• Original review date: December 2022
• Launch price: $650 (around £530 / AU$955)
• The Acer Chromebook 516 GE is still available, and a new model hasn't been announced as of September 2024
Update – September 2024: The Acer Chromebook 516 GE, one of the first gaming-oriented Chromebooks to hit the market, is still available. Its successor hasn't been announced, though it's unlikely any time soon since the specs for this device are still about as good as you can hope for in a Chromebook at this price.
Since the real focus of this device is to empower cloud gaming services through Nvidia GeForce Now, this Chromebook is as good today as it was when we reviewed it in December 2022.
Original review follows.
Acer Chromebook 516 GE: Two minute review
The Acer Chromebook 516 GE claims to be the world’s first gaming Chromebook, which is a title that is both technically true and utterly meaningless. With game streaming services like Nvidia GeForce NOW, any Chromebook with a solid internet connection can be a gaming machine, and that’s precisely how the 516 GE functions as of now, since the ChromeOS Alpha that would allow for Steam compatibility isn’t out yet.
That being said, this is a great Chromebook. Its performance is excellent, efficient and speedy in a way that belies its specs, and when you have a high-speed internet connection it streams games without a single hitch. Its airflow is great as well, as even playing demanding titles like Cyberpunk 2077 or Dying Light 2 for extended periods of time only makes the machine run slightly warm. And its superior performance extends to productivity, as it easily handles conference calls, web browsing, video streaming, spreadsheets, and more with no hiccups or slowdown.
The benchmarks back up these claims, as the scores for each test are much higher than most other Chromebooks. And supporting such great performance is the HD 2560 x 1600 display, and 120Hz refresh rate. However, there is one aspect that underwhelms: the sound quality. To put it bluntly, it’s really bad. At normal volume levels it’s just fine but as you raise the volume the sound quality becomes more congested. This is also a noticeable issue when gaming, which means you’ll have to invest in some gaming headsets to offset this.
The port selection is quite good for a Chromebook with two Type- C USB ports, one USB Type-A USB port, one Ethernet port, one combo jack, and one HDMI 2.0 port. You have something for all your needs, much like a dedicated Windows gaming laptop. It also has an excellent battery life, lasting seven hours on average during both normal and gaming use. Most other gaming machines can’t even come close to those numbers, which makes the 516 GE worth investing in alone.
Its pricing, $650 (around £530 / AU$955), is a little steep for a Chromebook and the availability is not too great either, being nearly impossible to find outside the US. Within the US, there’s only a single model that has 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage space, as well as a Core i5-1240P CPU and Iris Xe Graphics GPU. It would be nice to see improved availability and options in the future, to better suit a wider variety of needs.
Acer Chromebook 516 GE: Price and availability
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How much does it cost? The single available model is $650 (around £530 / AU$955)
When is it out? It's out now
Where can you get it? In the US only
Acer Chromebook 516 GE Key Specs
Here is the Acer Chromebook 516 GE configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: Intel Core i5-1240P Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics RAM: 8GB Screen: 16" WQXGA (2560 x 1600) 16:10 120 Hz Storage: 512GB Optical drive: None Ports: 2 x Type- C, 1 x USB Type-A, 1 x Ethernet, 1 x combo jack, 1 x HDMI 2.0 Connectivity: Wireless Wi-Fi 6E AX211, Bluetooth 5.2 Camera: 720p Weight: 3.75 lbs Size: 14 x 9.8 x 0.84 inches (W x D x H)
The price is more than right for the Acer Chromebook 516 GE that’s currently selling for $650 (around £530 / AU$955), an absolute steal for a gaming laptop. Of course, it has much more limited utility than the best gaming laptops running Windows, as it currently doesn’t have Steam available for download and can only game through Nvidia GeForce NOW, but gaming through the streaming service offers performance just as solid as through normal means.
Unfortunately, the availability of this Chromebook is already pitiful in the US, with just a single model available for purchase. And if you want this laptop in other regions like the UK or Australia, then you’re completely out of luck. In the US though, you may be able to save via the Acer promo codes currently available so remember to look.
Value: 3.5 / 5
Acer Chromebook 516 GE: Design
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Lightweight with a solid chassis
Great keyboard but no numlock
Bad sound quality
The first thing you’ll notice about the Acer Chromebook 516 GE is that it’s huge for a Chromebook, which makes sense since it’s built for gaming. It’s not exactly sleek looking either, with a plain black chassis that’s more round than slender. But it’s still pretty lightweight despite it all.
Though the chassis is light, it doesn’t feel nearly as flimsy as many Chromebooks tend to, though it doesn’t have the same hardy weight and build as your average Windows gaming laptop. It works to the 516 CE’s advantage, making it far more portable and easier to carry around than said laptops.
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The keyboard functions well, with nice-sized keys that avoid excessive typos and a solid, responsive touchpad. It also comes with RGB backlighting, which makes it well-suited for late-night gaming sessions as well. We wish it had a numlock pad, which would have been super convenient for both gaming and any productivity work you might want to do. Instead, there are two speakers built-in on the sides, similar to the Alienware x15 R2, which should mean better sound quality, right?
Except that the sound quality is pretty bad. Even just listening to regular music on YouTube produces a very tinny, muddy sound quality with too much congestion, let alone how poor it sounds when gaming. You’ll definitely need to pick up one of the best PC gaming headsets for this laptop for your more serious gaming sessions and streams.
The port selection is pretty solid as well with one HDMI port, an Ethernet LAN port, two USB 3.2 Type-C ports, and a USB 3.2 Type-A port. Though I wish we had another Type-A port, there’s plenty going with a wide variety of ports for many different tasks and uses.
Design: 4 / 5
Acer Chromebook 516 GE: Performance
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Excellent performance
Can't run Steam on its own
The display is surprisingly great for a Chromebook, sporting a QHD panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio, 100 sRGB color reproduction, solid maximum brightness, and a 120Hz refresh rate. All this means is that games will look and run well onscreen, which is vital for more hardcore gaming sessions featuring fast-paced high-end PC titles.
Running a streaming service like Nvidia GeForce NOW, the Acer Chromebook 516 GE performs quite well. We tried it out using titles like Dying Light 2 and Dirt 5, which often have tons of objects or enemies on screen and would serve as a solid stress test for the Chromebook.
Even using the basic streaming plan that offers a strict time limit and no frills like a more powerful graphics card, we rarely experienced any framerate drops and the graphics were quite good. The RTX 3080 tier, which is the highest possible tier for the GeForce NOW service, is where the 516 GE shines. The graphics and framerate are incredible, to the point that you forget you're even playing on a Chromebook in the first place. Of course, this all depends on the strength of your internet connection, so it's also best to invest in a high-speed connection.
We used the Kraken Javascript, Jetstream2, and Speedometer benchmarks to test the Acer Chromebook 516 GE. The first one tests general performance speed using real-world applications and libraries, the second tests the performance of browsers, and the third one measures the speed and responsiveness of a browser.
Benchmarks
Here's how the Acer Chromebook 516 GE performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
Compared to other similar Chromebooks, the 516 GE Kraken Javascript benchmark is much faster than most other Chromebooks on the market, some by over a thousand milliseconds or more. The same goes for its Jetstream 2 benchmark scores, which are much higher than most other Chromebooks. Finally, the 629 score for Speedometer is incredibly high, over double the 300 score that’s already considered solid by testing standards. This Chromebook is a performance beast and is tailor-made to support any game streaming.
An important caveat to note, however, is that this Chromebook currently can’t run Steam on its own. According to Acer, this model is set to soon have the ChromeOS Alpha available, allowing the storefront to run properly. But even when that first launches, it’s still an alpha build which means bugs, instability, performance issues, and more will be waiting for you until the final version is hashed out. So don’t go buying this Chromebook unless you’re prepared to only invest in the Nvidia GeForce NOW or Amazon Luna streaming service subscriptions.
Performance: 5 / 5
Acer Chromebook 516 GE: Battery life
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Amazing battery life for a gaming machine
Charges fast thanks to the Type-C charger
Unlike most gaming laptops, the Acer Chromebook 516 GE has a great battery life, which is one of the defining features of the best Chromebooks, generally. In our movie test, which involved looping a dynamic, 1080p video until the battery gives out, The 516 CE lasted on average above seven hours, and for around the same amount of time for everyday use.
When gaming, the battery lasts just a little less than that, which is phenomenal for any gaming machine. If you’re in need of a quick gaming session and can’t get to an outlet, the 516 GE has your back. And it charges quickly thanks to the USB Type-C charger, so even a limited window of time (about an hour) will net you nearly a full charge.
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.
When the Xbox Series X launched, it felt as though a lot of features were missing. Of course, the hardware is incredibly impressive, but even that didn't stop it from being a hard sell at first. However, the console has come a long way since its initial release, and several updates along the way have drastically changed the console for the better.
The lack of exclusive games made it feel like you would struggle to get the most out of the Xbox Series X, especially with the competition from PS5 and a number of Sony-exclusive titles being thrown into the ring. Additionally, this wasn’t helped by the console’s continued use of the Xbox One interface. On the other hand, its UI was largely functional and in no need of a drastic overhaul. Quite refreshing, actually, given Microsoft's tendency to switch up its UI regularly in the Xbox 360 days.
So, when you first boot up the Xbox Series X, it’s easy to feel a little underwhelmed. It's not until you explore the console's array of features that it truly begins to shine. The improved library of games that showcase what Microsoft’s new hardware can do is a great starting point. Games like Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, and Microsoft Flight Simulator are prime examples of what the Xbox Series X is capable of, and that’s hardly scratching the surface.
We've always been impressed with the Xbox Series X from a hardware perspective. It's lightning-fast, practically silent, and delivers comparably exceptional performance to that of higher-end gaming PCs. This ensures that games – both old and new – look and perform better than they ever have before, providing a solid foundation for Microsoft to build upon as the generation progresses.
Xbox Series X one year on
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We've updated our Xbox Series X review to reflect our impressions after using the console for over two years. Microsoft has rolled out a few welcome improvements to the Series X, and now finally has the exclusive titles that take full advantage of the hardware's power like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5.
But unlike the best gaming PCs, which can cost thousands of dollars, Microsoft has packed a considerable amount of power under the Xbox Series X's monolith-esque frame for just $499 / £449 / AU$749. The end result is a competitively priced and technically advanced console providing drastically reduced load times and significantly improved visual fidelity.
The deal is sweetened further thanks to numerous quality-of-life features enhancing your gameplay experience, like Quick Resume and FPS Boost, which we'll discuss in further detail below. However, even though the Xbox Series X’s raw hardware power cannot be understated – and its new time-saving features are most certainly welcome – it's lacking in some critical areas.
The Xbox Series X still doesn't have the same library of ‘must-have’ exclusives that PS5 or even Nintendo Switch can offer, but it does have Xbox Game Pass. It's a subscription service that lets you access hundreds of games for a monthly fee – and if you're someone who loves to play new titles each and every month spanning multiple genres, it's the best deal in gaming right now.
Even though Xbox Game Pass is mostly populated by older titles, many are optimized to take advantage of Xbox Series X's hardware, such as Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4, andSea of Thieves. So, it's a great place to experience new-gen games for less. What's more, all first-party titles hit the service on day one, and thanks to Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax Media, Xbox Game Pass is now home to a bunch of Bethesda titles - with future titles like Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6 landing on the service on day one. Microsoft also plans to acquire Activision Blizzard, which means series like Call of Duty and Diablo will hit this service in the future, if the long-fought-for deal goes through.
As such, the Xbox Series X represents the ideal time to jump into the Xbox ecosystem for the first time. It's also above and beyond the quality long-time Xbox fans have come to expect. And with console availability better now than ever, it's an ideal time to pick up Microsoft's powerhouse flagship.
Xbox Series X review: price and release date
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Xbox Series X release date: Out now (released November 10, 2020)
Xbox Series X price: $499 / £449 / AU$749
The Xbox Series X launched globally on November 10, 2020, giving Microsoft a two-day head start against Sony's PS5, which was released on November 12 (in select countries and November 19 for the rest of the world). Check out our PS5 review if you're interested in Sony's console.
The Xbox Series X is priced at $499 / £449 / AU$749. A lower-specced, digital-only version of the console, the Xbox Series S, launched on the same day, priced at $299.99 / £249.99 / AU$499. If that price point sounds more appealing, read our full Xbox Series S review.
While this isn’t exactly pocket money, it’s a decent price for the new Xbox. It’s the same price as the (now discontinued) Xbox One was at launch, also matching the MSRP of the also discontinued Xbox One X. Both are nowhere near as powerful as the Xbox Series X. Considering that the Series X has specs similar to a gaming PC, the $500 mark is pretty great – you’d be hard-pressed to find a good PC at that price.
However, as mentioned, if you want to get the most out of your Xbox Series X we recommend picking up an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, which costs $15 / £10.99 / AU$15.95 a month (annual subscriptions are also available, which cuts a little off the yearly cost). While this is an additional outlay, that grants you extra access to hundreds of Xbox Game Pass games (including Bethesda and EA titles), Xbox Live Gold, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and monthly free games, which should save you money in the long term compared with buying games separately.
If you’re not fussed about the bells and whistles of Game Pass Ultimate, then it may be worth picking up a regular Game Pass subscription instead, which costs ($9.99 / £7.99 / AU$10.95). That only grants access to the service on console (rather than both PC and console) and does away with cloud gaming on mobile devices.
It’s worth pointing out that the Xbox Series X is also available on Microsoft's Xbox All Access subscription service in select regions, including the US, UK, and Australia. Xbox All Access bundles together the console with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on a 24-month plan (giving you access to the latter for the duration) at a price of $34.99 /£28.99 / AU$46 a month, with no upfront costs – which feels like a very good deal.
We won’t delve too much into that here, though, but it currently makes the Xbox Series X the cheaper powerhouse option.
Xbox Series X review: design
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Modern, sleek design
Extremely quiet
Emits same amount of heat as Xbox One X
Minimal UI and dashboard updates
The Xbox Series X design is a major departure from its predecessors – the upright tower design is more reminiscent of a desktop gaming PC, though you can position the console horizontally, too. Measuring 15.1 x 15 x 30.1cm and weighing 4.45kg, the cuboid-shaped console is matte black all over, apart from a green hue inside the indented cooling vents on the top – it’s clever and elevates the console’s design.
The design of the face of the console is pretty straightforward, with the signature Xbox power button at the top-left, a disc drive (and eject button) at the bottom-left, and a pairing button and USB 3.2 port at the bottom-right (the pairing button also acts as an IR receiver). The back of the console has some cooling vents as well as an HDMI 2.1 output port, two USB 3.2 ports, one networking port, a storage expansion slot, and a power input port.
