Laptop

The entry-level RTX 3050 Ti GPUs might first launch on laptops. According to the latest listings from Asus and Acer, the RTX 3050 Ti models only come with 4 GB of GDDR6 memory, so they are most likely limited to a 128-bit memory bus, and the minimum TGP is set to 60 W.

AMD has been pretty tight-lipped about RX 6000 mobile GPUs but finally hinted during the RX 6700 XT unveil that laptops powered by RDNA2 mobile are indeed coming soon. So far, we do know about Navi 22 offerings including the RX 6700M and the RX 6600M, but a Navi 21 RX 6800M along with Navi 23 and Navi 24 may also be made available some time during Q2 2021.

Hasee is a Chinese laptop maker that is probably most known for its dealings with the crypto miners who recently snagged hundreds of devices during the Bitcoin price boom. It looks like Hasee already managed to secure quite a few Intel Rocket Lake-S CPUs to be paired with RTX 3060 / 3070 GPUs in its new Ares laptops, which presold like hot cakes on JD.com.

Razer partnered with Conservation International for the Sneki Snek plushie, the sales of which go toward protecting forestry in various locations worldwide. The mascot has now achieved its initial goal of saving 100,000 trees in this manner, which means the OEM has new merch based on the character to launch at its upcoming RazerStore Live event.

We compared the Apple M1's performance in CPU benchmarks against the AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS in the Asus ROG Flow X13, the Core i9-10980HK, and the Core i7-1185G7 and found that native benchmarks such as Cinebench R23 and Geekbench 5.3 indicate clear leads for Apple Silicon in single-core performance despite operating in just a 10 W TDP envelope. We see that Intel Tiger Lake Core i7-1185G7 is able to match the M1 in single-core tests but loses out significantly in multi-core tests.

Originally slated for release in February, Lenovo has released their new 2021 X1 ThinkPad now in early March. Both the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 and ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 feature new 14 inch 16:10 screens. As usual with Lenovo, their starting prices are sky high at the moment.

Nvidia has unsurprisingly completely dominated the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for February in terms of PC video card usage. Once again, 18 out of the top 20 places are taken up by Nvidia GPUs, with the GeForce GTX 1650, RTX 2060, and RTX 3080 showing the greatest positive movement for their respective series.

The two patents are owned by VLSI and relate to ways to manage CPU clock speeds and minimum voltages for memory. VLSI has an additional six patent violation claims against Intel, which could amount to $11 billion in damages. Intel denies all allegations and is confident it can avoid these fees through future appeals.

Two new Dell G5 15 gaming laptop variants have been found online. The first one is called the Dell G5 15 5510 and it features an Intel Core i5-10200H processor and a GeForce GTX 1650, which will allegedly retail for US$899. On the other hand, the Dell G5 15 5515 will come with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU and a GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card.

Part business laptop and part consumer laptop, the ThinkBook 14 Gen 2 targets users who want something for both work and home without needing to settle for a full-fledged ThinkPad. This is one of the better all-rounder laptops for under $600.

Razer DevCon is a new event set to debut in 2021 via Twitch. It is slated to present discussions on the up-to-date innovation and technology that might most benefit the future of gaming across multiple platforms. Therefore, it might interest developers involved in mobile, console or PC ecosystems.

Intel Tiger Lake-H45 processors are coming, and they are on their way to Lenovo's Legion gaming laptops. So far, retailers have revealed the Legion 5i 15ITH6, Legion 5 17ITH6H and Legion 7 16ITHG6, with Intel Core i5-11400H, Core i7-11800H and Core i9-11980HK processors, respectively.

Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of China with an economy best known for cheap power. It has thus reportedly become a magnet for cryptocurrency miners. Apparently, the region does not appreciate this attention, having just outlawed the practice.

Winners will be announced on March 4 alongside new product reveals live on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch. A Blade 15 with GeForce RTX 3070 graphics currently retails for well over $2000 USD.

