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Hardware News

Learn about the latest developments in PC hardware and enthusiast computing. We cover processors, graphics cards, chipsets, desktop and mobile systems, tablets, input devices and more.


Raspberry Pi: The TechSpot Review + How-To Setup Guide

Raspberry Pi: The TechSpot Review + How-To Setup Guide
  • Posted May 4, 2012, 2:19 AM by Lee Kaelin | Filed in TechSpot, Hardware Breaking News
  • Six years ago, Raspberry Pi set out to reignite programming in schools with a cheap, compact computing platform. Despite targeting students, his foundation's $35 computer captured the imaginations of tinkers worldwide, resulting in overwhelming demand.

    Along with a hands-on review of the Pi, today we'll be covering basic steps for setting up the computer and other elemental post-installation tasks to get you up and running with applications. In other words, this should serve as a starting point no matter what you want to do with your Raspberry Pi.

PC gaming hardware market continues to grow despite rising competition

PC gaming hardware market continues to grow despite rising competition
  • Posted May 3, 2012, 6:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Gaming, Hardware
  • Naysayers have been predicting doom and gloom for the PC gaming market for several years and with the advent of mobile gaming, the post-PC era and continued popularity of consoles, it seemed like a feasible prediction. The only problem, however,…

Leaked slides shed more light on upcoming Trinity APUs

Leaked slides shed more light on upcoming Trinity APUs
  • Posted May 3, 2012, 1:00 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Hardware
  • AMD is expected to release their next generation Trinity APU very soon but if you are growing impatient and would like an early look at some key features, keep reading. A series of leaked slides have found their way to…

Sony announces Vaio T11 and T13 ultrabooks

Sony announces Vaio T11 and T13 ultrabooks
  • Posted May 2, 2012, 1:00 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Mobile Computing, Hardware
  • Sony is officially getting into the Ultrabook game with the announcement of its first couple of models for this market: the Vaio T11 and T13. As the name suggests, they'll come with 11- and 13.3-inch screens, and will offer many…

AMD chip owners to get 20% off GameFly's digital downloads

AMD chip owners to get 20% off GameFly
  • Posted May 2, 2012, 8:30 AM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Gaming, Hardware
  • AMD and GameFly have announced a deal that promises discounted games for folks using AMD processors. Gamers with machines powered by "select" Athlon II, Phenom II, FX series and A series chips will receive a free 30-day GameFly membership as well as a 20% discount...

Acer releases 24-inch IPS display for $329, adjustable height, swivel, tilt

Acer releases 24-inch IPS display for $329, adjustable height, swivel, tilt
  • Posted May 1, 2012, 3:00 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Hardware
  • Acer has just released a brand-new IPS display that not only sports some decent features, but with an MSRP of $329, sports a great price as well. The 24-inch LCD is being marketed as a commercial offering and as such,…

Claiming the Crown: Gainward GeForce GTX 680 Phantom Review

Claiming the Crown: Gainward GeForce GTX 680 Phantom Review
  • Posted May 1, 2012, 1:24 AM by Steven Walton | Filed in TechSpot, Hardware
  • On paper, the GTX 680 has almost 200% more shader performance than the GTX 580, roughly 250% more texture performance, 90% more ROP performance and 100% more memory bandwidth. With the Radeon HD 7970 only being ~9% faster than the GTX 580, AMD appears to have priced itself into a corner this time around.

    Because we didn't get a reference sample last month, our GTX 680 review will showcase one of the special edition products instead, meet the Gainward GTX 680 Phantom...

New Nvidia service will auto-generate optimized game settings

New Nvidia service will auto-generate optimized game settings
  • Posted April 30, 2012, 6:00 PM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Gaming, Hardware
  • Nvidia announced an initiative that should make it easier for PC gamers to find ideal graphics settings. Unless you're fortunate enough to have a powerhouse like the company's new dual-GPU GTX 690, you probably have to put some thought into your game's detail settings...

