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They can’t steal your password if you don’t have one.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Microsoftnow uses passkeys by default for all new accounts, helping its users stay secure by ensuring that their passwords can’t be stolen by not having one.Microsoftwill ask you for an email address when creating an account for the first time. It will then send a verification code to confirm your identity, and once done, it will become your default credential for your new account.
After you’ve created your Microsoft account and signed in, the company will ask you to add a passkey. Once you have done so, you can use Windows Hello or your device’s biometricsecurityfeatures to access your account.
Passkeys have been around for almost a decade, with Windows 10 getting support for passwordless sign-in in July 2015. However, it took some time for the standard to gain traction, withGoogle, Apple, and Microsoft rolling it out to their respective operating systems in 2022.
Furthermore, personal Microsoft accounts only received this feature in 2024. Still, this is a welcome development, as it will make accessing your Microsoft account easier and more secure. After all, this is one less password you need to remember among the hundreds, if not thousands, of passwords you keep for your numerous accounts.
The company has updated the user experience for its login pages by detecting the best authentication method from the start instead of offering all the possible options.
“For example, if you have a password and “one-time code” set up on your account, we’ll prompt you to sign in with your one-time code instead of your password. After you’re signed in, you’ll be prompted to enroll a passkey. Then the next time you sign in, you’ll be prompted to sign in with your passkey,” said Microsoft Identity & Network Access President Joy Chik and Microsoft Security Corporate VP Vasu Jakkal. “This simplified experience gets you signed in faster and, in our experiments, has reduced password use by over 20%. As more people enroll passkeys, the number of password authentications will continue to decline until we can eventually remove password support altogether.”
Passwordless accounts will make it harder for bad actors to illicitly access accounts, as they can no longer steal credentials through phishing, keylogging, SIM swapping, and more. And even if you lose your passkey device, you’re still protected, as anyone who wants to access your data must use your biometrics to open it. Someone determined and with unlimited resources might still be able to circumvent passkey protection, but for the average person, this should be more than enough to increase their data security.
Expanding interoperability, Android supports OpenID4VP and OpenID4VCI, allowing users to securely share digital credentials across apps.
What you need to know
Android now natively supports OpenID standards for digital credential presentation and issuance.
Users can securely store and send cryptographically verifiable digital documents across different apps.
This update enables wider use of digital credentials for various purposes, including account recovery and identity verification on different platforms.
Google recently expanded its Digital ID access through its Wallet app for residents in the U.K. And to further expand the interoperability across different apps that store digital identities, the search giant is aiming to support open standards via various identity providers and services through the Android operating system.
Last week, through anAndroid Developers blog post, the company has announced that, “Android, via Credential Manager’s DigitalCredential API, now natively supports OpenID4VP and OpenID4VCI for digital credential presentation and issuance respectively.”
As the search giant further explains, the Digital Credentials are cryptographically verifiable documents. They can include documents like driver’s licenses, passports, or national IDs. And, throughAndroid appsand with the help of the respective app developers, more can be incorporated and submitted digitally like education certifications, insurance policies, permits, for example in the near future.
Currently, the supported digital documents can be stored in “credential holders” apps like Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet. Some apps like banking or airline apps would, however, sometimes require the digital document for verification, which is not necessarily stored in the respective banking app.
Since Android supports secure sharing between devices through CTAP protocols. Users will be able to store multiple credentials across apps and choose which one to pick using OpenID4VP requests from websites or Android Credential Manager API.
The process involves verifier sending an OpenID4VP request to the Digital Credential API, prompting the user to select a credential. The user here only chooses a credential, not a digital wallet app. Android then redirects the request to the digital wallet app holding the credential to complete the action. The app can further perform additional due diligence before releasing the credential.
Per the recent Google Wallet announcement, soon users can use digital credentials to recover “Amazon accounts, access online health services with CVS and MyChart by Epic, and verify profiles or identity on platforms like Uber and Bumble.”
Next to Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet and 1Password will also be able to hold people’s digital credentials as digital wallets and support OpenID standards through Android’s Credential Manager API.
After 23 years of connecting people around the world,Skype, the popular video-calling service, isshutting down. Microsoft, the parent company, confirmed that the official sunset date for the service is Monday, May 5, 2025.
Skype users can either migrate all their contacts and chat data to Microsoft Teams, or they can choose to download their Skype data and transition to another video-calling service.
