• Original review date: July 2022
• New model is out with updated components
• Launch price: $1,449 / £1,099
• Official price now: $1,449 / £1,099 (with new components)
Update: February 2024. We originally reviewed this model of the Acer Predator Orion 3000 almost two years ago, and we were so impressed that it went straight to the top of our best budget gaming PCs guide. Now in 2024, it is still in that list, but it has slipped down a few places, thanks to some more modern gaming PCs coming out. However, it remains a great budget buy, especially if you're looking for a compact gaming PC to play on. If you can find the model we reviewed here with the same components, you should be able to get it for a very good price as well. If you like the look of this machine but want more modern components, the good news is that Acer has released new models with 13th generation Intel processors, giving you a bit more future-proofing while keeping the same affordable price.
Acer Predator Orion 3000: One-Minute Review
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 desktop PC presents newer players with one of the best and most affordable opportunities to make their mark in the PC gaming scene. After all, there’s a reason why it sits comfortably at the top of TechRadar’s list of the best budget gaming PCs.
Acer’s latest Predator Orion 3000 line-up offers gamers the ability to choose from several mid-tier configurations that now include a 12th Gen Intel processor, an Nvidia RTX 30-series graphics card, and up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM, all packed neatly into a compact micro ATX case.
Understandably, this PC series makes a few compromises in terms of its components that can only be described as cost-saving measures. For example, although the Orion 3000 features both HDD and SSD storage, the most basic configurations tend to include just 256GB of the latter. Similarly, the Predator Orion 3000 series also features DDR4 RAM as opposed to the newer industry standard of DDR5.
Still, minor shortcomings aside, the hardware featured as part of the Acer Predator Orion 3000 series lends itself well to the average gamer. Plus, the PC is relatively easy to upgrade, should the need or desire to do so ever arise.
(Image credit: Future)
Acer Predator Orion 3000: Price and Availability
Starting at $1,449 / £1,099
Available now from the Acer store and third-party retailers
You can buy it in the US, UK and worldwide
Spec Sheet
Here is the Acer Predator Orion 3000 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12400F (2.50 GHz) Graphics: Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti RAM: 16GB DDR4 Storage: 256GB M.2 SSD + 1TB HDD Optical drive: N/A Ports front: 1 x USB-A 3.1, 1 x USB-C, 1 x headphone jack and 1 x microphone jack Ports back: 2 x USB-A 3.1, 4 x USB-A 3.0, 3 x analog audio jacks, 3 x DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI, Ethernet Operating system: Windows 11 Home Connectivity: Intel Killer E2600 Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.0 Weight: 21 pounds (9.5 kg) Size: 15.4 x 15.2 x 6.9 inches (392 x 386 x 175 mm)
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 gaming PC series can be found on sale in the US, UK, and worldwide, with a range of slightly varying configurations available depending on each gamer’s individual needs.
The latest iteration of the Orion 3000 series features the new Intel Alder Lake chipsets. The starting configuration is priced at $1,449 / £1,199 and includes a 12th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU and 16GB of RAM, as well as 256GB of SSD and 1TB of HDD storage. Pricier variations allow users to opt for either an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti or 3070 for the GPU and a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor for the CPU.
The configuration that TechRadar reviewed is a slightly more powerful model available in the UK for £1,299 (approximately $1,600 in the US). The Predator Orion 3000 arguably presents one of the best values for money especially when you take into account its decent gaming performance and esports-ready hardware. It could be even better value if any currently available Acer promo codes bring the price down more.
Price and Availability: 5/5
(Image credit: Future)
Acer Predator Orion 3000: Design
Neat, compact design
Configurable RGB lighting
Loud cooling fans
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 features the classic gaming black-and-RGB design within the confines of a compact micro ATX chassis.
At the front of the case, you’ll find a single USB Type-C port, alongside a Type-A USB 3.1 and two 3.5mm headphone and microphone ports. The PC’s back panel contains all the basic ports you can expect from your average gaming computer: four 3.0 USB Type-As, two 3.1 USB Type-As, and three analog audio ports. The back of the Nvidia RTX 30-series GPU allows gamers to connect their favorite display through either HDMI or DisplayPort.
In terms of software, the PC comes with a pre-installed version of Acer’s PredatorSense, which gamers can use to monitor internal temperatures, control the cooling fans and configure the RGB lighting system. It should be noted that on full blast, the PC’s cooling fans are extremely loud almost to the point of being distracting, even when using headphones on near-full volume.
In terms of hardware and affordability, the Acer Predator Orion 3000’s closest competitor would likely be the latest HP Omen product range, which can typically be found on offer for a similar price. However, it should be noted that in terms of design, the Predator Orion 3000 is the likely winner in the match-up.
The HP Omen comes equipped with a full ATX case, which – despite its slight upgradability advantage – will wind up taking up much more desk space. Another key aspect within the match-up is that the HP Omen series often receives criticism for its uninspiring design – something the Predator Orion 3000 excels at with its sleek appearance.
Although the Acer Predator Orion 3000 can be considered an affordable option, this certainly doesn’t mean that it compromises on gaming performance as much as you would expect from a budget PC. Thanks to the inclusion of an Nvidia 30-series graphics card, the Predator Orion 3000 is capable of coasting through even the most graphically intensive games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Total War: Warhammer III, consistently hitting over 70 fps on both titles on Ultra settings.
The Acer Predator Orion 3000’s performance in our usual benchmarking tests exceeded expectations too. For example, our review unit’s duo of Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and Intel Core i5 processor achieved 7,160 points in the PCMark 10 test. This meant that the Predator Orion 3000’s hardware scored higher than 93% of other PCs and placed higher than the average premium gaming PC from two years ago.
Overall, given the wide range of configurations available for purchase, the Acer Predator Orion 3000 line-up is perfectly capable of catering to most players looking to break into the world of PC gaming. Despite its lack of DDR5 RAM across the series and its base models including just 256GB of SSD storage, both are arguably minor shortcomings and can be easily overlooked considering the product’s reasonable price.
Although those on the lookout for more premium hardware would likely benefit from exploring other options, this gaming computer is a solid choice for those looking to balance a decent gaming performance with a more than palatable price range.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
• Original review date: July 2022
• New model is out with updated components
• Launch price: $1,449 / £1,099
• Official price now: $1,449 / £1,099 (with new components)
Update: February 2024. We originally reviewed this model of the Acer Predator Orion 3000 almost two years ago, and we were so impressed that it went straight to the top of our best budget gaming PCs guide. Now in 2024, it is still in that list, but it has slipped down a few places, thanks to some more modern gaming PCs coming out. However, it remains a great budget buy, especially if you're looking for a compact gaming PC to play on. If you can find the model we reviewed here with the same components, you should be able to get it for a very good price as well. If you like the look of this machine but want more modern components, the good news is that Acer has released new models with 13th generation Intel processors, giving you a bit more future-proofing while keeping the same affordable price.
Acer Predator Orion 3000: One-Minute Review
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 desktop PC presents newer players with one of the best and most affordable opportunities to make their mark in the PC gaming scene. After all, there’s a reason why it sits comfortably at the top of TechRadar’s list of the best budget gaming PCs.
Acer’s latest Predator Orion 3000 line-up offers gamers the ability to choose from several mid-tier configurations that now include a 12th Gen Intel processor, an Nvidia RTX 30-series graphics card, and up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM, all packed neatly into a compact micro ATX case.
Understandably, this PC series makes a few compromises in terms of its components that can only be described as cost-saving measures. For example, although the Orion 3000 features both HDD and SSD storage, the most basic configurations tend to include just 256GB of the latter. Similarly, the Predator Orion 3000 series also features DDR4 RAM as opposed to the newer industry standard of DDR5.
Still, minor shortcomings aside, the hardware featured as part of the Acer Predator Orion 3000 series lends itself well to the average gamer. Plus, the PC is relatively easy to upgrade, should the need or desire to do so ever arise.
(Image credit: Future)
Acer Predator Orion 3000: Price and Availability
Starting at $1,449 / £1,099
Available now from the Acer store and third-party retailers
You can buy it in the US, UK and worldwide
Spec Sheet
Here is the Acer Predator Orion 3000 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12400F (2.50 GHz) Graphics: Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti RAM: 16GB DDR4 Storage: 256GB M.2 SSD + 1TB HDD Optical drive: N/A Ports front: 1 x USB-A 3.1, 1 x USB-C, 1 x headphone jack and 1 x microphone jack Ports back: 2 x USB-A 3.1, 4 x USB-A 3.0, 3 x analog audio jacks, 3 x DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI, Ethernet Operating system: Windows 11 Home Connectivity: Intel Killer E2600 Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.0 Weight: 21 pounds (9.5 kg) Size: 15.4 x 15.2 x 6.9 inches (392 x 386 x 175 mm)
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 gaming PC series can be found on sale in the US, UK, and worldwide, with a range of slightly varying configurations available depending on each gamer’s individual needs.
The latest iteration of the Orion 3000 series features the new Intel Alder Lake chipsets. The starting configuration is priced at $1,449 / £1,199 and includes a 12th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU, an Nvidia RTX 3060 GPU and 16GB of RAM, as well as 256GB of SSD and 1TB of HDD storage. Pricier variations allow users to opt for either an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti or 3070 for the GPU and a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor for the CPU.
The configuration that TechRadar reviewed is a slightly more powerful model available in the UK for £1,299 (approximately $1,600 in the US). The Predator Orion 3000 arguably presents one of the best values for money especially when you take into account its decent gaming performance and esports-ready hardware. It could be even better value if any currently available Acer promo codes bring the price down more.
Price and Availability: 5/5
(Image credit: Future)
Acer Predator Orion 3000: Design
Neat, compact design
Configurable RGB lighting
Loud cooling fans
The Acer Predator Orion 3000 features the classic gaming black-and-RGB design within the confines of a compact micro ATX chassis.
At the front of the case, you’ll find a single USB Type-C port, alongside a Type-A USB 3.1 and two 3.5mm headphone and microphone ports. The PC’s back panel contains all the basic ports you can expect from your average gaming computer: four 3.0 USB Type-As, two 3.1 USB Type-As, and three analog audio ports. The back of the Nvidia RTX 30-series GPU allows gamers to connect their favorite display through either HDMI or DisplayPort.
In terms of software, the PC comes with a pre-installed version of Acer’s PredatorSense, which gamers can use to monitor internal temperatures, control the cooling fans and configure the RGB lighting system. It should be noted that on full blast, the PC’s cooling fans are extremely loud almost to the point of being distracting, even when using headphones on near-full volume.
In terms of hardware and affordability, the Acer Predator Orion 3000’s closest competitor would likely be the latest HP Omen product range, which can typically be found on offer for a similar price. However, it should be noted that in terms of design, the Predator Orion 3000 is the likely winner in the match-up.
The HP Omen comes equipped with a full ATX case, which – despite its slight upgradability advantage – will wind up taking up much more desk space. Another key aspect within the match-up is that the HP Omen series often receives criticism for its uninspiring design – something the Predator Orion 3000 excels at with its sleek appearance.
Although the Acer Predator Orion 3000 can be considered an affordable option, this certainly doesn’t mean that it compromises on gaming performance as much as you would expect from a budget PC. Thanks to the inclusion of an Nvidia 30-series graphics card, the Predator Orion 3000 is capable of coasting through even the most graphically intensive games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Total War: Warhammer III, consistently hitting over 70 fps on both titles on Ultra settings.
The Acer Predator Orion 3000’s performance in our usual benchmarking tests exceeded expectations too. For example, our review unit’s duo of Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and Intel Core i5 processor achieved 7,160 points in the PCMark 10 test. This meant that the Predator Orion 3000’s hardware scored higher than 93% of other PCs and placed higher than the average premium gaming PC from two years ago.
Overall, given the wide range of configurations available for purchase, the Acer Predator Orion 3000 line-up is perfectly capable of catering to most players looking to break into the world of PC gaming. Despite its lack of DDR5 RAM across the series and its base models including just 256GB of SSD storage, both are arguably minor shortcomings and can be easily overlooked considering the product’s reasonable price.
Although those on the lookout for more premium hardware would likely benefit from exploring other options, this gaming computer is a solid choice for those looking to balance a decent gaming performance with a more than palatable price range.
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
Here is the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: Apple M2 (8-core) Graphics: Integrated 10-core GPU RAM: 16GB Unified LPDDR5 Screen: 13.6-inch, 2,560 x 1,664 Liquid Retina display (backlit LED, IPS, 500 nits brightness, wide color P3 gamut) Storage: 1TB SSD Ports: 2x Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C), 3.5mm headphone jack, MagSafe 3 charging port Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 Camera: 1080p FaceTime HD webcam Weight: 2.7 pounds (1.24kg) Size: 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches (30.41 x 21.5 x 1.13cm; W x D x H)
While writing this MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review, I was struck by a thought: what if Apple had actually originally planned for this to have been a redesigned MacBook Pro 13-inch with an M2 chip?
It sort of makes sense, as the new MacBook Air has a larger screen, better speakers and a 1080p webcam, compared to the MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022) that we actually got.
The M2 chip in both laptops offer very similar performance, and unlike what many people had hoped for, the new MacBook Air doesn’t come in a range of pastel colors, like the 24-inch iMac, but instead a limited amount of rather professional-looking hues.
Finally, the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) launched with a much higher price tag of $1,199 (£1,249 / AU$1,899), which is a price we’d expect with a MacBook Pro, rather than the entry-level MacBook Air.
