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Announcing the 2026 TechRadar Australian PC Awards finalists

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By Contributions from published

We reveal the gear that got shortlisted as the best in every category!

APCA 2026 purple logo
(Image credit: Future)
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Now more than ever, Australians need expert guidance to help navigate the world of technology. Choosing tech you can trust is critical in this fast-moving world, where products and pricing are evolving rapidly. For anyone that uses a PC – be it a desktop, laptop or tablet, and whether that’s for gaming, creating or productivity – any investment in new gear today needs to be well informed.

To meet that need, the team has expanded the annual TechRadar Australian PC Awards to include more major tech products than ever before. Now covering 40 categories, the experts that actually test the gear have rated the products and services from the past year and singled out the very best of the best.

From PCs and all the essential components that go inside them, to everything that connects to a PC including monitors, keyboards, mice and headphones, through to exciting new tech like handheld gaming PCs and essential services like the best NBN for every type of user – we’ve highlighted the devices and services we reckon Australians should consider above the rest.

What's new this year?

To cover every base that matters to you, we've added 13 new categories to the TechRadar Australian PC Awards!

Among these are all-new Internet awards, covering the best NBN provider for Budget, High-speed and Gaming, as well as the best NBN provider overall. The Australian TechRadar team has enormous experience in testing and rating the best NBN deals on offer, and the winners they've picked will bring you the performance and value you expect.

We've also gone deep into adding more monitor categories, as this is one of the most popular PC products on TechRadar and the pace of change in display tech is incredible. Now, we have awards for the best in Everyday monitor, alongside Gaming and screens for Creators and Professionals.

We've added more components to the Awards too, and refined a few existing awards to be more relevant today.

Antivirus and complete Security Suites is another new addition. Once again, the TechRadar team knows its stuff and covers PC, Mac and mobile security year-round.

Our mission is to help you choose the best gear and services for your life, whether for business or pleasure, and we reckon we have more experience and expertise than anyone else to do just that! These Awards leverage the combined knowledge of the Future Publishing network, which brings together the experts in every area that of technology that matters.

Here they are – The TechRadar 2026 Australian PC Awards finalists!

Where possible, we've linked to the most relevant online coverage from across the Future network for each finalist, to help you find out more about why we like them so much.

APCA 2026 motherboards

(Image credit: Future)

Finalists: Best motherboard maker

Finalists: Best AMD motherboard

Finalists: Best Intel motherboard

APCA 2026 graphics

(Image credit: Future)

Finalists: Best graphics card maker

Finalists: Best budget graphics card

Finalists: Best premium graphics card

APCA 2026 CPU

(Image credit: Future)

Finalists: Best budget CPU

  • AMD Ryzen 200 series
  • AMD Ryzen 5 9600
  • AMD Ryzen 5 9500F
  • AMD Ryzen 7 7500X3D
  • AMD Ryzen 5 5600F
  • Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor 245
  • Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor 235
  • Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor 225
  • Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor 225F
  • Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor 235U

Finalists: Best mid-range CPU

  • AMD Ryzen 7 9700F
  • AMD Ryzen Al 7 350
  • Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 265
  • Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 265H
  • AMD Ryzen Al Max 385

Finalists: Best premium CPU

  • AMD Ryzen Al Max+ 395
  • AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
  • AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9995WX
  • AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D
  • Intel Core Ultra 9 Processor 285
  • Intel Core Ultra 9 Processor 285HX

APCA 2026 storage

(Image credit: Future)

Finalist: Best internal storage maker

Finalists: Best external storage maker

Finalists: Best NAS

APCA 2026 laptops

(Image credit: Future)

Finalists: Best budget laptop or 2-in-1

Finalists: Best premium laptop or 2-in-1

Finalists: Best gaming laptop

APCA

(Image credit: Future)

Finalists: Best desktop PC

Finalists: Best handheld

Finalists: Best tablet

Finalists: Best retailer for PC enthusiasts

APCA 2026 components

(Image credit: Future)

Finalists: Best memory maker

Finalists: Best air cooling product

Finalists: Best AIO cooling product

APCA 2026 monitors

(Image credit: Future)

Finalists: Best monitor maker

Finalists: Best productivity monitor

Finalists: Best gaming monitor

Finalists: Best creator/pro monitor

APCA peripherals

(Image credit: Future)

Finalists: Best keyboard

Finalists: Best mouse

Finalists: Best gaming headset

Finalists: Best case

Finalists: Best router

APCA 2026 internet

(Image credit: Future)

Finalists: Best NBN Provider: Overall

Finalists: Best NBN Provider: Budget

Finalists: Best NBN Provider: High-speed

Finalists: Best NBN Provider: Gaming

Finalists: Best Security Suite

APCA 2026 excellence

(Image credit: Future)

For the person, product or technology that advanced the PC more than any other in 2025.

Finalists: Excellence

  • Gabe Newell: Not selling out
  • AI everywhere: For better or worse...
  • Intel Arc B-series (Battlemage): An actually competitive GPU alternative to Nvidia and AMD
  • AMD Radeon RX 9000 series: Made mid-range GPUs interesting again
  • Valve: Steam OS is advancing Linux gaming in huge strides. Microsoft is worried
  • AMD Strix Halo: One of the best mobile chips in years
  • MSI: Project Zero made cable-hiding stealth boards a success
  • Nvidia: Never gave up on CUDA, now it drives most AI
  • ARM: Slowly but surely taking on every kind of processing
  • QD OLED: High refresh rate, high PPI, falling cost

APCA 2026 gold

(Image credit: Future)

The company that impressed us the most, overall, over the past year

Finalists: Gold

Every company that has a product or service that was selected as a finalist in this year's Awards is automatically in the running for the prestigious Gold Award.

In addition, the editorial team may give the Gold Award to a company that is not a finalist here, but that we feel deserves the big prize. The Gold winner – along with all other TechRadar 2026 Australian PC Awards winners – will be announced on March 15th!

APCA 2026 epic fail

(Image credit: Future)

Finalists: Epic fail

  • Apple: Apple Intelligence is the gift that keeps on not giving
  • AI: Overpromising and under-delivering for the consumer, causing the RAM apocalypse. AI slop. Grok deepfakes. And more...
  • Borderlands 4: Game runs poorly but Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said it's "pretty damn optimised", "Use DLSS. It's great".
  • Cloudflare outage: Wiped many websites and services offline. Too much of the internet is dependant on it!
  • Intel: Still hasn't properly dealt with Raptor Lake issues
  • Memory shortage and price surge: AI driven insanity
  • Meta AI stage fail: Zuck's glasses failed to work live on stage
  • Micron/Crucial: Abandoning consumers at their time of need
  • Microsoft: Multiple windows update fails, Agentic AI integration, efforts to kill Windows 10, including updates that brick your SSD!
  • Nvidia: RTX 5000 series launch, melty connectors 2.0, crappy drivers, outrageous pricing
  • Optus 000 outages: People died, nuff said
Ben Mansill
Ben Mansill
Editor - APC, PC PowerPlay and Australian T3

Ben Mansill is the Editor of APC, PC PowerPlay and Australian T3 at Future Publishing Australia. He is a consumer technology editor and writer with three decades of experience at the senior editorial level. Ben was the founding editor of the groundbreaking and wildly successful PC PowerPlay and Atomic magazines. Ben also spent five years as Editor of PC Authority magazine.

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