Tuxedo Pulse 15 Laptop Review - AMD-powered 15-inch Linux Ultrabook

Name: Tuxedo Pulse 15
Brand: Tuxedo

AMD Ryzen meets Linux. Tuxedo's Pulse 15 is a 15-inch multimedia notebook based on AMD's Ryzen line of CPUs. It is customizable and offers plentiful connectivity as well as a large battery that makes for a long battery life.

Andreas Osthoff, 👁 Andreas Osthoff (translated by Finn D. Boerne), Published 03/23/2021 🇩🇪 🇳🇱 ...

AMD Laptop Linux / Unix Renoir Ryzen (Zen) Ultrabook

The Pulse 15 is a 15-inch Ultrabook with a fast 45 W AMD Ryzen 4000-series processor. It features a very compact magnesium case that weighs just 1.5 kg. The matte IPS panel found on our review unit is featured in every SKU and the device is freely configurable otherwise. For example, you can opt for the faster Ryzen 7 4800HS instead of the Ryzen 5 4600H, and RAM and SSD options are aplenty. Prices start at around 1,000 Euros. Our particular review unit, equipped with a 1 TB SSD, 32 GB of RAM, and an additional dual-boot Windows installation cost around 1,300 Euros at the time of writing.

If you are interested in the Pulse 15 but would prefer Windows to Linux, you may want to take a closer look at the otherwise identical Schenker Via Pro 15.

Please not that we ran all benchmarks and tests under Windows for better comparability. Drivers for Windows are included with the device and can also be downloaded from the manufacturer’s website.

Test device courtesy of Tuxedo

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Tuxedo Pulse 15

Processor

AMD Ryzen 5 4600H 6 x 3 - 4 GHz, 54 W PL2 / Short Burst, 35 W PL1 / Sustained, Renoir-H (Zen 2)

Graphics adapter

AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000), Core: 1500 MHz, Memory: 1333 MHz

Memory

32 GB

, DDR4-3200, dual-channel, max. 64 GB

Display

15.60 inch 16:9, 1920 x 1080 pixel 141 PPI, LQ156M1JW01, IPS, glossy: no, 60 Hz

Mainboard

AMD Promontory/Bixby FCH

Storage

Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB, 1024 GB

, 900 GB free

Soundcard

AMD Raven/Renoir/VanGogh/Cezanne - Audio Processor - HD Audio Controller

Connections

1 USB 2.0, 3 USB 3.0 / 3.1 Gen1, USB-C Power Delivery (PD), 1 HDMI, 1 Kensington Lock, Audio Connections: 3.5-mm audio, Card Reader: microSD

Networking

Realtek RTL8168/8111 Gigabit-LAN (10/100/1000MBit/s), Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (a/b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/ac = Wi-Fi 5/ax = Wi-Fi 6/), Bluetooth 5.1

Size

height x width x depth (in mm): 17 x 356 x 234 ( = 0.67 x 14.02 x 9.21 in)

Battery

91 Wh Lithium-Polymer, 6 cells

Camera

Webcam: 720p
Primary Camera: 0.9 MPix

Additional features

Speakers: Stereo, Keyboard: Chiclet, Keyboard Light: yes, 90W PSU, 24 Months Warranty

Weight

1.474 kg ( = 51.99 oz / 3.25 pounds), Power Supply: 494 g ( = 17.43 oz / 1.09 pounds)

Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

see all specifications

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» Compare devices

Competitors in Comparison

Rating	Date	Model	Weight	Height	Size	Resolution
84.9 %	03/2021	Tuxedo Pulse 15 R5 4600H, Vega 6	1.5 kg	17 mm	15.60"	1920x1080
84.5 %	11/2020	Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) R5 4600H, Vega 6	1.7 kg	16.9 mm	16.10"	1920x1080
87.7 %	12/2020	SCHENKER Vision 15 i7-1165G7, Iris Xe G7 96EUs	1.7 kg	15 mm	15.60"	1920x1080
86.8 %	05/2020	Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 i5-10300H, UHD Graphics 630	1.8 kg	18 mm	15.60"	1920x1200
84.8 %	07/2020	LG Gram 15Z90N i5-1035G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU)	1.1 kg	16.8 mm	15.60"	1920x1080

Case & Connectivity

The case is made of either metal (base unit bottom cover) or a magnesium alloy (display lid and base unit top case), and its dark color leaves a very subtle and sleek impression. The case is very well made, and it felt very robust and stable. The center of the keyboard area depresses a little when typing but does not creak at all. The thin lid is more flexible than the base but even here we found no evidence of creaking or visual distortions of any kind. The hinges could have been firmer as the lid falls shut when cracked open and left ajar. Maximum opening angle is 145 degrees.

The bottom cover is held in place with Phillips screws and can be easily removed. Once inside you get access to the replaceable Wi-fi module and M.2 SSD as well as the fan assembly for servicing and cleaning.

Size Comparison

Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) LG Gram 15Z90N Tuxedo Pulse 15 SCHENKER Vision 15 Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 DIN A4 ❌

Ports

The Pulse 15 features the most important ports but lacks USB 4 and Thunderbolt. Its USB-C port can be used for charging but does not carry a DisplayPort signal. The lethargic USB 2.0 port feels out of place, a relict that seems to have fallen out of time.

Unfortunately, the microSD card reader is connected via said USB 2.0 bus and thus very slow. In return, the modern and fast Intel Wi-Fi modem (AX200 incl. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1) performed very well and without any issues.

