Thin and light and affordability don’t usually go hand in hand. However, Acer’s Swift 3 has always been one of the best value for money options when you’re looking at getting something affordable, thin and light. However, unlike previous years, the Swift 3 comes with an AMD Ryzen option which promises top notch performance while maintaining a lot of the features of the popular laptop.
We’re going to be asking the hard questions when it comes to the Swift 3 in this review – should you buy it? Is it worth your money? And does the Ryzen variant hold up to the hype AMD has built around their silicon offerings?
Design
Let’s start by taking a look at the overall design of the Swift 3. Overall, the design approach that Acer took to this laptop is more utilitarian compared to the rest of the Swift line up (barring the Swift 1). In fact, you’d be hard-pressed in finding any of the design finesse of the 5 or 7; which is, to be honest, expected at the price point that the Swift 3 sits at.
The laptop is a rectangular slab which tapers gradually from the hinge to the tip. That said, the larger, thicker back of the hinge area allows it a better, more stable footing when it is open. There were rarely times when the display ended up rocking back and forth on a rocky, uneven surface during the review period. The thickness also allows ample space for Acer to equip the Swift 3 with a full array of ports from HDMI to USB Type-C.
While this also means that the laptop lacks in design flair, it makes more utilitarian sense. Its ports are readily accessible while minimising its footprint. However, unlike its siblings, the Swift 3 is a whole lot heftier; coming in at 1.2kg. Yes, I did call 1.2kg hefty. Keep in mind, the rest of the Swift series come in at below 1kg. That said, Acer’s decision to have the Swift 3 in purple a touch of pizzaz that keeps the Swift 3 fresh. It’s also one of those colours that seems to grow on you.
Hardware
The Acer Swift 3 may be a little lacking on the design flair but it’s utilitarian approach to the thin and light has spurred the company to pack a formidable punch when it comes to the hardware. Coming with the Ryzen 5, the laptop is no slouch when it comes to performance. It clocks in a respectable 2.3Ghz with 6 cores for better multicore processing; enabling it to undertake more demanding tasks.
Specifications
Acer Swift 3 | SF314-42-R43G
As tested
Processor (clock)
AMD Ryzen 5-4500U Hexa-core 2.3 GHz
GPU
AMD Radeon Vega 6 Graphics
Display
14-inch Full HD TFT LCD 1920×1080 pixels
Memory
8GB LPDDR4 SDRAM 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD
Networking and Connections
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax Bluetooth 5.0 HDMI 1 USB 2.0 Type-A 1 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A 1 USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C 3.5mm headphone jack
Battery
3-cell Lithium Ion 11 Hours battery life (claimed)
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Miscellaneous
Fingerprint Reader Backlit Keyboard Stereo Speakers Microphone DisplayPort over USB-C USB-C charging 5 V; 3 A DC-in port 19 V; 65 W
Features
While the Swift 3 may not be as feature packed as it’s siblings, the laptop comes with features that make sense and fit the utilitarian and functional approach that Acer has taken for it. The laptop comes with a full array of ports including a USB-C, a USB-A with support for USB2.0, a USB-A with support for USB3.1, an HDMI port and even a 3.5mm headphone jack which its competition seems to be missing. The full array of ports should ensure that users are well equipped to handle any connectivity hurdles that may come their way. However, like most laptops nowadays, the Swift 3 is powerless when it comes face to face with a dreaded VGA port; you will be resigned to the dongle life for VGA. In addition, the laptop also doesn’t come with an SD card reader.
Ports aside, the Swift 3 does have many other features. However, it does come with WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity. The former allows the laptop to take advantage of the faster 802.11ax WiFi bandwidth which gives it an edge over other laptops in a similar price range. That said, not many networks use WiFi 6 just yet – but getting ready for the future is always a plus now, isn’t it. Bluetooth 5.0 allows you take advantage of wireless earbuds and other peripherals without sacrificing too much battery life.
However, the biggest advantage that the laptop over its competitors is the fact that it’s lightweight. The Swift 3 is definitely a contender for one of the lightest laptops in its price range. Coming in at slightly over 1kg, it will definitely be one of the go-to laptops for people looking for one which they can easily take on the go without worrying about overloading the bag or breaking your back from carrying it around.
Performance
Since the Swift 3 is so utilitarian and focused on keeping you productive, it comes as no surprise that Acer has chosen to offer an Ryzen 5-4500U processor option in the Swift 3. AMD’s new processors have outperformed its competition in benchmarks consistently over the past few years since the release of AMD’s Zen architecture. The same holds true for AMD’s mobile processors which is being used here in the Swift 3. However, benchmarks are only part of the story, we’re focusing on the overall user experience when it comes to using the laptop.
The Swift 3 is definitely a capable power house when it comes to everyday tasks. Word processing, working with PowerPoint and even large excel files are definitely not a problem for the laptop. What did stand out was the laptop’s ability to edit 1080p video in Adobe Premiere with ease. In fact, it could even handle 4K video editing with limited overlays and additions. However, if you’re going to be doing massive video editing this isn’t the laptop for you. The Ryzen 5 is good, but it is let down by the limited RAM and lack of graphics processor in the laptop.
This was made pretty clear when we tried to game on the Swift 3. On older games, it was able to handle settings at medium. It ploughed through Diablo 3 without much noise but when it came to games like Overwatch or even No Straight Roads, the laptop ran a little hot and had quite a lot of stuttering and screen tearing to keep up. It could hardly keep 30fps even with low settings. This isn’t really surprising for us as the gaming capabilities of the laptop are severely limited even though there is the built in Radeon Vega 6 graphics. The laptop also performs well with multimedia. However, the audio experience on the laptop could use some polish as the speakers sound tinny and distorted when the volume is pushed. However, at lower volumes, the audio lacks body and is, to be frank, incredibly soft. You only start hearing it audibly after the indicator passes the 40% mark in Windows.
That said, the laptop isn’t really built for gaming. In fact, it’s built for productivity on the go and the Swift 3 comes with ample battery life. Acer claims 11 hours of battery life on the Swift 3. During our time with the laptop, we easily got about 13 hours of active use time. On standby, the laptop was able to last well over a day. In fact, when we opened it about 8 hours later, the laptop had slightly more than 40% battery remaining. Even editing 1080p video on battery, the Swift 3 lasted about 3-4 hours before it needed to be plugged in.
Display
When it comes to the display of the Swift 3, it has a pretty good one for it’s price point. It comes with a 13.5-inch, 1080p Full HD display which is more than enough for a laptop of its size. The screen is crisp and the colour is relatively accurate. While it doesn’t have a touch display like the Swift 5, the screen fulfils its purpose. It allows you enough display real estate to get things done without straining your eyes too much.
The display is also near bezel-less. There is about 1-3mm of bezel on either side of the display with about 5mm on the top and bottom. The slim bezels allowed for a pretty immersive visual experience. You don’t have much pulling you out of your work or multimedia.
An unremarkably affordable laptop that does only slightly more than the basics
Overall, the Swift 3 is an unremarkable device. It’s not a jack of all trades, but it’s a thin and light laptop for those on a budget. It packs as much performance it for the price point it’s at. That said, it is a device geared for productivity and it does deliver on its promise of keeping you productive on the go. In fact, I would say it excels in it given the extra feats it accomplished. Editing 1080p video on the Swift 5 was also a feat, to see the Swift 3 able to do it without much problem is a definite plus. However, we also have to keep in mind that the Swift 3 is playing in an arena which is quickly getting crowded with similarly spec’d devices. It needs to find a way to stand out from the crowd; and, in all honesty, if it boils down to the brand, Acer is looking at an uphill battle with the Swift 3. That said, the AMD powered Swift 3 holds a peg above the competition with its performance right now – whether this holds true in the near future; we’ll have to see. All-in-all, the Swift 3 delivers on all its promises and excels further than its competition on certain fronts. However, when considering this device, it would be prudent to see if other, more powerful devices with a dedicated graphics card could serve you better. That said, if you’re looking for a slim and light productivity machine for everyday tasks, you don’t have to look further for a package that’s both affordable and give you some really good value for the money you invest in it.
Dell’s XPS line up has been the epitome of design prowess when it comes to thin and light laptops as well as 2-in-1s. The XPS 13 holds Dell’s crown in the space with feature sets tailored to people who want to be productive on the go while having a machine that is also durable and stylish. The XPS 13 was one of the first compact laptops to set the trend and has been championing the premium market space when it comes to thin and lights.
With Intel’s recent announcement of their new 11th generation processors, it comes as no surprise that the laptops are being refreshed with the latest and greatest; bringing better performance and battery life to Dell’s most popular laptops. The XPS 13 and 13 2-in-1 now boast upwards of 9 hours battery life with the XPS 13 getting as much as 19 hours.
The new Dell XPS 13 and XPS 13 2-in-1 maintain the lineup’s petite form factor while packing more processing power in the body. Both have offerings ranging from the new dual core Intel Core i3-1115G4 to the quad core Intel Core i7-1165G7 processors which pack a punch while sipping on battery power. The XPS 13 comes with an additional option for the more powerful Intel Core i7-1185G7. This is complemented with up to 32GB of on board RAM and up to 2TB of SSD memory for quick read and write on the XPS 13 while the 2-in-1 will only have a max of 1TB. The SSD should also allow you to boot into Windows within 10 seconds. Of course, being powered by the 11th Generation Intel processors, the laptops also come with the option for Intel’s new Xe graphics platform. The new graphics platform is touted to give even better graphical performance compared to last generation’s Intel UHD. If the Xe isn’t your flavour, you’ll still be able to get options with Intel UHD graphics.
Both the new XPS 13 and 13 2-in-1 come with Dell’s InfinityEdge displays with options for 4K UHD+ and FHD+ resolutions. Both have options for Touch Displays. The displays come with 500-nit brightness and cover 100% of the sRGB colour gamut for better colour reproduction and are Dolby Vision certified. They also come with EyeSafe technology which reduces the blue light emitted by the panels to ensure that your eyes aren’t strained and your circadian rhythm is maintained.
Of course, the XPS 13 and 13 2-in-1 maintain their CNC machined aluminum body for extra rigidity and durability. They also have stereo speakers tuned by Waves MaxxAudio Pro and maintain their 3.5mm headphone jack. The laptops also come with Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 modems which allow for more stable connectivity on the new Wi-Fi 6 standard (802.11ax) and support for Bluetooth 5.1. As always, the Dell XPS 13 and 13 2-in-1 come with 2 USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support and a microSD card reader.