To assist users in the switch, we’ve created a guide on how to migrate to Teams or download Skype data. Additionally, we’ve curated a list of alternative video-calling apps that can replace Skype.
How to move from Skype to Microsoft Teams
Skype users can sign in toTeamsfor free using their Skype credentials. Once logged in, all their chats and contacts will automatically transfer to the app.
Teams offers features similar to Skype, including one-on-one and group calls, messaging, and file sharing. While Skype was primarily designed for smaller groups (up to 20 participants) and casual use, Teams is more business-focused, accommodating up to 10,000 participants in a single video call. It also comes with advanced security features and various integrations, such as Evernote, OneDrive, Office 365, Salesforce, SharePoint, Trello, and more.
Teams is available onAndroid,iOS,Mac, PC, and the web.
For users who aren’t interested in making the transition to Microsoft Teams, we still recommend exporting account data. This ensures that valuable information — such as messages, files, and contact details — is backed up and can be accessed in the future.
Open Skype and log in.
Click on the three horizontal dots under the account name in the top left corner.
Go toSettings>Account & Profile>Your Account.
After being redirected to Skype’s web portal, choose from eitherExport contacts (.csv),Export Caller ID numbers (.csv), orExport files and chat history.
The “Export files and chat history” option lets users downloadConversationsandFiles.
ClickSubmit RequestandContinue.
When the export process is complete, clickDownload.
An obvious benefit of usingGoogle Meetis that it’s available for free with a Google account. Since a lot of people are already using Google and have existing accounts, transitioning to this platform would be fairly easy.
Google Meet allows users to hold meetings with up to 100 participants, record meetings, share screens, and more. A drawback with the free plan is that if a meeting has more than three participants, there’s a 60-minute time limit.
Large companies may want to purchase a Google Workspace plan for features like having up to 25 co-hosts, dividing participants into smaller breakout rooms during meetings, creating polls, setting up a Q&A session, livestreaming to YouTube, and more. Workspace — which has plans for $7/month, $14/month, $22/month, and up — also offers AI-powered tools through itsGemini assistant, which helps Meet users take notes and create custom background images.
Zoomis another popular web-conferencing tool. It offers several helpful features, including the ability to host up to 100 participants and chat in both private and public groups, and has tools such as notes, a whiteboard, and screen-sharing capabilities. Users can also record meetings and access transcripts.
However, one downside is the 40-minute time limit per meeting for users on the free plan. To avoid having meetings cut off, users will need to purchase a subscription, which ranges from $13/month to $18/month. Paid subscribers have access to Zoom’sAI Companion, which includes the ability to summarize meetings and ask questions about transcribed meetings.
Webex
Image Credits:Webex
Webex, the Cisco-owned video conferencing tool, offers a similar plan to its competitors. For instance, it has features such as screen sharing, the ability to record sessions, a whiteboard capability, and more.
The free plan includes up to 100 attendees per meeting, as well as an unfortunate 40-minute time limit. Webex also offers plans from $12/month, $22/month, and up, depending on team size. The paid tiers come with an AI assistant, live polling, Q&A, and the ability to add up to 1,000 attendees.
Discord
Discordwas initially designed as a chat platform for gamers, but it can also serve as an alternative to Skype for personal use or for smaller teams. However, it’s not recommended for larger businesses, as it limits calls to 25 participants.
On the positive side, Discord offers unlimited meeting lengths and features such as screen sharing, the ability to record meetings, and breakout rooms. The platform has a free plan in addition to two paid options priced at $5/month and $10/month, making it one of the more affordable choices available, depending on users’ needs.
Slack
Image Credits:Slack
WhileSlackmay not be ideal for formally scheduled meetings with large groups, it can be effective for spontaneous meetings within team chats. The Huddle feature in Slack enables users to easily transition from a chat thread to an informal audio or video call with colleagues. On the free plan, Huddles can accommodate only two people, whereas paid plans (priced at $7/month or $12/month) allow for up to 50.
Signal
Signal, the encrypted messaging app, has providedgroup video-calling featuressince2020and can accommodate up to 50 participants in a single call.
Although it’s not a direct competitor to Skype, it allows users to share links for calls, enabling them to simply send the link to others rather than creating a group, much like Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams do. Notably, Signal is free to use.
