Huawei MateBook 14s review: The 90Hz display puts it over the top

Huawei has a history of making some really great laptops. It was the first to put Dolby Atmos audio in a 13-inch laptop with the MateBook X, and it’s always pushed for high screen-to-body ratios, quality keyboards, and more. The Huawei MateBook 14 is one of the first to ship with Windows 11, and it comes with some of the features that we’re seeing a lot with the latest generation of laptops.

Most notably, it has a 90Hz display, making for a much smoother experience than most other laptops on the market today, which have 60Hz screens. It’s also got Intel’s Tiger Lake H35 processors, and for productivity performance, it’s pretty great (we’ll talk later about the implications of a powerful processor without a dedicated GPU). First of all, it has the features that are unique to Huawei laptops, such as Huawei Share that lets you tap your Huawei phone against it and instantly share photos and videos, or easily extend your screen to other Huawei devices wirelessly.

Navigate this review:

• Design: The MateBook 14s looks like a Huawei laptop, but there’s only one Thunderbolt port and it’s optional
• Display: The 90Hz 14.2-inch screen is beautiful
• Keyboard: The Huawei MateBook 14s has 1.5mm keys, a fingerprint sensor, and more
• Huawei Share
• Performance and battery life: The Huawei MateBook 14s has a 35W CPU, but no dedicated GPU
• Conclusion: Should you buy the Huawei MateBook 14s?

Huawei MateBook 14 Specs

CPU	Core i7-11370H
Graphics	Iris Xe
Body	313.82×229.76×16.7mm, 1.43kg
Display	14.2 inches, 2,520×1,680, 213ppi, 90% screen-to-body ratio, 90Hz, 400 nits, 100% sRGB, 1500:1 contrast ratio, 178-degree viewing angle
Storage	1TB NVMe PCIe SSD
RAM	16GB LPDDR4x Dual Channel
Battery	60WHr lithium polymer
Connectivity	IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax, 160 MHz, Bluetooth 5.1
Ports	(2) USB Type-C (1) USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (1) HDMI (1) 3.5mm audio
Input	1.5 mm key travel Full-size Backlit Keyboard Touchpad with Multi-touch Huawei Share Built-in
Webcam	720P HD camera
Audio	Speaker x 4 Microphone x 4
OS	Windows 11 Home
Material	Aluminum
Color	Space Gray
Price	£1299.99

Note that in this case, one of the two USB Type-C ports supports Thunderbolt 4, but most of the configurations don’t. It’s really weird, but when you go to configure the model you’re buying, there’s actually an option for Intel Evo certified, and that’s only available on the configuration with a Core i7, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

Design: The MateBook 14s looks like a Huawei laptop, but there’s only one Thunderbolt port and it’s optional

I’ve reviewed a whole bunch of Huawei laptops, going right back to the original MateBook that launched in 2016. They all share a common design, and probably the biggest difference has been the shift from the petal logo to the text Huawei logo that’s stamped in the hood. They’re pretty much all made out of aluminum, and the base color for this one is called Space Gray.

It also comes in Spruce Green, which I’m a little jealous about. Obviously, neutral colors like gray and silver tend to be popular in laptops, just like black is popular with phones. As a reviewer that uses lots of devices, I like things that stand out from the rest.

Unfortunately, that other color option is where I start to stumble on one of my biggest issues with the MateBook 14s: the lack, or somewhat lack of Thunderbolt. Here’s the deal on this. In order to get Thunderbolt, you have to purchase the model with a Core i7, 16GB RAM, and 1TB storage, and as far as I can tell, that’s only available in the Space Gray configuration.

With the MateBook 14s, Thunderbolt 4 only comes in the highest-end configuration.

I do think that there’s a lot of value in this laptop for the price, but it disappoints me that Thunderbolt and Intel Evo certification isn’t standard. With Thunderbolt 4, you can connect an external GPU on a single USB Type-C port, or you can connect dual 4K monitors or one 8K monitor. It was something that was really reserved for premium PCs with Thunderbolt 3, but has become a lot more mainstream with Thunderbolt 4.

The other pain point is that if you do shell out extra for the Intel Evo configuration, only one of the USB Type-C ports are Thunderbolt. It’s the “2nd USB-C port on the left”, presumably meaning second from the left. I wouldn’t expect the average consumer to know which one to connect their external GPU into, as the ports also aren’t labeled, despite being right next to each other.

Along with the two USB Type-C ports, there’s an HDMI port and a 3.5mm audio jack on the left side of the device. On the right side, there’s a single USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port.

Overall, the design is pretty, something I’ve long said about Huawei laptops because they all follow the same design language. The lack of Thunderbolt on most configurations is disappointing, especially since it feels like the single port was added on a single configuration just to check a box.

Display: The 90Hz 14.2-inch screen is beautiful

One thing that you should absolutely be looking for in your next laptop is a high refresh rate screen like this one. In the PC market, higher refresh rates have historically been a gaming feature designed to give you that extra millisecond to react. But as we’ve seen in the mobile market for a few years now, high refresh rates create a better experience for everyone. So now, we’re seeing them become more mainstream in the PC market.

The 90Hz refresh rate is the real selling point on the MateBook 14s

The touchscreen on the Huawei MateBook 14s is 14.2 inches with a 2,520×1,680, giving it a 3:2 aspect ratio. It’s also got a 90% screen-to-body ratio, which might actually be the highest screen-to-body ratio out there with a 3:2 display. If it’s not, it’s close. Add to that that the webcam is actually in the top bezel, and it’s a really immersive experience.

Supporting 99% sRGB, 71% NTSC, 76 Adobe RGB, and 75% P3, the color gamut is pretty solid for a premium laptop. To be honest though, the 90Hz refresh rate is the real selling point.

In my testing, brightness maxed out at 430.9 nits and contrast maxed out at 1,730:1, both of which well exceed the promises listed on Huawei’s own spec sheet. The black point is also pretty low for a non-OLED laptop.

It’s a beautiful screen, and as I mentioned, the webcam is in the top bezel. That’s something that you don’t see on every Huawei laptop. Years ago, the company started putting the webcam in a pop-up key in the keyboard, a privacy measure that took advantage of the fact that no one cared about webcams. Of course, in the age of working from home, webcam placement is way more important than it was a few years ago.

The bad news is that it’s a 720p camera, and just as placement is important today, so is resolution. And as I mentioned that we saw high refresh rates on mobile before we did on PC, the same can be said for good front-facing cameras. You can spend $3,000 on a laptop with a 720p webcam and you can spend $300 on a smartphone with a 1080p 60fps front camera. It’s an issue, and it’s gradually getting better. Unfortunately, the products coming to market now have been in the pipeline for a couple years.

Keyboard: The Huawei MateBook 14s has 1.5mm keys, a fingerprint sensor, and more

Huawei’s MateBook 14s has Chiclet-style, 1.5mm keys, and that’s a pretty standard depth for a laptop. It’s also what Huawei has been using as its standard since it started making Windows laptops in 2016. Ultimately, the keyboard feels good to type on, and it’s accurate. Unfortunately for me, there’s no U.S.-style variant anymore, but you can set it to U.S. in Settings, and that’s pretty easy to get used to.

Interestingly, there’s still a button between the F6 and F7 keys, even though there’s no camera there.

