Thunderbolt

MSI has announced refreshed Summit E13 Flip Evo and Summit E14 Flip Evo business and productivity laptops. This year's, the Summit Flip Series gets an upgrade to Intel Alder Lake-P 28 W processors and features new security functionality such as Tobii Aware and Tile tracking. Both the Summit E13 Flip Evo and Summit E14 Flip Evo are Intel Evo 3-certified and come with Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6E.

Laptops tend to get thinner every year, but is this really a good thing for a gaming system? We are not sure and the new Alienware x14 shows that a thin chassis requires compromises in terms of performance.

With multi-screen continuity features like Universal Control and Apple’s Studio Display now available, the need for docking stands and other peripherals has become increasingly important. Take a look at these picks to level up your ultimate workspace.

The compact ThinkPad models L13 and L13 Yoga are rather popular, seeing their comparably low pricing. The new ThinkPad models L13 Gen 3 and L13 Yoga Gen 3 receive 16:10 screens and a RAM upgrade.

Sabrent has announced a new Thunderbolt 3 docking station aimed at content creators and power users that not only provides a host of connectivity options but also comes replete with two RAID-able NVMe SSDs up to a total of 16 TB capacity. The Sabrent DS-SKRT-D16TB dock is compatible with both Windows and Mac computers.

You can get the regular Surface Laptop with Intel or AMD processors, but Microsoft equips the new high-end device Surface Laptop Studio with old Tiger Lake quad-core CPUs, which are hardly competitive anymore. The manufacturer saved money in other respects as well.

Apple’s Peek Performance event featured a number of new hardware announcements for midrange and professional users. Let’s break down some of the most impressive devices Apple revealed.

The new MateBook E from Huawei is a Windows tablet, which shares many similarities with the own MatePad series including the good OLED screen, great speakers, and good cameras. There are, however, some limitations when you want to use it as a productive tool.

The Portégé X40L-K with Intel Evo specs is Dynabook’s slimmest and lightest 14-inch business notebook to date, weighing just over 1 kg (2.31 lbs), while the 13.3-inch models weigh less than 1 kg. Processor options include the Core i5-1250P vPro, Core i7-1270P vPro, and Core i7-1280P vPro for added security.

The flagship of the T series was renovated last year, and another redesign is happening this year, due to the change toe 16:10 screens. Another focus: The new Intel Alder Lake CPUs and AMD Ryzen 6000, as well as a new screen option.

The ThinkPad T series is the most well known ThinkPad series, apart from the X1 ThinkPads maybe. Lenovo describes the ThinkPad laptops of the T line as workhorses and the workhorses receive a huge upgrade at MWC 2022. This includes a new chassis design, 16:10 screens and the newest processor for ThinkPad T14 G3 and T16 G1.

The ExpertBook B3 offers an LTE modem, two Thunderbolt 4 ports in a 14-inch form factor (FHD, IPS). The touchscreen can be used with the included input pen. The latter is stowed away in a panel in the base unit.

The ExpertBook offers a 5G modem, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and a 14-inch touchscreen display (1920x1200 pixels) with a 16:10 aspect ratio. You can operate the screen through touch input as well as with the included Asus Pen.

Mobile workstations are primarily supposed to be reliable companions for professional users and offer a lot of performance at the same time. The ZBook Fury 17 G8 basically meets these criteria, but we think HP wastes a lot of potential in terms of GPU performance.

The Acer Swift 3, a laptop for the masses: Affordable, solid, optimal performance, high portability, Thunderbolt, and a great display. What more could you want?

The TravelMate P4 scores points with long battery life, relatively low emissions, and a Thunderbolt 4 slot. Windows 10 Pro serves as the operating system. A plus: Acer grants the laptop a three-year warranty.

You can now get the lightweight ultrabook Schenker Vision 14 with a dedicated RTX 3050 Ti GPU, but still weighs less than 1.2 kg. The compact laptop leaves a good impression in many regards, but there are also some drawbacks and Intel's H35 CPU is not really convincing, either.

