It has its flaws, some of which could prove difficult to overlook. Yet its premium design, lightweight construction, and impressive feature set make it a compelling choice for folks seeking an ultraportable Windows machine. But is it the Macbook competitor it’s trying so hard to be?

Dressed in metal

From the moment you strip the packaging, the Matebook X Pro flaunts its premium appeal. The all-metal magnesium body is smooth to the touch while also shrugging off fingerprints and offering premium stability. This 14in laptop tips the scales at just under 1.4kg and measures 15.5mm at its thickest point so lugging it around with you doesn’t feel like a workout.

That does mean you have to sacrifice the number pad. Typing could feel a little cramped if you’ve got large mitts. Thankfully, the backlit chiclet keys are satisfyingly crisp and you won’t experience any deck flex unless you’re really trying. We also feel compelled to mention the hinge and the experience of opening and closing the lid. It might sound like a tiny detail but once you’ve felt a premium hinge, lesser hinges stand out like a turd in a fruit salad.

The power button sits just above the keyboard and doubles as a fingerprint reader. This makes logging into Windows snappy and means you won’t accidentally give it the finger while reaching for ‘Delete’. If it isn’t snappy enough there’s also a 720p webcam for facial recognition. It might sound like a cop-out – a 1080p camera would be a much better fit in a premium machine like this – but this one does a good enough job. You won’t be shooting a feature film with it but you won’t be the butt of the conference call jokes either. Not for the picture quality, anyway.

Just below the keyboard, sitting front and centre, is a roomy glass touchpad. It extends right to the front of the machine and uses internal motors to provide haptic feedback. It supports a range of gesture shortcuts, like scrolling along the left and right edges to adjust the screen brightness and volume respectively, while haptic motors provide satisfying clicks akin to a mouse wheel.

The available ports reflect the Matebook X Pro’s compact portability focus. There are four USB-C ports in total with the two along the left supporting Thunderbolt 4 while the two on the right are USB 3.2 Gen 2 flavoured. A 3.5mm headphone and mic combo jack joins the ports on the right. Huawei includes a USB-C to A adapter but picking up a dock will probably be necessary for most.

Plenty of pretty pixels

As far as laptop displays go, this is among the best we’ve tested. The 14.2in LTPS LCD touchscreen occupies over 90% of the top panel. It features a 3:2 aspect ratio and a native resolution of 3,120 × 2,080 while also managing a refresh rate of up to 90Hz. While the increased refresh rate is a boon for webpage scrolling, it’ll drain the battery far quicker so we recommend sticking to 60Hz when you’re on the go.

The Matebook X Pro boasts a maximum brightness of 500 nits which should be bright enough for most use cases. We didn’t notice any issues with outdoor use provided you keep a microfibre cloth handy as the glossy finish and touch capabilities don’t mix well with direct sunlight.

The high pixel count and max brightness mean that when it’s time to kick back with a movie or series, you’re in for a treat. It can’t match up to an OLED panel when it comes to black levels but colours still appear vibrant with no discernable issues in colour accuracy.

Along with the impressive display, the six onboard speakers hold their own for casual viewing. There’s a decent amount of volume on offer when you crank them, with a balanced mid-range and detailed high-end. Like all laptop speakers, they lack punch and rumble in the low-end. But that’s what the headphone jack is for.

Surprisingly performant

Rummaging around in the internals, you’ll find the aforementioned 13th-gen Intel i7-1360P CPU paired with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD. That chip has 12 cores and 16 threads on offer with a base clock speed of 2.2GHz and can turbo up to 5GHz when thermal and power limits allow.

It should blaze through any light to moderate workloads you throw at it. It will even get through more intensive tasks like photo and video editing but don’t expect that to happen quickly. For the folks who care, it scored an average of 1858 and 11920 in Cinebench R23 single and multi-core tests respectively.

With all the focus on compact portability, a few things need to take a back seat and gaming performance is one of them. Here that’s handled by an Intel Iris Xe integrated GPU which might manage older titles if you dial back the settings but will struggle to provide better visual fidelity, especially in newer titles.

Squeezing decent performance from a device this size comes with trade-offs. In this case, that’s battery life. Cranking up the display brightness and refresh rate while under a full load in the ‘Best Performance’ Windows power profile will only result in around two hours of battery life with some change.

In our tests, we saw a measurable difference in performance between the ‘Best Performance’ and ‘Balanced’ Windows power profiles but struggled to notice it in real-world tasks.

If you’re conservative with screen brightness and stick to ‘Balanced’, you should get a decent chunk of time out of it before it starts nagging. If all you’re doing is streaming movies, provided that you keep brightness in check, you’re looking at seven to eight hours.

When it does start nagging (they always do), the included 90W power adapter will get it back up to full in around two hours and a bit, slightly quicker if you aren’t using it at the same time.

Huawei Matebook X Pro (2023) verdict

We couldn’t find much to complain about in the 2023 Huawei Matebook X Pro. It might only be a slight improvement over the previous model so if you’ve already got that one, it might be worth waiting to upgrade. If you’re coming from something older, however, or looking for something comparable to a Macbook that runs Windows, this deserves your attention.

The Matebook X Pro provides a premium experience in nearly every aspect. Classy looks and sturdy construction? Check. Portable with few corners cut? Check. Great for movie night? Check. Working on the go? Check. The only areas where it struggles compared to the competition are its webcam, gaming, and battery life (in some scenarios).

With a price tag of R40,000, you might expect a different verdict considering the downsides. But when you look at the price of alternatives with similar specs, it quickly seems reasonable. An M2-powered 15in Macbook Air, for example, with the same memory and storage specs costs a good few thousand more while being slightly less powerful in exchange for longer battery life. We’re interested to see what the 2024 Matebook X Pro can offer over Apple’s eventual M3 Macbook Air.

The Nitro squad might be missing all those extra dressings you’d normally see in the altogether more expensive Helios line-up, but that’s okay. Acer’s done some work to keep the cost down, with the GPU taking the biggest hit but that’s okay. Our review model chugged along just fine in that regard, pairing rather well with the flashier-than-most 16in display that’s slapped on. The revamped gamer-fied composition is just a bonus.

