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| PC World - 26 Sep (PC World)At a glanceExpert`s Rating
Pros
Attractive design
Great contrast ratio
Extraordinary color gamut
Super-bright in both SDR and HDR
Cons
No USB connectivity
Out-of-the-box color accuracy, gamma could be improved
Mini-LED backlight can show blooming, especially in HDR
Our Verdict
The Xiaomi G Pro 27i has a Mini-LED backlight with 1,156 dimming zones. That translates to excellent HDR that’s on par with some of the best monitors from 2023, though familiar Mini-LED issues, like blooming, remain present.
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Mini-LED monitors are one of the most interesting niches in the monitor market right now. These displays use an array of LED lights behind the screen to dynamically adjust contrast. Although this technology is typically expensive to implement, a few budget options have emerged, such as the Xiaomi G Pro 27i. It’s not much more expensive than models lacking a Mini-LED backlight, either.
Xiaomi G Pro 27i specs and features
Most of the Xiaomi G Pro 27i’s specifications are typical for a 27-inch gaming monitor priced below $500. The 27-inch widescreen panel has a resolution of 2560×1440 and supports a refresh rate of up to 180Hz. There are literally hundreds of monitors available with a similar resolution and refresh rate.
Display size: 27-inch 16:9 widescreen
Native resolution: 2560×1440
Panel type: Fast IPS with Mini-LED backlight with 1,152 dimming zones
Refresh rate: Up to 180Hz
Adaptive sync: AMD FreeSync
HDR: VESA DisplayHDR 1000
Ports: 2x HDMI 2.0, 2x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x 3.5mm audio out
VESA mount: 100x100mm
Speakers: None
Price: $329.99 MSRP
The Mini-LED backlight is Xiaomi’s secret sauce. Despite its price of just $330, the Xiaomi G Pro 27i features 1,152 dynamic dimming zones. If you wanted that many dimming zones in 2023, you’d have to pay three or four times more than what Xiaomi is asking today.
Further reading: See our roundup of the best gaming monitors to learn about competing products.
Xiaomi G Pro 27i design
A glance at the Xiaomi G Pro 27i makes it clear the company’s designers took notes from Alienware. The monitor’s combination of stark white and charcoal-black materials, along with the distinctive retro-futuristic font used by the number “27” found on the back of the display, gives off a vibe similar to Alienware’s distinctive “Legend” design language.
I’ve always felt Alienware’s monitors are among the best-looking in the industry today, so emulating that design is a recipe for success. I was also surprised by how nice the monitor looks and feels given its $330 price. Not only is it attractive, but it also holds up well when handled, as Xiaomi makes use of materials and textures that help the monitor stand out from the crowd. It includes RGB-LED lighting on the rear of the display panel for extra flair, though I didn’t find it to be especially bright.
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Xiaomi ships the monitor with a functional ergonomic stand that adjusts for height, tilt, swivel, and can rotate 90 degrees for use in portrait orientation. Most monitors priced similarly offer a similar range of adjustments, but it’s good to see Xiaomi didn’t sacrifice ergonomics to keep the price low.
However, Xiaomi opts for a rather wide stand base which takes up more desk space than necessary. It’s flat, at least, so you can still make some use of the space it occupies, but I prefer the smaller hexagonal stand found on some recent Alienware monitors like the Alienware AW2725QF.
The stand is also more difficult to set up than usual, as it’s not secured with the typical thumb screw but instead with four Phillips-head screws (a screwdriver is provided). A 100x100mm VESA mount is available for use with third-party monitor stands and arms.
Xiaomi G Pro 27i connectivity and menus
The Xiaomi G Pro 27i has two HDMI 2.0 ports and two DisplayPort 1.4 ports for a total of four video inputs. Only the DisplayPort connections can handle the monitor’s full resolution and refresh rate of 180Hz, while the HDMI ports are limited to 144Hz. Ideally, all ports should support the full resolution and refresh rate, but sticking with HDMI 2.0 is a compromise made by many affordable monitors.
While the monitor offers plenty of video connectivity, it lacks USB connectivity — there’s no USB-C, USB-B, or USB-A. This omission isn’t surprising, as many inexpensive monitors skip USB ports altogether. However, with USB-C becoming more popular each year, it would have been nice to see it included. The Innocn 27M2V, a 27-inch 4K Mini-LED monitor, offers a USB-C port.
A 3.5mm audio-out jack rounds out the connectivity options. The Xiaomi does not have built-in speakers.
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The on-screen menu system is controlled via a responsive joystick located on the right side of the monitor. Like many monitor menu systems, Xiaomi relies on small text that can be a bit difficult to read from a distance. However, the monitor offers a good range of options, including image adjustments for color and gamma.
Gaming features are lacking, though: The monitor has a Dark Scene Boost feature to make foes easier to spot in dark areas, but it lacks an on-screen crosshair, timer, or FPS counter. It also doesn’t support the alternative display size and aspect ratio modes found on OLED gaming monitors and lacks any picture-in-picture or picture-by-picture mode.
While the on-screen menu system is good, Xiaomi doesn’t offer a Windows software utility to control the monitor’s settings. Many monitor brands, including Alienware, Acer, Gigabyte, LG, and BenQ, now offer some sort of Windows utility, which is usually more convenient to use than the on-screen menu. Xiaomi’s lack of a Windows utility for this monitor isn’t a big deal if you don’t plan to change settings often, but if you do, it’s a letdown.
Xiaomi G Pro 27i SDR image quality
The Xiaomi G Pro 27i’s Mini-LED backlight allows it to achieve VESA DisplayHDR 1000 certification, which is excellent for an affordable gaming monitor. However, SDR is still the main use case for most PC games and productivity apps, so that’s where we will begin.
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The Xiaomi G Pro 27i is exceptionally bright at its maximum setting. I measured a peak brightness of almost 800 nits, which obliterates the competition.
Of course, it’s worth asking whether this level of brightness is useful. In theory, this could be beneficial if you’re using the monitor next to a sunward-facing window or in an extremely bright room, but otherwise, I don’t think this level of SDR brightness is necessary. Personally, I found it comfortable at around 25 percent to 30 percent of its maximum brightness.
Still, if you want bright, Xiaomi delivers.
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The Xiaomi G Pro 27i delivered a respectable contrast ratio of 8,530:1 at 50 percent of its maximum brightness. This is a good result for an affordable monitor, and in many situations, it won’t look much different from an OLED display. Xiaomi’s strong contrast, combined with its brightness, makes it especially well-suited for use in brighter rooms. When used this way, dark portions of the display appear extremely deep, offering a great sense of immersion.
However, the monitor faces stiff competition from the AOC Q27G3XMN, another affordable Mini-LED display. The AOC has far fewer backlight zones than the Xiaomi (336 vs. 1,152), but in testing, the AOC achieved a better contrast ratio at default settings. This was true across both higher and lower brightness levels. The Innocn 27M2V, an older 4K Mini-LED monitor, fell behind the Xiaomi, though it still performed well for the price.
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Color gamut is arguably the Xiaomi G Pro 27i’s greatest strength, as the monitor has a colorful Quantum Dot panel, which is exceptional at this price point and delivers a color gamut far wider than most competitors. We’re talking 99 percent of DCI-P3 and 98 percent of Adobe RGB. These results are among the best available at any price and defeat even QD-OLED monitors, which many consider the gold standard for a monitor’s color gamut.
The Xiaomi’s excellent color gamut provides vivid, saturated visuals in games, but it’s even more useful for content creators working with photos, videos, or digital art. The monitor allows you to see a wider range of colors than is typical for competitively priced displays. The Innocn 27M2V is a strong rival to Xiaomi in this area and also has 4K resolution (which many content creators will prefer), but it’s roughly $150 more expensive.
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Color accuracy, on the other hand, was a weakness, as Xiaomi’s default color accuracy was behind its closest competitors. This can be adjusted with calibration, and I managed to improve the color accuracy, bringing the average color error down to 1.66 with some tweaks. That level of color accuracy is strong, though still not at the top of the pack.
I had some issues with gamma and color temperature. Initially, I measured a default gamma curve of 2.9, which was far off the target of 2.2 and indicated an overly dark image. This didn’t match what I was seeing, so I investigated further. After some troubleshooting, I found that the Mini-LED backlight took a moment to settle into the correct brightness when shifting between gamma test images, which skewed the results. Turning off the dynamic Mini-LED backlight changed the gamma result to 2.3, which is much closer to the target and provides a more accurate image. To be clear, I believe a gamma 2.3 is also what the panel produced with the Mini-LED backlight turned on but, because of how it operated, I couldn’t get a result I trusted.
The default color temperature also skewed warm at 5900K, which can give the image a red or rosy tint. This, too, is adjustable, and you can dial in the color temperature to suit your preference. But I was never able to hit my target color temperature of 6500K: The monitor was always a bit too cool or too warm.
Sharpness is fine. The Xiaomi’s 2560×1440 resolution is a common choice for an affordable 27-inch monitor, providing a pixel density of about 109 pixels per inch. That’s enough to look sharp in most situations, though text can seem slightly pixelated at times. I think 1440p is a solid compromise for an affordable 27-inch monitor, providing good sharpness at a resolution that budget and midrange video cards can handle more easily.
While the Xiaomi G Pro 27i’s SDR image quality is solid, especially for a monitor at its price point, it has strengths and weaknesses. It’s the opposite of a display like the Dell U2724DE. That Dell has image quality that’s good all-around but never the best. The Xiaomi, on the other hand, is exceptional in some areas (like brightness and color gamut) but not so hot in others (like color accuracy and color temperature).
If you want bright, Xiaomi delivers.
Xiaomi G Pro 27i HDR image quality
The Xiaomi G Pro 27i claims VESA DisplayHDR 1000 certification, which is excellent for a monitor at this price point. The monitor mostly lived up to the expectations set by this certification, though it’s not without flaws.