The Xiaomi RedmiBook Pro 14 features a 14-inch and 16:10 display, Intel Tiger Lake processors, plenty of ports and even an NVIDIA GeForce MX450 GPU in some cases. Third-party retailers have already started selling the laptop too, although for far more than Xiaomi prices it in China.

What exactly does such a pricey laptop get you? The 14-inch Vaio Z is great for users who want to maximize performance and minimize weight. However, it doesn't offer enough in other aspects to justify the higher price against competitors.

The Ryzen 5 5600H CPU will readily outperform the common Core i7-10750H seen on most mid-range to high-end gaming laptops. This deal carries a lot of power and features for gamers on tight budgets.

One part of the AMD Ryzen 5000 lineup for 2021 is still not officially announced: The Ryzen Pro CPUs for business laptops. We have already seen the flagship AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 5850U in action through some leaked benchmarks. The spec-sheet of a recently announced Lenovo ThinkPad reveals specifications of both the 5850U and the six-core Ryzen 5 Pro 5650U.

A Surface Laptop 4 operating with a Tiger Lake-U processor has been spotted on Geekbench 5. The upcoming device featured an Intel Core i5-1135G7 in this case, although multiple SKU choices are likely, including some from AMD’s Ryzen 4000/5000 series. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 with its i5-1135G7 delivered a decent single-core result.

It's rare to find a gaming laptop with OLED display options and it's even more rare to find one that's also on sale. This Dell system aims to satisfy both gamers and professionals who can appreciate the DCI-P3 colors.

With its Comet Lake octa-core processor and GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU, the Aorus 15P XC is able to display all current games smoothly. The other aspects are promising too: 32 GB of RAM (dual channel mode), space for two NVMe SSDs, and a responsive display (FHD, IPS, 240 Hz).

The Special Edition laptop is one of the only gaming laptops in the market to feature AMD SmartShift for higher performance. Overall performance is neck-to-neck with costlier GeForce RTX 2060 laptops.

ULV Intel CPUs are getting better and better every year even if their performance differences can be marginal. However, those small gains are inching closer to Core H-levels of performance where we think Core U CPUs can have a place in entry-level to mid-range gaming laptops.

With the new Framework Laptop models, you do not have to buy a new laptop every few years. Just replace the motherboard and CPU with a newer version, add more RAM or storage, maybe even swap the display with a 4K OLED, and you have a totally up to date laptop, plus you help reduce e-waste in the long term.

The new Satellite C50 models come with Intel Ice Lake CPU options including the Core i3-1005G1, i5-1035G1, and i7-1065G7, up to 16 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM, up to 512 GB of SATA SSD storage and 15.6-inch HD or FHD displays. Prices start at $519.

AMD seems to be convincing more and more laptop OEMs to include Ryzen options across all price points, especially with the launch of the new Ryzen 5000 APUs. Even Dell is now rumored to include Ryzen APU options with the launch of the Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition lineup that may replace the current Intel-powered m15 R3 models.

Foldable devices nowadays come with relatively small displays, but, in a few years, we may be able to work with devices that integrate larger foldable screens like the Foldbook concept proposed by Wistron. By default, Foldbook offers a 17-inch touchscreen, which can be folded in half to act as a 10-inch laptop. Furthermore, the concept includes a docking station that transforms the tablet into an all-in-one PC.

Xiaomi has launched the 2021 variants of the RedmiBook Pro 14 and RedmiBook Pro 15. Shoppers in China can choose from among six SKUs, with Intel Core i5 and i7 Tiger Lake processors and the Nvidia GeForce MX450 dGPU as central component options. The RedmiBook Pro 14 is fitted with a 2.5K display while the RedmiBook Pro 15 gets a 3.2K screen.

The last generation budget gaming laptop still has some life left in it especially for gamers who are satisfied with playing the latest titles at 1080p and aren't aiming for 2K or 4K resolutions.

