Technologies

Will Hogwarts Legacy Run on Your Laptop?

The new Harry Potter game is getting rave reviews (and plenty of contoversy), but can your low-end PC run it?

Hogwarts Legacy, the newest game set in the Harry Potter universe, has been a smashing success (albeit prefaced by the controversy over J.K. Rowling’s comments regarding transgender people). Out now, the game is available on nearly every modern console system, and also for Windows, where you can get it via Steam or the Epic Games Store.

Because it’s a modern PC game, its system requirements are beyond the capabilities of your average work or school laptop, and call for a discrete graphics card. However, the minimum, according to publisher WB Games, is an Nvidia GeForce 960 (or Radeon RX 470), a card that was released in 2014 for desktops and 2015 for laptops.

What are the required PC system specs for Hogwarts Legacy?

The game offers four sets of recommended or required hardware, but the lowest-end ones won’t get you much more than 30 frames per second at low quality settings. Decent hardware should get you 60fps at 1,920×1,080-pixel resolution.

On PC, the game automatically evaluates your hardware and sets what it thinks are the best graphics settings, but you should still play around with them to find what works best for you.

Hogwarts Legacy PC specs

	Low	High	Ultra	Ultra 4K
CPU	Intel Core i5-6600 or AMD Ryzen 5 1400	Intel i7-8700 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600	Intel Core i7-10700Kor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X	Intel Core i7-10700Kor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
RAM	16GB	16GB	32GB	32GB
GPU	Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 4GB or AMD Radeon RX 470 4GB	Nvidia GeForce 1080 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT or Intel Arc A770	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
Storage	85GB	85GB	85GB	85GB
Settings	720p / 30 fps, Low	1080p / 60 fps, High	1440p / 60fps, Ultra	2160p / 60fps, Ultra

Will Hogwarts Legacy run on a Mac?

No, it’s on consoles (PS4 and PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S and X) and Windows only for now. If the game gets added to a cloud service like Nvidia GeForce Now, that could be a Mac-friendly workaround.

OK, but how does it really play?

I loaded the game up on both a high-end gaming laptop and a midlevel nongaming laptop. The Razer Blade 18 has a Core i9 CPU and Nvidia’s RTX 4080 GPU, and I was hitting around 120-140fps at Ultra settings and 2,560×1,600-pixel resolution.

Then I tried a Samsung Galaxy Book Pro laptop, with Intel’s Arc graphics chip. That sounds like it would be supported based on the chart above, but the Arc chip referenced there is a higher-end, model, not the more mainstream version in the Samsung. In this case, even with every setting turned down as far as possible, I could only manage a frame rate in the low/mid-20s, which I wouldn’t consider good enough for even casual gaming.

So, will Hogwarts Legacy run on your work or school laptop without a discrete Nvidia or AMD GPU? Sadly not.

Game console reviews

See the latest CNET gaming coverage here.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Sept. 6

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 6.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s Mini Crossword is extra-long, as usual on Saturdays. And a couple of the clues were stumpers! Need answers? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: U.S. prez who served four terms
Answer: FDR

4A clue: Hurry, in Shakespearean English
Answer: HIE

7A clue: Only country to have a musical instrument (the harp) as its national emblem
Answer: IRELAND

9A clue: Big name in rum
Answer: BACARDI

10A clue: She holds the record for most #1 Billboard hits by a female rapper (5)
Answer: CARDIB

11A clue: Ancient time-tracking device
Answer: SUNDIAL

12A clue: Ctrl-___-Del
Answer: ALT

13A clue: Opposite of SSW
Answer: NNE

14A clue: Used to be
Answer: WAS

15A clue: Jupiter or Saturn, primarily
Answer: GAS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Small lie
Answer: FIB

2D clue: Whom Count von Count of «Sesame Street» is a parody of
Answer: DRACULA

3D clue: Takes back, as testimony
Answer: RECANTS

4D clue: 1920s U.S. president
Answer: HARDING

5D clue: Home to the W.N.B.A.’s Fever
Answer: INDIANA

6D clue: Weed gummies
Answer: EDIBLES

8D clue: Cooking grease
Answer: LARD

11D clue: Observed
Answer: SAW

Technologies

Researchers Discover 18 Popular VPNs Are Connected: Why This Matters

All are owned by 3 separate groups but CNET’s recommended VPNs are not on the list

Virtual private networks are popular ways to keep your online activity private and hide your physical location from your internet service provider and apps. But it’s obviously important to choose a safe and secure VPN.

Three university researchers have discovered that 18 of the most widely used VPNs have shared infrastructures with serious security flaws that could expose customers’ browsing activity and leave their systems vulnerable to corrupted data. These VPNs are among the top 100 most popular on the Google Play Store, comprising more than 700 million downloads.

Read more: Best VPN Service for 2025: Our Top Picks in a Tight Race

The peer-reviewed study by the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium found that these VPNs, despite calling themselves independent businesses, are actually grouped into three separate families of companies.

None of CNET’s recommended VPNs — ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN and Mullvad — are on the list. (If you currently don’t have a VPN, here’s why you might want to start using one.)

According to the findings, these are the three groups that contain the 18 VPNs:

Family A: Turbo VPN, Turbo VPN Lite, VPN Monster, VPN Proxy Master, VPN Proxy Master Lite, Robot VPN, Snap VPN and SuperNet VPN
Family B: Global VPN, Inf VPN, Melon VPN, Super Z VPN, Touch VPN, VPN ProMaster, XY VPN and 3X VPN
Family C: X-VPN and Fast Potato VPN

Researchers determined that the VPNs in Family A are shared between three providers linked to Qihoo 360, a firm identified by the US Department of Defense as a Chinese military company. The VPNs in Family B use the same IP addresses from the same hosting company.

Know your VPN’s parent company

It’s a cautionary tale about why it’s important to know who’s behind the VPN you’re using, says CNET senior writer Attila Tomaschek.

«It’s also crucial to know what kinds of data the VPN provider is sharing with its parent company and affiliated entities,» Tomaschek said. «Some of these companies may even be compelled to log customer activity and share it with authorities, depending on the jurisdiction in which they operate.»

Despite the warnings, Tomaschek says it’s not so easy to figure out who controls your VPN. But he says there are measures that customers can take.

«Users can do a few things to help ensure the VPN they’re using is reputable,» Tomaschek says. «Check the privacy policy — specifically for terms like ‘logging,’ ‘data sharing’ or ‘data collection.’ A Google search of the provider can help determine whether the VPN has been involved in questionable activity. Read detailed, unbiased reviews from reputable sources. Be especially wary of signing on with a free VPN, even if it’s listed as a top choice in your app store.»

The PETS researchers examined the most downloaded VPNs on Android, looking for overlaps among business paperwork, web presence and codebase. After identifying code similarities, they were able to group the 18 VPNs into three groups. The study was initially spurred by VPN Pro’s own findings, «Who owns your VPN? 105 VPNs run by just 24 companies.»

CNET’s Tomaschek has advice for anyone who has been using one of these 18 VPNs.

«I’d recommend deleting it from your device immediately,» he said. «If you suspect that any sensitive personal data may have been compromised, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your credit report and look into services like dark web monitoring or identity theft protection.»

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Sept. 6, #348

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Sept. 6, No. 348.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition was a stumper. But if you play cards, the green group is a fun one for sure. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Racket time.

Green group hint: Ante up!

Blue group hint: NY signal-callers.

Purple group hint: Coach’s CV.