Whether you're a student submitting homework, at work typing away at documents, spreadsheets, or presentations, or you're just someone who wants to access resources online and connect with family and friends, you want a laptop with the components and features you'll need to get the job done. That means a great screen, a comfortable keyboard, and long battery life (and nice design doesn't hurt, either!).

The laptop space is more competitive than ever. Windows machines come from many companies using silicon from three major CPU vendors: Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm. Apple, meanwhile, has a range of powerful and portable systems based on its own Apple Silicon.

In 2026, Intel's most recent chips are its Intel Core Ultra (Series 3) chips, code-named Panther Lake, while AMD launched its "Gorgon Point" Ryzen AI processors at CES. At Computex, Nvidia announced that its RTX Spark chips will launch in laptops from Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and more starting in the fall, taking on Qualcomm in the Windows on Arm space. Earlier this year, Qualcomm released its Snapdragon X2 Elite Xtreme, Elite, and Plus chips.

On Macs, Apple's top chips are the M5 series, including the M5 Pro and M5 Max, which can be found in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lineup.

Best Laptops You Can Buy Today

The Best Laptop (and Mac) overall

The MacBook Air has been a go-to laptop recommendation for quite some time, thanks to strong performance, a fanless design, excellent built quality, and long-lasting battery life. With the version of the chip with M5, you get the benefits of years of hardware revisions since the Air's last redesign with M2, including a minimum 16GB of RAM and a 12-megapixel webcam.

The M5 chip in the MacBook Air showed off excellent single and multi-core performance. In fact, it;s closest rival was the same chip in the MacBook Pro, which gets a boost because of an active fan.

That being said, the system can throttle under heavy workloads like rendering. But for most people's typical tasks, including writing, editing, making spreadsheets, editing photos, listening to music, programming, and general multitasking, you'll have a very powerful machine.

Apple has boosted the base MacBook Air's price to $1,099, but it now starts with 512GB of memory. Given the price of components these days, the laptop is still a great value. If you want a Mac but don't want to spend that much for it, you could take a step down to the entry-level MacBook Neo, starting at $599, as long as you're willing to sacrifice on power, memory, ports, and a backlit keyboard.

Read: MacBook Air (M5) review

Best Windows laptop

The Dell XPS 14 is back, and while you might expect its performance or design to be the headlining feature, it's the battery life that wows. With its base 1920 x 1200 LCD display, which has a variable refresh rate that goes all the way down to 1 Hz, it lasted 20 hours and 41 minutes on our battery test.

That's not to say the battery life is all there is to like about this laptop. The 3-pound chassis is sleek, and Dell added a function row back to the keyboard, making it way easier to use over the touch bar of yesteryear.

If you're OK with 12 hours of charge, more expensive models with a tandem OLED display have way better colors and more powerful Arc B390 integrated graphics.

That being said, both of them have a low-travel keyboard without space between the keys, which definitely tripped up my fingers, so you'll need time to get your muscle memory going. And the starting price, at $1,600, is a lot to ask but is unfortunately common as the memory crisis rages on.

Read: Dell XPS 14 (2026) review

Best ultralight laptop

Some of the best laptops are barely noticeable in your bag. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition, at 2.15 pounds is extremely light.

Still, despite the weight, you get plenty of other benefits. The speakers are surprisingly good for a laptop of this size. Perhaps most impressively, the system ran for 16 hours and 38 minutes on our battery test, outlasting many of the laptops we bit against it by multiple hours.

The system also offers a lovely display. The POLED touchscreen measured 476 nits of brightness while falling in similar gamut ranges as other OLED notebooks that weren't as luminous.

There are some downsides. There are limited ports outside of Thunderbolt 4/USB-C, including a lack of a headphone jack. And CPU performance fell behind some competitors, like Apple's M5 MacBook Air and a thicker AMD-based 2-in-1 from HP.Still, the laptop impressed for its airiness and multimedia strengths. And as tested with 32GB at $1,519, it's not a crazy price as the costs of many laptops skyrocket during an ongoing component shortage.

Read: Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition review

Another great Windows clamshell

We can argue about how much the AI PC is really any sort of revolution, but there are still some strong ultraportables coming out. The HP OmniBook Ultra puts the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 in a sleek chassis with strong productivity performance.

HP is offering up decent battery life here, running for 12 hours and 52 minutes on our battery test. That's not the best, but all things considered including the high-resolution display, it's not bad. It's also nice to see Thunderbolt 4 ports on an AMD system, which is exceedingly rare.

The experience is knocked down a bit by a significant amount of bloatware, but if you're looking for a strong AMD laptop, the HP OmniBook Ultra is a strong competitor if you don't mind doing some uninstalling.

Read: HP OmniBook Ultra review

The best budget laptop

If you're looking for an affordable laptop, Apple does it best these days. The MacBook Neo starts at $599 ($499 with an education discount), but you rarely feel like you're not getting enough – unlike most Windows laptops in this price range. The Neo has a premium, all-metal chassis, a bright, vivid screen, and a custom mechanical trackpad that lets you click anywhere. And yes, you get all of macOS running on what was formerly an iPhone chip.

The quality of the 13-inch chassis and screen are key here. You're not getting something plastic. You're not getting something low-resolution, and you're not getting something dim. You also get a great webcam for this price range, and the system stays remarkably cool. There are some niceties you sacrifice, however. Apple has gone without a backlit keyboard. And the two USB ports aren't labeled, so you'll have to remember which is the faster 10 Gbps USB 3 port (the back one) for backup drives and monitors, lest you end up with an error message.

I suspect that most people with light workloads — especially students and people using home computers doing a lot of work in the browser — won't have too much trouble with the 8GB of RAM. That being said, 16GB systems can be found in the Windows world for a bit more money, though you'll need to hunt for sales.

But if a premium laptop experience (including great build quality and a high-res screen) are important to you, Apple delivers that better than any Windows machine priced close to the Neo’s $599 starting price.

Read: MacBook Neo review

The Best Laptop for work

There are plenty of reasons why the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a classic. It's thin design and strong build quality are beloved by ThinkPad diehards. The latest model, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11), offers long battery life and great speakers.

Perhaps most critically, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon offers an excellent keyboard. Lenovo's reputation was built on great typing experiences, so this is crucial. For those who love Lenovo's TrackPoint, it's still here, allowing you to move the mouse without ever taking your fingers away from the home row on the keyboard.

The latest version comes with Intel's 13th Gen Core processors. We reviewed it with a Core i7-1355U, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD.

The one real issue we had is that the base screen could benefit from being a bit brighter. Those who want the most vivid experience can opt for an OLED panel, but at a higher price.

When shopping for the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11), keep an eye out for Lenovo's frequent sales, as there's often a deal available.

Read: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11) Review

The Best Windows Tablet

Microsoft may push the Surface Pro as a do-it-all AI machine, but the truth is it's just a really nice, portable, slim PC that lasts a long time on a battery and includes a beautiful OLED display. It's definitively one of the best Surfaces to date.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors offer enough performance to keep up with x86 competitors, making this one of the first Arm-based Surfaces that doesn't feel like it's lacking. Add on more Arm-compatible apps than ever, including the Chrome browser, and there's far less to miss from previous Intel models. That's not to say it's perfect — there are still some gaming issues, as well as drivers for specialized peripherals that may need to be rebuilt for the new platform.

The 45 TOPS NPU powers some of Windows 11's Copilot+ features, like Cocreator, Live Captions, and Windows Studio effects. None of these are showstoppers, but they're cool tricks.'

If you want a premium tablet running Windows 11, the Surface Pro is one of the only premium games in town. And that means paying a premium for a separate keyboard. But for those who love this form factor, the Surface Pro remains the best option out there.

Read: Microsoft Surface Pro review

A more powerful Mac laptop

The MacBook Air is a great starting point, but if you want an air-cooled processor and a few more features, the base MacBook Pro adds a few niceties. The 14-inch MacBook Pro starts with an M5 processor, has three Thunderbolt ports (including one on the right side), and a beautiful micro LED display.

For those willing to spend an extra $150, there's a nano-texture display option that is completely worth it if you ever use your laptop outside. The matte display looks excellent, and was great on desks near windows.

If you need the most power possible, we also reviewed the MacBook Pro with an M5 Max, including a 40-core GPU, a mix of Apple's latest performance and super cores, and a blazing fast SSD.

Both the 14-inch and 16-inch laptops offer great speakers and beautiful displays, but you will have to pay quite a bit for any storage or memory upgrades you want, and you won't be able to make changes later.

Read: MacBook Pro (14-inch, M5) review
Read: MacBook Pro (14-inch, M5 Max) review

The Best Gaming laptop

Razer Blade 18 offers some of the strongest gaming performance we've seen in a laptop, but also features excellent design, comfortable features, and the latest connection standards. At $5,199.99 as tested, it sure should be good. It tops our list of the best gaming laptops.

The major highlight is the dual-mode display, which has two options: 3840 x 2400 at 240 Hz or 1920 x 1200 at 440 Hz. Those two choices (which you can switch between in Razer Synapse) is enough to showcase both intensive, graphics-driven games at high settings and esports where frames are more important than resolution and detail.

The laptop, packed with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU in our review configuration, outperformed the field in our gaming tests, especially at the lower resolution.Razer is one of the few laptop makers using Thunderbolt 5 ports (we've also seen them from MSI and Apple), so this system is ready to go if you're using advanced peripherals or the fastest external storage drives.

Perhaps the biggest downside is that the Blade's dual 2TB storage drives use PCIe 4.0 rather than 5.0. You won’t notice this in games or mainstream productivity, but if you want PCIe 5.0 speed for future proofing or 8K video editing, the Titan may still be the way to go. The Blade 18 does support PCIe 5.0 drives, if you want to upgrade to speedier storage in the future.

Read: Razer Blade 18 review

Other Laptops We Tested

💻 Asus Zenbook A16

The Zenbook A16 has Qualcomm's powerful Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme processor, including 48GB of RAM on the package. While the chip is fast, the laptop, while lightweight, didn't meet our expectations. While light, it flexed and didn't feel premium; battery life was lesser than competitors; and while emulation is better than it used to be, there are still some compatibility issues with Windows on Arm for power users.

Read: Asus Zenbook A16 review

💻 Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra

Samsung's Galaxy Book6 Ultra is a powerful system for creatives, thanks in part to the RTX 5070 GPU in the version we tested. The OLED screen is beautiful and you get an nice design (albeit one that is quite similar to Macs), but this laptop is pricey, and you get a shallow keyboard.

Read: Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra review

Quick Laptop Shopping Tips 

Finding Discounts on the Best Laptops

Whether you're shopping for one of the best laptops, or just something that is good enough for your needs, you may find savings by checking out our lists of the latest Dell coupon codes, HP coupon codes, Lenovo coupon codes, Best Buy promo codes or Newegg promo codes.

Although Google itself has released expensive Chromebooks with premium hardware, and some of its partners (like Samsung and Dell) have followed suit, Chromebooks still have a reputation for being cheap, unpretentious machines with mediocre performance and capabilities. To change that, Google is launching its Chromebook Plus initiative, designed to help PC makers to build premium Chromebooks with enhanced performance and features.

Chromebook Plus models are designed to offer superior performance and therefore are powered by at least a 12th Gen Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 7000 CPUs,
and a minimum of 8 GB RAM and 128GB of storage. In addition, these laptops will come with at least a Full HD IPS display. Despite the spec requirements, these machines will not be prohibitively expensive, starting at $399.

To further enrich the user experience, the Chromebook Plus models emphasize high-quality video calling, which is why these models are furnished with a 1080p+ camera and advanced AI capabilities to enhance call quality. The webcams should be able to adjust lighting, cancel background noise, and blur backgrounds in just a few taps, irrespective of the video conferencing app used, be it Google Meet, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams, and these features are integrated directly into the Chrome OS.

In addition, Chromebook Plus laptops should feature AI capabilities for various apps. The Magic Eraser feature in Google Photos, powered by AI, facilitates more powerful photo editing, whereas the laptop’s high-capacity storage drive with FileSync allows offline access to more Google Drive files (which are automatically downloaded). Also, Chromebook Plus devices will come with a free three-month subscription to Adobe Photoshop on the web and Adobe Express Premium. 

The Chromebook Plus laptops are not just about current offerings; they have more features lined up for 2024. Users can expect enhancements such as AI-driven writing assistance, personalized AI-generated wallpapers, and AI-generated backgrounds for video calls. These features aim to personalize user experience, making tasks like drafting content and customization more user-friendly and enjoyable.

Chromebook Plus laptops will be offered at major retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart, and Target. Some existing Chromebooks are also expected to receive an OS update, acquiring the software features that come with Chromebook Plus devices. Chromebook Plus machines will be available from Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo, starting October 8 in the U.S. and October 9 in Europe. 

Google has cancelled its codenamed Agah, Hades, and Herobrine Chromebooks motherboards reference designs with discrete GPUs, which signals that the company may have cancelled its higher-end gaming Chromebooks project in general, reports Ars Technica. Of course, it is possible that the company cancelled these parts to focus on something else, but it does not look like Chromebooks with standalone GPUs are around the corner.

"Herobrine, Hades, and Agah are all cancelled," a developer wrote in a comment for an AboutChrombeeks post. "The infra (overlays, builders, etc.) have already been shut down for them. Delete."

Google initiated a project to design gaming-centric Chromebooks back in 2021 in a bid to grab another part of the enthusiast PC market. Although these devices boasted things like customizable keyboards with RGB lighting effects and displays with high refresh rates, their reliance on integrated GPUs predestined their usage primarily for cloud gaming platforms, like Nvidia's GeForce Now and Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Excitement grew late in late 2022 when signs of a more locally gaming-oriented Chromebook emerged. Reference motherboard codenamed Hades came with a discrete GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, a chip that is set to power entry-level Windows-based gaming laptops. In addition, Google developed Agah and Herobrine reference designs with standalone Nvidia graphics processors. As a result, Chromebooks based on these boards will not make it to the market. Unless, of course, some prominent Chromebook backers decide to proceed with a Chromebook featuring a discrete GPU themselves.

There undeniably existed a potential market for these gaming Chromebooks. With their widespread use in educational settings, students could have benefited from a game-capable Chromebook running a familiar platform. However, the project would have inherited common gaming laptop peculiarities, such as higher power consumption and shorter battery life, which is crucial for students.

But gaming on ChromeOS is riddled with obstacles. Google had managed to adapt the Linux-based Steam client for Chrome OS. With ChromeOS's inherent Linux architecture, it can run numerous Windows games through the Proton layer. Yet, there were hurdles. As of November 2022, crucial software like anti-cheat systems for several online games remained incompatible. Other issues, such as performance lags on 2560x1440 and 4K displays and the necessity for storage workarounds for certain game installations, plagued the system. 

In fact, the complexities of porting Windows games to Linux and Linux applications to ChromeOS would have made these machines considerably less appealing than traditional Windows laptops for gamers. This, combined with an overall dip in the PC market and the intricacies of integrating Nvidia GPU drivers into ChromeOS, may have influenced Google's decision to abandon the endeavor.

Intel's Alder Lake-N family of processors aimed at entry-level PCs has its own hierarchy and includes multiple options, including the flagship eight-core Core i3-N305, mid-range quad-core N97, and low-end dual-core N50. The latter belongs to a segment that represents little interest to performance-minded users, which is why such chips never get reviewed. But someone shared test results from the Intel Processor N50 in Geekbench (via @BenchLeaks).

Intel's Processor N50 features two general-purpose cores based on the Gracemont microarchitecture. Operating at 3.40 GHz, the chip comes with UHD-badged Xe-based graphics core with 16 EUs at 750 MHz and supports up to 16GB DDR4, DDR5, and LPDDR5 memory. With a thermal design power of 6W, the CPU can serve various applications, including laptops, thin clients, compact desktops, and many other low-power things. What the SoC is not meant to offer is, of course, high performance.

Indeed, even single-core results of the Intel Processor N50 in Geekbench 6 CPU tests are significantly lower than those of the Processor N97 and Core i3-N305, which is unsurprising given its lower frequency. The multi-core score is predictably over two times lower than the N97 since this is a dual-core CPU. 

As far as OpenCL compute performance is concerned, the Processor N50 comes with a severely cut-down integrated GPU that only has 16 execution units and runs at only 750 MHz. It cannot even compare to iGPUs of the N97 and N305 since they have more EUs that run considerably faster.

Of course, Intel's N50 can run productivity applications just fine, especially if it does not need to compute large XLS files or perform other resource-demanding tasks. Still, this CPU is generally meant to sit in a very simplistic machine that uses cloud resources or processes light workloads.

Geekbench 6 is a synthetic benchmark that does not necessarily represent performance in real-world applications, but when a CPU is times behind even entry-level offerings, it is evident that it is slow.

Intel has canceled a promising configuration of its next-generation Meteor Lake processors for desktops, if a slide presumably from Intel's roadmap published by @OneRaichu is to be believed.

If the information is correct, the company no longer plans to offer 6P + 8E configuration of its Meteor Lake-S CPUs. Still, since it is a leak, it should be considered appropriately and things may change.

The alleged slide, which is heavily redacted, is said to represent Intel's plans for entry-level workstations, desktops, high-end gaming laptops, mainstream laptops, and inexpensive notebooks, through 2026 as of the 18th week of 2023 (early May). A bit that is not redacted purportedly says that Intel intends to 'remove productization' of MTL-S 6P + 8E configuration, which points to socketed desktop parts. 

In recent years, Intel offered CPUs with six high-performance cores and eight energy-efficient cores for high-end notebooks, but not desktops. So not offering this configuration for desktops in 2023 – 2024 is hardly something that's shocking. However, rumor has it that Intel indeed wanted to offer something with such a config, but for some reason decided not to with its Meteor Lake-S lineup.

Intel's Meteor Lake, set to launch sometime in the second half of 2023, will be the company’s first multi-tile design for client PCs, and it will be powered by high-performance Redwood Cove and energy-efficient Crestmont CPU cores. Desktop and laptop CPUs will feature different configurations and will use slightly different pieces of silicon, so perhaps canceling some desktop-oriented SKUs based on laptop silicon makes sense since this cuts down testing that Intel needs to perform to ensure that these processors work fine in the desktop environment.

Meanwhile, a 6P + 8E design, when coupled with appropriate power supply circuitry and cooling, could perhaps offer superior overclockability for high-performance cores, though this thesis cannot be proven given the fact that Intel allegedly canceled this 6P + 8E product for desktops. 

While OneRaichu is a reputable hardware leaker and does not tend to publish fakes, he is of course not an official source of Intel information, so take the slide with a huge pinch of salt. Furthermore, keep in mind that plans do change, so perhaps Intel will change its mind (assuming that the information about canceling of a 6P + 8E silicon for desktops is correct) once again and return this product to its roadmap.

System-on-chips based on Arm instruction set architecture now command a 14% market share, but they are poised to at least double their share in several years, reports Counterpoint Research. Analysts note two main advantages that Arm-powered SoCs have over their x86 counterparts for now: lower overall power consumption and customization enabling richer features and higher performance. 

Arm-based SoCs will command a 15% notebook processor revenue share of this year, but their share could increase to 25% in 2027. Meanwhile, Intel's share will decrease from 68% this year to 60% in 2027, whereas AMD's share will drop from 16.7% to 14.4%. 

Nowadays, the vast majority (90%) of Arm-based notebooks come from Apple, limiting their growth as Microsoft's Windows is the world's most popular operating system. However, Counterpoint believes that once Qualcomm develops competitive Arm SoCs compatible with Windows, Arm's market share in the PC world will increase. 