Right: USB-C 3.2 (Gen. 1, Power Delivery), USB-A 3.2 (Gen. 1), HDMI 2.0, power

Left: Kensington lock, Ethernet, USB-A 2.0, USB-A 3.2 (Gen. 1), headphone jack, microSD card reader

SD Card Reader
average JPG Copy Test (av. of 3 runs)
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II)	204.4 MB/s +477%
Average of class Multimedia (17.6 - 205, n=66, last 2 years)	93.3 MB/s +164%
LG Gram 15Z90N (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 microSDXC 64GB)	84.1 MB/s +138%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 (AV Pro V60)	35.4 MB/s
maximum AS SSD Seq Read Test (1GB)
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 (Toshiba Exceria Pro SDXC 64 GB UHS-II)	199.2 MB/s +435%
Average of class Multimedia (16.8 - 266, n=62, last 2 years)	122.6 MB/s +230%
LG Gram 15Z90N (Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 microSDXC 64GB)	88.8 MB/s +139%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 (AV Pro V60)	37.2 MB/s

Networking
iperf3 transmit AX12
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201	1434 (1394^min - 1508^max) MBit/s +1%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200	1413 (1263^min - 1488^max) MBit/s
Average Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (447 - 1645, n=127)	1104 MBit/s -22%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650s	1049 (253^min - 1334^max) MBit/s -26%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) Realtek 8822CE Wireless LAN 802.11ac PCI-E NIC	646 (548^min - 695^max) MBit/s -54%
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201	615 (571^min - 655^max) MBit/s -56%
iperf3 receive AX12
Tuxedo Pulse 15 Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200	1408 (1302^min - 1571^max) MBit/s
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201	1306 (653^min - 1347^max) MBit/s -7%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650s	1281 (1079^min - 1478^max) MBit/s -9%
Average Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (523 - 1684, n=128)	1191 MBit/s -15%
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201	876 (819^min - 901^max) MBit/s -38%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) Realtek 8822CE Wireless LAN 802.11ac PCI-E NIC	671 (639^min - 690^max) MBit/s -52%

Tuxedo Pulse 15; iperf3 receive AX12; iperf 3.1.3: Ø1408 (1302-1571)

Tuxedo Pulse 15; iperf3 transmit AX12; iperf 3.1.3: Ø1413 (1263-1488)

ColorChecker Tuxedo Pulse 15: 15.62 ∆E min: 2.28 - max: 27.81 ∆E

Input Devices

At first glance, the keyboard with its white backlight and large keycaps looks more akin to an old-style traditional keyboard and not a modern chiclet-style keyboard. Typing feels very comfortable thanks to its very accurate keystroke, and we encountered no issues typing longer texts either. The keys themselves are comfortably quiet save for the larger keys, such as Space or Return, that tend to clatter a bit.

The large clickpad (11.7 x 7.3 cm / 4.6 x 2.9 inches) sits firmly in place and has no play. Its smooth plastic surface made controlling the cursor a breeze. The bottom area can be depressed and clicked, which is immediately acknowledged with a fairly loud sound. Gestures worked flawlessly. The clickpad can be enabled or disabled via double clicking the top left corner, the status of which is indicated via a small LED.

Display – Pulse 15 with Matte IPS Panel

The only display available for the Pulse 15 is a 15.6-inch FHD IPS panel with a matte surface. Subjectively, it did alright save for bright areas that tended to look slightly grainy.

According to the data sheet the display should reach up to 321 nits, which we are unable to affirm. In our tests, we were able to determine a maximum of 314 nits in the center with an average of just 299 nits. Its low black level of just 0.19 nits makes for a very good contrast ratio of up to 1,600:1.

We found PWM flickering at brightness levels of 30 % and below at a very high frequency of 25 kHz, which we don’t expect to cause any issues. Response times were fairly slow overall causing visible ghosting. In addition, a completely dark background with the backlight turned up will produce two spots of visible backlight bleeding at the bottom of the display. Fortunately, those were not visible during everyday use.


266 cd/m²	295 cd/m²	282 cd/m²
286 cd/m²	314 cd/m²	302 cd/m²
284 cd/m²	291 cd/m²	308 cd/m²

Distribution of brightness

LQ156M1JW01 tested with X-Rite i1Pro 2

Maximum: 314 cd/m² (Nits) Average: 292 cd/m² Minimum: 14.5 cd/m²
Brightness Distribution: 85 %
Center on Battery: 310 cd/m²
Contrast: 1653:1 (Black: 0.19 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 2.1 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5, calibrated: 0.9
ΔE Greyscale 3.4 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
99.3% sRGB (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
64.5% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 1.6.3 3D)
70.5% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
99.4% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
69.2% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.28

Download ICC File (X-Rite i1Pro 2)

