If you’ve been patiently waiting for Apple’s new MacBook Pros to go on sale, Cyber Monday has delivered. Adorama and B&H have discounted the base 14-inch model by $200. That’s a 10 percent discount off its usual $1,999 starting price. We’ve seen price reductions on the new MacBook a handful of times since launch — most notably when Amazon discounted both the 14- and 16-inch variants by $50 the week they came out. However, $200 off is an all-time low for a computer that only went on sale at the end of October
We'll note here only the Space Gray model is part of today's promotion. If you want the computer in Silver, it’s $1,999. You also can’t upgrade any of the components without paying the full price of the computer. Thankfully, the base model is plenty powerful with its 8-core M1 Pro processor, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage.
We gave the new MacBook Pros a score of 92. Apple addressed a lot of the issues that made the previous generation so divisive. To start, unlike its predecessor, the 14-inch model comes with almost all the ports you could want. It features three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI connection, a MagSafe power port, a headphone jack and an SD card slot. Another standout feature of the 2021 MacBook Pro is its Liquid Retina XDR display. The one on the 14-inch model features a resolution of 3,024 x 1,964 and is capable of reaching 1,600 nits of brightness. It also has a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes using the computer feel smoother. The only downside of the display is that unsightly notch. But if you don’t mind it, there’s a lot to like about the 2021 MacBook Pro.
If you're still on the hunt for the best laptop to replace your aging machine, or to gift to a loved one, Cyber Monday has brought a bunch of options for you. Laptops and tablets from the likes of HP, Apple, Samsung and others are on sale today, and there are a number of discounts from Black Friday still lingering across the interwebs. As usual, we recommend going directly to manufacturers like Dell, HP, Microsoft and Razer if you're looking for a machine with a specific amount of RAM or storage. However, it can be simpler to go to retailers like Amazon and Best Buy and pick from the pre-configured models they have in stock.
HP Spectre x360 13
HP's Spectre x360 13 is on sale for $840. This particular model has an 11th-gen Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and 13.3-inch FHD touchscreen. It earned a score of 94 from us for its gorgeous design, thin-bezeled screen, powerful performance and comfortable keyboard and trackpad.
Razer's mainstream notebook, the Razer Book, has fallen to $1,500. The model on sale is specced out: it runs on an 11th-gen Core i7 processor, Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a 13.4-inch UHD+ touchscreen. This laptop includes a generous array of ports, eGPU compatibility and Chroma keyboard lighting.
Starting at 1pm ET today, you can get the Dell XPS 13 with an 11th-gen Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a 13.4-inch 4K touchscreen for $1,200. Amazon has a slightly different model with a FHD+ touchscreen for $1,440 today only as well. We gave the 2020 model a score of 94 for its attractive design, powerful performance and thin-bezeled screen.
ASUS' ZenBook 13 convertible laptop is on sale for $1,010, or 16 percent off its normal price. This model has an 11th-gen Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage and a 13.3-inch FHD OLED display.
Lenovo's Chromebook Duet is on sale for $230, or $70 off its normal price. A couple of models are on sale, but the base version with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage would make a good secondary device for most people. We gave the Duet a score of 79 for its good performance, solid battery life and included detachable keyboard.
The latest MacBook Pro laptops are $200 cheaper than usual at Adorama and B&H Photo. We gave them a score of 92 for their powerful performance, lovely Liquid Retina XDR displays and new bevy of ports.
Both the Galaxy S7 and S7+ tablets are still on sale for Cyber Monday, down to $499 and $699, respectively. Either would be good options for Android lovers looking for a new tablet — we were impressed by their beautiful build, vibrant 120Hz displays, long battery lives and S Pen support.
The Surface Laptop Go has dropped to $550, or $150 cheaper than usual. It earned a score of 81 from us for its attractive design, speedy CPU and excellent keyboard and trackpad.
The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is $500 off right now, bringing it down to $900. We gave it a score of 82 for its thin and light design, colorful display and included S Pen.
Google's Pixelbook Go is on sale for $599, or $50 off its normal price. It earned a score of 84 from us for its excellent keyboard, thin and light design, good performance and solid battery life.
The Galaxy Chromebook 2 is down to $399, or $50 off its normal price. We gave the Chrome OS machine a score of 82 for its impressive screen, powerful performance, surprisingly loud speakers and eye-catching design.
ASUS's capable Chromebook Flip C436 is on sale for $650 today only, which is $150 off its normal price. That gets you a 10th-gen Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a 14-inch FHD touchscreen and a convertible design. With those specs, this Chromebook could easily be a daily driver for Chrome OS diehards.
The Fire 7 tablet is on sale for $35. If you're looking for a cheap tablet to be a couch device, or to give your kid without worry, this is a good option. While it doesn't have the Google Play Store, you can still use it to check email, watch videos, play music and more.
The Fire HD 8 tablet is on sale for $45, or half off its normal price. We gave it a score of 79 for its decent performance, good battery life, wireless charging capabilities and USB-C port.
The biggest of Amazon's tablets, the Fire HD 10, is half off right now, bringing it down to $75. It's the best Fire tablet to get if you care at all about performance. We like its 1080p display, 12-hour battery life and its Show Mode feature.
The 8-inch version of Amazon's kids tablet is half off and down to $70. This comes with a protective case, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+.
The Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is 40 percent off, knocking it down to $120. You're getting the same thing in this bundle — a protective case, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+ — along with a larger tablet.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Your friends and family may not have microSD cards and portable hard drives on their wish lists, but they are some of the most useful gadgets you can give someone. With so much of our lives stored on our devices, anyone could use a little more digital space for photos, documents, games and more. Black Friday has brought a ton of sales on storage devices, knocking hundreds off some of the most expensive models and bringing even the most budget-friendly accessories down to dirt-cheap prices. We gathered the best deals we could find here so you don't have to go searching for them.
Crucial MX500
One of our favorite SSDs, the Crucial MX500, is on sale for $85, or just a few dollars more than its record-low price. It’s a standard 2.5-inch drive that works with both laptops and desktops, making it a good option if you need more space or just want to upgrade from a slow HDD. It also has AES-256 bit hardware encryption and integrated power loss immunity.
Samsung’s EVO Select microSDXC card in 128GB is down to $16, or 20 percent off its normal price. This is the latest model and while you can find microSD cards for less, EVO is a reliable brand and you're getting a full-sized adapter with this one.
Patriot's Viper VP4300 internal SSD in 2TB is 14 percent off right now, knocking it down to $370. This is our favorite SSD for the PS5 thanks to its sequential read speeds of 7,400MB/s and preinstalled heatsink.
The Samsung T7 SSD in 1TB is down to a record low of $110, which is 35 percent off and the best price we've seen. You can also get the 1TB T7 Touch with a built-in fingerprint reader for 21 percent off, or $150. It has reads speeds up to 1,050 MB/s and write speeds up to 1,000 MB/s, plus it has a shock-resistant unibody and support for Dynamic Thermal Guard to control heat levels.
Samsung's 980 Pro is one of the best internal SSDs you can get right now and it's on sale for $170. It has sequential read speeds up to 7,000MB/s and it'll work with the PS5 as long as you have a heatsink attached.
SanDisk’s tough and tiny Extreme portable SSD in 1TB is half off for Black Friday, bringing it down to $120. This model remains a bit more expensive than others, but you’re paying for added physical protections. Not only is it small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but it’s also IP55 water- and dust-resistant and it can withstand drops from up to two meters. It also has password protection and 256‐bit AES hardware encryption.
PNY's XLR8 CS3040 SSD in 1TB is 31 percent off, bringing it down to a record low of $125. It has sequential read speeds up to 5,600MB/s, and while it's compatible with the PS5, you will need to add your own cooling solution.
Sabrent's Rocket 4 Plus internal SSD has dropped to $160. In addition to already being more affordable than many competitors, it provides read speeds up to 7,000 MB/s and write speeds up to 5,300 MB/s when connected to a PCIe Gen4 motherboard.
Crucial’s P5 NAND NVMe SSD in 1TB is on sale for $145 right now, or 19 percent off its regular rate. This drive can reach sequential read speeds of up to 3,400MB/s and its M.2 format makes it a good option for both desktop and laptop users.
The Crucial X6 portable drive in 1TB is on sale for $80, or 38 percent off its normal price. We like it for its fast 540 MB/s read speeds, durable design that's shock, drop, vibration and temperature resistant and its compatibility with a wide range of devices — including the PS5.
Lexar's Professional SD cards are on sale for $60 for a 64GB card and $100 for a 128GB card. These are good options for photographers and videographers and most capacities have been discounted right now, so you should be able to find precisely the right model you need.
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Whether you're on the lookout for a new laptop for a loved one or for yourself, Black Friday is a good time to pick one up. Like years past, this year you can find a bunch of laptops, tablets and 2-in-1s on sale for the holiday shopping season, allowing you to save sometimes hundreds on the latest machines. In general, we recommend going straight to manufacturers like Dell, HP, Microsoft and Razer if you're picky about which configuration you want. However, it can be simpler to go to retailers like Amazon and Best Buy and pick from the models they have in stock. Here are the best deals on laptops and tablets that we found for Black Friday.
HP Spectre x360 13
HP's Spectre x360 13 is on sale for $820. This particular model has an 11th-gen Core i5 processor, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and 13.3-inch FHD touchscreen. It earned a score of 94 from us for its gorgeous design, thin-bezeled screen, powerful performance and comfortable keyboard and trackpad.
Today only, the Razer Blade 15 Advanced is a whopping $1,200 off, bringing it down to $1,400. This is the 2020 model that has a Core i7 processor, RTX 2070 Super Max-Q graphics, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a 1080p 300Hz display. The Blade is one of our favorite gaming laptops thanks to its slick design, array of customization options and strong performance.
Dell's excellent XPS 13 laptop has dropped to $979. That's for the latest model with an 11th-gen Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, Intel Iris Xe graphics and a 13.3-inch FHD+ display. This has been one of our favorite laptops for a long time and we gave the 2020 version a score of 94 for its attractive design, speedy performance and lovely screen.
Apple's MacBook Air M1 is down to $850 right now, or $150 off its regular price. We consider this to be the best Apple laptop for most people, giving it a score of 94 for its blazing fast performance, great battery life and lack of fan noise.
The latest MacBook Pro laptops are $50 cheaper than usual at Amazon. We gave them a score of 92 for their powerful performance, lovely Liquid Retina XDR displays and new bevy of ports.
The latest iPad Pros are on sale for Black Friday — the 11-inch model is down to $750 while the 12.9-inch tablet is down to $999. We gave the slab a score of 87 for its powerful performance thanks to the M1 chipset, lovely displays and Center Stage cameras.
