Category: Laptop

Cirrus7 Incus Is A Mini-PC That Supports Up To 10 Core Intel Comet Lake CPUs – Core i9-10900 & AMD Ryzen 7 4750G In A SFF Design

Cirrus7, the creators of several small form factor mini PCs, has announced that their Incus PC is getting support for Intel’s Comet Lake CPUs in addition to the AMD Ryzen ‘Renoir’ CPUs that were already supported. FanlessTech reports that the new design update should allow for up to 8 core and 16 thread CPUs to be incorporated by the SFF PC.

Cirrus7’s Incus Mini-PC Gets Support For 10 Core Intel Comet Lake CPUs In Addition To 8 Core AMD Ryzen Renoir APUs

The Incus Mini PC from Cirrus7 is based on ASRock’s DeskMini X300 and DeskMini H470 platform. It makes use of the same motherboards to support Intel’s Comet Lake and AMD’s Renoir CPUs. The Incus measures at 202x179x148mm and weighs up to 4.5 KG. This is due to the fact that the whole system is passively cooled and features a large aluminum fin array that acts as its primary heatsink.

The Incus comes with two options, the standard 35W design, and a more powerful 65W design. The main difference aside from the CPU support is that the 35W variant packs a total of 6 heatsink fins over the chassis while the 65W variant packs 10 fins. Users are given the option to include cooling for the entire system (including CPU, memory, and motherboard) or just the case itself. Since we’re looking at 35W and 65W designs, the CPU support is also vastly different.

For the 35W configuration, you get up to an 8 core AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750G support which is configured at 35W (cTDP), or an Intel Core i9-10900T which is a 10 core chip and has a TDP of 35Watts. The 65W design allows for the faster Core i9-10900 which clocks up to 5.2 GHz or the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750G unlocked to its full potential. The system can support up to 64 GB of DDR4-3000 MHz memory in the SO-DIMM form factor.

There are two M.2 and two 2.5″ slots which means that storage won’t be an issue on this Mini PC. Other features include a separately sold VESA wall and screen mount, WiFi/Bluetooth capabilities that come in either DualBand Wireless AC9260 or Intel WiFi 6 AX200 options. The I/O you get also depends on the platform you’re going after.

An AMD based Incus will get you two USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Type-A + Type-C) and audio/mic jacks on the front while the rear would feature 1 VGA, 1 HDMI 2.0, 1 DisplayPort 1.4, 1 USB 3.1 Gen 1, 1 USB 2.0 and a single Gigabit LAN port. An Intel-based system will get you two USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Type-A + Type-C) and audio/mic jacks on the front while the rear would feature 1 VGA, 1 HDMI, 1 DP 1.4, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, and a single Gigabit LAN connector.

The system comes with a 120W external power supply and the full system power consumption with the top configuration is rated at around 90W. Cirrus7 also ships the platform with the latest BIOS to ensure full compatibility and system stability.

The base 35W and 65W Incus Mini PC configuration cost 449.10 Euros in both AMD and Intel flavors. Moving up to 8 cores, the AMD Ryzen 7 4750G and Intel Core i7-10700 configuration costs 1002.60 Euros which is configured with 16 GB DDR4 memory, 250 GB M.2 SSD, 1 TB HDD, and Intel WiFi 6

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano with 16:10 screen goes on sale in the USA

Back in late September, Lenovo announced the ultra-light ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 1, the first ThinkPad with a 16:10 screen since 2010. It was to be released in December 2020. Fulfilling this promise, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano is orderable in the USA since today – though not with all configurations yet and not for the promised start-price.

The last thing is not unusual, however: Lenovo ThinkPad laptops are often discounted heavily, but not right after release. Costing at least $1,721, the X1 Nano Gen 1 is still well above the announced base-price of $1,599 – it will probably hit that mark in a few weeks.

Price is not the only area where waiting might still be a good idea. In terms of the available configurations, several options are still missing, such as vPro processors as well as the 5G and LTE options. LTE is said to be available at some point in December, while 5G models will not arrive till January.

When additional CPU options go on sale is unknown at this point, though we do expect to see the Intel Core i5-1140G7 and i7-1180G7 – Lenovo ThinkPad laptops are business models and usually include the Intel CPUs with vPro. At the moment, only the two Tiger Lake UP4 CPUs Intel Core i5-1130G7 and i7-1160G7 are orderable. The main difference between these is that the i5 has lower clock rates and a slightly less powerful version of the Intel Iris Xe graphics.

LG will release a redesigned 16-inch LG Gram in 2021, next to new 14 and 17-inch models

Traditionally, LG has announced new LG Gram laptops in early December and later showed them to the public during CES in early January. 2020 might be a little different in a lot of ways but LG seems to be sticking to its usual schedule. So far we have not seen any official information regarding the new LG Gram series of 2021 but leaker cozyplanes has recently stirred our interest in the upcoming lightweight laptop models by posting a picture of what he says is next year’s 14-inch LG Gram with model number 14Z90P (see below).

Later, twitter user @bhuvnesh_bagri also posted a slightly different picture of the same laptop from a different angle (see above). Mr. cozyplanes later also mentioned a new 16-inch model with a bigger trackpad so with the assistance of Google we managed to dig up three new model numbers in the FCC database that point towards the LG Gram lineup of 2021:

LG Gram 14 14Z90P

LG Gram 16 16Z90P

LG Gram 17 17Z90P

15-inch LG Gram may evolve into a 16-inch with 16:10 display

We did not find model numbers for new 13-inch or 15-inch models, so we fully expect LG to release a trio of redesigned 14-, 16- and 17-inch Grams in a few weeks. The leaked pictures of the 14-inch laptop appear to show a device with a slightly redesigned chassis with two USB-A ports plus microSD-slot on the right side next to a Kensington lock. This is a slightly different selection compared to the previous 14-inch LG Gram of 2020, however it clearly shows that LG is not ready to ditch traditional ports just yet, even in ultra-low-weight notebooks.

The most interesting of the bunch will of course be the new 16-inch model that, most likely, evolved from the current 15.6-inch Gram 15Z90N by changing into a 16:10 form factor. While this is pure speculation at this point, it does make sense. The 17-inch LG Gram 17Z90N already offers the slightly taller screen and a higher resolution so we expect LG to go down that road with the 16-inch model as well. The pictures also show EVO certification, so we would bet on Intel Tiger Lake internals and at least one Thunderbolt 4-port on the left side.

SAMSUNG’S ODYSSEY G9 DOES THE WORK OF THREE MONITORS

I have been a technology cheapskate most of my life. I’ve rarely bought a monitor brand-new; I’m pleased to say I pieced together my current three-screen articulating swing-arm setup primarily from Craigslist and hand-me-downs. But this fall, I had an opportunity to temporarily replace my three aging displays with the most ridiculous, most advanced gaming monitor ever made: the super-ultrawide, super-curved, ultra-high resolution 49-inch Samsung Odyssey G9.

The Samsung Odyssey G9 is a monitor so big, so wide, so curved, it can fill a midsized desk and wrap around your entire field of view. It’s also simply a phenomenal screen: speedy (240Hz, 1ms, G-Sync, and FreeSync 2), high resolution (5120 x 1440-pixel), and bursting with brilliant color thanks to a QLED panel that tops out at an eye-searing 1,000 nits of brightness. I’m not kidding when I say I have to avert my eyes when I launch Destiny 2 in HDR, and I could swear I felt the flames the first few times my Star Wars: Squadrons’ TIE Bomber blasted an X-Wing into oblivion.

As they say on Reddit, I have ascended — and the past few weeks have been a gaming and productivity experience like few I’ve had before.

But gradually, I’ve been coming back down to Earth.

DESIGN

The Odyssey G9 is a showstopper, and I don’t just mean that figuratively: last January, attendees of the world’s biggest technology show were dazzled by its unprecedented curvature and sci-fi inspired frame.

When I put that same monitor on my humble IKEA sit-stand desk, the effect is otherworldly. Compared to my old hodgepodge of screens and rat’s nest of cabling, this G9 looks like a terminal aboard a Star Trek spaceship… even if my physical keyboard and its long braided cable ruin the illusion a bit.

The sheer size of the Odyssey G9 and its broad-shouldered stand do limit your options. I’m lucky that my small-form-factor Ncase M1 can fit behind the screen, and there’s just enough clearance (a little over six inches) for my Audioengine A2+ speakers to fit underneath the monitor at the stand’s highest position. But if I had a bigger PC or bigger speakers, I might have also needed a bigger desk — or else had to use the included 100mm x 100mm VESA adapter to mount the nearly four-feet wide, one-foot deep, 31-pound screen to the wall. My current monitor arms can’t carry nearly that much weight, though you can buy some TV arms that do.

