Reviews

4K vs. battery. Aorus has made several improvements since last year's model of the X5: 4K display, Thunderbolt 3 and a Kaby Lake CPU are only a few of the positive additions. Can the X5 v7 improve on its predecessor's rating (83%) or might it even reach pole position among slim gamers? We will try to find out in our review.

Deceptively lightweight… MSI’s latest 17.3-inch gaming notebook to reach our labs covers most of the bases just as we’d expect, with a little twist: it’s surprisingly light! How does this $1,600 mid-range gaming notebook stack up against its peers?

Well-designed for every day. Acer has learned to produce good and affordable laptops with an attractive design. Our review sample also proves this. However, not only the outer values are good. The Swift 3 has quite a bit to offer on the inside as well. Our tests present a balanced laptop that delivers the promised performance.

Portability vs. cooling. Ultra-slim notebook cases are becoming more and more popular due to their high portability. Gaming Guru has pushed this idea even further by presenting the Fire KS, an 18.6-mm (~0.7 in) tick 15-inch device which is equipped with a Core i7-7700HQ and a GeForce GTX 1060. Find out what this combination means for temperature development and system noise.

Cheap entry-level laptop. Lenovo's IdeaPad 110S is a small, 11-inch subnotebook. The much too high power consumption takes its toll on the battery life. We report on how the compact entry-level device fares in terms of performance in our short review.

A little bit of everything. Acer's newbie scores mainly with its compactness, versatility, and the new GeForce MX150. Small problems with the display and sound do not quite fit with its multimedia ambitions, but thanks to good input devices, security features, and the excellent endurance, it offers some extra mobility for the office.

Selfie superstar? Huawei has created an upper-mid-range phone with the 5-inch Nova 2 and given it a special feature with a 20 MP front camera. Our review will reveal whether selfie fans should go for it.

I'm blue Da ba dee da ba di! Colors are not the only interesting aspect of the new ZenBook Flip S. Asus has presented a very slim 13-inch convertible and the Intel Core i5-7200U at the heart of the device offers decent processing power. To find out how well the hardware works together and whether the stylish convertible can keep up with its competition, take a look at our detailed review.

With the new Coffee Lake CPUs, Intel brings more than four physical cores to end-user consumer computing for the first time in its history. Regardless of whether or not you want to consider this a reaction to AMD's Ryzen, Coffee Lake manages to combine high clock speeds with more cores than before and has earned our recommendation.

Disappointing screen. With the ThinkPad E570, Lenovo delivers a quiet, enduring office machine that serves with a good keyboard and lightning-fast NVMe SSD. The HD screen is a complete disappointment.

Retro rewind. What's old is new again in this special anniversary ThinkPad that throws out the AccuType keyboard in favor of the classic layout and design. Outside of the new keyboard, there isn't anything particularly new about the ThinkPad 25 that we haven't already covered on the ThinkPad T470.

Middle-class with glass. Lenovo's Tab 4 10 Plus is a mid-range tablet with high ambitions. It's aiming to attract buyers by offering a glass rear, generous memory configuration, and front-sided speakers. Find out in the test report whether the available accessory packs turn the tablet into something special.

More is always better. The HP ZBook enters its fourth round in the laptop marketplace, this time flaunting even more performance power. Genuine updates or innovations are nowhere to be found. Even so, the manufacturer demonstrates what a true mobile workstation looks like.

A well-rounded gamer. Lenovo's entry-level gamer brings all the current games to the matte Full HD display. The computer is equipped with a Kaby Lake quad-core processor, a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GPU, and a very fast NVMe SSD.

Ultrabook or workstation. The ZBook 15u G4 is a mobile workstation made by HP that - while cheaper than its brethren - still manages to meet the ZBook’s high quality standards. Unfortunately, the light and thin workstation also comes with lower performance hardware. Find out whether or not the concept works as expected in our extensive review.

Big sibling, small improvement. As with its smaller sibling, the Apple iPhone 8 Plus does not have many new features. We get a slightly revised chassis, now with a glass rear panel, as well as the new A11 chip. However, small optimizations improve the iPhone in many areas.

