The last time I touched a PC was 2014.

At the time, I’d just finished moving houses. While my old house had space for a desk and a fairly decent PC for its time, I opted for a smaller workstation because I was confident that laptops were the future.

Now, more than ten years later, I wish I didn’t dismiss PCs so readily. Thanks to AI, the price of a new PC has reached new levels of absurdity today. It’s not easy to stock up on components anymore.

So, it was like a very heavy blessing falling down from heaven and crash-landing on my lap when the ROG G700 arrived on my doorstep. It’s my first PC in over a decade, and, wow, what a return.

A box with everything you need

The art of building a PC takes a lot of effort these days. You’ll need a command over every little detail that every single component can do. Obviously, you also need to time the market for better prices.

That said, the ROG G700 is not for the minmaxers. It’s a fully built tower you can — gingerly — pick up from the shelf and play on just as soon as you get home.

It’s perfect for people like me. Now, if I had the time and the money, I’d definitely make a little more effort to explore every single detail. However, as someone returning to the PC world after a decade, this prebuilt PC is more than enough to dip my toes back into it.

It is quite the package, though. The tower is 9.45 inches wide by 20.05 inches long. It’s also 18.88 inches tall. If you have a small space, you might struggle to find a space for this behemoth.

Plus, it weighs 40.39 pounds. If you live up a flight of stairs, you’d better not skip leg day. Even then, it was scary to handle this tower, knowing how much hardware I was holding up a few feet from the ground.

A clean design for gamers

Usually, I’m not a fan of heavy gamer aesthetics. As much as I identify as a gamer, I prefer keeping that part of my identity lowkey from how I look. I don’t go for all the edgy angles and the RGB lighting.

But the ROG G700 is one exception to my rule. Even then, it’s not that huge of an exception.

The ROG G700 exudes that gamer aesthetic, but it’s still pretty clean. The chassis has subtle grilles that ease cooling. The main panel is transparent that peeks into a cleanly organized system with heavy ROG visuals. The brand’s logo is peppered throughout the system. The RGB lighting, though bright at times, was easy to get used to.

Personally, I liked how clean the internals are organized. It always hits the right part of my brain when I see something well put together.

Additionally, though it could use a tiny bit more, the G700 has an ample number of ports well situated at the back and up top. When I was setting everything up, I had enough space to make sure I didn’t end up with wire clutter. My workstation was clean at all times.

The 2026 machine

Now, let’s get into the performance. With the highest configuration, the ROG G700 goes up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, up to a 16GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 GPU, 32GB RAM, and 2TB of SSD storage. All thing considered, this is a very powerful machine for today’s world.

If you’re not down on particulars and just want something off the rack, this is more than enough. I tested the G700 on this year’s games like 007 First Light and Forza Horizon 6. Both games performed without a hitch. In fact, I appreciated both games a lot more than when I played them on older laptops. The graphics were absurdly crisp without sacrificing a smooth performance.

Also, as a hard multitasker, I love alt-tabbing even while I’m playing. While other setups usually complain, the G700 doesn’t really care. You can run a Twitch stream, play a YouTube video, or have Spotify open in the background, all while playing an intensive game. This is a machine that tells you to leave your worries at the front door because it can handle everything.

If anything, it can get too powerful. Despite the cooling system with a tri-fan intake, the tower still gets hot with heavy loads. After an hour on 007 First Light, my room started getting much warmer. Though you won’t get performance dips, all that heat is coming your way.

Is the ROG G700 your GadgetMatch?

As someone getting back into PCs, the ROG G700 is a powerful off-the-shelf prebuilt PC. Now, do you need all this hardware for day-to-day gaming? Probably not. But if you don’t want to worry if your rig can do certain things, get the ROG G700.

If you have the money, that is.

Being a powerful machine, the G700 comes with a hefty price tag. When it was launched, the machine started at PhP 179,995. Now, with prices of RAM steadily climbing, prices are likely higher today. Plus, you need good peripherals to maximize this PC, so expect to spend a lot more. Overall, it’s very expensive, but at least you’re getting your money’s worth on the investment.

For that, the ROG G700 gets a Swipe Right and a Super Swipe for being a powerful machine you can get today. It is, however, a Swipe Left if you’re looking for cheaper options that won’t break your bank.

It’s not every day that you come across a machine that looks good and plays even better. Oftentimes, subtle aesthetics take a back seat to sheer performance and power. Whenever a gaming machine looks sleeker, it seems to lack the power to push it forward. Simply put, you can’t have the best of both worlds these days.

But what if you could have it all? Not just money, fame, and other fortunes, but also a machine with everything you’re looking for! Gone are the days of wanting only power to keep you playing all day or wanting to look good while playing. On paper, this is what the HP OMEN Max 16 promises: the best of both worlds.

