TikTok is introducing several new permanent features designed to combat Holocaust misinformation and antisemitism, with the announcement coinciding with Holocaust Rememberance Day on Thursday. 

Developed in partnership with the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and UNESCO, TikTok noted the new features are part of the commitment it made to fight antisemitism last year.

“We condemn antisemitism in all its forms and deploy a combination of technologies and moderation teams to remove antisemitic content and accounts from our platform, including Holocaust denial or any other form of hate speech directed at the Jewish community,” wrote TikTok in a blog post. 

The first new feature is the addition of a banner directing users to a Holocaust information website called AboutHolocaust.org, which is run by WJC and UNESCO. This banner will appear at the top of TikTok’s search results whenever someone looks for “Holocaust victims,” “Holocaust survivor,” or other terms related to the genocide.

Users who tap on related hashtags such as “#HolocaustSurvivor” and “#HolocaustRemembrance” will also be shown a longer public service announcement at the top of the results, which will direct them to AboutHolocaust.org as well.

Finally, TikTok announced that in the coming months it will add a permanent banner to the bottom of videos which use hashtags related to the Holocaust. This banner will also direct people to AboutHolocaust.org, providing the authoritative information source to people who haven’t necessarily looked up Holocaust content, but may instead have stumbled across it on their For You feed.

“TikTok allows us to reach a new audience, some of whom may be uninformed about the horrors of the Holocaust and therefore be potentially susceptible to misinformation,” said WJC president Ronald S. Lauder. “We welcome the platform taking responsibility and leveraging its reach to stop the spread of antisemitism and Holocaust denial.”

Though TikTok is most popularly known for lighthearted dance trends, teenagers also use the video sharing platform to spread knowledge and explore educational topics. However, the results can sometimes be mixed. In 2020, the Auschwitz Memorial in Poland criticized TikTok users for a “hurtful and offensive” trend in which they pretended to be Holocaust victims.

“We cannot allow vilifying, shaming, and attacking the young people who may have done something in the wrong way as the aftermath,” the Memorial said at the time, calling for the distasteful trend to become a teaching opportunity. “Social media is a part of our everyday lives and communication. That is why we could continuously raise awareness that not every social media activity can commemorate the Holocaust.”

Watching The Afterparty is like a game of “spot the reference” built around an ensemble of the greatest young comedic minds of this moment.

Apple TV+’s murder-mystery series forms a veritable Voltron of comedy stars made up of Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson, Ben Schwartz, Ilana Glazer, John Early, Ike Barinholtz, Tiya Sircar, Jamie Demetriou, and Dave Franco. Beyond being hilarious, The Afterparty offers a novel structure that mixes Hollywood blockbuster sensibilities with the “Rashomon effect.”

Following a high school reunion, the afterparty at a palatial cliffside mansion becomes a crime scene when nerdy ska kid-turned-movie star Xavier (Dave Franco) dies under mysterious circumstances. Now, his former classmates are all suspects. Detectives Danner (Haddish) and Culp (Early) are on the scene, and their investigation hinges on hearing each suspect’s version of what happened.

Every episode focuses on a different recounting, but they’re all defined by an artful twist conceived by Chris Miller of “Lord and Miller” fame (aka The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street, etc.). Every murder suspect’s story is presented as their own, personal “mind movie.” The extended flashbacks that dominate The Afterparty‘s individual chapters are fashioned after whatever Hollywood genre best fits the character’s point of view.

Credit: Apple TV+

For instance, Aniq’s (Richardson) lovelorn hope for reconnecting with his old crush Zoe (Zoe Chao) turns him into the leading man of a rom-com. There’s a meet-cute and a cast of supporting players, all pulled from the ensemble, who fall into archetypical rom-com roles. Aniq’s old pal Yasper (Schwartz) is the “obnoxious but well-meaning bestie.” Meanwhile, Brett (Barinholtz) and Xavier play rom-com antagonists. The former is an ex trying to win back Zoe; and the latter is a swaggering celebrity, who oozes sex appeal.

That’s just one story, though. In the second episode, when we hear about Brett’s night, the former high school tough guy transforms from rom-com antagonist into the macho hero of a Fast and Furious-style flick. Then, when the focus shifts to Yasper (Schwartz), his dreams of making it big in the music industry come to life as a musical.

This is no mere stylistic flourish. It’s The Afterparty‘s flashy and thoroughly engaging way of reinforcing that old adage: We’re all the heroes of our own story. The genre-centric flashbacks peel back surface impressions to reveal the inner workings of each protagonist. And because every character has a role to play in their classmates’ stories, we develop an increasingly complex understanding of The Afterparty‘s spread of personalities as the eight-episode season unfolds.

