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Product Reviews

September becomes an even more ridiculous month for releases as Hades 2 announces it’s dropping in 2 weeks

by admin September 12, 2025

Hades II – v1.0 Launch Trailer (Coming Sep. 25!) – YouTube

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In an event for something called the ‘Nintendo Switch,’ the well-coiffed businessmen took a break from hollering about Mario to drop a sly reveal: Hades 2’s full release date. It’s well, imminent: Hades 2 hits 1.0 this September 25, or 13 days from now. It’ll hit Switch at the same time, should you want to play it there.

You might actually want to, by the way, because one of the bells and whistles Supergiant’s bringing to the game on the 25th is cross-saves. “In v1.0, Hades II offers cross saves between the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 versions and the version here on Steam. If you’ve been playing in early access and wish to continue the journey on Nintendo’s game consoles, you’ll be able to transfer your save data through a simple in-game menu,” quoth the announcement post.

If you’re staring slack-jawed at the headline, swearing up and down that Hades 2 was already out, I don’t blame you. The game’s been in early access for over a year now, and was already good enough that our Harvey Randall made it his personal GOTY pick for last year.

So I have a sneaking suspicion the full release will probably be quite good, and no doubt we’ll be along with a review when the game goes full 1.0 to let you know in the hopefully unlikely event Supergiant somehow biffs it at the final hurdle.

I wonder if the devs are nervous—I feel like I can sense a little bit of that in the announce post. “Hades 2 is our team’s first-ever sequel, and we’ve been giving it everything we’ve got for more than four and a half years,” says Supergiant. “The result is the biggest game we’ve ever made, and one we hope you’ll find to be a worthy successor to its namesake.”

(Image credit: Supergiant Games)

I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t. But we’ll find out for sure when the Hades 2 full release hits Steam on September 25. Is it just me, or is this September absolutely buckwild, release-wise?

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September 12, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

If You’re a ‘Jaws’ Fan, Do Not Miss This New Exhibition

by admin September 12, 2025

For 50 years, audiences all over the world have watched and marveled at the brilliance of Jaws. It’s long been one of the true masterpieces in the history of movies and, starting next week, you’ll get to experience it in a way you never have before: by actually being in its presence. On September 14, the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, CA, is opening “Jaws: The Exhibition,” an unprecedented collection of over 200 items from the development, production, and release of the Steven Spielberg classic. And if you consider yourself a fan, you will not be able to contain your joy and amazement at what it entails.

io9 was invited to a press preview of the exhibit, which included opening remarks from Academy president Amy Homma, exhibit curator Jenny He, and Spielberg himself. The director regaled the audience with some stories from the making of the film (many of which are told in an equally excellent documentary released this year), but he also spoke of his amazement at what the exhibit actually had in store.

Spielberg spoke of “a collection of memories stimulated just in the last hour and a half by walking through the exhibition that they have so ingeniously assembled from the archives of collectors all over the world.”

These collectors “somehow knew something that I didn’t know,” the director continued. “I mean, why wouldn’t anybody… when we shot the opening scene of Chrissie Watkins being taken by the shark, and we had a buoy floating in the water, how did anybody know to take the buoy and take it home and sit on it for 50 years and then loan it to the Academy? How did they know? I didn’t know. I thought my career was virtually over halfway through production on Jaws.”

Well, you knew a little bit, Steven. Because, while yes, the buoy and much more were donated by private collectors, the exhibit is filled with pieces from Spielberg’s collection too. The exhibit has screen-used barrels from the Orca. It has the main character’s actual costumes. It has Hooper’s backpack, Quint’s beer, the shark cage, the spear, and Ben Gardner’s head. All original props that appear in the movie itself. Some are from private collectors, some are from the studio, and others are from Spielberg, but for all of them, being that close to something you’ve watched in a movie so many times is almost indescribable.

Here are a few of our favorite screen-used props from the exhibit. Click on each image to see it larger.

But that’s not all. Those props are spread across the multi-room space, which takes up the entire fourth floor of the museum and follows the narrative of the film as its structure. You enter through the seaweed of the opening credits and emerge on the beach. There, props and stories about the making of the opening greet you. Next, there’s Chief Brody’s house and objects from the town of Amity Island, all the way through the story of the film, culminating in a room with props from the Orca, a mechanical shark, and more.

Along the way, not only are there props, but there are also behind-the-scenes photos, script pages, concept art, and so much more. Plus, there are some super fun interactive things too. You can pose your arm to make it look like it was found chomped up on a beach. You can sit in the depths of the Orca and talk about scars. In the John Williams section, complete with some of the actual items he used during the writing and recording of the score, there’s a keyboard that shows you how to play his iconic theme. You can control a mechanical shark, and there’s even a place for you to do your own dolly zoom shot.

Using a QR code to access a webpage (see it here), you place your phone in the exhibit, and an employee gives you a dolly zoom, which you can then download on your phone. Here are a few highlights

Once you get through the film’s narrative, a room celebrates the legacy of Jaws since its release, with tickets from its premiere, all manner of merchandise, posters, and so much more. It’s not as extensive as other parts of the exhibit, but it’s a fond reminder of how the film has endured over the years. Be sure to make a stop in the gift shop before you leave, because there’s plenty of Jaws stuff for sale there too. Here’s a peek at some of that and just general signage.

As a massive fan of Jaws (and, really, who isn’t?), it was magical to stand in these spaces and look at the actual props and costumes from such an iconic movie. I’ve seen that arcade machine or that machete a million times watching Jaws. And now, I’m standing two feet from the same thing. It’s pretty fantastic.

“The fact that now, 51 years after the production and 50 years after it was released, people have a chance between now and July to come here to the Academy Museum and live for the first time some of the experiences I’m trying to relive for you here, I’m just so proud of the work they’ve done,” Spielberg said. “What they’ve put together here, this exhibition, is just awesome. Every room has the minutiae of how this picture got together and proves that this motion picture industry is really, truly a collaborative art form.”

“Jaws: The Exhibition” will be on display starting September 14 and will run through July 26, 2026. The museum has also announced that it has begun work on a retrospective covering Spielberg’s entire career that’s opening in 2028. And while that’s extremely exciting, and Spielberg has certainly made many incredible, unforgettable movies, I’m not sure anything will ever be as enduring as Jaws.

For more on the exhibit and museum, visit the Academy Museum website.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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September 12, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

8 Best Espresso Machines for Home (2025), Tested by Coffee Pros

by admin September 12, 2025

Compare the Top 8 Espresso Machines

Other Machines We Like

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

Meraki Espreso Machine for $2,000: Meraki is a young Hong Kong–based company. Last year it was still Kickstarting funds for its debut Meraki Espresso Machine. But the company started off with a bang, with a premium semiautomatic double-boiler machine offering features you don’t find even in machines that cost hundreds more. This means a Timemore grinder that’ll grind by weight within two-tenths of a gram precision. PID temperature control. Easy pre-infusion. A quiet rotary pump. Another scale under the brewer that lets you control output. A powerful steam wand that regulates the temperature of froth within about 3 degrees for whatever milk drinks strike your fancy. A tamper with satisfying heft, and a tamping station that feels like luxury. Frankly, despite having to overrotate the portafilter for proper fit, it’s a contender among our top picks—though I’m still testing durability on the device.