At the top-right, there’s a power button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor. It’s actually quite good, and it’s why I don’t care that there’s no IR camera. Huawei has always made fingerprint sensors that are fast and accurate, and it was also the first to make a Windows laptop (the MateBook X) that scanned your fingerprint when you pressed the power button, rather than after the PC boots up, and that’s what the MateBook 14s does. That means that you press it once, and it automatically logs you in when it boots. It’s quite good.

Naturally, it comes with a Microsoft Precision touchpad that takes advantage of most of the available real estate. That’s also where you’ll find the Huawei Share sensor, so let’s talk a bit about that.

Huawei Share

A few years ago, Huawei set out to build an ecosystem. It had smartphones, smartwatches, laptops, headphones, and more, so the only piece missing was for them all to work together in a way that enriches the user experience for anyone willing to invest in the company’s products. Laptops started including Huawei Share, so you’d be able to tap your Huawei phone against an NFC tag and transfer photos and videos that are selected. That’s now expanded to include a full multi-screen experience.

Huawei Share lets you use your phone like it's part of your PC.

Once you tap your phone against the touchpad, it’s going to ask permission to access the device. After you approve, you’ll see the screen mirrored. Then, you can do things like drag and drop files, and you can even take files that are stored on your phone and open them in apps on the laptop. For example, a Word document would be opened in the full Windows version of Word, rather than the mobile Office app on the phone that’s being shared.

Performance and battery life: The Huawei MateBook 14s has a 35W CPU, but no dedicated GPU

The MateBook 14s that Huawei sent me for review includes an Intel Core i7-11370H, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD. This is a configuration that’s a bit different from anything that we’ve seen in years past. Part of the reason for that is that the Tiger Lake H35 series is entirely new. Historically, H-series processors are 45W, and they come with lots of cores and threads. H35 is, you guessed it, 35W, but it’s also only quad-core with eight threads. It’s meant to provide power in thin and light devices.

The other thing that makes this device somewhat unique is that there’s no dedicated GPU. Typically, an H-series processor is paired with dedicated graphics because the types of applications that would require the more powerful CPU – like games and video editors – would also benefit from the additional graphics power. One tends to complement the other.

This is only the second machine I’ve reviewed with Tiger Lake H35, the first being the Surface Laptop Studio, which did have dedicated graphics. I’ve noticed that this is a different type of machine. For one thing, this is absolutely not a gaming PC. I tried running Forza Horizon 5 on here and it even told me that it doesn’t have a supported GPU. I tried ignoring the warnings and it didn’t go well. It can run things like Halo: The Master Chief Collection and in general, it can handle FHD gaming, but if that’s your goal, there are better options. This isn’t a video editing PC either.

This is a productivity machine, and it earned my respect in a way that I didn’t think it would. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen an H-series processor that wasn’t paired with dedicated graphics, although I will say that when that happens, that device’s successor always goes back to a U-series CPU. That’s what I was expecting my impressions to be here.

This reminds me of the 28W U-series processors that we’ve seen from Intel, but with a little bit more mustard. Those used to go in Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro and some others, but it was always a way to get some solid performance out of an efficient chip. It’s pretty neat, and I have to say, I don’t miss dedicated graphics here. It’s just not that kind of PC.

As far as battery life goes, I got just under six hours (five hours and 55 minutes at best), which is pretty good, because that time was actually pretty consistent while doing different kinds of real-world testing. This was with balanced power settings and medium brightness.

For benchmarks, I used PCMark 10, 3DMark, Geekbench, and Cinebench.

	Huawei MateBook 14s Core i7-11370H	Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 Ryzen 7 4800U (28W)	Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 Core i7-1185G7
PCMark 10	5,174	5,252	5,168
3DMark: Time Spy	1,877	1,376
Geekbench	1,505 / 5,751	1,160 / 6,362	1,489 / 5,280
Cinebench	1,450 / 5,781	1,245 / 8,703	1,303 / 4,224

As you can see, the Tiger Lake H35 processor does pretty well. AMD tends to do better on multi-core tests, but that’s because AMD puts more cores in their chips.

Conclusion: Should you buy the Huawei MateBook 14s?

The Huawei MateBook 14s is an excellent laptop. With the 90Hz display and the productivity performance that comes with the 35W Intel CPU, I just love it. That’s before we even get into the bits that come with the Huawei ecosystem.

It’s not perfect, of course. It’s really disappointing to me that you have to buy the highest-end configuration to get Intel Evo, and even then, only one of the two USB Type-C ports include Thunderbolt 4. Given how mainstream Thunderbolt has become, I expect more. The other disappointing issue is the 720p webcam. If you’re buying a new laptop to work from home, it’s worth considering options with a 1080p camera.

But we can also talk about all of the neat Huawei features. One thing that I love about the multi-device features is that you don’t have to implement it through software. For example, if I share a photo from an iPhone to a MacBook, I can go through the share dialog to AirDrop it to the MacBook. Huawei did this through NFC, so if you want to connect your phone to your laptop, just tap it against the touchpad.

Of course, you do have to be willing to live in the Huawei ecosystem for this to work properly, which brings me to the main issue, that you simply can’t buy the products here in the U.S.

Huawei MateBook 14s

The Huawei MateBook 14s offers a large 3:2 90Hz display with a 90% screen-to-body ratio, a premium build, and more.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at Amazon UK

The post Huawei MateBook 14s review: The 90Hz display puts it over the top appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/317ePKV
via IFTTT

These are the best motherboards for AMD CPUs you can buy in 2021

AMD’s been ahead of Intel in the battle of best CPUs for quite some time now. Although things are starting to change with the arrival of Intel’s Alder Lake CPUs and Windows 11, we think AMD chips have an upper hand over even the newer Intel chips in terms of platform cost, general availability, and more. This is why the best motherboards for AMD continue to remain a hot topic in the community. AMD motherboards are always in demand, but luckily there are more than a few AMD mainboards on the market.

In this article, we’ll be taking a look at some of the best motherboards for AMD CPUs you can buy right now. AMD has stuck with AM4 for a while now, so there are plenty of options to choose from. The X570, B550, X5470, and even the B450 are all viable options right now, and we expect them to around even after AMD’s AM5 platform officially lands in 2022. You can also check out our collection of the best motherboards if you’re not particularly looking for an AMD mainboard. And with that out of the way, let’s get started with this list:

Navigate this article:

• Best X570 motherboard for AMD CPUs: ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme
  • Second best x570 motherboard for AMD CPUs: ASUS X570 ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Wi-Fi
• Best B55 motherboard for AMD CPUs: ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi
  • Second best B550 motherboard for AMD CPUs: NZXT N7 B550
• Best budget X570 motherboard for AMD CPUs: MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus
• Best mini-ITX motherboard: Gigabyte X570-I Aorus Pro Wi-Fi
  • Second best mini-ITX motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX
• Best TRX40 motherboard: ASRock TRX40 Taichi

Best X570 motherboard for AMD CPUs: ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme

The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme is one of the most expensive motherboards on this list, but we think it’s well worth the asking price. Not only does it have the looks to match the price tag, but it also packs a ton of premium features like one of the most capable VRMs, support for extreme overclocking, the latest Realtek/Supreme FX audio codec, etc; making it a desirable option on the marketplace. It also offers up to five M.2 slots that can work simultaneously.

The ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme is an E-ATX size motherboard that comes with an X570 chipset and has an AM4 socket. It also comes with oversized heatsinks for both the chipset as well as the VRM. As you’d expect from a premium motherboard, the M.2 slots are also covered with heatsinks/shroud, making it a great overall environment for cooling. Additionally, this motherboard sports two Thunderbolt 4 (Type-C) ports, and has a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 port on the front panel. You also get a lot of thoughtful extras in the box including the DIMM.2 add-in card (for installing extra M.2 drives), an audio DAC, a ROG fan controller, a Wifi antenna, and more.

