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Lenovo IdeaPad 730S review: Thinner, lighter MacBook Air alternative
Lenovo IdeaPad 730S review: Thinner, lighter MacBook Air alternative
At 2.4 pounds (1.1 kg) and 11.9 mm thick (0.5 inch), the 13.3-inch Lenovo IdeaPad 730S is lighter and thinner than the current MacBook Air. Its quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, faster 2,400MHz memory and speedy Samsung PCIe solid-state drive give it better performance than the Air, too. Plus, it's less expensive, starting at $825, although the configuration reviewed here is just $770 at the moment.
I know what you're thinking, though: There's no alternative to a MacBook Air (or any Apple computer for that matter) because the others don't run MacOS. That is certainly true, so if you're looking for an apples-to-apples alternative -- no pun intended -- this won't do the trick. Nor will any other Windows laptop, really.
However, if you're not tied to MacOS for one reason or another, the IdeaPad 730S with Windows 10 ($144 at Amazon) is one of the best alternatives to a MacBook Air you'll find.
Lenovo IdeaPad 730S
Lenovo IdeaPad 730S (81JB0004US)
Price as reviewed
$999
Display size/resolution
13.3-inch 1,920x1,080-pixel display
CPU
1.6GHz Intel Core i5-8265U
PC memory
8GB DDR3 SDRAM 2,400MHz
Graphics
128MB Intel UHD Graphics 620
Storage
256GB PCIe SSD
Networking
802.11ac Wi-Fi wireless; Bluetooth 4.1
Operating system
Windows 10 Home (64-bit)
Clean and simple
The IdeaPad 730S started life back at IFA 2018 as the Yoga S730 as part of Lenovo switching its Yoga brand from strictly convertibles to being its premium line and adding an S and C to the names for "slim" clamshells and "convertible" two-in-ones. In fact, in the UK it's still the Yoga S730 and starts at £899. It's not currently available under either name in Australia.
That's the long way of saying the 730S has a more premium look and feel than Lenovo's entry-level IdeaPads. The iron-gray aluminum body is understated, as is the Lenovo branding, which is reduced to nothing more than a small tag on the lid's edge and a barely visible stamp at the bottom left of the bright and colorful full-HD display.
The keyboard is comfortable with a nice pop to the keys (and I doubt a little dust will shut it down). The silky-smooth touchpad is responsive as well without sending your cursor skittering across the screen from an errant palm. Even the speakers sound more full than you'll find on competing ultraportables due in part to the Dolby Atmos audio tuning. And despite the thin bezels around the display's top and sides, the webcam is above the display.
The 730S keyboard has two levels of backlighting.
Sarah Tew/CNET
It's all dongles these days
Like a lot of superslim laptops, the 730S only has a combo headphone jack and USB-C ports: two USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 (one with always-on charging) and one USB-C 3.1 Gen 1. Unfortunately that means you'll need to buy dongles or a dock if you need a USB-A port, a memory card reader, an external display or whatever else.
On the upside, you can charge the laptop through any of the USB-C ports. You can also enable Lenovo's Rapid Charge feature to get your battery up to 80 percent in an hour, which works and it's great. Battery life is overall good, too, coming in at 8 hours and 8 minutes in our streaming video test. This is where the Air comes out ahead, running for 10 hours and 46 minutes in the same test. But that comes at the cost of a less powerful processor.
Video playback battery drain test (streaming minutes)
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2018)
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Highly portable productivity
Sarah Tew/CNET
The IdeaPad 730S isn't built for extreme performance and doesn't necessarily have the speed to handle everything. For everyday use for work and school, though, it doesn't disappoint for the price.
The 730S works fine for day-to-day tasks like web browsing, word processing and streaming video. Basic photo and video editing? Sure, no problem, but anything more demanding and you'll want discrete graphics, a faster processor and something with a more efficient cooling system.
To get this laptop so thin, Lenovo designed the cooling fan to pull air in through the keyboard. Under continued heavy load it struggled to stay cool even with the fan going full blast. But again, for basic use that's not really an issue and overall the design choice pays off.
The Lenovo IdeaPad 730S proves you don't need to spend more than $1,000 to get some of the benefits of an upscale ultraportable. Especially one that's light enough and small enough that you'll forget it's even in your bag.
Geekbench 4 (multicore)
Lenovo IdeaPad 730S
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2018)
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
Cinebench R15 CPU (multicore)
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2018)
Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance
System configurations
Lenovo IdeaPad 730S
Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-8265U; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 2,400MHz; 128MB dedicated Intel UHD Graphics 620; 256GB SSD
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The Best Monitors According to the CNET Staff Who Use Them
The Best Monitors According to the CNET Staff Who Use Them
Over the last few years, office workers across the world have found themselves having to work from their homes. While this has increased productivity and reduced a lot of stress for many, a lot of workers didn't have the right equipment to create a home office. Even here at CNET, we had to find new ways to make our space work.
Having a good monitor, or even two, makes working from home much easier, as being hunched over a laptop can cause severe back pain and stresses you might not notice right away. It's much better to spend your day looking at a big screen than a little one.
Read more: The Best Office Chairs According to the CNET Staff Who Use Them
The CNET team is full of diverse experts; people who spend their lives reviewing products and testing them, so we know how to pick a good product. We collected testimonials from the editorial staff and engineers about their favorite monitors and why you should buy one too.
Gigabyte
I got this Gigabyte monitor when I bought a new gaming desktop. I wanted a 27-inch screen with 1440p resolution and 144Hz refresh rate, and this was on offer for around $300 about a year ago. Never having heard of the brand, I took a punt on it.
I'm really happy with it. It looks great, day and night, with hardly any reflections. The bezel is super thin. It can be adjusted up and down, as well as tilted. And it has all the ports you'd probably need. The only thing I would change is that the power button is also a menu joystick and it's on the back, which is fiddly on the few occasions I need it.
-- Nick Hide, Managing copy editor
Asus
I love this monitor from Asus. Since I am a video editor by trade, who also edits a lot of photos in his spare time, having a monitor with excellent color rendition is super important, and this ProArt monitor does that really well.
It has a bit more resolution than a standard 1080p monitor which is fantastic as well, it adjusts easily into landscape and portrait mode, and it can move up and down for different desk setups.
But probably the biggest selling point is the price. It's more expensive than a standard monitor, but for what it delivers on picture and color quality, it's probably the most affordable monitor for professional photo and video folks. The ProArt is much more affordable than something from Apple.
-- Owen Poole, Video producer
LG
This Full HD monitor is intensely basic for the price, but it's so easy to use and has gotten me through some of the busiest pandemic news cycles. With two HDMI ports, one audio jack and a D-sub connector, I've been able to seamlessly connect its 24-inch glory to my work Mac (for editing and digital production), as well as my former Windows laptop and current personal desktop (for video games) with minimal interruptions to my productivity. It's 6.8 pounds, which might be heavy for a monitor -- I wouldn't know -- but I've also taken to carting it into other areas of my house without issue. And it has... screen tilt!
