Ivy Bridge
Almost a decade ago, with the launch of Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors, came the H61 chipset. Compared to the high-end P67 and Z68 models, the idea behind H61 is that it was cheap, and it was long-life. At a time when low power embedded Atom CPUs still didn’t have enough power, H61 was there to be equipped with one of Intel’s new-fangled Core processors, with the systems that designed for it destined to last a couple of decades. We’re now 9 years into that life cycle, and Biostar deems it necessary to create a new H61 design for the new decade. We’re getting to a time now where the cheaply made H61 boards of yesteryear are starting to go pop. When you save a tenth...
Samsung Series 7 NP700Z7C Review
We recently posted our first look at Dell’s new XPS 15, a Windows-focused laptop that took more than a few design elements of the standard MacBook Pro 15. While...
50 by Jarred Walton on 8/16/2012Dell Precision T1650 Workstation Review: Ivy Bridge Xeons Bring Performance
This year has seen a revitalized Dell aggressively attacking HP on the enterprise workstation front. While HP has been content to recycle last year's models, Dell has made substantial...
38 by Dustin Sklavos on 7/31/2012Dell XPS 15 L521X: A Detailed First Look
Last week Dell’s new XPS 15 L512x landed on our doorstep, and we’ve been hammering on it ever since. Combining many of the best elements of the previous generation...
109 by Jarred Walton on 7/25/2012Dell Announces New Precision M4700 and M6700 Mobile Workstations
Today Dell is updating their Precision Mobile Workstation lineup with two new model, the 15.6” M4700 and the 17.3” M6700. Along with Ivy Bridge processors, Dell is adding new...
27 by Jarred Walton on 7/24/2012Acer Aspire S5 Ultrabook Review: The Steady March of Progress
First generation technology is seldom perfect, and the fruit of Intel's ultrabook initiative was no exception. While vendors came out in force with some fairly impressive pieces of hardware...
82 by Dustin Sklavos on 7/9/2012Acer Aspire V3-571G-9435: The Value Proposition
We’ve had plenty of Acer laptops come in for review over the years (along with visits from their close relatives, Gateway). Rarely do we find such laptops reaching for...
88 by Jarred Walton on 7/4/2012Dell Updates XPS 14 and 15 with New Chassis, New Hardware
If you couldn't tell already, it's definitely refresh season around here and Dell has been sure to keep news about their comprehensive refreshes coming through in a steady trickle...
53 by Dustin Sklavos on 6/26/2012Acer’s Timeline Ultra M5: Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks with Kepler GPUs
In an interesting twist, back in March when NVIDIA was unveiling their new Kepler GPUs, Acer started shipping their Timeline Ultra M3 Ultrabook before the Kepler NDA expired. While...
20 by Jarred Walton on 6/20/2012HP Phoenix h9-1120t System Review: HP's Gaming Desktop Round Two with Tahiti and Ivy Bridge
Less than four months ago we had in for review HP's entry to the gaming desktop market, the Phoenix. We found that it was a compelling product that served...
33 by Dustin Sklavos on 6/19/2012iBuyPower's Valkyrie CZ-17 Rides In
Ordinarily we try to avoid posting announcements of every new notebook system from individual boutique vendors since most of the time what they're really announcing is that they're carrying...
6 by Dustin Sklavos on 6/18/2012Dell's Vostro 3000 Series Brings Enterprise Quality at Consumer Prices
Riding a PR wave that seems to almost inexplicably, coincidentally crest once a week, today Dell has announced the new 3000 series of their Vostro notebooks. Vostro is Dell's...
19 by Dustin Sklavos on 6/12/2012Acer Launches New Aspire V5 Series Laptops for the Budget Conscious Consumer
In the midst of all the Ultrabook announcements from Computex, there are also plenty of regular laptops coming out. Acer is launching a new line of laptops called V5...
12 by Jarred Walton on 6/7/2012ASUS' Colorful X401 Series
Priced below the S-series Ultrabooks is ASUS' X401, a fairly standard notebook without discrete graphics. ASUS seems to be really on point with the styling of its 2012 Ivy...
4 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/7/2012The MacBook Pro Inspired ASUS S-Series Ultrabook, Below $899
While the world waits for thinner, higher-resolution notebooks from Apple, ASUS delivered part of that with its new S-Series Ultrabooks revealed at Computex this year. Priced below $899 (basically...
19 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/7/2012ASUS' Touch Enabled Zenbook Prime UX21A
Ultrabooks got off to a very rough start. The initial designs failed to impress, but the second generation based on Ivy Bridge seem to be a lot better. We...
9 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/7/2012Computex 2012 Show Floor: Ultrabooks with Discrete GPUs
We’ve already seen one Ultrabook with a discrete GPU—Acer’s TimelineU M3—but that was an “old” Sandy Bridge Ultrabook. At Computex 2012, several more Ultrabooks sporting discrete GPUs have shown...
8 by Jarred Walton on 6/5/2012ASUS' Thunderbolt EX Upgrade Card for 7-series Motherboards
Only two members of ASUS' Z77 stack feature integrated Thunderbolt support: the P8Z77-V Premium and the P8Z77-V Pro/Thunderbolt. As the interface is still fairly new and the controllers still...
21 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 6/5/2012True to Form, Dell Updates the Inspiron Line
While refresh season is generally a little underwhelming for press and end users alike (surprise surprise, vendors are using the newest generation of processors!), there can be diamonds in...
13 by Dustin Sklavos on 6/5/2012Toshiba Brings Something New to Ultrabooks
Of the first crop of ultrabooks, Toshiba's Portege Z835 may not have been a big winner in terms of performance, but for usability and perhaps most importantly, price, it...
8 by Dustin Sklavos on 6/5/2012Sony Goes Whole Hog With a New Ultrabook, Updates Vaio Notebook Line
It's not surprising with Computex on and hardware refreshes from the three major players (AMD, Intel, NVIDIA) that vendors have been updating their offerings. What is surprising is just...
4 by Dustin Sklavos on 6/4/2012