Apple’s new Siri Remote doesn’t come equipped with an accelerometer or gyroscope, which means it won’t work as a motion controller in certain Apple TV games. The omission was initially spotted by Digital Trends, and can be seen on the remotes’ product pages. The old Siri Remote lists an “Accelerometer” and “Three-axis gyro” in the tech specs, but they’re missing from the new listing (we’ve linked to a Google Cache because as of this writing Apple’s store is down ahead of AirTags pre-orders going live).
The change means that the new Siri Remote won’t work with certain Apple TV games that rely on motion controls. According to code in tvOS 14.5 seen by MacRumors, trying to play an incompatible game will lead to the following error message: “To play this game on your Apple TV, you need to connect the Apple TV Remote (1st generation) or a compatible PlayStation, Xbox or MFi controller.” If you’ve got one, you might want to keep an old Siri Remote around for occasions like this.
The lack of motion controls might sound surprising given the new Apple TV box was expected to have a bigger gaming focus, and arrives as Apple Arcade is maturing into a pretty compelling games subscription service. But in recent years Apple has shifted its attention towards more traditional gaming controllers, away from motion controls. It dropped its requirement for games to support the Siri Remote’s motion controls in June 2016 just months after the remote launched alongside the 2015 Apple TV. Then, in June 2019, it announced Apple TV support for Xbox One and PS4 controllers. Support for PS5 and Xbox Series X and S controllers is expected to arrive with tvOS 14.5.
Astell & Kern, highly decorated maker of premium portable high-resolution audio devices, has just introduced the SE180 portable music player. It is the third model in the company’s A&futura series following the inaugural A&futura SE100 and SE200, both of which gained What Hi-Fi? Awards in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
For 2021 however, Astell & Kern is trying something new: the SE180 is its first player to feature interchangeable DAC modules.
Expanding on the multi-DAC innovation first introduced with the SE200, music fans can now customise the sound with different audio-flavoured DACs to find the sonics that best suit their ears.
Furthermore, A&K says the A&futura SE180 is the company’s most advanced player yet. It is the first model to boast the firm’s new Teraton Alpha Sound Solution technology, promising improved audio, an enhanced user interface and advanced connectivity.
(Image credit: Astell & Kern)
The South Korean digital audio specialist says the new user interface is “more consistent with an Android smartphone experience”. There’s also AK File Drop for easier wireless file transfers, BT Sink function for simpler connection of the SE180 to an external Bluetooth device, and, of course, that innovative interchangeable DAC design to boast a new level of audio flexibility for the user.
By physically separating the main body from the all-in-one module, A&K claims that any power and radio frequency noise generated by the main unit is completely blocked. The DAC module should slot easily into place from the top of the player and features a pioneering double-locking mechanism that promises to securely connect each component.
But you don’t have to buy a separate digital-to-analogue converter to get the new SE180 up and running. The A&futura SE180 arrives with a default 8-channel module, the SEM1 ESS ES9038PRO. And it’s no slouch – audio file support is comprehensive, with the SEM1 DAC capable of playing up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and native DSD256 files.
Want to start customising and upgrading though? The SEM2 Asahi Kasei AK4497EQ Dual DAC will be the first optional module available at launch, with the ability to play files up to 32-bit/768kHz PCM and native DSD512.
(Image credit: Astell & Kern)
Both modules support 2.5mm, 3.5mm and 4.4mm headphones connections for accommodating a greater variety of headphones and in-ears, while there is support for MQA playback via downloaded MQA audio files and Tidal.
A&K says the next DAC module will be released later in the year, with another model following in the first half of 2022.
Otherwise, the The A&futura SE180 features a Full HD 5-inch screen, the smooth, aluminium casework and rotary volume dial we’ve come to expect from Astell & Kern devices, plus a 256GB on-board memory that can be expanded up to 1TB via a microSD card slot.
The Astell & Kern A&futura SE180 with the SEM1 ESS ES9038PRO DAC module is priced £1399 ($1499, €1599) and will be available from May. The optional Astell&Kern SEM2 DAC (Asahi Kasei AK4497EQ Dual DAC Module) is priced £319 ($349, €379) and will also be available from May.
MORE:
Read all our Astell & Kern reviews
See our pick of the best portable MP3 players 2021: from budget to hi-res music players
Check out the best DACs 2021: USB, portable and desktop DACs
Flagship features and a big, clear screen make this mid-priced mobile a good option for your pocket
For
Good for gaming
Detailed picture performance
Decent built-in speakers
Against
Screen could be subtler
Flat audio performance
Alec Baldwin may be the best known, and arguably most talented, of his siblings but as Trey Parker and Matt Stone once wrote: you know what sucks about being a Baldwin? Nothing! Thankfully for Billy, Daniel, Stephen and the OnePlus 9 smartphone, life always has room for a little brother.
With only two members of the OnePlus 9 family, finding a niche as the more affordable smaller sibling should be no problem at all. The OnePlus 9 is still a big phone and its 6.55-inch display means it can bring some serious scale to your portable viewing.
Not only does the OnePlus 9 have an HDR10+-supporting, 120Hz AMOLED screen, it also has a Hasselblad camera set-up on board too. And it charges so quickly that by the time you remember that you plugged it in, it’s probably full and ready to go.
Granted, there are a few nips and tucks to the specs compared with the OnePlus 9 Pro but, with around a quarter off the Pro’s price tag, this Android handset has the tempting promise of a flagship phone at a mid-range price.