	Tuxedo Pulse 15 LQ156M1JW01, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60	Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) N161HCA-EA3, IPS, 1920x1080, 16.10	SCHENKER Vision 15 BOE08F5, IPS, 1920x1080, 15.60	Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Sharp LQ156N1, IPS, 1920x1200, 15.60	LG Gram 15Z90N LP156WF9-SPN1, .2 IPS LED, 1920x1080, 15.60
Display		-11%	-2%	11%	-4%
Display P3 Coverage	69.2	67.5 -2%	69.3 0%	81.5 18%	66 -5%
sRGB Coverage	99.4	69.7 -30%	94 -5%	100 1%	96.4 -3%
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage	70.5	69.7 -1%	70.8 0%	79.6 13%	66.8 -5%
Response Times		24%	0%	28%	42%
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% *	59.2 ?(30, 29.2)	37.6 ?(18.8, 18.8) 36%	60 ?(29.2, 30.8) -1%	42 ?(20, 22) 29%	36 ?(18, 18) 39%
Response Time Black / White *	39.2 ?(19.6, 19.6)	25.6 ?(14, 11.6) 35%	39 ?(19.2, 18.8) 1%	28.8 ?(15.2, 13.6) 27%	22 ?(12, 10) 44%
PWM Frequency	25000 ?(30)	25250 ?(30) 1%
Screen		23%	-16%	-15%	-5%
Brightness middle	314	337 7%	478 52%	592 89%	366 17%
Brightness	292	312 7%	462 58%	565 93%	342 17%
Brightness Distribution	85	89 5%	94 11%	85 0%	88 4%
Black Level *	0.19	0.2 -5%	0.27 -42%	0.46 -142%	0.28 -47%
Contrast	1653	1685 2%	1770 7%	1287 -22%	1307 -21%
Colorchecker dE 2000 *	2.1	0.8 62%	3.2 -52%	3.19 -52%	2.68 -28%
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. *	5.5	1.1 80%	8.4 -53%	5.45 1%	5.25 5%
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated *	0.9	0.7 22%	2 -122%	2.03 -126%	1.08 -20%
Greyscale dE 2000 *	3.4	1 71%	4.5 -32%	3.9 -15%	2.4 29%
Gamma	2.28 ^96%	2.2 ^100%	2.16 ^102%	2.25 ^98%	2.25 ^98%
CCT	6355 ^102%	6538 ^99%	6788 ^96%	6522 ^100%	6474 ^100%
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998)	64.5	63.8 -1%	63.1 -2%	71.6 11%	61 -5%
Color Space (Percent of sRGB)	99.3	99.5 0%	93.6 -6%	100 1%	96 -3%
Total Average (Program / Settings)		12% / 17%	-6% / -12%	8% / -5%	11% / 1%

* ... smaller is better

Display Response Times

ℹ

Display response times show how fast the screen is able to change from one color to the next. Slow response times can lead to afterimages and can cause moving objects to appear blurry (ghosting). Gamers of fast-paced 3D titles should pay special attention to fast response times.

↔ Response Time Black to White
39.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined	↗ 19.6 ms rise
39.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined	↘ 19.6 ms fall
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 96 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (21.5 ms).
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey
59.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined	↗ 30 ms rise
59.2 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined	↘ 29.2 ms fall
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.2 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 95 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (33.7 ms).

Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)

ℹ

To dim the screen, some notebooks will simply cycle the backlight on and off in rapid succession - a method called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) . This cycling frequency should ideally be undetectable to the human eye. If said frequency is too low, users with sensitive eyes may experience strain or headaches or even notice the flickering altogether.

Screen flickering / PWM detected

25000 Hz

≤ 30 % brightness setting

The display backlight flickers at 25000 Hz (worst case, e.g., utilizing PWM) Flickering detected at a brightness setting of 30 % and below. There should be no flickering or PWM above this brightness setting.

The frequency of 25000 Hz is quite high, so most users sensitive to PWM should not notice any flickering.

In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 17900 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured.

The display is very well calibrated by default and does not suffer from a visible color tint. We were able to improve upon color accuracy even further through calibration, and the display turned out to be very well usable for photo and video editing purposes thanks to its complete coverage of the sRGB color space.

While the matte surface is beneficial outdoors, we would have wished for a brighter display backlight. As it is, the display is only comfortably usable in the shade. As expected of an IPS panel viewing angles are quite good.

Performance – Fast SSD and a lot of RAM

The preinstalled ControlCenter software runs under both Linux and Windows, and it enables the user to select between the various performance modes and fan profiles. We ran our tests in the default Balanced setting.

Processor – AMD Ryzen 5

The AMD Ryzen 5 4600H features 6 cores that can process 12 threads simultaneously. This particular 45 W CPU will boost up to 4.0 GHz, and overall performance of our Pulse 15 review unit turned out to be very good. After an initial TDP boost of up to 54 W the CPU quickly settled at 35 W. With Performance Mode enabled in ControlCenter were were able to increase continuous TDP to 45 W.

Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H: Ø1319 (1258.61-1403.76)

Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H: Ø1361 (1342.69-1420)

SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7: Ø968 (957.88-1027.12)

Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H: Ø870 (827.87-893.75)

LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Core i5-1035G7: Ø414 (401.76-534.64)

Overall, our benchmark results are almost identical to those of the Honor MagicBook Pro with the exact same processor. All other comparison devices featured Intel CPUs and were incapable of keeping up. CPU performance drops by around 15 % on battery.

Cinebench R20: CPU (Single Core) | CPU (Multi Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Single 64Bit | CPU Multi 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 -mmt1 | 7z b 4
Geekbench 5.5: Single-Core | Multi-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean

Cinebench R20 / CPU (Single Core)
Average of class Multimedia (341 - 812, n=97, last 2 years)	646 Points +42%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7	539 Points +19%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	454 Points
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	452 Points 0%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H	446 Points -2%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (428 - 454, n=8)	445 Points -2%
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Core i5-1035G7	380 Points -16%

Cinebench R20 / CPU (Multi Core)
Average of class Multimedia (1783 - 11768, n=97, last 2 years)	5352 Points +75%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	3234 Points +6%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (3055 - 3393, n=8)	3233 Points +6%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	3055 Points
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H	2107 Points -31%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7	1999 Points -35%
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Core i5-1035G7	1043 Points -66%

Cinebench R15 / CPU Single 64Bit
Average of class Multimedia (142.6 - 308, n=99, last 2 years)	251 Points +43%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7	228 Points +30%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H	186 Points +6%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (172.1 - 179, n=9)	176.5 Points +1%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	176 Points +1%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	175 Points
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Core i5-1035G7	153 Points -13%

