to do with this iPad. Notably, it’s also powerful enough for Apple Intelligence. That might not be something that compels people to upgrade right now (or maybe ever), but the point is that the new mini is more futureproof than its predecessor.

The mini starts at $499 for a 128GB model. Apple finally saw fit to double the base storage, which makes the cheapest model easier to recommend than before. If you specifically want a smaller tablet — whether it’s to easily stuff in a bag, use with one hand or treat like a high-end e-reader — this is the only one Apple sells, and the best option in its size range. 

Pros

  • A compact but full-featured iPad
  • Supports the Apple Pencil Pro
  • A17 Pro chip is plenty powerful
  • Starts at 128GB of storage
  • Apple may have fixed jelly-scrolling display issues

Cons

  • Display is limited to 60Hz refresh rate
  • Bezels are a bit thick
  • No Face ID
  • No M-series chip

$399 at Amazon

Apple

Screen size: 11 inches or 13 inches | Display resolution: 2420 x 1668 (11-inch), 2752 x 2064 (13-inch) | Storage: Up to 2TB | RAM: Up to 16GB | Weight: 0.98 pounds (11-inch), 1.28 pounds (13-inch) | Battery life: Up to 10 hours | Front camera: 12MP | Rear camera: 12MP

Read our full Apple iPad Pro (M4) review

The latest iPad Pro is the most expensive iPad and more tablet than most people need, full stop. But if you have cash to burn, are determined to use an iPad as your main mobile computer or just want the most technically impressive iPad possible, this is it.

We gave the new iPad Pro a score of 84 in our review. Like the iPad Air, it comes in 11- and 13-inch models: The former starts at $999, while the latter starts at $1,299. That’s prohibitively expensive for most people, but for the money you get a number of premium, if inessential, upgrades over Apple’s other tablets.

The most significant of these is the Pros’ “tandem OLED” display. Compared to the LCD screen on the iPad Air, this produces richer colors and deeper, more uniform black tones. Gaming and scrolling web pages look more fluid thanks to its faster 120Hz refresh rate. It can also get significantly brighter, reaching up to 1,000 nits in SDR and up to 1,600 nits with HDR highlights.

This is where the “tandem” part comes in. Essentially, Apple is stacking two OLED panels on top of one another to improve peak brightness, which is often a (relative) weakness of traditional OLED displays. It’s a breakthrough, but all you really need to know is that this screen is an absolute delight — one of the best we’ve seen on any consumer device, let alone a tablet. For watching movies or editing media, you really can’t do better. This same display tech is used on both the 11- and 13-inch iPad Pro, unlike previous models, so which one is best merely comes down to personal preference.

The design here is broadly similar to that of the iPad Air, but slightly thinner and lighter. The difference isn’t huge on paper, but the Pros’ slimmed-down frames make them just that little bit easier to hold. This is particularly meaningful with the 13-inch model.

The other headline upgrade is Apple’s M4 SoC. If the M3 is overkill for the vast majority of casual and pro-level iPad tasks, then the M4 is mega-kill; it easily chewed through just about anything we threw at it. But it should be even more futureproof, and it’ll save a few seconds here and there if your work involves high-res media editing, heavy use of machine learning and the like.

Beyond that, the base iPad Pro has 256GB of storage, which is twice as much as any other iPad. Like the M3 Air, it also supports advanced features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing on its GPU, which can aid lighting in games, plus a faster neural engine, which can help with the AI features Apple has been rolling out.

If you really want to max things out, note that the 1TB and 2TB configurations have twice as much RAM (16GB) and use a technically more powerful version of the M4 with an extra performance core unlocked. Jumping to one of those SKUs costs a minimum of $1,599, though — and that’s before you add accessories. Those looking to use the iPad Pro as a (very expensive) media consumption device don’t need this, but if you work with memory-hungry apps or need the absolute best, just note it’ll cost you.

The iPad Pro is the only iPad with Face ID, which remains a bit more convenient than reaching for a fingerprint scanner. It’s the only one with a Thunderbolt USB-C port, which is technically faster for transferring large files. It sounds more robust than the Air, with four built-in speakers instead of two. Its camera system isn’t that different, but it includes a flash for more easily scanning documents, and it can record video in Apple’s ProRes format. Its front camera is on the long edge, too. As for accessories, the Pro alone can use Apple’s best Magic Keyboard, which itself is wildly expensive but has a more premium aluminum finish, backlit keys and haptic feedback alongside a larger trackpad and a row of function keys. It also supports the Pencil Pro stylus (but not the second-gen Pencil).

