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THE LIST - TOP FIVE GAMING LAPTOPS
GAMING LAPTOPS are a contentious issue here at Maximum PC, with some of our writers loving them and others loathing them. Regardless, they remain a common entry point to PC ownership for many, thanks to their versatility, portability, and generally high-power performance. These are the best gaming laptops out there right now across a range of sizes, styles, and budgets, so you can get your game on no matter where you are or what you're doing.
Alienware Aurora R13
ALIENWARE once dominated the desktop gaming PC market with its unique cases, but now everyone from Razer to HP has distinctive-looking designs.
AMD ZEN 4 UNWRAPPED - Welcome to the modern age
AMD’S ZEN ARCHITECTURE revitalized the CPU industry, bringing much-needed competition and higher core counts to consumers everywhere. It’s hard to believe we languished on 4-core Intel CPUs as the top mainstream solution for a full decade, starting with the Core 2 Quad in early 2007 and lasting until the Core i7-8700K launched in late 2017. If you wanted more CPU cores, you had to move to the more expensive LGA2011 HEDT (high-end desktop) platform. AMD kicked that idea to the curb with its first Ryzen 7 CPUs, and we’ve been watching an arms race of escalating core counts and clock speeds ever since.
PHOTOREALITY CHECK
Real-time photorealism is the holy grail of gaming. And it’s coming to the PC sooner than you think, says Jeremy Laird
Razer Blade 15 Advanced (2022)
Be careful what you wish for…
Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED
Two screens better than one?
Asus RX 6750 XT ROG Strix
An incremental improvement worthy of the price?
Editor’s Pick: Logitech MX Mechanical Mini Keyboard
Mechanical keyboards: not just for gamers
Playdate
Netflix meets handheld retro gaming?
AMD’s refreshed mid-tier machine
Is the new Radeon RX 6650 XT worth adding to your rig?
3D map effect with GIMP
WHEN USING A PHOTO MANIPULATION application such as Adobe Photoshop or GIMP, there are many more possibilities than you may initially realize. Plenty of these programs can be used in various ways to create unique pieces of artwork. In this tutorial, we will create isometric 3D art using GIMP. This technique can be transferred onto all sorts of different media and can be used to emphasize a particular place or subject. Learning as many skills as possible can enable you to broaden your creativity by applying them to new forms.
THE LIST - THE TOP FIVE CAPTURE CARDS
WHILE NVIDIA AND AMD’S increasingly sophisticated capture software can do a fantastic job of livestreaming or recording your gameplay prowess for the world to see, if you’re taking things seriously, you’ll probably still need a capture card. That’s because you’ll either want to have a dedicated computer to take care of the recording and mixing for a professional look, or you might just want to play a console game now and again. This varied list of cards, covering a range of prices, resolutions, and card type, allow you to do just that.
MSI RX 6950 XT Gaming X Trio
Cranking the GDDR6 dial all the way up to 18Gbps
THE RACE TO EXASCALE SUPERCOMPUTERS
Powering Al, medicine, weather and more.
PCs Vs CONSOLES: GAME ON
Games consoles have become more like PCs, and with subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass blurring the lines between PC and console gaming, which is the better platform for gamers in 2022? Guy Cocker investigates
RYZEN AGAIN THE RESURRECTION OF AMD
Five years ago, AMD nearly went to the wall. Now, it has the edge on Intel and Nvidia, and billions in the bank. Jeremy Laird investigates its dramatic resurgence
HP Chromebook x2 11
Magnetic personality
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
A chip off the old block
NZXT Lift
Clicking into the peripheral mainframe
BenQ Mobiuz EX2710R
Curved, VA, and a high refresh rate.... we're hooked
Geekom Mini IT8
Is this dinky desktop PC a viable laptop alternative?
Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal
Looks, performance, and the sound to back it up?
THE LIST - THE TOP MICROPHONES
Product Review
Steam Deck
Valve's Steam Deck is here, but how does it stack up?
XGIMI Halo+ Projector
The all-in-one home-theater companion?
Total War: WARHAMMER III
Cry havoc! And unleash the blue-tentacled dogs of war
SO SOLID CREW
Rejoice, for ridiculously quick PCle Gen 4 drives are now almost mainstream. Jeremy Laird chooses from six of the speediest NAND SSDs
Velocity Micro Raptor Z55
Scary performance from this overclocked beast
SCREEN TECH IN 2022
OLED monitors are here at last. But as Jeremy Laird reveals, you can expect plenty more panel tech in 2022
Razer Huntsman Mini Analog
Small but mighty keyboard