Bright, brighter, BQ Aquaris X. The mid-range smartphone produced by the Spanish smartphone manufacturer BQ has a captivatingly bright display - so bright, even, that it made the Top 5 of our list of brightest smartphone displays. Find out how the other features of the Aquaris X compare in our review.

Bumpy start. You might think that due to the routine, EA could not do too much wrong in the yearly FIFA update. But, you would be mistaken since the release of version 18 is creating several negative headlines. We evaluate the (technical) situation with several notebooks and desktop PCs.

Back to being best. The Note 8 shines with a big, superb Infinity screen, high performance and, for the first time, with a dual-camera. As usual, the S-Pen that can be inserted into the casing is included. Whether Samsung has developed the ideal phablet after the Note 7 disaster will be clarified in the test.
Update: new update improves security and adds new Wi-Fi features. Update: Information concerning PWM, display response times, temperatures and power consumption has been added.

Portable USB monitor. No recharging, one cable, light and slim. Asus' portable monitor is neither matte nor particularly bright. Although the poor color space will deter professionals, the very high contrast will certainly appeal to everyone.

Step by step. We already suspected that Apple would only show a slightly improved version of its smartphone this year. The eighth-generation iPhone from Cupertino gets a revised chassis and more performance, which is at least more than in the previous years.

Multi-talented. With comprehensive accessory packages, Lenovo wants to equip its affordable Tablet Tab 4 10 for all usage scenarios. We find out about the quality of the tablet itself in our test.

Mini Me(diaPad). The 8-inch variant of the MediaPad M3 Lite brings a lot of polish and panache to the Android ecosystem. Despite its mid-range specifications, the M3 Lite proves to be a capable media machine. Is this the affordable compact tablet to get?

Slim at any cost. Razer's Blade Pro is one of the most powerful and yet slimmest gaming laptops in the world. It was to be expected that this combination would lead to high temperatures and loud background noise. Just how bad is it? Our review reveals the answer.

Fitness coach for the wrist. Are you looking for a personal trainer, who is available to you anywhere at any time? Then perhaps the Huawei Band 2 Pro is right for you, since Huawei advertises its newest fitness tracker as a mobile fitness coach for the wrist. You can find out in our review how the wearable fares in everyday life.

Slim entry-level gamer. Acer's slim gaming notebook can offer an IPS display and a fast NVMe SSD as well as good battery runtimes.

Courageously new. Acer´s new ultra-slim 15-inch Predator Triton 700 gaming notebook is nothing short of innovative. Alongside its mechanical keyboard, the unusual position and design of the touchpad makes for some interesting new looks. Can the Triton 700 in its elegant case combined with a GTX 1080 Max-Q rival the Asus ROG Zephyrus?

Gaming black box. The mid-range EN51050 strikes a great performance balance between the i5-7500T CPU and GTX 1050 GPU. Still, at $700 USD, the asking price for a barebones kit is within striking distance of a full-fledged gaming notebook equipped with faster hardware.

Annoying fan. The MacBook Pro 13 without Touch Bar gets the Kaby Lake update as well. Thanks to the lower price, longer battery runtimes, and function keys, the entry-level model could potentially be the better choice for many users. However, you also get a slightly less powerful processor as well as an annoying fan.

Stylish. Asus' X510UA pleases with a slim, light casing, a narrow display bezel, and a good battery life. However, the screen is nothing to crow about.

Wallet-friendly mainstream..business? Huawei's 15.6-inch mainstream laptop surely looks the part, but while the build quality is good and the overall performance decent, the MateBook D suffers from a few significant shortcomings.

Elegant multimedia Laptop. The new Asus ZenBook Pro UX550 is a high-end multimedia notebook. You get powerful components in a great chassis, but the cooling solution struggles with the heat development of the components. Update: Second test sample, BIOS 302, SATA-3 SSD

The Elite in the business sector! The G2 now follows the G1. It is based on the meanwhile widely distributed Kaby Lake processors. A keyboard dock and active stylus still belong to the bundle. We present the elegant business companion that had to pass through our test course as usual in this report.

