The ProXMem Kerberos TUF DDR5 RAM kits might lack variety, but they sure make up for it in terms of performance and price, earning top marks from me pretty much across the board.
While it's too early to declare this the best RAM kit I've tested this year, it's damned close. And while the Kerberos TUF DDR5 module lacks the almost monolithic refinement of the Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR, it's still an attractive addition to any PC case out there while giving you more than enough memory runway for serious, high-intensity gaming and pro-am content creation.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
In terms of performance, this is where the ProXMem Kerberos TUF DDR5 really shines. While normally I wouldn't compare two RAM kits running at different speeds, since you can get most RAM kits at comparable speeds.
However, I've made an exception in this case purely based on the value proposition of the ProXMem Kerberos TUF DDR5. At the price you'd pay for this 32GB RAM kit ($149.99 as reviewed, about £120/AU$225), you could get either the Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5 kit mentioned above, or you could get the Fury Beast DDR5 32GB kit, though both of those kits are substantially slower than the Kerberos TUF RGB.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
A Note on Testing
Some motherboards aren't compatible with some modules under dual-channel configurations, while others will limit the speed of the DDR5 RAM when run in pairs, so needless to say it's hard to give quantifiable data to demonstrate the Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5's performance in a way that makes it comparable across different systems.
For this reason, we only benchmark a single DDR5 module to get comparable performance figures. This does mean that adding a second module will offer substantially better performance in real-world usage. We also only compare modules to other modules running at the same speed and memory profile (XMP/EXPO), unless we are comparing kits by price, which will be noted accordingly.
This is owing to the Kerberos TUF DDR5 being XMP overclocked and pushing 1.410V, which is right around as much voltage as you'll want to push without risking damaging the RAM, something that comparable kits at this speed will all encounter as well.
For this, however, you're able to get nearly 50% better PassMark memory performance than either the Dominator Platinum RGB or Fury Beast DDR5. You also get around 30% better read performance, about 26% better write performance, and roughly 23% better copy performance than either of the similarly priced RAM from Corsair and Kingston. You also get a roughly 15% lower latency as well.
All this comes at the cost of a higher total power used, but the Kerberos TUF DDR5 doesn't use any more power than the Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 and it solidly outperforms it while costing less and looking better to boot.
The one thing those kits will have over the Kerberos TUF DDR5, however, is much wider compatibility with different manufacturer's motherboards. ProXMem modules are supported by a number of motherboards, but not nearly to the extent that Corsair's Dominator Platinum RGB or ADATA's XPG line. So, if you're looking at this RAM, do check to make sure it will run in your motherboard (you might need a BIOS update).
While the advantages of the ProXMem Kerberos TUF DDR5 will diminish when running against RAM kits of comparable speed, they will all cost substantially more to close the performance gap. And while not every motherboard is going to be able to run this kit as of this writing, those that can will absolutely let you get the most out of this kit. So if you are looking for a high performance RAM kit while being friggin' smart with your damn money, then there's nothing else to say other than to buy this RAM.
ProXMem Kerberos TUF DDR5: Price & availability
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
How much does it cost? Starting at $119.99 (about £100 / AU$180)
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US. Not available in the UK or Australia
Starting at $119.99 (about £100 / AU$180) for a 32GB DDR5 kit clocked at 5,600MHz, the Kerberos TUF DDR5 is almost as well-priced as the Corsair Vengence DDR5 RAM kit that I flagged recently as the best premium-value RAM on the market right now. The only downside for my overseas friends is that this RAM appears to only be available in the US at the moment, but hope springs eternal. Maybe one day.
As reviewed, the ProXMem Kerberos TUF DDR5 32GB (2 x 16GB) with a memory speed of 6,800MHz will set you back $149.99 (about £120 / AU$225), which is the same price as a Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5 32GB kit running at just 5,200MHz, and for slightly less than the Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 32GB kit at 5,200Mhz, which would cost you $159.99 (about £125/AU$235) at MSRP pricing.
ProXMem Kerberos TUF DDR5: Specs
Should you buy ProXMem Kerberos DDR5 RAM?
Buy it if...
You want high-performance DDR5 RAM
At 6,800MHz, this RAM is ridiculously fast, making it a great kit for content creation and gaming.
You want RAM that will look great in your case
Between the TUF alliance branding, aluminum casing, and well-done RGB, this is some seriously good-looking RAM.
Don't buy it if...
You want a single module
Sometimes, you just need that one stick of RAM. If that's the case, you're out of luck, this RAM only comes in kits of two.
You want larger module sizes
Unfotunately, 16GB RAM modules are all you're going to get here.
ProXMem Kerberos TUF DDR5: Also consider
If my ProXMem Kerberos DDR5 review has you considering different RAM kits, here are two that might better suit your needs.
How I tested ProXMem Kerberos DDR5 RAM
I spent a few days testing a ProXMem Kerberos DDR5 32GB kit in my home PC
In addition to general computing, gaming and creative use, I used professional third-party benchmark tools as well
In addition to general testing, I measured performance with PassMark and AIDA64, specifically
I used the ProXMem Kerberos DDR5 as my main gaming and content creation RAM for several days in my home PC.
In addition to gaming, I edited photos, videos, and other illustrations in Adobe Photoshop, Premeire, and Illustrator. I also tested the RAM out using Lumion 12.5 to test its creative chops on CAD-like software.
In addition to years of computer science education and training, I have been a hardware reviewer for a number of years now, so I know how memory is supposed to perform at this level.
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.
The Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5 RAM kit has been an integral part of my component testing process for more than a year, so I cannot think of any better endorsement than that.
It is simply the best RAM for the job, whether it's for testing the best processors or best graphics cards. And while I've been lucky enough for Corsair to give TechRadar a number of RAM kits to use over the years, even if it didn't, I would still have us go out and buy this RAM ourselves for use on our testing bench.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Whether it's about compatibility or performance, Corsair's Dominator series of RAM kits have always been ideal for just about any midrange to premium build, and that is still very much the case. Starting at $144.99 / £134.99 (about AU$220) for a 32GB kit (2 x 16GB) running at 5,200MHz, you are paying something of a premium for this RAM, even more than you normally would for a DDR5 kit.
There are cheaper kits out there if you're willing to skip some of the extras you find here like RGB lighting and heat dissipation. That includes the Corsair Vengence DDR5 kits, which you can get for as low as $109.99 (about for a 32GB kit running at 4,800MHz.
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
A Note on Testing
Some motherboards aren't compatible with some modules under dual-channel configurations, while others will limit the speed of the DDR5 RAM when run in pairs, so needless to say it's hard to give quantifiable data to demonstrate the Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5's performance in a way that makes it comparable across different systems.
For this reason, we only benchmark a single DDR5 module to get comparable performance figures. This does mean that adding a second module will offer substantially better performance in real-world usage. We also only compare modules to other modules running at the same speed and memory profile (XMP/EXPO).
Now, one thing to note about double data rate (DDR) memory is that it works best in pairs (which is why this RAM is almost always sold in kits of two or four), but every motherboard, processor, and system configuration is going to have a huge impact on what kind of performance you are going to get from your RAM kit, even beyond the speed of the RAM itself.
In this regard, Corsair's Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5 kits are about as widely supported as you're going to get, and they have always run at their top speed no matter which motherboard I've used in testing.
In terms of performance, the Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5 runs neck-and-neck with the best DDR5 RAM kits out there, like the Kingston Fury Beast kit, often beating it out all while using lower total power in the process.
As you increase the speed of the module you pick up, the performance will only improve from there. But as you can see, the performance of the Dominator Platinum RGB is a noticeable step up from the lower-tier Vengence DDR5 and is more or less even with the Kingston Fury Beast DDR5, which has a slightly higher MSRP.
In all, the Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5 kit offers a phenomenal balance of price, performance, and aesthetics to make it the baseline standard for what a DDR5 module should offer. It continues Corsair's legacy of high-quality PC components.
How much does it cost? Starting at $144.99 / £134.99 / about AU$220
When is it available? Available now
Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia
The Dominator Platinum RGB kit we're looking at here is the 5,200MHz Intel XMP model, though you can get 32GB kits as fast as 7,800 mega transfers a second (MT/s) with Intel XMP 3.0 for $224.99 (about £180/AU$340).
The fastest AMD EXPO kit you can get is somewhat slower at 6,000 MT/s, with a 64GB (2 x 32GB) kit costing you $269.99 (about £220/AU$400) and a 32GB kit (2 x 16GB) costing you $174.99 (about £140/AU$265).
This puts it about 36% more expensive to start than the slightly lower-tier Corsair Vengence DDR5 modules at the same capacity and speed. However, it is marginally cheaper than Kingston's competing Fury Beast DDR5 modules, which have an MSRP of $159.99 (about £130/AU$240) for a 32GB (2 x 16GB) kit of 5,200 MT/s DDR5 with Intel XMP.
Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5: Specs
Should you buy the Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5?
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Buy it if...
You want high performance DDR5
The Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5 is about as fast and high-performance as you're going to find on the consumer market.
You want great looking RGB modules
The clean lines, color options, and RGB customization options for the Dominator Platiunum RGB make it the best looking RAM you can get.
Don't buy it if...
You're on a budget
This is one of Corsair's most expensive RAM kits, so you can get almost the same phenomenal performance with the Vengence DDR5 kits as you could here for much less.
You want just a single stick of RAM Sometimes, you don't need a full 2-stick kit, but in the case of the Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5, you can only get it in pairs.
Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5: Also consider
If my Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR5 RGB review has you considering other options, here are two more DDR5 RAM models to consider...
How I tested the Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5
I've spent several days dedicated to testing
I also used it as my standard configuration for component testing
I used benchmarking tools like AIDA64 and Passmark for precise performance data
In addition to using this RAM in all of my other component testing, I spend a few days testing the performance of the RAM module itself using third-party tools like AIDA64 and PassMark.
While this is high-performance RAM, I paid special attention to the aesthetic appeal of this RAM specifically since it is really meant to be a showpiece in a build on top of performing at the highest level.
I've been building PCs for many years now, so I'm very familiar with Corsair's lineup of PC components. In addition, my computer science background and years of hardware coverage have given me particular insight into how well computer components should perform.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
• Original review date: June, 2023
• Pixel Fold has been surprisingly left behind
• Launch price: $1,799 / £1,749
• Lowest price on Amazon (US only): $1,399
Update: April 2024. Google has made many updates to the Pixel phones since the Pixel Fold was launched, but, shockingly, some of the most important new Google features have not come to Google's foldable, even though it's more powerful than other phones that have been updated. Google's new Circle to Search feature, as well as new Gemini AI features, have not been added to the Google Pixel Fold, and Google has given us no timeline when or even if the Pixel Fold will get these updates. Truly a disappointing development in the short life of this pricey phone.
Two-minute preview
The Google Pixel Fold arrives a little late to the foldable party but, based on my time with the device, it's a smartphone/tablet combo that mostly delights, and which is sure to earn a place among our ranking of the best Foldable Phones.
From its construction, including its precision hinge, to its high-resolution screens, the Pixel Fold is a well-thought-out Android phone that's equally at home as a small-screen, but thick, 5.8-inch phone or, unfolded, as a 7.6-inch mini tablet.
The large bezel around the main screen might give pause to some, but it quickly fades into the background, thanks to a responsive, colorful, and multitasking-friendly screen. Even the unavoidable crease down the middle is somewhat less prominent than those on competing foldable phones. And when you fold the Pixel Fold, the two sides meet with nary any visible space between them.
The collection of cameras on board do not disappoint. They can capture lovely landscapes, portraits, macro-like photos (there isn't a dedicated macro mode), astrophotography, and striking long exposures that use image segmentation to blur motion while keeping other aspects of the scene in focus.
I'm particularly pleased that Google put a 5x optical zoom on this phone. Sure, that's half of what you get on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, but it does beat its closest foldable rival, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.
The Google Pixel Fold in my hand, opened to the 7.6-inch display (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Google has equipped the Pixel Fold with its Tensor G2 chip (the same one that's in its Pixel 7 line), a slightly aging piece of silicon that doesn't beat the competition, but which proved more than powerful enough for every task I threw at it. The Pixel Fold is as at home with web browsing as it is with high-intensity gaming. Plus, the screens' variable refresh rates keep everything looking smooth. A small nitpick might be, well, the lack of nits. The Pixel Fold's main screen is noticeably less bright than the Galaxy Z Fold 4's (the latter boasts more nits), and while I didn't have any issues on cloudy days, it might struggle a bit in direct sunlight.