The motherboard itself is built like a tank and it also looks gorgeous. This is arguably one of the best-looking you can buy right now. We also like how ASUS has gone with minimal RGB bling for this board despite being a top-of-line motherboard. In addition to the glowing light strip on the right-side edge, only the ROG logo and ROG texts light up. It looks nice and blends well with the all-black PCB of the motherboard. What we like the most about this motherboard is that it comes with what ASUS calls a LiveDash screen. It’s essentially a 2-inch OLED screen that by default displays key system information. You don’t necessarily need a display on the motherboard, but we don’t mind as long as it’s not taking up precious space that’s reserved for other components.

The ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme motherboard comes with two 8-pin connectors to feed power to the CPU. It goes without saying that you also get a ton of fan/pump, USB, and RGB headers on this motherboard. These headers are usually available in plenty of motherboards now, so it’s nothing unusual. You also get up to four DRAM slots capable of running up to 128GB of DDR4 RAM with up to DDR4-5400 speeds. Your mileage is bound to vary when it comes to speeds since not all memory modules have the same speeds. That being said, it’s good to see the support for some of the fastest RAM kits available on the market.

The motherboard also comes with up to three PCIe slots. Two of those are full-length reinforced slots, whereas the last one is an x1 slot at the bottom without any reinforcement. We also like the fact that the I/O shield is pre-installed on this motherboard, which means that’s one less step to worry about while building a PC. Overall, we think the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme is a fantastic motherboard that’s capable of powering even the most demanding CPUs on the market. Not to mention, it also supports overclocking, so enthusiasts would to have this card at their disposal for a fully decked out AMD-based build. If you’ve got $800 to spend on an AMD motherboard, let it be this one.

ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme Motherboard

The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme is one of the best premium motherboards you can buy right now. It has an X570 chipset and sports an AM4 socket to support even the most demanding AMD CPUs on the market.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

Buy from Amazon

Second best x570 motherboard for AMD CPUs: ASUS X570 ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Wi-Fi

While the ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme is the best motherboard for CPUs you can buy, it comes with an eye-watering price tag of $800. It’s safe to say that it’s for everyone. The ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Wi-Fi motherboard, however, comes with a rather palatable price of Rs $379 and we think it’s a fantastic alternative to the more expensive unit we mentioned above. The ROG Crosshair VIII Hero Wi-Fi is just as good as the Crosshair VIII Extreme, if not better. It comes with a robust VRM, 2.5G LAN, a bunch of USB ports, ROG SupremeFX premium audio, and more.

The ROG Hero motherboard sits on top of the product stack along with the more expensive Formula and other Strix boards. Its $380 price tag lands in the upper mid-range segment of all the X570 motherboards on the market. This particular motherboard comes with a whopping 12 USB ports on the rear IO, including eight USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (seven Type-A, one Type-C), a fast 2.5G Realtek based LAN as well as WiFi 6 integration. The I/O shield comes pre-installed which is awesome. The ROG Crosshair VIII Hero comes with an X570 chipset and has an AM4 socket. This means it’s good for both Ryzen 3000 and 5000 series CPUs.

This particular motherboard also comes with eight SATA ports and four DIMM slots. You can install up to 128GB of DDR4 memory. ASUS hasn’t mentioned the rated memory speeds for this board, but we’d expect it to be on par with other high-end motherboards on the market. The ROG Crosshair VIII Hero motherboard comes with a jet black PCB with just the right amount of RGB. Only the ROG logo lights up, which is enough to add a touch of RGB without making it overly obnoxious. You also get a rather sophisticated heatsink that even covers the two M.2 slots on the board

The ROG Crosshair VIII Hero comes with an 8-pin EPS connector and you get a ton of fan/pump, RGB, and USB headers on the board. We also like the addition of the voltage read points. It’s a nifty addition that’ll be appreciated by a lot of overclockers. The Crosshair VIII Hero has three full-length PCIe slots and an x1 slot. This motherboard supports both 3-way SLI and Crossfire multi-GPU solutions. The two M.2 slots are capable of running both SATA or PCIe based m.2 modules.

The Crosshair VIII Hero is also suitable for water-cooling systems. In addition to the fan/pump headers, you also get a water flow sensor and temperature headers, and it replaces fancy system controllers with control and monitoring handled through software or the BIOS. The Crosshair VIII Hero is also a great motherboard for overclocking and it handles even the most demanding high-performance CPUs on the market. We think a motherboard like this can be paired with, say, a Ryzen 9 5950X. It’s one of the best X570 motherboards you can buy right now. ASRock’s Phantom Gaming-X motherboard comes close to its performance but the Crosshair Hero’s stylish design, a robust power delivery system, and its large features set make it a far better option.

ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero X570 motherboard

The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero is one of the best ATX motherboards for an AMD-based build. It's backed by a long list of features and reliable performance to beat the competing boards on the market.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

Buy from Amazon

Best B55 motherboard for AMD CPUs: ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi

The ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi is one of the best B550 motherboards you can buy for your AMD CPUs. It offers most of the features and capabilities of more expensive X570-chipset based boards with an affordable price tag. At $210, the ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi is our pick for the best B550 motherboard one can buy right now. This particular board sits on top of the ASUS’ motherboard product stack. It may not be the best motherboard for your AMD CPU, but it is what we think offers the most value for your money, and is perfect for a budget build.

The ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi features a 14-phase delivery, 2.5GB LAN, integrated WiFi 6, two M.2 slots, and more. The motherboard, as you can see, has a black-coloured PCB and has a decent amount of heatsink covering the M.2 slot too. There’s also very little in the name of RGB lighting and only the ROG logo is lit. Since the B550 chipset uses less power, this particular motherboard doesn’t have a fan. That’s not necessarily a glaring omission since the B550 chipset isn’t as sophisticated as the X570 chipset and are usually capable of delivering reliable power to the components without any issues.

The I/O shield is pre-installed which means it’ll be relatively easier to install this motherboard inside a PC case. The motherboard VRM is covered with a heatsink and it comes with two EPS connectors. You also get a ton of fan/pump headers, in addition to a bunch of RGB and USB headers on the motherboard. The ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi sports four single-side latching DIMM slots capable of holding up to 128GB of DDR4 memory. The supported memory speed for the DIMM slots is listed up to DDR 4400(OC). This means the motherboard is capable of supporting even some of the most powerful DDR4 kits on the market. DDR4 3600 – 3733 is the sweet spot for DDR4 memory, so it leaves a bit more headroom for overclocked modules.

You also get two full-sized PCIe slots with the primary one being reinforced for accepting GPUs. It provides 16 PCIe 4.0 lanes to the GPU whereas the second slot is running at PCIe 3.0 x4 speeds. In terms of connectivity, you get a total of eight USB ports which includes two USB 3.2 Gen 2, four USB 3.1 Gen1 and two USB 2.0. One of the USB 2.0 ports is designated for BIOS flash functionality. In addition to the USB ports, you also get a single Intel 2.5 GbE LAN port, an HDMI and DisplayPort along with an audio stack consisting of 5-plug analog outputs plus SPDIF.

