Computers, Laptops & Tablets

With 802.11ac (Gigabit Wi-Fi) now mainstream, we are currently in the midst of a big wireless router replacement cycle. I’ve tested so many routers in the past year that I’ve lost count. Despite the potential payoff of a new router, many people are reluctant to make the upgrade. Routers can be intimidating, and once our Wi-Fi is working, it’s such an integral part of our homes now that we’re naturally reluctant to do anything that might rock the boat. After getting a taste of what the latest generation of 802.11ac routers can do, I finally made the jump myself, replacing my own aging router. And to help you understand everything that’s involved, I chronicled every step of the process. Hopefully this account of one person’s Wi-Fi router upgrade will help to demystify the process and show why it’s worth doing.

Multi-core CPUs have been a mainstay in PCs (and mobile devices) for over a decade. The innovation of having multiple cores in a single processor —each able to run software in parallel— has led to significant performance boosts. Quad-Core used to be the high end in consumer PCs, but now Hexa-Core chips are making it into the mainstream through computers like HP’s new Pavilion x360 Convertible. Here’s why you might want a Hexa-Core processor in your next PC.