The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 comes with a few extra perks. It has support for the Dell’s Active Pen which allows you to write on the laptop. The 13 2-in-1 also comes with support for the various different modes enabled by its hinge. It can be used in tablet mode with touch or stylus interactions or as a presentation display.
Pricing & Availability
The Dell XPS 13 will be available worldwide starting with the United States and Canada on the 1 October, 2020 with other countries following shortly thereafter. Prices will start at USD999.99 (MYR4,173.38) with specifications starting with the Intel Core i3.
The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 will be available at the same time with prices starting at USD1,249.99 (MYR5,216.73). Specifications also start with the Intel Core i3.
In Malaysia, the Dell XPS 13 will be available starting in October 2020 for MYR6,399 in only one variant coming with the Intel Core i5-1135G7 paired with 8GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage and up to UHD+ Touch display. The Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 will be available with similar specifications priced at MYR5,999 albeit with a smaller 256GB of internal memory.
We have a small confession to make. We are quite big fans of a Lenovo notebook PC. We are especially excited with Lenovo’s YOGA series of products.
There are a few good reasons why we like a Lenovo YOGA product. They look stylish, for one. They are also always innovative in solving problems we never thought of before. They are also super functional and always very well built. They are made with more practicality, functionality, and durability in mind over other things.
Today then, is a special day for us, it is the launch day of two new YOGA notebooks for Malaysia. Today sees the launch of Lenovo’s YOGA Slim 7 and the YOGA Duet 7i. Today is the launch of a new sort of form factor in the YOGA series.
Lenovo YOGA Slim 7
Source: Lenovo
The Lenovo YOGA Slim 7 is not the new form factor in the Lenovo YOGA series. It is technically the more traditional one compared to the two launched today. It is the regular clamshell notebook form factor. There are two variants of the new Lenovo YOGA Slim 7, one with Intel packed in and one with AMD packed in.
According to Lenovo, this is Lenovo’s lightest notebook PC with an 8-core CPU packed in. Yes, it is a powerful Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU clocked at 1.3GHz. Paired with 16GB of RAM and NVIDIA’s GeForce MX350 GPU, the new Slim 7i is a powerhouse on the go.
Its ample power can easily edit and work with Full HD 1080p videos on the go and you can store all of that in the provided 512GB SSD storage. Of course, you can enjoy Full HD videos too on the 14-inch Full HD 10-point multi-touch display. That and stream Netflix steadily and at a high resolution with the WiFi 6 it comes with. Security wise, you are protected via Windows Hello with an IR blaster beside the 720p webcam for facial recognition.
But it is not just all function and no form though. The Slim 7 comes with a variety of top shell to make you stand out from the crowd. You can choose between a fabric or aluminium top shell. While fabric top shells are nothing new, it does add to the premium feel of the notebook though.
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
There is an AMD version of the notebook too. The AMD variant is specced with an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U, no slouch at 2.3GHz clock speed and Radeon Graphics. The CPU Is paired to an 8GB RAM as well to make quick work of all the document processing you need. You still get 512GB of SSD storage too, for quick access to your folders and documents. Load times are greatly reduced too with an SSD.
Lenovo YOGA Duet 7i
Source: Lenovo
In our opinions, this is probably one of the most exciting YOGA convertibles that we may have seen so far. It is not like a usual Lenovo YOGA convertible where you fold the keyboard away. Instead, you can now detach the keyboard to make the Duet 7i a proper 13-inch tablet with a kickstand.
This is something that graphic designers might really like. It comes with something called E-Color Pen. It is a battery powered stylus, but it is more than just a stylus. It is also a colour sensor that allows you to pick up colours of any surfaces to be used in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Illustrator.
Of course, a designer needs to work with colours and good visuals. For that they get a 2K resolution IPS display with Dolby Vision to work with. But they need some working power too, to get the best out of their talents and stylus.
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
Source: Lenovo
The Lenovo YOGA Duet 7i comes packing an Intel Core i5-10210U quad-core CPU cocked at 1.6GHz. The CPU is paired with an 8GB RAM and up to 256GB of SSD storage space to make quick work of any visual workload requirements too. While you would appreciate a discreet GPU, the Intel UHD Graphics GPU is powerful enough to work with the likes of Adobe’s Photoshop and Illustrator.
The Batik Boutique Collaboration
Lenovo Malaysia has collaborated with The Batik Boutique, a social enterprise empowering the art of Batik fashion in Malaysia. The Batik Boutique prides themselves as a local Batik Producer that partners with local artisans and taylors for their products. The collaboration with Batik Boutique is an interesting one that is happening during the national celebrations.
The Batik Boutique and Lenovo Malaysia collaboration does not mean that you get a new fabric pattern on the Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i unfortunately. It does mean that you can get special edition sleeves for both the YOGA Slim 7i and YOGA Duet 7i though. The special sleeves are limited edition sleeves to celebrate the Merdeka and Malaysia day celebrations.
Price and Availability
The Lenovo YOGA Slim 7 AMD (14-inch) and Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i (15-inch) is now available on Lenovo Malaysia’s official online store at MYR 3,499 and MYR 4,999 onward, respectively. The Intel variant Lenovo YOGA Slim 7i (14-inch) is now available at all Lenovo Exclusive stores and online retail partners on Shopee and Lazada for MYR 5,099 onward. The Lenovo YOGA Duet 7i (13-inch) is now available on all Lenovo exclusive stores and authorised retailers including ones on Lazada and Shopee for MYR 4,099. If you get the Lenovo YOGA Duet 7i from Lenovo Malaysia’s online store though, it is priced at MYR 4,599. For more information on these products, you can visit Lenovo’s website.
The daddy of the modern Microsoft Windows based UltraBook that is supposed to compete with the likes of a MacBook Air was the ZenBook, if you can remember it. Asus introduced their first ZenBook line-up in 2012 to be ultra-efficient, ultra-long battery life, ultra-portable notebooks like a Windows PC never was. It brought out a whole slew of things that we thought we will never see from a Windows platform. It kick-started a few races toward the longest possible battery life, the smallest possible package, and even the lightest packages with different display sizes.
It was their most premium consumer product as well at that moment. A Windows notebook PC that would be as expensive as a MacBook was quite unheard of at that time. The ZenBook, in that sense, was a pioneer.
Fast forward to 2020 though and we have a new family of premium UltraBooks from ASUS, and it is the ASUS ZenBook 14 and 13. The numbers are an indication of sizes, technically. So the 14 refers to the 14-inch display while then 13 refers to the 13-inch, quite obvious really.
Like many of the manufacturers, ASUS likes to claim that their stuff, especially the ZenBook, is the thinnest or lightest at something. It is all sort of marketing gibberish to be honest. With the new classic ZenBook though, they claim that they have the thinnest 13-inch and 14-inch notebooks with full I/O ports.
While this is not the thinnest 13-inch or even 14-inch notebooks you can find in the market, there may be some truth to ASUS’ marketing blurb. In short, you cannot find an ultrabook today that has a full USB Type-A and full HDMI port. So, this claim of the thinnest with full I/O ports must be true right? It is true, but is this claim enough to win over your MYR 4,699? Is it enough to keep you away from other lighter, smaller, and more compelling ultrabooks in the market like the Acer Swift 5, for example? We find out.
Design
Like any other review, we start with the design. Yes, it is important, you are going to be looking at your notebook PC almost on a daily basis now that we are working from home on a near permanent basis. Okay, we are lying if we say our team is working from home full time. Most of us are already back in the office. But we have also always championed remote working and we rely on our notebooks plenty.
In that sense, we look at our notebooks on a daily basis no matter where we are. Because of that, we would want our notebooks to look pleasing too for us. Somehow it makes us feel good about what we do on a daily basis.
Back to the ZenBook 14 that we have here (not the 13). It is an MYR 3,999 full aluminium package that is way smaller than almost any 14-inch notebooks that I know of. It is not lighter than most ultrabooks though. It is quite hefty for its size, to be fair. Then again, full aluminium and metal construction does that to your notebook.
The ZenBook 14 still retains that swirling brushed aluminium look that made it so popular when it first launched in 2012. Instead of the swirl starting from the middle though, it is now pushed third away toward the right side, if you are viewing the notebook with the letters facing you. We admit that we said that the brushed aluminium was a timeless look. In this one, we do feel that it is getting a little aged. Even the colour feels quite old school, the Pine Grey colour option is quite a classic colour. We might prefer the Lilac Mist colour variant though, that looked good in photos and renders. Yes, we are men and we are proud of that colour choice.
We are not saying that you would not like the colours. Just because we do not like the colour, does not mean you would not like it too. It is just a matter of personal preference. We would appreciate a slightly different design and look from the ZenBook by now though. A little effort goes a long way, we are looking at you too, Porsche.
The ErgoLift hinge design that was championed again and again by ASUS these two years makes it into the design language of the ASUS ZenBook 14 here. We have mentioned that we are not ultimately fond of the ErgoLift design, but we also recognise the language and its benefits. At the right angles, it does help with typing comfort and fatigue. At some angles, it becomes kind of useless. It does benefit greatly on the cooling side though, we will talk about the ErgoLift more later on.
Hardware
The ASUS ZenBook 14 (UX425JA) you see here is not the lightest ZenBook you can get. That has to go to the 13-inch (UX325JA) variant of the ASUS ZenBook. There is also a variant of the ASUS ZenBook 14 (UX434FLC) where they fit a ScreenPad on the touch sensitive mousepad. Unfortunately, this is not that either.
The mousepad on this ASUS ZenBook 14 has a little trick up its sleeves too, just not in the way you think. It doubles as your numpad as well, which is a nice touch, since you are not getting a full-sized keyboard with numpad on it.
The variant we have for review packs a powerful 10th Generation Core i7-1065G7 processor clocked at 1.3GHz. While that may not sound like much, it is powerful enough for plenty of work that we are accustomed to. It does bump the price up to MYR 4,699 though if you opt for the Core i7 variant. At MYR 3,999, you get an Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor.
8GB of RAM for this thing is quite ample and you do not really need to add too much more to it. That is also because you cannot really add another RAM stick in there. It is an ultrabook, after all. At the same time, you should not expect to be using the ASUS ZenBook 14 as your main gaming rig or video editing rig; 8GB is enough. It does pack an SSD though, for that extra speed when you need it.
