Dreame H11 Max Wet and Dry Vacuum Review: Modern Convenience

Dreame H11 Max vacuum

Dreame H11 Max

RRP $ 500.00

"The Dreame H11 Max vacuum cleaner is powerful, slim and easy to use and is equipped for dealing with hard floors."

advantages

  • Strong suction power

  • Slim, attractive design

  • Adaptive suction

  • Simple interface

disadvantage

  • A bit expensive

  • Does not clean carpets

As someone who hates Swiffers and is way too lazy to mop regularly, I was downright happy to have this Dreame H11 Max wet and dry vacuum cleaner for a twist. This cordless vacuum cleaner impresses with 36 minutes of running time, a self-cleaning roller brush and a slim profile. As the name suggests, it is a 2-in-1 combination vacuum cleaner that can remove both wet and dry dirt. Is it enough to clear my admittedly low bar? Probably! Let's dig in.

Out of the box

The Dreame H11 Max is very easy to assemble. All you really need to do is put the handle on and it clicks into place. It is equipped with buttons for switching on, switching modes and initiating self-cleaning. The orientation of the handle was a bit strange as it loops from the shaft outwards towards the front of the vacuum cleaner, more towards the rear towards the user. The secret of this design decision eludes me to this day.

Dreame H11 Max Vacuum in a corner.Simon Sage / Digital Trends

Otherwise, the H11 Max looks pretty good overall. It has smooth and sharp lines that set it apart from many vacuum cleaners. I could leave this open as opposed to my current vacuum which remains shamefully hidden.

When the charging station is plugged in and you insert the vacuum cleaner for the first five-hour warm-up period, you will be greeted by an acoustic prompt confirming that the charging process has started. The sound can be annoying, but luckily there is a button on the back to completely ban the audio prompts. The stand has space for the supplied spare roll and cleaning brush, but there is no space for the supplied additional filter. Damned.

From here, it's a simple matter of topping up the 0.23 gallon fresh water tank. Once the vacuum is activated, the water runs through the brush, then the filter, before ending up in the 0.13 gallon dirty water tank.

power

What Swiffer pads have in terms of comfort, they lose in terms of cleaning power. Throwing out the mop is a huge effort. After examining my laminate kitchen floor with the Dreame H11 Max, I was pleasantly surprised at how little water it uses compared to conventional mopping and at the same time it picks up a significant amount of dirt. The 200W brushless motor did its job and provided enough traction that I took away a lot of the manual drudgery that comes with wiping. Dreame says it has its proprietary detergent in the box. Even if mine didn't, the H11 Max was still good at cleaning. In the long run, I can't resist the temptation to use another party's more readily available laundry detergent.

Close-up of the vacuum attachment of the Dreame H11 Max Vacuum.Simon Sage / Digital Trends

Some wet vacuums work on carpets, but this one doesn't. My hopes of creating some storage space by breaking free of a much larger vacuum were not only dashed, but completely reversed. I would have to make room for two monstrous devices in my life to maintain all of the floors in my apartment. This is a strike.

With all its power, I didn't find the H11 Max that loud.

At 10.1 pounds, the H11 Max may not have the maneuverability or light weight of a Dyson OmniGlide, but it has good performance and run time. However, my cleaning program is slack to the point of horror, so using the Dreame H11 Max's six 4,000 mAh batteries for 36 minutes is largely wasted. Dreame claims there's enough water to clean 2,152 square feet, but only in my haziest fever dreams will I ever own that much hardwood floor, let alone the change to clean it all at once. A lighter model may actually be better for something you only spill occasionally, rather than cleaning the entire house that some crazy people seem to be doing. With all its power, I didn't find the H11 Max that loud.

LED display of the Dreame H11 Max Vacuum.Simon Sage / Digital Trends

The LED surface keeps users informed about everything. Aside from the power levels, there is very little to consider. You can switch between Auto and Slurpy mode, which soaks up spills. Various error indicators light up when something goes wrong. The outer colored ring serves as a real-time contamination indicator that can help you find particularly problematic areas. This vacuum cleaner adjusts the suction power to remove new debris in a snap, and you can hear it in problem areas to scrub extra hard.

price

The $ 500 H11 Max is in the right range for new wet and dry vacuums, albeit in the slightly higher range. You can certainly find cheaper ones that are closer to the $ 200 mark, but they tend to be wired.

Our opinion

The Dreame H11 Max vacuum cleaner has proven to be powerful, slim and easy to use. A decent water tank and long battery life make it a viable option for larger homes. Unfortunately, without the support of carpet surfaces, the H11 Max is unlikely to be able to tackle every floor in every home. You need to assess whether you would like to have a second vacuum cleaner for carpets in the house.

Is there a better alternative?

Bissell has a number of upright cordless wet and dry vacuums that work on both hard and carpeted floors, and are also a little cheaper. I would consider that Bissell CrossWave before you take the plunge onto the Dreame H11 Max. I still give the H11 Max a notch for a more modern design. For dry soiling, the alternative solution is as cheap as a broom.

How long it will take?

Dreame offers a one year warranty so you are covered for at least that long. Since this vacuum cleaner is designed for larger households, it can be worn out more. However, the lithium-ion batteries are likely to lose primarily mechanical charge. Batteries last between three and five years, depending on usage.

Should you buy it?

Homeowners with a lot of flooring and a desire for cleanliness can use the large battery and the ample water supply of the Dreame H11 Max. It can be overkill for people who like to be content with the occasional broom sweeping to take care of their hard floors.

Editor's recommendations



Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max Review: The New Standard

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

Amazon Fire TV Stick Max

RRP $ 55.00

"Of course it's an iterative update, but one that makes the Fire TV Stick 4K Max the one you can get."

advantages

  • Better processor and WiFi

  • Including the new remote control

  • Still extremely cheap

disadvantage

  • Based on an outdated version of Android

The most important feature of a streaming stick is probably not listed on the side of the box. It's not how much RAM it has. It's not the size of the on-board storage. It's not if it's 4K (OK, it's about more than a little), and it's not the Wi-Fi speed or the processor. And it's not all apps that it has access to.

The main feature of the new Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the price. This is what really determines where it not only fits into the Amazon Fire TV range of devices, but also its place in the overall system against its closest competitor, Roku, which has its own line of relatively inexpensive streaming sticks. Sure, the specifications determine the price. But tell us how much you want to spend and we'll tell you which streaming device is best.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K MaxPhil Nickinson / Digital Trends

And the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, while it's an iterative update (there's certainly nothing wrong with that) and though it has quite a bit to say (which we take a little problem with), is definitely the Fire TV Stick to buy.

Here's why.

The Fire TV Stick Max is mostly a Fire TV Stick 4K, only better. It's more max.

What's new in Fire TV Stick 4K Max

It's not just that Fire TV stick. It's not that Fire TV Stick 4K. This is Max who we can only assume is one step above plus but still below extremes. It's a silly suffix appended to a product that is itself mostly an iteration of an iteration. This is how these streaming sticks work. They have certain features at certain prices so you are guaranteed to make money no matter what. More on this below.

Amazon's own comparison chart does it pretty well. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max has a few more points than the Fire TV Stick 4K, which is three years old at this point. And they are not unimportant boxes.

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the first in the Amazon range with Wi-Fi 6, also known as 802.11ax. That means it uses the latest wireless standards if you have a Wi-Fi 6 router, or be ready when you do. You shouldn't necessarily expect warp-speed WiFi, but you have more than enough bandwidth to get the job done. Wirelessly connected to one Eero Pro 6 (conveniently another Amazon-owned product), I moved up from 250Mbps downstream, with ping times between 20ms and 25ms. In comparison, the previous generation Fire TV Stick 4K reached around 200 Mbps downstream over Wi-Fi 5, with similar pings.

For those of you who say, "Just take the ethernet adapter!" – let me hang you there. You will almost certainly want to just go ahead and use WiFi with the Fire TV Stick 4K Max Amazon's own Ethernet adapterwhich is not included in the scope of delivery anyway. This adapter – which provides both power and the wired network connection – is a 10/100 device, which means that it will hit the top on a 100Mbps connection anyway. And in my case, that means I've got about half the speed I've seen with Wi-Fi, not to mention nowhere near using my real gigabit fiber connection.

In other words, stick with the Wi-Fi 6 built into the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. It's a lot good.

Elsewhere, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max ships with the latest Alexa voice remote control, which came out in April 2021 and has been slightly redesigned with a few extra buttons and functions.

The Max also has a bit more RAM, which is important since it's an Android-based device and Android still needs all of the RAM it can get. Not that 2 gigabytes is a lot, and it's only half a gig more than the Fire TV Stick 4K. But we take what we can get. And the processor has also been updated to a quad-core Mediatek MT8696 with 1.8 GHz. If that's important to you, good for you. If you think you can notice this about the older Fire TV Stick 4K, chances are you're lying, an engineer, or running the two devices side by side. The point is, these are important and obvious updates, but certainly nothing that will change the way you watch TV on Amazon Fire TV.

In other words, it looks and acts much like the Fire TV Sticks of yore. Just a little better. If you're like us and dumb enough to have more than one Fire TV Stick lying around, it's easy to forget which one is which. I flipped back and forth between the 2018 Fire TV Stick 4K and the new Max and immediately had no idea what was plugged in without actively checking. In fact, near twins, the two are personally stuffed, with the only visible difference adding the nickname "Fire TV" to the case. The older stick only has the Amazon smile. There's really no difference on the screen.

And it now supports picture-in-picture if you need to.

Amazon Fire TV stick 4K max.The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max 2021 looks exactly like the Fire TV Stick 4K 2018 – apart from the logo. Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

What else is in the Fire TV Stick 4K Max

If you currently own an Amazon Fire TV Stick, you know what to expect. You have no doubt used the new Fire TV OS user interface that was introduced in early 2021. That it is still based on Android 9 rather than something newer (Android 12 is just about to be released) is a point of contention for some, and at least a small cause for concern. But given that we're talking about Amazon here, rather than a no-name importer who just puts Android on some hardware and does it for a day, we're a little less concerned. That said, Amazon has to get into double digits sooner rather than later, and it's only a matter of time before our patience really wears off.

The other basic specs remain the same as the older Fire TV Stick 4K. It still supports 4K resolution with Dolby Vision, HDR10 + and HLG for high dynamic range and Dolby Atmos for audio. Of course, your TV and sound system must also support all of these if you want to use them.

If you want to use Alexa with your Fire TV Stick 4K Max, do so using the Alexa remote. This is unchanged because there is no microphone in the stick itself.

There's nothing new on the app side either. Amazon's Fire TV OS still has access to all of the things it had access to, like Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV +, to name just three.

Amazon Fire TV stick 4K max.Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

Buy it to future proof it, not because it's exponentially "better".

Our opinion

If you're looking for a new Fire TV Stick, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is for you. Period.

I would even recommend it to the Fire TV Cube for several reasons. First, it's about half the price, which in itself should be a no-brainer. If all you need to do is have Alexa hands-free (like not having to hit the voice button on the remote first), you can get yourself a Max and a new Echo Dot and still have plenty of cash to buy your lunch. The second is that the Fire TV Cube was updated a few years ago, which means older internals. That's not a big deal with devices like this, but it can play a role over time. Newer is almost always better.

Are there alternatives?

Secure. Anything that connects to a television and displays video is an alternative. And the Fire TV Stick 4K Max's biggest competitors are the other Amazon Fire TV Sticks.

