The best cheap Windows laptops for 2025

Not everyone needs a super-expensive, top-of-the-line laptop, and the good news is you don’t have to break the bank to get a solid machine. Whether you’re a student, a casual user or just looking for an affordable device for everyday tasks, there are plenty of great options out there. The trick is finding the best cheap Windows laptop that balances performance, build quality and battery life without making too many compromises.

A good budget laptop computer should still be fast enough to handle web browsing, office work and streaming, which means looking for models with a decent processor, a solid state drive (SSD) for speedy boot times, and at least an FHD display so everything looks crisp. Some affordable options even come with a dedicated GPU, which can help with light gaming or creative work. Whether you need a lightweight notebook for school, a workhorse for productivity or an affordable FHD laptop for entertainment, there’s something for everyone. We’ve rounded up the best cheap Windows laptop choices available today, covering different price points and features to help you find the right fit for your needs.

You may be inclined to recommend a Chromebook or a tablet to anyone considering a budget Windows laptop computer. Those instincts aren’t wrong, but Chromebooks and tablets aren’t the best buy for everyone. Tablets have the most portability, but they will only work for the most mobile-competent users like kids who have been grabbing smartphones out of their parents’ hands since they’ve been dexterous enough to do so. Tablets can also be just as expensive as some of the cheapest Windows laptops, and that’s without a mouse or keyboard.

Chromebooks are a good alternative for those that basically live in a browser, the trade-off being you must give up the “traditional desktop.” And Chrome OS is a more limited operating system than Windows when it comes to the programs you can install and run.

What can you realistically accomplish on a cheap Windows laptop? Quite a bit, especially if you’re doing one thing (or a limited number of things) at a time. They’re great for everyday tasks like web browsing, checking email, video streaming and more. All of those things can be done on Chromebooks as well, but Windows laptops have a big advantage in Microsoft Office. While yes, there is a browser based version, the native, desktop apps are considered a must have for many and will run smoothly on even the most bare-bones budget laptop. The only caveat is that you may run into some slowdown on low-powered devices if you’re multitasking or working with large data sets in Excel or a lot of photos and graphics in Powerpoint.

When it comes to specs, a bright spot for Windows laptops is storage. Even the most affordable devices tend to have at least a 128GB solid state drive. That will come in handy if you prefer to keep your most important files saved locally on your laptop’s hard drive. In contrast, cheaper Chromebooks often have less storage because they’re built on the assumption that you’ll save all of your documents in the cloud. Not only is that less convenient when you need to work offline, but it also limits the size of programs and files that you can download. So, Chromebooks aren’t the best for hoarding Netflix shows before a long trip or for use as a gaming laptop.

Windows also has thousands of apps that you can download from its app store. Chromebooks have some Chrome apps, numerous browser extensions and the ability to download Android apps, but quality control is… inconsistent. Android apps, in particular, often haven’t been optimized for Chrome OS, which makes for a wonky user experience. Windows may not have as many apps as Android, but at least the experience is fairly standard across the board.

Windows also gives you the ability to download and use programs from other sources, like direct from the developer. You can run things like Adobe Creative Suite, certain VPNs and programs like GIMP, Audacity and ClipMate on a Windows device, which just isn’t possible on Chrome OS. Chromebooks limit you to the apps and programs in The Play Store and the Chrome Extensions store, reducing any others to unusable, space-sucking icons in your Downloads folder.

While you can do a lot even when spending little on a Windows laptop, you must set your expectations accordingly. The biggest downside when purchasing a budget laptop (of any kind, really) is limited power. Many Windows laptops under $500 run on Intel Celeron or Pentium processors, but you can find some with Core i3/i5 and AMD Ryzen 3/5 CPUs at the higher end of the price spectrum.

  • Intel Core i or AMD Ryzen 3 processors

  • At least 8GB of RAM

  • An SSD with at least 128GB of space

  • 1080p FHD display

  • Mostly metal designs

We recommend getting the most powerful CPU you can afford because it will dictate how fast the computer will feel overall. RAM is also important because, the more you have, the easier it will be for the laptop to manage things like a dozen browser tabs while you edit a Word document and stream music in the background. However, with sub-$500 laptops, you’re better off getting the best CPU you can afford rather than a laptop with a ton of RAM because the CPU will have enough power to handle most everyday tasks that cheap Windows laptops are designed for (If you’re editing RAW images or 4K video, you’ll want to invest in more RAM… and a laptop well above $500).

