Review Index Page 22

  • Asrock Beebox-S 7200U: Kaby Lake vs. Skylake

    I've been using the Asrock Beebox as my day to day HTPC for a few months and it's been doing a fantastic job, so I didn't expect it to be replaced so soon. Nonetheless, Asrock has sent an updated Beebox-S model sporting Intel's new 7th-generation processor based on the Kaby Lake-U architecture.

    By Steven Walton on

    90
  • Alienware 15 R3 Review

    Up for review today is the latest Alienware 15. Fully configurable with a wide range of hardware, with prices ranging from $1,350 for the base model to $2,700 for the top-spec system, expect GeForce 10 graphics and Alienware level of design and polish.

    By Tim Schiesser on

    70
  • Razer DeathAdder Elite Review

    The Razer DeathAdder Elite preserves the same comfortable and ergonomic design that we know and love, with a few improvements inside and out, most importantly endurance. While it's billed as a gaming mouse, its simple, effective design makes it suitable for any type of user.

    By Jose Vilches on

    95
  • Final Fantasy XV Review

    Final Fantasy XV is a great video game. It steers the series in a promising new direction, reveals a spectacular new world, and introduces a combat system as satisfying as any I've played. For all of its warts and wrinkles-and there are quite a few warts and wrinkles-Final Fantasy XV is often a thing of beauty.

    By Jason Schreier on

  • ADATA SE730 External Rugged SSD Review

    "An external SSD that can beat Samsung T3," read the title of an email that I recently received. Curious, of course, I investigated further to find that ADATA was behind the bold claim. Its purported 'T3 destroyer' was also the smallest external SSD you can buy with an IP68 rated shockproof, waterproof and dustproof enclosure.

    By Steven Walton on

    70
  • Asus ZenBook 3 Review

    Of all the ultrathin laptops I've reviewed, the ZenBook is most like Apple's MacBook from a design perspective. It packs a 12.5" display, an edge-to-edge keyboard, and a single USB-C port for charging and all connectivity. Where the ZenBook pulls away from the MacBook is on the inside, packing a lot more processing punch.

    By Tim Schiesser on

    75
  • Samsung SSD 960 Evo 500GB Review

    We liked what we saw when we tested Samsung's SSD 960 Pro a month ago, however we've been waiting for the mainstream bound 960 Evo which should bring similarly impressive throughput for less. On paper, you should be paying 20% less for the 960 Evo with an impact on performance that could be considerably less than that.

    By Steven Walton on

    90
  • QNAP TS-853A Review

    Having developed NAS products for more than a decade, QNAP now ships a massive range of devices for both enterprise and home environments. We've tested many of the company's offerings over the years and one of its most recent releases, the TS-x53A, just so happens to be on-hand today in its biggest form, touting eight drive bays, a Braswell quad-core SoC, and a heap of connectivity options.

    By Steven Walton on

    90
  • Hands-On with Google Daydream and Daydream View

    We've already seen several solutions for mobile VR, most notably Samsung's Gear VR and Google Cardboard. But Google is taking things to the next level with Daydream: a new virtual reality ecosystem for Android and the most compelling case for accessible VR I've seen to date.

    By Tim Schiesser on

  • The $40 Mechanical Keyboard: Is It Any Good?

    What if you want a mechanical keyboard but only have $40 to spend? With the market now flooded with loads of Cherry MX knock-off switches, this has enabled companies to develop very affordable mechanical keyboards. One such case is the GranVela MechanicalEagle Z-77, available on Amazon for as little as $35.

    By Steven Walton on

    80
  • Motorola Moto G4 Play Review

    For budget smartphone buyers, the phone series I continually recommend is the Motorola Moto G. Now in its fourth iteration, the Moto G has delivered excellent entry-level value since its inception, despite increasingly stronger competition from Chinese vendors. The recently-released Moto G4 Play is no exception.

    By Tim Schiesser on

    85
  • Building a 32-Thread Xeon Monster PC for Less Than the Price of a Flagship Core i7

    Released in 2012 for a whopping $1,550, thousands of Xeon E5-2670 CPUs have hit the secondhand market as data centers upgraded their servers. This 4-year old CPU delivers 8 cores clocked at 2.6GHz with a 3.3GHz turbo frequency and a large 20MB L3 cache, but with supply overwhelming demand prices have plummeted. Or seen from another perspective: it's now possible to build an insanely affordable 16-core/32-thread beast for less than a flagship Core i7.

    By Steven Walton on

  • Civilization VI Review

    Civilization games have all shared the same core design ideas. 2K's marketing will try and sell you on new stuff all they want, but the nuts and bolts of this game are the same as they've always been and they're what really makes Civ great. You take turns, you build cities, you research tech, you fight.

    By Luke Plunkett on

  • Titanfall 2 Benchmarked: Graphics & CPU Performance

    Featuring frantic combat and fluid mechanics, Titanfall 2 looks amazing -- assuming you have the horsepower to pull it off -- which is precisely why we're here: to see exactly what kind of hardware you'll need to experience this game in all of its glory at 1080p, 1440p and 4K.

    By Steven Walton on

  • Xiaomi Redmi Pro Review

    The Xiaomi Redmi Pro immediately caught the eye of many budget smartphone hunters. It packs a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED, a dual-camera system for refocusing and creating bokeh effects, a massive 4,050 mAh battery, and a decent MediaTek Helio X20 SoC with 32 GB of storage. All of this can be had for just under $250.

