Video Reviews, How-Tos, Events And Our Two And A Half Geeks Webcast
In-depth video reviews, news and Tech event coverage of computers, smartphones, tablets, notebooks, PC components, and tech gadgets. Here you'll find supplemental content that you can also find on our YouTube channel, right here.!
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 they want; awesome by any other name is still awesome. The M17x has been in Dell’s Alienware lineup for a while, but now it’s been refreshed with the latest and greatest in mobile components, packing an Ivy Bridge CPU and the newest NVIDIA Kepler-based mobile GPU. The Intel Core i7-3720QM (2.6GHz/3.6GHz Turbo, 6MB cache) is one of the highest-end mobile processors in...
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There are generally two types of iterative processes that manufacturers go through with respect to product development and refinement; there are feature and performance enhancements that result from market feedback and there are enhancements as a result of technology advancements and cost reduction (or both combined). When it launched in December last year, the Asus Transformer Prime was, in our opinion and many others, thought to be one of the best 10-inch Android slates on the market at the time. That claim could still be made today, if it were not for the recent introduction of the latest iteration of Asus' Transformer product family, the Transformer Pad Infinity. We recently...
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Killer gaming notebooks, sort of like over-the-top gaming PCs, make no apologies for being almost completely impractical but full of awesome. Sure, you wouldn't expect to drag this boat anchor around airports at almost 12 lbs., unless you were looking for some moderate cardio work to compensate for those long, near motionless strategy meetings. And you wouldn't expect to remain untethered from the wall for very long, during those all night frag-a-thons, though you might get away with it under a little less strenuous web browsing stroll. No, luxury desktop replacement gaming notebooks like the Alienware M17x do one thing; they bring a whole lotta gaming whoop-ass, a big bodacious display...
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We’re still fighting our way through the insanity that is the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, but wanted to take a break to share some more juicy news with you all. We just got out of a meeting with the folks at AMD in which they showed us some current and future APU offerings, new I/O technology, and provided a bit of info regarding upcoming Radeon HD 7000M series graphics processors. First up we have a video showing an upcoming Trinity APU in action. We don’t want to give away the “ah ha” moment in the video, but what’s interesting—along with the actual demo—is that AMD already has Trinity up and running, and running well as you’ll...
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The Kindle Fire is Amazon's attempt to blaze a trail in the low cost Android tablet market, and if doing so ends up applying a bit of competitive heat to Apple and its dominating iPad line, then so be it. To be clear, Amazon isn't pitching the Kindle Fire as an "iPad killer" nor will you find any veiled marketing attempts to cast this as Amazon's David to Apple's Goliath. The Kindle Fire is a different type of device aimed at a different type of buyer, namely anyone who can't afford a full-sized slate or simply isn't willing to fill a fruit basket full of cash and hand it over to Apple. At the same time, comparisons are inevitable because let's face it, outside of enthusiast circles, apparently...
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It sometimes rolls this way. One of the most hotly anticipated product launches of the year and, you guessed it, the prized package drops on your doorstep for testing and evaluation literally hours before the official launch hits. Have we had nearly enough time with this sleek little minx? Absolutely not. But when the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime shows up packing NVIDIA's new Tegra 3 Quad-Core SoC with its perky fifth companion core in tow, you man-up (or woman-up as the case may be), get your geek on and burn some midnight oil. At least dessert wasn't on the menu. No Ice Cream Sandwiches here just yet, thank God. Android 4.0 on top, with this kind of turn-around,...
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We're fortunate enough to get hands-on time with some pretty sexy hardware here at HH and we're not going to make any apologies for using the "s word" as it relates to this hot new notebook from Asus. Though some industry pundits might take issue with us describing this machine as "sexy," you'd have to agree this 12-inch slice of aluminum and cutting-edge technology is pretty damn sleek and pretty. The Asus Zenbook UX21E is a new ultra-slim notebook by Asus, that fits into the new "Ultrabook" class of machines, to use a term coined by Intel. The Zenbook UX21E is an incredible 3mm thick at the front and 9mm at the rear and has spun metal and hairline aluminum for a strikingly sleek appearance. It's...
