CPU - Organizer

6:37 pm | January 11, 2022

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Laptops | Tags: CPU, RAM | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: January 2022
• Launch price: Starts at $349 / £349 (around AU$490)
• Target price now: Starts at $349 / £349 (around AU$490)

Update – September 2024: Well, it looks like our reviewer was bang on the money back at the start of 2022; Windows on Arm really did just need some more time in the oven, as I noted that Samsung's new Galaxy Book4 Edge was able to play modern games thanks to its powerful Snapdragon X Elite chip.

There was an interstitial update to this laptop in February last year with the Galaxy Book2 Go, but that model still used the older Snapdragon 7C+ chip and suffered from the same Windows compatibility issues as the version reviewed below. With no new iteration this year, it's possible that the Book Go series might be dead - never say never, though.

You can still pick up the original Samsung Galaxy Book Go from most retailers (chiefly Amazon) for roughly its original launch price, since the Book2 Go arrived with a higher entry price. But at this point, there's little reason to recommend it over any of the best ultrabooks.

Original review follows.

Two-minute review

We have to imagine that, some time in 2016 or 2017, Samsung gleefully signed on to the Windows on ARM program, a move which eventually led to the Samsung Galaxy Book Go. We'd also have to imagine that Samsung is not feeling nearly as gleeful right now, because whatever Windows on Arm is supposed to be, the Galaxy Book Go just isn't it.

Its failures aren't only the fault of the Snapdragon processor at its heart. That chip sure does its darnedest, and works at a decent clip when running things which are pre-baked to support it. It runs cool, the machine is super-quiet, and the phone-esque features that such a chipset brings (notably instant-on and ridiculous battery life) are a real highlight here. But challenge it in any way and it crumples.

Whatever compatibility layer Windows 11 has implemented for x86 apps is generally pretty poor, which we somewhat expected. But we expected slightly more snappiness on the desktop; the 4GB RAM package in this laptop just isn't enough to do more than one or two things at a time. This is a machine that looks for all the world like a normal Windows laptop, but doesn't have the pop where it counts - even at the very reasonable price point.

Samsung's attempts to hit that price have also led to some serious sacrifices in the hardware department. The screen, notably, reaches a commendable 1080p resolution, but is utterly terrible in every other way. The case is bouncy plastic which does not exactly fill us with confidence. The ports are passable but honestly pretty lacking in options. The LTE connectivity is not 5G, and if Samsung's own Galaxy A13 can manage it for far less money, it's a real shame that this can't. Admittedly Qualcomm's exclusive contract for Windows on ARM means Mediatek's cheaper chipsets don't get a chance to shine, but we're still annoyed.

Ironically, it's only the familiarity of Windows that really saves this. You can, with luck and a big asterisk, run whatever Windows apps you need, something a Chromebook can't offer. If you're careful with your tab management you might even find this to be a reasonable tool for using online apps. But the Galaxy Book Go is far from a productivity powerhouse. Pick one up and we'd imagine you'll feel the same kind of buyer's remorse as Samsung must be feeling for going down this path in the first place.

Price and availability

Spec Sheet

Here is the Samsung Galaxy Book Go configuration sent to TechRadar for review:

CPU: Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 (Kryo 468 Octa-core CPU, up to 2.55 GHz)
Graphics: Qualcomm Adreno
RAM: 4GB LPDDR4x
Screen: 14-inch 1920 x 1080
Storage: 128GB eUFS
Ports: 2x USB 3.0 Type-C ports, 1x USB 2.0 Type-A port, micro SD reader, nanoSIM, audio combo jack
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.1, 802.11 ac (2x2), 4G LTE
Camera: Built-in 720p webcam
Weight: 3.04 pounds (1.38 kg)
Size: 12.75 x 8.85 x 0.59 inches (32.3 x 22.4 x 1.49 cm; W x D x H)

While it's not the most ultra-cheap laptop in the world, the 4GB spin of the Galaxy Book Go supplied to us for review lands squarely in the budget bracket at $349 (£349, around AU$490). That said, we can find no evidence of it being officially available in Australia - though stocks seem plentiful elsewhere.

That's a magic number: it puts the Galaxy Book Go head-to-head both with a good number of Chromebooks, including Samsung's own Galaxy Chromebook Go, with which it shares much of its hardware design. It also puts it up against the lowest reaches of the x86 market - somewhere a Windows-on-ARM laptop might not really want to be.

It's more pricey than, say, the Lenovo Ideapad Duet, a double-duty tablet which realistically offers a lot more flexibility; it's also fairly equal with the Microsoft Surface Go which, even a year on, remains a solid performer.

So the Samsung Galaxy Book Go has its work cut out for it. It has to throw around Windows on a platform which might better suit a Linux or Android environment - something those two competitors don't have to worry about. It has to offer enough non-touch laptop to be worthy of a price point which can get you a fairly solid two-in-one machine. Can it do it? Well, no. And here's why.

Design

Samsung hasn't gone mad with the Galaxy Book Go's design: this is pure, plain, silver'n'black functionality laid bare.

That's absolutely fine. It's thin enough, inoffensive, and sized just right, with reasonably thin side bezels giving it an impressively compact footprint - and we'll forgive its chunky chin and forehead, as the extra vertical reach stops the control surface ending up too cramped.

There's even a discrete power button, in these days of all and sundry moving that function to the top right of the keyboard. It feels sad to offer points for such a minor feature, but here we are.

The matte-finish screen is, even considering that its 1080p resolution tops most other machines of this price, absolutely horrendous. It is so low-contrast it feels like you're peering through smoke to look at it, the colors are terrible, and while it's not overly smeary at speed you can absolutely feel the 60Hz refresh rate.

It's also attached to such a weak and flexible lid that touching it - or even typing particularly vigorously - causes little LCD wobbles in the bottom corners suggesting the panel is under some serious tension.

Its hinge is somehow both stiff and wobbly. It's slightly too rigid to open one-handed, fixes the position nicely when open, but allows enough play that using it on your lap sees it bouncing around. On a desk things aren't so bad, however.

There's similar cut-corner flexibility on the base. The keyboard deck is soft and springy (though there's some solid travel on its keys) and the trackpad is standard cheap-and-cheerful fare. None of this affects the Galaxy Book Go's functionality, and we had no problems typing this review or mousing around, but there's no getting around the downsides of the price point: magnesium alloy stiffness this ain't.

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In terms of ports, things are fairly basic. The left edge offers up a USB 3.0 Type-C port (for charging and data) along with a combined audio jack and a microSD reader, while the right edge contains another Type-C port (the only one capable of video output) as well as a USB 2.0 Type-A port, a Kensington lock slot, and a NanoSIM cradle for LTE connectivity.

An extra Type-A port might have been nice - and HDMI output is sorely lacking - but modern problems require modern solutions, and you'll have to work with Type-C if you want to hook up an external display.

The unit itself is, given its mostly flimsy plastic outer, surprisingly weighty. We'd have to presume there's either a heavyweight passive cooler or a huge battery inside, or perhaps both. This feels like every bit of its 1.38kg - it's not a shoulder-breaker by any means, but you'll notice it in your bag.

Performance

Benchmarks

Here's how the Samsung Galaxy Book Go performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

Mozilla Kraken 1.1: 1927.3ms
JetStream 2: 55.851
Geekbench 5 CPU Benchmark: 508 (Single-Core); 1399 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench R20 Multicore: 359
Battery life (Techradar Movie Test): 11hrs 30mins

Windows on ARM, then. Frankly, simply knowing that this is a Windows on ARM device, you'll probably have formed your own opinion about what the Galaxy Book Go is capable of - the good news is you're right, whatever you might think. Except when you're not.

Do you think ARM is more at home on phones, tablets, or operating systems built around it like macOS? Bang on: while Windows 11's core functions are snappy enough if the processor isn't overburdened, it's very easy to find ways to push the Galaxy Book in the wrong direction and fall foul of the not-so-quick translation layer.

Sometimes things get very syrupy; Google Chrome, for example, doesn't yet have a native app, and ran terribly. Few things we tried entirely refused to run, meaning this is a far cry from the dark days of Windows RT, but we'd suggest you shouldn't buy this if there's something you specifically want to do outside of a web browser which isn't Chrome, which is a pretty ridiculous statement to make of a Windows laptop.

On the flip side, certain things genuinely surprised us. For example, less demanding 2D indie games built for traditional PC processors ran pretty smoothly, though 3D is something of a test too far.

Think Windows on ARM basically turns a laptop into a phone? Right again, kinda: Qualcomm's mobile processor expertise makes phone-adjacent functions work superbly well.

This is a machine meant for monumental battery performance, something we'll get to shortly, but also one which instantly wakes from sleep with all of your radios already connected. It runs silent and stays cool even when you're doing entirely too much. For a functional budget laptop, that's ideal - and almost unique to this category. Samsung also includes a whole bunch of ecosystem apps which tie this nicely to its own phone line, though you'll find a lot more performance with your phone docked in DeX mode, which renders them somewhat moot.

Think scaling up what is essentially phone hardware to run a full laptop isn't going to work? First, you shouldn't overlook the MacBook, which makes magic with its M1 chip, but in the case of the budget-priced Galaxy Book Go you're not entirely wrong.

4GB RAM gives this less memory to work with than even many budget phones, and it's not hard to push it to the cap if you're not frugal with your browser tabs. But again, we were relatively surprised: whatever the middling benchmarks might suggest, there's enough power here to see you through your day-to-day browsing, work and mild entertainment, as long as you're happy to stay in your lane.

That's where your expectations should end; were you to ask more than that from this, you'd be as disappointed as you would be of a basic x86 machine at the same price. Passable is the word of the day. The down-firing speakers are loud but lack clarity, making Samsung's choice to license Dolby Atmos confusing at best. The webcam is fine, but completely unspectacular and easily blown out by bright lights. The LTE connectivity is a nice touch, but it's a clear generation behind.

The benchmark results bear our real-world experiences out. Cinebench, running through what it internally calls a Virtual CPU (the ARM-to-x86 translation layer, in other words) crawled its way to one of the lowest scores we've ever seen it produce. Geekbench similarly struggled, particularly compared to the kind of results we'd expect from a similarly-specced standard Windows machine. Even the browser benchmarks, run through the native Microsoft Edge app, didn't blow us away.

Battery life

We have to give the Galaxy Book Go its due: it does have a really massive battery. This thing goes and goes; it burned through our movie test for nigh-on half a day.

The fact that you wouldn't actually choose to watch a movie on it is irrelevant: you could, and you could do so for the vast majority of an international flight. Never mind that this is too big for a tray table and the viewing angles will make the screen impossible to use. You could do it. That's what matters.

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Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook review

6:05 pm | December 20, 2021

Author: admin | Category: Chromebooks Computers Computing Gadgets Laptops | Tags: CPU, RAM | Comments: Off

Two minute review

Spec Sheet

Here is the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen2 2.55GHz
Graphics: Qualcomm Adreno GPU
RAM: 8GB LPDDR4
Screen: 13.3-inch 1920 x 1080p multitouch OLED, 400 nits
Storage: 128GB eMMC Flash storage
Ports: 2 x USB Type-C 3.2 Gen1, 1 x Pogo pin connector
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1
Camera (Front): 5MP RGB; (Rear) 8MP RGB w/ autofocus
Weight: 2.24lbs (1.02kg)
Size (W x H x D): 12.04 x 7.35 x 0.28 ins (305.86 x 186.74 x 7.23mm)
Battery: 42WHr w/ Rapid Charge

The Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook remains one of the best laptops (and certainly the best Chromebook) you can buy, even now that it's three years old. It still offers a premium experience that many Chromebooks simply can't match - especially thanks to its gorgeous OLED display, which puts more expensive laptops to shame.

Because Chromebooks don't need as much power to run, they don't age as quickly as Windows 11 laptops, and that's especially true of the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook, which launched with incredibly powerful specifications for a Chromebook, including 8GB of RAM, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen2 chip and Wi-Fi 6 support. This made it a brilliant performer when it launched back in 2021, and that remains true today.

At 13.3-inches diagonally, the Duet 5 Chromebook's keyboard is much more like those found on Ultrabooks, which still don't have the most spacious keyboards, but are still much more accessible, and it has a much more comfortable keyboard that its predecessor, the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook.

At this size and with a 16:9 screen ratio, though, this is much more of a laptop that can operate as a tablet, as it is a bit unwieldy. This is in contrast to last year's 10.1-inch, 16:10 ratio model, which was a better tablet than a laptop, owing to the cramped keyboard.

The keys on the Duet 5 Chromebook keyboard aren't backlit, like its predecessor, and the keyboard itself is still pretty flimsy, also like its predecessor.

The trackpad could also be better. Our fingers encountering enough friction to give us some uneven swiping and gesturing, but it's not bad enough that you can't get used to it and adjust the amount of pressure you're applying appropriately.

The other accessibility criticism we had of last year's Duet Chromebook – that the magnetic kickstand could be a pain to extend at times – still remains.

A pullable tab or lanyard here could easily fix this deficiency, but it looks like we might have to wait until next year for a better design here (or, you can pick up Microsoft's Surface Adaptive Kit, which will work with any device, not just the Microsoft Surface Pro 8).

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Lenovo ThinkPad Duet 5 Chromebook — (Image credit: Future)

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The magnetized backplate on Duet 5 Chromebook also has a small cutaway for a Lenovo Active Pen stylus to clip to the back, but the stylus isn't bundled with the device by default, and even when it is included it will cost extra.