When it comes to storage, consider how much you want to save locally. If you primarily work in Google Docs or save most things in the cloud, you may not need a machine with a ton of onboard storage. Just remember that your digital space will also be taken up by apps, so it may be worth getting a little extra storage than you think you need if you know you’ll be downloading big programs. A final side note: solid state drives are ubiquitous at this point, not to mention faster and more efficient than HDDs, so we recommend getting a laptop with that type of storage.

You also don’t have to settle for an entirely plastic notebook either. There are options in the sub-$500 price range that are made, at least in part, with metals like aluminum. Those will not only be more attractive but also more durable. As for screens, there’s a healthy mix of HD and FHD options in this price range and we recommend springing for a notebook with a 1080p display if you can. Touchscreens aren’t as common in the under-$500 space as standard panels, but you’ll only really miss one if you get a 2-in-1 laptop.

See Also:

It’s essential to prioritize what’s important to you. But at the lower end of the budget, a good laptop may not offer everything you need, whereas a great one might. Although most machines come with features like Bluetooth, built-in Wi-Fi and additional ports, you might find not all of them come with the specifics you require, like an SD card slot, webcam, charger, and so on. Be sure to check the spec list of any laptop you’re considering before you buy, especially if you need specific connectors and capabilities.

A final note before we get to our picks: The best cheap laptop models change all the time. Unlike more expensive, flagship machines, these notebooks can be updated a couple times each year. That can make it hard to track down a specific model at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart or any other retailer. Also, we’ve seen prices vary widely depending on the configuration and retailer you’re looking at. We’ve listed some of our current favorite models below, but if you can’t find any of them available near you, just keep in mind our list of specs to look for in a cheap laptop – they’ll guide you to the best laptops available at the moment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/best-affordable-windows-laptops-123000512.html?src=rss

Zuckerberg’s Meta Considered Sharing User Data with China, Whistleblower Alleges

The Washington Post reports:

Meta was willing to go to extreme lengths to censor content and shut down political dissent in a failed attempt to win the approval of the Chinese Communist Party and bring Facebook to millions of internet users in China, according to a new whistleblower complaint from a former global policy director at the company.

The complaint by Sarah Wynn-Williams, who worked on a team handling China policy, alleges that the social media giant so desperately wanted to enter the lucrative China market that it was willing to allow the ruling party to oversee all social media content appearing in the country and quash dissenting opinions. Meta, then called Facebook, developed a censorship system for China in 2015 and planned to install a “chief editor” who would decide what content to remove and could shut down the entire site during times of “social unrest,” according to a copy of the 78-page complaint exclusively seen by The Washington Post.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg also agreed to crack down on the account of a high-profile Chinese dissident living in the United States following pressure from a high-ranking Chinese official the company hoped would help them enter China, according to the complaint, which was filed in April to the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC]. When asked about its efforts to enter China, Meta executives repeatedly “stonewalled and provided nonresponsive or misleading information” to investors and American regulators, according to the complaint.

Wynn-Williams bolstered her SEC complaint with internal Meta documents about the company’s plans, which were reviewed by The Post. Wynn-Williams, who was fired from her job in 2017, is also scheduled to release a memoir this week documenting her time at the company, titled “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism.” According to a memo in the complaint, Meta leaders faced aggressive pressure by Chinese government officials to host Chinese users’ data to local data centers, which Wynn-Williams alleges would have made it easier for the Chinese Communist Party to covertly obtain the personal information of its citizens.
Wynn-Williams told the Washington Post that “for many years Meta has been working hand in glove with the Chinese Communist Party, briefing them on the latest technological developments and lying about it.”
Reached for a comment, Meta spokesman Andy Stone told the Washington Post it was “no secret” they’d been interested in operating in China. “This was widely reported beginning a decade ago. We ultimately opted not to go through with the ideas we’d explored, which Mark Zuckerberg announced in 2019.” Although the Post shares new details about what a Facebook privacy policy staffer offer China in negotations in 2014. (“In exchange for the ability to establish operations in China, FB will agree to grant the Chinese government access to Chinese users’ data — including Hongkongese users’ data.”)

The Post also describes one iteration of a proposed agreement in 2015. “To aid the effort, Meta built a censorship system specially designed for China to review, including the ability to automatically detect restricted terms and popular content on Facebook, according to the complaint…

“In 2017, Meta covertly launched a handful of social apps under the name of a China-based company created by one of its employees, according to the complaint.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Linux Problem-Solving Scenarios: Real-World Challenges & Solutions

Linux is a powerful and reliable operating system, but even seasoned users encounter unexpected problems. Whether it’s a deleted file, a forgotten root password, or a sluggish system, knowing how to troubleshoot efficiently is key to becoming a true Linux expert.

