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Our VerdictThe Razer Blade 15 is pretty expensive, especially if you want a 144Hz model, but not more than rival gaming laptops and you’re getting a serious combination of design and specs here. This gaming laptop has been refined, upgraded and improved to provide a 15.6in experience in a size barely bigger than before (in fact, it’s thinner). Add in 8th-gen Core i7, Nvidia Max-Q GTX graphics and lots of other goodies and we’re looking at one of the best portable gaming laptops money can buy. It can get a bit hot and noisy at times but there’s very little to dislike about this stunning device.
Razer is back with a new Blade and a bold claim, describing the 2023 model as the ‘world’s smallest 15.6in gaming laptop’. It comes with an improved design, 8th-gen Intel and Nvidia Max-Q and a 114Hz refresh rate. We’ve taken a close look in our Razer Blade 15 review.
In brief, what Razer has done here is taken the classic Blade design and squeezed in a larger screen without making the laptop any bigger – well not by much anyway. There’s more to it though, with a number of upgrades and refinements throughout.
Razer Blade 15: Price and availabilityThe price of a high-end premium gaming laptop isn’t for the faint-hearted as the Razer Blade 15 starts at £1,699/$1,899 – that’s almost double the Blade Stealth from not too long ago, but cheaper than the premium Razer Blade Pro 17. Although the laptop starts at under £2k, you can spend a chunk more if you opt for the most expensive model since it will set you back £2,549.
This puts it in direct competition with the new Gigabyte Aero 15X and Asus ROG Zephyrus GX501 Although there are cheaper 15in gaming laptops, like the Alienware 15 R3 and Acer Aspire VX 15, they are much less sleek and portable.
Razer sent us the model bang in the middle of the line-up which offers a good balance of price and specs. You can buy direct from Razer or with retailers including Amazon, Scan and PC World Currys.
Here’s a breakdown of the Razer Blade 15 prices:
FHD(60Hz), GTX 1060, 256GB – £1,699 – $1,899 – €1,949
FHD(144Hz), GTX 1060, 512GB – £1,979 – $2,199 – €2,249
FHD(144Hz), GTX 1070, 256GB – £2,149 – $2,399 – €2,449
FHD(144Hz), GTX 1070, 512GB – £2,329 – $2,599 – €2,649
4K(Touch), GTX 1070, 512GB – £2,549 – $2,899 – €2,899
New Base ModelIf you’ve been hovering on the buy button but not pulled the trigger due to price, then Razer has more affordable options for the Razer Blade 15 laptop, at $300 cheaper than previously.
Razer said: “base model configurations will be available for purchase on October 10, 2023 in the US, Canada and China from
What Razer is calling the ‘Base Model’ still comes with the same 8th-gen Core i7 and 16GB of RAM inside the same laptop. However, you get a smaller SSD alongside a large traditional hard drive instead of the previous minimum 256GB SSD.
Either way you get the Full HD 60Hz screen and a GTX 1060 graphics cards.
128GB SSD + 1TB HDD – $1,599
256GB SSD + 2TB HDD – $1,799
New Mercury White Limited EditionAs well as the new base model, Razer has also introduced a dazzling Mercury White colour which is a limited edition. “Limited quantities will be available for purchase in Q4 2023 as an exclusive direct from Razer in the US and Canada, and at selected retailers in China,” said the firm.
In contrast to the regular style is has a matte white finish with black USB ports and a non-illuminated, ‘tone-on-tone’ Razer logo on the lid. There are two skus to choose from here, both include a Core i7 and, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and the Full HD 144Hz screen.
So you just need to choose whether you want a GTX 1060 or 1070:
GTX 1060 – $2,199
GTX 1070 – $2,599
Razer Blade 15: Design and buildAs you can see, there’s no big departure here from Razer’s design that, over the years, has become iconic in the gaming market. The Blade 15 offers that black and green sleek style that many adore.
We’ve always liked Razer’s style and it’s great to see the firm making all the enhancements it can.
The headline design element here is that the Blade 15 manages to offer a full-size 15.6in display inside a chassis that appears to be no bigger than well-known 14in Razer Blade.
In fact, in some ways, the new model is smaller!
So, the Blade 15 is 13.98in in width, which is a small increase from the 13.6in you might be used to. Fitting that larger screen in is largely down to it being ‘edge-to-edge’ with tiny 4.9mm bezels.
And when it comes to thickness, the Blade 15 is actually thinner than its predecessor. Depending on what graphics card you get, it’s 17.3- or 16.8mm – down from 17.99mm – so it’s the thinnest GTX laptop around.
Update: The Asus ROG Zephyrus S is now the thinnest in the world.
This doesn’t compromise on connectivity though, as you still get full-size USB and HDMI. We’ll go through the rest later.
Overall, the design is more squared off and mirrors the lines of the Razer Phone. This includes front-facing speakers on either side of the keyboard, just like on the smartphone. The eagle-eyed reader may have spotted the power button is now on the right rather than central; it looks like it might have a fingerprint scanner built-in but it sadly does not.
The idea is portability and the laptop is very much that at 2.07-2.15kg depending on which model you buy. Even at its heaviest, the Blade 15 is a more than luggable.
The last thing to mention is that the Blade 15 has a new cooling system that includes dual fans and a large vapour chamber. It looks nice on the underside but we’ll talk about how hot the laptop gets in the performance section below.
Razer Blade 15: Keyboard and trackpadYou get the same Chroma-enabled Keyboard so you can mess around with lighting to your heart’s content using the Synapse software. There’s more to say here though.
There’s also a game mode to avoid pressing common Windows shortcuts and interrupting your game. We didn’t have any issues but some will find it more akin to an Ultrabook than a gaming keyboard, though.