Even the kindest person you know is someone’s enemy, and that dichotomy is what makes this mystery tick.

Building character development through different firsthand perspectives is a genius approach. It makes sweet, lovable, and kinda corny Aniq just as likely a murder suspect as Brett, or Yasper, or anyone else. Even the kindest person you know is someone‘s enemy, and that dichotomy is what makes this mystery tick.

This play on form builds the mystery. Because jokes aside: The Afterparty is a bonafide whodunit, delivering a growing pile of clues that challenge viewers to develop their own theories. Apple’s weekly release strategy is an asset here, creating space for viewers to spend time thinking, rewatching, and theorizing.

Like the best murder mysteries of recent years — Knives Out and Only Murders in the Building immediately spring to mind — The Afterparty is awash with addictive intrigue. It’s the kind of show you’ll want to scream about with friends, chiefly because every episode gives new information to sift through and square against what’s transpired so far. It’s also just a delight to pore over with its piles and piles of consciously referential story patterns, plot contrivances, and performances.

The gauntlet of mind movies also gives each suspect a chance to shine as their best and funniest self. From Broad City, Glazer brings her grounded stoner quirkiness and ability to make any moment a slapstick riot. Barinholtz is clearly channeling jerk-bros similar to his turn as Frank “The Body” Gibiatti on FX’s The League. But his own episode’s fixation on family goes beyond the Fast/Furious reference to highlight an innately wholesome and loving person, which fans of his turn on The Mindy Project will recognize instantly.

Haddish has her star power moment in an episode that riffs on Training Day, exploring her character’s past and relationship with police work. The Girls Trip breakout, who has since gone on to showcase her talents in a varied lineup of roles and genres, slides easily into this colorful cast of characters as she melds her innately big personality with Danner’s disillusioned yet committed homicide detective.

Credit: Apple TV+

With this dizzying lineup of talents cycling into lead roles, it’s nothing less than shocking that Richardson’s lovably hilarious performance as Aniq stands out so vividly. That isn’t a knock on the Veep and I Think You Should Leave fave at all. To be clear; Richardson is a talent with simmering star power, which he demonstrated in 2021’s excellent horror-comedy, Werewolves Within. But did you see who else is in that cast??

Part of it is the place he occupies in the ongoing story of an unraveling mystery. While Danner is the detective doing the questioning, Aniq is the star of The Afterparty‘s central plot thread. He’s the first character we’re introduced to in the opening scene and, as Danner’s principal suspect, his perspective is also the only one we follow outside of the flashbacks — as he tries to solve the mystery and clear his name. But Richardson rises to the occasion as well, and he confidently leads the way as the story twists and turns in wild directions.

Apple hasn’t revealed the finale to critics yet, but this seems like a murder you can solve yourself if you take the time to put the pieces together and reason things out. Lucky us. It hasn’t even been a month since Yellowjackets ended.

But this puts Aniq in an awkward spot for the finale’s eventual killer reveal. So much of this story is built around unraveling the ways an unreliable narrator can re-shape our understanding of true events. What if Miller’s final joke is the one he plays on us when it’s revealed that Aniq’s adorkable sweetie has been lying the entire time?

We instinctively bond and identify with relatable protagonists like him, and Richardson’s innate talents serve him well in that role. So turning him into a falsehood-peddling murderer as a last-minute twist would be an appropriately hilarious and loving “fuck you” to the audience that’s been rooting for him all along. Would we riot? Yes. But would such a turn make sense? Also, begrudgingly, yes.

The Afterparty is a successful murder mystery because it keeps us guessing until the very end. Its forays into the mind of each suspect effectively muddy every fact we pick up along the way. For all the formal flights of fancy into genre play, the central whodunit is what will keep you coming back. Even in a riot-worthy scenario where Aniq is our killer, this is a very special show from one of the most inventive filmmakers working today, and another big reason to keep tuning in on Apple TV+.

The Afterparty‘s three-episode premiere comes to Apple TV+ on Jan. 28, with new episodes each Friday.

Messaging friends about a dance party so good it’ll melt their faces off is about to get a lot easier.

On Thursday, Emojipedia highlighted all the new emoji included in iOS 15.4. While it’s still in Beta (the current iOS is 15.3), when it’s released, the next iOS will bring with it a host of additional emoji that are practically guaranteed to slide into your “frequently used.”

Say hello to melting face, mirror disco ball, and bubbles. And that fancy lip-biting mouth is definitely going to get some play.

It’s a disco party.
Credit: Emojipedia

Not to be overlooked are the Pregnant Man emoji, and the Face With Peeking Eye emoji.

