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Pros /

Colorful, full-HD display; Long battery life; Plenty of ports and DVD drive; Accurate sound;

Cons /

Grainy webcam; Narrow viewing angles;

Verdict /

A colorful display, long battery life and strong build quality make the Aspire Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM a fantastic value.

If you want a sub-$350 Windows laptop, you usually have to settle for a dull, low-res screen; lackluster design; and mediocre performance. For $349 ($429 with Windows Office), Acer’s Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM defies those expectations, providing a colorful 1080p display, solid build quality and a reasonable Core i3 processor. Throw in over 8 hours of battery life, a DVD drive and just about every port you can imagine, and this 15.6-inch laptop is a real winner for consumers on a budget.

Design: Solid

Acer’s Aspire E 15 is made of sturdy black plastic with a dark gray, matte lid that has a subtle crosshatch pattern and texture, along with a deck that looks like faux brushed aluminum. The notebook seems to have solid build quality, because it didn’t creak or buckle during my use; the keyboard didn’t show any signs of flex while typing either.

At 10.2 x 1.5 x 1.2 inches and 5.06 pounds, the E 15 E5-575-33BM is bulky, but it’s not much bigger than other budget 15-inch laptops. The Dell Inspiron 15 5000 is heavier (5.2 pounds) but thinner (0.92 inches), while the HP Notebook 15-ba009dx (4.6 pounds, 0.96 inches thick) is both thinner and lighter. The 14-inch Asus VivoBook E403SA is a much smaller alternative, at 3.18 pounds and 0.7 inches thick.

Ports: Everything you need plus DVD

The Aspire’s thick frame leaves plenty of room for both a DVD writer and almost every conceivable port. The left side houses a full-size Ethernet port, two USB 3.0 connectors, HDMI-out, VGA-out and a USB Type-C 3.1 port that’s good for data but that can’t be used to charge the laptop. The right side contains the DVD drive, a third USB port and a 3.5mm audio jack. The front lip offers an SD card reader.

Keyboard and Touchpad: Comfy and accurate

The Acer E 15’s keyboard offers a good typing experience that’s free from any of the shallowness or flex we find on many budget laptops. The keys provide a full 1.5mm of vertical travel and require 64 grams of force to actuate, a combination which prevented me from bottoming out as I typed. I reached a strong 100 words. Many users will appreciate the dedicated numeric keypad, which makes using the calculator or editing spreadsheets easier.

The 4.2 x 3-inch buttonless touchpad provides reasonably-accurate navigation around the desktop, but its surface felt a little slippery to me. The pad seemed to have a little trouble with pinch-to-zoom, as it didn’t always respond right away when I performed the gesture in Chrome browser or Windows 10’s photo app. Three-finger swiping to switch between apps worked every time.

Display: Surprisingly good

It’s rare that you find a 1920 x 1080 display on a sub-$400 laptop, let alone a display that covers this much of the color gamut. The Aspire E 15’s 15.6-inch screen outputs at a sharp 1080p resolution with tones that are vibrant, though not always accurate, and very limited viewing angles. When I watched a trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming, the reds and blues in Spidey’s costume popped, but appeared a bit oversaturated.

According to our colorimeter, the Acer E 15 can reproduce an impressive 159 percent of the sRGB color gamut, which is well above the 94 percent mainstream laptop average. That showing also trounces competitors in the E 15’s price range, such as the HP Notebook 15 (70 percent), Asus VivoBook E403SA (68 percent) and Dell Inspiron 15 5000 (72 percent).

Unfortunately, the numbers here don’t tell the full story, as the viewing angles were quite narrow. Dark images began inverting at just 45 degrees to the left or right.

Don’t try using this laptop in direct sunlight. The Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM registered just 215 nits on our light meter, well below the 276-nit category average but actually better than showings by the Notebook 15 (174 nits) and VivoBook E403SA (201 nits). The Inspiron 15 5000 (213 nits) had a nearly identical score.

Audio: Decent

The Aspire E 15’s speakers offer output that’s quite accurate and loud enough to fill a medium-sized room. When I played Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water,” I could hear a clear separation of sound amid the drums, vocals and guitar. There was only a hint of tinniness in the high tones.

Performance: Ready for (light) multitasking

With its Core i3-7100U CPU, 4GB of RAM and 1TB 5,400-rpm hard drive, the Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM offers just enough performance for light multitasking. With 12 tabs open in Chrome and a local 1080p video playing in another window, I experienced minimal lag when switching between the tabs. However, when one of the tabs was streaming a video (in addition to the local video) or downloading a large web page, things slowed down to the point that letters I typed in a Google doc didn’t appear until seconds after I hit the keys.

The Aspire E 15 scored a modest 5,408 on Geekbench 4, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall performance. That’s much less than the Core i5-7200U-powered Inspiron 15 5000’s score (6,742), but better than the showing by the HP Notebook 15-ba009dx (3,291) and its AMD A6-7310 CPU.

Acer’s laptop took 5 minutes and 14 seconds to complete the Laptop Spreadsheet Macro Test, in which we match 20,000 names with their addresses. That time is slower than the 4:01 category average and the Inspiron 15 5000’s time of 4:03, but more than twice as quick as the times from the Pentium N3700-powered Asus VivoBook E403SA (13:31) and the HP Notebook 15 (11:40).

The E 15’s 1TB hard drive copied 4.97GB of mixed-media files at a rate of 36.6 megabytes per second, which is significantly slower than the result for the Inspiron 15 5000 (83.4 MBps) and a bit lower than the HP Notebook 15-ba009dx’s showing (40 MBps), both of which have 5,400-rpm hard drives. The VivoBook E403SA and its eMMC memory did even worse (30.1 MBps).

You can watch full-HD movies on Acer’s laptop, but don’t think about playing anything more than casual games on it. The E 15’s Intel HD 620 GPU managed a mediocre 49,211 on 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited, a synthetic graphics test. That mark is well below the Inspiron 15 5000’s score of 60,475 and the category average (86,474). However, the Notebook 15-ba009dx (33,649) and VivoBook E403SA (26,224) scored even lower.

Upgrading: Encouraged

Unlike many manufacturers, who don’t want you to touch your laptop’s innards, Acer actually cites the easy-to-remove upgrade panel on the bottom as a reason to buy this laptop. If you want to improve the performance of the E 15 E-575-33BM, you can upgrade its RAM and storage drive easily and inexpensively.

Once you take the panel off, you can put up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM inside or swap out the hard drive for any 2.5-inch SATA SSD. The machine comes with only one of its two memory slots filled, so you can pop in an extra 4GB, which costs around $33, for a total of 8GB. A 240GB or 250GB SSD goes for between $90 and $100. When there’s a sale, you can get both components for far less. So, for $480 or less, you can have this laptop with an SSD, 8GB of RAM and a 1080p display.

Battery Life: Great for the Size

If you don’t mind carrying the Aspire E 15 around, you’ll really appreciate its long battery life. The laptop lasted 8 hours and 16 minutes on the Laptop Battery Test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi. That time is an hour and 20 minutes longer than the category average (6:52) and around double the time of the Dell Inspiron 15 5000 (4:25) and HP Notebook 15 (3:36). The 14-inch VivoBook E403SA (9:02) lasted a bit longer.

Webcam: Too much noise

Even in a market in which most built-in laptop webcams take poor pictures, the Aspire’s 720p sensor stands out for all the wrong reasons. When I shot a selfie under the flourescent lights of my office, both my facial features and the background behind me were filled to the brim with extra visual noise. Fine details like the hairs in my beard and the lines on my skin were hard to make out.

The E 15 is certified for Skype for business, which means that its microphone, speakers and webcam are guaranteed to work with Microsoft’s enterprise-friendly conferencing software. However, given the image quality of the built-in lens, we recommend purchasing an external webcam if you plan to make video calls for work.

Heat: Pretty cool

The Aspire E 15 stayed cool and comfortable to the touch throughout our use. After I streamed 15 minutes of video, the touchpad measured 78 degrees Fahrenheit, the keyboard clocked in at 84 degrees and the bottom hit only 85.5 degrees. All of those temperatures are well below our 95-degree comfort threshold.

Configuration Options

Acer’s Aspire E 15 family comes in a wide variety of configurations.If you’re willing to spend a couple hundred dollars more, the $579 Aspire E5-575G-57D4 has the same screen and chassis as our review model, but features a Core i5-7200U CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. The $629 E5-575G-53VG adds Nvidia 940MX graphics.

Software and Warranty

Acer preloads the Aspire E 15 with just a handful of utilities that aren’t harmful but that mostly duplicate built-in Windows 10 features. Acer Care Center checks the system health and looks for software updates. Acer Power Button sets what the power button does: turn off the computer, sleep, hibernate or disable the display, but all those options are also available in the Windows 10 control panel. Acer Quick Access allows you to turn on the Blue light-reduction mode or set up your computer as a hotspot, features that you can get as part of the OS. CyberLink’s PowerDVD lets you play movies on disc.

Like every other Windows 10 laptop we’ve tested, the machine comes bundled with Microsoft’s standard load of casual games and trialware, including, Sling TV, Candy Crush Soda, Royal Revolt II, March of Empires: War of Lords, a link to download Fallout Shelter and a link to download Asphalt 8.