Razer's mainstream notebook, the Razer Book, has fallen to $1,500. The model on sale is specced out: it runs on an 11th-gen Core i7 processor, Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and a 13.4-inch UHD+ touchscreen. This laptop includes a generous array of ports, eGPU compatibility and Chroma keyboard lighting.
Both the Galaxy S7 and S7+ tablets have been discounted for Black Friday, down to $499 and $699, respectively. Either would be good options for Android lovers looking for a new tablet — we were impressed by their beautiful build, vibrant 120Hz displays, long battery lives and S Pen support.
The Surface Laptop Go has dropped to $550, or $150 cheaper than usual. It earned a score of 81 from us for its attractive design, speedy CPU and excellent keyboard and trackpad.
The Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 is $500 off right now, bringing it down to $900. We gave it a score of 82 for its thin and light design, colorful display and included S Pen.
Google's Pixelbook Go is on sale for $599, or $50 off its normal price. It earned a score of 84 from us for its excellent keyboard, thin and light design, good performance and solid battery life.
The Galaxy Chromebook 2 is down to $399, or $50 off its normal price. We gave the Chrome OS machine a score of 82 for its impressive screen, powerful performance, surprisingly loud speakers and eye-catching design.
ASUS's capable Chromebook Flip C436 is on sale for $650 today only, which is $150 off its normal price. That gets you a 10th-gen Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a 14-inch FHD touchscreen and a convertible design. With those specs, this Chromebook could easily be a daily driver for Chrome OS diehards.
The Fire 7 tablet is on sale for $35. If you're looking for a cheap tablet to be a couch device, or to give your kid without worry, this is a good option. While it doesn't have the Google Play Store, you can still use it to check email, watch videos, play music and more.
The Fire HD 8 tablet is on sale for $45, or half off its normal price. We gave it a score of 79 for its decent performance, good battery life, wireless charging capabilities and USB-C port.
The biggest of Amazon's tablets, the Fire HD 10, is half off right now, bringing it down to $75. It's the best Fire tablet to get if you care at all about performance. We like its 1080p display, 12-hour battery life and its Show Mode feature.
The 8-inch version of Amazon's kids tablet is half off and down to $70. This comes with a protective case, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+.
The Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is 40 percent off, knocking it down to $120. You're getting the same thing in this bundle — a protective case, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+ — along with a larger tablet.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
A number of Razer products are getting big discounts for Black Friday today, but the best deal might be on the Razer Blade 15 Advanced gaming laptop. It's on sale for just $1,400, or nearly half off (46 percent) the regular price.
The Razer Blade 15 Advanced is a highly-rated gaming laptop thanks to the premium build quality, 300 Hz FHD display, and components like the Core i7-10875H 8-core CPU and GeForce RTX 2070 Super Max-Q graphics. The sale model also comes with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and more. Other features include that distinctive jet-black unibody aluminum case, tiny bezels, an excellent touchpad and a webcam that's mounted up top, where it belongs.
It's not the latest model, of course, but it delivers plenty of gaming kick at a price that's hard to match. It's no slouch in terms of battery life, either, with an excellent 8:50 time in our rundown tests. The only major drawback is that it's not quite as light as some gaming laptops, though it's still relatively slim at 0.7 inches. In any case, if you've been looking at the Blade 15 Advanced for gaming or content creation — but waiting for the best sale — this is it.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Apple announced a 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro chip a month ago, and some solid deals are already starting to pop up. A model with a 10‑core CPU and 16‑core GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is on sale on Amazon for $2,399, which is $100 off the regular price.
Granted, that's not a massive discount, but it's bigger than a previous drop of $50. Given how new the device is, it's a decent offer, so if you've been waiting for a price drop, this might be enough to sway you.
We reviewed the 16-inch MBP last month and gave it a score of 92. The performance is nothing to sniff at, with the M1 Pro proving more adept at creative tasks like video editing and 3D rendering than last year's M1 chip. As for battery life, the laptop ran for over 16 and a half hours in our testing.
Apple made sure there were plenty of ports on the latest model, after going several years with minimal connectivity on MacBook Pros. There are three Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe power port, HDMI connectivity, a 3.5mm headphone jack and an SD card reader, but unfortunately no USB-A port. To accommodate all of those, the laptop is a little bulker than its predecessors. That said, the trade off is likely worth it for most people, given that you might not feel the need to carry around a connector hub to connect all your peripherals anymore.
The MBP has a Liquid Retina XDR display with Mini-LED backlighting that's capable of outputting 1,600 nits of brightness and support for a 120Hz refresh rate. Apple has at last upgraded the webcam to one with a resolution of 1080p too, which is a significant step up from the 720p version.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Chrome OS tablets don’t have a pretty past. In 2018, Google released the Pixel Slate, its attempt to jumpstart the market, but poorly optimized software and expensive hardware made the device a non-starter for most people. Since then, Google stopped making tablets entirely, while most manufacturers making Chrome OS devices have also stuck with more traditional designs.
That started to change last year, when Lenovo built an inexpensive but useful Chrome OS tablet, the Chromebook Duet. This year, HP has followed a similar pattern with the HP Chromebook X2, an 11-inch tablet that’s pricier and higher-end than Lenovo’s Duet (the model I’m reviewing costs $600). But, like the Duet, it uses a mobile processor (in this case, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c) and includes a keyboard and pen at no extra charge. Based purely on specs and design, the Chromebook X2 should be a fine performer — but is its convertible form factor worth the premium over a more standard laptop?