However, at WWDC 2023, Apple announced the new 15-inch MacBook Air with the Apple M2 while simultaneously cutting the price of the MacBook Air by $100, bringing the price to $1,099 (£1,149) and making it much better value.
(Image credit: Apple)
Having a redesigned MacBook Pro, alongside a MacBook Air with the same old design (but new M2 chip and cheaper price), would have made a lot of sense – but Apple did the opposite.
So, we have a redesigned MacBook Air that’s now more expensive, and a MacBook Pro 13-inch with the same old design. I can’t help but think this was a bit of a missed opportunity.
That’s because the Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022) has big shoes to fill. Its predecessor, the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), has been our pick as the best laptop you can buy since its launch two years ago.
Does the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) finally knock its predecessor from the top? There’s plenty going for it, including a new eye-catching design that increases the screen size while making the entire laptop smaller and lighter, while also upping the webcam resolution to 1080p, as well as some other goodies.
(Image credit: Future)
The new look follows Apple’s reinvention of many of its other iconic products, including the iMac 24-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch. In fact, the only MacBook to not get a redesign now is the new MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022), as mentioned earlier, which despite having the same new M2 chip, keeps its old look, and therefore feels like a bit of an afterthought.
Not so the new MacBook Air (M2, 2022), however. Along with a new look, it also gets the aforementioned M2 chip. This is the follow-up to the impressive M1 found in the previous MacBook Air. After ditching Intel, Apple now creates its own processor and graphics to power its Macs and MacBooks, and the results have already been spectacular, with excellent performance and industry-leading battery life.
As we saw with the new MacBook Pro 13-inch, the M2 chip continues this, with boosted performance and once again long battery life. The good news for the MacBook Air is that it gets the same M2 chip as the more expensive MacBook Pro 13-inch, which allows it to offer almost identical performance.
Throw in the new design (which offers a larger and brighter screen than the MacBook Pro 13-inch) and lower price tag, and there’s a strong case to make for the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) making the 13-inch MacBook Pro obsolete.
It’s not all good news, however, as the new MacBook Air launched with a higher price tag. Starting at $1,199 (£1,249), this is a large increase over the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), which launched at $999 / £999. This, sadly, means that it lacks the pure value for money that the M1 MacBook Air offered. It seems Apple is aware of that, as unlike other models, which get discontinued once a new version is out, Apple will continue to sell the older MacBook Air, marketing it at people who want a more affordable MacBook.
It means that the new MacBook Air isn’t such an easy recommendation as the older model, as that’s a high price tag for pretty much anybody.
So, while we’d recommend anyone who was thinking of buying the MacBook Pro 13-inch to actually get the MacBook Air (M2, 2022), we can’t recommend it to everyone, which is what we did with the previous MacBook Air. That’s a bit of a shame.
MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review: Price and availability
Launched at $1,199 / £1,249 / AU$1,899
More expensive than previous model
Now $100 less
The new MacBook Air was announced at Apple’s WWDC 2022 developer conference. While the MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022) was the first M2-powered Mac to come out, we’ve had to wait until July to get a solid launch date for the new MacBook Air, possibly due to Apple’s uncertainty about component and material availability. The new MacBook Air (M2, 2022) eventually went on sale on July 8 for order, with deliveries starting on July 15.
However, we expect this to be a very popular product, and with current stock issues, delivery dates may be delayed, though hopefully not by too much.
This MacBook Air starts at $1,199 (£1,249/AU$1,899). The M1-based Air will continue to be available for $999, though education users can grab one for a little less at $899.
(Image credit: Future)
This leap in price is understandable, but it means it feels like poorer value than the older MacBook Air, which is a shame, as one of the best things about the 2020 MacBook Air was its low price and excellent performance.
The base model of the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) comes with an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 8GB of memory and 256GB SSD storage.
Meanwhile, the new M2 MacBook Pro 13-inch starts at $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$1,999, which puts Apple in an odd place, as it now means the price of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13-inch aren’t that different.
While both base models come with the new M2 chip, the cheapest MacBook Air comes with an 8-core GPU, while the MacBook Pro 13-inch’s base model comes with an M2 chip with a 10-core GPU, which means the more expensive MacBook has the edge when it comes to graphical performance, but the MacBook Air isn’t that far off, as we discuss later.
However, at WWDC 2023, Apple announced that it is knocking $100 off the MacBook Air (M2, 2022). This means this laptop is now a lot better value, and isn't quite as expensive at the M1 MacBook Air.
Price score: 3.5/5
MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review: Design
Brand-new design
Bigger screen, lighter body
New color choices
One of the most radical design overhauls we’ve seen Apple make to an iconic product has reinvigorated the new MacBook Air, and, while you may mourn the loss of the Air's iconic wedge, it looks far more modern and elegant than previous models.
As the name suggests, the MacBook Air is the thinnest and lightest MacBook Apple produces, and with the new MacBook Air 2022 model, Apple has made further improvements, shrinking the overall size and weight of the unibody design, while actually increasing the screen size.
The company's engineers have managed this in part by slimming down the bezels that surround the screen by as much as 30% on the top and bottom, while it’s 20% thinner on the sides. The chunky borders of previous MacBook Air screens were beginning to look rather outdated, especially when compared to high-end Windows rivals like the Dell XPS 13, so the thin bezels in the new model make this MacBook Air look much more contemporary.
(Image credit: Future)
The MacBook Air's webcam has been upped to 1080p, to match those found in the MacBook Pros from late 2021, and this boost in resolution (alongside improved image and low-light handling with the new M2 chip), will be welcome for anyone who relies on video conferencing or making video calls to friends and family. And in this age of hybrid working, that’s most of us.
Less welcome will be the news that the combination of a bigger webcam and thinner bezels means there’s a visible "notch" that surrounds the webcam and drops down into the menu bar. This is the same as the notch found in the MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) and MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021), and when it debuted with those MacBooks, it proved divisive.
We didn't mind the notch on those other systems, as Apple expanded the screen upwards, actually giving you more screen real estate, which made the trade-off worth it.
The same is true with the MacBook Air (M2, 2022), which comes with a 13.6-inch screen, compared with the 13.3-inch of the previous model. The resolution has also been upped from 2,560 x 1,600 to 2,560 x 1,664. This means the larger screen doesn't lose sharpness, and once again we think the trade-off with the notch for a larger screen is the right way to go, and you’ll hardly notice it’s there, while still benefiting from the extra screen space and better webcam.
The new Liquid Retina screen is also brighter by 100nits, so it's now 500nits, and also now supports one billion colors. There's no ProMotion support, however. Despite that, it means that we have a remarkable situation where the cheaper MacBook Air (M2, 2022) comes with a larger and brighter screen compared to the new MacBook Pro 13-inch. For people relying on visual quality, especially photographers, the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) looks a much better buy.
(Image credit: Future)
Another big design change is, as we noted earlier, that the MacBook Air is no longer a "wedge" shape with a thinner front and thicker back. Instead, it's uniform, bringing it into alignment with virtually every other portable design Apple now produces. It also avoids the awkward issue where the previous MacBook Air was actually a little thicker than the MacBook Pro at one end. Now, there’s no doubt that this is by far the thinnest MacBook you can buy.
There's also new colors. People hoping for vibrant, pastel-like colors like the iMac 24-inch will be disappointed by the relatively low-key Space Gray, Silver, Starlight, and Midnight Blue colors. They do, though, look very good in person. We saw all of them at Apple's WWDC event, and our favorite by far was Midnight Blue, which is the color of the review unit Apple sent to us, and it looks just as gorgeous as we remember. Each color comes with matching power cables - a supremely Apple touch.
Outside of the different shades available, the laptop features MagSafe (yes, it's back) charging as well as two Thunderbolt ports and even a 3.5mm headphone jack, which will be welcome for people who use non-Bluetooth headphones and headsets. The MacBook Air (M2) is also as slim and lightweight as we hoped for: just 11mm thick and weighing in at 2.7 pounds.
The standard base model MacBook Air ships with a 30W charger, but you can opt to upgrade this to a 67W adapter for $59, which can get you to 80% battery capacity in just 20 minutes, and comes with two ports, so you can also charge up your iPhone, iPad or other devices at the same time, though this does impact charging times slightly, as the 67W is split between devices.
Overall, the redesign is, in our view, a triumph. It’s made the MacBook Air feel more modern, increasing the screen size and quality, and making it thinner and lighter. It’s pretty much everything you’d want from a visual overhaul, and while anyone hoping for vibrant, multi-colored, pastel shades will be disappointed, the new colors are nevertheless stylish and attractive.
Design score: 5/5
MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review: Performance
Excellent performance
On par with MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022)
Benchmarks
Here’s how the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
Cinebench R23 CPU: Single-Core: 1,597; Multi-core: 8,098 Geekbench 5 Single-Core: 1,936; Multi-Core: 8,917 Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 16 hours and 6 minutes
The new MacBook Air (M2, 2022) comes with the M2 System on Chip (SoC), Apple’s second-generation, 5-nanometer chip that the company claims will offer an 18% faster CPU, 35% faster GPU (now 10 cores), and a 40% faster neural engine than its predecessor. It’s worth noting that the base system of the MacBook Air ships with an 8-core GPU, but you can upgrade to a 10-core GPU.
Meanwhile, the MacBook Pro 13-inch base model comes with an M2 chip and 10-core GPU as standard for not much more.
During our time with the MacBook Air, the laptop performed incredibly well. The pre-installed macOS Monterey boots quickly and runs well, while also looking fantastic on the new screen. As usual, we used the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) for day-to-day use.
Browsing the web in both Safari and Chrome was fast and responsive, even with multiple tabs open (the model we have on test comes with 16GB of unified memory, which certainly helps here), and typing up documents on the slightly redesigned keyboard (which is slightly narrower due to the redesign, but keeps the same Magic Keyboard switches) feels nice and comfortable.
(Image credit: Future)
Since the launch of the M1 chip, and increasing number of applications have released M1-compatible apps, which also work with the M2, and that means your favorite apps should run brilliantly, and take advantage of the M2’s capabilities. Not just Apple apps, either, but applications from the likes of Adobe and Microsoft have M1 and M2-native versions.
For those that don’t, Apple’s Rosetta 2 tool once again helps here, allowing you to run apps made for Intel-based Macs almost as if they were designed for M2, with minimum impact to performance.
We also played around with Garage Band (Apple’s music-making software that comes pre-installed) and edited 4K home movies in iMovie, and again, the improved performance of the M2 chip kept everything running extremely well. We’d even go so far as to say that we didn’t notice any perceptible difference to the M2 MacBook Pro when using it for similar tasks.
One difference Apple likes to point out is that the MacBook Air has a fanless design, while the MacBook Pro 13-inch uses fans to keep its components cool. This should mean that the MacBook Pro 13-inch is better at sustained performance – it can work at full pelt for longer without overheating.
In practice, it means the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) is thin and light, and also completely silent when in use. However, we found that the MacBook Pro 13-inch’s fans rarely – if ever – kicked in, which suggests that it’ll only make a difference for seriously heavy workloads (think Logic Pro projects with hundreds of tracks, or 8K video editing in Premiere Pro), and you wouldn’t really buy the MacBook Air – or the MacBook Pro 13-inch for that matter – for those kind of demands. You’d be better off getting the more powerful MacBook Pro 14-inch or 16-inch.
(Image credit: Future)
Our benchmark tests again showed how similar the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13-inch are when it comes to performance. Single-core performance in both Cinebench and Geekbench were almost identical for the two devices, which makes sense as they both use the same 8-core M2 processor.
Multi-core performance was also very similar in Geekbench, but in Cinebench, the 13-inch MacBook Pro had a slight edge. So, you may get a bit better performance when multitasking with the Pro, especially if some of those tasks are graphics-based, but otherwise performance is so similar, it’s hard to recommend the Pro over the MacBook Air, considering the Air has a new design, bigger screen and is cheaper.
So, we’re in a very odd situation. It looks like the MacBook Pro 13-inch wasn’t killed off by a competitor like Dell or HP… but by Apple’s own MacBook Air.
Performance score: 4.5/5
MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review: Battery life
Lasts over 16 hours
Charges very quickly
We had high hopes for the MacBook Air’s battery life, as the M1 chip was an extremely efficient chip that offered both high performance and long battery life, and Apple has promised the same with the M2 chip.
Our hopes weren’t dashed, with our battery life benchmark, where we run a 1080p looped video until the battery dies, lasting a huge 16 hours, which is seriously impressive, and far outstrips Windows-based laptops of around the same price tag.
It actually lasted 30 minutes longer than the MacBook Pro 13-inch, which is surprising, as the Pro has a larger battery. The Touch Bar of the Pro, and a less energy-efficient screen, may explain the faster battery drain on the Pro.
It’s also a substantial increase over the M1 MacBook Air from two years ago, which managed 11 hours in the same test.
This means you can easily use the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) throughout an entire work day, or on a long flight, and still have battery life left, which is seriously impressive stuff. We found that we were able to work easily without needing to think about where to plug the MacBook Air in to top up the battery, which gives you so much more freedom when using this laptop.
We had the more powerful charger, and it did indeed fill up the battery quickly when we did need a charge. The MagSafe port is also great, allowing you to easily plug the charger in quickly, thanks to the magnetic connection, and if it accidentally gets pulled out (which actually happened to us while we were reviewing), it disconnects easily without any danger of damaging the port.