14-inch IPS (1920 x 1080) Anti-Glare NanoEdge 400nits
Memory
512GB NVME M.2 SSD 8GB DDR4 RAM
Networking and Connections (I/O)
1 x USB Type-A 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C 1 x Standard HDMI 1.4 1 x MicroSD card reader Intel Wi-Fi 6 Gig+ (802.11ax) Bluetooth 5.0
Battery
67Wh 4-cell Li-Polymer 65W USB Type-C Charger
Operating System
Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
Miscellaneous
Harman Kardon Audio 3D IR HD camera with Window Hello
Features
Is it as thin as you think it is? Especially when they claim it to be the slimmest with a Full HDMI and USB port? This would beg another question that you have to ask yourselves. Have you seen the size of a full HDMI port? They are not that thick, but they are not exactly paper thin either.
In that case, it is not as thin as you think it should be. At 14-inch, it is not exactly the lightest notebook around either. But you have to appreciate the premium touch of the completely metal constructed body.
Full I/O Ports and an MicroSD slot
One thing that we hate about the more modern ultrabooks we use for work, especially in our line of work, is the fact that none of them comes with full USB ports anymore. In that sense, having a full-sized USB Type-A port is a breath of fresh air, something we can really appreciate. At the same time, there is only one full-sized USB port, which is occupied by a USB dongle for my wireless mouse most of the time.
Of course, because of that one USB port, you can put in normal sized thumb drives to work with. That also means you, or whoever you work with do not have to spend extra money just to buy a USB Type-C thumb drive or USB Type-C to USB Type-C cables. You do not need to spend on a USB Type-C dongle as well for that matter. Of course, if you already do have a USB Type-C dongle, you can use them still via the two Thunderbolt USB Type-C ports on the other side with the full HDMI port.
Full HDMI is a big welcome with any notebook, not because we thoroughly use them, just because it is nice to be able to go home and plug your TV to your notebook to watch Netflix or just work on a bigger display. In our line of work as well, we do travel to other parts of the world and work out of hotel rooms from time to time. In that case, having a full HDMI port that we can use to plug the provided TV in the room is nice as well.
There is also a MicroSD card reader that proved to be useful from time to time. We heavily rely on MicroSD cards in our work thanks to the compact camera we use. In that case, when we need to quickly transfer data, we simply pull out the MicroSD card from the Sony RX0ii that we heavily rely on for most of our production use case and just transfer out the data from the card to an external HDD we plug into the full-sized UBS port.
We would appreciate if they could fit another full-sized USB Type-A port though. Also, if they could include a 3.5mm audio in/out jack in the next iteration of the ASUS ZenBook 14, that would be great. We found this to be a little bit of an annoying pickle because of the lack of that audio AUX port.
We still do not agree with the decision of phone makers around the world when they decided that the 3.5mm AUX jacks are obsolete. Imagine our dismay then, when we found that we could not use our 3.5mm AUX earphones or headphones with this notebook. In that case, we have to dig up our bags for a USB Type-C earphone, or connect a Bluetooth enabled wireless earphone or headphone. With Bluetooth headphones, you might want to prepare to wrestle with Windows a little bit.
ErgoLift Comfort and Discomfort
The ErgoLift hinge that is championed by ASUS is technically nothing new. They introduced it a few years ago and the design is still stuck until this day. It is not exactly something that should win ASUS any style points though. In that case, while the design does create for some very interesting and seamless look on the outlook part, it serves a more practical purpose than you think.
Of course, every other person that has gone through the marketing blurb from ASUS knows that the ErgoLift hinge is designed for typing comfort. It raises the keyboards a little bit to make it a little more natural for you to type on. The angled keyboard is supposed to relieve some of the pressure on your wrists and ensure that you do not get fatigued while working on the notebook or even Carpal Tunnel syndrome. Trust me, it is not fun.
Thing is, the Ergolift hinge also means that the keyboard tends to sit at different heights in different angles. It is not that big of a deal in most cases, since the changes to the angle is quite minimal. But this also means that your viewing angle changes the way you work with the keyboard, which could very well be in a weird angle after you change your own seating position and then the display angle.
There are two rubberized legs on the ErgoLift hinge’s edge. That is to prevent the ASUS ZenBook 14 bodywork to be touching the surface it sits on and scratch itself to bits. It is also to prevent the notebook from slipping away from you while you type on it or work on it. It is to plant itself on that surface.
However, working with the ZenBook 14 on your thighs could be a small annoyance. That is because the naked parts of the hinge would be resting on your thighs. It might not be an issue if the notebook rests on your pants, but it might be a little annoying if the hinge rests on your bare thighs.
While they have managed to design an edge that is blunt enough that it does not dig into your skin, it is still a little uncomfortable as typing and resting your palms on the notebook means that you are still putting pressure on a smaller contact patch. In that sense, we do not recommend putting it on your lap when you are working, find a proper table. You would be more productive that way too. Of course, if you have no choice but to put your notebook on the lap, you are not going to bleed from the experience.
Blowing Hot Air, At the display
The ErgoLift had posed another problem for ultrabooks though. It has posed a cooling problem for ultrabooks. With the sides plugged up by plugs, the only way heat could travel out of the notebook is through the back. The ErgoLift hinge means that most of the heat is dissipated via fans blowing the display.
The cooling fans draw cool air from the bottom of the device. ErgoLift also means that there is a bigger gap at the bottom allowing for bigger airflow. The exhaust air is blown to the back of the device that is now part of the display, so hot air will travel on the display panel.
Thankfully, there is not that much heat that needs to be transferred out on normal use cases. You do not want to constantly blow hot air into the display else you might risk some damages from the display panel itself that might lead to discoloration or worse still, glue coming apart from the plastic panels, effectively disintegrating your notebook.
Backlit Keyboard for the Dark Times
There is no RGB here, thankfully. It is not a gaming device, after all, so why would you want RGB? But that also means that you can only get white colour backlighting on the ASUS ZenBook 14.
We do have to admit though that the keyboard on the ASUS ZenBook 14 is one of the best you can find on an ultrabook. It has enough travel and feedback for that extra smooth workbench feel. Typing on it is comfortable and typing fatigue is minimized with decently sized keys as well.
We do suspect that the extra thickness they had on the baseplate allows for better keyboard fitting and therefore slightly more key travels. That also means it does not feel like you are typing on a hardboard with ‘touch sensitive’ keys. Instead, you feel like you are typing on a keyboard, a proper keyboard.
We do find that we seldom put the illuminated numpad integrated in the touch sensitive mousepad to good use. It is a neat feature though to integrate a full keyboard into a form factor such as the ASUS ZenBook 14.
In a sense, working on the ASUS ZenBook 14 as a document, or email machine is a pleasure. The keyboard is silent even in the most silent working environment. It is not too mushy or too harsh on your fingers and every stroke of key feels properly solid.
Facial Recognition
Thanks to infrared sensors and webcam, the ASUS ZenBook 14 packs Windows Hello’s facial recognition. That is at the sacrifice of the good ol’ fingerprint sensor though. While it may seem counterintuitive to remove a secondary layer of security, the facial recognition of the ASUS ZenBook 14’s Windows Hello is what you need though. It is fast and accurate to the touch.
We did face some issues with facial recognition in our use, but that is more user error than the fault of the PC. You have to remember to take off your facemask before you start using the notebook. If you are wearing glasses, you should be fine. It is Windows Hello technology, which also means that it is a proven technology.
The lack of a fingerprint sensor is hardly missed though, since you still can use a pin number to secure your ASUS ZenBook 14. That is not to say that we dislike fingerprint sensors, or we do not want one. We do think that we should still have a fingerprint sensor just in case the webcam sensors failed to identify our faces when we need things done quickly.
At the same time, having a facial recognition webcam with Windows Hello also means that you have to keep the webcam free of tapes or webcam covers. Of course, you can leave a webcam cover in it. You Just need to remember to remove it or open it up every time you turn on your notebook.
Harman Kardon Audio
This ASUS ZenBook 14 comes with Harman Kardon tuned audio and speakers. That does not mean that it has all the bells and whistles that comes with certified sound bars. It is close though, without a sub-woofer that is.
Harman Kardon audio capabilities means that music sounds good. When we say good, we mean that its sound stage is nearly full and most frequencies are clear and crisp. Clear and crisp is what we will use to describe the top-end frequencies on the ASUS ZenBook 14. Since there is no sub-woofer elements packed into the compact body that is the ZenBook, low-end frequencies tend to be weaker.
That is not to say that it is a bad audio and music machine though. You still can appreciate good music through the speakers, just not something with a lot of low-end power. That also means EDMs might not cut it. Vocals do sound excellent on the speakers though, better than the ASUS ZenBook from before than does not come with Harman Kardon’s touch.
Performance
Of course, 10th Gen Core i7 that it packs comes with plenty of expectations from us. It is 2020 and we can expect modern notebook PCs to be powerful enough to work and game lightly at the same time; especially an Intel Core i7. Of course, we cannot have a thin and light that does everything under the sun without any compromises. In that sense, this is an ultrabook with nearly zero compromise.
The Extra and Subtle Workhorse
In any angle, the ASUS ZenBook 14 exudes ‘premium’. At any touch, that is also the word that comes to mind. ‘Boring’, is another, as we have said in the design section.
These are not the only words available for the ASUS ZenBook 14 though. When you talk about taking a workhorse out for a trip out of town, the ultrabook of choice with the best value and performance is the ASUS ZenBook ultrabook. So, there is ‘Reliability’ in their repertoire as well.
The ASUS ZenBook 14’s body may not be the slimmest notebook you can find in the market. It may not be the lightest too in the market. If you are looking for those, you should be looking elsewhere.
A workhorse should have as little compromise as possible for its purposes. An ultrabook today will not pack a full-sized USB port for normal thumb drives and external HDDs. It will not pack a full-sized standard HDMI port for easy presentation modes as well. The ASUS ZenBook 14 is a workhorse that does not compromise on those. Hence, its extra heft.
It is mostly made for document processing, web browsing, and even scrubbing through emails too, which also means that there are some compromises in terms of other performance. In that sense though, the ASUS ZenBook 14 is more than adequate to handle everything and more. We mostly used it to play Music while we are working, reading through emails, typing through long articles and web browsing.
When we say we are listening to music, we did not connect a Bluetooth earphone or connect an earphone at all with the notebook, most of the time anyway. Which also means we are using the built-in speakers most of the time. When we say web browsing too, there are times where there are about 40 tabs open in each of the three Mozilla Firefox web explorer windows we have open on the ASUS ZenBook 14. Oh yes, we even had Microsoft Edge open from time to time to access a completely different thing. With Chrome, the notebook might not fare so well.
In those operations, the ASUS ZenBook 14 performs as silky smooth as you expect it to. Windows load up quite instantly thanks to Intel’s Optane memory included in the notebook. Apps also open at a near instant speed thanks to the 512GB SSD.
