Antonio G. Di Benedetto

I’ve been testing two Ultra keyboards: the Keychron V5 Ultra 8K and Keychron Q1 Ultra 8K. The $119.99 V5 Ultra is a near-full-size 1800-layout board with a number pad in a plastic case, while the $229.99 Q1 Ultra is a 75-percent layout (my preferred size) with a much heavier milled-aluminum chassis and much more robust build and typing feel. Aside from case material and layout, they’re very similar keyboards that are both excellent. Unlike the older Q and V series boards, the Ultras run on ZMK, an open-source firmware often used by advanced keyboard enthusiasts (absolute sickos) for building their own custom boards. ZMK’s most obvious benefit for most people is its battery efficiency. It’s the reason Keychron claims you can get up to 660 hours of use on an Ultra 8K board — about four times longer than its claims for the Max models. If you use your keyboard for about eight hours a day with the backlight off, that’s 83 days before you’re bothered to plug in — or longer, if you’re using Bluetooth. It’s not the one to two years of battery some membrane keyboards offer, but this kind of battery life in a mechanical keyboard was unheard of not long ago. Even some of the best wireless mechanical keyboards from recent years usually require charging every other week or so (depending on your usage). Read more from @superantonio64 Photos by @superantonio64

Why is the MacBook Neo such a big deal? Just look at some of its competition. We pitted the Neo against three similarly priced Windows laptops from Asus, Lenovo, and Acer. Read more at the link in bio. #macbook #neo #apple #tech

I love black-and-white photography. I also adore compact cameras you can always have by your side. So I’m a total mark for the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome, a fixed-lens camera that can’t zoom and can’t record color — at all. It’s a formula that makes the average person ask, “Why?” I’ve tested the GR IV Monochrome for over a month, taking it with me everywhere and photographing everything. Let me explain how this pricey little point-and-shoot is likely to go down as one of my all-time-favorite cameras. Ricoh GRs are some of the most unassuming, no-frills cameras around, and they have been since their conception in the film days. In the digital era, they’re pocket-size point-and-shoots with a large APS-C sensor permanently attached to a fixed focal length lens. If you’re familiar with Fujifilm’s popular X100 line, it’s like trimming one of those down to the bare minimum — that means no viewfinder and no fancy aperture ring. The X100 and other coveted street cameras like Leicas offer vintage-style shooting and double as lifestyle accessories or shoulder-carried jewelry (with prices to match). But a Ricoh GR is purely a shooter’s camera, with unabashedly modern methods of being used. Atop the camera is a typical mode dial, with customizable user presets, not an old-timey shutter speed dial. To be fair, cameras that can’t shoot color aren’t new. Leica has been making its Monochrom variants of Q and M cameras for nearly 14 years. But priced at nearly $8,000 to $11,000 and up, they’re mostly unattainable to an average enthusiast. At $2,199.95, the GR IV Monochrome isn’t cheap but it’s much more grounded and feasible to own one without it being your only possession. And frankly, it’s less hoity-toity and snobbish when your second, third, or fourth camera — the “artsy” one — doesn’t cost more than a used car. Read our full review from @superantonio64 (including a technical breakdown and more lovely photos) at the link in our profile. Photos by @superantonio64

When the MacBook Neo arrived last month, I knew Windows laptop makers were in trouble. For $599, the Neo offers fantastic build quality and solid performance in a sleek and ultra-portable package. Windows laptops in this price range tend to be ugly, cheap-feeling, and a little slow. Despite years of rumors, the MacBook Neo still seemed to take the Windows world by surprise. I expect proper competitors to pop up just as soon as the companies can manage, but I wanted to see what the competition in the PC space is like now. So I asked a bunch of laptop manufacturers to send me their best answers to the MacBook Neo. Read more from @superantonio64 at the link in our profile Photos by @superantonio64

The Verge’s Laptop Reviewer, Antonio G. Di Benedetto, took a look at Apple’s new 13-inch, budget laptop, the MacBook Neo. While the 8GB RAM and chipset might not keep up with the rest of the MacBook lineup, the Neo performs solidly for lighter activities like web browsing and word processing. You can read Antonio’s full written review at the link in our profile. #apple #macbookneo

The MacBook Neo is basically the M1 MacBook Air all over again. That laptop changed the game in 2020, and became the default option for just about anyone who wanted a great all-around thin-and-light laptop and could spend $1,000. The M1 Air was good enough that you could still buy a new one until last month. The Neo takes its place as Apple’s cheapest laptop, with a starting price of $599 and enough power to handle everyday tasks and last all day on a charge. It’s designed to entice students and first-time laptop buyers into Apple’s world. It will. The Air is still better than the Neo in pretty much every way, but even the cheapest MacBook Neo is good enough to be the go-to Apple laptop for a lot of people. Actually, not just the go-to Apple laptop; the Neo’s hardware simultaneously embarrasses an entire class of affordable (and even far pricier) Windows laptops, as well as just about any Chromebook. And the thing runs an iPhone chip. Read our full review from @superantonio64 at the link in our profile. Photos by @holowatyrose