Not for the bright-hearted

For a laptop that’ll ‘only’ take R38,000 out of your wallet at the till, we were pleasantly surprised at Acer’s choice of display here. It’s rocking a 16in WQXGA 16:10 IPS panel that’ll net 165+Hz when necessary. If you’re still struggling to pull off a ceiling shot in Rocket League with 165 frames to fiddle with, look inward, yeah?

In terms of looks, Acer’s done well. Not only are colours vibrant enough to make most of the games it tackles look glorious, but it doesn’t skimp on brightness either. It’s repping 400 nits’ peak brightness that made this a friend of both the indoors and outdoors. As if it’s necessary — it’s not like the Nitro 16’s target market are sun chasers.

It’ll withstand the pressure from more basic tasks, and can even squeeze in some light editing work if that’s your thing. It won’t live up to the colour accuracy you’d find in professional-grade creative laptops out there, but that’s to be expected. Acer wants you gaming — not editing — on this thing, after all.

What’s under the hood?

That display hasn’t been wasted, thankfully. Our review model had Intel’s 13th-gen Core i7-13700H, 16GB of RAM and Nvidia’s RTX 4050 all drawing on the 90Wh battery tucked in there. Those looking to shackle their computer to their desks shouldn’t have any trouble keeping this bad boy alive during a nasty bout of load shedding, even at max settings.

As for gaming, the Nitro 16 handled nearly everything we threw at it – with some accommodations in the settings department. It’ll struggle to play those too-demanding titles at a high-res and stable framerate, usually requiring some sacrifices to keep the framerate at a playable state. That was the case for our time in The Witcher 3, at least. Our sessions which included older titles handled the heat just fine – managing a consistent 120+ frame rate when possible and looking good doing it.

Unfortunately, mixing the power-hungry CPU and GPU was never going to award you with a decent battery life. Confine your movements to some basic browsing and a YouTube video or two, and it’ll last five or six hours easily at max brightness. Throw it a game? It’ll start falling right before your eyes. Best to keep that chunk of a battery-charger with you at all times if you’re serious about gaming on the go.

Don’t let the DTS-X branding fool you. It’s plenty loud enough, but the speakers Acer’s included here hardly ever reach a level of quality that left us satisfied. You can blame the middling bass and lack of proper directional sound that’s most noticeable during a gaming or Netflix stint for that. Make friends with the audio input on the left-hand side.

Fingerprint magnet

If the specs and display that scream ‘overkill’ weren’t already a dead giveaway, the Nitro 16 is a gamer’s machine. Acer’s taken what used to be a large hunk of plastic in the 2022 models and streamlined it into a slimmer, yet still chunky box of plastic for the 2023 edition. It’ll still put up a fair bit of strain on your backpack’s stitching, weighing 2.6kg and stretching 17 inches across – but it’s a step up in Acer’s Nitro family. Believe us, we’re thankful.

You won’t often hear us complaining when a chassis is all plastic – even the lid – because it usually amounts to a knock-off in the price department, as has happened here. But when it leads to a rather noticeable flex in the lid when open, we’re a little less accepting. It’d be a little easier to overlook if the lid wasn’t constantly drawing our attention to the million or so smudges it attracted within our first hour of use. We’d recommend keeping a microfibre cloth handy if you’re planning on showing off at the office.

Microfibre cloth pending, the Nitro 16 is still a gorgeous piece of machinery. It’s slathered in the usual buckets of matte black and a simple Nitro logo affixed to the lid’s centre. It won’t stick out like a sore thumb, but it’ll certainly attract like-minded gamers who ask whether it can run Crysis or not.

Life up that lid, carefully for fear of fingerprints, and the RGB-touting full-size keyboard should stand out immediately. While it does look good, Acer’s made a keyboard you won’t hate typing on, either – unless you’re planning any three-hour-plus sessions, in which case we’d advise getting something a little more ergonomic for the wrists. Keys aren’t mechanical, but what did you expect? The keys that are included hardly experience any wobble, making for a solid keyboard that’ll rarely have you reaching for something third-party. For those rare occasions you’ll be relying solely on the plastic touchpad, it’ll serve you well. Still, pick up a mouse. Pretty please.

There’s nothing better than a company that likes to spread out its ports. Acer’s passed with flying colours here – confining the more important, semi-permanent ports to the rear. That means two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports and a slot for the AC adaptor. Down the left-hand side, you’ll find the 3.5mm audio input, Ethernet, microSD and USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A. The right hand is home to another two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-As.

Acer Nitro 16 verdict

Despite our complaints surrounding the plastic shell, sub-par speakers and often poor battery life, it’s easily outweighed by the Nitro 16’s excellent display, great specs and decent looks. Even if it does require a couple of sacrifices to get the latest games running at their best, we never found ourselves reaching for something shinier or more expensive. That R38,000 price tag might look too steep to the untrained eye, but for what you’re getting, Acer’s been rather generous.

Pricier models with more capable GPUs are available, but you’ll have some trouble finding them out in the wild without a nudge to Acer’s sales department. Hell, even our review model’s specs are tough to come by — with the closest being this one right here.

The answer, apparently, is an impressive piece of tech that almost seamlessly melds the two satisfyingly without breaking the bank. We get that it’s not exactly cheap, but if a laptop/tablet hybrid is specifically on your wishlist, you’ll be hard-pressed to find something this good under that R20,000 mark. Compare it to something like the Surface Pro 9 or Asus’ B Flip series and you’ll see what we mean.

Clever doesn’t always mean pretty

You’d be forgiven for assuming that Acer’s Spin 14 is just an average, run-of-the-mill laptop the elderly lady you know might bring into the office. We understand the confusion. The Spin 14’s best features have nothing to do with its exterior which has been kept purposefully cheap (yet sturdy) to protect the laptop’s money-makers: the 360-degree hinge and 14in display.

