Category: Laptop

HP Spectre x360 14 Convertible Review: An Instant Favorite

The Spectre x360 14 is HP’s latest flagship convertible in its high-end Spectre series joining the existing 13.3-inch Spectre x360 13 and 15.6-inch Spectre x360 15. Despite what its name may suggest, the Spectre x360 14 utilizes a 13.5-inch display instead of a 14-inch one but in a squarer 3:2 form factor that’s becoming increasingly common on newer Ultrabooks. HP is hoping to capture a wider audience of professionals and office users with the new aspect ratio as opposed to the traditional 16:9.

Current configurations range from FHD (1920 x 1280) to OLED (3000 x 2000) with 400 nit or 1000 nit options, the Core i5-1135G7 or Core i7-1165G7 CPU, 8 GB to 16 GB of RAM, and up to 2 TB of SSD storage starting at $1300 to over $1700 USD. All options come with integrated Iris Xe graphics only. Our specific test unit is a middle configuration sporting the Core i7 CPU, 400-nit FHD touchscreen, and 512 GB SSD for approximately $1500 USD.

Competitors in this space include other 16:10 or 3:2 subnotebooks like the Huawei MateBook X Pro, Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13, Dell XPS 13 9300, Razer Book 13, or Asus ZenBook S.

Case

If you’ve handled a Spectre x360 13 or 15 in the past, then you’ll know exactly what to expect from the Spectre x360 14. HP has translated the existing luxurious Spectre design and metal materials to the new 3:2 form factor without any surprises. Both the base and lid exhibit little flexing and no creaking when attempting to twist their corners or depress their surfaces. Chassis rigidity doesn’t feel any better or worse than the Asus ZenBook S or XPS 13, but its gold trims are arguably classier.

One thing we would improve is the rigidity of the hinges at certain angles. The lid falls over too easily once it reaches past 120 degrees which can be annoying when typing or transporting the laptop. This also doesn’t give a good sense of longevity as the hinges will inevitably become weaker over time.

The system is larger and slightly heavier than the 13.3-inch Spectre x360 13 and so tablet mode is a bit more cumbersome to handle as a result. Of course, owners get a larger display in return without needing to opt for the even bigger Spectre x360 15. Note that the Dell XPS 13 9300 is smaller than our Spectre x360 14 in every dimension due in part to its smaller 13.4-inch 16:10 display.

Connectivity

Port options are identical to the Spectre x360 13 but with a couple of minor changes. Firstly, both the power button and camera kill switch are now directly on the keyboard instead of the rear corner or right edge of the chassis, respectively. Secondly, both USB-C ports now support Thunderbolt 4 in addition to Thunderbolt 3 for users who can take advantage of the extra bandwidth.

The corner USB-C port can feel a little weird at first. We would’ve preferred a USB-C port on both the left-hand and right-hand edges so users can charge the laptop on either side much like on the Razer Book 13.

Communication

The Intel AX201 comes standard for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity. We experienced no issues when connected to our Netgear RAX200 test router.

Maintenance

The bottom panel is secured by two T5 Torx screws and four Philips screws hidden underneath the rear rubber feet. These latter screws are annoyingly difficult to access which can make simple SSD upgrades more involved than it needs to be. Both RAM and WLAN are soldered.

Accessories and Warranty

The retail packaging include a carrying sleeve and the HP MPP2.0 active pen free of charge. The standard one-year limited warranty applies with plenty of extension options if ordered directly from HP.com.

Input Devices

Keyboard

HP has some of the best laptop keyboards for its Spectre and EliteBook families. Feedback feels crisper and deeper for a more satisfying typing experience when compared to the oftentimes shallower and spongier keyboards on most other Ultrabooks. keys on the XPS 13 keyboard, for example, are shallower and with lighter input pressure. It all comes down to user preference, of course. We recommend testing out the keyboards on the Spectre x360 13 or 15 to get a good sense of what the Spectre x360 14 keyboard feels like.

Key layout is a mixed bag. The fingerprint reader in particular replaces the Ctrl key meaning users who have been relying on this key on other laptops will find the change annoying. Meanwhile, the power button takes slightly more force to depress than the surrounding keys to avoid accidental presses, but we would have preferred a fingerprint-enabled power button instead.

Touchpad

The clickpad is larger than the one on the Spectre x360 13 (11.5 x 7.4 cm vs. 11.1 x 5.6 cm) due to the longer length of the chassis. Texture is similarly smooth and with very little sticking when gliding at slow speeds for accurate cursor control. Clicking on the clickpad has a satisfying audible click even though feedback could have been firmer.

Display

The base LG Philips FHD panel is a high quality IPS panel worthy of the Spectre name. It excels in offering a very high contrast ratio of over 2500:1 compared to half that on most other flagship Ultrabooks. Black-white response times, however, are relatively slow for noticeable ghosting. Upgrading to the pricier OLED option will solve that problem completely.

HP offers 1000-nit brightness options to be at least two times brighter than anything from the Dell XPS, Lenovo Yoga, Microsoft Surface, or Asus ZenBook series. This feature is available only for the FHD IPS SKUs and it can also be found on certain EliteBook laptops. The base 400-nit option is otherwise sufficient if you mostly plan on using the convertible indoors as it’s already brighter than the display on the Lenovo Yoga 9i.

Outdoor visibility is about the same as the Spectre x360 13 or Asus ZenBook S since they all have similar maximum brightness levels. The higher contrast ratio of the Spectre x360 14 display, however, helps to mitigate washed out colors by just a bit when under sunlight. Glare is otherwise almost unavoidable. We recommend the 1000-nit option if outdoor visibility is priority.

Performance

The 11th gen Tiger Lake Core i7-1165G7 directly replaces last year’s 10th gen Ice Lake Core i7-1065G7. Unlike the Envy series, there are unfortunately no AMD options available on this Spectre since it is an Intel Evo-certified laptop. The Spectre would lose its Evo certification if it came equipped with AMD options.

We set our unit to Performance mode via HP Command Center prior to running any performance tests below for the highest possible scores. We recommend owners become familiar with Command Center since it includes manufacturer-specific performance and network controls.

Processor

Much like on the Dell XPS 13 9310 with the same Core i7-1165G7 CPU, processor performance can be unsteady when running high loads for long periods as clock rates will cycle to keep core temperatures in check. However, the amplitude and range at which clock rates cycle on the HP is tighter than on the Dell for a more predictable level of performance. Our CineBench R15 xT loop test below illustrates this as our Spectre 14 would generally score between 770 and 820 points compared to 620 and 750 points on the XPS 13. The HP system is seemingly better at sustaining both tighter and faster clock rates than the Dell as a result.

Raw multi-thread performance is about 20 to 40 percent faster than the Core i7-1065G7 in the Spectre x360 13. Some laptops with the same Core i7-1165G7 CPU are able to run even faster like the Razer Book 13.

System Performance

PCMark 10 results are where we expect them to be relative to other laptops with the same Core i7-1165G7 CPU. The HP system edges out ahead of Ultrabooks sporting older generation CPUs like the Asus Zenbook S or Spectre x360 13.

We experienced no software or hardware issues with our test unit save for an interesting Smart Sense observation that we will note in our Power Consumption section below.

DPC Latency

LatencyMon reveals DPC latency issues related to ACPI.sys. 4K UHD video playback at 60 FPS is otherwise smooth and with no dropped frames during our minute-long YouTube test.

Storage Devices

Our unit ships with the Samsung PM981a which is a high-end PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD. Running DiskSpd Read in a loop shows that the motherboard interface is able to utilize the high x4 transfer rates of the SSD. Optane options are available much like on the Spectre x360 13, but most office users will be just fine without it.

