Lenovo has announced a new lineup of PCs, tablets and monitors at Tech World 2021. The most notable of the bunch is the IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon — a 14-inch Windows 11 laptop that weighs 2.37 lbs and is equipped with an OLED display made by Samsung. As its name implies, the device's chassis is made of carbon fiber and magnesium alloy for lightness and strength. Its display has a QHD+ resolution and 16:10 aspect ratio, with features that include a 90Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision and true black certification. Customers can also opt to get a touchscreen version that's strengthened with Gorilla Glass.
Lenovo
The device is powered by AMD's Ryzen 7 5800U Series Mobile Processors (up to 8-core) with AMD Radeon Graphics, and customers can get the NVIDIA GeForce MX450 graphics card as an optional install. Buyers can also equip the laptop with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage. Other features include up to 14.5 hours of battery life, WiFi 6 and built-in Alexa support with an Alexa Show experience. It will be available in Cloud Grey starting in October 2021 with prices starting at $1,290.
Another notable device in the brand's new lineup is the Chromebook Duet 5. It's a 2-in-1 laptop-tablet hybrid running Chrome OS with access to Google Play. The device has a laptop-grade keyboard that can be detached from its 13.3-inch OLED display and is powered by the Snapdragon 7c Gen 2 SoC. It comes with 256GB of SSD storage and up to 8GB of memory. The Duet 5 will also be available in October in Storm Grey or Abyss Blue for at least $430.
Those who prefer a larger laptop could get the ldeaPad Slim 7 Pro instead. It's a 16-inch Windows 11 laptop with a QHD IPS screen, powered by AMD's Ryzen 7 5800H Mobile Processors. The device can be equipped with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU and can have up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage. It will be out in October for at least $1,449.
We checked out a couple of ambitious Samsung products this week, plus a few other gadgets. Cherlynn Low tested the Galaxy Z Fold 3 smartphone, which is the third generation of Samsung’s foldable hybrid, and the Galaxy Watch 4, which is one of the first devices to run on the new Wear OS platform. James Trew popped off keys and customized the Keychron Q1 keyboard, while Daniel Cooper was pleased with his time with HP’s light yet capable Pavilion Aero 13 laptop.
Although Cherlynn Low likes a lot of the improvements made to the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and calls it an impressive piece of tech, she still isn’t sure it can replace a regular smartphone for most people. The third generation of the folding device has a stronger, redesigned screen, a streamlined hinge and a robust aluminum build, and Samsung says it’s 80 percent more durable than previous models. According to Cherlynn, it easily withstood being thrown in a purse full of sharp and heavy objects, and the IPX8 water-resistance kept it safe from water droplets.
The Fold 3’s external 6.2-inch, 2,268 x 832 display refreshes at 120Hz and uses a Dynamic AMOLED panel, which made for fast scrolling and vibrant images. The phone also has S Pen support, although the stylus costs extra and there isn’t a slot for it on the device. There’s also more software support to improve the full-screen experience, like Multi Window and Flex Mode panels, plus five onboard cameras, which generally produced bright and colorful shots. Despite these wins, she felt that the device was over-reaching and attempting to do too much to achieve mainstream adoption.
Cherlynn Low is candid about how the Galaxy Watch 4 makes her feel, calling it and the rest of Samsung’s smartwatches the best Android wearable options around. The combination of capable hardware with intuitive software features and comprehensive health tracking continue to provide a satisfying experience. The Galaxy Watch 4 adds some interesting marquee features with body composition scans and snore detection, but Cherlynn says she’ll need more time to determine how useful these features are as they are, for now, somewhat unreliable.
The Galaxy Watch 4 includes a sharp 1.4-inch screen with a 450 x 450 resolution, a touch sensitive rotating bezel, and an updated 5nm processor with more storage. It also supports gesture controls that allow you to respond to calls or messages, but Cherlynn says they don’t work very well yet. She was also disappointed with the watch’s battery life, which barely made it through a day. She was more impressed with how accurately and quickly it registered her walking, and she liked that the watch tracks 95 different workouts. She also was pleased that the Wear OS platform strongly echoed the intuitive UI strengths of Tizen, save for the new ability to download apps directly from the Play Store. Despite some hiccups, she’d still recommend the Galaxy Watch 4 or Watch 4 Classic to Android users.
