Acer’s creativity-oriented ConceptD laptops are joining the wave of OLED upgrades. The PC maker has updated its ConceptD 5 and ConceptD 5 Pro portables with a 16-inch, 3,840 x 2,400 OLED screen that promises very high contrast while preserving the all-important color accuracy for visual editing. You can expect 100 percent DCI-P3 coverage, Pantone Matching System colors and Delta E<2 calibration. Acer also promises HDR support, although the display’s 400-nit brightness will limit that output.
Both systems promise up-to-the-minute specs, including 12th-gen Intel Core chips (up to the i7-12700H), up to 32GB of LPDDR5 memory and as much as 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage. Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1 and a full-size SD card reader should also help creatives. The differences largely come down to GPUs. The ConceptD 5 is more mainstream with GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics, while the Pro version uses the workstation-focused RTX A5500.
The ConceptD 5 comes to North America in August with a $2,500 starting price. The Pro edition will only be available in Europe and the Middle East this September, when it will sell for €2,599 (about $2,740). That’s not a small expense, but it could be easy to justify if your livelihood depends on a powerful laptop.
HP is sprucing up its gaming laptop lineup with an upgrade for an existing model and the addition of a new system. The company is refreshing the Omen 16, which it introduced almost exactly a year ago, with thermal upgrades.
The cooling optimizations include a fifth heat pipe and fourth outflow vent. HP said it found in testing that these can reduce GPU hinge and bottom SSD temperatures by three percent and 14 percent, respectively, while making the laptop five percent quieter. As such, GPU and CPU performance has been boosted, the company claims.
A Dynamic Power feature in the Omen Gaming Hub can help with that as well. HP says that, using a built-in IR thermopile sensor, it can monitor CPU and GPU capacity in real time and allocate power as needed. Not only will this optimize in-game framerates, according to the company, it should boost CPU performance by up to 36 percent compared with the 2021 Omen 16.
HP
The laptop can house up to an Intel Core i9-12900H series CPU or AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX Mobile Processor. On the graphics front, the Omen 16 will support up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti or AMD Ryzen RX 6650M. You’ll also be able to trick out the machine with up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM and up to a 2TB SSD.
There are multiple display options as well, topping out at a 1440p 165Hz IPS screen with 3ms response time and 100 percent sRGB color gamut. Other features include a keyboard with per-key RGB lighting and a white color option for the shell.
Engadget Senior Reporter Sam Rutherford got some hands-on time with the new Omen 16:
Meanwhile, HP is expanding its mid-tier Victus line (which was also introduced last year) with a new model. The Victus 15 is joining the 16-inch version and a desktop system. Display options include a 1080p 144Hz screen with Eyesafe low-blue light tech.
You can have up to an Intel Core i7-12700H or AMD Ryzen 7 5800H CPU with 16GB of RAM. On the GPU side, the Victus 15 supports up to a GeForce RTX 3050 Ti or Radeon RX 6500M. You can also have up to 1TB of SSD storage.
HP
HP said it also made improvements to the thermals with this model. The Victus 15 has four-way airflow and a dual heat pipe design. The company claims these provide a seven percent overall airflow improvement and a 146 percent inlet vent area improvement over the previous model.
The Victus 15 will be available in three color options: mica silver, performance blue and ceramic white. It will have a standard backlit keyboard as well.
Both of the laptops come with Omen Gaming Hub software, which has a new optimization feature that can free up system resources and make adjustments to low-level operating system settings to max out performance.
The systems will both be available this summer from HP’s website and other retailers. The Omen 16 will start at $1,200, while the Victus 15 will have a base price of $800.
ASUS has refreshed its gaming laptop lineup to add the latest components from AMD, Intel and NVIDIA. Of the two computers it announced today, the more intriguing one is the ROG Flow X16. It builds on the company’s previous gaming 2-in-1s by adding an e…
Intel’s 12th-gen CPUs have already made a strong showing against AMD’s Ryzen 6000 chips, but now Intel is taking things to another level with its “HX” processors. They’re the first notebook 16-core notebook processors on the market, and they’re also completely unlocked and overclockable. Intel is basically aiming to give enthusiasts and content creators the same sort of power and flexibility they expect from desktop chips.