Fire TV stick
Lite
Fire TV
floor
Fire TV stick
4K
Fire TV stick
4K Max
Publishing year 2020 2020 2018 2021
Retail price $ 30 $ 40 $ 40 $ 55
resolution 1080p 1080p 4K 4K
Dolby Vision no no Yes sir Yes sir
Dolby Atmos no Yes sir Yes sir Yes sir
WiFi version WiFi 5 WiFi 5 WiFi 5 WLAN 6
storage 8GB 8GB 8GB 8GB
Storage 1 GB 1G 1.5 GB 2GB

Where the Fire TV Stick 4K Max fits into the larger scheme of inexpensive streaming sticks – that is, around $ 50 – really just depends on the ecosystem. Would you like Fire TV? Or do you want Roku? Or what about Chromecast with Google TV? Everyone has their merits and falls into the same price range. In general, I'd argue that Fire TV OS is the more mature and sophisticated operating system, while Roku is simple and easier to navigate. Both of them are littered with ads and other ways to spend money, and both are also heavily driving their own ad-based video-on-demand services. Amazon has IMDB TV and Roku has The Roku Channel. Choose your poison. Chromecast With Google TV is a beast of its own. If you are familiar with Android, this is where I would look.

The bigger question I have is what happens to the rest of the Fire TV Stick storage space. Amazon has told us that it has no intention of stopping selling the old Fire TV Stick 4K, which at the time of release is $ 15 cheaper than the 4K Max when it's not on sale – and you no doubt will find for less money rather than later. I'd say it's worth an extra $ 15 for future proofing Wi-Fi 6 and the newer remote that sells for $ 30 alone. Add the upgraded processor and memory and it just makes sense. You get a bigger bang for your buck. And presumably Amazon will either phase out the older Fire TV Stick 4K or maybe even rearrange the entire line. It still has the Fire TV Stick for the same $ 40 price as the older Fire TV Stick 4K, which doesn't really make sense as it hits 1080p resolution. Then there's the $ 30 Fire TV Stick Lite. That's not a huge spread, so don't be surprised if Amazon consolidates things at some point.

How long it will take?

We have no idea. It's a little piece of plastic and metal. But in general, Fire TV Sticks lasted much longer than necessary. Not that we're fans of setting money on fire, but these things are cheap. They have no moving parts, they probably don't get moved too often, and are pretty much commonplace items right now. They are impulse purchases. In the rare event that one of you fails – and you don't hear about it very often – the chances are that you could simply buy a new one without thinking too much. For everything else, there's everyone's favorite post on Troubleshooting Fire TV Stick issues.

Should you buy it?

Have you read the 1,700 words above? Yes sir. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the one we would get.

Editor's recommendations



HP Elite Dragonfly Max Review: A Video Dream Machine

HP Elite Dragonfly Max Test 12

"The HP Elite Dragonfly Max is a beautiful 2-in-1 device for the business traveler on the go."

  • Excellent workmanship

  • Thin and light

  • Excellent keyboard and touchpad

  • Effective privacy protection

  • A number of valuable business functions

  • Overwhelming CPU performance

  • Expensive

The HP Elite Dragonfly has never been your average business laptop. The name alone suggests that this is not a ThinkPad clone. A unique design made the original Elite Dragonfly a fantastic 2-in-1 device for business people who didn't want to sacrifice design for business functions.

HP updated the machine to G2 in 2020 and then to the latest 11th generation Intel Tiger Lake CPUs in 2021. But now we have a specialized version, the Elite Dragonfly Max, which shares the same basic design and functionality as the G2, but with improved video conferencing capabilities – notably an improved webcam and an additional, outward-facing microphone.

I have a test configuration of the Elite Dragonfly Max with an Intel Core i7-1185G7 with vPro, 16 GB RAM, a 512 GB PCIe solid-state drive (SSD), HP's Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) Sure View Reflect- Privacy protection and 5G WWAN support. The configuration costs $ 2,792, a very steep price tag that is – once again – aimed at a specific type of business user. Does the Max offer added value compared to the G2?

design

In test mode, the HP Elite Dragonfly folds up as a 2-in-1.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

What stands out most about the design of the Elite Dragonfly Max is the attention to detail. HP has obviously put a lot of thought into making a laptop that not only meets the typical needs of business users, but also some things that many people may not have thought of. Consider the "cleanability" of the laptop. Not only can you clean and disinfect the laptop with regular household towels – up to 1,000 cycles – but HP has also developed a simple HP Easy Clean utility that turns off the touchscreen, keyboard and touchpad, so you can clean the device without pressing any keys and touched.

Then there are the "Context Aware" technologies from HP, of which there are two variants. The first, in-bag / out-of-bag detection, has been implemented on a few other HP laptops – the HP Specter x360 14, for example, and just like it sounds, it can detect when you put your laptop in a Put a bag or a backpack. When this condition is detected, the laptop will go to sleep to make sure it doesn't turn on. Then if you remove it and place it on a flat surface, the laptop will wake up and be up and running much faster.

The second contextual function is On Lap / On Table Detection, which can detect when you are using the laptop on a desktop machine temperature around 5 degrees Celsius.

The Elite Dragonfly Max is an incredibly well-designed laptop in the most important aspects.

But no fear. HP did not spend all of its resources on unusual features. The Elite Dragonfly Max is also an incredibly well-designed laptop in the most important aspects. It's made from a magnesium alloy, which gives it a solid construction that is compromised by just a tiny flex of the lid. The keyboard deck and underside of the case are strong and rigid, and the laptop has been tested to military specifications. If the Elite Dragonfly Max isn't in the same class as the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano, the ThinkPad X13 Yoga 2-in-1, or the Dell XPS 13, then it's damn close. Hold it in your hand – and toggle it between the four modes of clamshell, tent, media, and tablet – and you get a real feeling of solid quality.

The Elite Dragonfly Max is also a thin and light laptop. It's 0.63 inches thick and 2.49 pounds, and ranges from the 0.67 inches and 1.99 pounds of the ThinkPad X1 Nano to the 0.58 inches and 2.8 pounds of the XPS 13. The ThinkPad X13 Yoga has it the same thickness but weighs a little more at 2.76 pounds. There aren't many 13-inch 2-in-1s in the business class, and so our direct comparison group is slim.

The Elite Dragonfly Max would benefit from smaller top and bottom bezels that would make for a smaller case and a more modern look. There is a reason for the thicker top bezel, however – HP needed space to fit into the higher resolution webcam. Speaking of looks, the Elite Dragonfly Max is designed conservatively, with clean lines and simple angles, but enough accents not to get boring. The hinges are the most elaborate design element; they do not protrude, but subtly enhance the overall look of the notebook. The Max version of the laptop is available in Brilliant Black instead of the blue of the G2 and looks good.

The ports of the HP Elite Dragonfly Max.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Connectivity is also a strength. On the left there is a USB-A-3.1 port, a nano lock slot and a nano SIM slot. On the right side you'll find a full-sized HDMI 2.0 port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support (one of which is used for charging). Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5, and either LTE 4G or 5G wireless WAN (WWAN) support is optional.

Speaking of the latter, my test device was equipped with 5G and came with an AT&T SIM card. I tested 5G connectivity at my home, and while both the laptop and AT & T's coverage map indicated I was getting a 5G connection, my download speed was around 70 megabits per second (Mbps). When I tested the Lenovo Flex 5G with Verizon's Ultra-Wideband 5G (the HP is limited to Sub6 5G), I saw almost 500Mbps. I haven't had a chance to drive around town looking for a faster AT&T 5G connection, but I'm sure it's possible to see faster speeds than I've experienced.

Security and privacy

HP Elite Dragonfly Max touchpad, keyboard and fingerprint reader.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

HP has carried over the various security and privacy features that we loved so much into the original Elite Dragonfly. It offers optional vPro support so that large companies can integrate the laptop into their management systems. It also features HP Sure Start, which features a security controller built right into the motherboard, providing an isolated and encrypted physical layer of protection for the BIOS and the boot process. As stated with the original model, the Elite Dragonfly Max outperforms most other business-class laptops in terms of the sheer number of business-oriented features, including Lenovo's ThinkPad range.

You can also find two ways to log in without a password – facial recognition via infrared cameras and a fingerprint reader on the top right of the palm rest. Both work quickly and reliably. There's a physical webcam cover for more privacy that displays an overlay to make it visible when it's activated, and a keyboard button turns the microphone off.

Finally, the Elite Dragonfly Max (and note that the G2 version has all of these features, too) has built-in tile support. The new models are different from the original, where the tile module was plugged into the same M.2 port as the WWAN, so it was either tile or always-on connectivity and not both. Tile is now built into the motherboard so you can now use the Tile system to locate your laptop if you leave it behind or if it is stolen and still enjoy 4G LTE or 5G support.

performance

The HP Elite Dragonfly is folded on its back.

The Elite Dragonfly Max I tested is equipped with an 11th generation Intel Core i7-1185G7 CPU with vPro support. This makes it an excellent choice for large organizations that use vPro for remote management and support. Although the laptop was equipped with a slightly faster version of the Tiger Lake Core i7, I suspected that the thin case could limit performance as the thermals need more careful control.

I was right. The Elite Dragonfly Max didn't do particularly well, but it was a bit disappointing compared to the competition.

The Elite Dragonfly Max felt very fast on typical productivity tasks.

In Geekbench 5, for example, the Elite Dragonfly Max came last in our comparison group. The difference wasn't pronounced when compared to the other Intel Tiger Lake laptops – the AMD Ryzen 7 5800U-based Asus ZenBook 13 OLED dominated all CPU-intensive benchmarks – but it was disappointing that the HP fell so low. In our Handbrake test, which encodes a 420MB video as H.265, the Elite Dragonfly Max again came last, and the difference was bigger than the HP Specter x360 14 (which was much faster in performance mode). The same was true for Cinebench R23, where the two HP laptops were close together and behind the rest of the pack (although the Specter x360 14 was much faster in performance mode).

I also tested the Elite Dragonfly Max using PCMark 10 where – you guessed it – it performed in line with the Specter x360 14 and slower than the rest of the field. However, the delta was lower in this test, except for the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED. Looking at the individual components of the PCMark 10 test, the Elite Dragonfly Max scores well in the Essentials section (web browsing, video conferencing, etc.), but falls behind in productivity and content creation.

In actual use, the Elite Dragonfly Max felt very fast on typical productivity tasks. And in fact, it's by no means a slow laptop. It just doesn't compare to its similarly configured competition.

Geekbench (single / multiple) Handbrake (seconds) Cinebench R23 (single / multiple) PCMark 10 3DMark time spy
HP Elite Dragonfly Max
(Core i7-1185G7)
1570/5297 252 1385/3604 4724 1468
Asus ZenBook 13 OLED
(AMD-Ryzen7 5800U)
1423/6758 124 1171/7824 6034 1342
Dell XPS 13 (Core i7-1185G7) 1549/5431 204 1399/4585 n / A 1380
HP Specter x360 14 (Core i7-1165G7) 1214/4117 236 1389/3941 4728 1457
Razer Book 13 (Core i7-1165G7) 1548/5374 210 1508/4519 4878 1776
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 (Core i7-1185G7) 1532/5415 207 1435/4409 4800 1648

It's not much of a gaming laptop either. It does well in the 3DMark Time Spy test and beats some of the devices in the comparison group.

But in Fortnite it fell back again, only reaching 22 frames per second (fps) in 1080p and high graphics, which is a few fps behind the typical Tiger Lake laptop with the same Intel Iris Xe graphics. In epic settings it fell to 18 fps, again a few fps below the Tiger Lake average.