All work and no play. The ThinkCentre M910z is true to its heritage with an understated, functional design, easy maintenance, and capable performance—thanks to a Core i5 CPU and NVMe SSD. But how did it fare in our bevy of extensive tests and benchmarks?

Convincing. The Huawei Y7 aims to convince its buyers with a metal case, a strong processor, and a large battery. While these assets are good, the competition in the 200-Euro price range (~$238) is strong. You can find out in our test how the Huawei Y7 fares.

A heavy pebble. The GT600 is the second smartphone produced by this Chinese manufacturer that Notebookcheck has reviewed. With its good price and long battery life, the heavy device from Asia is an attractive offer.

GeForce MX150 gaming. The performance-per-Watt of the MX150 is a generational leap over the 940MX, but its high starting price at the moment gives it poor performance-per-Dollar. We check out the entry-level Sager NP5852 gaming notebook to see how to stacks up against previous generation Maxwell offerings.

Max-Q goes to work. MSI's updated WS63VR 7RL brings Nvidia's new Max-Q design to the GPU giant's Quadro line. How well does the Max-Q philosophy benefit a powerful professional-grade graphics card, especially with regards to heat and power management?

Weakling with odd clickpad design. Laptops for the educational sector need to be both sturdy and inexpensive. The Acer TravelMate Spin B1 fulfills with these requirements, but a closer look reveals many shortcomings.

Good rip-off. Tri-Bezel-Less display, dual camera, 6 GB RAM: at first glance, these specs are very impressive, but a look behind the curtains reveals some weak spots. We will find out if it the Doogee Mix smartphone is still a good value for the money.

Bristol Ridge swan song. What should be one of the last Bristol Ridge gaming notebooks of 2017 before the push for mobile Ryzen shows us why AMD notebooks have been such a failure. An old plastic chassis, cheap TN panel, and weak CPU performance don't do the Polaris GPU any favors.

SSD slip up. If the last cubic centimeters of volume and a few hundred grams more or less are unimportant, the new 13-inch laptop will be more than a useful companion as it fuses enough power with decent battery life and comes with the usual security features. However, the moderate price faces some not exactly trivial points of criticism.

Sensation. While AMD's Ryzen architecture has already been available in the desktop range for several months, the notebook range had to wait patiently for a long time. The waiting is over now: Asus is the first manufacturer who provided us with a gaming laptop with 8-core CPU and Radeon RX 580. Our review will reveal whether the bundle is able to challenge a combination of Intel and Nvidia hardware.

Let's do things properly. The Honor 6A is a declaration of war on entry-level smartphones. Priced at about $200, the 5-inch smartphone comes with a smart plastic/metal case, octa-core SoC, Android 7, HD screen and a 13-MP camera. Find out how the Honor 6A fares among current entry-level rivals in our review.

Simple addition. More battery, more RAM, more display - Motorola really means the "Plus" in its Moto E4 Plus. Find out whether these positive aspects outweigh the rather low system performance in our review.

Removable. In this case we mean it in a positive way, since the battery can be removed in the Moto E4. The smartphone is also quite affordable and offers a fingerprint sensor. You can find out in the test whether the competition needs to brace for this.

Reliable travel companion! Dell presents us with a versatile 12-inch convertible in a timeless, modest and elegant design. A very frugal Intel CPU runs inside. Whether this promises a long battery life and how the Dell Latitude 7285 performs, you can find out in our detailed review.

Successful all-rounder. An affordable Ultrabook with Full HD IPS display, GeForce 940MX, and Core i5-7200U - Lenovo intends this interesting package mainly for students. You can find out in our detailed review whether the IdeaPad 520s can convince us.

Solid worker. Acer has produced a well-equipped 15-inch notebook that needs not fear comparison with similarly equipped competitors. Find out how our test unit did in our detailed review.

Linux office. Asus' 15.6-inch laptop will cost approximately 400 Euros (~$482). In return, the buyer will get a Core i3 processor as well as 8 GB of working memory and a solid-state drive. A Windows operating system is not included - Asus relies on Linux.

