Paul Lilly
Paul is a seasoned geek who was first seduced into the world of computers and technology by the Commodore 64, and through the years he’s courted a number of OSes and platforms from DOS on up to the latest version of Windows. Having joined the HotHardware team in 2011, Paul is now a mainstay of the site covering the news beat and reviews, and resident wiseguy who keeps the mood light. He’s also an experienced freelance technology writer whose work has appeared in a number of online and print publications.
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
Razer has sheathed its line of Blade gaming laptops at its online store in the US and we have a pretty good idea of the reason why. It starts with the letter 't' and—*spoiler*—spells the world 'tariffs'. That's the as-yet unofficial reason, anyway. Officially, Razer is not saying why its Blade laptops suddenly have...
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For those of you willing to assemble a PC with shiny white components, you have my respect. I'm especially a fan of a white and black aesthetic (think: tuxedo), though I mostly avoid white parts because I'm admittedly lax with dust management, and white tends to highlight dust more than darker colors. If that's the...
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Upgrading your firmware need not be complicated or intimidating, though if you're new to the PC scene, it can sometimes be both. It just depends on the device and method. Even when it's easy, though, there's typically still software involved. Or there was—in an effort to updating firmware as effortless as possible...
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There's still some mystery surrounding Nintendo's Switch 2 console, even after last week's proper reveal during a special Nintendo Direct event. Part of the reason for the intrigue is the unexpected delay of preorders in the United States, which Nintendo announced just two days after saying preorders would open on...
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Let me just say right off the bat that for a multitude of reasons, I highly recommend against using Breaking Bad as a blueprint for your own life goals. Yes, Walter White and Jesse Pinkmak made a whole lot of money, but without spoiling the series, it came at many costs. Instead, there are several games on Steam where...
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Sony fans hoping for a proper followup to the PlayStation Vita may have a new reason to remain hopeful. In response to Nintendo announcing its upcoming Switch 2 console last week, Sony's purportedly sent out a survey to gamers asking a bunch of questions about the handheld, one of which asks, "How interested are you...
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NVIDIA has not yet officially announced a GeForce RTX 5060 Ti or non-Ti model (which were reportedly delayed from a supposed March release), but if a growing mountain of leaks is any indication, the 5060 series is coming and will be here soon. The latest leak comes from a source that is somewhat off the beaten path—FurMark's database, where
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Are you finally ready to ditch that aging LCD monitor that's on its last leg and jump into the wonderful world of OLED? Well, now is a good time to make the plunge. We took a look on Amazon and found several gorgeous OLED displays on sale, and in a variety of sizes from multiple name brands (Samsung, LG, and others)...
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Wouldn't you know it, just days after Nintendo revealed more details about its Switch 2 console and hot on the heels of us posting a preorder guide to give you a leg up over scalpers and bots, Nintendo and its retail partners are putting the word out that the preorder date in the United States has been delayed...
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We all know it's only a matter of time before AMD fleshes out its RDNA 4 GPU lineup with more mainstream and budget Radeon 9000 series models. Those plans may include a version of the Radeon RX 9070 with some key changes to the VRAM configuration, at a lower price point. The downgraded memory configuration would not...
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Are you up for a challenge? Go hunt down a 128GB (2x64GB) memory kit in the DDR5-8000 range. Take your time, we'll wait. What's that, you couldn't find one? That's because they haven't existed until now. Memory makers have instead focused their high speed efforts on kits comprised of smaller capacities, but G.Skill...
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It's been less a month since Lip-Bu Tan took over as chief executive officer (CEO) at Intel and he might already be making some major moves. None bigger than a reported chipmaking deal with rival TSMC that would see the two chip behemoths form a joint venture. If true—and Tan did promise to focus on winning through...
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Microsoft is now accepting orders for the Windows 365 Link device it announced at its Ignite conference back in November. The thin client system is Microsoft's first cloud PC device built specifically to securely connect to Windows 365 in a matter of "seconds," the company says. It's also been through a preview period...
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It should come as no surprise that the best-selling CPU on Amazon is AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D, a fantastic chip for gaming and one that managed to earn our Editor's Choice award when we reviewed it last November. And maybe you wouldn't be shocked to discover that the Ryzen 7 7800X3D—another Editor's Choice recipient...
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Nintendo gave its upcoming Switch 2 handheld console a proper reveal yesterday during a special Nintendo Direct event, and we've already covered several of the hardware highlights and extensive catalog of games that are coming to the next-gen game system. It also revealed preorder and launch date details, but will you...
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As expected, Nintendo provided a fuller reveal of its upcoming Switch 2 console during a special Nintendo Direct livestream event today. The hour-long event offered up additional details that were not disclosed during an earlier showcase trailer, including bits about the hardware design, special capabilities, pricing...
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In case you somehow haven't noticed it by now, there is an industry-wide effort to AI all the things. That includes Chromebooks (hello, Gemini), and to that end, MediaTek has unveiled a new Kompanio Ultra system-on-chip (SoC) to arm the platform with on-device AI capabilities. It's MediaTek's most powerful chip yet...
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We're still waiting for the first retail release of a DDR5-10000 memory kit (memory makers are trying to get there), but in the meantime, overclockers have repeatedly blown past that hurdle in a series of world records. The latest to do so is Hicookie, a professional overclocker and Gigabyte partner, who took a 24GB...
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It took a minute (and not a New York minute), but Microsoft is taking the leash off of most of its Copilot+ features that were tethered exclusively to Snapdragon X series laptops, and letting them roam free on Copilot+ PCs powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300 series and Intel Core Ultra 200V processors. The only exceptions are...
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Yes, we're really at a point where spending $1,699 on a flagship graphics card would be considered a heck of a deal. Hell, even finding one priced at NVIDIA's baseline $1,999.99 MSRP (GeForce RTX 5090) would be considered a major score. With that in mind, don't fall for scammers on Amazon listing NVIDIA's top gaming...
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ASUS ROG has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to tease an upcoming Xbox-branded game console in a short 34-second animated/rendered trailer. The actual console only appears in a few seconds (see the screenshot above), but it's enough to give us an idea of the design language. Assuming this is representative of the final...
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Slowly but surely, your options for buying a gaming monitor equipped with a cutting-edge quantum dot organic light-emitting diode (QD-OLED) panel are expanding.The latest models to enter the fray are a couple of Acer Predator SKUs, those being the Predator X32 X2 and Predator X27U X1. We bet you can guess the screen...
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