Nvidia announces twin-Kepler, 4GB GeForce GTX 690 GPU

Nvidia announces twin-Kepler, 4GB GeForce GTX 690 GPU
  • Posted April 30, 2012, 8:30 AM by Lee Kaelin | Filed in Hardware
  • Nvidia has announced its latest graphics card, the range-topping twin Kepler-based dual GPU monster GeForce GTX 690. The combination of two GTX 680 GPU cores onto one board makes this the fastest graphics solution on the market, for the moment at least.

Lenovo recalls 13,000 more Thinkcentre M70z, M90z AIO PCs

Lenovo recalls 13,000 more Thinkcentre M70z, M90z AIO PCs
  • Posted April 26, 2012, 3:30 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Industry News, Hardware
  • Following a voluntary safety recall in March of 2012 which affected about 50,000 PCs, Lenovo has chosen to expand the scope of its recall to include an additional 13,000 M70z and M90z AIO computers. According the U.S. Consumer Product and Safety…

Netgear announces world's first 802.11ac Wi-Fi router

Netgear announces world
  • Posted April 26, 2012, 2:30 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Industry News, Hardware
  • Netgear today announced the release of what it claims is the world's first router to utilize Broadcom's "5G Wi-Fi" 802.11ac chips, which are supposedly capable of delivering speeds over 1Gbit/s on wireless. Mind you, there aren't any compatible devices out…

iPavement stones with embedded PCs used as wireless app hotspots

iPavement stones with embedded PCs used as wireless app hotspots
  • Posted April 26, 2012, 11:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Hardware, Mobile Computing
  • Urban dwellers may soon find a new way to obtain information wirelessly while on the go. A Spanish company called Via Inteligente has developed a product called the iPavement stone that, as the name suggests, includes an embedded computer with…

Perifoveal Display uses Kinect cameras to track head positioning across LCDs

Perifoveal Display uses Kinect cameras to track head positioning across LCDs
  • Posted April 26, 2012, 7:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Hardware
  • A new project from the MIT Media Lab aims to offer a solution to individuals tasked with keeping track of a wide array of ever-changing data spanning multiple displays. The Perifoveal Display uses Microsoft Kinect cameras and special detection software…

Samsung releases world's thinnest optical drive for use with Ultrabooks

Samsung releases world
  • Posted April 25, 2012, 6:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Hardware, Mobile Computing
  • Samsung has announced a new external optical drive billed as the world’s thinnest DVD writer at only 14mm in height. The drive is 18 percent thinner and 8 percent lighter than traditional DVD writers and was built to accompany Intel’s…

Large SSD makers want to smother small players by cutting prices

Large SSD makers want to smother small players by cutting prices
  • Posted April 25, 2012, 4:30 PM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Hardware, Industry News
  • Although SSD prices have fallen rapidly over the last three years, they haven't fallen rapidly enough some might say. According DigiTimes' all-seeing, ever-elusive "industry sources in Taiwan," many large players concur with that sentiment -- albeit for reasons none too charitable...

AMD slashes price of eight-core FX-8150 CPU in response to Ivy Bridge

AMD slashes price of eight-core FX-8150 CPU in response to Ivy Bridge
  • Posted April 25, 2012, 3:00 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Hardware
  • AMD has recently dropped the price of their flagship eight-core FX-8150, no doubt in response to the abundance of press that Intel has been receiving about Ivy Bridge. The high-end Bulldozer CPU can now be had for around €180 or…

Google selling unlocked Galaxy Nexus for $399 via Google Play Store

Google selling unlocked Galaxy Nexus for $399 via Google Play Store
  • Posted April 25, 2012, 9:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Hardware, Mobile Computing
  • Google is once again trying to sell hardware directly to consumers by offering the Galaxy Nexus smartphone free of contract through the Google Play Store. The unlocked Samsung-built handset is available to residents in the US for $399.

