Kroum Nikolov – LaptopMedia.com

The Latitude 3580 from Dell carries the well-known business-oriented branding of the OEM and along with it, some high expectations for the build quality, features and input devices. However, we found more similarities with the super affordable Vostro lineup than the Latitude series. It’s almost as if Dell misspelled “Vostro” on this one but still put the higher price tag of a Latitude notebook. We often find ourselves looking for a good reason why a product is so expensive but honestly, we can’t think of one here.

It’s true that it’s really hard to compete with Lenovo’s new affordable, powerful and well-built Lenovo ThinkPad E-series, like the E570, but Dell seems to be missing the whole point of a business-oriented laptop. Not only does the laptop misses on features like a decent IPS panel and entry-level discrete graphics card, which have become a standard for mid-range business machines, but also doesn’t impress with build quality and input devices. Read the full review to see what lead us to this conclusion.

You can find the available configurations here: http://amzn.to/2heIabM

Retail package

The notebook comes in a standard packaging with the usual user manuals, AC adapter and power cord.

Design and construction

Although pretty light and relatively thin, the chassis of the Latitude 3580 sacrifices in durability. Of course, plastic is used for the entire case, which isn’t a surprise, but there’s a difference between high-quality plastic and cheap one. This one feels like the latter.

Let’s start with the lid. It’s made of a slightly roughened plastic sheet that attracts fingerprints and it’s pretty flexible. The back bends easily and isn’t resistant to torsion. Even small pressure on the back causes ripples to appear on the LCD screen. The hinges, on the other hand, appear to be pretty stable and firm to a point where you need to use both hands to open the laptop. The bottom piece is made of the same plastic material with a roughened finish. It doesn’t have a dedicated service hatch but it’s easy to remove and has a few grills for the loudspeakers and for air intake.

As we already mentioned, the sides are relatively thin measuring at 23.3 mm and offer the bare minimum of I/O – RJ-45, HDMI, two USB 3.0 and a 3.5 mm audio jack on the left and a VGA, USB 2.0 and an SD card reader on the right. At the back, you will find the SIM card tray as the laptop offers optional LTE connectivity.

The interior is what made us give this laptop negative review overall. We would expect that a business-grade laptop, especially priced in the mid-range segment, will offer stable base and good input devices but unfortunately, the Latitude 3580 delivers none of them. The center of the keyboard feels really spongy while the wrist rest area bends a little too much under pressure. The plastic definitely doesn’t feel as strong as it should. And as far as the keyboard goes, it’s pretty generic and can be often found in the much cheaper Vostro laptops. Moreover, some of the keys feel different than others but none of them provide the much-needed clicky tactile feedback or at least long travel. We found it easy to miss some of the letters while typing fast. The touchpad, on the contrary, feels nice – it’s responsive and light to click on. It registers swipes and gestures fairly accurate but the gliding surface might be a problem if your fingers are a little moist.

We are pretty disappointed by the Latitude 3580 when it comes to build quality and input devices. If the slightly heftier bodies of the Lenovo ThinkPad E570 or the HP ProBook 450 G4 aren’t an issue for you, we strongly recommend them over the Latitude 3580. They excel in all areas where Dell’s solution fails.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

Even though there aren’t dedicated service covers for accessing the internals for an upgrade, the bottom plate comes off pretty easily without much of a hassle. Just remove all the screws holding it and then pry it up.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

Interestingly enough, the notebook comes only with a standard 2.5-inch drive while the M.2 SSD slot is missing. That’s disappointing and surprising at the same time because the support for M.2 form factor has become a standard even fro the entry-level machines. Anyway, the 2.5-inch HDD in our case is a Toshiba 1TB.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	Toshiba 1TB HDD @5400 rpm	Upgrade options

RAM

At least the both RAM slots are there each supporting up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory. The memory stick that Dell provided in our case is an 8GB DDR4-2400 from SK Hynix.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
Slot 1	8GB SK Hynix DDR4-2400	Upgrade options
Slot 2	Free	Upgrade options

Other components

The Wi-Fi adapter is Dell’s DW1820.

The battery located under the wrist rest area and it’s fairly big – 56Wh.

Cooling system

The cooling design is dead simple – just one small heatpipe connecting the heatsink and the cooling fan, which in turn pushes the hot air out the back of the device.

Display quality

The notebook uses a familiar panel – AUO B156HTN03.8 (AUO38ED), which is also used in the HP EliteBook 850 G4. This is a TN panel with 15.6-inch diagonal and a Full HD (1920×1080) resolution. The pixel density is 142 ppi while the pixel pitch is 0.18 x 0.18 mm. The screen can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from a distance equal or greater than 60 cm. However, there are some slight differences between this one and the EliteBook’s.

Of course, the panel’s viewing angles aren’t its strongest suit.

The maximum brightness we’ve recorded is 242 cd/m2 in the center of the screen and 239 cd/m2 as average across the surface with just 11% deviation. The color temperature on white screen at maximum brightness is 6980K, which is slightly colder than the optimal 6500K. Unfortunately, though, things change as we go along the grayscale where the average white point is 12000K but our profiles take care of that. You can also see how values change at 140 cd/m2 (55% brightness). Without calibration, the dark gray color will appear like dark blue.

The maximum color deviation dE2000 is 2.9, which is relatively far from the 4.0 mark – everything above that is unwanted. The contrast ratio is extremely low – 340:1.

Color reproduction

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction of the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people in HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

And as expected, the laptop covers barely half of the sRGB color gamut so don’t expect good multimedia performance.

Below you will see practically the same image but with the color circles representing the reference colors and the white circles being the result. You can see main and additional colors with 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% saturation inside the sRGB gamut pre and post calibration.

The “Design and Gaming” profile is created at 140 cd/m2 brightness, D65 (6500K) white point and optimal gamma in sRGB mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 13 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

We are happy to report that the PWM that we’ve detected on the EliteBook 850 G4’s display isn’t present here and all levels are PWM-free.

Blue light emissions

Installing of our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

Surely, we weren’t expecting the best possible IPS solution on this laptop but as the configurations go up along with the price, the quality of the TN panel is just unacceptable. Just half of the sRGB is covered, the contrast ratio is really low, the color accuracy is really bad out of the box and the white point is completely off balance. The good thing is that our custom profiles can take care some of the issues by improving color accuracy and adjusting the white point. We are also happy to see straight line on our equipment for detecting PWM, meaning the display is flicker-free and it’s okay to use for long periods of time.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Dell Latitude 15 3580 configurations with 15.0″ AUO B156HTN03.8 (AUO38ED) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) TN screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: http://amzn.to/2A4oAH9

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at bg.laptopmedia@gmail.com.

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

$4.96

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

$4.97

Health-Guard

THealth-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The clarity in the low, mid and high frequencies is decent and the maximum volume is high enough.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Dell Latitude 3580 technical specifications table

Upcoming

CPU

Intel Core i5-7200U 48

GPU

Intel HD Graphics 620 147

Display

15.6”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), TN

HDD/SSD

1TB HDD, 5400 rpm

RAM

8GB DDR4, 2400 MHz

Dimensions

379 x 255 x 23.3 mm (14.92" x 10.04" x 0.92")

Weight

1.95 kg (4.3 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate (Plastic)

Ports and connectivity

Features

Dell Latitude 15 3580 configurations

Dell Latitude 3580

$639^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Latitude 3580

$855^.03

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Latitude 3580

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Software

We used the pre-installed Windows 10 Pro for the writing of this review but if you wish to perform a clean install of the OS without the bloatware, we suggest that you download all of the latest drivers from Dell official support page.

Battery

The good thing about TN panels is their better energy-efficiency compared to the IPS variants and we can see the difference in this machine. The 56Wh battery is able to power up the Core i7-7500U CPU and the Full HD TN display for quite some time, which is essential for business users doing most of their work on the go. The laptop scored better than most 15-inch devices we’ve tested so far.

Of course, all tests were performed using the same settings as always – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature turned on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Excellent web browsing score – 679 minutes (11 hours and 19 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Considerably lower result but still really good – 487 minutes (8 hours and 7 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

Of course, the laptop isn’t made for gaming, especially away from the power source but it’s good to know that it can handle heavy workload for more than three hours – 217 minutes (3 hours and 37 minutes).

CPU – Intel Core i5-7200U

download-4 Intel’s Core i7-6200U is part of the 7th Generation Kaby Lake CPUs and it’s the direct successor of the Core i5-5200U (Broadwell) and Core i5-6200U (Skylake). It’s also based on the same architecture as the aforementioned chips with little differences that should bring a small performance increase and a bump in power consumption. However, the new CPU is clocked at 2.5 GHz and its Turbo Boost frequency is 3.1 GHz opposed to the 2.3 – 2.8 GHz clocks on the previous Core i5-6200U.

Anyway, we still have the 2/4 core/thread count, 3MB last level cache, and a TDP of 15W, which includes the iGPU and the dual-channel DDR4 memory controller. Speaking of the former, the chip integrates the newer generation Intel HD Graphics 620 graphics chip clocked at 300 – 1000 MHz.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i5-7200u/

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Latitude 3580 Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	3.68
Lenovo ThinkPad E570 Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	3.66	-0.54%
HP ProBook 450 G4 Intel Core i7-7500U (2-cores, 2.7 - 3.5 GHz)	3.95	+7.34%
Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575G) Intel Core i5-6200U (2-cores, 2.3 - 2.8 GHz)	3.22	-12.5%
Dell Latitude 15 3570 Intel Core i5-6200U (2-cores, 2.3 - 2.8 GHz)	3.21	-12.77%
Lenovo ThinkPad L570 Intel Core i7-7500U (2-cores, 2.7 - 3.5 GHz)	3.80	+3.26%
Dell Vostro 15 3559 Intel Core i5-6200U (2-cores, 2.3 - 2.8 GHz)	3.20	-13.04%

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Latitude 3580 Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	478
Lenovo ThinkPad E570 Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	475	-0.63%
HP ProBook 450 G4 Intel Core i7-7500U (2-cores, 2.7 - 3.5 GHz)	521	+9%
Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575G) Intel Core i5-6200U (2-cores, 2.3 - 2.8 GHz)	441	-7.74%
Dell Latitude 15 3570 Intel Core i5-6200U (2-cores, 2.3 - 2.8 GHz)	442	-7.53%
Lenovo ThinkPad L570 Intel Core i7-7500U (2-cores, 2.7 - 3.5 GHz)	522	+9.21%
Dell Vostro 15 3559 Intel Core i5-6200U (2-cores, 2.3 - 2.8 GHz)	444	-7.11%

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Latitude 3580 Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	17.39
Lenovo ThinkPad E570 Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	17.44	+0.29%
HP ProBook 450 G4 Intel Core i7-7500U (2-cores, 2.7 - 3.5 GHz)	17.45	+0.35%
Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575G) Intel Core i5-6200U (2-cores, 2.3 - 2.8 GHz)	20.78	+19.49%
Dell Latitude 15 3570 Intel Core i5-6200U (2-cores, 2.3 - 2.8 GHz)	20.15	+15.87%
Lenovo ThinkPad L570 Intel Core i7-7500U (2-cores, 2.7 - 3.5 GHz)	17.65	+1.5%
Dell Vostro 15 3559 Intel Core i5-6200U (2-cores, 2.3 - 2.8 GHz)	20.21	+16.22%

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i5-7200U scored 6.344 million moves per second. In comparison, one of the most powerful chess computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – Intel HD Graphics 620

intel_hd_graphics Intel’s HD Graphics 620 integrated iGPU can be found in various ULV (ultra-low voltage) processors from the Kaby Lake generation. The GT2 version of the graphics chip uses 24 EUs (Execution Units) that can be clocked up to 1050 MHz and it has a base frequency of 300 MHz but the former can vary depending on the CPU. Since the iGPU doesn’t have a dedicated memory of its own – or eDRAM for that matter – it uses the available RAM on the system which is 2x 64-bit DDR3 or DDR4.

The TDP depends on the CPU model but it’s usually equipped with a SoC rated at 15W including the memory controller.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook with this GPU that we’ve tested: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/intel-hd-graphics-620/

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Latitude 3580 Intel HD Graphics 620	6560
Lenovo ThinkPad E570 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M (2GB GDDR5)	21597	+229.22%
HP ProBook 450 G4 NVIDIA GeForce 930MX (2GB DDR3)	9106	+38.81%
Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575G) NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	12603	+92.12%
Dell Latitude 15 3570 Intel HD Graphics 520	7199	+9.74%
Lenovo ThinkPad L570 Intel HD Graphics 620	7394	+12.71%
Dell Vostro 15 3559 AMD Radeon R5 M315 (2GB DDR3)	5036	-23.23%

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Latitude 3580 Intel HD Graphics 620	756
Lenovo ThinkPad E570 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M (2GB GDDR5)	3493	+362.04%
HP ProBook 450 G4 NVIDIA GeForce 930MX (2GB DDR3)	1570	+107.67%
Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575G) NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	2239	+196.16%
Dell Latitude 15 3570 Intel HD Graphics 520	380	-49.74%
Lenovo ThinkPad L570 Intel HD Graphics 620	998	+32.01%
Dell Vostro 15 3559 AMD Radeon R5 M315 (2GB DDR3)	919	+21.56%

Results are from the 3DMark (Sky Diver) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Latitude 3580 Intel HD Graphics 620		-
Lenovo ThinkPad E570 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M (2GB GDDR5)	11041	-
HP ProBook 450 G4 NVIDIA GeForce 930MX (2GB DDR3)	5070	-
Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575G) NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	7253	-
Dell Latitude 15 3570 Intel HD Graphics 520	3125	-
Lenovo ThinkPad L570 Intel HD Graphics 620		-
Dell Vostro 15 3559 AMD Radeon R5 M315 (2GB DDR3)	3052	-

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Latitude 3580 Intel HD Graphics 620	227
Lenovo ThinkPad E570 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M (2GB GDDR5)	1033	+355.07%
HP ProBook 450 G4 NVIDIA GeForce 930MX (2GB DDR3)	443	+95.15%
Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-575G) NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	604	+166.08%
Dell Latitude 15 3570 Intel HD Graphics 520	235	+3.52%
Lenovo ThinkPad L570 Intel HD Graphics 620	301	+32.6%
Dell Vostro 15 3559 AMD Radeon R5 M315 (2GB DDR3)	242	+6.61%

Temperatures

The notebook isn’t made for long and heavy workload and our stress test doesn’t represent real-life usage but it’s still the best way to assess the capabilities of the cooling design and the longevity of the system as a whole.

We kick things off with 1 hour CPU stress test. The results can be seen below – relatively low temperatures while utilizing the maximum clock speeds for two active cores – 3.1 GHz. At first, however, the CPU ran at its maximum clock speed 3.5 GHz for a very short period of time.

After we turned on the GPU stress test, the CPU started ticking at a lower frequency so it can give enough headroom for the iGPU to perform. Still, the CPU’s frequency didn’t go below 2.8 GHz, which is still within the normal range of clock speeds, meaning no throttling.

As expected, temperatures on the surface remained low due to the not so demanding nature of the Core i7-7500U CPU and the absence of discrete GPU. However, we noticed that the cooling fan keeps spinning even when idle or when performing normal tasks like web browsing or office work. This is definitely something to consider if you are annoyed by the constant noise coming from the fan.

Verdict

We really want to say that the Latitude 15 3580 is a good business solution in the entry-level to mid-range class but considering all the other alternatives out there, it’s really hard to do so. Don’t get us wrong, though, the Latitude series has always been one of the first go-to solutions but not this time around.

The chassis feels more like the super budget Vostro 15 3000 series, which becomes unacceptable when you configure this machine with a Core i5-7200U or Core i7-7500U. Almost everything about it feels cheap and flimsy. The input devices don’t impress as well – the keyboard is shallow and lacking feedback but the touchpad, on the other hand, is just okay. Nothing special, though.

Moving on to what probably matters the most for some users – battery life. This thing runs for quite some time when away from the charger mostly thanks to the energy-efficient CPU, the undemanding 1080p TN display and the relatively big battery unit. Speaking of the former, the screen is just way below average, which is what you’d normally expect from a budget TN panel – poor viewing angles, low maximum brightness, extremely low contrast, inaccurate color reproduction and limited sRGB coverage. At least our profiles can take care of the white point, gamma and color reproduction while the screen itself doesn’t use PWM for regulating brightness.

And with the missing support for an M.2 SSD, which has usually become a standard nowadays, the Latitude 3580 is bound to lose to its competitors like the Lenovo ThinkPad E570, the Lenovo ThinkPad L570 or HP’s new ProBook 450 G5. In fact, the older ProBook 450 G4 is a much better option as well. Other similarly priced alternatives would be Acer’s TravelMate P4 TMP449 or even the affordable Latitude 15 3570 will do a better job.

You can find the available configurations here: http://amzn.to/2heIabM

Pros

Excellent battery runtimes
The display doesn’t use PWM for regulating brightness

Cons

The cooling fan doesn’t stop spinning
Subpar image quality
Flimsy case
Unsatisfactory keyboard (shallow and lacks tactile feedback and LED illumination)
No M.2 SSD slot

The ASUS FX753VD or you can also call it the ROG Strix GL753VD (more on that later) is what appears to be one of the most affordable 17-inch GTX 1050-powered laptops. The GL753VE is another commonly found configuration with GTX 1050 Ti that we reviewed a couple of months ago. In any case, our opinion of the notebook isn’t deviating too much from our initial thoughts on the ASUS ROG Strix GL553VE (15-inch version) and the GL753VE. It offers excellent keyboard, good IPS panel for a little bit extra cash compared to its competitors and a bit disappointing build quality. We are starting to get worried because it’s becoming a trend for ASUS’ ROG gaming lineup while the similarly-priced competitors impress with above average build quality. Take the Lenovo Legion Y520 and Dell’s Inspiron 7567, for example. They all have something in common that the ASUS ROG GL-series doesn’t offer – solid construction. But is there more than it meets the eye?

In the review below, we will be taking a closer look at the budget configuration of the ASUS ROG Strix GL753VD, which in many regions is also called FX753VD. The only real difference between the original and the re-branded FX753VD version is the missing ROG logo on the lid of the latter and the “only red” LED keyboard backlight opposed to the RGB illumination on the GL753VD. Anything else is just about the same – hardware configuration, cooling system and most probably in most regions – the same IPS panel. In short, the review is true for both alterations of the laptop – the ROG-branded GL753VD and the FX753VD.

You can check the available configurations and their prices here: http://amzn.to/2hyTymC

Retail package

Interestingly, the box in which the notebook came has the ASUS ROG Strix written all over it. And that’s not a review sample – it’s straight out of the retailer. Still, the usual user manuals, AC adapter and power cord are included in the package.

Design and construction

Aside from the fact that the FX753 is just a slightly bigger version of the FX553 (GL553), there are some differences that we noticed compared to the GL553VE, which we’ve recently reviewed, and they concern the overall stability of the chassis.

Quite surprisingly, the brushed aluminum lid appears to be significantly more stable than the seemingly identical metal cover of the 15-inch version. Even strong pressure doesn’t cause the lid to bend. The screen hinges feel stable as usual and thanks to the extra weight of the base, the laptop can be opened using one hand only. The bottom plate is still made of black plastic with ROG Strix-inspired decorative elements. No service lid but the plate comes off easily.

The sides remain the same from two generations back – relatively healthy port distribution but as some users pointed out, the positioning of the connectors is a bit awkward. If all are I/Os are connected to peripherals, all the cables will be sticking out near the front edges and sometimes might obstruct the use of external mouse or make the working space overcrowded. However, in most cases this shouldn’t be an issue. The left side offers the DC charging port, LAN, HDMI, mini DisplayPort (coming from the previous ASUS ROG GL752VW generation), two USB 3.0 connectors, USB-C 3.1 (Gen 1) and a 3.5 mm audio jack. And as for the right side, it contains only one USB 3.0, one USB 2.0 port and the optical drive. We are pleased to see that the 17-inch variant offers a few extra connectors more than the 15-inch version so there’s a compelling reason to opt for the bigger screen size. More often than not, OEMs tend to stick the same hardware inside a 17-inch laptop without making any effort to utilize the extra space.

Unfortunately, the interior offers little improvement over the 15-inch version. The only thing that’s substantially better is the touchpad – now it doesn’t feel wobbly or hard to press but instead offers relatively good gliding surface (if your fingers aren’t moist), it’s generally accurate and it’s comfortable to use. The keyboard is visually downgraded on our version of the laptop (FX753) but the GL-series keep the RGB LED illumination. The good news is that you can still benefit from the long and tactile feedback of the keys and the relatively gaming-oriented layout of the keyboard. We say relatively because the arrow keys are medium-sized and the adjacent keys are too close to them. A bit more spacing and slightly bigger keys would have been greatly appreciated. Anyway, the keyboard tray still feels a bit more flexible to our taste and looks cheaply made with the brushed aluminum-like look. The matte finish of the Lenovo Legion Y520 or the smooth plastic finish of the Aspire VX 15 seemed more appealing and pleasant to touch.

Generally speaking, the ASUS FX753VD (GL753VD) offers the same build quality as its predecessor and current 15-inch sibling. We see a good improvement in the keyboard and touchpad design with a bit more durable brushed aluminum lid. However, the spongy keyboard tray and flexible base kind of ruin the overall user experience. Still, due to the relatively low price and better lid – compared to the GL553VD – we can give a score of average in terms of build quality and design. We do have note, though, that the FX753VD seems surprisingly portable for a 17-incher – 32 mm thick and 2.9 kg heavy. What you’d normally expect from a 15-incher.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

The disassembly process is absolutely identical to the GL753VE as they share the same case. You just have to remove all the screws holding the bottom piece and don’t forget the one hiding under the silicone cap in the middle.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

Since we got the budget configuration of the FX753VD, the unit we reviewed shipped with just one 1TB HDD manufactured by HGST. There’s also an M.2 PCIe NVMe-enabled SSD slot right next to the 2.5-inch bay and it’s available for an upgrade.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	HGST 1TB HDD @5400 rpm	Upgrade options
M.2 SSD 2280 slot	Free	Upgrade options

RAM

Of course, the RAM slots are two and support up to 2x 16GB DDR4-2400 memory. The unit we’ve tested came with one 16GB DDR4-2400 chip from Samsung.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
Slot 1	16GB Samsung DDR4-2400	Upgrade options
Slot 2	Free	Upgrade options

Other components

The Wi-Fi module is again Intel 7265NGW.

The battery is attached with a few screws between the hinges and it’s rated at just 48Wh.

Cooling system

The cooling system consists of just one big cooling fan and two heat pipes going across both heatsinks.

Display quality

As expected, the FX753VD uses the same panel as the GL753VE/VD – LG LP173WF4-SPF3. But interestingly enough, the panel is found in other ASUS ROG notebooks as well – the good old ASUS ROG G752 and the ASUS ROG Strix GL702. Anyway, the display features a 17.3-inch IPS panel with Full HD (1920×1080) resolution which means that the pixel density is 127 ppi while the pixel pitch is 0.1995 x 0.1995 mm. The screen is considered as “Retina” when viewed from a distance equal or greater than 69 cm.

Viewing angles are excellent.

The peak brightness we’ve recorded is 391 cd/m2 in the middle and 364 cd/m2 as average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 11%. The correlated color temperature on white screen at maximum brightness is pretty close to the optimal – 6270K but colors will appear slightly warmer than they should. As we go along the grayscale, the color temperature becomes a tad warmer – 6170K. You can see how these values change at 140 cd/m2 (36% brightness) on the image below.

The maximum color deviation (dE2000) compared to the center of the screen is 3.3 which is just below the acceptable 4.0 value. This is an important factor to consider when doing color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is high – 1070:1 and 980:1 after calibration.

Color reproduction

The display covers 89% of the sRGB color gamut so it’s ideal for gaming and multimedia purposes.

The “Design and Gaming” profile is created at 140 cd/m2 brightness, D65 (6500K) white point and optimal gamma in sRGB mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time (Gaming capabilities))

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 24 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

As before, our equipment didn’t record a significant pulsations – there was extremely high-frequency PWM (120 kHz) in from time to time but that shouldn’t be an issue even for users with extra sensitive eyes.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

The presented IPS panel is way ahead of the competition in the same price range in terms of image quality. It has all the properties for a good gaming and multimedia experience – high maximum brightness, high contrast ratio, wide sRGB coverage and doesn’t use PWM for regulating screen brightness making it safe to use for long periods of time.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for ASUS FX753VD (ROG GL753VD) configurations with 17.3″ LG LP173WF4-SPF3 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: http://amzn.to/2yZ95Dr

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The sound quality is pretty good with enough clarity in the low, mid and high frequencies.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

ASUS ROG GL753VD technical specifications table

$1706^.99

Buy

from Amazon

CPU

Intel Core i7-7700HQ 7

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5) 31

Display

17.3”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

1TB HDD, 7200 rpm

M.2 Slot

1x 2280 PCIe NVMe (M key)

RAM

2x 8GB DDR4

Dimensions

415 x 273 x 30 mm (16.34" x 10.75" x 1.18")

Weight

2.80 kg (6.2 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum (Aluminum, Plastic)

Ports and connectivity

1x USB Type-A 2.0
3x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
1x USB Type-C 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
HDMI 1
Displayport mini
Card reader
Ethernet lan 10, 100, 1000 Mbit/s
Wi-Fi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.0
Audio jack combo audio/microphone jack

Features

ASUS ROG GL753 configurations

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ASUS ROG GL753VD

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ASUS ROG GL753VD

Intel Core i7-7700HQ
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)
1000GB HDD + 1000GB SSD
32GB RAM

Not available

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ASUS ROG GL753VD

Not available

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ASUS ROG GL753VE

Not available

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Not available

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ASUS ROG GL753VE

Not available

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ASUS ROG GL753VE

Not available

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ASUS ROG GL753VD

Intel Core i7-7700HQ
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)
1000GB HDD + 1000GB SSD
32GB RAM

Not available

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Software

We used the pre-installed Windows 10 Pro for the writing of this review but if you wish to perform a clean install of the OS without the bloatware, we suggest downloading all of the latest drivers from ASUS’ official support page.

Battery

The battery tests show a slight deviation from the 15-inch variant due to the bigger screen. To be honest, we expected at least slightly bigger battery compared to the 15-inch model so it will compensate for the larger screen but we see the same 48Wh unit inside. Still, it fared a bit better than the GTX 1050 Ti version (GL753VE). In any case, don’t expect impressive battery performance.

All tests were performed using the same settings as always – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature turned on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

A little below average web browsing runtime – 300 minutes (5 hours).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

A tad lower score on the video playback test – 266 minutes (4 hours and 26 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

It’s quite unlikely that you will start a gaming session without being close to a power source, but it’s good to know that you can play for almost two hours – 115 minutes (1 hour and 55 minutes).

CPU – Intel Core i7-7700HQ

The Core i7-7700HQ is Kaby Lake’s top-shelf direct successor of the Skylake Core i7-6700HQ offering slightly higher clock speeds on the almost identical architecture and TDP. While Intel markets Kaby Lake’s architecture as “14nm+”, the Core i7-7700HQ is still on the same 14nm node with the only significant update being in the iGPU department. That’s why the slightly altered clock speeds (2.8 – 3.8 GHz vs 2.6 – 3.5 GHz) bring not more than 10% increase in performance compared to the Core i7-6700HQ. We still have the supported Hyper-Threading technology with 4/8 – core/thread design, the same 45W TDP and 6MB cache.

However, the Kaby Lake generation boasts an updated video engine for the iGPU, although, its performance is just about the same. Branded as Intel HD Graphics 630, the GPU offers slightly higher clock speeds (350 – 1100 MHz vs 350 – 1050 MHz) compared to the Intel HD Graphics 530 and support for H265/HEVC Main10 profile at 10-bit color depth and the VP9 codec for full hardware acceleration. In addition, the HDCP 2.2 is also supported allowing Netflix’s 4K video streaming.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i7-7700hq/

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL753VD Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.15
ASUS ROG GL753VE Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.16	+0.12%
Lenovo Legion Y520 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.14	-0.12%
Acer Aspire VX 15 (VX5-591G) Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.13	-0.25%

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL753VD Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	885
ASUS ROG GL753VE Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	860	-2.82%
Lenovo Legion Y520 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	860	-2.82%
Acer Aspire VX 15 (VX5-591G) Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	883	-0.23%

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL753VD Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	9.91
ASUS ROG GL753VE Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	9.85	-0.61%
Lenovo Legion Y520 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	9.93	+0.2%
Acer Aspire VX 15 (VX5-591G) Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	9.99	+0.81%

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i7-7700HQ managed to get 13.399 million moves per second. For comparison, one of the most powerful PCs, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)

The GeForce GTX 1050 GPU for laptops is part of the latest NVIDIA Pascal lineup of GPUs featuring a brand new architecture design but on contrary to the rest of the GPUs from NVIDIA’s lineup, the GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti feature a Samsung-made FinFET 14nm chip instead of the TSMC 16nm found in the GTX 1060, 1070 and 1080. The graphics card is based on the GP107 chip paired with 4GB of GDDR5 memory via 128-bit interface.

Since the GTX 1050 is quite dependent on the cooling design, its performance may vary but if the laptop handles the GPU well and shouldn’t be much different from its desktop counterpart. Anyway, the GPU operates at relatively high frequencies (1354 – 1493 MHz) but incorporates the same amount of CUDA cores (640) while the memory is clocked at 7000 MHz (effective). These specs ensure a huge performance boost over the previous generation of Maxwell GPUs. For instance, the GTX 1050 performs better than the GTX 960M and can be compared to the GTX 965M’s capabilities while running at similar to the GTX 960M’s TDP of around 40-50W.

However, along with all the power consumption and performance improvements, the GPU now supports essential features like DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, HDR, improved H.265 encoding, and decoding.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this GPU: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-4gb-gddr5/

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL753VD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)	39150
ASUS ROG GL753VE NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)	46320	+18.31%
Lenovo Legion Y520 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)	48511	+23.91%
Acer Aspire VX 15 (VX5-591G) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)	47540	+21.43%

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL753VD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)	6118
ASUS ROG GL753VE NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)	7575	+23.81%
Lenovo Legion Y520 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)	7523	+22.97%
Acer Aspire VX 15 (VX5-591G) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)	7493	+22.47%

Results are from the 3DMark (Sky Diver) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL753VD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)		-
ASUS ROG GL753VE NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)		-
Lenovo Legion Y520 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)	24817	-
Acer Aspire VX 15 (VX5-591G) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)	25639	-

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL753VD NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)	1768
ASUS ROG GL753VE NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)	2400	+35.75%
Lenovo Legion Y520 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)	2354	+33.14%
Acer Aspire VX 15 (VX5-591G) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5)	2368	+33.94%

Gaming tests

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	117 fps	63 fps	32 fps

Far Cry Primal	Full HD, High (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	49 fps	43 fps	34 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	78 fps	49 fps	13 fps

Tom Clancy’s The Division	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	61 fps	47 fps	28 fps

Temperatures

The stress test that we perform can’t be taken into consideration for real-life usage due to the extreme nature of the torture test (100% CPU load + 100% GPU load for extended periods of time) but it’s still the best way to assess the overall capability and effectiveness of the cooling system in the long run.

To be honest, we didn’t expect any major differences in the results compared to the 15-inch variant because both laptops use generally the same cooling solution and identical hardware. The CPU was able to reach its full performance running constantly at 3.4 GHz with four active cores while temperatures were stable around 80-84 °C.

Running the GPU stress test as well didn’t really cause major rises in temperatures regarding the CPU but it did cause to go down at 2.1 GHz. We consider this minor throttling, which wouldn’t cause frame drops or even occur during gaming. Also, the GPU was running stable at 1683 MHz but at higher than expected temperatures. 81 °C is just too much for the GTX 1050 because it’s a chip that doesn’t generate so much heat and usually runs way cooler. These digits are often seen in high-end gaming laptops equipped with GTX 1060, 1070 and even 1080.

But despite the high inner temperatures, the cooling system is able to disperse the heat fast and away from the interior. As you can see from the heat map below, temperatures on the surface remain exceptionally low during heavy and prolonged load.

Verdict

Obviously, our opinion of the ASUS ROG Strix GL753VD, or also called the ASUS FX753VD in some regions, doesn’t differ all that much from our verdict on the ASUS ROG GL753VE. We liked the keyboard in contrast to the wobbly touchpad while the chassis remains a bit neglected compared to the Lenovo Legion Y520 and the Dell Inspiron 15 7567, which also include plastic but feel more robust. And with the launch of the slightly more expensive Inspiron 7577 and the HP Omen 15 (2017), there are two more alternatives on the market. Still, if you are strictly looking for a 17-inches, the GL753VD is probably one of the few choices out there

Portability and battery life are another issue, which is usually inherent to the 17-inch form factor so to be honest, if you are not in a desperate need of an additional USB-A connector and a few more inches to the screen, you’d probably be better off with the 15-inch GL553VE. Battery life on the latter will be slightly longer as well.

The cooling system is another mixed bag – absolutely cool chassis even during heavy workloads but both, the CPU and the GPU run considerably warmer than they should. That’s probably due to the single-fan cooling design that doesn’t work anymore. But once again, the strength in the budget GL-series is in the display – it delivers considerably better image quality than its competitors – Acer Aspire VX 15, Acer Nitro 5, Lenovo Legion Y520 and Dell Inspiron 15 7567.

You can check the available configurations and their prices here: http://amzn.to/2hyTymC

Pros

Excellent keyboard
Extra I/O
Bright IPS panel with high contrast, wide sRGB coverage and good color accuracy out of the box
The panel doesn’t use PWM for regulating screen brightness
The chassis remains cool even under heavy workload

Cons

A bit hefty
The internals get a bit hot during heavy workload
Wobbly and jumpy touchpad
Unsatisfactory build quality in some key areas

Although the previous generation of the Inspiron 15 7000-series, the Inspiron 15 7567, obviously had some issues of its own and the lack of an IPS panel being the biggest one, it was received by the market fairly well due to its solid construction, good cooling design, great battery life and, of course, it offered great value for the asking price.

Now with a slightly refreshed appearance and a brand new IPS panel, the Inspiron 15 7577 aims to right the wrongs of its predecessor. Also, configurations are not limited to the GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti anymore – the OEM released versions with GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q. But besides the hardware upgrades and the obvious design changes, we wonder if the IPS panel will be good enough to compete with the competitors in this price range and will the cooling system perform just as good as it performed with the GTX 1050 Ti under the hood? Also, is the GTX 1060 Max-Q really worth getting it in a bulky chassis like this or you should maybe stick to the regular GTX 1060 considering the price point? We find out in the full review below.

