I find it interesting when a new brand of laptops enters the gaming market. The space is a bit crowded at the moment, sure, but it can be refreshing to review something new. In my experience, there is usually a feature or combination of hardware that I have never seen before or the thermals are as nice as my grandmother’s minestrone soup – not too hot, but just right. Xata’s XPG XPG game notebook, the first gaming notebook the company has ever made, checks many of the right boxes. It was originally released in April 2020, which happens some time ago, but I’m happy that I finally managed to spend some time with it. It’s an almost perfect gaming laptop that I wouldn’t mind owning, but I hope it can keep the same quality consistency when it comes to thermals, if Adata chooses to release an updated version with a newer processor in the future (which I hope they will do!).
It’s a solid machine with everything I expected from a company that produces SSDs, DRAMs, CPU coolers, peripherals and more. Adata knows the playing space. It is well versed with the overly familiar balance of packing a platform with the right specifications at a reasonable price, while keeping the computer cool – and XPG Xenia nicely shows off Adata’s expertise in these areas. Even if some components are state-of-the-art or will soon be state-of-the-art due to all the ads about laptopsyou are about to pass CES course, XPG Xenia still deserves a solid look.
This gaming notebook is equipped with an Intel Core i7-9750H processor, Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti GPU, 32 GB DDR4 2666 MHz DRAM and a 1 TB PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD. The IPS FHD display is 15.6 inches, with a refresh rate of 144Hz and an NTSC color gamut of 72%. That color gamut is mostly average on gaming laptops under $ 2,000, but the 85% screen-to-body ratio makes this laptop a perfect match for all the other stylish-looking notebooks that are cars. stealth game.
Battery life is above average for a gaming notebook, almost six hours. Battery life of more than 10 hours is not published by Adata, but battery life will always vary depending on the programs you are running, the brightness of the screen, and how much RGB you have enabled. Xenia’s XPG battery life is actually longer than other more expensive gaming laptops I’ve tested before, such as Acer Predator Triton 500 (3 hours 20 minutes), Razer Blade Pro 17 (3 hours 36 minutes) and Asus Strix Scar G15 (4 hours 45 minutes). It comes in minutes Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and Acer Nitro 5.
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The overall design is subtle and professional, which is definitely nice for gamers who want to use their laptops for both work and play. Before the pandemic, I would always feel weird when I take my three-year-old gaming laptop to a coffee shop to work, because the sharp lines engraved on the lid stood out completely – not to mention the display frames were thick and awkward. . It looked aggressive, so it’s nice to see companies producing smaller, more mature gaming laptops nowadays.
While the plastic keys feel a little on the thin side, the low-profile mechanical keyboard is great for typing. My fingers seemed to adjust naturally to the look, and the click of the keys was pleasantly quiet. There’s also a slight kick to the trigger, so those of you who prefer the silent and touch keys might like it as much as I do. XPG Xenia took it on the spot. Also, RGB lighting is per-key, so if you want to create WASD or other commonly used keys while the games stand out, you can do so.
This gaming notebook is also a surprising source of power, thanks to the 32 GB of DRAM and how cool Xenia keeps all its components, which I will reach a little. In our gaming benchmarks, it certainly stuck to many other laptops with higher specifications that we tested – laptops with an Intel i9-10885H and an RTX 2070 Max-Q or an AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS and an RTX 2060 Max – Q, for example, on average: 87 frames per second at 1080p ultra on Far Cry 5; 63 fps on Total War: Warhammer II; 79 fps on Shadow of the Tomb Raider; and 42 fps on Metro exodus.
Even compared to Acer Nitro 5, which has the same processor but an RTX 2060 and 16 GB of memory, XPG Xenia got the same number of frames in all the same games. It was even faster than the Nitro 5 to play a 3D image in Blender, about 11 minutes and 30 seconds compared to about 13 minutes, and faster transcode a 4K video at 1080p in the Handbrake, about 11 minutes to 12 minutes and 30 seconds.
But here comes the warning and it’s not Adata’s fault: Intel has decided to give up its 300 series chipset, which includes the QMS380 laptop chipset. Intel Core i7-9750H from XPG Xenia uses that chipset. From now on, you can still get devices with compatible motherboard, but July of this year is the last chance for anyone to place orders for anything that needs a 300 series chipset. Adata could place its final orders then so it has stock of this model until the end of 2021, but after that it has to use Intel 10th (or 11th-gen) processors, which worries me because of the thermal requirements.
Almost all the 10th generation Intel laptops I’ve tested in the last year have run hotter than anyone concerned about the longevity of their car, especially the i7s and i9s. Maximum processor temperatures reached over 90 degrees Celsius (over 194 degrees Fahrenheit), often within a few degrees of the Intel processor’s maximum temperature of 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit). larger in certain areas around or above the keyboard.
But the 9th generation chips work much cooler, and the Adata XPG cooling solution for Xenia is one of the best I’ve seen in a gaming laptop – even with the 9th generation chip , which works cooler. Xenia’s maximum temperatures reached just 80 degrees (Celsius), compared to 90 on the Nitro 5. Average temperatures remained in the mid-1960s, which is the perfect place for an on-load processor.
Skin times remained between the 30s and 40s, except for a place located above the keyboard that became hot up to 48 degrees Celsius. I could feel the air from the fans spinning coming through the keyboard, which kept my hands (well, my left fingers) beautiful and cool during the games. There are also several vents on the sides, bottom and back of the laptop, so this is well ventilated.
Of course, the fans had a gap of 747, because the laptop was in Turbo mode while I was doing these tests, but I was so happy that I saw much colder temperatures, that it didn’t bother me as much. In balanced mode, there was not much difference in temperature and there was a small decrease in the frame rate, about 2-3 frames. The fans were also a little calmer, but not by much.
That’s all we have to say that Adata could have a good shot at taming Intel thermals with the 10th generation, but if you’re looking for a good 1080p gaming laptop now and you have a little over a sea of burns, XPG Xenia is one of the most serious consider. Yes, new laptops are around the corner and there are laptops with newer parts. Yes, the 300 series chipset is coming out. But for 1,250 USD, at the current price on the Adata website? Yes, this is a good price for a professional, well-specified gaming laptop.
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- Good performance, runs surprisingly cool
- Loud fans
- Good battery life
- The normal price is high compared to similar gaming laptops, but it’s on sale since the publication of this review at a more reasonable price.
- Lots of ports, weighs a little over four kilograms