Darren Allan

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

Articles by: Darren Allan

A hand holding a phone showing the ChatGPT voice mode

ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode is scarily good at times – are we looking at the future of AI interactions?

By Darren Allan published

ChatGPT’s new voice mode is being shown off in various online clips by alpha testers, and it’s seriously impressive.

Person using a Windows 11 laptop

Windows 11 hits 30% adoption (and it’s about time) – so is Microsoft’s AI gamble finally starting to pay off?

By Darren Allan published

Windows 11 finally hits 30% adoption – but it’s scary how long this has taken, frankly.

Apple MacBook Air 15-inch M3 REVIEW

How to check your MacBook's battery health

By Bryan M Wolfe last updated

Here's how to check your MacBook's battery health so that you can figure out if it's time for it to be replaced

Popcorn in bowl and MacBook on table

How to connect a MacBook to a TV

By Bryan M Wolfe last updated

Super-size your Mac experience by using a smart television as an external monitor.

Tiny toys team of engineers repairing circuit mother board computer

Intel extends warranty for its unstable CPUs – here’s what buyers of 13th-gen and 14th-gen chips need to know

By Darren Allan published

Still worrying about your Raptor Lake or Raptor Lake Refresh processor? You wouldn’t be alone…

Asus Adol Book 14

Ever wanted your laptop to smell of basil and mandarin? Your fragrant dreams can come true with the Asus Adol Book’s built-in scent dispenser

By Darren Allan published

Asus Adol Book 14 is a purple laptop aimed at the fashion-conscious with a novel twist – and a choice of fragrances.

A mockup of an AMD Ryzen 9000-series processor

Look out, Intel: AMD Ryzen 9000 leak suggests CPUs that’ll be a good deal cheaper than Ryzen 7000 prices at launch

By Darren Allan published

Leak suggests some tempting prices, and with Intel’s instability woes, there could be a big rush to buy these Ryzen chips.

An Nvidia RTX 4070 Super on a purple deskmat on a desk

Thinking of buying an Nvidia GPU? Rumored price hikes inbound for RTX 4070 and upwards mean you might want to act soon

By Darren Allan published

Nvidia may scale back production of RTX 4000 graphics cards, and stock levels could be affected in a big way.

Intel Core Ultra Mobile Chip

Forget Snapdragon X or AMD Ryzen AI 300 CPUs for laptops – Intel’s big Lunar Lake reveal on September 3 promises ‘unmatched AI computing power’

By Darren Allan published

Intel has a livestream launch planned just ahead of IFA 2024, and we can’t wait to see Lunar Lake in action.

Google Chrome on macOS

Chrome could revolutionize search on PC with a big Google Lens upgrade that lets you Circle to Search images

By Darren Allan published

Incoming Chrome feature is a major one that might change the way you search on a Windows 11 PC, Mac or Chromebook.

An AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX on a table against a white backdrop

AMD just made big improvements with AFMF 2, a new version of its tech to make all PC games run more smoothly

By Darren Allan published

Want a free frame rate boost for all your PC games? You’re in luck if you’ve got an AMD GPU...

Angry woman using a laptop

Windows 11 gets a new Netflix app – and it’ll make you wish you could keep the old one (spoiler alert: you can’t)

By Darren Allan published

Windows 11’s Netflix app just became more ‘consistent’ with apps on other platforms, except, well, it didn’t…

AMD Ryzen CPU rear pins

AMD’s Ryzen 9000 CPU delay is due to… typos on the chips? It seems unbelievable, but here we are

By Darren Allan published

AMD reportedly mislabels mid-range Ryzen 9000 CPUs as high-end chips – is this the reason for Zen 5’s delay to August?

An Intel Core i9-14900K slotted into a motherboard

Intel admits damage to unstable 14th-gen and 13th-gen CPUs is permanent – incoming patch is a preventative, not a cure

By Darren Allan published

New Q&A session with Intel is revealing, but likely won’t comfort owners of these processors.

An Acer Nitro 5 with RTX 3050 sitting on a desk

Nvidia looks to be revamping RTX 3050 mobile GPU with current-gen tech – and that might mean better battery life for budget gaming laptops

By Darren Allan published

Nvidia’s secret weapon for affordable gaming laptops could be… a (kind of) supercharged RTX 3050 graphics card.

A hand holding an Intel Core i9-14900K

Intel’s fix for high-end CPU crashes is coming, but a new leak suggests Team Blue could still be in hot water

By Darren Allan published

Intel’s cure for CPU crashes may not be the end of this story, as the investigation into the flaw is still ongoing.

AMD Ryzen 9000 series

AMD delays Ryzen 9000 due to last-minute discovery of problems with some CPUs – launch won’t happen until August now

By Darren Allan published

Keen to buy a Ryzen 9000 CPU? Bad news – AMD has delayed Zen 5 to August as some next-gen chips have ‘quality’ issues.

A mystery GPU with a colorful burst behind it

Nvidia RTX 5090 may not be the fastest next-gen GPU, as rumors suggest RTX Titan could rise from the grave

By Darren Allan published

The rumor mill would have us believe that Nvidia’s RTX Titan is set to make a shock return with Blackwell graphics cards.

Iiyama Vision Master Pro512 CRT monitor

Want a 700Hz gaming monitor? Dinosaur CRT display from 2002 has hit this staggering refresh rate, blowing away modern LCDs – with one huge catch

By Darren Allan published

Heads up, pro gamers – ancient CRT monitor gets cranked to a jaw-dropping 700Hz, beating out today’s top 540Hz panels.

An Intel Core i9-14900K with its promotional packaging

Intel admits ‘elevated voltage’ is primary cause of unstable CPUs – and thankfully a fix is coming soon

By Darren Allan published

The results of Intel’s long-running investigation have been revealed, and a patch for instability issues is inbound.

An Nvidia RTX 4070 Super on a purple deskmat on a desk

Nvidia RTX 5080 and 5090 may not turn up this year after all – next-gen GPUs might be launched at CES 2025

By Darren Allan published

Want to get your hands on an Nvidia RTX 5000 GPU? You might be waiting longer than you thought.

An older woman sitting on a couch and using a laptop on a coffee table

Worried your Intel laptop CPU might suffer from instability gremlins? Team Blue clarifies that mobile chips don’t have the same issue as desktops

By Darren Allan published

Intel clarifies that its laptop CPUs aren’t plagued by the instability woes that have hit Core i9 desktop chips.

Angry woman using a laptop

Windows 11 gets pushy with another pop-up – this time for Microsoft’s backup app – and all this is getting tiresome, frankly

By Darren Allan published

Latest unwelcome nag is more likely to backfire than see anything backed up.

NVIDIA GeForce NOW

Has Black Friday come early? Nvidia GeForce Now is seriously tempting with 50% off across all plans right now

By Darren Allan published

We normally only see this level of half-price deal for Black Friday, and Nvidia’s ‘summer sale’ is certainly a bargain.

An AMD RX 7900 XTX graphics card seen from an overhead angle

AMD’s next-gen driver progress makes us hopeful RDNA 4 GPUs could arrive sooner than we thought

By Darren Allan published

Hoping new value-packed GPUs from AMD will be out in 2024? We’ve just caught a hint that this could still happen.

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