Category: Laptop

Razer Book 13 Core i7 Laptop Review: Like an XPS 13, But Faster

At first glance, one might assume that the Razer Book 13 is simply a Mercury White Blade Stealth rebranded for professionals and productivity. In reality, it’s actually a brand new chassis and 16:10 form factor found nowhere else in the Blade series. Razer is rightfully dedicating a distinct new family of laptops for professionals separate from the Blade name so that the Blade series can continue focusing on gamers.

Of course, the Book 13 naturally inherits more than a few features from the Blade Stealth which we will go over in detail for this review. SKUs start with the Core i5-1135G7 CPU, 1200p matte display, 8 GB of LPDDR4x RAM, and 256 GB PCIe storage for $1200 USD up to the Core i7-1165G7, 2400p glossy touchscreen, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB SSD for $2000. Our unit is the middle option in the table below.

Competitors to the Book 13 include other 13-inch “prosumer” subnotebooks or office-centric laptops like the Dell XPS 13, HP Spectre 13, Huawei MateBook X Pro, Asus ZenBook S, Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13, or the Lenovo ThinkBook series.

Case

From a quality, texture, and rigidity perspective, the Book 13 is essentially identical to the Blade Stealth since they use the same metal materials. If you love the feel and design of the Blade, then the Book 13 isn’t going to disappoint.

The biggest chassis difference between the Book 13 and Blade Stealth lies in the new hinges. Razer had to redesign them for the new display aspect ratio without increasing the thickness of the bottom bezel. The end result is similar to the ZenBook S where the hinges are tucked underneath the base and the base itself will lift slightly when opened. Hinge rigidity doesn’t feel any better or worse than on the Blade Stealth, though we noticed slight creaking when adjusting the angles on our unit. The 140-degree maximum angle is a bit shallow as well for our tastes.

The Blade Stealth is already one of the smallest 13-inch laptops in the market and the Book 13 continues the trend by being even smaller without needing to reduce screen size. Dimensions are very close to the XPS 13 to be just a tad thicker (15.2 mm vs 14.8 mm) and heavier (1.3 kg vs. 1.4 kg).

Connectivity

Port options are better than most subnotebooks as the Book 13 integrates USB-C, Thunderbolt, full-size HDMI, 3.5 mm audio, MicroSD reader, and USB-A with no strings attached. Many competing subnotebooks lack one or more to push owners into using dongles or adapters. Even the Blade Stealth doesn’t have HDMI or a MicroSD reader as Razer knows Book 13 owners are more likely to be transferring photos and videos from cameras.

Communication

The Intel AX201 comes standard for Wi-Fi 6 which is one of the requirements for being an Intel Evo laptop. We experienced no connectivity issues when paired to our Netgear RAX200 test router.

Maintenance

The bottom panel requires a T5 Torx wrench to remove. However, there isn’t much to upgrade or service other than the battery and M.2 SSD.

Accessories and Warranty

The retail box includes a small velvet wipe and a Razer logo sticker in addition to the usual AC adapter and paperwork. The manufacturer promises full compatibility with the Razer Core eGPU docking station as well.

A one-year warranty comes standard compared to three years on more traditional business laptops.

Input Devices

Keyboard

The Book 13 keyboard is identical to the Blade Stealth in terms of overall size and key feedback. Even the per-key RGB Chroma backlight is present to make this the only productivity subnotebook we know of with such a feature. On one hand, this is excellent for existing Blade Stealth owners as typing on the Book 13 will feel natural and familiar. On the other hand, we’re not fans of the shallow travel and weak key feedback. The HP Spectre, EliteBook, ThinkPad, and MateBook X Pro all have firmer keys that we prefer for long typing sessions.

Touchpad

The clickpad is the same as on the Blade Stealth meaning it inherits all the same pros and cons. In short, we like the spacious surface (~11.1 x 7 cm) for such a small form factor while the weak and spongy click feedback could use some work. More traditional business laptops like the ThinkPad T490 or HP EliteBook 735 G6 still integrate dedicated mouse buttons which we find to be easier and more accurate to use if an external mouse is not available.

Display

As we predicted, the Book 13 uses the same or very similar Sharp LQ134N1 IPS panel as found on the Dell XPS 13 9300/9310. In fact, both laptops share almost the same maximum brightness levels and even the same pulse-width modulation frequency when at low brightness settings. This isn’t a bad thing, however, as this display is a highlight of the XPS 13 and now also the Book 13. Colors pop, text is crisp, and contrast is high for great first impressions.

The display is also a big reason why the Book 13 doesn’t work so well as a gaming laptop. Black-white and gray-gray response times are slower than the display on the Blade Stealth despite the excellent attributes mentioned above. Thus, ghosting is more noticeable when gaming even if the Book 13 is more powerful on paper than some older Ice Lake or GeForce MX-powered Blade Stealth SKUs.

Color space covers almost all of sRGB and approximately 66 percent of AdobeRGB not unlike the Blade Stealth or most flagship Ultrabooks. Nonetheless, the MacBook Pro 13 is able to offer deeper colors covering 77 percent of AdobeRGB while certain larger 4K panels as found on the HP Spectre 15 or XPS 15 can cover all of AdobeRGB. It’s worth noting that the 4K option on the Book 13 does not offer wider color coverage than the FHD option.

X-Rite colorimeter measurements show that the display is already well-calibrated out of the box as promised in the advertisements with average grayscale and color DeltaE values of just 1.3 and 1.39, respectively, and a perfect gamma of 2.2. Attempting to calibrate the panel ourselves would result in essentially no changes.

Outdoor visibility is a bit better than the Blade Stealth due to the brighter display on the Book 13. Nonetheless, this is negated somewhat by the glossy overlay of the touchscreen. The less expensive matte SKU may fare better in this regard.

Performance

The Book 13 comes with the Intel 11th gen Tiger Lake Core i7-1165G7 CPU or, for the first time ever on a Razer laptop, a lesser Core i5 option as well. The i7-1185G7 or Iris Xe Max, which would have made the laptop even faster, are not available.