-- Dawnthea Price Lisco, Copy editor
Sceptre
When we set up our home office, my wife and I used these Sceptre curved displays for a long time. The curve is gentle enough not to strain your eyes, while also making you feel like you have a wrap-around experience. I eventually changed out my monitors for something more gaming focused, but my wife loves her Sceptre.
The color tone can be a little uneven and it took us a while to get them dialed in, but now that they are, they're worth the small cost. We ended up getting two for the full experience.
-- James Bricknell, Senior editor
HP
While I wanted to have good gaming monitors, I couldn't afford some of the bigger curved displays you see here. My gaming on a PC consists of 1080p resolution games anyway so 4K just wasn't needed.
I picked up two of these ultra-thin HP monitors as they have FreeSync for gaming, but are also low profile enough to leave room on my desk for the keyboards I test. Plus, the bezel-less display is fire.
-- James Bricknell, Senior editor
Lepow
For most of the pandemic, I couldn't work in the same spot in my house every day. Setting up a big monitor or even a regular desk to put one on was out of the question. Lepow's 15.6-inch portable monitor gave me just enough extra room to work, whether my "office" was in my dining room, living room or bedroom.
The display setup takes seconds with a single USB-C cable for both the picture and power though it does have an HDMI input if necessary. All the cables come in the box, too, along with a screen protector. It has a folio case that doubles as a stand (newer versions have a built-in kickstand for better positioning and use less desk space). It even has a headphone jack and basic built-in speakers so it can connect to a game console. When you're done for the day, it folds up and easily stores in a drawer or backpack. Easy.
-- Josh Goldman, Senior editor
LG
A few years ago I upgraded to the LG Ultragear ultrawide, and everything about it makes me extremely happy. Its 3440x1440 resolution is the sweet spot for a 34-inch gaming setup since it doesn't tax a GPU as hard as a 4k monitor. It's 144hz, with Gsync and VESA adaptive sync (freesync) support. I play Final Fantasy 14 and Destiny 2 on a custom-built gaming rig, and the frame rates are amazing.
Since I'm not even maxing out the specifications on this monitor -- a GPU upgrade in a year or two will let me max out the 144hz part of the monitor -- I'm going to be keeping this for a good long while.
-- Wesley Radcliffe, Engineering manager
CNET's Eric Franklin got me into ultrawide monitors, and for a long time I had an entry-level LG that did the job. When the pandemic hit though, I decided to go bigger and I'm so glad I did. I bought this one Used/Like New from Amazon, and it's been a dream to work with.
I bought the 120hz because I don't game at higher refresh rates anyway, and most of the time I was relying on this for work. I also found a monitor arm for it that cleans up my workspace really well.
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Living with Chromebook: Can you use it to actually get work done?
Living with Chromebook: Can you use it to actually get work done?
In the first part of our Living with Chromebook series, I outlined the initial hardware and account setup required to use a laptop running Google's Chrome OS. In this second installment, the focus is on productivity.
For my long-form Chromebook test-drive, I'm spending most of my computing time with the HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook. Like the smaller 11- and 12-inch Chromebooks we've reviewed, it operates almost entirely within the Chrome Web browser, which looks and feels the same as the Chrome Web browser you may be using right now on your Windows or Mac OS computer.
That makes for a familiar experience in some ways, as many of us have already moved large swaths of our lives online, into Web-based tools such as Gmail, Facebook, and Netflix. More than most, I've embraced cloud services for as many things as possible, primarily because reviewing laptops means moving into a brand-new, fresh-from-the-box PC at least once or twice a week.
Working in the cloud If you're anywhere near as invested in cloud services as I am, then the transition to a Chromebook should hypothetically be fairly painless. Most of the things you want to do -- send e-mail, share via social-networking services, stream online video -- are available on a Chrome OS device, and largely work the same way as on a traditional OS.
That said, there's still a natural resistance to this type of Web-only setup. Maybe the idea that in a traditional PC there's a desktop lying underneath it all is a comforting one. Perhaps traditional folders-and-file systems are a security blanket, because despite having used Chromebooks before this, I found being locked into a browser-only world still felt confining, especially for office work -- documents, spreadsheets, and folders of files nestled within each other.
That's no doubt why the Chrome OS now has a more pronounced (if still rudimentary) file system than the very first Chromebooks did, making it possible to save and easily access files. This Hewlett-Packard model only includes 16GB of solid-state drive (SSD) storage, but Acer's C7 Chromebook includes a standard 320GB platter hard drive. In either case, photo, music, and video files can all be stored and sorted there, by downloading online or sideloading from a USB drive or SD card. Consider it all to be backups for the versions "in the cloud," for those times when you can't get online.
Image and video files on the Chrome OS hard drive.
Do you need always-on Internet? While the original pitch for the Chromebook was that this would be an always-on device, connected to either Wi-Fi or mobile broadband, that idea seems to have fallen by the wayside. The HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook, for example, does not include a 3G antenna, something found in the original Google Chromebook, as well as the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550. Google's high-end Pixel model even offers a 4G LTE version. But the bundled wireless service always comes with an asterisk; in the case of the 4G Pixel -- which is $250 more than the Wi-Fi-only version -- it's this: 100MB per month for two years of mobile broadband from Verizon Wireless. In other words, it's way too paltry to do anything substantive.
Perhaps sensing that always-on broadband isn't going to always work for sub-$400 laptops, Google now emphasizes the offline capabilities of Chrome, which are largely tied in to the offline modes that have been built into Google's various tools, such as Google Docs, over the years.
The offline-ready apps in the Chrome Web Store.
A few other Chrome-compatible Web tools also work offline, and Google has set aside a section of its Chrome Web Store (really just a dressed-up set of links to Chrome OS versions of web sites) to make them easier to find.
Google Drive as office suite I'll let you in on a little secret. I've been using Google Drive (nee "Google Docs") as my main word processor for a few years now, and it's such a useful, well-maintained online tool that the benefits far outweigh a few significant shortcomings. For that reason, using Google Drive on a Chromebook was a natural transition for me, and one of the elements of Chromebook use that felt the most comparable to using a non-Chrome OS laptop.
Like nearly all writers, I spent years using Microsoft Word on both Windows and OS X systems. It's still the default for word processing, and DOC and DOCX are still universal file formats (fortunately, Google Drive allows you to open and export these formats).