Speaking of costs, one of the best things about last year's Duet Chromebook was its price. Starting at $279 / £279 / AU$424, the smaller Duet Chromebook was a fantastic value for the price.

This year's Duet 5 Chromebook is more expensive, starting at $429 ($499 as tested), and AU$799 in Australia. Unfortunately, the UK is in for a tough time as Duet 5 Chromebook starts at an eye-popping £899.

We're hoping that this is only a temporary issue, and we've reached out to Lenovo for some context for the extraordinary price differential in the UK. We'll update this review if we hear back from the company. UK pricing aside, the increased price of the Duet 5 Chromebook isn't unexpected given its larger size and improve hardware.

In terms of improved hardware, we need to start with the display. Last year's Duet Chromebook was a 1,920 x 1,200 LCD IPS panel, which was outstanding for a 10.1-inch screen.

The Duet 5 Chromebook is a step down in resolution to 1,920 x 1,080, but the panel is upgraded to OLED, making it exceptionally bright and vibrant. While both Duets are rated for 400 nits of brightness, the difference with an OLED display is simply incredible.

The OLED display alone more than justifies the increase in price, and the fact that it starts at only $429 in the US makes this a fantastic deal. Even when bumping up to the 8GB RAM configuration for $499, you still get a 13.3-inch 2-in-1 Chromebook with a 1080p OLED display for under $500, which is pretty much unheard of – and it's worth every penny.

Benchmarks

Here is how the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
Kraken JavaScript: 1,845ms
Octane 2.0 JavaScript: 23,798
Jetstream 2: 83.4
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 16 hours 20 minutes

The display isn't the only thing that got an upgrade this year, with the Duet 5 Chromebook stepping up to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen2 processor from the MediaTek P60T chip in last year's Duet Chromebook.

Both of these are high-efficiency ARM-based chips, so neither is going to pack the same kind of raw performance as an Intel Core i3 processor, which some of the beefier Chromebooks feature.

The Snapdragon 7c Gen2 is still a huge improvement over the MediaTek P60T. The Snapdragon 7c Gen2 finished the Kraken JavaScript benchmark in 1,845ms, compared to the MediaTek P60T's time of 3,940ms. That's just better than twice as fast as last year's Duet Chromebook.

Still, the Snapdragon 7c Gen2 is lagging in terms of benchmarks vis a vis other Chromebooks, but it still felt reasonable snappy when we were actually using it. So unless you're really looking to directly compare the Duet 5 Chromebook against the Asus Chromebook Flip C536, Google Pixelbook, or the Acer Chromebook Spin 713, you're not likely to see any performance lag – though it will still be there.

Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook — (Image credit: Future)

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Microsoft Surface Pro 8 review

9:12 pm | December 8, 2021

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Laptops | Tags: CPU, Microsoft Surface Pro, RAM | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: May 2021
• Launch price: $1,099 / £999 / AU$1,649
• The Microsoft Surface Pro 8 is not longer generally sold, but newer models with updated specs are available for a lower price

Update – September 2024: You are going to be hard-pressed to find a new Microsoft Surface Pro 8 on sale right now, and even if you did find one, you're almost certainly going to be better off buying the new Microsoft Surface Pro 11.

The only way you should really be looking to buy this device in late 2024 is if you can find it steeply discounted by 40-50%, otherwise, sales on more current models will likely give you a much better value.

Original review follows.

Microsoft Surface Pro 8: Two-Minute Review

The Surface Pro 8 could be old news, folks: the Microsoft Surface live event is taking place on October 12, and all current leaks point towards us seeing our first glimpse of the hotly-anticipated Surface Pro 9. Still, you can read out original review of the current-gen model right here - we loved it when it came out in 2021, and we still love it today.

With the Surface Pro 8, Microsoft finally took the aging design of the Surface Pro lineup and completely modernized it. This is the biggest change we’ve seen on this flagship device in years, rolling out some long-overdue design improvements like thinner bezels, rounded edges, and the inclusion of the Thunderbolt 4.

The Surface Pro 8 is still very much recognizable as part of Microsoft's core line of Windows devices, a one-time candidate for our best tablets list and still one of the best Windows tablets. At the same time, it truly feels like a new generation with these design changes and some of the fastest hardware that's ever been seen in a Windows tablet. And, although we are lamenting the loss of some legacy ports, this is the best Surface Pro we’ve got in years. And, it also comes with the new Windows 11 operating system pre-installed.

Unfortunately, all those much-needed improvements come with a price increase. With its price of entry at $1,099 / £999 / AU$1,649, the Surface Pro 8 is also the most expensive – a lot more than its predecessor, the Surface Pro 7, that started at $749 / £799 / AU$1,249 – and that makes it harder to sell. Still, Surface Pro users who’ve been waiting for years for a proper update finally have one that’s worth upgrading for.

Surface Pro 8 outside on a table showing Windows 11 desktop — (Image credit: Future)

Microsoft Surface Pro 8: Price and Availability

Spec sheet

Here is the Surface Pro 8 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:

CPU: 3.0GHz Intel Core i7-1185G7 (quad-core, 12MB Intel Smart Cache, up to 4.8GHz with Turbo Boost)
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
RAM: 16GB LPDDR4x
Screen: 13-inch QHD (2,880 x 1,920) touch
Storage: 256GB SSD (PCIe, NVMe, M.2)
Ports: 2 x Thunderbolt 4, combi audio jack, Surface Connect port
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6; Bluetooth 5.1
Camera: 1080p IR Webcam
Weight: 1.96 pounds (891g)
Size: 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 in (287 x 208 x 9.3mm W x D x H)

The Surface Pro 8 is available today, starting at $1,099 (£999, $1,649). That will get you an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD.

It's a pretty big bump from the Surface Pro 7, which launched at just $749/£799/AU$1,249. However, that was for a configuration with just a Core i3 processor and 4GB of RAM. But the Pro 7 configuration with a Core i5, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD launched for just $899/£899/AU$1,499, which is a full $200 cheaper in the US. It's a pretty massive price difference.

Of course, if you want a more powerful Surface Pro 8, you can pay to upgrade it. You can upgrade the Surface Pro 8 all the way to an Intel Core i7 processor, 32 GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, which will set you back $2,599 in the US.

In the UK and Australia, the Surface Pro 8 tops out at 16GB of RAM, but with the same specs otherwise, and that top-end spec will set you back £2,059 / AU$3,299.

That makes the Surface Pro 8 the same price as the 12-9-inch iPad Pro to start, and we're not sure that's a comparison Microsoft wants, at least when it comes to performance. In our testing, the Apple M1, which is in both the iPad Pro and some Macs, absolutely wipes the floor with 11th-generation Intel U-series processors. Microsoft has some pretty stiff competition with its oldest rival.

Microsoft Surface Pro 8: Design

The Surface Pro lineup kind of started to stagnate for the last couple iterations. Both the Surface Pro 6 and Surface Pro 7 were just spec updates of the Surface Pro 2017. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as four years ago, the Surface Pro was a pretty fresh device. But now it needs a pretty substantial redesign, especially in the face of the new iPad Pro, which Microsoft has pretty much left alone since its introduction.

The Surface Pro 8, luckily, brings some much-needed design improvements to the table. The easiest one to notice is the new graphite color, which simply looks incredible. While it seems like Microsoft has been focusing on lighter shades for its devices in recent years, the darker colors with this year's lineup look incredible.

The chassis is also refined, with more rounded edges, that seem much more comfortable to hold for long periods of time, rather than the flat sides with sharper corners.

Bezels are also smaller than ever, and this is that final thing that makes the Surface Pro 8 look like an all-new device, rather than a relic from the early 2010s. It makes the screen look so much bigger, and makes the device look more premium than ever – which is good, because it's also more expensive than ever.

The smaller bezels do more than just look good, though: they allow for an 11% larger display. The Surface Pro 8 now has a 13-inch PixelSense display with a resolution of 2,880 x 1,920. That's right in the middle of 1440p and 4K, but for a 13-inch display, it's absolutely gorgeous. What makes this display even better is that along with the bigger size, it also has a 120Hz refresh rate. This is definitely not a gaming device, but take it from us – once you use a high-refresh display, even for everyday computing, you're not going to want to go back.

The display is configured to 60Hz out of the box, mainly in the interest of boosting battery life, but you can enable it at any time by going into your display settings.

On The Surface Pro 8, the display hits 103% of the sRGB spectrum and has a peak brightness of 467 nits, which makes this one incredibly gorgeous display. Everything we've watched on this thing, whether it's Bob's Burgers in bed or the green text on the black background of our command prompt, has looked incredible.

This is doubly important for a device like the Surface Pro 8, as this lineup is especially popular with artists, who will need the color accuracy to get their work done. It's just kind of a bonus that consuming content looks great, too.

Sound quality isn't quite as good as what the Surface Pro 8 offers visually, but it's far from the worst sound we've heard in a laptop. Listening to 'Comfort In The Grave' by Vision Video, the highs are perfectly clear, but the bassline kind of gets lost in the background.

There's not really a lot of real estate available for speakers though, so they're honestly better than we'd expect. Though, you'll still be better off with a pair of headphones.

Usually, Microsoft pairs the launch of a new Surface Pro with a whole new lineup of Surface accessories, like a new pen and Type Cover. This time around, though, Microsoft is sticking with the same Type Cover that launched with the Surface Pro X, and which has apparently been incredibly popular. That means you might not need to buy a new Type Cover if you upgrade, which is good because Microsoft still isn't including it in the box.

Microsoft has also finally changed the ports. For years, the Redmond company has refused to use Thunderbolt, citing security concerns. It must have found a way around them, however, because the Surface Pro 8 has full support of Thunderbolt 4. This means a whole new world of accessories and peripherals are finally open to the Surface Pro 8, including external GPUs, which are a huge boon to the creative professionals that are most likely to buy a Surface Pro in the first place.

The Surface Pro 4 has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack and the Surface Connect port. It does lose the USB 3.0 Type-A port that the Surface Pro 7 had, but we're actually fine with that - it is a tablet, after all.

However, it's not all rosy here. Microsoft still insists on selling the Type Cover and Surface Pen separately, which is absurd given the higher price tag this time around. We kind of get the Surface Pen being optional, but we can't imagine ever buying this tablet and not also getting the Type Cover.

The Type Cover itself is still great, as it's the same one as Microsoft debuted with the Surface Pro X, which means it has a handy little wireless charging area for the Surface Pen - but, again, that's sold separately.

Key travel is surprisingly deep for how thin the keyboard is, and the wide spacing on the keys means you're always comfortable typing. The only place the Type Cover falls apart is its touchpad, which is mediocre at best. But given that this device excels so much as a touch device, it's not that big of a deal.

Microsoft Surface Pro 8: Performance

Benchmarks

Here’s how the Surface Pro 8 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

Cinebench R23 CPU: 4,877 points
3DMark Time Spy: 1,722; Fire Strike: 4,666; Night Raid: 16,998
GeekBench 5: 1,288 (single-core); 4,955 (multi-core)
PCMark 10: 4,361 points
PCMark 10 Battery Life: 8 hours 15 minutes
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 6 hours 32 minutes

With a device that's meant to be as portable as the Surface Pro 8, performance is always a difficult balance to strike. You want it to be fast, but you don't want to push it so hard that battery life goes down the toilet and it becomes too hot to handle.

Microsoft has apparently put a lot of effort into re-engineering the internals of the Surface Pro 8, and it allowed the company to configure the processor with a higher TDP than past versions of the tablet – boosting it to 23W instead of the 15W of the Surface Pro 7's processor.

That's not going to be a night-and-day difference, but combine that with just how much faster Tiger Lake, compared to the the low-power Ice Lake chips in the last laptop and Microsoft is claiming up to a 2x performance increase. That's a pretty bold assumption, and unfortunately the Surface Pro 8 falls short of that mark.

That doesn't mean that it's not faster, in fact in Cinebench R15 - a test we've retired and replaced with Cinebench R23 - the Surface Pro 8 is nearly 50% faster than the Surface Pro 7, which is a pretty incredibly generational increase. The difference isn't as stark in GeekBench 4, but it's still noticeably faster.

What's more impressive, though, is how the Surface Pro 8 fares against its big sibling, the Surface Laptop Studio. The tablet is just 12% slower than Microsoft's so-called creative workstation in Cinebench, and just 5% slower in GeekBench. This is all in spite of the fact that the Surface Pro 8 is half as thick as the Laptop Studio and nearly half the weight.

The Surface Pro 8 can't compete when it comes to graphics, as it's using the integrated Xe graphics instead of the dedicated Nvidia RTX A2000, but still. If you just need CPU performance, there's pretty much no reason to go for the Surface Laptop Studio over the Surface Go 8.

Microsoft Surface Pro 8: Battery Life

One of the biggest downfalls of the Surface Pro 7 was its battery life, lasting a paltry 3 hours and 12 minutes in the PCMark 8 battery test. We've since graduated to PCMark 10, but the Surface Pro 8 knocks that number out of the park with 8 hours and 15 minutes, making this a device you can totally use to work all day without needing a charger.

This is probably largely due to Microsoft's decision to adhere to the Intel Evo program and to limit the refresh rate of the display to 60Hz by default. With how portable the Surface Pro 8 is, it's nice to know it's not going to run out of battery within a couple of hours, as the charger can add extra bulk.

The numbers are slightly less impressive with our video playback test, where the Surface Pro 8 lasts just 6 hours and 32 minutes, but that's still a pretty nice little Netflix binge.

