Test Bench 0.8.3

Changelog

By Ryan LimUpdated May 07, 2025 at 03:03 pm

Intro

What's Changed?

Completed Updates

Comments

See the previous 0.8.2 changelog.
See next 0.9 changelog.

What's Changed?

Laptop test bench 0.8.3 has a few minor changes:

Removal of the horizontal and vertical viewing angles tests.
Addition of the GPU Total Graphics Power (TGP) test in the GPU section.
Change to the Pen Input comparison in the Extra Features section.

The horizontal and viewing angle tests have been removed to streamline the review. We've determined that these tests are of little value, as adjusting the angle and position of a laptop is much easier than with TVs and monitors (with no swivel adjustment). Removing these tests will allow us to focus on more important tests in future test benches. We've redistributed the scores in the affected usage boxes to account for this change.

The addition of the GPU Total Graphics Power (TGP) test in the GPU section simply makes the discrete GPU's TGP—information we've previously provided in the text—easier to see in the review and our table tool. There's no score for this test.

A screenshot of some of our test results.

As for the change to the Pen Input comparison in the Extra Features section, it's primarily to alter the question the test aims to answer. The previous comparison shows whether the laptop comes with a stylus, which isn't always helpful, as many laptops support pen input but don't include a stylus in the box, like the Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition (2024). Also, the inclusion of a stylus varies depending on the region and retailer. We've thus changed the comparison to show whether the laptop supports an active stylus. The new comparison, named Touch Pen Support, will show the stylus technology, i.e., Wacom, Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP), or Universal Stylus Initiative (USI). Specifying the technology makes it easier for users to know which third-party stylus will work should they choose to use one. There's no score for this test.

A screenshot of some of our extra features test results.

56 Laptops Updated

We have retested popular models. The test results for the following models have been converted to the new testing methodology. However, the text might be inconsistent with the new results.

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Test Bench 0.8.3 Changelog

What's Changed?

56 Laptops Updated

Test Bench 0.8.3

Changelog