HDR brightness is impressive. It achieved a sustained brightness of up to 902 nits when displaying a full-screen HDR image calibrated for over 1,000 nits. Its HDR brightness levels across the board are excellent for the price, though not as good as the AOC Q27G3XMN.
However, the Xiaomi G Pro 27i’s HDR image quality is hard to beat for the price. This is not only due to its high HDR brightness but also the use of Quantum Dots, which provides an exceptional color gamut that benefits HDR. Overall, the HDR image tends to appear slightly warmer than it should, but not to the extent that most viewers would notice.
There is one notable flaw, though, and it’s common to Mini-LED monitors: blooming. The Mini-LED backlight’s dimming zones are larger than the individual pixels on the display, so when small bright objects appear on a dark background, a noticeable halo can “bloom” around them. The reverse can happen, too — when viewing bright text on a dark screen, the text may appear dimmer than it should. It happens most frequently around text, like subtitles, or small interface elements, like a mini-map in a strategy game.
I expected the Xiaomi’s dimming zones would minimize blooming, but I didn’t find that to be the case. If anything, it appeared to perform worse than the Innocn 27M2V, which also has 1,152 dimming zones, and was merely on par with the AOC Q27G3XMN, which has just 336. This was most noticeable in the case of inverse blooming: In some cases the Xiaomi had a difficult time displaying small, bright objects at an appropriate level of brightness.
Xiaomi G Pro 27i motion performance
The Xiaomi G Pro 27i features a fast IPS display panel with a maximum refresh rate of 180Hz. It also supports AMD FreeSync and Adaptive Sync, which should work unofficially with Nvidia video cards.
Motion performance is good, though your impression will depend on your perspective. The 180Hz refresh rate delivers a much smoother experience than a 60Hz monitor, with less visible ghosting behind small fast-moving objects. However, the Xiaomi’s motion clarity isn’t any better than other monitors with a similar refresh rate.
Testing with scrolling images from games like League of Legends and Dota 2 showed that character sprites and background terrain were easy to make out, but the character names and health bars could be a bit tough to see, especially when they didn’t contrast well with the background. Again, this is typical for a 180Hz display. However, at this price point, it’s possible to find 240Hz monitors that deliver even better motion clarity.
The Mini-LED backlight can also present issues for motion clarity, especially when a small, bright object moves quickly across a dark scene. Certain colors on gray-ish scenes also seem to trigger this behavior. In either case, the blooming around bright objects can make ghosting more noticeable. Additionally, depending on the size of the object and its speed, the transition between backlight zones can sometimes become obvious, giving a “chunky” or uneven appearance to motion.
Should you buy the Xiaomi G Pro 27i?
The Xiaomi G Pro 27i is a good choice if you’re looking for an affordable monitor that delivers solid HDR performance and achieves a class-leading color gamut. In these areas, the monitor is able to match or even surpass the performance of displays priced several times higher, which is, of course, impressive. The Xiaomi is also surprisingly well designed given its budget pricing.
However, like many Mini-LED monitors, the Xiaomi G Pro 27i can’t avoid some common flaws. Despite its 1,152 dimming zones, blooming is still visible around bright objects on a dark screen, and the reverse can occur with dark objects on a bright screen. Motion performance is also just okay, and competitive gamers on a budget may prefer to stick with a 1080p monitor that lacks Mini-LED but offers a higher refresh rate, such as the Alienware AW2724HF.
That leaves the Xiaomi G Pro 27i with a well-defined niche. It’s an affordable choice for HDR games and movies, and a solid pick for content creators who want an exceptional color gamut at a low price. Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | PC World - 25 Sep (PC World)Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days this October are a great opportunity to find the best deals on Thunderbolt docking stations and USB-C hubs, which are simply the best accessories to connect your laptop to legacy hardware, displays, and other computing peripherals.
Amazon’s fall version of Prime Day begins October 8. I’m already on the hunt for the very best deals on Thunderbolt docks from manufacturers like Anker and Belkin, as well as USB-C hubs and dongles from a number of suppliers. I may even add a DisplayLink dock deal, too.
My deal recommendations factor in top picks from PCWorld’s roundups of best Thunderbolt docks and the best USB-C hubs. I’ve worked as a technology reporter for 30 years and have reviewed dozens of Thunderbolt docks and hubs since 2020, which is when the WFH (work from home) movement started generating all sorts of demand for these products.
Below you’ll find my curated list of the best Prime Big Deal Days bargains on Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs from Amazon. I’ll continue adding to it through October 9, when Big Deal Days ends. Be sure to check out our Prime Big Deal Days hub, where we’ll have deals in other categories as well as specific stories on the hottest deals, as we find them.
Last updated on Sept 24, 2024.
Best early Prime Big Deal Days deals on Thunderbolt docks
Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core, 60W charging, $68.92 (65% off at Amazon)
Kensington SD2480T Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station, 60W charging, $49.95 (72% off at Amazon)
Ugreen Revodok Max 208 Thunderbolt 4 Dock, 85W charging, $159.99 (36% off at Amazon)
Kensington K37010NA Thunderbolt 3 Dock, 100W charging, $96.98 (31% off at Amazon)
Lenovo 40AN0135US Thunderbolt 3 Dock Gen 2, 135W charging, $189.99 (41% off at Amazon)
I just can’t get quit the Belkin Dock Core, and apparently Belkin can’t either. (It always crops up on our deals pages!) It requires you to supply a power brick. Mac people hate it, but it’s a compact little Thunderbolt dock that delivers a ton for the money. Here’s my review of the Belkin Thunderbolt 3 Dock Core, which I awarded an Editor’s Choice.
Kensington’s SD2480T (the “old version” is listed, but it seems to be the same as the “new” version) is just an older dock on sale for a great price. This Amazon sale may be the last gasp of Thunderbolt 3 hardware. The dock does run hot, as many note, but it shouldn’t affect its performance. Be aware that you’ll need displays with DisplayPort adapters. Or you’ll need to buy a cheap DisplayPort to HDMI adapter for $20 or so.
I’ve reviewed a number of UGreen Revodok docks, and the manufacturer consistently puts out good hardware. (This is the Max 208, while I’ve reviewed the Revodok Max 213.) Like the SD2480T, this dock uses dedicated Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, so factor in the price of a couple dongles if you want to run it to displays with HDMI or DisplayPort connections. It’s still a decent price, however — by comparison, the Max 213 retailed at $400, which is waaay overpriced. Ugreen’s $249 MSRP for the 208 is reasonable, making this sale pretty good.
The Kensington K37010NA is a lovely design — the floating aesthetic is unique. I haven’t reviewed this dock, but I really like Kensington hardware. Again: There’s one useful HDMI port, but also one upstream Thunderbolt port. That’s not a huge deal. In this case, I buy an extra uni USB-C to HDMI cable for about $16. The 100W charging should take care of most laptops, though perhaps not ones with discrete GPUs. Note the thoughtful 9v/2.22A (20W) USB-C charging on the front that should fast-charge a smartphone.
Finally Lenovo’s Thunderbolt 3 dock is on a good early Prime Deal Days sale. It costs a little more, but it offers more charging power and a number of display options.
Best early Prime Big Deal Days deals on USB-C hubs, dongles, and docking stations
Acer 7-in-1 USB C Hub, $18.99 (24% off at Amazon)
Baseus Laptop Docking Station 9-in-1, $39.99 (38% off at Amazon)
Benfei 5-in-1 USB-C hub, $7.99 at Amazon (20% off at Amazon)
Anker 555 8-in-1 USB-C hub, $44.99 (10% off at Amazon)
If you want a cheap, to-the-point USB-C hub, the Benfei looks fine. It doesn’t include microSD/SD and it has just USB-A ports, but it’s a simple dongle for connecting an HDMI display, mouse, keyboard, and a 5Gbps peripheral of some sort.
The Anker 555 8-in-1 hub is my recommended USB-C hub. Amazon does run sales on both of these products from time to time, but these prices are at or just above the low price for 2024.
Thunderbolt dock deals FAQ
1.
What should I look for when buying a Thunderbolt dock or USB-C hub?
While Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs are often seen as distinct product categories, they have similarities. Both utilize a USB-C connection from your laptop. However, the distinction lies in how some laptops employ this port: some as a standard USB-C port, while others channel the high-speed Thunderbolt 3 or 4 protocol via the USB-C connector. The standard port typically supports up to 10Gbps of data transfer, which is adequate for USB drives, external storage devices, and possibly an external monitor.
Thunderbolt (either Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4) allows for 40Gbps of throughput, designed for high-speed external SSDs and multiple displays. Our roundups of the best USB-C hubs and the best Thunderbolt docks explain further in much greater detail. Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 are close enough that you can save money by buying the older technology that retailers are trying to get rid of. That’s important! Thunderbolt 5, which will deliver 80Gbps, just hasn’t appeared, and that’s a little disappointing.
If you want to connect high-speed peripherals (or just a ton of them) a Thunderbolt dock might be the best bet — especially more than one display. Otherwise, a USB-C hub might work just fine. A Thunderbolt dock definitely is a future-proofed solution though.
USB-C hubs and dongles are relatively cheap, rarely climbing over $60. Thunderbolt docks can cost anywhere from $100 to $300, depending on what features the dock offers.
Usually, the best Prime Big Deal Days deals on USB-C hubs and dongles are on the more expensive docking stations, not the $20-$50 hubs. Thunderbolt dock deals usually feature older Thunderbolt 3 hardware which is functionally equivalent to the latest gear. It’s like buying a car with 1,000 miles on it for 25% off. That’s not a perfect example, of course, but you get the idea.
2.
I have a USB-C port on my laptop. How do I know what to use with it?