See our table of SSDs and HDDs for more comparisons.

GPU Performance

Graphics performance is excellent and towards the higher-end of the spectrum when compared to other laptops with the same GPU. 3DMark scores are notably well above the GeForce MX350 by about 30 percent, but real-world games will still run faster on the Nvidia GPU more often than not due to its more mature game-ready drivers.

Frame rates when gaming on the Spectre 14 tend to fluctuate due to the fluctuating clock rates when under stressful conditions. When idling on Witcher 3 on the lowest settings, for example, frame rates would constantly cycle between 80 and 95 FPS instead of remaining constant as shown by our graph below. This behavior is similar to the XPS 13 albeit it is even more pronounced on Dell’s machine. We explore this further in our Stress Test section.

See our dedicated page on the Iris Xe 96 EUs for more technical information and benchmarks.

Emissions

System Noise

Fan noise remains quiet even when browsing the web or video streaming on Performance mode. Running the first benchmark scene of 3DMark 06, for example, would induce a fan noise of just 26.4 dB(A) against a silent background of 25.9 dB(A). It’s not until we would run Witcher 3 for longer periods would the fans begin to run at higher and more audible RPMs. At worst, users can expect a noise of 41.5 dB(A) with thankfully no annoying pulsing behavior.

Temperature

Surface temperature development is symmetrical due to the symmetrical cooling solution inside. The keyboard center can be as warm as 39 C while the bottom hot spot can be as high as 53 W when under high processing stress. These results are even warmer than what we recorded on the 13.3-inch Spectre x360 13 by 5 to 10 degrees C on each side. Though the palm rests are never too warm, a cooler bottom would have been appreciated.

Stress Test

When stressed with Prime95, the CPU would boost to 4 GHz for the first few seconds and at a core temperature of 95 C. Clock rates and core temperature would then steadily fall and eventually cycle between 2.1 and 3.4 GHz and 75 C and 95 C, respectively. Running this same test on the XPS 13 9310 with the same Core i7-1165G7 CPU would result in slower clock rates of 1.9 to 3.1 GHz and a cooler core temperature of 71 to 78 C.

Both CPU and GPU clock rates would fluctuate when gaming as well resulting in unsteady frame rates. Our screenshot below illustrates this when running Witcher 3. You may want to enable v-sync to reduce screen tearing and uneven frame pacing.

Running on battery power limits processor performance even when on the Performance power profile. A 3DMark 11 test on batteries would return Physics and Graphics scores of 3209 and 6714 points, respectively, compared to 11810 and 6658 points when on mains.

Energy Management

Power Consumption

Power consumption fluctuates more readily on the Spectre x360 14 when compared to most other Ultrabooks with the same Core i7-1165G7 like the Asus ZenBook 14. Our screenshots below illustrate the ranges owners can expect when running high processing loads. This behavior is in line with the fluctuating clock rates we observed above.

On average, however, power consumption when running higher loads isn’t all that different from the Asus Zenbook S or Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 each equipped with less powerful Ice Lake or Core i5 processors. The HP is especially efficient when compared to Ultrabooks with discrete GeForce MX graphics like the Huawei MateBook 14 which consumes about 15 to 20 W more when gaming.

We’re able to record a temporary maximum draw of 56.2 W from the small (~8.8 x 5.3 x 2.1 cm) 65 W AC adapter when running extreme loads.

It’s worth noting that the default HP Smart Sense power profile is not the most power efficient mode. During our tests, the system would consume at least 6 W on Smart Sense mode compared to just 2 to 3 W when on Quiet mode. You’ll want to use Quiet mode if battery life is of utmost importance.

Battery Life

Battery capacity is 10 percent larger than on the Spectre x360 13 (66 Wh vs 60 Wh) and with a longer WLAN runtime of about 1.5 hours. Users can expect almost 12 hours of real-world WLAN usage on a full charge.

Idling on desktop at the lowest brightness setting on HP Smart Sense mode would last for just 14.5 hours compared to over 36 hours on Quiet mode. The wide discrepancy may be due to the higher power consumption of Smart Sense mode mentioned above.

Charging from empty to full capacity takes about 2 to 2.5 hours.

Verdict

The best thing about the Spectre x360 14 is that it’s a perfect adaptation of the Spectre x360 13. Almost everything we loved about the 13.3-inch model can be found unscathed on the 13.5-inch model including the excellent keyboard feedback, strong and classy metal design, high contrast ratio display with full sRGB coverage, and long battery life. However, this also means that the system inherits many of the same drawbacks as the Spectre x360 13 like the cycling CPU clock rates, non user-upgradeable RAM, average hinge rigidity at certain angles, and slow black-white response times. There’s definitely still room for improvement in this regard.

We’re not fans of a couple of changes. Whereas the Spectre x360 13 had WAN options, the Spectre x360 14 has silently omitted them. Meanwhile, the larger fingerprint reader is easier to use, but it comes at the expense of a Ctrl key. If you never relied on these features in the first place, however, then these changes won’t be much of a problem.

The 13.5-inch Spectre x360 14 puts the 13.3-inch Spectre x360 13 in a tight spot. Though HP insists that the former won’t replace the latter, we can see a scenario where the Spectre x360 13 will be slowly phased out anyway in favor of the Spectre x360 14 because both are so similar. If you’re in the market for a Spectre, we recommend the 13.5-inch model over the 13.3-inch one simply because it is able to offer a noticeably larger screen size with only marginal increases to size and weight.

HP’s latest convertible is faster than the Dell XPS 13 with the same Core i7 CPU while offering a larger and optionally two times brighter display. There are a few faults, but they are generally easy to overlook given that the Spectre x360 14 is so well-crafted and a joy to work on.

Dell’s XPS 17 Proves Big-Screen Laptops Are Back, and They’re Awesome

A few years back, a lot of major laptop makers began quietly paring down the number of 17-inch laptops they made (aside from monstrously large gaming rigs), with Apple and Dell dropping the 17-inch MacBook Pro and XPS 17 respectively. However, thanks to improvements like smaller bezels and improved energy efficiency, thin and light laptops with plus-sized screens and big performance are making a comeback.

After Apple re-envisioned its big-format laptop as the 16-inch MacBook Pro in 2019, Dell made a similar move by bringing back the XPS 17 this year. While the circumstances are different this time around (especially considering 2020 is a tire fire of a year), the revival of Dell’s flagship 17-inch laptop couldn’t have come at a better time. Big-screen laptops are back, baby, and they’re even better than before.

For the big reintroduction of the XPS 17, Dell didn’t deviate too much from the classic XPS design. The XPS 17 has a tapered wedge-shaped body with a silver aluminum lid, a big carbon fiber deck in the middle, and another aluminum tub on bottom. Despite its overall size (14.74 x 9.76 x 0.77 inches) and weight (5.53 pounds), the XPS 17 still manages to feel quite sleek and surprisingly portable—until you stack an XPS 15 on top and see how big the difference really is. In some ways, the size and design of the XPS 17 feels like a mirage, because when you open it up, you can’t help but appreciate how much display you get from a system that seems smaller than it is, especially when you consider the last time we saw the XPS 17 was back in 2012, when it weighed more than eight pounds instead of five.

Along its sides, the XPS 17 comes with an ample assortment of ports, including four USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 (all support charging, too), a headphone jack, and a full-size SD card reader. The only ports you might be missing are HDMI and USB-A, though Dell has that covered too with an included dongle.

