Stories by David Murphy

How to run your own LAN party

Remember the good old days of the LAN party? You might not; thanks to today's prevalence of broadband connections, the availability of free voice and video chat services, and the ample multiplayer support found in most modern games, you no longer hav...

Download and install Windows 8 into a virtual machine

We've shown you how to go about installing the new Windows 8 developer preview on a brand-new hard drive or a partition of your existing hard drive--that's easy.

Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs: What to Expect

Intel's second-generation Core processors are almost here, delivering a new socket, new chipsets, and new technologies.

Lenovo IdeaCentre C315

Looking at the Lenovo IdeaCentre C315 is "a bit like staring into the sun"--that's a direct quote from our notes in reference to the bright, vibrant display on this 20-inch all-in-one desktop.

15 crazy PC case mods

Case mods: Few may do them, but many gawk at the crazy creations coming out of enthusiasts' basements, garages, factories, and laboratories. These mad scientists of the PC world strive to find new ways to present a common computer in a unique--and of...

Chip Showdown: A guide to the best CPUs on the market

When you're shopping for a new PC, don't meekly settle for the default processor recommended by the configurator. Picking the right CPU is a personal decision that you shouldn't enter into lightly. And with so many options to choose from, you need to...

How to mod your laptop

How do you change the look of a laptop? I mean really change its look--just shifting around the wallpaper, screensaver, or Windows color theme doesn't count.

Seagate readies its first 2TB enterprise hard drive

Less than a week after Western Digital's 2TB Caviar Green WD20EASD hard drive hit stores in the US, Seagate launched its own rival hard drive family featuring a 2TB storage titan. The company's new Constellation series of enterprise drives will arri...

Intel: 27 new CPUs arrive in January for notebooks & desktops

It's official. Intel CEO Paul Otellini launched a volley of 32-nanometer cannonballs at rival AMD with the official release of the company's latest dual- and quad-core Clarkdale and dual-core Arrandale processors. The launch -- spanning 27 different ...

Intel's 2010 Clarkdale desktop CPUs: what to expect

Clarkdale to Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad (and the North Bridge): Hasta la Vista, baby.

ViewSonic VPC100 all-in-one PC

It's a tough market for inexpensive all-in-one desktops. Limitations on applicable system components tend to average out these systems' general performance. That's what makes even the smallest of features critical to a system's success--or in the Vie...

How to optimize your Windows 7 PC

Windows 7 comes as a significant performance improvement over its predecessor, Windows Vista.

PC World's WorldBench 6: Behind the Scenes

PC World will soon be publishing WorldBench 6, the latest version of our PC benchmarking suite. What does that mean to you? WorldBench is the core set of applications that PC World uses to test all kinds of desktop PCs and laptop PCs. The results gen...

How to: Upgrade to Gigabit Networking for Better Speed

The speed of your network affects nearly every device on your home network, whether it be a home-theater PC, an external storage device, or a gaming console. For most networks, the transfer rate of a faster ethernet connection (roughly 12.5 megabits ...

Intel's new Core i7 and Core i5 processors explained

Intel's two new Core i7 CPUs (860 and 870) are mid-range counterparts to its top-of-the-line Core i7 900-series chips, and initial tests (using Intel's new DP55KG motherboard) indicate their performance follows suit. Our early tests also show the new...