Display and audio

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max's 1080p screen.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The Elite Dragonfly Max has a display option, the Sure View Reflect privacy screen from HP with full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080) and an old-school aspect ratio of 16: 9. That's compared to the G2 version, which offers standard IPS Full HD and 4K options. This is an unusual ad that has two distinct personalities.

With privacy mode turned off, the display is incredibly bright at 1,000 nits. My test device "only" returned 417 nits, which is great, but I should see around 758 nits after HP tests a second device they sent because of the discrepancy. There seems to be something about the display technology that makes our usual colorimeter tests difficult, and as I tried, I couldn't get this brightness. The contrast was excellent at 1,380: 1 (anything above 1,000: 1 is very good) and black text appeared on a white background. Combined with the excellent keyboard, this is a great laptop for a writer. Plus, with its 458 nits of brightness and 1350: 1 contrast, the display does well with the Dell XPS 13 Full HD display, and it was brighter than the Specter x360 14's OLED display, which came in at 374 nits, however Was not comparable to the Specter's 374,200: 1 aspect ratio (that's OLED for you).

It's fine for an individual to use, but not a great screen to share.

The colors were average for premium productivity laptops, which means they were good but not the level creative types are looking for. The AdobeRGB coverage was 74% and the sRGB coverage was 97%, which are good values, but again not as broad as creatives would like. The colors were reasonably accurate with a Delta E of 2.49 (1.0 or less is considered excellent). The XPS 13 had 75% AdobeRGB and 98% sRGB coverage and an accuracy of 1.36, while the Specter x360 14 had very wide colors at 96% AdobeRGB and 100% sRGB with a color accuracy of 0.69.

Overall, the display in standard mode is great for productivity and media consumption. The only negative is that the viewing angles are a bit narrow. Look from any angle other than straight ahead and the display will darken and lose fidelity. It's fine for an individual to use, but not a great screen to share.

Turn on privacy mode and everything will change. The brightness drops sharply – my colorimeter wasn't able to accurately measure the display in private mode – and while it's still usable, it won't overcome bright skylights. The colors stay decent, the accuracy seems good, and the contrast doesn't seem to let up much. It's still a good productivity display, but that's not its calling card. More importantly, it works perfectly as a privacy screen and is completely grayed out when you move away from direct view. For example, if you sit in the middle seat on an airplane, your screen will be completely illegible to those to your left and right.

I'm working on solving the brightness issue in standard mode, but it's not a big deal. This is a great display for both standard productivity work in any setting and for your work in relative privacy.

The upward-facing speakers on the HP Elite Dragonfly Max.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The audio quality is excellent thanks to four speakers tuned by Bang & Olufsen, two upward-facing speakers on each side of the keyboard and two downward-facing speakers on the bottom of the case. Each speaker is powered by its own dedicated intelligent amplifier. HP is promoting the laptop's bass, which is a valid boast – not only was the volume very loud and undistorted, with crisp and crisp mids and highs, but there was a noticeable hint of bass too.

These are excellent speakers for such a small laptop, and while they can't compete with the great audio on the MacBook Pro, they do better than most Windows 10 laptops. You can use them for most of your listening, including the noise of Netflix and listening to music. Headphones are optional.

Video conferencing

The 5 megapixel webcam of the HP Elite Dragonfly Max.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

Where the Max version differs from the G2 version are the video conferencing functions. This starts with the webcam, which is not your typical, low-quality 720p laptop webcam that has nothing special to write about. This is a 5 megapixel webcam with a larger sensor, auto exposure for faces, and careful tuning for maximum performance. My house is in the process of being renovated so I don't have an attractive background to show off the quality of the camera. Still, it's noticeably improved over the previous model and the other laptops I have lying around. HP tested the webcam with several competitors and across the board achieved higher texture quality, better color accuracy, and more even colors in an image.

In terms of resolution, it's even better than the 1080p webcams that come out like those on some newer ThinkPads. The Elite Dragonfly Max can handle videos up to 1440p, using 4.15 MP of the available 5 MP.

The Max version also increases the G2's three microphones to four, with two facing forward and two facing the world. Artificial intelligence based noise cancellation is used to suppress background noise and improve the overall sound quality.

Simply put, the Elite Dragonfly Max is the dream video conferencing laptop that offers better pictures and sounds for more effective communication. If you work remotely and need the best video conferencing performance, this laptop should be on your shortlist.

Keyboard and touchpad

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max has an excellent keyboard.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

HP makes great keyboards. The Specter range, for example, has had my favorite keyboard on Windows 10 laptops for a while. The Elite line has followed closely, and now the Elite Dragonfly Max and G2 have a new and even better version.

First off, the keyboard is solid. that is, it is consistent across all keys. This is unusual and makes typing more efficient and less tiring because your fingers don't feel any different when they fly across the keyboard. The switches are firm, but not too tight, and provide just the right amount of feedback with a bouncy bottom motion that makes each key very precise. Although the laptop is small, I found the key spacing to be ample and the keycaps to be a comfortable size. I type faster and more accurately on this keyboard than any other I've used – with the exception of Apple's Magic Keyboard on the latest MacBooks. And I would say the Elite Dragonfly Max keyboard is right there with the excellent version from Apple.

The touchpad is as big as the frame size and the 16: 9 aspect ratio display (bigger displays have got bigger touchpads lately thanks to the extra vertical space), and it's extremely comfortable to use. The clicks are subtle and quiet, with a high quality feel. Of course, it's a Microsoft Precision touchpad, so multitouch gestures are safe and precise. Aside from its size, this touchpad rivals those of the Dell XPS 13 and HP Specter x360 14 which are excellent.

The display is of course touch-enabled and reacts as usual. It supports HP's Wacom AES 2.0 active pen with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt support and USB-C charging. One was not bundled with my review unit – it's a $ 74 option – so unfortunately I couldn't test it that way.

Battery life

The 360-degree hinge of the HP Elite Dragonfly Max.Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The Elite Dragonfly Max comes with a 56 watt-hour battery and a full HD display (but with two modes, which I'll go into in a moment). I was expecting battery life to be a strength, as was the case with the original version.

As it turned out, the battery life wasn't quite up to the same standards. While the first generation Elite Dragonfly reached 10.5 hours in our web browsing test, the Max reached 9.75 hours. Well, anything close to 10 hours on this test should be considered a good score, but more laptops recently have hit this number and beyond. The Elite Dragonfly Max score is now more average than outstanding, and while it promises a full business day of battery life, some other newer laptops are stronger. For example, the HP Envy 14 managed over 12.5 hours, while the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED managed a very strong 15.75 hours. The Dell XPS 13 Full HD was not as competitive with only 8.5 hours, while the HP Specter x360 14 with its power-hungry OLED display only lasted 6.95 hours.

In our video test replaying a 1080p movie trailer, the Elite Dragonfly Max achieved 13.5 hours, which is a decent result, but not much better than average. The Envy 14 lasted almost an hour longer and the ZenBook 13 OLED reached 15.5 hours, while the XPS 13 lagged behind with 12 hours and the Specter x360 14 came last in this group with just over 10 hours.

I ran the PCMark 10 gaming test to see how the laptop performed under load on the CPU and GPU and it lasted 4.9 hours, which is almost the longest we've seen. Only the LG Gram 16 lasted longer, by just seven minutes. Of course, this probably indicates that the Elite Dragonfly Max isn't really trying to put itself under extreme strain on battery power – something to keep in mind when working without a power outlet. Finally, I ran the PCMark 10 application test, which is the best indicator of productivity on battery life, and the Elite Dragonfly Max lasted a little over 11 hours. That's a strong result in the top tier of the limited number of laptops we tested.

Interestingly, the battery life is better with data protection mode on than with it off. With the privacy screen activated, the Elite Dragonfly Max managed 11.5 hours in our web browsing test, 14.25 hours in our video test, and 14 hours in the PCMark 10 application test. Using the privacy mode not only doesn't harm your battery life, it also increases it significantly.

Overall, I would rate the battery life as good, but not great. Again, you can work the laptop for a full day without plugging it in, but it falls behind some of the competition. That's more a matter of laptop battery life improving further than an indictment against the Elite Dragonfly Max.

Our opinion

If you are a businessman who does a lot of videoconferencing and has a corporate budget, you will no doubt find the Elite Dragonfly Max a tempting option. It's incredibly well built, has several real value-added features, and has some of the best security and privacy features you can find on a laptop.

It's also expensive, offers average performance and battery life, and you might not be interested in some of the features it offers. That makes this a great laptop, but primarily for a specific audience.

Any alternatives?

The Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga is another business-class 2-in-1 for you to consider. It's not that expensive, but it doesn't offer the same range of features. If your needs aren't that specific, this is a good option to consider.

If you don't care about business features, then the HP Specter x360 14 is in many ways a superior 2-in-1 with better performance, a better display for creative professionals but no privacy screens, and much a lower price tag. It would also be a viable alternative if you aren't that concerned about security and privacy.

Finally, if you aren't into 2-in-1 functionality or business-class features, the old standby mode is yours: the Dell XPS 13. It remains one of the best laptops you can buy, and you do get better performance and a smaller chassis for less money.

How long it will take?

The Elite Dragonfly Max is so well built that you will be using it for years to come. You will likely find that the 16: 9 aspect ratio display will appear increasingly dated, but that is the only component that is currently not up to date with the latest technology. However, you will surely appreciate the three year warranty we would like to see on all laptops.

Should you buy it?

Yes. You have to be a special breed to want the Elite Dragonfly Max, but if you are, then you really will want it.

Editor's recommendations



Nuheara IQbuds2 Max Review: They’ll Level-Up Your Listening

Nuheara IQBuds2 max

"If you can annul or enlarge your world, they are like bionics for your ears."

  • Excellent sound quality

  • Excellent noise cancellation

  • Effective and customizable hearing enhancement

  • Good call quality

  • Good selection of earplugs

  • Expensive

  • No wireless charging

  • No music EQ settings

  • Big and bulky

True wireless earbuds have become a commodity in the last year or so. Rapid improvements in sound quality, wireless reliability, additional features like Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and wireless charging – combined with falling prices – have made it much more difficult for any model to stand out from the crowd.

This is what makes the $ 399 Nuheara IQBuds2 Max so interesting. By integrating hearing aid technology, they are just as interested in hearing the world around you as they are in hearing your favorite music. Even so, their high price is daunting. So let's see if what makes them stand out is enough to justify the extra money.

What's in the box?

Nuheara IQBuds2 maxSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

In the responsibly designed cardboard box, the IQBuds2 Max is in the charging case, along with a fabric carrying case, a microUSB charging cable, six earplugs and paper documentation with quick instructions. Unlike all of the other wireless earbuds we've tried, the IQBuds2 Max don't come with earbuds from the factory. You must first select a set and install it.

That sounds impractical, but it's actually pretty smart for Nuheara. Most people stick to the standard middle tips and forget to try the other sizes. With the IQBuds2 Max, this process of finding the right fit is integrated into the unboxing process.

design

Nuheara IQBuds2 maxSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

The IQBuds2 Max does not win beauty pageants. Their matte black basic bodies are functional and designed in such a way that they attract as little attention as possible. But despite their stealthy appearance, these are pretty chunky earbuds. They're bigger than the Jabra Elite 85t, Sennheiser CX 400BT, and Amazon Echo Buds – three of the largest earbuds we tested.

Your charging case is just as massive. It's almost big enough to hold a bunch of workout buds like the Powerbeats Pro, and it dwarfs the AirPods Pro case when the two stand side by side.