Ninja Cafe Luxe Premier for $599: Ninja has already released an upgraded Ninja Cafe Luxe Pro version ($750) after its espresso machine debut. But its first device, the Cafe Luxe Premier, is already a corker, a low-priced all-in-one with cold brew, coffee, espresso, excellent milk frothing, and unexpected luxury features like a built-in scale so the grinder can dose by weight. The device can feel either overstuffed or generous, depending on who you are. Either way this damn near unseated the Breville Barista Express as WIRED’s mid-tier top pick, aside from a few leaks and sensible caution about its durability.

De’Longhi La Specialista Opera for $900: Speaking of espresso makers that came running at Breville, this Opera is a beautifully forgiving semiautomatic machine that makes excellent espresso in the medium- to dark-roast range, with non-pressurized portafilter baskets that make for a nice and surprisingly subtle cup. It’s the best De’Longhi espresso machine I’ve tested, in many ways, among the semiautomatic camp. The Opera sports a lot of options—including dose and temperature control—while remaining refreshingly analog with its satisfying metal frame, metal buttons, and prominent pressure gauge. Cold brew is a perk for those who like milk. The grinder is decent, though its 15 settings might not offer enough sensitivity to pull the best from each roast. One could wish for a removable hopper and a sturdier tamping lever. But if you or your partner love cold coffee drinks or espresso martinis, this gives comparable Brevilles a strong run for the money.

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

De’Longhi La Specialista Touch for $1,000: De’Longhi’s new Touch, released this year, isn’t merely a touchscreen version of the very analog Opera—though it is just as handsome as the Opera. Instead, it offers a very specific set of trade-offs. Like De’Longhi’s Rivelia, there’s a bean-assist function that you can save for each bean you like. It’s also got a better steam wand, with the ability to read the temperature of the milk you’re steaming, as you steam it. In fact, it’s maybe more intuitive overall, and offers. But it doesn’t quite offer the easy customization on temperature, shot time, or ratios. The cold brew is not quite as well-dialed as the Opera. The Touch is an Italian machine on training wheels, designed for Italian-style medium to dark shots. This should work for most people, but minus a pressure bar or a shot timer, it can also feel like a bit of a black box.

La Marzocco Linea Mini for $6,600: WIRED reviewer Julian Chokkattu spent two weeks with the La Marzocco’s Linea Mini, a home version of the fancy espresso machines you’ll see in coffee shops around the world. The price may be eye-searing, but Chokkattu did find the resulting elixir to be absolutely fantastic—and the same went for La Marzocco’s customer service while Chokkattu was dialing in his machine. It offers a lot of room for experimentation, and sports a killer cool-touch steam wand that froths milk in seconds.

Photograph: Delonghi

De’Longhi Stilosa for $144: The Stilosa was our top budget pick for years. It’s still a good budget pick, and it often goes on sale for less than $100. You’re not going to get high-end features like a pressure gauge or built-in grinder, and it’s a little plasticky. But what the Stilosa does provide is everything you need to make great espresso at home: a solid portafilter, a reliable steam pump, and a steaming wand. It is a little light, so you’ll want to brace it when you mount and dismount the portafilter (or it might slide around on you). After brewing cup after cup of espresso, the Stilosa never showed signs of slowing or breaking down the way many inexpensive machines can. In fact, we’re now revisiting the Stilosa as our budget pick, after catching a few tips on how to use the Stilosa for light roast espresso.

Photograph: Breville

Breville Barista Express Impress for $800: This espresso machine is the more tricked-out sibling of the Breville Barista Express. It includes more grind and dosing settings and automates some of the more complicated parts of brewing consistently good espresso, like getting just the right amount of beans ground per shot.

Photograph: Amazon

Breville Dual Boiler for $1,600: The previous-generation Breville Dual Boiler is an absolute tank of an espresso machine. It’s huge. It’s heavy. It makes amazing espresso. But while its size makes brewing espresso feel luxurious, it does eat up a lot of space and needs a little time to heat up, versus newer Brevilles like the Oracle Jet that favor thermoblock-style heaters. But a dual boiler does mean you can brew shot after shot, with steamed milk and hot water at the same time, without having to wait in between shots. We’re now testing the new Breville Oracle Dual Boiler ($3,000)—the next-generation device with hybrid heating systems, no wait times, and a modern set of powerful features.

Cuisinart EM-160 Slim for $250: The lowest-cost espresso maker from Cuisinart’s new espresso line is among the slimmer espresso machines out there, less than 7 inches across. This makes it a treasure for certain kitchens. The espresso quality is about what you’d expect from a pressurized portafilter: smoother, less nuanced, but also pretty forgiving for beginners trying to dial in a bean. This’ll be best for those who mix milk with their espresso. Same goes for the fast-dripped “cold espresso” option, which takes a couple minutes to complete and comes out a bit tannic, but mixes well with cold milk or a lot of ice. You’ll need a grinder if you don’t want sad supermarket beans.

Photograph: Superkop

Superkop Manual Espresso for $800: This manual espresso machine is technically not a Jackie Chan movie. The Superkop is instead a quite finely engineered espresso device. It looks pretty, and unlike other manual espresso machines you don’t need a strong arm to use it. So if you want to pull espresso, but not pull it hard, the Superkop is your huckleberry. That said, $800 is a lot of money for a manual device. Buy it if you know you’ll love it.

Also Tried

Cuisinart EM-640 Espresso Bar for $600: Cuisinart rolled in with some ambition on this semiautomatic espresso machine, with a built-in grinder and a non-pressurized, bottomless portafilter meant to play in the same sandbox as Breville’s top devices. Alas, I really couldn’t get consistency on either dosing or grinding from the device’s built-in grinder—and the system for customizing the dose in particular was mostly wild guesswork. This all added up to botched shots, wild spray from the portafilter, and none of the ease one wants from a semiautomatic.

Photograph: Delonghi

De’Longhi La Specialista Arte Evo for $750: This semiautomatic De’Longhi La Specialista Arte Evo comes with a built-in burr grinder makes great espresso right out of the box, and is slimmer than other espresso machines in its category, It does have quirks: It includes a little plastic adapter needed to attach the portafilter to the grinder spout, and a little stepstool for your espresso cup to keep the coffee from splashing. It’s a good machine, but I’d upgrade to the Opera any day of the week.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do We Select and Test Espresso Machines?

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Over the past decade, WIRED has tested dozens of espresso makers to find our favorites. The process, in part, is simple. We brew a whole lot of coffee. I’ve written about coffee for more than a decade on both the East and West Coasts, including my hometown coffee mecca of Portland, Oregon. Other current and past WIRED espresso testers—who include former baristas and longtime coffee writers—include Jaina Grey, Jeffrey Van Camp, Kat Merck, Tyler Shane, Pete Cottell, and Scott Gilbertson.