An interesting accessibility feature on the back of the console is that all the ports have tactile indicators (little, raised dots) which indicate which port you are touching. For example, the USB 3.2 ports have three raised ports, while the power input port has just one. This aims to aid reach-around cabling and to make the console more accessible to the visually impaired.
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The sides of the console (when it’s upright) are blank, save for a discreet Xbox logo in the corner of the left side and four rubber pads on the right, which allow for the console to sit horizontally. On the bottom of the console is a slightly elevated disc-shaped stand, along with some more vents for cooling – as mentioned, the top of the console is designed to help with ventilation, as this is where the Xbox Series X exhausts any heat it generates.
The console itself looks minimalistic, sleek… monolithic even. Despite its weight and fairly large size, it looks considerably smaller than its measurements would suggest. We found it slotted with ease into an Ikea Kallax shelving unit (39cm x 39cm), when oriented either horizontally or vertically, and comfortably blended in with its surroundings.
The Xbox Series X design is something you’ll either love or hate – we found it a welcome change from the previous low-profile Xbox consoles. It's sleek, modern, and looks like something a grown-up would actually want to own, and it's a nice evolution from the flat-but-compact Xbox One S and Xbox One X models.
Still, the matte black design does mean the console is easily scuffed and scratched, though it doesn't get dirty. While we've seen Logitech show off a white Xbox Series X console in a recent advert, Microsoft has confirmed there's no plans to release the base console in additional colors at this time.
Quiet as a whisper – but pretty toasty
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A major upside of the Xbox Series X is how unexpectedly quiet it is. We've almost become accustomed to consoles revving up like they're about to take off when running games that really put them through their paces; but the Xbox Series X is the quietest Xbox we've had the pleasure of playing on.
When you're on the home screen, the console puts out around 30dB of sound – that's about the audio level of a whisper – and this changes very little when you actually load up and play games. When playing Sea of Thieves, No Man's Sky, and PUBG Battlegrounds, we found the decibels never exceeded 33dB.
That said, when installing a larger update we recorded levels up to 45dB, which is roughly as noisy as a printer in action. Even then, that's not too loud, and it barely registers over the sound of actually playing a game. This was also the case when sampling various new-gen titles.
It's welcome news for those who don't want their gameplay interrupted by the whirring of a struggling machine – but with this quietness comes some heat. The Xbox Series X is on a par with the Xbox One X for heat emission, with heat dispersed through the cooling vents at the top, which we advise leaving ample space for. The console itself does get toasty, too, but we didn't find that this impacted performance when running more intensive new-gen titles.
Xbox Series X: UI and dashboard
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While the external design of the Xbox Series X is a considerable departure from its predecessors, the console's UI and dashboard contain more subtle changes. The Xbox Series X dashboard is the same as the Xbox One’s. The main reason for this is because Microsoft rolled out a meaty update to the Xbox One back in August 2020 to make its UI more streamlined, and to converge it with that of the Xbox Series X.
That means the Xbox Series X UI still has a tiled layout with customizable pins. So, you can choose which games and apps you want to see first on your home screen, and offers easy access to games, apps, party chat, and other features via the Xbox button on your controller. It's a pretty streamlined interface that allows for plenty of customization options and easy navigation.
Customization seems to be at the heart of the Xbox Series X UI. In addition to moving around your pinned games and apps, Microsoft is also letting players express themselves a bit more with the inclusion of new profile themes, acting as a background for your profile page. Players can also now finally use dynamic backgrounds, which offers a more personalized home screen option for those who are bored of the Xbox One's static offering.
The Xbox Series X dashboard is quicker to navigate than previously, too, but we did find that there were some pop-in issues when content was being pulled in from the internet. We also found ourselves a bit underwhelmed generally by the UI and dashboard, as it’s lacking any real next-gen flair. We would have liked to see an overhaul that really distinguished the Xbox Series X from its predecessor and made it look new, with easier ways to navigate to media outside of having to add your streaming apps to a pin group.
We can expect further changes to come for the UI. If you're an Xbox Insider, Microsoft recently rolled new Xbox Series X homepage layouts but fans aren't happy. While this introduces some quality of life changes, some players weren't so keen on the "tile clutter" this introduced, while others aren't fond of ads still taking up homepage space. As a feature currently in beta testing, this could change, so we'll keep this updated as we learn more.
Xbox Series X review: performance
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Significantly faster loading times and more stability
Easily expandable storage
4K/60fps gameplay (up to 120fps support)
Auto HDR
The Xbox Series X is an absolute powerhouse, rocking an eight-core AMD Zen 2 processor running at 3.8GHz, a custom RDNA 2 AMD GPU that puts out 12 TFLOPs of processing power, 16GB of GDDR6 memory, and a 1TB Custom NVMe SSD.
Xbox Series X specs
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CPU: 8x Cores @ 3.8 GHz (3.6 GHz w/ SMT) Custom Zen 2 CPU
So what does that mean in terms of real-world performance?
Shorter loading times
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Well, for a start, the Xbox Series X is super-fast thanks to its NVMe SSD. We've seen the Xbox Series X shave tens of seconds off the load times in games, compared with how they run on the Xbox One S. The Xbox Series X always loaded quicker – in some cases by a few seconds, and in others almost halving the load time.
To give you an idea of how much faster these load times are, we timed how long it took to load into a game from clicking the 'Continue' button on the menu screen, for the same games on the Xbox One S and Xbox Series X.
While some titles benefit more than others from faster load speeds, even a few seconds saved is welcome. While games such as Ori and the Blind Forest load fairly quickly anyway, meaning the difference is less noticeable, it's with titles like Sea of Thieves where the power of the SSD really shines – we saw the loading time for Sea of Thieves cut down from roughly 100 seconds to just 35.
When it comes to next-gen titles, we found the few loading screens we were presented with lasted mere seconds. The speed advantage was really shown off by Yakuza: Like a Dragon's fast travel, which comes in the form of a taxi ride. It took around 4.7 seconds to fast-travel to a different district from the moment we accepted the ride, a big improvement over our experience on Xbox One.
4K at 60fps (up to 120fps)
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The Xbox Series X’s RDNA 2 GPU allows the console to target 4K at 60fps, however, it also means there’s support for up to 120fps.
Reaching 4K at 120fps
To make sure we could experience Series X gameplay the way it was intended, we hooked the console up to a 55-inch Samsung Q80T QLED 4K HDR Smart TV. We made sure the TV's game mode was enabled, and configured the Xbox's TV settings to allow for 4K UHD and 120fps, which is only achievable on an HDMI 2.1-compliant display like Samsung's here, and which is recommended for enabling the best visual experience possible.
Unless you’re fussy about your frame rates, we would say that getting an HDMI 2.1-compliant display isn’t necessarily essential. The Xbox Series X’s native 4K at 60fps means you get the best of both worlds, minimal frame rate drops (resulting in a smoother experience), and pretty stunning visuals. However, it’s worth noting that for this you do require a 4K-ready TV for 4K resolutions.
While 120fps feels buttery-smooth in games such as The Falconeer, these games do sacrifice resolution as a result. So, for example, The Falconeer can be played in 4K at 60fps. But if you choose the 120fps option, you’ll notice fewer frame drops and better response times, at the expense of sharpness as resolution drops to 1080p. It’s all about compromise and personal preference.
That being said, the likes of Gears 5’s multiplayer allows for 4K at 120fps (thanks to Xbox Series X optimization) and, as a result, offers a smooth and visually impressive upgrade over its Xbox One predecessor. If you enjoy fast-paced competitive multiplayer, then you’ll notice a huge difference from the Xbox One family.
To enable 120fps, you can pop into your console’s audio and visual settings, where you can choose from various frame rate and resolution options. It’s pretty straightforward, and we're pleased to see just how many Xbox Series X games with 120fps support there is, including The Falconeer and Gears 5’s multiplayer, Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War, Halo Infinite multiplayer, and more.
Auto HDR on Xbox Series X
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Like the Xbox One, the Xbox Series X allows for calibration of HDR for games. We'd advise setting this before playing any games, as it ensures the balance of contrast is spot-on, giving you the best visuals possible.
For our initial review, we primarily had access to a selection of backwards-compatible titles which are the best indicator of the boost in performance the Xbox Series X delivers over its last-gen counterparts. With the above settings enabled, we found that the games immediately looked better on the Xbox Series X – which isn't particularly surprising, given that Microsoft has implemented native HDR for these titles.
We go into detail as to how this performance boost improves Xbox Series X Optimized titles further down, but in short, when playing backwards-compatible titles on the Xbox One S and Xbox Series X versions side-by-side we could clearly see the visual upgrade.
FPS Boost on Xbox Series X
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Microsoft has added a new feature to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S post-launch called FPS Boost, which has the potential to quadruple the framerates of older titles. It means that games that were previously locked to 30 frames per second can now hit 60fps - some games can even hit 120fps.
At present, FPS Boost only applies to a specific selection of Xbox One games. The list is extensive but unfortunately, Microsoft's not adding any further games to this. Still, FPS Boost is a fantastic upgrade, particularly for those with an Xbox Game Pass subscription, as it allows Xbox One games to utilize the power of the Xbox Series X. So, for compatible games, it feels less of a technological step back when you decide to revisit some of your favorite Xbox One games.
If, for some reason, you don't want to play these games at a higher framerate, you can also turn it off on a per-game basis. However, we'd recommend leaving it on as it makes games look visually smoother and feel far more responsive.
The Xbox Series X's 1TB Custom NVMe SSD translates to 802GB of usable storage, with 198GB reserved for system files and the Xbox operating system. We were able to download 18 games of varying sizes before having to utilize the console's expandable storage.
That's a fair chunk to play through, then, but we'd advise picking up the Seagate Storage Expansion Card if you really want to take advantage of features such as Quick Resume and the plethora of titles available through Xbox Game Pass. It’s important to note that true new-gen titles will likely take up more storage space once their optimizations have been rolled out.
Along with our console, we were able to test Seagate's 1TB expansion storage card for the Xbox Series X, which also comes in 512GB and 2TB options. The 1TB card doesn't come cheap at $219.99 / £219.99 / AU$359, but we found it extremely easy to use – when we were running out of storage, we simply slotted the card into the back of the Xbox and accessed the extra terabyte. When the console detects that it's approaching its storage capacity, it asks if you want to install on the card instead, while also offering a straightforward option for freeing up space by deleting games.
If the expansion storage card runs a bit expensive for your taste, you can always attach an external drive HDD or SSD via the console's USB 3.1 port. However, these can only play Xbox One and backward-compatible games (with the SSD allowing for faster loading times). You can store your Xbox Series X games on the external HDD or SSD, but only an NVMe SSD can play Xbox Series X Optimized titles.
The process of adding an external hard drive works in the same way as it did on Xbox One: you simply plug the storage into one of the system’s USB ports, and the Xbox will detect it. If the drive needs to be formatted, you’ll see a prompt asking you to do this. It’s a plug-and-play solution that works just as you’d hope.
What's good about the Xbox Series X's storage is that, when you’re installing (or uninstalling) games, you can select particular parts of games to install rather than the full thing. For example, you can download Doom Eternal's multiplayer but not the campaign, or vice versa. We're curious to see how many games will support this kind of installation functionality in the future, because it's a welcome feature and should help with storage management.
Xbox Series X review: controller
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Feels familiar in the hand yet subtly different
Works on a range of devices
Improved tactile textures and refined geometry
New ‘Share’ button
The Xbox Series X Wireless Controller feels familiar in the hand yet subtly different. Compared to the Xbox One Controller, it's got improved tactile textures and refined geometry which makes for a more ergonomic, and more comfortable, playing experience.
On the surface, the Xbox Series X controller doesn’t look like a particularly drastic departure from its predecessor. It sports a similar shape and keeps the traditional button and trigger layout. On closer inspection, though, you begin to notice the subtle differences Microsoft has implemented.
The gamepad’s exterior now sports a matte finish that closely matches the console’s design. While this certainly looks sleek, there's a few drawbacks – the black controller that comes with the console easily picks up noticeable scuffs and scrapes, and considering the amount of hands-on time controllers are subjected, you may find it hard to keep yours looking in tip-top condition for years to come. Other color variants are available though (you'll need to buy these separately), including Electric Volt, DayStrike Camo, and Pulse Red, and some may be less prone to scuffs.
That's a minor quibble, though, and overall we found that the Xbox Series X controller resembles a more premium controller, both in look and feel. The revised pad now has a tactile texture on the triggers, grips, and bumpers, which we found made the controller feel more secure in our hands.
In addition, while the controller is the same size as its predecessor, the bumpers and triggers have been rounded and reduced in size by a few millimetres, which makes the gamepad feel less bulky. If you're someone with small hands, past Xbox One controllers have felt quite bulky, but this simple change improves comfort levels in a subtle but noticeable way.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Perhaps the most notable changes to the controller are the addition of the ‘Share’ button and the hybrid D-pad. The Share button essentially acts as a capture button, allowing you to easily snap screenshots of your game – a single click takes a snapshot while holding the button down for longer records a 15-second video by default (you can adjust the video duration in the Capture settings).
This is much easier than on the Xbox One, where you had to press the home button and then X or Y. Still, we did find it a bit fiddly to quickly take a screenshot – your experience may vary depending on how big your hands are.
The hybrid D-pad, on the other hand, aims to provide a middle ground between the Xbox One controller’s classic D-pad and the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2’s changeable disc-shaped, faceted D-pad. What results is a kind of traditional D-pad, laid over a disc. Again, this is a small but welcome change and is intended to give more control and leverage over the D-pad – while generally feeling more comfortable.
But there’s a lot about the controller’s design that hasn’t changed. It keeps the 3.5mm audio jack and expansion port at the bottom, its USB charge port and pairing button at the top, and its View, Menu, and Xbox buttons on the face.
In addition to the cosmetic changes, the Xbox Series X controller brings improvements in functionality too. We found the controller to be more responsive, which is likely down to the lower latency Microsoft has boasted about (paired with more frame rate stability), while connecting the gamepad wirelessly via Bluetooth to a range of devices – including the Xbox One, an iPhone 11, and a Mac – was straightforward.
The Series X controller again runs on AA batteries (regular or rechargeable), but if you want to avoid the hassle of changing or charging batteries constantly then you can invest in a Play and Charge Kit (a rechargeable battery back that you can use to charge the controller while you’re playing or between sessions), or connect your controller to the console via USB-C (although this will, of course, limit your freedom of movement).
