Brydge is announcing a keyboard and trackpad accessory for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (via 9to5Mac). Like the company’s previous accessories, the Brydge 12.9 Max Plus will let you take your iPad from being a tablet to a laptop, just by connecting it to the accessory. With Apple’s new M1-powered iPad Pro, some might already be thinking about using it to make a MacBook replacement, while others may just be excited for the way you can now neatly attach it via magnets.
The answer to whether this will help replace your MacBook with an iPad is more or less what it’s always been: it depends on whether you can do all your work with what’s available on iPadOS. The iPad Pro has been more powerful than a lot of MacBooks for years, but hardware is only part of the equation. While the 12.9-inch iPad Pro may now have a processor as fast as a MacBook’s and a better screen to boot, it’s still using an OS that, for some, won’t be able to fully take advantage of those features. If you’re fine with the limitations of iPadOS, then the Brydge 12.9 Max Plus could be a new solution for taking the iPad into laptop mode.
The iPad will attach to the new Max Plus magnetically, instead of using the clamp system used by previous Brydge keyboards. That system required you to wedge your expensive tablet between clamps that then held onto that breakable glass — a nerve-wracking and not terribly pleasant experience. This brings Brydge’s offering more in line with the Magic Keyboard, and users will likely appreciate increased ease in switching between laptop and tablet mode. Easy, magnetic attachment is something that’s generally been associated with Apple’s iPad keyboards instead of third-party ones.
While Brydge’s built-in trackpads have generally not compared favorably to Apple’s, the company is hoping to change that by adding native multitouch support. With the Max Plus, Brydge is also playing the size comparison game — its trackpad is the largest on an iPad keyboard, according to the company’s site. That may be a nice bonus if you’re the type of person who likes to use the mouse a lot.
The Brydge 12.9 Max Plus is available for preorder on Brydge’s site, and it’s expected to ship in June. It comes in three color options (space gray, silver, and white) and costs $249.99 — $100 cheaper than Apple’s Magic Keyboard for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
AMD Ryzen 5000 Mobile Memory Scaling (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Today we’ll dive in deep on the best memory settings for your Ryzen mobile laptop. Sequels don’t always live up to the originals, and that’s true even in the processor world. In AMD’s case, however, it’s the complete opposite. The Zen microarchitecture has unquestionably become an important building block for the chipmaker, and AMD has consistently delivered impressive gen-over-gen performance uplifts with every new Zen iteration.
Zen 3, the most recent installment in the Zen family, isn’t a microarchitecture to be underestimated, either. Ushering in major IPC upgrades up to 19%, Zen 3 processors have cemented their position on our current list of Best CPUs. The same Zen 3 prowess has made its way to the mobile market, and the latest Ryzen 5000 Mobile (Cezanne) chips power some of the most powerful laptops on the market today.
Memory doesn’t always receive the attention that it deserves, but it should. Memory has proven to play a meaningful role with the previous Ryzen 4000 (Renoir) processors. Ryzen 5000 retains a similar memory subsystem that supports DDR4-3200 or LPDDR4X-4266 memory. Some laptops fall into the first category as they provide conventional SO-DIMM memory slots to house the corresponding memory modules. Laptops in the second category come with memory chips permanently soldered to the motherboard, so expansion is out of the question. Hybrid designs feature the best of both worlds — both soldered memory and usually one empty SO-DIMM memory slot.
Unlike we see in desktop PCs, memory tuning still has a long way to go on Ryzen 5000 laptops. The memory options are permanently locked away, so there isn’t any liberty for users to play with memory timings. Furthermore, Ryzen 5000 laptops are constricted to SO-DIMM memory kits rated for 1.2V. However, our sources have whispered to us that Cezanne may finally change the panorama for tweakers. AMD is reportedly contemplating the possibility of opening memory tuning on Ryzen 5000 laptops and the ability to use SO-DIMM memory kits up to 1.35V. There is also talk of a full recovery mechanism similar to modern motherboards where it restores the device to factory default settings. That means that, in the event of an overclocking failure, you won’t have to worry about bricking your laptop.
XMG Core 15 (2021)
XMG Core 15 (2021) (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Hopping on to AMD’s Zen 3 train, XMG has brought the company’s emblematic Core 15 gaming laptop up to speed in terms of hardware. The XMG Core 15 (2021) retains the strong genes of a portable gaming and productivity workhouse. The new E21 iteration employs the best of what AMD and Nvidia currently have to offer and arrives with other upgrades, such as the 1920×1080 240 Hz or 2560×1440 165 Hz IPS panels.
Coming as no surprise, the XMG Core 15 (2021) leverages the new Ryzen 7 5800H, which is the direct successor to last generation’s Ryzen 7 4800H. Landing with eight Zen 3 cores with simultaneous multithreading (SMT), the Ryzen 5 5600H offers base and boost clock speeds up to 3.2 GHz and 4.4 GHz, respectively. With two SO-DIMM DDR4 memory slots, the Ryzen 7 5800H supports up to 64GB of DDR4-3200 memory.
The Ryzen 7 5800H brings with it eight Vega Compute Units (CUs) clocked at 2,000 MHz. The iGPU is great for everyday tasks and helps with battery life, but the supplementary GeForce RTX 3060 (Ampere) does all the heavy lifting when it comes to demanding graphical workloads. The Core 15 (2021) uses the 115W variant with an extra 15W headroom for Dynamic Boost 2.0. Specification-wise, the GeForce RTX 3060 wields 3,584 CUDA cores and 6GB of 14 Gbps GDDR6 memory to handle the most demanding triple-A titles.
When it comes to SO-DIMM memory, G.Skill’s Ripjaws lineup offers a wide variety of memory kits for consumers to choose from. G.Skill, who’s a repeating vendor on our list of Best RAM, sells its Ripjaws SO-DIMM memory as a standalone memory module as well as in dual-and quad-channel packages.
In the dual-channel presentations, the memory kits come in a capacity of 16GB (2x8GB), 32GB (2x16GB) and 64GB (2x32GB). The available memory frequencies range from DDR4-2133 to DDR4-3200. G.Skill backs its Ripjaws memory kits with a limited lifetime warranty, so they offer both performance and security for your investment.
Memory Scaling
Before we get into the RAM benchmarks, we observed a very peculiar behaviour with Ryzen 5000. Apparently, only memory that’s specifically clocked at DDR4-2933 and above runs at the 1T command rate (CR). It’s important to point this out because DDR4-2933 and DDR4-3200 will have a slight edge over the other memory frequencies since the lower-frequency memory kits were stuck at 2T. The behaviour seems weird since memory runs at 1T on the Ryzen 4000 (Renoir) platform regardless of the frequency.
We’ve reached out to an XMG representative regarding the issue. The official word is that the timing behaviour at memory speeds below DDR4-3200 is normal for AMD Cezanne (according to information from AMD). We also confirmed that the Memory SPD feature seems to be locked for Thaiphoon Burner and CPU-Z tools due to security consideration. No further details were given.
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Ryzen 5000 Mobile Memory Scaling (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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For reference, DDR4-2133 is JEDEC’s baseline specification for DDR4 memory, while DDR4-3200 is the official supported memory frequency on Ryzen 5000. If we just look at the geometric mean, there was a 4.8% performance difference between the two settings. We used a mixed bag of workloads that both are and aren’t responsive to memory frequency, so it evens out. Be aware that individual performance gains could be higher, according to the specific workload.
In Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro, DDR4-3200 delivered up to 6.8% and 4.7% higher performance, respectively, over DDR4-2133. HandBrake was also sensitive to fast memory. DDR4-3200 reduced x264 and x265 conversion times by up to 5.22% and 5%, respectively.
7-Zip compression workloads benefitted the most from DDR4-3200 memory. It offered 19% better performance than DDR4-2133. However, DDR4-3200 wasn’t the absolute winner in every race, though. In the Corona 1.3 benchmark, for instance, DDR4-3200, DDR4-2933, and DDR4-2666 performed equally well.
