Notebooks
Had someone asked us a year ago what we thought the top laptop brands would be heading into the summer of 2018, one name that would probably not have been mentioned is Huawei. It's not that laptops are a foreign product category to the Chinese manufacturer, it is just that Huawei is better known here in the U.S. for its smartphone lineup. It would be a mistake to overlook Huawei's new MateBook X Pro, however. Cutting right to the chase, the MateBook X Pro challenges the notion that you have to pay a hefty premium for a high-end ultraportable, one that brings all the bells and whistles that you...
Read more...
When Microsoft and Qualcomm announced "Always Connected" Windows 10 PCs back in late 2016, it was revealed that the first shipping systems would be powered by the Snapdragon 835 processor. The first generation of convertibles laptops have shipped from the likes of ASUS, HP and Lenovo with that processor platform on board, but a new generation will soon be upon us and today out at Computex, Qualcomm has unveiled new silicon technology to enable them. Powering this new breed of devices will be Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 850 Mobile Compute Platform. The Snapdragon 850 is a dedicated SKU that will only...
Read more...
Mobile device manufacturers seem to have really stepped things up in the engineering department since the arrival of the Microsoft Surface. After racing to the bottom with netbooks for a time, things turned around, and we’ve seen an influx of high-quality systems using premiums materials. We've seen gorgeous designs from ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, especially in standard clamshell form factors. However, no one seemed to crack the code when it comes to the detachable form factor where the Microsoft Surface Pro shines. There have been some solid offerings in the space, no doubt, but the Surface...
Read more...
The ThinkPad line of notebooks has a long, storied history, from its beginnings as an IBM product, to Lenovo's continued refinements and improvements, generation over generation. ThinkPads are well known, often sought after products, especially by business-class road warriors, due to their no-nonsense design language, excellent keyboards, and reputation for reliability. In addition, ThinkPads have had one other thing remain consistent over the years -- a glorious little red nub, called a TrackPoint or pointing stick, that remains faithfully nestled between the G and H keys. For some it's...
Read more...
We have covered Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Yoga series since its inception, and while the company might only be on its 3rd generation machine, what's under its hood is what might be thought of as four generations of advancement since then. Of course we are speaking of the 8th Gen Intel Core-i5 8250U quad-core mobile processor on board the new Thinkpad X1 Yoga. What makes this chip different from its predecessor, is it has 4 psychical cores now and supports Hyper-Threading, all within the same 15W power envelope. At just 15W the Core i5-8250U doesn't require hefty thermal solution and large...
Read more...
Dell’s XPS 15 2-In-1 is a unique hybrid convertible, premium ultrabook in a couple of respects, partly because of its high quality Dell XPS series machined aluminum and hybrid carbon fiber construction, along with its beautiful 15-inch, 400 nits, near bezel-less Dell Infinity Edge display. However, the machine is also powered by a unique processor that marks the first collaboration of its kind by two archrivals in the PC processor arena, both Intel and AMD. Otherwise known as Kaby Lake G, the new Intel 8th Gen Core Series with integrated AMD Radeon RX Vega M graphics is a potent hybrid...
Read more...
Dell has been hard at work updating its notebooks with Intel’s latest 8th Gen Core processors, and we’ve already seen the fruits of their labor in the premium XPS 13. It’s now time for the business-oriented Latitude notebooks to get a taste of Kaby Lake R, so here today we have the Latitude 7390 2-in-1 on the test bench, ready to be put through its paces. The XPS 13 impressed us with incredible performance, even showing inter-generational gains using the same chip between late 2017 and early 2018 models, thanks to an improved thermal solution among a few other tweaks. The Latitude...
Read more...
At CES earlier this year, Dell strutted out a few new products, including its XPS 15 2-in-1 with a 360-degree hinge. It is the first XPS 15 to adopt the convertible 2-in-1 form factor, providing customers with flexible use case scenarios, like folding the display all the way back onto itself to become a tablet, or propping it up in tent mode as a kitchen counter companion. While not groundbreaking in 2018, it's a welcome upgrade to one of the more desirable and premium laptops on the market. What is groundbreaking, however, is what lies inside this laptop in terms of processing engines. Dell's...
Read more...
Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon line has been widely regarded as the company's flagship business-class laptop over the past few years. The previous model, which we pored over in deep-dive detail here, brought a new, more compact chassis design with it, along with thinner display bezels and a refresh of Intel's Kaby Lake mobile processor platform. There was a notable caveat or two with the previous-gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon, and it could have been a showstopper, depending on your perspective and use case. Last year's model was only available with a non-touch, standard IPS display, which could be...
Read more...
Huawei has lifted the veil on a new thin and attractive ultraportable laptop called the Matebook X Pro today, and it has impressive hardware specs packed inside its svelte chassis. The machined aluminum-clad MateBook X Pro notebook measures just 304mm x 217mm x 14.6mm and weighs in at 1.33kg (a little under 3 pounds). Huawei will offer the device in Apple-esq colors of Mystic Silver and Space Gray. Huawei Matebook X Pro This laptop looks solid on paper as a powerful little notebook with an option of having an 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8550U or an i5-8250U processor under the hood. Its...
Read more...
When Lenovo launched the Yoga 910, it was beautifully styled, powerful enough for most mobile users, and it offered reasonably good battery life. However, the public reception of the 2-in-1 convertible was a bit mixed and perhaps not quite what the company had hoped for. Some critics took issue with the Yoga 910's thermal characteristics, fan noise, and its awkwardly-placed upward-facing web cam. However, Lenovo took this feedback into consideration and developed the new Yoga 920 we'll be showing you here. From the outside, the Yoga 910 and 920 look similar at first glance, but there are a...
Read more...
Earlier this year at CES 2018, Dell introduced its new XPS 15 2-In-1 convertible laptop, which it considers to be the world's most powerful hybrid machine. In this case, all of its computing muscle is coming from Intel's new 8th Generation Core i5 and Core i7 processors that feature an on-package AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL GPU with 4GB of HBM2. While we previously gave you a hands-on look at the new XPS 15 2-in-1 at the Dell booth, what we have today is a bit more tantalizing. Bear in mind that this is a very early look at the product, however. We've got some results from multiple Rise of the...
Read more...
CES 2018 has come to a close, and so begins the arduous wait, for some of the exciting devices we saw, to come to market. The Consumer Electronic Show held in Las Vegas, Nevada is where companies come to tout new wares and announce upcoming products and technologies. While some of the cool tech that was shown leaves us with that "shut-up and take my money" feeling, it’s often not retail-ready, with months of lead-time separating consumers from getting their hands on the geek goodness we spied last week. For those who couldn’t attend the show, it can be difficult navigating the CES myriad...
Read more...
Earlier this week, Intel unloaded its full arsenal of 8th generation Core i5 and Core i7 processors that are backed with AMD Radeon RX Vega M GPUs. The unlikely pair has delivered a mobile powerhouse chip package that combines excellent processing performance with GeForce GTX 1050-class graphics for thin-and-light systems. Dell is the latest to embrace this new "combo" chip, and has placed it inside the XPS 15 2-in-1 convertible. In fact, Dell is proclaiming that the new XPS 15 2-in-1 is "the world's most powerful 2-in-1 ever" -- a claim that Hewlett-Packard has also used for its new Spectre x360...
Read more...