Pricing
The OnePlus 9 is priced at £629 for the Astral Black and Arctic Sky versions, which come with 128GB of storage space and 8GB of RAM in the UK and Europe. The Winter Mist OnePlus 9 is £729 and comes with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM.
In the US, only the Astral Black and Winter Mist finishes are available, but both come with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage. The US OnePlus 9 is priced at $729.
Features
(Image credit: OnePlus)
A phone with a 6.55-inch screen is just about small enough to carry out most of your operations one-handed without fear of dropping it, although swiping from the top and bottom without adjusting your grip makes for some pretty intensive thumb yoga. Laid next to the OnePlus 9 Pro, the standard OnePlus 9 is just 4mm shorter at 160mm long and a little thinner at 8.7mm rather than 9mm, but has the same 74mm width.
Despite its fibreglass polymer frame, the finish still feels premium for a non-metal phone. The three-way sliding switch for the silent, vibrate and ring profiles is a particularly nice touch. Underneath that, there is the power button, on the opposite side is the volume rocker with the USB-C port and SIM tray on the bottom edge. Sadly, there’s no 3.5mm headphone socket.
OnePlus 9 tech specs
(Image credit: OnePlus)
Screen 6.55in AMOLED
Resolution 2400 x 1080 (402ppi)
Rear camera 48MP, 50MP, 2MP
Front camera 16MP
Dolby Atmos Yes
Finishes x3
Dimensions (hwd) 16 x 7.4 x 0.9cm
Weight 192g
For wireless audio, there’s Bluetooth 5.2 with aptX and aptX HD included as well as LDAC technology, which allows hi-res audio streaming over Bluetooth at up to 24-bit/96 kHz.
As for that screen, it’s a 2400 x 1080 AMOLED panel with a fixed 120Hz refresh rate and a pixel density of 402ppi. Compared with the 9 Pro (525ppi), it’s a little less sharp and slightly dimmer too, with a peak brightness of 1100nits rather than the 1300nit display on the Pro. On top is a flat piece of Gorilla Glass, under which is a hidden fingerprint reader, though you can also unlock the phone using face recognition.
Those looking to dive into some on-the-go TV and film watching will appreciate the HDR10+ and HDR10 support with plenty of HDR compatibility to be found on Netflix and others. You can play locally stored MKV, MOV, MP4, H.265 (HEVC), AVI and other video file formats. The display proportions offer a maximum possible 20:9 aspect ratio, but while most content is edged by a pair of black bars, premium gaming titles use the whole screen width.
Game Mode Pro is a handy feature of Oxygen OS – an otherwise light skin on top of Android 11. It shuts off notifications from popping up on your screen, restricts background app use to divert as much processing power to your gaming as possible and prioritises your network use for game data. We also like the way it brings quick access to options such as WhatsApp messaging, Instagram and screen recording with a small, pull-down menu at your thumb.
(Image credit: OnePlus)
The gameplay itself is well handled. The fast refresh rate of the display helps your gaming feel lag-free, both on and off-line. OnePlus has installed its Cool Play vapour cooling system, but even after one round of PUBG Mobile, the handset still feels pretty warm.
Despite that, and the fixed 120Hz rate, the 4500mAh battery takes us well beyond a day of heavy use. Should you need to recharge more regularly, you’ll be pleased to note that the Warp 65T charger included in the box takes just under 30 minutes to fill your phone.
As with the OnePlus 9 Pro, owners of this handset benefit from a Hasselblad-calibrated camera array. Here, it is a three-lens set-up, with a main 48MP camera, a 50MP ultrawide and a monochrome shooter, but no telephoto. There is 12-bit colour depth stills imaging available in Pro Mode for RAW files and you can capture 8K video at 30fps and 4K video at 60fps.
Telephoto aside, the performance of the camera is right up there with that of the 9 Pro’s. The optical image stabilisation works a treat for the handheld tracking shots around our test facilities. The results look almost as if they were shot using a camera dolly and there’s the odd jump only with fast pans. The colours are bright and rich, if not quite as real-world accurate as the best smartphones.
As with its bigger brother, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip orchestrates the action with great aplomb. There’s barely a glitch or stutter in our time with the phone and we’d expect it to stay that way with regular updates and fixes to the OS, the UI and third-party apps.
Screen
(Image credit: OnePlus)
If you’re expecting the performance of the OnePlus 9 to match that of the OnePlus 9 Pro, think again – that extra spend goes on more than just an aluminium frame and some curved glass. But there is a lot to like about the OnePlus 9’s picture performance.
It’s easy to lose ourselves in the story of The Witcher in HDR on Netflix. It’s a bright and engaging image with a decent degree of punch and no wanting for detail in light and dark areas of the screen. The opening shots across the shaded interior of a barn reveal lots of detail in the shadows without doing much damage to the black depth. Even when the frame becomes split between that darkness and the bright daylight on the faces of the young lovers outside the barn, the overall exposure levels remain well pitched.
We’re just as pleased with how the OnePlus 9 handles SDR. The Display P3 mode brings a good blend between the natural look of the Missouri countryside and the exciting colours of sci-fi space as we watch Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 in Full HD. If you’d rather not get your hands dirty in the settings, pull the colour temperature towards ‘cold’ or use the Natural preset.
As with the OnePlus 9 Pro, though, there’s room for improvement. The very best handsets maintain a slightly inkier black depth and add a bit more of a dynamic HDR feel, while some displays are a touch more careful with shading. It’s most apparent when looking at faces – the skin complexion of the lovers in The Witcher episode, for example, are fairly uniform in their production, when colour and lighting could be handled a little better.
