Neil Mcallister is a seasoned tech journalist with over two decades of experience in the field. His passion for technology was ignited by computer magazines and tech publications during his formative years. When the opportunity to work in tech journalism arose, Neil eagerly embraced it.

Throughout his career, Neil has worked as a writer and editor at InfoWorld and spent several years as a news reporter for The Register, Europe's largest online tech publication. Currently, he is a prominent figure at PCMag, where he strives to explain deep and complex topics to a broad audience, sharing the thrill and fascination he finds in technology every day.

Neil's areas of expertise include business software and software-as-a-service (SaaS), cloud computing, web hosting and data center technology, data security, software development, databases, Linux, and open-source software.

His journey with technology began with his first computer, an Apple ][+, which he received for Christmas in 1982. Before that, he wrote BASIC programs on binder paper and entered them during leased time at the networked computer lab in the basement of the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, California.

Neil's home office is a testament to his long road in tech, filled with a virtual elephants' graveyard of desktop PCs, laptops, tablets, and phones, spanning nearly every OS imaginable. Among his collection is a flip phone that doubles as a PalmPilot.

Today, Neil splits his time between Windows (on either a Lenovo ThinkPad or a Microsoft Surface Pro) and macOS (on a MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon). He also spends a significant amount of time on his Android phone. A Linux user since 1996, Neil's current distro of choice is Ubuntu.

In addition to his journalism career, Neil has worked at several tech startups, specializing in technologies like virtualization and Linux containers. At PCMag, he leverages his extensive experience to help readers find the best technologies to power their businesses and empower themselves, their employees, and their customers.