Other similar apps for mobile users looking to video call with smaller groups includeWhatsApp,Facebook Messenger, andApple FaceTime.
The feature first rolled out abroad last year, and now it’s rolling out for U.S. users.
(Image credit: Google)
What you need to know
Google’s pollen tracker for the Pixel Weather app is beginning to rollout for U.S. cities.
The feature first launched in the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, and Italy last year, and expanded to Japan in 2025.
The pollen tracker appears at the bottom of the city view but can be expanded and customized.
Google is rolling out aPixel Weather appupdate that adds a pollen tracker for U.S. users, as reported by9to5Google. The tracker features intuitive charts that show daily pollen levels on a scale of 0 to 4. It also breaks down individual pollen levels for grasses, trees, and weeds.
The pollen tracker was first announced as part of theOctober 2024 Pixel Feature Drop, but was limited to users in the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, and Italy. It was subsequently added for users in Japan with theMarch 2025 Pixel Feature Drop, and is now appearing on Pixel phones in the U.S. following a server-side push.
By default, the pollen tracker will appear in a pill near the bottom of the Pixel Weather page for your location. The page can be customized, so it’s possible to move the pollen tracker higher up on the page for easy access.
Users are seeing the pollen tracker appear inversion 1.0.20250315of the Pixel Weather app, which was last updated April 10, again indicating that this is a server-side rollout.
Tapping the pill opens a more detailed view of the pollen tracker, which will show a five-day view. It still show grass, tree, and weed pollen information, but also provides seasonality and cross reaction pollen data.
The server-side rollout is not complete, so it may take some time for the pollen tracker to appear for U.S. cities on all Pixel devices. 9to5Google notes that users can preview the pollen tracker by adding a city in one of the previously-supported countries, like United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Japan, or Italy.
Rumors that Amazon would display the extra costs of goods with tariffs have been debunked. However, a few developers have offered an alternative with Chrome extensions. These new extensions take the proposed US tariff rates and display additional product costs across many online retailers.
Tariff Lens Chrome Extension in action (Image Source: Self)
While Amazon has stated that it will not display the additional cost of goods due to imposed tariffs, cost-conscious users still have options for conveniently displaying the estimated cost of tariffs while online shopping. Thanks to a handful of Google Chrome extensions, these new extensions utilize US government-provided tariff rate information to calculate and update the pricing of user-selected items. Currently, there are three extensions, and they all take slightly different approaches to estimating and displaying the updated prices.
The extensions “Tariff Price Adjuster” and “Tariff Shopping List” feature a drop-down menu to help users calculate the additional cost. In the menu, users can select the country of origin, product type, and either gross sum or percentage as the pricing model. For “Tariff Price Adjuster,” the updated price will appear on the website itself, while “Tariff Shopping List” will create a running list that users can reference to see the additional costs associated with the product’s respective tariff.
For users wanting a more straightforward approach, the “Tariff Lens” extension will automatically select the country of origin and, in theory, only apply the tariff calculation to affected items. Having just been updated to version 1.0.4, the “Tariff Lens” extension also claims several notable features, such as:
Improved detection of product origin
Enhanced product page detection
Anti-detection measures for site compatibility
Reduced loading times
However, of the currently offered extensions, “Tariff Lens” takes a more opinionated approach for displaying the updated prices. While the extension is well-intentioned when it comes to informing the consumer, time will tell if it will follow the fourth and now unavailable extension “Add the Trump Tariff”, which was removed due to not meeting best practices for Chrome Extensions. Curious users can find a link to the extensions below. It should also be mentioned that these extensions do not function well together; therefore, flip-flopping between them is not ideal.
It’s time for LG smartphone users to take action: the company is shutting down its update servers for good on June 30, 2025. According toAndroid Authority,this means that after this date, LG smartphones will no longer receive official Android updates or have access to LG’s software management tools.
The shutdown will affect the Firmware Over-The-Air (FOTA) upgrade service, the Update Center app service, and the LG Bridge PC software. These services allowed users to manage their devices, backup data, and install updates via a computer. All these services will cease functioning at midnight Korea time (GMT +9) on June 30.
Installing any pending updates before the deadline is crucial for those still using LG smartphones. Additionally, users relying on LG Bridge for backups and data management should ensure everything is secured before the servers go offline.
While it’s understandable that LG is ending support after exiting the mobile market, this serves as a final reminder for remaining users to update their devices and prepare for the end of official software support. After June 30th, no further official updates or support will be available from LG.