You can also charge the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) via the USB-C port, which is handy if you need to borrow a charger when you’re out and about.
Battery life score: 5/5
Should you buy the MacBook Air (M2, 2022)?
(Image credit: Future)
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
First reviewed July 2022
Also consider...
If our Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review has you considering other options, here are three more laptops to consider...
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.
Here is the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: Apple M2 (8-core) Graphics: Integrated 10-core GPU RAM: 16GB Unified LPDDR5 Screen: 13.6-inch, 2,560 x 1,664 Liquid Retina display (backlit LED, IPS, 500 nits brightness, wide color P3 gamut) Storage: 1TB SSD Ports: 2x Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C), 3.5mm headphone jack, MagSafe 3 charging port Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 Camera: 1080p FaceTime HD webcam Weight: 2.7 pounds (1.24kg) Size: 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches (30.41 x 21.5 x 1.13cm; W x D x H)
While writing this MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review, I was struck by a thought: what if Apple had actually originally planned for this to have been a redesigned MacBook Pro 13-inch with an M2 chip?
It sort of makes sense, as the new MacBook Air has a larger screen, better speakers and a 1080p webcam, compared to the MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022) that we actually got.
The M2 chip in both laptops offer very similar performance, and unlike what many people had hoped for, the new MacBook Air doesn’t come in a range of pastel colors, like the 24-inch iMac, but instead a limited amount of rather professional-looking hues.
Finally, the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) launched with a much higher price tag of $1,199 (£1,249 / AU$1,899), which is a price we’d expect with a MacBook Pro, rather than the entry-level MacBook Air.
However, at WWDC 2023, Apple announced the new 15-inch MacBook Air with the Apple M2 while simultaneously cutting the price of the MacBook Air by $100, bringing the price to $1,099 (£1,149) and making it much better value.
(Image credit: Apple)
Having a redesigned MacBook Pro, alongside a MacBook Air with the same old design (but new M2 chip and cheaper price), would have made a lot of sense – but Apple did the opposite.
So, we have a redesigned MacBook Air that’s now more expensive, and a MacBook Pro 13-inch with the same old design. I can’t help but think this was a bit of a missed opportunity.
That’s because the Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022) has big shoes to fill. Its predecessor, the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), has been our pick as the best laptop you can buy since its launch two years ago.
Does the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) finally knock its predecessor from the top? There’s plenty going for it, including a new eye-catching design that increases the screen size while making the entire laptop smaller and lighter, while also upping the webcam resolution to 1080p, as well as some other goodies.
(Image credit: Future)
The new look follows Apple’s reinvention of many of its other iconic products, including the iMac 24-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch. In fact, the only MacBook to not get a redesign now is the new MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022), as mentioned earlier, which despite having the same new M2 chip, keeps its old look, and therefore feels like a bit of an afterthought.
Not so the new MacBook Air (M2, 2022), however. Along with a new look, it also gets the aforementioned M2 chip. This is the follow-up to the impressive M1 found in the previous MacBook Air. After ditching Intel, Apple now creates its own processor and graphics to power its Macs and MacBooks, and the results have already been spectacular, with excellent performance and industry-leading battery life.
As we saw with the new MacBook Pro 13-inch, the M2 chip continues this, with boosted performance and once again long battery life. The good news for the MacBook Air is that it gets the same M2 chip as the more expensive MacBook Pro 13-inch, which allows it to offer almost identical performance.
Throw in the new design (which offers a larger and brighter screen than the MacBook Pro 13-inch) and lower price tag, and there’s a strong case to make for the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) making the 13-inch MacBook Pro obsolete.
It’s not all good news, however, as the new MacBook Air launched with a higher price tag. Starting at $1,199 (£1,249), this is a large increase over the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), which launched at $999 / £999. This, sadly, means that it lacks the pure value for money that the M1 MacBook Air offered. It seems Apple is aware of that, as unlike other models, which get discontinued once a new version is out, Apple will continue to sell the older MacBook Air, marketing it at people who want a more affordable MacBook.
It means that the new MacBook Air isn’t such an easy recommendation as the older model, as that’s a high price tag for pretty much anybody.
So, while we’d recommend anyone who was thinking of buying the MacBook Pro 13-inch to actually get the MacBook Air (M2, 2022), we can’t recommend it to everyone, which is what we did with the previous MacBook Air. That’s a bit of a shame.
MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review: Price and availability
Launched at $1,199 / £1,249 / AU$1,899
More expensive than previous model
Now $100 less
The new MacBook Air was announced at Apple’s WWDC 2022 developer conference. While the MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022) was the first M2-powered Mac to come out, we’ve had to wait until July to get a solid launch date for the new MacBook Air, possibly due to Apple’s uncertainty about component and material availability. The new MacBook Air (M2, 2022) eventually went on sale on July 8 for order, with deliveries starting on July 15.
However, we expect this to be a very popular product, and with current stock issues, delivery dates may be delayed, though hopefully not by too much.
This MacBook Air starts at $1,199 (£1,249/AU$1,899). The M1-based Air will continue to be available for $999, though education users can grab one for a little less at $899.
(Image credit: Future)
This leap in price is understandable, but it means it feels like poorer value than the older MacBook Air, which is a shame, as one of the best things about the 2020 MacBook Air was its low price and excellent performance.
The base model of the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) comes with an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 8GB of memory and 256GB SSD storage.
Meanwhile, the new M2 MacBook Pro 13-inch starts at $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$1,999, which puts Apple in an odd place, as it now means the price of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13-inch aren’t that different.
While both base models come with the new M2 chip, the cheapest MacBook Air comes with an 8-core GPU, while the MacBook Pro 13-inch’s base model comes with an M2 chip with a 10-core GPU, which means the more expensive MacBook has the edge when it comes to graphical performance, but the MacBook Air isn’t that far off, as we discuss later.
However, at WWDC 2023, Apple announced that it is knocking $100 off the MacBook Air (M2, 2022). This means this laptop is now a lot better value, and isn't quite as expensive at the M1 MacBook Air.
Price score: 3.5/5
MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review: Design
Brand-new design
Bigger screen, lighter body
New color choices
One of the most radical design overhauls we’ve seen Apple make to an iconic product has reinvigorated the new MacBook Air, and, while you may mourn the loss of the Air's iconic wedge, it looks far more modern and elegant than previous models.
As the name suggests, the MacBook Air is the thinnest and lightest MacBook Apple produces, and with the new MacBook Air 2022 model, Apple has made further improvements, shrinking the overall size and weight of the unibody design, while actually increasing the screen size.
The company's engineers have managed this in part by slimming down the bezels that surround the screen by as much as 30% on the top and bottom, while it’s 20% thinner on the sides. The chunky borders of previous MacBook Air screens were beginning to look rather outdated, especially when compared to high-end Windows rivals like the Dell XPS 13, so the thin bezels in the new model make this MacBook Air look much more contemporary.
(Image credit: Future)
The MacBook Air's webcam has been upped to 1080p, to match those found in the MacBook Pros from late 2021, and this boost in resolution (alongside improved image and low-light handling with the new M2 chip), will be welcome for anyone who relies on video conferencing or making video calls to friends and family. And in this age of hybrid working, that’s most of us.
Less welcome will be the news that the combination of a bigger webcam and thinner bezels means there’s a visible "notch" that surrounds the webcam and drops down into the menu bar. This is the same as the notch found in the MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021) and MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021), and when it debuted with those MacBooks, it proved divisive.
We didn't mind the notch on those other systems, as Apple expanded the screen upwards, actually giving you more screen real estate, which made the trade-off worth it.
The same is true with the MacBook Air (M2, 2022), which comes with a 13.6-inch screen, compared with the 13.3-inch of the previous model. The resolution has also been upped from 2,560 x 1,600 to 2,560 x 1,664. This means the larger screen doesn't lose sharpness, and once again we think the trade-off with the notch for a larger screen is the right way to go, and you’ll hardly notice it’s there, while still benefiting from the extra screen space and better webcam.
The new Liquid Retina screen is also brighter by 100nits, so it's now 500nits, and also now supports one billion colors. There's no ProMotion support, however. Despite that, it means that we have a remarkable situation where the cheaper MacBook Air (M2, 2022) comes with a larger and brighter screen compared to the new MacBook Pro 13-inch. For people relying on visual quality, especially photographers, the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) looks a much better buy.
(Image credit: Future)
Another big design change is, as we noted earlier, that the MacBook Air is no longer a "wedge" shape with a thinner front and thicker back. Instead, it's uniform, bringing it into alignment with virtually every other portable design Apple now produces. It also avoids the awkward issue where the previous MacBook Air was actually a little thicker than the MacBook Pro at one end. Now, there’s no doubt that this is by far the thinnest MacBook you can buy.
There's also new colors. People hoping for vibrant, pastel-like colors like the iMac 24-inch will be disappointed by the relatively low-key Space Gray, Silver, Starlight, and Midnight Blue colors. They do, though, look very good in person. We saw all of them at Apple's WWDC event, and our favorite by far was Midnight Blue, which is the color of the review unit Apple sent to us, and it looks just as gorgeous as we remember. Each color comes with matching power cables - a supremely Apple touch.
Outside of the different shades available, the laptop features MagSafe (yes, it's back) charging as well as two Thunderbolt ports and even a 3.5mm headphone jack, which will be welcome for people who use non-Bluetooth headphones and headsets. The MacBook Air (M2) is also as slim and lightweight as we hoped for: just 11mm thick and weighing in at 2.7 pounds.
The standard base model MacBook Air ships with a 30W charger, but you can opt to upgrade this to a 67W adapter for $59, which can get you to 80% battery capacity in just 20 minutes, and comes with two ports, so you can also charge up your iPhone, iPad or other devices at the same time, though this does impact charging times slightly, as the 67W is split between devices.
Overall, the redesign is, in our view, a triumph. It’s made the MacBook Air feel more modern, increasing the screen size and quality, and making it thinner and lighter. It’s pretty much everything you’d want from a visual overhaul, and while anyone hoping for vibrant, multi-colored, pastel shades will be disappointed, the new colors are nevertheless stylish and attractive.
Design score: 5/5
MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review: Performance
Excellent performance
On par with MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022)
Benchmarks
Here’s how the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
Cinebench R23 CPU: Single-Core: 1,597; Multi-core: 8,098 Geekbench 5 Single-Core: 1,936; Multi-Core: 8,917 Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 16 hours and 6 minutes
The new MacBook Air (M2, 2022) comes with the M2 System on Chip (SoC), Apple’s second-generation, 5-nanometer chip that the company claims will offer an 18% faster CPU, 35% faster GPU (now 10 cores), and a 40% faster neural engine than its predecessor. It’s worth noting that the base system of the MacBook Air ships with an 8-core GPU, but you can upgrade to a 10-core GPU.
Meanwhile, the MacBook Pro 13-inch base model comes with an M2 chip and 10-core GPU as standard for not much more.
During our time with the MacBook Air, the laptop performed incredibly well. The pre-installed macOS Monterey boots quickly and runs well, while also looking fantastic on the new screen. As usual, we used the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) for day-to-day use.
Browsing the web in both Safari and Chrome was fast and responsive, even with multiple tabs open (the model we have on test comes with 16GB of unified memory, which certainly helps here), and typing up documents on the slightly redesigned keyboard (which is slightly narrower due to the redesign, but keeps the same Magic Keyboard switches) feels nice and comfortable.
(Image credit: Future)
Since the launch of the M1 chip, and increasing number of applications have released M1-compatible apps, which also work with the M2, and that means your favorite apps should run brilliantly, and take advantage of the M2’s capabilities. Not just Apple apps, either, but applications from the likes of Adobe and Microsoft have M1 and M2-native versions.
For those that don’t, Apple’s Rosetta 2 tool once again helps here, allowing you to run apps made for Intel-based Macs almost as if they were designed for M2, with minimum impact to performance.
We also played around with Garage Band (Apple’s music-making software that comes pre-installed) and edited 4K home movies in iMovie, and again, the improved performance of the M2 chip kept everything running extremely well. We’d even go so far as to say that we didn’t notice any perceptible difference to the M2 MacBook Pro when using it for similar tasks.
One difference Apple likes to point out is that the MacBook Air has a fanless design, while the MacBook Pro 13-inch uses fans to keep its components cool. This should mean that the MacBook Pro 13-inch is better at sustained performance – it can work at full pelt for longer without overheating.
In practice, it means the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) is thin and light, and also completely silent when in use. However, we found that the MacBook Pro 13-inch’s fans rarely – if ever – kicked in, which suggests that it’ll only make a difference for seriously heavy workloads (think Logic Pro projects with hundreds of tracks, or 8K video editing in Premiere Pro), and you wouldn’t really buy the MacBook Air – or the MacBook Pro 13-inch for that matter – for those kind of demands. You’d be better off getting the more powerful MacBook Pro 14-inch or 16-inch.
(Image credit: Future)
Our benchmark tests again showed how similar the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13-inch are when it comes to performance. Single-core performance in both Cinebench and Geekbench were almost identical for the two devices, which makes sense as they both use the same 8-core M2 processor.
Multi-core performance was also very similar in Geekbench, but in Cinebench, the 13-inch MacBook Pro had a slight edge. So, you may get a bit better performance when multitasking with the Pro, especially if some of those tasks are graphics-based, but otherwise performance is so similar, it’s hard to recommend the Pro over the MacBook Air, considering the Air has a new design, bigger screen and is cheaper.
