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If you’re studying engineering at school and need a laptop that can handle resource-intensive coursework, you’ve come to the right spot. Not only do these laptops deliver in the performance department, but they’re also portable, an important factor when you’re running from class to class. We’ve also included budget-friendly options as well as snappy gaming rigs for those marathon gaming sessions. Why you should trust us: Hey, it’s in our name! PCWorld prides itself on laptop experience and expertise. We’ve been covering PCs since 1983, and now review more than 70 laptops every year. All of the picks below have been personally tested and vetted by our experts, who’ve applied not only performance benchmarks but rigorous usability standards. We’re also committed to reviewing PC laptops at every price point to help you find a machine that matches your budget. Looking for great laptop deals? Check out our regularly updated list of the best mainstream, gaming, and 2-in-1 laptop deals. The best laptops for engineering students Dell Inspiron Plus 14 – Best overall Pros Strong performance Phenomenal battery life Fantastic typing experience Cons CPU throttles under very heavy loads No user upgrades Price When Reviewed: $999 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $999.99 View Deal $999.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket $999.99 at Amazon$999.99 at Dell Why we like the Dell Inspiron Plus 14 The Dell Inspiron 14 Plus is one of the most well-rounded laptops we’ve come across in recent months. This sub-$1,000 machine offers reliable performance, phenomenal battery life, and a gorgeous display. You really can’t get much better than that. With an exceptional PCMark 10 score of 7,061, it toppled comparable machines like the Acer Swift Go 14 and the more expensive  Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. This laptop also has a battery life of 17 hours on a single charge (a spectacular result!), so you don’t have trouble yourself with finding a wall outlet to juice up. Who should buy the Dell Inspiron Plus 14 Anyone looking for a laptop that checks off all the right boxes. Battery life and overall performance are outstanding, sure, but don’t forget about the gorgeous 14-inch 1400p display, which is “exceedingly well suited to office work and static imagery,” according to our review. It has a maximum brightness level of 418 nits and an anti-glare coating, so you can use this laptop in various lighting conditions. The design is far from sexy, but its hardware capabilities and amazing battery life make up for the uninspired aesthetics. Alternative option: If you’re willing to shell out the extra cash, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i ($1,699.99) is a more premium option. It’s loaded with a faster processor (Intel Core Ultra 9 185H), more RAM (32GB), and a higher resolution display (3200×2000). It also has a bigger screen that measures 16 inches and a killer keyboard. You can’t really go wrong here if you need high-end power for high-end engineering tasks. Read our full Dell Inspiron 14 Plus review Acer Aspire Go 15 – Best budget option Pros Affordable Decent battery life Good display visibility Cons Big and bulky Cheap build Limited performance Price When Reviewed: $299 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $269.99 View Deal $299 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket $269.99 at Amazon$299 at Acer Why we like the Acer Aspire Go 15 The Acer Aspire Go 15 is a great laptop for day-to-day tasks like general web browsing, watching a streaming service, Microsoft Office, and so on. The Intel Core i3-N305 CPU won’t be able to handle more demanding applications, but that shouldn’t be a problem as long as your use is relatively light. The 53 watt-hour battery, however, lasted 12 hours on a single charge–a respectable result and definitely more than a full school day. Who should buy the Acer Aspire Go 15 Anyone on a tight budget! It’s just $300 right now on Acer’s online store, a great value for a laptop with a 15.6-inch 1080p display. It isn’t stretched too thin for clarity and it even has decent contrast, which is hard to come by on a laptop priced this low. The port selection is pretty good, too. You’re getting USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, a Kensington lock slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a DC power adapter. Read our full Acer Aspire Go 15 (2024) review Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 – Best battery life Pros Remarkable battery life A great array of ports Sturdy, lightweight design High-visibility display Cons Variable performance trails competitiors A bit pricier than the competition Price When Reviewed: $1,754 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Lenovo $1279.85 View Deal $1499.76 View Deal B&H $1699 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket $1279.85 at Lenovo$1499.76 at Amazon$1699 at B&H Why we like the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 lasted