The lowdown on the must-have hardware of 2023 across all major product categories
Updated: Apr 9, 2024 5:23 pm
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Another year rolls by and with it a great many exceptional releases in the world of PC hardware and tech. With the years of the pandemic behind us, 2023 felt more like a return to normality for much of the sector, in terms of pricing and availability of many products. Most products released were improvements on an existing template, rather then huge innovations, but value for money for the end consumer did improve across multiple sectors as brands adapted to the stresses of inflation upon our wallets. There was at least one major seismic event in the year though that caused a big splash – read on for all the details!
WePC Best of 2023 – categories
The WePC team has had the pleasure of testing a whole range of ‘next-generation’ gear, and the results are in! As is often the case, some categories were very challenging to pick an out and out winner for, whereas in others the leader of the pack couldn’t be clearer. Take a look below for all our selections.
Brand of the year:
“Nvidia’s developments in AI tech in 2023 have impacted the world in ways we’re only just beginning to understand. These revolutionary developments will help bring about massive shifts towards automation, and change the face of numerous business sectors forever.”
2023 was the year that Nvidia’s big push on AI technology came into its own and started seeing mass adoption. Although it wouldn’t be until Q1 2024 that this was reflected in the share price of the company (which exploded to an increase of 80% by early March), it was the features introduced the previous year that made this possible.
DGX Cloud allowed companies previously priced out of their AI supercomputing to access it via web browser, AI Foundations helped them create custom generative AI models, and various hardware improvements were introduced to support all of the above.
The development of DLSS 3.0 helped them cement their position at the top of the pack in the company’s more traditional GPU space as well, however it was the truly ground-breaking developments in AI that pushed the needle for humanity that bit further, for better and for worse.
Best gaming headset:
“The Blackshark wireless headset has one of the best microphones on the market, has stuck with its masterfully sleek design, and has now strengthened in areas where longevity was a concern. An excellent gaming headset for any competitive player.”
Call us cynics but whenever we hear the word ‘refresh’ we tend to assume the worst: a pointless update to a beloved old product, with minimal improvements to justify its price tag. Fortunately this is definitely not the case with the Razer Blackshark V2 Pro, which has come with substantial improvements over the previous model, including a HyperClear Super Wideband mic with 32KHz sampling rate that sounds crystal clear, improved build quality and greater comfort for the user, plus a massive improvement to the battery life.
Honourable mention also goes to the Corsair Virtuoso Pro which have fantastic audio quality but just get pipped to the post by the Razer model in terms of comfort and value for money.
Razer Blackshark V2 Pro 2023
PC, MAC, PLAYSTATION, SWITCH, IOS, ANDROID
Best gaming mouse:
“Some nice updates on a classic design.”
Although competition for the title of best gaming mouse of 2023 was pretty fierce, it’s another refresh of an old favourite that just about snatched the top spot. The Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 isn’t a cheap mouse, and it doesn’t quite innovate as much as we’d have liked to have seen on the original Superlight, but given the OG model was that good, it does just enough to achieve victory.
It has excellent responsiveness, very low click latency with the new Lightforce switches, upgraded 100% PTFE feet, is light, sturdy, and feels great in the hand.
Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2
Best gaming keyboard:
“The overall feel of the board when typing and the features it comes with are above what you’d normally expect at this price point, and the few negative points we can say about it are excusable given its budget-friendly nature. We can’t recommend it enough.”
The Corsair K70 Core isn’t the most high-end gaming keyboard we reviewed in 2023, but it doesn’t have to be. It offers an almost premium experience for a fraction of the price, with superb pre-lubed, linear, Corsair Red Switches that put Cherry MX Reds to shame, nice RGB, and a solid build quality.
As a result we think it’s the best value for money keyboard released in the year, and the one we’d recommend to the majority of gamers.
CORSAIR K70 CORE Keyboard
Best PC case:
“The Fractal Design North is a superbly designed PC case in terms of function as well as aesthetics. It’s a joy to build and to look at, and the fantastic cooling makes it a great foundation for a powerful rig.”
The Fractal Design North is another fantastic product from one of our favourite PC case brands, and the best we reviewed in 2023. The most striking thing about it is the unique mid-century aesthetic with the wooden panelling at the front, which is complimented by the great overall design with brass/gold detailing. Besides the aesthetics though it has great thermal performance plus a roomy interior with modular components which makes putting together a build a piece of cake. It might not be the quietest case on the market, but besides this there really isn’t anything else to criticise.
