One good thing is that the USB are not too close to each other but bulkier ones than the Kingston might struggle if together. But then it was the BIOS to gaze.
Well, the bios seem to be locked down sadly. For most, that's, not a problem but it means that you might not be able to get the most out of the laptop in away. But it is an aptio one so it means it can be easier to mod if need be. But some boot menus from this indeed are good.
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| The main info |
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| Advanced settings but its locked |
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| The hard disk config |
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| Security and all that |
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| Boot menu |
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| Leaving the bios |
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| EFI shell |
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| This took 3 attempts to take a picture of the logo. |
Installing Windows:
The Main install.
Well, it actually went smoother than I guessed on how to do this, It made it a breeze but not the fastest USB drive in the world I can gather. But it installed Windows 10 in about 20 minutes. There were some partitions on there which were odd since it was like it was not really meant to have windows installed since this is the DOS version (no OS).
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| Installing 10 |
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| Setting up |
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| The Language |
Then it was the usual setups and things. But I got into windows 10 pretty quickly once that was done. I also got the Mousemat out and tested the mouse too, it was pretty responsive.
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| The setup. |
Activation
This shocked me when I checked the activation said it worked, like a Windows 10 Home digital License, well that shocked me and made me save £40 or so quid.
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| The activation worked. |
Drivers.
Well thanks to the
MaiBenBen site and Windows update, this was actually a brilliant way to get the drivers. It let me install all of them without a hitch AND i updated to the latest MX250 drivers fron the Geforce website, sure it was DCH drivers but meh.
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| Copying the drivers from USB |
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| The graphics left to install |
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| Now the MX250 from Windows uipdate |
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| It actually worked |
The Testing:
1: Benchmarking - User Benchmark.
Well; this was not easy to set up for the Mx250, in the end forcing every app to make it use the GPU, it was a bit better and
though the rating looked poor, it seemed better than I expected in framerate. I did get better results with tweaking afterburner to overclock both clocks.
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| The benchmarks |
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| Another |
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| And another |
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| and even another one |
The Intel-only one was
pretty abysmal but that was to be expected, the second running when windows updates were not being shoved down throat was a better result. But on both the SSD was really quite slow, maybe a firmware upgrade might fix it. Well i checked WD dashboard anyway, the firmware was up to date so could be a slow drive. Then it was time to get some games to play, the reason people want this budget laptop.
2: Games:
I have decided 4 games to test, some are common like Fornite and Minecraft, Then i decided a bit of Forza Horizon 4 and also Sims 4 too. Now originally this was tested via the capture card but after learning after filming, the performance was BETTER when not plugged into the screen. So most of that I had to refilm. But some really interesting looks when this happened.
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| The Setup (with steambox off) |
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| The HDMI Cable goes here |
Fortnite:
This can achieve 720p 60FPS on LOW settings which i think is an achievement in its own right for a sub £500 laptop let alone a sub £300 laptop in this special price range. But when with the HDMI i was bordering 30FPS.
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| 720 30FPS when using HDMI |
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| In-Game settings |
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| It was pretty sharp |
1080p, on the other hand, did lag quite a bit like 20 frames at most.
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| Raie it all to high |
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| It looks amazing but laggy |
But if i lowered the settings but still kept it 1080p, it was not as bad as I would guess it to be.
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| The settings for 1080p low |
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| That couch looks great |
Forza Horizon 4:
This actually shocked me, Well actually when I played using the HDMI capture card, it was slow and laggy, with about 21 fPS when the CPU was outputting much more. Like really, it didn't make sense.
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| it did have to optimize the PC. |
But when I plugged it in and tested the benchmark mode on the laptop alone, it was near 35-40FPS. That is a major improvement, but when I played the game it did just crash after the first corner in the intro race.
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| The benchmark |
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| SEttings in basic |
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| Advanced Settings |
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| It was a massive delay with screenshotting |
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| Still beautiful to look at |
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| This was major lag the rally part of spring |
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| Eventually into the game but still a bit of delay |
Minecraft (windows 10):
This was reaching 45 FPS on the HDMI capture card and fancy graphics off made it quite smooth i will admit.
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| The Minecraft on the HDMI |
But When I plugged into power and not used the HDMI it was mostly a solid 60FPS. No lag or issues at all if Fancy Graphics is turned off, well even with it on 1080p was decent at 20 render blocks.
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| Settings for Minecraft |
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| More settings |
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| The last bit of settings |
Apex Legends:
Well, this was actually doing really well, getting to 60FPS on 720 Low settings when using the HDMI, This was about 50FPS when using the laptop alone.
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| The settings when via HDMI |
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| Training went well |
But 1080p was a bit more laggy with the settings to say the least.
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| in 1080p settings |
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| some things to tweak to improve the framerate |
The Sims 4:
This ran actually really quickly and was not straining on 1080p high settings. I think 720p was nearing 90 FPS. This was just in the menu and using the HDMI. When on the laptop alone, on 1080p High settings you're looking at 75FPS.
