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.!
One of the common concerns among users of AMD’s previous-generation mobile platforms is that they tend to run relatively hot in comparison to many of Intel’s offerings. And we’re not necessarily talking just about chip temperatures either, but rather the heat that radiated out to the notebook’s or netbook’s keyboard and chassis that could be felt by end users on their laps, hands, etc. Throughout the design phase of their next-gen Fusion-based mobile platforms, though, AMD was very mindful of power consumption—and hence thermal output—and at CES they are running an interesting demo that shows just how cool a trio of Brazos-based notebooks and netbooks...
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Apple decided to refresh their MacBook Air lineup this year, but rather than simply upgrading the existing machine with a new CPU, GPU or Blu-ray drive, Apple introduced some entirely new pieces of hardware with the new 11" and 13" MacBook Airs. While the 11" machine is certainly intriguing, and a compelling addition to the overall lineup, we're focusing today on the revamped 13" version here. Arguably, this 13" model deserves the most scrutiny, largely because it's the third 13" notebook that Apple offers. Apple doesn't have as many options at any other notebook form factor, so it's of particular importance to weigh your options when looking for a 13" Apple ultraportable....
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In early September, Steve Jobs took to the stage and unveiled the new-and-improved Apple TV. What was once considered a “hobby” device was reworked, streamlined, made more affordable, and aimed squarely at the masses. It enters an increasingly crowded market of devices that offer near-instant access to libraries of recent movies and TV shows, as well other online streaming media content from the likes of Netflix, YouTube, and Flickr. Not to mention the ability to also stream media you already own—videos, music, and photos—from your computer to your TV and audio system. The Apple TV comes with a consumer-friendly price tag of $99, which is sure to give the likes of Roku,...
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It was this month last year that Apple launched the iPhone 3GS. Records were broken in terms of sales, and overall demand looked like it couldn't possibly be higher. It was Apple's third iPhone, and the 3GS was arguably the least impressive upgrade to date. The iPhone 3G was a drastic improvement over the original iPhone; it added 3G support, a better camera, a whole new design and support for multi-media messaging. The 3GS, however, was just a mild improvement. Support for video recording was added, and a new processor was included for improved speed and graphical performance. It was a solid upgrade, sure, but it was one that many iPhone 3G owners skipped over in order to prevent the extension...
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At the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, back in early January of this year, we showcased a myriad of upcoming products in our coverage of the event and the announcements being made. Of the literally thousands of items we saw at CES, however, we'd consider only a handful of them to be truly stand-out products. One of those geek-lust worthy products, at least in our opinion, was the slick Alienware M11x.We gave you somewhat more than a glimpse of the M11x in our close-up look at the machine on display at Dell's suite at the show, but we have since gotten one in house and have been able to put it through its paces on our home turf for a full evaluation. Our video review of the Alienware...
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Synopsis: The 13" Macbook Pro features Apple's uni-body enclosure that is carved from a solid block of aluminum for added durability. The machine also features a LED-backlit screen with a higher color gamut than most notebooks, a backlit keyboard, and a 7 hour battery that actually lasts about 7 hours, which reaffirms Apple's reputation of advertising realistic battery life claims. A number of other features like a built in iSight webcam, a Superdrive (CD/DVD reader and writer), a Magsafe power adapter and for the first time for Apple a built in SD card reader--all in a package that's about 4.5 pounds--make this one heck of an attractive little notebook. The one we tested was the lower...
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Synopsis: The M17x is Alienware's current flagship gaming notebook. It features an anodized aluminum shell that is available in a variety of colors, including silver, black, and red, and its 17" LCD sports a covering comprised of a single sheet of glass, that runs from edge-to-edge. The M17x also features 'BinaryGFX' technology which gives users have the ability to switch between discrete or integrated graphics and a 'Stealth Mode' in which the discrete graphics cards are turned off and other components throttle down to achieve a 65W power limit. We tested a high-end configuration, complete with an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 processor, dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M GPUs, 8GB of RAM, and 1TB RAID...
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Synopsis: The Eee Top ET1602 builds upon Asus' popular line of Eee-branded products by introducing an all-in-one desktop form factor, complete with a 15.6" touch screen. Like the Eee PC netbooks that preceded it, the Eee Top ET1602 is built around Intel's low-power Atom platform, with the 945 GSE chipset. Other features include an integrated webcam and 802.11n Wi-Fi, 4W speakers with SRS Premium Sound enhancement, and a flash memory card reader. At about $599, the Eee Top ET1602 is relatively expensive considering its performance, but its integrated touch screen and proprietary Asus Eee applications help to somewhat justify the investment for a system that offers such ease of use and innovative...
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Synopsis: As Gaming Notebooks go, there are always going to be trade-offs to make and a balance to strike between performance, weight, and cost. The Asus G50Vt strikes a happy medium, weighing in at 7.5lbs and around $949 at retail outlets like Best Buy with higher-end SKUs online. Our system, powered by a Core 2 Duo P8400 at 2.26GHz and an NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS graphics engine, offered top-end multimedia performance and lots of gaming horsepower for all the latest titles. We'd gladly recommend this machine to anyone looking for a powerful desktop replacement or semi-portable notebook. Asus G50vt 15.4" Gaming...
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Though this year's CES was unusually quiet in terms of attendance, and even a few exhibitors pulling no-shows, Asus had a plethora of new high tech gadget goodness on display, true to their usual form. We stopped by the booth and spent some time on a tour with David Ray, Vivian Lien, Brian Jang and Peter Clark of Asus, who featured four spotlight products and also discussed the new Asus WePC program in detail. If you've been tuning in regularly here, you would have noticed that HotHardware.com is a guest author on the WePC.com site, where you the reader can register and contribute your own ideas and creativity for your future ultimate...
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Synopsis: AMD's "Maui" home theater PC platform consists of a combination of AMD hardware and software. Systems built around the platform feature an energy efficient Phenom or Athlon processor, ATI Radeon graphics, ATI TV tuners, and AMD LIVE! software elements. The current foundation of the platform is MSI's somewhat unique Media Live DIVA 5.1 motherboard, which is based on the AMD 780M chipset, and includes a specialized Intersil D2 Ausio DAE-3 audio chip with an accompanying 5.1 channel amplifier, but a 3.1 / 7.1 pre-amplifier card is also an option. Other AMD Maui Coverage @ HotHardware:AMD Consumer Electronics Event '08 in NYCAMD Maui Platform Bundles Hit Newegg ...
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Welcome to HotHardware's new Video Spotlight channel. In this new HotHardware content section, we'll be offering quick-take product overviews of select feature products of the month. You'll still always have the full, detailed HotHardware print article for reference of course as well.We hope our new showcase channel will afford you a perspective you might not get from the written story and also allow you to take away many of the salient points of a product in quick, easily digestible chunks -- sans hurling of course....
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