Do you want to watch a Beelink mini PC get built? Of course you do. So often do we purchase and use hardware that we don't often take the time to think about how it was made and the process that goes into designing it. So, when we do get a sneak peek behind the curtain, it's sort of the reverse of "seeing how the sausage is made;" instead of being put off, it actually gives us a newfound respect for how they're built.

Graphics cards have become bigger and heavier in recent years due to increased power draw and the need for beefy cooling solutions to keep temperatures in check. The first time I bought a triple-slot GPU was when I built my current gaming PC back in 2020. I went with the Asus ROG Strix 3090, which seemed like the best option at the time since cooling performance was my top priority. But after using such a thick and hefty graphics card for over two years, I opted for a slimmer 2-slot liquid-cooled model when I upgraded to the RTX 4090 in 2022.

As someone who has been gaming my whole life, but only got a PC over a year ago, PC gaming has turned out to be much cheaper and easier to use than I previously believed. I'm not the only console gamer that has had this experience, but there are still plenty more that won't make the transition because they worry about the ease of use. Now, with my new experience, I can speak to some of the myths about PC gaming that have continued to circulate, despite them being clearly untrue. Since this is based on my own experience, and I bought a prebuilt gaming PC, I'm not going to discuss building a PC from scratch, although having changed out a component or two on my rig, I feel confident that I will eventually build one.

The new unified Xbox app doesn't help either. It looks polished, but basic stuff like cover art is completely broken, and it's far from complete. The experience is annoying enough on a desktop, but it gets worse when you try to use it on a smaller screen with limited input options.

Have you noticed that your software has gotten less sharp lately? Whether you're using an app or browsing a website, it seems that more and more UI designers are giving their buttons and windows a smooth, polished look. The style has its fans, but it also has people who would rather go back to the old, boxy look.

TrueNAS is the best NAS operating system if you're building a NAS from scratch, packed with handy features and tools that will get you into data storage nirvana in no time at all. Sure, going with a pre-built NAS enclosure makes the initial setup quick, but it's really not that much harder to build your own, and then you don't get stuck in vendor lock-in.

I recently reached a breaking point after losing track of yet another warranty of one of my electronic items. My receipts are generally scattered in random folders or buried deep within my email inbox, making it nearly impossible to find proof of purchase when needed. Apart from that, it's challenging to remember essential appliance maintenance dates, which sometimes leads to costly last-minute repairs or replacements.

There are plenty of bespoke smart devices out there that you can pick up for your smart home, ranging from smart switches, motion sensors, and temperature sensors. Yet, one particular "device" has seemingly slipped under the radar in the last few years: the humble NFC tag. Everyone's phone these days has an NFC reader, and the technology is still in use across the board, from passports, ID cards, and mobile payments. But did you know you can buy a lot of NFC tags for as little as $5, write your own data to them, and use them for automating your home?

Like everybody else, Google Drive was my default cloud storage system — until the day I replaced it with a NAS. My home NAS was supposed to outsmart Big Tech, save me some cash, and get my digital life in order. Some of that happened, but not how I expected. Turns out, going self-hosted isn’t a shortcut to a setup designed around convenience. You get fine control over your files, backups, and privacy, but you also have to put in extra effort.

With the Windows 10 end-of-life date approaching rapidly, I've decided to upgrade my aging PC to Linux instead of Windows 11. The problem is, I haven't used Linux properly during my entire time using computers. The best I've ever done was about a decade ago, when I installed Ubuntu as a dual boot, tried it for a day, then went back to Windows and scrubbed Linux off my system again.

It didn't take long from building my first gaming PC to running out of storage space. First, I kicked the decision down the road by adding an external hard drive. I mean, I'd only just bought the PC, and my wallet was hurting. It was only supposed to be a stopgap measure, but then I remembered the old chestnut about how "there is nothing more permanent than a temporary solution", and decided to do something about it, the right way.

Being a PC user, you must expect to come face-to-face with seemingly inexplicable behavior. Over the last two decades, I've encountered and fixed multiple issues with my PCs. One way or the other, I was able to either pinpoint the root cause and eliminate it, or at least get rid of the issue if I couldn't figure out the actual reason behind it. The fixes to the issues listed below, however, have managed to elude me over the last three years. These problems come and go as they please, and I'm no closer to solving them than I was 3 years ago.