Keychron is known for making economical keyboards and James Trew says its newest offering, the Q1, is affordable, easy to customize and full-featured. The Q1 has hot-swappable switches and an Aviator style USB-C, which should appeal to both avid tinkerers and those who are interested in getting deeper into the geeky details of mechanical keyboards. It comes with a keycap puller and a switch remover, plus keycaps for Windows and MacOS layouts, but it lacks Bluetooth so you’ll have to live with it as a wired peripheral.
The Q1 features the expected RGB key lighting, but has a south-facing integration for a more subtle effect. Inside are a noise-reducing foam deck and screw-in stabilizers for steadier keys. James particularly liked the option to etch a customized metal badge where the Insert key goes. He reported that swapping out keys was easy, and that using the companion Via app was a convenient way to customize the Q1. However, he points out that, at 3.5 pounds, the Q1 isn’t designed for portability and that its height cannot be adjusted.
Daniel Cooper found plenty of reasons to recommend HP’s new Pavilion Aero. The lightest laptop yet from the company weighs in at a mere 2.2 pounds and still manages to fit in a 13.3-inch, 16:10 display with 1,920 x 1,200 resolution. Rounding out the specs list on our review unit was AMD’s Ryzen 5800U with Radeon Integrated Graphics, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Daniel said the build quality is solid, save for the malleable display hinge; the keyboard is well-engineered and satisfying; and the trackpad has tolerable accuracy. He also approved of the battery, which lasted for 9 hours and 43 minutes during testing.
He was less thrilled that the keyboard wasn’t backlit by default, but you can pay $20 extra to get that. And while he was pleased by the performance of the WideVision 720p webcam, he said the downward-firing B&O speakers pumped out audio you could put up with but not fully enjoy. The preinstalled software was another annoyance — getting pop-ups for plugins is never appreciated. Being a relatively affordable laptop, Aero isn’t set up for intensive gaming but Daniel was able to play Fortnite pretty smoothly with medium graphics power. Overall, he says the Aero is clearly punching above its weight and could almost be recommended as an alternative to the Dell XPS 13 for those with tighter budgets.
Razer’s new 14-inch Blade laptop hits all the right notes for Devindra Hardawar: It’s plenty powerful thanks to an NVIDIA RTX 30-series GPU and AMD’s latest processor, and at just under four pounds, it’s still light enough to carry comfortably. Featuring a minimalistic design and a sleek black aluminum case, Devindra’s review unit came equipped with an RGB LED keyboard, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a quad-HD 165Hz display. He reports that the laptop easily handled demanding games even in maxed-out settings and that the ray tracing performance was solid.
Devindra also liked the responsiveness of the keyboard, but said the layout felt a bit cramped for longer gaming sessions. During battery testing, the Blade 14 made it 10 hours and 50 minutes (running productivity tasks, not games). But during heavy gaming sessions, Devindra reports that the CPU reached up to 94 degrees Celsius, which is unusually high. Another downside? The RAM isn’t upgradeable like it is in the larger Blade 15 and 17 laptops. He says if those compromises aren’t deal breakers, then this is worth recommending given its $1,800 starting price.
Among all the themed restaurants and dining experiences in the world, Park Row, a new dining venture in London, tries to keep things a little classier than the rest. No costumed heroes for a selfie with, no lurid colors (beside the Joker-esque neon signs in the restrooms) and even a big-name executive chef from a Michelin-starred restaurant.
While I didn’t get to experience the high-tech (and high-price) Monarch Theater 11-course spectacle, with projectors, floating plates and more, I hunted down myriad easter eggs and subtle nods to the DC Comics Universe lovingly sewn into the building. With a secret entrance dressed as Wayne Manor, a Batcave staircase and a frosty Penguin statue overseeing the restaurant, it looks the part. There are a lot of playful touches, several of which I mention in my review here, but there are some I didn’t get to squeeze in, like a secret wine list — “supplied by Bruce Wayne’s own private cellar” — aimed at big-spending drinkers.