AMD intros Radeon HD 7700M, 7800M, 7900M mobile GPUs

AMD intros Radeon HD 7700M, 7800M, 7900M mobile GPUs
  • Posted April 24, 2012, 2:00 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Hardware, Mobile Computing
  • Following up from the release of its next-generation desktop GPUs earlier this year, AMD is now bringing its 28nm GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture to notebooks with three new series arriving in May or June: the 7700M (“Chelsea”), 7800M (“Heathrow’),…

Microsoft files patent for secondary low-power smartphone display

Microsoft files patent for secondary low-power smartphone display
  • Posted April 23, 2012, 4:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Hardware, Industry News
  • Those who feel that Microsoft’s most innovative days are behind them might want to reconsider that opinion as a string of recent patent applications suggest otherwise. The latest idea from Redmond involves adding a secondary screen on the back of…

HTC to co-develop mobile processor with ST-Ericsson for 2013 release

HTC to co-develop mobile processor with ST-Ericsson for 2013 release
  • Posted April 23, 2012, 3:00 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Mobile Computing, Hardware
  • HTC is looking to make a splash in the low-end handset market with plans to develop their own branded processor similar to what Apple and Samsung currently offer in the high-end arena. The CPU will be developed by ST-Ericsson and…

Testing Ivy Bridge: Intel Core i7-3770K Reviewed

Testing Ivy Bridge: Intel Core i7-3770K Reviewed
  • Posted April 23, 2012, 11:00 AM by Steven Walton | Filed in TechSpot, Hardware Breaking News
  • Today the company is unveiling its full new line of Core i7 and Core i5 processors, accompanying chipsets and Centrino wireless options. Ivy Bridge is a 'tick' release, but Intel is calling it a tick+ due to the more significant overhaul the graphics side of things is getting. The new chips are set to provide 20–50% better GPU performance over Sandy Bridge, the kind of jump we'd normally expect from a tock release.

    Having already discussed the new Tri-Gate transistors in great detail, the new 7-series chipsets, and some of the motherboards that use them, we are going to focus primarily on the Core i7-3770K processor in this review.

Pixel Qi display to outclass new iPad's in quality and efficiency

Pixel Qi display to outclass new iPad
  • Posted April 23, 2012, 10:00 AM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Hardware, Mobile Computing
  • We've been hearing about Pixel Qi's exciting display technology for a while now, but the company has yet to make significant progress in the consumer market -- only about a dozen not-so-popular products feature them. That's not stopping them from…

Asus ships 10.1-inch Transformer Pad 300 in US for $379.99

Asus ships 10.1-inch Transformer Pad 300 in US for $379.99
  • Posted April 23, 2012, 8:00 AM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Mobile Computing, Hardware
  • True to its word, Asus has begun shipping its Transformer Pad 300 stateside this week for $379.99 (16GB) and $399.99 (32GB), undercutting the third-generation iPad by more than a hundred bucks for the entry-level model (excluding the keyboard dock, which sells separately for $149)...

AMD Trinity and Brazos 2.0 APUs ship to OEMs, launching this quarter

AMD Trinity and Brazos 2.0 APUs ship to OEMs, launching this quarter
  • Posted April 20, 2012, 12:00 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Hardware, Industry News
  • AMD has confirmed that its next-generation accelerated processing units (APUs) under the A-Series "Trinity" and E/C-Series "Brazos 2.0" lines, have begun shipping to device manufacturers and should start showing up in consumer laptops and desktops this quarter. The chips represent…

Intel Z77 Motherboard Round-up: Asrock, ECS, Gigabyte & Intel

Intel Z77 Motherboard Round-up: Asrock, ECS, Gigabyte & Intel
  • Posted April 20, 2012, 12:03 AM by Steven Walton | Filed in TechSpot, Hardware Breaking News
  • Although Intel's die shrink of Sandy Bridge isn't due until next week (Monday, rumors say), the company has long shipped Ivy Bridge's accompanying chipsets. It might seem odd to jump the gun on "next-gen" motherboards, but 7-series platforms are backwards compatible with Sandy Bridge processors, so users have actually been able to buy a Z77 motherboard and use it for a few weeks without Ivy Bridge.

    After surveying Panther Point's spec sheet, we're itching to get a little more hands-on. Fortunately, we have four new Z77 motherboards in the shop and begging for attention, including the Asrock Z77 Extreme6, ECS Z77H2-AX, Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H-WB and Intel DZ77GA-70K.

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