In early 2023 I reviewed Google's first dedicated gaming Chromebook, the Acer Chromebook 516 GE, and it changed my mind about Chromebooks and gaming. So I was excited to get my hands on the long-awaited refresh, the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE (2024).
The Chromebook has been upgraded in every meaningful way, from the display to the specs, and even has new AI features included for those looking to double it as a productivity machine. Unfortunately, there are a few aspects that have been left in the dust in the meantime, which could impact whether this is a truly robust refresh worth reinvesting in if you already have the original model.
The screen is a 16-inch IPS display with a 2560 x 1600 resolution and 350 nits of brightness. The refresh rate is a lovely 120Hz, making it perfect for most video games, while the sRGB 100% color gamut pairs well with the Chromebook's AI tools for creative and editing projects.
It's good to see that so much was invested in upgrading the display since it's the most important aspect of the gaming experience for the Chromebook Plus 516 GE.
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The outer design is rather brand, identical to the original Chromebook 516 GE, though that tends to be a trait among budget gaming laptops in the first place. Despite that, it has a sturdy yet decently light chassis, especially for the screen size, which makes transportation that much easier.
Its keyboard and trackpad have been mostly left the same as well, which is a good thing as they were already quite solid on their own and needed little tampering. The webcam is very good, with 1080p at 60fps video, which is more than what many of even the best laptops offer. And while I do appreciate the physical switch on the side that turns the webcam off and on, the camera itself should have a physical shutter for added security.
The port selection is varied and includes two USB Type-C ports, a USB Type-A port, an HDMI 2.1 port, an ethernet port, and a combo jack. For its size, however, more USB ports as well as an SD card reader could have been added.
There's still a massive downside to its design, and that's the still abysmal sound quality. Google boasts that the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE features "cinematic sounds with DTS audio" and I can confirm that it's not the case. There's a tinny, almost muddiness to the sound, which shows through even with YouTube videos, and sounds even worse when playing games. You'll want to invest in the best PC gaming headsets if you get this Chromebook.
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Like its competition, the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE (2024) has plenty of AI features built into the Chrome OS. But one of the more unique traits is that they use a combination of local and cloud storage.
The webcam, for instance, has a feature that automatically adjusts both picture quality and lighting when using the webcam. It's pretty handy for minor enhancements but don't expect any major improvements either.
There are plenty of other AI tools, which are mostly powered by Google Gemini. Help Me Write generates text based on prompts and lets you edit text based on tone and more, while Help Me Read summarizes PDFs and websites by simply right-clicking the text.
Focus is a tool that turns on a Do Not Disturb mode once you select a window of time, a Google Task you want to finish, and a YouTube Music playlist. There's Magic Editor which uses AI to enhance and correct images on Google Photos, or you can use generative AI to create unique wallpapers and video call backgrounds.
My favorite tool is Project Gameface, an AI-powered hands-free control with face and gesture tracking. This is a major accessibility feature, as you can custom-map out ways to control the entire OS through non-hand controls. While it's still in beta, what I was able to experience is quite impressive and I truly look forward to the finished product once it launches.
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Game dashboard is the new tool that pairs the best with the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE (2024). You have access to features like window resizing, screen capture, game capture, and control mapping, a great option for those who can't or don't want to invest in a game recording setup.
The game recording is fine, though naturally not as high as a premium capture card, but it does a surprisingly great job thanks to the screen quality. It's also easy, allowing you to avoid setting up a whole mess of wires. Control mapping is a standard feature but always appreciated, especially for games that don't come with it like mobile titles that rely on touchscreen controls.
Benchmarks
Here's how the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
The upgraded specs of the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE (2024) shine through in its benchmark scores, as these are some of the highest test results I've seen in any Chromebook and are solid improvements over the already excellent scores from the original Chromebook 516 GE model.
I was particularly impressed by the WebGL Aquarium, as it was able to maintain a high 85fps with the maximum amount of fish enabled.
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The Intel Core CPU is certainly working overtime, which is great to hear from those interested in playing the best PC games through Steam or any Android titles. While you'll mainly want to game through a streaming service like Nvidia's GeForce Now or Amazon Luna, having the option to play locally is always a boon.
Just know that the Steam Borealis is still in beta, meaning you'll have to enable it through developer mode at your own risk. But in my experience, it runs quite well with little in the way of slowdown or bugs.
The best way to use this Chromebook, however, is through GeForce Now. If you're using the most premium subscription option and you have a solid internet connection, the experience is incredibly smooth and stutter-free. I played AAA titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur's Gate 3 with no issues at all. And thanks to the great display, the games look even better than in the original model and beat out most other Chromebooks.
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The battery life isn't too shabby, lasting about seven hours when under heavy video use and a bit more under normal work conditions. While it's not the best for a Chromebook, it still outstrips most Windows laptops using an Intel Core CPU. The good thing is that you can play for quite a bit before running low on battery, making it way more portable-minded than other gaming laptops.
It lasts a little longer when it comes to productivity work, ensuring that you'll have a full work or school day worth of charge. And it charges pretty fact too, so you won't be stuck at an outlet for too long in case you need to juice up.
Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE: Price & availability
How much does it cost? starting price is $649.99 (around £515 / AU$980)
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US
The price for the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE (2024) is $649.99 (around £515 / AU$980), which is the same price that the original Acer Chromebook 516 GE sold for at launch. While it's a steep price point for a Chromebook, for a gaming laptop it's a steal, especially for more casual gamers who don't require much firepower for the games they play, or those who only want to stream games instead of playing locally.
Currently, it's only available in the US through Best Buy, with no units available to purchase in the UK and Australia at the time of this writing.
Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE: Specs
The Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE I reviewed came with an Intel Core 5 120U CPU with Intel Arc Graphics, up to 16GB of LPDDR4X SDRAM, and 256 GB PCIe storage. There aren't any options to upgrade your specs, and Chromebooks are notorious for poor self-repairability and no self-upgrade options.
Should you buy the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE?
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Buy the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE if...
You want solid game streaming performance This is a laptop made for game streaming and it does it well. The vibrant display also helps, as titles look clean and clear through near stutter-free gameplay.
You’re on a budget
This laptop is quite affordable compared to other gaming laptops with similar or worse performance and specs. If you're on a budget, this is an excellent choice.
Don't buy it if...
Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE: Also consider
If my Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE (2024) review has you considering other options, here are two more laptops to consider...
How I tested the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE
I tested the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE for several weeks
I tested its gaming capabilities
I stress-tested the battery using the TechRadar movie test
First, I tested the general weight and portability of the Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE by carrying it around in a laptop bag. After I set it up, I ran several benchmarks to thoroughly test out its upgraded specs and compare them to the original model. Finally, I used a variety of programs and applications to test out both battery life and general performance during work-like conditions.
The Acer Chromebook Plus 516 GE is a gaming laptop that can also do productivity work, meaning I needed to test out both of those capabilities. I also tested out battery life to see how long it could last off AC power.
I've tested plenty of Chromebooks, making me more than qualified to understand benchmark test results and how to properly stress test machines to see how well they perform as a work machine.
It's no secret that I'm not fond of the Microsoft Surface Laptop series, so even with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip and all the new Copilot+ AI bells and whistles attached to the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7, I wasn't expecting much of an upgrade. But to my surprise, it's quickly turning into one of the best Windows laptops and best laptops of the year thanks to a sleek design, solid battery life, and excellent performance.
One of the most consistent aspects of the Surface Laptop series is its design. The chassis is always sleek and lightweight yet sturdy, there's a nice variety of colors to choose from, and the keyboard feels snappy and responsive while typing. Thankfully, the Laptop 7 doesn't change on that front but instead embraces its positives while focusing its efforts on enacting improvements it actually needs.
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The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 boasts a 13.8-inch (2304x1536) HDR-supported display with a high refresh rate of 120Hz - especially high for a non-gaming laptop. It weighs less than three pounds, ensuring its super portability - an absolute gem for any office worker or student who needs to transport it around between home and work offices or to and from school. I wish it also featured an OLED screen option but omitting it keeps the cost down, so it makes sense.
Its keyboard is also just as snappy and responsive as you'd expect, though the touchpad has minimal response issues that need to be rectified by adjusting the sensitivity settings. The webcam is the standard 1080p fare, nothing too shabby, but it lacks a physical shutter which for its price point is an oversight worth mentioning.
Port selection isn't the worst, as it comes with two USB Type-C ports, a USB Type-A port, and a combo port. But it's certainly not well-balanced either, with it missing several important ports like ethernet, SD card reader, and an HDMI. Even worse, Microsoft still insists on that abysmal Surface Laptop connect charging port, which only serves to take up space that could have been given to literally anything else.
It has a solid sound quality as well, with instruments sounding clear and distinct from each other. Bass isn't too shabby as well, which is always surprising when it comes to a non-Ultrabook or gaming laptop.
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Another defining feature of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is its AI Copilot+ integration, including the Copilot key that Windows AI laptop keyboards are now outfitted with. As of now, however, the Copilot key simply doesn't work and there's no way to reprogram the key to make it work either.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7: Benchmarks
Here's how the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
The Copilot feature does work and quite well I might add. I tested out the Copilot chatbot on all three levels - creative, balanced, and precise - and it performed quite well on all three. The answers, ranging from basic math to a mock interview to an outline for a novel, were well thought out and well sourced. You can also enable various plug-ins for more types of conversations or to help with shopping for a variety of products.
I also tried out two other features included in Microsoft Paint called Cocreator and Image Creator, both powered by AI model DALL-E. The former transforms your own drawing into an AI-generated picture, and you can choose between several styles as well as the level of 'creativity' (aka how much of the finished product is from you versus the AI). Unfortunately, Image Creator uses a credit system, in which you're awarded 50 credits when you sign up for the service and each image generation costs one credit, so you'd need to pay for additional images after you run out of credits.
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There was one feature that I couldn't test out, the infamous Windows 11 AI Recall. Set to launch alongside Windows AI PCs, it was kicked back to the Windows Insider Program when its numerous security issues came to light.
Basically, Recall takes screenshots every few seconds, building up a library of images you can search via AI. But the issue is that the Recall database, which contains all the data from those screenshots and the history of your PC usage, is stored in plain text (in an SQLite database).
This makes it light work for hackers to obtain highly sensitive information like finances, passwords, work data, and more. So as of right now, Recall is not available for me to test out, and until Microsoft works out the safety issues it shouldn't be.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7's benchmark results are quite impressive, especially compared to its competition. Even without a GPU, the CPU does an incredible job of maintaining a high level of performance no matter which and how many tasks you're currently balancing. These benchmarks prove that the Laptop 7 can handle productivity work, conference calls, streaming, and more.
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The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 I tested featured a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite CPU and boy does it make all the difference. A common denominator between the past Surface Laptops is their poor performance, as they juggle a massive amount of tasks behind the scenes that result in major slow down, freezes, and even the aptly named 'Blue Screen of Death.'
But the Laptop 7's Qualcomm chip rounds out and fills in the numerous issues. It starts up and runs quickly, it's responsive when it comes to loading video websites as well as AI tools, and programs run as smoothly as they can. The latter is especially important as one of the biggest drawbacks was constant crashing when certain large programs booted up, including benchmarks like PCMark 10. But since I've been using it, there have been no performance hiccups in the slightest - in fact, I genuinely enjoyed my time with this laptop and would jump at the chance to make it my official work machine.
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The battery life has also been rejuvenated, with an absolutely incredible 15 hours of off-AC power when it comes to regular use and just over ten hours with the TechRadar movie test. It's rare to find a laptop with that kind of lasting power outside of MacBooks these days, and coming from a Windows laptop it's even more unbelievable.
Another improvement is the ventilation system, as I never experienced any overheating even when the Laptop 7 had been running for several hours without break. Better vents also lead to better performance and less risk of crashes, going hand in hand with its superior battery life.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7: Price & availability
How much does it cost? starting price is $999.99 / £1,049.99 / AU$1,899
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
The starting price for the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 13.8-inch model is $999.99 / £1,049.99 / AU$1,899, netting you a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor with 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage. The 15-inch model starts at $1,299.99 and comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor, 16GB RAM, and 256GB SSD.
