Articles by Rael Hornby, Content Editor

Rael Hornby, potentially influenced by far too many LucasArts titles at an early age, once thought he’d grow up to be a mighty pirate. However, after several interventions with close friends and family members, you’re now much more likely to see his name attached to the bylines of tech articles. While not maintaining a double life as an aspiring writer by day and indie game dev by night, you’ll find him sat in a corner somewhere muttering to himself about microtransactions or hunting down promising indie games on Twitter.

Articles by: Rael Hornby

Valve's Deckard VR headset sounds like a Steam Deck with a head strap, and that's a very good thing

By Rael Hornby published 4 March 25

Valve is rumored to be releasing a new VR headset in 2025, and despite a high asking price, if it's half the product that the Steam Deck is, I'm all in.

My Steam Deck 2 dreams just got crushed, now I have to crush yours too

By Rael Hornby published 3 March 25

Valve sets the record straight on Steam Deck 2 speculation, but is there a handheld to enjoy while I wait for the real thing?

Think Windows 11 is bad? Picture how much worse Windows 12 could be

By Rael Hornby published 28 February 25

Some Windows 10 users hope Windows 12 can save them from an end-of-support upgrade to Windows 11. But they should be careful what they wish for.

Microsoft Copilot just helped me pirate Windows 11 — Here's proof

By Rael Hornby last updated 28 February 25

Microsoft Copilot has been caught red-handed handing out illegal Windows 11 activation scripts.

White Valve Steam Deck displaying the Steam Store, with an 8BitDo controller and VITURE Pro XR AR glasses in the background.

Valve's Steam Deck reminded me of what's most important in gaming — and it's not graphics

By Rael Hornby published 27 February 25

The Steam Deck just had its third anniversary, and Valve's handheld gaming PC is still proving its worth.

Photo of VITURE Pro XR Glasses on a desk.

These AR glasses brought my guilty pleasure back from the dead, and it's straight-up wizardry

By Rael Hornby published 25 February 25

VITURE's Pro XR glasses have just brought back my biggest guilty pleasure, and they've done it in style.

Image of XREAL Air 2 AR glasses, wearable displays that use bird bath optics to superimpose content into your field of vision, in red showing a 3/4 rear view of the optics and frames on a teal backdrop with the words 'XREAL Air 2' repeated in the background.

You should swap your work or gaming monitor for a pair of AR glasses, and I'm not joking

By Rael Hornby published 24 February 25

With great deals to be found on XREAL's AR glasses, perhaps now is the time to take your setup in a spatial direction.

Microsoft's Majorana 1 quantum processor, the world's first quantum chip powered by a topological core architecture.

Microsoft's Majorana 1 breaks the quantum computing barrier — and my brain

By Rael Hornby published 22 February 25

Microsoft's Majorana 1 quantum processor is a glimpse of the future. Albeit a very confusing one.

Former Sony exec offers PlayStation 6 prediction — Is it worth buying a PlayStation 5 in 2025?

By Rael Hornby published 21 February 25

A former Sony PlayStation exec has his own prediction on when we can expect to see the PlayStation 6 launch.

An AMD Ryzen AI 300 series chip in front of an abstract orange and black background

AMD Ryzen Strix Halo outperforms RTX 4070 laptop GPU in several benchmarks — is the iGPU making a comeback?

By Rael Hornby published 20 February 25

AMD's Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 offers serious performance, is it time for Nvidia to panic?

Woman looking upset in front of a laptop computer

Windows 11 update is reportedly breaking the operating system's most vital tool

By Rael Hornby published 18 February 25

Windows 11's KB5051987 update is causing users problems with File Explorer and, in rare cases, breaking the operating system entirely.

Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 gaming laptop with Laptop Mag epic deals badge.

Save over $500 on this RTX 4070 gaming laptop at Best Buy in a limited-time Presidents' Day deal

By Rael Hornby published 17 February 25

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 gaming laptop with an RTX 4070 GPU drops to just $1,079 for a limited time at Best Buy.

Tim Cook hints at surprising iPhone shake-up later this week

By Rael Hornby published 17 February 25

Apple may be ready to retire the iPhone SE and replace it with a new member of the iPhone family, starting with the iPhone 16E.

3D render of a computer processor surrounded by various computing components and circuitry on a purple background. The processor has 'Laptop Silicon Survey 2025' branding - Image is a part of the Laptop Mag Silicon Survey 2025 special issue.

Silicon Survey 2025

By Madeline Ricchiuto, Rael Hornby last updated 12 February 25

Laptop Mag's Silicon Survey meets the architects behind the architecture that powers our favorite portable tech. Catch exclusive interviews with Apple, AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and more as we learn how their silicon will shape the future of CPUs and GPUs.

iPhone 4 SE render based on leaked information and rumors

The iPhone SE 4 is tipped to arrive this week as new images leak

By Rael Hornby published 10 February 25

The much anticipated release of the iPhone SE 4 may finally be here, with Apple expected to unveil the mid-range phone this week.

"Roll back to Windows 10 immediately": Microsoft issues stark warning to wily Windows 11 users

By Rael Hornby published 9 February 25

There are now 3 great reasons to switch from Google Search to ChatGPT Search

By Rael Hornby published 6 February 25

As ChatGPT ditches the required login for web search, is it time to switch to an AI search engine?

Google's $75 billion bet on AI is more than most nation's GDP — but investors aren't impressed

By Rael Hornby published 5 February 25

Despite doubling its AI investment, Alphabet's stock takes a hit as DeepSeek's success proves money efficiency is as important as model efficiency.

Opera's Air browser wants to be the antidote to doomscrolling — but does it actually work?

By Rael Hornby published 4 February 25

Is Opera Air the most relaxing web browser ever? I took Opera Air for a spin to find out.

Windows 11 may have just kickstarted 2025's biggest comeback story

By Rael Hornby published 3 February 25

After months of decline to Windows 10, Windows 11 is on the up-and-up once more.

Two undeniable reasons to upgrade to Windows 11 now (or buy a new Windows laptop)

By Rael Hornby published 1 February 25

Windows 10 support ends in October, but now may be the best time to upgrade to Windows 11 or buy a new laptop.

"Truly magical" ChatGPT feature comes to Microsoft Copilot — and it's completely free

By Rael Hornby published 31 January 25

Forget DeepSeek, Microsoft is bringing the power of OpenAI's o1 reasoning model to Copilot for free.

Microsoft reveals new Surface and Surface Pro laptops with up to 22 hours of battery life

By Rael Hornby published 30 January 25

Microsoft's first Intel-powered Copilot+ Surface for Business computers arrive in February

DeepSeek's success has painted a huge TikTok-shaped target on its back

By Rael Hornby published 28 January 25

DeepSeek's success may be short-lived and follow in the footsteps of other Chinese brands like Huawei and TikTok.

DeepSeek: The best ChatGPT alternative or a hotbed of dubious claims?

By Rael Hornby published 27 January 25

ChatGPT may face its stiffest competition yet with DeepSeek, but the AI model that seems to do so much right raises a strange amount of questions.

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