Although they are big, they are also solidly built. Nuheara may not have designed the IQBuds2 Max with sturdiness in mind, but I think they will withstand non-water breakdowns better than many other models. They don't have an official IPX rating to keep them safe from water or dust, but Nuheara claims they are sweat and rainproof.

I'm a little surprised that Nuheara didn't add wireless charging or USB-C to the case for $ 399. These features have been seen on earbuds priced less than $ 75. But Nuheara tells me that when the company designed the IQBuds2 Max in 2018, they weren't as on the radar as they are now. Apparently the next version will have both.

The IQBuds2 Max are great. Some people may find this uncomfortable.

The earbuds snap easily into their charging sockets with a magnetic click, and an indicator light in front of each socket immediately confirms that they are properly seated and charged.

It can be a little trickier to get them back out, but once you master the sideways roll maneuver it shouldn't be a problem anymore.

Convenience, control and connections

Nuheara IQBuds2 maxSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

The IQBuds2 Max are big – there's no getting around them. As a result, they create a very distinct feeling of fullness when you wear them. Some people, especially those with smaller ears, may find this uncomfortable. The choice of earbuds definitely helps, and I love that Nuheara includes three sizes of Comply Memory Foam tips as well as the standard silicone tips.

The advantage of the larger buds is that they have excellent contact with the entire concha and provide a very secure fit. The IQBuds2 Max are not meant to be training buds, but they are unlikely to loosen on their own if you get them working.

The IQBuds2 Max have responsive, touch-sensitive controls. However, as with many touch controls, you need to make contact with the center of the earbuds – tapping on the edges will not be registered. Each earbud has a single, double and long touch command that can be customized using the IQBuds app for iOS and Android.

Unfortunately, Nuheara limits these options. For example, the right earbud is the only one that can control the various listening modes, including ANC. Some touch commands, like a single touch of the right earbud, can only be used for three functions: turn ANC on / off, turn ANC off, and pause music or do nothing at all. To be fair, since you can't use the IQBuds2 Max independently, it's no big deal, and it's worth noting that you can choose from a variety of functions for the left earbud, including volume, play / pause, track forward / Skip backwards and access the voice assistant.

Pick a bass heavy track and you'll hear it – the low end has a luxurious weight to it.

The IQBuds2 Max are equipped with wear sensors and can pause and resume your music automatically, but only when you remove / replace the left earbud. Doing the same with the right bud has no effect.

Bluetooth range is average for a number of wireless earbuds. Indoors, I was able to move one floor away from my phone before it was disconnected, while outdoors it was closer to 50 feet.

Sound quality

Nuheara IQBuds2 maxSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

The IQBuds2 Max are primarily intended as hearing aids, but are also great for sound quality. They have a rich and warm tonality with a bass response that is wonderfully resonant. Pick a bass-heavy track and you'll hear it – from Billie Eilish's villain to Hans Zimmer's Time – the low-end has a luxurious weight. Better still, this resonance doesn't affect the mids or highs, both of which are easily noticeable.

Vocals come through with clarity and precision and the soundstage strikes a good balance between breadth and intimacy. All of this is amazing considering the IQBuds2 Max only supports the lowest throughput bluetooth codec (SBC) on an iPhone (they support aptX on Android).

I wish Nuheara only had the option to adjust the EQ in the app.

Managing external sounds is the IQBuds2 Max's secret sauce.

You will get the best sound quality with ANC fully enabled, but even if you use one of the many "World On" modes (more on that in a moment), the IQBuds2 Max will deliver great sound.

Noise cancellation, transparency and hearing aid

Managing external sounds is the IQBuds2 Max's secret sauce. They give you an unprecedented level of control over what you hear, from total silence to focused amplification. However, there are a number of aspects to how this works. So let's take them one by one.

EarID

When you connect the IQBuds2 Max for the first time and start the IQBuds app, you will be invited to a hearing test. Some wireless earbuds, like the Jabra Elite 85t, use a test to determine which frequencies you cannot hear in order to improve your music experience. The IQBuds2 Max take the opposite approach and use a similar test to determine which external sound frequencies need a boost.

The test takes about 10 minutes and leads you to a series of tones with different frequencies and volumes. This is done for each ear. The result is a kind of map that shows you where your hearing is not sensitive.

In my case, it said I was only missing a tiny amount of the highest frequencies at the lowest volumes. I know this is true because I have my hearing checked annually by an audiologist and that is exactly what these professional tests have shown.

Once the test is complete, you can toggle EarID on and off to see how it affects what you hear. As was to be expected, with my near-perfect hearing, I couldn't see much of a difference.

Locations

The next step is to explore the app's locations. Think of these as sound enhancement presets for scenarios where you want to hear part or all of the outside world. The labels (home, office, restaurant, driving, road, training, and airplane) are self-explanatory. For each of these seven locations, you can keep the default settings or adjust them. You can also select up to four of the seven as favorites, which you can then cycle through with the right earbud – very handy.

The four sound improvements are:

volume

As the name suggests, the volume control allows you to increase or decrease the microphone gain. Do you have overall hearing problems? Turn it up. Feel overwhelmed? Turn it down. The caveat is that when you turn up the volume, you will also hear more ambient hissing if it is relatively quiet around you.

Here you can also switch to ANC or switch off all external sound processing. If you select ANC or “Off”, all four sound enhancement settings are disabled (as they are only used to optimize incoming sounds).

SINC (Speech in Noise Control)

With the SINC extension, you can prioritize either ambient or speech sounds or a mixture of both. For example, the training location places an emphasis on ambient noise so you can maintain better situational awareness in the gym or while running outdoors.

World EQ

This extension allows you to filter out certain frequencies. When using the aircraft location, lower frequencies are filtered out to aid in the quiet roar of jet engines so you can focus on the voices around you. Meanwhile, the office location switches off the World EQ so that you can hear all frequencies equally.

focus

Focus is a simple on / off setting that is perfect for one-on-one calls in noisy environments. When it is turned off, sounds from all directions are amplified equally. When it's on, only the sounds in front of you are given priority. The restaurant's location is a classic example of when Focus would come in handy.

The IQBuds2 Max are amazing for noise cancellation.

Fortunately, I tested the IQBuds2 Max during a pandemic. Local lockdowns have resulted in my inability to access restaurants, planes, an office, or a gym, which has severely limited my ability to test these hearing enhancements in the real-world locations they are intended for. But that hasn't stopped me from using them at home, on the street, and out shopping, and I am very impressed with the performance of these earbuds.

Although my hearing is considered very good, lately I've found it harder to focus on voices in busy environments. When I use the SINC setting with an emphasis on speech and focus on, I don't have to concentrate nearly as hard to separate voices from the background.

But even if you never use the hearing enhancements, the IQBuds2 Max are incredible for noise cancellation. Activating this feature by touching the right earbud is like dropping a cone of silence over your head. They're better than the AirPods Pro and better than the Sony WF-1000XM3. I haven't had a chance to compare them to the Bose QuietComfort Ear Buds, but I would be shocked if the Bose were significantly better.

And thanks to their continuously adjustable positions, the IQBuds2 Max win the award for the best transparency in a range of true wireless earbuds.

Battery life

Nuheara IQBuds2 maxSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

Nuheara claims to use five hours between charges if you're streaming music or eight hours if you're just using them to improve hearing. The charging case holds enough juice for three full charges. In practice, I found that after six hours of mixed use, the earbuds dropped to around 15% battery level, which in my opinion puts the IQBuds2 Max slightly below these claimed numbers. The earbuds fully charge in 90 minutes, but there is no quick charge feature.

Many true wireless earbuds compress your voice, but the IQBuds2 Max deliver a far more natural sound.

It would have been great if Nuheara increased those numbers a bit, but I think for most people the battery life is probably okay.

Call quality

Nuheara IQBuds2 maxSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

The IQBuds2 Max do a very good job of maintaining the voice quality when making calls. Many true wireless earbuds compress your voice and give it a thin sound that speaks through the pipe. The IQBuds2 Max, however, deliver a far more natural sound.

They also do a good job of canceling out competing noises like traffic. I can't tell how well they handle windy conditions – my time with them was in unusually calm winter weather – but I suspect they won't unless you try to make a critical business call amid 40 mph gusts. I will do fine.

Our opinion

While the $ 399 price tag is a little on the wallet, the IQBuds2 Max rewards you with incredible sound and the ability to focus (or ignore) as much of the outside world as you want – a combination you won't find in any You can find another set of real wireless earbuds at all costs.

Is there a better alternative?

We haven't found a range of true wireless earbuds that have the same features as the IQBuds2 Max, which means there really is no real alternative.

However, if the IQBuds2 Max's hearing enhancements are of little value to you, Sennheisers can save you $ 300 in savings and get equally good sound quality Momentum 2 True Wireless, Jabras $ 230 Elite 85t. $ 230 from Sony WF-1000XM3or Bose's $ 280 QuietComfort ear buds – and all of them also offer very good or excellent ANC.

How long will they last?

With a one-year warranty from Nuheara, the IQBuds2 Max appears to be very well built using high quality materials. The biggest question is how long the battery will last. Given their role as a hearing enhancer, it is possible that people might want to wear them for long hours every day.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you've ever wanted a personal audio device that doubles the performance as a hearing enhancer and high quality music companion, the IQBuds2 Max are excellent in both areas, making them versatile, true wireless earbuds.

Editor's recommendations




Acer Swift 3X Review: Intel’s Iris Xe Max Takes the Stage

Acer Swift 3x rating Iris xe max 1

"The Acer Swift 3X presents Intel's impressive Iris Xe Max in a top-class package."

  • Great job

  • Excellent battery life

  • Aesthetics are attractive

  • Rounded port selection

  • The display is overwhelming

  • The processing quality does not meet the premium standards

  • Bad gaming performance

Intel released its first discrete GPU in 20 years, the Iris Xe Max. However, that doesn't necessarily mean trying to compete with Nvidia for gaming laptops. It was not specifically designed to speed up games, but rather to work with the CPU and speed up a variety of other tasks. An interesting idea for thin and light laptops, right?

So far, the Iris Xe Max has come in three laptops, and we got one of them – the mid-range Acer Swift 3X – for review.

The Acer Swift 3X is not a cheap laptop in its Iris Xe Max configuration – at least not for a typical Swift laptop. At Amazon, it costs $ 1,240 with a Core i7-1165G7, 16 GB LPDDR4X RAM, 1 TB PCIe Solid State Drive (SSD) storage, and a 14-inch Full HD IPS display (1920 x 1080 ) in the aging school 16: 9 aspect ratio. You can spend $ 899 and get a version with only Iris Xe graphics, a Core i5-1135G7, 8 GB of RAM, and a 512 GB SSD.

Does the Iris Xe Max graphics make this laptop a must-have mid-range laptop?

performance

We start with the performance because in this test the rubber hits the road. Either the Iris Xe Max makes a difference to real-world tasks or it doesn't. This is the make-or-break test for the Acer Swift 3X. Reading the description of Intel's GPU will expose you to a variety of buzzwords and jargon, but we will skip most of them here. If you want to dig into the details of the new GPU, check out our guide to Intel's Discrete GPUs and our insight into the Iris Xe Max.

However, one term to keep in mind is deep link. This is Intel's term for technology that tightly ties the CPU and GPU (both Iris Xe and Iris Xe Max) together to enable some sophisticated functionality. Not all of them are yet activated or supported by today's software. So we focus on just one thing: Deep Link Dynamic Power Share. With this function, the system can "switch off" the GPU and supply the CPU with the entire system performance. With the Swift 3X and its 11th generation Core i7, more than 28 watts of power and heat can be delivered to the CPU if required, which should theoretically accelerate CPU-intensive tasks.

