Retaining tempo with the tech and developments of the PC world is our job. We do it as a result of we love these things, and since we love sharing what we study with you. So, the enjoyment of gathering with our colleagues, locked away in a room with ‘don’t disturb’ taped to the door for 2 days to debate the 12 months that’s been and choose what shone the brightest is just about the spotlight of our tech 12 months.
Crew TechRadar gathered up our associates from APC , PC Gamer and PC PowerPlay for this job, as we all the time do. We mentioned each little bit of tech and kit we’d seen in 2024, not all the time agreeing at first, however well-reasoned debate led us to being fairly certain that the winners right here actually are deserving.
Throughout 25 classes protecting every little thing vital inside a PC, and what connects to it, we got here up with 173 finalists and, from that, 25 winners. Right here they’re, the cream of the crop for the 12 months, the most effective we reckon there may be. Possibly you already personal one thing we preferred right here, and maybe you’re on the lookout for one thing new – both approach we hope this checklist is inspirational and helpful.
Congratulations to all of the people behind the scenes in any respect the businesses coated right here. You’re doing an amazing job – stick with it!
(Picture credit score: Future)
What are the Australian PC Awards?
Our awards cowl all the principle classes that have an effect on a PC, in addition to our particular awards:
Excellence Award : Offered to the particular person, product or know-how that superior the PC greater than some other in 2024.
Gold Award : For the most effective total firm working within the PC area for 2024. This checklist contains each one of many finalists throughout all the opposite classes – and has been rigorously thought-about by our knowledgeable panel of judges.
And naturally there have to be steadiness with all issues, which leads us to this 12 months’s Epic Fail Award . Might essentially the most dismal failure win!
Australian PC Awards Winners 2025
The 12 months in overview: Motherboards
After a giant 2023, motherboard producers spent 2024 increasing their choices for AMD Zen 5 and Intel ’s 14th-gen CPUs. On 24 October, the much-anticipated Intel Arrow Lake (Core Extremely Sequence 2) launched, together with an all-new chipset and socket. Whereas the Intel CPUs themselves had been a disappointment, the Z890 chipset launched a number of thrilling upgrades, like elevated RAM pace and additional PCIe 5.0 lanes.
The benefits of upgrading to a brand new motherboard had been considerably tempered by the brand new LGA 1851 socket and the shortage of a promise that it might stay suitable with future CPUs. On the plus facet, most present LGA 1700 coolers nonetheless match. Regardless of this, motherboard producers stepped up, with a variety of wonderful Z890 boards accessible at launch – even when not many individuals wished to improve.
We additionally noticed many producers launch actually ultra-high-end fashions, in addition to some attention-grabbing improvements, like back-connected motherboards. Even the reasonably priced boards obtained additional consideration, with loads of finances fashions providing specs that compete nicely within the decrease mid-range.
Finest Motherboard Maker
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Worth Motherboard
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Premium Motherboard
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
The 12 months in overview: GPUs
2024 was a really quiet 12 months, with the 2 essential gamers not launching a brand new graphics structure we’re doomed to refreshes and minor updates. And that’s what we obtained from Nvidia within the type of the RTX 4000 Tremendous collection refresh. The 4080 Tremendous didn’t actually enhance efficiency however did not less than assist pricing for the then very overpriced half it outdated. With the 4070 / Ti Supers barely nudging the bar larger, it made the refresh really feel somewhat ho-hum.
AMD didn’t do a lot better with simply the RX 7600 XT and RX 7900 GRE launching. The GRE not less than made prospects assume with its moderately compelling price-to-performance ratio.
As an alternative, it was Intel that breathed recent air into the ecosystem on the finish of the 12 months with the launch of its Battlemage structure within the Arc B580. Providing strong 1440p efficiency and very good pricing it was shortly heralded because the entry degree GPU saviour we’ve been ready for. Although its driver overhead flaws and lack of availability quickly marred its status and in the end made our selection for winner tougher than it in any other case would have.
Finest Graphics Card Maker
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Graphics Card
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
The 12 months in overview: CPUs
It was a busy 12 months for brand new CPUs. We had a really hyped-up launch for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite which got here out swinging providing unprecedented ranges of battery life, however in the end, driver help and incompatibilities quickly wore away all the great press they recieved. AMD had a giant fizzle of a second with its Ryzen 9000 collection desktop chips that for the common Joe didn’t supply rather more than the 7000 collection. To not be outdone within the disappointment division, Intel launched its Core Extremely 200 collection, one of many few the place there’s been efficiency regressions in comparison with earlier choices!
Intel did higher with its Arrow Lake laptop computer collection launch providing good efficiency, higher iGPU uplifts and nice battery life, although AMD’s new APU’s tended to impress a tad extra total.
Apple , in fact, continued to iterate with the brand new M4 collection although it looks as if Apple’s builders are working out of steam in comparison with everybody else.