But these performance compromises are in line with the 9 Pro, which also favours dark detail over black depth. The 9 Pro is sharper, a little brighter and the colours go a touch further before starting to look artificial but, given the difference in price, this is to be expected. The OnePlus 9 still makes for some worthy big-screen viewing at this point in the market.
Sound
(Image credit: OnePlus)
But while the screen can be classed as ‘good’, the audio performance of the OnePlus 9 is firmly in the average category. It plays your favourite tracks faithfully enough but is never going to thrill you. That doesn’t mean that it’s not without its charms, though.
OnePlus’s ‘Dual stereo speaker’ set-up is fine for listening to music or watching a film without headphones. Dialogue is clear and sound effects are identifiable, while music is balanced and not without a sense of presence. We’d recommend listening without the Dolby Atmos music processing, but both ‘Film’ and ‘Music’ modes come across well.
Listening to Biffy Clyro’s Many Of Horror, the OnePlus 9 conveys that powerful sense of emotion. There’s definition and clarity to the vocals and the squeaky slides up the guitar strings of the intro, even if it’s not the most detailed delivery we’ve heard. The volume on the device doesn’t go particularly high but reaches the top with hardly any distortion.
For headphones listening, it’s best to axe the processing and set the OnePlus 9 to ‘None’ under ‘Style Preference’ in the sound settings. It doesn’t do much to make up for this phone’s underwhelming dynamics but keeps music as rhythmic as possible. We play Blue Monday by New Order and the impact of the electro beats and synth sounds is in line with the OnePlus 9 Pro’s performance. The more expensive model has a better stab at organising the sounds but, paired with a decent set of headphones, there’s still plenty to enjoy here.
But with busier tracks, there’s more of a sense of what could have been, sonically. We hit play on Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden, hoping for a taste of moody grunge. But while all the instruments are there and tonally in balance, Chris Cornell’s voice comes across flat and expressionless. Nor is there a change of gear when the drum fills announce the chorus. Ultimately, this phone plugs the music gap while we’re out and about, but not an awful lot more.
Verdict
There aren’t many smartphones that offer so much screen real estate at this price. The fact that it’s such an involving picture performance is a compelling reason to buy the OnePlus 9.
Our doubts are mostly on the audio side, as some rival phones make music on the go a more exciting affair. If you use a dedicated music player or are looking for a mobile phone primarily for its video performance, then don’t let its sonic drawbacks put you off. Between the high-performing chipset, the lag-free gaming, the Hasselblad camera and the scale and quality of the screen, there are plenty of reasons why the OnePlus 9 is a good idea.
They work super well, and they’re one more thing keeping you on the iPhone
I was starting to get really worried that I wouldn’t find my friend.
For this first look at AirTags, I sent Vjeran Pavic off into an unfamiliar city with a single Apple AirTag and no phone, no smartwatch, or any other mode of communication. The challenge was to see if Apple’s Find My system for locating AirTags would be able to lead me to him.
Apple AirTags weren’t designed for an elaborate game of hide-and-seek. They can help you locate anything they’re attached to; most of the time you’ll be listening for their little chirps as you hunt down the keys you inexplicably left sitting on top of the fridge instead of on the hook where they belong. For that purpose they work incredibly well, right on down to a little arrow on the iPhone’s screen pointing in the direction and little haptic taps as encouragement that you’re getting warmer.
But this exercise was a very good stress test for the new $29 iPhone accessory ($99 for a four pack), because it meant that the only chance I had of tracking Vjeran down is if one of the near-billion Find My-enabled devices on the planet happened to pick up the AirTag’s Bluetooth signal and send it back to me.
After a half-hour of walking around, I finally found him. He was standing on a street corner with no foot traffic whatsoever, which meant that the intermittent signals I got detailing his location came from a couple of iPhones in cars that were driving by.
That’s impressive.
AirTags have been rumored for years but never seemed to materialize. They’re really here now and though I wouldn’t go so far as to say they’re worth the wait, I do think Apple has put together a thoughtfully designed system that goes a long way toward ensuring privacy and safety while still making it easier for you to locate your stuff.
AirTags are a very Apple-y Apple product, and that ends up being great but also just a little annoying (and, for third-party companies like Tile, troubling).
AirTags
The basics of AirTags are simple enough to understand: each one is a tiny little puck with a Bluetooth Low Energy radio and a U1 ultra-wideband (UWB) chip. You pair it with your iPhone just like you do with AirPods, holding it nearby and then tapping through a short setup process. After that, they’re available in a new “Items” tab in the Find My app.
From the app, you can set the AirTags to chirp, mark them as lost (which enables some different features), or just tap the button that lets you locate them in space. If you have an iPhone with UWB, it can locate the AirTag in physical space and point a little arrow at it when you get within four feet or so. It all works very well and is very satisfying.
From a design perspective, an AirTag is classic Apple. It’s a white and shiny silver little button, and you can have custom emoji or letters printed on the plastic. They are as cute as the buttons they resemble.
However, you’ll soon find the plastic is scuffed and the chrome on the back is scratched. Sincerely, do not expect these to stay looking pristine for long — not since the weird early days of the iPod nano has an Apple product gotten scuffed this easily.
One clever touch is that the plastic body itself serves as the speaker. It’s what vibrates to make the chirping noise. It gets plenty loud, though my old ears had a bit of a difficult time using just that sound to locate one. Also, if for whatever reason the AirTag is squeezed or compressed, that will dampen how loud it can get.
There’s also no hole on them for a lanyard loop. If you want to actually attach one to anything instead of dropping it in a pocket, you’ll need to buy an accessory. That, increasingly, also feels like a classic Apple move.