It's cheaper than the entry-level M3 MacBook Air 13-inch and matches the starting price of the M3 MacBook Air 15-inch, while the highest configuration roughly matches the price of the highest configuration of the MacBook Air.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7: Specs
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 13.8-inch model starts with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor with 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage. The 15-inch model starts out with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor, 16GB RAM, and 256GB SSD.
Should you buy the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7?
(Image credit: Future)
Buy the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 if...
You want solid productivity performance This laptop can handle plenty of productivity work including video calls, documents, web surfing, and more while never sacrificing performance on any level.
You’re on a budget
This laptop is quite affordable, beating out other laptops with similar or worse performance and specs. If you're on a budget, this is an excellent choice.
Don't buy it if...
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7: Also consider
If my Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 review has you considering other options, here are two more laptops to consider...
How I tested the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7?
I tested the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 for a week
I tested it using productivity and creative applications
I stress-tested the battery using the TechRadar movie test
First, I tested the general weight and portability of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 by carrying it around in a laptop bag. After I set it up, I ran several benchmarks to thoroughly test out the new Qualcomm processor. Finally, I used a variety of programs and applications to test out both battery life and general performance during work-like conditions.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is meant to be a portable laptop with a thin and light chassis. I had to spend a good amount of testing not only on performance issues but also looking for any ventilation issues. I also tested out battery life to see how long it could last off AC power.
I've tested plenty of gaming PCs and laptops, making me more than qualified to understand benchmark test results and how to properly stress test machines to see how well they perform as a work machine.
Last year around this time, I scoffed at the idea of Microsoft making its own Arm chip to power its Surface lineup, and I was, frankly, pretty savage in my opinion of Windows-on-Arm based on the limited number of examples that'd actually made it to market (all of which were pretty much garbage).
If I had less integrity, I could say that 'what I was really talking about was Microsoft designing its own chips and having them fabbed by TSMC the way Apple does with its M-series chips, not partnering with Qualcomm for the new Microsoft Surface Pro 11!'
But that wouldn't be honest. The new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite SoC in the Surface Pro 11 was co-developed by Microsoft specifically to run a new generation of Copilot+ AI PCs, with its Surface Pro and Surface Laptop leading the way. Functionally, yes, it's different than what Apple is doing, but substantively, it's not, and what Microsoft is doing is better than what Apple is doing, and the Surface Pro 11 is as good an example of that as any of this new generation of laptops now hitting the scene.
Before I go into why I think this might be the best laptop released this year, I will front-load my criticisms of the device, since I don't want them to get lost amid the praise, of which there will be a lot in this review.
First, this isn't a tablet. It's a full-featured Windows 11 OS, so making a keyboard an optional, extra purchase starting at $139.99 / £129.99 / AU$239.95 is ludicrous, and making the Surface Pro Flex Keyboard with Slim Pen (included in this review) an additional $449.98 / £439 / AU$499.95 purchase absolutely takes away from the appeal of this device. This is somewhat mitigated by a starting price of $999.99 /£1,049.99 / AU$1,899.99, so even with the additional keyboard expense, it's going to be cheaper than many of the best 2-in-1 laptops out there, but having to pay extra for a keyboard for a laptop PC will never sit right with me.
Second, Microsoft PRISM does an admirable job as an emulation layer, letting you run a lot of Windows x86 apps on the Snapdragon X Elite without any real (or at least noticeable) performance degradation, but there are still some apps that won't run at all, at least not yet. It also goes without saying that any app running through emulation is going to run slower than an app programmed specifically for Arm architecture like that in the Snapdragon X Elite.
Finally, the much-touted AI features of Copilot+ laptops are still very limited. Recall has been held back for a few months (which is fine, honestly), and Studio Effects and Cocreator work well but can feel gimmicky at times. If you buy this laptop hoping to see the future of AI PCs right now, you're going to be disappointed. Real AI-powered apps are coming soon, but they aren't here yet.
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With that out of the way, and with all that still top of mind, the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is my favorite laptop of the year, and I don't see any on the horizon that will dislodge it. I've reviewed dozens of laptops over my last four-plus years writing for TechRadar, and the Surface Pro 11 is the device I'll want to take with me when I have to travel for work, or when I want to work somewhere outside the home or office.
From its incredible design, gorgeous display, and all-day-plus battery life, the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is more than a match for the iPad Pro, and thanks to its full Windows 11 OS, it can do more than an iPad Pro could ever dream of doing in terms of features and functionality.
Its performance might lag behind the latest iPad Pro with Apple M4 overall, but it is still very competitive nonetheless. That said, the Surface Pro 11 was able to actually run all of my standard benchmark tests, something a MacBook can't do (an iPad even less so), and there weren't any standout weaknesses when it comes to most users.
And even though the Surface Pro 11's gaming performance is pretty laughable overall, it's not like the MacBook Air is a gaming laptop either (no matter how much Apple wants you to believe it is), and the Surface Pro 11's gaming chops are about the same as the best ultrabooks out there.
Where the Surface Pro 11 really shines, however, is its design and battery life. Easily the best-looking detachable laptop on the market, it also sports up to a 2.8K OLED display with far better color accuracy than an iPad Pro according to our tests, a 1440p webcam along the edge of the display for better framing when in landscape mode, and a lightweight but solid build that feels like the investment it is.
In terms of battery life, I'll get into more detail in a bit, but this device lives up to Microsoft's 14-four battery life claim, even edging closer to 15 hours in my local video playback tests. This is a hell of an accomplishment for an OLED laptop and underscores just how good Arm architecture is for power efficiency.
All in all, then, the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 does exactly what it has to do, does it well, and even pushes past what most users are going to expect from even the best Windows laptop of the past few years. It's not perfect, but as more developers release Arm versions of their apps and more AI apps and features roll out, this is a phenomenal laptop that will only get better over the next year and beyond.
Microsoft Surface Pro 11: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
How much does it cost? Starting at $999.99 /£1,049.99 / AU$1,899.99
When is it available? The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is available now
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia
The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is available now in the US, UK, and Australia, starting at $999.99 /£1,049.99 / AU$1,899.99.
For this price, you get a 10-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chip, a 2.8K LCD display, 16GB RAM, and 256GB SSD. You can upgrade to an OLED display with a 12-core Snapdragon X Elite chip, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD starting at $1,499.99 / £1,549 / AU$2,699. With the LCD model, you only have the option to increase storage capacity, as all configurations come with 16GB RAM.
The top-level configuration, with a Snapdragon X Elite, OLED display, 32GB RAM, and 1TB SSD, will cost you $2,099.99 / £2,149.99 / AU$3,599. As mentioned before, all of this is before spending additional money for one of several compatible keyboards. Only Wi-Fi models are available at this time, but 5G-enabled models are due out later this year.
Compared to the iPad Pro 13-inch, the Surface Pro 11 generally comes in, though the iPad Pro is going to have a better display to start. On the flip side, it starts with much less memory and you do get a fully functional Windows 11 operating system, not a beefed-up mobile OS like you get with the iPad.
Value: 4 / 5
Microsoft Surface Pro 11: Specs
Microsoft Surface Pro 11: Design
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Gorgeous display
Surface Pro Flex keyboard is fantastic
Get it in Sapphire Blue, trust me
The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is not all that different from the Surface Pro devices that came before it, but this one hits different thanks to the gorgeous Sapphire Blue colorway and lovely OLED panel in my review unit.
Featuring a 2880x1920p resolution, a dynamic refresh rate of 120Hz, and a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, the display is as good or better than just about any other you'll find on the market at this price. The Surface Pro 11's display also features far better color gamut coverage in our testing than the iPad Pro released earlier this year, with the Surface Pro 11's OLED panel capturing 162.7% of the sRGB and 115.2% of the DCI-P3 color gamuts, making this a fantastic 2-in-1 for creatives.
The HDR brightness on the Surface Pro 11's OLED panel is also much brighter than the iPad Pro's, with the Surface Pro 11 peaking at 878 nits while the iPad Pro was only able to get to 498 nits brightness. Meanwhile, the SDR brightness of the Surface Pro 11's OLED panel averaged about 564 nits to the iPad Pro's 476 nits.
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Flipping the Surface Pro 11 over, you'll find the characteristic kickstand that Surface Pro devices are known for, and it opens easily enough but stays firm however you set it. It also has a fairly wide range, with its widest open position letting you pretty comfortably take written notes or do design work on a slightly angled surface.
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The review unit I received came with a Surface Pro Flex keyboard and Slim Pen, both of which performed very well during my time with the Surface Pro 11. The keyboard is among the most comfortable I've ever typed on, and the Slim Pen, while nothing special as far as a 4,096-point stylus goes (and certainly not up to the level of a professional artist's digital tablet and pen), works pretty well with the Surface for note taking, photo editing, and illustrating work.
The keyboard easily attaches to the pins along the edge of the Surface Pro 11 and they don't detach easily, letting you carry it around without worrying that you're going to drop the keyboard.
The Flex keyboard also lets you detach it and roll the connector flap underneath the top edge of the keyboard, giving you a better typing angle. Also along the top of the keyboard is the magnetized slot for the Slim Pen. If there's a knock I have on the design, it might be that this magnet is too strong, forcing you to sometimes have to really dig in to get the pen. Considering how well Microsoft incorporates accessibility into its products, this was a surprising slip on its part, but it's not deal-breaking by any means.
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You only get two Thunderbolt 4 ports, but for a tablet-like device, that's not bad at all. Being Thunderbolt 4, the ports feature charging, data transfer, and DisplayPort 1.4a video output.
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The webcam is positioned along the landscape edge of the Surface Pro 11, rather than at the 'top' of the tablet like with the iPad Pro. This makes video calls much less awkward, and the 1440p webcam sends out a crisp, clear image at 30 fps. The webcam also integrates into Windows Hello for better security on the device.
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The speakers are fine for a tablet-like device, but they won't wow you. If you want proper sound, you'll need to look into getting a headset to pair with the Surface Pro 11, as there is no headphone/microphone jack.
I won't speak about the other colorways, because I honestly don't want to. The only color you should consider for the Surface Pro 11 is Sapphire, which is an eye-catching powder/sky blue. It's simply much nicer aesthetically than Dune, Platinum, or Black. If you do, you'll have easily one of the prettiest laptops going, and you might even get some jealous looks from Apple diehards.
Design: 5 / 5
Microsoft Surface Pro 11: Performance
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Great overall performance
Prism Emulation is pretty decent
Lags Intel, AMD, and Apple laptops
Windows-on-Arm has come a long way in the four or so years since Microsoft began rebuilding its x86-defining OS for a whole new architecture.
I won't bore you with the finer details of chip-level instruction sets and all that, but it's important to know a few things before you buy a Microsoft Surface Pro 11.
Once you've built an operating system on the foundation of a certain defined table of machine-language operations that make it all work, switching out that table of operations for a different, albeit similar, set of operations is a lot like immersive language learning.
Think about it like this: if all you've ever known your whole life is English or Spanish, landing in Beijing and trying to learn Chinese from scratch isn't an impossible task, but it is going to be much, much harder than if you'd grown up speaking it.
Microsoft has struggled for years with even some of the basics of speaking Arm, having spent four-plus decades speaking x86, and Windows-on-Arm historically struggled in that intermediate range where the OS would work, but nothing else installed on the OS would (assuming it would even install). Microsoft still isn't fully fluent in Arm, so to speak, so Windows 11 on the Surface Pro 11 still suffers the occasional app incompatibility here or there, but it is lightyears ahead of where it was in 2020, and that's largely thanks to Prism emulation.
Built into Windows 11 on the Surface Pro 11 is a software layer that acts as a translator for apps that can't work on Arm hardware, taking an app's code and converting its x86 instructions into Arm instructions. Apple's Rosetta works the same way, but just like relying on a translator in a foreign country is going to slow down the pace of conversations, translating an x86 app into Arm takes time that does impact the app's performance.
And this is where the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 really surprised me. I was genuinely surprised at how well apps ran, even in emulation. They were nowhere near as fast as native apps, but they were more than fast enough that 95% of users wouldn't even notice a difference.