The Acer Swift 3X occasionally even questions the performance of H-series machines.

It works? Yes, it actually does. The Swift 3X was competitive in all of our performance benchmarks and occasionally took the crown for the fastest Tiger Lake laptop we tested. This makes it one of the fastest laptops in the U series and occasionally even challenges machines from the H series.

It can't compete with AMD's Ryzen 4000 (or the upcoming Ryzen 5000 laptops) in all cases, but it does show up a lot stronger than most non-Max laptops. However, is that enough to make Iris Xe Max an exciting development? Perhaps not at this point – the GPU on its own makes the Acer Swift 3X a fast laptop, but not without challengers in AMD and Apple, which are faster and either cheaper, thinner and lighter, or both. We'll have to wait and see what other features Iris Xe Max has to offer before we can speak of an unconditional success.

We start with Cinebench R23, where the Swift 3X scored 5944 points in multi-core mode and 1496 points in single-core mode. I tried the utility to switch from optimized mode to performance mode and I didn't see much of a difference unlike some others (e.g. the HP Command Center utility in the Specter x360 14) that have greater impact. This multi-core score is the fastest we've seen in an Intel U-Series CPU. It beats faster Core i7-1185G7 laptops like the MSI Prestige 14 Evo (5,789) and the Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 in its more effective performance mode (4,988).

Note that with a 45-watt Core i7-10750H, the Razer Blade scored 6,166, meaning the Swift 3X was in close proximity to a much faster CPU.

In Geekbench 5, the Swift 3X wasn't quite as strong – probably because Dynamic Power Share has the greatest impact on longer, sustained processes. The Swift 3X scored 1,551 points in the single-core test and 5,847 points in the multi-core test. The Prestige 14 Evo was slightly faster (1,593 and 5,904), as was the Intel Tiger Lake reference laptop, which is based on the same MSI computer (1,563 and 5,995). The Acer Swift 5 with the same CPU as the Swift 3X scored higher in the single-core test with 1,580 and almost as high in the multi-core test with 5,836. Interestingly, the Swift 3X managed to outperform the Lenovo Yoga 9i 15 with a Core i7-10750H (1,285 and 5,551).

In our handbrake test, which encodes a 420MB video as H.265, the Swift 3X finished the process in 2 minutes and 36 seconds, which is again (technically) the fastest among Intel U-series laptops. The Prestige 14 Evo – also with its faster CPU – took four seconds longer, which resulted in a virtual tie. Note that the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 with an AMD Ryzen 4800U processor takes 2.2 minutes to complete. This means that while Iris Xe Max speeds up Tiger Lake's performance, it cannot compete with AMD on some tasks.

Finally, I ran the PCMark 10 Complete benchmark, where the Swift 3X scored 5,117 points. This is the second highest score in our laptop database, only behind the Lenovo Yoga 9i 15. The individual essentials, productivity and creation values ​​of the Swift 3X were not all individually highest, but were in the upper range. To examine the creation portion of the test, which focuses on photo editing, video rendering and playback, and video editing, the Swift 3X had the highest score (5,334) of any U-series laptops we tested – shown once again, Deep Link does its Job.

The closest was the Prestige Evo 14 with 5036 points. This is a good sign of performance in Adobe apps and other creative tools, which will only improve as more Deep Link features are introduced. Simply put, the Swift 3X did very well in this benchmark.

Intel didn't specifically design the Iris Xe Max to speed up modern games.

Intel's Iris Xe Max has a real impact on a laptop's performance even at this early stage. The Swift 3X screams through productivity tasks and is well suited for creative tasks for a U-series CPU. If you're looking for the fastest CPU performance in an Intel-based ultrabook, contrary to your intuition, you should choose a model that includes Intel's discrete GPU.

If you're looking for a gaming laptop, as mentioned in the introduction, Intel didn't specifically design the Iris Xe Max for speeding up modern games. With some titles it works well, with others Intel transfers the order to the Iris Xe, which is also on board. The Iris Xe Max did well in the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark with 1,889, which is a few hundred points above the typical Iris Xe GPU.

In Fortnite, however, the Max managed 34 fps (frames per second) with 1080p and high graphics and 22 fps with epic graphics. This is comparable to the Yoga 9i 14, which achieved 40 fps and 27 fps in performance mode, and the MSI Prestige 14 Evo, which achieved 42 fps and 28 fps. Fortnite is clearly a title that the Iris Xe Max doesn't shine on.

design

Acer didn't just copy the design of the non-Max Acer Swift 3 when creating the Swift 3X. There are some similarities, but the Swift 3X looks very different, including a choice between Steam Blue (my review unit) and Safari Gold instead of plain utility silver.

The hinge has also been redesigned and decorated in an “electric blue” that draws attention to the laptop lid. And the back corners have a nice angularity that adds to the aesthetics. However, it is not an attention seeker like the HP Specter x360 14. The bezels disappoint a bit. First, they're not as small as some other modern day laptops, with a screen-to-body ratio of 84% (many exceed 90%), and second, they're made of plastic rather than behind the glass. This gives the laptop a no-nonsense look when viewed from the front.

The Swift 3X isn't quite as slim as some of its 14-inch competitors, either.

The construction doesn't quite match the standard of many other premium laptops. The chassis is made entirely of aluminum, but the lid is quite flexible and the keyboard deck has some flex. However, the underside of the chassis is robust. The hinge is very stiff and requires both hands to open the laptop – in contrast to the Dell XPS 13, which can be easily opened with one hand – but holds the display firmly in place. Overall, I'd say the build quality is more in the mid-range than the premium range, which makes the laptop more attractive than the $ 1,200 on my review unit at a starting price of $ 899. The MSI Prestige 14 Evo, for example, is the same price – without the Iris Xe Max, of course – and feels a lot more solid than the Swift 3X.

The Swift 3X isn't quite as slim as some of its 14-inch competitors, either. It comes in at 0.71 inches thick and weighs 3.02 pounds. This compares to the Prestige 14 Evo at 0.63 inches at 2.85 pounds, the Asus ZenBook 14 UX425 at 0.54 inches and 2.58 pounds, and the Acer Swift 5 at 0.59 inches and 2.31 pounds. It's not that the Swift 3X is a humorous ultrabook – it just doesn't feel as thin and light as some of the other options.

Finally, the Swift 3X offers a solid range of connectivity options. On the left side of the case, you'll find a proprietary power port (which will likely provide enough juice for the Iris Xe Max), a full-size HDMI 2.0 port, a USB-A 3.2 port, and a USB-C port with Thunderbolt 4 On the right side you will find another USB-A 3.2 port and a 3.5 mm audio jack. What you won't find is an SD card reader. This is a bummer as this machine is at least partially geared towards creative types.

The wireless connection is provided via Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1.

display

The Swift 3X has a 14-inch Full HD 16: 9 IPS display which, according to my colorimeter, is generally a little below average for premium laptops. For example, the color gamut is a bit narrow at 95% of sRGB and 71% of AdobeRGB (premium laptops usually achieve 97% and 75%, respectively). However, the color accuracy is quite good at 1.18, with 1.0 or less being considered excellent.

At the same time, the brightness is 284 nits below our 300 NIT threshold, which ensures that a display with the typical bright office environment lighting is visible. And the worst contrast is at 740: 1, where many premium laptops are at 1000: 1 or more, or at least very close to it. The combination of brightness, low contrast and a narrow color gamut gives the display a subdued appearance.

Overall, the display is certainly good for productivity work and watching Netflix, but it won't blow your mind. Throw in the 16: 9 aspect ratio when many competitors are switching to higher ratios like 16:10 and 3: 2 and the Swift 3X's display isn't exactly impressive.

Audio is closer to par, with two downward-facing speakers that provide enough volume for YouTube videos but not enough for watching a Netflix movie with friends. The mids and highs are fine, but the bass is missing. You want to use headphones or bluetooth speakers for Netflix binging and listening to music.

Keyboard and touchpad

It appears that Acer pulled the keyboard from the previous Acer Swift 3. The Swift 3X has the same appearance, meaning the keycaps are smaller, which in my experience leads to a search for keys. The mechanism is very clicky and requires a bit of pressure to intervene, but offers a solid ground effect. It depends on preference, of course, but I would rate the keyboard as being behind the HP Specter x360 14 and Dell XPS 13 in terms of accuracy and general typing speed.

The touchpad is small but functional. The surface is pleasant to swipe and the keys respond, but are a bit loud. Thanks to the Microsoft Precision touchpad drivers, multi-touch gestures react quickly and precisely. There is no touch display which is a shame for me personally. I miss touch when it's not there, especially for scrolling long web pages and tapping the occasional on-screen button.

Windows 10 Hello login support without a password is provided by a fingerprint reader in the upper right corner of the keyboard deck. It was quick and accurate in my tests.

Battery life

You'd think that 59 watt hours of battery life in a 14-inch laptop and very fast CPU performance could result in poor battery life. You'd be wrong as the Swift 3X is way behind the nine hours of typical Evo spec use.

In our web benchmark, which runs through a number of popular websites before the laptop goes to sleep, the Swift 3X lasted 11.5 hours. The Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 outperformed this by more than an hour and the MSI Prestige 14 Evo by almost four hours. Next, I went through our video test grinding a Full HD Avengers trailer and the Swift 3X lasted about 15.75 hours, a strong score that is still nearly three hours less than the Yoga 9i 14 and 30 minutes less than the MSI Prestige 14 Evo was.

In the battery test for PCMark 10 applications, the Swift 3X lasted 14 hours, second only to the Yoga 9i 14 in our database and almost four hours longer than the Prestige 14 Evo. In the PCMark 10 gaming test, which stresses both the CPU and the GPU, the Swift 3X only lasted 1.5 hours, which was the worst, with the Prestige 14 Evo and Dell XPS 13 finishing second and third. Most other laptops lasted about an hour longer than the Swift 3X in this test.

Overall, the Swift 3X showed solid battery life that lasted a full day with no issues, at least as long as you don't push the CPU and GPU. Again, the Swift 3X exceeds the Intel Evo certification requirements of nine hours of typical use, which not every Evo-certified laptop we tested has achieved.

Our opinion

The Acer Swift 3X on its own is a pretty mundane, high-budget, low-midrange ultrabook without considering the inclusion of the Iris Xe Max. The components are okay for $ 1,200, but the build quality and keyboard aren't snuff-safe.

Take advantage of the great CPU performance of the Iris Xe Max and Deep Link, plus long battery life, and the Swift 3X becomes a more attractive option. It's a good choice for anyone who wants to occasionally encode video but don't want to spend the money on a laptop with a 45 watt CPU and faster discrete GPU.

Are there alternatives?

The MSI Prestige 14 Evo is almost as fast as the Swift 3X without the Iris Xe Max on board and costs the same. It's also thinner, lighter, better built, and better looking. However, the Swift 3X offers better battery life.

If you are looking for the ultimate in CPU performance, then you should take a look at an AMD Ryzen 4000 laptop (soon to be Ryzen 5000). One option today is the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 with the Ryzen 7 4800U. It's cheaper than the Swift 3X, but it offers much faster CPU performance and extends battery life.

Finally, the Dell XPS 13 9310 remains a solid competitor, as is the case with every laptop we test in the 13- or 14-inch class. It has a smaller display, but a productivity-friendly aspect ratio of 16:10. The XPS 13 is also significantly better built, also offers a superior display, and can be configured with more RAM and storage.

How long it will take?

