HotHardware 2018 Deals And Steals Hot Tech And Gadget Gift Guide

Every year, Black Friday and the Christmas shopping season seem to become more momentous. We have already seen several large retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, Microsoft, Sam's Club, Staples, and Target "leak: Black Friday adds in an attempt to offer select deals early. Even with so many deals out there, however, it can be exceedingly difficult to pick the perfect gift for tech-loving friends and family. But we're here to help! This guide aims to help you pick the perfect gift by listing items that are perfect for the tech enthusiasts in your life. Of course, many of these gifts...

Walmart Reveals Black Friday Deals On Smart TVs, PC Gaming Gear, Chromebooks, Spidey PS4

by Brittany Goetting - Sun, Nov 11, 2018

Black Friday is just around the corner and retailers have been releasing “sneak peaks” and ads since October. Walmart recently revealed their own Black Friday ad. The superstore will be offering discounts on items like smart TVs, PC and console gaming gear, Chromebooks, and even a PS4 Spider-Man bundle.  Smart TVs are one of the hottest commodities this year. Customers will be able to nab a 65" Class 4K Roku Smart TV for $398 USD. The Samsung 32" Class Smart TV will run you $178 ($72 off), while the Samsung 55" Class 4K Smart TV will ring in at $398 ($300 off). The Vizio 60" Class...

Sam’s Club Super November Sale Brings Black Friday Deals Now On Tons Of High Tech Gear

by Brittany Goetting - Sat, Nov 10, 2018

You do not need to wait until Black Friday to snag a sweet tech deal. A number of devices are on sale during the Sam’s Club Super November Event. You will even be able to nab some devices for $500 USD off of their regular price. This may be a good time to purchase a smart TV. The Samsung 82" Class 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV with HDR is currently available for $500 off its original price of $2,479.00. You can grab the Vizio 80" Class XLED 4K Home Theater Display and Vizio 36" 5.1.2 Home Theater Sound System with Dolby Atmos for $1,999. This is a particularly good deal because just the television...

HP Omen Mindframe Headset Review: Totally Cool Cans For Gamers

by Paul Lilly - Tue, Nov 06, 2018

Gaming headsets are a dime a dozen these days, particularly with the explosion of eSports drawing the attention of PC peripheral companies, new and old. Be that as it may, HP figured out a way to stand out from the crowd with its new Omen Mindframe, the first audio headset to employ an active cooling solution inside each of the earcups. Say goodbye to sweaty ears, if that is something you find yourself battling against amid the throes of the frag. Before we dive into the headset, let's quickly reflect on the Omen brand. Omen is essentially a rebirth of the VoodooPC acquisition HP made more than...

Samsung X5 Thunderbolt 3 Portable SSD Review: Ridiculously Fast External Storage

by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Aug 28, 2018

Samsung has been a leader in the solid state storage market for a number of years. Whether you were looking for affordable SATA-based offerings or high-performance NVMe gumsticks, Samsung usually has an answer. And we’re not just talking about internal drives either; Samsung has also released a number of excellent external storage devices, like the T3 and last year’s T5, for example. What Samsung hasn’t had was an ultra-high speed external solid state device that shed the limitations of legacy interfaces – until today, that is. Samsung’s latest storage product, the...

Arctic Accelero Xtreme IV GPU Cooler Review: Chilling A GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition

by Paul Lilly - Wed, Aug 15, 2018

It seems a little late in the game to be reviewing Arctic's Accelero Xtreme IV GPU cooler, so what gives? Well, I recently upgraded my ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition model, and while that is a solid GPU upgrade for sure, it is a downgrade acoustically and thermally. Some people prefer the blower style cooler that ships on Founders Editions cards. I am not one of them. My main system sits in an open air Thermaltake Core P5 chassis, so there really is not a benefit to expelling hot hair out of the rear of the case, as Founders...

Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 And Strafe RGB MK.2 Gaming Keyboards Review: Killer Decks

by Dave Altavilla - Fri, Jun 29, 2018

Corsair's line-ups of K70 and Strafe mechanical gaming keyboards have been on the market now for quite some time. The Strafe is a more streamlined speedster for performance freaks and the K70 a more full-featured deck with ultra-premium build quality. We recently looked at Corsair's K70 Lux RGB in a 5-way round-up and the board walked away with our Editor's Choice award. Today, fresh off its Computex 2018 unveil, Corsair returns to our lab with buffed-up and decked-out versions of the K70 and Strafe, both sporting some disco RGB goodness, but now in their MK.2 (pronounced Mark 2) incarnations,...