Inside, Dell maximizes the XPS 17’s display (which comes in a multitude of options, from a 1900 x 1200 non-touch panel to a 4K UHD+ screen), with razor-thin bezels. Dell’s super tiny webcam and IR camera module, which sits above the screen, are exactly where you want them. The built-in IR camera offers support for Windows Hello face login, while the 720p HD webcam is meant to handle all your video-calling needs, though I must say that the XPS 17’s webcam image quality and resolution aren’t quite as high as I’d like.

Below on its deck, Dell flanks the keyboard with large stereo speakers that feature a 2.5-watt woofer and 1.5-watt tweeter on each side capable of delivering rich, room-filling sound. And as for the keyboard itself, Dell wisely hasn’t messed with the feel of the XPS 17’s keys, which are crisp and bouncy. I’m not gonna call them perfect, but the XPS 17’s keyboard is pretty much my platonic ideal of how keys on a laptop should feel. And finally, there’s that huge 6 x 3.5-inch matte touchpad, which leaves just enough room for your wrists on either side while providing accurate gesture recognition and more mousing room than most people probably need.

The one potential oddity about the XPS 17’s deck is Dell’s decision not to include a dedicated numpad like you sometimes see on 17-inch gaming systems. Some might bemoan that call, but on a well-rounded system like this, I think sacrificing the numpad for bigger speakers and an overall cleaner design was ultimately the right choice.

And then there’s that screen. Our review unit features the upgraded 4K 3840 x 2400 touchscreen, and I just can’t get enough. It puts out over 450 nits of brightness and has some of the richest and most vivid colors you can get from a laptop LCD panel today. If you’re intending to buy an XPS 17 to edit photos or videos, I would highly recommend upgrading to the 4K screen instead of the base FHD+ panel. Furthermore, with its 16:10 aspect ratio, the XPS 17 also provides a bit more vertical screen real estate, which is exactly what you want from a big all-purpose laptop.

The XPS 17 ain’t no slouch when it comes to performance, either. The base config comes with a 10th-gen Intel Core i5-10300H CPU, but our more expensive review unit came upgraded with a Core i7-10875H CPU, and it absolutely flies. In our CPU rendering test in Blender, the XPS 17 took almost four minutes less to render the same image (4:40) as MSI’s Creator 15 (8:33), despite the smaller Creator 15 having the same CPU.

And when it comes to graphics performance, it’s a similar story, with the XPS 17 (6:26) beating the MSI Creator 15 (8:36) by more than two minutes in our Blender GPU rendering test, once again with both systems featuring an RTX 2060 GPU. This kind of performance makes the XPS 17 a great choice for content creators, and while it’s not intended to be a competitive gaming machine, the XPS 17 is able to pump out more than 80 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p with all the graphics bells and whistles turned on, so it’s not a bad fragging machine either. Thermal headroom also seems quite respectable, because while the XPS 17 will throttle itself a bit when maxed out, I didn’t notice any major lag or dips in performance during more normal loads.

Even the XPS 17’s battery life is pretty solid for a system this big, with it lasting just shy of 9 hours (8:58) on our video rundown test, nearly two hours longer than the MSI Creator 15 and an hour longer than HP’s ZBook Create G7.

After using the XPS 17 for several weeks, I only really have one complaint: its price. Because even though it starts at just $1,350 for a 17-inch FHD+ screen, Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, and integrated graphics, when you start upgrading components, the cost balloons quite quickly. So in comparison, our review unit, which features a 4K touchscreen, Core i7 10875H CPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and RTX 2060 GPU, costs more than double the price at around $2,750. And annoyingly, if you want to cut back on a few components like RAM or storage to save money, currently the cheapest model with an RTX 2060 card starts at $2,450. Thankfully, if you’re less concerned with graphics, you can split the difference for a system with a GTX 1650 Ti GPU, which starts at around $1,800, and if you’re looking for the best balance between price and performance, that’s where I’d start.

But for me the biggest takeaway about the XPS 17 is the way it fits into 2020. While a lot of people wait for the world to get back to normal, I feel like it’s also important to think about what normal even means. Right now there are millions of people who have to work or learn from home, and even when things start opening up again, a lot of people won’t be returning to the same buildings or positions they were in before. This makes it even more important to consider what you need from a personal computer.

For years, 15-inch systems have been the most popular laptop size, as they generally offered the best balance between price, power, and portability. However, if you’re the kind of person who is only going to travel with their laptop a handful of times every year (or less considering the ongoing pandemic), a bigger system like the XPS 17 suddenly becomes a very intriguing option. Not only does its bigger screen translate into more productivity (or better movie-watching) when you’re stuck at home, you also get more ports and a wider range of upgradable components.

Meanwhile, the XPS 17 doesn’t suffer from being tied to a desk or table like a normal desktop or all-in-one. And all of this comes in a package that’s not that much larger (or much more expensive) than an XPS 15. (Though you will want to make sure you have something to carry it in, because the XPS 17 definitely doesn’t fit in my normal messenger bag.) So in a strange way, 2020 was sort of the perfect time for Dell to bring back the XPS 17. You get a bigger, more powerful system from one of the best laptop lines on the market, but in a body that’s way less of a burden than its predecessors from the not-too-distant past. So even if a 17-inch laptop might not be in your immediate future, the XPS 17 has demonstrated why they’re making a comeback, and it’s done so with power and style.

ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR 15 REVIEW: POWERFUL PORTABLE GAMING

If you’re looking for the absolute most powerful gaming hardware out there… well, you don’t want the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15. You want a desktop or a laptop that weighs seven pounds, requires multiple power bricks, and is basically a desktop. But if you still want something you can realistically carry around, the Strix is about as powerful as it gets.

We’ve reviewed a number of Asus laptops this year that are members of the ROG Zephyrus gaming line — powerful, while still portable and attractive. You’d buy a Zephyrus if you want decent gaming results but also want an everyday work machine you could bring into the office or class. The Strix line eschews the latter role. These are gaming laptops. They are just for games. They’re not cheap, they’re not subtle, and they hold nothing back.

That’s where the Strix Scar 15 stands out. Every aspect is designed with the gaming enthusiast in mind, and there are a number of unique features for those customers. Of course, those also come with a few trade-offs — and folks who might need to use their machine for tasks besides gaming should consider other options.

The Strix Scar 15 starts at $2,199.99 on the Asus store. The base model comes with a Core i7-10875H, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super, 1GB of SSD storage, and a 240Hz screen. The model we’re looking at today is a significant step up from that: it costs $2,799.99 and is powered by Intel’s eight-core Core i9-10980HK and an RTX 2070 Super, which are joined by 32GB of RAM, 2TB of storage, and a 1920 x 1080 300Hz screen (3ms response time). The 10980HK is a workhorse — it’s one of the most powerful mobile chips on the market — and 300Hz is the fastest display you can get on a 15-inch laptop.

If you clicked on this review, you’re probably most curious about the frame rates this laptop is putting up. Suffice to say: they’re good.

On CS:GO at maximum settings, the Strix Scar averaged 248fps. Thanks to this model’s 300Hz screen, the chips aren’t just rendering 248fps; you’re actually seeing 248fps. You’ll see a frame rate difference between this system and an identical one with a 240Hz display, albeit a small one. (But to folks who play a lot of esports and first-person shooters, a small difference can matter.)

Overall, CS:GO was a smooth experience. The Scar only dipped below 100fps once when I was running through a thick flurry of dust.

Not all titles are able to take full advantage of the 300Hz screen, unless you plan on bumping the quality settings down. The Strix put up 67fps on Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s highest settings with ray tracing on Ultra. On Red Dead Redemption II (one of the most demanding games out there) cranked up to Ultra, the Scar averaged 54fps. Both games were quite playable on those settings, without any stuttering or slowdown. Those results are right on par with the MSI GE66 Raider (which put up 50fps on Red Dead and 70fps on Tomb Raider) and beat the smaller Zephyrus G14 by a significant margin.