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Ryzen 5000 Mobile Memory Scaling (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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For our gaming tests, we used the native 1920×1080 (1080p) resolution for the XMG Core 15 (2021). We used the High preset in our games because the setting allowed a balance between image fidelity and performance. If you game at lower image settings, the performance boosts should be even higher because the graphics card becomes less of a bottleneck.
Overall, DDR4-3200 provided a 4.3% improvement in frame rates over DDR4-2133 across our suite of seven titles. There were a few games where DDR4-3200 presented a notable boost in performance: DDR4-3200 finished with 6% higher frame rates in Wolfenstein: Youngblood, 6.8% in Watch Dogs: Legion, and up to 15.2% in Far Cry Dawn.
Single-Rank vs. Dual-Rank
It’s easy to identify if a SO-DIMM memory module is single-rank or dual-rank before purchase. Without going into the technical specifics, memory modules that are 16GB generally adhere to a dual-rank design. We say generally because some vendors are currently commercializing 16GB single-rank memory modules. Nevertheless, we recommend that you consult with the specification sheet to corroborate the design.
Ryzen 5000 laptops that come equipped with two SO-DIMM memory slots bless users with the potential to add up to four total memory ranks. This requires two dual-rank memory modules, meaning 32GB (2x16GB) is the minimum amount of memory needed to maximize the number of memory ranks.
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Ryzen 5000 Mobile Memory Scaling (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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When you increase the number of memory ranks, you also increase the total memory capacity in the process. Therefore, it’s important to bear in mind that some workloads profit more from the increased density than others, which results in higher performance.
If we look at the single SO-DIMM configurations, the 16GB (dual-rank) memory module improved performance by 9.6% over the 8GB (single-rank) memory module. The margin jumped to 10.6% with the 32GB (dual-rank) memory module. However, if we compare the 16GB memory module to the 32GB one, we only recorded a 0.9% difference. Going to 32GB doesn’t improve performance, but it helps if you’re a heavy multitasker.
We saw similar behavior with the dual-channel setups, although the performance margins weren’t as significant as the single SO-DIMM scenario. Four memory ranks (2x16GB) were only 3.3% better than two memory ranks (2x8GB). Meanwhile, the difference between the 2x16GB and 2x32GB configurations was still negligible.
The biggest takeaway is that running memory in a dual-channel configuration outweighed a single memory module even if the total number of memory ranks were equal. For instance, you achieve two memory ranks by using a single 16GB memory module or a pair of 8GB memory modules. Nevertheless, the latter option supplied 7.7% higher performance.
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Ryzen 5000 Mobile Memory Scaling (Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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A single 16GB memory module offered 7.4% higher frame rates than an 8GB memory module. The performance delta between the 16GB and 32GB memory modules was less than 2%, though. We noticed similar performance margins with the dual-channel configurations. The 2x16GB setup only outshined the 2x8GB and 2x32GB setups by 1.5% and 1.1%, respectively.
Dual-channel operation continued to play a significant role in gaming. The 2x8GB memory kit pumped out 7.3% higher frame rates than the single 16GB memory module, despite both having the same number of memory ranks.
Our Key Takeaways
DDR4-3200 is essentially the gold standard for Ryzen 5000 mobile processors. If money is tight, DDR4-2666 is the halfway point on the performance ladder. In either case, aim for the lowest timings possible. In the meantime, we’re stuck with SO-DIMM memory kits that don’t require XMP activation or 1.35V. However, this may change in the future if AMD opens memory tuning on Ryzen 5000 laptops.
Whenever possible, fill both SO-DIMM memory slots in your Ryzen laptop to take advantage of the performance boost from dual-channel operation. With equivalent memory ranks, you lose as much as 7.7% performance when running a single memory module as opposed to a dual-channel SO-DIMM memory kit. If your laptop only came with just one memory module and there’s an empty SO-DIMM slot, consider adding another memory module for a nice performance uplift.
Populating all four memory ranks is the ultimate configuration for application and gaming performance. The cheapest path to get to four memory ranks is a 32GB (2x16GB) memory kit, preferably DDR4-3200 if you want to maximize performance. For budget-conscious users, a 16GB (2×8) memory kit should suffice while allowing you to take advantage of dual-channel technology as well.
The Asus ZenBook 13 UM325SA packs some of the best value we’ve seen in an ultraportable yet, outperforming much more expensive Intel options thanks to new Ryzen 5000U chips.
For
+ Strong and cheap
+ OLED display
+ Surprisingly good audio
Against
– Need a dongle for a headphone jack
– Touch-based numpad feels gimmicky
The Asus ZenBook line usually tends to be a series of plain, mid-range ultraportables that hit respectable performance for strong value. The ZenBook 13 UM325SA ($749 to start, $999 as tested), is also somewhat unassuming and still maintains strong value, but its performance is anything but mid-range.
That’s thanks to its new Ryzen 5000U processor options, which bring the power of AMD’s latest CPU line to ultraportables and into competition with Intel’s 11th Gen “Tiger Lake” processors. The result is a stunningly strong computer that’s priced well below Intel and Apple alternatives, yet usually outperforms the former while coming within spitting range of the latter.
Asus ZenBook 13 Specs
CPU
AMD Ryzen 7 5800U
Graphics
AMD Integrated Radeon Vega Graphics
Memory
16GB DDR4-3733 MHz
Storage
1TB M.2 SSD
Display
13.3 inch, 1920 x 1080, OLED
Networking
802.11ax Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
Ports
2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x microSD card reader
Camera
720p, IR
Battery
67Wh
Power Adapter
65W
Operating System
Windows 10 Pro
Dimensions(WxDxH)
11.97 x 7.99 x 0.55 inches
Weight
2.5 pounds
Price Range
$750 – $1000
Design of Asus ZenBook 13
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The Zenbook 13 is still a thin, light and minimally decorated machine that looks neither ostentatious nor exciting. Fitting that, color options include a blackish gray and a lighter, more metallic silver — the one we tested was gray.
The laptop’s lid is probably its most heavily decorated part, with a reflective, silvery Asus logo sitting off-center towards the laptop’s charging port side. A slight radial texture surrounds and emanates from the logo, although a glossy surface means it’s often covered by fingerprints. There’s also a small “Zenbook Series” logo on the laptop’s outer hinge.
Opening the laptop reveals a focus on functionality, as there’s not too much going on here visually aside from the chiclet-style keyboard and large touchpad. The keyboard does sit inside a sloping tray, which is nice, but what’s more noticeable is that opening the laptop’s lid also lifts the keyboard off your desk at up to a three-degree angle for easier typing.
The left side of the laptops houses two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports and one HDMI 2.1 connection. The right side similarly has just a single USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port and a microSD card reader. The big missing port is a 3.5 mm audio jack; you get a USB Type-C dongle in the box for that. You also get a USB Type-A dongle for RJ-45 Ethernet. Those adapters cut into the device’s portability. For instance, plugging in both dongles as well as the charger will use up all of your ports.
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The Zenbook 13 is on the smaller and lighter side when it comes to portability. At 11.97 x 7.99 x 0.55 inches and 2.5 pounds, it edges out similarly specced competitors on most measurements. The 13 inch MacBook Pro with an M1 chip is 11.97 x 8.36 x 0.61 inches and 3 pounds, while the HP Spectre x360 14 is 11.75 x 8.67 x 0.67 inches and 2.95 pounds. The Dell XPS 13 9310 comes the closest to giving the ZenBook decent competition on size, hitting 11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches and 2.8 pounds.
Productivity Performance of Asus ZenBook 13
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The ZenBook 13 UM325SA is our first time looking at a Ryzen 5000U series chip, which brings AMD’s latest CPU generation to the ultraportable market. While our Ryzen 7 5800U ZenBook 13 configuration with 16GB of RAM and 1TB M.2 SSD didn’t quite beat Apple’s new M1 chip, it generally outperformed Intel Tiger Lake ultraportables like the i7-1165G7 HP Spectre x360 14 and XPS 13 9310. The Ryzen 7 5800U has eight cores and 16 threads, while Intel’s U-series Tiger Lake processors go up to four cores and eight threads.
