Magazine

An AI chatbot doesn't have to run in the cloud. With LM Studio or Ollama, you can run it right on your laptop, without an internet connection and without your data ever leaving your device. What your hardware needs to be capable of, which model is right for you, and how to get started in ten minutes.

ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Perplexity, and Grok: a 2026 price comparison. What the free versions offer, how much the paid subscriptions cost, and, most importantly, what you get for your money. After all, each provider has its own area of expertise. We’ll show you which subscription is best for whom.

Memory and training are controlled separately, and deleting a chat does not erase saved facts. Here's how to control what ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude store and use for training while protecting customer and company data.

CheckMag The landscape of Linux distros would be nothing without the solid foundation that is Debian. However, with most other forks using their flagship distros as a showcase, why doesn't Debian?

With its beta phase now over, Eustella has officially launched, complete with a free tier. I wanted to see how far Europe's ChatGPT alternative could be used without a subscription, but I ran into its limits much sooner than expected.

Well-known AI assistants got a memory in 2026. They remember how you work and what matters to you beyond individual chats. What ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can do with it, how you stay in control, and why Gemini can remember preferences but cannot access the Google data of European users.

CheckMag Inspiration can strike at any time, and in this case, it happened while running. With the help of Gemini, I was able to take an idea into a working prototype all in the span of a six-mile run.

Artificial intelligence and sustainability are in many ways a contradiction, yet many providers promise exactly that. It sounds too good to be true, but is it?

There is currently no avoiding artificial intelligence. Many manufacturers in the tech industry are trying to ride the AI wave; the almost infinite advantages of automation and AI assistance are simply too tempting. But all that glitters is not gold.

Is "Sorry, I don't know that one" sometimes better than a confident but completely wrong answer? This is a question you inevitably ask yourself when trying out the new Alexa+. While the voice assistant is now better in many respects, it also has its weaknesses.

Crafting beyond the silicon. On the sidelines of Computex 2026, a talented team of designers at the ASUS Design Center spoke to us about the research and choices that go into crafting their modern Zenbook, ROG, and Vivobook lineups. Asus designers emphasized how a multidisciplinary, human-centric design approach has not only won global accolades but has also evolved to make the laptop an extension of the user.

The Steam Machine will soon be available for pre-order starting at $1,049. This means that the SteamOS PC is not only significantly more expensive than the Sony PlayStation 5, but comparably fast gaming PCs are already available at much lower prices.

The iPhone 18 will adopt the current iPhone 17 Pro design—featuring a wide camera bar—in early 2027. This seems to be a done deal, judging by the latest leaks on Ex-Twitter and Weibo, which are primarily based on alleged images of a real iPhone 18.

Nostalgia to next gen. On the sidelines of Computex 2026, MSI marked its 40th anniversary with a retrospective exhibit tracing its rise from early Intel 286 and AMD K7 motherboards to modern flagship gaming and AI platforms. Walking through the exhibit not only demonstrated how far we've come across the tech landscape but also gave a glimpse on the future ahead of us.

Apple claims it is being forced to raise prices due to the DRAM crisis. And this is despite the fact that Apple still enjoys very high profit margins on RAM and SSDs, as a comparison of Apple’s upgrade prices with current market prices shows.

CheckMag Lexar celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026. For the celebrations, the storage manufacturer gave us a closer look at its manufacturing capabilities and vision.

Super Mario Eclipse, the definitive Super Mario Sunshine mod, just received its 1.1 update that (among other fixes & improvements) makes it fully playable on original hardware.

The Apple MacBook Neo seems to be giving AMD a headache, as the manufacturer's latest advertising campaign aims to show that laptops with AMD Ryzen are far superior to the budget MacBook. However, this marketing is misleading in many respects.

A pair of headphones supports a specific audio codec like LDAC—but what does that actually mean? More importantly, how do you use it to improve sound quality? Using the Marshall Milton as an example, we'll show you how to enable the codec and when the difference is actually noticeable.

A European AI built on modern open-source models aims to offer a privacy-friendly alternative to ChatGPT and its competitors. I put Eustella through its paces in everyday use—from tabletop RPG planning and vibe coding to travel planning—and came away pleasantly surprised in several areas.

Two major updates. What sounds like the sad footnote of a cheap Android smartphone from the last decade is now a harsh reality for all users of an Apple Watch. Software support is obviously being artificially curtailed without technical necessity.

Our hands-on preview of the Moss: The Forgotten Relic Steam demo highlights the beautiful environments, storytelling, and its transition to PC screens.

An A/E-key M.2 slot, normally occupied by a combo Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card, is something most laptops, mini-PCs and desktop PCs released after 2013 have. The P3-2230, also known as the OAK-2230, lets you make use of that slot to add extra storage space, faster than any SATA III SSD. Naturally, there are several drawbacks to this approach.

Seiko's PADI 60th anniversary Prospex HBB002 is a new beautiful limited-edition diver with a ceramic bezel, sapphire crystal, and a globe-patterned dial. But at $750, it runs the same 4R36 movement found in Seiko's entry-level watches. That's a little...not okay.

Garmin has announced a very significant change to its pricing model for satellite navigation, but it still comes with pitfalls. Even so, the move may not be enough to protect the manufacturer from a marketing disaster.

The Nvidia RTX Spark is intended to compete directly with the Apple M5 Max, as the 80-watt ARM chip promises extreme performance with 20 processor cores and a "1 petaflop GPU". Benchmarks show that Nvidia's marketing should be viewed with caution.