You can check prices and configurations: Buy from Amazon.com

Retail package

The box containing the laptop also comes with the usual user manuals, AC adapter and power cord.

Design and construction

At first glance, the Inspiron 7577 is identical to the Inspiron 7567 but there are some small changes here and there that are worth mentioning. For starters, there’s a slight decrease in weight and thickness while the materials used for the exterior and interior are different. Instead of matte plastic coating, the new alteration comes with hard plastic finish imitating anodized aluminum and as for the interior, it now incorporates the real thing – anodized aluminum.

Starting with the lid, it uses hard plastic material resembling anodized aluminum, yet it feels as rigid as aluminum. Still, pressing the middle of the plate results in slight bending and twisting the screen results in visible deformation. We’ve noticed the same problem with the previous model and we still think that the narrow single-hinge design is the culprit here. Also, the sharp corners and fairly thick bezels give the laptop a more clunky appearance. But as far as the hinge is concerned, it provides smooth linear travel, firm hold and allows the notebook to be opened with just one hand. The bottom has also gone through some changes, although rather small – there are two slightly bigger vent openings for better air intake and just one screw holding the whole plate.

The sides also come with a bit different I/O configuration – on the left, you we see the RJ-45 LAN port, the DC charging port, USB 3.0 and the SD card reader while on the right, we find the most commonly used connectors, which in some cases where the working space is limited, it might be an issue because it will obstruct normal mouse usage with all the cables sticking out. Anyway, we are happy to see two more USB 3.0 connectors, HDMI, 3.5 mm audio jack and a USB-C 3.1 port with Thunderbolt 3 support. The latter is much appreciated and it’s a rarely found feature in this price range. We are also impressed by the fact that the GTX 1060-powered models are not the only ones receiving the Thunderbolt 3 treatment, the GTX 1050 configurations also get this, which is pretty darn cool. Also, the design of the front and back grills has been changed promoting a more simple and clean look.

Opening the lid reveals roughly the same interior, which means that the same issues arise with the new model as well. The keyboard isn’t exactly gaming-centric because of the rather short key travel, the lack of prominent tactile feedback and the arrow keys are small making a suboptimal experience in racing games and navigating through menus. Similarly, the touchpad feels a bit jumpy and fails to register precise movements although, it offers light and clicky mouse buttons. Anyway, we found the shift from plastic to anodized aluminum a good thing – the surface is rock-solid and super smooth to touch but remains a fingerprint magnet.

Despite some of the changes, the laptop looks and feels the same as before – excluding the lack of matte finish for the exterior, of course – so we draw pretty much the same conclusion. The build quality is good, except the slightly flimsy and clunky-looking screen, the keyboard leaves much to be desired and the same goes for the touchpad. It might feel a bit heavy for a 15-inch device weighing around 2.85 kg but it does feel rigid in the hand. Moreover, the inclusion of a USB-C 3.1 connector with Thunderbolt 3 support is a much-welcomed change that sets the Inspiron 7577 apart from some of its competitor.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

Just like its predecessor, the Inspiron 7577 offers extremely easy access to all of the internals – you just have to unscrew one bolt and remove the bottom piece and you will be granted access to the battery, memory and storage. But despite being almost identical, there are some small differences between the older 7567 and the 7577.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

As before, the laptop offers a standard 2.5-inch drive and an M.2 2280 SSD slot. They are both located in the lower left corner as shown in the photo below. In our case, the 2.5-inch drive is 1TB Seagate while the M.2 slot is taken by a 256GB Toshiba PCIe NVMe SSD.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
M.2 SSD slot	256GB Toshiba M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD	Upgrade options
2.5-inch HDD/SSD	Seagate 1TB HDD @5400 rpm	Upgrade options

RAM

Although positioned slightly different than before, the motherboard still holds two RAM slots supporting up to 32GB of DDR4-2400 memory. The unit we reviewed had a single 16GB DDR4-2400 chip from Kingston.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
Slot 1	16GB Kingston DDR4-2400	Upgrade options
Slot 2	Free	Upgrade options

Other components

The Wi-Fi card is placed next to the left cooling fan with the bottom facing up. It’s manufactured by Intel and the model is 8265NGW.

Now the battery capacity has been reduced – from 74Wh to 56Wh.

Cooling system

The cooling system is identical to the previous version of the laptop providing a good cooling performance. You can see it in detail in the disassembly section of the previous model where we took the whole thing apart.

Display quality

The notebook uses an LG LGD053F (156WF6-4XK13) IPS panel with Full HD (1920×1080) resolution in a 15.6-inch diagonal. This means that the pixel density is 142 ppi while the pixel pitch is 0.18 x 0.18 mm. The screen can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from at least 60 cm.

The display offers comfortable viewing angles.

We were able to record a maximum brightness of just 250 cd/m2 in the center and 233 cd/m2 as average across the surface with just 11% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature on white screen at maximum brightness is almost perfect – 6525K because the standard color temperature is believed to be 6500K. But as we go along the grayscale, the average color temperature gets lower to around 6340K. You can see how these values change at 56% brightness (139 cd/m2).

The maximum color deviation (dE2000) compared to the center of the screen at 56% brightness is just 2.8 – this is essential if you plan to you use the screen for color sensitive work as values above 4.0 are unwanted. The contrast ratio is 1230:1 before calibration and 1150:1 after.

Color reproduction

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Unfortunately, the screen covers barely half of the sRGB color gamut – just 52%. This means that it’s not the best choice for gaming and multimedia purposes.

The “Design and Gaming” profile is created at 140 cd/m2 brightness, D65 (6500K) white point and optimal gamma in sRGB mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time (Gaming capabilities))

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 27 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

We are pleased to see that our equipment didn’t detect any light pulsations (PWM) at any given brightness level so it should be safe to use for long periods of time without causing too much eye fatigue.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

The presented display here is a mixed bag but in any case, it definitely doesn’t fit the upper mid-range gaming price tag of the device. The contrast ratio is excellent and the absence of PWM across all brightness levels are definitely a plus but the fairly dim (just 250 cd/m2 peak brightness) and the limited sRGB coverage (just 52%) don’t make a compelling case at all. Both properties are essential for optimal gaming and multimedia experience and it looks like once again, Dell has cut corners with its Inspiron gaming notebook when it comes to image quality. The previous version of the notebook came paired with a lackluster TN panel so this is an improvement, nonetheless. But while this display might be justified for the lower configurations with GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti, it sure doesn’t make sense in the GTX 1060-powered models like this one.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Dell Inspiron 15 7577 configurations with 15.6″ LG LGD053F (156WF6-4XK13) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: http://amzn.to/2javmn9

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The sound quality is good – there’s enough clarity in the low, mid and high frequencies.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Dell Inspiron 15 7577 technical specifications table Also known as Dell Inspiron 15 7000

$1649^.00

Buy

from Amazon

CPU

Intel Core i7-7700HQ 7

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5) 14

Display

15.6”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

256GB M.2 SSD + 1TB HDD, 5400 rpm

M.2 Slot

1x 2280 PCIe NVMe See photo

RAM

16GB DDR4

Dimensions

389 x 274 x 24.95 mm (15.31" x 10.79" x 0.98")

Weight

2.65 kg (5.8 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum (Plastic chassis, aluminum interior)

Ports and connectivity

3x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
1x USB Type-C 3.1 (3.1 Gen 2), Thunderbolt 3
HDMI
VGA
DVI
Card reader SD
Ethernet lan
Wi-Fi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.2
Audio jack headphone/microphone

Features

Dell Inspiron 15 7577 configurations

Dell Inspiron 15 7577

$1049^.00

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 15 7577

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script to automatically browse through over 70 websites.

Exceptional web browsing runtime – 600 minutes (10 hours).

Video playback

For every test of this kind we use the same video in HD.

Considerably lower but still amazing result – 432 minutes (7 hours and 12 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

It’s quite unlikely that you will start a gaming session without being close to a power source, but it’s good to know that you can play almost three hours away from the plug – 175 minutes (2 hours and 55 minutes).

CPU – Intel Core i7-7700HQ

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i7-7700hq/

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i7-7700HQ scored 13.724 million moves per second. In comparison, one of the most powerful chess computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q is a high-end mobile graphics chip based on the same GP106 GPU as the normal GTX 1060 but it’s designed for thin and light notebooks with lowered base frequency (1063 – 1265 MHz) and lowered maximum frequency (1341 – 1480 MHz). Moreover, the drivers for the GTX 1060 Max-Q optimize the GPU’s power efficiency instead of bumping up performance and also keeping the voltage at 1V while ensuring quiet operations of the cooling fans (maximum of 40 dB) by constantly adjusting the clock speeds.

The rest of the specs are identical to the regular GTX 1060, including the memory configuration – 192-bit width, 6GB GDDR5 clocked at 8000 MHz. The CUDA core count is 1280, TMUs are 106 and ROPs are 48. The whole chip, including the memory controller, is rated at 60-70W TDP and as for the features it supports, they are the usual – DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, H.265 decoder and support for Multi-Projection, VR Ready, G-Sync, Vulkan, DirectX 12 and Multi-Monitor.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook with this GPU that we’ve tested: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-max-q-6gb-gddr5/

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)	53107
HP Omen 15 (2017, GTX 1060 Max-Q) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)	57247	+7.8%
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-51) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	54861	+3.3%
Lenovo Legion Y720 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	68315	+28.64%
Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-793G) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	79897	+50.45%

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)	10350
HP Omen 15 (2017, GTX 1060 Max-Q) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)	10448	+0.95%
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-51) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	11946	+15.42%
Lenovo Legion Y720 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	11577	+11.86%
Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-793G) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	11472	+10.84%

Results are from the 3DMark (Sky Diver) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)		-
HP Omen 15 (2017, GTX 1060 Max-Q) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)	32500	-
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-51) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	38170	-
Lenovo Legion Y720 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	37314	-
Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-793G) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	34560	-

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)	3271
HP Omen 15 (2017, GTX 1060 Max-Q) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)	3322	+1.56%
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-51) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	3648	+11.53%
Lenovo Legion Y720 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	3560	+8.84%
Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-793G) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	3359	+2.69%

Gaming tests

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	88 fps	54 fps	35 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	73 fps	40 fps	26 fps

Tom Clancy’s The Division	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	56 fps	50 fps	22 fps

Temperatures

The stress tests that perform don’t represent real-life usage because even the most demanding games don’t require 100% CPU and GPU load for such long periods of time. Still, this is still the best way to assess the overall effectiveness and stability of the cooling system in the long run.

We started off with 100% CPU load for about an hour. The Core i7-7700HQ ran at 3.4 GHz stable at surprisingly low temperature.

Turning on the GPU stress test resulted in elevated CPU temperatures and small swings in frequencies. The same goes for the GTX 1060 Max-Q as well – the chip was going back and forth from 1060 to 1000 MHz, which is minor throttling but at surprisingly low temperature – 72 degrees Celsius. So, the results indicate pretty stable cooling solution keeping the internals and the external chassis as cool as possible.

Temperatures on the surface remained cool as well. The only noticeably warm spot is right above the keyboard.

Verdict

With a new price tag comes along new hardware as well – the Inspiron 15 7577 offers updated chassis and better (for the most part) hardware. The laptop can now compete with the likes of Lenovo Legion Y520, ASUS ROG Strix GL553VE and Acer Aspire VX 15 although, being a bit pricier than most. However, in this review, we visited the top-shelf configuration with GTX 1060 Max-Q and let’s talk about that for a second.

For just about the same price, you can get the Lenovo Legion Y720, the Acer Aspire Nitro V15 Black Edition or the Acer Predator Helios 300 all of which come with full-fledged GTX 1060. The real competitors in this regard are the HP Omen 15 (2017) with GTX 1060 Max-Q and the Lenovo Legion Y520 GTX 1060 Max-Q but are rarely found on the market at this point. It also raises the question whether or not the GTX 1060 Max-Q GPU is suitable for such big and bulky chassis. NVIDIA’s Max-Q graphics chips are intended for thin and light laptops in the first place. So keep that in mind when you are choosing the right Inspiron 7577 configuration for you.

In any case, the cooling system of the laptop handled the powerful hardware with ease, even under extended and heavy workload. The same goes for the battery – we were quite surprised to see such high battery scores considering the high-voltage quad-core CPU and the IPS display. Which leads us to our main complaint – the screen. When you pay at least $1 100 for a laptop, you’d expect a good IPS display suitable for multimedia and gaming but instead, you receive the very same screen that you would get from the GTX 1050 and 1050 Ti configurations with limited sRGb coverage, low maximum brightness and not the best color accuracy.

And when it comes to general usability, the device feels almost the same as the previous Inspiron 7567 with some small changes in the interior. Unfortunately, though, Dell hasn’t improved the keyboard or the trackpad – while the former feels good for typing, it’s definitely not the best choice for gaming while the skipping and sluggish trackpad is pretty annoying to use at times. The lid remains flimsy as before on contrary to the rigid base. And finally, battery life has gone down due to the lowered battery capacity but still beats all of the competition in our endurance tests.

Simply, if you are into battery life and solid cooling performance, the Inspiron 15 7577 definitely is the choice for you. However, if image quality is your top priority, the Acer Aspire V15 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-593G) with full-fledged GTX 1060 goes around for just about the same price. A more gaming-optimized solution is the Lenovo Legion Y720 (although with unsatisfactory image quality again). You might want to consider the Acer Predator Helios 300, which sports a more powerful GTX 1060 but fails to impress with cooling performance. But in the end, it all goes down to what you are willing to sacrifice in this segment with GTX 1060 and 1060 Max-Q laptops and to this point, the best choice is probably the HP Omen 15 (2017) with GTX 1060 Max-Q, as long as you are willing to spend a little bit extra for the almost spotless IPS display (some of them ship with 120Hz refresh rate as well).

You can check prices and configurations: Buy from Amazon.com

Pros

Rigid base, solid feel
Plenty of I/O including USB-C Thunderbolt 3
The screen doesn’t use PWM across all brightness levels
Effective cooling solution – keeps the internals running and the chassis mostly cool
Outstanding battery life

Cons

Unsatisfactory screen – low maximum brightness, limited sRGB coverage
Flimsy and clunky-looking lid
A bit hefty for 15-inch laptop with GTX 1060 Max-Q
Pricier than the competition with GTX 1060
Shallow and unoptimized for gaming keyboard, jumpy and inaccurate trackpad

And here we are with another presumably incremental update of one of the best high-end ultrabooks on the market, the MacBook Pro 13 killer – XPS 13. As another generation passes by and no design changes were made – just like the last two hardware refreshes – this one comes with a brand new processor on board – Intel’s Core i7-8550U.

And although it might not seem a big deal for most users, we expect some surprises along the way. We’ve snatched one of the Full HD (non-touch) versions to check out how much faster the new alteration is compared to the previous one – basically do more cores mean better performance overall and is the current cooling design up to the task? Also, we expect some power optimizations, hence even better battery runtimes. But are we expecting too much and are there any other changes under the hood, like new IPS display? Let’s find out in the thorough review below.

You can check prices and configurations: Buy from Amazon.com

Retail package

The box comes with the usual user manuals, AC adapter and power cord.

Design and construction

As we already explained, there are absolutely no changes in the design and feel of the XPS 13. The same old design is presented in the latest generation but this is more or less good in our opinion – Intel’s Kaby Lake Refresh isn’t as big as some expected – it’s a refresh after all, even Intel admits it – so why would Dell release a totally revamped version in this case? Also, we were pretty happy with the build so far, which means we are happy now.

While being extremely rigid, the chassis is lightweight and portable, carrying the footprint of a 12-inch device, mainly thanks to the near bezel-less display and premium materials like carbon fiber and aluminum.

Another great thing about the device is the keyboard and touchpad – they both fit the high-end nature of the device providing excellent working conditions on the go. Luckily, the I/O count hasn’t suffered as well so you will probably find what you need as you go along the sides. The USB-C 3.1 Thunderbolt 3 connector is also on the menu making it future-proof.

However, if you are looking for a more detailed analysis of the XPS 13’s build, we suggest visiting our previous review where we’ve discussed the case in depth.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

As all XPS 13s lately, this one makes no exception when it comes to disassembly and upgradability. Removing the bottom plate by unscrewing the bolts will give you access to all of the internals.

Storage upgrade options – M.2 SSD slot

The refreshed XPS 13 makes no exception when it comes ti storage as well. The unit we got came equipped with M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD from Toshiba with 256GB capacity.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
M.2 slot	256GB Toshiba THNSN5256GPUK M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD	Upgrade options

RAM

Memory is once again non-upgradable – the RAM chips are soldered to the motherboard. The unit we reviewed had 8GB of DDR4-2400 memory.

Other components

Interestingly, the Wi-Fi module is a Killer AC 1535, which is mostly used in gaming laptops.

The battery unit provides a generous 60Wh charge that can last for hours straight.

Cooling system

The cooling design hasn’t changed as much and still offers good cooling properties. There’s one heat sink on the chip and a heat pipe leading to the fan, which pushes out the hot air. It may look too simple but it’s effective enough for this kind of device and the workload that’s going to withstand.

Display quality

The display hasn’t been changed from the previous generation of FHD configurations. This one still uses the excellent Sharp SHP1460 (LQ133M1) that has Full HD (1920×1080) resolution, 166 ppi and 0.153 x 0.153 mm pixel pitch. The screen can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from at least 53 cm.

But as before, we had troubles turning off the so-called Content-adaptive backlight control so there might be some deviations from this year’s results. In any case, if you own the 2017 edition of the XPS 13 with Intel’s 8th Generation processors, we suggest using the profiles provided below.

We’ve recorded a peak brightness of 477 cd/m2 in the center and 415 cd/m2 as average across the surface. The deviation is a little bit higher than preferred. The Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) at maximum brightness on white screen is 7640K, which is a bit colder than the standard 6500K. The average color temperature, as we go along the grayscale, is pretty much the same – 7650K. You can see how values change at 142 cd/m2, which isn’t exact due to the content-adaptive brightness feature but setting the luminance at 30% will get you close enough.

The maximum dE2000 (color deviation) compared to the center of the screen at 30% is 4.6, which is a little bit too high. Values above 4.0 are usually unwanted, mostly in cases where the screen is going to be used for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is excellent 1200:1.

Color reproduction

The display covers almost all of the sRGB colors – 95%. This makes the screen perfect not only for work and web browsing but for multimedia as well.

The “Design and Gaming” profile is created at 140 cd/m2 brightness, D65 (6500K) white point and optimal gamma in sRGB mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 27 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

Unfortunately, PWM is still present at all brightness levels although, pulsations disappear at certain brightness levels. Anywy, the frequency of the emitted light is pretty high (19.5 kHz) and will affect only users with sensitive eyes.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we are happy that Dell is sticking to the already excellent Sharp panel that offers extremely high maximum brightness, high contrast and wide sRGB coverage but a big drawback, in this case, is the inability to turn off the content-adaptive brightness. Some users might prefer controlling the brightness levels manually and also makes our calibration .icc profiles not as accurate as we would want them to be. And don’t forget that the panel uses PWM as well – although the frequency is high, it will still affect users with sensitive eyes.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Dell XPS 13 (9360) (Intel’s 8th Gen processors) configurations with 13.3″ Sharp SHP1460 (LQ133M1) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Dell XPS 13 9360 technical specifications table Also known as XPS 13 (Intel 8th Gen)

New

$1249^.11

Buy

from Amazon

CPU

Intel Core i7-8550U 15

GPU

Intel UHD Graphics 620 151

Display

13.3”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

256GB SSD

M.2 Slot

1x 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe (M key)

RAM

8GB DDR3

Dimensions

304 x 200 x 9 - 15 mm (11.97" x 7.87" x 0.35")

Weight

1.31 kg (2.9 lbs)

Body material

Aluminum, Carbon (Aluminum, Carbon fiber)

Ports and connectivity

2x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
1x USB Type-C 3.1 (3.1 Gen 2), Thunderbolt 3, Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort, HDMI, MHL
HDMI
VGA
DVI
Card reader SD
Ethernet lan
Wi-Fi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.1
Audio jack headphone/microphone

Features

Dell XPS 13 (9360) configurations

Dell XPS 13 9360

$899^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell XPS 13 9360

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

net

Outstanding result – 619 minutes (10 hours and 19 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

movie

Considerably lower result but understandable given the resolution of the screen – 814 minutes (13 hours and 34 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

game2

This test got the most of the battery since it’s the most demanding one – 256 minutes (4 hour and 26 minutes).

CPU – Intel Core i7-8550U

The Intel Core i7-8550U is part of the new 8th Generation Kaby Lake Refresh and it’s a direct successor to the Intel Core i7-7500U from the Kaby Lake generation and the Intel Core i7-6500U from the 6th Skylake generation. With the latest alteration to the ULV (ultra-low voltage) processors, Intel doubles the core count from 2 to 4 and retaining the so-called Hyper-Threading technology, keeping the same 14nm manufacturing process and feature the same 15W TDP.

However, due to the core count change, the base frequency of the Core i7-8550U is lowered to only 1.8 GHz while Turbo Boost frequencies remain pretty high – somewhere between 3.7 – 4.0 GHz. This ensures considerably higher multi-core and single-core performance during short workloads before going back to more bearable frequencies considering the 15W TDP but most of the other specs and features remain the same.

The chip also incorporates a newer Intel Gen 9.5 integrated graphics called Intel UHD Graphics 620. The support for Google’s VP9 codec and H.265/HEVC Main 10 is still the most notable feature of the iGPU. Intel claims that the new UHD 620 chips improve the overall power consumption compared to the previous one.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i7-8550u/

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell XPS 13 9360 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	6.12
Dell XPS 13 (9360, Kaby Lake) Intel Core i7-7500U (2-cores, 2.7 - 3.5 GHz)	3.80	-37.91%
Dell XPS 13 (9350, Late 2015) Intel Core i5-6200U (2-cores, 2.3 - 2.8 GHz)	3.22	-47.39%

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell XPS 13 9360 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	945
Dell XPS 13 (9360, Kaby Lake) Intel Core i7-7500U (2-cores, 2.7 - 3.5 GHz)	526	-44.34%
Dell XPS 13 (9350, Late 2015) Intel Core i5-6200U (2-cores, 2.3 - 2.8 GHz)	444	-53.02%

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell XPS 13 9360 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	10.47
Dell XPS 13 (9360, Kaby Lake) Intel Core i7-7500U (2-cores, 2.7 - 3.5 GHz)	17.46	+66.76%
Dell XPS 13 (9350, Late 2015) Intel Core i5-6200U (2-cores, 2.3 - 2.8 GHz)	20.08	+91.79%

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i7-8550U managed to get 10.675 million moves per second. For comparison, one of the most powerful computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – Intel UHD Graphics 620

Intel UHD Graphics 620 is a refresh of the HD Graphics 620 found as an integrated solution in many ULV Kaby Lake processors. UHD Graphics 620 is codenamed “Kaby Lake R U GT2” and it’s a part of the Gen 9.5 generation.

Intel UHD Graphics 620 has roughly the same performance as HD Graphics 620, depending on the memory in the system. UHD Graphics 620’s performance is similar to AMD Radeon R5 M420X and NVIDIA GeForce 910M/920M.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook with this GPU that we’ve tested: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/intel-uhd-graphics-620/

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell XPS 13 9360 Intel UHD Graphics 620	9257
Dell XPS 13 (9360, Kaby Lake) Intel HD Graphics 620	7494	-19.05%
Dell XPS 13 (9350, Late 2015) Intel HD Graphics 520	7207	-22.15%

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell XPS 13 9360 Intel UHD Graphics 620	1055
Dell XPS 13 (9360, Kaby Lake) Intel HD Graphics 620	1004	-4.83%
Dell XPS 13 (9350, Late 2015) Intel HD Graphics 520	389	-63.13%

Results are from the 3DMark (Sky Diver) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell XPS 13 9360 Intel UHD Graphics 620		-
Dell XPS 13 (9360, Kaby Lake) Intel HD Graphics 620	3699	-
Dell XPS 13 (9350, Late 2015) Intel HD Graphics 520	3134	-

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell XPS 13 9360 Intel UHD Graphics 620	330
Dell XPS 13 (9360, Kaby Lake) Intel HD Graphics 620	302	-8.48%
Dell XPS 13 (9350, Late 2015) Intel HD Graphics 520	237	-28.18%

Temperatures

The stress test that we perform don’t represent real-life usage but it gives us a good idea of how the system handles the Turbo Clock speeds and how well the cooling design will fare in the long run.

Turning on the CPU stress for an hour showed that the laptop utilizes the pretty much the full performance of the processor at around 3.5 GHz but only for a short while before maintaining stable 2.1 – 2.3 GHz. No throttling occurred, though.

When we started the GPU stress test, the CPU clock speeds fell significantly so the iGPU can have enough headroom to perform.

Temperatures on the surface were pretty much normal with the only warm spot being above the keyboard.

Verdict

Despite the small changes under the hood, the new XPS 13 has some apparent advantages over the last generation and also some minor drawbacks.

First of all, the presumably more optimized 8th Generation Intel CPU brings a significant improvement in the battery life department over the last two generations. Endurance ratings are amazing, especially on the video playback test. Of course, the runtimes will not be the same for the QHD+ version but we are pretty sure they are better than last year’s counterpart.

Secondly, the brand new 8th Generation Core i7-8550U just blows any previous ULV (Ultra-low voltage) processor from Intel out of the water. Multi-core performance is downright amazing. So it only makes sense that you opt for the latest alteration of the XPS 13. But regardless of the excellent performance, the synthetic benchmarks show slightly lower than usual performance and that’s because of the inability to sustain high Turbo Boost frequencies, which is further backed up by our stress tests. In any case, this shouldn’t be a big deal to the everyday user.

And these are the only two changes with the new generation, which leaves us with the same irritating issue that kept us from giving this device an almost perfect score – the display. Although the Sharp IPS panel delivers excellent image quality due to the extremely high maximum brightness, high contrast ratio and wide sRGB coverage, the presence of PWM across all brightness levels (including 100%) and the inability to switch off the Content-adaptive brightness control ruin a significant portion of the experience. We are happy, however, to see that the impeccable build quality with premium materials and the excellent input devices continue to push the device ahead of its competitors. But if you are looking for the same performance that comes with a slightly bigger screen and more flexible chassis with pretty much the same dimensions, the Lenovo Yoga 920 plays in the same ballpark and shouldn’t be excluded from your list.

You can check prices and configurations: Buy from Amazon.com

Pros

Impeccable design and build quality
Compact chassis with 13.3-inch screen but smaller footprint
Excellent input devices
Exceptional screen quality – high contrast, extremely bright and wide sRGB coverage
Considerable performance improvement over the last two generations (thanks to the Core i7-8550U CPU)
Improved battery life (again thanks to the Core i7-8550U)

Cons

Can’t sustain higher Turbo Boost frequencies leading to slightly lower performance of the CPU
The screen uses PWM across all brightness levels (an old and unresolved issue)
The Content-adaptive brightness control can’t be turned off (something users and reviewers have been complaining for years)

The last few years, Acer is the OEM with one of the best value notebooks and it aims to uphold its reputation with the new Acer Aspire 5 lineup. The series delivers a variety of configurations packed in a decent 15-inch and 17-inch bodies without too much compromise in build quality. The most interesting models, however, are the ones with the latest 8th Generation Intel Core-U processors. Luckily, we now have the chance to test the Core i7-8550U processor that features not two but four compute cores while retaining the 15W TDP from the previous generation. We can expect considerably better multi-core performance without losing the energy-efficient nature of the chip.

Most of the Aspire 5 sell without a discrete GPU and rely on the updated Intel UHD Graphics 620 but in our case, the 17-inch version we got sports the brand new NVIDIA GeForce MX150 that should be more than enough for multimedia purposes and even light gaming. Other specs include a Full HD IPS display with good properties, relatively low battery capacity of 48Wh and comfortable input devices. We expect configurations like this to be priced somewhere between $700-800 and pretty much offering an alternative to the old Acer Aspire V Nitro Black Edition lineup since the new one is priced in the high-end category with much more powerful hardware. Read the review to find out more about the pros and cons of the new addition to the Aspire family.

You can check prices and configurations: Buy from Amazon.com

Retail package

There’s nothing special about the packaging here – the laptop comes with the usual user manuals, AC adapter and power cord.

Design and construction

Basically, the Aspire 5 is just a cheaper Aspire V 17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-793G) with less focus on materials and portability. Plastic is the most commonly found material around the case and brushed aluminum is used for the interior to give it a little more premium feel. But despite being a 17-incher, the weight of the device is pretty low – 2.38 kg, although a bit thicker than we would like it to be – 30 mm.

The most noticeable design feature of the Aspire 5 is the patterned plastic lid giving it a distinct look and although it looks identical to the more expensive Aspire Nitro V 17 Nitro BE, in reality, it feels quite different. It’s not as rigid as the Nitro V 17 and pressing the middle results in apparent deformation while small ripples appear on the LCD screen on the other side. It’s definitely not a big deal considering the price of the machine. On the contrary, the lid withstood our twisting attempts may be due to the placement of the hinges – they support the screen well and it isn’t prone to torsion. However, similarly to the Aspire V 17 Nitro, the middle of the lower bezel flexes quite a lot. We also noticed that the screen is kept firmly in place thanks to the tightened hinges, although they don’t allow opening the machine with just one hand. And as for the bottom, it’s made of that generic slightly roughened black plastic accommodating a few grills for cool air intake and two service lids for upgrading the HDD and memory.

As we already mentioned, the sides are pretty thick but at least deliver the bare minimum of connectors. The left side holds the RJ-45 LAN port, USB-C 3.1 (Gen 1), HDMI, just one USB 3.0 connector and an SD card reader. On the right, you will find the optical drive, 3.5 mm audio jack and two USB 2.0 connectors. And while we say it has the bare minimum of I/O, we definitely don’t mean it’s enough. We really would have appreciated maybe another USB-A 3.0 port in there at the very least. We are talking about a 17-inch laptop here.

The interior is practically the same fingerprint-sticking-brushed-aluminum surface as we saw in several other Acer models, including the Nitro V 17 BE. In terms of rigidity, the material is decent – there’s a noticeable flex only around the touchpad and spacebar area and towards the left edge of the interior. Speaking of the clickpad, it sits between chamfered edges and has buttery-smooth gliding surface. It also provides fairly accurate operation, although it’s a bit wobbly and mouse clicks feel stiff. The keyboard, on the other hand, is generally okay. The short key travel is compensated by the clicky feedback making it on par with most of the competition. But you should know that the arrow keys won’t be suitable for gaming although, this should be taken into consideration only if you are planning on buying the more expensive variants with GTX 1050 that can handle gaming.

All in all, we didn’t expect any breath-taking premium build given the price point of the product but it does have some apparent issues that don’t fit the “budget excuse” – the shallow keyboard and the slightly flexible interior are the most prominent issues.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

Since there are just two small service lids, they give access only to the 2.5-inch HDD and the RAM slot. However, the whole bottom comes off pretty easy as well and you just have to remove all the screws on it. Also, try to pry it up starting with the back grill and continue from there. And don’t forget to remove the optical drive.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

As we’ve already mentioned, the 2.5-inch HDD can be changed just by removing the small service lid. However, if you want to access the M.2 SSD slot, which by the way supports PCIe NVMe, you will have to dig a little deeper. Removing the whole bottom piece is required.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
M.2 SSD 2280 slot 1	Free	Buy from Amazon.com
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	1TB Toshiba HDD @5400 rpm	Buy from Amazon.com

RAM

Unfortunately, the motherboard comes with just one RAM chip slot and there are no soldered chips either. This means that you can’t take advantage of the dual-channel memory but you can still go up to 16GB of DDR4-2666 memory, which should be more than enough even for gaming. The chip we found inside is Kingsto 8GB DDR4-2666.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
Slot 1	8GB Kingston DDR4-2666	Buy from Amazon.com

Other components

The Wi-Fi adapter is placed right next to the cooling fan and it’s Intel 3168NGW.

The battery isn’t really big and holds just 48Wh charge but the system fared pretty well in our battery tests, especially for a budget 17-incher.

Cooling system

The cooling system is pretty simple and consists of just one large cooling fan and one big heatpipe connecting both heatsinks – one for the CPU and one for the GPU.

Display quality

Quite surprisingly, the laptop features the same Full HD (1920×1080) IPS panel as the high-end gaming Lenovo Legion Y920 notebook. The panel is LG LP173WF4-SPF5 and features 17.3-inch diagonal, 127 ppi and pixel pitch of 0.1995 x 0.1995 mm. The screen can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from 69 cm.

Viewing angles are excellent.

We’ve measured pretty high maximum brightness in the center – 404 cd/m2 and 393 cd/m2 as average across the surface with just 6% deviation. The correlated color temperature on white screen at maximum luminance is 7600K with the optimal being 6500K. This means that colors will appear slightly colder than they should. And as we go along the grayscale, things remain pretty much the same – the average color temperature is 7670K. You can see how these values change at 140 cd/m2 (28% brightness) in the image below.

The maximum dE2000 (color deviation) at 28% brightness is 3.0, which is absolutely fine since values above 4.0 are unwanted. The contrast ratio is high as well – 1140:1 before calibration and 1040:1 after profiling.

Color reproduction

As to be expected, the display covers 90% of the sRGB color gamut making it suitable for multimedia as well.

The “Design and Gaming” profile is created at 140 cd/m2 brightness, D65 (6500K) white point and optimal gamma in sRGB mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 19 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

As expected, we didn’t detect any PWM across all brightness levels – only some small pulsations at times with extremely high frequency (120 kHz), which cannot be perceived by the human eye anyway.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

To be honest, when we read the specs sheet of the 17-inch Aspire 5, we were expecting a decent budget IPS panel that should be much better than the TN alternatives out there but nothing special. But when we saw the model number, we were stoked – the current LG panel is an excellent choice, especially in this price range. To put things in perspective – the Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) starts at just $700 (at least according to Acer’s website) while the Legion Y920 goes above $2 000 easily… and they both share the same panel. Anyway, you will be granted high maximum brightness, wide sRGB coverage, high contrast and virtually no PWM across all brightness levels – typically what you’d expect from a high-end IPS screen.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Acer Aspire 5 configurations with 17.3″ LG LP173WF4-SPF5 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The sound quality is good – low, mid and high frequencies sound are clear and without any noticeable distortions.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) technical specifications table

Upcoming

CPU

Intel Core i7-8550U 15

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5) 52

Display

17.3”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

1TB, 5400 rpm

M.2 Slot

M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD slot (2280)

RAM

8GB DDR4, 2400 MHz

Dimensions

423 x 290 x 28 mm (16.65" x 11.42" x 1.10")

Weight

2.9 kg (6.4 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum (Plastic exterior, aluminum interior)

Ports and connectivity

Features

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51) configurations

Acer Aspire 5 A517-51

$599^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Acer Aspire 5 A517-51

$799^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Acer Aspire 5 A517-51

Intel Core i7-8550U
NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)
1000GB HDD + 256GB SSD
12GB RAM

$999^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Software

We used the pre-installed Windows 10 Pro for the writing of this review but if you wish to perform a clean install of the OS, we suggest downloading all of the latest drivers from Acer’s official support page.