Naturally, Android 13 (with five years of promised security updates) is perfectly at home on the Pixel Fold, but so are all the Google apps that Google has optimized for the new platform. Mail, Photos, and more work like a charm on the big screen, and there's real joy in being able to drag and drop a photo from another app into an email.
Google arguably stumbles a bit when it comes to the pricing. $1,799 / £1,749 is a lot to pay for a single device, especially as other newcomers, like the smaller but quite impressive Motorola Razr Plus, come in at under $1,000 (Google hasn't announced any plans to release the phone in Australia, but we'll let you know if and when we get official confirmation either way). My take, though is that you're essentially getting two premium devices in one here, and Google is asking you to pay for that.
Overall, I truly enjoyed my time with Google's first folding device. It's not a tentative or compromised first attempt at the form factor: the Google Pixel Fold makes a clean and emphatic landing in the foldable space.
Google unveiled the Pixel Fold during its May 10 Google I/0 2023 developer conference keynote, at which it also unveiled its mid-range Google Pixel 7a phone, the Google Pixel Tablet and charging speaker dock, and a ton of new AI technology.
You can preorder the Google Pixel Fold now, with shipping set to commence on June 27, although exactly when you'll be able to get your hands on the phone depends on where you are. The Fold comes in two colors: Porcelain (off-white) and Obsidian (black). My review unit is Obsidian, and I think I prefer it over the white.
The Pixel Fold in my hand, folded to show the 5.8-inch external display (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
If you haven't already, you should disabuse yourself of the notion that when you buy a foldable you're buying one device, and so should pay for one device. The Google Pixel Fold is, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, two full-blown devices in one and, as such, it's very nearly worth the $1,799 / £1,749 price tag.
How do I figure this? There are two screens on Google's first foldable, one 5.8 inches and the other 7.6 inches, and each one is large enough to operate as a standalone communication, information, gaming, and entertainment platform.
There are more cameras on the Pixel Fold than on the average handset: three on the back, another one on the external screen, and then one more right above the main display.
If you purchased, say, an iPhone 14 Pro ($999 / £1,099 / AU$1,749) and an iPad mini ($499 / £479 / $749), that would cost you about $1,500, or the UK and Australian equivalents. And naturally, you're paying a premium for more cameras, and that exquisite flexible and hard-to-manufacturer foldable display.
My point is, before you dismiss the Pixel Fold for its hefty price tag, I suggest you consider what you're actually getting for your money, and what this impressive Android 13 smartphone and tablet can do.
Still, at this price, the Pixel Fold is more than a considered purchase, and I fully understand that – especially if you're thinking about the 512GB and nearly $2,000 ($1,919 / £1,869) model – the cost will be a considerable issue.
The good news is that there are already Google Pixel Fold trade-in deals that essentially cut the price of the phone in half. Basically, there should be almost no reason to pay full list price for what is a very impressive device.
Value score: 4/5
Google Pixel Fold design
The right form factor for a phone-to-mini-tablet foldable
Feels solid, if a bit heavy
Folds completely flat
Whisper-quiet operation
Big bezel will distress some
Google's decision to wait out Samsung through four iterations of its foldable devices (and almost five, with the Galaxy Z Fold 5 set to be announced in the next few weeks at the time of writing) turns out to have been a smart move. The Pixel Fold is in many ways what I want all foldables to be.
When folded, its 139.7mm tall by 79.5mm wide by 12.1mm thick frame is like a very thick 5.8-inch smartphone. Unlike the tall and narrow Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, the dimensions of which, when folded, stretch the definition of a traditional smartphone display, the Pixel Fold and its front screen could almost pass for a standard smartphone; that is as long as you overlook the flat hinge side, which does not match the curved corners on the opposite side.
Plus, if you don't count the rather prominent camera bump (really a band that runs almost the width of the back of the phone), the Pixel Fold is, at 5.8mm unfolded, slightly thinner than the 6.3mm Galaxy Z Fold.
Google Pixel Fold stainless steel hinge (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Even by foldable standards, though, the Pixel Fold is a bit heavy. It weighs 283 grams – that's 20 grams more than the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and, unsurprisingly, 40 grams heavier than Apple's current biggest phone, the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Again, if you don't appreciate that multi-purpose devices like this are naturally going to be bigger and heavier than standard smartphones, you're barking up the wrong, er, device tree.
This is a premium phone, with high-end materials like a polished aluminum frame, and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on both the front screen and the back. The hinge is stainless steel and the entire body is IPX8-rated, which means it's ready to survive everything from a storm to an accidental drop in the bath (I didn't submerge the phone but did run it under some water – it survived).
The Google Pixel Fold's stainless steel hinge and flat-folding operation (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The hinge operation, by the way, is excellent. It's smooth, whisper-quiet (quieter even than the Z Fold 4, which makes a little crinkling sound when you open and close it), and can open to a full 180 degrees or virtually anywhere in between (to support tabletop and Tent operation).
I opened and closed the phone a lot during my testing time, and came away with the distinct impression of long-term durability.
Aside from the rather wide and tall camera bump, there aren't many distinctive features on the outside of the Pixel Fold. On the back, below that bump, is a polished version of Google's distinctive 'G'. The hinge has no markings at all. Opposite the hinge, on the right edge of the phone when it's unfolded, are the phone's two buttons. The power/sleep fingerprint reader (which is effective) is towards the top, and below it is the volume rocker. This is the opposite configuration to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and, it took some getting used to – I kept pressing the power button when I meant to adjust the volume, although I'm sure that if I spend enough time with the Pixel Fold, hitting the right button will become second nature.
There are microphone and speaker grilles along the top and bottom edges of the phone. Along the bottom is the USB-C charging port (the foldable ships with a cable and even a USB-3-USB-C adapter, but no charging adapter – it feels like something that should be included at this price). There's also a physical SIM slot, though the Pixel Fold does support dual SIM and eSIM, too.
Google Pixel Fold back showing cover screen and the main camera array. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
A few things stand out when I unfold the Google Pixel Fold. One is that, unless you give it an extra press down on each side, the phone does not automatically unfold completely flat, although this isn't a big deal, as it's very easy to nudge it to an essentially flat plain. I remain somewhat surprised by the size of the bezel surrounding the Fold's flexible main screen. In contrast to the bezel on the Galaxy Z Fold 4 it's huge; however, once you start using this display, it quickly fades into the background.
There is a reason for the big bezel: it houses the main screen's 9MP camera. On the Galaxy Z Fold 4, Samsung chose to put a punch hole in the screen, and maybe that was the right call for a slightly large folding screen – I'm not sure.
As I mentioned earlier, the power button doubles as an effective fingerprint reader, and there's another biometric security option: you can register your face and unlock it with the Cover screen's camera. Oddly, though, you can't unfold the Pixel Fold and use that screen's camera to unlock with your face; it's a small but annoying omission on Google's part.
Design score: 4.5/5
Google Pixel Fold displays
5.8-inch external screen with a normal aspect ratio
Lovely, large flexible display that's a good fit for all activities
One of the best things about Pixel Fold's two screens is that there is zero trade-off between using just the outer cover screen or the expansive main display.
I love that Google went with a full-width 5.8-inch cover display. That's considerably shorter than the Galaxy Z Fold 4's 6.2-inch external display, but it's also almost a half-inch wider – and I can say without reservation that I prefer the Pixel Fold's wider external screen. Not only is it easier to navigate, but apps like Instagram and TikTok look a lot better on it. The difference in size is better illustrated when you look at the resolutions – where the Galaxy Z Fold 4's cover display is 2316 x 904 pixels, the Pixel Fold's OLED is 2092 x 1080.
It's a pleasingly bright screen both indoors and out, with a promised 1,200 nits of brightness in typical use (the peak brightness is 1,550 nits), and smooth in operation thanks to an adaptive refresh rate (60Hz to 120Hz). I also like that there's an always-on display option (you have to dig into the settings to find it as it's not set up by default).
Overall, the cover screen is the display you'll most often use when on the go. It's the perfect viewfinder for the main camera array on the back, and the size is, depending on your hand, basically palm-friendly.
The Pixel Fold's Main Screen being used as the main camera viewfinder (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Of course, there's a reason you're carrying around all that weight and girth: the large main screen. Unfolded, this is a 7.6-inch tablet-like display covered in ultra-thin flexible glass and a layer of protective plastic. At 2208 x 1840 it's got just a touch more pixels/resolution than the Galaxy Z Fold 4's main screen.
I grew to love this screen. Apps like Google Maps, Netflix, and YouTube, and games like Asphalt 9: Legends, and Call of Duty Mobile look fantastic on it. If you happen to start playing Call of Duty on the big screen, then close the Pixel Fold and try to continue on the cover screen, you may notice that the image is distorted. I was able to fix this by closing the game and restarting on the cover screen – it seems like a a bug that Google could fix with a software update.
In a side-by-side comparison, I did find that the Galaxy Z Fold 4's main screen is a little brighter. It's worth noting that the Pixel Fold's main display does not even match the brightness of the cover display; it's 1,000 nits as standard, with a peak brightness of 1,450 nits. Still, this is something you'd only notice if you had the two phones and screens side-by-side (as I did).
Like the cover display, the main screen supports an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. It has the same 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, supports 16 million colors, and offers HDR support (though not HDR10+). it also supports the always-on display.
This being a foldable display, there is a crease that you can both see and feel, but it disappears when you're using apps, playing games, and watching videos. I did notice that this crease is ever so slightly less prominent than the seam on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4's main screen.
The Pixel Fold's main screen in tabletop mode (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Google makes good use of the cover display, and of the device's folding capabilities. If I fold the phone to roughly 45 degrees and set it up like a tent, I can watch Netflix as a full-screen experience on the cover display. If I unfold the Pixel Fold, the show or movie is automatically switched to the main screen.
I did notice that YouTube is not entirely optimized for the Pixel Fold – when I tried to play a YouTube video in Tent mode, it insisted on playing upside down.
Tent mode is a nice way to watch a Netflix movie. YouTube, for now, only plays upside down. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The main screen also has a couple of nifty mid-fold tricks up its sleeve. I can bend it 90 degrees and set the Pixel Fold up in Tabletop mode. With it, I can watch movies, take a selfie, capture perfectly still time-lapse videos, or, as I did on more than one occasion, conduct hands-free Google Meet video meetings. Try doing that with your regular phone and no tripod.
You can also bend the phone a bit further so the main cameras are pointed and the sky and collect tripod-free night photography.
A big screen also means that I have space for not just one, but two apps. The Pixel Fold is a good multitasker that makes running two apps easy. All I have to do is open one app, like Chrome, then sweep up from the bottom to access the app dock, hold down on a second app like the Camera, and then drag it to the left or right side of the screen. You can resize the split of the two screens but, unfortunately, cannot run a third app. Still, it is useful to be able to have a map open at the same time as your camera viewfinder, especially if you're hiking and want to capture great shots while not getting lost.
Watching Netflix on the Google Pixel Fold. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Display score: 4.5/5
Google Pixel Fold cameras
Overall excellent cameras
Backed by powerful Google tools
Long exposure mode is a delight
Google Pixel Fold main camera array (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Google has been widely praised for the cameras on its Pixel phones, and I think the Pixel Fold also earns those accolades.
Its cameras not only take excellent photos across a wide range of styles, they're complemented by some of the most powerful on-board image-processing magic in the business. I haven't had this much fun using a smartphone's cameras in quite a while.
It's not just the camera app, or the editing I can do post-shot; the entire suite of camera hardware is strong. And while the Pixel Fold doesn't beat the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 in every aspect, I don't think anyone will feel cheated by any single lens.
Here’s the full list of cameras:
48MP f/1.7 wide (rear)
10.8MP ultra-wide f/2.2, 121-degree field of view (rear)
10.8MP telephoto 5x optical f/3.05 (rear)
9.5MP f/2.2 (cover)
8MP f/2.0 (above main screen)
The Pixel Fold camera app (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
By and large, this array matches up pretty well with what's on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. The biggest difference is probably the Pixel Fold's main display camera, which has double the megapixels of the Z Fold 4's.
What I really appreciate though is the 5x optical zoom (you get just 3x on the Z Fold 4). I love a good optical zoom. Yes, both devices offer their own form of digitally- and AI-enhanced zoom. The Pixel Fold's Super Res Zoom (up to 20x) is sort of impressive, but as with most of these digital implementations, the images kind of fall apart if you look too closely. Still, I love having an optical image stabilized (OIS) and electronic image stabilized (EIS) 5x zoom in my pocket.
