The notebooks are exciting again due to the new powerful hardware out there in the market and for Intel®, they now have the 11th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors for notebooks. And of course, there are different Intel® processors for different kinds of users and if you’re curious which ones to get, well, this article will guide you on which is the best laptop for you.
Acer Swift 3x
This is the latest notebook from Intel® and to give you a short background, the notebook comes with an Intel® Core™ i7 1165G7 processor along with 16GB RAM and the most interesting part here is that the notebook comes with Intel® Iris® Xe Max Discrete graphics which is one of the few notebooks to come with this discrete graphics. This means that the notebook comes with a little bit more power compared to other notebooks.
This notebook is meant to be portable and also to come with some power. For starters, we got here a 14” display which is perfect for your WFH needs and most of the ports that you need. There are 2x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports in here along with a USB-C port that supports Thunderbolt™ 4 which means that you can plug in your eGPU on this one to get more power.
This one comes with a plastic build and also a chiclet-style backlit keyboard but those decisions made for the design of the notebook made it light and also portable. There’s a fingerprint sensor too which is an added security for the notebook. As for the battery, the Acer Swift 3x still shines despite the discrete graphics as I can go up to 10 hours on this one on normal usage.
For everyday tasks, you won’t have any problems with this one as the combination of the 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 processor, 16GB RAM, NVMe SSD, and the Intel® Iris® Xe Discrete graphics. Opening your large excel files for work or if you want to play some games after then this one won’t disappoint you.
You may get this powerful notebook from Abenson.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is for people who want to experience more productivity and a stylish notebook. But of course, this one comes with portability too which is perfect for those people who need a laptop that shines above the others. For starters, this notebook is not only powerful thanks to the Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 processor inside along with 16GB RAM and Intel® Iris® Xe graphics but this one is also stylish and premium thanks to its build.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i also comes with Intel® Evo Platform badge which means that this one is certified to have the best experience on a notebook as you can get here a powerful performance with its 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors, W-Fi 6 speeds, long battery life, a Thunderbolt™ 4, faster speeds, and a powerful Intel® Iris® Xe graphics inside. Most of the notebooks certified for Intel® Evo platform are powerful, beautiful, and premium.
As for the design of this notebook, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is very unique. It comes with a palm rest and also the touchpad that is made up of glass so gliding and using it was a breeze. Hidden underneath is also an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner for added security. And the best feature of the notebook is the genuine leather of the outer lid of the notebook which screams premium and for an executive on the notebook.
Aside from the glass palm rest, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i comes with a metal build too which makes the notebook sturdy and fun to use. It’s also a convertible notebook that comes with a stylus so you can draw, write and even sign your documents on the notebook.
Despite being a portable notebook and a powerful one, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i still comes with 2x Thunderbolt™ 4 port and also a USB-A port and since we got here Thunderbolt™ 4 ports, you can plug in your eGPU or dongles in case you needed other ports for the notebook.
ASUS TUF Dash F15
The ASUS TUF Dash F15 is tough on power and also on the design. The notebook comes with military-grade toughness but don’t get fooled with that because this one also comes with a lot of power thanks to the Intel® H35 processor inside. This notebook specifically comes with Intel® Core™ i7-11370H processor inside which is the latest one from Intel® and it packs some oomph when it comes to gaming.
The ASUS TUF Dash F15 comes with Intel® Core™ i7-11370H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU, and 8GB RAM. This notebook comes with everything that you need for gaming. Compared to the earlier notebooks, this one comes with Intel® H35 processor which means that it’s more powerful, and you can do heavier tasks such as rendering and also gaming and with its GPU, you can play all of the games that you want on the notebook.
But of course, it’s not just the power inside because the ASUS TUF Dash F15 also comes with a 144Hz display so whenever you play FPS games on this one, you can have a smoother and better experience and you can have more advantage over other players since you got a better display. We also got here a narrower bezel so the notebook comes with a smaller footprint compared to other gaming notebooks.
The keyboard is also responsive too, the travel distance was fine, and the WASD keys are highlighted too that looks cool. Speaking of the cool, the thermals of this one was pretty well and despite playing for hours, the notebook doesn’t overheat, and I do have a good experience in gaming. For the design, it comes with a simple but cool design that gamers would really love.
And of course, there are other unique features too like the Armoury Crate which lets you manage and control everything that you need on the gaming notebook. You can control the performance of the notebook and you can see the status of your notebook in this application. So, if you are looking for a gaming laptop in the market then you might want to take a look at this one.
The benchmarks
Before deciding which is the best notebook for you, let’s check out some of the benchmarks that we’ve done on the notebook. With Cinebench R23 here are the scores that we got:
In Cinebench R23, we can clearly see that the ASUS TUF Dash F15 has an upper hand because this one comes with the H series chip inside which is made for gaming and heavy tasks. With its multi-Core™ power, the notebook won’t have any problems running any applications and games.
While the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i and the Acer Swift 3x comes with Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 and Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 respectively which is why the sCore™s doesn’t have a really big gap but the Acer Swift 3x features a better Intel® Iris® Xe Max which is why we can have better graphical power on the notebook while the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i comes with Intel® Iris® Xe graphics.
In 3D Mark, the ASUS TUF Dash F15 still got the best sCores since we got here an Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU inside this one while the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i comes with Intel® Iris® Xe graphics and the Acer Swift 3x comes with Intel® Iris® Xe Max Graphics. While the ASUS TUF Dash F15 can run most games without problems.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i and the Acer Swift 3x got a sCore of 1574 and 1839 respectively and that’s what I already expect on these notebooks and since we got more powerful Intel® Iris® Xe Max graphics on the Acer Swift 3x, we can have a better 3D rendering and of course, gaming experience on the notebook.
As for gaming, most of the modern light games would run just fine on Intel® Iris® Xe graphics but if you need more power, you can go for the Acer Swift 3x which will give you more power with its Iris® Xe Max but don’t worry because you can still get the power that you need on the notebook and still have the portability that you need.
Verdict
So you’ve seen the different notebooks for different segments. It’s actually pretty easy to choose. If you’re looking for a notebook that you can use for everyday usage and you also want to use it for your light and casual gaming then you can go for the likes of the Acer Swift 3X that comes with Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 and also an Intel® Iris® Xe Max discrete graphics which is the perfect balance of power and portability.
But if you want something that you can bring anywhere, flexible, and also have a long battery life then you can get the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i with Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 inside along with Intel® Iris® Xe graphics. It may not have the same power as the Intel® Iris® Xe Max discrete graphics but it still got some power inside that is more than enough for everyday consumers and of course, you can still play with it if you want to.
Lastly, if you’re in the market for a notebook that you can use for heavy photo or video editing and gaming then the ASUS TUF F15 Dash with Intel® Core™ i7-11370H processor along with the Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU inside is the good choice for you. It comes with a powerful processor paired with the latest Nvidia RTX GPU inside and of course, this one comes with a military-grade build and also a pretty cool design.