In Geekbench 5, which is a synthetic benchmark that attempts to capture general performance, the Asus ZenBook 13 hit 6,956 points in multi-core tests and 1,451 points in single-core tests. That’s above the 5,925 multi-core/1,316 single-core scores earned by the MacBook Pro with an M1 processor running Geekbench via Rosetta 2 emulation. The M1 running a native Geekbench test performed much higher, although native M1 Geekbench isn’t exactly comparable to what we ran on the ZenBook. The ZenBook also generally beats our Tiger Lake competition. For instance, the HP Spectre x360 14 earned 4,904 multi-core/1,462 single-core scores and the Dell XPS 13 9310 earned 5,319 multi-core/1,521 single-core scores. Those single-core scores are closer to our ZenBook’s output, but the laptops fall far enough behind on multi-core to outweigh that benefit in most cases.
The ZenBook 13 led the pack in file transfer speeds. When transferring 25GB of files, the ZenBook 13 did so at a rate of 1,068.21 MBps, while the XPS 13 9310 followed behind at a rate of 806.2 MBps. The MacBook Pro M1 hit a rate of 727.04 MBps, and the Spectre x360 14 trailed behind with a score of 533.61 MBps.
The ZenBook 13 and MacBook Pro M1 were significantly faster than our Tiger Lake machines in our Handbrake video-editing benchmark, which tracks how long it takes a device to transcode a video from 4K to FHD. The ZenBook 13 completed this task in 9:18 and the MacBook Pro M1 did it in 7:44. Meanwhile, the Spectre x360 14 and XPS 13 9310 were much slower with scores of 18:05 and 18:22, respectively.
We also ran our ZenBook 13 through Cinebench R23 for 20 runs in a row to stress test how well it operates under an extended load. The average score among these tests was 7,966.40, and the CPU ran at an average clock speed of 2.43 GHz and average temperature of 66.72 Celsius (152.1 Fahrenheit).
Display on Asus ZenBook 13
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Aside from a new Ryzen 5000U chip, the ZenBook 13 UM325SA also packs a new 1920 x 1080
OLED
display. That’s an improvement over 2020’s
Tiger Lake model
, which had an
IPS
-level screen.
I tested this display by watching The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and was impressed by the color and brightness, but a little disappointed by the screen’s viewing angles and reflectivity. While the red on Falcon’s outfit popped and shadows and other blacks were deep, I found that the image tended to wash out when looking at the screen from over 45 degrees away horizontally. Vertical angles were more generous, but the issue with horizontal angles persisted regardless of whether I watched in a high or low-light environment. I also found that even in low light environments, reflectivity was an issue, as I could frequently see my outline on the screen. Still, this didn’t outweigh the excellent color and brightness for me.
Our testing backed up my experience, with the ZenBook 13’s color only being beaten by the HP Spectre x360 14, which also had an OLED screen when we tested it. The ZenBook’s DCI-P3 color rating was 96.5%, while the Spectre’s was 139.7%. The MacBook Pro M1 had a much lower 78.3% DCI-P3 color rating, while the Dell XPS 13 9310 followed behind with a 69.4% DCI-P3 color rating.
The ZenBook was closer to the bottom of the pack in terms of brightness, though given that all of our competitors were also packing bright screens, this isn’t really a mark of low quality. It had 375 nits of average brightness, which is above the Spectre’s 339 nits, but below the MacBook Pro M1’s 435 nits score. The XPS 13 led the pack with a score of 469 nits, but any of the screens are still plenty bright.
Keyboard and Touchpad on Asus ZenBook 13
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The ZenBook 13 UM325SA boasts a chiclet membrane keyboard that’s not too different from what you’ll find on most other ultraportables, but is nonetheless comfortable to use thanks to a slight angle and a cushiony feeling on keypresses.
The Zenbook’s lid is designed to lift its keyboard off your desk at up to a three-degree angle when opened, and while it doesn’t sound like much, that slight elevation helps for both comfort and typing accuracy. I wasn’t any faster than my typical 75 words-per-minute when typing on this keyboard, but I did find myself making fewer typos and my fingers didn’t feel as strained.
That comfort comes from keypresses that feel satisfyingly soft and pillowy, as well as wide keycaps that keep your fingers from feeling cramped or getting lost.
What’s perhaps more interesting than the keyboard is the touchpad, which is a generous 5.1 x 2.5 inches. It uses precision drivers and is perfectly smooth yet has enough friction for precise input, plus it tracks multi-touch gestures without issue. But that’s not what makes it interesting. What stands out here is the toggle-able touchscreen numpad built into it.
By holding the touchpad’s top-right corner for about a second, a numpad overlay will appear on the touchpad. You can still move your mouse cursor as usual in this mode, but you’ll also be able to tap on the overlay to input numbers as well as simple arithmetic commands like addition, subtraction and multiplication. Further, by swiping the touchpad’s top-left corner, your laptop will automatically open the calculator app.
This isn’t our first time seeing these features on a ZenBook, but they still remain novel here. The idea is to make up for the keyboard’s lack of a number pad, but unfortunately, this solution leaves much to be desired. The simplest issue is that touch input is unreliable and often requires users to self-correct by looking at what they’re touching. It also tends to lack comfort due to a lack of tactile feedback. Those two problems take away the major strengths tenkeys tend to have over number rows, but they’re not the only issue here.
While the numpad shortcut works well enough, the swipe to either bring up or dismiss the calculator can be finicky, and it’s not too unusual for it to not register a few times before working. It’s also unusual from a user experience perspective that the calculator shortcut uses a different input method than the numpad, and that the logo indicating where to swipe bears no resemblance to a calculator, but instead looks more like a social media share button.
While you can safely ignore the touch-based numpad without losing any utility over competitors, it doesn’t add much convenience to the device and comes across like a gimmick. At the very least, it does result in a larger touchpad than usual.
Audio on Asus ZenBook 13
The Asus ZenBook 13 UM325S comes with bottom-firing Harman Kardon speakers. And despite the ultrabook’s small size, they work well for both bass and volume.
I tested the ZenBook’s speakers by listening to Blinding Lights by The Weeknd, and they got loud enough at max volume to fill my whole 2-bedroom apartment, even through doors. Bass was also plenty present, capturing both the song’s drum beats and low synth without losing too much information. I couldn’t exactly feel it in my chest, but I also didn’t feel like part of the song was getting cut or drastically losing its impact, which is impressive on a laptop this size.
Unfortunately, the compromise here is that high notes did tend to get a little tinny as the volume got louder. While I had a decent listening experience at volumes lower than 60%, the distortion became noticeable and eventually annoying as I got higher than that level.
There’s also DTS audio software on board that lets you swap between different presets for music, movies and games, and lets you access a custom mode to boost certain parts of your audio like treble and bass. This mostly tended to affect sound mixing rather than quality, but helped me keep my general system volume down, which reduced tinniness to a minimum.
Upgradeability of Asus ZenBook 13
The ZenBook line has a history of being difficult to upgrade, and that’s the case here as well. That’s because some of the screws you’d need to remove to open up the device are hidden under the laptop’s feet. There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to get these feet back on after removal, so we skipped opening up the laptop for this review.
When we reached out to Asus, we were told that the ZenBook 13 UM325SA uses soldered RAM, though you can access and swap out the M.2 SSD if you wish.
However, given that you might end up having to replace your laptop’s feet in the process, we’d suggest being careful about your configuration choices before buying.
Battery Life of Asus ZenBook 13
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The ZenBook 13 UM325SA enjoyed a long 13 hours and 36 minute battery life in our benchmark, which continuously streams video, browses the web and runs OpenGL tests over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness. That put it well above the HP Spectre x360 14’s 7:14 score and the Dell XPS 13 9310’s 11:07, with only the MacBook Pro M1 beating it. That laptop lasted for 16:32.
Heat on Asus ZenBook 13
We took the ZenBook’s temperature after 15 minutes of YouTube videos, and found that the touchpad registered 73.4 degrees Celsius (164.12 Fahrenheit), the center of the keyboard between the G and H keys hit 83.3 degrees Celsius (181.94 Fahrenheit) and the laptop’s underside was mostly 84.7 degrees Celsius (184.46 Fahrenheit).