China import for phablet fans. The Xiaomi Mi Max 2 has a screen size of over 6.4-inches - which you may or may not like. But if you do go for the XXL smartphone, you will find that it has quite a lot to offer for $370.

Dinosaur whisperer. It has been one of the most popular early-access titles of the last few years, and now that the dinosaur action spectacle Ark: Survival Evolved has been officially launched it is time to take a look at its system requirements to figure out whether or not the game gulps up computing power as fast as it does player avatars. Update: 25 Systems tested

Home Office. Lenovo's 17.3-inch device offers a strong Kaby-Lake processor, a fast solid-state disk and Windows 10 Professional. Its most important asset, however, is the bright IPS screen with a great contrast ratio.

Not yet optimized. The Q5 has more configurations and more connectivity options than your standard Max-Q notebook. Unfortunately, the hardware and software don't quite live up to spec.

Merely upper mid-range? After AMD revealed the Polaris Architecture by introducing the AMD Radeon RX 480, this has now been improved again. The AMD Radeon RX 580 is based on the Polaris 20 chip and with 8 GB of GDDR5 VRAM, it offers enough leeway for high resolutions. Or does it? You can find out in our detailed review, how our Sapphire test model fares.

Carbon Copy. Toshiba's new Tecra X40-D is the Japanese manufacturer's latest entry in the thin-and-light business market and carries over several features from its smaller brother, the Portégé X30. Is the X40 able to differentiate itself enough, or is it more of the same in a larger package?

Low price - large battery. The Huawei Y6 (2017) features a large battery and is ambitious, yet quite low-priced. Can it bear up against the competition or did Huawei calculate too tightly? Find out more in our review

The better Moto C! The Chinese manufacturer Lenovo is trying to stir up the low-budget segment of the smartphone market with its new C series. Our review shows that the Moto C Plus has some paramount improvements compared to its 5-inch counterpart without the additional "Plus".

Home-Convertible. HP's 14-inch convertible is equipped with a high-contrast IPS display, a fast SSD, and plenty of storage space. The downside is its price of more than $1000, which is anything but a bargain.

New go-to device in the low-budget segment? The Chinese manufacturer Lenovo is trying to stir up the low-budget segment of the smartphone market with its new C series. Find out whether the company will succeed in our review.

Lightest and brightest 13-inch Ultrabook. The Notebook 9 series continues to impress with yet another super lightweight offering for $1000 USD. The 13-inch notebook omits a few key features compared to more popular alternatives, but some can be easily overlooked for the everyday user.

World tour. F1 2017 starts into the current Formula One season with extremely wide rear tires and very flat-looking bodies. Our benchmark article will reveal whether motorsport fans will get their money's worth in terms of driving experience as well as technology.

News from Finland. With the Nokia 6, Nokia sends its current smartphone top model into the race. The 5.5-inch Android smartphone is better equipped than its entry-level colleagues, the Nokia 3 and Nokia 5, and therefore it runs in the mid-range. Our test shows how it fares there.

Surface competitor with AMOLED. Samsung is set for attack with its new Galaxy Book 12 and has managed to get itself a unique selling point in the market of professional Windows tablets with a keyboard cover: A Super-AMOLED screen. The pricey device offers travelling businessmen and women a complete package with a wide range of accessories and only a few weaknesses.

Power to the people. The LG K10 (2017) brings considerably more power than its predecessor and provides an even better quality casing. A polished performance for slightly over 200 Euros (~$217), but of course we will take a more careful look at the smartphone in the test.
Update: New build brings general improvements and security updates.

Little brother. The 2017 LG K8 is a little more affordable, a little smaller, and less powerful than the LG K10. But is it perhaps the better deal for all those who are just looking for an affordable smartphone? We find out in our test.
Update: A new build version brings general improvements and security updates.

Trimmed. The looks of the LG Q6 closely resemble those of the LG G6, only at a much lower price point. The trade-off is its trimmed performance, a performance that makes the phone struggle hard in its price range. We will find out whether the phone is a recommendable purchase.