I’m fascinated by the Park Row pitch, a premium restaurant given DC Comics’ blessing that didn’t make me cringe. Alongside the new premium (thousands-of-dollars) Star Wars experience at Walt Disney World, entertainment franchises are courting its spendiest fans.
Like most 14-inch gaming laptops, the Blade 14's biggest selling point is that it's — unsurprisingly — lighter than most 15-inch notebooks. Razer's own innovations start to work against it, though. The Blade 15 currently weighs around 4.4 pounds, whereas the 14 clocks in at 3.9 pounds. The Blade 14 would have seemed more impressive when the 15-inch model was upwards of 4.6 pounds, but it's actually a bit hefty compared to competitors like the 3.5-pound ASUS Zephyrus G14. With powerful AMD CPU and NVIDIA GPU options and tons of ports, Razer has made another strong laptop, but according to Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar, the Blade 15 might be a more suitable machine for most of us.
If you’re not looking for a powerful gaming laptop like the Razer Blade 14, we’ve updated our ultraportable laptop guide. Dell’s XPS 13 still rules the roost, but we also highlight the best thin-and-light MacBook as well as the best convertible machine, if that’s what you’re shopping for.
And Rosamund Pike steals the show as the magical Moiraine.
Amazon has shared the first trailer for its long-awaited adaptation of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time. If you’re a newcomer to the fantasy series, the clip sketches out the basics of the world the author created before his death in 2007. Amazon first announced it was working on a live-action adaptation of Robert Jordan’s 14-volume fantasy back in 2018.
The tool is only in the concept stage at this point.
A few years ago, Disney fired Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn over tweets he wrote between 2008 and 2012. While the company later rehired Gunn, he’s just one of many who had an old social media post come back to haunt him. In recent years, some Twitter users have turned to third-party tools to sweep away old tweets of the past.
Reported by Bloomberg, the company has plans to test its own feature for people to automatically archive tweets after a predetermined amount of time. The tool is currently in the concept phase and doesn’t have a release date, but Twitter is apparently considering a number of time options, from 30 through to 90 days.
Apple's fabled AR and VR headset may have to depend heavily on another device. The Informationsources claim the headset will need to wirelessly communicate with a host device like an iPhone, iPad or computer that can handle most of the computing. The chip inside the wearable apparently won't be as powerful as Apple's in-house chips. In fact, Apple supposedly just completed "tape-out" (completed the physical design) for the main chip, display driver and image sensor, so things are still a while away.
It promises images with astonishing detail and low light performance.
Samsung just announced the ISOCELL HP1, a new camera sensor it says is the first 200-megapixel image sensor (with 0.64μm pixels) made for mobile devices. It added that the silicon is already small enough to fit in mobile hardware and the promise of all of those extra pixels is to retain fidelity when pictures are cropped or resized.
The biggest innovation might not be the magical megapixel number, but ChameleonCell, which Samsung explains is variable pixel binning, depending on the environment. In very low light, the camera bins down (by a factor of 16) to a 12.5-megapixel sensor, which should result in brighter, less noisy images than other camera sensors. We’ll have to wait and see.
Razer has finally found the perfect balance between power and portability with the Blade 14. It features AMD's latest processor, NVIDIA's RTX 30-series GPUs, and a responsive 14-inch display, but it wraps all of that together in a sub-four-pound package. What's not to love? While Razer's 13-inch Blade Stealth is even lighter, I've always found it to be woefully underpowered and dramatically overpriced. But the Blade 14 represents what Razer does best: delivering powerful hardware that feels more polished than the competition.
Imagine a shrunken-down version of the Blade 15, and you've pretty much got the 14-inch. It has the same sleek black aluminum case, and a minimalist aesthetic that resembles Apple's MacBook Pro more than a typical gaming laptop. That, of course, has been Razer's major accomplishment over the last few years: Its computers are still the closest Windows users can get to Apple's polished hardware. The only major feature that screams "gaming laptop" is the Blade 14's RGB LED keyboard, which allows every key to display its own color (something you can also turn off easily, too).