The glass trackpad is new and it’s huge. You will want to connect a mouse for any serious gaming but for general use the trackpad is brilliant.
Razer Blade 15: ScreenAs mentioned already, the new Razer Blade 15 for 2023 offers a 15.6in and we’re loving the new small bezels that run around the edge, making the laptop look great and keep the size of the chassis down.
The screen comes in a range of options though so you’ll need to choose wisely.
At the bottom end the Blade 15 has a Full HD display with a 60Hz refresh rate. This model only has the GTX 1060 and 256GB of storage so bear this in mind. At the top end is a 4K screen, also at 60Hz and is the only model with a touchscreen. This comes with a 1070 and 512GB and will be overkill for many.
We tested the Full HD model with a 144Hz refresh rate which comes with a choice of graphics card and hard drive.
This will be the best option for most if your budget stretches. It will be worth it for the extra smoothness that the increased refresh rate provides. We like the matte finish on the Full HD options but the display isn’t the brightest around at 275cm/m2 so we almost always had it at full brightness.
The display is colourful offering 99 percent of sRBG in our test but 76 percent of Adobe RGB, the gamut favoured by designers, isn’t so great. This is a gaming laptop though so this is only an issue if you’re looking for one that can be used for both work and play – in which case the Gigabyte Aero 15X will suit you better.
The 4K model could be a lot better for this but we can’t say.
Razer Blade 15: Core specs and performanceRegardless of which model you choose, you’re going to an 8th-generation Intel processor. As you’d expect from a high-end gaming laptop, it’s a Core i7-8750H – a 6-core, 12-thread, 9MB cache chip with a 2.2GHz base speed and up to 4.1GHz with Max Turbo. That’s the same as the Asus ROG Zephyrus GX501.
Every Blade 15 comes with 16GB of DDR4 2667MHz RAM, but you can upgrade it to 32GB. Windows 10 comes pre-installed, of course. Storage goes up to 512GB in the form of an M.2 SSD but it depends what combination of things you want.
In terms of graphics, there’s an Nvidia GTX 1060 or 1070 in the Max Q form, essentially versions of the desktop cards made for thin laptops. If that isn’t enough graphics power, then Razer has also launched a new Core X eGPU to house a desktop card. It’s now just £269.
Here’s a reminder of the SKUs on offer:
Full HD (60Hz), GTX 1060, 256GB
Full HD (144Hz), GTX 1060, 512GB
Full HD (144Hz), GTX 1070, 256GB
Full HD (144Hz), GTX 1070, 512GB
4K (Touch), GTX 1070, 512GB
And the new Base Model options:
Full HD (60Hz), GTX 1060, 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD
Full HD (60Hz), GTX 1060, 256GB SSD + 2TB HDD
We tested the model in the middle with a GTX 1070 with 265GB of storage and the results are very decent indeed.
In Geekbench 4 multi-core the Blade 15 scored 17,956 and in PCMark 10 it managed 4962. That’s better than the Areo 15X but a little behind the ROG Zephyrus which has a GTX 1080.
In our gaming benchmarks the Blade 15 managed impressive results. Tested at Full HD resolution, the laptop managed 101.5fps on medium settings in Total Warhammer and 64.3fps when set to ultra. In Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon it got 79.8fps on medium and 44.6fps.
These aren’t far off the Asus ROG with its 1080, so the Blade 15 can offer Full HD gaming at ultra settings and more than playable framerates.
The chassis does get quite hot though. The fans get quite loud and the sections either side of the trackpad where you’ll rest your palms gets warm. The hottest section is between the keyboard and screen which we’d often describe as too hot to touch.
Razer says this is normal with a metal casing and heat is drawn away from where you make contact with the laptop. It’s worth noting that since the air intake is on the bottom, you shouldn’t use the Blade 15 on a cushion, bed or similar.
Razer Blade 15: Connectivity and audioThere’s a switch to Intel for Wi-Fi and the Blade 15 has a Wireless AC-9260, which offers 11ac and the laptop also has Bluetooth 5.0.
Connectivity is decent despite the laptop being thinner than before. You get three USB-A 3.1 ports (in green, of course), HDMI 2.0, USB-C Thunderbolt 3, a 3.5mm combo jack and, for the first time, a mini DisplayPort 1.4. This means you can support up to three external displays.
There’s also a 720p webcam, which is above the screen not below it like many new laptops. You’ll also notice a proprietary power connector. This comes with an angled cable to feed the cable to behind the laptop.
As noted earlier, there are speakers either side of the keyboard. So while many laptops have speakers on the side or even underneath, these ones actually point vaguely towards your ears.
Razer Blade 15: Battery lifeIt’s no secret that gaming laptops aren’t made for battery life. The Razer Blade 15 has a 80Wh battery built-in which is a chunk bigger than the Asus ROG Zephyrus we reviewed and it shows.
Razer’s device lasted almost twice as long with a result of two hours and 45 minutes – that’s playing a video on loop at 120cd/m2 (40 percent brightness in this case). It’s still not great but it does mean you can play for a little while without needing a power socket.
However, there’s a simple way to get a lot more battery life and that’s switching the screen to 60Hz – you can do this in the Synapse software. With the display at a lower refresh rate you can get an impressive eight hours of battery life in the same test.
Just remember to switch it over when you’re doing things like watching a film and not gaming.
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Hurry And Save A Huge $1436 On This Razer Blade 15 Gaming Laptop
Last Updated on June 29, 2023
If you’re in search of a gaming laptop that will take your gaming experience to the next level, then look no further than this awesome deal that we’ve found.
Right now, there is a massive deal ongoing at Amazon. The Razer Blade 15 can be yours with a saving of $1436, it is one of the most powerful gaming laptops on the market today, sporting an extremely powerful graphics card and processor that will rip through the most demanding games. This is the perfect choice for serious gamers looking to upgrade their arsenal.