RAM is soldered at up to 16 GB of LPDDR4X running at 4267 MHz. Both CPU-Z and HWiNFO report quad-channel memory while Razer’s own specifications claim dual-channel only. We’ll update this once we’ve double-checked with Razer.

We set our system to Performance mode via Razer Synapse prior to running any performance benchmarks below. We recommend becoming familiar with Synapse since key system settings can be found here.

Processor

Multi-thread performance is higher than the average Core i7-1165G7 in our database by about 20 percent to edge out even the Core i7-1185G7 in the MSI Prestige 14 Evo. The wide delta can be attributed to the decent Turbo Boost sustainability of the Book 13 as shown by our CineBench R15 xT loop graph below. Interestingly, the recent Blade Stealth with the same Core i7-1165G7 CPU returns lower scores than our Book 13 by about 10 to 15 percent.

Opting for the less expensive Core i5-1135G7 SKU will entail a 15 to 25 percent performance deficit by our estimates. It’s too bad that there are no AMD options as the Ryzen 5 4500U, Ryzen 7 4700U, or Ryzen 7 4800U could have been excellent alternatives without needing to sacrifice multi-thread performance.

See our dedicated page on the Core i7-1165G7 for more technical information and benchmark comparisons.

System Performance

PCMark results are slightly higher than the average laptop with the same CPU to edge out the XPS 13 9310 by just a few percentage points. We didn’t experience any issues on our test unit save for a Razer Synapse bug where the application would always freeze if disconnected from the Internet after a system boot.

Storage Devices

Most Razer laptops ship with Samsung SSDs while a select few SKUs ship with slower Lite-On SSDs instead. Our unit comes with the Samsung PM981a for much faster performance than the mid-range Intel 660p of similar capacity.

GPU Performance

3DMark results are higher than the average Iris Xe in our database at the moment by about 10 percent. Scores are even higher than the GeForce MX250 or MX350, but actual performance in most games will vary greatly as detailed here.

See our dedicated page on Iris Xe for more technical information and benchmark comparisons.

Emissions

System Noise

The system remains silent when browsing or video streaming with no noticeable pulsing behavior. At worse, fan noise would top out at just 29 dB(A) against a background of 27 dB(A) to be essentially inaudible in a typical office or conference room. We’re able to record 33 dB(A) when running higher loads like Witcher 3.

If the fan is manually set to maximum via the Synapse software, then fan noise can jump as high as 45 dB(A) to be louder than most other subnotebooks with integrated GPUs. However, we never reached this maximum even whilst benchmarking unless if the fan was manually set this way meaning the internal fans will rarely reach their maximum RPMs when on the default automatic mode.

Temperature

Surface temperatures are slightly warmer than what we recorded on the Ice Lake Blade Stealth. When running high loads for extended periods, hot spots on the top and bottom can be as warm as 34 C to 38 C and 40 C to 43 C, respectively. Temperature gradient is otherwise symmetrical much like on the Blade Stealth. The warmth is noticeable but not distracting since the hot spots are toward the rear away from the palm rests and most of the keyboard keys.

Stress Test

When stressed with Prime95, the CPU would boost to 3.8 GHz for the first few seconds until hitting a core temperature of 79 C. Thereafter, clock rates would drop and stabilize at the 2.5 to 2.7 GHz range in order to maintain a cooler core temperature of 60 C. In comparison, running this same test on the Core i7 XPS 13 9310 would cause clock rates to fall and cycle to as low as 1.9 GHz with even warmer core temperatures reaching 78 C. In other words, the Book 13 is able to run both faster than cooler than on the XPS 13 when the processor is stressed which backs up our CineBench R15 xT loop test results from above.

Core temperature appears to plateau at 60 C when running high loads similar to what we recorded on the recent Asus ZenBook UX425 equipped with the same CPU.

CPU performance drops slightly if running on battery power. A 3DMark 11 test on batteries would return Physics and Graphics scores of 10608 and 6973 points, respectively, compared to 12384 and 6812 points when on mains. Note that the Synapse “Performance” power profile becomes grayed out when not on mains.

Energy Management

Power Consumption

Idling on desktop consumes just 3 W on the minimum brightness level up to 7 W if brightness is set to maximum. The high performance-per-watt of Tiger Lake becomes obvious when comparing power consumption to the GeForce MX150-powered Blade Stealth. Gaming, for example, consumes about 37 W on the Book 13 compared to 64 W on the GeForce MX Blade Stealth even though the Book 13 offers both faster CPU and GPU performance.

We’re able to measure a maximum consumption of 53.7 W from the small (~10.8 x 3.5 x 2.7 cm) 65 W AC adapter. This rate lasts for only 20 seconds when Turbo Boost clock rates are highest before they both eventually fall due to thermal soak. This can also be observed during our Prime95 stress test as noted above.

Battery Life

Though battery capacity is almost the same as on the Blade Stealth (55 Wh vs. 53 Wh), runtimes are much longer on the Book 13. We were able to squeeze almost 15 hours of WLAN use from a full charge to be a few hours more than what we recorded on both of the XPS 13 or Blade Stealth when under similar WLAN conditions.

Charging from empty to full capacity takes about 1.5 hours with the included AC adapter. We appreciate the fact that there are USB-C ports along both edges of the laptop meaning you can recharge from either side as opposed to most other Ultrabooks.

Verdict

Slap the 16:10 display from the Dell XPS 13 onto a Razer Blade Stealth and you’ll essentially have the Book 13. The new Razer laptop incorporates the best of both worlds and with a stronger emphasis on performance and visual style than the Dell alternative. The fact that it uses the same Core i7-1165G7 processor as the XPS 13 and is able to run it 20 to 30 percent faster shows how well Razer has optimized the chassis for Intel’s new 11th gen platform. It’s slightly heavier and thicker than the Dell, but the extra horsepower, additional ports, and stronger design might be worth it to many users.

