Items tagged with Core i5
The next piece in Intel's 8th generation Core family puzzle has just been revealed, and we're quite certain that you've already heard quite a bit about it from us. Following the launch of its 8th generation Kaby Lake Refresh mobile processors in late August, Intel is following up with the official reveal of its 14nm Coffee Lake-based desktop processors. These are considered "Premium Consumer Processors" built for gamers, overclockers and content creators encompassing SKUs in the Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 product families. Backing up these 8th generation Core desktop processors is Intel's new Z370 chipset, which has improved power delivery to aid in overclocking, support for DDR-2666...
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Lenovo has done a remarkable job of classing up its business notebooks without sacrificing the features and build-quality that make the ThinkPad line so popular with road warriors. It recently updated its ThinkPad X1 Yoga with an excellent 2560x1440 OLED panel, for example, making it even more attractive to executives. But the company hasn’t forgotten users who dig more utilitarian builds, and don't need the latest bells and whistles. The ThinkPad X260 is all about functionality, portability, and quality. It is a no-nonsense road warrior. At about $765, the ThinkPad X260 has the lowest starting price of any laptop in Lenovo’s ThinkPad X ultrabook series. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon starts at $1,142...
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Mainstream notebooks, laptops, and convertible devices have been significantly refined over the last few generations. The $500-$900 price range generally features laptops that are thin and light, built well, have decent battery life, and deliver solid multimedia experiences. Intel has a stranglehold on the CPUs and graphics in many of these mid-level systems, so PC makers seem to be emphasizing design differences lately. As important as performance is, you may well choose your next laptop because it converts into a mode or use case that fits your needs, rather than because of its technical specifications. HP aims the Pavilion x360 series at buyers who are looking for a non-traditional laptop....
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Dell has some enticing new hardware on tap for its newest Inspiron 7000 series laptops, including the latest and most powerful Intel Skylake processors and NVIDIA GPUs, but the computer maker sent us a decidedly modest version for this evaluation. PC makers usually load their review systems to the hilt, in an effort to make them perform well in commonly used benchmarks, but Dell is confident that its Inspiron 15 7000 delivers solid, real-world performance for the money, even at base specifications, so we gave it a look. Before we dig into the system we tested, let’s take discuss where it falls in Dell’s current family of laptops. If you’re looking for the most powerful and stylish of Dell’s offerings,...
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If you need proof that a new Surface Pro is on the way, look no further than a new round of price cuts that Microsoft has bestowed upon its aging tablet. The model that is receiving attention in particular today is the Surface Pro 3 with the Intel Core i5 processor and 128GB solid state drive (SSD). The tablet usually retails for $999, but Microsoft is running a one-day special, which sees the price drop by $200 to a more palatable $799. While the Core i5 processor and 128GB of RAM is quite respectable, you’ve been warned that the device is only paired with 4GB of RAM. So while the $200 discount is a nice gesture, you’re going to be stuck with 4GB of RAM with no way to upgrade in the future....
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Acer’s 15.6-inch Chromebook 910 was introduced in January and is already a competent performer. The Chromebook 910 has been available with Broadwell-based Intel Celeron and Core i3 processors and can be configured with a Full HD (1920x1080) IPS display (base systems come saddled with a 1366x768 display). The Chromebook C910 and Acer’s wide selection of other Chrome OS-based notebooks has allowed it to capture roughly 40 percent of the Chromebook market according to Gartner. Today, Acer is ramping up the Chromebook C910’s performance with the announcement of a new processor option: a fifth Generation Intel Core i5-5200U that is clocked at 2.2GHz. The company is confident that this new processor...
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It's hard to remember now, but there was a time when people were genuinely excited for Microsoft's ARM-based Surface RT and Surface Pro. When the company announced these products, they were seen as a much-needed opportunity for Redmond to spread its wings and tackle fresh markets and new challenges. When the actual devices arrived, the consumer response was, well, "mixed" would be putting it kindly. The Surface RT nailed the form factor for many people, but the high price, low storage, and slow Tegra 3 processor, combined with Windows 8's many launch issues, killed the product. The Intel-powered Surface Pro delivered the performance end users were hoping for, but was thicker, heavier, and had...