Let’s take a look at the specs and features that make the Razer Blade 15 Gaming Laptop so great.
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Performance: The laptop has the RTX 3070 Ti GPU with ampere architecture that can deliver top-of-the-line performance, especially with improved DLSS technology. It is paired with the Intel Core i7-12800H processor with a boost frequency of 4.8GHz that can tackle the most intense games and demanding tasks. Also sporting 16GB of DDR5 4800MHz RAM, expect rapid load times and application start-ups.
Exceptional display: The 15.6-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) display with an extremely high refresh rate of 360Hz will let you see every detail and frame possible during the heat of the moment, giving you the edge over the competition when you need it.
Extreme cooling: The upgraded Blade 15 fans, and improved liquid cooling capacity provide better cooling capabilities and less noise, so you can expect the best performance, even when playing the most demanding games.
Stylish design: The anodized aluminum body gives the laptop a sleek look, whilst being extremely durable and light, this laptop only weighs 4.4 lbs making it extremely portable. Additionally, the Chroma RGB has over 16.8 million colors and many different lighting effects that you can choose from to personalize your experience. It’s also compatible with a range of games such as Fortnite and Apex Legends.
What we thinkThis laptop is perfect if you’re a serious gamer that wants to take your gaming experience to new heights. Packed with some of the best hardware for gaming, excellent cooling solutions, and a superb design, this is one of the best gaming laptops out there and is what we’ve come to expect from Razer. With this massive saving of $1436, this deal certainly gets you a lot of bang for your buck, so don’t miss out!
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Samsung Notebook 9 Pro Review: Good At Almost Everything, Including Light Gaming
In use: A well-balanced machine
Melissa Riofrio/IDG
The 360-degree hinge lets you use the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro in orientations from clamshell to tent mode (shown) to tablet mode.
The Notebook 9 Pro has its quirks, but overall it’s a well thought-out product. Sure, you won’t get the charisma and drama of a flagship, but pretty much everything works.
The matte-aluminum chassis with chromed Samsung logo is tasteful and sturdy. There’s barely any flex in either half of the body, and the 360-degree hinges feel rock-solid. We appreciate the lighter weight as well—bringing it along doesn’t feel like a hard choice.
Melissa Riofrio/IDG
The Samsung Notebook 9 Pro has a comfortable keyboard, with slightly concave keys for easier typing.
The keyboard texture is slippery, but the slightly concave keys help keep fingers where they’re supposed to be. The keys feel comfortably spaced, none are in an odd location, and their travel feels comfortable. The trackpad is very large and responsive, and its centered location is great—it’s always disconcerting when it shifts to one side.
Melissa Riofrio/IDG
The S-Pen tucks into its own slot on the front of the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro.
In addition to its support for Windows 10 inking features, the S-Pen comes with its own note-taking, drawing, and other productivity apps. Collectively called Active Command, they’re easily summoned when you remove the pen from its slot or press its button when it’s near the display. I enjoyed all of them, especially how you can digitally mix colors in the drawing app, and how you can select video clips with the pen to make your own animated GIFs.
Melissa Riofrio/IDG
Press the S-Pen’s button to summon the Air Command menu of Samsung pen apps. The S-Pen also works with Windows 10’s inking features.
There was only one glaring fault in our test unit, and that was the audio. The dual speakers in the Notebook 9 Pro, nestled into the bottom panel, have a surprisingly limited volume range, especially considering that this laptop is meant to play games as well as stream media.
On the brighter side, the Notebook 9 Pro’s discrete GPU runs pretty cool. The slender intake grille on the bottom panel and the exhaust vent between the hinges murmur gently during operation.
Performance: Happy mediumOur first test is PCMark Work 8 Conventional, which simulates everyday activities like web browsing, video chat, and document editing. It’s a good test for isolating the CPU’s role in everyday use. Any machine scoring 2,000 or above will sail along smoothly during these low-intensity tasks.
Melissa Riofrio/IDG
The Samsung Notebook 9 Pro can hold its own in mainstream applications, even against quad-core competition.
It’s a light test, so it’s not surprising that the Notebook 9 Pro gets right into the mix with the quad-core competition. The HP Spectre x360 lagged behind somewhat because of its 4K display, which simply demands more processing power.
Melissa Riofrio/IDG
In the CPU-intensive Cinebench test, the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro performs as we’d expect for a dual-core CPU, hanging far back compared to quad-core CPUs.
Melissa Riofrio/IDG
The Samsung Notebook 9 Pro surprised us in the Handbrake test, performing its video conversion faster than the similar HP Spectre x360.
As you can see in the chart above, the quad-core Lenovo Yoga 720 and Dell XPS 15 handily beat the dual-core Notebook 9 Pro at this intensive task. However, the Notebook 9 Pro in turn makes the HP Spectre x360 look like a laggard, likely because of thermal throttling.
Futuremark’s 3DMark Sky Diver is a synthetic test that measures the graphics performance of a PC. Although it doesn’t use an actual video game engine, it’s still well respected and clearly shows what you get if you opt for a discrete GPU.
Melissa Riofrio/IDG
The Samsung Notebook 9 Pro performs predictably in the GPU-intensive 3DMark Skydiver test given its moderately powerful RX 540 GPU.
No surprise, the more powerful graphics engines in the Lenovo Yoga 720 and Dell XPS 15 prevail in this test. To its credit, the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro achieves a lot with what it has, especially compared to the HP Spectre x360.