But, reviewing new laptops all the time, I was setting up a new system once or twice a week at least, which often made using these new laptops for writing a pain. Microsoft now has an ad-supported "free" version of Word that comes preinstalled on some (but not all) laptops, but previously, if you were lucky you had a trial version, or else nothing at all. Very often, I ended up either installing OpenOffice (a free, if clunky, office suite), or digging up an old install disc for Office 2003. Even under the best of circumstances, I had to remember to e-mail myself the latest version of my Word doc, or sneakernet it around on a USB stick. (Nowadays, I'd store the documents on Dropbox, Amazon Cloud Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, or the like, but I'd still be stuck installing the word processing software itself.)
So many of the work tools we use now are online and collaborative that it's hard to remember when that wasn't the norm, but when I started using Google Drive in earnest in 2009 it was a major change to my workflow. Even now, on the HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook, I can open any document I've been working on from another laptop, add some text, and then seamlessly switch back to the first laptop at any point. It's also easy to share docs with anyone else via a few button clicks -- and multiple authorized users can access and edit a document in real time (which is something you may or may not want).
Working on a document in Google Docs.
Google Drive works best for simple text-based documents with minimal formatting. You can add images, tables, and other design elements, but these are not as full-featured as in Microsoft Office, and don't always translate as one might expect when exporting to a DOC file.
Another thing that drives me crazy about Google Drive is the lack of a "show hidden characters" command in its word processor. That's not something everyone uses, but for writers, especially those who got their start in print publishing, being able to see every tab, paragraph break, and even the spaces between characters is important. I've learned to live without it, but it's still my least favorite part of the Google Drive experience.
The presentation and spreadsheet apps included with Google Drive are somewhat less successful. My needs for XLS files are limited, but even then I've run out of available columns and been forced to start a new tab in a spreadsheet. In fact, all the Google Drive apps have size and complexity limitations, and you can find more details about that here. Those are limitations to the actual Google Drive platform, not something specific to Chrome OS or the Chromebook.
Another option for Microsoft Office purists is Office 365, the cloud-based version of Office. It's a paid service, not all features work in Chrome OS, and it doesn't facilitate the easy sharing that Google Docs does with anyone who has a free Gmail account.
It may be something you'll need to use every day, but I've had good luck exporting Google Docs files into the PDF format (it's a setting built right in to Google Docs under File > Download as), and the file browser in Chrome OS can open PDF files for easy reading.
One handy thing to keep in mind is that most Google Drive files can be accessed even when your Chromebook (or other PC) is offline. But, you have to set up the offline mode for your account first by following the instructions here. Gmail also has an offline mode, and you can find more apps and features that work on an offline Chromebook in this special section of the Chrome Web Store (of course, you'll have to be online to see this list).
Using a mouse, printer, and other peripherals One of the big problems I had with the less-expensive Chromebooks from Samsung and Acer has been the terrible touch pads built into those systems. I don't care if your laptop cost less than $200, if the touch pad is unusable, you're just not going to be productive on it.
The touch pad on the $329 HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook is a bit better, but still not even as good as the touch pads found on budget Windows laptops. It was passable for basic Web surfing, but if you plan on using your Chromebook for more than a couple of hours at a time, an external mouse is recommended.
Fortunately, despite not having any way to install drivers or dive into the deeper functions of pointing devices, I had good luck getting external devices to work. Both the wireless Microsoft mouse and the external Logitech touch pad I tried worked instantly, both via USB dongle (a second wireless mouse, from Targus, did not work).
Printing is a little more complicated. You'll need to use a service Google calls Cloud Print. That works one of two ways. The less likely scenario is that you already own one of a handful of Cloud-Print-ready printers, in which case you should be able to connect easily if you're on the same network. More likely, you have what Google generously refers to as a "classic printer," in which case, you have to run a Cloud Print app on a separate Windows or OS X machine, and from there, connect to your Chromebook.
This is about as far from the simple, stripped-down appeal of Chromebooks and the Chrome OS as one could imagine.
That said, when I followed the steps outlined in this support doc from Google, the Cloud Print feature worked the first time I tried it.
Workaround apps If your job involves only e-mail, text documents, and simple spreadsheets, moving to a Chromebook may well be a very simple transition for you, especially if you already make use of Google's online tools.
If, however, you have occasional need for programs such as Photoshop, you're going to have to find a workaround. There actually are a few basic image-editing features built into Chrome OS, but if you need to do more than adjust the rotation or brightness and contrast of an image, you'll hit a wall very quickly.
I've always used a Web-based tool named Pixlr for emergency photo edits. It's a cloud-based image editor that looks and feels a lot like Photoshop. You upload an image, edit it, then download the resulting file. It works well enough in a pinch, although if you're a heavy Photoshop user, a Chromebook just isn't for you.
I found Pixlr listed in the Chrome Web Store, but "installing" the app really just takes you to the Pixlr Web site. Similar online tools, including some basic video editors, can be found in the Creative Tools section of the Chrome Web Store. One caveat, especially if you're working with big images: remember that you'll have to both upload and redownload the image file, so make sure you have the time and bandwidth to work that way before you count on an online app such as Pixlr.
You can be productive on a Chromebook, sometimes As an on-the-go system for catching up on e-mail (especially if you use Gmail or Google's corporate e-mail services), and creating or editing basic office documents, a Chromebook works, and works well considering the less-than-$250 investment (for the Samsung Chromebook Series 3, the most affordable Chromebook CNET can recommend).
That said, it does not excel in any particular area, and even a budget Windows laptop offers more flexibility and the ability to run more software. Even if you only need a particular app once in a great while, unless there's an online version that works in the Chrome browser, you're out of luck.
Here's what worked:
Google Drive/Google Docs works the same as it does on non-Chrome PCs
Having cloud-based documents makes it easy to share and access documents on multiple PCs
Many mice and other accessories are plug-and-play
Offline access to some features helps the Chromebook be more universally useful
Here's what didn't:
You're stuck with second-rate online alternatives to programs such as Photoshop
Setting up a printer is a hassle
Google Docs lacks many of the bells and whistles of Microsoft Office
In the next Living with Chromebook installment, we'll look at entertainment options in Chrome OS, from streaming video to games.
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Living with Chromebook: Can you use it to actually get work done?
Living with Chromebook: Can you use it to actually get work done?
In the first part of our Living with Chromebook series, I outlined the initial hardware and account setup required to use a laptop running Google's Chrome OS. In this second installment, the focus is on productivity.
For my long-form Chromebook test-drive, I'm spending most of my computing time with the HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook. Like the smaller 11- and 12-inch Chromebooks we've reviewed, it operates almost entirely within the Chrome Web browser, which looks and feels the same as the Chrome Web browser you may be using right now on your Windows or Mac OS computer.
That makes for a familiar experience in some ways, as many of us have already moved large swaths of our lives online, into Web-based tools such as Gmail, Facebook, and Netflix. More than most, I've embraced cloud services for as many things as possible, primarily because reviewing laptops means moving into a brand-new, fresh-from-the-box PC at least once or twice a week.