a jaw-dropping 24 hours on a single charge. That’s a bonkers result, and I mean that in the best way possible. This is partly due to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 processor, which is more power-efficient than Intel or AMD processors. The other factor is the lower-resolution 1920×1200 display. It doesn’t have a high refresh rate or a fancy OLED panel, so it doesn’t impact the battery much. In addition to the extraordinary battery life, it’s also lightweight at 2.66 pounds — it’s designed to be taken with you everywhere. Who should buy the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 Anyone with a jam-packed schedule. The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 is both long-lasting and portable, making it an ideal choice for a busy college student. That said, the keyboard is just okay and the display isn’t the sharpest we’ve ever seen, so you’ll need to keep those trade-offs in mind. If you’re not a big fan of the keyboard or display, you can always plug into external ones. This laptop has a decent port selection that includes a full-sized HDMI 2.1 port and a combination of Type-A and Type-C ports, so you shouldn’t have a problem hooking up to those peripherals. Alternative option: If you’re looking for a long-lasting 2-in-1, the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro ($1,649) is a great choice. Not only did it last 23 hours and 15 minutes on a single charge, but it also features a gorgeous 2800×1800 AMOLED display. Read our full Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 review Acer Nitro V 16 – Best for work and gaming on a budget Pros Solid performance Competitive price Dedicated button for quick performance mode switching Fast 165Hz display with good colors Cons Fully plastic build Mushy keyboard Weak battery life Price When Reviewed: $1,099.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $969.49 View Deal $1099.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket $969.49 at Amazon$1099.99 at Acer Why we like the Acer Nitro V 16 The Acer Nitro V 16 offers a lot of value for the hardware and performance. It has an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, which is more than enough power to run games on the Medium or High graphics presets. The 1920×1200 IPS display is also big (16 inches!) and fast (165Hz), so it’s the perfect screen for those twitchy games in which every second matters. It’s a good value, but you’ll be tethered to an outlet, as the 56 watt-hour battery lasted about four hours on a single charge. That’s not a surprising result for a gaming laptop, especially one with a 16-inch screen. Who should buy the Acer Nitro V 16 Anyone who needs a laptop that can handle schoolwork as well as gaming. The RTX 4060 graphics gives it the kick you’ll need for most modern games and the high refresh rate display will ensure that gameplay is nice and smooth. The keyboard isn’t the best and the whole thing is made of plastic, so it doesn’t have the most premium feel to it, but if you can overlook those nitpicks and strictly focus on the hardware inside, then you can’t get a better value than this. Read our full Acer Nitro V 16 review Asus Zenbook S 14 – Best ultraportable Pros Transcendent battery life A purposeful use of space Lovely, surprisingly large OLED screen Great audio Cons Keyboard needs more key travel Performance needs improvement, especially on battery Price When Reviewed: $1,499.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Asus $1499.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket $1499.99 at Asus Why we like the Asus Zenbook S 14 The Asus Zenbook S 14 is featherlight at just 2.65 pounds, which is lighter than the comparable 13-inch MacBook Air (2.7 pounds). It’s also structurally sound, which is surprising given how light and thin this laptop is. According to our review, there’s a “minimal of flex when pressing hard upon the center of the keyboard and the display doesn’t demonstrate meaningful wobble.” The featherlight form factor is great, but the battery life is something else entirely. The Zenbook S 14 lasted a spectacular 21 hours on a single charge! Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor. Who should buy the Asus Zenbook S 14 Anybody that’s looking for a compact productivity powerhouse. In addition to the lightweight form factor and fantastic battery life, the Zenbook S 14 also has a beautiful OLED touch display. The resolution is a sharp 2880×1800 and the refresh rate is a fast 120Hz. The fast refresh rate is ideal for smoother inking and mousing, and it makes it easier to look at the screen for longer periods of time. Finally, let’s end with the aesthetics. The silvery cracks on the lid resemble the silk of a spiderweb, which is unique and a real standout (in my opinion). Read our full Asus Zenbook S 14 (UX5406SA) review Asus Zenbook 14 OLED – Best OLED laptop Pros Robust build quality Attractive OLED touchscreen Good CPU and integrated GPU performance Outstanding battery life Cons Uninspiring design Keyboard isn’t memorable Mediocre connectivity