Battery

To our surprise, the laptop did pretty well in our battery tests despite the rather small (48Wh) battery on board and the big 17.3-inch IPS display. Maybe the Core i5-8250U was able to pull out those impressive scores. The results are usually intrinsic to 15-inch laptops and this one puts to shame most of the 17-inch notebooks we’ve tested.

Of course, all tests were run with the same settings as always – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature turned on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Impressive web browsing runtime – 482 minutes (8 hours and 2 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

As expected, a bit lower result but still above the average for this class – 372 minutes (6 hours and 12 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

This test got the most of the battery since it’s the most demanding one and surely, you won’t start a gaming session away from the power source but you can still squeeze 131 minutes (2 hours and 11 minutes) if needed.

CPU – Intel Core i7-8550U

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i7-8550u/

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference	Price	Price difference
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	5.78
	Dell Inspiron 17 7779 Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	3.67	-36.51%

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference	Price	Price difference
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	928
	Dell Inspiron 17 7779 Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	482	-48.06%

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference	Price	Price difference
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	11.01
	Dell Inspiron 17 7779 Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	17.69	+60.67%

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i7-8550U managed to get 10.128 million moves per second. For comparison, one of the most powerful computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

The GeForce MX150 is an entry-level mobile card that is part of the latest NVIDIA Pascal lineup of GPUs, based on the GP108 chip paired with 2GB of GDDR5 memory via 64-bit interface. The GPU is the successor of GeForce 940MX and it was announced in Q2 of 2017.

The GeForce MX150 operates at a relatively high base frequency of 1469 MHz, while the Boost frequencies can go up to 1532 MHz. The GPU incorporates 384 shader units (CUDA cores) while the memory is clocked at 6008MHz (effective). These specs ensure a significant performance boost over the previous generation of Maxwell GPUs. The TDP of the GPU is lower than the last generation GTX 950M and even the GTX 1050 – 25W compared to 40W for the two models above. Performance-wise, the GeForce MX150 should be similar to the desktop GeForce GT 1030.

Along with all the power consumption and performance improvements, the GPU now supports essential features like Multi-Projection, VR Ready, G-SYNC, Vulkan and Multi-Monitor.

Check the prices of all notebooks equipped with NVIDIA GeForce MX150: Buy from Amazon.com

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference	Price	Price difference
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	15528
	Dell Inspiron 17 7779 NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	11692	-24.7%

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference	Price	Price difference
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	3566
	Dell Inspiron 17 7779 NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	2105	-40.97%

Results are from the 3DMark (Sky Diver) test (higher the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference	Price	Price difference
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)		-
	Dell Inspiron 17 7779 NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	6608	-

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

	Laptop	Results	Result difference	Price	Price difference
	Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	1081
	Dell Inspiron 17 7779 NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	566	-47.64%

Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GO	HD 768p, Low (Check settings)	HD 768p, Medium (Check settings)	HD 768p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	135 fps	110 fps	79 fps

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	HD, Low (Check settings)	HD, Medium (Check settings)	HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average FPS	107 fps	53 fps	28 fps

Temperatures

Of course, the stress tests that we perform don’t represent real-life usage scenarios because even the most demanding games don’t require 100% CPU and 100% GPU load at the same time for long periods of time. However, the torture tests remain as the most reliable way to assess the overall stability and longevity of the cooling system.

We started off with 100% CPU load for about an hour and the Core i7-8550U utilized the maximum clock speeds for four active cores at around 3.5 GHz but only for a few seconds. Then, clock speeds started to decline until resided at stable 2.1 GHz.

Turning on the GPU stress test resulted in much lower CPU clock speeds but still within the base-boost frequency range (@1.8 GHz). The GeForce MX150, on the other hand, ran at whopping 1645 MHz stable the whole time, which is above the maximum frequency and also ran a little bit too hot – 84 °C. Of course, this shouldn’t be an issue during normal use.

Despite the inner temperatures, the surface around the interior remained cool throughout the whole test.

Verdict

The best in class multimedia 17.3-inch laptop. Period. It may have some unpolished edges here and there – we refer to the slightly flexible interior, lid and the wobbly touchpad – but it delivers exceptional multimedia experience and pretty powerful hardware for the asking price.

More often than not, 17-inch notebooks in the entry-level segment of the market tend to cut more than one corner when it comes to performance or screen quality. However, in this case, the Aspire 5 (A517-51G) checks all the boxes in this regard. The Core i7-8550U (or the Core i5-8250U if you go for the base model) along with the GeForce MX150, make a good team for light gaming, especially in the competitive gaming segment. Don’t expect high frame rates at higher resolution settings, though.

Speaking of resolution, we can’t miss mentioning the most exciting thing about the Aspire 5 (17-inch) – the surprisingly good IPS display. Laptops in the same ballpark tend to incorporate either a TN panel or a budget IPS panel but this time around, Acer used a high-end LG panel that’s also found on the Lenovo Legion Y920, which costs more than twice as much. This ensures wide sRGB coverage, high contrast and exceptionally high maximum brightness. And last, but not least, the Aspire 5 delivers pretty good battery runtimes despite the rather small 48Wh battery leaving behind some 15-inch laptops as well.

What do we get from all of this? Well, it’s pretty simple – if you are looking for a 17-inch laptop, either for light gaming, multimedia, work etc., the Acer Aspire 5 (A571-51G) is probably the best all-rounder for now. It should be able to bring way above average user experience no matter what you will be using it for.

You can check prices and configurations: Buy from Amazon.com

Pros

Decent build with small exceptions
Best in class display – bright, vibrant and with wide sRGB coverage
No PWM at any brightness level
Good price/performance ratio
Impressive battery runtimes for a budget 17-inch laptop

Cons

Wobbly touchpad
No keyboard LED illumination
Just a few flexible areas – the lid and interior

From the Dell Inspiron 15 5578 to the Inspiron 15 5579, changes are mostly under the hood. Now the notebook comes at a new price, which in our opinion is a little bit too high but also has something to offer in return – the brand new Core i7-8550U CPU on board relying on Intel’s UHD 620 integrated graphics for graphically intensive tasks.

What hasn’t been changed, however, is the chassis. Sporting an identical shell, the Inspiron 15 5579 delivered a similar feel while working on it but we would like to see how the hardware changes have reflected on the overall user experience. Also, with the higher price, we expected a bit better screen since the one in the previous model suited only the lower-end to mid-range configurations.

You can find some of the available configurations here: Buy from Amazon.com

Retail package

The retail package contains the usual stuff like AC adapter, power cord and the laptop itself.

Design and construction

As we already pointed out, the Inspiron 5579 comes in the same clamshell as its predecessor, the Inspiron 5578, although considerably lighter now weighing approximately 2.05 kg. And with a thickness of just 20.2 mm, it definitely falls into the “portable 15-inch” category. Probably the main reason for this is the plastic as main material and luckily, this hasn’t reflected negatively on the overall sturdiness.

Probably the only flexible part of this notebook is the lid – the back of the screen bounces when pressed and it isn’t resistant to torsion at all. We’ve let that one slip by in the previous version but since the price has been upped, it’s hard to do so right now. The hinges feel a bit overly-tightened, yet they fail to keep the lid from bouncing when working on the touchscreen in laptop mode. And when flipped to tablet mode, the sharp angles don’t feel good in the hands. Still, the bottom plastic sheet delivers enough sturdiness.

The sides are flat as before and offer identical port placement – the left one carries the DC charging port, full-sized HDMI, two USB 3.0 connectors and a 3.5 mm audio jack. While on the right, you will find just one USB 2.0 port and the SD card reader. It seems that the usual USB-C connector, which comes as a standard for even cheaper models, is still missing here.

As you open the laptop, you will immediately notice the lack of Numpad area, which might be a letdown for some users since this is a 15-inch laptop but in our opinion, the more centered layout of the keyboard makes up for a more comfortable typing and a smart decision for a convertible. Speaking of the keyboard, the keys provide clicky feedback with a bit shot key travel while still delivering good typing experience. The touchpad appears to be even better than the keyboard with light mouse clicks, responsive surface, although a bit roughened and not optimal for gliding. The input devices are surrounded by solid plastic surface giving a pretty robust feel to the whole base.

At the end of the day, the Inspiron 5579 doesn’t really impress with premium build or exceptionally robust chassis (our only complaint is the flimsy lid and bouncy hinges) given the price range. In addition, the I/O is rather limited in our opinion – there’s a missing USB-C connector or at least one more USB-A and the sharp edges make the device a bit awkward to hold in tablet mode. In any case, the input devices are comfortable and should get the work done on the go without any apparent issues.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

There are no service lids providing fast access to the internals but the bottom piece can be removed quite easily. Just make sure you’ve removed all the screws on the bottom before prying it up.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

To our big surprise, the laptop comes only with a 2.5-inch drive while the M.2 SSD slot is nowhere to be found. It seems like Dell just stuck the new CPU in there without making any improvements to the unit whatsoever. Anyway, the unit we’ve tested shipped with SanDisk X400 2.5-inch SATA SSD with 256GB capacity.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	256GB SanDisk X400 SATA SSD	Buy from Amazon.com

RAM

On contrary to the storage configuration, the motherboard supports two RAM slots each going up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory. Our unit arrived with one 8GB DDR4-2400 chips from Micron.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
Slot 1	8GB Micron DDR4-2400	Buy from Amazon.com
Slot 2	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

Other components

The Wi-Fi adapter is placed right next to the cooling fan and it’s Qualcomm QCNFA344A.

The battery unit is placed under the palm rest area and it’s rated at 42Wh.

Cooling system

A small heatpipe connected to the cooling fan take care of all the cooling, which appears to be sufficient for the given setup.

Display quality

The Inspiron 15 5579 uses a Full HD (1920×1080) touchscreen with AUO B156HAB (0079Y) IPS panel delivering 142 ppi pixel density and 0.18 x 0.18 mm pixel pitch. The screen can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from a at least 60 cm.

Viewing angles are good.

The maximum recorded brightness is just 228 cd/m2 while the average across the surface is again 228 cd/m2 with only 13% deviation. The correlated color temperature at maximum brightness is 6080K so colors will appear slightly warmer. As we go along the grayscale, the color temperature remains mostly the same – 6000K. You can see how these values change at 140 cd/m2 (59% brightness).

The maximum color deviation (dE2000) compared to the center of the screen at 59% brightness is 2.0, which is mostly good since values above 4.0 are unwanted. And as for the contrast ratio, it’s quite high – 1550:1 (1410:1 after calibration).

Color reproduction

Unfortunately, the display covers just 50% of the sRGB so half of the HDTV colors won’t be reproduced.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 28 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

We didn’t record PWM at any brightness level so using the screen for long periods of time shouldn’t cause any discomfort in this regard even to users with sensitive eyes.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

The panel has its perks but unfortunately, the drawbacks outweigh the pros by a considerable margin. Given price point of the Inspiron 5579, we were expecting something more than just a budget IPS panel with limited sRGB and low maximum brightness. However, the high contrast ratio and the absence of PWM might appeal to some users although, don’t expect the best multimedia experience.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Dell Inspiron 15 5579 configurations with 15.6″ AUO B156HAB (0079Y) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The sound quality is decent without any noticeable distortions in the low, mid or high frequencies.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Dell Inspiron 15 5579 technical specifications table

New

$908^.49

Buy

from Amazon

CPU

Intel Core i7-8550U 15

GPU

Intel UHD Graphics 620 151

Display

15.6”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

256GB SSD

RAM

8GB DDR4

Dimensions

382 x 253 x 20.3 mm (15.04" x 9.96" x 0.80")

Weight

2.30 kg (5.1 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate (All-plastic chassis)

Ports and connectivity

Features

Web camera 1.0 Mpix
Microphone
Speakers
Optical drive
Security Lock slot

Dell Inspiron 15 5579 configurations

Battery

The battery life on this thing isn’t exactly breath-taking but it does the job pretty well for a 15-inch laptop with Full HD IPS screen. Let’s say it’s a little a above average despite the rather small 42Wh unit. Probably the main contributor for the longer than expected battery runtimes is the new Core i7-8550U on board.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Overall good web browsing runtime – 485 minutes (8 hours and 5 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Lower but still decent score on the video playback test – 414 minutes (6 hours and 54 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

Of course, the laptop isn’t made for gaming, especially away from the power source but it’s good to know that it can run at least two hours away from the plug – 145 minutes (2 hours and 25 minutes).

CPU – Intel Core i7-8550U

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i7-8550u/

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	7.45
Dell Inspiron 7570 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	7.56	+1.48%
ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.18	+9.8%

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	910
Dell Inspiron 7570 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	956	+5.05%
ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	910

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	10.01
Dell Inspiron 7570 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	9.75	-2.6%
ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	9.81	-2%

Fritz

GPU – Intel UHD Graphics 620

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook with this GPU that we’ve tested: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/intel-uhd-graphics-620/

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel UHD Graphics 620	7975
Dell Inspiron 7570 NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (4GB GDDR5)	12212	+53.13%
ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)	37928	+375.59%

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel UHD Graphics 620	1056
Dell Inspiron 7570 NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (4GB GDDR5)	2119	+100.66%
ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)	6173	+484.56%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel UHD Graphics 620	305
Dell Inspiron 7570 NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (4GB GDDR5)	567	+85.9%
ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)	1804	+491.48%

Temperatures

The stress tests that we perform don’t represent real-life usage but they seem to be just fine when assessing the overall stability and effectiveness of the cooling system, especially in the long run.

We started off with 100% CPU load for about an hour and observed good CPU utilization overall. The Core i7-8550U fluctuated between 3.4 and 3.7 GHz for a while before settling down to 2.7 – 2.8 for more than a minute. Slowly after, the cores retained frequencies between 2.1 and 2.3 GHz, which is still within the Turbo Boost range. It’s obvious, even from the benchmark results, that the 15-inch Inspiron 5579 utilizes the new generation of chips from Intel quite well.

And as expected, when turning on the GPU stress test as well, the CPU cores started throttling in order to give enough headroom for the iGPU (UHD Graphics 620) to perform.

Temperatures on the surface were normal, given the circumstances, and we also observed the same fan curve as the one we saw with the 13-inch Inspiron 5379. During peak performance of the Core i7-8550U, the cooling fans were spinning pretty fast but when slowing down, the sound from the blades was barely noticeable.

Verdict

Even though the price has increased, the only thing that Dell changed here is the CPU. Don’t get us wrong, though, it’s not just another incremental upgrade since the Core i7-8550U delivers an impressive computing power over the last generation but to be honest, we were expecting more changes, at least under the hood.

Surely, performance isn’t the deciding and the only factor when users look for a new daily driver so it has to impress in other areas. Stable overall chassis is one of the things we liked about the Inspiron 5579 and the comfortable input devices were the other strong suit of the device. Battery life isn’t amazing but it’s above average for a 15-incher, probably thanks to the more efficient 8th Generation processor.

However, we can’t get over the notion of an outdated design (sharp corners making it uncomfortable to hold in tablet mode and hefty chassis) and the lack of 2017 features. There’s no USB-C connector (or at least another USB-A 3.0 port that can replace the latter), there’s no support for M.2 SSDs (even SATA ones) and the rather suboptimal image quality delivered by the budget IPS panel doesn’t allow us to give a positive score overall.

When looking for a laptop in the same ballpark, the Lenovo Yoga 720 (15-inch) and the Acer Nitro 5 Spin immediately come to mind as more sensible alternatives. And if you are not insisting on the 2-in-1 convertible form factor, the VivoBook S15 and the VivoBook Pro 15 N580VD will deliver better image quality and better performance in the same time

You can find some of the available configurations here: Buy from Amazon.com

Pros

Stable base
Good input devices
Full utilization of the new generation Intel CPUs
Display with high contrast and no PWM
Decent battery life

Cons

Flimsy and bouncy lid
Color-deficient display (low sRGB coverage) with low brightness
Outdated design with sharp corners, hefty chassis
No USB-C connector and no M.2 SSD slot

Among all the convertibles on the market, Dell is one of the first to equip its mainstream Inspiron lineup with Intel’s latest 8th Generation CPUs. But is this enough to compete with Lenovo’s already reigning Yoga series in this segment?

Well in some cases, yes, but in other not exactly. Dell’s 13-inch Inspiron 13 5379 comes with an already familiar all-plastic shell – identical design to the Inspiron 15 5579 – but since its smaller than its sibling, it’s definitely more portable. Ranging from Core i5-8250U to Core i7-8550U, all configurations seem to be in the same ballpark as Lenovo’s Yoga 720 when it comes to pricing. However, Lenovo Yoga 720’s updated variant with Intel’s 8th Generation of processors is a bit more expensive. In any case, we will look more closely into the Inspiron 13 5379 and examine how well the laptop handles the powerful Core i7-8550U and its wide Turbo Boost range, how the screen fares against its 13-inch competitors and is the 42Wh battery enough to deliver good battery runtimes.

You can find some of the available configurations here: Buy from Amazon.com

Retail package

The laptop comes in a standard small box containing all the usual user manuals, AC adapter and power cord.

Design and construction

Unfortunately, the price puts the Inspiron 13 5379 in the same category as the Yoga 720, which not only looks better – although this is a bit of a subjective matter – mainly due to the thinner bezels, rounded edges and slimmer design but it also feels more firm due to the all-aluminum construction. Interestingly, the Inspiron 13 5379 drags behind its competitor in terms of portability as well – 1.6 kg in weight and 19.5 mm in height despite the plastic clamshell.

We observed the same weak points as in the 15-inch Inspiron 15 5579, which makes sense since both notebooks share the same chassis only in different dimensions. The back of the lid is a bit bouncy and the whole screen feels flexible during our twisting attempts. Something we didn’t observe with laptops in this price category. The hinges still feel a bit stiff when opening the device but since the screen is smaller, the wobbling effect is notably reduced compared to the 15-inch model. And as for the bottom, it features the same plastic plate providing a solid feel and some small grills for heat management.

Interestingly, the sides provide the same I/O as the bigger 15-inch variant – on the left you will find a full-sized HDMI port, two USB 3.0 connectors and a 3.5 mm audio jack while on the right, you will see the SD card reader and another USB 2.0 port. The only thing missing here is a USB-C connector, which we are used to seeing in considerably less expensive devices. At least another USB-A connector would have been greatly appreciated.

The interior continues the “plastic trend”, yet it feels pretty robust – virtually no bending occurs when pressing the interior. But the inherited good features from the 15-inch model don’t stop there – the device offers a good keyboard with a tad short key travel but clicky feedback. The touchpad also feels nice – light mouse clicks, responsive surface, although the slightly roughened surface gets in the way of gliding.

Our verdict of the overall design and build quality is practically the same as the one we gave on the 15-inch model – the lack of aluminum isn’t an issue here but the lack of rigidity in the lid and the awkwardly sharp corners that make the notebook hard to hold in tablet mode, definitely are. Also, the relatively limited I/O and slightly higher weight and the outdated design (thick screen bezels, less refined edges) don’t make a compelling case considering the price point either.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

Just like the 15-inch model, this one requires little effort to access the internals. Just remove the screws on the bottom and gently pry it up.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

Once again, the notebook still doesn’t have an M.2 SSD slot so you have to rely only on the 2.5-inch HDD/SSD bay for your primary and only drive. The unit we got arrived with 256GB SanDisk X400 SATA SSD.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	256GB SanDisk X400 SATA SSD	Buy from Amazon.com

RAM

At least RAM upgradability isn’t crippled as the motherboard supports two memory slots each going up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 RAM.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
Slot 1	8GB Micron DDR4-2400	Buy from Amazon.com
Slot 2	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

Other components

The Wi-Fi adapter is placed right next to the cooling fan and it’s Qualcomm QCNFA344A.

Interestingly, the battery is the same we found in the 15-inch model and it’s rated at 42Wh.

Cooling system

The cooling design hasn’t been changed since the last generation and consists of the same small cooling fan with one heatpipe.

Display quality

The device features a Full HD (1920×1080) IPS panel with model number BOE06FD (R0VG9-NV133FH, which presumably is a BOE-made. The pixel density is 166 ppi while the pixel pitch is 0.153 x 0.153 mm – it can be considered as “Retina” from at least 53 cm.

Viewing angles are excellent.

We were able to record only 238 cd/m2 peak brightness in the center and 232 cd/m2 as average across the surface with only 6% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature at maximum brightness is 6530K and it’s nearly perfect. As we go along the grayscale, it becomes unnoticeably warmer – 6420K. You can see how these values change at 140 cd/m2 (60% brightness) on the image below.

The maximum dE200 (color deviation) at 140 cd/m2 compared to the center of the screen is just 1.8. This is a rather good result since values above 4.0 are unwanted. The contrast ratio is good – 1070:1 (950:1 after calibration).

Color reproduction

The panel covers just 52% of the sRGB color space making it rather suboptimal for multimedia.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 34 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

We’ve recorded aggressive PWM from 0 to 99% brightness so we suggest using the notebook at 100% brightness or just use our Health-Guard profile that makes the brightness level more bearable and eliminates the PWM.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

The only thing that this IPS panel excels at is the contrast ratio. All other properties suggest of a budget IPS panel that is usually found in less expensive solutions. The sRGB color space is limited, the maximum brightness isn’t enough for outdoor use (which might be problematic for some users since it’s a 13-inch convertible) and the aggressive PWM will put unnecessary strain on your eyes unless you use it at maximum brightness at all times or applying our Health-Guard profile.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Dell Inspiron 13 5379 configurations with 13.3″ BOE06FD (R0VG9-NV133FH) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Dell Inspiron 5379 technical specifications table

Old price $977^.49

$899^.99

you save $78 (-8%)

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from Amazon

CPU

Intel Core i7-8550U 15

GPU

Intel UHD Graphics 620 152

Display

13.3”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

256GB SATA SSD

RAM

8GB

Dimensions

325 x 224 x 20.5 mm (12.80" x 8.82" x 0.81")

Weight

1.62 kg (3.6 lbs)

Ports and connectivity

Features

Web camera
Microphone
Speakers
Optical drive

Dell Inspiron 13 5379 configurations

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 5379

Not available

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Software

Battery

Battery life isn’t that impressive but thanks to the well-optimized Core i7-8550U CPU, the Inspiron 5379 still managed to get decent scores on our battery tests. Probably a bigger 42Wh unit will do the trick next time. In addition, we see that the 13-inch Inspiron 5379’s battery scores are almost the same (if not slightly lower) as the ones from the 15-inch Inspiron 5579.

All tests were run with the same settings as always – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature turned on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Pretty average score on the web browsing test – 467 minutes (7 hours and 47 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Considerably lower score on the video playback test – 362 minutes (6 hours and 2 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

Of course, the laptop isn’t made for gaming, especially away from the power source but it’s good to know that it can run at least two hours away from the plug – 127 minutes (2 hours and 7 minutes).

CPU – Intel Core i7-8550U

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i7-8550u/

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 5379 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	7.11
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	7.45	+4.78%
Lenovo Flex 5 (14″) Intel Core i3-7100U (2-cores, 2.4 GHz)	2.81	-60.48%
Lenovo YOGA 720 (13″) Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	2.98	-58.09%
Dell Inspiron 13 5379 review – a 2015 laptop with 2017 performance Dell Inspiron 13 5379 review – a 2015 laptop with 2017 performance (-cores, GHz)		-

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 5379 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	942
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	910	-3.4%
Lenovo Flex 5 (14″) Intel Core i3-7100U (2-cores, 2.4 GHz)	405	-57.01%
Lenovo YOGA 720 (13″) Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	386	-59.02%
Dell Inspiron 13 5379 review – a 2015 laptop with 2017 performance Dell Inspiron 13 5379 review – a 2015 laptop with 2017 performance (-cores, GHz)		-

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 5379 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	11.63
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	10.01	-13.93%
Lenovo Flex 5 (14″) Intel Core i3-7100U (2-cores, 2.4 GHz)	23.01	+97.85%
Lenovo YOGA 720 (13″) Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	18.01	+54.86%
Dell Inspiron 13 5379 review – a 2015 laptop with 2017 performance Dell Inspiron 13 5379 review – a 2015 laptop with 2017 performance (-cores, GHz)		-

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i7-8550U managed to get 12.192 million moves per second. For comparison, one of the most powerful computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – Intel UHD Graphics 620

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook with this GPU that we’ve tested: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/intel-uhd-graphics-620/

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 5379 Intel UHD Graphics 620	7641
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel UHD Graphics 620	7975	+4.37%
Lenovo Flex 5 (14″) Intel HD Graphics 620	5237	-31.46%
Lenovo YOGA 720 (13″) Intel HD Graphics 620	5387	-29.5%
Dell Inspiron 13 5379 review – a 2015 laptop with 2017 performance Dell Inspiron 13 5379 review – a 2015 laptop with 2017 performance		-

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 5379 Intel UHD Graphics 620	960
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel UHD Graphics 620	1056	+10%
Lenovo Flex 5 (14″) Intel HD Graphics 620	564	-41.25%
Lenovo YOGA 720 (13″) Intel HD Graphics 620	842	-12.29%
Dell Inspiron 13 5379 review – a 2015 laptop with 2017 performance Dell Inspiron 13 5379 review – a 2015 laptop with 2017 performance		-

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 5379 Intel UHD Graphics 620	277
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel UHD Graphics 620	305	+10.11%
Lenovo Flex 5 (14″) Intel HD Graphics 620	176	-36.46%
Lenovo YOGA 720 (13″) Intel HD Graphics 620	264	-4.69%
Dell Inspiron 13 5379 review – a 2015 laptop with 2017 performance Dell Inspiron 13 5379 review – a 2015 laptop with 2017 performance		-

Temperatures

The torture tests, especially on this machine, cannot be taken as a representation of a real-life working scenario, yet it’s the best way to determine the overall effectiveness and reliability of the cooling system in the long run.

The CPU stress test didn’t start all too well. The Core i7-8550U ran at around 3.3 – 3.5 GHz for a split second but swiftly settled between 2.2 and 2.4 GHz and stayed there for good. This shows poor Turbo Boost utilization of the chip and struggles to maintain a bit higher clock speeds for the desired time span. Working temperatures were a bit elevated as well.

Switching the GPU stress test resulted in CPU throttling, which is normal because this way the CPU cores give some headroom for the iGPU (UHD Graphics 620) to perform.

We also measured the temperatures on the surface – they all seemed normal given the nature of the stress test. But when talking about how the cooling design affects user experience, we would also like to mention that the fans were loud only during the small CPU peak frequency but after a few seconds, they were barely noticeable. It seems that working at lower clocks, the six cores don’t need much cooling.

Verdict

If you are looking for a cheap 2-in-1 13.3-inch solution sporting the latest of what Intel can offer, the Inspiron 13 5379 should definitely be on your list, especially if there’s a decent discount like the one running now (at the time of writing this review).

However, since the previous generation (Inspiron 5578), our opinion has changed quite a bit. Now, the device still feels like 2015 although, we are in 2017. There are essential features missing like USB-C and M.2 SSD slot while the design is rather clunky in our opinion – all-plastic shell, sharp edges making it a bit awkward to hold in tablet mode and thick screen bezels.

And as for the display itself, it’s definitely better than the TN alternatives out there, yet the limited color space, low maximum brightness and aggressive PWM make up for a suboptimal experience. Colors won’t be as vibrant as you wish them to be, outdoor use will be problematic due to the low brightness and glossy surface and PWM is likely to cause fatigue after extended use.

In any case, you’d be delighted with the fully utilized performance of Intel’s 8th Generation CPUs, comfortable keyboard and decent touchpad. Do consider, however, the Lenovo Yoga 720 (13-inch) if you can spend a little more cash for the refreshed variant. The Lenovo Yoga 520 (Flex 5) is also a nice alternative that falls in the same price category as well. And if you are not “married” to the 2-in-1 form factor, the ASUS VivoBook F510 has just been released with the latest 8th Generation Intel chips for just about the same price.

You can find some of the available configurations here: Buy from Amazon.com

Pros

Stable base
Good input devices
Full utilization of the new generation Intel CPUs
Decent battery life

Cons

Flimsy and bouncy lid
Color-deficient display (low sRGB coverage) with low brightness
The panel uses aggressive PWM (our Health-Guard profile eliminates it)
Outdated design with sharp corners, hefty chassis, thick screen bezels
No USB-C connector and no M.2 SSD slot

Long months after the initial release of the GTX 1000-series GPUs and only just now, ASUS has released its GTX 1060-powered gaming laptop. That’s, of course, if we don’t count the similarly priced for that time, ASUS FX502VM, which was a total disaster. But apparently, the OEM aims to right all wrongs with its significantly more advanced ROG GL703VM.

The laptop comes as a direct competitor to the Acer Predator Helios 300 (17-inch), although considerably more expensive and* more reasonably priced than Dell’s Inspiron 7577 and HP’s 1060 version of the Omen 17 (2017). And with an asking price just around the Lenovo Legion Y720, the ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM borrows some distinctive design features from the ASUS ROG Zephyrus and offers everything the competitors do – up to Intel’s Core i7-7700HQ CPU on board, GPUs ranging from GTX 1050 to GTX 1060, up to 32GB of DDR4-2400 memory, M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD + 1TB HDD and a Full HD IPS display – there are also versions with 120 Hz displays which makes it one of the few GTX 1060-powered laptops out there with high-refresh rate IPS displays and G-Sync support. And even before we begin with the review, we can say that the GL703VM might just be the winner in this segment as long as you are willing to deal with some trade-offs along the way. Read the full review to find out more.

You can find the available models here: Buy from Amazon.com

Retail package

The laptop comes in a cool ROG-branded box containing all the usual user manuals, the AC adapter and power cord.

Design and construction

Tipping the scale at 2.95 kg and measuring 23.9 mm in height, the GL703VM manages to incorporate aluminum in its build but most of it is plastic. Still, we should give credit to ASUS because the GL703VM is a little bit lighter than most 17-inch gaming laptops out there. Anyway, does this particular model suffer from the same design weaknesses like most of the GL-series laptops?

Well, the lid has definitely been fixed – while still incorporating brushed aluminum, the metal sheet feels way more robust now. Pressing the middle of the back panel results in really small deformation while our twisting attempts didn’t show anything worth considering. Another great thing about the new design is its simplicity. There are no more flashy LEDs and logos – just a chrome-colored ROG logo and brushed aluminum surface. Unfortunately, the latter attracts a lot of smudges and fingerprints. Despite the screen hinges being placed away from each other, the lower chin remains pretty solid and doesn’t give in under pressure. They also provide smooth and linear travel meaning one hand is enough to open the machine. The bottom is made of rough black plastic and incorporates plenty of grills for cool air intake and a big service lid for easier upgrade but more on that later.

As we go around the sides, we find plenty of I/O and quite frankly, more than we expected. On the left, you will find the DC charging port, RJ-45 for LAN, mini DisplayPort, full-sized HDMI, two USB 3.0 connectors and 3.5 mm audio jack while on the right, you can see two more USB 3.0 ports, one USB-C 3.1 (Gen 1, unfortunately) and the SD card reader. That’s what we call good port distribution because most of the cables will stick out from the left side and not on the right where your mouse is.

But as soon as we open the laptop, we are immediately reminded of the ASUS ROG GL753 and that’s not necessarily a good thing. A small portion of the interior imitates brushed aluminum surface while the rest is made of silky-smooth plastic finish that attracts loads of fingerprints and smudges. We think that for the asking price, ASUS could have included a more sophisticated base unit made of matte surface or aluminum at the very least. This would have helped with the overall rigidness as well since the middle section and the right area of the palm rest sink in under pressure quite visibly. In addition, the touchpad hasn’t been changed and feels just as mushy and a bit “sluggish”. The gliding surface is good, though. And as for the keyboard, we have some mixed feelings about it. The key travel is rather short but it’s been compensated by the satisfying clicky feedback. This means that it’s ideal for typing but might not suit every gamer out there. We really wished that they would have gone for the keyboard on the previous ROG GL752 – much deeper travel suitable for gaming. In any case, the slightly concaved keycaps make up for a great typing experience while the shortcuts for the microphone mute, volume and the ROG center and the customizable RGB backlight are a nice finishing touch. The arrow keys could have been bigger but they are well separated from the rest of the keyboard so those shouldn’t be a problem for most of the users.

All in all, the GL703VM definitely feels as a step forward compared to its predecessor but we can’t get over the fact that it still uses that bad touchpad design, too plasticky interior and the shorter key travel of the keyboard, although the latter shouldn’t be a deal-breaker for most. It has some kind of a unique but comfortable feel to it. We can also call the GL703VM a fairly portable 17-incher but still isn’t close to the 15-inch form factor, just keep that in mind.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

There’s a huge service lid on the bottom giving you access to the storage and one of the memory slots. It’s really easy to remove it but if you have to replace the battery or stick a bigger RAM chip in the other slot, you will have to remove the whole bottom plate.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

The laptop comes with a standard 2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot and the usual M.2 SSD slot supporting PCIe NVMe drives. The unit we got had only the 1TB Seagate HDD while the M.2 SSD slot was empty and available for upgrade.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	1TB Seagate HDD	Buy from Amazon.com
M.2 SSD 2280 slot 1	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

RAM

As we’ve already pointed out, one of the RAM slots can be accessed via the service lid but if you want to reach the other one as well, the whole bottom has to be removed. Both slots can carry up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 each.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
Slot 1	16GB Apacer DDR4-2400	Buy from Amazon.com
Slot 2	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

Other components

The Wi-Fi adapter is right next to the left cooling fan (with the bottom facing up) and it’s Intel 8265NGW.

The notebook comes with a generous 64Wh unit placed under the wrist rest area.

Cooling system

The cooling design takes a more conventional approach with two separated cooling fans and three large heatpipes connected to both heatsinks.

Display quality

The ASUS ROG GL703VM sports an already familiar Full HD IPS panel from LG with model number LP173WF4-SPF5. It has also been used in the recently reviewed Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) and the Lenovo Legion Y920. We have only nice things to say about it, to be honest.