    By Tim Schiesser on

    65
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 & 1050 Ti Review

    It isn't often that we see Nvidia being so aggressive in the entry-level segment and historically they've seemed happy to let AMD take the hit on margins here. Driving the sub-$150 GeForce GTX 1050 is the newly developed GP107 GPU that is more powerful than anything we've tested before on this price range.

    By Steven Walton on

    95
  • Battlefield 1 Benchmarked: Graphics & CPU Performance

    Battlefield 1 marks the fifteenth installment to EA's multiplayer military shooter franchise. The BF1 beta made a strong first impression with great graphics that weren't overly demanding. After testing 41 graphics cards and 20 processors in our Gears of War 4 benchmark feature, we wanted to do the same for Battlefield 1 and for the most part we succeeded.

    By Steven Walton on

  • Battlefield 1 Review

    Battlefield 1 reinvents the tone of the series, retaining the awesome turbulence of war while emphasizing a human element. Battlefield 1 maintains an impressive balance between emotion and spectacle. All the better for a series that was starting to feel a bit too clinical.

    By Heather Alexandra on

  • Samsung SSD 960 Pro 1TB Review

    Samsung's next generation solid state drives are poised to become must-haves among enthusiasts. The 960 Pro that we are reviewing today succeeds what was already a fast drive with last year's award-winning 950 Pro. Surprise, surprise: the new 960 Pro is even faster.

    By Steven Walton on

    90
  • Google Pixel XL Review

    Nexus is dead, and Pixel is here to replace it. It's the biggest shift in Google's homegrown smartphone strategy since the first Nexus launch in 2010. Pixel is the first true "Google phone" and they believe this is the right hardware and software to compete with the iPhones and Galaxies of the world.

    By Tim Schiesser on

    90
  • Gears of War 4 Benchmarked: Graphics & CPU Performance

    Gears of War 4 is DX12-only, meaning the game has been built from the ground up to leverage this low-level API on both the PC and Xbox versions. In an effort to figure out performance, we've thrown not 20 or even 30 graphics cards at this title, but 40 -- 41 to be exact.

    By Steven Walton on

  • Gears of War 4 Review

    Ten years ago, Gears of War helped define an age of blockbuster multiplayer games. Now, it's the status quo. Gears of War 4 is more Gears of War. Luckily, Gears of War kicks ass.

    By Patricia Hernandez on

  • World of Warcraft: Legion Review

    Where 2014's Warlords of Draenor elevated player characters from adventurers to military commanders, Legionmakes them legends, wielding weapons of unimaginable power against the greatest threat the fantasy world has ever faced.

    By Mike Fahey on

  • Apple iPhone 7 Plus Review

    Apple has been following a 'tick-tock' cadence of releasing a newly designed iPhone and following it up a year later with an optimized 's' variant. This year, however, Apple broke precedent by launching a third model on the same design. Yes, the iPhone 7 Plus looks a lot like the two iPhones before it. However, upon closer inspection, there are some unmistakable differences.

    By Shawn Knight on

    85
  • Lenovo Yoga Book Review

    The Yoga Book is one of the most attractive pieces of hardware I've used this year. Lenovo is aiming for the best of both worlds: a compact tablet that's easy to hold and transport; and an on-the-go laptop that isn't hindered by an awkward dock. But going from concept to actual product, how well does it work?

    By Tim Schiesser on

    70
  • MSI GS43VR Phantom Pro (GTX 1060) Laptop Review

    The GS43VR 6RE Phantom Pro is a compact a 14-inch gaming laptop powered by a GeForce GTX 1060 GPU. This is Nvidia's latest upper mid-range discrete graphics chip that succeeds and should significantly outperform the aging GTX 970M, narrowly beating the GTX 980M too at a lower power cost and with a less beefy cooling solution.

    By Tim Schiesser on

    80
  • PlayStation VR Review

    I've been using Sony's PlayStation VR for the better part of a week and have played a handful of the games that will be available at launch. I've been impressed by some things, turned off by others, and made nauseous by a few. Throughout that time I've also been disappointed. Read on for the full review.

    By Kirk Hamilton on

  • Intel SSD 600p Series 512GB Review

    Announcing half a dozen new 3D NAND-based SSDs in August, Intel's SSD 600p Series in particular caught our attention for being an aggressively priced M.2 NVMe-based model targeting consumer desktops and notebooks. The 600p comes in capacities starting at 128GB for $67 up to $189 for 512GB. At just $0.36 per gigabyte, the latter looks to be exceptional value.

    By Steven Walton on

    65
  • FIFA 17 vs PES 2017: Head-to-head

    FIFA and PES are like Batman and The Joker, their entire existence defined by the presence of the other. You can't play PES without talking about FIFA's licenses, and you can't play FIFA without talking about PES' gameplay, because those things are as much a result of targeting the competitor's weaknesses as their own inherent strengths.

    By Luke Plunkett on

  • The Ludicrous Graphics Test: Dual GTX Titan SLI for 4K and Triple Monitor Gaming

    Only recently with the arrival of the GTX 1080 has a single GPU been powerful enough to game at 4K and even then at times some tweaking is necessary for optimal gameplay. As impressive as the GTX 1080 is, Nvidia's latest Titan X boasts 40% more CUDA cores, making it all the more of an ally to 4K gamers.

    By Steven Walton on