2011 was a busy year in the tech world as a whole but the PC market in particular was moving at a brisk pace. We experienced the launches of Bulldozer and Sandy Bridge while the graphics space was introduced to the likes of the GTX 590, HD 6990 and GTX 560 Ti. SSDs made some serious inroads within the storage market, cases continued a slow march towards perfection and larger PC monitors finally began hitting lower price points through the use of efficient LED technology.
While the component side was moving forward at a brisk pace, the technology industry as a whole moved forward as well. Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich finally brought a bona fide operating system to Android, Adobe took the mobile version of Flash out back and pulled an Old Yeller on it, HP showed how NOT to support a tablet and through a number of failures Blackberry became a shadow of its former self. These bits of news were punctuated by the devastating floods in Thailand which crippled hard drive production, Duke Nukem Forever’s disastrous reception by critics and gamers alike (yeah, we had to include that one) and the intrusion by hackers into Steam’s gaming network. We also lost many pioneers in the industry, among them Dennis Ritchie and Steve Jobs.
Looking back I’d have to say the last twelve months were some of the most enjoyable in recent memory, at least from a hardware perspective. The team completed a massive 122 reviews and numerous other articles covering all manner of hardware and peripherals but that barely scratched the surface of what was available. Nonetheless, some of these products stood out for various reasons - both good and bad - which is what this end of year article is all about. In it, we’ll take a look at some of the most memorable components and peripherals of 2011 and discuss some of the hits and misses from that overflowing stack of hardware. Unfortunately, in some cases like Audio, HDTVs and Notebooks we didn’t review enough products within each category so it was impossible to conclusively come up with a “best of” list. Maybe next year
This may sound like it’s all about us but we’d like to hear your take too. At the top of every page, you’ll find a link to the forum discussion so feel free to rant about our choices or put forward some of your own.
With that being said the staff here at Hardware Canucks would like to wish you all a healthy and prosperous 2012. For us, it will be another massive year with Ivy Bridge, Kepler, OLED TVs and numerous other items all quickly approaching.
While the component side was moving forward at a brisk pace, the technology industry as a whole moved forward as well. Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich finally brought a bona fide operating system to Android, Adobe took the mobile version of Flash out back and pulled an Old Yeller on it, HP showed how NOT to support a tablet and through a number of failures Blackberry became a shadow of its former self. These bits of news were punctuated by the devastating floods in Thailand which crippled hard drive production, Duke Nukem Forever’s disastrous reception by critics and gamers alike (yeah, we had to include that one) and the intrusion by hackers into Steam’s gaming network. We also lost many pioneers in the industry, among them Dennis Ritchie and Steve Jobs.
Looking back I’d have to say the last twelve months were some of the most enjoyable in recent memory, at least from a hardware perspective. The team completed a massive 122 reviews and numerous other articles covering all manner of hardware and peripherals but that barely scratched the surface of what was available. Nonetheless, some of these products stood out for various reasons - both good and bad - which is what this end of year article is all about. In it, we’ll take a look at some of the most memorable components and peripherals of 2011 and discuss some of the hits and misses from that overflowing stack of hardware. Unfortunately, in some cases like Audio, HDTVs and Notebooks we didn’t review enough products within each category so it was impossible to conclusively come up with a “best of” list. Maybe next year
This may sound like it’s all about us but we’d like to hear your take too. At the top of every page, you’ll find a link to the forum discussion so feel free to rant about our choices or put forward some of your own.
With that being said the staff here at Hardware Canucks would like to wish you all a healthy and prosperous 2012. For us, it will be another massive year with Ivy Bridge, Kepler, OLED TVs and numerous other items all quickly approaching.
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