Items tagged with laptop
At CES 2020, ASUS unveiled the ROG Zephyrus G14, which as its name implies is a 14" gaming notebook. It was our first experience with Zen 2-based APUs from AMD, particularly the 35-Watt Ryzen 9 4900HS. That processor had eight cores with AMD's best CPU architecture at the time, and despite the thin design and tight thermal budget of the G14, the performance of both the Ryzen APU and the included GeForce RTX 2060 with Max-Q really knocked our socks off. The system was relatively light, possessed performance that far exceeded its weight class, and was quite eye-catching with its unique, perforated lid design. Fast-forward a year, and we're looking at the updated ROG Zephyrus G15, launched at this...
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Lenovo's flagship ThinkPad X1 lineup has historically been one of our favorite business-class laptop product lines. Lenovo made a quick transition recently, and upgraded this popular laptop series with Intel's 11th Gen Tiger Lake processors that roared onto the scene with a nice performance lift and useful platform updates late last year. Besides the platform upgrade though, Lenovo also pulled a proverbial rabbit out of its hat when it dropped Tiger Lake into the thin and light 1.99lb ThinkPad X1 Nano. The performance-per-pound ratio of this machine should prove impressive and make for a solid, highly portable combination for business professionals or casual mainstream laptop users alike. Though...
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When on the go with a laptop, one of the biggest complaints tends to be a lack of screen real estate, especially for people who are used to multiple displays. In response to these user requirements, companies have created concept products such as Razer’s triple-display Project Valerie gaming notebook concept we saw at CES 2017. Ultimately, none of these concept devices seemed all that feasible, that is perhaps until now, with a new wireless multi-display laptop design from Taiwan-based Compal that seems fairly polished and dare we say even sleek. As the IF World Design website explains, “Multiple displays increases work productivity, but same cannot be said for them on mobility.”...
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Alienware's m15 series of notebooks has typically impressed us, thanks to the family's performance and unique good looks in a relatively svelte mobile package. Performance always hinges upon having the latest platform hardware, so perhaps it's no surprise that the laptop we're looking at today has one of NVIDIA's latest mobile Ampere GPUs on board from its new GeForce RTX 30 family. When NVIDIA pulled the lid off mobile Ampere, it made some pretty big promises. Performance across the Ampere lineup that spans from RTX 3060 to 3080 should be faster than NVIDIA's previous mobile powerhouse, the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER. That bodes well for the middle child in NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 30 Mobile...
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Intel's Tiger Lake mobile platform came out of the gate swinging, with excellent performance and improved power efficiency. The early Core i7-1185G7 development platform we evaluated set several mobile processor records in our benchmarks, and retail notebooks were just as strong when they arrived. So far we've reviewed two such notebooks from ASUS and Dell, but both of those targeted the 2-in-1 segment and commanded a bit of premium as a result, due to their smaller sizes and expanded feature sets. For folks who don't mind (or rather, prefer) the traditional clamshell form factor, and would like to save a couple hundred bucks, MSI has a solution in its new Prestige 14 EVO laptop. MSI's...
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Lenovo was among the first partners to announce support for AMD’s Ryzen 4000 U-series mobile processors. When it initially unveiled the processors, AMD also revealed the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7, which was the first thin-and-light, ultrabook-class machine to pack an 8-core / 16-thread processor. To date, all other notebooks in this category featured dual or quad-core processors, with support for up to 8-threads. That kind of bump in core count could mean big things for the kind of multi-threaded workloads that are increasingly becoming more common among content creators and heavy multi-taskers. Thanks to Lenovo’s choice of platform, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 also features integrated...
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Intel's 10-nanometer Tiger Lake processors have one of the fastest CPU architectures available in Windows notebooks today. That's not to say they've got the fastest overall CPUs, though. There are competing mobile processors available with more cores and support for additional threads that are better suited for complex, multi-threaded tasks. It does, however, mean that right now Intel's single-threaded performance in Windows notebooks is king. It only makes sense, then, that Dell would want to bring Tiger Lake to its XPS 13 2-in-1 family as quickly as possible, because fast single-thread performance translates into a snappy, response experience, which is something everyone wants. The world's...