That said, the underside as a whole has a lot of surface area, and its rear-center (just in front of its underside vent) did hit 94.6 degrees Celsius (202.28 Fahrenheit).
Webcam on Asus ZenBook 13
The ZenBook 13 UM325SA has a single 720p webcam with IR capability for Windows Hello. While it has strong color accuracy, I found that photos I took with it suffered from low quality and a lot of artifacting. It also didn’t adjust well to heavy or low light.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The colors were natural, but it still almost feels as if I have a filter on. I’d be nervous taking an important work call on this device.
Software and Warranty of Asus ZenBook 13
The Asus ZenBook 13 UM325SA comes with minimal utility software, excluding the extended McAfee total protection trial that’s turned on by default when you get the system. We uninstalled this fairly early on, as some antivirus programs can lower benchmark performance.
Aside from that, you have DTS audio processing for swapping between different presets that tune the speakers for music, movies or gaming. You also have AMD Radeon software, where you can adjust your PC’s power mode, view usage stats for different components and launch games.
Most of Asus’ utility software limited to the MyAsus app, which lets you run diagnostics, troubleshoot, perform updates and the like, all from one place.
There’s also typical Windows pack-ins like Spotify, the weather app, and Microsoft Solitaire Collection.
Configurations of Asus ZenBook 13
We reviewed the ZenBook 13 UM325SA with a Ryzen 7 5800U processor, integrated Radeon Vega graphics, a 13.3-inch 1920 x 1080 OLED display, 16GB of LPDDR4X-3733 memory and a 1TB M.2 SSD. That’s the top configuration for the AMD version of this laptop.
Official pricing info is still a little undefined at the moment, though we’ve been told that the price range for this line of Zenbooks is $750 – $1000. We’d assume that our laptop would come in closer to the top of that range. CPU options for this laptop include the Ryzen 5 5500U, the Ryzen 5 5600U, the Ryzen 7 5700U and the Ryzen 7 5800U. Some of those CPUs are split between the UM325UA and UM325SA models, though there isn’t much difference on these devices other than that CPU selection.
You can also choose to lower your RAM and SSD capacities for a cheaper price, although Asus hasn’t given us details on available options as of publishing.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
AMD’s Ryzen processors have, as of late, had a reputation for strong productivity performance and value, and those features stand out in how the latest Asus ZenBook 13 leverages the new Ryzen 5800U chip. Despite costing a maximum of $1,000 at its highest configuration, it easily stands above Intel Tiger Lake competitors that reach as high as $1,600, all while touting a gorgeous OLED display.
In our productivity tests, the only ultraportable that beat the ZenBook 13 was the M1-equipped MacBook Pro 13, which we tested in an $1,899 configuration (and starts at $1,299). Yet despite costing slightly more than half of that price tag, the ZenBook was still in the MacBook’s general range, and never once lost to an Intel competitor.
Granted, some of those Intel competitors have special features. The HP Spectre x360 14 is a convertible, and the Dell XPS 13 has a premium design and a 1920 x 1200 resolution. But they also perform worse while costing more, and even though this ZenBook is still largely plain when it comes to bonuses, it does have a beautiful new OLED display.
There are a few quibbles here and there, like the slim port selection or the near-useless touch-based numpad. But overall, this device is the definition of punching above your weight class.
Demand for PCs in the second quarter continues to be high amid chip shortages, which constrains manufacturers’ ability to fulfill orders. A new report from Taiwan indicates that some vendors are projected to see shipments fall short of orders by 30% to 50% in Q2 2021.
According to an IDC report, sales of PCs increased by over 55% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2021. Large PC makers have increased their unit sales by well over 50% (with Apple’s shipments increasing by 111.5% YoY). In contrast, smaller makers enjoyed ‘only’ 50% growth, which is explainable as it is easier for large PC makers to procure components that are in short supply due to their volume of scale and buying power.
But apparently, demand for PCs is so high that some notebook makers expect their shipments to fall short of orders by 30% to 50% in the second quarter, according to DigiTimes. Manufacturers naturally prioritize higher-end models, so supplies of inexpensive machines, such as entry-level Chromebooks for education customers, will remain constrained in the second quarter. Meanwhile, 43.8% of Japan’s GIGA School project shipments were Chrome OS-based, followed by Apple MacOS and Microsoft Windows-powered machines.
Taiwanese PC makers now expect supply constraints to persist in the second half of the year as the PC industry has to compete against cars and smartphone producers that also need chips and other components, which will naturally increase the prices of computers.
Interestingly, to secure the supply of hard-to-find components, some vendors even acquire stakes in their suppliers. For example, Acer Group recently invested $53 million in display driver IC supplier FocalTech Systems and now holds a 3.58% stake in the company.
More bad news for the prospective PC builder comes out of Taiwanese research institute TrendForce, which is predicting a rise in DRAM prices of between 18 and 23% for the second quarter of 2021.
(Image credit: TrendForce)
While negotiations between OEMs and resellers are still ongoing, TrendForce is predicting a quarter-on-quarter price increase of 25% on 8GB DDR4 2666MHz modules, higher than expected. DRAM modules continue to be in short supply, partly due to the global chip shortage, and partly thanks to many people buying new machines to work from home during the pandemic. All kinds of RAM are affected, from mobile DRAM, GDDR modules for graphics cards, and server DRAM, which is closely related to home PC RAM and therefore more easily affected by price rises.
The second quarter of the financial year is often the peak season for laptop production, and TrendForce’s figures predict a 7.9% increase in the manufacture of laptops by major manufacturers this year, which will put more pressure on supplies of RAM and increase the price by 23 – 28% in 2Q21.
And the worst thing is it’s all likely to carry on this way for some time. Server RAM, under pressure thanks to a boom in cloud computing linked to the pandemic, will see another rise in demand, putting manufacturers in an advantageous position as they negotiate with the AIB makers. The price of server RAM could rise by 25% next quarter, TrendForce forecasts.
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On paper, the Surface Laptop 4 is a Surface Laptop 3 with better chips.
In look and feel, very little has changed from the last generation. Sure, there are differences here and there: the Laptop 4 is ever-so-slightly thinner, and there’s a new “Ice Blue” color option. But you get the same 3:2 touchscreen, the same port selection, and the same design.
The big changes are on the inside. You can configure both the 13.5-inch and 15-inch Surface Laptop models with either Intel’s 11th-Gen processors or AMD’s Ryzen 4000 processors. Microsoft promised that these improvements would deliver significantly better performance and battery life than the previous Surface generation.
So this review will largely focus on the new system’s performance. But my priority wasn’t to compare the 15-inch Surface Laptop 4 that we received to its predecessor. For one, the Laptop 3 set a low performance bar — it had mediocre battery life, and couldn’t even play a 4K 60FPS video without stuttering, so even a competent budget laptop would blow that out of the water. But more importantly, there’s another company out there that recently made a huge chip upgrade to its flagship models, which has left most other 2020 chip upgrades in the dust: Apple, with its Arm-based M1. So my big question when looking at AMD’s new Ryzen 7 Surface Edition (also known as the AMD Ryzen 7 4980U Microsoft Surface Edition because of course it is) is: Does it beat Apple’s M1?
The answer is no. For the most part, it’s still not quite as good. But that may not matter to Surface Laptop 4 buyers — at least, not yet.
First, a quick tour of the Ryzen 7 Surface Edition. This chip isn’t AMD’s top gun; it’s part of the Ryzen 4000 generation, and the Ryzen 5000 mobile series has been out for a few months now. It’s a bit disappointing to see that the Surface is still using the older Ryzen chips, since much of the new generation is based on a new architecture (Zen 3, to the 4000 series’s Zen 2) that has delivered performance gains.
Of course, that doesn’t make the Ryzen 7 4980U a bad chip. Ryzen 4000 chips outperform Intel’s 10th Gen Comet Lake processors across the board. The 4980U in particular has eight cores, and AMD’s excellent Radeon integrated graphics. Note that the M1 also has eight cores, but those cores aren’t created equal. An easy way to think of it is that AMD’s chip has eight all-around-pretty-good cores, while Apple’s chip has four high-performance cores and four weaker cores. You’ll see that difference reflected in our benchmark results later on.
