The Evolution of High-Performance Laptops: A Comparative Analysis of Recent Models

Acer Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44) review: Lightweight but lacks power

Key Takeaways Acer's Swift Edge 16 impresses with its ultralight design, stunning OLED display, and high-quality webcam. Performance may not match expectations, with the AMD Ryzen 7 8840U CPU falling short in power and battery life. Priced at $1,300, this mid-tier laptop is a great choice for those prioritizing portability and display quality. Acer has thrown me for a loop with its latest laptop, the Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44). A mid-range laptop, this 16-inch laptop is one of the lightest I've reviewed this year. At a mere 2.7 pounds, the Edge puts a lot of 13 and 14-inch laptops to shame. But Acer continued to sweeten the pot with an alluring OLED display and one of the best webcams of the year. And it only costs $1,300, which is pretty good for a mid-tier machine. But before you fall head over heels, there are some trade-offs here that can't be overlooked. The Edge 16 is an all-AMD affair, which frankly, I love. But the Ryzen 7 8840U CPU places the laptop firmly in the light-to-mid productivity range of laptops. It's fine, but what's unforgivable is the battery life, which falls short of six hours. The Edge 16 is truly a must-see, but it lacks the ingredients to be a true blockbuster. About this review: Acer sent us a Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44) for the purposes of this review. The company had no input in this article, and did not see its contents before publishing. Acer Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44) Ultralight chassis, mid-range performance 7 / 10 At 2.7 pounds, the Acer Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44) is an absolutely waifish laptop, putting smaller laptops to shame with their bulk. But that's not all. The laptop also has a jaw-dropping OLED display and one of the best webcams this year. However, all that slimness comes at the cost of performance and battery life, which leave something to be desired. Pros Super lightweight frame Stunning OLED display Superb webcam Cons Weak performance Short battery life Poor audio See at Acer See at Amazon Pricing and availability The Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44) is currently available at Acer's website as well as Amazon for around $1,300. It features AMD as I mentioned, starting with a 3.3-GHz AMD Ryzen 7 8840U processor with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, a 1TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD, AMD Radeon 780M Graphics, and a 16-inch, 16:10, 3200 x 2000, 120Hz refresh rate display with a 1-millisecond response rate. Acer knows that variety is the spice of life and, as such, has a few more models for you to consider. For $999, there's the SFE16-43-R2Y6 configuration, which brings an AMD Ryzen 7840 CPU to the mix. Specs CPU AMD Ryzen 7 8840U GPU AMD Radeon 780M Display type WQXGA+ OLED Display (Size, Resolution) 16-inch, 3200 x 2000 RAM 16GB LPDDR5 Storage 1TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD Battery 54 Wh Ports two USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, 2 USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 1 ports, 1 HDMI 2.1 ports, 1 microSD card slot, 1 headset jack, 1 Noble lock slot Operating System Windows 11 Home Webcam 2560 x 1440 Wi-Fi connectivity EEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.3 Form factor clamshell Dimensions 14.1 x 9.7 x 0.51 inches Weight 2.7 pounds Speakers 2 speakers Colors Olivine Black Pen compatibility No Expand Related LG Gram Pro (16-inch) review: Stunning display, lightweight design... and bad performance The LG Gram Pro is the company's second big attempt at properly premium laptop, but it doesn't quite stick the landing. Design and ports I can't believe it's so light! Close It's astounding. Even my boyfriend came up to me with the Edge 16 in his hands and an incredulous look in his eyes. "What is this?" he demanded. "The Acer Swift Edge 16. Why?" I answered. "It's so light!" he replied. And indeed, he's right. The Edge 16 is so light, I even thought Acer had mistakenly sent me a dummy shell model. But no, I hit the power button/fingerprint reader and the dainty device sprung to life, dazzling me with its mesmerizing OLED display (more on that in a few), surrounded by some rather thick bezels particularly on the top and bottom. The keyboard deck, like the majority of the chassis, is made of ultra-light Olivine Black magnesium-aluminum alloy. The backlit keyboard sits above the palm rest in a shallow recess. The Edge 16 is so light, I even thought Acer had mistakenly sent me a dummy shell model. The lid is solid black except for the shiny small Acer emblem located at the top center. Make sure you have a microfiber cloth nearby, as the lid will quickly pick up fingerprints. Flip the laptop over, and you'll find four raised dark gray rubber feet, ten screws, and an air vent big enough to see the pair of stereo fans and some of the heat pipe. The speakers are along the sides towards the front of the system. With such a lean frame, there isn't much room for ports or slots, and yet Acer fits just enough, so you could create a viable workstation if necessary. The notebook has two USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, a pair of USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 1 ports, a slot for a microSD card, an HDMI 2.1 port. A headset jack, and a Noble lock slot. By now, you're probably wondering just how light the Edge 16 is? The notebook measures 14.1 x 9.7 x 0.51 inches and weighs a scant 2.7 pounds. That's almost as light as the LG Gram Pro 16 (2.64 pounds, 14.1 x 9.9 x 0.48 ~ 0.5 inches). But the Acer is definitely lighter than the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge (3.4 pounds, 14 x 10.1 x 0.48 inches), Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 (3.7 pounds, 13 x 9.4 x 0.72 inches), and Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 16 (Intel, 2024) (4.3 pounds, 14.02 x 9.88 x 0.69 inches). Related Surface Laptop 7 15 review: You don't have to wait for Windows on Arm to get good anymore It does most things right Display, audio, and webcam Dazzling OLED display with a webcam to match Close I will never get tired of staring into an OLED display. The colors are so vivid, you can almost see the afterimage when you close your eyes. The Edge 16 has one of Acer's CineCrystal 16-inch OLED non-touch panels. The 3.2K display is DisplayHDR TrueBlack 500 certified, which means deeper, more defined blacks, which comes in handy during darker scenes. It definitely helped as I watched the trailer for "Back on the Strip." With many scenes awash in lurid neons, actor Wesley Snipes' ebony skin seemed to glow. The sharpness was such that I could see the intricate details in Snipes' baby blue Versace shirt as well as a few fine wrinkles near his brow line. The jaw-dropping panel continued to impress when I measured for color gamut and brightness. The screen hit 100% on both the sRGB and DCI-P3 gamuts with results of 97% for Adobe sRGB and 95% on NTSC. And for brightness, my light meter yielded a measurement of 393.6 nits, which is a stone's throw from the 400 nits that Acer estimated. The thing I like about web cameras: I keep getting older, and they just keep getting higher resolutions, or whatever Matthew McConaughey said. The Edge 16 boasts a 2560 x 1440 webcam that delivers beautiful stills and video, making the need for an external cam unnecessary. The camera did a fantastic job of capturing not only the color of my lime green top, but the blue, purple, pink, orange, and green in my locs. Plus, the detail is sharp enough that you can read the text on my shirt barring the slight blowout on the left side. I was surprised that Acer didn't install a physical shutter to give users a way to manually keep potential peepers out. The colors are so vivid, you can almost see the afterimage when you close your eyes. I know I sound like a broken record here, but most bottom-mounted speakers are doing the laptops they're attached to a disservice. The notebook is already fighting a battle to get enough air through to keep things cool and push sound through relatively tiny speaker enclosures. Why put the speakers in a position where they'll potentially be muffled? That's what happened to the Edge 16's speakers, tragically muffled when pressed against my juicy thighs. To be fair, using the laptop on a desk turns the flat surface into a rudimentary amplifier, although it doesn't add that much of a boost. When I listened to Vince Staples' "MAMA'S BOY," I immediately noticed the weak low-end and what was there was hollow. The electronic instruments had an ethereal underwater sound that certain genres of music employ. The electronic flute bordered on being tinny while Staples' laid-back vocals flowed through. The audio volume isn't much to write home about, even with the DTS Audio Processing software. I wouldn't recommend disabling the app, however, as what little volume the speakers can muster fades when the software is turned off. Keyboard and touchpad Type your troubles away Close Springy feedback with generous spacing and large key caps. That's what you can expect from the Edge 16's full-sized keyboard and numpad. The backlighting is strong enough that I can read them in any setting, no matter the lighting situation. As for the actual typing, I reached 75 words per minute on the keyboard, which is a little better than my usual 70 wpm. The touchpad is made from OceanGlass, plastics recycled from the ocean. Aside from being environmentally friendly, the input device is smooth with plenty of real estate and good palm rejection. As with most touchpads, performing Windows 11 multigestures was a breeze. The bottom corners depress with an audible click. Related Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge review: The era of Qualcomm PCs has arrived The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge is one of the first Copilot+ PCs to hit the market, and it's bringing power, endurance, and tons of AI to the table Performance Never send a U-series chip to do an H-series' job Close The Acer Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44) has an AMD Ryzen 7 8840U CPU with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. That U series designation