LG announced its exit from the smartphone marketplace in 2021. The LG Wing 5G, launched in October 2020, often stands out as the last flagship device showcasing LG’s innovative spirit with its unique swiveling dual-screen design. Other notable phones released in the period leading up to the company’s exit include the design-focused LG Velvet series, the multimedia-centric LG V60 ThinQ 5G, the stylus-equipped budget-friendly LG Stylo 6, and the mid-range 5G-enabled LG K92 5G.
Interesting, there was at least one report late last year that said LG was thinking aboutrejoining the smartphone market. To date, however, that hasn’t happened.
There are plenty of Android-based smartphone options available for these customers. Amongour favoritesare phones from Samsung, OnePlus, Google, and many more.
If you’re using a Samsung laptop and rely on Google’s Quick Share for moving files around, get ready for a change. Samsung is taking the reins for the Quick Share experience on its own Windows machines starting May 28, 2025. This move consolidates the file transfer feature under Samsung’s control for its PC and laptop users.
One app to rule them all
This shift means the standalone Quick Share app provided by Google will be phased out on Samsung laptops (and PCs). According to the release notes for the latest Quick Share app update from Google (version 1.0.2180.0), come May 28th next year, attempting to use the Google version on a Samsung laptop will prompt you to install Samsung’s own Quick Share application instead.
Google has already updated its app, paving the way for this transition. The application has been renamed from “Quick Share from Google” to simply “Quick Share”, and crucially, compatibility with Samsung’s version has been added.
This move aims to streamline the file-sharing experience for users within the Samsung ecosystem. For a while now, there have been two “Quick Share” experiences floating around: Google’s Nearby Share (which was rebranded to Quick Share early last year) and Samsung’s own Quick Share feature, which predates Google’s widespread adoption of the name. This created some confusion, especially when sharing between Samsung phones, non-Samsung Android devices, and Windows PCs.
Google and Samsung announced plans to merge these experiences back in early 2024, aiming for a unified file-sharing solution similar to Apple’s popular AirDrop feature that works seamlessly between iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Other alternatives like Microsoft’s Phone Link also offer ways to bridge phone and PC, but Quick Share focuses specifically on rapid, direct file transfers. This upcoming change on Samsung laptops is the next logical step in that consolidation effort, ensuring Samsung users have a consistent experience managed directly by Samsung across their Galaxy phones and Galaxy Book computers.
Handing control over to Samsung for its own laptops makes a lot of sense. It should reduce confusion and hopefully lead to a more integrated and seamless file-sharing process for people invested in Samsung’s hardware. While swapping apps might involve a quick download and potentially getting used to a slightly different interface, having a single, manufacturer-managed Quick Share application on Samsung PCs is ultimately a positive step. It moves towards a less fragmented experience when you just want to send a photo or document from your phone to your laptop quickly, simplifying a common task.
Want to save money on e-books? Check them out from your library for free
You might be paying too much for your e-books when you can get them for free from your local library and read them right on your Kindle, Kobo, or even your phone.
A lot of people don’t realize their local public library offers ebooks, which are often more convenient to check out than physical books (and get automatically returned on time so you don’t get late fees).
I’ve saved a ton of time and money by getting my e-books from the library, and it’s a lot easier than you might think, whether you’re on Kindle or Kobo.
Libby is the killer app for library e-books.(Image credit: OverDrive)
Regardless of what type of e-reader you’re using, you need to get set up with your local library first.
If you don’t already have a library card, stop byyour nearest public library, where you can usually get one for free in just a few minutes. While you’re there, it’s also a good idea to ask if your public library system offers e-books. Most public libraries do, but it’s not a guarantee.
Next, you’ll want to download the Libby app forAndroidoriOS. Most libraries in the U.S. that offer e-books go through Libby. You can search for, check out, renew and read e-books in the Libby app. If you’re using a Kobo e-reader, you don’t absolutely need it, but it’s a must-have for Kindle users.
After you download the Libby app, all you need to do is enter your library card info in the app to access your library’s e-books.
Send your library e-books to your Kindle through the “Read With Kindle” option on Libby.
The easiest way to read library books on your Kindle is by going through the Libby app. Once you find the book you want, check it out and head over to the “Shelf” tab on Libby.