Google Home Vs Amazon Echo: Which Smart Speaker Is Best For You?

by Chris Ledenican - Tue, Jun 05, 2018

Amazon and Google are massive tech giants, for vastly different reasons. Google is the leading search engine provider, a smartphone platform juggernaut, and huge advertising machine, while Amazon is the largest e-tailer in the world and a cloud services powerhouse, though Google is coming up strong. Though they are different animals, these two companies find themselves locked in heated battle with their respective Google Home and Amazon Echo devices; a battle for AI dominance that could determine who will ultimately control a good chunk of the Smart Home market. The Smart Home market has massive...

EVGA Z10 Mechanical Keyboard Review: A Unique, Full-Featured Gaming Deck

by Chris Ledenican - Thu, Apr 05, 2018

EVGA is best known for its graphics cards, and for good reason. EVGA is the number one NVIDIA authorized board partner in the U.S. and they have been for a long time. Like many brands in the PC enthusiast space, however, EVGA has started to branch out beyond just graphics cards and today they have a wide range of items in their product stack, ranging from motherboards and notebooks to peripherals and power supplies. Despite being in the peripherals game for a relatively short while, however, EVGA already has five gaming mice in the market, and it just introduced its first mechanical keyboard, the...

How To Build A Commodore 64 With Raspberry Pi Zero For Under $50

by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Mar 20, 2018

The Commodore 64 holds a Guinness World record as the highest-selling single computer model of all time. After its initial release in August 1982, the C64 went on to sell millions of units – outselling all other popular 8-bit machines at the time, including the Apple II. For many long-time technology geeks, including me, the Commodore 64 was the first personal computer they ever owned. So, it’s no surprise that all these years later, the machine still hold a special place in our hearts. It is with that in mind, along with knowing how popular our Building An Amiga Emulator article was,...

5-Way Mechanical Keyboard Roundup: Top Decks For Gamers And Enthusiasts

by Chris Ledenican - Tue, Feb 20, 2018

Today's system builders have more choices than ever before, beyond just internal hardware component selection. To see just how far things have come, you need look no further than the PC chassis market. There are so many options to chose from that, as a consumer, you can be selective about virtually any aspect of the design, from the type of RGB fans it comes with, to the implementation of tempered glass panels. This wasn't always the case in other segments, like the peripherals market for example, but over the last few years many popular brands have been leading the way and now peripherals, such...

Corsair AIO Liquid Cooler Round-Up: Ryzen Overclocking Explored

by Chris Goetting - Wed, Feb 07, 2018

We have been experimenting with AMD’s Ryzen 5 processors here at HotHardware and while they have already proven to be a great value, we wanted to explore some different mainstream cooling options to see what kind of additional goodness we could extract from the processors. All-in-one liquid coolers are not quite as nice looking or as potentially high-performance as a custom built system that can employ hard line tubing and multi-waterblock arrangements, but they are still a step up from many air coolers and don’t require the same hefty investment. This makes all-in-one liquid coolers...

Logitech MX Ergo Wireless Trackball Review: Untethered, Precision Mousing

by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Oct 31, 2017

Trackballs were all the rage a couple of decades back, when mice weren’t nearly as accurate, maintenance-free, or ergonomic as today’s offerings. Logitech was a leader in the space back then, and had a handful of popular trackball designs in its line-up, including – my favorite -- the Trackman Marble, but over time their popularity waned and mice got infinitely better. Although trackballs never really went away completely, Logitech made some noise recently with the introduction of the MX Ergo. The new Logitech MX Ergo is a modern trackball with increased accuracy, a comfortable design, and lag-free...

Classic Amiga Gets Modernized With Custom Amy-ITX Motherboard Project

by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Oct 17, 2017

For long-time enthusiasts that were around during the ascent of personal computers, the Commodore Amiga remains one of the most beloved systems of all time. When it was originally released back in the mid-80’s, the Amiga could do things that no other consumer-class computer could – its graphics, sound, and multi-tasking capabilities were simply unmatched at the time. That initial sense of amazement at the Amiga’s unique capabilities is one of the reasons why the platform continues to have rabid fans some 30+ years later and why a small group of skilled enthusiasts have designed and manufactured...

Autonomous Smart Desk 2 Review: A Premium, Programmable Sit-Stand Wonder

by Dave Altavilla - Fri, Aug 04, 2017

Adjustable sit-stand desks are all the rage these days, after some smart person in the healthcare field put two and two together to figure out that planting your backside in an office chair all day long is really not good for you, and in more ways than one. Adjustable height desks come generally in two variants, stand-alone models like the Autonomous Smart Desk 2 you see above and desktop risers that essentially convert a standard desk to sit-stand positioning capability. Pricing for the various model types out there range from the cheesy $149 versions, to north of $500 or so for premium, motorized...