Video Editing is Possible
Everything sort of falls apart a little bit in video editing though. Iris Plus does help a little in reducing load and rendering times compared to the older generation Intel Core processors. We were only editing a 15-second timelapse that was supposed to be produced in 4K though. To be fair, we are processing 45-Megapixel photos that was stitched together to be post-processed as an 8K video file first. We were scrubbing through 136 photos in total for the time lapse.
Once stitched though, it took up to 50 minutes for the stitching to be post-processed into a 4K video. Scrubbing through the individual frames also took some time for the ASUS ZenBook 14. We had to wait a second or two to check through each of the 136 frames of the video.
Still, if you work with Full HD videos, you should have not trouble scrubbing through the video with ease on Adobe’s Premiere Pro. You might want to look into other more powerful products for smooth and quick 4K video productions. Still, a 3-minute Full HD render from a Full HD source should be done in about 10-15 minutes.
Gaming
Really? Do you really have to ask about gaming on a notebook designed to accompany you for work purposes? Redundant question that you might already know the answer to.
Gaming performance on the ASUS ZenBook 14 is pretty much as expected. It is not a gaming machine, so it is never going to do well in that regards. It is acceptable with certain games though, if you do not mind letting it run a little hotter than usual that is.
You can still play Football Manager, or Motorsport Manager, or even Cities Skyline on it smoothly with the fans going a little crazier than usual. You could, technically, play DOTA 2 with it too if you are into MOBAs. You might not be as competitive as if you are playing on a proper gaming rig though. That could either be your excuse for underperforming in a ranked match or kicked for being too incompetent, you have been warned. It is smooth enough with DOTA 2 though, so you might still be fine with a little bit of skill. We are never good in DOTA 2 anyway.
Even if you are thinking of playing the latest indie games like No Straight Roads, you would still be fine. The game will still load up smoothly and surely. You might just want to keep in mind to not push the graphics all the way up.
We are not saying that you should be playing games on the device. We are saying that you can if you want to. You might not be able to touch full-fledged AAA titles, but plenty of indie games like This War of Mine or Motorsport Manager never needed ultra-powerful rigs to run properly anyway.
Battery
A heftier body also has some benefit to a notebook’s battery life. You could technically fit a bigger battery pack into the body of the ASUS ZenBook 14 at the cost of more weight on it. In the body of the ZenBook 14 is a 67Wh 4-cell battery that is quoted to be good for 22 hours on a single charge.
To be fair, we have never hit anything that is close to the 22 hours claim in our usage. You do have to keep in mind that battery life is very dependent on use cases though. Battery life is affected by the ambient temperature, operating temperature, amounts of processes within the PC, use cases with the PC, and much more.
In our use case, where we have at least 20 tabs open on a web browser at any time, we got about 18 hours of continuous use before the PC tells us that we need to start charging the notebook. That is also with some music listening included with a mix of work and standby time. At some point too, the ASUS ZenBook 14 did not need a charge for a whole week. Of course, we were not continuously using the notebook.
ASUS Battery management
Technically you can fully charge the 67Wh battery of the ASUS ZenBook 14 within 2 hours with the included 65W charger. They claimed a 49-minute charge time to 60% with an empty tank, with the PC turned off.
We believe them though. We have only charged the ASUS ZenBook 14 while working on it once and while we are editing and rendering the odd video. Most of the time, charging is done while it is turned off, and we never left it charged for more than two hours at a time before we get going again with a fully charged battery.
We left the power management to let the charger to fully charge the batteries though, because we are on the go most of the time. But if you are going to let it sit on your office desk all the time, you can choose to restrict the battery charge to only 60% to prolong the battery shelf life. If not, there is a balanced battery preservation mode too in MyASUS app.
USB Type-C Charger
Having a universal charger is a very sensible thing to do. It also means that ASUS saves a porting hole just for a proprietary charger. Which still begs the question of their exclusion of the 3.5mm jack or another USB Type-A port. They clearly have space for the two mentioned ports.
Modern USB Type-C cables can also support up to 75W in output. That also means that you can even fast charge an ultrabook with a proper USB Type-C cable. But that also means that you can buy a high-output power banks wit proper 65W output too to charge your PC when you have no access to a charging port.
Since modern smartphones and other gadgets are making USB Type-C as a standard port these days too, having a high-output power adapter is also a bonus. You do not need to bring three different adapters and cables anymore to charge your devices when you travel. You only need one of ASUS’ USB Type-C adapter, and you are good to go.
Display – IPS and Iris Plus
The IPS Full HD display is a pleasure to look at though. It may not be the most colour accurate display in the world, it does not need to be. But it is a great looking display with highly saturated and bright colours. It should be good enough for the occasional movies that you might want to enjoy on the ASUS ZenBook 14.
That said also, 60Hz is not encouraging for games either, especially when you consider more competitive games like Valorant, or DOTA 2. It still works with games like This War of Mine and such, but you might even want your No Straight Roads to run at higher frame rates when possible. Iris Plus is plenty more powerful than the UHD graphics GPU that came before, but it is not a discrete GPU like an NIVIDIA GeForce MX250.
Again, the notebook is not designed with gaming in mind though. It is designed with portability, productivity, and practicality in mind. The display is designed for that too, technically with some clever blue light filtering software (Windows standard these days too). At the same time, the modern display panel is highly efficient with a 1-watt power draw rating. It is not exactly bright enough placed under direct sunlight in Malaysia, technically with 400nits. If you sit in a naturally lit café though, 400nits is enough for you to work with.
In this case, for its purpose, the display of the ASUS ZenBook 14 is not the most brilliant or highest resolution you can find. It is quite brilliant on its own though and does hold itself against any other notebooks of its standard. It is a brilliant looking display for a working-class notebook.
The ASUS ZenBook 14 – So Much, yet So Little
The package that you see here will set you back MYR 4,699. That is not exactly a budget notebook price. It is not exactly a premium as a Dell XPS 13 though. For that price you still get a full-aluminium body, a clever touchpad, an innovative hinge, Windows Hello’s brilliant webcam facial recognition, super-long battery life, some clever software, and fully sized I/O ports.
You do not get a lot of things for that kind of money either though. You do not get a proper, physical numpad (although, at this form factor, it is kind of impossible). You do not get a 144Hz display, or anything close to a colour accurate display as well. You are paying for slightly more heft with the ASUS ZenBook 14 and you get no fingerprint sensor with that, or even a 3.5mm AUX jack. You cannot even expect it to come with a discrete GPU too for that money, or even a full-sized SD card slot.
We are annoyed at the fact that they chose to hang us dry when it comes to audio solutions. To be fair, we were really annoyed at the fact that there is no 3.5mm jack on this piece of kit. We found the Grey colour option to be a little boring too, while the Lilac Mist colour to be tantalizing, but not very professional. WE are not saying that it is badly designed, it still looks sharp and very distinctively ASUS.
It was not as light as we thought it should be with the 14-inch trim. On a bright side though, it is lighter than most 14-inch notebooks you can find in the market today. It is also quite a little bit smaller than most 14-inch notebooks today too. Maybe, just not that much thinner in terms of thickness.
That extra girth though gives way to a full HDMI port and USB 3.2 Type-A port, which is always a welcome in ultra-portable machines that we know as our workhorse today. The extra girth also allows for a bigger fan in a sense to cool the PC adequately, and even house a slightly larger battery than you can expect an ultrabook to ever have. That extra sized battery gives you a longer battery life expectancy compare to its competition, and in that terms, more confidence in making it through a day with no battery anxiety. It gives you peace of mind, is what I am saying.
If you want the ASUS ZenBook 14 to be your daily driver for the next five years or so, you will want to invest in the more expensive Intel Core i7 variant. If not, even the Core i5 variant at MYR 3,999 will do you some good for the coming few years. You could even opt for a smaller display and more compact packaging with the 13-inch variant, if you really want. We always appreciate a larger display though, so the 14-inch is the one we will go for.
The ASUS ZenBook 14’s closest competitor technically comes at about the same price. You are getting the exact same display size with very similar packages. The only thing that differs from each product, other than thickness and weight, is their security features and one RAM size difference. The competition packs twice the RAM that the ASUS ZenBook 14 can offer for the same price. The competition lacks Windows Hello’s webcam facial recognition though and does not come with a USB Type-C charger (proprietary charger).
So, which would we buy? It is a difficult choice, to be fair. Considering the convenience of the ASUS ZenBook 14, we are leaning toward the fully sized ports. In truth though, we would be a little more comfortable using the other product because of ZenBook’s lack of weight, and an extra 3.5mm AUX jack. Ports? The competition has all the other ports too. Although we really like the idea of only carry a single charger for all our devices in the bag. Now we are in a pickle.
In today’s uncertain times, a PC modernization strategy can both turbo charge employee productivity and deliver a competitive edge.
It’s tempting with the rapid rise of remote work due to COVID-19 to think that out of sight is out of mind when it comes to your PCs. If your employees can still hop on a video call, they must be working at maximum productivity. The truth is much more complicated.
If your organization, like so many others, has a four-year PC refresh cycle, the new wave of remote work should, if anything, accelerate that cycle. Even before the current global health crisis, users were becoming more mobile than ever before, raising risks around security, flexibility, efficiency and efficacy.
While the precautionary and voluntary remote work continues, IT staff is also facing unprecedented challenges. Onboarding employees, supporting current ones, and maintaining systems for maximum productivity are challenges they are struggling to solve, all while trying to stay afloat with their higher-level duties.
Managing aging systems at scale is difficult when everyone is in one place, and with that becoming rare, the issues multiply exponentially. No business can afford unplanned down time on a regular basis, and employees can grow increasingly frustrated as their productivity drops.
“Aged systems are costing businesses in terms of lost productivity and security risk, and with much of the workforce remote now, IT managers are faced with even bigger maintenance and support challenges.” says Peter Chambers, Managing Director, APAC at AMD.
Speaking of aging systems, TechAisle found way back in 2016 that it can cost as much as $1,700 per year to maintain PCs older than 4 years. Those kinds of hidden costs can creep up on a business, raising TCO.
If your organization still sees PC refreshes as a luxury, try seeing it instead as an opportunity to unlock immense improvements in productivity, performance and collaboration. The AMD Ryzen™ PRO 4000 family of processors and partner platforms, for example, cover all the bases for any organization’s modern computing needs, delivering a straight line to productivity and PC modernization.
Still need convincing? Here are five great reasons to perform a PC refresh now.
Turbocharge performance. Here is the new reality of work in 2020: increased complexity, juggling workloads, mega multi-tasking, and operating remotely. Offering the most cores and threads in a mobile business processor for ultra-thin notebooks with the Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U processor, AMD Ryzen PRO processors deliver top-of-line performance and responsiveness across a wide variety of workloads, from crunching data to rendering videoconference calls to compiling code.