lets us know the processor is designed to focus on power efficiency in lieu of performance. That doesn't mean that the Edge 16 can't handle a beefy workload. On the contrary, the laptop had no problem juggling my 70 Google Chrome tabs with its wild array of G-Suite apps, YouTube videos, social media and news sites while doing some light photo editing. So feel free to work to your heart's content. And while the gaming test was a bummer, the bigger disappointment was the battery life. But while the U series CPU is capable when it comes to actual power, it can't match up to performance-tuned H series chips, whether they're AMD or Intel. Even Qualcomm's new Elite X processor gave the Edge 16 a run for its money. There were, of course, a few exceptions. When I ran the PCMark 10 benchmark with the laptop plugged in, the Edge 16 scored 6,803, while the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 16 (Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU) and LG Gram Pro 16 (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU) reached 7,025 and 6,084 respectively. During the Geekbench 6 test, the Edge only managed to defeat the Gram Pro 16 in the single-thread test. The Acer fell short of the rest of the competing systems, especially on the multi-thread benchmark. I saw similar results on Cinebench 2024. The Edge 16 fared somewhat better on the Crossmark benchmark, defeating the Samsung Galaxy Book Edge 16 (Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 CPU) while coming within a couple of points of matching the Surface Laptop 7 15 (Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 CPU). Acer Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44), AMD Ryzen 7 8840U Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i (Core Ultra 9 185H, RTX 4050) LG Gram Pro (Core Ultra 7 155H, RTX 3050) Surface Laptop 7 Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge, Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E84100 PCMark 10 AC / Battery 6,803 / 5,607 7,025 6,084 / 5,878 N/A N/A Geekbench 6 Single / Multi 2,423 / 10,002 2,517 / 13,577 2,191 / 12,721 2,803 / 14,497 2,840 / 15,554 Cinebench 2024 Single / Multi 606 / 96 106 / 965 100 / 625 124 / 972 122 / 781 Crossmark 1,553 1,828 N/A 1,558 1,535 3DMark Time Spy / Extreme 1,827 / 795 N/A 3,341 / N/A 1,892 / 25,257 2,178 / N/A The integrated AMD Radeon 780M GPU, like most integrated graphics chips, is not really built for hardcore gaming or GPU-intensive tasks. You can definitely play some older and indie titles, but you're definitely not going to play Cyberpunk 2077, Control, or God of War. Unless stuttering jumbles of unplayable gobbledygook is your jam, then by all means, give it a go. I did get a smooth playthrough of Hades II, my latest rogue-like obsession. However, the Edge 16 didn't beat any of the competing systems on the 3DMark Time Spy test. I didn't expect the Acer to topple either the Gram Pro 16 or the IdeaPad Pro 5i 16 with their discrete graphics. But I was disappointed to see it didn't do better against the notebooks with integrated graphics. And while the gaming test was a bummer, the bigger disappointment was the battery life. Again, a U-series chip is designed to be power efficient. So I was surprised to see the notebook only lasted 5 hours and 22 minutes on the PCMark 10 battery test with the display brightness lowered to 200 nits. And yes, OLED displays can have an adverse effect on battery life, but not to this extent. Related Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i 16 (Intel, 2024) review: If only the outside was as good as the inside Lenovo's new IdeaPad Pro 5i is a top performer. But it's still an IdeaPad, and that means build quality is behind the curve for a $1,500 laptop. Should you buy the Acer Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44)? You should buy the Acer Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44) if: You want a super lightweight 16-inch laptop You want a laptop with an exquisite OLED display You want a laptop with a high-quality webcam You shouldn't buy the Acer Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44) if: You want a laptop with stronger performance You want a laptop with longer battery life Man, I really like what Acer has going on here. The Acer Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44) has me in a chokehold with its barely-there, super-svelte design and captivating OLED panel. And I love that Acer slapped AMD components in this bad boy, since competition is great for the consumer and industry overall. Also, it's been a long time since I've felt compelled to talk about a webcam in an intro or outro, but the 1440p shooter is just that good. As a mid-tier system, the price is definitely right. However, I want more. I don't want to sacrifice power and longevity in favor of slimness, something I'm forced to do with the Edge 16. If Acer went with an AMD H-series processor, I could make peace with the short battery life. (Not really though. Laptops, with the exception of gaming and workstation notebooks, need to last at least eight hours on a charge.) But as it stands, it's a no from me dawg. If you want an ultra-thin laptop that has performance and longevity, check out the LG Gram Pro 16. Still, the Acer Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44) is really for those looking for a big, gorgeous screen on an extremely lightweight laptop; for this group, the Edge 16 is a good choice. Acer Swift Edge 16 (SFE16-44) Ultralight chassis, mid-range performance 7 / 10 $1300 at Acer $1205 at Amazon

Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7460 review: A mid-tier laptop that has something for everybody

Key Takeaways Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7460 offers solid overall performance for gaming, productivity, and content creation under $1,500. Display is color-accurate but could be brighter, while audio from the quad speakers is loud and balanced. The laptop runs hot under CPU or GPU-intensive tasks, but the battery life lasts nearly ten hours for versatility. Specs CPU Intel Core Ultra 7 155H GPU Intel Arc Graphics/Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Display type WVA/IPS Anti-Glare Non-Touch Display (Size, Resolution) 16-inches, 2560 x 1600 RAM 16GB DDR5, 5600MT RAM Storage 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD Battery 90Wh Ports 2 USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1 Thunderbolt 4, 1 HDMI 2.1, power jack, headphone jack Operating System Windows 11 Home Webcam 1080p, Integrated Widescreen FHD Wi-Fi connectivity Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211, 2x2, 802.11ax Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.3 Form factor Clamshell Dimensions 14.1 x 9.9 x 0.66 - 0.78 inches Weight 4.94 pounds Speakers 4 speakers Colors Ice Blue Pen compatibility No Expand Not quite a Latitude, but not quite an XPS either, the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7460 attempts to straddle the line, taking some of the best parts of both of Dell's popular lines and giving it to you for less than $1,500. The notebook comes stacked with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor teamed with an Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU, placing it firmly on the middle rung of the 16-inch laptop ladder. But don't just write the 16 Plus off, just yet. It can do a little bit of everything and do it quite well. It might not be one of the best laptops of the year, but with its color-accurate display, strong speakers, and comfy keyboard, the Inspiron 16 Plus definitely is an honorable mention. About this review: Dell sent us an Inspiron 16 Plus 7460 for the purposes of this review. The company had no input in this article, and did not see its contents before publishing. Editor's choice Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7460 Jack of all trades, master of some 9/ 10 The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7460 is a mid-range machine that can do a little bit of everything (productivity, gaming, content creation, and more) without breaking a sweat or your budget. The laptop can also last nearly ten hours of battery life. Best of all, this capable performer comes in just under $1,500. ProsSolid overall and gaming performanceGreat battery lifeGood priceLoud, balanced audio ConsDisplay could be brighterRuns hot on CPU or GPU-intensive tasks See at DellSee at Amazon Pricing and availability Dell sent me a surprisingly stacked system for a mid-tier price. For $1,299, we are looking at a notebook with 3.8-GHz Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor with 16GB of DDR5 5600MT/s RAM, a 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, integrated Intel Arc Graphics, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, and a 16-inch, 16:10, 2560 x 1600, non-touch panel. You can also get the 16 Plus with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU and 32GB LPDDR5X, 6400MT/s of RAM for $1,399. However, that means you lose the discrete graphics and have to make due with the Intel Arc Graphics. Design and ports Mid-range chic, but a little chunky Close Rounded corners and a cool-to-the-touch, anodized aluminum chassis await your admiring hands. To help the laptop stand out from other Dell notebooks, the 16 Plus' aluminum chassis comes in what the company calls Ice Blue, which is a nice departure from the Platinum White you typically find on the XPS line. A quick look at the lid shows off the shiny Dell logo catching every little glint of light. I really like that the surface's finish holds up against fingerprints, especially since my hands tend to be a bit oily. The frame also has a bit of MIL-spec certification, so this bad boy can take a few bumps (within reason). Opening the laptop reveals more of that baby smooth finish. Instead of a slight recess for the keyboard, it's just embedded into the keyboard deck right above the touchpad. The power button does double-duty as the fingerprint reader. I really like that the surface's finish holds up against fingerprints... I expected more ports, but the large vents on either side of the laptop shut that option down. But you still have enough to accommodate most of your peripherals. If not, you can always invest in a good USB-C dock. But back to the ports on the actual system, you get two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A ports, a Thunderbolt 4 port, an HDMI 2.1 port, a microSD card