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Maybe it's because I've researched a lot of power stations, but I can't seem to go anywhere on the internet without seeing an ad for the EcoFlow lineup. The sleekly designed power stations look great, so when the EcoFlow team reached out to see if I wanted to test one, I jumped at the chance. A week or so later, the $999 EcoFlow Delta Mini Portable power station (as well as the $400 EcoFlow 160W Solar Panel) arrived.

Even though this station has Mini in its name, it's not all that small. It weighs 23.6 pounds and measures 14.9 x 7.2 x 94 inches. 

Note: This review is part of our roundup of portable power banks. Go there for details on competing products and our testing methods.

I really like the overall design. It looks and feels like a premium product. There are ports on either end of the station, with one end also featuring an LCD screen. The screen is big and easy to read, detailing how much power is being used or input into the station, the hours remaining, and which power options are turned on. 

Just below the display is an IoT button to enable the station's Wi-Fi feature that allows you to connect it to your local Wi-Fi network. Then, using the EcoFlow app, you can remotely view all of its stats, update its firmware, and adjust settings without having physical access to the Delta Mini. 

Below the IoT button is where you'll find four ports: one USB-C 100W (20V/5A) port, two USB-A (5V/2.4A) ports, and a fast-charge USB-A (12V/1.5A 18W) port. Below those is a gold-colored power button. 

On the opposite side you'll find even more ports and connection options. There's a small cover near the handle that flips up to reveal the input ports. From left to right is a port dedicated to charging via a solar panel or a car charger, an AC charging port, and the overload protection switch. Between the two charging ports there's a switch that controls the AC charging speed, either “fast” or “slow,” going from a max of 800W to 200W (more on this in a minute). 

EcoFlow

Below the input ports are five AC sockets, with a dedicated power button for the outputs in the center. And, finally, below those is a car outlet port and a DC5521 barrel port, along with the 12V power button. 

The Delta Mini supports Pure Sine Wave output, meaning you should be able to use it with devices that have AC motors, such as a microwave or mini fridge, without issue. It can output a total of 1400W, with a surge capacity of 2100W. If you enable X-Boost in the app, or whenever an AC port detects that the power draw exceeds 1400W, X-Boost will automatically be enabled. However, EcoFlow recommends using just a single AC power outlet when you're using X-Boost mode. 

With that high of an output, the Delta Mini is able to power items like a hand saw or an electric skillet without any issues. 

To measure the station's efficiency, I connected my PortaPow power monitor along with a load tester to a USB port. The load tester constantly drains power, while the monitor records how much power is used. The end result was 669.446Wh of power used out of the 882Wh capacity. That translates to an efficiency of 75.90 percent. The average rating of all power stations I've tested is 83.51 percent—placing the EcoFlow Mini above only the Ego Power+ Nexus. 

Another test I use to measure output is to connect a 4W desk lamp and record a time-lapse video of how long the lamp stays powered on. When it was all said and done, the desk lamp stayed lit up for 46 hours and 14 minutes. That's the second-best showing out of all the power stations I've tested, putting it behind just the GoalZero Yeti 1000x, which achieved a staggering 111 hours and 29 minutes.

As for charging time, the Delta Mini can be fully recharged in as little as 90 minutes using the included power adapter and enabling X-Boost. Doing so will charge the station at around 800W. If you're not in a rush, you can charge the station at anywhere from 200W (takes about five hours for a full charge), all the way up to 900W. Keep in mind, though, that constantly fast charging the battery can have a negative impact on its overall life. I'd recommend using it sparingly. 

I also connected EcoFlow's 160W solar panel to the Delta Mini and monitored its charging rate. EcoFlow estimates eight hours of charging time with the panel, and that matches my experience: The power station showed it was receiving right at 140W of power from the panel, and that it would finish charging in eight hours. 

Admittedly, the EcoFlow Delta Mini and the 160W Solar Panel may be expensive, but they're also some of the nicest power station equipment I've tested. They both feel like premium products, with the solar panel including a cloth carrying case that doubles as a stand. Seriously, this is nice gear. 