On each machine that’s capable, I make and assess at least four drinks, on multiple roasts and beans: a basic 2:1 espresso, an Americano, a latte, and a cappuccino. On machines that advertise a wacky array of drinks, I test each one. This includes any newfangled coldspresso and head-scratching variations on a “long.” It also includes, if science dictates, espresso martinis. And I test to see whether a machine can be dialed to both dark roasts and lighter roasts.

I might make many dozens of coffees to dial in a machine and truly understand it. (Sometimes, alas, you understand a machine’s shortcomings far sooner.)

I test whether the hot water spout splatters, whether descaling requires a degree in hydrology, whether the brewing temperature is consistent, and whether the latte milk gets silked. I’m truly terrible at latte art, but whether it’s possible is a straightforward test of the body of the frothed milk. I test the airier foam of cappuccinos and compare manual and automatic milk frothing on machines that try to froth milk for you. I test how fast the wand steams and whether it’s easy to fully integrate milk before the dang thing starts to burn your milk.

On machines with built-in grinders, I both assess the grind and weigh the dose—and then weigh it again. And then again. Consistency is the hobgoblin of little cups. I also test multiple grind settings to make sure the grind is consistent.

On any semiautomatic machine that decide the shot size for you, I test this to see whether you’re getting a ristretto or a lungo by default. Then I resolve never to say the word “lungo” again.

I don’t generally take apart the machines I’m sent, but I do quite often look up videos of people who do—and look at how the thing’s constructed under the hood.

How We Select and Evaluate Our Top Espresso Machine Picks

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In part, we select machines to test by looking at the espresso makers with long track records of making good espresso machines—people with long tails in the industry and good track records of customer support. Names like Breville, De’Longhi, La Marzocco, and Rancilio. But also, I listen. I read. I ask every coffee-obsessive in my life. I pay attention to the newest releases, follow trade shows, watch Youtube videos, and spend a lot of time tracking down not just the obious big names but the unexpected recommendations.

What I’m looking for is nuance, aromatics, beauty, sensitivity to the characteristics of each bean, and the satisfying texture of fully integrated milk. But also, I’m looking for ease, the thoughtful touches that make an espresso maker something you can fall in love with.

Espresso isn’t just a finicky process: It’s finicky by design. The most sensitive and sophisticated traditional machines are responsive to every tiny variation in the coffee grind and every fluctuation in the water temperature. The deepest bean geeks want this: They want the control, the frustration, the vision quest.

But I also know that most of you out there aren’t looking to be in an abusive relationship with your coffee machine. Few want to wake up to feelings of inadequacy, brought on by a machine that costs as much as a used car. And so I look for is the espresso machines that can pull lovely character from each bean, but also make this easy on you.

This means that our top picks, the ones I recommend to most people, tend to fall in the semiautomatic camp: They’re the ones that offer the best coffee, with the least effort. Finding this balance is delicate and often rewarding. It used to be a built-in grinder was a recipe for blown shots, sadness, or pressurized portafilters with less character. But year by year, espresso machine makers get better at this goal.

The lowest-cost machines I recommend tend to offer more forgiving pressurized filter baskets as options, even though these sacrifice a bit of nuance for forgiveness, because I don’t want to assume you’re pairing a $200 espresso machine with a $2,000 coffee grinder. Although I know some of you do this, especially with our beloved Breville Bambino.

But hey, if you’re a tinkerer for life, and want to join modding groups? We recommend a machine for you, too. Mostly so you can disagree on Reddit, and explain why your favorite is better.

What Beans Are Best for Espresso?

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First off, there’s no such thing as “espresso beans,” whatever it says on the bag you buy. Espresso beans are coffee beans, ground finely enough to be pressed into service as espresso.

But traditionally, espresso is made with darker-roast beans that best elicit the deep, chocolatey notes of classic Italian espresso. In fact, most machines you use are probably designed with darker roast beans in mind: Darker beans grind easier, extract easier, and are a bit more homogeneous across the market. And so when someone writes “espresso roast” or “espresso blend” on their grind, that’s often what they mean.

Does that mean dark roast is the only espresso? Of course not. Modern craft and premium coffee roasters in the United States have begun trnding toward medium and medium-dark roasts that offer a bit more balance, character, and even a little acidity—beans that have more aromatics, and more individuality. Some, including me, love experimenting with truly light roasts, including the lightest of natural-processed beans that let me brew up espresso that tastes like strawberries.

It’s up to you. But note that the lighter the roast, the more you’ll need to adjust grind and temperature to accommodate—and sometimes even go off-script entirely. But the classic recommendations for espresso? Pulling a 25 to 30-second shot, at a steady 9 bars of pressure, at a 2:1 ratio for a standard shot? These were all designed for traditional darker-roast beans.

One thing that’s true, however, is that you should use fresh beans. They’ll taste better and more aromatic, sure: But stale beans exposed to oxygen also make it technically difficult to make good espresso: they’ve begun to break down, often allow channeling, and are likely to lead to a less evenly extracted shot with funny off flavors.

Obviously, fresh beans are easiest to obtain from a local roaster, and on the plus side you’ll be able to ask the baristas there how best to make espresso from their beans. But when in doubt in a supermarket, look for a roast date on the bag. If you can’t find it, or if your beans were roasted in Italy and sent on a ship? Chances are they’re not overly fresh. And your espresso will be worse.

Espresso Accessories That Make for Great Cups

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If you’re spending this much on an espresso machine, you’ll want to invest in a good grinder and even a scale, as well as a few other devices that make your shots better, and your life a little easier.

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

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WIRED

Innovative fine-tuning for espresso, drip and French press alike
Precise grinds, with clarity of flavor
Built like a tank. Best value proposition overall

TIRED

Not a looker, really
No auto-shutoff

An espresso-capable grinder: If your espresso machine doesn’t come with a grinder, you’ll need one. Pre-ground bag beans are especially difficult to use when making espresso, and will likely lead to off flavors or channeling. But not just any grinder will do. You’ll need a good grinder that can grind consistent beans finely enough for espresso. WIRED’s top-pick Baratza Encore ESP is always a good pick—positioned squarely at the fulcrum where more expensive grinders begin to offer diminishing returns.

Photograph: Amazon

Cozy Blue

Coffee Scale with Timer

An accurate scale with a timer: Most grinders, and a goodly portion of espresso machines, do not offer a precise scale. But a precise scale is what you need to get espresso ratios right. WIRED reviewer Julian Chokkattu loves the Acaia brew-by-weight scale ($400) that automatically connects to the De’Longhi Linea Mini and a few other devices via its companion app. But a far less sophisticated scale can still help you measure your shot size, and control the dose you want on each espresso shot. If you’re not precious about beauty, there’s always this low-cost, little no-name scale It’s accurate to the tenth of a gram, and has a timer to boot.

