11 Apr
Blog

Asus ZenBook 13 OLED (UM325) Review: AMD Laptop Perfection?

asus zenbook 13 oled um32 review 1

Asus ZenBook 13 OLED UM325 Review: AMD Laptop Perfection?

"The Asus ZenBook 13 OLED is an indispensable laptop as long as you don't need a headphone jack."

  • Awesome OLED screen

  • Excellent touchpad and keyboard

  • The battery life is spectacular

  • Very thin and light

I may have found the perfect laptop. Or at least something that comes very close.

It's not made by Apple, Microsoft, or even Dell. From the outside, it doesn't even look particularly remarkable. When I pulled the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED out of the box, I fully expected it to be another solid mid-range laptop.

Then I tested the 1080p OLED screen. And benchmarking the AMD Ryzen 7 5800U processor inside. And then he noticed how long it took on a single charge.

The Asus ZenBook 13 OLED has it all. Nearly. Despite a few flaws, the ZenBook 13 OLED (UM325) is a laptop that all potential buyers should consider when it hits general availability in May.

design

The appearance of the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED is the least noticeable feature. It's by no means a bad looking laptop – but if you've seen a ZenBook, you've seen this one. I'm not a big fan of the concentric circle on the lid or the plastered logo on the front, but it's one of the prettier laptops Asus made recently.

This is especially true when you open the lid and see what the laptop has to offer inside. Everything is beautifully laid out, including the oversized touchpad and new keyboard. The layout and keycaps are reminiscent of HP's Specter laptops – but that's not a bad thing. The extra column of buttons under the power button offers some extra functionality, and the font with the keycap feels modern and clean.

At 0.55 inches and 2.5 pounds thick, the ZenBook 13 OLED is both thinner and lighter than most of its competitors, including the Dell XPS 13, HP Specter x360 13, Surface Laptop 3 13, Razer Book 13, and MacBook Pro 13 in. This makes a very portable laptop that is great for on the go. Even if it just moves from room to room, the small footprint comes in handy.

Despite its size, the chassis is robust. You may feel some flexing when applying extra force, but it's not something you will notice in daily use. The hinge opens with one finger and is lifted off the table when it is opened, creating a slight ramp for comfortable typing. I usually don't like these kind of raised hinges, but Asus pulled them off in a way that isn't distracting or ugly.

The aspect ratio of the screen is the main disadvantage of the ZenBook 13 OLED's design. It uses 16: 9, which went out of style in 2021 in favor of larger, more productive sizes like 16:10 or 3: 2. When you go back to 16: 9, the screen feels stocky. More importantly, the screen has a chubby chin bezel due to the size at the bottom. It's not a thorn in the side, it's just not quite as modern as the Dell XPS 13 or the Razer Book 13.

Asus decided that you don't need a headphone jack on your laptop.

My final complaint with the design of the ZenBook 13 OLED is ports. For some reason, Asus decided that you don't need a headphone jack on your laptop. If Asus were going for a more minimalist setup, that would probably make sense. However, the ZenBook 13 OLED has HDMI and USB-A. Yes, it's an odd choice that is likely to piss people off who didn't realize there wasn't a headphone jack until they needed it.

Fortunately, Asus includes an adapter in the box, but it lets you close either of your two available USB-C ports.

Display and speakers

The Asus ZenBook 13 isn't the first 13-inch notebook with an OLED screen – it was the HP Specter x360. However, this laptop is the first to implement a 13-inch 1080p OLED screen. That's a big deal as OLED panels keep getting cheaper – and hopefully reach more people.

It's not that the ZenBook 13 OLED is super cheap, but compared to the 4K models that OLED is exclusive to. What's the big deal with OLED? Well you will tell the difference when you see it in person. With OLED, pixels are rented out individually, which means that black levels and contrast ratio blow conventional LEDs out of the water. It's not even close, especially on a glossy screen like this one.

The OLED panel feels like the future of laptop displays.

397 nits are bright enough to prevent reflections, but it's the colors that really make this display pop. 100% sRGB and AdobeRGB color spaces are unknown on a 1080p screen, and the color accuracy is among the best I've ever tested with a Delta E of 0.49. Photographers may complain about the lack of a 4K option, but they definitely won't complain about the colors.

The display is non-touchable, as is common with 1080p screens.

When it comes to panels and calibration, the ZenBook 13 OLED is the future of laptop displays.

The same is not true of the speakers. The chintzy audio comes from underneath the laptop and points directly at your table or lap. The sound is messed up, especially when compared to all MacBooks. With speakers in this location, this will always be a problem.

Keyboard and touchpad

I am very happy with the inputs on the ZenBook 13 OLED. I've already mentioned the keyboard's appearance, but it's also very precise and comfortable to type. The layout is comfortable and the 1.4mm key travel feels heavenly compared to many of the 1mm keyboards.

The keyboard does not contain a fingerprint reader. This is an odd feature that a premium device left out.

My only problem was the backlight. There are three levels of backlight brightness, but there are some noticeable uneven spots. It's quite light over the middle zone while others are darker. This is a pity.

The touchpad is similarly successful. It's extra wide, but great for rejecting palms when typing. Tracking is smooth, as are gestures. My only sucker? The click is a little louder than I like. This is especially noticeable if you're coming from a MacBook.

The laptop has a sloppy 720p webcam over the display. It's no surprise how bad it is, but this should be reserved for emergencies only. However, it does include a built-in IR camera for Windows Hello facial recognition.

performance

Thanks to the new Ryzen processors from AMD, the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED offers remarkable performance for a laptop of this size. My device came with the Ryzen 7 5800U, an eight-core processor with a base clock of 1.9 GHz. When you add 16 GB of RAM and one TB of SSD storage, you have a pretty powerful little computer.

This is the first laptop I tested with this chip and I was disappointed. This is a significant improvement over last year's Ryzen 4000 processors and a clear head start over what Intel offers. This is especially true of multi-core performance, of course, thanks to the additional cores and threads that AMD's 7nm chips offer.

Geekbench (single / multi) Cinbench R23 (single / multi) PCMark 10 3DMark Time Spy
Asus ZenBook 13 OLED 1423/6758 1171/7824 6034 1342
Dell XPS 13 (Core i7-1185G7) 1549/5431 1399/4585 n / A 1380
HP Specter x360 14 (Core i7-1165G7) 1214/4117 1389/3941 4728 1457
Razor Book 13 (Core i7-1165G7) 1548/5374 1508/4519 4878 1776
MacBook Pro 13 (M1) 1707/7377 1487/7547 n / A n / A
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 (Core i7-1185G7) 1532/5415 1435/4409 4800 1648

What's the use of this for performance in the real world? All of the laptops listed above are great for everyday work activities such as multitasking, web browsing, office applications, and video conferencing. That is to be assumed.

The reason the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED beats its competitors in PCMark 10 is mainly because of its excellent content creation performance. If you want to run some creative applications like Photoshop or Lightroom on the side, the ZenBook 13 OLED will surprise you how fast it is with these heavier tasks.

The ZenBook 13 OLED remains an undeniable argument for AMD in 2021.

It's even a decent video production machine. It's 41% faster than the Razer Book 13 in H.265 video encoding in Handbrake, which shows the big difference those additional cores make. In Handbrake it is even 7% faster than in the Ryzen 7 4800U from last year when I tested it in the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7.

Now the ZenBook 13 OLED will obviously never again be compared to a 15-inch laptop with a discrete graphics card in real video editing. Even a modest 15-inch laptop like the HP Specter x360 15 (Core i7-10750H / GTX 1650 Ti) was 45% faster in PugetBench's Adobe Premiere Pro benchmark. This is also where the incredible performance of the MacBook Pro M1 exudes, which is just as fast as that of the Specter x360 15 in the same test.

That said, the ZenBook 13 OLED remains an undeniable argument for AMD in 2021, especially if you're not interested in a move to macOS.

Battery life

Battery life is the final trick in the case of the ZenBook 13 OLED. It took an amazing 15 hours and 46 minutes on our web browser test, which is as good as it gets for a laptop of this type. That was true for last year's AMD laptops, and it is true for this year as well. It beat the HP Specter x360 14 by nearly 9 hours and the XPS 13 by 7.5 hours. In fact, it only takes 19 minutes to keep up with the MacBook Pro!

The ZenBook 13 OLED's lower resolution explains some of this, but even when compared to other 1080p laptops, the ZenBook 13 OLED is way ahead of the competition.

Meanwhile, the ZenBook also lasted 15.5 hours while the video was looping. This is another test in which the MacBook Pro M1 dominates and it lasts over 21 hours. But here, too, the ZenBook 13 OLED is at least 3 or 4 hours ahead of many of the best Intel laptops.

Of course, your mileage can vary depending on how hard you push the system. With the ZenBook 13 OLED as my daily driver for almost a full week, I found it easy to get through a work day without a charge, and there was enough juice left to handle a couple of hours the next morning.

Our opinion

The Asus ZenBook 13 OLED is way ahead of the competition in almost every important category. The OLED screen is a standout feature, as is AMD performance and fantastic battery life. Do I wish it had a headphone jack and a 16:10 screen? Naturally. But the strengths more than make up for these mistakes.

The only caveat is pricing, which is still ongoing. Some international prices suggest the base configuration will be around $ 1,000 while our pimped up model is likely to cost a few hundred more.

Any alternatives?

The best choice is the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 chip. It's cheaper, faster, and has a higher resolution screen. Of course, it has neither an OLED screen nor a USB-A and HDMI connection.

However, if you don't want to upgrade to a Mac, the Dell XPS 13, HP Specter x360 14, and Razer Book 13 offer a competitive package. The XPS 13 is still the prettiest of the range and would still be my pick of the four laptops.

How long it will take?

The Asus ZenBook 13 OLED should last at least four or five years. The 16: 9 aspect ratio will continue to be a bit dated going forward, but the chassis and components are all sturdy and future-proof.

Should you buy it?

Yes. It's one of the most exciting laptops of recent times, especially if you're looking for an AMD device in 2021.

Editor's recommendations




10 Feb
Blog

Razer Book 13 Review: This is Almost a Perfect Laptop

Razor Book 13 Review 01

"Razer's debut nongaming laptop does almost anything right if the price tag can be put up with."

  • Perfect port selection

  • Fantastic design and build quality

  • The performance is impressive

  • Nice 16:10 display

  • Limited configurations

  • The battery life is not good

Razer products have never been so colorful. Take away the RGB lights and snake logo and you may not know that there is a gaming muscle under the hood.

That's why the Razer Book 13 felt so inevitable. With the exception of the Razer logo, this 13-inch laptop finally leaves the gimmicks behind. It can't play games, but it does Contain everything you'd expect in a modern laptop. The Razer Book 13 offers a 16:10 aspect ratio with super-thin bezels and the latest 11th generation Intel Tiger Lake processors.

Can Razer really compete with industry veterans like Dell, Apple, and HP in this category, or has the company bitten more than it can chew?

design

The Razer Book 13 is the company's first true nongaming notebook, although it has already tried its hand in this category. The Razer Blade Stealth was the brand's first 13-inch laptop, and the Razer Book looks almost identical. What's the same They're both made of solid unibody aluminum and have very similar dimensions. They're both 0.6 inches thick, use the same keyboard and touchpad, and have identical port choices.

