Month: October 2019

Lenovo’s follow-up to the ThinkPad E490 is the new ThinkPad E14 which is a little thinner, a littler lighter, and a little more powerful thanks to the move to 10th-gen Intel Core “Comet Lake” processors.

But as spotted by NotebookCheck, those improvements come at a cost: the new laptop has only a single SODIMM slot for memory, unlike its predecessor, which had two.

Lenovo hasn’t announced pricing or availability details yet, but spec sheets for the new Lenovo ThinkPad E14 are online at Lenovo’s website, along with specs for a new 15 inch model called the ThinkPad E15.

The ThinkPad E14 features a 14 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display and it looks like Lenovo will offer at least three case design options:

Aluminum (12.8″ x 9.13″ x 0.7″ and 3.81 pounds)

Aluminum display cover + plastic bottom ( 12.8″ x 9.13″ 0.74″ and 3.9 pounds)

Plastic (12.8″ x 9.13″ x 0.81″ and 3.74 pounds)

Lenovo will offer processor options including:

Intel Core i3-10110U dual-core

Intel Core i5-10210U quad-core

Intel Core i7-10510U quad-core

Intel Core i7-10710U hexa-core

There’s also optional support for AMD Radeon RX 640 graphics.

The laptop supports up to 16GB of DDR4-memory and features support for an M.2 SSD and/or a hard drive.

Other features a USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 1 port, two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, a USB 2.0 port, an HDMI 1.4b port, a 720p webcam with a ThinkShutter privacy switch, stereo w@ speakers, a 45 Wh battery, Gigabit Ethernet, and optional support for 802.11ax WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0.

When it comes to small form factor systems, options are few and far between. For AMD’s X570, out of the 35+ motherboards currently available, just four of them are smaller than mATX. This doesn’t give users much to choose from. In this case, mini-ITX implementations have to get it right, and over the last few years ASRock has been at the forefront of the enthusiast small form factor market with an array of models. Today we are reviewing its latest mini-ITX motherboard, the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3. This unique product incorporates Thunderbolt 3 into the frame, pairing it with 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 as well. Read on for our review.

All the Small Things

Having a range of products to choose from can be a little daunting and when it comes to building a PC. Users have to strike a balance between features, quality, and budget, and all somewhat tedious to achieve in unity. High-end features can now be found on mid-range hardware, but some of them lack that special finesse. One particular section of products where things must be done correctly is in the small form factor, as being small shouldn’t necessarily hinder performance from a high-performing desktop processor. There are obvious limitations on a small form factor platform such as mini-ITX, and the main one considered to be the biggest hindrance is the size.

The ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 looks to dominate the AMD AM4 mini-ITX market with the implementation of some highly premium features including Thunderbolt 3, a DisplayPort 1.4 input to allow users to run multiple 4K screens from a discrete graphics card, and an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax wireless interface. The balance made to accommodate all of this is the presence of only a single PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot, which is located on the rear of the board. However, there are four SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 arrays. Along the bottom of the board is a single full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, with a range of front panel headers and connectors closely located around it.

If that wasn’t enough, this motherboard also has Intel LGA115x cooling mounts, and not the regular AMD AM4 cooling mounts. We’ll go into the reasons why and how later in the review.

Memory support on the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 is also impressive, with support for up to DDR4-4533 and up to 64 GB across its two available slots. As it stands, this model has the highest-rated mini-ITX support out of the box in terms of memory speed, but to utilize it to best effect, users will need to tweak the Infinity Fabric clocks within the firmware.

Enthusiasts looking to utilize the overclocking capabilities of Ryzen 3000 and X570 will find a 10-phase power delivery which on paper, certainly looks capable for a board of this size. It’s spearheaded by a Renesas ISL69147 PWM controller which is operating in a 4+2 configuration. The CPU section has eight ISL99227 60 A power stages which are doubled up with four ISL6617A doublers which are commonly used by vendors these days. The biggest aspect to consider aside from the quality of the power delivery is the heatsink cooling it and ASRock’s implementation is very hearty in the weight and mass department. It has two heatsinks which are connected via a heat pipe which connects the power delivery section to the chipset heatsink, which also includes a small cooling fan within the main section. The SoC section of the power delivery has its own heatsink with all of the board’s heatsinks affixed securely to the board with screws.

Another notable aspect to consider on the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 is it comes supplied with Intel LGA115x cooling mounts. While the majority of users are questioning what the logic is behind this, this model is mini-ITX and as such, there aren’t as many low profile coolers available on the market for AM4 as there are for LGA115x. Including an Intel mount on this smaller form factor AMD board actually improves cooler compatibility with some coolers, but the implementation of the heatsinks does cause concern that some coolers just will not fit. ASRock has a cooler compatibility list which is made up of supported Corsair, Silverstone, and Noctua coolers, but in retrospective, it’s a little thin and something users should consider if looking to purchase this model.

