I find it exciting when a new brand of laptops enters the gaming market. The space is a bit crowded at the moment, but it can be refreshing to review something new. In my experience, there’s usually some feature or hardware combination I’ve never seen before, or the heat is as pleasant as my grandmother’s minestrone soup – not too hot, but just right. Adata’s XPG Xenia Game Notebook, the first game notebook the company ever made, marks many of the right subjects. It was originally released in April 2020, which is some time ago, but I’m glad I was finally able to spend time on it. This is an almost perfect laptop that I would not want to think about myself, but I hope it can maintain the same quality consistency in terms of thermal, Adata would prefer to release a refreshed version with a newer processor in the future ( what I hope they do!).
It’s a solid machine with everything I expected from a company that makes SSDs, DRAM modules, CPU coolers, peripherals and more. Adata knows the game space. It’s well acquainted with the all-too-familiar balance of packing a rig with the right specifications at a reasonable price while keeping the computer cool – and the XPG Xenia shows Adata’s expertise in that area beautifully. Although some components are the latest generation or soon to be the last generation, thanks to all the announcements for laptops that we ‘again about to come over the course of CES, the XPG Xenia is still worth a look.
This notebook is equipped with an Intel Core i7-9750H, Nvidia GTX 1660 Ti GPU, 32 GB DDR4 2666 MHz DRAM and a 1 TB M.2 PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD. The IPS FHD screen is 15.6 inches with a refresh rate of 144Hz and a 72% NTSC color scale. The color gamut range is usually average on game laptops under $ 2,000, but the 85% screen-to-body ratio makes this laptop compatible with all the other sleek types of laptops.
Battery life is nearly six hours above average for a game notebook. Not quite the battery life of more than ten hours that Adata advertises, but the battery life will always vary depending on what apps you use, the brightness of your screen and how much RGB you have turned on. The XPG Xenia’s battery life is actually longer than some other more expensive gaming computers we’ve tested before, such as the Acer Predator Triton 500 (3 hours 20 minutes), Razer Blade Pro 17 (3 hours 36 minutes), and the Asus Strix Scar G15 (4 hours 45 minutes). It arrives within minutes of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and the Acer Nitro 5.
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The overall design is subtle and professional, which is definitely fun for gamers who want to use their laptops for work and play. Pre-pandemic, I would always feel weird taking my three-year-old laptop to a coffee shop to go to work because the sharp lines stuck in the lid were completely noticeable – not to mention the screen fields thick and uncomfortable. It looked aggressive, so it’s nice to see companies making more muted and mature gaming laptops these days.
While the plastic key caps feel slightly on the thin side, the low-profile mechanical keyboard is great to tap into. My fingers seemed to adjust naturally to the layout, and the clicking of the keys was pleasantly quiet. There is also a slight bump at the service point, so those among you who prefer the quiet and tangible keys will like me just as much. The XPG Xenia got it right. The RGB lighting is also per key, so if you want to make the WASD or other frequently used keys stand out, you can do so.
This game notebook is also a surprising powerhouse, thanks to the 32 GB DRAM and how cool the Xenia contains all its components, to which I will come a little later. In our standards for gaming, it certainly held its own against 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 a RTX 2060 Max -Q, for example, averages: 87 frames per second at 1080p ultra Far Cry 5; 63 fps on Total War: Warhammer II; 79 fps on Shadow of the Tomb Raider; and 42 fps on Metro exit.
Even compared to the Acer Nitro 5, which has the same CPU but an RTX 2060 and 16 GB of memory, made the XPG Xenia run the same number of frames in all the same games. It was even faster than the Nitro 5 which rendered a 3D image in Blender, about 11 minutes and 30 seconds compared to about 13 minutes, and a 4K video converted faster to 1080p in Handbrake, about 11 minutes to 12 minutes and 30 seconds.
But here comes the caveat, and it’s not Adata’s fault: Intel has decided to discontinue its 300-series chips, which includes the QMS380 laptop for laptops. The Intel Core i7-9750H in the XPG Xenia uses the chipset. From now on, you can still get devices with the compatible motherboard, but July this year is the last chance for anyone to place orders on anything that needs a 300-series chipset. Adata could then possibly place its final orders so that it has a stock of this model until the end of 2021, but after that it will have to use Intel’s 10th (or 11th generation) CPUs, which worries me due to the thermal demands.
Almost all of the 10th generation Intel laptops I have tested over the past year have become hotter than anyone comfortable with the longevity of their machine, especially with the i7s and i9s. Maximum CPU temperature reaches more than 90 degrees Celsius (more than 194 degrees Fahrenheit), which often comes within a few degrees of Intel’s maximum temperature rating of 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit.). Skin temps can easily reach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher in certain areas around the keyboard or above.
But the 9th-generation chips run so much cooler, and Adata’s cooling solution for the XPG Xenia is one of the best I’ve seen in a laptop – even with the naturally cool-working ninth-generation chip. The maximum temperature of the Xenia reached a high 80s (Celsius) compared to the low 90s of the Nitro 5. Average temperatures remained in the mid 60s, which is the perfect place for a CPU under load.
The skin temperatures remained in the high 30s to low 40s, except for a localized spot above the keyboard that warmed up to 48 degrees Celsius. I feel the air from the spinning fans coming through the keyboard, keeping my hands (well, left fingers) nice and cool while I play. There are also more air vents on the sides, bottom and back of the laptop, so this thing is well ventilated.
Of course, the fans were 747 take-off-loud, as the laptop was in Turbo mode while I was doing these tests, but I was so happy to see much more cooler temperatures, and I did not mind so much. In the balanced mode, there was not much difference in temperatures, and there was a small drop in the frame rate, about 2-3 frames. The fans were also a bit quieter, but not much.
That’s all to say, Adata may have a good chance of taming Intel’s tenth generation chip thermal products, but if you want a good 1080p laptop now and have a little more than a grand to burned, the XPG Xenia is one that is serious. consider. Yes, new laptops are around the corner and there are laptops with newer parts. Yes, the 300 Series chipset is on its way out. But for $ 1,250 as it is currently priced on Adata’s website? Yes, it’s a good price for a professional, well-specified laptop.
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- Good performance, surprisingly cool
- Hard fans
- Good battery life
- The normal price is steep compared to similar laptops, but at a more reasonable price it is on sale from the publication of this review.
- Many ports, weighing just over four pounds