reader, a headset jack, and the power jack. Weighing 4.9 pounds, the 14.1 x 9.9 x 0.66-0.78-inch 16 Plus is a beefy Betty compared to some of its contemporaries. As usual, the LG Gram Pro (14.1 x 9.9 x 0.48-0.5 inches) is the lightest laptop in the room at 2.6 pounds, followed by the Acer Swift Go 16 (14 x 9.9 x 0.78~0.85 inches) at 3.8 pounds. Next up is the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra (14 x 9.9 x 0.65 inches), tipping the scales at 4.1 pounds. And finally, you have the Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 16 (14 x 9.9 x 0.69 inches) with a weight of 4.3 pounds. Related Acer Swift Go 16 review: Power and endurance at an affordable price The Acer Swift Go 16 brings power and endurance for under $1,000, but there are a few compromises to consider. Display, webcam, and audio A vivid panel that could be brighter Close Sure, the color on the 16 Plus' matte display might not punch you in the face. However, I can't argue with its color accuracy. The 16-inch, 16:10 panel hits 100% of the sRGB gamut and 83% of the AdobeRGB gamut. Then you have the DCI-P3 gamut at 84% and the NTSC gamut at 78%. Close But what does that mean exactly? It means that actor Coleman Domingo's rich mahogany skin looked warm and supple during the "Sing Sing" trailer. I saw the individual hairs in the stubble of his salt and pepper beard. The indigo hoodie worn in one scene captured my gaze with its vibrancy. And while the color is nice, the actual brightness could be better as it only averages 281.6 nits, which isn't too far off from Dell's 300-nit claim, but I would have preferred a brighter presentation. The lack of brightness couldn't stop Hades II's technicolor shine. As soon as I launched the game, the screen was awash in ethereal greens, bold reds, and rich yellows. Tiny accents popped, like the trail of burning red footprints and the silvery white sparkles left in the wake of our heroine Melinoë's dash. Hmm, maybe Dell should turn down the clarity on the Inspiron 16's integrated webcam. I definitely made a face once I noticed the stretch marks on my arm, made even more prominent by my tan. The shooter did a great job on the color, capturing the exact shade of blue of my denim dress as well as the bright orange fur on my fox plushie, although the black on my stuffed snake looked a bit faded. The lack of brightness couldn't stop Hades II 's technicolor shine. As soon as I launched the game, the screen was awash in ethereal greens, bold reds, and rich yellows. By now you know that I'm waging a war against bottom-mounted quad speakers. But not these. The Inspiron 16's speakers are positioned in such a way that my chunky thighs do not act as natural mufflers. Bolstered by Dolby Atmos Core and Waves Maxx Pro software, the laptop did a fantastic job of filling my medium-sized living room with warm audio. However, the bass leaves a lot to be desired, as I discovered while listening to Lucky Daye's "HERicane." However, the guitars were clean, as were the vocals. Related LG Gram Pro (16-inch) review: Stunning display, lightweight design... and bad performance The LG Gram Pro is the company's second big attempt at properly premium laptop, but it doesn't quite stick the landing. Keyboard and touchpad Mushy keys, but not a deal breaker Close Typing on the Inspiron 16's keyboard is comfortable, but as my fingers went from key to key typing out this review, I felt a little bit of mushiness. I doubt it'll bother most people, but as a reviewer, it's something I noticed. Still, the keys have generous spacing with bright backlighting. And of course, as this is the era of AI, there's a Microsoft Copilot key placed in between the alt and arrow keys if you want to take the chatbot for a spin. The Mylar touchpad is plenty spacious and has great palm rejection. Navigating docs and web pages and executing multitouch gestures is an exercise in smoothness. The bottom corners are somewhat stiff, but get the job done. Related Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra review: A workstation in a thin-and-light chassis The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is a premium system that can do it all, even light gaming. Performance A mid-range flex Close Armed with a 3.8-GHz Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor with 16GB of RAM, the Inspiron 16 Plus 7460 is a top performer in its class. It's got more than enough power for heavy productivity and content creation tasks, with a bit left over in the tank to do some light gaming. And once again, this is an AI PC, so there's an NPU on board. The notebook had no problem with my plethora of tabs. My 72 tabs were a healthy mix of G-Suite apps, social media, news and entertainment sites, and YouTube streams. Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7460, Core Ultra 7 155H, RTX 4060 Acer Swift Go 16 (2024), Core Ultra 9 185H Dell XPS 16 Core Ultra 7 155H, RTX 4070 LG Gram Pro (Core Ultra 7 155H, RTX 3050 Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i, Core Ultra 9 185H, RTX 4050 Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra, Core Ultra 9 185H, RTX 4070 PCMark 10 AC / Battery 7,369 / 4,905 7,434 / N/A 6,830 / 6,409 6,084 / 5,878 7,025 / N/A 7,609 / 4,810 Geekbench 6 Single / Multi 2,334 / 12,324 2,418 / 13,144 2,424 / 13,814 2,191 / 12,721 2,517 / 13,577 2,477 / 13,262 Cinebench 2024 Single / Multi 100 / 848 104 / 862 104 / 983 100 / 625 106 / 965 107 / 980 Crossmark 1,514 1,814 1,900 N/A 1,828 1,749 3DMark Time Spy / Extreme 8,724 / 4,090 4,008 / 1,937 9,187 / 4,036 3,341 / N/A N/A 10,289 / 4,747 The 16 Plus was put to work on the PCMark 10 test. Plugged in, the notebook notched 7,369 which was more than enough to scoot past the IdeaPad Pro 5i (Core Ultra 9 185H), Gram Pro (Core Ultra 7 155H), and XPS 16 (Core Ultra 7 155H). Laden with their Core Ultra 9 185H CPUs, both the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra and the Swift Go 16 put a kibosh on the win streak with scores of 7,609 and 7,434, respectively. Onto Geekbench 6, where the only win the 16 Plus eked out was over the Lenovo in the single-thread test. I saw similar results during Cinebench 2024 test where the 16 Plus dominated the Gram Pro with its Core Ultra 7 CPU, but fell short of the laptops with the more powerful Core Ultra 9 processors. It's got more than enough power for heavy productivity and content creation tasks with a bit left over in the tank to do some light gaming. If you're a gamer, you'll be happy to know the 16 Plus has an Nvidia 4060 GPU aboard, so you can play older titles, indies, and even current AAA titles - the latter will need a few settings tweaks to make it work well. I was wielding the power of the gods with ease in Hades II, scorching, freezing and shocking my way through the legions of Chronos with not a hint of slow down at native resolution. However, keep in mind that while Supergiant makes beautiful, lore-rich games, they're not the most graphically taxing. I decided to raise the stakes and ran the CyberPunk 2077 benchmark. I started on medium settings at native resolution and got 41 frames per second, and when I turned on Nvidia's DLSS technology, the frame rate jumped to 50 fps. I got significantly higher frame rates when I lowered the resolution down to 1080p. Without DLSS, the 16 Plus delivered 71 fps on medium settings and 83 fps with the feature enabled. Running 3DMark Time Spy, the Inspiron 16 scored 8,724, beating the Gram Pro, Swift Go 16, but ran into a pair of roadblocks by way of the XPS 16 and Galaxy Book 4 Ultra. If you are going to game or do something GPU or CPU intensive, you might want to keep the laptop away from your lap. At the Best Performance power setting, the touchpad measured a warm 98 degrees Fahrenheit. The center of the keyboard hit 118 degrees, while the center of the bottom vents rose to 121 degrees. The right and left side vents blew 99 and 101 degrees, respectively. Typically, when you throw discrete graphics into the mix, the battery life suffers. So imagine my astonishment when I ran the PCMark 10 Modern Office test (200 nits of brightness, Best Performance settings) and the Inspiron 16 Plus lasted 9 hours and 57 minutes. Then, I remembered the laptop has an integrated Intel Arc Graphics that it falls back on. After making the 4060 GPU the default card and re-running the test, the battery life dropped to 4:39, which still ain't too shabby. Related Dell XPS 16 (2024) review: The MacBook Pro of Windows The Dell XPS 16 is like nothing you've seen before. Should you buy the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7460? You should buy the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7460 if: You want a laptop that can do a little bit of everything, including gaming You don't want to pay over $1,500 for a laptop You want a laptop with good battery life You shouldn't buy the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7460 if: You want a laptop with more overall and gaming performance You want a laptop with a brighter display You want a laptop that doesn't get so hot under the collar "You can't please everybody." But damn, if Dell didn't try with the Inspiron 16 Plus 7460. There's a lot to like in the notebook, particularly its Intel Core 7 Ultra processor and Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU which opens the door for a host of uses ranging from productivity, content creation, gaming and more. The 16-inch display, while somewhat dim, is still plenty color accurate and, together with the quad speakers, makes for a decent entertainment center in a pinch. Plus, depending on how you use the laptop, you can expect over nine hours of battery life. There are, of course, more powerful laptops out there, such as the Acer Swift Go 16. Keep in mind that despite its low price tag, you'd be losing out on a discrete graphics card. Plus, its display and audio aren't that great. Then there's the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra which has a less powerful Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU and costs nearly double the 16 Plus. Overall, if you're looking for a laptop that checks the boxes for quite a few consumers, including mobile and creative professionals, gamers, students, and bargain hunters, you need to give the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7460 a go. Editor's choice Dell Inspiron 16 Plus 7460 Jack of all trades, master of some 9/ 10 See at DellSee at Amazon

Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra review: Avoid one mistake with this near-perfect premium laptop

When you develop an "Ultra" product, you set lofty expectations for the device you need to deliver. Samsung is no stranger to this strategy; the company throws everything but the kitchen sink into its Galaxy S Ultra phones, and the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra takes those same lessons into the laptop realm. The Book 4 Ultra packs the highest-end Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU into a relatively thin and light chassis to push pixels around at 120Hz on one of Samsung's typically mesmerizing AMOLED panels. Samsung is clearly targeting the ever-popular content creator market with this laptop, but its combination of features lends it to programming, casual gamers, students, or even business users. So, what's the catch? Those premium features are reflected in the price, starting at $2,399 and topping out at $2,999 for my review configuration. However, I do have some good news on that front in our price and configurations section below, so don't dismiss it just yet because of the cost. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra delivers an excellent overall experience. The ever-improving Samsung ecosystem makes a compelling case for the Galaxy Book over some of our other favorite premium laptops, particularly for users with a Samsung phone or tablet. I reviewed the top configuration of the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra, which has an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 8GB GPU, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch AMOLED, 2,880 x 1,800, 120Hz touch display. This configuration costs $2,999, which is sure to cause sticker shock for some, but outside of a workstation or high-end gaming laptop, these are top-tier specs, so the price comes with the territory. There's only one other model available, which, for $2,399, includes an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 6GB GPU, and 16GB of RAM. The 1TB of storage and 16-inch AMOLED display remain the same. If this sounds too expensive, the good news is that deep discounts abound for this laptop. At the time of this review's publication, you can get the high-end model for $2,349 or the base model for $1,899 directly from Samsung, which makes a world of difference. If you want this level of performance for less, consider our best gaming laptops under $1,500, but be prepared to make some tradeoffs, particularly on the display and overall build quality. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is a study in minimalism, with the glinting prismatic Samsung logo on the lid as the only attention-grabbing element on display. The "Moonstone Gray," as Samsung calls this color, looks like the dark gray that's dominated many cars and laptops for the last decade, crowd-pleasingly inoffensive. While it's thin for a 16-inch laptop, Samsung uses visual trickery to make the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra appear even thinner. Viewed directly from the side, you see that it has a relatively uniform thickness from front to back, but Samsung tapers the edge of the laptop, giving it a wedge appearance from a slightly higher angle. This also keeps the vents on the side out of sight, so you get the improved thermal performance without a gaming laptop or workstation look. Opening the lid, you are greeted by the same grey on the deck, broken up by the black chiclet-style full keyboard. The touchpad is massive, taking up roughly 40% of the bottom of the laptop, and it's slightly left of center to align properly below the spacebar. At 4.1 pounds and 14 x 9.86 x 0.65 inches, the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is thinner and lighter than most of its 16-inch competition. The HP Spectre x360 16 (2024) (4.3 pounds, 14.1 x 9.7 x 0.8 inches) comes the closest, but the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (4.7 pounds, 14.3 x 10 x 0.7 inches) and the MacBook Pro 16-inch (4.8 pounds, 14 x 9.7 x 0.65 inches) are both over half a pound heavier than the Galaxy Book. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra nearly covers all the bases with its collection of ports. On the left, there's an HDMI 2.1 port and two Thunderbolt 4 ports. On the right side are the combo headphone and mic jack, a USB 3.2 Type-A port, and a microSD card slot. My only complaint is the microSD card reader. A full-size SD card reader is far more useful to this laptop's target audience, and there's certainly room in the chassis, but it's not a deal-breaker. If you need a full-size SD card reader or any other port not offered by the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra, see our best USB Type-C hubs or best laptop docking stations. Opening the lid, you are greeted by the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra's 120Hz 3K (2,880 x 1,800) AMOLED touchscreen. It's a mouthful to say, but the panel produces an eyeful of gorgeously sharp and vibrant imagery. While the laptop is suitable for a variety of users, content creators are high on Samsung's priority list, and it's an outstanding display for that purpose. It delivers vibrant colors without trending into oversaturation and gives you a bright enough image for most environments. I watched the latest trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine, and the AMOLED panel put on a real show. This display's deep blacks and contrast-heavy HDR capabilities were tailor-made for the heavily stylized look of this movie. The two titular characters striding across a street in their signature red and yellow pop off the display. This doesn't necessarily show up in the lab tests, but for a cinematic experience on a laptop, the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra stacks up well against anything else on the market. This carries through to gaming; I spent some time playing Hades, and the vivid colors and sharp lines of the animated 3D chaos looked gorgeous, while the 120Hz panel kept the action smooth. It motivated me to dip into more favorites from my Steam library to give them a second life on a far superior display to the old monitor I was playing on a few years ago. Turning to our lab testing, our colorimeter measured the Book 4 Ultra at 81.8% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which precisely matches the MacBook Pro 16. The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i tops them both by covering 105.7%. The premium laptop average currently sits at 87.5%. At 384 nits of brightness, the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is good enough for anything but direct sunlight, though it falls below the current premium laptop average of 467 nits. This is the price you pay for the deep HDR capabilities of an AMOLED, which suppresses the high-end brightness. By comparison, the mini-LED display in the MacBook Pro 16 at 560 nits is one of the brightest we've tested, while the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i comes in just behind the Book 4 Ultra at 373 nits. When I first typed on the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra keyboard, the resonant pounding of the keys startled me, but I quickly adjusted and found it extremely fast and comfortable. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra keyboard has minimal key travel at 1mm. Many prefer a 1.3mm to 1.5mm range for an easy and decisive keystroke. While I generally fall into that camp, this keyboard somehow manages to do more with less for me. On the 10fastfingers.com typing test, I typed 91 words per minute with 99% accuracy, which beats my average of 86 words per minute. Accuracy is often one of the concerns with a shallower keyboard; I just didn't experience that with the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra. Samsung did an excellent job with key spacing, and the keyboard's clickiness could also play a role, providing audible feedback so you don't question whether it registered. I owned handheld PCs that were smaller than the touchpad on the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra. At 4.4 x 6.1 inches, you have all the real estate you could want below the keyboard to navigate and gesture around Windows 11. Taps and swipes registered immediately, and its smooth surface didn't ever catch my finger. When typing, my hands fit conveniently on either side of the touchpad, and palm rejection successfully prevented any random touches from registering while typing. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra's multi-touch touchscreen also performed well, quickly registering taps and swipes. I did not regularly use this feature, as I prefer to use the touchpad or a mouse to navigate a traditional clamshell laptop, but for those who like having the option, the touchscreen won't fail you. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra boasts a quad-speaker system, which sounds better on paper than in person. The speakers are bottom-firing, or if you are being charitable, side-firing, located below the deck but not literally on the portion of the laptop that would rest on your desk or lap. Volume isn't the issue; I could turn it up loud enough to fill my roughly 16' x 22' living room, but there's no depth or bass. I listened to "Too Sweet" by Hozier for an audio test. The opening bass line and vocals sounded crisp and clear, but it all fell apart as additional instrumentation and backup vocals came in. There's no soundstage, so everything collapses in a muddled mess. You'll be fine with the built-in speakers for gaming or watching videos. For anything more sonically complicated, invest in a pair of wireless headphones. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra's Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor impressed me with solid productivity and overall performance. I ran the laptop through a typical array of daily tasks, including running a dozen Google Chrome tabs in three separate windows. Five tabs ran YouTube videos at 1080p, and YouTube Music filled my office with my favorite soundtracks in another tab. The other tabs were a mix of Google Docs, Google Sheets, research for this review, and various rabbit holes I plunged down over the day. It glided through every task with ease. On the Geekbench 6 overall performance test, the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra scored 13,061 in multi-core, easily defeating the premium laptop average of 8,763. It also outpaced its Windows rival, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (12,141, Intel Core Ultra 9 185H). That unstoppable juggernaut, the MacBook Pro 16 (21,182, M3 Max), kept the Book 4 Ultra from a clean sweep. If you want raw CPU performance, there's nothing to defeat the MacBook Pro M3 Max, but that configuration rings up for $3,999 and is rarely discounted by more than $200-$300, so you are paying a premium for it. Our Handbrake test offers a more real-world look at performance, converting a 4k video to 1080p. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra finished in 4 minutes and 52 seconds. That's considerably faster than the premium laptop average (7:21). Still, it is up against stiff competition in the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (3:53) and the MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max (2:36). It's a strong result for the Galaxy Book, which will handle video editing tasks well, but if you're a professional editor and seconds count, it falls below the top options. Samsung's 1TB SSD similarly performed well, transferring a 25GB file at a rate of 1,883.6 MBps, easily outpacing the premium laptop average (1,416.5 MBps). However, the Yoga Pro 9i (2,100 MBps) once again proved too much for it. Unfortunately, we can't compare the MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max, as macOS doesn't support our drive speed test. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra isn't a gaming laptop, but it can do a reasonable impression of one. Its RTX 4070 GPU with 8GB GDDR6 VRAM allows it to play most AAA titles; just don't plan on maxing out the settings. You'll also appreciate that RTX 4070 when it comes to video editing and other GPU-intensive tasks, which includes many AI apps, so it's not wasted on you even if you aren't a gamer or only occasionally dip a toe in the gaming world. On the 3DMark FireStrike synthetic graphics benchmark, the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra scored 17,255, nearly doubling the average premium laptop (9,218), but the Yoga Pro 9i (19,016) once again came out on top. The 3DMark FireStrike benchmark isn't available for the MacBook Pro 16. Looking at actual gaming performance, the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra hit 79 frames per second (fps) on the Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm benchmark (Medium, 1080p). That beat the premium laptop average (50 fps) and the MacBook Pro 16 (56 fps), but the Lenovo Yoga 9i Pro (128 fps) set a blistering pace that none of the others could match. The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra doesn't sound like it has the recipe for excellent battery life with a 3K display, a discrete GPU, a high-performance CPU, and a relatively thin and light design, but prepare to be amazed. On the Laptop Mag battery test, the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra stayed powered up for 13 hours and 15 minutes. That easily beats the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (9:51) and the premium laptop average (11:13). Only the otherworldly Apple MacBook Pro 16 (18:05) defeats it. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra features a 1080p FHD webcam, and it's...fine. Even in my office, where I can dial the lighting in pretty effectively, there's a fair amount of grain in the image, and it's just not sharp. I will give Samsung credit for color accuracy. My green shirt and the orange side of my copy of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes were both spot on. If you are doing a lot of virtual meetings or streaming, I'd still recommend checking out our best webcams, as the results will be much better. If you own a Samsung Galaxy phone, you can use the Camera Sharing function to use your phone as your webcam with your Galaxy Book 4 Ultra. You just navigate to Settings, then Connected devices, and finally, Camera Sharing to toggle the feature on. It's less of a shock after seeing its marathon battery life, but the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra keeps its cool despite its high-performance specs. The hottest temperature we recorded after 15 minutes of video playback was 92.3 degrees Fahrenheit on the bottom of the laptop, below our 95-degree threshold for comfort. The keyboard was a comfortable 88.3 degrees, while the touchpad was an almost cool 77.2 degrees. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra comes with Windows 11 Home and an abundance of Samsung apps. While some will undoubtedly categorize those apps as bloatware, Samsung does helpfully group them under the Galaxy Book Experience so you can peruse the full list and determine what you'll use. It includes 16 apps, some of which are very basic, like the Samsung Account app or Live Wallpaper. Others depend on your being in the Samsung ecosystem with a Samsung smartphone or tablet, like Second Screen, Phone Link, or Samsung Flow. I'd encourage you to at least try the apps before deleting them, particularly if you have any other Samsung devices. The Galaxy Book 4 Ultra has a one-year limited warranty. See how Samsung performed in our annual Tech Support Showdown ranking. The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra is in a challenging market segment but rises to that challenge. It offers an impressive balance of performance and efficiency in a relatively light chassis with a gorgeous 16-inch 120Hz OLED display. This compelling combination makes it a strong contender for a wide variety of use cases, as long as the price isn't a showstopper. The biggest challenger on the Windows side is the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i, which is the stronger option if you are a content creator. The battery life is the most significant tradeoff there at nearly three and a half hours less. Overall, it offers superior performance in the areas that count for video editing and photo editing. However, for programmers and more general users like students or business users, that extra battery life will likely swing you back in favor of the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra. The MacBook Pro 16, either M3 Pro or M3 Max, wins in most categories against the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra. When making this decision, consider whether you prefer Windows or macOS and whether you are in the Samsung or Apple ecosystem with your other devices. Budget will also be a factor; the MacBook Pro 16 is more expensive and rarely discounted by more than $200. If you choose the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra, just make sure you aren't paying full price. Great deals are always available, and at those discounted prices, the laptop becomes a solid value.

Dell XPS 13 9345 (Snapdragon X Elite) review: Lighter than air -- the MacBook Air

Are you looking for the ultimate ultraportable laptop to take across the world? Well, the new Dell XPS 13 might be the answer. For $1,299, this new XPS 13, packed with Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor, offers incredible performance and stellar battery life packed into a comically light chassis. Its 13.4-inch display is bright and it supports a respectable webcam. However, that thin-and-light chassis forces compromises you'll be sure to notice. The most visible issues are the scant number of ports and a cramped keyboard. And unfortunately, while the display is bright, there's not a lot of color. Finally, the Qualcomm Adreno graphics significantly fell behind the competition in our testing. Despite those shortcomings, the CPU innovation and long-lasting battery tip the scales heavily in the XPS 13's favor. Is it enough to place the XPS 13 among the best laptops and laptops with best battery life? Let's dive in. I reviewed the base model of the shiny new Dell XPS 13, which is outfitted with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 13.4-inch, 1920 x 1200, 120Hz display. And if you want to bump up the specs, you can upgrade to 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD for $1,599, or 64GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD for $2,199. Add $300 to any configuration for either a 2560 x 1600, 500-nit display or an OLED, 2880 x 1800, 60Hz, 400-nit display. Want something even cheaper? Check out our best laptops under $1,000. I knew the day would come when a laptop so light and thin would come across my desk and I'd finally recognize I'm in the future of tech. The Dell XPS 13 is the next step I was looking for. Staring at its graphite anodized metal lid is like gazing into the ethereal plane. Then there are the curves and angles, which look like the finished product of a marble sculptor. Like popping the hood of the Batmobile, the interior of the XPS 13 came to life with a pristine glow. The function row is absent, and the keys are flat with the deck as if the board in keyboard was removed entirely. Touchpad? Nothing but a flat deck. And Dell holds to its InfinityEdge display, carving out incredibly thin bezels. There's one USB Type-C port on either side of the Dell XPS 13. You're going to need more. Check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages. I love a shiny display, and the Dell XPS's 13.4-inch, 1920 x 1200, 120Hz panel certainly succeeds in that. However, it's not at all colorful. I watched the Borderlands trailer, and the entire horizon beyond the crew was washed out due to the terrible contrast. Deep orange-colored canyons were reduced to a pale yellow devoid of life. It's still sharp enough to capture the strands of hair on Cate Blanchett's head. The high refresh rate provides a nice desktop experience, but since you won't be playing many games on this machine, you're not getting a whole lot out of it. According to our colorimeter, the Dell XPS 13 covered 66.9% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is practically 20% lower than the average premium laptop (86.8%). It's also duller than the MacBook Air (77.8%), Zenbook 14 (79.8%), and Spectre x360 (85.8%). However, at 456 nits, the XPS 13 is plenty bright, hovering around the average premium laptop (467 nits). It's only slightly dimmer than the MacBook Air (476 nits), but still outpaces the Zenbook 14 (339 nits) and Spectre x360 (366 nits) by a wide margin. I love how it looks, but I don't like how it feels. The big problem with shrinking the