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Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 series is expanding, giving customers a broader range of features and prices. Until now, the Windows 8.1 tablet sported an Intel Core i5 processor – new models are available in Core i3 and Core i7 flavors. Surface Pro 3 tablets with these processors are already available on the Microsoft Store, Amazon, and several other retailers. The Microsoft Surface Pro 3. Image credit: Microsoft The least expensive version of the 12-inch Surface Pro 3 is the Core i3 model, which Microsoft is targeting at students and anyone who spends more time consuming media than creating it. The tablet includes 64GB of memory and sports Windows 8.1 for $799. That’s a hefty price...
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Intel's 4th generation Core processors, based on the company's Haswell microarchitecture, have done good things for ultrabooks this year. Thanks to Haswell, Ultrabooks have moved much closer to Intel’s original vision of thin, light, low-power (but still powerful) systems that eschew outdated components and usher in new features like ultra high resolutions and touchscreen displays. Acer’s recently-updated Aspire S7 is a good example of just how far ultrabooks have come, and where they are headed... Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook Review...
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Intel's 4th generation Core processors, based on the company's Haswell microarchitecture, have done good things for ultrabooks this year. Thanks to Haswell, Ultrabooks have moved much closer to Intel’s original vision of thin, light, low-power (but still powerful) systems that eschew outdated components and usher in new features like ultra high resolutions and touchscreen displays. Acer’s recently-updated Aspire S7 is a good example of how far ultrabooks have come and where they are headed. Acer sent us an Aspire S7-392-6411 for review and evaluation. The model rings in at $1,399.99 at Acer’s online store and seems to be consistently-priced among the usual online...
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Desktops are evolving, getting smaller and less intrusive. Zotac is a company that's been at the forefront of this evolution by offering up a constantly expanding line of small form factor (SFF) mini PCs that have grown more powerful with each new generation. The compromise between raw performance and power efficiency lessens with each advance AMD and Intel make to their respective processor technologies. In this vein, Zotac sent us its ZBOX ID89 Plus. This little system hardly takes up any space, yet it packs an Intel Core i5 3470T dual-core processor clocked at 2.9GHz (3.6GHz Turbo), 4GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, half a terabyte of HDD-based storage, and a plethora of complementary parts and features...
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If you're a proponent of the desktop, don't worry, the sky isn't falling on your form factor. Yes, we've read the same reports you have, the ones pointing out how traditional PC sales are shrinking in the wake of a mobile revolution that has consumers turning to tablets and smartphones for surfing the web and logging into Facebook. There's no denying mobile is sexy right now, but when it comes to getting work done and playing games with more depth than Angry Birds, desktops haven't lost their swagger. Desktops are evolving, however, and getting smaller and less intrusive. Zotac is a company that's been at the forefront of this evolution by offering up a constantly-expanding line of small form...
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If Haswell's debut on the desktop has left you feeling a bit flat, the company's mobile efforts may be the pick-me-up you've been hoping for. If you step back and think about the entire CPU market, the last two years have been marked by tremendous shifts in consumer buying habits, as tablet sales skyrocketed and desktop/laptop sales have slumped. Intel recognized years ago that Atom, no matter how polished, would never be able to address the entire portable market -- the usage scenarios between a laptop and a smartphone are just too wide. The company therefore decided to take a two-pronged approach to this brave new frontier of computing, with a new Atom architecture anchoring the ultra-low power...
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If Haswell's debut on the desktop has left you feeling a bit flat, the company's mobile efforts may be the pick-me-up you've been hoping for. If you step back and think about the entire CPU market, the last two years have been marked by tremendous shifts in consumer buying habits, as tablet sales skyrocketed and desktop/laptop sales have slumped. Intel recognized years ago that Atom, no matter how polished, would never be able to address the entire portable market -- the usage scenarios between a laptop and a smartphone are just too wide. The company therefore decided to take a two-pronged approach to this brave new frontier of computing, with a new Atom architecture anchoring the ultra-low...
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Back in 2008, Lehman Brothers -- once the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States -- tanked in September of 2008 as part of the subprime lending crisis. Its collapse kicked off the Dow's worst performance in a decade and the data that emerged in the aftermath made it clear that LB was over-leveraged and hugely arrogant. Its CEO dismissed talk of reducing yearly bonuses as "embarrassing" days before the entire company collapsed. For the past few years, Lehman has been in bankruptcy proceedings. It's emerged from under this rock to file a suit against Intel in an apparent bid to recover assets it claims Santa Clara improperly claimed. The deal between the two companies, signed in the...