In addition to that processor, the 15-inch Surface Laptop 4 I reviewed comes with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It costs $1,699. The most comparable M1 MacBook Pro is also $1,699. If you’re not looking to spend that much, you can get the 15-inch Laptop 4 for as low as $1,299 for 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, which puts it neck-in-neck with the entry-level MacBook Pro, but with a bigger screen. The 13.5-inch Laptop 4 is priced more closely to the fanless MacBook Air, starting at $999 for a Ryzen 5 4680U, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. Then, there are the Intel models. You can get a 13.5-inch system with a Core i5 starting at $1,299 (also with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage), and a 15-inch system with a Core i7 starting at $1,799 (16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage). It’s all quite confusing, so I recommend visiting Microsoft’s site for yourself to mix and match.
The 13.5-inch model comes in Platinum, Ice Blue Alcantara, Matte Black, and Sandstone. The 15-incher comes in Platinum and Matte Black.
To see how our test system stacks up, I ran various synthetic benchmarks as well as a 5-minute, 33-second 4K video export in Premiere Pro. See the results below:
Surface Laptop 4 15-inch benchmarks
Benchmark
Score
Benchmark
Score
Cinebench R23 Multi
8144
Cinebench R23 Single
1242
Cinebench R23 Multi looped for 30 minutes
8077
Geekbench 5 CPU Multi
7028
Geekbench 5 CPU Single
1163
Geekbench 5 OpenCL / Compute
14393
PugetBench for Premiere Pro
176
Right off the bat, this system is a huge improvement over the Surface Laptop 3. It took 16 minutes and 33 seconds on the video export, where its predecessor took over three hours. (16:33 is a slower time than we’ve seen from many Intel models, but that’s expected since AMD chips don’t support Intel’s Quick Sync.) The Laptop 4 also beats multi-core synthetic results we’ve seen from Intel’s top Tiger Lake chips in the MSI Prestige 14 Evo and the Vaio Z, as well as the 16-inch Intel-based MacBook Pro,
Intel models max out at a quad-core Core i7-1185G7.
But the more interesting comparison is to the M1 machines. The Surface Laptop 4 solidly beats both the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air on Cinebench R23 Multi, and that task alone — it lost to both machines on every other test we ran, including all three Geekbench tests, the Puget for Premiere Pro benchmark, and the Premiere Pro export. That may seem confusing but (again) it makes sense when you think about the architecture of both chips — the Ryzen chip does better on the task where it can show off all eight of its powerful cores. That indicates that you’ll do well with the Surface Book if you’re running heavy multicore workloads, where you’re more suited to the M1 if you’re primarily doing pretty much anything else.
Of course, that’s far from the whole story. The reality is that most people who want a 15-inch screen probably don’t care if there’s a better-performing 13-inch machine floating around. And the MacBook that’s comparable in size — the MacBook Pro 16 — is significantly more expensive than the Surface Laptop 4, and comes with older Intel chips. So why am I comparing this device to M1 systems, you may ask? Really, I’m benching this laptop against an imaginary 16-inch M1 MacBook Pro, which (rumor has it) will launch sometime in the third quarter of this year. Given the results I’m seeing here, the release of a machine like that would make the Surface Laptop 4 a tougher purchase to justify.
That said, there are two big advantages the Ryzen-powered Surface Laptop 4 could very well have over a 16-inch M1 MacBook. The first is battery life. I got an average of 10 hours and 52 minutes using this device as my primary driver, which is some of the best battery life I’ve ever seen from a 15-inch laptop, and one of the best results I’ve seen from a laptop this year. That beats both of the M1 MacBooks, and destroys the 16-inch Intel MacBook as well. If there’s an area where Microsoft really makes its case, it’s here.
The Laptop 4 also knocks cooling out of the park. The Laptop 4’s fans did a really excellent job cooling the system. Throughout my fairly standard load of office multitasking (including around a dozen Chrome tabs, Spotify streaming, and the like), the chassis remained downright cold. During the more intense tests I ran, the CPU remained steadily in the mid-70s (Celsius) with occasional spikes up to the mid-80s — jumps up to 90 were rare. I was able to run our 4K video export several times in a row without any negative impact on results, and I didn’t see a huge dip in Cinebench results over a 30-minute loop either.
The screen maxed out at 370 nits — a bit dim for outdoor use, as you can see here.
If you’re a fan of the 15-inch Surface Laptop’s design, you’ll be happy to know it hasn’t changed much. One of the big advantages of this device is how thin and light it is, at just 0.58 inches thick and 3.4 pounds. For context, it’s almost a pound lighter than the 16-inch MacBook Pro, and over half a pound lighter than the lightest Dell XPS 15. It’s actually only a bit heavier than the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
With that said, those who aren’t diehard Surface fans may find the Laptop 4’s design a tad dated. In particular, the bezels around the 3:2 screen are quite chunky. That makes sense on a convertible device like the Surface Book 3 or the Surface Pro 7, which you need to be able to hold as a tablet, but doesn’t fit as well on a clamshell. If you put the Laptop 4 next to any member of the XPS line, you’ll see how much sleeker and more modern the latter looks. That doesn’t mean the Laptop 4 is ugly; it’s just falling further behind other Windows laptops each year.
The port selection is also the same, which is good news and bad news. The Laptop 4 retains a USB-A port, which I stubbornly believe is still a necessity for modern laptops (looking at you, Apple and Dell). But there is just one, and neither the Intel or AMD model supports Thunderbolt on their lone USB-C ports, which is disappointing on a laptop at this price. The Surface Laptop could certainly do with more port options, even if it’s competitive with what Apple and Dell are offering in terms of numbers. (In addition to the USB-A and USB-C, you get a headphone jack and Microsoft’s proprietary charging port.)
The Windows Hello webcam is fine, delivering a serviceable picture, and the dual far-field microphones had no trouble picking up my voice. The speakers, which now support Dolby Atmos 9, sound quite clear, with good volume and bass and percussion that are audible (though not booming). Despite having Atmos speakers, our Laptop 4 unit didn’t come preloaded with Dolby Atmos software or anything similar to tune the audio.
All 15-inch models have an aluminum body.
My least favorite part of this laptop is the keyboard. It’s just a bit flat and mushy for my taste. I respect that some people prefer wider, flatter keycaps, of course. But I would take an XPS 15, MacBook, or Surface Book keyboard over this one — it’s just not quite as snappy or satisfying.
Overall, it’s tough to identify a true competitor to the 15-inch Surface Laptop 4. Put it next to a Windows workstation like the $1,200 entry-level Dell XPS 15 and the Surface wins on power, battery life, and weight. It’s a good purchase for someone who wants an excellent combination of efficiency and multicore performance in a 15-inch chassis, but doesn’t need the grunt of a discrete GPU.
The keyboard is backlit and has 1.3 mm of travel.
But that window of opportunity may be closing, because there’s very likely a larger M1 MacBook Pro on the way. I think there’s a good argument that people in the group described above (who don’t need a device right this second) should sit back and wait to see what Apple does in the next few months before committing to Microsoft’s machine, provided they don’t have a hard preference for operating systems.
On the other hand, even if the larger MacBook Pro is spectacular, there are some advantages the Laptop 4 will certainly retain (it runs Windows, and it’s built like a Surface Laptop) and some it will probably retain (it’ll likely be lighter than the MacBook Pro 16). And, of course, plenty of people need a laptop right now. In today’s market, among today’s 15-inch laptops, the Surface Laptop 4 is a pretty damn good buy. Microsoft didn’t change much about the outside — but on the inside, it really pulled through.
Microsoft is testing out a new performance mode for its Edge browser. The new mode is available to some testers using the Microsoft Edge Canary version of the browser, and others can enable it manually with a flag. “Performance mode helps you optimize speed, responsiveness, memory, CPU and battery usage,” says Microsoft. “Performance improvements might vary depending on your individual specifications and browser habits.”