The performance of the ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi is also on-point. It supports even the most demanding AMD CPU on the market. That being said, we think it’s best to pair this particular motherboard with, say, an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU for a mid-range build instead of a high-end rig. As such it shouldn’t have any issues running any 3000 or the 5000 series CPU thanks to the AM4 socket and the B550 chipset. This motherboard is readily available on the market right now, but be sure to check out this link below to find the best price online.

ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi

The ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming is one of the newer B550 boards on the market and it's a great option for those looking to build a powerful AMD-based build with one of the 5000-series processors.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

Buy from Amazon

Second best B550 motherboard for AMD CPUs: NZXT N7 B550

NZXT made a splash in the motherboard space with its N7 Z490 board for Intel builds, following which it quickly become a popular choice for a lot of people. The company quickly followed up with an AMD version which is what we’ve picked up for this particular collection. The NZXT N7 B550 is our pick for the second-best B550 motherboard on can buy right now. The N7 B550 comes with PCIe 4.0 support, WiFi 6E, up to six SATA ports, and a ton of USB ports for connecting all kinds of peripherals. It’s also one of the best-looking motherboards in this list, which looks best when paired with an NZXT PC case.

The NZXT N7 B550 motherboard comes in a black and white colour scheme. Both boards, as you can see, come with a rather sophisticated heatsink/shroud covering almost the entirety of the motherboard. The only visible part of the PCB is next to the AM4 CPU socket, which will eventually get covered by the CPU heatsink. The heavily-shrouded design isn’t for everyone, but we think it’ll nicely blend into any and all kinds of PC builds without any issues. Those who don’t like RGB lights on their motherboard will particularly like the N7 B550 since it doesn’t have any RGB lights whatsoever. So if you’re into RGB lighting, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

The NZXT N7 B550 comes with two EPS connectors and a bunch of headers for your fan/pump, RGB, and USB ports. You also get two 4-pin NZXT RGB headers to control compatible NZXT products. You also get four DRAM slots on this board, although none of them are reinforced. It supports up to 128GB of RAM with listed speeds of up to DDR4 4666+ (OC). We think DDR4 3600 – 3733 is the sweet spot for AMD CPUs, so this is plenty for most users who’re looking to dish out a high-end rig. The PCIe slots are also mostly covered by the shroud, with only the slots being visible. The board has four PCIe slots in total out of which only the top slot is reinforced for the GPU. You also get two M.2 slots and they accept drives up to 80mm long. Additionally, you also get six SATA ports supporting RAID0, 1, 5 and 10 modes.

Just like other premium motherboards in this collection, the NZXT N7 B550 also comes with a pre-installed I/O shield. It’s a black-colored I/O shield with white markings for the ports and buttons. You get ten USB ports in total out of which four are USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, four are USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, and the final two are USB 2.0 ports. You also get an HDMI port along with BIOS flashback and clear CMOS buttons and a Wi-Fi antenna.

The performance of the N7 B550 is on-par with a lot of other premium motherboards on the market. At $229, it costs a little more than the ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi, but and it falls in the upper mid-range category. It’s a fantastic option for those looking at a clean motherboard that hides the tacky PCB design. It’s particularly good for builds involving NZXT PC case or other NZXT components.

NZXT N7 B550

NZXT worked with ASRock for the N7 and it's a fantastic B550 board for most people looking for to build an AMD system.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

Buy from Amazon

Best budget X570 motherboard for AMD CPUs: MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus

Not all the X570 chipset-based motherboards are expensive and the MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus is a great example of that. This is one of the most affordable motherboards on this list and we think it’s perfect for those looking to make an entry to mid-range PC with an AMD CPU. But don’t let its affordable price tag fool you because it packs a lot of great features making it compete with some big dogs. It’s not the most premium motherboard on the market but it’s a reliable one and performs well even some of the 5000-series Ryzen chips.

The MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus, as you can see, is a very barebones motherboard with not a lot of fancy features. Well, that’s a trade-off for paying a less premium over some other boards on the market. You only get a heatsink for the VRM module on top. The rest of black-colored PCB is exposed and it’s got a lot of red accents. It’s not the look for everyone but should be plenty for a basic rig. What we do like about the motherboard is the addition of a lot of headers. You can connect plenty of fans/pumps, RGB lights, and USB ports. MSI has also given other thoughtful additions like a PS/2 port for legacy keyboards and mice and two USB 2.0 ports for the contemporary keyboard/mouse.

Notably, the I/O shield is missing on here, which means, you’ll have to install it separately on the PC case. This is commonplace for a lot of budget motherboards, so there’s nothing surprising here. You get four DIMM slots on this board, but don’t expect any crazy DDR4 memory speeds on this motherboard. Four of the CPU’s PCIe 4.0 lanes go to the M.2 slot and four more to the X570 PCH. The remaining sixteen lanes go to the top PCIe slot in a fixed fashion. It’s safe to say that you won’t be running SLI on this board, but you can use the second x16 slot to add another card for a CrossFire array.

The best thing about the MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus motherboard is its performance. Yes, it doesn’t have all the fancy features that we’ve come to expect from a premium X570 chipset-based motherboard, but it performs just as good as any X570 motherboard on the marketplace. It’s capable of handling even the most demanding CPUs out there, although we think it’s best paired with a mid-range CPU like the Ryzen 5 3600X or the Ryzen 5 5600X to make the most out of it. The ASUS TUF Gaming X570 is a close competitor to this motherboard, but you end up saving about $25 which can essentially go towards buying some other core component of the build. You’ll definitely appreciate the savings, especially for a graphics card because of how hard it is to buy one right now. The MSI MPG X570 is a fantastic motherboard for entry to mid-range builds and it’ll serve you well as long as you keep your expectations in check.

MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus

The MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus is a solid budget motherboard for economical shoppers looking to build a capable PC without making too many compromises. It doesn't come with all the bells and whistles, but it doesn't skimp on the performance front.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

Buy from Amazon

Best mini-ITX motherboard: Gigabyte X570-I Aorus Pro Wi-Fi

If you’re in the market to buy a mini-ITX motherboard for your small form-factor PC builds, then we recommend checking out the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro Wi-Fi motherboard. It’s our pick for the best mini-ITX motherboard on the market right now and it offers a lot of nifty features worth splurging on. There’s a distinct lack of mini-ITX motherboards on the market, as they’re not readily available as other ATX boards. Most of the mini-ITX boards tend to skimp on a lot of important features, so it’s important to consider a lot of things while purchasing one.

The Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro Wi-Fi motherboard includes a robust power delivery system thanks to an 8-phase digital VRM. Other noteworthy features of this particular motherboard include support for WiFi 6, a 7.1 channel, Realtek ALC1220-VB premium audio codec, and more. We think the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro is an excellent-looking motherboard that’ll blend with a lot of rigs. It’s got a black-colored PCB and a decent amount of heatsinks. You also get subtle RGB lighting in the form of a strip covering the right edge of the motherboard. It’s not overly obnoxious like a lot of other motherboards on the market. It’s perfect for those who appreciate a touch of RGB for their setup.

The Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro gaming motherboard also supports fast DDR4 memory up to DDR4 4400(OC). This means it’s good for even the most powerful DDR4 RAM kits out there. You only get two DIMM slots though, so you’re looking at max DDR4 memory support of up to 64GB. The heatsink covering the VRM module, as you can see, has a brushed -aluminum finish to give it a premium look and feel. The chipset heatsink also doubles up as the first M.2 slot. It also comes with a fan to help keep the chipset and M.2 drive cool at all times. You only get one full-sized PCIe slot with support for PCIe 4.0 x 16. Both PCIe and the DIMM slots are reinforced, which is nice.