As you can see from my photo gallery further down the page, the Pixel Fold not only takes sharp and bright images, it also maintains excellent color fidelity. These images all look impressively like the real-world subject; nothing is oversaturated beyond nature's creation. The cameras let you capture subjects from a distance, and also allow you to get up close and personal, courtesy of the Fold's approximation of macro photography. To be clear, I can't really get closer than, say six or seven inches, but the effect is like macro, with a blurred background and a tight, sharp focus on the nearby object (see my yellow flowers).
There are a number of cool onboard tricks that can improve your not-so-awesome photos. Photo Unblur can sharpen photos blurred by your wobbly hands (although the camera is fast enough that I had to work to make a blurry photo for my tests). Magic Eraser is here, and it let me easily select and remove a bunch of commuters from one of my photos, as you can see below. The process of selection and removal is not instantaneous – it's like the Pixel Fold wants to show you how hard it's working.
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Magic Eraser on the Google Pixel Fold automatically selects subjects to remove. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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It does not get rid of every trace, though (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
My other favorite feature in the Camera app is Long Exposure. This is not night photography. Instead, it's a much shorter-term exposure that captures some movement while leaving the rest of the photo sharp. When I took a photo of a flowing brook using this setting (the on-screen instructions ask you to hold still for a second), it kept the surrounding rocks in focus while blurring the flowing water. It did the same thing with my fountain shot: the water is blurred, but the fountain and surrounding detail are sharp. I tried it in the train station, and it turned rushing commuters into streaks while, in the background, a man who stood still was clear as day. Again, the process of creating these effects takes a moment, and I wonder if a newer Tensor chip (the G2 is almost a year old, after all), might make quicker work of these operations.
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Google Pixel Fold Long Exposure in the train station (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Google Pixel Fold Long Exposure on the street (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Google Pixel Fold Long Exposure on the street (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Google Pixel Fold Long Exposure with a flowing brook (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Google Pixel Fold Long Exposure at a fountain (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
You can shoot a selfie, even in portrait mode, with the 9MP inside camera or the 8MP one on the cover screen, but Google also makes it possible to shoot selfies with the Pixel Fold's best camera.
First, you unfold the device and then open the Camera app. Below the 'switch camera' icon is an option that lets you switch camera display screens. Once you do that, the cover screen becomes the camera viewfinder and, because the Pixel Fold is open, you're staring at the rear camera array. It's not the smoothest process, and it's basically impossible to hold the device this way with just one hand and take the shot, unless you add one more step and set up the gesture-activated timer mode.
To do so, I had to set the timer for three seconds, and then hold up one hand until a yellow box appeared on screen around it, which initiated the timer. I could then lower my hand, and the Pixel Fold would take a perfect selfie.
Complicated? Sure. Useful? Absolutely.
Virtually all flagship phones offer some form of astrophotography, and the Pixel Fold is no different; however the double act of Nightscape photography and Tabletop mode is something special. I was able to set up the phone with the screen folded but not fully closed, so the main camera was pointed at the night sky, and then fiddle with the on-screen settings to get a perfectly still starscape, without the need to hold the phone and try to stand still for six seconds, or use a tripod.
The shot below was taken with the 5x optical zoom and a six-second exposure.
Zoom into this photo if you can to see what seems like a million stars (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Camera score: 4.5/5
Camera samples
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Google Pixel Fold performance and specs
Packs Google's aging Tensor G2 chip
Perhaps a step behind the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon
12GB of RAM, starts at 256GB of storage
Inside the Google Pixel Fold is the zippy Google Tensor G2, the same chip that powers the Google Pixel 7. This is a capable and powerful mobile CPU, although with a Tensor G3 expected in a few months (maybe in the Pixel 8) we have to wonder why Google's first foldable didn't get what's set be Google's most cutting-edge silicon.
In general, though, there's almost no evidence that the chip is slowing anything down. Every game, app, and web operation I performed was smooth and instantaneous. Photo-editing operations and tricks like Long Exposure took a beat to render, though. Perhaps that's down to the G2, or maybe that's how long the likes of Magic Eraser and Long Exposure would take on any mobile platform.
The Google Pixel Fold has no trouble running action games (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Google pairs the Tensor G2 with a healthy 12GB RAM and its Titan M2 security coprocessor.
Benchmark scores put the Pixel Fold slightly behind the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and its Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, while gaming benchmarks, specifically the ones that look at frames per second, put it somewhat behind Qualcomm's latest chips. However, in my gameplay experience across Asphalt 9: Legends and Call of Duty Mobile, I didn't notice a difference. There was no stuttering or tearing, and everything looked great and was highly responsive, so much so that I was MVP during my first round of Call of Duty.
This is also a 5G phone, though without a test SIM I wasn't able to test its cellular operations. It also supports WiFi 6e, which means I had fast and reliable connections at home and in the office.
As for audio performance, there are stereo speakers that can go pretty loud – and immersive, thanks to spatial audio support – without any distortion. The three microphones, meanwhile, are so sensitive that when I barely whispered "Hey, Google…" the phone heard me and awaited my instructions.
Performance score: 4.5/5
Google Pixel Fold software
Android 13
Google knows how to fold
Seamless multitasking
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The Google Pixel Fold can multitask, with apps interacting (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Running the camera alongside another app is no problem (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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Tabletop mode made video conferencing easy (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
What matters here, though, is not the speeds and feeds of this phone but, for me at least, how Google's first foldable uses Android 13, and the Fold's small outside and big inside screens, to maximum effect.
Many of Google's core apps, like Maps, Gmail, Photos, Home, and Drive, have been redesigned for the folding-screen environment (as have some third-party ones like Netflix). Mail, for instance, converts from a single-column experience on the cover screen to a dual column on the main screen that puts your mail list on the left and opens each email in a pane on the right. It's all smart and, honestly, what you would expect.
Multitasking is a strong suit here. As I mentioned, it's easy to drag and drop one app to open alongside another on the main screen, although I do wish I could add a third app on top of those two.
When you have two apps open side-by-side you can drag and drop between them. I opened Gmail and Google Photos, and to add a photo to an email I was composing I simply tapped and held my finger on the image until a little thumbnail appeared, then dragged it over to the compose screen on the left. Nothing could be easier.
The best way to describe my overall experience with the Google Pixel Fold software environment is that it was pleasant surprise. Everything looks so good, and works so well together.
Software score: 4.5/5
Google Pixel Fold battery life
4,727mAh
Laster 15 hours
Supply your own charging adapter
Extreme Battery Saver mode can extend the life a charge, but you do lose the use of some apps and notifications (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
I did what I could to stress-test the Pixel Fold's ample 4,727mAh battery, pushing screen brightness to max, not letting the screen sleep before 30 minutes had elapsed, and playing action games, watching videos, browsing the web and holding multiple, lengthy video conference calls (colleagues said I sounded good, but looked a little less sharp than I normally do through my MacBook Air (M2) FaceTime camera).
After wirelessly charging the Pixel Fold on my Qi charging base, I grabbed the phone at 7am and used it almost continuously until 10pm when it ran out of juice. I did not, when it prompted me at 10% battery life, let it switch to Extreme Battery Saver mode because that would have paused my apps.
Battery score: 4.5/5
Google Pixel Fold score card
Should I buy the Google Pixel Fold?
Google Pixel Fold (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Google Pixel Fold review: also consider
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is a do-everything device that presents few compromises, and it's great for photography, multitasking, and watching Netflix. However, the high price might put off some potential buyers.
Motorola Razr Plus The Motorola Razr Plus / Razr 40 Ultra is a major evolutionary step for smartphones, going beyond what any previous flip or foldable phone has offered.
I embarked on an entertaining walking tour through New York's Central Park with a test device, during which I took lots of photos, and carried out an additional five days of testing with my Google-provided Pixel Fold test unit.
I carried the Fold with me every day, and used it as often as possible, including on the train, where I tethered it to my iPhone 14 Pro. I shot photos in a variety of environments and situations, and edited the photos with available tools on the device.
While I spent a lot of time using productivity and information apps on the Pixel Fold, I have to admit that I spent an almost equal amount of time playing games and watching videos. It's just such a fun device to use – there's nothing like having a tablet hidden in your pocket.
We ran GeekBench 6 and other benchmarks on the phone at Future Labs, and I combined that information with my anecdotal performance results.
The Intel Core i5-13600K follows up one of the top budget chips ever and manages to improve on just about everything across the board, except for the price.
When Intel announced its Raptor Lake processors, a lot of us were a bit dismayed that the price of the Core i5 went up by nearly 15% over the Intel Core i5-12600K that preceded it. That chip was arguably the best processor ever made for budget gaming PCs and those who need good performance without a whole lot of extras at a fair price.
At $329 (about £280 / AU$475), the Intel Core i5-13600K puts itself just outside of the budget class of processors. And that's a shame because otherwise, this is the best processor for the vast majority of people and even for a lot of those who tell themselves that they absolutely must have something more powerful like the Intel Core i7-13700K.
Across the general lineup of performance tests I threw at this chip, it pretty much came out on top in every one of them, beating out the competing AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and substantially outperforming the Core i5-12600K. Getting into the nitty-gritty, the Ryzen 5 7600X puts up a much better fight against the i5-13600K than I was expecting, beating the 13600K to a rough draw by the end.
That does mean that if you're looking for a budget gaming CPU, you're probably going to be better off with the Ryzen 5 7600X since you can save a bit of money in the process. But that savings can easily be gobbled up and then some by the extra cost to upgrade to DDR5 RAM, which the i5-13600K still lets you skip in favor of the aging DDR4 RAM that most people still have. So there is definitely a trade-off to be made in either case.
Ultimately though, there's just no denying that the Intel Core i5-13600K has better specs and performance at this price range, give or take a little spare change. So this is a very easy processor to recommend to just about anybody who isn't a gamer or creative professional.
Intel Core i5-13600K: Price & availability
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
MSRP: $329 (about £280 / AU$475)
More expensive than competing Ryzen 5 7600X
The Intel Core i5-13600K is on sale now for $329 (about £280 / AU$475). This puts it at about 10% more expensive than the competing AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and about 14% more expensive than the Core i5-12600K.
Considering that the Intel Core i9-13900K didn't get a price increase over its 12th-gen counterpart, the price hike here is probably the biggest disappointment with this chip. Enthusiast users are used to spending the extra money to have the best right out the gate, so they could absorb some of the price inflation rather than let it fall squarely on the one chip that most people are going to use.
This is especially bad considering that AMD's competing chip is right there for a good bit less. There are performance considerations here, obviously, and we'll get to those soon. Still, at this level, the performance difference is not so great as to really justify taking the best Intel processor in the budget class and pushing it into the lower mid-range for a few extra bucks.
Price score: 3.5 / 5
Intel Core i5-13600K: Chipset & features
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Overclockable
Supports DDR4 and DDR5
The Intel Core i5-13600K is Intel's second-gen big.LITTLE mainstream processor, following up the i5-12600K, and there have been some big improvements on the architecture side.
My test bench specs
These are the systems I used to test desktop CPU performance for both AMD and Intel systems in this review:
CPU Cooler: Cougar Poseidon GT 360 AIO
Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090
SSD: Samsung 980 Pro SSD @ 1TB
Power Supply: Corsair AX1000 80-Plus Titanium (1000W)
Case: Praxis Wetbench
While Intel Meteor Lake chips still use the same 10nm "Intel 7" process as the previous 12th-gen Alder Lake chips, the 13th-gen chips improve on the previous architecture in a number of key ways.
In addition to more cache memory, there have been some improved clock speeds on the high-end, so that the i5-13600K runs slightly slower at base frequency while boosts slightly higher than the 12600K — though both Intel chips have a lower base and boost frequency than the competing AMD Ryzen 5 7600X.
In terms of core counts, the i5-13600K doubles the efficiency cores over the i5-12600K, for a total of 14 cores and 20 threads to the i5-12600K's 10 cores and 16 thread. This is also substantially more than the Ryzen 5 7600X, which is a straight six-core/12-thread chip with all its cores being full-power performance cores.
And while the rated 125W TDP for the i5-13600K remains the same as with the 12600K, it pulls substantially more power under load than its predecessor in my tests, so plan your build accordingly.
Finally, like its predecessor, the Core i5-13600K supports both PCIe 5.0 and DDR4 and DDR5 RAM, so you can either upgrade to new DDR5 RAM or stick with the best RAM of the DDR4 generation, which definitely helps defray the cost of an upgrade.
Chipset & features score: 4 / 5
Intel Core i5-13600K: Performance
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Fantastic all around performance
Decent gaming chip
Low performance per watt rating
The Intel Core i5-13600K is the best processor all-around for most people right now, though that does come with a number of caveats.