Like most 14-inch gaming laptops these days, the Blade 14's biggest selling point is that it's lighter than most 15-inch notebooks. Here's where Razer's own innovations start to work against it, though. The Blade 15 currently weighs around 4.4 pounds, whereas the 14 clocks in at 3.9 pounds. That's only a half-pound difference, something that could be noticeable if you were comparing these laptops in each hand, but less so in normal usage. The Blade 14 would have seemed more impressive when the 15-inch model was upwards of 4.6 pounds, but now it's actually a bit hefty compared to competitors like the 3.5-pound ASUS Zephyrus G14.
This isn't the first time that Razer has had a 14-inch laptop either, which takes some of the luster away from the Blade 14. The last model dropped around three years ago, toting a 7th-gen Intel CPU and weak NVIDIA GTX 1650 graphics. What makes this new version stand out is under the hood. It's the first time Razer has used an AMD processor — every Blade 15 comes with the powerful Ryzen 9 5900HX — and it also has NVIDIA's fastest RTX 30 graphics.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Still, it's worth noting even those graphics cards are constrained by the Blade 14's size. NVIDIA lets every PC maker tweak the wattage of their GPUs, which is helpful for dealing with thermal constraints, but that also means performance can vary wildly. Basically, not every RTX 3080 is created equal, especially when it comes to gaming laptops. Keep that caveat in mind, because it'll explain some of the performance benchmarks I ended up seeing.
Our review unit was the most expensive configuration, a $2,800 build with the Ryzen 9 5900HX, RTX 3080, 16GB of fixed RAM, 1TB SSD, and a quad HD 165Hz display Given that caliber hardware, the Blade 14 had no troubling handling demanding games and torturous benchmarks. In Destiny 2, reached up to 120fps while playing in 1,440p with maxed-out settings. It also looked smooth on the laptop's 14-inch screen, with excellent color reproduction and solid brightness. Ray tracing performance was also solid; I was able to see between 60 and 70fps in Control while playing in 1,440p with maxed graphics, DLSS and medium ray tracing.
Still, I definitely noticed the compromises Razer had to make to squeeze the RTX 3080 into such a small case. It was slower than the larger Lenovo Legion 5 Pro, equipped with an RTX 3070 GPU, in all of our 3DMark tests and Geekbench 5's compute benchmark. Clearly, Lenovo was able to squeeze out more performance from what's supposed to be a slower GPU. Compared to the ASUS Zephyrus G15, which has a Ryzen 9 5900HS and an RTX 3080, the Blade 15 lags behind slightly in all of our 3D benchmarks.
I also noticed that the Blade 14 could get toasty, with its CPU reaching up to 94 degrees Celsius when I really stressed it out. It's rare for me to see processors going beyond 85 Celsius in gaming notebooks today, so that was particularly surprising. There were times when the bottom of the Blade 14 felt too hot to touch. I was glad that the GPU generally stayed below 84 Celsius under load, which is more in line with competitors. Despite running so hot, it lasted 10 hours and 50 minutes in our battery benchmark. That’s mainly for productivity tasks, though. Expect it to last a lot less if you’re gaming unplugged.
The Blade 14's case size also has implications for its keyboard. While it looks and feels just like Razer's existing laptop designs, with a satisfying amount of key travel and responsiveness, the layout is far more cramped than the Blade 15. That led to a bit of finger pain after extended Destiny 2 and Overwatch sessions. Maybe I'm just becoming less dexterous in my older age, but I think that alone could be a dealbreaker for some gamers. You're going to be hitting those WASD keys quite a bit in shooters, after all.
Port-wise, the Blade 14 crams in most of what you'd want: two USB-C 3.2 connections with charging; two USB 3.2 Type A sockets; a full-sized HDMI port; a headphone jack; and a custom power cable. It's definitely nice to be able to charge up using a normal USB-C cable, but those won't be powerful enough to juice up while gaming. Thankfully, the Blade 14's bundled power adapter is relatively small, unlike the bricks that gaming laptops used to come with.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
As usual, I would have liked to see an SD card reader, but that's just another reason to consider the larger Razer notebooks. Similarly, the Blade 14 doesn't have upgradable RAM, which means you're stuck with the 16GB of memory it comes with. You can upgrade the NVMe SSD, but you'll be limited to 2TB. The Blade 15 and 17, meanwhile, let you add more RAM and up to two NVMe SSDs.
