Magazine

Apple claims it is being forced to raise prices due to the DRAM crisis. And this is despite the fact that Apple still enjoys very high profit margins on RAM and SSDs, as a comparison of Apple’s upgrade prices with current market prices shows.

CheckMag Lexar celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026. For the celebrations, the storage manufacturer gave us a closer look at its manufacturing capabilities and vision.

Super Mario Eclipse, the definitive Super Mario Sunshine mod, just received its 1.1 update that (among other fixes & improvements) makes it fully playable on original hardware.

The Apple MacBook Neo seems to be giving AMD a headache, as the manufacturer's latest advertising campaign aims to show that laptops with AMD Ryzen are far superior to the budget MacBook. However, this marketing is misleading in many respects.

A pair of headphones supports a specific audio codec like LDAC—but what does that actually mean? More importantly, how do you use it to improve sound quality? Using the Marshall Milton as an example, we'll show you how to enable the codec and when the difference is actually noticeable.

A European AI built on modern open-source models aims to offer a privacy-friendly alternative to ChatGPT and its competitors. I put Eustella through its paces in everyday use—from tabletop RPG planning and vibe coding to travel planning—and came away pleasantly surprised in several areas.

Two major updates. What sounds like the sad footnote of a cheap Android smartphone from the last decade is now a harsh reality for all users of an Apple Watch. Software support is obviously being artificially curtailed without technical necessity.

Our hands-on preview of the Moss: The Forgotten Relic Steam demo highlights the beautiful environments, storytelling, and its transition to PC screens.

An A/E-key M.2 slot, normally occupied by a combo Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card, is something most laptops, mini-PCs and desktop PCs released after 2013 have. The P3-2230, also known as the OAK-2230, lets you make use of that slot to add extra storage space, faster than any SATA III SSD. Naturally, there are several drawbacks to this approach.

Seiko's PADI 60th anniversary Prospex HBB002 is a new beautiful limited-edition diver with a ceramic bezel, sapphire crystal, and a globe-patterned dial. But at $750, it runs the same 4R36 movement found in Seiko's entry-level watches. That's a little...not okay.

Garmin has announced a very significant change to its pricing model for satellite navigation, but it still comes with pitfalls. Even so, the move may not be enough to protect the manufacturer from a marketing disaster.

The Nvidia RTX Spark is intended to compete directly with the Apple M5 Max, as the 80-watt ARM chip promises extreme performance with 20 processor cores and a "1 petaflop GPU". Benchmarks show that Nvidia's marketing should be viewed with caution.

Price hikes on the Steam Deck and handheld PCs at large make the Nintendo Switch 2's $449.99 MSRP genuinely appetizing in comparison, at least if you want to play games.

Casio’s upcoming 17 new G-Shock watches are slated for release in June 2026 in Japan. The lineup includes the G-Shock ICERC Frogman, the Surfrider Foundation Japan, the GST-B1000BD, the Camo and Gold, and the Luxe Black series.

DistroSea, a browser-based platform hosting over 50 Linux distributions and 500 versions, lets users test operating systems online before installing one on their PCs.

The Xiaomi 17T Pro is the company’s T-series latest flagship smartphone that nails the basics of flagship smartphones, from the vibrant AMOLED display, top-tier hardware, and stellar Leica-tuned cameras to bigger battery capacity and good software with meaningful features.

The newest Diablo 4 expansion has been praised to the high heavens by fans and critics alike. While Lord of Hatred has its upsides, it still doesn't address some fundamental issues with Diablo 4. If anything, some parts make Blizzard look even worse.

Wireless communication with no fees or contract: LoRa allows data exchange over longer distances depending on the configuration. The range of compatible devices is relatively large. We took a closer look at both the technology and the ThinkNode M1.

Patch 1.3.1.5 for Battlefield 6 is due to be released on May 26 and is meant to fix several key issues with the shooter. The focus is mainly on fixes for respawns, deployment, maps, Battle Royale, Portal and matchmaking. Here is why that probably will not be enough to shift the mood in the community.

After a small break, You Should Be Modding returns with a showcase of the best Devil May Cry 3 mod of them all: DMC3 Crimson, a complete transformation that gives the game depth akin to 4 and modded 5 by adding Inertia, new moves, a modernized HUD, and more.

Update Edited on Monday, May 18th with more detailed optimization info and a few corrections. The first installment of [Tuesday Tweaks] covers Lossless Scaling, its vendor-neutral Frame Generation, and how it can be used to achieve higher framerates in games locked to 30 or 60 FPS, including emulators, fighting games, and etc. The actual Scaling functionality will also be briefly discussed.

If an irrigation system is advertised as "smart" or "intelligent", such descriptions are by no means guaranteed to be accurate. From simple timers to irrigation based on weather data and moisture sensors: What makes a system truly intelligent?

Devil May Cry 4 and the follow-up Special Edition are both very moddable releases, and remain long-time favorites within the Devil May Cry community. In this installment of [Throwback Thursdays], I'll be highlighting the best Devil May Cry 4 mods, for both versions of the game.

The Lumix L10 is one of the most exciting compact cameras of the year, as Panasonic combines a large FourThirds sensor with a fast 24 - 75 mm zoom lens and an OLED viewfinder. The features are not just coincidentally reminiscent of the Leica D-Lux 8, which may be the better choice for some customers.