Photograph: Pete Cottell

The best knockbox: When you’re done with that portafilter filled with coffee grounds, what do you do with it? Beat it against the side of a trashcan? Dig out those grounds into the sink? Nah. You need a good knock box. And somehow this jobby-job from Breville is the best one I’ve ever found. It’s sturdy, the cross bar is in the right spot so that the grinds dump cleanly into the bin, and the bottom has enough grip the box doesn’t scoot around on the counter. Simplicity is competence.

Photograph: Pete Cottell

Not all steaming pitchers are created equal, notes WIRED reviewer (and former barista) Pete Cottell. As opposed to the sad piece of alumininum that probably came with your espresso maker, this Brewista offers thick walls for heat retention, a precision tip for expert latte pour, and a thermometer sticker on its side so you can get a rough gauge of milk temperature without hunting down an actual thermometer. It can also take a beating. This is your new frothing pitcher.

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September 12, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

The best laptop power banks for 2025

by admin September 12, 2025

If you travel or sometimes work away from your desk, a laptop power bank may come in handy. These larger portable chargers pack enough power to refill a phone multiple times, a tablet a couple times over and get most laptops from near-dead to work-ready in around an hour. Over the past few years, I’ve tested dozens of batteries for our power banks guide and a number of them make great options for laptops. These are the best laptop power banks based on our testing, along with a bit of info on how to fly with a portable battery and what to look for in a good one.

Best laptop power banks for 2025

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Capacity: 27,000 mAh, 99.9 Wh | Ports: One USB-C in/out, two USB-A out and three wireless pads | Cable included: USB-C to USB-C and wall adapter | Charge time iPhone 15: 5 to 100% in 2h 56m (wireless) 5 – 100% 2h 22m (wired) | Remaining charge after iPhone: ~ 81% | Charge time Galaxy S23 Ultra: 5 to 100% in 1h 20m | Remaining charge after S23 Ultra: ~ 77% | Charge time iPad Air: 5 to 100% in 1h 55m | Remaining charge after iPad: ~ 64% | Charge time MacBook Pro: 10% to 89% in 1h 18m

Traveling is one of the top reasons people need to use a portable laptop charger — planes, trains, buses and airports aren’t exactly the easiest places to find a power source. Lion Energy’s Eclipse Mag battery pack has a big 27,000 capacity, which is enough to power a laptop through a couple days of use. I also like how its three wireless charging pads cut down on cable chaos, letting you charge a Qi-enabled phone, earbuds case and Apple Watch at the same time.

You certainly could charge all three of those accessories and a laptop at one time, but as with all batteries, that increased drain will quickly empty it and your charge times will slow down quite a bit. From what I’ve seen, the unit works best as an as-needed power supply when you’re out and about, then, after a recharge, it can moonlight as a three-in-one wireless charger in your hotel room. You can even rely on the pass-through charging capabilities to power up the battery while using the wireless pads, making it a sort of travel-ready multi-device charger.

At two pounds, no one would call this light, but the angled corners and narrow design make it feel more compact than other big batteries. There’s no display to tell you how much charge is left, just four lighted pips at one edge, but I found them to provide a fairly accurate estimate. One thing to note is that the wireless watch pad only works with Apple Watches. Since Pixel watches don’t support wireless charging and Samsung only recommends its own chargers for Galaxy Watches, that’s not surprising.

The only other drawback is the single USB-C port. The three wireless pads and the two USB-A ports will likely be enough for a days’ work, but one more type-C port would be ideal. Compared to other 27,000 maAh battery packs, the $174 price tag on the Eclipse Mag is a decent deal — and it even comes with a five-year warranty.

Pros

Wireless charging is convenient for travel
Compact design for such a large battery
Delivers a fast, 79 percent charge to a large laptop
5-year warranty

Cons

Heavy
No display
Could use one more USB-C port

$174 at Lion Energy

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

If you try (and sometimes succeed in) packing as light as possible when travelling, you may want to look for battery packs with built-in cables. This Anker laptop power bank sports two built-in USB-C cables: one attached to the side of the battery that doubles as a carrying strap and another retractable cord that extends up to two feet. Both can accommodate in/out charges so you can use them to refill a device or reup the battery itself.

The brick has a display to tell you the amount of charge remaining, as well as the output wattage that’s funneling towards your devices from each port. When refilling the battery, you can see an estimate of how long it will be until the unit is full. Calculating and displaying info like that takes up a bit of power but, in my testing, the battery output the same or a higher amount of charge compared with other 25,000 mAh packs.

This 25,000 mAh model replaces our previous pick in this category, the 27.5K Prime model, which was compatible with Anker’s convenient charging base. While this model isn’t, I feel the included cables provide more convenience. It also sells for $80 less than our prior choice. True, it delivers a bit less charge than that older bank, but a 70 percent charge for a 16-inch MacBook Pro is still a considerable refill.

Pros

Handy built-in cables
Display tells you how much charge remains
Delivers a quick charge from its large capacity

$120 at Amazon

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

I hadn’t even heard of Baseus before I started testing products for these guides. But after reading the many positive reviews, I gave a few of the brand’s offerings a try and have been repeatedly impressed by their value-to-performance ratio. The Baseus Blade is a compact and flat battery that weighs just over a pound. The shape is more tablet-like than the standard block of most power banks, which makes it easier to slide into a backpack or messenger bag alongside a laptop — it’s also the lightest of the banks I tried in this capacity category.

The display underestimates the amount of charge left, which is always better than the alternative. When the Blade was down to just one percent, it gave my laptop a few more percentage points before giving up the ghost. It has two USB-C and two USB-A ports along with little feet at the bottom that keep from moving around as you plug charging cables into it. The speeds were admirable, clocking in just a few minutes longer than batteries with larger capacities.

That’s the main trade off here: At 20,000 mAh, it’s not going to deliver the same amount of charge as a bigger bank. It boosted my 16-inch MacBook Pro from 10 percent to 62 percent, which is about 20 percentage points lower than the bigger batteries could do. But for $100, it’s still a speedy portable charger with a convenient shape and a good number of ports.

Pros

Great value
Charges devices quickly
Sleek design is easy to carry along with your laptop
Two USB-C ports

Cons

Lower capacity than other laptop power banks

$100 at Amazon

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Capacity: 25,600 mAh, 95Wh | Ports: One USB-C in/out, one USB-C out, one USB-C in, two USB-A, one AC port, one solar input and one wireless pad | Cable: USB-C to USB-C | Charge time iPhone 15: 0 to 100% in 1h 49m | Remaining charge after iPhone: 83% | Charge time Galaxy S23 Ultra: 5 to 100% in 1h 3m | Remaining charge after S23 Ultra: 77% | Charge time iPad Air: 4 to 100% in 2h 11m | Remaining charge after iPad: 62% | Charge time MacBook Pro: 6% to 72% in 1h 21m

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: Goal Zero’s Sherpa 100AC costs $250. That makes it the most expensive power bank I’ve tested so far. But it’s a high-quality unit that gives you what you pay for. There’s a wireless charging pad up top, three USB-C ports (though one is input only), plus a couple of USB-A ports, an AC port and an 8mm port that can pair up with a Goal Zero solar panel or 12V adapter cable to recharge from your car. There’s even an internal fan to keep everything cool as it deals with all the output and a status display you can turn on or off.