For example, the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U platform delivers up to 37% faster performance running Microsoft Office in PCMark 10 Applications benchmark compared to the previous generation Ryzen 5 PRO 3700U processor. In addition, the same AMD platform offers up to 19% faster performance in Microsoft Word, up to 77% faster performance in Excel, and up to 27% faster performance in PowerPoint versus the previous generation.
This leadership performance comes without compromise to battery life. AMD Ryzen PRO processors help to maximize workforce productivity by offering up to 20 hours of battery life on a premium platform.
Improve security features. Protecting sensitive corporate data has never been more important. Modern notebooks and PCs are often never fully turned off, raising the threat for stolen data. AMD Ryzen PRO processors, featuring AMD PRO security, deliver a multi-layered approach to security features, helping protect data from sophisticated attacks and avoiding downtime. In addition to a set of silicon and firmware-level security features, AMD Ryzen Pro processors employ AMD Memory Guard system memory encryption to help reduce the threat of physical memory attacks even if the laptop is left in standby mode.
Make IT management a breeze. IT departments, already spread thin, need all the help they can get with supporting remote workers. AMD PRO Manageability is a full cross-platform feature set enabled on all PRO processors that simplifies remote device management. With AMD PRO manageability, IT can manage a mixed environment of PCs in their fleet with ease, from simplified deployment with Windows® Autopilot, to efficient patch management to address security vulnerabilities, to ongoing management for a wide range of system issues. AMD Ryzen PRO processors also fully enable support for Microsoft Endpoint Manager – a cloud-powered set of management tools to provision, deploy, manage, and secure endpoints and applications across an organization.
Boost efficiency. Simply put, organizations need the latest hardware to drive today’s modern software experiences. There are also significant stealth costs associated with legacy systems, including on-going maintenance and repair services, that chip away at the bottom line and exceed the cost of upgrading PCs or laptops. New PCs powered by Ryzen PRO processors help boost efficiency by delivering leadership performance and up to 20hours of battery life on a premium platform – driving up productivity by eliminating downtime that comes with aged hardware issues such as long start up time, frequent crashes, and shortened battery life, and all things being equal, by helping to lower TCO with reduced power consumption vis a vis a high efficiency processor.
With enterprise-grade quality, long-term reliability, and planned software stability, new PCs with Ryzen PRO processors can bring peace of mind to organizations and are a logical choice for today’s remote and highly mobile workforce.
Choose wisely and benefit. Whether it’s a notebook or desktop, AMD Ryzen PRO processors are available in a wide range of commercial OEM products across varying price points, giving enterprises an array of options to accommodate different budgets and user needs.
Even during a pandemic, business keeps moving faster than ever. Your organization cannot afford to slow down when there are so many options to keep your competitive edge and employee productivity high.
A properly configured HP EliteBook 835 G7 with AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 4750U Processor, gets up to 24 hours of MM14 battery life: https://press.hp.com/us/en/press-releases/2020/hp-provides-ultimate-office-experience-at-home.html Actual battery life will vary based on several factors, including, but not limited to: system configuration and software, settings, product use and age, and operating conditions. AMD has not independently tested or verified the battery life claim. See www.bapco.com for additional details. RNP-28
As of February 2020. “Most Cores and Threads” in a mobile business processor for ultrathin notebooks. RNP-19
*Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – the cost to purchase + cost of operation. Electricity is a cost of operation; therefore, higher efficiency processors can enable a lower TCO than low efficiency processors that use more power.
Last night, NVIDIA launched their new GPU platform they nickname the Ampere. They also tout that this is their greatest generational leap in performance ever. Welcome to the NVIDIA’s second-generation Ray Tracing GPUs.
For now, they have announced the availability and launch of three new GPUs that is meant to blow even the fastest GeForce RTX 20 series GPU, the GeForce RTX 2080Ti away. We are only talking about the GeForce RTX 3070 mind you. There is still the high-end GeForce 3080 and mind-bending GeForce RTX 3090.
Supposedly the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series are supposed to be about twice as good in performance than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 series while offering nearly twice the power efficiency. That puts the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 about on par with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 that was launched two years ago. Which also means that the GeForce RTX 3080 is miles away from the GeForce RTX 2080Ti.
What’s New with Ampere?
Source: NVIDIA
Just saying that it is faster though, may not mean that much to you. In this case, bear with us a little bit as we go a little more technical than usual in identifying what is new with the new GeForce RTX 30 series cards. NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang also did say in the launch that it might be time for you to upgrade your GPUs if you are still on the GTX platform with this second generation Ray Tracing GPU.
New Multiprocessors
If you think of a GPU, it is actually a mini computer on its own that you dedicate on graphics processing. It sort of works on a piggybacking system on top of your main logic board for your PC. By principle, it is just its own processing unit separate to what the CPU and regular RAM does. In layman terms, the GPU is an additional calculator lodged in your PC.
The multiprocessor that is on the GPU is technically its heart, its cores. The new processor on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series is technically the same size as the older NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 Series cores. That is to say that Ampere did not gain in size for more performance over Turing.
They simply unlocked more power from the chip itself with new technologies and architecture. We will talk about that a little bit more later though. For now, you just have to know that it is now twice as powerful as before, it is twice faster in calculations.
New Generation Ray Tracing Cores
NVIDIA says that new generation consumer graphics standards is their new Ray Tracing technology that is introduced two years ago. The technology, technically, is not new. It has been a technology used in plenty of 3D rendering applications and even machine learning applications.
With the first-generation Ray Tracing cards, that is the GeForce RTX 20 Series GPUs, ray tracing is used to make graphics even more stunning and realistic by correctly predicting reflection and shading models based on virtual lighting positions. That means that graphic artists do not need to predict where the light is coming from or how it interacts with an object, it just simply does. That is why you do not get great mirror reflections, glass reflections, or water textures in older video games up until the late 2018s.
The said technology requires a separate core to the regular GPU cores that we are used to on older GeForce GTX cards though.
The second-generation Ray Tracing core is technically not that much different from the first-generation. In terms of size and build at least, it is about the same. They managed to extract even more performance out of it, they claim twice more performance out of it too. That allows the GPU to render reflections and shades correctly even faster.
In the previous generation Ray Tracing core, they could render shades, reflections, and even physics correctly at about 720p at 60fps. The new generation that was just introduced is supposed to be able to render smoothly at 1440p at 60fps. That is a large leap, about twice according to NVIDIA.
Even Newer Tensor Cores
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and machine learning has been a part of NVIDIA’s repertoire for a long time now. They started looking into implementing A.I. cores in their GeForce GTX 10 Series GPUs. They were successful and the cores worked to a certain degree in GTX GPUs.
In the new GeForce RTX architecture though, A.I. took a bigger stage and Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) was born. The first generation DLSS allowed calculations and processing to be offloaded from the GPU and pushed to a different server. That allows graphics to look even better than what the GPU is actually capable of physically. Of course, that takes a lot of processing power.
At the same time the DLSS technology is used as a prediction model as well, to anticipate calculations and render them beforehand. In terms of gaming, the cores allow your games to render at 720p on your own GPU but deliver 1080p or 1440p graphics to your eyes via the display. This is all part of the NVIDIA RTX IO experience as well though.
NVIDIA RTX IO
So, you have watched the demo of the upcoming Sony PlayStation 5. You saw the next generation console load open world maps and transition between places in no time, with no load screens. That technology is achievable through the clever use of SSD and processing power.
That is what NVIDIA RTX IO is going to replicate though. It allows plenty of the processing loads on the CPU and on board RAM from modern SSDs to be offloaded to the GPU itself. Since the GPU, in some cases, have spare processing capacity anyway, you get an improved processing performance for your games anyway and even improved data transfer and read speeds.
That means that game designers can try to build games with huge amount of detail in their maps while not thinking too much about load times. Of course, for lesser CPs, load screens are always going to be an issue in games. NVIDIA’s RTX IO is built to solve that.
There is another benefit to this though. Every other PC builder will tell you that if you want a great performing gaming machine, it has to be a combination of great GPU and CPU. The GPU will handle the 3D stuff, while the CPU will handle the frame generation. That is because most of the frame generation is done by the CPU, and therefore your framerate greatly depends on how much your CPU can handle itself. With RTX IO offloading that load to the GPU, you technically can have a slightly cheaper CPU and still achieve high frame rate in games.
New Faster, Nay, Fastest Memory Module in the World
As we mentioned earlier, a GPU is a little bit like a mini computer that piggybacks on top of the main board. It is a calculator that hops on another calculator to make that calculator faster and more powerful. In that sense, the GPU also needs its own memory module, its own RAM unit.
In that, they have worked with Micron to build the world’s fastest discrete graphics memory unit, the GDDR6X. You get up to 1TB/s in bandwidth for any graphics applications. This is where that minimised load times come into play too.
Samsung 8nm Transistors and NVIDIA
Every other tech familiar person knows that there are only a few manufacturers that really know what their doing when it comes to semiconductors and chip making. Samsung is one of those manufacturers in the circle of ‘the best of the best’. The new GeForce RTX 30 Series GPU benefits from Samsung’s know how in chip making.
The new GPU multiprocessing chips are built with 8nm standards and technology by Samsung. Smaller transistors also mean that you can fit more in a certain surface area. More transistors mean more power naturally.
This is technically how NVIDIA managed to achieve double the power from the previous generation GeForce RTX 20 GPUs while still retaining the sizes, just about. Less space and size also means that there is less power requirements from the transistors themselves, which leads to a much higher power efficiency. Hence, double the power, double the efficiency.
Better Technology, Better Experience
With more power, comes more enhancements from NVIDIA. They have done audio before already with RTX noise cancelling, which never cease to amaze us. This time though, they are turning their focus toward competitive gaming and other parts of content creation.
Source: NVIDIA
NVIDIA Reflex
It is exactly what it sounds like. It measures reflex. It does not measure your reflexes though.
Instead, NVIDIA Reflex measures latency between your input and the display’s output. From that measurement, NVIDIA’s Reflex algorithm will then optimise the game’s latency. In some sense, it is meant to reduce the latency between your input and the PC’s output.
This impacts eSports titles mostly. In video games with built in NVIDIA Low-Latency Mode, the technology reduces latency by about 50 percent. Every millisecond counts in eSports environment. That is also why NVIDIA’s Reflex Analyser also can calculate and tabulate the time it takes for you input to be translated into output. The Reflex Analyser is coming to most of the new 360Hz NVIDIA G-Sync eSports displays from its partners later this year.