The Acer Swift 3X is not the most rugged notebook we've tested, but it should offer years of reliable service. The components are up to date which is a plus, but the 1 year warranty (industry standard) is, as usual, too short.

Should you buy it?

No. Iris Xe Max graphics offer the best CPU performance you can get in an Intel-based ultrabook. However, if CPU performance is most important to you, there are other, better options. And apart from the equipment of the Iris Xe Max, the Swift 3X cannot be particularly highlighted.

Editor's recommendations




Apple AirPods Max Review | Funnest Headphones Ever

Apple AirPods max

"The AirPods Max are exquisitely crafted headphones designed for Apple lovers."

  • Best-in-class ANC

  • Amazing transparency mode

  • Excellent workmanship

  • Excellent sound quality

  • First class call quality

  • Charges via the Lightning cable

  • Heavy on the head

I'm a headphone freak and have been for almost two decades. And, without a doubt, at $ 550, the Apple AirPods Max are the most fun headphones I've tested in 10 years – but that doesn't necessarily mean you should buy them.

I've heard a lot about these headphones over the past few weeks and now that I've got hold of a pair, I have to be honest: I disagree with a lot of what I've heard. I want to dig into these headphones not just from the perspective of someone who has tested headphones over the years, but also as a studio musician, fan of high-end sound, and a person who loves making smart purchases with hard-earned money. Let's examine what's good, what's great, and what's not about the AirPods Max, and of course, make some comparisons with the Sony WH-1000XM4 and the Bose ANC 700.

Build quality

The most noticeable design element when looking at the AirPods Pro are the metal ear cups. They sit comfortably in the hand – in fact, every part of these headphones feels good. The fabric material in the headband has a cool suspension, the telescopic part of the headband has a satisfactorily smooth movement, the ear cups are squishy and covered in a lush textile, and even the oversized digital crown and the noise-canceling / transparency mode can be toggled button feel good to turn and push. It's really amazing how comfortable it is to hold them.

Riley Young / Digital Trends

But as satisfactory as they are, they aren't called cell phones – they are called headphones, and they need to feel great on your head. For some users, the AirPods Max may feel perfectly fine. Deep auricles, breathable ear pads and a balanced clamping force help a little. The problem, however, is that there is a lot of weight to compensate for. Too much weight in my opinion. These materials are beautiful. This makes the AirPods Max feel super luxurious, but in practical terms, these headphones may be too heavy for some people. Especially if, like me, you wear headphones for hours.

To be clear, Apple has done an impressive job of reducing the stress on the crown and ears through clever engineering and materialsThis is one reason why headphones like the Sony XM4, Bose ANC700, and even the Bowers and Wilkins PX7 Carbon Edition are made from high-quality plastic and composites instead of metal: because they're good for acoustics and they're lightweight and comfortable.

Connectivity

Riley Young / Digital Trends

As you'd expect, the AirPods Max work best with Apple products. Not only do you instantly connect, but you can switch from one Apple device to another in no time. Another benefit is that you can use an iOS device to turn off ANC in the headphone section of the control panel, and you can actually play with the digital signal processor (DSP) over the accessibility section – which I'll mention again later when we talk about sound quality. Unfortunately, if you're an Android user, you lose all of that. As far as I can tell, there is no turning off the ANC or adjusting the DSP without an Apple device. For connectivity, AirPods Max win for Apple users, while Sony and Bose, which both have apps for both platforms with lots of customization options, win for everyone.

The oversized digital crown is awesome.

Control elements / interface

When it comes to controls, I have to give them to the AirPods Max. The oversized digital crown is awesome. It's easy to find if you're wearing headphones, and the volume knob is oddly enough to turn satisfactorily – you even hear a tiny click when you adjust the volume. The digital crown is also extremely accurate and grainy. I had no problem hitting my volume sweet spot, while with other headphones and volume controls, I'm always a click away from the volume that's too loud or too soft.

Riley Young / Digital Trends

Plus, an almost comically large button just for toggling between ANC and transparency modes is a spring in the cap of the AirPods Max. Again, finding the button while wearing the headphones is no problem, and pressing the buttons with satisfaction is a far better one Experience than holding your hand over the right ear cup of the Sony XM4 or looking for the right button on the Bose ANC 700. I used to think the swipe control thing was cool too, but now I'm kind of over it. The AirPods Max have simple controls for which headphones I want to use. This is the kind of thing Apple is doing right now.

Where is the power switch?

On the subject of battery life, charging times, and the fact that there's no power switch – this may surprise you: I don't have any problems with it. Let me finish

Some think the fact that the AirPods Max doesn't have a power button and can't actually be turned off completely is ridiculous. I do not think so.

The AirPods Max go into a power-saving mode after a short while when you put them down. In fact, I put it on my desk around 8 p.m. and picked them up the next day at 7 a.m. and they had laid off a measly 7%. With five minutes of charging, I can get that blackout and a lot more back, which gives you 1.5 hours of listening time.

When the AirPods Max aren't used for about 72 hours, they go into a kind of ultra-low power mode and use even less power. In practice, with such a slow power failure, it is hard to imagine that a power switch is absolutely necessary. Maybe when you keep it around your neck as a fashion accessory all day long? But even then, it's not like they drain quickly and die of you that day.

Riley Young / Digital Trends

For the claimed 20 hour battery life, I've found this rating to be conservative. With ANC, I've approached 25 uninterrupted hours of play and that's enough to take advantage of a few days before you have to think about recharging. So I'm fine with the battery life, even if the rating is about half that of the Sony XM4 – in real life it's perfectly fine.

I think the valuable thing about this always on standby strategy is that whenever you get a call or a Zoom call, they are ready to go. Just put them on and click to reply. I love that – it's far better than long-pressing a power button and waiting for the headphones to boot while the phone keeps ringing.

What I don't like is the USB-C lightning cable that comes with the headphones. I think it was a mistake to choose a flash when USC-C is a much more sensible choice.

It is not a case

Riley Young / Digital Trends

One area where I agree with other reviewers and commentators is what is called the "case" that comes with the AirPods Max. Since there are many others throwing away this "non-fall" as I call it, I don't feel the need to use more vitriol. It's not a case, it's not a shelter, and if it weren't for the magnets in it which are required to activate the ultra-low-power modeI would say throw it away.

The transparency mode is amazing.

ANC and transparency mode

I want to start with transparency mode because it's amazing – perhaps the most impressive feature of the AirPods Max. It's as close to NOT wearing headphones as I've ever heard it. Everything else pales in comparison.

I'm also looking forward to checking out active noise cancellation on a flight someday, as the AirPods Max, as far as I can tell, may just rule the skies. Since I'm not getting on planes yet, to test the headphones I tried the AirPods Max, Sony XM4, and Bose ANC 700 near some loud fans and an HVAC system. The AirPods Max did very well compared to the best noise-canceling headphones I tested.

Riley Young / Digital Trends

The AirPods Max make it even better every day. They sound like hammering a mechanical keyboard, sipping coffee, and other annoying things. I wore them to a coffee shop and was surprised at how little I heard of the espresso machine and general barista noises. Is it the best noise cancellation on the planet? I can not say it yet. I really have to get on a plane to be sure, but it's damn close. Close enough that I can't call the Sony XM4 the reigning champion anymore, now that there's another big dog on the hill. However, I'll say the AirPods Max won't make anyone crave for more noise cancellation.

Call quality

The AirPods Max are great for making phone calls and taking video conferences – even better than the Bose ANC700, which are great on their own. I found that ambient noise was very well muffled while the clarity of the voice was excellent. The AirPods Max are also very adept at dealing with wind noise.

Sound quality

Before I get into fidelity, I want to mention that I ran some testing with Spatial Audio which, if you're not familiar, is a 3D sound competitor to Dolby Atmos, DTS Headphone: X, and the like. I think it's fun to watch movies, but I'm less enthusiastic about the implementation for music. It's a cool feature, but not a selling point for me.

When it comes to audio fidelity, the AirPods Max sound really good. In particular, I think the midrange has great presence and clarity – something you won't get as much of on the Sony XM4 as the midrange has a bump that tends to clutter the vocal range.

Sony's mid-bass bump is also notable because it gives the XM4 more punch. In direct comparison to the AirPods Max, the Apple cans are less effective. That doesn't mean the AirPods Max lack solid bass. They actually get very deep – deeper than the Sony XM4 or Bose ANC 700 – so everything is sound there. I just noticed that the bass guitar was less prominent on a lot of the tracks I love listening to, and the kick drum had a little less punch than the XM4 and Bose headphones. As mentioned earlier, the more balanced mid-bass enables tThe excellent midrange response from Max.

"I found that Apple Music sounded better than Spotify with the Apple AirPods Max. "

In the high altitude region, cymbals and brass instruments sparkle very well, which I liked very much – sibilance or harshness are irrelevant here. I didn't see a particularly well-executed instrument separation, however, and as far as soundstage and imaging go, I think the AirPods Max are average.

In general, I feel a little closer to the music listening to the Sony XM4 and Bose ANC700, but I feel like hearing more detail with the AirPods Max, which are sure to be the most balanced of the three headphones I compared.

One interesting note: I found that Apple Music sounded better than Spotify with the Apple AirPods Max, and I suspect Apple is using the AAC codec (the only codec supported by the AirPods Max) during the MP3-based deployment from Spotify is more lossy. Another reason to delve into the Apple ecosystem for listening to music.

Riley Young / Digital Trends

I've noticed some have said that the AirPods Max sound better with the ANC off. I didn't think so. Maybe the frequency response is flatter, but I feel like the music is losing part of its life. I've also heard that adjustments to the DSP via the Accessibility menu in iOS could improve the sound, but honestly I like the way they sound instantly with the balanced setting and slight boost setting.

From an audio point of view, I like the AirPods Max very much, and I would like to continue listening to the AirPods Max a little longer, as I suspect that my preference for punch will wane over the weeks and months, but right now I prefer the Sony XM4 -Sound signature. However, this is a deeply personal preference. I can see why someone would prefer the sound of the Max in the long run, and I'll adjust this rating as I change my tune. You sound very good. Good enough to justify the $ 550 price tag.

As for the cool factor, there's no doubt that the AirPods Max have it in their spades, and there's no doubt that they are one of the most fun headphones I've had the chance to test out in many years.

Our opinion

The AirPods Max are near perfect, with top notch noise cancellation, the most remarkable transparency mode I've ever heard, balanced and detailed sound with lots of deep and musical bass, and a very top notch feel. My main complaints are its weight, which I fear won't work for hours of use, and the lack of a proper carrying case.

Is there a better alternative?

For a higher level of convenience, I would recommend considering the Sony WH-1000xm4, which offers competitive sound quality and noise cancellation, as well as superior battery life in a lighter headphone. The Sony also come with a legitimate carrying case and are more portable. Nevertheless, the AirPods Max are wonderful premium headphones with unmatched build quality.

How long will they last?

Given the excellent build quality just mentioned, I can imagine that the AirPods Max will last as long as the battery allows. They come with Apple's standard one-year warranty against manufacturer defects.

Should you buy it?

If you don't mind a heavier headset with a premium price tag then absolutely yes.

Editor's recommendations




Apple Mac Mini M1 Review: Mini Footprint, Max Performance

Apple Mac Mini M1 Rating2 04

"The Mac Mini M1 resets expectations of how fast a small, affordable desktop can be."

  • Bubble CPU performance

  • Incredibly fast SSDs

  • Excellent value

  • Compact, robust design

  • MacOS Big Sur is great

  • Below average gaming performance

The Mac Mini has often been viewed as the ugly duckling in Apple's Mac family. Without the sleek sophistication of the iMac or the portable beauty of the MacBook, it is often overlooked, categorized as a "niche", and viewed as a developer and data center only.

