Thumbnail image for Laptop Reliability Ratings: Which Laptop is Really Most Reliable?

When I wrote the Smidgen PC laptop brand guide one of the issues which I touched upon was the overall reliability of the laptop brands as based on several sources of data. Today I want to take a closer look at overall laptop reliability in order to answer some common but typically unanswered questions. The main source [...]

The Best Laptop Brands: A Comprehensive Review

by Matthew Smith on April 23, 2010

Thumbnail image for The Best Laptop Brands: A Comprehensive Review

What’s the best laptop brand? That is actually a very hard question to answer. While there are many detailed reviews of laptops, these can only cover the most immediate questions such as performance and design. Other important issues, like customer service and reliability, cannot be covered in the scope of a product review. This makes [...]

Dell Laptop Review: An In-Depth Brand Guide

by Matthew Smith 05.26.2011

If you’re looking for a new laptop it’s likely that Dell is a brand that you’re considering. The company is one of the largest laptop manufacturers in the world and has been selling laptops for over a decade. Although it generally has a weak retail presence, Dell’s website is one of the most robust in [...]

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Buying Guide: Mobile Processors Explained

by Matthew Smith 05.18.2011

Buying a laptop is confusing, and unfortunately the major processor company’s haven’t done much to make it easier on your. There is a bewildering array of processor brands available from both Intel and AMD, and while both companies would like to think each brand is distinct, the truth is that they often bleed together. It’s important to [...]

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iOS vs. Android: Is History Repeating Itself?

by Matthew Smith 04.17.2011

Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. It’s an old phrase -a cliche, really – but the popularity of the phrase (and its various incarnations) is due to a core of truth. History does indeed teach as many things, and failing to learn those lessons can cause us [...]

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How Can I Monitor My Laptop Temperature?

by Matthew Smith 04.15.2011

Laptops are hot. Anyone who has tried to play a round of Counter-Strike with their laptop in, well, their lap, has likely figured this out on their own. Although most of today’s laptops do a great job of keeping their cool when at idle, ramping up the CPU, the GPU, or both, can cause a [...]

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Laptop Battery Care: A Tutorial

by Matthew Smith 04.13.2011

If you’ve owned more a laptop, and you’ve used their portability often, you may have noticed that the battery life tends to degrade over time. A laptop that starts off with four hours of battery life may end up with only three at the end of the year. As time passes, the battery becomes nearly [...]

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Will Intel HD Graphics Work with World of Warcraft – And Other Games?

by Matthew Smith 04.09.2011

The last decade as throughly transformed PC gaming. On the other hand, exclusive AAA releases are rarer than they used to be, and hardcore gamers are feeling abandoned. On the other, casual and mainstream gamers have turned in droves to titles like World of Warcraft, which offer a gaming experience unique to the PC. Game [...]

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The Best Pink Laptops

by Matthew Smith 04.06.2011

Hey, there. If you’re reading this post, you’re probably not part of my regular audience. Come on, you know its true. Most tech geeks are neckbeards who get all excited about cores and gigahertz. If you’re reading this, you’re probably more like my wife, who would prefer most anything in pink if it is available. [...]

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The Best Micro ATX Cases for PCs

by Matthew Smith 03.31.2011

As computers become more powerful, they’re also becoming smaller. That’s the natural result of the fact that you can do more with less; while some users will continue to build gigantic computers with the biggest and baddest components, other people can exchange some of that cutting-edge performance for a small profile. To do that, however, [...]

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The HTC Thunderbolt Battery Life Issue: A Warning for Smartphones to Come

by Matthew Smith 03.27.2011

It’s easy to get caught up in the love for ARM. If you read magazines or sites that focus on smartphones, you’re likely lead to believe that ARM processors are the poster-child of power efficiency. Nothing is impossible with this wonderful, easily licensed instruction set. While Intel is soldiering on with its old-fashioned x86 based [...]

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What Is The Best Laptop Under 500 Bucks?

by Matthew Smith 03.23.2011

Finding the best laptop under 500 bucks can be difficult. Finding a laptop to buy isn’t hard to do; finding a laptop that’s actually worth your money is the challenge. Many of the laptops under 500 dollars are budget models cobbled together from older components and whatever laptop chassis the vendor has on hand. Performance [...]

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