The Blade 14 starts at $1,800 with an RTX 3060 and a 1080p 144Hz screen. Given that price point, I'd recommend the Blade 15 for most shoppers. You'd get a larger screen, more customizable and faster hardware, as well as fewer thermal restrictions. And when it comes to 14-inch competition, the ASUS Zephyrus G14 is another solid choice (though I'd give Razer the upper hand when it comes to long-term reliability).
Still, there’s a lot to love about the Blade 14. More so than the overpriced Blade Stealth 13, this new model is a light laptop that'll satisfy most of your hardware demands. So if you're in love with the idea of a sub-four-pound Blade, and don't mind the compromises involved, then go with the gaming gods.
A decade ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find a laptop weighing less than three pounds with a profile slimmer than a paperback book. Now every manufacturer has at least one, making even some of the most jaded tech reviewers exclaim “how did they do this?”
But, even with the ubiquity of ultraportable laptops, some continue to stand out for their ability to balance sleek designs with powerful performance. As with any else, though, the best ultraportable laptops still demand some sacrifices. We’re here to help you decide which ones are worth making.
What to expect
The first thing to remember is that the term “ultraportable” is subjective. There aren’t any hard-and-fast rules governing the weight and thickness. We at Engadget define an ultraportable laptop as one that weighs less than three pounds and measures less than 0.75 inch thick at its widest point. Usually that means you’re talking about 13-inch and 14-inch laptops, though occasionally a 15-inch device hits the mark too.
Most ultraportables have high-end design touches like ultra-slim bezels, gem-cut edges, and premium materials because they tend to sit at the top of the line. Companies spend a lot of time and money engineering them to be as thin and light as possible without sacrificing too much on power and battery life. They tend to be made from metal, carbon fiber or a mix of the two, and their enclosures are usually just thick enough to include the latest Intel or Ryzen processors, large batteries and enough RAM and storage for most people’s needs.
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
What you won’t find in most ultraportables are high-powered GPUs or loads of ports. Most have integrated graphics chips (think: Intel UHD) because anything more powerful would take up space and pose heat-management problems. When it comes to ports, the edges of these laptops simply don’t have a lot of free space. You’re almost guaranteed to get a couple Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C ports on the newest notebooks, but some have already abandoned the USB-A standard, which is a shame.
Also, due to the flagship caliber of most ultraportables, you can expect to pay top dollar for these. Most start at $1,000, gradually increasing in price as you bump up the specs. However, there are a few we’d recommend that often come in below the $1,000 mark, either thanks to slightly lower starting prices or frequent sales. We’ve included a “budget” pick in this guide, but just know that “budget” in this case doesn’t mean cheap; it means relatively affordable.
One other thing that’s important to consider is battery life. Manufacturers have gotten better at eking out more juice from their devices. We recommend buying one rated for at least eight to 10 hours.
You can take all of that advice and wade through the plethora of product pages on the Internet to find the best ultraportable laptop for you. But if you don’t have that kind of time or patience, we’ve compiled a list of the devices that we consider to be the best options available right now.
Engadget picks
Best overall: Dell XPS 13
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
Dell didn’t overhaul the XPS 13 for 2021, because why fix what isn’t broken? Instead, the company brought in more optional add-ons so customers could make its flagship laptop as personalized as possible — as long as they have the cash to do so.
The XPS 13 has been one of our favorite laptops for years thanks to its slim, attractive design, powerful performance and solid battery life. In 2020, we saw Dell remove the excessive chin bezel below the screen, letting the 13.4-inch display extend from corner to corner. It now has a 16:10 aspect ratio, which is better than before but not quite as good as a 3:2 ratio. We prefer taller screens because they reduce the amount of scrolling necessary to browse web pages and review documents comfortably. The XPS 13’s display continues to support HDR and Dolby Vision, so you’ll get top-notch video quality whenever you stream. New for 2021 is the optional 3,456 x 2,160 OLED display, which you can add to the XPS 13 for about $300 extra.