If most of these features sound niche to you, well, yeah, that’s the idea. Unless you’re willing to pay for that terrific OLED screen, the iPad Air gets close enough for a much more palatable price. And though the iPad Pro is a class-leading tablet, it is ultimately still an iPad. Certain creative professionals have used it just fine as a laptop replacement, but up to now, iPadOS has made multitasking and other computer-y tasks more convoluted than they are on a Mac. The iPadOS 26 update appears to go a long way towards rectifying power users’ longstanding complaints, but many of the features coming there will also be available on the cheaper models. Regardless, the Pro is a wonderful iPad — fast, slim and luxurious. And expensive.

Pros

  • One of the best displays we’ve ever seen
  • M4 chip is extremely powerful
  • Thinner and lighter than before, making it easier to hold
  • Front camera is now on the landscape edge
  • Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro include significant new features

Cons

  • Prohibitively expensive
  • Not backwards compatible with old accessories, and new ones are still pricey

$895 at Amazon

How we test the best iPads

The top edge of the iPad mini.

(Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget)

Much like we do for our guide to the best tablets overall, we spend several days with each iPad to see how they feel and perform with different tasks: watching videos, web browsing, playing both casual and graphically intense games, editing 4K photos and video, running multiple apps side-by-side, making FaceTime calls and the like. To better measure performance specifically, we use benchmarking tests like Geekbench 6, 3DMark and GFXBench Metal, plus we measure how long it takes for each tablet to boot up and open various apps. We also check how well each tablet holds up long-term, whether it’s with a review unit provided by Apple or an iPad model that’s owned by a member of the Engadget staff.

To help compare the color performance and brightness of the displays, we play the same videos on different iPads, side-by-side, at equal brightness levels. We use each tablet in direct sunlight outdoors to see how well they hold up to glare, and we play a handful of the same musical tracks to evaluate speaker performance. For battery life, we keep track of how long each tablet generally lasts before it needs a recharge, but we also play a 1080p movie on a loop at roughly 70 percent brightness with power-sapping background processes off. We also test each device with an Apple Pencil and note how responsive the stylus feels. Finally, we carefully pore over spec sheets and software updates to keep track of which features are available on certain iPads but not others.

iPad FAQs

The iPad (A16) on top of an 13-inch iPad Air.

(Jeff Dunn for Engadget)

What are some new features coming to iPadOS 26?

Apple first previewed iPadOS 26 during its WWDC keynote in June. The update looks to be a major overhaul, one that brings iPadOS closer to macOS than ever before. New features include the ability to open more windows simultaneously and resize or tile them more freely; a Mac-style Menu bar; a dedicated Preview app; an upgraded Files app; an improved ability to export or download large files in the background; an Exposé view that shows all open windows; a pointier cursor and the option to add folders to the Dock. It’ll also use the new “liquid glass” design language Apple is rolling out across all of its platforms in 2025. Importantly, Apple says these features will be available across its tablet lineup, from the iPad Pro to the entry-level iPad. That could make the latter a particularly enticing value. You can find the full list of compatible devices at the bottom of Apple’s press release.

How long do iPads typically last?

If history is any indication, expect Apple to update your iPad to the latest version of iPadOS for at least five years, if not longer. The current iPadOS 18 update, for example, is available on iPad Pro models dating back to 2018 and other iPads dating back to 2019. How long your iPad’s hardware will last depends on which model you buy and how well you maintain it. (If you’re particularly clumsy, consider an iPad case.) A more powerful iPad Pro will feel fast for a longer time than an entry-level iPad, but each model should remain at least serviceable until Apple stops updating it, at minimum.

What’s the difference between the iPad and the iPad Air?