On the flip side, the Book 13 skips over a handful of common security features including support for a fingerprint reader and a Kensington lock. You’re also not going to find any advanced vPro or handsfree sign-in options that are available on the Latitude 7400 or HP EliteBook x360 1030 G7. The RGB-lit keys, while visually appealing, have weaker feedback than the keys on most other business-class subnotebooks. Call us old school, but dedicated mouse buttons and wider hinge angles like on most Lenovo ThinkPads ultimately feel more ergonomic when on the road. If your priorities are to have the best-looking and fastest 13-inch laptop in the office over such auxiliary features, however, then the Book 13 proudly fulfills that niche.

Chuwi presents thin and light 13.3-inch LarkBook with modest specs for just under $400

Chuwi is back with a new slim and light 13.3-incher that weighs just under 1 Kg (2.2 lbs) and is only 11.9 mm thick (under 0.5 inches). The Chinese company is notorious for including rather outdated specs for most of its products to keep production costs as low as possible, and the LarkBook clearly proves this point. At least you do not need to sell a kidney to afford this fancy piece of hardware as the estimated AliExpress price is around $450.

Speaking of outdated specs, the LarkBook is powered by a quad-core / quad-thread Intel Celeron N4100 ULV CPU with 6 W TDP, which is still decent for office work, while the UHD Graphics 600 iGPU can handle 4K decoding and output. You also get 8 GB of LPDDR4x of RAM and a 256 GB SSD that can be upgraded. The Wi-Fi 5 + Bluetooth 4.2 support feels dated too, and the included battery is quite small, limited to 34.8 Wh capacity, but at least it features fast charging.

There are, however, some pretty good features included with this model, as well. For instance, the stylish chassis is made of light aluminum and magnesium alloy and has a premium finish. The 13.3-inch IPS screen features FHD resolution, slim bezels and has 220 nits peak luminance. Interestingly enough, Chuwi offers quad DTS speakers and dual-array mics, which are usually featured on more expensive laptops. Port selection includes 1x USB-A 3.1 Gen 1, 1x USB-A 2.0 and a USB-C 3.1 with DisplayPort and charging capabilities, plus a headphone jack and a microSD card reader.

The new LarkBook will be available for purchase on AliExpress starting December 15 and customers can now sign up for a $50 discount, lowering the final price to only $394.99.

ThinkPad X1 Fold review: Lenovo’s foldable PC is nowhere near ready

Lenovo is no stranger to making weird things. In 2016, the company gave us the first dual-screen hybrid with the Yoga Book that was part color tablet, part e-ink touchscreen keyboard / drawing pad. It followed that up with a second-generation in 2018, but also gave us things like tablets with fold-out kickstands and laptops with speakers built into the hinge or an e-ink screen on the lid. Not to mention that Lenovo pioneered the 360-degree hinge system and was the first to announce a 5G laptop with Qualcomm in 2019.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that the company is the first to deliver a foldable tablet PC that you can actually buy. We saw a prototype of the ThinkPad X1 Fold last year and got all the specs at CES 2020, and now it’s finally hitting shelves for $2,600 to start. For that price, you’re not just getting a large foldable phone. In addition to the fact that it runs Windows, the 13.3-inch X1 Fold also acts as a mini laptop when it’s folded halfway and you add Lenovo’s companion keyboard. If it was well-executed, Lenovo’s first foldable PC could have been better than a regular laptop, and not simply jumping on a hot trend. The problem with the X1 Fold, though, is that the execution needs work. 

Summary

The ThinkPad X1 Fold is an impressive piece of technology that sorely needs better execution. It’s laudable that Lenovo was able to make a 13.3-inch OLED tablet that can bend, but on its own the $2,600 Fold is a seriously expensive Windows tablet. Throw in the $230 keyboard that fits neatly between the screen’s two halves for a faux laptop mode and you get a neat mini machine that’s only good for quick emails and tweets. But few, if any, people should spend nearly $3,000 to buy the X1 Fold when any Surface tablet would serve you far better.

Like the Surface Duo I reviewed earlier this year, the X1 Fold is a unique device. Yes, it’s a big foldable and we’ve seen and tested a few foldable phones by now so the technology doesn’t feel quite as novel. But Lenovo’s device is the first that’s this large and runs Windows, making it basically a foldable Surface tablet. Because of its flexible screen and sturdy hinge, the X1 Fold can be used in a number of orientations similar to the Surface Duo and the Galaxy Z Fold 2, like book or laptop. But because the hinge only opens to 180 degrees, you won’t be able to rotate it all the way over into a tent mode. 

As a tablet or book

For the $2,600 starting price, you’ll only get the X1 Fold itself without a keyboard or stylus, meaning you’ll largely be using it as a tablet or “book”. It’s a serviceable device and is surprisingly well made. I like the leather cover that not only makes this feel like a real (if hefty) notebook, but also adds a touch of class. On the top bezel sits a 5-megapixel webcam, while power and volume buttons line the right edge. There’s also a pair of USB-C ports, one on the left side and the other on the bottom.

With a 13.3-inch screen the Fold is quite large for a tablet, and it certainly feels chunkier than the iPad Pro or Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7+. It weighs 2.2 pounds and has a 11.5mm profile, and when folded it’s about 24mm thick. All that heft makes this difficult to maneuver with one hand, and I struggled to open the Fold while holding a camera with my other hand. 

When you close the X1 Fold, it magnetically snaps shut and there’s a tiny gap near the hinge. That comes in handy when you need some leverage to pry the device open, because the magnets holding it together are quite strong. Once you get the screen moving though, the hinge springs open. It starts getting more resistant when you push it beyond a 25 degree angle and you can bend the screen so it’s half closed and stays that way. 

In this orientation, you can hold the X1 Fold as if it were a book and run two apps side by side to drag and drop between them or just to keep an eye on Twitter while watching YouTube. Or you could also set the Fold up on the kickstand built into its leather case and have a second screen or just to watch Netflix on. The 2K OLED screen here is bright and colorful, and although there is a small crease in the middle, it’s not very obvious… when the screen is flat at least. When the display is bent though, the dent in the middle is significantly brighter than the rest of the panel, and makes viewing anything full screen a bit jarring.