Anyway, the resolution is 1080p (1920×1080) with 127 ppi pixel density and 0.1995 x 0.1995 mm. The screen can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from at least 69 cm.

Viewing angles are excellent.

We’ve measured peak brightness of 375 cd/m2 and 360 cd/m2 as average across the surface with just 11% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature on white screen is 6960K at maximum brightness which is just a little colder than it should be. Going along the grayscale, the color temperature goes closer to 7000K and you can see how these values change at 38% brightness (142 cd/m2) on the image below.

The maximum dE2000 (color deviation) compared to the center of the screen should not be above 4.0 if the screen is going to be used primarily for color-sensitive work. However, this one is going to be used for gaming and it’s still under 2.0 – an excellent result. The contrast ratio is also pretty good – 1070:1 (1030:1 after calibration).

Color reproduction

The display covers 89% of the sRGB color gamut making it ideal for multimedia and gaming.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 25 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

Only ultra-high PWM was recorded at times (120 kHz), which basically means no PWM so it’s safe to use for long periods of time even from users with sensitive eyes.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

The display’s quality should suit everyone’s need when it comes to gaming and multimedia. It supports G-Sync, it has high maximum brightness, high contrast, wide sRGB coverage and doesn’t use PWM for regulating screen brightness.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM configurations with 17.3″ LG LP173WF4-SPF5 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM technical specifications table

Upcoming

CPU

Intel Core i7-7700HQ 7

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5) 10

Display

17.3”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

1TB HDD

M.2 Slot

1x PCIe NVMe M.2 slot (2280, M-key) See photo

RAM

16GB DDR4, 2400 MHz

Dimensions

415 x 280 x 24 mm (16.34" x 11.02" x 0.94")

Weight

2.90 kg (6.4 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum (Aluminum lid, plastic base and interior)

Ports and connectivity

4x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
1x USB Type-C 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
HDMI 2.0
Displayport mini
Card reader SD, SDHC, SDXC
Ethernet lan
Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2x2)
Bluetooth 4.2
Audio jack 1x 3.5mm Combo audio jack

Features

ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM configurations

More Info Buy from Amazon

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Software

We used the pre-installed Windows 10 Pro for the writing of this review but if you wish to perform a clean install of the OS, we suggest downloading all of the latest drivers from ASUS’ official support page.

Battery

Despite the notebook carrying a generous 64Wh battery, the power consumption is higher than we expected so battery runtimes are pretty bad. So don’t expect long runtimes away from the plug.

Of course, all tests were performed with the usual settings – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature turned on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Pretty short runtime on the web browsing test – 220 minutes (3 hours and 40 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Even lower video playback score – 182 minutes (3 hours and 2 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

Of course, the laptop isn’t made for gaming away from the power source but it’s good to know that it can run for almost an hour – 53 minutes.

CPU – Intel Core i7-7700HQ

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i7-7700hq/

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i7-7700HQ scored 13.712 million moves per second. In comparison, one of the most powerful chess computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)

NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1060 GPU aims to be the mid-tier graphics card from the Pascal generation offering similar or even better performance than last year’s flagship models like the GTX 970M and 980M. However, the GPU will be used in high-end laptop configurations.

The graphics card is based on the GP106 chip built on the 16nm FinFET manufacturing process from TSMC paired with up to 6GB GDDR5 VRAM clocked at 8000 MHz effective on a 192-bit interface. The GPU also features the same amount of CUDA cores as its desktop counterpart (1280) and it’s clocked at slightly lower frequencies – 1404 – 1670 MHz.

Depending on the cooling solution, the GPU can be found in large 17 and 15-inch notebooks but some slimmed-down 14-inch notebooks are also an option. The TDP of the GPU is somewhat lower than the last generation GTX 970M.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this GPU: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1060-6gb-gddr5/

Gaming tests

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	89 fps	52 fps	36 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	88 fps	47 fps	31 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands	Full HD, High (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
Average FPS	60 fps	55 fps	31 fps

Temperatures

The usual stress tests that we perform can’t represent real-life usage because even games don’t require 100% CPU and GPU load but the torture tests remain as the most reliable way to assess the overall effectiveness and stability of the cooling system in the long run.

We kicked things off with 100% CPU load for about an hour and the Core i7-7700HQ ran at its maximum operating frequency for four active cores before staying stable at 3.3 GHz. Operating temperatures were a bit high, though, and one of the cores was running a few degrees higher than the rest as you can see from the screenshot below.

Turning on the GPU stress test resulted in small CPU throttling – 2.4 GHz and, of course, high temperatures. The GPU, on the other hand, surprised us by maintaining fairly high clock speeds – considering the nature of the stress test – but at a cost – high temperatures. 85 °C is quite toasty to be honest and we’ve seen such temperatures only on laptops with GTX 1080 on board. In any case, though, we are glad to see minor CPU throttling and full GPU utilization regardless of the high intensity of the tests.

But as expected, high inner temperatures often translate into a warm interior surface. In this case, the heat map shows higher surface temperatures around the center of the keyboard but the only really hot area is right between the hinges (60.5 °C) where the main heat-dispersing grills are located. It’s a good thing that the palm rest and the “WASD” area remained cool throughout the whole test.

Verdict

The best ROG laptop from the GL-series? Probably yes but is it enough to be called the best in class? Well, again, it really depends on what are you looking for. The GL703VM offers some cool features rarely found in GTX 1060-powered notebooks including a 120 Hz G-Sync-enabled IPS panel, which is optional but still… It’s also pretty thin and light for 17-inch notebook so you get portability along with the excellent performance to some extent.

But even if you go for the standard 60 Hz that doesn’t have G-Sync, you will benefit from the high contrast ratio, high maximum brightness, wide sRGB coverage and virtually no PWM – ideal for long hours of gaming or other multimedia activities. However, the missing G-Sync doesn’t mean the laptop boasts great battery life either and it makes us wonder why the NVIDIA Optimus feature isn’t active.

On the other hand, the lack of premium materials and questionable base stability, it’s really hard to recommend over Lenovo’s Legion Y720 and Dell’s Inspiron 15 7577 in this regard. It’s just a little bit better than the Acer Predator Helios 300 (17-inch). In addition, the touchpad is comparable to some low-end gaming laptops with GTX 1050 while the keyboard is a mixed bag for gamers – longer key travel would have done wonders.

In terms of cooling performance, the GL703VM’s system is a hit and a miss at the same time – even extreme workloads weren’t enough to cause major throttling issues (or any of that matter) but you will definitely feel the heat coming out of it in the middle of the keyboard. It won’t be a huge issue when playing games but it’s important to consider.

So if you have the spare cash for the 120 Hz version, the GL703VM is definitely the way to go due to its well-utilized powerful hardware, fairly portable chassis and good value overall. But if “bang for the buck” is what you are looking for, probably the Predator Helios 300 from Acer will suit you better. In terms of build quality, the Lenovo Legion Y720 is far superior but disappoints with subpar display quality. The Acer Aspire V17 Nitro BE is also an option although, it is not a gaming-centric machine.

You can find the available models here: Buy from Amazon.com

Pros

Thin and light for a 17-inch gaming laptop
Good keyboard for typing
Optional 120 Hz IPS panel with G-Sync
Even the standard 60 Hz IPS panel offers excellent image quality
Keeps the hardware running at full throttle even under extreme workload

Cons

Suboptimal materials, flexible base unit
Bad touchpad
G-Sync limited to selected configurations
High inner and outer temperatures under load
Extremely short battery life

It’s been a while since AMD released anything exciting for the notebook market so we are excited to see how their top-tier desktop-grade CPU performs in a standard gaming laptop and paired with the Radeon RX 580. We are also pretty curious how the normal-sized 17-inch chassis will handle all that horsepower and does the RX 580 stand a chance against the alternative GTX 1060 configurations.

Why the GTX 1060 you ask? Well, since the ROG GL702ZC costs just about what a standard Intel Core i7 + GTX 1060 configuration would, we think this is exactly the GPU it should beat in this price range. However, we have to take the Ryzen 7 1700 CPU into consideration – this is one of the few desktop-grade processors integrated into a notebook and it’s fully replaceable as well. This is a huge deal to consider and would most probably crush Intel’s high-end quad-core Core i7-7700HQ and Core i7-7820HK chips in multi-threaded workloads since it has twice the cores and twice the threads of Intel’s solutions. But at what cost? Will the 65W TDP of the Ryzen 7 1700 cause any overheating issues or performance dips? We find out in the full review below.

You can find the available models here: Buy from Amazon.com

Retail package

The notebook comes in a cool-looking ROG Strix-branded box containing all the usual user manuals, AC adapter and power cord.

Design and construction

As you might have already guessed it, in terms of design the laptop is almost identical to the standard Intel + NVIDIA configuration we’ve reviewed a while back. We have some mixed feelings about this because, given the price point, the GL702 chassis should include more premium and sturdy materials instead of using plastic for most of it, yet we find the chassis surprisingly portable given the fact that it’s a 17-inch gaming laptop with a desktop-grade processor stuck inside. The I/O is generous and well-distributed and the keyboard feels nice for typing but not quite for gaming.

And just like its more expensive sibling with the GTX 1070, the GL702ZC has a brushed aluminum lid, which is fairly resistant to torsion and pressure and now has chrome-colored plastic ROG logo in the middle and a stripe on each side. This makes the notebook a bit more clean in our opinion. Funny thing about the hinges, though, there’s plenty of spacing between them so the bottom chin of the display is a bit more flexible as a result but provide a firm grip over the display. You can easily open the laptop with just one hand but just as you are about to fully open the device, the hinges start to feel a bit stiffer – this ensures zero wobbling when working on an unstable surface. The bottom of the base is made of the same slightly roughened black plastic as the standard GL702..

As we go around the sides, we can feel a slight increase in thickness over the GL702VS. And the specs sheet further confirm that – the standard GL702 version measures at 30 mm while this one is 34 mm thicker. It might not seem a lot but you can definitely feel it. The I/O selection is well-distributed and rich – on the left you will find an RJ-45 LAN port, mini DisplayPort, HDMI, USB-C 3.1 (Gen 2), USB 3.0 and a 3.5 mm audio jack. On the right, you will see the SD card reader along with two more USB 3.0 connectors.

So far so good but our main complaint comes from the interior. The surface is again made of plastic and imitates brushed aluminum but doesn’t even get close. We can feel a few weak spots around the center of the keyboard and the palm rest area – once you apply a bit more pressure, it sinks in quite visibly. A more stable base would have been better, especially for the asking price. Moving on to the keyboard – it has satisfying clicky feedback, big enough arrow keys and all the needed shortcuts – ideal for typing. Nevertheless, we find the rather short key travel to be an issue here, particularly for gaming. Long travel keys are much appreciated by the gaming community and we find it funny how the considerably less expensive ASUS ROG Strix GL752VE has a better gaming-centric keyboard than the GL702-series. And as for the touchpad – it feels buttery-smooth, it offers light mouse clicks although, a bit sluggish at times and wobbly – something we are used to with most of the ASUS laptops anyway. We also find it a bit small for the 17-inch form factor but this is a gaming laptop on top of everything else so we can’t get too picky.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

Similarly to most of the GL notebooks, this one doesn’t have a service lid as well but it’s pretty easy for maintenance and upgrade. The piece can be removed by unscrewing all the bolts on the bottom. Then gently pry it up – it’s really straightforward.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

As expected, the notebook comes with a standard 2.5-inch drive and an M.2 SSD slot. The former is taken by a Seagate Firecude 1TB HDD while the M.2 slot that supports PCIe NVMe SSDs remains available for an upgrade. It’s located right above the HDD and allows 2280 sticks.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	1TB Seagate Firecuda HDD	Buy from Amazon.com
M.2 SSD 2280 slot 1	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

RAM

The RAM chips are a bit tricky to access since they are stuck under the heatpipes but someone with small fingers shouldn’t have any trouble with it. The slots support up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 each. The unit we’ve tested came only with 8GB of DDR4-2400 memory from Samsung.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
Slot 1	8GB Samsung DDR4-2400	Buy from Amazon.com
Slot 2	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

Other components

The Wi-Fi card is placed near the right cooling fan (with the bottom of the machine facing upwards) and it’s Realtek RTL8822BE.

The laptop carries a generous battery holding a 76Wh charge.

Cooling system

The cooling design is quite interesting and we haven’t seen so many heatpipes used only for the CPU itself. As you can see, the heatsinks for both chips are pretty big while the large number of heatpipes take away the heat. Also, the left cooling fan is slightly smaller than the one on the right.

Display quality

To our big surprise, the laptop comes with the same panel as the Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G), the ASUS ROG GL703VM and Lenovo’s top-tier Legion Y920. It’s LG-made with model number LP173WF4-SPF5 – Full HD (1920×1080) IPS with 127 ppi and 0.1995 x 0.1995 mm pixel pitch. It can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from at least 69 cm.

Viewing angles are excellent as you can see from the image below.

The maximum recorded brightness is 391 cd/m2 in the center and 378 cd/m2 as average across the surface with just 10% deviation. The correlated color temperature on white screen at maximum luminance is close to the optimal – 6780K and as we go along the grayscale it gets closer at 6640K. You can see how these values change at 143 cd/m2 (48% brightness) in the image below.

The relative dE2000 (color deviation) shouldn’t be more than 4.0 if you are planning on using the screen for color-sensitive work but in this case, it’s going to be used for gaming and it’s even under the 2.0 mark. Contrast ratio is good a well – 1070:1 (1060:1 after calibration).

Color reproduction

The sRGB color gamut coverage is ideal for multimedia and gaming, as expected – 89%.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 25 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

Only ultra-high PWM was recorded at times (120 kHz), which basically means no PWM so it’s safe to use for long periods of time even from users with sensitive eyes.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

Our verdict on the panel has not changed over time and we still think it’s an excellent solution for multimedia/gaming-centric laptops. It has all the needed properties – high peak brightness, wide sRGB coverage, high contrast and has virtually no PWM making it safe to use for long periods of time.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for ASUS ROG Strix GL702ZC configurations with 17.3″ LG LP173WF4-SPF5 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

Sound quality is good – the low, mid and high frequencies appear to be clear and without noticeable distortions.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

ASUS ROG GL702ZC technical specifications table

Not available

CPU

AMD Ryzen 7 1700 125

GPU

AMD Radeon RX 580 (4GB GDDR5) (Laptop) 13

Display

17.3”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

1TB HDD, 5400 rpm

M.2 Slot

1x 2280 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD slot See photo

RAM

8GB DDR4

Dimensions

415 x 280 x 34 mm (16.34" x 11.02" x 1.34")

Weight

3.20 kg (7.1 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum (Aluminum lid, plastic base)

Ports and connectivity

Features

Web camera
Backlit keyboard
Microphone
Speakers
Security Lock slot

ASUS ROG Strix GL702ZC configurations

ASUS ROG GL702ZC

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

ASUS ROG GL702ZC

AMD Ryzen 7 1700
AMD Radeon RX 580 (4GB GDDR5) (Laptop)
1000GB HDD + 256GB SSD
16GB RAM

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Software

Battery

As to be expected from a notebook carrying a full-fledged desktop processor, battery life is extremely short. Even though the device sports a 76Wh unit, the 65W processor drains it really fast.

Anyway, all tests were run under the usual conditions – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brighntess set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows power saving mode turned on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Extremely short web browsing runtime – 76 minutes (1 hour and 16 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Just about the same as the video playback score – 78 minutes (1 hour and 18 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

Of course, the laptop isn’t made for gaming away from the power source but it can get you less than half an hour of runtime – 22 minutes.

CPU – AMD Ryzen 7 1700

The AMD Ryzen 7 1700 is a high-end desktop-grade CPU but due to its relatively low TDP of 65W and decent thermals, it has been implemented in gaming notebooks as well. The chip is based on AMD’s new Zen architecture utilizing the 14nm node. It features a whopping 8 cores with 16 threads.

Base clock speeds start at 3.0 GHz and can go up to 3.7 GHz (3.75 GHz with XFR feature (Extended Frequency Range)) with two or three active cores. But if all eight cores are utilized, the maximum Turbo Clock speed is specified as 3.2 GHz.

The processor is rated at 65W including the memory controller, which supports either 64GB of memory clocked at 1833 MHz or 32GB of DDR4-2400 or 2660 memory.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/amd-ryzen-7-1700-laptop/

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL702ZC AMD Ryzen 7 1700 (8-cores, 3.0 - 3.7 GHz)	15.61
ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.05	-48.43%
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-51) Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.06	-48.37%
Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-793G) Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.13	-47.92%
Lenovo Legion Y720 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.10	-48.11%
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.20	-47.47%

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL702ZC AMD Ryzen 7 1700 (8-cores, 3.0 - 3.7 GHz)	1201
ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	889	-25.98%
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-51) Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	892	-25.73%
Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-793G) Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	860	-28.39%
Lenovo Legion Y720 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	865	-27.98%
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	890	-25.9%

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL702ZC AMD Ryzen 7 1700 (8-cores, 3.0 - 3.7 GHz)	8.70
ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	9.89	+13.68%
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-51) Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	10.75	+23.56%
Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-793G) Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	9.88	+13.56%
Lenovo Legion Y720 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	9.95	+14.37%
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	9.88	+13.56%

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The AMD Ryzen 7 1700 scored 12.664 million moves per second. In comparison, one of the most powerful chess computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – AMD Radeon RX 580 (4GB GDDR5)

The AMD Radeon RX 580 is a high-end gaming graphics card based on the improved Polaris 20 architecture, which is based on a more optimized 14nm (LPP+) compared to the previous RX 480 (Polaris 10) generation. This allows slightly higher clock speeds and better power optimizations.

While the GPU based on the same chip as its desktop counterpart, performance may differ a little due to the altered clock speeds by the OEM or the cooling solution. Also, the laptop variant sports 4GB of GDDR5 memory instead of 8GB like the full-fledged desktop version.

The rest of the specs include 1077 MHz clock speed, 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, 32 ROPs, 256-bit memory interface and 8000 MHz effective memory clock.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this GPU: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/amd-radeon-rx-580-laptop/

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL702ZC AMD Radeon RX 580 (4GB GDDR5) (Laptop)	69915
ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	80456	+15.08%
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-51) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	54861	-21.53%
Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-793G) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	79897	+14.28%
Lenovo Legion Y720 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	68315	-2.29%
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)	53107	-24.04%

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL702ZC AMD Radeon RX 580 (4GB GDDR5) (Laptop)	10985
ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	11675	+6.28%
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-51) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	11946	+8.75%
Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-793G) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	11472	+4.43%
Lenovo Legion Y720 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	11577	+5.39%
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)	10350	-5.78%

Results are from the 3DMark (Sky Diver) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL702ZC AMD Radeon RX 580 (4GB GDDR5) (Laptop)		-
ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)		-
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-51) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	38170	-
Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-793G) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	34560	-
Lenovo Legion Y720 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	37314	-
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)		-

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS ROG GL702ZC AMD Radeon RX 580 (4GB GDDR5) (Laptop)	3096
ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	3723	+20.25%
Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH317-51) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	3648	+17.83%
Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro Black Edition (VN7-793G) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	3359	+8.49%
Lenovo Legion Y720 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB GDDR5)	3560	+14.99%
Dell Inspiron 15 7577 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB GDDR5)	3271	+5.65%

Gaming tests

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	80 fps	45 fps	26 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	77 fps	44 fps	29 fps

Far Cry Primal	Full HD, High (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	70 fps	62 fps	55 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands	Full HD, High (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
Average FPS	56 fps	49 fps	29 fps

Temperatures

The stress tests that we perform don’t represent real-life usage because even games don’t require 100% CPU and GPU load for such long periods of time. However, the torture tests remain as the most reliable way to see how the cooling system performs and how effective it is in the long run.

We started off with 100% CPU load and the results were striking. The system was able to utilize the full performance of all 8 cores (3.2 GHz) for most of the time but was occasionally dipping down to 2.9 GHz. The operating temperature was pretty high – 95 °C.

Turning on the GPU stress test resulted in slightly lower CPU clocks but no throttling. The Ryzen 7 1700 ran at around 3.0 GHz most of the time while the Radeon RX 580 GPU was clocked at rock-solid 1077 MHz, which is the maximum and operating frequency anyway. Unfortunately, though, both chips were running pretty hot – 91 °C for the CPU and 82 °C for the GPU at the expense of extremely loud cooling fans. Seriously, we can’t stress this enough – the GL702ZC is probably one of the loudest – if not the loudest – laptop we’ve tested. They spin quite loudly not only during heavy workload but during gaming as well. In fact, you can feel the whole chassis vibrate when the fans spin at maximum RPM.

The surface temperatures, as you can see from the heat map below, aren’t flattering as well. There’s noticeable heat dispersion across center of the keyboard and right above it reaching as high as 53.7 °C. It gets a little bit uncomfortable during gaming if you start using this particular area of the keyboard.

Verdict

If you came to read this review looking for a confirmation of why you should buy the GL702ZC for gaming, you are going to be disappointed. From all the data that we’ve gathered, it seems like the ASUS ROG Strix GL702ZC is more of a workstation than a gaming laptop for two main reasons.

First of all, such powerful desktop-grade processor like the Ryzen 7 1700 is downright an overkill for gaming. As we all know, games don’t require so many cores (at least for now) and they benefit most from clock speeds. A 65W beast like this one doesn’t necessarily translate into more in-game FPS. It will, however, render like an animal serving as an excellent mobile workstation for content creators.

Secondly, the AMD Radeon RX 580 is a great GPU but given the price tag of the laptop, you’d be better off with a GTX 1060-powered machine for sure. The RX 580 just can’t keep up with the GTX 1060 and serves as a bottleneck to the powerful Ryzen 7 1700. So in reality, a good old Intel Core i7-7700HQ will be more than enough for your gaming needs while the GTX 1060 GPU will be a much better choice for gaming in this price range.

Moreover, the GL702ZC doesn’t really impress with anything else rather than screen quality although, FreeSync is missing from the specs sheet. The excellent IPS panel will deliver good multimedia and gaming experience while the obnoxiously loud cooling system will ruin it for some (it even runs when idle). Not only that but during heavy workloads, the interior gets a little bit too warm for our standards and all that copper used for the heatpipes and heatsinks inside has reflected on the size and weight. In addition, battery life suffers due to the 65W processor and the lack of integrated graphics. The touchpad design continues to plague the GL-series as well as the plastic base that feels a bit cheap compared to some alternatives on the market.

So, if compute power is essential for you and you plan to do some content creative work on the ASUS ROG Strix GL702ZC, you will most likely be amazed by the utterly ridiculous multi-core performance the Ryzen 7 1700 delivers. But if you plan on using the machine mainly for gaming, we suggest looking elsewhere. Why not start with the recently reviewed ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM (with GTX 1060), the Lenovo Legion Y720 or the HP Omen 17 (2017) with GTX 1060. The Acer Predator Helios 300 (17-inch) is also a nice option to consider without breaking the bank.

You can find the available models here: Buy from Amazon.com

Pros

Nice keyboard for typing
Excellent IPS display
No PWM across all brightness levels
Extremely powerful desktop-grade CPU with amazing multi-core performance
The CPU can be replaced as it uses standard socket

Cons

Hefty and thick
Extremely loud cooling system and runs even when idle
The parts of the interior get a little bit too warm during heavy workload/gaming
Suboptimal choice of materials for the base
Bad touchpad design
No FreeSync option for the display
Most laptops at this price range have significantly more powerful GPUs

After the Inspiron 17 7779 review, we still can’t think of a reason why would anyone opt for a 17-inch convertible but obviously there’s a market for that as well. Probably the combination of a big working space and flexibility appeals to a number of users. Luckily, the 17 7773 remains a well-executed 17-inch convertible with just a few drawbacks that are usually inherent to the big screen models anyway.

Still, in terms of design, the Inspiron 7773 is almost identical to the 7779 – all-aluminum body, pretty much the same I/O, comfortable keyboard, useful touchpad and 360-degree rotatable hinge with glossy touchscreen. Also, the Inspiron 7773 doesn’t improve on weight and dimensions – the case is practically the same. The only thing changed here is the hardware and the price. Both have been significantly bumped up – now starting at $899, the machine comes equipped with the latest 8th Generation Intel CPU (Core i5-8250U) and NVIDIA GeForce MX150 with 2GB GDDR5 memory and can go up to Core i7-8550U. All models come with Full HD IPS panels so there’s no problem here but we would like to see if the battery life is still good and are there any significant changes in the image quality and cooling system because last time, the latter wasn’t very impressive. Continue reading to find out more.

You can check prices and configurations: Buy from Amazon.com

Retail package

The notebook comes in a standard box with the usual user manuals, AC adapter and power cord.

Design and construction

As we already stated, there are no apparent changes in the design – the anodized aluminum makes an appearance on the top and interior. There are some chamfered edges around the lid and the touchpad making it look more aesthetically pleasing. The thickness remains at 22.6 mm while the approximate weight is around 2.94 kg, which is pretty hefty, especially for a convertible.

As before, the anodized aluminum plate doesn’t impress with extraordinary sturdiness as it sinks under small amounts of pressure and you can easily hear that “vacuum” sound. It did, however, hold up pretty well to our twisting attempts and fortunately, none of these issues actually cause ripples to appear on the LCD screen. Speaking of which, the big upper bezel and lower chin make an impression and add more to the overall size. The hinges still feel a bit overly tightened and due to the heavy nature of the display, the wobbling effect is pretty pronounced when using the touchscreen in laptop mode. The bottom still uses an aluminum sheet with small grills for the loudspeakers and the cooling fans.

The sides, unfortunately, don’t offer a better I/O selection than a normal 15-inch or even 14-inch laptop. The left side has only the HDMI, USB-C 3.1 (Gen 1) with DisplayPort support, 3.5 mm audio jack and a standard USB 3.0 connector. The right side comes only with one USB 2.0 port (3.0 would have been much better) and the SD card reader. Towards the front, you can easily feel the slightly protruding power button and volume rocker for easier operation in tablet or presentation mode.

The interior surprises with brushed aluminum instead of anodized one and more importantly, has a comfortable keyboard, touchpad and the plate withstands big amounts of pressure. Although, the previous Inspiron 7779 didn’t impress us with a good keyboard and it seems like things have changed a little this time around. Now the keys have more pronounced clicky feedback, they are well-spaced and have a reasonably long travel. Speed typing is a pleasure. The touchpad also feels pretty nice – it’s responsive, accurate and has fairly light mouse clicks but the surface is roughened which isn’t optimal for gliding.

Since there are no major changes in the design and overall build, our main complaints stand – it’s a bit hefty for a convertible, the screen wobble when using the touch panel is pronounced and the selection of I/O is pretty limited for a 17-inch device. And with the small exception of the bouncy back panel of the lid, the rest of the build is spot on.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

Even though there are no dedicated service covers, the bottom plate comes off easily and provides access to all of the internals without much of hassle. Just remove all the screws on the bottom and gently pry it up.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

The storage options are the usual ones – M.2 SSD slot + 2.5-inch SSD/HDD slot. Our unint in particular, however, had only a standard 2.5-inch SATA SSD while the M.2 PCIe NVMe-enabled SSD slot remains available for an upgrade.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	512GB SanDisk X400 SATA SSD	Buy from Amazon.com
M.2 SSD 2280 slot 1	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

RAM

As usual, the motherboard holds two RAM slots each supporting up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory. The unit we reviewed had just one chip – 16GB DDR4-2400 from Micron.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
Slot 1	16GB Micron DDR4-2400	Buy from Amazon.com
Slot 2	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

Other components

The Wi-Fi card is placed near the cooling fan (with the bottom of the machine facing upwards) and it’s Intel 3165NGW.

The battery is located under the wrist rest area and provides a decent 56Wh charge.

Cooling system

The cooling design hasn’t been changed from the previous version and still uses two small heatpipes and a single cooling fan. Interestingly, though, the fan radiator is a bit far from the back grill for dispersing the heat but according to our stress tests, it isn’t that big of an issue.

Display quality

Last year’s model used an AUO panel but this time around, the Inspiron 7773 relies on the CHI MEI CMN1738 (XWCYC-173HCE) panel again with Full HD (1920×1080) resolution, 127 ppi density and 0.1995 x 0.1995 mm pixel pitch. It can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from at least 69 cm.

Viewing angles are excellent.

We’ve recorded a maximum brightness of 32 cd/m2 in the center and 301 cd/m2 as average across the surface with 14% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature appears to be almost perfect – 6540K. Keep in mind that the optimal color temperature is 6500K. As we go along the grayscale, the color temperature aligns perfectly with the optimal one – 6500K. You can see how these values change in the image below for 140 cd/m2 (48% brightness).

The relative dE2000 (color deviation) shouldn’t be more than 4.0 if you are planning on using the screen for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is excellent a well – 1450:1 (1300:1 after calibration).

Color reproduction

The sRGB color gamut coverage is 92% so most of the HDTV and web-based colors can be reproduced making the screen ideal for multimedia.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 28 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

Unforutnately, the display uses aggressive PWM for regulating screen brightness (1 kHz) for all brighntess levels except the maximum one. So we suggest using our Health-Guard profile or just keep the brightness slider at 100% all the time.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

It appears that Dell has used a high-quality IPS panel with little to no drawbacks. It checks all the boxes for a good multimedia experience – high maximum brightness, high contrast, wide sRGB coverage and fairly accurate color reproduction out of the box. However, if you need the best possible experience, our Design and Gaming profile should lower the dE2000 significantly.

The one and only issue we can’t overlook is the aggressive PWM from 0 to 99% brightness. This should be taken into consideration especially by users with senstive eyes.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Dell Inspiron 7773 configurations with 17.3″ CHI MEI CMN1738 (XWCYC-173HCE) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The loudspeakers provide clean reproduction of the low, mid and high frequencies without any noticeable distortions.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Dell Inspiron 7773 technical specifications table

Old price $1499^.99

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from Amazon

CPU

Intel Core i7-8550U 16

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5) 53

Display

17.3”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

2TB HDD

M.2 Slot

M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (2280) slot See photo

RAM

16GB

Dimensions

412 x 277 x 22.6 mm (16.22" x 10.91" x 0.89")

Weight

3.00 kg (6.6 lbs)

Body material

Aluminum (All-aluminum chassis)

Ports and connectivity

Features

Dell Inspiron 17 7773 configurations

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Dell Inspiron 7773

Intel Core i5-8250U
Intel UHD Graphics 620
1000GB HDD + 256GB SSD
12GB RAM

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Dell Inspiron 7773

Intel Core i5-8250U
Intel UHD Graphics 620
1000GB HDD + 120GB SSD
12GB RAM

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Software

Battery

The battery capacity hasn’t increased but the battery runtimes have been improved considerably over the last generation. This is mainly due to the new Intel 8th Generation processors that appear to be well-optimized in terms of energy consumption. In fact, the 56Wh battery charge pushes the Inspiron 7773 way up the rankings and it’s safe to say that it’s one of the most impressive 17-inch laptops in this regard.

All tests were performed with the usual settings – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature turned on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Impressive web browsing runtime – 667 minutes (11 hours and 7 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Similar video playback score – 513 minutes (8 hours and 33 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

Of course, the laptop isn’t made for gaming away from the power source but it can still run for more than four hours during heavy workload – 278 minutes (4 hours and 38 minutes).

CPU – Intel Core i7-8550U

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i7-8550u/

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 7773 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	7.53
Dell Inspiron 17 7779 Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	3.67	-51.26%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	5.78	-23.24%

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 7773 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	959
Dell Inspiron 17 7779 Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	482	-49.74%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	928	-3.23%

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 7773 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	9.95
Dell Inspiron 17 7779 Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	17.69	+77.79%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	11.01	+10.65%

Fritz

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Along with all the power consumption and performance improvements, the GPU now supports essential features like Multi-Projection, VR Ready, G-SYNC, Vulkan and Multi-Monitor.

Check the prices of all notebooks equipped with NVIDIA GeForce MX150: Buy from Amazon.com

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 7773 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	19708
Dell Inspiron 17 7779 NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	11692	-40.67%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	15528	-21.21%

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 7773 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	3381
Dell Inspiron 17 7779 NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	2105	-37.74%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	3566	+5.47%

Results are from the 3DMark (Sky Diver) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 7773 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)		-
Dell Inspiron 17 7779 NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	6608	-
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)		-

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Dell Inspiron 7773 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	979
Dell Inspiron 17 7779 NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	566	-42.19%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	1081	+10.42%

Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GO	HD 768p, Low (Check settings)	HD 768p, Medium (Check settings)	HD 768p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	129 fps	102 fps	73 fps

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	HD, Low (Check settings)	HD, Medium (Check settings)	HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average FPS	103 fps	43 fps	21 fps

Temperatures

The stress tests that we perform don’t represent real-life use because even the most demanding games don’t require 100% CPU and GPU load for such long periods of time but these torture tests remain as the most effective way to assess the overall stability of the cooling system in the long run.

We started off with 100% CPU load for about an hour. The Core i7-8550U utilized the full performance of all four cores for a brief moment but then gradually settled at around 2.1 – 2.3 GHz.

Turning on the GPU stress test didn’t cause the CPU to throttle – it just settled down to its base operating frequency – 1.8 – 1.9 GHz. However, the GPU wasn’t able to show its full potential and was massively throttling during the whole test at 468 MHz. This shows that the current cooling design isn’t enough to handle even this quite undemanding hardware. Probably the short and small heatpipes contribute to the issue the most.

Temperatures on the surface, however, remained low even during this extremely heavy workload.

Verdict

As a standard 17.3-inch laptop, the Inspiron 7773 is one of the best all-rounders out there with excellent build quality, good input devices and capable hardware. The high-quality IPS display is another big plus you should consider because it’s a multimedia-centric laptop after all. Unfortunately, you will have to deal with the aggressive PWM along the way and luckily, our Health-Guard profile should take care of that.

But besides the elegant looks and the flashy screen, the Inspiron 7773 has some apparent issues that are mostly related to its form factor. Firstly, there probably aren’t nearly enough users that will get this laptop just because it’s a 17-inch 2-in-1 convertible and even if they do, the hefty and rather big chassis makes it awkward to hold in tablet mode. Don’t get us wrong, though, the Inspiron 7773 appears to be a great 17.3-inch laptop but it’s not one of the most practical 2-in-1s we’ve seen so far. In addition, the rather limited I/O selection is a big bummer since this is a big machine after all.

And secondly, the cooling system can’t seem to support the rather undemanding hardware during heavy workloads. Most probably, you won’t be using it for a gaming-centric daily driver but you should consider the GPU throttling issue we’ve experienced during our stress test.