As it is, I’m a fan of the way this monitor brings my whole desk together. Two DisplayPorts and an HDMI 2.0 port let me switch between three video sources easily, including a side-by-side mode which lets me display two at once, effectively giving my PC and game console (or a second computer) each their own 24.5-inch, 2560 x 1440 displays.

There’s also a two-port USB-A 3.0 hub and a 3.5mm audio output, which worked perfectly with my keyboard’s USB and 3.5mm audio passthrough. As you can see from my photos, I can do a lot with only a single visible cable thanks to those ports. And while the narrow V-shaped stand might seem a little minimal for a monitor this hefty, it takes a decent shove to get it to tip forward even at its highest position.

You can adjust the monitor’s settings using a tiny five-way control nub underneath the power LED, and it’s remarkable how much you can tweak — including the ability to crop the entire panel to 4:3, 16:9, or 21:9 aspect ratios instead of stretching out the image. You can effectively have a 27-inch HDR panel for your game console or TV whenever you need. It’s just a shame that the monitor’s biggest benefits don’t necessarily translate to its side-by-side mode, where your 240Hz HDR screen generally becomes a pair of 60Hz SDR ones.

PRODUCTIVITY

My first big test for Samsung’s Odyssey G9 wasn’t a console or even PC gaming — last month, I co-hosted The Verge’s industry-famous Apple event live blog, capturing every screenshot you saw. I normally run three monitors because I switch tasks like mad, and if there’s a better multitasking test than an Apple event, I haven’t met it yet.

At first, I wasn’t sure this epic screen would work. Most apps and websites aren’t designed to display across the vast expanse of a single 32:9 monitor, so you have to live in windows. I couldn’t simply toss one or two apps onto each monitor like I usually do. But while Samsung doesn’t ship the G9 with any good windowing software and Windows 10’s default Snap is woefully insufficient, Microsoft’s free downloadable FancyZones windowing manager worked wonders.

l built my own set of dedicated snappable spots for the Apple live stream; The Verge’s live-blogging tool; Slack; a browser window to keep track of any Apple press releases that might pop during the show; and even a narrow strip of Windows Explorer so I could see which images I’d already captured and weed them out as necessary. The only other wrinkle was the additional Chrome extension I had to download to ensure YouTube could launch “full screen” in a browser window, instead of taking over my entire ultrawide monitor.

In general, while I did occasionally miss my two vertically oriented monitors for scrolling long webpages, Google Docs, and Tweetdeck, I found the G9’s gigantic horizontal expanse of real estate nearly as effective for most tasks. Where I could only squeeze four narrow columns of Tweetdeck onto my old portrait-orientation screens, the G9 would comfortably fit five, plus a 30-tab web browser, a nice vertical strip of Evernote for note-taking, and our Slack newsroom alongside.

I wouldn’t say it’s better than having three screens for work, but it seems like a sufficient substitute — except maybe that toast notifications now pop up in the corner of my eye where they’re pretty easy to miss. Still, it’s nice not to have to match color, contrast, and brightness across three screens at a time, or adjust how my mouse crosses from one monitor to the next. Having a single, vast, unbroken expanse of real estate that’s always the same distance from my face (as I spin in my chair) is an absolute treat. And while the Odyssey G9’s unprecedented curve does tend to catch ambient light, the matte screen does a great job of diffusing any glare.

The ultrawide aspect ratio didn’t work as well for video as I hoped, though. While you might imagine 32:9 being great for movies, I had a hard time finding anything I could play in ultra high definition that wasn’t 16:9. Most streaming platforms won’t easily let you access their 4K and HDR content on a Windows machine to begin with — YouTube’s the primary exception, though Netflix works if you’ve got a recent Intel processor and use Microsoft Edge or the native app — and you’ll want 4K to take advantage of a screen this high-res and this close to your face. The 4K YouTube videos I played were definitely clearer than 1080p — I could really peep these pixels in Dieter’s iPhone 12 video review. And while standard 16:9, 1080p content does display just fine full-screen with black borders on the sides, it feels like I’m wasting a lot of screen real estate that way. Plus, the blacks are a bit gray, not the deep inky black you’d get from an OLED screen — particularly with HDR on and Samsung’s iffy local dimming enabled.

GAMING

The first thing you should know about gaming on the Odyssey G9 is that you’ll want a serious graphics card to go with it. Technically, 5120 x 1440 resolution isn’t quite as many pixels as a 3840 x 2160 4K UHD screen… but remember we’re also talking about a monitor that goes up to 240Hz. To properly review the Odyssey G9, I borrowed an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 to get enough horsepower, since my GTX 1080 couldn’t even run games like Death Stranding or Destiny 2 at 60fps smoothly at that resolution.

The second thing you should know about gaming on the Odyssey G9 is that it may not be quite as immersive as you’re imagining.

Don’t get me wrong: having an X-Wing cockpit wrapped all around you is an epic experience, and it feels like a true advantage to be able to use my peripheral vision in competitive shooters like PUBG and CS:GO. But it wasn’t long until I noticed something weird going on.

Look carefully at these images: notice how the sides are warped? Imperial deck officers and Novigrad Temple Guards aren’t generally this pudgy.

I tried game after game after game on the Odyssey G9, digging into my Steam, Epic, and Uplay libraries and tweaking a variety of settings, and this is simply the reality: every 3D game gets warped when you’re viewing it in a 32:9 aspect ratio, and there’s not much you can do about it. Changing your field of view in a game doesn’t get rid of the effect; it simply changes how much of the game world appears in the center of your screen (where things look normal) and at the edges (where they look stretched and zoomed). I actually pulled out a tape measure and checked: video game content that measures 4.75 inches at the center of the display can get stretched to a full 12 inches at the edges.

Now, this isn’t Samsung’s fault; it’s just the way games are built. Most games have a single virtual camera that exists at a single point in space, and while Nvidia once proposed changing that (see link above), the company’s Simultaneous Multi-Projection doesn’t seem to have made it into any of the games I tested. And in games with pre-rendered cutscenes, like Final Fantasy XV, you’ll be watching them at their original aspect ratio.

But before you write off 32:9 ultrawides right now, there are three things I’d like you to consider:

You might get used to it.

It’s not that distracting in some games!

2D games aren’t affected at all.

Let me give you some examples.

CS:GO and PUBG are incredibly competitive, nail-biting games where focus is everything, where you always need to have your gun at the ready and be scanning for any sign of movement. I don’t have time to turn my head left and right to appreciate the scenery or think about whether it’s warped. The G9 simply gives me enhanced peripheral vision, and it helps — not hurts — that things which appear in the corner of my eye are zoomed in by default. I got used to treating it as my peripheral vision and nothing else. (The 240Hz also comes in pretty handy in games like CS:GO where you can actually hit that frame rate.)

Genshin Impact, Abzû, Rocket League, and BioShock Infinite are games with gorgeous, colorful worlds whose proportions aren’t “normal” to begin with, and I love having them wrapped around me.

In Destiny 2 and XCOM 2, I found I could forgive the warping because of the enhanced field of view and the ability to easily zoom whenever you want. It’s nice to see more of the battlefield at once in XCOM while planning out how my soldiers will move each turn, and it’s pretty cool to aim down the sights in Destiny without the typical claustrophobia that comes with zooming in, since you’re still able to see what’s going on around you.

2D / 2.5D games like Worms W.M.D and Disco Elysium do look fantastic on the G9 — when you can find ones that actually support an ultrawide screen. That’s not a given: I managed to launch Soldat at 5120 x 1440 resolution, but it didn’t stretch across my monitor. Games with fixed widths like Streets of Rage 4 and Hyper Light Drifter won’t either. Even Disco Elysium only offers 21:9 support, not 32:9, unless you apply a hack.

And for every one of the 3D games that worked, I also found a Borderlands 3 or The Witness or Goat of Duty or The Witcher 3 where the warped geometry really bugged me, either because I wanted to sit back and look at the beautiful vista or because the edges of my screen were moving faster than the center.

In games like the hack-and-slash Mordhau or the road-tripping Final Fantasy XV, the distraction can also be when a piece of geometry that’s critical to the game constantly looks wrong. (Your Mordhau sword or axe often extends into the warped area of the screen; the road itself in FFXV looks curved instead of flat!)