The TL;DR on Performance

Judging the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 on performance, in our system tests we found it to perform very well with our system tests with low power consumption, quick booting times in our POST test, and good out of the box DPC latency performance. In our computational testing, we found the results to be competitive with scores at the top of the charts in our 3DPM point calculation test, but lower than expected performance in tests such as our Blender rendering test. It paints an average and overall picture in the grand scheme of things, but performance differences between most models previously tested are marginal, and as stated, its performance is competitive.

Our experience of overclocking our Ryzen 7 3700X processor on the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 was heavily focused around the VDroop when leaving the LLC profiles up to the firmware. When running our manual overclocks, we found that we experienced quite a bit of VDroop at all frequencies testing. At 3.6 to 4.2 GHz with 1.25 V set for the CPU VCore in the BIOS, we experienced around 0.019 V of VDroop. This isn’t necessarily bad and we experienced no instability in our testing within our parameters. A noticeable benefit of the VDroop effect came in our power consumption with figures below what we have experienced on other boards at the same or with similar settings. Performance in our POV-Ray benchmark was good and consistent as we went up 100 MHz. Another point to note is those CPU temperatures were a little warmer than expected, but that can be attributed to the form factor and the density of components around a tightly packed AM4 CPU socket. This still doesn’t explain the warmer than normal CPU temperatures at default settings and we noticed higher than usual CPU VCore voltage at load than the previous X570 models we’ve seen; applying PBO even though on the latest ABBA AGESA from AMD saw no improvement over stock either.

The Competition

Users have little to choose from in the SFF space, and the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 positions itself in the market well with a relatively low price of $240. Compared with what’s currently on the market, the GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI ($220), the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 looks to be the better of the two on specifications (we have a test of the GBT coming soon). The ASUS ROG Strix X570-I Gaming ($299) and the slightly bigger mini-DTX ROG Crosshair VIII Impact (£384) and both ASUS models are also competitive in the small form factor X570 space. The ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 in a very good position for users looking to drive multiple displays from Thunderbolt 3 and build a high-performance small form factor gaming system. There are caveats such as a single PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot and alas, no motherboard is perfect, but ASRock has a fine run of solid mini-ITX models across multiple chipsets and with Thunderbolt 3 and Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax wireless connectivity driving the feature set, small isn’t always less.

While it’s fair to debate whether it was necessary for Lenovo to create another sub-brand catering exclusively to small- and medium-sized businesses, I’m starting to understand the decision. The firm’s thinnest and lightest business-class laptops, in the ThinkPad X1 series, are desirable but far too expensive for most. And so ThinkBook can fill that hole, delivering the best of ThinkPad but without some of the luxuries that put the X1 series, in particular, out of reach.

Lenovo currently sells two ThinkBook models, the 13.3-inch ThinkBook 13s that I’m reviewing, and the 14-inch ThinkBook 14s. Both are lightweight, modern-looking, and affordable, and both offer many of the key features that make ThinkPad so popular. Let’s take a look.

Design

The ThinkBook 13s comes clad in a Mineral Gray aluminum and magnesium chassis, rather than the black carbon fiber/magnesium treatment we typically see with the X1 series. The result is both attractive and professional-looking, and I strongly prefer its dark gray color to the plain gray of many business-class laptops.

There are some nice touches, too. I particularly like the Lenovo branding on the back of the display lid and on the keyboard deck; this is a hallmark of recent Lenovo laptops. And the black display surround, reminiscent of the MacBook Pro series, helps the panel float in space a bit and make me forget its 16:9 aspect ratio. The zinc-alloy hinges deliver rock-solid reliability and are allegedly rated to 25,000 open-and-close cycles.

Speaking of durability, here’s no talk of military-grade certification tests for ThinkBook, as we get with ThinkPad X1 Carbon and Yoga. Instead, Lenovo notes that the ThinkBook offers protection against spills, extreme temperatures, and vibrations. In use, this laptop exudes a premium build quality that seems both reliable and scratch/dent resistant.

Display

The ThinkBook 13s ships with a serviceable 13.3-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) IPS display with an anti-glare coating and Dolby Vision HDR. It has small 5.3 mm bezels on the left and right, but larger bezels on the top, where the webcam is located, and on the bottom, which is just a large, one-inch tall matte black area. The display is reasonably bright at 300 nits, but you won’t get much use out of it outside on a very sunny day.

