Month: October 2020

It has only been a few weeks since Dell unveiled the Tiger Lake edition of the XPS 13, so detailed reviews are thin on the ground. While we are yet to get our hands on an XPS 13 9310, Phoronix has. Unsurprisingly, the website has put the machine through its paces to see what advancements the Tiger Lake architecture offers compared to Intel’s Ice Lake series. Phoronix reviews devices in Linux, so the results are not necessarily transferable to Windows 10. However, the review offers early real-world comparison between Tiger Lake and Renoir, AMD’s Ryzen 4000 mobile processors.

Phoronix reviewed the Core i7-1165G7 edition, which is the second most powerful chip in Intel’s Tiger Lake-U series product stack behind the Core i7-1185G7. The website tested the Tiger Lake machine on Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS with Linux 5.9 and Mesa 20.3-devel, for reference, and compared it to the Core i7-8565U, Core i7-1065G7, Ryzen 5 4500U and Ryzen 7 4700U.

Based on Phoronix’s findings, the Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96 EUs) in the Core i7-1165G7 offers a huge uplift in performance from the GPUs that Intel integrated in its Ice Lake chips. The Xe Graphics G7 even has the beating of the Vega 7 and Vega 5 GPUs in most synthetic benchmarks, which is a win for Intel. However, Phoronix has shown that Tiger Lake remains way down on Renoir when also considering CPU performance.

The XPS 13 9310 in Phoronix’s possession averaged a 17% improvement from the Core i7-1065G7, which should not be sniffed at. The Core i7-1165G7 needed to post even greater improvements to surpass the performance of the Ryzen 5 4500U or Ryzen 7 4700U, though. From Phoronix’s data, the Core i7-1165G7 averaged around 7% less than the Ryzen 5 4500U and finished 18% behind the Ryzen 7 4700U. 

Worse still, OEMs tend to equip cheaper machines with Renoir processors, further impacting on perceived value for money by picking a Tiger Lake laptop like the XPS 13 9310. The value of Dell’s latest XPS 13 is more than just processor performance, of course, as it is one of the most compact machines in its class. Equally, its near bezel-less display, excellent keyboard and solid battery life are all reasons to consider the XPS 13. A Ryzen 7 4700U or Ryzen 7 4800U-model would be a huge step up for the XPS 13 series though, and these early Tiger Lake results show just what Dell is missing by sticking with Intel.

Based on Phoronix’s findings, the Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96 EUs) in the Core i7-1165G7 offers a huge uplift in performance from the GPUs that Intel integrated in its Ice Lake chips. The Xe Graphics G7 even has the beating of the Vega 7 and Vega 5 GPUs in most synthetic benchmarks, which is a win for Intel. However, Phoronix has shown that Tiger Lake remains way down on Renoir when also considering CPU performance.

The XPS 13 9310 in Phoronix’s possession averaged a 17% improvement from the Core i7-1065G7, which should not be sniffed at. The Core i7-1165G7 needed to post even greater improvements to surpass the performance of the Ryzen 5 4500U or Ryzen 7 4700U, though. From Phoronix’s data, the Core i7-1165G7 averaged around 7% less than the Ryzen 5 4500U and finished 18% behind the Ryzen 7 4700U. 

Worse still, OEMs tend to equip cheaper machines with Renoir processors, further impacting on perceived value for money by picking a Tiger Lake laptop like the XPS 13 9310. The value of Dell’s latest XPS 13 is more than just processor performance, of course, as it is one of the most compact machines in its class. Equally, its near bezel-less display, excellent keyboard and solid battery life are all reasons to consider the XPS 13. A Ryzen 7 4700U or Ryzen 7 4800U-model would be a huge step up for the XPS 13 series though, and these early Tiger Lake results show just what Dell is missing by sticking with Intel.

The MINISFORUM X35G has reached its campaign goal on Indiegogo, having been brought to the crowdfunding platform last month. To date, the Mini-PC has received over US$21,000 in funding, although there are still 25 days left to run on the campaign.

MINISFORUM has equipped the compact machine with a Core i3-1005G1, a 15 W processor from Intel’s Ice Lake architecture. The CPU can boost to 3.4 GHz and is complemented by 16 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM. However, there are two SO-DIMM slots, so the machine should be capable of running more than 16 GB. The X35G is actively cooled via two heatpipes, a heat sink and a fan. These not only have the job of keeping the processor and RAM cool, but also the M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 and 2.5-inch drives should you choose to use both.

One of the highlights of the X35G is its Thunderbolt 3 port, which sits at the front of the device. MINISFORUM has equipped the machine with plenty of other ports though, including dual Gigabit Ethernet, two dedicated video outputs and four USB ports. There is also a microSD card reader and a 3.5 mm input.

The X35G can still be ordered from US$350, although this does not include any storage. MINISFORUM charges US$400 for 256 GB of storage and US$430 for a version with 16 GB of Intel Optane Memory and a 1 TB HDD. The company aims to begin shipping the X35G next month. CNX Software has also published a review of the device, which is well worth a read.

We last reviewed a 15.6-inch C-Force portable monitor earlier this year where we found its light weight and ease of use to be of value on flights or temporary offices as a secondary display. Nonetheless, it still suffered from all the drawbacks common on many inexpensive portable monitors including a limited color space, a dim display, slow response times, pulse-width modulation, and poorly calibrated colors.

The latest C-Force monitor, called the CF011C, has been redesigned with even narrower bezels while keeping the same ports and features as the CF011F (sans the MicroSD reader). The more notable updates, however, relate to the panel itself as C-Force has upped the color space (60% to 100% sRGB) and brightness (200 nits to 459 nits) significantly for a much better visual experience. Colors are no longer muted and the brighter backlight helps in brightly lit environments.

Additionally, power consumption hasn’t changed by all that much from the older CF011F despite the improved colors and brightness levels. The minimum and maximum brightness settings demand about 3.2 W and 9.2 W, respectively, compared to 5.8 W and 9.2 W on the CF011F.

One major drawback that remains is the relatively slow black-white and gray-gray response times which makes the CF011C a poor choice for fast-paced games. Gamers will therefore still want to consider spending more on other portable monitors like the Asus MB169B+ where motion blur is minimal.

The C-Force CF011C is now available through the manufacturer’s online store for $199 USD. C-Force sent us a sample unit in order for us to provide the measurements shown below.