Non-developers anxious to get their hands on these new emoji will unfortunately have to wait just a bit longer. How long exactly remains unclear because Apple has yet to confirm an exact release date for iOS 15.4

But fair warning: When Apple does finally push out iOS 15.4, some of these newest emoji may be tweaked, or even dropped.

Hopefully not the bubbles one, however. That one’s going to come in handy.

Every January, many of us set the goal to start the year off right by eating better, the good intention leading us to one diet or another. Then, inevitably, we fall off said diet and right back into the same old (if not far worse) habits.

But a program called intuitive eating is gaining popularity by offering a radically different perspective on healthy eating: What if the problem isn’t failing to stick to diets, but rather a diet industry that profits off our unhealthy relationship to food? What if, instead of seeing food as an adversary or obstacle to staying healthy, we instead sought to redefine healthy eating as whatever gives us pleasure and satisfies our hunger?

“Diet culture’s goal is to try to shrink the body to make someone fit an external cultural ideal of thinness, which is not reasonable for most people. So it sets them up to pursue diets that are bound to fail,” said Elyse Resch, a nutrition therapist and co-author of the Intuitive Eating book that started the movement. In diet culture, weight loss is considered a moral value achieved by demonizing certain food groups and/or following restrictive eating rules. “Nothing about it connects with one’s internal wisdom. But intuitive eating, or anti-diet culture, is all about rediscovering that internal wisdom that we believe we’re all born with.”

“Intuitive eating, or anti-diet culture, is all about rediscovering that internal wisdom that we believe we’re all born with.”

Or as Lauren Smolar, senior director of programming and education at the National Eating Disorder Association put it, “It’s about learning to check in with your own body to figure out what your personal needs are to nourish your body, as opposed to leaning on outside rules that decide what goes into your body or how you move it.” While that sounds simple enough at first, practicing the principles of intuitive eating can be a lifesaver this time of year, “when there’s a lot of messaging around becoming a new you and making big, drastic changes focused on being healthier. It may all sound really well-intentioned and positive, but can suggest behaviors that are really not healthy.”

Research consistently finds that a vast majority of diets lead to only temporary weight loss at best, and at worst can even be predictors of weight gain. But people finally seem to be catching onto that reality, with the weight loss and diet industry in the U.S. peaking at $78 billion in 2019 only to decline by 21 percent during the pandemic, according to MarketData Enterprises. Meanwhile, Google searches for intuitive eating have doubled since January 2020, as #intuitiveeating takes off with younger people, garnering about 840 million views on TikTok. Though more studies and data are needed, evidence suggests the intuitive eating program is linked to not only more stable physical health, but also lasting mental health benefits — on top of having double the retention rate of diets. 

“The goal of intuitive eating is to have a satisfying, enjoyable relationship with food and a respectful, dignifying, loving relationship with your body,” said Resch. “It’s a self-care, compassionate framework based on 10 guidelines (which are not rules) to help you get to a place of trusting your body again.”

What intuitive eating is — and isn’t

The 10 principles of intuitive eating, as laid out by Resch and co-author Evelyn Tribole, suggest that you:

1. Reject the Diet Mentality, including wholesale permission to “get angry at diet culture that promotes weight loss and the lies that have led you to feel as if you were a failure.”

2. Honor Your Hunger by validating the need to “keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates. Otherwise you can trigger a primal drive to overeat.”

3. Make Peace with Food, which means you “give yourself unconditional permission to eat.”

4. Challenge the Food Police by saying “no to thoughts in your head that declare you’re ‘good’ for eating minimal calories or ‘bad’ because you ate a piece of chocolate cake” because those are “the unreasonable rules that diet culture has created.”

5. Discover the Satisfaction Factor through sensorial enjoyment of “the pleasure and satisfaction that can be found in the eating experience.”

6. Feel Your Fullness, in which you “trust that you will give yourself the foods that you desire” and “listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry.”

7. Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness, by first understanding that food restriction can “trigger loss of control, which can feel like emotional eating,” but also that “eating for an emotional hunger may only make you feel worse in the long run.”

8. Respect Your Body, including acceptance of “your genetic blueprint” to not only “feel better about who you are” but also to affirm the fact that “all bodies deserve dignity.”

9. Movement where you Feel the Difference through a focus on “how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie-burning effect of exercise.”

10. Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition, making “food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making you feel good. Remember that you don’t have to eat perfectly to be healthy.”

But just as people have begun the daunting journey to deprogram themselves of the diet mentality, the industry is already learning to adopt the language of intuitive eating as a way to repackage the same unhealthy cycle.