options Price When Reviewed: $849.99 Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $849.99 View Deal Asus $999.99 View Deal $1199 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket $849.99 at Walmart$999.99 at Asus$1199 at Amazon Why we like the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED dazzled us with its peppy CPU performance, outstanding battery life, and slick-looking OLED touchscreen display. According to our review, “movies and games look realistic and vibrant” on the 14-inch 1980x1200p OLED touchscreen, although it can be difficult to view content in brighter environments because of the reflective surface. It also died at the 16 hour mark on a single charge, which is absolutely fantastic. That result outclasses comparable machines like the Lenovo Slim 7 14 Gen 9 and the HP Pavilion Plus Laptop 14. As for how it performs, you should have zero problems zipping through real-world tasks like web browsing, video conferencing, and so on. Who should buy the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED Anyone that’s looking to pick up an affordable laptop with an OLED display. It’s so much more than that, though. The build quality is solid and day-to-day performance is both fast and responsive. Connectivity options are a bit limited, but that’s not unusual for a laptop in this price range. Overall, this is an exceptional budget laptop, as you can’t really beat the price to performance ratio. Read our full Asus Zenbook 14 OLED review Recent laptop reviews Acer Aspire 14 AI: You can get much better laptops than the Acer Aspire 14 AI, but it brings a lot to the table at $699. Aside from its bland display, it doesn’t really fumble anywhere too badly. As a result, it proves a capable, utilitarian laptop that shouldn’t disappoint those who need a productivity machine. Asus Zenbook Duo: The second-generation Asus Zenbook Duo offers unparalleled multitasking prowess with its dual-screen configuration, but it’s hefty and expensive. Acer Chromebook Spin 312: The Acer Chromebook Spin 315 delivers reliable day-to-day performance as well as a comfortable typing experience, but there are a few things holding it back. Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro: The Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro delivers incredible battery life, a beautiful display, and solid desktop performance. But for an extra $50, you could have this as a 2-in-1 machine with a bundled S Pen. Acer Swift 16 AI: The Acer Swift 16 AI is a capable machine with a big, beautiful screen, but its AI chops are still unproven. Lenovo Legion 5i: The Lenovo Legion 5i is a great value — a 16-inch gaming laptop with a screaming-fast CPU that also squeezes a surprising amount of performance from its GPU. How we test engineering laptops The PCWorld team puts every Windows laptop through a series of intense benchmarks that test GPU and CPU performance, battery life, and so on. The idea is to push the laptop to its limits and then compare it against others we’ve tested. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of each test and the reasons why we run them. For a much deeper look at our review methodology, check out how PCWorld tests laptops. Windows laptops PCMark 10: The PCMark 10 benchmark is how we determine how well the laptop handles general use tasks like web browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, streaming, and so on. HandBrake: HandBrake is more intensive than PCMark 10. It measures how long a laptop’s CPU takes to encode a beefy 30GB file. Cinebench: Cinebench is a brief stress test of the CPU cores. It renders a 2D scene over a short period of time. 3DMark: 3DMark checks if 3D performance remains consistent over time by running graphic-intensive clips. This is how we test a gaming laptop’s GPU. Video rundown test: To gauge battery life, we loop a 4K video using Windows 10’s Movies & TV app until the laptop dies. FAQ 1. How much processing power will I need in an engineering laptop? You’re going to need a good amount of processing power for engineering tasks, so we’d recommend an Intel Core i5 or higher. However, an Intel Core i7 is considered ideal. This type of processor is good for multitasking, gaming, and demanding workloads. 2. Is RAM important to an engineering laptop? Absolutely! The amount of RAM directly impacts the speed of your programs. Engineering students will likely be living in programs like Java and Python, so making sure those programs run smoothly is absolutely vital. The bare minimum we’d recommend is 8GB, but 16GB is better. 3. What about storage? You’re going to need quite a bit of space for a slew of engineering programs, so we’d recommend at least 512GB of SSD (solid state drive) storage. If you want more space and have the budget for it, go for 1TB of NVMe SSD storage. 4. How much should my laptop weigh? You don’t want to be lugging a five pound beast from class to class. A portable laptop should weigh about three pounds or less. In terms of portability and value, we suggest buying a laptop with a 13- or 14-inch display.

