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

DJI Power 1000 and DJI Power Expansion Battery 2000 charging at home

Who needs wall sockets? DJI's powerful new expansion battery lands to give you an 11kWh setup for charging drones and more

By Darren Allan published

The DJI Power Expansion Battery 2000 is here, and you can daisy-chain loads of them together – for an eye-watering price.

An imagined RTX 4090 against a black background

Desperate to see Nvidia’s RTX 5090? A graphics card maker rep just accidentally revealed that next-gen flagship GPU will be unveiled at CES 2025

By Darren Allan published

The rumor mill seems increasingly sure that the RTX 5090 will muscle onto the graphics card scene at CES 2025.

An Intel Arc A770 on a desk with a pink mat underneath

Intel Battlemage GPUs could hit shelves on December 12 – but price rumors are worrying some PC gamers

By Darren Allan published

Battlemage graphics cards might be revealed on December 3 and on sale the following week.

People lost in the woods, searching for help, hand holding mobile phone without cellular coverage, searching for the service or signal

The end of ‘dead zones’? Starlink’s direct-to-cell satellite service passes big milestone

By Darren Allan published

Get your texts from space (sort of) as first satellite operator and cellular network collaboration is approved in the US.

The corner of the Samsung S32G80SD.

Fastest ever OLED gaming monitor from Samsung could hit 500Hz, outgunning LG and rivals – if you can wait six months or so

By Darren Allan published

Samsung rumored to unleash world’s fastest OLED monitor – 27-inch 1440p screen runs at a blistering 500Hz.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Are you a Call of Duty cheater? Watch out – AI is coming for you, as Activision boasts of 19,000 bans from ranked play with Black Ops 6

By Darren Allan published

Ricochet, the anti-cheat system for Call of Duty games, is being ramped up using AI.

A Microsoft Surface Laptop being shown at Microsoft's Copilot Plus PC Showcase

Windows 11 Recall is misbehaving in testing, and the fix for the biggest issue is an age-old favorite: turn it off, then back on again

By Darren Allan published

Microsoft suggests a true old chestnut – the one you should never contact IT support without trying first.

Three Intel Arc A580 cards against a blue dotted background

Intel Battlemage GPU spotted in benchmark – chill out, PC gamers, there’s no need to panic over that leaked B580 core count

By Darren Allan published

Intel will have to ensure that the B580’s spec makes sense, and pricing will count for a lot, too.

Intel Core Ultra processor

Is Intel about to turn Arrow Lake CPUs around? Leak suggests ‘big changes’ are coming for Core Ultra 200 chips

By Darren Allan published

Rumored changes could pep up Intel’s ailing Core Ultra 200 range – but we’ve got a feeling AMD won’t be overly worried (yet).

A frustrated looking girl playing a video game

Windows 11 24H2’s latest bugs are proving a nightmare for PC gamers (again) and are stopping some Dell laptops from shutting down

By Darren Allan published

PC gamers, watch out for Windows 11 24H2, as serious issues crop up with popular Ubisoft games.

Happy PC gamer shows heart sign with hands

Microsoft could tempt PC gamers away from Chrome with nifty new ‘Game Assist’ mode for its Edge browser

By Darren Allan published

Windows 11 gamers can use this new mode to get easy and convenient access to guides and tips while playing a game.

man annoyed at laptop

Windows 11 gets more adverts – and we’re not sure what’s going on with the latest ads, but they’re rather bewildering

By Darren Allan published

Microsoft tries to persuade you to make some unlikely purchases in a new spin on Windows 11 adverts.

An Nvidia RTX 4090 in its retail packaging

Nvidia RTX 5090 and 5080 GPUs again rumored for CES – but suggestion the RTX 5080 could be positioned as a ‘professional’ GPU might worry PC gamers

By Darren Allan published

Are we looking at close to 20% to 25% price hikes for the top two Nvidia Blackwell graphics cards?

OpenAI

A Chrome-killing browser will be OpenAI's next big shot at Google, according to a new report

By Darren Allan published

Not content with challenging Google’s core search business, it seems OpenAI wants to take down Chrome, too. Ouch.

A young woman is working on a laptop in a relaxed office space.

Can’t uninstall or update your Microsoft Store apps? Weird Windows 10 bug has just been fixed, thankfully

By Darren Allan published

Ever had Windows 10 insist that you can’t remove an app? This has happened to some people, but fortunately, there’s a fix.

RTX 4070 Ti held by a masculine hand

RTX 5070 Ti leak suggests Nvidia has a powerful GPU up its sleeve that uses the same chip as the RTX 5080

By Darren Allan published

We’re now hearing chatter from the grapevine about another possible next-gen GPU from Nvidia – could we see the RTX 5070 Ti as soon as CES 2025?

A woman sitting in a chair looking at a Windows 11 laptop

Windows 11 24H2 gets a more streamlined taskbar and some much-needed bug fixes in Microsoft’s latest update

By Darren Allan published

New update for Windows 11 24H2 adds polish to the taskbar, Start menu, File Explorer and more besides.

An annoyed looking woman sitting at a desk and using a laptop

Bing Wallpaper app arrives on Microsoft Store in Windows 11, and it’s free – but there could be hidden costs here

By Darren Allan published

If the online chatter about the app is correct, you should steer clear of Bing Wallpaper and use Windows Spotlight instead.

Windows 10 Logo on Laptop

Microsoft is again nagging Windows 10 users to buy a new machine – a Copilot+ PC to be precise, for the ‘ultimate Windows 11 experience’

By Darren Allan published

Windows 10 users are being hit with a full-screen nag telling them to ‘level up’ and upgrade to Windows 11 on a Copilot+ PC.

The Audio-Technica ATH-SQ1TW2 in green held in a hand, with a subway platform in the background

Audio-Technica warns of overheating issue with its new cheap wireless earbuds that ‘can produce smoke’

By Darren Allan published

If you have a model in one of the affected batches, don’t use your charging case, and contact Audio-Technica ASAP.

A pair of Intel Arc Alchemist chips in front of a dark purple background

Intel isn’t giving up on desktop graphics cards after Battlemage, as rumor claims 3rd-gen Celestial GPUs are still coming

By Darren Allan published

Celestial isn’t canceled, apparently – Intel will still be taking the fight to AMD and Nvidia with 3rd-gen Arc desktop GPUs.

Render of a new RTX 4000 Max-Q gaming laptop.

Nvidia RTX 4050 could be the ‘Terminator GPU’ of this laptop generation that refuses to die when the RTX 5050 arrives

By Darren Allan published

Nvidia rumored to be keeping RTX 4050 laptop GPU to sit under RTX 5050 when it arrives – so will this help with cheaper gaming laptops?

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook with touchscreen

Google might have a radical plan to beat Apple’s iPad – turn ChromeOS into Android and take over the tablet world

By Darren Allan published

Some new rumors suggest that Google is planning to transform ChromeOS into Android – which could be a big deal for the tablet world.

Upset young man plays computer games at home.

Windows 11 24H2 is plagued by more bugs, including weird installation failures and crashes hitting PC gamers

By Darren Allan published

Some Windows 11 24H2 users are reporting more troublesome glitches at the hands of the latest update for November.

An Intel Arc A750 graphics card on a pink desk mat next to its retain packaging

Intel’s next-gen Arc B580 spotted, backing up rumors of a December launch for Battlemage GPUs

By Darren Allan published

Leak about packaging for Battlemage B580 is a hopeful hint the budget GPU we desperately need could arrive soon.

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