Outstanding battery lifeMelissa Riofrio/IDG
The Notebook 9 Pro has a 4-cell, 3,530 mAh/54Whr lithium ion battery, which lasts up to 11.5 hours, per Samsung. In our test it lasted 590 minutes, or nearly 10 hours, long enough for most people to get through their day. The other laptops in this chart have much larger batteries (79.2Whr for the HP Spectre x360, 97Whr for the Dell XPS 15, and 72Whr for the Lenovo Yoga 720), but they can’t keep up with the Notebook 9 Pro—their systems demand more power.
A bonus feature we didn’t test: You can squeeze a little more life out of your laptop by charging it with any USB-C-connected smartphone battery pack. You won’t be able to recharge the laptop fully, but it’s a nice backup if you’re running on fumes. Anecdotally we also tried a third-party USB charger on the Notebook 9 Pro, and it was willing to take a charge.
ConclusionSamsung’s Notebook 9 Pro does a very good job of balancing performance and features with battery life. It’s the kind of laptop a mainstream user can get without feeling they’ve compromised much. The discrete GPU, while modest, gives it a notable boost over laptops with integrated graphics. Best of all, the pen support and the long-lasting battery offer lots of productivity for the money. The tough choice is between this model and the Lenovo Yoga 720. It comes down to how much graphics power you want, and for what sort of tradeoff. The casual gamers will likely come down on the side of the Notebook 9 Pro.
Fallout 76 Review: Almost Hell, West Virginia
Here at PCWorld I try to stick to a simple standard when reviewing games. I either finish the game or the game finishes me—a.k.a. after long hours spent frustrated I deem it unplayable. Fallout 76 is not strictly unplayable, but after 30-odd hours wasted in this West Virginia wasteland I’m calling it. Time of death, around 2 a.m. on November 19 when I logged in to find half my quest log mysteriously wiped away, as if I’d never started any of a half-dozen different missions.
I do want to set this world on fireAnd it’s not even the only busted quest! Another early one, “Personal Matters,” concludes with you having to kill a specific enemy inside a specific basement. I entered the basement—and the enemy was already dead. Yes, we’ve traveled back to the days of EverQuest and early World of Warcraft, queueing up to complete quest steps.
IDG / Hayden Dingman
I logged out, then logged back in to a new server. Dead. I came back the next day. Dead. I came back the next day. Dead. Finally, after logging out to eat dinner and then returning, I was lucky enough to find a server where this damn ghoul was alive, pop a .308 round into his head through a window, and finish the quest. It took me three real-world days to finish a quest that should’ve taken three minutes.
Playing the beta a few weeks ago, I already complained about Bethesda’s slavish adherence to real-world logic over video game logic. If someone is using a crafting station, you can’t use it until they’re done. Why? I guess because you need to watch your character sit down and stir a pot, or smack a hammer into a bench over and over while you peruse menus. Same goes for merchants. Someone else is trading with the only robot merchant in town? You’d better hope they don’t take too long, because you’re stuck waiting in line.
The lack of instancing in quests is beyond the pale though. Hell, even The Division—a game that somehow launched in a state where players could stand in doorways and block others from getting out—understood that the campaign should be unaffected by other people’s shenanigans. Safely sandboxed in your own unique instance, you could take in the story (or what passed for a story in The Division) in peace. Not here!
IDG / Hayden Dingman
Not that there’s much reason to explore anyway. Quests? Almost all boring. There are no human NPCs in Fallout 76. Bethesda made that clear repeatedly before release. I still thought that left the door open for ghoul NPCs though, but nope! Not from what I’ve seen. And even robots aren’t really NPCs as much as quest dispensers. They don’t talk with you, they talk at you. There’s no dialogue system in the game whatsoever, and so no real opportunity for roleplaying. You either finish a mission or you don’t.
IDG / Hayden Dingman IDG / Hayden Dingman
Previous Fallouts had these sorts of areas as well, but they provided a counterpoint to the present-day. You were delving into the past to help build a better future. Fallout 76 is all past. There is no future, and there is nothing to work towards except your own survival.
To that end, most of your time in Fallout 76 is spent collecting garbage. Ostensibly the goal is to craft a base, similar to Fallout 4’s settlements. This time you can build pretty much anywhere, courtesy of your C.A.M.P. or Construction and Assembly Mobile Platform. You can even move your base to a new area if you find a particularly scenic overlook.
IDG / Hayden Dingman
Unlocking items to build is also very slow. After 30-plus hours I’ve unlocked maybe a fifth of the possible items, none of them very fun or interesting. And none of it has a functional purpose beyond the various crafting benches and the player’s stash. For a long time I moved my base every 10 or 15 minutes, placed a crafting table and the stash, and then unloaded my accumulated junk. That’s another aspect that’s annoying: If you move your base, you have to rebuild it. Bethesda allows you to “Blueprint” your design and place it in one big chunk, but I’ve had times where the blueprint couldn’t be built in the space I’d chosen—and thus none of my crafting tables were accessible. Finally I just created duplicate tables to work around it.
But if the loot harvest is bad, the lack is even worse. I grumbled for the first half of the game about collecting junk, vacuuming up Abrexo Cleaner and Lead Pipes and Alarm Clocks and other miscellanea to break down into crafting components. Then I maxed out my stash, and realized that aside from collecting junk…there’s not much to do in this world. Just the missions, and those are (as we’ve covered) not very enticing either. With no impetus to explore, no especially unique or important items to find, there’s even less reason to enter the various generic buildings dotting the landscape. You go straight to the mission objective, grab the holotape or read the terminal, then leave—over and over again.
IDG / Hayden Dingman
Bugs. Let’s get back to talking about bugs. I’ve had at least four or five server disconnects, each time losing a bunch of progress when I logged back in and found myself half a mile from where I’d been dropped. I had one quest reset itself to an earlier stage when I logged out, losing half an hour of work. I never went back to finish it. I logged in once to find myself trapped inside someone else’s base, all the exits requiring a picklock skill higher than mine—meaning I was just trapped forever, or until I logged out and connected to a different server. Another time, a wolf spawned underground. It could attack me, but I couldn’t attack it, so I died. One time I picked up a comic book and the texture file was apparently just missing.