Budget gaming par excellence. Acer's latest 17-inch multimedia-gaming hybrid from the new Aspire 7 series comes equipped with a powerful GTX 1060, a fast quad-core, and an IPS display but is consequently optimized with regards to costs in all other aspects. From a technical point of view, the new notebook is very decent and Acer's cost cutting measures were made wisely... with one exception, though.

Black and red behemoth. Lenovo’s successor to the massive Y900 desktop replacement features a Kaby Lake CPU and a powerful GTX 1070. Much of the rest of the package remains the same—so are these updates enough to keep it relevant in such a competitive and selective market?

Flashy. As with its predecessor, the Honor 9 compels at first sight with its flashy design of dancing light reflections on the back. But is this all just smoke and mirrors, or can Honor's new flagship also convince with its dual camera and fast performance? We find out in the test. Update: firmware B150 adds support for VoLTE and VoWifi.

A slim gamer! Acer's Predator Helios 300 is a gaming notebook that weighs under 3 kg (~106 oz.). Can its cooling system keep up with the relatively compact build and supply the device with sufficient fresh air? Find out in our detailed review.

Metalhead. Plastic before, metal now: The new edition of the Galaxy J5 aims to make a higher-quality impression. However, the inner values have remained mostly the same. Is that enough for a successful update?
Update: new firmware with security and bug fixes released.

Press me! TLC has presented a new BlackBerry smartphone with a physical keyboard: the KEYone. The new smartphone combines a 4.5-inch touchscreen with a touch-sensitive keyboard that can also be used as a Trackpad.
Update: Build AAN358 is rolled out.

Now $500 cheaper. Asus is doubling down on Max-Q with its second Zephyrus notebook equipped with GTX 1070 Max-Q graphics. The asking price is a bit more manageable this time around, but the hardware shortcomings are hard to ignore despite the strong graphics performance.

We have tried and tested the Intel Optane Memory's functions as a classic storage device. Even though some users might benefit from the new technology in specific cases, we cannot really recommend it.

Now with more pixels. So far, the latest ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2017 was limited to 1080p displays, but Lenovo now offers its premium Ultrabook with a high-resolution screen as well. The waiting has been worthwhile.

French premium class. The time has come for the French manufacturer Wiko to go one step further. Formerly known for producing only rather low-priced handsets, now with the WIM, they are daring to compete on a premium level. We reviewed the smartphone to find out whether they delivered a true competitor.

Robust convertible? With the ProBook X360 11, HP has a small convertible in their offerings that scores with robustness and versatility. We have summarized in this short review, how the Education Edition presents itself in terms of performance. Update 10/6/17: added battery life results of secondary device and added the final rating accordingly.

Scrawny gaming powerhouse. The Aorus X7 v7 has plenty to offer. Besides a blazingly fast NVMe SSD, it also features more than decent gaming performance, a QHD display, upgradeability, and CPU/GPU overclocking capabilities.

Good connections. The refresh of Asus' ZenPad 10 is available in two versions and both support LTE. Since it is more expensive than last year's model, the ZenPad 10 Z301ML has to first prove that it is worth the extra money in the test.

VA, UHD, 4K, MultiView With many abbreviations, the 32-inch display from Philips tries to win customers and has to prove itself in our test. With its large surface, UHD resolution, and cheap price, it has several pros. In this article we will find out how well it performs in terms of image quality, power consumption, and temperature development.

The slim player. With the Moto Z2 Play, Lenovo refreshes its mid-range smartphone that can be expanded via modules on the rear. The predecessor offered a very good battery life and extremely slim casing. We will check whether the successor has perhaps even improved these qualities in the test.

Now with a bigger screen. Razer has updated its Ultrabook and now offers two different panel sizes in the same chassis. We have tested the new 13.3-inch model. What are the differences and which display should you get?

Samsung has introduced its T5 SSD, the latest model in a series of external high-performance SSDs. Like its predecessors, the T5 offers blazingly fast data transfer rates and in a high-quality premium package but it lacks innovation.