My main frustration with using the Fold as a tablet is that Windows is still an atrocious touch-based operating system. We’ve known this for a long time — Microsoft’s many public embarrassments with mobile versions of Windows have proven this point time and time again. 

Honestly, it was downright infuriating to use Tablet Mode on the X1 Fold, especially when I just wanted to go back to the desktop to find a file I saved. Trying to drag and drop windows didn’t behave the way I expected it to, not to mention Microsoft’s app store is pitifully bare compared to Apple and Google’s options. There still isn’t an official Kindle app, for example. 

Obviously book mode is best for reading (or it would be if there was a real Kindle app). But it’s also pretty good for writing and taking notes. Lenovo’s $100 pen is responsive and smooth, though I prefer Microsoft or Samsung’s options. 

To its credit, Lenovo tried to make it easier to use the Fold in Book mode by adding its own mode-switching software. By tapping an icon in the system indicator tray, you can quickly expand an app to take up the whole screen or snap two apps side by side. This did make it easier to launch, say, YouTube and Twitter next to each other, but aside from a few very niche scenarios I struggled to find a reason to actually use book mode. 

As a mini laptop

Throw in Lenovo’s $230 companion keyboard, though, and the X1 Fold presents a far more compelling case (if you forget about the price). Of course, you can use your own keyboard, but the company’s version not only fits perfectly in the gap between the two halves of the screen and magnetically stays in place, but also charges wirelessly when it’s stowed in the closed tablet. 

With this setup, you get a cute little mini laptop with a 7-inch-ish screen that’s perfect for getting work done when you’re in a tight space. The buttons on this understandably small keyboard offer an impressive amount of travel and space, all things considered. 

But tradeoffs had to be made to squeeze all those keys onto something this small, so some buttons like the dash and equal signs at the end of the row of number keys had to be sacrificed. It also had to move the apostrophe from where it normally is next to the Enter key to slightly higher and farther to the right, between the Backspace and Enter instead. These changes took a bit of adjusting to and made typing a little awkward. It’s fine for a quick email or tweet, but I wouldn’t want to type on this for hours.

I do appreciate that Lenovo included a trackpad on the keyboard, even if it is pretty small at 3 inches wide and 1.5 inches tall. While it isn’t the most responsive touchpad around, I was thankful for a way to use the cursor on Windows, as well as multi-finger gestures like swiping to switch between apps. Surprisingly, I never felt like it was too cramped.

Otherwise using the X1 Fold as a mini laptop was… fine. Because you’re reduced to using a 7-inch screen in this mode, you can only get about three app icons on the taskbar at once unless you reduce the OS’s font and icon size. Doing that on a screen this small makes any text quite hard to read. And don’t even think about running two windows side by side — they’ll barely fit or be so small that you’ll need to scroll forever to see everything. 

Performance and battery life

The X1 Fold uses an Intel Lakefield Core i5 processor with Intel’s “Hybrid technology,” which the chip maker says is “engineered for mobile performance.” It uses architecture similar to ARM’s big.Little design, relegating less demanding tasks to lower-power Atom cores and tapping bigger cores for tougher processes. In general, the Fold kept up with my needs, and the few hiccups I came across seemed more to do with glitchy software than a slow processor. For example, sometimes Lenovo’s mode switching tool wouldn’t work, and instead of letting me choose the window I wanted open on either half of the display, it would just show two random apps I had open. Switching between landscape and portrait modes would bring up all the windows I had open, for example, and I often had to wait for webpages to expand and fill the whole screen when I maximized them.

These were mostly issues that had to do with switching between modes — when I stayed in either tablet or laptop orientations, the device generally kept pace. Granted, I didn’t do anything too demanding like editing video, but for most of my day to day workflow the machine held up.

On our video rundown test, the X1 Fold clocked an impressive 13 hours and 30 minutes, which beats the Galaxy Tab S7+, the Surface Pro 7 and the iPad Pro 12.9. In real-world use, it generally lasts all day in tablet mode, though I found that using the keyboard seemed to drain the battery a bit more quickly. There’s also the option of getting a 5G-capable model of the X1 Fold, by the way, which I expect will sap energy even more. 

Wrap-up

I’m having a hard time recommending anyone buy the X1 Fold. I don’t want to diminish Lenovo’s achievement here — it’s impressive that the company managed to make a foldable PC that it’s ready to roll out to the public. But as is the case with many first-gen products, the X1 Fold is an expensive experiment. If you buy this, know that you’re basically paying to be a beta tester. There are plenty of quirks to work out. While I’m excited to see companies innovate, the ThinkPad X1 Fold’s exorbitant price and lack of real benefits keep me from endorsing it. If you need a laptop-tablet hybrid that runs Windows and can fit in tight spaces, the Surface Pro 7 or the Surface Go 2 are much more reasonably priced and offer better productivity.

Acer Nitro 5 Review: A Stand-Out Budget Gaming Laptop

It’s not a stretch to say we’ll probably see new gaming laptops with bigger and better graphics cards soon with 2021 and CES right around the corner. That’s all well and good for anyone who wants the latest and greatest, but many people would prefer something that just good enough—aka something on a budget. These laptops may weigh more than five pounds, they may not have the best display or the best keyboard. They get the job done though, and they do their jobs well, which is why I’d be happy to recommend Acer’s Nitro 5 to anyone who wants something that can do it all, but doesn’t need to spend an ungodly amount of money on a gaming laptop.

The Acer Nitro 5 is the type of laptop I would have loved to have in college. At 5.07 pounds, it’s light enough to carry around in your backpack, but it’s dimensions are thick enough so you don’t have to worry about it sliding around on your desk. Even at that weight, it’s still sort of brick-like with 14.3 by 1.02 by 10-inch dimensions. It would be nice to have that height under an inch at the very least, but it still comes with attractive features that budget laptops normally would not in the past, like a 1080p, 144 Hz IPS display. It’s a more-than-solid gaming laptop for $1,100.