A South Korean news outlet suggests that Samsung and AMD's Radeon mobile GPU could debut alongside a laptop, instead of a smartphone. Samsung also plans on launching its first-ever laptop-grade SoC, the Exynos 2200, alongside it. The laptop in question could very likely be a Galaxy Book S successor.

HP has just confirmed it has secured "a definitive agreement" to buy HyperX, heretofore best known as Kingston's gaming-accessories division. That company's co-founder and CEO, John Tu, calls the move "a brighter future for HyperX", while its new owner is "thrilled" to admit it to its "family".

The new AR Smart Viewer Reference Design glasses from Qualcomm integrate the Snapdragon XR1 SoC, BOE micro-OLED binocular displays and Goertek hardware, plus dual monochrome cameras that enable six-degrees of freedom head and hand tracking with gesture recognition. OEMs can also include an 8MB RGB camera for remote assistance functionality.

The Scroll smartphone concept in inspired by ancient scrolls and comes with a 10-inch display rolled up inside a stylish tube-like leather finish case, while the ZeroEdge design proposes a 14-inch 99% screen-to-body ratio OLED display that wraps around its left and right edges to offer side touch functions like we see on quad-curved smartphone displays.

It is no secret that Microsoft is planning to release the Surface Laptop 4, and two new Geekbench listings have underlined this. The next Surface Laptop should be available with six or eight-core Ryzen APUs that support SMT. Chances are there that they will be Renoir APUs, but GPU details suggest that they will be Microsoft Surface Edition SKUs.

The Asus ROG Strix G15 is one of the latest gaming laptops equipped with an RTX 3000 GPU and a Ryzen 5000 CPU. The combination promises high performance that can be used optimally in games with the 300 Hz display. In the test, the Strix G15 reveals massive performance that is not limited to the graphics card.

Lenovo has introduced an upgraded ThinkPad X13 Gen 2. This year, we get to see internal upgrades to both Intel Tiger Lake and AMD Ryzen 5000 platforms. The new ThinkPad X13 Gen 2 offers 16:10 display options, Wi-Fi 6e, optional 5G connectivity, and comes in Black and Storm Grey color choices along with Lenovo's suite of ThinkShield privacy features.

Some of the 2021 ThinkPads have been redesigned by Lenovo. Not so the Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 2 and T15 Gen 2: Both still use the same chassis as their predecessors. They are new on the inside though, as both will be offered with the newest Intel and AMD processors.

The Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 1 was one of the best business laptops of 2020. The successor Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 2 does introduce a new design as well as a platform update with AMD Ryzen 5000 and Intel Tiger Lake, but it still uses 16:9 screens, unlike the new X13. Like the X13, the keyboard travel is reduced.

Lenovo has launched three new mobile workstations called the Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 2, ThinkPad P14si Gen 2 and ThinkPad P15s Gen 2. They come with several enterprise-centric features such as an Nvidia (Quadro) T500 GPU, LTE connectivity, and a Smart Card Reader. ThinkPad P14si Gen 2 and P15s will be retail for US$1,389 in March 2021, and the ThinkPad P14si in May 2021 for US$1,169

Lenovo has announced a spec refresh for its affordable business-class ThinkPad L14 and L15. The main changes are updates for AMD Ryzen 5000 and Intel 11th Gen processors and optional Nvidia MX450 graphics.

Lenovo has upgraded the ThinkPad X13 Yoga to a Gen 2 version. The ThinkPad X13 Yoga Gen 2 now offers Intel Tiger Lake vPro and several 16:10 display options in FHD+ and QHD+ resolutions with low blue light technology and optional PrivacyGuard. The new X13 Yoga also bundles Lenovo's familiar ThinkShield suite of security solutions.

Notebookcheck had the chance to talk with Michael Weigelt (Business Development Manager) from Lenovo Germany for the launch of the new ThinkPad X1 Nano. In addition to the X1 Nano, we also talked about the ThinkPad X1-series and ThinkPads in general.