Refer to your laptop’s manual to identify the Thunderbolt port, which may be marked with a small lightning bolt icon. However, this symbol might also indicate a charging port. If in doubt, a USB-C dongle or hub is universally compatible with USB-C ports.
3.
I don’t understand the difference between the USB-C and Thunderbolt interfaces. How does it all work?
USB ports have a long history. USB-C, known for its versatility, replaced USB-A (the thick square port) due to its reversible connector and capability for higher transfer speeds. USB-C ports can support 5Gbps or 10Gbps, similar to standard USB-A ports. However, some USB-C ports are linked to a Thunderbolt chip within your laptop, enabling them to operate at an elevated speed of 40Gbps. While the physical appearance of the connector remains the same, its functionality is what sets it apart.
4.
What’s the difference between a USB-C hub and a Thunderbolt dock?
A 10Gbps USB-C hub offers speed and versatility, connecting to a single 4K (or 1080p) display and offering various ports such as USB-A and SD card slots. Typically, you can connect your laptop’s USB-C power cable directly to the hub if needed.
A 40Gbps Thunderbolt dock, on the other hand, provides greater bandwidth to support additional ports. It stands out in two main ways: it can handle two 4K displays simultaneously, and many docks include a power supply that can charge both your laptop and phone through the Thunderbolt cable that links your laptop to the dock. We still haven’t seen 80Gbps Thunderbolt 5 hardware yet.
5.
My laptop has USB4, not Thunderbolt. Can I use a Thunderbolt dock?
If your laptop runs USB4, it won’t “understand” Thunderbolt 3 protocols, I’m told. But otherwise, USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 are functionally the same. Intel refuses to certify non-Intel platforms like AMD’s Ryzen for Thunderbolt, and the new Copilot+ PCs from Microsoft powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips are in the same boat.
USB-C hubs work with basically anything with a USB-C port on it. Don’t worry about those at all.
6.
Is Thunderbolt 4 better than Thunderbolt 3?
Physically, they use the same USB-C cable. (Well, they have a different logo — one has a “3,” and the other a “4.”) Functionally, they’re almost the same. Thunderbolt 4 was released almost as a patch to Thunderbolt 3, ensuring that everything worked properly. They both run at 40Gbps and connect to the same peripherals. If you own a laptop equipped with Thunderbolt, you can connect to both and basically your experience will be the same.
The kicker? Thunderbolt 3 hardware is older, and retailers want you to buy the latest gear. So as far as deals go, buying Thunderbolt 3 hardware is a real steal.
7.
Do I need a Thunderbolt dock if I own a desktop PC?
Usually desktops come chock full of ports, even legacy ones like USB-A. What they don’t always have is a microSD and SD card slot, and a USB-C dock might be a good and cheap way to add this functionality.
Intel has historically struggled to get Thunderbolt into desktop PCs, though, so USB-C may in fact be your only option. There’s really no guarantee that a desktop with have a Thunderbolt port.
8.
Some of these docks have had bad reviews on shopping sites. Why?
Mac users, am I right? While Macs adopted Thunderbolt first, some of the Apple M1 silicon couldn’t keep up with Intel Thunderbolt controllers used by Windows PCs, and the Apple MacOS experience suffered as a result.
If a user complains about a bad Windows experience, sure, that’s worth paying attention to. But a Mac user? Bah. They bought the wrong platform. Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | PC World - 25 Sep (PC World)At a glanceExpert`s Rating
Pros
Windows and Android in one device
A better “2-in-1” experience than the average 2-in-1
Decent PC performance with good build quality
cons
Expensive
Attaching the screen feels a little clunky
Very few ports
A separate Windows laptop and Android tablet may be more convenient
Our Verdict
This machine combines a Windows laptop and Android tablet. It’s expensive, but there’s nothing else like it.
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The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid (Station & Tab) is truly a 2-in-1 laptop, combining a 14-inch Windows laptop and an Android tablet in one unusually interesting form factor. You can detach this laptop’s screen and use it as an Android tablet. Or you can press a button on the keyboard to instantly swap between Windows laptop and Android laptop modes.
Yes, this really is two computers in one. You can even plug the base of the laptop (aka the Station) into an external monitor and use it separately from the screen while the screen (aka the Tab) functions as an independent Android tablet. Plus, Lenovo includes a stylus and an easel stand for this machine.
There’s a lot going on here. I’m happy this machine exists – it feels like the type of product I’d see at a tech show like CES or IFA, where the hardware manufacturer would say it’s an experimental device that isn’t planned for a real release. But this is a real machine that Lenovo is selling today and that’s awesome, even if the $3,500 price point will be more than many people will want to spend.
Further reading: Best laptops 2024: Premium, budget, gaming, 2-in-1s, and more
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid: Specs
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid includes an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU. This is one of Intel’s Meteor Lake CPUs. With Lunar Lake on the horizon, it’s important to note that this machine doesn’t have a fast enough NPU to get Copilot+ PC features, if that’s important to you. Lunar Lake-powered systems will also likely have much better battery life and performance – if you believe Intel’s promises. (We haven’t had a chance to benchmark them yet).
You’re also getting 32GB of RAM along with Intel Arc graphics. It’s a reasonable setup, although people who want more powerful discrete graphics for gaming or content creation work will need to look elsewhere.
I’ve included the specs of the base station – the Intel Windows PC — in the below list. The ThinkBook Plus G5 Tab has its own hardware: A Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, Qualcomm Adreno GPU, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. It also has its own 38.7 Watt-hour battery.
CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
Memory: 32GB LPDDRX5 RAM
Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc graphics
Display: 2880×1800 OLED display with 60Hz refresh rate
Storage: 1 TB SSD
Webcam: 1080p webcam with physical shutter switch on the front, 13MP autofocus camera on the back
Connectivity: 2x USB Type-C (Thunderbolt 4 / USB4), 1x combo audio jack
Networking: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
Biometrics: IR camera for facial recognition, fingerprint reader (in the power button)
Battery capacity: 75 Watt-hours for Station, 38.7 Watt-hours for Tab
Dimensions: 0.63 x 12.3 x 9.2 inches combined (0.37 x 12.3 x 9.2 inches for Station and 0.26 x 12.3 x 8.8 inches for Tab)
Weight: 3.87 pounds combined (2.14 pounds for Station and 1.73 pounds for Tab)
MSRP: $3,518 as tested
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid is a very cool machine. I’m glad Lenovo is creating interesting and unique experiences like this one and bringing them to market.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid: Design and build quality
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid has a smart design. It’s incredibly solid, made out of silver and gray aluminum with a very dense feeling. At 3.87 pounds, it’s heavier than the average “thin-and-light” 14-inch laptop. That’s no surprise, as this machine includes two separate computers. There’s much more weight in the screen than there is in an average laptop – that has to be the case, as the screen can function as an Android tablet when detached from the device.
I’m a big fan of the design overall. The average 2-in-1 laptop simply has a hinge that can rotate 360 degrees. So sure, you can rotate it back, but then you’re using an incredibly heavy tablet and you feel the keyboard’s keys on the back of the tablet. With this machine, you just pop the display off: Rotate the screen so that it’s at a 90-degree angle relative to the keyboard, and then pull the screen up and away from the base station.
The mechanism that attaches the screen to the base station of the laptop is incredibly solid, and the hinge works smoothly while it’s attached. The weight of the screen isn’t a problem for the hinge. This is a more solid hinge than you’ll find on the average laptop.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
Still, there’s a problem I have to highlight: The display-attaching process doesn’t quite feel like I think it should. When I received the laptop, I attached the screen to the base station by snapping it into place. The screen didn’t stay fully closed. Lenovo informed me that this was because the display wasn’t securely attached to the base station. To attach the display to the base station, I had to press down much harder than I expected until it snapped into place.
The mechanism did seem to break in over time, becoming easier to attach — and with less force — than it was the first time I used it. But, weeks later on my review unit, I still had to press down separately on the right side of the screen and then on the left side to make each side snap securely into place.
It’s not a huge problem once I got a feel for how to attach it, but ideally it would work more smoothly. That being said, I still prefer this detachable screen to a 2-in-1 experience that requires your fingers are resting on a keyboard on the back of a screen.
Unlike other 2-in-1 machines like Microsoft’s Surface Pro, you’re also getting a full Android environment when the screen is detached. That’s a big deal – while I love Windows, we all know that Android is a more touch-optimized environment that has more touch-first tablet applications.
The main issue with using this machine as an Android tablet is the screen size. That 14-inch 16:10 screen is great in laptop mode. However, in tablet mode, it’s unusually large and perhaps a little unwieldy.
Lenovo also includes an easel-style stand for this machine along with an active pen, however. That’s a hint that this machine is more designed for content creation, even in tablet mode.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid: How does the Android integration work?
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
You can detach the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid’s screen to have it function as an Android tablet. (You can’t use the screen as a separate Windows tablet, though: The Windows PC hardware is in the base of the laptop while the Android hardware is in the display).
You can also use this machine as an Android laptop. The keyboard has a special function key where the Insert key is. Marked by a sticker that comes on the laptop, this key will swap between Windows mode and Android mode. It takes one or two seconds to swap between environments, like if you were flipping an internal KVM switch to switch between devices. I’ve never used a laptop that ran two operating systems at once and let me switch between them at the press of a key. It’s a neat idea.
Lenovo also bundles software that lets you access the Android environment in a window on your Windows desktop. You’re able to run Android software in a window without emulation – it’s running right on the hardware in the display part of the machine. A Hybrid Center application included with the PC provides one place to set things up and learn how to use these hybrid features.
The Windows PC and Android system have separate storage. To ease file transfers, Lenovo bundles Hybrid Folder software. Once you pair the Windows and Android sides of the laptop, changes you make to this folder – including files you add and remove – will by synced to the other machine. It can even sync wirelessly if the Gen 5 Hybrid’s screen is removed.