The Nitro 5 has just the right amount of ports, too: one USB 2.0, two USB-A 3.1, one USB-C 3.1, Gigabit Ethernet, audio line out, headphone jack, and one HDMI port. Some $2,000-plus laptops have less ports than that! This laptop isn’t built for streaming, but if you want to plug in a wired mouse, a headset, and a standalone mic to coordinate with your friends over several rounds of Apex Legends, you can do that. There’s also Bluetooth 5.0 support, and a built-in 1280 x 720 webcam plus microphone.

The last-gen Intel processor isn’t that big of a compromise compared to the Nitro 5’s total package. The Core i7-9750H performance is definitely not as fast compared to the 10th-gen. But I’d rather sacrifice a bit of performance that only amounts to small decrease in frame rates or a few additional seconds of processing or loading time instead of DRAM, storage capacity, or a ray-tracing graphics card. The 512 GB SSD is middle-of-the-road for the overall price of this laptop, but it can easily be upgraded down the line. Games’ file sizes are massive these days, so any tier of gaming laptop should come with at least a 1 TB SSD. That’s one of the biggest drawbacks to the Acer Nitro 5, but again, it’s a budget laptop. Concessions need to be made somewhere.

The Nitro 5 also comes with an RTX 2060, which is also a last-gen graphics card, but has the performance you’d expect in a laptop at this price. Gaming on a budget usually requires some sacrifices, but the Nitro 5 is the best possible combination you can get for the price. It’s stellar. Acer does offer a Nitro 5 version with a Ryzen 7 4800H and a GTX 1650Ti for exactly the same price, though. The Ryzen is the better of the two CPUs, but most games rely heavily on the GPU, and the RTX 2060’s performance is miles ahead of the GTX 1650 Ti. Again, I’d rather sacrifice a bit of CPU performance than a lot of GPU performance, especially since the Intel and AMD models have the same specs otherwise for the same price.

For reference, the Core i7-9750H has slightly better performance as the Intel i5-10300H in the Gateway Creators Series we recently tested, scoring 5186 in single-core performance on Geekbench 4, just 12 points higher than the Gateway. Not surprising since they both have the same 4.50 GHz boost clock. Multi-core was no contest between the two though; the i7-9750H has 6-cores/12-threads and the i5-10300H has 4-cores/8-threads. The Nitro 5 obviously scored a lot higher.

When it came to our usual Handbrake and Blender tests, the Nitro 5 was about 15-20 seconds faster rendering 3D images and transcoding a 4K video to 1080p 30 fps, which took between 12.5-13.5 minutes for each task. The Nitro 5 was a tad slower than the Gateway in the Blender GPU test though, by about 20 seconds, even though both have the same GPU.

Gaming-wise, The Acer Nitro 5 was generally faster than the Gateway. Although the more GPU-intensive the game, the smaller the difference. In Overwatch, the Nitro had a 30 fps lead at 1080p on ultra over the Gateway, 195 to 165 fps. Far Cry 5 was 86 to 72 fps, Total War: Warhammer II 67 to 59 fps, Shadow of the Tomb Raider 69 to 63 fps, and Metro Exodus 46 to 47 fps with ray tracing off, and 37 to 38 fps with ray tracing on. Those two extra cores in the 9th-gen CPU are definitely being put to use.

As for battery life, the Acer Nitro 5 is slightly above average compared to other gaming laptops. Acer advertises up to an 8-hour battery life on the Nitro 5, but our tests showed an average of six hours. That’s nearly the same as the MSI Creator 15, Razer Blade 15 Advanced, and Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. It beats the Gateway by an hour, the Asus Strix Scar G15 by an hour and 15 minutes, and the Razer Blade Pro 17 by two and a half hours. Suffice to say, the Nitro has decent battery life.

And that brings me to thermals, which I, surprisingly, don’t have much to complain about. Intel’s 10th generation of laptop processors run notoriously hot, and that’s generally my main complaint of all the gaming laptops I have tested in 2020. Sometimes that heat makes the chassis too hot, and then it’s downhill from there. Intel’s 9th-generation of laptop processors fair better, but just a bit. I saw CPU temps reach a max of 93 C (199.4 F), which caused some thermal throttling according to HWInfo, but it never hit the maximum temperature of 100 C (212 F). Skin temps never broke 50 C (122 F), so I could game for long periods of time comfortably.

If price is your number one priority, and you’re fine with getting some previous-gen parts, the Nitro 5 is one of the best-specced gaming laptops that you can get for $1,100. Acer makes a few sacrifices to get the best price to performance ratio possible, and it pretty much nailed it.

Forget MacBook Pro M1: HP ZBook Firefly G8 is a 3-pound laptop that lasts 14 hours

While Apple’s M1 MacBook Pro got a lot of attention when it debuted last month, HP’s ZBook Firefly G8 could grab back the limelight among creative pros. HP’s latest weapon in its laptop arsenal, announced alongside EliteBook 800 G8 laptops, is rated to last 14 hours on a single charge.

In addition to Intel 11th Gen CPUs and 5G support, HP’s biggest accomplishment here is getting the 14-inch ZBook Firefly G8 below the 3-pound mark by a hair at 2.98 pounds. We’ll still round up to 3 pounds when comparing it to other laptops (like the 3-pound 13-inch MacBook Pro), but it’s lighter than HP’s previous 3.1-pound model.

And about those new EliteBook laptops — the EliteBook 830 G8, EliteBook 840 G8, EliteBook 850 G8 and the EliteBook x360 830 G8 also have 11th Gen processors (U-series, just like the ZBook Fireflys) and Intel Xe graphics. All of the aforementioned notebooks can also be outfitted with a Tile tracker, something HP started doing with the Elite Dragonfly.

These EliteBooks and Firefly laptops also feature AI-based noise cancellation for web conferencing to filter out background sounds, HP QuickDrop for sending files between your PC and phone, HP Tamper Lock to lock down your PC if it falls into the wrong hands, and HP Sure View Reflect for privacy.

laptop’s three-digit series number is a reference to its display size. Oh, and if there’s an x360, that means it’s a convertible.

So, the EliteBook 840 G8 is a 14-inch business laptop and the EliteBook x360 830 G8 is a 13-inch 2-in-1.