Working in the cloud If you're anywhere near as invested in cloud services as I am, then the transition to a Chromebook should hypothetically be fairly painless. Most of the things you want to do -- send e-mail, share via social-networking services, stream online video -- are available on a Chrome OS device, and largely work the same way as on a traditional OS.
That said, there's still a natural resistance to this type of Web-only setup. Maybe the idea that in a traditional PC there's a desktop lying underneath it all is a comforting one. Perhaps traditional folders-and-file systems are a security blanket, because despite having used Chromebooks before this, I found being locked into a browser-only world still felt confining, especially for office work -- documents, spreadsheets, and folders of files nestled within each other.
That's no doubt why the Chrome OS now has a more pronounced (if still rudimentary) file system than the very first Chromebooks did, making it possible to save and easily access files. This Hewlett-Packard model only includes 16GB of solid-state drive (SSD) storage, but Acer's C7 Chromebook includes a standard 320GB platter hard drive. In either case, photo, music, and video files can all be stored and sorted there, by downloading online or sideloading from a USB drive or SD card. Consider it all to be backups for the versions "in the cloud," for those times when you can't get online.
Image and video files on the Chrome OS hard drive.
Do you need always-on Internet? While the original pitch for the Chromebook was that this would be an always-on device, connected to either Wi-Fi or mobile broadband, that idea seems to have fallen by the wayside. The HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook, for example, does not include a 3G antenna, something found in the original Google Chromebook, as well as the Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550. Google's high-end Pixel model even offers a 4G LTE version. But the bundled wireless service always comes with an asterisk; in the case of the 4G Pixel -- which is $250 more than the Wi-Fi-only version -- it's this: 100MB per month for two years of mobile broadband from Verizon Wireless. In other words, it's way too paltry to do anything substantive.
Perhaps sensing that always-on broadband isn't going to always work for sub-$400 laptops, Google now emphasizes the offline capabilities of Chrome, which are largely tied in to the offline modes that have been built into Google's various tools, such as Google Docs, over the years.
The offline-ready apps in the Chrome Web Store.
A few other Chrome-compatible Web tools also work offline, and Google has set aside a section of its Chrome Web Store (really just a dressed-up set of links to Chrome OS versions of web sites) to make them easier to find.
Google Drive as office suite I'll let you in on a little secret. I've been using Google Drive (nee "Google Docs") as my main word processor for a few years now, and it's such a useful, well-maintained online tool that the benefits far outweigh a few significant shortcomings. For that reason, using Google Drive on a Chromebook was a natural transition for me, and one of the elements of Chromebook use that felt the most comparable to using a non-Chrome OS laptop.
Like nearly all writers, I spent years using Microsoft Word on both Windows and OS X systems. It's still the default for word processing, and DOC and DOCX are still universal file formats (fortunately, Google Drive allows you to open and export these formats).
But, reviewing new laptops all the time, I was setting up a new system once or twice a week at least, which often made using these new laptops for writing a pain. Microsoft now has an ad-supported "free" version of Word that comes preinstalled on some (but not all) laptops, but previously, if you were lucky you had a trial version, or else nothing at all. Very often, I ended up either installing OpenOffice (a free, if clunky, office suite), or digging up an old install disc for Office 2003. Even under the best of circumstances, I had to remember to e-mail myself the latest version of my Word doc, or sneakernet it around on a USB stick. (Nowadays, I'd store the documents on Dropbox, Amazon Cloud Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, or the like, but I'd still be stuck installing the word processing software itself.)
So many of the work tools we use now are online and collaborative that it's hard to remember when that wasn't the norm, but when I started using Google Drive in earnest in 2009 it was a major change to my workflow. Even now, on the HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook, I can open any document I've been working on from another laptop, add some text, and then seamlessly switch back to the first laptop at any point. It's also easy to share docs with anyone else via a few button clicks -- and multiple authorized users can access and edit a document in real time (which is something you may or may not want).
Working on a document in Google Docs.
Google Drive works best for simple text-based documents with minimal formatting. You can add images, tables, and other design elements, but these are not as full-featured as in Microsoft Office, and don't always translate as one might expect when exporting to a DOC file.
Another thing that drives me crazy about Google Drive is the lack of a "show hidden characters" command in its word processor. That's not something everyone uses, but for writers, especially those who got their start in print publishing, being able to see every tab, paragraph break, and even the spaces between characters is important. I've learned to live without it, but it's still my least favorite part of the Google Drive experience.
The presentation and spreadsheet apps included with Google Drive are somewhat less successful. My needs for XLS files are limited, but even then I've run out of available columns and been forced to start a new tab in a spreadsheet. In fact, all the Google Drive apps have size and complexity limitations, and you can find more details about that here. Those are limitations to the actual Google Drive platform, not something specific to Chrome OS or the Chromebook.
Another option for Microsoft Office purists is Office 365, the cloud-based version of Office. It's a paid service, not all features work in Chrome OS, and it doesn't facilitate the easy sharing that Google Docs does with anyone who has a free Gmail account.
It may be something you'll need to use every day, but I've had good luck exporting Google Docs files into the PDF format (it's a setting built right in to Google Docs under File > Download as), and the file browser in Chrome OS can open PDF files for easy reading.
One handy thing to keep in mind is that most Google Drive files can be accessed even when your Chromebook (or other PC) is offline. But, you have to set up the offline mode for your account first by following the instructions here. Gmail also has an offline mode, and you can find more apps and features that work on an offline Chromebook in this special section of the Chrome Web Store (of course, you'll have to be online to see this list).
Using a mouse, printer, and other peripherals One of the big problems I had with the less-expensive Chromebooks from Samsung and Acer has been the terrible touch pads built into those systems. I don't care if your laptop cost less than $200, if the touch pad is unusable, you're just not going to be productive on it.
The touch pad on the $329 HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook is a bit better, but still not even as good as the touch pads found on budget Windows laptops. It was passable for basic Web surfing, but if you plan on using your Chromebook for more than a couple of hours at a time, an external mouse is recommended.
Fortunately, despite not having any way to install drivers or dive into the deeper functions of pointing devices, I had good luck getting external devices to work. Both the wireless Microsoft mouse and the external Logitech touch pad I tried worked instantly, both via USB dongle (a second wireless mouse, from Targus, did not work).
Printing is a little more complicated. You'll need to use a service Google calls Cloud Print. That works one of two ways. The less likely scenario is that you already own one of a handful of Cloud-Print-ready printers, in which case you should be able to connect easily if you're on the same network. More likely, you have what Google generously refers to as a "classic printer," in which case, you have to run a Cloud Print app on a separate Windows or OS X machine, and from there, connect to your Chromebook.