Frankly, the most annoying game I played on the Odyssey G9 was figuring out which games would work in the first place. Here, I have to shout out Rock Paper Shotgun’s Katharine Castle, whose brilliant example-filled guide showcases nearly three dozen titles that do work, complete with GIFs so you can see for yourself. But if you’re willing to work at it (and understand the risks), a community at the Widescreen Gaming Forum (WSGF) and PCGamingWiki can help you hack and patch many existing titles to work at 32:9, too.

For instance, I installed a trainer that let me run Death Stranding at full-resolution 32:9, with an infinitely adjustable field of view, instead of the 21:9 that designer Hideo Kojima and company shipped.

Using a common tutorial, I hex-edited my Persona 4 Golden .exe and remarkably wound up playing what was originally a 480p PlayStation 2 game — and later a 720p, 16:9 PlayStation Vita game — at a glorious 3840 x 1080 at 32:9. (I do still need to figure out how to un-stretch the UI.) And there’s an old, unmaintained program called Widescreen Fixer that helped me revisit an old favorite:

I wouldn’t say the community is robust enough that you could necessarily find a fix for any game in your library. But the WSGF does now have a Discord you might want to check out.

THE ULTIMATE ULTRAWIDE, BUT THE BEST MONITOR?

The Samsung Odyssey G9 costs $1,479.99 — a premium price for a premium monitor like nothing else on the market. You can find other 49-inch 32:9 panels for less, but none with this combination of resolution, brightness, curvature, and refresh rate. The closest you can come is last year’s $1,200 Samsung CRG9 which maintains the resolution and brightness but with half the refresh rate at 120Hz and a notably less pronounced 1800R curvature — which, I imagine, wouldn’t be as good at giving you convincing peripheral vision in games.

If you’re looking for the ultimate ultrawide, this is currently it. I’m just not convinced that I am, personally, even if I had that much money earmarked for a new screen. For $1,500 and the enormous amount of space the Odyssey G9 consumes, I could buy a 48-inch LG OLED TV instead. I’d get a screen just as gigantic for my multitasking, but taller, with 120Hz G-Sync and FreeSync support, incredibly deep blacks, HDMI 2.1 for variable refresh rate for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, and no need to troubleshoot aspect ratios for my videos and games. Linus Tech Tips has a video that dives deep into the pros and cons of that LG screen, and I came away fairly convinced.

It wouldn’t be the same experience that the G9 offers, of course, and I might regret it if Nvidia and AMD ever dust off Simultaneous Multi-Projection for real. The TV might also cut off access to a large portion of my desk, and I might not be able to place my PC and speakers within easy reach without blocking a bit of the screen. But I’d have a more obviously future-proof setup; an equally, if not more gorgeous image; and a lot less ambient annoyance when I want to game. At the very least, here’s hoping Samsung adds HDMI 2.1 to this epic monitor next year.

A Ryzen 7 4800U for Businesses: HP EliteBook 845 G7 Ryzen 7 Pro 4750U Laptop Review

We had recently checked out the HP EliteBook 845 G7 equipped with the hexa-core Ryzen 5 Pro 4650U CPU, 8 GB of single-channel RAM, and 250-nit display panel option. This time, we want to see how well the pricier configuration with the octa-core Ryzen 7 Pro 4750U CPU, 16 GB of dual-channel RAM, and 400-nit panel option can compare. What performance and display differences can users expect between these two SKUs?

Our test unit as configured retails for about $1300 or more. We recommend reading up on our review on the Ryzen 5 configuration to learn more about the physical features of the laptop including its keyboard, port options, and serviceability.

Alternatives to the HP EliteBook 845 G7 include other high-end 14-inch business laptops like the Lenovo X1 Carbon and Dell Latitude 7410 or prosumer laptops like the Huawei MateBook X Pro or Asus ZenBook S UX393.

HP EliteBook 845 G7 Ryzen 7 Pro 4750U

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U 8 x 1.7 – 4.1 GHz, Renoir PRO (Zen 2)

Graphics adapter: AMD Radeon RX Vega 7 – 512 MB, Core: 1600 MHz, Memory: 1333 MHz, DDR4, 27.20.11041.2001

Memory: 16384 MB, DDR4-3200, 22-22-22-52, Dual-Channel

Display: 14.00 inch 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixel 157 PPI, AU Optronics AUO068B, IPS, glossy: no, 60 Hz

Mainboard: AMD Promontory/Bixby FCH

Storage: Samsung SSD PM981a MZVLB256HBHQ, 256 GB 

Weight: 1.39 kg ( = 49.03 oz / 3.06 pounds), Power Supply: 280 g ( = 9.88 oz / 0.62 pounds)

Price: 1300 USD

Display

Our configuration comes equipped with a 400-nit AU Optronics panel in contrast to the 250-nit LG Philips panel on our Ryzen 5 SKU. Other than being brighter, this particular panel also offers deeper colors and a similar contrast ratio of over 1000:1. Black-white and gray-gray response times, however, are slower for more noticeable ghosting here. Still, we find this trade-off to be well worth it especially for an office laptop where colors and brightness are often more important than super-fast response times.

Note that maximum brightness will automatically drop to just 184 nits when on battery power due to AMD Vari-Bright. Disabling this feature via the included Radeon software lifts this low ceiling up to 432.5 nits.

Color space is two times greater than on our less expensive 6-core EliteBook 845 G7 configuration. Our 400-nit panel option covers all of sRGB and approximately 64 percent of AdobeRGB to be suitable for most editors or content creators.

The panel is well-calibrated out of the box with average grayscale and color DeltaE values of just 2.5 and 2.34, respectively. Calibrating the display ourselves even further would improve both gamma and RGB balance just marginally.

Though the 400-nit display is brighter than the 250-nit display on our Ryzen 5 model, it’s still not bright enough to be viewable outdoors. Luckily, HP offers an even brighter 1000-nit panel option for its EliteBook 845 series much like on the EliteBook 1030/1040 series.

Performance

Unlike the Intel-powered EliteBook 840 G7 series, the EliteBook 845 G7 series is home to all the 7 nm AMD options. Users can choose between the Ryzen 3 Pro 4450U, Ryzen 5 Pro 4650U, or Ryzen 7 Pro 4750U. The Ryzen 7 Pro 4750U is essentially the business version of the consumer Ryzen 7 4800U meaning it supports memory encryption, Secure Boot, Trusted Applications, and other hardware-based security measures. Clock rates are slightly slower than the Ryzen 7 4800U as a result of the security overhead (1.7 GHz vs. 1.8 GHz base). The number of GPU cores has been reduced from 8 (Vega 8) to 7 (Vega 7).

Processor

Much like the Ryzen 7 4800U, multi-thread performance on the octa-core Ryzen 7 Pro 4750U is insanely fast when considering the small chassis form factor and small 15 W to 25 W TDP range. CineBench results rank our processor to be on par with the hexa-core Core i7-10750H which is a more much power-hungry processor commonly found on larger laptops like the HP Envy 15, HP Spectre x360 15, or the Dell XPS 15. Intel has no proper U-series octa-core equivalent at the moment as its closest alternative is the 14 nm hexa-core Core i7-10810U which also boasts much slower integrated graphics performance as well.

Upgrading from the 6-core Ryzen 5 Pro 4650U to the 8-core Ryzen Pro 4750U will bring a 20 to 25 percent performance boost in multi-threaded workloads while single-core performance is essentially the same.

System Performance

PCMark results are excellent for a business laptop especially in Digital Content Creation where the extra CPU cores and fast integrated Vega 7 graphics come in handy.

We experienced no software issues with our test unit. On the hardware side, however, our HP P700 external SSD would constantly disconnect and reconnect when attached to any of USB-A ports of the laptop. Connecting the external SSD via USB-C solves the issue. Nonetheless, we recommend testing various USB-A devices to check if the USB ports are exhibiting any issues.

DPC Latency

LattencyMon shows no DPC latency issues when opening multiple browser tabs on our homepage. 4K UHD video playback is also smooth with just 6 dropped frames during our minute-long YouTube test.

Storage Devices

Storage drives often differ between regions or resellers. Our Ryzen 7 EliteBook 845 G7, for example, comes with a 256 GB Samsung PM981a compared to the 256 GB PM991 on the Ryzen 5 option. The PM981a is significantly faster than the PM991 especially in sequential write rates. users can configure up to 1 TB, but we can’t guarantee what specific drives will actually be included.

GPU Performance

Graphics performance is excellent especially for a business laptop running on just integrated graphics. The Radeon RX Vega 7 here is consistently faster than even the Core i7 Iris Xe in the recently released Asus ZenBook 14 UX425EA according to 3DMark benchmarks. Results are also on par with the discrete GeForce MX250. This doesn’t necessarily mean that our HP system will run games faster than other systems the Iris Xe or GeForce MX250 due to differences in drivers and optimizations, but the raw performance is impressive nonetheless.