This guide presents real-world Linux problem-solving scenarios along with step-by-step solutions, which are common among system administrators, developers, and everyday Linux users.

The post Linux Problem-Solving Scenarios: Real-World Challenges & Solutions appeared first on Linux Today.

The best wireless earbuds for 2025

The market for true wireless earbuds has exploded, and while that means more choices, it also means more confusion when it comes to picking the best wireless earbuds for your needs. From premium options like the AirPods Pro 2, which combine sleek design with impressive active noise cancellation, to models that prioritize exceptional sound quality, there’s a pair of Bluetooth earbuds for everyone. These compact devices also now offer features that rival traditional, over-ear headphones, which can make them the go-to choice for music lovers, commuters, gym-goers and many in between.

I’ve tested and reviewed dozens of sets of earbuds a year for Engadget, constantly pitting new models against the previous best across all price ranges to keep this list of the best true wireless earbuds up to date. This guide explains why my current selections for the best wireless earbuds made the cut, and offers some shopping advice in terms of everything you need to know before choosing the best true wireless earbuds for your needs.

If earbuds aren’t your jam, however, you can check out our best headphones buying guide, covering our favorite wireless, over-ear headphones, noise-canceling headphones and more.

When it comes to shopping for earphones, the first thing to consider is design or wear style. Do you prefer a semi-open fit like AirPods or do you want something that completely closes off your ears? If you’re shopping for earbuds with active noise cancellation, you’ll want the latter, but a case can be made for the former if you want to wear them all day or frequent places where you need to be tuned in to the ambient sounds. The overall shape of earbuds can determine whether you get a comfortable fit, so can the size and weight, so you’ll want to consider all that before deciding. And remember: audio companies aren’t perfect, so despite lots of research, the earbud shape they decided on may not fit you well. Don’t be afraid to return ill-fitting earbuds for something that’s more comfortable.

As wireless earbuds have become the norm, they’re now more reliable for basic things like consistent Bluetooth connectivity. Companies are still in a race to pack as much as they can into increasingly smaller designs. This typically means a longer list of features on the more premium sets of earbuds with basic functionality on the cheapest models. Carefully consider what you can’t live without when selecting your next earbuds, and make sure key items like automatic pausing and multipoint connectivity are on the spec sheet. You’ll also want to investigate the volume and touch controls as you’ll often have to sacrifice access to something else to make that adjustment via on-board taps or swipes. Some earbuds even offer app settings to tweak the audio profiles or firmware updates to improve performance over time.

For those in the Apple ecosystem, features like auto-pairing with devices, especially with AirPods Pro 2, can be an added advantage, while Android users may want to look for models that offer similar cross-device functionality.

When it comes to battery life, the average set of earbuds lasts about five hours on a single charge. You can find sets that last longer, but this is likely enough to get you through a work day if you’re docking the buds during lunch or the occasional meeting. You’ll want to check on how many extra charges are available via the case and if it supports wireless charging.

Companies will also make lofty claims about call quality on wireless earbuds. Despite lots of promises, the reality is most earbuds still leave you sounding like you’re on speakerphone. There are some sets that deliver, but don’t get your hopes up unless reviews confirm the claims.

Sound can be subjective, so we recommend trying before you buy if at all possible. This is especially true if you’re an audiophile. We understand this isn’t easy when most of us do a lot of shopping online, but trying on a set of earbuds and listening to them for a few minutes can save you from an expensive case of buyer’s remorse. If a store doesn’t allow a quick demo, most retailers have return policies that will let you take earbuds back you don’t like. Of course, you have to be willing to temporarily part with funds in order to do this.

We also recommend paying attention to things like Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, 360 Reality Audio and other immersive formats. Not all earbuds support them, so you’ll want to make sure a perspective pair does if that sort of thing excites you, especially if you plan to use them for playback of high-quality audio.

The primary way we test earbuds is to wear them as much as possible. We prefer to do this over a one- to two-week period, but sometimes embargoes don’t allow it. During this time, we listen to a mix of music and podcasts, while also using the earbuds to take both voice and video calls. Since battery life for earbuds is typically less than a full day, we drain the battery with looping music and the volume set at a comfortable level (usually around 75 percent).