So, we’re in a very odd situation. It looks like the MacBook Pro 13-inch wasn’t killed off by a competitor like Dell or HP… but by Apple’s own MacBook Air.
Performance score: 4.5/5
MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review: Battery life
Lasts over 16 hours
Charges very quickly
We had high hopes for the MacBook Air’s battery life, as the M1 chip was an extremely efficient chip that offered both high performance and long battery life, and Apple has promised the same with the M2 chip.
Our hopes weren’t dashed, with our battery life benchmark, where we run a 1080p looped video until the battery dies, lasting a huge 16 hours, which is seriously impressive, and far outstrips Windows-based laptops of around the same price tag.
It actually lasted 30 minutes longer than the MacBook Pro 13-inch, which is surprising, as the Pro has a larger battery. The Touch Bar of the Pro, and a less energy-efficient screen, may explain the faster battery drain on the Pro.
It’s also a substantial increase over the M1 MacBook Air from two years ago, which managed 11 hours in the same test.
This means you can easily use the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) throughout an entire work day, or on a long flight, and still have battery life left, which is seriously impressive stuff. We found that we were able to work easily without needing to think about where to plug the MacBook Air in to top up the battery, which gives you so much more freedom when using this laptop.
We had the more powerful charger, and it did indeed fill up the battery quickly when we did need a charge. The MagSafe port is also great, allowing you to easily plug the charger in quickly, thanks to the magnetic connection, and if it accidentally gets pulled out (which actually happened to us while we were reviewing), it disconnects easily without any danger of damaging the port.
You can also charge the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) via the USB-C port, which is handy if you need to borrow a charger when you’re out and about.
Battery life score: 5/5
Should you buy the MacBook Air (M2, 2022)?
(Image credit: Future)
Buy it if…
Don’t buy it if…
First reviewed July 2022
Also consider...
If our Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022) review has you considering other options, here are three more laptops to consider...
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
• Original review date: July 2022
• Launch price: Starts at $599 (about £490 / AU$865)
• New models now out
Update – September 2024: The 2022 model reviewed here is now pretty outdated - especially when it comes to the graphics card. The good news is that since we reviewed this model, HP has continued to launch updated HP Victus gaming laptops, which remain some of the best cheap gaming laptops money can buy.
The most recent model, the HP Victus 16, was released earlier in 2024, and while its starting price is a bit higher than the Victus 15, it still represents brilliant value for money. Its graphics card is the RTX 4050, an excellent budget GPU that punches well above its weight thanks to DLSS 3.0 upscaling, and it's a marked improvement over the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 that comes with the Victus 15 from 2022.
So, while you might still find this model selling for temptingly low prices at some retailers, I would recommend spending a bit more on the Victus 16 - you'll get a much better gaming experience without having to spend the kind of money some of the best (and most expensive) gaming laptops demand.
Original review follows.
HP Victus 15: Two minute review
The HP Victus 15 is what you should envision when you think about what a budget gaming laptop should be.
One of the latest models in HP’s growing lineup of low-cost gaming machines, the Victus 15 starts off extremely affordable without compromising too much on specs and only moderately increases in price as the specs climd higher. It's certainly a no-frills option that lacks a lot of refinement, but you at least get three simple colors options (mica silver, performance blue, and ceramic white) for the chassis, so it's not a bad looking laptop either.
The Victus 15 is sturdy and a bit chunky, so bags that aren’t made to carry around larger gaming laptops will have a harder time fitting it. The HP Victus 15 has a good assortment of ports and its 15.6-inch display is pretty good for the price, with solid viusuals and resolution even in higher settings, and the 144Hz refresh rate is surprisingly good.
The bezels are perfectly fine but nothing particularly noteworthy, and the webcam is pretty clear, so it’ll treat you well during streaming sessions. The keyboard is just as basic as its laptop's exterior and there’s no key backlight, which makes gaming in the dark a bit harder. On the plus side, there is a tenkey numpad on the right. Meanwhile, the keys are a good size and would be easy to type on but are a bit too smooth, which can trip you up occasionally and result in more typos.
The Victus 15 comes with either an AMD Ryzen 5 or an Intel Core i5 for the CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 mobile GPU, the latter of which really helps keep the price down. Despite the lower spec, it runs graphically intensive games pretty smoothly, even if it doesn't play something like Cyberpunk 2077 at Ultra settings very well.
Its battery life is similar to many of the other best gaming laptops, which is to say not great at all. If you’re lucky, you can keep it alive for about four and a half hours but it’s much safer to simply keep it on the charger. Its charge time is fairly decent at least so you won’t be waiting too long if you stick with the out-of-the-box charger, but it might be worth investing in a USB Type-C charger if you need something faster.
For those looking for the best cheap gaming laptop that brings a great gaming experience at a seriously affordable price, the HP Victus 15 is one to check out for sure. Though it’s simple in design and a bit bulky, its specs will run nearly any title in your Steam library at 30 FPS at least, as well as balance other work or school-related tasks.
HP Victus 15: Price and availability
(Image credit: Future)
Excellent price
Limited availability outside the US at this time
The HP Victus 15 starts at an incredibly low price of $599 (about £490 / AU$865) in the US with the lowest specs. The price increases with additional upgrades like an AMD Ryzen 7 or Intel Core i7, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU, 16GB memory, or a 512 GB SSD, with the highest price coming in at about $1,200 (about £980 / AU$1,730). Don't forget to take a look at HP promo codes available to potentially save more.
In the UK and Australia, this laptop appears to have very limited availability at this time, and we aren't sure if or when it will become available in those regions. We've reached out to HP for clarification and will update this review if we hear back from the company.
Value: 4 / 5
HP Victus 15: Design
(Image credit: Future)
Hefty and well-built
Solid display and keyboard
Good port selection
If you need an exterior that’s made of sturdy material and has a solid weight, then the HP Victus 15 is definitely up your alley. At five pounds, it has some heft to it which is great since it can take quite a beating, but it can also be a downside when you need to carry it around. This is a laptop that, thanks to both its weight and size, will most likely challenge the bags of most users.
HP Victus 15 Key Specs
Here is the HP Victus 15 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
CPU: Intel Core i5-12450H Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 RAM: 8GB Screen: 15.6-inch FHD IPS LED Display, 144Hz Storage: 512GB SSD Ports: 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 1 x Power port, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x SD Card Reader, 1 x Combo Jack, 1 x Ethernet port Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 Camera: 720p Weight: 5.06 pounds (2.3 kg) Size (W x D x H): 14.09 x 10.04 x 0.93 ins | 357.89 x 255.02 x 23.6 mm
An interesting feature of the HP Victus 15 is that it’s partially made of post-consumer recycled and ocean-bound plastic, uses water-based paint, and has wholly recycled packaging.
Yet the recycled parts don’t seem to impact the all-around quality of the laptop’s build. The paint job is well-done and of good quality, which is rather disappointing considering how basic the three color choices are.
There are a good range of ports including two USB Type-A ports, a Type-C port, an Ethernet port, an SD Card slot, an HDMI port, and a combo jack. It makes for a versatile laptop that is not only great for gaming but for work-related tasks as well.
The display itself is 1080p, and it looks great when playing on High and Ultra settings with other graphical features enabled, especially thanks to its 144Hz refresh rate.
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The lid of the HP Victus 15 (Image credit: Future)
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The underside of the HP Victus 15 (Image credit: Future)
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The HP Victus 15's webcam (Image credit: Future)
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A view from the HP Victus 15's webcam (Image credit: Future)
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The ports of the HP Victus 15 (Image credit: Future)
The bezels offer decent screen real estate but aren’t particularly thin or efficient in terms of preserving screen space. Its webcam is unfortunately 720p HD, and though it’s not the best resolution it still gets the job done.
It displays your face clearing while streaming during a gaming session, as well as for video meetings. There’s no backlight for the keyboard, which otherwise is a very simple and sensible one with a good sized trackpad, limiting gaming to well-lit areas.
Design: 4 / 5
HP Victus 15: Performance
(Image credit: Future)
Can play most demanding games just fine
Good ventilation for heat disipation
Works great as a school or work laptop
Though it’s a budget gaming laptop, the HP Victus 15 takes air circulation seriously, with a dual-fan setup and a much larger air vent at the bottom of the laptop than in previous models. Even during more intensive gameplay segments, it barely generated any real heat.
In terms of gaming performance, this is a budget laptop and as such there are certain concessions to be made when dealing with lower specs. For instance, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Laptop GPU that the lowest spec HP Victus 15 laptops are outfitted with only comes with 4GB VRAM.
During our test run with Dirt 5, both benchmark and normal gameplay, error messages would occasionally pop up to warn about the VRAM getting too low. And this was despite the game itself running at 30 FPS on the highest setting and at around 75 FPS on the lowest.
Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 10,082
3DMark Night Raid: 30,805; Fire Strike: 8,935; Time Spy: 3,645 GeekBench 5 (single-core): 1,596; (multi-core): 6,897
PCMark 10 (Home Test): 6,361
PCMark 10 Battery Life: 4:33
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 4:14
Total War: Warhammer III (1080p, Low): 82 fps; (1080p, Ultra): 34 fps
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, Low): 48 fps; (1080p, Ultra): 24 fps
Dirt 5 (1080p, Low): 76 fps; (1080p, Ultra): 31 fps
The issue of low VRAM didn’t show up in other test runs with titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Total War: Warhammer III, and Hitman 3. On the lowest setting Cyberpunk ran at 48 FPS, which sounds bad but the game still looks and runs impressively. But you definitely won’t be maxing out your settings on this title.
Total War: Warhammer III runs at about 34 FPS on average at Ultra and 82 on Low, so if this kind of game is more your jam you can feel free to crank up the settings, but Medium is where you’ll get the best balance of framerate and graphics.
Hitman 3 was a true surprise, considering how demanding it is to run. During our test, we were able to crank up the setting to the second-highest preset and the VIctus 15 still ran above 60 FPS on average. This machine loves Hitman 3 and it shows.
The HP Victus 15 performed below other gaming laptops in the standard benchmarks like Cinebench, Geekbench, PCMark10, and 3DMark. But there wasn’t a huge discrepancy between those scores despite the machine we tested running far less powerful tech compared to other budget laptops.
In other non-gaming related tasks, the HP Victus 15 performs well. It’s able to juggle multiple tasks like streaming movies, voice/video conference calls, editing documents, and more. If you’re looking for a well-balanced laptop, this is a good option.
Performance: 4 / 5
HP Victus 15: Battery life
(Image credit: Future)
As with many gaming laptops, the battery is the worst aspect by far and the HP Victus 15 is no exception. In both our battery tests, the laptop only lasted a little over four hours, which is half of a full work day. When we used it for non-strenuous daily tasks, it lasted about the same amount of time. For gaming the battery dies much faster, which would limit sessions to maybe two hours at most.
However, its charge time isn’t bad when using the charger it comes with, taking around an hour to get to a little over 60% charged. That time would be faster if using a USB Type-C charger, and something we’d recommend if that option is available.
• Original review date: June 2022
• Launch price: Started at $999 / £1,099 / around AU$1,600
• Target price now (updated model): Starts at $999 / £999 / AU$1,500
Update – July 2024: Acer's Nitro budget gaming brand is still truckin', though the humble Nitro 5 is no longer the star of the show as new Nitro 16 and Nitro 17 laptops have now arrived on the scene.
The exact Core i5 model from 2022 reviewed here is no longer available to buy directly from Acer (although it can still be found at some third-party retailers), though there are newer models still available - hence the lack of a significant price drop in the above target pricing. The current-gen configuration comes with a newer Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics card, making it a straight upgrade without a bump in price; always a welcome sight.
While the Nitro 5 isn't the best laptop on the market, it was never trying to be. Instead, it aims to be the best cheap laptop - and indeed, for a while in 2022 it occupied the 'best budget' spot on our ranking of the best gaming laptops. It might be starting to show its age a bit now, but the Acer Nitro 5 is still a solid choice of gaming machine for buyers on a budget.
Acer Nitro 5 (2022): Two minute review
The Acer Nitro 5 (2022) is an excellent option for anyone looking for a budget gaming laptop, considering how the current market demand for more affordable gaming PCs and laptops has soared in recent months.
For the most part, the Nitro 5 is one of the best cheap gaming laptops around thanks to its great performance, offering a well-rounded gaming experience for its price point. In terms of specs, the Acer Nitro 5 sports some beefy specs for a budget machine, which means it runs most games at 30 FPS at least with maxed-out settings and much higher under more reasonable settings.
The screen is a 15.6-inch display with thin bezels to maximize the space but unfortunately no anti-glare, which means it’ll be that much harder to game when you’re outside in direct sunlight. The keyboard is simple but smooth and easy to use, with wide keys and a tenkey numpad on the right side. It’s also backlit for easy gaming in the dark or dimmer lighting. The touchpad is also smooth and very responsive with no noticeable input delays.
The chassis feels solid and well-built and while it’s not thin and lightweight by any stretch of the imagination, it’s still lighter than many other bulkier gaming laptops and relatively easy to carry around. It’s also well ventilated, using a dual-fan and four-exhaust setup to keep the temperatures low.