This is about as far from the simple, stripped-down appeal of Chromebooks and the Chrome OS as one could imagine.
That said, when I followed the steps outlined in this support doc from Google, the Cloud Print feature worked the first time I tried it.
Workaround apps If your job involves only e-mail, text documents, and simple spreadsheets, moving to a Chromebook may well be a very simple transition for you, especially if you already make use of Google's online tools.
If, however, you have occasional need for programs such as Photoshop, you're going to have to find a workaround. There actually are a few basic image-editing features built into Chrome OS, but if you need to do more than adjust the rotation or brightness and contrast of an image, you'll hit a wall very quickly.
I've always used a Web-based tool named Pixlr for emergency photo edits. It's a cloud-based image editor that looks and feels a lot like Photoshop. You upload an image, edit it, then download the resulting file. It works well enough in a pinch, although if you're a heavy Photoshop user, a Chromebook just isn't for you.
I found Pixlr listed in the Chrome Web Store, but "installing" the app really just takes you to the Pixlr Web site. Similar online tools, including some basic video editors, can be found in the Creative Tools section of the Chrome Web Store. One caveat, especially if you're working with big images: remember that you'll have to both upload and redownload the image file, so make sure you have the time and bandwidth to work that way before you count on an online app such as Pixlr.
You can be productive on a Chromebook, sometimes As an on-the-go system for catching up on e-mail (especially if you use Gmail or Google's corporate e-mail services), and creating or editing basic office documents, a Chromebook works, and works well considering the less-than-$250 investment (for the Samsung Chromebook Series 3, the most affordable Chromebook CNET can recommend).
That said, it does not excel in any particular area, and even a budget Windows laptop offers more flexibility and the ability to run more software. Even if you only need a particular app once in a great while, unless there's an online version that works in the Chrome browser, you're out of luck.
Here's what worked:
Google Drive/Google Docs works the same as it does on non-Chrome PCs
Having cloud-based documents makes it easy to share and access documents on multiple PCs
Many mice and other accessories are plug-and-play
Offline access to some features helps the Chromebook be more universally useful
Here's what didn't:
You're stuck with second-rate online alternatives to programs such as Photoshop
Setting up a printer is a hassle
Google Docs lacks many of the bells and whistles of Microsoft Office
In the next Living with Chromebook installment, we'll look at entertainment options in Chrome OS, from streaming video to games.
Choosing a new laptop, whether it's for work, home or going back to school, isn't an easy decision, but CNET's list of the best laptops for 2022 is a great place to start with our top picks across brands, operating systems, budgets and categories. Many of the models from 2021 have been updated for 2022 with the latest chips from Intel and AMD, and Apple's new M2 chips, too.
Our top laptop choice for most people is the updated Apple MacBook Air M2. It offers a great combination of everything we look for when we're testing: reliable everyday performance, long battery life and a design that works for a broad range of users. The latest MacBook Air starts at $1,199, which is why we still recommend the 2020 MacBook Air M1 as a lower-cost alternative to the newest Air model, as it's still an all-around excellent laptop. For those looking for a more value-oriented option, Acer's Swift 3 is our current recommendation. Well-configured older versions are available for under $550, while new models start under $800, and fully loaded with an OLED display it's right around $1,200.
At CNET, our laptop experts have collective decades of experience testing and reviewing laptops, covering everything from performance to price to battery life. This hand-curated list covers the best laptops across various sizes, styles and costs, including laptop computers running on Windows, MacOS and Chrome.
If you want more laptop brands and options for a particular category, we also have specialized lists you can look at, including the best gaming laptops, best 15-inch laptops, best two-in-ones and best Chromebooks, as well as the best laptops for college students, designers and the best MacBook Pro alternatives. If you need to stay as low as possible on the price of a new laptop computer, check out our best budget laptop and best budget gaming laptop picks.
This best laptop list is updated periodically with new models we've tested and reviewed. If you need advice on whether a particular type of laptop or two-in-one is right for you, jump to our laptop FAQ at the bottom of the list.
James Martin/CNET
Thanks to a new design, a larger display (13.6 inches versus the previous 13.3 inches), a faster M2 chip and a long-awaited upgrade to a higher-res webcam, the 2022 version of the MacBook Air remains our top choice for the most universally useful laptop in Apple's lineup, with one caveat. At $1,199, the $200 increase over the traditional $999 MacBook Air starting price is a disappointment. That's why you'll still find the M1 version of the Air retains a spot on our best laptop list. Still, we like everything else about it and is our first choice if you're considering an Air and don't mind spending more.
Read our Apple MacBook Air M2 review.
Josh Goldman/CNET
Available with either AMD Ryzen or Intel Core processors, this 14-inch laptop gives you more screen to work on than 13-inch laptops, but is still incredibly lightweight -- less than 3 pounds. The bigger display is nice, too, covering 100% sRGB color gamut (better than you typically find at its starting price under $700). It also has a backlit keyboard, a fingerprint reader and USB Type-C and HDMI ports, too. The 2022 version of the Swift 3 falls just under $1,000 with 12th-gen Intel Core i-series CPUs. But the 2021 models are still widely available for less than $600.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The Dell XPS 13 is a perennial favorite for its size, weight and performance and just overall good looks. In 2020, Dell made the laptop even smaller, while making the laptop screen larger and increasing performance for both CPU and graphics-intensive tasks. For 2022, it made the XPS 13 even smaller and lighter, kept its sub-$999 starting price the same and dropped in the latest 12th-gen Intel processors.
While we haven't had a chance to test the new model yet, we expect it to be a strong Windows alternative to the MacBook Air. Also, if you want to save money, the 2021 XPS 13 with 11th-gen Intel chips is available for less now.
This thin, 3-pound convertible is a solid choice for anyone who needs a laptop for office or schoolwork. The all-metal chassis gives it a premium look and feel, and it has a comfortable keyboard and a responsive, smooth precision touchpad. Though it's light on extra features compared to its premium linemate, the Yoga 9i, it does have one of Lenovo's sliding shutters for its webcam that gives you privacy when you want it. And it has a long battery life to boot at 12 hours, 45 minutes in our tests. The latest version with 12th-gen Intel processors starts at $999 (although you can find it on sale for less). The 2021 models are still available, too, at reduced prices.
Josh Goldman/CNET
Acer's Spin 513 is an update of sorts to one of the best Chromebooks from 2021, the Spin 713. It's a two-in-one convertible Chromebook with a 13.5-inch display that has a 3:2 aspect ratio. The extra vertical space means less scrolling when you're working. The screen size is also close to that of letter-size paper, making it comfortable for notetaking in tablet mode with a USI pen. Compared to the 713, it drops a couple of noncritical features like an HDMI output in favor of a more affordable price. It has amazing battery life, though, and a sturdy fanless design, making it silent -- perfect for quiet classrooms, meetings, lectures or video calls.