Acer backs the E 15 with a standard one-year limited warranty. See how Acer did on our laptop brand ratings and tech support showdown.

The Bottom Line

The Acer Aspire E 15 E5-575-33BM offers a great combination of solid performance, good battery life and strong usability for the money. You’d be hard-pressed to find another 15-inch laptop with features and build quality this good selling for anywhere near $350.

If you’re looking for a lighter laptop with longer battery life in this price range, consider Asus’ 14-inch VivoBook E403SA, which costs $50 more and has much weaker performance, but weighs just 3.18 pounds and lasts over 9 hours on a charge. However, if you want the best budget 15-inch laptop available right now, look no further than the E 15 E5-575-33BM.

Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575-33BM)

Pros / Colorful, full-HD display; Long battery life; Plenty of ports and DVD drive; Accurate sound;

Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575-33BM) Pros / Colorful, full-HD display; Long battery life; Plenty of ports and DVD drive; Accurate sound;

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galucy-blog · 7 years ago

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Apple 13" MacBook Pro, Retina, Touch Bar, 3.1GHz Intel Core i5 Dual Core, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Silver, MPXY2LL/A (Copy)

Apple 13″ MacBook Pro, Retina, Touch Bar, 3.1GHz Intel Core i5 Dual Core, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Silver, MPXY2LL/A (Copy)

● 3.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz ● 8GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory ● 512GB SSD storage ● Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 ● Touch Bar and Touch ID

From the manufacturer

View larger Performance Speed-of-the-art

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Editors’ rating:

The Pros

Classy design; Awesome keyboard; Solid battery life; Vivid privacy display; Quality audio

The Cons

Blurry webcam; Display on base model is mediocre

Verdict

The EliteBook 840 G5 is an absolute beauty of a business laptop, providing a comfy keyboard, strong performance and amazing sound in a stylish design.

Let HP swoop you off your feet with a powerful and luxurious business notebook that embraces productivity and security just as much as it does its multimedia capabilities. The 14-inch EliteBook 840 G5 ($1,182 starting; $2,295 as reviewed) delivers solid performance with its 8th-Gen Intel Core processor and a comfortable keyboard to speed up your workflow. The Bang & Olufsen speakers will make you feel like you’re at a concert, and the bright privacy display will immerse you in your own private theater. The EliteBook trips up only in its webcam and its base model display.

Design

With the EliteBook 840, you can work in style. The full aluminum exterior presents a minimalist silver finish accompanied by HP’s stylish slash logo. There’s a lightly engraved EliteBook logo on the hinge, and toward the top of the lid is a gray line dividing the lip of the laptop. I love that the hinge is at an angle, giving the notebook some flair compared to the plain, rectangular chassis of many other business laptops. The design is quite neat and simple.

As the laptop opens, you see a classy, backlit, island-style keyboard with a pointing stick. There’s a sleek power button in the top left corner, and above that is an elegant, triangle-pattern lid for the Bang & Olufsen speakers. The display’s chin is a little thick, but it’s proportioned well with the slim bezels to make it look seductive.

The EliteBook 840 features several ports for business use. The left side features a secure lock slot, one USB 3.0 with always-on charging and a Smart Card Reader. On the right, you’ll find one USB Type-C port with Thunderbolt, an HP UltraSlim dock connector, an RJ45 port, an HDMI port, one USB 3.0 port, a combo headphone/microphone jack and a WWAN SIM card reader.

At 3.4 pounds and 12.8 x 9.2 x 0.7 inches, the EliteBook 840 is slightly bigger than most of its competition. It matches the Dell Latitude 7490‘s 0.7-inch thickness but just beats that machine’s weight of 3.5 pounds. The Huawei MateBook X Pro is lighter and thinner than the HP machine, at 3.5 pounds and 0.6 inches, and the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (6th Gen) wins all the marbles, at 2.5 pounds and 0.6 inches.

Security and Durability

Need something to survive your next work trip? Easy. The EliteBook 840 has gone through MIL-STD-810G certification, which means it can endure extreme humidity, extreme temperatures, vibration and high altitude.

For some extra cash, you can choose from multiple configurations that increase the security of this laptop. There’s the Sure View privacy screen, which protects the information on your display with a bright light that’s visible to anyone that isn’t directly in front of the laptop. This is activated by a simple click on one of the function keys. Our configuration (Intel Core i7-8650U) comes with Intel vPro for remote management as well as an IR camera to access Windows Hello.

One thing that you’ll notice right away is HP’s Privacy Camera, which contains a slider that physically blocks the webcam’s lens. Additionally, there’s a subtle fingerprint reader underneath the rightmost arrow key. HP’s Sure Recover feature can reimage your PC even if the hard drive gets wiped. HP also built in an Endpoint Security Controller, which is a physical chip that powers the company’s Sure Start software, a self-healing BIOS. BIOS is the first software run by all IBM-compatible PCs when turned on.

Display

The 14-inch, 1920 x 1080 IPS LED display on the EliteBook 840 base model was lackluster and too dim to enjoy. As I watched the most recent trailer for Mission: Impossible – Fallout, the display spoiled the lighting in every scene with a blue tint. Watching Henry Cavill and his Superman muscles march across a bathroom to beat someone to death was designed to be an intense and joyful experience. Instead, it felt trivial as the bathroom lights faded out the color in the characters’ clothes and faces. Superman’s magnificent bod and mustache meant nothing to me.

On the other hand, the config with the 1920 x 1080 integrated privacy screen produced bright and vibrant images. I was mesmerized as Tom Cruise fumbled with his seat belt and had a confused, then panicked expression as a military helicopter tumbled down a bright, snowy mountaintop toward him. From the sunset shading Cruise’s complexion to the different hues in the blue sky, the colors were dynamic.

MORE: Laptops with the Best Display Brightness

According to our colorimeter, the base display covers a measly 70 percent of the sRGB color gamut, which pales in comparison to the 114 percent category average. However, the privacy display hit a very good 119 percent.

The base display produced a dim 217 nits of brightness, crashing below the 305-nit category average. The HP’s privacy display, however, annihilated the competition, with a whopping 619 nits. This surpasses even the result from the HDR-ready ThinkPad X1 Carbon (469 nits), as well as our 293-nit standard. The MateBook X averaged 458 nits, and the Latitude 7490 missed the average with 277 nits.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Pointing Stick

The EliteBook 840’s backlit keyboard is tight; it sharply sinks into the chassis, and the keys feel substantial and clicky while you’re typing. The backlighting has only two settings, which is disappointing for a laptop of this price. For business users, however, HP included three useful keys to present, answer and hang up calls via Skype.

The keys have somewhat short travel (1.4 millimeters) but require strong actuation force (77 grams). We usually look for travel between 1.5 and 2 mm and actuation force above 60 grams. The keyboard is incredibly comfortable, allowing me to sail past my 60-words-per-minute average with 68 wpm on the 10fastfingers typing test.

For pointing stick users, the nub has plenty of room to work with, cutting a decent chuck off the G, H and B keys. There are two discrete mouse buttons for it at the top of the touchpad, but unlike the Latitude 7490 and ThinkPad X1, this HP doesn’t have a scroll button.

The keyboard is incredibly comfortable, allowing me to sail past my 60-words-per-minute average.

The 4.2 x 2.3 touchpad is smooth and responsive, with a decent pair of clickers. It captures all of the key Windows 10 gestures, from two-finger window scrolling to three-finger task swiping.

Audio

The EliteBook’s Bang & Olufsen speakers are a blessing to my ears. While listening to “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots, I heard every single entracing beat from the percussion to the keyboard as they creatively intertwined with Tyler Joseph’s vocals. These echoed loud enough to fill a medium-size conference room.

While listening to ‘Stressed Out’ by Twenty One Pilots, I heard every single entracing beat from the percussion to the keyboard as they creatively intertwined with Tyler Joseph’s vocals.

The balance of bass and treble allows each instrument to shine, creating a surprisingly intense experience. Bang & Olufsen provides its own equalizer app, so you can customize the sound to your specific needs. Options are tailored for voice, movies or music, but if that doesn’t satisfy, you can perform a full manual equalizer setup.

Performance

Why you would need 30 Google Chrome tabs playing the same 1080p SNL skit all at once is beyond me. But with the EliteBook 840, you can do it all without a hint of lag. Our config is loaded with a quad-core Intel Core i7-8650U processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD and an Intel UHD Graphics 620, which allowed the notebook to perform this multitasking with ease.

On the Geekbench 4 overall performance test, the EliteBook 840 scored an excellent 13,253. It soared past the 10,483 premium laptop average, the Matebook X’s 12,913 (Intel Core i7-8550U) and the ThinkPad X1’s 13,173 (Intel Core i5-8250U). The Latitude 7490 was able to speed past all of the competition with a score of 14,458 (Intel Core i7-8650U).

MORE: Laptops with the Best Overall Performance

The EliteBook 840 took 15 minutes and 50 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p on our Handbrake test, which completely destroys its competitors’ results. The average premium laptop takes 22:05; the MateBook X slugged behind at 27:18; the Latitude 7490 beat the average, with 21:35, and the ThinkPad X1 took 19:00.