HP EliteBook 800, ZBook Firefly G8 pricing and availability

HP did not provide pricing for any of these models. Each is “expected to be available later in December,” and prices will be released closer to that date.

HP EliteBook 800, ZBook Firefly G8 design

The EliteBook 800 and ZBook Firefly G8 laptops have a similar aesthetic, with a tapering bottom half that has a triangular edge on the rear. The ZBook Firefly, despite its name, isn’t a brighter-colored laptop — but in fact darker than the silver EliteBook 800. As HP has been doing for a while, these laptops use ocean-bound plastics in the speaker enclosures. 

At 0.7 to 0.8 inches thick, these G8 laptops aren’t exactly slim nor thick. And while the 14-inch ZBook Firefly weighing in at just barely less than 3 pounds is a strong showing, the EliteBooks tip the scales at 2.8 to 3.8 pounds, which make sense given their 13- to 15-inch sizes. The x360 830 G8 is 0.2 pounds heavier than its non-convertible sibling. 

The EliteBook 800 G8 and ZBook Firefly G8 all have the same set of ports: dual Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, dual USB 3.1 Type-A ports, HDMI 2.0, a headphone jack, a security lock slot and a dedicated power port. 

HP EliteBook 800, ZBook Firefly G8 displays

One of the biggest differences between the ZBook Firefly and EliteBook 800 laptops is in their screens. Those who want an extremely accurate panel will go for the Firefly laptops, which are rated for 100% of the DCI-P3 spectrum. The M1 MacBook Pro hit 78.3% in our testing. 

Further, the ZBook Firefly panels are PANTONE Validated displays, which mean they meet the Pantone company’s color fidelity criteria and simulates the “full range of real-world PANTONE Colors.”

HP EliteBook 800, ZBook Firefly G8 performance

In addition to the Intel 11th Gen Tiger Lake processors and Intel Xe integrated graphics in all of these laptops, the ZBook Firefly G8 also packs discrete Nvidia T500 graphics with 4GB of dedicated memory. HP claims this will net up to 3x graphics performance against the Firefly G7 laptops. 

The EliteBook 800 laptops also meet the Intel Evo standards, and there will be vPro versions (a standard for many IT teams) of these systems coming in January 2021. 

HP EliteBook 800, ZBook Firefly G8 battery life

Just like the new M1-based MacBook Pro, the HP ZBook Firefly G8 14 and 15 look to provide seriously long battery life. HP rates the ZBook Fireflys as lasting up to 14 hours on a single charge. 

That’s based on the MobileMark 14 battery test, though, so we’ll see how long they make it on the Tom’s Guide Battery Test, which involves web surfing over Wi-Fi. 

HP EliteBook 800, ZBook Firefly G8 outlook

Since competition is best for the consumer, we hope that HP’s latest business-class laptops for creators and pros truly do stack up well against the new M1 MacBooks. At the very least, the Firefly G8 displays look to outshine Apple and anyone else hoping to throw down.

We look forward to testing these laptops out and seeing how they hold up to everyday use. Without pricing, though, it’s hard to truly judge them at this stage.

Lenovo might announce ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga in the next week

Earlier this year, the names of two new ThinkPad X1 models were leaked: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano and ThinkPad X1 Titanium. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano is already available in the USA – the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Titanium meanwhile is nowhere to be found. The last time we heard about it were a few leaked promo videos on Youtube.

2020 is drawing to a close and by this point, we expected to see the ThinkPad X1 Titanium in early 2021, maybe with an announcement at the virtual CES. However, there are new signs that at least the public announcement might still come in this year.

Lenovo has recently updated its Accessories and Options Compatibility Matrix (OCM). The newest version (as of December 6 2020) includes the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga Gen 1. Alongside the full-name of the product, the OCM also reveals the model-numbers: 20QA and 20QB. Also, it appears the X1 Titanium Yoga will rely on M.2 2242 SSDs for internal storage, exactly like the ThinkPad X1 Nano.

With the model appearing in the OCM, this might be a hint that an announcement is imminent. At the same time, there is news from China: The Chinese tech-site ITHome reports that Lenovo’s Think division will hold a special event next week, officially launching the ThinkPad X1 Nano in China – and unveiling the ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga at the same time. This should be regarded as a rumor at this point, but we might see more of the ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga very soon.

Based on prior leaks, we already know that the X1 Titanium Yoga will be a convertible ThinkPad with Intel’s Tiger Lake platform inside. It will be the thinnest ThinkPad laptop yet, with a body completely made out of metal. Judging from the pictures, it looks like the screen will have a 3:2 aspect ratio, though this is not confirmed yet.

LG Gram 2021 launch event announced with four lightweight laptops up for release

LG will present its new Gram laptops in South Korea on December 16, the company has confirmed. The event will commence at 18:00 KST (UTC +9), according to a post on the dedicated LG Gram website. LG is yet to announce anything globally, which suggests that the December 16 event will be limited to South Korea. Nevertheless, LG will probably release its new Gram laptops outside its home market, so the launch event will be relevant to international audiences.

Based on recent findings, LG plans to upgrade its Gram series to Intel’s new Tiger Lake architecture. The timing of LG’s event hints that it will continue to use U-series processors in its laptops, rather than the upcoming Tiger Lake-H series. Currently, LG sells 14-inch, 15.6-inch and 17-inch versions of the Gram, but the company may have added a new model into the mix for its latest refresh.

The FCC and KCC have confirmed that the new 14-inch and 17-inch models will be called 14Z90P and 17Z90P, respectively. LG has recently certified a 15Z95N in South Korea and with the FCC, so a new 15.6-inch model appears to be also on the way. Additionally, LG has registered the model number 16Z90P, which implies that the company plans to release a 16-inch version of the Gram, too. There are hardly any 16:9 and 16-inch displays, so a 16-inch Gram will probably have a 16:10 aspect ratio, like the current 17-inch model.

In short, it seems that LG will release 14, 15.6, 16 and 17-inch versions of the Gram this month. However, the Z95N model number of the 15.6-inch SKU insinuates that it will differ from the 14, 16 and 17-inch variants somehow.