Joshua Goldman/CNET
Lenovo launched the Yoga line 10 years ago with Windows 8 and now, with Windows 11, the flexibility of the design has only gotten better. The company's flagship 14-inch Yoga 9i Gen 7 has an updated look with comfortable, rounded edges and 12th-gen Intel processors that give it a big multicore performance jump. A beautiful OLED display and improved audio make it excellent for work, video conferences and entertainment. Lenovo includes an active pen and a laptop sleeve to complete the premium package.
The powerful speakers do add some vibration to the palm rests when turned up and Lenovo has cluttered the laptop with pitches for optional services and software. But, overall, the latest Yoga 9i is the two-in-one convertible laptop to beat. Unfortunately, its availability is limited at the moment so you might have to wait to buy one.
Read our Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 review.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
New Apple silicon, new display, new design and all the ports we've been asking for: The latest 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro is the best Pro ever. The combination of the larger MacBook Pro's hardware and MacOS extracts the maximum performance from the components while delivering excellent battery life. The new mini-LED high-resolution display is gorgeous. And if an HDMI output and SD card reader were on your shortlist for features, you'll find those here too.
You pay for it, though: Base price for the 16-inch model of this premium laptop is $2,499.
Read our Apple MacBook Pro review.
Josh Goldman/CNET
There are plenty of 15.6-inch laptops, but 16-inch models like the Dell Inspiron 16 Plus are something of a rarity. The 16-inch display is a great size since the laptop is barely bigger than a 15.6-inch model, but you get more room for work and a roomier keyboard and touchpad along with it. For this Inspiron, Dell packed in performance parts including Nvidia discrete graphics (though it's nearly half the price if you go with Intel integrated graphics) and the display covers 100% sRGB and 81% AdobeRGB color gamuts, which is good enough if you're getting started with creating web content. Also, the laptop has a more premium fit and finish than we're used to seeing in the Inspiron line.
Read our Dell Inspiron 16 Plus review.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
Although this Microsoft Surface laptop is not the Surface Laptop, the Surface Pro continues to hit all the right notes if you're looking for a do-it-all Windows tablet that doubles as a Windows laptop. Microsoft recently overhauled it for the Surface Pro 8, which has a larger 13-inch display, 11th-gen Intel Core processors and two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports. The Surface Pro 7 is still around for the time being at a discount, and an updated version called the Surface Pro 7 Plus will stay in the lineup, so you'll still be able to get the classic Pro design but with new processors.
Read our Surface Pro 8 review.
Sarah Tew/CNET
There's a lot to love with the Razer Blade 14, which incorporates one of the fastest mobile CPUs available (for now, at least), the AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX, and top-end mobile graphics with the GeForce RTX 3070 or 3080. Its display can go pixel-to-pixel with the MacBook's. And its high-quality build is up there with the best MacBooks but, like an Apple, it's not necessarily the best laptop deal, even compared to other premium laptops.
Read our Razer Blade 14 review.
HP
HP's Victus 16 is a surprisingly robust and powerful gaming laptop that keeps up with the latest games at a more affordable price. Compared to HP's high-end Omen gaming laptop line, the Victus is more of an all-purpose laptop but still configured for gaming with a price starting at less than $1,000. HP offers several configurations with graphics chip options ranging from Nvidia's entry-level GeForce GTX 1650 up to a midrange RTX 3060 or AMD Radeon RX 6500M.
Read our HP Victus 16 review.
James Martin/CNET
The XPS 17 combines the same slim, premium design of its 13-inch linemate but with increased performance possibilities. It can be configured with up to a 12th-gen Intel Core i9 processor, 64GB of memory and a 6GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics chip. The best part: Dell trimmed up the chassis so much that you get a 17-inch display in a body that's the size of an older 15-inch laptop. You're getting a lot of power and a big screen in the smallest possible package.
Dell XPS 17 review.
Laptop FAQs
How much does a good laptop cost?
Setting a budget is a good place to start when shopping for the best laptop for yourself. The good news is you can get a nice-looking, lightweight laptop with excellent battery life at prices under $500. If you're shopping for a laptop around $500 or less, check out our top picks here, as well as more specific buying advice for that price range.
Higher-end components like Intel Core i-series and AMD Ryzen processors and premium design touches like thin-display bezels and aluminum or magnesium bodies have made their way to laptops priced between $500 and $1,000. You can also find touchscreens and two-in-one designs that can be used as a tablet or a laptop -- and a couple other positions in between. In this price range, you'll also find faster memory and ssd storage -- and more of it -- to improve performance.
Above $1,000 is where you'll find premium laptops and two-in-ones. If you're looking for the fastest performance, the best battery life, the slimmest, lightest designs and top-notch display quality with an adequate screen size, expect to spend at least $1,000.
Which is better, MacOS or Windows?
Deciding between MacOS and Windows laptop for many people will come down to personal preference and budget. Apple's base model laptop, the M1 MacBook Air, starts at $999. You can sometimes find it discounted or you can get educational pricing from Apple and other retailers. But, in general, it'll be at least $1,000 for a new MacBook, and the prices just go up from there.
For the money, though, you're getting great hardware top to bottom, inside and out. Apple recently moved to using its own processors, which resulted in across-the-board performance improvements compared to older Intel-based models. But, the company's most powerful laptop, the 16-inch MacBook Pro, still hasn't been updated to Apple silicon.
But, again, that great hardware comes at a price. Also, you're limited to just Apple laptops. With Windows and Chromebooks (more on these below), you get an amazing variety of devices at a wide range of prices.
Software between the two is plentiful, so unless you need to run something that's only available on one platform or the other, you should be fine to go with either. Gaming is definitely an advantage for a Windows laptop, though.
MacOS is also considered to be easier and safer to use than Windows, especially for people who want their computers to get out of the way so they can get things done. Over the years, though, Microsoft has done its best to follow suit and, with Windows 11 here, it's trying to remove any barriers. Also, while Macs might have a reputation for being safer, with the popularity of the iPhone and iPad helping to drive Mac sales, they've become bigger targets for malware.
Are Chromebooks worth it?
Yes, they are, but they're not for everyone. Google's Chrome OS has come a long way in the past 10 years and Chromebooks -- laptops that run on Chrome OS -- are great for people who do most of their work in a web browser or using mobile apps. They are secure, simple and, more often than not, a bargain. What they can't do is natively run Windows or Mac software.
What's the best laptop for home, travel or both?
The pandemic changed how and where a lot of people work. The small, ultraportable laptops valued by people who regularly traveled may have suddenly become woefully inadequate for working from home. Or maybe instead of needing long battery life, you'd rather have a bigger display with more graphics power for gaming.
