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8 Feb 2025

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UK demands access to Apple users' encrypted data
The Home Office served the notice to the tech giant under the Investigatory Powers Act.

Why I’m switching to an eco-friendly laptop
Recently, I’ve started to consider my own impact on the environment. As someone who occasionally reviews laptops, there are times when I’ve accumulated a collection of them in my home office. Whenever I gaze upon this backlog, I’m reminded of my own contribution to the omnipresent problem of electronic waste, which is why my next laptop will be an eco-friendly one. Laptops, as you may or may not know, are not great for the environment! They often contain rare earth materials like lithium. Not only does lithium take a lot of resources to mine, but its extraction can also upset natural ecosystems. Plus, when it’s time to dump an old laptop, all or parts of it will end up sitting in landfill and contaminating nearby ground waters. The impact laptops have on the environment is bigger than you may think. Further reading: Best laptops 2025: Premium, budget, gaming, 2-in-1s, and more What is a sustainable laptop? Before I dive into the reasons why I’m switching to an eco-friendly laptop, I should first establish what that means. A sustainable laptop is designed to minimize the impact it has on the environment. This is done by using recycled materials and/or a repairable/upgradeable design. Framework laptops, for example, have a modular design that makes it easy to swap out old parts for new ones, thus extending the life of the laptops. Acer Vero laptops, on the other hand, consist of recycled materials like oyster shells and post-consumer recycled plastics. Choosing a refurbished laptop over a new one can help offset the environmental impact, as well. It takes a lot of materials to make a brand-new laptop, so by picking a refurbished one you’re circumventing that process. If you’re going the refurbished route, then I’d recommend buying from an official manufacturer. Getting a warranty with your purchase is always a good idea, too. Upgradability is a must I love the idea of a laptop you can upgrade over time, which is one of the main reasons why I’m making the switch. Most laptops aren’t upgradeable, which means you’re stuck with the internal components until they age out. In this case, the only way to get a laptop with the latest hardware is to buy a new one, which eats up carbon emissions and generates more electronic waste (otherwise known as e-waste). A laptop with a modular design, for example, allows you to easily remove the module components and then slot in new ones. Framework is a company that makes this process so easy it’s ridiculous. If you crack open a Framework laptop, you’ll see that each part is marked with a bar code, which you can then scan with your smartphone. The link that pops up will direct you to the exact part on Framework’s website. You can also get a laptop with a removable chassis. As long as you have access to the internal components, you’ll likely be able to upgrade things like the RAM and storage. Framework Laptop 13 Read our review I love the way the Acer Vero line of laptops look Acer’s Vero laptops are sustainable, which is great, but I’ve always liked the look of them. Just because they’re made of recycled materials doesn’t mean they have to be unsightly. The 2023 Acer Aspire Vero, for example, features a bluish-green colorway with flecks of lighter green embedded throughout the exterior. It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen and it’s more exciting than a boring gray slab. I’m currently eyeballing the 2025 model of the Vero for myself. Not only is it partially made of biomaterial from oyster shells, a first for a sustainable laptop, but it also features the same speckled look that I’m such a fan of. If I’m going to invest in an eco-friendly laptop, I might as well like how it looks, yeah? Acer Aspire Vero 16 Read our review Recyclable packaging makes me happy Nothing sets me off quite like piles of cardboard and bits of packing material flying around the house. Whenever I unbox a new laptop that I’m going to review, I’m always stunned by the amount of packaging I have to go through. I’m not someone who can easily operate in a mess–I don’t like it when a bunch of cardboard just sits around and takes up space. Fortunately, some eco-friendly laptops, like the Acer Aspire Vero 16, come with fully recyclable packaging. So, what does that mean exactly? Well, it’s packaging that can be recycled multiple times and made into different things. In fact, many major laptop manufacturers are sending laptops out with recyclable packaging nowadays. According to Dell’s sustainability brochure, the company promises that “100 percent of [their] packaging and more than 50 percent of [their] product content will be made from recycled or renewable materials” by 2030. Laptop companies are also doing a lot of other cool things to lower their carbon footprint. Dell makes it incredibly easy to recycle your laptop, which helps cut down e-waste. Lenovo even offers a “reduced carbon transport” to their service centers. You can read more about that in their sustainability brochure. The fact is that laptop manufacturers are doing their due diligence to cut down on e-waste and those efforts should definitely be applauded. A laptop with a metal unibody is nice, but I don’t need it I don’t mind a plastic build, I really don’t. I’m very careful when handling my electronic devices whether it’s a laptop, a smartphone, or a handheld gaming device. I’m careful not to place them in precarious positions where they’re in danger of falling, and I don’t travel with my laptops. My lifestyle is relatively low-key and I’m a more cautious person than most, so I don’t need a laptop with a metal chassis. Many sustainable laptops are made of recycled plastics, which might bug some people. I personally don’t mind the look and feel of a plastic build. All I care about is that the hinge that connects the screen to the keyboard feels firm. A metal chassis is more durable, sure. It’s a stronger material, after all. But mining metal (especially aluminum) is definitely more harmful for the environment, as it generates more carbon emissions. I also don’t mind the slight flex of a plastic build, as long as it’s sturdy and holds the components inside like it’s supposed to!