It’s not clear exactly how the performance mode changes Edge, but it does affect the Sleeping Tabs feature. If you enable performance mode then the Sleeping Tabs timeout will be locked to five minutes. Microsoft introduced sleeping tabs in Edge earlier this year, allowing the browser to automatically release system resources for inactive tabs when you have a number of tabs open, which helps new tabs run better or stop the browser from hogging memory and CPU resources in the background.
Performance mode in Edge will likely prove most useful for laptop users, as browsers can often have a big impact on battery life. Google has also been working on improving Chrome performance and battery usage over the past six months. An update in November significantly improved CPU usage, and an update earlier this year improved RAM and GPU usage.
Home/Tech News/Annual Awards/Vote in the KitGuru Reader Survey and win a Zotac ZBox Magnus One w/ RTX 3070
Andrzej 7 hours ago Annual Awards, Featured Announcement, Tech News
Once a year, we ask you, our readers, to tell us what’s hot and what’s not in our unique KitGuru Reader Survey. This year, Zotac has offered up a stunning prize for one lucky participant to win: a very special ‘barebones’ PC that comes complete with an Intel Core i7-10700 processor and an Nvidia RTX 3070 graphics card – which is about as rare as it gets these days. This PC is worth £1,300 and one lucky winner will be gaming on it before the end of May!
For your chance to win this amazing prize, we encourage you to spend 5 minutes sharing your thoughts about PC hardware in our reader survey. You’ll have the chance to enter your details for the prize draw at the end, but you don’t have to.
KitGuru works hard to deliver the content you love – and this survey helps us understand what you really want to read more about. Remember: You can answer as many or as few questions as you like – so feel free to skip any bits that are not relevant for you.
You can do the survey on a smartphone – but it is much quicker/easier on a PC/laptop!
To enter, just click here or on the image of the ZOTAC ZBOX MAGNUS ONE… and remember, this comes with an RTX 3070!
KitGuru says: We really appreciate you taking the time to complete this survey. You can answer as few or as many questions as you like. We will stop counting on 2nd of May and announce the winner within 14 days. Don’t worry, your contact info won’t be stored longer than necessary for us to pick a winner. You can enter from anywhere. Good luck!
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There’s an Apple event next week, and it’s looking fairly likely that we’ll see updated models of the iPad Pro and perhaps the iPad Mini.
Which is great, because it made me think about the Eee PC, which was either one of the greatest short-lived success stories in tech history or a collective delusion shared by a handful of late 2000s tech bloggers that never actually happened.
The Eee PC 701SDX. It had an SD card slot, and an X.
There were two products that arrived in 2007 that fundamentally changed computing: one, of course, was the iPhone. The second, obviously more important product was the $399 Eee PC 701. It originally ran a custom Linux operating system that reviewers loved (Laptop Mag’s Mark Spoonauer said it was “ten times simpler to use than any Windows notebook”) and was generally heralded as a new kind of computer with tremendous mass appeal. Spoonauer: “Pound for pound, the best value-priced notebook on the planet.”
Again, this was a weirdo little two-pound plastic laptop that ran a custom Linux distro that was basically a front for various websites. (We hadn’t invented the phrase “cloud services” yet.)
Windows getting shown up by Linux was not allowed, so Microsoft did some Microsoft maneuvering, and by January 2008 the Eee PC was running Windows XP instead. It was also part of a larger category called “netbooks,” and we were all made to know what netbooks were.
This Eee PC ran a “Pine Trail” processor so Joanna photographed it with pine branches. This was state-of-the-art tech blogging in 2009.
A little later, Microsoft created something called Windows 7 Starter, which was a hilarious cut-down version of Windows just for netbooks — you weren’t even allowed to change the desktop background! — and the netbook explosion was unstoppable. My friend (and Verge co-founder) Joanna Stern built the early part of her career obsessively covering netbooks, first at Laptop Mag, then Gizmodo, and then with me at Engadget.
And there was a lot to cover: at one point Joanna noted that Asus had put out at least 20 different models of Eee PC in 2008 alone. And that was just Asus! Dell, HP, Lenovo and others all chased after the netbook idea furiously. Do you remember when the Nokia Booklet 3G was going to reinvent Nokia? You do not, because it didn’t. It was very pretty, though. I asked Joanna about this moment in time, and this is what she sent me:
“I was basically Bono in this ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ video. Eee PC after Eee PC. MSI Wind after MSI Wind. Toshiba whatever it was called after Toshiba whatever it was called. I was constantly looking for a netbook that had a keyboard that didn’t require doll hands, a trackpad that didn’t leave a blister on my thumb, a hard drive that didn’t take three days to open Microsoft Word. It was a constant search for the perfect blend of price, portability and power.”
Joanna then demanded I embed the actual YouTube video of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” which is exactly the sort of “wow that was really important once” energy this blog post needed.
The netbook explosion was all the more odd because every netbook had the same basic specs, as Microsoft charged more for a standard non-Starter Windows license if a computer had anything more than a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. So it was all colors and screen sizes, really. All to run a deeply-annoying version of Windows, on a computer that no one was even remotely claiming could replace a primary PC. By the end of it all, as the chips inevitably got more powerful, enough laptop vendors were telling Joanna that their new netbook-like computers weren’t netbooks that she started calling them “notbooks.”
And then the iPad came out in 2010, and netbooks were inexplicably such a part of the computing vocabulary that Steve Jobs introduced the iPad by explicitly saying that netbooks were bad. “The problem is netbooks aren’t better at anything,” is a real thing Steve Jobs said on stage, in order to clearly distinguish the then-new iPad from netbooks. It was important to him!
Steve Jobs looking forlorn about netbooks while announcing the iPad in 2010
Did any of this even happen? Is this real? I remember it all, but I can’t tell if it meant anything, or if we all just believed Microsoft and Intel were so mysteriously powerful that we had to live in their product frameworks and 160GB of maximum hard drive space. Did anyone actually buy a netbook? The only people I ever met who had netbooks were other tech writers; at one memorable trade show my colleague Adi Robertson showed up with both a gigantic gaming laptop and a tiny netbook, two laptops both perfectly ill-suited for the tasks at hand.
I asked Joanna, who is now a senior personal technology columnist at the WSJ, about all this, who replied: “Let’s be clear here. Apple’s coming event this week is actually about netbooks. The iPad Pro is an outgrowth of the netbook movement a decade ago.” Was she joking? I don’t know, and she wouldn’t tell me.
Now, of course, there aren’t any netbooks, but everything is a netbook. The iPad is the iPad, with multiple models at various sizes and price points, and a furious ongoing debate about whether it can replace a laptop. (See? It’s a netbook.) We are surrounded by appliance-like cheap computers that run goofy custom interfaces to cloud services on top of open-source operating systems — that’s an Echo Show, or a Google Chromecast, or even an Oculus Quest 2. Netbooks. Intel is badly in need of a reinvention and Windows itself is diminished; Microsoft would happily call its operating system “Azure Edge” if anyone would go along for that kind of ride.
We already knew Acer was working on the first two Chrome OS devices powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7c chips. And today, the company has released two product listings for its Chromebook Spin 513, but you can’t buy this laptop just yet.
As spotted by AboutChromebooks, the Chromebook Spin 513 with the Snapdragon 7c processor has two configuration listings that have appeared on Acer’s website, with a starting price of $479.99. Acer announced in October that the Chromebook Spin would start at $399.99. Additionally, both laptops also do not show 4G LTE for connectivity, which is something that was noted to be a configuration option.
The key difference between the two is the RAM configuration, which is only a $20 price difference. Although the product listing for both Chromebooks include a “Buy Now” button, it is still not available for purchase yet.
The Snapdragon 7c is an entry-level mobile processor that’s built on an 8nm process. Although it is one of the weaker laptop CPUs, the company claims the biggest benefit for devices powered by this processor is a longer battery life; Acer claims its Chromebook devices powered by the Snapdragon 7c will offer a 14-hour battery life.