Weight Watchers is now WW, in the hopes that a rebrand that distances itself from the word “weight” will fool you into believing it’s not the same weight-stigmatizing, body-shaming, calorie-counting diet system that it indeed remains. The hot new app Noom claims it “isn’t a diet” in a million different ways, while using all the tired old tactics of every other unsustainable weight loss program that came before it. Worse still, Noom promises users can hack their psychology to achieve their ideal weight goal, as if sheer mental willpower can overcome one’s natural biology. Meanwhile intermittent fasting, one of Gwyneth Paltrow’s latest wellness sells, is backed by various scientific studies that present potential health benefits, yet when it comes to losing weight one study found it no better than any other calorie-restrictive diet.

“Diet culture is getting threatened by intuitive eating. We’re in the beginning of a revolution that has just taken hold. People are sick of dieting, of being told what they should eat, what size their body should be,” said Resch. “And the public needs to be educated to pick up on diet culture’s new brainwashing tactics.” 

How to spot the difference between a diet and anti-diet

This isn’t just an issue of false advertising, either. The diet industry trend of co-opting keywords associated with anti-dieting like “intuitive,” “wellness,” “behavioral science,” “self-care,” and “healthy lifestyle” can cause serious harm to people desperately looking for an alternative.

“It confuses the movement. So people have a really hard time teasing out when they’re being misled to not listen to their body by mislabeled diets that endorse weight loss techniques as behavior that’s healthy for everyone,” said Smolar. 

While there are no hard-and-fast rules for intuitive eating, there are important red flags to look out for in diet culture masquerading as anti-dieting.

Any nutrition program claiming it can help change your body or weight — especially those that paint fantasies of how wonderful your life will be after you’ve achieved this alleged ideal — is a diet, according to Resch. While diets often fail to achieve sustainable weight loss, they do excel at lowering your self-esteem and damaging your body image. But your loss in mental wellbeing is the diet industry’s gain. By ensuring we buy into the “problem” of an unattainable ideal body the industry ensures it can keep selling solutions that perpetuate said “problem,” which keeps us (and our wallets) coming back for more. 

To combat this strategy of diet culture, the intuitive eating mindset encourages radical acceptance and respect for the unique “genetic blueprint” of your body. Like a lot of the program’s principles, that’s easier said than done. But the 10 tenets of intuitive eating are living principles meant to be practiced at your pace over a lifetime, if and when each one feels right for you.

“It’s important to start from a place of self-compassion for the fact that you’re up against a multi-billion dollar industry with a lot more money and time than you have. Because there’s no ABC steps to rejecting diet mentality and then you’re done. And that’s hard,” Resch said. “But keep in mind that dieting is a false premise. So think about how you’ve felt when you’ve been on diets, or when you fell off of them. How much better would it be to feel satisfied by food, to find pleasure in eating, to stop feeling so bad about yourself?”

The other major red flag of diet culture that intuitive eating encourages you to reject is restrictive eating in all its various forms. 

In popular fad diets like keto and Whole30, restrictive eating instructs you to only eat foods the program deems acceptable, while a diet like intermittent fasting tells you when you’re allowed to eat. But systems like WW and Noom camouflage restrictive eating by claiming that they let you eat whatever you want — the only catch is that there’s a strict limit to how much you can eat. That’s still a restriction and, actually, just a roundabout way of calorie counting.

Both calorie counting apps like MyFitnessPal and dieting in general have already been identified as potential risk factors to developing and exacerbating eating disorder symptoms. Personal accounts from former Noom users also describe how the app damaged their relationship to food by using similar weight-loss strategies, to the point of serious negative impacts to the user’s mental health.

“What looks like a healthy relationship with food for one person will look different for somebody else… So there may be people who are going to naturally need more foods generally labeled as less nutritious, for example, but that are actually important for nourishing their body and giving it the energy it needs,” said Smolar. “So a common red flag for diet culture is any rules for eating intended to guide the entire general public, as opposed to helping you check in individually with what your body needs. Suggesting rules can confuse your ability to listen to your own body, which gets in the way of understanding your health.”

Restricting your food intake to exclusively foods deemed “healthy” can actually be indicative of an overall toxic, unhealthy relationship to food with negative physical and mental health impacts in the long run. Moreover, forcing yourself to abide by such restrictive food rules is often a recipe for disordered eating, like the binge eating that commonly follows “falling off” a diet. 

“We want whatever we don’t have. That’s just human nature,” Resch said. “When you feel deprived of either a particular food or amount of whatever it is you want, we are driven by our unmet needs.”

Diet culture makes us unsure about how to do something that should be instrinctual.
Credit: Bob Al-Green / Mashable

So each time you tell yourself you “can’t” or “shouldn’t” or are “bad” for eating something, you give that food more power over your behavior by triggering an instinctual response to self-deprivation. That power is only amplified by the states of semi-starvation that many calorie-cutting diets instruct you to put your body in.