Performance is abysmal, but inconsistently so. Sometimes you’ll be humming along at a smooth 60 frames per second, and then with no warning you’re battling sub-30 frame rates, your weapon swinging wildly back and forth as you try to draw a bead on encroaching ghouls. I haven’t had this many “I swear I shot you!” moments in over a decade, some of my bullets passing through enemies with, I have to assume, the magic of bad netcode. A thick Vaseline-like smear makes everything more than 100 feet away blurry, but object pop-in is still pervasive. And my personal favorite is enemy pop-in, where a hallway looks deserted until suddenly three baddies appear out of thin air.
These encounters are especially frustrating because Fallout 76’s combat is terrible. I mean, all modern Fallouts have had mediocre gun-play, but in the past they got around this with V.A.T.S., the pseudo-turn-based targeting system that slowed action to a crawl and let you pop off a bunch of targeted shots. Fallout 76, being an online game, can’t be paused or slowed down, so instead V.A.T.S. is a glorified auto-aim with a percentage-to-hit modifier that fluctuates up and down wildly. On PC it’s far easier to just take out a shotgun and blast everything.
IDG / Hayden Dingman
And then there’s the leveling system. Fallout 76 ditches the traditional point-allocation system for some sort of card-based perk layout. More than 30 hours in, I still haven’t figured out how the hell it works, nor has anyone I’ve talked to. I think each card you buy gives you a corresponding skill point, except sometimes that’s not true? Or at least sometimes I’ve bought a card and then found out I can’t use it. So yeah, add “Unintuitive Leveling System” to the list of complaints.
Bottom lineI need to wrap this up, even though there’s so much more I could talk about. Some of it I talked about in the beta, like voice chat being always-on and automatically opted in, so you’re stuck listening to people ramble about “My controller batteries just died!” over top of holotapes and other key story beats. Other parts are just annoying quality-of-life issues, like friend requests not being friend requests—you have to add each other individually, or else every “friendship” is one-sided.
I could talk about the complete lack of reason for player interaction, which raises the question why Fallout 76 is a multiplayer game to begin with.
Hp Pavilion Touchsmart 15 Review
Our Verdict
The lack of decent screen resolution is disappointing in a laptop costing Almost £700, but the Pavilion TouchSmart 15 is a solid workhorse of a laptop with a reasonable mid-range price tag. It’s not particularly portable, but it’ll be a choice for people who want a fairly powerful all-round Windows laptop that can be used as a desktop-replacement PC at home.
The Pavilion laptops have traditionally been HP’s affordable ‘everyday computing’ range. But the new HP Pavilion TouchSmart 15 shows signs of starting to move upmarket a bit. Here’s our full HP Pavilion TouchSmart 15 review.
Last year’s model is still on sale for around £475 with an AMD A10 processor. However, this new model – so new that it hadn’t been added to HP’s web site at the time of writing – jumps up to a more mid-range £699 with a Haswell-generation Intel Core i5 processor running at 1.6 GHz, 8 GB of memory, 750 GB hard disk. For graphics it adds an nVidia GeForce GT 740M to the Intel CPU’s integrated HD Graphics 4400. See also See also: Best laptop.
That’s the only configuration currently available for the 15-inch model, although there’s a 14-inch version also available for a reasonable £449 – albeit without the nVidia graphics and just 4 GB of memory.
It’s not particularly exciting too look at, with a plain matt-black keyboard panel and a few bits of silvery trim here and there. However, it’s solidly built with a firm, comfortable keyboard and large trackpad (110 x 53mm).
The downside of that sturdy build is that the TouchSmart 15 weighs a full 2.6 kg, which is heavy even for a 15-inch laptop such as this with a built-in DVD drive. It may not be the sort of thing you’d want to carry around in a backpack too often, so it’s probably more suited to life at home or in an office.
As the TouchSmart name implies, the screen is touch-sensitive, and it provides a bright, colourful image with good viewing angles. However, the resolution is only 1366 x 768 pixels, which might have been acceptable in one of its more affordable predecessors but is a sign of corner cutting at this price.
The screen is also very glossy, and throws off a lot of glare and reflection whenever the sun comes peaking out between the winter clouds.
The speakers work well – they’re a little tinny on higher frequencies, but they produce a pleasantly full sound so that you can listen to some music without demanding headphones or external speakers.
Performance is quite respectable too. Admittedly, a score of 2860 points on the PCMark 7 benchmark isn’t going to win any awards, but it’s not at all bad for a laptop that uses an ageing 5400 rpm hard disk.
The Core i5 processor provides enough horsepower to handle Microsoft Office and web browsing with ease, while that 8 GB of memory ensures that it can tackle more demanding tasks such as video-editing as well. One place you’ll really notice the sluggish hard drive is when you perform a cold Windows boot, which involves about 45 seconds of warming up followed by another 15 seconds of cursor-spinning before the laptop fully comes to life. Using the Windows 8 ‘fast start’ option – another name for sleep hibernation – cut boot time down to a more respectable 15 seconds.
And, of course, there’s that nVidia GeForce GT 740M graphics card. This allowed the TouchSmart 15 to hit 60 fps when running our Stalker test at the laptop’s native 1366 x 768 resolution. And if you can live without the DirectX 11 eye-candy effects it can run the more demanding Batman: Arkham City at a playable 30 fps as well, so it’s certainly capable of some casual gaming action when the need arises.
Battery life isn’t too bad. Switching to the integrated HD 4400 graphics allowed the HP TouchSmart 15 to run 5 hours and 45 minutes of streaming video via Wi-Fi.
