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Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG review: incredible value with some compromises

5:00 pm | July 14, 2024

Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG: One-minute review

Before I got my hands on the Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG, I thought I was done being surprised by how good the best budget gaming laptops have become. And I absolutely slot this model in that category.

However, the value on this model sporting an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 is very impressive, especially considering that much of the competition priced similarly seems to sport the slightly weaker 4050 GPU, which is still fairly powerful.

In fact, these 4050 and 4060-equipped laptops can handle most gaming duties so the current difference between the best gaming laptops out there is not that huge unless you want to hook up a giant monitor or want something with a 4K OLED screen or something else that’s a QoL upgrade, but not all that necessary for something that’s going to be sitting two feet from your face. That said, we might start to see more pronounced performance differences when newer games take advantage of the power this generation of GPUs can provide.

Looking beyond the value here as well as the power of the current-gen GPUs, the Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG is a smart-looking laptop that looks like a gaming laptop without being in your face about it. It also comes with some AI functionalities that, while interesting, are enough in their infancy that they don’t make a noticeably huge impact on the experience.

Since it is a budget laptop, there are some sacrifices. Even though the display has a fast refresh rate, the colors aren’t that great (so no editing on this). And, the battery life is pretty weak. But, if you’re a gamer on a budget, you probably won’t care and you probably shouldn’t.

Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG: Price & availability

A Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG on a desk — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

How much does it cost? Starting at $1,249.00 / £998.31 / AU$1,899.00
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK and Australia

The Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG might just redefine value for gaming laptops. Or, maybe not. Regardless, it’s a damn good deal as you get a 14th-gen i7 CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, along with 16GB of RAM, for $1,249.00 / £998.31 / AU$1,899.00.

And, if you’re in Australia, you can find an even cheaper related version, known as the G6X 9MG, that is mostly differentiated by the fact that it boasts a less-powerful 4050 GPU for AU$1,699.00.

Now, Gigabyte is not alone in this mid-range performance meets budget pricing (well, budget for gaming) category but is one of the best values. The Acer Nitro 16 AMD I reviewed earlier this year, provides some very good 1080p performance and goes for a similar $1,199.99 / AU$2,099.99 (about £945) price tag. Of course, it comes with that less powerful 4050 GPU.

Another good comparison is the Lenovo LOQ 15 (AMD), which goes for $1,379.99 / £1,300 (about AU$2,162), when you get the AMD Ryzen 7 CPU and 4060 GPU. As much as I like Lenovo’s designs and found their pricing to be good, the Gigabyte still offers better pound-for-pound value, especially since you can get a version with 32GB and 2TB of storage for just slightly more at $1,499.00 / AU$2,157.00.

Value: 5 / 5

Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG: Specs

If you don’t count the slightly cheaper G6X 9MG, which comes with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, the only real variation in configuration comes in how much RAM and storage space you order, ranging from 16GB to 32GB and 1 to 2TB.

Of course, this laptop’s RAM slots and M.2 SSD slots are easily swappable so you can upgrade to 64GB and some retailers in Australia offer upgrades during purchase to both the RAM and storage.

Beyond that, there’s only one choice when it comes to the screen, which is a 16:10 16-inch panel with a 1920 x 1200p resolution (essentially 1080p but in that 16:10 aspect ratio) and speedy 165Hz refresh rate.

Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG: Design

Sleek, subdued gaming design
Decent keyboard and mouse
Thermals are pretty good except underneath

Physically, the Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG is fairly smart looking. Its all-black colorway with some subtle gray designs on the lid and body’s top plate, both of which are aluminum, are the main indicators that this is a gaming laptop.

Otherwise, it’s a somewhat subdued, almost minimalist look that won’t rat you out if you pull it out at a cafe to work on (though once we get to battery life, you might think twice about doing this anyway).

The panel is basically a 1080p one but in a 16:10 aspect ratio (1920 x 1200p) and runs at a blazing-fast 165Hz refresh rate. It also provides a decent amount of screen space as this is a 16-inch laptop.

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Since there is plenty of space, the keyboard is a full-sized one, complete with a separate numpad. There are plenty of hotkeys for different shortcuts as well as a dedicated key to pull up Window’s new AI Copilot.

Since this is a gaming laptop, there’s also RGB backlighting. Unfortunately, it’s as basic as it comes as you can just pick one color for the whole thing. At least you can create macros for the keyboard, which is pretty cool. More importantly, typing on the keyboard is a nice experience, if nothing special.

The touchpad works well and is fairly sizable. The only minor complaint is its center-left placement – something that’s not unique here but that I never quite understood. Of course, that’s me being nit-picky, not to mention the fact that you’ll still need to use an external mouse for any gaming you do.

As far as ports go, the selection is decent with two USB-C and two USB-A along with an HDMI 2.1 port so you can keep a fast refresh rate with an external monitor. My only issue is that some of the ports are on the back – a design choice I’ve always disliked when I come across it.

When it comes to thermals, there’s a lot going on internally from heat piping and thermal intakes and outtakes to the two fans that get pretty loud whenever the laptop is under duress. While those fans can get distracting if you’re not using headphones, there aren’t too many issues with heat as long as you’re not touching the bottom of the laptop.

Design: 4 / 5

Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG: Performance

Very solid gaming performance
Screen is not the best for colors
Audio is not bad for a laptop

Benchmarks

Here is how the Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

3DMark Speed Way: 2,422; Fire Strike: 25,197; Time Spy: 10,228
GeekBench 6.3: 2,596 (single-core); 14,287 (multi-core)
25GB File Copy: 19.1 seconds
Handbrake 1.6.1: 4:40 Minutes
CrossMark: Overall: 1,996 Productivity: 1,894 Creativity: 2,114 Responsiveness: 1,966
F1 23 1080p (Ultra) 39 fps
Cyberpunk 2077: 1080p (Ultra) 32.13 fps
Web Surfing (Battery Informant): 3:43:53 hours
PCMark 10 Battery Life (Gaming): 1:11 hours

I was duly impressed with the performance on the Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG. And if you’re okay adjusting some settings or taking some slight performance hits, you’ll be very happy with what this laptop can do.

Powered by a 14th-gen i7 – specifically, one of the new HX chips with AI capabilities – and a Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 (and 32GB of RAM for the test unit), I never felt inhibited by the hardware, whether I was playing Hogwarts Legacy, Cyberpunk 2077, or Battlefield 2042. Now, the hardware included is meant to power that 1920x1200p screen at 165Hz and it certainly does.

While I mentioned earlier that I feel there’s not a huge difference performance-wise between a laptop like this and something sporting more powerful internals, you are going to have to adjust settings a little bit, particularly on the ray-tracing front. As you can see with the benchmarks below, it’s not going to touch something like the Acer Predator Helios 18 and its Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080.

Whether it’s from some of the backend AI functions closing the gap, my actual subjective experience, as opposed to just looking at the number, felt like I wasn’t missing anything. Sure, there was some texture popping here and there or light screen tearing, especially when the POV has moved around quickly, but anyone who’s limited by their budget is not going to be frustrated with the experience here.

On top of that, the screen looks good enough. However, you’re not going to be able to leverage that under-the-hood power for video or photo-editing. At least not if you want accurate results. The sRGB coverage is 67% while the DCI-P3 is 48. This also means that games aren’t going to pop with as much vibrancy as with some other laptops. Also, there’s no HDR on hand.

Regarding sound, Gigabyte advertises this laptop to simulate a 5.1.2 system using Dolby Atmos. While you still end up with that somewhat boxy audio that almost all laptops seem to end up with, there is a little more of a soundstage and a tiny bit more space to what I hear when playing, say, Cyberpunk 2077, thanks to the virtual spatial audio.

Performance: 4 / 5

Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG: Battery life

Not very good battery life
Charging is okay

We’ve seen some gaming laptops start to break the mold in terms of battery life. That’s not the case here. The battery life is, to speak plainly, not very good. Yes, this is the case for a lot of gaming laptops still, but you still get under four hours of regular use per our web surfing benchmark and just a little over an hour of gaming per the PC Mark 10 battery life benchmark.

If you do have to use the Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG untethered, charging it back up is not going to be a speedy affair. It’s not slow necessarily as you’ll get 10% more battery every ten minutes or so, but this is not fast charging.

Battery Life: 3 / 5

Should you buy the Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG?

Buy the Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

Acer Nitro 16 AMD
The Acer Nitro 16 AMD has a lot in common with the G6X 9KG reviewed here. It offers excellent performance and a fast refresh rate for not a lot of money. It does come with a weaker GPU (4050) but it has better color coverage.

Read our full Acer Nitro 16 AMD review

Lenovo LOQ 15 (AMD)
The Lenovo LOQ 15 (AMD) falls into a similar camp with its value proposition. Of course, you’re getting a 4050 instead of a 4060 GPU, but the battery life when not gaming is much better, making this a better option if you want your gaming laptop to also be your work laptop while on the go.

Read our full Lenovo LOQ 15 (AMD) review

How I tested the Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG

Tested for a week
Pushed it as hard as possible gaming-wise
Played with various settings

I used the Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG for a week, playing a number of demanding games like Hogwarts Legacy, Battlefield 2042 and Cyberpunk 2077. While doing so, I ran the games at various settings, particularly at the highest ones with ray tracing on wherever possible, and took note of the results. I also tested each aspect of the laptop from the keyboard and touchpad to the webcam and speakers.

After spending time with the Gigabyte Aorus G6X 9KG, it’s clear that this is ideal for any gamer on a budget, as it delivers a lot of performance for its price tag.

I’ve spent the last few years reviewing tech gear for gaming and otherwise, where I’ve gotten a feel for what to look for and how to put a piece of kit through its paces to see whether it’s worth the recommendation.

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.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed July 2024

HP Omen Transcend 14 review: a stylish, reasonably-priced OLED gaming laptop

3:38 am |

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Gaming Computers Gaming Laptops | Tags: Battery Life, GPU | Comments: Off

HP Omen Transcend 14: Two-minute review

The HP Omen Transcend 14 (2024) is almost everything I want out of the best gaming laptops lineup: sleek, stylish, portable, comfortable to type on, and offering more than enough gaming performance for modern games at 1080p, all for a pretty reasonable price tag.

Its 120Hz OLED display in particular is a jaw-dropper and made me realize what I’m missing out on with my usual IPS monitor. The Transcend 14’s classy, portable design made me feel at ease taking it out to work. And it offered enough gaming performance to keep me gaming from the comfort of my bed rather than in my office on my gaming PC.