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The awkward days of Window 8 laptops without touchscreens aren’t behind us just yet, but the end is in sight. It’s easy enough to resist touching the Start screen on a desktop PC, but when a laptop display is inches from your fingers, if you're anything like us, your instinct is to reach out and touch it. Thankfully, affordable touch-enabled laptops have begun to hit store shelves, like Lenovo's new IdeaPad Z400 Touch. Lenovo’s IdeaPad Z400 Touch is one of the laptops ushering in the era of touch screens for mid-range systems, so we’re taking it for a spin (and a swipe) for you here... Lenovo IdeaPad Z400 Touch: Affordable, Touch-Enabled...
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The awkward days of Window 8 laptops without touchscreens aren’t behind us just yet, but the end is in sight. It’s easy enough to resist touching the Start screen on a desktop PC, but when a laptop display is inches from your fingers, if you're anything like us, your instinct is to reach out and touch it. Thankfully, affordable touch-enabled laptops have begun to hit store shelves, like Lenovo's new IdeaPad Z400 Touch. Lenovo’s IdeaPad Z400 Touch is one of the laptops ushering in the era of touch screens for mid-range systems, so we’re taking it for a spin (and a swipe) for you here. Lenovo IdeaPad Z400 Touch Specifications & Features Operating System:...
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Ultrabooks may be selling like hotcakes but one area that has obviously been a challenge for notebook manufacturers is price point. Intel's $1,000 goal (not to mention their recent Ivy Bridge ULT-based $799 target) has been hard to hit, given all the pricey tech that goes into making these slim systems sing. Most have come in at well over the $1K mark – until recently. That brings us to the Lenovo IdeaPad U310, which has a price tag that, depending on the configuration, slides the machine into mainstream notebook territory. Today, we're taking a look at Lenovo's IdeaPad U310 Core i5-3317U model, which weighs in nicely at Intel's current even more aggressive utltrabook price target...
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The recent rise and fall of the netbook as a computer category made one thing clear: consumers are willing to sacrifice some screen size and power in the name of portability, but not as much as a netbook requires. On the other hand, many shoppers are willing to pay a premium for a thinner, lighter notebook, and that's where the ultrabook comes in. As the Windows-based competitor to Apple's popular MacBook Air, the ultrabook category has been reasonably well-received. Intel created the term "ultrabook" last year and stirred up plenty of buzz about it at CES this January, promising systems that would be powerful (compared to netbooks) and svelte (compared to notebooks). You'll turn heads if you...
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In the wake of Microsoft's Surface unveil last night, much of the buzz has been about Apple, and how Surface will (or won't) challenge Apple's domination of the mobile and tablet markets. This makes some sense, given Apple's recent high-profile unveil of the Macbook Pro with Retina Display, but Surface isn't really meant to go head-to-head against any Apple product. The true potential casualties are Android's share of the tablet market and AMD. When it launched Windows Phone 7, Microsoft effectively put world+dog on notice that it intended to deliver its own vision for a next-generation, scalable UI. Windows 7.5 and Windows 8 extend and build on that framework. Recall that much of the negative...
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Earlier this year, we took a long, hard look at one of Dell's most highly-anticipated multimedia notebooks to date. That was the XPS 15z, and we thought pretty highly of it in almost every measurable way, including its delightfully thin dimensions. Fast forward a few months, and in slides the XPS 14z. According to its branding, this unit is just a single number different than the XPS 15z, and if you didn't know any better, you'd just assume that someone took a shrink-ray to the 15z. Indeed, the 14z really is just a small 15z in some ways, but by the same token, that's something that hasn't really existed outside of HP's Envy 14 and Sony's VAIO SA line. Sub-15" multimedia capable notebooks aren't...
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The MSI X460DX straddles two of the more popular notebook form-factors available today. It's not an ultraportable, and it's not a mainstream 15-incher either. Instead, its 14-inch form factor gives mobile consumers another choice. It's a platform size that we don't think is used enough, and it doesn't get nearly enough attention. That said, MSI has decided to step out a bit with the X460DX, and the internal specifications are just as intriguing as the outside chassis... MSI X460DX 14" Core i5 Notebook Review...
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