The one un-Apple part of the design is that the battery is actually user-replaceable. A little twist of the bottom reveals a standard CR2032 cell, which Apple claims should be good for a year of battery life.
The real trick — and the hidden complexity — arises when you are tracking an AirTag out in the world, when something is truly lost. Like everything in Apple’s Find My network, the AirTag’s location is end-to-end encrypted so only you can see its location. But any iOS device can send that location to you.
If somebody comes upon a lost AirTag, they can tap it via NFC to see information about it, including its serial number (which could be important if you think it’s being used to track you). If the owner has put it in “Lost Mode,” they have the option to have that information page show their phone number and a brief message so you can contact them. This NFC feature works equally well with iPhones and Android devices.
That means all it takes to locate an AirTag is for any iPhone with Bluetooth on to see it — even if that iPhone is whizzing by in a car. Apple is leveraging its huge network of devices as a competitive advantage here — along with the competitive advantage of directly offering this functionality as a system-level feature. Tile has asked Congress to look into that.
The pairing process for AirTags is just like pairing AirPods.
A Bluetooth device broadcasting anything is a potential privacy risk, so Apple is cycling each AirTag’s Bluetooth identifier “frequently.” More than that, though, Apple has also done some work to develop a system that also considers personal safety.
If the Find My network notices that an AirTag has been separated from its owner for a while and seems to be in the same place you are, it will alert you. If you’re an iPhone user, you’ll see a notification that says “AirTag Found Moving With You.”
A bunch of AirTags.
Apple says that there are options to disable these “Safety Alerts” if you are “borrowing” something. But the real purpose is clear: to protect you from somebody using an AirTag to surreptitiously track you.
When you see the alert, you can tap the notification to get a screen that will allow you to make the AirTag start beeping. The alert will also instruct you on how to disable the AirTag by removing the battery.
Finally, Apple says, “If you feel your safety is at risk, contact your local law enforcement who can work with Apple. You might need to provide the AirTag or its serial number.” Apple won’t be able to provide your location, but it could provide governments with information related to the person who registered the AirTag as theirs in the first place.
If you’re an Android user, well, virtually none of this is going to work for you. However, the AirTag does have at least one potential trick. If it’s been separated from its owner and then detects that it’s suddenly on the move, it will start beeping.
All in all, I think it’s a thoughtfully designed system, but it’s also definitely one that leverages Apple’s strengths.
An AirTag.
Really, the AirTag is the Most Apple Product I’ve seen in a while. It’s just a little more expensive than the competition. It’s beautifully designed, but its hardware still somehow fails to actually take the practical realities of our dirty, messy world into account. It’s very privacy-focused. It really only works with Apple devices. It offers features that no third-party device can really match thanks to Apple’s tight integration (or tight grip on its APIs, depending on your point of view). And since there’s no Android version of Find My, it’s another piece of the Apple ecosystem that’s going to keep you from switching.
An AirTag is a very Apple-y thing for Apple users who already live in Apple’s ecosystem. They work great — and will be great at keeping you in Apple’s world.
Samsung has launched a beta program to help put some older Galaxy phones to new uses. Owners of certain phones can download an update to turn the device into a smart home sensor with some neat functions — it can detect the sound of a crying baby or turn on a lamp when it gets dark. The program is limited to certain models launched in 2018 or later, which is fairly limited, but it’s a nice, accessible offering that could help users get a little more use out of their old devices.
Announced at CES earlier this year, the company is launching the program in the US, UK, and Korea starting today. By downloading a software update through the SmartThings app, users can access two basic functions. The first is an audio sensor that detects the sound of a baby crying, pet barking or meowing, or a knock at the door. When it detects one of these, it sends an alert to your phone with a recording of the sound.
The other function is a light level sensor that can turn on a connected light automatically when brightness levels in a room fall below a certain threshold. Samsung says the update includes battery optimization necessary to keep the phone powered and functioning as a sensor for long periods of time, though the company doesn’t specify how long it would be able to run between charges.
Galaxy S, Note, and Z-series phones launched from 2018 onward are eligible, provided they’re running Android 9 or later. Samsung says more devices will be supported in the future, which hopefully includes more budget-oriented devices that owners may be less likely to trade in. And if those limited functions don’t appeal, there’s a lot more you can do with your old phone if you don’t mind a DIY approach.
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.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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
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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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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
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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.
Technics will next month release the SL-1200MK7, the silver finish of its legendary DJ turntable with specs matching those of the SL-1210MK7 released two years ago.
A club staple since being adopted by disco DJs soon after the deck’s initial release in 1972, the SL-1200 is one of those rare components that blurs the lines between hi-fi and musical instrument thanks to its direct drive, high-torque motor, and the genius of some of the millions of fingers that have manipulated its platter.
With the silver top being part of what makes this record player such a cross-industry icon, this is also one of the few occasions where a new finish constitutes actual news. For those waiting out to adopt a MK7 Technics for that reason, May 2021 is the time – in Europe, at least.
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Otherwise, the SL-1200MK7 is identical to the SL-1210MK7 the company released in January 2019. It features the same coreless direct drive motor with powerful torque, S-shaped tonearm, pitch control and reverse play function.
Both decks also boast a highly rigid cabinet and high-damping insulator, alone with a two-layer platter also with improved vibration damping – essential for stability in the face of 12 hours of bruising kicks.
The SL-1200MK7 will be on sale in Europe from next month, with RRP set at £799 (€899), with information on wider release to follow.