The best thing about this motherboard is that the I/O shield comes pre-installed which makes it easier to install it in the PC case. You’ll appreciate this a lot since building a small form-factor PC is already quite difficult since you have limited space to work with. You get two HDMI 2.0 ports at the back along with a DisplayPort for video output. As for USB ports, you get a total of six ports which includes two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports along with four USB 3.0 ports. You also get a Q-Flash plus button along with a LAN port, a WiFi 6 antenna and the three plug audio stack.

This is a performant motherboard that’s suitable for handling even the most demanding builds involving a sophisticated AMD CPU. It supports Ryzen 3000 and 5000 series mainstream chips, so you have a lot of options to choose from. Overclocking is also possible with this motherboard although you’ll need a good cooling solution for your CPU to yield the best results inside a small form-factor PC case.

Gigabyte X570-I Aorus Pro Wi-Fi

The Gigabyte X570-I Aorus Pro Wi-Fi is one of the very mini-ITX motherboards that's worthy of being added to this collection. Despite the form-factor, the X570-I packs a ton of features and offers reliable performance for even the most demanding SFF build.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

Buy from Amazon

Second best mini-ITX motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX

The ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX is a fairly simple mini-ITX motherboard that brings a lot of meaningful features at an affordable price. It lacks a lot of fancy features and instead focuses on delivering a performance motherboard that is suitable for overclocking. As a B450 chipset-based motherboard, the ASRock Fatal1ty is limited in terms of the features compared to other B550 motherboards we’ve added to this. Notably, you only get support PCIe 3.0, which means it’s not necessarily suitable for a high-end build. Economical shoppers building an entry-level PC will find a lot of value in this build, though.

The motherboard, as you can see, looks like a barebones kit with no heatsink or shrouds covering any of the components. There’s also nothing in the name of RGB lighting, you might want to look elsewhere if you’re looking for a slightly more premium offering. The Gigabyte X570-I Aorus Pro Wi-Fi is a great mini-ITX motherboard if you don’t mind spending a little extra on the fancy features. That being said, this is perfectly serviceable for an entry-level build and the barebones look of the motherboard isn’t a deal-breaker considering how this will go inside a small form-factor PC case anyway.

This particular motherboard comes with an 8-phase voltage regulator with an 8-pin connector at the back. You also get a decent amount of headers for fan/pump, RGB lights, and USB. You only get a single M.2 slot though, but that’s not really a surprise considering this is a budget motherboard with a limited feature set. Notably, the I/O isn’t pre-installed but it comes with a variety of ports to connect a decent set of peripherals to the PC. In addition to the usual set of ports at the back, the ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX also includes a PS/2 port for legacy peripherals, a Gigabit Ethernet port driven by Intel’s PCIe-based i211AT controller, and five analog audio ports served by Realtek’s ALC1220 high-end codec.

If you’re someone who loves looking at the performance per dollar chart then this is the motherboard to buy. Despite the low-cost B450 chipset, the ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX offers better performance than a lot of other motherboards in this market. That’s why we think it’s a great board for those looking to build their first entry-level small form factor build without fancy internal components. The ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX has some glaring omissions though. The lack of USB 3.0 ports is probably not going to sit well with a lot of users looking to build a PC in 2021. You’ll also make peace with PCIe 3.0 support, so as opposed to PCIe 4.0, which is twice as fast.

However, we think the ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX delivers solid results with performance and overclocking. It’s hard to find any other motherboard that’s as powerful and reliable as this one, so you’re essentially getting a good deal for the price. It’s also readily available on the market right now, and you can check out the link below to find the best price for it online.

ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX

The ASRock Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX is one of the best budget B450 chipset-based motherboards one can buy right now. It's doesn't have all the fancy features but it delivers reliable performance.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

Buy from Amazon

Best TRX40 motherboard: ASRock TRX40 Taichi

Last, but not least, we’ve added the ASRock TRX40 Taichi as our pick for the best motherboard for those looking to build a HEDT PC with an AMD Ryzen Threadripper processor. The ASRock TRX40 Taichi is one of the most expensive motherboards you can buy right but that’s because it comes with a long list of features that are not necessarily found on any of the mainstream motherboards we’ve listed above. It serves up to 64 lanes of PCIe at Gen4 speeds. It’s also only the motherboard in this list that comes with a dual-fan heatsink covering its sixteen 90A voltage regulator phases.

The ASRock TRX40 Taichi is an ATX motherboard that carries an AMD TRX40 socket. There are two 40mm fans cooling the VRM, in addition to the regular 50mm fan that we usually see on other mainstream motherboards. These VRM fans are enough to tame even the most powerful, fully-overclocked system without a hitch. Notably, the ASRock TRX40 Taichi also comes with ASRock’s “Hyper Quad M.2” four-drive adapter. This can permanently sit in one of the PCIe slots to serve additional M.2 slots. With the addition of this adapter, the total available M.2 slots NVMe 4.0 drive count jumps to six, which is one of the highest we’ve ever seen.

The giant voltage regulator heatsink is supported by a black-anodized aluminum backplate, which is a nice touch since ASRock didn’t really have to add this as the motherboard will eventually rest on the PC case. The I/O shield comes pre-installed, which isn’t all that surprising considering this is a high-end premium motherboard. ASRock also decided to add a touch of RGB lighting to make it look premium. There’s a light diffuser at the board’s front edge that allows for subtle lighting to shine through. The motherboard PCB is mostly covered by the heatsink, so the black-colored PCB is barely visible.

The ASRock TRX40 Taichi comes with 8 DIMM slots and three PCIe x16 slots that are enough to power even the most powerful rigs. It also goes without saying that you get plenty of headers for fan/pump, RGB lights, USB, and more. Overclocking is also in cards since this is a high-performance motherboard that’s designed to push even the most demanding HEDT CPUs on the market. The Gigabyte TRX40 Aorus Master comes to the ASRock TRX40 Taichi in terms of performance. Both are performant boards but the ASRock board earns extra points for adding a sophisticated cooling solution for the VRm to keep it cool.

The M.2 expansion card is also a unique offering and a great way to add more M.2 slots. Even though it uses one of the x16O PCIe slots, you still end up with space for three more drives than the Gigabyte motherboard. So this comes down to the personal preference of having more M.2 slots. That being said, we decided to go with the ASRock motherboard mainly for a robust power delivery system with a sophisticated cooling solution for reliable performance.

ASRock TRX40 Taichi motherboard

The ASRock TRX40 Taichi is argubaly the most powerful on the market right now. It's built to handle a 64 core AMD Threadripper procecssor and it comes with some thoughtful additions like the Hyper Quad M.2 four-drive adapter.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

Buy from Amazon

Best motherboard for AMD CPUs: Final Thoughts

AMD motherboards, as we mentioned earlier, are always in demand due to some very obvious reasons. Luckily, the state of the motherboard market is relatively healthy, with plenty of stocks across a wide variety of models. This means you don’t necessarily have to pay a premium in most cases while buying one of these motherboards that we’ve mentioned in this collection. We think the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme is the best X570 chipset based motherboard one can buy right now for a high-end PC build. The MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus is also a great option for those looking to buy an affordable X570 chipset based motherboard. The ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi is also a fantastic B550-based board if you don’t want to burn a huge hole in your pocket.

