Items tagged with laptop
On paper, the Lenovo Yoga C630 WOS (Windows on Snapdragon) laptop doesn't seem to stand out much, save for perhaps the somewhat unique system processor under its hood. Regardless, as an affordable, always-on, always-connected convertible PC with middle-of-the-road specs and benchmark scores (more on this later), you might be forgiven for thinking that there's little reason for this machine to be remarkable in any significant way. And yet, the Lenovo Yoga C630 is impressive indeed. This machine is always connected (with a mobile data plan), it boots up (and shuts down) almost instantly, it breezes through typical office tasks, streams YouTube and Netflix videos with nary a stutter (on both...
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Dell didn't just set out to build an incredibly fast gaming laptop with its latest Alienware offering -- it wanted to build the world's fastest mobile gaming rig and it has likely succeeded magnificently. Witness the Area-51m, which is a beastly machine that is factory overclocked and designed to handle pretty much any game that you throw its way. More importantly, the Area-51m is immensely upgradable, with customers being able to swap out their GPUs and the onboard CPU. Speaking of the graphics card, the Area-51m can accommodate NVIDIA's new real-time ray-tracing graphics cards, topping out with the GeForce RTX 2080. These GPUs are affixed to a module which can be [relatively] easily removed...
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The gaming laptop market is one of one of the largest and most diverse segments of the PC industry, with systems ranging in price from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. Dell's Alienware gaming machines typically lean towards the higher-end of the price spectrum, with premium build quality and strong component configurations, like the Alienware m15 that we're looking at here today. Dell's Alienware gaming division has re-tooled this machine as well, almost from the ground-up, while still preserving its classic Alienware design signature. The new Alienware m15 ranges in price from $1,379.99 up to just under $4,000, if you want to go for broke. Our exact test unit is well-equipped, but sits...
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Gaming laptops are a tough gig for PC OEMs. Most times, they're either beastly heavy and loud machines, or if they're thinner and lighter they either sacrifice performance or battery life, or both. You usually can't have your cake and eat it too, as they say. However, Dell's Alienware division seems to have split the baby nicely, so to speak, with the new 15-inch Alienware m15 gaming notebook. We're just now getting beyond our kicking the tires phase with the machine here at HotHardware, but our full review is inbound in the weeks ahead, hopefully just before the new year. That said, first impressions are everything and with a well-engineered cooling solution on board, this machine not only maintains...
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Standing out in a sea of excellent laptops is tough nowadays, especially with a metal chassis being the bare minimum point of entry to the premium class. Each company offers its own unique take – Microsoft has Alcantara keyboards, Dell offers super thin screen borders and carbon fiber, Lenovo has fancy hinges and OLED displays, Apple has its touch bar, while Asus and Acer offer value propositions. So what’s a laptop brand like HP to do when faced with tough competition and a virtual sea of options for consumers? Meet the HP Spectre Folio, the company’s latest ultra-portable 2-in-1 13-inch hybrid notebook that embraces a bit of what also makes things like luxury cars great...
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Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 series of business-class laptops have long been staff favorites here at HotHardware, because in terms of fit, form, and functionally they just get things done. Lenovo ThinkPad keyboards have arguably been the best in the business for years and general ergonomics of the ThinkPad X1 line have been excellent. Furthermore, starting with the first ThinkPad X1 Carbon, their utilitarian designs have begun to incorporate more sleek ultrabook styling, while maintaining their usual understated and clean ThinkPad lineage. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme More recently, Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon and Yoga have incorporated either high-end OLED displays or full Dolby Vision HDR compliant...
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With October nearing its end and November just around the corner, that means everyone will be gearing up for the holidays. It also means that Black Friday is creeping up fast on those looking to score a deal. Retailers will be wasting no time and ads for this year's deals have already started to leak. Costco's Black Friday ad has turned up, and it looks like this year will be big for tech fans looking for new TVs, game consoles, laptops, and tablets for themselves or as Christmas gifts. One of the best deals Costco's ad has is on a Dell XPS 13 4K UHD touchscreen laptop with a $500 discount. That machine has an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. However, the...
