Laptop

2020 HP Spectre x360 13 with 11th gen Core i5 CPU, Xe graphics, 1080p touchscreen, and 8 GB of RAM down to $760 USD (Image source: HP)

Deal | 2020 HP Spectre x360 13 with 11th gen Core i5 CPU, Xe graphics, 1080p touchscreen, and 8 GB of RAM down to $760 USD

Unlike the low-end Pavilion series or mid-range Envy series, the high-end Spectre series is home to some of HP's most luxurious consumer laptops. The latest model is down to affordable levels for the Holiday shopping season even if it's just the base configuration.

Allen Ngo, 30 Nov 2020 00:49

Medion Erazer Beast X10 (Tongfang GM7MPHP) in review: Stable, slim, compact gaming laptop with good battery life

The Medion Erazer Beast X10 offers plenty of gaming power, a sober look, and a good level of features

The compact Erazer Beast X10 brings all the latest computer games smoothly onto the 17.3-inch matte screen (Full HD, IPS, 144 Hz). The gaming laptop also scores points with 32 GB of RAM (dual-channel mode), room for two NVMe SSDs, and good battery life.

Sascha Mölck, 29 Nov 2020 20:36

Lenovo's ThinkPad E15 Gen.2 AMD offers a more compact design and a lot more performance

The ThinkPad E15 Gen.2 features a new more compact design and offers more performance thanks to an AMD CPU. The IPS display is still very dim and the underside still gets very hot under load.

Andreas Osthoff, 29 Nov 2020 16:05

Latest Lenovo ThinkPad X13 is down to $690 USD right now with 3rd gen AMD Ryzen 5 4650U CPU (Source: Lenovo)

Deal | Latest Lenovo ThinkPad X13 is down to $690 USD right now with 3rd gen AMD Ryzen 5 4650U CPU

Instead of paying budget prices for budget laptops, users might want to consider paying just a bit more for higher quality and longer-lasting models. One of Lenovo's flagship AMD ThinkPad business laptops is down to affordable levels without needing to sacrifice processor performance.

Allen Ngo, 28 Nov 2020 20:52

Lenovo IdeaPad S540 13-inch: AMD Ryzen ensures a very good rating despite cut corners

We have taken a look at the 13.3-inch subnotebook Lenovo IdeaPad S540. We were once again surprised by the currently outstanding performance of the Ryzen processors. Thanks to this, the laptop received a very good rating despite the manufacturer having cut a few cut corners.

Christian Hintze, 28 Nov 2020 13:34

Apple is offering gift cards or discounts with its Black Friday through Cyber Monday event. (Image source: Apple)

Deal | Apple gift card giveaway Black Friday through Cyber Monday: US$150/£120/€150 with a MacBook Pro 16 purchase or US$50/£40/€50 with an iPhone 11

Apple is running a gift card giveaway Black Friday through Cyber Monday. Qualifying purchases will see the buyer rewarded with a card worth from US$25/£20/€25 up to US$150/£120/€150. The deal includes many major Apple products such as the iPhone 11 and iPhone SE, the iPad Pro, Beats headphones, and even the premium MacBook Pro 16.

Daniel R Deakin, 28 Nov 2020 07:44

Cyberpunk 2077 may still run well on older systems. (Source: CD Projekt Red)

The Cyberpunk 2077 experience on the PS4 or Xbox One is slated to be "surprisingly good" by CD Projekt Red CEO

CD Projekt Red has just held its third-quarter earnings call for 2020, during which its president and joint CEO Adam Kiciński fielded various questions, many of which were about the upcoming title Cyberpunk 2077. One of them may also have been on the minds of those who still own "non-Pro" PlayStation 4 or Xbox consoles.