Select your book from the list and tap “Manage Loan.” Here you should see a “Read With…” option. Tap it and choose “Kindle” to connect to your Amazon account and send the library book to your Kindle.
The next time your Kindle syncs up, you should see the library book in your Kindle library. You can download, read, and annotate it like any other Kindle book but once your library loan expires, you won’t be able to open it anymore unless you renew the loan, which you can do through Libby.
You can return library books from your Kindle by tapping the three dots icon on the library e-book’s cover and selecting “return early.” Any other changes to your library loan have to be made through Libby, though.
There are a couple of ways to check out library e-books on your Kobo e-reader. My preferred method is to do everything directly through my Kobo without going through the Libby app.
On the Home screen on your Kobo you should see an option for “OverDrive.” That’s the legacy system for circulating library e-books. Libby is a newer version of the same thing, but Kobo still uses OverDrive. It’s all the same books, though.
Tap the “OverDrive” tab on your Home screen and you should get a pop up screen where you can connect your library card to your Kobo to access all of your library’s e-books. If you don’t see that option on your Home screen, there’s also an OverDrive option in your Kobo settings under the “More” tab.
You can setup OverDrive on your Kobo in your e-reader’s Settings tab.
OverDrive load times can be a tad slow on Kobo, but it’s worth it. Once you have your card connected, you will see an option on all available books in the Kobo store to “Borrow with OverDrive” instead of buying the book.
That means you don’t need to go to a different app or device. You can simply search for whatever book you want on the “Discover” tab on your Kobo and see if it’s available at your library just by tapping the three dots icon next to the book’s “Buy” and “Wishlist” buttons.
Check for the “Borrow with OverDrive” option to find available library books in the Kobo store.
After you check out a book, it will appear in your “My Books” tab where it should show up as an “OverDrive” book with the days left in your loan displayed below your reading progress. Like on Kindle, once the loan expires the book will stay in your library but you’ll need to renew your loan to open it again.
You can also check out library e-books to read on your Kobo through the Libby app, but it’s not as straightforward.
Once you check out a book in the app, select it on your shelf and select “Manage Loan” then “Read With…” then “More Options” and choose “EPUB.” This will let you download a DRM-protected EPUB version of the ebook, which you canmanually send to your Kobousing the Adobe Digital Editions app.
Reading library books on your e-reader: FAQs
The steps above should be all you need to get started reading library books on your e-reader, but if you’re new to e-readers or using them to check out library books, you might still have a few questions.
Q: How do you place a hold on library ebooks on Kindle and Kobo? A:Like physical books, libraries don’t have unlimited copies of ebooks they can lend out, so you might find that a book you want is currently unavailable, meaning you’ll need to place a hold to get on the waitlist for it.
If you’re on Kindle, the easiest way to do this is through the Libby app. Simply search for the book you want and select the option to “place a hold.” When it’s your turn for the e-book, you’ll get a notification from the Libby app.
If you’re on Kobo, when you search for the e-book you’re looking for, the option to “Borrow with OverDrive” will say “Place a hold with OverDrive” if the book is currently unavailable. Simply tap that to join the waitlist. Then you’ll get a notification on your Home screen (a badge on the bell icon at the top of the screen) when your turn for the ebook comes up.
Q: Can you get library late fines for ebooks? A:No, which is one of the most convenient benefits of reading library books on your ereader. When the due date for your ebook arrives, it will be automatically returned, so you’ll never get late fees. This applies regardless of whether you’re reading on a Kindle, Kobo, or in an e-reader app like the Kindle or Libby apps.
Q: Can you check out e-books from the library if you don’t have an e-reader? A:Yes! Some may be surprised to learn that you don’t need an e-reader to read e-books from your local library. As long as you have a library card and your library offers e-books, you can read them for free through the Kindle app, the Kobo app, or the Libby app.
A new round of Windows Insider builds has dropped.
Are you the type of person who swears like a sailor or someone who prefers to maintain a professional level of discourse at all times? Windows will have you covered, regardless.
Microsoft is releasing new Insider builds as of Friday in multiple channels. The key feature, as it appears in Windows 11’s Beta Insider build (26120.3941) is an updated profanity filter for voice typing.
You can turn on voice typing using theWIN+Hshortcut and begin dictating. It recognizes your voice about as well as a smartphone but without the need for an AI-powered NPU.