It works pretty well, but it’s once again a reminder that this Hybrid machine is two separate computers: A Station and a Tab. For example, if you’re connecting to a Wi-Fi network, you’ll need to enter the network’s passphrase in both Windows and Android to use it in each environment. Settings like this don’t sync between each system.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid: Keyboard and trackpad
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The full-size keyboard on the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid works well, both in Windows laptop mode and Android laptop mode. It’s a high-quality keyboard. I feel like I’ve used snappier laptop keyboards with crisper key action, but I had no problem sitting down at the laptop and accurately typing at a high speed.
This machine’s trackpad also works well. It’s plenty large, the click action feels pleasantly clicky, and the surface is smooth to the touch. Palm rejection worked well while I was typing. It’s not quite as nice as new haptic touchpads found on machines like Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 7, but those aren’t widespread yet.
Lenovo also includes a pen with this package. It works in both Android and Windows, and it can attach magnetically to the lid of the laptop.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid: Display and speakers
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid has a 14-inch 2880×1800 OLED display with a 60Hz refresh rate. Naturally, this is a touch screen and the touch screen functions in both Windows and Android modes.
The screen looks beautiful, which is no surprise for a 2.8K OLED display. However, some displays do have higher refresh rates than 60Hz. Though it’s a glossy display, it had enough brightness to work well outside on a sunny day.
The Station and Tab have separate speaker systems here. In laptop mode, you’re getting the best speaker setup — no surprise there. This machine can output a surprising amount of volume while the audio remains clear, and it has decent bass for a 14-inch laptop, too.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid: Webcam, microphone, biometrics
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid has a 1080p webcam integrated into the Tab portion – the screen, in other words. It’s a solid webcam that produces a good picture. You also get access to the AI-powered Windows Studio Effects for features like background blur and faked eye contact in any application.
There’s also a physical shutter switch above the webcam that blocks the webcam, which is always a nice privacy feature.
This machine also has a dual-camera array on the back, just like a smartphone would. It’s a 13MP auto-focusing camera along with a 5MP wide camera with a flash. This feature doesn’t just work in Android – it’s also accessible in apps like the Camera app on Windows. It probably won’t replace your smartphone camera – modern high-end smartphones have cameras with more megapixels. But it’s nice to have and it’s the kind of feature included with tablets.
The microphone sounds good and picked up my voice well even in an environment with a good amount of background noise. Between that and the webcam, this is a great machine for online meetings.
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid includes both an IR camera for facial recognition and a fingerprint reader. The fingerprint reader is part of the power button at the right side of the laptop. Both worked well — and the machine also offers facial recognition for signing into the Android tablet environment.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid: Connectivity
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
The connectivity options on the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid are somewhat minimal. You’re getting two USB Type-C ports – one on the left, and one on the right. You’ll use one of these ports to charge the laptop. You’re also getting a combo audio jack port on the left. That’s it.
When the screen is detached from the base station and functioning as an Android tablet, you’ll get one USB Type-C port on the screen. This provides a way to charge the tablet and connect devices to it even while it’s not connected to the base station.
There’s no way around it: Many people are going to want additional ports on a $3,500 laptop, including USB Type-A ports, microSD card slots, HDMI out ports, or even just more USB Type-C ports.
This machine includes Wi-Fi 6E hardware, and it worked well. Wi-Fi 7 would be nice to see – especially at this price point – and it should be standard on future laptops that move beyond Intel’s Meteor Lake hardware.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid: Performance
While the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid may include Android hardware, the PC hardware in the Station is no slouch. The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid performed well in day-to-day Windows PC productivity applications. We’d be shocked if it didn’t thanks to its capable Intel Core Ultra 7 155H CPU, 32GB of RAM, and high-end-for-integrated-graphics Intel Arc graphics.
As always, though we ran the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid through our standard benchmarks to see how it performs. Note that we focused on benchmarking the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid as a Windows laptop.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
First, we run PCMark 10 to get an idea of overall system performance. In this benchmark, the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid delivered a very respectable score of 7,398 and beat out other Intel Core Ultra 7 155H-powered systems.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
Next, we run Cinebench R20. This is a heavily multithreaded benchmark that focuses on overall CPU performance. It’s a quick benchmark, so cooling under extended workloads isn’t a factor. But, since it’s heavily multithreaded, CPUs with more cores have a huge advantage.
With an average score of 5,181, the Gen 5 Hybrid falls behind some similar laptops here, including the HP Omen Transcend 14 gaming laptop, which is also a 14-inch laptop and has a similar CPU.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
We also run an encode with Handbrake. This is another heavily multithreaded benchmark, but it runs over an extended period. This demands the laptop’s cooling kick in, and many laptops will throttle and slow down under load.
The ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid completed the encode process in 1,707 seconds, which is about 28 and a half minutes. That’s a rather low score compared to other laptops with the same CPU and suggests thermal throttling under load here. This machine likely isn’t the ideal workhorse system if you’re performing CPU-heavy tasks and need sustained high CPU performance. (On the other hand, the PCMark 10 score suggests it’s better than similar systems for general desktop productivity performance).
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
Next, we run a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptop, but it’s still good to check how the GPU performs. We run 3Dmark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance.
With a score of 3,916, this machine falls behind because of its Intel Arc graphics. The chart here shows how much more performance you can expect if you go for discrete Nvidia graphics in a laptop. However, unless you’re playing games on this laptop or using professional applications that need a GPU, you won’t notice a difference and the Intel Arc graphics will do the job well.
Overall, the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid delivers fine overall application performance on par with many other Intel Meteor Lake-powered laptops. It’s not the ideal gaming laptop thanks to its CPU. And, due to the thermal throttling, it’s not the ideal system for people who need to perform demanding CPU-heavy tasks for long periods of time. But the day-to-day desktop application performance is very solid, as the PCMark 10 score highlights.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid: Battery life
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid includes a 75 Watt-hour battery. In day-to-day desktop use, it delivered similar battery life to many other Intel Core Ultra 7 155H laptops I’ve used. Battery life was reasonable — although, like most Intel Meteor Lake-powered PCs I’ve used, it didn’t quite deliver “all-day battery life” when using basic productivity applications like Microsoft Word, OneNote, Slack, and Google Chrome.
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
IDG / Chris Hoffman
To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat in the Movies & TV app on Windows 11 with airplane mode enabled until the laptop suspends itself. We set the screen to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks. This is a best-case scenario for any laptop since local video playback is so efficient, and real battery life in day-to-day use is always going to be less than this. Also, this machine has an advantage in this benchmark because it has an OLED display, which means it uses less power to display the black bars beside the video during playback.
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid lasted for an average of 806 minutes in our battery life benchmark. That’s nearly 13 and a half hours. Of course, you won’t get that much battery life in real use.
It’s worth noting that Lenovo says you’ll get better battery life when using the laptop as an Android laptop instead of a Windows laptop. So, when the battery is getting low, you could switch to an Android experience to prolong your usage.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid: Conclusion
The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid is a very cool machine. I’m glad Lenovo is creating interesting and unique experiences like this one and bringing them to market. (I was also impressed by the dual-screen Lenovo Yoga Book 9i laptop, which I reviewed earlier this year).
The elephant in the room is the price. $3,518 is a lot of money for a laptop. For that much money, you could get both a capable Windows laptop and a high-quality Android tablet. You could use both devices at once. In fact, you’d probably spend less than $3,518 on that dual-device setup – even if you splurged.
Many people looking at a machine like this one may prefer a 2-in-1 that runs Windows in both modes, like Microsoft’s Surface Pro. Other people may want a separate Windows laptop and Android tablet. Or, if you just want a laptop that runs Android apps, you may want to get a Chromebook.
I wish the mechanism for attaching the display worked more smoothly and didn’t feel so clunky to use. But I got used to it, and some people are going to love this machine. There’s nothing else like this on the market. If you want a two-in-one Windows and Android experience like this one, there’s no substitute. Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | PC World - 25 Sep (PC World)Amazon’s October Prime Day sales event is right around the corner, but there are already tons of great deals on desktop PCs. This year, Prime Big Deals Day will be held on October 8, and includes solid discounts on everything from gaming PCs to all-in-ones to traditional desktop computers.
I’ve built multiple PCs from scratch, and at PCWorld I’ve used my desktop knowledge to curate a list of the best available computer deals for several years. You can have confidence that these are the best computer deals during Amazon’s Prime Big Deals Day.
Be sure to check out our Prime Big Deal Days 2024 hub for more great sales across all the tech categories.
First published September 24, 2024. Last updated September 24, 2024.
Best early Prime Big Deals Day deals on PC gaming computers
Skytech Chronos, Core i5-12400F/RTX 4060/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $899.99 (14% off on Amazon)
ASUS ROG Strix G10DK, Ryzen 7 5700G/RTX 3060/16GB RAM/512GB SSD/1TB HDD, $699.00 (10% off on Amazon)
HP Omen 45L, Core i7-14700K/RTX 4070 Super/16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,599.00 (26% off on Amazon)
MSI Codex R, Core i5-13400F/RTX 4060/32GB RAM/2TB SSD, $1,079.00 (17% off on Amazon)
Skytech Gaming Prism II, Ryzen 7 5800X/RTX 3080 Ti/ 16GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,699.99 (32% off on Amazon)
Corsair Vengeance a7300, Ryzen 7 7800X3D/RTX 4080 Super/32GB RAM/1TB SSD, $2,999.99 (9% off on Amazon)
Acer Nitro 70, Ryzen 9 7900/RTX 4070/32GB RAM/1TB SSD, $1,499.99 (25% off on Amazon)
The Skytech Chronos for $150 off is a killer budget gaming PC deal. You can expect excellent 1080p or even solid 1440p frame rates thanks to its Core i5-12400F CPU and the latest-gen RTX 4060 GPU.