But now that it comes with Apple's M1 chip, the last thing you want to do is ignore it. Although it looks like the previous generation Mac Mini from the outside, from the inside it is nothing short of a revolution.

The Mac Mini is far from a serious competitor for your money – assuming you want a desktop computer and you already have all of the peripherals you need. It's still a niche, but it hits hard against the walls of this descriptor and is ready to break out.

design

The Mac Mini is by far the most compact desktop Mac from Apple. With a width of 7.7 inches and a height of 1.4 inches from top to bottom, this device can easily fit on your desk or slide under a monitor. The footprint is the same as the previous Intel Mini-based Mac Mini.

It's also one of Apple's most minimalist devices. Almost the entire surface of the device is covered in matte aluminum with just a large Apple logo on it to break up the evenness. There is no other branding or labeling, just a tiny white light on the front that comes on when the device is turned on. It's a Jony Ive fever dream, perhaps the ultimate expression of Apple's obsessive design mores.

As we are used to from Apple hardware, the build quality is excellent. The whole device is heavy and solid with no bends or bends to be found. It feels like a device that could take a few hits and still smile – not that you want that to happen.

However, there are some differences between the M1 and Intel models. Most obvious is the paintwork: the M1 model is available in silver and the Intel version in darker gray. The Intel Mac Mini is also a bit heavier, weighing 2.9 pounds compared to the M1 Mac Mini's 2.6 pounds.

A more significant difference is on the back. Apple long ago removed USB-A ports on its MacBooks, but its desktop Macs – including the Mac Mini – have caught on. While the Intel Mac Mini has four USB-A ports, the M1 version only has two (both with 5 Gbit / s). This is more of a limitation on the M1 than a plan by Apple to phase out the Mac Mini's USB-A ports, and I wouldn't be surprised if four ports were available again when more powerful Apple silicon chips come out. However, it's worth noting if you still rely on USB-A for your daily chores. An adapter or dongle may be required.

The M1 Mac Mini has an Ethernet jack, two Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 ports with 40 Gbit / s, an HDMI 2.0 slot and a 3.5 mm headphone jack as well as a power switch and a slot for the power cord. This is all identical to the Intel Mac Mini.

What you don't get is a keyboard, mouse, trackpad, or other peripheral device. You'll need to provide all of these devices yourself, and a monitor to connect the Mac Mini to. If you already have these, the $ 699 starting price is all the more attractive. If you don't then you need to take them into account when purchasing.

performance

This is the first time the Mac Mini has come with an Apple-owned M1 processor. The basic version of the previous model was equipped with an Intel Core i3-8100H with four cores and 3.0 GHz and ran pretty well. Even on paper, the Apple M1 seems like a significant step up: Not only does it have twice the number of CPU cores than the old entry-level Intel Mini-based Mac Mini, but it also includes an eight-core and one GPU 16-core neural engine on the same system on a chip (SoC).

In addition, Apple uses a so-called "Unified Memory Architecture" (UMA), with which the CPU and GPU can draw from a single memory pool, which reduces the overhead for both. All of this jargon means that in theory everything should run a lot faster – something third-party developers have already told us.

We've already seen how well Apple's M1 chip performs in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. So we already have an idea of ​​what to expect: this is an incredibly powerful processor. The question, however, is whether the extra space in the Mac Mini compared to these portable laptops can keep the chip cooler and provide it with additional headroom. Does the Mac Mini outperform these devices too?

The answer is yes, and in some cases unequivocally. In GeekBench 5, the Mac Mini scored a single-core score of 1744 and a multi-core score of 7659 ahead of the 1707 and 7337 on the M1 MacBook Pro. These numbers may not mean much to you. Let me put that way: The Mac Mini's single-core score is the highest we've seen in GeekBench 5. The multi-core score is the eighth highest we have measured. This thing flies.

It's the same elsewhere. The SSDs are lightning fast with an average of 2,144.1 Mbit / s write speed and 2,775.1 Mbit / s read speed. In Cinebench R23, the Mac Mini was only beaten by the Falcon NW Talon, which packaged a Ryzen 9 5950X, a machine that will cost you at least $ 4,000. The Mac Mini we tested costs $ 699. This is just a yardstick of course, and this Falcon NW machine is far more capable of doing heavy duty tasks like gaming or video editing. Still, it is amazing value for money.

The starting price of $ 699 for the Mac Mini is an almost absurd feat.

Synthetic benchmarks can only tell you so much, however. How does the Mac Mini work in real life situations? In HandBrake 1.4 (an app optimized for the M1), the Mac Mini encoded a two-minute 4K video in two minutes and 36 seconds – the same length as the M1 MacBook Pro. In Adobe Premiere Pro, the Mini outperformed both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro in the PugetBench benchmark. The Intel version of the Adobe app is used, which was translated with the Apple wizard for working on the M1.

If the Apple Silicon version of Adobe's video app comes out sometime this year, the performance will get even better. If this is your type of workload, the Mac Mini is going to make a world of difference, especially if you're currently using older Intel-based hardware.

The difference in performance between the MacBook Pro and the Mac Mini isn't that big. It's only 8% faster in Premiere. This should be considered when trying to decide between the two.

The Mac Mini is a workhorse and is great for CPU-intensive workloads. He's ahead of machines that cost twice (or more) as much. Oh, and it did it all without the fans turning. Not even. I had to put my head against the machine to hear something, and even then it was almost silent. Apple wasn't kidding when it said the M1 performed better in a more efficient way than anything Intel had to offer.

In fact, the $ 699 starting price of the Mac Mini feels almost absurd given the performance of the M1 chip. Sure, you don't get a screen, mouse, or keyboard and if you have to buy these the price goes up. However, if you already have a lot of peripherals on your desk, the Mac Mini is the cheapest way to get M1 performance.

Gaming performance

Despite all of this, the Mac Mini is not a slot machine. The M1 may have an integrated 8-core GPU, but it is still smoked by a computer with a discrete graphics card. That's not to say the gaming performance was terrible – it was respectable for a machine this size and price tag – but if you're looking for high frame rates, especially at higher resolutions, you have to look further.

The performance varied depending on the game. In games like Civilization VI that didn't put too much stress on the GPU, performance was acceptable with the right settings. At 1080p and medium quality, the Mac Mini averaged 48 frames per second (fps). At 1440p ultra, however, this value sank to 26 fps.

Gaming is an obvious weakness.

The tactical stealth game Desperados III ran smoothly on high settings, but the more demanding Deus Ex: Mankind Divided only managed 27 fps on 1080p medium. at 1440p ultra it barely cracked 12 fps.

So gaming is an obvious weakness, but I don't think there are many hardcore gamers out there who will buy a Mac Mini as their main device. If all you want to do is make a few easy games you should be fine, but don't expect too much more in this area.

App support

When Apple announced the M1 chip, it was clear that it had learned from the mistakes of its competitors as well as from its own past actions. When Microsoft introduced its own specially designed ARM chip in the Surface Pro X, it was in an app compatibility nightmare that it is still trying to break away from. Apple probably looked at it once and knew it had to be better.

The good news is that Apple has largely achieved this. If you buy a Mac Mini today, your favorite Mac apps will likely work fine, whether or not they are optimized for the M1. Many developers have already released M1-specific versions of their apps (e.g. Microsoft Office), but those who don't benefit from something Apple developed is called Rosetta 2.

This goes back to the last time Apple switched processor platforms and is translating Intel apps to work on the ARM-based M1. It's preinstalled on the Mac Mini and you won't even see it boot up – your Intel apps will just load with no issues. It's an exceptionally smooth process.

With apps optimized for the M1, the performance is likely to be much better than anything translated with Rosetta 2. For example, when I ran our HandBrake benchmark on version 1.0.7 of the app (which was developed for Intel systems), it encoded our 4K test video in 4 minutes and 44 seconds.

With an M1-optimized version of the app, this was possible in almost half the time. If you stick to Apple's own apps for most of your work, the performance is probably even better. Not everyone likes Apple's similar impact on their ecosystem, but hardware and software performance is one area where it really works.

There may be some apps that just don't work for some reason. When I first got the Mac Mini, Google Backup and Sync, which allows me to move work documents between my different devices, refused to load. It didn't end up being too bothersome – I switched to Dropbox, and a few weeks later, Google updated its app to fix the problem – but it's worth keeping in mind that you might have some app compatibility issues.

For the most part, however, I didn't have any problems with it. Google Backup and Sync was the only app I tried that didn't work right away.

Our opinion

The M1 Mac Mini is one of the most affordable desktop PCs money can buy right now. The performance is mind-boggling for a computer this small and affordable, and while it's not a gaming rig, it's nearly perfect for everything else.

Are there alternatives?

Some other companies offer miniature desktop PCs. There is the Intel NUC 10 with processor options from Intel i3 to i7. If you're looking for games, other companies like HP and Asus also have small PCs that might suit your needs.

Note, however, that all alternatives will run Windows. If you've got your heart on a tiny desktop computer running macOS, the Mac Mini is your only option.

How long it will take?

We're at the beginning of the Apple Silicon roadmap, so support for this Mac Mini will last for many years to come. Given the good performance compared to other items in the mount (and compared to devices way above the mount), it will be a long time before you notice that it is slowing down.

Apple doesn't update the Mac Mini as often as its MacBooks, but only one Apple Silicon Mac Mini model is currently available. So, Apple may bring out another option this year. That doesn't mean you will be disappointed if you buy this M1 Mac Mini, just that an even better model may be in the works.

Should you buy it?

Yes absolutely. The price-performance ratio is breathtaking. If you are looking for a desktop rather than a laptop in the market, the Mac Mini should be at the top of your list.

Editor's recommendations




Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max Review: Amazing Camera, Massive Size

iPhone 12 Pro max

"This is the iPhone with amazing battery life and an exceptional camera experience, but it comes at a price that is too big for most people to manage."

  • Big and beautiful display

  • Excellent hardware quality

  • First class camera experience

  • Long battery life

  • Unbelievably big

  • Very difficult

It was frustrating for them in a way iPhone 12 Pro max a month later than the iPhone 12 Pro because we couldn't immediately compare them side by side. However, working in these conditions bought me a lot of time with the iPhone 12 Pro. Now that I finally have a 12 Pro Max in hand, I can take advantage of this considerable experience with the platform.

This way I can evaluate the three big aspects (emphasis on big ones) that make the iPhone 12 Pro Max stand out: the size of the phone, the subsequently larger battery and the improved camera system.

The basics: hardware, specifications and software

The "Max" iPhones have a short history but have gained an extremely enthusiastic following. Some people realized the value of a giant iPhone and never looked back. For these people, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is wonderful – it's another giant iPhone that was introduced into the modern era of Apple hardware design and features.

iPhone 12 Pro maxAndrew Martonik / Digital Trends

If you like the design of the new iPhones, like me, you'll love that you simply get more of them in the 12 Pro Max. The proportions of everything at this size are a bit strange when you really look at it, but I'm not looking – this phone is beautiful. The stainless steel frame and matte glass back feel amazing and look like a super expensive phone.

If you like the look of the new iPhones, you'll love that you can easily get more of them with the 12 Pro Max.

The whole matter is taken to a new level in this gold color that I have referred to as the "Kardashian Special". The hyper-shiny golden pages are just … a lot. They are so reflective that you regularly see strong reflections of light on tables and walls around you which is just amazing. Thank God. The back made of matt glass has a subtle mother-of-pearl color and dampens the overall effect. But I really enjoyed the phone in its absurdly expensive but excellent form Apple leather case. However, those golden shimmering sides still protrude a little bit from the edge of the case!