Generally, the Core i5-13600K outperforms both the Core i5-12600K and Ryzen 5 7600X by a substantial amount, and while the Ryzen 5 7600X holds its own against the i5-13600K, it's a qualified success rather than a straightforward win.
When it comes to synthetic performance, the Intel Core i5-13600K simply overpowers both chips with a larger number of cores, faster clocks, and raw power wattage. Overall, the Core i5-13600K performs about 42% better than the Ryzen 5 7600X and about 26% better than the Core i5-12600K.
In creative workloads, the Core i5-13600K is a great option for folks on a budget who want to dabble in some creative work like 3D rendering or photo editing. But with only six performance cores, using the best graphics card possible will be far more determinative in most cases. That said, the Core i5-13600K outperforms the Ryzen 5 7600X by about 21% and the 12600K by about 12%.
In my gaming performance tests, the Ryzen 5 7600X actually scores a technical win here, chalking up an extra 2 fps on average over the 13600K, but this might as well be a wash. The 13600K does manage a very solid improvement over its predecessor though, getting as much as 34% higher fps, but landing a solid 20% average performance improvement.
In the end, the Core i5-13600K outperforms the Ryzen 5 7600X by about 40%, while improving on the Core i5-12600K's performance by about 25%. As far as bottom line results go, this would make this processor a slam dunk, but one thing keeps this chip from true greatness: its power consumption.
While the 13600K has the lowest minimum power draw of the three chips tested with 1.973W (an 18% lower power consumption than the 12600K's minimum of 2.415W), it also maxes out at an astonishing 204.634W, which is about 83% more power to achieve a roughly 40% better performance.
This chip also draws 65% more power than the Core i5-12600K for a roughly 25% better performance. These are hardly signs of efficiency, and it continues the exact wrong trend we saw with Intel Alder Lake. For comparison, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X has a max power draw of 211.483W, and its 3D V-Cache variant has an incredibly tight 136.414W power draw in my AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D review.
So yeah, it's not hard to put up the kind of numbers that the Core i5-13600K does when Intel turns the electron firehose to full on its processor. Considering how this is the ideal chip for a budget build, that build will now have to factor in a bigger PSU than it should account for a burst of power demand from a chip "rated" for 125W.
Is this a dealbreaker? Not yet, but if Intel thinks it can keep the top spot by just keeping its foot on the gas while AMD is making real investments in power efficiency within a single generation of processors, this won't be good for Intel in the long run.
Performance: 4 / 5
Should you buy the Intel Core i5-13600K?
(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler)
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Also Consider
If my Intel Core i5-13600K review has you considering other options, here are two processors to consider...
How I tested the Intel Core i5-13600K
I spent nearly two weeks testing the Intel Core i5-13600K
I ran comparable benchmarks between this chip and rival processors
I gamed with this chip for several days
I spent an extensive amount of time testing the Core i5-13600K over the past two weeks, including using the processor in my primary work and gaming machine at home.
In addition to general work tasks and gaming, I used the processor extensively for content creation work like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Blender 3D modeling.
I also ran an extensive battery of benchmark tests on this chip and rival CPUs a customer might consider, using as close to identical hardware as possible in order to gather sufficient comparable data to determine how the chips performed in real-life and simulated workloads.
AyaNeo is making PC handhelds as fast as you can buy them. It seems only a few weeks have passed since we looked at the gorgeous AyaNeo 2, another excellent handheld gaming PC. Yet, here we are with the all-new AyaNeo Air Plus device — available in several different configurations, no less, and all very exciting.
The flagship version I’ve been testing packs in the same AMD Ryzen 7 6800U chipset that we saw in the more-premium AyaNeo 2, but in a smaller form factor that makes it a far more comfortable device for portable play. As a result, for my money, this is currently the best handheld gaming PC on the market. It offers the same AAA performance of the AyaNeo 2, at a price point closer to the Steam Deck, but in a device that’s just simply more comfortable to play for extended lengths of time by virtue of its compact design, fronted by a 6-inch 1080p display.
The end result is something quite special — a truly portable gaming PC capable of better performance than the Steam Deck, with full-fat Windows 11 to play about in. Yes, it remains more expensive than Valve’s handheld, and the Steam Deck is the recommended option for those who want a more console-like experience. But for those that are willing to trade a degree of convenience in favor of frame rate, resolution and portability, the AyaNeo Air Plus is an incredible device.
AyaNeo Air Plus: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future / Gerald Lynch)
How much does it cost? Starts at $599 (model reviewed RRP $979)
When is it available? Available now in Glacier Blue, Starlight Black and Classic Grey
Where can you get it? Available online direct from AyaNeo, with third-party retailers to follow soon
AyaNeo Air Plus: Specs
Here is the AyaNeo Air Plus configuration sent to TechRadar Gaming for review:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 6800U
RAM: 32GB LPDDR5 6400 (16GB option available)
SSD: 512GB (1TB and 2TB options available)
Size: 237mm X 91.4mm x 23.1mm
Weight: 525g
Screen: 1920 x 1080 / IPS / 6-inch / 400nits / 368 PPI / Touch-enabled
Input: Hall sensor joysticks / Hall sensor triggers / Fingerprint scanner
The AyaNeo Air Plus starts at an affordable $599 for its lower-powered models, but to get into the Steam Deck-beating territory, it stalks, you need to cough up for the premium AMD Ryzen 7 6800U model. At that point, you’ve comfortably got a machine that outperforms Valve’s model — at a significantly higher price, of course, which is fair enough, considering Valve helps to subsidize Steam Deck costs through Steam store game sales. In terms of value, you’ll likely get more pure gaming mileage with a gaming laptop of similar cost, and more functionality with keys and trackpad too. But you’ll lose the magic of it being a truly handheld machine along the way. And this is still cheaper than the premium AyaNeo 2, despite near-identical internal specs delivering the same fantastic AAA PC gaming performance.
AyaNeo also offers other variants of the Air Plus in less powerful configurations, including Intel Alder Lake Core i3 1215U builds starting at $649, and additional AMD Ryzen 3 7320U and Ryzen 5 7520U variants starting at $599. Each offers either 128GB or 512GB SSD storage, and 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR5 storage. All other specs remain the same.
Value: 3.5 / 5
AyaNeo Air Plus: Design
(Image credit: Future)
Great size for a Windows portable
Ergonomic controls
Premium Hall sensor triggers and sticks
AyaNeo has had a fair few goes at creating handheld PCs at this point, and the refinements it’s been making along the way are really starting to pay off. While this is not as luxurious as the AyaNeo 2, instead designed to land at a more affordable price point, I’d argue this is the better machine for portable play in many ways.
That’s in large part because of the screen size. The AyaNeo Air Plus opts for a 6-inch touch display compared to the 7-incher on the AyaNeo 2. Both are gorgeous; rich IPS displays with contrast ratios and color depth to rival an OLED panel. But the smaller screen on the Air Plus facilitates an overall smaller, lighter design, making it far easier to play and hold for longer play sessions. It puts the oversized Steam Deck to shame in this respect. And, as I’ll discuss in a bit, it also helps to increase battery life. Interestingly, the brightness steps on the AyaNeo Air Plus feel a little… off? After about 30% brightness, you’re so close to max visible brightness that I rarely went above that value, so it doesn't seem worth any potential battery trade-off to go any higher. Regardless, it’s a sharper, brighter display than you’ll find on a Steam Deck, even before you hit the halfway mark.
Not every difference in design next to its pricier AyaNeo 2 stablemate is for the better: you’ve only got two USB-C ports (one on the top edge, one on the bottom) compared to the three found on the AyaNeo 2, and the sticks are inferior Joy-Con clones rather than the Xbox-like sticks on the AyaNeo 2. But again, in service of a smaller overall device, they’re smart choices, and the drift-free Hall sensors are still present in the sticks for accurate control. Each has an adjustable RGB light underneath, too.
It's ergonomically very comfortable, and more traditional in size and shape than the Steam Deck. A slight curvature to the back shell where your palms sit lets your fingers hug the AyaNeo Air Plus without cramping (though it is a fingerprint magnet on the rear), and shoulder and trigger buttons are in easy reach, with just the right amount of travel and clickiness. Those triggers are analogue compatible too, again with Hall sensors, letting you dial in fine input — perfect for, say, revving an engine at just the right speed in a racing game like Forza Horizon 5. The D-Pad pivots well, and gives you the precision you need for platformers and brawlers. Start and select buttons sit under the D-Pad on the left, and X, Y, A, and B buttons sit above the right stick — buttons a little smaller perhaps than we’d like, but again in service of added portability.
There’s a few extra buttons that you won’t usually find on a traditional console handheld here. Next to the shoulder buttons are two clicky hotkey buttons that can be configured for whatever use you see fit —say, for instance, bringing up the onscreen touch keyboard, or Task Manager. Then below the right stick are two circular buttons, one larger than the other. The bigger opens up the Aya Space game launcher and device settings software with a long press, while a short press brings up an overlay for quick settings like TDP, brightness and volume control. The smaller button is configurable, but I left it as its default ‘Show Desktop’ function, which is always handy. Up top is a power button which also doubles up as a fingerprint scanner — it’s far, far more reliable than that seen on the AyaNeo 2, thankfully.
That top edge is capped off by a thin horizontal volume rocker, a mic spot, the first of the USB-C ports and a large exhaust vent, pushing out air pulled in from a fan intake grill on the rear of the device. The lower edge houses the AyaNeo Air Plus’s stereo speakers, the second USB-C port, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD slot, covered by a flap. Those speakers are reasonably loud, and won’t be drowned out when the fans need to kick in.
Design: 4.5 / 5
AyaNeo Air Plus: Performance
(Image credit: Future / Gerald Lynch)
Great AAA gaming performance
Better-than-expected battery life
Could be quickly overshadowed by a growing number of rival devices
Though it’s not packing discrete graphics, the superb performance of AMD’s Ryzen 7 6800U chipset, paired with the 32GB of RAM in our review unit, means that the AyaNeo Air Plus can handle any game I throw at it. Yes, you may need to dial the resolution down a tad, drop the graphical presets to lower settings, and accept that you won’t get Cyberpunk 2077’s ray-tracing ‘Overdrive’ mode running here. But if you’ve ever dreamed of playing Elden Ring on the toilet (or should that be the nightmare?), the AyaNeo Air Plus makes that possible at solid frame rates.
Performance in many aspects is similar to that of the AyaNeo 2: though that’s a more premium device in its external design, reflected in its pricing, the internal specs are essentially identical.
As you’d expect, indie games like Hades and Night in the Woods will easily play at 1080p / 60fps without the AyaNeo Air Plus breaking a sweat, with a sweet spot between 5W and 8W for 2D titles and retro 3D games. Cranking things up a notch, a 10W TDP and 720p resolution saw an enjoyably stable 30fps for Grand Theft Auto V on medium settings — an experience that could scale to 60fp or higher resolutions with ease at a higher TDP (at the expense of battery life). Similar fun could be had with The Witcher 3 at a 30fps cap on Low settings at a 720p resolution by pushing the TDP on the chipset up to 20W — a superior handheld experience compared to the Nintendo Switch port, for instance. Those that are wanting to dabble with emulation will have a great time, too, with upscaled PS2 and Gamecube easily achieved across the vast majority of titles, and even solid performance with platforms as demanding as the PS3.
Where the AyaNeo Air Plus beats out the AyaNeo 2; however, by some distance is in battery life. With a smaller 6-inch display, the Air Plus is less power-hungry, and given that the smaller screen size facilitates a smaller handheld overall, that, combined with battery improvements, makes for a better device all around, in my opinion. Lower-end games, such as indies or retro titles, will happily run for between 3 and 4 hours at a 1080p resolution and between a 5W or 8W TDP, while an online shooter like Destiny 2 can get upwards of two hours of play at 720p and a 30fps cap. The real top-tier titles, like the PC God of War port, is still going to push the AyaNeo Air Plus to its limits in terms of battery life. But if you’re conservative in your settings, you can still eke out close to an hour and a half of play before the battery throws in the towel.
As has become the norm with PC portables, your mileage will vary based on your stomach for lower frame rates and resolutions versus battery life. You will have to be prepared to tweak TDP settings to find the happy balance you’re comfortable with. This isn’t quite pick-up-and-play, then, though honestly, PC gaming in any form factor never has been. But the compromise feels much fairer here than with its AyaNeo 2 predecessor. In portable PC terms, this is as good as it currently gets.