Still, there are differences, and they show up pretty clearly in benchmarks.
On the plus side, the Snapdragon X Elite's multicore performance in Geekbench 6.3 was toe-to-toe with the Apple M4 in the iPad Pro, so there is a lot of room for Windows-on-Arm to grow, rather than be held back by slower Arm-based chips as it had been in the past.
But in benchmarks like CrossMark Productivity, the Surface Pro 11 lagged behind the iPad Pro considerably, scoring only 1,327 to the iPad Pro's 1,771.
In terms of creative performance, in my PugetBench for Creators Photoshop benchmark tests, the Surface Pro 11 scored 5,600 compared to the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch with M3's 8,583 in the same test. Pretty much across the board, it was the same wherever the Surface Pro 11 has to rely on Prism Emulation to run a benchmark, which puts the Surface Pro 11 at a disadvantage right out the gate.
These differences are very real, and if you need high performance for your work, then there are going to be few cases right now where the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is going to outperform an Intel, AMD, or Apple silicon-powered laptop. You'll almost certainly be better off with one of those laptops than the new Surface Pro 11.
But performance isn't strictly a numbers game. More often than not, it's more vibes than anything, and most people need good to great performance and responsiveness and the ability to use the apps they want without any or as little fuss as possible. I spend my days testing the best computer hardware for the consumer market on the planet, and for non-gaming, non-intensive creative work, I found the Surface Pro 11's real-world performance to be a match for any of the dozens of ultrabooks I've tested in the past two years.
Performance: 3.5 / 5
Microsoft Surface Pro 11: AI features
While not an official scoring category here at TechRadar (at least not yet), it's worth breaking out the Surface Pro 11's AI features into its own discussion apart from general performance.
AI PCs are very much in their infancy, with the first consumer laptops with NPUs only shipping in early 2024. Most developers don't even have developer kits with NPUs in them yet, so the number of AI features you're going to find in an AI laptop right now is pretty small.
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(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
The Surface Pro 11 does have some nifty features though, which show the potential of NPUs for consumers. If you've used Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet, you've probably done a video call where you could blur your background or even swap it out for something kitschy or fun.
Studio Effects does something similar on-device, even allowing you to bring these changes into online calls so your video data isn't being processed in the cloud (at least not the blurring stuff. The video encode/decode is still being processed online). The list of available features in Studio Effects will likely expand as it moves from its current 'preview' state to a more mature production feature, so this is probably just a glimpse at what will be possible with Studio Effects over the next year or two.
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(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
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(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Another interesting feature is Cocreator, which lets you sketch an idea out in Microsoft Paint and Cocreator will generate a more detailed/refined image based on a text prompt and some other parameters. You can even click on the generated image and move it to the canvas, where you can refine your idea further.
Of the three AI 'launch' features for the Surface Pro 11 (the other being Recall, which isn't available as of yet), Cocreator is the most interesting. The images aren't necessarily great, and don't get me started on generative AI, copyright, and its theft from countless artists both alive and dead, but Cocreator is something I can actually see people using, if only for themselves.
The quality of the images being produced isn't nearly good enough to pass as actual art (the 45 TOPS NPU doesn't have nearly the processing power to do proper generative AI as we see from Midjourney and other gen AI tools that work in the cloud), and they're even too rudimentary for clip art or slideshow backgrounds.
Still, as an inspirational tool for the actual creative process (not just visual, but for writers and others as well), this could be something people might find helpful. It's not the kind of feature that's worth upgrading your laptop over just to get it, but it does point to where the future of the AI PC is likely to go in the next 2-3 years.
For now, that's really the only AI the Surface Pro 11 is offering as discrete features, but it's early yet. With the release of Microsoft Copilot+ Runtime, developers have a whole host of new tools to leverage the NPU to carry out AI workloads, so it's only a matter of time before AI apps hit the scene in force, and when they do, the Surface Pro 11 will be ready to run them.
Microsoft Surface Pro 11: Battery life
Nearly 15 hours of local video playback
Takes about an hour to charge to full
The keystone feature of the new Microsoft Surface Pro 11 isn't its performance, AI tools, or even its appealing design. What really sets the Surface Pro 11 apart from many Windows laptops is its battery life, which is robust enough to challenge even the best MacBooks for longevity.
In our web surfing test, the Surface Pro 11 managed a very impressive 12 hours and 10 minutes of battery life. Even more impressive was our local video playback test. With the display set to full brightness, energy saving turned off, and volume at 50%, the Surface Pro 11 squeezed out 14 hours and 33 minutes of battery life.
Considering that this is an OLED laptop, getting more than half a day's worth of use is something we really haven't seen. The iPad Pro with M4, for instance, got 14 hours and 50 minutes of battery life in our testing, and the MacBook Air 13-inch with M3 managed 15 hours and 13 minutes in our web surfing test. With some settings tweaks, there's no question that the Surface Pro 11 can go well beyond the 12-15 hours it got in our tests and stretch well into the 18-20 hour range, if not even longer.
The 47WHr battery charges fairly quickly with the included charger, but fast charging is available with a 65W or higher power cable, either through the Surface charging port or through USB.
Battery Life: 5 / 5
Should you buy the Microsoft Surface Pro 11?
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Buy the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 if...
Don't buy it if...
Also consider
Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) The thin and light laptop that started a revolution in computing is still going strong, and the Apple M3 chip is about as powerful as any you'll find in this form factor.
I used it for everyday productivity and content creation work
I ran our standard suite of Windows laptop benchmarks
I spent about a week with the Microsoft Surface Pro 11, using it mostly for everyday work, futzing about online, streaming movies, and the like.
I also ran TechRadar's standard suite of Windows laptop benchmarks on the device after installing the tools as normal and with no special flags or settings used besides the tool defaults.
I've been reviewing laptops and computer hardware for TechRadar for more than four years, and have personally reviewed many dozens of laptops in just two years alone. I know what to expect from a laptop in this class and how a laptop's performance ought to match up to its price based on its competition.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
Everything from the design to the pricing through to the market positioning of the new Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra begs comparison with Apple's MacBook Pro laptops. Even the way it integrates with Samsung's Galaxy smartphones has a whiff of Apple about it.
But we're not going to mention the iconic Apple alternative – well, not very much, anyway. As it happens, the wedge-shaped profile of the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra actually mimics the original MacBook Air more than any MacBook Pro model, though Apple never made an Air this big.
This is a 16-inch model fitted out with a glorious Samsung AMOLED display with touchscreen capability, plus one of Intel's latest top-spec mobile CPUs, a surprisingly powerful Nvidia GPU, 32GB of RAM and a beefy 2TB SSD. So, yeah, this is very much a top-tier premium laptop.
However, it's not one of those desktop replacement monsters that you'd barely ever want to take out and about. At 16.5mm thick and 1.86kg, it's relatively thin and light for a 16-inch laptop. So, think of it as a larger form-factor but still genuinely portable laptop from the luxury end of the spectrum, packing plenty of performance. Yup, a bit like the 16-inch notebook from you-know-who.
With that in mind, it's not a huge surprise that the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is priced up at the very top-end of the market, too, so along with Apple laptops, it must take on premium Windows systems from among the very best laptops including the Razer Blade and Dell XPS.
So, it needs to be very, very good, to justify its price and deliver on those unavoidable comparisons – and fortunately the new Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra manages this. It offers excellent performance levels, a top-notch OLED touchscreen, seriously impressive battery life for a 16-inch portable, and a premium build – even if there are weaknesses here that include the built-in speakers.
Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future)
How much does it cost? Starts from $2,999 / £3,149
When is it out? It's available now
Where can you get it? In the US and UK
For the base model, you're essentially looking at about $3,000 or £3,000 in the US and UK (Samsung doesn't officially sell its Galaxy Books in Australia). So, the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is an extremely expensive laptop by any sensible measure. Of course, a similarly specified Dell XPS system comes in at a similar cost. In fact, if you match this Samsung by specifying an OLED panel and RTX 4070 graphics, the XPS is actually around 13% more expensive.
It's harder to compare directly with Apple's laptops, but a roughly equivalent MacBook Pro 16 with an M3 Pro chip and 2TB of storage is around 15% pricier. So, you can actually make an argument for the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra being a relatively good value proposition, expensive as it undoubtedly is.
Value: 4 / 5
Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra: Specs
(Image credit: Future)
The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra comes in two configurations, a base model and upgraded version – though with both configurations, the 1TB SSD can also be upgraded to 2TB. (Note that, at least for now, the 2TB SSD upgrade is not available in the US).
Here are the specs for the two models of Samsung's Galaxy Book 4 Ultra at a glance.
Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra: Design and Features
(Image credit: Future)
Premium all-alloy build
Slick wedge-shaped chassis
Reasonable connectivity
It's hard to imagine that this generation of Samsung Galaxy Books would look the way they do if Apple's MacBook Air had never existed. There are just too many similarities in the wedge-shaped design and the mid-grey anodized finish.
The 16-inch Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra, which sits right on top of the Galaxy Book range, is no exception. It looks just like the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Pro, just on a slightly larger scale.
Does Samsung do a premium laptop as well as Apple? Not quite – but by any other standard, this is an extremely well put together notebook. For the most part, it feels extremely robust and rigid, too, the only exception being the keyboard bed, which exhibits just a touch of flex.
(Image credit: Future)
The trackpad is huge, which is a good thing, and finished with a slick glass surface. However, it's a moving 'diving board' design and can't ultimately compete with Apple's Force Touch trackpads, which trade moving parts for haptic feedback. You might think a haptic-powered trackpad sounds like a gimmick, but once you've used one, you won't want to go back to a conventional diving board design – they just feel clunky by comparison.
(Image credit: Future)
Anyway, the large 16-inch OLED panel has fairly (but not quite) ultra-slim bezels on three sides, and the display itself has some corner pixels disabled to give the impression of curved corners, which looks pretty neat. However, there's also a fairly large bottom bezel which slightly undermines the overall aesthetic and detracts from the fashionable screen-to-body ratio.
For sure, the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra doesn't even come close to Dell's XPS laptops when it comes to minimal bezel sizes and that ultra-modern look. Still, the top bezel does at least provide enough space for a full 1080p webcam. If you own a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, you can also wirelessly connect that and use it as a high-performance webcam.
This is just one of several tightly-woven features that once again mimics the way Apple's MacBook, iPhone and iPad ecosystem is optimized for cross-device operation. For instance, you can sync files across Samsung devices wirelessly just like Apple's AirDrop feature, or use a Samsung Galaxy Tab as a secondary display. It's all pretty handy, though overall it doesn't feel quite as seamless and effortless as the Apple alternatives – and Samsung's update software is particularly clunky.
As for audio, Samsung has fitted the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra's quad-speaker system as a bottom-firing setup. Ultimately, it's a disappointing sound experience. The volume levels are adequate, but the dynamic range is pretty limited and really only on par with mainstream Windows 11 laptops. Once again, the comparison with the MacBook Pro line is unflattering – Apple's laptops produce far, far better audio.
(Image credit: Future)
In terms of connectivity, you get two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support, a Type-A USB 3.2 port, HDMI 2.1 and a MicroSD memory card reader. Oh, and a regular 3.5mm audio jack. That little collection should cover most bases and it's nice to have some full-sized and legacy ports. Just bear in mind that charging takes place via one of the USB-C ports, so day-to-day, you'll typically only have one spare.
(Image credit: Future)
Speaking of charging, the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra's power supply is a fairly hefty unit – but with that comes pretty speedy charging. You can add 55% charge in just 30 minutes. The power brick is also not entirely out of keeping with what is a fairly large laptop with a 16-inch display. For sure, this is definitely a thin-and-light representative of the 16-inch breed at 16.5mm thick and 1.86kg – but equally, it's no ultraportable.
Design: 4 / 5
Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra: Performance
(Image credit: Future)
Benefits from Intel's latest mobile CPU
Decent Nvidia GPU
Stunning OLED display
Intel's new Core Ultra chips (Meteor Lake) are arguably a little disappointing. That said, the Core i9 Ultra 185H in this Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is still all the CPU 99% of users are going to need, and then some. It's even good enough to make for a powerful portable content creation machine with tasks like video encoding.
Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra benchmarks
Here's how the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
Then there's the Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics card. Okay, Nvidia does offer more powerful mobile GPUs, but the 4070 will still blow away any integrated graphics. Indeed, while you might expect Samsung to have clocked the RTX 4070 right down thanks to the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra's thin chassis, it's actually configured in an 80W spec, which is well above the 35W minimum that Nvidia dictates. Likewise, the 1,605MHz boost clock far exceeds the 1,230MHz minimum, even if it's also a fair way off the top 2,175MHz spec some mobile 4070s are capable of.
At any rate, there's decent 1080p performance on offer, though running the latest games at the screen's 2,880 x 1,800 native resolution is generally going to be a tall order, even with the help of DLSS upscaling. But there's some genuine gaming ability here, along with some GPU grunt when it comes to playing with the likes of filters and effects in video and image editing. Combined with that Intel CPU, it's a very effective partnership.
It's a similar story for the memory and storage. The 32GB of RAM will be more than enough for almost any workflow, while the 1TB SSD is an OEM version of Samsung's popular 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 drive, capable of over 6.5GB/s of peak transfer speeds (albeit at this price point we'd quite like to have seen a 2TB drive fitted).
Then there's the screen. Ah yes, that screen: it's a Samsung AMOLED 2X with the aforementioned 2,880 x 1,800 resolution and up to 120Hz refresh rate (it also supports dynamic switching between 60Hz and 120Hz to improve battery life).
The pixel density isn't all that – both the Dell XPS 16 and Apple MacBook Pro 16 have sharper, higher resolution panels on offer. But once you've tried OLED, you won't want to go back to any LCD-based tech. With perfect lighting and contrast, no light bleed, fab viewing angles and much better response times, it's simply better. Oh, and it's a touchscreen, too, which no Apple laptop currently offers.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra: Battery life
(Image credit: Future)
Genuine all-day battery life
Delivers on Samsung's claims for movie playback
Samsung reckons the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is good for 21 hours of video playback. That sounds like a tall order for a 16-inch laptop with powerful components. But you know what? It's actually doable, albeit in our testing it fell slightly short of 21 hours.
Okay, so you won't get that many hours with the screen set to full brightness – and we noticed some choppiness in video playback when using the dynamic refresh feature. So, the refresh rate is best set to 60Hz for viewing content on the move, but generally, color us impressed – this laptop has legs.
That impression is only bolstered by the 9 hours and 29 minutes it managed in the PCMark 10 Productivity battery life test. That's a pretty demanding workout in power consumption terms and anything near 10 hours is a good result.
Battery life: 5 / 5
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra?
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra: Also Consider
How I tested the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra
I used the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra as my daily driver for a week. That meant everything from work duties including web browsing, document editing and a little content creation, to watching movies in bed and playing games in the evening.
In other words, pretty much every use case. Along with our formal benchmark results, I also took the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra out on the road to get a feel for real-world performance and battery life, what it's like to lug around, and how well built it is.
I've not just been reviewing laptops for over 10 years, I've also used them as my primary computing devices for even longer. So, it's intriguing to see how the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra fits into that context. The answer, generally, is very well indeed.
If you're considering a new machine then the latest take on the HP Omen 45L does enough to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the best gaming PCs out there. As far as prebuilt rigs from trusted manufacturers go, HP's latest effort maintains a straightforward approach with its design ethos and performance potential, albeit at a price which may be a little hard to swallow.
Speaking of the design, there's a toolless approach to upgrading as both side and front panels can be removed without the need for a screwdriver, with ample room for tinkering. There's a total of four 120mm fans and a 360mm AIO for enhanced airflow, and this gaming PC largely delivers near-silent operation even when under stress.
Pricing starts at $1,779.99 (about £1,415 / AU$2,689) for a configuration that gets you an Intel Core i7-14700K CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and an Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti GPU. Yeah, it's far from the cheapest given that more humbly specced hardware, and this extends to higher-end configurations, such as our review unit. This came equipped with an RTX 4090 and Intel Core i9-13900K with 64GB of DDR5 RAM, but costs a mammoth $3,399.99 (about £2,673 / AU$5,136).
As you may expect, that large price tag comes with staggering performance. It's been nearly two years since the components inside the machine were first released, but they're showing no signs of slowing down. Make no mistake, this is a leading 1440p and 4K machine with excellent performance that should last you an incredibly long time. Then, when future RTX 5000 series graphics cards (or RDNA 4 lower down the GPU spectrum, if the rumors are right) hit the scene, it shouldn't be taxing to swap in a beefy upgrade.
HP Omen 45L: Price and availability
How much does it cost? Starts from $1,779.99 (about £1,415 / AU$2,689)
When is it available? It's on sale now
Where can you get it? In the US, UK and Australia
The HP Omen 45L starts at the mid-range with a base configuration featuring an Intel Core i7-14700K CPU coupled with either an RTX 4060 Ti or RTX 4070 GPU depending on the region you're buying in. This machine is priced at $1,779.99 (about £1,415 / AU$2,689) which is a touch high factoring in the 1440p GPU in question.
My review unit featured the Intel Core i9-13900K, the previous-generation Raptor Lake processor, with 64GB of Kingston Fury DDR5 RAM and an Nvidia RTX 4090. Unsurprisingly, the latter comes at a premium. If you're buying brand-new directly from HP or certain other retailers, you may find this build available around the $4,507.99 mark (about £3,538 / AU$6,798), which is at the very upper-end of the spectrum.
Simply put, there are cheaper RTX 4090 PCs out there, but this top configuration is priced at around the going market rate from a trusted manufacturer. It's about on a par with the recently released Corsair One i500, which is famed for its compact footprint and sleek chassis, at the cost of easy upgradability.
Price: 3 / 5
HP Omen 45L: Specs
Here are the specs for the HP Omen 45L at a glance.
HP Omen 45L: Design
(Image credit: Future)
Stylish overall look with space to upgrade
Toolless design to open things up, but there are drawbacks
Front and rear I/O leave a lot to be desired
The design of the HP Omen 45L is fairly standard fare for the company's lineup. In short, this means an illuminated square badge on the front, a triple front fan setup, and what's been described as a "toolless" upgrade path. The rig looks great with its fully metal frame and tempered glass panels, with enough space to be able to reach in and make changes where desired.
However, said toolless design, meaning the front and side panels can easily pop out, can become a bit of a hindrance. My particular review unit has been around the circuit for some time and came in the box with the front and side panel popped off. It took a bit of effort to slide things back in, with a little flex on the front. It's possible this could have happenend in transit, but it's something to be aware of.
What I'm not a fan of is the front and rear port panels which leave a fair amount to be desired. The former is top mounted and clean enough, sure, but the port selection is lacking. There's no USB 3.2 or USB-C, which means you're stuck with older USB 2.0 for your peripherals. The rear is better: here you get two USB-C ports, and three USB-A ports as well as Ethernet and 3.5mm jacks. There should be enough here to be getting on with but it's far from top of the class connectivity.
Design: 4 / 5
HP Omen 45L: Performance
(Image credit: Future)
Excellent gaming performance
Strong productivity chops with this CPU and GPU combo
Included NVMe SSD is strong, but SATA HDD is fairly pointless
The performance of the HP Omen 45L is impressive, but that's not surprising when factoring in the combination of the Intel Core i9-13900K and Nvidia RTX 4090 with 64GB of DDR5-5200 RAM.
You have more than enough power under the hood to fuel today's games at max settings in 1440p and 4K with room to spare. That's made all the better when you can take advantage of Nvidia DLSS 3's Frame Generation to make the most out of the high refresh rates on the best gaming monitors.
HP Omen 45L benchmarks
Here's how the HP Omen 45L performed in our suite of industry-standard benchmarks and demanding games.
Dubbed by the manufacturer as the "Omen Cryo Chamber," the cooling solution does a respectable job of keeping the core temperatures reasonable with the 360mm AIO and four 120mm case fans inside. What was notable was the lack of noise from the machine when under stress from heavy benchmarking, which is usually where these company-made gaming PCs start to struggle. With the Omen 45L, even moderate to heavy gaming is quiet.
We've gone into detail extensively about the RTX 4090 over the years and it remains a powerhouse. There's nothing on the market now that can make it sweat as the card's 24GB GDDR6X VRAM is seemingly endless for even the most demanding of software. To say the Intel Core i9-13900K is a bottleneck isn't exactly fair, but that's what's ultimately holding things back (but not to much of an extent).
That's because you can expect frame rate averages of well over 100fps in all the demanding games on the market such as Red Dead Redemption II, Cyberpunk 2077, and more CPU-bound titles such as Total War: Three Kingdoms, and that's running natively (with no DLSS). This is echoed in 3DMark's range of tests as well as in CrossMark as mentioned above.
HP says the Omen has a WD Black PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD but doesn't specify which one. In my testing with CrystalDiskMark, I logged sequential performance of 6,893MB/s and 5,267MB/s reads and writes respectively. That's on par with the quoted performance for the WD Black SN850, which is a rival to the best SSDs, despite being usurped by more powerful Gen 5.0 options in recent years.
What's odd to me is the 2TB 7200 RPM SATA HDD included with the HP Omen 45L. It's not just HP that goes for a hard disk as a secondary drive, as Alienware tends to as well, but I would rather have had a larger primary NVMe SSD instead of a fairly mediocre storage drive. Not only does it take up space in the case, but with sequential rates of around 300MB/s apiece, you can't really use it for gaming.
Lastly, there's the Omen Gaming Hub which comes included as a one-stop-shop for customizing your rig's lighting, overclocking your components, balancing power options, and optimizing games. While seasoned PC gamers are largely going to ignore this app, those new to PC gaming may find some use for it. The Hub is easy to understand, colorful, and powerful, but unnecessary for those who know what they're doing.
The 32-inch Aorus FO32U2P “Tactical” gaming monitor has a fast, 4K third-gen Samsung QD-OLED panel, some nifty design elements and is the first I’ve tested that has DisplayPort 2.1 connectivity. It’s in a crowded market, so how competitive and compelling will it be?
First up, it’s worth noting that there’s very little benefit to having DP 2.1 right now. Only AMD’s top-end workstation cards currently support it and there’s likely little real-world visual difference compared to DP 1.4 anyway. Still, it may be attractive to those seeking future-proofing.
The monitor is easy to assemble thanks to its three-piece-one-screw stand design. The panel itself is incredibly thin and all core electronics are isolated in a box at the back where it attaches to the stand. It's generally quasi-aggressive in terms of styling and includes an RGB strip at the rear – although you’ll likely never see it. A cool, rainbow-iridescent logo catches the light at the base, but all other design elements are geometric in nature.
While early QD-OLED panels struggled to display text without turning it spidery, this was practically banished when second-gen screens appeared and now there’s no problem at all. It uses the same anti-reflective coating we've seen on previous QD-OLEDs and this does a fine job of eliminating the black-mirror effect when viewing dark content – unless you have a bright light source behind you. The main downside of the coating is that it can slightly wash out OLED’s inherent true-black performance but it’s really not by much and I, for one, am OK with the trade-off.
The on-screen display (OSD) is operated by a small joystick button at the base that provides low-lag access to numerous standard display options, plus OLED care settings and game-boosting functionality – the latter includes on-screen crosshairs and contrast-equalization that stops enemies jumping out of shadows and bright lights.
The numerous anti-burn-in features still highlight the QD-OLED technology’s potential flaw (for use as computer monitors) – static images like toolbars risk burning into the screen if you regularly use them for work. Fortunately there’s a three-year anti-burn-in warranty to provide peace of mind.
A ‘tactical’ switch next to the joystick button can be programmed to do things like drop the screen size to 24 inches for competitive FPS players and also to activate, change or deactivate the crosshair.
As for gaming performance, the fast pixel response time marries with the fast 240Hz refresh rate to produce impressive ghost-free motion performance. It’s not as blur-free as 360Hz or pro-grade TN (twisted nematic) technology panels, but only some pro FPS players might grumble.