Xbox Series X review: features
(Image credit: TechRadar)
Quick Resume is pretty seamless
Great backward compatibility with games and accessories
4K UHD Blu-ray drive
Dolby Atmos and DTS support
The Xbox Series X has a number of useful features and meaningful quality-of-life improvements. Unlike most consoles, there's active support for using a keyboard and mouse on Xbox Series X, while the 4K Blu-ray drive and access to entertainment apps means the console doubles up as a home entertainment system. We've even seen Discord become available for all Xbox Series X players.
Quick Resume on Xbox Series X
(Image credit: The Coalition)
Perhaps the most welcome of the Xbox Series X’s features is Quick Resume. The purpose of Quick Resume is to allow you to continue a game from a suspended state pretty much instantly. So, within seconds, you can jump back into the game where you left off, as if you never stopped playing, without having to sit through loading screens again. Not only that, but you can jump between multiple games that have been left in this suspended state in no time at all.
We could seamlessly jump between gameplay in seconds, as long as the games you're hopping between have already been booted up at some point beforehand. We were able to jump from being in a timberyard as Alan Wake to being Alyson Ronan in Dontnod's Tell Me Why within 11.4 seconds, by pressing the Xbox button on the controller and selecting the game from the sidebar. That's from gameplay to gameplay – no loading screens. If we wanted to access Tell Me Why from the Xbox dashboard home screen, selected as the current game we were playing, the time from the dashboard to gameplay was 2.7 seconds.
Online multiplayer games work a bit differently from other titles. Naturally, it wouldn't be feasible to allow players to suspend mid-play during online gameplay, or we'd just have a bunch of AFK players on the servers. For example, if you're mid-game in Sea of Thieves, and then decide to jump into another game, you’ll be removed from the game – but you can Quick Resume from the title screen.
Since its launch, Quick Resume has received an update that makes the feature more reliable, makes it easier to see which games you have stored in a suspended state. That also identifies which games actually support the feature, with the ability to simply select each game from the My Games and Apps menu. It's a very welcome quality-of-life feature that simply makes using Quick Resume a little bit easier.
Backward compatibility on Xbox Series X
(Image credit: Remedy Entertainment)
Another of the Xbox Series X's best features is the breadth of its backward compatibility. There are well over 1,000 backward-compatible titles available, meaning you’ll be hard-pressed to find an older game you have that isn’t supported on the Series X.
As mentioned previously, we found these titles loaded faster and simply played better; improved stability means fewer frame rate drops, which makes older games feel nicer to play, even if they're otherwise a little outdated by the standards of modern blockbusters. Sadly, Microsoft has confirmed it's unlikely that we'll see more added in the future.
This backward compatibility also extends to Xbox accessories. We found that we could easily connect the original Xbox Wireless Controller and the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 to the Xbox Series X with no issues, and we were also able to connect our headsets.
Any officially licensed Xbox One accessory that connects either wirelessly or via a wired USB connection should work on the Xbox Series X, such as the Xbox Wireless Headset; however, it’s worth noting that optical port connections aren’t supported, although some of these products may work with a firmware update.
Smart Delivery
(Image credit: Ubisoft)
Xbox Smart Delivery aims to allow players to always have access to the best possible version of an Xbox game, whichever console they’re playing on. Essentially, it’s a bit like forward compatibility and backward compatibility combined, making the most of cross-generation gaming.
We found that we could access the games we had access to on Xbox Series X on the Xbox One S without issue, and without having to purchase two versions of the same title. So, for example, we could play The Falconeer on Xbox Series X – with its optimizations – then jump onto the Xbox One S and continue playing the game there, just without the Series X optimizations.
Save data is carried between consoles, so we could easily jump between playing on both. Likewise, our Xbox One games were easily accessible on the Xbox Series X, with upgrades becoming immediately available for those that currently have Series X optimizations, such as Gears Tactics and Gears 5.
Multimedia on Xbox Series X
(Image credit: Netflix)
The Series X also offers a range of multimedia features. For one, the console boasts a built-in 4K Blu-ray player that’s simple to use.
You also have access to a range of streaming services: there’s Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, and others that are available on existing Xbox One consoles, plus some that are new to the platform, including Apple TV Plus and region-specific apps such as Hulu in the US and Sky Go in the UK. All of these can take advantage of the console's 4K UHD capabilities, although some require a decent internet connection.
While all the most popular entertainment apps are available, we did find that there are still some (more regional apps) that we wish we had access to, such as ITV Hub and BBC iPlayer in the UK.
Dolby Vision support
(Image credit: The Coaliton)
Microsoft is also the only new-gen console maker to support Dolby Vision, a more exacting HDR format that allows for superior contrast and color accuracy. In terms of content, you can watch shows and movies in Dolby Vision with Netflix (if you shell out for the premium subscription tier).
The advantage Dolby Vision has over standard HDR10 is that it supports 12-bit color, enabling the console to display more than 68.7 billion colors, far more than the 10-bit HDR format could show. Of course, how good those colors will look ultimately depends on your TV – which also needs to support Dolby Vision, although that’s par for the course. You can now enjoy Dolby Vision gaming too.
It's worth noting that the 4K Blu-ray player in the Xbox Series X doesn't yet support Dolby Vision, though we could see this changing in the near future with a firmware update.
DTS and Dolby Atmos support
(Image credit: Playground Games)
While the default headphones setting for Xbox Series X is Windows Sonic, as on the Xbox One before it, the Xbox Series X also supports Dolby Atmos and DTS headphone: X sound – though you need to purchase a separate license for each.
Windows Sonic is fine for those who aren’t too fussed about their audio, but Dolby Atmos and DTS provide a fuller spatial sound experience. This means, for example, that you can tell from an enemy’s footsteps exactly where they are in relation to you. If you’re someone who plays a lot of online multiplayer then it could be worth picking one of these up, especially as you don’t need a specific headset for either to work – though to use Dolby Atmos you require a compatible soundbar.
It’s also worth noting that these only work with games that support Dolby Atmos or DTS sound, which include the likes of Gears 5, Forza Horizon 5, and Rise of the Tomb Raider.
Xbox App
(Image credit: Microsoft)
The new Xbox App for iOS and Android is an upgraded version of the companion app that gives you more control than before.
It allows you to specifically manage storage across your Xbox consoles, voice-chat with friends on either Xbox or PC, and easily share clips and screenshots from games and granting easy access to remote play.
You can even use the app as a remote control for your console, which is very handy for multimedia services. Overall, we found the companion app made it easier than ever to access and manage our Xboxes on the go.
Xbox Series X review: library
(Image credit: Shin'en Multimedia)
Launch title lineup is a bit disappointing
Combined with Xbox Game Pass, offers plenty to play
Plenty of backward-compatible games to play
The Xbox Series X game library is perhaps what lets the new console down the most. For a start, there were only a handful of new big-name games that landed on the console at launch – Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, Dirt 5, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon, none of which were Xbox exclusives.
In fact, every Xbox Series X launch game was already available (or would be available) on Xbox One – and many were released on PS5 too. The launch titles that were Xbox exclusives, such as Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps, were all optimized versions of Xbox One titles.
The Xbox exclusive situation has thankfully improved, with Halo Infinite, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Forza Horizon 5 bolstering Microsoft's lineup. However, there's still a distinct lack of games that can only be played on Xbox Series X|S, like Bloober Team’s psychological thriller The Medium. It’ll be a while yet before we get our hands on big hitters like Everwildand Fable.
While the next few months for Xbox games still look a bit uncertain, Microsoft has a major ace in the hole: its acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard. This is a huge move by Microsoft that could seriously bolster that lackluster exclusive offering, meaning that future Bethesda titles like The Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield will come exclusively to Xbox and PC.
Now that’s a prospect that makes Xbox Series X very interesting and could give it a serious advantage over the PS5.
Xbox Game Pass
(Image credit: Microsoft)
The saving grace, in terms of the games available, is that Xbox Series X players have access to thousands of backward-compatible games, so you'll have plenty of older games to play.
If you’re picking up an Xbox Series X, we would strongly advise picking up an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to bolster your library. As previously mentioned, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate means you get access to hundreds of Xbox One games off the bat, including first-party Xbox games on day one. So, in terms of money-saving, pairing your Game Pass subscription with your new console means you won’t have to shell out for brand-new games – unless they’re not included on Game Pass.
In the past six months, we’ve seen even more titles added to Game Pass, including a large number of Bethesda titles, with Microsoft confirming we will see future first-party Xbox games hit the service on launch day - that includes Bethesda games. Activision Blizzard games will also come to the service if the aforementioned acquisition is approved.
If you're hoping to get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for an even cheaper price, we've got good news. While this is currently being trialled in just the Republic of Ireland and Colombia, Microsoft is looking to launch an Xbox Game Pass family plan, allowing you and four players to jump in for a monthly cost of €21.99 – which comes to around $21.99 / £19.99 / AU$32.99
Xbox Series X optimized
(Image credit: Microsoft)
A handful of the best Xbox One games have been optimized for the Xbox Series X. These titles have been upgraded or built with the Xbox Series X in mind, in order to make the most of the console’s power – and boy, do they show it.
We tested a few Optimized titles including Gears 5, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, The Falconeer, and Dirt 5, and found that these games boasted minimal loading times, improved stability, and considerably enhanced visuals. For example, Gears 5 on Xbox Series X boasts ray tracing and 4K at 60fps, making the campaign mode look better than ever before, and load faster.
It’s immediately more immersive, thanks to more stable frame rates and a lack of loading screen walls. The difference is even more noticeable in Gears 5’s multiplayer, which allows for 4K at 120fps, resulting in buttery smooth performance that feels much more responsive – which is critical in online multiplayer. With Dolby Atmos support too, it's a brilliant showcase for the Xbox Series X’s unbridled power.
• Original review date: April 2023
• Launch price: Starts at $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$2,599
• Target price now (updated model): $999.99 /£1,049.99 / AU$1,899.99
Update – August 2024: The Surface Pro 9 5G was a venerable device, but it now lies defeated; completely superseded by the new Microsoft Surface Pro 11, which is a superior device in virtually every way thanks to the powerful new Snapdragon X Elite chip powering it.
It's not exactly hard to find the Surface Pro 9 5G model these days, but pricing is completely all over the shop - and frankly, there's zero reason to recommend it now that the Pro 11 is here, and cheaper for the base configuration to boot as you can see from the above pricing.
The Pro 9 5G failed to make the list of our best ultrabooks due to compatibility issues with Windows on Arm (since it used a Microsoft SQ chip rather than a conventional x86 or x64 processor), but with the advancements made in the WoA space thanks to Qualcomm's new Snapdragon chips, that's no longer such a concern - and the new model absolutely rules.
Original review follows.
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G: Two-minute review
You don't review a laptop such as the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G (or indeed any product) in a vacuum. You have to look at it from the perspective of what came before, what else is available in the market, your experience with the product, and, in our case, our long-time association with Surface gadgets.
This reviewer has been using Surface devices since Microsoft introduced them a decade ago. It's been a journey of mostly (but not always) incremental changes, many of which ensured that legacy users wouldn't be left behind. Even when Microsoft unveiled the mold-breaking Surface Pro X, it kept the OG Surface design chugging along with the Surface Pro 7.
That changed with last year's Surface Pro 8, which adopted the Pro X look for the Intel platform and was Microsoft's first USB-3-free Surface Pro device.
Microsoft's Surface Pro 9 5G takes the strategy a step further by applying the Pro brand to an ARM-based system while retiring the Pro X line. It also makes a further break with the past by dropping the 3.5mm headphone jack (a moment of silence, please).
In general, this is a winning formula. Microsoft has all but perfected the Surface Pro X design for a wider Pro-grade audience. It's a thin and sturdy Windows tablet with an expansive screen that provides all the space and visual performance you need for productivity, creativity, and consumption (it's a nice Netflix screen).
As a 5G system, the Surface Pro 9 5G stands ready to keep you connected at home and on the go without the need for a Wi-Fi connection.
The ARM system brings some neural engine-based tricks you won't get with the Intel model, such as eye tracking, gaze correction, noise suppression, and better background blurs that can blur multiple people at once. It's all mostly trouble-free, but there were hiccups, including a complete collapse of our Adobe Creative Cloud Photoshop and too many Microsoft Edge crashes.
You will pay dearly for Microsoft's most road-ready Surface Pro. The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G starts at $1,299.99 and that's without the Surface Pro Signature Keyboard and Slim Pen 2, which we consider critical additions to the Surface Pro 5G package and that will add another $279.99 to the package.
Ultimately, there is a lot to love about the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G but inconsistent operation and an eye-popping price might keep it off of our Best Laptops list.
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G: Price and availability
$1,899 Microsoft SQ3 5G Platinum, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD
When is it out? It is available now
Where can you get it? Surface Pro 9 went on sale on October 25th in the US, Canada, and China, with additional markets to follow in the coming weeks. Check Microsoft.com for updates on local availability.
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G specs
Here is the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: Microsoft SQ3 3.00 GHz Graphics: Adreno™ 8CX Gen 3 RAM: 16GB DDR4 RAM Screen: 13″ 2880 x 1920 PixelSense Flow Display Storage: 256 GB Ports: 2 x USB-C® with USB 4.0/ Thunderbolt™ 4, Surface Connector Port; Surface Type cover port Connectivity: WiFi 6E, Bluetooth v5.1 Camera: Front-facing 5MP Camera with 1080P full HD video, 10MP read camera with up to 4K video support OS: Windows 11 Home Weight: 883 g (1.95 lbs) Size: 209 x 287 x 9.3mm (W x D x H) Battery: 47.7Whrs with 65W AC Adaptor
Microsoft's Surface line has never been what you might call an affordable option. That probably didn't matter much as Microsoft was leading the PC industry out of the wilderness to new design and market opportunities. Things are a bit different now, with many of the biggest names in PCs producing beautiful convertibles that either reflect or outdo what Microsoft has to offer. Plus, there's the cost-of-living crisis to consider. Who will be willing to splurge nearly $1,500 for a laptop?
The base Surface Pro 9 starts at $999 / £1,099 / AU$1,649 (without the Surface Pro Signature Keyboard and Slim Pen 2 - another $279). The Surface Pro 9 5G, which adds mobile connectivity and some cool neural-powered capabilities, starts at $1,299.99 / £1,299. In Australia, the Surface Pro 9 5G starts with more RAM (16GB, AU$2,599).
That's quite a premium for what may not be that much more utility. It really depends on how deeply you cherish constant connectivity and some AI capabilities. Plus, that has to be balanced with a subsystem that may or may not fully support your business-class software.
