A Natural Progression: HP Brings Wood Panels to its Latest Envy Portables By Matt Safford published 28 May 19 HP’s new Envy laptops and convertibles are getting some retro styling in the form of real wood inlays below their keyboards. Will you choose walnut or birch?
HP Drops Omen Branding From New VR Backpack, Makes it More Powerful By Matt Safford published 28 May 19 Shifting away from a consumer focus, HP’s latest VR backpack gets souped up internals and a push toward arcades and theme parks.
Asus Prime Utopia Motherboard: Modular Ports, Rear PCIe and a Big Touchscreen By Matt Safford published 27 May 19 Asus Prime is the desktop motherboard re-imagined. The concept sports modular ports, rear-mounted PCIe, and a big touchscreen.
Hands-On With Asus' AMD X570 Motherboards: From TUF to Crosshair VIII By Matt Safford published 27 May 19 Asus’ dozen initial X570 boards include one that supports ECC, and a wide range of gaming- and enthusiast-focused options.
Hands-On With MSI’s First X570 Motherboards: From Godlike to Gaming Plus By Matt Safford published 27 May 19 MSI’s first round of AMD X570 motherboards includes some impressive ultra-premium models, as well as a few most of us might be able to afford.
Cooler Master SK621 Mechanical Keyboard Review: Travel-Friendly Typer By Matt Safford published 7 May 19 Cooler Master’s tiny (60%) is as travel-friendly as mechanicals get. But its layout will take some getting used to.
Razer Adds OLED to Blade 15, Redesigns Blade Pro 17, Adds New 6-Core Intel By Matt Safford published 23 April 19 Razer’s new Blades pack Intel’s latest 6-core CPU, with the Blade 15 getting a 4K OLED screen, and the redesigned 17 Pro moves the touchpad.
Hands On: AMD Ryzen, Nvidia 1660 Ti Land in New Asus Tuf Gaming Laptops By Matt Safford published 23 April 19 We went hands-on with a pair of Asus Tuf Gaming portables powered by Ryzen 5 and 7 APUs and the GTX 1660 Ti at a recent press event.
Hands On: Razer’s $400 Core X Chroma eGPU Adds Ports, Lights, Beefier PSU By Matt Safford published 16 April 19 If you want an RGB light show, some USB and Ethernet ports and a beefier power supply to push your high-end graphics card to its limits, Razer’s Core X Chroma may be to your liking.
Acer Shows Off 5 Striking Predator Helios 500 Laptop Mods By Matt Safford published 12 April 19 Acer brought five Predator Helios 500 laptop mods to its product launch event, including one styled after the Predator from the movie franchise.
Acer Targets Professionals With Slick, Powerful and Quiet ConceptD Desktops By Matt Safford published 11 April 19 The first desktops in Acer’s new creatives-focused ConceptD line prioritize quiet operation, powerful components, and attractive design.
Hands On: Acer's Predator Helios 700 Keyboard Slides Out for Overclocking Action By Avram Piltch, Matt Safford published 11 April 19 Pulling the keyboard forward reveals a top-facing vent that improves cooling, which improves performance.
Nvidia Delivers Ray Tracing Driver for Previous-Gen Pascal Cards, New Demos By Matt Safford published 11 April 19 Nvidia has released a driver that enables ray tracing for its previous-generation Pascal cards, along with new demos and some benchmarks.
Maingear Vybe 2019 (Stage 4) Gaming Desktop Review: Quiet and Quick-Shipping By Matt Safford published 9 April 19 Maingear's latest Vybe runs quiet and looks understated (for a gaming desktop). But the case could be nicer--especially in the $2,499 quick-ship configuration.
Corsair One Pro i180 Review: Full Power in a Tiny Tower By Matt Safford published 21 March 19 Content creation professionals, take note. Corsair’s compact One Pro i180 is compact, powerful, and (mostly) quiet.
Deal: Get a 512GB Intel SSD 760p for an All-Time-Low $103 By Matt Safford published 25 February 19 Amazon is selling Intel’s impressive 512GB SSD 760p for $103, an all-time low for this speedy M.2 NVMe drive.
Get an MSI AMD RX 580 for $169, Plus Two Free Games By Matt Safford published 8 February 19 Newegg is offering an MSI AMD RX 580 for $169 after rebate, plus two free games.
PC Makers: We Need to Talk About the Boot Drive By Matt Safford published 4 February 19 PC makers big and small haven’t kept up with recent SSD trends. It’s time for them to do better so we can all get the speedy, roomy boot drive we deserve.
Lian Li Strimer 8 Pin Review: RGB Comes to PCIe Cables By Matt Safford published 2 February 19 Lian Li’s Strimer lineup now includes a model for your PCIe graphics card power cables. It’s fairly affordable, but there’s no controller in the box.
Corsair One i160 Review: The Compact Performance PC, Refined By Matt Safford last updated 3 November 19 Corsair’s One i160 sports new top-end components and a redesigned layout. It’s expensive in every configuration option, but its performance & design impress.
Google Pixel Slate Review: Premium, But Pricey By Matt Safford published 26 January 19 Those looking for a Google alternative to the iPad Pro will appreciate Google’s latest tablet. But when you factor in the keyboard, you can get a more powerful, more capable Windows device for less.
The RGBeast PC: What We Learned Building an RGB Battlestation By Matt Safford, Avram Piltch published 21 January 19 We embraced the rainbow and built a powerful PC with as many RGB components and accessories we could find.
InWin’s 928 Super Tower Is an Aluminum Monster Designed for Intel’s 28-Core CPU By Matt Safford published 11 January 19 Taiwanese case maker InWin’s latest 928 chassis is a monster designed to house Asus’ 14”x14” ROG Dominus Extreme motherboard.
Lian Li’s New Standing Desk PC Case Hides Your RGB Components With a Click By Matt Safford published 9 January 19 Lian Li’s been making desk cases for years, but its latest model has a glass top that turns from transparent to opaque with the press of a button.
CyberPower’s CES PCs Include a Tesseract-Like Desktop That Starts at $1,400 By Matt Safford published 9 January 19 CyberPowerPC landed at CES 2019 with a world-ending monster desktop and a Syber Cube that could be a stand-in for Marvel’s Tesseract.