Deirdre O'Donnell, 27 Nov 2020 23:09

The Core i7-1180G7 will feature in machines like the ThinkPad X1 Nano. (Image source: Intel)

Intel Core i7-1180G7 debuts on Geekbench with a 4.59 GHz boost clock and impressive performance for a 15 W UP4 Tiger Lake processor

The Intel Core i7-1180G7 has reared its head on Geekbench. The 15 W and UP4 Tiger Lake processor stands up well to the more powerful UP3 series like the Core i7-1165G7 and Core i7-1185G7, while maintaining a healthy lead over the Core i7-1160G7. The Core i7-1180G7 recorded a boost clock speed of 4.59 GHz, too.

Alex Alderson, 27 Nov 2020 01:21

The next Surface hardware refresh may well be a disappointing one. (Image source: Microsoft)

Leaked Surface Laptop 4 and Surface Pro 8 pictures confirm last-generation designs but new AMD Ryzen APUs are headed to Microsoft's laptop

The first sighting of the Surface Laptop 4 has appeared, as has another of the Surface Pro 8. This time, the two devices have appeared on the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, confirming their designs and model numbers. Microsoft is expected to announce the Surface Laptop 4 and Surface Pro 8 early next year with Tiger Lake chipsets.

Alex Alderson, 26 Nov 2020 21:05

Super-cheap Gateway Ultra Slim 14 comes with a Ryzen 3 3200U CPU, 1080p display, USB-C, and 4 GB of RAM for just $280 USD (Source: Walmart)

Deal | Super-cheap Gateway Ultra Slim 14 comes with a Ryzen 3 3200U CPU, 1080p display, USB-C, and 4 GB of RAM for just $280 USD

The subnotebook should feel right at home for multimedia playback, classrooms, browsing, emailing, and the occasional travel especially since it doesn't rely on slower Intel Atom or Celeron solutions.

Allen Ngo, 26 Nov 2020 18:50

1440p could become the new standard resolution for gaming laptops in the next couple of years. (Image Source: Jarrod's Tech)

XMG announces NEO 15/17 gaming laptops with 1440p 165 Hz screens, includes Black Friday promotion

XMG's NEO 15/17 models now come with 1440p 165 Hz screen options, and for a limited time, these versions can be pre-ordered at as low as 1581 Euro and 1503 Euro, respectively. The 1440p panels from BOE require at least an RTX 2070 Super GPU, but do not expect to hit 165 fps in too many new games.

Bogdan Solca, 26 Nov 2020 16:18

Gigabyte Aorus 5 with 10th gen Core i7, 144 Hz display, GeForce RTX 2060, 16 GB DDR4 RAM, and 512 GB NVMe SSD down to $1050 after rebates (Source: Newegg)

Deal | Gigabyte Aorus 5 with 10th gen Core i7, 144 Hz display, GeForce RTX 2060, 16 GB DDR4 RAM, and 512 GB NVMe SSD down to $1050 after rebates

$1000 can get you pretty far this holiday season when it comes to gaming laptops. If you're willing to go through the hassle of rebates, then this 15.6-inch Aorus 5 will be a strong contender.

Allen Ngo, 26 Nov 2020 01:21

The ThinkPad X1 Fold is a mighty expensive machine, considering its drawbacks. (Image source: Lenovo)

Initial reviews show the limitations of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold has received its first reviews, a full eighteen months after the company showcased a prototype. However, early tests have highlighted performance issues with its Intel Lakefield processor and the limitations of its foldable form factor. The ThinkPad X1 Fold starts at US$2,499.

Alex Alderson, 25 Nov 2020 20:25

An example of a TSMC fab. (Source: TSMC)

TSMC holds an opening ceremony for its 3nm production facility

The Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reportedly held a ribbon-cutting event for a new fabrication unit dedicated to the production of 3 nanometer (nm) chips. They are the basis for next-gen processors in which companies such as Intel may have already expressed an interest.

Deirdre O'Donnell, 25 Nov 2020 18:04

AMD Ryzen 7 5800U mobile APU with Zen3 cores pops up on Geekbench, shows good single-core improvements

The new Zen3 cores from the upcoming Ryzen 5000 mobile APUs seem to be more proficient at single-core tasks, as the Ryzen 7 5800U shows 20% higher single-core scores compared to the Ryzen 7 5700U model that integrates Zen2 cores. However, the Zen3 cores do not offer any significant benefits in multi-core tests, with only 2.6% performance uplift.