Copying 4.97GB of data was a breeze for the EliteBook 840’s 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD, taking only 10 seconds (for 509 megabytes per second). The category average is nearly half that speed (286 MBps).

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 (upgradable to AMD Radeon RX 540 2GB) maintained a solid 55 frames per second while running Dirt 3. While that is well above a playable 30 fps, the EliteBook’s competitors ran the game at higher frame rates.

Battery Life

The EliteBook 840 will last an average workday. While web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the laptop lasted for 8 hours and 31 minutes. It narrowly beat the 8:20 average but fell behind the Latitude 7490 (8:55) and MateBook X (9:55), and it didn’t come close to the ThinkPad X1 (11:01). It’s important to note that the EliteBook 840 lasted only 6:17 while Sure View was turned on.

Webcam and Mic

While the Privacy Camera feature is neat, malicious hackers wouldn’t be able to make out much anyway. As I pulled my face toward the webcam, it could barely capture any details, whether it be the hairs on my head or the freckles on my face. This camera does handle contrast rather well, as the light from the office windows didn’t overwhelm the photo, but the colors were dull.

HP’s noise canceling, world-facing microphone can filter background noise decently, but voices not so much. I placed the back of the laptop toward my editor, who sits two chairs away from me, and the microphone could pick up her voice clearly as she spoke on the phone. Even though the microphone couldn’t remove background voices, the quality itself was relatively clear.

Heat

The EliteBook 840 can run a little warm, but nothing too extreme. After I ran an HD video for 15 minutes, the HP’s undercarriage measured 99 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s slightly above our 95-degree comfort threshold. Meanwhile, the touchpad and center of the keyboard hit a cooler 87 and 98 degrees, respectively. The hottest temp was 101 degrees, which came from the lower left side of the undercarriage.

Software and Warranty

HP jam-packs a ton of its own apps into the EliteBook 840. The most useful one is HP’s Recovery Manager, which can perform maintenance, reinstall drivers and manage backups. HP Support Assistant manages warranty and computer updates. On the security side, HP Client Security takes care of fingerprints, Sure Recover and other features.

HP JumpStart provides tutorials and download suggestions for people who need help with their PCs. HP PhoneWise allows you to connect your phone to your PC to take and make phone calls as well as send and receive text messages. HP WorkWise provides a way to manage your PC’s performance and security via a phone app with the same name. There’s also HP’s own download manager, a malware scanner for web browsers and a printing manager.

MORE: Best Hard Drive Speed

Along with all of those apps, comes a decent amount of bloatware, starring Candy Crush Saga, Cooking Fever, March of Empires: War of Lords and so much more.

The EliteBook 840 comes with a three-year limited warranty that can be downgraded to a one-year warranty. See how HP performed on our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands ranking.

Configurations

The EliteBook 840 I tested cost $2,295 at the time of this review and comes with an Intel Core i7-8650U processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD and an Intel UHD Graphics 620.

The lowest possible config costs $1,182 and features an Intel Core i5-7200U, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB M2 SATA-3 TLC SSD. This config removes the webcam.

The ultimate version costs a meaty $3,319.50 and is capped out with an Intel Core i7-8650U processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB PCIe NVMe TLC SSD, an AMD Radeon RX 540 2GB graphics card and the 700-nit Sure View privacy display.

Bottom Line

Power, security, productivity and entertainment: The EliteBook 840 excels at it all. From its keyboard and privacy display to its speakers and performance, every aspect of this business laptop is high quality. Just avoid the dim display on the base model of this system if you can, particularly if you like to watch movies on your laptop.

If your main priority is battery life, go for the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (starting at $1,519), which lasts a couple of hours longer on a charge and has a stunning (but pricey) optional HDR display. But overall, the EliteBook 840 provides everything you could want from a well-rounded business notebook.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

CPU Intel Core i7-8650U processor (1.9 GHz, up to 4.2 GHz with Turbo Boost, 8 MB Cache, 4 core) Operating System Windows 10 Pro RAM 16GB RAM Upgradable to 16GB Hard Drive Size 512GB SSD Hard Drive Speed Hard Drive Type M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD Secondary Hard Drive Size Secondary Hard Drive Speed Secondary Hard Drive Type Display Size 14 Highest Available Resolution 3840 x 2160 Native Resolution 1920×1080 Optical Drive Optical Drive Speed Graphics Card Intel UHD Graphics 620 Video Memory Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Model Intel Dual-Band Wireless AC 8265 Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.2 Mobile Broadband Touchpad Size 4.2 x 2.3 Ports (excluding USB) RJ-45 Ports (excluding USB) USB Type-C Ports (excluding USB) SIM card Ports (excluding USB) USB 3.0 Ports (excluding USB) Smart Card Reader Ports (excluding USB) Combo Headphone/Mic Jack Ports (excluding USB) Docking Connector Ports (excluding USB) Fingerprint Scanner Ports (excluding USB) HDMI USB Ports 3 Card Slots SIM Card Slots Smart Card Warranty/Support 1 or 3 year limited warranty Size 12.84 x 9.22 x 0.7 inches Weight 3.39 pounds Company Website http://www8.hp.com/us/en/home.html

HP EliteBook 840 G5

Editors’ rating: The Pros Classy design; Awesome keyboard; Solid battery life; Vivid privacy display; Quality audio…

HP EliteBook 840 G5 Editors' rating: The Pros Classy design; Awesome keyboard; Solid battery life; Vivid privacy display; Quality audio…

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HP Omen 17

HP Omen 17 Review

Now this is a good Omen. HP’s latest entry in its Omen line of laptops gives the 17-inch gaming machine a drastic, yet welcome redesign. Instead of playing it safe, the Omen 17 sports a daring look that’s sure to turn heads. And the shock and awe doesn’t stop there, as the company has added Nvidia’s powerful GTX 1070 GPU and paired it with an equally robust Intel Core i7…

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#Gaming Laptop #HP Laptops #Windows Laptops

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galucy-blog · 7 years ago

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Lenovo Legion Y920 17.3" FHD Gaming Laptop (Intel Core i7-7820HK, 16 GB RAM, 512GB PCIe SSD + 1TB HDD, NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1070 w/8GB VRAM, VR Ready), 80YW000EUS

Lenovo Legion Y920 17.3″ FHD Gaming Laptop (Intel Core i7-7820HK, 16 GB RAM, 512GB PCIe SSD + 1TB HDD, NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1070 w/8GB VRAM, VR Ready), 80YW000EUS

● PRO-LEVEL PERFORMANCE: Legion Y920 Gaming laptop is equipped with a powerful Intel quad-core processor and NVIDIA discrete graphics, plus advanced display technology, high-speed storage, and overclocking ability so you can take on any game or opponent. ● STUNNING GRAPHICS: Fully immerse yourself in the game with next-level graphics thanks to the NVIDIA GTX 1070 with 8GB of DDR5 memory, plus the…

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Lenovo Legion Y920

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The Pros

Incredibly thin, attractive design; Bright, vivid display; Solid battery life; Surprisingly comfortable keyboard

The Cons

Not as fast as other ultraportables; Quiet speakers

Verdict

Acer recaptures the throne for the world’s thinnest laptop while offering a vibrant display, comfortable keyboard and 4G LTE capability.

All hail the king! Acer’s Swift 7 ($1,699) is officially the world’s slimmest clamshell laptop, measuring just 0.35 inches thick. Somehow, Acer managed to fit a gorgeous, 14-inch display; a comfortable, full-size keyboard; and 4G LTE connectivity into that tiny frame. And despite having a thinner battery, the notebook squeezed out over 9 hours of battery life in our testing. But a few sacrifices had to be made at the altar of svelteness. For the Swift 7, it’s a pair of weak speakers and a 7th Generation Intel Core processor that trails the fastest ultraportables.

Design

Call it a weapon of slim destruction. Acer is clearly winning the fight for the thinnest notebook. Weighing 2.6 pounds and measuring 12.9 x 9.3 x 0.35 inches, the Swift 7 makes the HP Spectre 13 (2.4 pounds, 12 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches), LG Gram (2.2 pounds, 12.7 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches) and Huawei MateBook X Pro (2.9 pounds, 12 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches) look thick around the middle. However, when it comes to weight, the Swift 7 is a middleweight compared to its competitors.

The Swift 7’s design is a marvel. Made of black CNC aluminum, the laptop is not only sleek but also surprisingly substantial. I didn’t feel an innate urge to chuck it as I did with the Lenovo LaVie Z. Instead, I spent a significant amount of time admiring the exterior, with its nearly seamless construction.

Thanks to its fanless design, the notebook looks like a single piece of metal, with the exception of the rear hinges and the glittering chrome Acer logo on the lid. Speaking of those hinges, they enable the display to lie flat at a 180-degree angle.

Call it a weapon of slim destruction. Acer is clearly winning the fight for the thinnest notebook.

I particularly liked the Swift logo embossed at the back of the device and the way the bottom edges of the system thicken via an oh-so-delicate curve. Best of all, thanks to a special nano coating, the Swift 7 withstood the assault of my typically oily fingers, keeping a relatively pristine finish.

