Ben Funk
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Recent posts
Back in late 2021, Intel's 12th generation of desktop CPUs, codenamed Alder Lake, was a revelation. After years of mostly spinning its wheels and ceding performance crowns to rival AMD, Chipzilla was finally back on top. And aside from some modest refinements like faster memory support and expanding the number of...
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SiFive HiFive Unmatched Rev. B - $299 This early entry into the RISC-V software development kit space has seen a revision that brings its price down to an affordable level. Affordable entry into RISC-V Works with off-the-shelf components Plenty of PCI Express and USB connectivity Easy to get up and running Much...
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Apple iPhone 16 Pro (Starts at $999, as reviewed $1,099) Apple launched the iPhone 16 Pro in an unfinished state, and it remains to be seen if Apple Intelligence will be worth the wait, but performance is excellent. Outstanding LTPO OLED display with 120 Hz refresh rage Versatile camera system produces great results...
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There's an old saying with social media: the users are the product. That used to mean that if you posted on a service like Reddit, then your data would be sold to advertisers, either individually or in aggregate. That has only become more true with the advent of AI, as companies race to acquire the data necessary to...
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In case you've been hiding under a rock, Apple's Glowtime event happened today, and some of the early parts of that slickly-produced video presentation (who else misses live demos? Just me?) were dedicated to the newly released Apple Watch Series 10. The hardware itself may not be very exciting, but some of the...
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If the news out of WWDC detailing all of the things on tap for iOS 18 wasn't clear enough, Apple has gone all-in on artificial intelligence. Its rebranded Apple Intelligence has gone native, with last year's iPhone 15 Pro range and presumably the whole iPhone 16 lineup sporting on-device machine learning features. And...
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IFA in Berlin hasn't officially started yet, but so much news has come out of the pre-show already that it's like Geek Christmas. Let's keep the good times rolling with Lenovo, which has taken all the new Lunar Lake CPU goodness that Intel announced this week and turned it into some very sleek portable PCs. All of...
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HP EliteBook Ultra G1q (Starts at $1699) HP's first foray into Copilot+ AI PCs mixes great portability with high-end battery life and solid performance. Great CPU Performance In Arm Apps Good CPU Performance In x86-only Apps Best-In-Class Battery Life Top-Tier NPU Performance For AI Apps Lightweight And Highly...
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IT infrastructure and security systems built in the cloud are great until one of them shuts down your company. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike's marketing material says an average cybercriminal can exfiltrate data within 62 minutes of breaking in. However, it only took the company's cybersecurity suite about three...
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Tenstorrent's name might not have quite the same cache that NVIDIA's does when it comes to AI acceleration yet, but the company's unique approach has a lot of benefits. Between a royalty-free RISC-V processor ISA and highly scalable AI accelerator designs, the company promises it can lower the total cost of ownership...
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Lenovo Legion Go (starts at $699, as tested $749) Lenovo's entry into the handheld PC gaming device space has great performance for its size, solid battery life, and a beautiful display. Beautiful, high-resolution screen Comfortable controllers Good performance for a handheld PC Low-power battery life, including streaming, is great Innovative...
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Has your iPhone been mangling your text when it tries to predict what you're typing? I know that mine has, along with millions of other iPhone owners, and it's all caused by Apple's first attempt at improving the keyboard experience in iOS 17. Of course, iOS 17 launched five months ago, so this has been something that...
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The AI arms race is ever escalating, pushing machine learning models into the faces of everybody who ever looks at a screen, be it a PC monitor or a smartphone. Artificial intelligence, as it's been defined in modern times, has been with us for quite a while now, including deep integration into Windows. For instance...
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Most of the time, preinstalled software on a PC can range from annoying to innocuous, with the occasional trip into "hey, this isn't so bad" territory. But sometimes, a PC can get imaged with something really nasty, causing buyers heartache well outside the norm. Such is the case with at least some AceMagic mini PCs...
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Whether it's a foolish skit or a serious attempt at multitasking, driving a vehicle while wearing an Apple Vision Pro was bound to happen. It's important to note that the Tesla driver who went viral on X / Twitter for donning Cupertino's augmented reality headset most likely broke a whole slew of laws while doing so...
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Origin PC Neuron (starts at $2,200, as tested $4,625) Origin's customizable gaming PC has lots of high-powered hardware, an attractive design, and a quiet cooling solution that's up to the challenge. Great attention to detail in build 100% industry standard parts and components Plenty of options in the...
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Dell Inspiron 16 Plus (7630) Notebook (Starts at $999, as tested $1,249) The affordably-priced Dell Inspiron 16 Plus offers plenty of productivity and gaming performance, and doesn't sacrifice on battery life. Solid productivity performance Good gaming performance Big, fast display with wide viewing angles Excellent...
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On Halloween Eve, Apple's Scary Fast online event ushered in the era of the company's third-generation Arm64 processors, dubbed the M3 family. The company did hit a number of landmarks with its custom-built Mac processors, including using 3nm lithography, adding real-time ray tracing hardware to its GPU architecture...
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All Hallows' Eve might be when the kids go out trick-or-treating, but the night before — this night — is when we all bob for Apples. In a spooky themed, online-only event, Apple CEO Tim Cook led a cavalcade of corporate VPs announcing a new family of processors named M3 and a series of Macs sporting the latest in...
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One of the more exciting aspects of Qualcomm's Snapdragon family processors for Windows on Arm64 is that these laptop PCs are always connected (4G or 5G), and they can deliver stellar battery life. Just peruse any of our recent reviews and you can see that, for instance, the Lenovo Flex 5G has more than 24 hours of...
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We're big fans of retro gaming here in these parts. Whether it's 8-bit and 16-bit classic recreations of our childhood favorites in the Sega Genesis 2 Mini or playing on original retro consoles with fancy upscalers, we just can't go wrong with revisiting the classics. In recent years, the cutting edge of retro...
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Alienware Aurora R16 Gaming Desktop PC (Starts at $1,299, as tested $1,949) Alienware's latest Aurora R16 desktop has a new look, the latest PC gaming technology, and cooling that's both quiet and efficient. Good performance for the price Very quiet under load Plenty of external connectivity High-performance...
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