Where the heck have all the Laptop Ports Gone??? QacQoc has the answer…

You might have noticed recently that a certain famous Scottish designer has been secretly doing away with all our ports… and replacing them just a few USB Type-C ports instead…

Well Jony… I’ve got news for you! We want our fricking ports back!

So follow me on my journey as I review the QacQoc USB Type-C MacBook Pro Compatible Hub to see if it can live up to its premium price tag?

Bring back the old days of multiple-port-heaven… with a QacQoc what now?

Design & Build Quality

The QacQoc Type-C Hub is clean, contemporary and luxuriously cold to touch thanks to its aluminium exterior. First impressions are very good with the hub being lightweight, the cable being reassuringly thick and the whole unit feeling very solid.

Weighing in at only 59 grams means that it also travels very well, and can be thrown into your pocket or bag without it weighing you down.

When it comes to colour options, the QacQoc (GN30H) is available in Silver, Grey, Rose Gold & Gold meaning you also have the option to match it your Mac for that seamless desktop look. Or if you’re an odd socks sort of guy… mix it up a little.

At this price-point, I expect a high level of craftsmanship from QacQoc and the finish on the GN30H Type-C hub doesn’t disappoint. Inspecting the unit closely I couldn’t find any rough edges or loose seams and the USB Type-C port fits snugly up against the side of my MacBook Pro 2017.

In terms of Design & Build Quality, the QacQoc GN30H has impressed me… so far living up to its apple-esque premium price-tag.

Features

No that we know the QacQoc looks the part, let’s see if it can also impress us with its features. If you’re going to invest in a USB Type-C Hub for your laptop, you’re going to want to go one of two ways.

The first is a discrete low profile hub that aligns against your Macbook or laptop and the second is a slightly larger all-in-one feature rich hub that dangles nearby. The QacQoc GN30H is definitely in the second camp.

You’ll find 3x USB 3.0 A Ports and 1x full size HDMI Output (1080P 60Hz / 4K 30Hz) on the one side. While opposite, you get a full size SDHC port and a Micro-SD card slot. And finally, at the end is a 1000Mbps (1 Gigabit) Ethernet port for when you can’t get the bloody hotel WiFi to work…

The QacQoc Type-C hub needs no setup and is truly plug and play. You’ll know the QacQoc is working as it has a blue LED that lights up once connected to your laptop.

Testing all the ports out, everything worked as expected. The Hub does become a little warm when charging and transferring large files but this is normal for aluminium devices and means that the heat is dissipating quickly.

It is worth mentioning that the QacQoc GN30H only comes with a 30Hz 4K HDMI output and doesn’t offer a mini display port. This 30Hz is fine for basic desktop work, but you’re going to notice the slow refresh times if you’re watching movies or, especially, if you’re gaming.

The 30Hz rate is actually common across the bulk of Type-C hubs available today. During my research, I only found a couple that offered 4K throughput and this was via a mini-display port, not HDMI.

The final port on the QacQoc hub is the Type-C pass-through port which lets you charge your device while simultaneously using all the other ports.

What’s in the box?

The QacQoc Hub comes in a simple box with a short instructions leaflet included, not that you need them. A nice addition is a faux velvet carry case that lets you throw the QacQoc hub into your bag without the worry of getting dirt in the ports or scratches on the body.

The Verdict

The QacQoc GN30H performs excellently as a Type-C USB Hub and looks the part with the aluminium design. It’s not just an Apple-fans-only hub either being a good fit for any port-light laptop that supports the Type-C Standard.

The big question is whether the GN30H is worth that premium price tag?

In terms of build quality and connectivity it excels, and it’s certainly aimed as a one-fits-all solution. There are cheaper alternatives online if you only need the USB expansion side but the QacQoc Hub warrants its higher price tag by also offering HDMI Output, Power Throughput and the Gigabit Ethernet port.

The only downside for me is that the 4K HDMI throughput is limited to 30Hz rather than 60Hz. It’d be nice to see the addition of a display port output for 60Hz+ 4K, but then again… you still have three spare USB-C Thunderbolt ports left on your MacBook Pro 2017 for this.

Do I recommend the QacQoc GN30H USB Type-C Hub? Absolutely, just make sure you need the HDMI & Gigabit ports, or you can save yourself some money.

(review-hub.co.uk, https://goo.gl/WXM4A2)

The Hewlett-Packard company revealed their new laptops from the ProBook 400 series which work with 8th generation Intel Core processors and are targeted at the small and middle business. The new series stands out with thinner profile and aluminum details along the construction. In addition, the laptops from this series are designed with the idea to be durable and are aimed to endure MIL-STD 810G tests as they also feature various security features including HP BIOSphere and HP Client Security.

For our review, we have chosen the HP ProBook 430 G5 model which is equipped with an Intel Core i5-8250U processor, has an integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Intel Gen 9.5) GPU, features 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB SSD SanDisk SD8SN8U-128G-1006.

Its 15-inch display has Full HD resolution.

The Intel Core i5-8250U processor works with base clock speed in the 1.60 – 3.40 GHz range and also has 6MB L3 6 MB SmartCache. Furthermore, the laptop also offers wireless communication capabilities via WiFi module Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265.

Retail package

The laptop came well-packed in a box. It includes a 45 W AC power adapter providing 19.5V voltage and 2.31A current. Here, we also found user manuals and the laptop itself.

Design and construction

The HP ProBook 430 G5 design features silver and graphite gray highlights. The lower lid is made of aluminum in silver. The lid with the keyboard is also made of aluminum in graphite gray which contrasts very well to the lighter base. In addition, the surface is smooth and pleasant to touch and it is not stained by fingerprints. The color of the display lid is also silver. The embossed logo of the Hewlett-Packard company is located on it. What’s more, the construction is made firm and stable. The laptop weight is 1.5 kg, while its thickness – 21 mm.

The laptop features a 15-inch matte Full HD IPS display. At the bottom, in the middle below the display we notice a diminished version of the Hewlett-Packard logo. In the upper part, above the display you can see a web camera recording 720p HD video. On the bottom lid, there are service lids. When removing the small lid with a grill, you can partially access the hardware for prevention. In order to access the internal part of the laptop you need to remove the entire bottom which is secured with clamps and 10 screws.

The cooling openings are located in the middle of the bottom lid from where the cooling system takes in cool air. On the left side of the construction are located the openings for taking out the warm air from the laptop. In addition, the hinges are tightened and firm and they are stable enough to keep the display in its position. The laptop construction and display lid are made of aluminum and this gives an idea more stability of the overall construction. When opening and closing the display, there is no twisting. What’s more, when the display lid is pressed, there is no perceptible sinking in the area on which the pressure is applied. In addition to everything listed so far, let’s not forget the feeling you get when you touch the metal. Despite this being a budget model, it creates the feeling of owning a premium machine.

The keyboard is of the Island Style type and it is comfortable to work with. The buttons are pleasant to touch, have dense travel and response well to slight pressure. Additionally, the touchpad is also nice, the buttons response adequately to light clicks. Moreover, the laptop is equipped with stereo speakers that are mounted in the upper part above the keyboard and are located under the decorative panel. The notebook doesn’t sport an optical drive. In the right part below the keyboard is located a fingerprint sensor.

On the right side of the laptop you will notice 1 х USB 3.1 – Type-C port, 1 х USB 3.1 port, HDMI port, VGA port, RJ-45 port for network connection and power adapter plug.

On the left side of the laptop are located an audio jack, 1 х USB 3.1 port, integrated SD card slot, Kensington lock slot and LED indication showing the work of the hard drive. The wireless connectivity includes an Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 8265 module and Bluetooth 4.2.

Cooling system

The laptop has active cooling which is realized by a fan and a turbine. It seems that this cooling system is designed well and manages to cope with its task.

Upgrade options

The storage devices are limited by the size of the device so you can only take advantage of an M.2 SSD (2280) slot. In our case, we received the laptop with a 256GB SSD SanDisk SD8SN8U.

Display quality

The HP Probook 430 G5 features a Full HD panel with an IPS matrix, model LG Display LGD052D. Its diagonal is 13.3-inch, while the resolution – 1920 х 1080 pixels. In addition, the aspect ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 166 ppi, the pixel pitch – 0.153 х 0.153 mm. The screen can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from a distance equal to or greater than 53 cm.

HP Probook 430 G5 has comfortable viewing angles. We offer screenshots to evaluate image quality.

We were able to record a maximum brightness of 255 cd/m² in the center and 254 cd/m² as average across the surface of the display with a maximum of 10% deviation. The correlated color temperature on white screen at maximum luminance is 6700K, slightly colder compared to the optimal 6500K but as we go along the grayscale, the average color temperature is around 6600K. You can see how these values change at 140 cd/m2 (67% brightness).

dE2000 values above 4.0 are unwanted and should not be exceeded. The recommended tolerance for color displays made for work with colors (in this case, however, the laptop is not such) is less than 2.0. (This is a very important parameter, one of the first things to look at if the color accuracy of the display matters to you).

The contrast ratio is not bad – 820:1 (800:1 after calibration).

Color reproduction

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction of the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

Тhe display covers 52% of the sRGB color gamut in CIE1976.

The “Design and Gaming” profile is created at 140 cd/m2 brightness, D65 (6500K) white point and optimal gamma in sRGB mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 26 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

The HP Probook 430 G5 display uses PWM for all brightness levels except for the maximum brightness. In the other cases, the pulsations’ frequency is high and reduces the negative impact. 

Blue light emissions

Installing of our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Sound

HP Probook 430 G5 has crisp stereo sound. The tones are clear in the whole range from low to high frequencies.

Conclusion

The HP Probook 430 G5 display in the reviewed modification has Full HD resolution, not bad contrast and comfortable viewing angles. The color range is modest.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region.

Ports and connectivity

• 1x USB Type-A : 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1), Sleep and Charge
• 1x USB Type-A : 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
• 1x USB Type-C
• HDMI : 1.4b
• VGA : V
• Card reader : SD, SDHC, SDXC
• Ethernet lan  : V
• Wi-Fi : 802.11ac
• Bluetooth : 4.2
• Audio jack : combo audio / microphone jack

Features

• Fingerprint reader : V
• Web camera HD 720p
• Microphone Dual-Array Microphone
• Speakers : V
• Optical drive  : X
• Security Lock slot : V
• Passed MIL-STD testing : V

HP ProBook 430 G5 configurations

HP ProBook 430 G5 - $818.56

• Intel Core i5-8250U
• Intel UHD Graphics 620
• 256GB SSD
• 8GB RAM

HP ProBook 430 G5 - $959.81

• Intel Core i7-8550U
• Intel UHD Graphics 620
• 256GB SSD
• 8GB RAM

HP ProBook 430 G5 - $1003.84

• Intel Core i7-8550U
• Intel UHD Graphics 620
• 256GB SSD
• 16GB RAM

Software

We used the pre-installed Windows 10 (64-bit) for the writing of this review but if you wish to perform a clean install of the OS without the bloatware, we suggest downloading all of the latest drivers from HP’s official support page.

Battery

Hewlett-Packard has chosen а 3-cell battery with a capacity of 45 W which gets the job done relatively well. All tests are conducted with screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Power Saver mode turned on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Very good result – 500 minutes (8 hours and 20 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Impressive result – 429 minutes (7 hours and 9 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

The measured 273 minutes (4 hours and 33 minutes) is a very good result for gaming load but the laptop doesn’t feature a discrete GPU and doesn’t allow playing games at high and ultra settings levels.

