Author at Ultrabookreview.com

Brian O'Cralley

I started tinkering around with notebooks years ago. This included testing various Linux distributions for compatibility and opening them up to upgrade components, repaste heatsinks, or fix solder connections. While I appreciate the sleek designs and ultraportable advantages of sealed chassis with custom components, I lament the decline in user upgradeability and reparability over time.

  • Brian O'Cralley - October 6, 2022

    HP launched a handful of products at CES 2021, from laptops to monitors and peripherals. Among them, the updated version of the Envy 14 sparked our attention, as a 14-inch ultrabook with a 16:10 display and dedicated GTX graphics. Traditionally, Envies are an HP...

  • Brian O'Cralley - September 22, 2021

    Samsung has launched the new Galaxy Chromebook 2, the first Chromebook on the market with a QLED screen. This will be available in stores in the US by the end of March, for a base price of $550. The new model follows up on...

  • Brian O'Cralley - September 27, 2022

    The world of gaming mice is almost as competitive as the e-sports themselves, but a small team calling themselves “Zephyr Gaming” looks to distinguish themselves by offering something fairly unique: In addition to the “standard” high-end features of OMRON switches, a 16,000 DPI sensor,...

  • Brian O'Cralley - November 9, 2020

    HP has updated their mid-range Chromebook line-up with the HP Chromebook X360 12b and Chromebook X360 14b. Both of these are convertible/2-in-1 devices, which we believe is the best way to utilize ChromeOS, along with included universal stylus (USI) support. The model numbers also...

  • Brian O'Cralley - January 18, 2023

    When thinking of laptops produced by MSI, their black and red gaming notebooks are likely to be what comes to mind. However, MSI has been producing white and silver business-and-café-friendly models under their Prestige brand for a little over three years now. Normally the...

  • Brian O'Cralley - August 29, 2018

    Following last year’s popular Legion Y520/Y720, Lenovo offers completely updated iterations for 2018, with the Legion Y530 and Y730 gaming laptops. These impress with a sleek redesigned exterior to complement the hardware upgrades made inside. The Legion brand became the home of the Y-series...

  • Brian O'Cralley - January 18, 2023

    Today at Computex 2018, HP announced the ProBook x360 440 G1, a 14-inch touchscreen convertible with an awkward name. The ProBook series is a cheaper alternative to the EliteBook and is targeted towards general business users. The design language here fits this ethos, with...

  • Brian O'Cralley - January 7, 2019

    The Precision 5530 workstation that Dell revealed last month is now available for purchase. If it looks familiar, that’s because it is almost identical to the Dell XPS 15 9570, although the Nvidia GeForce graphics have been replaced with Nvidia Quadro, and a Xeon...

  • Brian O'Cralley - April 5, 2021

    The Huawei MateBook X Pro caused quite a splash when it debuted at Mobile World Congress three months ago. The unconventional 13.9-inch display came courtesy of the 3:2 3000 x 2000 resolution aspect ratio. The screen can also display 100 percent of the sRGB...

  • Brian O'Cralley - September 27, 2022

    Ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs) with 7-inch displays haven’t really taken the market by storm, but that hasn’t stopped startups from trying to release new products in this niche category and this company called One Netbook recently announced the One Mix Yoga — a convertible mini-laptop with...

  • Brian O'Cralley - January 27, 2023

    Dell introduced a new Chromebook — the Chromebook 5190 – which promises 10 hours of battery life and Android app support. Chromebooks are affordable laptops and a good choice for students and users with basic needs from a computer due to how easy they...