Hardware
We’ll get into how useful Chrome OS tablets are soon, but based purely on hardware alone, HP’s Chromebook X2 makes a great first impression. The tablet itself is a metal-clad slap that feels sturdy and well built. There’s a small camera bump on the back, along with metallic HP and Chrome logos, but overall it’s a simple device with few adornments. The device has squared-off sides with rounded corners, much like the iPad Pro and iPad Air, but it feels different enough from those devices despite the fact there are only so many ways to make a tablet.
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
When looking at the front, you’ll notice a small camera on the top bezel, with stereo speakers positioned near the top of the screen. On the left side edge you’ll find two USB-C ports and a volume rocker. In the top left corner there’s a multi-function power button with a fingerprint reader. When you’re using the Chromebook X2 with a keyboard attached, pressing the power button shows options to shut down, log out or lock the device. When you’re using it as a tablet, though, the button has the more standard “lock the device and turn off the screen” function. The fingerprint scanner is easy to set up, and I wish that more Chromebooks had them.
The right side of the tablet is basically unadorned, aside from a mark that shows where you can magnetically attach the Chromebook X2’s pen to its side for easy access. The iPad Pro and various Microsoft Surface devices also let you magnetically attach a stylus, so this isn’t really a big innovation — but it’s still nice to have.
When I reviewed the Pixel Slate back in 2018, my main takeaway was that Chrome OS still required a keyboard. As such, I was glad to find that the Chromebook X2 had one included. To turn the X2 from a tablet into a functional laptop, HP designed a two-piece case. The keyboard cover goes on the front, much like Microsoft’s Surface Keyboard. But instead of having a built-in kickstand, the X2 has a second cover that serves as a kickstand which magnetically snaps on to the back. Once you have that set, the X2 is basically identical to the Microsoft Surface Go, at least in looks.
The Chromebook X2’s keyboard is pretty good considering it has to fit a relatively small device. The keys have solid travel and are quite responsive, though they’re a little bit loud. It feels a little cramped, but not any worse than the Surface Go’s keyboard. But it definitely feels more cramped than the Magic Keyboard I use with my 11-inch iPad Pro. (That’s a $300 accessory, though, so it really should be better than a keyboard HP includes with every X2.)
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
The main issue with the X2 keyboard is that it’s not ideal for using on your lap. As I’ve noticed with some other keyboard folios, applying just a little pressure on palm rests often causes the trackpad to register a click, which can be infuriating when you’re, say, typing a review and keep getting interrupted. It’s much better on a desk, where the keyboard is more stable. Microsoft’s Type Cover for the Surface lineup doesn’t have this problem, so it’s just a matter of build quality in the end. And for a small, light device meant to be used on the go, having a keyboard that only works on a hard, flat surface is less than ideal.
Despite occasional accidental clicks, the X2 trackpad is pretty good. It’s larger than the one on the iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard and as well as the Surface Go’s keyboard, and it’s fast and responsive for both single-finger and multi-finger gestures. It’s still pretty small, though, so you might prefer an external mouse for extended work sessions.
The Chromebook X2 may be a small machine, but its 11-inch touchscreen with a 3:2 aspect ratio is a standout. It’s a high-resolution display, coming in at 2,160 x 1,440, and the taller aspect ratio makes it feel a lot less cramped for work than a 16:9 screen would, especially at this smaller size. It’s also a very bright screen, almost painfully so — even when working in a sunny office, I rarely turned brightness up higher than halfway.
As I mentioned earlier, HP included a stylus with the Chromebook X2. I’m no visual artist, so I’m not qualified to really judge its performance — but there’s no question stylus performance on this device lags behind Microsoft's Surface Go 3 and any iPad I’ve tried. But again, HP included a stylus for free, whereas Microsoft and Apple charge extra for it. That doesn’t make performance better, but at least you’re not shelling out additional cash for a sub-par experience. The pen might be fine for quick sketches or notes, but it doesn’t feel like something I’d want to use for very long.
Tablet mode
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
Even though there aren’t many Chrome OS tablets, Google has made improvements to the OS’s tablet mode over the years. It’s quite a bit more stable and user-friendly than it was when the Pixel Slate came out in 2018; the main UI concepts are a mix of what you’ll find on iPadOS and Windows. Apps automatically launch in full screen, and the home screen is a grid of all the apps you have installed. Swiping up when you’re using an app brings you back to the home screen, and a more deliberate swipe from the bottom shows the Chrome OS dock. Finally, you can run two apps in split-screen mode when you want to multitask.
I haven’t used the Chrome OS tablet mode in a while. I’ve reviewed a ton of Chromebooks with 360-degree hinges that can be used in tablet mode, but they’re usually too heavy for that. But the Chromebook X2 feels great in the hand; with its 11-inch screen and a weight of 1.23 pounds, it’s not too big or heavy to be used as a tablet. The main issue with Chrome OS on a tablet is familiar to anyone who has used Android tablets: there just isn’t much software optimized for a large screen. That said, using the X2 to casually browse the web, watch videos and play the occasional game worked well. HP knows that this isn’t the primary way anyone should use a Chrome OS device, hence the included keyboard — but for casual couch browsing or watching a movie on a plan, the X2 does the trick.