Just how long the AyaNeo Air Plus sits on top of the PC gaming handheld pile is debatable. However — as AyaNeo’s own recent, busy product roadmap shows, this is a product category growing at an incredible rate. Competition is landing thick and fast, and devices like the upcoming ASUS ROG Ally will give the AyaNeo Air Plus a run for its money. For now, however, the AyaNeo Air Plus is leading the pack.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
AyaNeo Air Plus: Software and features
(Image credit: Future / Gerald Lynch)
The AyaNeo Air Plus runs full-fat Windows 11 Home, meaning you can dig around in the back end of Microsoft’s operating system with impunity. If you want to install any and every Windows application, fire up a Word document or even run your business, nothing is stopping you from doing that on the AyaNeo Air Plus.
That’s a double-edged sword, however. Despite technically supporting touch input, it’s still an operating system best navigated with a keyboard and mouse, and AyaNeo’s efforts to translate that to touch, stick and face button mappings is admirable but ultimately flawed. Likewise, its Aya Space frontend, which acts as both a game launcher and hardware setting configuration application, is better in theory than in practice. It is not quite a match for the Steam Deck SteamOS experience, let alone something as well polished and focused as the Nintendo Switch operating system. The shortcut overlay, accessed by pressing the AyaNeo logo ‘Home’ button on the device, is more useful, though, letting you quickly tweak fan settings, TDP draws to eke more power from the device, as well as resolution settings, brightness, volume and quick-launch buttons for apps or features like the onscreen keyboard.
Should you buy the AyaNeo Air Plus?
Buy it if...
You want relatively powerful PC gaming on the go
This is a handheld PC with as much power as you can currently fit into a device this size, making for a great gameplay experience.
You want your mobile devices to actually feel portable
The size and shape of the AyaNeo Air Plus makes it far easier to actually travel with, without compromising comfort.
You are comfortable with Windows
AyaNeo Air Plus gives you access to the full functionality of the Windows operating system — and all the potential that brings with it.
Don't buy it if...
You’re on a tight budget
You’ll get a ‘good-enough’ handheld PC gaming experience from a Steam Deck, but at a much cheaper price.
You want a more console-like experience
The Aya Space software isn’t good enough to keep you from having to delve back into Windows constantly.
You want to be able to get real work done on your gaming PC
If that’s the case, you may want to pick up a keyboard-equipped gaming laptop instead.
Also Consider: Valve's Steam Deck
If our AyaNeo Air Plus review has you considering other options, you should consider…
How I tested the AyaNeo Air Plus
Review test period: two weeks
Gaming across Steam / Epic Games. AAA games and indie titles
Light web browsing and general Windows PC tasks
Over the course of two weeks testing the AyaNeo Air Plus, I played a range of modern, classic, indie, and AAA PC gaming titles, ranging from everything from Cyberpunk 2077 to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. I even played some retro titles via emulation software.
Though it’s pricier than the Steam Deck, the AyaNeo Air Plus justifies that by being the superior machine in many ways. For example, it’s more powerful, has a more comfortable form factor, and has better specs in key departments, including screen quality. Its only drawback is its software, which hasn’t been as perfectly optimized for handheld play in the same way that the Steam Deck equivalent has. Having said that, you get far more flexibility with the native full-fat Windows on offer here.
Working as a technology and gaming journalist for more than 15 years, I’ve tested (and in many cases owned) every major games console since the SNES, dozens of gaming PCs, and reviewed countless games along the way. I’m a regular gamer at home across Xbox Series X, PS5, and Nintendo Switch consoles, and I have my own gaming PC equipped with the latest generation of Intel processors and an Nvidia RTX 3080 GPU. I’ve also tested many of the new wave of gaming handhelds, including devices from Ayn, Anbernic, PowKiddy, and other AyaNeo models.
AyaNeo is making PC handhelds as fast as you can buy them. It seems only a few weeks have passed since we looked at the gorgeous AyaNeo 2, another excellent handheld gaming PC. Yet, here we are with the all-new AyaNeo Air Plus device — available in several different configurations, no less, and all very exciting.
The flagship version I’ve been testing packs in the same AMD Ryzen 7 6800U chipset that we saw in the more-premium AyaNeo 2, but in a smaller form factor that makes it a far more comfortable device for portable play. As a result, for my money, this is currently the best handheld gaming PC on the market. It offers the same AAA performance of the AyaNeo 2, at a price point closer to the Steam Deck, but in a device that’s just simply more comfortable to play for extended lengths of time by virtue of its compact design, fronted by a 6-inch 1080p display.
The end result is something quite special — a truly portable gaming PC capable of better performance than the Steam Deck, with full-fat Windows 11 to play about in. Yes, it remains more expensive than Valve’s handheld, and the Steam Deck is the recommended option for those who want a more console-like experience. But for those that are willing to trade a degree of convenience in favor of frame rate, resolution and portability, the AyaNeo Air Plus is an incredible device.
AyaNeo Air Plus: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future / Gerald Lynch)
How much does it cost? Starts at $599 (model reviewed RRP $979)
When is it available? Available now in Glacier Blue, Starlight Black and Classic Grey
Where can you get it? Available online direct from AyaNeo, with third-party retailers to follow soon
AyaNeo Air Plus: Specs
Here is the AyaNeo Air Plus configuration sent to TechRadar Gaming for review:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 6800U
RAM: 32GB LPDDR5 6400 (16GB option available)
SSD: 512GB (1TB and 2TB options available)
Size: 237mm X 91.4mm x 23.1mm
Weight: 525g
Screen: 1920 x 1080 / IPS / 6-inch / 400nits / 368 PPI / Touch-enabled
Input: Hall sensor joysticks / Hall sensor triggers / Fingerprint scanner
The AyaNeo Air Plus starts at an affordable $599 for its lower-powered models, but to get into the Steam Deck-beating territory, it stalks, you need to cough up for the premium AMD Ryzen 7 6800U model. At that point, you’ve comfortably got a machine that outperforms Valve’s model — at a significantly higher price, of course, which is fair enough, considering Valve helps to subsidize Steam Deck costs through Steam store game sales. In terms of value, you’ll likely get more pure gaming mileage with a gaming laptop of similar cost, and more functionality with keys and trackpad too. But you’ll lose the magic of it being a truly handheld machine along the way. And this is still cheaper than the premium AyaNeo 2, despite near-identical internal specs delivering the same fantastic AAA PC gaming performance.
AyaNeo also offers other variants of the Air Plus in less powerful configurations, including Intel Alder Lake Core i3 1215U builds starting at $649, and additional AMD Ryzen 3 7320U and Ryzen 5 7520U variants starting at $599. Each offers either 128GB or 512GB SSD storage, and 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR5 storage. All other specs remain the same.
Value: 3.5 / 5
AyaNeo Air Plus: Design
(Image credit: Future)
Great size for a Windows portable
Ergonomic controls
Premium Hall sensor triggers and sticks
AyaNeo has had a fair few goes at creating handheld PCs at this point, and the refinements it’s been making along the way are really starting to pay off. While this is not as luxurious as the AyaNeo 2, instead designed to land at a more affordable price point, I’d argue this is the better machine for portable play in many ways.
That’s in large part because of the screen size. The AyaNeo Air Plus opts for a 6-inch touch display compared to the 7-incher on the AyaNeo 2. Both are gorgeous; rich IPS displays with contrast ratios and color depth to rival an OLED panel. But the smaller screen on the Air Plus facilitates an overall smaller, lighter design, making it far easier to play and hold for longer play sessions. It puts the oversized Steam Deck to shame in this respect. And, as I’ll discuss in a bit, it also helps to increase battery life. Interestingly, the brightness steps on the AyaNeo Air Plus feel a little… off? After about 30% brightness, you’re so close to max visible brightness that I rarely went above that value, so it doesn't seem worth any potential battery trade-off to go any higher. Regardless, it’s a sharper, brighter display than you’ll find on a Steam Deck, even before you hit the halfway mark.
Not every difference in design next to its pricier AyaNeo 2 stablemate is for the better: you’ve only got two USB-C ports (one on the top edge, one on the bottom) compared to the three found on the AyaNeo 2, and the sticks are inferior Joy-Con clones rather than the Xbox-like sticks on the AyaNeo 2. But again, in service of a smaller overall device, they’re smart choices, and the drift-free Hall sensors are still present in the sticks for accurate control. Each has an adjustable RGB light underneath, too.
It's ergonomically very comfortable, and more traditional in size and shape than the Steam Deck. A slight curvature to the back shell where your palms sit lets your fingers hug the AyaNeo Air Plus without cramping (though it is a fingerprint magnet on the rear), and shoulder and trigger buttons are in easy reach, with just the right amount of travel and clickiness. Those triggers are analogue compatible too, again with Hall sensors, letting you dial in fine input — perfect for, say, revving an engine at just the right speed in a racing game like Forza Horizon 5. The D-Pad pivots well, and gives you the precision you need for platformers and brawlers. Start and select buttons sit under the D-Pad on the left, and X, Y, A, and B buttons sit above the right stick — buttons a little smaller perhaps than we’d like, but again in service of added portability.
There’s a few extra buttons that you won’t usually find on a traditional console handheld here. Next to the shoulder buttons are two clicky hotkey buttons that can be configured for whatever use you see fit —say, for instance, bringing up the onscreen touch keyboard, or Task Manager. Then below the right stick are two circular buttons, one larger than the other. The bigger opens up the Aya Space game launcher and device settings software with a long press, while a short press brings up an overlay for quick settings like TDP, brightness and volume control. The smaller button is configurable, but I left it as its default ‘Show Desktop’ function, which is always handy. Up top is a power button which also doubles up as a fingerprint scanner — it’s far, far more reliable than that seen on the AyaNeo 2, thankfully.
That top edge is capped off by a thin horizontal volume rocker, a mic spot, the first of the USB-C ports and a large exhaust vent, pushing out air pulled in from a fan intake grill on the rear of the device. The lower edge houses the AyaNeo Air Plus’s stereo speakers, the second USB-C port, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD slot, covered by a flap. Those speakers are reasonably loud, and won’t be drowned out when the fans need to kick in.
Design: 4.5 / 5
AyaNeo Air Plus: Performance
(Image credit: Future / Gerald Lynch)
Great AAA gaming performance
Better-than-expected battery life
Could be quickly overshadowed by a growing number of rival devices
Though it’s not packing discrete graphics, the superb performance of AMD’s Ryzen 7 6800U chipset, paired with the 32GB of RAM in our review unit, means that the AyaNeo Air Plus can handle any game I throw at it. Yes, you may need to dial the resolution down a tad, drop the graphical presets to lower settings, and accept that you won’t get Cyberpunk 2077’s ray-tracing ‘Overdrive’ mode running here. But if you’ve ever dreamed of playing Elden Ring on the toilet (or should that be the nightmare?), the AyaNeo Air Plus makes that possible at solid frame rates.
Performance in many aspects is similar to that of the AyaNeo 2: though that’s a more premium device in its external design, reflected in its pricing, the internal specs are essentially identical.
As you’d expect, indie games like Hades and Night in the Woods will easily play at 1080p / 60fps without the AyaNeo Air Plus breaking a sweat, with a sweet spot between 5W and 8W for 2D titles and retro 3D games. Cranking things up a notch, a 10W TDP and 720p resolution saw an enjoyably stable 30fps for Grand Theft Auto V on medium settings — an experience that could scale to 60fp or higher resolutions with ease at a higher TDP (at the expense of battery life). Similar fun could be had with The Witcher 3 at a 30fps cap on Low settings at a 720p resolution by pushing the TDP on the chipset up to 20W — a superior handheld experience compared to the Nintendo Switch port, for instance. Those that are wanting to dabble with emulation will have a great time, too, with upscaled PS2 and Gamecube easily achieved across the vast majority of titles, and even solid performance with platforms as demanding as the PS3.
Where the AyaNeo Air Plus beats out the AyaNeo 2; however, by some distance is in battery life. With a smaller 6-inch display, the Air Plus is less power-hungry, and given that the smaller screen size facilitates a smaller handheld overall, that, combined with battery improvements, makes for a better device all around, in my opinion. Lower-end games, such as indies or retro titles, will happily run for between 3 and 4 hours at a 1080p resolution and between a 5W or 8W TDP, while an online shooter like Destiny 2 can get upwards of two hours of play at 720p and a 30fps cap. The real top-tier titles, like the PC God of War port, is still going to push the AyaNeo Air Plus to its limits in terms of battery life. But if you’re conservative in your settings, you can still eke out close to an hour and a half of play before the battery throws in the towel.