Arm-based SoCs have several benefits over x86 CPUs, such as reduced power consumption and better thermal management. Designed with energy efficiency in mind, these SoCs can be tailored to specific power needs, making them perfect for mobile devices and laptops where battery life is vital. Also, Arm-based SoCs can integrate a larger number of high-performance CPU cores and tightly integrated memory, something that not all x86 CPUs can offer. In addition, custom cores in these SoCs provide advanced features that off-the-shelf x86 processor cores do not offer these days, leading to enhanced hardware and operating system integration, the analysts note. 

Also, Counterpoint mentions the built-in AI capabilities of Apple's SoCs and believes that those capabilities can be used for such workloads as image and video encoding and compression, noise cancellation, image recognition and vocal enhancement. 

Counterpoint Research believes large PC vendors can introduce custom Arm SoCs tailored to their needs and featuring differentiation. For example, lower-power Arm processors can be used to build tablet-notebook hybrids that are lighter and longer lasting compared to today's 2-in-1 and convertibles. 

As more makers with knowledge of Arm SoCs enter the market (e.g., smartphone suppliers), they contribute their know-how in Arm-based hardware and software, further enhancing the appeal of Arm-based PCs. The growing availability of native Arm-based applications will also improve user comfort and familiarity with the platform. The shift towards Arm-based PCs is anticipated to persist, and their market share is projected to rise substantially in the upcoming years. 

What is noteworthy is that for now, Counterpoint Research makes no predictions about Arm adoption by desktops. While Arm SoCs have an indisputable advantage for laptops, desktops have different requirements. For example, they take advantage of high performance, and power consumption is not always crucial for desktops. Therefore, whether Arm will gain a significant share of the desktop space remains to be seen.

A Dell Inspiron 15 laptop allegedly based on Intel's upcoming 14th Generation Core 'Meteor Lake' processor has been spotted by @Komachi_Ensaka in the UserBenchmark database. The chip apparently has 12 cores.

Intel's next-generation Meteor Lake laptop processors are several months away, so, unsurprisingly, large PC makers are hard at work testing their machines based on the new CPU. The U3E1 processor allegedly has 12 cores, can process 16 threads (which implies a 4P + 8E configuration), has a base clock of 1.20 GHz and a turbo clock of 0.55 GHz. This is obviously an error or a peculiarity of this pre-production CPU sample. 

Given the odd clocks, it does not make any sense to even try drawing any concrete conclusions about the performance of this product (even if the UserBenchmark app could actually provide detailed test results).

However, it is not the frequency configuration that grabs our attention. Surprisingly, the system spotted in the UserBenchmark database reports itself as the Dell Inspiron 15 5330. This product actually exists, yet it is based on Intel's 12th Generation Core 'Alder Lake' processor, and while it is not uncommon to use previous-generation motherboards and chassis to test upcoming CPUs, we have serious doubts that Intel's Meteor Lake is pin-to-pin compatible with Alder lake as the two are very different.

Intel's next-generation Meteor Lake CPU will feature a unique multi-chiplet design where each chiplet will be manufactured using a different process technology, a first for Intel's client offerings. The processor will consist of four distinct tiles, including a compute tile (CPU cores) produced using Intel 4 process technology (also known as 7nm EUV), a graphics tile built by TSMC (likely using its N3 or N5 node), an SoC tile, and an I/O tile. These tiles will be interconnected by Intel's Foveros 3D technology. 

While Intel's Meteor Lake may share its form factor with existing mobile CPUs in a bid to make it easier to produce PCs based on the processor, it is unlikely that it is pin-to-pin compatible with Alder Lake since the two products should have very different voltages and power supply circuity. 

While it is completely plausible that Dell is testing a 12-core Meteor Lake processor and that CPU has a 4P + 8E configuration, we are not sure that this UserBenchmark listing correctly illustrates one of these processors. To that end, take all the information (or rather lack of it, truth to be told) with a grain of salt.

Framework massively expanded its lineup of repairable laptops at an event in San Francisco today, updating its existing Framework Laptop to 13th Gen Core Intel, adding an AMD Ryzen option with 7040 series chips, and previewed a new 16-inch laptop with modular dedicated graphics.

Framework Laptop 16

The Framework Laptop 16 only got a preview at the event, but it made the biggest splash, with far more customization options and repairable features than the existing 13-inch laptop. Beyond the existing expansion cards, there are two new systems that Framework is playing with: "Input Modules" and the "Expansion Bay" (all these expansion systems are going to get very confusing very quickly!). For me, the Expansion Bay is the most exciting update. This is Framework's attempt to add upgradeable graphics to a laptop. (Framework states that this is delivering on a dream that many have given up on," which feels like a shot at Dell, which was sued over limited upgradeability on the Alienware Area-51m).

Framework hasn't said who it's partnering with on graphics, but we know that the graphics modules will include fans and connect over a PCIe x8 interface (Framework tells me the interface should support PCIe 4.0 "at a minimum") at the back of the laptop that Framework will open source, and that these modules can allow the laptop to expand to accommodate thermal and mechanical needs. You won't have to open the notebook to get the GPU out. Framework says it's working on other non-graphics-focused Expansion Bay cards, like a dual M.2 SSD card that can add 16TB of storage for those who can get by on integrated graphics. Notably, Framework seems to be fairly deliberate in not calling this a gaming laptop or a workstation, but rather pushing it as meeting whatever needs you want to use it for.

The Framework Laptop 16 is also getting a new "input module" system, which lets you hot swap between configurations of touchpads, keyboard and numpads. They come in different sizes (small and medium for numpads, large for keyboards), so you can customize what aspects you want on your keyboard deck. Framework says that it is working on keyboards in many languages and with RGB backlighting, and that "in addition to numpads, secondary displays and macro pads are workable." Many of the input modules use the open source QMK firmware running on a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller. You can still use the same Expansion Card system from the Framework Laptop 13. With the bigger laptop, you can use three ports on each side, rather than two per side on the smaller notebook.

We don't yet know the price or specs for the Framework Laptop 16 — those will come when pre-orders open later this spring — but the significantly increased number of swappable parts has me cautiously optimistic. The laptops are set to ship in "late 2023," but Framework is open sourcing design documentation to let others get started on making their own modules.

Framework Laptop 13 - Intel and AMD

The regular Framework Laptop is now called the Framework Laptop 13. Intel is updating it to 13th Gen Intel Core P-series processors or, for the first time, AMD Ryzen 7040 series chips. (Existing Framework laptop owners can even buy new mainboards with these chips to install into their existing Framework Laptops).

The 13th Gen Core lineup includes the Core i5-1350P, Core i7-1360P and Core i7-1370P with vPro, all using DDR4-3200 RAM and a louder 80 decibel speaker kit that was first seen in last year's Framework Chromebook. The Core i5 will stick to the 55 WHr battery, while the i7 models are set to use a larger 61 WHr cell. Both the AMD Ryzen kits will use the existing speaker kit, but offer faster DDR5-5600 RAM. The Ryzen 7 model will get the bigger battery. All of the new laptops have a new matte display (with the same resolution and performance) and new upgraded hinges designed to be easier to open. (The new batteries and displays will be purchasable on the Framework Marketplace for use with existing laptops.)

There will be port differences between Intel and AMD. While they'll use all the same modules, the Intel version has four Thunderbolt 4 ports, while the Ryzen options will have two USB 4 ports, one USB 3.2 port with DisplayPort, and one single USB 3.2 port, so they're not all functionally the same.

Framework has already had multiple bezel options, but you had to buy them separately. The company now says that it is working on new bezel colors and that you'll be able to pick the bezel and keyboard colors on the DIY edition when you order later this year. These new Framework Laptops are available for pre-order today with a $100 deposit and are set to ship in May. Prebuilt options will start at $1,049 with Windows 11 preinstalled, while a DIY Edition will launch at $849 so you can add your own RAM, storage and OS. That's a slight increase over previous DIY editions, which I'm told is due to the cost of materials. Framework says the Fedora 38 and Ubuntu 22.04 will be fully supported on both the new Intel and AMD options, with further testing for Manjaro and Mint in progress.

Cooler Master Case

We've seen plenty of projects using Framework Laptop mainboards outside of clamshell designs, and Framework already has a case you can 3D print. In the spring, Cooler Master is going to release the Mainboard Case, a $39 chassis designed to turn the laptop mainboards into desktops when you upgrade the PC.

Apple announced a new generation of MacBook Pro laptops earlier this week, and they'll begin shipping to customers on January 24th. New reporting from DigiTimes suggests that Quanta Computer started cranking out the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros in December 2022 in preparation for Apple's official launch, and that MacBook Airs are next on the docket.

According to DigiTimes, Apple's manufacturing partners and supply chain are gearing up for a MacBook Air refresh during the second half of 2023. These laptops will likely feature a new M3 SoC based on TSMC's next-generation 3nm node. However, given that Apple's MacBook Pros just received a 5nm M2 Pro/M2 Max upgrade, it's possible that Apple won't shift to the expected 3nm M3 Pro/M3 Max SoCs until 2024.

While the new MacBook Pros look the same on the outside (the design is still relatively fresh, as they launched in late 2021), there are quite a few internal changes. For starters, they ditch the M1 Pro and M1 Max SoCs in favor of faster M2 Pro and M2 Max silicon. In addition, while the chips still use a 5nm node, Apple boosted CPU performance by up to 20 percent, while GPU performance saw a maximum 30 percent uplift. The new MacBook Pros also feature Wi-Fi 6E support (up from Wi-Fi 6) and ditch the HDMI 2.0 port in favor of HDMI 2.1. 

The 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,999, while the 16-inch variant opens bidding at $2,499. However, if you want a 16-inch MacBook Pro with all the trimmings (M2 Max with 38 GPU cores, 96GB LPDDR5, 8TB storage), it will cost you $6,299.

While MacBook Pro shipments are important for Apple, the MacBook Air is the key sales driver for the company. Even though overall PC shipments were down for 2022, Quanta's 3 percent decline to 28.4 million units during the second half was less than its competitors. Strong demand for the refreshed MacBook Air (M2) prevented Quanta's shipments from sinking further.

Apple saw its overall notebook shipments decline by 15.3 percent during Q4 2022. However, its chief competitors were down 30 to 40 percent during the same period. Given the economic downturn and consumers being more cautious about high-dollar purchases, Apple will reportedly adjust its shipments to favor more affordably-priced M1-based MacBooks and MacBook Pros. 

Apple's MacBook Air (M1) starts at $999, while the MacBook Air (M2) rings in at $1,199. The MacBook Air (M2) features an all-new chassis design with a larger display, more maximum memory (24GB versus 16GB) and a slightly lower weight (2.7 pounds versus 2.8 pounds).

Earlier this year it transpired that in 2023, Intel intends to cease using its Celeron and Pentium brands for entry-level notebook CPUs. Instead, Intel will use the 'Intel Processor' branding. With 2023 being mere weeks away, it is about time for one of the first Intel Processor-badged CPUs to allegedly get tested. For now take the test results with a pinch of salt until they are verified.

The first Intel Processor product to hit Primate Labs' Geekbench 5 database appears to be the Intel N95 (via @Benchleaks), which seems to be one of the entry-level Alder Lake-N CPUs featuring four Atom-class energy-efficient cores based on the Gracement microarchitecture. The processor features a 1.70 GHz base clock, a 2.80 GHz boost clock, 2MB of L2 cache, and 6MB of L3 cache, based on the entry in the Geekbench database. This is not the first time when an Alder Lake-N CPU gets benchmarked, but this is the first time when we see a quad-core Alder Lake-N. 

 Since the Intel N95 is an entry-level product with only four efficient cores and rather low frequencies, it was certainly not designed to offer breakthrough performance. Therefore, it is not surprising that it ranked substantially slower than Intel's eight-core Core i3-N305 'Alder Lake-N' processor. Yet, it stacks up very well against Intel's existing Celeron 7305 CPU with one high-performance and four energy-efficient cores that operate at 1.10 GHz.

While we yet have to determine how exactly Intel intends to position its N95 processor, we also included scores obtained on AMD's entry-level Athlon Gold 7220U CPU with two Zen 2 cores at 2.40 GHz ~ 3.70 GHz and with a 4MB of L3 cache for comparison. Evidently, the Athlon Gold 7220U shows better GeekBench 5 scores than Intel's N95, though we should bear in mind that AMD's lowest-end next-generation Athlon will be the dual-core Athlon Silver 7120U (which yet has to get benchmarked). 

Even though Geekbench 5 is not exactly the best way to estimate performance of a CPU in real-life applications, it should be noted that it can still be used to find out how processors stack up against each other. 

Meanwhile, keep in mind that for now we are dealing with pre-production Alder Lake-N hardware and it might be too early to draw any conclusions about performance of these CPUs.

BOE this week demonstrated the industry's fastest display panel with a 600 Hz refresh rate, which by far exceeds that of the best gaming monitors. The panel is designed for laptops aimed at hardcore gamers who demand absolutely the highest performance, including an absurdly high refresh rate. Meanwhile, the demonstration raises more questions than answers as it is unclear how BOE managed to make such a panel work and its benefits to the end user are uncertain too.

BOE showcased the industry's first 16-inch LCD panel with a 600 Hz refresh rate with an oxide backplane technology at the World Conference on Display Industry in Chengdu, China, this week, reports IT Home citing the company's press release. The demonstration of the display panel was carried out using a laptop carrying AMD Ryzen and Nvidia GeForce RTX logotypes (more on this later). First, however, the panel was attached to the chassis using tape. A 600 Hz refresh rate is something that the range-topping best graphics cards might need to show their true potential in games like CrossFire, CS: GO, or PUBG. But it's not that easy, so let's analyze what this 600 Hz LCD panel is all about.

BOE does not disclose any specifications of the panel beyond its refresh rate. Since making high-resolution panels run at high-speed refresh rates is hard, we suggest we deal with a 1920x1080 resolution here. BOE is also tight-lipped about the kind of display panel technology its LCD panel uses with a 600 Hz refresh rate. However, considering that panels with 480 Hz and 500 Hz refresh rate use TN panels, it is a safe bet that the 600 Hz one also uses this technology. Meanwhile, what is unclear is whether this panel is a 'true' 600 Hz one or a heavily overclocked LCD with a native refresh rate of 480 Hz or 500 Hz.

In any case, whether we are dealing with a native 600 Hz panel or a panel overclocked to 600 Hz, it still needs an extremely capable display controller logic. That display controller (whether a monolithic chip or a set of chips) has to feature a high-performance image processing unit, an appropriate overdrive processor, a very fast TCON (timing controller), and a general-purpose processor that will manage the operation of the aforementioned hardware. Overdrive logic performance is essential at 600 Hz to minimize ghosting. Meanwhile, assuming that we are dealing with a panel that supports a variable refresh rate (and something tells us that we do), overdrive logic is a tricky thing here.

We do not know whether any off-the-shelf display controllers can support a 600 Hz refresh rate with overdrive. Still, Nvidia's logotype of the PC chassis may imply that the company may have an appropriate G-Sync module in the works (we are speculating). At least, the only laptop with a 480 Hz LCD comes with Nvidia G-Sync support.

Another point to consider regarding this panel is how it connects to its host system. For example, transferring an uncompressed 1920x1080 image with an eight-bit color depth at a 600 Hz refresh rate (i.e., 600 times a second) to a panel requires a usable data throughput of 37.32 Gb/s, which is a DisplayPort 2.0 with UHBR 10 territory. Meanwhile, a DisplayPort 1.3/1.4 connection offers a bandwidth of 25.92 Gb/s after factoring in 8b/10b encoding overhead.

Keeping in mind that Nvidia's graphics processors introduced to date (which include the latest Ada Lovelace-based AD103 and AD104 GPUs that will likely be used for high-end gaming notebooks eventually) only support DisplayPort 1.4, we can only wonder if the panel used two eDP 1.4 connections, employed Display Stream Compression, or used 4:2:0 color format. Using two eDP 1.4 connections requires a custom display controller and is generally expensive, whereas using DST or 4:2:0 format arguably impacts image quality.  

Of course, it will be tough to evaluate the color quality and small details when you are shown up to 600 images a second (i.e., at an up to 600 Hz refresh rate), and this is the primary purpose of this monitor — to produce an incredibly immersive experience for e-sports professionals and hardcore gamers.

When we talk about cyber athletes and demanding gamers, we certainly need to mention the benefits they might get from a 600 Hz refresh rate display. A reasonably common competition-grade 240 Hz monitor can offer a down to 4.16 ms frame time, whereas 360 Hz LCDs for serious gamers cut that by 50% to 2.7 ms. At a 600 Hz refresh rate, a frame time drops 1.66 ms, which seems like a diminishing return, to put it mildly. 

Various research concluded that most people could see between 30 and 60 frames per second, though there is no commonly agreed solid limit of how many FPS an eye can see. Assuming that professional athletes can see 60 frames per second, their frame time is 16.66 ms. Meanwhile, this seems to be enough. For example, professional badminton players can react to a hit up to 493 km/h (306.34 mph), which is quite extraordinary. Meanwhile, many badminton players say that they do not precisely follow the shuttlecock with their eyes and then assume where it ends up, but rather make guesses where it will end up based on various factors like the opponent's racket or body position. 

We doubt cyber athletes can see more frames per second than other athletes, but at extremely high FPS and with an extremely high refresh rate, they may perceive the gaming world better than their opponents with lower FPS and refresh rates.

Since we are mostly talking about e-sports professionals and competitive gamers, we are also talking about games like CrossFire, Fortnite, and PUBG that do not need the highest-end GPU and CPU to hit hundreds of frames per second. Therefore, these extreme display panels may make sense for those games and professional gamers. Perhaps, not because a 600 Hz panel will cut their frame time to 1.66 ms from 4.16 ms on a 240 Hz LCD, but because, for them, this might provide a more immersive competition experience, which might lead to better results.  

For everyone else, a higher resolution display with a 'moderate' 120 Hz or 240 Hz refresh rate based on a Fast IPS or even an OLED panel with better colors, lack of DST, and larger sizes will likely be a wiser choice. There are plenty of good gaming monitors to choose from these days. 

Yet, the demonstration of the industry's first LCD panel with a 600 Hz refresh rate certainly attracts a lot of attention to BOE and emphasizes its lead (at least as far as refresh rates are concerned) over other players.

Acer is turning its premiere ultraportable into a bit of a business laptop. The company has debuted the Swift Edge, a 16-inch notebook using AMD Ryzen processors, up the the Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U (though also some non-Pro chips).

The laptop also features a 16:10 OLED display, which Asus claims offers 500 nits of peak brightness.

The processors available include the AMD Ryzen 5 6600U, Ryzen 6 Pro 6650U, Ryzen 7 6800U and Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U. Acer is also using the Microsoft Pluton security profile, which is shipped on by default.

Those chips will be paired with up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of PCIe storage, though Acer says exact specs and availability will differ based on the region where the laptop is sold.

But at 2.58 pounds (1.17 kg) and a 14.94 x 9.54 x 0.55-inch footprint, Acer's biggest claim here is that the system is large enough for work but light enough to be portable. The system has two USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 ports (up to 20 Gbps), two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack, which is more connectivity than many ultraportables these days. 

Acer is entering a crowded market of laptops meant to allow for working from anywhere, including stalwarts in both the business and consumer spaces like Lenovo and HP with laptop lines like the ThinkPad and Elite Dragonfly. Like those, the Swift Edge seems to skew a bit more towards enterprise with the Ryzen Pro chips and Pluton processors. The laptop is shipping this October in North America, starting at  $1,499.99. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it will start at €1,499, while in China it will begin at RMB 7,999.

AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU is a great chip for your gaming rig and it seems that it is now powering XMG's Apex 15 Max laptop. This notebook is already one of the few mobile chassis that can support AMD's standard Ryzen 5000 desktop parts, but thanks to a BIOS update to AGESA 1.2.0.7, the 3D V-cache variant of the 5800X is now supported.

The XMG Apex 15 Max, is a ultra-thick 15.6 inch gaming laptop, that features the unique characteristic of supporting AMD desktop-grade Ryzen 5000 series processors, thanks to a integrated B550 motherboard housed in the system. As a result, the system is capable of supporting CPUs all the way up to the Ryzen 9 5950X, with 105W chips operating in ECO mode.

Thanks to a AGESA code 1.2.0.7 supported BIOS update, the XMG Apex 15 can now support AMD's gaming jewel - the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. According to XMPG's benchmarks, the 5800X3D operating inside the Apex 15 is up to 14% faster than the Ryzen 9 5900X, and 30% faster than the 5700X in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Unfortunately that is the only advantage the 5800X3D offers in the XMG Apex 15 chassis. In Cinebench R20 and R23 the 3D-VCache chip lost to both the Ryzen 7 5700X and 5900X XMG in both the single and multi-core tests, due to the reduce clock speed headroom on the 3D VCache model.

As a result, the 5800X3D should only be considered if you're focused on gaming exclusively. Any other workloads will benefit greater from the other 8 core or higher core count Ryzen chips, which can boost to much higher frequencies compared to the 5800X3D model.

The laptop is incredibly thick, with a thickness of 32.5mm, this is anything but a thin and light. However, if you need desktop-grade CPU horsepower in a laptop chassis the Apex 15 max is one of the few notebooks that can sport AMD's Ryzen 5000 series desktop chips.

The system can be configured with either a RTX 3060 or RTX 3070 laptop GPU, and can support up to 64GB of 3200Mhz DDR4 SODIMM memory. For storage, the laptop comes with three storage slots, comprising of dual M.2 slots and a single 2.5 inch drive mount for SSDs or small 7mm tall hard drives.

The display features a 240Hz IPS display operating at a 1080P resolution, there are no other options available via the configurator. Powering and charging the system is handled via a 230W power brick.

For gaming, the Apex 15 will offer one of the best gaming experiences possible in CPU bound games thanks to 5800X3D support. XMG now offers the Ryzen 7 5800X3D as a option in its Apex 15 Max configuration tool, but it can also be a upgrade solution for current owners as well.

For an AMD 7 5800X3D based system with an RTX 3060, 16GB DDR4-3200 Samsung RAM and 500GB Samsung 980 SSD you'll be paying €1,720.99 (including a 19% sales tax, but postage is extra). Converting that to USD we subtract the 19% tax and see the price come in at $1379. Of course this will be liable for taxes and import duties in your home country.

Intel will decommission its legendary Celeron and Pentium brands used for basic notebook CPUs. Instead, starting in 2023, they will be referred to as the rather humble "Intel Processor" name. The move will allow the company to sharpen its focus on premium Core, Evo, and vPro brands and sell more premium CPUs. 

For now, Intel will continue to use Celeron and Pentium brands for desktop and embedded applications. When asked how this branding change would affect desktops, Intel told us, "Desktop has no new products in this segment slated for Q1 '23."

Intel's notebook product stack today includes a variety of Core-branded processors for high-performance, mid-range, and entry-level laptops, as well as Pentium and Celeron-badged CPUs for inexpensive essential systems. Starting from 2023 with notebooks, Intel will unite its Pentium and Celeron product families under the Intel Processor umbrella and will continue to address respective market segments. The new brand leaves unchanged Intel's existing processors (they will sell under their own names) and the company's product roadmap. 

"The new Intel Processor branding will simplify our offerings so users can focus on choosing the right processor for their needs," said Josh Newman, Intel vice president and interim general manager of Mobile Client Platforms.

While the merge may clear up some confusion between various Pentium and Celeron-branded laptop offerings, it might also create some new puzzlements. 

Intel's mobile Pentium Gold products are based on the company's designs featuring high-performance or high-performance and energy-efficient cores, therefore offering an experience comparable to that of fully-fledged Core processors. For example, the company currently offers Pentium Gold-badged Alder Lake CPUs with one high-performance Golden Cove and four energy-efficient Gracemont cores (8505). 

Intel's mobile Celeron processors are also based on the company's designs with performance (6305) or performance and efficient cores (7305). However, since they sit below mobile Pentiums, they have lower clocks, have smaller caches, or lack certain features. Yet, these are still quite capable chips for basic workloads. 

Merging mobile Pentium Gold and Celeron product families into one Intel Processor lineup makes sense on the condition that model numbers accurately represent their performance and capabilities. 

There are other Celeron and Pentium-branded processors for laptops too. Intel's mobile Celeron N and Pentium Silver processors are based on energy-efficient Atom-class cores and barely offer performance that is even slightly close to that of mobile Pentium Gold and 'vanilla' Celeron CPUs with high-performance cores. Intel did not update these product families this year as its Alder Lake-N design featuring only energy-efficient Gracemont cores is not yet here. But Intel is certainly prepping these system-on-chips for launch, and they might address market segments of Celeron N and Pentium Silver. 

We do not know whether or not Intel plans to add Alder Lake-N into the Intel Processor lineup for mobile PCs. But if it does, pouring in designs based solely on energy-efficient Atom-class cores into the lineup with quite different chips will create a lot of confusion.  

Remember business travel? That used to be a thing. And by all measures, it's becoming more common again, which makes for great timing on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s' part.

The ThinkPad X13s ($1,085.40 to start, $1,385.40 as tested), is the first ThinkPad to boast an Arm processor — specifically, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. That's part of the key to perhaps the laptop's primary strength: significant battery life. Tie that together with 5G network support (our review unit came with an AT&T SIM card) and you have a great road warrior.

Well, maybe not a warrior. More of a road helper. Windows 11 adds a ton to the Arm ecosystem, providing support for 64-bit app emulation, but some applications still don't work. And while year-over-year performance for the 8cx is solid, Qualcomm hasn't yet caught up to the Intels and Apples of the world, which we often find in the best ultrabooks.

But for those who primarily use simple software that they know will work and care more about battery life and connectivity than anything else, there's finally a reason to check out a Windows on Arm device, as long as you can make a few trade-offs.

Design of the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

With the ThinkPad X13s, Lenovo is walking a line between the past and the future. Traditionally, ThinkPads have been black and boxy, with a single ThinkPad logo in the corner of the lid. But some newer designs, like the AMD-based Z13, have challenged the assumption of what a ThinkPad can look like, with rounded corners, a rounded lip to squeeze in cameras and microphones, fewer ports and different materials.

This laptop falls somewhere in between. With rounded corners and a slight reverse-notch above the display for cameras and microphones, the X13s has some of those newer design elements. Rather than the deep raven black color we associate with most ThinkPads, the X13s is “thunder black,” which looks more like dark gray, but otherwise its recycled magnesium chassis feels familiar.

Lifting the lid reveals almost all traditional ThinkPad stylings. There's a ThinkPad logo on the deck, and the red TrackPoint nub sits at the center of the keyboard. The 13.3-inch display has noticeable but unobtrusive bezels.

Ports here are minimal, which is increasingly common among thin, light notebooks. The left side has two USB Type-C ports, while the right side is home to a 3.5 mm headphone jack, SIM card slot and a Kensington lock slot. I would have liked to see Lenovo put a USB-C port on each side of the laptop; Then I could charge from either side and ensure accessories always fit.

Snapdragon-based laptops, like the ThinkPad, need to be thin and light. Sure, there are plenty of Intel laptops with LTE or 5G support, but Qualcomm doubles down on the message. Lenovo has met that goal with a laptop that's just 2.35 pounds and 11.76 x 8.13 x 0.53 inches. I carried it by one hand to a local park on a nice day to get some outdoor work in.

That's lighter than the Apple MacBook Air, another Arm-based laptop, which is 2.7 pounds (and made of aluminum), and a bit thinner at 11.96 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches (it's larger in other dimensions). The HP Elite Folio, an Arm laptop we reviewed last year and are including here to compare year-over-year, was 2.92 pounds and 11.85 x 9.03 inches. The Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1, a comparatively priced laptop using Intel U-series processors, is 3.46 pounds and 12.36 x 8.95 x 0.7 inches, but is also a convertible 2-in-1.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13s Specifications

Windows 11 on Arm: 64-bit Emulation is Here

The ThinkPad X13s is Lenovo's first ThinkPad-branded laptop to use an Arm processor (but not its first ever — the company dipped its toes in with the Flex 5G in 2020. Perhaps it was waiting for Windows to be ready.

Windows 11 is in a better position to handle Arm chips than Windows 10 ever was. Windows 11 on Arm supports x64 emulation, opening loads of software to the platform that didn't work in Windows 10. (This support was being tested in Windows 10, but it was ultimately abandoned and only included in Windows 11.) Microsoft recently released Arm64EC for developers to build native apps or transition x64 apps more easily, so hopefully more Arm-native software comes soon.

Right now, it's a mixed bag. There are apps that run natively on Arm for Windows, including the Edge and Firefox browsers, Adobe Photoshop, VLC, Netflix, 7-Zip, Handbrake and Zoom.

Still, some applications don't yet work. Dropbox, for instance, famously hasn't worked with previous Windows on Arm devices. In my testing, that's still the case. You'll have to go to the Microsoft Store to download Dropbox for S Mode, which doesn't store files locally on your device. There is still a very real chance that specialized software you need won't work as expected.

Additionally, a lot of the old rules still apply: Games and app using versions of OpenGL beyond version 3.3 or that have anti-cheat drivers that aren't developed around Windows 11 on Arm won't work, and lots of third-party antivirus applications won't work (On the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s, there's no free trial of McAfee Live Safe, but there's a bookmarklet for it in Edge that the company added. Coincidence?).

Arm on Windows is better than it's been, but it still needs work to get anywhere near the success Apple has had on its Arm-based Apple Silicon with macOS.

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

We tested the ThinkPad X13s with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. What's different about our testing on the X13s compared to previous Windows on Arm laptops is that Windows 11 allows emulation of 64-bit apps.

That allowed us to run Handbrake and our Cinebench R23 stress test, which we couldn't do before. That being said, performance through emulation can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the apps work. On the other, you're testing the emulation, not the hardware itself. Still, it gives you an idea of the performance you'll get, and if you're emulating software, that usually means taking a hit.

On Geekbench 5, our go-to overall performance test for laptops, the ThinkPad X13s achieved a single-core score of 1,125 and a multi-core score of 5,891. That's a big difference over the HP Elite Folio, which ran a previous-generation Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2, with a single-core score of 792 and multi-core score of 3,115. The Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 (Intel Core i7-1255U) and MacBook Air (Apple M2) were still significantly faster.

Lenovo's laptop copied 25GB of files at a rate of 550.95 MBps, falling behind the Folio (666.5 MBps) and the MacBook Air (958.85 MBps). The Dell Inspiron's 404.86 MBps speed was the worst of the bunch.

Previously, we couldn't run Handbrake on Windows on Arm systems. Now, there's an Arm native version (you could emulate an x86 version, but you shouldn't do that!). It took the X13s 18 minutes and 21 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. That's still far behind the Inspiron with Core i7 (9:49) and the MacBook Air (7:52). 

Now that Windows 11 can run 64-bit apps through emulation, we could also run our Cinebench R23 stress test, in which we run the rendering 20 times. (Like Handbrake, we couldn't run this on the HP Elite Folio last year.) Of course, because Cinebench R23 is not an Arm-native app, it means we're stress testing the emulation just as much as the 8cx Gen 3 itself. This took over two hours to run.

The ThinkPad started the test at 3,470.97 before dropping to 1,548.65, the lowest score on the test. After that, it seemed to bounce a bit between the 1,700s and 1,800s. What we couldn't get, however, were clock speeds and CPU temperatures, which weren't logged by HWInfo (also an x64 app, and emulated).

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

The screen on the ThinkPad X13s is colorful, but not the brightest. When I watched the trailer for "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" the blues in the oceans of Atlantis were lively, as were the orange fires creeping up the darkened walls of the Wakandan throne room. However, I did feel the need to turn the brightness all the way up.

According to our tools, Lenovo's panel covers 117% of the sRGB color gamut and 82.9% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. That's the highest of the bunch, with the MacBook Air at 107%/75.9%, the Elite Folio at 100%/70.7% and the Inspiron at 61%/43.5%.

But the ThinkPad X13s measured 300 nits of brightness, falling behind the Elite Folio (390 nits) and MacBook Air (489 nits). The Inspiron, at 251 nits, came in last here.

Keyboard, Touchpad and TrackPoint on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

The ThinkPad X13's keyboard may be familiar to longtime fans of the brand, with its scalloped keys and room for a number of buttons that are eschewed on many laptops, like Home, End, Delete, Page Up and Page Down. A fingerprint reader is baked into the power button.

The keyboard is comfortable enough, and I sped along at 120 words per minute on the Monkeytype typing test. I did feel, however, that it didn't offer the tactile feedback I've seen on many premium ThinkPads in the past, and at least one colleague who tried the laptop found it felt a bit flat.

I do appreciate that Lenovo got creative with the layout. The arrow keys are in an inverted T (which I always appreciate), to fit page up and page down buttons on either side of the up arrow. Some of those keys are a bit small, as are the function keys, but for those who need a dedicated key for just about everything, I think they'll get over it. (One exception: how many people need a dedicated print screen key as big as Alt and Control?

The touchpad is 2.3 x 4.5 inches, which is just big enough. It's wide, but it's a bit short for my taste. Lenovo has opted to include dedicated buttons for use with the TrackPointPoint just above the keyboard, but I wish it instead used the full 2.8-inch height for the trackpad to make using gestures a bit more comfortable. (TrackPoint lovers, like our editor-in-chief, will staunchly disagree with me here, but Lenovo opted for a hybrid approach on the ThinkPad Z13).

TrackPoint isn't exactly my jam, but for those who prefer to move the mouse without taking their hands off the home row, it gets the job done. The short answer is that it works. I found that it required more pressure than I liked out of the box, but that's easily adjustable in settings.

Audio on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

The pair of top-firing speakers on the ThinkPad X13s get nice and loud, but they're nothing special. They were good enough for me to jam out to the groovy string instruments, shaking tambourines, the vocals and occasional shouting in the Grass Roots' "Let's Live For Today" (which serves as the catchy theme song to "Pachinko" on Apple TV Plus). There is basically no low-end though, so you lose out on the effects of bass and percussion.

There's not much in the way of audio software on the X13s. Commercial Vantage's settings are largely for the microphone, which makes sense if you're on a call but not for jamming out while you fill out spreadsheets.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

Before opening the ThinkPad X13s, take out the SIM tray and SIM card, if you have one. There are six captive Phillips head screws on the bottom of the X13s. When you loosen them, the lid pops up slightly, and some quick use of a pry tool takes it the rest of the way off.

About half of the available internal space is taken up by the battery. The right side of the space is covered by paper for heat protection. Flipping it up reveals that there are two heatpipes: one that covers the CPU, and another, held down by two small Phillips head screws, that covers the 5G card and an M.2 2242 SSD. That 5G card has thermal pads on it, so if you replace it, besure to carefully reapply them or add new ones.

Battery Life on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

Whether in the office or on the road, you should be able to last a full workday on the X13s. On our battery test, it ran for 15 hours and 2 minutes while streaming video, browsing the web and running OpenGL tests while connected to Wi-Fi with the screen set at 150 nits. With cellular also enabled, that dropped to 13:39.

That’s not quite the 28 hours that Lenovo boasts “up to” on its website, but it’s pretty impressive in the real world. The X13s easily beat the x86-based Dell Inspiron (7:52) and even surpassed the MacBook Air (14:06). But the HP Elite Folio with a last-gen Qualcomm processor won out (16:21).

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

One of the benefits of the ThinkPad X13s is that the Arm design allows it to run fanless, which means it's dead silent. For light workloads, which is what the ThinkPad X13s was designed for, it stayed cool in my usage. But we also ran our standard Cinebench stress test and took skin temperature measurements, which showed how hot this fanless system can get if you really, truly push it.

During the stress test, the center of the keyboard, between the G and H keys, measured 38.8 degrees Celsius (101.84 F). The touchpad, at 30.1 C (86.18 F) was much cooler. The hottest point on the bottom of the laptop measured 46.7 C (116.06 F).

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

Lenovo put a 5MP camera on the ThinkPad X13s, which should be a standard for business laptops. Gotta look your best on those conference calls. This fits because Lenovo has added a bump, which it called the "Communications Bar" on the AMD-based Z13, which has plenty of room for both that and an infrared sensor to log in with Windows Hello.

The results are quite good. Are they as good as you’d get from one of the best external webcams ? No — what is? But I could make out the individual hairs on my head and in my beard, as well as the petals in some flowers just off screen. My brown shirt was color accurate against my beige walls.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

The ThinkPad X13s comes mostly free of bloatware on Lenovo's part. It includes just one major utility, Lenovo Commercial Vantage, which provides quick access to your serial number and warranty options, as well as checking for updates. This doubles up a bit on some Windows features, but overall I think it's worth keeping around if you need support.

That's not to say Windows 11 doesn't still have applications (or shortcuts to install them) in the start menu. Those include Disney Plus, SPotify, Adobe Express, Amazon Prime Video and Twitter.

Lenovo sells the ThinkPad X13s with a one-year warranty, which can be extended for up to five years for an additional fee.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13s Configurations

Our review configuration of the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s had a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 processor with integrated Qualcomm Adreno 690 graphics. The laptop also sported 16GB of memory and 512GB of SSD storage, as well as a 13.3-inch, 1920 x 1200 non-touch  display and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X55 5G modem for a total of $1,385.40.

The base model is  $1,085.40, but features some notable differences. For one, it has Windows 11 Home rather than Pro. The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 and Adreno graphics are still there, but with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Unlike with our review unit, there's no infrared camera (the fingerprint reader remains), there's no 5G support.

There are fancier options than what we reviewed, too. A configuration that's $1,439.40 as of this writing bumps up to 32GB of RAM and adds touchscreen functionality, though doesn't have 5G support. The top-end, $1,571.40 configuration is back to 16GB of RAM, but has 1TB of storage and a touchscreen, as well as 5G.

Those are just the preconfigured model. Lenovo lets you configure your own, so you could combine all of the highest specs and go even higher.

Bottom Line

It might not be saying all that much, but the ThinkPad X13s is the best Windows-based Arm laptop I've reviewed so far. Admittedly, much of that comes from all of the software compatibility that Windows 11 adds, but the fact that it has long battery life, a solid webcam and a lightweight design doesn't hurt.

You can add a 5G modem to Intel or AMD laptops. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10), with Intel's 12th Gen P-series processors, for instance, allows it as a pricey upgrade. So does the ThinkPad X1 Nano, another thin ThinkPad that's light on ports but high on portability. But the Arm processor allows for a silent, long-lasting design that makes more sense with 5G.

Apple is still squeezing more power — and compatibility out of Arm with its in-house chips, but it doesn't offer 5G support on its Macs yet, including the very lightweight MacBook Air. So when Lenovo makes a lightweight design with 5G support that will last you a long time on the road, it's worth taking notice if you're largely using a web browser or software that you know is compatible. Those who don't have that assurance yet might want to stick to traditional x86 machines a bit longer and hotspot to their phones.