The good points over earlier generations this 12 months appeared very small and relatively disappointing on the entire, with enormous battery life and energy utilization enhancements seeming to be the principle title of the sport this 12 months.
Finest worth CPU
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Mid-range CPU
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Premium CPU
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
The 12 months in overview: Storage
Retaining your knowledge protected whereas with the ability to entry it shortly is the beat that drums steadily onwards. Regardless of having been accessible for a few years now, the fast new PCIe 5.0 commonplace nonetheless lags behind PCIe 4.0 in reputation. The newer gen 5 drives are nonetheless costly by comparability, warmth stays a problem – resulting in typically impractically massive warmth sinks and even energetic cooling – and for most individuals PCIe 4 is a lot quick sufficient. Serving to preserve gen 4 SSDs price-competitive is the ever-growing marketplace for PlayStation 5 user-upgraded SSDs.
Onerous drives nonetheless exist, which is about all we are able to say about them. In mid-2024 Seagate debuted a 24TB drive, which is meant for enterprise and NAS use. Talking of NAS – for the second 12 months working these awards don’t embody a NAS class. As soon as upon a time we might see a number of new shopper NAS merchandise every year, however the scene is desolate now, which we interpret as earlier NAS fashions capable of do the house job completely adequately, and a shift in focus to enterprise for the large gamers like Synology and QNAP.
Finest Inner Storage Maker
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Exterior Storage Maker
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
The 12 months in overview: Methods
After a gradual begin, 2024 turned out to be an thrilling 12 months for laptops, with a variety of recent CPUs and product redesigns that felt genuinely recent and progressive. The Snapdragon X Elite impressed with its efficiency however struggled to promote, whereas the newest Ryzen 9 AI chips had been delightfully highly effective however tended to run scorching in slim laptops. In a contented shock, Intel’s Lunar Lake cell CPUs discovered their approach into a few of our favorite laptops of the 12 months.
We noticed pleasant 120Hz OLED shows on even very reasonably priced machines, USB4 and Thunderbolt are commonplace fare, however upgradeable RAM is more and more uncommon. Maybe feeling the stress, Apple lastly bid farewell to 8GB of RAM, making 16GB the default for MacBooks – and, maybe most surprisingly, they didn’t increase costs. In the meantime, Microsoft constructed some nice laptops and 2-in-1s, however its heavy-handed push for Copilot+ was painful to look at.
Gaming laptops noticed few {hardware} modifications over 2024, that includes the identical GPUs and barely upgraded CPUs, however impressed because of improved shows, refined cooling programs and nice worth from the mid-range 4060 fashions. On the desktop entrance, programs confronted challenges from fluctuating GPU costs, and many homeowners of Thirteenth- and 14th-gen Intel CPUs discovered themselves regretting not choosing AMD. Mini desktop PCs gained reputation, largely because of AMD’s CPUs – and even Apple joined the enjoyable with the M4-equipped Mac Mini.
Finest Worth Laptop computer or 2-in-1
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Premium Laptop computer or 2-in-1
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Gaming Laptop computer
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Desktop PC Maker & Reseller
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
The 12 months in overview: Elements and Peripherals
That is by far the most important class in these Awards, and understandably so. By means of the 12 months we noticed a resurgence within the reputation of CPU air coolers, pushed by a number of new coolers that come extraordinarily near liquid AIO coolers at a fraction of the value – and are a lot much less of a fiddle to put in.
Displays proceed to be a hotbed of innovation, with QD OLED main the best way. Selection in display screen measurement and side ratio continues to increase. Ultrawide gaming screens fill the market now, with 49in screens showing from most producers.
Keyboards proceed to supply extra, for extra money, with super-premium fashions now frequently exceeding AU$500, and DIY package boards additionally gaining floor.
Case developments are firmly shifting in the direction of the ‘aquarium’ type, which makes use of a glass entrance panel, a design popularised by Hyte and picked up on by nearly each different case maker. Wooden can be the brand new cool look, and we’re good with that.
Wi-Fi 7 continues to choose up steam, although pricing continues to be conserving routers out of attain for a lot of properties. Motherboard help for Wi-Fi 7 is now widespread, so we hope that can assist the drive in the direction of extra Wi-Fi routers at decrease costs.
Finest Reminiscence Maker
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Cooling Product
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Monitor
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Keyboard
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Mouse
All Finalists
Finest Gaming Headset
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest PC Case
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Finest Router
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Excellence Award
For the particular person, product or know-how that superior the PC greater than some other, in 2024.
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Gold Award
The corporate that impressed us essentially the most, total, in 2024.
All Finalists
Epic Fail Award
The largest loser of 2024.
Extremely Recommended
All Finalists
Final 12 months’s winners
See who gained final 12 months right here!