Microsoft Surface Pro 8: Webcam and Microphone

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably realized that video conferencing is more important now than it has ever been, and having a laptop (or tablet) with a decent webcam is a godsend, as we all want to look good in our morning meetings. And luckily, the Surface Pro 8 has one of the best webcams we've ever used in a mobile computing device.

In all of the calls we've taken in our time with the device, both for work and for chats with friends and loved ones, we've come through perfectly clearly without any kind of distortion or problems with focus. And, the front-facing camera is also Windows Hello compatible, so you can use it to log in.

But of course, because this is a tablet, it also has a rear-facing camera. And, it's, well, fine. It's not as good as what you likely have on your phone, but it's perfectly ok for taking a quick snap of a pet if you don't have your phone handy.

The microphone is also fantastic, especially considering the form-factor. Our voice comes through nice and clear with no distortion, and the tablet does a great job at filtering out background noise, so we don't even need to use headphones in calls.

Microsoft Surface Pro 8: Software and Features

One of the best things about getting any Surface device, including the Surface Pro 8, is that you're getting a pure install of Windows 11, without any kind of bloatware. Microsoft installs a totally pure version of the operating system, and as a result, you don't get any annoying popups or useless programs opening for no reason - unless you install them yourself.

Should I buy the Surface Pro 8?

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First reviewed December 2021

How We Test

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.

Editor's Note

• Original review date: October 2019
• Launch price: Starts at $749 / £799 / AU$1,249
• Target price now: No longer available

Update – September 2024: At five years old, it shouldn't be surprising that the Surface Pro 7 is no longer available for purchase - and frankly, you wouldn't want to buy one now anyway.

That's because the latest model, the Microsoft Surface Pro 11, is an absolute beast compared to this outdated version of Microsoft's signature Windows tablet. The newfound power of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chip, combined with Microsoft's improved Prism emulation for running Windows on Arm-based processors, has arguably made the Pro 11 the best Surface device ever - a far cry from the rather wonky SQ-series chips powering older Surface devices like this.

Of course, those newfound powers and updated design (plus half a decade of inflation...) mean that the Surface Pro 11 is a bit pricier, starting at $999.99 /£1,049.99 / AU$1,899.99. For my money, though, it's well worth the new price - as someone who bought a first-generation Surface way back in 2012, I'm over the moon to see the product line finally achieve greatness.

Original review follows.

Microsoft Surface Pro 7: Two-Minute Review

We had hoped the Surface Pro 7 would have fixed all the issues that the Surface Pro 6 had when it was released. But its successor unfortunately does not do much to right the ship and establish itself as one of the best tablets. This was the perfect opportunity to get the product line back on course but this update ends up falling short where it matters.

That’s not to say that there are no improvements here. The Surface Pro 7 comes with an increasingly important USB-C port as well as some updated components. But, there’s not much else beyond that making this a hard device to recommend unless you want to stick with the Surface Pro line and have an outdated model. In fact, if you’re willing to spend the extra cash, the newer release, Surface Pro 8, is the better machine.

As with the Surface Laptop 4, this shows that Microsoft can still make great portables when it makes the effort. It’s just that the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 comes up short. If you’re on a budget, however, you could potentially get it at a good price now that a newer model is available.

Microsoft Surface Pro 7: Price and Availability

Spec sheet

Here is the Surface Pro 7 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:

CPU: 1.1GHz Intel Core i5-1035G4 (quad-core, 6MB cache, up to 3.7GHz boost)
Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics
RAM: 8GB DDR4x
Screen: 12.3-inch, 2,736 x 1,824 PixelSense display (Contrast ratio: 1,500:1, 100% sRGB color, 10-point multi-touch, 3:2 aspect ratio)
Storage: 256GB SSD
Ports: 1 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB-C 3.1, microSDXC card reader (UHS-I), headphone/mic jack
Connectivity: 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 (2 x 2 MIMO), Bluetooth 5
Cameras: 8MP rear-facing, auto-focus camera (1080p HD); 5MP front-facing, 1080p HD camera
Weight: 1.7 pounds (771g)
Size: 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.33 inches (292 x 201 x 8.5mm; W x D x H)

The new Surface Pro 7 starts at $749 / £799 / AU$1,249 as with previous versions and comes without the Type Cover ($129, £149, AU$249) and Surface Pen ($99, £99, AU$139) included. That means this price is fairly par for the course.

That base configuration gets you an Intel Core i3 processor (CPU) 4GB of memory (RAM) and a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD), with the latter points upgradeable to as much as 16GB and 1TB capacity, respectively.

This pricing, again, is inherited from previous versions, but it's still not a great deal when you're spending upwards of 1,000 bucks or quid to get the full experience with the accessories that are still sold separately.

The Surface Pro 7 that we’re reviewing here will cost you $1,199 in the US. Again, that’s without the Surface Pen and Type Cover that Microsoft has included in our review sample. To get the full Surface Pro experience at this configuration, you’ll be spending around $1,460 in the US.

That said, a similarly configured 12.9-inch iPad Pro – with 256GB of storage, the Smart Keyboard Folio, and second-generation Apple Pencil – originally cost around $1,480 in the US. Apple is just as guilty for selling accessories separately that are arguably central to the experience.

So it doesn’t look like Microsoft is way out with its pricing, and you’re getting a full mobile PC with Microsoft’s tablet option, but it’s nevertheless a bit egregious.

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The display bezels are awfully thick for a tablet in 2019. (Image credit: Future)

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The Surface Pen is still not included in the box. (Image credit: Future)

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Not much has changed about the Surface Pro 7 design from last year’s model. (Image credit: Future)

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The Type Cover keyboard now has deeper-feeling travel as well as a bouncier feel as our fingers leave the keys. (Image credit: Future)

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The touchscreen is just as sharp, vibrant and responsive to touch as the previous generation. (Image credit: Future)

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The device still measures 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.33 inches (292 x 201 x 8.5mm). (Image credit: Future)

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The tablet also still comes in the same matte black and silver aluminum finishes. (Image credit: Future)

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This is essentially the same Surface Pro you’ve known for years. (Image credit: Future)

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We appreciate the Alcantara fabric that makes a return with this Type Cover. (Image credit: Future)

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Microsoft has finally included a USB-C port. (Image credit: Future)

Microsoft Surface Pro 7: Design

Microsoft may have finally included a USB-C port, but absolutely nothing else has changed about the Surface Pro 7 design from last year’s model. The device still measures 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.33 inches (292 x 201 x 8.5mm) and weighs 1.7 pounds (770g). The tablet also still comes in the same matte black and silver aluminum finishes.

The tablet's touchscreen still comes in at 12.3 inches on the diagonal with a 2,736 x 1,824 resolution (267 pixels per inch) and 3:2 aspect ratio. It's just as sharp, vibrant and responsive to touch as the previous generation, which was already quite impressive. But, again, this specification hasn’t changed in years, and could use an update at least in features, such as HDR and enhanced color gamut coverage. Also, the bezels are awfully thick for a tablet of this price in 2019.

Now having issued practically the same tablet for two years, it’s becoming clear that either Microsoft has reached its limits on the original Surface Pro design, which is unlikely, or the company is simply no longer interested in tweaking the Surface Pro any more – except for tinkering with the Pro X.

Instead, it feels like Microsoft is far more inspired by its upcoming dual-screen devices, which will likely herald the future of the company’s hardware design – depending on how successful they are.

As for the most major Surface Pro 7 design change, we get USB-C at long last, but it’s on the USB 3.1 standard and not Thunderbolt 3. With that, you get the versatility of this new connection without the raw throughput of the Thunderbolt 3 technology.

Apple and countless other competitors at similar price points have widely adopted Thunderbolt 3, which makes its absence in the Surface Pro 7 more glaring. While Apple didn't including it in the iPad Pro, it did with the similarly-priced 13-inch MacBook Pro, for example.

Now, Microsoft has improved the device's studio microphones for stronger accuracy when using Cortana with your voice, but that's such a minor improvement it's hardly worth mentioning.

In Microsoft’s favor, however, the Type Cover keyboard now has deeper-feeling travel as well as a bouncier feel as our fingers leave the keys. This is an upgrade for sure, though will certainly be an adjustment for longtime Surface Pro users – at least for a few minutes. Meanwhile, the Type Cover’s touchpad remains unchanged, and is just as smooth and responsive to the touch as ever.

We also appreciate the Alcantara fabric that makes a return with this Type Cover, which appears and feels to be more tightly woven than before. Hopefully this will make the fabric more stain resistant, as Microsoft claims.

All told, this is essentially the same Surface Pro you’ve known for years, only now it features a more versatile USB-C port in lieu of a DisplayPort connection. Why not drop the original USB-A as well for another USB-C? Who knows. There is a lot that could have been done to improve this product at the same price that simply wasn’t done, so forgive us for being nonplussed by the Surface Pro 7 design and feel.

Microsoft Surface Pro 7: Performance

Benchmarks

Here’s how the Surface Pro 7 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

PCMark 8 Home: 3,312
Geekbench 4 (Single-Core): 5,904; (Multi-Core): 17,512
Cinebench CPU: 559; Graphics: 61 fps
PCMark 8 Battery Life: 3 hours and 12 minutes
TechRadar Battery Life Test: 6 hours and 2 minutes

The Surface Pro 7 was the first of its kind using one of Intel’s 10-nanometer (nm) processors (CPUs) across all specifications, and the numbers certainly show that.

With that in mind, expect a device that’s much faster at processing both everyday tasks and more commonplace ones, not to mention stronger graphics potential now with Intel Iris Plus graphics over an Intel UHD graphics processor (GPU).

The latter should contribute to stronger media streaming, especially at higher resolutions, as well as a slightly expanded gaming profile.

The Surface Pro 6 of 2018 employed a 14nm Intel Core CPU, which was fine for the job (and arguably still is), but this CPU has brought that transistor size down to 10nm, which means more transistors in the same overall CPU die space. Basically, with more transistors comes better performance, and it shows in the numbers.

For example, the Surface Pro 7 gets an impressive 25% boost in the Geekbench 4 multi-core test over the Surface Pro 6. Likewise, the Cinebench graphics test sees a 15% increase in performance in Pro 7 versus Pro 6, hitting the almighty 60 frames per second mark.

Could you expect to game on the Surface Pro 7? Sure, as Intel promises smooth 1080p gaming from its latest CPUs, but we certainly wouldn't buy this tablet for that purpose. You might be able to get Fortnite to a playable frame rate at 1080p, but why bother when you could grab a solid gaming laptop for the same price?

In short, this tablet is going to chew through all ordinary computing tasks, and serve as a fine portable multitasker to boot that can handle the odd gaming session over lunch. The additional graphics brunt should also serve digital artists well to boot. It’s all in all a major bump forward in performance that power users will definitely see, but that the average user likely won’t notice.

Battery life

Microsoft Surface Pro 7: Battery Life

However, when it comes to lasting power, we’re not seeing the same levels of battery life exhibited by the previous generation Surface Pro and its 14nm Intel Core CPU. In our tests, the Surface Pro 7 fell more than two hours short of the 8 hours and 45 minutes that the 2018 Pro 6 achieved in our local battery rundown test.

Likewise, the Surface Pro 7 came up more than 45 minutes short of the PCMark 8 battery test, with the Pro 6 clocking in at a straight 4 hours.

You would normally expect battery life to increase when moving to supposedly more efficient processor architecture. However, Core i5 and i7 versions of Intel’s CPUs made major boosts to graphical performance, which could come at the expense of battery life.

Hardware manufacturers and software makers – of which Microsoft is both – have had half a decade now to optimize their products around Intel’s 14nm silicon. They’ve likely had a fraction of that time to prepare for and adapt to Intel’s 10nm chips, and this could explain why the Surface Pro 7's battery life is worse than the previous model's.

Oddly enough, if it’s peak battery life you’re after, you may be better off picking up one of Microsoft’s Surface Pro 6 models. That is, at least until the company improves the Surface Pro 7 battery life via firmware patches, which is entirely possible, and we'd argue quite likely.

Microsoft Surface Pro 7: Software and Features

Like just about every Surface before it, the Surface Pro 7 isn’t necessarily feature-rich or has many key pieces of software to discuss, which has its pros and cons. The major pro here is that there is practically no bloatware on this tablet at all, as it’s issued directly from Microsoft.

Another pro is the Windows Hello facial recognition, which uses the tablet’s infrared camera next to its webcam, and is as speedy and accurate as before. Once again, we can open the tablet from its Type Cover and it’s already logged us into Windows 10. Talk about instant-on performance.

However, there is basically nothing else in the way of distinctive software and features. If it’s on this tablet, you can get it on any other Windows 10 tablet. That includes the Your Phone feature, which allows you to sync up an Android phone with Windows to see and respond to text messages, edit calendar entries or even take calls.

Microsoft Surface Pro 7: Our Verdict

All things considered, the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is one of the company’s most powerful Surface tablets. However, that boost in power appears to come at a cost to battery life.

If you’re willing to wait for those battery life improvements to come, and you don’t necessarily need all day staying power, then by all means jump in on the most technologically advanced Surface ever. But, know that those technological gains aren’t exactly massive, and come at the expense of other aspects of performance, specifically battery.

We honestly would have expected a bit more advancements from the seventh Surface Pro tablet. USB-C is nice, but for a device at this price should be Thunderbolt 3, and the display bezels are awfully thick for a tablet in 2019. It appears that Microsoft has saved all of this year’s advancements for its Pro X, which is a shame for anyone looking to pay the same price. In short, the Surface Pro 7 isn’t far enough of a leap over the Pro 6 for us to recommend it to either upgraders or folks just getting into Microsoft’s tablet.

