This year’s gaming notebook market seems to be livelier than previous years. With AMD Ryzen processors blooming everywhere in major brands, more and more outstandingly configured, but affordable gaming notebooks have begun to enter the field of public users.
Today, gamebooks have become less radical in terms of product form. Instead, they have begun to take a low-key and calm route and learn to absorb the design features of business books, which also gives a new interpretation of the definition of game books.
The new low-key and introverted design makes it no longer so maverick. It can be more comfortable in offices, coffee shops, and learning situations where pure game-style design is difficult to integrate, so as to meet the needs of more users. At the same time, Shadow Elf 6 is also the first time the Shadow Elf family has a product equipped with AMD Ryzen mobile processor version. Can the subversive changes from the inside out bring a surprising experience? Follow my review to take a look.
▲ The 2020 version of HP OMEN Shadow Elf 6 Ryzen Edition, the design will be more in line with the aesthetics of public players
At the beginning, the game notebook, which was positioned as a niche, would have such new changes. In fact, it has a certain relationship with manufacturers who want to better cater to the needs of most consumers and win the favor of the mainstream market.
Of course, for many people who want to use a laptop device to meet the needs of work and entertainment, the emergence of this “high-performance all-round laptop” is obviously not bad news.
This is the case with the HP OMEN Shadow Elf 6 Ryzen Edition game book. According to the official tone, it is actually a “cross-border game book” that can be integrated into a variety of scenarios.
1. Appearance: Subversive ID design, low-key and Restrained Cross-border Gamebook
This year’s Shadow Elf 6 Ryzen version has undergone a “big revision” in appearance. If you compare it with the previous 5th generation mold, you will find that the previous X-shaped dividing line, brushed texture, supercar shape outlet, etc. The publicity design is gone, replaced by a more business-oriented compact body, and many elements have moved towards simplicity.
In such a shape, if it weren’t for the Shadow Elf brand name “OMEN” on the body, many people might not associate it with the game book.
Of course, I personally prefer this kind of “introverted” genre, which is less exaggerated, but more attractive.
After the mold adjustment, the body thickness and weight of the Shadow Elf 6 Ryzen Edition have been reduced to a certain extent. The width of the body is reduced by 8% compared with the previous generation. HP Shadow Elf 6 Ryzen Edition has this Ryzen 5 4600H, GTX1650Ti, 16GB, 144Hz Configuration, the thickest part is only 22.5mm.
▲ The new gradient color logo is more concise
The logo on the A side of the fuselage no longer uses the previous Voodoo totem mask, but while retaining the diamond outline, it is replaced with a newer gradient color style, which will be more concise in appearance.
▲ The opening and closing angle can be 180 degrees so that the screen lies flat
Let’s look at the front screen again. The three-sided narrow bezel design can be regarded as the mainstream of current game books. The new hinge will be more compact than the previous generation, and there will be no more space left and right areas. While the width is reduced, the top is also equipped with a front camera, which is also considered a small advantage.
▲ Some games on the market this year castrated the front camera. Although gamers use less, it is better to have it than not.
This time, the Shadow Elf 6 series has two product lines, Intel Core Edition and AMD Ryzen Edition, and there will be subtle differences in design. For example, in the keyboard area, the core version of the keyboard is red with red backlight, and is equipped with a numeric keypad.
▲ The keyboard area of the Core version is red backlit, with a numeric keyboard, and 26-key non-punch design
▲ The keyboard area of the Ryzen version uses white fonts with white backlight, and 26-key non-punch design
▲ There is a “015” hollow engraved logo on the right side of the palm rest
On the C side of the palm rest part, Shadow Elf 6 uses a metal material. After the surface is processed by anodizing process, the texture is obviously higher than the plastic body.
At the top of the keyboard area is a row of speaker openings. B&O certified and tuned sound effects are also the consistent advantages of HP laptops.
▲ Compared with the previous generation, the area of the heat sink of the Shadow Elf 6 Ryzen Edition has increased by 25%, and the area of the fan has increased by 15%.
Looking at the bottom on the other hand, when the machine is running, you can see the double fans side by side on the left and right, and the opening area is also large enough, which also provides a more abundant cooling space.
Finally, there is the interface part. Compared with the business version’s “save”, the game notebook is still very thoughtful in this regard. This time, the Shadow Elf 6 Ryzen Edition has nearly 10 ports, distributed on the left and right sides of the fuselage. Basically, it will have any ports you want.
The top left side is the power interface, followed by the RJ45 network interface, a USB 3.1 Type-A interface, an HDMI 2.0 interface, as well as an SD card slot and 3.5mm headset interface.
On the right, there are two other USB 3.1 Type-A ports, a Mini DP1.4 port, and a USB-C port that supports DP1.4 output.
▲ The opening rate of the heat dissipation vent behind the pump has reached 75.62%
In other words, on the entire Shadow Elf 6 Ryzen version, you can find three different types of video output ports alone, which meets the needs of core players for external dual monitors or even triple screens; and three A USB-A interface can also support the keyboard and mouse peripherals very well.