If you're going to be working on a laptop and don't need more mobility than moving it from room to room, consider a 15.6-inch laptop or larger. In general, a bigger screen makes life easier for work and is more enjoyable for entertainment, and also is better if you're using it as an extended display with an external monitor. It typically means you're getting more ports, too, so connecting an external display or storage or a keyboard and mouse are easier without requiring a hub or dock.
For travel, stay with 13- or 14-inch laptops or two-in-ones. They'll be the lightest and smallest while still delivering excellent battery life. What's nice is that PC-makers are moving away from 16:9 widescreens toward 16:10- or 3:2-ratio displays, which gives you more vertical screen space for work without significantly increasing the footprint. These models usually don't have discrete graphics or powerful processors, though that's not always the case.
Which laptop is best for gaming or creating?
You can play games and create content on any laptop. That said, what games you play and what content you create -- and the speed at which you do them -- is going vary greatly depending on the components inside the laptop.
For casual browser-based games or using streaming-game services like Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming, you don't need a powerful gaming laptop. And similarly, if you're just trimming video clips, cropping photos or live-streaming video from your webcam, you can get by with a modestly priced laptop or Chromebook with integrated graphics.
For anything more demanding, you'll need to invest more money for discrete graphics like Nvidia's RTX 30-series GPUs. Increased system memory of 16GB or more, having a speedy SSD for storage and a faster processor such as an Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 will all help you get things moving faster, too.
The other piece you'll want to consider is the display. For gaming, look for screens with a high refresh rate of 120Hz or faster so games look smoother while playing. For content creation, look for displays that cover 100% sRGB color space.
How we test computers
The review process for laptops, desktops, tablets and other computer-like devices consists of two parts: performance testing under controlled conditions in the CNET Labs and extensive hands-on use by our expert reviewers. This includes evaluating a device's aesthetics, ergonomics and features. A final review verdict is a combination of both those objective and subjective judgments.
The list of benchmarking software we use changes over time as the devices we test evolve. The most important core tests we're currently running on every compatible computer include: Primate Labs Geekbench 5, Cinebench R23, PCMark 10 and 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra.
A more detailed description of each benchmark and how we use it can be found in our How We Test Computers page.
More for people who spend all day on their computers
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GoPro HD Hero2 review: GoPro HD Hero2
GoPro HD Hero2 review: GoPro HD Hero2
I've had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the GoPro HD Hero that we've used during the recording of the Car Tech Live podcast for the last year or so. On the one hand, the Hero takes phenomenal wide-angle video, is ridiculously durable thanks to its polycarbonate shell, and (when you get the settings right) relatively easy to use. However, that last bit is also my biggest point of contention with the first few generations of the GoPro Hero cameras; I'm a self-proclaimed techie who's recorded hours of footage using the HD Hero and I still have to break out the poorly written instruction sheet to change any of the settings. More often than not, I just leave the settings where I left them and just point and shoot.
So, when the new generation GoPro HD Hero2 landed on my desk boasting an improved interface, I decided to challenge myself to full-test the device without cracking the spine on its (also improved) 90-page user manual.
Old design with a twist Looking at the GoPro HD Hero2 side by side with the original HD Hero (hereafter referred to as the HD Hero1), reveals remarkably little change in the unit's form factor. Both units are dimensionally identical and feature the same lens, power button, shutter button, and LCD screen placement. This means that any waterproof cases or lens covers purchased for the HD Hero1 will still work with the HD Hero2, which is a good thing for GoPro devotees. Likewise, both units feature the same rear hook and connection port for GoPro's line of removable BacPacs, which we'll discuss later.
Closer inspection reveals that there's more than the addition of the number 2 to distinguish the new model from the old. For starters, the Hero2 features a new glass lens that should be sharper and more durable than the old lens. Where the Hero1 featured only one red recording indicator LED, the Hero2 features four (one enlarged indicator on the front of the unit and smaller lights on its top, back, and bottom edges). On the right edge (when viewed from the front) are the connections for the proprietary video output, the Mini-USB port for charging, and a 2.5mm microphone input. Thankfully, these three connections are actually labeled this go-round. On the left edge are the full-size SD card slot and a new HDMI video output. Onboard microphones are now located on the top and bottom edges of the unit. Finally, the rear panel is where you'll find the battery door that covers the user-replaceable 1,100mAh lithium ion battery.
I mentioned that the HD Hero2 ships with the same waterproof housing as the Hero1. For those unfamiliar with this housing, it's a clear, polycarbonate shell that holds the Hero camera to whatever mounting option you chose to use. Spring-loaded waterproof buttons give users access to the selection and shutter buttons and a clear lens bubble protects the HD Hero2's lens from scratches. In the event that this bubble is damaged, a replacement can be ordered and affixed with a small screwdriver. At the back of the shell is door that locks shut with a plastic latching clamp. (The plastic latch on our HD Hero1 busted after only a few weeks of use, so this bit worries me. Fortunately, it's a relatively simple fix.) Users are given the choice between two easily swappable doors that ship with the HD Hero2. The first is a sealed waterproof door that keeps the camera dry, even when submerged to a depth of 197 feet. The second door is a "skeleton door" with openings that sacrifice waterproofing f or increased sound quality.
The mounting options included in the box will depend on which HD Hero2 kit you pick up. The Motorsports Edition, for example, ships with a suction cup mount on an articulated arm and five adhesive mounts. The Surf Edition packs a pair of surfboard mounts and a special "Floaty" back door that will keep your camera from sinking to the bottom of the ocean in the event of a detachment. Finally, the Outdoor Edition includes a helmet strap, a head strap, and a selection of adhesive mounts. Additionally, additional mounts for handlebars, roll bars, chest straps, etc. are available from the manufacturer for additional cost.
Same screen, new interface Of all of the changes to the HD Hero, the most drastic is the overhauled interface present on the tiny monochromatic LCD. For starters the HD Hero2 uses larger, bolder icons for identifying the current recording mode. So tapping the selection button on the front of the unit fills the screen momentarily with a large icon for the newly selected mode that is easier to read with goggles on or at an arm's length. When the moment is passed, the screen returns to its default state with a smaller icon indicating the mode and a new text-based setting identifier. So rather than memorizing that "R7" is 1080p video at 30 fps, the unit simply displays "1080-30," which is much easier to decode. Likewise, photo modes are clearly identified with, for example, "5 MP 0.5 sec" which can easily be identified as "take a 5 megapixel shot every half second."
Likewise, the menu system has also been made clearer, with more easily identified icons for each setting that leads to a drop-down menu where the different options can be viewed clearly. Navigating the GoPro's many options with just the select and shutter buttons is still an exercise in patience. For example, setting the date to 11:11am on 11/11/11 can take as many as 60 or more button presses. (Fortunately, the date is something you should only really have to set once.) That's an extreme example, but even simpler tasks (such as changing the video or still-photo resolution) can take as many as 10 button presses.