Unboxing a beast inside

When you first take it out of the box, the HP OMEN Max 16 looks unassuming in its overall design. It’s bulky yet sleek in its Shadow Black colorway, with nothing too fancy or flashy while powered down. From the outside, the machine screams premium, even though its dark color can attract more visible dirt than lighter finishes.

Opening it up reveals a 16-inch OLED display with a peak refresh rate of 240Hz, seamlessly connected to a base with a full-sized keyboard and a large trackpad. The bright, seemingly anti-glare display makes colors pop when watching or editing videos on the go.

Furthermore, HP places the ports in convenient spots along the rear and sides of the laptop. This makes it incredibly easy to set up and manage external peripherals while providing more room for ventilation under heavy loads.

Of course, the device’s biggest features lie in the hardware powering it from within. An Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, 32GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA RTX 5090 Laptop GPU should give you an idea of how well this machine can perform. It’s also a great combination for demanding productivity tasks and creative work!

Power that AI can only hope to replicate

The HP OMEN Max 16 lived up to many of our expectations in terms of performance. From startup to shutdown, it delivered on what its hardware promised. You can watch videos for longer, edit photos and videos to your heart’s content, and enjoy casual gaming without slowing down. Furthermore, the wide display gives you plenty of space to accommodate all these activities.

When you step up to more competitive gaming, the machine doesn’t miss a beat. Most titles deliver high frame rates regardless of the quality or performance settings you choose. With more advanced visual settings enabled, the RTX 5090 does a fantastic job of keeping supported games within a solid 40–50 FPS range. Pair it with a high-refresh-rate OLED display, and you get crisp details and faster input response to help you get ahead in ranked games all day long.

If there’s one thing to complain about, it’s the extra optimization required through the OMEN Gaming Hub. Features such as network prioritization, automatic power-mode switching, and system optimization are useful, but you’ll need to spend time configuring them during initial setup. The laptop also comes with OMEN AI, which promises to maximize FPS with a single click. However, it was only okay at best.

Runs longer, cools off smoother

Surely, a gaming laptop this bulky and powerful can’t last that long on battery, right? Well, the HP OMEN Max 16 averages around three hours of battery life during intensive gaming, which gives you a decent amount of playing time. For general use, battery life extends to around five and a half hours with Balanced power settings. It holds up reasonably well if you forget to bring your charger.

When you do have the massive 330W charger with you, charging doesn’t take too long either. During our tests, a full charge took two hours, with charging progressing slightly faster when we left the laptop idle. Charging the battery to 50% took around 20 minutes, giving you enough juice to squeeze in another game!

Another factor in prolonged use is how the device expels hot air through its sides and rear. We touched on this earlier, but it bears repeating: the laptop provides plenty of ventilation through its vapor chamber and multiple external vents. Instead of directing heat toward the keyboard, it pushes hot air through the vents, where it can hit your hands or peripherals. At least the keyboard stays cooler, right?

Is this your GadgetMatch?

At PHP 229,990, the HP OMEN Max 16 is a sleek-looking machine with incredible power under the hood. Despite its initial bulk, it delivers impressive performance for both casual and competitive gamers. Inside and out, it packs plenty of hardware and features to let you tailor the experience to your needs.

If you’re looking for a gaming laptop with decent battery life, this is a solid choice, but don’t expect it to last half a day. Of course, you wouldn’t use this machine entirely on its own, even if the unboxing experience might suggest otherwise.

Peripherals such as the HyperX Cloud Alpha Air and Solocast 2 Pro can further enhance the experience.

Overall, this is a Swipe Right for its features, performance, and premium design. However, if you don’t have an infinite money glitch to buy it right now, you’re better off saving up for this beast of a machine!

The vivo V80 is a capable midrange smartphone with a versatile camera system, excellent battery life, and a display that works well even in bright daylight. However, some camera quirks and its asking price give you a few things to think about.

vivo V80 specifications

A pretty face, but nothing fancy

The vivo V80’s design goes from “wow” when you first unbox it to subtly eye-catching the more you use it.

I used the phone primarily with a case, although I didn’t feel like I needed one. Overall, it has a plastic-like feel. Nothing I would call premium, but it doesn’t feel cheap either. It’s par for the course for a base-model midranger.

It’s light and easy to hold. I’d say it feels like your prototypical base-model midranger, just with a poppy back design.

A travel buddy with a few quirks

I took plenty of photos during my trip to Hanoi, Vietnam.

It’s worth noting that the phone received around three updates during my testing. Some of these included camera improvements. If there’s some unevenness in my experience and the resulting photos, I would attribute it to this.

Overall, though, the vivo V80 is a serviceable travel companion. I took plenty of food photos, and this is one of the few phones where I genuinely preferred Food Mode over the regular camera settings.

It made the many satisfying Vietnamese dishes I had during this trip look even more appetizing.