The laptop’s interior is just as captivating. The deck is also made of cool-to-the-touch black aluminum. The island-style keyboard is enclosed in a modest recess toward the top of the deck and is flanked by a fingerprint scanner with a diamond-cut border.

It’s a small, elegant touch that Acer employed on the touchpad and the display. My only gripe with the Swift’s design is that the webcam is mounted in the bottom display bezel (more on that later).

Ports: Welcome to the dongle life

When you’re working with a laptop as thin as the Swift 7, you’re going to take a hit in the portsdepartment. The Swift 7 has a pair of USB Type-C ports and a headset jack on its left side. On the right, there’s a power button and the nano SIM slot.

So what does that mean for folks looking to connect a mouse or an external hard drive? Dongles, dongles and more dongles. In addition to its power cord, the Swift 7 ships with a multiuse dongle that has a USB 3.1 port, a USB Type-C port and HDMI.

Display

The Swift 7’s svelteness doesn’t stop at the chassis. The 14-inch IPS panel is only 0.8 inches thick, and it’s topped with a 0.02-inch-thick pane of Corning Gorilla Glass. Acer has reduced the size of the top (0.38 inches) and side (0.36 inches) bezels, though they’re not as thin as the Dell XPS 13’s barely-there InfinityEdge bezels (0.2 inches). Still, I’m a fan of the vanishing-bezel trend.

Bezels aside, the Swift 7’s 1920 x 1080 screen is bright and bursting with color. When I watched the Support the Girls trailer, Regina Hall’s honey-brown skin glowed against her magenta top, while the sun played up the golden highlights in her hair. Details were crisp enough that I could make out individual strands of hair cascading in the sunlight.

The Swift 7’s display can reproduce a whopping 143 percent of the sRGB color gamut. That’s more vivid than the 111 percent produced by the HP Spectre 13, the 128 percent from the LG Gram and the 124 percent from the Huawei MateBook X Pro , and also better than the premium-laptop average.

When we measured the Swift 7’s brightness, it averaged 304 nits, which was just enough to top the 302-nit average and the Spectre 13’s 247 nits. The Gram was a little brighter, at 307 nits, but the MateBook was the brightest of all, at 458 nits.

When used as a touch screen, the Swift 7’s 10-finger capacitive panel is quick and responsive, keeping pace with my scribbles and doodles.

Audio

A thin chassis doesn’t typically make for big sound, and the Swift is no exception. Mounted at the bottom of the notebook, toward the back, the Swift 7’s pair of speakers are weak — so weak, in fact, that they couldn’t fill my relatively small bedroom, even with the Dolby Audio software. I had to turn off my air conditioner to really hear Jazmine Sullivan’s “Let It Burn.”

MORE: The Best Laptops for Business and Productivity

Once I made the required adjustments, the keyboard and synths were pretty clear, with punchy percussion. Sullivan’s luscious alto poured out from the speakers, and yet I still felt like I had to get closer to really hear anything. In short, make sure you have a pair of headphones or a Bluetooth speaker handy when you’re listening to music or watching movies on the Swift 7.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Fingerprint Scanner

Considering that the Swift 7 is so thin, I was expecting a rather uncomfortable typing experience, but I was pleasantly surprised. Despite the keys’ 1 millimeter of key travel (1.5 to 2 mm is the minimum), their 71 grams of required actuation force (we consider 60 grams the minimum) helped to create a bouncy typing experience on the island-style keyboard. I hit my usual 70 words per minute on the 10fastfingers.com typing test. The white backlighting made typing in the dark pretty easy, since it sufficiently illuminated the text on the keys.

The most polarizing aspect of the Swift 7 is its Precision Touchpad. The 4.8 x 2.5-inch pad is pretty big and made of Gorilla Glass. My fingers had plenty of space to perform Windows multitouch gestures such as pinch to zoom and three- and four-finger swipe, and presses on the superwide space delivered a speedy, accurate response.

Considering that the Swift 7 is so thin, I was expecting a rather uncomfortable typing experience, but I was pleasantly surprised.

But outside of the touchpad’s silky-smooth feel and size, I believe many people are going to take issue with the lack of a click. That’s right; attempts to click on the bottom corners of the touchpad won’t deliver the expected right or left mouse button functionality. Instead, I had to adjust to double-tapping to get the desired effect, and I still haven’t figured out how to drag and drop.

Positioned along the left side of the keyboard, the fingerprint scanner lets you unlock your laptop using Windows Hello. Setup takes about a minute after you create a traditional password, and consists of repeatedly placing and lifting your finger on the scanner for approximately a minute.

Performance

As modern as the Swift 7’s design is, its 7th Gen 1.3-GHz Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor is a little behind the times. Intel’s Y-series chips are specifically built to accommodate fanless designs, but they tend to lack the power of regular U-series chips. It’s a decision that puts this ultraportable at a disadvantage compared to its peers. Still, I had no issues when streaming an episode from the second season of Luke Cage with a Twitch stream playing in one of the 17 other Google Chrome tabs I had open while running Windows Defender.

The performance deficiency showed as soon as we began running synthetic benchmark tests. On Geekbench 4, which measures overall CPU performance, the Swift 7 scored 6,011, which is far below the 10,946 premium-laptop average. Armed with their 8th Gen 1.8-GHz Intel Core i7-8550U processors, the HP Spectre 13, the Huawei MateBook X Pro and the LG Gram achieved 13,090, 13,018 and 11,154, respectively. The Core i5 version of the Dell XPS 13 scored 13,254.

As modern as the Swift 7’s design is, its 7th Gen 1.3-GHz Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor is a little behind the times.

On our productivity test, the Swift 7 took 3 minutes and 1 second to pair 65,000 names and addresses — far longer than the 1:35 average. The MateBook completed the task in 1:49, the Gram took 1:19 and the XPS 13 finished in 1:15.

MORE: Which Laptop CPU is Right for You?

During the File Transfer test, the Swift 7’s 256GB NVMe SSD copied 4.97GB of mixed-media content in 19 seconds, for a speed of 267.9 megabytes per second. That’s somewhat short of the 280.6-MBps average but still better than the Gram’s (512GB M.2 SATA drive) 169.6 MBps. However, the MateBook and its 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD was faster, with a rate of 282.7 MBps. The XPS 13 hit 339.2 MBps, nearly tying the Spectre 13’s 339.3 MBps.

Armed with an integrated Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU, the Swift 7 can play older titles such as BioShock Infinite. You can even play some Overwatch, but more graphically demanding titles, like The Witcher 3, are out of the system’s reach. The svelte device delivered 31 frames per second on the Dirt 3 test, which is slightly above our 30-fps playability average but a long way from the 70-fps average as well as the frame rates from the Gram, the Spectre 13 (Intel HD Graphics 620) and the MateBook (Nvidia GeForce GTX MX140), which hit 50, 57 and 117 fps, respectively.

When we ran the 3DMark IceStorm Unlimited test, the Swift 7 obtained 55,870. That’s not enough to match the Spectre 13 (75,114), the Gram (67,989), the category average (84,885) or the MateBook (116,359). The XPS 13 also scored higher than the Swift 7, at 77,584.

4G LTE

Ever been on a business trip when you needed to shoot off an important email, and the internet connection was incredibly spotty or nonexistent? Acer hopes to alleviate that pain point by adding a nano SIM slot so that the Swift 7 can have 4G LTE. And if you don’t have a nano SIM card handy, you can use the laptop’s embedded eSIM technology to get service via software.

In case you want to take the Swift 7 for a spin before you invest in another SIM card, Acer has teamed with mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Transatel for global cellular service. The laptop includes a one-month free trial of up to 1GB, so you can get a taste of the out-of-the-box connectivity.

Battery Life

Because of the Swift 7’s tiny dimensions, I wasn’t expecting it to have good battery life, especially once I learned that the two-cell lithium-ion battery is 23-percent slimmer than standard laptop batteries. But the system lasted 9 hours and 4 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness.

MORE: Laptops with the Longest Battery Life

The Acer outlasted the 8:41 premium-laptop average and the HP Spectre 13’s 5:16, but both the Huawei MateBook X Pro and the LG Gram lasted longer, with runtimes of 9:55 and 10:46, respectively The Core i5-powered Dell XPS 13 lasted 12:37 with its 1080p nontouch screen and 8:53 with its 4K display and Core i7 CPU.

Heat

No fan, no problem. Thanks to Intel’s ultra-low-power processor, the Swift 7 doesn’t get particularly hot. In fact, after 15 minutes of streaming a full-screen HD video, the laptop was well within our 95-degree-Fahrenheit comfort threshold. The touchpad measured 79 degrees, while the middle of the keyboard and bottom registered 80 and 84 degrees, respectively.

Webcam

I can’t even call the Swift 7’s 720p integrated webcam a “nose cam,” since it lacks the strategic angling of webcams on similarly skinny systems like the Dell XPS 13. Rather, the Swift has a torso cam, which cut my face out of the picture when I was sitting down but was positioned perfectly when I was lying down and typing in bed.