Goal Zero is probably best known for its outdoor-focused power products — power stations for camping, portable solar panels and camping lights, to name a few. The Sherpa has the same rugged/industrial aluminum unibody design, which would make it an ideal productivity companion for field work. I could see this coming in handy for outdoor photo shoots, job-site projects or just snagging some nature-side office hours.

The ability to recharge from a car’s 12V port or even from solar panels is another nice-to-have, but of course, you’ll need extra equipment. In the case of the car charger, that’s another $40, but the solar panels will add another $250 to your mobile set up. If you find yourself working out in the field relatively often you might appreciate the flexibility.

Pros

Wireless charging pad and an AC port
Can recharge from solar or a car’s 12V port (with accessories)
Accurate status display
Rugged design

$250 at Amazon

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Mophie’s Powerstation Pro AC is a bit of a beast, weighing over two pounds and hitting the upper limit of the TSA’s 100-watt-hour battery limit (I flew with it twice and never had any issue, though). It even has a handle strap to help lug it around. There’s one USB-A port and two USB-C connections, one with a lower 20W rating and one that can deliver 60W. Then there’s the AC port.

The AC port on any portable charger is a novel thing to have; as mentioned previously, it’s the USB-C port that should power your laptop because it makes no sense to convert a portable battery’s charge twice. That said, if you need to power a light, a portable printer or some other appliance that only has a standard two-prong plug, this port will come in handy. Just be sure to hold down the status button to enable the AC function.

Mophie’s pack has enough juice to give a smartphone three to four charges, fill an iPad twice with a charge left over and it can charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro from 10 percent to 75 percent in under 90 minutes, while in use. The four lighted LED indicators aren’t the best: I found it cycled through the last two dots far quicker than the first two, which might make you think you have more charge left than you actually do.

Pros

Massive 27,000mAh capacity
Has an AC outlet and two USB-C ports

Cons

Expensive
No status display
Lighted pips don’t accurately indicate remaining charge

$200 at Zagg

UGreen

UGreen’s 25,000mAh power bank is a compact, low-frills bank that delivers a speedy charge to smartphones — my tester iPhone 15 in particular. I clocked a refill from four percent to full in about an hour and a half. That’s among the faster speeds from any power bank I’ve tested and is thanks to its 145W max output. It performed on par with other bricks when it came to refilling a Galaxy Ultra, iPad Air and MacBook Pro.

A small digital display indicates the amount of charge left and it tested accurately. There are just three ports — two USB-C and one Type-A — but that’s more than enough to handle a laptop and a smartphone at the same time, if you must. But I’ve found portable chargers work best when handling just one device at a time. Adding an extra device seems to drain it quicker than charging one then another.

Upon its debut, the UGreen Power Bank 25,000mAh went for $120 so the value wasn’t quite there. But now it’s been reduced to an MSRP of $100 and is regularly on UGreen’s site and Amazon for around $75. I’ve noticed some in-stock issues, but if you can find it, snap it up. It’s a high-performing, low-frills battery with a surprising amount of oomph for its compact size.

$66 at Amazon

What to look for in a laptop power bank

Flying with a laptop power bank

Most portable batteries top out at around 27,000mAh so you can fly with them. The TSA currently limits the capacity carry-on batteries to 100Wh, which works out to around 27,500mAh for 3.6 volt lithium-ion batteries. Note that you’re not allowed to pack any batteries in your checked luggage, regardless of capacity. The TSA rules are intended to limit fire danger — and some airlines are implementing further restrictions due to recent on-board incidents.

In March 2025, a Hong Kong flight was grounded after a battery pack caught fire in an overhead bin. A similar situation happened in July on a domestic Delta flight, and again in August on a transatlantic KLM flight. As a result, some airlines, including Emirates, Southwest and others have announced further restrictions on flying with battery packs.

Rules include limiting the number of allowed portable chargers and requiring flyers to keep power banks in clear view when using them to recharge a device. If the battery pack isn’t actively in use, however, most rules allow them to stay in your carry-on bag in the overhead bin. Before flying, it’s wise to check your airline’s policies.

Capacity

If you just need to keep a smartphone from dying before you can make it home, just about any of the best power banks will do. But if you need to revive multiple devices or the substantial battery of a laptop, you’ll want something with a high milliamp-hour (mAh) capacity. A power bank capable of delivering enough power to a laptop will have a capacity between 20,000 and 27,000 mAh.

If you want something even bigger than a laptop power bank, and don’t need to fly with it, you’ll likely want to look into portable power stations. These can be the size of a car battery or larger and can potentially fuel an entire weekend away.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the capacity listed in a power bank’s specs is not what will be delivered to your devices. As I mentioned, the capacity of these banks is around 25,000mAh. Even the huge battery on a 16-inch MacBook Pro or a Dell XPS 16 has a mAh rating of around 5,000 – 6,000mAh, so you might think you’d get five full charges but in reality, you only get about a single 70-percent charge. The voltage is different (typically 3.7V for the power bank and 11.4V for a laptop) which makes the watt-hours, or the amount of energy each battery can hold, different (working out to 92Wh for the battery and 72Wh for the built-in laptop batteries). On top of that, in order to feed a charge from a power bank to a laptop, a voltage conversion takes place and that dissipates a decent amount of energy.

Without turning this into a physics lesson, this all means that a power bank with a 25,000mAh (or 92Wh) capacity will typically fill a 5,000mAh (or 72Wh) laptop battery to about 75 percent. In my tests, I averaged about a 60-percent efficiency rate between a power bank’s listed capacity and the actual charge delivered.

Ports

Every large power bank I’ve tested has at least three USB ports, with a mix of USB-C and USB-A, which should cover nearly any portable device you need to recharge — earbuds, phones, tablets, laptops, you name it. In addition to the different plug formats, some ports supply power at different wattages. For example, one built-in USB-C port might be rated for 60 watts, while the one next to it is rated for 100 watts. So if you’ve got a device that’s capable of 70W fast charging, such as the new MacBook Air, you’d want to opt for the 100W port to get the best charging speeds possible.

Note that devices with a smaller wattage draw won’t be negatively affected by connecting to ports with high ratings. For example, a Galaxy S24 Ultra, capable of 45W super fast charging, is perfectly compatible with the 100W port. A device will only draw what it can take, regardless of what a port can supply. Just remember that the port, device and charging cable need to be at or above the desired wattage rating to achieve maximum charging rates.

Some of these larger batteries also have AC ports. It might seem like a natural fit to plug in your laptop’s power adapter for a recharge. But really, the AC port should only be for devices that can’t use USB — such as a lamp or a printer. Plugging a power adapter into the AC port only wastes energy through conversion. First, the battery converts its DC power to supply the port with AC power, then the power adapter converts that AC power back to DC so your laptop can take it in. And as you’ll remember from physics class, each time energy is converted, some is lost to heat and other dissipations. Better to cut out the middleman and just send that DC power straight from the battery to the device.