Dell's recently unveiled XPS 13 Plus looks like an almost ideal laptop with its ultra-thin and lightweight design, high-performance and swift responsiveness guaranteed by Intel's Evo, an upgradeable SSD, and an advanced OLED display. But some of Dell's XPS 13 Plus machines have a significant problem: their screens may die or even literally detach because of an issue with the glue. Dell knows about the situation and is contacting the owners to fix it.

The problem with Dell's XPS 13 screen is specific to OLED models and only affects a limited number of units. In contrast, LCD models are unaffected, reports The Verge citing the notebook supplier. The Verge experienced the issue with their XPS 13 Plus as, during their review process, the screen on their unit died, as described by Reddit users. However, it is noteworthy that the unit tested by Tom's Hardware did not have any problems.

In other cases, XPS 13's screens displayed funky colors, lost touchscreen functionality, or even literally fell off their frames because an improper adhesive was used. One such situation was filmed in a Best Buy demo area (though it incorrectly calls the model the XPS 15). Dell is aware of the problem; it has corrected its production process and is contacting the owners of affected machines to fix them before their OLED displays die.

"Dell Technologies places the highest priority on the quality of our products," a statement by Dell published by The Verge reads. "We discovered that some screens on the XPS 13 Plus OLED systems may become loose because of problems with the third-party adhesive used, and we quickly corrected the issue in our production process. Dell is proactively reaching out to customers who may be impacted to replace the screen, ideally before it becomes loose."

Issues with display adhesives are pretty common in the industry. For example, in recent years, devices from Apple, OnePlus, and TCL/BlackBerry suffered from such issues as their displays either detached or reproduced colors incorrectly.

Bitblaze, a Russian brand specializing in servers, storage systems, and workstations, has demonstrated its pre-production Bitblaze Titan BM15 laptop based around the Baikal-M1 processor designed in Russia. The notebook, designed primarily for government agencies and enthusiasts, is said to enter mass production in November. The only question is whether the company can indeed mass produce the machine now that TSMC does not produce advanced chips for any company in Russia.

"I have a legend in my hands: a pre-production Bitblaze Titan laptop based on the Baikal-M processor is ready," said Yana Brush, commercial director of Prombit, the company behind Bitblaze, in a blog post. "A very decent built quality, thin aluminum case, light weight. I have tested some mainstream software applications: office programs and YouTube. Works great, lasts five hours on the battery. We continue testing in various workloads, getting ready for the official release."

The Bitblaze Titan BM15 is a 15.6-inch laptop powered by Baikal Electronics' Baikal-M1 (BE-M1000) system-on-chip equipped with 16GB of DDR4 memory (up to 128GB is supported) as well as a 250GB – 512GB solid-state drive in an M.2 form-factor. The machine has almost everything that one expects from an entry-level laptop, including a Wi-Fi + Bluetooth adapter, a GbE, one USB 3.0 Type-C connector, four USB Type-A ports, an HDMI display output, and a 3.5-mm audio connector.

The Bitblaze BM15 laptop comes in an aluminum chassis, but the exact dimensions and weight are unknown. As of late March 2022, the expected weight was in the 2.2 kilograms (4.85 pounds) ballpark (according to a 3DNews report), but since the bill-of-materials was not finalized at the time, the final weight may be different.

The machine depicted on the company's website (which resembles Apple's MacBook Pro 13) vastly differs from the pre-production version that Yana Brush holds in her hands in the picture. The pre-production model resembles cheap 15.6-inch mobile PCs that go for $399~$499 at BestBuy. On the other hand, in some cases, pre-production units do not feature the final design as they are for software compatibility tests. Keeping in mind that the company does not disclose which Linux distributions the machine will run, it should be testing various software.

Despite its 'Titan' name, the BM15 is far from offering the performance you expect from a notebook with such a name. The heart of the Titan is the Baikal-M1 SoC, which uses eight outdated Arm Cortex-A57 cores operating at 1.50 GHz and outfitted with an 8MB L3 cache accompanied by an eight-cluster Arm Mali-T628 GPU with two display pipelines. The Cortex-A57 first appeared in a commercial product in 2015, whereas the Mali-T628 (Midgard 2nd Gen) has been around since 2014. The Baikal-M1 is made by TSMC using one of its 28nm-class nodes. Still, since TSMC no longer produces chips for Russian companies, we can only wonder whether Baikal Electronics has pre-purchased enough SoCs to support commercial launches of the Bitblaze Titan and other products.

Another aspect of the Bitblaze Titan notebook is the price. This March, the company expected the aluminum version of the product to cost 100,000 – 120,000 rubles ($1375 – $1650 without VAT), but the BOM was not finalized, so the final price may be different. That is a lot for an office machine but may not be important for a collectible item with a very rare SoC.

"There is a chance to buy one of the pre-production samples, that is expensive," said Brush. "Or rather wait for [mass produced units], which will be released no earlier than November. We accept pre-orders."

Lenovo's first foldable, the ThinkPad X1 Fold, felt very much like an early product. But it seems that the company isn't giving up on it, and may be making some changes.

On Tuesday, Lenovo posted a teaser video on its ThinkPad Twitter and YouTube accounts entitled 'What will we unfold next' that unambiguously implies that a new ThinkPad X1 Fold is incoming. The new machine seems to feature a large foldable AMOLED monitor, but with thinner bezels. The video also shows a new version of the detachable keyboard TrackPoint nub this time around. The machine will likely switch to Intel's hybrid 12th Generation Core 'Alder Lake' processor, though we can only wonder which exact chips it is going to use.

In addition to its foldable design courtesy of foldable AMOLED screen with rather thin bezels, the key improvement of the new ThinkPad X1 Fold will be its platform. Intel's Lakefield CPUs barely provided enough performance for business users, but Alder Lake will certainly address this issue.

Meanwhile, Lenovo's video clearly depicts Intel's Evo and vPro logotypes in the end of the sequence, so expect the new notebook to comply with Intel's requirements for Evo-badged machines as far as responsiveness and performance are concerned. Furthermore, vPro implies on business/corporate focus of the system, so expect it to support all the latest security and management features that Intel has to offer.

Among the key questions about Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 (or whatever Lenovo calls it) hybrid notebook is of course when it is set to become available and how much the manufacturer plans to charge for it. Given the fact that companies do not tend to pre-announce new products months before launch, we would expect the new foldable laptop from Lenovo to arrive sooner rather than later, perhaps, so sometime in August or September. As for the price, that part is hard to guess considering the fact that Lenovo will likely offer more CPU, memory, and storage options with its ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 than with its previous-generation model.

Update 6/21 02:18

The adapter has now gone on sale for $19 direct from Clockwork. The kit includes an ultra-thin heat sink and a Wi-Fi gain antenna. In a series of tweets, @Hal_clockwork has been testing the Compute Module 4 via Blender and Minecraft alternative Minetest. This upgrade could now be the ultimate portable Raspberry Pi 4 setup.

Original Article:

The DevTerm modular computer from Clockwork has a hint of a significant upgrade, after its creator posted on Twitter to show an adapter to fit a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 board into the slot previously occupied by a Compute Module 3. 

 As you’ll already know, the Compute Module 3 came in a SO-DIMM form factor, with an edge connector that could click into place if a suitable slot was provided. The Compute Module 4 eschewed this, instead being provided as a PCB the size and shape of a credit card, lacking the all-important edge connector and thus compatibility with earlier modules. This means it wasn’t the drop-in upgrade for Compute Module 3 projects it could have been. Although Raspberry Pi have created the Compute Module 4S. A Compute Module 4 in a Compute Module 3 form factor. A version that is not for general release, sadly.

With a suitable adapter, however, the two rows of connectors on the base of the Compute Module 4 can be wrangled into talking to a host via an edge connector, and that’s precisely what Clockwork Pi’s founder Hal has shown. The adapter has Clockwork branding on it, suggesting it’s a soon-to-be available product rather than a one-off experiment.

The DevTerm is an A5-size notebook PC with a retro aesthetic, including a 6.8in ultrawide screen, full QWERTY keyboard, mini trackball, and 58mm thermal printer attachment. Inside, however, it’s all modern, with a choice of ARM or RISC-V SoC modules depending on the level of power required. The Compute Module 3 was soundly beaten in spec by two six-core options available, but the Compute Module 4 will closely match those, while allowing for 8GB of RAM to be available to the machine, which previously topped out at 4GB.

The Twitter account gave no further details, at the time of writing, about when the adapter board would be available, or how much it would cost.

Apple just redesigned the MacBook Air around its M2 chip, but more variants of the ultra-thin notebook may be on the way. A report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who has a very solid track record, suggests a larger 15-inch MacBook Air could come in early 2023, as well as a possible new 12-inch notebook coming a bit later.

If Apple did go for a 15-inch MacBook Air, it would be the largest in the lineup since it debuted in 2008. The Air has typically had a 13.3-inch display, though an 11.6-inch Air existed for a few years. The newly announced M2 MacBook Air has a 13.6-inch screen. The report claims that the rumored 15-inch model is a "wider version" of the new M2 Air.

A 15-inch option has long been desired by Apple fans who want a bigger screen but don't want to pay for the additional power of the MacBook Pro line. There have been rumors about a 15-inch option with M2 before, but they didn't materialize. But as Gurman points out, more options could potentially let Apple use its own silicon to take a bigger bite out of the PC market with a wider variety of performance and size variations.

The report also suggests Apple is going small again with a 12-inch laptop for the end of 2023 or early 2024. Apple discontinued a 12-inch MacBook (not Air, not Pro, just "MacBook") back in 2019, so this could take its place as an even more ultraportable machine than the Air. With the new MacBook Air starting at $1,199, perhaps a 12-inch notebook could take its place as the $999 entry-level laptop.

Lastly, and perhaps least surprisingly, Gurman says Apple will update the higher-end MacBook Pros with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, possibly by the end of 2022 or early 2023. Those laptops are unlikely to see new designs (that just happened last year), with this being a simple spec bump.

Apple didn't respond to Bloomberg's request for comment.

On the one hand, laptop vendors like Dell, Lenovo and HP offer dozens of designs, each with many configurations, including chips from AMD and Intel. Having more designs might allow Apple to peel away customers who couldn't find what they wanted with the current Mac lineup. Part of Apple's appeal has also been a simple, easy-to-understand choice of Macs (though the 12-inch MacBook caused some confusion). However, with the arrival of more Macs and increasingly Mac-like experiences on the iPad, that simplicity may be going away.  

But Apple's own chips also put it more in control of its own destiny (supply chain problems aside). We'll see what designs Apple Silicon inspires.

Microsoft has announced a modest update to its entry-level laptop in the form of the Surface Laptop Go 2. The 12.4-inch notebook, which is available for pre-order today and will go on sale on June 7, will start at $599 with Intel's Core i5-1135G7.

From the outside, not much has changed from the first Surface Laptop Go, which debuted in 2020. It's in a similar shell with the same 1536 x 1024 display that we criticized for being below 1080p. There's also still a fingerprint reader on the power button, but not on the base configuration. However, there is a new sage green color with hints of gray and blue that I think looks quite nice from the photos.

The 2.48-pound laptop is, like the original, being pushed as both a competitor to Chromebooks in schools as well as a potential cheap option for businesses, though this time with Windows 11 onboard (Enterprise customers can still get Windows 10). The company claims it will last up to 13.5 hours on a charge, which would be more than enough for a school or workday if it matches up in testing.

The $599 starting price likely includes the Core i5 with just 4GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage. That's more expensive than the $549 launch price of the original, but that unit included 64GB of slower eMMC storage. I think twice as much storage that's far faster is worth the extra $50.

The update from Intel's 10th Gen "Ice Lake" CPUs to 11th Gen "Tiger Lake" should offer a nice increase in graphics performance, as that's when Intel switched to its Iris Xe integrated GPUs.

The fingerprint reader isn't included on the entry-level model, just like the last generation Surface Laptop Go. The keyboard otherwise appears to be the same great one from the 2020 laptop, which Microsoft claims has "30% more key travel than a MacBook Air."

Beyond sage, the Surface Laptop Go 2 will come in ice blue, sandstone (a nice gold color) and platinum.

There are a few more changes inside. Microsoft redesigned the Surface Laptop Go 2 to be a bit easier to repair. The SSD is still replaceable (though Microsoft continues to suggest using an authorized service provider), as well as the keyboard and trackpad, display, battery and Surflink cable, the last of which is used for audio. All of those parts, except for the battery, are designed to be replaced by a technician with Microsoft's own service guides. The battery still may need to be sent to Microsoft or its service providers.

Those looking for a potentially affordable laptop (those upgrades add up quickly) with Surface's build quality and design will get stronger performance, but it appears the low-res display is sticking around for another year. We'll have more impressions if we get to see the device in person.

AMD and Qualcomm are teaming up to make the Wi-Fi in your business laptop faster. Today, the two companies announced that they're working to bring Qualcomm FastConnect to PCs with AMD Ryzen processors, beginning on enterprise notebooks using the Ryzen Pro 6000 series chips and Qualcomm FastConnect 6900.

This will bring Wi-Fi 6 and 6E to some business notebooks, though they would hardly be the first. But AMD and Qualcomm claim that by also bringing Microsoft in on the collab, laptops including the HP EliteBook 805 series and Lenovo ThinkPad Z series will take advantage of wireless options built into Windows 11. 

Specifically, those laptops will use Windows 11 Wi-Fi Dual Station, which Qualcomm has pushed before for gaming. (In fact, back when that was announced in October 2021, AMD corporate vice president Jason Banta said the company was planning to bring the tech to business laptops. Some promises do come true!)  This will allow laptops to use multiple Wi-Fi bands simultaneously for reduced latency, stronger connections, and, the companies claim, better video conferencing. And because these notebooks can use the 6GHz wireless band, they shouldn't have to fight for a connection with older network devices.

AMD is also pushing its AMD Manageability Processor for Ryzen Pro 6000 PCs for remote management. (However, laptop manufacturers will have to enable this for each notebook, so just because a laptop uses those chips doesn't mean it will have the feature.)

“Out-of-band Wi-Fi remote management is an important tool for enterprise IT managers to diagnose and fix issues, even when the operating system is not running,” Banta said in a press release. “AMD Ryzen PRO 6000 Series processors with Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 enable next-generation business laptops to have the processing and connectivity tools needed to perform in modern environments, offering professional-strength remote manageability for users in the new, hybrid workplace."

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z series and HP EliteBook 805 laptops were announced at CES, and we expect to see them sometime this year. 

Intel is bulking up its family of Alder Lake mobile CPUs with new HX series chips that leverage the same silicon as the Alder Lake desktop PC chips, but Intel crammed them into a slimmer package that will power the highest-powered gaming and workstation laptops and notebooks. The new chips feature up to 16 cores, 24 threads, peak clock rates of 5.0 GHz, and a 55W base power spec that stretches up to an almost-unbelievable 157 watts under heavy load. Intel says the HX chips deliver up to 80% more performance in multi-threaded workloads than its own previous-gen chips and 10 to 20% more performance than its current-gen H-Series, and that's before you leverage the HX chips' overclocking features.

Intel's new chips will attempt to fend off Apple's M1 Max and M1 Ultra processors, not to mention AMD's existing 6nm Ryzen 6000 ‘Rembrandt’ chips and the upcoming Zen 4-powered Ryzen 7000 'Dragon Range' processors that will also stretch beyond 55W.

The HX chips are armed for workstation tasks with support for an incredible amount of I/O for a notebook, including up to 128GB of memory spread across four DDR4 or DDR5 modules, support for ECC memory, and up to four SSDs. It's also the first mobile platform to support the PCIe 5.0 interface, making it powerful enough to fit into the 'desktop replacement' class of mobile systems. The vPro-branded HX series models will replace Intel's Xeon W mobile lineup, while the Core-branded models will power the highest-end gaming laptops. Let's look at the specs and see how Intel crams its desktop PC processors into notebooks, then examine the company's performance claims. 

Intel Alder Lake Core HX Processors Specifications

Intel's 12th-Gen Alder Lake chips feature the company's hybrid architecture, which combines a mix of big and fast Performance cores (P-cores) with clusters of small and powerful Efficiency cores (E-cores) that chew through background processes. You can read more about the design here.

• HX-Series: 55W / 157W — Up to 8 P-cores, 8 E-cores, 32EU Xe LP graphics
• H-Series: 45W / 115W — Up to 6 P-cores, 8 E-cores, 96EU Iris Xe graphics
• P-Series: 28W / 64W— Up to 6 P-cores, 8 E-cores, 96EU Iris Xe graphics
• U-Series: 9W/15W 29W/55W — Up to 2 P-cores, 8 E-cores, 96EU Iris Xe graphics

Intel typically carves its mobile processors into 9/15W, 28W, and 45W swim lanes, but the HX-Series steps in as a new 55W tier for the most performance. In addition, the HX series can boost up to 157W, which is 42W higher than the H-series and a new high for Intel's mobile lineup. For reference, the 'X' in HX stands for 'eXpanded,' indicating these models are an expansion of the H-series of chips.

Intel’s HX series lineup spans the Core i9, i7, and i5 families with a total of eight SKUs and tops out at up to eight P-cores and eight E-cores, providing a total of 24 threads (the P-Cores have hyperthreading, whereas the E-cores do not).

The HX processors use the same silicon as Intel's desktop PC chips (more on that below), so they have the Xe LP graphics engine with up to 32 EUs. In comparison, the rest of the Alder Lake mobile lineup comes with the faster Iris Xe engine with up to 96 EUs. Intel says that it expects all of the HX-powered laptops, which will come in both Core-branded gaming and vPro-branded workstation flavors, to have discrete GPUs from Nvidia, AMD, or Intel's own Arc lineup (though the latter is besieged by delays), so the lesser integrated GPU shouldn't be a concern.

The Core i9-12950HX slots in as the flagship chip and has the full complement of 8P+8E cores. The processor boosts to 5.0 GHz on the P-Cores, 3.6 GHz on the E-Cores, and supports partial overclockability.

As you can see in the slide above, Intel has two tiers of overclocking available for the HX models: Two models, the 12900HX and the 12800HX, support full overclocking of both the CPU cores and memory, while the five other models only support memory overclocking, so you can't overclock the CPU cores. Memory overclocking includes support for XMP 3.0 profiles and Intel's Dynamic Memory Boost tech. The chips also support Intel Speed Optimizer and the eXtreme Tuning Utility (XTU) for CPU core overclocking. Additionally, the P-Cores and E-Cores can be overclocked independently on models that fully support overclocking.

The lower end of the spectrum consists of the Core i5-12400HX, which comes with four P-cores and four E-cores, for a total of 12 threads, that boost to 4.4 and 3.1 GHz, respectively. This is the only HX chip to come with an even smaller Xe LP engine with only 16 EUs.

Intel's HX series uses the same die as the Alder Lake desktop PC chips, meaning they are the same physical silicon, but its firmware has been optimized for the power, frequency, and thermal profile needed for mobile use.

Intel transplanted the Alder Lake die from the 45 x 37.5mm LGA package that typically slots into the motherboard's socket into a similarly-sized SBGA package soldered into a slimmer socket on a motherboard. Additionally, as with all laptop chips, the HX processor doesn't have an integrated heat spreader (IHS), instead using a bare die. As a result, the BGA package is roughly 2mm thick, significantly thinner than the 4.4mm found with the desktop PC chips. This allows Intel to cram the chip into thin laptops while still having room for a cooling solution on top. Intel says most HX laptops will have a 20mm or lower thickness, whereas H-series devices aim for 14mm or less.

As you can see in the first slide above, all of Intel's other mobile chips come with a separate, smaller platform controller hub (PCH) chip on the same package that provides the connectivity typically found on a separate chipset processor. In contrast, the HX processor doesn't come with a PCH on the same package, so it is placed separately on the laptop's motherboard.  