Price hikes on the Steam Deck and handheld PCs at large make the Nintendo Switch 2's $449.99 MSRP genuinely appetizing in comparison, at least if you want to play games.

Casio’s upcoming 17 new G-Shock watches are slated for release in June 2026 in Japan. The lineup includes the G-Shock ICERC Frogman, the Surfrider Foundation Japan, the GST-B1000BD, the Camo and Gold, and the Luxe Black series.

DistroSea, a browser-based platform hosting over 50 Linux distributions and 500 versions, lets users test operating systems online before installing one on their PCs.

The Xiaomi 17T Pro is the company’s T-series latest flagship smartphone that nails the basics of flagship smartphones, from the vibrant AMOLED display, top-tier hardware, and stellar Leica-tuned cameras to bigger battery capacity and good software with meaningful features.

The newest Diablo 4 expansion has been praised to the high heavens by fans and critics alike. While Lord of Hatred has its upsides, it still doesn't address some fundamental issues with Diablo 4. If anything, some parts make Blizzard look even worse.

Wireless communication with no fees or contract: LoRa allows data exchange over longer distances depending on the configuration. The range of compatible devices is relatively large. We took a closer look at both the technology and the ThinkNode M1.

Patch 1.3.1.5 for Battlefield 6 is due to be released on May 26 and is meant to fix several key issues with the shooter. The focus is mainly on fixes for respawns, deployment, maps, Battle Royale, Portal and matchmaking. Here is why that probably will not be enough to shift the mood in the community.

After a small break, You Should Be Modding returns with a showcase of the best Devil May Cry 3 mod of them all: DMC3 Crimson, a complete transformation that gives the game depth akin to 4 and modded 5 by adding Inertia, new moves, a modernized HUD, and more.

Update Edited on Monday, May 18th with more detailed optimization info and a few corrections. The first installment of [Tuesday Tweaks] covers Lossless Scaling, its vendor-neutral Frame Generation, and how it can be used to achieve higher framerates in games locked to 30 or 60 FPS, including emulators, fighting games, and etc. The actual Scaling functionality will also be briefly discussed.

If an irrigation system is advertised as "smart" or "intelligent", such descriptions are by no means guaranteed to be accurate. From simple timers to irrigation based on weather data and moisture sensors: What makes a system truly intelligent?

Devil May Cry 4 and the follow-up Special Edition are both very moddable releases, and remain long-time favorites within the Devil May Cry community. In this installment of [Throwback Thursdays], I'll be highlighting the best Devil May Cry 4 mods, for both versions of the game.

The Lumix L10 is one of the most exciting compact cameras of the year, as Panasonic combines a large FourThirds sensor with a fast 24 - 75 mm zoom lens and an OLED viewfinder. The features are not just coincidentally reminiscent of the Leica D-Lux 8, which may be the better choice for some customers.

The cat is out of the bag, the Forerunner 70 is official. With it, Garmin is not only offering additional technologies, but also staying fairly true to its pricing strategy. From a business perspective, Garmin basically has little to complain about, though the question of future viability certainly arises.

Bambu Lab is offering a new filament that is also intended to meet higher health protection requirements. The corresponding tests are said to have been carried out on finished prints as well, though there are still several things to keep in mind.

[Modern Mondays] begins with an overview of the best Devil May Cry 5 mods ahead of Season 2 of the Netflix series premiering tomorrow. PC players missing out on Special Edition features need not worry—thanks to mods, the best way to play DMC is on PC.

Exclusive Hitoshi Sakimoto settles a 29-year debate exclusively with Notebookcheck: Final Fantasy Tactics is a rock record. We also got a chance to discuss his London Game Music Festival 2026 debut, made possible by the Game Music Foundation's efforts.

With a 200 MP primary sensor, a 3.5x tele lens, and a 12 MP ultrawide + macro shooter, the Honor 600 Pro has the best camera setup in its price segment. The smartphone not only outdoes midrange competitors but also rivals flagships from Samsung and Google with a premium build and a versatile camera setup.

CheckMag As the May 13 launch approaches, official Sony teasers for the Xperia 1 VIII hint at a "full circle" design with illuminated camera modules. But is the glowing camera design a real rival to the Nothing Phone, or simply a marketing campaign?

Icons flicker like an old CRT display: Elgato’s Stream Deck+ is more than just a control panel — it quickly turns into a creative playground for customizing your setup. One particularly interesting feature is animated icon packs, which transform every key into a tiny display. A Fallout-inspired design especially caught our attention thanks to its unique visual style. Here’s how to install and use it on the Stream Deck+.

The Sony Xperia 1 VIII is said to get rid of one of the most unique features of the Xperia 1 VII - the telephoto camera with true optical zoom. Thanks to a drastic sensor upgrade, this is (almost) always an upgrade for users, but this change in strategy is a loss for the smartphone market.

Amazon content restricted, no access to the home server: geoblocking can quickly become annoying while on vacation. That’s why, before leaving, I installed Tailscale on my small home server/NAS and on the devices I take with me. Together, they form a network that lets my travel devices browse through my home network and its German IP address.

CheckMag Notebookcheck reviews hundreds of laptops every year. Some review units earn extra points for features not found elsewhere, or delivering higher-than-average performance, or being easier on the user's eyes. It's the last category that gets some spotlight today.