Compared to the 11th-gen iPad, the iPad Air runs on a stronger M3 chip (instead of the A16 Bionic) and has 2GB more RAM (8GB total). Both come with 128GB of storage by default. The Air is also available in two sizes, 11 and 13 inches, whereas the 11th-gen iPad doesn’t offer the larger screen option. The M-series SoC gives the Air better long-term performance, plus access to certain iPadOS features such as Apple Intelligence and Stage Manager. Its display supports a wider P3 color gamut, has an antireflective coating and is fully laminated. The latter means there’s no “air gap” between the display and the glass covering it, so it feels more like you’re directly touching what’s on screen instead of interacting with an image below the glass. The Air also works with the newer Pencil Pro stylus and more comfortable Magic Keyboards, and its USB-C port supports faster data transfer speeds. It technically supports faster Wi-Fi 6E, too, while the lower-cost iPad uses Wi-Fi 6.

Starting at $349, the 11th-gen iPad is $250 less expensive than the iPad Air. It has a similarly elegant design with flat edges, thin bezels, USB-C port, and a Touch ID reader. Battery life is rated at the same 10 hours, and both devices have their front-facing camera on their long edge, which is a more natural position for video calls. The cheaper iPad works with the first-gen and USB-C Apple Pencils – which are more convoluted to charge – and a unique keyboard accessory called the Magic Keyboard Folio.

What’s the difference between iPads and Android tablets?

The operating system, duh. But to give a few more specifics: Android devices are available from more manufacturers and cover a wider price range. You won’t see an $80 iPad anytime soon. Android is also more malleable in that you can easily sideload apps from places beyond Google’s official app store and more extensively customize the look of the OS. Several Android tablets still have features like a headphone jack or a microSD slot for adding storage, too, though those are getting rarer.

But we tend to recommend Apple tablets to those who have no allegiance either way. iPad apps are still a bit more likely to be designed specifically for larger screens, rather than looking like blown-up phone software, and Apple is just about peerless when it comes to long-term software support. Every new iPad hits a certain baseline of hardware quality and performance — none of them feel cheap, and all of them are fast enough for most needs. Plus, you’ll get the most out of an iPad if you use other Apple devices.

Can an iPad replace a laptop?

This is a loaded question, since laptop workflows differ from person to person. If you mostly use a notebook for browsing the web, watching videos or writing emails and word docs, then sure, you can get along just fine with an iPad and the right iPad accessories. It’ll be easier to carry around, the battery life is great and having the touchscreen and stylus support is handy (though many Windows users have that regardless). Even beyond the basics, plenty of media editors, graphic designers and digital artists have shown they can get things done on an iPad.

Broadly speaking, though, a laptop OS tends to be more flexible when it comes to file management, multitasking, coding or other “heavy” tasks. Safari on the iPad isn’t quite on par with desktop browsers either. So the answer really depends on you. That said, the iPadOS 26 update could close the gap, so check back on this in a couple of months.

How do I take a screenshot on an iPad?

As we note in our screenshot how-to guide, you can take a screenshot on your iPad by pressing the top button and either volume button at the same time. If you have an older iPad with a Home button, simultaneously press the top button and the Home button instead.

Recent updates

August 2025: We’ve taken another sweep to ensure our picks are still accurate and added a few more notes to our FAQ section.

June 2025: We’ve made a few minor edits to reflect the announcement of Apple’s latest iPadOS update, which we detail above.

May 2025: We’ve lightly edited this guide to ensure all details and links are still correct. We’re also keeping an eye on how the Trump administration’s tariff policy affects the pricing and stock of the iPad lineup (and every other tech category). All of our picks are still available at normal prices today, but we’ll update this guide if that changes.

March 2025: We’ve reviewed the iPad (A16) and named it our new budget pick, removing the discontinued 10th-gen iPad in the process.

March 2025: The recently-launched iPad Air M3 has replaced its predecessor as our top overall recommendation. We’ve also made a note regarding the new iPad (A16), which we plan to test in the near future and expect to become our new budget pick. We’ve made a handful of edits elsewhere in the guide to reflect Apple’s latest hardware.

January 2025: We’ve lightly edited this guide for clarity. Our recommendations remain the same.

October 2024: We’ve updated our guide to include the new iPad mini 7.

June 2024: We’ve touched up this guide to reflect some of the new iPadOS features Apple announced at WWDC, though our picks remain the same.

Nathan Ingraham contributed to this report.



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Samsung is Unpacking again in early September
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Samsung is Unpacking again in early September

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Apple isn’t the only tech company to send out launch event invitations this week. If you’re keeping score at home, September is actually next week somehow, and Samsung is sneaking a virtual Unpacked in on September 4th before Apple hosts its annual iPhone event the following week. But it’s not just a convenient date to try and steal a little bit of Apple’s thunder — it’s the day before IFA kicks off in Berlin. Related: the event starts at 5:30AM ET / 11:30AM CET.