Dictation, however, can be formal such as using my voice to type an article like this or more casual like orally recapping a meeting. In certain cases, you might be tempted to drop in a swear word here and there. With the new update, you can simply opt to either “bleep” out the cussing via asterisks or else leave the profanity in in its entirety. Either way, it’s up to you.
Today marks the day thatMicrosoft releases features like Recall, Click-to-Do, and othersinto the wild. To build upon that, Windows is releasing an additional feature: launching Click to Do with a Bluetooth pen. Click to Do essentially allows you to right-click and open up a menu of the most frequently used features attached to a file or app. The pen option is a bone that seems to be tossed to tablet users, as you’ll still have to select which function you want to access. The idea seems to be that if you’re already inking, you can click your pen and then tap your preferred task quickly without breaking the flow.
Microsoft is also adding a small feature that can wall off your Photos from Windows’ Search function, if you’re on a work or school account and don’t want Windows to “see” your personal photos.
If you’ve every asked ‘what is a graphics card?’, we’ve got you covered
If you’ve ever wondered, “what is a graphics card?”, you’re not alone. As a highly specialized computer component, it’s not something that most people need to think about.
But, if you’re shopping for thebest gaming PC— or even just a decentbudget gaming PC— you are bound to come across it, since it is one of the most important components for gaming in your PC, more so than even your processor or storage drive.
You can think of the graphics card as an artist who brings your favorite movies, games, and even the visual elements of websites to life. It takes the digital information from the computer’s memory and transforms it into vibrant and realistic pictures that you see on your screen.
Whether it’s the realistic explosions in a game, the breathtaking landscapes in a movie, or the smooth scrolling of a webpage, the graphics card is behind it all, and getting thebest graphics cardyou can afford will make all the difference in the quality of your games, movies, and more.
There are few components more important than the graphics card in the modern PC, and we’re here to break down the what, the how, and the why of this essential piece of computer hardware.
Specifically, a graphics card is a collection of components that work together to render visuals on a display, such as agaming monitoror some of thebest VR headsetsaround.
As such, graphics cards are crucial for tasks that require a significant amount of graphical processing power, such as gaming, video editing, 3D modeling, and scientific simulations. They are designed to offload the graphical processing workload from the computer’s central processing unit (CPU) and perform calculations specifically tailored for graphics-related tasks.
They are composed primarily of two core parts: a GPU, and a VRAM pool. The GPU is the specialized processor whose only task is crunching the complex numbers involved in rendering realistic graphics in real-time; things like shadows on a wall, or the glow of a spaceship engine.
In order to do this, it stores the data it needs in a pool of Video random-access memory (VRAM), which is separate from your mainRAM memory, which is used by the computer as a whole.
Finally, the graphics card is slotted into the motherboard of your PC through a PCIe connector, which allows the CPU and graphics card to coordinate their respective activities to generate the image you see on a screen.
The graphics card has one essential job in your computer: to provide a more efficient way to render complex visuals that would otherwise bog down a CPU.
In order to do this, it has its own dedicated memory to hold visual information like texture files, as well as specialized hardware like shader cores, that produce an image, pixel-by-pixel, dozens and possible hundreds of times a second.
It does this by producing a frame, based on information provided by the CPU, which tells the GPU inside the graphics card what to draw. The graphics card will then leverage its hardware to do so as quickly as possible to produce a visual frame that it will then send through its video output port to a display. The more frames a graphics card can produce a second, the more fluid the visuals will look on the display.
A graphics card works by carrying out the specialized workloads required for generating rendered images for display. This includes videos, 3D graphics, and even your operating system’s desktop, all of which gets processed inside the graphics card and then sent to your computer’s display.
The way it actually does this is it starts with data processing. Whenever you interact with your PC, software generates data that needs to be displayed visually, like a spreadsheet update or a character moving in a video game. This data can include instructions for drawing shapes, colors, textures, and other graphical elements, which the CPU collects and sends to the graphics card for processing.
After the graphics card receives this data, it begins processing it. The first major step is geometry processing, where the geometric shapes, their positions, and other attributes sent by the CPU are processed in a virtual 3D space. There, the GPU inside the graphics card crunches the data sent to it to determine positions, shapes, and orientations of these objects. The way artificial light sources interact with these objects is also processed here.