2. Performance Configuration and Benchmark Test: Strong Performance Take off on the Spot
Use CINEBENCH R15 for running points, single-core score 191, multi-core score 1977. Comparing the score of the gamebook equipped with Intel i7-10875H, the single-core score of the Ryzen 7 4800H equipped with the Shadow Elf 6 is about 20 lowers, but the multi-core score can exceed 100.
Compared with the gaming laptop equipped with Intel i7-10750H, the gap is even greater. Although the single-core performance will still lag behind by about 10, which is about 6%, the gap between the multi-core results is even more than 51%, and the multi-core processing capacity of 4800H is very scary.
The CINEBENCH R20 test result was a single-core score of 485 and a multi-core score of 4521. Compared with the gaming laptop equipped with Intel i7-10875H, there is still a gap of about 20 in single-core, but the performance of multi-core is more than that, and the gap has widened to nearly 13%. Compared with the gaming laptop equipped with Intel i7-10750H, the 4800H only lags behind 2 in single-core results.
If the objective error of each test is taken into account, it can be said that the two single-core processing capabilities are at the same starting line in this test. In terms of multi-core performance, the 4800H still achieved a crush, and the 35% gap made the i7-10750H completely unable to lift its head.
In April, NVIDIA released the new GTX 1650 Ti. In the previous mobile version of the GTX 16 series, only the higher-end GTX 1660 Ti and the entry-level GTX 1650 were two graphics cards, and the GTX 1650 Ti effectively filled this. The gap between the two graphics cards. GTX 1650 Ti uses 12nm TSMC manufacturing process, with 1024 CUDA cores, core frequency 1350/1485MHz, 4GB DDR6 video memory.
Regarding the theoretical performance test of graphics processing, as usual, we still use 3DMark “Fire Strike” and “Time Spy” two classic series of running points. GTX 1650 Ti, as an entry-level graphics card in the game category, has relatively satisfactory results.
Here is a simple comparison with the two higher-end graphics cards that are more commonly used on the market. If it is just for office entertainment and smooth-running Road popular games consider the GTX 1650 Ti version as the best cost-effective choice, but if you think that the demand for graphics processing is strong, then it is better to have more budget and more laughter. It is also a good choice to start with the higher-configuration Shadow Elf 6.
3. Game Measurement: Tomb Raider: Shadow
In “Tomb Raider: Shadow”, the highest special effect of 1080P is used by default after the game is started, and the in-game test can reach an average of 49fps; if it is reduced by one gear to high quality, it will be increased to 56fps.
All in all, if you have no need for ray tracing special effects, GTX1650Ti is still the most cost-effective entry-level gaming graphics card, and it will certainly be no problem to cope with mainstream e-sports games and online games.
And some relatively new 3A games can easily achieve a smooth level of 50-60fps under the mid-to-high quality of 1080P.
▲ The 144Hz screen is very suitable for playing shooting games
Another thing to mention is the significance of the 144Hz screen. Some people may think that the 1650Ti cannot display the high-brush characteristics, but in fact, if you usually play “CS:GO”, “PUBG Mobile” and “Overwatch” and other e-sports FPS , The visual fluency brought by the high refreshing screen will still be more obvious than 60Hz.
4. Disk Read and Write Test
In order not to affect the disk read and write test scores, we conducted the test with the remaining space of the hard disk as large as possible. Of course, this score is for reference only. Using AS SSD Benchmark to test this Samsung 512GB SSD, the approximate continuous read speed is about 2739MB/s, and the write speed is about 2477MB/s. The read and write speeds are both very good. So, Shadow Elf 6 does Enough of conscience.
5. Endurance Test: Richer Usage Scenarios Require Longer Battery Life
Battery life is indeed a recognized shortcoming of the game book. To be honest, before the actual test, I did not have too high expectations for the battery life of the Shadow Elf 6, but the actual test of the battery life through PCmark 8, the final test score reached 3 hours and 43 minutes, which is quite pleasant.
In the tested game book, the test result will basically be more than 3 hours, and the game that can reach the endurance score of Shadow Elf 6 can be said to be rare.
Of course, different from the test, in actual use, the Shadow Elf 6 can last longer in daily use such as ordinary office, home entertainment, and study, which is about 5~7 hours to start, although it still can’t meet the needs of a whole day of work without charging. At least you don’t have to bring a charger for meetings that you don’t know when it will end.
Through the test, we can see that the Shadow Elf 6 with the newly designed voice does not only cross the boundary in appearance, but it is ready for everyone in e-sports games in terms of performance, reading and writing speed, battery life, etc. Preparation for crazy output in other use environments. As the core of the whole device, the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H mobile processor has not lost the chain, especially the powerful multi-core computing power, which can be said to be the existence of crushing opponents.
After bidding farewell to the colorful keyboard lights and too many decorative elements, even if it is placed in the office, it will not feel very inconsistent. This will also give the mass users more choices for cross-border gaming laptops.