NVIDIA Broadcast
Streaming is a huge business. It is gaining in popularity as well. As such, it would not be right for NVIDIA to ignore the market completely. In the sense of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series, the extra power can also help with a single PC stream set up with NVIDIA Broadcast. The A.I. noise cancelling is already clever enough. NVIDIA Broadcast though is much cleverer than that with webcam auto framing and even virtual background effects for your stream.
NVIDIA Omniverse Machinima
Forget trying to create new stories with game engines. Forget spending hours on character creations and animations codes. Now, you could do all that for storytelling via NVIDIA Omniverse Machinima. You can use existing models or assets and even create your own via a webcam, amazingly. This is the power of NVIDIA’s new GeForce RTX 30 Series, and NVIDIA’s new storytelling tool.
Well, then again, this is still an early access tool. You might want to check back on this. If not, you can be a part of it by signing up for early access.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, GeForce RTX 3080, and GeForce RTX 3090 is Here!
Source: NVIDIA
The first GPUs that comes out from the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, a technical replacement of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070. Thanks to the technological advancements, the GeForce RTX 3070 is way more powerful than the GPU it replaces. In certain benchmarks it is more powerful than the GeForce RTX 2080. With up to 8GB of GDDR6X RAM, 4K and 1440p resolution should be comfortable enough.
Then there is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 which is way more powerful than the current generation GeForce RTX 2080Ti. It just blows the older GPU away. All that, while costing less than the GeForce RTX 2080Ti. It has up to 10GB of GDDR6X RAM to deliver 4K resolution at 60fps.
The daddy of the lot is what NVIDIA refers to as the “BFGPU” – Big Ferocious GPU. We would expand it to a different thing, but that is just us. This is the spiritual successor to the NVIDIA GeForce TITAN RTX, technically. This is supposed to be 10x quieter, and up to 30°C cooler. Of course, it is a big one, occupying three PCIe slots. Within the large body is an enormous 24GB of GDDR6X RAM and performs up to 50% faster than the TITAN RTX. It can easily support 8K resolution up to 60 fps in Control.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is priced at US$ 499 (MYR 2,399*) and will be available in October 2020 onward. The GeForce RTX 3080 is priced at US$ 699 (MYR 3,360*) and will be available 17th September 2020 onward. The GeForce RTX 3090 is priced at US$ 1,499 (MYR 7,208*) and is available 24th September 2020 onward. Keep in mind that these are release dates for the Founders Edition cards. Of course, partner manufacturers will have their custom boards and own clocks later on or the same date.
Being flexible and able to work from anywhere in the world is more important than ever before. It is important also that you need to be able to set up and get going within 5 seconds of you sitting at a table. This flexibility is paramount in the world today.
This kind of flexibility sometimes comes with a big price tag. But what if you have MYR 3,000 to spend on that flexibility? You can buy an Acer Aspire 5 or the Acer Aspire 3 and more to get you up to speed with your work from home requirements.
Acer Aspire 5
The Acer Aspire 5, as you have read from the title is MYR 2,599. In the sea of notebooks today, that might sound like a good price. That is because it is a good price for a general-purpose notebook.
For that money though you are not paying for discounted or inferior hardware. You still get a powerful enough 10th Generation Intel Core i5 processors. It does not have a dedicated discreet GPU for its 14-inch Full HD IPS display on board, but the Intel HD graphics is still good enough to run some low-level video editing and rendering with little issues.
Of course, you are not looking at this as a main video or production level rig. In that sense, you only get 4GB of RAM in the device which is still expandable if you need more. Within the sleek and pretty Magic Purple coloured body is a 512GB SSD to make quick work of your documents and file keeping purposes. Of course, if you need more space, there is an extra HDD slot too.
To make sure that you have everything you need to stay productive, the Acer Aspire 5 comes with Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019 pre-installed. But that is not all that you can do if you are already planning to spend MYR 3,000 on a rig. You can get a pretty good mouse with that, probably a nice pair of earphones to keep you stay productive and focused with the Aspire 5.
Acer Aspire 3
Need something bigger? 14-inch is a little puny? 15.6-inch should work fine then. That is the Acer Aspire 3 with 15.6-inch Full HD display.
You get Intel’s 10th Generation Core i5 still, the same as the one you find in the Acer Aspire 5. It also comes with 4GB in RAM (expandable), and a 512GB SSD storage. You get 32GB of Intel Optane Memory in place as well with the Acer Aspire 3.
Price and Availability
The Acer Aspire 5 is now available in Acer authorised stores across the nation. It will be also be available in all Acer’s official online store. As mentioned earlier, the Acer Aspire 5 is available in Magic Purple colour option at the price of MYR 2,599. The Acer Aspire 3 comes in Obsidian Black fro the same price. For more information on the Acer Aspire 5 and the Acer Aspire 3, you can head to Acer’s website.
We reviewed the Acer Nitro 5 a few weeks ago and we thought that the gaming notebook is one of the best value-for-money devices of the year. It was worth MYR 4,899 and packs quite a lot of punch for that money.
You get a powerful Intel Core i7 (up to) and a not-so-entry-level NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti for your money. You now get 8GB of RAM and 512GB in SSD too in the entry-level gaming notebook. To sweeten the deal, the display is an IPS panel with 144Hz in response rate.
We did not think that it could be better in value, the Nitro 5. Acer proved us wrong with AMD though. The new Acer Nitro 5 now comes in AMD flavour for those looking for some distinction.
You are still getting the same 8GB RAM and 512GB in SSD storage. You also still get a 15.6-icnh IPS panel at Full HD resolution and refreshes at 144Hz. There is still the always reliable Killer Ethernet E2600 ethernet port. Even the keyboard is still the same 4-zone RGB type.
The differences are a little more than skin deep in this case. It comes packing AMD’s Ryzen 7 4800 8-core CPU power paired to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 instead of the GTX 1660Ti. While it might sound like a small downgrade, the differences are more minute than you know with the Intel pairing.
But the differences do not end at the hardware though. It is also differently priced at the same time. The Acer Nitro 5 with AMD’s Ryzen 7 4800 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 is now available across the nation via authorised retailers and official online stores at MYR 4,099. That is MYR 800 in difference to the top specced Intel variant of the Acer Nitro 5. With the current Acer Day promotion, the AMD variant of the Acer Nitro 5 is available for MYR 3,999. For more information on the Acer Nitro 5, do check out their website.
The Movement Control Order, as we know it in Malaysia, or the sanctioned quarantine at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (it is not over, by the way) really opened our eyes to plenty of things. It revealed the human ability to adapt to any situation and still survive. It also proved that our technology is ready to handle the situation and give us the kind of flexibility we need in that time of need.
But it also opened a whole other can of worms. Once we started working from home, we realised just how easily we can be productive without being in a professional environment. We also realised that the line between work and leisure is blurred to the point that we cannot see it. In that sense, we tend to be workaholics at home. Time for a change of lifestyle then, a new schedule.
You realised something too. You do not have much entertainment at home. You did not buy a TV because you tend to not be home until quite late in the evening. By that time, you just want to relax, wind down, watch a video or two on your smartphone or notebook, and then sleep. A TV is unnecessary at the time.
Other forms of entertainment get neglected too. Your gaming PC at the corner has collected so much dust that it looks like an ancient relic. You stopped playing that much games because you tend to stay out until its dark and you are sleepy. You want to play games, but you just do not have the energy for it in the past. In the current work-from-home situation though, you realise you have plenty more time to play games. But your Gaming PC is now old and slow. Time to buy a new Gaming PC.
You decide that its best to get a Gaming Notebook because it is the most convenient form of gaming PC to date. You can bring it around when you need to move, you can use it for work, you can watch movies on it, you can play music on it, you can have a LAN party at your friend’s place. It is the most versatile entertainment powerhouse in the world of entertainment powerhouses.
Which one do you go for though? What kind of budget do you stick to? There are so many choices out there at this point? What if you do not have more than MYR 6,000 to spend on one? What is the latest one in the market?
One of the latest gaming notebooks to arrive in Malaysia is the Acer Predator Helios 300. We heard somewhere too that the device was actually planned for an earlier release to no avail. That was due to the COVID-19 pandemics and its disruption toward the logistics industry globally. We do not blame them. It is also priced below MYR 6,000 at MYR 5,199, way below. In short, it sounds like one of the best deals to get if you are in the market for a gaming notebook. Is it though? Let us find out.
Design
The Acer Predator Helios 300 for the 2020 has been updated a little bit from before. The Acer Predator Helios 300 2020 gets pretty much the same GPU set up as before, same RAM size as before, and the same cooling internals. That is where the similarities end though.
The Predator Helios 300 is now packing more power with an Intel Core i7-10750H. With that, it also gets a slightly updated look. Gone is the ‘PREDATOR’ word logo on the cover. You get a much cleaner look on the back of the display now, which is the top clam of the notebook. The mascot logo is still there though, giving you some hints of the power contained within the all-aluminium body.
The power lines that frames the logo is still there too. The powerlines are as iconic as ever, in Predator’s signature blue. Sadly, only the logo in the center of the clam lights up with LED. We feel that the power lines deserve their own LED array to let others know that it means business.
The angled edge still stays, a staple now to Acer’s gaming line-up, including their Nitro series. The angles on the display clam is still a little sharp, but that is not a huge issue, considering that you rarely have contact with that part of the notebook.
The sharp edges that lines the palm rest surface though has been chamfered. They are still a little sharp on the ends, but at the same time the chamfered edges does make it a bit more comfortable for your palms and wrists. That chamfered edge is now chromed all the way too though, to add to some flair to how the device looks on your desk.
Open it up, and you will find, greeting you, is an expansive 15.6-inch IPS panel. With bezels remaining as thin as ever, but not too thin that it becomes awkward for Acer to find creative ways to mount their 720p HD webcam. Of course, we are still hoping that manufacturers include their own window or cap for the webcam just for our safety. At this point of time though, webcam spaces are a premium, so we may not see a webcam window anytime soon.
Look down and you find a full-size keyboard with proper physical number pad section. Instead of a single colour backlit keyboard, it is now a 4-zone RGB keyboard you can control with Predator Sense built into the notebook. There is a dedicated Predator Sense key too on the keyboard for you to access it quickly. I would have preferred a separate dedicated button though this arrangement by Acer makes everything look cleaner and more compact.
If you look closely too, you will see a ‘Turbo’ button on the top left corner of the typing surface. The new slits at the forehead of the keyboard are not speakers, by the way. They are extra cooling vents for the powerful 4th generation 3D Aeroblades. The ‘Turbo’ button is nestled right beside the vents.
