PC World - USA (2020-09)

SEPTEMBER 2020 PCWorld 41

its class that outperform the Envy 13 x360 are
the MSI Prestige 14 (go.pcworld.com/ms14)
set to its performance setting, and the Acer
Swift 3 (go.pcworld.com/acsw)—no surprise
given its 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 4700U
CPU. (We include for reference Dell’s older
and larger XPS 15 7590 laptop, though that’s

really a different class of computer.)

To get a feel for how it performs in

mundane everyday tasks, we also run PCMark

8’s Work test, using the CPU rather than GPU

acceleration. The Envy x360 13 gives up

ground to the more premium laptops (plus

Acer’s cheaper, yet gutsier, Swift 3) due to its

lower clock speeds, but the results are so

close that you probably can’t tell the

difference. The lesson is that if all you do is sit

in a browser, or work in Office while watching

a YouTube stream in the background, then

picking a laptop should probably focus more

on screen, keyboard, trackpad, speakers, and

even color, rather than on the fancy CPU or

GPU specs.

GRAPHICS PERFORMANCE

For those who seek some graphics

performance for light-duty games, we run UL’s

3DMark Sky Diver test. For the most part, the

Ryzen 5 4500U delivers performance similar

to that of Intel’s current premium 10th-gen

Core i7-1065G7. In other words, a midrange

chip that’s supposed to compete with a Core

i5-1035G1 or Intel’s UHD graphics is

punching above its weight class, delivering

premium graphics performance at a

mainstream price.

BATTERY LIFE

Our last test is likely the most important for

anyone who buys this class of laptop: battery

life. We charge the laptop’s battery to full, set

Acer SwRyzen 7 4700Uift 3

Dell XPS 13 9300 Default

Core i7-1065G7

HP Spectre x360 13 5t h Gen

Core i7-8565U

HP Envy x360 13Ryzen 5 4500U

HP Envy x360 13 Performance

Ryzen 5 4500U

HP Spectre x360 13 2019

Core i7-8565U

Acer SwCore i5-8250Uift 3

Dell XPS 13 7390Core i7-10710U

Dell XPS 15 7590Core i9-998xq0HK

Dell XPS 13 9380Core 7-8565U

M14 DefaultSI Prestige

Core i7-10710U

Dell Inspiron 15 7000

Core i7-8665U

MLaptop 3 15”icrosoft Surface

Ryzen 7 3580U

PCMark 8 Work 2.0

Native resolution

LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE

3,858

3,684

3,807

3,508

3,818

3,632

3,695

3,338

3,303

3,205

3,109

3,039

3,017