Jacqueline Thomas

Jacqueline Thomas focuses on the point where PC hardware and modern gaming meet, stress-testing systems and components so players know which machines and parts are worth their money. She is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN, bringing a long track record in computing and PC gaming coverage to a beat that spans gaming PCs, handhelds, and living-room consoles. Her reviews and buying guides are grounded in hands-on testing, comparative analysis, and a clear sense of how different kinds of players will actually use the hardware they are about to buy.

Handheld gaming PCs and living room machines

Thomas devotes significant attention to systems that bring PC power into portable and living-room formats, treating them as full platforms rather than niche gadgets. At IGN she has tested every major handheld gaming PC on the market, narrowing the field to a short list of devices she considers worth buying and explaining in detail why popular options like the Steam Deck do not make her cut. Her review of Valve’s $1,049 Steam Machine treats the console/PC hybrid as a genuine living-room PC, weighing plug-and-play convenience, Linux integration, and comparative power against contemporary consoles to reach an 8/10 verdict.

Across this coverage she consistently frames hardware choices in terms of how they fit into everyday gaming spaces, whether that is the couch, a commute, or a small apartment setup.

PC gaming, components, and performance

Before joining IGN, Thomas served as computing editor at TechRadar, building a reputation as a “components queen” with deep familiarity across CPUs, GPUs, and broader PC builds. Her pieces there range from speculation on remasters like Crysis, where she connects renewed interest in a series to the demands it will place on graphics cards, to coverage of hardware showcases such as Computex 2019 that tracks how new processors and graphics architectures will shape upcoming PC games. This background feeds directly into her current buyers’ guides and reviews, where she reads spec sheets against real-world gaming workloads and consistently highlights how much performance a given configuration actually delivers for different genres and resolutions.

Her writing assumes an audience that cares about frame rates and thermals but also wants clear guidance rather than raw benchmarks, translating technical detail into practical recommendations about which components belong in a modern gaming rig.

Online shooters and live games on PC

Thomas has a long-running interest in live shooters and service games, typically approaching them from a PC player’s perspective. At TechRadar she has broken down Battlefield V’s Chapter 4 update and Apex Legends’ Battle Charge season, focusing on how new guns, maps, and characters change the meta and how those changes feel for players who spend most of their time on PC.

Her coverage of World of Warcraft Classic describes the experience as a slow walk down memory lane, framing pacing, social dynamics, and hardware demands in terms of returning PC players revisiting a formative title on modern systems. Even when she writes about marquee releases like Red Dead Redemption 2, her angle is whether and how audiences actually want to play them on PC, digging into player behavior rather than treating a PC port as automatically essential.

These pieces build a picture of a critic who follows live games over time and evaluates updates through the lens of sustained engagement on desktop hardware.

Platform shifts, mobile tie-ins, and cloud competition

Thomas’s archive also shows a recurring focus on how platform decisions and business strategies affect PC and gaming hardware more broadly. She has covered moves like Fortnite’s initial Android launch as a Samsung Galaxy exclusive, treating it as a hardware and ecosystem story rather than just a game update by examining what it means for device manufacturers and players locked into specific phones or tablets. In analysis pieces on next-generation consoles and services, she has written about Xbox’s competitive landscape in terms of threats from companies like Google and Amazon in cloud gaming rather than only comparing specs with rival consoles, positioning PC hardware and connectivity as central to the future of the medium. Together with her work on WoW Classic and other nostalgia-driven titles, these articles show a journalist who connects individual games to broader shifts in how and where people play, from mobile tie-ins to cloud platforms and long-running PC communities.

Across roles at TechRadar and IGN, Thomas has carved out a beat defined by PC-first thinking, rigorous hardware testing, and ongoing attention to how platform and business decisions filter down to everyday players. Her coverage is most distinctive when she can combine that components expertise with a clear sense of how real people inhabit their hardware, whether in the living room, on a handheld, or at a desktop stacked with high-end parts.