The XPS 13 remains just as thin and light as it has been for the past couple of years. It weighs only 2.64 pounds and measures just over a half-inch thick at its widest point. We also like its spacious trackpad and comfortable, scissor-switch keyboard. It may not be the flashiest ultraportable on our list, but honestly we kinda dig the XPS’ subtle design. It looks and feels like a flagship device, but it never feels ostentatious.
Those set on the XPS 13 in 2021 will find Tiger Lake processors powering the laptop, and the option to trick it out with up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. Notably, the base model includes 8GB of RAM much better than the 4GB minimum on past models. Four gigs is rarely enough for a daily driver (unless you’re looking at a Chromebook), and it’s reassuring to see Dell finally came around on that. If you’re going to upgrade anything when ordering directly from Dell, we recommend springing for the Core i5 processor instead of sticking with the base Core i3.
Apple continues to make the MacBook Air a compelling option for most people thanks to the M1 chipset in the latest model. And that’s really the star of the show here — the MacBook Air M1 is blazing fast, running native apps like Safari and GarageBand without breaking a sweat. The laptop wakes almost instantly when you open its lid, sites load swiftly and scrolling is seamless. And because M1 is ARM-based, you’ll be able to run iOS apps on the Air, too.
While the MacBook Air M1 looks familiar on the outside, a big difference under the hood is that there’s no fan. Although you sacrifice a bit in the way of heat management, it means the laptop runs more quietly than before. And just because its appearance hasn’t changed, doesn’t mean it looks dated. It still has an attractive 2.8-pound unibody enclosure, a gorgeous 13.3-inch Retina Display, a TouchID fingerprint sensor and a comfortable keyboard with springy buttons (no problematic butterfly keys to be found here).
Along with the M1 processor, the latest MacBook Air comes most readily with 8GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage. If you order directly from Apple, you can increase the RAM to 16GB and get as much as 2TB of internal storage. A fully specced-out model will set you back $1,800, but most people will find that their needs are met by the 256GB base model.
The Spectre x360 13 is the culmination of years of improvements on HP’s part. It combines most of the things we’d want in a laptop, including a versatile convertible design. Old-school 2-in-1s had a tendency to be wobbly and unstable, but this is anything but. Its metallic hinges provide a sturdy structure for the machine when in laptop mode and spin smoothly whenever you need to work in tent or tablet mode.
The model we reviewed in 2019 had a 1080p touchscreen, but HP gives you the option to outfit the Spectre x360 13 with a 4K AMOLED panel — a good choice for creatives and streaming aficionados (just be prepared for shorter battery life). By no means is a 4K display necessary on a 13-inch machine, but companies have been adding them as options on flagships to satisfy all the display nerds out there. Regardless of the screen you choose, the laptop’s 90-percent screen-to-body ratio will provide an immersive experience when you’re watching movies on Netflix. The keyboard is also quite comfortable and we particularly like that HP made the buttons as large as possible, stretching them all the way to the edges of the chassis.
In addition, HP included an IR camera for Windows Hello, a Precision touchpad and a few more ports than you’d expect to see on an ultraportable of this size. Its edges hold two USB-C ports for charging and data, a USB-A port and a microSD slot. The machine’s 14.5-hour battery life makes it even more versatile, as it lasts an entire work or school day with juice left to spare.
The worst thing we can say about the Spectre x360 13 is that its webcam produces grainy video and HP includes a bit more bloatware than other OEMs. Also, the machine's jewelry-like design may not be to some shoppers’ tastes, but it’s not garish enough for us to knock it either. It also helps that the base model now includes an 11th-gen Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and an FHD touchscreen for just over $1,000. What’s more, HP is one of the few companies to include a stylus with its flagship convertible at no extra cost, meaning you can use it as a digital notebook straight out of the box.
In order to appeal to Gen-Z users, HP made its Pavilion Aero 13 laptop as thin and light as possible while keeping it at a relatively affordable price. Starting at $749, the laptop weighs only 2.2 pounds and takes some design notes from the company's Spectre and Elitebook lines. That makes it a pretty attractive machine, and that's not something we take for granted at this price range.