To judge audio quality, we listen to a range of genres, noting any differences in the sound profile across the styles. We also test at both low and high volumes to check for consistency in the tuning. To assess call quality, we’ll record audio samples with the earbuds’ microphones as well as have third parties call us.

When it comes to features, we do a thorough review of companion apps, testing each feature as we work through the software. Any holdovers from previous models are double checked for improvements or regression. If the earbuds we’re testing are an updated version of a previous model, we’ll spend time getting reacquainted with the older buds. Ditto for the closest competition for each new set of earbuds that we review.

The newest version of the Powerbeats Pro have an improved, comfortable design, balanced bass and new H2 chips and a heart rate sensor inside. But heart rate support is currently limited on iOS, and there’s a possibility those capabilities make it onto the next AirPods Pro models.

The Galaxy Buds 3 combine ANC with an open-type design, which renders the noise-blocking abilities of the earbuds mostly useless. Still, there’s great low-end tone with ample bass when a track demands it. There are also lots of handy features, most of which require a Samsung phone. But at this price, there are better options from Google, Beats and Sony

I really like the overall shape of the Momentum Sport earbuds. They’re more comfortable than the Momentum True Wireless 4 and fit in my ears better. What’s more, the body temperature and heart rate sensors work well, sending those stats to a variety of apps. However, that sport-tracking feature works best with Polar’s app and devices, so there’s that consideration. Also, the audio quality and ANC performance isn’t as good as the MTW4, and these earbuds are pricey.

There’s a lot to like about the Solo Buds for $80. For me, the primary perk is they’re very comfortable to wear for long periods of time thanks to some thoughtful design considerations. You only get the basics here in terms of features and, as expected, the overall sound quality isn’t as good as the pricier models in the Beats lineup. You will get 18 hours of battery life though, since the company nixed the battery in the case and beefed up the listening time in the buds themselves.

Bose created something very unique for this set of earbuds that allows you to stay in-tune with the world while listening to audio content. The clip-on design is very comfortable, but sound quality suffers due to the open-type fit, especially when it comes to bass and spatial audio.

These stick buds have a compact design that’s comfortable to wear and the warm sound profile is great at times. However, overall audio performance is inconsistent and there’s no automatic pausing.

Retooled audio, better ambient sound mode and reliable multipoint Bluetooth are the best things the MW09 has to offer. They’re expensive though, and you can find better ANC performance elsewhere.

Most wireless earbuds will last five hours on a single charge, at the least. You can find some pairs that have even better battery life, lasting between six and eight hours before they need more juice. All of the best wireless earbuds come with a charging case, which will provide additional hours of battery life — but you’ll have to return each bud to the case in order to charge them up.

Comparing sound quality on earbuds and headphones is a bit like comparing apples and oranges. There are a lot of variables to consider and the differences in components make a direct comparison difficult. Personally, I prefer the audio quality from over-ear headphones, but I can tell you the sound from earbuds like Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 3 is also outstanding.

With new models coming out all the time, tracking the hours of battery life for each this can be difficult to keep tabs on. The longest-lasting earbuds we’ve reviewed are Audio-Technica’s ATH-CKS5TW. The company states they last 15 hours, but the app was still showing 40 percent at that mark during our tests. The only downside is these earbuds debuted in 2019 and both technology and features have improved since. In terms of current models, Master & Dynamic’s MW08 offers 12 hours of use on a charge with ANC off (10 with ANC on) and JBL has multiple options with 10-hour batteries.

There are plenty of options these days when it comes to increased water resistance. To determine the level of protection, you’ll want to look for an IP (ingress protection) rating. The first number indicates intrusion protection from things like dust. The second number is the level of moisture protection and you’ll want to make sure that figure is 7 or higher. At this water-resistance rating, earbuds can withstand full immersion for up to 30 minutes in depths up to one meter (3.28 feet). If either of the IP numbers is an X, that means it doesn’t have any special protection. For example, a pair of wireless earbuds that are IPX7 wouldn’t be built to avoid dust intrusion, but they would be ok if you dropped them in shallow water.

A secure fit can vary wildly from person to person. All of our ears are different, so audio companies are designing their products to fit the most people they can with a single shape. This is why AirPods will easily fall out for some but stay put for others. Design touches like wing tips or fins typically come on fitness models and those elements can help keep things in place. You’ll likely just have to try earbuds on, and if they don’t fit well return them.

