Chris Stobing

My Experience

I'm a senior analyst charged with testing and reviewing VPNs and other security apps for PCMag. I grew up in the heart of Silicon Valley and have been involved with technology since the 1990s. Previously at PCMag, I was a hardware analyst benchmarking and reviewing consumer gadgets and PC hardware such as desktop processors, GPUs, monitors, and internal storage. I've also worked as a freelancer for Gadget Review, VPN.com, and Digital Trends, wading through seas of hardware and software at every turn. In my free time, you’ll find me shredding the slopes on my snowboard in the Rocky Mountains where I live, or using my culinary-degree skills to whip up a dish in the kitchen for friends.

My Areas of Expertise

• Privacy software, including VPNs and proxy services

• PC building, and all the ins and outs of desktop PCs

• Processors and motherboards

• Graphics cards

• PC cases

• Networking equipment

• Internal storage

The Technology I Use

As a former PC component reviewer and longtime gamer, almost every PC I use is one that I've custom-built. I use a system that runs an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor, along with an AMD Radeon RX 6800 graphics card in a black case. For mobile devices, I'm a longtime user of Apple smartphones and am deeply integrated into Cupertino's app ecosystem, and currently I have an iPhone 10X.