Reviews
A few weeks back, we took a look at the Core i7-3960X, Intel’s first desktop processor to feature the company’s Sandy Bridge-E microarchitecture. If you're unfamiliar with the chip, Sandy Bridge-E is the ‘tock’ in Intel’s tick-tock release schedule cadence that bridges the gap between first-gen Sandy Bridge-based...
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After years of work and a few false starts, Intel is finally ready to take the plunge into the smartphone market. At the CES keynote tonight, the CPU giant is officially launching Medfield, the 32nm smartphone SoC the company has built to take it into the next generation of smartphones (and a few tablets). The chip, now officially named the...
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In a lavish suite at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, Asus set up a number of existing an upcoming products for eager members of the technology press to ogle and get some hands-on time. In the suite, we had a chance to checkout a handful of upcoming X79 motherboards, nettops, netbooks, notebooks, and even a few tablets and a smartphone. One of...
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Prior to the start of this year's CES 2012 show, a number of OEMs were showcasing their latest products at various hotel venues throughout the bustling city of Las Vegas, Nevada. Of course OCZ Technology was first on our list of suites to visit, in an effort to satiate our need for blinding storage speed -- and as usual, Team OCZ did...
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In addition to a number of new laptops, smartphones, and a TV, Lenovo announced the IdeaPad Yoga Ultrabook today. This new multi-mode notebook meets the specifications for an ultrabook and also has a 360-degree flip-and-fold design. As you can see from this demo video below, this ultrabook also meets the 10-finger touch requirement. What’s...
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It’s been a while since our last case roundup--a long while, actually--so it’s high time we did another. We take a look at a slew of (mostly) mid tower cases on the following pages, each designed for a slightly different consumer. Every case in this roundup has strengths, weaknesses, and features that the others may not have,...
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We're going to let you in on a little secret, and while you're free to pass it on, understand that nobody will ever believe you. In fact, if you do share this secret, you might suffer a barrage of insults, and depending on your stature, could even end up with a wedgie. You've been warned. Are you ready? Here goes: Many Windows users,...
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We have evaluated a handful of Patriot’s SSDs recently, all of which proved to be solid (no pun intended) offerings in their respective categories. The high-end Patriot Wildfire SSD hung right alongside the best of the SandForce-based drives with synchronous NAND we’ve tested and the lower-priced Pyro was also competitive...
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If 2011 was the year of the tablet, then Q4 2011 had to be the quarter of 7-inch versions. With a late-in-the-year burst of releases from various manufacturers spurring break-out products like the Kindle Fire and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, it's as if manufacturers made a concerted effort to target lower price points in an move...
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Fans of Google's Android platform are proving to be a patient lot. It hasn't been easy pulling for Android in the tablet space, which for a period of time was limited to a few overpriced and underwhelming Gingerbread slates. Things began to change when Honeycomb came out, the first version of Android designed specifically for tablets, but...
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If you've been paying attention to Android smartphones lately, you know there's one device that people have been talking about and eagerly anticipating for a few months now. That phone is the Galaxy Nexus. The reason this phone is so hot is because it is the first smartphone in the US to run Android 4.0, better known perhaps as Ice Cream...
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We have been hearing about AMD’s “Southern Island” family of graphics processors for quite some time. Even during briefings for the Northern Island series of products which ultimately became the Radeon HD 6000 series, news about Southern Islands was already trickling out. Rumors about these parts have been rampant for...
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In 2004, Motorola released a line of flip phones that became one of the best selling phones in the world. Needless to say, the original Motorola RAZR enjoyed great success and gave Motorola a big name in the wireless industry for a number of years. Over the RAZR's four-year run, Motorola sold more than 130 million units. Unfortunately for...
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Over the last few years, we've seen an increasing number of liquid coolers positioned as high-end alternatives to traditional heatsink+fan combinations. This has been particularly true in the boutique market, where a number of manufacturers now offer liquid coolers in one form or another. Corsair has a full line of liquid coolers; we've reviewed...
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The thin-and-light market is seriously heating up, and with CES 2012 just around the corner, Lenovo's hoping to sneak some sales in during the last few weeks of the 2011 holiday season. The IdeaPad U400 is a sleek, sexy machine, understated from top to bottom and aimed at mid-range buyers who have never had so many options. You can't really...
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Last month, SiSoftware released the 2012 edition of Sandra, the popular system analysis and benchmarking program. We recently sat down with Adrian Silasi, the creator and chief developer of Sandra, to discuss how he got started, how Sandra distinguishes itself in a crowded marketplace, and whether we'll see the utility popping up on other...
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Batman: Arkham Asylum was one of the top hits of 2009. It told the story of the Joker's surprise escape and takeover of the notorious Gotham facility for the criminally insane and Batman's struggle to subdue the Clown Prince of Crime and stop his plans to create an army of monsters. The game captured the look and feel of Batman and the Gotham...
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Samsung continues to unload with both barrels on the tablet market, releasing one product after another. Consumers can choose from 7-inch, 8.9-inch, and 10.1-inch sizes; WiFi-only or carrier-specific versions, including models for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint; and a couple of different storage options too. (Who knows, by the time...
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This Holiday Gift Guide is sponsored by Epson—makers of the World’s Fastest 2-sided inkjet printer, the Epson WorkForce Pro. Run your business at full speed with Epson. The holidays are fast upon us and this final HotHardware Holiday Gift Guide will wrap up our series with what’s near and dear perhaps to many of you DYI’ers...
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One of the most dramatic shifts in portable gaming history has been the surge in popularity of smartphones and tablets in the past two years. In 2009, Android and iOS devices accounted for ~19 percent of game revenue. In 2010, their combined share nearly doubled, while Flurry Analytics estimates that the two platforms will account for...
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Earlier this year, we took a long, hard look at one of Dell's most highly-anticipated multimedia notebooks to date. That was the XPS 15z, and we thought pretty highly of it in almost every measurable way, including its delightfully thin dimensions. Fast forward a few months, and in slides the XPS 14z. According to its branding, this unit is...
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Lenovo's first business-class Android-based tablet has arrived. The ThinkPad Tablet comes with many of the features business users want and demand from a tablet, including full encryption, remote wipe capabilities, productivity apps, VPN support, pen-based handwriting recognition technology, and more. Running on Android 3.1, the ThinkPad Tablet...
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