If you’re on the hunt for something that’s even more budget friendly, look no further than the ASUS ROG Strix G10DK for $81 off on Amazon. Sporting a Ryzen 7 5700G CPU and RTX 3060 GPU, it is the cheapest you’re likely to find in a gaming PC capable of handling ray-tracing.
Best early Prime Big Deals Day deals on mainstream productivity computers
Minisforum Venus UM773, Ryzen 7 7735HS/32GB RAM/1TB HDD, $415.99 (23% off on Amazon)
Dell Inspiron 3020, Core i7-13700/16GB RAM/1TB SSD/1TB HDD, $868.99 (13% off on Amazon)
Acer Aspire Desktop, Core i5-13400, 8GB RAM/512GB SSD, $479.99 (13% off on Amazon)
Mac Mini 2023, M2/8GB RAM/256GB SSD, $499.00 (17% off on Amazon)
Mini-PCs are all the rage and the absolutely loaded Minisforum Venus UM773 is on sale for $124 off on Amazon. This Minisforum is stacked with performance features including a Ryzen 7 7735HS CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a generous 1TB of SSD storage.
Mac fans can also find good deals leading up to Prime Day, with Amazon offering the 2023 M2 Mac Mini for $100 off on its website. The M2 is still a solid CPU and considering that, if rumors are true, the M4 Mac Mini isn’t set to be released until later this year, it’s the perfect time to buy an older version model at a discount—you’ll still get a great mini desktop without the exorbitant price of a new-gen Apple product.
Best early Prime Big Deals Day deals on all-in-one computers
HP AiO 22, Intel Celeron J4025/32GB RAM/1TB SSD/21.5-inch 1080p display, $549.00 (18% off on Amazon)
HP AiO 22, Intel Celeron J4025/8GB RAM/256GB SSD/21.5-inch 1080p display, $391.80 (35% off on Amazon)
Dell Inspiron 5430, Core 3-100U/8GB RAM/512GB SSD/23.8-inch 1080 display, $499.99 (29% off on Amazon)
Amazon is offering two great deals on HP’s latest AiO desktop model. The first is $120 off and comes with an Intel Celeron J4025 CPU and a powerful 32GB of RAM. The second is even more budget friendly at $208 off and also comes with the same CPU, but only 8GB of RAM and much less onboard storage. While both would be solid all-in-one computers, I’d recommend opting for the more powerful option if you can swing it, as you’ll get a noticeable performance boost for not too much more money.
More great Prime Big Deals Day 2024 tech deals
PCWorld has searched for great deals across all the major PC tech categories, so check out some other Prime Big Deals Day roundups:
Best Amazon tech deals across PCWorld’s top categories
Laptop deals: Best of Prime Day 2024
Monitor deals: Best of Prime Day 2024
SSD and storage deals: Best of Prime Day 2024
USB flash drive deals: Best of Prime Day 2024
Thunderbolt dock and USB-C hub deals: Best of Prime Day 2024
Office chairs and standing desks: Best of Prime Day 2024
Battery charger deals: Best of Prime Day 2024
Chromebook deals: Best of Prime Day 2024
PC deals FAQ
1.
What type of desktop should I get?
You’ll see a ton of options when searching for a desktop computer, but they all mainly fit into four main categories: gaming PCs, productivity PCs (towers or mini PCs), and all-in-ones (AiO). Which you should end up buying is entirely dependent upon what your needs are and what you want to do with your computer.
If you’re looking for something that will work in a home office or family room, then a productivity PC or AiO with a solid CPU and a decent amount of RAM and storage is probably the way to go. If gaming is your main concern, a gaming desktop PC can offer a lot more bang for your buck than a laptop and you should focus on getting the best GPU possible. Or if you just want something that can fit anywhere and provide basic computing then a mini PC is a good bet.
2.
How much processing power will I need?
If you’re after CPU power, look for processors with higher numerical labels. A Core i7 is more suited to gaming and more intense work than everyday tasks. Intel processors are available in Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9. Typically, the higher the number, the more powerful the CPU.
If you don’t need a ton of power, Intel Core i5 processors are your best bet, as they offer good performance at a decent price. You can get along just fine with a Core i3 for basic office and web browsing.
As for AMD options, the Ryzen 3 is good for basic productivity and web browsing, while Ryzen 5 chips rival Intel’s Core i5 as solid all-arounders. If you need more power, the Ryzen 7 chip is well suited for content creation like video editing. Finally, if you’re dealing with 4K video, spring for a Ryzen 9.
3.
What GPU should I get?
If you don’t intend to do any gaming on your computer, then feel free to save some money by going with integrated graphics. However, if you are looking to get your game on, then we recommend at least an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 or RTX 4060 as these are the least expensive discrete graphics cards that can handle 1080p gaming on High graphics settings in most games.
Thankfully, the latest-gen GPUs have dropped significantly in price in pre-built systems so opt for those if you have the money and want a performance boost. But if you’re on a tight budget, then opting for a rig with a previous-generation card can allow you to save some money while still providing decent graphics quality.
4.
What about memory?
As for RAM, nowadays I think it’s best to shoot for 16GB at the minimum for all systems. If you’re on a budget or just need a basic browsing machine then 8GB can suffice. Those looking to do heavy content creation such as video editing should aim for 32GB.
5.
What is a good amount of storage?
Storage size is dependent upon your personal needs, but it is generally a good idea to opt for an SSD over a standard HDD as they are much faster and don’t significantly affect the price of a desktop. Before deciding, it’s best to consider what your intended use of the computer will be. Are you just storing documents or doing web browsing? Then something like 512GB will be plenty.
If you want to load up a lot of large files such as games or content creation projects, then you’ll need at least 1TB to 2TB of storage. However, just remember that even if your computer doesn’t have enough storage built-in you can always upgrade your SSD or go with an external drive to increase your available storage options. Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | PC World - 25 Sep (PC World)Another update just rolled out to Windows 11 Insiders that brings new features like jump lists for apps pinned to the Start menu and the ability to share files from the Windows Search panel, reports Windows Latest.
But the most intriguing part of the update is an improvement to File Explorer that adds a new Shared section to the Home folder, right next to the Recent and Favorite sections that are already there.
This new Shared section of File Explorer integrates with your Microsoft account and showcases the files that have been shared with you across Microsoft’s other products, including OneDrive and Teams.
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Windows 11 Pro
For enterprise and education accounts, the Shared section will also include files that have been shared within the organization. It will also work with Microsoft Entra ID, used by companies for managing access to internal resources for employees.
Though still buggy, File Explorer’s new Shared feature could end up being quite useful if you’re part of a fast-moving team or organization with lots of files flying around. Having all those shared files from across many apps in one central location should make it far easier to find the exact documents or images you need.
As of now, this feature is only available in the optional KB5043185 update that’s available to Windows Insiders on the Dev Channel. This update is expected to reach the general public in early October.
Further reading: Should you become a Windows Insider? What you need to know before signing up Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | PC World - 25 Sep (PC World)Are you suffering from a shortage of ports on your laptop? Then you would really benefit from a USB-C hub — but not just any USB-C hub. You need one that’ll meet the needs of all your accessories.
Right now, this Baseus USB-C hub is down to just $52 for Amazon Prime members, down from its usual $80. (Don’t have Prime? You can sign up for a free 30-day trial to snag this deal, or buy it without Prime and get it at the lesser-but-still-discounted price of $60.)
This is a 10-in-1 gadget that expands a single USB-C port on your laptop into 10 fully functional ports, including two HDMI ports for dual 4K monitor support. The primary HDMI port actually goes up to 4K@120Hz with a single monitor, but cuts down to 4K@60Hz with both HDMI ports in use. (The secondary HDMI port caps out at 4K@60Hz.)
This USB-C hub also features a USB-C port up to 10Gbps, one USB-A port up to 10Gbps, and two lesser USB-A ports up to 480Mbps each. There’s also a USB-C Power Delivery port with 100W input, a 1Gbps Ethernet port, plus SD and microSD ports. It’s everything you need to keep your laptop and all your plugged-in accessories going.
But this Baseus USB-C hub has an extra nifty feature: a Screen-Lock button that immediately locks your laptop so you can go off and do whatever you want while protecting the sensitive data on screen. (It’s a single press on Windows PCs and a double press for macOS machines.)
Boost your laptop’s functionality with this Baseus USB-C hub for just $52 if you’re a Prime subscriber. Again, you can always sign up for a free trial of Prime to score this special price, and the membership will also come in handy with the upcoming October Prime Day sales event!
This USB-C hub with dual 4K support is 35% offBuy now on Amazon Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | PC World - 25 Sep (PC World)Lunar Lake is Intel’s Snapdragon killer.
Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2 (Lunar Lake) was specifically designed to emphasize low power, but with competitive performance. In this it somewhat succeeds, though the Core Ultra 7 258V chip I tested can still run a distant second, or third, behind AMD’s mobile Ryzen processors. But Lunar Lake also provides incredibly good, Snapdragon-like battery life with a powerful, embedded GPU capable of playing yesterday’s top-tier games.
Intel supplied us with a Lunar Lake-powered Asus ZenBook S14 laptop for review, and we’ve spent the last week or so testing it to answer the question: Of the AMD Ryzen AI 300, Intel’s Lunar Lake, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, which is the best laptop processor so far in 2024? And how does Lunar Lake compare to its predecessor, Meteor Lake?
We’ve run all three chips through a number of benchmarks — with separate tests run while plugged in and on battery power. We think it’s important that you know the maximum performance potential of these laptop processors as well as how much performance is lost to keep your laptop up and running when unplugged.