In Resch’s experience, clients who aren’t fully on board with rejecting this part of diet mentality struggle more with intuitive eating, since they’re still considering dieting in the future. “Even the fear of future deprivation can cause you not to be in tune with your own satisfaction and fullness levels.” 

But recognizing, respecting, and accepting without judgment which parts of intuitive eating do and don’t work for you — and all the emotions they can bring up — is a big part of the journey.

“People have not been taught how to eat. Or diets told them how to eat in a way that pulled them away from trusting themselves,” Resch said. “So they’re terrified that if they give up dieting, how will they know what to eat? With intuitive eating, you learn to be led by what pleases your body, your palate, how your body feels when you’ve eaten enough food. People tend to want rules, but the stricter the rule, the bigger the rebellion from deprivation.”

Anyone can do intuitive eating, but that doesn’t mean it’s right for you

None of the principles of intuitive eating are meant to be followed in totality at all times. 

“Intuitive eating is very nuanced. But people want to take it as a list of absolutes,” said Resch. “It’s just about taking the whole body in, and doing the best we can do with the resources we have. That’s body respect — and self respect.”

In her more explanatory definition of intuitive eating, Resch emphasized that the 10 principles for building a healthier relationship to food accounts for “the dynamic interplay of instinct, emotion, and cognition.” So while our reptilian brains compel us to eat to survive, eating also heavily engages the emotional centers of our minds too, then the cognitive differences that make us human add more layers to figuring out what eating well means for you specifically.

Yet even though this expansive, flexible, and non-judgmental framework means everyone’s invited to practice it in their own way, the challenges of intuitive eating are not equal for everyone.

For one, folks with neurodevelopmental disabilities like ADHD and autism spectrum disorder often do not experience the same hunger and fullness signals that neurotypical people do. In cases where those internal cues aren’t as intuitive, Resch acknowledged that you’ll probably need more external systems that look closer to the “rules” seen in diet culture. You might want to set timers to remember to eat throughout the day to avoid reaching the point of starvation that can lead to binge eating, for example.

“But not getting internal cues of hunger and fullness doesn’t mean you can’t be an intuitive eater. That’s only two of 10 principles,” she said.

Those aren’t the only barriers to entry for aspiring neurodivergent intuitive eaters, either, due to a higher prevalence of eating disorders. While intuitive eating is one of the rare programs NEDA supports, Smolar cautioned that, at first, eating without restriction after a life of restrictive eating patterns can bring up a host of difficult and confusing emotions.

“We have to be very cognizant of the privileges in some of intuitive eating’s principles.”

“Disordered eating and eating disorders are incredibly individualized, so learning how to eat in a way that’s healthy for you can be just as individualized,” she said. “So if you’re finding intuitive eating isn’t the right perspective or that it’s really challenging to navigate the process of rejecting diet mentality, don’t do it alone. Reach out to the NEDA helpline for support or to find professionals that can guide you through the experience.”

Resch also encouraged professional help like nutrition therapists knowledgeable of the program. One criticism sometimes levied against intuitive eating is that not everyone has the time or resources for that kind of laborious internal work. But, Resch argued, if they have the time to learn how to follow the rules of a diet, then they’d also have time to engage with at least some of the principles of intuitive eating.

“We have to be very cognizant of the privileges in some of intuitive eating’s principles. People with food insecurity or of lower income can’t always eat whatever they want when they want it, or don’t know when they can feel full again,” she said. “But other parts are still accessible.”

If you can only afford fast food, that’s still a perfectly valid way to practice making peace with all foods. Since there are no “good” or “bad” foods in intuitive eating, learning to not judge yourself for eating the food that’s accessible to you to satisfy hunger is a very legitimate way of incorporating it into your life. Similarly, finding joy in movement can be no more time-consuming than tossing a ball around with your kid, walking the dog, or stretching while watching TV on the couch.

What makes intuitive eating so challenging is also exactly what makes it anti-diet culture: It’s a radical shift in how we relate to food and define health that only you can map for yourself. Embarking on a journey with so few instructions is scary. But it’s also full of potential for self-discovery.

If you feel like you’d like to talk to someone about your eating behavior, call the National Eating Disorder Association’s helpline at 800-931-2237. You can also text “NEDA” to 741-741 to be connected with a trained volunteer at the Crisis Text Line or visit the nonprofit’s website for more information.

If you’re in need of a massive ego boost, this is your sign to turn yourself into a cartoon.

Twitter is currently full of people who are discovering the glorious effects of the Cartoon filter on the editing app Prequel. The free app takes any existing photo and turns it into a cartoon – simple, right? The cartoon animation effect isn’t a new idea, but something about Prequel’s version makes literally any photo a million times hotter.