A 10-year old strategy shooter Despite its advanced age, TF2 remains to be one of the most popular games on Steam. This is probably due to the fair free-to-play model and the moderate system requirements. The fast-paced 3D shooter is nevertheless quite a challenge, especially for cheap entry-level laptops and Windows tablets. More often than not, it is the processor and not the graphics card that leads to a jerky reproduction and unplayable frame rates. We tested the performance on various laptops, tablets, and desktops in the following benchmark check.

Outdoor heavyweight. With the BV8000 Pro, Blackview brings an update to its outdoor smartphone series that is the successor to the BV7000. The features are remarkable: 6 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage, Full HD display, and a 16 Megapixel camera. In addition, it is IP-68 certified and has a fingerprint sensor and some other sensors that might be helpful in an outdoor smartphone.

A Porsche with performance problems. The Book One from Porsche Design is a noble 2-in-1 system for $2,500. However, you will be disappointed if you expect maximum performance and quality. We tested the new device.

Does SLI make sense? To answer this question, we conduct an experiment with two Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 Mini Graphic Cards. In our short review we'll check out the pros and cons of an SLI configuration and compare the performance to those of single GPU systems.

RGB trip. Although ultra-slim casings are the current trend, MSI presents the GT75VR, a bulky gaming laptop that combines all the advantages and disadvantages of a desktop replacement and relies on a mechanical keyboard with colorful lighting. Our test clarifies whether the total concept is still up-to-date.

The Omen's New Clothes HP has redesigned it's Omen 17 gaming series' case. Does the new chassis address our criticism from last year's device? What are the full-time gamer's improvements?

Back to the roots. A few years ago, smartphones with a removable battery were a dime a dozen. Nowadays such devices are rather rare. The new entry-level smartphone by the German manufacturer Gigaset is such a device. You can find out in our extensive test, how the GS170 model fares against the strong competition.

Affordable Surface! Although it is already the second half of 2017, Microsoft presents the latest Surface based on a frugal Core m3 processor with connectivity that is still in need of reworking. Find out in this review whether the long battery life and the established brand name are enough to win buyers.

The HP XPS 13. The narrow bezel design from the flagship Spectre series has trickled down to the mainstream Envy series with fantastic results. Though not without some sacrifices, this is the best Envy notebook to date.

(Long-)Lasting impression. The entry-level version of the Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming Notebook lacks the higher-end hardware complement of its pricier siblings. Although still hampered by a subpar display, the notebook is nonetheless a decent performer at a great price. The battery life puts many other laptops – gaming or not – to shame.

Hot worker. We are testing the Surface Pro rival and successor to Acer's Swift Alpha 12, and we will discover to what extent it can meet Windows standards. Acer tackles this feat with high performance at a low price.
Update: Lower power consumption in idle scenario

Gaming companion with stamina. Dell has equipped the Inspiron 15 7000 gaming series with cutting-edge hardware and not only convinces us in terms of performance but also surprises us with an exemplary battery life. We are impressed - but not with the display.
Update: Measurement Results of the IPS panel

Large battery with nothing behind it? The LG X power2 promises a long battery life with its high-capacity battery. But besides the battery life, there are many other aspects that make a good smartphone. In our test we will find out whether LG's mid-range device can deliver here.

Small but Galaxy. Samsung also has a 5-inch smartphone from the lower mid-range in its portfolio with the Galaxy J3 (2017) Duos. The models from last year's lineup were real top sellers and many of our readers showed interest. Thus, we are curious whether Samsung can meet the high expectations this year again.

Successful comeback. After the divorce from Microsoft, Nokia has already come back with several new smartphones. With the 5.2-inch Nokia 5 mid-range model, the manufacturer scored promptly, since there is much to like and only little not to like in its offerings.

Arduous all-rounder. Acer's brand-new multimedia all-rounder is equipped with an IPS panel, an SSD+HDD combo, and a GPU suitable for gaming. In addition, it surprised us with its very long battery life.