Its battery life is easily the worst feature, as it runs out of power in about four hours with regular, non-gaming use. The cable it comes with is a very slow charge, so you’ll have to splurge for a fast charging one yourself to take advantage of the built in Thunderbolt 4 support. The second worst is the 720p webcam with an average-at-best clarity, but unlike some other budget laptops you at least have one built in.
It supports Wi-Fi 6E, which means a much faster internet connection whether at home or on the go. This is a great option for streaming games when you can’t tether your laptop, though it does hinge on whether the Wifi used supports it.
The Acer Nitro 5 is a well-rounded gaming laptop that has some solid performance falling right in line with its competition, except when it comes to its below average battery life. Though not the sexiest, it’s fairly portable with a large screen size and very affordable as well, which is a definitely a bonus nowadays.
Acer Nitro 5 (2022): Price and availability
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How much does it cost? Starting at $999/£1,099
When can you get it? It is available now in the US and UK.
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US through Best Buy, and in the UK through the Acer online storefront.
The Acer Nitro 5 is available in the US through Best Buy and in the UK through the Acer online store, with Australian availability yet to be announced. The configuration on offer features a 12th-Gen Intel Core i5-12500H, Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti dedicated graphics, 16GB DDR4 RAM, and a 512GB PCIe SSD. Look out for any Acer promo codes that could bring the cost down.
Value: 4/5
Acer Nitro 5 (2022): Design
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A very no-frills, sturdy design
Well-designed and practical keyboard
When you think of the best gaming laptops, the first thing that pops in your head might be one on the thicker side, with a simple black metal exterior, and a bezel that’s thin but nothing out of the ordinary. In other words, a fully functional design that does little to stand out. And the Acer Nitro 5 fits that to a T.
Spec Sheet
Here is the Acer Nitro 5 (2022) configuration sent to TechRadar for review: CPU: Intel Core i5-12500H Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti RAM: 16GB DDR4 Screen: 15.6-inch IPS, FHD, 144Hz Storage: 512 PCIe SSD Ports: 3 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 1 x Thunderbolt 4, 1 x power port, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 1 x SD Card Reader, 1 x Combo Jack, 1 x Kensington Slot
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 Camera: 720p Weight: 5.51lbs | 2.5kg Size (W x D x H): 14.19 x 10.67 x 1.06 ins | 360.4 x 271.0 x 26.9 mm Battery: 57WHr
It has a sturdy and high quality build that’s fitting for a gaming computer. It has a good amount of heft to it, so you’ll definitely feel its weight if you carry it around with you, but its size isn’t excessive enough to cause genuine stress either. As long as you have a good quality laptop bag with some decent space, it doesn’t take up too much room and won’t overburden you either.
If there’s anything about the Acer Nitro 5 that stands out, it’s the keyboard. The keys are black with a white outline, lay mostly flat, and are wider than a standard keyboard’s keys. This gives it a very distinctive look that may be visually polarizing but serves a more practical purpose, which is to make typing on them much easier for those who have thicker fingers or generally shaky hands.
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The smooth and flat surface also means it’s easier for fingers to glide from key to key, which is extremely important when in an intense gaming session that requires fast input. There’s also a numlock pad on the right, putting number keys in an easy to reach position.
The thin bezels are somewhat notable, as they help to maximize the screen real estate while also preventing the screen itself from having to increase in size and make the whole laptop larger and clunkier.
Its port selection is standard but in a good way, with a nice variety of ports and slots to suit most needs. There are three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-As and one Type-C, an HDMI port, an SD Card Reader, a headphones jack, and a Kensington Slot for added security. It also comes with a Thunderbolt 4 port, which is excellent for fast charging though you’ll have to purchase the cable yourself.
Design: 3/5
Acer Nitro 5 (2022): Performance
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Performs well graphically for its configuration
Good quality HD screen
One of the most important yet underrated features of any gaming laptop is the circulation. No matter how cutting edge the specs are, if the airflow is terrible your PC is heading down to crash town. But the Acer Nitro 5 has a solid setup which includes dual-fan cooling, quad exhausts located on each side, and even an upper air intake situated above the keyboard. This translates to a very well cooled machine that hasn’t overheated in the countless hours I played around with it.
3DMark: Night Raid: 35,782; Fire Strike: 13,238; Time Spy: 5,831 Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 11,085 points GeekBench 5: 1,691 (single-core); 8,596 (multi-core)
PCMark 10 (Home Test): 6,536 points PCMark 10 Battery Life: 2 hours and 31 minutes Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 3 hours and 56 minutes Total War: Warhammer III (1080p, Ultra): 52 fps; (1080p, Low): 130 fps Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, Ultra): 76 fps; (1080p, Low): 135 fps
In terms of performance during a gaming session, it runs most graphically demanding titles pretty smoothly. We tested it using both Total War: Warhammer III and Cyberpunk 2077 and without any of the magic of ray-tracing and integrated graphics, both games are able to maintain about 30-50 FPS in Ultra settings and between 70-130 FPS in Low settings. And considering that this laptop’s benchmarks are actually a bit higher than two of the other budget competitors, it makes sense that it’s able to hold its own.
Complementing the visuals is a competent sound setup made of dual 2W speakers. While not groundbreaking in any way, the music and sound effects are immersive and support the graphics well. The keyboard is smooth, responsive, and feels satisfying to use; not to mention the red backlight is always a nice touch, especially during late night gaming sessions.
Also complementing the visuals is the 15.6-inch QHD screen, with a resolution of 2560 X1440. This is further supported by the 165Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time, meaning that not only do the graphics look nice but the visuals are crisp and smooth.
The webcam is nothing to write home about, as it’s a substandard 720p resolution that looks okay but not super crisp and clear. It’s good for Zoom meetings and will manage during streams, but don’t expect anything polished either.
All around this laptop performs pretty well for a budget machine, passing nearly every benchmark handedly. Framerate is better than you’d expect from the hardware it has, which is no doubt the CPU carrying its full weight. It has a great circulation setup, which no doubt contributes to its overall performance, and the sound supports the visuals perfectly with no breakups or other quality issues.
Performance: 4/5
Acer Nitro 5 (2022): Battery Life
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Does not last long at all
Has a Thunderbolt option for charging
If there’s one thing that weighs down the Acer Nitro 5 and it’s the abysmal battery life. Even under normal working conditions the battery can’t seem to go past a few hours before needing a recharge, and the charge time itself is rather slow. Do yourself a favor and buy a Thunderbolt 4 charger instead.
When we ran a standard 1080p movie test, which involves looping a movie at normal settings until the battery life runs out, the battery didn’t even make it to the four hour mark before dying. The results of the PC Mark 10 Battery Life benchmark were a bit more surprising, as the laptop matched its two competitors pretty closely with its score of 6536. This is despite the other two laptops having a battery life of at least eight hours.
• Original review date: June 2022
• Newer Aspire 5 with 13th-gen Intel CPUs available now
• Launch price: $600 / £450 / AU$1,399
• Official starting price now: $549 / £599 / AU$1,199
Updated: January 2024. It's been a year and a half since we reviewed this version of the Acer Aspire 5, and you can now snap up a few different configurations (which vary between regions) equipped with newer 13th-gen Intel processors. You can still snap this exact model up from retailers like Amazon - where it's now a fair bit cheaper than the latest version - and we still think the Aspire 5 is one of the best cheap laptops out there, regardless of version. The rest of this review remains as previously published.
Acer Aspire 5: Two-minute review
When looking at Acer’s website, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Acer Aspire 5 is an expensive, high-end laptop that includes a 12th generation i7 processor and powerful GeForce graphics card. But, as we’ve found with Acer in the past, the company’s website tends to just focus on its top-of-the-range models, and leaves you to find out about other options that might be available.
In this instance, it turns out that the Aspire 5 is available with a wide range of different models and specifications - in fact, there are more than 60 different configurations listed on Acer’s US website, including 17.3-inch and 15.6-inch displays, with both Intel and AMD processors. And, if you search long enough, you may even find the entry-level 14-inch version of the Aspire 5 that we review here, which is based on an older 11th generation i5 processor.
That’s clearly not the powerful laptop “for accelerated photo and video editing performance” that Acer promises, but if you judge the Aspire 5 on its own merits then it undeniably is one of the best cheap laptops for routine web browsing and productivity tasks.
Spec Sheet
Here is the Acer Aspire 5 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
Available now in the US and UK, with limited availability down under
Wide range of models, some from Acer, some from online retailers
Acer’s pricing and sales information can also be a bit confusing. Some of the models listed on its web site can be bought direct from Acer, while others are sold through online retailers and high street stores - such as Currys in the UK - so you may need to search around online if there’s a specific model that you require.
As mentioned, we tested an Aspire 5 model with 14-inch screen, which also includes Windows 10 Home, a quad-core i5-1135G7 processor running at 2.4GHz (up to 4.2GHz with Turboboost), along with 8GB memory and 512GB solid-state drive. Acer’s US web site actually lists two different prices for that specification - $669.99 or $599.99, depending on which web page you look at.
You can’t buy that model direct from Acer in the UK, although it is available from a number of online retailers for around £450.00. Australia, oddly, just gets a single Aspire 5 model with a larger 15.6-inch display and i7 processor for AU$1399.00.
Value: 4/5
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Acer Aspire 5: Design
Bright 1080p display
Wi-Fi 6 and Gigabit Ethernet
Just one USB-C
You’re not going to get cutting-edge design at this price level, and the Aspire 5 has a fairly conventional clamshell design, with chunky borders around the edge of the screen that look a little dated. Acer’s website - unclear as ever - indicates that it’s available in a variety of colors, but the models sold on its website all seem to just be either black or silver.
It gets the basics right, though, with a sturdy chassis that should be able to cope with a few bumps in a backpack or bag when you’re traveling. And while it’s no ultrabook, the Aspire 5 only weighs 1.7kg and measures 18mm thick, so it’s perfectly portable when it needs to be. The keyboard feels firm and comfortable for typing, and there’s a fingerprint sensor on the trackpad for security. The only real weakness here is the thin L-shaped power connector, which sticks out from the side of the laptop and looks a little vulnerable.
The 14-inch screen only provides 1920x1080 resolution, but it’s bright and clear, with good viewing angles. We’re also pleased to see that it has a matte finish that helps to reduce glare and reflection. The 720p webcam is a bit basic, but the image quality was better than we’d expected - it gets a bit grainy if the light is low, but some decent daylight produces an image that’s sharp enough for video calls.
The built-in speakers are a bit feeble, though. The sound is fine for just watching some videos on YouTube, but if you want to listen to some decent music then you’ll need to plug some headphones or speakers into the audio socket on the right-hand edge of the laptop. However, connectivity is a bit of a mixed bag, with just a single USB-C port, and three USB-A (3.2) for connecting peripherals and other devices. Thankfully, the Aspire 5 does include Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 for wireless connectivity, with Gigabit Ethernet also available for wired networks, and HDMI for an external display.
Design: 3.5/5
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Acer Aspire 5: Performance
Respectable performance for office software
Casual gaming only
Benchmarks
3DMark: Night Raid: 12,300; Fire Strike: 3,015; Time Spy: 1,280 Cinebench R23: Multi-core - 4,800 GeekBench 5: 1,417 (single-core); 4,440 (multi-core) PCMark 10: 4820 points PCMark 10 Battery Life: 6 hours, 35 minutes Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 6 hours, 37 minutes
Rather than the i7 processor and GeForce graphics that Acer boasts about on its website, this entry-level model is equipped with a more modest i5 processor, with integrated Iris Xe graphics. Even so, it still provides respectable performance for a laptop in this price range, with a score of 1,417 for single-core performance and 4,440 for multi-core. For real-world applications, the PCMark 10 test suite gives the Aspire 5 a score of 1280, which qualifies as a perfectly respectable ‘office laptop’. Admittedly, that score leaves it just below the halfway mark in the PCMark 10 results tables, but that’s not bad going for an i5 laptop in this price range, and the Aspire 5 will be fine for web browsing and running productivity software such as Microsoft Office.
The Aspire’s integrated Iris Xe graphics won’t win any awards either, with 3DMark scores that generally leave it in the ‘less than 20fps’ category. But, to be fair, 3DMark does use very high graphics settings, so if you don’t mind turning the graphics quality down a little you might even be able to get a bit of casual gaming done every now and then.
Performance: 3.5/5
Acer Aspire 5: Battery Life
6.5 hours for movies
6.5 hours for productivity software
Acer’s website goes typically overboard, boasting up to 10 hours of battery life for the Aspire 5. In fact, our tests recorded very similar scores of just over 6.5 hours for both playing movies and the applications-based PCMark test suite.
Even so, that’s not too bad for a low-cost laptop such as this, and if you’re not using wi-fi then the Aspire 5 should give you a full day’s work when you’re on the move.
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.
It's hard to write a Samsung Galaxy S22 review without making reference to its big brother, the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Now there's a phone with a radical new idea. Okay, it's an idea borrowed from the Galaxy Note line, but still, the Ultra stands apart from the S22 and S22 Plus. In fact, it makes the Galaxy S22 feel a bit less-than.
But these are also more expensive phones, so we’d be comparing apples to oranges to an extent. So let’s focus on what makes the Samsung Galaxy S22 such a fun, attractive, and palm-friendly device.
Put simply, the S22 has enough of everything. It pushes no boundaries in terms of photography, screen size, and battery life, yet it still compares favorably to Apple's $799 / £849 / AU$1,339 iPhone 14.