As a laptop
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
The main way I used the Chromebook X2 was as a laptop, with the included keyboard attached. The biggest question I had was whether the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c processor was enough for my normal workflow. The answer was “more or less.” The X2 ran better than I expected, and I could usually have most of my normal apps running at all times. That means a couple Chrome windows with a handful of tabs in each, plus Chrome apps for Slack, Todoist, Keep, Trello and Tweetdeck. I also often had the Android version of Spotify running for music.
This all ran acceptably, but it definitely wasn’t the fastest — particularly if I had too many Chrome tabs going. The X2 that I tested has 8GB of RAM, and that helped keep most of my programs running without the need to refresh when I switched between them, but I ended up instinctively limiting how many tabs I had going at any given time to avoid pushing the X2 too hard. I also didn’t play music directly from the X2 much when I was running a lot of other apps, as I eventually would run into slowdowns or low memory skips if I had too much going on.
While I wish performance was a little better, it’s important to look at it in the context of how HP designed the device. Given its small size, I thought of it more as a secondary or travel computer rather than something most people would sit down and use for hours on end every single day. The display is certainly too small and performance not quite robust enough for me to use it that way, anyway.
One advantage of using a Snapdragon processor is that the Chromebook X2 had excellent battery life. While it’s too small of a computer for me to comfortably use all day long, I routinely got around eight hours of work when I used it as my primary machine, and still had charge left at the end of the day. It also performed extremely well in our battery drain test, which loops an HD video with the screen set at 50 percent brightness. The X2 lasted about 11 and a half hours in that test, which means this device should be a solid movie-watching companion if you’re on a long flight.
At only 1.23 pounds as a tablet and a little over 2.25 pounds with the keyboard and kickstand attached, the Chromebook X2 is an extremely portable computer for when you don’t need the full size and power that you get in a larger laptop. It again reminds me of Microsoft’s Surface Go 3, not just in the way it looks. Both devices are a bit underpowered, and I wouldn’t recommend either be someone’s primary computer. But, they can be great secondary computers if you’re aware of their limitations.
Pricing and the competition
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
Of course, price is a big part of the equation. That was probably the biggest problem with the Surface Go 3 when I reviewed it recently: The kit I tested cost $860, and for that money it should be powerful enough to use as your only computer. But the Chromebook X2 is cheaper; the model I reviewed costs $600. That gets you the aforementioned Snapdragon 7c processor, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, the keyboard and pen. And the X2 has already been on sale numerous times at Best Buy for only $400. At that price, it’s a pretty great portable secondary computer.
At $600, it’s a little pricey for what you get, though. That’s mostly because you can buy a larger, more powerful Chromebook for a little more money. Both the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 and Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 cost $700 and come with faster Intel chips, better keyboards and larger displays. You have to be really committed to the tablet form factor to not give those computers a look instead. Or, you can get Lenovo’s Flex 5 Chromebook for only $300 on Amazon as of this writing; you’ll save yourself money and have a better overall experience. If you can find the Chromebook X2 on sale for $400, it’s a much more compelling buy, but it’s still not the best Chromebook in that price range.
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget
Wrap-up
The main issue with the Chromebook X2 is neither its price nor its performance. It’s the fact that most people will be better served with a standard, laptop-style Chromebook. Sure, most Chromebooks are a little bigger and heavier than the X2, but they’re also generally more powerful and have better keyboards. The X2 only makes sense if you value portability and battery life over performance. If you can find the X2 for $400, it’s worth considering if you’re a Chrome OS user looking for a secondary computer that you can take with you anywhere. Otherwise, you’re probably better off considering one of the many other Chromebooks on the market.
The ProArt line of creator-oriented devices was a stroke of marketing genius by ASUS, helping separate them from rivals with a line of premium devices. A prime example is the Studiobook 16 OLED H5600 laptop, tempting artists with high performance, a beautiful 16-inch 4K OLED display, and an “ASUS dial” for video or photo editing.
ASUS’s previous ProArt laptops like the StudioBook One were workstation-like creator devices with expensive parts like NVIDIA Quadro 6000 GPUs. With this model, ASUS is focusing more on bang-for-the buck with components like an RTX 3070 GPU and AMD Ryzen 9 eight-core CPU. (The more expensive StudioBook 16 Pro models offer Xeon processors and Quadro GPUs.)
The question is, can a reasonably priced laptop like this keep up with more expensive models or even high-end gaming laptops when it comes to performance? To find out, I got a hold of a well-specced but modestly priced Studiobook 16 OLED model and put it to work on some photo and video editing jobs.
A key feature of all the Studiobook devices is the businesslike looks that are far away from ASUS’s gaming designs. To that end, it has a basic black, square-edged body with the only noticeable design touch being the subtle ProArt logo on top. It has bezels that are reasonably small but not what I’d call thin, and isn’t the lightest or smallest 16-inch laptop out there. Still, with a .77-inch thickness and 5.28 pound heft, it’s relatively compact — especially considering that it offers “military-grade durability” (MIL-STD 810H), according to ASUS.
ASUS has developed an “IceCool Pro” thermal solution that’s supposed to boost airflow by up to 16 percent, while keeping noise levels below 40 dbA in standard cooling mode. It does that through the use of dual 102-blade fans, six heat pipes and multiple ducts.
If you need more punch, you can switch to performance mode which boosts power to 95 watts, or up to 135 watts in “full-speed” mode. Fan noise is still reasonable in performance mode unless you’re doing GPU/CPU intensive chores, but the full-speed setting can get very loud indeed. Still, it could be a handy mode if you’re planning to leave the room while doing a render. Overall, heat and noise are very well managed.