Multimedia performance is impressive, especially when Windows HDR is activated. Bright lights shine out of the screen and details are retained in dark shadows. Both colorful and monochromatic gradients are impressively smooth and designers will like that it supports 99% of the difficult DCI-P3 color gamut.
There are two 5W speakers that get loud but don’t provide much in the way of bass-heavy punch, but it's still handy to have them for casual video watching.
(Image credit: Future)
Gigabyte Aorus FO32U2P: Price and availability
$1,299 / AU$2,199; UK price TBC
Available in US and Australia, UK availability TBC
This is far from a cheap monitor and it’s difficult to find outside of Asian markets right now. There are plenty of high-performing gaming monitors that rival many of the specs here, but the combination of QD-OLED, a UHD resolution, a 240Hz refresh rate and DisplayPort 2.1 really bumps the price up. Rivals with similar specifications (though without DP 2.1) can be found from MSI and Asus, but their availability and price also varies from region to region.
Value score: 3 / 5
Gigabyte Aorus FO32U2P: Specs
Gigabyte Aorus FO32U2P: Design and features
Easy to build
Packed with future-proof features
Some features not totally necessary right now
The Aorus FO32U2P has a very thin screen that’s mounted to a two-foot stand and has only minor decorative elements when compared to some bling-laden gaming beasts. It’s simple to fit together using the screen’s clip and a single finger screw (at the base) and, after construction, you’re left with a smart-looking gaming monitor that’s got a discreet (nay, hidden) RGB strip on the back and some ‘aggressive’ geometric lines.
The stand affords plenty of adjustments: there’s +20° to -5° of tilt, +20° to -20° of swivel, 90° of clockwise pivot and a generous 130mm of height adjustment.
There’s also one of the most impressive complements of ports I’ve come across on a monitor, even though some are so new (and expensive) that I’m questioning the value of their inclusion in the current market.
(Image credit: Future)
Indeed, if the 48Gbps bandwidth of HDMI 2.1 has felt constrictive for you(!), the Aorus FO32U2P supports DisplayPort 2.1 UHBR20 connectivity that goes up to 80Gbps for a potentially completely uncompressed 240Hz UHD image. For most people this will be a bit like Spinal Tap going up to 11, as the existing image is excellent and looks far from compressed. Still, when compatible consumer graphics cards appear, image quality might suddenly improve – to some extent – and I might be eating my words. That’s hard to imagine on a 32-inch screen, though I’d expect it to be more apparent on massive 4K and 8K TVs.
Right now DP 2.1 UHBR20 only works on Radeon Pro (workstation) graphics cards anyway. Also be aware that the supplied DP cable is relatively short, so might not reach if your PC isn’t on your desk.
A joystick button provides access to the OSD where the usual preset display settings (plus HDR additions when turned on) live, along with the option to activate FreeSync Premium Pro.
There’s Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture that can be made use of via the two HDMI 2.1 ports, a USB-C port (with 65W PD charging) and the two main DisplayPorts (one is miniDP). There’s also a DisplayPort out for daisy chaining. Note too, there are dual 3.5mm audio jacks that will please/annoy those with (in)compatible headsets.
A Game Assist menu enables you to display a timer and the monitor refresh rate. There are also various styles of onscreen crosshairs (great for CoD Hardcore) and an Eagle Eye (sniper) mode that zooms in on a moveable area of the screen so you can cheat get better headshots. To be frank, if you can succeed using such a distracting feature, then good for you.
(Image credit: Future)
You can also activate a Dashboard that provides an on-screen system status (CPU, GPU and frame rate) list.
A Resolution Switch mode transforms the display into a virtual 24-inch screen – gimmicky but potentially attractive to e-sports players who require a smaller screen with a more eye-friendly field of view.
An OLED Care menu monitors how long you’ve been using the screen and provides numerous burn-in tools like Pixel Clean, Static Control, Pixel Shift and (zoned) screen dimming. While burn-in on QD-OLED panels is still a heated issue, Gigabyte offers a three-year burn-in warranty for peace of mind.
A Tactical Button next to the joystick can be configured to instantly drop the resolution, activate the crosshair, enable an OLE-care cleaning cycle or mute the speakers.
Ultimately, it’s a good-looking and very well-specced monitor with few missing features and additional future-proofed, high-bandwidth connections.
Design and features score: 5 / 5
(Image credit: Future)
Gigabyte Aorus FO32U2P: Performance
Vibrant colors
Impressively fast in use
Built-in speakers are good but not great
The Aorus FO32U2P’s colors are as vibrant as I’d expect from a QD-OLED screen and both monochromatic and colorful transitions are smooth when Windows HDR is turned on.
Contrast is excellent, with details remaining visible in bright and dark areas alike. The 250 nit SDR brightness might seem low but it's uniform and well suited to gaming and day-to-day use. HDR brightness can hit 1000 nits on 3% of the screen – enough that all but larger highlights really pop. You can also butcher it with Aorus’ Black Equalizer 2.0 settings to stop enemies hiding in shadows and jumping out of the sun.
The 240Hz refresh rate marries well with the super-quick 0.03ms (stated) pixel response time. You can get faster screens but only super-fussy pro e-sports players might grumble at the minuscule blur on show.
(Image credit: Future)
Another potentially contentious issue with monitors using this third-gen Samsung QD-OLED panel is that it’s not quite true black. An anti-reflective coating does a very impressive job of banishing reflections (even in dark scenes) and despite this being a great trade-off, some multimedia purists might hate having ever-so-slightly washed-out blacks.
A less contentious issue concerns the QD-OLED’s spidery text problems from its early days. It was almost perfectly fixed on second-gen panels and I didn’t have any issues on this third-gen display.
The twin 5W speakers get loud and offer a bit of punch. However, there’s not much bass to speak of and fidelity suffers in the mid-range when at high volume. Still, I like having them as sometimes you want to watch a quick video without dealing with headphones.
Performance score: 5 / 5
(Image credit: Future)
Gigabyte Aorus FO32U2P: Score card
Should I buy the Gigabyte Aorus FO32U2P?
Buy it if...
You want an uncompromising gaming monitor
Having a 240Hz refresh rate on a UHD-resolution QD-OLED panel ticks my three core features of a dream monitor, and this Aorus has them all.
You want DisplayPort 2.1
There are few actual benefits to having this technology but, if you’ve been hanging out for huge video bandwidth, then this is the first monitor to provide it.
Don't buy it if...
Money is an issue
It’s a very expensive display and you can get non QD-OLED variants that have similar headline specs for much less money.
Thoughts of QD-OLED burn-in gives you anxiety
There are many anti-burn-in technologies in the Aorus FO32U2P (plus a three-year warranty), but you’ll be thinking about it a lot – especially if you’re planning on working with a fixed Windows Taskbar on a day-to-day basis.
Also consider
Gigabyte Aorus FO32U2
The non-P version of this monitor doesn’t have DisplayPort 2.1 (or DP daisy chaining) and its USB-C port isn’t as powerful (18-Watt PD), but this can save you some money. However availability is not great in all regions.
Gigabyte M32UC
Gigabyte’s non-QD-OLED 4K gaming monitor packs in the features and still manages to offer a 144Hz refresh rate. It also costs one-third of the price!
For the review, I tested the Aorus FO32U2P over the course of a month by using it as my work-from-home monitor, which I also use for gaming. That means I regularly use all Microsoft and Google Office applications, Adobe photo and video editing applications, social media and YouTube.
In order to test the overall image quality I focus on real-world tests and a few technical tests. For multimedia performance I use UHD video clips (HDR where possible) on YouTube to establish color vibrancy and accuracy, smoothness (and noisiness) of chromatic and monochromatic gradients, plus contrast range and true-black performance.
For speed and gaming performance I predominantly focus upon CoD MWIII and PCars 2 for fast-and-frantic motion smoothness. I also look at the TestUFO technical motion test.
For physical attributes I check reflectivity of the screen and speed/intuitiveness/features of the OSD.
I’ve been reviewing computers, peripherals and components for over 20 years for multiple titles in the UK, Australia and internationally.
HP’s Spectre Foldable 17 is, on the surface, an interesting device. If you were to look at the product page or any of the marketing material for the Foldable 17, no doubt you’d be impressed with the folding OLED panel, its crisp resolution, and the insane versatility that comes with it.
That magnetic keyboard, shifting the display up and altering the resolution automatically, and the fact you can use it as a fully-fledged all-in-one PC, or a 17-inch tablet at the drop of a hat, is no word of a lie – and incredibly enticing. But really, that’s all a mirage, a ghostly silhouette of what – at its core – is a significantly flawed product.
Right now, there’s one spec available for the HP Spectre Foldable. It’s priced at $5,000 retail in the US (£4,850 in the UK, or AU$8,499 in Australia), and features an Intel Core i7-1250U processor, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM (running at 5200MHz), a 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD, and a 94.3Wh battery.
That’s honestly all there really is to say about it. You get a pen, a USB dock, along with a (fairly average) detachable Bluetooth laptop substitute keyboard-and-mouse-combo-thing, and that’s it. And it’s the hardware that really drives the nail into the coffin.
Yes, the screen is good – it’s a beautifully crisp OLED panel that recreates colors to an exceptional degree. It’s stunning to look at, bright at 500 nits, and can even shift its resolution from 1,920 x 2,560 to 1,920 x 1,820 depending on how you position that keyboard. But, here’s the thing: you’re paying effectively $5,000 for a screen with a bit of hardware attached. And that hardware doesn’t perform as well as laptops that are a fifth the cost of this HP offering. Huawei’s MateBook D 16 for example, or Dell’s XPS 13 Plus, or literally any other laptop really, will outperform this device. And that’s a problem.
If all you need is a laptop to edit documents on (and I’ll caveat that with “not large spreadsheets”), watch a bit of Netflix, and stream a touch of YouTube, then yes the HP Spectre Foldable will fit the bill. Yes, you can technically use it as an all-in-one or a tablet to do that as well, but then you’re paying $5,000 for that privilege when, to be frank, you could probably get as much, if not better, performance out of an OLED TV for half the cost.
HP Spectre Foldable 17: Price and availability
Windows still isn’t quite set up for tablets as well as it should be (Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
How much does it cost? $5,000 / £4,850 / AU$8,499
When is it out? It’s available right now
Where can you get it? In the US, UK, and Australia
The price for the HP Spectre Foldable 17 is eye-watering. There is only one model available, priced at $5,000, or £4,850 in the UK, or if you live in Australia, AU$8,499.
This device goes by different names dependent on the region (Foldable in the US and Australia, or just Fold in the UK), but they are effectively the same model. All of them feature that 17-inch OLED panel, 16GB of soldered LPDDR5 RAM, and an Intel Core i7-1250U at their heart.
As to where you can buy the Spectre, the places to go are Amazon and Best Buy in the US, Amazon in the UK, and the HP store directly in Australia. There’s another big problem with the price, though, and that’s the fact that the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED exists, certainly in the UK anyway.
On paper, and to be honest, even at a quick glance, these two products are pretty much identical. The one difference being the Zenbook 17 Fold comes in (for the exact same spec) at a much lower £3,299 as standard (although we’ve seen it as low as £2,299). You can buy the Asus Fold in the US, but only from eBay sellers at this point, for similarly low prices.
Value: 1.5 / 5
HP Spectre Foldable 17: Design and Features
HP’s auto-keyboard detecting tech shifts the screen resolution depending on where you place the keyboard (Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
Beautiful display
Materials are solid
Port selection is disappointing
So we’ve established that this is a premium product. The Foldable certainly doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to that price tag, but the same can’t quite be said for the overall design, however.
Let’s start by addressing the good points. That OLED display is incredible. As standard it’s a 17-inch foldable screen that comes with a 2.5K resolution, 500 nits of brightness in HDR mode, and a ton of the usual features (including low blue light and brightview modes). It packs 1.07 billion colors into that array and produces a phenomenal 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio to back it up.
It is only a 60Hz panel, however, unlike some of the OLED screens now available, so it’s not quite as buttery smooth as some of the competition with fixed-screen displays. However, we have seen bendable OLED panels go well beyond 60Hz, with Corsair’s Xeneon Flex being perhaps one of the better examples of what’s possible with the tech in terms of refresh rate at least.
