It also struggled a little here and there when I connected it to an external 4K monitor and went into total meltdown when I attempted to open a spreadsheet while holding a Google Meet.īut that isn’t the point of this laptop. It managed the photo manipulation tasks OK, but was fairly slow doing it. It started to come unstuck when I opened a couple of fairly large photos in Affinity Photo.
On a par with most regular laptops, handling Chrome, Windows Mail, Evernote, Nextgen Reader and a bunch of chat apps just fine. Once setup was complete, if I wasn’t running any updates, performance was pretty good. The bottom of the laptop lacks vents for fans, but still has small feet to prop it up from a table for passive cooling. It was particularly noticeable when first setting up the machine, performing updates and downloading apps – a similar thing occurred with the Core i3 processor in the latest MacBook Air. When you’re doing too much the laptop really bogs down, feeling slow and ponderous.
In reality the Book S has very mixed performance. It also means this machine is fanless, relying entirely on passive cooling, and making operation totally silent. The reason you have this sort of design is that for simple things the chip consumes less power than the equivalent standard dual or quad-core chip, but it still has the poke to do heavy lifting when required. The idea is that the lower power cores handle the simple things, and the high-power core handles the important things. What that means in English for this particular model is that you have one, high-power processing unit paired with four smaller, lower-power and lower performance units on one chip. The Intel Core i5-L16G7 running in the Book S is one of the firm’s first to try a so-called big.Little design.
They haven’t yet delivered on that promise in Windows computers, but it hasn’t stopped Intel designing chips in a similar way to ARM models in an attempt to head off the competition. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardianįor some time ARM chips, such as those running in all smartphones, have promised to deliver better battery life and similar performance than the Intel processors used in almost all laptops. There is a single USB-C port in the right side of the laptop. I found myself scrolling up and down a lot more than I would on taller screens with 16:10 or 3:2 ratios. The screen is noticeably less crisp than higher-resolution rivals, and being in the 16:9 ratio (matching your TV) means there’s less vertical space to work with. The model tested lacked automatic brightness control, but just setting it to 70% brightness worked well in most scenarios. It can get super bright with a dedicated outdoor mode that boosts the brightness from 350nit to 600nit, making it easier to see in sunlight.
The 13.3in full HD touchscreen is good, but not quite as colourful and vibrant as the Book Flex, covering only 80% of the DCI-P3 colour palette. There’s a small fingerprint sensor embedded in the power button in the top right of the keyboard, which is a much more sensible position than taking up half the shift key, as was the case with its sibling. The trackpad is wide and precise, but makes quite a loud click when depressed. The backlit keyboard is good, with well-spaced, responsive keys with enough travel – how far down it pushes – for most. The laptop feels solid and well balanced, with a good-sized keyboard and a smooth matt finish on the deck.