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

Is it the baby smooth skin? The you-but-better realism? The yassification of the cartoon? Whatever it is, people can’t stop using it. The app also hosts plenty of other editing tools, video templates, and even more AI effects, but no one seems to care about those when one tap of the filter can turn you into a cartoon baddie.

Of course, as with any viral app, we were curious about Prequel’s privacy policy. The app doesn’t make clear exactly what it does with the gorgeous selfies being uploaded, so there may be mild concern there. In terms of personal information, Prequel can also collect and use any data you enter in the registration process, but you can use the app without creating an account.

If you’ve decided to submit your personal data to the powers that be and really just want to get in on the hot cartoon fun, all you have to do is download the Prequel app on the App Store or Google Play store. Make sure to click out of the sneaky premium paid version that pops up when you first open the app, select the Cartoon filter, and choose a selfie to cartoonify. We found the effect works best with photos that only have one person and shows your face almost entirely.

Happy hot cartoon-ing! Please schedule in at least 20 minutes of downtime to ogle at the beautiful animated version of yourself.

Tiffany Haddish, Dave Franco, Ben Schwartz, Christopher Miller and the cast of The Afterparty explain all the backstory you need to know before diving into the new Apple TV+ series.

UPDATE: Jan. 27, 2022, 4:45 p.m. EST This list has been updated to reflect pricing and availability as of Jan. 27.

• BEST SAMSUNG DEAL: Samsung Galaxy Book Pro, a nice alternative to the similarly priced MacBook Pro — $779.99 $1,099.99 (save $320)

• BEST GAMING DEAL: Razer Blade 15, a powerful gaming laptop that’ll keep you playing on the go — $1,749 $2,599.99 (save $850.99)

• BEST 2-IN-1 DEAL: Asus Chromebook Flip C434, an affordable 2-in-1 for those who want the basics of a laptop and a tablet at once — $455.99 $569.99 (save $120)

What’s better than a great laptop? A great laptop that’s cheap. Nowadays, even budget machines can pack the punch to carry you through whatever’s on your to-do list, whether it’s work, watching Netflix, or endlessly browsing social media. If you’re looking to pick up a new laptop but don’t necessarily want to drop your life savings in one go, we’ll be compiling a list of the best deals on cheap laptops right here, each and every week.

Best Samsung deal

Why we like it

We love Apple, but MacBooks aren’t the only laptops out there. The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro is a nice alternative to the similarly priced MacBook Pro, with a stunning display, a speedy 11th-gen Intel Core processor, a 20-hour battery life, WiFi 6E support, and a sleek, ultra-thin design.

Best gaming deal

Why we like it

The Razer Blade 15 Advanced model is packed with solid internals that’ll work well for PC gaming newbies and seasoned players alike. Under the hood, you’ll get a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10875H processor with up to 5.0 GHz max turbo and 8 cores, as well as an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 graphics card that has the power to run some pretty visually intense games. The 300Hz screen provides buttery-smooth frame rate performance and offers full HD visuals within a bezel-less display. It’s all housed within a thin, compact body that you can take anywhere.

Best 2-in-1 deal

Why we like it

Having your laptop and your tablet in one place is a convenience that you need in your life. The Asus Chromebook Flip C434 is a fantastic budget 2-in-1 device, with speedy performance, a full HD touchscreen, and components that should be able to handle all of your daily tasks.

More great laptop deals

• MSI GE75 Raider Gaming Laptop — $1,299 $1,399 (save $100)

• Dell Vostro 7510 — $949 $1,827.14 (save $878.14)

• Microsoft Surface Laptop Go — $549.99 $699.99 (save $150)

• Microsoft Surface Go 2 — $399.99 $549.99 (save $150)

• Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio — $1,599.99 $1,799.99 (save $200)

• Microsoft Surface Pro 8 — $1,499.99 $1,599.99 (save $100)

• Microsoft Surface Pro X — $799.99 $899.99 (save $100)

• Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch) — $2,399.99 $2,799.99 (save $400)

• 2020 Apple MacBook Air — $899 $999 (save $100)

• Lenovo Chromebook 3 — $119 $219 (save $100)

• Lenovo Yoga 6 — $599.99 $749.99 (save $150)

• Lenovo ThinkBook 13s Gen 2 — $967.85 $1,489 (save $521.15)

• Lenovo IdeaPad 3 — $182 $219.99 (save $37.99)

• Lenovo IdeaPad S340 — $699 $799.99 (save $100.99)

• Asus ZenBook Flip 15 — $999.99 $1,199.99 (save $200)

• Asus C423NA Chromebook — $149.99 $299.99 (save $150)

• Acer Chromebook Spin 713 — $329 $529 (save $200)