A lot of gamers go to great lengths to find a portable retro gaming device with the lightest and most compact kit. The Linux powered Raspberry Pi 5 does a decent job on that front. But what many players don’t know is that an even smaller and lighter solution is available by turning the humble USB flash drive into a portable gaming console. You still need a PC to play, but it means you can get around with more compact gear. Here’s how to do it for under $100… What you’ll need… A USB flash drive: I’m using the SanDisk 512GB drive, but you can also use one with a smaller or larger capacity. A small wireless keyboard: Here’s one on Amazon I found for just $10 that will do the job just fine. It also has a compartment in the back to store your USB flash drive. A gamepad: A lot of USB gamers rate the 8BitDo Pro 2. It supports USB-C, so you can just plug it into your PC without any fuss. Adam Patrick Murray What to do… Install the OS on your flash drive Your flash drive needs to be set up with the open-source OS Batocera to play. Here are the steps: Plug your USB flash drive into your PC. Go to the Batocera website. Then select the x64 Windows version of the OS and wait until it downloads. Now download and install the BalenaEtcher tool which you will need to flash the Batocera OS to your flash drive. Open BalenaEtcher, click Flash from File and choose the downloaded Batocera file. Choose your USB flash drive and select Flash to flash the OS to the device. When the flashing is done, hit Cancel or Ignore on all the windows that pop up. Boot into your flash drive Now that the OS is installed, you need to boot into your flash drive. There are two ways to do this, so if the right options don’t appear the first way, try the second way. Method 1 Type recovery options into the Windows start menu and under Advanced Startup hit Restart now. Now select Use a device and then UEFI: Removable Device. Batocera should boot now. If you didn’t see the option to select the UEFI: Removable Device, use the next method. Method 2 Power down your PC and power it up again. While your PC is powering up hit the F12 key to enter your PC’s BIOS menu. When given the choice to pick a boot device select UEFI: USB, Partition (your USB flash device). This should boot you into Batocera. Further reading: Best external drives Load games into Batocera Now that you have Batocera installed you’re going to want to populate the OS with some games. Batocera is an emulation frontend that supports a large number of game emulators for retro game consoles. PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo 3DS games are just a small fraction of the game types you can play using Batocera. The OS does come with a limited number of game ROMs preloaded, which are free and legal to use, but if you want more than that you’ll need to install your own ROMs. Dominic Bayley / IDG I can’t tell you where to get these from. It’s illegal to use ROMs without a license, so you’ll want to own each and every one. Here’s how to load them up. In Batocera press F1 to launch the file manager. Find the location of the ROM files on your computer, or else plug in the storage device that has the ROMs (USB stick or hard drive) and select it from the list on the left-hand side. Highlight and right click on the files you want to copy. Click on ROMs down the left-hand side. Find the folder for the appropriate game emulator and paste the game files into it. Now your games will be visible, but some may not have artwork. To apply artwork to each game, find the game in Batocera and long press the X button (number 3 button) on your controller. Now select Scrape. You will have to be connected to the internet for this to work. You should be up and running now and can use your flash drive on any PC to play retro games. As a general rule any PC with mid-range specs will work a treat; you should hit about 60fps in most games. Some things to take note of This whole process can be done with an SD card or a portable hard drive instead of a USB flash drive. Personally, I find a USB flash drive is the ideal size to carry, being neither too small, nor too large. To get the best out of Batocera and your games, it’s also worth watching a few “How to” videos to familiarize yourself with the OS. You’ll want to learn how to adjust the video settings and resolution for specific emulators, for example, so that your games will look great. For these and more tutorials, a great source of information is the YouTube channel Batocera Nation. That’s all for now. Happy retro gaming! Further reading: Is your USB flash drive trustworthy? These tips will tell you

PDF files are ubiquitous in this cross-platform world, making it possible to view and share documents across a range of devices. While simply viewing or commenting on a PDF can be accomplished with free software, there are times when you might need to engage with a PDF document more extensively, such as making edits, reorganizing a file, or working with others to make changes. That’s where a a full-featured PDF editor comes in. The best PDF editors allows you to edit, create, alter, and convert PDF files just like you would with any other text document. Adobe Acrobat is the most well-known option for most people. Its reputation is certainly deserved given its excellent feature set and overall utility. But it’s also quite expensive. Thankfully, there’s a whole range of respectable and even great third-party PDF editors that provide less expensive alternatives to Adobe’s premier product. PROMOTIONEaseUS PDF Editor – Edit, Convert, Compress & Protect PDFs Integrate PDF maker, PDF editor, PDF converter, and PDF reader in one full pack with