On the bright side, the fact that the GoPro HD Hero2 even offers granular access to all of its settings right on the camera is an advantage that it holds over simpler camera systems, such as Contour's.
There are still a few icons that don't make much sense. (I doubt many can tell me what this icon means without first checking the manual.) However, the important bits--changing the resolution of photos and video, setting time-lapse intervals--and the options that you're likely to find yourself wanting to fiddle with before bombing down that double-black-diamond slope are extremely easy to understand.
I started the review with the intention of never cracking open the GoPro HD Hero2's instruction manual and I'm pleased to state that I didn't need to use it. (Although, I did flip through the manual and found that it is both more thoroughly written and better organized than the old sheet. So if you do find yourself needing help, it's a great resource.)
Recording modes So, we've discussed the chassis and we've explained that it's easy to use, but what sort of video and photos can you expect to get out of this camera?
Like the Hero1, the HD Hero2 features a wide range of video and photo modes to chose from. Where moving images are concerned, the HD Hero2's highest recording resolution is 1,920x1,080 pixels (1080p for short) Full HD video at 30 frames per second (fps) with a wide-screen 16:9 aspect ratio. Users can also select a 1,280x720-pixel (720p) wide-screen mode with options to capture at 30 or 60 fps. There's also 1,280x960-pixel Tall HD mode that records at a 4:3 aspect ratio with options to capture at either 30 or 48 fps. Finally, there are the 800×480-pixel (480p or WVGA) modes that capture relatively low-resolution video but at high 60 or 120 fps speeds, which can be slowed down using software to create slow-motion video.
Most video modes capture at the lens' full 170-degree wide-angle field of view (FOV), but users can choose to step down to medium 128-degree or narrow 90-degree FOVs. To my eye, 1080p video captured at these narrower FOVs appears to be grainier with visible pixelation, which leads me to believe that GoPro is using some sort of digital zoom technology to compensate for the lens' fixed focal length. This likely won't bother many, particularly at the medium FOV, but I couldn't unsee the image degradations once I'd noticed them and stuck with the full wide FOV for most videos captured after the official testing had concluded.
Still photos are captured at a maximum of 11MP with space-saving 8MP and 5 MP modes also available. Like the video mode, still photos take advantage of the full 170-degree FOV, but can be set to capture at a medium 128-degree FOV. (The narrow FOV is unavailable for still photos, presumably because the digital zoom artifacts would be too visible in a still shot, but that's just speculation.) Photos taken outdoors at the full resolution with full FOV are sharp and pleasing. The wide angle makes framing shots easy, but without the aid of the optional LCD BacPac, shot composition is a bit of a guess-and-check affair.
When shooting still photos, there are a few trigger modes to choose from. The first is a single shot. Press the button, capture a photo. It's the simplest of the available modes. Next is a self-time mode that captures a single shot after a 10-second delay. The next mode is one of my favorites: Time-lapse mode continuously captures a still photo at timed 60s, 30s, 10s, 5s, 2s, 1s, and 0.5s intervals. (Note: The fastest interval of 0.5s requires a high-speed Class 10 SD card to keep up.) Users can then stitch those photos together into a cool time-lapse video that compresses hours of actions into minutes of video.
Finally, the HD Hero2 gains a new trick made possible by its new faster digital image processor called Photo Burst Mode. In this mode, the camera can capture 10 full-resolution 11MP photos within the span of a single second. Personally, I found timing the Burst to be tricky, particularly because there's a few seconds of lag after a burst is captured while the HD Hero2 writes the contents of its buffer to the SD card. However, with practice this could be another cool tool in your GoPro toolbox.
In sum About the only think that I didn't like about the previous-generation GoPro HD Hero was that maddeningly difficult interface. And while in my opinion GoPro still hasn't perfected its menu structure and usability, it's gotten pretty damn close within its self-imposed constraints (two-button interface, maintaining compatibility with older hardware). GoPro also states that its low-light image quality has been improved between the two generations, which you can see yourself by comparing the indoor photos below. There's no question in my mind that this is the best GoPro camera yet.
But is it the best HD sports camera? To figure that out, we have to compare it to its most fierce competitors from Contour's lineup, particularly the ContourGPS. (Contour's top tier Contour+ is significantly more expensive, so we're leaving it out of the running for now, but many of the same points I'm about to make will still apply.)
Ease of use is a tie. Both camera systems excel here in different ways. The Contour camera's supersimple slide-and-record interface and laser-pointer aiming makes it easier for first-time users to pick up and shoot with. However, the GoPro HD Hero2 excels where on-device flexibility is concerned. If you're, for example, trackside with the Hero2 and you want to switch capture modes, every still and video setting is available right there on the device itself. The ContourGPS features two user presets that can be selected with the flip of a switch, but if neither of those is what you need at the moment, then you'll need to fire up the Contour smartphone app or bust out your laptop to pick a new preset. Additionally, the Contour cameras give no visual indication of what mode they're in, where the GoPro always displays its capture mode on a display. Trust me, there's nothing worse than getting back from a full day of recording with an SD card full of photos when you wanted videos. To the p oint, users who enjoy constantly fiddling with settings on the fly will prefer the GoPro, but if you're the kind of person who sets up the camera once and never changes modes, perhaps the Contour cameras are a better fit.
One place where Contour has the GoPro system beaten is where applications are concerned. Contour's included desktop editing and uploading software makes it easy to cut the good part out of a long video. Conversely, GoPro's experience is a B.Y.O.-software affair. Contour's top-tier models also capture GPS position, speed, and elevation data that can then be displayed alongside an uploaded video. GoPro does not, but if you don't mind spending a few extra bucks, the GoPro system can be upgraded with longer battery life, an LCD display, or the ability to capture 3D video thanks to its BacPac system.
The GoPro has the Contour cameras flatly beat on ruggedness. The Contour+ and ContourGPS require an additional purchase of a waterproof housing to match the GoPro in the wet. The entry-level ContourRoam is waterproof out of the box, but not nearly to the same depth as the GoPro. And if the HD Hero2 and the ContourGPS fell off of the same car at speed, the GoPro camera would definitely fare better. When you're talking about action cameras, durability is a top-tier attribute.
Deciding which camera system is best is truly a tough decision, and depending on your particular needs, you may disagree with me. At $299, the GoPro HD Hero2 is a slightly better buy than the ContourGPS, which is the same price--provided that the collection of GPS metadata isn't one of your top priorities. The learning curve is slightly steeper (and only just barely thanks to the upgraded interface), but once you're over it, the GoPro HD Hero2 is a much more flexible and durable device.