Cinebench R15 / CPU Multi 64Bit
Average of class Multimedia (785 - 4703, n=106, last 2 years)	2321 Points +65%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (1398 - 1467, n=10)	1428 Points +2%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	1420 (1342.69^min - 1420^max) Points +1%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	1404 (1258.61^min - 1403.76^max) Points
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7	1027 (957.88^min - 1027.12^max) Points -27%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H	889 (827.87^min - 893.75^max) Points -37%
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Core i5-1035G7	539 Points -62%

Blender / v2.79 BMW27 CPU
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Core i5-1035G7	1075 Seconds * -191%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7	518 Seconds * -40%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H	508 Seconds * -38%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	369 Seconds *
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	356 Seconds * +4%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (337 - 369, n=6)	352 Seconds * +5%
Average of class Multimedia (107 - 662, n=95, last 2 years)	265 Seconds * +28%

7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4 -mmt1
Average of class Multimedia (3398 - 7163, n=90, last 2 years)	5639 MIPS +30%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7	5099 MIPS +17%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H	4889 MIPS +13%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (4334 - 4471, n=6)	4395 MIPS +1%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	4345 MIPS
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	4334 MIPS 0%
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Core i5-1035G7	4091 MIPS -6%

7-Zip 18.03 / 7z b 4
Average of class Multimedia (20166 - 119900, n=90, last 2 years)	57411 MIPS +48%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	38873 MIPS
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	38185 MIPS -2%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (36693 - 38873, n=6)	37768 MIPS -3%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7	26819 MIPS -31%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H	24388 MIPS -37%
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Core i5-1035G7	13921 MIPS -64%

Geekbench 5.5 / Single-Core
Average of class Multimedia (926 - 2342, n=100, last 2 years)	1758 Points +57%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7	1586 Points +41%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H	1183 Points +5%
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Core i5-1035G7	1163 Points +4%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	1123 Points
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	1117 Points -1%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (1099 - 1124, n=7)	1115 Points -1%

Geekbench 5.5 / Multi-Core
Average of class Multimedia (3828 - 23059, n=100, last 2 years)	11372 Points +73%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	6574 Points
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	6080 Points -8%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (5260 - 6574, n=7)	6057 Points -8%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7	5878 Points -11%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H	4399 Points -33%
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Core i5-1035G7	2713 Points -59%

HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2 / 4k Preset
Average of class Multimedia (4.99 - 30.5, n=88, last 2 years)	15.6 fps +56%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	9.98 fps
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (9.27 - 10.4, n=5)	9.85 fps -1%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	9.79 fps -2%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7	7.58 fps -24%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H	7.28 fps -27%

LibreOffice / 20 Documents To PDF
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (58.4 - 73.3, n=6)	65 s * -11%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H	63.6 s * -9%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	62.5 s * -7%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	58.4 s *
Average of class Multimedia (6.7 - 84.9, n=92, last 2 years)	48 s * +18%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7	45.8 s * +22%
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Core i5-1035G7	32.26 s * +45%

R Benchmark 2.5 / Overall mean
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Core i5-1035G7	0.811 sec * -31%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel Core i5-10300H	0.646 sec * -5%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	0.627 sec * -2%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	0.617 sec *
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H (0.607 - 0.627, n=6)	0.616 sec * -0%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Core i7-1165G7	0.571 sec * +7%
Average of class Multimedia (0.3826 - 0.723, n=90, last 2 years)	0.4811 sec * +22%

* ... smaller is better

Cinebench R15 CPU Multi 64Bit

1404 Points

Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64Bit

67.8 fps

Cinebench R15 Ref. Match 64Bit

98 %

Cinebench R15 CPU Single 64Bit

175 Points

Help

... in comparison

System Performance

Thanks to its powerful processor and its fast SSD the Pulse 15 turned out to be a very responsive computer that reacted practically instantaneously to input. We did not encounter any issues during our review period.

PCMark 10 | PCMark 8

PCMark 10
Score
Average of class Multimedia (4635 - 8670, n=85, last 2 years)	6602 Points +33%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Iris Xe G7 96EUs, i7-1165G7, Samsung SSD 980 Pro 1TB MZ-V8P1T0BW	5158 Points +4%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H, AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (4977 - 5110, n=3)	5029 Points +1%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) Vega 6, R5 4600H, WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G	5001 Points 0%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 Vega 6, R5 4600H, Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB	4977 Points
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 UHD Graphics 630, i5-10300H, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe	4329 Points -13%
LG Gram 15Z90N Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i5-1035G7, SK Hynix PC401 512GB M.2 (HFS512GD9TNG)	3906 Points -22%
Essentials
SCHENKER Vision 15 Iris Xe G7 96EUs, i7-1165G7, Samsung SSD 980 Pro 1TB MZ-V8P1T0BW	10522 Points +18%
Average of class Multimedia (8480 - 12420, n=85, last 2 years)	10473 Points +18%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 UHD Graphics 630, i5-10300H, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe	9874 Points +11%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H, AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (8888 - 9123, n=3)	8970 Points +1%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 Vega 6, R5 4600H, Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB	8898 Points
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) Vega 6, R5 4600H, WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G	8888 Points 0%
LG Gram 15Z90N Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i5-1035G7, SK Hynix PC401 512GB M.2 (HFS512GD9TNG)	8272 Points -7%
Productivity
Average of class Multimedia (5845 - 11186, n=85, last 2 years)	8709 Points +20%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H, AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (7209 - 7517, n=3)	7327 Points +1%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 Vega 6, R5 4600H, Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB	7254 Points
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) Vega 6, R5 4600H, WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G	7209 Points -1%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 UHD Graphics 630, i5-10300H, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe	6996 Points -4%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Iris Xe G7 96EUs, i7-1165G7, Samsung SSD 980 Pro 1TB MZ-V8P1T0BW	6852 Points -6%
LG Gram 15Z90N Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i5-1035G7, SK Hynix PC401 512GB M.2 (HFS512GD9TNG)	6417 Points -12%
Digital Content Creation
Average of class Multimedia (4688 - 13548, n=85, last 2 years)	8686 Points +68%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) Vega 6, R5 4600H, WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G	5299 Points +2%
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H, AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (5185 - 5299, n=3)	5256 Points +1%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 Vega 6, R5 4600H, Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB	5185 Points
SCHENKER Vision 15 Iris Xe G7 96EUs, i7-1165G7, Samsung SSD 980 Pro 1TB MZ-V8P1T0BW	5165 Points 0%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 UHD Graphics 630, i5-10300H, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe	3187 Points -39%
LG Gram 15Z90N Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i5-1035G7, SK Hynix PC401 512GB M.2 (HFS512GD9TNG)	3047 Points -41%

