Reviewed on November 25, 2009Maingear's Shift is the boutique vendor's new flagship gaming PC. It brings almost everything we expect to find in such a system, from expert craftsmanship to fast overclocking to a case that makes a statement. We found a few minor sticking points, but, on the whole, this PC sits comfortably alongside the top tier of luxury gaming boxes, and we recommend it if you have the means.TAGS:Maingear, bay, motherboard, design, hard drive, video card, games, PC, video
Reviewed on June 1, 2009Logitech's $200 G19 Gaming Keyboard boasts a built-in color LCD with exciting capabilities, as well as lots of little improvements over previous models. But with few apps--thus far--that take advantage of the screen in a meaningful way, the G19's potential remains largely untapped. Until the community software effort gets rolling, we can't recommend spending this much on a keyboard that, while flashy, has yet to realize its full potential.TAGS:Logitech, color screen, color, app, LCD, keyboard, YouTube, games, USB, video, PC, Microsoft Windows
Reviewed on October 20, 2009Nvidia's Ion graphics chip gives the Asus Eee Top ET2002 better-than-average video performance for a Nettop, but that does little to spare this system from its weak overall performance and the variety of competitive, more well-rounded alternatives for low-cost video and gaming. Nettops might be competitive someday, but for now this category as a whole is a disappointment.TAGS:ASUS, graphics chip, Xbox 360, Gateway Inc., NVidia, Microsoft Xbox, keyboard, LCD, entertainment, Nvidia GeForce, games, video, mouse, PC
Reviewed on July 21, 2009We hate to criticize PCs that strive to balance performance and power efficiency, because the goal is noble. But despite its visual charm, Maingear's Pulse requires too many speed compromises to entice PC gamers, and too few benefits over a competing system from HP. Its base configuration may have some appeal as a digital entertainment system, but this higher-end Pulse needs the core technology to catch up to its aspirations.TAGS:Maingear, Blu-ray drive, savings, NVidia, digital media, Nvidia GeForce, Intel Core 2 Duo, motherboard, gamer, HDMI, games, chipset, Intel, PC, video
Make calls from pc to pc, pc to mobile, and pc to landline, watch latest movie trailers, and world news.TAGS:entertainment, radio, IM, games, video, PC