This separate chipset provides far more connectivity than a typical laptop, with support for up to four PCIe 4.0 x4 SSDs (with one connected to the HX processor itself), discrete WiFi 6E MACs, and two discrete Thunderbolt controllers. You can assign those four SSDs into different types of redundancy, like RAID 1 and 5, or use a RAID 0 stripe for performance.

Additionally, the HX processor supports an x16 PCIe 5.0 connection (or 2x8) that Intel says will be handy for future GPUs (none of the discrete GPUs used for the launch notebooks will have a PCIe 5.0 GPU). That makes the HX-series processors the first to support PCIe 5.0 for laptops. Overall, HX-based systems support up to 48 total PCIe lanes in both PCIe 5.0 and 4.0 flavors, while the H-series topped out at 28 lanes of PCIe 4.0.

The support for PCIe 5.0 will be most useful in the near term for the newer, faster crop of SSDs with the new interface that will come to market soon. However, the respective laptops will need to be wired appropriately, as the standard four lanes for M.2 SSDs from the CPU are PCIe 4.0.

The HX processor also supports dual-channel LPDDR4-4267/DDR4-3200 or LPDDR5-4800/DDR5-5200 memory in standard or ECC flavors (ECC is for vPro models only). Notebook makers can use up to two DIMMs per channel, boosting capacity to four total DIMMs that could provide up to 128GB. In contrast, Apple supports LPDDR-6400 and AMD has LPDDR5-5500.

Intel Alder Lake Core HX Mobile Performance Benchmarks

Intel shared its own internal benchmarks, but as with all vendor-provided tests, take them with a grain of salt.

Intel says that its H-Series processors are still the fastest gaming CPUs available, so even though the HX series will come in gaming-focused laptops, they won't provide the highest levels of gaming performance. As such, it isn't surprising that Intel only provided basic gaming benchmark results that don't have any comparative data to other chips.

Intel did provide plenty of benchmarks for applications, though. For example, Intel claims that the 12900HX is 17% faster than the 11980HK in single-threaded work and 64% faster in threaded work, with both measurements coming in the SPECint_rate_based 2017 workload.

Notably, this isn't the newest version of SPEC's test and only measures integer performance. Intel's results show that it is much faster in single- and multi-threaded work than the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX and the Apple M1 Max but doesn't provide specific performance measurements. Unfortunately, that makes it impossible to derive any meaningful comparisons to competing processors. Instead, Intel gives us bars on a chart with an unlabeled axis, which certainly doesn't give us much confidence in the test methodology/results.

The remainder of Intel's benchmark results are just as poorly-defined, with the company attempting to limit its comparisons to its own chips only instead of the AMD and Apple competition. Workloads include Blender, CrossMark, AutoDesk, and SPECworkstation CPU tests, but you should view all of these with skepticism.

Intel says that ten systems built around the HX processors will arrive this year, with products from OEMs like Dell, HP, Lenovo, and others. That includes the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE, HP Omen 17, Gigabyte Aorus 17X/15X, MSI GT77 Titan and GE77/67 Raider, Lenovo Legion 7i, and Dell Precision 7670/77700. However, Intel hasn't provided a specific date that these will be available for purchase. 

• MORE: Best CPUs for Gaming
• MORE: CPU Benchmark Hierarchy
• MORE: AMD vs Intel
• MORE: All CPUs Content

AMD's Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs (codenamed Rembrandt) were announced and launched over four months ago in January and February, but it appears mainstream adoption has been slow for the new CPU lineup. According to ComputerBase, only eleven notebooks are actually using AMD's new mobile CPUs right now in the four months that have transpired since launch. 

Out of the eleven notebooks released with Ryzen 6000 parts, eight of those systems come from Asus, with the remaining three coming from Razer, Lenovo, and Alienware respectively. That makes Asus by far the most dominant manufacturer to use these new CPUs, with Razer, Lenovo, and Alienware only producing one SKU each with AMD's new hardware.

The situation is strange considering Rembrandt can, in theory, go toe to toe with Intel's new mobile Alder Lake CPUs  depending on what performance figures you are looking at. Rembrandt comes with AMD's new Zen 3+ microarchitecture that operates on TSMC's 6nm node. Performance is promised to be up to 1.3X faster than Ryzen 5000 mobile while being more efficient at the same time, with as many as 50 new power management features added to the new architecture.

According to AMD PR slides, all these improvements culminate into a 2.62X performance per watt improvement over Alder Lake processors (AMD specifically targeted the Core i9-12900HK and directly compared it to its own Ryzen 9 6900HS).

In testing with a ROG Zephyrus G14 equipped with the new 6900HS, we found Rembrant's performance to be quite competitive with laptops equipped with Intel's i7-12700H -- like the Alienware x14 and Gigabyte Aorus 17. Single-threaded performance was found to be on par with the Alder Lake counterparts, with the 6900HS primarily losing out to the 12700H in heavy multi-threaded workloads. However, this is to be expected considering the 12700H has more physical cores (despite the additional cores being E cores).

But most impressive results come from the battery life tests we conducted. The 6900HS-powered G14 managed a whopping 10 hours and 14 minutes of battery life. While the 12700H counterparts could only reach 4 to 5 hours respectively.

So despite Rembrandt being weak on the multi-threaded side of the equation, it remains very strong in single-core situations. While consuming far less power as it seems with our G14 review. Arguably, these two attributes combined make a superior gaming laptop anyways, since games are more sensitive to single-core IPC, and long battery life is a welcome sight for any device that is designed to be used on the go.

So there are positives for laptop manufacturers to use AMD's new CPU architecture over Alder Lake, but it seems almost no one is taking advantage of AMD's potential. With the exception of Asus.

Ryzen 6000U Series CPUs and Radeon RX 6000M GPUs Are Completely Missing

But the story doesn't end there. ComputerBase also notes that AMD's entire lineup of 6000U series CPUs is completely missing from the retail market, with zero laptop manufacturers using the new chips at all. The same goes with AMD's Radeon RX 6000M lineup of GPUs, which are all clearly absent from any gaming notebook on the market today.

The only exception to this is AMD's Radeon RX 6000S series products including the RX 6700S and RX 6800S. These GPUs are commercially available in the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, like the one we reviewed not too long ago.

Arguably, availability problems could be related to TSMC and AMD more so than the laptop manufacturers. We've known for a while that TSMC is one of the busiest fabs in the entire world, and has struggled with providing enough wafers to its customers in a timely fashion, including orders going to AMD.

Intel, on the other hand, does not suffer from this problem since it builds everything in-house and owns its own fabs. If anything, it seems Intel has too much fabrication firepower on the table, now that the company is agreeing to produce chips for other companies.

However, these theories are just that — theories — as AMD has been silent on the matter. But hopefully, we'll know more information on the problems soon. AMD plans to bring Zen 3+ to the AM5 desktop platform later this year, which should hopefully lead to a new announcement discussing Zen 3+ further with more announcements related to OEM integration.

Razer's newest notebook runs Linux, but it isn't for gaming. Instead, the company typically associated with playing PC games is working with Lambda, which makes computers and cloud services for machine learning, for a sleek notebook intended for more scientific work. 

The laptop is called the Tensorbook, and it looks an awful lot like a Razer Blade 15, albeit with the silver coloring on the productivity-focused Razer Book. There's no tri-headed snake here (thank goodness). Instead, the lid has the Lambda logo, though the lower bezel reads "Razer x Lambda." Can't forget about the collab. There are also purple ports rather than the green ones Razer is known for.

But if you want the Tensorbook, you'll have to be ready to drop some serious cash. It starts at $3,499.99 with  an Intel Core i7-11800 CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q GPu with 16GB of VRAM, 64GB of DDR4 memory and 2TB of SSD storage. The 15.6-inch screen is gaming-ready at 2560 x 1440 resolution with a 165 Hz refresh rate.

The base model comes with Ubuntu 20.04, Lambda's software stack (including drivers, PyTorch, TensorFlow, CUDA and more), and a 1-year warranty. $4,099.99 boosts the warranty to two years but is otherwise the same. The top-end $4,999.99 model has both Ubuntu and Windows for dual booting.  Those who want one can buy it directly from Lambda.

The price is slightly surprising. On the one hand, Razer lists a similar Razer Blade 15 with the same CPU and GPU, half the RAM, a faster screen, and a 1TB SSD for $3,099.99 on its website. But the $3,499.99 Tensorbook, while it has more RAM and storage, still has a last-gen CPU, and Razer and Lambda don't need to pay for a Windows license for the base and mid-tier versions of the laptop. 

The hardware isn't likely to be better for machine learning than other gaming laptops with similar specs, but if you use Ubuntu and the tool's Lambda is offering, it could be an easy way to get it all in one place.

I will say this: I love the look of this laptop. For its gaming rigs, Razer has always stuck with black, white and quartz pink. This color combination is more subtle, and I think it shows that Razer could do well to offer other color options.

Lambda sells access to cloud GPUs, and already sells servers and workstations intended for deep learning and GPU compute work. Typically, when I've seen companies like this brand their own laptops, they use white-label laptops from Tongfang or Clevo. It's surprising to see a company use what's clearly Razer's design — and name, though perhaps it adds a bit of a cool factor.

Google and Valve Software have officially launched an alpha version of the Steam gaming platform for Chome OS. For now, Steam alpha is available only on seven machines from various PC makers, but its very availability indicates that Google wants Chrome OS-based PCs to offer gaming capabilities.

"I am very excited to share that today we are releasing an early, alpha-quality version of Steam on Chrome OS in the Dev channel for a small set of recent Chromebooks," a statement by Google's Chrome OS gaming team reads. "We are so excited to be working with Valve to bring their expansive library of games to Chrome OS, and we hope you enjoy what we have built so far!"

Right now, Steam alpha for Chrome OS can be enabled in the Dev channel on Chromebooks (i.e., owners need to switch their PCs to the Dev channel version of Chrome OS) based on Intel's 11th Generation Core i5/i7 'Tiger Lake' processors with Iris Xe Graphics G7 (80 or 96 EUs) and equipped with at least 8GB of memory. Google and Valve obviously want to provide some kind of minimum acceptable gaming experience, which is why 11th Gen Core i3 CPUs with Xe-LP-based UHD Graphics (32 or 48 EUs) are not supported.

For now, Steam alpha works on the following Chromebooks:

• Acer Chromebook 514 (CB514-1W)
• Acer Chromebook 515 (CB515-1W)
• Acer Chromebook Spin 713 (CP713-3W)
• ASUS Chromebook Flip CX5 (CX5500)
• ASUS Chromebook CX9 (CX9400)
• HP Pro c640 G2 Chromebook

Google admits that since Steam for Chrome OS is in its alpha version, it behaves like you'd expect from early software. Among known issues the company notes that laptops with 8GB of RAM may encounter issues in games that require 6GB of memory or more, whereas notebooks with display resolutions greater than 1080p may face performance and scaling issues. From a performance point of view, Intel's Iris Xe Graphics G7 GPUs are good enough for casual gaming at up to 1080p, so it's not surprising that these systems cannot handle more demanding titles at 1440p or higher resolutions. Meanwhile, scaling issues are somewhat surprising and look like issues of Chrome OS and/or Intel's driver for this operating system.

So far, Google's gaming team has tried Steam on about 50 popular games, many of which are rather old (i.e., easier to run), but this is something to be expected given the limited graphics performance offered by Chromebooks. Since Chrome OS is based on Linux, it runs the Linux version of a game if it exists, though formally the platform also supports Proton and can therefore run Windows titles in emulation mode.

Late in January it transpired that select makers of Chrome OS-based PCs were working on machines designed specifically for gamers and therefore equipped Intel's 12th Generation Core 'Alder Lake' CPUs as well as RGB keyboards. So far, these systems have not made it to the market, but Google is indeed enabling gaming on Chrome OS.

Assuming that Intel's drivers for integrated GPUs (which have already been certified for Chrome OS) also support the company's upcoming discrete Arc Alchemist graphics processors based on the Xe-HPG architecture, it's merely a matter of time before we see Chromebooks featuring standalone GPUs and offering higher performance in games. While Chromebooks may now be considered as entry-level gaming machines, it's a small step for them to gain more graphics oomph.

What remains to be seen is how quickly Google, Valve, and game developers will get rid of the teething problems and be able to offer a "fit for public consumption" version of the Steam platform. Obviously, the long-term goal is to allow end users to install the software without having to be in developer mode, though we still expect some minimum hardware requirement for Steam to run on a Chromebook.

Schenker (XMG), a European performance laptop supplier, has issued a press release that dims hopes for those eyeing upcoming performance-geared notebooks. Citing supply chain issues, COVID lockdowns, and escalating costs due to recent semiconductor manufacturing mishaps, it seems that the latest and greatest portable tech may even be at risk of delays.

“At the moment, we are receiving daily updates from our partners and suppliers regarding the postponement of delivery dates. Sometimes these delays amount to several weeks,” said Tom Fichtner, the Taiwan-based Senior Product Developer at XMG. “Although we were able to present our new XMG NEO 15 (E22) with OASIS liquid cooling at the beginning of the year and are still assuming availability from mid-March, other laptops such as the new XMG FUSION 16 or the revised XMG PRO series with Intel’s 12th Gen Core CPUs are still pending. At the moment, it is neither clear when these will be available, nor at what price – because the increasing component shortage and rising logistics costs make early costing and planning difficult.”

The company explicitly names products based on Intel’s latest Tiger Lake platform and GPU options concerning the latest Nvidia RTX 3000-series Ti-class graphics cards. Interestingly, there’s no mention of AMD’s Ryzen 6000-series or AMD GPU-equipped laptops; but that likely speaks more to Intel and Nvidia’s market share (and the resulting increased supply requirements for these parts) than of specific supply issues hitting both companies.

Especially concerning for the worldwide logistics and supply chain is the recent Omicron outbreak at Suzhou Industrial Park, eastern China, which led to a partial government-mandated shutdown last Tuesday in an attempt to break the infection chains. Bosch, United Electronics Corporation (UMC), Samsung, and other factories (including XMG partners Clevo and Uniwill). Some ultimately had to shutter production, while others are working at reduced capacity as companies attempt to manage the available workers across production facilities.

Another element of concern cited by Schenker regards the strain on logistics and transportation services, which it says are running at total capacity - prompting unexpected, crawling delays and directly impacting transportation prices. Paired with increased pricing for specific electronics components and raw materials, Schenker expects this year’s hardware prices to keep rising - at least when it comes to fully integrated, premium performance systems such as those the company manufactures. Schenker also mentions the falling-out of the chemical contamination at Western Digital and Kioxia’s Taiwanese factories. That particular accident led to around 6.5 Exabytes-worth of NAND chips being unusable - which we already knew would lead to increased SSD pricing in the near term.

In trying to understand the dimension of the problem, we’ve scoured the internet for reports from other laptop makers. Schenker (XMG) is a well-known player in the performance laptop segment, but its market share is relatively small compared to industry juggernauts such as Lenovo (24,1%), HP (21,7%), and Dell (17,4%). On the other hand, Schenker is part of the more minor players making up around 21.1% of the market, which could impact its power at the negotiating table for components and raw materials.

The most prominent industry players not only benefit from more significant benefits from economies of scale but are also more likely to have higher volumes of components that might allow them to better cope with emergent issues such as these. Perhaps that helps to explain why there hasn’t been a specific press release from other industry players, even though supply issues in the laptop space are a known quantity by now. However, none of them specifically mentioned the hardware pinpointed by Schenker in its press release. So it remains to be seen how these events will impact the laptop market - and how the damages will affect the suppliers.

Lenovo has introduced its new ultra-portable notebook based on Zhaoxin's KX-6600MA4 processor and leverages a custom Lenovo system-on-chip (SoC). The Kaitian N7 resembles the recently announced Yoga Slim 7i laptop and has numerous features expected from products in this class. 

The Lenovo Kaitian N7 is powered by a quad-core Zhaoxin KaiXian KX-6600MA4 CPU based on the LuJiaZui microarchitecture made using TSMC's 16 nm fabrication technology. The processor is paired with 16GB of DDR4 memory and the system is equipped with a 512GB NVMe-compliant SSD with a PCIe interface. It is noteworthy that the chip appears to run pretty hot as it is cooled using a dual-fan, dual heat pipe cooling system. As for software, the laptop runs a custom OS developed in China and naturally comes with a BIOS designed in Tianxia.  

Having tested an eight-core Zhaoxin KaiXian KX-U6780A processor, we doubt that the KX-6600MA4 is a performance champion. However, if Lenovo wanted to build a laptop equipped solely with hardware and software designed in China, it probably did not have much choice.  

The Kaitian N7 comes in a 13.3-inch chassis and is equipped with a 14-inch display with thin bezels and a 2.2K resolution, reports eZone. Like other machines of this class, it weighs around 1.29 kilograms measures up to 14.6 mm thick. As for connectivity, it includes Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5, HDMI output, two USB-C ports, a USB Type-A connector, and a TRRS audio connector for headsets. For added biometric security, it comes with a fingerprint reader. 

Meanwhile, the manufacturer equipped the Kaitian N7 with a custom Lenovo SoC that handles system-specific things like light sensing, cover opening, fast charging, power bank mode, power-saving control and mute control, reports ApoTheTech. In addition, the SoC offloads some tasks from the OS and ensures optimal work of all components. 

Unfortunately, even a powerful controller cannot compensate for inefficient CPU and the OS. The operating system boots in 14 seconds, which is pretty long by modern standards. Furthermore, even when equipped with a 61 Wh battery, the Kaitian N7 can only work for up to six hours. 

There is no word about the pricing or availability window of Lenovo's Kaitian N7, but we would expect it to hit the Chinese market in the coming weeks or months. Meanwhile, it does not look like Lenovo will bring this model to other markets. 

This is not the first Lenovo system to use a Zhaoxin processor. Late last year, the company introduced a thin-client/UCFF desktop PC based on a Zhaoxin chip.

The Mercury Research CPU market share results are in for the fourth quarter of 2021, showing that AMD now comprises 25.6% of the overall x86 market, its highest share ever, partially on the strength of its increasing gaming console shipments. That beats AMD's prior overall record of 25.3% that it reached 15 years ago in 2006. Meanwhile, Intel has gained unit share in desktop and notebook PCs as it continues to wrest some of its losses back from AMD. However, Intel continues to slowly lose share in the lucrative server market.

Intel's unit growth isn't entirely surprising given that AMD appears to be more impacted by shortages, prompting the company to focus on its higher-margin products to maximize profitability. However, that ultimately restricts shipment volumes for some segments, especially as AMD also has to accommodate the incredible demand for console chips, a key driver behind its record overall market share in the quarter. In either case, AMD has continued to grow revenue share in the desktop PC market due to its focus on higher-end chips, with CEO Lisa Su saying at the company's recent earnings call that "we believe we gained client processor revenue share for the seventh straight quarter."

AMD's server business also continues to grow despite supply shortages, notching its 11th straight quarter of server CPU growth. AMD gained share during this period (+0.6pp), reaching 10.7% of the market, a high for recent times.

However, as we'll cover a bit more in-depth in the server breakout below, McCarron's numbers include all types of servers, whereas some reports that narrow the competitive landscape down report that AMD has reached higher levels of the server market. For instance, the share report provided by Omdia pegs AMD's data center share at 18.3% compared to Mercury Research's 10.7%.

According to Mercury Research, the market share jockeying comes amid an all-time record x86 CPU market in both the number of units shipped and the amount of revenue generated across all segments. That ultimately benefits both AMD and Intel as the overall 2021 revenue for x86 chips increased by 10.7% to $74 billion for the year, up from $66.6 billion in 2021.