The event invite doesn’t give much away about what Samsung intends to announce. But if you’re an optimist like me who’s still hoping for a trifold announcement this year, doesn’t it look like that cube-type-shape is unfolding in more than one way? Wouldn’t IFA be a cool place to launch a trifold? I’m gonna hold out hope, but to be honest, I probably won’t watch the event live since it’s at 2:30AM PT. But if you’re planning to watch live at a more civilized hour, you’ll find the stream at Samsung.com and Samsung’s YouTube channel.



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Host Rylan Clark and the Dating Naked UK season 2 cast on a beach
Gaming Gear

How to watch Dating Naked UK season 2 online from anywhere

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Eyes up here… if only to spot the tearaway who was once booted off Married at First Sight for brawling with one of the other grooms. Let’s hope there’s no such grappling in Dating Naked UK, as that really would be unbecoming.

You can watch Dating Naked UK season 2 online from anywhere with a VPN and potentially for free.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Poor Luke Worley from Clacton is probably never going to live his MAFS UK season 8 ejection down, so he might as well try to learn from it. Plus, nobody applies to be on Dating Naked because their love life’s going to plan.

Take Keir, who’s drawn to bad boys against her better judgement and has paid the price over and over. Or Matt, who after a year of celibacy is just about fit to burst. A penny for the thoughts of Jordan’s mum. The semi-pro footballer says he applied for the show because his mum’s been on his back to settle down since 30 appeared on the horizon.

While nudity is well within Connor’s comfort zone, it’s the prospect of a serious relationship that sends chills running down his bare spine. And we have a philosopher in Nina, who cancels out her wild nights out with green juices and wellness retreats.

Read on as we explain how to watch Dating Naked UK season 2 from anywhere.

Unblock any stream with a VPN

If you’re keen to watch Dating Naked UK season 2 but you’re away from home and access to the show is geo-blocked, then you could always use a VPN to access it (assuming you’re not breaching any broadcaster T&Cs, of course). You may be surprised by how simple it is to do.

Use one of the best VPNs to watch Dating Naked UK from anywhere:

How to watch Dating Naked UK season 2 in the UK

How to watch Dating Naked UK season 2 in Canada

Dating Naked UK season 2 is exclusive to Paramount Plus in Canada, with a pair of episodes set to land every Friday, starting August 29.

A subscription costs CA$6.99 per month after a 7-day free trial.

Outside Canada when it airs? Simply use a VPN to watch from abroad.

Can you watch Dating Naked UK season 2 in the US?

Paramount Plus is home to Dating Naked UK in the US, but at the time of writing there’s no word on when season 2 will arrive. A subscription starts at $7.99 per month after a 7-day free trial.

In the meantime, a VPN will help you tune in if you’re an Brit or a Canadian traveling in the US. NordVPN is our recommended provider, and you can find out why with our in-depth NordVPN review.

Can you watch Dating Naked UK season 2 in Australia?

The first season of Dating Naked UK is available to stream on Paramount Plus in Australia, but plans for season 2 are under wraps at the time of publication. Prices start from $AU6.99 per month after a 7-day free trial.

Brits and Canadaians currently away from home can use a VPN to watch Dating Naked UK season 2 from abroad.

Dating Naked UK season 2 trailer

Dating Naked UK Series 2 | Official Trailer | Paramount+ UK & Ireland – YouTube

Watch On

Dating Naked UK season 2 cast

  • Amara, 28
  • Connor, 27, factory worker
  • Mani, 22
  • Jarrakeh, 28, creative artist
  • Jordan, 31, semi-pro footballer
  • Keir, 25
  • Kelsey, 26, car detailer
  • Luke, 32, business owner
  • Matt, 32
  • Nina, 29, party host

Can I watch Dating Naked UK season 2 for free?

Dating Naked UK isn’t free-to-air, but viewers in the UK and Canada can make use of the Paramount Plus 7-day free trial to tune in without charge.

Compare the best overall VPN services by price:

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.