After geometry processing, the graphics card heads to its rendering phase. Using advanced rendering techniques like shading, texturing, and lighting, the GPU calculates how each pixel on the screen should look based on calculated geometry.
Then, the GPU moves on to texturing the objects in the scene, where it applies surface details like colors, patterns, and preproduced textures to them. Preproduced texture files are stored in the graphics card’s VRAM, and the GPU uses these files to quickly add the necessary detail to an object to add realism and depth.
Once rendering and texturing calculations are complete, the GPU moves on to a process known as rasterization. This process involves converting a 3D scene into a 2D image by determining which pixels should be displayed on the screen and their corresponding color value. It accounts for depth, perspective, and object positioning to ensure that foreground objects appear correctly and obscure background objects. The end result is a 2D frame that can be output to a display.
The final step sends the generated frame to the connected display. The graphics card produces a video signal with the color and intensity values for each pixel and sends it over a video cable to a connected display. The display then uses this information to illuminate its pixels accordingly, resulting in the final visual representation on the screen.
Do I really need a graphics card?
Do I really need a graphics card?
Depending on your what you plan to use your computer for, you may or may not need a dedicated graphics card.
If you primarily use your computer for everyday tasks like web browsing, email, word processing, and streaming videos, you probably don’t need a dedicated graphics card, since most processors now come with some integrated graphics capabilities. These are generally more than enough for handling basic graphical tasks like running a web page or even playing a movie.
If you’re a PC gamer or you ever plan on playing PC games at some point, a graphics card is highly recommended, if not outright required. Modern games require a lot of processing power to render realistic and immersive visuals in real-time, and relying on an integrated graphics solution is going to render a game at a frame rate (that is, the number of frames a graphics card sends to your display every second) that is too low to be playable.
If you’re into creative work like video editing, 3D modeling, animation, or any other form of visual content creation, a graphics card is an essential tool. These tasks involve manipulating and rendering complex visual elements, which can be extremely taxing on the CPU alone. A graphics card can accelerate these processes, resulting in faster rendering times and smoother workflow.
Finally, if you plan to use multiple monitors simultaneously, a graphics card with multiple video outputs is pretty much required. Few integrated graphics solutions support multiple displays, and might offer limited functionality if they do. A dedicated graphics card can handle multiple monitors efficiently, allowing you to expand your workspace and increase productivity. If this is all you need a graphics card for, you’re in luck, since even thebest cheap graphics cardis more than capable of handling this situation.
Which graphics card is right for my needs?
Which graphics card is right for my needs?
The right graphics card for your needs depends on several factors, including your specific requirements, budget, and the intended use of your computer. Here are some guidelines to help you make an informed decision:
Assess any requirements:Consider the tasks you’ll be performing and the level of graphical performance you need. For gaming, research the recommended system requirements for the games you want to play. Content creators should check the recommended hardware for the software they use, specifically its GPU recommendations.
Determine your budget:Graphics cards vary widely in terms of price, so it’s important to establish a budget. Higher-end graphics cards tend to offer more power and advanced features but come with a higher price tag. Determine how much you’re willing to spend to find a balance between performance and affordability.
Research different models:Once you have an idea of your requirements and budget, research different graphics card models from reputable manufacturers. We review graphics cards regularly, and our best 1080p graphics card and best 1440p graphics card pages are a good place to start for more mainstream offerings.
Plan for the long term:If you’re worried that your graphics card might become obsolete too soon, consider shopping for a model that provides more performance and a larger pool of VRAM than your immediate needs.
Check system compatibility:Make sure that your computer system is able to support a specific graphics card, especially your power supply unit (PSU). All graphics cards have a power requirement, measured in watts, and manufacturers will tell you what the recommended PSU wattage is for a given card. You also need to make sure that there is space in both your motherboard’s expansion (PCIe) slots as well as inside the physical case itself.
Consider reputable brands:Pay attention to reputable brands known for producing reliable graphics cards, such as MSI, Asus, Gigabyte, and Zotac, among others. AMD, Nvidia, and Intel also make their own graphics cards, in addition to partnering with other manufacturers to produce branded graphics cards.
If you’re still unsure or overwhelmed, consider seeking advice from knowledgeable individuals, such as computer enthusiasts, experts, or forums dedicated to hardware discussions. They can provide insights based on their experiences and help you make an informed decision.
Remember, the “right” graphics card for you ultimately depends on your specific needs and budget.
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