Articles by Madeline Ricchiuto, Staff Writer

A former lab gremlin for Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, and TechRadar; Madeline has escaped the labs to join Laptop Mag as a Staff Writer. With over a decade of experience writing about tech and gaming, she may actually know a thing or two. Sometimes. When she isn't writing about the latest laptops and AI software, Madeline likes to throw herself into the ocean as a PADI scuba diving instructor and underwater photography enthusiast.

Articles by: Madeline Ricchiuto

Monster Hunter Wilds gameplay on the Razer Blade 16 (2025) with an Nvidia RTX 5090 Laptop GPU. The fps counter in the upper right-hand corner shows frame rates with DLSS off.

I tested Nvidia's DLSS Transformer Model — my games look better, and it cost me nothing

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 30 June 25

Better DLSS is no joke

Leaked render of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 mid-fold against a gradient blue background.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Everything we know about the thinnest foldable ever

By Rael Hornby published 30 June 25

The thinnest Galaxy Fold ever is set to be revealed during next month's Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event, but you can catch early Galaxy Z Fold 7 details right now.

3D render of the Asus ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally handheld gaming PCs playing Two Point Hospital and Spider-Man 2 in front of a colorful backdrop.

Asus ROG Xbox Ally vs. ROG Ally: Bigger doesn't always mean better

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 27 June 25

Let's take a look at two of the most affordable handheld gaming PCs: The ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Ally.

Dell 14 Premium and Dell 16 Premium on a blue gradient background.

Dell's new Premium laptops show; an XPS by any other name is just as sweet

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 26 June 25

Dell may no longer call its flagship consumer laptop line the XPS, but we know an XPS when we see one. The Dell 14 Premium and Dell 16 Premium are available now.

Photo of a puppy against a gray backdrop compared against a photo of a cat, sleeping on its back.

Sony is fighting like cats and dogs against a small game developer from Hong Kong

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 26 June 25

Sony filed a notice of opposition against a trademark application by a small Hong Kong-based app developer, claiming it's too similar to a prized game studio.

Phison E28 M.2 SSD, on a black and white background.

The Phison E28 SSD reveals the secret to breathing new life into older laptops and desktop PCs

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 26 June 25

Sometimes, a small upgrade goes a long way to extending the life of your tech, as long as you're willing to do a little DIY. And that's where the Phison E28 SSD comes in.

An Intel Foundry engineer in clean room gear holds a silicon wafer at an Intel facility in Chandler, Arizona.

Moore's law isn't dead — it's just buried under six feet of silicon spin

By Madeline Ricchiuto last updated 26 June 25

Silicon wafer sizing isn't what you think. Yes, 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer chips sound incredibly tiny. But semiconductor process node technology names are really just marketing at this point.

Next-gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles may have something surprising in common — but is that a good thing?

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 25 June 25

Last week, Microsoft confirmed that the next-gen Xbox console will be powered by custom AMD hardware. On Monday, new rumors indicated Sony's next-gen PlayStation will also feature a custom AMD APU.

Monster Hunter Wilds gameplay on the Razer Blade 16 (2025) with an Nvidia RTX 5090 Laptop GPU. The fps counter in the upper right-hand corner of the display shows the frame rates with DLSS 3.7 and frame-gen enabled.

AI is making your games better — a new Steam tool convinced me to stop hating GPU upscaling.

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 24 June 25

Frame generation might be controversial, but Valve just made it easier to know what you're getting mad at. Steam's Performance Monitor can now account for AI-generated frames.

Close up of the RBG light strip on the MSI Raider 18 HX AI gaming laptop, against a purple mat.

Intel's powerful 2026 Nova Lake chip could render discrete graphics obsolete, and it was just spotted in high-performance laptops.

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 23 June 25

Shipping manifests confirm a Nova Lake -HX mobile variant in the works.

A WD Black SN770 SSD on a blue gradient background.

Just like many Windows 10 users, some SSDs are snubbing Windows 11, too

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 20 June 25

For Windows users rocking Western Digital SSDs, we've got some good news and some bad news.