standard laptop is that the keyboard experience gets tighter. Typing on the XPS 13 was difficult. The keys aren't clicky, but they're not bad. The challenge comes in the size and compactness of keys. I typed 76 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test, which is a bit below my usual 81 wpm average. Between the smaller backspace button and the small layout, it's tough to get used to. There's a subtle distinction between the touchpad and the deck, even though it is flat, but it still feels like I'm dragging my finger across the deck. The haptic feedback is solid. However, I wish the function row also featured haptics. It's so unsatisfying to feel nothing when you click a button. Sharp and hollow, the Dell XPS 13's side-firing speakers are not something I'd want to listen to all day. In Chappell Roan's "Good Luck, Babe!" I noticed sharp highs in the percussion absent of bass to round it out. The vocals were clear and the speakers kept up with Roan's range. However, the background synths collided with the percussion. The latter took over whereas the former was indistinguishable. Dell does not ship the XPS 13 with audio software. Packed with a shiny new Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor and 16GB of RAM, the Dell XPS 13 had some noticeable lag when I first booted it up. I couldn't open the search or task bar, which was especially frustrating with the touchpad set to Single-tap. But after that it worked as expected. It went through a couple dozen Google Chrome tabs and a handful of YouTube videos while Spotify played in the background. On the Geekbench 6.3 overall performance test, the Dell XPS 13 scored 14,635, crushing the average premium laptop (8,927). It overwhelmed the MacBook Air's M3 (12,087), and the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H in the Zenbook 14 (12,707) and Spectre x360 (12,358). The XPS 13 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 4 minutes and 41 seconds on our HandBrake benchmark. That sped past the average premium laptop (7:21), MacBook Air (6:32), Zenbook 14 (6:36), and Spectre x360 (7:30). Dell's 512GB SSD produced a transfer rate of 1,342 megabytes per second, which is around the category average (1,416 MBps). Slightly faster than the Zenbook 14(1,236 MBps) and slightly slower than the Spectre x360 (1,363 MBps). Ready for some wild stats? The MacBook Air scored 3,030/3,058 MBps on the BlackMagic Read/Write test, but the XPS 13 scored 3,129/3,782 MBps. The XPS 13 is faster than a MacBook in more ways than one. The age of Copilot+ PCs is first introduced by chipsets like the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100. The CPU is the marquee reason to consider the Dell XPS 13. It's the second-highest performing CPU platform in the Snapdragon X Elite series (second only to the X1E-84-100), which launched in mid-June 2024. The Snapdragon X Elite chipset is credited with the incredible battery life you'll read about below. Technically, the Snapdragon X Elite is a collection of chips, which include the Qualcomm Oryon CPU and Qualcomm Hexagon NPU (neural processing unit). Both of which are responsible for balancing its processing speeds and power plans. Qualcomm claims it is much faster than the Intel x86 CPU competition. And faster processes consume less power, which expands battery life. We've put the Dell XPS 13 and others through rigorous testing to judge their AI capabilities (see how we test AI PCs). As we learn more about what these AI PCs can do, our methods will adapt as necessary. But let's see how the XPS 13 did. On the Geekbench ML 0.6 AI performance test, the XPS 13 hit an ONNX/CPU score of 2,953. That outmatches the Spectre x360 (2,876) and just misses the Zenbook 14 (2,971). It's likely that Qualcomm's CPU isn't optimized for Geekbench ML 0.6. This doesn't test the NPU, which is where Qualcomm outshines the competition. Copilot+ PCs support new software and features. If you haven't heard, the biggest and most controversial feature is Recall. Imagine your browser history -- now imagine that for your PC. Scroll through your history and you can see what you were doing hours ago. This information is intended to be stored locally and shouldn't touch the cloud. You have the option to adjust the type of information stored. Right now, Recall is limited to Windows Insiders and disabled by default. Windows Studio Effects and Live Captions are some of our favorite Copilot+ PC features. Of course, there's AI-art generated programs as well, which drown in its own controversy. While the new Snapdragon X Elite is the star of the show, its Qualcomm Adreno graphics chip is the black sheep. On the 3DMark Fire Strike synthetic graphics benchmark, the XPS 13 scored 5,635, which is measly compared with the average premium laptop (9,218). Intel Arc Graphics in the Zenbook 14 and Spectre x360 hit 8,064 and 6,986, respectively. On the Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm benchmark (Medium, 1080p), the XPS 13 averaged 23 frames per second. That doesn't hit the minimum 30 fps for playability, whereas the MacBook Air (41 fps), Zenbook 14 (31 fps), and Spectre x360 (36 fps) met and exceeded that threshold. While it's not a gaming laptop, Qualcomm made a few claims about gaming on it, so naturally, I tried gaming on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition... I wanted to cry. The heartiest punch that the XPS 13 comes in with is its battery life. On the Laptop Mag battery test, the XPS 13 averaged 19 hours and 1 minute (20:51 after we installed BIOS 1.7.0 update). That crushes the MacBook Air (15:13), Zenbook 14 (15:52), Spectre x360 (11:01), and the average premium laptop (11:13). For additional context, the MacBook Pro 16-inch (M3 Max, 2023) was previously our longest lasting laptop, coming in at 18:05. Dell just dethroned the king. For laptop webcams, the bar isn't even on the basement floor -- it's in the Mariana Trench. However, the XPS 13's 1080p webcam manages to break the surface. In a rare occurrence, the window behind me isn't completely blown out. There's a large portion of it that's still white, but the contrast manages to detail some of the blinds. I can even see my ceiling! It reproduced the green in my shirt alongside the faint patterns that even I have a hard time seeing. There's some loss of detail when zooming in, but from afar, it captures the strands of hair in my beard. While you can certainly do better with the best webcams, it's unnecessary. Even with a little bit of work, the XPS 13 can get hot in the wrong places. After streaming a 15-minute video, the XPS 13 came in at 94 degrees Fahrenheit on its underside, which is just below our 95-degree comfort threshold. The center of the keyboard and touchpad hit 96 and 89 degrees, respectively. Sounds good so far. But we found that it's hottest on the top underside of the laptop, right near the hinge. It reached 120 degrees. I wouldn't put this in your lap (yes, I understand the irony). All the important stuff is in the My Dell app and the Dell SupportAssist. The former lets you adjust the power, display, and audio system settings. The latter offers warranty information, troubleshooting, and PC optimization tools. There's also Copilot and the other AI features, which we discussed above. The XPS 13 9345 comes with a one-year limited warranty. See how Dell performed on our Tech Support Showdown ranking. The Dell XPS 13 is someone's perfect laptop. I love the design, the battery life, and the performance. But the display and keyboard are tough for me to get over. Sure, my eyes could adjust to the low-color, but my hands won't get used to cramping up from using that keyboard. If you're looking for a light laptop that's still within that 13-inch range, check out the MacBook Air 13-inch. It's everything you need except wider and deeper, offering you more space to type. But overall, if you're comfortable with a tighter space and a duller display, the Dell XPS 13 provides a long list of positives to consider.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 (2024) review: A powerful laptop for creators

Starting at under $1,500, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i seems to check the right boxes as the perfect laptop for creators. It has the most powerful Intel Core Ultra processor that there is, it's paired with RTX graphics, and it has a mini-LED display option. It's made of all metal, coming in the gunmetal gray color we've seen on many Lenovo laptops. The bad news is that while the Yoga Pro 9i really doesn't get you the battery life and performance combination that you'd get from something like a MacBook Pro. That said, I do love the product. It's got a phenomenal keyboard, a beautiful display, and enough power for most things that you can throw at it. Lenovo provided XDA with the Yoga Pro 9i for review. It did not have any input on the contents of this article. Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (2024) 6 / 10 The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (2024) is a new creator laptop from Lenovo. It sports the latest Intel Core Ultra CPUs, and sports lots of AI features that make your laptop run faster under heavy loads thanks to the Intel NPU, the Lenovo AI Core Chip, and Lenovo X Power. Pros Excellent display Great keyboard as always from Lenovo Powerful performance Cons Battery life Only one Thunderbolt port A haptic touchpad would do wonders $1399 at Lenovo $1399 at Best Buy Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i pricing and availability The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is available now, and the base model includes an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD for $1,482. However, you can boost that up to a Core Ultra 9 185H with 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD for $1,699, so that's a pretty substantial upgrade. The latter is what Lenovo sent me for review; however, while all models have a 3200x2000 display, these configurations are not Mini-LED. That adds on a $200 premium. Specifications CPU Up to Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 185H GPU Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Display (Size, Resolution) 16-inch 3.2K (3200x2000) IPS LCD, 165Hz, Dolby Vision HDR, 400 nits; 3.2K Mini LED, 165Hz, 1200 nits, Dolby Vision HDR RAM Up to 32GB 6400MHz LPDDR5X Storage Up to 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD Battery 84WHr Ports 1x Thunderbolt 4, 2x USB-A (3.2 Gen1), 1x headphone, 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DC-in, 1x SD card reader Operating System Windows 11 Dimensions 14.3x9.98x 0.7 inches (362x253x17.9 mm) Weight 4.82 pounds (2.18 kg) Speakers Six speakers, Dolby Atmos Colors Tidal teal, Luna grey Price Starting at $1,700 Expand Design Gunmetal gray that blends in Close The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i comes in Luna Grey, and yes, Lenovo spells gray with an 'e'. It's the dull, uninspired gunmetal gray color we've seen on so many laptops over the years, and to be clear, that's fine. One thing I've learned about this market over the years is that basic colors are in high demand; but if you want pretty and flashy, this is not it. Branding on the lid is traditional for a Lenovo yoga, with the small company logo on one corner and the larger Yoga logo on the opposite one. The reverse notch sticks out at the top, and it's thicker than the rest of the lid to make room for the webcam and IR camera. As for ports, the left side has Lenovo's proprietary charging port, which it uses for laptops that need over 100W of juice. You'll also find HDMI 2.0, Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, and a 3.5mm audio jack. That's right; only one of the USB Type-C ports is Thunderbolt, a confusing and disappointing choice for a product that bears Lenovo's premium '9i' branding. The Yoga Pro 9i competes squarely with the MacBook Pro, so it's strange to have such a limitation. On the right side, there are two USB Type-A ports, along with a full-size SD card reader, a welcome addition and a rarity in consumer laptops. Display and keyboard It's pretty good Close The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i comes with a 16-inch 3200x2000 165Hz screen, but while one of the selling points is its Mini-LED display, that's not included on the unit that was sent for review, unfortunately. The resolution and refresh rate are the same for both screen technologies. That said, the display is solid, with vibrant colors, deep blacks for an IPS screen, and most importantly, rounded corners. In my testing, the screen supported 100% sRGB, 85% NTSC, 87% Adobe RGB, and 96% P3, which is really good for something that isn't OLED. This is an excellent display. Brightness came in at 414.1, which is fine but not great for outdoor use. I don't think this is the type of machine you'd use outdoors either way. Contrast ratio maxed out at 970:1, which isn't terrific, and I assume you'd see a better ratio with the Mini-LED panel. Above the display is a 5MP webcam, an improvement over the 1080p sensors I've been seeing from Lenovo for the last couple of years. This provides some room for auto reframing, which you'll find in certain software, although the Yoga Pro 9i doesn't have Windows Studio Effects for some reason. Honestly, I find Windows Studio Effects to be useless enough that it's not worth investigating why it's not there when Core Ultra comes with an NPU. Any meeting app can blur my background and reduce background noise, and most of the time, it's better at it than Windows is at processing it on-device. As usual, Lenovo produced an excellent keyboard, with 1.5mm key travel. It has a number pad to the right, so make sure that you're into that sort of thing. The touchpad is massive, taking advantage of most of the available real estate. While I love big touchpads, I wish it was haptic, or at least better-mapped. Being so big, I quite often found myself right-clicking when I meant to left-click. Still, bigger is better when it comes to touchpads. Performance and battery life Or lack of battery life I've been using the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x for some time now, along with other Snapdragon laptops like the Surface Laptop 7, Surface Pro 11, and HP EliteBook Ultra, and frankly, those things are so good that it's hard to take current-gen Intel laptops seriously. The Yoga Pro 9i is easily more powerful, but it's not snappy, and yes, there's a difference between powerful and fast. Related Surface Laptop 7 15 review: You don't have to wait for Windows on Arm to get good anymore It does most things right Also, battery life just doesn't compare. In most cases, you're looking at four to seven hours. It's not surprising, but it's notable because we're in a new era of computing. Apple's MacBook Pro will get you this much power without the compromise on battery life, and according to Intel, so will its upcoming Lunar Lake chips, which are promised to be as efficient as Arm and offer a 50% increase in integrated graphics performance. Related MacBook Pro 16 (M3 Max) review: Apple's just flexing The 10-month old M2 Max MacBook Pro is still more powerful than 99% of laptops out there, then Apple released an upgrade with more graphical prowess The Yoga Pro 9i is great. Like I said, it's powerful for photo and video editing, and even a bit of gaming. It's just that looking at the rest of the market and knowing what's coming in just a couple of months, I'm not sure I'd go and spend $1,500 for this kind of performance and battery life. Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Core Ultra 9 185H Lenovo Yoga 9i Core Ultra 7 155H Surface Laptop 7 Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 PCMark 10 7,397 6,688 N/A Geekbench 6 (single / multi) 2,558 / 13,840 2,432 / 13,103 2,803 / 14,497 Cinebench 2024 (single / multi / GPU) 109 / 1,042 / 8,032 104 / 544 / N/A 124 / 972 / N/A 3DMark: Time Spy (regular / Extreme) 8,143 / 3,863 3,368 / N/A 1,892 / N/A 3DMark: Night Raid 53,345 20,721 25,247 CrossMark (overall) 1,654 1,726 1,558 Note that PCMark 10 doesn't run on Snapdragon X Elite, and Time Spy and CrossMark are x86 benchmarks running in emulation. I added scores for the Yoga 9i because I still think that's one of the best laptops on the market, but that has integrated graphics, so while it's good for productivity and photo editing, you'll want dedicated graphics for video editing and gaming. I included the Surface Laptop 7 because the future of laptops is something that you have to consider at this point. Whether it's Arm or Lunar Lake, there's a major shift on the horizon. Like I said, battery life isn't what I'd consider disappointing. It's exactly what I'd expect from a laptop with a powerful CPU and dedicated graphics. Don't plan to take the Yoga Pro 9i on the road without a charger. Should you buy the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i? You should buy the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i if: You need a new laptop right now You edit photos and videos on your PC You play games You should NOT buy the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i if: You need long battery life You want a product that's fun and flashy The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is a solid and powerful laptop. Like I've said, it's just hard to live with some of the cons knowing that's available from Qualcomm and coming from Intel. It's also just generally boring, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I suspect that if Lenovo sent the Mini-LED display option, I'd have been dazzled a bit more. The key thing you need to decide is what you're going to do with your laptop. If you need power, the Yoga Pro 9i is a great choice. If you're fine with integrated graphics, I'm still in love with the regular Yoga 9i. Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (2024) The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (2024) is a new creator laptop from Lenovo. It sports the latest Intel Core Ultra CPUs, and sports lots of AI features that make your laptop run faster under heavy loads thanks to the Intel NPU, the Lenovo AI Core Chip, and Lenovo X Power. $1399 at Lenovo $1399 at Best Buy

We tested 33 laptops this year so far. Let's rank the 6 best | Digital Trends

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us? It's been quite a busy year for laptops, especially with all the talk of Windows on Arm and AI PCs. But cutting through all the hype and fluff, there have been some really fantastic laptops we've had a chance to review, some of which will undoubtedly stand as the best laptops of the entire year. Don't get me wrong -- there are some big ones still waiting in the wings too, whether that's the M4 MacBook Pro or the AMD laptops coming soon. But now that we've arrived at the halfway point of 2024, let's rank the six best new laptops -- out of the 33 we've reviewed so far. Recommended Videos 6. Acer Swift X 14 Let's be honest: Acer's Swift laptops have never been lookers. The latest version of the Swift X 14 makes up for that in lots of exciting ways, but it's the price that really makes it stand out. For $1,700, you can get the high-end configuration, which comes with an RTX 4070, a 3K OLED 120Hz screen, 32GB of RAM, and terabyte of storage. That is quite the deal. The fact that Acer even allows you to configure this relatively slim 14-inch laptop with an RTX 4070 already puts it in a category of its own. Outside of gaming laptops, that's practically unheard of. It's still a bit limited, mind you, given the system's total thermal design power (TDP) of 80 watts. But in our performance testing, whether that's in video editing or gaming, the Swift X 14 beats larger 16-inch laptops with the same GPU (except for the laptop sitting at my No. 5 spot). If you don't like the idea of wasting some power, the $1,400 RTX 4050 configuration should also be a great value -- and a bit more fitting for this laptop's size. Either way, it's hundreds of dollars cheaper than the MacBook Pro. 5. Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 A lot of laptops have attempted to be MacBook Pro killers this year, and none have succeeded as well as the Yoga Pro 9i 16. Despite only being 0.72 inches thick, it packs up to a Core Ultra 9 185H and RTX 4060. That GPU, in particular, is of the utmost importance. The RTX 4060 might not sound like the biggest deal in the world, but these days, a mobile GPU is more than just its name. Many other laptops with the RTX 4060 on board -- such as the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra or the Dell XPS 16 -- restrict its thermals, allowing for a max of just 60 watts to the GPU. The Yoga Pro 9i 16 cranks that up to 100 watts, letting you get your money's worth out of this graphics card. It makes a huge difference in performance, allowing this laptop to operate more like a traditional gaming laptop in terms of raw power. Beyond just the performance, the Yoga Pro 9i 16 is rather decked out with an expansive touchpad, 5-megapixel webcam, and a 165Hz OLED screen. It shows that even in this current generation, Windows laptop manufacturers are getting really close to replicating the magic of the MacBook Pro. 4. MacBook Air M3 The MacBook Air M3 is what it is. There's very little new here -- it's really all about the extra performance that comes with the M3. In particular, though, it's the GPU performance that really provides a meaningful uplift over the M2. Thanks to Dynamic Caching, in particular, the graphics performance has been cranked up, turning the superthin laptop into a more capable gaming and content creation machine. It's really quite impressive what Apple was able to pull off in a laptop this tiny. Of course, no one buys the MacBook Air specifically for those tasks -- but when it's $900 cheaper than the next step up in performance (the M3 Pro MacBook Pro), hobbyists, students, and people just getting started will appreciate the boost. If you don't happen to be one of those people, there's really no big reason to get the M3 over the M2 MacBook Air -- which is why Apple still sells the latter. It might not be the most revolutionary laptop I used in 2024, but it's one of the best. 3. Asus Zenbook 14 (Q425) There's nothing advanced about the Zenbook 14 (Q425). It uses a plain Intel Core Ultra chip and, has a relatively simple design. It's a nice-looking laptop, but nothing that stands out necessarily. So, what makes me place this as the third-best laptop released in 2024 so far? It all comes down the price. That might sound silly, but finding a laptop this affordable that doesn't sacrifice one or more of its parts is rare. Not only does the Zenbook 14 (Q425) not drop the ball in any important area, it actually outdoes many of its much more expensive counterparts. Battery life is perhaps the best example. This is one of the very longest-lasting laptops of this generation that uses Intel's Meteor Lake chips -- likely due to the juiced-up 75 watt-hour battery that's been stuffed inside. On top of that, Asus uses an OLED panel here, which again, puts to shame all the IPS displays being used in far more expensive devices. The Zenbook 14 line has long been our go-to recommendation for Windows laptops under $1,000, and this year's model only takes that proposition further. 2. Surface Laptop 7th Edition The Surface Laptop 7th Edition is my choice from the new crop of Copilot+ PCs. Not only is it a good balance of performance, battery life, and portability, it really feels like it has the complete package. Its design is the most confident and refined of the bunch, and it brings some great tweaks to the Surface Laptop design that I've always wanted. That includes a haptic feedback trackpad, rounded corners on the display, and thinner bezels across the board. It even has a brighter, faster screen. At long last, it's the MacBook alternative it always felt like it could be. I liked it so much that it quickly became my new daily carry -- something I certainly didn't expect to have happen. That wouldn't have happened without the fantastic battery life and performance that come with the switch to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips. It doesn't skip a beat, and considering this is a transition in system architecture, that feels like a miracle. No, the battery life doesn't quite live up to my high expectations -- nor did the AI features. But is it the best Surface Laptop ever made? You bet -- and it's one of my favorite laptops you can buy today. 1. Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 This has been a down year for gaming laptops. With a lack of new mobile GPUs to choose from, many gaming laptop manufacturers have taken a step back. And rightfully so. But Asus did just the opposite. Rather than save their big guns for next year, the company took a bold step forward in just about every way other than gaming performance with the new ROG Zephyrus G14. Better battery life? Check. Gorgeous OLED 3K panel with a 120Hz refresh rate? Yup. Thinner, more minimalist design elements? In spades. This powerhouse machine is within striking distance of the MacBook Pro in terms of thickness and comes in lighter at 3.3 pounds. And remember -- you can stuff an RTX 4070 and Ryzen 9 8945HS in this thing -- both running full tilt. It's simply the best-looking gaming laptop ever made -- a far cry from the bulky, gaudy designs of yesteryear. It's the one case where I'd recommend buying the latest model over the 2023 version despite the relative performance parity -- it really brings that many significant upgrades to the table. There's a reason we called it "damn near perfect."

I spent three weeks gaming on an Intel Arc laptop and I'm... shocked

I've never been into gaming laptops. Though they seem a perfect fit for a casual gamer like me, I've always found them expensive, heavy, too flashy for someone who spends more time in Gmail than Steam, and compromising on essentials like battery life for performance. While looking for a new notebook that'd let me hit a few Counter-Strike or FC24 rounds and could accompany me on work trips, I knew dedicated GPU-equipped gaming laptops and traditional ones like the MacBook were out of the question. So when I tested Honor's new Intel Arc-powered MagicBook Pro 16 -- a laptop that promises to blend the best of both worlds -- I was hopeful that it would strike the right balance between work and play. From the outset, the MagicBook Pro 16 looks far from a typical gaming laptop -- because it's not meant to be one. It's a high-performance machine built to rival the Apple MacBook 16 at half the cost. Honor, which tech giant Huawei sold off in 2020, first made the MagicBook Pro 16 available in Europe, where it costs 1,300 euros (about $1,400). However, a company spokesperson tells Laptop Mag that the MagicBook Pro 16 will soon arrive in the US. Of course, I was more interested in how capable the new Intel Arc-integrated graphics is at gaming. After all, no laptop has ground to a halt while I rearrange slide decks. And I'm glad to report I was pleasantly surprised. First-person shooters like Call of Duty Warzone, Valorant, and Counter-Strike Global Offensive ran at a comfortable 60 frames per second on low-medium settings on the Honor MagicBook Pro 16, even when I had an external monitor connected. Switching to more resource-intensive titles such as Forza Horizon 5, EA Sports FC 24, and Microsoft Flight Simulator knocks the FPS down to 30-40, where the games are still enjoyable and don't stutter. Loading times take longer, but the transitions were smooth once I was inside a mission or a game. On the 3DMark benchmark, the Honor MagicBook Pro 16's Intel Arc GPU scored a decent 3779 in the Time Spy test and 28,928 in the Night Raid test. Plus, the MagicBook 16 Pro does well in creative tasks. In Photoshop, for instance, it could render multi-layered projects with relative ease, and tools such as AI Image Filler were snappy in response. Though its performance is nowhere near a dedicated GPU in video editing, it can handle editing software like Davinci Resolve and Premier Pro lag-free, albeit while taking extra time to process exports. The Honor MagicBook 16 Pro flies in more routine workflows. In the three weeks I spent putting it through its paces, I faced zero stutters, for example, multitasking between Google Chrome tabs, Zoom, and Slack. It wakes you up from sleep instantly, too, and resumes where you left off without any crashes. What I especially liked about the Honor MagicBook 16 is how well its hardware complements each other to offer a superior overall experience than the competition. Watching movies or playing games on the 16-inch 3K screen is a joy. Thanks to the 100% DCI-P3 gamut, it's vibrant and accurate and plenty bright for the outdoors. There's also an e-book mode you can switch to, where the laptop reduces flickers and uses blue light to reduce eye strain. The six speakers, similarly, produce a rich and loud sound that can feel immersive, courtesy of the built-in subwoofer. The pair of internal mics also make it one of the first Windows notebooks to support spatial audio. The MagicBook Pro 16's heat dissipation system, which houses a quiet fan and a three-heat pipe design, keeps the laptop relatively cool and quiet in most scenarios. During gaming, though, its base temperature rises to an uncomfortable level. However, that doesn't extend to the palm rest, nor does it throttle the performance. Honor stuck to a functional look for the MagicBook Pro. Its aluminum, stealthy exterior feels and appears sleek and premium. More importantly, its subtle wedge shape raises the keyboard ever so slightly when it's open to create a more comfortable typing angle. Speaking of which, it has a large, full-size keyboard with a number pad, and though it is generously tactile at a 1.5mm key travel, it can come off as a bit crowded. The right-side Shift and Enter keys are especially cramped and take a while to get used to. I have no complaints about the spacious touchpad, on the other hand, and the 5-point touch means you'll have no trouble activating Windows gestures. Another pet peeve of mine is that both of the MagicBook Pro's USB-C slots are on the left. I would have preferred at least one of them on the right so that I don't end up in a cable mess if the power socket is on the right. It would also have been handier to have face unlock like most Windows laptops, as opposed to the fingerprint reader available on the MacBook Pro, which, though fast, is not as seamless. Apart from that, there are two USB-A and standard HDMI ports on the laptop's lower back. Despite the top-end specs, the Honor MagicBook Pro's 75Wh battery lasts surprisingly long during my hands-on usage -- although Laptop Mag hasn't officially tested its battery. In non-gaming day-to-day sessions, such as a mix of document editing, video conferences, and web streaming, it lasted about seven hours between charges. At $1,400, the Honor MagicBook 16 Pro offers value for those seeking a top-of-the-line business laptop that can also game. Other than a handful of minor complaints I had, such as the crowded keyboard, it's been hard to fault it. After years of underwhelming performance, I'm excited about what the next editions of Intel's integrated graphics can do.