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Latest by Luke Larsen

Alienware Area-51m review

The biggest laptop trends from CES 2019

Bringing a preview of all the trends expected across all tech industries throughout the year, CES 2019 offered surprises and news from some of the biggest names in laptop makers. Here are the major themes in laptops at this year's show, from OLED screens to Nvidia power.
HP Spectre x360 15 review

It took three years, but OLED laptops are having another moment at CES

To our surprise, OLED laptops made a strong showing at CES 2019. With options in the works from most of the major PC manufacturers, it seems that OLED is making its comeback, and it could turn out to be one of the most important laptop trends of 2019.
Alienware 55 review

Alienware 55 OLED monitor hands-on review

OLED has long alluded gaming monitors. But no longer. The Alienware 55 OLED Monitor matches the incredible visuals of OLED with variable refresh rates up to 120Hz. The best part? It’s not just a concept -- it’s a real product coming to a living room near you.
Lenovo Yoga S940 review

Lenovo Yoga S940 hands-on review

Lenovo’s Yoga S940, which debuted at CES 2019, has a few tricks up its sleeve. By using an inverted notch above the screen and curved glass along the edges of the display, the Yoga S940 creates subtle fair and sets a new standard for laptop elegance. Can those design tweaks make Lenovo’s latest a winner?
Samsung Notebook 9 Pro

Samsung Notebook 9 Pro hands-on review

Samsung’s laptops tend to feel a bit flimsy, without the reduction in price. The company’s latest 2-in-1, the Notebook 9 Pro, is an attempt to correct that. The redesign brings a full-aluminum chassis to the lineup, adding some much-needed rigidity. Can that make the Notebook 9 Pro a serious MacBook Air alternative?
nvidia rtx 2060 ces 2019 geforce

Nvidia launches the RTX 2060, lowering the price of ray tracing to $349

Amid intense speculation, Nvidia announced the RTX 2060, the cheapest and least powerful of the company's new line of RTX graphics cards. Still boasting performance improvements and real-time ray tracing, the $349 card will probably be the one most gamers buy.
razer raptor 27 review ces 2019 3

Razer Raptor 27 hands-on review

Razer’s showed its gaming monitor, the Raptor 27, at CES 2019. It’s at tried-and-true Razer product. Made of aluminum and lit with Chroma RGB LEDs, it’s everything a Razer fan would want. Beyond that, the Raptor 27 has a couple of interesting tricks up its sleeve, including a unique cable management system.
razer raptor 27 ces 2019 rzr  r1

The RGB-laden Raptor 27 is Razer’s debut gaming monitor

This year at CES, Razer announced its entrance into a new product category: Gaming monitors. The Raptor 27 is the company's first true attempt at a gaming monitor, designed and manufactured from the ground-up by Razer. The 27-inch screen is squeezed into an "edge-to-edge" frame with 2.3mm bezels on each side.
Razer Blade 15 Advanced

The Razer Blade of the future could feature OLED screen, 240Hz refresh rate

OLED laptops came and went, but now it seems as though they're back in full force. Along with a new version of the 15-inch Blade gaming laptop that features Nvidia RTX graphics, Razer brought two more futuristic gaming laptops: One with an OLED panel and one with a super-fast 240Hz display.
dell 27 usb c ultrathin monitor s2719dc review review7

Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin Monitor (S2719DC) review

Ultrawide and 4K might be the buzzwords in monitors right now, but the Dell 27 USB-C Ultrathin monitor manages to be more exciting by just nailing the basics. Not only is this monitor super-thin, it has fantastic image quality to boot.
elon musk starman space adventure spacex falcon heavy

These are the 10 most important tech news stories of 2018

From Facebook scandals to unprecedented space travel, 2018 has been a year of important, turbulent, exciting, worrying, and delightful tech news. In light of that, we count the 10 tech stories that will be influencing the future and impacting the way we use and think about technology.
razer blade stealth 2019

Razer Blade Stealth (2019) review

Without discrete graphics, the Razer Blade Stealth never fit well into Razer’s lineup of laptops. That has changed with the newest version, which provides the option for a high-powered Nvidia MX150. Is the entry-level GPU enough to make the Stealth worthy of the Razer name?
Alienware m15 Review

Alienware m15 review

Thin and light gaming is a new category of laptop, led by options like the Razer Blade. Alienware now has its own entry: The Alienware m15. It’s not the thinnest, lightest, or sleekest option in the bunch, but it doesn’t hold back in terms of performance. It combines a traditional Alienware look modern design.
lenovo yoga chromebook c630 review 7

Lenovo Yoga Chromebook C630 review

The Yoga Chromebook features great build quality, a 1080p display, and all-day battery life. All that for $540? That’s right. If you’re looking to spend less than $600, the Yoga Chromebook is much easier to recommend than a Windows 10 laptop.
microsoft surface go

Microsoft Surface Go review

Microsoft has launched the $400 Surface Go to take on both the iPad and the Chromebook in a single device. It’s a bold attempt to appeal to everyone’s needs in a compact, budget-friendly form factor, but can a device this small work as a PC?
AMD RX 590

The RX 590 is a solid midrange GPU, but it won’t move the needle for AMD

AMD's latest entry in the RX 500-series hopes to steal the spotlight back from away from Nvidia, at least when it comes to mid-range budgets. While RX 590 is the most powerful graphics card you can get for under $300, it doesn't address many of the concerns some gamers have with this series of graphics cards.
razer blade stealth 2018 discrete new

The redesigned Razer Blade Stealth can actually game now — but it’ll cost you

Razer has launched a redesigned version of its 13.3-inch Blade Stealth, now featuring an optional discrete graphics solution to improve gaming. More than just an increase in power, the new Blade Stealth is a complete redesign to match the look of the Razer Blade gaming laptop.
Chrome OS