• Acer Aspire 5 — $372.20 $389.99 (save $17.79)

• Acer Swift 3 — $649 $849.99 (save $200.99)

• 2020 HP Pavilion X360 — $493 $699 (save $206)

• HP 15.6-inch Laptop — $299.99 $369.99 (save $70)

• HP 17.3-inch FHD IPS Premium Laptop — $819.99 $899.99 (save $80)

• HP Pavilion 15-inch gaming laptop — $847 $899.99 (save $52.99)

• Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 4 — $225.30 $249.99 (save $24.69)

How to shop for a new laptop:

Choosing a laptop is entirely dependent on what you’ll be using it for. Beginner laptop owners need something user-friendly and straightforward, frequent travelers need something light with a long battery life, designers and gamers need top-notch 4K graphics and quick central processors, and everyone needs something that will last. 

The first thing you should do is ask yourself a simple question: PC or Mac? This is an important question, as it’s going to make a world of difference in what you can and can’t do with your computer. Are you a gamer? A video editor? A business professional? An Apple device owner? The answer to any of these will probably point you towards your final answer. If you’re constantly buying the new iPhone every year, editing YouTube videos, recording a podcast, or other creative endeavors of the sort, your best bet may be a Mac laptop. Apple obsessives will be happy with their Mac’s compatibility with their other Apple products, and everyone can benefit from Macs’ propensity to have better virus protection than that of a PC. 

That brings us to the perks of picking up a PC. You can still complete a number of creative projects on a personal computer, but where PCs really shine are their options for customization. PCs are much easier to upgrade part-by-part, as they aren’t constrained to Apple-manufactured products (like Macs). And because there is a seemingly endless supply of PC manufacturers, there are a lot more options from what brand you chose, to the software you buy, to the type of graphics card you pick out for your gaming rig. Yes, gamers should always go the PC route — they are far more powerful than what a Mac laptop can handle, and also give you the option to connect VR headsets, if you’re into that sort of thing.  

What size laptop should you get?

This really comes down to two things: Personal preference and lifestyle. Personal preference is self-explanatory, really — do you like having a huge display, or do you prefer something more compact? Lifestyle is where practicality comes into play. If you’re traveling often and usually have your computer on your back in some way, you’re going to want to go with something more light and compact (thin, 11-inch models will most likely be the best). But if you’re a huge movie buff who doesn’t normally take their laptop on the road with them, spring for a 15-inch (and higher) screen with a bulky construction so you can have epic Netflix sessions. If you’re getting a gaming laptop, you should probably “go big or go home,” as well.  

How much should you spend on a new laptop?

This is much more subjective, and at the end of the day, it’s really going to come down to your budget. But, if money isn’t the number one concern for you, you should really think hard about what you’re going to use your laptop for. Need a device with lots of power under the hood and bountiful storage space? Aim for something in the $800 and beyond range. Only using your laptop to edit the occasional Google Doc? Then you can probably get away with spending way below the $500 mark. In other words, don’t blow your savings if you don’t need to. And if you’re looking to go all out, meaning buying a laptop with every bell and whistle imaginable, you can get a monster of a machine for somewhere closer to $2,000.

Are cheap laptops worth it?

You know the old saying: You get what you pay for. But thanks to the technology boom of the last few decades, a cheap laptop can actually take you pretty far and won’t break down immediately. It’s all about knowing which one to select. Depending on what you use your laptop for the most, staying stingy might be your best option. Check out our roundups for the ones that we think are worth it — here are our favorite cheap laptop models under $500, and the best under $300.  

What does it mean when a laptop is certified refurbished?

Don’t let the words “refurbished” or “renewed” scare you away — these types of devices are usually perfectly viable options and can end up saving you a lot of money without sacrificing much of anything.

A refurbished device, in its simplest terms, is a product that has been bought, but then returned for some reason. Notice that we didn’t necessarily say that it was returned due to some sort of fault on the device’s part. While that can certainly be true in some cases, it isn’t always. Oftentimes, a certified refurbished laptop never even left its original packaging.

While yes, saving money is a huge benefit of buying a “refurb,” it’s far from the only reason to consider getting one. What’s great about refurbished devices is that they undergo rigorous performance tests to ensure that they are still in good condition (sometimes more strictly than the stuff coming right off the production line). There’s also a chance that any refurbished laptop you buy may have been so lightly used, that it could almost be considered brand-new (just way cheaper).

We’re big fans of buying refurbished gear for kids, especially when it comes to electronics. If you’re shopping for a laptop for a kid who is under the age of 15, then refurbished is really the way to go. For kids of high school age and beyond who are a bit more careful with their digital gear, then a new laptop isn’t as risky. Of course, it depends on the kid.