As always, our collection of the best motherboards for AMD CPUs is an ever-evolving list that’ll be updated over time to include newer boards on the market. We also encourage you to join our XDA Computing Forum to discuss your PC build and possibly even get better recommendations from other enthusiasts. You can also check out some of our other collections like the best monitor or even the best webcams if you’re building a new setup from scratch.

The post These are the best motherboards for AMD CPUs you can buy in 2021 appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/3D9dnnW
via IFTTT

These are the best HP laptops under $500

HP is one of the leading global laptop manufacturers catering to a wide range of audiences, including enterprise users, gamers, mainstream consumers, as well as creative professionals. At the same time, the company has a good range of laptops that can keep up with your daily needs without costing thousands of dollars. To help you find the right one, we’ve rounded up the best HP laptops you can buy for under $500. If you’re not only interested in HP and you have a slightly higher budget, you may want to check out our list of the best cheap laptops, too.

From entry-level Windows laptops to fully-loaded Chromebooks, there are quite a few options in HP’s lineup. Mind you, these won’t be on par with the most expensive laptops the company makes, but they can certainly get you by. Before we start, we do have to point out that these laptops are all under $500 at writing time, but many f them are discounted. Prices may fluctuate over time, but we recommend taking advantage of deals whenever you can. Let’s get into the list.

Navigate this guide:

• Best overall laptop: HP Laptop 15z
  • Intel alternative: HP Laptop 15t
• Best convertible laptop: HP Pavilion x360 11
• Best 14-inch laptop: HP laptop 14t
• Best 17-inch laptop: HP Laptop 17z
• Best Chromebook: HP Chromebook x360 14
• Best convertible Chromebook: HP Chromebook x360 14
• Best for schools: HP Chromebook 11 G8 Education Edition

Best overall laptop: HP Laptop 15z

Beyond the well-known Spectre, Envy, and Pavilion series, HP makes a ton of laptops that are simply called “HP Laptop”. If you’re looking to buy one of these, the HP Laptop 15t is likely your best option, as it offers great value for the under $500.

Starting with performance, the HP Laptop 15z is powered by the latest AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors, starting with a Ryzen 5 5500U at the base level. That’s a very powerful processor with six cores and 12 threads, and it can boost up to 4GHz, which is very impressive. In addition to that, you get 8GB of RAM as the standard configuration, and the base storage is a 128GB SSD. That’s frankly fantastic for a laptop at this price, and it makes this a great choice for just about any task. There are upgrade options, but you’ll have to watch your budget when choosing them.

Compared to the more expensive laptops, the display is one area where you’ll often see corners being cut with cheap laptops like this. The HP Laptop 15z comes with a 15.6-inch display and it has HD resolution (1366 x 768). That’s the standard when it comes to laptops in this price range, and you’ll see it a lot throughout this list. You do get the option to upgrade to a Full HD panel, and if it fits your budget, that’s the first update we’d recommend. You can also add touch support if you’d like. The display reaches up to 250 nits of brightness, so it should be fine for indoor use, but it will struggle under sunlight.

Another trend we’re going to be seeing a lot in this list is 720p webcams. A lot of premium laptops still use cameras with this resolution, too, so it’s not surprising at all to see it here. It’s good enough for basic video calls and classes, and that’s all you should expect. You can always buy an external webcam later down the line.

Of course, the design is also not particularly interesting, but it’s about what you’d expect, too. This is a plastic laptop, and while that means it’s not super premium, at least you get a few color options to choose from. A particularly nice one is pale rose gold, simply because it has a dual-tone look with the inside still being silver-colored. You can also get it in fully silver or black options. Laptops have thankfully been getting thinner and lighter, and this one measures just over 18mm in thickness and weighs 3.75lbs. That’s not too bad for a 15-inch laptop, especially an affordable one like this.

As for ports, the HP Laptop 15z does a great job of covering the basics. You get one USB Type-C port, two USB Tye-A ports, HDMI 1.4b, a headphone jack, and a full-size SD card reader. This should allow you to connect almost anything you might want to the laptop, though it’s not the most modern setup. For many users, though, it’s probably better than many premium laptops that only have Thunderbolt ports. The laptop charges with a proprietary barrel port, not USB Type-C.

Overall, this is a fantastic laptop if you want something affordable and capable. It has a large screen with space for multi-tasking and the internal specs can keep up with it. There are some updates we’d recommend making if you can afford it, but either way, this is one of HP’s best laptops for under $500. At least, as long as it’s on sale. It’s currently discounted to $419.99, and that’s a very good price for what you get here.

HP Laptop 15z

The HP Laptop 15z is a very capable laptop with AMD's latest Ryzen processors and solid specs all around.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at HP

Great Intel alternative: HP Laptop 15t

If you like the idea of the HP Laptop 15z but you don’t like AMD processors, HP also gives you a solid Intel-based alternative. This is essentially a very similar laptop, but it does have some notable differences in the configuration.

For starters, it comes with Intel’s 11th-generation Tiger Lake processors, and the base configuration includes an Intel Core i5-1135G7. That’s already a powerful CPU featuring four cores, eight threads, and boost speeds up to 4.2GHz. This processor can easily handle all kinds of day-to-day tasks, and it’s made even better by the integrated Iris Xe graphics. There are upgrade options here, though, including an optional NVIDIA GeForce MX350 GPU. However, this will blow past the $500 budget. Aside from that, you get 8GB of RAM as the standard configuration and a 256GB SSD, too. That’s a fantastic combination at this price.

Similar to the AMD variant, the HP Laptop 15t comes with an HD (1366 x 768) display by default, which isn’t amazing. However, you do get the option to upgrade to a Full HD panel, which we’d recommend if your budget can accommodate it as it is much sharper. Aside from that, the display hits up to 250 nits of brightness just like the AMD version, too. There’s one configuration missing in this model, which is the option for a Full HD display with touch support, which the AMD version offers.

The webcam is also very much the same as the one on the AMD version of this laptop. It’s a 720p camera like all the other ones on this list. There’s no Windows Hello support of any kind, either, and again, that’s something every laptop on this list will fall victim to.

Design-wise, the HP Laptop 15 is similar, but different in a few ways compared to its AMD sibling. It’s slightly thicker and heavier, measuring 19.82mm in thickness and starting at 3.86lbs, though it’s not exactly a huge difference. It also comes in a few different colors, including a dark grey version and a warm gold variant that has a dual-tone look, similar to the pale rose gold of the AMD variant.

As for ports, this is one area where the Intel version comes out on top. It has all the same ports – one USB Type-C, two USB Type-A, HDMI 1.4b, headphone jack, and a sull-size SD card reader. However, it also adds support for Gigabit Ethernet, giving you a faster way to connect to the internet if your Wi-Fi is unreliable or slow. With the AMD version, you’d need an adapter for a wired internet connection.

While its processors are arguably not as fast and it’s missing some options, the Intel version of the HP Laptop 15 is still one of the best laptops for under $500. It comes with benefits like an Ethernet port and optional NVIDIA Graphics if you can stretch your budget.

HP Laptop 15t

This Intel version of the HP Laptop 15 has the latest Tiger lake processors and includes Gigabit Ethernet.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at HP

Best convertible laptop: HP Pavilion x360 11

Finding a convertible in this price range is a bit difficult, especially outside of discounts and sales. If you want a convertible that costs under $500 right now, your best option is the HP Pavilion x360 11, which is a tiny laptop that’s still fairly capable.