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Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 series, the company's flagship notebook lineup, is no stranger to our offices. The various iterations of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon are some of our favorite ultra-light notebooks. In recent years, Lenovo has pushed the X1 family into 2-in-1 convertible devices as well, and we've very much liked these types of systems in the past as well. Today, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5 has returned to us, with a 360-degree hinge and a punchy 14-inch 4K display. The updated ThinkPad X1 Yoga arrived with an Intel 10th-generation Core processor. However, Intel's product naming recently has been somewhat confusing, to say the least. 10th Gen Core i7 processors come in two flavors: the...
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The last few weeks has been full of exciting product launches, and it seems like it might not let up for the next couple of months. One mammoth release among them is the emergence of Tiger Lake, Intel's 11th-generation Core processor lineup for notebooks and 2-in-1 laptops. We've already looked at Intel's reference platform, and the performance was impressive. It wasn't just single-threaded processing power that set Tiger Lake apart from the competition, either. Its graphics performance, which comes from an integrated GPU based on Intel's Xe graphics architecture, was pretty stellar. We were eager to get our hands on a retail-ready Tiger Lake notebook to put the newest from Intel through...
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Lenovo is bringing out some laptop power with the updated ThinkBook line of laptops. Packing new features, specs, and tricks, these laptops are poised to be solid productivity and creation devices. The first device we have on the docket is the Lenovo ThinkBook 13s Gen 2, a little laptop that can pack quite a punch. Lenovo’s little laptop that could is the “slimmest ThinkBook yet,” topping out at 14.9mm. While also thin, it is lightweight too, weighing in at 2.77lbs. Though it is small, do not confuse its size for power. This thing can be powered by the latest Intel 11th Gen Core i7 processors (Tiger Lake) with Intel Iris Xe graphics for handling any workload. The processor will...
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Today, MSI hosted a virtual summit event in which it announced new business and productivity laptops with a new logo and design features while being powered by Intel 11th Gen Tiger Lake processors. At the open of the event, MSI interviewed business professionals who requested features for the world we are in today. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, MSI is now targeting the work-from-home movement after getting the feedback it needed. First up, MSI is has a new premium business device, the “Summit”. They quote the device as being “the highest point or top” of the lineup, hence the “Summit” name. According to MSI, "Summit Series...
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It seems the year is starting to pick up steam and move quicker. We just received some hot news from Lenovo that they are planning out their holiday season roadmap with new devices, such as laptops and tablets. Let us dive into some of what’s in store. First up, Lenovo has some laptops planned for the holiday season. They are expanding their Yoga series of laptops with the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 and the Yoga Slim 9i. Let’s first look at the Yoga 9i 2-in-1. (Left- 14" Model Right- 15.6" Model) The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 comes in two size variants, a 14” and a 15.6” variant starting at $1499 and $1799, respectively. The 14” device doesn’t have all it’s specs fully confirmed...
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It's just about time for students around the country to go back to school, meaning that many are in need of a new notebook computer. Anyone looking for a notebook with a blend of portability and performance for school, work, or fun might want to take a look at the Dell XPS 13, which offers a solid mix of performance, style, and portability. Currently, Dell has some deals going on the XPS 13 Touch Laptop, offering substantial discounts making the entry-level version under $700. Dell offers the entry-level machine with a $209 discount off of its regular $908 price tag, bringing the purchase price to $699.99. For the money, buyers get a 10th generation Intel Core i5-10210U that operates at up to...
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Remember when Coca-Cola reformulated its popular soft drink in the mid 1980s? The so-called New Coke formula barely lasted a few months before it failed and the original was brought back. The company already had a good thing on its hands and it was a valuable real-world lesson in not trying to reinvent the wheel when the one you have spins well. On the surface, soft drinks and laptops like Dell's new for 2020 XPS 15 9500 don't have anything in common, so why bring it up? Generally speaking, this concept also applies to what Dell has done with its XPS 15 series of laptops, or not done, as the case might be. The past two iterations of the Dell XPS 15 (2019) and XPS 15 (2018) models earned...
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AMD is in an enviable position in the gaming laptop world. Not only does the red team arguably produce some of the fastest mainstream mobile CPUs around in its Ryzen 4000 series, there's also formidable graphics horsepower in the same camp. As a result, AMD can control the whole platform, hardware and driver stack in a PC with its CPU, GPU, and accompanying chipset, if a manufacturer chooses to use those components. The first of these gaming laptops to hit the lab with an all-AMD bent comes from Dell. The G5 15 SE launches today with a feature set, performance target, and price point that makes for a very attractive solution for gamers on the go. Because of its single-vendor hardware configuration,...