CPU – Intel Core i5-8250U

Intel Core i5-8250U is an energy-efficient quad-core processor manufactured as SoC. It is designed to be implemented in portable computers. In addition, it is based on the Coffee Lake generation and was announced on the market in August 2017. Compared to previous CPUs from the Core i5 8250U series it features 4 real cores running at lower base frequencies. Moreover, it supports Hyper-Threading Technology. The maximum amount of RAM is 32GB (DDR4-2400, LPDDR3-2133) working in dual-channel mode.

The chip is manufactured using a 14nm proccess. Intel has renewed only the Speed Shift technology which serves to accelerate and dynamically adjust the voltage and clock speed of the cores. According to the manufacturer, Core i5-8250U is 40% faster and more efficient compared to its predecessors.

Depending on its purpose and laptop model in which it is embedded, the power consumption and dissipated heat (TDP) can vary between 7,5W and 25 W depending on whether the cTDP Down function is used.

It features an integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Intel Gen 9.5) GPU.

Integrated GPU – Intel UHD Graphics 620

Intel UHD Graphics 620 is a refresh of the HD Graphics 620 found as an integrated solution in many ULV Kaby Lake processors. UHD Graphics 620 is codenamed “Kaby Lake R U GT2” and it’s a part of the Gen 9.5 generation.

Intel UHD Graphics 620 has roughly the same performance as HD Graphics 620, depending on the other components in the system. UHD Graphics 620’s performance is similar to AMD Radeon R5 M420X and NVIDIA GeForce 910M/920M.

Temperatures

We conducted tough one-hour CPU, GPU and memory test using the stress test for stability of the AIDA64 software and the Prime95 test, as our aim was to see how well the cooling system handles tough workload and evaluate its overall reliability in the long run. You have to keep in mind that there won’t be such workload on all components in real life.

In the AIDA64 software stress test during the whole test, the CPU kept its maximum work frequency of 3.4 GHz. The temperature reached a maximum of 82 Celsius degrees and during the whole test CPU throttling didn’t occur.

During the entire Prime95 software test the CPU kept its maximum work frequency of 3.4 GHz. The temperature reached up to 88 Celsius degrees and during the entire test, CPU throttling didn’t occur. Overall, we can conclude that Intel Core i5-8520U is one relatively powerful processor which with its four cores although working at reduced frequencies releases quite a lot of temperature at full load. In addition, the cooling system of the laptop handles its main task very well.

During the stability system test, we also recorded the temperatures in various areas on the surface. As you can see from the image below, there is nothing to worry about. We can confirm that the cooling system does a very good job.

Verdict

In conclusion, we can say that HP ProBook 430 G5 is a very good model which combines combines in itself a high-quality aluminum construction, enduring autonomous work, very good CPU, comfortable viewing angles and good surround. The longer time for refreshing the display matrix and the lack of discreet GPU don’t create an opportunity for good gaming but the purpose of this series is not gaming. At the same time, however, the small amount of RAM and the modest color range don’t allow the laptop to be used for more serious work with graphics editors. When combined with our profiles, the color accuracy improves significantly.

The good range of the wireless connectivity adapter gives us enough stability when surfing in the Web. HP ProBook 430 G5 also has very good quality stereo sound. The laptop is relatively light and comfortable to carry.

(laptopmedia.com, https://goo.gl/HEqigG)

Our Verdict

The MSI GV62 7RE adds another option for the gaming community looking to buy an all-in-one laptop for gaming and other tasks alike. It is not perfect, but if you are looking for an all-rounder at its price, this is it.

MSI GV62 7RE: Detailed Review

This year NVIDIA introduced one of the best gaming GPUs for budding gamers in the form of the GTX 1050 Ti. With lower TDPs and much lower heat signatures, the relatively new 4GB GPU is a hit among casual gamers and is available in most entry-level gaming machines. From what I have seen thus far, this entry-level GPU can take on most AAA games with ease when paired with a latest Intel HQ processor. MSI, which is a well-known brand among the gaming community also has two of its laptop series – GL and GP offering the GTX 1050 Ti. MSI has launched its GV series, which sits between the GL and GP series laptops when it comes to price. On the surface, the laptop looks quite simple, but after using the machine for almost a week, I can tell you that it is quite powerful. How powerful? Well, read on and find out!

Specifications:

Display: 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080p
CPU: Intel Core i7-7700HQ
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050Ti 4GB
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD
OS: Windows 10

Build and Design

On first glance, MSI’s latest GV62 7RElooks different when compared to what I have seen from the gaming laptop maker previously. The design is downright minimal and to intimate that it is a gaming machine, the laptop has some red outlines on the back. The MSI dragon logo is also there on the lid, but it is not backlit which I think it should be, irrespective of the price. The all matte paint on the lid does a superb job of keeping the looks understated but at the same time makes the whole unit prone to fingerprints.

MSI has done a good job keeping the weight low at just 2.2 kilograms. It is due to the all plastic build, which feels solid for the most part. The laptop has passable flex both in the display as well as on the keyboard deck. The bottom cover also has a little bit of flex, but nothing major. It can be removed to give you access to the HDD, SSD and the two RAM slots. Removing the cover is not an easy task and requires you to break the warranty seal and then undo 14 Phillips head screws. The hinge holding the display is also quite good and offers decent resistance at all angles.

Taking a look at the cooling, it is quite evident that MSI has put some extra effort here with six copper heat pipes tasked with the job. The rear mounted two fan exhaust system does a fantastic job as well (more on that later). The 41Whr battery is simply screwed in place by a single screw and leaves enough space all around the motherboard to give the system enough breathing space.

Display & I/O

While we do like the cooling and the internal space management of this laptop, the 15.6-inch display leaves us wanting more. MSI has used a non-IPS panel which means that the viewing angles aren’t great. The viewing angles are outright poor when viewing the display vertically. This is evident when you tilt the display. One can also see a prominent colour shift when viewing the display at an odd angle and the lower contrast ratios don’t help either. All that said, the VA panel has a better response time than normal IPS displays. As far as gaming is concerned the experience on this display is just fine.

The good thing is that you can always connect a better display externally and the laptop has not one but two video out ports, which is certainly impressive at its price. The laptop packs an HDMI out as well as mini DisplayPort and both support resolutions up to 4K @ 30fps. Besides that, you get two standard USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, SD card reader, one USB Type-C port and an ethernet jack. Best of all, instead of a microphone headphone jack, you get dedicated ports for both, which is nice if you are a gamer with a headset that has a separate cable for the headphones and the microphone.

Keyboard and touchpad

To make things better, the MSI GV62 7RE comes with an improved keyboard, which offers two-stage red backlighting. The keyboard has adequate pitch and offers one of the best typing experience I have encountered on a gaming machine at its price. The keyboard, which is developed with SteelSeries offers long travel distance and press down with adequate feedback. While I am not a fan of the typeface MSI has used, the keyboard on this machine seems to be the right blend to give you the best of both worlds – gaming and office work. The only things which I feel are out of place are the volume and brightness controls which are shared with the arrow keys, making them hard to use in the rush of a game or while typing.

I am impressed by the touchpad, which is one of the best I have used on a gaming machine this year. It is not as smooth as the glass touchpad on a Dell XPS laptop or tracks as effortlessly as Mac’s touchpad, but amongst its peers, it is certainly better. The touchpad is well calibrated out of the box and tracks well across the screen. It supports all gestures and even though it has dedicated left and right keys, extends support for normal left click tap gestures. The physical left and right mouse buttons are also quite responsive and press down with an audible click offering appropriate feedback.

Performance

The MSI GV62 7RE shines once you start gaming on it. Laced with the standard set of hardware – Intel Core i7-7700HQ and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, the laptop can tackle almost all AAA games with ease. While most games will run without any issues at 30+ fps at high or ultra settings, you can enjoy the game at a higher framerate by lowering the graphics settings. In our testing, games like Doom, Dota 2, Metro: Last Light and PUBG ran well above 50 fps at their respective max settings. I also tried more graphics intensive titles such as Battlefield 1 which averaged around 48 fps at Ultra settings with HDR and DX12 on. Lowering the graphics settings to medium took the fps counter above 60, making the gameplay smoother and easier.

Needless to say that the laptop can take on day-to-day tasks easily. In all of this, the cooling capabilities of the machine play a very crucial role. As mentioned earlier in this review, there is enough breathing room around the back and the laptop goes into turbo mode while gaming, spinning the fans at almost 5700rpm. This keeps the CPU and GPU cool and we never saw any major throttling issues during the testing period. The area under your left palm does get a little warm while gaming as the 1TB HDD (All games were installed on the HDD) goes to a little over 50 degrees. You can check on other vital stats using the MSI dragon center app. The app allows you to tweak and monitor the cooling fans along with giving you info on the heat and load of various components.

I am particularly impressed by the stellar audio output provided by the dedicated headphone jack, which is powered by Nahimic 2+ audio drivers. The in-game audio is impressive and even though the onboard speakers aren’t very loud, they produce ample channel separation.

Battery life

If you are buying a gaming laptop then be assured that the battery life won’t be any good and the MSI GV62 7RE isn’t going to change that. The 41Whr battery provides enough juice to get you through 3-4 hours of office work at 75% brightness but is not powerful enough to let you game on it. That said, you can do some light gaming on the machine at low settings, but the battery will only last you for an hour at best.

Bottomline

The MSI GV62 7RE is an iterative laptop with a better approach at the entry level gaming segment by MSI. The gaming performance is good, the keyboard is likable and weighing just 2.2 kilograms, making it one of the lightest when compared to others in this segment. The laptop offers great cooling as well. That said, it is not perfect. It would have been better if the laptop packed an IPS display over the VA panel it houses.

All-in-all, the new GV62 seems like a good choice for the new breed of office going youth, whose heart still beats with PC gaming.

(digit.in, https://goo.gl/fHQFxw)

We often criticize the mid-range and low-end 17-inch notebooks because they often cost more than its 15-inch alternatives while offering less powerful hardware or even subpar image quality. This is exactly the case with the ASUS X756UQ, which is advertised as a multimedia machine but fails to impress as one mostly due to the 17.3-inch TN panel. We can immediately think of a much better multimedia solution that’s not only more portable but considerably more powerful as well – the ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580VD.

We recently reviewed the latter with the pricier Core i7-7700HQ CPU but you can easily get the Core i5-7300HQ version that costs just a tad more than the ASUS K756UQ, which drags behind with a ULV (ultra-low voltage) processor (Core i5-7200U) and a GPU that’s more of a multimedia-centric solution – GeForce 940MX. So in this case, we can’t think of a reason why you would buy the X756UQ, although it’s seemingly solid notebook with a good build, good input devices and uses aluminum for the most part. Unless, of course, you really want a 17-inch notebook.

Retail package

The notebook comes in a big ASUS-branded box with the usual user manuals, AC adapter and power cord.

Design and construction

As most 17-inc laptops at this price range, the K756UQ doesn’t excel in portability – actually quite the opposite. The laptop weighs around 2.9 kg and it’s fairly thick 30 mm but you can definitely feel the solid construction in your hands. The aluminum on the exterior and interior feel pretty nice and the only plastic element is the bottom piece.

