I tested these mesh WiFi systems across three homes over 60 days, ranging from a 1,400 square foot apartment to a 3,500 square foot two-story house with thick plaster walls. The best mesh wifi systems for indoor use solve a problem most routers can't: pushing reliable signal through walls, floors, and across long floor plans […]

I run my entire smart home from the laptop sitting on my desk, and after three months of testing eight different hubs, I know exactly which ones deserve a spot next to your workstation. When you search for the best smart home hubs for laptop, what you really want is a hub that stays out […]

Your computer can absolutely run a smart home, and I have proven it across three apartments in the last four years. The best whole home automation controllers for computers let your PC, laptop, or dedicated mini tower become the brain of every light, lock, sensor, and thermostat in the house. After spending 60+ hours benchmarking […]

If you spend your day parked in front of a PC, your smart home setup should not feel like a separate island. The best smart home hubs for PC in go beyond controlling a few bulbs — they bridge Zigbee, Z-Wave, Matter, and Thread devices to your computer so automations can react to what is […]

After three months of testing switches in my home office, travel bag, and a friend's small apartment, I learned something most reviews miss: the best portable network switches for home aren't just small. They're the right combination of size, power source, port count, and silent operation that lets you move them between rooms, take them […]

I tested eight of the most popular managed network switches for home use over six weeks, running everything from a busy family streaming setup to a full home lab with Proxmox, UniFi access points, and a NAS. After measuring real throughput, listening for fan noise at 3 a.m., and configuring VLANs on every device, I […]

I spent three months testing smart locks on my own sliding patio door, and I learned the hard way that most "smart" locks quietly depend on the cloud. When my router dropped during a storm, my front-door lock kept working through Bluetooth, but my old WiFi patio lock went dark. That experience sent me down […]

I tested dozens of security systems over the past three months to find the best security systems for apartments without internet that actually deliver protection without relying on WiFi. Our team set up each system in real apartment scenarios, including basement units with poor reception and studios with strict lease rules, and we measured everything […]

Smart home tech used to feel like a luxury reserved for tech enthusiasts with deep pockets, but is shaping up to be the best year yet for affordable home automation. I spent the last 60 days testing 12 of the most popular budget smart home devices under $100 in my 1,400-square-foot apartment, and I was […]

I spent the last three months testing mesh WiFi systems in three homes, a 1,200 sq ft apartment, a 2,800 sq ft two-story house, and a 4,500 sq ft home with thick plaster walls. After running speed tests, streaming 4K video, gaming online, and pushing dozens of smart home devices, I can tell you which […]