AOC C32G2AE and CQ32G2SE: Two curved gaming monitors launched with 31.5-inch panels, 165 Hz refresh rates and 1 ms response times

AOC has announced yet more gaming monitors. This time it is two 31.5-inch monitors called the C32G2AE and CQ32G2SE. The two are essentially the same monitor, although they differ in resolution. The CQ32G2SE offers up to 1,440 (QHD), while the C32G2AE maxes out at 1080p.

Both offer a curvature of 1500R and are VA panels, though. Additionally, the monitors have viewing angles of 178/178°, a peak contrast ratio of 3,000:1 and an sRGB colour space coverage of 121%. Moreover, AOC allows the pair to reach 165 Hz with a 1 ms response time. Both peak at 250 nits too, which is a touch on the dark side.

There is also support for AMD FreeSync Premium, which should minimise stuttering and image tearing. AOC has even included two 5 W speakers and a VESA mount, along with two HDMI 2.0 ports and a single DisplayPort 1.2 connection.

The AOC C32G2AE and CQ32G2SE will be available in Europe later this month for €299 and €389, respectively. According to Display Daily, AOC will sell the C32G2AE for £249 in the UK, with the CQ32G2SE priced at £329.

ACER ASPIRE 5 REVIEW: A $549 LAPTOP THAT DOESN’T COMPLETELY SUCK

The Acer Aspire 5 is a very functional laptop. I used it as my primary work driver for over a week, including the whirlwind that was Black Friday weekend. It loads the pages I need it to. It handles a heavy share of tabs and apps without burning itself up. It’s not seven pounds. Basically, it’s a $549 laptop that doesn’t completely suck.

There was a time when that would’ve made this the best budget laptop you can buy. But that time has come to an end, and the reason rhymes with “bay-MD.”

This Aspire 5 model has a four-core Intel Core i5-1035G1, the same budget- and midrange-oriented processor that powers Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go. Performance-wise, it gets the job done — but its battery life is disastrous, and its integrated graphics are behind the times at this point. My advice: if you can get your hands on one, buy the AMD model with a six-core AMD Ryzen 5 4500U for the same price instead.

Starting with the design, which is the same across both models. I’d say the Aspire 5 looks fine — it’s no Dell XPS, but it’s still respectable from all angles. It comes in a few colors including silver and black. (I have the silver one, though I think the black looks a bit fancier myself.) Most of it is plastic, but the top cover (the part people are most likely to see) is aluminum. There’s some flex in the keyboard and the screen, but not so much that I worried about snapping the thing in half. It’s neither ultraportable nor overly clunky, weighing 3.7 pounds (1.8 kg) and measuring 14.3 x 9.9 x 0.7 inches. Students should note that while the Aspire isn’t terribly heavy, its breadth makes it a bit of a chore to fit in a standard-sized backpack alongside a load of books and binders.

A few other touches you might notice: Like the higher-priced Swift line, the Aspire 5 has a lustrous center hinge with “Aspire” printed across it, which is a nice bit of flair. The bezels, though, are quite large and very plastic-looking. The top one is particularly hefty.

All fair enough. At $549, I’ll take it. But it is worth noting that you don’t need to spend all that much more to get significantly higher build quality if you’re willing to compromise on screen size. The Acer Swift 3 (if you’ll take a 14-incher) is a nicer-looking, slimmer, and sturdier-feeling machine. Its Ryzen 5 4500U model is only $80 more expensive than this Aspire 5 on Acer’s website (and is even cheaper when it’s on sale).

ACER ASPIRE 5 SPECS (AS REVIEWED)

15.6-inch 16:9 display, 1920 x 1080

Intel Core i5-1035G1 (1.0 GHz with turbo boost up to 3.6 GHz)

8GB DDR4 memory

256GB PCIe NVMe SSD, one available hard disk drive bay

3.97 lbs (1.8 kg)

Ports: one USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1, two USB 3.1 Gen 1 (one with power-off charging), one USB 2.0, one HDMI 2.0, one audio jack, one Ethernet (RJ-45), one DC-in jack

Windows Hello fingerprint reader

$549.99

“Pure silver” color option

The strength of such a large chassis, though, is that there’s room for a useful port selection. In total, we have one USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1, two USB 3.1 Gen 1, one USB 2.0, one HDMI 2.0, and one Ethernet, as well as a power port. That’s comprehensive, though you’ll need to look elsewhere if you’re seeking Thunderbolt support, a typical omission in this price range.

The display is a bit of a dud on paper. I measured it as covering just 66 percent of the sRGB gamut and 50 percent of AdobeRGB. It also maxes out at 220 nits of brightness. Those are both mediocre as laptop screens go, though they’re not terrible for the category; color-wise, the Aspire actually scored slightly better than the IPS panel on the Swift 3, as well as the Asus VivoBook 15.

The viewing experience wasn’t as bad as those metrics might indicate. The matte panel did a good job of reducing glare; even around 90 percent brightness, I could use the machine outdoors without a hassle. And while Netflix and YouTube looked drab next to more expensive screens, media consumption is still very doable. (Especially because the audio is quite good. It has a nice surround quality and can easily fill a room — I’d put it on par with a decent external speaker. I could actually hear the bass and percussion in my music.)

The Aspire has a nice keyboard. It’s backlit and quiet with decent travel. (It’s mushier than it is clicky, if you have strong feelings about that.) There’s a numpad on the right side, which is a nice feature, but it does push the touchpad to the left. This was irksome for me as someone with small hands. The area that was natural for me to touch with my right hand was the right-click area. I had to intentionally stretch over to left-click, and I never really got used to it — even after a week and a half, I was still accidentally right-clicking all the time. There’s also an embedded fingerprint reader in the top-left corner of the touchpad, but its location wasn’t super convenient for me as a righty and I never ended up using it much.

AGREE TO CONTINUE: ACER ASPIRE 5 (2020)

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.