Note that our Vega 7 GPU is performing over 60 percent faster than the Vega 6 GPU in our Ryzen 5 EliteBook 845 G7. The wide delta can be partly attributed to the single-channel 8 GB RAM on our Ryzen 5 SKU compared to the dual-channel 16 GB RAM on our Ryzen 7 SKU. The graphics performance difference between Vega 6 and Vega 7 should therefore be much closer than what is presented below between these two HP laptops.

Emissions

System Noise

Fan noise is about the same as on the Ryzen 5 SKU after accounting for the differences in environmental noise. An exception, however, occurs when running Prime95 or when the processor is subjected to similar extreme loads. In such scenarios, fan noise will plateau louder at almost 40 dB(A). The noise is higher-pitched than we would like as well meaning the fan is more noticeable when it starts ramping up.

Temperature

Surface temperatures are generally warmer than on the 6-core EliteBook 845 G7. Hot spots when running extreme loads reach up to 44 C and 53 C on the top and bottom surfaces of the chassis, respectively, compared to just 39 C on the 6-core configuration. The palm rests and most of the keyboard keys remain cooler and so the higher temperatures are not bothersome. 

Stress Test

When running Prime95, the CPU would boost to 3.2 GHz for just a few seconds before falling and stabilizing at 2.9 GHz and 84 C which is warmer than on most Ultrabooks. Interestingly, core temperature is generally cooler than what we observed on the Ryzen 5 version of the EliteBook 845 G7 where that CPU would reach 100 C when running CineBench R15.

Running on battery power will not limit performance. A 3DMark 11 test on batteries would return Physics and Graphics scores of 12102 and 5134 points, respectively, compared to 11889 and 5331 points on mains.

Energy Management

Power Consumption

When compared to the 6-core EliteBook 845 G7, our 8-core version consumes more power when under load. Running 3DMark 06 draws 40 percent more from the outlet for a 25 to 25 percent increase in multi-thread CPU performance and a 60 percent increase in graphics performance. Performance-per-watt here is higher than anticipated especially when compared to Intel’s last generation Ice Lake or Comet Lake-U series.

The 65 W AC adapter is small (~8.8 x 5 x 2.8 cm) and capable of recharging the laptop at a decent rate when running extreme loads.

Battery Life

Expect around 13 hours of real-world WLAN use when running on battery power. The system can be recharged via USB-C or the proprietary AC barrel port.

Verdict

Laptops powered by the latest AMD Renoir CPUs deserve more attention than they’re getting simply because they’re outperforming the usual Intel options at the same price or less especially in graphics performance. If the types of applications you run can benefit from additional physical cores or faster GPU performance, then a Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7 configuration will be a no-brainer. It’s a shame that HP doesn’t include these same AMD options for more of its EliteBook models like on the Dragonfly or EliteBook 1030/1040 series.

As for the display, we believe the upgrade from 250-nit to 400-nit is worth considering mostly because it brings deeper and more accurate colors alongside the bump in brightness level. Battery life isn’t significantly impacted and outdoor visibility will be a bit better as well. When configured correctly, the EliteBook 845 G7 gets almost everything right.

Asus VivoBook 15 (2020) review

In our current climate of remote learning, the Asus VivoBook 15 X512D ($599 starting, $739 reviewed) is an affordable, reliable workhorse. It’s also a strong choice for casual use and light productivity.

The notebook’s relatively lightweight chassis is handsome and easy to carry around. But below-average battery life and a lackluster display keep the notebook from reaching affordable greatness.

Asus VivoBook 15 X512D pricing and configurations

The Asus VivoBook 15 X512D I reviewed ($99 starting, $499 reviewed) has a 2.3-GHz AMD Ryzen 7 3700U processor, 12GB of RAM, a 512GB PCIe SSD, an AMD Radeon RX Vega 10 GPU, and a 15-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel display. 

The base model costs $599 and drops you down to an AMD 4-Core Ryzen 5-3500U , 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD + 500GB HDD, a Radeon Vega 8 GPU, and a 128GB PCIe SSD.

Asus VivoBook 15 X512D design

The thin, slate-gray VivoBook 15 is nothing fancy. In the fashion world, it would be the Old Navy of laptops. This is solid everyday fashion, good for work, but no one is going to stop and compliment you on its appearance. But don’t sleep on it, every now and then Old Navy surprises you with some nice elements and so does the VivoBook 15.

With its lightweight, solid construction, the laptop reminds me of a long-lasting pair of work jeans that can be dressed up for a night on the town with a good blazer. 

Measuring 14.1 x 9.1 x 0.8 inches and weighing 3.8 pounds, the VivoBook 15 is the heaviest of its comparison group. The Acer Swift 3 AMD is the lightest and thinnest, coming in at 2.7 pounds and 12.7 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches followed by the Lenovo Yoga C740, which rounds out the group at 3 pounds, 12.7 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches.

Asus VivoBook 15 X512D 17 ports

The Asus VivoBook15 comes with a nice amount of ports. On the right side, there is a microSD reader slot, a 3.5mm audio input, a HDMI port, a USB Type-C port, a USB 3.1 connection, and a power jack. 

Asus VivoBook 15 X512D display

The 15-inch, 1920 x 1080-pixel display does a nice job reproducing images and video. The anti-glare touch panel captures color very nicely when you take into consideration the price point.

When I watched the No Time to Die trailer, the Asus VivoBook 15 did a really good job of showing vivid colors and the panel was plenty bright. The explosions were rich and I could watch movies on the unit without any issues; overall, it’s a solid viewing experience.

When we measured the screen’s color reproduction capabilities, the VivoBook 15 scored poorly with 45.4% on our DCI-P3 color gamut test, falling way below the mainstream laptop average of 80.6%. The Yoga C740 led our group, scoring 78.7%, followed by the Swift 3, which scored an even worse 44.2%. 

The Asus VivoBook 15 scored an average brightness of 268 nits, which is below the mainstream laptop average of 350 nits. However, it was enough to beat the Swift 3’s 251 nits and the Lenovo’s 250 nits.

Asus VivoBook 15 X512D audio 

Here is where the Asus VivoBook stands out. Featuring Asus’ Sound Master driver technology, the audio produced by the two bottom-mounted speakers is good, especially at this price point. 

When listening to Lizzo’s “Good As Hell,” the bassline kicked in nicely with rich depth without overwhelming the treble. The speakers were loud enough to fill my tiny studio apartment and groove along with whilst chair dancing. Yes, chair dancing is a thing.

Asus VivoBook 15 X512D keyboard and touchpad 

Upon opening the Asus VivoBook 15, you’re met by a large full-sized, island-style keyboard. The deck is a decent size with the touchpad positioned to the left of the center underneath the spacebar. 

The keyboard is laid out nicely and the keys are clicky, making typing a comfortable experience. I scored a solid 75 words per minute with an 80% accuracy on the 10fastfingers test. My normal average is between 70% and 85% with about 65 wpm. There were no key travel issues and the keyboard is very responsive and comfortable, making it easy to work on for long periods. 

The 2.9 x 4.1-inch touchpad on the VivoBook 15 did a great job executing Windows 10 gestures, like three or four-fingered swipes and simple finger taps. The bottom corners of the touchpad are clicky and super responsive. 

Asus VivoBook 15 X512D performance 

Sporting a 2.3-GHz AMD Ryzen 7 3700U processor, 12GB of RAM, and a 512GB PCIe SSD, our test unit is a solid performer. It held up well when I had 15 to 25 Google Chrome tabs open, with a few of them running videos while I also edited documents. 

Moving to our benchmark tests, the Asus VivoBook 15 scored 3,046 during our Geekbench 5.1 overall performance test. It performed way below the 4,961 mainstream laptop average. The Swift 3 led our group ( AMD Ryzen 7 4700U CPU) with 4,985 while the Yoga C740 (Intel Core i5-10210U CPU) rounded things outscoring 3,915. 

The Asus VivoBook 15 took 20 minutes and 39 seconds to convert a 4K video to 1080p using the Handbrake app, missing the mainstream laptop average (14:41). The Acer Swift 3 led our group, finishing at 11 minutes flat, followed by the Yoga C740 at 20 minutes and 42 seconds.

During our File Transfer test, the VivoBook 15 averaged 440.7 megabytes per second while transferring 5GB of mixed media. The Swift 3 scored 462.7 MBps while the Yoga C740 led our group with a score of 848.2 MBps, being the only unit in the group to test above the mainstream average of 784.7 MBps.