Expanding the view to all x86 CPUs and Arm chips (including Apples M1-based Macs) but excluding IoT and consoles, the market shipped over 500 million units in 2021, with x86 chips accounting for 471 million units.

Speaking of Apple, Dean McCarron of Mercury Research provided the following update on Arm's progress:

"Our estimate for ARM PC client share (including Chromebooks and Apple's M1 based Macs with X86 desktop and mobile CPUs in the total client size estimate) is 9.5 percent, up from 8.3 percent last quarter and nearly triple the 3.4 percent from a year ago. Apple had very strong growth in the quarter, so the gains were driven by higher M1 unit volumes rather than Chromebook ARM processors."

Additionally, Omdia pegs Arm's data center share at 5.4%, an all-time high. You'll find the segment-by-segment breakdowns below with a bit of additional commentary. 

AMD vs. Intel Desktop PC Market Share Q4 2021 

AMD's desktop PC unit share decreased by 15% in 2021. That's likely due to production shortages that spurred the company to focus on lower-volume but higher-profit client CPU models, thus leading to the increased revenue share in the desktop PC market. Additionally, the company has likely shifted some of its production to its more margin-rich server products. 

Intel's previous-gen Rocket Lake and Comet Lake chips continue to have moved the most units for Intel in commercial desktop PCs during the quarter. Still, Alder Lake has begun to have a material impact on the consumer desktop PC market. In addition, Intel recently launched the remainder of its Alder Lake chips, and those models comprise the highest-volume models. As such, we expect that Alder Lake will have a larger impact in following quarters, especially given that the chips have overtaken AMD's Ryzen 5000 and taken the lead in CPU benchmarks and best CPU recommendations. 

AMD vs. Intel Notebook / Mobile Market Share Q4 2021

Intel's "performance" Tiger Lake models were a big factor in its Q4 growth in the mobile segment, while the "value" models didn't have as much of an impact. Intel recently released its Alder Lake mobile products, so we'll see those begin to have an impact in the following quarters. 

Notably, according to IDC, the Chromebook market lost more than 63% due to oversaturation and the lack of new demand. The Chromebook market collapse has naturally impacted both the x86 and Arm ecosystems.

AMD vs. Intel Server Unit Market Share Q4 2021

AMD bases its server share projections on IDC's forecasts but only accounts for the single- and dual-socket market, which eliminates four-socket (and beyond) servers, networking infrastructure and Xeon D's (edge). As such, Mercury's numbers differ from the numbers cited by AMD, which predict a higher market share. Here is AMD's comment on the matter: "Mercury Research captures all x86 server-class processors in their server unit estimate, regardless of device (server, network or storage), whereas the estimated 1P [single-socket] and 2P [two-socket] TAM [Total Addressable Market] provided by IDC only includes traditional servers."

Below we can see a bit of a different take with a different methodology:

This information comes from research firm Omdia, which uses different measurement methodologies. Omdia measures Intel at 76% of the data center market, AMD at 18.3%, and Arm at a record 5.4%. (0.3% goes to 'other.') Notably, Omdia says that it is still collecting data for 4Q21, but it doesn't expect the data to change. 

AMD vs. Intel Overall x86 Market Share Q4 2021

Whereas other segments exclude IoT and semi-custom (like AMD's game console business), this accounting of the overall x86 market also includes those products and is focused primarily on the broader AMD vs Intel competition. 

Mercury Research provided the following commentary: "For all-inclusive share, which counts not only PC client CPUs and servers but also IoT and semi-custom products used in items like gaming consoles, AMD gained share in the fourth quarter, largely due to a very large increase in gaming console shipments.  As a result of that increase, AMD reached a new record high for overall share -- 25.6 percent -- in the fourth quarter of 2021, beating the prior record of 25.3 percent set fifteen years ago in the fourth quarter of 2006."

Given the ongoing GPU shortages, some users are looking for basic functionality rather than performance. Perhaps that's why Nvidia launched its GeForce GT 1010 based on a four-years-old low-end GP108 GPU in 2021, or AMD released its Radeon RX 6500 XT notebook GPU into the desktop world. Of course, given the positioning of the GeForce GT 1010, it was also never supposed to be in retail, but it has happened anyway.  

A Lenovo-badged GeForce GT 1010 has emerged on Taobao, a Chinese online marketplace (via VideoCardz), and @Zed_Wang has published an image of a LeadTek-made GeForce GT 1010 board. While companies like LeadTek produce cards for PC makers, they rarely put their labels on these types of products, meaning that the device in question is specifically aimed at the channel or even retail markets. The card is available at Tabao for about $70. 

We have doubts about GeForce GT 1010's success in retail because of its low performance — Wang ran the 3DMark Time Spy Extreme benchmark and got 153 points. To put that into context, Nvidia's GeForce RTX 2060 scores around 2800 – 2900 points in this benchmark. But then again, Nvidia's GP108 was never meant to perform well in gaming applications. 

Entry-level notebook GPUs are designed to be cheap and consume as little power as possible. To that end, they feature modest specs and poor performance in games, but when you need something inexpensive and low power, performance in games is the least of your concerns. Nvidia originally released its GP108 as an entry-level desktop and notebook GPU in 2017, and since it never produced a low-end Turing GPU, it continued to manufacture the chip. Then to address demand from its OEM customers, Nvidia quietly released its GeForce GT 1010 based on a cut-down GP108 early last year. 

With 256 CUDA cores, 16 texture units, 16 render backends, and 2GB of memory onboard, the GeForce GT 1010 would have been a fine gaming solution in 2008, but this product won't appeal to many gamers in 2021. That's why Nvidia only made it available to OEMs who needed to serve business customers that sometimes demand standalone graphics cards in their desktops. Amid the GPU shortage, even a cut-down GP108-based GeForce GT 1010 is good enough for companies like Lenovo. Now the question is if it will be good enough for retail sales, too.

Google's Chrome OS has come a long way from the experimental devices aimed at enthusiasts all the way to machines for offices and education establishments. While there are fairly expensive Chromebooks with good displays for those who want a premium experience, there is still one market segment that Chrome OS yet has to address: gaming systems. But it looks like Google is working on this and a few gaming-oriented Chrome OS PCs are incoming. 

According to changes to Chrome OS source code made in the last few weeks and noticed by 9to5Google, Google has enabled support for RGB keyboards on supported devices to the operating system. RGB keyboards are common among gamers, but nobody can stop anyone from using a keyboard with RGB backlights with a Chrome OS-based machine. The key thing about enablement is that it is limited to select devices, and there are several of them incoming. 

The lineup of RGB keyboard-enabled devices includes codenames like Vell, Taniks, and Ripple. 9to5Google reports that Vell is a gaming Chromebook developed by Quanta, an original design manufacturer (ODM) working with many leading brands; Taniks is another Chromebook clamshell built by Lenovo's subsidiary LCFC; whereas Ripple is a 2-in-1 machine (a-la Pixel Slate) with an RGB keyboard. 

Vell and Taniks are reportedly based on Intel's 12th Generation Core 'Alder Lake' platform. Although we cannot verify, Intel's Alder Lake-N chips are rumored to be destined for Chromebooks. Meanwhile, the hardware inside Ripple is unknown. We also do not know what to expect from these systems apart from the latest CPU platform and an RGB keyboard. Perhaps a high-performance display panel will be offered as well.  

Truth to be told, Chromebooks can already play PC games using cloud services like Google's Stadia or Nvidia's GeForce Now, but most Chromebooks were not designed with games in mind, so the actual experience may be rather subpar.

Furthermore, PC gamers certainly want to be able to play their games from Steam, but there are no games designed for Chrome OS. Google is reportedly working on its codenamed Borealis effort that will allow running Linux-compatible titles in virtualization mode on Chromebooks, but it yet has to be launched. Meanwhile, keeping in mind that all Chromebooks are not exactly powerful as far as GPU performance is concerned, Borealis will probably enable running relatively outdated Linux-compatible games on Chromebooks, but not the latest titles that are already available on cloud streaming services like Google's own Stadia. 

But does it make sense for Google to launch gaming Chromebooks that can't run the whole Steam library and lack decent discrete GPU support? Since Chromebooks' growth slowed down in recent quarters, whereas demand for gaming PCs is booming, it certainly makes sense for Google to try its luck in a new category. To attract gamers to gaming Chromebooks, it could offer a free subscription to its Stadia cloud gaming service and bundle an appropriate controller with these PCs. After all, Stadia has not gained much traction yet, so maybe offering PCs designed with it in mind is a way to popularize it.  

It isn't likely that Google will talk about gaming Chromebooks until everything is ready, so at this point, we can only make guesses about its gaming efforts. 

Continued chip shortages have affected sales of various hardware, including PCs, servers, and smartphones. While all foundries began expanding their production capacities in 2021, increased output will only come online in 2023 or later. With that said, it is hard to expect the entirety of shortages of chips to end soon. However, some good news is that the tight supply of certain desktop and notebook PC components is easing.  

TrendForce reports that starting from November 2021 material shortages for PCs were partially alleviated, which allowed PC ODMs to increase their volume sales in Q4 2021. The components that are in short supply today are SSD controllers with a PCIe 3.0 interface (which are entry-level/mainstream drives these days) as well as fairly new parts used for PCs powered by Intel's latest 12th Generation Core 'Alder Lake' processors. These parts currently have lead time of 8 – 12 weeks. Meanwhile, the supply of inexpensive high-volume chips like power management ICs (PMICs), Wi-Fi controllers, and USB Type-C and power delivery controllers is improving. 

Normally, sales of PCs drop quite significantly in the first quarter. However, due to improved supply of components, TrendForce expects shipments of laptops from ODM brands to decrease by just 5.1% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2022. 

But not everything is rosy with other devices as foundries still have insufficient capacities for mature nodes used for display driver ICs and touchscreen controllers. To that end, lead times for server LAN chips are still approximately 40 weeks (down from 50+ weeks several months ago), whereas the FPGA delivery cycle is over 50 weeks. To that end, server shipments are expected to drop 8% QoQ in Q1 2022, according to TrendForce. 

The situation is not much better with components for smartphones. 4G SoC lead time is about 30 – 40 weeks, whereas deliver cycle of OLED DDICs and touch controllers is between 20 and 22 weeks. The tight supply of smartphone parts will reduce their sales by 13% sequentially in the first quarter. 

In general, the situation with chip supply is stabilizing, but TrendForce notes that uneven distribution of supply chain resources — the fundamental reason behind tight supply of PC — has yet to be fixed.

Eurocom has introduced its Nightsky RX315 laptop with a 15.6-inch 4K OLED panel that features desktop-grade performance yet weighs only around 4.4 pounds. The Nightsky RX315 will be one of the industry's first desktop replacement machines to get an OLED screen. Furthermore, it will also be one of a few machines on the market that offers both Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3080 and an OLED display. 

The Eurocom Nightsky RX315 laptop is indeed a pretty interesting PC that comes in a titanium black aluminum alloy chassis that is only 20 mm (0.8 inch) thick and packs Intel's eight-core Core i7-11800H 'Tiger Lake' processor. You also get a choice of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3070 (8GB GDDR6) or GeForce RTX 3080 (16GB GDDR6) GPU with Max-Q configuration that are cooled down with individual blowers to ensure proper airflow.  

Despite its relatively compact dimensions, the system can be equipped with up to 64GB of DDR4-3200 memory using two SO-DIMMs, and up to 16TB of M.2 NVMe SSDs via a PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 x4 interface (when higher-capacity M.2 drives are available, the laptop will accommodate even more storage).

The key selling point of the Eurocom Nightsky RX315 laptop is, of course, its display. Introduced in early 2019, Samsung's 15.6-inch 4K OLED panels for laptops feature rather decent specifications (brightness ranging from 0.0005 to 600 nits, a dynamic contrast ratio of 120,000:1, 60Hz, 100% DCI-P3, VESA DisplayHDR True Black, etc.), so owners of the Nightsky RX315 notebook know what to expect. Furthermore, Eurocom can calibrate the display to provide maximum color accuracy for $74. 

"Our technicians can also calibrate this impressive display to offer perfect color reproduction right out of the box," said Mark Bialic, the head of Eurocom. "As many of our customers are leading designers, engineers, and digital content creators, having a perfectly calibrated display is essential." 

Meanwhile, if someone wants a 240 Hz LCD panel instead, the manufacturer also offers a Full-HD IGZO option. Meanwhile, since the GPUs have four display controllers, the Nightsky RX315 can also drive three external monitors.

Since the Eurocom Nightsky RX315 is essentially a workstation, it includes Wi-Fi, a GbE port, three display outputs (HDMI, mDP, TB4), a Thunderbolt 4 connector, three USB 3.2 ports, a 6-in-1 card reader, a 1MP webcam, a SoundBlasterX Pro Gaming 360 audio subsystem, and two 3.5-mm audio jacks (controlled by the Realtec ALC1220 codec and supporting S/P DIF over one of the jacks). To boost the machine's security, Eurocom equips it with a fingerprint scanner and a TPM 2.0 module. 

Pricing of the Eurocom Nightsky RX315 with a 15.6-inch OLED display starts at $2,799 without Windows. The beefiest configuration will retail for around $11,000.

Last year, Alienware went thin with its X-series gaming laptops. At CES 2022, it's also going small. The company claims its Alienware x14 is the thinnest 14-inch gaming notebook and the first 14-inch laptop with Nvidia's G-Sync and Advanced Optimus display tech. Additionally, Alienware is refreshing the Alienware x15 and x17 as well as its Intel-based m15 (it announced the refresh of the AMD-based m15 earlier today).

But the x14, the thinnest ever Alienware laptop, is perhaps the most exciting from an engineering perspective. The laptop, at 0.57 inches thin, could be small enough for someone to easily travel with, though we'll have to see what battery life is like. Alienware has achieved this thin design with a patent-pending hinge that folds flatter by creating space in the chassis that it folds into. Additionally, it charges exclusively over USB Type-C, which we haven't seen before in a gaming laptop.

The x14 will pack Intel's new Core i7-12700H or Core i7-12900H. Both are 14-core/20-thread CPUs, but the former has a max turbo frequency of 4.7 GHz while the later is listed as hitting 5 GHz. For graphics, you can pick between an Nvidia RTX 3050, RTX 3050 Ti, or RTX 3060. On systems with an RTX 3060, maximum graphics power is 85W with a 60W TGP and 25W dynamic boost.

For the x14, Alienware isn't using the four-fan design that it uses on the X15 and X17, but people who configure the smaller laptop with an RTX 3060 will still get the company’s "Element 31" thermal interface material.

There's a bit less RGB lighting on the x14 than its larger siblings. There’s no lighting on the back oval, which forms a ring around the x15 and x17's ports.

The x15 and x17 are also seeing boosts to Intel's 12th Gen processors, going up the Intel Core i7-12900H on the x15 and the unlocked Core i0-12900HK on the x17. Both start with an RTX 3060 for graphics, and the company hasn't yet named the other graphics options, other than that they will be in Nvidia's RTX 30 series, which suggests an imminent refresh of some kind. Our guess is an RTX 3080 Ti.

The entire X series is being bumped up to DDR5 RAM, which is soldered on the x14 and x15 but slotted in (meaning replaceable) on the x17.

Lastly, the Intel version of the Alienware R7 is also seeing an upgrade. (The AMD version of the R7 was introduced this morning, timed with AMD's keynote.)

It is not easy to build the best gaming desktops these days due to severe component shortages. But strong demand and great profitability tend to make entrepreneurs creative. Companies from China found a new way to equip their PCs by re-using Intel's Xeon CPUs, mobile BGA CPUs, and even decade-old AMD Opteron processors for new desktop PCs, reports HWcooling.net.

Server CPUs Get a New Life

Servers are decommissioned fairly often these days, so it is relatively easy to obtain CPUs from scrapyards, recycling centers or even eBay. This presents an opportunity for some PC makers whose clientele is not afraid of getting a desktop with an outdated processor.

There are a bunch of AMD Opterons based on the K10/Bulldozer/Piledriver microarchitectures in G34 packaging available from the said sources. So, select PC makers from China equip special desktop motherboards with a G34 socket to build new desktops. These motherboards are readily available from Aliexpress for $100 ~ $200. 

AMD's Opteron 6100 'Magny-Cours' carries up to 12 K10 cores (which derive from the company's K8 microarchitecture from 2003), whereas the Opteron 6200/6300 feature up to eight Bulldozer/Piledriver modules (which were advertised as 16-core CPUs). However, since their per-core and instruction-per-clock (IPC) performance are from 2010 ~ 2011, we have reasonable doubts that these parts can compete against today's quad-core or six-core CPUs. 

Apparently, there are also loads of Intel's Xeon E5 processors (Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Haswell, and Broadwell architectures) with up to 22 cores lying around, so some PC makers build desktop motherboards for these chips. Intel's Xeon E5 parts have better per-core and IPC performance than their rivals from AMD, but these CPUs are still outdated, so it is hard to say how they stack up against modern desktop CPUs.

Mobile CPUs Inside Desktops

There is still a way to get a desktop with a relatively new processor that was originally intended for other form-factors. Some inventive companies have designed special adapters that allow the installation of Intel's mobile BGA processors into regular motherboards featuring an LGA1151 socket.

Intel's H-series laptop CPUs based on Comet Lake or Coffee Lake designs feature up to eight relatively new cores as well as a TDP of up to 45W. Using a special adapter, such chips can be installed into almost any LGA1151 platform, including those based on Intel's 100/200-series chipsets that do not officially support CPUs with more than four cores. Furthermore, those processors can even be overclocked.

A particularly interesting thing to note is that such 'BGA to LGA1151' and 'Modified laptop CPU to LGA1151' processors are available not only in new desktop PCs sold in China, but they can be bought separately at AliExpress to upgrade existing machines. If you are lucky, you can even get a converted engineering sample of a Comet Lake-H CPU (desktop CMLs require an LGA1200 platform) to upgrade an LGA1151 machine from, say, 2017. 

However, there is one major caveat with converted BGA-to-LGA1151 CPUs. They are compatible with select motherboards that are flashed with a modified BIOS, which poses obvious security and compatibility risks. 

Summary

Re-using laptop and even server CPUs for desktops is something that has existed for ages. But with an insufficient supply of processors and other components, the practice seems to be gaining considerably more traction. 

While recent Intel Core processors based on Coffee Lake or Comet Lake designs should offer decent performance, completely outdated AMD's Opteron or Intel Xeon E5 CPUs from 2010 ~ 2016 may be too old to provide experience that one comes to expect from a modern gaming desktop with the best CPUs.

AMD has relied on chipmakers GlobalFoundries and TSMC for well over a decade now. Still, if a new report from J.P. Morgan turns out to be correct, the company might build entry-level 4nm processors for Chromebooks at Samsung Foundry. The firm also speculates that AMD could also use Samsung foundry for future GPUs. 

"Our research indicates that AMD is likely to outsource a Chromebook CPU to Samsung on its 4nm (likely mass production in late 2022), and TSMC may have limited capacity to allocate for Chromebook projects, given the declining market demand," Gokul Hariharan, an analyst with J.P. Morgan, wrote in a note to clients shared by @MarcTheShark83. 

AMD relied almost exclusively on GlobalFoundries at first, and then on TSMC, for two reasons. Firstly, AMD had a wafer supply agreement with GlobalFoundries that prevented it from using TSMC and other foundries extensively. Secondly, AMD controlled its development costs by re-using IP blocks tailored for a particular chip technology, greatly lowering the number of nodes it actually uses.