Even from afar, you can easily distinguish the ASUS heritage that the K756UQ carries – the lid uses an aluminum plate with a slightly glossy finish and the iconic concentric brushed surface. Pushing the middle results in slight bending and it’s fairly resistant to torsion. Sure, there’s a noticeable deformation but nothing too serious in our opinion and we can definitely let it slide considering the price tag of the machine. The hinge, on the other hand, feels extra nice – it holds the screen quite firmly and allows opening with just one hand, although the base lifts up just a little while doing so. On the contrary to the exterior, the bottom is made of that generic roughened plastic with just one small.

The first thing we noticed when going around the sides is that the laptop utilizes all the space that the 17-inch form factor provides. There is plenty of I/O and it’s also well-distributed. On the left, you will find the RJ-45 port, a VGA output (for whoever uses that anymore), HDMI, USB 3.0, USB-C 3.1 (Gen 1) and a 3.5 mm audio jack. On the right, you will find the optical drive, the SD card reader and unfortunately not one but two USB 2.0 ports – we would have appreciated another USB-A 3.0 port.

The interior impresses with extra rigidity and pleasant soft feel thanks to the super smooth anodized aluminum surface. Trying to bend either of the interior areas doesn’t result in any deformation, which suggests of a solid base construction.

Anyway, the keyboard feels just a little spongy but it’s fairly comfortable for typing on the go – a decent amount of key travel, clicky feedback, reasonable key spacing and has pretty much all the shortcuts you’d need. The only thing missing here is an LED backlight for more comfortable typing in the dark. And as for the clickpad – it provides a smooth gliding surface, light and clicky mouse buttons and responsive operations.

We have to admit – we are really impressed with the overall build quality of the chassis, the range of I/O it provides and the input devices but we still feel that it’s a little too much in terms of weight and thickness but that’s probably the main drawback of all 17-inchers in this price range anyway so it’s just the industry’s current standard… for now.

Display quality

The laptop uses a Full HD (1920×1080) TN display with model number N173HGE-E11 by CHI MEI – 17.3-inch diagonal. This means that the pixel density is 127 ppi while the pixel pitch is 0.1995 x 0.1995 mm.

Viewing angles are quite limited due to the TN technology of the screen.

We’ve recorded a peak maximum brightness of 279 cd/m2 in the center and 258 cd/m2 as average across the surface with 20% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature is colder than usual – 7700K and as we go along the grayscale, it becomes noticeably colder – 12000K (6500K is the optimal color temperature). Below you can see how these values change at 71% brightness (140 cd/m2).

The color deviation (dE2000) compared to the center of the screen is above 4.0 meaning that any color-sensitive work is out of the question. The contrast ratio is relatively good for a TN panel – 850:1 (630:1 after calibration).

Color reproduction

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction of the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

Quite surprisingly, the display covers 97% of the sRGB color space making it suitable for multimedia activities to some extent.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 17 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

We’ve recorded aggressive PWM for regulating screen brightness at 1 kHz except at 100% brightness. This means that users with sensitive eyes will feel the negative impact for sure.

Blue light emissions

Installing of our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

To be honest, we were expecting a bit better display given the alternatives on the market right now. Still, the display has its pros like wide sRGB coverage putting to shame some high-end IPS displays and has decent contrast ratio as well. However, the low maximum brightness, the lack of any stock color calibration, limited viewing angles and aggressive PWM don’t really make a strong case for the notebook as we whole.

Sound

The laptop has good sound quality with clear low, high and mid frequencies.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

ASUS X756UQ technical specifications tableAlso known as ASUS K756UQ

CPU  : Intel Core i5-7200U

GPU : NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Display : 17.3”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), TN

HDD/SSD : 1TB, 5400 rpm

RAM : 8GB DDR4, 2400 MHz

Dimensions : 415 x 273 x 30 mm (16.34″ x 10.75″ x 1.18″)

Weight : 2.7 kg (6 lbs)

Body material : Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum (Aluminum lid, plastic base)

Ports and connectivity

• 1x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
• 2x USB Type-A 2.0
• 1x USB Type-C 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
• HDMI : V
• VGA  : V
• DVI : X
• Card reader SD
• Ethernet lan : V
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Audio jack headphone/microphone

Features

• Fingerprint reader : X
• Web camera : V
• Backlit keyboard : X
• Microphone : V
• Speakers : V
• Optical drive : V
• Security Lock slot : V

ASUS X756 configurations

ASUS X756

• Intel Core i5-6200U
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M (2GB DDR3)
• 1000GB HDD
• 12GB RAM

ASUS X756UQ

• Intel Core i5-7200U
• NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)
• 1000GB HDD
• 8GB RAM

Software

We used the pre-installed Windows 10 Pro for the writing of this review but if you wish to perform a clean install of the OS, we suggest downloading all of the latest drivers from ASUS’ official support page.

Battery

The laptop comes with a rather limited battery capacity – just 38Wh and given the size of the display, we didn’t expect any record-breaking battery runtimes from the very beginning. However, according to our battery tests, the laptop didn’t even reach the average battery life.

All tests were performed with the usual settings – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature switched on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Subpar web browsing performance – 250 minutes (4 hours and 10 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

The same goes for the video playback score – 263 minutes (4 hours and 23 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

This test got the most of the battery since it’s the most demanding one and surely, you won’t start a gaming session away from the power source but you can still squeeze 83 minutes (1 hour and 23 minutes) if needed.

CPU – Intel Core i5-7200U

Intel’s Core i7-6200U is part of the 7th Generation Kaby Lake CPUs and it’s the direct successor of the Core i5-5200U (Broadwell) and Core i5-6200U (Skylake). It’s also based on the same architecture as the aforementioned chips with little differences that should bring a small performance increase and a bump in power consumption. However, the new CPU is clocked at 2.5 GHz and its Turbo Boost frequency is 3.1 GHz opposed to the 2.3 – 2.8 GHz clocks on the previous Core i5-6200U.

Anyway, we still have the 2/4 core/thread count, 3MB last level cache, and a TDP of 15W, which includes the iGPU and the dual-channel DDR4 memory controller. Speaking of the former, the chip integrates the newer generation Intel HD Graphics 620 graphics chip clocked at 300 – 1000 MHz.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i5-7200u/

• Cinebench 11 – Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference
	ASUS X756UQ  Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 – 3.1 GHz)	3.57
	Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G  Intel Core i5-7300HQ (4-cores, 2.5 – 3.5 GHz)	5.95	+66.67%
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)  Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 – 3.7? GHz)	5.78	+61.9%
	Dell Inspiron 7773  Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 – 3.7? GHz)	7.53	+110.92%

• NovaBench CPU – Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference
	ASUS X756UQ  Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 – 3.1 GHz)		–
	Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G  Intel Core i5-7300HQ (4-cores, 2.5 – 3.5 GHz)	515	–
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)  Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 – 3.7? GHz)	928	–
	Dell Inspiron 7773  Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 – 3.7? GHz)	959	–

• Photoshop – Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference
	ASUS X756UQ  Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 – 3.1 GHz)	17.75
	Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G  Intel Core i5-7300HQ (4-cores, 2.5 – 3.5 GHz)	12.87	-27.49%
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)  Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 – 3.7? GHz)	11.01	-37.97%
	Dell Inspiron 7773  Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 – 3.7? GHz)	9.95	-43.94%

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i5-7200U scored 6.413 million moves per second. In comparison, one of the most powerful chess computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX is a refreshed version of the older 940M mobile chip but paired with a faster GDDR5 memory and slightly higher clock speeds, which result in noticeably better performance compared to the standard 940M. However, some OEMs will still choose to use the cheaper DDR3 version of the GPU.

Announced back in the first quarter of 2016, the chip is almost identical to the standard 940M (Maxwell) but with clock speeds increased up to 1242 MHz and base 1122 MHz. Again, the memory uses a 64-bit bus and has 2GB of GDDR5 VRAM. It still supports the DirectX 12 API and Shader 5.0 feature along with the usual NVIDIA technologies – CUDA, GPU Boost 2.0, Optimus, GeForce Experience, PhysX. The whole GPU is rated at around 15 to 30 Watts depending on the clock speeds and memory used in the specific notebook.

You can browse our GPU ranking to see where the graphics chip stands: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

For more information about the GPU, follow this link: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/nvidia-geforce-940mx-2gb-gddr5/

• 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) – Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference
	ASUS X756UQ  NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)		–
	Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)	38345	–
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)  NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	15528	–
	Dell Inspiron 7773  NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	19708	–

• 3DMark Fire Strike (G) – Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference
	ASUS X756UQ  NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	2280
	Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)	5959	+161.36%
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)  NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	3566	+56.4%
	Dell Inspiron 7773  NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	3381	+48.29%

• Unigine Heaven 3.0 – Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference
	ASUS X756UQ  NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	617
	Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)	1794	+190.76%
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)  NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	1081	+75.2%
	Dell Inspiron 7773  NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	979	+58.67%

Gaming tests

CS:GO	HD 768p, Low (Check settings)	HD 768p, Medium (Check settings)	HD 768p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	113 fps	82 fps	68 fps

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	HD, Low (Check settings)	HD, Medium (Check settings)	HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average FPS	80 fps	35 fps	21 fps

Temperatures

The stress tests don’t represent real-life working scenarios because, even the most demanding games don’t require 100% CPU and 100% GPU load at all times but they remain as the most reliable way to assess the overall stability and effectiveness of the cooling system.

We started off with 100% CPU load for about an hour. At first, the Core i5-7200U chip reached its maximum clock speeds but slowly declined to 2.8 GHz. This isn’t throttling by any means but usually, notebooks with this processor tend to keep the Turbo Boost clock speed for two cores (3.1 GHz) during the whole test.

After we turned on the GPU stress test, the CPU clocked down a little – 2.7 GHz while the GPU didn’t reach its base clock speeds at all which is rather interesting because the inner temperatures of both chips were relatively low as you can see from the screenshot below. In any case, temperatures on the surface remained pretty low.

Verdict

Although the mid-range 17-inch market segment isn’t the most interesting, there is one that stands out from the rest of them and unfortunately, the ASUS X756/K756 isn’t one of them. Sure, it has great build quality and decent input devices but the rest of the hardware isn’t all that impressive.

The small battery capacity cripples runtimes away from the plug, the system doesn’t utilize the full performance of the CPU and GPU and the screen is suboptimal at best. Since there are now laptops with the latest 8th Generation Intel processors and NVIDIA’s GeForce MX150 GPU, it’s really hard to recommend such outdated hardware. Moreover, the display’s only key selling point is the wide sRGB coverage which means nothing in practice when you have a TN panel with poor viewing angles, limited maximum brightness and PWM from 0 to 99% screen brightness.

So if you are not too invested in the 17-inch form factor, we suggest picking up a more sensible 15-inch solution like the ASUS VivoBook S15 for example or just go with the best possible 17-inch option for now – the Acer Aspire 5 (A517-71G) with Core i7-8250U CPU and GeForce MX150 GPU paired with an excellent IPS panel suitable for multimedia. And it costs less than the ASUS X756.

(laptopmedia.com, https://goo.gl/1NUgts)

I have to admit, ever since Microsoft released the Surface Pro laptops, I have been a fan of these travel-friendly and light two-in-one machines. I have written about my experience with the Surface Pro 2 from a photographer’s perspective a while back, then we wrote a detailed Surface Pro 3 review and my experience with the first generation Surface Book pretty much sealed it for me as a very desirable machine for working on the go, thanks to its excellent performance, flexible design, a built-in memory card slot, superb touchscreen experience and plenty of connectivity options. Earlier this year Microsoft finally released the Surface Book 2, a second generation laptop specifically designed to challenge Apple’s MacBook Pro. Since it was about time to start replacing my aging Surface Pro 3, I wanted to evaluate both the new Surface Book 2 and Apple’s MacBook Pro to see which I would pick for my photography needs. So I bought both laptops and decided to run them side-by-side to see which one would be more suitable to use for traveling and post-processing images. In this article, we will take a look at both the Surface Book 2 and the MacBook Pro and see how they stack up against each other.