Bogdan Solca, 25 Nov 2020 17:10

Schenker's VISION 15 is based on Intel's NUC M15 platform. (Image Source: Schenker)

Schenker announces VISION 15 Intel EVO laptops with Tiger Lake CPUs

The new VISION 15 laptops will be available for pre-orders in early December for 1,499 Euro and up. Highlights include a thin and light case, 15.6-inch IPS FHD touchscreen, i7-1165G7 CPUs with Xe iGPUs, 16 GB of LPDDR4x-4266 RAM, PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD storage and 2x Thundebolt 4 connectors.

Bogdan Solca, 25 Nov 2020 16:23

The Apple M1 might soon be joined by a potential M1X SoC. (Image source: Apple/Domus)

Alleged Apple M1X SoC in upcoming MacBook Pro 16 ready to outcore and outscore its M1 ARM-based relative

The Apple M1 SoC has just been launched and there are already rumors about another ARM-based chip coming out of the Cupertino company soon. The part has been tentatively called the M1X although the name is yet to be confirmed. The Apple M1X will apparently bring more CPU cores to the 2021 MacBook Pro 16 than the M1 chip could.

Daniel R Deakin, 25 Nov 2020 11:24

The new MacBook Air with Apple M1 SoC costs from US$999. (Image source: Apple)

ARM-based M1 in MacBook Air destroys AnTuTu benchmark and all the Apple silicon can go home now

The ARM-based Apple M1 chip has made a star turn appearance on the AnTuTu benchmark as the key component in a MacBook Air. The M1 managed to rack up way over one million points, leaving the Apple silicon, including the A12Z Bionic in the iPad Pro 4 and the performance-friendly A14 in the iPad Air (2020), trailing far behind.

Daniel R Deakin, 25 Nov 2020 10:17

Dell Inspiron 15 5505 with the latest AMD Ryzen 5 4500U CPU and 1080p display is now down to $490 USD (Source: Dell)

Deal | Budget Dell Inspiron 15 5505 with the latest AMD Ryzen 5 4500U CPU, 256 GB NVMe SSD, and 1080p display is now down to $490 USD

Down from its original launch price of $630 USD, the Inspiron 15 5505 is our next Holiday highlight sale because of its fast processor performance relative to the low asking price. This is Dell's latest budget laptop that should easily outperform any other in its sub $500 range.

Allen Ngo, 25 Nov 2020 04:35

NVIDIA RTX 3000 GPUs will reputedly land in laptop form from January 2021. (Image source: NVIDIA)

Laptops with NVIDIA RTX 3000 GPUs and AMD Ryzen 5000H APUs to arrive in 1H 2021 from as little as US$999

NVIDIA's next-generation mobile GPUs will be arriving from January 2021 and with AMD Ryzen 5000H series APUs, according to a new report. Apparently, NVIDIA has targeted a starting price of US$999 for RTX 3060-powered laptops and US$1,299 for RTX 3070 ones. Meanwhile, the RTX 3080 laptops will start at US$1,999. Intel Tiger Lake-H laptops with NVIDIA GPUs will be available, too.

Alex Alderson, 24 Nov 2020 19:40

Apple's M1 chip would do a stellar job of running Windows 10 on Arm. (Image: Apple)

Windows 10 on Apple silicon up to Microsoft says Apple exec in a surprise

With the advent of Apple silicon for Macs most people had given up on the idea of Apple supporting Windows installations on its computers. The door to the prospect, somewhat surprisingly, has been opened by Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi in recent interview with Ars Technica.