In terms of performance, it comes with an Intel Pentium Silver N5030 processor, which has four cores and four threads, with boost speeds up to 3.1GHz. This is admittedly a low-power processor, but it can still handle day-to-day tasks like browsing the web, watching videos, or writing up documents. You also get 4GB of RAM – just enough to run Windows 11 – and a 128GB SSD for storage. Again, this isn’t a mind-blowing setup, but it’s good enough for basic use, and the inclusion of an SSD instead of eMMC is great.

As the name suggests, this pavilion x360 comes with an 11.6-inch display, which is much smaller than your typical laptop. However, this does have some benefits. For example, the standard HD resolution (1366 x 768) is much more suited for a small screen like this, so it’s not as big of a problem that it’s not Full HD. This small size is also great for a convertible as it makes the laptop much easier to handle and flip around when needed. It’s also easier to hold with one hand to use as a tablet.

For the webcam, as usual, we’re looking at a 720p camera, which does the job for video calls and classes, but it won’t make you look your best. There’s also no Windows Hello support, whether that’s with a fingerprint reader or a facial recognition.

Being that it’s such a small laptop, the Pavilion x360 11 is also one of the most portable devices on this list. It’s 17.78mm thin, and it weighs just 2.6lbs, making it very easy to carry around anywhere. This laptop only comes in a silver color, so you don’t get customization options as you do with some others.

Finally, we have ports, and there’s a decent supply overall for a laptop of this size. You get one USB Type-C port, two USB Type-A ports, HDMI, a microSD card reader, and a headphone jack. There’s also a proprietary barrel charger port since the Type-C port can’t charge the laptop. That port setup is in line with some larger laptops, so it’s not bad at all for this price.

While it’s far from the most powerful laptop, the HP Pavilion x360 11 is a great little machine if you value portability and versatility. It can handle day-to-day tasks without much of an issue, and it’s modern enough to support Windows 11.

HP Pavilion x360 11

The HP Pavilion x360 11 is an ultrraportable laptop with the versatility of a tablet and an affordable price.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at Best Buy

Best 14-inch laptop: HP Laptop 14

If you want something a bit more portable than a 15-inch laptop but not overly small, HP also makes a great 14-inch laptop. Unsurprisingly called the HP Laptop 14, this is a more portable but still capable version of the laptops at the top of this list, and it’s still one of the best options for under $500.

Starting with performance, the HP Laptop 14 comes with Intel’s 11th-generation Core processors, this time starting with the lower-end Core i3-1115G4. This model has two cores and four threads, and it can boost up to 4.1GHz to handle day-to-day tasks. There are upgrade options available with a Core i5, but you’ll have to watch your budget. Regardless, this is still a solid entry-level processor. On a brighter note, you still get 8GB of RAM by default, as well as a 256GB SSD, making this a solid laptop overall.

The display is very much in line with what we’ve seen from other laptops on this list. It’s a 14-inch panel this time, but the base configuration is the same 1366 x 768 resolution as most other laptops on this list. Again, the upgrade to Full HD is recommended, and at the current price, it’s still within the budget. What you can’t do get is get a Full HD touch screen, as the touch option is only available with the standard HD display.

Once again, the webcam is a 720p webcam, which means it’s usable for video calls, but not ideal. It’s also not a Windows Hello camera, and there’s no fingerprint sensor onboard either. This is all standard for laptops in this price range (HP or not), and it’s the best you’ll get for under $500.

Moving on to the design, the HP Laptop 14 is once again a very standard-looking laptop. It’s a plastic laptop, and it’s fairly thin and light, measuring 18.03mm and weighing 3.24lbs. That makes it a bit easier to carry than some of the larger laptops. It seems that most of HP’s laptops have at least one unique color option available, and in this case, it’s “indigo blue”. You can also get it in black or silver, but I’m a big supporter of more unique colors, personally.

Aside from aesthetics, the HP Laptop 14 comes with a solid supply of ports, although they’re distributed in a very uneven way. On the right side, there’s one USB Type-C port, two USB Type-A ports, HDM, a headphone jack, and the barrel charging port. Meanwhile, the left side only has the full-size SD card reader, which is certainly an odd decision. Depending on the peripherals you try to connect, you may have trouble using all the available ports since they’re all packed together.

Despite that, this is a solid 14-inch laptop, and it gives you a more portable, but still solid experience.

HP Laptop 14

This 14-inch HP laptop is a solid choice if you want solid performance in a portable package for less than $500.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at HP

Best 17-inch laptop: HP Laptop 17z

If you’re on the opposite side of the spectrum and you want as large of a screen as possible for under $500, then the HP Laptop 17t is the best option for you. This is an AMD-powered laptop, and it’s available in a wide range of configurations so you can adjust it to your budget.

Starting with performance, the HP Laptop 17z starts with an AMD Athlon 3150U, which is a fairly basic processor. It has two cores and four threads, and it can boost up to 3.3GHz. However, because the laptop is very cheap right now, you can upgrade to a Ryzen 5 5300U, with double the cores and threads, plus faster clock speeds, and still be within the budget. There are also further upgrades if you can afford it. On top of that, by default you get a 128GB SSD for storage and 8GB of RAM, which ensure you’ll be able to run your daily apps without any issues.

Because of the significantly bigger display, the base configuration here actually has a slightly higher resolution than other laptops on the list. HP calls it HD+, which equates to 1600 x 900 resolution. This helps the display look a bit better considering it’s significantly bigger, but if you can afford it, we still recommend the upgrade to Full HD (1920 x 1080). One thing to note is that if you want touch support, you can’t go for the Full HD resolution.

To no one’s surprise, the HP Laptop 17 still includes a 720p webcam, which is the minimum allowed for a Windows laptop these days. There’s no Windows Hello support of any kind, either, whether that’s with facial recognition or a fingerprint sensor.

As for the design, this is naturally one of the least portable laptops on this list, as you’d expect from a device with a 17-inch screen. It weighs 4.58lbs, so it’s certainly not a very light laptop, but 19.82mm is still fairly thin for an affordable laptop of this size. Like most other laptops on this list, the HP Laptop 17 comes in black or silver, as well as two other colors. One is evening blue and the other is “snowflake white”, and they’re both a bit more unique if you want something that looks different.

As for ports, the HP Laptop 17z is packed with a decent supply of them, though it could also be better. It has a similar basic port setup as most of the laptops on this list, including one USB Type-C port, two USB Type-A ports, HDMI, and a headphone jack. However, it’s missing an SD card reader of any kind, and there’s no Ethernet either, even though there should be more than enough space for it. Also, most of these ports are on the same side of the laptop, barring one USB Type-A port and the proprietary barrel charger port.

Despite those odd decisions with the ports, this is still your best option if you want a 17-inch HP laptop for under $500. You get solid performance and a large screen that can be a big help for multitasking and productivity in general.

HP Laptop 17z

The HP Laptop 17z gives you solid performance and a large screen that's great for multitasking.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at HP

Best Chromebook: HP Chromebook x360 14

Chromebooks have become increasingly popular devices in recent years, and they’re especially prominent in an affordable price range like this. Chrome OS is a very lightweight operating system, so it runs well even on low-end hardware, and it’s also cheaper to license than Windows. That means many Chromebooks can sometimes have features you wouldn’t find on an equivalent Windows laptop. One of the best Chrome OS laptops HP makes is definitely the Chromebook x360 14, and right now, it’s available for under $500.