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First reviewed November 2019

How We Test

Two-minute review

The MacBook Air (M1, 2020) is now several years old, but it still remains one of the best laptops you can buy today. Why? Well, it's almost all thanks to the Apple M1 processor it launched with. This was Apple's first highly-acclaimed, impressively powerful ARM-based chip, under its hood, giving it just the right boost it’s long deserved, after years of being powered by Intel chips.

The M1 chip inside this MacBook Air proved that Apple could make its own chips that didn't just match what the likes of Intel and AMD were putting out - but it could surpass them as well. The performance of the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) was incredibly impressive when it launched, and it still remains an excellent performer today.

Sure, Apple has now released a successor, the MacBook Air (M2, 2022), which comes with hardware improvements and a brilliant new design, and it's also since launched new M3 MacBooks (though no MacBook Air... yet), but as the years have gone on, the M1 MacBook Air has dropped in price, making an already great value laptop (which launched at $999 / £999 / AU$1,599) even better value.

It also continues to run applications well, and supports macOS Sonoma, the latest version of Apple's operating system. Its long battery life, which is again down to the M1 chip, which is impressively efficient, remains ahead of many more modern (and expensive) Windows 11 laptops as well.

That's why Apple, with a break from tradition, has continued to sell the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), even after the release of its M2-powered successor.

Price-wise, Apple nailed it at launch, undercutting a lot of Windows-powered ultrabooks. Of course, this certainly isn't a cheap laptop, but nor does it feel overpriced, especially compared to its similarly specced rivals - something that Apple has been accused of in the past. However, nearly four years after it was released, the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) has enjoyed several price cuts (especially when the M2 version later launched), so if you can get it in a sale, this is even better value for money, and is one of the reasons we also recommend it as one of the best laptops for students as well.

Apple has also been accused of caring more about aesthetics of its products than the actual features and functions, but with the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), we actually think the opposite is true. This is because while the MacBook Air has some huge changes on the inside - most noticeably the M1 chip - on the outside, nothing has really changed.

So, this model looks (and feels) just like the previous model (and the model before that). For people who love the look of the MacBook Air, this may be good news, but we feel it's a bit of a missed opportunity. The M1-based MacBook Air is such a revolutionary and exciting device, we'd have loved to have seen Apple take a few risks with the design as well, even if it was just by making it lighter, or slimming the bezels down that surround the screen. Funnily enough, this is exactly what Apple did do with the M2 MacBook Air, which came with an overhauled design - but also a higher price tag.

When it comes to performance of the M1 MacBook Air, however, we have no qualms. The M1 has proved to be a complete beast that puts Intel to shame in many respects. During our time with the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), we were incredibly impressed with how it performed.

macOS runs well, and the visual overhaul of the operating system offers a nice change, while still feeling familiar. The fact that both new and legacy apps run well on the M1 chip is very commendable, and so far there don't seem to be any issues with running apps built for Intel Macs using Rosetta 2, the tool used by Apple to allow older Mac apps to run on the M1. Also, the fact that you can now run thousands of iOS apps and games pretty much flawlessly is a huge win as well.

Battery life also seems to be fantastic, and the fanless design is nice, as it means the laptop runs silently; we do have our concerns about how it manages heat, however.

In the end, we'd have liked Apple to have been a bit more ambitious with the design of the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) – a bold reinvention of the laptop to match the internal hardware and software overhauls would have made this an even more exciting device.

Apple MacBook Air (M1,2020) on a gray surface — (Image credit: Future)

Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020): Price and availability

Starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,599
Cheaper than Windows alternatives

Spec sheet

Here is the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) configuration sent to TechRadar for review:

CPU: Apple M1 (8-core)
Graphics: Integrated 7-core GPU
RAM: 8GB Unified PDDR4X-4266 MHz SDRAM
Screen: 13.3-inch, 2,560 x 1,600 Retina True Tone display (backlit LED, IPS)
Storage: 256GB PCIe SSD
Ports: 2x Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C), 3.5mm headphone jack
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5
Camera: 720p FaceTime HD webcam
Weight: 2.8 pounds (1.29kg)
Size: 11.97 x 8.36 x 0.63 inches (30.41 x 21.24 x 1.61cm; W x D x H)

Prices for the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) start at $999 / £999 / AU$1,599. As usual, there are a number of specifications available at launch, and you can further customize these to get the MacBook Air (2020) that best suits your needs and budget.

The base model features an M1 chip with an 8-core CPU and 7-core GPU, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD.

There's also a higher-specced model, priced at $1,249 / £1,249 / AU$1,949, which has an M1 chip with an 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU, 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. So, for that extra money you're getting an additional core in the GPU, and double the storage.

You can also configure these models to have 16GB of RAM (for $200 / £200 / AU$300 extra), and up to 2TB of SSD storage (for $800 / £800 / AU$1,200).

For comparison, the MacBook Air (2020) launched earlier in 2020 also started at $999 / £999 / AU$1,599, which was actually cheaper than the launch price of the MacBook Air (2019).

So you're getting the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) for the same price as the earlier model, which we commend Apple for. If you bought a MacBook Air a few months ago, however, you may feel a little annoyed that it’s already outdated.

That $999 / £999 / AU$1,599 entry point isn’t just the cheapest way of getting an Apple laptop; it’s an incredibly competitive price point that undercuts many of the best 13-inch laptops running Windows 10, such as the Dell XPS 13. If you thought Apple’s laptops were overpriced compared to the competition, think again.

Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020): Design

Thin and light design
Completely silent when in use

We've mentioned how, thanks to its competitive price, the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) is helping challenge people’s preconceptions about MacBooks – but the MacBook Air, along with the MacBook Pro 13-inch (M1, 2020) and Mac mini (M1, 2020), also offer strong rebuttals to the criticism, often leveled at the Apple, that its products are more style than substance.

People often dismiss Apple as making products that look good, but that don’t do anything particularly revolutionary when it comes to the actual hardware. With the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), however, it's the complete opposite.

With this laptop, Apple has actually done some really exciting things on the inside – switching to its own M1 chip, and building macOS Big Sur from the ground up to take advantage of it – while leaving the actual design of the device completely unchanged. This is both good news and bad news.

First, the good news. For many people, the iconic design of the MacBook Air is pretty much perfect, so they don't see the need for any radical change. At the same time, by simply offering minor spec bumps every year, the MacBook Air was in danger of being outclassed by more ambitious rivals. So, by concentrating on revolutionizing the hardware of the MacBook Air, and not tinkering with the design, Apple is doing something many of its critics have argued it should do: focus on the unglamorous, yet essential, stuff.

But what about the bad news? Well, because the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) promises to be such a big revolution, the fact that it looks – and feels – exactly the same as previous MacBook Airs is a little disappointing, to put it mildly.

The MacBook Air (M1, 2020)’s dimensions of 0.16–0.63 x 11.97 x 8.36 inches (0.41–1.61 x 30.41 x 21.24cm) and weight of 2.8 pounds (1.29kg) are exactly the same as those of both the MacBook Air (2020) and the 2019 model, and virtually the same as those of the 2018 Air, which is a bit lighter.

On the outside, then, this MacBook Air looks identical to the three previous models – and it means that the excitement that comes with pulling the MacBook Air from its packaging is somewhat dulled, particular if you've owned one of those earlier machines.

There had been rumors that the move to Apple’s own silicon would result in lighter devices, but this isn't the case. One big design change that has been enabled by the M1 chip, though, is that the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) is now fanless. This means the internals keep cool enough under workloads without the need for fans to kick in and cool them down. There’s a catch to this (which we’ll get to in a bit), but it means the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) runs virtually silently, and it’s very impressive.

The lack of fans could have allowed Apple to make the MacBook Air thinner and lighter, so it’s interesting that it remains the same size and weight as its predecessors.

On opening up the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) you’re again presented with a sight that's familiar, and in a good way. The best addition to the previous MacBook Air’s design, the Magic Keyboard, is again included here. It really is a lovely keyboard to work on, feeling tactile and responsive despite how flat the keys are.

A Touch ID button is again situated above the keyboard, and it remains the best fingerprint scanner we’ve used on a laptop. Too many of the fingerprint scanners on Windows laptops struggle to log us in reliably, but the Touch ID button here logged us in successfully pretty much every time, even when we’d not completely covered the scanner with a finger.

The screen is also virtually the same as the one on the MacBook Air (2020), except for one big difference. So, it’s still 13.3 inches with a 400-nit LED backlit display, and a Retina display of 2560 x 1600 resolution, and comes with Apple's True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts the color temperature on the screen based on the ambient light.

What’s new here is that the MacBook Air (M1, 2020)’s screen now supports the P3 wide color gamut, which results in more accurate, true-to-life images. P3 support used to be only found in the more expensive MacBook Pros, so it’s great to see Apple bring this feature to its more affordable MacBook Air lineup. If you’re a photographer or video editor who requires accurate colors, you no longer have to automatically go for a MacBook Pro.

The screen is also surrounded by those big thick bezels that have been a staple of the MacBook Air’s design for ages now, and which leave this laptop feeling a little dated. Devices such as the Dell XPS 13 and the Huawei MateBook X (2020) offer incredibly thin bezels around the display, and not only does it make these devices look more modern, it means the makers can actually reduce the overall size of the laptop further while offering the same-size screen.

Yep, you read that right: we think Huawei has the edge over Apple when it comes to thin and light laptop design. Strange times indeed.

The webcam above the screen is also unchanged from last time, with the same 720p FaceTime webcam. The 720p resolution feels distinctly outdated when most competitors offer 1080p, and with more people spending more time working from home these days, we’d have liked Apple to have given the webcam a boost.

However, the company claims that thanks to the M1 chip, the image signal processor has been overhauled, giving the webcam supposedly better noise reduction and dynamic range, along with auto white balance. We’ve only used the webcam for a limited time so far, and it seemed fine, if not mind-blowing.

Port-wise you get the same two Thunderbolt 3 ports and an audio jack as on recent MacBook Airs. The Thunderbolt 3 ports support charging, and can be used to power external monitors, and transfer data up to 40Gb/s. We’re glad to see that Apple’s move to its own M1 chip, rather than Intel, hasn't meant the loss of the Thunderbolt ports (Thunderbolt is an interface developed by Intel).

Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020): Performance

Excellent performance
Can now run iOS apps as well

As soon as we began using the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) we were impressed. It boots up quickly (an additional benefit of the M1 chip), Big Sur feels fast and responsive, and the look for the operating system really impresses. The interface has a more modern look, with bright, vibrant colors that really show off the MacBook Air's screen. It's also less cluttered, so you're not overwhelmed by icons and options, while the Control Center has been redesigned based on the version in iOS. It looks neater, and it's easier to use.

Benchmarks

Here’s how the Apple MacBook Air (M1,2020) performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

Cinebench R23 CPU: Single-Core: 1,493; Multi-core: 6,586
Geekbench 5 Single-Core: 1,729; Multi-Core: 7,583
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 11 hours and 15 minutes

All applications that you usually run in macOS on Intel-based MacBooks should work fine with the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), thanks to some software wizardry using Apple's Rosetta 2 tool, which allows apps to run on the new architecture.

We tried a mix of both new apps built for the M1 chip, as well as legacy apps built for Intel Macs, and running via Rosetta, and there was no noticeable difference in terms of performance. The fact that you can seamlessly run older apps on the MacBook Air really is commendable – the M1 chip is based on ARM architecture, and one of the biggest drawbacks of Windows 10 on devices running on ARM-based chips is that you're limited to running only ARM-compatible apps from the Windows Store. There's a rather sparse selection of these, and this severely limits the usability of these devices. Microsoft needs to come up with its own Rosetta, pronto.

Not only can you run pretty much any existing Mac app on the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), but thanks to the M1 chip using similar architecture to iPhones, you can now run any iOS app or game as well. This brings a huge amount of new tools to the MacBook, and is genuinely exciting. iOS apps and games are more feature-rich and graphically impressive than ever before, and having access to these could be a game-changer. We played a few iOS games, and they ran perfectly on the MacBook Air – suddenly, the MacBook has become a decent gaming machine.

We were able to have quite a few apps running all at once, swapping between them with ease, and the Apple MacBook Air (M1,2020) kept up brilliantly. Throughout our tests it felt fast and capable. Moving a large 14GB file from an external SSD took less than a minute, for example. This really does feel like a fast and spritely machine.

Apple claims the MacBook Air is three times faster than other laptops in its class, and faster than 98% of PC laptops sold in the past year. It also says the neural engine is nine times faster than the one in the previous MacBook Air, and its SSD is up to twice as fast thanks to the M1 and the latest flash technology.

One thing to note is that the fanless design of the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) could mean that performance is throttled when it's performing demanding tasks over long periods of time. Because there are no fans to stop it overheating, the only thing it can do is reduce the performance of the components – known as throttling – to control temperatures.

In fact, that’s why pros may want to go for the MacBook Pro 13-inch. It has the same M1 chip as the MacBook Air, but it has fans, which means it can be used for intensive tasks over longer periods of time, without, Apple claims, throttling.

However, in our tests we didn't notice any major incidents of throttling, and as you can see from the benchmark tests, the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) came impressively close to the performance of the more expensive 13-inch MacBook Pro (M1, 2020).

In both Geekbench 5 and Cinebench, the single-core performance of the MacBook Air was pretty much on par with the MacBook Pro, and multi-core scores weren't that much different either.