First, let’s take a look at how the two compare when it comes to specifications.

Surface Book 2 vs MacBook Pro Specifications Comparison

At the moment, Apple does not have any laptops that use 8th generation CPUs from Intel. This means that they are not going to be directly comparable to Surface Book 2 laptops, especially when it comes to battery life, since the 8th generation Intel CPUs are more power efficient in comparison. Still, based on the above specifications, you can easily see that there are pretty noticeable differences between these laptops.

First of all, aside from the more power efficient and faster CPU, the Surface Book 2 has a better GPU on its top-end models. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 is a pretty powerful GPU that outperforms the Radeon Pro 560, as can be seen in the comparisons below.

Second, unlike Apple that decided to throw away USB ports and an SD card port altogether, Microsoft kept two USB Type-A ports as well as an SD card slot and added a single USB Type-C port to make it easier for people to transition from older to newer technology. Unfortunately, Microsoft screwed up with its USB Type-C port by not incorporating Thunderbolt 3 capability – that’s something that should have been there, especially to help those Mac users that want to transition to the PC platform. Still, removal of the USB ports, as well as the SD card slot was a big mistake on behalf of Apple in my opinion, especially for us photographers who heavily rely on USB-powered equipment such as Wacom tablets and external hard drives, as well as SD cards for transferring media content to our computers. Thunderbolt is not mainstream yet to make such a rough transition, which means that one has to utilize extra connection gadgets on the MacBook Pro to be able to use existing equipment. And that’s more tools to carry in an already tight camera bag!

Third, the Surface Book 2 has two distinct advantages over the MacBook Pro that are very important for photography needs – and those are touchscreen capability, as well as being able to detach the screen from the keyboard. While for some people this might seem like a “nice to have” feature, once you get used to these capabilities, it is hard to go back to a traditional laptop. The touchscreen + pen combination eliminates the need to carry a Wacom device, which not only frees up space in a laptop bag, but also eliminates the need to carry more tools and cables when traveling. Couple that with the ability to detach the keyboard base from the main unit and you have the ability to use the Surface Book as a tablet, so it could work as an iPad replacement as well. In addition, the ability to detach the screen allows it to be reversed and used on top of the keyboard base to provide fast GPU and additional battery capabilities, so one could use the pen without fiddling with the keyboard.

Lastly, the keyboard area on the Surface Book 2 does not get nearly as hot as it does on the MacBook Pro, which is a pretty big deal for someone like me who often works with laptops on their lap. Since the CPU, memory, LCD screen, part of the laptop battery and other components are kept on the top base unit, most of the heat that is produced by heavy loads stays on the top. The only time the Surface Book 2 keyboard area can get warm is when the battery gets charged and the GPU is used a lot. Even then, the Surface Book 2 always stays noticeably cooler compared to the MacBook Pro at the base when in use.

While both laptops are priced somewhat similarly, considering the above, you simply get quite a lot more value out of the Surface Book 2 when compared to the MacBook Pro. While many Apple fans will defend their choice of Apple hardware due to OS superiority, they most likely have not experienced Windows 10 + Surface combination. We are not talking about Windows 98, ME or other Microsoft failures of the past – Windows 10 is a pretty strong OS, especially when it natively runs on Microsoft hardware.

Build Quality Comparison

I have been running Microsoft Surface Book 2 from the day it became publicly available and I have had the MacBook Pro for over a month now. When it comes to packaging, both companies go out of their way to make sure that their products are presentable – the laptops are packaged very nicely and the unboxing experience is a pure pleasure. The same goes for build quality – both laptops are built exceptionally well and should last a long time if they are properly taken care of.

MacBook Charger vs Surface Book Magnetic Charger

There are some things to like and not to like about the new Apple MacBook. On one hand, I love the fact that one can charge the MacBook Pro through any of the USB-C ports on either side of the machine. This is really cool, because you don’t have to worry about putting the cable around the laptop when the power source is on the wrong side. On the other hand, abandoning MagSafe and going with a cable that stays firmly attached once plugged in, is certainly not something Apple fans have been excited about. MagSafe has been an Apple standard for many years now and many MacBook Pro users have gotten used to not having to worry about their machines in case someone trips on the cable – the magnet would safely detach from the computer. Not anymore – one has to watch out and always make sure to detach the cable when there is a chance of tripping on it. Microsoft banked on Apple’s MagSafe idea ever since the Surface machines came out and it has been using the same magnetic power attachment on every Surface model now, including the Surface Book 2. That’s just one less issue to worry about.

Keyboard, Trackpad and Touch Bar

Both laptops have excellent keyboards, but they feel completely different when typing. The keys on the Surface Book stick out a bit more compared to those on the MacBook Pro, but pressing them does not make them feel harder in comparison. I personally prefer typing on the Surface Book 2, but that’s completely subjective – I would recommend to feel both and see which one you like better.

Trackpad, on the other hand, is a different animal. While Microsoft has done well with its latest generation trackpad, it just does not compete with the MacBook Pro’s monstrous trackpad. It is huge! Size-wise, you could fit more than two trackpads from the Surface Book 2 on the MacBook Pro! But it is not the size that matters. When it comes to tactile feel, gestures and overall responsiveness, Apple reigns supreme.

As for touch bar, while many Apple fans do not seem to like it, I personally don’t mind it. It is actually nice to be able to use such controls as volume up / down without having to remember different key combinations and it is certainly cool to be able to have controls that vary by application. I think the touch bar is a great idea in the long run and something that will gain popularity overtime. The biggest difficulty is for those who are very used to using function keys and the escape key in different software applications (especially programmers). For those folks, the older keyboard layout is going to be obviously preferable.

Performance Comparison: CPU, GPU and Storage Benchmarks

Let’s take a look at how the new Microsoft Surface Book 2 compares to the current generation MacBook Pro. I ran two different benchmarks on both – Cinebench and Novabench a total of three times and took the best score from both. We will start with Novabench:

Novabench provides a number of different benchmarks, which makes it very interesting to look at. As expected, the Surface Book 2 scores a bit higher due to having a newer and faster CPU. Its graphics (GPU) performance is also impressive – it managed to get 95 fps when rendering a 3D scene and scored significantly higher at 709 compared to 443 on the MacBook Pro. However, the right side of the chart is where Apple dominates. It not only has faster RAM, but its storage is twice faster, which is significant. I am not sure what type of storage Microsoft uses in its Surface Book 2, but it is nowhere as good as what’s inside the MacBook Pro. Faster storage is important for photography needs, because it makes a big difference when working with files in post-processing software like Lightroom. And as you will see below, the MacBook Pro is going to come out as a faster machine for generating previews and exporting files purely because of this. For other CPU or GPU-intensive tasks, the Surface Book 2 is a better machine, but considering that many post-processing software tools out there are not properly optimized to take advantage of dedicated GPU cards, the latter is not all that important.

Let’s now take a look at Cinebench, which specializes in CPU and GPU performance:

Here, we can see that the difference between the two is a bit different. While the Surface Book 2 scores higher in OpenGL performance, its CPU performance does not seem to be as good as on the MacBook Pro when rendering complex 3D images. Here, the MacBook Pro came out on top.

Overall, looks like both machines have their strengths and weaknesses. While the Surface Book 2 has solid CPU and GPU performance, it lags big time when it comes to storage performance, something the MacBook Pro truly excels at.

Performance Comparison: Lightroom Previews and Export

For this particular benchmark, I imported 50 images from the high resolution Fuji GFX 50S and ran two tests – one to generate 1:1 previews and one to export the same images in 2048 pixel wide resolution, with sharpening added. Below are the results for the generated previews:

Microsoft Surface Book 2: 6 minutes and 15 seconds
Apple MacBook Pro: 3 minutes and 45 seconds

That’s a pretty big difference in Lightroom preview generation performance! To be honest, I did not expect to see such a big difference while the two laptops were busy generating previews. But it was pretty clear – the progress bar on the MacBook Pro was going noticeably faster in comparison. If you are wondering why there is such a drastic difference, that’s purely because of much faster storage. As I have shown above, the MacBook Pro can read at over 2 GB/second, while the Surface Book 2 can only go at half of that speed. The same goes for write speed – the MacBook Pro was able to reach 358 MB/sec, while the best result from the Surface Book 2 generated around 240 MB/sec. These numbers matter when generating image previews, since the faster the machine can read and write the data, the faster the overall result will be. What about exporting images?

Microsoft Surface Book 2: 3 minutes 4 seconds
Apple MacBook Pro: 2 minutes 11 seconds

Once again, we see a similar result – the MacBook Pro can export data noticeably faster thanks to its much faster storage.

Summary

Running both Surface Book 2 and MacBook Pro side by side for a month has been a fun experiment. I have been wanting to upgrade my aging laptop for a while now and when Microsoft announced the Surface Book 2, I knew that I had to give it a try to see if it would fit my needs. And although I am not a heavy Mac user (only use an iMac, primarily for workshops), I knew that I had to check out the latest MacBook Pro models as well and compare them directly with the Surface Book 2 to see which one would win me over. While the MacBook Pro is a beautiful and powerful machine, especially when it comes to its storage and Lightroom performance, to me it feels like Apple jumped a bit too far ahead into the future with its decision to move to USB-C only ports. It also boggles me why the SD card slot was completely eliminated – considering that most creatives use SD cards for storing their images and video, it was clearly not a very smart move on behalf of Apple if it wants to continue marketing to photographers and videographers. During my testing, I caught myself in a situation where I could not even transfer RAW files into the MacBook Pro, because I did not have a Thunderbolt to USB-A adapter or a Thunderbolt SD card reader. Thankfully, I was able to use my wireless network to transfer all the images, but it was painfully slow when compared to a fast SSD drive that I used with the Surface Book 2. Add all the other reasons I pointed out in the “specifications comparison” section of this article and you can see why the Surface Book 2 was an easy choice to make.

While the Surface Book 2 is not perfect by any means (no Thunderbolt 3, inferior storage performance, high price tag, etc), it is a more practical solution for creatives at the moment. Unless Apple goes back and adds USB-A + SD card slots to the MacBook Pro (which is unlikely to happen), photographers and videographers will need to carry extra accessories with them to be able to connect their existing devices. So at the end of the day, it is not all about pure specs and benchmarks – efficiency and practicality are also equally important…

(photographylife.com, https://goo.gl/vP2NPf)

From the highs of the iPhone X to the lows of the iPhone X’s notch…

(stuff.tv, https://goo.gl/xswgH1)

We gained the Surface Laptop and the Fall Creators Update. We lost Windows Phone and Groove.

Microsoft’s 2017 may as well be known as the year the company turned away from the consumer and, sadly, back toward the enterprise.

This past year was notable for two casualties: Microsoft’s phone business finally died, as did Groove Music, the music subscription service that Microsoft abandoned in favor of Spotify. In fact, you could argue that Microsoft’s software and services didn’t succeed nearly as well as its hardware, where a new generation of Surfaces and Xbox One consoles were generally well received.