Intel
Perhaps that’s why the HX-series specs seem so familiar. At the high end, there’s the Core i9-12950HX with 16 cores (8 performance and 8 efficient), 24 threads and a maximum turbo speed of 5GHz. For the most part, it looks like Intel has scaled scaled down its 12900K desktop chip to be usable in laptops. And with a boost TDP of a toasty 157-watts (and a base TDP of 55-watts), efficiency clearly isn’t the main focus. The HX chips are powerhouses meant for beefy 15 and 17-inch workstations — don’t even dare ask about battery life.
Performance wise, Intel’s charts show that the HX chips aren’t a huge leap over its mobile H-series processors. The 12900HX offers 64 percent faster multi-threaded performance than the i9-11980HK, but that’s only slightly faster than the 12900HK (scaled figures would make these charts much more useful, to be honest). The HX processors will ship with support for DDR5 and DDR4 overclocking, as well as a new Dynamic Memory Boost feature. They’ll also have “efficient-core clocking” as well as a revamped Intel Extreme Tuning program.
Intel
Intel’s 12th-gen HX series processors will start shipping later this year in large workstations like the ASUS ROG Strix Scar 17 SE, MSI’s GE77 and 67 Raider, Lenovo’s Legion 7i, HP’s Omen 17 and Gigabyte’s Aorus 17X and 15X.
Now that the latest components from AMD, Intel and Nvidia are available, Lenovo is updating its 16-inch flagship gaming laptop with more lights, better performance and bigger batteries. And after getting a chance to go hands-on with the new Legion 7, I really appreciate that Lenovo made two slightly different versions to suit people’s needs.
First up is the standard Legion 7, which is more of a desktop replacement-style gaming notebook designed to house the most powerful CPUs and GPUs you can put in a laptop right now. It’s available in either Intel/NVIDIA (starting at $2,449) or all-AMD configurations (starting at $2,059), with Lenovo supporting up to a 12th-gen Intel i9 chip and RTX 3080 Ti or Ryzen 9 6900HX and Radeon RX 6850M XT.
While both systems have very similar designs, the Legion 7 Slim (left) weighs about a pound less but lacks support for some of the standard model’s top-end components and most of its RGB lighting.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Now those are some beefy specs, but the most important upgrade might be the addition of a new 99.9 WHr battery. That’s the biggest power pack you can put in a laptop while still being able to carry it on a plane. On top of that, while Lenovo’s included power adapter is a bulky 300-watt affair, the Legion 7 also supports USB-C power delivery. That means if you want to travel light, you can pack a smaller USB-PD adapter (up to 135 watts). However, it’s important to remember that if you do so, the laptop won’t charge as fast or get full performance when plugged into the wall.
That said, the most eye-catching part of the system is without a doubt all the RGB lighting scattered across its chassis. You get a light-up logo on its lid, a backlit keyboard with optional per-key adjustability, a big light bar in front and a ton of LEDs in its vents. Now I don’t know if anyone keeps track of stats like this, but the Legion 7 may have the most RGB lighting of any gaming notebook.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
While it wasn’t ready in time for my hands-on session, Lenovo says it’s also planning to release its new Spectrum app that’s designed to give users more control over lighting effects, including the ability to sync things with whatever music or videos they’re playing.
I’m not sure I love the system’s brushed metal edges, but I have to give some props to Lenovo for including three USB-C ports on the laptop’s left and right sides. This makes it easy to plug in things like thumb drives, while in back, there’s additional connectivity for stuff you don’t need to fiddle with as often such as power, Ethernet, HDMI and more. And alongside a new 1080p webcam (up from 720p), you also get a dedicated electronic shutter slider on the right for increased privacy.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
In general, the Legion 7’s build quality felt good too. There wasn’t very little flex on its lid or deck, and while touchpads are often an afterthought on gaming laptops, this one is both large and responsive. Unfortunately, there weren’t any games installed, so I wasn’t able to get a sense of its thermals or fan noise. But I do like the laptop’s updated power button, which now has a built-in fingerprint reader.
That said, while I respect a big, high-spec gaming laptop (and anyone who wants to carry one around), weighing in at 5.5 pounds, the Legion 7 isn’t a great pick for frequent travelers. But that’s where the Legion 7 Slim comes in. That’s because while you still get a 16-inch display, support for a 99.9 Whr battery and a very similar design, Lenovo increased the Slim’s portability by reducing its max specs a touch, deleting a lot of RGB lighting and trimming down the size of its chassis. The result is a thinner and lighter 4.5-pound laptop with a smaller hinge that’s easier to toss in a bag.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Aside from its size, the biggest difference between the standard Legion 7 and the Legion 7 Slim is that the latter tops out with either an NVIDIA RTX 3070 or an AMD RX 6800S GPU. And unlike its bigger sibling, the Slim’s refresh rate peaks at 165Hz instead of 240Hz. The upside is that with the Intel/NVIDIA version of the Slim starting at $1,589 for a Core i5 chip with an RTX 3050 Ti or just $1,519 for the AMD Advantage model featuring a Ryzen 5 6600H and RX6600S GPU, Lenovo’s slightly smaller system is a lot more affordable.