PCMark 8 - Home Score Accelerated v2
SCHENKER Vision 15 Iris Xe G7 96EUs, i7-1165G7, Samsung SSD 980 Pro 1TB MZ-V8P1T0BW	5364 Points
Average of class Multimedia (4484 - 5583, n=10, last 2 years)	5126 Points
Average AMD Ryzen 5 4600H, AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (4485 - 4652, n=2)	4569 Points
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) Vega 6, R5 4600H, WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G	4485 Points
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 UHD Graphics 630, i5-10300H, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe	3842 Points
LG Gram 15Z90N Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i5-1035G7, SK Hynix PC401 512GB M.2 (HFS512GD9TNG)	3497 Points

PCMark 10 Score		4977 points
Help

DPC Latencies

DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95
SCHENKER Vision 15 Iris Xe G7 96EUs, i7-1165G7, Samsung SSD 980 Pro 1TB MZ-V8P1T0BW	7446 μs * -776%
LG Gram 15Z90N Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i5-1035G7, SK Hynix PC401 512GB M.2 (HFS512GD9TNG)	4990 μs * -487%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 UHD Graphics 630, i5-10300H, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe	1521 μs * -79%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) Vega 6, R5 4600H, WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G	1297 μs * -53%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 Vega 6, R5 4600H, Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB	850 μs *

* ... smaller is better

Storage Devices

The Pulse 15’s single M.2-2280 slot is connected via PCIe 3.0 x4. The exact SSD model of your liking can be selected during configuration. Our review unit came equipped with a fast 1 TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus.

	Tuxedo Pulse 15 Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB	Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G	SCHENKER Vision 15 Samsung SSD 980 Pro 1TB MZ-V8P1T0BW	Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe	LG Gram 15Z90N SK Hynix PC401 512GB M.2 (HFS512GD9TNG)	Average Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB	Average of class Multimedia
CrystalDiskMark 5.2 / 6		-9%	74%	-32%	-1%	9%	28%
Write 4K	110.5	156.9 42%	238.1 115%	93.3 -16%	177.1 60%	155.5 ?(86.5 - 238, n=18) 41%	170.2 ?(99.3 - 319, n=66, last 2 years) 54%
Read 4K	43.38	48.81 13%	79.2 83%	45.9 6%	47.88 10%	51.6 ?(40.5 - 76.7, n=18) 19%	66.2 ?(30.7 - 96, n=66, last 2 years) 53%
Write Seq	3041	1050 -65%	4139 36%	1211 -60%	2182 -28%	2660 ?(1197 - 3241, n=17) -13%	2761 ?(473 - 4443, n=38, last 2 years) -9%
Read Seq	2414	2517 4%	4133 71%	1633 -32%	1900 -21%	2390 ?(1018 - 3037, n=17) -1%	2981 ?(1642 - 4875, n=38, last 2 years) 23%
Write 4K Q32T1	392	408.7 4%	697 78%	273.1 -30%	448.4 14%	447 ?(289 - 569, n=18) 14%	479 ?(292 - 777, n=66, last 2 years) 22%
Read 4K Q32T1	490.9	504 3%	758 54%	356 -27%	470.3 -4%	544 ?(332 - 715, n=18) 11%	550 ?(310 - 972, n=66, last 2 years) 12%
Write Seq Q32T1	3329	1087 -67%	5187 56%	1198 -64%	2228 -33%	3296 ?(3227 - 3339, n=18) -1%	4002 ?(490 - 6779, n=66, last 2 years) 20%
Read Seq Q32T1	3568	3407 -5%	7117 99%	2269 -36%	3454 -3%	3551 ?(3477 - 3571, n=18) 0%	5393 ?(2108 - 7147, n=66, last 2 years) 51%
Write 4K Q8T8					1283	1656 ?()	1079 ?(306 - 3112, n=35, last 2 years)
Read 4K Q8T8					1052	2076 ?()	1411 ?(614 - 3035, n=35, last 2 years)
AS SSD		-22%	33%	-218%	-29%	0%	-8%
Seq Read	2425	2749 13%	5427 124%	1423 -41%	2842 17%	2800 ?(2173 - 3002, n=18) 15%	4005 ?(1192 - 5730, n=84, last 2 years) 65%
Seq Write	2539	2348 -8%	3886 53%	766 -70%	974 -62%	2633 ?(2469 - 2858, n=18) 4%	2553 ?(388 - 5175, n=84, last 2 years) 1%
4K Read	55.6	44.22 -20%	72.9 31%	42.21 -24%	50.5 -9%	51.2 ?(27.9 - 71.1, n=18) -8%	62.7 ?(30 - 98.5, n=84, last 2 years) 13%
4K Write	157.2	140.5 -11%	219.3 40%	74.8 -52%	147.5 -6%	131.2 ?(86.3 - 188.1, n=18) -17%	188.5 ?(66.5 - 328, n=84, last 2 years) 20%
4K-64 Read	1878	1450 -23%	2209 18%	973 -48%	1191 -37%	1839 ?(1579 - 2340, n=18) -2%	1231 ?(413 - 2989, n=84, last 2 years) -34%
4K-64 Write	2512	2346 -7%	2265 -10%	218.8 -91%	1275 -49%	2144 ?(708 - 2512, n=18) -15%	2123 ?(281 - 4265, n=84, last 2 years) -15%
Access Time Read *	0.034	0.079 -132%	0.033 3%	0.125 -268%	0.043 -26%	0.04528 ?(0.031 - 0.068, n=18) -33%	0.0578 ?(0.018 - 0.168, n=84, last 2 years) -70%
Access Time Write *	0.024	0.027 -13%	0.02 17%	0.552 -2200%	0.027 -13%	0.03128 ?(0.02 - 0.054, n=18) -30%	0.05992 ?(0.013 - 0.414, n=84, last 2 years) -150%
Score Read	2176	1769 -19%	2825 30%	1157 -47%	1526 -30%	2171 ?(1846 - 2708, n=18) 0%	1695 ?(669 - 3501, n=84, last 2 years) -22%
Score Write	2923	2721 -7%	2873 -2%	370 -87%	1520 -48%	2539 ?(1134 - 2923, n=18) -13%	2567 ?(545 - 4813, n=84, last 2 years) -12%
Score Total	6221	5376 -14%	7069 14%	2094 -66%	3741 -40%	5812 ?(4450 - 6452, n=18) -7%	5067 ?(2010 - 9972, n=84, last 2 years) -19%
Copy ISO MB/s	2101		2775 32%	1151 -45%	1135 -46%	2133 ?(1710 - 2383, n=12) 2%	2409 ?(165 - 5588, n=73, last 2 years) 15%
Copy Program MB/s	437		662 51%	499.4 14%	346 -21%	698 ?(255 - 2694, n=12) 60%	664 ?(94.7 - 1401, n=73, last 2 years) 52%
Copy Game MB/s	1027		1655 61%	733 -29%	665 -35%	1521 ?(791 - 5984, n=12) 48%	1475 ?(195.4 - 2942, n=73, last 2 years) 44%
Total Average (Program / Settings)		-16% / -16%	54% / 48%	-125% / -151%	-15% / -19%	5% / 3%	10% / 5%