The real party trick, however, is that fold, and how it incorporates into the design of the device. Namely, this isn’t technically one product. It’s a laptop, an all-in-one PC, and a tablet, depending on how you configure it. In the rear of the unit, there’s a kickstand that you can fold out to turn the Foldable into a pure 17-inch screen. You can then use the keyboard-trackpad combo to operate it like a standard desktop PC. Or alternatively, drop that kickstand, and convert it into a 17-inch tablet instead.
Create a slight bend in the screen and place it on your desk, then attach the keyboard to it (via the power of magnetism), and you’ve turned it into a laptop. Interestingly, with laptop mode HP has some nifty software installed that detects the keyboard’s position, and adjusts the screen size and resolution accordingly, depending on where you place the keyboard, which is pretty neat.
Rotation is supported as well: you can rotate the entire unit horizontally, one way or the other, and the display will twist to the correct orientation accordingly (although bear in mind that kickstand only works one way). In portrait mode, however, you are limited to one orientation.
That is mildly awkward, as this does place one of the only two USB-C ports on the top-left of the display. If you plug in the included USB dock on the bottom-right side of the screen, then your only option, if you want power in as well, is to have the cable trailing out of the top-left of the display, which looks pretty ghastly.
The included kickstand is great if you want to use the device as an all-in-one PC, although it does only work in one orientation (Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
And it’s the ports that are the most frustrating to deal with. As standard, HP does include a USB hub with the foldable, but otherwise, you only get two USB-C Thunderbolt ports on here and nothing else. That’d be fine on a super-thin, small form factor device, but the Foldable is quite thick at 0.85cm, as that’s necessary to house all of that internal hardware.
The Spectre Foldable is thick - seriously thick - and only has two USB-C ports as standard (Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
Then we get to the keyboard. It’s small, foldable, with fairly standard keys that feel okay touch-wise. It has a trackpad, a small amount of Spectre branding on there, and a soft-touch leather cover. It connects only via Bluetooth and has a 330-hour battery life. You can charge it wirelessly off the display (when it’s fully on the device), but otherwise you’re stuck with a proprietary charging cable instead.
For the money, the keyboard experience isn’t great (Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
HP also reckons it should automatically pair with the Foldable 17 as well, but we consistently found that to be a weak point of the unit, particularly after restarting Windows, or letting the keyboard battery go flat. The one saving grace is you can magnetically stick the keyboard on the display, leave it there, and close the device without worry.
Design: 3.5 / 5
HP Spectre Foldable 17: Perfomance
The keyboard-trackpad combo has a phenomenal battery life, and wirelessly charges off the device, but connectivity can be an issue (Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
Fine for light usage
Gaming and heavy productivity isn't possible
So, the design side of the equation, except for a few minor or indeed more major pitfalls depending on your perspective, is pretty okay to be fair. There are a few foibles, particularly with the keyboard and placement of ports, but generally speaking, disregarding the price, the HP Foldable is an awesome product.
However, coming to its performance, this is where things take a turn for the worse. Now let’s be clear, you have to look at this with that price in mind: $5,000 is no small sum, particularly for a laptop like this.
I took it for a spin, benchmarking it across all manner of tests, just to see how the Foldable would perform. My test conditions were strict, and it was plugged in, and on the high-performance power plan in Windows, with all of the latest updates applied, and chipset/drivers installed. I ran a number of tests, including Crossmark, Geekbench 6.2.1, Blender, and some limited gaming benchmarks as well.
Now, Intel’s integrated Iris graphics has come a long way, but it’s still nowhere near the calibre of the Alchemist architecture found in the Arc graphics cards. It’s just not going to be one of the best gaming laptops, and that’s fine, it’s not meant to be. However, when you’re spending $5,000 you do expect a modicum of performance.
In Geekbench 6.2.1 the Foldable scored 2,210 in single-core and 6,635 in multi-core. By comparison, the Huawei Matebook D 16 scored 2,605 in single-core and 12,568 in multi-core. That’s double the multi-threaded performance in comparison, from a laptop that clocks in at 25% of the price. The Foldable did have a slight edge when it came to CrystalDiskMark clocking in at 6,739MB/s for reads and 4,524MB/s for writes (sequential), but then we came to the gaming, or lack thereof.
No matter what I tried, not one single benchmark would complete. In 3DMark Wildlife Extreme and Extreme Unlimited (tests designed for mobile gaming), the Foldable didn’t meet the minimum requirements, and Solar Bay (mobile ray tracing) was the same. I also tried Borderlands 3 and Total War: Warhammer III, on their lowest settings, and despite making it to the main menu, neither game would load the benchmark without crashing.
Is it a tablet? A plane? No, it’s a foldable screen (Image credit: Future / Zak Storey)
Blender performance was pretty dire too, at 26.81 for scene one, 17.14 for scene two, and 11.69 for scene three – less than half the performance of our comparative Huawei Matebook D 16. Likewise, Crossmark also got a pummelling across all four results, with scores ranging anywhere between 30-40% worse than the £1,200 Huawei notebook.
Clearly, when it comes to PC games this HP device isn’t going to be as capable as any of the best gaming desktops out there right now. Something like a dedicated gaming PC packing an Nvidia RTX 4080 Super, and maybe Intel Core i9-14900K, is obviously going to run rings around the Foldable 17.
However, the problem goes beyond this, as you could literally go out right now, and spend $3,500 to pick up a PC with a Ryzen 9 7900X, RTX 4070 Super, 64GB of DDR5 RAM, a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, and a 32-inch 4K OLED screen, and still have $1,500 left over to get a good laptop. Or alternatively, if all you want is a powerhouse laptop with a stunning screen, you could spend $2,500 on something like an Asus Zenbook Pro 16X OLED and save yourself a ton of cash while getting way, way better performance levels.
If all you care about is streaming content on Netflix, or doing some light document work, and browsing the web, the HP Spectre Foldable is more than capable of that. But then, so is practically every laptop at every price point, even the budget ones, and for that crazy four-figure investment, you should expect more.
Performance: 1.5 / 5
HP Spectre Foldable 17: Battery life
Solid 11-hour battery life
For battery life, the HP Spectre Foldable performed well enough and pretty much met our expectations across the board. It wasn’t phenomenal by any means, but lasted a full day of working remotely, with wireless and Bluetooth devices connected to it.
As standard, the Foldable comes with a 6-cell 94.3Wh Li-ion polymer battery and is rated in its folded mode, with keyboard attached, at around 12.5 hours, which is roughly what I saw during my time testing.
If you detach the keyboard entirely and run the Foldable as a display, that time does drop, as you’re effectively enabling more pixels to be active as you are running a higher resolution – but otherwise, it’s still fairly consistent in that regard.
HP also has fast charging support on the Foldable as well, and with any 100W USB-C charger, you’ll get around 50% charge in 40 to 45 minutes, with a full charge taking a little over two hours in my testing.
Thinner and lighter than it looks, the ROG Zephyrus G16 packs some serious hardware in a stylish 16-inch frame. While there are multiple configurations available, the G16 that was sent to me for this review features an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU paired up with a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 that can boost up to 100W. Sadly the 16GB of LPDDR5X 7467MHz RAM is soldered in and not upgradeable, and 32GB is only available on the Ultra 9 with RTX 4070/4080/4090 configuration for a significantly higher price. The 16-inch IPS screen has a 16:10 ratio, with a 2.5K (2560 x 1600) resolution, up to 500 nit brightness, a 3ms response time and a 240Hz G-Sync compatible refresh rate. You also get a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD, Wi-Fi 6 and a large 90Wh battery.
The G16 has two USB-C ports (one on each side), and while both support PD spec 100W charging and DisplayPort output, the left one is Thunderbolt 4 spec (40Gbps) and the right is USB 3.2 Gen 2 spec (10Gbps). You also get USB-A 3.2 ports on both the left and right, as well as HDMI 2.1, an SD card slot, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The G16 includes an array of customizable RGB lighting in the keyboard backlight, as well as “slash lighting” option that runs across the back of the display.
Performance is excellent, and the G16 has the cooling capacity to let the Intel Ultra 7 CPU sustain high performance. Even with the GPU joining in, heat dissipation isn’t an issue in most scenarios. The RTX 4060 GPU means you will need to turn the details down for most intensive games if you want to take advantage of the high refresh rate – especially at the native resolution. Dropping back to 1080p makes it easy to keep the details high, but still achieve 120+ fps. The laptop scales back performance on battery or USB-C, but it’s still plenty good enough for plugging into a dock at work, without needing to bring along the monster 200W PSU.
The 2560 x 1600 display is vibrant and bright, while G-Sync, the 240Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time makes for very smooth gaming. Moreover, the 100 DCI-P3 color reproduction will satisfy creators as well. The 90Wh battery is on the larger side and can be charged to 50% in 30 minutes, but the G16 isn’t too keen to run efficiently when unplugged. In silent mode (and half screen brightness) it struggles to last 4.5 hours for productivity tasks on default settings.
The keyboard is well spaced with deep 1.7mm travel, and the trackpad is large and accurate. The 1080p webcam quality is nothing special but gets the job done, and is equipped with IR that works well for facial recognition. The speakers provide better than expected sound considering the form factor.
(Image credit: Future)
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16: Price and availability
How much does it cost? from $2,899 / £2,299 /AU$3,299
Where is it available? Available in different configurations in most markets
Asus gives a price tag of $2,899 / £2,299 / AU$3,299 for the base configuration of the G16, but what hardware is included at that price varies across different markets.
It's hard to judge the value of the G16, as the base spec (in some regions) isn't overly appealing, and opting for higher-specced models can make the G16 much more expensive and reduces the overall value. I tested a G16 with the bang for buck RTX 4060, but you can opt for a lesser RTX 4050, or bump up to an RTX 4070, RTX 4080 or RTX 4090. While the other options are appealing, the RTX 4060 is well suited to the G16 form factor.
Depending on your location, the specific configurations available vary and can include an OLED or IPS screen, and Intel Core Ultra 7 or 9 CPUs. For example, the G16 tested is available in Australia with an RRP of AU$3,499 (RTX 4060) but, at the time of writing, isn’t available in the USA or the UK. In comparison, the higher end Core i9, RTX 4090 model costs $3,499 / £3,999 / AU$6,999.
Asus also announced a new ROG Zephyrus G16 (GA605) at Computex on June 3, 2024, which will be available later in the year. The new model brings increased AI focus with an AMD CPU and Copilot+ support, but is unlikely to improve gaming performance by a significant amount. The good news is that the new model should help drive down prices of the current Zephyrus G16 (GU605) and make it an even better deal.
Value score: 4 / 5
(Image credit: Future)
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 review: Specs
Availability varies widely depending on your location, but overall the G16 has a large number of configurations that include AMD and Intel CPUS, and GPUs from the RTX 4050 all the way through to the mighty RTX 4090.
The specs listed below are for the G16 model tested for this review.
(Image credit: Future)
Specs score: 4 / 5
(Image credit: Future)
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 review: Design
Balanced hardware
Customizable lighting
Surprisingly portable
The Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 is sold as a gaming machine that can also fly under the radar and make for a capable workstation. At 35.4 x 24.6 x 1.62 – 1.72 cm (13.94 x 9.69 x 0.64 – 0.68 inches) and 1.85kg (4.08 lbs) the G16 is pretty slim for a 16-inch, discrete GPU-sporting laptop. It’s worth noting that while Asus claims the thickness is up to 1.72cm, I measured the laptop at up to 1.79cm at the thickest point and 2.1cm off the table when including the feet. On the plus side, the width, depth and weight are accurate.
The G16 chassis is CNC-machined (a computerized manufacturing process) from aluminum, then anodized, which makes it stiff and robust without adding to the weight. Overall, the G16 is very portable, but keep in mind it does come with a monster 200W PSU that is needed for full performance. That said, the 100W USB-C charging is relatively capable (more on that later), so the G16 does well plugged into a dock.