all the basics you need. The clean interface simplifies your PDF work to edit, convert, comment, annotate, merge, split,  background, page, watermark, sign PDFs, or fill forms. Your PDF workloads are down by batch processing efficiently.Now 25% OFF Exclusive Code: PCWORLD25Free Download Get It Now | 25% off Our picks below cover the gamut of PDF editing needs and budgets. Why you should trust us: At PCWorld, we’ve been testing PC hardware and software for over 40 years. Our evaluation process is always hands-on and thorough, taking into account real-world usage needs. We don’t ever recommend something we wouldn’t be comfortable using ourselves. To learn more about our criteria for PDF editors scroll to the bottom of this article. Adobe Acrobat Pro – Best PDF editor overall Pros Easily navigable tabbed interface Comprehensive PDF editing features Streamlined sharing feature makes it easier to fill documents and get signatures Cons Rich feature set can be overwhelming for new users Price When Reviewed: $19.90/mo I $239.88/yr Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Adobe $239.88 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket $239.88 at Adobe Adobe Acrobat Pro remains the industry standard for good reason. Its rich combination of creation, editing, reviewing, and security features are mimicked by the best alternative options, but we feel Acrobat still does it best. Its recent interface redesign makes it much easier to navigate through its robust toolset than the nested menus of yore, and its cloud subscription option puts its advanced features within reach of more individuals and small businesses. (See how it compares to the Adobe Acrobat Standard.) Though many of its features are available in other, cheaper PDF editors, Acrobat is still the editor against which all others are judged. And, as of this year, it’s also the first PDF editor that we know of to incorporate AI into the feature mix. See our article on “5 ways Adobe Acrobat’s AI Assistant gives you a productivity edge.” Read our full Acrobat Pro DC review Foxit PDF Editor 13 – Best PDF editor runner-up Pros Multi-platform Business-ready capabilities AI integration helps with document editing Cons Can be expensive depending on product license Price When Reviewed: PDF Reader: Free; PDF Editor: $10.99 a month; $129.99 a year; PDF Editor+: $159.99 a year Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Foxit PDF Reader Free View Deal Foxit (monthly) $10.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Free at Foxit PDF Reader$10.99 at Foxit (monthly) Foxit PDF Editor 13 hits all the right notes for a premium PDF editor and can even take on the formidable Adobe Acrobat. It’s packed with features that are sure to please power users—all the requisite content editing tools; review and markup features; form fill and signing support; and robust security options for sensitive documents, such as permissions, password protection, and data redaction. It supports tons of file formats, and adding hyperlinks, images, and files to a PDF is trouble-free. Indeed, ease-of-use is one of Foxit’s great strengths. The program uses a Microsoft Office-style ribbon interface which groups tasks in a familiar and intuitive interface, making for a seamless integration with your workflow. It also provides ChatGPT integration so you can easily get help with your documents from an AI assistant. Yes, it’s priced on the higher side for a PDF editor, but with all it has going for it, Nitro PDF Pro more than earns its keep. Plus, you can try it out for free for seven days to see if you like it before making a commitment. If you’re looking for an Acrobat replacement, you won’t find many better. Read our full Foxit PDF Editor review EaseUS PDF Editor – Best cheap PDF editor Pros Full set of editing tools Annotation options enable easy collaboration Straightforward interface Cons Windows only Needs subscription to remove usage limits Price When Reviewed: Free I $22.46/mo I $49.95/yr I $79.95/lifetime Best Prices Today: Retailer Price EaseUS $22.46 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket $22.46 at EaseUS EaseUS PDF Editor might not have the name recognition of some of the other editors on this list, but it’s more than capable of holding its own in the crowded PDF editor market. It provides all of the essential tools for managing PDF files without any of the elaborate or hard-to-understand features. It allows users to jump right in to their toolset and get straight to editing with only what they need. While EaseUS’s features are great, they are also pretty standard fare among PDF editors. What makes it stand out is its affordable price—it’s a great value for those who regularly edit PDFs and don’t want to pay out the nose. EaseUS also offers a fully functional free version (with embedded watermarks on your edited documents) so users can take it for a spin to see if it meets their needs before they commit to paying any money. Read our full EaseUS PDF Editor review PDF Candy – Best free PDF editor Pros Many advanced features OCR capability Very easy to use Cons No Mac support Free trial only offers basic features Price When Reviewed: Free Best Prices Today: Retailer Price PDF Candy Free View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Free at PDF Candy PDF Candy is the rare free PDF editor that offers a lot of the features you’d typically have to pay for. We’re talking scanning, multiple file-conversion options, and OCR functionality. All of this combines to make PDF Candy stand out among the multitude of lesser free PDF editors. It does have a bit of a wonky interface, but once you get the hang of it you’re off and running. Unfortunately, while the free version has access to the expansive toolset of the paid version, you’re limited to one PDF task per hour. If you want unfettered access, you need to shell out $6 per month, or $48 per year. Read our full PDF Candy review PDF Expert – Best PDF editor for Mac Pros Syncs across Mac, iPhone, and iPad Comprehensive editing and annotation tools Simple, intuitive interface Cons Requires annual payment Lifetime license enables use on Mac only Price When Reviewed: Free 7-day trial, then $79.99 annually Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Readdle $79.