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| Just from the launch its a high framerate |
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| The settings for 1080p |
Summary:
This was actually a surprise and games played really well. Streaming from the laptop via HDMI capture might lag on some games which are a good one, I can work on it though.
Videos:
The webcam:
We webcam is a 720p 30FPS one which is at the bottom of the laptop screen. It's quite poor in low lighting and laggy. OBS didn't day many settings for it either. But in daylight, it was actually quite good and a bit grainy but its a cheap laptop in this regard, but the sound was pretty clear and not as scratchy mic as i guess.
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| The settings in OBS |
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| A selfie in daylight |
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| Bless Rosie |
The odd benefit of the cam being lower is I can film the omracer eats videos much easier to show the food off. But You'll see that another time.
Handbrake:
Actually, this was better than I expected. Quicksync does play a better part in this. The webcam video was converted int less than 1 minute and the quality was not so different from the original.
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| Handbrake in action |
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| A comparison of the converted files and original |
OBS:
Well, this surprised me yet again. It managed to stream 720p 60FPS smoothly on 1 game via the PS4 at least. Tetris effect actually worked and smoothly Play both streaming AND recording, maybe its not as demanding as other titles but it worked.
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| Setting up |
Tetris Effect:
This was 720p 60FPS pretty much constant, it shocked me when it happened since it a pretty advanced graphical game but it was smooth and really astounding and i've not been as good at Tetris unlike others are pros.
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| The initial streaming settings |
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| The FPS |
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| It was working, but it is smoother without the previews |
With Wipeout Omega Collection:
This was a STRUGGLE for it and I'm not surprised since even my steam box with the i5-7400 was struggling on the Intel HD graphics.
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| This is streaming Zone |
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| The settings for Streaming Wipeout. |
But it made me feel this had more power than i guessed and well I can work with it, 30FPS should feel better too.
Vegas Pro 15:
Well this was the worst test of them all, sadly due to the NVENC chip not being useful and CUDA not really used for this anymore. it was finally a time to see how it went anyway. I did make a quick edit of a clip.
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| Editing |
The MX250:
Well, this was not as good at all, maybe WORSE than Quicksync. But there are the settings below:
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| Making the settings in Vegas |
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| The status of the GPU is not supported. |
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| The result of the video |
Intel HD Graphics:
This was actually a bit more reasonable, now it was slightly longer than realtime for rendering the clip, even when plugged in.
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| The Settings |
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| The result of the 1st attempt. |
Then I started to use
Throttleshop and the l
imit remove of TDP as per the guide The tried it again and it did improve the speed.
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| just 1 second off realtime which is amazing. |
To conclude this, it can work for video editing for a basic level, just be more patient with rendering times and 60fps 720 will struggle for sure.
Battery Life:
Well, this was a good part of it as if I didn't plugin and occasionally used this for internet users, i can actually get at least 6 hours on it. I know when I left it on downloading the games that were on for a whopping 10 hours and it was fully flat when I got home but that was with the display off but wifi on to let the games download for sure.
When I was streaming, it was going down by 30% for the hour I did stream so it did pack a punch, the gaming side was a bit more the same maybe a bit less used.
The Screen.
This is great for the indoors but sadly outdoors in good day sunlight, it feels like you can NOT see a thing at all.
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| This is how bad the lux of the screen can be. |
The Insides:
Well, this was the final part, well to have a look to see what you can fit underneath and it was surprised on how much of as solid build this Laptop really was. 2 Screws were tricky to take out which is my typical luck for this.
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| The before the laptop bottom panel is taken off |
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| The bottom panel |
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| Inside the laptop |
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| Good design on the heatsinks |
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| 8GB ADATA ram but rumoured it performs slowly |
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| The SATA 2.5" 7mm HDD fitting. |
Conclusion:
This is one shock and impressive laptop for the pricing point. I mean if gaming is your main concern but don't have £600 then this is looking like a DECENT option, I mean tone down to 720p for best effort but still, i can stream from a console on this at least which is a good start. The battery life for normal tasks is good and the SSD isn't as superfast as i guessed but that can be easy really.
Video editing is a bit of a weak shame but Quicksynce doesn't make it completely useless
omracer's Rating: 8/10
The Good Points:
- A Celeron and a Nividia card in the same laptop
- Windows has been activated (but its not installed)
- It lets me actually stream and record on OBS 720p 60FPS at the same time for some PS4 games/consoles
- Metallic Design
- Amazing battery life
- Nice keyboard protector
- Type C on the side
- Decent quality charger'
- Not too heavy
The Bad Point:
- Not Type C for charging
- The BIOS is not easy to tweak
- The MX250 does NOT SUPPORT NVENC
- Could have been a better SSD, the WD Green SSD is weaker than others i've sold.
Well that is that for that and now I can actually get more streaming been done and also make some fun with videos if I go, but this is poor for running final cut pro on if I wanted to.
All the best
omracer
