Category: Windows 10

The powerful but budget friendly Huawei Matebook D has made its way to the US.  Powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 2500U quad-core and coupled with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, the 14″ touchscreen uni-body laptop is priced at $599 currently exclusively at Walmart, both in store and online.  The Matebook D is aimed to bring the quality of Huawei laptops at a more affordable price.  It also represents a new breed of Windows 10 laptops that are powered by mobile SoCs to maximize performance while also being gentle on the battery.

The AMD RyzenTM 5 2500U is clocked at 2GHz and will burst up to 3.6GHz.  It is coupled with the Radeon Vega8 Graphics processor.  Display wise, it has a 14″ touchscreen that renders at 1900 x 1080 to give you at 16:9 ratio.  All of this is coupled with four speaker Dolby ATMOS sound output to give great audio performance.

When the Huawei Matebook X was introduced earlier this year, it caught a lot of eyes.  The ultra-slim design and nearly bezel-less display were the immediate wow factors but so too was the overall construction of the Windows 10 laptop.  The question, of course, was if the form factor was overshadowed by a lack of performance.  In this case, the answer is no.

The Matebook X is a powerful laptop with few compromises.  Aimed at taking full advantage of Windows 10, it is designed to be a great laptop for those on the road as well as those in their home or work offices.  Speed and battery life are exceptional, making it easily through most of the day before you have to start finding a power outlet to recharge.

Recently Huawei Devices USA sent me a Matebook X to review and having used it for the last couple of weeks, it is an impressive ultra-compact laptop.  The display is stunning and the overall performance is great.  It should be one on your short list to consider.

After months of anticipation and delays, Apple iTunes is now officially available in the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 users.  The iTunes app is identical to the independent download that you have access to today but is managed through the Store for updates and all the benefits of being in the store.

The app leverages Microsoft’s Desktop Bridge technology which allows for traditional Windows desktop apps to be integrated and managed through the Microsoft Store.

A new update to the Google Backup & Sync app for MacOS and Windows 10 is rolling out that brings a lot of fixes and a few new features.  The updated build is version 3.39 for those keeping score at home.  This new build was released on February 1st so it is likely that you already have it installed as Google pushes updates to Backup & Sync behind the scenes.

For those who use Network-Attached Storage (NAS), this update is an important one for you as it is finally supported.  You can now backup files and folders stored on a NAS to your Google Drive.  The folder has to be mounted and you will be able to add a NAS folder from the My Computer section of Google Backup & Sync.

If you missed out on picking up the beautifully styled Harman Kardon Invoke, powered by Microsoft Cortana, for $99 this past holiday season, now is your time.  Right now at the Microsoft Store you can pick one up for that special price, saving $100 in the process.

I posted my review of the Invoke in December and as I put in that review, it is one of the most stylish smart speakers out there with stunning audio quality as you would expect from Harman Kardon.  At the heart of the Invoke is Microsoft Cortana which, much like Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, is a voice command away to help you with tasks or get information.

[Update 12/20/2017:  It has now been removed.  Microsoft states that the installer violates the store’s policies. ]

Big and somewhat surprising news this morning for Windows 10 users.  Google Chrome is now available for download in the Microsoft Windows Store.  It means that users can now install Chrome on their Windows 10 PCs (except Windows 10S users) without having to side-load it.  This is something that many administrators lock down for security reasons.

Essentially this new app, which is published by Google, is an installer which acts as a shell to go get the browser installed on your PC.  In other words, it is an official channel to go out to the web and download the browser as you would if you were side-loading.