It’s worth noting that while I was letting the Scar rip in Turbo mode (the highest power profile available) the 10980HK got quite hot throughout my gaming session, spending a chunk of time in the mid-90s and even hitting 99 degrees Celsius a couple of times. When I swapped to the regular Performance profile, the CPU spent more time in the mid-high 80s, and I only saw a 1-2fps difference as a result. So if you’re worried about frying your hardware, you won’t miss much if you stay on the Performance profile.

Moving on to other laptop stuff. Apart from its chips, what distinguishes the Strix Scar 15 as a gaming laptop is the design. It features a customizable per-key RGB keyboard, a luminous logo on the lid, and a bright LED strip around the front three sides. A glowing strip may seem obnoxious, but this one is actually more subdued than strips you may have seen on gaming rigs like MSI’s GE66 Raider. It wraps around the underside of the deck, so you don’t see it full-on; the effect is less garish gamer than the GE66 Raider and more fancy nightclub. (You can turn all of the RGB stuff off, of course. But then, what’s the point?)

Another cool thing is the deck design, which is printed with what Asus calls “Cybertext.” Basically, Republic of Gamers is written all over it in an urban-chic sort of font. It’s subtle and far from distracting, but it gives the whole product a subtle sci-fi vibe.

Speaking of the keyboard deck: the palm rests are coated in a unique “soft-touch paint.” It’s much smoother than your typical palm rest (you can very much feel the difference when you touch the rest of the chassis) and is quite nice to lay your hands on.

Asus keyboards are often among my favorites, and the Strix Scar’s keyboard is no exception. I love typing on this. I feel like my fingers are flying while using it. There’s a satisfying click with very little resistance. And I especially appreciate the convenient row of hotkeys at the top, which includes volume controls, a microphone mute, one that changes the performance profile, and another button that brings up Armoury Crate (Asus’ app where you can adjust various settings and features).

If you’d rather plug in your own peripherals, you have a good port selection at your disposal. There are three USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports and an audio jack on the left side, while the back houses one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port (which supports DisplayPort, but not PD charging), the charging port, one LAN RJ-45, and one HDMI 2.0. That’s most of what you’ll need but there’s one glaring omission: Thunderbolt. Plenty of people may not care about this, but it’s a port I’m disappointed not to see on a $2,799 laptop.

On the right side is a Keystone II reader. A Keystone II is a physical key on which you can save personal settings. You can also use it to access a private storage space, which Asus refers to as a “shadow drive.” This can be encrypted if you have Windows 10 Pro. (Only this model ships with that operating system. You’ll need to upgrade from Windows 10 Home if you buy the base configuration.)

The Keystone II is a neat idea considering how many settings and profiles there are to keep track of on the Strix. In the ROG app GameVisual, you can choose between color presets for different types of games (FPS mode enhances brightness and contrast, RPG mode prioritizes vivid colors, etc.). In Aura Creator, you can customize your keyboard’s colors and animation. In GameFirst VI, you can prioritize bandwidth between the programs you have running; there are presets like Gaming First, Live Streaming First, and Multimedia First.

One more thing I like: the speakers. Music sounded great, with a nice surround quality. The Strix won’t replace a good external speaker and percussion was a bit tinny. But vocals were quite clear, and at maximum volume, I never heard distortion. The laptop’s fans get quite loud during gaming, but I had no trouble hearing my games’ audio over them. (You can also switch to the Silent profile if the whine is bothering you.)

There’s lots of good stuff on the Strix, as you can see. But there are trade-offs, too. Most of them aren’t super relevant to gaming (and thus, forgivable on a laptop like the Strix), but they’re worth bearing in mind nonetheless.

For one: there’s no webcam. It’s not a deal-breaker — streamers will be using their own equipment anyway — but it’s a big minus for anyone who would otherwise use the Strix for an occasional work meeting or virtual catch-up with friends.

I also have a couple of issues with the trackpad. It has discrete clickers, which require a bit more skittering around to press than integrated buttons. I like these particular clickers more than most, but they’re still easy to miss and I sometimes found myself whacking chassis when trying to click. Generally, I found it less responsive and less accurate than I wanted it to be. Occasionally, it thought I was clicking when I wasn’t, causing me to accidentally drag things everywhere.

The touchpad also has a nifty feature where it can morph into an LED number pad if you press an integrated NumLock button in the top-right corner — but I hit this button with my palm while typing and accidentally activated the Numpad several times. Unlike with Asus’ ZenBooks that also have this feature, you can’t navigate with the touchpad while the Numpad is up, so I kept having to interrupt my workflow to deactivate it. (You can disable the touchpad itself with F10, but there’s not an easy way to disable the NumPad without disabling the touchpad.)

The biggest downside, though, is battery life. I averaged two hours and 28 minutes of sustained multitasking and office work with the Strix on the Battery Saver profile with the screen around 200 nits of brightness. (With all the battery-saving features off and a slightly heavier load, I got as low as one hour.) The Strix is a gaming laptop, so I wasn’t expecting hours upon hours of juice. Still, plenty of competitors do better: The MSI GE66 Raider (also powering an LED strip and RGB keyboard) made it through four hours of that same workload.

AGREE TO CONTINUE: ASUS ROG STRIX SCAR 15

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.

As with other Windows 10 computers, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 presents you with multiple things to agree to or decline upon setup.

The mandatory policies, for which an agreement is required, are:

A request for your region and keyboard layout

Windows 10 License Agreement and Asus privacy agreement

A PIN

In addition, there is a slew of optional things to agree to:

Wi-Fi network

Microsoft account

Device privacy settings: online speech recognition, Find My Device, Inking and Typing, Advertising ID, Location, Diagnostic data, Tailored experiences

Customize your device for various purposes (gaming, schoolwork, creativity, entertainment, family, and/or business)

Link your Android smartphone

OneDrive backup

Office 365

Allow Microsoft to access your location, location history, contacts, voice input, speech and handwriting patterns, typing history, search history, calendar details, messages, apps, and Edge browsing history to aid Cortana’s personalized experiences and suggestions

Asus member registration

Set up McAfee account

That’s five mandatory agreements and 16 optional ones.

Gaming on battery is possible, but not great. Red Dead ran mostly in the high teens and low 20s. I got an hour and 15 minutes of the game on a charge, but I started to see stuttering when the Strix was down to 60 percent (about half an hour in) and the game became unplayable at 10 percent. Realistically, if you plan on bringing the Scar anywhere, you’ll need to bring the massive 280W adapter and spend some time charging the device. (It took 45 minutes to charge up to 60 percent during very light Chrome use.)

Overall, these nitpicks emphasize Asus’ priority with the Scar. It’s not a laptop that’s meant to double as a travel companion or a work-from-home driver — don’t buy it to be your primary PC.

But that doesn’t mean the Scar isn’t great at what it’s supposed to be great at, which is gaming. Its results are on par with those of the best 15-inch rigs on the market, and it offers useful customization software with a unique colorful design to boot. If you need the best frame rates and the fastest screen, the Strix Scar 15 is a fine purchase.

Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 specs leak: QLED, 12+ hours battery, no fingerprint, & alleged price

Following a render leak on Monday, key specs for the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 have now emerged with a possible starting price. This comes from a slide tweeted by Microsoft leaker WalkingCat (@h0x0d) today.