The headline feature on this laptop is the 3,480 x 2,400 16:10 OLED display, the first on a 16-inch laptop, ASUS claims. As you’d expect, it’s sharp, vibrant and beautiful in person — by far the best laptop display I’ve ever seen in terms of fidelity and “wow” factor.
Steve Dent/Engadget
The panel is factory-calibrated to Pantone and Calman color accuracy, with a delta E of less than two, a fact that I confirmed with my X-Rite i1 Display Pro calibrator. I used it with a $4,000 ASUS mini-LED ProArt monitor and despite the display technology differences, they matched very closely to my eyes, color wise.
The true 10-bit panel offers 100 percent DCI-P3 color coverage, in workstation laptop territory and well beyond rivals like the MacBook Pro (78 percent) and Dell’s XPS 15 (85 percent). Along with the color accuracy, that allows for precise color correction controls in apps like DaVinci Resolve and Adobe Lightroom Classic. The 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio with inky OLED blacks also makes it ideal for content creation, with a side benefit that it’s the best entertainment laptop I’ve ever used.
Given that the display is suitable for color correction, ASUS should have perhaps included a way to easily change the color profile for video editing ( Rec.709, DCI-P3 and so on) or photos (AdobeRGB, sRGB). That could be a handy setting in the Creator Hub, for example, or at least as an .icm profile for Windows Color Management.
You can crank the brightness up to 550 nits in HDR mode, so it conforms to VESA’s DisplayHDR True Black 500 standard for OLED displays — very bright indeed for a laptop display. However, it’s well short of the 1,600 nits peak brightness available on the latest MacBook Pros, which use mini-LED displays. That raises the question of whether OLED or mini-LED is more desirable on a creator laptop, but personally, I’d take the superior OLED blacks over eye-scorching brightness and haloing.
Steve Dent/Engadget
The other attention-grabbing feature is the ProArt Dial. I wouldn’t blame you for thinking it’s a gimmick, as it takes up space and adds complexity. Also, similar control surfaces can look cool but often end up in drawers, never to be used.
This one has a few things in its favor, though. It feels nice thanks to the textured grip, smooth rotation and clicky detents. Mainly, though, it’s just convenient as it’s located directly below the keyboard. In that way, it makes more sense than something like Microsoft’s Surface Dial or an external control surface, as those are usually placed outside easy grabbing distance.
With no apps loaded, you can use the dial to turn up the sound or increase monitor brightness more easily than using the function keys. To make the most of it, though, you really need Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite. With Photoshop open, pressing the dial launches a dedicated pie chart-like menu with “slices” for brush options, layer zoom, and so on. Pressing it again on the brush menu, for instance, opens sub-options for hardness, flow, opacity and more. Premiere and After Effects have similar custom menus.
Steve Dent/Engadget
If the stock menus won’t do, you can go into the ASUS ProArt Creator Hub software. There, you can reprogram the functions the way you’d prefer via drop-down menus. As it stands now, the dial only supports four Adobe apps: Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects and Lightroom Classic. As someone who uses other apps, particularly DaVinci Resolve, I’m hoping ASUS will add more down the road.
I’ve used control surfaces in the past as part of my former video editor career, but I haven’t been a big fan of them on PCs. However, after trying the ASUS dial with Photoshop and Premiere Pro, I got used to it pretty fast. It was natural to keep one hand on the keyboard and the other on the dial to jog video, swap tools and so on. Before long, it was second nature and sped up my workflow.
Moving to the front of the laptop, the trackpad is smooth, responsive and sports not just two, but three buttons — taking me back to the 2000s when all PC mice had this. The third one adds an extra control that could be useful for 3D or CAD apps, video editing to mark “in” points and so on. It’s also the first laptop touchpad from ASUS that supports styluses using the MPP 1.51 standard, which includes its own. That allows artists to use the touchpad as a precise drawing tablet. I wasn’t able to make use of this functionality myself (I can’t really draw), but it’s nice to have it there.
Steve Dent/Engadget
The keyboard has decent travel and a nice amount of spring back, and offers a separate number pad that’s nice to have. However, the entire keyboard is shifted upwards more than usual and the keys are perhaps a touch small, because the ASUS dial effectively increases the space between the touchpad and keyboard. I got used to it pretty quickly, though, and it was never bothersome.
Port-wise, it’s well-equipped with two fast USB-C 3.2 gen2 10Gbps connections, two USB-A 3.2 gen 2, HDMI 2.1, an audio jack and RJ45 ethernet. The HDMI 2.1 jack is nice, as it allows you to connect, say, a supported TV and get 4K at up to 120 fps. It’s good that one of the USB-C ports supports DisplayPort, because a lot of monitors only work with that standard. However, given that creators often connect tons of gadgets, I would have liked to see an extra USB-A port or two, though.
It’s nice that ASUS incorporated a bleeding edge SD Express card slot that can read data from supported cards at an awesome 985 MB/s. There’s a rather huge problem, though. If you insert an SD UHS II card used by tons of cameras, the StudioBook will only read it at UHS-I speeds — 100 MB/s instead of 300 MB/s. Since no cameras support SD Express yet, I’d rather have seen a standard UHS-II slot. (Hopefully that will change, as Sony, Nikon and Canon are part of the SD Express consortium.)