Specs HP Pavilion TouchSmart 15 review: Specs
15.6-inch (1366 x 768) touch-sensitive LCD
1.6 GHz Intel i5-4200U (2.6GHz Turbo)
Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
8 GB DDR3 SDRAM
750 GB hard drive (5400 rpm)
802.11b/g/n
1x HDMI
2x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0
SDXC card slot
10/100 ethernet
720p webcam/microphone
SuperMulti DVD burner
headphone socket
41 Whr lithium-ion battery
386 x 258 x 24.7 mm
2.6
Review Lenovo Ideapad 5 Gaming Chromebook
Pros
Pantalla grande y brillante de 2560 x 1600
Excelente conectividad inalámbrica y por cable
Altavoces potentes
Rendimiento sólido
Contras
Diseño sin destacar
Teclado y touchpad mejorables
Calidad de la webcam
Nuestro veredictoPuede que Google haya acabado con Stadia, pero los Chromebooks para juegos siguen existiendo, y el IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook de Lenovo demuestra que la plataforma merece la pena en el área gaming.
Mejores precios hoy: Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Gaming ChromebookTienda
Precio
$538.40
Ver oferta
La decisión de Google de asociarse con fabricantes de portátiles para crear Chromebooks para juegos no podría haber llegado en peor momento. Los primeros modelos se lanzaron a finales de 2023, sólo unos meses antes de que Google cancelara Stadia, su servicio interno de juegos basado en la nube.
Esto podría parecer el fin de los Chromebooks para juegos antes de que hayan empezado. Pero el IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook de Lenovo demuestra que la idea todavía tiene recorrido. Desde la excepcional pantalla, hasta los potentes altavoces, este dispositivo tiene mucho que ofrecer. Aquí tienes nuestro análisis completo.
Diseño y construcción
Diseño sencillo y minimalista
Construcción ligeramente endeble
Buena selección de puertos
El IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook está construido para jugar con sólo mirarlo. El portátil está dotado con un exterior de material de plástico gris simple, confiando únicamente en una tira mate de contraste para animar un poco las cosas.
Tiene un diseño atractivo, pero tampoco llama demasiado la atención. Lenovo podría haberlo etiquetado fácilmente como un portátil educativo o de negocios sin ningún cambio en el diseño.
A juzgar por su aspecto, nunca sabrías que el IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook está hecho para jugar”
Aparte de su aspecto, el IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook es un dispositivo relativamente moderno. Presenta unos biseles impresionantemente finos alrededor de la pantalla, lo cual ayuda a mantener el tamaño general relativamente bajo para tratarse de un panel de formato 16:10 de 16 pulgadas.
El portátil mide poco más de 355 mm de ancho, 254 mm de profundidad y 20 mm de grosor. No es pequeño, pero sí más compacto que muchos de los portátiles de 15,6 pulgadas que salieron al mercado hace unos años.
Sin embargo, la calidad de construcción no es tan impresionante. Todas las superficies del portátil son de plástico (aunque la tapa parezca de metal) y hay una ligera flexión tanto en la tapa de la pantalla, como en la parte inferior del chasis.
Nada de esto es una sorpresa dado el precio del portátil, pero los competidores de Lenovo pueden hacerlo mejor. El Acer Chromebook 516 GE, por ejemplo, ofrece un chasis parcialmente de aluminio que a muchos les resultará más lujoso.
IDG / Matthew Smith
Este Chromebook se inclina hacia USB-C con dos puertos que admiten tanto la carga rápida Power Delivery, como el modo alternativo DisplayPort para conectarse a pantallas externas. Cualquiera de los dos se puede utilizar para la carga, la transferencia de datos, o la entrada de vídeo a un monitor.
También se incluyen un par de puertos USB-A para usar con dispositivos cableados más antiguos. Un lector de tarjetas MicroSD y un conector de audio de 3,5 mm completan las opciones. Es una buena oferta a la que tan solo habríamos añadido un puerto HDMI completo.
Teclado y trackpad
Teclado de tamaño completo
Teclado numérico separado
Buen desplazamiento, pero no el más táctil
Trackpad pequeño pero sensible
Lenovo aprovecha bien todo el tamaño del IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook para desplegar un teclado tremendamente espacioso. Junto a todas las teclas normales, tienes un teclado numérico separado en el lado derecho.
Hay mucho recorrido de tecla y espacio para escribir cómodamente, pero las teclas parecen un poco blandas y no particularmente táctiles. Sin embargo, la fila especial de teclas de función de Google Chromebook están todas ahí, proporcionando un acceso rápido a funciones como el volumen, el brillo y la actualización del navegador web.
IDG / Matthew Smith
La retroiluminación del teclado es una característica clásica de los portátiles para juegos, aunque aquí es un poco más limitada. Puedes personalizar el color de la retroiluminación a través de los ajustes de Chrome OS, pero sólo hay un puñado de colores o una opción de arco iris predefinida.
Aún así, es una gran característica dado el precio del portátil. La mayoría en este rango de precios se quedan con una retroiluminación de teclado blanca y sin personalización del color.
Hay mucho recorrido y espacio para escribir cómodamente, pero las teclas son un poco blandas y no especialmente táctiles”
Justo debajo del teclado principal hay un modesto touchpad. Mide 114,3 mm de ancho por 50 mm de profundidad, lo que es definitivamente en el lado más pequeño. Aunque responde bien y nunca parece estrecho, se agradecería un poco más de espacio.
También notarás que el touchpad está significativamente desplazado hacia el lado izquierdo en un esfuerzo por mantenerlo centrado debajo de la barra espaciadora. Los usuarios con manos grandes deben tener cuidado, ya que esto puede significar que su mano izquierda termine fuera del lado del reposamanos.