We’re hands-on with the new M5 powered MacBook Air. This year there is a price increase; $1,099 for the base 13-inch model and $1,299 for the 15-inch. There are some tradeoffs such as the new Air includes 512GB of base storage, double what the M4 MacBook Air. It also has double the max storage, as well, with up to 4TB rather than 2TB. We still need to fully review, but keep a look out on theverge.com for how it turns out. #apple #macbook #technews

We got hands-on with Apple’s new MacBook Neo. Starting at $599, Neo is one of the most affordable new Apple MacBooks to launch, especially the education model that starts at $499. There are some tradeoffs like only 8GB of RAM, no thunderbolt and no magsafe. We still have to test it out, so look out for our review. #apple #macbook #tech

Here is the MacBook Neo, Apple’s new entry-level Mac laptop. Its colorful chassis options easily set it apart from current MacBook Air and Pro models. But the biggest difference is that inside the Neo is an A18 Pro iPhone chip instead of an M-series processor Apple typically uses in its laptops and recent desktops. The first thing you notice, touching the device, is obviously the colors. They’re not quite as vibrant as the orange iPhone 17 Pro, but the blush and citrus colors (which are more like chartreuse-ish and purple-ish) do look pretty nice. Apple says the keyboards are color-matched, but the effect is pretty subtle, and was a bit hard to see under the harsh lights of Apple’s hands-on area. The MacBook Neo starts at $599. The Neo also features a 13-inch (2408 x 1506) display, 8GB of RAM (with no option to upgrade), 256GB or 512GB of storage, a Magic Keyboard, multi-touch trackpad, 1080p camera, two USB-C ports (one USB 3 and one USB 2), a headphone jack, and new side-firing speakers with support for spatial audio and Dolby Atmos. It also comes in four colors: silver, indigo, blush, and citrus, each with a color-matched keyboard. The 512GB model includes a TouchID sensor, but the 256GB model does not. Neither model includes Thunderbolt ports or MagSafe.We’ll be reviewing it along with much of Apple’s other recently announced MacBooks, monitors, iPhone, and iPad. Read more at the link in our profile. Photos by @superantonio64

Lenovos’s ThinkBook Modular AI PC concept includes USB-C, USB-A, and HDMI options — not nearly the expansive ecosystem that Framework has established, but Lenovo’s does come with a cute little carry case. It’s still not clear if this concept will get made, considering the battery limitations, but it would be nice to pick our own ports.#technews #tech #lenovo #mwc

The Asus ROG Flow Z13 was already a unique beast. It’s a chunky gaming tablet with impressive AMD Strix Halo integrated graphics. I was really into it when I reviewed it around this time last year. But just look at it now, clad in the stylings of Hideo Kojima’s game studio and his longtime collaborator, artist Yoji Shinkawa. This is the Asus ROG Flow Z13-KJP, a collaboration between Asus and Kojima Productions announced at CES. It’s officially inspired by Kojima Productions’ mascot Ludens, though it feels very Death Stranding, which makes sense, since Yoji Shinkawa designed both. Shinkawa is famed for designing legendary characters and gadgetry with Kojima, going back to the Metal Gear Solid series, and more recently the Death Stranding games. The ROG Flow Z13-KJP is based on the most powerful configuration of the standard model Z13, with an AMD Ryzen AI Max 395 Plus APU and 128GB of memory. It costs $3,699.99, $400 more than the MSRP of that model (though $900 more than the current sale price), and it will include a Steam code for Death Stranding 2: On the Beachon PC, delivered via Asus’ Armoury Crate app. It’s up for preorder now, direct from Asus and at retailers like Best Buy and B&H Photo. The limited edition isn’t individually numbered, and Asus isn’t disclosing how many it’s making, but like the previous limited editions it’s likely to sell out. Accompanying the tablet are a matching ROG Delta II-KJP headset ($269.99), ROG Keris II Origin-KJP mouse ($169.99), and a ROG Scabbard II XXL-KJP desk mat ($69.99). All in, the limited edition collection costs $4,209.96 — sold a la carte in the US. It may be available as a bundle in some regions. As bonkers as that price is, I urge you once again: Look. At. This. Thing. Check out our full rundown and dozens of additional photos (including some in a warm, dry studio) from @superantonio64 at the link in our profile. Photos by @superantonio64

The second iteration of ROG Zephyrus Duo is here and it has full edge-to-edge screens this time. The 16-inch 3K 120Hz OLED HDR displays can reach 1,100 nits of peak brightness and the keyboard / trackpad detaches so you can use it wirelessly or over the bottom display. Verge reviewer, Antonio G. Di Benedetto got hands-on at CES 2026. #ces2026 #ces #laptop #gaming