Samsung has announced a new Galaxy Unpacked event set for April 28th at 10AM ET, teasing the announcement of “the most powerful Galaxy” device.
The teaser, as is typical for these invitations, isn’t too forthcoming. But given the nature of the announcement and Samsung’s usual release cycle, there are a few hints we can suss out.
First, the description of whatever Samsung is announcing as “the most powerful Galaxy” would seem to rule out a phone, like the rumored Galaxy Z Fold 3. The most generous depiction of a mobile processor — even one as powerful as Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 888 — still isn’t in the same ballpark as a true laptop processor. And despite recent headlines, Samsung is still rumored to reveal the Z Fold 3 at a July event, potentially a replacement for the Galaxy Note’s high-end summer phone release spot.
Samsung’s Galaxy Book lineup of laptops, on the other hand, would fit the bill for a more powerful Galaxy device — and is long overdue for an update. The current models were announced all the way back in 2019 (although they didn’t hit US stores until May of last year), and they still feature Intel’s long-outdated 10th Gen processors. A Galaxy Book refresh that featured some of Intel’s new 11th Gen Tiger Lake chips — or even Intel’s newer 35W H-series variants — would easily take the crown as the new “most powerful” Galaxy product.
Oh, and Samsung is already rumored to be working on a new Galaxy Book Pro line of laptops, which would feature 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch OLED panels, S-Pen support, and upgraded Intel CPUs. One of the new models — the Galaxy Book Pro 360 — is also said to include 5G compatibility.
Lastly, if you wanted to get really creative, the glowing wedge of light seen in the invitation does sort of resemble an opened laptop (if you’re willing to squint a bit). We’ll find out for sure on April 28th, though — assuming one of Samsung’s characteristic leaks doesn’t arrive first.
Nvidia this week introduced a host of professional graphics solutions for desktops and laptops, which carry the Nvidia RTX A-series monikers and do not use the Quadro branding. The majority of the new units are based on the Ampere architecture and therefore bring the latest features along with drivers certified by developers of professional software.
Nvidia started to roll-out its Ampere architecture to the professional market last October when it announced the Nvidia RTX A6000 graphics card based on the GA102 GPU with 10,752 CUDA cores and 48GB of memory. The graphics board costs $4,650 and is naturally aimed at high-end workstations that cost well over $10,000. To address market segments with different needs, Nvidia this week introduced its RTX A5000 and RTX A4000 professional graphics cards.
(Image credit: Nvidia)
The Nvidia RTX A5000 sits below the RTX A6000 but has the exact same feature set, including support for 2-way multi-GPU configurations using NVLink as well as GPU virtualization, so it can be installed into a server and used remotely by several clients (or used in regular desktop machines). The RTX A5000 is based the GA102 GPU and is equipped with 24GB of GDDR6 memory with ECC. The RTX A5000 peaks at 27.8 FP32 TFLOPS, which is nearly 30% below RTX A6000’s 38.7 FP32 TFLOPS, so it likely has far fewer CUDA cores. The board has four DisplayPort 1.4a outputs and comes with a dual-slot blower-type cooler.
Next up is the Nvidia RTX A4000, which is based on the GA104 and carries 16GB of GDDR6 memory with ECC. The product tops at 19.2 FP32 TFLOPS and is designed solely for good-old ‘individual’ workstations. Meanwhile, to keep up with the latest trends towards miniaturization, the RTX A4000 uses a single-slot blower-type cooling system.
Nvidia plans to start shipments of the new RTX A-series professional graphics cards later this month, so expect them in new workstations in May or June.
Mobile Workstations Get Amperes and Some Turings
In addition to new graphics cards for desktop workstation, Nvidia also rolled-out a lineup of mobile Nvidia RTX A-series GPUs that includes four solutions: the RTX A5000 and the RTX A4000 based on the GA104 silicon (just like the RTX 3070/RTX 3080 for laptops), as well as the RTX A2000 based on the GA106 chip (like the RTX 3060 for laptops).
(Image credit: Nvidia)
The higher-end mobile Nvidia RTX A5000 has 6,144 CUDA cores and 16GB GDDR6, and the RTX A4000 has 5,120 CUDA cores and 8 GB GDDR6. These are essentially the mobile GeForce RTX 3080/3070, but with drivers certified by ISVs for professional applications. Performance of these GPUs tops at 21.7 FP32 and 17.8 FP 32 TFLOPS.
By contrast, the RTX A3000 with 4,096 CUDA cores and 6GB of memory seems to be a rather unique solution as it has more execution units than the GeForce RTX 3060, yet it features a similar 192-bit memory interface. As for performance, it will be up to 12.8 FP32 TFLOPS. Meanwhile, the entry-level RTX A2000 with 2,560 CUDA cores and 4GB of GDDR6 memory will offer up to 9.3 FP32 TFLOPS.
(Image credit: Nvidia)
All of these GPUs are rated for a wide TGP range (e.g., the RTX A5000 can be limited to 80W or to 165W) and support Max-Q, Dynamic Boost, and WhisperMode technologies, so expect actual performance of Nvidia’s RTX A-series GPUs to vary from design to design, just like it happens with their GeForce RTX counterparts.
Nvidia expects its partners among manufacturers of mobile workstations to adopt its new RTX A-series solutions this quarter.
Some New Turings Too
In addition to new Ampere-based professional graphics solutions for desktops and laptops, Nvidia also introduced its T1200 and T600 laptop GPUs that also come with drivers certified by developers of professional applications. These products use unknown Turing silicon and are mostly designed to replace integrated graphics, so they do not feature very high performance and lack RT as well as Tensor cores.
Microsoft today announced the next iteration of its Surface laptop, the Surface Laptop 4. It will start at $999 when it goes on sale on April 15. Perhaps its biggest selling point is choice, with options for both 11th Gen Intel Core processors or an 8-core AMD Ryzen (again called the Microsoft Surface Edition).
Both the 13.5-inch and 15-inch version of the Surface Laptop 4 will offer Intel and AMD options. This is a change from the Surface Laptop 3, which offered Intel in the 13.5-incher and
AMD in the 15-incher
(with the exception of business models).
Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (13.5-inches)
Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (15-inches)
CPU
Up to AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition R5 4680U (8 cores), Up to Intel Core i7-1185G7
Up to AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition R7 4980U ( 8 cores), Up to Intel Core i7-1185G7
Graphics
AMD Radeon RX Graphics or Intel Xe Graphics
AMD Radeon RX Graphics or Intel Xe Graphics
RAM
Up to 16GB (AMD), Up to 32GB (Intel), LPDDR4X 3,733 MHz
Up to 16GB (AMD, DDR4, 2,400 MHz), up to 32GB (Intel, LPDDR4, 3,733 MHz)
Storage
Up to 256GB (AMD), Up to 1TB (Intel)
Up to 512GB (AMD), Up to 1TB (Intel)
Display
13.5-inch PixelSense display, 2256 x 1504, 3:2
15-inch PixelSense display, 2496 x 1664, 3:2
Networking
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.0
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.0
Starting Price
$999 (AMD), $1,299 (Intel)
$1,299 (AMD), $1,799 (Intel)
The design of the Surface Laptop 4 is largely unchanged, with a 3:2 touchscreen display with 201 pixels per inch, options for Alcantara fabric or a metal deck. There is, however, one new color, ice blue, which debuted on the Surface Laptop Go last year.
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(Image credit: Microsoft)
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(Image credit: Microsoft)
Many of the biggest changes can’t be seen. For the first time, Microsoft is offering a 32GB RAM option on the Surface Laptop (with an Intel Core i7 at 1TB of RAM on both sizes). The company is claiming up to 19 hours of battery life on the smaller device with an AMD Ryzen 5 or 17 hours with a Core i7. On the bigger size, it’s suggesting up to 17.5 hours with an AMD Ryzen 7 and 16.5 hours with Intel Core i7. Microsoft is also claiming a 70% performance increase, though it doesn’t say with which processor.
The new AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition chips are based on Ryzen 4000 and Zen 2, rather than Ryzen 5000 and Zen 3, which is just rolling onto the market. We understand Microsoft’s chips are somewhat customized, including frequencies similar to the newer chips. But these new processors should, in theory, lead to increased stability and battery life.