In terms of performance, the HP Chromebook x360 14 comes packing an Intel Core i3-1125G4, and that’s a quad-core, eight-thread CPU that can boost up to 3.7GHz. This is a big step up from the more common Core i3-1115G4, featuring double the cores and threads, so it’s a much better processor than you may initially think. On top of that, you get 8GB of RAM and a minimum of 128GB of SSD storage. Paired with a lightweight system like Chrome OS, this should make for a very snappy experience across the board.

The display is one area where the HP Chromebook x360 really stands out from the pack. Not only is it a convertible, meaning you get touch support and a glass screen, it’s also Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080). Almost all the laptops on this list give you the option to get a Full HD display, but you have to pay extra for it, and it rarely includes touch support. Here, you get everything, and it’s all standard. It still maxes out at 250 nits in brightness, so it won’t be the best outdoors, but this is still a fantastic display.

However, the camera is still in line with  what other laptops on this list offer It’s a 720p camera, so it’s good enough for basic use, but not fantastic. Chrome OS doesn’t support advanced facial recognition as Windows does, so that’s not included either, but this is the only laptop so far that includes a fingerprint reader. This makes it much easier to unlock the laptop without having to type in a PIN every time.

As for the rest of the design, this is also one of the most modern-looking laptops on this list. It measures 16.51mm in thickness, and it weighs 3.35lbs, which isn’t bad at all for a 14-inch convertible. On the other hand, unlike most other laptops on this list, there aren’t any color options for this one. It’s a somewhat dark silver tone, and that’s the only option you get.

Finally, we come to the ports, and this is another area where this laptop is more modern than others on this list. It has two USB Type-C ports, but these ones actually support power delivery and display output, and it’s actually the default method for charging. You also get one USB Type-A port, a headphone jack, and a microSD card reader. The absence of HDMI is a bit of a bummer as you’ll need a USB-C, but that’s not uncommon with many thin laptops nowadays.

Overall, this is one of the best laptops on this list in many ways. It has a sharp display, solid performance all around, and even some niceties like a fingerprint reader. For under $500, this is one of the best laptops HP makes.

HP Chromebook x360 14

The HP Chromebook x360 14 has a Full HD touchscreen and solid performance for all kinds of day-to-day tasks.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at HP

Best Chromebook clamshell: HP Chromebook 14b

If you don’t want a convertible and you’d rather have a simple clamshell Chromebook, then the HP Chromebook 14b is another great choice. It’s not as capable as the convertible we mentioned above, but it also has a lower base price, and it still has some advantages over many of the Windows laptops on this list.

Powering the HP Chromebook 14b is an AMD Athlon Silver 3050C, which is a relatively low-end processor with two cores and two threads and boost speeds up to 3.7GHz. This isn’t a very powerful processor by any means, but it should do the job fine if you’re running Chrome OS. You also get 4GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage, and once again, that should be fine for use with a Chrome OS laptop. It is a bit disappointing to not see an SSD being used instead, but this should still offer a solid experience.

The display is a highlight for this laptop, too. Just like the convertible above, this Chromebook comes with a Full HD (1920 x 1080) panel by default, and that means images and text will look crisp and clear. It also supports touch, even though you can’t rotate the screen around. Like every other screen we’ve looked at so far, though, it maxes out at 250 nits of brightness, so that’s something to keep in mind if you want to use it outdoors.

We’re getting a bit repetitive with this, but once again, the webcam is 720p, and it should be decent for video calls, though not ideal. There’s no infrared-based facial recognition since Chrome OS doesn’t support it, but you do have a fingerprint sensor making it easy to sign into the laptop whenever you need to use it. It’s significantly more convenient than typing in a password or PIN every time.

Design-wise, the HP Chromebook 14b is very close to the convertible above. It’s just as thick, measuring 16.51mm, and it weighs roughly the same 3.35lbs, too. In fact, HP says the dimensions are the exact same across the two models. It also comes in a plain dark silver color, and you can’t choose anything else, which is common with many of HP’s Chromebooks.

As for ports, the HP Chromebook 14b is packing. You get two USB Type-C ports – both with power delivery and DisplayPort – two USB Type-A ports, HDMI, and a headphone jack. USB Type-C is the main charging method here, and as a bonus, the ports are evenly distributed on both sides of the laptop, so you should be able to plug in easily anywhere and use any peripherals you want.

While it’s not up there in terms of performance, the HP Chromebook 14b has some strong points that make it one of the best choices if you want an HP laptop for under $500.

HP Chromebook 14b

The HP Chromebook 14b is a clamshell laptop with a Full HD touchscreen and solid connectivity options.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at HP

Best for young students: HP Chromebook 11 G8 Education Edition

Chromebooks are especially popular among students, particularly younger children, so of course, HP has a few devices for that crowd, too. Among them, the HP Chromebook 11 G8 Education Edition is one of the best, offering solid performance and a durable design.

Starting with the internal specs, we have an Intel Celeron N4020 processor powering the experience on the Chromebook 11 G8. This is a fairly low-end processor with two cores, two threads, and boost speeds up to 2.8GHz, but it should be good enough for a young child to do basic tasks on it, especially running Chrome OS. You also get an impressive 8GB of RAM, making the multi-tasking experience that much better. There’s 32GB of eMMC storage, which isn’t impressive, but with Chrome OS being an operating system that heavily relies on the internet, it should be fine.

The display is a small 11.6-inch panel, and it comes in HD resolution (1366 x 768). That’s not as sharp as some of the more expensive Chromebooks on this list, but considering the size of this screen, that shouldn’t be much of a problem. It’s also worth noting that it’s not as bright, hitting a slightly lower 220 nits compared to the 250 nits of other laptops on this list.

Similar to other laptops on this list, the webcam is 720p, and just like every other laptop here, there’s no IR-based facial recognition. And unlike the bigger laptops, there isn’t a fingerprint sensor, either, so you’ll have to type in your password to unlock the laptop.

Coming around to the design, it becomes obvious that the HP Chromebook 11 is designed for younger children. It has a rugged design with bumpers all around the edges and corners reinforced with metal so it survives drops and bumps. On top of that, the keyboard is designed to resist liquid spills and any attempts to remove the keys, so even the most curious children can’t break it easily. At 18.8mm in thickness and 2.91lbs, it’s still very portable, albeit a bit chunky compared to some other 11-inch laptops. That’s a tradeoff for this durable design.

As for ports, there’s a fairly solid selection here, especially considering the size of this laptop. You get two USB Type-C ports with power delivery and DisplayPort, two USB Type-A ports, a microSD card reader, and a headphone jack. That covers quite a few needs, and while the lack of HDMI may be an issue to some, it’s not a likely use case for the audience for this laptop. It also makes sense considering the laptop itself is small.

It may not make sense for everyone, but the HP Chromebook 11 G8 is a solid laptop for younger children to use at school and for entertainment.

HP Chromebook 11 G8 Education Edition

The HP Chromebook 11 G8 is a durable laptop with decent performance for young students.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at HP

These are some of the best HP laptops that are available for under $500. Out of the above, we chose the HP Laptop 15 to be the best overall pick because of the fantastic performance you get even in the base models as well as the solid selection of ports on offer. As usual, all the Windows laptops we recommend are either shipping with Windows 11 or can be upgraded after the fact. The Windows 11 upgrade is free, so you can do it without a problem.

If you want to expand your options, we have a separate list of the best cheap HP laptops with a more flexible budget, which has a bit more variety. And if budget isn’t a problem for you, check out our list of the very best laptops you can buy right now, or even the best laptops with 5G if you want to be on the bleeding edge of tech.

The post These are the best HP laptops under $500 appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2UMfeyG
via IFTTT