PlayStation 5 doesn’t support Bluetooth audio without an adapter or dongle. Even Sony’s own gaming headsets come with a transmitter that connects to the console. There are universal options that allow you to use any headphones, headset or earbuds with a PS5. Once you have one, plug it into a USB port on the console and pair your earbuds with it.

March 2025: Updated the top pick for the best sounding wireless earbuds – runner up.

January 2025: Updated the top pick for best sounding wireless earbuds.

July 2024: Updated our list to include the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/best-wireless-earbuds-120058222.html?src=rss

Seeed Studio launches Wi-Fi HaLow mini PCIe module for Raspberry Pi, add-on board for XIAO boards

Seeed Studio has launched two 900 MHz WiFi HaLow modules for long-range, low-power communication based on Quectel FGH100M-H: the Wio-WM6180 Wi-Fi HaLow mini-PCIe module designed to be installed in hardware such as OpenWrt routers or even Raspberry Pi SBCs, and the Wi-Fi HaLow module for Seeed Studio XIAO designed to take XIAO boards with Espressif, Raspberry Pi, or Nordic Semi microcontrollers.

Oscar-Winning Movie Criticized for Using AI To Correct Dialects

Nominated for 10 Oscars, The Brutalist (directed and produced by Brady Corbet) has an “intriguing and controversial technical feature,” according to the Baffler, that threatens to turn movie-viewing into “a drab appreciation of machine-managed flawlessness, and acting less interesting…”

In January, the film’s editor Dávid Jancsó revealed that he and Corbet used tools from AI speech software company Respeecher to make the Hungarian-language dialogue spoken by Adrien Brody (who plays the protagonist, Hungarian émigré architect László Tóth) and Felicity Jones (who plays Tóth’s wife Erzsébet) sound more Hungarian. In response to the ensuing backlash, Corbet clarified that the actors worked “for months” with a dialect coach to perfect their accents; AI was used “in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy….” Defenders of this slimy deception claim the use of AI in film is no different than CGI or automated dialogue replacement, tools commonly deployed in the editing suite for picture and audio enhancement. But CGI and ADR don’t tamper with the substance of a performance, which is what’s at issue here….
AI seems poised to decimate the voice acting industry; how long will it be before filmmakers give up on the whole time-wasting business of dialect coaching and language research and toss their performers’ untrained vocalizations directly into the linguistic Instant Pot…? “Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own,” Corbet has argued. Only, they’re not. Brody and Jones’s performances may now be authentic to spoken Hungarian, but they’re no longer authentic to themselves: at least in the parts of the film with Hungarian dialogue, the acting stands more as a monument to the prowess of the voice-matching software than that of the actors…

AI is a different beast from color film, or the Louma crane, or the hand-held camera: it’s steroidal, aesthetically corrupting, and unlike these earlier advances it confronts the filmmaker with real ethical questions… Use implies complicity. To incorporate AI into the production of art today, no matter how sparingly or subtly, is to endorse Silicon Valley’s politics and worldview: its exploitation of both producers and “users,” its blithe indifference to the social impact of post-automation layoffs and the environmental assault of industrial data processing, its cramped and uninteresting idea of imagination, its petrification of creation. It’s a vote for the assholes…

In short, the essays calls this “recourse to corrective AI” a “filmmaking prosthesis that cheats the viewer and cheapens the performances.” And ironically this clashes with the film’s depiction of a “principled artist,” according to the article. (“Some of the ‘retro’ digital renderings in the memorial video included in this scene were also, Corbet has admitted, produced with the help of AI.”)

The essay notes that several of 2024’s other Oscar-nominated films also employed Respeecher, including Dune: Part Two and Emilia Pérez. “What matters here is not this particular infraction but the precedent it sets, the course it establishes for culture.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The New Rust-Written NVIDIA “NOVA” Driver Submitted Ahead Of Linux 6.15

For quite a while Red Hat engineers have been developing the open-source, Rust-written NOVA driver to in effect serve as the successor to the reverse-engineered Nouveau driver that isn’t too actively developed in more recent times. But unlike Nouveau’s extensive range of NVIDIA GPU support, the NOVA driver is intentionally limited to the RTX 20 “Turing” GPUs and newer where there is the NVIDIA GPU System Processor (GSP) with the firmware support to leverage for an easier driver-writing experience. The very initial NOVA driver code was sent out on Sunday for DRM-Next ahead of the Linux 6.15 merge window…

New Open Source Windows-Compatible Operating System Released

Red Hat product manager Pau Garcia Quiles (also long-time Slashdot reader paugq) spotted an interesting project on GitHub:

Free95, a new lean, Windows-compatible operating system is available from GitHub. In its current form, it can run very basic Win32 GUI and console applications, but its developer promises to keep working on it to reach DirectX and even game compatibility.