So regardless of what type of gamer you are, Lenovo is looking to give you a few more choices among 16-inch gaming notebooks. And while I’m curious to see how those huge batteries fare in real life (especially when paired with a power-hungry 12th-gen Intel CPU), I really like what I’ve seen so far.
The Intel/NVIDIA versions of the Legion 7 and Legion 7 Slim will go on sale first sometime later this month, with the AMD Advantage models arriving slightly later in June.
Luxury probably isn’t the first word that comes to mind when you think about gaming laptops, especially with some looking, shall we say extra, with flashy light bars and dot matrix displays embedded in their lids. But with its excellent performance, superb build quality, understated design and a very luxurious price, the Razer Blade 15 really feels like it’s crossed the line into portable gaming opulence.
Design
Now it’s true the 2022 Blade 15 looks almost identical to previous models, which has some folks feeling like it’s in need of a facelift. But even after all these years, I still love the Blade 15’s clean lines and sturdy aluminum chassis. That said, I do wish Razer would add full RGB support to the backlit logo on the lid. I know neon green is sort of Razer’s thing, but on a premium machine like this, it just seems weird you can’t set it to whatever color you want.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Inside, the Blade has a large glass trackpad that’s one of the best you can get on a Windows laptop. New for 2022 are larger keycaps along with Razer’s signature per-key Chroma lighting. Another subtle design tweak is that instead of having a distinct cut-out for the laptop’s up-firing speakers, this year Razer used lasers to etch the grille directly into the deck which improves rigidity while maintaining that minimalist aesthetic. There’s also a new 1080p webcam for 2022, which is a welcome upgrade from the 720p cams on older systems. And finally you get a plethora of connectivity, including two USB-C ports (including one with Thunderbolt 4), three USB-A ports, HDMI, headphone jack, and even a full-size SD card reader.
Display
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
On our $3,700 review unit, there’s a 15.6-inch 240Hz QHD display, which offers a great balance of size and resolution. I just wish it was a tiny bit brighter. Razer says all of the Blade’s LCD displays are supposed to pump out around 300 nits of brightness. But using a lightmeter, I measured closer to 275 nits. That’s fine for most situations, though if you’re in a sunny room, colors may appear slightly washed out. Alternatively, Razer offers 144Hz and 360Hz panels on other models. And just this week, Razer announced a new 240Hz OLED option, so there’s a wealth of displays to choose from.
Performance and gaming
Moving onto performance, Razer offers the latest 12th-gen Intel H-series CPUs and Nvidia RTX 30-series GPUs. The downside is that these components don’t come cheap, with the 2022 Blade 15 starting at$2,500 for an i7-12800H, 16GB of RAM and an RTX 3060 Ti, before topping out at a wallet-quivering $4,000 for a fully-loaded model with an i9 chip, 32GB of RAM and a 3080 Ti.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Now, I should point out that configs top out at just 1TB of storage. But for those who want even more room, the Blade 15 features two M.2 slots, only one of which is populated out of the box. So if you’re willing to remove the laptop’s bottom panel and SSD cover, tossing in another drive should be pretty straightforward. Just remember to use single-sided modules, because double-sided M.2 sticks won’t fit.
You get what you pay for, though, because the Blade 15 can game with the best of them. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider on the highest graphics settings at 1920 x 1080, our Core i7, RTX 3080 Ti unit hit 124 fps, which is just a touch lower than the $1,800 Asus Flow Z13, and that’s with its optional $1,400 mobile graphics dock. (That’s a grand total of $3,200 for those keeping count.) Results were similar in other titles too, with the Blade 15 hitting 86 fps in Metro Exodus on high settings, and 81 fps in Forza Horizon 5 on Ultra.