As has become the norm with PC portables, your mileage will vary based on your stomach for lower frame rates and resolutions versus battery life. You will have to be prepared to tweak TDP settings to find the happy balance you’re comfortable with. This isn’t quite pick-up-and-play, then, though honestly, PC gaming in any form factor never has been. But the compromise feels much fairer here than with its AyaNeo 2 predecessor. In portable PC terms, this is as good as it currently gets.
Just how long the AyaNeo Air Plus sits on top of the PC gaming handheld pile is debatable. However — as AyaNeo’s own recent, busy product roadmap shows, this is a product category growing at an incredible rate. Competition is landing thick and fast, and devices like the upcoming ASUS ROG Ally will give the AyaNeo Air Plus a run for its money. For now, however, the AyaNeo Air Plus is leading the pack.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
AyaNeo Air Plus: Software and features
(Image credit: Future / Gerald Lynch)
The AyaNeo Air Plus runs full-fat Windows 11 Home, meaning you can dig around in the back end of Microsoft’s operating system with impunity. If you want to install any and every Windows application, fire up a Word document or even run your business, nothing is stopping you from doing that on the AyaNeo Air Plus.
That’s a double-edged sword, however. Despite technically supporting touch input, it’s still an operating system best navigated with a keyboard and mouse, and AyaNeo’s efforts to translate that to touch, stick and face button mappings is admirable but ultimately flawed. Likewise, its Aya Space frontend, which acts as both a game launcher and hardware setting configuration application, is better in theory than in practice. It is not quite a match for the Steam Deck SteamOS experience, let alone something as well polished and focused as the Nintendo Switch operating system. The shortcut overlay, accessed by pressing the AyaNeo logo ‘Home’ button on the device, is more useful, though, letting you quickly tweak fan settings, TDP draws to eke more power from the device, as well as resolution settings, brightness, volume and quick-launch buttons for apps or features like the onscreen keyboard.
Should you buy the AyaNeo Air Plus?
Buy it if...
You want relatively powerful PC gaming on the go
This is a handheld PC with as much power as you can currently fit into a device this size, making for a great gameplay experience.
You want your mobile devices to actually feel portable
The size and shape of the AyaNeo Air Plus makes it far easier to actually travel with, without compromising comfort.
You are comfortable with Windows
AyaNeo Air Plus gives you access to the full functionality of the Windows operating system — and all the potential that brings with it.
Don't buy it if...
You’re on a tight budget
You’ll get a ‘good-enough’ handheld PC gaming experience from a Steam Deck, but at a much cheaper price.
You want a more console-like experience
The Aya Space software isn’t good enough to keep you from having to delve back into Windows constantly.
You want to be able to get real work done on your gaming PC
If that’s the case, you may want to pick up a keyboard-equipped gaming laptop instead.
Also Consider: Valve's Steam Deck
If our AyaNeo Air Plus review has you considering other options, you should consider…
How I tested the AyaNeo Air Plus
Review test period: two weeks
Gaming across Steam / Epic Games. AAA games and indie titles
Light web browsing and general Windows PC tasks
Over the course of two weeks testing the AyaNeo Air Plus, I played a range of modern, classic, indie, and AAA PC gaming titles, ranging from everything from Cyberpunk 2077 to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. I even played some retro titles via emulation software.
Though it’s pricier than the Steam Deck, the AyaNeo Air Plus justifies that by being the superior machine in many ways. For example, it’s more powerful, has a more comfortable form factor, and has better specs in key departments, including screen quality. Its only drawback is its software, which hasn’t been as perfectly optimized for handheld play in the same way that the Steam Deck equivalent has. Having said that, you get far more flexibility with the native full-fat Windows on offer here.
Working as a technology and gaming journalist for more than 15 years, I’ve tested (and in many cases owned) every major games console since the SNES, dozens of gaming PCs, and reviewed countless games along the way. I’m a regular gamer at home across Xbox Series X, PS5, and Nintendo Switch consoles, and I have my own gaming PC equipped with the latest generation of Intel processors and an Nvidia RTX 3080 GPU. I’ve also tested many of the new wave of gaming handhelds, including devices from Ayn, Anbernic, PowKiddy, and other AyaNeo models.
AyaNeo is making PC handhelds as fast as you can buy them. It seems only a few weeks have passed since we looked at the gorgeous AyaNeo 2, another excellent handheld gaming PC. Yet, here we are with the all-new AyaNeo Air Plus device — available in several different configurations, no less, and all very exciting.
The flagship version I’ve been testing packs in the same AMD Ryzen 7 6800U chipset that we saw in the more-premium AyaNeo 2, but in a smaller form factor that makes it a far more comfortable device for portable play. As a result, for my money, this is currently the best handheld gaming PC on the market. It offers the same AAA performance of the AyaNeo 2, at a price point closer to the Steam Deck, but in a device that’s just simply more comfortable to play for extended lengths of time by virtue of its compact design, fronted by a 6-inch 1080p display.
The end result is something quite special — a truly portable gaming PC capable of better performance than the Steam Deck, with full-fat Windows 11 to play about in. Yes, it remains more expensive than Valve’s handheld, and the Steam Deck is the recommended option for those who want a more console-like experience. But for those that are willing to trade a degree of convenience in favor of frame rate, resolution and portability, the AyaNeo Air Plus is an incredible device.
AyaNeo Air Plus: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future / Gerald Lynch)
How much does it cost? Starts at $599 (model reviewed RRP $979)
When is it available? Available now in Glacier Blue, Starlight Black and Classic Grey
Where can you get it? Available online direct from AyaNeo, with third-party retailers to follow soon
AyaNeo Air Plus: Specs
Here is the AyaNeo Air Plus configuration sent to TechRadar Gaming for review:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 6800U
RAM: 32GB LPDDR5 6400 (16GB option available)
SSD: 512GB (1TB and 2TB options available)
Size: 237mm X 91.4mm x 23.1mm
Weight: 525g
Screen: 1920 x 1080 / IPS / 6-inch / 400nits / 368 PPI / Touch-enabled
Input: Hall sensor joysticks / Hall sensor triggers / Fingerprint scanner
The AyaNeo Air Plus starts at an affordable $599 for its lower-powered models, but to get into the Steam Deck-beating territory, it stalks, you need to cough up for the premium AMD Ryzen 7 6800U model. At that point, you’ve comfortably got a machine that outperforms Valve’s model — at a significantly higher price, of course, which is fair enough, considering Valve helps to subsidize Steam Deck costs through Steam store game sales. In terms of value, you’ll likely get more pure gaming mileage with a gaming laptop of similar cost, and more functionality with keys and trackpad too. But you’ll lose the magic of it being a truly handheld machine along the way. And this is still cheaper than the premium AyaNeo 2, despite near-identical internal specs delivering the same fantastic AAA PC gaming performance.
AyaNeo also offers other variants of the Air Plus in less powerful configurations, including Intel Alder Lake Core i3 1215U builds starting at $649, and additional AMD Ryzen 3 7320U and Ryzen 5 7520U variants starting at $599. Each offers either 128GB or 512GB SSD storage, and 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR5 storage. All other specs remain the same.
Value: 3.5 / 5
AyaNeo Air Plus: Design
(Image credit: Future)
Great size for a Windows portable
Ergonomic controls
Premium Hall sensor triggers and sticks
AyaNeo has had a fair few goes at creating handheld PCs at this point, and the refinements it’s been making along the way are really starting to pay off. While this is not as luxurious as the AyaNeo 2, instead designed to land at a more affordable price point, I’d argue this is the better machine for portable play in many ways.
That’s in large part because of the screen size. The AyaNeo Air Plus opts for a 6-inch touch display compared to the 7-incher on the AyaNeo 2. Both are gorgeous; rich IPS displays with contrast ratios and color depth to rival an OLED panel. But the smaller screen on the Air Plus facilitates an overall smaller, lighter design, making it far easier to play and hold for longer play sessions. It puts the oversized Steam Deck to shame in this respect. And, as I’ll discuss in a bit, it also helps to increase battery life. Interestingly, the brightness steps on the AyaNeo Air Plus feel a little… off? After about 30% brightness, you’re so close to max visible brightness that I rarely went above that value, so it doesn't seem worth any potential battery trade-off to go any higher. Regardless, it’s a sharper, brighter display than you’ll find on a Steam Deck, even before you hit the halfway mark.
Not every difference in design next to its pricier AyaNeo 2 stablemate is for the better: you’ve only got two USB-C ports (one on the top edge, one on the bottom) compared to the three found on the AyaNeo 2, and the sticks are inferior Joy-Con clones rather than the Xbox-like sticks on the AyaNeo 2. But again, in service of a smaller overall device, they’re smart choices, and the drift-free Hall sensors are still present in the sticks for accurate control. Each has an adjustable RGB light underneath, too.
It's ergonomically very comfortable, and more traditional in size and shape than the Steam Deck. A slight curvature to the back shell where your palms sit lets your fingers hug the AyaNeo Air Plus without cramping (though it is a fingerprint magnet on the rear), and shoulder and trigger buttons are in easy reach, with just the right amount of travel and clickiness. Those triggers are analogue compatible too, again with Hall sensors, letting you dial in fine input — perfect for, say, revving an engine at just the right speed in a racing game like Forza Horizon 5. The D-Pad pivots well, and gives you the precision you need for platformers and brawlers. Start and select buttons sit under the D-Pad on the left, and X, Y, A, and B buttons sit above the right stick — buttons a little smaller perhaps than we’d like, but again in service of added portability.
There’s a few extra buttons that you won’t usually find on a traditional console handheld here. Next to the shoulder buttons are two clicky hotkey buttons that can be configured for whatever use you see fit —say, for instance, bringing up the onscreen touch keyboard, or Task Manager. Then below the right stick are two circular buttons, one larger than the other. The bigger opens up the Aya Space game launcher and device settings software with a long press, while a short press brings up an overlay for quick settings like TDP, brightness and volume control. The smaller button is configurable, but I left it as its default ‘Show Desktop’ function, which is always handy. Up top is a power button which also doubles up as a fingerprint scanner — it’s far, far more reliable than that seen on the AyaNeo 2, thankfully.
That top edge is capped off by a thin horizontal volume rocker, a mic spot, the first of the USB-C ports and a large exhaust vent, pushing out air pulled in from a fan intake grill on the rear of the device. The lower edge houses the AyaNeo Air Plus’s stereo speakers, the second USB-C port, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD slot, covered by a flap. Those speakers are reasonably loud, and won’t be drowned out when the fans need to kick in.
Design: 4.5 / 5
AyaNeo Air Plus: Performance
(Image credit: Future / Gerald Lynch)
Great AAA gaming performance
Better-than-expected battery life
Could be quickly overshadowed by a growing number of rival devices
Though it’s not packing discrete graphics, the superb performance of AMD’s Ryzen 7 6800U chipset, paired with the 32GB of RAM in our review unit, means that the AyaNeo Air Plus can handle any game I throw at it. Yes, you may need to dial the resolution down a tad, drop the graphical presets to lower settings, and accept that you won’t get Cyberpunk 2077’s ray-tracing ‘Overdrive’ mode running here. But if you’ve ever dreamed of playing Elden Ring on the toilet (or should that be the nightmare?), the AyaNeo Air Plus makes that possible at solid frame rates.
Performance in many aspects is similar to that of the AyaNeo 2: though that’s a more premium device in its external design, reflected in its pricing, the internal specs are essentially identical.
As you’d expect, indie games like Hades and Night in the Woods will easily play at 1080p / 60fps without the AyaNeo Air Plus breaking a sweat, with a sweet spot between 5W and 8W for 2D titles and retro 3D games. Cranking things up a notch, a 10W TDP and 720p resolution saw an enjoyably stable 30fps for Grand Theft Auto V on medium settings — an experience that could scale to 60fp or higher resolutions with ease at a higher TDP (at the expense of battery life). Similar fun could be had with The Witcher 3 at a 30fps cap on Low settings at a 720p resolution by pushing the TDP on the chipset up to 20W — a superior handheld experience compared to the Nintendo Switch port, for instance. Those that are wanting to dabble with emulation will have a great time, too, with upscaled PS2 and Gamecube easily achieved across the vast majority of titles, and even solid performance with platforms as demanding as the PS3.