Personalmente, prefiero el enfoque del Acer Chromebook 516 GE, que prescinde por completo del teclado numérico para centrarse en un panel táctil y un teclado centrados. Tu opinión variará dependiendo de cuánto valoras la presencia del teclado numérico.
Pantalla, sonido y webcam
Sólida pantalla LCD IPS de 16 pulgadas a 120 Hz
Altavoces impresionantes
La calidad de la webcam 720p podría ser mejor
El IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook es uno de los dispositivos ChromeOS más grandes que se pueden comprar, con una pantalla de 16 pulgadas y relación de aspecto 16:10.
Mientras que el modelo básico tiene un panel de 1920 x 1200 con una tasa de refresco de 60 Hz, el que he probado lo mejora a 2560 x 1600 y 120 Hz. Ambos son LCD IPS en lugar de OLED, pero tienen un acabado antirreflejos y sin brillo.
Por desgracia, la calidad de imagen es mediocre. Aunque los colores son atractivos y el brillo máximo es razonable (350 nits), la relación de contraste de la pantalla no es nada impresionante y resta profundidad y dramatismo a la imagen. Las escenas oscuras a menudo se ven ligeramente borrosas, con sombras carentes de detalle.
A pesar de estos defectos, la pantalla del IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook es una mejora sobre la mayoría de portátiles baratos, como el Acer Nitro 5 y el Asus TUF Gaming A15. Los portátiles gaming Windows de este rango de precios tienden a tener una gama de colores peor y apagada, y un ratio de contraste aún más bajo.
La frecuencia de refresco de 120 Hz del Lenovo es otra ventaja sobre la competencia. Se muestra muy fluida en los juegos, pero también mejora la experiencia visual del día a día. El desplazamiento es fluido, mientras que el movimiento por las aplicaciones y las páginas web es muy sensible.
Aunque la pantalla es una ventaja, hay un gran inconveniente: no todos los servicios de juego en la nube admiten una resolución de 2.560 x 1.600 a 120 Hz. Hasta donde yo sé, Nvidia GeForce Now y Shadow Blade son los únicos servicios disponibles que admiten esta resolución y frecuencia de actualización.
El portátil soporta otros servicios de streaming de juegos, pero la imagen en estos puede parecer más suave de lo que cabría esperar.
IDG / Matthew Smith
Aparte de los juegos, la pantalla se ve muy bien al navegar por la web o escribir documentos. Su imagen nítida y brillante reproduce las fuentes finas con una claridad sobresaliente, mientras que la capa antirreflejos elimina los bordes de la luz. El tamaño y la alta relación de aspecto de la pantalla también ofrecen espacio de sobra para la multitarea.
Hay más noticias buenas en lo que respecta al audio: los altavoces integrados del portátil son excelentes para su precio. Están orientados hacia arriba, lo que significa que el sonido no está amortiguado en absoluto, y combinan una buena separación estéreo con una pizca de fuerza en música y películas.
El rango medio todavía puede ser mejorable y el volumen es simplemente adecuado, pero los altavoces están un peldaño por encima de la mayoría de Chromebooks y portátiles Windows de precio similar.
Los altavoces están por encima de la mayoría de Chromebooks y portátiles Windows de precio similar”
Encima de la pantalla hay una webcam básica de 720p. El brillo y los colores son aceptables, pero el vídeo tiende a verse suave y falto de detalle. Sin embargo, aquellos que se preocupan por la privacidad, estarán contentos de ver la inclusión de un obturador de privacidad físico que puede bloquear completamente la cámara.
La calidad del micrófono está por encima de la media, con buen volumen y claridad. Es incapaz de bloquear muchos ruidos de fondo fuertes o consistentes, pero los sonidos menores u ocasionales no son un problema. Sin embargo, merece la pena señalar que el obturador físico no desactiva el micrófono.
Desafortunadamente, el inicio de sesión biométrico (con tu huella dactilar o cara) no es una opción en este Chromebook. Pero eso no es una sorpresa, ya que no muchos Chromebooks optan por incluir esta característica. En su lugar, tendrás que utilizar un PIN o una contraseña a la antigua usanza.
Especificaciones y rendimiento
CPU Intel Core i5-1235U
Mucha RAM y almacenamiento
Excelente rendimiento en juegos en la nube
El IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook está equipado con el procesador Core i5-1235U de Intel, una CPU de la gama de 12ª generación que llegó en 2023. Con 10 núcleos (dos de rendimiento y ocho de eficiencia), es un procesador modesto comparado con los portátiles gaming Windows, pero extremadamente potente para un Chromebook.
Lenovo tampoco ha comprometido otras especificaciones de rendimiento. Tienes 8 GB de RAM y un SSD de 512 GB.
Eso es excelente para un Chromebook, incluso 256 GB deberían ser suficientes para la mayoría de la gente. En mi experiencia, un SSD de 256 GB en un Chromebook es similar a una unidad de 1 TB en un portátil con Windows, ya que el espacio de almacenamiento reducido se compensa con el hecho de que la mayoría de las aplicaciones (incluidos los juegos), se ejecutan en la nube.
Estos son los resultados benchmark del Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook en cinco pruebas de rendimiento basadas en navegadores.
CrXPRT 2: 184
Velocímetro: 124
Basemark Web 3.0: 1193
Kraken 502.7
Jetstream 2: 211,928
Estas son puntuaciones altas que compiten con otros Chromebooks recientes con procesadores Intel Core i5, como el Acer Chromebook Vero 514 y el Framework Laptop Chromebook. El Lenovo con procesador Intel está un poco por delante del Acer Chromebook Spin 514 con procesador AMD Ryzen en la mayoría de las pruebas, aunque los resultados del benchmark están muy cerca en general.