The Razer Book 13, however, is a bit lighter at 2.95 pounds. That's both thinner and lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Pro, albeit a bit more powerful than options like the Dell XPS 13 or Surface Laptop 3 13.

The Razer Book 13 is absolutely great to look at.

However, the Razer Book 13 has a few new tricks up its sleeve. The standout feature is the 16:10 aspect ratio with ultra-thin bezels. The chin is based on the Dell XPS 13 and hides part of the lower bezel using a dropped hinge.

In 2021, this design will become more common – but that doesn't make the Razer Book 13 any less beautiful to look at. I also like the silver and white color combination.

The white keys, illuminated by the RGB backlighting per key, make the design stand out – and are a feature you would never find on a Dell or Apple laptop. Not only can the colors be adjusted via Razer Synapse, but they also have an incredible 15-level brightness control. That even affects the control Apple offers.

It's not a big deal, but when the competition is this tight, every additional feature counts.

Another highlight for the Razer Book 13 is the port selection. Unlike the XPS 13 or MacBook Pro 13-inch, the Razer Book 13 includes some handy legacy ports that most people prefer. HDMI and USB-A are included along with two Thunderbolt 4 ports – one on each side. This means you can connect displays and power cables on both sides, unlike the MacBook Pro M1, which has both USB-C ports on the same side.

If you need a laptop to dock a monitor and some peripherals, the Razer Book 13 can handle it without the need for a USB hub or docking station.

Keyboard, touchpad and speakers

If you've seen or used the Razer Blade Stealth, there aren't any surprises with the keyboard. I've talked about the RGB backlighting before, and the layout itself is close to perfect. The path in the keys is a bit short, but I didn't have any usability issues after familiarizing myself with the feel of the keystrokes.

The same goes for the Windows Precision touchpad, which is large and responsive. Every millimeter of space has been maximized for the benefit of the user.

The speaker grilles are located directly on the keyboard deck and flank both sides. Although they lack any bass (as with almost all laptop speakers), they have a nice stereo spread thanks to the placement. They work in the blink of an eye, but aren't good enough for long hours of music or film.

display

Razer has really stepped up its game with this laptop's screen. Not only is it in the brilliant 16:10 aspect ratio with stripped-down bezels, the image quality is also fantastic. For a $ 1,200 laptop, you get an extremely bright 514-nit screen that is always crystal clear no matter how bright your surroundings are. This additional brightness also brings out the contrast in the colors, which is as high as that of a laptop at this price.

The color saturation and calibration are nothing special (98% sRGB, 77% AdobeRGB), but they go well with the non-4K panels you get in other laptops.

It is not a laptop primarily designed for professional color grading. However, this doesn't mean you can't get creative on the side. This also applies to performance.

performance

The Razer Book 13 has a base configuration for $ 1,200 that comes with a Core i5-1135G7, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage, and is sold exclusively through Razer's online storefront.

My configuration was the souped-up $ 1,600 model that was upgraded to a Core i7-1185G7, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. You can upgrade to 512GB of storage, but most premium laptops offer configurations of at least 1TB. Unfortunately, you have to pay $ 2,000 to get a model with more storage. Razer actually charges the Wazoo for these more expensive configurations.

However, if you do choose the Core i7 model, you will be impressed with the performance. The best single-core performance that we tested in a 13-inch laptop (1,508) was demonstrated in Cinebench R23. And yes, that includes the M1 MacBook Pro (1,487).

what does that mean to you? Given its excellent scores in PCMark 10, the Razer Book 13 should be a fantastic productivity and office tool. Like many Razer laptops, this one competes with larger 14-inch and 15-inch options like the Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 or the Acer Swift 3X.

When I say this really isn't a gaming laptop, I mean it.

The Razer Book 13 is a little less impressive in terms of creative application performance. It did not do quite as well in the Cinebench R23 multi-core test (4519) and in the PCMark 10 creation test. I confirmed this in a real test in Handbrake where I encoded a 4K movie trailer for H.265. The Razer Book did the job in three and a half minutes, which is not as fast as some of its competitors. It's just 3% behind the XPS 13, but 14% behind the ThinkPad X1 Nano and 26% behind the MacBook Pro.

Photo editing, graphic design, or even light video editing shouldn't be a problem. Just don't expect the Razer Book 13 to encode 4K video as fast as larger laptops.

Intel's built-in Iris Xe graphics are also included, which can run some light games in 1080p, provided you turn the graphics settings down a bit. I tested Civilization VI at 1080p with settings on Medium and the Razer Book 13 averaged just 37 frames per second. When I say this really isn't a gaming laptop, I mean it.

For more gaming capabilities, consider upgrading to the Razer Blade Stealth, which packs a discrete GTX 1650 into a similarly sized laptop.

Battery life

The Razer Book 13 really only has one major flaw: battery life. This is a step behind the leading battery life providers like the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425 or Lenovo Yoga 9i 41. Barely worth mentioning, the M1 MacBooks blow all of these laptops out of the water in terms of battery life.

The Razer Book 13 only lasted a little over eight hours with light web browsing. Again, this is not a terrible result, but it is far from being a leader as it is in many other aspects.

The video playback score was also a little worrying and lasted just over 10½ hours. Battery life has always been an issue with the Razer Blade Stealth, and while Book 13 does better, it's still not quite what I'd like to see.

You can make it through most of the working day without having to plug it in. However, with the M1 MacBooks reducing battery life, Windows laptops are struggling more than ever.

Our opinion

The Razer Book 13 gets almost everything right. Among first-class laptops like the Dell XPS 13 and the HP Specter x360 13, the Razer Book 13 is well suited due to its quality and performance. The limited (and expensive) configurations are really the only weakness.

Are there alternatives?

The clearest competitor is the Dell XPS 13. The XPS 13 is $ 400 cheaper, although it has a more colorful screen. The HP Specter x360 13 is available even cheaper.

And let's not forget, the more powerful MacBook Pro M1 is just $ 100 more expensive, with a higher resolution screen, more power, and longer battery life.

How long it will take?

The Razer Book 13 should last at least four or five years. It is equipped with the latest components and has the right port technology. Razer laptops come with a standard one-year warranty.

Should you buy it?

Yes. The Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Pro 13-inch are slightly stronger options, but the Razer's unique aesthetics and well-rounded port selection are enough to make it stand out.

Editor's recommendations




18 Nov
Blog

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13 Oct
Blog

Surface Laptop Go Review: Surface Meets Chromebook

Microsoft Surface Laptop go review featured image

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go

"Surface Laptop Go is an affordable way to stay productive and enjoy world-class Surface design without breaking the bank."

  • Thin and light

  • Comfortable keyboard and trackpad

  • Good choice of ports

  • Good performance

  • No backlit keyboard

  • The display's pixel density is low

  • No Surface Pen support

Nowadays there is a surface device for everything. You can create and play one, travel with one, or just enjoy daily productivity in a tablet form factor. However, what most Surface devices have in common is that there is often a steep price to buying a device. Microsoft has started fixing this with the Surface Go first. Now there's a device for people who want a traditional clamshell laptop too.

The Surface Laptop Go is a gorgeous 12.4-inch laptop from Microsoft that starts at $ 550 and rivals the best Chromebooks and even some of the best budget Windows laptops.

Conceptually, the newest entry to the Surface family takes all of the lessons Microsoft learned from the larger Surface Laptop 3 into a smaller, cheaper package. It's also specially designed for those looking for a Surface device with a balance between performance and premium design.

Does that mean Microsoft has to make too many cuts? Or does the Surface Laptop Go have everything you need to be your new productivity laptop?

Surface meets Chromebook

The new $ 550 Surface Laptop Go may look like a smaller version of the 13-inch Surface laptop, but once I took it out of the box, it felt very different.

The top lid and keyboard of the Surface Laptop Go glow brightly with a familiar aluminum finish, but the rest of the laptop doesn't. The lower part of the Surface Laptop Go is made of a polycarbonate composite resin made from fiberglass and 30% post-consumer recycled content.

Although Microsoft says this is a durable material that won't scratch, the Surface Laptop Go feels more like an HP Chromebook 14 or a Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 made of plastic here.

Arif Bacchus / Digital Trends

Still, Microsoft paid attention to the most important parts of the Surface Laptop Go. This includes both the keyboard deck and the screen. There is no bend when typing, and when I tried to bend the screen it didn't bend either. Each of them is made of aluminum.

I think Microsoft was smart at keeping the top half out of aluminum. Surface fans would have been annoyed if Microsoft released an all-plastic Surface laptop.

Microsoft had to make changes to the Surface Laptop Go design to match the price. One of them is the choice of case material.

The partially plastic construction has an advantage. The Surface Laptop Go is a featherweight at 2.45 pounds and just 0.62 inches thick. I can hold the laptop over my desk between two fingers and let it dangle almost like a sheet of paper. I can also open the lid with one hand. Its weight is under the 2.84 pounds of the standard Surface 3 laptop and close to the 2.3 pounds of the Pixelbook Go.

Arif Bacchus / Digital Trends

The Surface Laptop Go has what some other premium laptops these days lack in a USB-A port. Just like the larger 13-inch sibling, the main ports are on the left side of the device. In addition to USB-A, there is a USB-C port, which is not Thunderbolt compatible for security reasons. There is also a headphone jack.

Elsewhere on the right is the proprietary Surface Connect. It is only for charging and does not contain any data. According to Microsoft, you can charge the device to 80% in just an hour using the included charger, but the device is also charged via USB-C. A great thing to boot up with power banks on the go.

Those who care about speed should be pleased that the Surface Laptop Go has the latest in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections. The mix includes Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0, giving this affordable laptop the latest in wireless technology.

Type in a storm, but don't type in a storm

Arif Bacchus / Digital Trends

The Surface Laptop Go has a full-size keyboard similar to the Surface Laptop 3. We already found it comfortable when we reviewed the original and our minds haven't changed. This is thanks to the keycaps with soft touch and the 1.3 mm key travel. Simply put, the typing is accurate – as long as you're in the light.

The Surface Laptop Go has no keyboard backlight. That's not too unusual for the $ 550 price tag. Similar budget Windows laptops like the Acer Spire 5 don't have backlights, but a $ 650 Chromebook like the Pixelbook Go does.

Still, I wish Microsoft hadn't turned off the lights. This is a very useful feature for students who have to deal with nightly study sessions.

If you can see it, the keyboard should hold your typing correctly. I hit 73 words per minute in Bing's writing test. That's the same thing I get when I type on my go-to device, which is a 15-inch Surface Laptop 3.

Microsoft also has a fingerprint reader on the power button. However, you can only find it on select models. It is not included in the base model but is offered on our midrange devices and top tier models. I would recommend it as it makes logging in to the laptop very quick. Windows Hello facial recognition login is not supported.

Unlike the Surface Laptop 3, the trackpad is not made of glass. It's Mylar, supports Microsoft's five-finger multitouch gestures, and is a nice size of 115mm x 76.66mm. Usually laptop manufacturers shrink the touchpad when they shrink the screen size, but Microsoft knows better. The laptop Go's trackpad is buttery soft and has a nice slippery surface. Scrolling through web pages was pretty fun.

The input is accurate and the trackpad is fluid.

I would also like to mention the speakers and microphones. Just like the Surface Laptop 3, the Laptop Go has Omnisonic speakers with Dolby Audio. There are even two far-field microphones that sit on top of the screens.