This ‘Turbo’ button now lights up when you press it. Instead of just relying on your ears to see if the cooling fans go crazy or not, you can leave your headphones on and check the button instead. Although, the LED is not an expected Predator blue. Instead it is a plain white LED backlight. I would have liked it if it was Predator blue LED backlit. Then again, it could be less visible.
Around the sides, you find all the right interface ports, including a full HDMI out port and a Mini DP port. The charging port though has been moved to the back of the notebook. That also means that there is a big plate now in the middle of the back of the notebook, sacrificing some cooling vent space (hence the extra vents on top of the keyboard). We prefer this set up though, at least the charging cable will not cover anymore ports or vents. The large plate that houses the charging mechanism is quite large and sparse though. We would have liked to see an HDMI port moved there, the Mini DP port should belong there as well, and maybe an extra USB port on the plate.
Other than these things, the changes in design is now more internal. Instead of having an extra HDD slot on top of the 512GB SSD on the device, you now get an extra SSD and HDD slot on top of the 512GB SSD. Because of the new I/O layout too, they have to move the 3D AeroBlade fan a little bit, further apart to the sides. But they have also redesigned the heat pipes and tweaked their routing to make them a bit more efficient and effective, resulting in an improved cooling performance, despite the reduced intake vent surface area.
Hardware
Within the redesigned body, you are getting the same Intel Core i7-10750H as the Acer Nitro 5 we reviewed earlier. You can opt for a cheaper Core i5 edition, but we would suggest that you consider the Acer Nitro 5 then. Still, this one is in a league of its own. It is a Predator, and this one is just MYR 300 more than the top-of-the-line Acer Nitro 5.
For that MYR 300 extra, you are getting a better GPU too. It is just a step up from the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti, but the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is still a much more superior GPU with DLSS 2.0 capabilities and proper ray tracing. In those alone, we do think that the Acer Predator Helios 300 will be a better buy.
If you are in the market for a thin and light though, you might want to look away. It is quite a hefty package, this Helios 300. It weighs 2.5kg and is just about as thick as the Acer Nitro 5 that weighs in at 1.8kg. Remember though that this Helios 300 is mostly constructed with Aluminium.
15.6-inch IPS LED-backlit (1920 x 1080) ComfyView 144Hz
Memory
512GB NVME M.2 SSD 8GB DDR4 RAM
Networking and Connections (I/O)
3 x USB Type-A 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C 1 x Standard HDMI 1.4 1 x Audio combo jack 1 x Network RJ-45 Intel Wi-Fi 6 Gig+ (802.11ax) Bluetooth 5.0
Battery
4-cell Li-Polymer
Operating System
Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
Miscellaneous
DTS:X Ultra Audio
Features
As we have mentioned before, most of the changes are in the internals of the Acer Predator Helios 300. The size has not changed, nor the weight. Plenty of the changes seem quite minor at first, but they do add up to an improved product over its previous one though.
For starters, we like how much cleaner the new Helios 300 for 2020 looks compared to the rest of the previous generation Acer predator notebooks. We can expect this kind of design as well moving forward with other Acer Predator products. The chamfered edges are a big plus in our books because it does help with typing comfort a little, despite the still sharp angle at the ends. But there are more to this notebook than just small improvements.
New Body, New Positions
Like the Acer Nitro 5 that we reviewed earlier last month, the Acer Predator Helios 300’s charging port is now at the back. This, in our opinion, is a big ergonomic improvement. Because of the angled design of the charging cable from Acer (slightly wider power brick for the 2020 version), the cable tends to cover either your I/O ports at the side or the exhaust vents.
You either restrict airflow, or block your ports, which gets very annoying in plenty of cases. Acer will not completely overhaul the cables a well, because a straight plug will disrupt your mouse experience, especially when you game. To right handers, it is a simple solution of moving the charging port to the left side of the device. That is discriminating left-handers though. So, the back is the most sensible choice.
The only complain we have, as mentioned is that the back plate that houses the charging internals is a little on the sparse side. We felt that the Mini DP port and HDMI port should be moved to the back alongside a full-sized USB port or USB Type-C port. Yes, go with what Lenovo has done with their Legion line-up, we like that.
4-Zone RGB Keyboard That is Even Better
Typing essays on the previous Acer Predator Helios 300 was not really a chore to begin with. We find that the keyboard on most gaming notebooks have improved tremendously, especially on Acer Predator notebooks. We feel like they have started understanding that gaming notebooks are still productivity machines when you need them to be. Typing experience is still an important part of a notebook PC.
In that sense, the 2019 version of the Helios 300 is a comfortable typewriter. The key travels cannot be compared to any mechanical keyboards, but they are still easy to work with. They give you enough feedback with some very soft tactile feel. We somehow feel also that the keyboard would be the best that they could have made it.
The 2020 variant though has a better keyboard than before somehow. The keys somehow feel a bit more tactile than we are used to with Acer’s island type individual keys. There is no difference between key travels between the 2019 variant and 2020 variant. The softness and mushiness are much reduced, and the typing experience somehow is made much more comfortable. No, you still cannot compare it to a mechanical keyboard, but it is a good keyboard to work with when you are out and about. Not everyone carries their mechanical keyboards in their bags.
You still get highlighted ‘WASD’, arrow, and Predator Sense keys on the Acer Predator Helios 300. Instead of choosing a single backlight colour though, you can go for multiple colours across four zones on the keyboard this time. You simply fire up Predator Sense to change the settings.
The chamfered edge that lines the bottom of the keyboard plate, is a life saver. At least the edges do not cut into your palms or wrists anymore. We think that rounded off edges or chamfered edges on notebooks should be a thing. It is a small difference that really changes your comfort levels with the device.
Predator Sense + 4th Gen 3D AeroBlade = Stone Cold
The subtitle might be a little of an exaggeration. But to be fair, the combination of the two really works. Because you do not have the restriction of space like you get in a Triton notebook, the Helios 300 can work with bigger intake and exhaust fans and vents. That allows even more air to pass through your hot internals and keep them properly cool.
If you’ve read our review of the Acer Nitro 5, you would have noticed that we mentioned that Nitro sense is not quite as powerful as Predator Sense. That is because Nitro Sense does not do overclocks, while Predator Sense does.
Strangely you cannot really tweak the overclocking settings on your own, not that this information is anything new. Acer do not really want you to cook your internals just for the sake of proving a point. This is as much about protecting you as it is protecting the PC and themselves.
Predator Sense clocks up your CPU and GPU to speeds that the manufacturers deem safe and plausible enough for their fans to keep them at their optimum temperature. Of course, this is done when you kick ‘Turbo’ mode on. The fans go at its fastest too, to ensure maximum airflow for the Helios 300. Nope, you cannot turn the fan down.
In default mode though, the fan is relatively quiet and peaceful. It is still powerful enough technically to run Horizon Zero Dawn at ‘ultimate’ settings and not go overboard with the noise. It does get hot though after a while and you still might want to kick ‘turbo’ mode on, just to manage its temperature.
In any sense though, we never got the feeling that the Acer Predator Helios 300 is ever going to overheat, especially when you turn on ‘Turbo’ mode when ou need a little bit of horsepower. We turn on ‘Turbo’ mode even when we are editing our videos. We also think that the full aluminium top of the Helios 300 does help a little bit in heat dissipation.
Performance
You can safely expect this generation of Acer Predator Helios 300 to really perform. Will it be that much more powerful? I doubt, but it will still be powerful. It is still one powerful device with a 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H processor that replaces the older 9th Generation six-core processor. But you still get the same NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 on the graphics end, which is still something of a powerhouse.
Gaming
Of course, we have to talk gaming, this is a gaming notebook after all. We tried games like Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Horizon Zero Dawn, Assassin’s Creed: Origins, and Two Point Hospital on it. They are not the latest or most demanding games in the market, but Ghost Recon: Breakpoint can be quite taxing on even the most modern of hardware.
The latest, in terms of PC release date, among all the games is Horizon Zero Dawn. It is not the most demanding of games, but we were still excited to play it on the powerful Acer Predator Helios 300. For Horizon Zero Dawn though, you do not necessarily need an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, it could be just slightly overpowered even when you go on ultimate settings. Technically you will do fine even with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti to get the game on ultimate settings.
Of course, for titles like Assassin’s Creed: Origins and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, hardware will be a little taxed. Still, if we leave the game to decide the best settings for the Helios 300, you are sure to be getting smooth gameplay without too big of an issue. Ghost Recon: Breakpoint can be a little buggy on certain hardware though, so we might have to take that with a pinch of salt. Still, the game clocked at least 40fps in most cases only dropping frames in very few occasions.
Assassin’s Creed Origins is quite an old title to be fair. It is still a beautiful game to work with and requires quite a little bit in rendering power thanks to the vast open world that is ancient Egypt. Still, everything went down smoothly at high settings with fps reaching 120 at some points.
The last title we tested the Helios 300 is Two Point Hospital. That is a game that does not require that much at all to be fair, so you can expect it to run as smoothly as possible with near zero hiccups other than the game’s bugs. You can safely leave the settings at the highest for the game and you will still have no trouble running it even without ‘Turbo’ mode on. Of course, thanks to IPS display and 144Hz, Two Point Hospital looks excellent on the Helios 300.
Bye Bye Wave NX, Hello DTS: X Ultra
The previous generation of Acer’s Predator Helios 300 comes packing Acer’s own Wave NX audio technology. They are not bad, per se. They are just not as polished as we would like them to be.
With Wave NX in the previous generation Acer Predator notebooks, you get Virtual 3D audio if you are using your headphones. Regardless of the headphone make and type, Acer’s Wave NX solution, by default, will adjust the audio according to your head’s placement and movement. This is done via the webcam as well. To create an audio room for you.
While it sounds great in concept, and works nicely to a certain degree, it is inconsistent at times. That feature is removed in favour of conventional speakers. Except, the speakers are not that conventional thanks to DTS: X Ultra tuning.
While audio from notebooks generally lack low-frequency punches, the Acer Predator Helios 300 does have a little bit in thumping. It is not as powerful and defined as what you get if you have proper sub-woofers, but it is enough to enjoy your music with. You do want to have the DTS: X audio software turned on though to make full use of the DTS: X Ultra tuned speakers.
The software allows you to choose between a few audio profiles that is designed for specific uses. If you want to, you can tune the audio on your own too and save is a custom profile. Still, the pre set profiles does a stellar job on their own though. Unless you know what you are doing, best to leave the settings alone.