There are a couple of pain points with the Transcend 14, though. First, its battery life is seriously bad. Second—and admittedly this might only be a problem for those like myself who like to pretend they’re “competitive” gamers—it has a 16:10 aspect ratio display, which means you see less on the horizontal axis while playing first-person shooters. I could find no easy fix for this, as enabling 16:9 resolutions with black-border GPU scaling proved difficult.

Despite this, for casual or non-FPS gaming, this laptop is stylish, comfortable, and performs well enough that it would certainly be in the running for becoming my own personal gaming laptop. Its GPU is a little underpowered (even with a 15W boost in the Omen software) compared to similar laptops, but not enough to detract from the value offered by the Transcend 14’s stellar design, cooling, and display.

So, if you’re fine with these battery life, resolution, and GPU caveats, I can happily recommend the HP Omen Transcend 14, though I’d personally struggle to pick between it and the 2024 version of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (or maybe a bigger laptop altogether, given 14-inch displays are quite small).

HP Omen Transcend 14: Price and availability

A design element of the HP Omen Transcend 14 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

How much does it cost? Starting at $1,689 / £1,449 (about AU$2,450)
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US and UK (Australia release unknown)

The Transcend 14 sits smack-bang where I hope many more laptops will sit as time goes on: in the mid-range OLED segment—“mid-range,” of course, always sounds a little tongue-in-cheek when we move past $1,500.

Three things make this laptop stellar value for the money: its mainstream gaming performance, sleek and portable design, and gorgeous OLED display. For $1,819 for the 1TB RTX 4060 version, you’re getting a pretty great deal.

Its main competitor is the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024), which also looks great, is portable, has a lovely 120Hz OLED screen, has similar specs, and costs roughly the same at MSRP. The main difference between the two right now seems to be that the Transcend 14 is frequently selling for much cheaper than its MSRP.

The Razer Blade 14 (2024) is an alternative, too, but costs a fair amount more for a version with similar specs. For that mark-up, you get an even better chassis (which is saying a lot) and better performance thanks to higher GPU power limits. But you don’t get that beautiful OLED screen, which is no little thing.

Value: 4 / 5

HP Omen Transcend 14: Specs

The spec stickers on the HP Omen Transcend 14 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

The Omen Transcend 14 (2024) comes in three main configurations, although you can customize it a little beyond these configs. The main choice to make is between a model with a Core Ultra 7 155H with RTX 4050, a Core Ultra 7 155H with RTX 4060, or a Core Ultra 9 185H with RTX 4070.

Beyond this, you can configure a few things. In the US, you can save $90 by opting for a 512GB SSD instead of a 1TB one, taking the base config down to $1,599, or pay an extra $140 for a 2TB SSD. You can also pay an extra $40 for a Wi-Fi 7 card, and you can pay extra for single-zone RGB or a white chassis.

You can also choose to pay an extra $150 to have a HyperX Cloud III Wireless headset included (which automatically pairs with the laptop). Apart from this, there’s the usual slew of Operating System, warranty, and software customizations to choose from.

HP Omen Transcend 14: Design

The lid of the HP Omen Transcend 14 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Gorgeous 120Hz OLED display with vibrant colors and deep blacks
Classy, understated, portable MacBook-esque design
“Pudding-inspired” keycaps on a springy keyboard that feels great

The Omen Transcend 14 looks and feels more like a modern portable work laptop than a gaming laptop, and that’s a good thing, in my book. HP is clearly going for more of a MacBook-style design than a decked-out gaming aesthetic, and for the price, it sure as hell delivers.

This 14-inch machine is light, weighing 3.59lb, and slim, too, at just 0.7 inches thick. Crucially, it manages to walk the line between portable and sturdy, being super easy to sling in a backpack and take to the café without feeling like you might break it while doing so. There’s a slight flex to the display, but nothing concerning.

What’s more, it offers all this in a crisp, understated design—understated for a gaming laptop, that is. And while the “shadow black” style of Transcend 14 I received looks gorgeous, the “ceramic white” one looks even better. You can get the latter version for just $15 extra, which is worth it in my opinion.

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The keyboard of the HP Omen Transcend 14 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

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The ports on the HP Omen Transcend 14 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

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The HyperX logo on the HP Omen Transcend 14

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

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The webcam on the HP Omen Transcend 14 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

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A quarter next to the HP Omen Transcend 14 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Apart from this, the Transcend 14’s OLED display is probably its main selling point. If you’ve never gamed on an OLED monitor before, it’s hard for me to explain just how stunning the dark blacks and vibrant colors look. Combine this with its 120Hz refresh rate and you have a phenomenal gaming display. It’s just a shame it doesn’t come with full-fledged GSync or FreeSync.

It takes a lot to impress me in the keyboard department, given I’m very used to my own custom mechanical keyboard, but the Transcend 14’s semi-chonky keyboard did impress. I used this laptop as a daily driver for a few days and found it an absolute joy to type on. Its “pudding-inspired” HyperX keycaps look great, and the keys feel nice and springy. The trackpad’s nice and tactile, too, and is centered (thank God), just like it should be.

I’m no fan of RGB, but if that kind of thing’s your jam, you’ll be pleased to hear it comes with four-zone RGB. Or, if you’re happy paying an eye-watering $80 extra, you can get per-key RGB. Colors, effects, and the like can all be customized in the HP Omen software.

One thing that slightly disappointed me about the Transcend 14 is its selection of ports, especially given the rear USB-C port essentially acts as a dedicated charging port. For multiple USB devices, you’ll want to pick up a USB hub. Still, there should be just enough ports here for most use cases, including for connecting an external mouse and keyboard.

Design: 5 / 5

HP Omen Transcend 14: Performance

The HP Omen Transcend 14 on a table — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Reasonable 1080p gaming performance
GPU is power-limited, even after enabling 15W boost
Great performance for such a slim, cool, quiet, and reasonably-priced laptop

Benchmarks

Here is how the HP Omen Transcend 14 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

3DMark Fire Strike: 17,848; Time Spy: 8,010;
GeekBench 6: 2,362 (single-core); 13,248 (multi-core)
25GB File Copy: 15.52 seconds
Handbrake 1.6 4K to 1080p encode: 5:04 minutes CrossMark Overall: 1,506; Productivity: 1,404; Creativity: 1,810; Responsiveness: 1,069;
Total War: Warhammer III (1080p, Ultra): 60.8 fps
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, Ultra): 21.24 fps
Dirt 5 (1920x1200, Ultra): 50 fps
Web Surfing (Battery Informant): 4 hours 9 minutes
PCMark 10 Gaming Battery Life: 58 minutes

The Omen Transcend 14 keeps up with modern titles at 1080p, but starts to struggle at higher resolutions. However, gaming at 1080p on medium settings looks fantastic on its OLED display, and frankly, you don’t need a higher resolution on a 14-inch monitor anyway. During my time gaming on this laptop, I found that whether I was playing Metro Exodus, Overwatch 2, Doom Eternal, V Rising, Satisfactory, or Vampire Survivors (you know, to really put the laptop through its paces), it was more than up to the task.

During the starting area of Metro Exodus, the Transcend 14’s RTX 4060 pulled over 100fps on Extreme settings at 1080p with DLSS enabled, and not much less than that with it disabled. Risk of Rain 2 had me at a smooth 80fps even at higher resolutions, and Overwatch 2 averaged well over 120fps.

However, my real bugbear is that while the Transcend 14 display’s native 16:10 aspect ratio makes it more useable for casual gaming and general use, it’s not great for competitive gaming because you lose out on some horizontal real estate in games.

Using 16:9 compressed everything, making the game look stretched vertically. So, I tried to get it working with black borders. However, because the laptop runs a hybrid GPU setup (switching from its Intel Arc GPU to its RTX 4060 when needed), there was no GPU scaling option in the Nvidia Control Panel. I couldn’t get it working via the Intel Graphics Command Center, either.

The only way I could run a game at 16:9 with black borders was to change the resolution in Windows Settings and then play it in borderless windowed mode, which feels like more of a hacky workaround than anything else and, at any rate, introduced more input latency than when playing fullscreen (And trying to get 16:9 working in Counter Strike 2 just straight-up crashed the entire system.)

If you’re not picky about 16:9 FPS gaming like me, the Transcend 14 performs well enough for casual gaming today. You can expect about 60fps in most good-looking games at 1080p, and if you enable DLSS, FSR, or XeSS you can really make the most of the OLED display’s 120Hz refresh rate.

There’s also an option to boost max GPU power by 15W (from 65W to 80W) in the Omen Gaming Hub software. I found that enabling this boosted the GPU clock from 1965MHz to 2190MHz, and from 113fps to 131fps, at 1080p during the opening portion of Metro Exodus.

Unfortunately, though, even this 15W boost doesn’t quite put the Transcend 14’s performance in line with some similar-specced 14-inch laptops. Instead, it sacrifices a little gaming performance for a portable design, cooler thermals, quieter fans, and a lower price.

If we’re talking general work use, the laptop performs great—with one caveat. I found, for whatever reason, things got laggy when downloading files while on battery power. Even typing in Notepad was slow. As soon as I plugged in the mains or stopped downloading, it was fine. Just a peculiar heads up.

Performance: 3.5 / 5

HP Omen Transcend 14: Battery life

Atrocious battery life
Even with power-saving settings, expect fewer than 6 hours for light tasks

The Transcend 14 has a 71Wh battery, and in practice I found it to offer worse battery life than many other gaming laptops. In our PCMark 10 Battery Life test, we found it to give less than an hour of game-time on battery power, and this seemed to bear out in my day-to-day testing. For gaming, then, you’ll really want to have this thing plugged in via the rear USB-C port (which offers faster charging than the side port).

I got 5 hours and 45 minutes of seven-tab Chrome office work out of the Transcend 14, so don’t expect to get a full 8 hours of work done without charging it. To be clear, this was with the Omen Hub’s Eco Mode enabled, Windows power efficiency mode turned on, brightness turned low (but still clearly visible), and RGB lighting turned off.

In all, its battery life is disappointing, but it’s enough to crank out a few hours of work on-the-go, or half an hour of unplugged gaming here and there. And thankfully, it charges quickly using the rear port.

Battery Life: 2 / 5

Should you buy the HP Omen Transcend 14?

Buy the HP Omen Transcend 14 if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

How I tested the HP Omen Transcend 14

I tested the HP Omen Transcend 14 (2024) for several weeks
I tested it using benchmark tests, video game benchmarks, and doing day-to-day gaming and office work
I used Nvidia FrameView to capture in-game framerates

For the first week, I got used to the laptop. I treated it as if I’d just bought it for myself, unboxing it, downloading my favorite games, and making use of it day-to-day. I made notes of any positives and negatives that came to mind. Then, I got to testing.

