When it comes to the Windows 8 laptops I use, I want it all. I want a beautiful full-HD screen, a quad core CPU, lots of RAM, multiple USB 3.0 ports, plenty of disk space, great sound, and tons of graphics horsepower all wrapped up in a pretty package. Sound demanding? Yes I am, and I know you are too...

I recently blogged about AMD’s CrossFire technology and showed that in some cases you can get nearly twice the fps when running two AMD 7970 graphics cards together in CrossFire mode compared to a single 7970 card. In this post I’m joined by Larry Larsen who works with developers on the Channel 9 network...

I recently got my hands on a Cyborg R.A.T. 9 mouse by MAD CATZ , and was curious to see what this unique pointing device would be like to use, and how it would look on my desk. When I opened the box, I literally exclaimed out loud: RAD! This is one cool looking mouse. I want you all to see it; so here...

My first big experience with the Panasonic Toughbook H2 was to take it with me on an on/off road motorcycle trip (that story HERE ). This was a great way to test the Toughbook H2 in real-world adverse conditions. The Toughbook H2 did great, but I felt I had more testing to perform. There were still some...

I recently had the honor of hosting Ted Schilowitz (employee #1) from RED Digital Cinema on Microsoft’s Redmond campus. Ted presented a 4K technology showcase that included RED cameras, HP PCs with Windows post production tools, and a Windows 8 4K multi-mon setup run off a single AMD 7970 video card...

In October 2012, NVIDIA released the GeForce GTX-650Ti GPU which I wrote about at the time of its debut. The GTX-650 GPU lineup offers great performance at a budget price. Today, NVIDIA gives the GTX-650Ti a jolt by offering an updated version of this GPU called the GeForce GTX-650Ti BOOST . The GeForce...

The Panasonic Toughbook H2 Tablet PC allows me to get my hands dirty (literally). For readers of the blog, you know I tend towards the extreme use of technology. So when I had the opportunity to try out a Panasonic Toughbook H2 that can withstand dust, water, shock, and severe cold, I was all-in! So...

AMD CrossFire is a technology that allows the GPUs from multiple AMD graphics adapters to be used together so that graphics performance can be multiplied on your PC. If you want to push consumer AMD graphics to the limit, you can use up to four AMD 7970 graphics cards together with CrossFire to create...

If you are a photographer, videographer, or blogger that works on the go you’ve probably had to “make do” with equipment that’s really not optimal for post-production. At a recent LAN party event , I can recall working on a 1080p multi-cam video edit in my hotel room on a laptop with sub-1080p display...

When it comes to video production PCs, I have built them and I have bought them. The new HP Z820 RED Edition is an off the shelf tricked out and tuned PC designed for performance and stability for RED Digital shooters and editors. In this post, I’ll share some information about this special HP PC, and...

The year was 1982. My sister and I had decided to pool our resources and together we saved up enough cash to buy the ultimate gaming console: the Atari 2600. We spent many hours playing games on that console, and I can still remember the sound of the tanks driving in Combat. I would later move on to...

It’s hard to describe if you’ve never experienced it. It’s the day you get glasses with a new prescription. When you first put on the new glasses, it can be like seeing the world in a new way. You notice details you didn’t realize were there. Everything looks amazing. This is similar to what I experienced...

In the movie industry where “time is money”, technology is being developed and deployed rapidly in order to capitalize on creative opportunities, and to shorten time-to-market for these productions. In my last post , I gave an overview of how RED Digital Cinema is innovating with 4K and 5K motion picture...

If you want to see just how serious Windows gamers can be- you really need to go to a LAN party. One of the largest gatherings in the United States happens three times a year in Portland, Oregon. Since it was so close to Microsoft’s offices in Redmond, I decided to attend PDXLAN (July 13-16, 2012) to...

If you are working on professional tasks related to CAD/CAM, photo editing, video editing, or 3D animation, you need a powerful PC. But what if you don’t have the space for a separate tower, external displays, and all of the cables? HP has released a PC targeted at this scenario: the Z1 all-in-one workstation...

Today’s enterprise workstation PCs are being used for tasks that are more demanding than ever. Applications have scaled and become more capable, and the tasks they perform have become more intensive by orders of magnitude. Machine specs also continue to show increasing capabilities year over year to...

When I was at the recent PDXLAN event , I saw hundreds of cool custom PCs. Many of these PCs represent countless hours of investigation, planning, shopping, assembling, and fabrication. One of the stand-out PCs at this event was called “Epidemic” built by Jon Hansz of Gresham, Oregon. Here, you can see...

If you’ve been to the movies lately, it’s likely that you’ve seen the amazing images that RED Digital Cinema cameras capture. Many of the big budget blockbusters recently released or about to be released were shot on RED cameras. These movies include The Amazing Spiderman, The Great Gatsby, and The Hobbit...

A while back, I decided it was time to get my hands dirty with the Kinect for Windows 1.5 SDK (see Tapping Into the Power of Kinect for Windows ). It was a fun project, and a great way to get started with Kinect for Windows. Here’s a high-level view of what’s already in 1.5 version of the Kinect SDK...

NVIDIA has been hard at work this year rolling out a series of new video cards including the GeForce GTX 690 , GeForce GTX 680 , GeForce GTX 660 Ti , and many others. These new 600-series video cards are based on NVIDIA’s latest architecture: Kepler. I recently spent some time running the GeForce GTX...

Selecting a mobile PC is a process of balancing trade-offs. Screen size, computational horsepower, battery life, weight, size, and price are all factors that vary from one type of laptop to another. In the past, you had to choose between capabilities like battery life, size, and performance. These tradeoffs...

Today, NVIDIA launched a graphics card that’s packed with powerful high-end features, but will be available at an affordable price. This new card is called the GeForce GTX 660 Ti , and is based on the latest NVIDIA Kepler architecture (which debuted with the GeForce GTX 680). Here are some features and...