This is great news for the MacBook Air - and slightly less good news for the 13-inch MacBook Pro (M1, 2020). Because the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) is such a good laptop, it almost makes the MacBook Pro feel unnecessary. Performance seemed pretty similar in our day-to-day use, and we even played around with 8K video editing in Final Cut Pro, and while Apple seems keen to stress that the Air is capable of 4K video editing - it actually did a great job at 8K as well, allowing us to scrub through multiple 8K sources with ease. Very impressive.

So, with that boost in performance, along with the P3 color gamut support, the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) is a brilliant choice for video editors who want a more affordable laptop than the MacBook Pro. It makes the MacBook Pro 13-inch a slightly harder to justify purchase, though it does have a few key features that the Air misses, such as the TouchBar and better cooling. Having both MacBooks churning through high intensity tasks for long periods of time should show a bigger performance gap in the Pro's favor. But for most people, the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), will offer plenty of power and performance.

Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020): Battery life

Very impressive battery life
Lasts around four hours longer than previous model

As for battery life, we knew that the 'Apple silicon' would be more power-efficient, so it's no surprise to find that the MacBook Air has the longest battery life of any MacBook Air yet – up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing, or up to 18 hours of video, according to Apple.

We’ve been very impressed with the MacBook Air’s battery life – even after a few hours of work (and web browsing), the battery only dropped a few percentage points, and even if you leave it on standby for a day and come back to it, the battery level remains high.

In our official battery test, where we run a looped 1080p video at 50% brightness until the battery dies, the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) lasted a very impressive 11 hours and 15 minutes.

That's a lot longer than the previous model lasted in the same tests (7 hours 55 minutes), and it just beats the latest Dell XPS 13 as well (11 hours 1 minute).

This means you should be easily able to go a full work day (and more) without needing to charge the MacBook Air - though obviously the battery will deplete quicker if you're doing more intensive tasks with it.

It doesn't quite reach the huge 13 hours and 22 minutes the 13-inch MacBook Pro (M1, 2020) managed, but we can’t imagine anyone having any complaints with the MacBook Air (M1, 2020)’s battery life.

Should I buy the Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020)?

Apple MacBook Air M1 being used by a photographer — (Image credit: Apple)

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If our Apple MacBook Air (M1, 2020) review has you considering other options, here are three more laptops to consider...

These are the best laptops of 2022

Microsoft Surface Go 3 review

4:00 pm | October 5, 2021

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Laptops Windows Laptops | Tags: CPU, RAM | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: October 2021
• Launch price: $399 / £369 / AU$629
• Surface Go 4 is available - but there's a catch

Update – August 2024: Unsurprisingly, Microsoft has followed up the Surface Go 3 with the Surface Go 4 - but what is surprising is that the Go 4 is aimed at businesses, unlike previous models which were mainly targeted at budget-conscious consumers. Because of this, and the fact that the Go 3 is now three years old, if you're looking for a cheap Windows 11 2-in-1 device, Microsoft doesn't currently have a product for you. A very odd choice. Instead, I would recommend the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet 5 Chromebook for pure value for money. If you don't want a Chromebook, then the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 is a good Windows 11 2-in-1 laptop, though it is more expensive.

Original review follows.

Two-minute review

The Surface Go 3 is Microsoft’s latest attempt to bring its line of Windows tablets and laptops to a more budget-conscious audience, especially now that learning and working from home is becoming so prolific. And, even for people that don’t have to do much serious work from home, having a small Windows 11 device like this that you can easily bring with you wherever you go is pretty appealing, and could serve as a good competitor to the iPad mini.

However, while the introductory price of just $399 / £369 / AU$629 may sound appealing, you’re going to have to add at least $99 / £118 / AU$199 to the equation if you want the keyboard, and even then you’re left with a $500 device that has hardware that’s barely capable of handling all the best parts of Windows 11 – 4GB is not going to cut it anymore on anything but a Chromebook.

You can get it with up to an Intel Core i3 processor and 8GB of RAM, but with a price of $629 (£569, about AU$870) – again not including the price of the Type Cover – it starts making less sense when compared to other budget Windows laptops, Windows laptops that will have hardware that is way more adept at the multitasking that we all need these days.

That being said, the Surface Go 3 does do some things incredibly well. The hinge on the back is still as sturdy as ever and it has one of the best webcams we’ve used in a laptop of any price point – let alone one that starts at just $399. If the main thing you’re going to be using your computer for is video calling and you want a device that can do it on the go, you can’t really go wrong with the Surface Go 3. Just don’t expect to do much else while you’re talking.

But this all adds up to a device that’s kind of hard to recommend. It definitely works, and Windows faithfuls that don’t want to learn ChromeOS or iPadOS will be able to get some work done. But, at this price point, a Chromebook or an entry-level iPad is simply going to be better for most people, as those operating systems are way better at performing on the low-end hardware found here.

Price and availability

Spec sheet

Here is the Surface Go 3 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:

CPU: 1.3GHz Intel Core i3-10100Y (dual-core, 8MB Intel Smart Cache, up to 3.9GHz with Turbo Boost)
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 615
RAM: 8GB LPDDR3
Screen: 10.5-inch FHD (1,920 x 1,280) touch
Storage: 128GB SSD (PCIe, NVMe, M.2)
Ports: 1x USB-C 3.1, microSD card reader, combi audio jack, Surface Connect port
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6; Bluetooth 5.0
Camera: 1080p IR Webcam
Weight: 1.2 pounds (544g)
Size: 9.65 x 6.9 x 0.33 inches (245 x 175 x 8.3 mm, W x H x D)

The Surface Go 3 is available today starting at $399 (£369, AU$629). For that entry-level price tag you’ll get an Intel Pentium 6500Y processor, 4GB of RAM and a 64GB eMMC drive. That is incredibly affordable, especially for a Surface device, but our advice is to, well, not buy that one.

At a minimum, you should probably go for the mid-range spec, which will get you the same processor, but with 8GB of RAM and an actual SSD – with 128GB of storage. Not only should you have 8GB of RAM at a minimum with Windows 11, but that SSD is going to load programs so much faster than the eMMC drive found in the starting tier.

You can max it out with a dual-core Intel Core i3 CPU, 8GB of RAM and the same 128GB SSD for $629 (£569, about AU$870). And, well, if you need something more powerful than that, you should just go with the Surface Pro 8, which is so much better in every conceivable way – it almost feels like the two devices were made by different companies.

Throughout our time with the Surface Go 3, we keep asking ourselves why anyone would buy this thing when something like the Asus Chromebook Flip is about the same price, and will just be a better experience all around. Chromebooks sometimes get a bad rap, but devices like the Surface Go 3 are probably the best advertisement that Google could get for its laptops.

Design

Surface Go 3 on a blue table outdoors next to a cup of iced coffee — (Image credit: Future)

Just like any Microsoft Surface device, the Surface Go 3 is truly a gorgeous little laptop, rivaling that of the iPad, especially the iPads available at this price point. It’s incredibly thin at just 0.33 inches thick, and weighs just 1.2 lb, making it the ideal device to carry around if you don’t want to go out with a hulking backpack every time you just want to get some work done at the coffee shop.

The model we have in has the classic silver Surface aesthetic, with the Windows logo in a gorgeous chrome finish on the back of the device, on its hinge, where it’s going to get the most attention. From behind, this is one of the more attractive devices you’ll probably see in a café, but it’s a different story from the front.

Not a lot has changed in the Surface Go’s design since the Surface Go 2, which means the chunky bezels are back again. It is a tablet, which means people will need a little bit of space for just holding the device, but there are so many tablets out there that have solved this problem already – including Microsoft’s own Surface Pro 8 – that it really feels like a relic. But, again, this is a budget device, so we’re not expecting a truly extravagant piece of tech here.

Between the bezels is a 10.5-inch 1,920 x 1,280 display. A 1280p display isn’t exactly impressive on its own, especially in 2019, but given its price point, Microsoft could have easily given this a 720p display and called it good, and we’re glad it didn’t. But don’t expect a totally beautiful display, either.

The screen isn’t especially bright, and color accuracy is a bit lacking. Watching animated shows like Sailor Moon or Bob’s Burgers clearly reveals how lacking this display is in this area. Neither of these shows really need a high-resolution display, but they are extremely colorful and show how shallow the color representation here is. Colors appear a bit washed out and bland, which isn’t the end of the world but it is a bit disappointing in a ‘PixelSense’ display.

Speakers are similar. They’ll provide a pretty decent experience if you just want to watch the odd YouTube video or watch some Netflix in your downtime, but they’re not exactly great for listening to music. Though they are positioned near the top of the screen when the Surface Go 3 is in its laptop mode, which means there is minimal distortion. One of the benefits of a tablet.

Surface Go 3 on a blue table outdoors — (Image credit: Future)

Speaking of laptop mode, the Surface Go 3 does not come with the Type Cover – which is definitely a knock against its value – but especially if you’re going to be doing some schoolwork, it’s essential for this device. Call us old-school but we still think that a keyboard and mouse is still the best way of navigating Windows, and that includes Windows 11, even with all of the improvements that Microsoft has included.

As for the Type Cover itself, it’s as good as ever, and has not changed. It’s still surprisingly comfortable to type on given its low profile, with plenty of key travel. However, with a keyboard made for a device this small, it will take some getting used to how close the keys are together. We have pretty small hands, and even we still find ourselves making mistakes when trying to touch-type.

The Type Cover also has a trackpad, and it’s passable. But this device excels when you use the touchscreen instead, especially if you just need to scroll down a document or web page or hit a quick button. Although, we find the gestures on the trackpad to be indispensable, so we still can’t see ourselves seriously using this device for work without the Type Cover – another reason Microsoft should just include it as standard. Microsoft stopped including it years ago and we will absolutely not stop complaining about it being sold separately until they include it again. Admittedly, this probably won’t happen, but we can dream, can’t we?

While we do think that the Type Cover is indispensable for using the Surface Go 3, that’s not the only accessory that’s core to the Surface experience – there’s also the Surface Pen. This is also not included, but it’s honestly one of the biggest selling points for any Surface device and it feels excellent, whether you’re writing down notes or doing some sketching in Photoshop. Yes, the Surface Pen is an incredibly expensive addition and we wouldn’t say you need it, but it is a nice-to-have if you can afford the extra $99.

As for ports there isn’t much here, as to be expected in a device this small. On one of the narrow sides of the tablet are all 3 ports, and you’ll get a Surface Connect port, a USB-C (Thunderbolt 4?) and a combo 3.5mm audio jack. Honestly, it’s not a lot, but with a device like this, that’s to be expected. On the side of the laptop, you’ll find a power/lock button and a volume rocker. The volume buttons are likely just there to be used when the Surface Go 3 is being used as a tablet, but even in laptop mode, they’re super nice to easily reach up and adjust the volume.

Performance

Benchmarks

Here’s how the Surface Go 3 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

Cinebench R20 CPU: 1,277 points
3DMark Time Spy: 322; Fire Strike: 789; Night Raid: 3,584
GeekBench 5: 907 (single-core); 1,546 (multi-core)
PCMark 10: 2,596 points
PCMark 10 Battery Life: 6 hours 25 minutes
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 4 hours 39 minutes

The Surface Go 3 we’re reviewing here has an Intel Core i3-10100Y processor, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. So, needless to say, it’s definitely not the fastest device in the world. That processor is a 2-core, 4-thread fanless chip with a base clock of just 1.3GHz, which means it will absolutely start to struggle as soon as you ask it to do any kind of multi-tasking. And don’t even think about trying to do any kind of heavy creation workloads on this thing.

In Cinebench R23, the Surface Go 3 scores just 1,277 points which is nearly four times slower than the Surface Pro 8, and this SKU is a little over half the cost. And in PCMark 10, we get a score of just 2,596 points, which is the lowest score we’ve ever seen in that test. But laptops are one thing, it’s also important just how this laptop handles day-to-day.

And, well, that’s not great either. Whenever we’re just looking at, like, one webpage and chatting in Slack, the Surface Go 3 holds up alright. But as soon as you try installing an app or running any kind of media – like Spotify – in the background, you can start to run into slowdowns. This wasn’t such a big deal a couple years ago, before we all started having to work and learn remotely, but if there’s anything these last couple of years has taught us, it’s that hardware that’s easily able to handle multitasking is invaluable.

Because now that our PCs are one of the main ways we interact with the world, they just can’t be single-purpose devices anymore, and that goes for pretty much everyone. The pandemic has made multitasking so important, and it really is a shame that this device puts so much emphasis on the design instead of the internals. We would much rather have seen a less flashy aesthetic if it meant that it didn’t slow down when doing simple everyday tasks that everyone is going to have to do.

We don’t know if this is an issue with Windows 11, but it’s not exactly new. Windows has become more and more hardware intensive as time goes on to power flashier animations, but it means that low-power devices like the Surface Go 3 simply don’t work as well as they have to. And that’s one of the reasons that if you’re looking at a device in this performance tier, we wouldn’t recommend the Surface Go 3, we’d recommend a Chromebook – those might have similar specs, but the software is so much more adept at operating with it.

Camera and microphone

Microsoft has clearly put a lot of thought into making the video calling experience excellent on the Surface Go 3, which isn’t too surprising given how central Microsoft Teams is to Windows 11 in general. The webcam on this thing is absolutely amazing, easily capturing all the detail in our face without washing out colors or catching extra bloom in the background.

We’ve been taking a lot of video calls with the Surface Go 3, both through Teams itself and through Google Hangouts and Discord, and we haven’t heard a single complaint. The microphone is also simply excellent, capturing our voice without any distortion, and we don’t have to repeat ourselves because something wasn’t picked up.