See, the Spin 14 isn’t just a laptop. It’s got all the makings of a decent one; a 14-inch display, a generously sized keyboard, a trackpad and a selection of ports. Where it differs from its laptop siblings is the 360-degree hinge that’ll transform the Spin into one of those weighty tablets we were just discussing. It’s even packing a stylus on its right-hand side to make the whole thing a little more functional than just another screen to watch Netflix in bed with.

Once you’ve gotten over the 2-in-1 aspect, you’ll notice this is a large bugger. For a tablet, at least. For a laptop… it’s average. The substantial keyboard helps it feel a lot larger than it is. Yeah, it couldn’t squeeze in a numpad, but that isn’t a dealbreaker for us. The keys offer a satisfying clicky-clack if that’s your thing. It’s not overbearing enough to annoy your cubicle neighbour, either. Don’t expect more than a faint white glow under the keys, so if real RGB is a must, look elsewhere.

Drop your gaze and you’ll meet the slightly-too-small (by comparison) centralised trackpad – with its best feature being the built-in fingerprint sensor that hardly ever gave a hassle. You won’t hate the trackpad’s size, but you’ll eventually find yourself wishing for a bit more room for your fingers to run. Keep a wireless on hand, however, and you’re golden.

Beyond all that, cheapness isn’t inherently a bad thing. It’s still a solid machine, covered in a ‘steel grey’ hard plastic – save for the metallic lid – that’ll amount to a slightly too hefty weight of 1.6kg in a backpack. One that’s packing a half-decent selection port at the very least, including a single Thunderbolt 4, one HDMI 2.1, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and the power port.

An unassuming beast

Our review model’s 13th-gen Intel Core i7-1335U processor and 8GB of RAM might not be worthy of writing home about. But a “tablet” like the Spin 14? It’s packing more than enough power. That’s not us knocking the laptop’s performance, either. It handled every everyday task we threw at it without complaint, though it did occasionally give the fans something to whine about when we had one too many Chrome tabs open.

If you’re looking for the best results, we’d recommend keeping things simple for the Spin’s Intel Xe integrated graphics. By that, we mean confining any gaming ambitions you might have to titles like Minecraft or Marvel Snap and staying right away from The Witcher 3 and hardcore editing software. We managed to pull off a couple of sessions with Portal 2 and The Witness at the most middle-of-the-road settings imaginable, but hey, it worked.

As far as displays go, the Spin’s is just alright. The 1920×1200 panel did the job when visiting the great indoors but the 200 nits’ peak brightness actively shooed us back inside when attempting to get some good ol’ fashioned vitamin D. And unfortunately, it didn’t handle colour reproduction all that well. For the average user who’s only tackling the odd spreadsheet, it’s more than equal to the task. But for artier users looking to replace a pen and notebook, you’d be happier finding something a little more specialized.

Don’t go near the Spin 14 expecting to have your ears serenaded as you pass. It’ll do its best with what it’s given – outputting just enough volume that we weren’t reaching for the volume slider every five minutes – at the expense of losing some bass in the mix. For the average YouTube session, it’ll carry you through. But if you’re attempting to squeeze in a quick watch of Oppenheimer? Yeah, we’d recommend a pair of headphones.

Being a tablet/laptop combo, battery life is more important than ever. Thankfully, the Aspire Spin doesn’t disappoint. It’s what stood out to us the most, netting between eight and nine hours off a single charge when putting the Spin through its paces. That’s… considerably less than Acer’s advertised fourteen-hour life, but that’s okay. The quick charge time – around two hours and ten minutes from zero to full more than makes up for the exaggeration.

Putting pen to paper screen

When the Spin 14 isn’t being a laptop, it’s spending its time as a tablet. Pop out the oddly Nintendo DS-looking stylus that’s housed in the device’s right-hand side and there’s no shortage of things to do. Windows bombards the notification centre with all sorts of programs vying to be clicked first.

After some fiddling, we found that Microsoft Journal was the app most worthy of attention. It offered up the most intuitive controls of the lot, though it never managed to convince us that typing wasn’t the superior method here. Had we been a bit more art-inclined, however, it might be a different story.

Colour us impressed where the stylus is concerned. The touchscreen display can register up to ten touchpoints at any given time, meaning the occasional finger slip or something similar didn’t send our journalling or doodles awry. Pressure variation worked just fine, giving us plenty of control without ever feeling the need to go any deeper – potentially damaging the screen.

Our only gripe? We weren’t all that keen on letting the keyboard dirty itself when resting on whatever surface was nearby when we were looking to exert a little more pressure on the tablet’s front. Functionally, it works. The keys turn themselves off once the hinge reaches the point of no return, but it won’t stop them from getting scratched up.

Acer Aspire 5 Spin 14 Verdict

Acer’s Aspire 5 Spin 14 was never meant to be an invigorating piece of tech. It’s here to do a job – okay, two jobs – and alleviate any regret that might creep in after dropping close to R20,000 for the i5 model (good luck finding a model with our specs). And… does it? The short answer is yes. It’s packing more than enough power for the everyday tasks, and just enough to see you through a few rounds of Marvel Snap – as long as you confine your escapades to the indoors.

Sort of. The HP Victus 16 doesn’t necessarily ascribe to the traditional gaming laptop aesthetic. Its muted design supplies a more business-casual feel while promising gaming chops at a mid-range price point.

Don’t let the understated exterior fool you, however — this laptop packs a punch where it matters.

Day/night

The Victus 16 may feature a muted exterior but it’s still a good-looking piece of tech. With a sturdy grey plastic chassis and a slightly lighter grey finish on the keyboard, the only noticeable design embellishment is a large chrome ‘V’ on the lid. You aren’t bombarded with the typical RGB decor this time and it’s kind of refreshing.

The 16.1-in 1080p display is not the best we’ve seen on a laptop in this price range, but you’re getting a 144Hz refresh rate as a consolation. It can get fairly bright, however, and the anti-reflective coating effectively minimises glare.

One of the standout features (for us writing types) is the keyboard. It’s a comfortable scissor switch model, reminiscent of Apple’s MacBook keyboards, with a full number pad thanks to its 16-in format. The touchpad, while responsive, isn’t the best we’ve tested, but it’ll do the job if you’re not attaching an external mouse.