The cat is out of the bag, the Forerunner 70 is official. With it, Garmin is not only offering additional technologies, but also staying fairly true to its pricing strategy. From a business perspective, Garmin basically has little to complain about, though the question of future viability certainly arises.

Bambu Lab is offering a new filament that is also intended to meet higher health protection requirements. The corresponding tests are said to have been carried out on finished prints as well, though there are still several things to keep in mind.

[Modern Mondays] begins with an overview of the best Devil May Cry 5 mods ahead of Season 2 of the Netflix series premiering tomorrow. PC players missing out on Special Edition features need not worry—thanks to mods, the best way to play DMC is on PC.

Exclusive Hitoshi Sakimoto settles a 29-year debate exclusively with Notebookcheck: Final Fantasy Tactics is a rock record. We also got a chance to discuss his London Game Music Festival 2026 debut, made possible by the Game Music Foundation's efforts.

With a 200 MP primary sensor, a 3.5x tele lens, and a 12 MP ultrawide + macro shooter, the Honor 600 Pro has the best camera setup in its price segment. The smartphone not only outdoes midrange competitors but also rivals flagships from Samsung and Google with a premium build and a versatile camera setup.

CheckMag As the May 13 launch approaches, official Sony teasers for the Xperia 1 VIII hint at a "full circle" design with illuminated camera modules. But is the glowing camera design a real rival to the Nothing Phone, or simply a marketing campaign?

Icons flicker like an old CRT display: Elgato’s Stream Deck+ is more than just a control panel — it quickly turns into a creative playground for customizing your setup. One particularly interesting feature is animated icon packs, which transform every key into a tiny display. A Fallout-inspired design especially caught our attention thanks to its unique visual style. Here’s how to install and use it on the Stream Deck+.

The Sony Xperia 1 VIII is said to get rid of one of the most unique features of the Xperia 1 VII - the telephoto camera with true optical zoom. Thanks to a drastic sensor upgrade, this is (almost) always an upgrade for users, but this change in strategy is a loss for the smartphone market.

Amazon content restricted, no access to the home server: geoblocking can quickly become annoying while on vacation. That’s why, before leaving, I installed Tailscale on my small home server/NAS and on the devices I take with me. Together, they form a network that lets my travel devices browse through my home network and its German IP address.

CheckMag Notebookcheck reviews hundreds of laptops every year. Some review units earn extra points for features not found elsewhere, or delivering higher-than-average performance, or being easier on the user's eyes. It's the last category that gets some spotlight today.

The M249 is CS2's most expensive weapon at $5,200 - and its most useless. With worse stats than guns half its price, zero pro pick rate, and a kill reward identical to budget rifles, Valve's forgotten LMG is less a weapon, more a $5,200 mistake.

South Korea once invested heavily in maglev research and built a public-transit maglev system, the Incheon Airport Maglev, which offered everything that German projects have so far failed to deliver. Although the Ecobee is back in operation, it now runs very infrequently and remains closed one day a week.

Owlcat Games' The Expanse: Osiris Reborn closed beta is live today. One mission in, it is already one of the most exciting sci-fi RPGs in development, with sharp combat and stunning zero-gravity gameplay.

CheckMag Amazon is flooded with cheap Chinese Android-based car stereos at bargain-basement prices, which significantly undercut the competition from big brands like Pioneer and Kenwood. This is how an $80 Chinese head-unit holds up after 5 years.

After the failure of Skull and Bones, Windrose is emerging as a new hope for pirate fans. Here’s what sets the game apart from its competitors – and why abandoning the MMO model was probably the right decision.

Is $20 Casio F-91W a steal or just a "Heritage Tax"? Outclassed by MRW-100H and AE-1200, the legend’s value is under fire nowadays. We explore why this icon might be overpriced - and why enthusiasts still keep giving it a nod of approval.

RTX, No ₹eceipt. Nvidia's GeForce Now is officially live in India, offering up to RTX 5080 GPUs in the Ultimate tier. In this review, we take a deep dive into the hardware that makes GeForce Now tick and evaluate the service across three popular AAA titles to see if this is worth ditching that enthusiast gaming PC build you've been holding back so far.

With a list price of $449, the Nintendo Switch 2 is more expensive than the Steam Deck, and could soon become even more expensive due to the DRAM crisis. With a version of the Nintendo Switch 2 that only functions as a home console, Nintendo could offer more performance at a lower price.

Leica has already hinted that the Leica M12 could be offered as a "Heritage Edition". The compact full-frame camera could take up the legacy of the Leica M series with a range of retro features, clearly setting it apart from all digital cameras on the market.

CheckMag GoPro’s new Mission 1 camera series disrupts the market by introducing internal 32-bit float audio, a "safety net" technology previously exclusive to the $2,200 Nikon ZR. Launching May 28, 2026, the Mission 1 allows any external mic to record "un-clippable" sound, which sets a new industry standard.

Ronald Wayne helped found Apple with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak on April 1, 1976, then left the company just 12 days later in one of tech history’s most famous early turning points.

CheckMag 2025 may go down as a year of rather poor decisions for PC manufacturer Dell. In 2026, Dell course corrects, with new models and new designs - not just with Dell XPS, but also with their Dell Pro laptops for the enterprise.

Starfield is now available for the PS5/PS5 Pro, but unlike when it launched on the Xbox, there isn't a limited edition controller based on the video game. However, it isn't too late to make one.