And of course the webcam supports Windows Hello, and it is the best integration we’ve seen yet. It logs us in incredibly quickly, even when we have a facemask on our chin while we’re sitting outside a coffee shop or when we’re wearing a ton of eyeliner after a night out.

Video calls are a huge part of all our lives these days to be sure, and Microsoft has knocked it out of the park here. This is the one area that the Surface Go 3 truly excels at its price point. If you’re doing a lot of video calls and you want something portable that has a webcam that doesn’t suck, the Surface Go 3 is going to be an excellent choice.

Battery life

The Surface Go 2 didn’t exactly have the best battery life in the world, but it was fine. But the Surface Go 3 is a massive disappointment and has gone completely backwards in this regard. In the PCMark10 battery test, which emulates a bunch of real-world workloads like text editing and video calls, the device lasts just 6 hours and 25 minutes.

That’s usually what we see in a gaming laptop with super high-power graphics and a high resolution display, not in a tablet with a low-power fanless chip and a 1080p display. Battery life this short is frankly embarrassing for a tablet like this, and it’s not just the benchmark, either. Just taking an hour at our local coffee shop to write out this review in Microsoft Word saw our battery drop from 100% to 70% in just around 35-45 minutes.

We had the screen at full brightness because we were working outdoors, but still this is a Y-series chip and should absolutely have longer battery life. One of the main selling points of this series of Intel processors is its power efficiency, so we simply cannot wrap our heads around why the battery life is so bad here – and it’s not a Windows 11 thing because the other Surface devices last much longer.

The Surface Laptop Studio, for instance, lasts nearly twice as long as the Surface Go 3, and that laptop has a high-performance Tiger Lake H35 processor. There is simply no excuse for battery life this short. Period.

Software and features

One of the major reasons to buy a Surface device in the first place is that you’re kind of getting a pure version of Windows that you really won’t find elsewhere unless you build a PC yourself. There is no bloatware here, just a pure and simple Windows 11 installation. It’s something we’ve always loved about the Microsoft Surface lineup, and especially at this price point it’s not something you should take for granted.

Usually when you buy a Windows laptop for this cheap, you’re going to be inundated with a load of useless bloatware that will fill your screen with pop-ups and ads – it’s simply be a headache to deal with, especially if you’re not super familiar with digging around the Windows 11 settings app.

Instead, the Surface Go 3 provides you an essentially blank canvas to let you choose how you want Windows to work for you. That’s Microsoft’s whole thing, after all, and the reason why Windows 11 is still as open as it is. Now, the model we’re reviewing here is the commercial version, which ships with an unlocked version of Windows 11 Pro, which means we’re able to install whatever we want without having to disable anything.

For most people that buy this tablet off the shelves of their local Best Buy (or regional equivalent), the laptop is going to ship with Windows 11 Home in S-Mode. This is probably for the best, as it will help with the low-end hardware, and will be safer for students that probably aren’t as jaded by the internet as we are at this point. That does mean that you won’t be able to install things you download online right out of the box, but it’s relatively easy to disable S-Mode in the Settings app, and we have a guide here.

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Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 review

1:47 pm | October 9, 2020

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Laptops Windows Laptops | Tags: CPU, RAM | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: October 2020
• Launch price: Starts at $500 / £499 / AU$1,239
• Target price now: No longer available

Update – August 2024: Sad news for fans of Flexing (ahem), but it looks like Lenovo has decided that two separate convertible IdeaPad lines was one too many - the original IdeaPad Flex 5 is effectively dead. In fact, no IdeaPad Flex models are currently available from Lenovo's website in the UK and AU, with only two Flex laptops (the 5i and 5i Chromebook Plus) still available on the US site.

While you may be able to pick up this laptop from third-party retailers, you'll be better suited looking at the current offerings from the standard IdeaPad 2-in-1 range from Lenovo, which are available with either 14- or 16-inch displays and come with the latest Intel and AMD processors.

These start at $519.88 / £549 / $1,009, placing them close in price to the Flex 5 we reviewed here back in 2020 - but with significantly newer and more powerful processors, they're a solid choice of entry-level laptop. You can even configure each model on the Lenovo website to get the perfect system for your needs.

Original review follows.

Two-minute review

Lenovo’s ‘Flex’ series of laptops are affordable 2-in-1 convertible systems that offer claimed all-day battery life. That’s a simple and appealing proposition.

In practice, it’s all a bit more complicated. You see, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5, to give it its full name, is available in both 14-inch and 15-inch variants and with both AMD and Intel CPUs. And with various iterations of those CPUs.

It’s all a bit baffling if you’re buying, but the specific model showcased here is the 15-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 powered by Intel’s latest 10th Gen processors, in this case an Intel Core i3-1005G1 chip.

Arguably, AMD’s laptop CPUs offer both better value and more performance right now. But given the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 remains pretty keenly priced and isn’t being pitched primarily on performance, that needn’t be an automatic deal-breaker.

Indeed, this laptop offers a very compelling all-round proposition. Along with that Intel CPU, the highlights kick off with a 15.6-inch touchscreen. It offers a FullHD 1,920 by 1,080 pixel resolution and IPS panel technology. As a ‘Flex’ model, that screen is hooked up to the IdeaPad’s chassis via a full 360-degree hinge and thus supports operation in full Tablet mode. Next up is a 128GB SSD. OK, that’s not a huge amount of storage, but it is a M.2 drive supporting the latest NVMe control protocol.

Other details include a decent 65 watt charger and claimed battery life of over 10 hours. That you get all this in an attractive chassis with a high quality feel from one of the biggest brands in the business for around $500 / £500 is impressive. But inevitably, it’s not the whole story.

At this price point something inevitably has to give and as reviewed the most obvious weakness is the meagre 4GB of RAM. It doesn’t have a huge impact on your benchmark numbers. But if you're partial, say, to running loads of browser tabs while you edit images - or some other typical multitasking scenario - you’ll quickly run out of system memory with only 4GB at your disposal, especially as some of that is pinched by the integrated graphics.

That’s a pity because in most other regards, this is a pretty nice portable. It’s good for that 10 hours-plus of claimed battery life, for instance. And the screen is accurate and pleasant to use, if a little dim. The keyboard is firm, crisp and pleasant to use and it mostly looks like a much more expensive laptop than it really is.

Yes, there are a few tell tales of corning curing beyond the 4GB of RAM. The trackpad is a little small for this class of portable. The sound quality from the integrated speakers is fairly poor. The supplied charger is a barrel type rather than USB-C despite the fact that the Flex 5 has a USB-C port that supports charging (further connectivity includes two USB-A ports, HDMI and a full-size SD card reader). That’s sort of both a plus and a minus, but you get the broader point. This is a nice machine for the money.

Spec Sheet

Here is the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: 1.2GHz Intel Core i3-1005G1 (dual-core, 4MB cache, up to 3.5GHz with Turbo Boost)
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics
RAM: 4GB DDR4
Screen: 15.6-inch, 1,920 x 1,080, IPS, touch
Storage: 128GB M.2 NVMe SSD
Ports: USB-C, 2x USB-A, HDMI, SD Card
Connectivity: Lenovo AC Wifi, Bluetooth
Camera: 720p webcam
Weight: 4.4 pounds (2 kg)
Size: 14.08 x 9.37 x 0.7-0.8 inches (357.6 x 237.9 x 17.9-20.35 mm; W x D x H)

Price and availability

At around $500 (£499, AU$1,239), Lenovo is going for pretty punchy positioning for the IdeaPad Flex 5. You’ll struggle to find a similar laptop for less money.

The HP Pavilion x360, for instance, costs around 15% more, but only offers a 14-inch panel, albeit aided by 8GB of RAM. Indeed, it’s the Flex 5’s 4GB of memory in this entry-level configuration that is our main reservation.

The other snag is that if you’re willing to forgo the tablet convertible functionality, you can have a 15-inch laptop at around this price point with almost no serious compromises, such as the Asus VivoBook.

Design and features

Entry-level systems from the bigger brands have stepped up their game in design and quality terms in recent years and the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 is no exception. Granted, it’s not going to put the frighteners on an Apple MacBook Pro for sheer material class. But it absolutely, positively doesn’t look or feel cheap.

The 15.6-inch 1080p touch-enabled display, for instance, sports IPS panel technology and is housed in a high-quality metal enclosure with slim side bezels and a shuttered 720p webcam up top.

Image 1 of 2

Image 2 of 2

OK, the main chassis is plastic. But it feels rigid and has an unusual and not at all unpleasant textured finish. The 360-degree hinge feels robust and the keyboard is stable and firm with only traces of flex and bounce.

Image 1 of 2

Image 2 of 2

Ports wise, Lenovo likewise has you well covered. On the left side of the chassis, you’ll find a full-sized HDMI socket, a barrel-type power connector, headphone jack and a USB-C port. The latter supports charging the laptop itself, mitigating the slight disappointment of the barrel connector. While we’d prefer the Flex 5 came bundled with a USB-C charger, support for USB-C charging at least means you can carry a single charger to keep multiple devices juiced up.

On the right, a pair of USB-A ports and situated next to a 4-in-1 card reader that supports full sized SD cards, plus MMC, SDHC and SDXC cards. That’s one less plug-in adapter you’ll need to carry, in other words. Other features worthy of mention are the 720p webcam located on the top bezel and complete with a physical shutter and support for an optional digital input pen.

It’s also worth noting that the Flex 5 ships as standard configured with Windows 10 Home in S Mode. The sales pitch for S Mode is that it boosts performance and improves security. The latter is almost certainly true given it only allows software from the Microsoft app store to be installed. The downside, of course, is that it only allows software from the app store to be installed, excluding the vast majority of the huge ecosystem of Windows compatible apps and software that’s accrued over the years. That includes no Adobe software, no Apple apps, no non-Microsoft video conferencing apps, none of those handy little legacy apps.

S Mode is also streamlined to reduce CPU and memory usage, the latter being especially relevant for a laptop with just 4GB. Long story short, S Mode can make a lot of sense for schools and businesses, but is probably too restrictive for more general home and business users. However, it is the work of around five minutes to turn S Mode off via the Microsoft Store, so it shouldn’t be an impediment to anyone considering this system.

Performance

Benchmarks

Here's how the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark: Sky Diver: 3,761; Fire Strike: 919; Time Spy: N/A
Cinebench CPU: 743 points
GeekBench 5: 1,058 (single-core); 2097 (multi-core)
PCMark 10 (Home Test): 3237 points
PCMark 10 Battery Life: 9 hours and 43 minutes
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 11 hours and 50 minutes

As a content consumption device, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5 usually gets the job done. The combination of the dual-core Intel Core i3-1005G1 chip, 128GB M.2 SSD and 4GB of RAM delivers a responsive experience within certain confines. With a few tabs open in a browser and editing a text document, for instance, all is well.

Up the tab count and run some image editing in parallel, however, and you can run out of memory and into relative trouble. Of course, having a modern M.2 SSD helps enormously when that happens and files are being swapped to main storage. But we’d still prefer to have 8GB in this class of device.

By other metrics, performance is about as mixed as you might expect given the market positioning. The 15.6-inch 1080p IPS display has good colours and viewing angles, but lacks brightness. The dual 2 watt Dolby-powered speakers, meanwhile, deliver weak, thin audio lacking in much by way of dynamic range. And for the record, don’t expect to go gaming with the entry-level Intel integrated graphics.

Battery life

At this price point, battery life can often fall victim of cost cutting. Happily, the Flex 5 is configured with a fairly hefty 52.5Wh battery.

That translates into nearly 12 hours of video playback and nearly 10 hours in the more demanding PCMark battery test. That’s enough for all-day operation at school or the office or plenty of movies on a long-haul flight. Support for charging via USB-C also makes it easy to ‘borrow’ some power should you find yourself running low.

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

These are the best Lenovo laptops you can buy

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook review

1:01 pm | October 7, 2020

Author: admin | Category: Chromebooks Computers Computing Gadgets Laptops | Tags: CPU, RAM | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: October 2020
• Still on sale and new models also available
• Launch price: $339 / £299 / AU$499
• Official price now: $349 / £399 / AU$549

Update: February 2024. We originally reviewed the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 back in 2020, and since then Lenovo has released several new iterations of the Chromebook. However, you can still buy the 2020 model we reviewed here, and while the price has slightly risen since the initial review (thanks, inflation), it is substantially cheaper than newer IdeaPad Flex models, which are premium Chromebooks with prices to match. This is why we still believe that this version of the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 remains one of the best student laptops you can buy.

Two-minute review

If context matters, the most critical qualifier concerning the new Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook is cash. This thing is cheap. At under £300 in the UK and less than $350 Stateside (around AU$500), it’s affordable enough to earn some leeway when it comes to expectations.

Which is handy, because there are one or two shortcomings you really can’t miss. The most obvious is the Flex 3’s 11-inch screen. Given the tablet convertible 2-in-1 remit, diminutive proportions aren’t automatically an issue. They could be an advantage. In this case? Not so much, thanks to some hugola bezels including an exceptionally elephantine chin.

The net result is not only a conspicuously old fashioned-looking device but also one that’s bigger than it might otherwise be. The 1,366 by 768 pixel native resolution of the screen is likewise a reminder of an earlier era. In fact, the old school vibe extends beyond the screen. Aesthetically, everything from chassis to keyboard gives the impression of being somewhat oblivious to the last decade of laptop design.

With the exception of the 360 degree hinge, that is. It’s solidly executed and marks a literal and metaphorical turning point around which the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook transitions to its strengths. This is a very solid feeling device, especially given the price point, with a remarkably rigid body.

