Ben Funk
Follow Ben on Twitter.
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
Dell Inspiron 16 Plus (7630) Notebook (Starts at $999, as tested $1,249) The affordably-priced Dell Inspiron 16 Plus offers plenty of productivity and gaming performance, and doesn't sacrifice on battery life. Solid productivity performance Good gaming performance Big, fast display with wide viewing angles Excellent...
Read more...
On Halloween Eve, Apple's Scary Fast online event ushered in the era of the company's third-generation Arm64 processors, dubbed the M3 family. The company did hit a number of landmarks with its custom-built Mac processors, including using 3nm lithography, adding real-time ray tracing hardware to its GPU architecture...
Read more...
All Hallows' Eve might be when the kids go out trick-or-treating, but the night before — this night — is when we all bob for Apples. In a spooky themed, online-only event, Apple CEO Tim Cook led a cavalcade of corporate VPs announcing a new family of processors named M3 and a series of Macs sporting the latest in...
Read more...
One of the more exciting aspects of Qualcomm's Snapdragon family processors for Windows on Arm64 is that these laptop PCs are always connected (4G or 5G), and they can deliver stellar battery life. Just peruse any of our recent reviews and you can see that, for instance, the Lenovo Flex 5G has more than 24 hours of...
Read more...
We're big fans of retro gaming here in these parts. Whether it's 8-bit and 16-bit classic recreations of our childhood favorites in the Sega Genesis 2 Mini or playing on original retro consoles with fancy upscalers, we just can't go wrong with revisiting the classics. In recent years, the cutting edge of retro...
Read more...
Alienware Aurora R16 Gaming Desktop PC (Starts at $1,299, as tested $1,949) Alienware's latest Aurora R16 desktop has a new look, the latest PC gaming technology, and cooling that's both quiet and efficient. Good performance for the price Very quiet under load Plenty of external connectivity High-performance...
Read more...
It seems everyone wants Apple's new iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, announced at last week's Wonderlust event. At least, that's the perspective that Apple would like to share with everyone. In years past, Apple routinely had huge lines at all of its retail locations at each new iPhone launch, but the company had been...
Read more...
Kamrui AM08 Pro - Starting at $699 (Use Coupon Code 2C729Y55 For $100 Off) A pint-sized Ryzen-Powered mini-PC with solid performance, the Kamrui AM08 Pro is held back somewhat by a middling price-to-performance ratio. Compact micro tower form factor User configurable TDP with a twist Easy access to RAM and storage upgrades 2.5...
Read more...
It's September, and that means it's time for Apple to announce new iPhones. Every fall (or fall-adjacent, since it's still technically summer) since 2008 there's been a new iteration of smartphone coming out of Cupertino, and the company's Wonderlust event scheduled for September 12 is sure to usher in the era of the...
Read more...
Is a successor to the Nintendo Switch coming soon? Probably; the console originally launched worldwide in March of 2017, more than six years ago, and recent rumors show it's at least hitting Nintendo's manufacturing partners. The current Nintendo Switch is based on a low-clocked version of what is at this point an...
Read more...
AYANEO makes some premium AMD-based handheld gaming devices that have been well-received by mobile gamers. The Air 2 offered superior performance and a nicer display compared to the Steam Deck, for example, nearly a year before ASUS launched the ROG Ally. The company has typically stayed away from Android gaming...
Read more...
Over the last couple of years, Apple has slowly walked the line on consumers' right to repair their own devices. It started out as a comically complex and expensive program with thousand-dollar deposits to get the company's blessed repair tools, but the company's current phone lineup is more repairable than it has been in a long time. What
Read more...
Codeweavers Crossover 23 Baldur's Gate 3 is out for PC already, but the Mac version is late to the party. Fortunately, Codeweavers Crossover 23 is here to save the day. Play games on Mac that you couldn't otherwise Doesn't require a Windows license New DirectX 12 support Performance isn't always smooth Compatibility...
Read more...
Dell XPS 17 (9730) - Starting at $2,049 Dell's larger, 17-inch XPS 17 (9730) laptop blends high performance, great battery life, and a gorgeous display into a surprisingly portable package. Big, bold, gorgeous display Excellent battery life Premium, thin design User upgradeable RAM and storage Top-tier CPU and solid...
Read more...
NVIDIA RTX Laptop for Students - ASUS Vivobook 16 Pro - Starting at $1,399 The ASUS VivoBook Pro 16, part of NVIDIA's program for STEM majors, delivers great performance in math and engineering apps at an affordable price. Great mix of performance, size, and weight GeForce accelerates engineering and ML apps...
Read more...
MSI RadiX AXE6600 Wi-Fi 6E Router - MSRP $349 (Currently $285) MSI's flagship router offers more than enough wireless performance and capacity for gamers and to keep up with a modern many-device home. Whole-house Wireless Coverage Configurable LED lighting (including an off switch) Easy-to-use software...
Read more...
Somehow the news of Apple's Game Porting Toolkit flew under this author's radar when macOS Sonoma was announced at WWDC earlier this month. It wasn't until the developer sessions on using the kit and bringing games to the macOS platform that it really became apparent what Apple was doing. Running DirectX 12 games on...
Read more...
Dell XPS 15 (9530) - Starting at $1,299 Dell's newest XPS laptop is an evolutionary upgrade, but its power-efficient, high-performance components and very good battery life should put this notebook on the short list for content creators everywhere. Bright and colorful OLED display Very good battery life Premium, thin...
Read more...
The highlight of Apple's keynote at the Worldwide Developer Conference yesterday was definitely Vision Pro and visionOS. However, the iPhone maker also has a whole slate of new operating systems on the horizon, and went to great trouble to demonstrate a whole host of new features. Yearly iterations are nothing new...
Read more...
Apple's 2023 Worldwide Developer Conference got underway this morning at 10am Pacific time with a keynote full of product announcements like the M2 Ultra featured in an updated Mac Studio and the new Mac Pro. The most exciting news, though, that Cupertino took the opportunity to announce its new headset, the Vision...
Read more...
Apple MacBook Pro 14" (2023) with M2 Pro - Starting at $1,999 The latest MacBook Pro doesn't blow the 2021 model out of the water, but for those clinging to legacy x86 Apple hardware, it's a compelling upgrade. Excellent performance Unrivaled battery life Premium materials and design Beautiful 120Hz display with mini LED brightness Solid keyboard...
Read more...
NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference (GTC) is underway and CEO Jensen Huang just wrapped up the company's keynote, full of software and hardware announcements. It seems the company is working pretty hard to make sure that robotics and AI engineers can view NVIDIA as a one-stop shop with not only the brains behind the...
Read more...