Also, you can use more than one port at a time with these devices; just remember that the speed of whatever you’re charging will likely go down, and of course, the battery is going to drain proportionally to what you’re refilling.

Wireless charging

Just in the last year and a half that I’ve been testing portable power banks, wireless charging capabilities have noticeably improved. The first few I tried were painfully slow and not worth recommending. Now the wireless pads built into power banks are impressively fast — particularly, in my experience, when charging Samsung Galaxy phones (though the lack of a stabilizing magnetic connection like Apple’s MagSafe means they only work when rested flat on a pad). Most wireless charging connections can be used while other ports are also being employed, making them convenient for some mobile battlestation setups.

Of course, wireless charging is always less efficient than wired, and recharging from an external battery is less efficient in general. If you want to waste as little energy as possible, you’re better off sticking to wired connections.

Design

All power banks are designed to be portable, but there’s a big difference between a pocket-friendly 5,000mAh battery and one of these laptop-compatible bruisers. Most of the latter weigh between a pound and a half to two pounds, which is a considerable addition to a backpack. Many of the options listed here have a display to tell you how much charge remains in the battery, which is helpful when you’re trying to judiciously meet out charges to your devices. If a bank has a wireless connection, the pad is usually on the flat top and any available AC connection is usually at one end. Both may require you to engage those charging methods. Don’t be like me and grumble loudly that you got a bum unit without pressing (and sometimes double pressing) all the buttons first.

How we test portable laptop chargers

For the past two years, I’ve been testing and using dozens of portable batteries for our other battery guide. Some of those batteries include the higher-capacity power banks you see here. I also got a hold of a few extra banks just for this guide to make sure we covered what’s available. I went for brands I’m already familiar with, as well as battery packs from well-received manufacturers I hadn’t tried before (like UGREEN and Lion Energy). I only considered banks with at least a 20,000mAh capacity and mostly stuck with those that rated 25,000mAh and higher.

Here’s everything we tested:

I tested each power bank with an Apple phone (iPhone 15), an Android phone (Galaxy S23 Ultra), a tablet (M1 iPad Air) and a laptop (16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro chip). Even though these banks can charge multiple devices at once, I refilled one at a time, to make side-by-side comparisons more straightforward. I drained the batteries of the phones and tablets to between zero and five percent and then didn’t use any device as it refilled.

For the MacBook, I let it run down to 10 percent before plugging in the power bank. That’s when most laptops give display a “connect to power” warning, as draining any battery to empty will compromise the battery life. I then used it as one might in a mobile office, with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, while connected to Wi-Fi and a VPN.

For each test, I noted how long a completely charged battery took to get a device back to full and how much of the battery’s capacity was used up in one charge. I also noted things like portability, apparent durability, helpful features and overall design.

For reference, here are the battery capacities of the devices I used:

Galaxy S23 Ultra: 4,855mAh
iPad Air (5th gen): 7,729mAh
16-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro: 27,027mAh

Other laptop power banks we tested

HyperJuice 245W

Hyper’s HyperJuice 245W brick looks great and has a hefty 27,000mAh capacity. The four USB-C ports can combine to output 245W of power and it got my MacBook Pro from nearly dead to 75 percent before depleting itself. When testing it with a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, the handset got back up to a full charge in just over an hour. The screen tells you what each port is doing as well as displaying the amount of charge remaining in the pack itself.

But the lack of port variety makes it feel less versatile than other picks on this list — the price is higher than our other options, too.

Laptop power bank FAQs

How do laptop power banks differ from phone power banks?

The main difference is size. Phone power banks tend to have a capacity ranging from 5,000mAh to 20,000mAh and laptop powerbanks are typically rated between 20,000mAh and 27,000mAh. There’s no official definition, however. Laptop batteries are simply larger and need a bigger supply of power to give them a meaningful charge.

How do you fast charge a power bank?

You can charge a power bank exactly as fast as the power bank’s internal mechanisms will allow. Most batteries are limited in how quickly they can accept and deliver a charge to avoid dangerously overheating. But to make sure you’re charging a bank as quickly as possible, make sure the wall adapter and the USB-C cable you are using have a high wattage rating — using a 5W power brick and a 10W cable will take a lot longer to refill your bank than a 65W wall charger and a 100W cord.

What size power bank do I need for a laptop?

Look for a power bank with a rating of at least 20,000mAh. Slightly smaller batteries may work, but they won’t deliver a significant charge laptops.

How many mAh to charge a laptop?

A milliamp hour (mAh) is how much a battery can hold, and most portable batteries list their capacity using mAh. If you get a battery rated at 20,000mAh or above, it should be able to charge your laptop.

Using mAh to discuss laptop batteries can be confusing. Due to differing voltages, you can’t directly compare the mAh ratings of a power bank battery to a laptop battery. Using watt-hours is a better gauge, as that calculation takes voltage into account.

Recent updates

August 2025: Changed our runner up travel pick for a new Anker battery. Updated information about flying with power banks. Added a section about other batteries we tested.

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September 12, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Holiday gaming plans in shambles as Slay the Spire 2 gets delayed to March 2026

by admin September 12, 2025

Slay the Spire 2, the sequel to one of the defining PC games of the last decade, is going to be late—and the developers swear it’s not because of Hollow Knight: Silksong.

“We got together as a team to determine our new release window before Silksong’s date was announced,” Mega Crit’s community manager wrote in an update on Steam today. “The timing just worked out like that, but on the bright side, everyone can keep busy playing Silksong during the wait!”

It’s a tongue-in-cheek way to frame the delay, since Slay the Spire 2 didn’t yet have a set release date—it was previously announced to be coming sometime before the end of 2025. That’s now moved to an as-yet-unspecified Thursday in March 2026, a target Mega Crit says it’s “confident [it] can hit.” The only real reason for the delay? They keep making more game.

“Compared to Slay the Spire 1’s early access launch (and for that matter its final 2.0 form) this new sequel has a lot more content that we can’t wait to share with you,” the update adds. “In addition, we want to make sure we’re upholding the quality bar that both we and the gaming community have come to expect for early access titles.”

Mega Crit offered up a juicy example of the broader scope it’s aiming for in Slay the Spire 2: every time you reach a new act during a run, you’ll be presented with two branches which “differ radically in their environments, enemies, events, and bosses, all of which greatly increase the variety of gameplay between runs.”

Act 1’s “B route,” the Underdocks (Image credit: Mega Crit Games)

Act one begins with two possible paths through Overgrowth (“a lush, tangled ruin with much of its fauna resembling mystical woodland creatures and sentient flora that might just eat you alive”) and Underdocks (“a miry waterway connected to the Spire’s sewer system, from which all manner of mutant sea creatures and vagrants might emerge”). Acts two and three will see their own alternate paths added during early access.

