Guides and how-tos
Practical hardware advice: what to buy, how to install it and what the specs actually mean.
October 9, 2026
Laptops With Upgradeable RAM: 71% of 2025 and 2026 Models Are Soldered
We checked laptops released in 2025 and 2026. 71% have RAM you can never upgrade, and only one non-gaming model has slots.
October 9, 2026
How Different Light Colors Affect Your Mood, Sleep and Focus
A pilot's Philips Hue setup, four nights of experiments and the research behind why amber at 10pm feels different from blue. With the actual numbers.
October 9, 2026
How to Build a Circadian Lighting System Without Paying Hue Prices
Four routes from almost free to full control, what each one actually gets you, and the one thing Philips sells that is genuinely hard to replace.
October 9, 2026
Who Is Adder Technology? The British KVM Maker Behind Broadcast Control Rooms
Founded in 1984 as a publishing company, now employee-owned and sitting in broadcast galleries and defence control rooms. What Adder actually makes and who it is for.
October 9, 2026
Who Is Raritan? The Company Credited With Building the First KVM Switch
Started in 1985 by a couple reselling PC parts from their house. Sold to Legrand in 2015. The Dominion line is still the default in a lot of data centres.
October 9, 2026
What Happened to Avocent? From Apex and Cybex to Emerson to Vertiv
Two rival KVM makers merged in 2000, got bought for $1.2 billion in 2009, then sold again in 2016. The brand still exists, just not where you would expect.
October 9, 2026
Laptops for 3D Rendering and Animation: Only 1 in 10 Has Enough VRAM
GPU renderers fall off a cliff when a scene does not fit in VRAM. Only about one in ten laptops we track has 12GB of VRAM or more. Here is what actually decides render times on a laptop.
October 9, 2026
Who Is ATEN? The Taiwanese Company That Owns Most of the KVM Market
Founded in 1979, listed on the Taiwan exchange, and the parent of IOGEAR. ATEN is the only KVM maker that sells both a $30 cable switch and a 40-port enterprise rack unit.
October 6, 2026
Dual Monitor KVM Switch: Only 16% Actually Drive Two Screens
Most switches sold as dual monitor are not. Only 16% of the KVM switches we list state two displays per computer, very few cost under $100, and some 4K models run at 30Hz while costing more than the 60Hz ones.
October 6, 2026
MUX Switch vs Optimus: Which Gaming Laptops Actually Have One
Fewer than a quarter of laptops state how they route the discrete GPU. About one in four gaming and workstation machines with a dedicated GPU still ship plain Optimus, and two Acer Nitro V models with the same RTX 5050 differ on it.