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
When it comes to the mini PC form factor, these convenient little boxes typically pack some impressive hardware (these days), with the only requirement that you need to add your own external peripherals (unless it's a barebones, which means you may need to add RAM and storage too), including a mouse, keyboard, and...
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The influx of gaming monitors sporting quantum dot organic light emitting-diode (QD-OLED) panels continues with the launch of Gigabyte's Aorus MO27U2, a 27-inch display with a respectable specs sheet. It may not necessarily rise to the "groundbreaking" status that Gigabyte pitches in its press release (more on that in...
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Google is making good on its promise to fix a recent issue with older Chromecast dongles that, for a period of time, made them appear either deprecated or otherwise bricked. At the time, we reported on a handful of workarounds that some users said restored their device, but if you own an affected model, you'll want to...
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New information has emerged about Microsoft's plans to partner with an OEM on an official Xbox handheld. Originally reported as being called Project Keenan, Tom Warren at The Verge says it's actually called Project Kennan, and that ASUS is the one Microsoft has partnered up with to build the device, which is part of a...
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Your neighbor might be all smug after bringing home a 98-inch TV to host last season's Super Bowl party, but if you want to one-up him, Samsung is offering a totally bonkers bundle just in time for March Madness, the annual NCAA college basketball single-elimination tournament. Called the Buzzer Beater Bundle, Samsung...
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It took a few months, but Intel has found its next chief executive officer in Lip-Bu Tan, an industry veteran with decades of semiconductor and software experience, and founding managing partner of Walden Catalyst Ventures. He succeeds Pat Gelsinger, who abruptly retired from Intel last December amid reports he was...
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I'm dating myself with this reference, but for anyone who gives a hoot, one thing I learned a long time ago from a cartoon owl is that it takes three licks to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop. Here's another sweet fact: you should be able to install and uninstall your graphics card way more than three times without damaging
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LG's fancy new 2025 model C5 and G5 OLED televisions are coming to retail soon and they're available to preorder right now. These are likely to be highly sought-after models, at least for anyone not planning to plunk down $60K for LG's wild see-through wireless 4K OLED.
At this point, the company's OLED...
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If you own an Apple device, there's a good chance an important security update is available, one that addresses an "extremely sophisticated attack" zero-day security flaw that's being actively exploited in the wild. Your Apple Watch and AirPods are not affected, but practically every other device is, including several...
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It's only been a few months since TCL introduced its QM6K series TVs (at the Consumer Electronics Show in January), the first in its extensive lineup to feature the company's 'Precise Dimming' technology, and it's already old news. The newer kid on the block is the QM7K series, the second in its Precise Dimming lineup...
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How many times have you heard that Microsoft is developing a handheld Xbox console of some sort? Whatever the number might be, go ahead and add one more. This is something that Xbox boss Phil Spencer has publicly indicated interest in, though up until now, most of the chatter has been centered on the idea or concept...
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The general scarcity of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 series has created a market where GPUs are selling for insane prices at places like eBay. That's not the only thing driving up the cost, though. Over in China, smugglers are making some serious bank by selling illicit GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards at highly inflated...
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NVIDIA's team of driver engineers continue to try and eradicate reported black screen issues on its GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards, and perhaps earlier generation models too. We've seen these efforts play out in the past several driver releases, including both regular 'Game Ready' releases and also out-of-band...
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The overall GPU market for gamers is in a bit of a sorry state at the moment, with demand far outpacing supply (unless you're shopping prebuilts) and high partner pricing (let along greedy scalpers) plaguing product launches. We're not here to beat that dead horse, though—everyone knows the situation by now. Ignoring...
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Update:
Since publishing this story, Google emailed us a statement saying, "We're aware of an issue with Chromecast v2 and Chromecast Audio devices. We will share an update once we have more details about the issue and the fix."
As part of the statement, Google shared a link to a support page for this specific...
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A shipping manifest spotted by X/Twitter user @harukaze5719 suggests that NVIDIA is getting around to announced a new generation of workstation graphics cards based on its Blackwell architecture, the same one powering its elusive (at retail) GeForce RTX 50 series lineup. The manifest highlights two models, including...
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By many accounts, AMD's much-anticipated retail launch of its Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 went a little more smoothly compared to NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 series, in terms of day-one availability. Even so, the first wave of cards still sold out rather quickly, especially for folks not close to a Micro Center...
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It seems like there's always some kind of sales event going on, and that's because their usually is. Such is the case right now at Best Buy, which has pivoted from Presidents Day bargains last month to a weekend-long 'Apple Sales Event' with some deep discounts in effect from now until Sunday. One of them is a huge...
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Have you tuned into this season of How The GPU World Turns? I've lost track of what season this actually is, or even which episode for that matter, but there's no shortage of drama, intrigue, and even a bit of comedy (mostly unintentional) unfolding for anyone who cares to watch. If you didn't catch the latest...
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Having trouble finding a newfangled GPU in stock? Join the club. Alternatively, you can join NVIDIA's GeForce NOW cloud gaming service, at least until things calm down at retail (and perhaps grow a killer 5-foot beard while you wait -- sigh). All that aside, GeForce NOW is actually a capable service and it's gaining...
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AMD has announced when its next two Zen 5 desktop chips with 3D V-Cache—the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D—will release to retail and how much they will cost. In keeping with its promise to release both chips in the first quarter of 2025 (which it announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier...
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Few topics can be as divisive as PC versus console gaming, kind of like Ford versus Chevy or Coke versus Pepsi (or politics, if things get really heated). Not without irony, PCs and consoles are more alike than ever these days. Even so, a new report on projected game sales in the coming years is not going to do...
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