Steve Dent/Engadget
For sound, ASUS incorporated an audiophile-grade ESS Sabre DAC, promising lower distortion and expanded dynamic range. There are only a pair of speakers rather than four or more like on some recent laptops. However, they’re well above average for a laptop like this, with decent mid-range sound and acceptable bottom end. Other features include a fingerprint reader on the power button along with a top-mounted IR HD webcam with Windows Hello support and a privacy shutter.
Now, let’s talk about performance. The top-end ProArt StudioBook OLED 16 I’m testing uses the RTX 3070 mobile GPU, rather than the top-end RTX 3080. I don’t have a problem with that, as an RTX 3080 wouldn’t speed up creative apps much and adds cost and heat. Everything else is high-end, though. It’s got AMD’s top mobile 8-core Ryzen 5900HX chip, 32GB of RAM, and two terabytes of NVME storage in Raid 0. It currently comes with Windows 10 Pro, but ASUS will offer Windows 11 upgrades early next year.
I ran the ProArt StudioBook through our usual battery of performance tests, including PCMark 10 for productivity, 3DMark’s Time Spy for 3D performance, Atto’s diskbench and others.
ASUS Zephyrus Duo 15 (Intel i9-10980HK, NVIDIA RTX 2080 Super Max-Q)
5,616
3,680
1,365/8,055
3 GB/s / 3.24 GB/s
It performed near the top in all of them, as shown in the chart above, particularly the disk speeds. With the RAID 0 NVMe storage, disk speeds are stupendously fast, with reads at 5.6 GB/s and writes at 5.35 GB/s. It can’t be overstated how much that helps disk-intensive apps like Premiere Pro.
I also ran tests more geared to content creation, like Maxon's Cinebench R23 and Puget Systems’ PugetBench for Photoshop, Premiere Pro and Davinci Resolve. The PugetBench tests offer decent real-world results, as they automatically loop a series of functions that test effects, encoding, playback and so on. Again, I saw top-notch results compared to other recent creative and gaming laptops.
For instance, it hit 938 on the PugetBench DaVinci Resolve extended overall test, a result that stacked up with many desktop machines. Other scores included a 981 on PugetBench Photoshop 22 CC, compared to 781 for the Dell XPS 15 OLED and 998 for Lenovo’s ThinkPad P15 Gen 2. Like most other laptops, though, it was handily bested by Apple’s M1 Max MacBook Pro, scoring 698 on the PugetBench Premiere Pro Standard test, compared to 821 for the MacBook.
Steve Dent/Engadget
Gaming is not this laptop’s raison d’être, but I did some anyway, and it acquitted itself beautifully with Cyberpunk 2077, Destiny 2 and other titles. Frame rates were decent for 4K laptop gaming, though I needed to knock the detail settings well back. The 4K screen is a limiting factor, of course, because of the 60Hz refresh rate.
Synthetic benchmarks and gaming are fine, but creativity laptops need to prove themselves at work, too. To that end, I edited a camera review video for the laptop using DaVinci Resolve 17.2, and this video on the latest version of Premiere Pro. I also dipped into Photoshop, After Effects and Lightroom.
Again, the ProArt Studiobook acquitted itself with honors, offering fluid 4K editing, even with GPU-intensive camera codecs. I was able to export 4K videos at nearly 300 percent real-time speed in Resolve (NVIDIA encoder, MP4, 4K, 12,000 Kbps max data rate), with color correction, text and other light effects on nearly every shot.
Steve Dent/Engadget
For a desktop-replacement laptop that will often run off wall power, the StudioBook has surprisingly good battery life. It ran for 6 hours and 20 minutes in our 1080p video loop rundown test and even longer for normal browsing and work chores — excellent considering the 4K display. The AMD Ryzen 9 chip’s efficiency likely helps a lot here.
That beats most 4K PC laptops, with the exception of Dell’s XPS 15 OLED model that could go over 9 hours between charges. However, it gets stomped by the $2,500 16-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max, which lasted a ridiculous 16 hours and 34 minutes in our tests. Yes, that model has slightly lower screen resolution, but it lasted over 2.5 times longer.
The StudioBook 16 OLED was relatively quiet during all these chores as well, with the fan only kicking in on complex scenes or exports. Even then, it was considerably quieter than my Gigabyte Aero 15X laptop. If you need maximum rendering performance and don’t need to stay in the room, you can select the “full-speed” setting that cranks the fans to the maximum speed.
Steve Dent/Engadget
In the end, is the ASUS ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED laptop worth getting over rival creative models or a comparably equipped gaming laptop? Without a doubt.
It’s not just fast, but smooth and reliable across creative chores — and the “reliable” part is key for production-oriented laptops. It handles 4K editing and large photos without getting overly hot and noisy. It’s not even a bad gaming machine, though the 60Hz 4K screen isn’t ideal for that.
For the cost of the OLED model, you really get a lot. The model I’m working with will run around $3,000, though ASUS still hasn’t nailed down the final pricing yet. It also offers a better spec list than any rival creative laptops unless you’re willing to go way up in price. And don’t forget that the StudioBook has features not found on any laptop, creative or otherwise, like the 16-inch 4K OLED display and ProArt dial.
The MacBook Pro models with the M1 Pro and M1 Max CPUs are making things more interesting for potential creative laptop buyers. They’re much more competitive than the Intel MacBook Pros, as they’re faster, quieter and have longer battery life. However, as Engadget has discovered in testing, the new MacBooks are better than PC laptops like the Studiobook 16 in some ways (battery and video playback) and worse in others (rendering, GPU performance in general). More on that soon in an upcoming Upscaled.