As for the actual photos, the color accuracy was on point, capturing the exact shade of blue of my bedroom walls and the varied gradients of wood in my headboard. The pictures were full of visual noise, which obscured fine details like the white flowers on my dress.

Software and Warranty

Acer preinstalled its usual suite of branded software, including Care Center, which lets you check system diagnostics and create and manage backups. You also get Quick Access, where you can enable or disable Bluelight Shield, which reduces blue light to protect your eyes, and Color Intelligence, which automatically optimizes the image quality based on what’s displayed.

Thanks to Windows 10, there is a bit of bloatware on board here, such as Drawboard PDF, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Bubble Witch 3 Saga, Hidden City: Hidden Object Adventure and Dolby Access, which can enhance your headphone listening experience.

Bottom Line

In the battle for slim laptop supremacy, Acer has the industry’s number. The Swift 7 offers a stunning touch-screen display, a comfortable typing experience and over 9 hours of battery life in a shockingly thin design that’s lovely to behold and hold. However, for $1,699, I wish Acer had offered more performance oomph, as Intel’s ultra-low-power Core i7-7Y75 CPU isn’t as swift as the latest 8th Gen Kaby Lake processors.

For $1,499, you can get the Huawei MateBook X Pro, which offers better performance, a brighter display and longer battery life. However, that system is heavier and 42-percent thicker than Acer’s slice of tech. Overall, mobile professionals searching for the absolute slimmest notebook in the land should definitely snatch up the Acer Swift 7.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

CPU 1.3-GHz Intel Core i7-7Y75 processor Operating System Windows 10 Home RAM 8GB RAM Upgradable to Hard Drive Size 256GB Hard Drive Speed n/a Hard Drive Type PCIe NVMe SSD Secondary Hard Drive Size Secondary Hard Drive Speed Secondary Hard Drive Type Display Size 14 Highest Available Resolution 1920 x 1280 Native Resolution 1920×1080 Optical Drive None Optical Drive Speed n/a Graphics Card Intel HD Graphics 615 Video Memory Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Model Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.1 Mobile Broadband 4G LTE Touchpad Size 4.8 x 2.5 inches Ports (excluding USB) USB Type-C Ports (excluding USB) Headset Ports (excluding USB) Fingerprint Scanner USB Ports 2 Card Slots nanoSIM Warranty/Support 1 year limited warranty Size 12.9 x 9.3 x 0.35 inches Weight 2.6 pounds Company Website http://www.acer.com

Acer Swift 7 (2018) Review

The Pros Incredibly thin, attractive design; Bright, vivid display; Solid battery life; Surprisingly comfortable keyboard The Cons…

Acer Swift 7 (2018) Review The Pros Incredibly thin, attractive design; Bright, vivid display; Solid battery life; Surprisingly comfortable keyboard The Cons…

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galucy-blog · 7 years ago

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The Pros

Great price for a GTX 1060 GPU; Strong performance; Relatively long battery life; two-year warranty; Easy to upgrade

The Cons

Display is on the dim side

Verdict

The Acer Predator Helios 300 is a great deal for a gaming machine with a GTX 1060 GPU.

Lots of laptop companies claim that their systems are great deals, but Acer is actually putting its money where its mouth is — and with a gaming laptop, no less. The Acer Predator Helios 300 ($1,099.99 to start) offers a powerful, VR-ready Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU for a lower price than competitors and runs circles around the GTX 1050 Ti cards that competing laptops use at that price. It’s upgradable, should you want to spend more to improve it later, but the display is dimmer than I’d like. But if you don’t mind that, you’ll get a powerful gaming notebook for a steal.

Design

The Predator’s aluminum-and-plastic design doesn’t stray far from the look of Acer’s other budget gaming notebooks; its black, metal lid has two red stripes flanking the Predator logo. There’s a small plastic bumper on the top of the lid that feels far cheaper than the aluminum that surrounds it.

When you lift the lid, you’ll find the 15.6-inch, 1080p display, surrounded by a bezel that has the Predator logo on the bottom and the Acer logo on the top-left corner. That second logo is distracting, and I wish Acer had the confidence to let the Predator brand stand on its own, the way Dell does with Alienware and Asus does with its Republic of Gamers line. There’s also a full keyboard with a number pad utilizing red backlighting and red WASD keys, as well as a black, metal deck.

At 5.5 pounds and 15.4 x 10.5 x 1.5 inches, the Predator Helios 300 is a little larger than other mainstream gaming notebooks but also just a tad lighter. The Asus ROG Strix GL553VD (15.1 x 10 x 1.2 inches, 5.6 pounds) and the Lenovo Legion Y520 (15 x 10.4 x 1 inches, 5.6 pounds) are slightly smaller. The 17-inch MSI GP72VR 7RFX Leopard Pro is, unsurprisingly, bigger and heavier (16.5 x 10.6 x 1.5 inches, 6.4 pounds).

As any good gaming notebook should, the Predator has plenty of ports. On the left side are an Ethernet jack, a USB Type-C port, HDMI output, a USB 3.0 port and an SD card slot. A headphone jack and a pair of USB 2.0 ports are located on the right side of the laptop.

Display

The 15.6-inch, 1080p display on the Predator is sharp but otherwise lackluster. When I watched the trailer for Marvel’s Inhumans, Medusa’s red hair didn’t pop against her lavender dress, and bright lights overpowered both Black Bolt and Medusa in a scene together. It wasn’t as bright as I would have liked, but it was perfectly usable.

I had a similar experience in Mass Effect: Andromeda. In dark areas, I wished I could bump up the brightness, but in lighter parts of the game, I could see fine. Some fires during a space battle looked more orange than red, but it otherwise looked accurate.

The Predator’s display covers 81 percent of the sRGB color gamut, surpassing the Legion (68 percent) but falling below the 15-inch laptop average (94 percent), the Strix (122 percent) and the Leopard Pro (165 percent).

MORE: The Best Laptops for Every Need

The colors aren’t the most accurate, either. The Predator’s Delta-E score of 4.7 (0 is ideal) is worse than the average (2.2), as well as the scores for the Strix (1.6), the Leopard Pro (0.3) and the Legion (0.2)

The screen measured 226 nits of average brightness on our light meter, which is dimmer than the average (274 nits), the Strix (269 nits) and the Leopard Pro (245 nits), but brighter than the Legion (220 nits).

Keyboard and Touchpad

The Predator’s keyboard is comfortable, but I wish it felt more responsive. The keys have 1.6 millimeters of vertical travel, so I never felt as if I were bottoming out. But the keys require 79 grams of pressure to actuate, which kept them from feeling light and clicky. It didn’t take long to get used to the extra pressure, though, and I typed at 109 words per minute (within my usual 107-115-wpm range) with my standard 2 percent error rate).

There are a few oddities on the keyboard. The Shift key and the top arrow key are very close together — far closer than any other two keys on the keyboard — and the right arrow key takes up some space in the number pad. Unlike the keyboard on the similarly priced Strix, the Predator’s keyboard is backlit only in red; it doesn’t have full RGB lighting.

The 4.1 x 3-inch touchpad is spacious, accurate and responsive to Windows 10 gestures; I had no problem pinching to zoom or swiping my Windows away. I had to click a bit harder than I usually expect to, though for games, most players use a dedicated gaming mouse anyway.

Audio

Acer’s TrueHarmony speakers are nice and loud, just how I like them. When I listened to Zedd and Alessia Cara’s “Stay,” the computer pumped the song from wall to wall of our midsize meeting room, producing clear vocals, synths and drums. The bass wasn’t as strong as I would have liked, though.

When I played Mass Effect: Andromeda, I could clearly hear the lasers in the middle of a space battle, and chatter with teammates was loud and clear.

Acer’s TrueHarmony speakers are nice and loud, just how I like them.

The preinstalled Dolby Audio app offers a series of profiles, including Music, Movie and Game modes. Movie mode made it slightly louder, and Game mode focused on the drums. I found that the default Music setting was a fine balance.

Gaming, Graphics and VR

The Predator’s Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU with 6GB of VRAM is a great value, and it showed its might in our performance testing. When I played Mass Effect: Andromeda on ultra settings at 1080p with FXAA anti-aliasing, the game ran between 70 and 80 frames per second during battle and occasionally dropped down to 64 fps during interactive cutscenes.

On the Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmark (1080p, very high settings), the Predator ran the game at 67 fps, surpassing the mainstream notebook average (36 fps), the Strix (18 fps, GTX 1050), the Leopard Pro (33 fps, GTX 1060) and the Legion (46 fps, GTX 1050 Ti).

MORE: The Best Gaming Laptops

The Hitman benchmark (1080p, very high settings) rendered at 67 fps on the Helios 300, falling behind the Leopard Pro (78 fps) but ahead of the average (44 fps), the Strix (30 fps) and the Legion (60 fps).

Grand Theft Auto V (1080p, ultra settings) played at 49 fps, which is slightly better than the average (47 fps) and the Leopard Pro (48 fps) and much smoother than the Strix (23 fps). We consider anything over 30 fps to be playable.

The Predator achieved a score of 7.1 on the SteamVR Performance Test, surpassing the average of 5.6 and tying the Leopard Pro.