I ran benchmarks for tons of different use cases, noting the results. Finally, I tested some specific things I was curious about. Namely, the 16:10 vs 16:9 issue, and office work battery life tests. I also took the laptop out with me to work, to test its portability.

The HP Omen Transcend 14 (2024) is a gaming laptop, and is ideal for gaming even in more demanding titles (provided it’s plugged in and not running on battery power), but it can also be used as a work laptop. I used it for my own work and found its portability and design to both look and play the part, and its keyboard was a delight to use. Unfortunately, its battery life wasn’t amazing.

I’ve spent the past few years testing and reviewing all kinds of PC components, peripherals, and devices, including gaming laptops. I know how to test them properly, be objective and make accurate inferences from test results, and, probably more importantly, I know how to treat my devices like an end-user would, cutting the wheat from the chaff and getting to what’s most important to average PC gamers.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed July 2024

Microsoft Surface Pro 11 review: the best Surface ever — and it’ll only get better

6:59 pm | June 26, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets | Tags: AMD, Battery Life, Microsoft Surface Pro, Surface Pro | Comments: Off

Microsoft Surface Pro 11: Three-minute review

OK, so it's time for me to eat some crow.

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.

A Microsoft Surface Pro 11 on a desk — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A Screenshot from the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

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

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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Screenshots from a Microsoft Surface Pro 11 — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

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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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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?

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.

Read the full Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) review

How I tested the Microsoft Surface Pro 11

I spent about a week with the Surface Pro 11
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.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed June 2024

Acer Swift Go 14 review: a solid laptop with some fun twists and turns

9:43 pm | June 11, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets | Tags: AI, Battery Life | Comments: Off

Acer Swift Go 14: One-minute review

If we were to compare the Acer Swift Go 14 to a car, it would be like driving a Honda Accord. It’s a solid laptop that looks nice, but is pretty far from premium. There are some aspects of it that even come off a little cheap. However, it does the job it’s supposed to for the majority of those looking for a laptop.

In that regard, it could be considered one of the best laptops for the average joe as it’s priced very reasonably and comes with enough power to handle daily tasks for the next three to five years.

Plus, it comes with a few interesting extra features such as its built-in Copilot AI. Even though that’s technically a Microsoft thing, Copilot comes with its own processing unit as well as a physical button on the keyboard to call it up. The multi-gesture touchpad as well as the feature-filled webcam and mic are also nice touches.

If budget isn’t an issue, then you might not find the Acer Swift Go 14 to be among the best Ultrabooks to choose from. But, considering how inflation has reached us all, most of us looking for a daily laptop for emails, streaming, and the like are probably trying to stretch that budget as much as possible. And, with that in mind, the Acer Swift Go 14 is an easy recommendation.

Acer Swift Go 14: Price & availability

An Acer Swift Go 14 on a desk — (Image credit: Future / James Holland)

How much does it cost? Starting at $799.99 (about £640.00 / AU$1,230.00)
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK and Australia

The Acer Swift Go 14, reviewed here (model number SFG14-73/T), and available at Costco for $799.99 (about £640/AU$1,230) as of the beginning of May, is priced perfectly. If you don’t have a Costco membership, you’ll have to spend at least $949.99 (about £760 / AU$1440) to get a model with the same CPU, RAM, and display, and you’ll have a hard drive with half the space.

Of course, there is a model that goes for $829.99 (about £670 / AU$1260), but you’ll end up with the weaker Intel Core Ultra 5 125H CPU. If you’re in the UK or Australia, you really only have access to more expensive versions that come with a 2.8k resolution OLED display, which retail for £1,399.99 / AU$1,899 (about $1260.00).

Just be aware that the models with the Intel Core i5 or i7 CPUs are technically of the previous generation, even if they’re very close in terms of performance – they’re just not quite as robust in terms of their AI capabilities as the ones with the Intel Core Ultra SoCs with Intel Arc graphics and dedicated NPU.

If you need to differentiate, the newer models whether through Costco or direct have a 73 in the model name as opposed to 72 or 71, i.e. the one reviewed here is SFG14-73/T while the maxed out one mentioned in the paragraph above is the SFG14-71-785V.

The Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M3) is still the standard bearer for these types of more affordable Ultrabook models despite not being a Windows laptop. Yet, the starting price is $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,799. And, once you get into any kind of upgrades, the price goes way up. Plus, this base model comes with 8GB 'unified memory.' While Apple does a great job of creating efficient laptops, that’s still too little in this day and age. That puts the Acer Swift Go 14’s price into a proper and very positive context.

If you really need to go cheaper than the Acer Swift Go 14, there are some models out there worth considering, such as the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i. It has a good touch screen, some security features, and enough power for day-to-day work, even if it’s weaker than the Acer Swift Go 14, which you’ll notice more near the end of its life cycle as it will struggle more to keep up. And, it goes for a cheaper $659.99 / £518 (about AU$970).

Value: 4.5 / 5

Acer Swift Go 14: Specs

Though the Acer Swift Go 14 came in a number of configurations in previous generations, the current one (which is not that big of a leap from the previous i5 or i7-powered generation) has a very small number of models.

In the US, the only difference is either getting one with an Intel Core Ultra 5 or Core Ultra 7 SoC for the non-Costco models, or getting the Costco model, which is both cheaper and comes with a bigger hard drive.

The Acer Swift Go 14 is slightly different in the UK and Australia as it comes with a 2.8k resolution OLED screen. Of course, it’s more expensive as well.

Acer Swift Go 14: Design

Decidedly mid-tier in build quality and aesthetics
Powerful enough for most people’s needs
Keyboard is fine but touchpad has a lot going for it

As a mid-tier laptop, the Acer Swift Go 14 comes with its set of compromises starting with the fact that it has an aluminum lid and top plate but is plastic underneath, keeping this laptop from feeling truly premium. But if you don’t look too closely, its silver and black colorway looks good enough. And, at a little over 3 lbs, it’s fairly light – this is essentially a mid-range Ultrabook.

As far as components go, again it’s not going to be the most robust computer out there. However, if you consider who this is meant for, it’s more than robust enough, coming with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU, integrated Intel Arc graphics, 16GB DDR5 RAM, and a substantial 1TB SSD.

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If you want a computer that’s good enough for day-to-day activity that doesn’t include heavy editing or gaming, the Acer Swift Go 14 should do the job for at least a few years. Plus, it’s somewhat future-proof, or at least forward-looking with the fact that it comes with an Intel AI boost neural processing unit, which does the AI processing that you’ll mostly access through Copilot (more on that later).

The screen is capable here, but not quite wow-level, though there are some impressive upgrade options. The display that accompanies the review model is an IPS 1920x1200p 16:10 ratio one with a standard 60Hz refresh rate. It doesn’t do HDR but can handle HDR streaming.

The keyboard and touchpad are serviceable, but nothing special. Typing out this review on the Acer Swift Go 14 somewhat makes me miss my MacBook Pro, as the key presses are a bit shallower here. That said, you won’t find either the keyboard or touchpad to get in the way of your day-to-day activities. While the backlight on the keyboard is on the weaker side, a bright “SWIFT” lights up on the trackpad when the laptop is powered up – a nice touch, in my opinion.

One more point in favor of the touchpad is the fact that it registers all sorts of gestures, which can be customized to a degree in the settings, to the point where you use three or four fingers at a time for additional commands such as showing the desktop or adjusting the volume.

Design: 4 / 5

Acer Swift Go 14: Performance

A screenshot of the Acer Swift Go 14 laptop's Windows Copilot functionality — (Image credit: Future / James Holland)

Enough performance for most
Copilot AI is a nice, if extraneous addition
Webcam and mic are very good

Benchmarks

Here is how the Acer Swift Go 14 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

3DMark: Night Raid: 27,154; Fire Strike: 8,046; Time Spy: 3,827
GeekBench 6.1: 2,364 (single-core); 12,612 (multi-core)
25GB File Copy: 15.05 seconds
Handbrake 1.6.1 (4K to 1080p encode): 5:12 minutes
CrossMark: Overall: 1,809 Productivity: 1,750 Creativity: 1,921 Responsiveness: 1,670
Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (1080p): 36.214 fps
Web Surfing (Battery Informant): 8:25:23

The Acer Swift Go 14 is not a powerhouse, nor is it meant to be. This is the kind of portable computer for someone who doesn’t want to pay too much money, but still wants something robust enough to handle their daily workload for a few years without hassle. And, its performance lines up nicely there.

It won’t have any trouble running multiple tabs at the same time, and is even able to handle some basic gaming like CS:GO, despite not having discrete graphics. You won’t do any heavy lifting with this laptop, but its performance is more than enough for most people, especially since it comes with some good quality-of-life inclusions.

Now, whether the built-in Copilot AI that’s replaced Cortana, and has its own dedicated button, is one of those QoL inclusions worth paying for really depends on how much you rely on or want to rely on AI.

It certainly makes searching for solutions when troubleshooting issues, whether computer-related or not, a bit easier. However, it’s not that much more robust than what you can find googling. It just happens to all be in one place. As things with generative AI evolve, we’ll get a good idea of how integral something like Copilot really will be to the user’s end experience. For me, it was more of a curiosity than anything else.

What I’m more impressed by is the nice, bright touch screen. It has a slightly better than 1080p resolution (1920 x 1200) and supports HDR streaming though not HDR in general. Still, it’s enjoyable enough when watching something like Shogun with a very crisp, clear video quality that produces a good accurate color range, at least with sRGB (109% to be specific), though it doesn’t quite have the color gamut coverage for much editing work with its almost 78% DCI-P3 coverage.

Still, that’s not what this computer is for. And, if you really want to upgrade the viewing experience without dumping too much money on a computer, you can always go with an upgraded Acer Swift Go 14 with a higher-res OLED screen.

Another area that surprised me was the sound quality. While lacking bass or a lot of volume, it is surprisingly decent for a fairly slim laptop. It doesn’t sound boxy like most thinner laptops. Instead, you get a fairly unadulterated sound (all things considered).

Lastly, the conferencing capabilities are very good here. The webcam, with its 1440p at 30Hz resolution, is quite sharp. And, despite that lower refresh rate, has a 60Hz flickering reduction so that you look pretty smooth without a lot of noise in the image. I also appreciate the fact that it has a physical privacy shutter.

Plus, Acer paired it with AI noise reduction technology implemented on the mic, so you’ll be heard as clearly as you’re seen. I particularly appreciated the fact that this laptop would ask if I wanted to use a conference-style or personal-style noise reduction, though it does ask every single time.

Performance: 4.5 / 5

Acer Swift Go 14: Battery life

Mediocre battery life for this form factor
Keeps its charge when asleep

Considering the Acer Swift Go 14 technically fits into the Ultrabook category, its battery-informant benchmark of eight hours and 25 minutes is pretty underwhelming. Of course, it’s good enough to get you through a day of work without needing a charge, but just barely. While it’s unfair to compare it to something like the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M3), which gets almost double the battery life, getting above ten hours is normal these days for a computer like this.

Of course, this laptop does have a slightly higher resolution and built-in AI that might need a little more power, but the battery life is still not anything special. Since it charges via USB-C, it doesn’t take long to get back up to a full charge. And, more interestingly, it does a better job keeping a charge when asleep than many Windows laptops I’ve come across (something Apple has solved a long time ago).

Battery Life: 4 / 5

Should you buy the Acer Swift Go 14?

Buy the Acer Swift Go 14 if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

How I tested the Acer Swift Go 14

Tested for three weeks
Used it for work, light gaming, and streaming
Played around with generative AI

I used the Acer Swift Go 14 for three weeks, using it in a number of different ways. I used it for work, including typing up most of this review (along with the requisite online research). I used it to stream video. I even did some light gaming. On top of that, I tested the webcam and mic as well as the Copilot AI.

After spending time with the Acer Swift Go 14, it’s clear that it’s a mid-range laptop with a few extra features to set it apart. On the whole, though, it’s a solid computer for those who don’t need their computer to do anything particularly fancy.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed June 2024

MSI Titan 18 HX review: a gaming colossus

8:52 pm | May 2, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Gaming Computers Gaming Laptops | Tags: Battery Life, Far Cry, LED, Tomb Raider | Comments: Off

MSI Titan 18 HX: Two minute review

The MSI Titan 18 HX returns in 2024, reclaiming its title as the best gaming laptop for those looking to splurge on the most over-the-top desktop replacement money can buy.

The Titan 18 HX, like its 2023 predecessor, the MSI GT77 Titan HX, is a $5,000 desktop PC masquerading as a gaming laptop. Clocking in at just under 8 lbs/4kg, you're going to feel this one if you ever have to actually carry it anywhere, and most backpacks out there won't even fit it. This laptop, then, will be relegated to your desk with the occasional trip to another room at most.

While it sacrifices portability, it does come with some absolutely bonkers hardware, including a 175W RTX 4090 mobile GPU, a 95W Intel Core i9-14900HX processor, up to 128GB DDR5 RAM, and up to 4TB SSD storage, with one of its three M.2 SSDs slots being a PCIe 5.0 interface for the best SSD speeds possible (though it doesn't come with a PCIe 5.0 drive, you'll have to provide that yourself). Throw in the world's first 18-inch 120Hz 4K+ mini LED display with 120Hz refresh and HDR1000 certification, and you have the most decadently specced gaming laptops I've ever tested.

And before you say it, mini LED isn't an OLED, I know, but I honestly prefer mini LED displays on gaming laptops, and this one can get you 112% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, so video editors and other creative pros might want to take note of this one as well.

Design-wise, this laptop is an improvement over its predecessor in a number of ways, not the least of which is that it does introduce some grey into the chassis to help break up the super-aggressive gamer black styling of the GT77 Titan HX (and even adds some light blue accent touches to the rear), as well as introducing a seamless trackpad and more refined curves into the keydeck.

The Titan 18 HX's mechanical keyboard, meanwhile, features Cherry MX ultra low-profile switches that are a dream to type on, and the seamless trackpad is adequate for basic use; but as with any gaming laptop, you'll probably want to use the best gaming mouse you have handy while actually gaming.

Given the laptop's size, MSI was able to pack in some powerful speakers that provide a much more immersive audio experience than you'll find on a lot of other laptops. Of course, you'll have to turn the volume up to drown out the whine of the laptop's cooling system, which can get noticeably loud under strain. You can adjust this in the MSI Center, though it will come at the cost of performance.

Speaking of performance, gaming on this laptop is an absolute joy. The very best PC games run buttery smooth at max settings, and while enabling ray tracing at the laptop's native 3840x2400p resolution on some titles will require you to use DLSS upscaling to get a playable framerate at 4K, that's the case with even the best graphics card in a desktop PC.

Still, for the amount of money this laptop will cost you, you could also be forgiven for asking if it's really worth the price. If you're the type to ask such a question, don't worry, it's an easy question to answer: this laptop isn't for you. If you want the absolute best gaming performance in a theoretically portable form factor and money isn't an object for you? Well, you are exactly the person this laptop is designed to cater to, and you won't find many, if any, better gaming laptops on the market than the MSI Titan 18 HX.

MSI Titan 18 HX: Price and availability

An MSI Titan 18 HX on a table — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

How much is it? Starting at $4,999.99 / £4,379.98 / AU$6,999
When is it available? It is available now.
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia

The MSI Titan 18 HX is available now in the US, UK, and Australia, starting at $4,999.99 / £4,379.98 / AU$6,999. All configurations come with an Intel Core i9-14900HX processor and 4K+ mini LED display, and the US has two configurations on sale right now. They both feature an Nvidia RTX 4090 mobile GPU and 4TB storage, with the only difference being a choice between 64GB or 128GB RAM.

In the UK, the Titan 18 HX starts with an Nvidia RTX 4080 GPU, 64GB DDR5 RAM, and 2TB PCIe 4.0 storage, and goes up as high as an RTX 4090 with 128GB RAM and 4TB storage. In Australia, the Titan 18 HX starts with an RTX 4080 GPU, 32GB RAM, and 2TB storage, and goes up to an RTX 4090, 128GB RAM, and 4TB storage.

In no universe is this a cheap gaming laptop, and it's challenging to think of another 18-inch laptop that goes quite this hard on the specs. Even the Alienware m18 R2 pulls back from a full 4K display, much less 4K+, and tops out at 64GB RAM. Even upping the m18 R2's storage to 8TB with everything else maxed out doesn't even bring you up to the MSI Titan 18 HX's starting price.

Again, I can't stress this enough, only those with the deepest pockets need consider this one.

Value: 2.5 / 5

MSI Titan 18 HX: Specs

This is easily the most obscenely configured gaming laptop I've ever laid hands on, and I wouldn't be surprised if you could still play the latest AAA games at max settings at 4K for the rest of the decade. The hardware will likely physically fail on you before this thing is rendered obsolete when it comes to gaming or high-end performance.

Specs: 5 / 5

MSI Titan 18 HX: Design

Gorgeous mini LED display
Improved chassis aesthetics
Ports galore
Low-profile mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX switches

The MSI Titan 18 HX introduces several improvements over last year's Titan, while generally keeping the fairly Decepticon-like aesthetic that the Titan is known for.

Starting with the sheer size of the thing, it's slightly bigger than its predecessor, a feat I didn't think possible. It also adds about 0.5 lbs to its weight, making it by far the heaviest laptop I've used in at least a decade or more.

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Opening it up, you'll find a low-profile mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX switches for some seriously smooth typing. The trackpad has gone seamless, as well, offering a glassy but responsive surface for your palms and fingertips to glide over. The trackpad itself is responsive, with good feedback, though a gaming mouse or controller is recommended for higher-level precision.

The Titan 18 HX comes loaded with 4x2W up-firing speakers on either side of the keyboard, as well as 2x2W subwoofers for extra bass, all of which work together to create some very rich sound, at least as far as laptop speakers go.

The IR webcam also gets an upgrade over last year's model, now at full HD as opposed to 720p, and features a physical privacy shutter, which you always love to see on a laptop.

The display though is the big feature here with a speedy 120Hz refresh rate on a 3840x2400p mini LED panel that is bright and vibrant. It also has VESA DisplayHDR 1000 certification for a fantastic color contrast with deep blacks, and covers 112% of the DCI-P3 color gamut according to our tests.

In terms of ports, having a chassis this big means you can cram in a lot of ports, and the Titan 18 HX does not disappoint. You get three USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, two Thunderbolt 4 ports with DP output (with one featuring PD3.1 certification for fast charging devices), one HDMI 2.1 port that can push 120Hz video at 4K, an SDCard slot, an RJ45 ethernet port, and a 3.5mm combo jack. You even get a Kensington lock slot for good measure.

Overall, this is one of the best-looking MSI gaming laptops I've seen this year, and its wealth of features, ports, and more make it a standout device before we even get to its performance.

Design: 4.5 / 5

MSI Titan 18 HX: Performance

Best-in-class performance
Able to hit 60 FPS at 2400p on most games without upscaling
Upscaling can get you 60 FPS or better in games with ray tracing turned on

This gaming laptop absolutely puts some of the best gaming PCs to shame with its performance. Its 2400p resolution understandably taxes the hardware when playing high-end games at its native resolution at max settings, but in titles like Assassin's Creed Mirage, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Far Cry 6, the Titan 18 HX is easily able to clear 60 FPS at 4K on its highest settings, and that's not even factoring in any graphics upscaling.

Turn upscaling on, where available, and you can push the limits of the display's refresh rate on most games. If you factor in ray tracing, though, you can get in the neighborhood of 60 FPS or higher with appropriate upscaling, and on games like Cyberpunk 2077, it's an absolute necessity if you want to max everything out and get a better-than-just-playable frame rate.

Looking at its competitors, though, among the other 18-inch gaming laptops we've tested in our labs so far this year, none can match what the MSI Titan 18 HX brings to the table in terms of performance. The fact its competitors are all limited to 1600p QHD+ displays means that if you want the absolute bleeding edge of what laptop gaming can deliver in terms of 4K visual spectacle, the Titan 18 HX is really your only option.

Performance: 5 / 5

MSI Titan 18 HX: Battery life

Terrible battery life, but it'll rarely be on battery power anyway
Charging to full will take you a couple of hours

Understandably, battery life is not this laptop's greatest strength, but to call it a weakness is a bit unfair. This is not the kind of laptop you'll use unplugged for any length of time, as you would one of the best ultrabooks or a MacBook Pro.

This is a desktop replacement, so even though its two hours and 40 minutes of battery life while surfing the web is a pretty funny data point for a $5,000 laptop, you'll never actually use the Titan 18 HX this way outside of extremely rare instances. Its bulk will make it difficult to bring it anywhere period, much less somewhere that doesn't have an available wall outlet.

Still, compared to other 18-inch gaming laptops, the Titan 18 HX's battery performance still falls about 20% below the class average of three hours and 27 minutes. That means it doesn't get a total pass from me on battery life, but it is hardly a factor anyone should realistically consider for a laptop like this.

Battery Life: 2.5 / 5

Should you buy the MSI Titan 18 HX?