How I finally learned to love Windows Task View
It only took about nine years, but I’ve finally made Windows Task View part of my everyday workflow. Task View arrived with Windows 10 in 2015, providing an alternative to cramming all of your open windows into the space afforded by your screen. By clicking the Task View button on the Windows taskbar — or just pressing Windows key + Tab — you can see all your open windows and arrange them into separate workspaces, known as virtual desktops. It’s the kind of feature I should theoretically love, but my earlier attempts to use it always ended in failure. Too often I’d forget about those extra virtual desktops I had set up and would gravitate back toward opening all my windows in one place. By rethinking my approach to Task View — and by taking advantage of some new Windows features — I’ve finally made a habit of using it in a way that saves time and helps me focus. This column first appeared in Advisorator, Jared’s weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up to get tech advice like this every Tuesday. Task View for layouts, not tasks Task View is right next to the Start button.Jared Newman / Foundry My light bulb moment with Task View was actually inspired by the Stage Manager feature in macOS. Stage Manager displays your most recently viewed windows on the left side of the screen. If you drag multiple windows onto the desktop, Stage Manager remembers that layout when you switch to another app, so you can bring it back with one click. Stage Manager comes in handy when I’m trying to focus on writing. I’ll put my writing/notetaking app (Obsidian) on one side of the screen and my web browser (Vivaldi) on the other, so I can research and write without being distracted by anything else. If a message comes in on Slack or I need to check my email, I can click over to those apps, then use Stage Manager to go right back to my split-screen setup. (Yes, macOS also has a separate virtual desktop feature called Spaces, but I find Stage Manager easier to work with in this scenario.) Stage Manager in macOS.Jared Newman / Foundry I realized that with Windows, I should be approaching Task View the same way, with split-screen layouts that correspond to specific tasks. My current setup now consists of four virtual desktops: Writing: Obsidian covers one half of the screen and Vivaldi covers the other. Communication: A three-column view with Slack, Gmail, and Proton Mail. Socials: Full-screen views for BlueSky, Mastodon, and Threads. Other: Everything else on an ad-hoc basis, like gaming or any particular app that requires a clean layout. Without Task View, these layouts would quickly fall apart as different apps overlapped and jockeyed for screen space. Assigning each layout to its own virtual desktop helps keep them intact. Task View isn’t a replacement for having multiple monitors (or an ultrawide monitor, for that matter). If anything, it’s more of a supplement, as you can quickly switch between layouts that span multiple screens (or one extra-wide screen). Getting more out of Task View Jared Newman / Foundry Having committed to using Task View, I’ve also made an effort to remember some of its extra features and shortcuts: Windows key + Tab, as I mentioned earlier, is the quickest and most convenient way to bring up Task View. Windows key + Ctrl + Left Arrow and Windows key + Ctrl + Right Arrow switches between virtual desktops. Hovering your cursor over the Task View icon shows all of your virtual desktops in a pop-up menu. While Task View is open, you can drag windows from one virtual desktop to another. You can also right-click an app and select “Show windows from this app on all desktops.” This is useful if you’re listening to music and want to control playback from any of the virtual desktops. In Task View, right-click any virtual desktop to reorder it, rename it, or give it a unique wallpaper. If you have a mouse with extra buttons on the side, you might also want to map those to Task View functions as well. With my Logitech MX Master 3S, I’ve mapped the two side buttons to flip between virtual desktops while the thumb button brings up the overall Task View. One other option worth considering: In Windows, under Settings > Accessibility > Visual Effects, you may want to disable “Animation effects.” This turns off all the gliding and sliding animations, which can feel sluggish when switching between virtual desktops. Saving Task View layouts for later Saving my “Communications” layout with Workspaces.Jared Newman / Foundry Windows Task View pairs especially well with Microsoft PowerToys. PowerToys is a collection of helpful Windows utilities, including one feature called “Workspaces” for saving your favorite window layouts. I’ve used Workspaces to capture my Writing, Communication, and Social layouts, with quick-launch icons on my desktop for each one. If I need to reboot my computer, or if my layouts get messed up for any reason, this lets me restore them with one click. (You can read more about Windows Workspaces with this primer from Mark Hachman.) Of course, you can be perfectly happy using Windows without ever touching Task View — as I did for much of the last decade. But if you’re often juggling a few distinct tasks, it might be the organizational feature you’ve been missing. This column first appeared in Advisorator, Jared’s weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up to get tech advice like this every Tuesday.