Samsung's flagship phone provides more megapixels and sensors for photos, and gives you 3x optical zoom. To get something similar on the iPhone, you'll have to jump up to the pricier Pro models.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 is the kind of phone you get if your tastes are upscale but your budget is a bit downrange. Its 6.1-inch screen can feel cramped if you’re coming from virtually any similarly-priced Android phone from OnePlus and Xiaomi. However, placed side-by size with an iPhone 14, the dimensions are similar – and the resemblance is uncanny.
It's a handset that will quickly become a trusted companion. The cameras should satisfy most average mobile photography users, and the image quality is excellent. The adaptive screen-refresh technology does a nice job of keeping everything from fast scrolls to action games looking smooth, and you’ll have no trouble shooting and editing 4K, 30fps video. The Galaxy S22 can also shoot 8K, but the screen stuttered while shooting it so we’re not ready to say this is an 8K-winner.
Like the rest of the S22 line, the Galaxy S22 is running Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in the US, or Samsung’s own Exynos chip in the UK and elsewhere,) and both are backed by 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. The mobile CPU is snappy and capable, but that storage limit without the ability to add a microSD card is frustrating.
Overall, if you like Samsung and Android together, this is an affordable and familiar (we see you, Galaxy S21) way to get in at the top of the Galaxy line, making it one of the best Samsung phones and even one of the best Android phones. For those who want a 5G Samsung Galaxy but want to pay hundreds less, they should look at the Galaxy A Series, including the attractive Galaxy A53.
If you're looking for the perfect Samsung Galaxy S22 audio partner, you may want to check out our Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro review.
Samsung Galaxy S22 price and availability
Samsung Galaxy S22 specs
Weight: 167g Dimensions: 146 x 70.6 x 7.6mm Display size: 6.q-inch Resolution: 1080 x 2340 Chipset: Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 / Exynos 2200 RAM: 8GB Storage: 128/256GB Rear camera: 50MP + 10MP + 12MP Front camera: 10MP Pre-installed software: Android 12 Battery: 3,700mAh Charging: 25W wired, 15W wireless
The Samsung Galaxy S22 went on sale on February 25, 2022, in the US, March 3, 2022, in Australia, and March 11, 2022, in the UK.
You can pick up the Galaxy S22 with 128GB storage for $799 / £769 / AU$1,249, or with 256GB for $849 / £819 / AU$1,349. That pricing has not changed since the Galaxy S21 line.
Note however that while those are the standard prices, you can now often find the Galaxy S22 for less than that, and now that the Samsung Galaxy S23 series has arrived the price is likely to keep on dropping.
Samsung Galaxy S22 design
Not a huge redesign over its predecessor
Comes in a few attractive color designs
Has a strong glass rear
The Gorilla Glass back of the Samsung Galaxy S22 (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Samsung evidently opted not to stray far from the Galaxy S21 design from the previous year, but there are two differences - one is noticeable, the other not so much.
The Galaxy S22 has a 6.1-inch display, making it 0.1 inches smaller than its predecessor, but it’s not something you’ll notice. What is noticeable is the new Gorilla Glass Victus Plus back – the rear was plastic last year. This change gives the phone a much more premium feel, and the Galaxy S22 now feels every bit as solid, and looks as elegant, as the iPhone 13.
This is a phone that’s small enough to slip into your pocket or bag and forget about. In today's world of oversized phones (like the larger Galaxy S22 Ultra), the S22's 70.6 x 146 x 7.6mm, 168g chassis feels puny.Apple's iPhone 13 mini, which Apple is discontinuing, previously held the ‘small flagship’ crown, though.
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Where Apple now favors a smooth flat metal band around its phones, the Galaxy S22's aluminum frame offers a small, albeit pleasing curve, which some may find slightly more comfortable to hold for long periods than the iPhone 14. The phone is IP68 rated, which makes it water and dust-resistant. In practice, a drop in the sink is no big deal.
We’re glad Samsung left the contour-cut camera module untouched. It's attractive and efficient. The brushed glass back looks and feels great, and does a nice job of highlighting our test unit's Forest Green color – it also doesn’t show fingerprints. Other color options include Phantom Black, Phantom White, Pink Gold, and Bora Purple.
There are just two buttons – power and the volume rocker – along one edge of the phone. On the top edge is a tiny hole for a microphone. The bottom houses one speaker (the other half of the decently-loud stereo speaker system is hidden along the top edge of the display), the SIM slot, another microphone hole, and the USB-C charging port (note that the S22 doesn’t support the 45W charger that Samsung sells for theGalaxy S22 Plus).
Samsung Galaxy S22 display
6.1-inch screen, smaller than on the S21
Has a 2340 x 1080 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate
Bright and attractive display
The edge-to-edge Dynamic AMOLED display has a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels, which is good, though it is lower than the iPhone 14's Super Retina XDR 2532 x 1170 display. Samsung makes up for that deficit by having a smaller black bezel around the screen, and no intrusive notch.
To accommodate the 10MP front-facing camera, Samsung has cut a small circle in the display. It's not distracting, and didn’t break our immersion through long games of PUBG Mobile.
The screen is as bright and attractive as any we’ve seen. The adaptive refresh rate (10Hz to 120Hz) makes every movement in scrolling, videos, and games look smooth. High refresh rates can burn through charge quickly, so you can lock the refresh rate at 60Hz if you want to extend battery life, or at 120Hz if this isn’t a concern for you.
The screen also promises to boost touch sampling (the speed at which it will recognize and respond to touch) for Game Mode. We had no responsiveness issues, but we also haven't noticed any gaming sluggishness in other flagship phones we've tested this year.
Underneath the display is the ultrasonic fingerprint reader. This lets you register your finger (or fingers) of choice and is an effective biometric security tool. The phone also supports face recognition, though there's also a warning that it's less secure on this device than fingerprint unlocking is.
While the Samsung Galaxy S22 looks a lot like the S21, right down to the contour-cut camera array, Samsung has mixed things up a bit. There are still three lenses, but some of the sensors backing them are different.
The 12MP ultrawide f/2.2 camera is virtually unchanged, but it's now grouped with a new 50MP f/1.8 main camera and a 10MP f/2.3 telephoto. That last camera has far fewer pixels than the S21’s 64MP sensor but keeps the zoom at 3x (the S21 listed the zoom as hybrid; this is optical zoom). You can enjoy digital zoom up to 30x, which is fun, but not as good or exciting as the S22 Ultra's 100x Space Zoom. Still, it's nice to get 3x optical on a sub-$800 phone.
On the front is the 10MP selfie camera, which appears unchanged from the Galaxy S21.
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You can adjust the bokeh effect before or after you take a portait mode photo.
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Photography across a range of styles (wide, ultrawide, portrait, night mode) and the available lenses are good. Samsung's over-bright colors are still in evidence; they have a tendency to make, for instance, the sky too blue, and the results almost never match what you see with the naked eye. Looking back at the photos, you can't help but be pleased, but if you want absolute color fidelity, you might look elsewhere.
Portrait mode photography, which lets you adjust the bokeh effect before or after you take the shot, is a strong point. The software does an excellent job of separating subjects – human, or otherwise – from their background for professional-looking results.
The 10MP, 3x optical zoom does a good job, though its capabilities break down when it comes to 10x and 30x. We’re not sure there are enough pixels to support this level of digital (even AI-backed) interpolation.
The camera app includes a rather deep set of shooting modes and controls, many of them hidden under ‘More’ (typical of an Android phone). There's Pro mode, for instance, which gives you control over shutter speed, ISO (film speed in old-school camera-speak), focus point, and white balance.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 doesn't include a Cinematic mode, as Apple does in the iPhone 13, but you can adjust the depth of focus while shooting video if you use the Pro Video mode setting. With that on, you can tap on any subject and the camera will refocus on them. It's a shame Samsung hides such a useful feature in this way.
Camera samples
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Samsung Galaxy S22 performance and specs
Uses Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip in the US and Asia
Uses Exynos 2200 everywhere else
Powerful, with a fair amount of storage
Samsung has equipped all members of its S22 line with one of its latest mobile chipsets. In the US, that’s the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, while outside the US and Asia the Galaxy S22 runs on Samsung’s own Exynos 2200. Both processors are paired with 8GB of RAM, and either 128GB or 256GB storage.
When we benchmarked the Galaxy S22 against the S22 Ultra, we found the Geekbench scores to be essentially equal. Both phones’ scores are still generally lower than Apple's A16 Bionic’s, though.
None of this is to say the Galaxy S22 feels slow. It has more than enough power for casual mobile tasks (web browsing, app work) and extra juice for videos, games, 4K video shooting, and editing. The 8K video shoot was a stuttering disaster, but otherwise, we were pleased.
We wish Samsung didn't skimp on storage (256GB max without the option of a microSD upgrade is simply not enough) and leave out WiFi 6E (it has WiFi 6), but these are relatively minor quibbles.
Samsung Galaxy S22 software
Android 12 with Samsung's One UI over the top
Lots of pre-installed Samsung apps
Has 5G connectivity
Samsung Galaxy S22 front hole punch for 10MP selfie camera. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The entire Samsung Galaxy S22 phone family runs on Samsung's One UI 4.1, laid over Android 12.
We like One UI because it mostly doesn't get in the way of a clean Android 12 experience. Yes, it still has its own web browser, which you can happily ignore (along with Samsung's Calendar and Contacts apps), and Bixby (which is tied to the power button for no good reason), but the Gallery app for photos and videos is passable (Google Photos, which is also present, is better).
This is also a 5G phone, which means you can enjoy blazing-fast mobile connectivity where you can get a decent signal. Indoors, however, that's often impossible. Even in the suburbs of most big cities, 5G coverage is spotty. But we did have fun streaming HD Netflix on the train ride home until we moved out of 5G range and back into LTE.
Samsung Galaxy S22 battery life
3,700mAh battery - 300mAh smaller than before
USB-C cable, but no wall plug, included
Charges at 25W - also supports wireless
It's not clear why Samsung shrunk the Galaxy S22's battery down by 300mAh, from a capacity of 4,000mAh on the S21 to 3,700mAh here, but it doesn't appear to have much of an impact. We got roughly 12 hours of battery life with varied and almost constant use. Your mileage may vary.
The phone doesn’t ship with a charging adapter – just the USB-C cable – but you can use any compatible 25W adapter or charge wirelessly via a Qi adapter.
Should I buy the Samsung Galaxy S22?
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Also consider
If this Samsung Galaxy S22 review has you wondering what else is out there, here are some other similar mobiles that might also tempt you.
iPhone 14
The iPhone 14 is a capable smartphone with a seriously snappy CPU, lovely screen, and good cameras. It pales in comparison to the iPhone 14 Pro, but then you’re also saving $200 / £250 / AU$350. If you’re not looking for a big screen on a budget (for that, see the new iPhone 14 Plus), this solid, if unspectacular iPhone – with a couple of really cool next-gen features that you may never use – might be for you.
OnePlus 10T review
The OnePlus 10T is a worthy mid-range Android phone. Its good-looking screen, powerful chipset and fast charging make it a tempting buy for certain users. It’s not perfect – corners have clearly been cut in the camera, battery life and design departments to keep the price lower than it needs to be – but some users will find the lower price and different features make this a solid buy over the premium 10 Pro.
If we were to judge the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra on nothing but its cameras and, in particular, the optical and digitally-enhanced zoom capabilities, we might call it the best smartphone ever.
Of course, even before its successor landed, it wouldn't have been fair to judge the S22 Ultra as the best based on its cameras alone – every handset is the sum of its design, features, components, utility, and value – but taken as a whole, this Samsung Galaxy Series-Galaxy Note hybrid is an excellent, albeit massive Android handset that not only ticks all the important boxes, but delivers more features than you may ever want or use.
The design is an echo of, but also more forward-leaning than, Samsung’s last Note device. It really is a hybrid. There will be no complaints about the ultra-high-resolution, 6.8-inch screen, which offers brilliant colors and smooth motion at 120Hz, but is smart enough to stop down all the way to 1Hz, when that’s all you need, to save on battery life.
The camera array is strong. Sure, it’s not a complete overhaul of the Galaxy S21’s camera system, but that was already pretty darn good. This is arguably better – the Optical and Space Zooms are simply marvels of modern technology.
We also love the thin and light S Pen, and we’re thrilled that it’s finally integrated – literally – into the Galaxy line. It does so many things so well, and for productivity-focused mobile users it could be a godsend.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra's back is black, satin Gorilla Glass Victus+ (Image credit: Future)
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Specs
Display: 6.8-inch, Quad HD+ Dimensions: 77.9 x 163.3 x 8.9 mm Weight: 229G Screen refresh: 120Hz Screen brightness: 1750 nits Glass: Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ Water resistance: IP68 Selfie camera: 40MP resolution Main camera: 108MP resolution Telephoto camera: 2 10MP resolution sensors Ultrawide: 12MP resolution Battery: 5000mAh Memory: 8GB or 12GB available Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB available
Samsung’s One UI 4.1 software is mostly good, even if it does create some duplication of browsers, photos, and messages apps. Other tools, like Expert Raw, a freely downloadable Samsung app that gives you full access to all the camera controls and lets you capture and save RAW format photos, and the video-conferencing app Google Duo, which both do an excellent job of showing off the phone’s power and versatility, are the real highlights here.