The original model announced this January uses a 4K AMOLED touchscreen, and Samsung is now following that up with a QLED (Quantum dot LED) screen at 13.3 inches. Samsung calls it a “world’s first” for Chromebooks, and a “tested” badge touts “Color Volume 100% acc. to DCI-P3.”

Meanwhile, the next big improvement is “targeted battery life” of over 12 hours. This should greatly address the current model’s inability to get through a day of without needing a recharge. We then see that this Galaxy Chromebook 2 will be offered with an Intel 10th Gen i3 processor compared to the i5-10210U today. Wi-Fi 6 Gigabit ac is also touted.

Samsung also touts “premium sound” that is 178% louder, while the “ultra slim profile” is slightly heavier at 2.75 pounds versus just 2.2.

From this image, there does not appear to be a fingerprint sensor in the top-right corner. The first-generation had a raised, blank space on the keyboard, but a regular black key is all that’s visible here. The earlier render confirms that, though the angle makes it harder to notice, in an unfortunate reversal for Chrome OS devices.

Lastly, this specs leak reveals that the Galaxy Chromebook 2 will be launching at Best Buy and Samsung.com in February 2021. In a follow-up tweet, WalkingCat says it will be priced at $699. This presumably refers to the entry model, but the exact configuration is unknown. In moving away from the very premium — for a Chromebook — $999 price point, Samsung is clearly targeting a broader audience this time round.

MSI Introduces the Optix MAG301CR2 Widescreen Monitor

MSI has introduced a new version of its Optix MAG301CR widescreen monitor. This new version is called the Optix MAG301CR2 Widescreen monitor, which features a curvature of 1500R, a WFHD resolution, and a refresh rate of up to 200 Hz. MSI has already created a product page for this new monitor, listing some of its features.

The Optix MAG301CR2 Ultra-wide screen gaming monitor features a price of 30″ and a maximum refresh rate of up to 200 Hz

MSI has announced the Optix MAG301CR2 Ultra-Widescreen gaming monitor offering a WFHD resolution, a curvature of 1500R, and a 1 ms response time. This monitor has a maximum refresh rate of up to 200 Hz and HDR support, allowing for smooth gameplay and fantastic visuals. These technical specifications allow for this gaming monitor a perfect choice for any gaming setup. This monitor’s panel size is 29.5″ with a maximum brightness of 300 nits and support for FreeSync Premium, and this technology allows for smooth and tear-free while gaming at a refresh rate of up to 200 Hz.

The Optix MAG301CR2 gaming monitor offers Wide Color Gamut, which has more coverage than standard gaming monitors; this Wide Color Gamut allows for a much more immersive gaming experience, gameplay colors looking much more refined and realistic. This monitor also features HDR support, which produces images with more details and appears similar to what is seen by the human eye when compared to traditional monitors.

This monitor using a VA panel to supply both the high refresh rate and a 1 ms response time, making it perfect for gamers who enjoy first-person shoots, racing sims, and sports games. This gaming monitor’s included stand allows for height adjustment, tilt, swivel, and pivot adjustments, and this monitor also features 75 mm x 75 mm mounting holes. For connectivity, this monitor features a single DisplayPort 1.2, two HDMI 2.0 ports, and a single Type-C port; alongside the video inputs, there are two USB Type-A ports.

MSI has yet to release information regarding when the Optix MAG301CR2 gaming monitor will be available for purchase or this widescreen monitor’s price. This monitor will most likely be priced similarly to the MSI Optix MAG301CR gaming monitor, which features a price of $349.99 on Amazon.

‘WOOMAX’ AND ‘DELBIN’ LOOK TO BE UPCOMING ASUS FLAGSHIP CHROMEBOOKS

While we expect to find out more specifics in the coming weeks at CES 2021 – virtually, of course – it looks like we might be in for at least two flagship-level ASUS Chromebooks in the early parts of 2021 in the form of ‘Woomax’ and ‘Delbin’. In the event you are unaware, Chromebooks come with code names and we’re tracking an absolute boat load of them at the moment. 

The significant thing about ‘Woomax’ and ‘Delbin’ is the fact that they are different baseboards with very different chips inside. ‘Delbin’ belongs to the family of devices built on the ‘Volteer’ baseboard, and that means it will come equipped with the latest 11th-gen Intel Tiger Lake processors. This is significant because it means we’ll get far-improved graphics performance due to the inclusion of Intel’s new Xe GPU that is on board.

‘Woomax’ belongs to the ‘Zork’ family of Chromebooks and comes equipped with the newer AMD 3700C chip that is also equipped with a far-beefier GPU than what we’ve seen in older Chromebooks. Along with a far-faster CPU, these new AMD-powered Chromebooks will bring vastly improved performance versus what we’ve seen in prior AMD Chromebooks, and all that extra power should come at a very reasonable price, too, if AMD-powered Windows laptops are anything to go by.

How we’ve identified ASUS

So, you may find yourself wondering how we know these two devices will come bearing ASUS branding. For that, we turn to the Chromium Repositores and glean some clues from the folks who do their work there. It isn’t always the case, but sometimes we have certain email addresses that we tend to see only on certain devices. When you find one of these contributors and they only add to the repositories for devices all made by the same manufacturer, you can get a pretty clear idea who they likely work for and, by deduction, who will be making certain upcoming devices.

For this time around, Daniel Peng is our contributor and he has only been involved in prior ASUS products in the past. He has contributions to ‘Helios’ (ASUS Flip C436), Shyvana/Leona (ASUS Flip C433 and C425), and ‘Rammus’ (ASUS Flip C434) all to his credit. The newest additions to his work? ‘Woomax’ and ‘Delbin’.

It doesn’t take much to pin these two devices to ASUS, and it seems clear that both will bear the ASUS branding when they do show up. With so many great mid-range Chromebooks available in 2020, it is interesting to see how these devices will be positioned. The more-affordable Chromebooks are getting really good at this point, so we’re all interested to see where ASUS positions themselves in 2021. These two Chromebooks will go a long way in crafting that narrative.

Lenovo ThinkPad L14 Review: AMD Does It Again

The Lenovo ThinkPad L14 is successor to last year’s 14-inch ThinkPad L490. During last year’s review, we noticed that neither the display nor the CPU performed particularly well despite what turned out to be an overall decent package. This year, for the first time in the history of Lenovo’s L-series, you can choose between an Intel and an AMD processor. Lenovo’s L-series sits right in-between the higher-quality T-series and the more affordable entry-level E-series and is aimed primarily at business users. Given that the L14 shares many of its exterior attributes with its predecessor we are going to focus mainly on the new AMD CPU in this review.

Case – Typical ThinkPad

As expected of Lenovo overall build quality is solid. The ThinkPad L14 neither creaks nor flexes considerably, and the entire top of the 14-inch case is made of roughened plastic despite of which it manages to attract fingerprints. The thin display bezels are slightly rubberized and sit flush with the palm rests with the display lid closed. The two hinges are firm and offer the perfect amount of resistance required to ensure that one-handed opening remains possible. The maximum opening angle is 180 degrees.

Maintenance is simple and straightforward on this model as well given that the bottom panel can be easily removed by undoing a few screws. This will give you access to the most important components, such as for example the RAM which can be upgraded up to 64 GB. The battery, unfortunately, is not user replaceable.

Connectivity – AMD brings HDMI 2.0

Connectivity remained unchanged over last year’s L490. The L-series continues to lack a Thunderbolt port, which is only available on the T-series. Port layout has also remained unchanged over the ThinkPad L490. The main difference is the new HDMI port, which now supports 4K resolutions at 60 instead of 30 Hz.

Keep in mind that the HDMI port differs between the Intel and AMD models. While AMD SKUs support HDMI 2.0 (4k at 60 Hz) Intel SKUs are still limited to HDMI 1.4 (4K at 24 Hz).