And to our big surprise, the Inspiron 7773 comes in strong with amazing battery life. Rarely can you expect such long runtimes from a 17.3-inch laptop and yet, the Inspiron 7773 surprises in this aspect as well. So if you are really into the 17.3-inch form factor but battery life isn’t the thing you’d want to sacrifice, this strange 2-in-1 is an ideal choice.

Given its marketed purpose, the Inspiron 7773 falls into a category of its own and it’s really hard to recommend any other 17-inch convertibles as direct rivals. Still, if you are not invested in the 2-in-1 form factor, the significantly less expensive but still capable Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) is a good way to start. And for just about the same price, you can get a decent gaming laptop with GTX 1050 Ti or even GTX 1060 on board. Only, of course, if you are looking for a more powerful alternative.

You can check prices and configurations: Buy from Amazon.com

Pros

Good build quality
Good input devices
High-quality IPS display – wide sRGB coverage, high contrast, bright
Long battery life

Cons

Limited I/O for a 17-inch device
Not the most practical 2-in-1 – hefty and big chassis, wobbly screen
Pricey
The screen uses aggressive PWM from 0 to 99% (our Health-Guard profile fixes that)

Along with the Aspire 5 series release, Acer outed a more performance-focused version named Aspire 7 that runs on Intel’s quad-core Kaby Lake-H processors and sports a decent GTX 1050 GPU, which is enough for casual to moderate gaming. There are also few notable changes in the chassis compared to the Aspire 5 – brushed aluminum is the main material used making it feel a bit more robust and interestingly, the keyboard feels slightly altered as well.

Although it may seem like the Aspire 7 is made for gaming, judging by the specs sheet, the notebook isn’t marketed as gaming-oriented by the OEM nor does it feature the usual flashy appearance with red accents or a gaming-optimized keyboard. In any case, the Aspire 7 seems like a great choice if you are looking for an affordable 17-inch high-performance laptop that’s also able to drive most of the games in low to medium graphics settings. We would like, however, to see how it performs in other areas like battery endurance, screen quality and temperature handling.

You can check prices and configurations here: Buy from Amazon.com

Retail package

The retail package contains all the usual user manuals, AC adapter and power cord – nothing out of the ordinary.

Design and construction

As we already mentioned, the Aspire 7 and the Aspire 5 share some similarities like general appearance and overall portability. Just like the Aspire 5, the Aspire 7 isn’t the lightest laptop out there but manages to keep the weight under 3.0 kg (2.9 kg to be exact). Not that bad for a 17-incher to be honest. Its thickness, though, isn’t as impressive – measuring at around 27 mm, we can definitely put the machine in the “slightly bulky” category but we hope the cooling system will benefit from this.

The most notable change here compared to the Aspire 5 is the lid. Now featuring brushed aluminum sheet, the laptop feels a bit more rigid in the middle, isn’t susceptible to severe twisting but the bottom chin still feels a bit flexible due to the hinges being placed too far apart leaving the middle of the screen without any support. Speaking of the hinges, they feel a bit overly tightened and don’t allow opening the machine with just one hand. As for the bottom, it continues to use the slightly roughened plastic with some grills for dispersing the heat and two service hatches for easy access to the 2.5-inch HDD and RAM sticks. We’ve also noticed something quite irritating – the left edge under the palm rest area wobbles even when placed on an even surface – it must be due to the unbalanced base or the silicone leg is just a tad shorter on the right. Either way, it might not be an issue with all the units out there.

Moving on to the sides, we see the standard I/O configuration, which appears to be well-distributed – the left side holds most of the connectors like RJ-45 for LAN, USB-C 3.1 (Gen 1), HDMI, USB 3.0 and the SD card reader. The right side comes with the DC charging port, two USB 2.0 connectors and the 3.5 mm audio jack.

Opening the lid reveals a familiar Acer design that we’ve already seen in several other notebooks. The brushed aluminum interior is still a fingerprint magnet but serves as a fairly stable construction. Only the area around the touchpad appears to be bending just a little but nothing too serious in our opinion. Besides, this is a budget-oriented laptop anyway. While we are on the touchpad, let’s just say it’s identical to the one on the Aspire 5 – surrounded by chamfered edges, has smooth gliding surface, it’s fairly responsive and features light and clicky mouse clicks. And as for the keyboard, well we’ve noticed a small but notable change compared to the cheaper Aspire 5. The keycaps still come with that slightly concaved surface for optimum typing comfort and provide that light but clicky tactile feedback. However, we can definitely feel the increased key travel while typing compared to the Aspire 5. The latter’s keys felt somehow “dull”. Still, the arrow keys aren’t really that comfortable for gaming but this isn’t marketed as “strictly gaming laptop” anyway.

The Aspire 7 seems like a well-made 17-incher with much fewer compromises than we would have expected, especially given the price tag. We also liked the keyboard and the touchpad, which often left neglected in these type of notebooks.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

The disassembly process and upgrade options are absolutely identical to the Aspire 5 (17-inch) – there are two small service covers for the 2.5-inch drive and one for the memory slots. But if you wish to access the rest of the internals, you will have to dig deeper by removing the whole bottom piece.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

The unit we’ve tested came with just one 2.5-inch HDD from Toshiba with 1TB capacity but thanks to the M.2 SSD slot, the storage can be expanded. The M.2 slot supports PCIe NVMe-enabled drivers coming in 2280 standard.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	1TB Toshiba HDD	Buy from Amazon.com
M.2 SSD 2280 slot 1	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

RAM

The motherboard holds two memory slots and both can be accessed via the small service hatch. Each slot supports up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 chips but our unit came with just one 8GB Kingston stick.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
Slot 1	8GB Kingston DDR4-2400	Buy from Amazon.com
Slot 2	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

Other components

The Wi-Fi card is placed near one of the cooling fans and it’s Qualcomm QCNFA344A.

The battery is rated at 48Wh and it’s placed under the wrist rest area.

Cooling system

Although the cooling design doesn’t seem all that reliable because we’ve seen other laptops with the same layout – both cooling fans stuck together and just two small heatpipes connecting the CPU and GPU heatsinks and sharing the heat. However, probably due to the “lightweight” hardware, the system was able to cool things off quite easily.

Display quality

It appears that the current Full HD (1920×1080) IPS panel can be found in a long list of laptops – Acer Aspire 5 (17-inch), ASUS ROG Strix GL703VM, ASUS ROG Strix GL702ZC and Lenovo’s Legion Y920. So we already know what to expect from the display. Anyway, it provides 127 ppi pixel density and 0.1995 x 0.1995 mm pixel pitch. The screen can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from at least 69 cm.

Viewing angles are excellent.

WE’ve recorded a peak brightness of 420 cd/m2 in the center and 404 cd/m2 as average across the surface with 10% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature is a little colder than the optimal (6500K) – 7220K. As we go along the grayscale, the color temperature falls down a little – 7220K but still a bit colder than it should be. You can see how these values change at 140 cd/m2 (28% brightness).

The relative dE2000 (color deviation) compared to the center of the screen shouldn’t be more than 4.0 if you are planning on using the screen for color-sensitive work. The contrast ratio is excellent a well – 1000:1.

Color reproduction

As expected, the sRGB coverage is 89% ensuring good multimedia and gaming experience.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 23 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

The screen doesn’t use PWM – only some extremely high-frequency pulsations appear at times.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

As we already stated in the Aspire 5 review, we are extremely happy with the display quality as it provides all of the essentials for a good gaming and multimedia experience. It has high maximum brightness, wide sRGB coverage, good contrast and lacks PWM. Easily, the Aspire 7 puts to shame most of the 17-inch laptops out there.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Acer Aspire 7 (A717-71G) configurations with 17.3″ CHI MEI CMN1738 (XWCYC-173HCE) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The loudspeakers provide clean reproduction of the low, mid and high frequencies without any noticeable distortions.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G technical specifications table Also known as Acer Aspire 7 (A717-71G)

Upcoming

CPU

Intel Core i5-7300HQ 36

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5) 29

Display

17.3”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

1TB HDD, 5400 rpm

M.2 Slot

1x PCIe NVMe M.2 slot (2280, M-key)

RAM

8GB DDR4, 2400 MHz

Dimensions

423 x 290 x 28.25 mm (16.65" x 11.42" x 1.11")

Weight

3.04 kg (6.7 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum (Aluminum lid and interior, plastic base)

Ports and connectivity

1x USB Type-C 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
1x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1), Sleep and Charge
2x USB Type-A 2.0
HDMI
VGA
Card reader SD/SDXC card reader
Ethernet lan Gigabit Ethernet
Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac; 2.4 Ghz / 5 GHz; 2x2MIMO
Bluetooth 4.0
Audio jack Headset/Speaker jack

Features

Fingerprint reader
Web camera 720p HD
Backlit keyboard
Microphone Dual digital Microphone
Speakers Two built-in stereo speakers
Optical drive
Security Lock slotKensington lock slot

Acer Aspire 7 (A717-71G) configurations

Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G

Not available

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Acer Aspire 7

Not available

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Software

Battery

Battery life isn’t exactly impressive but it’s a little above the average for a 17-inch high-performance notebook. It seems that the 48Wh charge of the battery keeps the system running for quite some time during web browsing but fails to impress when it comes to video playback away from the plug.

All tests were performed with the usual settings – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows power saving mode turned on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Good web browsing score – 409 minutes (6 hours and 49 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

The video playback score is considerably lower – 288 minutes (4 hours and 48 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

This test got the most of the battery since it’s the most demanding one and surely, you won’t start a gaming session away from the power source but you can still squeeze 105 minutes (1 hour and 45 minutes) if needed.

CPU – Intel Core i5-7300HQ

ntel’s Core i5-7300HQ is part of the 7th Generation Kaby Lake CPUs and it’s the direct successor of the Core i5-6300HQ (Skylake). It’s also based on the same architecture as the aforementioned chip with little differences that should bring a small performance increase and a bump in power consumption. However, the new CPU is clocked at 2.5 GHz and its Turbo Boost frequency is 3.5 GHz opposed to the 2.3 – 3.2 GHz clocks on the previous Core i5-6300HQ.

We have the same 4/4 core/thread count 6MB last level cache, a TDP of 45W which includes the iGPU and the dual-channel DDR4 memory controller. Speaking of the former, the chip integrates the newer generation Intel HD Graphics 630 graphics chip clocked at 350 – 1000 MHz.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i5-7300hq/

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G Intel Core i5-7300HQ (4-cores, 2.5 - 3.5 GHz)	5.95
Dell Inspiron 7773 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	7.53	+26.55%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	5.78	-2.86%

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G Intel Core i5-7300HQ (4-cores, 2.5 - 3.5 GHz)	515
Dell Inspiron 7773 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	959	+86.21%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	928	+80.19%

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G Intel Core i5-7300HQ (4-cores, 2.5 - 3.5 GHz)	12.87
Dell Inspiron 7773 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	9.95	-22.69%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	11.01	-14.45%

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i7-8550U managed to get 9.858 million moves per second. For comparison, one of the most powerful computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)

However, along with all the power consumption and performance improvements, the GPU now supports essential features like DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, HDR, improved H.265 encoding, and decoding.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this GPU: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-4gb-gddr5/

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)	38345
Dell Inspiron 7773 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	19708	-48.6%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	15528	-59.5%

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)	5959
Dell Inspiron 7773 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	3381	-43.26%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	3566	-40.16%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)	1794
Dell Inspiron 7773 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	979	-45.43%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	1081	-39.74%

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	Full HD, Low (Check settings)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average FPS	99 fps	62 fps	34 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)	Full HD, Low (Check settings)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average FPS	75 fps	50 fps	23 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, High (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average FPS	39 fps	34 fps	27 fps

Temperatures

The stress tests that we perform don’t represent real-life use since even the most demanding games don’t require 100% CPU and GPU load for such long periods of time. However, it’s still the most reliable way to assess the overall effectiveness and stability of the cooling system.

We started off with 100% CPU load for about an hour only to see that the system utilizes the full performance of the processor without any issues.

Turning on the GPU stress test didn’t change things too much – the Core i5-7300HQ ran stable at 3.1 GHz while the GTX 1050 was running at frosty 67 °C while utilizing the full performance of the chip – 1670 MHz. To be honest, we were pretty surprised by the results because the current cooling design has proven to be ineffective in all of the laptops we’ve tested so far. But our best guess is that the Core i5-7300HQ and the GTX 1050 aren’t so demanding and even this cooling design is enough to keep things cool and under control. In any case, we are extremely happy with the temperatures.

Even external temperatures didn’t show any signs of overheating and more importantly, we noticed that the fans ran pretty silent considering the extreme nature of the stress test.

Verdict

We were happy with the Acer Aspire 5 (17-inch model) and we are also extremely satisfied with the Aspire 7 as well. For the incremental increase in price, the Aspire 7 offers a significant upgrade not only in the hardware department but in terms of build quality as well. The aluminum lid and interior are hard to come by in this class, especially with a powerful hardware like this one. In addition, the keyboard and the touchpad feel way better than the ones we saw in the Aspire 5. The only thing missing here is the LED keyboard illumination. Also, the layout isn’t really gaming-centric but to be fair, Acer never claimed it’s a gaming-oriented laptop in the first place.

Despite the obvious bang for the buck configuration here (quad-core Core i5 + GTX 1050), the device surprises with excellent IPS display a well. Using the same panel as the Aspire 5 and other considerably more expensive gaming machines like the ASUS ROG GL702VM and the Lenovo Legion Y920, the 17-inch Aspire 7 is an ideal choice for multimedia and gaming on a budget. The LG screen is bright, has wide sRGB coverage, good contrast and doesn’t use PWM for regulating brightness.

Of course, like with most performance 17-inch laptops, battery life isn’t amazing but it will last a few hours away from the plug when it comes to web browsing. Don’t expect too much for video playback, though. A more important aspect, in which the Aspire 7 excels, however, is the cooling design. According to our extensive stress tests, the cooling system can handle a lot of torture without breaking a sweat – the CPU and GPU will run cool most of the time while keeping noise emissions to a minimum. It came as a surprise because the design proved to be inefficient when paired with more powerful GTX 1050 Ti/GTX 1060 and Core i7-7700HQ.

To be fair, it’s really hard not to recommend this high-performance budget laptop. It’s good for everyday work, for multimedia and even for gaming while costing just around €750 (since at the time of writing this review, the Aspire 7 is still not available in the US). But if all that power isn’t all that necessary, we recommend looking into the Aspire 5 as well as it offers just about the same user experience but with more balanced hardware capable of squeezing out better battery runtimes.

You can check prices and configurations here: Buy from Amazon.com

Pros

Good build quality with brushed aluminum
Nice keyboard, usable touchpad
Excellent, bright IPS panel with wide sRGB and high contrast
The display doesn’t use PWM for regulating brightness
Good price/performance ratio
Quiet and effective cooling system even during heavy workload
Decent web browsing runtimes

Cons

Short video playback runtimes
No keyboard LED backlight

We often criticize the mid-range and low-end 17-inch notebooks because they often cost more than its 15-inch alternatives while offering less powerful hardware or even subpar image quality. This is exactly the case with the ASUS X756UQ, which is advertised as a multimedia machine but fails to impress as one mostly due to the 17.3-inch TN panel. We can immediately think of a much better multimedia solution that’s not only more portable but considerably more powerful as well – the ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580VD.

We recently reviewed the latter with the pricier Core i7-7700HQ CPU but you can easily get the Core i5-7300HQ version that costs just a tad more than the ASUS K756UQ, which drags behind with a ULV (ultra-low voltage) processor (Core i5-7200U) and a GPU that’s more of a multimedia-centric solution – GeForce 940MX. So in this case, we can’t think of a reason why you would buy the X756UQ, although it’s seemingly solid notebook with a good build, good input devices and uses aluminum for the most part. Unless, of course, you really want a 17-inch notebook.

You can check prices and configurations here: Buy from Amazon.com

Retail package

The notebook comes in a big ASUS-branded box with the usual user manuals, AC adapter and power cord.

Design and construction

As most 17-inc laptops at this price range, the K756UQ doesn’t excel in portability – actually quite the opposite. The laptop weighs around 2.9 kg and it’s fairly thick 30 mm but you can definitely feel the solid construction in your hands. The aluminum on the exterior and interior feel pretty nice and the only plastic element is the bottom piece.

Even from afar, you can easily distinguish the ASUS heritage that the K756UQ carries – the lid uses an aluminum plate with a slightly glossy finish and the iconic concentric brushed surface. Pushing the middle results in slight bending and it’s fairly resistant to torsion. Sure, there’s a noticeable deformation but nothing too serious in our opinion and we can definitely let it slide considering the price tag of the machine. The hinge, on the other hand, feels extra nice – it holds the screen quite firmly and allows opening with just one hand, although the base lifts up just a little while doing so. On the contrary to the exterior, the bottom is made of that generic roughened plastic with just one small

The first thing we noticed when going around the sides is that the laptop utilizes all the space that the 17-inch form factor provides. There is plenty of I/O and it’s also well-distributed. On the left, you will find the RJ-45 port, a VGA output (for whoever uses that anymore), HDMI, USB 3.0, USB-C 3.1 (Gen 1) and a 3.5 mm audio jack. On the right, you will find the optical drive, the SD card reader and unfortunately not one but two USB 2.0 ports – we would have appreciated another USB-A 3.0 port.

The interior impresses with extra rigidity and pleasant soft feel thanks to the super smooth anodized aluminum surface. Trying to bend either of the interior areas doesn’t result in any deformation, which suggests of a solid base construction. Anyway, the keyboard feels just a little spongy but it’s fairly comfortable for typing on the go – a decent amount of key travel, clicky feedback, reasonable key spacing and has pretty much all the shortcuts you’d need. The only thing missing here is an LED backlight for more comfortable typing in the dark. And as for the clickpad – it provides a smooth gliding surface, light and clicky mouse buttons and responsive operations.

We have to admit – we are really impressed with the overall build quality of the chassis, the range of I/O it provides and the input devices but we still feel that it’s a little too much in terms of weight and thickness but that’s probably the main drawback of all 17-inchers in this price range anyway so it’s just the industry’s current standard… for now.

Display quality

The laptop uses a Full HD (1920×1080) TN display with model number N173HGE-E11 by CHI MEI – 17.3-inch diagonal. This means that the pixel density is 127 ppi while the pixel pitch is 0.1995 x 0.1995 mm.

Viewing angles are quite limited due to the TN technology of the screen.

We’ve recorded a peak maximum brightness of 279 cd/m2 in the center and 258 cd/m2 as average across the surface with 20% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature is colder than usual – 7700K and as we go along the grayscale, it becomes noticeably colder – 12000K (6500K is the optimal color temperature). Below you can see how these values change at 71% brightness (140 cd/m2).

The color deviation (dE2000) compared to the center of the screen is above 4.0 meaning that any color-sensitive work is out of the question. The contrast ratio is relatively good for a TN panel – 850:1 (630:1 after calibration).

Color reproduction

Quite surprisingly, the display covers 97% of the sRGB color space making it suitable for multimedia activities to some extent.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 17 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

We’ve recorded aggressive PWM for regulating screen brightness at 1 kHz except at 100% brightness. This means that users with sensitive eyes will feel the negative impact for sure.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

To be honest, we were expecting a bit better display given the alternatives on the market right now. Still, the display has its pros like wide sRGB coverage putting to shame some high-end IPS displays and has decent contrast ratio as well. However, the low maximum brightness, the lack of any stock color calibration, limited viewing angles and aggressive PWM don’t really make a strong case for the notebook as we whole.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for ASUS K756/X756 configurations with 17.3″ CHI MEI N173HGE-E11 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) TN screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The laptop has good sound quality with clear low, high and mid frequencies.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

ASUS X756UQ technical specifications table Also known as ASUS K756UQ

Upcoming

CPU

Intel Core i5-7200U 52

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5) 72

Display

17.3”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), TN

HDD/SSD

1TB, 5400 rpm

RAM

8GB DDR4, 2400 MHz

Dimensions

415 x 273 x 30 mm (16.34" x 10.75" x 1.18")

Weight

2.7 kg (6 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum (Aluminum lid, plastic base)

Ports and connectivity

Features

ASUS X756 configurations

ASUS X756

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

ASUS X756UQ

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Software

Battery

The laptop comes with a rather limited battery capacity – just 38Wh and given the size of the display, we didn’t expect any record-breaking battery runtimes from the very beginning. However, according to our battery tests, the laptop didn’t even reach the average battery life.

All tests were performed with the usual settings – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature switched on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Subpar web browsing performance – 250 minutes (4 hours and 10 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

The same goes for the video playback score – 263 minutes (4 hours and 23 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

This test got the most of the battery since it’s the most demanding one and surely, you won’t start a gaming session away from the power source but you can still squeeze 83 minutes (1 hour and 23 minutes) if needed.

CPU – Intel Core i5-7200U

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i5-7200u/

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS X756UQ Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	3.57
Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G Intel Core i5-7300HQ (4-cores, 2.5 - 3.5 GHz)	5.95	+66.67%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	5.78	+61.9%
Dell Inspiron 7773 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	7.53	+110.92%

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS X756UQ Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)		-
Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G Intel Core i5-7300HQ (4-cores, 2.5 - 3.5 GHz)	515	-
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	928	-
Dell Inspiron 7773 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	959	-

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS X756UQ Intel Core i5-7200U (2-cores, 2.5 - 3.1 GHz)	17.75
Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G Intel Core i5-7300HQ (4-cores, 2.5 - 3.5 GHz)	12.87	-27.49%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	11.01	-37.97%
Dell Inspiron 7773 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	9.95	-43.94%

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i5-7200U scored 6.413 million moves per second. In comparison, one of the most powerful chess computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

geforce-940m-3qtr The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX is a refreshed version of the older 940M mobile chip but paired with a faster GDDR5 memory and slightly higher clock speeds, which result in noticeably better performance compared to the standard 940M. However, some OEMs will still choose to use the cheaper DDR3 version of the GPU.

Announced back in the first quarter of 2016, the chip is almost identical to the standard 940M (Maxwell) but with clock speeds increased up to 1242 MHz and base 1122 MHz. Again, the memory uses a 64-bit bus and has 2GB of GDDR5 VRAM. It still supports the DirectX 12 API and Shader 5.0 feature along with the usual NVIDIA technologies – CUDA, GPU Boost 2.0, Optimus, GeForce Experience, PhysX. The whole GPU is rated at around 15 to 30 Watts depending on the clock speeds and memory used in the specific notebook.

You can browse our GPU ranking to see where the graphics chip stands: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

For more information about the GPU, follow this link: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/nvidia-geforce-940mx-2gb-gddr5/

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS X756UQ NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)		-
Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)	38345	-
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	15528	-
Dell Inspiron 7773 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	19708	-

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS X756UQ NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	2280
Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)	5959	+161.36%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	3566	+56.4%
Dell Inspiron 7773 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	3381	+48.29%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
ASUS X756UQ NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)	617
Acer Aspire 7 A717-71G NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (2GB GDDR5)	1794	+190.76%
Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G) NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	1081	+75.2%
Dell Inspiron 7773 NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)	979	+58.67%

Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GO	HD 768p, Low (Check settings)	HD 768p, Medium (Check settings)	HD 768p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	113 fps	82 fps	68 fps

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	HD, Low (Check settings)	HD, Medium (Check settings)	HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average FPS	80 fps	35 fps	21 fps

Temperatures

The stress tests don’t represent real-life working scenarios because, even the most demanding games don’t require 100% CPU and 100% GPU load at all times but they remain as the most reliable way to assess the overall stability and effectiveness of the cooling system.

We started off with 100% CPU load for about an hour. At first, the Core i5-7200U chip reached its maximum clock speeds but slowly declined to 2.8 GHz. This isn’t throttling by any means but usually, notebooks with this processor tend to keep the Turbo Boost clock speed for two cores (3.1 GHz) during the whole test.

After we turned on the GPU stress test, the CPU clocked down a little – 2.7 GHz while the GPU didn’t reach its base clock speeds at all which is rather interesting because the inner temperatures of both chips were relatively low as you can see from the screenshot below. In any case, temperatures on the surface remained pretty low.

Verdict

Although the mid-range 17-inch market segment isn’t the most interesting, there is one that stands out from the rest of them and unfortunately, the ASUS X756/K756 isn’t one of them. Sure, it has great build quality and decent input devices but the rest of the hardware isn’t all that impressive.

The small battery capacity cripples runtimes away from the plug, the system doesn’t utilize the full performance of the CPU and GPU and the screen is suboptimal at best. Since there are now laptops with the latest 8th Generation Intel processors and NVIDIA’s GeForce MX150 GPU, it’s really hard to recommend such outdated hardware. Moreover, the display’s only key selling point is the wide sRGB coverage which means nothing in practice when you have a TN panel with poor viewing angles, limited maximum brightness and PWM from 0 to 99% screen brightness.

So if you are not too invested in the 17-inch form factor, we suggest picking up a more sensible 15-inch solution like the ASUS VivoBook S15 for example or just go with the best possible 17-inch option for now – the Acer Aspire 5 (A517-71G) with Core i7-8250U CPU and GeForce MX150 GPU paired with an excellent IPS panel suitable for multimedia. And it costs less than the ASUS X756.

You can check prices and configurations here: Buy from Amazon.com

Pros

Good build quality
The display has almost full sRGB coverage
Decent input devices

Cons

Poor battery life
Not the most portable 17-inch solution
Fails to utilize the full performance of the CPU and GPU during heavy workloads
Dim TN display with low maximum brightness and poor viewing angles
Aggressive PWM from 0 to 99% brightness (our Health-Guard profile takes care of that)
No keyboard backlight

Thin, light and gaming-ready? Not an oxymoron anymore thanks to ASUS, Acer (for now) and, of course, NVIDIA by coming up with the so-called Max-Q design, which allows integrating a desktop-grade GPU inside… practically an ultrabook. Acer’s solution at this point is the so-called Predator Triton 700 – a powerful and premium gaming 15-inch laptop with plenty of unusual features that include a strangely positioned touchpad, mechanical RGB backlit keyboard, 120Hz G-Sync-enabled IPS display and it’s most notable feature – portability without sacrificing too much of the performance.

Acer claims that the Triton 700 handles the Core i7-7700HQ and the GTX 1080 Max-Q with ease thanks to the already known features of the cooling design – more than one place for cool air intake and a 3D blade fan design for maximum airflow. To complete the picture, Acer has included two upgradeable RAM slots each supporting up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory and not one but two M.2 PCIe NVMe-enabled SSD slots. This is definitely a nice surprise since ASUS’ ROG Zephyrus offers only one RAM slot for an upgrade and has only one M.2 slot as well. Okay, so what about the actual cooling capabilities of this thin beast and how does it stack against its direct competitor the ASUS ROG Zephyrus? Find out in the full review below.

You can check prices and configurations: Buy from Amazon.com

Retail package

The laptop comes in the usual big Predator box containing the user manuals, AC adapter and power cord. In addition, a small box contains a Predator-branded mouse that feels okay but definitely pretty cheap compared to what you are already using, especially if you can afford a notebook like this one.

Design and construction

In the design department, the Triton 700 excels in two key areas – portability and sturdiness. In terms of portability, the notebook is impressively light tipping the scale at 2.38 kg being just a little bit heavier than the ASUS ROG Zephyrus (2.25 kg) and measures just 18.9 mm in height, which again is a tad thicker than Zephyrus’ 17.9 mm. This 1 mm, however, won’t be noticed in practice but you can also feel the slightly tighter construction on Triton 700’s behalf and, of course, the inclusion of a full-sized DisplayPort and RJ-45 for LAN connectivity.

Anyway, the lid made of anodized aluminum sheet (read fingerprint magnet) that appears to be a bit too flexible and features Predator’s logo in the middle. On the other hand, considering the thickness of the lid, we are can look past over this as the Zephyrus isn’t exactly rock-solid as well. The lid also uses two small hinges on each side that provide smooth and linear travel without being too tight as it allows the laptop to be opened with just one hand. The absence of support in the middle, however, has resulted in flexible lower chin. Also, the bezels of the screen appear to be a bit thicker than they should, although this shouldn’t be a deal-breaker for most. The bottom piece consists of the same anodized aluminum surface with three big grills for cool air intake. Removing it gives access to all of the internals.

The sides, although thin enough to impress, offer plenty of I/O to work with – the left side comes along with two USB 3.0 connectors, two 3.5 mm audio jacks for external microphone and a pair of headphones and a neatly recessed USB 2.0 connector probably for your mouse dongle so it doesn’t get caught up in anything while pulling out of your back. There’s also a cap that covers it. On the right, you will see the RJ-45 for LAN connectivity (again, something that the Zephyrus was missing), another USB 3.0 and a USB-C 3.1 with Thunderbolt support. Right next to the latter, you will find the power button. You also can’t miss the exhaust grills on both sides of the machine and the visually appealing ones on the back. They are not alone, though, as you can find the DC charging port, full-sized HDMI 2.0 and a full-sized DisplayPort. This is actually a nice finishing touch on Acer’s behalf – really great port distribution and positioning.

And this brings us to the interior – again sports anodized aluminum surface, which not only feels great but it’s sturdy as hell. Similarly to the ASUS ROG Zephyrus, the Triton 700’s keyboard is moved all the way down to where the wrist rest area should be, leaving a big empty space above it. What’s different here is how Acer was able to utilize the empty space – with a big glass panel featuring Corning Gorilla Glass surface that lets you peek inside the LED-illuminated cooling fan and the rest of the cooling design. But the glass panel has another function as well – a touchpad. If you look closely, you will see some markings that indicate the border of the touchpad. We didn’t have any specific problems with the touchpad itself – it’s fairly responsive and the clicky mouse keys do miss sometimes but you get used to it. What we didn’t like is the awkward positioning – you have to reach out across the keyboard to work with it – and the glass surface isn’t very smooth when your fingers are moist. We do have to note, though, that the touchpad is designed for emergency on-the-go situations only and you will probably end up using your mouse 90% of the time anyway.

Anyway, next to the glass panel, Acer has placed another big grill for cool air intake. There are also two front loudspeakers positioned on both sides of the keyboard. Speaking of which, it features RGB LED backlit with per key customization and various effects through the well-known PredatorSense app. We really liked the RGB integration and the inclusion of a full-sized keyboard layout. The keys are reasonably-sized and provide fairly long (1.6 mm) travel with satisfying tactile and audible clicky feedback since it’s a mechanical keyboard. Acer hasn’t specified what kind of key switched the Triton 700 uses but by the looks of it, they are custom-made. The keycaps have a low profile and result in a slightly mushy feel but nothing that you can’t get used to. We found it to be good for typing and excellent for gaming. Still, your external mechanical keyboard will be a better fit for your gaming endeavors.

Aside from the awkwardly placed touchpad and slightly flexible lid, the Triton 700 proves that a gaming laptop can be rigid, thin, light, functional and stylish at the same time. A few cool finishing touches like the low-profile mechanical keyboard, the recessed USB 2.0 port, the positioning of the HDMI, DC charging port and the DisplayPort on the back suggest of an extra attention to details from Acer’s design team. They’ve done almost a perfect job here.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

On the contrary to the ASUS ROG Zephyrus, the Triton 700 offers easy access to the internals and plenty of upgrade options. Removing the screws on the bottom and the plate itself allows you to perform simple maintenance or upgrade.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

Although there isn’t a standard 2.5-inch HDD for your large library of games, the laptop still has two M.2 SSD slots both supporting the PCIe NVMe standard.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
M.2 SSD 2280 slot 1	Lite-On	Buy from Amazon.com
M.2 SSD 2280 slot 2	Lite-On	Buy from Amazon.com

RAM

Both memory slots are positioned below the heatpipes each supporting up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 RAM. Our testing unit had both occuppied with the maximum allowed memry – 32GB.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
Slot 1	16GB Kingston DDR4-2400	Buy from Amazon.com
Slot 2	16GB Kingston DDR4-2400	Buy from Amazon.com

Other components

The Wi-Fi adapter can be find next to one of the cooling fans and it’s Killer1535.

Quite expectedly, due to the limited space, the battery is just 53.9Wh and it’s not nearly enough to support the powerful hardware for a reasonable amount of time.

Cooling system

The cooling system features five massive copper heatpipes – two of them are shared by the CPU and GPU heatsinks while the rest are just for the separate heatsinks. The heatsinks also seem to be pretty solid and as we mentioned above, the cooling fans feature that thin 3D blade design also found in other high-end Predator laptops.

Display quality

Interestingly, the Acer Predator Triton 700 features the very same IPS panel found in the ASUS ROG Zephyrus – AU Optronics B156HAN04.2, so we already know what to expect from the display. It has Full HD (1920×1080) resolution with 142 ppi and 0.18 x 0.18 mm pixel pitch. It can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from at least 60 cm.

The peak brightness we’ve recorded is 332 cd/m2 in the center of the panel and 313 cd/m2 as average across the srurface with 14% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature is a bit cold – 7260K and stays pretty much the same as we go along the grayscale – 7160K. You can see how these values change at 52% brightness (140 cd/m2) in the image below.

The maximum color deviation dE2000 compared to the center of the screen should be no more than 4.0 if you are planning to do color-sensitive work. And in this case, since the laptop is going to be used mostly for multimedia and gaming, a deviation of 3.78 in the upper right corner is negligible. The contrast ratio is 1340:1 before calibration and 1240:1 after calibration.

Display quality

Viewing angles are excellent.

Color reproduction

The sRGB color gamut coverage in this case is 91% making it ideal for multimedia and gaming.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 27 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

No PWM was detected at any brightness level so it should be safe to use for long periods of time.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

We know what some of you may think but the fact that both laptops (the Triton 700 and ROG Zephyrus) share the same display is actually a good thing because the presented AUO IPS panel here is great for multimedia and gaming. It has wide sRGB coverage, excellent contrast, no PWM, relatively high maximum brightness and more importantly – 120 Hz refresh rate and G-Sync along with it. The last two features make up for a buttery-smooth gaming experience.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Acer Predator Triton 700 configurations with 15.6″ AUO B156HAN04.2 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The sound quality is really good with enough clairity in the low, mid and high frequencies.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Acer Predator Triton 700 technical specifications table

Upcoming

CPU

Intel Core i7-7700HQ 8

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8GB GDDR5X) 5

Display

15.6”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), 120 Hz, IPS

HDD/SSD

2x 512GB M.2 SSD PCIe NVMe (RAID 0)

M.2 Slot

2x 2280 PCIe NVMe SSD slots

RAM

32GB DDR4, 2400 MHz

Dimensions

393 x 266 x 18.9 mm (15.47" x 10.47" x 0.74")

Weight

2.39 kg (5.3 lbs)

Body material

Aluminum (All-aluminum chassis, plastic bezels)

Ports and connectivity

1x USB Type-A 2.0
3x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
1x USB Type-C 3.1 (3.1 Gen 2), Thunderbolt 3, DisplayPort, HDMI
HDMI 2.0
VGA
Displayport full
Card reader
Ethernet lan Killer E2500 Gigabit Ethernet
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.1
Audio jack 1x microphone, 1x headphones

Features

Fingerprint reader
Web camera 720p HD
Backlit keyboard
Microphone
Speakers
Optical drive
Security Lock slot
Dual AeroBlade metal fans
Corning Gorilla Glass Precision touchpad
Mechanical keyboard (1.6 mm key travel)
N-keys-Roll-Over

Acer Predator Triton 700 configurations

Acer Predator Triton 700

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Software

Battery

As expected, battery life is just shockingly bad. It even goes below what you’d normally expect from a high-performance gaming laptop. And as usual, the culprit of the poor battery life is the absence of NVIDIA Optimus feature and apparently, the 53.9Wh battery just isn’t enough to keep the GTX 1080 Max-Q GPU running for any longer than this.

