Michael Justin Allen Sexton

Michael Justin Allen Sexton

Senior Writer, Hardware

My Experience

I have been interested in science and technology for as long as I can remember, spurred on by a fondness for video games. I learned to work in Windows and manipulate files to get buggy games to work, and I learned to build and upgrade PCs for better performance.

In my role at PCMag for the past four years, I’ve deeply enjoyed the opportunity to share my knowledge and expertise. Before PCMag, I wrote for Tom's Hardware for three years, where I covered tech news, deals, and wrote some hands-on reviews. After working as a PCMag contributor for a time reviewing desktops, PC cases, budget processors, and motherboards, I now focus on testing and reviewing processors and graphics cards and sharing my insights on the industry.

The Technology I Use

As a PC component reviewer, almost every PC I use is a custom-built system. The only exceptions are my laptops, which I modify and tweak to improve performance, too. My current best laptop is a 16-inch Lenovo Slim 5 with an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS processor and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060. My home-built desktop has an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X processor with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU—all the better to play Kingdom Come Deliverance II with.

My lifelong love of computers and gaming has led me to amass a collection of old tech devices. I have several custom-built PCs, ranging from a Windows 98-based Pentium II to modern hardware, that I use to enjoy older games. These sit alongside my collection of retro game consoles, which includes an NES, a Super Nintendo, a Sega Genesis, an original PlayStation, and a first-generation Xbox.

I'm also a connoisseur of budget tech devices, like my smartphone of choice. Currently, I use a Poco X7 Pro that I bought in 2025 and love so far.