Those after the Technics sound in a more traditional home audio package, meanwhile, will be pleased to find the company has also detailed a new entry-level record player to follow the Award-winning SL-1500C.
Follow this link to read about the new SL-100C.
MORE:
Our pick of the best record players
Everything you need to know about belt drive and direct drive turntables
Bowers & Wilkins isn’t always first to the party but, when it does arrive, it certainly likes to make an entrance. Today, the company launches not one but two debut sets of true wireless headphones, the PI5 and PI7.
The latter are the more premium of the pair, with a six-microphone active noise-cancelling system. The built-in mics will work for voice calls, as well as smart functionality (Siri and Google Assistant are both supported).
Each earbud features a two-driver arrangement to offer what Bowers refers to as sound “comparable to loudspeakers”. The two sides have a balanced armature tweeter for the top notes and a set of 9.2mm drive units for the mid/bass, all with their own dedicated amplifier.
The true wireless stereo transmission comes in through Bluetooth aptX Adaptive, allowing for 24-bit hi-res audio streams (when connected to a compatible source). Bowers has worked to provide a reliable and tightly synced connection between the left and right earbuds.
There’s more to the PI7’s charging case than just storage and battery life, too. Uniquely, it has USB and 3.5mm ports, allowing you to connect it direct to an audio source. The case sends that music to your ears wirelessly using AptX Low Latency. The idea behind it, according to Bowers, is to allow users to hook up to an inflight entertainment system without the need of trailing cables to their ears.
The B&W PI5 true wireless headphones, meanwhile, are a slight step down but still very much from the same stables. They’re missing the dual-driver arrangement and instead come with a single 9.2mm Bowers-developed unit. TWS+ technology is used instead for the transmission of the audio from source to both buds simultaneously. There are also just the two microphones on each side for noise-cancelling and no inputs on the case.
(Image credit: Bowers & Wilkins PI5)
The PI5 and PI7 have an earbuds battery life of 4.5 hours and 4 hours respectively, but the charging case stores four more full cycles, offering a reasonable (but not class-leasing) total of 22.5 hours or 20 hours from a single charge.
Bowers says it has championed driver technology and wireless transmission over battery life for a better audio experience. Explaining the company’s late entry into true wireless, Bowers & Wilkins Director of Product Marketing, Andy Kerr, said: “We don’t pride ourself on being first but being the best. In each case we waited and watched the market. We chose to stay out of the market until we felt we could make a difference.”
Both sets of Bowers & Wilkins true wireless headphones are available from today in a choice of white or charcoal. The B&W PI7 cost £349 (AU$699, €399, $399) – one of the most premium price tags we’ve seen attached to a pair of true wireless earbuds – while the PI5 are priced at a more democratic £199 (AU$369, €249, $249).
MORE:
Our pick of the best true wireless earbuds on the market
Take a look at our choice of the very best noise-cancelling earbuds
Apple is continuing its move from Intel to Arm on the desktop, putting its M1 processor new line of iMacs and in the iPad Pro. Both were announced at Apple’s “Spring Loaded” virtual event, and are the first time each of those product lines is using the new chip. Previously, the iPad Pro used Apple’s custom A-series chips, while the iMac used Intel processors.
iMac
The new iMacs come in seven colors: blue, green, pink, silver, yellow, orange and purple, and are somewhat reminiscent of the iMac G3. They are built from the ground up for the new chips, unlike the 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac Mini, which used existing chassis. The new iMac has a redesign with a much-smaller logic board with two tiny fans. Apple says these small fans will keep the computer under 10 decibels, which the human ear shouldn’t be able to hear. It’s just 11.5 millimeters thin. Apple says the iMac is 85% faster than the previous 21-inch model, which used Intel chips. It also says graphics are up to 2x faster than previous models. In Final Cut, Apple is claiming up to four streams of footage in 1080p, or one in 4K. The company took time to focus on iOS apps working on macOS, as well as the broad range of compatible apps that have come to M1 since it launched last year. The new display is 24-inches diagonally and has narrow bezels, with a 4480 x 2520 resolution and 500 nits of brightness. It also uses TrueTone, like the laptops, to change color temperature based on your surroundings.
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The camera, microphones and speakers are also getting upgraded. The camera is a 1080p FaceTime sensor, higher than the 720p we see in the MacBook laptops. The microphones use beam forming to focus on your voice and avoid background noise. This should all help out in work-from-home situations.
The speakers have increased amounts of power, with increased bass response. The full system is six speakers, including tweeters and woofers. With Dolby Atmos, it supports surround sound.
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The M1 iMac has 4 USB-C ports, including 2 Thunderbolt ports, with support for a 6K display. There’s a new magnetic power connector, with a woven cable, that connects to the power adapter. If you want wired connectivity, Ethernet connects to the power adapter and is routed to the system.
The keyboard has new emoji, spotlight, and do not disturb keys. A separate model will have Touch ID on the desktop for the first time. The Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad will also have new color-matched aluminum.
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The new iMac starts at $1,299 and will be available to order on April 30, shipping in May. At that price you get an 8-core CPU, 7-core GPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, as well as two Thunderbolt ports. At $1,499, that bumps up to an 8-core GPU and also adds two USB 3 Type-C ports.
iPad Pro
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iPadOS will take advantage of M1 as well, being the first non-macOS device to use the new design. Apple said it will offer a 50% jump over the previous iPad Pro. The GPU will be a 40% increase over the last model.
This replaces the A-series chips that Apple previously used in the iPad Pro (and currently uses in the iPhone and other iPads).
