iFixIt’s stealthy soldering iron heats up in 5 seconds while charging your laptop
iFixIt has an interesting new repair tool -- a soldering iron that can heat up in under 5 seconds while charging your laptop.
Koichiko
iFixIt
It only makes sense that iFixIt would launch a soldering iron at some point. The company, which is best known for its electronic repair toolkits and wealth of repair guides, says that it has over 1,000 repair guides that call for a soldering iron. And up to this point, it hasn’t offered a tool for those guides. The new Smart Soldering Iron, as iFixIt calls the device, puts a unique spin on an old design in order to make the soldering iron easier to use and more beginner friendly.
Power has a lot to do with that. Instead of plugging directly into the wall, the Smart Soldering Iron is powered by USB-C. And iFixit says you can use “any USB-C power delivery source,” but it points specifically to its 65-watt GaN charger. The company says the soldering iron can heat up in under 5 seconds, but that time presumably increases if you’re using a USB-C device that can’t deliver above 65W.
If you don’t want to leave heating up the soldering iron to guesswork, iFixIt is offering the Portable Soldering Station. It comes with the iron along with a portable power station that features dual USB-C ports capable of delivering up to 100W. The station comes packing a 55-watt-hour battery, which iFixIt says can power eight hours of continuous soldering on a single charge. If you don’t need that much time, you can also hook up your phone or laptop to the spare USB-C port and power it off the portable station.
iFixItThis isn’t the first USB-C soldering iron, but iFixIt made some specific changes to make the iron easier to use. Most notably, an LED ring runs around the middle of the device and shows the state of it. When it’s blue, the tip is below 100 degree Fahrenheit. When it’s purple, it’s actively heating up or cooling down. And when it’s orange, the iron has reached the temperature you set and is ready for use. Sean Hollister over at The Verge notes that you need to plug the soldering iron into a PC to set the temperature, however.
In addition, iFixIt includes an automatic sleep mode, fall protection, and an accelerometer to automatically cool the iron when it’s not in use. According to iFixIt, “this is the ideal tool for anyone new to soldering.”
It doesn’t come cheap, though. The Smart Soldering Iron itself is $80, and if you want to bundle that with the Porable Soldering Station, you’ll spend $250. You can also spend $300 on the Soldering Toolkit, which comes with the iron and power station, along with a variety of addition tools including a wire stripper, no-clean flux, and precision angled tweezers. Preorders for the device are live now, and shipping starts on October 15.
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
This Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 deal cuts the price by $1,000
Microsoft's Surface devices are powerful and versatile -- but those benefits usually come with a steep price. That's why there's always high demand for Surface Laptop and Surface Pro deals, and here's one that we think will sell out quickly -- the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 for $2,500, following a $1,000 discount from B&H Photo Video on its original price of $3,500. It's still not cheap, but it's an excellent price for a laptop of this caliber. This deal ends on September 22, but it could sell out any minute.
Why you should buy the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2
The first thing that stands out with the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is its beautiful 14.4-inch PixelSense Flow touchscreen that offers a 120Hz refresh rate and support for Dolby Vision IQ and HDR. The device also offers three modes: Laptop Mode where you can use its keyboard for typing, Stage Mode where you pull the display towards you to cover the keyboard and give you an angled display for watching streaming shows, and Studio Mode that transforms it into a tablet for sketching. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 also comes with Windows 11 Home pre-loaded in its 2TB SSD.
Using Microsoft Excel to subtract numbers may take a few more steps than you're used to, but it can be done.
In this guide, we'll show you four different ways to subtract in Excel: Within a cell, using numbers from different cells, via the SUM function, and using the status bar. This way, you'll have a different method you can use depending on your subtraction needs or desired level of ease of use. Scroll on to learn how to subtract in Excel.
Best gaming laptop deals: Alienware, Razer, Asus and more
If you wanted to buy a gaming laptop ten years ago, that would mean that you'd have to spend thousands of dollars on something that was quite big and bulky and likely couldn't even play the best PC games on the market. Nowadays, gaming laptops have become thin and light, and you can actually get something pretty solid without spending too much money. On the other hand, if you want to go all out and grab one of the best gaming laptops, you'll absolutely find something that can almost compete with the best gaming desktops out there.
To help you with picking something great, we've found deals from some of the best laptop brands and include Lenovo laptop deals, Acer laptop deals, Dell laptop deals, and HP laptop deals, although if you're looking for some more general deals, these laptop deals have some good options, too.
MSI THIN 15 -- $700, was $900