Sanjiv Sathiah, 24 Nov 2020 11:42

Cheap Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15 with 10th gen Core i3, 8 GB RAM, 1080p display, and 256 GB SSD is down to just $300 USD (Image source: Best Buy)

Deal | Cheap Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15 with 10th gen Core i3, 8 GB RAM, 1080p display, and 256 GB NVMe SSD is down to just $300 USD

The $300 range is home to some awful laptops sporting with Celeron, Atom, or 768p displays. The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 15 is easily one of the better options in this price range based solely on its decent specifications.

Allen Ngo, 24 Nov 2020 04:19

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano features slower Tiger Lake UP4 CPUs & 1.35mm travel keyboard

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano features lower powered Tiger Lake UP4 CPUs & 1.35mm travel keyboard

Lenovo's first X1 ThinkPad with Intel Tiger Lake is slated for a release around December to January. We have asked Lenovo some open questions about the specifications of the lightest ThinkPad yet - and we have gotten two interesting answers.

Benjamin Herzig, 23 Nov 2020 23:02

1440p could become the new standard resolution for gaming laptops in the next few years. (Image Source: Eluktronics)

Eluktronics is introducing the world's first gaming laptops with 1440p@165 Hz displays

1440p could soon become the standard resolution for gaming laptops and Eluktronics is already offering a few models integrating the new 1440p@165 Hz panels from BOE. These are only $50 more expensive to produce than the usual 1080p displays and offer 78% more screen real estate with low latency and good color gamut. As downsides, most notable are the requirement for powerful mobile GPUs like the Nvidia RTX 2070 and the sub-par scaling for lower resolutions.

Bogdan Solca, 23 Nov 2020 15:13

2020 HP Envy x360 15z with Ryzen 7 4700U, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB NVMe SSD now on sale for $830 USD (Image source: HP)

Deal | 2020 HP Envy x360 15z with Ryzen 7 4700U, 16 GB RAM, and 512 GB NVMe SSD now on sale for $830 USD

HP's latest mid-range convertible laptop comes with one of the fastest U-series CPUs available for a fair price without needing to cut RAM or storage in the process.

Allen Ngo, 23 Nov 2020 07:09

HP reinforces negative stereotypes about business laptops with the EliteBook 835 G7

Business laptops are known for their good keyboards, numerous connections, and high reliability - but unfortunately, also for their often below-average LCDs, a stereotype that HP regrettably reinforces with the AMD Ryzen 4000 EliteBook 835 G7.

Benjamin Herzig, 23 Nov 2020 01:33

Lenovo Yoga 7i Core i5 Tiger Lake is on par with the Core i7, but its Iris Xe graphics is way behind (Image source: Lenovo)

Lenovo Yoga 7i Core i5-1135G7 CPU is on par with the Core i7-1165G7, but its Iris Xe graphics is way behind

We're getting mixed results from the initial batch of laptops sporting Intel's newest 11th gen Tiger Lake processors. Both CPU and GPU performance are ranging from disappointing to impressive depending on the laptop in question.

Allen Ngo, 20 Nov 2020 19:53

The EliteBook x360 1030 G7 is one of HP's best subnotebook convertibles, but it's time to make the jump to 16:10

Dell, Lenovo, and even Razer are now offering 16:10 business laptops. Will HP follow suit? We think there's a good chance of seeing more high-end laptops from HP sporting aspect ratios other than 16:9 like 16:10 or 3:2.

Allen Ngo, 20 Nov 2020 07:26

Lenovo's ThinkPad T14 is also better with AMD Ryzen

The AMD models of Lenovo's current ThinkPad lineup are often the better choice, because in addition to a significant performance advantage they are usually less expensive. This is also true for the ThinkPad T14, one of the best 14-inch business laptops you can get.

Andreas Osthoff, 19 Nov 2020 23:53

The Intel NUC M15 is a white-label laptop. (Image source: Intel)

Intel NUC M15: A Tiger Lake and 'Evo Ready' laptop with up to 16 hours of quoted battery life

Intel has unveiled a new laptop in two colours that packs a 28 W Tiger Lake chipset. The machine, called the NUC M15, also has an aluminium chassis that is just 15 mm thick. Intel claims that the NUC M15 will last up to 16 hours between charges, too. The Intel NUC M15 should arrive as at least Eluktronics, Schenker, Maingear and XPG-branded machines.