Battery Life
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Really, the Blade 15’s biggest weakness (aside from its price) is battery life. On our local video rundown test, it lasted just 5 hours and 42 minutes. That’s similar to what we got from the Asus Flow Z13 (5:38), which if you’ll recall is a PC gaming tablet. But compared to more traditional rivals, the Blade 15 lasted than three hours less than the Alienware x14 (7:57) and four hours shorter than the Asus Zephyrus G14’s (9:45). And in the real world, it’s not much better. The Blade 15 struggled to make it through two games of Teamfight Tactics back-to-back, which entailed about an hour and 15 minutes of relatively light-duty gaming. I should also note that when you’re running off the battery, the Blade’s performance takes a hit too, with framerates in Shadow of the Tomb Raider dropping down to around 45 fps.
Laptop
Battery life
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
5:42
Asus Flow Z13
5:38
Alienware x14
7:57
Asus Zephyrus G14
9:45
The other annoyance is Razer’s charging brick. While the proprietary connector is forgivable given its 230-watt power adapter, its right-angle design means if you plug it in wrong, you’re going to block at one or possibly two of the laptop’s USB-A ports. Honestly, high-wattage power delivery over USB-C can’t come soon enough.
Wrap-up
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
While the Blade 15 isn’t quite as sleek or portable as the latest breed of 14-inch gaming machines, there’s something to be said for having a big, luxury alternative. Sure, it’s really expensive, and its 15.6-inch screen and 4.4-pound body mean you might not be able to throw it in your typical messenger bag. But it’s got top-notch components, a strong frame that exhibits basically zero flex, and impressive performance in a slick and (comparatively) subdued design. Well, aside from that big glowing logo.
In a way, the Blade 15 is a fantastic take on a modern desktop replacement, especially for people like me who don’t want to lug around a giant 17-inch rig. Unlike the ROG Flow Z13, you don’t need to worry about a separate graphics dock to get peak framerates. And thanks to a wealth of ports, you can leave all of your dongles and adapters at home. So while the Blade 15 doesn’t make sense for anyone on a budget, if you’ve got the funds, this thing is a real treat.
AMD has at last made chips with its Zen 3 architecture for higher-end Chromebooks. It created several C-series Ryzen 5000 processors that are designed for Chrome OS. All of the CPUs in this lineup were built on a 7nm process and have Vega graphics.
At the top of the line is the eight-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 5825C. It has eight GPU cores and tops out at 4.5GHz with max boost — just below the 5700G’s 4.6GHz. AMD says this is the first Chromebook processor with eight high-performance cores.
A step below that APU is the Ryzen 5 5625C, which has six cores, 12 threads, seven GPU cores and a max boost speed of 4.3GHz. Next up is the Ryzen 3 5425C, with four cores, eight threads and six GPU cores. That maxes out at 4.1GHz. Lastly, there’s the Ryzen 3 5125C, which has a top speed of 3.0GHz. That model has two cores, four threads and three GPU cores.
The Ryzen and Athlon 3000 C-series chips, which top out at eight cores and eight threads, use the Zen architecture and are being positioned as mainstream-level options.
With the Ryzen 5000 C-series, AMD is promising up to 94 percent better battery life than you’d get with Intel chipsets. It says machines with the processors will run for up to 13 hours before they need to be recharged. The chips also have multi-monitor support for up to three 4K monitors, fast charging support and Chromebooks using them can instantly wake from sleep.
Among the first manufacturers to use the new chips are Acer and HP with the Chromebook Spin 514 and HP Elite c645 G2 Chromebook.
The latest version of Acer’s Chromebook is a 14-inch, full HD 2-in-1 that can house up to the Ryzen 7 5825C processor. It has support for WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and up to 256GB of PCIe gen-3 NVMe SSD storage.
Acer says its device has military-grade MIL-STD 810H durability and a 100 percent sRGB color range. It has a 1080p webcam with a shutter, two USB-C gen-2 ports and optional HDMI. The battery will run for up to 10 hours on a single charge, Acer claims.
The Acer Chromebook Spin 514 (CP514-3H) will be available in Q3 in North America and the EMEA region, starting at $580/€749. An enterprise version will also be available in the third quarter, starting at $900 or €849.
HP
As for the HP Elite c645 G2 Chromebook, there are multiple display options, including a 14-inch 1080p IPS touchscreen with 250 nits of brightness. There’s also a non-touch 1,000-nit panel with low blue light and HP’s Eye Ease tech.
This model can be equipped with up to 16GB of soldered LPDDR4X memory, up to 512GB of PCIe SSD storage and an optional smart card reader. It has a 5MP webcam, along with two mics and dual speakers tuned by Bang & Olufsen.