But ennui clouded all but the brightest spots in Microsoft’s roadmap: the Surface Laptop, Surface Book 2, and the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. It didn’t help that management seemed to feel that staid enterprise Azure and Office 365 represented Microsoft’s future, either. Now, question marks hang over Microsoft’s plans for 2018. The spark is there, but will consumers care?

Fail: Windows phones, RIP (2000-2017)

History will tell us that Windows phones died at about 17 years of age, dating back to Pocket PC 2000’s release in April of 2000. Since then, Microsoft’s mobile aspirations changed names several times, including a run of “Windows Phone” releases. At one time, Microsoft was nearly the dominant smartphone OS, but a vicious cycle of declining development resources and user migration to Android and iOS ultimately doomed it. Windows 10 Mobile was the last, doomed incarnation, dragging with it the once-great Lumia smartphone lineup, as well as several partnerships with third-party phone makers that ultimately went nowhere. Today, it lives on in spirit, together with numerous Microsoft-branded apps written for iOS and Android.

Win: Xbox One X

Well, the hardware, anyway.

Microsoft launched the most powerful console in existence, the Xbox One X, to accompany the Xbox One S. But the story’s the same: Without the games, you’re nothing. Microsoft scored a major exclusive with Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds ($30 on Amazon), the hottest game of 2017 (and one that barely runs acceptably on the Xbox One X), plus some multi-platform games that run beautifully.

But Nintendo’s resurgence and Sony’s strong stable will make this holiday season a tough one. Give Microsoft credit, though: Its Netflix-like Game Pass, unmatched backward-compatibility efforts, and its underappreciated stable of indie games strengthen the platform.

Fail: Windows 10 Creators Update

As positive as I was with the original Windows 10 Fall Creators Update review, I think we have to accept that Microsoft’s spring 2017 update simply wasn’t as consequential as originally planned. Game Mode, inking on images and videos, and Paint 3D moved the goalposts for PC creativity, but generated little buzz. (Heck, if it’s not on an iPhone, most people don’t seem to know about it.) I still haven’t forgiven Microsoft for what they left out, including a handheld 3D scanner app that was pure vaporware. Sure, some of these features surfaced within the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, but I hope Microsoft learned a lesson about over-promising and under-delivering.

Win: Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

WTF: Windows 10 S

On balance, it’s hard to recommend an operating system predicated on limiting user choice to the small selection of first- and third-party UWP apps. Why would Microsoft even consider this? In part, I suspect because they were anticipating Windows 10 S would be the OS powering the new generation of Qualcomm Snapdragon PCs, which suffer some performance hits when running traditional Win32 apps. Restricting the user to Windows Store apps eliminates the problem. But Microsoft’s first crop of Windows 10 S educational notebooks missed the cutoff date for the fall semester, and we really can’t see anyone actively seeking out an Windows 10 S PC, ever. What an odd choice for an OS, especially after the failure of Windows RT.

Win: Surface Pro (2017)

Fail: Surface Studio

Microsoft’s Surface Studiowas a product few people probably knew they wanted—and I’m not sure how many bought. Microsoft clearly bet on its massive, beautiful touchscreen as the selling point to lure artists away from Apple and its Cinema Displays. And Microsoft may have achieved that. But like most everyone else, we would have liked more powerful, desktop-class hardware to complement that enormous display (which we still hope will be sold separately). For consumers, the Studio was like those holiday commercials where people wrap up a new Lexus for one another—a beautiful fantasy.

WTF: Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered PCs

Microsoft’s own Terry Myerson is a cheerleader for a new generation of PCs powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips. This new species is overturning the traditional metrics of price and performance for something new: 24-hour (or so) battery life and constant connectivity. But Qualcomm’s already scknowledged that Snapdragon PCs will run traditional Win32 apps at a performance penalty, and Microsoft hasn’t yet enabled 64-bit UWP apps to run on top of the Snapdragon platform.

We reserve judgment on the Qualcomm-equipped Windows 10 PCs coming from Asus, HP, and Lenovo, because we haven’t tested them. This will probably be one of the most intriguing PC stories of 2018, so stay tuned!

Win: Mail’s Focused Inbox

I’ll back anything that helps cut down on my inbox, and Focused Inbox delivers. Both Clutter and Focused Inbox show your most important email as you receive it, allowing you to dive deeper into your “actual” inbox much less frequently. I still have issues with how Microsoft breaks up functions like email into web apps, apps for Windows 10, and versions for Office 365. However you slice it, though, Focused Inbox is a feature I’m continually thankful for.

Fail: The party’s over at Groove Music

Count me among the fans of Groove Music, Microsoft’s subscription music service that Microsoft will turn off at the end of this year. With Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Google’s services, Deezer, and others all selling roughly the same service for the same price, we were overdue for a shakeout, and Groove got the axe.

Groove doesn’t deserve this fate. It’s a clean, well thought-out music service with custom playlists, recommendations, and curated music choices. Fortunately, Microsoft struck a deal with Spotify to transfer purchased music and playlists over to the competing service, softening the blow.

WTF: Bing’s reliance on opinion in search results

Mark Hachman / IDG

We’re already struggling to separate fake news from the real thing, and “alternative facts” from empirically proven realities. So Bing’s decision to a.) include “both sides” in its search results, and b.) base some of that perspective on opinion from Reddit and elsewhere, is flabbergasting.

Win: Surface Laptop

Jorge Arzac/IDG

More and more, I can’t help but think that the Surface Laptop represented the apex of Microsoft’s arc during 2017. And yes, that was with a laptop whose operating system, Windows 10 S, was criticized both on our pages and the rest of the Internet. But Microsoft knew exactly who it was designing for with the Surface Laptop—students, first and foremost—and very clearly addressed their needs.

Fail: Surface Book 2

IDG / Mark Hachman

Microsoft’s Surface Book 2never quite managed to capture the buzz that surrounded the first Surface Book, and we’re not quite sure why. It’s far more powerful, with a larger 15-inch option to satisfy those looking for a larger display. Maybe two-in-one notebooks are already passe? Other flaws hurt the Surface Book 2, notably an inability to run 3D games when connected to the Surface Dock, a subset of its embarrassing power problem. All this left us a little concerned that the Surface Book 2 line may be tapped out without a major overhaul.

Win: Microsoft’s creative apps

Adam Patrick Murray/IDG

Part of our job at PCWorld is to criticize: Pointing out where companies fail, but also highlighting underappreciated efforts. Paint 3D, Mixed Reality Viewer, and Photos (Story Remix) fall into that latter category. Ironically, the app that received the most attention during 2017 was Paint, when the Internet spent a heart-rending few hours wondering if Microsoft would kill it. (It didn’t.) But Paint 3D, Mixed Reality Viewer, and Photos (Story Remix) are just plain fun. If you don’t think so, let your kids have a crack at them. Just doodling around with Photos should keep them occupied while you dive into a holiday book. Or try them yourself. You’ll believe.

Microsoft

Fail: HoloLens

Microsoft, where is this thing? For all of the hype and attention the world has paid to Microsoft’s pioneering augmented-reality device (and yes, it works, as we have one) its only viable presence has been on stage and in promotional videos. We still have never seen the augmented version of Minecraft that Microsoft originally promised, and for all we know, Microsoft’s work with Ford and other enterprises is the augmented-reality equivalent of early, pricey videoconferencing systems that moldered away in the corner of meeting rooms. As for its successor, Windows Mixed Reality…

Microsoft

Fail: Windows Mixed Reality

We keep waiting for Windows Mixed Reality to land. Oh, it has landed? You’d never know it.

Microsoft went deathly quiet after headsets from Acer, HP, Lenovo, and others launched alongside the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update in October. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s partnership with Steam to bring its library of VR games to Windows languishes in betas and development mode. Wandering through a “cliff house,” stapling apps to virtual walls and such sounds futuristic…and entirely impractical. That’s not to say that the concept of mixed—oh hell, Microsoft, just call it virtual reality—sounds useless. But until the software is there to support Microsoft’s cohesive vision, Windows Mixed Reality isn’t worth your time.

Win: Harman/Kardon Invoke

Harman Kardon

I’ve tested smart speakers powered both by Google and Microsoft’s Cortana, and the Harman/Kardon Invoke holds up. Amazon’s Alexa-powered devices support the most skills, and simplify shopping to just a word or two. Devices running Google’s Assistant also seem a bit better at understanding natural language. But the Invoke’s audio quality is very good, and as a speaker it tops almost everything that Amazon (and even Google) currently ship. Microsoft’s hopes of establishing an ecosystem look decidedly less optimistic after the cancellation of the Mattel Aristotle and (possibly) connected cars, but for now Microsoft is holding tough.

Fail: Microsoft Teams

Microsoft

We tried it, evaluated it, then went back to Slack. So did everyone else, we expect.

Fail: Microsoft’s Mixer (renamed Beam)

Brad Chacos/IDG

We tried it, evaluated it, then went back to Twitch.

In all seriousness, I prefer Beam to Twitch. The fewer numbers of subscribers and excellent interactivity make it easier to follow along and actually interact with streamers. But too few seem to agree.

Win: Windows 10’s taskbar ads

Brad Chacos

I’m going to infuriate a few members of PCWorld’s staff who believe that anything that distracts from their pristine PC experience merits a rain of all-consuming hellfire. And if we’re talking underhanded ”Click the X” tactics, I agree. But I’ve said time and again that Microsoft needs to put its new features front and center, and I’m perfectly willing to tolerate a “Hi, user! We’ve added a cool new feature we think you’d like!” popup once or twice. Not only does it promote interaction, feedback, and inevitable improvement, but notifications are now simply a component of how we interact with devices. In fact, I’d encourage Microsoft to add more. A splash screen? A chatty update, tucked inside the Notifications? There are possibilities here.

Fail: The new Skype

Microsoft

From the start, I had an uneasy feeling that the new Skype’s emphasis on everything but Skype might not be well-received. But from what we could tell, the Internet simply hated it (and later turned on Snapchat, the seeming inspiration for Skype’s redesign). You can’t blame Microsoft for trying to pep up Skype with shared experiences and live feedback, features that Periscope and other apps had successfully employed. But consumers and businesspeople alike seemed to want Skype’s simple, traditional messaging and videoconferencing app, and Microsoft gave them something…else.

Fail: To-Do takes over from Wunderlist

IDG

I’ve always preferred Google Keep—it’s simple, clean, and roams between devices conveniently and easily—but Microsoft’s To-Do doesn’t quite work as well as Wunderlist, the app it will eventually replace. For one thing, Microsoft bridges note-taking and actual tasks between two separate apps, Sticky Notes and To-Do, while Wunderlist includes elements of both. And Wunderlist is still a superior app, period. Microsoft hasn’t quite killed off Wunderlist, as it had originally planned to do, but Wunderlist hasn’t been updated since February. It’s a real shame.

(pcworld.com, https://goo.gl/i92w9E)

Yet another battle between laptops is awaiting you. This time we are going to confront Acer Predator Helios 300 (15″) vs Lenovo Legion Y720.

Hardware-wise, Lenovo Legion Y720 sports 8th generation Intel Core ULV processors that not only have less energy consumption but are also fairly powerful thanks to their renewed Kaby Lake Refresh architecture. As far as the graphics part is concerned, both laptops come with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, however, Lenovo Legion Y720 comes with two other options – AMD Radeon RX 550 (Laptop) (4GB GDDR5) and AMD Radeon RX 560M (4GB GDDR5). In terms of memory capacity, there is no difference as both devices provide up to 16 GB of RAM.