Where the AyaNeo Air Plus beats out the AyaNeo 2; however, by some distance is in battery life. With a smaller 6-inch display, the Air Plus is less power-hungry, and given that the smaller screen size facilitates a smaller handheld overall, that, combined with battery improvements, makes for a better device all around, in my opinion. Lower-end games, such as indies or retro titles, will happily run for between 3 and 4 hours at a 1080p resolution and between a 5W or 8W TDP, while an online shooter like Destiny 2 can get upwards of two hours of play at 720p and a 30fps cap. The real top-tier titles, like the PC God of War port, is still going to push the AyaNeo Air Plus to its limits in terms of battery life. But if you’re conservative in your settings, you can still eke out close to an hour and a half of play before the battery throws in the towel.
As has become the norm with PC portables, your mileage will vary based on your stomach for lower frame rates and resolutions versus battery life. You will have to be prepared to tweak TDP settings to find the happy balance you’re comfortable with. This isn’t quite pick-up-and-play, then, though honestly, PC gaming in any form factor never has been. But the compromise feels much fairer here than with its AyaNeo 2 predecessor. In portable PC terms, this is as good as it currently gets.
Just how long the AyaNeo Air Plus sits on top of the PC gaming handheld pile is debatable. However — as AyaNeo’s own recent, busy product roadmap shows, this is a product category growing at an incredible rate. Competition is landing thick and fast, and devices like the upcoming ASUS ROG Ally will give the AyaNeo Air Plus a run for its money. For now, however, the AyaNeo Air Plus is leading the pack.
Performance: 4.5 / 5
AyaNeo Air Plus: Software and features
(Image credit: Future / Gerald Lynch)
The AyaNeo Air Plus runs full-fat Windows 11 Home, meaning you can dig around in the back end of Microsoft’s operating system with impunity. If you want to install any and every Windows application, fire up a Word document or even run your business, nothing is stopping you from doing that on the AyaNeo Air Plus.
That’s a double-edged sword, however. Despite technically supporting touch input, it’s still an operating system best navigated with a keyboard and mouse, and AyaNeo’s efforts to translate that to touch, stick and face button mappings is admirable but ultimately flawed. Likewise, its Aya Space frontend, which acts as both a game launcher and hardware setting configuration application, is better in theory than in practice. It is not quite a match for the Steam Deck SteamOS experience, let alone something as well polished and focused as the Nintendo Switch operating system. The shortcut overlay, accessed by pressing the AyaNeo logo ‘Home’ button on the device, is more useful, though, letting you quickly tweak fan settings, TDP draws to eke more power from the device, as well as resolution settings, brightness, volume and quick-launch buttons for apps or features like the onscreen keyboard.
Should you buy the AyaNeo Air Plus?
Buy it if...
You want relatively powerful PC gaming on the go
This is a handheld PC with as much power as you can currently fit into a device this size, making for a great gameplay experience.
You want your mobile devices to actually feel portable
The size and shape of the AyaNeo Air Plus makes it far easier to actually travel with, without compromising comfort.
You are comfortable with Windows
AyaNeo Air Plus gives you access to the full functionality of the Windows operating system — and all the potential that brings with it.
Don't buy it if...
You’re on a tight budget
You’ll get a ‘good-enough’ handheld PC gaming experience from a Steam Deck, but at a much cheaper price.
You want a more console-like experience
The Aya Space software isn’t good enough to keep you from having to delve back into Windows constantly.
You want to be able to get real work done on your gaming PC
If that’s the case, you may want to pick up a keyboard-equipped gaming laptop instead.
Also Consider: Valve's Steam Deck
If our AyaNeo Air Plus review has you considering other options, you should consider…
How I tested the AyaNeo Air Plus
Review test period: two weeks
Gaming across Steam / Epic Games. AAA games and indie titles
Light web browsing and general Windows PC tasks
Over the course of two weeks testing the AyaNeo Air Plus, I played a range of modern, classic, indie, and AAA PC gaming titles, ranging from everything from Cyberpunk 2077 to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. I even played some retro titles via emulation software.
Though it’s pricier than the Steam Deck, the AyaNeo Air Plus justifies that by being the superior machine in many ways. For example, it’s more powerful, has a more comfortable form factor, and has better specs in key departments, including screen quality. Its only drawback is its software, which hasn’t been as perfectly optimized for handheld play in the same way that the Steam Deck equivalent has. Having said that, you get far more flexibility with the native full-fat Windows on offer here.
Working as a technology and gaming journalist for more than 15 years, I’ve tested (and in many cases owned) every major games console since the SNES, dozens of gaming PCs, and reviewed countless games along the way. I’m a regular gamer at home across Xbox Series X, PS5, and Nintendo Switch consoles, and I have my own gaming PC equipped with the latest generation of Intel processors and an Nvidia RTX 3080 GPU. I’ve also tested many of the new wave of gaming handhelds, including devices from Ayn, Anbernic, PowKiddy, and other AyaNeo models.
If asked, most users would like the sleekness and portability of an Ultrabook but at an affordable price point. They’re unlikely to get that combination, but they might get a system like the Acer Travelmate P2 and at least feel that its technology is comparable with those more expensive laptops.
The Acer Travelmate P2 (TMP215-54), is a general-purpose machine with a powerful processor, NVMe storage, upgradable memory and a good selection of ports.
At the volume point in the Acer laptop model, the Travelmate P2 comes in a very wide range of SKUs, starting with Intel Core i3 models. Moving up from the popular I5 machines, Acer also makes Core i7 variants for those that need even more power.
Alternatively, Acer has AMD Ryzen 3, 5 or 7 options for those that don’t want Intel hardware.
Depending on the spec, and if they have a 14” or 15.6” display, they range in price from around $400 to over $1000 and can come with up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of NVMe SSD space.
That relatively low pricing hints that these machines aren’t sophisticated designs, constructed largely of plastic and polycarbonate, and the components, such as the screen, aren’t of the highest specification.
The weakness of this model is that the integrated GPU isn’t anything special (on Intel), but if you’re not editing video or connecting to a 4K external monitor, the Travelmate P2 is a decent daily driver.
The Travelmate P2 might not be the best budget laptop we’ve seen, but it is far from the worst.
Acer Travelmate P2: Price and availability
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
How much does it cost? $400-$1500
When is it out? It is available now
Where can you get it? You can get it in most regions direct from Acer or through an online retailer.
Travelmate P2 TMP215-54 Specs
The Acer Travelmate P2 that was sent to us for review came with the following hardware:
Model: TMP215-54 (NX.VVSEK.004) CPU: Intel Core i5-1235U GPU: Iris Xe 80EU Graphics RAM: 8GB DDR4 (single DIMM) Storage: 256GB Hynix NVME Screen: 15.6" LED backlight 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz Weight: 1.9 kg Dimensions: 35.97 x 24.425 x 2.07 cm Camera: Webcam (1280 x 1024) Networking: WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 Ports: 1x HDMI, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (with power off charging), 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, 1x Ethernet LAN, Headphone/microphone combo jack, 1x MicroSD card reader OS: Win 10 Pro 64-bit + Windows 11 Pro Licence Battery: 56 Whr 3-cell Li-ion battery
Our review machine, the Travelmate P2 TMP215-54 (NX.VVSEK.004) isn’t one of those sold directly in the UK, but is available through Curry’s business channel and other retail outlets.
The pricing of this machine can vary wildly depending on the SKU, and in the UK alone Acer sells 28 different specifications. It has a UK cost of £764.38 inclusive of VAT.
The closest equivalent US customers have to that model is the TMP215-54-52X7 (NX.VVRAA.001), which has the same processor as our review hardware, but 16GB of RAM and 512 GB SSD, all for $949.99.
With this wide selection of potential hardware, it's probably the best plan to decide what your budget limits are and then see what options Acer has for that money.
As we’ll talk about later, upgrading the SSD and RAM on these machines is possible, which might save you money over having lots of either item pre-installed.
Value: 4 / 5
Acer Travelmate P2: Design
(Image credit: Acer)
Black is not optional
Excellent port selection
On the heavy side
This laptop is a by-the-numbers design in that there isn’t anything exotic or special to talk about, either inside or out. It comes only in black, and this colour scheme inherently attracts dust the moment after it comes out of the box.
A feature we appreciated most was that it came with an Ethernet port, although Acer was forced to make one that expands to accommodate the cable end in this case. That’s useful, especially getting the system over the tsunami of updates that any new Windows machine will be subjected.
We also liked the keyboard, which is big enough to have a numeric pad, even if it’s a little narrow, and the touchpad is also well-sized, but because of the numeric pad offset, it’s not very central.
One curiosity is the screen hinges that tease that they might be fully reversible but aren’t. These hinges do allow the screen to fold flat, travelling 180 degrees from the close position to fully extended. Not sure what the value is in this much rotation, but it’s what it can do.
Ports are mostly along either side, other than a MicroSD card slot on the front edge. The rear edge is exclusively allocated to an exhaust vent, and the underside has extensive vent holes for bringing air in to be expelled rearwards.
One slight disappointment is that the webcam doesn’t have a physical privacy cover, instead opting for a software solution. The Acer Spin 714 Chromebook had a physical cover, so why not this PC?
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Considering that this laptop is designated a ‘Travelmate’, the mass of this machine is on the high side at 1.9 kg or over 4 lbs. That’s plenty to be carrying around, and this isn’t the machine you can practically hold with one hand and operate with the other.
With so much mass involved, at least those designing it kept a reasonable balance between the display and base so that it's stable even if the screen is angled extremely.
However, for those that travel extensively with their machine, the Travelmate P2 probably isn’t ideal from a portability perspective.
Where it might be better fitted is in a home office where it operates as a desktop replacement system connecting to the house router with ethernet and peripherals with its many ports.
Though, as we’ll cover later, the battery capacity of this model does enable a working day away from a power socket if required.
In short, the Travelmate P2 was built to a price, but that cost looks reasonable value for money when you look at the part specifications.
Design: 4 / 5
Acer Travelmate P2: Hardware
12th Gen CPU
Cheap SSD
User upgrades possible
The highlight of this P2 SKU is undoubtedly the 12th Gen Intel Core i5-1235U processor, a design we’ve seen previously that sports ten cores and can process 12 threads simultaneously.
What’s slightly odd about this intel design is that instead of balancing the performance and efficiency cores, it has just two P-cores and eight E-Cores. That makes it good for both multitasking and power efficiency, but it lacks performance punch for the most demanding applications.
We’ll talk about raw performance below, but for general use, this is a good processor.
Where this machine is less impressive are some of the OEM parts that Acer chose to install on it, and the SK Hynix SSD is one of those. The 256GB capacity seems on the modest side of capacity, and we found this model being sold on retail for only $25.
It doesn’t cost much to boost the SSD to something much more suitable, and thankfully with this machine, that type of enhancement is possible.
To gain access inside requires the removal of 12 screws and a small plastic spudger to free the back. Once inside, both the DDR4 memory slots and the M.2 NVMe drive are both accessible. As the P2 isn’t one of those stupidly thin Ultrabook designs the memory is slotted, it could easily be enhanced beyond the 8GB it came with. The maximum memory of this processor is 64GB, but even 16GB by adding another 8GB module would enhance operations.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Included in the box was a small tray and ribbon cable that allows a SATA SSD or hard drive to be mounted inside, and this could be very useful if only for cloning the existing drive to temporary storage before upgrading the M.2 drive. The M.2 slot will take Gen 3 drives that don’t have a heatsink attached, and those can be found with capacities up to 4TB.
One side note to our internal investigations was the battery, the one that Acer claims is 56 Whr. Based on a quoted voltage and amperage printed on the battery, our maths says 54.5 Whr is a more accurate number.
That said, whatever it is, the battery in this laptop is undoubtedly one of the best aspects.
If that’s one of the best, the worst is undoubtedly the screen. We’re unsure what the exact technology used in the display is, but it is not bright, and the viewing angles aren’t great, suggesting that it isn’t an IPS screen.
To make it workable, we were forced to use full brightness, and even then, the colours it produced were subdued. Like the SSD, this looks like another cost-saving choice on Acer’s part.
Hardware: 4 / 5
Acer Travelmate P2: Performance
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Good processor
Lower spec Iris Xe GPU
User upgrades possible
Acer Travelmate P2 Benchmarks
This is how the Acer Travelmate P2 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
The performance offered on this machine is something of a mixed bag. We’ve previously tested other machines using the same Core i5-1235U and got better scores than these, and the difference may be down to the memory specs.
While the Iris Xe 80EU GPU is better than the dire UHD Graphics that older Intel processors offered, the 96EU version used on the Intel Core i7-1260P and Core i7-1195G7 is twice as fast when pushed by a Core-i7 class processor.
The graphics performance is acceptable for web use and even video playback, but it isn’t anything we’d recommend trying to game with or is ideal for using CAD applications.