In addition, there’s support for fast charging and WiFi 6E. The c645 G2 has passed MIL-STD 810H durability tests as well. HP is also guaranteeing Chrome OS support through June 2030.
The HP Elite c645 G2 Chromebook should be available in early June and it will start at $559. On top of that, the company announced the HP Elite c640 G3 Chromebook, which has similar specs but runs on Intel chips. That should arrive in mid-May with a starting price of $509.
Enterprise versions of both the AMD- and Intel-powered Chromebooks are expected to go on sale in the same timeframes. Pricing for those will be announced later.
As part of Lenovo’s big spring laptop refresh, the company today unveiled a new generation of Slim clamshell laptops in the US (which confusingly share the ‘Slim’ branding with older, unrelated models). These include the Slim 9i, the Slim 7i and Slim7i Pro X, the Slim 7i Carbon and the Slim 7. The last of those come with an AMD Ryzen 6000 Series processor rather than the Intel chips inside its sisters, while the Slim 9i claims to be carbon neutral. While the improvements aren’t dramatic, the new line offers decent boosts in performance, longevity and screen quality.
Lenovo’s Slim 9i is a 14-inch laptop with WiFi 6 and three Thunderbolt 4 ports. It’s also supposedly carbon-neutral, which makes this a solid bet if you’re eco-conscious. The display includes an option to upgrade to a 4K OLED Puresight touchscreen display, which will no doubt make for sharper visuals and more immersive gaming. It also includes the IdeaPad’s infrared webcam, which means it will have facial recognition abilities. It also features 12th-gen Intel Core processors. The laptop starts at $1,799 and will be available in US stores starting in June.
Both the Slim 7i Pro X and Slim 7 Pro X are 14-inch laptops; the former offers 12-gen Intel Core processors and the latter includes an AMD Ryzen 6000 Series processor. You can expect up to 32 GB of RAM and the option of an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU. At 3.5 pounds, both machines are also very lightweight, especially for ones with dedicated graphics cards. The 7i Pro X starts at $1,699 and the 7 Pro X starts at $1,499.
The Slim 7 features a 16-inch screen and is outfitted with an AMD Ryzen 6000 Series processor, and starts at $1,499. The Slim 7i is available in either 14 or 16-inches and includes 12th-gen Intel Core processors. It is priced starting at $1,199 or $1,599, respectively.
For those in the market for a lightweight laptop that also won’t weigh down their carry-on bag, a decent option may be Lenovo’s 13-inch 2.2 pound Slim 7i Carbon. As the name implies, it saves weight by having a carbon frame. It includes 12th-gen Intel Core processors and self-adjusting fan and power speeds to save battery life. The 7i Carbon is available as either a 13-inch laptop or an upgraded model that features a 13.3-inch Lenovo Puresight touchscreen. The price starts at $1,299, and will be available in the US this June.
For those afraid of losing their laptops while on the go (or heaven forbid, their machine getting stolen), Lenovo will be offering its Smart Lock program in North America, starting in June. The cloud-based security program includes an app and browser version and essentially allows users to track and find their machines, as well as remotely lock or wipe any personal data from them.
Every spring, a new class of graduates is unleashed on the world, many of them carrying gadgets that have been put through the ringer over the years. Graduation is traditionally a big time for gift-giving — so if you know someone who is heading out int…
Dell’s latest flagship ultraportable is now available for purchase. The Dell XPS 13 Plus is powered by Intel’s 28-watt 12th-gen processors and features a clean, minimalist design. Its keyboard has no borders and no space in between its large keys that makes it ideal for touch-typing. The laptop’s haptic touchpad blends into its palm rest and the function buttons at the top of the keyboard aren’t buttons at all — they’re displayed on a touch panel similar to Mac’s Touch Bar.
It’s a beautiful device that gives the illusion of being carved out of a single piece of metal, but it doesn’t come without drawbacks. The biggest one of all? It doesn’t have a headphone jack. You’d have to use Bluetooth headsets with it, and the process of connecting a pair to a Windows laptop isn’t quite as seamless as connecting one to a phone. In addition, we had some trouble using the touchpad when we tested the laptop at CES earlier this year, because the lack of borders means you can’t see its edges. That said, it might be something you get used to the more time you spend with the notebook.
The XPS 13 Plus will set you back at least $1,299 and comes with either an OLED touch or an LCD display. You can also get the Developer Edition, which ships pre-installed with Ubuntu instead of Windows, for at least $1,249. It’s still showing on Dell’s site as coming soon, but it should be available shortly.