Still, for the money, the ASUS ProArt Studiobook 16 OLED is the best Windows 10 content creation laptop you can get right now. I haven’t been excited about too many laptops lately, but I can’t recommend this model enough.
For years, Microsoft has pushed cheap Windows laptops as the ideal school computers. They can do everything a comparable Chromebook can, while also running traditional Windows software. But now, Microsoft is finally ready to jump into the affordable, kid-friendly PC fray with the $249 Surface Laptop SE. It's one of the first PCs to run Windows 11 SE, a stripped down OS that's targeted at K-8 students (and their beleaguered teachers). You can also expect to see Windows 11 SE devices are coming from Dell, HP, Acer and ASUS, among other PC makers.
Microsoft hasn't had the best luck with Windows variants over the years: Windows 10 S was a limp attempt at delivering a simpler experience for the original Surface Laptop, while the dual-screen focused Windows 10X was eventually cancelled. (Windows 11 basically rose from the ashes of Windows 10 X.) But according to Aaron Woodman, Microsoft's General Manager of Windows, this latest OS is more focused on solving a specific problem: How can Microsoft create the ideal OS experience for students and teachers?
Microsoft
Windows 11 SE attempts to do that by focusing on simplicity. There's no Microsoft Store for installing apps (though IT departments can deploy whatever Win32 and Universal apps they'd like). It's optimized to run on slower hardware. And Microsoft even stripped down the window snapping options by only allowing apps to be on the left or right side of the screen. One of the best parts of Windows 11 is the easy way you can easily shove an app to different corners of your screen, but that's probably too complicated for elementary school-aged kids running notebooks with small screens.
The Surface Laptop SE is similarly basic by design. It's a plastic-shelled notebook that vaguely resembles the Surface Laptop line, especially the previous cheap entry, the $549 Surface Laptop Go. It has an 11.6-inch TFT LCD screen with a 1,366 by 768 resolution — a step above 720p, but below the Laptop Go's sub-1080p display. And don't expect any powerful gear under the hood, as the Surface Laptop SE is limited to dual-core Celeron chips (either the N4020 or N4120), and either 4GB or 8GB of RAM. For storage, there's a choice between 64GB or 128GB eMMC cards.
But really, what else do you expect for a starting price of $249? What's more intriguing about the Surface Laptop SE are the more premium elements that still managed to find their way in. Microsoft brought over the Surface Laptop Go's excellent keyboard and trackpad, as well as its easy-opening lid, Woodman tells us. The Laptop SE also sports a 720p webcam, which is sharper than what we see on most similarly-priced notebooks. And, judging from a brief Teams video chat I had with Dave Alles, General Manager of Surface Laptop SE, its camera and microphone quality are shockingly solid too. (It was easily better than $1,200 laptops I've reviewed.)
Microsoft
For the most part, the Surface Laptop SE appears to be more than enough for a typical grade-school kid. It weighs 2.45 pounds, so it shouldn't be too tough to lug around in tiny backpacks. And its onboard storage, however meager, should be enough to work on Microsoft Office projects offline. Woodman says Microsoft had students without reliable internet access in mind when designing the Laptop SE. They could download assignments at school, work on them at home, and have their work automatically synchronized when they're back in class.
IT departments would likely appreciate the easily accessible screws on the bottom, making it simple to open up and repair notebooks on-site. The Laptop SE's low price should also make it easier for schools to acquire enough units for every student, instead of sharing a handful of PCs in class.
Microsoft
I'm curious to see how well Windows 11 SE performs on the Laptop SE's slow hardware. And a part of me wonders if giving kids a more limited version of Windows will hurt their ability to tinker with PCs when they're older. But as a former IT support jockey, the Surface Laptop SE appears to be the cheap notebook I've always wanted grade-school students to have. Sure, it's not as flexible as the $400 Surface Go 3, but for basic coursework that won't matter too much. And while I liked the Surface Laptop Go, it starts at $549—so schools could buy two Laptop SEs for around the same price.
At this point, Microsoft is only planning to sell the Laptop SE to schools through education resellers later this year. Normal consumers and businesses won't be able to order them at all. But if it's wildly successful, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft finds some way to bring this cheap computer to the masses.
AMD has unveiled its first processors based on its new Zen 4 architecture, and they promise a lot of brawn... at least, for some users. AnandTechnotes AMD has outlined its early Zen 4 roadmap during a virtual data center event, and the first two CPU families are Epyc chips aimed at servers and other heavy-duty computing tasks. The first, nicknamed Genoa, is built for general-purpose computing and packs up to 96 cores (thanks in part to a 5nm process) as well as support for DDR5 memory and PCIe 5.0 peripherals. It arrives sometime in 2022, and partners are sampling chips now.
The star of the show, however, may be Bergamo. It's designed for cloud computing and emphasizes core density — AMD is promising up to 128 cores in a single CPU. The design relies on a modified Zen 4c architecture (the C is for "cloud") that offers similar functionality, but optimizes cache and power consumption to boost the core count and offer as many processing threads as possible. Bergamo doesn't surface until the first half of 2023, but it may be useful for internet giants juggling many simultaneous users.
If you were expecting news on Zen 4-based Ryzen processors, you'll be disappointed. AMD was unsurprisingly focused on corporate customers at its event, and there was no mention of mainstream parts. With that said, it won't be at all surprising if AMD shares more about next-gen Ryzen hardware in the months ahead.
