How we test

We ran each laptop in this month’s Labs through our standard in-house benchmarks, which comprise an image-editing exercise, a video-transcoding task and our taxing multitasking test, which carries out both benchmarks at once while also playing a 4K video file. This gives us comparative scores for different aspects of desktop performance, along with a combined overall rating.

We also test gaming performance using the GFXBench tool, which runs two simulated gaming scenarios (“Car Chase” and “Manhattan”) in both onscreen and off-screen mode, to give a measure of 3D performance. Storage speed is tested using the AS SSD benchmarking tool.

We then use X-Rite colorimeter hardware to measure the maximum brightness, contrast and sRGB coverage (as a percentage) of each laptop’s screen. Average Delta E values are also calculated, indicating how accurately each screen reproduces specific colours: a Delta E score of below two is close enough to perfection that the human eye can’t detect the difference.

Lastly, to test battery life, we set each laptop to a standard brightness of 170cd/m2, set Windows’ power options to prevent the screen from dimming and the laptop from sleeping, enable Flight mode and play a video clip on loop until the battery runs out.

The results of all of these tests can be found in our graphs on p90. Needless to say, we also try out each laptop in a range of real-world scenarios and consider design, features and connectivity, before awarding each system a final score out of five.