I tested the mid-range model featuring a Intel Ultra 7 155H CPU and a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 8GB GPU that features a 100W TGP. The 16GB (2x8GB) of DDR5 is low profile, so soldered to the board and sadly not upgradeable. My G16 also had a 1TB Pcie 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD, which is upgradable if needed down the track. The problem here is that if you want 32GB of RAM, then you need to opt for the higher-end Ultra 9 185H-powered G16, with either RTX 4070/4080/4090 and an OLED screen. This is a shame, because 32GB of RAM is well suited to the Ultra 7 and RTX 4060 variants – especially for use as a high-powered workstation. Whereas the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 GPUs are overkill for the cooling capacity of the laptop, and as they are capped at 115W TGP, don’t offer a huge amount of additional gaming performance considering in relation to the price increase.
On the plus side, the cooling setup is great – and fresh air is drawn in from below and vented out the rear of the laptop, meaning there are no vents on the sides aimed at your hand.
The G16 has a 16-inch 16:10 ratio (2560 x 1600) IPS panel with a very fast 240Hz G-Sync compatible refresh rate and a solid 3ms GTG response time for smooth gaming at high or low frame rates. The display has up to a 500 nit brightness and covers 100% of the DCI-P3 gamut, so has vibrant, accurate colors. While I wish the OLED was also available on the RTX 4060 variant, the IPS panel is a good match for the laptop overall.
Wireless connectivity is good, with Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax, triple band 2x2 antennas) and Bluetooth 5.3. The selection of ports is also excellent, and we really appreciate having USB-C PD 100W charging and DisplayPort capable USB-C ports on both sides of the laptop – again making the G16 well suited to use with a dock or USB-C charging. The full complement of fast USB-C and USB-A ports, HDMI 2.1, SD card slot and 3.5mm audio jack mean the G16 is very versatile without needing to carry any extra dongles.
(Image credit: Future)
The G16 has a Windows Hello-ready 1080p IR webcam with an array of three microphones and noise-canceling tech. It’s a perfectly serviceable setup and better than lower-end laptops, giving about average performance for the price point the RTX 4060 G16 is targeting, but it would be a touch underwhelming on the much more expensive configurations. A fingerprint reader would have been a nice addition rather than the “Premium Glass” power button. The upwards and downwards firing speakers are quite good (for a laptop) and the Asus woofer setup gives noticeable kick to lower frequencies.
The G16 has a large RGB backlit keyboard with 1.7mm keyboard that opts to do without a numpad in favor of larger keys. The keyboard is very pleasant to type on, and we had no trouble with extended work sessions or gaming. The trackpad is also very large, and the premium feeling surface was very accurate – even with clammy hands. I just wish it included the fantastic light-up numpad in the trackpad as featured on some other Asus models.
The keyboard RGB lighting has a reasonable amount of customization and can be turned white to blend in. The rear of the laptop screen has what Asus calls Slash Lighting – a strip of LEDs that can be used to create customized lighting that can run through 15 different animations, match sounds or give notifications. The latter is not very useful when using the laptop (as you can’t see the lights) and isn't very bright. While I liked the concept, the Slash Lighting could have done with more options for customization.
Design score: 4 / 5
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 review: Performance
Excellent RTX 4060 performance
High sustained CPU wattage
Impressive cooling system
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16: Benchmarks
Here's how the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark: Speed Way: 2,602; Port Royal: 5,912; Time Spy Extreme: 5,058; Fire Strike Ultra: 6,222. GeekBench 6.2: 2,324 (single-core); 13,546 (multi-core) Cinebench R24: 996 (multi-core); 102 (single-core) PCMark 10: 7,690 CrystalDiskMark 8 NVMe: 5,046 MB/s (read); 3,638 MB/s (write) Red Dead Redemption II:(Ultra 1080p) 65 fps Cyberpunk 2077:1080p, (Ultra) 51 fps; QHD, (Ultra) 39 fps F1 2023: 1080p (Ultra): 50 fps PCMark 10 Battery Life: 4 hours and 45 minutes 1080p video playback battery life: 6 hours and 27 minutes
As a thinner and lighter laptop, the G16 faces some minor cooling restrictions that mean it doesn’t run the GPU or CPU as hard as possible. When using the 200W AC adaptor, the Intel Ultra 7 155H is limited to 80W (down from 115W) and the RTX 4060 has a 100W TGP (Total Graphics Power, reduced from a possible 140W). These limits tend to have very little impact on gaming performance, as the CPU isn’t running at full load, and the 100W GPU TGP is plenty to reach the point of diminishing returns on RTX 4060 performance vs power use.
The overall result is a gaming laptop that gives performance just as good as most other RTX 4060-based machines, but in a thinner and lighter form factor. The G16 will happily run any modern game at high frame rates, but you will need to turn down the details (or reduce the resolution) if you want to push beyond 100 fps or try to make use of the full 240Hz screen refresh rate. Intense games such as Cyberpunk 2077 will push the RTX 4060 to its limits, but turning on Nvidia DLSS can give a big boost – taking frame rates from 51 fps to 83 fps at 1080p Ultra settings. With a bit of tweaking it's possible to get reasonable quality results at over 100 fps, but a higher-end GPU would be needed to go much further without major reductions to quality.
The Zephyrus G16 is available in configurations equipped with high-end RTX 4080 or 4090 GPUs. While these models will give improved performance, the GPUs are capped at 115W, and so won’t give the same result as the same GPU in a thicker gaming laptop using a higher TGP.
(Image credit: Future)
The G16 is positioned as a gaming machine that is also a very capable creator or productivity workstation. Thanks to the high-power cooling system, the G16 can run the CPU at the full 80W TPD (Thermal Design Power) most of the time, and even under extended heavy load can sustain 70W. This means performance in CPU-heavy tasks that is as good as, or better than, most productivity-only focused laptops.
On battery, Asus limits the CPU and GPU to 40W. If plugged in via 100W USB-C (such as a charger or dock), the G16 uses the same power limits. For most productivity work this doesn’t have much of an impact, but sustained CPU or GPU heavy workloads do suffer a little. For example, I saw about a 10% reduction in PCMark10 score on USB-C or battery vs AC. But in sustained Cinebench24 testing or long encodes, CPU performance can be up to 30% lower if not plugged in with the AC adapter. GPU-heavy loads suffer similar reductions if using the RTX 4060.
I would have preferred to see the G16 use smarter power profiles when on battery or USB-C that could route more than 40W to the CPU or GPU, depending on the total load. For example, if the RTX 4060 is not in use, making 70W available to the CPU would give near identical performance on USB-C or battery compared to the AC PSU. While it’s reasonable that gaming needs the AC PSU plugged in, plugging into a 100W PD dock (or using a power bank if away from the wall socket) is very common for productivity work. While performance is still good, it could have been even better.
At full tilt, the G16 does have to vent a lot of heat (I pulled 160W from the AC PSU when running flat out), requiring the fans to run at a dull roar. Scaling back the performance settings gives relatively quiet usage with less than a 15% hit to performance or game frame rates. The G16 has a large rear vent, which can reach a toasty 50ºC / 122ºF. The underside of the laptop peaks at 46ºC / 115ºF, whereas the keyboard is a warm but not uncomfortable 37ºC / 98ºF, and the trackpad a cool 24.1ºC / 75ºF.
Performance score:4 / 5
(Image credit: Future)
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 review: Battery life
4 hours and 45 minutes of use when unplugged
6 hours and 27 minutes of video playback
The G16 has a large 90Wh battery but the power-hungry hardware takes a toll even on efficiency mode. I could manage 4 hours 45 minutes of work unplugged, or about an hour of gaming. If playing video with the screen brightness set to 50%, I could make it 6 hours and 27 minutes before needing to charge. This is a below-average result and, as a comparison, the Alienware m16 R2 with the same 90Wh battery (but a Ultra 9 CPU) can reach over 8 hours of video playback or light office use, and the Gigabyte Aorus 16X manages similar. At the time of writing, Asus does not give any battery life figures on the G16 product page, but I'm hopeful that a future software update will improve power management and help extend the battery life.
If charging from the AC PSU, the G16 can hit 50% in just 30 minutes, making quick top-ups easy. Charge speed drops as you approach 80% and a full charge takes around 1 hour and 15 minutes. I saw up to 93W of power when using a 100W USB-C charger, and total charge times around 1.5 hours.
Battery life score:3.5 / 5
Should I buy the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16?
Buy it if...
You want solid gaming performance in a very portable package The G16 is all about being slimmer than most gaming machines, which makes it ideal for those who need portability without sacrificing too much performance.
You want a workstation as well as a gaming machine The design and spec of the G16 makes for a great gaming laptop, but it’s even better if you need a powerful laptop for productivity or creative needs.
You want to stand out but also blend in when needed
The G16 has plenty of customizable RGB lighting options to satisfy your inner gamer, but can also quickly tone it down to hide in plain sight.
Don't buy it if...
You want bang-for-buck gaming
The Zephyrus G16 is a standout premium option but, for pure gaming, the FPS per dollar lags behind chunkier dedicated gaming laptops.
You want an unplugged productivity laptop
Over 4 hours on battery is useful, but if you want to make it through a work day without a charger, the G16 is not the right choice.
You want to be able to upgrade your laptop in the future The slim nature of the G16 means it uses low profile RAM soldered to the motherboard, limiting future upgrades to just the SSD.
Also consider
If this Asus Zephyrus G16 review has you considering other options, here are some other gaming laptops you can take a look at.
How I tested the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16
I tested the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 for two weeks
I used it both on a desk, and put it in a backpack for travel
I used it for gaming, as well as office productivity work and video editing
I ran the Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 through our usual comprehensive array of benchmarks, as well as using it for actual day-to-day work.
I used a range of synthetic gaming and productivity benchmarks, real-world gaming benchmarks, and battery and power testing.
I used the TechRadar movie test for assessing battery life during video playback, as well as productivity battery benchmarks. I logged power use in a variety of scenarios, including when charging from USB-C. I also tested charging the G16 with a power bank.
Corsair K65 Plus Wireless Keyboard: one-minute review
Let’s cut to the chase – the Corsair K65 Plus Wireless Keyboard is a fantastic wireless RGB gaming peripheral. Really, the only reasons to stay away are if you need a different form factor, whether it’s a full-size model or something in a more diminutive package, or if you find the price a bit too much to stomach. While plenty of premium gaming keyboards go for a similar price, you can certainly find decent models for much less.
That said, I will say I was essentially smitten the first time I typed on the Corsair K65 Plus Wireless. For me personally, it’s certainly among the best wireless keyboards and best mechanical keyboards out there. Whether it’s one of the best keyboards for you will depend on what you’re looking for, of course.
Outside of the main downsides I already mentioned, the only other reason someone might avoid this keyboard is if they want something that looks a little less like a gaming keyboard. As good as I think this keyboard looks, it still feels more appropriate for a gaming setting than a professional one.
Corsair K65 Plus Wireless Keyboard: price and availability
(Image credit: Future / James Holland)
How much does it cost? $159.99 / £149.99 (about AU$250)
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? On sale in the US and UK
Paying $159.99 / £149.99 (about AU$250) for a gaming keyboard is a lot for most people, especially as everything else in life seems to cost a little more these days. For better or worse, though, spending that much on a premium gaming keyboard with wireless connectivity is par for the course.
The Razer BlackWidow V4 75% I reviewed last year, which not only shares the same size, but also allows you to replace keycaps and switches to your heart’s content (in fact, you can use both three- and five-pin switches) goes for $189.99 / £189.99 / AU$349.95. And, since it’s aimed at modders, any first-party additions like different keycaps only adds to that price tag.
Or, take a look at the Yunzii AL71. It costs almost the same depending on where you are ($159.99 / £129 / AU$245), and offers a lot of the same features regarding customization, connectivity, and even being able to switch between Windows and Mac connectivity. It is a slightly smaller form factor and you won’t get the control dial seen on this Corsair keyboard (more on that in a moment).
Value: 4 / 5
Corsair K65 Plus Wireless Keyboard: design and features
(Image credit: Future / James Holland)
As far as the design of the Corsair K65 Plus Wireless goes, let’s start with the basics. This is a 75% sized model, meaning that you forgo a number pad and extra dedicated macro keys as you would see on full-sized options, but you still have the arrow keys as well as Page Up, Page Down, and Home (that you would miss out on with even smaller form factors). Plus, you still have a media key in the form of the control dial in the upper-right corner of the keyboard.