Moving on, the two laptops offer the same display option – a 15.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS panel. The difference comes in the overall dimensions. Acer Predator Helios 300 (15″) is the more portable laptop with a 2.70 kg (6 lbs) construction that features a 27 mm profile. Another contrast between the two notebooks is that Lenovo Legion Y720 is fully made of aluminum.

Specs sheet

All Acer Predator Helios 300 (15″) configurations

Acer Predator Helios 300 – $1359^.99

• Intel Core i7-7700HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)
• 1000GB HDD + 256GB SSD
• 16GB RAM

Acer Predator Helios 300 (G3-571) -$999^.99

• Intel Core i7-7700HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)
• 256GB SSD
• 16GB RAM

Acer Predator Helios 300 – $1335^.99

• Intel Core i7-7700HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)
• 1000GB HDD + 256GB SSD
• 12GB RAM

All Legion Y720 configurations

Lenovo Legion Y720 – $1429^.99

• Intel Core i7-7700HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)
• 1000GB HDD + 128GB SSD
• 16GB RAM

Lenovo Legion Y720 – $1469^.99

• Intel Core i7-7700HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)
• 512GB SSD
• 16GB RAM

Lenovo Legion Y720 – $1999^.00

• Intel Core i7-7700HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)
• 1000GB HDD + 128GB SSD
• 8GB RAM

(laptopmedia.com, https://goo.gl/RNM5k3)

They affect a HUGE number of devices

Yesterday, we reported about a major vulnerability that affects a huge number of Intel processors, warranting for a patch that will compromise a computer’s overall performance by as much as 30%. That vulnerability is known as Meltdown.

It turns out, all of us should be worried about not just one but two devastating CPU-related vulnerabilities, with the other known as Spectre. 

Before we all go panicky and all, let us explain to you what is Meltdown and Spectre, how they can affect us, and how manufacturers are addressing the issue:

What is affected?

Meltdown affects Intel processors, while Spectre affects Intel, AMD, and ARM processors. In terms of coverage, Spectre affects more devices since it can go down to a mobile level: yes, even thermostats and baby monitors can be possibly be affected.

Basically, all devices are potentially affected by it, so the safest way to put it is that any untested device should be considered vulnerable.

What do they do?

Both vulnerabilities affect processors at the architecture level, specifically with how transistors and logic units inside a processor carry out instructions. However, Meltdown and Spectre work differently.

For Meltdown, it works by breaking through a kernel memory’s protective barrier through the use of malicious software in order to gain access to sensitive information. For Spectre, it tricks applications to disclosing sensitive data without passing through security checks.

With both vulnerabilities, they can be a big issue especially with cloud services, where hackers just need to rent cloud service space in order to take advantage of these “holes” in processors, as said in a New York Times article.

3d illustration of a glowing blue Qualcomm logo sitting on top of a glossy microchip

What’s the remedy?

Microsoft and Linux are working on a security patch to remedy Intel-equipped computers potentially affected by the Meltdown vulnerability. However, this patch will throttle down the overall performance of computers by as much as 30% with the fix.

Spectre, on the other hand, is harder to fix. As of now, the only definite fix for it is for processor manufacturers to redesign their processors with how they access kernel memory.

What can we do right now?

While both Meltdown and Spectre are alarming, everyone should not be worried, as manufacturers are working hard to mitigate the problem, whether it may be an update, a patch, a fix, or (worst case) a major chip design revision. For the meantime, let’s be mindful of how we use our devices, especially when it involves connecting to the internet.

(unbox.ph, https://goo.gl/Qy3QNc)

Dell’s XPS 13 has been one of the best ultraportable laptops since it was first launched back in early 2012. It was part of Intel’s initial push into what it decided to call “ultrabooks”.

Now there is a 2018 model, the Dell XPS 13 (9370), which features new design tweaks, changed ports and a new colour option. It is available with Microsoft Windows 10 Home or 10 Pro as well as Ubuntu.

We take a look, therefore, at what exactly has changed year-on-year; comparing the new version with last year’s.

Dell XPS 13 (2018) vs XPS 13 (2017): Design

Dell’s big sell with the XPS 13 has always been the small footprint. This time it has shaved a further 3.4mm off the thickness, so whereas last year the thickness was between 9-15mm, this time it is 7.8 -11.6mm. The weight is around the same at 1.2kg.

This year’s design is otherwise very similar to the previous model, but there are new colour options – rose gold and white – to go alongside the now-traditional silver and black. Dell uses carbon fibre on the silver and black models, but it has had to develop a new woven glass process to manufacture a new white palm rest around the keyboard on the rose gold model.

Dell assures us that it has a stain-resistant coating to prevent yellowing or discolouring over time. We shall see.

Dell says the new XPS 13 also utilises GORE Thermal Insulation, essentially a material used in science and engineering to dissipate heat out of the device. It’s previously been used in insulation on the Mars Rover vehicle!

There is a design change with the webcam, which has been re-sited from the bottom corner of the screen to the centre. It’s still not ideal in terms of placement as it’s simply not high enough, but is an improvement.

Dell XPS 13 (2018) vs XPS 13 (2017): Display

This year’s model does feature an upgrade to the 13.3-inch model, with an UltraSharp 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) InfinityEdge touch display supplanting the QHD+ (3200 x 1800) version in the older model.

There’s also a 1500:1 contrast ratio instead of the last model’s 1000:1 contrast ratio. As before, a Full HD, non-touch display variant is also available. There’s also an anti-reflective coating to reduce glare.

Dell XPS 13 (2018) vs XPS 13 (2017): Hardware and power

Dell has been offering the existing XPS 13 (9360) with the latest 8th Generation Intel processors already (a refresh of the previous 7th Gen processors) and that model will remain on sale for the foreseeable future.

The new model features the same processors as the previous model alongside Intel UHD 620 graphics. So, you’ll either get the Intel Core i5-8250U up to 3.4GHz or the Core i7-8550U up to 4GHz – both quad-core units.

Dell is claiming that the XPS 13 is the most powerful 13-inch laptop “in its class” and, while we need to test it, clearly the latest Intel chips should help it power through most tasks and score well compared to competitors in key benchmarks. We’ll test it in due course, naturally.

Dell is promising almost 20 hours of battery life with the Full HD version, or up to 11 hours for the Ultra HD model. The last model achieved around 11-12 hours (7th generation Core i7) so expect roughly comparable battery life generation-on-generation.

One of the most interesting things about the new XPS 13 is that it goes all-out for USB-C, with three ports in total. Whereas older models still retained a USB-A port, the 2018 variants eschew it.

Two of the USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 3 for connection to the latest docks and storage devices, while the third is a standard USB-C port. All three can be used for charging.

Dell has also binned the SD card slot, another victim of the size-wars. It’s been replaced by a less-useful microSD card slot. We reckon Dell should have ditched it entirely and provided a SD card dongle in the box. The 3.5mm headphone jack remains.

Again there is a selection of memory options up to 16GB (up to 2133MHz), and up to 1TB of PCIe SSD storage. There are also 802.11ac 2×2 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 as before.

Dell XPS 13 (2018) vs XPS 13 (2017): Price

Th new XPS 13 is available globally today on Dell.com and John Lewis, starting at £1,269/$1,676. The Rose Gold edition is available from February, starting at a rather steep £1,669/$2,203.

The current XPS 13 starts at £1,149/$1,517 (Core i5) and £1,249/$1,649 (Core i7), so there is a bit of a price jump. Expect the 9360 model to get discounted in light of the arrival of the new model, however.

Coincidentally, there’s also a new $100 Active Pen (like the Google Pixelbook Pen) to go alongside all Dell 2-in-1 Windows notebooks that supports Windows Ink. It’s available in April in the US and June elsewhere.

Dell XPS 13 (2018) vs XPS 13 (2017): Conclusion

This year’s XPS 13 isn’t massively different from the previous model but does feature some notable design improvements, including the new white finish.

The move to complete USB-C is welcome, while we can’t wait to see the new display working properly in the flesh, especially since the existing one is pretty hot.

The only negative of the white and rose gold model is the price, which is significantly more expensive than the standard variant. But, regardless, the XPS 13 lays the ultraportable gauntlet down for upcoming 2018 rivals.

(pocket-lint.com, https://goo.gl/QpJWkR)

Dell has revealed and released a refreshed version of its well-received XPS 13 laptop, with the upgraded machine featuring new design elements as well as sporting updated specs for 2018. Here’s what you really need to know including its key specs, release date and pricing information.

The new XPS 13 comes available in Rose Gold, for starters, which mixes gold and white accents to slather the ultraportable with a distinctive look. This will join the more familiar silver and black flavours – though we’re still waiting for the full colour lineup for the 2018 XPS 13 to be confirmed.

Dell claims it is the first company to use woven glass fibre in a laptop to achieve an alpine glass weave into the XPS 13 (9370). It also has a titanium oxide coating to offer a ‘pearlescent’ sheen while being UV and stain-resistant.

A white palm rest made out of a crystalline silica material makes use of nine composite layers to be “literally woven in” according to Dell.

Keeping with the outside of the XPS 13, the new laptop manages to shrink down by 3.4mm in thickness, and now starts at just 1.2kg in weight. It still manages to squeeze a 13-inch InfinityEdge display into an 11-inch frame, and that display now hits a 4k UHD resolution as opposed to the QHD+ of the older XPS 13 – though a Full HD model is also available.

A healthy array of ports are on offer, including two Thunderbolt 3 connections, a microSD card reader, a USB Type-C  input with DisplayPort support, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Under the hood, the XPS 13 make use of Intel’s eighth-gen Core i series chips, offering the Core i5-8250U running at up to 3.4GHz and the Core i7-8550U clocked at up to 4.0GHz. RAM is offered in 4GB and 8GB variants running at 1866MHz, or 16GB running at 2133MHz.

Storage starts at 128GB of SATA SSD, topping out at 1TB of fast booting PCIe SSD. Battery life is being touted at 20 hours for the new XPS 13 with the Full HD display, while the 4K model can expect 11 hours of battery power; we’ll have to give that a test before we can backup Dell’s claims.

Dell is championing its Power Manager feature to balance battery life and performance, as well as thermal management to supposedly keep the XPS 13 running at peak performance for longer.

Part of this comes from the XPS 13’s use of GORE Thermal Insulation which uses the same silica aerogels used in the Mars Rover. The aerogel is used to direct heat out of the laptop without the need for bulky fans. Again, this is something we’d need to put to the test to see if it is up to the task.

A suite of biometric identification features are on offer as well from voice, facial and touch recognition facilitated by an optional fingerprint sensors, microphones, and an infrared camera as well as Windows Hello and Cortana on the software side.

The new XPS 13 is on sale today starting at £1139/$1503 on Dell.com, while John Lewis will be an exclusive stockist of the Rose Gold model from February 2018 with prices from £1669/$2203. An Ubuntu version is also available for £1319/$1741.

(trustedreviews.com, https://goo.gl/C72uMc)

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop is probably the biggest rival to the Dell XPS 13. With both devices sporting similar internal specifications and super-attractive designs, the choice between Microsoft’s upstart laptop and what is arguably the best Ultrabook on the market is sure to be a tough one.

First up, here are the key differences – and similarities – between the Dell XPS 13 and Surface Laptop from 2017. Note that as of January 2018, Dell has upgraded the XPS 13 with Intel 8th-gen chips, a 4K display, and a new Rose Gold design, among other things. Learn more about the new Dell XPS 13 (2018).