Can two operating systems coexist? The Pixel Slate thinks so

The Pixel Slate is a 2-in-1 device like no other. It’s not the most polished product we’ve ever used, but Google has laid the foundation for letting mobile and desktop software sit side-by-side. Here’s what Google has changed in Chrome OS to make it all work -- as well as where it all falls apart.
Google Pixel Slate

Google Pixel Slate review

The Pixel Slate is Google’s answer to the iPad Pro and Surface Pro 6. With Chrome OS and Android at its disposal, the Pixel Slate is a device that has the potential to be the most convincing 2-in-1 device ever made. But with all that ambition, there’s bound to be some problems and hiccups along the way.
BenQ EL2870U review

BenQ EL2870U 4K monitor review

4K and HDR are some of the big-ticket specifications everyone wants to own. But can they be done for cheap? This $449 BenQ monitor attempts to do just that, but it comes with a couple of important compromises in image quality, and as our BenQ EL2870U review finds, that might not be worth the sacrifice.
Microsoft Surface Studio 2 hands-on.

Microsoft Surface Studio 2 review

Most creative pros are Apple users, but with the Surface Studio 2, Microsoft makes a serious attempt to win them over. There aren't a lot of new features on the outside, but the internal updates are significant. Despite its niche appeal, you’ll wish you had a few grand to drop on this beauty.
Macbook Air (2018) Review

Apple MacBook Air (2018) review

We’ve waited a long time for an update to the MacBook Air, and Apple finally delivered. With a lot of features ported over from the MacBook Pro, this new laptop is what a lot of Apple fans have always wanted. However, upon deeper inspection, it might not have been worth the wait.
nvidia geforce rtx 2080 vs ti 3jwagsxw

We tested Nvidia’s RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti. Are they a worthy upgrade?

We finally have Nvidia's newest graphics cards, the RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti. We put the cards through our standard suite of benchmarks and game tests to see how they performed in a standard play of Battlefield 1, Civilization VI, and Fortnite. Are these the holy grail of GPUs we've all been waiting for?
smishing example on phone

Smishing sounds funny, but it’s a serious threat to your phone’s security

We all know phishing is a huge security problem, but most people still believe it’s a problem limited to email. According to new reports, more and more phishing scams are appearing in text messages. The problem is much worse than you might assume. Here’s how to protect yourself and the personal data attached to your phone.
computing watershed moment coming mac behance feat

The MacBook of 2021 could kiss the keyboard, and Intel, goodbye

Apple announced a new MacBook Air, which brings a fairly basic update to the line. But if you follow the rumors, there's a much bigger sea change happening. Based on patents, rumors, and pure imagination, this is what it'll be like to open a brand new MacBook in the year 2021.
Apple MacBook Air 2018

The best and worst features of the new MacBook Air

Apple has announced a new MacBook Air today, bringing an update that we've been anticipating for many years. Here are three things we really like about what Apple has delivered, and two things we're less excited about, including the high price tag and the lack of information about the processor.
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Here’s how the new MacBook Air could’ve blown us away, but didn’t

Apple announced a new MacBook Air, and while we're happy to see an update to the aging laptop, there are a number of features Apple could have introduced that would have brought us onboard for a new MacBook. Unfortunately, none of these happened.
Lenovo Yoga Book C930 review

Lenovo Yoga Book C930 review

Projects as experimental as the Yoga Book C930 are a rare breed. This keyboard-less, dual-screen laptop takes what was clunky about the original Yoga Book, and streamlines the functionality using an e-ink screen. Our review will help you decide if this is a novel new PC alternative, or just a fad.
Samsung CHG90 Ultrawide Monitor review

Samsung CHG90 ultrawide monitor review

When it comes to gaming monitors, sometimes wide just isn’t wide enough. Samsung has taken that to a new max with its 49-inch gaming monitor, the CHG90. With quantum dot technology, a 144Hz refresh rate, and ungodly amounts of screen real estate, it just might be the most impressive gaming monitor ever made.
Asus Zenbook UX330UA review

Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UA review

It’s never been truer that you don’t need to spend over a thousand bucks to buy a good laptop. The new ZenBook 13 takes what we’ve always loved about its predecessor and makes enough small refinements to keep it ahead of its competitors. Though just $800, it fares better in some areas better than laptops that cost twice as much.
Dell G3 Gaming Laptop Review | Fortnite

Dell G3 Gaming Laptop review

Compromise and budget gaming laptops go hand-in-hand, but with the Dell G3 Gaming Laptop, Dell has figured out how to balance what gamers want with what they can live without. It’s not a perfect gaming laptop, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find performance value.
Intel-9th-Gen-Core-package

Intel Core i9-9900K review and benchmark

Intel has launched the first Core i9 for the average gamer. We ran the i9-9900K through its paces to see how it compares to the previous generation, as well as the best from AMD. Despite some controversies around its release, it might be the best gaming processor ever made.
microsoft surface pro 6 review 3

Surface Pro 6 review

It’s been updated to its sixth generation, now coming dressed in black and packing a quad-core processor. Those two recognizable features of the Surface Pro 6 are here -- and are great. But don’t be fooled: You’ll have to dig a little deeper to see where Microsoft has made some truly noteworthy improvements.
intel could make billions off meltdown spectre insecure exploits processor

How to watch Intel’s Fall desktop event live from NYC

Intel has a press event planned for October 8, where it will reveal information about the future of its processors. The company has been tight-lipped about what exactly we'll see, but we anticipate the launch of the ninth-generation Core i9-9900k, an impressive new CPU reportedly aimed at gamers.