benchmark

Although speed is a major factor in browser choice, many people don't want to know why their favorite browser is fast -- they just care that it is. But the standards and tests used to determine how we measure a browser's speed can be varied, so Google has set out to further define the playing field.

This doesn't appear to be a case of the tech giant stomping all over open standards, though. Octane v1 is a revamp of Google's V8 benchmark and adds five tests to the eight current ones, the company said today in … Read more

Major Share's CPU-M Benchmark is a free program that runs benchmarking tests on your CPU and RAM and displays detailed test results in an easy-to-read interface. You can also post your results online to share and compare. That's all this tool does, but it's enough to have so much useful technical data in one place. Most users won't need CPU-M Benchmark's detailed reports; at least, not beyond basic performance data. But technicians and geeks will find lot of useful information.

CPU-M Benchmark's compact, dialog-based user interface looks a lot like the system data and … Read more

Well, it's been fun, but along with the rest of the weekly CNET Live lineup, the CNET Labscast (formerly known as Digital City) is being sent to the great podcast studio in the sky. For this final episode, the whole gang shows up, as we debate the right time to buy a laptop, and list our picks for the most influential gadgets of the modern era. … Read more

Joining us this week is David Carnoy, who brings a collection of his favorite iPad 3 cases to show off. We also get hands-on with a too-big ultrabook, and debate the future of this once-promising new category.

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We're still waiting for AT&T to announce a release date and price for its HTC One X, but already some lucky users have put the device to the test.

Early benchmarks for the handset have arrived online and all indications are that this one is a winner. Indeed, if you're worried that the dual-core Snapdragon S4 wouldn't stand up to the Nvidia Tegra 3, these numbers might ease your mind a bit.

According to benchmarks posted online, AT&T's version of the One X outperforms the Galaxy Nexus in Quadrant and bests the … Read more

The Nikon D800 is the new king of the heap -- at least when it comes to DxO Labs' test of camera image sensors.

The new 36-megapixel high-end SLR got an all-time high score of 95 on the DxOMark test, which measures a variety of sensor attributes when shooting raw images. DxO Labs said it uses a sensor "with no weak points."

The score is a composite that reflects three attributes: dynamic range, which is the breadth of the span between an image's full black and complete white; color depth, which gauges the vividness and accurate color; … Read more

Big week, or at least big gadgets and gear, on the CNET Labscast. Forget about tiny 13-inch ultrabooks, now these slim laptops are moving into 14- and 15-inch territory, and we've got a couple of examples to pass around the room. Then Ty talks up his latest acquisition, a massive 80-inch Sharp LCD TV. It's awesome for sports (or "sport" as Ty puts it), but you can't make an 80-inch LCD for $5,000 without cutting a few corners.

But before all that, we've got the new iPad 3 (yes, that's what we're calling it), and a very eye-opening comparison of text blown up on both that and the iPad 2--be warned, it's the kind of thing you can't un-see.

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This week, we kill time before New iPad Day by checking out a late straggler to the now-dead Netbook market (no, they haven't gotten any better). Josh Goldman gives us a live demo of the new Lytro camera and its magical refocusing capability, then Scott tries running some PC games on the cool-looking, but potentially underpowered Razer Blade laptop. … Read more

Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors have been benchmarked by enthusiast site Anandtech.

The blog reported earlier this week that while Ivy Bridge's CPU performance offers only a marginal improvement over its predecessor, Sandy Bridge, it shines on the graphics side.

According to Anandtech, current Sandy Bridge processor users will only find a 5 percent to 15 percent increase in CPU performance with the upcoming Ivy Bridge chips. The focus in Ivy Bridge, however, seemed to be placed on the GPU, which saw improvement to the tune of 20 percent to 50 percent in the blog's testing.

That … Read more