The Flex 3 is also decked out with impressive connectivity. Both sides of the chassis sport USB-C and USB-A sockets, which are complimented on the left by a micoSD card reader and headphone jack on the left and a volume rocker and power switch on the right. We just wish the latter was located inside near the keyboard. It’s all too simple to accidentally bump it when switching between tablet and laptop modes.

If the sheer quality of the Flex 3 is surprising, its core specifications are less so. Processing power comes from an Intel Celeron N4020 CPU. That’s a dual-core chip derived from Intel’s low-power and low-cost Atom line of processors, rather than the premium high performance Core family.

Alongside the Celeron chip is 4GB of system memory and just 64GB of eMMC-style storage. All told, it’s a pretty unimpressive technical line up that represents a bottom-rung Intel-powered solution. Were this a Windows laptop or convertible, that would be enough to have us running for the hills. However, the Chrome OS environment is both less demanding and also cloud-centric. So, outright performance and local storage are not as critical.

All of which means that the subjective experience is much better than you’d get in the Windows environment with the same hardware. The Lenovo Flex 3 feels pretty responsive, whether it’s streaming video or working in Google Docs. In tablet mode, the touchscreen functionality is fairly slick, with only occasional stuttering from the interface when swiping or scrolling.

As for battery life, this is one seriously long lasting machine, notching up over 16 hours of video playback.

Ultimately, it all comes back to that context. This is not a high performance device. But when you factor in price, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook is both surprisingly effective and appealing, and one of the best Chromebooks right now.

Spec Sheet

Here is the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: 1.1GHz Intel Celeron N4020 (dual-core, 4MB cache, up to 2.8GHz Burst)
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 600
RAM: 4GB DDR4
Screen: 11-inch IPS touchscreen, 1,366 x 768 pixels
Storage: 64GB eMMC SSD
Ports: 2x USB-C with charging, 2x USB-A 3.1 Gen1, microSD
Connectivity: 802.11AC (2 x 2) WiFi, Bluetooth® 4.2
Camera: 720p webcam
Weight: 2.64 pounds ( 1.2kg)
Size: 0.7 x 11.41 x 8.18 inches (17.8 x 290 x 207.8mm; H x W x D)

Price and availability

At $339 (£299, AU$499) the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook packs quite a punch. It’s full-function 2-in-1 with an 11-inch IPS display and excellent build quality. It makes the likes of Google’s now defunct Pixelbook look incredibly expensive.

Of course, there are now numerous affordable 2-in-1 Chromebooks to choose from, including the Acer Chromebook Spin. The general theme in that class of Chromebook involves low-power processing and limited storage. The Flex 3 is no exception.

Meanwhile, alternatives such as the Asus Chromebook Flip and HP Chromebook X360 demonstrate what a little more cash will buy. But the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 has carved out a little niche of its own thanks to that particularly good build quality and some good features including dual USB-C ports.

Design and features

Rounding out the main features, wireless connectivity takes the form of WiFi 802.11 AC and Bluetooth 4.2. Cutting edge, the Flex 3 is not. But the core functionality is all present.

De-box, power up and it’s initially hard to look past those bezels. The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook has some pretty epic borders around its 11-inch touch-capable display. The lower chin, in particular, is enormous.

The immediate consequence is a device a full size larger than it would be with more modern bezels. It’s around the same proportions as many 13-inch laptops. Arguably, that’s not ideal for a device that also doubles as a tablet. The smaller generally the better when holding tablet devices.

The Flex 3 also looks a little dated. That’s not just a function of those bezels. The limited 1,366 by 768 screen resolution adds to that impression. As does the general design aesthetic. Trendy and slick the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook most certainly is not.

But what it doesn’t feel is cheap. The chassis is extremely rigid and the 360-degree hinge that allows this machine to transform into a tablet feels robust. That sense of engineering quality extends to the keyboard, which has plenty of keystroke and a really solid base. There are far, far more expensive laptops which lack keyboards of this quality.

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The dual USB-C sockets, which both support charging, are another feature you might not expect on such an affordable machine. Not only do they allow you to both charge and connect peripherals via USB-C at the same time. Situating a port on each side of the chassis gives you total flexibility when you plug into the wall. A minor detail, perhaps, but you’ll occasionally be very thankful for it.

Lenovo has also placed a conventional USB-A port on both sides of the chassis, while a microSD card reader and volume rockers also make an appearance. Our only reservation in this area is the side mounted power button, which is rather too easy to hit when converting the Flex 3 from laptop to tablet and back.

In terms of specifications, at this price point expectations need to be kept in check. Processing power comes from an Celeron chip with Intel’s cheaper, lower power Atom-derived cores rather than high performance Core items. There’s also only 4GB of RAM and just 64GB of local storage in sub-optimal eMMC configuration. But then you’re not going to get 8GB of system memory, a large M.2 SSD and a premium processor in a 2-in-1 device without paying far, far more.

Performance

Benchmarks

Here's how the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
Mozilla Kraken: 2,109ms
Octane: 17,669pts
JetStream: 59.311pts
Battery life (TechRadar movie test): 16 hours and 20 minutes

Were this a Windows machine, that Intel Celeron chip, 4GB of memory and 64GB eMMC SSD would be enough to invoke fear of the almighty, as in almighty awful performance. But not in a Chromebook.

Granted, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook is no powerhouse. But running Google’s Chrome OS and the G suite of apps, it’s more effective than you might think. That Intel chip has decent video decoding chops, too, thanks to some dedicated hardware. So, decoding video streams or locally stored video files puts very little load on the CPU cores. You can generally count on smooth video playback.

The same can’t quite be said of scrolling around apps and web pages. However, the touch functionally is reasonably responsive. The stuttering and stalling is momentary rather than chronic. More demanding web pages, such as Google Drive, do occasionally feel a little laggy. But it’s not enough to truly slow you down.

Battery life

The Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3’s Intel Celeron N4020 CPU is not normally something to show off about. However, it surely contributes to the fairly epic 16 hours-plus of video playback. That’s true all-day battery life and it’s the kind of performance you’d never get from a budget system with a full fat Intel Core process. Clearly less is sometimes more.

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LG Gram 17 (2020) review

9:58 pm | July 31, 2020

Author: admin | Category: Computers Computing Gadgets Laptops | Tags: CPU, RAM | Comments: Off

Editor's Note

• Original review date: July 2020
• Launch price: Starts at $1,749 / £1,549 (about AU$2,450)
• Target price now (updated model): Starts at $1,399.99 / £1,439 (around AU$2,050)

Update – August 2024: Although the 2020 configuration reviewed here is no longer available for purchase, the LG Gram 17 is still going strong, sitting among the ranks of the best ultrabooks.

LG has tried iterating on the popular Gram design a few times, most notably with last year's LG Gram Style and the recent LG Gram SuperSlim, with frankly middling success. The classic Gram and Gram Pro models remain superior, in my opinion - and the Gram 17 is frequently on sale these days, meaning you can often pick one up for below the target price listed above.

The most recent iteration of the Gram 17 comes in a few different configurations, but most importantly all of these offer Intel's new Core Ultra CPUs - bringing better battery life and boosted AI performance for tools like Microsoft Copilot. In other words, there's never been a better time to buy an LG Gram laptop.

Original review follows.

Two minute review

When you pick up a 17-inch laptop like the LG Gram 17, you're likely expecting a device that is packing the most powerful hardware on the market, while simultaneously being big, bulky and heavy. Well, what if we told you that none of that is true about the LG Gram 17?

If you want to get your hands on the LG Gram 17, it'll set you back $1,749 (£1,549, about AU$2,450). For a 17-inch laptop with a Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage – not to mention the 1,600p display, that's actually quite a bargain. Comparitively, the HP Envy 17 is cheaper at $1,399 (about £1,070, AU$1,960) but that's with single-channel RAM with its closes hardware configuration, and a much heavier 6.02 lb build – twice the weight of the LG Gram 17.

The laptop is packed with a top-end Intel Core i7-1065G7, but it's configured down to a 15W TDP, down from the 25W that you'll find in some more powerful configurations. To further hamper the maximum performance of this processor, LG has a pretty lightweight cooling solution on hand, which stops it from boosting quite as high as something like the Surface Book 3, which has the same processor at the same TDP, but is 28% faster in Cinebench R20. However, the Surface Book 3 is much heavier.

Spec sheet

Here is the LG Gram 17 (2020) configuration sent to TechRadar for review:

CPU: 1.3GHz Intel Core i7-1065G7 (quad-core, 8MB Intel Smart Cache, up to 3.9GHz with Turbo Boost)
Graphics: Intel Iris Plus (integrated)
RAM: 16GB LPDDR4 (3,200MHz)
Screen: 17-inch WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600)
Storage: 2 x 512GB SSD (PCIe, NVMe, M.2)
Ports: 3 x USB-A 3.1, 1 x Thunderbolt 3, microSD card reader, combi audio jack, 1 x HDMI
Connectivity: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 Bluetooth 5.0
Camera: 720p Webcam
Weight: 2.98 pounds (1.35kg)
Size: 15 x 10.3 x 0.7 inches (381 x 261 x 17.78 mm; W x D x H)

The LG Gram 17 weighs just 2.98 lbs and is just 0.7 inches thick, making it the most portable 17-inch laptop we've ever used. Just for comparison's sake, the Surface Book 3 we just mentioned is a 15-inch device and weighs more at 3.35lbs. Even the Dell XPS 15, which is a laptop we would love to carry around everywhere we go weighs more at 4.5lb.

So, basically, if you're looking for a laptop with a huge display and a numpad that you can easily carry around everywhere without weighing you down, the LG Gram 17 should be near the top of your list.

The laptop even has a wide selection of ports, which makes it excellent for working on the go. On the left-hand side of the laptop, you're getting a charging port, a USB-A, an HDMI-out and USB-C, which can also be used for charging. On the opposite side, you get MicroSD, two more USB-A ports and a lock. In a laptop this thin and light, the LG Gram 17 provides such a wealth of ports that we just can't help but wonder why everyone else keeps opting for just USB-C these days.

However, the thin and light design does have one critical drawback – durability. The keyboard deck and screen have a bit too much flex to give us much confidence in its ability to survive any kind of trauma. LG does claim that the magnesium-alloy chassis has passe 7 MIL-STD durability tests, but it's definitely a device that you don't want to subject to much bending or drops.

Despite the flexibility of the keyboard deck, typing on this laptop is an absolute dream come true. The LG Gram 17 keyboard is a pretty standard chiclet setup, but the keys have just the right amount of travel that typing is quiet and comfortable, without messing with our accuracy. Plus, there are more and more large laptops coming out that are doing away with numpads, and having one here is a dream come true, especially because it doesn't really make the rest of the keyboard feel cramped – again because of the sheer size of the device.

The touchpad gets the job done, too, and is honestly one of the better Windows trackpads we've used. It's still not quite as good as the trackpad on something like the Razer Blade 15 or a MacBook, but it's far from the worst, and gestures and tracking is nice and accurate.

LG Gram 17 numpad — (Image credit: Future)

The LG Gram 17's largest downfall, however, is likely going to come down to the speakers. They're bottom-firing, because we can't have nice things, and sound extremely flat. Listening to Caroline Polachek's "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings" the driving bass that makes up so much of the texture of the song is just completely stripped out. The song still slaps, but it's just not the same as listening on competent speakers. Likewise, listening to Sisters of Mercy's "This Corrosion", the weak bass causes the backing vocals to outpower the main vocals, which takes away from that juicy gothic atmosphere that makes that band so good in the first place.

It's a shame because the display is so good. We're talking about a 2,560 x 1,600 IPS display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, which is frankly beyond amazing for getting some work done. But the display is also extremely colorful, which is great for watching some anime on your break – but, again, you'll have to deal with the weak speakers or plug in some headphones.

We already alluded to performance a little bit, but you really shouldn't expect the LG Gram 17 to be some ultra-powerful workstation. The CPU performance is dialed back to facilitate the lightweight cooling solution, which makes the LG Gram 17 score 1,227 points in Cinebench R20 and 3,274 points in the Geekbench 5 multi-core test. The Surface Book 3, with the same processor, configured to the same TDP scores 1,697 and 4,350 points in the same tests, respectively.

Benchmarks

Here’s how the LG Gram 17 (2020) performed in our suite of benchmark tests:

3DMark Night Raid: 6,631; Fire Strike: 1,679; Time Spy: 711
Cinebench R20 CPU: 1,227
Geekbench 5 Single-Core: 1,290; Multi-Core: 3,274
PCMark 10 Home: 4,276
PCMark 10 Battery Life: 14 hours 28 minutes
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 9 hours 38 minutes

LG Gram 17 speaker — (Image credit: Future)

That makes Microsoft's flagship much better for heavy workloads, but the size of the display, inclusion of a numpad and the lightweight design means that this laptop is more geared to folks that just need to do some heavy Microsoft Excel work while traveling. This is definitely reflected in the battery life, too.

The LG Gram 17 is, without a doubt, the longest-lasting full-fat Windows 10 laptop we've ever tested, lasting a whopping 14 hours and 28 minutes in the PCMark 10 battery test, and a whole 9 hours and 38 minutes in our anecdotal movie playback test. The LG Gram won't just get you through your workday without needing a charger, it could probably get you through two if you're careful about battery usage.