Performance-wise, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 4nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor acquits itself nicely (no, it doesn’t beat Apple’s A15 Bionic). The point is, we couldn't find a single app that was sluggish or disappointing on the mobile monolith.
Battery life was more of a mixed bag. We did get a full day of solid use (18 hours or so), but we thought we might get more out of the massive 5,000 mAh battery and high-performance, energy-efficient CPU.
Ultimately, though, this is the kind of device that can make you forget what’s come before it. If you were used to a smaller-screen device, you’ll feel cramped if you ever go back to it. If you struggled in the past to take photos of the moon, you’ll wonder why Apple hasn’t figured this out yet. If you wished that your device had just a little more power to complete those raw image-editing tasks, your wish has been granted.
Part of Samsung’s new S22 lineup, but looking nothing like its siblings, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is to the casual observer a Galaxy Note in a shiny, new coat. It does have a much bigger and bolder camera array (lifted pretty much intact from the S21 Ultra), but it’s otherwise a canny adjustment of the Note aesthetic or, as Samsung might call it, the “Note Experience.” Still, this adjustment leaves it as easily the best Samsung phone.
If you're looking for the perfect Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra audio partner, you may want to check out our Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro review.
Starts at $1,199.99 / £1,149 / AU$1,849 for 128GB storage and 8GB of RAM
Storage options up to 1TB, no microSD slot for expansion
A device that combines the best of Samsung’s S Series and the Note’s more industrial design and capabilities doesn't come cheap. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra starts at $1,199.99 / £1,149 / AU$1,849 for 128GB storage and 8GB of RAM.
There are naturally bigger storage options (that also include more RAM), which can take you all the way to a 1TB model ($1,599.99 / £1,499 / AU$2,449 ). 256GB will run you $1,299,99 / £1,249 / AU$1,999, and 512GB is $1,399.99 / £1,329 / AU$2,149.
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Choose your storage options wisely, because none of the Samsung Galaxy S22 phones come with a microSD card slot for upgrading your storage space.
The good news is, prices are often lower than that now that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is getting on a bit - and they're likely to drop further now that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has arrived.
An inarguably beautiful device, the 6.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra – owing to its Note roots – doesn’t look much like the Galaxy S22 Plus. It starts from the original Galaxy Note 10 design but takes it forward with even more premium materials.
The frame is a solid Armor Aluminum that rigidly resists bends. Polished on the outside to a near-chrome finish, the metal is sandwiched between two Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ plates. The front glass is high-gloss, and the back is a warm satin finish; both do a decent job of repelling fingerprints. The phone’s IP68-rated body also handily resided the water we ran over it.
The above finishes come in seven color options: Phantom Black, Phantom White, Burgundy, Green, Graphite, Sky Blue and Red. The dark green is sexy, but we’ve fallen in love with the inky Phantom Black of our test device.
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Did we mention that this is a big phone? Its dimensions are 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9mm, which is taller than a 6.7-inch Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max, but, somewhat surprisingly, at 229g, lighter than Apple’s biggest handset. Small hands will struggle with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. The curved edges make the Galaxy S22 Ultra comfortable to hold, but the lack of edges also makes it feel slippery as a fish – albeit a fish made of hard glass and metal.
There are two flat surfaces, on the top and bottom of the device. The top plane is a mostly unbroken slab of metal, with one tiny drill-through hole for a microphone. The bottom surface houses the SIM slot, USB-C charging port (the phone ships with a USB-C cable but no charging brick- BYOB is a thing now), speaker grille, and the S Pen.
If you’re in any doubt that this is a Note in S Series clothing, you need only to press that slight bump on the base and pop out the familiar and light S Pen. It’s all the things a Samsung S Pen should be, giving up nothing for its new Galaxy S22 Ultra home. More on the stylus later.
The 6.8-inch AMOLED screen is another highlight. It supports up to 3088 x 1440 pixels (WQHD+) resolution, which works out to 500 ppi. The iPhone 13 Pro Max, by contrast, has 458ppi on its 6.7-inch 2778 x 1284 screen. It’s worth noting that the S22 Ultra’s default resolution is 2316 x 1080 (FHD+), which Samsung says uses somewhat less battery life – although halfway through our testing we switched to WQHD+ and didn’t notice much, if any, battery performance loss.
Everything from games and videos to apps looks fantastic on the display, which now has the ability to smoothly shift from a 1Hz refresh rate all the way up to a butter-smooth 120Hz. Such adaptive technology can be hard to notice because, for instance, 1Hz might be used for the home screen or a word processor, while 120Hz might be called on for gaming.
The point is, when the imagery should be clean and smooth, it is. The lower refresh rates primarily help to conserve battery – there’s no need to update the screen more than a hundred times per second if nothing is moving.
With a peak brightness of 1750 nits and Samsung’s new Vision Booster technology, the screen does a decent job of maintaining visibility even in direct sunlight. Naturally, though, this means the brightness gets turned up to 100%, which will impact your daily battery life.
Hidden under the screen, roughly a third of the way up from the bottom edge, is the effective ultrasonic fingerprint reader. We found it easy to both register a finger and use it to unlock the phone. The other biometric security option is facial recognition, but Samsung warns that this isn’t as secure as other options, like a PIN or fingerprint.
There’s also a small drill hole through the screen for the 40MP front-facing camera.
Put simply, this is a lovely screen for viewing and writing.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Cameras
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra camera array (Image credit: Future)
Main camera is 108MP with f/1.8 aperture and an 85-defree FOV
Two telephoto lenses with 10MP sensors, one ultrawide 12MP sensor
Optical zoom up to 10x, Space Zoom enhanced up to 100x
When people say, “So, it’s basically a new Samsung Galaxy Note, right?” we have to flip over the phone to show them the camera array, which is a dead ringer for the one on the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Don’t worry, though – this is not some Frankenstein’s monster of smartphone design. Because Samsung has done away with the contour box that popped the whole thing up a millimeter or so above the back of the S21, the S22 Ultra’s array of five lenses looks perfectly at home.
The cameras don’t just look similar – they’re almost the same. There are two 10MP telephoto lenses: one is f/2.4 with a 36-degree field of view (FOV) and the other is f/4.9 with an 11-degree FOV. There’s also a 12MP ultrawide with a 120-degree FOV, and then there’s the 108MP main wide camera (f/1.8) with an 85-degree FOV.
However, the technology backing these lenses has gotten an upgrade. While the image sensors haven't changed since the S21 Ultra, Samsung has done some work on optical image stabilization, digital image stabilization (for a better Super Steady system), and image processing. The result is better performance from all the lenses, but especially in the zoom arena.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s zoom capabilities simply blow away anything we’ve ever seen before from a mobile phone camera. Obviously, the 3x and 10x optical zoom are not only solid but offer clear images of distant objects with enough clarity that you can crop in on details without seeing much pixelation.
The 30x and especially 100x Space Zoom is where, at least in previous iterations of Samsung’s technology, you’d see significant artifacts in your photos.
Now, however, these images are shockingly good, at least at first glance. Sure, you can’t crop in too much without the images breaking down into a Picasso-like mess, but untouched, these can be perfectly shareable images.
Part of this has to do with the stabilization, which at 100x, basically takes control of the lens and holds a subject (like the moon) in the frame. It can feel a little like you’re no longer in control of the lens, but it does do a good job of countering your shaky hands.
Wide and ultrawide images also benefit from some new pixel sorcery. With the Galaxy S22 Ultra, Samsung introduced Adaptive Pixel. This takes nona-binning (first introduced with the S21 Ultra), which takes nine pixels of information and combines them for better color and contrast, and combines it with the full resolution of the 108MP wide-angle original. That lens also gets an auto-focus assist from what looks like a fifth lens on the back of the phone - it's actually a Laser Auto Focus sensor. If you look closely, you can see the little red laser light peeking out from behind the glass.
Virtually every image we shot looked great, even if we did detect a hint of over-saturation (it wouldn’t be Samsung if they didn’t over-saturate the image).
The front-facing camera, meanwhile, uses tetra-binning to combine four pixels into one for a high-quality 10MP image.
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Samsung’s lenses, stabilization, image sensors, and algorithms also make what the company calls ‘Nightography’ possible. While we don’t like the marketing term, the phone’s night-time and low-light photographic skills are clear. It can brighten a night sky to near daytime, capture the moon or your face in poor lighting, and has some long-exposure skills too.
The front and rear cameras do a nice job with portrait photography, courtesy of a Portrait mode that’s getting good enough to separate stray hairs from a bokeh background. Samsung told us this is due, in part, to its new depth map technology. The presets, which include the ability to create a virtual backdrop (a chromakey color is used so that you can easily substitute some other background later) are pretty good, as well.
You can also shoot some high-quality 4K video at 60fps, and up to 8K at 24fps. We were pleased with the results.
We were less impressed with the phone’s Portrait Video capabilities, which come nowhere close to the magic of Apple’s iPhone 13 line’s Cinematic mode video (it needs a face in frame to work). The auto-framing capability, which literally zooms the camera in and out to keep people in frame, doesn’t seem all that useful – we suspect it needs more refinement.
One thing we do appreciate about Samsung’s video shooting capabilities is that, unlike an iPhone, it lets you shoot video, hit pause, and continue shooting while keeping the entire shoot in one video file. Apple should add this feature ASAP.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Camera samples
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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Space Zoom photo of almost full moon (Image credit: Future)
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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Space Zoom shot of the moon through trees (Image credit: Future)
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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra optical zoom test (Image credit: Future)
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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra front facing camera Portrait Mode test (Image credit: Future)
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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra portrait mode test (Image credit: Future)
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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Space Zoom photo Freedom Tower from 3 miles away (Image credit: Future)
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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Pro Camera test full control shutter speed ISO (Image credit: Future)
Aside from the awesome cameras, the main reason you’d spend all that extra dough on a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is for the integrated S Pen. The light and versatile stylus is hidden inside the phone’s body; it’s small, thin, and feels so easy to lose that you’ll wish there were magnets in the S Pen and on the body of the S22 Ultra to hold these companions together when you don’t slip the stylus inside the phone.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra S Pen (Image credit: Future)
With the S Pen, you can take notes on a lock screen (they’re white ink on a black background), or open the phone and access a slide-in menu of eight customizable options.
These include taking notes, viewing them, making smart selections of anything on the screen, drawing on a screen capture, live messages, doodling in augmented reality, translations, and PenUp, a community space where you can learn how to draw with the S Pen and share your creations with others.
All of these features work as advertised, and offer fast ways of grabbing content, marking it up, and sharing with friends and coworkers.
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In our estimation, the S Pen is a wildly useful implement and, despite its small size (small for this reviewer’s hands anyway), it’s an effective drawing implement. We opened Sketchbook and had a great time drawing, especially because the pen and screen recognize pressure and angle.
The S Pen is also a solid productivity tool. We scrawled some notes in Samsung Notes and then let the system convert the scribbles to real text. It didn’t miss a word.
Overall, there’s a lot you can do with the S Pen, but it also follows the 80/20 rule – most of us will use 20% of the features, 80% of the time.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Software
Android 12 with Samsung One UI 4.1
Some apps, like Messages, are duplicated with Samsung and Google versions
While the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is an Android 12 phone - and one of the best Android phones at that - it’s also running One UI 4.1, the latest version of Samsung’s Android interface software. Like most Android overlays, this one isn’t primarily there to enforce a bespoke design aesthetic on top of pure Android; rather, it duplicates some utilities, like the web browser and photos apps, and adds tons of smart software touches and useful tools, like Samsung’s new Wallet, that should enhance the Android experience
Samsung’s onboard photo and video-editing capabilities, for example, are strong. We especially like the ability to magically remove an object from a photo, which worked like a charm on a photo of a dozen donuts – instead of eating them, we just selected them one by one and removed them from the original image. The software did leave behind a few telltale artifacts, but you'd be hard-pressed to tell what was there before we digitally removed a donut.
There’s also a freely downloadable Expert Raw app, which gives you access to all the pro shooting tools (ISO, white balance, focus, shutter speed) and lets you shoot raw images, which we then edited on the phone in Adobe’s Lightroom app.
It’s not great, however, that there’s both a Messages app and a Samsung Messages app. The icons look similar, but they’re two distinct apps. It’s this kind of nonsense that will always keep the Android messaging system slightly behind iOS’s iMessage. We want one system – the new RCS (Rich Communication Services) is fine – and complete cross-app compatibility.
Samsung has made a lot of noise about Google’s updated Google Duo video conferencing utility, which makes its debut on the S22 Ultra, and it does work as advertised. We made a Duo call to a friend, which looked and sounded good on both sides, and then quite effortlessly shared views of our screen, apps like Twitter, and played a YouTube video that we were both able to enjoy.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra connecting phone to Windows 11 (Image credit: Future)
Samsung is also strengthening its partnership with Microsoft, and we had no trouble adding our Microsoft account, which includes OneDrive and the Office Suite. It was also easy to connect the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra to our Windows 11 PC.
We started the process on the phone, and then we had to visit a URL on the PC (it was supposed to pop up automatically, but didn’t) where we found a QR code. We pointed the S22 Ultra camera at the code, and the phone then guided us through the rest of the set-up process.
With the connection complete, we were able to control our phone through the desktop using our mouse; we even ran Asphalt 9 for a hot second before the connection crashed.