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There was a time when choosing a thin and light 2-in-1 laptop meant making compromises and deciding which features you could live without. That isn’t much of a problem nowadays, as there are excellent premium notebook offerings from all the major OEMs, including Dell, HP, Microsoft, Acer, and Lenovo. Lenovo, however, always sought to innovate ahead of the curve with its Yoga 2-in-1 form factor and continues to do so today with the beautiful new Yoga C930 we'll be showing you here. It takes a lot to stand out in the crowded segment of premium, high-quality 2-in-1 notebooks, however. Lenovo’s latest iteration does so by going beyond the usual yearly hardware updates and sprinkles a...
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When Acer debuted its Predator Helios 300 laptop line a little over a year ago, it quickly garnered praise for delivering an unexpected level of gaming performance for the price. At the time, the Predator Helios 300 came equipped with an assortment of hardware that could typically be found only on more expensive laptops. As such, we've had multiple requests to get our hands on one of the newer models and give it a full review. Well, for those who asked (and those who didn't), that's exactly what we're doing here. This past summer, Acer refreshed its Predator Helios 300 with an upgraded display supporting a 144Hz refresh rate, Intel 8th generation Core processor options, and faster storage. It...
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Razer has been making its powerful and thin Razer Blade laptop for years now with the original Blade debuting in 2011. The company has announced a new limited-edition version of the Razer Blade 15 notebook and a new base model to bring it into the reach of more computer shoppers. The base model Blade notebook has dual storage configurations offered with a M.2 SSD and a 2.5-inch HDD providing both speed and large storage capacities. Both drives can be upgraded for more space if needed. Base model buyers get a single-zone RGB backlit keyboard that supports full key backlighting via Razer Chroma. Buyers also get a gigabit Ethernet port for wired connectivity and a bespoke heatpipe thermal...
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There's a wide range of ultra-premium laptops on the market at the moment. However, many of them are simply out of reach for the average mainstream consumer due to budget constraints. There are more budget friendly options though, such as the Acer Swift 3 we are looking at today. The base model in the series starts at a thrifty $650 USD, and that gets you an Intel 8th Gen Core i5-8250U processor, a 14-inch FHD display, and a 256GB SSD. Along with that premium hardware, the exterior also features a sleek brushed aluminum chassis and its display sports relatively thin bezels. The model we were sent to evaluate, however, doesn't sit at the top of the Swift 3 stack. Although, it does have some...
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NVIDIA's Max-Q technology has only been on the market for about a year, but in that time quite few OEMs have jumped on the bandwagon. And for good reason. Max-Q is, or wants to be, the answer to a problem that has plagued mobile gamers since the first gaming laptop was birthed, spanked, and shipped off into the real world. We are, of course, talking about size. Bigger is not always better, especially in the mobile computing market. Most gaming laptops are bulky, heavy, and short on battery life. With Max-Q, NVIDIA is looking to change this by focusing on what they call the sweet spot when it comes to performance, power usage, and acoustics. In order to achieve this "sweet spot" NVIDIA has...
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The Dell XPS 15 should look familiar if you're a regular HotHardware reader. We’ve seen various iterations of this power-users’ mobile PC over the past few years, usually with an Editors’ Choice logo pegged at the end of the review. The latest version keeps that winning streak alive, thanks to new, more powerful six-core Coffee Lake-based Intel Core processor options and robust NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti graphics. As in previous generations, this new model is all about the upgrades, and the big news this time around is a selection of Coffee Lake 8Th Gen Intel Core i5, i7, and yes, i9 processors. In addition to the new CPUs though, the machine's maximum RAM config has been...
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Acer is at IFA 2018, and it is going official with some very cool gear. Among the products are gaming accessories and what Acer claims to be the world's lightest 15-inch notebook. Among the gaming gear is the sweet Predator XB273K gaming monitor that measures 27 inches and has a native resolution of 3840 x 2160. It supports NVIDIA G-SYNC and has a 144Hz refresh rate. The high refresh rate aims to deliver smooth images and tear-free gameplay with fast-moving on-screen action. The IPS panel used on the XB273K offers 90% DCI-P3 color space, and it is VESA Display HDR 400 certified. The monitor isn’t cheap and will sell for $1,299 when it lands during the fourth quarter in North America, EMEA,...