Sounds like we have some increasingly complicated buildcrafting and route-planning in our futures. But if you too were planning to use Slay the Spire 2 as the primary means by which to ignore friends and family over the holiday break in an all-encompassing deckbuilding fugue: I hope this news doesn’t hit you too hard. At least Monster Train 2 is real good.

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September 12, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Someone Finally Got the Note and Fixed This ‘Beetlejuice’ Sign

by admin September 12, 2025

If you’re a movie prop replica collector, you know exactly which Beetlejuice sign we’re talking about.

For years, as a Beetlejuice decor hunter, there has been one item I refused to buy on principle because it had one glaring mistake: it was not in-universe accurate. I’ve bought the Adam and Barbara monster face hanging decor, the inflatable Sandworm for my lawn, and the “Here Lies Betelgeuse” tombstone—but never the iconic light-up sign due to the fact that it always featured the ghost with the most’s name spelled wrong.

Here’s what I mean. On the left, the scene from Beetlejuice; on the right, the old version of the sign from Spirit Halloween:

The spelling of Beetlejuice’s name has long been a point of contention. Tim Burton’s classic film spells its title Beetlejuice. But within the movie, Michael Keaton’s wisecracking dead guy always spells it “Betelgeuse.” It’s seen on the lighted sign, the tombstone, and the flyer the Maitland family finds.

Whether it was an oversight or products simply going with the recognizable spelling, it always bugged me that the licensed replicas were technically incorrect. And in my household, we love to collect in-universe-specific items, so when we built up our Beetlejuice decor, we never bought the sign—or any other item that featured the “Beetlejuice” spelling when it should have been “Betelgeuse.”

So you can imagine my surprise when, perusing the Spirit Halloween website, I noticed the change we film snobs have been waiting for in this, our year 2025:

Here it is, the screen-accurate sign in all its glory that will finally complement the tombstone for our annual Beetlejuice display.

We would like to thank whoever made this happen for looking out for the fandom. Now, of course, the hunt is on to find it at our local Spirit Halloween; good luck!

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September 12, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Scenes From Charlie Kirk’s Spontaneous Memorial in Utah

by admin September 12, 2025

Young people dominated the hospital crowd, which makes sense, since Kirk’s major accomplishment was to promote his brand of right-wing politics to a cohort that has historically been uninterested in it. Kirk was many things: charismatic, politically canny, polemical, ruthless. His organization, Turning Point USA—with its mission to “win America’s culture war”—was arguably the right’s most successful new political group. A talented demagogue, he attacked trans people, LGBTQ people, Black people, Muslims, and women, and his arguments were often misleading, ahistorical, or rankly hypocritical. But because his public appearances so often took the shape of a seemingly fair debate—two citizens squaring off at microphones—they could feel honest and democratic to his fans.

Joshua Williams, 18, and Bryce Harding, 19.

“I really have to thank my Instagram algorithm for introducing me to him,” said Elder Joseph Trunnel, an 18-year-old donning the starched-white shirt and tie typical of the Latter-Day Saints. “Part of me wanted to be like him, because of how much of a genius he was.” Trunnel added that Kirk inspired him to go to trade school instead of college. “I got my barber license, and it’s been working out really good,” he told me. “It’s really made a difference in my life.” His friend and fellow LDS elder Bryce Harding, 19, agreed: “He spoke the truth; he never tried to cause contention.”

Ethan Mendenhall, 20, and Emma Hasson, 19, wave to cars near the hospital.

That, of course, is untrue. Kirk’s career was built on contention. He went toe-to-toe with college students in public debates and also against older opponents, like California governor Gavin Newsom and the sharp liberal commentator Sam Seder. On his podcast he called for “a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor” and endorsed the “great replacement” conspiracy theory. His social media clips helped Kirk dominate the political sphere and positioned him as a crusader for far-right values—particularly among a rising conservative youth movement.

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September 12, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Microsoft and OpenAI announce the ‘next phase’ of their partnership

by admin September 12, 2025

Microsoft and OpenAI have issued a joint statement to say that they have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for the “next phase” of their partnership. The companies are still finalizing the terms of agreement and haven’t shared the details of what their future would look like exactly. But according to The New York Times, the deal includes hows the parties share technology and and the revenue from those technologies. The new agreement also reportedly modifies the clause in the original, which states that Microsoft cannot access OpenAI’s most powerful technology if its board decides that it has reached human-like artificial general intelligence or AGI.

In addition to the new deal, The Times says OpenAI is giving an equity stake worth at least $100 billion to its nonprofit arm that will continue to oversee and control the organization. As the publication notes, a change in the company’s agreement paves the way for OpenAI to transition into a public benefit corporation, a type of corporation that’s meant to make a positive impact on society, and for an eventual IPO. OpenAI had to reach an acceptable agreement with Microsoft first, including how much equity it’s getting in the AI firm’s for-profit arm. Microsoft had invested over $13 billion into OpenAI and is entitled to 49 percent of its future profits.

Reports about OpenAI moving away from its complicated non-profit structure started coming out last year. After Christmas in 2024, it officially announced its plan to transform itself into a public benefit corporation with ordinary shares of stock. “It will enable us to raise the necessary capital with conventional terms like others in this space,” it said at the time. In May, however, OpenAI announced that it was no longer going to remove the control of its for-profit arm from its non-profit board. “OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit, and is today overseen and controlled by that nonprofit. Going forward, it will continue to be overseen and controlled by that nonprofit,” it said.

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September 12, 2025 0 comments

Mae Martin kneels one knee on the ground in the middle of the woods

Product Reviews

Wayward is the new traumatic Netflix series you won’t be able to switch off, and I’ve lived to tell the tale

by admin September 12, 2025

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Wayward is the title you need to keep your eyes on most of all when looking at the line-up of everything new on Netflix in September 2025. Brought to us by Feel Good creator and comic Mae Martin, they’ve even bagged Toni Collette for her most explosive horror role since Ari Aster’s Hereditary in 2022.

But this is just scratching the surface of why Wayward is so good. The new Netflix series tells the story of the small town of Tall Pines, Vermont, which is home to a school of delinquent teens that get shipped off to study under the watchful eye of Evelyn Wade (Collette). Leila (Alyvia Alyn Lind) and Abbie (Sydney Topliffe) are two teens caught up in the school’s mysteries, alongside cop Alex (Martin) and wife Laura (Sarah Gadon), who return to Laura’s home town to settle down before the birth of their new baby.

Their two points of view converge over the course of the eight-episode run, giving us a multi-dimensional look at what it means to be a brainwashed youth incarcerated against your will. The town’s decisions (and I won’t spoil what these are) aim to rebuild Tall Pines from the ground up, but instead break down and fracture every part of its infrastructure. Not that this seems to matter, though as Evelyn’s got her metaphorical hooks into almost everyone around her.

Between Alex, Abbie and Leila, it’s up to them to get to the bottom of what’s actually going on in Tall Pines. As a result, we’re taken on a journey that resembles something between Twin Peaks and Stranger Things, and boy, is the outcome satisfying.