While Microsoft is being more flexible on allowing both Intel and AMD options on both size machines, you won’t find them with identical specs when it comes to RAM and storage. The 13.5-inch laptop will offer Ryzen 5 with 8GB or 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, while the Intel 11th Gen Core process range will include a Core i5/8GB RAM/512GB SSD option to start, as well as both Core i5 and Core i7 models with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage and a maxxed out version with a Core i7, 32GB of RAM and 1TB storage drive. The Ryzzen versions only come in platinum, while all but the top-end Intel model also include ice blue, sandstone and black.
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(Image credit: Microsoft)
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(Image credit: Microsoft)
On the 15-inch model, you can get a Ryzen 7 with 8GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage, or an R7 with 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD. For intel, You can choose between an Intel Core i7 with either 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage or 32GB of memory and 1TB of storage. These only come in platinum and black.
Commercial models will add more configurations for businesses, including a 13.5-inch model with 512GB of storage and a Ryzen processor. Overall, there are a lot of configurations, so hopefully people are able to find what they want. But there are definitely more options on the Intel side of the Surface fence.
The port situation is largely the same as last year, including USB Type-A, USB Type-C, a headphone jack and the Surface Connect port. Microsoft still isn’t going with Thunderbolt, and will be using USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 on both the Intel and AMD models. The replaceable SSD is back, though Microsoft continues to state that it isn’t user serviceable, and that it should only be removed by authorized technicians.
It’s been a long wait for the Surface Laptop 4. The Surface Laptop 3 was introduced at an event in October 2019 and went on sale that November. Last year, Microsoft revealed the cheaper, smaller Surface Laptop Go but didn’t update the flagship clamshell. We’ll go hands on with the Surface Laptop 4, so let’s hope the wait was worth it.
Microsoft is also revealing a slew of accessories designed for virtual work. They include the $299.99 Surface Headphones 2+ for Business, which is certified for Microsoft Teams with a dongle, shipping this month; Microsoft Modern USB and wireless headsets ($49.99 and $99.99, respectively, releasing in June); the Microsoft Modern USB-C Speaker ($99.99, releasing in June); and the Microsoft Modern webcam, a $69.99 camera with 1080p video, HDR and a 78-degree field of view that will go on sale in June.
Dell’s Inspiron line-up of mid-range casual use case laptops is a bit confusing right now. There’s lots of model numbers, a lot of similar colors, the latest Inspiron 13 is only available as a convertible, and certain current Inspiron 15 models uniquely have a somewhat bulkier and older looking design. To address this issue, Dell announced today that it’s now ditching model numbers and universalizing a single design across the Inspiron laptop family, with one exception — the brand new Inspiron 16 Plus. It’s also giving us a laptop version of the 11th gen Inspiron 13, and a convertible version of the Inspiron 14.
(Image credit: Dell)
The design Dell’s opted for is already available on certain Inspiron 14 and 15 models, and seems to take cues from the more premium XPS line. It’s got thin bezels around its screen, plus a lid that lifts that keyboard up at a slight angle when you open the laptop. It comes across as significantly more modern than the design you’ll see on lower model numbers for the current set of Inspiron 15s, which have a much thicker bezel and don’t lift the keyboard up when you open them.
Inspiron 13
Inspiron 14
Inspiron 14 2-in-1
Inspiron 15
Inspiron 16 Plus
CPU
Up to 11th Gen Intel Core i7
Up to Intel 11th Gen Intel Core i7 or Up to AMD Ryzen 7 5700U
Up to Intel 11th Gen Intel Core i7 or Up to AMD Ryzen 7 5700U
Up to Intel 11th Gen Intel Core i7 or Up to AMD Ryzen 7 5700U
11th Gen Intel Core H-Series
GPU
Intel Iris Xe
Intel Iris Xe or Intel UHD or Integrated Radeon Graphics or Nvidia GeForce MX450
Intel Iris Xe or Intel UHD or Integrated Radeon Graphics or Nvidia GeForce MX450
Intel Iris Xe or Intel UHD or Integrated Radeon Graphics or Nvidia GeForce MX450
Nvidia GeForce GTX or RTX
Memory
Up to 16GB LPDDR4x-4267
Up to 32GB DDR4-3200
Up to 16GB DDR4-3200
Up to 32GB DDR4-3200
Up to 32GB DDR4-3200
Storage
Up to 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Up to 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Up to 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Up to 2x 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Up to 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
Display
13.3 inch, Up to 2560 x 1600, VA
14.0 inch, 1920 x 1080, VA
14.0 inch, 1920 x 1080, VA
15.6 inch, 1920 x 1080, Touch optional, VA
16.0 inch, 3072 x 1920, LED
Starting Price
$599
$549
$729
$549
$949
NA Release Date
April 12th (retailers), August 3rd (Direct from Dell)
May 4th
May 4th
May 4th
June 3rd
Also, there are now laptop options available for all sizes, from 13 inch to 16 inch. The Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 is now unfortunately gone, with the non-convertible Inspiron 13 laptop replacing it. However, there will now be a new Inspiron 14 2-in-1 convertible alongside the new Inspiron 14 laptop.
(Image credit: Dell)
There’s also new color options across the whole Inspiron line, including silver, pink, blue and green. Certain colors will be limited to specific regions, models and processor types (Intel and AMD will have separate color options for the Inspiron 14 2-in-1), but that’s still a wider selection than the silver and black we’ve seen so far.
(Image credit: Dell)
Of note here is the new Inspiron 16 Plus, which is the first 16-inch Inspiron. This laptop has a unique design that doesn’t lift the keyboard up, but still has thin bezels. That’s probably due to the laptop’s size and power, as it packs 11th Gen Intel H-Series processors plus either GTX or RTX graphics.
(Image credit: Dell)
For the rest of the Inspirons, except for the Inspiron 13, you’ll have access to 11th Gen Intel processors ranging from Core i3 to Core i7 as well as AMD Ryzen processors ranging from the 5300U to the 5700U. The Inspiron 13 only has Intel processors, also ranging from the Core i3 to the Core i7. All of these models use either integrated graphics or the modest Nvidia GeForce MX450 discrete GPU.
The Inspiron 13 will also uniquely feature a 3:2 aspect ratio (with two different resolution options), while the Inspiron 16 Plus will have a 16:10 aspect ratio. All other models will rely on a traditional 1920 x 1080 screen, although the Inspiron 14 2-in-1 will have a touch screen, as will certain configurations of the Inspiron 15.
Dell has unveiled a new XPS 13 option with an OLED touchscreen that is available for purchase today. The feature will cost an extra $300 over FHD models. (Note: This isn’t a brand-new XPS. It’s just an OLED version of the 9310 that came out last year.)
XPS 13 models start at $999.99 and range as high as $2,199.99, though you can often find them discounted. They can be equipped with up to an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of PCIe SSD storage.
Image: Dell
The Dell XPS 13 is consistently one of the best 13-inch laptops you can buy. It’s currently number six on our best laptop list, and I had very few complaints in my most recent review of the device. It has an excellent, spacious 16:10 display; a solid keyboard and touchpad; great battery life; a compact chassis; and some of the best performance you can find in a 13-inch model.
Image: Dell
You can currently configure the XPS 13 with a 3840 x 2400 touch display, a 1920 x 1200 touch display, or a regular 1920 x 1200 non-touch panel. The new OLED touch model will have 3456 x 2160 resolution (3.5K). Dell says it will reach 400 nits of brightness and will cover 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut.
Here’s what Dell calls the “Inspiron Family”Image: Dell
Dell also announced a number of new additions to its lower-priced Inspiron line. These include an Inspiron 14 2-in-1 that will support both Intel 11th-Gen and AMD Ryzen 5000 mobile processors, and Inspiron 16 Plus workstation with a 3K 16:10 display. The Inpsiron 14 2-in-1 will be available in North America on May 4th starting at $729; the Inspiron 16 Plus hits shelves on June 3rd starting at $949.99.
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