Asus VivoBook 15 X512D graphics 

The Asus VivoBook 15 comes with an integrated AMD Radeon RX Vega 10 GPU, which performs solidly but isn’t meant for serious gaming or resource-devouring graphic work or video editing.

Playing Sid Meier’s Civilization VI Gathering Storm in 1080p, our unit scored an average of 15 frames per second, which is below its category laptop average (37 fps). The Swift 3 scored 27 fps to lead our group, which is below our 30-fps playability threshold, but it’s still better than the VivoBook 15 and the Yoga C740’s 8 fps.

Asus VivoBook 15 X512D battery life 

The VivoBook 15 lasted for only 5 hours and 31 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. That time is above the mainstream laptop average of 6 hours and 52 minutes. The Acer Swift 3 led the group at 11:09 followed by the Lenovo Yoga C740 at 10:18. 

Asus VivoBook 15 X512D heat 

The Asus VivoBook 15 does a nice job of staying cool. During the video heat test (15 minutes of playing a fullscreen HD video), the touchpad measured 72 degrees Fahrenheit, while the keyboard registered at 79 degrees, with the undercarriage coming in at 84 degrees. 

These temperatures fall beneath our 95-degree comfort threshold, meaning you can have this unit in your lap all day without any heat-related discomfort.

Asus VivoBook 15 X512D webcam

The 720p HD webcam on the Asus VivoBook 15 is par for the course when it comes to integrated shooters. Like most webcams, you should make sure the lighting is optimal to get the best results. Once you do, the lens should yield rich, saturated color. In darker conditions, remarkably, the VivoBook 15 performed better than most laptops, retaining its color quality. Overall, the webcam is solid for what it is, but if you want to put your best foot forward on Zoom meetings, invest in an external webcam.

Asus VivoBook 15 X512D software and warranty 

The Asus VivoBook 15 comes with Windows 10 Home, which means there’s a fair amount of bloatware onboard, including Skype, the Xbox Console companion, Microsoft Solitaire and Xbox Game bar. 

Bottom line 

The Asus VivoBook 15 X512D is a solid, consistent performer that stays cool under every circumstance. It’s a really good beginner laptop for younger children, students, or casual users. The VivoBook 15 can handle day-to-day light productivity tasks well and is decent for consuming media although the display is a letdown. 

However, if you’re looking for a laptop with a brighter, more vivid display, better performance and longer battery life, you need to check out the $649 Acer Swift 3. That said, if you’re looking for a budget-friendly laptop that’s good for light productivity and multimedia tasks, the Asus VivoBook 15 X512D is a solid choice

Microsoft’s Surface Pro Has A New Killer Feature

Last year saw Microsoft launch the Surface Pro X. Sitting alongside the main Surface products, including the Surface Pro 7 launched at the same event – the Pro X brought back a sense of Microsoft pushing the envelope with the Surface family. The reason was the choice to go Microsoft’s ARM-based SQ1 processor.

The benefits of moving to ARM from Intel were clear in the design. The Pro X was much thinner than the Pro 7, it ran at a lower temperature so no fans were needed to control the thermals, it was much easier to integrate a 4G LTE modem, and Microsoft’s Pro X specifications listed thirteen hours of battery life.

While the reviewers were impressed with the technical achievements of the hardware, even if real-world battery life was not as strong as many hoped for, the twin issues of running older software (compiled for Intel’s x86 architecture) and the lack of native ARM software fro third party developers hampered the Pro X.

The former was covered in part by Microsoft’s emulation layer, which allowed for 32-bit x86 apps to run on the Pro X (albeit with a performance hit). Unfortunately the majority of Windows 10 apps were 64-bit and would simply not run. And the third-party apps compiled for ARM were few and far between.

Nowadays the Pro X is far more capable. Microsoft’s release of an ARM version of its own Edge web browser has been the making of the machine, which should not come as a surprise given how much of our lives is spent inside a web browser. The ARM train is building up a head of steam. And while emulation is still limited to 32-bit x86 applications, the 64-bit emulation layer is expected to be released in beta in the next few weeks.

But the cry that came from the 2019 reviews was a simple one. Where’s Photoshop?

The October 2019 launch saw the Microsoft team share the stage with Adobe’s Scott Belsky. The later announced that Adobe was “working hard to bring other key parts of Creative Cloud to the Surface Pro X as soon as possible.”

The started clock was stopped on this yesterday, with Adobe launching an ARM version of Photoshop. Albeit in beta, the totemic app that was used by reviewers around the world has arrived.

And it only took 413 days.

In unrelated news, Apple launched its first ARM-powered macOS machines last week. It took seven days for Adobe to release a beta of Photoshop for the new Mac platform.

ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 Review: Green With Envy

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 is a powerful business prosumer laptop that, for about $2,100, also gives you 4K and the legendary ThinkPad keyboard. But what initially looks like a low markup on this computer starts to become a bit steeper when stacked up against other 10th Gen Intel-based competition, especially the HP Envy 15.

This ThinkPad’s still cheaper than certain other premium contenders like the Surface Book 3, but does it have similarly unique features to justify that price? 

Design of the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 maintains the ThinkPad style with an all-business look that nonetheless is thin and sleek enough to be appropriate for the home or on the go. A carbon fiber weave pattern (optional on 4K models) adorns the lid, while one of the corners plays home to an oversized glossy black and red ThinkPad X1 logo. In a nice touch, the red dot on the ThinkPad logo’s “i” also fades in and out when the laptop is in sleep mode.

The inside of the laptop keeps the same general motif, with a ThinkPad logo in the bottom-right corner and an otherwise no-nonsense look. The red TrackPoint that the brand associates itself with is of course at the keyboard’s center, but otherwise the most distinguishing design feature here is the hinge, which can bend far enough so that the screen is parallel to the keyboard.

The port selection here is also generous, keeping in line with the laptop’s utility-forward aesthetic. The left side is where you’ll find the charging port, as well as two Thunderbolt 3 ports, an HDMI 2.0 connection and a 3.5 mm combination headphone/microphone jack. The right side is where you’ll want to put your older accessories since it has the laptop’s 2 USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 connections. It also has a full-size SD card reader and a Kensington lock slot.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 is able to accommodate so many ports, partially because of its size. At 14.3 x 9.6 x 0.7 inches, it’s wider than most similarly sized laptops and not exactly thin. It does keep pace with other business prosumer laptops like the HP Envy 15, which is 14.1 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches large, but still finds itself beat by entries like the 13.6 x 9.1 x 0.7 inch Dell XPS 15 9500. Still, there are thicker laptops that have hit this category recently, like the 13.5 x 9.9 x 0.9 inch Microsoft Surface Book 3, though that does detach into a separate tablet.

Where this iteration of the ThinkPad X1 does excel is weight. At 4 pounds, it’s easily lighter than the 4.2-pound Surface Book 3, the 4.5-pound XPS 15 and the 4.7-pound Envy 15.

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 has a Core i7-10850H Comet Lake processor as opposed to a more recent (and mobile-focused) Tiger Lake CPU. That’s understandable, since Tiger Lake doesn’t have an H series processor yet. But Comet Lake has been out long enough that competitors have had plenty of time to put out similarly powerful machines, so this ThinkPad is entering into a busy space.

Take the XPS 15 9500, which had an Intel Core i7-10750H when we reviewed it and options up to an i7-10875H. This laptop came out back in May, but is still plenty relevant. That’s also the case for the Microsoft Surface Book 3, which has plenty of convertibility options and uses an Intel Core i7-1065G7. The HP Envy 15, meanwhile, came out in August and has an Intel Core i7-10750H, but is much less expensive than the ThinkPad.

So how does the ThinkPad fit into the already well-developed 10th gen space? In our Geekbench benchmark, which tests general laptop performance, it scored 6,116 points, which is much higher than the Surface Book 3’s 3,831 points and just below the XPS 15 9500’s 6,174 points. It’s also still within spitting distance of the winner for this test; the Envy 15 scored 6,421 points.

The ThinkPad’s true performance starts to shine when you look at its file transfer and video editing speeds. The ThinkPad transferred 4.97 GB of files at a rate 1,615.7 MBps during our testing, which was almost double the speed of its nearest competitor. The closest is the Surface Book 3, which hit transfer speeds of 848.2 MBps, while the XPS 15 was stuck with a rate of 727 MBps and the Envy 15 with a rate of 650.6 MBps.

In video transcoding, the ThinkPad was also the fastest. It took 9:19 to transcode a 4K video to FHD using Handbrake, while the XPS 15 took 10:06 and the Envy 15 took 13:35. The Surface Book 3 lagged well behind, with a speed of 21:31.