Additionally, Apple is touting storage access that is twice as fast as its predecessor, as well as a new 2TB configuration. Notably, the new iPads will have the same 8GB and 16GB RAM options as other M1 devices.
The USB-C port has been upgraded to Thunderbolt with USB 4 support, with four times more bandwidth over the the USB-C port on the previous iPad Pro. It supports more displays and storage as well.
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Apple has also added 5G to iPad Pro, making this the first M1 device to feature the technology, and it will support millimeter wave in the United States.
There’s a TrueDepth camera in the front, and the iPad Pro has a LiDAR camera on the back for AR applications. The TrueDepth shooter has a 12MP ultra wide camera, which can keep people in view from a distance on video calls, using machine learning to move the frame.
Apple is changing up the display technology, too. It’s moving the 12.9-inch iPad to the same tech as the Pro Display XDR. It’s called Liquid Retina XDR, with 1,000 nits of brightness and 1,600 nits at its peak. It also has the same 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.
The 12.9 inch iPad Pro will use a mini-LED display, and the screen is comprised of 10,000 of them. This is Apple’s first time using the technology, which is also rumored to move into MacBooks later in the year. It will also support HDR formats like Dolby Vision and HDR 10. The 11-inch iPad Pro is sticking with an LED “liquid retina” screen.
The 11-inch iPad Pro will start at $799. The 12.9-inch model with the XDR display starts at $1,099. Orders open April 30, with shipments starting in the second half of May.
Apple has just announced a new Apple TV streaming box, replacing the Apple TV 4K that came out in 2017. The new model retains the name of the prior model but comes with a more powerful A12 Bionic chip that lets it play HDR video at higher frame rates. It’s also powerful enough to support 60fps Dolby Vision playback over AirPlay from a compatible iPhone.
The old Apple TV 4K, which has been Apple’s flagship set-top box for four years, supports 4K streaming as well as HDR, including Dolby Vision. It also supports Dolby Atmos sound codecs. But it doesn’t support 120Hz refresh rates, which might be important should you ever want to play serious games on an Apple TV. It also has the most notoriously bad remote control.
Fortunately, Apple has completely redesigned the remote for the new Apple TV 4K with an improved, more ergonomic design and more capabilities. The new remote is thicker than the prior model, has a new five-way touch controller in place of the maligned swipe pad of the original, and a proper power button to turn off your TV. The Siri search button has been moved to the side of the remote, under your right thumb.
Apple did not redesign the Apple TV box itself — it remains a squircle-shaped puck that you have to put on a shelf or entertainment center, unlike the dongle designs that many of Apple’s competitors use now. A new feature allows the Apple TV to optimize the colors of your TV screen using the light sensor on an iPhone. Apple says it is working with a number of content providers to produce high frame rate HDR content for the new Apple TV, including Fox Sports, NBCUniversal, Paramount Plus, Red Bull TV, and Canal Plus.
The new Apple TV 4K starts at $179 for 32GB of storage and will be available to purchase starting on April 30th. A 64GB model will also be available for $199. Apple is also selling the older Apple TV HD, which is limited to 1080p resolution, with the new remote for $149.
All of those prices are a lot higher than Apple’s competitors, such as Amazon, Google, and Roku. Apple is betting once again that people will pay for performance and ecosystem in a set-top box and is charging a hefty premium for it.
AMD is releasing Adrenalin driver 21.4.1 today with several improvements for some of the best graphics cards, as well as a host of new updates to AMD Link and Radeon Software. These include features such as CPU monitoring in the Radeon Software, a new GPU stress-testing utility, and a Windows 10 app for AMD Link.
AMD Link — AMD’s remote desktop program — has been updated to version 4.0, and includes an all-new Windows 10 app for use on any Windows 10 device. No longer are you constrained to using AMD Link on a smart TV or Arm-based smartphone/tablet. AMD also added a few extra features including 144 fps streaming support, trackpad sensitivity support, and 5.1 surround sound support.
For Radeon Software, AMD added several additional features that should make the app easier to use and more useful. In the streaming department, AMD has added a new automatic quality function that allows Radeon Software to dynamically adjust your stream quality (if you’re streaming from Radeon Software), to ensure a stable and good quality stream. Plus, you can now choose which monitor you want your video to stream from if you have multiple monitors.
Probably the most exciting feature for enthusiasts is the addition of CPU monitoring inside Radeon Software specifically for Ryzen CPUs. In the past, Radeon Software’s performance metric utility was limited to monitoring the GPU. Now it has been upgraded to measure Ryzen CPUs as well.
For users who are color blind, AMD has added a new collard deficiency correction tool that allows users to adjust his or her monitor to the three major color blindness types.
A few other noteworthy additions are an updated bug reporting tool from AMD that will automatically pop up when an error occurs on your system to help AMD find and kill more bugs. Another one is AMD crash defender, which is quite interesting in that it will stop a predicted crash or BSOD from occurring on your system. If this system really works, it should be a really handy feature to have.
Finally, AMD has added DX12 support to Radeon Anti-Lag, full support for AV1 decode and DRM-protected content, and new custom install options that allow you to choose how much AMD’s software gets installed (if at all) with the Radeon drivers.
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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.
Luigi — everyone’s favorite also-ran brother of the most famous mushroom-stomping plumber — is joining Lego’s interactive Super Mario collection of sets in a new starter kit (creatively titled the LEGO Super Mario Adventures with Luigi Starter Course.)