Distance runner

Our review Victus 16 came equipped with a Core i7-13700H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, and a 144Hz 1080p display.

However, the confusing array of configurations, pricing, and store-specific SKUs make pinpointing the right laptop a bit of a challenge. We did find the Victus 16 on sale at Evetech, as it currently is, for R27,000, down from R32,000. This pricing does make it a good contender in the price range with the included GPU.

When it comes to real-world gaming, the Victus 16 flexes with impressive results. Playing titles like Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p and high-quality settings, the laptop maintains a solid average of around 90 fps. In gaming benchmarks, it competes admirably with similar laptops in its class, offering a commendable balance of performance and price.

One standout is its battery life. It lasts for seven hours and three minutes under web browsing, light graphics work, and video streaming. It may not sound like much, but it’s commendable for a gaming laptop.

Port ahoy

To round out this muted gaming laptop, you get a few key features that we don’t want to miss in this review.

Firstly, ports. On the right side, you are greeted with a duo of USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports, a USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C port, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a power port. Turning to the left side, a third USB 3.1 Gen 1 port shares space with a retractable Gigabit Ethernet jack – a mechanism that opens up to accept a full-sized Ethernet cable. While a welcome inclusion, it does raise concerns about long-term durability.

Equipped with B&O-tuned speakers strategically placed at the palm rest’s corners, the Victus offers a decent enough audio experience. Despite budget laptop limitations on bass impact, the audio quality remains distortion-free, even at maximum volume. But this is a gaming setup, so while the built-in speakers suffice for everyday use, audiophiles and gamers should consider external peripherals for obvious reasons.

We just need to mention the placement of stickers on the keyboard deck. Like many Windows laptops, HP adheres to OEM advertising agreements, decorating their devices with Intel Core and Nvidia GeForce RTX badges. Would it hurt to at least place these stickers on straight? It’s such a small thing, but anyone who appreciates aesthetics won’t leave them on this sleek chassis for more than a day.

HP Victus 16 verdict

The HP Victus 16 is a compelling budget gaming laptop with an excellent performance, design, and endurance balance. Priced at R27,000 in its reviewed configuration, it faces tough competition from alternatives like the Asus TUF range and the Lenovo LOQ range of gaming laptops. However, the Victus prioritises budget-friendly 1080p gaming with great battery life while offering a well-rounded gaming experience.

Sure, it’s a pricey bugger — R27,000+ by our last count — but it comes packing a lot of value. For the average notebook, the price would be too much. The thing is, this isn’t an average notebook, it’s a 2.6kg gaming-focused beast that could probably survive an active warzone and look good doing it.

It’s no OLED, but it’ll do

Would we have liked an OLED display? Does the ursine mammal evacuate its bowels in a heavily forested area? The answer to both is a resounding ‘yes’. Still, we weren’t overly bothered when we unwrapped the thing and caught a glimpse of the spacious 17.3in FHD 16:9 IPS display. It did the best with what Asus gave it, keeping colours sharp and vibrant — for the most part. Would it have looked better touting an OLED display? Undoubtedly, but then you might as well look for a better machine (and expect to pay more).

Being a gamer at heart — and by name — you probably won’t be surprised to hear that this here laptop flaunts a 144Hz refresh rate. As it should. We didn’t pretend what it would be like to have R27,000 on hand to just barely compete with something as pedestrian as a PS5. Whether the extra 24 frames will finally get you to the top of an in-game leaderboard in Rocket League, that’s on you. The guys who blame lag after a round of CS might want to look elsewhere for something sporting 165Hz+.

It’s not all sunshine and daisies. Asus is quiet about the peak brightness this thing should be hitting and we think we’ve got a good idea why. The F17’s display won’t put out its best performance against a day in the sun – lasting about as long as your average Redditor before needing a move to the shade. That’s to be expected unless you feel like paying a whole lot more. If you have some control over your ambient lighting, brightness shouldn’t be a concern.

Stick to the great indoors and the F17 will perform well. It won’t be able to run Crysis at 8K but it held up in Portal 2 and The Witcher 3 without issues – always a good sign.

A solid performer

It’d be a bit of a waste of a decent display if Asus didn’t stock up the internals to match it. That hasn’t happened. Our review model turned up with Intel’s 13th Gen Core i9-13900H processor, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, an RTX 4050 GPU, and a 1TB NVMe SSD. If you’ve already counted the RTX 4050 out, don’t be so quick. Sure, the 13th-gen Core i9 would get more of a workout with something like the RTX 4060, yet this pair surprised us.

It managed to provide respectable performance in The Witcher 3 at 1440p, reaching a fairly consistent 90fps after fiddling with the settings and disabling Ray Tracing. It had no trouble beating that in Rocket League, although we did have to scale back the resolution a bit to get close to the 144Hz refresh rate.

What ended up being a stand-out here was the F17’s 90Wh battery life. It squared up to and defeated a regular two-hour load-shedding session, games and all. Have it take on something nastier from Eskom, a four-hour slot for instance while running games, and it won’t make it past the three-hour thirty mark. Confine your activities to the basics, and it’ll fly through those longer sessions without much tampering, either. Still, you’ll want to keep that chunky battery block handy if there’s any longer-than-average gaming stints afoot.

There’s always something to moan about, right? In the case of the F17, it’s the disappointing speakers that let the rest of the build down – falling far below the standard we’ve come to expect from Asus. When we didn’t have a pair of wireless headphones paired up, our review model rarely left the 100% marker – and it still left us wanting more.

Stay classy

Asus claims to have whittled the F17’s overall body size down by 5% without needing to reduce the screen size. Whether that’s true or not won’t do much to change the fact that the F17 still weighs 2.6kg. That’s about average for laptops like this, but we suggest doing a few pull-ups if you plan to lug this thing around on your back across town.

It may be on the chunkier side, but since 2016, that’s considered a good thing. Asus has gone the extra mile and included an aluminium chassis – a rare break from the overdose of metallic-looking plastic you’d usually find in this price range.