Buy the MSI Titan 18 HX if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

If my MSI Titan 18 HX review has you considering other options, here are three other laptops to consider:

How I tested the MSI Titan 18 HX

I spent about a month testing the Titan 18 HX
I used our standard suite of benchmark tests
I primarily played games on the Titan 18 HX, though I also used it for general computing and content creation

I spent about a month with the MSI Titan 18 HX, using it as an everyday work machine at home while gaming at night once work was done. I also used it for content creation work with Adobe Photoshop.

This is a gaming laptop, first and foremost, so I tested it with our standard battery of gaming benchmarks and other benchmarks that check for CPU, GPU, and overall system performance.

I've been reviewing laptops for TechRadar for nearly half a decade now, and as a lifelong PC gamer, I know how games should run on given hardware, and how much that hardware should cost you to maximize the value to the consumer. I also have a Master's Degree in Computer Science, so I'm able to really dig in and analyze the nitty-gritty of the hardware in a way many other reviews can't.

First reviewed May 2024

Razer Blade 14 (2024) review: premium performance on the go

8:14 pm | April 29, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Gaming Computers Gaming Laptops | Tags: Battery Life, Razer Blade, RTX | Comments: Off

Razer Blade 14 (2024): Two minute review

The Razer Blade 14 (2024) continues to impress as a gaming powerhouse in a remarkably compact form.

It remains largely unchanged in design from its predecessor, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, considering it has long been my top pick for the best gaming laptop going, and this latest refresh makes a compelling case for keeping that title.

Starting with its design, the familiar all-black CNC-milled aluminum chassis is both eye-catching and sturdy, with a weight that reinforces its premium build without sacrificing portability.

Performance-wise, the Blade 14 is more formidable than ever, thanks to its updated AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor and the choice between Nvidia RTX 4070 and 4060 GPUs. This setup handles everything from intense gaming sessions to demanding creative workloads with ease, supported by a cooling system that, while noisy, effectively manages heat even during extended use.

The display is another highlight, boasting a 2560x1600 resolution with a 240Hz refresh rate. It delivers vibrant colors and smooth visuals, making it a delight for both gaming and multimedia consumption. However, it does fall short of some competitors when it comes to brightness and HDR support.

Keyboard and trackpad functionality are excellent, providing comfortable typing and precise control. Razer Synapse software remains a useful tool for tweaking performance settings and personalizing the RGB lighting to enhance both aesthetics and functionality.

Battery life is decent for a gaming laptop, offering about 10 hours of light use and significantly less during gaming or high-performance tasks. Port selection is adequate, though the lack of an Ethernet port might irk some users.

Overall, the Razer Blade 14 (2024) is an excellent, if expensive, choice for those who need a powerful, portable laptop that can handle almost anything thrown its way.

Razer Blade 14 (2024): Price and availability

A Razer Blade 14 (2024) on a desk — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

How much is it? Starting at $2,199.99 / £2,149.99 / AU$3,999
When is it available? It is available now.
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia

The Razer Blade 14 (2024) is available now globally, starting at $2,199.99 / £2,149.99 / AU$3,999 for the base model with an RTX 4060 GPU and 16GB RAM. You can opt for my review configuration, which gets you an RTX 4070 and 32GB of RAM for $2,699.99 / £2,699.99 / AU$5,199, and honestly, this is the configuration to get. You're already spending north of two grand, so there's no reason to settle for an RTX 4060.

Still, this pricing does put it on the higher end of the 14-inch gaming laptop market, particularly when compared to alternatives like the Asus ROG Zephyrus 14 or HP Omen Transcend 14, both of which start at a lower price point. There is also the Razer Blade 14 (2023), which is still available for a lower starting price on Razer's website right now.

Given where 14-inch laptops are right now, this is easily one of the most, if not the most, expensive 14-inch laptop that isn't called the MacBook Pro. So, if you're really concerned about your budget, then the 2023 Blade 14 is likely a better bet since other than the processor and the extra RAM, there isn't much difference between the two Blade 14 models.

Value: 3.5 / 5

Razer Blade 14 (2024): Specs

Razer Blade 14 (2024): Design

Gorgeous finish and solid build
Mercury silver colorway is stunning
Mercury silver colorway costs substantially more

Razer's commitment to premium materials and build quality continues with the Blade 14.

Its chassis, crafted from a single block of aluminum, offers a sleek, durable feel with a weight that is reassuring yet portable. The design mimics the minimalist, professional aesthetic of modern ultrabooks, which might deceive some into underestimating its gaming capabilities.

The display, a speedy 240Hz QHD+ IPS panel, sports up to 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with Calman verification for vivid, fluid-looking visuals, while the 3ms response time will make sure that the display is about as responsive as you'll find without going for mini LED or OLED panels.

The body of the Blade 14 is very reminiscent of the MacBook Pro 14-inch, though turning the laptop over, you'll find two intake fans to help keep the components cool. Of course, fans produce noise, and under load, this laptop can get rather loud. You do have some control over this though through Razer's Synapse software.

Razer's THX audio is another standout feature of the laptop, thanks to its top firing speakers, but this does cut back on what keyboard space is available for everything else, and on a 14-inch laptop, typing space is at a premium.

Typing on the Blade 14 is still a pleasure, and the keys are adequately spaced and have a great feel to them, even after typing for several hours.

Finally, there are a good number of ports, including two USB-A and two USB-C ports, the latter of which allow for power delivery and features DisplayPort output for a second screen.

Design: 5 / 5

Razer Blade 14 (2024): Performance

Best-in-class performance for a 14-inch laptop
RTX 4070 GPU is powerful enough to handle just about any game
For the price, there are more powerful gaming laptops out there

While the aesthetic appeal of the Razer Blade 14 is undeniable, at the end of the day, this is a gaming laptop, and so you're going to want it to perform at the highest level possible, especially considering the investment you're making in this device.

Fortunately, the Blade 14 delivers outstanding performance thanks to its Ryzen 9 8945HS processor and RTX 4070 GPU, leveraging both to get the most frames per second of any 14-inch laptop we've tested this year so far.

Despite its size, the laptop's cooling system manages heat relatively well, although it can get quite loud under load. The high-performance components do not throttle significantly, which is impressive given the limited space for air circulation and the fact that the GPU can be pushed to 140W, making this the most powerful RTX 4070 laptop you're going to find right now (something backed up by my testing data).

In the end, you're going to want this laptop to game at its best and possibly transition into a mobile workstation for high-end design work or content creation on a regular basis. It will certainly be able to swing that with ease, especially if you opt for the Mercury colorway, which gives the Blade 14 something of a distinguished look about it that won't be out of place in meetings.

Performance: 5 / 5

Razer Blade 14 (2024): Battery life

Decent enough battery life with light-use
The 140W GPU drains the battery quick
Relatively fast charging

Battery performance is solid, with Razer promising up to 10 hours of power life — under the right settings, of course. However, like most gaming laptops, intense gaming sessions will drain the battery very quickly, though the laptop does supports fast charging that'll get you up to 80% in an hour.

Unfortunately, it does seem to get less battery life than its predecessor, and it's battery performance is the only metric where this average falls below the 14-inch class average in our tests.

That said, the power brick is portable enough, and the Blade 14 itself is more than capable of hopping from power outlet to power outlet if needed thanks to its slender build and lightweight construction.

Finally, this is a gaming laptop, after all, so if you're hoping for all-day battery life, there isn't a gaming laptop out there that will give it to you, so it's hard to knock off too many points here.

Battery Life: 3.5 / 5

Should you buy the Razer Blade 14 (2024)?

Buy the Razer Blade 14 (2024) if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

If my Razer Blade 14 (2024) review has you considering other options, here is another laptop to consider:

How I tested the Razer Blade 14 (2024)

I spent the better part of three weeks with the Razer Blade 14 (2024), using it as my everyday laptop for work, content creation, and gaming in the evenings.

In addition to its real world use, I also ran our standard battery of benchmarks on the device, including synthetic, creative, gaming, and battery benchmarks.

I've been reviewing gaming laptops for nearly half a decade, and have a Master's Degree in Computer Science. I am also a lifelong gamer, so I'm better positioned to judge the merits and value of this laptop than many in the industry.

First reviewed April 2024

Huawei MateBook D 16 review: an all-round solid laptop for those after a cheaper Dell XPS

11:12 pm | April 25, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Laptops | Tags: Battery Life | Comments: Off

Huawei MateBook D 16: Two minute review

Ah, the Huawei MateBook lineup. It’s long been the go-to series for those on the hunt for a clean-looking, respectable laptop, with a decent spec list to boot, and this year’s model, the 2024 edition, certainly doesn’t disappoint in that domain.

It’s actually quite an extraordinary unit right from the get-go, as it’s available in a huge number of different specifications. In fact, there are five total, ranging all the way from the Core i5-12450H, complete with 8GB of DRAM, and 512GB of storage, all the way to the model I have here, featuring the Core i9-13900H and amping up to 16GB of DDR5 and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD.

On the surface, the build quality is fairly decent, particularly for the price. You get a nice sleek aluminum finish, complete with a full-size keyboard, healthy-sized trackpad, and a beautiful screen that lacks much in the way of a bezel. There are a ton of ports on board, and the branding is subtle and refined. It’s very much an XPS imitator in a lot of ways, just at a considerably lower price.

The Huawei MateBook D 16 on a wooden desk. — (Image credit: Future)

Where that refinement ends, however, occurs when you start actually using the thing. Sadly, the keyboard just isn’t up to spec. It feels spongy to the touch and lacks any form of satisfying tactile feedback compared to other options available at this price point or above. It’s without a doubt. Its one saving grace is that it is rather quiet because of that. The trackpad alongside that, is large and works just fine, but again, nothing particularly to write home about.

As for performance, well it’s certainly there. In day-to-day tasks and light office work, the Huawei MateBook does exceedingly well. It’s quick, smooth, and paired with that IPS panel, makes for a pleasant experience. If you do need to do anything more complex, involving any form of GPU however, you’re going to be quite disappointed, as Intel Iris is quite limited in what it is capable of, in comparison to something like a dedicated GPU from Nvidia or AMD.

Still, if you can look past that, and its clumsy software (more on that later), the Huawei MateBook D 16 2024 makes for a tempting offer, particularly at its £1200 / €1300 price point.

Huawei MateBook D 16: Price and availability

How much does it cost? Starting at £500 / €600
When is it out? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the UK and the EU

The Huawei MateBook D 16 2024 is available now in the UK and the EU, starting at £500 / €600 (around $650). For that investment you get yourself a 16-inch screen with a 1920x1200 IPS display, 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12450H CPU, 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, and a 512GB SSD.

