Products: Reviews

Reviews

  • Enterprise guide to Windows 10

    Windows 10 is now available for consumers, but for IT executives thinking about enterprise deployments, here's what the upgrade path from Window 7 or Windows 8/8.1 looks like.

  • Windows 10 review: It's familiar, it's powerful, but the Edge browser falls short

    We may as well refer to Windows 10 as a date, or an hour, as much as an operating system. It's a moment in time. A month from now, it will have changed, evolved, improved. But right now? Microsoft has shipped an operating system that was meticulously planned and executed with panache, but whose coat of fresh paint hides some sticks and baling wire.

  • Microsoft Word for iOS review: This classic word processor shines on every device

    A few months back, when Microsoft first released Word for iPad, there were wildly varying responses, from, "Who cares and who uses Word any more?" to "I've been waiting forever for this!" to "Wait, what? I have to pay to use this app?" But, no matter what camp you were in, there was one reality: Word for iPad was (and is) an excellent iOS word processor--an Office app for your iOS device that offers substantial document creation and editing tools, with an interface that's clutter-free, so creating and editing documents on your iPad is a cinch.

  • Hands on: The new 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina display shows stunning detail

    We live in a high-resolution world--our phones have been shooting HD video for years, and 4K-capable cameras are finally within reach of regular consumers. And now Apple's new iMac with Retina 5K display will let you push those pixels with maximum efficiency. With a native resolution of 5120x2880 pixels, this iMac shows a ridiculous amount of detail in everything you look at.

  • Apple iPhone 6 Plus: An in depth review

    Apple is taking the fight to Samsung with its first large screen smartphone, the inimitable iPhone 6 Plus. It brings Apple’s famed iOS 8 software to a vibrant 5.5-inch screen, but we fear somewhere along the way the iPhone lost its magic.

  • Hands on with the new BlackBerry Passport smartphone

    By Al Sacco | 25 September, 2014 00:40

    BlackBerry has officially announced pricing and availability details for its new Passport smartphone, which was previously unveiled and detailed through a variety of blog posts on the company's Inside BlackBerry blog. (Specific pricing and availability information can be found at the end of this post.)

  • iPhone 6: The little things make it a real star

    The iPhone 6 is the first major redesign of the Apple iPhone since 2010's iPhone 4. The design is new, with the aluminum side band gone and the glass and aluminum halves directly welded for a sleeker, less-industrial look. The iPhone 6 is also bigger, a long-desired improvement in screen real estate. That's normal change in the smartphone world.

  • Samsung ATIV Book 9 (2014 Edition) review: This laptop sounds as gorgeous as it looks

    Based on the way most laptops sound, I'd venture a guess that audio is the last thing engineers think about when they design laptops. In fact, I'd go one step further to speculate that marketing efforts drive most laptop builders' decisions to collaborate with audio companies. But I won't lump Samsung's 2014 ATIV Book 9 in that crowd, because it sounds absolutely divine--especially with headphones.

  • Samsung Gear Live: It's the world's best smartwatch, but probably not for long

    The Gear Live is the best smartwatch I've ever used--but that's not a remarkable achievement considering all the crappy-to-middling efforts we've seen from Samsung, Sony and Qualcomm. If I were being generous, I'd say Samsung finally landed on a simple, wrist-friendly interface that does away with messy nested menus and convoluted features like voice calling.

  • HP Pavilion x360 review: A mediocre hybrid laptop in a pretty red case

    As any bloviating tech pundit will tell you, tablets are poised to take over the mobile computing space. Meanwhile, back in the real world, few of us are willing to part with actual keyboards. Lenovo recognized this early and rolled out the Yoga. HP is the latest manufacturer to follow its lead with the Pavilion x360, a laptop with a hinge that allows its keyboard to fold all the way to the back of its display to become a chunky tablet.

  • Toshiba Satellite P50t-BST2N01: The first laptop to boast a 4K display

    Toshiba's Satellite P50t boasts two important firsts: It's the first laptop to feature a 4K display, and it's the first to be Technicolor Color Certified. You likely have at least a passing familiarity with 4K video, but I would argue that the latter claim to fame--which you might never have heard of--deserves more praise.

  • Dell Latitude E7440: Hefty to carry, but a joy to use

    While taking notes for my review of Dell's latest business notebook, I repeatedly found myself saying "Well, on the other hand..." The Latitude E7440 is bulky for a 14-inch Ultrabook-- it's almost a pound heavier than Lenovo's X1 Carbon Touch. On the other hand, it's super tough. You could drop it on the sidewalk and it'd still deliver the sales projections for tomorrow's meeting. It's outfitted with both HDMI and DisplayPort. On the other hand, you'll need to carry a VGA adapter to connect it to the old video projector in the boardroom. Its battery croaks after just 4.5 hours. On the other hand, it's removable, so you can swap in a spare.

  • Lenovo ThinkPad X240: A no-nonsense business laptop

    If Lenovo's spendy ThinkPad X1 Carbon is the laptop every corporate drone craves, Lenovo's thrifty ThinkPad X240 is the laptop their employer is more apt to spring for (assuming, of course, that the company's IT department has standardized on Lenovo and not Dell, HP, Toshiba, or some other commercial laptop builder).

  • The Toshiba Q Series Pro SSD delivers top performance at a discount

    Many capable SSDs are out there, but don't overlook a relative newcomer: Toshiba's Q Series Pro. Toshiba's drives are among the very fastest we've tested, and in an unusual development, we saw no drop in performance in its smaller capacities. Throw in heavy online discounts, and you have an excellent bargain in a top-performing drive.