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Save $30: When you need a laptop that’s cheap but gets the job done, check out the Acer 315 15.6-inch Chromebook for just $189 at Walmart. As of Jan. 27, you save 14% and get an ultra-affordable laptop with an Intel Celeron processor, 4GB RAM, and 32GB eMMC storage.

An M1 MacBook Air certainly looks nice, but not everyone needs something that pricey. A Chromebook is a great option if you only need a laptop for internet browsing and other basic tasks. And if you want to go cheap without sacrificing too much performance, the Acer 315 hits the sweet spot.

Simplify your laptop search with the Acer 315 15.6-inch Chromebook, which on sale for only $189 at Walmart. This Chromebook is powered by the latest Intel Celeron N4000 processor along with 4GB of memory and a 32GB eMMC internal storage drive. While it’s lightweight at about 3.6 pounds, you still get a sizable 15.6-inch HD display with an anti-glare coating and narrow 9.5-millimeter bezels for extra screen space. You even get an integrated numeric keypad, which is useful your work requires a lot of numbers.

You’ll also have plenty of time for work or play with a battery life that lasts up to 12.5 hours on a single full charge. You’ll even get a protective sleeve with your purchase, so you’ll be ready to take it to your favorite coffee shop for a little remote work.

A laptop doesn’t need tons of horsepower to be a worthwhile purchase. Sometimes the basics are enough, and the Acer 315 Chromebook fits the bill.

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You’ll really want to make time for this one.

On Wednesday, Apple released a series of major security patches for iOS (15.3) and macOS (Big Sur 11.6.3, Monterey 12.2, Catalina) designed to fix critical flaws in the operating systems. And yes, this seems to be happening a lot lately.

The updates affect Safari, macOS, tvOS, iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS. There are a multitude of issues addressed by Wednesday’s patches, and Apple makes clear in its documentation that many of them are quite serious.

“A website may be able to track sensitive user information,” reads one description of a problem with Safari. “Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution,” reads another. That’s bad.

In other words, a sketchy website designed to exploit this vulnerability could make your computer run whatever code the hacker wanted.

But wait, it gets even worse. That’s because Apple says these vulnerabilities aren’t just theoretical, but that someone — aka hackers, governments, or who knows — possibly took advantage of at least one of them in the real world.

“A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges,” Apple writes, regarding an issue with iOS and iPadOS. “Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.”

Thankfully, when it comes to the apparently Sisyphean task of keeping your iPhone and Mac free from zero-day vulnerabilities, hitting “update” goes a long way — even if you have to do it over and over again.

PREORDER: The highly anticipated Nintendo Switch game Pokémon Legends: Arceus comes out this Friday, Jan. 28. Reserve a copy through Amazon ahead of time and you’ll get $5 off the game (from $59.99 to $54.99) plus an exclusive in-game outfit.

The reviews are trickling in for Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Game Freak’s upcoming action RPG for the Nintendo Switch — and from the sound of things, it’s one of the finest Pokémon games we’ve gotten in years (albeit a little “messy” at times):

• “It stumbles often on its way to innovation (it’s trying to evolve a nearly 24-year-old series, after all) and brings equal parts brilliance and frustration in its updated systems,” writes Polygon’s Ryan Gilliam. “But the good bits in Pokémon Legends: Arceus outweigh the bad, rounding out a successful first attempt at an action-centric Pokémon game.”

• Per Steve Watts of GameRant: “Once Pokémon Legends: Arceus finds its stride … it’s the most daring and inventive the series has been in years, breaking apart the staid core and creating something new and exciting from its pieces.”

• CNET, meanwhile, deemed it “Breath of the Wild, for your Pokémon.” (They had our curiosity; now they have our attention.)

If that’s enough to sell you on Arceus, you still have time to pre-order a copy on Amazon ahead of its release this Friday, Jan. 28. Doing so will save you $5 and nab you an exclusive in-game Garchomp Kimono outfit inspired by the powerful, pseudo-legendary Generation IV Pokémon.

Part of what makes Arceus so compelling is that it’s set long before other modern Pokémon games like Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which saw people and pocket monsters living side by side. Players will actually be tasked with compiling the ancient Hisui region’s first-ever Pokédex to better understand the mysterious wild creatures that roam its lands, from brand new beasts like the Wyrdeer to regional variants of classic Pokémon. (PSA: Hisuian Growlithe are simply adorable.) If you’re lucky, you’ll even catch a glimpse of the mythical Arceus.

Note that Walmart has the game on sale for the slightly better preorder price of $54.88, but Amazon is the only place where you’ll get both a skin and a discount for reserving a copy — grab one ASAP, as its offer expires today (Jan. 27).

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