The speakers are quite loud at full chat, which could be a big distraction to other people in the same room as you are. Thank goodness they still have a 3.5mm jack for you to plug your headphones in for a more personalised listening experience. DTS: X will adjust the audio to that too.
Overall, there is technically not much to shout about in the sound department. Audio is crisp, and you can push it to maximum volume without getting your music to tear at the top. While it could use more low-end grunt, it is still respectable considering that the notebook does not pack a sub-woofer.
Battery
While they did quote that the new 10th Generation Intel Core processors are more efficient in power consumption, we did not actually notice that much in terms of power efficiency bump. There are no specific mentions on the battery life you can get out of the 4-cell battery within Acer Predator Helios 300 from Acer themselves. We did however get about 4 hours of battery life on average with the Acer Predator Helios 300.
Our average use on battery does not include gaming. We mostly have our browser on, sometimes you get 20 tabs out of Firefox, some email checking via Thunderbird or the browser itself. Spotify is on most of the time while we are on the go, of course with earphones plugged in. We did watch some YouTube videos on battery as well, that could take a little bit of toll on the battery life. Oh, we also tend to turn our display brightness settings all the way up.
Still, we managed nearly six hours of battery use at one time before it goes flat. In that case, we turned on battery saving mode immediately after we unplugged it from the charger. In that use case, we did not have Spotify on, the browser was closed as well, and we were only using Microsoft Word in full time in the lowest possible display brightness that we can work with.
Display – 144Hz IPS Dream Like Before
The display, as mentioned, is still similarly sized. It is also still a 144Hz display like before, not a 240Hz unfortunately. Acer did claim that the 15.6-inch display is an IPS panel. That also means that you are getting vibrant and accurate colours for your viewing pleasure.
Of course, you have to remember that this is a gaming notebook. It will not be the most accurate display that you will find on a notebook. IPS display still offers a great viewing experience though. It is still good enough for you to work with colours in videos and photos though. Of course, if you want something with better colour accuracy, you might need to get a secondary display to attach to your PC.
Still, the colours are still quite vivid for a gaming notebook. That also means that you might be able to really enjoy movies and other forms of media on this gaming rig. Thanks to the DTS: X audio too, you do not need to plug in your headphones to enjoy movies on your own.
While 144Hz may not be the fastest display that you might be able to get on a notebook PC it is fast enough for most to enjoy. In this case you get to load up games at up to 144fps. If you are thinking of titles like GTA V or DOTA 2, you will get about 120 to 144fps easily with the kind of hardware The Helios 300 has.
Of course, if you are into competitive gaming, you might want something even higher than 144Hz. Thing is, you may not really need that kind of speed on your display. Your eyes might not even be able to tell the difference between a display refreshing at 120hz and 240hz. In that sense, 144Hz is more than enough for most of us. If you go for the modern AAA titles, you might not even hit 120Hz.
As we said earlier too, the bezels have not really changed from the 2019 Helios 300 to the 2020 variant. They did not go the route of completely redesigning a gaming notebook from the 2019 to 2020 models. They technically did not have to since the only big difference between the two generations is the processor. Still, we do think that they should stick to a slightly wider top and bottom bezel area just so that you can fit properly sized keyboards and properly placed webcams.
The webcam is still a 720p HD webcam though. Nothing too wrong with that, technically. Plenty of notebooks still work with 720p webcams. But we are in 2020 now, 720p is so last decade. We think that notebooks should move to a Full HD webcam format now.
The Acer Predator Helios 300 – Seriously, Why Not?
For MYR 5,199, we seriously think that this package is quite hard to beat. Its closest competitor, we think, is the ASUS ROG Strix G15. While that particular device comes with a 1TB SSD and 16GB RAM, you are paying a hefty MYR 6,699 for largely the same internals. That is more than MYR 1,000 compared to what you are paying for the Acer Predator Helios 300. If you do opt to get another 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD to match, you are still paying less for the Acer Predator Helios 300.
You may be getting less too, in terms of outrageous looks on your PC. The whole point of the Predator Helios 300 though is to blend in a little bit. It is to make sure that no one takes a second look at you when you sport the notebook in your favourite cafés. Plus, you can have your lightshow with the 4-zone RGB keyboard that you can set different profiles on anyway.
By default, the PC is relatively quiet anyway, that also means you can use it in the library and the person next to you will not complain about excessive wind noise. It can be within your production room not too far away from your recording mic too and you barely notice its there. It is only when you decide to ‘accidentally’ hit ‘Turbo’ that all hell breaks loose.
It is not a flashy hardware and it is not meant to be. In that sense, we love it. We love how it looks, how unassuming it is. We love that some may not be able to tell it apart from other Predator products. We love how Predator has stuck to one design choice and work with that identity. We love that we can change the RGB to a single colour the whole way (I am not that big of a fan on RGB). We love the price, as it is you are not paying an absurd amount of money for a top performer. We love its value, its versatility, and its practicality. We even love how it sounds (audio, not the cooling fans), though most of the time I use headphones with it.
Yes, there are some things we do not like too much about it, but we are nitpicking. We would like it to be a little lighter, for example. We also would like to start seeing notebooks coming with 1080p webcams. Maybe a 240Hz display would be really nice too, but that will push its price point up by a little bit.
Would we recommend this package? We would, very strongly. At MYR 5,199, nothing can come close to this performer. You really do not want to pass this up. You can even get your hands on it without going out of home within their online store. At this time, you really do not want to be leaving your homes too much. In that case; get this gaming notebook, and lock yourselves in for days with nothing but you and your games.
ASUS’s ZenBook series has always been the company’s foremost when it comes to delivering solutions for workers on-the-go. The company has revitalised the line up with features that make working on-the-go easier, more ergonomic and less of a hassle. This year is no different with the new ASUS ZenBook 13 (UX325) and the ZenBook 14 (UX425).
The two new entries into the ASUS ZenBook line up make up the new ZenBook Classics line up which hold fast to the original ZenBook’s ethos of being portable and fitted for productivity. The ZenBook 13 and ZenBook 14 come with the 10th Generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors with Intel IRIS Plus Graphics which allow them to be more power efficient and more powerful – allowing on-the-go workers to get more done and keep up with the increasing demand for processing power. Paired with 8GB of RAM, the ZenBooks will be able to handle most anything you can throw at the laptops.
The new line is the lightest and most compact line up of ZenBooks ever. The 13.3-inch ZenBook 13 comes in at only 1.07kg and is an astounding 13.9mm thin. The ZenBook 14 maintains the thickness but gets a little bump in weight, coming in at 1.13kg. Both laptops come with Full HD LED displays with 1080p resolution. The slim bezels around the screen allow for up to 90% screen to body ratio for a more immersive experience when you’re consuming your multimedia while maintaining the compact size.
Built for Productivity
Keeping with their productivity focus, the laptops come equipped with The ZenBook 13 and ZenBook 14 come with a 512GB NVMe PCIe 3.0 solid state drive (SSD) for quick read and write performance. The SSD also allows you to boot into Windows in less than 10 seconds. In addition, ASUS NumPad 2.0 which turns the touchpad into a fully functional NumPad for all your number crunching needs. Together with NumPad 2.0, ASUS has also optimised the ergonomics of the laptop with it’s now ubiquitous ErgoLift hinge. The hinge raises the laptop slightly and angles the keyboard for a more natural typing experience and better cooling.
The new ASUS ZenBook Classic entries are not only optimising hardware for productivity, it also ensures that you don’t need to live the dongle life. The ZenBook 13 and ZenBook 14 both come with a full array of ports to make sure you’re ready to connect. It comes with two USB-C port complete with Thunderbolt 3 technology and ASUS EasyCharge. Also on the laptops is a USB Type A port, a HDMI port and a microSD card reader.
In addition to the numerous ports, the new ASUS ZenBooks also come equipped with WiFi 6 compatibility. The new WiFi technology allows up to three times more data to be communicated through WiFi for quicker data speeds and better latency. Your data isn’t the only thing that will be quicker than usual, you’ll also be able to login in a snap with the Windows Hello thanks to the IR webcam on the new ZenBooks.
Keeping productive can be a little bit frustrating at times, but the ZenBook 13 and 14 are tough with MIL-STD 810G ruggedness. So, you won’t need to worry about things getting a little bit rough with the laptops. This is complemented by up to 22 hours battery life thanks to it’s large 67Wh battery.
Pricing & Availability
The ASUS ZenBook 13 and ZenBook 14 will be available starting on August 11, 2020 for MYR3,999 (USD$953.25) for the version with the Core i5 and MYR4,699 (USD1,120.15) for the one with the Core i7.
13.3” LED-backlit FHD (1920 x 1080) 450 nits Slim 2.9 mm bezels with 88% screen-to-body ratio
Operating system
Windows 10 Home
Office Software
Office Home & Student 2019 included
Graphics
Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics
Main memory
8GB 3200 MHz LPDDR4x onboard
Storage
512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD
Connectivity
WiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth® 5.0
Camera
HD infrared (IR) webcam (supports Windows Hello)
I/O ports
2 x Thunderbolt™ 3 USB-C® with ASUS USB-C® Easy Charge 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A; 1 x Standard HDMI 2.0; 1 x MicroSD card reader
Touchpad
ASUS NumberPad 2.0
Audio
Certified by Harman Kardon ASUS SonicMaster stereo audio system with surround-sound; smart amplifier for maximum audio performance Array microphone with Cortana and Alexa voice-recognition support
Battery
67 Wh lithium-polymer battery up to 22 hr battery life
AC adapter
65-watt power adapter Output: 20 V DC, 3.42 A; Input: 100-240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal
14” LED-backlit FHD (1920 x 1080) 400 nits Slim 2.5 mm bezels with 90% screen-to-body ratio
Operating system
Windows 10 Home
Office Software
Office Home & Student 2019 included
Graphics
Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics
Main memory
8GB 3200 MHz LPDDR4x onboard
Storage
512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD
Connectivity
WiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth® 5.0
Camera
HD infrared (IR) webcam (supports Windows Hello)
I/O ports
2 x Thunderbolt™ 3 USB-C® with ASUS USB-C® Easy Charge 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A; 1 x Standard HDMI 2.0; 1 x MicroSD card reader
Touchpad
ASUS NumberPad 2.0
Audio
Certified by Harman Kardon ASUS SonicMaster stereo audio system with surround-sound; smart amplifier for maximum audio performance Array microphone with Cortana and Alexa voice-recognition support
Battery
67 Wh lithium-polymer battery up to 22 hr battery life
AC adapter
65-watt power adapter Output: 20 V DC, 3.42 A; Input: 100-240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal