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Wordle answers
Gaming Gear

Today’s Wordle clues, hints and answer for August 28 #1531

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These daily Wordles aren’t going to solve themselves, so let us help you work through them. You can make sure Thursday’s puzzle gets off to a great start with our clue for the August 28 (1531) game, and then peek at our hints if you need a little more guidance along the way. Not quite enough? Today’s answer will soon sort that out for you.

A clue for today’s Wordle

Stuck on today’s Wordle? Here’s a clue that pertains to the meaning of the word.

If you’re still just as stuck after our clue, scroll down for further hints.


Related articles

Hints for the August 28 (#1531) Wordle

Our Wordle hints will start vague so as to just give you a bit of a nudge in the right direction at first.

As you scroll down, they’ll offer more and more help towards figuring out today’s word without fully giving it away.

Are there any repeated letters in today’s Wordle?

Every space needs a brand new letter today.

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

You only need to uncover one vowel this time, so move on as soon as it turns up.

What letter does today’s Wordle begin with?

It’d be a great idea to open with an “S”.

Lots of great ideas and not enough rows free to test ’em all out? We’ve got just the thing you need.

The August 28 (#1531) Wordle answer is…

(Image credit: Josh Wardle)

This is it. No turning back now!

The solution to today’s Wordle puzzle is…

The meaning behind today’s Wordle answer

Whether it’s food, bills for food, or a relationship that couldn’t survive a discussion about splitting the bill for food, this is no longer whole.

Previous Wordle answers

Past Wordle answers can give you some excellent ideas for fun starting words that keep your daily puzzle-solving fresh. They are also a good way to eliminate guesses for today’s Wordle, as the answer is unlikely to be repeated.

Here are the last 10 Wordle answers:

  • August 18: ISSUE
  • August 19: ROWDY
  • August 20: LLAMA
  • August 21: EXTOL
  • August 22: RATTY
  • August 23: LEVEL
  • August 24: SPORE
  • August 25: MIRTH
  • August 26: ANNEX
  • August 27: TOWER

Learn more about Wordle 

(Image credit: Future)

How to play Wordle

Wordle’s a daily guessing game, where the goal is to correctly uncover today’s five letter word in six goes or less. An incorrect letter shows up as a grey box. A correct letter in the wrong space turns up yellow. And the correct letter in the right place shows up as green. There’s no time limit to worry about, and don’t forget that some letters might be used more than once.

Get better at Wordle!

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Generally you want to pick something with a good mix of common consonants and vowels in it as your Wordle opener, as this is most likely to return some early green and yellow letters. Words like SLATE, CHIME, and REACT all work, but feel free to find your own favourite.

Is Wordle getting harder?

(Image credit: Valve)

Wordle is not getting harder!

There will always be the occasional day where the answer is the name of a body part, has a sneaky double vowel, or a word obscure enough to send everyone rushing off to a dictionary. But the daily answers, edited by Tracy Bennett, are still a good mix of common terms and tougher challenges.

Remember that if you’re craving more of a challenge, you can enable Hard Mode under the ⚙️ options menu. This option doesn’t make the words themselves harder, but it requires that “any revealed hints must be used in subsequent guesses.”

How did Wordle begin?

Wordle is the creation of Josh Wardle, and began life as a small personal project before its public release in 2021. From there it’s gone on to become a global phenomenon, attracting a dedicated daily audience, billions of plays, a whole host of competitors, and even a seven-figure sale to the New York Times where it’s become a mainstay of daily games alongside the crosswords and Connections.



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Nearly Every Whale Shark at This Tourist Destination Bears Human-Made Scars
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Nearly Every Whale Shark at This Tourist Destination Bears Human-Made Scars

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The world’s largest living fish has plenty to fear from people. New research shows that a large proportion of whale sharks at a popular and protected tourism region bear scars caused by human activity.

A large group of marine scientists examined more than a decade’s worth of whale shark sightings in the Bird’s Head Seascape off Indonesia. Among other things, they found that over half of the sharks had injuries attributable to humans. Many of these injuries were preventable, the researchers say, and simple measures can be taken to ensure the safety of these gentle giants moving forward.

“[The] high percentage of injured whale sharks shows that even in protected zones, the whale shark interactions with fishing gear and tourism still pose risks to them,” study author Edy Setyawan, lead conservation scientist at the Elasmobranch Institute Indonesia, told Gizmodo.

An endangered giant

Befitting its nickname, the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is certainly hefty.

As adults, they commonly reach lengths between 30 and 40 feet (9 and 12 meters) and usually weigh around 18 tons; some get even larger. Despite their size, though, they’re no ferocious sea monster. These slow-moving fish are filter feeders that suck up their meals from the surrounding water. Though they can eat large and small marine organisms alike, they typically stick to microscopic plankton.

Whale sharks can be found in warm and tropical waters all over the world, but their numbers have dwindled dramatically in recent decades, and they’re classified as an endangered species. They face several human-made threats, including hunting, climate change, and bycatching (being unintentionally caught by fishing boats). And even with ongoing conservation efforts, their recovery has been slow, partly because it can take up to 30 years for the sharks to reach sexual maturity.

Common but avoidable harm

According to Edy Setyawan, previous studies looking at the population health of these sharks have been limited to short-term surveys or snapshots of a single location. In their new research, the team was able to analyze 13 years of sightings along the Bird’s Head Seascape (2010 to 2023) from four regions of the area.

The seascape is well known for its diversity and is estimated to contain three-quarters of the world’s coral species along with many other migrating species like the whale shark. The seascape is a popular destination for marine tourism and is covered by a network of 26 different Marine Protected Areas.

Though the researchers largely studied past data they themselves collected, they also relied on photos captured by tourism operators and citizen scientists. All told, they identified 268 unique whale sharks. Roughly 200 of these sharks sported visible injuries, they found. And of these, 80% had injuries determined to be human-caused (58.3% had injuries from natural causes, while some sharks had both).

On the positive side, severe injuries, including amputation, caused by humans were relatively rare (17.7%). The most common human-associated injuries were caused by sharks colliding into boats and bagans—floating platforms adorned with nets and lights used for fishing.

The team’s findings were published Thursday in Frontiers in Marine Science.

Fishing and marine tourism are important parts of the local economy, including whale shark sighting tours. And while the increasing popularity of these tours could lead to more injured sharks, the researchers argue this doesn’t have to be inevitable.

They lay out simple steps that can greatly cut down on whale shark injuries, such as stricter regulations that would compel bagan fishers and owners to remove the sharp edges from their platforms. Tourism-related measures, like limiting boat traffic, enforcing slow-speed zones, and promoting responsible diving and snorkeling practices, would further reduce harm, Setyawan said.

Not all the team’s findings are dire. They’ve learned a lot about these majestic aquatic beasts, including the main regions they reside within the seascape. Most of the sharks found there were also young juvenile males, suggesting the area is an important nursery habitat for the species.

They next plan to track the annual population trends of whale sharks living in the seascape via satellite tags, which should also help them answer important questions like whether these populations migrate elsewhere.



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Gaming Gear

Skate Hands-On Preview: I Think It Might Be the Perfect Free-to-Play Game

by admin


It’s been nearly a decade and a half since the last Skate game was released, but veterans won’t have to wait much longer to tear up the streets once again. The next entry in the arcade-y skateboarding series launches into early access on Sept. 16.

The franchise reboot (just named “Skate”) was developed by Full Circle, a studio composed of much of the same talent that worked on the original games.

After a long drought, skateboarding game fans have dined well on the compilation remakes of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2, along with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and 4. The Skate series has always been a bit different, emphasizing freeform skating with its unique control scheme of flicking the controller joysticks in different directions to achieve tricks, which has been faithfully rebuilt in the new game.

Even so, many fans of the series who would be otherwise excited for its return have their hackles raised, and I can’t blame them.

That’s because Skate is launching as a free-to-play, mainly online game in the “live service” fashion, with plans to continue releasing content for players to earn or buy. That might be a red flag for fans of the older offline single-player games, who may have grown weary of live service games that pressure players to play with limited-time events and to buy rare in-game items.

But after getting the chance to play Skate alongside dozens of other press members and influencers during an online prelaunch preview, I’m hopeful this might be one of the best examples of how live service games can work for developers and gamers alike. It feels like an experiment that developers poured their heart and soul into.

San Vansterdam is designed so that everything can be skated on. That includes food trucks, overpasses and more.

Full Circle

Community, collaboration and nailing tricks with your friends

The developer Full Circle aims to keep player freedom at the core of the new Skate game. The setting is the sprawling fictional city of San Vansterdam, designed to allow you to pull off whatever trick you want, wherever you want, whenever you want. Every street corner has some sort of attraction that implicitly encourages you to get big air, grind a long rail or climb a building to soar your board through the skies.

The game’s simple promise of letting players make their own fun at every juncture is a return to the series’ roots. The reason it works so well is that you’re surrounded by dozens of other players exploring the world, too.

Dumping 150 players into an open-world sandbox and letting them do their own thing is an inspired way to build a community. Skaters in real life are collaborative — they egg each other on and lift each other up as they work at the next big trick — and that applies to this virtual world just as well.

During my preview time in San Vansterdam, I played with only a couple of dozen other players at any given time, and it was an electric experience. It was awesome to watch skilled players pull off tricks (and then flounder to try and replicate their motions) before peeling off in another direction.

Locations like the church are natural hotspots of skater activity, drawing in many players at once.

Full Circle

Skate is the rare game where I didn’t feel like I needed an objective to guide my gameplay, mainly because I was having lots of stupid fun on my own. At one point, I discovered players rolling around off their boards, and I joined them in an impromptu tumbling conga line. Another time, I watched a player parkour up a building and followed their lead, discovering an entirely new area to do tricks above the hustle and bustle of the street.

My favorite moment was made possible by the new spectate feature. With this feature, I could watch nearby players do their thing and instantly teleport to them if I decided to join in on the action.

While I was flicking through perspectives, I discovered one player standing on top of a bridge in the northeast corner of the map. They were jumping off and ragdolling toward a bronze anchor statue, trying to thread the needle through the hole at the top.

I took part and made several dozen attempts at the base jump before making it through the hole myself, but not without my character slamming his head into the statue with a comically loud bang.

As Skate gets its early access release, I imagine an emerging community working together to find the most entertaining trick spots in San Vansterdam. The only thing more entertaining than trying to nail a trick is doing so while watching half a dozen randoms (and your friends) flounder around with you.

If you’re not afraid to get wacky, base jumping from buildings is a great way to make your own fun.

Full Circle

Will the game appeal to newcomers and veterans alike?

As a Skate first-timer and someone whose skateboarding experience mostly entails watching my brother learn to ollie and kickflip, I was worried that I might be in over my head.

Luckily, I was able to choose between the original dual-stick-flicking control scheme and a simpler, modern one that makes it easier to focus on landing tricks. There’s still a bit of a learning curve, but I was able to get on the board and nail some rudimentary moves to get me properly moving around the city after the tutorial wrapped up.

While I wasn’t the biggest fan of how my player character looked (he appeared soulless no matter how hard I tried to meddle with his face), I enjoyed how completing challenges in the open world would directly unlock more outfit options — though I suspect the best clothing will be locked to the purely cosmetic microtransactions that will support the game at launch.

As I donned a tangerine shirt and shorts and stuck a cherry pattern on my board, I felt like I was showing off my in-game experiences to other players. Likewise, their own avatar customization told me a story about their time with Skate.

While the world of San Vansterdam was built with player freedom in mind, the art style doesn’t reflect the Skate games that veterans have come to love and revere. Everything is minimalist, bright and sanitized. The city feels like it belongs in Mirror’s Edge rather than an arcade-style skateboarding game, a genre that embraces the grit and graffiti of street culture.

There are no realistic skateparks or grimy aqueducts to grind down. Gone are the Hall of Meat replays that would highlight gnarly bails and broken bones. And if you’re looking for familiar faces in the world of professional skateboarding, like those featured in the Tony Hawk games, you aren’t going to find them here.

Longtime fans will likely have their gripes with some of these choices, and those aren’t easy fixes. You can’t just change an entire art style on a whim, even if you can sign a deal to license pro skaters to feature in your game.

It remains to be seen if these will be deal-breakers for the vets, but I’ll say this much: Skate is made with a lot of love. The classic flick-it control scheme from the old games was rebuilt from the ground up just to cater to the old heads who want to play the same Skate they’ve known for years.

As an early access live service game, Skate has room to grow and develop according to its fans’ wants and needs. If Full Circle keeps an ear to the ground and addresses any pain points that arise early on, I think this may become a perennial fan-favorite.

Skate will be launched into early access on Sept. 16, releasing concurrently on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. The game will support cross-platform play and cross-progression.



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