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What makes the Mac Mini a great computer?
When Apple released a refreshed Mac Mini last year, it had been four years since the last iteration. The 2018 update kept the same sleek unibody but included significant spec boots like an eighth-gen Intel processor and a variety of ports (ethernet, 3.5mm headphone jack, full-size HDMI, four USB-C and two USB-3.0 Type-A). The Mac Mini performs tasks quickly and is easy to customize, but also expensive to upgrade and it also lacks a dedicated GPU. Reviewer Christopher Schodt "liked the machine" but admitted that its drawbacks make it useful for only a limited number of people. He handed the 2018 model a respectable score of 80; users gave it an average score of 76.
How would you rate Apple's newest AirPods?
The original Airpods from 2016 had issues with sound quality and fit, but the second generation packed in a few upgrades, including a H1 chipset that bolstered Bluetooth connection speeds and a wireless charging case. In his review Senior Editor Chris Velazco also approved of the new Airbuds' consistent wireless performance and extended battery life. However, the upgrades were not enough to wow Chris entirely; he still thought the earbuds lacked audio quality and a truly comfortable fit.
The Roomba i7+ is a step forward for home robots
The 2018 release of the Roomba i7+ marked a turning point for iRobot. Finally, the company offered a feature they'd long requested: A vacuum capable of emptying itself without intervention from its human owner. The i7+ also provided users like reviewer Devindra Hardawar with quieter, yet still exceptional cleaning performance and accurate room mapping software. However, these sought-after features came with a premium price tag of $1,100, dropping the vacuum's Engadget score to 87. User reviewers, who tend to judge more harshly, gave the Roomba i7+ an average score of 77.
Is Samsung's Galaxy S10+ a superb flagship?
Reviews Editor Cherlynn Low had a lot of good things to say about Samsung's flagship Galaxy S10+ when it hit the market back in March. There was its big, beautiful HDR10+ display, a cleaner UI, impressive battery life, an upgraded camera software and the ability to wirelessly charge compatible devices. But it also included an inconsistent fingerprint sensor, lousy AR emoji and one of the less popular digital assistants, Bixby. Overall, Cherlynn favored the hardware over the software and gave the Galaxy S10+ a top-notch score of 91.
Is Google’s Nest Hub worth your $129?
Last October's release of the Nest Hub (neé Home Hub) wasn't Google's first foray into smart displays -- the company had already released the Home, Home Max and the Home Mini. They were all solid, if not outstanding, hits with reviewers. The Nest Hub earned praise from Senior Editor Nicole Lee for the premium feel of the fabric finish, the substitution of an ambient EQ light sensor for a camera, and for how it worked (fairly) seamlessly with other Google products, including the Nest Hello doorbell.
Readers tell us why the OnePlus 6T has earned so many fans
When Senior Editor Richard Lai reviewed the OnePlus 6T, new features like its distinct dewdrop notch and in-display fingerprint reader stood out to him. As the company's first offering through a US carrier and the successor to the popular OnePlus 6, the device had a lot to live up to. But it came with some trade-offs. While the 6T maintained a premium build and powerful Snapdragon 845 chipset, it ditched the headphone jack and offered some weak haptic feedback. Richard awarded the 6T an overall score of 89 (two points less than he gave the OnePlus 6). User reviewers, who tend to score more harshly, gave the 6T an average score of 84.
Tell us your best memories of the NES
This week, Nintendo announced an updated version of the Switch. Meanwhile, one of its oldest consoles celebrated its thirty-sixth birthday. The Nintendo Entertainment System was released on July 15th, 1983 and went on to sell over 61 million units worldwide in its lifespan, thrilling multiple generations of kids and adults with 8-bit graphics in titles like Super Mario Bros. and the Legend of Zelda.
What did the Nintendo 3DS mean to you?
With this week's announcement of Nintendo's new Switch Lite console, we've been thinking about the handheld that preceded it: The Nintendo 3DS, a successor to the wildly popular DS that took the dual screen and added the ability to display games in 3D -- without glasses. When Engadget reviewed the first model of the 3DS, it hit big with its satisfying clamshell design, circle pad thumb slider and 320 x 240 touchscreen. Reviewer Tim Stevens found the 3D gameplay a bit finicky but a nice enhancement to the graphics quality in titles like Ridge Racer 3 and Face Raiders.
Engadget readers love the iPad Pro 12.9
The word that Senior Editor Chris Velazco used to sum up his experience reviewing the iPad Pro 12.9 was "wow." While the ever popular tablet offers sleek hardware, an "absurdly fast" A12X Bionic chipset and a significantly improved Apple Pencil, it still lacks features on the software side that would have made it a realistic laptop replacement. Despite its speedy performance, Chris felt limited by iOS 12's abilities and continually needed work arounds to accomplish tasks that would have been simple on a laptop. While the iPad Pro 12.9 is an "impressive technical achievement," Chris ultimately wanted more from the software side and gave the tablet a solid, but not spectacular, score of 84. Users were actually more disappointed by iOS 12, awarding the device an average score of 78.
Is the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Microsoft's biggest Surface Pro rival?
When reviews editor Cherlynn Low spent some time with Samsung's Galaxy Book 2 back in October, she determined that the brilliant display, long-lasting battery and LTE connectivity made a compelling argument for owning the tablet. While it would make an ideal device for people who value a hearty battery and do most of their work in a browser, the performance of the Snapdragon 850 processor was sometimes frustratingly sluggish. A sturdy magnesium body with a built-in kickstand, included S Pen and a keyboard helped compensate for the performance issues, with the Galaxy Book 2 earning a decent score of 83.