Of course, all tests were run with the usual settings – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature switched on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Pretty low web browsing score – 84 minutes (1 hour and 24 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Surprisingly, the video playback score is higher but still pretty low – 143 minutes (2 hours and 23 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

This test got the most of the battery since it’s the most demanding one and surely, you won’t start a gaming session away from the power source but you can still barely half an hour (27 minutes to be exact) if needed.

CPU – Intel Core i7-7700HQ

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i7-7700hq/

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i7-7700HQ scored 13.711 million moves per second. In comparison, one of the most powerful chess computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Predator Triton 700 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.17
ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501VI Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.13	-0.49%
HP Omen 17 (2017) Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.12	-0.61%
Acer Predator 17 X (GX-792) Intel Core i7-7820HK (4-cores, 2.9 - 3.9 GHz)	8.39	+2.69%
Alienware 17 R4 Intel Core i7-6820HK (@ 4 GHz) (4-cores, 2.7 - 4.0 GHz)	7.32	-10.4%
Lenovo Legion Y920 Intel Core i7-7820HK (4-cores, 2.9 - 3.9 GHz)	8.91	+9.06%

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Predator Triton 700 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)		-
ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501VI Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	854	-
HP Omen 17 (2017) Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	891	-
Acer Predator 17 X (GX-792) Intel Core i7-7820HK (4-cores, 2.9 - 3.9 GHz)	893	-
Alienware 17 R4 Intel Core i7-6820HK (@ 4 GHz) (4-cores, 2.7 - 4.0 GHz)	799	-
Lenovo Legion Y920 Intel Core i7-7820HK (4-cores, 2.9 - 3.9 GHz)	912	-

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Predator Triton 700 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	10.70
ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501VI Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	10.65	-0.47%
HP Omen 17 (2017) Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	10.75	+0.47%
Acer Predator 17 X (GX-792) Intel Core i7-7820HK (4-cores, 2.9 - 3.9 GHz)	9.05	-15.42%
Alienware 17 R4 Intel Core i7-6820HK (@ 4 GHz) (4-cores, 2.7 - 4.0 GHz)	10.11	-5.51%
Lenovo Legion Y920 Intel Core i7-7820HK (4-cores, 2.9 - 3.9 GHz)	9.21	-13.93%

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8GB GDDR5X)

The GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q is a mobile graphics card based on the same Pascal architecture as the regular GTX 1080 using the 16nm FinFET process but with a few notable differences mainly in the clock speeds and drivers. The Max-Q design is aimed at thin and light gaming laptops sacrificing around 10 or 15% of the overall performance of the notebook-based GTX 1080 while keeping energy consumption, thermals and noise levels as low as possible. This is mainly due to the lowered base and Boost clock speeds. The base frequency of the GTX 1080 Max-Q is set to 1101 – 1290 MHz while the Boost clocks are set between 1278 and 1458 MHz. The regular GTX 1080 runs at 1566 – 1733 MHz.

As far as drivers are concerned, they are designed to prioritize efficiency and minimal noise levels. The voltage converters kick in to ensure the GPU works at 1V and keep the fan noise up to 40 dB while constantly adjusting clock speeds.

Rather than that, the GTX 1080 Max-Q sports the same memory configuration of 8GB of GDDR5X VRAM clocked at 10000 MHz using 256-bit bus and supports the same technologies – Multi-Projection, VR Ready, G-Sync, Vulkan, Multi Monitor. The whole GPU is rated at 90 to 110W including the memory controller, which is a notable decrease from the 165W TDP of the regular GTX 1080.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this GPU: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-max-q-8gb-gddr5x/

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Predator Triton 700 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8GB GDDR5X)		-
ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501VI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8GB GDDR5X)	112670	-
HP Omen 17 (2017) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB GDDR5)	76987	-
Acer Predator 17 X (GX-792) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB GDDR5X)	110078	-
Alienware 17 R4 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB GDDR5X)	113227	-
Lenovo Legion Y920 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB GDDR5)	71473	-

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Predator Triton 700 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8GB GDDR5X)	19010
ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501VI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8GB GDDR5X)	17231	-9.36%
HP Omen 17 (2017) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB GDDR5)	15553	-18.19%
Acer Predator 17 X (GX-792) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB GDDR5X)	20475	+7.71%
Alienware 17 R4 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB GDDR5X)	22409	+17.88%
Lenovo Legion Y920 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB GDDR5)	17208	-9.48%

Results are from the 3DMark (Sky Diver) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Predator Triton 700 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8GB GDDR5X)		-
ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501VI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8GB GDDR5X)		-
HP Omen 17 (2017) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB GDDR5)	48197	-
Acer Predator 17 X (GX-792) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB GDDR5X)	61057	-
Alienware 17 R4 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB GDDR5X)	66014	-
Lenovo Legion Y920 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB GDDR5)		-

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Predator Triton 700 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8GB GDDR5X)	5230
ASUS ROG Zephyrus GX501VI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q (8GB GDDR5X)	5037	-3.69%
HP Omen 17 (2017) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB GDDR5)	4770	-8.8%
Acer Predator 17 X (GX-792) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB GDDR5X)	5319	+1.7%
Alienware 17 R4 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB GDDR5X)	5104	-2.41%
Lenovo Legion Y920 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB GDDR5)	4194	-19.81%

Gaming tests

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	128 fps	80 fps	59 fps

Far Cry Primal	Full HD, High (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	91 fps	88 fps	84 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	137 fps	83 fps	57 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands	Full HD, High (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, Ultra (Check settings)
Average FPS	101 fps	94 fps	54 fps

Overclocking

Interestingly enough, the notebook allows some small overclocking capabilities of the GPU only. Using the PredatorSense app, you can ramp up not only the cooling fan’s RPM, but the GPU’s frequency. There are three modes – Normal, Faster and Turbo with the last two clocking the GPU at 1543 MHz (memory @1301 MHz) and 1618 MHz (memory @1351 MHz), respectively. We’ve provided screenshots from the GPU-Z app below so you can compare them to the stock speeds.

And it appears that the overclocking gives just a few more frames compared to the stock 1080 Max-Q clocks on the ASUS ROG Zephyrus, although the synthetic benchmark tests suggest otherwise.

Temperatures

Of course, the two-stage stress test that we run on the notebooks we review doesn’t represent real-life usage because normally the general user won’t be able to put full load on the CPU and GPU at the same time even during gaming. Still, this is the best way to assess the overall stability of the cooling system in the long run.

First, we turned on the CPU stress test for about an hour. The system was able to utilize the full performance of the Core i7-7700HQ – stable 3.4 GHz clocks while temperatures were at reasonable state for the duration. The ASUS Zephyrus performed similarly.

Turning on the GPU stress test raised the CPU temperatures (around 95 degrees) and lowered the frequency down to 3.2-3.3 GHz. The GPU, on the other hand, reached a maximum of 77 degrees Celsius and was running at stable 1350-1360 MHz – again we got similar cooling performance from the Zephyrus. These results are generally fine and can even be called “good” considering the nature of the machine and its portability.

Temperatures on the surface were pretty high going above 50 degrees but due to the design of the machine, the higher temperatures won’t affect the user experience as much. The keyboard area remains pretty cool. We do have one small concern, though. Due to the positioning of the touchpad and the whole glass surface, during load and gaming the heat renders the touchpad unusable – it’s pretty hot. However, we doubt someone will start a gaming session without an external mouse anyway. We also think that if the left side featured another grill for cool air intake like on the right, the surface would become much cooler and will definitely aid the overall cooling capabilities.

Verdict

So is the Acer Predator Triton 700 worth your hard-earned money? Well, if you are in a desperate need of a ridiculously powerful and portable gaming laptop, you’ve got only two mainstream choices – this fellow or the ASUS ROG Zephyrus. But which one is better?

There’s never a definitive answer to this question because there are plenty of subjective factors like design, ergonomics, etc. However, based on the stats that can be measured, the clear winner in our books is the Predator Triton 700 due to more practical reasons. First of all, despite the added weight and thickness – although barely noticeable compared to the Zephyrus – the Triton 700 has more I/O and better placement/distribution. But more importantly, the Predator 700 sports pretty good low-profile mechanical keyboard and offers better access to the internals. You’ve got two M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD slots and two RAM chip slots while the Zephyrus lacks one of each. Also, you need to decide for yourself which touchpad placement suits you better – the glass touchpad above the keyboard on the Triton 700 or the small trackpad crammed up next to the keyboard on the Zephyrus.

Anything other than that, feels pretty much the same. The overclocking feature on the Triton 700 might come in handy in some situations but it doesn’t give any noticeable advantage over other GTX 1080 Max-Q-powered machines in real-world performance while the cooling systems perform similarly and we doubt you will have any issues with the cooling performance of both models. Moreover, they sport the same crisp 120 Hz G-Sync-enabled IPS panel with great multimedia properties and no PWM.

In any case, prepare to pay a little bit more for the extra features. The Predator 700 sells for around $3 000 at the time of writing this review while the ASUS ROG Zephyrus’ asking price is around $2 500 – 2 700. This positions both machines in a category of their own as laptops with GTX 1070 are considerably less expensive while GTX 1080 are huge 17-inchers charging a price premium. And if you are not really that into “portability”, you might be better off with a GTX 1070-powered laptop with a good cooling solution. Just a little overclocking will easily match the GTX 1080 Max-Q’s performance.

You can check prices and configurations: Buy from Amazon.com

Pros

Sturdy all-aluminum chassis
Ultra-portable for a 15-inch gaming laptop
Low-profile mechanical per key RGB keyboard
Good cooling solution given the nature of the laptop
2x M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD slots supporting RAID 0
Excellent IPS display with 120 Hz refresh rate and G-Sync support
The panel doesn’t use PWM for regulating screen brightness
Plenty of I/O with good placement/distribution

Cons

Exceptionally short battery life
Pricey
Awkward placement of the touchpad

A convertible, a gaming laptop and a multimedia laptop all at once? The new Acer Nitro 5 Spin aims to deliver it all in an all-aluminum thin chassis, 360-degree rotatable hinge, touchscreen and powerful hardware. Such devices were scarce in the previous years but now, thanks to Intel’s latest generation (Kaby Lake Refresh) ultra-low voltage CPUs and NVIDIA’s Pascal GPUs, gaming laptops can be portable and powerful at the same time.

The Nitro 5 Spin takes advantage of what Intel and NVIDIA have to offer while asking a reasonable sum of money in return. The device sports Intel’s Core i5-8250U paired with GTX 1050, a flashy Full HD IPS touchscreen, all-aluminum body and the usual storage configuration – M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD + 1TB HDD. This should be more than enough to drive most of the latest games at reasonable graphics settings without crippling battery life along the way. The drawbacks? While this setup doesn’t seem to have apparent issues, the limited spaces has forced Acer to give up the RAM upgradability so you have to decide for yourself whether or not 8GB of DDR4-2400 as a standard will be enough in the long run.

Acer Nitro 5 Spin

$1459^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Acer Nitro 5 Spin

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Retail package

The box contains all the usual user manuals, AC adapter, power cord and, of course, the laptop itself. There’s also a neat active stylus pen from Acer so you can fully take advantage of the large 15.6-inch touchscreen and flexible hinges.

Design and construction

Using an all-aluminum design has its benefits like premium look, feel and added overall rigidity but there are a few expected drawbacks with this model that you need to consider. First off, the black brushed aluminum surface is a huge fingerprint magnet. Secondly, all the metal adds up a little bit of weight on the scale – weighing at around 2.2 kg, the Nitro 5 Spin might feel a bit hefty when used in tablet mode. However, a thickness of just 18 mm is definitely admirable, especially for a laptop packing a full-fledged GTX 1050 inside.

Let’s start with the lid – it’s made of brushed aluminum feeling quite rigid, attracting fingerprints. The black Acer logo in the middle, though, gives it a more simplistic and sophisticated look. Pressing the plate results in slight deformation and the same applies when trying to twist the whole screen. Opening the lid, however, is a bit of a challenge – the contrasting red hinges are so overly-tightened that the absence of notch or a small indentation on the base obstructs lifting the screen even when using two hands. That’s a small design flaw that you have to go around somehow but you will definitely appreciate the reduced wobble when using the touchscreen in laptop mode. And as for the bottom, it uses an anodized aluminum plate that makes a sharp protruding edge with the sides – it’s not something you should be obsessing about but it’s worth noting.

The sides look pretty cool with the red machined edges without being too flashy, in our opinion. A convenient port distribution is at hand – on the left you will find most connectors – DC charging port, full-sized HDMI, USB-C 3.1 (Gen 1, unfortunately) and two more USB-A 3.0 ports. The right side holds one USB 2.0, SD card reader and the 3.5 mm audio jack along with the volume rocker and power on button. In addition, the volume rocker has a small dot that you can feel so you will know if you are going to increase or decrease the volume and as for the power button – it fits with the red color scheme that the Nitro 5 Spin uses. That’s what we call good attention to details.

Aluminum continues to be the material of choice for the interior although, it’s anodized this time. This means that fingerprints are slightly less visible but still there. It feels pretty solid with no weak bending areas. Even if strong pressure is applied, the whole surface remains still. There are also a few silicone feet positioned around the corners lifting up the base when in presentation mode. They keep the interior from scratching and eliminate the risk of pushing a button on the keyboard. Speaking of which, it takes a more gaming-centric aesthetics thanks to the highlighted WASD keys and the red LED illumination. The latter might not appeal to the non-gaming consumers although, the overall feel of the keyboard will win over many users. It has decent key travel – still not the longest one we’ve seen, of course – and excellent tactile, clicky feedback. Our opinion translates over to the clickpad as well – big working space, smooth gliding surface, light mouse clicks and responsive operation. There’s also a fingerprint reader in the upper left corner if you are looking for such feature.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

Accessing the internals isn’t much of a hassle and you can easily open it of maintenance or upgrade. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of upgrade options to explore there. Anyway, removing all the screws on the bottom will give you access to all of the internals.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

Since the chassis is rather thin and small in comparison to most 15-inch models out there, we were expecting a support only for an M.2 SSD. However, we found a 2.5-inch drive bay with a WD Blue 1TB HDD and we didn’t expect the PCIe NVMe-enabled slot to be filled with a standard M.2 SATA SSD. So be careful when choosing your configuration and make sure you get the one with a PCIe NVMe drive.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
M.2 SSD 2280 slot 1	256GB Micron M.2 SATA SSD	Buy from Amazon.com
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	1TB WD Blue HDD	Buy from Amazon.com

RAM

And here’s the biggest trade-off with the slim chassis – the notebook doesn’t offer upgradable memory so you have to settle for the only option of 8GB of soldered DDR4-2400 RAM. It will be, in most cases, enough for the mainstream users doing general web browsing, office work, multimedia and even gaming.

Other components

The Wi-Fi adapter can be found next to one of the cooling fans and it’s Qualcomm Atheros QCNFA344A.

The battery capacity is slightly above average for this class and it’s rated at 50.7Wh.

Cooling system

Even though the cooling design doesn’t look promising (both cooling fans stuck together with shared heatpipes isn’t the most optimal solution), the laptop passed our stress tests probably due to the rather undemanding hardware, which can be easily cooled.

Display quality

The notebook features a Full HD (1920×1080) IPS touchscreen using an Innolux N156HCA-EA1 panel. This means that the pixel density is 142 ppi while the pixel pitch is 0.18 x 0.18 mm. It can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from at least 60 cm.

Viewing angles are excellent.

We’ve recorded a peak brightness of 327 cd/m2 in the center of the screen and 319 cd/m2 as average across the surface with just 8% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature at maximum brightness is almost optimal – 6440K and stays pretty much the same when going along the grayscale – 6450K. You can see how these values change at 142 cd/m2 (33% brightness) in the image below.

The maximum color deviation dE2000 compared to the center of the screen should be no more than 4.0 if you are planning to do color-sensitive work. And in this case, since the laptop is going to be used mostly for multimedia and gaming, a deviation of 3.2 in the upper right corner is negligible. The contrast ratio is 1300:1 before calibration and 1100:1 after calibration.

Display quality

Viewing angles are excellent.

Color reproduction

The display covers 91% of the sRGB color gamut, which is enough for a pleasant multimedia and gaming experience.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 29 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

We’ve recorded high-frequency PWM only below 90 cd/m2 so unless you are working in a pitch-black room, it should be suitable for long working/gaming sessions.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

The presented IPS display is pretty good and will satisfy almost all of your needs when it comes to multimedia consumption, gaming and working. The high contrast, high maximum brightness and wide sRGB coverage are the main key selling points here. The absence of PWM above 90 cd/m2 is a big plus to consider, especially if you are sensitive to screen pulsations.

Buy our display profiles

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The sound quality is really good with enough clarity in the low, mid and high frequencies.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Acer Nitro 5 Spin technical specifications table

$1459^.99

Buy

from Amazon

CPU

Intel Core i5-8250U 38

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5) 23

Display

15.6”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

256GB SSD + 1TB HDD, 5400 rpm

M.2 Slot

1x 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe See photo

RAM

8GB DDR4

Weight

2.20 kg (4.9 lbs)

Body material

Aluminum (All-aluminum chassis)

Ports and connectivity

2x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
1x USB Type-C 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
1x USB Type-A 2.0
HDMI
VGA
Card reader SD, SDHC, SDXC
Ethernet lan
Wi-Fi 802.11ac, omni-directional ExoAmp Antenna (MU-MIMO)
Audio jack 3.5 mm jack

Features

Fingerprint reader
Web camera
Backlit keyboard
Microphone
Speakers 2x stereo speakers + subwoofer
Optical drive
Security Lock slot

Acer Nitro 5 Spin configurations

Acer Nitro 5 Spin

$1459^.99

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Acer Nitro 5 Spin

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Software

We used the pre-installed Windows 10 for the writing of this review but if you wish to perform a clean install of the OS, we suggest downloading all of the latest drivers from Acer’s official support page.

Battery

Packing a decent 50.7Wh battery, the laptop impresses with super long battery runtimes mainly thanks to the efficient Core i5-8250U processor. Still, we expected considerably lower results due to the large 15.6-inch IPS screen but we were proved wrong. In fact, the results are one of the best we’ve gotten on a 15-inch laptop.

Of course, all tests were run using the same settings as always – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature switched on.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Exceptionally good web browsing score – 712 minutes (11 hours and 52 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Considerably lower than the web browsing result but still way above the average – 456 minutes (7 hours and 36 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

This test got the most of the battery since it’s the most demanding one and surely, you won’t start a gaming session away from the power source but you can still squeeze almost three hours (2 hours and 55 minutes to be exact) if needed.

CPU – Intel Core i5-8250U

The Core i5-8250U is one of the first (along with the Core i7-8550U from the same generation) ULV (ultra-low voltage) processors from Intel to feature not two but four cores. It’s part of the 8th Generation (Kaby Lake Refresh) and on contrary to the previous generations, the Turbo Boost range is pretty wide now.

The base frequency is 1.6 GHz and can go up to 3.4 GHz for a short period of time before stabilizing somewhere in between during continues loads. This also means that the single-core performance is really good. The rest of the features and specs, however, remain mostly the same with support for dual-channel DDR4-2400/LPDDR3-2133 memory, 14nm FinFET manufacturing process and the same integrated graphics chip, although re-branded now as Intel UHD Graphics 620.

The whole SoC along with the dual-channel memory is rated at 15W TDP but depending on the usage scenario, cooling capabilities and the configured TDP from the OEM, the TDP can vary from 7.5W up to 25W.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i5-8250u/

Fritz

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Nitro 5 Spin Intel Core i5-8250U (4-cores, 1.60 - 3.40 GHz)	5.96
ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	8.18	+37.25%
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	7.45	+25%

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Nitro 5 Spin Intel Core i5-8250U (4-cores, 1.60 - 3.40 GHz)		-
ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	910	-
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	910	-

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Nitro 5 Spin Intel Core i5-8250U (4-cores, 1.60 - 3.40 GHz)	10.75
ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580 Intel Core i7-7700HQ (4-cores, 2.8 - 3.8 GHz)	9.81	-8.74%
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel Core i7-8550U (4-cores, 1.80 - 3.7? GHz)	10.01	-6.88%

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)

However, along with all the power consumption and performance improvements, the GPU now supports essential features like DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, HDR, improved H.265 encoding, and decoding.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this GPU: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-4gb-gddr5/

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Nitro 5 Spin NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)		-
ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)	37928	-
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel UHD Graphics 620	7975	-

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Nitro 5 Spin NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)	5903
ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)	6173	+4.57%
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel UHD Graphics 620	1056	-82.11%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Laptop	Results	Result difference
Acer Nitro 5 Spin NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)	1617
ASUS VivoBook Pro 15 N580 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)	1804	+11.56%
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 Intel UHD Graphics 620	305	-81.14%

Gaming tests

Far Cry Primal	Full HD, High (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	42 fps	38 fps	31 fps

rise-of-the-tomb-raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider (2016)	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)	Full HD, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	50 fps	42 fps	19 fps

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands	Full HD, Medium (Check settings)	Full HD, High (Check settings)	Full HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average FPS	30 fps	28 fps	25 fps

Temperatures

The stress tests that we perform don’t represent real-life usage because even the most demanding games don’t require 100% CPU and GPU but we still think this is the best way to assess the overall stability and effectiveness of the cooling system in the long run.

We started with 100% CPU torture test for about an hour. At first, the Core i5-8250U utilized its full clock speeds at around 3.4 GHz before settling down at stable 2.3 GHz. This suggests of good CPU utilization.

Shortly after we turned on the GPU stress test, both the CPU and GPU throttled quite a bit – the processor stayed way below the base frequency while the GPU was running about 200 MHz below it minimum frequency at 75 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures on the surface seemed a bit higher than usual but that’s due to the thin body and relatively powerful internals. The only “hot” spot was right above the keyboard but it shouldn’t be uncomfortable during gameplay.

44.2°

48.9°

32.1°

39.4°

43.1°

31.3°

33.9°

31.9°

30.3°

Verdict

A notebook suitable for everything? Is the Nitro 5 Spin the holy grail for the mainstream user? In some cases, yes. Thanks to its versatility, decent price, good performance and sturdy build, this laptop can easily win over plenty of users that need a stable daily driver with a touchscreen and enough horsepower to run the latest games at low to medium settings.

Thanks to Intel’s latest 8th Generation processors and NVIDIA’s budget gaming GTX 1050 GPU on board, the Nitro 5 is capable of achieving decent frame rates in most games while running for quite some time away from the plug. In fact, the battery life on this thing is nothing short of amazing. A big plus is the IPS panel that offers excellent multimedia experience thanks to its wide sRGB coverage, high contrast and high maximum brightness. It also lacks PWM below 90 cd/m2 so it’s suitable for long gaming/working sessions.

Speaking of work, the Nitro 5 Spin is a capable business companion as well. The keyboard is pretty solid for typing and the big touchpad provides precise and comfortable operations. A fingerprint is included as an additional security feature. Moreover, the chassis fits the standard storage options – an M.2 SSD for speedy load times and a 2.5-inch HDD for all of your movies, games, documents and music.

With all being said, we still have two complaints – one small and one potentially a deal-breaker for some users. Firstly, the lack of indentation on the front lip of the base and overly tightened hinges make it hard to open. Secondly, the lack of upgradeable RAM will keep power users steer away from the Nitro 5. Also, Acer doesn’t seem to offer variants with more than 8GB of DDR4-2400 RAM. This should still be enough for general web browsing, multimedia and even gaming but if you tend to keep plenty of Chrome tabs opened while working with Photoshop, you might easily run out of memory.

In any case, the Nitro 5 Spin should be on the top of your list when looking for a balanced convertible capable of more than one thing. And even if you are not looking for a 15-inch convertible, the rest of the features will surely change your mind.

Acer Nitro 5 Spin

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Acer Nitro 5 Spin

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Pros

Slim and portable 15-inch convertible
All-aluminum chassis with good build quality
Good input devices
Excellent IPS display
The screen doesn’t use PWM above 90 cd/m2 brightness
Well-balanced hardware suitable not only for office work but for multimedia and gaming as well
Super long battery life

Cons

Non-upgradeable RAM and only 8GB option
Overly-tightened hinges
The CPU and GPU throttle during extreme workloads

We can say without a doubt that the Lenovo IdeaPad 120S model doesn’t include powerful hardware and high-quality components. However, we can say that it is aimed at users that will use the machine for the most common daily tasks which don’t cause huge load.

The model we used for our review is IdeaPad 120S and is characterized by a good 11.6″ display with an IPS panel, a low-end budget CPU which handles well our daily office work, a battery that guarantees above 5 hours of autonomous work and all of this combined in a plastic chassis with good built and appearance.

You can check prices and configurations here: Buy from Amazon.com

Retail package

The package offers an AC adapter, model ADLX65CLGE2A providing 20V voltage and 3.25A current. In the package, we also found the usual user manuals and the laptop itself.

Design and construction

Ideapad 120s features a refined chassis with simple, clean lines giving it a modern rendition of classic style. The body surface is smooth and nice to touch, comes in mineral gray, doesn’t attract fingerprints. The bottom of the laptop is a plastic panel held by ten metal screws and allow quick access to the hardware components. The body is made firm and stable. The IdeaPad 120S is at the same time light and compact, extremely comfortable to carry around and hold with one hand. Its weight is just 1.23 kg, while the thickness is 21.5 mm. The feel during usage is that despite its budget character, the notebook features good design and built.

The laptop has an 11.6″ display with an IPS panel that features 1366 x 768 (HD Ready) resolution and offers very good viewing angles. Additionally, the display can be opened at 180 degrees. As we mentioned above, the notebook is made of firm plastic, however, when it is opened and closed you can notice certain twisting. When closed, the upper lid adheres tightly and firmly to the body. The Lenovo logo is engraved on the display lid.

Unlike other models of this brand, the hinges are made tight and consistent. This doesn’t change even in mild shocks. When closed, the lid adheres tightly to the corpus. On the bottom lid, on the left and on the right, you can see the loudspeaker grills.

The keyboard is of the Island Style type. Overall, it is well constructed, the buttons are comfortable and nice to touch. In addition, the touchpad is huge and comfortable for work. The touchpad buttons have responsive and consistent key travel. What’s more, the notebook features an HD camera.

On the right, you will notice 1 x USB 3.0 port, micro SD card slot, audio jack, as well as a button that quickly restores the system from a backup. On the left, there are 1 x USB 3.0 Type-C port, 1 x USB 3.0 port, HDMI port, power adapter jack, as well as two light indicators to see when the laptop is turned on and for work with a plugged in power adapter.

Cooling system

The laptop features passive cooling design (fanless) which is realized through a copper cooling plate. The cooling system is well designed and manages to handle its task even during continuous load with synthetic tests.

Storage upgrades

The options here will come as no surprise – an M.2 SATA 2280 slot + a 2.5-inch SSD/HDD slot. However, our sample came with only one standard 2.5-inch SATA HDD, while the M.2 SATA 2280 slot was free for upgrade.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	500GB WDC WD5000LPCX-24VHATO	Buy from Amazon.com
M.2 SATA 2280 slot 1	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

Display quality

The Lenovo ideapad 120S (11”) display features a WXG panel with an IPS panel, model INNOLUX N116BCA-EA1. Its diagonal is 11.6-inch, while the resolution – 1366 х 768 pixels. The aspect ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 135 ppi, while the pixel pitch – 0.188 х 0.188 mm. In addition, the display can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from at least 64 cm.

Lenovo ideapad 120S (11”) has comfortable viewing angles. We offer you photos to evaluate the image quality.

We’ve recorded a peak brightness of 246 cd/m² in the center of the screen and 234 cd/m² as average across the surface with 10% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature at maximum brightness is slightly warmer than the optimal – 6200 K which is not bad at all, while going along the grayscale we have recorded 6110K. You can see how these values change at 140 cd/m2 (55% brightness) in the image below.

The maximum color deviation dE2000 compared to the center of the screen should be no more than 4.0 if you are planning to do color-sensitive work.

The contrast ratio is good – 1340:1 before calibration and 1230:1 after calibration.

Color reproduction

The display covers 59% of the sRGB color gamut.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 27 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

The Lenovo ideapad 120S (11”) uses PWM only up to 70 cd/m2 at high frequencies making it comfortable for continuous work in this aspect.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

The Lenovo ideapad 120S (11”) display features an IPS panel, comfortable viewing angles and good contrast. It has relatively modest color range and resolution.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Lenovo IdeaPad 120S (11″) configurations with 11.6″ INNOLUX N116BCA-EA1 (1366 х 768) WXGA IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The Lenovo Ideapad 120S (11”) features high-quality stereo sound. The low, middle and high frequencies are clear with almost no sound distortions.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Lenovo IdeaPad 120S (11") technical specifications table

Old price $168^.00

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Buy

from Amazon

CPU

Intel Celeron N3350 182

GPU

Intel HD Graphics 500 (Apollo Lake) 213

Display

11.6”, HD (1366 x 768), TN

HDD/SSD

32GB eMMC

RAM

2GB DDR3L, 1600 MHz

Dimensions

288 x 201 x 20.9 mm (11.34" x 7.91" x 0.82")

Weight

1.27 kg (2.8 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate

Ports and connectivity

2x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
1x USB Type-C 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
HDMI 1.4b
VGA
Card reader microSD
Ethernet lan
Wi-Fi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.0
Audio jack combo audio / microphone jack

Features

Lenovo Ideapad 120S (11”) configurations

Lenovo IdeaPad 120S (11")

$165^.01

More Info Buy from Amazon

Software

We used the pre-installed Windows 10 for the writing of this review but if you wish to perform a clean install of the OS, we suggest downloading all of the latest drivers from Lenovo’s official support page.

Battery

The Lenovo Ideapad 120S (11”) comes with 2-cell battery with capacity of 3735 mAh Li-ion. The work duration in autonomous mode is relatively good. We run all tests in Power Saver mode and screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

A good result – 380 minutes (6 hours and 20 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

During video playback the laptop battery showed relatively good results – 280 minutes (4 hours and 40 minutes).

Gaming

We use F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

The laptop showed average results for gaming load, although this model is not made for this – 230 minutes (3 hours and 50 minutes).

CPU – Intel Celeron N3350

Intel Celeron N3350 is a four core, low-voltage processor, announced in Q1 2016. It is designed for motherboard integration and is Intel’s budget line of “Apollo Lake” chips. Its base frequency is 1.1 GHz. Like other Celerons, N3350 does not sport TurboBoost or HyperThreading functionality. Unlike most of its kind, however, it has a functionality very similar to TurboBoost, called Burst Frequency, which can simultaneously increase the clock speed of all four cores to 2.40GHz.

The Intel Celeron N3350 has been developed using a 14nm process, allowing for the integration of the Intel HD Graphics 500 (Apollo Lake) controller. It operates at a base frequency of 200 MHz and its maximum dynamic frequency goes up to 650MHz. The power consumption of the whole system on a chip is 6 watts, with a maximum operating temperature of 105 °C. Intel Celeron N3350 supports PCI Express 2.0 and up to 8GB of DDR3L-1600 memory.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-celeron-n3350/

Intel Celeron N3350

Lenovo IdeaPad 120S (11")

$165.01

price

performance

Intel Pentium N4200

Acer Swift 1 (SF113-31)

149+4.4%

Intel Pentium 4405U

Lenovo Ideapad 110

$290.99+76%

Intel Atom Z3775

Prestigio SmartBook 141A

Results are from the Cinebench 15 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Celeron N3350

Lenovo IdeaPad 120S (11")

$165.01

price

2241

performance

Intel Pentium N4200

Acer Swift 1 (SF113-31)

309-3.4%

Intel Pentium 4405U

Lenovo Ideapad 110

$290.99+76%

Intel Atom Z3775

Prestigio SmartBook 141A

2650+0.8%

Results are from the Fritz chess benchmark (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Celeron N3350

Lenovo IdeaPad 120S (11")

$165.01

price

116

performance

Intel Pentium N4200

Acer Swift 1 (SF113-31)

34-51.6%

Intel Pentium 4405U

Lenovo Ideapad 110

$290.99+76%

Intel Atom Z3775

Prestigio SmartBook 141A

81-22.1%

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)

GPU – Intel HD Graphics 505

Intel’s HD Graphics 505 is found in the low-end Apollo Lake chips and it’s based on the company’s Gen9 architecture, which is also found in Skylake and Kaby Lake processors. The GPU offers 18 EUs (Execution Units) clocked at up to 750 MHz, although the base frequency is 300 MHz. Since the GPU doesn’t rely on dedicated memory, it uses the available one installed on the system using a dual-channel 64-bit controller – DDR3L/LPDDR3-1866/LPDDR4-2400. Other notable features include the support for DirectX 12 API.