The speakers are still in the device on the keyboard deck, but they are very loud. I enjoyed jamming to Clean Bandi & # 39; s Rather Be. Even when the volume was set to 70%, the lyrics were clear and a distinct bass was heard in the introductory sequence with the violins.

With the microphones and 720p webcam, my colleagues were happy with my voice and video quality when I used the Surface Laptop Go during a team video call. This is especially important in our current environment where we spend more time sticking to our displays in web conferencing.

Not enough pixels

Arif Bacchus / Digital Trends

Speaking of displays, if you're looking for a budget laptop these days, you will likely see all kinds of display options. The most common is a 1080p or 1920 x 1080 resolution, but that's not what you'll find on the Surface Laptop Go.

While the 13-inch Surface Laptop 3 has an impressive display with a resolution of 2256 x 1504 (201 PPI), the Surface Laptop Go is the opposite. Instead, Microsoft opts for a 12.4-inch display with a resolution of 1536 x 1024 (148 PPI). This control panel has 10-point multi-touch support, but no Surface Pen support. It even has Microsoft's 3: 2 aspect ratio.

But don't let that fool you. You can find the 1080p panel on a competing $ 550 or $ 650 laptop like the Pixelbook Go, as well as an Asus Vivobook 15, but not the Laptop Go. Even Microsoft's Surface Go 2 has a higher definition 1080p display and is also quite cheap if you don't consider the keyboard cover.

While the 3: 2 aspect ratio offers more vertical space for scrolling and a touchscreen is appreciated for this low price, the bottom of the Surface Laptop Go is flanked by ugly frames. Microsoft downsized the side bezels on the Surface Laptop Go to 7mm (and bent the screen edges for the first time), but this isn't exactly an XPS 13.

While the 13-inch Surface laptop has a pixel-punching display, the Surface Laptop Go is exactly the opposite.

However, this is not all a loss to Microsoft. Microsoft intends to use this laptop for productivity and I was able to do so despite the low resolution panel. I stacked two Edge windows side by side and enjoyed my usual workflow like on my 15-inch Surface Laptop 3, but with limited screen space. This is the advantage of the unusual aspect ratio of 3: 2.

Arif Bacchus / Digital Trends

The panel itself is just as good as the Surface Laptop 3. According to our colorimeter, it achieves a brightness of around 383 nits and an average color error of only 2.3. This roughly corresponds to the laptop 3 (372 nits, 2.4 color errors). However, we can't directly compare this to a Chromebook because our colorimeter doesn't work on ChromeOS. However, Microsoft does not visually sacrifice display or image quality.

The pixels may not be there, but the display quality is. I've seen episodes of Netflix's Designated Survivor and scenes with the exterior and rose garden of the White House were alive and well as expected in real life. And when I looked at the cosmos of National Geographic, I was sunk pretty deep into space thanks to the impressive contrast levels of the display.

Ice Lake is good for the price, just not for playing

Arif Bacchus / Digital Trends

Like the Surface Laptop 3, Ice Lake is back on the Surface Laptop Go this year. While they're not the latest Tiger Lake chips from Intel, they do make a performance difference.

Our device was configured with the Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor, 8 GB RAM and a 256 GB NVMe SSD. This is the midrange model, but the cheaper $ 550 version has the same processor but 4GB of RAM and slower eMMC storage. This slower storage can prove to be a more serious disadvantage if you choose the entry-level model.

You probably won't experience the faster read and write speeds of the SSD on our device. We achieved a read speed of 590 and a write speed of 674. It is about standard for a surface. The Surface Laptop 2 saw similar speeds on the 950 and 617.

Regardless of which model you choose, there is only one processor choice, namely the Intel Core i5-1035G1. It is a quad-core processor running at 1.00 GHz. This processor is great for multitasking and general productivity. It can be found on a similar budget or business laptop like the Acer Swift 3 or the Dell Inspiron 14.5000.

There is no doubt that this chipset is great for both internet surfing and everyday tasks. You can tell by the single-core and multi-core Geekbench 4 scores of 1,176 and 3,459. These results are below most laptops, but are certainly more than adequate for everyday use.

I didn't have any issues with multiple Microsoft Edge tabs. Over 10 tabs didn't slow down the Surface Laptop Go. Multiple instances of YouTube weren't opened either. Given most budget Chromebooks as the Pixelbook Go comes with outdated dual-core Core i3 or Core m3 processors, this is very much appreciated. It almost feels like a ThinkPad-class performance. Even the entry-level version of Apple's MacBook Air has a slower dual-core processor, and that's over $ 1,000.

The Surface Laptop Go is a further development of the Surface Go 2 with slower Intel Pentium Gold or Core m3 processors. This time around, Microsoft got the right performance for its budget PC, although it would have been nice if Microsoft had tried AMD's Ryzen 5 chips. This was previously the case in the larger 15-inch versions of the Surface Laptop 3. These new processors are found in laptops like the Asus Vivobook 15.

Note, however, that the Surface Laptop Go is not suitable for gaming as it has Intel HD graphics and not the newer Iris Plus that you might find on a premium laptop.

Only 1,508 points were achieved in the 3DMark Fire Strike test. That is far behind the 3,947 of the Asus Zenbook Flip S, which has the new Iris Xe graphics from Intel. Fortnite was basically not playable on the Laptop Go, with frames around 15 at low settings. You have to stick to simple 2D games and very old 3D titles.

Battery life that lasts all day

Battery life is crucial as you don't want to be plugged into an electrical outlet all day. Microsoft claims that their Surface Laptop Go has what it takes, as it can last up to 13 hours on a single charge – but is that true?

The answer is yes. While this manufacturer's information is usually doubtful, the Surface Laptop Go gets great battery life. With a screen around 60% brightness, the Surface Laptop Go lasted around 585 minutes in our iMacro web browser test in Microsoft Edge, which runs a continuous loop of web pages.

That is better than the Dell Inspiron 14 (282 minutes) and the Acer Aspire 5 (258 minutes). It even outperforms the MacBook Air (576 minutes). The 783 minutes set by the Pixelbook Go are still a long way off.

When we streamed a loop of video, the Laptop Go pulled out and lasted well over 11 hours and 3 minutes. That's almost the same level as the Pixelbook Go's 13 hours.

All in all, don't worry. The battery in the Surface Laptop Go is indeed designed to last.

Our opinion

Starting at $ 550, the Surface Laptop Go is a great Surface version of the Chromebook. However, there are many price cuts on a Surface device, including screen resolution and the lack of a keyboard backlight. Under the hood, the Surface Laptop Go with its 10th generation Intel Core i5 quad-core processor offers a lot of value and performance. This type of processor is rarely found in a budget laptop, even when paired with entry-level models with only 4GB of RAM and slower eMMC storage. There is a difference that you will feel as you try to get your job done.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes, there are many alternatives. If you are a student on a budget, consider buying the Pixelbook Go. If Windows is a must, there is the bulkier and more powerful Asus Vivobook 15, Acer Swift 3 or even the Dell Inspiron 14.5000. If a budget Surface is a must, the Surface Go 2 might also be a better choice because of its higher resolution display and support for Surface Pen.

How long it will take?

The Surface Laptop Go lasts a while. The internals meet specifications and the design and build quality are robust. You get a 60-day right of return via the Microsoft Store, a one-year hardware guarantee and 90 days of technical support.

Should you buy it?

Yes. The Surface Laptop Go makes sacrifices to get a low price, but its 3: 2 aspect ratio, solid processor, and good battery life make it stand out from the crowd.

Editor's recommendations




02 Oct
Blog

Samsung Can’t Make the Tab S7 a Realistic Laptop Replacement

Android tablets are not good overall. The hardware on offer in the market is solid, the specs are strong, and the prices are accessible and competitive. The problem is the software – especially the app support or lack thereof.

Samsung is making the most of this dire situation with the new Galaxy Tab S7 with tons of improvements including its DeX desktop interface and window apps. However, in many ways, the overall experience with an Android tablet is still insufficient. Very short.

I've been using a Galaxy Tab S7 with the optional $ 200 book cover keyboard accessory for a few weeks now. The S7's smaller 11-inch form factor compared to the giant S7 Plus tempted me to think it was a highly portable secondary machine that I can work and type on when I have less workload than my MacBook Pro necessary for .

In typical tech reviewer trope form, I wrote and edited the entire article on the S7 tab. I also took as many opportunities as possible to shut down my MacBook Pro or just leave home with the Tab S7 to see how much I can really do with it. I found a lot of good things and, unfortunately, a lot of bad things too, as Samsung makes the most of this bad situation.

Samsung does (almost) everything it can

Samsung is doing so much right in the hardware of the Tab S7. The metal body is superbly processed and looks and feels great too. It's exactly the luxury experience that an iPad Pro offers. The 120 Hz display is great in every way and is complemented by nice and loud speakers. The front camera is ideal for video calls and, unlike the iPad in landscape mode, is positioned correctly at the top of the screen. The battery life is exceptional, even if you squeeze the tablet hard in DeX mode.

And you are using DeX mode as it is the only way to use the Tab S7 as a potential laptop replacement or productivity device. I've tried using the normal "tablet" interface with the keyboard attached like I do on my iPad and it's rough. The vast majority of Android apps do not scale to a large screen, fewer change the user interface to take advantage of a large screen, and some do not even rotate to landscape. Trying to use an Android tablet for more than just light surfing or watching videos in full screen is downright frustrating.

DeX mode is the only thing that makes this Android tablet a competent laptop replacement.

DeX uses a brute force trick by implementing Windows apps like Windows and macOS. Now your apps can be viewed in phone-sized windows that you can move around. Even the most stubborn of apps like Instagram will appear in a window and at least be usable. You can still create apps in full screen mode and split the screen for two apps. You can also open multiple windows at the top.

The rest of the user interface improves too. You get a desktop-style dock that shows you which apps are running (or have recently run), and you can pin apps to stay up to date. Your status bar and notifications are now in the lower right corner. You get some desktop keyboard shortcuts like Alt + Tab for multitasking, Ctrl + Tab in apps, and Cut / Copy / Paste. In DeX mode, everything becomes a bit more predictable – and like a laptop.

I suddenly feel productive. I can use one full screen app and go to another to quickly send a message or read something without being redirected to a huge, blown up phone app. I can open an app from a notification and just have it open a new window. I can use a mouse pointer with a touchpad to press small keys and keep my hands on the keyboard.

An incomplete productivity experience

While DeX can fix many of the endemic problems associated with using Android as a tablet operating system, it doesn't fix everything. Forcing apps designed by phones in Windows helps, but it doesn't fully take into account the reality that Android apps are terrible on tablets.

There are still a lot of apps out there that shouldn't be put in full screen mode. Samsung must therefore force them to do so. Every time you switch between full screen and windowed mode, the app needs to be restarted. Other apps look fine in a window, but the window cannot be resized. Some apps just crash when switching between size and mode.

And ultimately, most apps simply scale the contents of a phone app to fill the screen – aka, everything is enlarged, huge, and not useful. So you have a choice of "using a phone app in a window" or "using a phone app that appears in full screen" – pick your poison.

Samsung is doing what it can here as it doesn't control the Play Store and can't force developers to make apps for tablets better. But it makes more casual mistakes that hurt the experience.

Samsung does what it can in the software, but it also makes mistakes with the keyboard hardware.