Weights and percentages aside, the F17 stands up to the all-important eyeball test — it looks good. It’s going for a classier look with a hint of industrial. We could’ve done without the ‘TUF Gaming’ branding taking up the left side of the lid, but that’s gaming laptops for you.

Lift that lid and meet the generously sized trackpad and RGB-touting keyboard that was large enough to house a traditional num-pad. Typing felt good enough that we didn’t feel the need to seek out an external keyboard. The trackpad does the job just fine if a mouse isn’t on hand for general use, but you’d have more fun falling down some stairs than playing games with it.

Around the edges are all the familiar ports you’d expect to see. Things are mostly bare on the right, housing a single USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port. Everything else lives on the left, including the DC power jack, HDMI 2.1, LAN, Thunderbolt 4, USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 and another USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port.

Asus TUF Gaming F17 verdict

We can’t pretend that the close to R30,000 price tag won’t be a concern for some. But anyone willing to bite the bullet won’t be disappointed in their choice — especially if you can swing one that’s rocking an RTX 4060. Good gaming chops, a decent display, and impressive battery life land in the F17’s ‘win’ column. It’s easy to knock the exceptionally poor speakers, but couple it with a good pair of headphones and you’re winning.

That’s not just Asus’ assessment, though it is rather prominent in the Vivobook Pro 15‘s marketing literature. The notebook itself has the stats and skills to back up its stated aim, providing a Mac-bothering machine for a fairly reasonable sum, ‘reasonable’ being a relative term in the waning days of 2023. R35,000 looks like a rather sensible number right now.

Minor metal makeup

The Vivobook Pro 15 for 2023 is as fully loaded as it gets in the third decade of the 21st century. The compact body is ringed with ports ideally suited to a modern accessory loadout. Dual USB-A ports live along the left edge. The right hosts a single USB-C, a full-sized HDMI, a charge port, a 3.5mm input, and a microSD card slot. There’s also a multifunction USB-C, useful as a peripheral host or as a second charge port. Connecting a MacBook Air charger won’t top the Pro 15 up as quickly as the included 150W charger but it’ll keep you from missing out on that urgent meeting you forgot about.

The chiclet-style keyboard lives in a plastic island that sheathes all of the main components. A broad trackpad sits just below it, similarly surrounded by high-quality plastic. The 15.5in OLED display has a slightly better time of it — the lid is all metal, offering more solid protection for the always-stunning display and contributing a bit to the 1.8kg weight of the whole. There are a couple of raised sections on the lid that tastefully present the Asus Vivobook branding to the eye. You know, for aesthetic (and advertising) reasons.

Bright enough

The notebook’s display forms part of the main attraction but the Vivobook Pro 15 can’t claim too much credit here. Just about every Asus notebook in recent months has shipped with an excellent OLED. There’s no difference here — bright colours and deep blacks mean that the Pro 15 is an excellent machine whether you’re soaking up Netflix, playing games (more on that in a sec), or, as your boss is probably insisting, doing your damned job. VESA certified, Pantone validated, blah, blah, you’ll have heard this spiel loads of times from Asus. It was true then, it’s true now. One day the company will come up with something better but it’ll take some doing. The screen is nigh-perfect already.

If we were going to nitpick, the peak brightness of 600 nits could stand to be a little brighter and the 2,880 x 1,620 display, while undoubtedly attractive, is only 16:9. If this were an office-focused machine, a 16:10 aspect ratio is considered the new sweet spot. But this is for creatives and we all know that they’re more interested in horizontal space. Right?

And something left over

You won’t snag the perfect notebook for R35,000. Hell, you won’t snag it for R150,000. But you’ll do pretty well for yourself at this price point if you’re looking at the Vivobook Pro 15. The review model we were supplied with included one of AMD’s Ryzen 9 7940HS chipsets, which is also backed by a Radeon 780M GPU.

On its own, it’d be enough to get you to the office and back with no complaints but this is supposed to perform better than that. Asus included 32GB of RAM and an Nvidia GPU, the RTX 4060, to add enough grunt to get you through heftier editing tasks. Performance is no issue, though you’ll find a way to crush it if you’re feeling ridiculous.

This Vivobook Pro 15 (and several older models) ships with a three-month subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud. If you’re in doubt about its capabilities in that line, just redeem the sub and you’ll be able to give it a proper test without risking further financial commitment but you’ll find no cause for complaint from the hardware performance. We can’t speak for Windows 11. Microsoft’s OS does what it wants to when it wants to.

In operation, the Vivobook Pro 15 ranges from silent as the grave to noticeably loud. The ProArt Creator Hub, a cut-back version of Asus’ gaming setup software, is how you’ll determine just how much heat and noise you’ll put up with.

It’s possible to cut the internal fans back to literally nothing. They’ll stay there until you add some sort of load so don’t worry about thermal issues too much. It’s also possible to crank the fans so you can bang the processor and GPU as hard as you like. Honestly, we were expecting more noise under load but the Pro 15 doesn’t attempt to deafen you. Even when it’s going hard.

Asus Vivobook Pro 15 verdict

The Asus Vivobook Pro 15 isn’t ridiculously finely tuned. It’s aimed at creatives, sure, but it’ll handle its part in multiple roles. Want to play games without all that RGB? This’ll do the job but you’ll have to be prepared for fan noise. Thankfully, it’s not overbearing. Just after an office machine with a little something extra under the hood? This’ll perform admirably. Handling all of your company’s social media and video creation duties? You’ll also be well served here. Even better, you’ll find that battery performance matches the speed the Ryzen 9 processor brings to the table. It’s not perfect but the Vivobook Pro 15 will do what you want it to without complaint or failure.

Chromebooks, being mostly reliant on an internet connection and software to function, have historically been slack when it comes to the hardware. The new Plus standard demands at least 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, an Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 7000 processor, and a 1080p panel as well as an HD webcam. That’s how Acer’s new model came about. It meets, and in the case of our review model exceeds, Google’s hardware demands. In the process, it’s ready to match specs with more traditional Windows-powered notebooks.