The camera can be quite hit or miss in certain lighting conditions. One thing I noticed is that it tends to brighten scenes more than I would like. My advice is to adjust exposure compensation between -1 and -3 when the situation calls for it. This can help keep scenes from looking too bright, but you don’t need to change the setting for every shot.

Beyond exposure issues, I also noticed considerable lag when opening the camera after the phone had been idle. There’s a noticeable wait before the camera app becomes usable.

This could mean missing the moment, which is crucial when taking photos. The solution is to stay ready, although a software patch to address this wouldn’t hurt.

Despite those two issues, I enjoyed taking photos with the vivo V80. More samples below.

Quaint little cafe

vivo Textured

I realized I was shooting mostly in Vivid mode so I tried textured for a while. Here are the results.

Best souvenir shop: Goi Gem

Portrait photography

Portraits weren’t my main focus during my time with the device. I only took four regular portrait shots while visiting a train-themed tourist attraction with some friends.

Lighting was a hit or miss here, too.

Time to talk games

Ha. Here we go.

I realized I can’t cop out anymore and keep saying I don’t play mobile games. To address this, I identified three games I would use in my smartphone reviews. Some may change from time to time.

Battle Cats was the most casual game I tried and probably the most fun I had playing. The phone had no trouble running it. The experience was smooth.

The same can be said about Asphalt Legends. Even when the graphics settings weren’t at their highest, the game still looked good and played well.

Wuthering Waves, meanwhile, defaulted to medium graphics settings. The game still looked decent, but you could already tell it could look better. The phone’s default settings prioritized a consistent and mostly lag-free experience. I wouldn’t push it beyond that.

I’m still on the lookout for mobile games I can include in these tests. Preferably, I’d like something that plays as simply as Battle Cats but offers peak graphical fidelity. I’m open to recommendations!

A screen that gets it right

Still Isa-holic after a few reviews

The vivo V80’s display is pretty darn good.

Even in broad daylight, I had no trouble seeing what was on the screen. I spent time at a cafe near a window in the early afternoon, watching STAYC Isa content and catching up on Doctor X: Mafia in White on Netflix.

I wanted to watch Merry Berry Love and see Imada Mio, too, but Disney+ wasn’t available in Vietnam during my trip. I settled for watching some trailers instead.

The display also performed well during gaming. I didn’t notice anything in particular that stood out, and I mean that in a good way. Everything looked and played as expected.

To me, that means the display technology worked to perfection. It delivered a clear, smooth experience without drawing attention to itself for the wrong reasons.

Two days? Maybe. One day? Absolutely

YES. Very dependable.

I had a hard time curating photos for this review because I took hundreds of them during my trip to Hanoi.

Between taking photos, testing games, doomscrolling, watching STAYC Isa content across different platforms, and catching up on shows like Doctor X: Mafia in White on Netflix, I never felt like I needed to find a plug or charge the phone in the middle of the day.

I typically ended the day with around 40–45% battery remaining. The vivo V80 can endure heavy days and likely more. Battery performance is excellent.

And you won’t feel like you’re away from the phone for too long when you finally need to charge it after a long day out. Topping it off takes roughly the time it takes to watch an episode and a half of anime, or about one episode of The Rookie. That’s around 30–40 minutes for a full charge.

The battery life and charging speeds are likely among the better ones in its class. Having both in a phone that’s relatively light and compact is quite a feat. I suppose this is the new normal for midrangers now.

OriginOS still feels a little offbeat

I’ve been using OriginOS sparingly for the last year or so. Something about it still feels offbeat to me.

Although, if you use phones from other Chinese manufacturers, you shouldn’t have too much difficulty adjusting. They all have subtle differences here and there, mostly in their icons and animations. However, the general feel will be familiar to most Android users.

Is the vivo V80 your GadgetMatch?

The vivo V80 is a good phone. It’s serviceable for mobile gaming, more than decent for everyday browsing and social media scrolling, mostly fantastic for taking photos, and capable of staying powered throughout all those activities.

The display is another highlight. It remains easy to see in bright daylight and delivers a smooth gaming experience without calling attention to itself. Meanwhile, the battery easily keeps up with heavy days of photography, gaming, and entertainment.

The kicker, like in most things, is usually the price.

Midrange phones have become harder to place of late. In a vacuum, they’re really good smartphones. But the asking price, which can be influenced by multiple factors, will give you pause.

The vivo V80 is listed at PhP 42,999 for the 8GB + 128GB model in the Philippines. In India, the same base storage configuration starts at INR 62,999. That’s quite a lot, especially for a smartphone that feels like it should be priced closer to its predecessor, which started at PhP 31,999.

It’s still a Swipe Right, but a shaky one at that. At this price point, I’m thinking I’d rather start saving up for a more premium smartphone. It’s easier to justify a higher price tag for something that performs excellently across the board and that I know I’ll use for years.