History articles

30+ years ago, PC gamers could choose GPUs from over 10 different makers. The story of Rendition is a fascinating tale of engineering brilliance and lost opportunities from the golden age of graphics. Plus, some easter egg content about TechSpot's history and how it all relates.

The Sony Walkman was not only a revolutionary device, it was revolutionary on a cultural scale. With the Walkman you could play any song, anywhere, anytime, before the same was possible for movies, e-books or video games.

Before smartphones became mainstream, the Motorola Razr was the spiritual predecessor to the iPhone, transforming phones from a necessity into an object of desire.

The Nintendo Wii redefined casual gaming by introducing motion controls and capturing a wide demographic, setting it apart from traditional consoles of the era while beating Sony and Microsoft at the home console game.

#TBT Precursor chipmaker Cyrix made personal computing accessible to millions with its affordable budget PCs, only to be killed by its best product and its inability to run a popular game.

These days, everyone has a phone in their pocket that can stream music. But two decades ago, you needed a dedicated player to listen to your favorite songs on the go. Enter the iPod.

Welcome to a fundamental area of computer design: how numbers are represented in hardware! This can ultimately mean the difference between a blazing fast machine and a costly $475 million bug – Pentium 4, anyone?

Before the PlayStation and Xbox, Sega was Nintendo's main rival in the console market, pioneering 3D graphics and online features. The rise and downfall of Sega is filled with drama and fond memories.

The dream of the handheld gaming PC is alive thanks to the Steam Deck and its ilk, but that road has been dotted with broken promises, unrealistic expectations, and some cool yet impractical machines.