The review unit I have in for testing is available for £1200 / €1300. This upgrades you to 16GB of LPDDR4X memory, alongside a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, and a CPU upgrade to the Intel Core i9-13900H, taking you from 8 cores and 12 threads to 14 cores and 20 threads instead.

Bear in mind that thanks to the US government's ban on Huawei products, you can't buy this at retailers in America - though importing is always an option, and given the low entry price, it could be a good way to snag a great-value laptop if you're in the US.

Value: 4 / 5

Huawei MateBook D 16: Specs

Huawei MateBook D 16: Design

Fantastic materials throughout
Good looking styling
Solid I/O Options

Huawei is without a doubt trying to target that XPS market with its MateBook Vision line. One glance at its exterior, and you’ll notice the similarities between the two. The MateBook has an exceedingly slim form factor, measuring just 17mm in height, and coming in at an impressive 1.72 kg to pack it all together. Huawei has gone for a smooth aluminum finish across the MateBook, giving it an impressively svelte look.

All other branding is fairly subdued as well. There’s a Huawei logo on the back embossed in a mirror finish, and a smaller logo situated in the center of the bottom most screen bezel. Speaking of screens, the MateBook D 16, features a 16-inch 1920x1200 FHD+ IPS display, complete with a peak brightness of 300 nits. It’s crisp and clean thanks to that 142 pixel density, and actually has some pretty stellar stats to back it up as well, not least of all including a 1200:1 contrast ratio, and 100% sRGB compatibility, all thanks to that IPS display at its heart.

Over my time testing the MateBook, its color accuracy never wavered on that front. Combine that with the slim bezel, and not particularly obtrusive inbuilt webcam (which I’ll say now, is as good as you’d expect for a tiny 720p unit), and the screen itself is a genuinely decent experience all around.

Then we get onto the keyboard, and well, it’s a bit underwhelming, to say the least. Spongey is the word. It lacks any real tactile feedback, and although is well-illuminated thanks to some decent white LED backlighting, it just feels horrendous to use. It’s functional, sure, but it lacks the premium feel we’re starting to see in a lot of laptop keyboards at this price point. And that’s not dedicated mechanical keyboards I’m talking about here either.

Likewise, the trackpad is fine, it's suitably large enough and clicks well on the bottom left and right sides, but again, isn’t exactly anything to write home about. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing when it comes to trackpads.

For ports, there’s not a huge amount here, but the bases are covered. You get one USB Type C, one USB 3.2 Type A, one USB 2.0 Type A, a HDMI, and a 3.5mm 4 pole combi jack. It’s not a huge array of ports by any measure, you’ll probably need a decent USB dock if you’re looking to use the MateBook in a more advanced setup, but it’s enough for on the fly.

Audio is enough bugbear for sure. You get down-firing speakers on the MateBook, which are fine. Volume is great, however due to a lack of bass and lower end of the mids, you’re going to find most audio is generally quite tinny, and sharp on the hearing in comparison to something more sophisticated found in the likes of a Dell XPS or Asus ROG Zephyrus.

Design: 3.5 / 5

Huawei MateBook D 16: Performance

Decent productivity performance
Gaming is non-existent

On to performance, and it’s fair to say that the Huawei MateBook D 16, is certainly lacking in this area. If you’re looking to do any form of gaming or creative professional work, you’re far better off looking elsewhere. That lack of a dedicated GPU, even with Intel’s Iris graphics backing it up in my review model, sadly isn’t enough to produce any concrete performance boosts compared to some alternative devices at around these price points.

In fact, you’d be far better off sacrificing the glitz and glam of the professional design and opting for one of the better gaming laptops instead at around this price, if that's what you're looking for.

At its heart, the CPU inside my review unit is actually fairly decent for a lightweight mobile processor. The Intel Core i9-13900H comes with a total of 14 cores. Six performance cores (these are the full-fat, processors, complete with hyperthreading that prioritizes high load tasks, such as rendering, and managing large data sets), and eight Efficient-cores (designed to really manage background tasks and low power operations, such as word processor, or Discord, or Slack as an example). That gives you 20 threads to play with, and generally, it does fairly well in our benchmark tests.

In GeekBench 6.2.1, it scored an impressive 12,568 points in its multi-core test, putting it just behind a Ryzen 5 7600X, full-size desktop processor. What’s more impressive was the single-core however, which racked up an index of just 2,605, that’s not far off an Intel Core i5-14600K desktop processor, or AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D either. Combine that with a healthy chunk of DDR4 RAM, courtesy of the 16GB of LPDDR4X and this ain’t half bad at Photoshop work either.

Another moderately impressive area, particularly given the price is that SSD too. A quick run through CrystalDiskMark saw sequential reads top out at 4,905 MB/s and read at 3,952 MB/s making it an impressively zippy drive.

Getting into gaming, however, was another matter. I ran a total of five benchmarks on the Huawei MateBook D 16, to gauge how it performed here. In Borderlands 3, it scored just 10.27 fps at 1920x1200, on the Ultra preset, far from playable. Total War: Warhammer III, netted a more palatable 33.9 fps, but with one major caveat the graphical preset was set to “Low”. Any higher than that, even “medium” would result in the game immediately crashing, due to a lack of memory.

Similarly, I also ran it through a couple of 3D Mark tests. With Wildlife Extreme scoring 13,731, and Solar Bay (the mobile ray tracing test) not being available, as again, no dedicated GPU, means no dedicated ray tracing sadly.

Performance: 3 / 5

Huawei MateBook D 16: Battery life

Intel Evo efficiency is unmatched
Charges fast

Battery life during my time testing the Huawei MateBook D 16 was generally very good. I easily got a solid seven to eight hours out of it, with mixed-use, before needing to recharge. Doing everything from very light casual gaming to watching YouTube, and responding to emails and work.

If you do decide to game, you’ll likely not see more than 1-2 hours of use out of it, as it doesn’t have a massive battery, but as there is no dedicated graphics card here, the CPU is doing a lot of the heavy lifting and is limited somewhat in that regard. You’ll likely want to plug it in too, if you can in that situation, as the power plans won’t give you full turbo speeds that you’ll really want to take advantage of.

That said, it does charge quickly as well, thanks to an included 65W adapter.

Battery Life: 4 / 5

Should you buy a Huawei MateBook D 16?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

Huawei MateBook D 16: Report card

How We Test

Read more about how we test

First reviewed April 2024

Asus ROG Flow X13 review: your flexible 13-inch gaming friend

9:00 pm | April 4, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Gaming Computers Gaming Laptops | Tags: Battery Life, Total War | Comments: Off

Asus ROG Flow X13: Two minute review

Asus has updated its natty little 13-inch 2-in-1 convertible laptop, the Asus ROG Flow X13, with the very latest available hardware. That means AMD's fabulous Phoenix APU architecture in its full Ryzen 9 7940HS spec with eight CPU cores and a pretty powerful integrated GPU.

However, you can also opt for one of three Nvidia dedicated graphics chips, the GeForce RTX 4050, 4060, or 4070 mobile GPUs. Whichever graphics solution you go for, it outputs to a 13.4-inch display, in this case with a 2,560 by 1,600-pixel resolution and 165Hz refresh, though a 1080p option is available. It's a touch-enabled display with a 360-degree hinge that supports various modes including tent and tablet.

If that's not good enough, you can also opt for an even more powerful GPU via the Asus XG Mobile external graphics box that hooks up courtesy of a dedicated I/O port. The laptop itself is packaged into a very slick 1.3kg 13-inch chassis that's beautifully built, feels very high quality, and is absolutely rigid, including virtually no keyboard bounce. The Asus ROG Flow X13 isn't exactly cheap, but you can certainly feel where the money has gone.

If there is an obvious catch, it's that the slim proportions do put a cap on absolute proportions. Our review unit runs an RTX 4060 capped at 60W and 1,470MHz, both much lower than Nvidia normally allows for the chip.

Add in USB4 connectivity and you have a versatile overall package and an intriguing alternative to perhaps the most obvious competition, the Razer Blade 14, which lacks 2-in-1 convertible functionality.

Asus ROG Flow X13: Price and availability

The Asus ROG Flow X13 2-in-1 gaming laptop on a white desk. — (Image credit: Future)

How much does it cost? $1,699 / £1,699 / AU$2,699
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? US, UK, and Australia

Available as configured here for $1,699, Asus ROG Flow X13 looks like a pretty good deal for a very high-quality 13.4-inch ultraportable with AMD's Ryzen 9 7940HS and an Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU, plus 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD.

It doesn't look too bad in the UK, either, at £1,699. In both cases, that's less than you'll pay for a similarly specced Razer Blade 14. For the record, the Asus ROG Flow X13 as reviewed here is yours for $2,699 AUD in Australia, which again looks appealing given the quality and the spec on offer.

Value: 4 / 5

Asus ROG Flow X13: Specs

Asus ROG Flow X13: Design

Gorgeous build quality
Slim proportions
2-in-1 convertible functionality

Asus's ROG laptops tend to be nicely put together and the Asus ROG Flow X13 (2023) is no exception. It's not the thinnest 13-inch laptop on the planet, but given it can be had with up to an RTX 4070 GPU, it is pretty slim and certainly very slick.

The chassis is mostly metal and extremely rigid, with zero bounce from the keyboard. The chassis top and screen enclosure also sport appealing textured finishes that feel great in the hand. It's a seriously high-quality laptop.

That extends to the 360-degree hinge, which has just the right amount of stiction. Of course, if you want regular tablet functionality, then a dedicated tablet will always be a better option. But the ability to flip the screen right around is definitely handy.

Similarly, the screen's slim bezels keep things pretty compact while allowing for a 1080p webcam in the top bezel. It's all very nicely thought out and makes for a very versatile laptop.

The slim proportions do tend to limit connectivity and the Asus ROG Flow X13 (2023) probably has just enough ports, but no more. You get a USB4 port which doubles as the charging socket, a full-sized HDMI port, one USB-A, microSD, headphone jack and then Asus's XG Mobile IO port, which supports not only a powerful external GPU, but via the XG Mobile box also adds HDMI, DisplayPort, three USB-A ports and a Type-C socket.

Design: 4.5 / 5

Asus ROG Flow X13: Performance

Impressive specs
Strong CPU performance
Slim chassis limits frame rates

The combination of an AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU with an Nvidia RTX 4060 mobile GPU is quite the combo for such a compact, versatile laptop. This isn't an out-and-out gaming laptop, but more an ultraportable 2-in-1 convertible with great build quality and some gaming chops.