Intel launched Lunar Lake at the Computex 2024 show in Taiwan, where executives promised a “no-compromise experience.” The Asus ZenBook S14 and other Lunar Lake and Ryzen AI 300 laptops now qualify as Copilot+ PCs, even though a Windows update to enable their AI features won’t occur until October.
Adam Patrick Murray / IDG
Adam Patrick Murray / IDG
Adam Patrick Murray / IDG
How we tested Intel’s Lunar Lake
This review uses benchmarks compiled by myself, my colleague Gordon Mah Ung, and other PCWorld laptop reviewers over current and previous testing. I’ll focus on the three key chips of this generation: Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2/Lunar Lake, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, and the AMD Ryzen AI 300, occasionally adding some older processors for additional context, such as a Core Ultra Series 1/Meteor Lake processor.
I’ll try to explain what each test covers, why it matters, and how test performance will reflect on the next laptop you buy. If you want even more depth, Gordon will have his own Lunar Lake video that pits Snapdragon against Lunar Lake in a head-to-head battle.
The laptop that Intel and Asus supplied includes a Core Ultra 7 258V. That’s about midway down the stack of the Core Ultra Series 2 chips Intel launched, and it’s a little unusual in that Intel isn’t handing us its top-of-the-line chip for comparison testing. Instead, the Ultra 7 258V includes four performance cores, four low-power efficiency cores, and a 4.8GHz turbo clock available when needed. All told, just eight threads are available for processing.
The nice thing is that Intel and Asus have consistently used similar laptop models for comparison between chip generations, specifically the Asus ZenBook 14 OLED, which is home to both the Lunar Lake and previous-gen Meteor Lake Core Ultra processors below. AMD used the Asus Zenbook S 16 as a debut platform for the Ryzen AI 300. On the Qualcomm side, though I reviewed the Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition, I commandeered the Surface Laptop 7th Edition Gordon tested and ran some additional benchmarks. It’s a fairer comparison for Qualcomm. In certain benchmarks, because of logistics, I used an MSI Prestige 16 AI Evo with an identical Meteor Lake chip inside.
Lunar Lake tested: CPU performance
I tested all of our test devices with two synthetic benchmarks: Cinebench R23 and Cinebench 2024. Both push the laptop’s CPU to its limits, first using every processing thread available and alternatively with just a single thread. The difference between R23 and and Cinebench 2024 is that the latter has a specialized Arm version, while the R23 version is run via the Snapdragon’s emulator software that translates X86 instructions into Arm code.
Two things stand out here: When you code for Arm, Snapdragon’s performance improves significantly, propelling it to the top of the heap. That pushes Lunar Lake (the Ultra 7 258V) down the rankings. But you’ll also note that Intel’s older Meteor Lake (the 155H) outperforms its latest chip. What this tells me is that Intel is prioritizing battery life, not performance.
According to our sister site, Macworld, the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air 15, both using Apple’s M3 chip, reported multithreaded scores of 693 and 658, respectively. In single-core performance, they reported a score of 141 for both platforms. So yes, Intel’s Lunar Lake is faster, but not in single-core performance.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
One note: I test using the default performance settings that laptop makers provide, as that feels realistic. That means that the Snapdragon tests were performed at Microsoft’s “Recommended” settings (the lowest) while Lunar Lake’s tests were performed at the “Balanced,” or middle settings. However, I also test chips in performance mode; in this case, using the Windows settings for maximum performance and adjusting the Asus laptop settings to its performance settings, too. Occasionally you’ll see battery performance scores that outperform wall power; that can be due to statistical anomalies, but it can also just happen. We’ve seen this in our Snapdragon and Meteor Lake testing, too.
If you’d like Snapdragon’s performance settings for comparison, my Surface Pro (11th Edition) review includes those. (I don’t test “Max” settings on battery.)
I’m not a huge fan of the Geekbench suite, only because it runs in the background without demonstrating what it does as a real workload. But it’s a popular test, as it’s quick to run. It too has a dedicated Arm version, which propels the Surface Laptop 7th Edition to the top. I’ve organized the results hierarchically by the “everything goes” multithreaded CPU test, placing the powered test directly over the test running on battery for comparison’s sake.
One of Snapdragon’s strengths is how uniformly it runs, whether on battery or on wall power. Geekbench again shows how sharply Lunar Lake’s performance drops on battery…but also hints at something we’ll get to later: the excellent performance that its integrated GPU delivers. The other story is simply how well AMD’s Ryzen continues to deliver top-tier performance.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Another choice I made was to use Procyon’s Office Productivity benchmark for this round of testing. I prefer PCMark 10’s broad suite of apps (from office to CAD to simulated video calls) but Arm processors won’t consistently run all of the tests. These office benchmark tests are still legitimate, demonstrating how well the laptop chips work within Microsoft Office, including Outlook, using the real-world apps themselves.
Fortunately, or not, there’s not much difference between the various platforms. But again, look at that drop-off on the Core Ultra/Lunar Lake 258V when you run it on battery!
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
This becomes a real issue in certain situations.
One of the realities of working on the road is that you rarely “work” constantly: You browse to a web page, pause while you read it, author an email, take a sip of coffee, check your phone… your laptop is often sitting idle. But when you actually ask it to execute an application, the latest generation of mobile processors can have a hard time keeping up.
In our recent tests of the AMD Ryzen AI 300, we adjusted our Handbrake test to make it more intensive. Handbrake transcodes a video — in this case, the open-source film Tears of Steel — and it’s a computationally intensive process. How well the laptop cools itself plays a role here, but so does the battery: This test can take close to an hour to perform, and even a robust battery can give out. I couldn’t loop three of these tests together before the battery expired, which is about three hours of constant work.
Again, though, Intel’s latest and greatest…finishes last. This is a real-world application that you can download yourself, so it’s a meaningful test. It took Lunar Lake nearly 17 minutes more than the Ryzen to complete the task.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Lunar Lake tested: Graphics and AI performance
So far, Intel’s Lunar Lake hasn’t been that impressive compared to the competition. But we now turn to the integrated GPU, and the new Xe2 graphics engine that Intel says will debut in a second discrete GPU, code-named Battlemage, later.
Given AMD’s historical strength in GPUs, Intel’s resurgence is a bit surprising. But in two tests — Time Spy, an older benchmark geared toward desktop and mobile gaming, and its replacement, Steel Nomad Light — Intel’s Lunar Lake shines.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Can you edit photos on the go? Puget Systems, a workstation developer, authors its own benchmarks to try to answer that question. The test uses a scripted benchmark to apply various filters and adjustments to images opened within Adobe Photoshop, and then generates a score.
Here, all three mobile platforms are bunched closely together, which probably indicates that all three are okay for this task…but not on battery. Here’s some additional context: According to the PugetBench site, an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D desktop system with a GeForce RTX 3080 generates a score of 9,959. A massive MSI Raider notebook with an Intel Core i9-14900HX and GeForce RTX 4090 laptop GPU generates a score of 9,959. And an Intel Core i7-9750H desktop paired with a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti produces a score of 4,549.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
We normally don’t run gaming benchmarks on top of what are usually considered to be productivity machines. But in this case Intel has been telling us that, yes, these machines are good enough for light gaming, especially on Low graphics settings. That’s good enough for us.
Typically, 60 frames per second is considered the minimum for gameplay — any less, and the game can stutter. In this case, we tried out Shadow of the Tomb Raider, run at 1080p and Low settings. Any you know what? It looks and runs pretty dang well. All of our gaming tests were performed on wall power.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
After its disastrous (?) launch, Cyberpunk: 2077 has surged back to become one of the more playable games on PCs. And in this case, it runs pretty well on Lunar Lake. However, AMD’s Ryzen still outpaces it. Again, these tests were run at 1080p, at Low settings. Frame generation was turned on for the Ryzen processor; that’s not offered for the other two chips.
Instead, Cyberpunk offers XeSS resolution scaling, which, combined with dialing up the Windows and laptop settings to performance mode, allows for a playable frame rate of about 65fps, though I saw 69fps on a cold run at the beginning of the day.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Finally, we move to AI. AI has become one of the hottest topics in computing, although developers still haven’t flooded the market with AI applications that run locally on the PC. (Windows 11’s upcoming 24H2 update should have more, including generative art for Paint and Photos, and eventually Windows Recall.)
For now, there aren’t too many benchmarks that tap the TOPS that these new platforms integrate. Remember, Intel’s Lunar Lake, AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 (up to 50 TOPS), and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips (45 TOPS) are all Copilot+ PC-qualified, even if they won’t receive their new feature set without a Microsoft update. Intel’s Lunar Lake chips provide a varying amount of TOPS; in this case, the Core Ultra 258V provides 47 TOPS.
UL’s Procyon app measures the AI output by testing each chip for how well it executes various AI frameworks. Like the Cinebench or 3DMark tests, the idea is that you’re getting a generic picture of how well the chips will perform AI functions.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
While I don’t have a Procyon result for the AMD Ryzen chip, the test shows that both Lunar Lake and the Snapdragon X Elite are pretty evenly matched; Intel’s chip does better with AI on wall power, but Qualcomm is the superior AI chip on the go.
Procyon also offers a more practical test: generative AI image generation, which uses AI to generate a series of eight images. (This test doesn’t yet run on an Arm processor.) I ran two tests, just to indicate the practical power of the NPU. First I used the test to create a series of eight images using just the NPU, and then I ran the same test with a toggle that allowed me to use the integrated GPU as an assist. It’s this “total TOPS” that companies like Intel are espousing as the future of AI, though one that really isn’t here yet, either.
The test uses an 8-bit integer model, which generates less complex images than a floating-point model. But they’re quick: about 8 seconds per image when the NPU and iGPU are combined. Here, I compare the Procyon scores.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Lunar Lake tested: Battery-life performance
It’s easy to measure the battery life of a laptop. For a chip? Well, that’s a lot messier. How long your laptop will last depends a lot on the size of the battery and how big and how efficient your laptop’s screen is. The type of screen (IPS, OLED) also makes a difference.