We’ll update this comparison in full once we know the whole picture, but in the meantime, here’s how the two rivals stacked up last year. For what it’s worth, the old XPS 13 is now likely to plummet in price but remain an excellent machine for most people’s needs, so don’t rule it out just because there’s now something even shinier on the block.

Surface Laptop vs Dell XPS 13 – Design and features

Microsoft has done something a little different with the Surface Laptop. It uses a completely screwless design and comes with an Alcantara fabric wristrest with an all-aluminium outer shell. That shell is offered in four different colours: Platinum, Burgundy, Cobalt Blue, and Graphite Gold.

The XPS 13, for its part, uses its own unique take on the laptop design. Its aluminium lid comes in two colours – silver or Rose Gold – along with a carbon-fibre-composite wrist rest that looks superb. It also has the advantage of using an ultra-thin ‘InfinityEdge’ display, which means the bezel surrounding the screen is much smaller than any other laptop on the market. This means the device has a smaller overall footprint as well.

The two devices are roughly the same weight, with the Surface laptop tipping the scales at 1.25kg, while the non-touchscreen Dell XPS 13 comes in 50g lighter and the touch model 40g heavier. Thickness is very similar as well, with the Surface laptop just 0.5mm thinner at its thickest point. In other words, both laptops are exceptionally light and very thin.

However, the Surface Laptop is rather lacking in terms of wired connectivity. There’s just one USB 3 port on the Surface Laptop, while the Dell XPS 13 gets two, plus a third USB-C connector that also works as a high-speed ThunderBolt 3 adapter. It also gets an SD card reader, something the Surface Laptop lacks.

Surface Laptop vs Dell XPS 13 – Specs and performance

Both laptops are very similar here, coming with a choice of either dual-core Core i5 or i7 processors. They also get high-speed PCIe SSDs and up to 16GB of memory – though the base Surface Laptop model gets just 4GB of memory. We’d always recommend at least 8GB of RAM for such a high-end device.

With regards to graphics, some Surface Laptop models get slightly faster Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640, compared to the HD Graphics 620 found in the Dell XPS 13. The difference is very minor, however. It should also be noted that US specifications of the Dell XPS 13 now include 640 graphics alongside slightly better processors. If they come to the UK, we’ll update this piece.

Surface Laptop vs Dell XPS 13 – Screen

The Dell XPS 13 comes with a choice of screens: a non-touch Full HD model or a touch-enabled 3200 x 1800 pixel panel.

Both are excellent, as is the Surface Laptop’s 2256 x 1504 display, which is seriously bright, if not quite as pro-calibre as what Dell offers.

Surface Laptop vs Dell XPS 13 – Software

The key difference between the Surface Laptop and the XPS 13 is the version of Windows they’re running, with the Dell XPS 13 shipping with Windows 10 Home, and the Surface coming equipped with Windows 10 S.

Windows 10 S is limited to installing apps from the Windows Store, which means you’ll only have access to more basic programs. It looks like you’ll be able to upgrade from Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Pro for a fee, so that extra cost should be factored in if you know you’re going to want a less locked-down version of Windows 10.

Surface Laptop vs Dell XPS 13 – Price and release date

The Surface Laptop has a lower starting price than the Dell XPS 13, but that’s largely because Dell doesn’t sell an XPS 13 model with just 128GB of storage and 4GB of memory.

When the specs are equalised, at Dell’s base-tier and Microsoft’s second-tier, the Surface comes out cheaper by a small margin – a touchscreen XPS 13 with a Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and 256GB SSD will set you back £1299, while a Surface with the same configuration will cost £1249.

Don’t need or want a touchscreen? The Full HD model of the XPS 13 costs £1149 at the time of writing.

Climb up to the beefier configurations, however, and the Surface Laptop gets very expensive, very fast. A Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD configuration will cost £2149, while the equivalent Dell model costs just £1549. At this end of the market, we reckon the Dell XPS 13 is much better value.

Which laptop is right for you?

It might just come down to pricing. The base Surface Laptop with a Core i5 processor looks like a very decent buy for the money, but jump to the Core i7 variant and we have to admit we baulked at the MacBook-esque price – and would opt for the Dell XPS 13 as a result.

(trustedreviews.com, https://goo.gl/L4XqJF)

Apple refreshed its 13-inch MacBook Pro in 2017, so we thought it was high-time to revisit how it fares against Dell’s XPS 13. For its part, Dell updated the XPS 13 to kick-off 2018, adding Intel’s new (and more powerful) 8th-gen Core i series chips, a 4K screen option, and a new Rose Gold finish, among other new features.

The full picture about the new 2018 XPS 13 is still emerging, so for now, we’re sticking with the facts from last year. However, we’ll update this comparison as soon as we know more and have had a chance to try Dell’s latest for ourselves – this is likely to be at CES 2018, so stay tuned.

Don’t forget that the now ‘old’ XPS 13 will likely drop significantly in price, either, and will still be a great laptop for most people.

MacBook Pro vs Dell XPS 13: Full spec comparison

(Based on Dell’s UK site and Apple UK. Other retailers may vary, especially Dell in the US.)

MacBook Pro vs Dell XPS 13: Design and build

One thing that’s mostly the same between the two new MacBooks is the physical design, so this is a good place to start.

The Dell XPS 13 wins off the bat in terms of weight, coming in 170g lighter than both 13-inch MacBook Pro models. The MacBook is slightly larger in terms of overall footprint as well, so side-by-side the Dell looks significantly smaller.

Rounded up to the nearest millimetre, both the XPS 13 and MacBook are the same thickness.

The materials used are different on each device. Apple has continued to use the tried and tested aluminium unibody design, while Dell has a metal body and lid with a wrist rest coated in carbon fibre. The MacBook is also available in a Space Grey material, like the 12-inch MacBook.

The touchpad on the MacBook is substantially bigger than that on the XPS 13, which makes for much more comfortable gestures and swiping. The MacBook also gets Apple’s Force Touch tech, which simulates a physical click using haptic feedback and allows for pressure-sensitive interactions.

Apple’s Butterfly keyboard design makes a return and has been improved over last year’s model. It won’t be for everyone, but its a comfortable, accurate and responsive keyboard that’s hard to beat.

The more expensive 13-inch MacBook gets Apple’s clever Touch bar, which is a feature no other laptop on the planet has. Although, based on our reviews of last year’s machines, it’s really not as useful as we’d hoped.

In terms of ports, the MacBook 13-inch gets four USB 3.1/Thunderbolt 3 ports for powering high-end peripherals such as monitors and storage arrays. No adapters are supplied in the box. You can plug the power adapter into any port and charge the device. It also has a 3.5mm headphone jack. Dell gives you two regular USB 3.0 ports along with a USB 3.1/Thunderbolt 3 ports and an SD card reader.

MacBook Pro vs Dell XPS 13: Performance

This is where things get complicated. The two machines use Intel’s latest Kaby Lake 7th-gen processors, but they each use slightly different models with different clock speeds.

At the low end, the Dell is more powerful. But the very top-end MacBook Pro is more powerful than the most powerful Dell XPS 13, with a maximum clock speed of 4GHz. Graphics performance is also different, there’s a variety of Intel HD 620 up to Intel Iris 640 on the Dell XPS 13, whereas the MacBook Pro starts at Intel Iris 640 and goes up to Iris 650 on the high-end models.

The MacBook Pro now has Dell beat for memory speed as well, with all of its devices coming with 2133MHz memory as standard, where the XPS 13 only ships with 1866MHz memory.

We also know, based on our 2016 model reviews, that the MacBook Pro has substantially faster storage than the Dell XPS 13.

MacBook Pro vs Dell XPS 13: Screen

The cheapest Dell XPS 13 gets a 1920×1080-pixel Full HD display, while all the MacBooks get ‘Retina’ 2560×1600 screens. The top-end XPS 13 goes well beyond that with a 3200×1800-pixel panel that also gets a glossy touch layer. The MacBook Pro easily beats the Dell XPS 13 when it comes to colour coverage, and Dell so far hasn’t come up with an answer.

MacBook Pro vs Dell XPS 13: Pricing and final thoughts

Dell’s XPS 13 starts out cheaper than the MacBook Pro and tops out at £1749 with the top-of-the-range model. The MacBook Pro goes well beyond that as you continue up the range, thanks to the more expensive storage and memory options at the top-end. This is in addition to the more powerful top-end processors that manage higher peak clock speeds than the processor available in the Dell XPS 13.

At the bottom end, the XPS 13 is better value in terms of raw performance, but as you go up the MacBook range and gain access to the Touch Bar and higher performance, the MacBook’s price premium starts to make more sense.

Apple has brought the 13-inch MacBook Pro closer to the Dell XPS 13 in terms of price by cutting its minimum storage offering in half to 128GB, while Dell still offers a 256GB drive.

(trustedreviews.com, https://goo.gl/oiYeDd)

For the purposes of this comparison between the laptops ASUS FX503 and Acer Nitro 5, we are using their models that feature NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 GPUs and 1000GB HDD.

Starting off with hardware options, both laptops come with a 7th generation Intel Core i5-7300HQ processors and as we mentioned, their graphics cards are also the same. In terms of memory capacity, there is again no difference – you are presented with 8GB of DDR4 RAM.

Although the two models accommodate a 15.6-inch panel with Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution, the Acer Nitro 5 stands out with its IPS matrixas opposed to the TN one in its rival. The display of the former is not the greatest but it doesn’t use PWM across all brightness levels and combined with our custom profiles the colors become significantly more accurate. Its price is also lower starting at $699.

As far as the overall dimensions are concerned, the Nitro 5 is slightly lighter weighing 20 grams less than its competitor – 2.48 kg (5.5 lbs)vs 2.50 kg (5.5 lbs). However, ASUS FX503 is the thinner one with a 24 mm profile. And finally – the differences in the connectivity options. Even though ASUS FX503 offers more USB 3.0 Type-A ports, the Acer representative sports a USB 3.0 Type-C port which is not only more compact but it also provides higher data speeds.

With all that said, we can conclude that the Acer Nitro 5 is the total winner in this comparison.

Specs sheet

All ASUS FX503 configurations

ASUS FX503 – $849^.00

• Intel Core i5-7300HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)
• 1000GB HDD
• 8GB RAM

ASUS FX503 – $789^.00

• Intel Core i5-7300HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)
• 1000GB HDD
• 8GB RAM

ASUS FX503VD – $849^.00

• Intel Core i5-7300HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)
• 1000GB HDD
• 8GB RAM

All Acer Nitro 5 configurations

Acer Nitro 5 – $699^.00

• Intel Core i5-7300HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)
• 1000GB HDD
• 8GB RAM

Acer Nitro 5 – $743^.35

• Intel Core i5-7300HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)
• 256GB SSD
• 8GB RAM

Acer Nitro 5 – $747^.19

• Intel Core i5-7300HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)
• 256GB SSD
• 8GB RAM

(laptopmedia.com, https://goo.gl/oucQ81)

We thought you would be intrigued to learn more about its pros and cons if you consider getting a hold of it.