Chunk of plastic

We at Stuff are very used to laptop computers that try to go thinner while featuring harder materials. The Chromebook Plus 514 doesn’t take this route, opting instead for a plastic build that’s thicker through the middle than we’re used to in 2023. Oddly, this actually works in Acer’s favour here. The faux brushed metal finish looks good and the plastic chassis does a decent job of emulating the toughness you’d expect from aluminium.

The internal design is far from unattractive, too. Speaker vents bracket the keyboard and the trackpad is generous without being ridiculous. There are just enough angles to give the Chromebook Plus 514 a slightly more aggressive feel in keeping with its improved hardware layout.

As for ports, there are enough ports to make this machine feel more like a laptop and less like a Chromebook but not so many that you get the wrong idea entirely. The left edge has a Thunderbolt (USB-C), a full-sized HDMI, and a USB-A port while the right makes do with a single USB-C and a 3.5mm input, along with a Kensington lock. There’s no ethernet port but the notebook’s profile would definitely fit one. Just saying, Acer.

Cooling is handled by a large vent that pokes out the rear edge, venting backwards and upward when the lip is open. The bottom panel also has a broad strip of cooling vents that should keep your knees warm if you can convince the processor Acer has selected to run hot enough.

Plus these internals

PCs running ChromeOS are rare enough in South Africa that working on one of them is always jarring at first. One of the major headaches is that confirming the internal specs requires a whole new process. It was worth doing on this occasion since there’s more under the hood than just enough to get you onto the internet, starting with the 14in IPS display. The Chromebook Plus 514 has gone for the 16:10 aspect ratio that everyone’s excited about for productivity reasons and the 1,920 x 1,200 resolution is far above what you’d usually expect from a Chromebook. Our only complaint is that the panel could be brighter. Even cranked all the way up, it barely matches our M1 MacBook Air daily driver, which typically operates at half brightness.

But there’s more to Acer’s machine than just the screen, even if we’re pleased about the resolution upgrade. Our review Chromebook Plus 514 was packing an AMD Ryzen 3 7320C, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of space, and a 4,590mAh/53Wh battery. Acer claims a twelve-hour battery on the Chromebook Plus 514 itself but don’t believe it. You’ll get a little under ten hours and it’s closer to eight if you’ve got the brightness turned up and a video running. That’s still a workday, assuming you take lunch away from your screen.

ChromeOS isn’t as resource-hungry as Windows is so having these specs on hand isn’t important if you’re just driving this thing as an internet surfer. Regular usage will hardly move the needle but that’s not the point of the Plus range.

Nothing soft about it

Instead, you’re supposed to be expanding on what is normally possible with a Chromebook. Google has apps from Adobe, though they’re more lightweight than usual in deference to the fact this is still a Chromebook, as well as options for video, audio, and image editing. These apps are similarly based around tablet equivalents, counting on the Chromebook Plus 514’s beefier hardware to make them even easier to use. Still, it’s quite a jump from relying on an internet connection and cloud-based apps. You’re expected to do more offline, including playing games. Which we did, with varying results.

Some games are intended for use on the Chromebook, even utilising the keyboard and trackpad for control. Others will support a controller, should you connect one via Bluetooth 5.1. Still others, some of our favourite mobile titles, only function with touchscreen controls. When you don’t have a touchscreen, as is the case here, that’s a problem. Don’t expect every mobile gaming experience to run perfectly here but the Chromebook Plus 514 has the chops to run most of what’s available on Google’s Play Store in theory. It’s a question of other hardware compatibility and not one of power.

Acer Chromebook Plus 514 verdict

Official pricing for these hasn’t landed yet in South Africa but Acer tells us that they’ll start at R10,000. Assuming that’s this model, and not one with 128GB of storage instead, that’s not a bad deal. You could probably pick up a Windows equivalent with beefier specs for this price but those we managed to locate were either older models or on a very steep (and temporary) discount. Does that mean you should opt for one of these over a Windows machine? Not… necessarily. It’s all about how you want to use it.

If you’re spending all your time using Google’s suite of products anyway, this is a sensible choice. Ditto if you supply computers to staff as part of an SME in South Africa. These are handy for work but not so overpowered that they’ll walk out of the door and never return. Some of them will because Acer’s Chromebook Plus 514 is a decent step up from the regular old Chromebook, but it’s a workhorse rather than a prize stallion. As long as you’re giving this one the right job, it’ll handle its end admirably. Otherwise, choose another beast.

If you must have the model we got to play with, the one with a 13th-gen Intel Core i3-1315U processor shoved inside, you’ll need to go through local distributor Mustek directly. Is it worth the hassle? If you’re a business, it could be. But for normies? Probably not.

TravelMate by name, only

The Acer TravelMate P2 isn’t messing around when it comes to business, judging from the no-frills design. And why should it? There are plenty of other ‘fun’ Acer laptops to pick from. The TravelMate P2 is for sitting on your desk in an office or on the boardroom table surrounded by other TravelMate P2s – because buying in bulk is cost-effective. We won’t hold the boring, grey-rectangle design against it. A black option would’ve been nice though.

A snazzy jacket isn’t what matters in a business laptop, you’ll want to focus on the deliverables. But you’ll need to look past the drab greyness of it all to see them. Like the sizeable collection of ports, which include: 2x USB-A (3.2), 1x Thunderbolt 4, 1x Ethernet, 1x headphone/mic combo, 1x HDMI and a microSD reader on the front to round them off. There’s also a full-sized (and surprisingly smooth) keyboard with well-spaced keys and a num pad. It’s the little things… or bigger things in this case, that make the difference.

The ports, keyboard, and left-leaning trackpad are surrounded by a brushed metal chassis for accidental-drop peace of mind. Domineering bezels skirt the 14in display with enough room to fit a FHD webcam in along the top. Acer’s stuck with the whole machine-worker schtick and kept the branding low-key to match that. There’s a logo under the display and a miniature one on its outer shell. If saw you saw this thing from across the room, you’d reckon it was just another office punter. That’s the idea, anyway.