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Dell has pulled the wraps off a new series of computers at Gamescom that run the gamut from desktop to laptop systems. The Aurora packs in next-generation NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics options and can be crammed with up to five storage drives inside. Intel Optane memory is supported with the new Aurora and Killer Gigabit Ethernet hardware is integrated. For those who like to upgrade their rigs over time, Alienware says that this machine is its most tool-less mid-tower chassis ever. Aurora PCs get the first chassis from Alienware that supports tool-less graphics card upgrades and no tools are required for accessing hard drives or memory. Optimized airflow inside the chassis helps to keep all...
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Gamers are willing to spend more on PC hardware than the average consumer, but at the same time, they are a knowledgeable and discerning bunch who understand exactly what it is they are getting for their hard-earned buck. They also follow market trends and appreciate a good value when one comes along. Dell is likely hoping that is what gamers will see in its recently introduced G Series laptops. And after spending some hands-on time with the new G7 15 Gaming, we think the Round Rock crew might be on to something. As the model name suggests, the G7 15 Gaming is a 15.6-inch laptop. It sits atop the new Dell G Series stack, offering a bit more power and style than the G5 and G3 SKUs, but with...
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HP's EliteBook series laptops launched back in 2008 to general success, and a decade later it remains one of HP's top-selling thin and light laptop lines. To celebrate 10 years of that success, the company decided to completely redesigned their business class powerhouse notebook to cater to today's changing workforce. When first launched, baby boomers were still a force in the corporate world. Fast forward a decade, and many of those boomers are living out their golden years on the golf course, with millennials making up nearly half of the mainstream workforce in the United States currently. To appeal to this younger, more tech-savvy road warrior, HP claims to have reinvented their EliteBook...
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Gaming laptops typically make no bones about price points and usually command a premium, due to their more powerful components on board. Either that, or some machines pack potent components inside somewhat lack-luster skins, leaning into their inner mojo to attract gamers. With its G Series, Dell set out to appeal to price-conscious mobile gamers that still want good firepower, in addition to a quality, good-looking chassis design. Lower cost gaming notebooks often sacrifice on materials and build quality in an effort to drive cost down. However, in a follow-on to its successful Inspiron Gaming line of machines, Dell decided to take aesthetics up a notch, while also capitalizing on some...
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There are two major camps in the PC world that most consumer types fall into- Windows or Mac. Windows users sometimes scoff at Mac fans due to the premium Apple commands for its computers, even though the hardware inside the machines is often dated compared to similarly priced Windows machines. Mac fans sometimes scoff at Windows users over build quality, design, software, security, and lots of other points. Clearly, both platforms have their pros and cons. However, especially as of late, it's undeniable that Apple has really been trailing in base technology of its Mac platform. As such, Mac software developer Rogue Amoeba is bashing Apple for what it calls the "sad state" of Mac hardware....
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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 would expect from a pricier laptop, while maintaining a thin and light profile. Typically, the compromises...
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ASUS' ZenBook Pro 15 UX580 laptop has debuted and it is packing what it calls the ScreenPad. This feature takes the spot that would normally be reserved for a standard touchpad and turns it into a secondary screen that can display its own data. The ScreenPad is a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display with custom controls for apps like Office and YouTube. While it can act as a secondary screen for control of some programs, it still retains full support for Microsoft Precision Touchpad and gestures supporting up to four fingers. A configurable toolbar at the top of the ScreenPad can be dragged down to access the app launcher, which is configurable for any installed app. Support for professional apps...
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ASUS rolls out cool stuff at Computex each year and this year has been no exception. The company already unveiled the ROG Gaming Phone that has 512GB of storage and ultrasonic triggers among its slick specifications. ASUS also rolled out a pair of gaming laptops at the show with the Strix Hero II and SCAR II Coffee Lake machines, and is now reaching out to the ultraportable crowd looking for a notebook with performance in an easy to tote package with an updated version of the ZenBook S. One of the most notable features of the ZenBook S is the new ErgoLift hinge that is designed to increase typing comfort, cooling, and audio performance. It does that by angling the keyboard at 5.5-degrees when...
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