I want to love this keyboard. I can not. The typing experience is really great; The keys have spring travel but are springy and the layout is very spacious. But everything else is a mess. It attaches to the tablet with magnets, but has that wobbly faux leather strip between the connector and the keyboard that makes this setup completely unusable on your lap. That flexibility is, of course, such that the keyboard can be flipped over to cover the screen, but it doesn't have to be that thin. Why am I carrying an ultra-portable machine when I can only work on it when I have a table to put it on?

The biggest thing that interested me about the Tab S7 was that the keyboard has a trackpad. I am disappointed once again. The size is okay, but you can't track with a finger while your thumb is resting. Any laptop can do this. Clicking and dragging works inconsistently between apps. You can't turn off tap-to-click or change the two-finger scroll direction. These are all very basic settings that you would expect from a laptop. And then come back to app support. Each app treats a cursor differently, and text boxes on websites rarely work as you'd expect from a proper desktop browser.

It's just not enough to justify this price

The Galaxy Tab S7 is priced at $ 650 plus an additional $ 200 for the keyboard. $ 850 is a steep price tag for a device that feels incomplete and incapable of doing its job as a productivity tool near a laptop. Android apps are still terrible on tablets, even with a dramatically better DeX interface. The keyboard and trackpad fit a cheap Chromebook that you can buy from Best Buy.

Samsung charges laptop money for a tablet that is neither a good laptop nor a good tablet.

This is the same amount you would pay for a Surface Pro 7 with a keyboard – an actual experience with laptop software in a very similar form factor. (And I say this as someone who is far from a Windows fan.) Yes, it's a bad standalone tablet experience, but any large Android tablet gets used too. And as a tablet, it should go without saying that your $ 600 dollars will be much better spent on a new iPad Air. Future keyboard use can be accomplished with a keyboard accessory worth $ 159. Your total investment is less than what Samsung required for the Tab S7 combo.

I know it seems like I'm really not pecking on the Galaxy Tab S7. That depends on a hard love. I want to use the Tab S7, and it's so good, but it's a promise that is not being fulfilled. Every step of the way I struggle to get the Tab S7 to do something it wasn't intended for. and pay way too much for it.

Editor's recommendations




30 Sep
Blog

The Best Cheap HP Laptop Deals of October 2020

In the Windows PC world, HP may only compete with Dell for name recognition. This decade-old tech giant was one of the first companies to start making computers, and continues to do so today. The modern lines Pavilion, Specter, Envy and Omen represent some of the best laptops – not to mention the best values ​​- to be found on the market in 2020.

There's so much to offer from HP that there's a PC here that'll fit you just right, unless you're a dedicated MacBook fanatic. From 2-in-1 ultrabooks and gaming laptops to budget Chromebooks, HP does pretty much everything. So if you're looking for HP laptop deals, we've picked the best of the bunch, and we've rounded them up with something for everyone here

Today's Best Deals on HP Laptops

  • HP Laptop 15z – – $ 480, was $ 500
  • HP Pavilion 15z touchscreen laptop – – $ 550was $ 770
  • HP Pavilion x360 15 2-in-1 Laptop – – $ 630, was $ 670
  • HP Envy x360 2-in-1 laptop – – $ 679was $ 799
  • HP ProBook x360 435 G7 2-in-1 laptop – – $ 874 with code SMB10, was $ 1,833
  • HP Omen GTX 1650 Ti Gaming Laptop – – $ 910, was $ 1,030

HP Laptop 15z – $ 480 was $ 500

HP Laptop 15z (Silver)

Many of the cheap laptops you will see are last generation models with fairly simple specifications, a situation made worse by outdated hardware. That can be an issue with some PCs, but not this one: the HP Laptop 15z is the cheapest notebook you can find and that is still suitable (not to mention the size) to work on in comfort, and it contains some very nice specs that are seldom seen at this price point. For starters, it offers one of the newer AMD Ryzen 3 processors with integrated Radeon Vega graphics. Instead of the usual 4GB of RAM you see on cheap laptops, the HP Laptop 15z gives you the full 8GB.

This is a solid, cheap HP laptop for work, entertainment, and general everyday use, and you can get it on sale right now for a super cheap $ 480. If you want to upgrade to some better specs, the same laptop with a Ryzen 7 CPU and 512 GB SSD could be even better value at $ 550 – just $ 70 more.

HP Pavilion 15z touchscreen laptop – $ 550, was $ 770

It's clear that touchscreens will stay in 2020, and it's not hard to see why cheap laptops with touchscreens are so popular. This highly affordable HP Pavilion workhorse combines the speed of modern processing hardware with a convenient 15.6-inch 1080p touchscreen. The AMD Ryzen 7 CPU, the 12 GB RAM memory, the impressive 512 GB SSD and the generous battery life make it the perfect companion for work and entertainment on the go.

If you want to experience the convenience and versatility of touchscreens without paying almost a giant for all the bells and whistles of 2-in-1s like the Specter series, you can get this cheap HP laptop now for just $ 550 buy and save $ 220.

HP Pavilion x360 15 2-in-1 Laptop – $ 630, was $ 670

HP Pavilion x360 15t 2-in-1 laptop

If you like cheap laptops but want something with a modest tech upgrade, more storage space, and coveted 2-in-1 functionality, this high-quality HP Pavilion x360 laptop is perfect. This Windows 10 computer has a 15.6-inch HD touchscreen, one of the latest Core i5 processors, a 256GB solid-state drive, and a full 8GB of DDR4 RAM – an upgrade from the 4GB that you can often find on many cheap personal computers. The fact that it's one of the most affordable Windows 2-in-1s right now is just the icing on the cake.

This cheap HP laptop is perfect for remote working and pretty much all other basic computing needs. It costs just $ 630 ($ 40 off), making it one of the best computers you'll find for around $ 600.

HP Envy x360 2-in-1 laptop – $ 679 was $ 799

HP Envy x360Jeremy Kaplan / Digital Trends

When it comes to affordable workhorses, HP makes some of the best. This 15-inch Envy x360 2-in-1 is such a cheap HP laptop, but with its Ryzen 5 4500U CPU, 8 GB of RAM and a nice, fast 256 GB SSD, it is well above its weight. Straightforward specifications, of course, but very good ones for work, study, web surfing, and general everyday use. The added versatility of the 15.6-inch full HD display is also a foldable touchscreen and integrated audio from Bang & Olufsen.

This great deal on HP laptops is $ 679 after a $ 120 discount – not a bad price for a modern 2-in-1 with great specs like this.

HP ProBook x360 435 G7 2-in-1 laptop – $ 874 with code SMB10 was $ 1,833

Without a no-nonsense 2-in-1 deal like the HP ProBook x360 435 G7, no summary of the offerings for HP laptops and 2-in-1 devices would be complete. This mighty little convertible is the pinnacle of modern Windows ultrabook design. It has a gorgeous 13.3-inch 1080p touchscreen display, rugged appearance and generous battery life for all day.

While these premium ProBook work laptops can get expensive, this 2-in-1 is a solid value that is well below our budget limit – and with an AMD Ryzen 5 Pro CPU, 8GB of RAM, and a 256 GB SSD will last you for years to come. It's one of the few professional ultrabooks you'll find under a grand too. Current HP laptop deals bring it up to $ 874 with code SMB10 – $ 959 off retail price.

HP Omen GTX 1650 Ti Gaming Laptop – $ 910 was $ 1,030

HP is best known for its work-oriented laptops for students and professionals, but it also makes some pretty solid gaming PCs. The 15-inch HP Omen is a solid example of what modern gaming laptops have to offer. With its Core i7 CPU, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphics card (one of the best modern GPUs for 1080p), it offers a lot of juice for gaming) and 8 GB of RAM.

In addition, you get a nice, large 512 GB SSD for numerous games and other software. The 15.6-inch 1080p IPS display is suitable for both gaming and everyday use. A welcome $ 120 discount brings this powerful HP device to $ 910 (well below the $ 1,000 mark), making it one of the best gaming laptop deals currently available for a grand .

How to choose an HP laptop

The range of computers from HP is extensive, and the laptops alone offer enough variety to turn your head. Despite being a decades-old brand, it has definitely kept up with the times: today, HP makes everything from modern Chromebooks to sleek 2-in-1 ultrabooks to powerful gaming machines. Whatever your needs or budget, the chances are good that an HP laptop deal is waiting for you.

Laptops can be more or less divided into three categories: traditional laptops, 2-in-1 laptops, and gaming laptops, all of which can be found in most price ranges. After you've decided what you want and how much you want to spend (something you probably already have a good idea of), it's time to think about what features you want – and what you can get out of a cheap HP Laptop can be expected within the price range you choose.

These features include screen size and resolution, hard drive type (SSD or HDD) and capacity, and hardware (such as how much RAM you need or whether you need a discrete graphics card that supports games). Of course, more functions and better hardware come at a higher price. However, if you know what you want in advance and have realistic expectations, you will be satisfied with your purchase. To keep things simple, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Do HP laptops have bluetooth?

Bluetooth is a wireless standard that is ubiquitous these days. Your phone almost certainly has bluetooth capabilities, and virtually all modern tablets and laptops, including HP laptops, have this connectivity. Bluetooth allows you to pair your computer or other device with peripherals like wireless headphones or speakers (to name just the two most popular examples). However, if you are going for the latest standard, be sure to take a close look at the PC specs that you are keeping an eye on to make sure it's not out of date – something you risk in getting the cheapest deals on check out cheap HP laptops.

Are HP laptops good for gaming?

Games can be played on any Windows laptop. However, this does not mean that a game can be played on every computer. To play modern games with good settings, you need a laptop with a dedicated (or "discrete") graphics card. These GPUs behave almost like a second CPU for your PC, but are only intended for resource-intensive graphical tasks. That usually means gaming, but it also applies to jobs like rendering videos.

You'll also want a good modern CPU, ideally a ninth or tenth generation Intel Core processor or one of the newer AMD Ryzen processors. Many HP laptops (and even many other cheap gaming laptops you can find today) come with this type of hardware, and HP also makes a number of PCs for gaming in the Pavilion and Omen lines, so you have a few options if you are looking for a more powerful machine for work and play.

Do HP laptops come with Microsoft Word?

Microsoft Word is a component of the Microsoft Office suite and paid software. HP laptops do not offer these for free. However, many come with an Office trial, and you might even be able to get Microsoft Office for free through your school or work place (and if not, you should check out a good Microsoft Office deal to save money). If all you need is a simple word processor, Windows still includes the classic WordPad text editor. You can also try the free Microsoft Office alternatives.

Are HP laptops waterproof?

Electronics and water don't usually mix very well, and laptops (made by HP or any other brand) are no different. While you can often save a laptop from spilling on the keyboard, no consumer PC is completely waterproof, or even waterproof. Even Apple MacBooks are not waterproof, despite some lingering rumors. However, if you are concerned about that, consider investing in a waterproof cover or case that will keep your HP laptop secure.

Do HP laptops have HDMI ports?

The vast majority of modern computers have connectors for an HDMI cable. This is the current standard for A / V connectivity (DisplayPort is also popular, but it is more used for desktops than for laptops). HDMI is a connection that carries high definition audio and video signals over a single cable. Almost all HP laptops have an HDMI port that allows you to connect your computer to an external display if you want.

Looking for more great stuff? Check out our curated offers page for tech discounts and more.