Performance

The Predator is armed with a 2.8-GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB solid-state drive, which is more than enough for some serious multitasking. I had 30 tabs open in Chrome while I watched a 1080p stream on Twitch, and didn’t see any lag.

On the Geekbench 4 overall performance test, the Predator notched a score of 13,587, overcoming the mainstream average (10,675) and the rest of the pack. The Legion earned a score of 13,037, the Strix reached 12,253 and the Leopard Pro achieved 12,147.

The Predator’s Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU with 6GB of VRAM is a great value, and it showed its might in our performance testing.

It took the Predator 27 seconds to copy 4.97GB of mixed media files, resulting in a rate of 188.5 megabytes per second. The average is 207.6 MBps, while the Legion (363.5 MBps) and the Leopard Pro (565.5 MBps) were both quicker. The Strix (94.2 MBps) came in a distant last place.

The Predator took 3 minutes and 22 seconds to pair 20,000 names and addresses in our OpenOffice Spreadsheet Macro, handily beating the average of 4:12. The Legion (3:19) was quicker, and the Strix (3:31) and the Leopard Pro (3:24) were a little slower.

Battery Life

This is a gaming laptop that lasted far longer than we expected. It ran for 6 hours and 48 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test, which browses the web continuously over Wi-Fi. That’s lower than the mainstream average (7:00), but gaming notebooks tend to not even come close to that.

MORE: Laptops with the Longest Battery Life

The Leopard Pro, for instance, endured for only 2:32, while the Legion (3:39) and the Strix (3:41) also died out much sooner than the Predator.

Heat

When it’s not gaming, the Predator stays nice and cool under simple workloads. After we streamed HD video from YouTube for 15 minutes, the bottom of the notebook reached just 88 degrees Fahrenheit; the keyboard between the G and H keys measured 84.5 degrees; and the touchpad was 79.5 degrees. All of these temperatures are below our 95-degree comfort threshold.

But things heat up when you start to play: The bottom climbed to 113.5 degrees, and the keyboard reached 104.5 degrees. However, the touchpad stayed cool, at 83.5 degrees.

Webcam

The 720p webcam on the Predator is nice and sharp, but its colors aren’t accurate. While I could make out individual hairs and see the creases in a colleague’s jacket behind me, my navy-blue shirt appeared black.

Software and Warranty

Acer’s biggest addition to the Predator is its PredatorSense app, which lets you monitor CPU and GPU speeds and fine-tune fan control for optimal performance.

You’ll also find all the bloat usually packed into Windows 10, including Sling, Facebook, Twitter, Candy Crush Soda Saga and Royal Revolt 2.

Acer sells the Predator Helios 300 with a two-year warranty. See how the company did on our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands report.

Configurations and Value

The Predator Helios 300 we reviewed was the $1,099.99 base model, which has a 2.8-GHz Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU with 6GB of VRAM, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.

It’s remarkably easy to upgrade. On the bottom are two doors — each secured by a single screw — to access the memory and the drive bay.

MORE: Best Acer Laptops

If you prefer to buy it with more storage, you can get an identical model that throws in a 1TB HDD alongside a 128GB SSD, for $1,399.99. Models coming later this year will include a metal fan and an overclockable GPU. Acer also sells a series of 17-inch Predator Helios 300 configurations with otherwise identical specs (except a bump up to a 512GB SSD) starting at $1,399.99.

Any laptop with a GTX 1060 GPU at that starting price is a great value. Many laptops in this price range use lesser cards. At $1,249, the Legion has a GTX 1050 Ti, and the Leopard Pro costs at least $200 more with the same GPU.

Bottom Line

The Acer Predator Helios 300 is a powerful, VR-ready gaming machine that costs several hundred dollars less than you might expect. Acer cut some corners with the display to get there, but its easy upgradability makes it a laptop you can keep gaming on for the long term. The battery life also impressed us.

If you want a better display and faster storage, the MSI GP72VR 7RFX Leopard Pro is the way to go, but you’ll have to pay at least another $200, and it gets only 2 hours and 32 minutes of battery life. Lots of companies tout laptops that are strong values. Acer’s Predator Helios 300 is the real deal.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

CPU 2.8-Ghz Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU Operating System Windows 10 Home RAM 16GB RAM Upgradable to 32GB Hard Drive Size 256GB SSD Hard Drive Speed Hard Drive Type M.2 SATA SSD Secondary Hard Drive Size Secondary Hard Drive Speed Secondary Hard Drive Type Display Size 15.6 Highest Available Resolution 1920 x 1080 Native Resolution 1920×1080 Optical Drive Optical Drive Speed Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 / 6GB Video Memory 6 GB Wi-Fi 802.11ac Wi-Fi Model 2×2 MIMO Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0 Mobile Broadband Touchpad Size 4.1 x 3.0 inches Ports (excluding USB) Kensington Lock Ports (excluding USB) USB 2.0 Ports (excluding USB) USB 3.0 Ports (excluding USB) USB 3.1 with Type-C Ports (excluding USB) Ethernet Ports (excluding USB) HDMI Ports (excluding USB) Headphone USB Ports 4 Card Slots SD memory reader Warranty/Support 2-year warranty Size 15.4 x 10.5 x 1.5 inches Weight 5.47 pounds Company Website acer.com

Acer Predator Helios 300 (15-Inch) Review

The Pros Great price for a GTX 1060 GPU; Strong performance; Relatively long battery life; two-year warranty; Easy to upgrade…

Acer Predator Helios 300 (15-Inch) Review The Pros Great price for a GTX 1060 GPU; Strong performance; Relatively long battery life; two-year warranty; Easy to upgrade…

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galucy-blog · 7 years ago

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galucy-blog · 7 years ago

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The Pros

Bright display; Great keyboard; Affordable

The Cons

Lots of bloatware; Runs hot; Below-average battery life

Verdict

The Acer Spin 5 offers a bright display and a comfortable keyboard at an affordable price, but its battery life could be better.

You can easily get a 2-in-1 for under $1,000, but how low can you go? At $699.99, the 13-inch Acer Spin 5 easily undercuts competitors on price while still offering a bright display and a comfortable keyboard, as well an 8th Gen Intel Core i5 CPU. But there are also some trade-offs, including poor battery life and plenty of bloatware. However, if you can live with those drawbacks, you’ll find lots of value.

Design

The Spin 5 isn’t visually exciting; it just looks like a slab of metal. To Acer’s credit, it is real metal, and not plastic with a coat of paint on it. The dark-gray lid has a crosshatch pattern that I’m not in love with, but it’s not offensive. Acer’s logo is in silver, which matches the hinges.

Inside, the display is surrounded by thick, ugly bezels. The deck is the same gunmetal gray as the lid, but with a rougher texture and without the pattern. The Spin logo is in white above the island-style keyboard, making it more prominent than usual. In the past, that moniker was merely imprinted on the deck.

Also, in a strange decision, Acer not only put the fingerprint reader on the touchpad but also made it a different color (black) and a different material. It stands out like a sore thumb — a detail that feels more like an afterthought than a deliberate decision.

MORE: Laptops with the Best Display Brightness

At 12.8 x 8.9 x 0.6 inches and 3.4 pounds, the Spin is hefty. While Dell’s Inspiron 13 5000 2-in-1 is a similar 12.8 x 9.9 x 0.8 inches and 3.5 pounds, the 13-inch Lenovo Yoga 720 is just 2.8 pounds and 12.2 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches, and the Asus ZenBook UX330UA, a clamshell, is 12.7 x 8.7 x 0.5 inches.

The left side of the laptop is where you’ll find the power jack, an HDMI output, USB Type-C and a pair of USB 3.0 ports.

On the right are a headphone jack, an SD card slot, a USB 2.0 port and a Kensington lock slot.

Display

The 13.3-inch, 1080p touch screen on the Spin 5 is pretty good for a mainstream-laptop panel. It’s bright and colorful, especially compared with most of the competition. When I watched the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, the Vision was the perfect shade of pink, and I could make out the Guardians of the Galaxy stepping out of their ship even in a dark hangar.

Acer’s screen measured an average of 274 nits on our light meter, surpassing the mainstream-laptop average (228 nits) as well as the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 2-in-1 (188 nits) and the Lenovo Yoga 720 (255 nits). The Asus ZenBook UX330UA was brighter, measuring 302 nits.

When I watched the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, the Vision was the perfect shade of pink.

The Spin 5 covers 126 percent of the sRGB color gamut, which is more vivid than the average (94 percent), the Inspiron 13 5000 (71 percent) and the ZenBook UX330UA (105 percent). But the Yoga 720’s colors popped even more, at 141 percent.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The Spin 5’s keyboard is surprisingly good, with a deep 1.7 millimeters of travel. Add in 79 grams of force to actuate the keys, and you get clicky, comfortable keys that are a pleasure to type on. On the 10fastfingers.com typing test, I met my usual top speed of 116 words per minute with my standard 2 percent error rate.

The 4.1 x 2.5-inch touchpad is smooth and responsive, and thanks to Windows Precision drivers, works with complex gestures, like swiping three fingers up to show all open programs and scrolling with two fingers. Acer’s decision to put the fingerprint reader in the upper-left corner means that a small portion of the touchpad is unusable.