Value: 3.5 / 5
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G: Design
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Lightweight aluminum casing
Smarter placement of buttons
Two high-speed USB-C ports
No 3.5mm headphone jack
For those who spent the better part of a decade using various Surface Pro devices, the Surface Pro 9 5G (and Surface Pro 8 before it) is a mix of mostly good news and a little bad.
The good news is that the 13-inch screen is significantly larger than that of, say, the Surface Pro 7, which measured 12.3 inches. However, the redesign of the Surface Pro series has resulted in a larger and slightly heavier device.
Its 287mm x 209mmx 9.3mm aluminum (formerly magnesium) body is wider and thicker than the Surface Pro 7 (292mm x 201mm x 8.5mm). And, at 878g, it's 13 grams heavier.
None of this is particularly noticeable and we'd suggest the minor bulk increase is well worth it, considering the more expansive screen.
It's a similar design to the last model, with a kickstand that can smoothly rotate until it's almost flat against the upper half of the convertible. That smooth motion makes it easy to find a perfectly "lappable" position.
The differences between the Surface Pro 9 and Pro 9 5G chassis that we're testing are minimal, but worth nothing. Whereas the Intel model has actual vent holes in the uniform ventilation channel running around the body, the fanless SQ3 model only has the channel. While there was no indication of our system overheating, the back of the Surface Pro 9 5G did get noticeably warm to the touch during normal operation.
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G USB-C ports (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Microsoft has shuffled the buttons and ports a bit since the Surface Pro 8. There's no more 3.5mm headphone jack, which may bother some who invested in either affordable earbuds or more expensive over-the-ear headphones that still use the port.
The system's two USB ports have shifted from the same side as the Surface Connector power port to the opposite side of the unit, where they have the space to themselves. Microsoft smartly repositioned the power sleep button from the side back to the top of the Surface Pro 9 5G (a space it occupied on all previous Pros up to the Surface Pro 8) and next to the volume rocker button.
The other difference between the Surface Pro 9 and its 5G counterpart is the antenna cutouts, which are at roughly 1.5-inch intervals to enable mmWave 5G.
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G buttons (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Even though the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G doesn't ship with the Surface Pro Signature Keyboard Cover and Slim Pen 2, we're reviewing them as a package. As such, we'll talk about the combined design of the tablet, keyboard, and pen here. As we noted above, the keyboard and pen combo list for $279 / approximately £294.28 / AU$386.95.
For us, the Signature Keyboard Cover is an indispensable companion for the Surface Pro 9 5G package.
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G Signature Type Cover and Slim Pen 2 (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
At 10.75 inches wide, the keyboard is essentially full-sized and offers comfortable spacing between the keys plus 1.5mm of travel on a per-key basis for a satisfying type feel. The Alcantara cover makes for a comfortable palm rest and below the keys is a thumb-reachable and expansive 4-inch wide touchpad.
Microsoft re-engineered the type cover attachment system with the Surface Pro X to create a craftily hidden cubby for the Slim Pen 2. Instead of the pen using strong magnets to hug one side of the Surface Pro, this Pen has its own magnetized recharging bed that's hidden away when a half-inch of the type cover hugs the bottom of the Surface Pro 9 5G screen. The two components marry along the bottom edge of the Surface Pro 9 5G, which features a Surface Type Cover port.
To reveal the pen, we just pull the keyboard away from the screen and pluck out the Pen. It's always fully charged and ready to use with a pen-friendly display.
Overall, this is a more elegant and secure way to manage the pen.
Design: 4.5 / 5
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G: Cameras and Audio
Great camera for video conferencing
Unlock with your face
Good-enough rear camera
Great mics
Good audio
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G camera (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
One thing Surface Pro devices have long excelled at is video conferencing, not least because they had 1080p-capable front-facing cameras long before the competition. This author often got complimented on the quality of his video feed on Surface Pro 6 and Surface Pro 7. The Surface Pro 9 5G is no exception.
The front-facing camera is still 1080p and does an even better job of making you a video call champ. On this SQ3-based model, the AI, if you enable Windows Studio Effects, keeps you in the frame by shooting wide then moving the frame around to keep you in the picture. It also makes your eyes appear as if they are still focused on the camera even when they're not, and offers better bokeh effects that can keep multiple people in the frame unblurred.
What's more, it's also supported by dual far-field microphones, which means no one will have any trouble hearing you, while the SQ3's neural engine brings special background noise-canceling capabilities.
Next to that camera is the Windows Hello camera, which we recommend setting up. It lets you unlock your computer with your face and is highly secure (it can't be fooled with a picture).
The rear of the device offers the same 10MP shooter as the last model. It creates decent if unexceptional images. It can also shoot 4K video, though we wonder how often people are shooting hand-held video with their Surface laptops.
There are also a pair of 2W Dolby Atmos-supporting stereo speakers that provide robust, clear sound. They're good for meeting audio. If you're not working, the speakers provide an excellent aural companion to any action-packed Netflix video.
Cameras and Audio: 4/5
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G: Display and Pen
Increasingly classic LCD screen
Good for touch and pen
13-inch is the just-right size
An excellent, ergonomic pen
Even though Microsoft has yet to upgrade its PixelSense screen technology to OLED or MicroLED, the screen is undeniably one of the better mobile work and design displays in the business.
That's because, despite that lack of core tech change, this screen offers dynamic 120Hz and a high resolution of 2880 x 1920 (267 ppi), among other things. To put that in perspective, the mini-LED-based Liquid Retina XDR display found on the Apple iPad Pro 12.9, which is also capable of 120Hz, has a resolution of 2732 x 2048, and offers a slightly lower 264 ppi.
When it comes to brightness and contrast, the Surface Pro 9 5G doesn't compare favorably to the aforementioned iPad Pro 12.9. It has a max brightness of 450 nits (iPad Pro 12.9 has a max of 1,600 nits) and a contrast ratio of 1200:1 (iPad Pro 12.9 promises 1,000,000:1).
The relative lack of brightness means that the Surface Pro 9 5G might not be the best outdoor work companion, but at home and in the office, you probably won't notice that difference any more than you will the contrast ratio differences. Naturally, some of these specs might give creative professionals pause. Even so, drawing, editing, browsing, and working in production apps never suffered during our testing.
Of course, it also has the benefit of being both a touch- and pen-friendly screen.
Microsoft Surface Slim Pen 2 (Image credit: Future)
We've long become accustomed to occasionally tapping the screen to select something on a Surface device and highly recommend picking up the Slim Pen 2 for both artistic and note-taking pursuits.
Not only does it look as if black ink is flowing out of the tip of the beautifully designed Slim Pen 2 and onto the screen, but the latest Pen offers even more precise haptic feedback to make it feel as if you're scratching a pencil across real paper.
Microsoft worked to move the digitizing panel as close to the surface (get it) as possible. The result is that it looks like digital ink is flowing out of the Slim Pen 2 tip. (Image credit: Future)
Aside from that haptic tweak, the Slim Pen 2 is no different than the one found on the Surface Pro 8, and that's fine with us. We like the drafting pen design, which is lightweight, comfortable to hold, and never slips from your grip.
Unlike an Apple Pencil 2, Microsoft's Slim Pen 2 makes use of both ends of the digital writing implement. There's the business side, which is as useful for drawing in Sketchable as it is for journaling in Journal, and then there's the eraser side, which is both a button and a digital eraser. There's also a button along the pen body that you can use to activate various features in a number of apps. In Sketchable, for instance, it can be used to quickly access the eye-dropper color picker.
Drawing on Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G is fun. Here, we're using Sketchable (Image credit: Future/ Lance Ulanoff)
Display and Pen: 4/5
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G: Windows 11
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G running Windows 11 (Image credit: Future)
The news on Windows 11 running on the ARM-based SQ3 is mostly but not all good.
Microsoft's Surface Pro 9 5G is an excellent home for Windows 11, which is unsurprising considering that Microsoft designs both the platform and these computers. In general, it's a stable environment for the 37-year-old OS. However, there are some persistent reminders that Windows is not running on an Intel X86 platform.
During normal use, we encountered a number of bugs. Some were small (weird screen glitches) and others hampered our productivity. Microsoft's own Edge browser had a habit of crashing and wouldn't run smoothly until we rebooted our system. And, yes, we updated the OS.
More worrisome, though, was an Adobe Creative Cloud bug that is now preventing Adobe Photoshop CC 2023 from running on the Surface Pro 9 5G. When we looked up the bug on Google, we found that this was an issue first seen with the ARM-based Surface Pro X. It's disappointing that this issue has somehow carried over to Microsoft's latest SQ3-based Surface Pro 9.
Obviously, thin and light systems such as the Surface Pro might not be a creator's first choice and you may never personally run Adobe Photoshop on a Surface Pro 9 5G. However, we've been doing just that on Surface Pro devices for years, and think it's fair to expect that any system with the "Pro" name should be able to do so.
These are not deal breakers, as we were eventually able to stabilize Edge (it may have been a mid-review Edge update that did it) and there are other image editing options including Window's own Photos. Still, it's a reminder that this isn't your grandparents' Windows system with that trusty, always-compatible X86 underneath. Then again, ARM compatibility is a thousand times better than it was when Microsoft tried this with one of the earliest Surface systems and Windows RT.
Amazon App Store on Surface Pro 9 5G (Image credit: Future)
One benefit of having an ARM-based CPU is that you can easily run mobile apps on the desktop platform - you just have to choose from the Amazon App store's somewhat narrow list.
Microsoft has not given anyone a clear explanation for why we still can't get Google Play on its SQ3-based Surface. We have nothing against Amazon's App store, the same one you'll find on all its Fire Tablet devices, but it is not the full Android store.
To access these Android Apps, you have to run the awkwardly-named Windows Subsystem for Android. Fortunately, that only needs one activation and, after that, you go direct to Amazon App Store for the Android apps.
Amazon App Store on Microsoft Surface Pro 5G: Playing Angry Birds 2 (Image credit: Future)
The App store takes almost a full minute to launch and the list of apps is mostly of the Candy Crush variety, However, we did find a few that we liked, including Among Us, Hill Climb Racing 2, and Angry Birds 2.
Game performance ranges from just OK to good. We saw some stuttering and had a few issues with audio (as in, no audio at all).
We did eventually get our games running smoothly and especially enjoyed tearing around and completing tasks in Among Us.
For now, the ability to run Android apps on a Windows platform remains little more than a curiosity, but that is set to change as Google Play Games is finally coming to Windows 11. It was not ready in time for this review, though.
Windows 11: 3.5 / 5
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G: Performance and Battery
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G power port (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
3DMark Time Spy: 913; Fire Strike: 2,940; Night Raid: 13,013 GeekBench 5.4: 1,125 (single-core); 5,849 (multi-core) Handbrake (ARM native): 12:58 Handbrake (ARM emulated): 8:40 Battery Life: 10 hours and 41 minutes
Despite the lack of full support for some of the PC world's most powerful apps, this is generally a well-performing system that never makes you feel like you're carrying a phone in PC's clothing.
We had multiple apps and many browser tabs open while driving a second HD screen and never saw a performance issue.
Benchmark numbers, especially on Geekbench, fall nearly in line with Apple's best mobile silicon, the A16 Bionic. As expected, the ARM-based system was bested across virtually all benchmarks save battery – where the Surface pro 9 5G got almost an hour more Wi-Fi-based web surfing. Microsoft promises 19 hours. Anecdotally, we got almost 16 hours of battery life with mixed-use. As always, your battery mileage will vary depending on core use.
As the 5G in the name denotes, the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G is always ready to connect. We didn't get a pre-paid plan for it and had no opportunity to test out its 5G capabilities. That said, we used it with a variety of WiFi networks and tethered it to our 5G phones. In all cases, it performed well.
Performance and Battery: 4/ 5
If you put battery life and versatility at the top of your Windows 11 PC wishlist, there are few better-positioned systems than the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G.
It's a tablet with phone-like battery life and a touch screen. It's a big-screen laptop with exquisite Slim Pen 2 compatibility. It's a productivity maven when you pay that extra $279 for the Surface Signature Keyboard and Slim Pen 2 combo. It's got at least 10 hours of battery life (and maybe a lot more if you manage it right) and is ready to connect to your nearest 5G network.
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G: Report card
Should you buy a Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G?
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
• Original review date: November 2022
• Launch price: Starting at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699
• Target price: $599 / £499 / AU$899
Update – August 2024: I won't lie, when this laptop was released and reviewed in 2022, it really wasn't good enough to warrant serious consideration for our best laptop list.
Its performance, port selection, and battery life were all significantly underwhelming, and that's even more true when factoring in the recently released Microsoft Surface Laptop 7, which is an absolutely stellar device that starts at the same launch price as the Surface Laptop 5 did.
If you're in the market for a Surface Laptop, I strongly suggest you buy the latest model with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus or X Elite processor, even at full price. Only really consider the Surface Laptop 5 if it is aggressively discounted on the clearance shelf, otherwise, it just isn't worth it with the Surface Laptop 7 widely available.
Original review follows.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5: Two minute review
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is a middling laptop... possibly as middle of the road as you can get. While it’s technically functional and isn’t awful, there’s very little actually going for this machine, especially at this price. The market is simply too competitive for a mediocre option such as this to be worth buying.
At first glance, the price isn’t too steep, with the cheapest configuration being $999 / £999 / AU$1,699. But that’s for an Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD, which is pretty bad. For that amount you could nab the far superior MacBook Air M1 (2020) instead, or even the recent M2 MacBook Air. If you want something decent – like an i7, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD – be prepared to spend about $1,700 / £1,700 / AU$2,700, which is right at Ultrabook prices. At least it’s readily available in the US, UK, and Australia.
Though it’s refreshing to see several colors available for the laptop, they all end up looking drab and washed out, with the exception of the gorgeous Sandstone. The design itself is also rather dated.
Then there are the performance issues. As it turns out, there are a lot of background processes going on while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is running. This not only slows you down whether browsing the internet or working on a spreadsheet, but also has the added effect of crashing random programs if they take a certain threshold of memory to run. In fact, we experienced it during one of the benchmarks we tried to run, PC Mark 10.
Nor is the battery life the 18 hours that was claimed during the October Surface event. In fact, the final scores show a battery life of half of that, with productivity work running down the laptop after around 10 hours while movie streaming will give you just seven and a half hours. It does charge quickly, but the Surface Connect port seriously needs to go by the wayside to make room for Thunderbolt 4.
On the plus side, though, the keyboard and trackpad are quite lovely to use and the touch screen is also sensitive and responsive. We also welcome the newly added features plus a true revamping of the accessibility options, which are now easy to activate across all your apps.