Of course Netflix’s Wayward is brilliant, Mae Martin created it

Wayward | Official Trailer | Netflix – YouTube

Watch On

Viewers should have known Wayward would be an instant addition to their watchlist the minute it was clear the series was coming from Mae Martin. Feel Good is still regarded as one of the greatest comedy-dramas to come out of the last decade, and not just by me. Even though veering into sci-fi supernatural territory isn’t an expected direction for Martin, it almost doesn’t matter.

Why? Good TV comes from getting the basics right: we’re talking structure, characters, setting, as well as peaks and pits to hold the audiences attention. It’s Martin’s craft that’s always elevated anything they’ve been a part of, even though their character Alex could be seen as another extension of their own personality. But we’re rooting for Alex every step of the way, and that paves the way for some effortless LGBTQIA+ representation.

Instead of overtly stating that Martin’s character is a trans man, the ensemble use he/him pronouns without hesitation, and when they fumble it feels authentic, rather than clumsily wedging inclusion in to tick a diversity box. It’s incredibly refreshing and makes us buy into Alex’s personal experiences on a much deeper level. If you’re looking for someone more shouty about their sexuality, Leila is your girl, with her blossoming bisexuality proudly worn as only a naive teenager can.

Then there’s Toni Collette. As one of the most talented actors that seems to be continuously unappreciated (especially by the Academy Awards), I hope viewers will tune in merely to see her shine (though I already know they will). She raises the game of everything and everyone around her when she signs onto the project, and there’s no doubt that Wayward is what it is because of her. It’s Evelyn’s world and we’re just living in it, making even the most skin-crawling of scenes enjoyable.

Stick with Wayward after episode 1 – I promise the payoff is worth it

We even get a Toni Collette musical number in Wayward. (Image credit: Netflix)

For the most part, Wayward is well structured, holds its intrigue and has enough mystery wrapped in suspense to sustain us for the rest of the year. I’m a biased fan of anything to do with sketchy communes, strange towns and schools for dysfunctional children, but its subject matter is incredibly compelling even for the uninitiated. I should have felt as though I’d seen this play out 1000 times over (and better), but I came away from Wayward with a fresh perspective.

That said, there are a few minor downsides. With such a strange ensemble cast of characters in Tall Pines, not all of them get their backstories explained outright, particularly those relating to Laura’s past. Laura’s own journey has an ironic symbiosis with Evelyn’s and it would have been helpful to see more of how she actually functioned in her alma mater.

Looking back, episode 1 was the biggest stumbling block, and that’s not helpful when it’s the make-or-break point of a viewer deciding if they’ll stick or split to something else in Netflix’s expansive back catalog. It’s worth point out that all events that occur in Wayward are happening in 2003 rather than being split across different points in time, with it initially unclear how Abbie and Leila’s story will cross paths with Alex and Laura’s. It gets there pretty quickly after in episode 2, but the first 40 minutes require a bit of patience and push-through.

But these are small prices to pay for an ultimately satisfying and well-rounded eight-parter. Touching on themes of identity, motherhood, loss, community and trust, anybody who loves unpicking the crux of a story will be fed well-timed mouthfuls at every turn. There’s an interesting feeling of pride that comes with working out the subtext of something, and that’s a uniquely enjoyable experience in Wayward. Tall Pines has a lot of its own lore, both directly through the phases of the school, and hidden in plain sight among its residents.

If you want my advice: invest your time, trust nobody, and hope to God that you don’t get selected for The Leap.

Today’s best Netflix deals

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September 12, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

GOG wants to revive more classic Japanese games on PC: ‘Working with Japanese partners often requires demonstrating both technical capability and cultural understanding’

by admin September 12, 2025

They may not officially be called Good Old Games any more, but GOG still sells plenty of games that are both old and good alongside new releases like Hollow Knight: Silksong. Speaking to Automaton, senior PR rep Piotr Gnyp emphasized that by saying, “GOG has been doing this for well over a decade, and we’re constantly reaching out to secure iconic games. Sometimes, it takes years. Diablo came to GOG after almost a decade of conversations. Preservation often means knocking on the same doors again and again, hearing ‘no’ most of the time, until one day, it’s finally a ‘yes.'”

That paid off with GOG eventually getting to re-release a handful of Japanese games that were difficult to get hold of in the west like Silent Hill 4: The Room, some of the early Metal Gears, and the OG Castlevanias and Contras. Capcom eventually agreed to let GOG re-release Dino Crisis and the first three Resident Evils, though it took “time, persistence, and trust-building,” Gnyp says. A re-release of Breath of Fire 4 earlier this year was one of the stand-outs of GOG’s preservation initiative launched in late 2024.

“Working with Japanese partners often requires demonstrating both technical capability and cultural understanding. In this case, Capcom treated these launches as full new releases, so we followed a complete QA and certification process, just like we would for a brand-new game.”

Gnyp went on to say that, while sometimes a game’s creators or an external partner is involved at this stage, “in most cases, it’s GOG handling the porting and compatibility work.” Games in the GOG Preservation Program get some extra care and attention, whether they’re packaged with fan-made mods or otherwise altered to run on modern operating systems, have controller support, and generally embrace the modern world.

“Our internal tech team analyzes each game,” Gnyp said, “builds custom wrappers or tools when needed, and thoroughly tests the result. That’s how we make sure the experience is authentic but also practical for today’s players.”

Not every game that makes it to GOG gets to be preserved forever. The first two Warcraft games were pulled by Blizzard, as were Adult Swim games like Westerado and Fist Puncher. Sometimes GOG has to remove a game from sale when it’s delisted for a rights issue and sometimes it’s because the publisher wants to sell it on their own storefront, but recently there’s been a more censorious group trying to get games removed from sale. GOG responded by giving 13 horny games away for free.

“At GOG,” Gnyp said, “as a platform devoted to Good Old Games and videogame preservation, we see it as a game preservation issue. Every year, many games are disappearing, for various reasons. Every game that disappears from distribution is potentially lost to game preservation efforts. It is particularly worrying when games are potentially vanishing due to external pressure.”

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September 12, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

September becomes an even more ridiculous month for releases as Hades 2 announces it’s dropping in 2 weeks

If You’re a ‘Jaws’ Fan, Do Not Miss This New Exhibition

8 Best Espresso Machines for Home (2025), Tested by Coffee Pros

Compare the Top 8 Espresso Machines

Other Machines We Like

Also Tried

Frequently Asked Questions

Coffee Scale with Timer

The best laptop power banks for 2025

Table of contents

Best laptop power banks for 2025

What to look for in a laptop power bank

Flying with a laptop power bank

Capacity

Ports

Wireless charging

Design

How we test portable laptop chargers

Other laptop power banks we tested

Laptop power bank FAQs

How do laptop power banks differ from phone power banks?

How do you fast charge a power bank?

What size power bank do I need for a laptop?

How many mAh to charge a laptop?

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