The low power consumption (6W TDP) of the whole SoC, for example, the Pentium N4200, makes it a good fit for low-end systems with thin and light design. The TDP can be altered and reduced to 4W, which will also affect performance.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this GPU: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/intel-hd-graphics-505-apollo-lake/

Intel HD Graphics 500 (Apollo Lake)

Lenovo IdeaPad 120S (11")

$165.01

price

346

performance

Intel HD Graphics 505 (Apollo Lake)

Acer Swift 1 (SF113-31)

Intel HD Graphics 510

Lenovo Ideapad 110

$290.99+76%

Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail)

Prestigio SmartBook 141A

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Intel HD Graphics 500 (Apollo Lake)

Lenovo IdeaPad 120S (11")

$165.01

price

105

performance

Intel HD Graphics 505 (Apollo Lake)

Acer Swift 1 (SF113-31)

Intel HD Graphics 510

Lenovo Ideapad 110

$290.99+76%

Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail)

Prestigio SmartBook 141A

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Intel HD Graphics 500 (Apollo Lake)

Lenovo IdeaPad 120S (11")

$165.01

price

performance

Intel HD Graphics 505 (Apollo Lake)

Acer Swift 1 (SF113-31)

Intel HD Graphics 510

Lenovo Ideapad 110

$290.99+76%

Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail)

Prestigio SmartBook 141A

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Intel HD Graphics 500 (Apollo Lake)

Lenovo IdeaPad 120S (11")

$165.01

price

performance

Intel HD Graphics 505 (Apollo Lake)

Acer Swift 1 (SF113-31)

Intel HD Graphics 510

Lenovo Ideapad 110

$290.99+76%

Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail)

Prestigio SmartBook 141A

Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Temperatures

In order to check the efficiency of the passive cooling we run a standard stress test of the CPU, GPU and the memory to see how the cooling solution handles tough system load and evaluate its overall stability in the long run. We have to keep in mind, however, that the laptop will rarely work continuously in such a mode. During the entire test, the CPU kept its maximum working frequency of 2.4 GHz for both cores. During the entire test, the CPU temperature didn’t exceed 40 degrees Celsius and throttling didn’t occur.

We also measured the temperatures in different areas on the surface of the corpus. As you can see from the image below, there is nothing to worry about. The temperature range is distributed evenly along the entire surface of the interior, there are no zones with an abrupt temperature difference in the values. We can say that the cooling system does a very good job.

Verdict

In conclusion, we can say that IdeaPad 120S is a very good laptop model that combines in itself stylish construction and budget hardware which can handle your daily tasks. It is not made for people in need of a powerful CPU or GPU, super display and incredibly firm corpus but it’s rather aimed at users that don’t want or cannot spend huge sums on a mobile computer and at the same time want to have such. The laptop is a great combination of small size, low price and budget hardware.

The display with a matte IPS panel is an essential advantage with comfortable viewing angles and modest color range. The sRGB coverage is modest but let’s not forget that the laptop is not made for graphics designers. Moreover, thanks to our Office Work, Design and Gaming and Health-Guard modes, the display significantly improves its parameters. The laptop is very comfortable for carrying around thanks to its thin profile and light weight.

Lenovo Ideapad 120S (11”) configurations

Lenovo IdeaPad 120S (11")

$165^.01

More Info Buy from Amazon

Pros

Good built quality
Light and compact
The screen doesn’t use PWM across all brightness levels
Silent work
Good wireless range
Good viewing angles
2.5″ slot + M.2 slot for internal storage

Cons

The display covers only 54% of sRGB/ITU-R BT.709
Low-end CPU
Small amount of RAM

The Ideapad series has come a long way since the previous generation and the Ideapad 320 is here to prove it. Even though it’s the entry-level model, the Ideapad 320 still has a lot to offer for despite its low price. The update over the Ideapad 310 is significant but is it enough to convince us into buying this instead of the slightly pricier Ideapad 320s, which is equipped better.

Not available

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Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR

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Retail package

The laptop came in a standard box containing all the usual user manuals along with the AC adapter and power cord – nothing out of the ordinary.

Design and construction

The chassis of the Ideapad 320 is largely the same as the one of the Ideapad 520 but with a few key differences. For instance, the Ideapad 320 relies mostly on plastic while the Ideapad 520 uses aluminum for the lid. It’s needless to say that this was expected due to the significantly lower price tag of the Ideapad 320. We are happy to report that the weight of the machine has gone down by around 200 grams as of now, the machine weighs a little over 2 kg but the thickness is still the same – 23 mm.

Let’s start with the lid. It’s made of plastic with smooth finish and doesn’t attract fingerprints and smudges. The material, unfortunately, isn’t very resistant to force and torsion – the deformation is visible and ripples appear on the LCD screen when pressed in the center. Moreover, the hinge doesn’t hold the lid very firmly on an unstable surface and you can feel a slight creaking when opening up the laptop. However, it’s not as tightly pulled as we expected because opening up the lid with one hand is possible. All of this is usually expected for an ultra-budget laptop but we think that Lenovo could have done a slightly better job here. The bottom piece, at least, is very stable, rigid and provides a few vent openings for extra airflow.

The sides are almost identical to the ones of the Ideapad 520. There are no connectors on the right – only the optical drive – while the left side accommodates all of the ports. We’ve got the RJ-45 LAN port, HDMI, two USB 2.0, a 3.5 mm audio jack and the SD card reader. It’s funny, though, that the unit we got has only two full-sized USBs and none of them is a 3.0. We really hope that the final units will have at least one high-speed USB connector.

When you open the laptop, you will immediately notice the smooth and pleasant to touch surface of the interior, which is still plastic, though. It feels nice but it’s not as rigid as we would like. Pressing almost every spot around the keyboard and the wrist rest area results in bending and you can hear the base creaking at times. Again, considering the price point of the product these inconsistencies are expected but we still expected a bit more. The keyboard, on the other hand, is nice. There’s no LED backlight but has good tactile feedback, clicky feel and decent travel distance. It’s surely one of the best we’ve tried at this price range. And as for the touchpad, at first it’s really similar to the one of the Ideapad 520 but the surface is a bit wobbly and precision is missing at times. It’s still decent enough to get the work done while on the go. To be honest, we liked the previous design with the dedicated mouse buttons better since it avoids the possibility of a wobbly surface.

The Ideapad 320 definitely has an identity with cool looking new color themes and an excellent keyboard. However, even for this affordable price tag, we would have appreciated a better choice of materials or at least a more stable base.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

We didn’t have the chance to snap some photos of the internals but since the chassis is almost identical to the Ideapad 520’s along with the inner construction, you can easily use the guide from Ideapad 520 for disassembly, upgrade and maintenance.

Keep in mind, though, that there’s a significant difference between the two – the Ideapad 320 lacks an M.2 SSD slot but you can find it in the Ideapad 520.

Display quality

The configuration we’ve tested featured a familiar Full HD (1920×1080) TN panel from BOE with model number NT156FHM-N41. This particular panel was used in the very first Acer Aspire VX 15 units that shipped with TN displays. So we still get 142 ppi and 0.18 x 0.18 mm pixel pitch. It can be considered as “Retina” at least from 60 cm.

As to be expected from a TN panel, viewing angles are limited.

We’ve recorded a peak brightness of just 189 cd/m2 in the center of the screen and 184 cd/m2 as average across the surface with 7% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature at maximum brightness is just a tad colder than it should be – 6740K and shoots up to 11000K when you go along the grayscale. You can see how these values change at 140 cd/m2 (92% brightness) in the image below.

The maximum color deviation dE2000 compared to the center of the screen should be no more than 4.0 and if you are planning to do color-sensitive work, it should be lower than 2.0. And in this case, since the laptop is going to be used mostly for office work and general browsing, a deviation of 1.4 in the lower left corner is an excellent result. The contrast ratio is extremely low – 317:1 before calibration and 300:1 after calibration.

Color reproduction

The display covers merely 49% of the sRGB color gamut, which means that less than half of the colors used on the web won’t be reproduced.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 11 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

Unfortunately, the display uses PWM for regulating screen brightness from 0 to 99% and pulsates at relatively low frequency (6.8 kHz). Users with sensitive eyes will surely feel the effects of the screen flickering.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

A notebook priced under $500 is bound to have some considerable drawbacks and in most cases, the screen suffers the most. We can’t say the display quality is good but this is the industry’s standard. Rarely can you find a notebook with an IPS screen in the same ballpark. Still, you will need to consider the facts – low maximum brightness, limited sRGB coverage, extremely low contrast ratio and uses PWM for regulating screen brightness from 0 to 99%. The latter can be fixed by our Health-Guard profile while the Design and Gaming profile will fix some of the issues related to color inaccuracy and color temperature.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Lenovo Ideapda 520 configurations with 15.6″ BOE NT156FHM-N41 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The sound quality is decent but there’s a small distortion in the low-frequency range.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Lenovo Ideapad 320 technical specifications table

Upcoming

CPU

Intel Core i5-7200U 55

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5) 74

Display

15.6”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), TN

HDD/SSD

1TB HDD, 5400 rpm

RAM

4GB DDR4-2400

Dimensions

378 x 260 x 22.9 mm (14.88" x 10.24" x 0.90")

Weight

2.2 kg (4.9 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate (All-plastic construction)

Ports and connectivity

2x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
1x USB Type-C 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
HDMI 1.4b
VGA
DVI
Card reader MMC, SD, SDHC, SDXC
Ethernet lan
Wi-Fi 802.11ac (1x1)
Bluetooth 4.1
Audio jack combo audio / microphone jack

Features

Fingerprint reader
Web camera HD 720p (1.0MP), fixed focus
Backlit keyboard
Microphone monaural microphone
Speakers 2x 1.5W
Optical drive
Security Lock slot

More Info Buy from Amazon

View more laptops...

Software

Battery

We can overlook the poor battery life on the entry-level configurations but as the price and the hardware get higher, the 30Wh just doesn’t do justice to the notebook. Even the TN panel and the energy-efficient Core i5-7200U are not enough when the battery capacity is insufficient and as a result, the Ideapad 320 offers subpar endurance.

All tests were performed with the usual settings – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature turned on.

Lenovo Ideapad 320

30Wh

price

247 min.

battery

Dell Inspiron 5570

42 Wh

431 min.+74.5%

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

48Wh, 3220 mAh

482 min.+95.1%

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

277 min.+12.1%

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

52.5Wh, 4610 mAh

555 min.+124.7%

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Lenovo Ideapad 320

30Wh

price

176 min.

battery

Dell Inspiron 5570

42 Wh

303 min.+72.2%

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

48Wh, 3220 mAh

372 min.+111.4%

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

220 min.+25%

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

52.5Wh, 4610 mAh

450 min.+155.7%

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Lenovo Ideapad 320

30Wh

price

73 min.

battery

Dell Inspiron 5570

42 Wh

96 min.+31.5%

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

48Wh, 3220 mAh

131 min.+79.5%

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

73 min.

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

52.5Wh, 4610 mAh

213 min.+191.8%

We use F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

CPU – Intel Core i5-7200U

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i5-7200u/

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo Ideapad 320

price

290

performance

Intel Core i7-8550U

Dell Inspiron 5570

640+24.7%

Intel Core i5-8250U

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

553+18.6%

Results are from the Cinebench 15 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo Ideapad 320

price

5071

performance

Intel Core i7-8550U

Dell Inspiron 5570

12415+13.2%

Intel Core i5-8250U

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

10976+10.6%

Results are from the Fritz chess benchmark (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo Ideapad 320

price

18.20

performance

Intel Core i7-8550U

Dell Inspiron 5570

9.95-5.1%

Intel Core i5-8250U

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

10.88-4.6%

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)

Lenovo ideapad 320 (15") CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the Lenovo ideapad 320 (15") models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Lenovo ideapad 320 (15") model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.

Intel Pentium N4200

Lenovo ideapad 320 (15")

$277.53

price

119

performance

Intel Celeron N3350

Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR (15")

$278.45

78-2.9%

AMD A6-9220

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$359.99+30%

102-1.2%

AMD A12-9720P

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$389+40%

216+6.9%

Intel Core i5-8250U

Lenovo IdeaPad 320-15

$508.88+83%

488+26.1%

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$517.99+87%

289+12%

Intel Core i7-7500U

Lenovo ideapad 320 (15")

$619+123%

299+12.7%

Results are from the Cinebench 15 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Pentium N4200

Lenovo ideapad 320 (15")

$277.53

price

2298

performance

Intel Celeron N3350

Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR (15")

$278.45

2017-0.6%

$359.99+30%

$389+40%

4632+4.2%

Intel Core i5-8250U

Lenovo IdeaPad 320-15

$508.88+83%

9646+13.2%

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$517.99+87%

5624+6%

Intel Core i7-7500U

Lenovo ideapad 320 (15")

$619+123%

6040+6.7%

Results are from the Fritz chess benchmark (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Pentium N4200

Lenovo ideapad 320 (15")

$277.53

price

32.22

performance

Intel Celeron N3350

Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR (15")

$278.45

104.43+45.4%

$359.99+30%

$389+40%

21.61-6.7%

Intel Core i5-8250U

Lenovo IdeaPad 320-15

$508.88+83%

9.67-14.2%

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$517.99+87%

16.11-10.2%

Intel Core i7-7500U

Lenovo ideapad 320 (15")

$619+123%

15.98-10.2%

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i5-7200U scored 6.350 million moves per second. In comparison, one of the most powerful chess computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

You can browse our GPU ranking to see where the graphics chip stands: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

For more information about the GPU, follow this link: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/nvidia-geforce-940mx-2gb-gddr5/

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 320

price

2322

performance

AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5)

Dell Inspiron 5570

2104-0.5%

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

3566+3.1%

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 320

price

617

performance

AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5)

Dell Inspiron 5570

505-1.6%

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

1081+7%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 320

price

490

performance

AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5)

Dell Inspiron 5570

360-2.6%

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

780+5.8%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 320

price

350

performance

AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5)

Dell Inspiron 5570

281-0.7%

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

485+1.3%

Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Lenovo ideapad 320 (15") GPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the GPUs that can be found in the Lenovo ideapad 320 (15") models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Lenovo ideapad 320 (15") model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different GPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / GPU.

Intel HD Graphics 505 (Apollo Lake)

Lenovo ideapad 320 (15")

$277.53

price

344

performance

Intel HD Graphics 500 (Apollo Lake)

Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR (15")

$278.45

344

AMD Radeon R5 (Bristol Ridge)

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$359.99+30%

1391+2.6%

AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge)

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$389+40%

1379+2.6%

AMD Radeon R7 (Carrizo)

Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR

$431.99+56%

1264+2.3%

Intel UHD Graphics 620

Lenovo IdeaPad 320-15

$508.88+83%

871+1.3%

Intel HD Graphics 620

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$517.99+87%

880+1.4%

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo IdeaPad 320 (15")

$769+177%

2322+4.9%

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Intel HD Graphics 505 (Apollo Lake)

Lenovo ideapad 320 (15")

$277.53

price

104

performance

Intel HD Graphics 500 (Apollo Lake)

Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR (15")

$278.45

109

AMD Radeon R5 (Bristol Ridge)

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$359.99+30%

AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge)

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$389+40%

AMD Radeon R7 (Carrizo)

Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR

$431.99+56%

Intel UHD Graphics 620

Lenovo IdeaPad 320-15

$508.88+83%

268+2.4%

Intel HD Graphics 620

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$517.99+87%

289+2.7%

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo IdeaPad 320 (15")

$769+177%

656+8.2%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Intel HD Graphics 505 (Apollo Lake)

Lenovo ideapad 320 (15")

$277.53

price

performance

Intel HD Graphics 500 (Apollo Lake)

Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR (15")

$278.45

AMD Radeon R5 (Bristol Ridge)

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$359.99+30%

AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge)

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$389+40%

AMD Radeon R7 (Carrizo)

Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR

$431.99+56%

Intel UHD Graphics 620

Lenovo IdeaPad 320-15

$508.88+83%

202+2.5%

Intel HD Graphics 620

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$517.99+87%

230+3.1%

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo IdeaPad 320 (15")

$769+177%

503+8.6%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Intel HD Graphics 505 (Apollo Lake)

Lenovo ideapad 320 (15")

$277.53

price

performance

Intel HD Graphics 500 (Apollo Lake)

Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR (15")

$278.45

AMD Radeon R5 (Bristol Ridge)

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$359.99+30%

AMD Radeon R7 (Bristol Ridge)

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$389+40%

AMD Radeon R7 (Carrizo)

Lenovo ideapad 320-15ABR

$431.99+56%

Intel UHD Graphics 620

Lenovo IdeaPad 320-15

$508.88+83%

203+2%

Intel HD Graphics 620

Lenovo Ideapad 320

$517.99+87%

1488+14.3%

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo IdeaPad 320 (15")

$769+177%

364+3.5%

Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Gaming tests

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	HD, Low (Check settings)	HD, Medium (Check settings)	HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average FPS	74 fps	31 fps	18 fps

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GO	HD 768p, Low (Check settings)	HD 768p, Medium (Check settings)	HD 768p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	86 fps	77 fps	68 fps

Temperatures

The CPU and GPU torture tests are used to assess the overall stability and effectiveness of the cooling system in the long run rather than represent real-life usage. This gives us a good estimate on how the system utilizes the hardware.

As we’ve already expected given the CPU benchmark results, the laptop’s Core i5-7200U wasn’t able to reach its maximum potential and ran at its base frequency of 2.5 GHz during the one hour long CPU stress test. And it wasn’t running very cool either – around 70 °C.

Turning on the GPU stress test didn’t result in lowered CPU performance but the former didn’t reach its maximum frequency and floated around 900 MHz. Moreover, both chips got extremely hot, especially the GeForce 940MX – around 90 °C. We haven’t even seen gaming notebooks with considerably more powerful GPUs reach such high temperatures.

And due to the positioning of the chips and the heat pipes, you can feel the heat coming from inside near the left side and center of the keyboard as well as around the touchpad. That’s, of course, during heavy workload but since the CPU and GPU aren’t that powerful, such high temperatures don’t look good on the Ideapad 320.

48.1°

43.2°

34.1°

45.2°

46.0°

33.9°

36.6°

46.3°

34.8°

Verdict

Pros

Relatively cheaper than its competitors
Good keyboard

Cons

Unsatisfactory build quality (for the Core i3 configurations and above)
Poor display quality (for the Core i3 configurations and above)
Unreliable cooling system
Short battery life
Can’t utilize the full performance of the processor

We can say without a doubt that the Е5-576G model from the Acer Aspire series doesn’t include powerful hardware, is not aimed at gamers and doesn’t boast an incredible display. But on the other hand, the series is targeted at and suits perfectly the needs of every business person, student, teenager and anyone who wants to have contemporary hardware at a reasonable price.

The model we used in our review has the exact name of Acer Aspire E5-576G-36WC and features a dual-core 7th generation Intel Core i3-7130U, 8GB of RAM, 15.6″ display and dedicated NVIDIA GeForce 940MX GPU with 2GB memory. In addition, the laptop is equipped with a 1TB HDD. All this hardware is fit in a simple plastic construction with clean lines. The build quality is amazing as always.

Acer E5-576G is designed to handle seamlessly any daily tasks in your home or office. What’s more, if you are a student, this model is the ideal helper in the educational process which can also give you an opportunity to play some games at not so high settings.

Acer Aspire E5 configurations

Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-576G)

$599^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Acer Aspire E5 576G-36WC

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Retail package

The package offers an AC adapter, model PA-1650-86 providing 19V voltage and 3.42A current. In the package, we also find the usual user manuals and the laptop itself.

Design and construction

The laptop is equipped with a robust aluminum-magnesium chassis in a plastic body. The body surface is uneven and nice to touch, comes in graphite grey, doesn’t attract fingerprints. The bottom of the laptop is a plastic panel fixed by plastic clamps to the body and held by metal screws. It also allows quick access to the hardware components. There is a separate lid on it that provides quick access to the slots with RAM and hard drive.

On the left side of the base, you can see the vents for hot air. In the center of the bottom lid, there is the main grill for the intake of cool air needed to cool the components. The Acer engineers have additionally insured themselves by creating cooling openings on the removable lid for quick access to the memory and hard drive. We can also see the openings for the integrated stereo speakers located on the left and on the right at the bottom. Despite the lightweight plastic used for the construction, its weight is 2.13 kg, while the thickness – 26 mm.

With its new look, Acer Aspire E5 offers a comfortable and nice contemporary mobile computer. The laptop features a 15.6″ display with a TN matrix. On the lid you can notice an engraved metal Acer logo giving the notebook a very good appearance. When opening/closing or changing the position of the lid there is twisting due to the plastic used for its construction.

The hinges are made tight and consistent and they keep the display firmly in place. Its position doesn’t change even in mild shocks. When closed, the lid adheres tightly to the corpus and there are no gaps or twisting of the display. The laptop doesn’t feature a fingerprint sensor. Aspire E5 has a web camera recording 720p HD video but the intriguing thing is that is supports an HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode. This mode is used to improve the camera image. As we already know, the dynamic range in photography is the ratio between the minimum and maximum light intensities in the photo. Our eyes can see a much larger dynamic range than the camera – that’s where the HDR comes to compensate for the difference.

The keyboard is of the Island Style type. Overall, it is well constructed, the buttons are comfortable and nice to touch. The notebook doesn’t feature keyboard backlight. In addition, the touchpad is huge and comfortable for work. The touchpad buttons have responsive and consistent key travel. The laptop we tested didn’t come with an optical drive but there is an option for such.

Aspire E5-576 features two RAM slots. The max capacity is 16GB. Additionally, the Wi-Fi adapter is installed in the mid upper part.

One last aspect worthy of our attention as far as the construction is concerned, is the input/output ports. Acer’s engineers have made sure to include a relatively wide range of ports. On the front left side of the construction, there is an SD card slot, as well are two light indicators to see when the laptop is turned on and for the hard drive work. On the right side of the laptop, you will notice the DC jack, a space for the optical drive, 1 x USB 2.0 port and audio jack. On the left, there are 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C port, 2 x USB 3.0 ports, HDMI port, VGA port and RG45 port for network connection.

Cooling system

The notebook features an active fan cooling realized through a copper cooling pipe. The cool air intake is achieved through the space below the laptop which in turn leads to a risk of frequent hairs and dusk sucking from the surface on which the device is placed. The cooling system itself is well designed and manages to handle its task even during continuous load with synthetic tests.

Storage upgrades

In our case, we received the laptop with 1000GB TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100 HDD. However, we can upgrade the storage devices using an NVMe M.2 slot to install an NVMe SSD.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
2.5-inch HDD/SSD	1000GB TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100	Buy from Amazon.com
NVMe M.2 slot	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

Display quality

The Acer Aspire E5-576G display features a WXGA panel with a TN matrix, model N156BGA-EA2. Its diagonal is 15.6-inch, while the resolution – 1366 х 768 pixels. The aspect ratio is 16:9, the pixel density – 100 ppi, while the pixel pitch – 0.253 х 0.253 mm. In addition, the display can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from at least 86 cm.

Acer Aspire E5-576G has uncomfortable viewing angles. We offer you photos at 45° to evaluate the image quality.

We’ve recorded a peak brightness of 239 cd/m² in the center of the screen and 230 cd/m² as average across the surface with 15% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature at maximum brightness is very close to the optimal – 6700 K, while going along the grayscale we have recorded around 10000K which is slightly cooler. You can see how these values change at 140 cd/m2 (58% brightness) in the image below.

The maximum color deviation dE2000 compared to the center of the screen should be no more than 4.0 if you are planning to do color-sensitive work.

The contrast ratio is mediocre – 330:1 before calibration and 310:1 after calibration

Color reproduction

The display covers 50% of the sRGB color gamut.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 20 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

The Acer Aspire E5-576G uses PWM only up to 60 cd/m2 at high frequencies making it comfortable for continuous work in this aspect.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

The Acer Aspire E5-576G display in the tested modification is a budget option. It features uncomfortable viewing angles. The color range is modest.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Acer Aspire E5-576G configurations with 15.6″ N156BGA-EA2 (1366 х 768) WXGA IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The Acer Aspire E5-576G features high-quality stereo sound. The low, middle and high frequencies are clear with almost no sound distortions.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region.

Acer Aspire E5 576G-36WC technical specifications table

Upcoming

CPU

Intel Core i3-7130U

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5) 74

Display

15.6”, HD (1366 x 768), TN

HDD/SSD

1TB HDD

RAM

8GB DDR3L, 1600MHz

Dimensions

382 x 259 x 30 mm (15.04" x 10.20" x 1.18")

Weight

2.39 kg (5.3 lbs)

Ports and connectivity

2x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
1x USB Type-A 2.0
1x USB Type-C 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
HDMI
VGA
Card reader SD, SDHC, SDXC
Ethernet lan
Wi-Fi 802.11ac
Bluetooth
Audio jack combo audio / microphone jack

Features

Web camera 720p HD
Microphone
Speakers
Optical drive
Security Lock slot

Acer Aspire E5-576G configurations

Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-576G)

$599^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Acer Aspire E5 576G-36WC

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Software

The operating system we use for the test is the 64-bit Windows 10 edition, that comes with the device. In case you decide to reinstall you can download the drivers you need from HERE.

Battery

Acer has chosen a 4-cell battery with a capacity of 2880 mAh Li-ion and 14.6V voltage. The work duration in autonomous mode is not very impressive. We run all tests in Power Saver mode and screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

The result didn’t impress us – 384 minutes (6 hours and 24 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

During video playback, the laptop battery showed relatively good results – 265 minutes (4 hours and 25 minutes).

Gaming

We use F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

The laptop showed average results for gaming load, although this model is not made for this – 137 minutes (2 hours and 17 minutes).

CPU – Intel Core i3-7130U

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i3-7130u/

Intel Core i3-7130U

Acer Aspire E5 576G-36WC

price

288

performance

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

320+2.2%

Results are from the Cinebench 15 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Core i3-7130U

Acer Aspire E5 576G-36WC

price

5596

performance

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

6350+1.4%

Results are from the Fritz chess benchmark (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Core i3-7130U

Acer Aspire E5 576G-36WC

price

performance

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

18.10-1.2%

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)

GPU – Intel HD Graphics 620

Intel’s HD Graphics 620 is a direct successor to the integrated HD Graphics 520. The latter is found in ULV (ultra-low voltage) processors from the 6th Generation (Skylake) of chips while the former is in the 7th (Kaby Lake) generation of CPUs.

Intel’s HD Graphics 620 uses the GT2 version of the graphics chip with 24 EUs (Execution Units) reaching as high as 1050 MHz and it has a base frequency of 300 MHz. However, the maximum operating frequency depends on the CPU, whether it’s the Core i3-7100U or the Core i5-7200U or the Core i7-7500U. Since the iGPU doesn’t have a dedicated memory – or eDRAM for that matter – it uses the available RAM on the system which is 2x 64-bit DDR3 or DDR4.

The TDP depends on the CPU model but it’s usually equipped with a SoC rated at 15W including the memory controller. Its performance should be enough for multimedia activities, light applications and gaming on really low resolution and minimum graphics settings.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this GPU: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/intel-hd-graphics-620/

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce 940MX

The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX is a refreshed version of the older 940M mobile chip but with slightly higher clock speeds, which result in noticeably better performance compared to the standard 940M.

Announced back in the first quarter of 2016, the chip is almost identical to the standard 940M (Maxwell) but with clock speeds increased up to 1242 MHz and base 1122 MHz. The memory uses a 64-bit bus and has 2GB of DDR3 VRAM. It supports the DirectX 12 API and Shader 5.0 feature along with the usual NVIDIA technologies – CUDA, GPU Boost 2.0, Optimus, GeForce Experience, PhysX. The whole graphics card is rated at around 15 to 30 Watts depending on the clock speeds and memory used in the specific notebook.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this GPU: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/nvidia-geforce-940mx-2gb-ddr3/

Temperatures

During the entire test, the CPU kept its maximum working frequency of 2.7 GHz for the four cores. During the entire test, the CPU temperature didn’t exceed 65 degrees Celsius and throttling didn’t occur.

Verdict

In conclusion, we can say that Acer Aspire E5-576G-36WC is a very good budget laptop which doesn’t stand out with powerful hardware and incorporated high-technology materials in its construction, however, it can handle your everyday tasks. The notebook is to a huge extent a combination between budget hardware and compromise solutions as far are the quality of the built materials is concerned. On the other hand, Acer’s engineers have achieved a relatively low and affordable price.

The display which features a matte TN panel has uncomfortable viewing angles and offers modest color range. However, let’s not forget that the laptop is not made for graphics designers. Moreover, thanks to our Office Work, Design and Gaming and Health-Guard modes, the display significantly improves its parameters. Despite the used materials, the laptop is not very light. The time for work in autonomous mode is not impressive either.

Acer Aspire E5 configurations

Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-576G)

$599^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Acer Aspire E5 576G-36WC

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Pros

Good build quality
The screen doesn’t use PWM across all brightness levels
Decent keyboard and huge touchpad
Good wireless range
Wide port range

Cons

The display covers only 50% of sRGB/ITU-R BT.709
Poor viewing angles
Twisting when opening/closing the display

Retail package

We received the laptop without a box and a charger so we can’t say for sure what the retail package will contain. But the usual user manuals and AC adapter should be there.

Design and construction

On contrary to the last year’s model, the Ideapad 520’s order of the day is aluminum. It can be found on the lid and around the interior but the bottom piece remains plastic. We are happy to report that this change has lead to better case stability and better feel overall. Interestingly, this hasn’t affected the weight and portability. The notebook is still around 22.9 mm thin and weighs just about 2.2 kg – almost identical to its predecessor.

As we mentioned, the lid is made of anodized aluminum sheet that provides quite the sturdiness. When we press the lid in the middle, it gives in ever so slightly – deformation is almost unnoticeable. It’s also pretty resistant to torsion while the single-hinge design provides smooth opening up to 180-degree with just one hand. We noticed a slight creak, though, but we doubt this will be any problem in the future. It’s possible that this is due to the early engineering sample. The bottom, on the other hand, is made of plastic imitating anodized aluminum and provides some grills for the extra airflow.

The sides accommodate all the usual connectors, which are well-distributed along the left and right side. The left side has the RJ-45 port, HDMI, two USB 3.0, one USB-C 3.1 (probably Gen 1), 3.5 mm audio jack and the SD card reader. This leaves the right side only with the optical drive.

As for the interior, it’s made of anodized aluminum with chamfered edges around the sides and around the trackpad. It feels really good – it’s so stable that pressing the wrist rest area and the center of the keyboard doesn’t cause any visible deformations – fingerprints aren’t visible while both input devices are way above average for this price range. The keyboard has short key travel but the clicky tactile feedback makes up for it. Still, we think that some users will need some time adjusting to the overall feel of the keys. The layout is standard but still provides some useful shortcuts such as media controls. As far as the touchpad is concerned – the surface is buttery-smooth, mouse clicks are light and the trackpad seems stable.

We are definitely impressed by the build quality of the machine especially considering the price point. In addition, the input devices are comfortable, the chassis is fairly portable and it delivers all the needed I/O including an USB-C connector. In any case, it’s a huge improvement over the last generation Ideapad 510.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

Accessing the internals is pretty easy and straightforward. You only need to remove the optical drive and then the rest of the screws on the bottom. Prying up the bottom plate should be easy.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

Even though the laptop comes with an M.2 SSD slot and a standard 2.5-inch drive bay, you can’t fit an M.2 SSD inside because the optical drive obstructs it. It’s a really strange decision on behalf of Lenovo or maybe it was just a problem with our testing sample. But to be honest, we can’t really see how it would fit in the end production unit anyway unless you completely remove the optical drive.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	500GB WD Blue HDD	Buy from Amazon.com

RAM

The motherboard comes with 4GB of DDR4-2400 integrated (soldered) memory module and you can stick inside up to 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory. Our unit came with another 4GB Samsung chip.

Other components

You will find the Qualcomm Atheros QCFA435 Wi-Fi adapter near the screen hinge.

The battery unit is located under the wrist rest area and it’s rated at merely 30Wh.

Cooling system

The cooling system consists of a single heatpipe going across both heatsinks and one fan pushing the hot air out.

Display quality

Interestingly, the notebook features a familiar Full HD (1920×1080) IPS panel from LG with model number LP156WF6-SPK6. The display is also found in two other gaming laptops – Acer Predator Helios 300 (15-inch) and the Acer Nitro 5. So we already know what to expect from the display and while we weren’t happy with the quality presented in the gaming laptops, we are just fine with the Ideapad 520 due to the significantly lower price.

Viewing angles are excellent.

We’ve recorded a peak brightness of 288 cd/m2 in the center of the screen and 268 cd/m2 as average across the surface with 14% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature at maximum brightness is a bit warmer than it should be – 6290K and stays pretty much the same when going along the grayscale – 6130K. You can see how these values change at 140 cd/m2 (83% brightness) in the image below.

The maximum color deviation dE2000 compared to the center of the screen should be no more than 4.0 and if you are planning to do color-sensitive work, it should be lower than 2.0. And in this case, since the laptop is going to be used mostly for multimedia and office work, a deviation of 2.1 in the upper left corner is negligible. The contrast ratio is 1230:1 before calibration and 1140:1 after calibration.

Color reproduction

As to be expected, the sRGB coverage is pretty limited – just 53%. This means that the display is only suitable for general office work and web browsing. The multimedia experience won’t be exactly great.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 29 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

We didn’t record any PWM across all brightness levels, which means that the display is safe to use for long periods of time in this regard, even by users with sensitive eyes.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

Given the price tag of the laptop, we can’t really expect outstanding image quality but we do appreciate that Lenovo has included an IPS panel instead of TN one. And despite the limited sRGB coverage and relatively low maximum brightness, the screen fits perfectly into the price tag while offering high contrast ratio and lacks PWM across all brightness levels.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Lenovo Ideapad 520 configurations with 15.6″ LP156WF6-SPK6 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The sound quality is decent without any noticeable distortions in the low, mid and high frequencies.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15") technical specifications table

Upcoming

CPU

Intel Core i5-8250U 39

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5) 54

Display

15.6”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

1TB HDD, 5400 rpm

RAM

8GB DDR4, 2400 MHz

Dimensions

378 x 260 x 22 mm (14.88" x 10.24" x 0.87")

Weight

2.20 kg (4.9 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum (Aluminum lid, plastic base)

Ports and connectivity

Features

Fingerprint reader
Web camera HD 720p (1.0MP), fixed focus
Backlit keyboard
Microphone Dual array microphone
Speakers 2x 2W
Optical drive
Security Lock slot

Lenovo Ideapad 520 configurations

As always, we’ve tested the device with the usual settings – Wi-Fi constantly running, Windows battery saving feature turned on and screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2.

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

price

277 min.

battery

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

52.5Wh, 4610 mAh

555 min.+100.4%

Lenovo Ideapad 520s

52.5Wh

714 min.+157.8%

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

48Wh, 3220 mAh

482 min.+74%

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

price

220 min.

battery

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

52.5Wh, 4610 mAh

450 min.+104.5%

Lenovo Ideapad 520s

52.5Wh

600 min.+172.7%

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

48Wh, 3220 mAh

372 min.+69.1%

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

price

73 min.

battery

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

52.5Wh, 4610 mAh

213 min.+191.8%

Lenovo Ideapad 520s

52.5Wh

250 min.+242.5%

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

48Wh, 3220 mAh

131 min.+79.5%

We use F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

Intel Core i7-8550U

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

11.01+0.1%

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15") CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the Lenovo ideapad 520 (15") models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Lenovo ideapad 520 (15") model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.