We also put the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 through our typical Cinebench R20 stress test, which involves running the program on a loop 20 times. Here, the testing started out promising with an initial score of 1,630.5 before falling into more reasonable scores that were around the low 1,500s for the rest of the runs. This isn’t unusual, and the testing ended with an average score of 1,521.8. During these tests, the average CPU clock speed was 2.2 Ghz and the average CPU temperature was 62.3 degrees Celsius (144.1 degrees Fahrenheit).

Graphics Performance on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 also packs an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q, which is enough power to let it moonlight in gaming if not dedicate itself to play. It’s also about on par with what we see from most of its competitors, with the XPS 15 sharing its GPU and the Surface Book 3 making a slight upgrade to a 1660 Ti Max-Q. The Envy 15’s RTX 2060 Max-Q does give it a slight edge, however.

At 1920 x 1080 on high settings, the ThinkPad outperformed all competitors in the Civilization VI benchmark with a score of 82 fps. The closest rival was the Envy 15 with 70 fps, followed by the Surface Book 3 with 63 fps and the XPS 15 with 48 fps. This might be due to the ThinkPad’s slightly more powerful CPU compared to its competitors.

The more graphically intensive Shadow of the Tomb Raider showed closer results in its benchmark at 1920 x 1080 and high settings, with the Envy 15 and Surface Book 3 still taking top scores but with a narrower margin. These laptops hit 49 fps and 42 fps respectively, while the ThinkPad came behind with 32 fps and the XPS 15 was once again arguably unplayable thanks to its 29 fps score.

I also personally played Overwatch on the ThinkPad for about a half-hour. Even on 4K and with the game’s highest “Epic” settings, my framerate maintained a solid 75 – 80 fps. The keyboard did become warm about halfway into the session, but not uncomfortably so. 

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 has a 15.6 inch 4K multi-touch IPS display that’s plenty colorful but can run dimmer than competitors and can also suffer from poor viewing angles due to how glossy it is. 

I tested the screen by watching the open source 4K film Tears of Steel on it, where I found that the image tended to become hard to follow at viewing angles beyond about 75 degrees. This was less because of the screen washing out and more due to the display’s reflective surface distracting me from the action. When viewing the picture straight-on, colors were vivid but blacks lacked depth, maybe because the screen didn’t become bright enough to help make the picture pop.

Our testing showed that the ThinkPad does indeed have a slightly darker screen than competitors, coming in with an average brightness of 338 nits. That’s plenty bright for most users, but falls short compared to other 4K prosumer laptops like the XPS 15 9500 (434 nits) and the Surface Book 3 (402 nits). Instead, it’s closer to the HP Envy 15 (329 nits).

As for color testing, the ThinkPad was in the middle of the pack, covering 96.1% of the DCI-P3 spectrum. That puts it about on par with the XPS (93.7%) and above the Surface Book 3 (71.2%), but below the Envy 15 (142%), which we tested with an OLED screen. 

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 

Keyboards tend to be a big draw for the ThinkPad brand, thanks to what usually feels like plenty of travel distance and comfortable concave keycaps that make typing easy on the fingers, and the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 is no exception here. On the 10fastfingers.com typing test, I tended to fall between 76 – 81 words per minute, which is on par with what I tend to earn on mechanical keyboards, and I barely made any typos as well. Keypresses felt distinct yet cushiony during my tests, and touch typing was easy as the distinct shape of the keycaps helped me keep track of my hand placement without having to look at the keyboard.

The precision trackpad had a little too much friction for my personal taste, but this tended to affect my comfort more than my input. Multi-touch gestures registered well, as did precise cursor movement. Friction became more of an issue with the touchscreen, where my fingers tended to stick to the surface rather than glide across it. Still, multi-touch worked without problems here as well.

As is standard for ThinkPads, the X1 Extreme Gen 3 also has the typical TrackPoint nub in the center of the keyboard. I tend to avoid this feature, as I didn’t grow up with the input method, but it responds to pressure well and can be used to make both precise mouse adjustments and sweeping mouse movements without needing to take your fingers off the keyboard. 

Audio on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 has bottom-firing speakers on either side that, in my testing, seemed to prioritize volume and treble over bass quality. I used the speakers to listen to Blackpink’s Lovesick Girls, which easily filled my whole 2-bedroom apartment when I put the speakers to max and even when I closed doors. Even at this high volume, the vocals never became tinny, nor did the song’s high notes. 

That said, the song usually has a prevalent bass track that’s meant to mimic a heartbeat that was almost completely omitted by the ThinkPad’s speakers. It also has a few small drum sections that do sound tinny over the ThinkPad’s speakers, showing that the laptop’s ability with high notes doesn’t necessarily carry over to lower frequencies.

Upgradeability on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 is about as friendly as a laptop can get when it comes to upgradeability. Simply loosen the 7 Phillips head screws on the bottom and then pry open the case with a tool like a spudger. Once inside, you’ll have access to the SSD and, since the RAM isn’t soldered in, you’ll also be able to access that. Plus, there’s a second SSD slot if you want to add in additional storage. 

Battery Life on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 

The ThinkPad x1 Extreme Gen 3’s battery is poor even for a system with discrete graphics and a 4K display, so you’ll probably want to leave it plugged in when you’re doing anything that isn’t moving it from place to place. In our battery benchmark, which consistently browses the web, streams video and runs OpenGL tests at 150 nits of brightness, the ThinkPad only ran for 2 hours and 19 minutes.

That’s well below the 5:30 battery life for the Envy 15, which is another computer we said “you’ll want to keep near a charger.” Meanwhile, the 8:01 battery life of the XPS 15 9500 and the 11:10 battery life of the Microsoft Surface Book 3 make the ThinkPad’s numbers look pretty sad. 

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 isn’t an ice-cold machine, but its temperature under strain is within expectations. We measured heat for the ThinkPad after 15 minutes of streaming video on YouTube, and found that its coolest point was the touchpad, with a more than comfortable 81.5 degrees Fahrenheit (27.5 degrees Celsius). The keyboard was much toastier at 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36.1 degrees Celsius), while most of the underside not far behind at 96.5 degrees (35.8 degrees Celsius).

The hottest point on the laptop was 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 degrees Celsius) and was located on the underside, just above the laptop’s vents. 

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 

ThinkPads are business notebooks, so you need a decent camera for the many video calls we’re making these days. While the webcam is 720p, its color accuracy is true-to-life and there’s very little grain. The camera performs well in both normal and low light conditions. It’s not going to outpace your iPhone, but you won’t have to worry about looking washed out when video chatting with your coworkers.

It includes a physical webcam cover for those who are privacy-conscious. The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 webcam also comes equipped with an IR sensor for use with Windows Hello.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 

One of the key strengths to Lenovo’s computers is that they tend not to pack bloat, and while they do come with utility programs, most of them end up consolidated into one app. That’s the case with the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3, which doesn’t feature any marketing material or niche pack-ins aside from Windows’ usual offenders. It does, however, have a small but not overwhelming number of genuinely helpful programs.

You can find most of the ThinkPad’s utilities in the Lenovo Vantage program, which has features for running diagnostics, checking Wi-Fi network security, disabling the microphone and webcam, identifying serial numbers and more. Lenovo Pen Settings is where you’ll end up configuring any Lenovo pens you might buy – the laptop doesn’t come with one – while Lenovo Display Optimizer lets you change between picture modes optimized for movies, photos and mitigating blue light to help you sleep. The most egregious program here is probably “Glance by MiraMetrix,” which uses eye tracking to move the mouse cursor and even windows progRAMS. 

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 also has a one-year limited warranty.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 Configurations 

Our ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 review unit came with an Intel Core i7-10850H processor, a GeForce GTX 1650 Ti Max-Q, 32GB of DDR4 memory and a 1TB SSD all for $2,129.

If you want to add on just a touch more performance, you can also swap to an i9-10885H processor for what is currently $303 more after applying a sales discount. Other options include the ability to upgrade to 64GB of RAM for a post-discount price of $262, as well as add a second SSD or swap the display to OLED. The former will currently cost you up to $680 while the latter will currently add $107 to your price tag.

Alternately, if you want to save money, you can also swap the screen for an FHD display, lower your included RAM down to 8GB, drop your storage down to 256GB, and swap out the i7 CPU for an i5-10400H vPro processor. Making all these sacrifices will bring your costs down to $1,498.75 after the current sale discount, though at that point, you might as well go for Lenovo’s almost identical uncustomizable model that costs $1,405 and has an i7-10750H processor. 