Alex Alderson, 19 Nov 2020 19:16

AMD might also have an ace up its sleeve for the laptop-grade GPUs. (Image Source: AMD)

Undervolted AMD RX 6800 with 183 W TGP offers clues about an upcoming RX 6800M laptop-grade GPU matching the desktop RTX 2080 Ti

The RX 6800 GPU particularly efficient when it comes to undervolting, as its TGP can be reduced by 45 W down to 183 W. These figures are already laptop-friendly if we look at Nvidia's RTX 2080 Super mobility GPUs, so we can expect to see an RX 6800M GPU with 150-180W TGPs that matches the performance of a desktop-grade RTX 2080 Ti soon.

Bogdan Solca, 19 Nov 2020 18:47

The Ryzen 5 5500U is effectively a Ryzen 5 4500U that supports SMT. (Image source: Digital Trends)

Geekbench confirms that the AMD Ryzen 5 5500U is effectively a rebranded Ryzen 5 4600U

AMD's Ryzen 5 5500U has appeared on Geekbench, confirming several aspects of the upcoming mid-range APU. The Ryzen 5 5500U is effectively a Ryzen 5 4500U with SMT enabled, or a rebranded Ryzen 5 4600U. The Ryzen 5 5500U has six cores, 8 MB of L3 cache and 3 MB of L2 cache.

Alex Alderson, 19 Nov 2020 17:45

Schenker XMG Neo 17 (2020) Review: Overboost unleashes the Core i7 processor

A real wolf in sheep's clothing: With the XMG Neo 17 (2020), Schenker delivers powerful hardware in a moderate exterior with a mechanical keyboard

The Neo 17 brings all the current computer games smoothly to the responsive 17.3-inch screen (FHD, IPS, 240 Hz). The level of the hardware is right: a mechanical keyboard, 32 GB of working memory (dual-channel mode), an NVMe SSD (1 TB), and a Thunderbolt 3 connection are included.

Sascha Mölck, 19 Nov 2020 17:43

Google may be on the verge of replacing the Pixelbook Go. (Image source: Google)

Leaked Google AMD Raven Ridge Chromebook spotted with a Ryzen 3 3250C processor and 4 GB of RAM

It has been almost a year since Google unveiled the Pixelbook Go, and the Google Play Console suggests that a successor may be on the cards. The machine is powered by an AMD Ryzen 3 3250C, 4 GB of RAM and would appear to be the long-awaited Google Zork.

Alex Alderson, 18 Nov 2020 20:58

The Core i7-11370H is a quad-core processor. (Image source: Intel)

The Intel Core i7-11370H appears on Geekbench as a quad-core processor with a 4.79 GHz boost clock

The Intel Core i7-11370H has made an appearance on Geekbench, confirming that Intel has quad-core SKUs planned for its Tiger Lake-H series. The Core i7-11370H can boost up to 4.79 GHz and enjoys a healthy lead over the Core i5-10300H. Single-core performance is also well up on Comet Lake-H processors, but comparisons with AMD APUs are not as rosy.

Alex Alderson, 18 Nov 2020 20:55

MediaTek has absorbed Enpirion. (Source: Intel)

MediaTek acquires Intel's power-management chip business for US$85 million

Intel has reportedly sold its Enpirion arm to MediaTek. This division is responsible for the chipsets that regulate the power delivered to CPUs or ICs. Therefore, the Taiwanese silicon firm may be looking to combine some or all of these in new future products.

Deirdre O'Donnell, 17 Nov 2020 22:42

MacOS Big Sur is spying on everything you do and sending the data to Apple

Apple's latest operating system, macOS Big Sur, uses a new API to constantly send users' data (including how, when, and where a Mac is used) to Apple. This data is transmitted to Apple without encryption, meaning anyone with access to the same network as the Mac can see the information.

Sam Medley, 17 Nov 2020 18:32