We weren’t quite as keen on the TravelMate’s heft – stemming from the sizeable battery – which does lend itself to feeling more premium, but it doesn’t do much for the ‘TravelMate’ moniker. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s worth remembering if you’re a frequent traveller who takes tech companies at their word.

Entry-level winner

If you’re willing to do some digging (and have deeper pockets), you won’t struggle to find a TravelMate P2 that Acer does sell to the general public. It’ll have a better processor too, entering the Intel i5/i7 territory. You might even find one with an AMD Ryzen CPU under the hood. That being said, our review model’s 13th-gen Intel Core i3-1315U processor faired relatively well but maybe that’s because we didn’t push it beyond its bounds and make it do any intensive gaming or, God forbid, try to open any CAD programs.

What we did do, armed with an entry-level processor, an integrated Intel Xe GPU, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of NVMe storage, was the basics. That means playing around on Microsoft 365, browsing the web and squeezing in a Minecraft session or two. What? You thought we stared at Word all day, didn’t you? Minecraft aside, the TravelMate P2 dutifully handled the tasks we threw at it and then some. Multitasking was also possible, which we count as a win, but you’ll still need to keep an eye on how many Chrome tabs you open at once.

We were pleasantly surprised with the P2’s media performance. It’s not going to compare with more capable laptops, but Acer’s put in a half-decent set of upward-firing speakers that’ll divert your attention well enough until your headphones are charged. Our fondness didn’t hold when it came to video, which was hampered by the dim display. It does enough to get by in a fluorescent-lit office and won’t be an issue if you’re staring at, uh, spreadsheets all day. That’s what you business-types do, right?

We expected the 56Wh battery to perform well – with not much going on behind the scenes. We were not disappointed. It managed to last for a full day away from a power socket (or a particularly gruesome showing from Eskom).

This one does not spark joy

Our biggest disappointment was the 14in IPS display that Acer’s opted to include here – which hardly gave the brightness slider much work. We almost exclusively used the P2 at its max brightness, which was… fine, if a little lacklustre. Perhaps Acer’s predicting these to end up in some sort of Severance-like office where the sun don’t shine. Regardless, we’d like to see a few more nits here, Acer.

How else are we supposed to see the crisp numbers in their rows and columns from the 1920 x 1200 resolution? The 16:10 aspect ratio also means you’re able to see a few more rows at a time, so you’ll have no excuse for not meeting those KPIs. An increase from the standard 60Hz refresh rate would’ve been nice, even if it’s just bumped up to 90Hz, but that’s probably asking for too much from a machine with an i3 inside.

Acer TravelMate P2 verdict

Acer’s delivered a decent little office worker, even if it’s not the prettiest. It’ll get through a day of work without any issues – and can do it off just the battery if need be. If you’re the type to disregard looks for performance, consider the TravelMate P2. Just, you know, one of the ones you can actually buy. We promise you won’t mind the processor upgrades or larger display. If you’ve got the dough, of course.

If you’re already sold on the business-centric model we reviewed you’ll have to contact Mustek yourself or tell your company that the grunts need new workhorses.

Almost underrated

Just like the Helios 300 that came before it, Acer has opted to shroud its latest offering in a sturdier plastic, except for when it comes to the device’s lid and keyboard platform, which are made up of a matte black brushed aluminium alloy. This is a premium gaming laptop, after all.

Even though this is a machine meant for gamers, the Helios Neo 16 is still rocking a somewhat understated design that might be more suitable in an office setting than, say, anything that comes from Alienware’s warehouse. Even with its less-than-shiny exterior, this is still a gaming laptop, which means it came loaded up with enough RGB lights to blind your average Reddit mod.

All that RGB can be found in the backlit keyboard that, for the most part, we had no trouble using. Sure, we had some issues – like the Left Shift and Ctrl keys being too small. And don’t even get us started on the oddly-placed dedicated Predator button that we accidentally hit more times than we’d care to admit. It was all worth it for the satisfyingly tactile keyboard we received, and an overly-large left-leaning trackpad we came to miss.

Unsurprisingly for a premium gaming laptop, Acer’s included a full house of ports here. Along the right side is the Ethernet port, headphone and mic combo jack, SD card reader and a singular USB-A port. Mirroring that side is two more USB-As (of the Gen 2 variety). Finally, the important stuff is found ‘round the back, with the power port, HDMI 2.1 and two Thunderbolt 4 USB-Cs all making homes there.

Our biggest complaint? We weren’t a fan of Acer’s placement of the vents underneath the thing, which is where the laptop pulls in all the outside cool air it needs. There are rubber feet on the bottom to prop itself up and create a slight air path, but none large enough to make much of an impact. We’d recommend a decent stand to go with it.

Propping up the GPU

It’s all well and good talking about the Neo 16’s outer shell, but a colourful keyboard won’t get you far in your quest to run Crysis, will it? Our review model came filled to the brim with a Core i7-13700HX processor, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and an RTX 4060 GPU with 8GB of its own GDDR6 VRAM.

The 90WH battery was… fine. We’d recommend parking yourself near a plug-point if you’re going to be doing serious gaming. The issue has less to do with the capacity, a standard for laptops in this price range, and more to do with the tech the Neo 16 is packing. You’ve seen the specs – it’s no wonder we’re only netting two hours when Eskom strikes.

Give the Neo 16 a break from gaming, however, and you’ll get around six hours of life before the warning signs start blaring. That’s still not enough for an entire day, but it’ll suffice until you can get to a plug. Light work, or a casual Netflix stream? You’re golden.

But that’s to be expected from a power-hungry machine like this. How often are you whipping out The Witcher 3 when you’re not at home (or at work)? That’s right, hardly. Even so, this gives you the choice, but don’t expect it to last very long.

It’s worth making friends with Acer’s Predator Sense toolbox, accessed by that Predator button we pressed a little too often. Here, you’ll find a 3D-animated visual of the laptop’s ‘health’ represented by some Master Chief lookalike. It’s also where you’ll fiddle with the laptop’s four preset profiles; Quiet, Balanced, Performance and Turbo.

