Articles by Andrew E. Freedman, Senior Editor

Andrew oversees laptop and desktop coverage and keeps up with the latest news in tech and gaming. His work has been published in Kotaku, PCMag, Complex, Tom’s Guide and Laptop Mag, among others. He fondly remembers his first computer: a Gateway that still lives in a spare room in his parents' home, albeit without an internet connection. When he’s not writing about tech, you can find him playing video games, checking social media and waiting for the next Marvel movie. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and BlueSky @andrewfreedman.net. You can send him tips on Signal: andrewfreedman.01

Articles by: Andrew E. Freedman

Best gaming laptop PC deals 2026 — epic discounts on Dell, Alienware, MSI, ROG, and others

By Stewart Bendle last updated 15 May 26

Here are the best gaming laptop deals. We're constantly updating this list with the best deals still available across all of the major retailers.

Alienware's budget gaming laptop starts at $1,299 — Last-gen parts and a plastic shell bring the premium brand into the mainstream

By Andrew E. Freedman published 14 May 26

The Alienware 15 Gaming Laptop uses last-gen Intel, AMD, and Nvidia components to bring the brand to a wider audience and replace Dell's former G-Series notebooks.

Best budget gaming laptops of 2026: The best cheap laptops we've tested and benchmarked

By Andrew E. Freedman published 9 May 26

We benchmarked budget gaming laptops to help you get the most for your money.

Best Gaming PCs of 2026

By Andrew E. Freedman last updated 8 May 26

We test the best gaming PCs with our typical gauntlet of real-world and synthetic benchmarks to measure overall prebuilt system performance.

Maingear MG-1 (2026) review: Fast and clean, for a price

By Andrew E. Freedman published 8 May 26

Editor's Choice

The Maingear MG-1 offers a super-clean build in case with personalization options, but the front panel could use some more ports.

Best Laptops 2026: Our benchmarked picks for productivity, portability, and battery life

By Andrew E. Freedman last updated 7 May 26

We test dozens of laptops a year for their performance, screen quality, and battery life, to find the best laptops right now across Windows, macOS, Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm notebooks.

Alienware 16 Area-51 review: OLED screen update

By Andrew E. Freedman published 4 May 26

The Alienware 16 Area-51 is a slightly updated spaceship of a laptop that's powerful and finally gets an OLED display option.

Steam Controller interview full transcript — Valve programmer and engineer discuss design, latency, prototyping, and the joys of not having a kernel driver

By Andrew E. Freedman published 4 May 26

Premium Valve sat down with Tom's Hardware to discuss the new Steam Controller, its design, dealing with latency, and why you really need Steam to use it.

Steam Controller developer interview — Valve talks design, the learning curve, and the lack of kernel drivers

By Andrew E. Freedman published 27 April 26

And yes, they've talked about potentially bringing "Aperture Desk Job" to the Controller.

Valve Steam Controller review: Every input to PC game from the sofa

By Andrew E. Freedman published 27 April 26

Editor's Choice

Valve's Steam Controller ($99) is vastly customizable, comfortable, and has a ton of input options. You probably don't strictly need it, but you can make it your own.

Framework’s overhauled Laptop 13 Pro brings a redesigned chassis — Intel Core Ultra Series 3 system aims to be a 'MacBook Pro for Linux users'

By Andrew E. Freedman published 21 April 26

The Framework Laptop 13 Pro is the company's first redesign of its chassis, with CNC aluminum, a haptic touchpad, larger battery, and an option for pre-loaded Ubuntu.

Apple CEO Tim Cook steps down, company names Ternus as incoming CEO

By Andrew E. Freedman published 20 April 26

Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down on September 1. He will be replaced by hardware engineering lead John Ternus.

Microsoft simplifies Windows Insider program — fewer channels, and switching without wiping your device

By Andrew E. Freedman published 10 April 26

Microsoft is simplifying the Windows Insider program with fewer channels, making it easier to switch between them and enable the latest features.

Asus ROG Xbox Ally review: The cheapest Windows handheld gets points for showing up

By Andrew E. Freedman published 8 April 26

The Asus ROG Xbox Ally is the cheapest Windows-based PC gaming handheld you can get right now, but some technical hitches and a mediocre processor don't help it shine next to the Steam Deck OLED.

Asus Zenbook A16 review: Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme is a strong chip in a so-so package

By Andrew E. Freedman published 7 April 26

The Asus Zenbook A16 is a lightweight housing for Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, but comes with compromises in build quality and battery life.

Apple turns 50 — one of the world's biggest tech companies started with hobbyist computers

By Andrew E. Freedman published 1 April 26

Apple is 50 years old. The company, famous for its iPhones and AirPods, is built on a foundation of hobbyist computing.

Apple discontinues Mac Pro after 20 years — system had been stuck in stasis with M2 Ultra since 2023

By Andrew E. Freedman published 26 March 26

Apple has discontinued its Mac Pro tower, which hasn't been updated since a version with the M2 Ultra processor arrived in 2023.

Intel Arc Pro B70 and Arc Pro B65 GPUs bring 32GB of RAM to AI and pro apps — bigger Battlemage finally arrives, but it's not for gamers

By Jeffrey Kampman published 25 March 26

Intel brings 32GB of VRAM and plenty of bandwidth to the local AI inference party

Intel officially releases Xeon 600 chips, announces new vPro Panther Lake CPUs — ‘all-new’ vPro platform goes all-in on AI

By Jake Roach published 25 March 26

OEM and retail units are now available, plus new W890-chipset motherboards.

HP's new AI workstation can expand horizontally to add 15% more internal volume — alternate side panel also includes more active cooling

By Andrew E. Freedman published 25 March 26

HP's Z8 Fury G6i workstation has an alternate "max" side panel that makes the internal chassis 15% larger and adds more active cooling to the system.

Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, M5) review: Steady as it goes

By Andrew E. Freedman published 23 March 26

Editor's Choice

The MacBook Air with M5 offers a strong variety of performance and premium materials to make it a strong computing value.

The $599 MacBook Neo stunned the budget laptop market — but Windows laptops still have some advantages

By Andrew E. Freedman published 20 March 26

Premium The $599 MacBook Neo is an incredible budget laptop. But if you're all in on Windows, there are a few advantages that traditional PCs still offer if you shop the right sales.

Jensen Huang takes questions at GTC 2026

Jensen Huang says gamers are 'completely wrong' about DLSS 5 — Nvidia CEO responds to DLSS 5 backlash

By Andrew E. Freedman published 17 March 26

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang responded to backlash against DLSS 5, saying artistic control remained with developers and that the AI works with existing geometry.

Apple MacBook Neo review: a budget-priced game-changer

By Andrew E. Freedman last updated 10 March 26

Editor's Choice

Apple's MacBook Neo has all the trappings of a premium laptop at a surprising price, with only a few compromises to get there.

Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, M5 Max) review: Blazing-fast super cores

By Andrew E. Freedman published 9 March 26

Editor's Choice

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max is a portable powerhouse with a fast CPU and a massive integrated GPU that can share 128GB of RAM.

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