I’m no fan of 16:9 display panels, but I recognize the realities of the business and that this is the display type you’re going to see in the ThinkBook’s price range. I can live with it, and I didn’t have any issues in day-to-day use. I like that the display lays flat, as well.

Components

As you should expect of a modern, business-class laptop, the ThinkBook 13s can be had with a variety of 8th-generation Intel Core processors. The review unit shipped with a Core i5-8265U processor and integrated Intel UHD 620 graphics, plus 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of M.2-based PCIe NVMe solid-state storage. That’s exactly what you’re looking for in such a PC. But if you need more, it can be upgraded to 16 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of storage, plus to a Core i7 processor.

Performance was generally where I wanted it, with only occasional fan noise and a bit of heat towards the top of the keyboard, which I located as part of a little game I play called “find the processor.” The only issue I had likely won’t impact most users, but when connected to a USB dock, I experienced some weird performance slow-downs and the fan ran basically constantly. (And this was without an external display.) Lenovo provides its own USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 docks, and perhaps they would provide better performance.

The webcam is nothing special, it’s a 720p unit with a fixed focal length. But the speakers are surprisingly good, thanks to the Harman-tweaked Dolby Audio capabilities. The only downside is that you have to manually configure Dolby Audio for movies, music, games, or voice.

Connectivity is as expected: The ThinkBook provides 802.11AC (2 x 2) and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless capabilities but no LTE option.

Ports

The ThinkBook 13s offers a nice selection of modern and legacy ports. There’s a full-sized HDMI 1.4b port (for video-out) and a single USB-C port on the left, plus a headphone jack.

And on the right, you’ll find two full-sized USB-A ports. One of them is always-on for charging a phone or other device.

I have two issues with the port selection. First, that USB-C port doesn’t provide Thunderbolt 3 capabilities, as we see on the more expensive ThinkPads. And second, the ThinkBook utilizes a proprietary Lenovo power connection instead of USB-C for some reason.

Keyboard and touchpad

The ThinkBook 13s is blessed with an excellent scalloped Lenovo keyboard that is reminiscent of those found on recent ThinkPads and IdeaPads. There are a couple of weirdisms—like the combined Enter and I and PgUp and PgDn keys—but Lenovo has finally bowed to all that is right in the world and put the Ctrl key to the left of the Fn key. Even the most recent ThinkPad X1s don’t do that.

The typing experience is very good, but not quite top-of-class. I’m not sure what the key throw is, but suspect it is a bit north of the 1.3 mm sweet spot. Either way, it’s a bit looser than the best portable keyboards I’ve used. Most people will love it.

The keyboard is backlit, but it only supports one level of brightness. And while this isn’t strictly a complaint, the shape of keys while backlit is decidedly V-shaped from certain angles. (Rather than curved like the keys themselves.)

Like recent HP EliteBooks, the ThinkBook also offers Skype hotkeys in the function row for answering and hanging up calls, a nice touch for those who work remotely much of the time.

The glass touchpad is a perfect size, and since it’s a precision touchpad, it works well and supports the full range of Windows 10 gestures. And it does so without needing superfluous extra drivers or utilities.

Unique hardware features

The ThinkBook 13s offers a feature I’d never seen elsewhere: It can continue playing music while the PC is in Standby mode; and if you need to wake it up to fiddle with the music, that takes less than one second. You can also use Cortana to wake up the PC with your voice, though you will need to enable and configure that first. Aiding matters are the ThinkBook’s dual-array, noise-canceling microphones, which should be able to hear you above the din.

Lenovo also didn’t wimp out in the security department. The ThinkBook includes a ThinkShutter webcam lid, which you can use for peace of mind from spying eyes. And the round, backlit power button doubles as a fingerprint reader. Even better, that power button will pass through your fingerprint-based authentication when you turn on or wake up the PC. You don’t have to press it again later at sign-in.

Portability

The ThinkBook 13s weighs just 2.9 pounds and is very portable. I wish the laptop I normally carried was this light.

Battery life is rated at about 11 hours, though I saw a bit under 8 hours in real-world battery life on average. That’s arguably a day’s worth of juice, but the bundled 65-watt power adapter supports fast charging capabilities; you can charge the PC to 80 percent in an hour. That’s decent.

Software

The ThinkBook 13s ships with Windows 10 Home, which actually does make sense since it shaves some money off the price; those that work in managed environments or need the few unique Windows 10 Pro features can of course upgrade at purchase time (for $60) or later.