That said, another option in EcoFlow's lineup is the $899 EcoFlow Delta Portable power station, which has a higher capacity and output and more ports for only $50 more than the Mini. I haven't tested the standard Delta, but assuming it's built to the same standards, I'd spend my money on it instead of the Mini.

While Intel recorded record revenue for the fourth quarter of 2021, Intel chief executive Pat Gelsinger said that chip shortages will persist throughout 2022 and into next year.

“Looking across the industry, 2021 was dominated by two recurring themes, unprecedented demand, and ecosystem supply constraints,” Gelsinger said.

Intel reported record revenue for the quarter—$20.5 billion, up 3 percent from a year ago, on $4.6 billion in profits. But the company's Client Computing Group (CCG) reported sales that fell 7 percent to $10.1 billion. Supply constraints hit Intel's PC customers, lowering their ability to ship PCs. Notebook revenue fell 16 percent, though desktop revenue helped offset it, growing 19 percent.

“This [the constraints] was most acutely felt in the client market, particularly in notebooks,” Gelsinger told analysts. “But constraints have widely impacted other markets including automotive, the Internet of Things and the data center. As we predicted, these ecosystem constraints are expected to persist through 2022 and into 2023. With incremental improvements over this period, the industry will continue to see challenges in a variety of areas, including specialty and overall foundries shortages, substrates, as well as third party silica.”

Gelsinger also named power controllers, display LED controllers, and different component pieces as other areas where shortages are a concern.

With that said, Gelsinger said Intel is well positioned to navigate the market, given that the company has always emphasized building chips from its own fabs. The company said this week that it plans to build a new megafab complex in Ohio, though the plan is to build the structure, or “shells,” and then add manufacturing equipment later. According to Gelsinger, the company's manufacturing roadmap that it outlined last year is still on track.

Gelsinger said Intel shipped 100 million units of its 11th-gen Tiger Lake chips, and he said that its 12th-gen Alder Lake chips are now shipping to 140 customers in 30 countries. Later this year Intel will ship Raptor Lake, a chip that has already successfully booted within Intel's labs. Intel's George Davis, the former chief financial officer who is now serving as an “executive adviser,” said that Intel was seeing a shift in demand from the consumer and entry-level PC “into what we call the Big Core notebook and our desktop…which really dropped off, and now we're seeing kind of a strong recovery there.”

The foundation of Intel's success was its Data Center Group, which houses its Xeon processors. Intel's Gelsinger said that the number of Xeon chips Intel shipped in December outsold its entire competition for the quarter. Intel's DCG revenue was $7.3 billion, up 20 percent from a year ago. Intel's Internet of Things group recorded $1.1 billion in sales, and Mobileye, which Intel plans to partially spin off, notched $356 million in sales. Intel's Gelsinger left the door open to other spinoffs, as well.

That's noteworthy, given that going forward, Intel said it plans to restructure itself: Intel's Arc graphics business, which will formally launch later this quarter, will be a separate unit.

Microsoft has said previously that it plans to issue feature updates to Windows 11 once per year, in the fall. But the company said Wednesday that it plans to issue a “public preview” of Android apps running on Windows, among other features, next month.

Microsoft's announcement came at the end of a Wednesday blog post authored by Panos Panay, chief product officer of Windows + Devices at Microsoft. The blog post reiterated many of the claims made by chief executive Satya Nadella during the company's earnings call, such as the claim that 1.4 billion users now use Windows. Panay also reiterated many of Microsoft's thematic statements, such as how the world has evolved into a hybrid working environment.

It was what's next for Windows, though, that was the most interesting part of his statement. “Next month we're bringing new experiences to Windows that include a public preview of how you can use Android apps on Windows 11 through the Microsoft Store and our partnerships with Amazon and Intel, taskbar improvements with call mute and unmute, easier window sharing and bringing weather to the taskbar, plus the introduction of two new redesigned apps, Notepad and Media Player.”

All of these features have been “released” previously as part of the Windows Insider program, specifically for members of the Windows Insider Dev Channel, where Microsoft tests out new code. Microsoft has said previously that the Dev Channel is reserved for code that may not ever be released publicly, while the Beta Channel and the Release Preview channel are for those who wish to test builds associated with an upcoming release.