I think the best way to answer this particular question is to refer you to my colleague Gordon Mah Ung’s forthcoming video, in which he takes two virtually identical Dell laptops — one with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip inside, the other with an Intel Core Ultra Series 2 / Lunar Lake chip — and does a direct comparison. That’s about as good as you’re going to get in answering which chip is most efficient.
We do have previous test results of the Asus ZenBook S 16 (with a Ryzen AI 300 chip inside and a 78Wh battery), the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7th Edition (with a Snapdragon X Elite chip and a 54Wh battery), the Asus ZenBook 14 OLED (with a first-gen Core Ultra Core 155H and a 75Wh battery) versus the current Asus ZenBook OLED (with its Lunar Lake chip and a 73Wh battery).
Running these laptops on our standard video rundown test, where we loop a 4K video over and over at a fixed screen brightness until the laptop’s battery expires, is kind of ludicrous these days. The Lunar Lake laptop lasted 21 hours!! That’s basically like taking a laptop on a weekend “camping” trip or a prolonged sales conference.
It makes more sense to ask it to do a little work to simulate a work environment. UL’s Procyon battery-life test moves from Office app to Office app, performing “tasks” in each to simulate you working on your laptop for hours on end.
In this case, here’s how it worked out. Remember, Meteor Lake, Lunar Lake, and the Ryzen AI tests were run in “balanced” mode, while the Snapdragon X Elite was left in its “recommended” low-power mode. As they say, your mileage will vary…but at least 10 hours of computing power from all three competitors? That’s fantastic.
Intel Lunar Lake: 17 hours, 7 minutes
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite: 16 hours, 20 minutes
AMD Ryzen AI 300: 10 hours, 42 minutes
Intel Meteor Lake: 10 hours, 35 minutes
Conclusion: Which laptop chip is better?
Old chip nerds will recall Transmeta, a laptop processor startup that could translate its instruction set from X86, much like Arm. Transmeta’s legacy isn’t so much what it accomplished, but what it drove Intel to do: finally zero in on the laptop market and develop a competitive laptop processor during the first years of the new century. Now, it’s happened again. Intel’s first Core Ultra, Meteor Lake, downplayed performance for long battery life; Lunar Lake takes that to the next level.
So is Intel’s Lunar Lake a Snapdragon killer? Not exactly. In terms of efficiency, there’s a strong case to be made that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite is still the most efficient processor out there. AMD’s Ryzen chips win at many performance tasks, but battery life suffers.
But in some sense, that doesn’t matter. Dumping in a few extra grams of battery essentially “eliminates” Qualcomm’s advantage, as our test Asus laptop demonstrates. But the Snapdragon still outperforms it under several scenarios, save for gaming. There, lingering compatibility issues associated with the Arm instruction set and the impressive 3D engine give the Core Ultra Series 2 a solid advantage. All apps just work on Intel and AMD machines, but can be hit or miss on Snapdragon laptops, though Qualcomm has managed to get many of the most popular apps running on Arm.
The bottom line is that for any task that depends on the CPU, Intel’s Lunar Lake is middling at best. When the GPU or NPU enters the equation, it surges higher. Ditto for battery life, where it competes well against the Snapdragon. (At a certain point, do people stop worrying about battery life, or does long battery life equal a longer-life notebook?)
A few years back it was easier to identify the “best” laptop chip. Now, the question is what’s best for you. And it’s not completely answerable, either: With Arrow Lake lurking in the background, Intel could have a separate performance processor up its sleeve. For Intel, this is a simple sell: Lunar Lake is a safe bet, a Snapdragon without the compatibility concerns. Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | PC World - 25 Sep (PC World)We love a good laptop discount, so we couldn’t help but stop in our tracks when we spotted the Samsung Galaxy Book3 360 available for $800 at Best Buy, a big drop from its $1,250 MSRP.
This versatile 2-in-1 laptop features an Intel Core i7-1360P processor and a solid 16GB of RAM for a speedy device that’s more than capable of handling day-to-day tasks. It also has 512GB of SSD storage on board, so you’ll have plenty of space for all your files, photos, videos, and games (and be able to transfer them quickly).
While you won’t find a dedicated graphics card on this laptop, the Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics is powerful enough for casual gaming and watching movies and TV shows. You can do that on its 13.3-inch AMOLED display with 1080p resolution and 60Hz refresh rate.
That aside, one of the best parts about the Samsung Galaxy Book3 360 is its 2-in-1 design, as indicated by its name. The “360” means it can be used like a regular laptop OR folded back onto itself and used like a tablet. It even has S Pen compatibility, so you can jot down notes and draw sketches directly on the screen with ease.
The laptop also features a solid battery that will provide a full workday’s worth of juice on a full charge. In fact, Samsung claims you can use it for up to 20 hours. (While manufacturer numbers rarely pan out in real-world usage, you’ll find that it’s still pretty close.)
When we reviewed the Pro version of this laptop, we were so impressed with it that we gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars and our Editors’ Choice award. (The main difference with the Pro model is that it has a bigger display and a bit more oomph in terms of power and battery life.)
At this price, this is a great option for a smaller 2-in-1 laptop. Take advantage of this notable deal and get yourself a Samsung Galaxy Book3 360 for $800 at Best Buy while you still can.
Save $450 on this daily workhorse 2-in-1 laptopBuy now at Best Buy Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | PC World - 24 Sep (PC World)It never ceases to amaze my family that while I’m a pretty savvy tech writer who covers B2B enterprise software, I often need guidance when it comes to using consumer products. Some might even say I don’t know what I’m doing.
Ironic? Perhaps. In my defense, besides a Nest thermostat and a refrigerator that flags us when the door is open too long (my husband set up and controls both devices), we don’t have much of a smart home. But it’s a brave new world out there, and when I was given the opportunity to write about my experiences with a video doorbell, I jumped at it.
We used a Ring Battery Doorbell Plus for our initial dabbling, but most of the lessons learned could apply to any make or model of video doorbell, including those from ADT, Arlo, Blink, Eufy, or Vivent.
Read on for my observations as a smart-home novice after using the video doorbell for about a month.
Setup was easier than expected
Configuring the Ring doorbell to Wi-Fi and figuring out the settings turned out to be surprisingly intuitive. The only minor issue was mounting the device—Ring recommends that it be 48 inches off the ground.
Related: The best video doorbells of 2004
Rather than remove our existing doorbell, we left it as-is because of the age of the wiring, and also because it would have been too low for the camera to pick up images.
You can get notifications galore–sometimes too many
The chime volume is pretty low, so we configured our Alexa speaker in the kitchen to notify us when someone is at the door. This gets really fun when paired with an Apple Watch, which I set up as well.
I found the video camera to be especially useful on a recent day when I was at the dentist. While sitting in the chair, I got a notification that my cleaning people were at the front door.
Since my husband works in the basement, he couldn’t hear the doorbell from his office, nor could he hear Alexa. I texted him to let them know the cleaning crew was there.
You can even configure the device to send email notifications. That felt like overkill, so I passed on the email alerts.
You’ll be surprised by what the camera picks up
While I didn’t see anything overly provocative on my Ring videos, I did spy my husband changing out the flowers in planters on both sides of our front door one day. Seeing that he put the new plants in without lowering them further into the soil, I sent him back out to fix the job. That’s a win. What I did find disconcerting was getting a notification after going outside to get the mail. The doorbell picked up me leaving through the front door, as it should have, but it also caught on camera the weeds I pulled from a flowerbed on my way back. I did not enjoy watching myself on the camera! One day, my next-door neighbor dropped off some veggies from her garden at the door as a “surprise,” but–spoiler alert!–the doorbell dutifully picked up on the activity and warned me ahead of time. Another neighbor decided to have fun with us and came over with their rooster (and some eggs–yay!), hoisting Hertl up to the camera. Our feathered friend got his five minutes of fame. More ruined surprises: I used to be able to sneak Amazon/UPS/FedEx packages into the house without my husband knowing. So much for that, as now he sees when packages arrive, too.
Our Ring doorbell caught our bug spray technician at work. Also: meet Hertl.
Our Ring doorbell caught our bug spray technician at work. Also: meet Hertl.Esther Shein/Foundry
Our Ring doorbell caught our bug spray technician at work. Also: meet Hertl.Esther Shein/Foundry
Esther Shein/Foundry
You can keep an eye on the neighborhood
There is a (somewhat controversial) Neighbors feature in the app that acts as sort of a neighborhood watch group, and I found myself checking it often.
We set the neighborhood area to a five-mile radius, and not long ago, someone four miles from where I live posted a video of a man running through their backyard and advised people to “be on alert and … keep doors locked.” It got 1,200 views.
My husband set up the ability to see our daughter’s neighborhood—in Washington, D.C. A few days ago, I saw that someone posted a video of a package being stolen from their porch not far from where she lives.
The app also offers “report a found pet” and “search for your lost pet” features, and as the owner of two dogs, I think that’s great. Here’s hoping I never have to use them.
A video doorbell can see further than your stoop
We configured Ring to have a wide field of view, which results in our ability to see into our neighbors’ front yards. (Editor’s note: Security cameras by Ring and others allow for “privacy zones” that will block a view of a neighbor’s property. In this case, the neighboring front yards were plainly visible from the street.)
Related: 7 hidden Ring app settings that make your smart home even better
This proved to be a double-edged sword, not because we saw anything unusual, but because our grass is mowed weekly and we received multiple notifications when the mower was moving back and forth through the front yard. Likewise, when the buy spray technician came. (It was useful to see how thorough a job he did spraying the yard, however.)