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Sometimes it feels like the 17.3-inch laptop form factor is dying out, but fortunately for those who (like myself) prefer a bigger notebook, they can still be found. Proof of this exists with the larger of the two ASUS ROG Strix Hero III options. Offered in both 15.6-inch (G531GW, G531GV, and G531GU) and 17.3-inch (G731GW, G731GV, and G731GU) builds, buyers can go big if they want to, and not at the expense of portability—surprisingly, the 17.3-inch models are not very cumbersome at all. We can confidently state as much after spending several weeks with the ASUS ROG Strix Hero III, model G731GV-DB74. Compared to the ASUS ROG G751JY that this editor has been using for the past several...
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When we evaluated the late 2019 model of Dell's XPS 13, we thought a few small things kept that ultraportable from achieving complete perfection. That machine shipped with Intel's Comet Lake-U family of processors, which are plenty fast on the CPU side of things. However, they lack the graphics "oomph" of Intel's latest Iris Plus graphics, available in Ice Lake-based 10th-Gen processors. This (very slightly) older model also had a 1920x1080 display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, while the Ice Lake-equipped 2-in-1 model had a slightly higher resolution 1920x1200, 16:10 display. We felt like adding those two features to the already excellent XPS 13 would make the perfect ultraportable, but apparently...
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ASUS is a company that isn't afraid to take design risks with its laptops. That is even more apparent with today's announcement of the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 gaming laptop, which features dual screens (as its name implies). The primary point of focus is on the 15.6-inch display, which is available either as a 300Hz Full HD panel or with an optional 4K 60Hz panel. Neither display supports touch input, which probably isn't that big a deal considering that these laptops are aimed primarily at gamers. The secondary display, called the ROG ScreenPad Plus, is situated above the keyboard and tilts up at a 13-degree angle when the laptop is opened. It measures 14.09 inches diagonally and has a...
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We first got our hands on the AMD Ryzen 4000-powered ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 during CES early this year. If you are unfamiliar with the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, it is a new breed of thin and light gaming notebook, that packs the performance of a much larger desktop-replacement type machine into a slimmer and sleeker 14”, sub-20mm class notebook. There will be multiple models of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 available when it hits store shelves in the coming days, but at the heart of the particular system we’ll be showing you here today is the flagship AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS 8-core / 16-thread processor. Although the processor features on-board Radeon Vega graphics, our ROG Zephyrus G14 also kicks...
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AMD announced its Zen 2-based Ryzen 4000 series mobile processors a couple of months back at CES 2020. The information disseminated at AMD’s press conference, however, was relatively high-level, and as it turns out, wasn’t quite complete. Since the show, we’ve been made privy to much more information regarding the Ryzen 4000 series mobile line-up, including a couple of new processor models that haven’t been officially disclosed just yet. Though the Ryzen 4000 series mobile processors won’t be widely available for a few more weeks, some of AMD’s partners are going to begin taking pre-orders for notebooks powered by these new processors. As such, AMD is...
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The high end 2-in-1 notebook market is pretty crowded with entrants from Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo, HP, ASUS and others. As a result, it's pretty tough to make a convertible laptop that stands out from the rest. HP's doing its best, however, with its new Elite Dragonfly line of lightweight, 2-in-1 hybrid PCs. What we have on hand today is the currently-shipping edition of the Elite Dragonfly. That means this notebook carries an eighth-generation Intel Core processor. No doubt that right now is a transitional period, where the previous generation is being phased out, and new Intel 10th Gen CPUs, with either Ice Lake or at least Comet Lake architectures with more cores, are the new...
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MSI has pulled the wraps off a new gaming notebook at CES 2020 called the GE66 Raider. The machine is due out later this year and will use the incoming Intel 10th generation H series CPUs, up to the Intel Core i9 H-series. MSI is aimed to offer the best with regards to mobile graphics performance, so it will pair the machine with up NVIDIA GeForce RTX discrete GPUs. Two of the key details regarding the machine's specs are a massive 99.9 WHr battery and an optional 300Hz 15.6-inch display, which will be a boon to 1080p eSports gamers. The battery is the largest capacity allowed on flights, as the FAA caps capacity at 100 WHr. The keyboard used in the machine has per-key RGB lighting,...
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