DIY How-To Reviews And Demos

Anyone with a screwdriver, some zip-ties and a little bit of know-how can build a PC these days. However, you also might want to know what's going on under the hood of that hot new laptop, or even how to build your own NES Classic console or Amiga PC with something as simple as a Raspberry Pi. This channel my geek friend is for you.

Microsoft's third iteration of the Surface Pro was a monumental improvement over the first two incarnations. For many, the third time really was the charm. It was powerful enough to replace most laptops, and versatile enough to serve as two device types without major compromises on either side. A year later now, and Microsoft presents us with... Read more...
HP acquired VoodooPC back in 2006, bringing the creative genius of owner Rahul Sood into its fold and ensuring that its gaming lineup of desktop PCs and Laptops would get a lot more style and attitude. Sood and HP eventually parted ways, but the ghost of VoodooPC, its DNS and swank logo stayed on, giving HP a unique gaming line. The HP Omen... Read more...
As Intel (and other chip makers) have been able to shrink its processors, integrate more features, and reduce power requirements over the years, manufacturers have been able to fit them into smaller and smaller form factors. That means notebooks and tablets have gotten thinner, lighter, faster and more portable over the years, of course, but... Read more...
Alienware's new Area 51 gaming desktop PC arrived late last year and it certainly turned heads, including ours, due to its somewhat radical design. Sure, we've seen some wild chassis designs out of Dell's Alienware gaming PC division in the past, but their new, redesigned Area 51 machine really broke the mold. In... Read more...
Intel is readying its latest generation of NUC small form factor systems, based on the company’s recently-released Broadwell-U processors. We got our hands on a Core i5-powered version dubbed the NUC5i5RYK. To be more specific, this little machine is packing a Core i5-5250U processor with on-die Intel HD 6000 series... Read more...
Take everything you know and expect from an Android tablet, crumple it into a ball, and throw it away. Done? Good -- none of what you just purged from your brain will do you any good when looking at the Venue 8 7000 from Dell. It's not heavily modified and tied to an online shopping experience like Amazon's Fire tablets, nor does it take a... Read more...
Dell took the wraps off a fresh, new revamp of their popular XPS 13 ultrabook line, out at CES in Las Vegas last week. The new machine was widely considered best-of-show for core computing products and racked-up awards left and right from major publications, including accolades from us here. Dell seemingly hit all the... Read more...
We’ve seen a lot of cool stuff coming out of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, but one of the most interesting has to be Cyberpower PC’s Fang Trinity gaming PC. The Fang Trinity features a unique tri-zone case from DeepCool (dubbed the Trinity concept) that looks somewhat like a Star Wars Imperial Shuttle. Each... Read more...
We first caught wind on the Alienware Alpha in the lead-up to Valve’s Steam Box announcements, prior to the Consumer Electronics Show. If you’re unfamiliar with the Alienware Alpha, it is a sleek, small form factor gaming PC, designed specifically for gamers. Valve is not quite ready with Steam OS or the Steam Controller, so the whole Steam Read more...
Large screen smartphones, a.k.a. phablets, are expected to account for nearly 25% of all smartphone shipments this year. Given the popularity and prevalence of these large-screen devices which includes LG’s G3, Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4, and HTC’s One Max, it’s not surprising that Google is... Read more...
Lenovo's Yoga 3 Pro 2-in-1 ultrabook has made a bit of a splash as of late, from appearing in a number of holiday shopping-infused TV spots, to flash prank comparisons tricking unwitting mall shoppers into thinking they got framed for busting up a MacBook Air laptop. It's with good reason that Lenovo is making an... Read more...
Most are in agreement that Apple's iPad Air 2 is one of the finest tablets ever produced, if not the best out there, period. Certainly, it's not difficult to make that case -- after all, the latest 9.7-inch iPad is thinner than its predecessor at just 6.1mm thick, wicked fast with its custom A8X System-on-Chip (SoC), and incredibly light at... Read more...
The PC laptop market is a funny place. Good laptops are fairly easy to find, but great laptops are staggeringly rare. This is true even at the boutique end of the market, where manufacturers have a tendency to choose powerful components, but cram them into a chassis that can't handle the heat without sounding like a jet turbine, or pick... Read more...
When introducing the iPhone 6 Plus, Apple described it as the “biggest advancement in iPhone history.” Naturally, the use of “biggest” was quite intentional, a pun almost. Prior to 2014, Apple’s entire iPhone line had only ever had two screen sizes: 3.5-inch and 4-inch. Those sizes were perfectly acceptable... Read more...
Dell has become a very different company since going private about a year ago. It’s quieter, more nimble, and it has dramatically focused its product lines. A company once known for its ability to ship just about anything you could ask for on a custom PC is reinventing itself in a world smitten by handheld devices with tighter profit... Read more...
Bold. That’s the word that comes to mind when we consider Amazon’s Fire Phone. In a world where precious little has happened in the smartphone space over the past few years, at least in terms of groundbreaking innovation, Amazon’s entrance provides all the spark you need to sit up and pay attention. These days, a major OEM... Read more...
In June, Samsung announced a new flagship line of tablets known as the Galaxy Tab S. Available in 8.4- and 10.5-inch versions, the Galaxy Tab S is geared towards media consumption, with hardware specifications that are designed to deliver an outstanding media experience. Not only does the Galaxy Tab S have killer hardware, but Samsung also... Read more...
Normally, the question of whether a game runs better on the PC or a console is a no-brainer -- at least, for PC users.  Watch Dogs, however, with its problematic PC play, challenges that concept. And since the gap between consoles and PCs is typically smallest at the beginning of the console generation, we decided to take the Xbox One... Read more...
LG is probably getting a little tired of scraping for brand recognition versus big names like Samsung, Apple and yes, even Google.  However, the company is also likely taking solace in the fact that their smartphone sales figures are heading for an all-time high in 2014, with an estimated 60 million units projected to be sold this year. ... Read more...
Wearables in general--and smartwatches in particular--are among the hottest tech trends of today. Despite a great deal of hullabaloo over these devices, though, many aren’t quite finding them as compelling as you might think. As a result, there’s a sense that no one has yet figured out the secret sauce that makes a wearable... Read more...
Early last week, Microsoft unveiled the third iteration of its Surface Pro tablet, the aptly named Surface Pro 3. Unlike previous revisions to the product, the new Surface Pro 3 can be considered a major overhaul. Not only does the new device feature more powerful internal components and offer a handful of new features, but its form factor... Read more...
The ability to stream movies and other content to your TV is relatively commonplace thanks to set top boxes such as the Roku 3, Apple TV, gaming consoles that support streaming, and built-in functionality that comes with many of today’s Blu-ray players and TVs. Even so, there’s always room for additional competition, right? Amazon... Read more...
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