Display – Only Marginally Better

Last year’s L490 featured a different panel than its predecessor, and it was barely any brighter than the L480’s display that was significantly too dim. This year, we see yet another panel in the ThinkPad L14, the Innolux N140HCA-EAC – basically a cheaper model of the ThinkPad T14s’s Innolux N140HCG-GQ2 panel.

The differences between the L and the T-series are very obvious in regard to maximum brightness (244 vs. 371 nits) as well as color space coverage, and the L14 is far behind its more expensive business sibling. When compared with the L490, brightness remained practically identical with some improvements in contrast ratio and black level. That said our review unit still managed to outperform the HP and Dell.

Performance – No Throttling with AMD

Processor

AMD’s Ryzen 5 4500U does not support Hyperthreading on its six Zen 2 cores and thus features exactly as many threads as it has cores to offer. It does, however, run at a slightly higher base clock speed of 2.3 GHz with a turbo boost of up to 4 GHz. Additional details can be found on our dedicated page.

In multi-core benchmarks, the AMD Ryzen 5-powered ThinkPad L14 performed similarly to the recently reviewed ThinkPad E14 and outperformed its identically equipped HP ProBook 445 and Dell Latitude 14 competitors. We also found no evidence of throttling as performance remained stable and consistent even after 20 consecutive runs into our CineBench loop, much unlike Intel CPUs whose performance tends to drop significantly after the first run. Long story short: Intel CPUs seem to be more susceptible to performance throttling than AMD CPUs.

All Ryzen 5 notebooks performed almost identically in our single-core benchmark and managed to outperform Intel’s Core i5 by a small margin.

System Performance

Compared to its competitors, the ThinkPad L14 performed average in PCMark 10. Nevertheless, it performed above average for an office and business notebook, which became noticeable not only in this particular synthetic benchmark but also during everyday use. 

Storage Devices

Our review unit featured a 512 GB Wester Digital SSD (WDC PC SN730 SDBQNTY-512GB) whose very important (from the operating system’s point of view at least) CrystalDiskMark 5.2 read/write 4K performance was lower than on all of its competitors. In AS SSD, its 4K read performance was lower than expected as well. We also found a significant performance difference between running on battery and running on mains. Without an active power supply, the read seq numbers dropped by almost 40 %.

GPU Performance

The Ryzen 5 features an AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 GPU with 8 CUs running at 1.2 GHz. This new GPU is a giant leap compared to the L490’s ancient Intel UHD Graphics 620, which is best exemplified by the fact that scores in 3DMark 11 doubled. Thus, the AMD-powered L-series is capable of taking on its Intel-equipped T-series that continues to include Intel’s UHD Graphics 620, and thus only performed half as well in our benchmarks. That said our review unit could have achieved even better scores with dual-channel RAM instead of its default single-channel configuration. Take for example the ThinkPad E14 with the very same iGPU as the L14 but dual-channel instead of single-channel mode RAM: it ran up to 29 % faster.

The L14 passed our stress test with flying colors. You will find more details in the emissions section under temperature below. Performance dropped slightly on battery. In 3DMark 11, we noticed a 5 % decrease in CPU (6,664 vs. 7,061 in Physics) and 9 % decrease in GPU performance (3,092 vs. 3,401 in Graphics).Gaming performance was right where we would have expected it to be. Overall, the L14 performed slightly below average for an AMD Radeon RX Vega 6. AMD’s Radeon RX Vega 7, such as we find for example in Lenovo’s T14s, was significantly faster, and outperformed our L14 by 10 FPS on average in FHD, a very common gaming display resolution.

Gaming Performance

Gaming performance was right where we would have expected it to be. Overall, the L14 performed slightly below average for an AMD Radeon RX Vega 6. AMD’s Radeon RX Vega 7, such as we find for example in Lenovo’s T14s, was significantly faster, and outperformed our L14 by 10 FPS on average in FHD, a very common gaming display resolution.

Emissions – Quiet Fan, Quiet Speaker

Noise Emissions

Just like its predecessor and the ThinkPad T14s our review unit remained pleasantly quiet overall. It peaked at just 32.8 dB(A) during our stress test, which was a pleasant surprise. Fan noise frequency was also very pleasant overall and not at all annoying even after long periods of time. We found no evidence of coil whine on our review unit.

Temperature

Overall, the ThinkPad L14’s temperatures around the keyboard area were better than its L490 predecessor’s with Whiskey Lake that tended to reach up to 46 °C in the top right corner. In comparison, our AMD-powered review unit peaked at 43 °C. Unfortunately, temperatures around the palm rests are around 7 °C higher than on the L490. The L14’s hot spot is located at the bottom rear where it peaked at around 50 °C – too hot for lap use.

Power consumption very quickly settled at 25 W during our stress test resulting in around 2.8 GHz and around 890 MHz for CPU and GPU, respectively.

Energy Management – AMD Is Power Hungry

Power Consumption

Compared to its predecessor, power consumption increased by around 13 %. At maximum load it drew 50.6 W through its 65 W power supply. Our comparison table also reveals that Lenovo’s AMD-powered notebooks on average tend to have a higher power consumption than their Intel-equipped counterparts.

Battery Life

Compared to its Whiskey Lake-equipped predecessor the AMD Ryzen 5-powered L14 ran about an hour longer under full load but shorter during video playback in return. In this particular test, the L14 landed in last place of its comparison group.

Verdict – A Breath of Fresh Air thanks to AMD

Lenovo did an overall very good job with the ThinkPad L14, which continues to emphasize Lenovo’s traditional strengths such as its sturdy high-quality case, its pleasant-to-use keyboard, straightforward maintenance, and an interesting collection of ports and connectivity including a smart card reader as well as a docking port for business users.

On the other hand, Lenovo missed its opportunity to improve upon the L490’s weaknesses, such as for example the dim display or its overall poor speakers that lack both volume and bass. Lenovo’s choice of display panel is a sore point in particular, and we would have wished for a wiser choice.

The most important achievement for the L-series is the introduction of AMD’s Ryzen 5 4500U. In our reviews of the ThinkPad E14 and T14 the AMD SKUs proved to perform much better than the Intel SKUs, and the same holds true with the L14 as well. AMD is simply better.

There was no noticeable throttling and thus no drop in performance during our CineBench loop. In contrast, Intel CPUs tend to lose a lot of performance after the first run due to performance throttling. The price you pay for this increase in performance is a slightly higher power consumption as well as higher surface temperatures at the bottom under maximum load. The GPU’s comparatively poor performance can be easily remedied by adding a second RAM module.

AMD brings a breath of fresh air to Lenovo’s ThinkPad series, and changes the traditional rules. Intel’s dominance is about to falter as AMD not only offers lower prices but also a significant performance boost. Thus, we have no choice but to once again highly recommend the AMD SKU over its Intel counterpart.

LG releases new 16-inch Gram laptop

LG Electronics Inc. on Thursday introduced a new 16-inch laptop that boasts better performance and portability.

The South Korean tech giant said the LG Gram 16 will be added to its premium Gram laptop series, which has 14-, 15.6- and 17-inch models.

The LG Gram 16 weighs only 1,190 grams and was certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s lightest 16-inch laptop, according to the company.

The latest product uses Wide Quad Extended Graphics Array high-resolution IPS display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, which provides clearer image quality than the 15.6-inch model’s Full HD display.

The 16-inch model is powered by the 11th-generation Intel Tiger Lake processor, which offers 20 percent faster data processing speed compared to previous models. It also comes with Intel’s Iris Xe graphics card.