We recently reviewed the business system Latitude 14 5420 in depth. Particularly under prolonged load, the Core i5 performs better than average. The iGPU Intel Iris XE, on the other hand, is slow and does not reach the expected performance in our game benchmarks. However, the clickpad turns out to be the real buzzkill.

XMG is offering the NEO 15 E22 with the RTX 3080 Ti dGPU and the Intel i7-12700K processor starting at €3,277. The OASIS external AIO unit is completely optional and costs €199. Roadmap reveals AMD Ryzen 6000 models and additional support for OASIS.

The Core i7-11800H CPU and GeForce RTX 3080 mobile GPU complement the bright, high-contrast 4K OLED screen well and are able to run all current titles smoothly. The GPU comes with 16 GB of video memory. Another plus: The laptop integrates a Thunderbolt 4 port.

The two new models are only available in China for now and the single difference between the two is the material framing the screen and thus a slight weight reduction for the Air variant. Otherwise, both versions are powered by the Intel i5-11320H quad-core CPU coupled with 16 GB of LPDR4x-4266 RAM and 512 GB NVMe SSD, plus they feature a 14-inch 1440p 3:2 IPS LCD. They even integrate a Thunderbolt 4 connector, all for around $750.

The specifications come close to the XPS series and even many gaming laptops for that matter. If you need more graphics horsepower than the typical Ultrabook or multimedia laptop, then the Inspiron 16 Plus can help do a lot of the heavy lifting.

If you're looking for a laptop with a touchscreen, you should take a look at the Honor MagicBook View 14. The 14-inch display in the 3:2 aspect ratio has a crisp resolution of 2520x1680 pixels and a refresh rate of 90 Hz.

With the ThinkPad X1 Nano, the smallest and most lightweight ThinkPad laptop of the 2021 generation, Lenovo produced a successful newcomer to the ThinkPad X1 line. The ThinkPad X1 Nano G2 is supposed to continue the success-story with much faster processors.

OLED-based laptops are getting more affordable this year with the budget-oriented Zenbook 14 models announced by Asus. The UX / UM 3402 14-inch Zenbooks feature 2.8K 16:10 screens and are powered by Intel's Alder Lake Core i7-1260P or AMD's Barcelo Ryzen 7 5825U processors coupled with up to 16 GB of LPDDR RAM and up to 1 TB of NVMe SSD storage.

The Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition features a slim chassis made of aerospace grade aluminum branded with ISS-inspired designs, plus a ZenVision 3.5-inch grayscale OLED screen on the lid. Its main display gets a 2.8K 16:10 OLED screen, and, despite the 15.9 mm profile, the system is powered by Intel's i9-12900H 14-core processor.

Lenovo is updating its well-known line of X1 ThinkPad laptops. The 14 inch models ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 and ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 build upon existing designs - the new releases include OLED screen options, a 1080p webcam and Intel Alder-Lake U15 or P28.

The second generation ThinkBook 13X business notebooks from Lenovo feature the latest Intel i7 Alder Lake-P processors integrating Iris Xe graphics, up to 32 GB LPDDR5 RAM, up to 1 TB of PCIe 4 NVMe SSD storage and a best-in-class display with 13.3-inch 2560 x 1600 IPS panel. Lenovo also includes premium AI-powered business software for meetings.

Update | The new ThinkPad Z16 G1 is a huge step for AMD processors in ThinkPads. The 16 inch ThinkPad laptop with the new Z series design is the first premium ThinkPad with a big screen and the powerful AMD Ryzen H series. It is also the first Lenovo ThinkPad in many years with a dedicated AMD GPU.

Asus' ROG Global Twitter account has just released a CES 2022 teaser for what looks very like the long-awaited Flow Z13. This new device is touted to put a gaming twist on the convertible tablet form-factor. Judging by the design newly teased in its launch announcement, it seems this is very much the case for the first-gen device.