Intel Core i5-8250U

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15″)

$649

price

552

performance

Intel Core i7-8550U

Lenovo IdeaPad 520 (15")

$784+21%

583+2.2%

Intel Core i7-7500U

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15")

$959.99+48%

328-15.8%

Results are from the Cinebench 15 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Core i5-8250U

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15″)

$649

price

10790

performance

Intel Core i7-8550U

Lenovo IdeaPad 520 (15")

$784+21%

11293+0.9%

Intel Core i7-7500U

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15")

$959.99+48%

6610-7.6%

Results are from the Fritz chess benchmark (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Core i5-8250U

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15″)

$649

price

10.43

performance

Intel Core i7-8550U

Lenovo IdeaPad 520 (15")

$784+21%

10.11-0.2%

Intel Core i7-7500U

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15")

$959.99+48%

17.49+4.4%

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Along with all the power consumption and performance improvements, the GPU now supports essential features like Multi-Projection, VR Ready, G-SYNC, Vulkan and Multi-Monitor.

Check the prices of all notebooks equipped with NVIDIA GeForce MX150: Buy from Amazon.com

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

price

3556

performance

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

2149-3.4%

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

price

1088

performance

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

653-6.5%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

price

778

performance

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

501-5.6%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

price

485

performance

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

367-1.2%

Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Gameplay recordings with NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15") GPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the GPUs that can be found in the Lenovo ideapad 520 (15") models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Lenovo ideapad 520 (15") model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different GPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / GPU.

Intel UHD Graphics 620

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15″)

$649

price

845

performance

Intel HD Graphics 620

Lenovo IdeaPad 520 (15")

$784+21%

853

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (4GB DDR3)

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15")

$959.99+48%

1648+2%

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Intel UHD Graphics 620

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15″)

$649

price

260

performance

Intel HD Graphics 620

Lenovo IdeaPad 520 (15")

$784+21%

280+0.3%

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (4GB DDR3)

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15")

$959.99+48%

436+2.6%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Intel UHD Graphics 620

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15″)

$649

price

196

performance

Intel HD Graphics 620

Lenovo IdeaPad 520 (15")

$784+21%

223+0.6%

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (4GB DDR3)

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15")

$959.99+48%

326+2.6%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Intel UHD Graphics 620

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15″)

$649

price

197

performance

Intel HD Graphics 620

Lenovo IdeaPad 520 (15")

$784+21%

1443+12%

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (4GB DDR3)

Lenovo ideapad 520 (15")

$959.99+48%

Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GO	HD 768p, Low (Check settings)	HD 768p, Medium (Check settings)	HD 768p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS	131 fps	110 fps	77 fps

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	HD, Low (Check settings)	HD, Medium (Check settings)	HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average FPS	100 fps	50 fps	25 fps

Temperatures

Of course, we take the temperature tests to the extreme since the regular user won’t be able to reach 100% CPU and GPU load for such long periods of time. Even when gaming, the hardware isn’t so hard pressed. However, it remains the most reliable way to test out the effectiveness and capability of the cooling system, especially in the long run.

We started off with 100% CPU load for about an hour and things seemed to be normal at first. The CPU reached its maximum potential for a while (around 3.4 GHz) but then started to fluctuate quite a bit between its base operating frequency of 1.6 GHz and around 2.4 GHz.

But when we turned on the GPU stress test, the processor remained stable at 1.6 GHz while the GeForce MX150 ran a little below its base operating frequency but at more than reasonable temperature.

Expectedly, the surface of the machine remained cool with the only warm spot being in the upper left corner near the Esc key.

41.8°

36.1°

29.3°

37.9°

35.6°

28.5°

32.3°

29.8°

26.9°

Verdict

Priced just a little higher than the Ideapad 320, the Ideapad 520 aims to bring a bit better user experience for the asking price but to be honest, we can barely feel the difference. In fact, the Ideapad 520s with its relatively affordable price undermines the existence of the Ideapad 520 in the first place.

In any case, there are a few features that are worth mentioning like the inclusion of an IPS panel with high contrast and no PWM, good input devices and pretty stable chassis. Most of these weren’t inherent to the previous Ideapad 510 so it’s definitely a nice upgrade, yet it’s hard to recommend over notebooks in the same price range. The first that comes to mind is Acer’s Aspire 5 (A515-51G) notebook that features outstanding display and pretty much the same hardware.

Pros

Decent build
Good input devices
IPS panel with high contrast
The screen doesn’t use PWM for regulating screen brightness

Cons

The M.2 SSD slot is unusuable unless you remove the optical drive
The screen has limited sRGB coverage and relatively low maximum brightness
Poor battery life

The upper-mid-range Yoga 720 lineup from Lenovo seems promising and our overall positive review of the 13-inch version sets the bar a bit high for the 12-inch model that we have here in our hands. It follows the same design signature and hopefully will deliver at least the same, if not better, user experience than the 13-inch variant.

But despite the smaller footprint, the Yoga 720 (12-inch) surprises with the same tech specs across the board – again Full HD IPS touchscreen, Intel Core i5-7200U and Core i7-7500U processors behind the wheel, rigid aluminum chassis and M.2 SSD for your storage needs. And although everything sounds fine on paper, we are skeptical about the CPU’s performance because we had some issues with the 13-inch model and we can expect just about the same with the 12-inch model unless Lenovo has done something entirely different with the cooling solution. Let’s dive in to understand more.

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

$649^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

$930^.98

More Info Buy from Amazon

Retail package

The laptop comes in an identical Yoga-branded box like the 13-inch variant containing the AC adapter for charging and the usual user manuals.

Design and construction

As expected, the 12-inch Yoga 720 leads the pack of all Yoga 720 alterations with the lowest weight – just around 1.15 kg while the sides measure just 15.75 mm making it just a little thicker than the 13-inch Yoga 720 but it does make sense because the 12-inch body has to incorporate just about the same hardware inside as the 13-inch model. It’s a good thing, however, that the screen bezels remain minimal and aluminum makes most of the chassis.

Starting with the lid – it’s made of anodized aluminum and due to the “Iron Gray” color, fingerprints do stick fairly easy. More importantly, though, it feels rock-solid and doesn’t bend or twist at all. And thanks to the super slim bezels, Lenovo was able to trim off a good part of the chassis so it can be easily classified as a “subnotebook”. The footprint is considerably smaller than normal 12.5-inchers. And as for the hinges, they provide the 360-degree rotation with fairly linear travel, which means that opening the machine with just one hand isn’t possible but keep the screen firmly in place in laptop mode. The effect of the “bouncy screen” isn’t as prominent. Moving onto the bottom, it’s made of plastic and provides a big grill for cool air intake and two smaller ones for the loudspeakers.

There’s nothing much we can talk about the sides, unfortunately. They are just 15.75 mm thick and provide less than the bare minimum of I/O. Right under the machined edges of the base you can see the DC charging port and the 3.5 mm audio jack on the left leaving the standard USB 3.0 and the USB-C 3.0 on the right. However, the latter supports the DisplayPort standard so you can still plug it into an external monitor.

Opening the device reveals small but well-optimized and comfortable interior. The keyboard stretches to the sides making the most out of the free space. It provides surprisingly long key travel, satisfying clicky feedback and no layout surprises. We didn’t find, however, shortcuts for the media controls. As far as the touchpad is concerned, it has a good gliding surface, it’s fairly responsive but a bit mushy mouse clicks towards the upper edges but otherwise perfectly fine. The size is small but we couldn’t expect more to be fair considering the 12-inch form factor – there’s isn’t any unused space in practice. You can see for yourself in the photos above. And what about the aluminum sheet used for the interior? Well, Lenovo could have done better here. And we are not talking about the visible fingerprints in certain lightings, we refer to the bouncy middle section of the keyboard. Even light presses result in small deformation, although this won’t matter too much in practice.

We are generally satisfied with the build quality and design – the lid is rigid, the base feels stable most of the times – with a small exception of the middle area of the keyboard – and it’s extremely portable and lightweight. The hinges provide firm grip over the screen while the input devices will definitely get the work done despite the small working space. The most notable downfall of the 12-inch Yoga, however, is inherent to almost all 12-inchers on the market anyway – the lack of I/O. This one comes with just two USB ports but at least the USB-C connector supports DisplayPort output.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

The disassembly process is pretty easy. The bottom piece can be removed and reveals all the internals you’d need to access. Just make sure you slid the plate down after you removed all the screws.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

As expected, the notebook can carry only an M.2 SSD due to its limited internal space and small 12-inch form factor. But since the unit we’ve tested was a review sample, the M.2 SSD will most likely differ from the retail version.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
M.2 SSD 2280 slot 1	128GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD	Buy from Amazon.com

RAM

The motherboard holds 8GB of DDR4-2400 dual-channel memory but it’s soldered to the motherboard so it can’t be upgraded or swapped.

Other components

The Wi-Fi card is placed near the hinge and it’s Qualcomm Atheros QCNFA344A.

The battery unit isn’t as generous as we expected it to be – holds just a 36Wh charge.

Cooling system

The cooling system is pretty simple – short heatpipe taking away the heat from the heatsink and one small cooling fan taking care of the airflow.

Display quality

The Yoga 720 (12-inch) uses a Full HD (1920×1080) IPS touch panel with a glossy finish. It’s manufactured by AU Optronics with model number B125HAN02.2. With a 1080p resolution and 12-inch display, you can expect a pixel density of 176 ppi and pixel pitch of 0.144 x 0.144 mm. The screen can be considered as “Retina” from at least 50 cm.

Viewing angles are excellent.

We’ve recorded a peak brightness of 256 cd/m2 in the center of the screen and 248 cd/m2 as average across the surface with 13% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature at maximum brightness is a bit warmer – 6100K and stays pretty much the same when going along the grayscale – 6100K. You can see how these values change at 140 cd/m2 (53% brightness) in the image below.

The maximum color deviation dE2000 compared to the center of the screen should be no more than 4.0 and if you are planning to do color-sensitive work, it should be lower than 2.0. And in this case, since the laptop is going to be used mostly for multimedia web browsing and office work, a deviation of 3.3 in the lower left corner is acceptable. The contrast ratio is 1160:1 before calibration and 1100:1 after calibration.

Color reproduction

Interestingly, the display covers just 56% of the sRGB color space so almost half of the colors won’t be reproduced when web browsing or enjoying a movie.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 25 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

It appears that the display doesn’t use PWM for regulating brightness making it ideal for working long hours in front of it. It shouldn’t cause fatigue or discomfort if you are sensitive to backlight pulsation.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

The display used for the Yoga 720 (12-inch) isn’t bad by any means but it just doesn’t fit the notebook’s price tag. Closer to the 1000-ish US dollars and serving as an alternative to the 13-inch Yoga 720, a panel that’s color-deficient, has low maximum brightness that obstructs normal outdoor use – which will probably a common usage scenario given the form factor – just doesn’t cut it. In any case, the contrast ratio and the absence of PWM are some good pros to consider.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Lenovo Yoga 720 configurations with 12.5″ AUO B125HAN02.2 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

The sound quality is pretty good for a 12-inch ultrabook – the low, mid and high frequencies are clear.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12") technical specifications table

$930^.98

Buy

from Amazon

CPU

Intel Core i5-7200U 55

GPU

Intel HD Graphics 620 151

Display

12.5”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

HDD/SSD

128GB SSD

RAM

8GB

Dimensions

293 x 203 x 15.8 mm (11.54" x 7.99" x 0.62")

Weight

1.15 kg (2.5 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum, Magnesium alloy (Aluminum lid and interior, plastic bottom plate)

Ports and connectivity

1x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1), Sleep and Charge
1x USB Type-C 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1), DisplayPort
HDMI
VGA
Card reader
Ethernet lan
Wi-Fi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.1
Audio jack combo audio / microphone jack

Features

Lenovo Yoga 720 (12-inch) configurations

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

$649^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

$930^.98

More Info Buy from Amazon

Software

Battery

Like most users out there, we expected good battery life from such small 12-inch laptop that has a ULV (ultra-low voltage) processor like the Core i5-7200U but we were pretty disappointed. The modest 36Wh charge just can’t keep the hardware running for any longer than a few hours.

Of course, all tests were run using the same settings as always – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature switched on.

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

36Wh

$930.98

price

273 min.

battery

Lenovo YOGA 720 (13")

48Wh, Li-ion, 4-cell

690 min.+152.7%

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

36Wh

$930.98

price

358 min.

battery

Lenovo YOGA 720 (13")

48Wh, Li-ion, 4-cell

481 min.+34.4%

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

36Wh

$930.98

price

101 min.

battery

Lenovo YOGA 720 (13")

48Wh, Li-ion, 4-cell

191 min.+89.1%

We use F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

CPU – Intel Core i5-7200U

download-4 Intel’s Core i7-7200U is part of the 7th Generation Kaby Lake CPUs and it’s the direct successor of the Core i5-5200U (Broadwell) and Core i5-6200U (Skylake). It’s also based on the same architecture as the aforementioned chips with little differences that should bring a small performance increase and a bump in power consumption. However, the new CPU is clocked at 2.5 GHz and its Turbo Boost frequency is 3.1 GHz opposed to the 2.3 – 2.8 GHz clocks on the previous Core i5-6200U.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i5-7200u/

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12") CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the Lenovo YOGA 720 (12") models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Lenovo YOGA 720 (12") model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.

Intel Core i3-7100U

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

$649.99

price

245

performance

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

$930.98+43%

307+4.4%

Results are from the Cinebench 15 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Core i3-7100U

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

$649.99

price

4749

performance

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

$930.98+43%

5974+2.2%

Results are from the Fritz chess benchmark (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Core i3-7100U

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

$649.99

price

21.93

performance

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

$930.98+43%

17.11-3%

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i5-7200U scored 6.079 million moves per second. In comparison, one of the most powerful chess computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – Intel HD Graphics 620

The TDP depends on the CPU model but it’s usually equipped with a SoC rated at 15W including the memory controller.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook with this GPU that we’ve tested: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/intel-hd-graphics-620/

Temperatures

Of course, the stress tests that we perform don’t represent real-life usage scenarios because even the most demanding games don’t require 100% CPU and GPU load all the time. Still, these torture tests remain the most efficient way to assess the overall stability and effectiveness of the cooling system.

We start off with 100% CPU load for about an hour. The CPU utilized its full clock speeds (3.1 GHz) for a while before starting to fluctuate between 2.7 and 3.1 GHz. No thermal throttling occurred, though.

Switching on the GPU stress test resulted in CPU throttling but that’s to be expected because the compute cores give enough headroom for the iGPU to perform.

As to be expected, the interior remained pretty cool while the cooling fan was surprisingly silent. The Yoga 720 12-inch surely is one of the most silent notebooks we’ve tested – no high-pitch fan sounds, no noticeable fan noise ramping up during load.

31.8°

39.0°

40.5°

30.4°

36.9°

37.9°

27.9°

28.5°

31.2°

Verdict

The Lenovo Yoga 720 12-inch definitely has its place in the ultra-portables market but not like this. It misses on an essential feature for all convertibles and ultra-portables – a good IPS screen. Given the price point and the Yoga lineup to which it belongs, a panel with suboptimal maximum brightness and limited sRGB is just unacceptable. And when you add the glossy finish of the screen, it becomes barely usable outdoors. Still, the absence of PWM and the high contrast ratio should be noted and taken into account.

Another great misstep is the battery life. Since Lenovo has stuck a tiny 36Wh unit, battery life suffers quite a lot and falls behind most of its competitors or even bigger 13-inch alternatives.

And despite these drawbacks, the 12-inch Yoga 720 makes a compelling case thanks to its undeniable pros like sturdy aluminum chassis (except for the middle of the interior), portable body, and modern and sleek looks. In fact, the keyboard and touchpad are so comfortable, you can hardly notice any difference between the 13-inch Yoga 720 and this one. We just didn’t have that notion of limited working space, which often plagues the smaller devices.

We are also happy with the performance – sticking a full-fledged low-voltage processor in such tiny body is definitely a challenge, especially when trying to keep it chilled. In addition, the Yoga 720 deals with the heat without much noise coming close to the passively cooled systems we’ve tested before.

The bottom line? We strongly recommend considering the 13-inch Yoga 720 because you are not making a big sacrifice in terms of portability and you gain better screen, longer battery life and more I/O as a bonus. The poor battery life and the color-deficient and dim screen just can’t be overlooked for the asking price.

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

$649^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Lenovo YOGA 720 (12")

$930^.98

More Info Buy from Amazon

Pros

Comfortable input devices despite the small form factor
Lightweight and portable chassis
Good CPU utilization and silent operation
The screen doesn’t use PWM for regulating screen brightness

Cons

The interior could be sturdier
Color-deficient display with low maximum brightness combines with glossy finish
Poor battery life

With the new rise of Intel’s new generation of CPUs, OEMs are quick to launch their refreshed lineups with Dell being one of the first to adopt these chips. Sporting a clean and simplistic case, the Inspiron 15 5570 also packs a good punch thanks to its Core i7-8550U processor but fails to impress with the discrete AMD Radeon 530 GPU.

There are also some significant trade-offs that need to be considered here and the display quality is the most important one. Featuring a TN panel, while most of its direct competitors shine with cool IPS displays, the Inspiron 15 5570 also raises a question of how well will it fare against similarly-priced GeForce MX150 or even 940MX systems on the market like the Acer Aspire 5, for example. In fact, the Aspire 5 is even cheaper and also introduces a crisp IPS display and Intel’s new 8th Generation processors. So what does the Inspiron 15 5570 has to offer that the rest of the competition doesn’t and who will benefit from such system? We find out in the thorough review below.

Dell Inspiron 5570

$550^.00

More Info Buy from Amazon

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 5570

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 5570

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 5570

Not available

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Retail package

The laptop comes in a standard package with the usual user manuals, AC adapter and the power cord.

Design and construction

The Inspiron 15 5570 takes a more conservative approach with clean lines, no decorations or ornaments and entirely black (or gray, depending on your color of choice) chassis, which will probably appeal to a broader audience, including users looking for a business-oriented laptop. Measuring at just below 20 mm (19.9 mm to be exact) and tipping the scale at 2.12 kg, the Inspiron 15 5570 falls into the “fairly portable 15-inch” category.

Matte plastic is used for the entire lid giving the laptop a more simplistic look. Unfortunately, though, the surface is a fingerprint magnet and the material isn’t really resistant to torsion and bending – the center of the lid bounces back quite visibly even when small pressure is applied. The single hinge design, on the other hand, does its job pretty well holding the screen in place but requires both hands to be used when opening the machine. As for the bottom, it uses slightly roughened hard plastic with a small vent opening for cool air intake and two smaller grills for the loudspeakers towards the front lip.

The sides come with the usual set of connectors that are typical for the price point – USB-C 3.1 (Gen 1), HDMI, RJ-45 for LAN, two USB 3.0 and a 3.5 mm audio jack on the left while the right side comes with the optical drive, USB 2.0 and an SD card reader. The port distribution is nice, although it might become a bit overcrowded on the left with cables.

The interior is where things are done differently. In contrast to the exterior, the surface around the keyboard and the touchpad is made of brushed aluminum. Once again, a big fingerprint magnet but stability is rather good. The only weak spot is right above the keyboard near the hinge – pressing it results in visible deformation although, it shouldn’t be a big concern to you. The big disappointment, however, is the input devices. The keyboard feels more like a budget type of keyboard with a bit mushy and undistinctive keystrokes at times. The same applies to the clickpad – mouse clicks are spongy, the surface isn’t optimal for gliding but to Dell’s credit, it’s reasonably responsive. Also, there’s no keyboard LED backlight, which has become a standard in the industry even for less expensive laptops.

In any case, the overall build quality is satisfactory with just small issues that need to be fixed in the next generation but we really can’t overlook the fact that the keyboard and the touchpad are somehow suboptimal for the asking price, at very least.

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

The laptop doesn’t require any sophisticated disassembly and gives access to all of the internals pretty easily. Just make sure you’ve removed all the screws on the bottom and the optical drive as well.

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

Of course, since the notebook is in the 15-inch class, it has a standard 2.5-inch HDD/SSD bay and an M.2 SSD slot. The first one is taken by a Seagate 1TB HDD while the M.2 SSD slot is occupied by a SanDisk X400 128GB stick working on the SATA interface but you can always stick a PCIe NVMe SSD inside if you need to.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
M.2 SSD 2280 slot 1	SanDisk X400 128GB M.2 SATA SSD	Buy from Amazon.com
2.5-inch HDD/SSD slot	1TB Seagate HDD	Buy from Amazon.com

RAM

The notebooks allow up to 32GB of DDR4-2400 memory using dual-channel setup of two 16GB DDR4-2400 sticks but our unit came with just a single Kingston 8GB DDR-2400 RAM chip.

Slot	Unit	Upgrade price
Slot 1	8GB Kingston DDR4-2400	Buy from Amazon.com
Slot 2	Free	Buy from Amazon.com

Other components

The Wi-Fi card can be found right above the two RAM slots.

The battery unit is located under the wrist rest area and it’s rated at just 42Wh.

Cooling system

The cooling solution isn’t anything out of the ordinary – just a single heatpipe connecting the CPU and GPU heatsinks. A small fan pushes the hot air out through the vents placed on the back of the machine.

Display quality

The Inspiron 5570 comes with a Full HD (1920×1080) TN panel manufactured by BOE with model number 4561N-NT15N41. With a 15.6-inch diagonal, the display scores 142 ppi and 0.18 x 0.18 mm pixel pitch. It can be considered as “Retina” at least from 60 cm.

The display offers poor viewing angles due to the nature of TN panels.

We’ve recorded a peak brightness of just 194 cd/m2 in the center of the screen and 192 cd/m2 as average across the surface with just 5% maximum deviation. The correlated color temperature at maximum brightness is a bit colder than it should be – 7350K and shoots up to 16000K when going along the grayscale, which means that colors will appear noticeably blue-ish. You can see how these values change at 140 cd/m2 (72% brightness) in the image below.

The maximum color deviation dE2000 compared to the center of the screen should be no more than 4.0 and if you are planning to do color-sensitive work, it should be lower than 2.0. But in this case, since the laptop is going to be used mostly for office work and web browsing, a deviation of 3.6 in the lower right corner isn’t problematic. The contrast ratio is exceptionally low – 325:1 before calibration and 290:1 after calibration.

Color reproduction

As expected, the display covers just 50% of the sRGB color gamut so half of the web-based colors are missing.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

Response time

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and reverse.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 13 ms.

PWM (Screen flickering)

According to our equipment, the display uses PWM only at certain levels of brightness while in other cases it’s practically non-existent. This makes the screen relatively safe to use in this regard but users with sensitive eyes will still feel some of the effects from PWM.

Blue light emissions

You can see the levels of emitted blue light on the spectral power distribution (SPD) graph.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, we don’t have anything good to say about the display. Even in this price range, there are plenty of other options with better IPS panels. The Inspiron 5570 in its current configuration offers a screen with exceptionally low maximum brightness, extremely low contrast, poor viewing angles, narrow sRGB coverage, unacceptable calibration out of the box and uses PWM at certain levels of brightness, although the latter will probably affect only users with sensitive eyes.

Buy our display profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package is meant for Dell Inspiron 5570 configurations with 15.6″ BOE 4561N-NT15N41 (FHD, 1920 × 1080) TN screen and the laptop can be found at Amazon: Buy from Amazon.com

Read more about the profiles HERE.

Office Work

$4.96

Design and Gaming

$4.97

Health-Guard

$4.98

$9.99

Sound

We didn’t notice any major distortions in the low, mid and high frequencies.

Specs sheet

The current specs sheet is for this particular model and configurations may differ depending on your region

Dell Inspiron 5570 technical specifications table Also known as Dell Inspiron 15 5000

Not available

CPU

Intel Core i7-8550U 16

GPU

AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5) 76

Display

15.6”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), TN

HDD/SSD

128GB SSD + 1TB HDD, 5400 rpm

M.2 Slot

1x PCIe NVMe M.2 slot (2280, M-key) See photo

RAM

8GB DDR4, 2400 MHz

Dimensions

380 x 258 x 19.90 mm (14.96" x 10.16" x 0.78")

Weight

2.12 kg (4.7 lbs)

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum (All-plastic construction, brushed aluminum interior)

Ports and connectivity

1x USB Type-C 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1), Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
2x USB Type-A 3.0 (3.1 Gen 1)
1x USB Type-A 2.0
HDMI 1.4b
VGA
Card reader SD
Ethernet lan 10/100 Mbps
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Audio jack

Features

Fingerprint reader
Web camera 720p@30fps
Backlit keyboard
Microphone Digital-array microphones
Speakers 2x 2W
Optical drive
Security Lock slotNoble lock

Dell Inspiron 15 5570 configurations

Dell Inspiron 5570

$550^.00

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 5570

$649^.00

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 5570

Intel Core i5-8250U
Intel UHD Graphics 620
1000GB HDD + 128GB SSD
8GB RAM

$679^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 5570

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 5570

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 5570

Not available

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Software

We used the pre-installed Windows 10 for the writing of this review but if you wish to perform a clean install of the OS, we suggest downloading all of the latest drivers from Dell’s official support page.

Battery

Battery life isn’t bad but it’s not great either. Packing a 42Wh unit, the Inspiron 5570 scores slightly above average web browsing score and slightly below average video playback runtime. It appears that despite the energy-efficient Core i7-8550U and undemanding Full HD TN panel, the device’s battery life isn’t something it can brag about.

Of course, all tests were run using the same settings as always – Wi-Fi turned on, screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2 and Windows battery saving feature switched on.

Dell Inspiron 5570

42 Wh

price

431 min.

battery

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

48Wh, 3220 mAh

482 min.+11.8%

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

277 min.-35.7%

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

52.5Wh, 4610 mAh

555 min.+28.8%

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.

Dell Inspiron 5570

42 Wh

price

303 min.

battery

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

48Wh, 3220 mAh

372 min.+22.8%

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

220 min.-27.4%

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

52.5Wh, 4610 mAh

450 min.+48.5%

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

Dell Inspiron 5570

42 Wh

price

96 min.

battery

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

48Wh, 3220 mAh

131 min.+36.5%

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

73 min.-24%

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

52.5Wh, 4610 mAh

213 min.+121.9%

We use F1 2017’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

CPU – Intel Core i7-8550U

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i7-8550u/

Intel Core i7-8550U

Dell Inspiron 5570

price

640

performance

Intel Core i5-8250U

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

553-6.1%

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

320-22.6%

Results are from the Cinebench 15 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Core i7-8550U

Dell Inspiron 5570

price

12415

performance

Intel Core i5-8250U

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

10976-2.6%

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

6350-10.9%

Results are from the Fritz chess benchmark (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Core i7-8550U

Dell Inspiron 5570

price

9.95

performance

Intel Core i5-8250U

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15")

10.88+0.5%

Intel Core i5-7200U

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

18.10+5.1%

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)

Dell Inspiron 5570 CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the Dell Inspiron 5570 models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Dell Inspiron 5570 model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.

Intel Core i5-8250U

Dell Inspiron 5570

$550

price

606

performance

Intel Core i7-8550U

Dell Inspiron 5570

$917.02+67%

640+2.4%

Results are from the Cinebench 15 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Core i5-8250U

Dell Inspiron 5570

$550

price

11843

performance

Intel Core i7-8550U

Dell Inspiron 5570

$917.02+67%

12395+1%

Results are from the Fritz chess benchmark (the higher the score, the better)

Intel Core i5-8250U

Dell Inspiron 5570

$550

price

11.45

performance

Intel Core i7-8550U

Dell Inspiron 5570

$917.02+67%

11.09-0.2%

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)

Fritz

Fritz is a chess benchmark that tests the computing capabilities of the CPU with various chess moves. The Intel Core i7-8550U managed to get 12.415 million moves per second. For comparison, one of the most powerful computers, Deep(er) Blue, was able to squeeze out 200 million moves per second. In 1997 Deep(er) Blue even beat the famous Garry Kasparov with 3.5 to 2.5.

GPU – AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5)

AMD Radeon 530 is made for the entry-level notebooks and can be used for general multimedia and light gaming. The GPU is based on the Sun GCN architecture on the 28nm node and it uses 320 or 384 shaders, depending on the version. The GPU itself operates at a maximum frequency of 1024MHz.

The memory setup consists of 4GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 2250 MHz and it’s connected to the graphics processor using a 64-bit interface. AMD Radeon 530 supports Mantle, DirectX 12, OpenGL, Vulkan and OpenCL 1.2. It also has a DDR3 variant.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook with this GPU that we’ve tested: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/intel-uhd-graphics-620/

AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5)

Dell Inspiron 5570

price

2104

performance

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

3566+3.6%

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

2149+0.1%

Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)

AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5)

Dell Inspiron 5570

price

505

performance

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

1081+8.6%

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

653+2.2%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)

AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5)

Dell Inspiron 5570

price

360

performance

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

780+8.4%

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

501+2.8%

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 4.0 benchmark (higher the score, the better)

AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5)

Dell Inspiron 5570

price

281

performance

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)

Acer Aspire 5 (A517-51G)

485+2%

NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (2GB GDDR5)

Lenovo Ideapad 320s (15-inch)

367+0.8%

Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)

Gaming tests

GTA-V-benchmarks

Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5)	HD, Low (Check settings)	HD, Medium (Check settings)	HD, Very High (Check settings)
Average FPS	60 fps	25 fps	14 fps

Temperatures

The stress tests that we perform don’t represent real-life usage scenarios since even the most demanding games don’t require 100% CPU and 100% GPU usage all the time but these torture tests remain the most reliable way to test the effectiveness and longevity of the cooling system.

We start off with 100% CPU load for an hour. The Core i7-8550U utilized its maximum clock speeds (3.5 GHz) for a brief moment before settling at 2.2 GHz. Operating temperatures were a bit higher than expected.

Switching on the GPU stress test didn’t result in increased CPU temperatures but resulted in throttling. The processor stepped down to 1.3 GHz while the GPU ran at around 900 MHz reaching temperatures near 90 °C. That’s exceptionally hot even for gaming notebook standards.

Temperatures on the surface were also a bit higher than we would normally expect from a laptop with this hardware. The center and the upper part of the keyboard were a bit warm to touch.

38.2°

46.9°

31.8°

36.1°

46.0°

31.0°

26.2°

25.6°

Verdict

Honestly, we don’t like bashing notebooks for no reason or make a verdict out of a nitpicking but in this case, all of the data we’ve gathered from the review can’t make a compelling reason to buy this machine. We honestly can’t think of anything that’s a solid key selling point except for the CPU itself.

Build quality isn’t exactly good – spongy keyboard, flexible lid, and all-plastic construction. Don’t get us wrong, though, there are plenty of good examples of solid plastic notebooks but this definitely isn’t one of them. Input devices aren’t impressive as well – shallow keyboard, barely usable touchpad.

Going through the specs sheet, things start to look even bleaker… literally. The display uses washed-out TN panel with extremely low brightness, contrast ratio and sRGB coverage while using PWM for regulating luminance. Color calibration is practically non-existent but luckily, our profiles can make color reproduction way better while the Health-Guard profile can eliminate PWM.

In addition, the AMD Radeon 530 just didn’t meet our expectations in terms of performance. It’s practically a re-branded Radeon R7 M460 GPU from the previous generation, which can’t beat the likes of NVIDIA’s GeForce 940MX and MX150. Interestingly enough, cooling performance is laughable as well – extremely high inner temperatures were recorded during heavy workload.

With all being said, we strongly recommend considering Lenovo’s budget Ideapad lineup – Ideapad 320s and Ideapad 520 in particular and if you have a few bucks extra laying around, Acer’s Aspire 5 with Full HD IPS display, Intel’s 8th Generation CPU and GeForce MX150 will suit your needs way better. All of the aforementioned notebooks have better displays, better cooling, more powerful GPUs and better battery life (except for the Ideapad 520).

Intel Core i5-8250U
Intel UHD Graphics 620
1000GB HDD + 128GB SSD
8GB RAM

$679^.99

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 5570

Intel Core i7-8550U
AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5)
1000GB HDD + 128GB SSD
8GB RAM

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 5570

Intel Core i5-8250U
AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5)
1000GB HDD + 256GB SSD
8GB RAM

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

Dell Inspiron 5570

Intel Core i7-8550U
AMD Radeon 530 (4GB GDDR5)
2000GB HDD + 256GB SSD
16GB RAM

Not available

More Info Buy from Amazon

View more laptops...

Pros

Fairly portable
Supports M.2 SSD and 2.5-inch HDD even from the lowest configuration

Cons

Unconvincing build quality
Dim display with narrow sRGB coverage and extremely low contrast ratio
The screen uses PWM for regulating screen brightness our Health-Guard profile takes care of that)
Shallow keyboard, bad touchpad design
Slow GPU for the asking price
Hardware runs hot at higher workloads

Contents

Retail package

Design and construction

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

RAM

Other components

Cooling system

Display quality

Color reproduction

Response time

PWM (Screen flickering)

Blue light emissions

Conclusion

Buy our display profiles

Office Work

Design and Gaming

Health-Guard

Sound

Specs sheet

Dell Latitude 3580 technical specifications table

Dell Latitude 15 3580 configurations

Software

Battery

Web browsing

Video playback

Gaming

CPU – Intel Core i5-7200U

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Fritz

GPU – Intel HD Graphics 620

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark (Sky Diver) test (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Temperatures

Verdict

Pros

Cons

Contents

Retail package

Design and construction

Disassembly, maintenance and upgrade options

Storage upgrades – 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, M.2 SSD

RAM

Other components

Cooling system

Display quality

Color reproduction

Response time (Gaming capabilities))

PWM (Screen flickering)

Blue light emissions

Conclusion

Buy our display profiles

Office Work

Design and Gaming

Health-Guard

Sound

Specs sheet

ASUS ROG GL753VD technical specifications table

ASUS ROG GL753 configurations

Software

Battery

Web browsing

Video playback

Gaming

CPU – Intel Core i7-7700HQ

Results are from the Cinebench 11 test (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the NovaBench CPU test (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the Photoshop test (lower the score, the better)

Fritz

GPU – NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (4GB GDDR5)

Results are from the 3DMark Cloud Gate (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark Fire Strike (G) test (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the 3DMark (Sky Diver) test (higher the score, the better)

Results are from the Unigine Heaven 3.0 test (higher the score, the better)

Gaming tests

Temperatures