It’s a shame that so much care was taken to make these accessibility and productivity features work, because they do - and well. But when you slap them on a laptop with so many issues, it’s hard to appreciate them.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future)
How much does it cost? 13.5-inch starting at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699, 15-inch starting at $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$2,149
When is it out? It's out now
Where can you get it? In the US, UK, and Australia
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 Key Specs
Here is the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: Intel Core i7-1255U Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics RAM: 16GB Screen: 13.5-inch PixelSense Display, 2256 x 1504 Storage: 512GB LPDDR5x Optical drive: None Ports: 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 Thunderbolt 4 port, 1 3.5mm combo audio jack, 1 Surface Connect port Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6: 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.1 Camera: 720p Weight: 2.8 lb Size: 8.8 x 12.1 x .57 inches (W x D x H)
Though the starting price for a 13.5-inch version of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is $999 / £999 / AU$1,699, the configuration TechRadar received costs $1,699 / £1,699 / AU$2,699. And honestly, it’s difficult to justify that price when you consider how barebones the laptop’s specs are.
Availability is excellent, however, with the laptop readily available not only in the US but in the UK and Australia too - and in almost every configuration you could hope for.
Value: 2 / 5
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5: Design
(Image credit: Future)
Thin and light form factor
Outdated look
Bad port selection
The Surface Laptop 5 is a very thin and light laptop, weighing just 2.8 lbs. for the 13.5-inch model. And for those sticking with that size, there are four colors to choose from: Sandstone, Platinum (which features an Alcantara fabric), Matte Black, and a new Sage color, which is the one we received. The Sage version isn't bad per se, but it's a bit underwhelming due to its muted nature.
The port selection remains pretty weak, with one USB Type-C, one USB Type-A, an audio jack, and a Surface Connect port that should have gone to the wayside ages ago. At least Microsoft kept the Type-A option, but the number of ports should be higher considering how much it costs.
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The bezels on the screen are a little on the thick side, which is why it’s perplexing that the webcam is still 720p. At times, said camera has surprisingly clear picture quality due to auto-correcting capabilities that fix any white balance issues, but in anything other than good lighting the image looks a bit pixelated.
Though the laptop and keyboard function just as they should, there’s an oddly artificial feeling to them; they bring to mind the plasticky older MacBook models from the mid-2000s. Plus, the shape of the laptop itself is outdated, which lends itself to a boring and drab look. Thankfully the touchscreen itself is great, hitting the right blend of sensitivity and responsiveness, though the panel itself looks rather dim as it's not OLED.
Design: 3 / 5
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5: Performance
(Image credit: Future)
Sound quality is top-tier
Great new features that utilize the touchscreen
Terrible performance all around
Performance on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is a mixture of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Let’s deal with the good first - namely the expanded accessibility options and productivity features.
First is the Focus function, which locks out notifications for a certain period of time so you can focus on productivity. Another addition is Snap, which allows you to divide your screen into various areas, then place windows into those sections for easy multitasking.
File explorer is another quality-of-life change in which you can open multiple tabs of computer file folders in the same window. The Start menu itself also houses some quality-of-life changes, including being able to organize apps within folders, as well as scroll through recommended apps.
You can also activate a host of accessibility options within Windows 11. This has the benefit of automatically working across 20,000-plus apps, avoiding the need for you to make changes within individual programs.
Sound quality is also excellent - in fact, this is one of the best non-gaming laptops we've ever heard. Music is clear enough that you can hear every instrument and voice in a single track, yet loud enough to blast said song from the rooftops. It's everything you could ever want from a laptop's sound system.
Finally in terms of positives, the touchscreen is impressively responsive, especially when using a stylus. Too bad said stylus isn't included out of the box but instead is an add-on.
Benchmarks
Here's how the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark: Night Raid: 16,871; Fire Strike: 4763; Time Spy: 1793 Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 8499 points GeekBench 5: 1674 (single-core); 8709 (multi-core) Battery Life (Web Surfing): 9 hours and 50 minutes Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 7 hours and 38 minutes Civilization VI (1080p, Ultra): 42 fps; (1080p, Low): 55 fps
However, both the bad and ugly rear their ugly heads once you delve into the Surface Laptop 5’s performance. While the benchmark testing places it squarely at its market average, actually using the laptop is its own issue.
In the first screenshot below, you can see how many processes are running in the background, which is a staggering 43. That's after we installed all current Windows 11 updates as well as the benchmark programs.
(Image credit: Future)
Here's the second screenshot, which shows how many programs are running in the background, which is an unbelievable 57. And this is just after we fully wiped the PC, without any updates or program installations.
(Image credit: Future)
As you can imagine, this much going on in the background has a profound effect on how well the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 runs. We could not run PC Mark 10 in the slightest, for instance. No matter how many times we uninstalled, reinstalled, and reset the laptop, it would instantly crash the moment we tried to do anything. And at one point it even crashed Geekbench.
Keep in mind this is a laptop with a Core i7, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD of storage. And it's perplexing, because Google Chrome and other browsers ran without crashing, even when displaying tabs full of YouTube videos. However, we did notice some slowdown when running more taxing productivity tasks.
For the price, these performance issues are absolutely unacceptable.
Performance: 3 / 5
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5: Battery life
(Image credit: Future)
Battery life isn't bad but not great
Charges decently fast
Microsoft claims “up to 18 hours” of battery life for the Surface Laptop 5, but in our testing we achieved nothing like that. When web surfing, the laptop lasted for nearly 10 hours, while our movie test netted a battery life of seven hours and 38 minutes. At least it charges decently fast.
Still, the Surface Laptop 5 should last long enough for a full day’s work, unless you plan to stream a movie during your lunch break. This is an acceptable result, albeit a little disappointing considering there’s no OLED screen or HDR draining power.
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.
• Original review date: October, 2022
• Newer models have since released
• Dell XPS 13 (2024) is shaping up to be an excellent laptop
Update: August 2024
Since we reviewed this version of the XPS 13 back in 2022, Dell has released several new models, as well as relaunching its XPS 14 lineup. This means that the 2022 model is no longer easy to buy. Retailers that do stock this older model may be offering it for a steep discount, which makes it a good budget choice, though if you can afford a newer model, such as the Dell XPS 13 Plus (2023), then you'll get a much more future-proof laptop. Our Dell XPS 13 (2024) review is almost finished and - spoiler alert - it looks like it could be one of the best laptops yet.
Dell XPS 13 (2022): two minute review
The Dell XPS 13 (2022) has huge shoes to fill, but while it does what it sets out to do very well, there are going to be those who are going to be sorely disappointed by some of the changes Dell makes to the XPS 13, and some of these are going to be absolute deal breakers.
But the XPS 13 (2022) deserves to be judged on its own merits, rather than solely in comparison to the Dell XPS 13 (Late 2020), this model's immediate predecessor. This is especially the case since that model is arguably the best laptop in its class, even though it is not a couple of model generations behind the latest Dell laptops.
Still, while we'll get around to weighing the XPS 13 (2022) objectively a bit later, it is important to acknowledge that the new Dell XPS 13 comes with a pedigree and that can't be ignored. In this regard, the XPS 13 outperforms the model it's replacing in some key areas, but it falls short in others. How you're going to feel about the new XPS 13 is going to depend entirely on where your concerns fall between the two, whether or not some of these are entirely in Dell's control.
What is in Dell's control is the design of the XPS 13, and this is where most of the controversy is going to be. The Dell XPS 13 (2022) is a gorgeous laptop, through and through, from the thinness of its form to its featherweight portability and beautiful display. These come at a cost though, namely in terms of ports, and the two, solitary USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports are going to mean you'll have to juggle some dongles. Fortunately, Dell includes some of them with the laptop itself.
The biggest change though is the absence of the carbon fiber palm rests, which still remain on the Dell XPS 15 (2022) and Dell XPS 17 (2022), in favor of a more svelte aluminum keyboard deck. There is also the new color option, Umber (a bluish-purple), in addition to Sky, which is the standard silver color for the XPS laptop line.
The carbon fiber palm rests are one of the things about the last XPS 13 that we fell in love with, so we're sorry to see them go, but on its merits, the keyboard is still spectacular to use.
The sound still sucks, but all of the best ultrabooks have terrible audio, thanks to underpowered down-firing speakers. It's the tradeoff you have to make for the form factor, so the XPS 13 was never going to break free of that fate.
Overall, the performance of the XPS 13 (2022) was excellent for everyday use and productivity work, making it one of the best thin and light laptops for professionals who find themselves constantly on the go. Unfortunately, this is also where we run into the XPS 13 (2022)'s major failing: battery life.
While the battery life on the new XPS 13 does last longer than most Intel Alder Lake-powered laptops, it is still a noticeable downgrade from the last XPS 13, which was Intel Evo certified. This, though, isn't in Dell's control as Alder Lake chips just guzzle the juice with wanton abandon and with no consideration for your needs or convenience. You'll be getting close to all-day battery life with the XPS 13 (2022), but it's not the all-day-plus battery life some might be expecting from an XPS 13.
Still, the XPS 13 (2022) absolutely holds its own as an ultrabook, and it does so at a price far below what came before it. Of all the ultrabooks we've tested this year, the XPS 13 (2022) is the closest competition to the new MacBook Air (M2, 2022) on the market right now, which is great for someone looking for an Air-like appeal from a Windows laptop - making it a great choice of laptop for students.
Are some of us shaking our fists at Dell-shaped clouds over the redesign? Of course, but change is inevitable, and with a genuinely appealing design, the Dell XPS 13 (2022) shines just as bright as the rest of the XPS lineup, even if it blazes a different trail all its own.
Dell XPS 13 (2022): Price and availability
(Image credit: Future)
How much does it cost? Starting at $899 / £854 / AU$1,898
When is it out? It is available now
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia
Dell XPS 13 (2022) Key Specs
Here is the Dell XPS 13 (2022) configuration sent to TechRadar for review: CPU: Intel Core i5-1230U Graphics: Intel Iris Xe RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 Screen: 13.4 FHD+ (1920 x 1200) InfinityEdge Non-Touch Anti-Glare 500-Nit Display Storage: 512GB PCIe SSD Ports: 2 x Thunderbolt 4
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 Camera: 720p at 30fps, no privacy shutter Weight: 2.59 lb | 1.17 kg Size (W x D x H): 11.63 x 7.85 x 0.55 in (295.4 x 199.4 x 13.99 mm) Battery: 51WHr
The Dell XPS 13 (2022) – also called the Dell XPS 13 (9315) by some retailers – is available now in the US, UK, and Australia, starting at $899 / £854 / AU$1,898. The entry level configuration will get you an Intel Core i5-1230U with integrated Iris Xe graphics, 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, and a 500-nit, 13.4-inch, FHD+ (1920 x 1200p) display. In the US, the minimum storage option is 512GB SSD, while the UK and Australia start out with a 256GB SSD.
The best configuration will get you a Core i7-1250U with Iris Xe graphics, 32GB LPDDR5 RAM, 1TB PCIe SSD, and a 500-nit, 13.4-inch, FHD+ (1920 x 1200p) display with anti-reflective coating, and costs $1,549 / £1,754 / AU$3,441.
The configuration we tested was one step removed from entry level, with 16GB RAM rather than 8GB, and it costs $1,049 / £1,004 / AU$2,299.
This XPS 13 model is more oriented towards value rather than performance (which would be the Dell XPS 13 Plus), and so the processors aren't powerful enough really to manage the kind of heavy duty workloads that would necessitate more than 16GB RAM or 512GB storage, and most people will do just fine with the starting configuration so few people will ever need to spend more than $1,000 / £1,000 / AU$2,000 to get one of the best Dell laptops on the market.
This is in stark contrast with the last XPS 13 model from late 2020, which had a starting price of $1,499 / £1,399 / AU$2,399. This is a substantial price cut for a laptop that will give you more or less the same level of performance.
Compared to the rest of the market, the XPS 13 (2022) is positioned squarely in the sweet spot in terms of price and performance. The other obvious comparison to make is with the MacBook Air. Compared to the MacBook Air with M1 from 2020, the Dell XPS 13 is very competitive, matching the MacBook Air on price, though it won't get you nearly as much battery life. The new MacBook Air with M2, however, is more expensive, and while its performance is outstanding, it still doesn't blow the XPS 13 out of the water beyond having better battery life.
All told, the Dell XPS 13 (2022) is one of the best, if not the best, value on the market among the best Windows laptops, and other than a few of the best Chromebooks out there, there is little that can really compete with the XPS 13 (2022) on this front. If you're looking to save on the laptop, you can check out our list of the best Dell coupon codes to see this month's best discounts.
Value: 5 / 5
Dell XPS 13 (2022): Design
(Image credit: Future)
Redesigned for 2022, like it or not
Beautiful display
Serious lack of ports
The Dell XPS 13 (2022) is going to split the entire tech reviewer community in two over its design, with defenders and haters making valid points on each side. But consumers don't buy a new laptop every 18 months, so for everyone else, this is still an absolutely gorgeous laptop, though there are some functional issues that will be a problem for many.
First, the XPS 13 is very lightweight, and its slim dimensions make it an easy laptop to toss in a bag as you head out the door. The exterior is little changed from its predecessor and features the XPS line's brushed aluminum chassis, with the biggest change being the option to get it in a purplish-blue color option, Umber.
Opening it up, however, and the redesigned interior removes the carbon fiber keyboard palm rest and replaces it with a sleek aluminum that let the hands glide over its surface with ease. The keys and trackpad are also well positioned and spaced to allow for fluid and comfortable typing, even for many hours at a time.
The display is a full HD+, meaning its a 1920 x 1200p resolution at the 16:10 aspect ratio, and it can get as bright as 500 nits. It's not an OLED display, so it's not going to have the kind of vibrant colors that you get with the Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED, but it is more than clear enough to see everything you need to see at this size.
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The down-firing speakers are audible, but they will hardly fill a room, even if you have it sitting on a hardwood desk. The 16:10 display is beautiful and very easy to work with, though a 13-inch laptop is not nearly big enough to be using multiple windows at once.
The webcam is the basic 720p@30fps that you see on nearly every other ultrabook on the market, so don't expect much from its image quality. One thing that is lacking is a privacy shutter for the webcam, something many of the best HP laptops and best Lenovo laptops have featured for a long time now. Dell really does need to get with the program on this, in our opinion.
Finally, the biggest issue with the XPS 13 (2022) is the derth of ports. There are just two Thunderbolt 4 ports, that's it. While both are capable of charging the laptop, having it plugged in means that you're now down to a single USB-C port, so any peripherals you have with you either have to be triaged for the most important one, or you're going to need a dock for more than two items.