The new Luigi figure is technologically similar to the Mario one, with a built-in display that animates his eyes, mouth, and a main screen on his chest and a sensor on the bottom that’s used to scan barcodes and brick colors. The main differences are cosmetic here — Luigi looks different, and features different sound effects, voice lines, and character interactions.
In addition to Lego Luigi, the new starter course also includes a Pink Yoshi, a Bone Goomba, and Boom Boom for players to defeat — or add to their larger Lego Super Mario creations. The new Luigi character is also compatible with all the previous sets, should players want to explore their old courses from a fresh perspective.
The Luigi Starter course is set to launch on August 1st for $59.99, the same price as the Mario Starter course set. Preorders are available now from the Lego website.
The gaming audio company EPOS has debuted a new wired gaming headset called the H3. It’s not as exciting as its GTW 270 truly wireless earbuds for gaming, and depending on your needs, its short list of features might not be worth its $119 price. But a few things stick out in the H3’s favor after spending a few days with it.
EPOS has a knack for using a rotating dial for volume controls on its headsets, and if you read my review of Microsoft’s excellent Xbox Wireless Headset, you know I’m all about dials. On the outside of the H3’s right earcup, there’s a dial controlling the volume that’s easy to adjust with two fingers. Opposite that, on the left earcup, there’s an articulating boom microphone that can be muted when it’s in the up position. Any time it’s lowered, the mic will be on, unless you mute it on your device.
I also like that these have broad compatibility with consoles, mobile devices, and PC — not that they’re the first to do this. The H3 includes two swappable braided cables, one made for PC that extends from the headset and splits into a dedicated audio 3.5mm plug and a microphone plug (most desktops and some gaming laptops feature both of these ports). There’s also a cable that outputs to a single 3.5mm plug that can go into a phone, a controller, a PC, an Oculus Quest 2, or any other device you own with this kind of audio jack. I do wish that EPOS included a 3.5mm-to-USB-C adapter to broaden compatibility further for devices that lack a headphone jack.
On the right side of the H3, you’ll find this volume knob.EPOS
You don’t have to spend $119 on a wired gaming headset to get features like the ones I explained above, but the H3’s comfort and sound performance help to justify their price. The earcups fit snug around my head, but not too snug, and they have a wide range of motion (though they don’t swivel to lay flat on the chest.) The headband’s size adjustments snap into place and don’t move, even when I yank the headset off. The passive noise isolation of the ear cups is decent, partially because of the closed-back design, but its plush pads do a better-than-average job at keeping outside sounds out because the cups can be tilted to fit your head shape. I’m short on qualms about the build quality, though the earcups might not be as good a fit for people who have larger ears.
The H3 is a solid performer when it comes to gaming and listening to music. Its closed-back earcups provide a clear, balanced sound without an overwhelming amount of bass. Yet, the palpable bass line in “Book of Slim” by Gene Harris & The Three Sounds came through just fine. Switching over to games, I was happy with how games like Ratchet & Clank (2016) and Ghost of Tsushima sounded on the H3 while connected to a PS5 controller. The sound quality rivals many of the sub-$150 headsets I’ve tried in my gaming headset buying guide.
The mic is muted when it’s flipped up, as it is in the picture.EPOS
The microphone quality is also solid for the price, picking up all of the little details in my voice. It’s easy to tell my “p’s” from the “t’s” in voice recordings. It sounded crisp when connected to my PC, and within Google’s Recorder app while plugged into my Pixel 3 via a USB-C dongle. I got similarly good results plugged into my PS5 controller. Though, I wouldn’t suggest this headset over a dedicated microphone, if you’re planning on making any podcast appearances soon.
Other than the USB-C adapter that I wish was included, the other big omission from the H3 compared to other headsets in its price range is the lack of microphone monitoring. I love being able to hear my own voice, but I swear I’m not a narcissist. Monitoring is useful to hear someone yelling for you across the room when you’re distracted in a game.
If you aren’t totally sold on going wireless for your gaming headset because you don’t want another device to recharge, or some other reason, the H3 is a solid alternative. Its sound quality and comfort mostly make up for not having many features. That said, its price borders on what you’ll pay for one of several good wireless gaming headsets that have many more features.
VanMoof S3 with PowerBank arriving at Castricum aan Zee from Amsterdam.Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
We put a new 2021 S3 model to the test on a three-hour ride
VanMoof, maker of some of our favorite electric bikes, just announced the PowerBank, a range extender that also charges the internal battery of the company’s S3 and X3 models. Not only does the emotional-support battery promise to ease range anxiety by extending VanMoof e-bike commutes by a claimed 45 to 100 km (28 to 62 miles), it also addresses VanMoof’s biggest limitation: non-removable batteries that enable a sleek look, but could necessitate hauling the 19-kg (42-pound) bikes indoors to be charged.
I’ve had a new VanMoof S3, improved for 2021 (more on that later), with the PowerBank since Friday. After 3 hours in the saddle on two 90-minute rides, I can attest to the extended range and more convenient charging. It’s not cheap and it’s not perfect and I didn’t go quite as far as VanMoof claims, but the PowerBank makes a compelling case for purchase.
The 378Wh capacity PowerBank attaches in seconds (about 20 of them). It has an on / off button so you can choose when it charges the larger 504Wh battery found inside both the full-sized S3 and smaller X3 e-bikes. It charges from a standstill or while riding, and adds an extra 2.8 kg (6.2 pounds) to the total weight of the bike. That’s a reasonable (and unnoticeable) tradeoff if it means never having to carry the bike up the stairs to your apartment again. It also adds $348 / €348 / £315 to the cost of a bike that already starts at $1,998 / €1,998 / £1,798.