With that in mind, expectations need to be kept in check. That's especially true when you consider that the RTX 4060 GPU is limited to 60W of power. That means the 4060's clock frequency is capped at 1,470MHz, which is the lowest Nvidia allows and far below the maximum 2,370MHz the 4060 can achieve in some laptops.

Asus ROG Flow X13: Benchmarks

Here's how the Asus ROG Flow X13 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

3DMark: Night Raid: 45,567 ; Fire Strike: 16,013 ; Time Spy: 7,430
GeekBench 6: 2,603 (single-core); 11,312 (multi-core)
Total War: Warhammer III (1080p, Ultra): 52 fps; (1080p, Low): 148 fps
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, Ultra): 51 fps; (1080p, Low): 104 fps
Dirt 5 (1080p, Ultra): 59 fps; (1080p, Low): 121 fps
TechRadar Battery Life Test: 6h 54m

The consequence is lower frame rates than some more purely gaming-focused laptops with the 4060, such as the Razer Blade 14, which offers the full 2,370Mhz spec. You'll still get playable frame rates of around 60fps at 1080p in the latest games at ultra settings, provided you don't run high levels of ray tracing. That said, the RTX 4060 does of course have the full suite of NVIDIA DLSS features - including upscaling from FHD to the QHD+ output of the Flow X13's display.

That's handy because it makes playing games at the Flow X13's 2,560 by 1,600 pixel native resolution achievable. Without DLSS, that wouldn't be very realistic with an RTX 4060, which would be a pity given that the display is a lush IPS item running at 165Hz. It's a great-looking panel, albeit one that can't compete with an OLED display for contrast and black levels.

Elsewhere, the AMD CPU provides all the performance you could reasonably ask for from this class of laptop, while the 16GB of RAM and 1TB M.2 SSD should cover most needs. There's an option to upgrade to 32GB if you need really major amounts of memory.

Performance: 3.5 / 5

Asus ROG Flow X13: Battery life

Efficient AMD APU
165Hz display compromises battery life

An efficient AMD APU plus a 75WHr battery in a compact chassis is a promising combination. In practice, however, battery life is not a strong point with the Asus ROG Flow X13 (2023) not quite clocking up seven hours in our fairly undemanding video playback test with the screen at half brightness.

Crank up the brightness or attempt to do anything remotely intensive and that figure will only fall. In other words, the Asus ROG Flow X13 (2023) certainly doesn't come close to offering all-day battery life even for light tasks, which is a little disappointing for a laptop that prides itself on portability.

Battery Life: 3.5 / 5

Should you buy a Asus ROG Flow X13?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

Asus ROG Flow X13: Report card

First reviewed April 2024

How We Test

I ran the Asus ROG Flow X13 (2023) through my usual stress test for a gaming laptop, including everything from basic web browsing to burning through my full Steam library and slobbing out with a few movies. As a 2-in-1, I also experimented with using it as a tablet along with other modes that the 360-degree hinge allows and paid close attention to the engineering of the chassis and the hinge.

For games, I tried everything from Cyberpunk 2077 with ray-tracing running on full reheat to some more strategic Total War battles and some high-octane Counter-Strike 2 fun. I was keeping a particular eye on frame rates at both 1080p and the laptop's 2,560 by 1,600 pixel native resolution.

As for battery life, I tried both watching video and light work, including web browsing and document editing to get a feel for how the Asus ROG Flow X13 (2023) stands up to working away from the mains.

Read more about how we test

Dell XPS 14 9440 review: a stunning laptop that gives Windows users a real MacBook competitor

11:44 pm | April 1, 2024

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Laptops | Tags: Battery Life, OLED | Comments: Off

Dell XPS 14 9440: Two minute review

The Dell XPS 14 is the newest entrant into an already storied line of laptops, and it is arguably the best laptop of this newest crop of XPS devices thanks to its powerful new processor, stunning OLED display, and a design that looks better than just about any other Windows laptop on the market.

The XPS 14 9440 starts at a somewhat pricey $1,499 / £1,599 / AU$2,998.60, and it lacks the dedicated Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU and OLED display, so you'll want to upgrade these two specs in particular, though it will end up costing you much more for the privilege.

To be clear, Dell XPS laptops have never been cheap, but my recommended configuration, the same as the one I reviewed, will set you back nearly $2,400 / £2,650 / AU$4,300. For the hardware packed into such a slim 14-inch form factor, it's more than worth the investment as this laptop will last for years before it becomes obsolete.

In terms of design, the XPS 14 fully commits to the design changes that the Dell XPS 13 Plus introduced back in 2022, but introduces a couple of quality-of-life improvements on its smaller cousin.

For one, the down-firing speakers have been moved up top alongside the keyboard, producing far better sound in exchange for diminishing the XPS 13 Plus's infinity edge-style keyboard. This is a much better design choice, ultimately, and you don't sacrifice much in the way of key space on the deck itself.

The display is what really steals the show here: a gorgeous 3.2K OLED display with super-slim bezels. This latter feature is impressive because Dell has somehow managed to squeeze in a 1080p webcam. There's no physical privacy shutter, but that's never really been Dell's thing, unfortunately.

The Dell XPS 14's Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and the Nvidia RTX 4050 deliver powerful performance across all workloads, and in some cases can even match or exceed what you'd get from a MacBook Pro 14-inch, especially for gaming (though the RTX 4050 isn't nearly powerful enough to keep up with the best gaming laptops).

Overall, the Dell XPS 14 9440 is a powerful performer for everything from everyday computing use to 1080p gaming to moderate content creation. It's an expensive investment, but on balance, it's one of the best Windows laptops you can buy right now.

Dell XPS 14 9440: Price and availability

A Dell XPS 14 on a desk — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

How much does it cost? Starting at $1,499 / £1,599 / AU$2,998.60
When is it out? It's available right now
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia

The Dell XPS 14 9440 is available now in the US, UK, and Australia, starting at $1,499 / £1,599 / AU$2,998.60. For that price, you get an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor with integrated Arc graphics, 16GB LPDDR5x memory, 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD storage, and a 14.5-inch full HD+ (1920x1200p) non-touch display.

My review unit, which sells for $900 / £1,050 / AU$1,300 more, upgrades to discrete graphics with an Nvidia RTX 4050 (30W) GPU, 32GB LPDDR5x memory, 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD, and a 14.5-inch 3.2K (3200x2000p) OLED display.

You can max out your configuration with 64GB LPDDR5x RAM and 4TB M.2 PCIe SSD, in addition to the above, for $3,399 / £3,238.99 / AU$5,999.40.

Value: 4 / 5

Dell XPS 14 9440: Specs

Dell XPS 14 9440: Design

Gorgeous design
OLED display is stunning
Upfiring speakers

The Dell XPS 14 doesn't shy away from the design choices that the XPS 13 Plus introduced, for better or for worse, but it does make some very important improvements to the previous design iterations.

For one, let's talk about top-firing speakers. Down-firing speakers are genuinely terrible. They might be necessary, but they're terrible, and any time we can get top-firing speakers on a laptop, your audio experience is automatically going to improve substantially.

The exterior finish comes in two colors: Platinum or Graphite. The finish is a CNC machined aluminum with a glass palm rest, and everything about it feels premium. The chasis itself isn't all that heavy, but it's not as light as something like the LG Gram or some of the best ultrabooks that prioritize portability over performance.

For ports, you have three Thunderbolt 4 ports with power delivery and DisplayPort output, a 3.5mm combo jack, and a microSD slot. Given its size, I'm not expecting all that much on the ports front, but it's good to see the microSD slot included since this at least gives some flexibility for creative professionals or those who might have a device that saves to microSD, like one of the best drone models.

As for the keyboard, this is one area that's not so great, since the nearly flat surface of the keys makes it difficult for touch typers who are used to a bit more definition to find their place among the keys. You'll get used to it, but it's not the best typing experience I've ever had on a keyboard out of the box.

Another major issue is the trackpad, in that it's invisible. This does give the laptop a bit of a 'future' feel to it, but at the cost of accessibility. Likewise, the touchbar along the top is in place of actual function keys. All of these features work fine enough for me, but I can see someone with reduced vision struggling with this keyboard and trackpad.

Next, you have the webcam. Somehow, Dell managed to fit a 1080p webcam into the narrow top bezel of the display panel, and it's a welcome addition. Too many laptops skip the 1080p webcam in order to retain the thin bezels, and that was fine in the pre-work-from-home era, but nowadays, you need a quality webcam, there's just no getting around it.

Finally, the air intake on the Dell XPS 14 comes in from the side and bleeds out the back though a vent underneath the display hinge. The heat management is ok, but given its thin form factor, the underside can get hot under load.

As far as Windows laptops go, this is possibly one of the best-looking laptops going. There are some who won't love—or even like—the planar-leveled keyboard and lack of physical function keys or clearly defined trackpad, but overall, there is way more to like here than to nitpick, especially if you're opting for the OLED display.

Design: 4.5 / 5

Dell XPS 14 9440: Performance

A Dell XPS 14 on a desk running resource intensive apps — (Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)

Excellent all-around performance
Surprisingly competitive against the MacBook Pro for creative work
Fantastic productivity and solid gaming performance

Finally we come down to the performance of the Dell XPS 14, and I can definitely say that it is among the best you're going to get on a laptop right now.

The direct rival of the Dell XPS 14 is the Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch with M3 Pro, and the XPS 14 holds its own against the best Apple has to offer in terms of general performance, features superior gaming performance, and also manages to battle the MacBook Pro 14 to a draw for some typical creative workloads.

While the MacBook Pro 14-inch ultimately offers better single-core performance and slightly better multicore performance, the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H paired with an Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU does an admirable job against one of Apple's best processors.

In terms of overall system performance, the MacBook Pro 14 with M3 Pro (11-core) does manage to score about 23% better in our Crossmark benchmark, as well as scoring about 12% better in Geekbench 6.2's multicore performance test.

The two laptops are evenly matched for SSD performance, and the MacBook Pro 14-inch scores better in 3DMark's Wildlife Extreme and Wildlife Extreme Unlimited. The RTX 4050 in the XPS 14, meanwhile, pulls ahead of the M3 Pro's GPU in Solar Bay and Solar Bay Unlimited, which are ray-tracing workloads, so this shouldn't be surprising as Nvidia's hardware can handle ray tracing far better than Apple's chips right now.

In terms of creative performance, the Nvidia RTX GPU in the XPS 14 will outperform pretty much any comparable Apple device when it comes to 3D modeling, since just about every 3D modeling tool relies on Nvidia's CUDA instruction set, so Apple, AMD, and Intel will always be at a disadvantage.