Lenovo mostly gets it right from a crapware perspective: The 13s ships with just a handful of mostly-useful Lenovo system utilities, including Lenovo Vantage for driver downloads and support. The only downside is that it comes with a 30-day time-limited version of McAfee antivirus. Which you can and should uninstall immediately, as I did.

Pricing and configurations

This is where ThinkBook really shines. The ThinkBook 13s starts at just $630 at Lenovo’s online store. For that price, you get the same processor and storage as the review unit, but just 4 GB of RAM. Configured like the review unit, with 8 GB of RAM, the price is just $713. Configured as I’d prefer—same processor and storage, but with 16 GB of RAM—the cost jumps to a still-acceptable $1050.

Of course, what I’d really prefer is the ThinkBook 14s, with its larger 14-inch display. That laptop runs only a few dollars more than the 13s—the starting price is just $650—and configured like the 13s review unit, you’d pay about $730. (The ThinkBook 14s has a few other advantages over the 13s, including discrete graphics, but I didn’t test that model.)

Recommendations and conclusions

Thanks to its low pricing, modern design, and high-quality components, the ThinkBook 13s is a tremendous value and is highly recommended. This is exactly the type of PC I would buy with my own money, though I would almost certainly choose the larger ThinkBook 14s, as noted. But either way, Lenovo is making the right trade-offs here for those who can’t afford its even more impressive ThinkPad products. With the ThinkBook 13s, the ThinkBook family of products is off to a great start.

At-a-glance

Pros

Low prices

Attractive modern design

Good performance and specs

Decent expandability

Mostly crapware-free

Decent battery life and portability

Cons

16:9 display

No Thunderbolt 3

Entry-level unit has just 4 GB of RAM

The Canon EOS M200 is the brand’s smallest, most affordable mirrorless camera – does it have more than price on its side?

The Canon EOS M200 is the company’s smallest, most affordable mirrorless camera. As such it doesn’t have a very extensive set of features, but the fact that it has a 24.1MP APS-C Dual Pixel CMOS sensor (to enable phase detection autofocusing), plus Canon’s latest Digic 8 processing engine and the ability to record 4K video makes it an attractive proposition.

It’s also designed to be easy to use, which makes it a good choice for beginners, but it could be a nice choice for more experienced photographers who want a small camera that they can take anywhere.

SPECIFICATIONS

Megapixels (effective): 24.1

Max resolution: 6,000 x 4,000

Sensor information: APS-C format (22.3 x 14.9mm) CMOS

Shutter speed: 30-1/4000 sec, Bulb

ISO sensitivity stills: ISO100-25600 ((expandable to ISO 51.200)

ISO sensitivity video: 4K Movie ISO100-6400, 1080p ISO100-12800 (expandable to 25600)

Exposure modes: Program, Shutter priority, Aperture priority, Manual exposure, Scene Intelligent Auto, Hybrid Auto, Creative Assist, SCN, Creative Filters, Movie

Metering options: Evaluative, Partial, Center weighted average, spot

Flash modes: Auto with flash exposure compensation to +/-2Ev

Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDMI (Micro – Type-D, USB (Micro USB)

Weight: 299g with battery and SD card

Dimensions: 108.2 x 67.1 x 35.1mm

Battery: Rechargeable Li-ion LP-E12

Storage: SD/SDHC/SDXC UHS-I

LCD: Tilting 3-inch 1,040,000-dot Touchscreen LCD

Viewfinder: N/A

KEY FEATURES

Canon has kept the sensitivity range of the M200 the same as the M100 that it replaces, which is ISO100-25600 (expandable to ISO51,200) for stills. We’d aim to limit the stills setting to ISO6,400 although the results at ISO12,800 are useable. Pushing beyond that results in JPGs that look too smooth in places, while the raw files are noisy.

Despite having almost exactly the same pixel count and an updated processing engine, the Canon EOS M200 also has the same maximum continuous shooting rate as the M100. However, at 4fps with continuous autofocusing and 6.1fps in single AF mode, that’s reasonable for an entry level camera.

Canon’s Dual Pixel CMOS AF system is one of the most capable when it comes to shooting video or stills in Live View mode on a DSLR, and it gives good service in the M200 with up to 143 autofocus (AF) points (the exact number depends upon the lens in use). That’s up from 49 with the M100.

Unusually, there’s no AI servo made that can switch automatically between One Shot (single AF) and AI Servo (continuous AF) mode when subject movement is detected. That’s not a huge drama for enthusiast photographers, but it means that beginners need to learn which option to use with their subject.

The M200 enables individual AF points to be selected, or there’s Zone AF mode that gives the camera a bit more control. In addition, there’s Face + Tracking and Eye Detection AF, which are especially useful with moving subjects and portraits.