While AMD's profitability is now at historically high levels, the company continues to be very conservative in adopting new manufacturing processes. That's because using familiar IP not only reduces costs but also helps with yields. 

If AMD proceeds with the plan, using Samsung Foundry's nodes even for some of its products will significantly change how AMD designs and builds its products.  

Adopting Samsung Foundry's 4LPP (second-generation 4nm-class process) for a Chromebook-bound APU would require AMD to redesign its CPU and GPU IP for the new manufacturer, something that is rather costly at 4nm. Also, keeping in mind that the Chromebook market isn't growing, it's unclear how financially viable the project would be. The analysts believe that AMD could also use Samsung Foundry for some of its GPUs going forward, but didn't elaborate. 

"In addition, we believe that AMD is likely to evaluate some projects (probably for GPU) at Samsung 3nm in 2023/2024, but vast majority of its core platforms (CPUs for server, mobile, and desktops) are likely to stay with TSMC N3." said the report. 

Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan believes that AMD will continue to implement new manufacturing technologies rather conservatively and will not be among the first to start using leading-edge nodes. The analysts expect AMD to adopt TSMC's N3 technology (likely N3E, actually) only for products that will ramp in 2024. 

"Note that AMD's N3 devices are likely to ramp up only in 2024, given that its N5 projects (Genoa and Zen 4 desktop variants) will only come to market in 2H 2022," the note reads.  

Intel has announced plans to discontinue its higher-end mobile 10th-Gen Core 'Comet Lake' processors. The CPUs will be available for order until 2022, but Intel is obviously scrapping the production of some higher-end chips using its 14nm fabrication technology. That makes sense because Intel now has two families of 10nm processors on the market.

Since Intel was late with its 10nm CPUs and had to address performance-demanding users with products made using its 14nm technology, it introduced Coffee Lake CPUs with up to eight cores. However, it also offered Comet Lake chips with up to 10 cores, and Ice Lake processors with up to eight cores. These CPUs did their job, but since the company's 14nm node was never meant to be used for 10-core processors, these chips have a large die size and are not as efficient (both in power consumption and in terms of financials) as Intel's latest products. 

Discontinuing the outdated high-end processors has several advantages for Intel. First, it obviously frees up production capacity for other products. Secondly, it will be easier for Intel to produce lower-end obsolete parts, and it will simplify choices for PC makers and make it easier to procure additional components.

Intel's customers that need Core i5-10200H, i5-10300H, i5-10500H, i7-10750H, i7-10870H, and i9-10980HK processors will have to make their last orders by April 1, 2022. The final chips will ship by September 30, 2022.

The Core i5-10400H, i7-10850H, i7-10875H, i9-10885H, Xeon W-10855M, and Xeon W-10885M can only be ordered until July 1, 2022, and will ship by January 27, 2023.  

Earlier this year, Intel also initiated its end-of-life (EOL) plans for its Comet Lake-U, Ice Lake-U, and Lakefield processors for laptops.

According to a report from the PCI-ID Repository, a new GeForce RTX 3070 Ti mobile GPU could be on the horizon from Nvidia. The repository detected the RTX 3070 Ti laptop GPU under the name GN20-E6. This means a device was caught somewhere in the world equipped with this GPU. Nvidia has yet to reveal a 3070 Ti in any official manner, but we expect the GPU is still in prototype format, getting ready for use in new gaming laptops.

According to more details from the repository, the GPU die used is GA104, the same as the RTX 3080 and RTX 3070. That makes sense, as the 3070 Ti will slot in between both SKUs to fill in the gaps.

What we don't know yet is how many cores the GPU will include or its power limits. We already know that the RTX 3080 mobile GPU is equipped with 6144 CUDA cores, and the 3070 has 5120, So we can expect the 3070 Ti mobile to be fitted with a core count somewhere in between -- probably around the 5600 mark.

The power requirements should also be similar to the 3080 and 3070, with the 3080 maxing out at 150+W and 125W for the 3070. So we can assume that the 3070 Ti will be slightly above the 3070's power limit and right under the 3080s, somewhere in the 130-145W range.

We don't know how this GPU will be beneficial over current RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 laptops. Unfortunately, in the world of Ampere gaming notebooks, there is very little room for an RTX 3070 Ti to thrive. This is mainly due to the broad range of power limits both the 3070 and 3080 can use, to the point where 110-120W 3070's can outperform 3080 laptops if the latter uses a low enough power limit.

However, the one area the RTX 3070 Ti laptop GPU could shine is in its pricing strategy. The RTX 3070 Ti should be a bit cheaper than the RTX 3080 due to having more cores disabled on the same GA104 die. This means Nvidia can turn damaged wafers that were meant for RTX 3080 production into RTX 3070 Tis.

We'll have to see how the 3070 Ti plays out, but if Nvidia does produce this new GPU, we could see some new gaming laptops that are potentially much cheaper than RTX 3080 laptops.

The first notebook platforms that support DDR5 memory are yet to arrive, but Japanese memory module maker SanMax Technologies is already demonstrating aftermarket DDR5 modules that can be used to upgrade Alder Lake-based laptops and small form-factor desktops.

SanMax's DDR5 SO-DIMM memory modules for laptops and SFF desktops feature an 8GB or 32GB capacity and are rated for DDR5-4800 CL40 mode at 1.1V. According to an image published by Hermitage Akihabara, the 32GB DDR5 SDRAM stick is based on Micron's ICA45 ICs. Just as the DDR5 specification mandates, the modules have their own power management IC (PMIC) and voltage regulating circuitry.

The modules do not come with a heat spreader and will therefore fit into all kinds of notebooks, including compact machines that are packed very tightly.

SanMax appears to be one of the first memory module houses to demonstrate DDR5-4800 SO-DIMMs for notebooks and compact desktops, but expect more companies to roll out their modules for the forthcoming Alder Lake-based laptops in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, we do not know whether it is reasonable to expect factory-overclocked DDR5 SO-DIMMs to emerge soon. 

SanMax did not announce the pricing or exact availability date for its DDR5-4800 SO-DIMMs, but based on what we know about Intel's Alder Lake platform, expect the modules to hit the market in November.

With Windows 11 releasing on October 5, Lenovo has announced a pair of new Ideapad laptops that ship with the new operating system: the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon and Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Pro.

Like several of the best ultrabooks, both laptops run on AMD's Ryzen 5000-series processors  and have options for discrete graphics from Nvidia, but they differ in scope. The IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon aims to be slim and portable. It starts at $1,289.99 and goes up to an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U and Nvidia GeForce MX450 graphics, as well as up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. The 14-inch OLED display has a 16:10 aspect ratio and goes up to 90 Hz.

The Slim 7 Carbon is in a carbon fiber and magnesium chassis that weights 2.37 pounds and is 14.9 mm thick at its thinnest point. 

Meanwhile, the IdeaPad Slim 7 Pro (Yoga Slim 7 Pro internationally) is a more powerful device with a larger screen. It has a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600 touch display that goes up to 120 Hz, should you want to use the discrete GPU for some gaming. This laptop starts at $1,449 and includes up to an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, along with 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD.

The Slim 7 Pro is 17.4 mm at its thinnest point and starts at 4.6 pounds. It comes in two different shades of gray: cloud (light) and storm (dark).

Those aren't Lenovo's only announcements today. It's also releasing the Chromebook Duet 5, a 13.3-inch detachable running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 with up to 256GB eMMC SSD storage, 8GB of RAM and an 1080p OLED display.This won't replace the existing Chromebook Duet, but will serve as a slightly higher-end alternative. It will start at $429.99 and arrive in October.

Lenovo is also working on a connection between its Windows PCs and Lenovo Tab P12 Pro tablet called Project Unity, which will let you extend Windows to the Android tablet and use its touch screen, or run Android apps on the tablet next to Windows apps. The latter will likely be far less exciting once Microsoft manages to roll out Android apps in Windows 11. The P12 Pro will start at $609.99 in October.

While the IdeaPads are Lenovo's first Windows 11 PCs, they certainly won’t be the only ones. More are certain to come, and many existing laptops will be up˜gradable from Windows 10. 

Just like other high-tech giants, Google is working on its own custom system-on-chips  (SoCs) that will power PCs and tablet that run its Chrome operating system. The new SoCs are projected to offer capabilities not available on chips used by Chromebooks today and will likely make such machines more competitive. But the new SoCs won't arrive for a few more years. 

Google's SoCs for Chromebooks and tablets will be based on Arm's architecture, Nikkei reports. Unfortunately, it is unclear whether the search and advertising giant will develop its own microarchitecture, or will use Arm's off-the-shelf Cortex cores. It is also unclear which custom features Google intends to add to its SoCs in a bid to differentiate its machines from SoCs developed by companies like MediaTek or Qualcomm. Meanwhile, the company intends to roll out its first SoCs for PCs sometime in 2023, according to Nikkei.

Apple was among the first high-tech companies to build its own SoCs for its smartphones and tablets in 2010. In 2020 the company announced plans to cease using Intel CPUs in its PCs and introduced its M1 SoC that powers its lightweight laptops, which are designed to compete with the best ultrabooks, and desktops. For Google, which mimics some of Apple's decisions, it is natural to develop its own processors for PCs.

Development of chips made using a leading-edge process technology is extremely expensive. A more or less complex 5 nm design costs over $500 million to develop, but at 3 nm development costs will rise to $1.5 billion. To recoup such expenses, Google will need to sell a boatload of Chromebooks and other Chrome-based PCs. That said, it makes sense for Google to wait a bit before introducing its own SoCs aimed at its PCs and therefore 2023 looks like a realistic timeframe for Google's PC SoC introduction.

Google is not new to custom SoC design. The company has been using its own SoCs to accelerate AI workloads in its datacenters since 2016. Last year it began to use its own Argos video transcoding units (VCUs) to transcode YouTube videos. Earlier this year it hired an Intel veteran to develop custom SoCs for its datacenters to replace machines based on CPUs from Intel. Google's upcoming Pixel 6 smartphones will also use custom SoCs designed internally.

Google did not comment on the story, but confirmed that its upcoming Pixel 6 smartphones will be based on its internally designed SoCs..

NAND Flash is one of the most critical and sought-after types of the semiconductor chip. It is powering systems across the globe and enables everyone to store their data with great speeds and capacity. Today, we are witnessing a report from TrendForce that analyzes the second-quarter revenue of NAND Flash makers, showing the increasing demand coming from notebook and data center markets.

According to TrendForce, the demand for NAND Flash was very high, resulting in a 10.8% overall growth in the second quarter of this year, compared to the previous first quarter of 2021. As the report suggests, the demand was primarily driven by two main factors: notebooks and data centers. 

In the notebook side of the story, we have witnessed an increased demand, despite the shortage of controller ICs used in their manufacturing. Manufacturers have been embedding a lot of NAND Flash into their products, resulting in increased capacities over time and more use of NAND Flash memory.

For data center applications, the adoption of 4TB and 8TB enterprise SSDs has resulted in almost record-setting amounts of NAND Flash used in data centers. As enterprise users continue to adopt higher-capacity SSDs in their builds, the NAND Flash market is expected to continue this upwards trajectory in the coming months.

In the table above, you can see the revenue and market share of various NAND Flash suppliers including Micron, SK Hynix, Samsung, Western Digital (WDC), Kioxia, and Intel. Almost all these suppliers have increased their NAND Flash business revenue, except Intel, which experienced a slight decline of 0.8% quarter-over-quarter.

Nevertheless, the market outlook for Q3 and the period after it looks promising for the notebook segment, and especially data centers, and the upcoming launch of Intel and AMD server processors drives a huge amount of adoption of new processors, resulting in the increased demand for accompanying storage solutions like enterprise SSDs.

Christiano Amon, the new chief executive of Qualcomm, outlined the company's intentions for its own processors based on technologies developed by Nuvia, a CPU startup the company acquired earlier this year. Qualcomm plans to roll out notebook chips featuring Nuvia's architecture next year, but it will not return to the market of datacenters chips even with Nuvia's promising technologies. Instead, Qualcomm will try to license these cores to other companies.

Nuvia was originally co-founded by ex-Apple engineers in a bid to build Arm-based system-on-chips (SoCs) for servers. Based on the company's own simulations, its Phoenix core could deliver at least 50% higher peak performance than AMD’s Zen 2 and Intel’s Sunny Cove cores at 1/3 of power (4.50W vs. 14.80W) in Geekbench 5, which looked very competitive. The Phoenix core could also outperform Apple's A13 Lightning cores, which essentially means that the company claimed the core was considerably better than Arm's generic Cortex A-series cores that are widely used in smartphones, tablets, and some PC-oriented SoCs. 

"We needed to have the leading performance for a battery-powered device," said Christiano Amon in an interview with Reuters. "If Arm, which we've had a relationship with for years, eventually develops a CPU that's better than what we can build ourselves, then we always have the option to license from Arm." 

The new Qualcomm CEO confirmed that the company would start selling Nuvia-based Snapdragon SoCs for next-generation always-connected PCs (ACPCs) as early as next year. Meanwhile, he did not disclose exactly when SoCs aimed at smartphones and self-driving cars featuring Nuvia's architecture will be available. 

Addressing Windows PCs with its own high-performance SoCs is a big opportunity for Qualcomm. This market is huge, and PCs are performance-hungry, so Nuvia's performance per watt advantages over x86 designs will be important. Of course, many things will depend on the user experience provided by Microsoft's Windows 11 on Arm SoCs and compatibility with apps originally designed for x86 CPUs, but at least on paper, Qualcomm seems to be in a good position with its Nuvia trump up its sleeve. 

But while Nuvia originally targeted data centers with its SoCs, Qualcomm does not plan to re-enter this market after it failed with its Centriq CPUs several years ago. Moreover, while the Arm-compatible data center software ecosystem has grown in recent years, it is now harder to compete in this field now that Arm offers Neoverse cores specifically tailored for data center applications. As a result, there are numerous developers of Arm SoCs for servers. 

Yet, Qualcomm might license Nuvia's cores to parties interested in building their own data center SoCs. Of course, with the availability of Arm's potent Neoverse cores, it remains to be seen whether any developers of data center SoCs will actually be interested in licensing Qualcomm's proprietary Nuvia cores

Apple has slashed prices of its AppleCare+ plans for MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro notebooks based on its M1 system-on-chips (SoCs) by $20 – $50 in the USA without changing terms and conditions, such as coverage and accidental damage fees.  

Apple's AppleCare+ plan for an M1 and Intel Core-based MacBook Air now costs $199, down from $249, whereas an AppleCare+ plan for a 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 is now priced at $249, down from $269. Meanwhile, the price of an AppleCare+ plan for an Intel-based MacBook Pro 13 is still $269, reports MacRumours.

In the U.S., Apple's MacBook laptops come with a one-year warranty and up to 90 days of complimentary technical support. With an AppleCare+ plans, the warranty is extended to three years (from AppleCare+ purchase date). Furthermore, AppleCare+ customers get up to two incidents of accidental damage protection every 12 months, each subject to a service fee of $99 for screen damage or external enclosure damage, or $299 for other damage, plus applicable tax. Also, AppleCare+ customers can access Apple experts via chat or phone 24/7. 

Apple reportedly also slashed prices of its AppleCare+ plans in Canada too, but a quick check of Apple's European stores indicate that prices remain unchanged.

Alienware is going thinner than ever with its newest gaming laptops. The X-series, comprised of the Alienware x15 and x17, are among the most svelte machines that Dell's gaming arm has ever produced.

Both the x15 and x17 are available in limited configurations today, with the full range available on June 15. The smaller laptop starts at $1,999.99, while the larger one begins at $2,099.99. 

At 0.63 inches thick (or 0.64 inches with a 1080, 165Hz display), the x15 is the slimmest gaming laptop that Alienware has ever made, while the 0.82-inch thick x17 is still its most lean in that screen size. Both feature an update to Alienware's "Legend" design, and the company claims many of the technologies it used to get the laptops this thin are patent-pending and "industry exclusive."

To get this thin, Alienware needs to nail the cooling. There are several new technologies involved, but the one the company is boasting the most about is its thermal interface material, which it has dubbed Element 31. It's a proprietary, gallium-silicon liquid metal material. The silicon should protect it from oxidation, meaning that it will last longer. The company is claiming a 25% improvement in overall thermal resistance over previous Alienware laptops. This is the special sauce that it hopes will get the X-series on our list of the best gaming laptops. (Note that Element 31 will only come in configurations with an RTX 3070 or RTX 3080). 

The system is cooled by four fans, which Alienware says it optimized based on location. The QWER keys and number keys, popular in esports titles, are all near the front intake fan to keep them cool. (These fans also cool the SSDs). The laptops' rear fans, for the CPU and GPU, exhaust out the back and intake from the top and bottom. The idea is to have positive pressure, with more cool air entering the laptop than leaving it. The 12-volt fans are designed for lower power and fan speeds, and Alienware claims they shouldn't be much louder than its existing gaming notebooks.

To control power, you can bias performance toward the CPU or GPU in the BIOS or Alienware Command Center software.

Will any of this majorly affect a benchmark? Probably not, Alienware claims. But it's promising more stability over long gaming sessions, keeping 11th Gen Core processors (up to a Core i9-11980HK on the x17 and Core i9-11900H on the x15) and up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 (a max of 110W on the x15, and 165W on the x17).

Of course, some of the changes are on the outside. The thin chassis has what Alienware is calling "Dark Core," which is a remarkably fancy term for the simple act of putting black keyboard deck on the x15 and x17's white magnesium alloy chassis. 

The x17 will come with an option for its custom Cherry MX ultra low-profile mechanical switches, which won't be in the x15. Otherwise, both laptops will come with a new keyboard with 1.5 mm of travel, N-key rollover and per-key RGB lighting. Alienware is also bringing back RGB lighting on the touchpad, but that will only show up in models with an RTX 3080 GPU.

Both the 15.6-inch and 17.3-inch displays will come in 1080p options up to 360 Hz or 1440p options at 240 Hz, with G-Sync on the x15 or at 120 Hz on the x17. Other panel options include ComfortView Plus to prevent blue light, Advanced Optimus and the option for infrared cameras to log in with Windows Hello.

At this size, almost all of the ports, with the exception of the power barrel, have been relegated to the back. Alienware has always kept a number of ports back there, so of all the changes, it's definitely the smallest.

We hope to see how these perform this summer.

Respected Linux patch detective Coelacanth’s Dream has penned a new blog post decoding the latest Intel patches, giving us some insight into unreleased information about the upcoming Alder Lake-P laptop processors. The information indicates some of Intel’s Alder Lake CPUs could have a configurable TDP as high as 115W, making Alder Lake the most power-hungry Intel chips ever produced for the laptop market.

The post reveals three core configurations for Alder Lake-P, consisting of a 2+8+2, 4+8+2, and a 6+8+2 configuration. This is a result of Alder Lake using bigger and smaller cores in its architecture, meaning 'big' high-performance cores, and 'small' Atom cores for better efficiency. The first number belongs to the bigger (performance) cores, while the second number is the smaller (power saver) cores. The last number is the integrated graphics.

Each core configuration scales with higher TDPs; the chip with two high-performance cores operates at a max of 55W for the PL2 turbo rating. The quad-core operates at up to 64W, and the hexacore operates at a peak of up to 115W.

While this number may sound insane for a notebook, even for some of the largest notebooks on the market, TDP is a very different animal than it used to be. Intel allows OEMs to adjust the TDPs of its chips significantly, so the CPU is geared more toward the notebook’s design, rather than static TDPs which were once popular.

