The Morning After: Is the Surface Laptop 5 worth your money?

Microsoft’s knocked out five generations of Surface Laptop, and it looks like familiarity has bred a small degree of contempt. Sam Rutherford has , finding there’s not enough change from the previous model. Sure, there are new Intel CPUs and a new Thunderbolt 4 port in the chassis, but that’s about it for major changes.

Instead, you get the same chassis, display and webcam as previous years, none of which are table stakes for a premium laptop in this class. Nor are the lack of graphics options beyond Intel’s Iris XE, which means games will either look rough or run like sludge. And that’s really not good for a laptop that costs the same as the vastly superior XPS 13.

– Dan Cooper

The biggest stories you might have missed

You’re really getting what you pay for.

Rivian appears, from a fairly modest start, to have produced two of the best EVs in their classes. Roberto Baldwin has spent some time , an electric off-roader with some serious power and even better quality of life improvements: You can camp (or live) in your R1S by adjusting its suspension to ensure its cabin is entirely flat, relative to the floor it’s parked on. Pretty cool.

From ‘No censorship’ to ‘No, censorship’ in record time.

Twitter owner Elon Musk previously said lifetime bans were bad, and that “comedy” was once again legal on the platform. Unfortunately, a number of users enjoyed their new freedom to , prompting something of a rethink. After several high-profile users started impersonating Musk, the super-chill billionaire with a great sense of humor, announced Twitter will permanently ban account impersonators unless clearly listed as a parody.

Turn your home into a cinema.

The one time I went into an AV store to look at projectors, the salesperson tried to upsell me to a $3,000 unit in the first five minutes. That means I’ve never found a unit that could start me on a home cinema journey until I .

Steve Dent has laid out what you need to know before buying a projector and thrown in some recommendations for good yet affordable units. And that should go hand-in-glove with the , since no movie is complete without an excellent sound system, right?

It wants to end sticker shock for most things.

Airbnb has pledged to , putting the full price of a stay in search results. It’s to address complaints that you don’t see the hidden charges until you’ve clicked into a listing. That can include a hefty security deposit or cleaning fee, pushing the price well over, say, just visiting a hotel. Unfortunately, the figures aren’t displayed pre-tax, as custom in the US, so there’ll still be some sticker shock when it comes time to hit the button.