The keycaps have a soft feel with a concave shape to them that makes for easy, comfortable presses. And, since Corsair uses a top mount plate and stabilizers, not to mention pre-lubed switches, every press feels almost like pressing into a firm pillow (that might be a bit hyperbolic, but you get the idea). Each press is stable as the switches and keycaps have no wiggle to them – just a proper up and down motion.
There are also two layers of sound dampening built into the Corsair K65 Plus Wireless, and the Corsair MLX Red switches are designed for quiet operation as well. That makes this among the quieter mechanical keyboards I’ve used.
Corsair K65 Plus Wireless Keyboard Specs
Layout: 75% Switch: Corsair MLX Red Programmable keys: Yes Dimensions: 12.59 x 5.35 x 1.37-inches (LxWxH) RGB or backlighting: Yes (customizable)
Moving on to connectivity, the Corsair K65 Plus Wireless has just about everything you could ask for. There’s the wireless dongle, of course, for 2.4GHz operation, as well as USB connectivity for wired use and charging. Furthermore, there’s also Bluetooth on hand. Plus, you can pair this keyboard with three different devices and use hotkeys (mapped to Home, Page Up, and Page Down) to switch between each Bluetooth connection.
The controls for switching connectivity, excluding the different Bluetooth sources, are on the back of the keyboard along with another little switch that lets you flip between the Windows and Mac layout, a feature I really appreciate.
Since this is a gaming keyboard, RGB lighting is on hand and it’s quite colorful. You can customize to your heart’s content, even on a per-key basis, in the iCue software. Using that you can also remap all the keys along with some limited but useful customizations for the control dial, which controls the volume by default.
If there’s a missing piece of the puzzle here, for me it’s a nice wrist rest, especially considering the price. However, Corsair does include a keycap puller to remove both the keycaps and switches, which are hot-swappable.
Design: 4.5 / 5
Corsair K65 Plus Wireless Keyboard: performance
(Image credit: Future / James Holland)
All this attention to detail spills over to the way the Corsair K65 Plus Wireless performs. Thanks to a polling rate of 1,000Hz and switches that have an actuation point of 1.9mm, not to mention require just 45g of actuation force, this keyboard is as quick as most people will need.
While there are a few keyboards with a higher polling rate or lower actuation point, I would say that pretty much nobody but the most competitive gamers will notice any kind of difference. Even then, I have my doubts.
Whether it’s keeping up with the action in Battlefield 2042, Rocket League, Cyberpunk 2077 (the games I like to use for testing), or any other fast-paced title, there’s no question that this keyboard is up to the task.
I was even able to get the desired results with very light presses, so there’s no need for a heavy hand. Of course, if you are heavy-handed, the switches are rated to last 70 million keystrokes. Since Corsair employs N-key rollover, I never experienced any missed presses either.
More broadly, thanks to all the factors incorporated in its construction that I mentioned before, as well as the fact that the switches are pre-lubed, typing on this keyboard is a dream. In fact, I find that most decent gaming keyboards can keep up with general typing needs.
Where this keyboard really sets itself apart is with its feel, as I was able to do quite a bit of typing without putting too much pressure on my fingers. Plus, it feels really nice to type on. If you’re willing to splurge, I definitely think the Corsair K65 Plus Wireless is a worthy recommendation.
Performance: 5 / 5
Should I buy the Corsair K65 Plus Wireless Keyboard?
(Image credit: Future / James Holland)
Buy it if…
You want a lot of features
From being able to hot-swap the switches to changing between a Windows and Mac layout, not to mention all the connectivity options, the Corsair K65 Plus Wireless is about as fully loaded as they come.
You want an accurate, fast, and comfortable typing experience
It’s not only fast and accurate for just about any gaming needs, the K65’s quiet, soft operation makes for a very comfortable typing experience.
Don’t buy it if…
You need to save some money
Let’s be clear: the Corsair K65 Plus Wireless is worth its price. But if you’re on a budget, you can sacrifice some of its quality-of-life features for a cheaper keyboard that will still provide the performance you need.
You need a wrist rest
As comfortable as this keyboard is to use, I’m surprised it didn’t come with its own wrist rest. You can buy a third-party one, but for the price, you would think it would come included.
Also consider
How I tested the Corsair K65 Plus Wireless
Used regularly for a couple of weeks
Tested with typing as well as gaming
Tested all included features
I used the Corsair K65 Plus Wireless Keyboard regularly for a couple of weeks, typing quite a bit on it, as well as playing games. Specifically, I tried fast-paced gaming like Battlefield 2042, Cyberpunk 2077 and Rocket League as well as more sedate games like Starfield. I even tried it with some RTS titles like Iron Harvest.
I looked at other aspects beyond performance, of course. I played with the K65’s programmable features, whether remapping or adjusting RGB, and the various connectivity options.
I’ve tested a lot of tech gear over the years from laptops to keyboards and mice, and so have been able to use my expertise towards giving an honest and fair opinion, not to mention a critical eye, to any product I test.
Using the HP E45c G5, a 44.5-inch ultrawide monitor, is an experience. It’s not for everyone as the price tag is high, and it takes up a lot of space (as any 40-inch+ monitor would, of course). However, it’s engagingly immersive for media and, more importantly, allows for the ability to streamline a workflow where you need to look at multiple tabs or windows without having to switch between them.
If you’re looking for 4K resolution or need impeccable color accuracy and coverage for editing, your money may be better spent elsewhere. That’s not to say this screen isn’t great, or falls down badly in those respects, but the HP E45c G5 is among the best monitors for those looking for that immersive experience or ability to spread out a workflow, and not so much for other considerations.
Of course, if you’re reading this review, you’re probably looking for one of the best ultrawide monitors for your needs, anyway. In that regard, I think it’s up there.
HP E45C G5: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future / James Holland)
How much does it cost? $1,099 / £959.99 / AU$2,045
When is it available? It’s out now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK and Australia
While the HP E45c G5’s price tag is certainly justifiable, $1,099 / £959.99 / AU$2,045 is not a small chunk of change to pay for a monitor. However, it fills a very specific niche as it’s for those who like to have the screen real-estate of two monitors, but in a somewhat more streamlined setup.
Looking at it from that perspective, the price tag isn’t so bad. Most decent monitors are going to set you back about $400 to $500 anyway, so getting two of them will be the same price as the HP E45c G5, while requiring two spots on an outlet or power strip for power, not to mention you won’t have a single ultrawide screen if you want to use it this way.
As for the similarly-sized competition, you’re looking at the same kind of asking price or more. For instance, the Corsair Xeneon Flex 45WQHD240 OLED is just as big and has a nicer OLED display with a faster 240Hz refresh rate, but costs $1,999.99 / £2,099.99 / AU$3,299.99.
Or, consider the Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 with its similar aspect ratio and resolution. Of course, it does have an OLED display as well, so it’s going to cost much more at $2,199.99 / £1,599 / AU$3,399. Really, the only way you’ll pay the same $1,000-ish price tag as this HP display is to find the older non-OLED version of this monitor or go smaller.
Value: 4 / 5
HP E45C G5: Design and features
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(Image credit: Future / James Holland)
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(Image credit: Future / James Holland)
When discussing the design of this HP monitor, we have to go into detail about the obvious fact that this thing is big. With a 44.5-inch VA panel, it’s made to replace the need for two monitors. In fact, I would say it’s mostly better than using two monitors as the 1500R curvature allows for a more natural way to take in the whole panel. Plus, you can either split the screen between two sources, or expand the screen real-estate of one source in a way that isn’t separated by the blemish of an inconvenient bezel (well, two bezels).
Of course, the downside with this one-panel solution is that you don’t have the same level of ergonomic control as with two separate monitors, so for example, some people like to use the second monitor in portrait mode, and obviously that’s not possible with the HP E45c. Aside from that, the HP monitor’s overall ergonomics are somewhat limited, offering a 10-degree swivel in either direction, along with a 5-degree downward tilt and 20-degree upward tilt. On a more positive note, at least its height adjustment is substantial at around 8-inches.
Another point in HP’s favor compared to using two monitors is that the HP E45c’s base, while substantial, takes up less space than you would need for two monitors. Additionally, its stand comes with some basic cable management to keep the desk looking tidy. On a side note, assembling the whole thing is much easier than I thought it would be – just attach the stand to the back of the monitor while in the box, attach the base, and just pick it up from behind.
There are plenty of ports available as well, including three video-capable inputs: HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C. While there are no duplicates, so you won’t be able to plug in two laptops that only have HDMI, that’s still enough to take advantage of its ability to split the screen between two sources. Also, that USB-C port can deliver up to 100W of power to one PC, or 65W to two computers.
There’s also an additional USB-C port and a couple of USB-As on hand for peripherals. Since this monitor is a multi-tasker’s dream, KVM is incorporated too. You can even plug in an Ethernet cable with the HP E45c G5.
The last design-related aspect I want to mention is the OSD menu button on the back. It’s situated all the way over on the right side behind the panel, requiring a bit of a stretch whenever you want to change a setting.
Design: 4.5 / 5
HP E45C G5: Performance
(Image credit: Future / James Holland)
When it comes to performance, most of the negatives go right out of the window. Though this large display is limited to a (still great) 99% sRGB color coverage, its DCI-P3 coverage is not provided, and there are no settings for different color coverages, meaning that this is probably not an ideal monitor for photo and video editing.
However, for the rest of us non-creatives, it’s a blast to use. It still looks great with its dual QHD (5,120 x 1,440) resolution at a 165Hz refresh rate, and offers the kind of immersion for gaming and media that I found engrossing (I did have a powerful PC on hand to run it, of course).
This isn’t meant as a gaming monitor necessarily and is more targeted to worker bees who need a lot of screen real-estate to spread out on. This is an aspect I really appreciate, as I often have to look at several tabs to access and process different bits of information for articles and reviews. Additionally, the monitor can snap windows to an assortment of grids for easy organization.
HP was thoughtful enough to include a pair of 3W speakers. They’re loud enough and sound fine if you just need some audio in a pinch. But, if you care about sound quality, you’ll really want to pair this monitor with some decent speakers. This is true of 99% of the monitors I test, mind you, and it’s still nice to have integrated speakers as a little extra for a well-rounded experience.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
Should I buy the HP E45C G5?
(Image credit: Future / James Holland)
Buy it if…
You hate switching windows or tabs
With this ultrawide panel, you no longer have to rifle through different tabs and windows to find what you’re looking for. You can streamline, organize, and spread out your workflow here.
You want an immersive experience
It might not be 4K, but the dual QHD screen is plenty sharp enough. And, with its 1500R curvature and ultrawide panel, you’ll be engrossed in whatever you’re doing.
You have multiple PCs to connect
As a monitor meant for multi-taskers, the HP E45c comes with the right kind of features including KVM and picture-by-picture so you can seamlessly switch between two different computers.
Don’t buy it if…
You’re on a budget
Compared to buying two separate monitors, the price is right. But if you’re on a budget, you can get a decent monitor for much less. You’ll just need to go smaller.
You need portrait mode
If you’re considering alternatives to a second display, just be aware that by the very nature of this monitor, ergonomically speaking you’ll be forever locked in landscape mode.
Also consider
How I tested the HP E45C G5
Used regularly for a couple of weeks
Tested with multiple sources
Tried out all the features
I used the HP E45c G5 regularly for a couple weeks. I tested it with various games, as well as connecting multiple sources to see what it’s like viewing them side-by-side with its wide 32:9 aspect ratio. I tested the various features as well, not to mention the built-in speakers.
After spending some time with the HP E45c G5, it’s obvious that this monitor is for those looking for an impressive visual experience for gaming, for instance, or, as HP has positioned it, for streamlining and organizing a large workflow.
I’ve tested a lot of tech gear over the years from laptops to keyboards and speakers, and so have been able to use my expertise towards giving an honest and fair opinion, not to mention a critical eye, to any product I test.