* ... smaller is better

CrystalDiskMark 5.2 / 6

AS SSD

DiskSpd

Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB

CDM 5/6 Read Seq Q32T1: 3568 MB/s

CDM 5/6 Write Seq Q32T1: 3329 MB/s

CDM 5/6 Read 4K Q32T1: 490.9 MB/s

CDM 5/6 Write 4K Q32T1: 392 MB/s

CDM 5 Read Seq: 2414 MB/s

CDM 5 Write Seq: 3041 MB/s

CDM 5/6 Read 4K: 43.38 MB/s

CDM 5/6 Write 4K: 110.5 MB/s

Sustained Read: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8

No graph data

GPU Performance

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 performs as expected and at the same level as in the Honor MagicBook Pro. Schenker's Vision 15 with Intel Xe Graphics was much faster in comparison, Dell’s XPS 15 with UHD Graphics much slower. The Pulse 15 is thus more than fast enough for regular multimedia applications, including high-definition video playback.

GPU performance remained consistent under sustained load and on battery.

3DMark 11 | 3DMark

3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU
Average of class Multimedia (3505 - 60250, n=89, last 2 years)	18929 Points +318%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs, Intel Core i7-1165G7	6971 Points +54%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000), AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	4589 Points +1%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000), AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	4525 Points
Average AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (3401 - 4713, n=23)	4146 Points -8%
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), Intel Core i5-1035G7	2914 Points -36%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel UHD Graphics 630, Intel Core i5-10300H	1744 Points -61%

3DMark
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics
Average of class Multimedia (1835 - 46022, n=90, last 2 years)	14005 Points +353%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs, Intel Core i7-1165G7	5759 Points +86%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000), AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	3093 Points
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000), AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	3051 Points -1%
Average AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (2122 - 3239, n=23)	2673 Points -14%
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), Intel Core i5-1035G7	1418 Points -54%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel UHD Graphics 630, Intel Core i5-10300H	1189 Points -62%
1280x720 Cloud Gate Standard Graphics
Average of class Multimedia (14679 - 150699, n=60, last 2 years)	58293 Points
Average AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (15227 - 24163, n=16)	20712 Points
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel UHD Graphics 630, Intel Core i5-10300H	9873 Points
LG Gram 15Z90N Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), Intel Core i5-1035G7	7024 Points
2560x1440 Time Spy Graphics
Average of class Multimedia (622 - 17620, n=90, last 2 years)	5310 Points +492%
SCHENKER Vision 15 Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs, Intel Core i7-1165G7	1611 Points +80%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000), AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	903 Points +1%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000), AMD Ryzen 5 4600H	897 Points
Average AMD Radeon RX Vega 6 (Ryzen 4000/5000) (650 - 996, n=22)	821 Points -8%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 Intel UHD Graphics 630, Intel Core i5-10300H	382 Points -57%