And since they're USB-C ports, any USB-A or other types of input will need a converting dongle to work. Dell includes a couple in the box with the XPS 13, a USB-A to USB-C and a 3.5mm audio jack to USB-C, but you'll likely need more, which can really cut into the laptop's portability.
Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 5,478
3DMark Time Spy: 1,068; Fire Strike: 3,100; Night Raid: 10,272
GeekBench 5: 1,629 (single-core); 6,546 (multi-core)
PCMark 10 (Home Test): 4,324
PCMark 10 Battery Life: 7:31
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 9:17
The Dell XPS 13 (2022) is designed to be an affordable, ultraportable laptop that can do what most people need it to do: some web browsing, video streaming, and maybe messing around with a couple of spreadsheets for work or writing reports on an airplane.
It does all of these very well, and it has decent enough processor benchmark scores for a laptop priced as it is. The biggest problem you'll find is if you try to run any resource-heavy apps on the XPS 13, such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Blender, and Photoshop.
On these points, it will be able to complete most tasks, but expect it to take a lot longer than it would on a more professional workstation like the MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022), if it finishes them at all and doesn't simple stall or crash. This is a laptop for light to medium work at most, and the more you can use cloud apps like Google Docs and Google Sheets, the better.
We could also have run a number of games on it to see how they fared, but after the first test with Civilization VI, run on the lowest possible settings, scored a paltry 18 fps, we called it a day and spared the XPS 13 any more gaming embarrassment. A candidate for the best gaming laptop of the year, this is not.
Considering that you can get one of the best Chromebooks on the market and it will perform about as well on cloud-based apps, the performance of the Dell XPS 13 on its own might not be enough to justify the relative premium you're pay for it. If all you're going to be doing is running Google Chrome and listening to Spotify or watching Netflix, definitely consider saving yourself some serious money and give Chromebooks a look before you make the jump on a nearly $1,000 Windows laptop.
Performance: 3 / 5
Dell XPS 13 (2022): Battery life
Not great, but decent enough for an Alder Lake laptop
Charges from 0% to full in about two hours
The battery life on the Dell XPS 13 (2022) is not great, if we compare it to its predecessor. On our PCMark 10 battery test, it lasted on average about seven hours and 31 minutes. It did better on our looped video test, managing an average nine hours and eight minutes.
The XPS 13 (late 2020) managed a battery life of nearly 12 hours, so the XPS 13 (2022) has definitely regressed in this regard, but that has been the case with Alder Lake laptops across the board. They just consume too much power and we've seen many ultrabooks last between six to seven hours on average, so the XPS 13 (2022) is at least ahead of its competition on that front.
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.
• Original review date: August 2022
• Launch price: Starts at $799 / £799 (around AU$1,120)
• Target price now (updated model): Starts at $999 / £899 (around AU$1,490)
Update – August 2024: The HP Pavilion Plus 14 might have missed out on a spot amidst our ranking of the best laptops when we originally reviewed this model, but two years on, I've got good news and bad news.
The good news is that an updated model featuring the new Intel Core Ultra 5 chip is now available, which (while I haven't personally tested it) should provide better battery life than previous iterations thanks to that chip's improved power efficiency. The short battery life was the main failing of the Pavilion Plus 14 when we reviewed it, and some quick online research shows that reviewers concur that battery performance is a lot stronger in the new model.
The bad news is that this new model is unfortunately a bit more expensive - although you can still find older models with Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen chips for under $800 in the US. Sadly for our friends down under, it appears that the Core Ultra model is not available at all in Australia at the time of writing - so Aussies may be better off looking for something different.
Original review follows.
HP Pavilion Plus 14: Two-minute review
The HP Pavilion Plus 14 is an upgrade from the original Pavilion 14 and is meant to be a decently priced low-ranged laptop for those who need a dedicated work machine.
It comes with a pretty solid screen size, which is complemented by the thinner bezels that give you more screen real estate. Its OLED touchscreen display is responsive and features an impressive picture quality that makes anything displayed through it crystal clear and sharp, which alone is worth the slightly higher price tag.
This feature shines when paired with the webcam, which is crisp and clean when sitting through Zoom meetings, but it’s a shame the webcam doesn’t come with a mechanical privacy shutter though, since nowadays its pretty much a necessity.
The keyboard and touchpad are quite good as well, one of the few work laptops that have wide keys suited for those with thicker fingers or shaky hands. We found it extremely rare to have typos thanks to the wide spacing between keys, and the touchpad provides you with more than enough space to comfortably move around, making it very accessible for those who might have more limited mobility or coordination in their hands.
Thanks to the 12th-gen Intel Core i7 CPU, the HP Pavilion Plus 14 has some impressively high performance compared to many other budget-to-midrange laptops, consistently outscoring them by sometimes wide margins.
It’s an incredibly fast laptop that balances multiple CPU-intensive tasks like a champ. It even ran Sid Meyer’s Civilization VI benchmark well, netting over 60 FPS on the highest settings. Of course, it won’t be able to play titles like Hitman 3 smoothly but you’re not buying this laptop for that purpose anyway; as a general performance machine, this might have easily qualified as one of the best HP laptops going – or even one of the best Ultrabooks overall.
However, the worst aspect of this laptop by far is the battery life, and it absolutely drags this laptop down. At most, while running our HD movie test, it lasted just under 5 hours, and lasted a little while longer in our productivity test. For a gaming laptop this would be ok, but for a low-end machine whose job it is to last a full day of work or school? This is atrocious, especially considering that for the price, we're expecting something far more substantial.
HP Pavilion Plus 14: Price and availability
Despite itself, the HP Pavilion Plus 14 is not bad at playing casual or light-duty games – just make sure to leave it plugged in. (Image credit: Future)
How much does it cost? MSRP is $799 (about £640 / AU$1,120)
When is it out? It is available now
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia, though not all configurations are available in all regions.
The HP Pavilion Plus 14 is available now in the US, UK, and Australia and starts at $799 / £829 in the US and UK, and at AU$2,699 in Australia.
HP Pavilion Plus 14 Key Specs
Here is the HP Pavilion Plus 14 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: Intel Core i7-12700H Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics RAM: 16GB Screen: 14-inch diagonal, 2.8K (2880 x 1800), OLED, 90 Hz Storage: 1TB PCIe SSD Ports: 2 USB Type-A ports, 2 USB Type-C, 1 headset (headphone and microphone combo) port, 1 HDMI 2.1 port, 1 SD-card slot Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 Camera: HP True Vision 5MP Weight: 3.09 pounds (1.4 kg) Size (W x D x H): 12.34 x 8.83 x 0.72ins | 313.4 x 224.3 x 18.3mm Battery: 51WHr
The entry-level configuration for the US will get you an Intel Core i5-1240P processor with integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics, 8GB RAM, 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD storage, and a 14-inch 2240 x 1400p IPS display, with a max brightness of 300 nits. The UK starting configuration is essentially identical, though it gives you a 512GB PCIe SSD.
The starting configuration in Australia, which is also the only configuration, is identical to the one we reviewed, specs listed at right. It will set you back $1,219 in the US and AU$2,699 in Australia.
The highest-spec configuration costs $1,329 in the US will get you an Intel Core i7-1255U, an Nvidia RTX 2050 GPU with 4GB dedicated video memory, 16GB RAM, 1TB PCIe SSD and a 2.8K OLED display with 400 nits brightness and Wi-Fi 6E instead of Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6.
In the UK, the highest spec is slightly different, in that it reduces the SSD to 512GB and, strangely, comes with Windows 11 Home in S Mode.
For the hardware on offer, this is pretty decent, especially at the low end, though the more expensive OLED display, as pretty as it is, is a big driver of the increase in price here. HP's main rival, Dell, has a new Inspiron 14 Plus that comes in at $1,299 (about £1,040 / AU$1,820), and it has more or less the same specs as the HP Pavilion Plus 14 model we reviewed.
There are some key differences, though, in that it comes with a 2240 x 1400p IPS display instead of an OLED panel and only has 512GB SSD storage. What it does have over the Pavilion Plus 14, though, is a 64WHr battery, which means that it will likely get a much longer battery life than the Pavilion Plus 14 — especially if it doesn't have an OLED panel to power — though we haven't reviewed the Inspiron 14 Plus so we cannot say for certain.
That said, the HP Pavilion Plus 14 would seem to win out on specs here, making it a pretty decent value, but as we'll get to later, the battery life is really this laptop's Achilles' heel and keeps it from competing with the best laptops on the market. While you're weighing up costs, consider how HP promo codes can help you save.
Value: 3.5 / 5
HP Pavilion Plus 14: Design
The HP Pavilion Plus 14 is light and thin, just one of its many design successes. (Image credit: Future)
Fantastic OLED screen
Excellent, wide keyboard
Great port selection
The chassis is lightweight but feels surprisingly sturdy for a lower-end work laptop, and reasonably has some heft to it despite the lower weight. It’s still thin and light enough to be comfortably portable in most bags. The silver color is common among even the best laptops these days but is still appealing and sleek.
Opening it up, the OLED screen really shines, giving anything displayed through it a gorgeous high-quality picture. This makes sense, since it complements the 2.8k display and even sports some nice and thin bezels that grant some roomy screen real estate.
(Image credit: Future)
Its port selection is quite good, with two USB Type-C and two Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, an SD card slot, and one headset jack. The HDMI 2.1 is a pleasant surprise in particular, as normally it’s a 1.4 on work machines. The HP Pavilion Plus 14 is clearly a well-balanced machine that can handle most tasks and connect to a wide range of devices.
The keyboard is rather comfy since the keys are well-spaced. (Image credit: Future)
It even enhances what would be an otherwise average webcam image, pairing well with the program that augments your image based on lighting. The latter is a handy little feature that lets you adjust how you look through the webcam in real-time, a feature that we didn’t know we needed until now.
The keyboard is one of our favorites so far in a work laptop, with a well-sized trackpad and wide and well-spaced out keys that make typing a breeze with barely any typos. There’s also a toggle for backlighting, another great feature for those late-night work sessions. It was a joy using it and having to switch back to normal-sized keys felt like a huge downgrade.
Design: 4 / 5
HP Pavilion Plus 14: Performance
This laptop isn't Intel Evo-certified, which is otherwise known as a red flag for battery life. (Image credit: Future)
Great for work and casual-to-light gaming
Sound quality is fine
The HP Pavilion Plus 14 is in a very weird niche, as it functions incredibly well as a work machine. It has an excellent screen that’s perfect for video calls, a great roomy keyboard and trackpad, all complemented by the powerful i7 CPU and 16 GB of RAM that supports it.
Benchmarks
Here's how the HP Pavilion Plus 14 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark Night Raid: 14,892; Fire Strike: 4,201; Time Spy: 1,690 Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 12,430 points GeekBench 5: 1,741 (single-core); 8,856 (multi-core)
PCMark 10 (Home Test): 5,641 points Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 4 hours and 34 minutes PCMark 10 Battery Test: 5 hours and 10 minutes Civilization VI (1080p, High): 67 fps; (1080p, Low): 22 fps
But these same features also make it well-balanced for some casual gaming, at least with lighter games. When running various benchmarks, we found that this laptop scores higher (sometimes significantly higher) than other similar laptops in its class running comparable hardware. For a dedicated work machine, the Pavilion 14 Plus clearly has the chops to game in a more-than-normal capacity for this sort of computer.
When we ran the Sid Meier's Civilization VI benchmark test, we found the game ran at an impressive 67 FPS on max settings. Playing it, the title ran incredibly smooth with no noticeable hiccups or hangs. Other casual-to-light-duty games ran just as well, making it a work laptop well-suited for play at the end of the day.
The CPU can also adjust itself to the task that needs the most attention. While we didn’t always explicitly notice the switch in performance between every single task, it did feel like every task was optimized.
The sound quality for the HP Pavilion Plus 14 is good but not great, despite the fact that it comes with dual speakers. Still, it’s quite good for the kind of laptop it is, though it doesn’t have the most complex sound. But when it comes to voice and video chat, the sound quality is more than high enough. Ventilation is a bit below average; it tends to warm up quickly but the heat doesn’t progress into an uncomfortable range.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
HP Pavilion Plus 14: Battery life
That fancy OLED is a massive power-hog, as is Intel Alder Lake, so not a good matchup against a 51WHr battery if you want to work away from an outlet for more than a few hours. (Image credit: Future)
Absolutely terrible
Rival laptops in its class last much longer
This battery is the worst battery we’ve tested for a work laptop in a long time. As we said before, the HP Pavilion Plus 14 has unusually high benchmark scores compared to its competitors and even performs well with some modern games.
But it seems that this tricked the Pavilion Plus into thinking it’s a gaming laptop or something and so it spiked its own battery life in response. This battery cannot last past the four-and-a-half-hour mark in our HD movie test, and PCMark 10’s battery test showed a five hour and 10 minute result, which makes it extremely difficult to perform as a work laptop unless you keep it charged up at an outlet regularly.
This is owing to the two-fold problem of high-end hardware, like an OLED display and Intel Alder Lake Core i7, and its rather meek 51WHr battery, which is almost guaranteed to run dry in no time flat.
Sacrifices have to be made for price, size, and weight, sure. But a work laptop is supposed to last, and this one does not. Having such a poor battery life for a machine that’s meant to carry you through a work day is rather inexcusable.
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.
• Original review date: August 2022
• Launch price: Starting at $1,200 (about £960 / AU$1,740)
• Target price: Starting at $700 / £700 / AU$1,000
Update – September 2024: The Acer Predator Helios 300 from 2022 is a lot less available than it was when it launched, but you can occasionally find a few configurations online.
While the Predator Helios 300 from 2022 was one of the best gaming laptops going when it was released, there are definitely better option available with more updated specs that are cheaper, like this Acer Predator Helios 16 available at Amazon for less than $1,000.
As such, this model will only be worth picking up if it is well below $1,000/£1,000/AU$1,500, but if you can find it for a great price, this is still one of the best laptops for gaming on a budget that you'll find.
Original review follows.
Acer Predator Helios 300 (2022): One minute review
As far as more premium options go, the Acer Predator Helios 300 (2022) embodies most of what you’re looking for in a gaming laptop. It’s simple yet has a well-designed chassis, with gorgeous RGB keyboard backlighting, outfitted with some strong tech, and even comes with a Turbo button.
It’s a hefty fellow, though, with a weight of five and a half pounds. It’s not the heaviest gaming laptop out there but it’s one that’s difficult to carry around.
Its price reflects its quality, but it’s worth splurging on if you have the money since this is definitely one of the best Acer laptops for gaming, and Acer has a few excellent gaming laptop lines, honestly, so there's stiff competition.