8x 120mm + 1x 80mm / 6x 140mm + 1x 120mm + 1x 80mm
2x 140mm Aspect 14 PWM 500-1,700rpm front intakes
Top: 240mm, Front: 360mm/280mm, Rear: 120mm
Best gaming laptop:
“A great value mid-range gaming laptop with a fantastically bright 1600p display, the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 with Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 and Intel Core i7-13700HX is able to run AAA titles to an impressive standard, punching well above its weight.”
Considering what you get for the money, the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 is a truly impressive device. Not only did it exceed our expectations in FPS terms when playing games, but the 1600p display has a peak brightness of 500nits (good enough to use outdoors), comes with G-Sync, and the battery life is miles better than you’d typically expect from a gaming laptop, and it even has Advanced Optimus: these are not features you expect to find at this price point. We’ve yet to review a perfect gaming laptop, and the Predator Helios does have fairly flimsy build quality around the bezels of the screen, plus the fans can get loud under strain; all things considered though, it’s one of the best mobile gaming platforms we’ve ever seen.
Acer Predator Helios Neo 16
Intel Core i5-13500HX / i7-13700HX
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 / 4060
Best productivity laptop:
“Still the best general productivity laptop, but bigger.”
The 15.6″ 2023 MacBook Air release is identical to the 13.6″ 2022 variant in almost all respects other than the size of the display, its weight, and its dimensions. It comes with the same chassis design, same trackpad, keyboard, and speakers, and the same M2 chipset (although the smaller model has an entry-level variant with two fewer GPU cores if you want to save money). None of this however is a bad thing, because it remains the best general purpose laptop for students, office workers, and creatives on the market, and for an Apple product, it’s actually reasonably priced!
MacBook Air 2023 (15.3″, M2)
Best GPU:
“Performs as well as the flagship cards of the previous generation, but for less money, with a lower power draw, and DLSS 3 support.”
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 was the best value model of the first raft of 40-series GPUs released in 2023, offering performance on par with that of the RTX 3080, which is sufficient to play any game currently available on max settings at 1440p resolution and get a solid frame rate. It’s the GPU we’d recommend as most suitable for your average PC gamer looking to spend a bit of cash without breaking the bank: solid bang for your buck.
GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 WINDFORCE OC
Best CPU:
“AMD once again brings its 3D V-cache technology to bear to bring us the best value gaming CPU of the year, hands down.”
Carrying on from the success of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D the year before, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is the new successor to the crown of best all-round gaming CPU. Although the AMD Ryzen 7900X3D is the more powerful option, which also uses the same 3D V-cache tech to push the in-game performance beyond that the hardware would otherwise be capable of, the cheaper Ryzen 7 7800X3D is the option that makes the most sense to the vast majority of gamers, even those looking to put together a high-end gaming rig, and the value for money you get with this processor is exceptional.
Best gaming monitor:
“The fantastic OLED panel provides perfect blacks, infinite contrast ratio, and an exceptional response time, and the G-Sync and 240Hz refresh rate finish it off nicely.”
For most gamers who don’t have hug amounts of space on their desk, 27-inch is the ideal monitor size, and this Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDM brings virtually everything you want to the table in terms of features and image quality. It’s sufficiently accurate to be used for color work in the sRGB space should you want to, has HDR support, and comes with anti-burn in tech to minimise the potential drawbacks of opting for an OLED panel when gaming.
ASUS ROG Swift PG27AQDM
Best gaming TV:
“As superb for gaming on as it is for watching movies or any other form of home entertainment.”
Last year the LG C2 OLED was our top pick for gaming TVs, and the company has outdone the competition yet again with their latest model. Admittedly it isn’t hugely different from last year’s release, with the main improvements being slightly better brightness and superior ‘low-resolution sharpening’, which improves the crispness of DVD footage and other legacy media, plus improved DTS audio support.
As ever the OLED panel delivers a stunning visual experience with unbeatable contrast and also response times – making it ideal for gamers alongside its 120Hz refresh rate.
LG C3 OLED Series
42″, 48″, 55″, 65″, 77″, 83″
Best CPU cooler:
“The best value CPU cooler we’ve possibly ever seen, there’s basically nothing negative to say about this exceptional budget-friendly device.”
This year the best CPU cooler award goes to an air cooled model from Taiwanese company Thermalright. For under $40 you can get a cooler that not only runs extremely quietly, but competes with much more expensive models under high TDP workloads, whilst actually soundly beating them at the lower TDPs. If you’re looking to build the most high-end overclocked rig on the market then you might want to consider looking for a more powerful model, but for most powerful gaming rigs this is an exceptional product.
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE
Intel: LGA 115x/1200/1700 AMD: AM4/AM5
up to 66.17 CFM / 1.53mm H2O
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