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Editor's recommendations




24 Sep
Blog

Acer ConceptD 7 Ezel Review: Unique Laptop Only For Creators

acer conceptd 7 ezel review 01 2

"The ConceptD 7 Ezel is fast and furious and can morph into any form factor a creative professional needs."

  • Innovative and extremely useful design

  • Class-leading performance

  • Solid build quality despite the complexity

  • Great input options

  • Very good advertisement

  • Very big and heavy

  • Expensive

OK creatives, get ready to feel warm and fuzzy: Acer made a laptop just for you. And when I say that, I'm not exaggerating – the Acer ConceptD 7 Ezel is not all made up of fast components, so editing large photos and 4K videos takes less time, and it isn't just equipped with a display that is wide and promises accurate colors. No, the ConceptD 7 Ezel literally bends backwards to transform itself into exactly the laptop you need.

It's also a hell of a investment, costing $ 4,000 for my review unit, which features an eight-generation Intel Core i7-10875H CPU with eight cores, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage over two 1TB solid-state -Drive in RAID 0 is equipped with a Pantone-certified 4K IPS display and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 2080 Super Max-Q GPU.

That's a lot of computers for a lot of money – is it worth the price?

design

Where should I start? After reviewing nearly 100 laptops for digital trends, I can't remember reviewing one with so many distinctive design elements. Even the Acer ConceptD 9, another laptop I tested with a focus on developers, doesn't quite fit the ConceptD 7 Ezel due to its complexity.

Let's start with the form factor. We use the term “2-in-1” to describe 360-degree convertibles like the HP Specter x360 13, and that could be a misnomer. Such laptops don't just convert from clamshells to tablets. In between there are two other modes – tent and media. If we were completely accurate, we would call them 4-in-1.

According to this logic, the ConceptD 7 Ezel is a 6-in-1 device with six different modes that its hinge combination can apply. There's the usual clamshell mode, a float mode that allows the display to be positioned closer or farther away from the user, a stand mode that allows easy writing and drawing at a comfortable angle, a sharing mode that allows collaboration , a display mode for viewing media or inverting content and showing it to others, and a pad mode that serves as a (very bulky) tablet.

Aside from the tablet mode, these are all interesting and potentially comfortable positions for using the device. This is especially true if you are an artist who has always dreamed of getting your work done right on the screen with a pen in hand.

The ConceptD 7 Ezel has six different modes that its hinge combination can apply.

These modes are activated by a hinge in the center of the display that allows it to pivot along the lid and extend halfway up the back of the display. Opening the display takes getting used to – you have to reach down on it, otherwise the display can turn awkwardly. The hinges all work well together to keep the panel exactly where you want it. Overall, it's a fine piece of tech that creates really useful modes for different creative and collaborative needs.

The chassis is made of a magnesium-aluminum alloy and is available in one color – white. But it's not just painted on. Rather, Acer developed a ceramic coating using a micro-arc oxidation process (MAO) which, according to the expert's guideline, creates “an ultra-hard crystalline ceramic structure with a unique tactile feel”. It's not just about looking pretty, however. The ceramic coating also promises to resist corrosion and oxidation. Overall, it is a robust construction.

Speaking of aesthetics, the simple white color works for me. And apart from the uniqueness of the folding assembly, there isn't a lot of decoration or ornament around it. It's a very understated design. You could say it's a classic case of function over form. It's by no means an unattractive laptop – call it "utilitarian" instead. It looks like it's there to do a job and not to get noticed.

However, I wouldn't call it elegant as this is a large laptop. The bezels are thin on the side of the display, but relatively large at the top, and below is a massive chin. Acer hasn't even tried to match the modern trend for tiny bezels. Hence, the ConceptD 7 Ezel is larger in width and depth than a laptop like the Dell XPS 15 (although it may not be as much as you might suspect) which shouldn't come as a surprise. The Acer is also very thick, at 0.89 inches at its thinnest point and 1.13 inches at its thickest point. Compare that to the XPS 15's 0.71-inch.

Finally, the ConceptD 7 Ezel weighs 5.6 pounds compared to the Dell at 4.5 pounds. This is not a machine that you will toss in your backpack and casually carry to the local coffee shop. Instead, move them from workspace to workspace and keep them there for a while.

Extra weight is inevitable with this type of design. When you buy it, you are compromising portability in exchanging for a unique hinge and form factor. So better plan not to use it just as a clamshell laptop.

Connectivity is another strength. On the left you will find a USB-A 3.1 port, two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3, and a 3.5 mm audio jack. On the right you will find a Gigabit Ethernet port, an HDMI 2.0 port with HDCP support and a DisplayPort 1.4 connection. Finally, there is a full-size SD card reader on the leading edge. The wireless connection is provided via Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.

performance

Acer sent me the top-end version of the ConceptD 7 Ezel (outside of the Pro models with Xeon CPUs and Quadro GPUs, which are also available through reseller channels). It has an eight-core Core i7-10875H CPU and a Super Max-Q GeForce GTX 2080 GPU. And as you can imagine, it's fast enough.

Looking at Geekbench 5, the Concept 7 Ezel achieved 1,301 points in the single-core test and 7,949 points in the multi-core test. That matched the Dell XPS 17 almost exactly and narrowly knocked out the XPS 15, which both use the same CPU. This puts the ConceptD 7 Ezel at the top of this CPU class.

Next, let's look at our handbrake test, which converts a 420MB video to H.265. The ConceptD 7 Ezel finished the test in just under two minutes, lost just under five seconds against the XPS 17 and beat the XPS 15 by eight seconds. This is a CPU-intensive test. Hence, it is not surprising that these laptops are so close together.

In Cinebench 20, the story was a little different. The ConceptD 7 Ezel achieved 463 points in the single-core test and 3,845 points in the multi-core test. This is the third fastest score we've seen on a laptop. Only the Dell G5 SE with an AMD Ryzen 7 4800H and the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 with a Core i9-10980HK beat it – and not by much.

I then ran our test, which best mimics real-world conditions, and used Premiere Pro to render a two-minute 4K video. The ConceptD 7 Ezel finished the project in two minutes and 57 seconds, the fastest we've ever seen. The XPS 17 was done in three minutes and 38 seconds and the XPS 15 in four minutes and 50 seconds. The GTX 2080 Super Max-Q clearly makes a huge difference in demanding tasks where the GPU is used. At least with this configuration, the ConceptD 7 Ezel is one of the fastest creative workstations that is not a workstation.

The chassis gets very, very warm. In fact, it gets really hot sometimes.

Next we should talk about the thermal design. These types of components require adequate cooling if they are to perform well, especially if the laptop does not melt in the process. Acer has developed a bespoke solution with two 4th generation AeroBlade 3D fans (the fan edges are serrated to maximize airflow) and three heat pipes.

Of course, the unique design of the ConceptD 7 Ezel should also support this performance through better cooling. The main hinge provides some support to the floor for better airflow. The idea is that the ConceptD 7 Ezel doesn't get too loud when it's working at top speed – Acer advertises 40 decibels. Even when I work hard, the laptop never gets particularly loud – I wouldn't use it in a library as Acer suggests, but I wouldn't be embarrassed to use it in a typical office space.

However, the chassis gets very, very warm. In fact, it gets really hot sometimes. I measured over 125 degrees Fahrenheit directly above the keyboard and over 140 degrees Fahrenheit on the bottom of the case below the display. The heat above doesn't detract from the ease of use – the keyboard and deck stay cool enough – but you don't want to put this laptop on your lap while squeezing the CPU and GPU. Acer has managed to make it relatively quiet, but that seems to come at the expense of generating some serious heat.

Gaming performance

I'll mention gaming as the ConceptD 7 Ezel is of course quite well equipped to run today's demanding titles with high resolutions and graphical detail. And if you buy one, chances are you'll be tempted to play some games between work sessions. However, I can't imagine a lot of people will buy this laptop with games on their mind – mostly because the screen refresh rate is set to 60Hz.

If you make a game, you will be pretty happy with the results. According to 3DMark, the ConceptD 7 Ezel competes well with gaming laptops with the same GPU, scoring 7,273 points in Time Spy, compared to the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 with 7,605 and the MSI GS66 Stealth with 7,493. Note that the ConceptD 7 Ezel uses Nvidia's studio drivers, which are aimed at creative uses, rather than the Game Ready drivers that come with most laptops. Therefore, it aims more at stability in creative applications than at pure game speed.

In real word gaming, the ConceptD 7 Ezel achieved 60 frames per second (fps) at 1080p and ultra-high graphics in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, compared to the Asus at 55 fps (frames per second) and the MSI at 56 fps. In 4K, the ConceptD 7 Ezel only managed 29 fps compared to the Asus with 31 fps. In Civilization VI, the ConceptD 7 Ezel achieved 133 fps at 1080p and ultra graphics and 73 fps at 4K. The Asus was at 121 fps and 70 fps, respectively.

In Fortnite, the ConceptD 7 Ezel ran at 119 fps in 1080p and Epic graphics and 45 fps in 4K, compared to the Asus at 91 fps in 1080p (we didn't run the game in 4K on this computer).

display

Aside from performance, little is more important for creative people than display quality. You need a wide color gamut and high accuracy to achieve the usual high brightness and contrast that are important to all laptop users. Acer equipped the ConceptD 7 Ezel with a 15-inch 4K display. It is an IPS panel with an anti-glare structure that promises 100% AdobeRGB coverage and Pantone verification. How has it developed according to my colorimeter?

The first Acer device that was sent to me had a very poor factory calibration and the results were not nice. However, Acer immediately sent me another unit and the results were much better. The ConceptD 7 Ezel's display isn't the best we've seen on creative laptops, but it's damn close.

The color gamut is only slightly limited compared to the XPS 15, which achieved 100% for both AdobeRGB and sRGB. In comparison, the ConceptD 7 Ezel managed 95% of AdobeRGB and 99% of sRGB. Again, these aren't the best results we've seen, but they are in a reasonable range for a creative laptop. The color accuracy was very good at 0.87 compared to the XPS 15 at 0.65 – anything below 1.0 cannot be seen by the human eye and is considered excellent.

The brightness was good at 356 nits above our 300 NIT threshold and benefited from the anti-glare plate, while the contrast barely missed our preferred 1000: 1 ratio at 960: 1. Here, too, the XPS 15 was better with 442 nits and a contrast of 1480: 1. Finally, gamma at 2.2 was perfect.

Subjectively, the display was a pleasure during my tests. The pictures looked natural and the video was spot on – I had no complaints. The ConceptD 7 Ezel's display is good enough not to spoil the rest of the experience, even if I wish the color gamut was a bit wider.

Keyboard and touchpad

The ConceptD 7 Ezel's keyboard is a pretty normal island keyboard with well-spaced keys that are a bit small. The mechanism is almost sharp enough, with just a little bit of looseness that compromises precision a little. Travel is reasonable and overall I enjoyed typing on this keyboard. It doesn't match Apple's Magic Keyboard or HP's Specter version, but it's better than most. I'm not a fan of the amber backlight turned on and off, however – the color makes reading difficult for my eyes.

The touchpad is small thanks to a large opening above the keyboard that crushes everything. It's a Microsoft Precision touchpad with precise multitouch gestures that work well. Acer added some padding to make the buttons click comfortably and quietly, but I wish they were bigger.