The inside tech proves its quality, with the model we received sporting an Intel Core i7-12700H CPU and an Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti GPU, though you can upgrade it even further. So not only will it run any of the best PC games you throw at it, but it will run them well at fast frame rates on the highest settings.
Naturally, there’s a tradeoff for such excellent graphics and that’s the absolutely abysmal battery life, which barely lasts three hours. This is definitely a laptop that you need to keep plugged in, especially for intense gaming sessions.
The selection of ports on both sides and on the back of the laptop is one of the best we’ve seen. There are four USB ports alone, with several other mainstays such as the HDMI port, an SD card reader, an audio jack, and even a Kensington Slot for added security.
Opening it up reveals a gorgeous QHD panel display that doesn’t disappoint, with each game looking its absolute best between the vibrant colors and crystal clear display. And the 240Hz refresh rate certainly doesn’t hurt either.
Its bezels are nice and thin, giving us some significant screen real estate, though there’s no manual webcam shudder to cover it up when not in use. The keyboard is nice and roomy, includes a numlock pad, has plenty of key space to avoid most typos, and the RBG backlight is positively stunning as it changes colors on the fly.
All in all, this isn't as cheap as the best cheap gaming laptops, but it's not so premium a piece of kit that it is out of reach of most people, especially with the starting configurations. This might be a gaming laptop you end up saving up for over the next few months, but in the end you won't be disappointed with the performance, even if there are some more affordable options that might provide a better value.
Acer Predator Helios 300 (2022): Price and availability
The Acer Predator Helios 300 (2022) is definitely the kind of gaming laptop that will really appeal those who love the Gamer™ aesthetic. (Image credit: Future)
The price can get pretty steep as you improve the specs
Limited availability outside of US and UK
The Acer Predator Helios 300 is a fairly premium gaming laptop that starts out pretty affordable at $1,200, with the rig we received priced at $2,100 (about £1,760 / AU$3,091). The laptop does come with a lot of features and some excellent specs, especially as you move up the configuration stack, making it more than worth the cost. And honestly, compared with the best gaming laptops it's competing against, this pricing isn’t actually very steep. It could be more affordable once you factor in any eligible Acer promo codes around right now.
However, it’s rather difficult to purchase it outside the US or the UK, as the laptop isn’t currently available in Australia and other regions. Those living in territories that don’t have this laptop may have to import it from the US or UK, which would bump up the price of an already expensive gaming laptop quite a bit.
Value: 4 / 5
Acer Predator Helios 300 (2022): Design
(Image credit: Future)
Sleek and sexy
Great port selection
Amazing display and keyboard
The Acer Predator Helios 300 is the kind of gaming laptop that looks and feels like what you’d imagine one to be. Though it’s admittedly much sleeker and sexier than the bulky and boring budget laptops, it’s still weighty and thick — not the type of machine you can haphazardly sling over your shoulder in even the best backpack.
Spec Sheet
Here is the Acer Predator Helios 300 (2022) configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: Intel Core i7-12700H Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti RAM: 16GB DDR5 Screen: 15.6-inch, QHD IPS, 240 Hz Storage: 1TB Ports: 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 1 x Thunderbolt 4, 1 x power port, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x SD Card Reader, 1 x Combo Jack, 1 x Kensington Slot Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 Camera: 1080p Weight: 5.51 pounds | 2.5 kg Size (W x D x H): 14.1 x 10.9 x 1.02 inches | 36 x 28 x 2.6 cm
Its port selection is excellent, with three USB 3.2 Type-A ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C that doubles as a Thunderbolt 4, an additional power port with a charger that comes with it, an HDMI 2.1 port, an SD card reader, a combo jack, and a Kensington Slot which should honestly be a security standard for any gaming laptop. No matter what your specific needs are, the Acer Predator Helios 300 has it covered.
The display is just as impressive as you’d expect for a modern gaming laptop, as it’s a QHD IPS screen with a 2560 X 1440 resolution and 240Hz refresh rate. You can see the quality while playing graphically demanding games, as gameplay is buttery smooth and the vibrancy of the colors is as clear as can be, making this one of the best 15-inch laptops for gaming that you're going to find.
This also translates to the webcam, which also offers full HD resolution — perfect for streaming gaming sessions. Unfortunately, there’s no mechanical blind to cover said webcam which is a little disappointing but nothing close to a deal-breaker.
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The keyboard is well-built as well, with keys that have good width and are spaced out enough to avoid accidental typos and double-key presses. The trackpad is also a nice size, though it could stand to be a bit bigger. But the real showstopper is the RGB lighting that’s integrated into each key and allows for some incredible light shows on your keyboard, and you can customize the lighting as well if you prefer something more solid over the default rainbow colors.
Design: 5 / 5
Acer Predator Helios 300 (2022): Performance
The Acer Predator Helios 300 can chew through nearly any game you throw at it with ease. (Image credit: Future)
Top-shelf gaming performance
Excellent air circulation
Turbo button instantly activates overclocking
For a premium gaming laptop, performance is king, or why else would you spend the big bucks for one in the first place? And the Acer Predator Helios 300 absolutely blows nearly every benchmark out of the water, nearly matching or even surpassing most of the other premium laptop models including top-tier picks from the likes of Alienware.
3DMark: Night Raid: 36,199; Fire Strike: 20,334; Time Spy: 10,263 Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 16,497 points GeekBench 5: 1,763 (single-core); 12,231 (multi-core)
PCMark 10 (Home Test): 7,704 points PCMark 10 Battery Life: 3 hours and 5 minutes Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 2 hours and 41 minutes Total War: Warhammer III (1080p, Ultra): 76 fps; (1080p, Low): 212 fps Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, Ultra): 51 fps; (1080p, Low): 92 fps Dirt 5 (1080p, Ultra): 44 fps; (1080p, Low): 175 fps
This is due to its excellent specs including a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 and RTX 3070 Ti, as well as DDR5 RAM. And with the ability to step up to an RTX 3080, you’re getting some top-tier specs like those we saw in our a Razer Blade 15 review but at a much better price point.
If the standard performance isn’t good enough, the Helios 300 (2022) also supports G-Sync and, thanks to its Nvidia Ampere mobile GPU, ray tracing and Deep Learning Super Sampling. There’s even a special Turbo button above the keyboard which can be activated at any time and which puts both the fans and GPU and CPU into overclocked mode.
This works along with the PredatorSense software that’s automatically included with the laptop and which lets you customize RGB lighting, overclocking settings, and fan settings.
The Turbo button is especially useful as it allows you to instantly improve the already impressive air circulation and near-instantly cool down an overheated laptop, while simultaneously bumping up its performance.
Ultimately, no matter how graphically intense or poorly optimized your AAA game of choice is, the Helios 300 (2022) will chew it up and spit it out with ease.
If you need it to also balance non-gaming tasks for work or school, this is absolutely a solid choice for that as well. It's not going to have the portability of the best student laptops out there, obviously, but it'll be great for those who need some downtime after long nights writing up papers in the library.
Its powerful specs are more than sufficient for juggling multiple tasks like movie streaming, video calls, editing documents, and more, and the dual speakers deliver superb sound quality that’s perfect for listening to Spotify or your music streaming service of choice while working on an assignment.
Performance: 5 / 5
Acer Predator Helios 300 (2022): Battery life
Aaaaaand this is where the Helios 300 gets tripped up. (Image credit: Future)
Terrible battery life
Charge time is average at best
With all the positives of the Acer Predator Helios 300, there has to be at least one real negative, and in this case, it’s the battery life.
As powerful as this gaming laptop is, it shows in the absolutely abysmal battery life, which is almost a throwback to the desktop replacements from five or six years ago that wouldn't last an hour idling away from an outlet.
While not quite that bad, the Helios 300 (2022) scrapes by just to reach three hours in the PCMark10 battery test but falls even shorter than that disappointed timein our looped HD movie test. This is one laptop that must be plugged in at pretty much all times, which means if you’re carrying this around you cannot be far away from an outlet, adding even more weight to your backpack from the sizeable power adapter.
Battery Life: 1 / 5
Should you buy an Acer Predator Helios 300 (2022)?
As far as gaming laptops in this class go, the Acer Predator Helios 300 (2022) absolutely runs with top contenders. (Image credit: Future)
Update: January 2024. The model we reviewed here is almost two years old now, but it still remains one of the best laptops you can buy. This is because its powerful components are still very good, and the slim and light design remains one of the best you'll find on a 17-inch laptop, which can often be big and bulky due to their larger screens. This particular model is no longer sold directly by Dell, but can be found at other retailers, often with a nice price cut that makes it better value. Dell has also released more modern models of the XPS 17, so if you fancy getting this larger laptop with even more powerful components, you've got that option as well. The rest of this review remains as previously published.
Dell XPS 17 (2022): Two minute review
If the Dell XPS 17 looks familiar, that’s because it is. Physically, this revised 2022 model is a dead ringer for last year’s XPS - and the one from 2020, too. But that’s no bad thing given this is one of, if not the slickest and sleekest laptops around.
What actually is different can be found inside, most notably Intel’s latest 12 Gen CPUs. Our review unit is rocking the Intel Core i7-12700H, which packs six performance cores plus eight efficiency cores and turbos up to 4.7GHz.
Honestly, it ought to be enough CPU for even the most demanding users, making it one of the best laptops around for productivity and business users. But if you really insist you can pay extra - and an awful lot extra because the upgrade typically forces more expensive components in other areas - for Dell to stick in a Core i9-12900K, which has the same core count but peaks at 5GHz. We wouldn’t bother, since you’ll barely feel the difference, if at all.
Dell XPS 17 (2022) Key Specs
Here is the Dell XPS 17 (2022) configuration sent to TechRadar for review: CPU: Intel Core 17-12700H Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 RAM: 32GB DDR5 Screen: 17-inch 3,840 x 2,400, 500 nits Storage: 512GB NVMe SSD Ports: 4 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, 1 x 3.5mm combo jack, 1 x SD card reader
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 Camera: 720p with IR Weight: 4.79 lbs | 2.17 kg Size (W x D x H): 14.74 x 9.76 x 0.77 ins (375 x 248 x 20 mm) Battery: 97WHr
Elsewhere, one thing the XPS isn’t is an out-and-out gaming laptop. Our configuration runs an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 GPU with 4GB of graphics memory. It’s dandy for a spot of casual gaming and will also add some welcome grunt to GPU-accelerated productivity and content creation apps. But it’s not a 4K powerhouse, nor is the RTX 3060 chip offered as an upgrade, which it ideally would need to be given the specification of the XPS’s screen.
Indeed, we’ve got the optional upgrade panel which packs 3,840 by 2,400 pixels - more than standard 4K thanks to the taller 16:10 aspect ratio. It’s a stunner of a screen rated at a punchy 500 nits and with 100 percent coverage of the Adobe RGB gamut, so it’s fully capable of content creation workflows. It also supports HDR, but isn’t a new-fangled mini-LED panel, so keep expectations in check. The HDR experience is OK rather than eye-popping.
The screen looks all the better thanks to those signature Dell XPS slim bezels on all four sides. It’s a design feature that keeps this two-year-old design looking bang up to date, and also minimizes the laptop’s overall footprint. It’s not just the screen that stands out, so does the sound quality. The XPS 17 really packs an audio punch, with remarkably dynamic sound including decent bass, good stereo separation and strong volume.
Rounding out the best bits of this revised 2022 model of the Dell XPS 17 is battery life of over 10 hours during light workloads, which is outstanding for this big a beast. On the other end of things, this isn’t anywhere close to being as portable as the best Ultrabooks, but no 17-inch laptop will ever score very highly in that regard.
But if you do take it with, you can genuinely get a day’s work done away from the mains, which makes it one of the best student laptops for anyone about to head off to uni in a couple of months.
So whether you're a student, a content creator, or just want a gorgeous device, the Dell XPS 17 (2022) retains its place as possibly the best Dell laptop ever made that's not called the XPS 13.
Dell XPS 17 (2022): Price and availability
(Image credit: Future)
Starting price looks appealing
Quickly gets pricey with options
The Dell XPS 17 (2022) kicks off at $1,749 in the US, £2,099 in the UK and AU$3,999, the apparent discrepancy outside of the US accounted for by a higher spec base CPU. Anyway, if that’s not exactly cheap, things only get worse when you add upgrades.
The gorgeous UHD+ touchscreen, for instances, adds $300 / £300, doubling the RAM to 32GB will sock you for $150 / £200 and the 1TB SSD costs an extra $100 / £100. All told, as configured here, you’re looking at $2,749, £2,599 in the UK and AU$4,798 down under.
Value: 3.5 / 5
Dell XPS 17 (2022): Design
(Image credit: Future)
Super slim bezels
Gorgeous build quality
The design of the Dell XPS 17 (2022) is a dead ringer for last year’s model and the year before, but we're grateful for that.
The XPS is super sleek and beautifully built, with the main chassis and screen cover in machined aluminum and the palmrest in carbon fiber. It still looks modern too, thanks to ultra-slim bezels on all four sides of the display. And that despite still squeezing in a 720p webcam up top with Windows Hello facial recognition support.
The chassis is very solid and the keyboard bed fairly stable, though a little flex is present. The large trackpad is about as good as it gets on a Windows laptop. Only Apple’s MacBooks do trackpads better.
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Of course, this is still a big machine weighing in at well over 2kg and measuring in excess of 14 inches across, but that's the case with all of the best 17-inch laptops; they're simply never going to be compact. That said, the slim bezels ensure about as small a footprint as possible and ensures that if you've got to have something this large you at least get the absolute most out of its size.
The XPS 17 is about as haulable as 17-inch laptops get, with the possible exception of the featherweight LG Gram 17, which is slightly wider in terms of footprint but much lighter at 1.35kg.
If we do take issue with the XPS’s proportions, it’s how they map to the port selection. On the one hand, the quartet of USB-C ports all support full Thunderbolt 4 functionality with power delivery and DisplayPort alt mode, which is great.
There’s also a full-sized SD card slot and an audio jack. But that’s it. There’s no USB Type-A, no full sized HDMI socket nor a LAN port, but that's the price you pay for the slick looks and chiselled chassis sides.
Design: 4.5 / 5
Dell XPS 17 (2022): Performance
(Image credit: Future)
Grunty 12th Gen Intel CPUs
Good cooling
Not a true gaming laptop
With six performance cores and eight efficiency cores, the XPS 17’s Intel Core i7-12700H has as many cores as the top Core i9 processor from Intel’s latest 12th Gen Alder Lake CPU family. It just runs at slightly lower clockspeeds, but not that you’d notice.