Audio

The speakers on the Spin 5 are located on top of the deck, rather than underneath it, which allows for loud, clear sound. When I listened to Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” the vocals, cymbals, guitars and synths instantly filled our midsize conference room. The one downfall was that the song’s iconic bass line fell flat. The preinstalled Dolby Audio software has some presets to choose from, but none could revitalize the bass.

Performance

Armed with an Intel Core i5-8250U CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, the Spin 5 is primed for simple multitasking. With 25 tabs open in Google Chrome, including one streaming a 1080p skit from Saturday Night Live on YouTube, there were no interruptions at all.

On the Geekbench 4 overall performance test, the Spin 5 notched a score of 11,588, beating the mainstream-laptop average (8,681) and the Lenovo Yoga 720 (9,620), but the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 2-in-1 (13,364) and the Asus ZenBook UX330UA (14,078) outperformed the Acer laptop. All four laptops have the same processor.

It took the Spin 5 28 seconds to transfer 4.97GB of files, for a rate of 181.7 MBps. That’s speedier than the average (161.4 MBps) and ties the ZenBook’s rate. The Inspiron was slower, at 121 MBps, while the Yoga was the fastest, at 282 MBps.

MORE: Best Hard Drive Speed

On our Excel test, the Spin 5 took 1 minute and 26 seconds to pair 65,000 names and addresses. The mainstream average is a slower 1:42, the Inspiron took 1:32 and the Yoga fell behind at 2:09.

When it came to our HandBrake video editing test, in which computers transcode a 4K video to 1080p, the Spin 5 took 22 minutes and 12 seconds. The average is a quicker 20:50, and the ZenBook did it in 20:55. The Yoga took the longest, at 28:20.

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU won’t play Far Cry 5, but it did OK on a really basic game benchmark. On Dirt 3, it ran the game at 52 frames per second, surpassing the average (50 fps), as well as the frame rates from the Inspiron (47 fps) and the ZenBook (27 fps), but falling a few frames behind the Yoga (56 fps).

Battery Life

Unfortunately, the Spin 5 doesn’t last as long as the competition. It endured for 7 hours and 15 minutes on Laptop Mag Battery Test 2.0, which browses the web, displays videos and runs graphics benchmarks at 150 nits of brightness. The mainstream-laptop average is 8:07, and both the Asus ZenBook UX330UA (8:20) and the Lenovo Yoga 720 (8:28) lasted longer. The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 2-in-1’s battery life was the most ephemeral, at 7:01.

Webcam

The 720p webcam on the Spin 5 has a noticeable blue tint. A photo I took at my desk was very cool, with my gray sweater appearing a very dark navy. Only a spot on the ceiling lit by direct sunlight appeared the correct color. The photo was, however, sharp, down to the hairs on my head.

Heat

After streaming 15 minutes of HD video from YouTube, the Spin got a bit steamy. While it measured a cool 85 degrees Fahrenheit on the touchpad, it reached 98 degrees between the G and H keys and 100 degrees on the underside. Those latter two measurements surpass our 95-degree comfort threshold.

Software and Warranty

Acer has a history of including a whole bunch of junk you don’t need on its laptops, and it ain’t stopping now. Acer’s tossed on eBay, Priceline, Norton Security Scan, Dashlane Password Manager, Amazon, Netflix, WildTangent Games, Music Maker Jam and Evernote. There are some potentially useful items, like Acer’s “ab” suite of cloud software, including abPhotos and abFiles, though you’re probably better off using Google Drive or Dropbox.

MORE: Longest Battery Life Laptops

Additionally, you get all of the bloatware that comes with every Windows 10 laptop, like Disney Magic Kingdoms, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Autodesk SketchBook and March of Empires: War of Lords.

Acer sells the Spin 5 with a one-year warranty. See how the company performed on our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands ranking.

How Much Does the Acer Spin 5 Cost?

Our review unit — which has an Intel Core i5-8250U CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD — costs $699.99.

Upgrading the laptop to a Core i7-8550U will run you $849.99. If you’re looking to save some money, you can get last year’s model with a Core i5-7200U and otherwise identical specs for $599.99.

Bottom Line

The Acer Spin 5 is a decent midrange laptop with an Intel 8th Gen Intel Core processor, a bright display and a comfortable keyboard. But it runs hot and has lots of bloatware, and the battery doesn’t last as long as we’d like.

To get something better, you’ll also have to spend more money. The 13-inch Lenovo Yoga 720with the same specs is $879; that machine has a sleeker design and longer battery life, but the keyboard isn’t as good as Acer’s. If you’re willing to give up 2-in-1 functionality, another option is the $749 Asus ZenBook UX330UA, which also lasts longer and offers a nicer design.

But if you’re willing to sacrifice some battery life to save a bit of money, the Spin 5 is a solid option that offers a great keyboard and a pretty display at an affordable price.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

CPU Intel Core i5-8250U Operating System Windows 10 Home RAM 8GB RAM Upgradable to Hard Drive Size 256GB SSD Hard Drive Speed Hard Drive Type SSD Secondary Hard Drive Size Secondary Hard Drive Speed Secondary Hard Drive Type Display Size 13.3 Highest Available Resolution 1920 x 1080 Native Resolution 1920×1080 Optical Drive Optical Drive Speed Graphics Card Intel HD Graphics 620 Video Memory Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Model Dual-Band 2.4GHz and 5GHz Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.1 Mobile Broadband Touchpad Size 4.1 x 2.5 inches Ports (excluding USB) USB 2.0 Ports (excluding USB) USB 3.0 Ports (excluding USB) USB Type-C Ports (excluding USB) SD card slot Ports (excluding USB) Headphone/Mic Ports (excluding USB) Ethernet Ports (excluding USB) HDMI USB Ports 4 Warranty/Support One year Size 12.77 x 8.9 x 0.63 inches Weight 3.4 pounds Company Website acer.com

Acer Spin 5 Review

The Pros Bright display; Great keyboard; Affordable The Cons Lots of bloatware; Runs hot; Below-average battery life…

Acer Spin 5 Review The Pros Bright display; Great keyboard; Affordable The Cons Lots of bloatware; Runs hot; Below-average battery life…

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HP Envy 13

HP revealed its 2018 Envy laptops, and they’re even-more-true to their name than ever. Not only are these consumer notebooks offering slimmer bezels than ever, but they also feature clever design tricks, an optional privacy mode and performance-optimizing software.

The ever-slimming Envy 13

HP Envy 13 and 17

One of the biggest changes coming to HP Envy 13 is the addition of Sure View privacy, an…

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The Pros

Good multitasking performance; Strong audio; Large 1080p screen; Colorful design

The Cons

Dim display; Relatively short battery life; Underside gets warm

Verdict

The HP Chromebook 14 packs offers good multitasking performance and blasts a lot of volume, but competitors offer brighter displays and more battery life.

If you’ve been tempted to switch from a Windows 10 notebook to one that runs Google’s lightweight Chrome OS, you might have noticed there aren’t many big-screen Chromebooks available. Enter the 14-inch HP Chromebook 14, which packs an Intel Celeron processor and a 1080p display. This attractive, teal-and-white laptop provides strong audio and plenty of performance for multitasking, but competing Chromebooks have better battery life and more colorful screens.

Design

At certain angles, the HP Chromebook 14’s white plastic lid gives off a slight glimmer that reminds me of Formica countertops. The rest of the chassis, including the deck, sides, bezel and bottom, are a light teal, which gives the laptop a Crest toothpaste aesthetic. The deck also has a neat matrix pattern.

The solid feel of the HP Chromebook 14 suggests a reliable build quality, and its soft keyboard deck felt comfortable against my wrists. If you’re looking for a more premium design, check out the Dell Chromebook 13, which has a soft-touch carbon-fiber finish and a sturdy magnesium-alloy design.

HP Chromebook 14 Size

Weight

3.48 pounds

Dimensions

13.54 x 9.45 x 0.7 inches

Weighing 3.48 pounds, the 14-inch HP Chromebook 14 is heavier than the 13-inch Toshiba Chromebook 2 (2.97 pounds) and the Dell Chromebook 13 (3.23 pounds). Measuring 0.7 inches thin, the HP Chromebook is about as thick as the Dell (0.72 inches) and the Toshiba (0.76 inches).

Ports and Webcam

HP’s put a security lock slot, an HDMI port, a USB 3.0 port, a headphone jack and a microSD reader on the Chromebook 14’s left side, and a pair of USB 2.0 ports on its right side.

The HP Chromebook 14’s 0.9-megapixel webcam shot accurate but noisy selfies of me in our office. Its photos correctly captured the red of the Purch wall and my blue gingham shirt, but the images looked splotchy, as if a pointillist filter had been applied.

Battery Life

Unlike its competitors, the HP Chromebook 14 doesn’t have enough battery life to make it through a day. The Laptop Mag Battery Test needed only 6 hours and 42 minutes to drain the notebook of its charge, a time that the Dell (13:25) and the Toshiba (10:05) both beat.