The display is of course touch-sensitive and very precise. A Wacom EMR pen with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity is located in a dock on the lower right edge of the display. The matte glass display is etched to make writing feel more natural, and the EMR pen doesn't require a power supply to function.

I'd say it's an excellent solution – I'm sure artists will love the performance – but it's pretty small. I understand the desire to use a dock to make sure the stylus isn't lost, but Acer should have found a way to make a full version. I am not an artist so I cannot testify whether the size is a disadvantage, but I suspect that it might be the case for some.

Windows 10 Hello support is provided by a fingerprint reader integrated into the power button on the left side of the laptop. It worked well, signed me up quickly and accurately, and won't make a fuss.

Battery life

You don't expect long battery life from this beast, do you? No? That's good because you don't understand. And that despite the 84 watt-hour battery that is hidden inside.

At the same time, I'll find that this isn't the worst battery life in our database. It's certainly better than most gaming laptops, for example, and roughly on par with the other Creator-oriented laptops we tested. It took three hours on our most demanding Basemark web benchmark test, and that's not terrible. The Dell XPS 15 only lasted 11 minutes and the XPS 17 11 minutes less in this test.

In practice this means that you can expect the ConceptD 7 Ezel to be used for around three hours if you are doing demanding work. Perhaps this is enough for a short stay in a coffee house. However, the Power Brick is quite large, so it is not comfortable to carry around.

In terms of productivity work, our best test is our web browser test, which goes through a number of relatively busy websites. Here, the ConceptD 7 Ezel only managed six hours, an hour less than the XPS 15 and 20 minutes less than the XPS 17. So it's unlikely that you'll be working a full day, even if you're just using Office and surfing the net. In our video test, which ran through a 1080p trailer, the ConceptD 7 Ezel took a little over 10 hours. That's not a bad score for a machine like this, and it promises hours of Netflix bingeing.

Our opinion

The ConceptD 7 Ezel is in a class of its own. There is no other consumer laptop designed and built specifically for one type of user – creative professionals. Even professional workstations, which are also designed for such users, are not as tailor-made for developers. The ConceptD 7 Ezel's design is just as good for its obvious purpose, and Acer deserves praise for getting so much right.

Usually such specific machines tend to compromise in other areas. Apart from its size, which is forgivable in view of its flexibility and performance, the ConceptD 7 Ezel does not require any sensible compromises. Yes, it's expensive in my test configuration, but you can also go for $ 2,500 for a version with a Core i7-10750H, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, the same great 4K display, and a GeForce RTX 2060 GPU output. This is on par with the general price range of the Dell XPS 15, XPS 17, and MacBook Pro 16, and none of them work anywhere near as well for developers.

Are there any better alternatives?

I just said you can get a Dell XPS 15, XPS 17, or Razer Blade Pro 17 for about the same money (at the same stadium, at least) or a MacBook Pro 16-inch for a little more. These will be fast too, and the XPS 17 in particular will likely match the performance of the ConceptD 7 Ezel in its entry-level version.

However, none of these laptops have a hinge like the ConceptD 7 Ezel. Nobody scales to the same level of performance as the ConceptD 7 Ezel.

You can also take a look at the Acer ConceptD 9. It's bigger and a little less flexible, but also quite powerful. It also has a display that can transform into different form factors and supports a high quality active pen.

How long it will take?

The ConceptD 7 Ezel is well built and it appears that the various hinges will withstand considerable use for years. The components are sure to keep your workflow buzzing. However, the one-year warranty seems too short for such a complex design.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you are a creative professional and you are serious about your job, this is a laptop that you must seriously consider. The substantial investment pays off more flexibly than you know how to do.

Editor's recommendations




22 Aug
Blog

Acer Aspire 5 (2020) Review: An Old-School Budget Laptop

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"The Acer Aspire 5 is an ultra-cheap laptop and it feels like one."

  • Comfortable keyboard and touchpad

  • Thin and light

  • Good choice of ports

  • The battery life is poor

  • Feels cheap and pliable

Windows laptops under $ 500 are usually sad, low-performing devices. But the Acer Aspire 5 has always been an exception.

Last year's model, which was just $ 400, combined impressive performance, battery life, and build quality to make it the best budget laptop you could buy.

Acer has a new model this year, but this time I'm testing a more expensive $ 550 version. The configuration includes a Core i5-1035G1 instead of a Core i3, 8 GB of RAM versus 4 GB, and a 256 GB solid-state drive (SSD) instead of just 128 GB. The same $ 400 configuration is still available, as is an option for AMD's Ryzen 4000 CPUs.

Time did not stand still. I've been reviewing some excellent budget laptops lately and the pressure on the Aspire 5 has increased. Does the new model keep its high status or has it fallen behind?

design

As before, the Acer Aspire 5 is mainly made of plastic. The aluminum lid supposedly adds stiffness, but there's still a lot of room for improvement. The lid is still very flexible and can easily be bent in the middle with light pressure. The keyboard deck has some yields that aren't that outrageous, and the bottom of the case also yields to light pressure. It's not uncommon to see laptops at this price point, like the all-plastic Dell Inspiron 14 5000 I recently reviewed for $ 650.

However, other devices like the Lenovo Yoga C640, Lenovo Flex 5 14, and Acer Swift 3 all cost the same price as the Aspire 5 I'm reviewing – although they are 13- and 14-inch laptops, and we don't have them seen a superior 15-inch budget laptop – but they offer much better build quality. With the Aspire 5 starting price at $ 400, that's not that big of a deal, but with only about $ 50 separating the models, the difference in build quality becomes a bigger issue.

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There's no bling to speak of, which is good on a plastic laptop.

The aesthetics of the Acer Aspire 5 are okay for the price, at least in the silver color I tested. There's no bling to speak of, though that's not a bad thing on a plastic laptop. Too much counterfeit chrome can make a laptop look cheap if there are no authentic materials to secure it. The Aspire 5 is also available in red and black, which are more visually appealing and offer a little more interest.

One advantage of the Asprie 5, however, is its size. It's not thick for a budget 15-inch 0.71-inch laptop. At 3.97 pounds, it's not overly heavy either. That's in his favor. The display bezels may be narrow on the sides, but the top bezel is quite large by modern standards and the chin is just big, period. That gives the laptop more width and depth than more premium laptops – no surprise, but it has to be said.

Connectivity is a strength. You get a USB-C Gen 1 port (not Thunderbolt 3, which is unsurprising at this price point), two USB-A 3.1 ports, a USB-A 2.0 port, an HDMI 2.0 port with HDCP support, and an RJ-45 Ethernet connector. With the Aspire 5, you don't need many dongles.

The wireless connectivity is up to date with Wi-Fi 6 on board and Bluetooth 5.0.

performance

The Core i5-1035G1 in my review unit is a mediocre performer and is best for basic productivity, web browsing, multimedia consumption, and the like. They are the latest quad-core processors from Intel and are standard on portable laptops like this one. However, as I ran the Aspire 5 through our benchmark suite, it became clear that Acer's implementation is a bit slower than average here.

In Geekbench 5, for example, the Aspire 5 achieved 1.1129 points in the single-core test and 2.899 points in the multi-core test. This is a step behind the 1,169 and 3,197 points found on the Dell Inspiron 14 5000, and even further behind the 1,215 and 3,615 points managed by the Intel-based Acer Swift 3. Note that the Lenovo Flex 5 14 for $ 600 with an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U CPU scored 1,096 and 4,543 points, demonstrating AMD's new dominance in this price range. That's what you get with two additional cores and four threads.

It's not a speed demon, but the Aspire 5 is fast enough for its intended purpose.

The same was true for our more realistic test, which used Handbrake to encode a 420MB video as H.265. The Aspire 5 took a little more than five minutes to complete the test, while the Inspiron 14 finished almost 30 seconds earlier and the Spin 3 was almost a minute faster. The AMD-powered Flex 5 14 finished in less than three minutes and blew the rest of the field.

The Aspire 5 is fast enough for its intended purpose and certainly faster than the previous year's model with a dual-core Core i3. It's not a speed demon, however, and that's why you'll want to keep your expectations in check.

It also uses Intel's lowest UHD graphics so all but the lightest games are out of the question. Other laptops with 10th Gen Intel Core i5 processors have faster Iris Plus graphics, but Acer went for the cheaper option. If you want a faster (and more expensive) laptop but otherwise like the Aspire 5, consider the AMD Ryzen 4000 versions – you get much better performance.

display

I called last year's Aspire 5 display "better than budget". Nowadays that description feels less appropriate.

The 2020 Aspire 5 has a very similar touchless display to the last one. The brightness was 243 nits versus 238 nits, and the color gamut was equally narrow at 64% sRGB (versus 62%) and 47% AdobeRGB (versus 46%). Color accuracy was also close to 2.49 versus 2.42, and gamma was almost equally dark at 2.6 versus 2.7 (2.2 is perfect). The only significant difference was in contrast where the 2020 Aspire 5 only managed 720: 1 while the earlier model got a much better 890: 1.

This is still a fairly common finding for budget laptops, especially in terms of color gamut. However, we see that some budget devices do much better. For example, the Lenovo Yoga C640 achieved 96% sRGB and 73% AdobeRGB with a color accuracy of 1.07 (1.0 and less are considered excellent). This is the field of premium laptops, and while there are still few such devices around at this price point, there is a real possibility that the displays will gradually improve.

I can't fault this ad too much though. The panels offered by the Lenovo Flex 5 or the Dell Inspiron 14 5000 are just as inconspicuous. And in everyday use, it's good enough for productivity work and internet surfing – although the gamma is too dark for pleasant Netflix bingeing.

The audio remained a strength, with plenty of volume that wouldn't distort when turned up loud, and a bit of bass to match solid mids and highs. You can watch your Netflix binge and YouTube videos without headphones or bluetooth speakers, although the latter has been recommended as usual if you want to listen to your music.

Keyboard and touchpad

The Aspire 5's typical backlit keyboard offers a lot of clearance, although the keycaps are a bit small. The mechanism is on the crunch side, however, which is a plus. Button presses are registered without too much pressure, and there is a comfortable floor movement that helps with precision. I had no problem typing at full speed.

Like many inexpensive 15-inch laptops, the Aspire 5 also has a number pad on the right. This is useful for some, but the touchpad moves uncomfortably to the left.

The touchpad uses Microsoft Precision drivers and has a smooth surface with just enough grip to make swiping and scrolling comfortable. Multi-touch gestures are triggered exactly as they should. This doesn't always apply to the touchpads on budget laptops. I'll count this in favor of the Aspire 5. You don't get the glass touchpad of a premium laptop, but for the price, the Aspire 5 does the cut.

The fingerprint scanner in the upper right corner of the touchpad didn't impress me. It worked well enough for Windows 10 login without a password, but the location is distracting.

Battery life

Thanks to its energy-saving Core i3 CPU, the Aspire 5 received great praise last year for its long battery life. This year's Core i5 model has the same battery capacity of 48 watt hours and is nowhere near the performance of the previous version.

In our demanding Basemark web benchmark test, the 2020 Aspire 5 lasted just under three hours, compared to the previous year's model, which lasted four hours. The Lenovo Flex 5 with its Ryzen CPU also lasted almost an hour longer.

The 2020 Aspire 5 managed a little over four hours when switching to web surfing, a very disappointing score that is less than half of the 2019 model's nine hours. The Flex 5 outperformed again at eight hours, and the Acer Swift 3 with the same CPU lasted seven hours.

