Marco Chiappetta
Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com
Recent posts
Corsair’s attention to detail and understanding of the enthusiast community has allowed the company to evolve from a memory manufacturer into a well-regarded supplier of cases, cooling hardware, input devices, PC audio, power supplies, gaming accessories and storage devices. Their latest product, the Corsair AX1200i Digital ATX Power...
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Corsair is one of the few companies in the PC enthusiast space that has been able to expand their product offerings, while also maintaining or even bolstering their solid reputation in the community. All too often, a company will attempt to build upon some initial success by entering a new market with a “me too” or re-badged product...
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OS X is a significant step forward for Apple and it has reached a very mature stage. Obviously, we've only got another point release before we roll to OS 11, or whatever Apple ends up naming it. To best understand what makes this edition worthwhile though, let's look at what's new. The actual desktop space of OS X 10.8 isn't dramatically different...
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When we first took a look at the ASRock Vision 3D 137B with NVIDIA 3DTV Play last year, we were quite impressed with the machine. It offered excellent all-around performance for a system in its class and had an extensive feature set that included Blu-Ray and 3D video playback capabilities, all wrapped up in what we considered to be an attractive...
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When we first took a look at the ASRock Vision 3D 137B with NVIDIA 3DTV Play last year, we were quite impressed with the machine. It offered excellent all-around performance for a system in its class and had an extensive feature set that included Blu-Ray and 3D video playback capabilities, all wrapped up in what we considered to be an...
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In this latest episode of HotHardware's Two and Half Geek, Iyaz, Dave and Marco chat about the Google Nexus 7, incredible free Open Source apps for every OS, TSMC possibly building a dedicated fab for Apple, the WD My Net N900 Dual-Band Router, how Gabe Newell thinks Windows 8 will kill PC Gaming, and details of our...
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A couple of years ago, Google introduced its Nexus line of smartphones. Nexus branded phones feature a pure Android experience without the customizations and tweaks we generally get from smartphone manufacturers and wireless carriers. Nexus-branded products also come with an unlockable bootloader which provides for further development and...
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Although most of our time is spent hunkered down in the labs running benchmarks, taking and editing pictures, compiling data, working on page layouts, and of course writing, on occasion some of us actually get to go out into the real world and interact with people. I know. It’s crazy. But it does happen...
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We thought it might be nice to have a quick rundown of some of the best apps that are free, open source, and cross-platform. Experienced users may find fault with us for leaving out their favorite app, but hopefully they will agree that the ones we’ve picked here are deserving of recognition. We especially hope this is useful to those...
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Quick! What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Western Digital? If you're like most people, you immediately thought of hard drives and other storage products, which have been WD's bread and butter for several decades now. But the times, they are a changin', and in case you haven't noticed, Western Digital is no longer...
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Trusted sources we've spoken to in the semiconductor industry have implied that TSMC is considering a partnership with Apple that would realign the manufacturer's technology roadmap and fundamentally alter the balance of power between the foundry and its other customers. Morris Chang, TSMC's CEO, spoke about the possibility of closer collaboration...
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Samsung and AT&T are hoping to attract customers who want a sleek Windows Phone at an affordable price with the Samsung Focus 2. The Focus 2 is Samsung's first 4G LTE Windows Phone. It's also the third Windows Phone from AT&T that connects to the carrier's 4G LTE network. AT&T's 4G LTE network is currently available in 47 markets...
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When Asus asked us if we'd be interested in a reviewing their new, high-end USB 3 implementation that offered better performance than anything available elsewhere, we were skeptical. Historically, USB performance has been a function of which controller (Intel, AMD, NEC, Texas Instruments, VIA, etc.) was used. Asus claimed, however, that while...
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In this latest episode of HotHardware’s Two and Half Geek, Iyaz and Marco talk about the Ouya Android Game Console, the HTC EVO 4G LTE Android Smartphone for the Spring network, Dell’s shiny new Inspiron 14z Ultrabook, and Marco’s custom NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670/680 Round Up, which featured cards from...
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Over the last few months, we have looked at plenty of Z77 based motherboards here at HH, covering a wide range of price points. But today we dive deep into one of the higher-end models available, the Gigabyte G1.Sniper3. The Gigabyte G1.Sniper3 supports Sandy and Ivy Bridge LGA 1155 processors and features support for up to 32GB of DDR3-2066...
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Now that Kepler has had a few months to marinate, NVIDIA’s board partners are ready with newer, custom GeForce GTX 680 and GTX 670 cards that push things a bit further than the initial batch of products based on NVIDIA’s reference designs. As such, we thought it would be a great time to round-up some of...
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A little over three months has passed since NVIDIA unleashed its first Kepler-based GPU on PC gamers, known as the GeForce GTX 680. At the time of its arrival, the GeForce GTX 680 was the clear leader in high-end graphics cards. The card offered better overall performance than AMD’s competing Radeon HD 7970 and the GeForce GTX 680 was...
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It's no secret that HTC has had a rough time competing with other big name smartphone manufacturers in the last couple of years. It looked like the company might be turning things around with its One series and the EVO 4G LTE for Sprint, but then the company got hit with another delay thanks to a U.S. Customs review. The EVO 4G LTE is finally...
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Give credit to Intel for recognizing that the notebook market needed a swift kick in the pants, and for putting a noose around the necks of netbooks, which have all but been eliminated from the market place. Sure, a few straggling netbooks remain, but by and large, Intel is now heavily invested (both literally and figuratively) in the Ultrabook...
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When we reviewed Corsair's 60GB Cache Accelerator back in May, we were impressed by the drive's ability to boost the speed of an HDD-based PC without the need for a fresh OS installation. Today, we'll be evaluating the performance of Corsair's 30GB Cache Accelerator. At $54.99 ($44.99 w/ rebate), it's considerably cheaper than the $84 ($74...
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Happy 4th of July everyone! It's Independence Day here in the United States, and that usually means a day filled with family, lots of food, and fun. Be safe today, especially if you plan to mess with any fireworks, and enjoy the holiday. And from all of us here at HotHardware, Happy 4th!...
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The term “laptop” can only be loosely applied to the nearly 9.39-pound Alienware M17x--you don’t exactly want to have the thing perched on your lap for any extended period of time. But you know what? Who cares. The M17x is a powerful and (mostly) portable gaming rig, and Dell can call it anything...
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