3DMark 11 Performance		4905 points
3DMark Fire Strike Score		2836 points
3DMark Time Spy Score		1028 points
Help

... in comparison

Gaming Performance

While the integrated GPU performed admirably the Pulse 15 is most certainly not a gaming notebook by any means. It will, however, run older and less demanding games smoothly even in high details.

	low	med.	high	ultra
The Witcher 3 (2015)	58.6		18.4
Dota 2 Reborn (2015)	109	89	50	46.5
X-Plane 11.11 (2018)	45.6	33.8	29.9

Emissions & Energy

Noise Emissions

Both fans are off most of the time during everyday use. Only when the CPU is subjected to sustained load will the fans ramp up noticeably and peak at 42.3 dB(A) under maximum load or around 40 dB(A) while gaming. The frequency was not particularly unpleasant, and we found no evidence of coil while or other electrical noise whatsoever. The additional fan profiles that can be enabled using the ControlCenter software allow for further fan noise customization.

Noise Level

Idle		24.4 / 24.4 / 28.6 dB(A)
Load		32.3 / 42.3 dB(A)

	30 dB silent 40 dB(A) audible 50 dB(A) loud
min: , med: , max: Earthworks M23R, Arta (15 cm distance) environment noise: 24.4 dB(A)

	Tuxedo Pulse 15 Vega 6, R5 4600H, Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB	Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) Vega 6, R5 4600H, WDC PC SN730 SDBPNTY-512G	SCHENKER Vision 15 Iris Xe G7 96EUs, i7-1165G7, Samsung SSD 980 Pro 1TB MZ-V8P1T0BW	Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 UHD Graphics 630, i5-10300H, Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G NVMe	LG Gram 15Z90N Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), i5-1035G7, SK Hynix PC401 512GB M.2 (HFS512GD9TNG)
Noise		-5%	-14%	-5%	-13%
off / environment *	24.4	29.7 -22%	29.8 -22%	28 -15%	30.7 -26%
Idle Minimum *	24.4	29.7 -22%	29.8 -22%	28 -15%	30.7 -26%
Idle Average *	24.4	29.7 -22%	29.8 -22%	28 -15%	30.7 -26%
Idle Maximum *	28.6	30.5 -7%	31.1 -9%	28 2%	31.9 -12%
Load Average *	32.3	31 4%	40.5 -25%	28 13%	34 -5%
Witcher 3 ultra *	40.1	31.3 22%	40.5 -1%
Load Maximum *	42.3	36.7 13%	40.5 4%	41.9 1%	34.2 19%

* ... smaller is better

Temperature

Surface temperatures remained inconspicuous even under load. We found a single hot spot in the center above the keyboard with a temperature of slightly over 40 °C. With both CPU and GPU under load the APU’s power consumption settled at around 35 W with the CPU cores running at around 3 GHz and the GPU at around 930 MHz.

Max. Load

Idle


35.5 °C 96 F	41.4 °C 107 F	37.4 °C 99 F
29.5 °C 85 F	37.5 °C 100 F	32.9 °C 91 F
25.3 °C 78 F	26.2 °C 79 F	26.3 °C 79 F

Maximum: 41.4 °C = 107 F
Average: 32.4 °C = 90 F


39.3 °C 103 F	43.8 °C 111 F	32.4 °C 90 F
29.9 °C 86 F	35.5 °C 96 F	27.8 °C 82 F
27.1 °C 81 F	27.5 °C 82 F	26.1 °C 79 F

Maximum: 43.8 °C = 111 F
Average: 32.2 °C = 90 F

Power Supply (max.) 38.4 °C = 101 F | Room Temperature 21.6 °C = 71 F | Voltcraft IR-900

(±) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 32.4 °C / 90 F, compared to the average of 31.2 °C / 88 F for the devices in the class Multimedia.
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 41.4 °C / 107 F, compared to the average of 36.9 °C / 98 F, ranging from 21.1 to 71 °C for the class Multimedia.
(±) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 43.8 °C / 111 F, compared to the average of 39.1 °C / 102 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 26.7 °C / 80 F, compared to the device average of 31.2 °C / 88 F.
(+) The palmrests and touchpad are cooler than skin temperature with a maximum of 26.3 °C / 79.3 F and are therefore cool to the touch.
(+) The average temperature of the palmrest area of similar devices was 28.8 °C / 83.8 F (+2.5 °C / 4.5 F).

Surface temperatures stress test (bottom)

Speakers

The two 2 W speakers are located at the bottom of the device. Accordingly, they can sound quite muffled depending on what surface the device is placed on. Audio performance was not particularly good overall. While maximum volume was decent the speakers tended to boom noticeably at higher volume levels and sounded very tinny overall. They are certainly good enough for occasionally watching short videos or listening to background music, but we would still recommend a set of external speakers of headphones for a much-improved audio experience.

Frequency diagram (checkboxes can be checked and unchecked to compare devices)

Tuxedo Pulse 15 audio analysis

(±) | speaker loudness is average but good (76.2 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(±) | reduced bass - on average 11.2% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (10.5% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | higher mids - on average 14.1% higher than median
(±) | linearity of mids is average (9.3% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 5.7% higher than median
(±) | linearity of highs is average (8.3% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(-) | overall sound is not linear (30% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 94% of all tested devices in this class were better, 3% similar, 3% worse
» The best had a delta of 5%, average was 18%, worst was 45%
Compared to all devices tested
» 86% of all tested devices were better, 3% similar, 11% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%

Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 audio analysis

(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (84.2 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(+) | good bass - only 4.6% away from median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (10% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 3.3% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (4.5% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(+) | balanced highs - only 2.4% away from median
(+) | highs are linear (4.3% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(+) | overall sound is linear (7.7% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 4% of all tested devices in this class were better, 1% similar, 94% worse
» The best had a delta of 5%, average was 18%, worst was 45%
Compared to all devices tested
» 1% of all tested devices were better, 0% similar, 99% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%

Power Consumption

Power consumption turned out to be inconspicuous and without any surprises. It was okay when idle, and the included 90 W power supply was more than adequate under load. However, we would have wished for lower power consumption during standby and when powered off.