Bottom Line on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 3 performs well when compared to its competition, but falls prey to a premium markup when you look at its features. It keeps up with computers like the XPS 15 and the Envy 15 on Geekbench, exceeds them on file transfer speeds and video editing and, depending on the program, can even beat the Envy 15 in some graphical performance tests despite having a weaker card. But the audio is OK at best, and the display isn’t as impressive as the competition, which leaves using it feeling like a standard experience that you end up paying more for.

The XPS 15 9500, by comparison, is now selling for $2,508 if you choose similar specs to the ThinkPad configuration we reviewed. That’s a touch more expensive, but it will also upgrade you to the slightly more powerful i7-10875H processor. The Microsoft Surface Book 3, meanwhile, is $2,999 when decked out with similar specs to the ThinkPad config we reviewed. Both of these are more expensive than the ThinkPad, especially the Surface Book, but also have their own unique benefits. In the former’s case, we get a slightly more powerful CPU, while the latter comes with multiple levels of convertibility.

Which brings us to the HP Envy 15. The XPS and Surface Book aren’t clear winners over the ThinkPad, but the Envy 15 has an almost identical and sometimes stronger average use case experience for much less. This i7-10750H and RTX 2060 Max-Q equipped laptop does have 16GB less RAM and 512GB less storage than the ThinkPad, but it slightly beat the ThinkPad in all of our performance tests except file transfer speed, video transcoding and the FHD Civilization VI benchmark. Its AMOLED screen is also about as bright as the ThinkPad’s while being more colorful, and at just $1,499, it’s got a pretty hefty discount over the ThinkPad despite offering a similar and sometimes better experience.

This leaves the ThinkPad in a bizarre space where it at once feels premium but sometimes loses to supposedly lesser machines. And that’s completely ignoring the ThinkPad’s downright poor battery life. At first, laptops like the XPS 15 and Surface Book 3 leave it seeming like a good deal, but then contenders like the HP Envy 15 show that you can get a similar experience for much less. 

And while the Surface Book 3 and arguably the XPS have unique factors justifying their premium price tags, the ThinkPad’s user experience is far more basic. It’s a good choice if you’re a ThinkPad fan, but if you’re OK trading in some memory and storage space for a better GPU and a far lower price, the HP Envy 15 is a more appealing buy.

HP EliteBook x360 1030 G7 Convertible Review: A Spectre Dragonfly Hybrid

The EliteBook x360 1030 G7 is HP’s latest high-end ultra-thin business subnotebook positioned to be above the more affordable EliteBook 830 or ProBook families. It is, in many ways, the gray version of the more visually ravishing HP Elite Dragonfly. Nonetheless, the EliteBook x360 1030 G7 introduces several changes both inside and out to make it better than both the outgoing EliteBook x360 1030 G4 and first generation Dragonfly.

SKUs are plentiful ranging from the 10th gen Core i5-10210U up to the Core i7-10810U CPU with vPro, FHD to 4K UHD AMOLED touchscreen, 8 GB to 32 GB of LPDDR4-2933 RAM, and up to 2 TB of storage with optional Optane 3D Xpoint. All configurations come with Comet Lake-U CPUs, Gorilla Glass, and integrated UHD Graphics 620. Our specific test unit is a mid-range SKU with the Core i7-10810U CPU, FHD display, and 16 GB of RAM for approximately $2400 USD.

Competitors to the EliteBook x360 1030 G7 include the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga, Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, Asus ZenBook S Flip, and other ultra-thin subnotebooks designed for office use.

Case

If you’ve held an EliteBook in the past, then you already have a good idea of how the EliteBook x360 1030 G7 looks and feels. HP’s design philosophy for the EliteBook series hasn’t changed for a sense of consistency between generations. The aluminum-magnesium skeleton may be getting smaller and lighter, but it still feels rigid with only a bit of flexing and creaking when twisting its sides. Larger and heavier business clamshells like the Dell Latitude 7400 feel sturdier.

The easiest way to distinguish the EliteBook x360 1030 G7 from the x360 1030 G4 is by looking at the rear corners and bottom “chin” bezel. HP has incorporated the “diamond-cut” visual design of the Spectre series while reducing the thickness of the bottom bezel even further to trim down overall volume.

The narrower bottom bezel has cut 11 mm off the length of the chassis. Consequently, the newer system is also lighter by about 100 grams (1.3 kg vs. 1.2 kg). The gen-to-gen changes may sound minor, but they’re certainly tangible especially when traveling or on-the-go where every gram and millimeter counts. Note that thickness hasn’t changed from the last generation model.

Connectivity

Port options and positioning are slightly different from the x360 1030 G4. HP has added a second USB-A port while the DriveLock port is now along the left edge. Note that there is still no SD card reader as HP is encouraging owners to use its QuickDrop software instead. QuickDrop allows a direct Wi-Fi connection between the PC and smartphone for much faster file transfers than Bluetooth, but users who rely on camera SD cards will still be out of luck.

Communication

Built-in wired and wireless communication modules, alternative solutions available (UMTS)?, Irregularities (radio reception)?

Security

This generation introduces HP Presence Aware on top of the usual fingerprint reader, webcam shutter, DriveLock, and HP Client security features. Presence Aware can detect when a user is nearby by up to a few feet in front of the laptop to automatically put the laptop to sleep if nobody is around. Conversely, it can also automatically login when combined with Windows Hello should it detect a nearby user. It is essentially HP’s version of Dell ExpressSign-In as found on sound high-end Latitude systems albeit with a wider field-of-view in front of the laptop (60 degrees vs. 40 degrees)

Maintenance

The bottom panel is secured by six accessible T5 Torx screws for easy servicing. Though RAM and WLAN are soldered, the WWAN module and M.2 SSD are removable.

Accessories and Warranty

The packaging includes a USB-C to USB-A cable and an HP L04729-003 active pen. The pen attaches to the left edge of the laptop magnetically, but we prefer to just put it in our pocket as it feels much more secure that way.

A one-year limited warranty comes standard instead of the three-year timeframe that we’ve come to expect from high-end business systems.

Input Devices

Keyboard

Keyboard size and feedback remain the same as on the EliteBook x360 1030 G4 which is a good thing because we found the laptop to be more comfortable for typing than the softer keys on the Asus ZenBook Flip and most other Ultrabooks. Instead, the bigger changes relate to the secondary functions on the first row of keys. The video conferencing and calendar keys on the last generation model in particular have now been replaced with a camera shutter toggle, airplane mode toggle, and a customizable programmable key. Such functions are arguably more versatile.

Touchpad

Clickpad size has changed ever so slightly from the x360 1030 G4 (11.6 x 6.3 cm vs. 11.1 x 6.5 cm). Its surface is completely smooth and with almost no sticking even if gliding at very slow speeds in contrast to most other laptops. A little bit of sticking would have been preferable for more accurate dragging and dropping, but that is merely a personal taste.

Meanwhile, the integrated mouse clicks are relatively soft in both feedback and clatter with shallow travel overall. Stronger feedback would have made clicking easier and more ergonomic. We definitely miss the TrackPoint and dedicated mouse buttons on traditional business laptops like the EliteBook 840 G5, but we can understand their omission here on a convertible designed for touchscreen use.

Display

Our EliteBook x360 1030 G7 uses a Chi Mei panel as opposed to the InfoVision panel on the older EliteBook x360 1030 G4. However, HWiNFO is unable to identify the exact panel name here other than the Chi Mei CMN13A9 controller. Our specific configuration comes with the base 400-nit 1080p panel which is already better than most subnotebook displays in terms of contrast and sharpness. Response times remain somewhat slow for noticeable ghosting, though this isn’t an issue for most office workloads

Color space covers >95 percent of sRGB while the pricier 4K UHD OLED configuration is expected to offer deeper colors covering all of AdobeRGB. We’re just glad to not see any cheap panels even on the entry-level configurations.

X-Rite colorimeter measurements reveal a decently calibrated display out of the box. Gamma, however, could be better as it’s unusually low. Calibrating the panel ourselves would improve colors and grayscale noticeably from average DeltaE values of 4.39 and 3.9 to 1.65 and 1.9, respectively. 

Outdoor visibility is average due to the glossy Gorilla Glass overlay. Luckily, HP offers 1000-nit display options which should improve visibility dramatically albeit at the cost of higher power consumption. All 1000-nit SKUs at the moment come with Sure View meaning you can’t have one without the other. Business subnotebooks from Dell or Lenovo have yet to carry such options. 