For the right person – basically anyone that needs to do work with a big screen while traveling – the combination of a lightweight build, super long battery life and a high-resolution display is enough to earn the LG Gram 17 an easy recommendation. Sure, CPU performance isn't as high as we know the chip is capable of, but if it means we can pack a 17-inch laptop in our bags for the same weight as a 13-inch laptop, it's kind of something we're willing to live with.

LG Gram 17 ports part 1 — (Image credit: Future)

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LG Gram 17 ports part 2 — (Image credit: Future)

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Asus Zephyrus G14 review

2:50 am | March 31, 2020

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

Editor's Note

• Original review date: March 2020
• Launch price: Starts at $1,449 / £1,449 (about AU$2,351)
• Target price now (updated model): Starts at $1,599 / £1,499 (about AU$2,440)

Update – July 2024: Don't panic when you look at those updated prices - the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 we reviewed here is now more than four years old, and the new versions that are currently available have seen a pretty huge redesign as well as a range of more powerful internal configurations.

Still, a lot of the points we loved about this older model continue to ring true, with the new iterations being even thinner than their predecessors while still offering top-notch performance and plenty of bang for your buck. In truth, most of Asus's ROG Zephyrus laptops are worthy of standing among the best gaming laptops.

If you're looking for a great deal on the current-gen ROG Zephyrus G14, you're in luck - we track the best Zephyrus G14 deals month-by-month to help you snag a bargain!

Two minute review

The Asus Zephyrus G14 was the laptop AMD used when it showed the world its Ryzen 4000 processors for gaming laptops, and now we kind of see why. This is a relatively thin and light device that delivers performance and battery life that we've never seen before in this category. Both AMD and Asus knocked it out of the park.

At $1,449 (about £1,170, AU$2,351), the Zephyrus G14 is a bit pricey, but compared to similar systems like the Lenovo Legion Y740, you can get an RTX 2060-equipped model at the same price, but with less RAM and a much weaker processor.

So, really, if you look at that high price tag in another context, Asus is positioning an AMD Ryzen 9-equipped laptop against Intel Core i7 systems that simply cannot compete. Sure, when it comes to design it's not quite as sexy as the MSI GS65 Stealths of the world, but if you're after a gaming system that's both powerful and packed with battery life, you shouldn't be looking at an Intel system right now.

Still, the Asus Zephyrus G14 is limited to an RTX 2060. The level of performance that the processor brings to the table leads us to wonder what a system with a more powerful GPU would be capable of, but at the end of the day, with a 1080p display it's more than enough to max out every single game on the market today – and then some.

As the first gaming laptop out of the gate with AMD's new Ryzen 4000 processors, the Asus Zephyrus G14 has a lot to prove. But in our time with the device, we can definitely see this laptop as a precursor to some of the most incredible laptops in history coming out later in 2020.

Spec sheet

Here are the specs of the Asus Zephyrus G14 sent to TechRadar for review:

CPU: 3.0GHz AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS (8-core, 12MB cache, up to 4.3GHz)
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB GDDR6)
RAM: 16GB DDR4 (3,200MHz)
Screen: 14-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS, 120Hz
Storage: 1TB SSD (PCIe)
Ports: 2 x USB 3.1 Gen2, HDMI-out, Gigabit Ethernet, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen1, 1 x Mic-in, 1 x Headphone-out
Connectivity: Intel Wi-Fi6 (802.11ax); Bluetooth 5.0
Weight: 3.53 pounds (1.60kg)
Size: 12.75 x 8.82 x 0.70 inches (32.4 x 22.4 x 1.79 cm); W x D x H

Price and availability

Currently, there's only one configuration of the Asus Zephyrus G14 listed on Asus' store page in the US, and it's the same as what's listed to the right. For $1,449 (about £1,170, AU$2,351), you're getting the Ryzen 9 4900HS, 16GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060. But things are a bit more complicated when we look at other territories.

In the UK, there are two models, coming in at £999 and £1,599, but neither of them have quite the same hardware. The £1,599 model is packing an AMD Ryzen 7 4800H, 16GB of RAM and the same GPU, but has a QHD (2,560 x 1,440) display, rather than the FHD 120Hz panel found in the model we reviewed here. The base model in the UK is limited to an AMD Ryzen 5 4600H and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650. We haven't tested a Ryzen 5-equipped laptop yet, so we can't really say whether £999 is a good price for this system. We can say that with just 8GB of RAM, it might be pushing it.

It doesn't look like the Asus Zephyrus G14 is available in Australia quite yet.

There are other configurations on the way, and they should be filtering out by June. But, if you want to get your hands on any of the configurations we explored, you can pre-order the laptop now.

When you look at the Asus Zephyrus G14 specs for the various configurations and how they change so drastically from region to region, making a recommendation is difficult. AMD Ryzen 4000 is a brand new platform, so we can only speak for the model we have in front of us right now. But that configuration is absolutely worth it.

Design

Considering the hardware on offer, the Asus Zephyrus G14 is thinner and lighter than you may expect. Coming in at just 0.7 inches thick and weighing just 3.53 lb, this is extremely portable for a gaming laptop. It's not as thin and light as, say, your average XPS 13, but it doesn't need to be.

Even compared to other thin and light gaming laptops like the Razer Blade 15 and the MSI GS65 Stealth, it's just as thin and even lighter than either of them, thanks to the magnesium alloy-equipped chassis. If you were after a thin and light gaming laptop that'll fit in your bag without weighing you down, the Asus Zephyrus G14 is it.

Being thin and light isn't everything, though, and the laptop needs to hold up elsewhere.

The Asus Zephyrus G14 has a general aesthetic that might be bordering a little much on the capital-G Gamer for some folks, but it's not too bad. The lid of the laptop is divided diagonally, with one half covered in these little dots. There is a version of this laptop that has these light up with white LEDs, and while we've seen that version at a ton of trade shows, that is not present in our review model, so we can't report back what kind of impact this has on usability or battery life.

There are a ton of vents all over the place, along with a very angular look. The way we see it, having all of these vents is ultimately a good thing for a device that's packing hardware on this level. When you're looking for a device to either play the best PC games or get some creative work done, you don't want to run into thermal limits.

The chiclet keyboard is extremely well spaced and comfortable to type on. This is surprising just because of how small of a footprint the device actually has. However, there will likely be some folks that are turned off by the softer feel of the keyboard, as it's not as tactile or clicky as some gaming laptops out there with mechanical keyboards.

What we really like about the keyboard, however is the dedicated buttons at the top. We don't know about you, but the ability to change volume on the fly without messing around with combining the Fn key with one of the Function Keys at the top is a nice touch. There's also a dedicated key for opening Armory Crate, which will let you control system performance and RGB lighting with supported Aura Sync-ready components. This is a nice touch, but because there's no RGB on the system we reviewed, we couldn't use our creativity to really put it to the test. For the record: we want RGB on everything.

The touchpad is generally serviceable. Multi-touch gestures work here, and it's accurate enough – basically it gets the job done. Because this is a gaming laptop and a lot of folks are going to be using this thing with one of the best gaming mice, the touchpad doesn't need to blow anyone's mind. Creative folks who are just after the awesome multi-core performance, however, will be able to get by with this touchpad. But, we recommend a mouse either away.

The display is also pretty amazing for the price you're paying. Sure, it's not one of these 4K OLED panels we're seeing on ultra-premium laptops, but that doesn't matter with the hardware on offer here. You're getting an incredibly solid 1080p display with a blazingly-fast 120Hz refresh rate. The display hits 100% of the sRGB spectrum so it's more than colorful enough for gaming. Plus, at just 14-inches, the display doesn't need to have a higher resolution anyway.

There's a trend in laptops where manufacturers are shoving in super-high-resolution displays, and we don't think it's worth it. You lose out on battery life and most people won't really tell the difference with a laptop this size. Plus, when it's paired with an RTX 2060, you can actually hit that 120Hz while gaming. Which we can.

We were able to play Doom Eternal at 1080p on Ultra Nightmare settings (though just Ultra textures, thanks 6GB frame buffer). Motion was so smooth on this display it feels close enough to playing on our premium gaming monitor.

As for speakers, we have to applaud Asus here: they're not on the bottom of the laptop. We do wish the speakers had a little more oomph to them, as Doom Eternal doesn't sound quite as bombastic as we'd like. Still, plugging in a gaming headset into one of the many ports available remedies that problem.

And when we say there are many ports, we mean there are many. With the Asus Zephyrus G14 you're getting two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A ports and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports, one of which can be used for charging the laptop. You also get a dedicated charging port, a HDMI and a combo 3.5mm headphone/mic jack. In a laptop that's this easy to carry around, we absolutely adore the wide range of I/O here.

There's only really one thing missing here, but it might be kind of a big deal for certain users: no webcam. Now, we don't think that's a huge deal, as you don't really need a webcam for games unless you're streaming. And even if you are streaming, you're better off with one of the best webcams anyway. There is probably a certain subset of users that are looking to use this laptop for work, and they might run into some issues. Basically, it's just something to keep in mind. If having a built-in webcam is a deal breaker, you might want to look elsewhere.

Benchmarks

Here's how the Asus Zephyrus G14 fared in our suite of benchmark tests:

3DMark Sky Diver: 34,347; Fire Strike: 13,950; Time Spy: 5,872
Cinebench R20: 3,961 cb
Geekbench 4 Single-Core: 5,265; Multi-Core: 29,907
Geekbench 5 Single-Core: 1,202; Multi-Core: 7,815
PCMark 8 Home: 4,692
PCMark 8 Battery Life: 5 hours 37 minutes
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 8 hours 10 minutes
Total War: Three Kingdoms: 128fps (1080p, Low) 44fps (1080p Ultra)
Metro Exodus: 115fps (1080p, Low), 38fps (1080p, Ultra)

Performance

Wow, is that AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS something. Packed with 8-cores and 16-threads with a base clock of 3.0GHz and a boost of 4.3GHz, this is a speed monster. In all of our CPU-heavy testing workloads, this processor absolutely smashed the competition.

Even compared to the full-fat and overclockable Intel Core i9-9980HK found in the Alienware m17, we're seeing wins for AMD. For instance, in Cinebench R15, the AMD-powered Zephyrus gets a solid 1,782 points, compared to the Alienware's 1,182. That's a whopping 34% jump in performance, found in a laptop that's literally half the price of the Alienware m17 configuration we reviewed back in December.

The fun doesn't end there. In Geekbench 4 not only does the Zephyrus obviously win the multi-core contest with 29,907 points, beating the Core i9 by 24%, but even comes within margin of error when it comes to its single-core score of 5,265.

A lot of this is possible because of the move down to the 7nm AMD Zen 2 architecture on mobile. This, plus some creative engineering from the folks over at AMD, has allowed this processor to offer truly desktop-class performance on a laptop that weighs just over 3 lb.

But, of course, the Asus Zephyrus G14 is a gaming laptop, so gaming performance is perhaps more important than raw CPU power. And, well, thanks to the RTX 2060 Max-Q included here, the Zephyrus kills it in games too – up to a point.

With a 3DMark Time Spy score of 5,872 and the ability to run Metro Exodus on Ultra settings with a decent 38 fps frame rate, you can expect solid gaming performance here. And, we'll even reiterate: we're able to get a steady 120 fps in the recently-released Doom Eternal.

It's hard to compare this to a similarly specced system with an Intel chip, simply because there aren't a lot of laptops out there that pair an Intel Core i9 processor with the RTX 2060. It's strange that this pairing exists with the Asus Zephyrus G14, but AMD seems committed to avoiding the high-end of the market for now, so hopefully we'll be able to see exactly where these chips line up in terms of gaming with future systems – we'd love to see a gaming laptop with a Ryzen 9 and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080, and we don't think we're alone in that.

Battery life

AMD Ryzen 4000 CPU performance is definitely a huge reason to pick this laptop up, but battery life is far more interesting. But first, a bit of background.

Generally speaking, when it comes to gaming laptops, we've got to a point where we don't even expect them to break three or four hours of juice. If we're lucky, we'll see a gaming laptop hit 5 hours, but it's incredibly rare that we'll ever see one that you can use to work all day away from a charger.

Those days are over.

In our movie test, where we loop 1080p video back to back, the Asus Zephyrus G14 lasted an incredible 8 hours and 10 minutes. The HP Elite Dragonfly, a laptop that is sold based on its battery life scores 8 hours and 11 minutes in the same test. Plus, that's with a CPU that has less than half the TDP of the AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS – and with no dedicated GPU, either.

In the PCMark8 battery test, the Asus Zephyrus G14 scores 4 hours and 47 minutes. To put it in perspective with recent gaming laptops, the amazing Alienware m15 R2 only manages 2 hours and 45 minutes in that test.

We have never seen a gaming laptop that can reach this level of battery life or even anywhere near it. AMD has made some bold claims about Ryzen 4000 battery life, and it actually delivered. Intel should be taking notes right now.

Software and features

There are really only three pieces of software that Asus includes on the Zephyrus G14. ROG Game Visual, Armory Crate and GameFirst VI. All three of these pieces of software let you tinker with how the laptop performs. Game Visual lets you tinker with the display, swapping between different presets and allowing you to adjust color temperature.

GameFirst VI will help you optimize your network for online gaming, even helping you sniff out the strongest network in your proximity. We're in the middle of New York City, which means that the screen showing all the networks looks wild, but if you're in a home with access to multiple networks, this will help you pick the right one.

Then, Armory Crate lets you tinker with basically everything else. Through this software you can adjust everything from fan speed to RGB (through connected peripherals, there is no RGB built into the laptop). There's even a tab that will scan your computer for installed games and let you launch them from there, without worrying about sorting through the dozens of PC game services that we have to live with these days.

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