The LG Gram 16 uses an 80 watt-hour (Wh) battery and is available in three colors — white, silver and black.

The starting price for the LG Gram 16 has been set at 2.09 million won ($1,900) here, with preorders available from Thursday to Jan. 3.

LG said it expects its new laptop to post brisk sales amid the pandemic-induced stay-at-home trend. According to market researcher International Data Corp., laptop sales in South Korea reached 645,000 units in the third quarter, up 29.5 percent from a year earlier. 

HP Omen 30L Review: Big-Box Boutique

HP’s Omen 25L and 30L desktop lineup got a design refresh, along with some improved cooling back in May. Thanks, likely, in large part to a combination of COVID-related delays and recent Nvidia GPU launches, we’re just now getting to take a close look at the larger of the two, the HP Omen 30L, to see if it’s one of the best gaming PCs.

Aside from new chassis designs, HP is also focusing on using familiar name-brand parts this time around, which helps the big-box brand deliver a configurable system that’s more like what you’d get from smaller companies like iBuypower or Maingear. That’s a smart move on HP’s part as far as we’re concerned, because it also means pretty much everything is standard and user-upgradable. But the system HP shipped us with a Core i9-10900K and an RTX 3080, while certainly powerful, could improve performance with better CPU cooling. There’s also quite a bit of pre-installed software here, though HP does a mostly good job of keeping it hidden.

But despite being a much larger company than much of its competition in the custom gaming desktop realm, HP’s biggest problem here — at least currently at the end of 2020 — seems to be stock issues. There were lots of configuration options similar to our test system available from HP.com, Amazon, Best Buy and elsewhere leading up to the holiday season. But after Cyber Monday and for at least a couple weeks afterward, almost all configurations with current-gen RTX 3080 or RTX 3090 graphics cards were sold out. As we wrote this intro, a similar configuration with a slightly lower-end CPU, half the SSD storage and the same RTX 3080 as in our review unit was available on Amazon for a reasonable price of about $2,900. But when we reloaded the page minutes later, it was also sold out, save for from a third-party seller charging a much-inflated $4,179.

Design of the the HP Omen 30L

There’s nothing that veers dramatically from the gaming desktop norm with HP’s Omen 30L, but that’s perfectly fine. Rather than something like a big cube, the Omen 30L is a classic mid-tower, standing 17.7 inches tall, 16.8 inches deep and 6.6 inches wide. It comes in basic black, with glass front and left side panels.

Despite the solid-glass front, airflow shouldn’t be a major issue because the front of the case has metal mesh sides that are over 2 inches wide and run from top to bottom. That said, the Omen could still do with better cooling, as you get just the one front intake fan, a smaller 80mm exhaust at the back and another 120mm fan on the small AIO radiator mounted to the PC case’s top. While lesser CPUs should be fine with the 120 mm AIO included here, HP sent the Omen with a Core i9-10900K, which would be better served by a bigger radiator. More on that later.

The front gets a distinctive, look thanks to a large diamond-shaped RGB light above the Omen branding, which harkens back to the Omen brand’s VodooPC roots, but in a minimalist fashion. Below the diamond and the branding is a 120mm Cooler Master fan with an RGB ring behind a tinted sheet of glass, giving the case a monolith-like look with RGB accents.

The fan looks good and never got noticeably loud during our testing. But, oddly, the lighting of the front fan doesn’t sync with the rest of the system — or at least it didn’t with the included HP Omen Gaming Hub software. But after a few uses, the software prompted me to download a beta version of Omen Light Studio, which then flawlessly coordinated the RGB between the diamond-shaped Omen light on the front, the fan at the bottom, the RAM and an RGB light strip tucked up in the top. I’d argue that Corsair does RGB better with its Vengeance i7200, but the light show here isn’t bad after you install a bit of extra software.

As with most high-end desktops we’ve looked at in recent months, HP pairs a current high-end mainstream Intel CPU (the Core i9-10900K in this case) with our current best graphics card pick, the Nvidia RTX 3080. This time around the company is playing up its use of familiar brands in its other components too. 

In the roughly $3,109 configuration that HP sent us for testing, you also get 32GB of HyperX memory clocked at 3,200 MHz, along with ample storage. The boot drive here is a 2TB “WD Black by Omen” SSD, (which appears to be a custom drive, rather than an off-the shelf WD Black SSD), along with a 2TB, 7,200 RPM Seagate hard drive. The power supply is a 750W Cooler Master model, the same company that makes the RGB front intake fan.

Around back are seven more USB ports that, while labeled with tiny numbers to designate their speed, are all black. That will likely lead to some confusion when trying to plug in an external device that needs the fastest speed. You get two USB 2.0, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports, all of the Type-A variety, as well as a single USB-C port that’s also USB 3.2 Gen 2. Also here is a Gigabit Ethernet jack and three analog audio jacks.

Continuing the external tour to the ports, you get a pair of USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) in a recessed angled panel up top, alongside separate headphone and mic jacks and a slim power button that, while it’s easy enough to press, looks like it would be more at home on a laptop than a desktop.

There’s a whole lot of unused black space on the motherboard’s I/O plate, but at least HP covers the basics here and provides three speedy ports. Below these ports you’ll find the video connections on the graphics card: three DisplayPorts 1.4a and a single HDMI 2.1.

As for internal expansion options, there isn’t a whole lot. The Micro-ATX board doesn’t have any spare PCIe slots — not that you’d be able to use them behind the large RTX 3080 anyway. There’s a second 3.5-inch drive bay, which HP has helpfully pre-routed SATA data and power cables to, and an empty M.2 slot behind a metal cooler, just above the power supply and below the graphics card.

It’s also worth noting that HP includes a very solid plastic anchor for the end of the graphics card, which mounts to the front drive cage. GPU sag shouldn’t be a problem here, and this system should also travel better than most systems with large GPUs. 

Gaming & Graphics Performance on the HP Omen 30L

Thanks to a pairing in our review configuration of Intel’s top-end consumer-oriented Core i9-10900K and our current best graphics cards pick, Nvidia’s stellar (though tough to find) RTX 3080, HP’s latest Omen is a gaming powerhouse in our review config. But it doesn’t always win against similarly configured systems we’ve tested recently, like the Corsair Vengeance i7200 ($4,499 as configured with a similar Core i9-10850K and a slightly higher-end RTX 3090) or the Alienware R11 ($4,283 as tested, with a 10900K and RTX 3090). The Omen faces its most direct challenge in our desktop battle with the iBuypower RDY IWBG207, which pairs the Core i9-10900KF (effectively the same CPU as in the Omen, but without integrated graphics) and an RTX 3080 for $2,199 as tested. Note that the iBuypower system has less RAM (16GB) and storage capacity (1TB) as our Omen. But in most cases, that shouldn’t hinder it in our benchmarks below.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider (highest settings), the top-end CPU and cutting-edge graphics card delivered good performance, but only enough pixel-pushing ability to land it just behind the similarly configured iBuypower system. The Corsair and Alienware machines with higher-end RTX 3090s did markedly better.

On Far Cry New Dawn (ultra), the Omen managed to tie the iBuypwer PC at 1080p (FHD) resolution, but fell further behind at 4K resolution.

On the Grand Theft Auto V benchmark (very high settings), the trend flipped again, seeing the Omen and the iBuypower tie at 4K, but the Omen fall back a bit at 4K.

And in Red Dead Redemption 2 (medium settings), the Omen again tied the iBuypower system at 4K, but fell a few frames per second (fps) behind at 1080p.