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket $79.99 at Readdle PDF Expert is an excellent editor that fits seamlessly into the Apple ecosystem, making it our pick for Macs, iPads, and iPhone users. While macOS does include a PDF editor in its Preview app, iOS devices don’t have a native PDF editor and PDF Expert fills that gap nicely. It has a clean and intuitive interface and offers a plethora of easy-to-use editing options such as page management, converting scanned files into editable documents, and conversion to other file formats, among other things. The pricing plan is also considerably cheaper than most of the other top picks, meaning this is a no-brainer for Apple users. Read our full PDF Expert (iOS) review Apple Preview PDF editor – Best free PDF editor for Mac Pros Full set of PDF markup tools Supports form filling PDFs can be protected with passwords, encryption, and permission controls Cons Limited native sharing options Only available to Mac users Price When Reviewed: Built into macOS Mac users needn’t look beyond the macOS for their PDF editing needs, since there is a full set of PDF markup tools already available at their disposal in Apple Preview. It has the chops to handle most personal and business PDF editing needs, including encryption, password protection, and permissions for files. Apple Preview’s PDF features and capabilities are impressive and should be all you need for most common editing tasks. The drawback, of course, is that only Mac users can take advantage of them. Read our full Apple Preview PDF editor review pdfFiller – Best online PDF editor Pros Intuitive web-based interface Robust security options Lots of business-ready capabilities Cons Business features won’t be needed by some users Requires annual commitment to get best value Price When Reviewed: Basic: $8 per month; Plus: $12 per month; Premium: $15 per month. Those prices require an annual commitment. Prices start at $20 a month with no commitment. Best Prices Today: Retailer Price 30-day trial Free View Deal pdfFiller monthly (on annual contract) $8 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Free at 30-day trial$8 at pdfFiller monthly (on annual contract) pdfFiller is a browser-based PDF editor that allows you do to just about everything PDF-related—editing, securing, sharing, creating, and storing PDF files—all from its intuitive and simple web interface. Its design is similar to a desktop app, with the toolbar across the top, and document thumbnails along the side, so it’s very easy to select the page you want to work on and perform the desired function, be it adding, deleting, or copying/pasting text; changing font style, size, and color; and so on. A standard set of markup tools is also available. It has a surprisingly deep set of features for both personal and business use. For instance the Premium plan offers an impressive legal document library, as well as SignNow support. While incredibly versatile, not all of pdfFiller’s advanced features will suit everyone. Fortunately, there are three subscription tiers, which gives users a way to meet their editing needs without paying extra for unnecessary features: Basic for $8/mo; Plus for $12/mo; Premium for $15/mo with an annual commitment. Month-to-month options are also available, but at a higher cost, of course. Read our full pdfFiller review Other PDF editor reviews Swifdoo PDF for Windows: This full-featured, low-priced Acrobat alternative should serve most users well, with most everything you’d need for editing PDFs. MobiPDF: Budget buyers will find a lot to like about PDF Extra. It offers good basic-to-intermediate PDF functionality that will please both casual and professional users, for a fraction of the cost of pinnacle program Adobe Acrobat Pro. PDF24 Creator: This is a capable free editor that comes in handy for casual use, but if you need a program for more regular editing duties, PDF24 Creator has annoyances that will hinder its helpfulness. PDF-XChange Editor: Another full-featured PDF editor that will fulfill most editing needs for a reasonable price. It also offers a respectable free version, if you can accept its watermarks. Kofax Power PDF 5: This is a close alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro with essential and advanced editing tools and lots of help resources, making it suitable for old hands and those new to PDF editing. A word about online PDF editors Why spend a chunk of change on a desktop editor when free online PDF editors abound? The simple answer is because you get what you pay for. Generally, free online editors will let you add text and comments, merge and split documents, and convert files to and from PDF. With rare exception, however, they won’t let you edit existing text and many have file-size and page-volume restrictions. And a lot of them will watermark your edited document. For these reasons, web PDF editors are best reserved for simple, fast editing jobs. Call in these big dogs for anything more demanding. What to look for in a PDF editor PDF editors come in a variety of