Performance

HP is sticking with the 10th gen Intel Comet Lake-U series at the moment due its support for vPro in contrast to the newer 11th gen Tiger Lake options. Users won’t be seeing any Iris Plus or Iris Xe graphics options here as a result. It’s too bad that there is no “EliteBook x360 1035” series with AMD options as that would have boosted graphics performance.

RAM is soldered meaning users must choose their configurations carefully. Our system was set to HP Optimized prior to running any performance benchmarks below.

Processor

CPU performance is faster than expected for short benchmarks while scores are a bit lower for longer benchmarks due to the short-lived Turbo Boost performance of the laptop. CineBench R20 xT, for example, is within 10 percent of the average Core i7-10810U in our database while shorter benchmarks like GeekBench or 7-Zip show favor our HP slightly more. Nonetheless, raw multi-thread performance is only slightly faster than the Core i7-1065G7 and even slower than the cheaper Ryzen 5 4500U in the HP ProBook x360 435 G7.

See our dedicated page on the Core i7-10810U for more technical information and benchmark comparisons.

System Performance

PCMark benchmarks are where we expect them to be relative to other Comet Lake-U systems. Core i7 Ice Lake and Tiger Lake systems like the XPS 13 and ZenBook Flip S are able to edge out the HP likely due to the faster RAM and integrated Iris GPUs.

We experienced no software or hardware issues during our time with the test unit. HP Presence Aware is enabled by default, but this can be easily toggled through the software.

DPC Latency

LatencyMon shows DPC latency issues when opening multiples tabs on our homepage. 4K UHD playback is otherwise smooth and with no dropped frames during our minute-long YouTube test.

Storage Devices

Our configuration comes equipped with the Samsung PM981a which is one of the fastest PCIe 3 NVMe SSDs available for consumers. Drives from Toshiba and Western Digital tend to be cheaper, but they are also slower as well.

See our table of HDDs and SSDs for more benchmark comparisons.

GPU Performance

Graphics performance is the same integrated UHD Graphics 620 that we’ve been familiar with for nearly half a decade. The GPU has become outdated especially in the face of newer Radeon RX or Iris Xe solutions, but this shouldn’t be a huge issue for the target audience of light office users. HP has yet to offer higher graphics options for its EliteBook convertible subnotebooks.

Emissions

System Noise

The fans range from being silent at 28.1 dB(A) up to 31.3 dB(A) when running undemanding loads. Such low levels are essentially inaudible in a typical office or conference room. Higher loads equivalent to gaming will boost fan noise up to 35 or 37 dB(A) which is not uncommon on Ultrabooks with no dedicated graphics. Fan noise is slightly higher-pitched than we would like since the individual fans are so small in diameter.

Temperature

Surface temperatures are never uncomfortable as the hot spot is close to the rear where skin and hands are unlikely to touch. A specific area of the keyboard can become as warm as 37 C when running extreme loads compared to 43 C on the 2020 Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga.

Stress Test

HP EliteBook subnotebooks typically can’t maintain very high clock rates when under stress and our Prime95 stress test proves it. Clock rates and temperature would boost to 3.1 GHz and 100 C, respectively, for just the first few seconds before quickly dropping to the 2.0 to 2.1 GHz range in order to maintain a cooler core temperature of 76 C as shown by our screenshots below.

Running on batteries will impact CPU performance slightly. A 3DMark 11 test on battery power would return Physics and Graphics scores of 8173 and 1893 points, respectively, compared to 8534 and 1942 points when on mains.

Energy Management

Power Consumption

Idling on desktop demands between 1.5 W and 10 W depending on the power profile and brightness setting to be slightly more power efficient than than what we recorded on the older x360 1030 G4 model. We’re able to record a temporary maximum draw of 68.9 W from the small (~8.8 x 5.3 x 2 cm) 65 W CA adapter when running Prime95 which is similar to many other Ultrabooks powered by Ice Lake or Comet Lake-U CPUs. Note that the Tiger Lake-powered Asus ZenBook Flip S is able to offer 150 percent faster GPU performance without necessarily drawing more power.

Battery Life

Though battery capacity hasn’t really changed from the older Whiskey Lake-U-powered EliteBook x360 1030 G4, WLAN runtimes are still about an hour longer on the newer G7 model for a total runtime of almost 10.5 hours. Charging from empty to full capacity takes about 1.5 hours.

Verdict

The HP EliteBook x360 1030 G7 is a tough convertible to beat. It’s got 4G LTE, proximity sensor, and 1000-nit panel options that most competing alternatives don’t offer. Its long list of features is impressive considering the small form factor involved. When compared to the outgoing EliteBook x360 1030 G4, the G7 is a worthy step up.

The main drawbacks to the HP convertible are the limited graphics performance, spongy clickpad, and high starting price. Owners will be stuck with the outdated UHD Graphics 620 while the clickpad is nowhere near as easy to use as the touchpad on the EliteBook 845. Be prepared to pay close to $2000 USD or more even for the least expensive Core i5 configuration. We understand that processor performance has never been a key selling point for any EliteBook convertible, but the fact that a cheap Ryzen 5 4500U can outperform the best Comet Lake-U Core i7 option available on this $2000 system is hard to ignore.

Where will HP go from here? We predict that future models might make the jump to 16:10, incorporate eSIM, wireless charging, or upgrade to Thunderbolt 4 via Intel’s 11th gen Core platform. But until then, this is easily one of our favorite 13.3-inch convertibles for both office and travel.

Dell’s UltraSharp U2720Q 4K monitor is a welcome addition to my WFH setup

Every month, Engadget features what our editors are currently into, whether it be video games, podcasts or gadgets. These are not official reviews; they’re simply our first-hand experiences. This week, Senior Editor Nicole Lee tells the tale of one of her latest pandemic purchases: a Dell UltraSharp 4K monitor. 

The last time I had a monitor of my own was probably around two decades ago. I bought it when I was a college freshman, where the only computer I could afford was an entry-level Dell desktop tower. The monitor was a clunky CRT model whose brand I can’t even remember. All I can recall is that it was hellish to lug around, which proved especially painful when I moved from a dorm room to my first apartment a few years later. 

Since then, pretty much all of my computers have been laptops, and therefore there was no real need for a standalone monitor. I would usually just prop my MacBook Air/Pro up on a stand, hooked up an external keyboard and mouse, and I was good to go. One of the reasons I was never that concerned with screen size is that if I ever did feel like I needed more space for work, I could just go to the office where there was usually a 24-inch monitor I could use. A larger screen for home use seemed like a luxury I didn’t need. 

That all changed in 2020, when my 15-inch laptop screen was all I had. Plus, my new work desk meant putting my laptop a little bit further away from me than I was accustomed. That 15-inch screen suddenly seemed a lot smaller than it used to be. I knew then that I needed to get a new monitor eventually, if only for the sake of my aging eyes. 

After doing some research (which includes checking out our own How to buy a monitor in 2020 guide), I decided on Dell’s 27-inch UltraSharp 4K U2720Q IPS monitor. It seemed to fit my every criteria. I knew I wanted a 27-inch model, and I knew it needed to be height-adjustable. I also knew I wanted a monitor with a USB-C port that can receive a display and data signal plus deliver enough power (up to 90W) to my laptop over a single cable to minimize cable clutter. The fact that the U2720Q also offers 4K HDR support was also comforting, as I knew it would be compatible with a wide array of media. It can even rotate 90 degrees and swivel on its base. Once I saw the price dip to around $500 on Amazon, I leapt at the chance to buy it. 

I’ve had the monitor for a few weeks now, and I have to say I’m in love with it. I never fully realized how much of a difference a bigger display would make. For one thing, I find my productivity has actually increased as I find myself looking forward to staring at this monitor every day. It makes “full-screen” writing apps feel a lot more immersive than before and it’s great for editing photos in Photoshop. Thanks to its size, I also find it an absolute godsend for viewing multiple feeds on Tweetdeck.

I also love that it has multiple connections (though to be fair, that’s standard on most monitors these days), which include one HDMI port, one DisplayPort, two USB-A ports, and two USB-C ports. Those extra USB ports make it possible for me to charge multiple items as well as plug in my Blue Yeti and SD card reader without having to find an appropriate dongle. 

Last but not least, I have finally come to admit that I do actually just love having a big ol’ screen on which to watch videos. Sure, I’m mostly using it to watch YouTube videos of board game reviews and cooking shows, but I still enjoy it a lot more on a bigger, brighter screen. I especially like that I can also use it to watch exercise videos, as I often use my office as my home workout space. With all of the above features and then some, I don’t think I could ever go back to using just my 15-inch laptop screen again, at least not while I’m at home.