Power Consumption

Off / Standby	0.86 / 1.37 Watt
Idle	5 / 7.7 / 8.7 Watt
Load	42.4 / 97.2 Watt


Key: min: , med: , max: Metrahit Energy Currently we use the Metrahit Energy, a professional single phase power quality and energy measurement digital multimeter, for our measurements. Find out more about it here. All of our test methods can be found here.

Battery Life

Battery life is very long thanks to the device’s large 91 Wh battery. When running our real-world Wi-Fi test with brightness normalized at 150 nits the device lasted for almost 14 hours. With brightness turned all the way up it still managed over 8 hours and lasted for around 2 hours under maximum load.

Battery Runtime - WiFi Websurfing
SCHENKER Vision 15 i7-1165G7, Iris Xe G7 96EUs, 73 Wh	912 min +11%
Tuxedo Pulse 15 R5 4600H, Vega 6, 91 Wh	823 min
LG Gram 15Z90N i5-1035G7, Iris Plus Graphics G7 (Ice Lake 64 EU), 80 Wh	728 min -12%
Honor MagicBook Pro (AMD) R5 4600H, Vega 6, 56 Wh	619 min -25%
Average of class Multimedia (274 - 1204, n=95, last 2 years)	572 min -30%
Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 i5-10300H, UHD Graphics 630, 56 Wh	556 min -32%

Battery Runtime

WiFi Websurfing		13h 43min
WiFi Websurfing max. Brightness		8h 20min
Load (maximum brightness)		2h 00min

Pros

+ high-quality case

+ fast CPU

+ high system performance

+ long battery life

+ good input devices

+ configurable

Cons

- USB 2.0

- slow microSD card reader

- poor speakers

- slow response times

Verdict – Good-Looking and Powerful Ultrabook

In review: Tuxedo Pulse 15. Review unit provided by Tuxedo

The Tuxedo Pulse 15’s highlights are its excellent metal case and its fast processor while at the same time retaining low temperatures and noise emissions. We also liked its input devices and its connectivity, albeit we were taken aback by its slow USB 2.0 port that we would not have expected on a modern laptop with a price tag of more than 1,000 Euros.

The Pulse 15 is a compact 15-inch Ultrabook with fast AMD processor and long battery life.

Its FHD display is well-suited for productivity applications. Not only is it matte but it can be calibrated to ensure very high color accuracy. Our only gripe is its low maximum brightness, which could have been higher for outdoor use in particular. Other downsides include its poor speakers and slow microSD reader. If you are looking for a thin 15-inch laptop with a powerful CPU the Pulse 15 (as well as its Schenker Via 15 Pro running Windows) is worth a closer look.

Price and Availability

The Pulse 15 can be configured and purchased on Tuxedo’s website and starts at around 1,000 Euros.

Tuxedo Pulse 15 - 2021-03-17 03/17/2021 v7
Andreas Osthoff

Chassis

86 / 98 → 88%

Keyboard

91%

Pointing Device

91%

Connectivity

51 / 80 → 64%

Weight

69 / 20-72 → 95%

Battery

90 / 95 → 95%

Display

87%

Games Performance

62 / 90 → 69%

Application Performance

92 / 90 → 100%

Temperature

91%

Noise

92 / 95 → 97%

Audio

63%

Camera

26 / 85 → 30%

Average

76%

85%

Multimedia - Weighted Average

Pricecompare

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Editor of the original article: Andreas Osthoff - Managing Editor Business Laptops - 1619 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2013

I grew up with modern consumer electronics and my first computer was a Commodore C64, which encouraged my interest in building my own systems. I started working as a review editor for Notebookcheck during my dual studies at Siemens. Currently, I am mainly responsible for dealing with business laptops and mobile workstations. It’s a great experience to be able to review the latest devices and technologies and then compare them with each other.

contact me via: LinkedIn

Translator: Finn D Boerne - Translator - 450 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2017

Born in the United States and raised in Germany I became acquainted with both languages from an early age and turned this into my profession later in life. Computers have always played an important role in my life, and my love for all things digital is a huge part of my daily routine. Virtual Reality has captured my imagination and interest in particular, and I cannot wait to see what the (near) future will bring.

Please share our article, every link counts!

> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Tuxedo Pulse 15 Laptop Review - AMD-powered 15-inch Linux Ultrabook

Andreas Osthoff, 2021-03-23 (Update: 2021-03-23)

Tuxedo Pulse 15 Laptop Review - AMD-powered 15-inch Linux Ultrabook

Competitors in Comparison

Case & Connectivity

Size Comparison

Ports

Input Devices

Display – Pulse 15 with Matte IPS Panel

Display Response Times

Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)

Performance – Fast SSD and a lot of RAM

Processor – AMD Ryzen 5

System Performance

DPC Latencies

Storage Devices

Sustained Read: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8

GPU Performance

Gaming Performance

Emissions & Energy

Noise Emissions

Temperature

Speakers

Tuxedo Pulse 15 audio analysis

Dell XPS 15 9500 Core i5 audio analysis

Power Consumption

Battery Life

Pros

Cons

Verdict – Good-Looking and Powerful Ultrabook

Price and Availability

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