Guides

Once the domain of external, bus-powered hard drives, these days the market for external storage has been almost completely consumed by portable SSDs. Rapid technological advancements in NAND flash technology (including the advent of 3D NAND) has allowed their capacity to eclipse 2.5-inch HDDs, all the while multiple improvements in host interface speeds (such as the move from USB 2.0 to 3.0, and onwards to 3.2 Gen 2 / Gen 2x2 / USB4) has made portable SSDs faster and more reliable than the hard drives they replace. All of which has helped to make portable SSDs the go-to solution for external storage, both big and small. For our latest storage buyer's guide, we've rounded up some of the best portable SSDs we've looked at in...

Best CPUs Q2 2017

In our series of Buyer Guides, here’s the latest update to our recommended CPUs list. All numbers in the text are updated to reflect pricing at the time of...

1 by Ian Cutress on 7/6/2017

Best Tablets: Q1 2017

Unlike the red-hot smartphone market that continues to grow, with new models appearing at a blistering rate, the tablet market is, well….a little boring. Apple still releases a few...

30 by Matt Humrick on 3/31/2017

Best Gaming Laptops: Holiday 2016

It’s been about a year since our last look at gaming laptops, and the one major change over last year is the launch of the 16 nm FinFET GPUs...

44 by Brett Howse on 12/19/2016

Best PC Power Supplies: Holiday 2016

For today's holiday buyers' guide we are having a look at power supplies. Once again, I shall begin with discussing and clarifying a common misconception among users, that a...

63 by E. Fylladitakis on 11/30/2016

Best NASes: Q1 2016

Network-attached storage vendors do not usually follow a regular yearly cadence in updating their offerings. Releases for different market segments are spread throughout the year. That said, thanks to...

26 by Ganesh T S on 3/30/2016

Best High-End Laptops: Holiday 2014

High-End Laptop Recommendations Our holiday guides have covered a lot of products so far, and just on the laptop side of things we've looked at budget laptops, Chromebooks, and mainstream...

85 by Jarred Walton on 12/18/2014

Best $1000 Laptops: Holiday 2014

Mainstream Laptop Recommendations So far we've covered the budget laptop sector as well as Chromebooks in our Holiday 2014 Guides, but if you want a good quality laptop that can...

80 by Jarred Walton on 12/5/2014

Chromebook Buyer's Guide: Holiday 2014

If you want something more than a tablet, the cheapest options are undoubtedly Chromebooks. These are basically the least expensive laptops you can find, and while we're working on...

64 by Jarred Walton on 11/26/2014

Best Video Cards: October 2014

After a couple of months off due to a very busy fall product season, we’re finally back again with our monthly guide to video cards and video card industry...

73 by Ryan Smith on 10/30/2014

The AnandTech Guide to Video Card Overclocking Software

Video card overclocking has become a very popular topic amongst gamers and PC enthusiasts these days. With the release of next generation games around the corner and the growing...

59 by Michael Wilding on 10/8/2014

Best Desktops for Under a Grand

Following up on last week's Best Budget PC Guide, today we have midrange systems with roughly twice the cost. Of all the systems types to configure, the midrange market...

65 by Jarred Walton on 8/8/2014

State of the Part: CPUs

Short Introduction to CPUs and Terminology There are many elements that go into any modern computer: the CPU/APU, motherboard, memory, (optional) GPU, storage, case, and power supply. While some items...

69 by Jarred Walton on 8/5/2014

Best PC You Can Build for Under $500

With yesterday's launch of AMD's 65W Kaveri APUs, it seemed a good time to give some recommendations for new system builds. We're starting out at the budget end of...

86 by Jarred Walton on 8/1/2014

Best Video Cards: June 2014

We’re back once again with our monthly guide to video cards and video card industry recap, this time for June of 2014. June has been another quiet month from a...

51 by Ryan Smith on 6/30/2014

Best Video Cards: May 2014

We’re back once again with our monthly guide to video cards and video card industry recap, this time for May of 2014. All things considered, the month of May has...

44 by Ryan Smith on 5/29/2014

Best Video Cards: April 2014

As April comes to a close we’re back once again with our monthly guide to video cards. Compared to the February/March time period and the flurry of activity coinciding with...

65 by Ryan Smith on 4/30/2014

Best Video Cards: March 2014

We’re back once again with our regular guide to desktop video cards, this time for March of 2014. Since our last update in January 2014, we’ve seen some significant shifts...

53 by Ryan Smith on 3/24/2014

Best Video Cards: January 2014

After our Holiday 2013 buyer’s guides, a number of you asked for more frequent buyers guides year-round. So starting this year we’re going to be attempting to publish guides...

53 by Ryan Smith on 1/17/2014

Best Tablets - Holiday 2013

We've covered quite a few laptop options last week for those looking for something mobile for the holiday season, but one area we haven't touched on yet is tablet...

108 by Jarred Walton on 12/19/2013

Best Gaming Laptops and Notebooks - Holiday 2013

We're in the midst of updating all of our "best of" guides for the holiday season, and we've already covered what is likely the most popular category: Budget Laptops...

67 by Jarred Walton on 11/29/2013

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