You’re going to want more cameras
Overall, I become more hyper-aware of things going on outside now that I have a better view. So if there’s any “cautionary tale” here, it’s that after having the Nest doorbell for a few weeks, I’ve discovered I’m more of a surveillance junkie than I was before—something that pleases my husband to no end.
Now, we want to install cameras over the garages on the side of the house, where packages are more frequently delivered, and in our backyard.
So when it comes to security cameras, I’ve learned you can never have enough of a good thing. Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
| | | PC World - 24 Sep (PC World)As a long-time Windows geek, I’ve always loved and relied on keyboard shortcuts. They’re incredible! Like a collection of secret handshakes that can quickly perform useful tasks and dramatically speed up whatever you’re doing on your computer.
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And yes, keyboard shortcuts are rather secret. Windows doesn’t provide a coach that guides you through the hundreds of keyboard shortcuts you might find handy. They’re just… there. In the background.
So, you usually have to seek them out or find out about them the old-fashioned way: by talking with other PC geeks and reading helpful articles like this one. Let me show you the greatest and most practical keyboard shortcuts I actually use all the time.
1. Launch File Explorer
If you’re like me, you use File Explorer a lot. With a keyboard shortcut, it’s always close at hand — simply press Windows key + E to launch a new File Explorer window whenever you need one.
Related: Useful File Explorer tips to keep under your belt
2. Go straight to Task Manager
You probably know the basic Ctrl + Alt + Delete keyboard shortcut, but if you’re using it to open Task Manager, there’s actually a better way: instead, use the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut.
Related: How to access the old Task Manager in Windows 11
3. Open the Settings app
Want to change a setting in the operating system? You usually have to do it through the Settings app. Instead of searching the Start menu, there’s actually a keyboard shortcut you can use: Windows key + I. Then, you can search directly in the Settings app for what you need.
4. Dig through clipboard history
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Did you know that every time you copy an image or text to the clipboard, Windows keeps a running history of it all? The usual Ctrl + V keyboard shortcut only pastes the last thing you copied — but if you want to paste something you copied much earlier, you can!
All you have to do is pull up the clipboard history with the Windows key + V keyboard shortcut. (If you’ve never opened it before, you’ll be prompted for permission to activate the feature.)
What’s nice about the clipboard history is that you can even pin certain copied items to the panel, making them quick to find in the future.
Related: Obscure Windows features everyone should know about
5. Insert emojis anywhere
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Love ’em or hate ’em, emojis have become part of modern communication — and Microsoft knows this, which is why Windows makes it easy to input emojis in nearly any application.
All you have to do is press the Windows key + Period or Windows key + Semicolon keyboard shortcuts. Then, use the search field to find the emoji you want (or just scroll through to browse).
6. Type with your voice
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Windows lets you input text with your voice in nearly any application. To pull up the voice typing interface, just press Windows key + H. You’ll see a floating window (on Windows 11) or a bar (on Windows 10).
This feature is called Voice Typing. You can use the settings menu in the window/bar to activate features like automatic punctuation. (By default, you’ll have to speak words like “period” while you dictate text.)
Related: I wrote this article using Windows voice typing
7. Discover the power user menu
When Microsoft got rid of the Start menu in Windows 8, they at least had the courtesy to throw a bone to power users: a hidden “power user menu” with quick access to various system settings.
And even though Windows 10 brought back the Start menu — which persists into Windows 11 — the power user menu never went away. To open it, press Windows key + X (or right-click the Start button).
8. Lock your computer
To protect your computer from unauthorized access — especially in an environment like an office or campus — you should lock your computer whenever you step away. To quickly lock your PC, simply press the Windows key + L keyboard shortcut.
9. Control sound settings
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Chris Hoffman / IDG
If you have multiple sound output devices (e.g., speakers, headphones, wireless earbuds) or multiple sound input devices (e.g., laptop microphone, headset, external microphone), you probably switch between them a lot.
Well, you don’t have to dig deep into the Settings app to change between them. You can actually just press the Ctrl + Windows key + V keyboard shortcut to pull up the sound settings menu.
It’s also a shortcut to adjusting system volume and per-app volume (using the sliders) and a quick way to pop into the Sound section of the Settings app (by clicking More volume settings).
This feature is new to Windows 11, so isn’t available on Windows 10.
10. Snap windows
The Snap feature is an essential window management tool for multitasking on Windows 11. You can easily “snap” app windows to edges of the screen using your keyboard.
For starters, use Windows key + Left arrow and Windows key + Right arrow to snap the currently focused window to either the left half or right half of the screen. Similarly, use Windows key + Alt + Up arrow and Windows key + Alt + Down arrow to snap windows to the top half or bottom half of the screen, respectively.
You can also use shortcuts to move windows to quadrants of the screen. For example, after snapping a window to the left half (using the above keyboard shortcut), keep holding the Windows key and tap the Up arrow to snap it to the top-left quadrant.
11. Activate Snap Layouts
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Chris Hoffman / IDG
As if Snapping itself wasn’t useful enough, Windows 11 also has an additional Snap Layouts feature that makes it easier to snap windows into various configurations.
To activate Snap Layouts, use the Windows key + Z keyboard shortcut. You’ll get a pop-up with numbered options — simply press the associated number key to choose that window layout.
You can also see Snap Layouts by hovering your mouse pointer over the Maximize button of a window. Or, drag any window to the center-top edge of the screen to see Snap Layout options.
Related: New Windows 11 features that make life easier
12. Toggle between windowed and full-screen modes in PC games
Many PC games offer both windowed and full-screen modes. If you want to switch between them, it can be quite a hassle to navigate to the game’s settings menu, especially if you do it often.
Here’s a faster way to switch between windowed and full-screen modes in many PC games: just press Alt + Enter. This doesn’t work in every game, but it does work in many of them. It’s the first thing I try whenever I want to switch between full-screen and windowed modes.
13. Jump between virtual desktops
Windows 11 has a feature called Task View that lets you create “virtual desktops” that you can switch between. A virtual desktop is like a separate instance of “the” desktop, and each virtual desktop can hold its own set of running app windows.
There are several keyboard shortcuts for the Task View experience, such as Windows key + Tab, which makes it easy to create new virtual desktops, delete existing ones, and jump between them.
But once you’ve created a few virtual desktops, an even easier way to switch between them is to use the Windows key + Ctrl + Left arrow and Windows key + Ctrl + Right arrow keyboard shortcuts.
Related: Master these Windows 11 productivity features
14. Move windows between monitors
Do you have a sprawling workstation setup with multiple monitors? You can move windows from one screen to the next by pressing Windows key + Shift + Left arrow (to move the currently focused window to the left display) or Windows key + Shift + Right arrow (to move the currently focused window to the right display).
15. Open the classic File Explorer context menu right away
On Windows 11, File Explorer has changed a lot from what it was before, particularly with a streamlined context menu. But some options are only found in that classic, old-school context menu.
Rather than first opening the context menu and then selecting Show more options (or even hacking your registry with a workaround), you can actually just use a keyboard shortcut to quickly open the old context menu right away: hold down the Shift key while right-clicking in File Explorer to see the classic context menu.
This feature is new to Windows 11, so isn’t available on Windows 10.
16. Edit text faster
The Ctrl key is one of my favorite underutilized tricks when it comes to fast text editing. In short, holding down Ctrl makes most keys act on entire words rather than individual characters.
For example, Backspace deletes the previous character, but Ctrl + Backspace deletes the previous word. Another example, Left and Right arrows move the cursor by one character, but Ctrl + Left arrow and Ctrl + Right arrow moves the cursor from word to word.
And it works with the Shift key, too. By holding Shift, you can highlight text as the cursor moves — so, if you want to quickly highlight multiple words in a row, just hold Ctrl + Shift and then tap the Left and Right arrows. (Try holding Shift with the Home and End keys to highlight entire lines of text with just a few keystrokes!)
17. Reopen a closed browser tab
All the modern web browsers — including Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Edge — let you quickly reopen tabs that you’ve closed. It’s easy to remember, too: if the Ctrl + T keyboard shortcut creates a new tab, the Ctrl + Shift + T keyboard shortcut reopens the last closed tab.
18. Alt + Tab in reverse
Alt + Tab is one of the most iconic Windows keyboard shortcuts. But, if you have a lot of open windows to cycle through, it may make more sense to cycle in reverse sometimes. In that case, just press Shift + Alt + Tab to go backwards through the list of open windows.
And that’s not all: while the Alt + Tab dialog is open, you can also use the arrow keys to instantly jump to the selected thumbnail’s window.
19. Rename files quickly
Want to quickly rename a file? With a file selected in File Explorer, just press F2, type the name, and press Enter.
I like to navigate between files using the arrow keys, then use the F2 key to quickly rename them. Or better yet: after pressing F2 and typing a file name, press the Tab key (instead of the Enter key) to immediately start renaming the next file in the folder.
20. Save a screenshot as a file
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Chris Hoffman / IDG
Chris Hoffman / IDG
The built-in Windows screenshot tools have gotten better, but sometimes you want to skip the tools and immediately save as an image file.
To save a screenshot to disk without all the intermediate steps, press Windows key + Print Screen. Your screen will flash as Windows saves the screenshot. After that, you’ll find the screenshot in the Screenshots folder inside your user account’s Pictures folder.
Related: How to take smarter screenshots in Windows
More Windows productivity tips
Honestly, as useful as these keyboard shortcuts are, they’re only scratching the surface of what’s buried in Windows. I’m always hunting down useful tips and features to share with the readers of my free Windows Intelligence newsletter!
Be sure to check out this unusually hidden shortcut that works in the Task Manager, too. It blew my mind last year. Even for a grizzled PC geek like myself, there’s always more to discover in Windows. Read...Newslink ©2024 to PC World | |
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