“Free95 is your friendly Windows Environment with an added trust of the open source community,” according to its README file. (It’s licensed under the GPL-3.0 license.) And in answer to the question “Why?” it responds “To remove Windows’s bloat, and security problems. Being controlled by a large corporation is unsettling.”

“It’s still in-development of course,” the developer post recently on Reddit, “and I’ll appreciate anyone who’d like to contribute.” In one comment they claim Free95 is “much more lightweight, simpler and faster than ReactOS.” And looking to the future, they add “I might do DirectX stuff and make some games run. Or, what about DOOM?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Adafruit Successfully Automates Arduino Development Using ‘Claude Code’ LLM

Adafruit Industries used large language model (LLM) tool Claude Code to streamline hardware development, writes managing director ptorrone.

In a demo video Limor ‘Ladyada’ Fried compares the LLM’s command-line interface to working with the build-automation tool CMake or “a weird cross between IRC and a BBS.” The first step was converting a PDF of the hardware’s datasheet into text, and Claude Code first displays the appropriate Bash command, while asking “Do you want to proceed?” (“What’s nice is that it doesn’t make changes, even though it has write access to files in the directory…”) Eventually from the data sheet it creates things like an accurate register map, C++ headers, and even license text — and more.

“We are using it to automate parts of the coding and debugging process for an Arduino-compatible Metro Mini board with an OPT 4048 color sensor,” writes ptorrone:
Using Claude Code’s shell access, we can compile, upload, and test code in a semi-automated workflow, allowing the LLM to suggest fixes for errors along the way… While the AI isn’t perfect for high-level driver development, it’s proving VERY useful for tedious debugging and super-fast iterative improvements, bringing hardware automation closer to …reality.
In the video Fried describes it like this. “I have a full debugging cycle, where I’m there — I’m like driving the car — but I have this copilot that’s telling me where to go…”

“I feel like I’m getting closer to having a semi-automated way of doing driver development.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

That Galaxy Next Door? It’s Home to a Monster Black Hole

NPR reports on “a monster black hole that’s been lurking unseen in the galaxy next door.”

This appears to be the closest supermassive black hole outside our Milky Way galaxy, according to a report that’s appearing in The Astrophysical Journal… “Now that there is strong evidence that it should be there, you can rest assured that we are very excitedly following up,” says Jesse Han of the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, who led the study…

Han and his colleagues realized that this black hole must exist when they were studying so-called hypervelocity stars… [T]hey started out as normal stars that were part of a binary system, or two stars orbiting each other. When that kind of pair ventures too close to a supermassive black hole, says Han, “what can happen is one of the stars can get captured by the black hole. It is basically ripped apart from its companion.” The bereft companion star, meanwhile, gets flung away, going at ridiculously high speeds. It’s as if the black hole basically hurled it out of the galaxy.

And that explains some of what’s happening in our own galaxy, writes Space.com:

Tracing the trajectory of these super-speed stars using the European Space Agency’s star-tracking Gaia satellite, the researchers discovered that around half of them were accelerated by the Milky Way’s own supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. The other half, the team believes, likely fled to the outskirts of the Milky Way after a gravitational encounter with a supermassive black hole at the heart of the LMC separated these stars from their stellar binary partners.

“It is astounding to realize that we have another supermassive black hole just down the block, cosmically speaking,” team leader Jesse Han of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) said in a statement. “Black holes are so stealthy that this one has been practically under our noses this whole time.”

“Their calculations suggest that the Large Magellanic Cloud must be harboring a black hole that’s about 600,000 times the mass of our Sun,” adds NPR. “That’s smaller than the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, which is about 4 million times more massive than the Sun.”
Astronomers had previously thought the Large Magellanic Cloud should have a big black hole, but until now there’s been no evidence of it, says Han… Now, though, astronomers have a better sense of where to hunt for any X-ray, radio, or visible-light signatures that are the telltale signs of an invisible black hole that’s devouring everything nearby. “It is within the realm of possibilities that it is already detectable in radio and X-ray and optical,” says Han. “We just haven’t looked at the right place.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.