When it comes to video encoding, the XPS 14 manages to encode a 4K video into 1080p about 7% faster in Handbrake 1.7, though depending on the app you're using, Apple's specialized encoding engine might be determinative. If you're a creative pro working in film and video, you'll know which tools play best with Apple and which lean towards Nvidia, so which is better will come down to the tools you'll ultimately need to use.

Finally, taking the average 1200p gaming performance on Max settings, the Dell XPS 14 does a better job than the MacBook Pro 14 across the board. The XPS 14 does about 62% better with Civilization VI, getting nearly 90 fps at 1200p with performance and memory impact set to max. In Total War: Warhammer III's battle benchmark, the XPS 14 gets around 40 fps, which is about 25% higher than the MacBook Pro 14-inch's 32 fps. It's only in Shadow of the Tomb Raider that the MacBook Pro 14-inch scores a win, getting 48 fps at 1200p on highest settings, while the Dell XPS 14 manages to get 47 fps, but there's a huge caveat there.

This doesn't factor in the RTX 4050's DLSS upscaler, which can push the XPS 14's fps much higher than that, depending on the settings you select. This is a huge advantage for the XPS 14 that, for right now at least, Apple's best MacBook struggles to counter since its upscaler, Apple MetalFX, is developer-dependent, and not a lot of games include it as an option.

In the end, then, the Dell XPS 14 manages to go toe-to-toe with the venerable MacBook Pro 14 and comes out with some very important wins in the process.

Performance: 5 / 5

Dell XPS 14 9440: Battery life

Intel Evo is back, baby!
Charges to full in less than 90 minutes

Intel chips have not had good battery life for years. Back in 2020, Intel Evo was a big deal, and one of its biggest qualifiers was achieving more than 9 hours of battery life on a standard battery test. With the 12th-gen Intel Alder Lake laptop processors released in 2021, battery life on Intel laptops absolutely tanked, and Intel Evo faded away for a few years as Intel went through Alder Lake, Raptor Lake, and Raptor Lake Refresh, all of which had generally terrible battery life (even on an ultrabook!).

Now, with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, Intel seems to have refocused itself on more battery efficiency rather than dumping electrons into maximum performance.

The Dell XPS 14 benefits with a nine-hour 35-minute battery life on our proprietary web surfing test, which is far better than the six or seven hours these laptops were getting just a year or two ago.

Under heavier load, the XPS 14 still struggles to get more than seven hours of battery life on PCMark 10's Modern Office battery test, and the PCMark 10 Gaming battery test only ran for about one hour 50 minutes before shutting down.

These are a far cry from what Apple is able to pull off with the MacBook Pro 14-inch with M3 Pro, which lasted about 17 hours 32 minutes in our battery tests, but knowing where Windows laptops have been in the past couple of years, I'll gladly take a laptop that can last a full workday without a charge.

Battery Life: 4 / 5

Should you buy a Dell XPS 14 9440?

Buy the Dell XPS 14 9440 if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

Dell XPS 14 9440: Report card

First reviewed April 2024

How We Test

Read more about how we test

HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless

6:25 am | August 2, 2022

Author: admin | Category: Computers Gadgets Gaming Gaming Accessories | Tags: Battery Life | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: August 2022
• No new version out
• Launch price: $199 (about £179 / AU$280)
• Official price now: $160 / £189.98 / AU$319

Updated: January 2024. The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless sounds fantastic, delivering great-quality audio for that immersive gaming experience. However, what sets it apart from most wireless gaming headsets on the market is its battery life. Giving you a whopping 300-hour longevity, this is the best PC gaming headset you want if you hate having to charge every other day. It's also now slightly more affordable in the US at just $160. The rest of this review remains as previously published.

HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless: Two-minute review

The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless headset has staked its claim as the wireless headset to beat, performing incredibly well in every test we threw at it. With 2.4 GHz wireless capability, incredible audio fidelity and impressive battery life, the Cloud Alpha Wireless is simply one of the best headsets you can buy right now.

The Cloud Alpha features strong aluminum frame construction, comfortable leatherette padding for your head, and a detachable microphone. Wireless capability is achieved via the USB-A wireless adapter that is included with the headset, and the USB-A wireless adapter works very well with USB-C dongles that are commonly used with some of the best gaming laptops on the market.

In terms of performance, the audio quality produced by the 50mm neodymium dual-chambered drivers is absolutely stunning. When you combine the already fantastic audio quality with the EQ presets featured in HyperX’s Ngenuity software, the Cloud Alpha produces some of the clearest audio of any headset in recent memory.

The Ngenuity downloadable software from HyperX supports the DTS:X Spatial Audio surround sound format, and this software also gives you the ability to adjust EQ presets, create your own EQ presets, and adjust automatic power shut-off settings for the Cloud Alpha. Just be warned, HyperX’s Ngenuity software is available for PC only.

The microphone works incredibly well, from intense cooperative gaming to stuffy corporate video conferences. The bi-directional microphone has a frequency response of 50 Hz to 7.2 kHz, and this is tailored specifically to pick up the human voice, and also to reject background noise. You can rest assured that you’ll hear your friends and colleagues as if they were right next to you and they’ll hear you just fine.

HyperX makes the claim that the Cloud Alpha Wireless headset has 300 hours of battery life on a single charge, and they are not kidding. We have used this headset on a full charge for hours, with the headset still registering a 100% charge. The Cloud Alpha’s battery life is absolutely outstanding.

A big criticism of the Cloud Alpha is that the wireless USB adapter and detachable microphone can be misplaced, and this is an even bigger issue because there is NO Bluetooth or wired backup capability. If by some stroke of bad luck, you either break or lose the Cloud Alpha’s USB-A adapter, you’ve got yourself an expensive paperweight.

Barring that, however, the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless isn't just among the best wireless gaming headsets, it's shoving aside its wired competition as well, and absolutely belongs on the list of best PC gaming headsets ever.

HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless: Price and availability

A HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless gaming headset on a glass desk — The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless headband is incredibly comfortable. (Image credit: Future)

How much is it? $199 (about £179 / AU$280)
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless headset seems to be priced higher than average against comparable headsets; however, we'd argue that the Cloud Alpha has plenty of fantastic features to easily justify its price tag. Just make sure to check its compatibility. The Cloud Alpha does not play well with certain devices, like the XBox.

HyperX’s Ngenuity software for Windows is available for free from the Microsoft store and the Ngenuity software expands the Cloud Alpha’s capabilities to include DTS:X Spatial Audio Surround Sound functionality, EQ presets, and microphone monitoring.

Mac users can use the Cloud Alpha Wireless, but they won’t be able to download the Ngenuity software, which enables the DTS:X surround sound function, so they will lose out on some of its best features. The Cloud Alpha does work seamlessly with the PS4 and PS5, however.

For this price, it would be nice to have a backup wired or Bluetooth connectivity. There are competing headphones, such as the SteelSeries Arctis 9 Wireless, which offer both Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity for the same price as the Cloud Alpha. This is the biggest issue with the Cloud Alpha because if you lose the USB wireless adapter with no Bluetooth capability as another option, the Cloud Alpha won’t work.

Value: 4 / 5

HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless: Design

Solid construction
Incredibly comfortable

The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless headset utilizes a sturdy aluminum frame, memory foam padding, and breathable leatherette coverings to provide plenty of comfort for hours of playing the best PC games.

The entire headset (with microphone connected) weighs about 335 grams, so a little less than a pound. The ear pads fit very snug around the user’s ears, helping to reject outside or ambient noise, and the 50mm neodymium magnetic drivers feature two audio chambers: one for mid and high frequencies and one for low frequencies. This results in incredible audio fidelity so you can hear every audio nuance of your favorite games and movies.

The adjustable mic is placed very well on the Cloud Alpha. The microphone is adjustable and stays in place when adjusted, and the microphone is also detachable. All of the onboard controls are easily accessible, even while gaming. On the left ear cup, you’ll find the detachable microphone, power button, microphone mute/monitoring button, status LED, and USB-C charging port. The microphone has a modest LED indicator that lights up red when the microphone is muted. On the right ear cup, you’ll find the volume wheel.

The USB-A adapter is rather large for USB receivers. It’s very possible to accidentally break it if you forget that it’s there. The tradeoff is that this receiver boasts a range of 20 meters. However, in our tests, we’ve gotten an even better performance, with an actual wireless range of 30 meters or 100 feet (more on this below).

Design: 5 / 5

HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless: Performance

Incredible range
Fantastic audio fidelity

The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless headset produces some of the clearest audio we’ve heard out of any headset. Games, movies and music all sound amazing through the Cloud Alpha, and it sounds so good and feels so comfortable that you might not ever want to take it off.

The Cloud Alpha boasts a frequency response of 15 Hz to 21 kHz (which is dog whistle territory), and having tested the frequency response, we can confidently say that all sound frequencies in the human hearing spectrum are projected very clearly. The upper limit of the Cloud Alpha’s volume level is not the loudest we’ve heard from a wireless headset, however, it is still loud enough for any application and it does help to protect your hearing.

The Cloud Alpha’s microphone is also great. During our testing, the Cloud Alpha seemed to have no trouble transmitting a perfectly audible signal to participants in a video conference or to teammates during sessions of Counter Strike. We even tried recording into Audacity using the Cloud Alpha’s microphone and the microphone seemed to pick up the user’s voice very clearly with no noticeable attenuation.

The bi-directional microphone receives the user’s voice very well, though we’re a little puzzled about the use of a bi-directional microphone on a headset where a cardioid polar pattern would have made more sense. Nevertheless, the Cloud Alpha utilizes effective noise-canceling technology to transmit the user’s voice very clearly thanks to its frequency response of 50Hz to 7.2kHz, so voice capture is very clear despite a lot of background noise.

The range of the wireless adapter is also a standout feature. HyperX boasts a range of 20 meters (approx. 65 feet) before you lose wireless connection, but in our testing, we were able to walk outside and still get a clear reception (even through walls) for about 30 meters (approx. 100 feet) until we experienced a dropout.

Performance: 5 / 5

HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless: Battery life

Empty list

The HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless headset has an absolute best-in-class battery life among its competitors. HyperX claims that the Cloud Alpha Wireless is capable of around 300 hours of battery life on a single charge, with a full recharge from 0% taking a little under five hours. In our experience, this claim definitely holds up.

Constant audio abuse from the music of Lorna Shore to gaming with Elden Ring should have diminished the charge from 100% to 90% within a single hour-long gaming session, but we were shocked that after playing almost four hours, we still had a 100% charge on the headset. We’ve been testing this headset for weeks on a single charge and have yet to get down to 50%. It’s going to be hard to top this battery life with any headset.

Battery Life: 5 / 5