The Acer Aspire 5 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 Acer License Agreement

A Microsoft account for sign-in (this can be bypassed if you don’t connect the computer to the internet during setup)

A PIN

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

Connect to Wi-Fi

Windows Hello fingerprint sensor authentication

Device privacy settings: online speech recognition, Find My Device, Inking and Typing, Advertising ID, location, diagnostic data, tailored experiences

Link an Android phone

OneDrive backup

Office 365

Let Microsoft collect information (including location, location history, contacts, voice input, speech and handwriting patterns, typing history, search history, calendar details, messages, apps, and Edge browsing history) to help Cortana provide personalized experiences and suggestions

Register for an Acer account

Enroll in Acer’s mailing list and the Acer User Experience Improvement Program (allowing Acer to collect information on your usage), and allow Acer to share contact details with Norton so it can send you updates about its pre-installed security software.

In total, that’s six mandatory agreements and 17 optional ones.

Of course, performance is what really makes or breaks a budget laptop. The base Aspire 5 configuration, listed at $399.99 on Acer’s website, can come with a Core i3-1005G1 or an AMD Ryzen 3 4300U (both with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD). There are a number of models at different price points, including some with touchscreens. The system we’re looking at is listed at $549.99 on Amazon and has Intel’s four-core Core i5-1035G1, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage. A system with the same specs and a six-core Ryzen 5 4500U is currently listed on Acer’s website for the same price (though it’s hard to find and looks to be sold out on Amazon as of this writing).

It’s important to caveat here that I haven’t tried the AMD system yet — but the six-core 4500U is an impressive chip. In the $799 HP Envy x360 13 (which also has 8GB of RAM), it easily delivered the fantastic performance I’d expect from a Core i7, and it could even run Overwatch on its High settings at over 60fps. Make no mistake: the Intel Aspire 5 didn’t give me any problems during my various office work, social media, emailing, and the like. But performance wasn’t quite as zippy as it was on the AMD Envy. And I got the sense that the thing was chugging — I could almost always hear the fans spinning, even when I was just running a few Chrome tabs. I wouldn’t have wanted to try anything more intense (and unlike Intel’s new Iris Plus graphics, its UHD graphics aren’t a good choice for anything but the lightest gaming).

That’s before we even talk about the battery life. This Aspire 5 averaged four hours and 49 minutes of my daily workload (12-15 Chrome tabs, Slack, Spotify streaming, and occasional Zoom calls on the Battery Saver profile at 200 nits of brightness). That’s not good, and it’s especially not enough for students who are out and about all day. AMD processors, by contrast, have been killing it on battery: the 4500U-powered Envy could churn out eight hours of my typical workload while the Swift 3 with a Ryzen 7 4700U got up to seven hours, and the 4800U-powered IdeaPad Slim 7 achieved a monstrous 13 and a half hours.

Final note: there’s some bloatware. I got some annoying Norton pop-ups and occasional notifications from various other programs that came loaded onto the Aspire. These aren’t the end of the world at this price point, but note that you may have to take some time to uninstall if the alerts are bothering you.

So, look, the Aspire 5 gets the job done. It works. It does what you need it to (at least until the battery runs out). There are even a couple areas where it’s punching above its weight class — the audio is great, and it’s nice to have a fingerprint reader.

But if you can get all those benefits plus a six-core AMD processor for the same (or a comparable) price, I see no reason not to go that route instead if you’re wed to the 15-inch system. AMD systems are hard to find, but I recommend digging around or waiting until one becomes available. And if you’re willing to spend a bit more for the Ryzen-powered Swift 3, you’ll see a noticeable difference in build quality and portability as well as multiple extra hours of battery life. For students and on-the-go workers, I think that’s more than worth the cost.

NEW SAMSUNG GALAXY CHROMEBOOK IS REPORTEDLY IN THE WORKS

As it happens many times, leaks have led to news of a new Samsung Galaxy Chromebook in the works. Most are aware of this year’s standout high-end Galaxy Chromebook, it’s jaw-dropping looks, and amazing AMOLED display. Held back only by battery woes, this thin, attractive, high-end Chromebook has only recently come down off of its lofty $999 price tag even though it has been available since the very beginning of Q2 2020.

According to serial leaker Evan Blass, there is a new Galaxy Chromebook around the corner. Over at his new voice.com page, Evan has laid out only scant details around this mysterious new Chromebook with a prediction that specs and images should be on the way soon. In his post, he also predicts a Galaxy Chromebook 2 branding, but we’re not so sure at this point.

We’ve been tracking a device known to be another Samsung-made Chromebook for quite some time in ‘Nightfury’. We’ve been a tad bit confused by this device since it showed up given the fact that it is using the same 10th-gen Intel processors as the current Galaxy Chromebook. With a shift to a QLED screen and the addition of fans, it doesn’t seem that ‘Nightfury’ will be as sleek and svelte as the current Galaxy Chromebook, either.

Another device in the Galaxy Chromebook line would make sense, but a true successor doesn’t seem likely with ‘Nightfury’. With tons of Tiger Lake Chromebooks coming in 2021, it would be a very odd move for Samsung to release a 10th-gen Comet Lake Chromebook as a successor to a Chromebook with the same processor inside. If anything, ‘Nightfury’ feels like a side-step, adjacent move: not an upgrade in any way. Additionally, consider Samsung’s approach to Windows laptops and the many devices they currently have in their lineup. With Galaxy Chromebooks, we could see a bit of the same tactic. The Galaxy Book Flex and Galaxy Book ⍺ come to mind, here.

While it would make sense that Samsung is at work on a Tiger Lake Chromebook, there is no evidence of that currently in the Chromium Repositories. We’ve been able to nail down every Samsung-made Chromebook up to this point, so the fact that ‘Nightfury’ is the only device we’re tracking with any real flagship potential, it makes sense that this is Samsung’s next important Chromebook. While that doesn’t make for a proper Galaxy Chromebooks successor, it could make for a great Galaxy Chromebook addition for 2021. If we get a great screen, great build, and better battery, this new Galaxy Chromebook could be what more consumers are looking for if the price is a bit more competitive. Hopefully Evan has more details to share soon.