How much did you love your Sega Dreamcast?
It's been over 20 years since Sega released its final console. Loved by many for its stellar lineup of games like Shenmue and Sonic Adventure, the Dreamcast was the first system to include a built-in modem for online play. And then there were its distinct, spaceship-shaped controller and unique Visual Memory Unit for saving your games. Though Engadget wasn't around to review the Dreamcast when it was released, dozens of users have left scores and reviews for the console on its product page over the years. From calling it "highly innovative for its time" and being "awed by its graphics and performance," users largely seem to feel nostalgic and affectionate towards the obsolete game system, which currently has an average score of 80.
Why is the PlayStation Classic so unpopular?
Given the popularity of other nostalgic throwbacks like the NES and SNES Classic consoles, it's easy to see what Sony was trying to do when they released the PlayStation Classic in December. Devindra Hardawar even pointed out in his review that the system was "a quick attempt by Sony to cash in on the micro-console trend." While the Classic did have a decent look and feel, the 20 game selection was unlikely to satisfy fans, the controllers lacked DualShock and the inclusion of the PAL versions of some titles was baffling. These disappointments -- and an initial price point of $100 -- were enough to push the console's score down to 67.
What do you think of the Radeon VII graphics card?
A cousin of AMD's Instinct M150 gaming card, the Radeon VII was released in February with an eyebrow-raising asking price of $699. In his review, Christopher Schodt commended the card's speed, 16GB of HBM2 memory and performance during graphics testing. The first card built on a 7nm manufacturing process, the Radeon VII was clearly intended to compete with NVIDIA's RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti. However, it wasn't always faster than those NVIDIA cards.
Geek out over the NVIDIA RTX 2080 or 2080 Ti
It's been almost a year since editor Devindra Hardawar reviewed NVIDIA's RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti, and they've since become staples for 4K gaming or consumers dipping their toes into real time ray tracing. Though the RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti were much more expensive than the previous generation of NVIDIA GPUs, they claimed excellent gaming performance (beyond 60 fps in the case of the RTX 2080 Ti) and excelled at keeping the system cool (with both cards warming to 81 degrees Celsius). The GPUs earned Engadget Scores of 85 and 86 respectively, but haven't yet received any user reviews on their product pages.
Nintendo fans take another look at the Switch
After two years with the Nintendo Switch, a few things still manage to impress editor Devindra Hardawar, like how flexible the system is mobile or docked, or the way those shareable Joy-Cons pull everyone into the experience. In re-examining his review, Devindra said that a larger selection of titles, improved online service and the durability of the hardware had changed his overall perspective on the device. We ended up raising the score on the Switch from 84 to 88. However, users were a little more implacable (and perhaps less likely to update their write-ups), leading to an average score of 81 from our readers.
Is the latest Mac Mini a worthy challenger?
When Engadget video producer Chris Schodt reviewed the new Mac Mini back in November, it had been four years since the previous model was released. The 2018 upgrade includes an eighth-generation Intel processor and a plethora of ports in a space gray recycled aluminum body, all of which make for a polished and flexible machine. However, Chris thought the lack of a dedicated GPU was a big miss here, particularly for the sort of pro users Apple was trying to court.
Rotten Tomatoes will verify ticket buyers for audience ratings
Rotten Tomatoes has revealed its latest effort at fending off trolls who send user ratings on a movie plummeting before anyone has even seen it. A new-look Audience Score includes ratings from those who can prove they bought tickets for a film. These verified ratings will be the default Audience Score on a movie's page, though you can toggle to a score that includes non-verified ticket buyers by clicking a "more info" option.
Our readers review the Samsung Galaxy Note 9
Our review of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was largely positive; reviewer Cherlynn Low found the handset impressive, calling it "one of the best phones of the year." With a "brilliant display," hearty battery life and speedy performance, the Note 9 did plenty to earn its lofty score of 92. Our December call for readers to submit their own reviews of the Note 9 also produced impressive results: We saw nearly 120 new scores and reviews for the flagship phone, most of them agreeing with Cherlynn. But they also tended to be harsher about the phone's shortcomings, resulting in an average user score of 87.
Here’s what our readers think of the Google Pixel 3 and 3XL
With last year's release of the Pixel 3 and 3 XL Google answered the call of competing smartphones by adding some significant software upgrades, and subtle hardware changes, to its flagship line-up. Aside from the addition of the controversial notch to the XL, the Pixel's body didn't change much from previous iterations; the company also switched to a glass back and provided a full HD+ HDR screen. Indeed, most of the real developments were on the software side. While these were substantial enough to wow reviewer Cherlynn Low and earn the phones scores of 90 and 89 respectively, users were less enthusiastic.
Did you buy the most recent MacBook Air? Tell us what you think.
When Apple unveiled a new Macbook Air last October, we wasted no time in putting the long-awaited refresh through its paces. While the new machine includes an upgraded "butterfly" keyboard, a Touch ID sensor and a Retina display with thinner bezels, it has markedly less inputs than the previous generation: just two USB-C and a headphone jack (no SD card reader in sight, sigh). Although the dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM and 128GB SSD were more than enough for most day-to-day tasks, we were careful not to make a one-size-fits-all recommendation. After all, the new Air is about the same price as the entry-level MacBook Pro, which packs more power, albeit no fingerprint sensor.