While its keyboard is not backlit by default, it is comfortable to type on even if the layout is slightly more cramped than usual thanks to the page up/down key column on the right side. You also get a big trackpad and a 13.3-inch 1,920 x 1,200 display on the base model, plus the option to upgrade to a 2,560 x 1,600 display if you like. We also appreciate the port variety on this machine: two USB-A ports, one HDMI connector, one USB-C port and a 3.5mm audio jack. HP has generally done a good job keeping as many connectors as possible on even its flagship laptops, and it's nice to see that its budget notebooks received the same treatment.
We reviewed the top-tier model that costs $999, but the base model isn't anything to scoff at. It includes a Ryzen 5 5600U processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, which is impressive when you consider other flagship laptops with similar RAM and storage amounts cost $250 more to start. While it does force some sacrifices, the Pavilion Aero 13 is not one to overlook if you want a good value laptop.
Apple's Mac Mini M1 is a good option for those eager to replace an aging desktop but also want to conserve space. We've seen the machine go on sale a number of times this year, and now it's back down to a record low of $600. Amazon has the Mac Mini M1 for $659 right now, but an automatically applied coupon for $59.01 will bring the final price down to just about $600.
We haven't tested the Mac Mini fully, but we have tested Apple's M1 laptops and we've been mostly impressed. Designs haven't changed much across the board with Apple's latest computers, so the M1 chipset really is the star of the show. Using an eight-core CPU and an eight-core GPU, it makes everything run more smoothly and quickly, and there's an additional 16-core Neural Engine that handles machine learning tasks. The base Mac Mini M1 includes 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, which should be just fine for most people, but keep in mind that neither RAM or storage are upgradeable.
All of the new stuff is inside the desktop, so the Mac Mini M1 will look very familiar to those that have used the machine before. It's a small box that will fit neatly in most desk setups, and it includes two Thunderbolt ports, two USB-A connectors, an HDMI port, an Ethernet port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Even at its normal price, the Mac Mini M1 is the cheapest device you can get with Apple's latest chipset, making it a cost-efficient option if you're itching to get a new desktop. However, there are rumors that Apple could debut a redesigned Mac Mini soon. However, there's no guarantee we'll hear about that if and when Apple announces the latest iPhones later this month.
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After months of hype, Windows 11 has a release date. Microsoft has announced that Windows 11 will be available on October 5th, both as a free upgrade for qualifying Windows 10 systems as well as new PCs shipping with the OS pre-installed.
Don't assume you'll get the upgrade on day one, though. This is a gradual rollout that will prioritize newer hardware and use "intelligence models" to determine who gets the upgrade first, including reliability and device age. All supporting machines will get the update by mid-2022, but this suggests you may be toward the back of the queue if you're using relatively old hardware. At least some shipping Windows 10 PCs will be on the fast track for Windows 11 updates, including models from Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and (of course) Microsoft.
Notably, though, Android app support won't be available on launch. Microsoft now only expects to introduce the feature in a Windows Insider preview build sometime in the "coming months." That's not completely shocking given the challenges of translating mobile apps to a mouse-and-keyboard experience, but this still means one of Windows 11's tentpole features won't be available for a long while.
When Microsoft released the Windows 11 Insider preview earlier this summer, it did so with some confusion around minimum system requirements. It quickly reversed course, saying that more people could install the software update than its requirements originally stated so the company could gather more performance on how the OS performed. After a few months of users testing and providing feedback, Microsoft says that, for the most part, its system requirements from June will stand — but there are a few notable changes.
This means that you'll need a compatible 64-bit processor, 4GB of memory and 64GB of storage, as well as "UEFI secure boot, graphics requirements and TPM 2.0." For the most part, Microsoft is still requiring an 8th-generation or newer Intel processor, but the company is adding a few 7th-generation Intel options to the supported list, including Intel Core X-series, Xeon W-series and the Intel Core 7820HQ. For the latter, Microsoft will only support "select devices that shipped with modern drivers based on Declarative, Componentized, Hardware Support Apps (DCH) design principles, including Surface Studio 2."
After working with AMD, Microsoft has declined to include the first generation of AMD Zen processors in its officially supported list. The full list of supported processors can be found here.