Laptop Battery Life HP Chromebook 14 6:42 Category Average 8:23

Display

The HP Chromebook 14’s 1080p screen may be sharp, but it’s on the dim side. When I watched the Star Wars: Rogue One trailer on the HP Chromebook 14, multiple scenes looked dark and muddied. The blue lasers were rendered green and the orange of rebel pilot jumpsuits failed to pop. I could see the scratches and other fine details of Forrest Whitaker’s armor, but the screen reproduced the Imperial Star Destroyer in a yellow hue that made it look like an old prop.

HP Chromebook 14 Display: Test Results Benchmark Score How it Compares Brightness 212 nits Weak Color Gamut (sRGB) 65 percent Below Average Color Accuracy (Delta e) 0.5 Above Average

Based on our tests, the Chromebook 14 emits only 212 nits (a measurement of brightness). That’s lower than the Dell (270 nits) and the Toshiba (378 nits). Its viewing angles aren’t great, either, as its color darkened at 35 degrees to the left or right.

According to our colorimeter, the HP Chromebook 14 can produce only 65 percent of the sRGB spectrum. That’s less than the Dell Chromebook 13 (96 percent) and the Toshiba Chromebook 2 (110 percent).

The HP Chromebook 14’s panel fared better in the Delta-E color accuracy test, where it earned a 0.5 (closer to zero is better). That beats the Dell (1.4) and the Toshiba (0.9). This score is contrary to our experience, but if the notebook can produce only a limited range of color, its accuracy doesn’t mean as much.

Audio

Those who like their music loud and clear will appreciate the HP Chromebook 14. The notebook filled a large conference room with an accurate version of CFO$’s “The Rising Sun,” reproducing its strong bass guitar riffs, crisp drums and high synths.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The HP Chromebook 14’s keyboard isn’t perfect, but it makes for decent typing. I noticed its deck bounced a lot as I used the 10FastFingers typing test, where I clicked my way to 70 words per minute with 99 percent accuracy. That’s below my 80-wpm average. The keys have 1.3 millimeters of travel, while we prefer 1.5 mm.

The HP Chromebook 14’s 4.3 x 2.7-inch, buttonless touchpad accurately tracked my input as my fingers navigated around the Chrome browser, and there was a solid feel to each click. The notebook smoothly responded to my two-finger scrolling, and it correctly registered my three-finger navigation gestures.

Performance

Armed with a 1.8-GHz Intel Celeron N2940 CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 16GB eMMC drive, the HP Chromebook 14 provides enough power for multitasking. When I split my screen between a dozen tabs and a streaming YouTube video and opened Cut The Rope and Google Keep, the system stayed speedy, with no lag as I typed in a Google Doc and moved from tab to tab.

The HP Chromebook 14 did poorly on Google’s Octane 2.0 performance benchmark, which gave it a score of 7,869. The Celeron 3205U-powered Dell Chromebook 13 (14,453) and Celeron 3215U-powered Toshiba Chromebook 2 (17,044) earned better scores.

The Browser mark test for overall browser performance produced similar results, with the HP Chromebook 14 (2,300) getting bested by the Dell (4,199) and the Toshiba (4,576), again.

HP’s Chromebook 14 is also not as good at running JavaScript as its competitors, earning a 46.1 in the JetStream 1.1 test. That score is lower than those of the Dell (86.3) and the Toshiba (99.2).

Graphics

I had no trouble playing casual games like Cut The Rope and streaming 1080p video from Netflix on the HP Chromebook 14, but again, synthetic test scores favor its competitors. This system earned a score of only 1,480 in the Oort Online test, which measures the browser’s ability to display simulated environments. That’s far below the Dell Chromebook 13 (5,050) and the Toshiba Chromebook 2 (5,060).

The HP Chromebook 14 also performed poorly in the Aquarium graphics simulation, which tests 3D rendering. The notebook mustered 47 frames per second with 250 and 500 fish in the tank, while the Dell and Toshiba both sped along at 60 fps with as many as 1,000 fish.

MORE: Should I Buy a Chromebook? Buying Guide and Advice

Audio

Heat

The HP Chromebook 14 stays cool up top, but heats up down below. After we streamed 15 minutes of HD video on the notebook, our heat gun recorded a temperature of 99 degrees Fahrenheit on its underside, which exceeds our 95-degree comfort threshold. Its touchpad (75 degrees) and keyboard (83 degrees) did not get hot.

Chrome OS

Google’s Chrome OS is the light, minimalist alternative to Windows and OS X. After I logged in to the HP Chromebook 14 with my Google account, I was greeted with a desktop background of a trolley car at night and relatively few icons in the lower corners of the display.

In the bottom-left corner, there’s a magnifying-glass icon to open search (which pulls results from both the HP Chromebook 14 and Google itself), and icons for Chrome, Picasa and Gmail.

Those who like their music loud and clear will appreciate the HP Chromebook 14.

When I clicked on the magnifying glass, it brought up my most commonly used apps and Google Now cards about the weather and baseball.

Chrome OS also includes voice control, so if you have a Chrome tab or the launcher open, you can say, “OK, Google,” to bring up the voice assistant.

In the right corner, Chrome places its notification counter, the time, software update indicators, the volume, Wi-Fi connectivity, battery life, keyboard layout and your user account photo.

Apps

After you log in to the Chromebook using your Google account, the system automatically loads whatever apps you have previously used. In our case, that consisted of Google’s own productivity and Play apps, Word Online, games like Cut The Rope and Offline Solitaire and favorites such as Netflix and Spotify.

For more apps, you can check out the Chrome Web Store, which has tens of thousands of titles available. The Stress Relievers section has games like 2048 and a white-noise-producing add-on; apps for checking the local forecasts and getting rain alerts are filed under Weather & Outdoor; and image-editing programs can be found in Unleash Creativity. Other categories in the Chrome Web Store include Business Tools, Social and Communication, and Education.

When I poked around in the store, I found some of the apps I use every day, like Pocket, which I use to save articles to read later. LINE, a popular messaging app, is also in the store.

Google Docs and Slides users will find the ability to save files for offline use useful for those moments when they do not have a connection. You’ll need to make sure that that setting is enabled in Google Drive in advance. Offline access isn’t available for all apps in the Chrome Web Store, but some work when you’re not in the cloud.

The Chrome Web Store still has a ways to go if it intends to seriously compete with Windows and OS X. I found myself missing my favorite Twitter client, Tweetbot, and HipChat, which we use for inter-office communication. If you’re looking to play your favorite games, you will spend a while hunting for them, as that section of the store is filled with knockoffs like Fruits Slice and Bubble Shooter.

Configurations and Warranty

Our test unit of the HP Chromebook 14 is the ak060nr model, which costs $279.99 and packs a 1080p display, a 1.8GHz Intel Celeron processor, 4GB of RAM and a 16GB eMMC drive. HP also sells the ak010nr model, which costs $249.99 and includes a 2.16GHz Celeron N2840 processor, 2GB of memory, a 16GB eMMC drive and a 1366 x 768-pixel display.

The notebook ships with a one-year limited warranty. Check out more information about HP’s warranty in our overview.

HP Chromebook 14 Cost By Configuration Config Screen CPU RAM Price Base 1366 x 768 Celeron N2840 2GB $249 Best 1920 x 1080 Celeron N2940 4GB $279

Bottom Line

The $279.99 HP Chromebook 14 is a solid notebook for general activities. If you want a large screen for simultaneous document editing, internet browsing and video streaming, it packs enough punch to suit your needs. On the other hand, those who want to make it a whole day on a single charge or enjoy brighter and more colorful images may want to look elsewhere.

If you’re willing to get a 13-inch display, both the Dell Chromebook 13 and the Toshiba Chromebook 2 earned our Editor’s Choice awards for their long battery life and even faster performance. The $269 Toshiba Chromebook 2 CB35 is even less expensive than the HP, but you may want to pay more for the $429 Dell Chromebook 13’s fantastic design. But if you want a big notebook that runs Chrome OS and can kick out the jams, the HP Chromebook 14 is worth your consideration.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

CPU 1.83GHz Intel Celeron N2940 Processor Operating System Google Chrome RAM 4GB RAM Upgradable to Hard Drive Size 16GB Hard Drive Speed Hard Drive Type eMMC Secondary Hard Drive Size Secondary Hard Drive Speed Secondary Hard Drive Type Display Size 14.1 Native Resolution 1920×1080 Optical Drive Optical Drive Speed Graphics Card Intel HD Graphics Video Memory Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Model Bluetooth Mobile Broadband Touchpad Size 4.3 x 2.7 inches Ports (excluding USB) USB 3.0 Ports (excluding USB) USB 2.0 Ports (excluding USB) HDMI Ports (excluding USB) Combo Headphone/Mic Jack USB Ports 3 Card Slots microSD Warranty/Support 1-year limited warranty Size 13.54 x 9.45 x 0.7 inches Weight 3.48 pounds Company Website http://www.hp.com

HP Chromebook 14

The Pros Good multitasking performance; Strong audio; Large 1080p screen; Colorful design The Cons Dim display; Relatively short battery life; Underside gets warm…

HP Chromebook 14 The Pros Good multitasking performance; Strong audio; Large 1080p screen; Colorful design The Cons Dim display; Relatively short battery life; Underside gets warm…

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