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Report: Notebookcheck ratings v7 update launched

A small change with a big impact: Notebookcheck ratings v7 update
A small change with a big impact: Notebookcheck ratings v7 update
The development of laptops, smartphones, and tablets continues at a steady, albeit now slightly slower, pace. We last updated our review metrics in fall 2016, so enough time has now passed to revise these once again. From now on, we will be switching to an adjusted set of weightings, which is the seventh revision since we started Notebookcheck well over a decade ago. Read on to find out what changes v7 brings.

A lot has happened in the laptop, smartphone, and tablet markets since our last major review ratings update in fall 2016. AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA have all released new processor architectures, which has resulted in some high-end hardware breaking our 100% performance mark. Conversely, an increasing number of devices now throttle their performance under sustained load as cooling systems have failed to catch up with CPU and GPU improvements, which is something that we did not take into as much consideration three years ago.

There have been more than just performance changes too. OEMs are equipping all types of devices with increasingly thinner display bezels, while new communication standards like Wi-Fi 6, 5G and Bluetooth 5.0/5.1 are becoming ever more popular as well. Battery life has tended to improve across the board too, as have the quality of cameras in smartphones. Incidentally, the spread between average and very good devices has increased. We have factored all these changes into our seventh ratings revision.

It is difficult to directly compare v6 against v7 because of their different evaluation methods. However, we will re-evaluate best-in-class devices with our v7 ratings system for a fairer comparison against newer devices. Below is an overview of the main changes that we have introduced with v7.

Case

  • Screen-to-Body-Ratio will be taken into account within the Chassis sub-rating.

Connectivity & GPS

  • Wi-Fi 6, 5G, Bluetooth 5.0/5.1, Wireless Charging, HDR and advanced GPS features will be factored into the Connectivity sub-rating.

Camera

  • New evaluation method based on automatic photo analysis.

Display

  • Adjusted scoring limits.

Gaming and Application Performance

  • Adjusted scoring limits, changed allowance for throttling.

Speakers

  • New evaluation methodology of automatic frequency analysis incorporated within Audio sub-rating.

Battery Life

  • Adjusted scoring limits.
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Report: Notebookcheck ratings v7 update launched
J. Simon Leitner, 2019-09- 3 (Update: 2019-09- 3)