As CPU performance goes, this laptop has everything you could ask for. It’ll tear through everything from video encodes to 3D renders with ease. Alder Lake’s world-beating single-core performance also guarantees that this laptop feels snappy in day-to-day tasks like web browsing.
Indeed, with fully 32GB RAM, you’re rarely going to run out of memory, which makes multi-tasking a breeze. With that much RAM, swapping application data to the SSD will hardly ever happen. Even if it does, there’s a fast PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD ready to minimise the performance hit of disk swapping. Overall, it really is a very speedy machine, this XPS 17.
3DMark Night Raid: 27,398; Fire Strike: 11,908; Time Spy: 5,439 Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 17,747 GeekBench 5 Single-core: 1,682; (Multi-core) 13,725 PCMark 10 (Home Test): 6,810 Battery Life (Techradar movie test): 10:14 Total War: Warhammer III (1080p, Ultra): 48 fps; (1080p, Low): 121 fps Dirt 5 (1080p, Ultra): 44 fps; (1080p, Low): 96 fps
If there is an exception, it involves graphics performance and gaming. As tested, our review unit runs Nvidia’s GeForce RTYX 3050 mobile GPU with 4GB of video memory. It is a big step up over plain old integrated graphics, to be sure. As our benchmarks show, you can get playable frame rates at 1080p in modern games. But only just. It’s not a truly high performance gaming GPU.
You can optionally go for the RTX 3060, which will improve your frame rates. But even that GPU isn’t nearly powerful enough to play games at the XPS’s native 4K-plus screen resolution. Even Nvidia’s fastest mobile GPU, the RTX 3080 Ti, is only just capable of that.
Anyway, the point is that the XPS is certainly up for some casual gaming. But if gaming is one of your top priorities and you can afford this class of laptop, we’d recommend going with one of the best gaming laptops instead with at least an RTX 3070 GPU, something which is certainly available at this price point.
Performance: 4 / 5
Dell XPS 17 (2022): Battery Life
Impressive battery life for a large machine
Full workday battery life is doable
Large powerful laptops like the Dell XPS 17 (2022) used to be nailed-on certainties for awful battery life. Not these days. In light workloads like watching video and web browsing, you can expect over 10 hours of battery life. That’s true all-day performance.
Admittedly, if you do anything remotely demanding, that number will tumble dramatically, despite its ginormous 97WHr battery. But this certainly isn’t one of those old-school desktop replacement rigs that had you worrying about battery life the moment you unplugged from the outlet. This thing has legs.
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.
• Original review date: July 2022
• New model is out with updated components
• Launch price: $1,449 / £1,099
• Official price now: $1,449 / £1,099 (with new components)
Update: February 2024. We originally reviewed this model of the Acer Predator Orion 3000 almost two years ago, and we were so impressed that it went straight to the top of our best budget gaming PCs guide. Now in 2024, it is still in that list, but it has slipped down a few places, thanks to some more modern gaming PCs coming out. However, it remains a great budget buy, especially if you're looking for a compact gaming PC to play on. If you can find the model we reviewed here with the same components, you should be able to get it for a very good price as well. If you like the look of this machine but want more modern components, the good news is that Acer has released new models with 13th generation Intel processors, giving you a bit more future-proofing while keeping the same affordable price.
Acer Predator Orion 3000: One-Minute Review
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 desktop PC presents newer players with one of the best and most affordable opportunities to make their mark in the PC gaming scene. After all, there’s a reason why it sits comfortably at the top of TechRadar’s list of the best budget gaming PCs.
Acer’s latest Predator Orion 3000 line-up offers gamers the ability to choose from several mid-tier configurations that now include a 12th Gen Intel processor, an Nvidia RTX 30-series graphics card, and up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM, all packed neatly into a compact micro ATX case.
Understandably, this PC series makes a few compromises in terms of its components that can only be described as cost-saving measures. For example, although the Orion 3000 features both HDD and SSD storage, the most basic configurations tend to include just 256GB of the latter. Similarly, the Predator Orion 3000 series also features DDR4 RAM as opposed to the newer industry standard of DDR5.
Still, minor shortcomings aside, the hardware featured as part of the Acer Predator Orion 3000 series lends itself well to the average gamer. Plus, the PC is relatively easy to upgrade, should the need or desire to do so ever arise.
(Image credit: Future)
Acer Predator Orion 3000: Price and Availability
Starting at $1,449 / £1,099
Available now from the Acer store and third-party retailers
You can buy it in the US, UK and worldwide
Spec Sheet
Here is the Acer Predator Orion 3000 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12400F (2.50 GHz) Graphics: Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti RAM: 16GB DDR4 Storage: 256GB M.2 SSD + 1TB HDD Optical drive: N/A Ports front: 1 x USB-A 3.1, 1 x USB-C, 1 x headphone jack and 1 x microphone jack Ports back: 2 x USB-A 3.1, 4 x USB-A 3.0, 3 x analog audio jacks, 3 x DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI, Ethernet Operating system: Windows 11 Home Connectivity: Intel Killer E2600 Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.0 Weight: 21 pounds (9.5 kg) Size: 15.4 x 15.2 x 6.9 inches (392 x 386 x 175 mm)
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 gaming PC series can be found on sale in the US, UK, and worldwide, with a range of slightly varying configurations available depending on each gamer’s individual needs.
The latest iteration of the Orion 3000 series features the new Intel Alder Lake chipsets. The starting configuration is priced at $1,449 / £1,199 and includes a 12th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU and 16GB of RAM, as well as 256GB of SSD and 1TB of HDD storage. Pricier variations allow users to opt for either an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti or 3070 for the GPU and a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor for the CPU.
The configuration that TechRadar reviewed is a slightly more powerful model available in the UK for £1,299 (approximately $1,600 in the US). The Predator Orion 3000 arguably presents one of the best values for money especially when you take into account its decent gaming performance and esports-ready hardware. It could be even better value if any currently available Acer promo codes bring the price down more.
Price and Availability: 5/5
(Image credit: Future)
Acer Predator Orion 3000: Design
Neat, compact design
Configurable RGB lighting
Loud cooling fans
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 features the classic gaming black-and-RGB design within the confines of a compact micro ATX chassis.
At the front of the case, you’ll find a single USB Type-C port, alongside a Type-A USB 3.1 and two 3.5mm headphone and microphone ports. The PC’s back panel contains all the basic ports you can expect from your average gaming computer: four 3.0 USB Type-As, two 3.1 USB Type-As, and three analog audio ports. The back of the Nvidia RTX 30-series GPU allows gamers to connect their favorite display through either HDMI or DisplayPort.
In terms of software, the PC comes with a pre-installed version of Acer’s PredatorSense, which gamers can use to monitor internal temperatures, control the cooling fans and configure the RGB lighting system. It should be noted that on full blast, the PC’s cooling fans are extremely loud almost to the point of being distracting, even when using headphones on near-full volume.
In terms of hardware and affordability, the Acer Predator Orion 3000’s closest competitor would likely be the latest HP Omen product range, which can typically be found on offer for a similar price. However, it should be noted that in terms of design, the Predator Orion 3000 is the likely winner in the match-up.
The HP Omen comes equipped with a full ATX case, which – despite its slight upgradability advantage – will wind up taking up much more desk space. Another key aspect within the match-up is that the HP Omen series often receives criticism for its uninspiring design – something the Predator Orion 3000 excels at with its sleek appearance.
Although the Acer Predator Orion 3000 can be considered an affordable option, this certainly doesn’t mean that it compromises on gaming performance as much as you would expect from a budget PC. Thanks to the inclusion of an Nvidia 30-series graphics card, the Predator Orion 3000 is capable of coasting through even the most graphically intensive games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Total War: Warhammer III, consistently hitting over 70 fps on both titles on Ultra settings.
The Acer Predator Orion 3000’s performance in our usual benchmarking tests exceeded expectations too. For example, our review unit’s duo of Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and Intel Core i5 processor achieved 7,160 points in the PCMark 10 test. This meant that the Predator Orion 3000’s hardware scored higher than 93% of other PCs and placed higher than the average premium gaming PC from two years ago.
Overall, given the wide range of configurations available for purchase, the Acer Predator Orion 3000 line-up is perfectly capable of catering to most players looking to break into the world of PC gaming. Despite its lack of DDR5 RAM across the series and its base models including just 256GB of SSD storage, both are arguably minor shortcomings and can be easily overlooked considering the product’s reasonable price.
Although those on the lookout for more premium hardware would likely benefit from exploring other options, this gaming computer is a solid choice for those looking to balance a decent gaming performance with a more than palatable price range.
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.
• Original review date: July 2022
• New model is out with updated components
• Launch price: $1,449 / £1,099
• Official price now: $1,449 / £1,099 (with new components)
Update: February 2024. We originally reviewed this model of the Acer Predator Orion 3000 almost two years ago, and we were so impressed that it went straight to the top of our best budget gaming PCs guide. Now in 2024, it is still in that list, but it has slipped down a few places, thanks to some more modern gaming PCs coming out. However, it remains a great budget buy, especially if you're looking for a compact gaming PC to play on. If you can find the model we reviewed here with the same components, you should be able to get it for a very good price as well. If you like the look of this machine but want more modern components, the good news is that Acer has released new models with 13th generation Intel processors, giving you a bit more future-proofing while keeping the same affordable price.
Acer Predator Orion 3000: One-Minute Review
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 desktop PC presents newer players with one of the best and most affordable opportunities to make their mark in the PC gaming scene. After all, there’s a reason why it sits comfortably at the top of TechRadar’s list of the best budget gaming PCs.
Acer’s latest Predator Orion 3000 line-up offers gamers the ability to choose from several mid-tier configurations that now include a 12th Gen Intel processor, an Nvidia RTX 30-series graphics card, and up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM, all packed neatly into a compact micro ATX case.
Understandably, this PC series makes a few compromises in terms of its components that can only be described as cost-saving measures. For example, although the Orion 3000 features both HDD and SSD storage, the most basic configurations tend to include just 256GB of the latter. Similarly, the Predator Orion 3000 series also features DDR4 RAM as opposed to the newer industry standard of DDR5.
Still, minor shortcomings aside, the hardware featured as part of the Acer Predator Orion 3000 series lends itself well to the average gamer. Plus, the PC is relatively easy to upgrade, should the need or desire to do so ever arise.
(Image credit: Future)
Acer Predator Orion 3000: Price and Availability
Starting at $1,449 / £1,099
Available now from the Acer store and third-party retailers
You can buy it in the US, UK and worldwide
Spec Sheet
Here is the Acer Predator Orion 3000 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12400F (2.50 GHz) Graphics: Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti RAM: 16GB DDR4 Storage: 256GB M.2 SSD + 1TB HDD Optical drive: N/A Ports front: 1 x USB-A 3.1, 1 x USB-C, 1 x headphone jack and 1 x microphone jack Ports back: 2 x USB-A 3.1, 4 x USB-A 3.0, 3 x analog audio jacks, 3 x DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI, Ethernet Operating system: Windows 11 Home Connectivity: Intel Killer E2600 Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.0 Weight: 21 pounds (9.5 kg) Size: 15.4 x 15.2 x 6.9 inches (392 x 386 x 175 mm)
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 gaming PC series can be found on sale in the US, UK, and worldwide, with a range of slightly varying configurations available depending on each gamer’s individual needs.
The latest iteration of the Orion 3000 series features the new Intel Alder Lake chipsets. The starting configuration is priced at $1,449 / £1,199 and includes a 12th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU and 16GB of RAM, as well as 256GB of SSD and 1TB of HDD storage. Pricier variations allow users to opt for either an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti or 3070 for the GPU and a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor for the CPU.
The configuration that TechRadar reviewed is a slightly more powerful model available in the UK for £1,299 (approximately $1,600 in the US). The Predator Orion 3000 arguably presents one of the best values for money especially when you take into account its decent gaming performance and esports-ready hardware. It could be even better value if any currently available Acer promo codes bring the price down more.
Price and Availability: 5/5
(Image credit: Future)
Acer Predator Orion 3000: Design
Neat, compact design
Configurable RGB lighting
Loud cooling fans
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 features the classic gaming black-and-RGB design within the confines of a compact micro ATX chassis.
At the front of the case, you’ll find a single USB Type-C port, alongside a Type-A USB 3.1 and two 3.5mm headphone and microphone ports. The PC’s back panel contains all the basic ports you can expect from your average gaming computer: four 3.0 USB Type-As, two 3.1 USB Type-As, and three analog audio ports. The back of the Nvidia RTX 30-series GPU allows gamers to connect their favorite display through either HDMI or DisplayPort.
In terms of software, the PC comes with a pre-installed version of Acer’s PredatorSense, which gamers can use to monitor internal temperatures, control the cooling fans and configure the RGB lighting system. It should be noted that on full blast, the PC’s cooling fans are extremely loud almost to the point of being distracting, even when using headphones on near-full volume.
In terms of hardware and affordability, the Acer Predator Orion 3000’s closest competitor would likely be the latest HP Omen product range, which can typically be found on offer for a similar price. However, it should be noted that in terms of design, the Predator Orion 3000 is the likely winner in the match-up.
The HP Omen comes equipped with a full ATX case, which – despite its slight upgradability advantage – will wind up taking up much more desk space. Another key aspect within the match-up is that the HP Omen series often receives criticism for its uninspiring design – something the Predator Orion 3000 excels at with its sleek appearance.
Although the Acer Predator Orion 3000 can be considered an affordable option, this certainly doesn’t mean that it compromises on gaming performance as much as you would expect from a budget PC. Thanks to the inclusion of an Nvidia 30-series graphics card, the Predator Orion 3000 is capable of coasting through even the most graphically intensive games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Total War: Warhammer III, consistently hitting over 70 fps on both titles on Ultra settings.
The Acer Predator Orion 3000’s performance in our usual benchmarking tests exceeded expectations too. For example, our review unit’s duo of Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and Intel Core i5 processor achieved 7,160 points in the PCMark 10 test. This meant that the Predator Orion 3000’s hardware scored higher than 93% of other PCs and placed higher than the average premium gaming PC from two years ago.
Overall, given the wide range of configurations available for purchase, the Acer Predator Orion 3000 line-up is perfectly capable of catering to most players looking to break into the world of PC gaming. Despite its lack of DDR5 RAM across the series and its base models including just 256GB of SSD storage, both are arguably minor shortcomings and can be easily overlooked considering the product’s reasonable price.
Although those on the lookout for more premium hardware would likely benefit from exploring other options, this gaming computer is a solid choice for those looking to balance a decent gaming performance with a more than palatable price range.
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.