You’ll only ever need Performance and Turbo for anything gaming related. Balanced and below saw us through everything else with ease, and quietly too. Performance is when you’re looking for a few extra frames and a fan or two to kick in. Turbo? It’ll knock performance up to 100 and set the fans into overdrive. We’d suggest pairing that up with a decent pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Or not, if you want your laptop to double as a white-noise machine.

When it came time to boot up something other than Minecraft or Sid Meier’s Pirates, we were quite happy with what we got. Our go-to game of the moment is The Witcher 3 which the Neo 16 ate up on the highest settings while holding onto a decent framerate. The same could be said for Rocket League, which consistently ran at the 120fps mark without a hitch. It couldn’t make up for our abysmal goalkeeping, but this is a laptop, not a miracle worker.

Display King

If you’re going to be playing some of the best games out there, you’ll want a half-decent display to go with it. Acer has obliged, hooking the Neo 16 up with a 16in 2560×1600 IPS panel complete with a 165Hz refresh rate and a 500-nit peak brightness. Colour us impressed.

It’s quite capable of handling anything you throw at it, even if that’s not always gaming. It’ll do just fine when it comes to casual video editing or graphic design but you’ll probably want to look for something more accurate for professional work.

Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 verdict

Putting aside the less-than-ideal battery life or the not-so-cool underneath vents, we absolutely fawned over the Helios Neo 16 the entire two weeks we had it. That was slightly marred when we saw the price – coming in at R43,000 (or R40,700 if you’re feeling savvy) for 1TB of SSD storage – even if that is the norm for a machine of this calibre.

If the R40,000+ price tag is just a little too steep, there are cheaper models out there with smaller SSDs and lesser CPUs. These models are few and far between, unfortunately, so you’ll need to employ a bit of scouting to get something within your price range. Either way, you’re still getting a beautiful display and excellent performance.

It’s a pity, too, because we’d have loved to have something to compare this unit directly to. The Zenbook S 13 does a lot to justify its R33,000 price tag, being among the neatest, lightest Windows machines we’ve ever had the pleasure of using. But it also immediately reminded us of the sort of cutting board you can buy from snooty stores like YuppieChef, which probably isn’t the effect Asus was going for.

It really is very lightweight

Made from an aluminium alloy, with a new fabrication process for the lid that Asus is super proud of, the Zenbook S 13 really could be one of the slimmest and lightest notebooks you’ve ever encountered. It’s probably the leader in 13in machines that feature OLED screens. If you’ve read any of our previous Asus reviews, you’ll know that OLED panels are something the brand is famous for. Nothing has changed here.

But to stick with this notebook’s physical appearance, the new lid and its geometric design (which really does feel like a Higher Grade cutting board) covers that impressive 13.3in display. Below it is a slim casing holding the internals, a MacBook-worthy keyboard (not the one with the butterfly switches) — even if the keys are a touch close together — and a large trackpad.

Ports are kept to a minimum. There’s space for a 3.5mm headphone jack and a USB-A on the right side and a pair of Thunderbolt ports and a full-sized HDMI on the left. That’s enough to get you started but you’ll want to add an expansion dongle if you’re the type to plug in everything you own.

Where’d they fit it all?

The Asus Zenbook S 13 for 2023 is available with an Intel Core i7-1355U processor. Here in South Africa, you’ll pay R33,000 for the 16GB RAM/1TB NVMe storage version but internationally, it’s available with up to 32GB of RAM. Where Asus manages to cram all of this, plus Intel’s Iris Xe graphics, is something of a mystery. By which we mean Asus has explained it at length but you can read about the CNC machining process in your own time. It’s witchcraft, okay?

As with almost every other Zenbook, the star of the show is that 13.3in OLED display. The company has packed in a bright, nigh-perfect 2,880 x 1,800 screen for use with the S 13 and it’s just as good as every other OLED panel the company has launched in the last couple of years. It blows past everything that isn’t an OLED and runs about parallel to other machines that also include the tech. If that’s your only ‘must-buy’ metric, you’ve got several choices outside just this model.

But the truly remarkable thing is, again, how the company has managed to cram all of this into a chassis that’s just roughly a centimetre thick (if you’re not counting the lid). While retaining the relatively light weight of about a kilogram, no less.

What do you want to do?

Attractive looks and profile witchery aside, how does it operate? It’s… well, it’s a Windows laptop. It’ll do Windows laptop things. But the spec loadout means that while this is an almost perfect office machine — and we mean that literally — it’s got a few drawbacks. Our 16GB model would battle with high-end editing (especially compared to the international 32GB version), making that OLED screen more of a nice-to-have than an essential purchase. Similarly, don’t expect any gaming performance from this setup. It’s too skinny for that.

But if you’re just putting it through its paces in the board room or university (must be nice to have your parents, in that case), you’ll find that it flies along fairly well. The keyboard is comfortable to work on, though it takes a tiny bit of getting used to, and the trackpad is large enough that you don’t actually need an external mouse unless you’re insistent on a high degree of pointer accuracy. To which we’d say: Why are you editing images on this thing? It’s not made for that.

It’ll blow through spreadsheets and the like without complaint. Web browsing and multimedia performance are also fantastic. It’s hard to go wrong with the Core i7 at the heart of this one and 16GB of RAM isn’t bad. It’s just annoying because we know that number could be larger. Blah, blah, South African economy… we get it. We’re just not happy about it.

Asus Zenbook S 13 (2023) verdict

Is the Asus Zenbook S 13 the perfect Windows notebook? Nope. It’s safe to say that it’s not even close. But it’s no slouch either. The chassis really is something you need to experience in your hands. It’s not supposed to feel that sturdy and that light at the same time. There’s enough power behind it to make it an office champ, though if you’ve got greater ambitions you’ll have to switch to something with more RAM and a fatter profile. The OLED screen is fantastic but non-essential, but we’ll also never actually complain about its presence in any notebook. The question really becomes: Are you willing to spend R33,000 on one of these? Only you’re able to answer that, but you’ll get what you pay for.