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We're fortunate enough to get hands-on time with some pretty sexy hardware here at HH and we're not going to make any apologies for using the "s word" as it relates to this hot new notebook from Asus. Though some industry pundits might take issue with us describing this machine as "sexy," you'd have to agree this 12-inch slice of aluminum and cutting-edge technology is pretty damn sleek and pretty. The Asus Zenbook UX21E is a new ultra-slim notebook by Asus, that fits into the new "Ultrabook" class of machines, to use a term coined by Intel. The Zenbook UX21E is an incredible 3mm thick at the front and 9mm at the rear and has spun metal and hairline aluminum for a strikingly sleek appearance. It's...
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AMD's Fusion Developer Conference is continuing to offer up tidbits of interesting insight from a few top industry professionals, especially since there are some heavy hitters at the event. Execs from Microsoft and ARM have given talks on a number of broad industry initiatives, including support for new programming language technologies like C++ AMP and Open CL. In a small round-table discussion with Industry Analyst John Peddie, the seemingly hard-ball question was asked "what is ARM doing here at this AMD conference?" Jem Davies, VP of the Media Processing Division of ARM stepped up to the plate casually to take a swing. We'll let you ponder that for a nanosecond or...
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Half-baked. That would describe the large majority of Android-based tablets we've seen come through our test labs here at HotHardware thus far. Even Motorola's Xoom, though infused with Google's latest Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) release, felt like it could use a bit of polish in spots, though most of the refinement wouldn't need to come from the device so much as its operating system. If you were wondering why Google was restricting the Marketplace on any device larger than 7 inches, the reason is simply that 2.X versions of Android were engineered with handsets in mind, not tablets, netbooks or larger devices. And though Honeycomb has made great strides in an effort to enabling...
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Although Home Theater PCs have been around for quite some time, they are still somewhat tough to define. For some, the term HTPC conjures up images of an ultra small form factor, low-power system that will be used for nothing more than accessing multimedia files. But for others an HTPC is more akin to a hardcore piece of A/V and entertainment equipment that can do it all—play back virtually any file type, browse the web, play games at 1080p resolutions—you name it. The muddled state of the HTPC market is compounded further by OEMs and DIYers as well. Pre-Built home theater PCs are as varied as can be; compare the diminutive and affordable Zotac ZBox AD03 to something like an extravagant...
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The Asus Eee Pad Transformer tablet is one of the more interesting Android tablets on the market in that it has a keyboard docking station that essentially allows it to convert to an Android 3.0 Honeycomb-based netbook on the fly. Add to that a powerful dual core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and a reasonable MSRP of $399 (just the tablet, 16GB version) and the Transformer looks to be one of the best options currently in Honeycomb tablets, for WiFi only solutions. The Transformer has dual front and rear facing cameras (1.2MP and 5MP respectively), 1GB of on board memory, mini-HDMI output, a microSD card slot and a head phone/mic combo jack. Drop it into it's $150 keyboard dock and...
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With the dust having settled on Intel's staggered Sandy Bridge launch and the early chipset issues having been ironed out, we're finally starting to see PC makers come out with builds based on the Santa Clara chip maker's second generation Core architecture. And if there's a platform ideally suited to showcase what Sandy Bridge is capable of, it's Asus' G73 series of gaming notebooks. We can say this with confidence because we got a chance to see firsthand what the G73 series was all about when we evaluated Asus' introductory model, the G73Jh. Now in its third generation, the G73SW represents an architectural upgrade to what was already a powerful mobile PC. The goal remains the same, which is...
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With the early 2011 refresh of the MacBook Pro family, Apple came out with both guns blazing. Not only is the entire lineup now powered by Intel’s second generation Core i5 and i7 mobile processors (commonly known by its codename, Sandy Bridge), but the new MacBook Pros also feature the brand-new Thunderbolt I/O technology (the official name of Intel’s Light Peak technology)--which supports up to 10Gbps bi-directional communications for high-bandwidth external peripherals, such as RAID arrays and HD displays. Add these new features to an outstanding chassis design, a sharp display, great keyboard and trackpad, and superb battery life and the MacBook Pro appears pretty compelling ....
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