Everywhere else, you get the same specs and features as the Standard 12 Pro, without a single drawback. The same A14 Bionic processor, 6GB (supposedly) of RAM, 128/256/512GB storage options, 5G connectivity, Ceramic Shield glass, speakers, and a lot more on the list. Face recognition continues to be great (despite our current situation with wearing masks), as is the tactile feel of the buttons, mute, and haptic feedback – these are the little things Apple is so good at. This is just an enlarged iPhone 12 Pro – and that's a good thing most of the time.

If you haven't read all about the iPhone 12 Pro, I highly recommend that you read my full review of the 12 Pro first and find out the details about the 12 Pro Max here.

A really big phone

The iPhone 12 Pro Max's main selling point is the same as ever: you get a huge display. It's now up to 6.7 inches tall, and the effect of this year's smaller frames is enhanced by their size in proportion to the screen area. The OLED panel is absolutely great – incredibly bright, clear and colorful. It is perfectly visible in any lighting, including outdoors, even if the brightness is not increased when viewing HDR content.

iPhone 12 Pro maxAndrew Martonik / Digital Trends

I can't find a bug … other than not having a 90Hz (or higher) refresh rate like the Android competition. Even so, Apple does things with software that makes 60Hz still look good. These are all the same assessments I had of the iPhone 12 Pro's display mind you, but once again I appreciate it in this larger size.

It's not the largest phone display, but it's close.

Of course, it's not the largest phone display, but it's close. The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is larger and combines its display with even smaller bezels, but is also a bit larger. Really, you wouldn't notice a usable difference between this 6.7-inch screen and any other large Android device. It is important that you have significantly more additional screen with the 12 Pro Max than with most cell phones in the lower 6-inch range.

Size comparison: iPhone 12 vs. iPhone 12 Mini vs. iPhone 12 Pro max

However, since the "normal" iPhones have gotten bigger and now have up to 6.1-inch displays, they don't feel as tight, making the iPhone 12 Pro Max feel less necessary. And iOS 14 looks and works exactly the same on this 6.7-inch display as it does on the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 Mini.

iPhone 12 modelsAndrew Martonik / Digital Trends

You can't multitask any other than any other iPhone, and viewing picture-in-picture video isn't much more useful either. Although you can now place widgets on the home screen, you don't have any extra space to place them. They still have the same grid size of 4 × 6. Apps can mostly only be adapted to the screen instead of keeping the elements the same size and displaying more content. For example, in Gmail, another email appears in the inbox. On Twitter, you might see an extra half of a tweet.

You can use the "zoom" feature to zoom in on anything on the screen, but you can't go the other way and zoom out, which is what a lot of people want. You can reduce the text size, which I did (by one notch) and that will at least help you get a little better use of the screen.

iPhone 12 modelsAndrew Martonik / Digital Trends

This bigger screen is still appreciated when watching videos, playing games, taking and editing photos and videos, browsing non-mobile websites, and typing with two hands. The media experience is only enhanced by this bigger screen, and some people really spend hours a day watching videos on their phones – the 12 Pro Max is a great experience there. There are also people who don't have great vision and appreciate a phone that just makes everything huge.

It seems like a missed opportunity not to give the Max a little more functionality in the software to take advantage of that screen size, especially now that we've been dealing with these Max phones for a few generations, and with developments in the same area on iPadOS .

The media and gaming experience is improved by the larger screen, otherwise nothing changes.

This is especially true because that bigger screen comes at a cost: a bigger phone overall. The 12 Pro Max is about 9% larger, 9% wider and 20% heavier than the 12 Pro. These are serious leaps, especially in terms of weight – at 228 grams, it is one of the heaviest smartphones currently available. This stainless steel frame adds up.

iPhone 12 Pro maxAndrew Martonik / Digital Trends

It's big enough to be awkward in a pocket, especially for weighing down gym shorts and stuffing jeans pockets. And it certainly doesn't fit in most women's pockets – it takes up space in a pocket instead. It hardly fits in my running beltand just without a case. Since it's so hard, I prefer to leave it at home for long runs.

The phone is extremely massive and difficult to use. Only you know if it is worth looking into.

It's downright awkward to do anything other than scroll through feeds or hold the phone to read with one hand. Even with my big hands, reaching across the screen or sliding my finger over the picture is a hassle. Fortunately, you can use the “reachability” gesture (swipe down in the lower center of the screen) to get to the “top” edge of the screen without fumbling with the phone. Most tasks are considerably easier with a second hand, some tasks require it. If you come to terms with this fact and stop even trying to use it with one hand, the overall experience improves.

Battery life

With the first Max iPhone, it seemed like most people bought it just for the battery life. A larger phone offers more space for the battery. If everything else stays the same, this should translate into significantly longer battery life. As usual, Apple does not offer battery capacities or realistic battery benchmarks for its phones. That's why I'm here.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is a battery champion thanks to a very simple equation: It has a 30% larger (supposedly 3687 mAh) battery than the 12 Pro. If you need a phone that will work all day every day, regardless of battery saving, then this is it. On my usual day with messaging, listening to podcasts via Bluetooth, countless emails and using social media apps, mainly via WiFi, I ended the day after more than three hours of on with 40% battery.

The 12 Pro Max is a battery champion – you don't have to think about it.

The closest thing to low power mode, which triggers at 20%, was a day of three hours of hotspotting on my laptop, including streaming the Apple “One More Thing” event. Even so, I had a little over 20% when I went to bed. I've experienced solid battery life on the smaller 12 Pro, but found that it can get a little tricky if you squeeze it hard. This is just not the case with the 12 Pro Max – it will never lead to battery fear.

iPhone 12 Pro Max with MagSafe chargerAndrew Martonik / Digital Trends

We got used to the fast charging times offered by the iPhone's small battery, but that's not the case with the 12 Pro Max. If you ever run out of battery or miss a night charge, you need to consider how long it will take to charge.

You can go from dead to 50% in just over 30 minutes, which is good enough, but it takes over an hour to get to 95%. And that's if you buy a 20W charger (remember, there isn't one in the box). There are many good options from companies like anchor and Aukeyand it's basically a requirement for the 12 Pro Max. Charging with less is a real pain. The MagSafe charger is approximately 30% slower than a 20W wired charger. Plugging in an older plug under 10W will take several hours to complete – and worse with a generic wireless charger.

Cameras

Apple bifurcated the Pro line with an all-new main camera sensor on the Pro Max, and that's a big change. The 12-megapixel sensor is 47% larger, which means every pixel is dramatically larger for the same resolution. Larger pixels let in more light, which is always good – light is the currency you use to buy sharp photos. The sensor itself is also physically stabilized, much like the way dedicated cameras provide stabilization that is different from the OIS on most other phones (including the 12 Pro) that have the lens stabilized.

The advantages are immediately apparent when taking photos in poor lighting conditions. With larger pixels, the camera doesn't have to rely on long night mode exposures as often, which means you'll have less softness and blurring from handshakes or moving objects in your scene. This means that photos of people and pets are more likely to be crisp, even in difficult lighting conditions. But that's more of a side effect: the real impact is that every single photo you take with low or mixed flash is brighter, sharper, and more colorful.

Lowlight shots have great detail, texture, and sharpness, and for the most part, do without a fake, over-edited look. In some cases where night mode is used for a 3 to 4 second exposure, the contrast and saturation are a little over the top, to the point where it actually looks better to revert to a 1 second exposure. Other times, I just turn off night mode for a natural shot and the sensor easily pulls in enough light to keep things from getting loud or grainy. I think Apple could actually tweak more to really take advantage of the big sensor and rely even less on the night mode.

As the lighting improves, the 12 Pro Max's camera benefit diminishes. Most of the footage is indistinguishable from what you get with the 12 Pro's camera. But that's not a bad thing. The 12 Pro takes great photos. In the edge cases where you have shadows or mixed lighting, you will notice that the large sensor is working again – not to brighten these areas, but to get them right and without noise.

You'll see the big sensor in play again with close-ups of macros and portraits. Because the sensor is so large and has a f / 1.6 lens, you can get incredible natural bokeh (background blur) if you know your way around your goal of focusing. If you are strategically focused on a good focus, background defocusing is great. The effect is so far that I really didn't bother with portrait mode, which still has quirks and problems far too often. Natural bokeh is always better than fake, and this camera does it incredibly well.

The ultrawide camera is identical to the other iPhone 12 models – really good for ultrawide conditions and ideal for confusing the perspective of your recordings. The telephoto camera has a 25% longer focal length than the 12 Pro, but I still wouldn't call it "telephoto" with only 2.5x zoom over the main lens. Even so, any improvement is good, as the whole point of a telephoto camera is to get the specific look of a narrower field of view. It gives you that change of perspective and you can use it to get great zoom shots.

The Dolby Vision HDR video, which Apple is making a big deal of this year, remains unchanged on the 12 Pro Max as well. Recording with a larger viewfinder could be a bonus to your budding film career, but HDR video really shouldn't be a determining factor in your buying decision – and of course, it's available on all iPhone 12 models. Yes even the $ 699 mini.

The selfie camera is the same too; If you have good lighting, it will take great shots but will stall in darker scenes and rely heavily on the on-screen flash. The selfie camera's night mode is a hit-or-miss mode considering that you really can't get over how small a sensor and lens you're working with – and it's harder to keep your hand steady hold when arm is extended.

Our opinion

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is characterized by three things: its enormous size, its long battery life and its more powerful camera. If you buy it, it should be because of the first feature, not the latter two. I really believe that only those who want A big phone with a big screen and extra space to work and play should buy one. Anyone who buys the iPhone 12 Pro Max because they expect longer battery life and camera improvements even though it is bigger than they can be will be disappointed.

Yes, the battery life is exceptional, especially better than the iPhone 12 Pro. And the camera is more powerful at night, even by the high standards that Apple set with the iPhone 12. However, the phone is just too big for most people to comfortably use in one hand, and it's big enough to prevent your person from walking. This is not a situation to put yourself in if you don't immediately see a benefit in the size of the screen. No battery or camera improvement is worth constantly being upset that your phone is too big.

If the big phone is your thing, the starting price of $ 1,099 is reasonable. You pay just $ 100 more than the iPhone 12 Pro and get a lot more phone.

Are there any better alternatives?

There are few phones in this size class to compete with each other. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is the obvious choice, with a huge display and great features that can go head to toe with the 12 Pro Max. It also has a built-in pen which is a real differentiator. However, most people don't regularly switch between iPhones and Androids, so it may not be an option.

The other obvious choice is to step up a notch to the iPhone 12 Pro. It is a “normal” size phone that is easy to use with one hand and never feels like an administrative burden, but has all of the core features of the 12 Pro Max. It's really a question of whether you can handle the weaker battery life (which is still fine by average phone standards) and a smaller display and come to terms with not having the best camera Apple makes. The size is a personal preference, but we're talking about minor improvements on the front of the camera. The 12 Pro's main camera is great too.

How long it will take?

Apple has had an excellent track record of supporting and updating its phones for several years. The iPhone 12 Pro Max has the hardware to run the next four (or more) versions of iOS without errors. The hardware with a stainless steel frame and IP68 water resistance should also hold up.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if you have two qualifications. The first is that you want or can manage such a big phone. Second, you expect to push the limits of the camera system. If you're not here for both things, you're better off with that one Base iPhone 12 Pro.

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