Intel has also introduced two levels of Turbo Boost behavior to help optimize efficiency in both notebook and desktop form factors. These levels are known as PL1 and PL2 states. PL2 is the most aggressive turbo clock available and is designed to go way beyond the CPU's base power consumption for a short amount of time. This is why Intel's mobile chips in general have seen higher TDP numbers over the past few years, making them look more power-hungry than they actually are.

Even for notebooks that are equipped with a high core count Alder Lake chip that boosts up to 115W, it's doubtful it will boost that high for any long duration of time. And don’t expect many notebooks to be configured with that high of a TDP.

Acer announced the Swift X, its first laptop in the Swift line to use discrete graphics, during a virtual event today. The laptop will use AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti when it launches in June starting for $899.99.

The laptop, which Acer says is meant for creators, editors and streamers, has a 14-inch, 1920 x 1080 IPS display and what the company says is an 85.7% screen-to-body ratio. It comes with up to 16GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD storage. 

The laptop weighs 3.06 pounds and is housed in a 0.7-inch metal chassis. Acer is showing off a handful of colors, including blue, pink and a sort of off-yellow, but that's just on the lid. The rest of each laptop is the same silver color.

Other features include USB Type-C for data and charging, Wi-Fi 6 and a fingerprint reader. The company also claims its BlueLightShield (yes, one word) tech will prevent eye strain.

To cool the thin laptop, Acer claims that air inlets in the keyboard will let it expel 8-10% more heat than other laptops (hopefully without overheating your fingers).Other cooling efficiencies include more and thinner heatpipes.

This seems like a slight pivot for the Swift line, which Acer previously used to prioritize thinness and lightness above all else. In the past it's gone as far as removing any click mechanism from the touchpad and adjusting the keyboard layout to remove the function row to keep things light and compact.  

Beyond a U.S. release, we'll see the Swift X launch later in the summer in Europe, the Middle East and Africa starting at €899 and In China in the third quarter of this year beginning at ¥6,499.

Acer's other announcements at its event include refreshes of its Concept D line of creator workstations, new Predator gaming laptops, monitors and peripherals as well as an update to new CPUs and GPUs in its existing gaming desktops. 

XPG, Adata’s gaming sub-brand, didn’t stun us when it released its first laptop almost a year ago. That machine’s power was last-gen even at the time, and we went through multiple units with broken chassis during our review process. Now, XPG is back with a “gaming lifestyle” laptop that’s taking on the productivity space. The XPG Xenia Xe ($1,399 to start, $1,599 as tested) has a CPU that’s in line with Intel’s current generation this time around, but isn’t free from its own problems.

Like the Xenia 15, the Xenia Xe is also based on an Intel design, and while XPG has included a speedy custom SSD in this laptop, that prefab design does leave it feeling generic, which stings even more when you take into account this laptop’s price. 

Specifications

Design of the XPG Xenia Xe  

The XPG Xenia Xe’s design is plain and unassuming, which isn’t surprising given that it’s based on Intel’s NUC M15 Whitebook design that can be used by third-party manufacturers.  It has  a matte silver finish across the entire body, with vents on the back and underside and ports split across the left and right side of the laptops. Branding is minimal, with most of it reserved to a single XPG logo set off to one side of the lid. There are also vent holes just above the keyboard, which isn’t common in even the best ultrabooks, but is much appreciated here. The keyboard also has blue detailing on alternate functions, which helps them stand out and makes finding media control keys much easier.

All of this is aesthetically pleasing if a bit generic, although the laptop’s price leaves me wanting some kind of vanity feature. The chassis does a remarkable job of keeping fingerprints away, which helps keep it premium looking, although I’ve noticed it can also attract dust. 

The laptop  also has a light bar on its front, although this appears to be reserved for Alexa notifications. More on that later.

The Xenia Xe is also thin even for a productivity device. At 13.98 x 9.06 x 0.59 inches, it’s thinner than some 13 and 14 inch laptops we’ve reviewed, even if just barely. The MSI Prestige 14 Evo, for instance, is 12.6 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches, while the Razer Book 13 is 11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 4, which is also 15 inches, does beat the XPG Xenia Xe, though, coming in at 13.4 x 9.6 x 0.58 inches.

Port selection is varied and well-distributed. The laptop’s left side has a Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port and an HDMI 2.0 port. The right side also houses both a Thunderbolt 4 port and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port, as well as the 3.5mm combination microphone/headphone jack and a Kensington lock slot. 

Productivity Performance on the XPG Xenia Xe

The XPG Xenia Xe has an Intel Core i7-1165G7, which we tested against the similarly specced Razer Book 13 as well as against the MSI Prestige 14 Evo with an Intel Core i7-1185G7. We also threw the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 with a custom AMD Ryzen 7 4890U into our comparisons, to see how the Xenia stacks up against AMD.

In Geekbench 5, which is an synthetic benchmark for testing general performance, the Xenia Xe just barely squeaked ahead of both of its Intel competitors in single and multi-core performance but severely fell behind the Surface Laptop 4 on multi-core tests. Specifically, it earned a score of 1,583 on single core tests and 5,784 on multi-core tests. Meanwhile, the MSI Prestige 14 Evo scored 1,563/5,660 points, the Razer Book 13 scored 1,556/5,495 points and the Surface Laptop 4 hit 1,173/6,748 points.

Our file transfer benchmark, which gauges how quickly a laptop moves 25GB of files, saw the Xenia Xe pull far ahead of the pack. That’s not too surprising, since this laptop’s sole distinguishing hardware feature when compared to the Whitebook it’s based on its custom Adata SSD. It hit 1,211.9 MBps, while the Prestige 14 Evo came in second at 999.3 MBps. The RazerBook 13 lagged behind with 479 MBps, while the Surface Laptop 4 came in last with 372.49 MBps.

Our Handbrake video encoding test, which tracks how long it takes a laptop to transcode a video down from 4K to FHD, saw mostly even results among all competitors except the Surface Laptop 4. The Xenia Xe finished transcoding in 13:36, while the Prestige 14 Evo was slightly faster with a time of 12:27 and the Razer Book 13 was slightly slower with a time of 14:46. The Surface Laptop 4 cut these speeds almost in half, finishing its transcode in 8:21.

We also ran the XPG Xenia Xe through 20 consecutive Cinebench R23 runs to simulate an extended work session. The laptop averaged a score of 4423.79, while its CPU ran at an average clock speed of 3.19 GHz and hit average temperatures of 78.07 degrees Celsius (172.53 degrees Fahrenheit).

Display on the XPG Xenia Xe 

The XPG Xenia Xe comes with a 15.6 inch IPS touchscreen with a 1920 x 1080 resolution, and while it’s bright and its colors are competitive, it’s marred by heavy glare.

I watched the Mortal Kombat trailer on the Xenia Xe, and while I was impressed by how deep its blacks were, I had difficulty making much else out. At mid-day with my curtains up, glare was so bad that I sometimes couldn’t see the screen clearly even when I was sitting directly in front of it. This also meant that viewing angles were restrictive, of course, so I wouldn’t recommend watching this laptop’s screen from the side.

That’s a shame, because the screen is otherwise bright, hitting an average of 436 nits.

The glare issue became a little less apparent when I drew my curtains and turned off all light sources in my office, and I was able to get watchable horizontal viewing angles up to about 60 degrees. But reflectivity became a noticeable problem in glare’s stead, as I could see my blouse reflected in such detail on screen that I could easily make out its patterns.

When I could see the image on the screen without issue, I found that colors appeared accurate but not vivid. Turning off my lights and drawing my curtains to reduce glare did help colors pop more, though.

Our testing put the Xenia Xe in last place on color gamut compared to the laptops we tested it against, though not by much. It has a 76.7% DCI-P3 rating, while the Surface Laptop 4 has a 77.8% DCI-P3 rating and the Prestige 14 Evo has a 78.9% rating. The Razer Book 13 fared best here, with a DCI-P3 color gamut of 80.7%.

Our brightness testing saw the Xenia Xe and Razer Book 13 tying, with a brightness average of 436 nits each. The Surface Laptop 4 was next up, with 334 nits, while the Prestige 14 Evo came in last at 284 nits.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Touchscreen on the XPG Xenia Xe 

The XPG Xenia Xe has a full-size membrane chiclet keyboard with a purported 1.2mm travel that feels much shorter than I’d like in practice and that led me to make plenty of typos during testing.

The keys tend to have a harsh, stiff feeling when finishing keystrokes, which when combined with their short travel, makes typing uncomfortable and makes touch typing feedback difficult to discern. Sometimes, I wasn’t sure when a keystroke had actually registered, leading me to move on to the next letter prematurely and causing me to make a typo.

The lack of feedback also seemed to slow down my typing. My usual 75 - 80 words per minute range on 10fastfingers.com was reduced to a 70 - 75 wpm range instead.

The large, 4.6 x 2.7-inch precision touchpad proved much more usable. My finger effortlessly glided across it and input multi-touch gestures with no issues, and you can even double tap the touchpad in the top left corner to toggle it on or off. That’s useful for people who prefer to use external mice or may use this for light gaming.

Audio on the XPG Xenia Xe 

The XPG Xenia Xe has two bottom firing speakers that produce clear, loud and almost tin-less audio.

I first tested the Xenia Xe’s speakers by listening to Levitating by Dua Lipa, and was easily able to fill my whole two bedroom apartment with sound at max volume. I found comfortable listening levels to be closer to 40% volume, and that volume did not affect fidelity.

Vocals were clear throughout the song, and while the bassline had less physical oomph in my chest than I got with my headphones, it was still audible and distinct. I also found that there wasn’t any echo or unnatural tinny quality to higher notes.

All of my listening was done using the music audio preset in the NUC Audio Studio app, although you can also swap to presets for “voice,” “gaming” and “movie” presets for other tasks. You can also adjust eq and postprocessing levels for details like bass and vocals individually, although I found that the presets gave me the best experience.

I also watched the Mortal Kombat trailer again using the “movie” preset. I heard voices clearly and the sound effects and backing soundtrack sounded properly epic without being overwhelming.

Neither Levitating nor Mortal Kombat sounded as believable in presets meant for other mediums.

Upgradeability of the XPG Xenia Xe 

To open the XPG Xenia Xe, just unscrew the seven Torx screws on the underside (we used a TR6 bit). After that, you’ll have access to the SSD and the networking chip, but the RAM is soldered in.

Battery Life on the XPG Xenia Xe 

 Even against other Intel Evo laptops, the XPG Xenia Xe has impressive battery life. In our battery benchmark test, which continually streams video, browses the web and runs OpenGL tests over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the Xenia Xe held out for 15:56. That’s over three hours longer than all of the competitors we tested, even the MSI Prestige 14 Evo. Evo platforms have to meet certain battery life standards for Intel to certify them, but the Prestige 14 Evo’s 12:25 battery life still falls well short of its colleague.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 4, which uses an AMD processor, came in slightly behind the Prestige 14 Evo in our testing with a 12:04 battery life, while the Razer Book 13 brought up the rear with an 11:44 battery life.

Heat on the XPG Xenia Xe 

The XPG Xenia Xe’s surface temperatures remained cool during our temperature benchmark, where we streamed video for 15 minutes and then read how hot it was at certain key areas. 

The laptop’s touchpad registered 82.5 degrees Fahrenheit (28.05 degrees Celsius), while the center of its keyboard (in between the G and H keys) hit 87 degrees Fahrenheit (30.56 degrees Celsius). The laptop’s underside was significantly warmer, with most of its surface area registering at 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.44 degrees Celsius). The area near the underside vents was the hottest area on the laptop, hitting 110 degrees Fahrenheit (44.33 degrees Celsius). It never felt hot to the touch during use.

Webcam on the XPG Xenia Xe 

The XPG Xenia Xe has a 720p webcam that’s prone to artifacting and poor color accuracy.

During mid-day in my office, under what I would consider typical lighting conditions for most of my workday, the Xenia Xe’s webcam gave my face and even my hand an eerily rosy appearance. It was also prone to mild pixelation and unnaturally harsh edges.

The rosy color on my face disappeared in my more dimly lit hallway, but pixelation became much more noticeable. On the plus side, I do appear more well-lit in my photos than I actually was in real life.

When I saturated the Xenia Xe’s camera with light by standing directly in front of my office window, I seemed to get the best balance of color accuracy and low artifacting. Still, unnaturally harsh lines still persist around my head, and it’s probably not ideal to take video calls in front of a sheet of pure white light.

The XPG Xenia Xe’s webcam also has IR capabilities for use with Windows Hello, which worked flawlessly during my testing. 

Software and Warranty on the XPG Xenia Xe

XPG hasn’t included any of its own software on the Xenia Xe, although Intel’s Graphics Command Center, NUC Software Studio and NUC Audio Studio do give you some utility options. 

The Intel Graphics Command Center allows you to easily adjust your screen, set hotkeys for different display options and even record your screen. 

The NUC Software Studio lets you set up the PC to detect your presence based on the laptop’s webcam so that it can wake or sleep accordingly. It’s a nice touch, and while it works well, it overlaps a bit too much with pre-existing Windows features like Windows Hello and even sleeping to be that novel. It’s also worth noting that, at a minimum, you need to not be present for at least a minute for your laptop to auto-lock.

You can also use NUC Software Studio to allow Alexa to use the laptop’s light bar (located on the front of the laptop) for notifications. Plus, you can use this app to monitor memory, storage and CPU usage.

I covered NUC Audio Studio more deeply in this review’s audio section, but it gives you access to basic audio post processing presets and an equalizer to fine tune how your laptop sounds.

Typical Windows pre-installs like Spotify and Microsoft Solitaire Collection are also present here. 

The XPG Xenia Xe has a 1 year limited warranty.

XPG Xenia Xe Configurations

The XPG Xenia Xe comes in two configurations — one with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 and one with an Intel Core i7-1165G7. We reviewed the latter, which also has 16GB of LPDDR4x-4266 memory and a 1TB SSD. This configuration currently costs $1,599 at most retailers, after a price drop from the $1,699 MSRP.

The Core i5 model reduces the memory to 8GB but keeps the 1TB SSD. Both versions also have the same 15.6 inch 1920 x 1080 IPS touchscreen. The Core i5 model costs $1,399 at most retailers, also after a price drop from the $1,499 MSRP.

While the Xenia Xe is based on the Intel NUC M15 Whitebox, XPG has swapped out the storage for its own custom XPG Gammix S50 Lite Gen 4 SSD in the vast majority of units. XPG’s website says this drive “comes standard” with the Xenia Xe, although certain promotional units “may come with other XPG Gen4 SSDs” in certain regions.

Bottom Line

It’s hard to know what the audience is for the XPG Xenia Xe, since it calls itself a “gaming lifestyle notebook,” has gaming laptop style pricing, and has packaging that’s still sufficiently gamer-y, to the point of greeting you with a pop-up cutout of XPG’s anime girl mascot as soon as you open the box. That said, the laptop’s look and capabilities are far more in line with productivity notebooks, which represents a problem for it, as its par-for-the-course power and poor display/keyboard leave it feeling overpriced.

The only productivity benchmark we ran where the Xenia Xe stood out was our file transfer test, where it was much faster than all of the competing laptops we tested. That’s to be expected given XPG’s reputation for fast SSDs. But since every other productivity benchmark was roughly on par with other Intel laptops and far behind our sole AMD contender, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4, it’s hard to justify getting the Xenia Xe on these grounds alone.

Which is a shame, since it doesn’t stand out elsewhere. The screen is prone to heavy glare, and the short travel distance on the keyboard makes for an uncomfortable experience and led me to make plenty of typos. Battery life is longer than competitors, although it’s up to you whether you want longer battery life if it means more time spent with a mediocre screen and keyboard setup.

At $1,600, I’d expect a more premium experience from the Xenia Xe. But if that’s what you’re aiming for, and you don’t mind a 13-inch laptop, you might want to go for the Razer Book 13 instead. It’s a smaller take on this “gaming lifestyle” concept that actually maintains some gamer niceties, like a comfortable per-key RGB keyboard and a 16:10 screen that, while smaller, is far easier to see.

Framework, which announced its modular, repairable laptop back in February, now has full specs, pricing and is opening pre-orders for the machine on its website. It will come in three configurations, starting at $999.

That base model has an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, a 256GB NVMe, Wi-Fi 6 and will run Windows 10 Home. A $1,399 performance configuration bumps the processor up to an i7-1165G7 and doubles the RAM and storage to 16GB and 512GB, respectively. A professional model, starting at $1,999, has an i7-1185G7, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, support for vPro and runs Windows 10 Pro.

There will also be a DIY edition, starting at $749 barebones, that you build yourself from a kit and customize with parts and modules.

Each laptop will also have a 3:2, 2256 x 1504 display, 1080p webcam with a privacy switch, a 55Wh battery and a keyboard with 1.5 mm of key travel, all features you might find in one of the best ultrabooks. The entire motherboard is replaceable to allow upgrades to future generations of processors, which are typically soldered to the board on laptops.

Pre-orders are starting today in the United States, and Canada will come soon, with Asia and Europe coming before the end of the year. 

But like most tech companies, Framework hasn't been immune to supply chain issues, which it says will "limit the number of Framework Laptops we have available at launch." The company will take its pre-orders in small batches to ensure it can fulfill orders. The first batch, Framework says, will ship in July, with more to come. A pre-order requires a $100 refundable deposit, and the balance will be paid when it's ready to ship.

While the Framework Laptop sounds promising on paper, other small computer vendors have faced issues with fulfillment. Eve Devices, for instance, had issues fulfilling its Eve V, and some potential buyers have proven far more cautious around its Spectrum monitor and second-gen convertible. But Framework is acknowledging the difficulty in sourcing parts right now, so at least it's being straightforward there.

One of the things that Samsung's spring refresh of Galaxy Book laptops did not bring was its highly anticipated notebook powered by its own Exynos 2200 system-on-chip. Industry sources now claim that the first laptop with Exynos inside is due in the second half of the year, and the same sources say Samsung is considering using the SoC in smartphones too.

Samsung's Exynos 2200 system-on-chip will be the company's first SoC to use a custom GPU based on AMD's RDNA architecture. The Exynos 2200 will be made using Samsung's 5LPE (5nm) fabrication process and will likely rely on numerous technologies already used for the Exynos 2100. Since the Exynos 2100 uses one Cortex-X1, three Cortex-A78, and four Cortex-A55 cores, its designed-for-notebooks counterpart should feature higher general-purpose performance. That will likely come by integrating more X1 cores, or just clocking existing cores higher, as well as some other enhancements.

"The new Exynos will offer improved functions, including extraordinary computing power and battery efficiency, by utilizing a 5-nanometer processing technology," an industrial source told The Korea Economic Daily. "It's good for both laptops and smartphones."

Installing a high-performance laptop-grade SoC into a smartphone has its rationale if one wants to offer ultimate performance in a handset and beat all gaming handsets available on the market today. But this is going to come at a cost and may not bring the desired result.

The Exynos 2200 is optimized for performance, so it's expected to be considerably larger than the Exynos 2100. That means higher costs and higher power consumption. A larger die size and higher power consumption will make it harder to fit into smartphones, as it will require a more complicated power delivery, which enlarges PCB footprint. Higher power consumption also means less battery life, for the same size battery.

SoCs for notebooks are optimized for burst performance. They typically run at very high clocks for relatively short periods of time, getting the 'heavy work' done as quickly as possible, and then go back to sleep. Such 'bursty' behavior is possible because notebooks can cool their CPUs down with their relatively powerful cooling systems. By contrast, smartphones have different thermals, so running an SoC at extreme clocks isn't possible, which to a large degree negates their advantages.

Samsung has not confirmed specifications of its upcoming Exynos 2200 or its plans for the SoC, so take all this unofficial information with a grain of salt.