flavors, offering varying feature sets—from basic functionality to power-user tools. It’s important to know what features best match your workflow before you commit to a PDF editor. Create, convert, and export PDFs The most fundamental function of a PDF editor is to make PDFs, either from scratch, scanned hard copies, or by converting digital documents. A good PDF editor should be able to transform a variety of file types—from Microsoft Office formats to images to HTML—and do so seamlessly, preserving the original formatting. It should also include OCR technology to make the PDF text searchable and editable. Likewise, a good PDF editor must be able to export PDFs into other editable formats such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, HTML, or plain text, maintaining the original files hyperlinks, images, and other elements. Content editing Another bit of magic that PDF editors unlock is the ability to modify text; insert, resize, and move images; and reorganize pages in the PDF. A good one will perform these tasks as easily as in a text document or slide deck, allowing in-line editing, dragging-and dropping graphics, and adding or removing hyperlinks. Review and annotate A good PDF editor should also let you or anyone else using it add comments and other annotations to PDF files during review. It should have tools to mark up both text documents and graphic-heavy files like webpages. Common options include sticky notes, callout boxes, highlighting, freehand drawing tools, and stamps with messages like “approved,” “revised,” and “confidential.” Security All businesses deal with documents containing sensitive data. Look for a PDF editor that includes security features that allow access for authorized eyes only. Good options will usually offer several levels of security, including password protection, permissions setting, and content redaction, which “blacks out” selected text and images. Most PDF editors will also offer one or more ways to electronically sign documents. Mobile support While deep PDF editing is best done on a desktop, it’s nice to be able to review and annotate files when you’re out and about. While PDFs can typically be reviewed in any PDF reader or editor, regardless of which one they were created in, consider looking for an editor that has a dedicated mobile app, is optimized for mobile devices, or allows cloud access to features through a mobile browser. One of the great things about a PDF is that it can be read and edited in any PDF program regardless of which one it was created in. So beyond the features outlined here, let your personal preferences guide you in making your decision. FAQ 1. What is the difference between a PDF document and a PDF form? While there are a number of different types of PDF file formats, they all fall under the umbrella term of PDF documents. A PDF form is a type of PDF document that has editable form fields a user can fill out. Typically, parts of the document are static and can’t be changed in a PDF form, such as questions in a survey or instructions about filling out the form. In a PDF form, the content fields a user fills out are open to editing and can offer a list of possible answer options or can be written in freely. 2. Are PDF documents and Word files different? Yes. They are two entirely different document formats. While you can export from one file format to another, they are not the same. Word file formats are usually used for word processing, editing, and making changes to text. PDF documents on the other hand, are most often utilized for viewing, sharing, and printing. Additionally, Word files are read and write and contain some version of the “.doc” file format. Whereas PDF files are typically read-only and contain the “.pdf” file format. 3. Can you protect PDF documents from being edited by other people? Yes. If you have a PDF document that you don’t want anyone else to edit, you can protect the file. You can do this by opening the file in Acrobat, for instance, and clicking Tools > Protect. Then you have a few options as to whether you want to simply restrict editing with a password, or if you want to encrypt the file for further safety. Once you choose how you want to protect the PDF document, you can set a password and save. 4. Can you merge PDFs with a free PDF editor? As a matter of fact, many free PDF editors allow you to merge two or more PDFs into one document. Such is the case with our top free pick PDF Candy. Open up the PDF editor application or website in your browser and search for the Merge option. It will then ask you to add the files of all PDFs you wish to merge. Once the files have been added, arrange the page order and alignment before proceeding with the merge. Afterwards, all of your previously PDF files will be merged into one new PDF document. 5. Does Google have a free PDF editor? Yes and no. Google doesn’t provide a designated free PDF editor itself, but there are third-party Chrome extensions that you can use to help get the job done. Alternatively, you can make use of Google Drive to edit a PDF document. Simply upload the document onto your Google Drive and then select the file and right-click and select Open with > Google Docs. The file will be opened as an editable Google Docs text document. Then just make your edits and when you’re finished click File > Download >PDF Document to revert it back to a PDF file. This method is a quick and easy way to edit a simple PDF document, but be careful as Google Docs can run into formatting issues if your original document has complex visual formatting such as tables and graphs. In this case, it is best to use a designated free or premium PDF editor.