The SK Hynix SSD is reasonably quick at reading, allowing the laptop to boot smartly, but its write speed is less compelling. As already mentioned, a higher-performance SSD with greater capacity would be a good upgrade for this SKU.
What’s interesting is that the Windows Experience Index number and the PCMark 10 scores are decent, and with a faster SSD, these would be even better.
What doesn’t need any help is the battery score as tested by PCMark10. At over ten hours, with the screen brightness turned down to 120 nits, that’s more than a working day of use.
To summarise, the processing power of this model is probably overkill for general office use, but the GPU isn’t anything special.
In the American SKUs of the Travelmate P2, we noticed a few machines with discrete Nvidia GeForce MX330. That would make a modest difference to graphics performance, and probably a better choice would be an AMD Ryzen-based P2 with its faster integrated Radeon RX Vega 7 or 8 Graphics.
But, these specification machines are at the higher end of the cost spectrum.
Both the storage and the memory can be upgraded on the P2 (Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Performance: 4 / 5
This version of the Travelmate P2 had some highs and a few lows, but most models are good value for money, considering the functionality and performance offered and the price asked.
Our review machine using a 12th Gen Core-i5 processor looks like a sweet spot where you get the best deal without spending excessively.
However, there is one aspect of the P2 we didn’t care for, and that was the liberal plastering of bloatware on the Windows 11 installation.
Users don’t want to have Norton leap up five seconds after the first boot to tell them the sky is falling or some of the other dubious software installed on this machine. If users want those things badly enough, they will install them, and to assume otherwise is just rude.
Customers should therefore budget an afternoon to strip the machine of everything they didn’t pay for so they can use the one thing they did.
Not sure why some brands seem so unwilling to accept most customers don’t want bloatware, but Acer remains one of them.
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First off, unsurprisingly since the Zenfone line is now a high-end one, the Zenfone 10 will be using Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. This was paired with 16GB of RAM in the specific prototype that ran the benchmark, but we're sure other options will be available too - the Zenfone 9 had iterations with 6GB and 8GB alongside the 16GB...
Chromebooks started their rise by being popular with students, who liked their web-based nature and long battery life, but eventually, businesses realised its virtues.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (CP714-1WN) isn’t a low-cost plastic Chromebook for students but an elegant Ultrabook concept with a 14-inch HD touchscreen and an aluminium body.
Designed as a web-based workhorse, Acer gave it a durable, full-size keyboard with a backlit design that makes it easy to type in low light.
Even with a lightweight metal and plastic exterior, the Spin is a hefty 3.09 lbs (1.4 kg) and is 0.7 inches (18.05 mm) thick. That’s an almost identical weight to its predecessor and not so heavy that you would have trouble carrying it.
Acer has previously released two versions of its 713 design, and the new 714 builds on that legacy by providing more power and functionality while retaining much of the form factor and styling that made the 713 series so popular.
However, in this transition to 12th Gen technology, Acer managed to misplace the MicroSD card slot from the previous model, lost the terrific 2256 x 1504 resolution screen, and the battery life of 10 hours hasn’t gotten any better.
What you do get here is a much better Intel 12th Gen processor with more powerful graphics, HDMI out, a Thunderbolt 4 port and a stylus that is neatly housed in the chassis.
The jury is still unsure if this constitutes a significant improvement over the 713, but it’s a classy piece of hardware and a notch above most hybrid Chromebooks.
Where can you get it? You can get it in most regions direct from Acer or through an online retailer.
Acer Spin 714 Chromebook Specs
The Acer Spin 714 Chromebook that was sent to us for review came with the following hardware:
Model: CP714-1WN CPU: Intel Core i5-1235U GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics RAM: 8GB LPDDR5 Storage: 512GB PCIe Gen 3, 8Gb/s, NVME Screen: 35.6 cm (14") Touch screen Resolution: 1920 x 1200 SIM: N/A Weight: 3.09 lbs (1.4 kg) Dimensions: 312.6 x 224 x 18.05 mm Robustness: MIL-STD 810H Camera: FHD MIPI webcam (1920 x 1080),1080 HD video at 60fps Networking: WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 OS: ChromeOS Battery: 56Wh 3-cell Li-ion battery
At more than $700, the Spin 714 is at the more expensive end of the Chromebook spectrum, but it is cheaper than ASUS CB9400CEA Chromebook and the Google Pixelbook.
Acer also makes an Enterprise edition of this model that costs £1,099.99 in the UK and is priced specifically for Corporate customers in the USA at around $1049.99.
The Enterprise versions typically come with more RAM, up to 16GB, and business administration tools are preinstalled on them for easier rollouts.
T1here are cheaper Chromebook options from Acer and other brands that can offer a similar specification for much less. Intel, Lenovo, HP, Asus and Acer all make ARM-based designs that are less than half this cost.
As a good example, the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i is closer to $500 for a similar if less powerful design.
Value: 3 / 5
Acer Spin 714 Chromebook: Design
The Spin 714 has an unbuilt stylus for easier tablet mode use (Image credit: Acer)
Attractive styling
Excellent port selection
Inbuilt stylus
We’ve seen enough broken Chromebooks to know that they can be abused by their owners, so being able to take a few knocks is essential for a business tool like the Spin 714.
The Spin 714 uses a very similar physical design to the 713, and given how successful that machine was, that Acer stuck with a similar plan isn’t a big surprise.
However, the devil is most certainly in the detail here, and the Spin 714 has arguably lost as much as it gained from the 713.
For those unsure about the ‘Spin’ aspect of this design, this Chromebook has a fully extensible hinge that allows the screen to go from fully closed to 360 degrees open, allowing the machine to operate as a tablet. It can do all the positions between those extremes to provide tent mode for watching a presentation or streamed content.
This flexibility allows for a hybrid use model, where the 714 can be a conventional laptop or a tablet, depending on the demands.
Mostly for tablet mode, the screen is touch-sensitive, and Acer does include an integrated stylus if smudgy fingerprints annoy you as much as they do us. The stylus isn’t a pressure sensitive one or has any buttons, but it's better than using your finger.
A nice touch is that the slot it lives in is also the charger for the stylus, and just 15 minutes inserted in its home is enough to recharge power for four hours of use.
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
If it wasn’t running ChromeOS, the same hardware could run Windows or Linux happily since it has all the ports and Intel x86/64 parts needed for a good computing experience.
On the left side is a Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port, a full-size HDMI out, the 2.5mm audio jack and a power button. And on the right is another Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB 3.0 Type-A port and a volume rocker.
We’ve seen some poor USB-C implementations on Windows laptops, where the port used for charging is exclusive to that job and can’t be utilised for any other purpose. But here, the Thunderbolt 4 ports on each side are interchangeable, allowing charging on whichever side is most convenient.
This isn’t the biggest keyboard we’ve seen on a machine this size, but it is backlit and has a pleasant key travel for typing. We’re less convinced about the touchpad. It’s small, but as you have a touch screen, you’re not forced to use it without a mouse.
A fingerprint sensor below the keyboard and to the left of the touchpad, and a 1080p webcam at the top centre of the screen with a physical privacy cover (hooray).
Probably the most significant difference over the 713 is the display, which is a less bright and less impressive resolution than what came before.
For those that never saw the lovely 400 nit panel on the 713, the one on the 714 is fine, but it doesn’t offer the same refined experience, sadly.
Design: 4 / 5
Acer Spin 714 Chromebook: Hardware
12th Gen CPU
Thunderbolt 4 port
Same battery size as 713
No LTE or SIM slot
Where the 713 used 10th and 11th Gen Intel parts, the 714 has the Intel Core i5-1235U, a 12th Gen CPU with ten cores. Depending on the 713 model, that machine either had a Core i7-1185G7, i5-1135G7, i5-10210U or i3-1115G4, but the i5-1235U used in the 714 is probably better than all of those options.
Because of the way ChromeOS works and its inherent web functionality, seeing the processing power in this machine in action is challenging. But, we did notice that when using the machine for standard tasks, it didn’t run the fans, something the 713 did, irrespective of the processor model.
Keeping cooler has advantages for power consumption and the life expectancy of the chips, so we’re all for those changes.
A major selling point on the Acer website for this model is that it offers a Thunderbolt 4 port, which has backward compatibility with USB 3.2. On a Windows laptop, this would be a desirable feature, as it would allow the connecting of external Thunderbolt or USB-C SSD storage and high-speed transfers.
However, moving files on and off the device is a 20th-century approach to problems. Because the advantage of a Chromebook is that everything is stored on the Cloud and not shuffled around using file managers.
The deeper we delved into the different strategies that a Windows PC and a Chromebook have to file management, the more we wondered why does this machine have a 12 Gen Core-i5 class processor? Can its power never be effectively used on web-based applications or data? This high-end class of Chromebook ends up wanting to be one thing but acting much more like a Windows PC, and the inclusion of Thunderbolt 4 only highlights this contradiction.
If you’re an IT person who has a user that has a Chromebook that insists on moving files from the system to external storage and back, they evidently don’t understand how to use it.
There are some exceptions to this, like video editing and graphics design, and it could be useful for bringing a media movie collection along on a trip, but the majority of owners that understand Chromebooks are unlikely to use it, ever.
The Spin 714 has a Thunderbolt 4 port on each side, and either can be used for charging the machine (Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
While we did see less fan activity and a cooler running processor, we didn’t notice that this machine lasted any longer on battery.
The 56Wh 3-cell Li-ion battery seems the same as was in the 713, and the quoted ten hours of operating lifespan is effectively the same.
That the battery doesn’t go further with a 12th Gen processor onboard hints that other factors, like the NVMe storage and the new screen, are consuming the extra power that the Core i5-1235U efficiency provides.
Whatever the power consumption equations are, it provides enough power for a good working day, and a 65W Liteon branded USB-C charger is provided that can give you four hours of running time for 30 minutes of charging.
A bigger battery would have been appreciated, but it might have made the 714 heavier than a Chromebook should be.
The missing part of the 714 hardware ensemble is mobile comms because when they’re not connected to the Internet, Chromebooks aren’t at their best.
Why Acer didn’t include a SIM slot to allow for LTE and 5G connections on the move is a genuine head-scratcher, and it forces owners to use a phone as a WiFi access point to get it connected away from the office. That they didn’t even offer this in the Spin 714 Enterprise edition (that has more RAM and preinstalled remote admin tools), is even more bemusing.
Removing the MicroSD card slot from the 713, we’ll forgive, but not including any mobile comms options is less defensible.
Hardware: 4 / 5
Acer Spin 714 Chromebook: Performance
(Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
ChromeOS
Too powerful for some benchmarks
Acer Spin 714 Chromebook Benchmarks
Here's how the Acer Spin 714 Chromebook performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
Mozilla Kraken: 488.5ms Speedometer: 202 runs/minute JetStream 2: 214.896 GeekBench: Single (1398), Multi (5555), Compute (10773) 3DMark Wild Life: 7830 PCMark Work 3.0: 12135
Chromebooks are difficult to judge from a performance perspective as they don’t typically run predefined executables like Windows machines. This Chromebook can run Android applications, but this is done using hardware emulation. Making it not an apples-for-apples comparison with an ARM-based phone or tablet.
We ran PCMark for Android and 3DMark, with varying results. 3DMark refused to run most tests declaring the system to be too powerful, but we did extract a Wild Life result from it.
What scores we did get told us that this is a powerful machine, which isn’t much of a shock. The performance of a Chromebook is dependent on many things that aren’t internal hardware in most scenarios, so does the power in this one ever get fully exploited? We have our doubts.
The Acer Spin 714 Chromebook desperately wants to be a Windows PC, and that’s somewhat at odds with running ChromeOS and being designated a Chromebook.
Tent mode is helpful for presentations or watching streaming shows (Image credit: Mark Pickavance)
Performance: 5 / 5
The Acer Spin 714 Chromebook is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a high-quality Chromebook and is prepared to pay for a refined experience. It has a sleek design, excellent performance, and works effectively with ChromeOS.
It is significantly cheaper than other Chromebooks in its class, but its special features, such as the 360-degree hinge, stylus, and Thunderbolt ports, make it more appealing to power users.
However, as this is a Chromebook and not a Windows PC, will the power in this machine ever be effectively leveraged? And, if it isn’t, then what is the point of such a high specification?
The new 714 design does offer a few new twists over the 713, but owners of the previous generation might miss its superior screen and MicroSD card slot. But the technology that this design most needed was LTE/5G comms, and for whatever reason, Acer engineers didn’t consider that to be something worth including.
