Best described as a "super-sized" Galaxy S6 edge, the S6 edge+ differs with a bigger, 5.7-inch display (a 0.6 inch increase), larger 3000mAh battery (a 400mAh increase), and bigger overall size. Hardware-wise, we're once again looking at an Exynos 7420 SoC, driving the mains alongside 4GB of RAM. Memory choices are the usual as well - there are 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB storage variants available. As in the original phablet, there is no microSD card slot, and neither a removable battery.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 brings a huge redesign to the Note series: it adopts the glass and metal styling of the Galaxy S6, but in a larger, 5.7" form factor, and it features the signature S Pen stylus. The Note 5 sports the 14nm Exynos 7420 octa-core system chip with a whopping 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM. In terms of photography, it sports a 16-megapixel rear cam with OIS, while up front there is a 5-megapixel selfie shooter, and both cameras sport wide, f/1.9 lenses. The battery on the Note 5 is smaller than on the Note 4: it's a 3000mAh juicer that is not user removable. The base model of the phone ships with 32GB of internal storage, and there is a costlier, 64GB version, but both lack support for expandable storage.
As it's featuring the signature time-tested OmniBalance design, it's rather hard to mistake Sony's new flagship for anything else than a top-end Xperia, sporting signature OmniBalance design with metal elements and matte back glass cover. At the front we have a 5.2-inch 1080p display; under the hood, we find a Snapdragon 810 chipset, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, microSD card slot, and 2,900mAh battery. There's also a 23MP rear camera with Exmor RS sensor and what's claimed as the world's fastest autofocus (0.03s); at the front, we find a 5MP selfie shooter with an Exmor R sensor. Android 5.1 with Sony's Xperia UI runs the show.
Powered by a 2.6-GHz Intel Core i7-4720HQ processor with 16GB of RAM, the UX501 thrived as I multitasked. I was able to demolish enemies in BioShock Infinite while Spotify tunes blasted in the background. I then switched over to Chrome, which had two-dozen tabs open, with Windows Defender running a full-system scan -- all without issue or lag.
The UX501 scored a 11,887 on the Geekbench 3 performance test, besting the mainstream average (10,539), as well as the Core i7-5500U-powered Inspiron 15 (6,380). However, the Asus finished behind the Core i7-4710HQ-powered Aspire V15 (12,843) and the Core i7-powered MacBook Pro (14,423); the latter costs about $1,000 more than the UX501.
The UX501's 512GB SSD duplicated 4.97GB of multimedia files in only 10 seconds, at a blindingly fast rate of 508.9 MBps. That's faster than the category average (182 MBps), the Inspiron 15 (195.7 MBps) and the Aspire V15 (203.6 MBps). Only the MacBook Pro delivered a faster rate (636 MBps).
With its 2.3-GHz Intel Core i5-5300U CPU, 8GB of RAM and 180GB SSD, our configuration of the ThinkPad X250 provided plenty of performance for productivity and multitasking.The notebook scored a solid 5,259 on Geekbench 3, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall performance. That's comfortably above the category average (4,253), the Core i5-5300U-powered Dell Latitude E7250 (4,866), the Core M-5Y71-powered HP EliteBook Folio 1020 (3,814) and the Core M-5Y31-powered MacBook (4,631). The ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which was also configured with a Core i5-5300U processor, scored slightly higher (6,110).
Powered by a 1.7-GHz Intel Celeron 3215U processor with 4GB of RAM, the CB35 is swifter than you'd expect a Chromebook to be. I was able to smoothly jump among a dozen tabs -- including simultaneous streams from Spotify and YouTube, as well as TweetDeck and a Google Doc -- with Cut the Rope running in the background.For the most part, you won't feel the burn while using the CB35. After 15 minutes of streaming HD video, the notebook's touchpad (80 degrees) and the area between its G & H keys (86 degrees) both stayed under the 95-degree-Fahrenheit threshold we consider comfortable. The CB35's underside, though, broke that limit, heating up to 97 degrees.
Alienware 17 for something other than gaming (looking up walkthroughs or watching/recording a Twitch stream), it's nice to know that the laptop's processor is ready for anything. The 2.5-GHz Intel Core i7-4710HQ CPU with 16GB of RAM.The Alienware 17's 256GB SSD and 1TB 7,200-rpm hard drive delivered a speed of 149.7 MBps when duplicating 5GB of multimedia files. That's fine for a mainstream laptop or ultraportable, but it's slower than the 313.7 MBps average. The G751JY (256GB SSD with a 1TB 7,200-rpm hard drive) and the Dominator Pro (Four 128GB SSDs in RAID 0 with a 1TB 7,200-rpm hard drive) hit 383.3 MBps and 636.2 MBps.
Graphic Amplifier
Two is always better than one, especially when it comes to GPUs. Similar to the Alienware 13 and 15, the new Alienware 17 can be used with the company's 7.7 pound, 16.1 x 6.8 x 7.3-inch graphical amplifier. This powerful but pricey peripheral bypasses the Alienware 17's Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M GPU in favor of a desktop GPU. The amp I tested had an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 GPU with 4GB of VRAM for a noticeable boost of power. However, Alienware offers several GPU options that add a measure of future-proofing to your laptop.