As Microsoft Word and PowerPoint continually improve their feature sets, the two apps are slowly strangling one of Microsoft’s traditional Office apps: Microsoft Publisher. Microsoft now says that Microsoft Publisher will disappear in October 2026, where the (ahem) “perpetual version” of Publisher will be discontinued — at least in terms of support. At that time, Publisher will also be removed from Microsoft 365 and subscribers will not be able to access it from that date forward. If you’re a Publisher fan, Microsoft is throwing you a lifeline: You can download and use Publisher via M365 until the 2026 cutoff date. You can also buy Publisher. Even after the October 2026 date comes and goes, the perpetual version will still work, and you’ll be able to open and edit your Publisher files. But the app won’t be officially supported, so in the off chance that a vulnerability crops up, Microsoft won’t patch it. Microsoft won’t be adding any new features, either. Why is Microsoft doing this? Its support page (thanks, Windows Latest) suggests an answer: Because Word and PowerPoint are doing everything Publisher does. Microsoft is now referring Publisher users to use Word for such projects as envelopes or letterhead, and either Word or PowerPoint for designing your own business cards. Microsoft also recommends that Microsoft 365 subscribers convert their existing Publisher (.pub) files to some other format before the end-of-life date kicks in. To do so, Microsoft suggests a somewhat laborious process: Convert all Publisher files to PDFs by opening the file and then saving it in a .pdf format. You can then open the document in Word (or PowerPoint) and save it in the native format. The only problem? The layout may change. Microsoft suggests creating a macro to do this if you have years’ worth of Publisher files. And you just might. Wikipedia reports that Publisher was released in 1991, which means that the end-of-life date will be 35 years after it was first released, and later added to the Office 365/Microsoft 365 suite…where many people just used Word instead. RIP, Publisher. I hardly knew ye.

This is not a drill, folks! There’s an OLED gaming monitor you can buy, right now, for money, and it’s pretty darn cheap at $399.99. Amazon is selling this Pixio 27-inch 1440p OLED for $499.99 with a $100 on-page coupon, no Prime membership needed. That brings the final price to (tap tap tap, carry the one…) four hundred bucks. That’s a solid $200 less than even budget-tier OLEDs outside of the big annual sales events, and it matches the cheapest price I’ve ever seen for a new OLED monitor (back during Black Friday last year). And unlike a lot of the more affordable OLED models, this Pixio OLED has a few premium features, including a speedy 240Hz panel, USB-C video with 65 watts of charging for laptops, and an integrated KVM switch. To be sure, Pixio is definitely a few steps down the ladder in terms of brand reputation. (And it doesn’t help that they’ve vomited AI art all over their promo images, yuck.) I also wouldn’t take the 4.5-star rating on the Amazon listing at face value, since this is a combination listing with an older LCD design. That said, the few reviews I saw from confirmed OLED buyers were very positive. According to Pixio’s website, this monitor comes with a three-year warranty against OLED burn-in specifically. That matches the major OLED brands, so take that for what it’s worth. I’ll add that you could throw in an extra 3-year warranty on the Amazon page for $61 and still be well below the price for any other new OLED monitor on the market right now. If you’ve weighed all the pros and cons and have decided you want this, get your order in quickly. I’ve seen steeply discounted OLED gaming monitors go out of stock faster than you can refresh the page. This 27-inch OLED gaming monitor for $400 is an absolute stealBuy now at Amazon