Is Microsoft misleading users about Copilot? New claims point the finger at AI productivity

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 19 June 25

Is it AI washing, or is Microsoft's history of being very bad at naming things adding a new chapter?

Three Xbox Series X consoles and controllers against a gradient green background.

The next-gen Xbox console may as well be a gaming PC, except for 1 key difference

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 19 June 25

Earlier this week, Microsoft and AMD announced their continued partnership on the next generation of Xbox consoles. But it's not the hardware that changed my mind.

Chromebooks are good laptops for many people — these are the 5 best Chromebooks of 2025

By Madeline Ricchiuto, Joanna Nelius last updated 18 June 25

We've tested and reviewed the best Chromebooks of 2025 — no matter your needs.

Leaked screenshot for Gearbox Software and 2K Games' Borderlands 4.

Borderlands 4's smallest controversy is its specs – wait until you hear its biggest

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 17 June 25

Steam has published new information on 'Borderlands 4' ahead of its launch on September 12, with pricing and hardware specs included.

Announcement image for the 6 free games available on Prime Gaming for free ahead of Prime Day 2025.

I'm not buying anything for Prime Day, but I'm getting these 6 games for free – here's how

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 17 June 25

Ahead of Amazon's first ever 96-hour Prime Day sale, gamers can take home six additional games for free thanks to Prime Gaming. That is, six games in addition to the current June free games library.

Nintendo doesn't make the fastest handhelds, but people won't trade 'Palworld' for 'Pokémon'

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 16 June 25

Want power? Buy an AMD Z2 Extreme handheld. Want fun? Buy a Switch 2.

A Mac Mini in front of an iMac display with a black background

Apple's Mac Minis are turning into fancy bricks – but there's a fix

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 16 June 25

According to a recent report, Apple Mac Mini models with the M2 chipset have been randomly bricking due to a critical power issue.

Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 2024) angled toward the camera on a wooden desk and white background.

A MacBook has just done something with 'Cyberpunk 2077' that it's never done before

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 15 June 25

Apple and CD Projekt Red showcased their hard work on the 'Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition' during WWDC last week. The game was demoed with frame rates hitting 120 FPS on Ultra settings.

Sony's rumored plan to "downgrade" PS5 performance might actually be genius — here's why

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 13 June 25

Those "nerf" rumors may not be as bad as they seem.

Sam Altman's vision is the stuff of my nightmares: "A significant fraction of the power on Earth should be spent running AI"

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 12 June 25

AMD CEO Lisa Su brought OpenAI's Sam Altman on stage during the Advancing AI 2025 keynote on Thursday, and one exchange from their brief chat now lives rent-free in my mind. For better or worse.

Asus ROG Strix G16 (G614FR) gaming laptop on a wooden desk against a gray background.

AMD claims its Fire Range X3D chip is the “fastest mobile gaming processor,” so we pitted it against some of Intel’s best to find out

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 12 June 25

AMD claims the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D is the “fastest mobile gaming processor,” but how does it actually hold up when compared to Intel’s Arrow Lake HX systems?

I used the Asus ROG Strix G16 for a week, and it may be the best value in gaming laptops right now

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 12 June 25

Editor's Choice

The Asus ROG Strix G16 features strong performance, solid Nvidia RTX 5070Ti graphics, a bouncy keyboard, plenty of ports, and a bright, vibrant IPS display.

Image showing two Nvidia GeForce RTX-powered laptops, highlighting the gaming and productivity potential of the company's GPUs.

Nvidia's N1X Geekbench scores are impressive, but can they top AMD and Intel? We compared the results.

By Madeline Ricchiuto published 11 June 25

Nvidia's rumored N1X APU leaked on the Geekbench 6 archives, indicating the chipset's performance. But how does it stack up against the best from AMD and Intel?

Sample images captured using the Opal Tadpole laptop webcam

The best webcams in 2025: The top picks, based on our real-world testing

By Rael Hornby last updated 11 June 25

Here are the best webcams to replace your laptops built-in camera. We've tested dozens of webcams to find the very best no matter your use case or budget.

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