All Acer Nitro 5 configurations

Acer Nitro 5 – $699^.00

• Intel Core i5-7300HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)
• 1000GB HDD
• 8GB RAM

Acer Nitro 5 -$743^.35

• Intel Core i5-7300HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)
• 256GB SSD
• 8GB RAM

Acer Nitro 5 – $747^.19

• Intel Core i5-7300HQ
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)
• 256GB SSD
• 8GB RAM

7 reasons to buy Acer Nitro 5

1. Decent build

The chassis is mainly made of plastic with the exception of the brushed-aluminum lid. And although putting pressure in the middle leads to slight bending, this may not be such an issue for most of the users. In addition, you can open the laptop with one hand thanks to the smooth and linear travel of the hinges.

At the bottom, you will notice the usual slightly roughened black plastic with two small service lids. Furthermore, the interior is again made of smooth plastic which is slightly prone to fingerprints but is nice to touch.

2. A slightly more simplistic design approach with less flashy appearance

The laptop receives a pretty simple and clean look with its mostly plastic build and black Acer logo in the middle. In addition, the brushed-aluminum lid further makes the appearance more sophisticated which is definitely not obtrusive.

3. Fairly comfortable input devices

Moving on, the input devices offer fairly comfortable work. The keyboard features well-spaced keys with decent key travel, slightly concaved keycaps, and tactile feedback. In addition, the touchpad is also decent and will do the required on the go.

4. Full HD IPS display

The Acer Nitro 5 uses a 15.6-inch IPS display that comes with Full HD (1920×1080) resolution ensuring pretty nice visual experience. Another pro is the high contrast ratio (1180:1) and the maximum brightness (286 cd/m2) while plugged in.

5. The panel doesn’t use PWM for regulating screen brightness

Nowadays, it has become of greater importance that the laptop panel doesn’t use PWM for regulating screen brightness so the users don’t experience unnecessary eye strain and other negative health impacts. This is exactly the case with Acer Nitro 5 which is a significant advantage.

6. Reliable cooling solution (at least for the AMD configuration)

The cooling solution appears to get the job done well for the AMD configuration we have tested. During our extreme stress tests neither CPU nor GPU throttling occurred and also the graphics card remained fairly cool.

3 reasons NOT to buy Acer Nitro 5

1. The display becomes really dim (just 104 cd/m2) when the notebook isn’t plugged in

We already mentioned that the maximum brightness is fairly good while plugged in. However, things are not so great when the laptop is not plugged into the charger – the display colors are dull and subdued.

2. AMD FX-9830P is less powerful than its competitors and too old to be included in a 2017 build

Acer Nitro 5 is powered by AMD FX-9830P which not only drags behind in performance compared to its rivals but it was also released more than one year ago. However, you can always go for a configuration with a different CPU – i5-7300HQ, for example.

3. The Radeon RX 550 can’t beat the GTX 1050 in the same price range

The available graphics card in the notebook – AMD Radeon RX 550 falls short to the GTX 1050 in terms of performance even though they have similar prices. However, this is not a reason to skip on the Acer Nitro 5 as the drawback applies only to the models with Radeon GPUs.

The laptops that accommodate Intel Core i5-8250U and Intel Core i7-7500U CPUs are in the same price range so it is only fair to compare the two processors in order to find out which is the better one. For the purpose of this comparison, we are going to compare their results in our ranking based on 3D rendering (Cinebench 11/15), Adobe Photoshop and Raw performance (Fritz) tests.

When we look at the graph below, there are certain things that catch our attention. First off, quite expectedly, the Intel Core i5-8250U is faster and better compared to Intel Core i7-7500U. You can see that the performance gap is around 50-60% in the benchmarks we have conducted.

In addition, the actual real-life performance of the Intel Core i5-8250U is the impressive 63% higher than its competitor. In other words, it handles the same task as the Intel Core i7-7500U around 7 seconds faster, which is quite the difference.

Overall, Intel Core i5-8250U is faster and better than Intel Core i7-7500U but this was quite expected. The former scores around 50% better results, while real-life tests show above 60% increase. All of this makes us think that Intel Core i5-8250U is the absolute winner in this battle.

All laptops with Intel Core i5-8250U

HP 15 – $499^.49

• Intel Core i5-8250U
• Intel UHD Graphics 620
• 1000GB HDD
• 4GB RAM

Lenovo IdeaPad 320-15 – $549^.00

• Intel Core i5-8250U
• Intel UHD Graphics 620
• 1000GB HDD
• 8GB RAM

Dell Inspiron 5570 – $550^.00

• Intel Core i5-8250U
• Intel UHD Graphics 620
• 1000GB HDD
• 8GB RAM

All laptops with Intel Core i7-7500U

HP 15 – $514^.51

• Intel Core i7-7500U
• Intel HD Graphics 620
• 1000GB HDD
• 6GB RAM

Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575G) – $528^.70

• Intel Core i7-7500U
• Intel HD Graphics 620
• 1000GB HDD
• 8GB RAM

Acer Aspire E5-575 – $530^.94

• Intel Core i7-7500U
• Intel HD Graphics 620
• 1000GB HDD
• 8GB RAM

(laptopmedia.com, https://goo.gl/DMTni1)

ACER has been improving its presence in ESports and gaming with its Predator sub-brand. Since its launch in 2015, the Predator line has slowly expanded not just with gaming desktops and laptops, but also with gaming-oriented peripherals to improve every player’s gameplay.

Among these new peripherals is the Cestus 500 Gaming Mouse. Launched during IFA 2017, Acer’s gaming mouse offering is their contender against a sea of gaming mice out there. As someone who uses a trackpad more often than a mouse, I don’t really get the sense of investing in a gaming mouse at first. That being said, let’s check out what makes the Cestus 500 special.

Adjustable clicking resistance

What makes the Cestus 500 stand out from other gaming mice is its adjustable clicking resistance. Located at the bottom, these Omron switches individually adjust the clicking resistance according to your usage. I set up the Cestus 500 to have a lighter click resistance for the left button, and a stiffer click resistance on the right, which makes it more convenient for me especially when I have to edit photos and videos.

More than ambidextrous

Designed as an ambidextrous gaming mouse, the Cestus 500 can be configured further with a pair of slim and wide fins for both the left and right side. At first, I didn’t get the point of having such flexibility, but by setting it to fit my right hand well (using the wide fin for the left side and slim fin for the right side), I realized that it helps in giving you the best possible hand and wrist comfort in using the Cestus 500 for a prolonged period.

As a gaming mouse, it is not surprising to see several buttons on the Cestus 500. In fact, it has a total of 8 buttons, all customizable depending on your needs. One catch though: You have to be using a Windows PC to make the most out of these buttons. On a Mac, the other buttons (specifically the side and scroll wheel button) have a preset function, which is not a bad thing.

The black button right below the scroll wheel serves as a DPI switch, where you can adjust the Cestus 500’s tracking sensitivity on the go. Like most gaming mice, the Cestus 500 is equipped with RGB lighting, which is configurable to different colors. By default, it illuminates in glacial blue—the Predator’s trademark color.

Premium quality

Considering it is a high-end gaming mouse, the Cestus 500 comes with a premium build, which includes a heavy-duty gold-plated USB connector and a braided nylon cable. On top of that, the Cestus 500 comes with a soft suede pouch should you bring it with you while you travel.

At $80, the Cestus 500 is worth considering if you are looking for a mouse that has one of the broadest customization options out there. There’s no official announcement on its local availability yet, but we expect ACER to price the Cestus 500 at around $70 when it is available in stores.

(unbox.ph, https://goo.gl/crnffo)

(stuff.tv, https://goo.gl/pYhFbu)

Lenovo’s ThinkPad line-up is getting a refresh for CES 2018, with updated X1 Tablet, X1 Carbon notebook, and X1 Yoga models, together with a brand new 27-inch Thunderbolt 3 display.

While they may be ostensibly targeting businesses and mobile pros, the combination of speedy 8th Gen Intel processors and features like Amazon Alexa mean there’s likely to be plenty of interest among consumers, too. As for that ThinkVision X1 display, it might be the Thunderbolt 3 display-hub you’ve been waiting for.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet (3rd Gen)

The ThinkPad X1 Tablet 3rd Generation is Lenovo’s latest pro-tablet, running Windows 10 Pro and packing Pen Pro stylus support and a removable keyboard. It has a fingerprint scanner and an optional infrared camera for Windows Hello, and a 13-inch 3K 3,000 x 2,000 HDR-compatible IPS touchscreen with Gorilla Glass.

Inside there’s up to an 8th-generation Intel Core i7 processor with Intel UHD Graphics 620. Configurations with up to 16GB of LPDDR3 memory will be available, along with up to 1 TB of SSD storage. The battery is good for up to 9.5 hours, Lenovo claims, and it charges via USB-C.

As for connectivity, there are two Thunderbolt 3 ports, an SD card reader, headphone/mic combo, and a nano SIM slot for the 4G LTE-A Cat6 modem. There’s also 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2. The whole thing weighs from 1.9 pounds tablet-alone, or 2.79 pounds with the keyboard. It’ll be priced from $1,599 when it goes on sale this month.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet (3rd Gen):

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (6th Gen)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon 6th Generation is Lenovo’s professional notebook, blending classic ThinkPad styling with the latest 8th Gen Intel Core chips. Offered with up to a Core i7 and Intel UHD Graphics 620, the X1 Carbon can be spec’d with up to 16GB of LPDDR3 RAM and up to a 1TB PCIe SSD.

Battery life is up to 15 hours, and the display is a 14-inch HDR IPS 2560 x 1440 panel. Ports include two USB 3.0, two Thunderbolt 3, a headphone/mic combo, a microSD card reader, HDMI output, and a docking connector. 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO and Bluetooth 4.2 are inside; 4G LTE-A integrated WWAN will be an option.

Meanwhile, a ThinkShutter camera cover provides physical safe-of-mind over webcam hacks, and there’s a fingerprint scanner for Windows Hello. A microphone array gives support for Amazon Alexa, and there’s Wake on Voice too. It’ll be priced from $1,709 when it goes on sale this month.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (6th Gen):

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (3rd Gen)

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga 3rd Generation is a 360-degree convertible, flipping its 14-inch HDR 2560 x 1440 touchscreen between laptop, tent, and tablet orientations. Like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon it has the same choice of processors, graphics, RAM, and storage. It matches the 15 hour battery life too, Lenovo claims.

Similarly, the ports include the same mixture of USB 3.0, Thunderbolt 3, and HDMI, but it also finds space for an ethernet port. Baked-in LTE-A is also an option. You get the physical ThinkShutter camera cover, Alexa support, and fingerprint security as well. It’ll go on sale this month, priced from $1,889.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (3rd Gen):

Lenovo ThinkVision X1 Monitor

Lenovo’s last addition to its professional line at CES 2018 is the ThinkVision X1. A 27-inch display, it has minimal bezels around its 4K 3840 x 2160 IPS anti-glare panel. Maximum brightness is 350 cd/m2, while the contrast ratio is 1,000:1, and it covers 99-percent of the sRGB color gamut.

It hooks up with a single Thunderbolt 3 cable, if you have a compatible notebook. If you don’t, there are DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 ports as well; Lenovo even throws an HDMI cable and a USB Type-C cable in the box. A four port USB 3.0 hub is built-in, and there’s a 3.5mm audio output as well.

Most striking, though, is the “Motor Camera” which puts the webcam on a power-adjusted arm. That pivots up from behind the screen when required, then dips down again when not. A gimmick? Maybe, but it certainly looks cool. The ThinkVision X1 will go on sale this month like the rest of the updated X1 range, priced at $799.

Lenovo ThinkVision X1 Monitor:

(slashgear.com, https://goo.gl/1YZTkd)