Acer Chromebook Vero 514 no está diseñado para jugar, pero sigue siendo un competidor clave
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
¿Qué hay de los juegos? Los juegos instalados en el Chromebook no se ejecutan bien – o en absoluto. Los juegos de Android están técnicamente disponibles a través de Google Play Store utilizando la emulación de Android, pero los títulos exigentes están fuera de cuestión.
Durante las pruebas, Call of Duty: Mobile se bloqueó inmediatamente y me devolvió al escritorio. Genshin Impact se inicia bien y es vagamente jugable, pero tiene un aspecto terrible y es de todo menos fluido. Asphalt 8 es lo bastante fluido para jugar, pero tiene problemas de tartamudeo que restan valor a la experiencia.
Sin embargo, el juego en la nube es otra historia. El IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook puede transmitir cómodamente casi cualquier título de juego en la nube con una resolución máxima de 2560 x 1600 y una frecuencia de actualización de 120 Hz.
Usando el nivel Ultimate de Nvidia GeForce Now (19,99 € al mes), que proporciona acceso a hardware de clase RTX 4080, ejecuté Cyberpunk2077 a 136 fps. Esto fue con los ajustes Ultra detalle y Ultra trazado de rayos activados, además de DLSS 3 activado.
Y lo que es aún más impresionante, lo hice desde una habitación situada a 15 metros con varias paredes de distancia del router de casa, por lo que dependía totalmente de la potencia de la señal wifi.
IDG / Matthew Smith
Es un resultado asombroso. Habría que gastarse miles de euros para obtener un rendimiento similar en un portátil con Windows que jugara localmente.
También me sorprendió la solidez del adaptador Wifi del IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook en esta situación. Es un escenario difícil, ya que el rango entre el router y el Chromebook resulta en solo 90 Mbps de ancho de banda y latencia irregular, pero el juego se sentía sin problemas.
¿La pega? Tendrás que pagar una cuota mensual para acceder a cualquier servicio de juego en la nube. También estarás limitado a una selección más reducida de juegos compatibles. Pero si puedes hacer frente a estas limitaciones, el juego en la nube en este Chromebook es una experiencia fantástica.
Jugar en la nube en este Chromebook es una experiencia fantástica”
La conectividad es impresionante, ya que el portátil es compatible tanto con Bluetooth 5.1, como con el último estándar WiFi 6E (en el momento de escribir estas líneas). Eso es importante para un Chromebook de juegos – mientras que WiFi 6 es más que capaz de manejar los juegos en la nube, el ancho de banda extra nunca es una mala cosa.
Me alegra saber que el portátil es compatible con Bluetooth 5.1 y WiFi 6E, que es el último estándar. Esto es importante para un Chromebook de juegos. La velocidad de WiFi 6 es capaz de gestionar juegos en la nube, pero un ancho de banda extra nunca viene mal.
WiFi 6E también tiene una banda adicional de 6 GHz que puede mejorar la fiabilidad de la red si tienes numerosos dispositivos conectados. Sin embargo, necesitarás un router compatible para aprovecharlo.
Duración de la batería
Capacidad de 71 Wh
Impresionante duración de la batería
El Lenovo IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook incluye una gran batería de 71 Wh en su gran chasis. Es una gran capacidad para tratarse de un Chromebook, y merece la pena cuando estás lejos de la corriente de carga durante mucho tiempo.
Usando el test de duración de batería CrXPT 2, registré unas muy alentadoras 15 horas y 56 minutos. Es un gran resultado, superando a portátiles de la talla del Acer Chromebook Vero 514, Acer Chromebook Spin 514 y Framework Chromebook Laptop.
La duración de la batería es un punto fuerte del IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook”
Sigue siendo un gran salto con respecto a los portátiles para juegos de Windows, que a menudo luchan por alcanzar las cinco horas de duración de la batería con una sola carga. La duración de la batería es uno de los puntos fuertes del IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook.
Precio y disponibilidadEl precio del IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook parte de un precio para la configuración aquí analizada de 699 € con procesadores de última generación y la resolución FullHD soportada con el panel IPS antireflectante que integra.
Esto lo convierte en un Chromebook de gama alta sin llegar a ser un portátil caro, pero en uno de los portátiles para juegos más asequibles que se pueden comprar.
Su rival más obvio es el Acer Chromebook 516 GE (desde 999 €), mientras que el Acer Chromebook Vero 514 (más económico) no está diseñado para juegos, pero podrás ejecutarlos a través de la nube.
VeredictoEl IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook es un Chromebook impresionante, tanto para abordar tareas de productividad diaria, como para jugar en la nube. Hay mucho que gusta aquí, incluyendo una pantalla brillante y nítida, buen rendimiento, gran conectividad y excelente duración de la batería.
Lenovo ha hecho algunos sacrificios de diseño, sin embargo, mientras que el teclado y la webcam no son los mejores.
Por muy bueno que sea este dispositivo, el Chromebook 516 GE de Acer ofrece una experiencia de juego ligeramente más completa. Pero la mayoría de la gente será feliz con cualquier dispositivo, y el IdeaPad 5 Gaming Chromebook es una buena segunda opción.
Especificaciones
Pantalla de 16 pulgadas y ratio 16: 10
Procesador Intel Core i5-1235U
Memoria: 8 GB
Gráficos/GPU: Intel Iris Xe
Resolución de pantalla de 2560 x 1600
Almacenamiento: 512 GB SSD
Cámara web 720p con IR
Conectividad: 2x USB-C con Power Delivery y DisplayPort 1.4, 2x USB-A, 1x lector de tarjetas microSD, 1x conector de audio combinado de 3,5 mm
Redes: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1
Biometría: Ninguna
Batería de 71 Wh
Dimensiones de 356 x x 252 x 22 mm
Peso de 1,82 kg
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