There is some good news for people running older hardware, though. According to The Verge, Microsoft won't prohibit computers running processors on its "supported" list from installing Windows 11 — they just won't be able to do so through the official Windows update software. You'll instead have to download a Windows 11 ISO file and install it yourself. The Verge says this method will primarily be for businesses to try Windows 11 and it won't be publicizing this method to standard users.
If you're still wondering whether or not your computer will be able to officially run Windows 11, Microsoft has released an update for its PC Health Check, which was originally giving users some rather vague and unhelpful messages regarding compatibility. The new version should make it much clearer whether your computer is supported and, if not, what it needs to meet the Windows 11 system requirements.
We rarely see the MacBook Air M1 drop below $900, but that's the case today on Amazon. Apple's thin-and-light laptop is on sale for $850 right now, or $150 off its normal price. The base model has been hovering at $900 on Amazon for the past few months, likely to stay competitive with Apple's education pricing during the back-to-school season, but this is the first time since a brief moment at the end of July that we've seen the Air M1 this low. At the time of writing this, only the gold model is in stock — both silver and space gray have sold out.
This is far and away the best Apple laptop for most people thanks to its slender body, lack of fan noise and killer performance. We gave it a score of 94 in part for those attributes, plus we also like its lovely Retina display, comfortable keyboard and trackpad and excellent 16-hour battery life.
The star of the show here is Apple's M1 chipset, which makes the Air run incredibly fast. The notebook wakes almost instantly when you open the lid, native apps run super smoothly and the machine as a whole is impressively responsive. You're also able to run iOS apps with the M1 chip, which is a fun feature to have. Graphics performance is noteworthy, too: MacBook Airs have not been gaming machines in the past, and we probably still wouldn't use it to run intense titles, but it performed well while playing Apple Arcade games and even Fortnite. And since the laptop doesn't have a fan inside, it'll be much quieter than most previous Apple laptops you may have had.
Our biggest complaints about the MacBook Air M1 are its paltry 720p webcam and its limit of two USB-C ports. While living the dongle life can get frustrating, it's a small price to pay for an otherwise stellar laptop that can handle most things you'll through at it.
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Amazon is ushering in the weekend with a one-day-only sale on a bunch of Razer laptops and gaming accessories. Everything from headsets to mice to microphones has been discounted, but the biggest savings you'll find are on some of the 2020 Razer Blade 15 laptops. Of note is the Raze Blade 15 Advanced gaming laptop with a 10th-gen Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super Max-Q graphics, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, which is down to a record-low of $1,700.
Those looking for slightly better graphics and more storage have another option. The Blade 15 Advanced with the same specs as listed above but with NVIDIA RTX 2080 Super Max-Q graphics and 1TB of storage has dropped down to $2,200, or $285 off its normal price. The 2020 Blade 17 Pro is also on sale: a model with a 10th-gen Core i7 processor, RTX 2080 Super Max-Q graphics, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is $950 off, bringing it down to $2,250. If you're just looking to get your foot in the door with one of these gaming laptops, you can snag the Razer Blade 15 base with a Core i7 processor, GeForce GTX 1660 Ti graphics, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for $1,048 (although we did it about $50 less on Prime Day back in June).
The Blade has been one of our favorite gaming notebooks for a while. It's on the pricier side, but it's worth it if you want a slick-looking laptop with a bunch of customization options when it comes to specs. And since it is on the higher end of the price spectrum, it's always better to wait for a sale like this so you can get the model you want while saving a bit of cash. Just keep in mind that these discounted models aren't the latest from Razer. The 2021 laptops came out recently, decked out with 11th-gen Intel processors, NVIDIA RTX 30-series graphics and QHD displays — along with steep price tags to match.
If you already have a solid gaming machine, there are a bunch of Razer peripherals on sale, too. The BlackWidow V3 mechanical keyboard is down to an all-time low of $90, and it has yellow switches, a a digital roller and media key, Chroma RGB lighting and an included wrist rest. Also discounted are the Kraken headset, which is down to $50, and the DeathAdder Essential wired mouse, which you can grab for only $20.