While, in our tests, it wasn’t immediately clear how having these platforms blended in this way benefits the user, we think the ability to quickly access on-phone data, messages, and calls is surely part of the attraction.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Specs and performance
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with camera app open (Image credit: Future)
A 4nm processor, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in most of the world
UK and Australia get Samsung Exynos 2200 chipset
Over almost a week of intense testing, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra never let us down. It’s a fast and powerful phone. The 4nm processor (in our test phone it’s the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset – UK or Australia will get Samsung’s own Exynos 2200 chipset.) doesn’t outperform Apple’s A15 Bionic in Geekbench benchmarks, but raw numbers never tell the full story.
For what it’s worth, here are the numbers for our device, which shipped with 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage).
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Geekbench benchmarks
CPU:
Single Core: 1236
Multi-Core: 3417
GPU
OpenCL Score: 5866
Apple’s numbers are better, but the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra didn’t feel any slower across all tasks. Perhaps the only situation where we detected a small stutter was on 8K video playback (that’s 8K video that we shot with the very same phone).
This is also a gorgeous and quite powerful gaming phone, and handled my Asphalt 9 race through Barcelona without a single hiccup.
Call quality was generally excellent. We could hear our caller clearly, and they told us we were coming through equally clear. The 5G performance (we were on T-Mobile in the US) was, by turns, excellent and average – it seemed to depend on how close we were to a decent 5G tower.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Battery life
Large 5,000 mAh battery and wireless charging
Could not meet our expectations for battery life
Like the Galaxy S21 Ultra, the S22 Ultra features a beefy 5,000mAh battery and wireless charging. In our tests, the battery was good for a full day of varied activity (roughly from 7am to 11pm) but not much more (this was the same for mid-range and high-resolution screen settings).
We were a little surprised that such a large battery didn’t provide a day and a half of battery life. Perhaps the new 4nm chip isn’t as efficient as Samsung had hoped.
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The phone has a built-in vapor champer and heat-sync material. Even so, we detected some warmth on the back of the phone when performing a variety of tasks, including web browsing, photography, and gaming, for extended periods. We wonder if Samsung might be able to improve battery performance with some software tweaks.
As noted above, the phone doesn't ship with a charger, just the USB-C cable to connect to one – a potential shock for people upgrading from the previous Note. Also, the in-the-box package no longer includes a set of earbuds, and while this at least makes some sense, as the phone no longer has a 3.5mm headphone jack, you start to feel like Samsung is asking for more money while giving you less.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is probably not for everyone. It’s giant, expensive, and might be overkill for people who simply want a nice screen, decent photos, and a good on-screen social media experience. For those who want more, say a phone that is ready to run Raw photo editing apps, mark up screens and images, create detailed works of art and take zoom photos that will make you the envy of all your iPhone-carrying friends, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is worth every dime.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra?
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra?
(Image credit: Future)
Buy it if...
Don't buy if...
Also consider...
If the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review has you curious about the fastest smartphones on the market, you can read our full roundup of the best phones you can buy.
• Original review date: February 2022
• Launch price: Starts at $1,649 (about £1,250, AU$2,300)
• Target price now: N/A
Update – September 2024: R.I.P. to 14-inch Alienware laptops, I guess. Yes, Dell has killed off the X14 gaming laptop line entirely since we reviewed it back in 2022, with the company now focused only on 16- and 18-inch models. It's no longer available for purchase, although you might be able to pick one up second-hand.
Back in 2022, the Alienware X14 certainly was worthy of standing among the ranks of the best gaming laptops around, so it's a shame to see it disappear from Dell's gaming lineup. It's doubly sad given that there's no obvious replacement here either; Dell's own-brand G-series gaming laptops only come in 15- and 16-inch flavors.
Original review follows.
Two-minute review
Thin and light gaming laptops like the Alienware X14 are becoming more common as mobile PC components become more power efficient and PC makers get better at designing cooling systems that don't take up as much space. We've already seen a few laptops try to pack high power and light weight in a single chassis, but now Alienware is throwing its legendary hat - and design into the ring.
And, it ends up with one of the thinnest and lighting gaming laptops we've ever used. This laptop is just 0.57 inches thick and weighs just under 4lb, making it easy to carry in your backpack. But it doesn't sacrifice power to fit in that chassis. The model we reviewed comes with an Intel Core i7-12700H, 32GB of RAM and an RTX 3060. That's not the most powerful hardware on the market, but its more than what you'll find in most laptops this size.
But with that high power in such a portable chassis, you're going to have to pay. The model we got in for review will cost a whopping $2,299 (about £1,700, AU$3,200) in the US, quite a bit more expensive than an equivalent Razer Blade 14, though it is a bit thinner and lighter. With the high price of entry, the Alienware X14 really is a gaming laptop for people that want something that can play the best PC games at high settings, but without weighing them down. And the fact that it uses USB-C charging instead of a giant power brick definitely helps, too.
Price and availability
SPEC SHEET
Here is the Alienware X14 configuration sent to TechRadar for review: CPU: 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-12700H (14 cores, 24MB cache, up to 4.7GHz Turbo) Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 RAM: 32GB Screen: 14-inch 1080p LED, 144Hz, 7ms Storage: 1 X 2TB M.2 SSD Optical drive: N/A Ports: 1x USB-A,2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, 1 x USB-C with DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI, 1 x microSD card reader, audio combo jack Connectivity: Killer WiFi 6E AX1675 (2x2 ), Bluetooth 5.2 Camera: HD 720p Webcam Weight: 4.06 pounds (1.8 kg) Size: 12.66 x 10.35 x 0.57 inches (321 x 263 x 14.5 mm; W x D x H)
The Alienware X14 is available today, starting at $1,649 (about £1,250, AU$2,300). That will get you a 12th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050. That would be enough for most esports games, and should be more than capable of handling most AAA games, especially if you use DLSS.
If you want a bit more gaming power, though, you can up the GPU to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD for $1,849 (about £1,360, AU$2,580) . This is the configuration we'd recommend for most people, and the price is actually pretty good, and about what you would pay for other gaming laptops with similar specs - including our favorite low-profile gaming laptop, the Razer Blade 14.
The configuration reviewed here will set you back $2,299 (about £1,700, AU$3,200), and comes with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD. This is definitely an overkill amount of RAM and storage space, especially in a gaming laptop that maxes out with an RTX 3060. But as far as Alienware laptops go, this max configuration is actually pretty tame.
In fact, we wish Alienware pushed a little further with the X14. Even if it just included a 3070 configuration for people that want to play some Cyberpunk 2077 on the go or something. But it's likely that would have added to the bulk of the device, and it would have lost some of its charm.
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Design
It is immediately striking how thin the Alienware X14 is when you pull it out of the box and look at it. And then, when you pick it up and notice how light it is, it's easy to forget that this is, in fact, a gaming laptop.
This is a laptop that measures just over half an inch thick and weighs just around 4lb. In a lot of ways, it's a similar profile to a MacBook Pro or a Dell XPS 15, just with a little bit of extra gaming juice behind it. The one thing that does bulk up the laptop's profile a bit, though, is the protrusion on the back.
A lot of the hot air is channeled through the vents back here, and this is also where every single port is found. However, while it's convenient in the moment when you have it on a table or something, it does unfortunately add to the footprint of the Alienware X14. This protrusion makes it a bit more difficult to fit in a bag, and if you were just barely fitting a 14-inch laptop in your bag before, you might need to get a bigger backpack. This packs away more like a 15-inch laptop than a 14-inch laptop.
However, the smaller charging cable makes up for it. This is the first Alienware laptop we've ever used that uses a USB-C charger as its primary method of charging. The charger that comes in the box is exactly the same one as comes with the XPS 15, and it works just fine with our MacBook Pro charger as well. With more and more devices using USB-C charging, it's nice having a gaming laptop that we don't have to also pack a special charger for.
As far as the ports around back that we mentioned earlier, there are two Thunderbolt 4 ports, one standard USB-C for charging, an HDMI, one USB-A port and a microSD card reader - and of course a headphone jack. As far as most gaming laptops go, this would be a bit lacking, but considering the size of the laptop, it's more than we were expecting. Luckily we haven't reached a time when gamers have to live the dongle life as well - at least not yet.
And for such a thin laptop, the keyboard is surprisingly solid. Travel is nice and deep, and bottoming out on the keys isn't as solid and shocking as on other chiclet-type keyboards. The trackpad is also surprisingly good, accurate and has a nice clicking mechanism.
Even the speakers are pretty good considering the size of the device. The only place they're lacking is in bass response. Listening to "Billions" by Caroline Polachek, the entire song comes through loud and clear. However, the deep bass in the background gets muffled by the weak woofers on the Alienware X14. In games, this means things like explosions and gunshots aren't as clear as they should be, but you should be using a gaming headset for stuff like that anyway - a shame there's only one USB-A slot though.
The display is also very good. It's a 14-inch 1080p display with a 144Hz refresh rate. It hits an average of 377 nits of brightness, which should be plenty for most people. It also manages to reach 109% of the sRGB color spectrum, which means it's extremely colorful. It's definitely not the most beautiful or bright display on the market, but it's fast, and it's accurate enough that gamers are going to love it.
Finally, because this is a gaming laptop in 2022, there is of course some delightful RGB lighting. The fan exhaust on the back of the laptop is surrounded by an RGB light bar and the Alienware logo on the lid of the laptop also features user-adjustable lighting. The keyboard also features RGB lighting, and by default comes in a gorgeous static blue setting.
Alienware is definitely a company that wants you to show off your laptop, and trust us, you're going to want to show off the Alienware X14.
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Performance
Benchmarks
Here's how the Alienware X14 performed in our suite of benchmark tests: 3DMark: Night Raid: 41,366; Fire Strike: 15257; Time Spy: 6716 Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 13686 points GeekBench 5: 1567 (single-core); 13531 (multi-core) PCMark 10 (Home test): 6830 points PCMark 10 Battery life: 5 hours and 27 minutes Battery life (Techradar movie test): 6hours and 13 minutes Total War: Three Kingdoms (1080p, Ultra): 52 fps; (1080p, Low): 177 fps Metro Exodus (1080p, Ultra): 46 fps; (1080p, Low): 150 fps
While this is a thin and light gaming laptop, it definitely isn't specced out like one. This is equipped with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, and unlike the one you would find in, say, the XPS 17, this is a 75W version of the mobile GPU - which is very nearly the full-fat 80W maximum for this piece of silicon.
Dell was able to do this by utilizing a similar cooling solution to what's found in the X15 and X17, just with a two-fan configuration rather than four fans. That's likely why this laptop is limited to just an RTX 3060 and a Core i7, but it's definitely effective. While the laptop does get loud under load, temperatures are kept in check, and it allows the laptop to perform admirably.
In Metro Exodus at Ultra settings at 4K, the Alienware X14 manages just under 50 fps, and as soon as you turn on DLSS (which you should), that will easily hit 60 fps. Likewise, in Total War: Three Kingdoms, this laptop manages 52 fps on the Ultra preset.
This gaming laptop can absolutely play the latest AAA games at high settings at 1080p, but you are going to have to fiddle around with some of the settings if you want to hit the magical 60 fps mark. This is why we would have loved an RTX 3070 configuration. Maybe next time around, Dell will find a way to fit a slightly more powerful GPU in here.
As for the CPU in here, Alder Lake-H continues to impress. This is a Core i7 configuration and has no problem absolutely wiping the floor with its 11th-generation equivalent. It even manages to match an 11th-generation Core i9 processor in much thicker laptops like the Dell XPS 17 and the Alienware x17.
CPU heavy workloads like photo and video editing are going to be a breeze, and the Efficiency Cores in the Core i7-12700H will make sure that pesky background tasks don't get in the way of you getting things done.
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Battery life
Battery is, simply put, the Achilles Heel of the Alienware X14. This gaming laptop just lasts around 5 and a half hours in the PCMark10 battery benchmark, and just about 6 hours in our video playback test.
This is likely because there is only an 80Whr battery in the X14, rather than the 99WHr batteries found in most gaming laptops these days. That was probably in interest of keeping the laptop as thin and light as it is, but it does mean that you're likely going to need to carry around a charger. But, again, the bright side of that is that you can charge this laptop with pretty much any USB-C charger you have lying around.
It's definitely a compromise we wish we didn't have to make. We don't really go anywhere where we can't plug a laptop in, but if you're hoping to have this thing last you through an international flight - it's probably not going to manage that.
Camera
Good webcams are more important than ever before now that telecommuting is becoming more common, and the Alienware X14's camera is pretty lackluster. It's a 720p sensor, and the images it captures aren't very detailed. The lighting is pretty awful as well, which means it's probably not a laptop we'll be taking video calls on any time soon.
It does have IR, so it supports Windows Hello, but that's pretty much the only good thing about the webcam here. Dell has been putting better webcams into its other laptops, we don't know why this laptop was neglected, especially since livestreaming has become so popular.
(Image credit: Future)
Features and software
Just like any other Alienware or Dell laptop, the Alienware X14 is loaded with Dell's own software. However, it is all conveniently contained in one launcher this time around, called My Alienware. From here, you can get updates, launch Alienware Command Center, and other various support-flavored tasks.
Alienware Command Center continues to be where you're going to find all the performance profiles and controls for RGB lighting. It also will let you scan your PC for games, so you can launch your whole library from that one app instead of juggling around a bunch of different storefronts. Definitely a nice touch, though you can get the same effect by just downloading GOG Galaxy.