Build A Killer Amiga Emulator For Under $100 With The Raspberry Pi 3

by Marco Chiappetta - Fri, Jul 14, 2017

Dave Haynie, one of the chief engineers that worked on the Amiga back in its heyday, put it best when he said, “Amiga users make Macintosh users look like PC users”, in the Viva Amiga documentary that was released early this year. Those of us that were around when the Amiga initially debuted knew Commodore had something special on its hands. At the time of its launch, the Amiga was the most advanced personal computer money could buy – bar none. It offered multimedia features that were unmatched for many years, it was affordably priced (relatively speaking), and was the first personal computer with...

Hykso Punch Trackers Review: Boxing Meets Wearable Technology

by Marco Chiappetta - Thu, Apr 06, 2017

Last year, we took a look at an early version of Hykso’s Punch Trackers. Just in case you missed our initial coverage, Hykso’s wearable devices are meant to be worn under the wraps or wrist tape of boxers, martial artists, or anyone else that trains in combat sports – whether professionally or for fitness – and are designed to track a variety of punch types. On some levels, you can think of Hykso’s Punch Trackers like a "FitBit for combat sports," but the data provided by the devices and their associated mobile app is laser-focused and specialized. The early version of the trackers we looked at...

Netgear Nighthawk X10 Wireless AD7200 Router Review [Updated]

by Josh Norem - Fri, Feb 10, 2017

Updated: 2/10/2017 -  Since we initially launched this article, Netgear assisted with resolving a technical issue we were experiencing with 802.11ad connectivity and performance with the Nighthawk X10 router we had in for testing. As such, we have updated this review with both fresh 60GHz 802.11ad performance data, and we've upgraded our rating to HotHardware Recommended in the conclusion as well. We’ve reviewed all kinds of 802.11 routers here at Hothardware, including audacious tri-band routers that look like spaceships, and more pedestrian dual-band routers too. The recently released Netgear...

The Best Of CES 2017

by Dave Altavilla, Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Jan 10, 2017

The annual Consumer Electronics Show – CES – is typically chock full of bleeding-edge technology. Numerous companies take advantage of CES as the backdrop to launch or announce new products, and this year's CES 2017 was no exception. But for every killer piece of technology shown off at CES, there are a dozens of chintzy unmentionables that fill the millions of square feet that comprise the show's multiple venues. The Las Vegas Convention center and virtually all of the surrounding upscale hotels and resorts are packed to gills with CES-related tech products every year. It can be tough...

Streacom BC1 Open Benchtable Review: Open-Source Open-Air PC Building Done Right

by Chris Goetting - Thu, Dec 08, 2016

Overclockers and frequent PC builders alike can appreciate the advantages of having an open air bench or rack for testing. These make component swapping a breeze for comparisons and provide a flexible platform for checking a build before installing it inside a tight case. Few things are more frustrating than learning your motherboard is dead on arrival after you finished meticulously routing every last cable.As nice as open air cases and test benches are, however, they have largely come with their own share of hassles. Many test benches walk a spectrum between structural rigidity and layout flexibility....

Das Keyboard Prime 13 Review: A Minimalistic Mechanical Plank

by Paul Lilly - Wed, Sep 07, 2016

Does the name Daniel Guermeur mean anything to you? It should. He's the founder and CEO of Das Keyboard, previously known as Metadot, and he's part of the reason why the peripheral market is now flush with mechanical keyboards. It started in 2005 when, on a mission to become a faster and more accurate typist, he created a completely blank keyboard. His idea worked, and it gave rise to the Das Keyboard, the first mass produced keyboard for the "uber geek." A year later, Metadot came out with its second model, the Das Keyboard II (DK2), with mechanical key switches. It's hard to believe now, but...

Intel Unveils Project Alloy Merged Reality Headset And Partnership With Microsoft For Windows Holographic Shell

by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Aug 16, 2016

After a brief musical number featuring virtual instruments powered by Intel Curie and RealSense technologies, Intel CEO Bryan Krzanich took to the stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco to kick off this year’s Intel Developers Forum. His opening keynote revolved around four themes: Redefining The Computing Experience, Building A World Of Virtual Intelligence, A Cloud Designed For Innovation, and Empowering The Next-Generation Of Innovators. To solidify those themes and demonstrate Intel’s commitment to advancing the technologies necessary to enable them, Kyrzanich unveiled a number of new...