PC Matic Blog

The PC Pitstop Notebook 500

chengrob / June 12, 2008

I am very excited and proud to present a brand new report from PC Pitstop. Given the outrageous traffic on our web site, we are able to see the absolute fastest PC’s in the world, what technologies they use, and why they fall into an elite performance standing. It took a lot of culling of the data, but I am pleased to announced the PC Pitstop Notebook 500. This month we will look at the fastest portables that money can buy. So let’s get to the results.

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Black Rhinos and White Elephants

S.Hogan / March 19, 2008

With great excitement I set off to snap pictures of laptop herds, grazing the shelves of the local Best Buy. Sporting my new macro capable camera and memory card, this was going to be a pictorial review that would rival the Discovery channel’s ï¿½Tribes of the Orinocoï¿½. We all know how bad laptop keyboards are. Cramped with missing keys, these are the trophies I seek.

As I entered the store, the smell of fresh electronics sharpened my senses. I found my first large herd fanned out across Brand Name Gulch. Camera in hand I rushed to the front of the herd knowing I was between them and the only outlet. It took some tricky footwork to position a shot of their

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I Hate this Keyboard!

Dave / March 18, 2008

The word “performance” usually means CPU, memory, disk, or video performance to most people. That’s usually what I mean by it too. But after several months of experience with one particular notebook, I’ve found a component that has destroyed performance more than any other: the keyboard.

When PC Pitstop did a bloatware survey last year, we had several notebook PCs that we couldn’t return. I took one of them, the Toshiba Satellite A135, to use as a Windows Vista test system. Initially, I tried leaving all the preinstalled crapware on the system to see how it would perform. After a few weeks of that, I couldn’t stand it anymore. At least the crapware situation can be fixed, though, unlike the keyboard.

I hate this keyboard.

Take a look

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Optimus Maximus

S.Hogan / March 18, 2008

Tired of missing the backspace because of a lazy pinky? Need some extra function keys for Gaming? Want to use color to reduce your hunt and peck time? No Problem, make that key any size you want or any function you want. Art Lebedev, of Art Lebedev Studios, is using OLED technology to remedy all the scenarios above and many more. My hardware closet contains at least 12 keyboards so I have no clue how I missed reading about this before now. I do remember some vague comments about OLED technology a few months back, but nothing like what I’ve read today. Optimus Maximus, you will be mine!

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Dual Core Doldrums

chengrob / February 26, 2008

I’m pretty manic about my laptops. It drives my wife nuts because I need to buy a new laptop every year. The reason is simple – technology. Or better put – Moore’s Law. Each year technology evolves, making each new laptop more powerful , lighter, and with more storage and a brighter, higher resolution screen. Man, I love it.

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PC Pitstop Processor Survey

cmunson / February 26, 2008

The initial analysis of our February 2008 Processor Survey results.

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Single and Multi-processors Trends

Lyle / February 26, 2008

Systems with multi-processors, once found only on servers and other extreme high end performance systems, have found there way into the general consumer arena. The percentage of systems running PC Pitstop’s on-line diagnostics and having multiprocessors grew from just over 1% in January 2006 to almost 30% in January 2008. The percentage of portables that have multi-processors has reached almost 40% in January 2008. A comparison of Intel to AMD shows AMD with a slight edge in both desktops and portable platforms as a percentage of their respective number of system with multi-processors.

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PC Pitstop ‘I Pimped My PC’ Video Contest Winner

PC Matic Cybersecurity / July 3, 2007

Congratulations to Revivalist from Fresno, CA. He is the winner of the PC Pitstop ‘I Pimped My PC’ Video Contest.

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Overclocking

maxpc / June 10, 2006

Overclocking is the process of manipulating the CPU and other components of your computer to run faster than the manufacturers rated speed. Why would you want to overclock your computer? Overclocking can improve performance in tasks such as resource-intensive games, programs running large databases, extensive graphics editing, and video rendering. The budget conscious could also save money on their processor by purchasing a cheaper low-end CPU that can be overclocked to higher specs. And there’s always the bragging rights of having that really fast, super-tweaked system.

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PC Pitstop’s Top Dawg Challenge!

maxpc / June 10, 2006

Who’s the Fastest? Are you the Top Dawg?

Our New Sponsor, Click Here for a Special Promotion.

It’s time to take the Top Dawg Challenge to the next level. We are so excited to have Western Digital as the sponsor of the Top Dawg Challenge. WD Raptor drives are the fastest drives on the planet, and all decent high end PCs have at least two Raptor drives inside them. Now our search continues for the fastest PCs in the land. Race your PCs often to compare your results against the competition.

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Max PC

Who’s the Fastest? Are you the Top Dawg?