That language makes Microsoft's plans a bit murky. It's possible that Microsoft may simply be making these experiences available to the Beta Channel, as a way of offering them up for more public testing. Microsoft could also be planning on releasing these capabilities through some other means, as it has done with other “preview” apps., or to the stable version of Windows, too.

Unfortunately, when asked for clarification, Microsoft representatives declined. “Right now we have nothing further to share beyond what is in the blog and should have more info next month,” a representative said in an email.

In any event, you can already test out these features by joining the Windows Insider channel. We've taken a look at how Android apps on Windows compares to Chromebooks, and described how the new “weather widget” (or News & Interests) feature will work on the Windows 11 taskbar. Microsoft has previously published details of the new Windows Media Player, as well.

Still, it's not clear whether Microsoft will make next month a quasi-feature release, with new features, or just a new release in the Beta Channel. In any event, it sounds like Microsoft is at least committing to these new features as ones that will be included in a future Windows feature update.

This story was updated at 11:42 AM with a statement from Microsoft.

Desktop machines might take home the prize in absolute raw power, but most users are still going with laptops for practicality and ease of use. So the new 12th-gen “Alder Lake” Intel processors, now freshly available in portable form, are a welcome upgrade for those who need their premium processing in a to-go package.

PCWorld's Gordon Ung took care of our usual exhaustive review of the new generation of Alder Lake chips, starting with the absolute top-of-the-line Core i9-12900HK. He compared it to both AMD's latest and greatest, the Ryzen 9 5900HX, and Intel's last-gen Tiger Lake Core i9-11980HK.

Because of the nature of pre-built laptops, the tests aren't as perfectly controlled as desktop benchmarks. Even so, we can glean some pretty definitive results based on crunching the numbers. If you don't have time to go through more than 6000 words of scrupulous detail — or maybe you just can't fit it into your lunch break — here are the important points to take away, as we wait for review units to start flowing in to inform our roundup of the best laptops.

The new 12th-gen chips are speed demons

Perhaps you could be forgiven for predicting this plot twist beforehand, but Intel's new top-of-the-line chip is faster than its old top-of-the-line chip. But this is no mere iterative bump: The Core i9 Alder Lake CPU beats out Intel's previous best effort by a considerable margin, especially when it comes to intense media applications.

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While the comparisons for Adobe suite programs and programs like Blender aren't perfect due to GPU helper systems, they're showing a consistent 10-20 percent improvement over Tiger Lake, especially for more lengthy rendering processes. Taking special notice of the PugetBench Photoshop 23.1.1 test with the laptop's discrete graphics switched off, which eliminates the graphics card variable: While the Core i9-11980HK and Ryzen 9 5900HX machines are in a dead heat, the new Core i9-12900HK laptop beats them both by 18 percent. That's a huge performance boost for a single year.

Alder Lake re-takes the lead from AMD

Again, it's not a huge surprise that the latest high-end chip from Company A beast the last-gen high-end chip from Company B, because that was almost certainly a goal during its development. But for what it's worth, yes, the Core i9-12900HK beats the Ryzen 9 5900HX in almost every one of our benchmark tests. (With one big exception — read on!)

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Results are more dramatic on more intensive benchmarks, but the takeaway is that, for the moment at least, Intel is the laptop speed king. That's an important metric for the company, if not anyone else, as marketable (and less-expensive) laptops are one of the areas AMD has been hitting hard and growing quickly over the last few years.

We lack the data to compare all of the down-market chips from Intel and AMD directly. And frankly, the differences become less meaningful as you go down, especially when you're at the level of Core i5/i3 and Ryzen 5/3 CPUs. But for what it's worth, Intel has regained the crown.

New chips have practical gains, too

Turning away from questionably useful brinksmanship, it's worth noting that the Core i9-12900HK does see considerable increases in performance beyond the very niche applications of media rendering. If you're spending your days crunching numners in Excel, you'll see a boost in performance with the new processor.

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Intel was already beating AMD in this area, but in Procyon tests for most Office applications we can see about a 10 percent boost for the new Core i9-12900HK. That's even more dramatic in Excel. If you live in the browser, you'll see gains as well. In the MotionMark 1.1 97 test, Alder Lake smashed previous records by an appreciable margin. Other browser tests showed similar, if less dramatic, results.