The battery life went from a strength to a weakness.

The 2020 Aspire 5 performed slightly better in the video loop test, which runs through a Full HD Avengers trailer, until the battery is empty. Here it took about 9.5 hours compared to the Aspire 5 2019 after 13 hours and the Flex 5 after 11 hours.

The bottom line is that battery life has gone from a strength to a weakness and it's not much better than the Dell Inspiron 14 5000 which had an even worse battery life. The Aspire 5 might get you through much of a day of typical productivity tasks, but you'll want to take your charger with you just in case. While I haven't tested it myself, the Core i3 model could get closer to last year's results.

Our opinion

The Acer Aspire 5 is much more attractive at $ 400 for a Core i3, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD. This pricing is still tough to compete with. At $ 550, however, we expect more. Better build quality, better performance, better battery life, and better displays are becoming the norm even at low prices.

Is there a better alternative?

I haven't tested a better 15-inch Windows laptop than the Aspire 5, but there are plenty of powerful Chromebook options out there.

On the Windows side, the Lenovo Flex 5 14 with its AMD Ryzen CPU is a good choice. It has a slightly smaller display but is much faster, has better battery life, and more robust build quality. It's a 2-in-1 game too, which makes it a more flexible option for just $ 50 more.

Acer & # 39; s Swift 3 Ryzen is another great option if you have $ 100 more to spend. It's also faster, looks better, has better battery life, and improved build quality.

Finally, if size isn't important at all, you can resort to a 13-inch model and get the Lenovo Yoga C640. The all-metal construction is superior and the battery life is much better. Performance will lag a bit thanks to the Core i3 CPU, but again, it's a very functional 2-in-1 for just $ 50 more.

How long it will take?

Despite the cheap chassis, the Acer Aspire 5 is built well enough to last a few years, there's no doubt about that. Apart from the fact that it lacks Thunderbolt 3, it has the latest components, including Wi-Fi 6. We always want more than the one-year warranty, however.

Should you buy it?

No. The cheaper configuration offers more attractive value, but there are cheaper laptops available.

Editor's recommendations




11 Aug
Blog

LG Gram 14 2-in-1 (2020) Review: Not Just a Light Laptop

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"The LG Gram 14 2-in-1 is an extremely light laptop, but it does more than just that."

  • Solid productivity performance

  • Extremely light

  • Generally good input options

  • Strong connectivity

  • Expensive

  • The performance has decreased slightly compared to the previous generation

As you can tell by the name, LG's Gram laptops focus on weight – especially light weight. While thin and light laptops have gotten a lot thinner and lighter, the LG Gram line has managed to keep its place with some of the lightest laptops you can buy.

LG just updated its Gram 14 2-in-1, which weighs just 2.52 pounds. It's insanely easy, despite having all of the high-end specs you'd expect in a $ 1,600 laptop. But does this laptop have more to offer than just its light weight?

design

The Gram 14 weighs 2.52 pounds, which is definitely on the lower end of the scale for 14-inch 2-in-1 laptops. Imagine a direct competitor, the Lenovo Yoga C940, which weighs 3.04 pounds – a half-pound difference that you can tell when you hold it in either hand. Even a smaller 2-in-1, the HP Specter x360 13, is heavier at 2.88 pounds. Simply put, the Gram 14 achieves its goal of being a noticeably lighter alternative.

Much of this has to do with the choice of materials, especially the magnesium alloy that makes up the laptop's case. This metal manages to keep things lightweight while still being reasonably sturdy, though I've noticed a few bends in the lid and some keyboard flexes. The Gram 14 feels like it's made of plastic. That's not a bad thing in and of itself, but it hurts when you factor in the $ 1,600 price tag.

Despite its low weight, the Gram 14 is not the thinnest notebook.

However, once you overcome this mental hurdle, you will appreciate how LG managed to make the laptop so light and solid that you don't have to worry about its ability to endure abuse.

Despite its weight, the Gram 14 is not the thinnest notebook at 0.70 inches. The Yoga C940 is thinner at 0.57 inches and the HP Specter x360 13 is 0.67 inches. And you'll be pleased with that extra thickness as, as we'll learn, it improves connectivity and battery capacity.

In terms of aesthetics, the Gram 14 can best be described as "handsome". It's an attractive dark silver color (it's also available in white) with a bold white Gram logo on the lid and keyboard font that curiously compliments the design. There's nothing here to get a lot of attention, but I like the look. I would prefer it to Lenovo's yoga aesthetic, which is as conservative as it is boring. HP's Specter line is still the most extravagant, of course, and the Gram 14 doesn't come close.

Connectivity is impressive for a laptop this thin and light. There's a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 support (and an upgrade from the previous model without this useful connection), a full-size HDMI port, two USB-A 3.1 ports, and a microSD card reader. Wireless connectivity is provided by Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5, which keeps the laptop up to date with the latest in wireless technology.

performance

When I reviewed the 2019 version of the Gram 14, it was a strong performance for its CPU class. This time it fell off a bit.

In the synthetic Geekbench 4, for example, the 2019 version with its eighth generation Core i7-8565U achieved 5,013 points in the single-core test and 15,496 points in the multi-core test. The new Gram 14 with its quad-core Intel Core i7-10510U scored 5,244 and 14,789 points respectively and dropped out in the multi-core test. Looking at Geekbench 5, the Gram 14 scored 1,170 and 3,480, respectively, compared to the Asus ZenBook Duo with the same CPU that manages 1,183 and 4,221. The Gram 14 simply lags behind in this test.

When switching to our real-world handbrake test, which converts a 420MB video file to H.265, the 2019 Gram 14 took about 4.1 minutes to complete the test with an older version of Handbrake, while the new Gram 14 took five Took seconds longer. We didn't test the same CPU with the latest version of Handbrake, but it took the Gram 14 five minutes to complete the test compared to the Acer Spin 3, which took a Core i5-1035G1 in just over four minutes.

None of this is a tragedy, of course. These results mean you don't want to use the Gram 14 for high-level photo and video editing tasks, but it does work for just about any productivity, web browsing, and multimedia task you might want to do. And that's exactly the focus of this laptop – providing a lightweight platform that productivity workers love to take with them. In this respect the gram 14 shines.

With Intel UHD Graphics, this is of course not a gaming laptop. If you stick to older, low-resolution, graphical-detail titles, you can play light games, but that's about all you can expect.

Battery life

Somehow, LG managed to pack 72 watt hours of battery capacity into the lightweight housing of the Gram 14. That's a lot of battery for a 14-inch laptop, and I expected some strong battery results.

What I got was strong, but not spectacular longevity. Battery life has been one of the most notable improvements in recent laptops, and the Gram 14 sits on the top shelf in this category. It's not the most durable we've tested, but it does give you a good, long day off the hook.

First, it did nearly 4.5 hours in our demanding Basemark web benchmark test. That's on the high end of the average, which is a bit strange because the Gram 14 doesn't exactly push the CPU to its limits and I was expecting more here. The Asus ZenBook Duo lasted almost five hours longer and the Dell XPS 13 with its Core i7-1065G7 almost half an hour longer. So Gram 14 did well here, but not great.

The LG Gram 14 will get you through a whole working day and much more.

The switch to the web browser test and the Gram 14 was a bit stronger. It ran for roughly 11.3 hours, which is a strong – but also not class-leading – score that indicates a long-lasting productivity laptop. The ZenBook Duo only lasted 8.5 hours, while the XPS 13 lasted 13 minutes longer. Finally, watch our video loop test looping a local Full HD The Avengers trailer until the battery runs out. Here the Gram 14 lasted 16.6 hours, beating the 11.9 hours of the ZenBook Duo and the 14.5 hours of the XPS 13. You'll find the Gram 14 an excellent laptop for getting Netflix on the road .

Ultimately, I have to rate the Gram 14 as impressive in terms of battery life, all the more so since you don't pay a premium in terms of weight for total battery capacity. The Gram 14 will take you through a full day of work and more, which is all you can ask from such a featherweight machine.

display

If you look at our display database, you can see a remarkably consistent trend. Laptops like the Apple MacBook and the Dell XPS 15 have fantastic displays with brilliant and precise colors, deep contrast and high brightness. Then there are inexpensive displays with faint colors, poor accuracy, and dull panels with less contrast. Right in the middle is the premium average, which is almost exactly where the Gram 14's display drops off.

It's comfortably bright at 320 nits, which exceeds our preference of 300 nits, while its 830: 1 contrast falls below our preferred 1,000: 1 ratio. But that's similar or better than some other laptops like the Lenovo Yoga C930 (we haven't tested the C940 yet) which came in at 294 nits and a contrast of 650: 1. The Dell XPS 13 was much brighter at 377 nits and had a contrast ratio of 1,440: 1.

The display is one of the worst color accuracies we've seen in a while.

In terms of color, the Gram 14 managed 70% AdobeRGB and 95% sRGB. Again, this is roughly average for premium laptops. although the XPS 13 outperforms it with 77% and 97% respectively. Where the Gram 14 falls, the color accuracy is 5.11 (1.0 or less is considered accurate), which means colors can be found everywhere compared to a laptop like the XPS 13, which scored 1.53 were. The Gram 14's score is one of the worst we've seen in a while, and there's no excuse for an expensive laptop like this one.

Still, I enjoyed using the display while writing the review. Black text on a white background popped up in a way that was comfortable for long-term writing, and the only time I noticed the inaccurate colors was when I compared it side by side with another laptop. If you're the creative type who demands a wide gamut and accurate colors, control should be clear. For productivity users and multimedia watchers, however, the Gram 14's laptop is more than good enough.

The sound was clear and pleasant, although the volume was absent. There was little bass, of course, but few laptops outside of Apple's latest MacBook Pros can claim a lot of low-end reactions. Highs and mids were fine, so the speakers were fine for the occasional YouTube and Netflix sessions (in a quiet room), but headphones or bluetooth speakers would still be a boon.

Keyboard and touchpad

The keyboard on the Gram 14 appears to be the same as the previous model, which is generally a good thing. First of all, as mentioned above, it's a nice looking keyboard with a nice, clear, attractive font and effective backlighting. Second, it has a fast mechanism that is good for long writes, although it's a bit shallow for my tastes. Lots of people may agree, so I rate the keyboard very good – not quite on par with the excellent keyboard on the HP Specter x360 13, but not too far off.

The touchpad is average in size and supports Microsoft Precision drivers with solid support for Windows 10 multi-touch gestures. The display is of course touch sensitive, and the included active pen supports 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and works well with Microsoft inks. Overall, input is a strength.

Windows 10 Hello support without a password is provided by a fingerprint reader integrated into the power button. It works well, quickly and accurately and saves me the hassle of entering a PIN or password.

Our opinion

The LG Gram 14 2-in-1 fulfills its primary goal of being a lightweight 2-in-1 productivity that is particularly easy to transport. Performance is a bit slower than the last version, but it's not unusual – it's still fast enough for the productivity users' goal. Battery life is a strong point, as are the input options.

There is stiff competition out there, however, and some of them are much cheaper than the Gram 14. However, it's tough to beat the LG Gram 14 for the ultimate in portability.

Are there alternatives?