Given the Omen’s somewhat lower-than-the-pack performance, particularly at 1080p, as well as what we know about the high thermals of the 10900K CPU, we suspected 120 mm AIO wasn’t keeping the Omen’s CPU as cool as the competition. So we also subjected the HP system to our Metro Exodus gauntlet, in which we run the benchmark at the RTX preset 15 times to simulate roughly half an hour of gaming. The HP system ran the game at an average of 117.6 fps, with little variation. The system started out the test at 118.8 fps on the first run, dipped to 117.1 fps on the fourth run and then stuck close to 117.5 fps for every subsequent run.

During the Metro Exodus runs, the CPU ran at an average clock speed of 4.9 GHz and an average temperature of 72.7 degrees Celsius (162.9 degrees Fahrenheit). The GPU’s average clock speed was 1.81 GHz, with an average temperature of 73.8 degrees Celsius (164.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

Well, there you go. Compared to the iBuypower RDY system, which had a much larger 360mm AIO CPU cooler and seven fans (compared to a 120mm AIO and three fans in the Omen), the Omen’s CPU and GPU ran about 10 degrees Celsius hotter during our stress test. For the record, the iBuypower’s CPU ran at an average temperature of 62.9 degrees Celsius, while its GPU ran at 64 degrees Celsius.

None of these temperatures are unsafe for your components, but they will lead to less-than-peak performance. HP should either offer more robust cooling for the Omen or stop selling it with the 10900K in favor of the 10850K, which performs basically just as well and doesn’t run nearly as hot. The 10900K also adds $100 to the Omen’s price.

Productivity Performance on the HP Omen 30L

With its pairing of a high-end CPU and GPU, along with 32GB of RAM and an NVMe SSD, the Omen 30L excels at productivity as well.

On Geekbench 5.2, we saw similar trends as in gaming. All the systems were close, and the single-core results saw the Omen beat the Corsair and Alienware systems slightly. But on the multi-core test, HP’s machine landed last, though not by a lot.

The Omen 30L looked good in our Handbrake test, where it tied everything else here, save for the iBuypower, which was oddly 16 seconds behind.

Lastly, the iBuypower system again lagged behind in our 25GB file transfer test. The Omen 30L and its “WD Black by Omen” drive did significantly better than the iBuypower’s 632 MBps, delivering 978 MBps. But both the Corsair and Alienware systems were significantly speedier on the storage front.

Software and Warranty on the HP Omen 30L

The Omen ships with quite a bit of extra software, but the company at least does a good job of making sure it doesn’t get in the way — well, mostly. McAfee LiveSafe and Personal Security come pre-installed, but I didn’t see any pop-ups for them. There’s also HP’s Gaming Hub software, which organizes your games from different stores in one place, lets you take screenshots, control the RGB and more. There is also a suite of HP apps (Support Assistant, Smart App, PC Hardware Diagnostics, etc.) that mostly stayed out of the way. And, of course, there’s a healthy dose of Windows 10’s own cruft, like shortcuts to Netflix, Hulu, plus trials of Microsoft Office and ExpressVPN.

Despite all this, I was blissfully unaware of much of this gunk when using the system, as it mostly stayed out of sight and out of mind. But then, literally as I was checking the installed programs in writing the above paragraph, I got a notification that one of HP’s apps had updated, and a window popped up talking up Bing’s “Intelligent Search,” pre-selecting two boxes asking to change default search and the browser’s homage to Bing. Bad Omen! Bad! Bing is not your friend!

HP sells the Omen with a 1-year standard warranty.

HP Omen 30L Configurations

HP sent us a bit of an odd configuration of the Omen 30L, and it’s an even stranger time to actually buy one of these systems as we write this. From one of the base configurations that HP says starts at $2,759, it’s a $100 upgrade to the 10900K, and a $250 upgrade to the RTX 3080 in our rig, which gets us to $3,109. 

But HP also points out that there’s a similar Amazon GT13-0093 configuration that’s supposed to sell on Amazon for $2,229. It steps the CPU down slightly to a 10850K, (which is a better fit for the Omen’s 120mm AIO cooler), and halves the SSD to 1TB, while leaving other components the same. But, in the wake of Black Friday/Cyber Monday and the midst of ongoing GPU shortages, the abovementioned Amazon configuration was out of stock when we wrote this, save for one third-party seller charging a ridiculous $4,179.

And likewise, most of the options on HP.com were also sold out, save for a few with previous-generation Nvidia 20-series cards and lower-end models with modest AMD RX 5500 graphics.

Once stock returns to some semblance of normal, HP says it will offer all the current-gen Nvidia cards. And at some point the company will offer AMD’s Ryzen 5000 CPUs and Radeon RX 6000 graphics as well. But the company didn’t have specifics on when the latest AMD silicon would be an option in the Omen 30L.

Price and Bottom Line for the HP Omen 30L

HP seems to be making a concerted effort for its Omen desktops to become more configurable than ever, with more familiar name-brand components, like Cooler Master, WD and HyperX. That makes the 30L feel more like a boutique PC, but from a big-box brand. The bad news is that stock issues and high holiday demand at the moment makes it next to impossible to tell exactly what all those options will be and what exact pricing will be like when stock is available. Much as we’ve seen with smaller boutique companies, like iBuypower, HP seems to have problems keeping recent components in stock.

That aside though, as we saw in testing, the Omen 30L needs better cooling if it wants users to get the best possible performance from the 10900K in the system it sent us for testing. But given its similar performance and lesser thermal demands, most would be better off spending $100 or so less for the 10850K anyway.

The other ding to the Omen’s otherwise sleek hardware and software package is an abundance of bloatware. To be fair, we didn’t see a whole lot in the way of nagging popups for its excess of pre-installed software. But the one time we did, it was one of HP’s own apps sneakily pressuring us to switch our browser homepage and search engine to Bing. Given the high price of the Omen as configured, as well as the fact that most boutique PCs ship without bloatware at similar prices, HP could still learn a thing or two from its boutique competition.

That said, the Omen’s hardware, combined with the HP Omen Gaming Hub/Light Studio software, make for a package that’s at least competitive with the best that the likes of Corsair and Alienware have to offer. If you skip the unnecessary upcharge for the questionably cooled Core i9-10900K for the 10850K, (which will perform about the same, save you $100, and be easier to keep cool), the HP Omen 30L is a good option for your next high-end gaming PC — provided you can find it in stock at a reasonable price. 

LG Gram 2021: specs for its rumored 16-inch variant leak out

LG is said to substitute a 16-inch version of its ultra-thin-and-light Gram laptop for its normal 15-inch SKU for 2021. It, along with others that might retain 14- and 17-inch screens, will make their debut in the OEM’s native market on December 16, 2020 – tomorrow – prior to its release to the rest of the world.

The Twitter-based leaker Tron (or @cozyplanes) now claims that this LG Gram 16 (or 16Z90P) will be powered by the Core i5-1135G7 CPU with no mention of discrete graphics. This new post also mentions one 8GB RAM/256GB SSD spec, and is accompanied by a series of live images.

They may indicate that the “Gram 16” will have a shiny white lid, with a bottom panel and keyboard finished in the same color. Its alleged ports on both sides are also shown, and may thus comprise 1 HMDI port; 2 SuperSpeed USB type A ports; 2 USB type Cs with Thunderbolt and a 3.5mm jack. There is also a microSD (almost definitely not full SD) card slot.

Tron asserts that the price for all this will be set at no less than 2,169,000 won (KRW) – or ~US$1980. The tipster claims to have sourced this information from a South Korean forum website called Meeco. Then again, this new tweet on the subject does specify that this applies to a 2021 Gram SKU for its first market, and might thus not translate in full to others.