A slight boost to gaming

Gaming is less reliant on CPU power than on GPU power, but even so, a low-quality processor can bottleneck a beefy graphics card. That's not a problem with the Core i9-12900HK: It's showing modest-to-dramatic gains in gaming, especially on CPU-focused tests. In the 3DMark Time Spy test, the Alder Lake chip outperformed both previous Intel and AMD chips by nearly 30 percent.

IDG

Intel already had a decisive edge on gaming performance versus an AMD laptop with a similar level of hardware, but Alder Lake boosts that. What kind of gains you'll see depends on the specific game, but you can expect to see a considerable bump over last year's Ryzen flagship and a modest bump over a Tiger Lake machine. Again, this may or may not scale further down the line into the lower-powered 7, 5, and 3-series chips from both manufacturers, and your GPU will still have a much bigger impact on overall gaming performance.

Lacking battery power

They can't all be winners, and in our battery of tests, the Core i9-12900HK remains something of a power hog. While improving upon the last generation of Intel chips by a nice margin, AMD's Ryzen 9 platform beats it for laptop battery life by 10 percent in total runtime… even with a battery that's approximately 10 percent smaller.

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For someone seeking a laptop with the absolute fastest processor possible, battery life is probably a secondary concern — if you're editing video, rendering Blender projects, or playing Call of Duty with ray tracing enabled, odds are that you'll never forget your charging cable at home. But for those who want a bit more balance towards practicality, AMD is still offering a better choice.

Microsoft said Tuesday that about 1.4 billion users use either Windows 10 or Windows 11 every month, providing a “powerful on-ramp” for the company's own services.

“Three months in, and we are delighted by the response to Windows 11,” Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said during the company's calendar fourth-quarter 2021 earnings call with analysts. Microsoft reported that revenue for Windows OEM licenses shot up a substantial 25 percent compared to a year ago, prompted by the sudden surge in PC sales during the pandemic. Commercial PC licenses helped the surge, given that they generate more revenue.

Nadella didn't break down the number of users for Windows 11 and Windows 10, respectively, and he used some odd metrics to describe Windows 11's success. “We are seeing more usage intensity and higher quality than previous versions of our operating system,” Nadella said, whatever that means. Microsoft representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Nadella did say, that Microsoft Windows captured more market share this quarter, presumably against Apple's MacOS. Otherwise, however, he didn't clarify which OS he was referring to.

Sales of Microsoft's Surface devices also benefited, growing 8 percent after two quarters of negative growth that compared poorly to strong sales at the beginning of the pandemic-fueled 2020 year.

Overall, Microsoft's More Personal Computing, also known as its consumer/PC business, experienced 15 percent growth to $17.5 billion. As it has been for the last few quarters, however, it was Microsoft's Azure cloud business that drove revenue, as cloud services grew 46 percent. Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud business grew more slowly at 26 percent, to $15.9 billion. Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes, which houses Office, grew 19 percent to $15.9 billion. As a company, Microsoft reported profits that grew 21 percent compared to a year ago, to $18.8 billion. Revenue also increased by 20 percent, to $51.7 billion.

Nadella also noted that Windows provides an “on ramp” for Microsoft's own first-party and third-party services. Since adding coupons and price-tracker services within its Microsoft Edge browser, Microsoft has saved consumers $800 million, Nadella said. Edge is tightly integrated into Windows, and doesn't easily allow users to choose another browser. That prompted competitors like Vivaldi to complain that Microsoft was locking in users to Edge. Microsoft is testing versions of its browser that allow for more choice, however.

In gaming, Microsoft said revenue grew 8 percent. Hardware revenue grew by 4 percent, as consumers chased down Series X and S consoles. Microsoft's subscription service, Xbox Game Pass has more than 25 million subscribers, and saw record engagement this past quarter, Microsoft executives said. Over 18 million users have played Forza Horizon 5, and more than 20 million have played Halo Infinite.

Microsoft also said that more than 270 million users actively use Teams per month. Teams is also tightly integrated within Windows 11, to the point it will automatically load when booting your PC, unless blocked from doing so.

Updated at 4:38 PM with additional details.