We found that the autofocus system works very well, even in dim conditions, but the performance isn’t quite so assured in 4K video mode when the focusing switches from phase detect to contrast-based detection.

However, when recording 1080p video or shooting still images, the Face Tracking is very good even in low light – and the Eye Detection AF is able to cope with subjects wearing spectacles.

One of they key upgrades that the M200 makes over the M100 is the increase in the maximum video resolution from 1080p to 4K. However, in addition to the change in the AF method that’s used, the M200 applies a 1.6x crop to the field of view during 4K recording. As a result, the 15-45mm kit lens – which normally has an effective focal length of 24-72mm – looks longer at around 38-115mm in 4K mode.

That may not be a problem in some shooting scenarios, but it means tight framing around your face if you vlog with the camera at arm’s length. This may make 1080p a more attractive setting for vlogging – but as there’s no microphone port, you’re reliant on the in-built mic.

While the M200 scores well for ease of use, its build feels a bit cheap. It’s made from polycarbonate and it has a lightweight plastic feel.

A switch around the power button on the top of the camera enables you to select between Scene Intelligent Auto (Auto+), Stills and Video shooting mode. When Stills mode is selected, you can swap quickly between modes such as program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual, as well as a host of automatic shooting options by tapping on the exposure mode icon in the top-left of the touchscreen.

This 3-inch 1,040,000-dot screen is very responsive, and it’s easy to make setting selections and adjustments. Helpfully, the main and Quick menus are both compatible with touch control. Images must be composed on the screen, as there’s no viewfinder built-in, and reflections can be problematic in bright sunny conditions. There’s also no electronic level, which can make it difficult to get the horizon straight.

With the odd exception, the Canon EOS M200’s evaluative metering mode does a good job of getting the exposure of the main subject right. However, there are times when you may want to dial in a little negative exposure compensation to darken the brighter areas. If you need to, the shadows of underexposed areas can be brightened by around 3EV or so to get things looking right – but keep an eye on the out-of-focus areas.

Detail levels are good, but not stellar. We noticed that the out-of-focus details in some ISO400 JPG files can look rather mushy under close scrutiny. They look fine at around A4 size, but you need to be aware of this issue if you plan on making large prints or crops.

VERDICT

The Canon EOS M200 launches into a tough market and, while it’s a decent camera with some great easy-to-use features for beginners, it doesn’t really excite or produce compelling images.

As reported by VideoCardz, XFX is set to release another RX 5700 XT, dubbed the THICC III. The THICC II has been around for a couple of months now (and we have a review coming soon, so stay tuned for that) and sports an attractive shroud design with a dual-fan cooler.

The THICC III takes the same core design and just amps it up, with an extra fan giving it a triple-fan cooler, while it looks like there is a significantly larger heatsink as well. Card thickness appears to be the same ‘2.7 slot’ design as the THICC II, and the card also sports an attractive ventilated backplate.

There’s more to the card then just a larger cooler, though, as XFX has also applied a hefty factory overclock to the GPU. With a rated game clock of 1935MHz, and a boost clock of 2025MHz, this should be one of the fastest RX 5700 XT cards around. For comparison, the Red Devil 5700 XT has a game clock of 1905MHz and a boost clock of 2010MHz.

We’re not yet sure when the THICC III will release, and it is not currently listed on XFX’s official website. Hopefully we will get an official announcement soon with further information including pricing and availability.

The Google Pixel Watch could launch alongside the Pixel 4 when Google shows its new tech off, according to a source close to the matter.

That unidentified source was speaking to Nikkei Asian Review, a site that’s accurately preempted tech launches before, so the rumor is worth taking seriously. The source states that as well as the Pixel 4 and 4 XL, there will be a Google Pixel 4 5G, a new notebook device, and a smartwatch.

While the Google Pixel Watch isn’t named, if Google is to unveil a new smartwatch, it’ll likely be the Pixel wearable.

Rumors in 2018 suggested Google was ready to introduce its first Pixel branded smartwatch, but it’s thought the company decided at the last minute not to unveil the wearable.

The Google Event is set to take place in New York City on October 15, and it’s there that we’re expecting to see Google’s new hardware. TechRadar will be on the ground at the event to test out all the new products, including the Watch (if it exists) so check back then to see if the anticipated smartwatch is present.

What’s so important about the Google Pixel Watch?

The Google Pixel Watch would give Google the chance to show off its Wear OS operating system in the way it intended on its own, home-grown hardware.

The same was the case for the Google Pixel smartphones, with many considering them the most pure way to experience Android, as both the hardware and software was made by the same company.