The PowerBank sits in a permanent mount you must first attach to the S3 or X3 e-bikes. The PowerBank battery then wedges into the frame and locks in place with a supplied key, and is further secured with two velcro straps. A third velcro strap is used to keep the charging cable from flopping around as it snakes up to the underside of the top tube and into the bike’s charging port. I rode on some rather bumpy brick roads and didn’t hear a single rattle from the assembly.
The thick velcro straps, while being inelegant, blend nicely into the dark black S3 model. But the straps and bulky battery are visually jarring on the smaller, light blue X3 e-bike.
Light blue VanMoof X3 fitted with a PowerBank. Eww.Image: VanMoof
While a first for VanMoof, range extenders are not uncommon amongst e-bike makers, especially for electric mountain bikes. Last month Specialized announced the Como SL commuter e-bike with an optional $449.99 range extender that it says adds about 31 miles (55 km) of range.
Over the weekend I tested a PowerBank fitted to a brand new VanMoof S3 on a 76.7 km (47.7 miles) round trip from Amsterdam to the coastal hamlet of Castricum aan Zee, and back. That’s beyond the 60 km stated range of a VanMoof ridden at max power, and far beyond the 47 km I managed during my S3 range test in April of 2020. VanMoof claims that a fully charged S3 battery coupled to a PowerBank has a range of between 105-250 km (65-155 miles), depending upon the level of powered assist you’re using. I wasn’t anywhere close to that.
I rode at full power (level 4) on exceedingly flat Dutch terrain making liberal use of the Turbo Boost button. A bit more than half of my testing was directly into a fairly strong 14-knot headwind, the rest benefited from a 6-knot tailwind. In total, I’d estimate that I could have ridden about 80 km (50 miles) before both the S3 and PowerBank batteries were empty. In other words, the VanMoof PowerBank coupled to the new S3 extended my range by about 70 percent compared to 47 km (29.2 miles) I managed last year.
In my testing, I noticed that the S3 battery emptied faster than the PowerBank could recharge it while riding at max power with lots of Turbo Boost button presses. (VanMoof confirmed this behavior after my testing was complete.) So rather than risk having to stop and recharge on the way home (or ride in a less fun economy mode), I took advantage of a 20-minute ferry wait to top off the S3 battery when it was showing just 15 percent remaining. I likely would have made it the final 7.9 km home even without the top-up, but the whole point of having a PowerBank is to avoid range anxiety and I was in a hurry to get back.
As to my buttocks, well, I should give the VanMoof’s custom saddle honorable mention. It’s surprisingly comfortable, and the first time I’ve ridden it — my S3 review bike was fitted with a different saddle last year. While I did notice a bit of discomfort down there when climbing onto the bike for my return journey, it was far less than expected.
Despite my test coming in below the lowest range estimate for the PowerBank, VanMoof still stands by its numbers. “It should give most riders an additional 45-100km range depending on conditions and an individual’s use-level,” said the company in an email response to my findings. Apparently, my aggressive riding style, weight (190 pounds / 86 kg), height (6 feet / 183 cm), and ambient conditions at testing make me an outlier.
Some other observations…
VanMoof e-bikes don’t provide a USB charging port for phones mounted on the handlebar and the arrival of the PowerBank doesn’t change that. That’s an oversight in my opinion. A range extender enables riders to travel longer distances, which often requires GPS navigation on a phone operating at peak brightness and paired with Bluetooth headphones for turn-by-turn directions and maybe some music playing over your 4G / 5G connection. My three-year old iPhone wasn’t up to the task, which meant tethering it to yet another battery I had to carry in my jacket. I forgot about the cable when I stopped off at a ferry crossing, nearly causing me to topple over.
VanMoof says a USB port was considered but was ultimately left off for “waterproofing reasons.” Shame.
I should also note that the S3 I tested was one of the models that recently added support for Apple’s Find My tracking network. While that was the headline item, VanMoof’s X3 and S3 e-bikes were also upgraded with improved on-bike displays that are more visible in direct sunlight, and electronic shifters that are more accurate. I complained about the display readability in my review last year and it is slightly improved. More importantly, the e-shifter seems much improved over the S3 variation that I reviewed at launch in April of 2020. At the time I said it glitched on 2 out of 100 shifts, but the automatic four-speed on my new S3 glitched about 1 out of 100+ shifts over my three hours of riding. I characterize a glitch as an unexpected mechanical “clink” sound, a surprise free-wheel of the pedals when you expect to feel resistance, or an obvious feeling of being in the wrong gear.
VanMoof, unlike many e-bike makers, is able to constantly improve the hardware and software of its e-bikes because it has a dedicated factory and relatively tight control over a supply chain of custom VanMoof parts. That means it doesn’t have to compete for Shimano shifters or Bosch motors, for example, which left many bike manufactures without parts for months after the recent surge in e-bike demand. Good thing, too. The first shipments of S3 and X3 models were plagued by issue rates as high as 10 percent, the company co-founders told me last year.
VanMoof says it also improved the internal wiring of its bikes for better resistance to weather, added new pedals for better grip, and new fender flaps to reduce excess splash on wet roads. It also made the shipping boxes more environmentally friendly — important when you consider that VanMoof ships around 12,000 of those giant boxes a month, as of September 2020.
All this is to say that the 2021 S3 and X3 models, the ones with the “Locate with Apple Find My” label printed under the top tube, are the best VanMoof e-bikes yet, which really is saying something. The new PowerBank option is just icing on the cake.
All photos by Thomas Ricker / The Verge unless otherwise stated
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