Announcing the 2026 TechRadar Australian PC Awards finalists
Now more than ever, Australians need expert advice to help them navigate the world of technology. Choosing reliable technology is essential in this fast-paced world, where products and prices change quickly. For anyone using a PC – whether desktop, laptop or tablet, whether for gaming, creating or productivity – any investment in new equipment today needs to be well informed.
To meet this need, the team has expanded the annual TechRadar Australian PC Awards to include more major technology products than ever before. Now covering 40 categories, the experts who actually test the equipment have evaluated products and services from the past year and distinguished the best of the best.
From PCs and all the essential components that make them up, to everything that connects to a PC including monitors, keyboards, mice and headphones, to exciting new technology like portable gaming PCs and essential services like the best NBN for every type of user – we’ve highlighted the devices and services we think Australians should consider before others.
What’s new this year?
To cover all the bases that matter to you, we’ve added 13 new categories to the TechRadar Australian PC Awards!
These include brand new internet awards, covering Best NBN Provider for Budget, Broadband and Gaming, as well as Best NBN Provider overall. The Australian TechRadar team has huge experience testing and evaluating the best NBN deals on offer, and the winners they have selected will give you the performance and value you expect.
We’ve also delved deeper into adding additional monitor categories, as this is one of the most popular PC products on TechRadar and the pace of evolution in display technology is incredible. We now have awards for the best everyday monitors, alongside gaming and displays for creators and professionals.
We’ve also added more elements to the rewards and refined a few existing rewards to make them more relevant today.
Antivirus and comprehensive security suites are another new feature. Once again, the TechRadar team knows their stuff and covers PC, Mac, and mobile security all year round.
Our mission is to help you choose the best equipment and services for your life, whether for business or pleasure, and we believe we have more experience and expertise than anyone else to do it! These awards draw on the combined knowledge of the Future Publishing network, which brings together experts in every important field, that of technology.
Here they are – The TechRadar 2026 Australian PC Awards finalists!
Where possible, we’ve linked to the Future Network’s most relevant online coverage of each finalist, to help you learn more about why we love them so much.
Finalists: Best Motherboard Manufacturer
Runners-up: Best AMD Motherboard
Finalists: Best Intel Motherboard
Finalists: Best Graphics Card Manufacturer
Runners-up: Best Budget Graphics Card
Runners-up: Best Premium Graphics Card
Finalists: Best Budget Processor
- AMD Ryzen 200 Series
- AMD Ryzen 5 9600
- AMD Ryzen 5 9500F
- AMD Ryzen 7 7500X3D
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600F
- Intel Core Ultra 5 245 processor
- Intel Core Ultra 5 235 processor
- Intel Core Ultra 5 225 processor
- Intel Core Ultra 5 225F processor
- Intel Core Ultra 5 235U processor
Runners-up: Best mid-range processor
- AMD Ryzen 7 9700F
- AMD Ryzen Al 7 350
- Intel Core Ultra 7 265 processor
- Intel Core Ultra 7 265H processor
- AMD Ryzen Al Max 385
Runners-up: Best Premium Processor
- AMD Ryzen Al Max+ 395
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
- AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9995WX
- AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D
- Intel Core Ultra 9 285 processor
- Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX processor
Runner-up: Best Internal Storage Manufacturer
Finalists: Best External Storage Manufacturer
Finalists: Best NAS
Runners-up: Best Budget Laptop or 2-in-1
Runners-up: Best high-end laptop or 2-in-1
Runners-up: Best Gaming Laptop
Runners-up: Best Desktop
Finalists: Best Handheld
Finalists: Best Tablet
Runners-up: Best Retailer for PC Enthusiasts
Finalists: Best Memory Maker
Finalists: Best Air Cooling Product
Runners-up: Best AIO Cooling Product
Finalists: Best Monitor Manufacturer
Runners-up: Best Productivity Monitor
Runners-up: Best Gaming Monitor
Finalists: Best Creative/Professional Instructor
Finalists: Best Keyboard
Finalists: Best Mouse
Runners-up: Best Gaming Headset
Finalists: best case
Finalists: Best Router
Finalists: Best NBN Provider: Global
Finalists: Best NBN Provider: Budget
Finalists: Best NBN Provider: Broadband
Finalists: Best NBN Provider: Gaming
Finalists: Best Security Suite
For the person, product or technology that advanced the PC more than any other in 2025.
Finalists: Excellence
- Gabe Newell: Don’t sell yourself
- AI everywhere: For better or for worse…
- Intel Arc B series (Battlemage): A truly competitive GPU alternative to Nvidia and AMD
- AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series: Mid-range GPUs are interesting again
- Valve: Steam OS is taking Linux gaming to the next level. Microsoft is worried
- AMD Strix Halo: One of the best mobile chips in years
- MSI: Project Zero made cable-hiding stealth cards a success
- Nvidia: I never gave up on CUDA, it now drives most AI
- ARM: Slowly but surely take over all types of treatment
- QD-OLED: High refresh rate, high PPI, lower cost
The company that impressed us the most, overall, over the past year
Finalists: Gold
Each company whose product or service has been selected as a finalist in this year’s awards is automatically in the running for the prestigious Gold Award.
Additionally, the editorial staff may award the Gold Award to a company that is not a finalist here, but which we believe is worthy of the grand prize. The Gold winner – along with all other TechRadar 2026 Australian PC Awards winners – will be announced on March 15!
Finalists: epic failure
- Apple: Apple Intelligence is the gift that keeps ungifted
- AI: Over-promising and under-delivering to the consumer, causing the RAM apocalypse. AI slope. Grok deepfakes. And more…
- Borders 4: The game runs poorly but Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said it was “pretty optimized”, “Use DLSS. It’s great”.
- Cloudflare outage: Cleared many websites and offline services. Too much of the Internet depends on it!
- Intel: Still hasn’t properly fixed Raptor Lake issues
- Memory shortage and soaring prices: AI-Driven Madness
- Meta AI step failure: Zuck’s glasses didn’t work on stage
- Micron/Crucial: Abandoning consumers when they need it
- Microsoft: Failed Multiple Windows Updates, Agentic AI Integration, Efforts to Kill Windows 10, Including Updates That Crash Your SSD!
- Nvidia: RTX 5000 series launched, melty 2.0 connectors, crappy drivers, exorbitant prices
- Optus 000 faults: People died, nothing was said