The Lenovo Yoga C940 is a strong competitor to the Gram 14. It is likely faster and more solidly built, with great audio performance and a better keyboard. While the battery life isn't that long, it makes up for it with a price tag that is about $ 300 lower.

You could also cut the price significantly (around under $ 1,000) and consider the HP Envy x360. Thanks to the powerful Ryzen 4000 CPUs from AMD and an overall better build quality, you get significantly faster performance without adding too much weight. However, you are giving up on battery life.

Finally, LG sells a Gram 14 clamshell that's even lighter at 2.2 pounds and the same basic size as the 2-in-1. It's only configured with a Core i5, but if you don't need the speed or the 2-in-1 functionality, you can save 14 cash compared to the 2-in-1 price of 1,600 grams – the clamshell is out now available at $ 950 and $ 1,200 at retail.

How long it will take?

The LG Gram 14 2-in-1 is built well enough that it should last for years. And with the latest components and Thunderbolt3, it's relatively future-proof. As always, we complain about the short one-year guarantee.

Should you buy it?

Yes, but only if you have a super light laptop. When performance or build quality are higher priorities, better laptops and 2-in-1 devices are available.

Editor's recommendations




03 Aug
Blog

Asus ROG Strix G15 Review: A Gaming Laptop That Glows

Asus Rog Strix G15 review 01

Asus ROG Strix G15 review: the gaming laptop that lights up

"The Asus ROG Strix G15 offers just enough power to justify its 144 Hz refresh rate."

  • Solid gaming performance

  • RGB lighting is unmistakable

  • High refresh rate

  • Good thermals

  • Thick and chunky

  • No webcam or secure registration

Higher refresh rates have become the main theme for gaming laptops in recent years. Thanks to the performance increase, even gaming laptops at the budget level receive refresh rates of more than 60 Hz.

Asus' eye-catching new gaming laptop, the ROG Strix G15 for $ 1,000, is one of the cheapest laptops you can get with a 144 Hz screen. My test device was only equipped with an Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti, the entry-level option for serious mobile games.

Is that enough to properly power a 144 Hz display? Let's find out.

design

Asus designed the ROG Strix G15 in collaboration with BMW, which at first sounds interesting. Unfortunately, the car-inspired aesthetic is nothing new – it has been in the DNA of gaming equipment for many years.

The design collaboration leads to a plastic gaming laptop with many ribs, lines and structured materials. This is fake brushed metal that you can feel at your fingertips. Nevertheless, I prefer the look over something gaudier like the Acer Predator Helios 300.

The ROG Strix G15 is made entirely of plastic, although the structural integrity of the ROG Strix G15 is rather tank-like. The lid is the only weak point. It is easy to bend or bend and the hinge slams the lid unless it is at least 50% open.

The all-round light bar brightens your desk with a dash of RGB color.

My device came completely in black and Asus says it is a "professional person". Frankly, nobody will confuse it with anything other than a gaming laptop. Laptops like the Razer Blade or MSI GS66 Stealth are better suited for a meeting (if you still have them).

What the ROG Strix G15 has are lights. A lot of lights. The keyboard has a backlight for each key. This is just the beginning. The ROG Strix G15 has an “all-round light bar” that brightens your desk with a dash of RGB color. The LEDs themselves are not directly visible and leave a diffuse glow underneath. It's a nice effect that sets the Strix G15 apart from the sea of ​​other black gaming laptops.

The ROG Strix G15 is not thin or light. It weighs 5.7 pounds and is just under an inch thick. Even the Dell G3 gaming laptop, which is chunky in itself, outperforms the Strix G15 in portability. The Strix G15 also has a large footprint thanks to the placement of the connections on the back. To compensate, the laptop has a solid chin bezel. There is a significant gap between the display and the rest of the case. This means that the screen sits higher than some 17-inch laptops when open.

The ROG Strix G15 has a typical keyboard layout, although there are some eccentricities. I like the colorful WASD buttons and the additional function buttons on the side. Asus has also pulled some important keys from the function bar, e.g. B. the volume control. Unfortunately, the buttons used are mushy and feel imprecise.

The touchpad works well for a gaming laptop in this price range. It has a smooth surface and traces well enough, although Asus has opted for old-school, left and right physical buttons that feel dated and cut into the usable touchpad area. As with many Asus laptops, you can turn on a digital number pad on the touchpad because the keyboard lacks one. It works pretty well, but the accountants won't be happy.

Ports

The ROG Strix G15 follows the trend to move many less used ports into the background. Here are your video output options, whether via HDMI 2.0 or USB-C. The USB-C connector is not a Thunderbolt 3 and does not support a power supply. To charge, you have to stick to the proprietary barrel connector, which is also on the back next to an RJ45 Ethernet socket.

The only ports on the sides of the device are three USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports and a headphone jack. The right side is completely port free.

The Strix G15 does not include a webcam like most Asus gaming laptops sold today. This decision makes sense in a vacuum, as Asus knows that gamers who stream need a better external webcam. However, this decision is timed poorly due to the sudden popularity of work from home.

Finally, the Strix G15 does not include an IR camera or fingerprint reader for secure Windows Hello logins. It includes the latest Wi-Fi 6 for connectivity and Bluetooth 5.0.

display

The display makes the ROG Strix G15 an interesting gaming laptop. But not because the picture quality of the panel is so impressive. It's sub-par in almost every way, and the colors are the biggest downside.

It only affects 65% of the sRGB color space, which is poor compared to 98% of a laptop like the Razer Blade or MSI GS66 Stealth. Even the affordable Dell G5 SE reaches 98%, as do midrange laptops like the Lenovo Yoga C640. It has a light green hue, which makes my skin look almost sick in a YouTube video we recorded. However, this is less noticeable in games.

It's not a bright panel with a maximum of 278 nits, but the matte finish helps avoid sharp reflections. Let's face it, you'll likely be playing games in dimly lit rooms anyway.

The refresh rate is the outstanding feature of the display. A year or two ago, 144 Hz was the standard for high-end gaming laptops like the Razer Blade. Nowadays 300 Hz screens have raised the standard, while the ROG Strix G15 can be configured up to 240 Hz. At this price, it is still rare on gaming laptops, which makes the screen of the ROG Strix G15 a highlight of its gaming experience.

Game performance

The ROG Strix G15 may only have a poor Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti for graphics on board, but don't underestimate it. Modern 3D titles can be played back without any problems even at maximum settings. It can reach 64 fps (frames per second) in Fortnite, 56 in Battlefield V and 63 in Civilization VI. These are high enough, although they don't use the 144 Hz refresh rate much. If you only play with maximum settings, you won't notice the difference between this and a standard 60 Hz screen.

But it really seems if you reduce the graphics settings a bit. Frame rates increase significantly, and you feel the true power of a higher refresh rate. At medium settings, Civilization VI plays at 108 fps, while Fortnite reaches 86 fps at high settings (less than Epic). Interestingly, it matches the performance of the equally equipped Dell XPS 15 in almost every game for $ 600 less.

The problem? Not all games are as good as these easier titles. Battlefield V is a good example that still only achieves an average of 60 fps at medium settings. Of course you can set it to low if you really want to break 60 fps, but it's not fun. Assassin's Creed Odyssey is an even better example. In the middle setting "high", the game on the ROG Strix G15 only achieves an average of 42 fps. With Ultra High it is only 23 fps.

The system keeps the surface temperatures surprisingly cool even while gaming.

That is why Asus classifies this laptop as "E-Sport". If you're trying to play something more sophisticated – or just want to see more graphic details in your games – the ROG Strix G15 isn't for you.

Here the AMD-based Dell G5 SE is a convincing argument in itself. The AMD Radeon RX 5600M of the Dell G5 SE far outperforms the Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti – in some cases even 48%. On the other hand, Dell sells the G5 SE without 144 Hz in lower configurations. The high refresh rate of the ROG Strix G15 is more suitable for a certain type of player.

Of course, Asus also offers more powerful configurations of this laptop. For example, an attractive option might be the $ 1,500 model, which is equipped with an RTX 2070, a refresh rate of 240 Hz, 16 GB RAM and 1 TB solid-state memory. Razer offers a very similar blade configuration for a whopping $ 500 more.

In addition, the ROG Strix G15 has a cooling advantage over smaller gaming laptops. The system keeps the surface temperatures surprisingly cool even while gaming. This comes at the expense of fan noise (and case thickness), but you'll appreciate the cooling temperatures on the palm rests after long gaming sessions.

Performance in content creation

When it comes to non-gaming performance, the Dell G5 SE is again a problem in comparison. It has an eight-core processor compared to the six-core option in the ROG Strix G15. This means significantly better performance in high threading applications. With a focus on gaming, this may not be a deal breaker for the ROG Strix G15.

My test device came with the Intel Core i7-10750H, 8 GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD. The performance in Cinebench R20 worried me a little. The single-core value even lagged behind measly 15-watt laptops like the Microsoft Surface Book 3. Thanks to the two additional cores, the Dell G5 SE was 26% faster in the multi-core test from Cinebench.

This directly led to how quickly the ROG Strix G15 also ran when encoding video. The Dell G5 SE was 27% faster encoding a 4K film trailer to H.265 in Handbrake. Of course, the ROG Strix G15 was not designed for this type of workload, but if you want to create content on the side (which doesn't depend on the quality of the screen), the ROG Strix G15 can do the job.

The ROG Strix G15 also has an empty M.2 slot for future expansion. You can also upgrade the RAM up to 32 GB.

Battery life

The ROG Strix G15 is not suitable for long sessions outside the wall.

Three hours and 50 minutes in our light web browser test are not good even for a gaming laptop. The Dell G5 SE lasted more than six hours in the same test.

The Strix G15 has proven itself in the video playback test, in which a local 1080p video clip is repeated until the battery is empty. The Strix G15 lasted eight hours and even beat the Dell G5 SE by an hour and a half. Unfortunately, this doesn't match the battery life of a typical workload.

In my daily workload, which consisted of a dozen browser tabs and some applications, it took about four hours on a single charge. There are far better gaming laptops for battery life.

Our opinion

The Asus ROG Strix G15 is a good choice for a certain type of player. It is the cheapest 144 Hz gaming notebook you can buy and offers just enough power to use it in some games. The image quality of the display is disappointing and there are a lot of frills missing from more expensive gaming laptops. Most gamers will be happier upgrading to a laptop with at least one Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti, but the ROG Strix G15 is a good place to start if you need cash.

Are there alternatives?

The Dell G5 SE is a problem for the ROG Strix G15. It is more powerful in almost every way. If you can raise the price to $ 1,050, it even comes with a 144 Hz screen. However, the ROG Strix G15 offers a higher refresh rate with cheaper configurations and has a more polished housing.

The Lenovo IdeaPad 3i for $ 920 is one of the few cheap gaming laptops with a high refresh rate. It's 120 Hz instead of 144 Hz, but you probably won't notice the difference. It comes with a slower Core i5 processor, but it's also a little cheaper than the ROG Strix G15.

How long it will take?

The ROG Strix G15 is a well-built laptop, but its graphics card isn't the fastest. In a few years, you may find that newer games find it difficult to play smoothly. However, the ability to update RAM and memory is a plus for the durability of the ROG Strix G15.

Asus offers a standard one-year warranty on its laptops. After that you are alone.

Should you buy it

Yes. If you're an e-sports player who cares more about frame rates than graphic details, the ROG Strix G15 gives you just enough power.

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