Acemagic AX15: 30-second overview
Acemagic (or Acemagican) has popularity for Mini PC techniques, however till the AX15 it has not beforehand ventured into the laptop computer market.
With only one product and SKU, the AX15 represents extra of a recon-in-force slightly than an assault on the laptop computer area. The attention-grabbing selection of specification firmly goals the AX15 on the informal surfer and academic customers.
Constructed round Intel’s twelfth Technology N95 processor and sporting the outdated UHD Graphics GPU, the AX15 was by no means going to win any competitors for processing energy. However to maintain issues transferring, Acemagic gave it 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage.
Regrettably, probably as a result of restricted variety of PCIe lanes on that platform, the SSD is just SATA, not NVMe, regardless of what the web site suggests.
In what may be an effort to create a greater consumer expertise, the AX15 comes with a model of Home windows 11 Professional with all of the bloatware eliminated, offering an attention-grabbing, if unexpectedly naked, expertise.
The very best elements of this design are its first rate construct high quality, sporting a steel pores and skin to the case, and the colorful 15.6-inch IPS show. The place it might be higher is in processing energy, the aforementioned SATA SSD, and the dearth of any USB ports with bandwidth better than USB 3.1 Gen 1.
After utilizing it for some time, the AX15 felt like a candidate to be a Chromebook slightly than a Home windows laptop computer, the place the 4 cores can rapidly turn out to be overloaded.
Acemagic AX15: Worth and availability
- How a lot does it value? $299
- When is it out? Out there now
- The place are you able to get it? You may get it immediately from Acemagic and on Amazon
On the time of writing, Acemagic solely presents a single model of the AX15 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Direct from the maker, the worth is $299, and transport is free to US clients from the Acemagic US warehouse.
German clients pay €359.10 for a similar SKU, and it isn’t offered on to every other places.
These wanting the machine faster can get it from Amazon.com for $339.98, and a coupon deal is at the moment lowering that by $20.
Getting this {hardware} exterior these two areas is difficult.
Acemagic AX15: Specs
| Merchandise | Spec |
|---|---|
| Mannequin: | Acemagic AX15 |
|
CPU: |
Intel N95 processor (4 cores, 4 threads) |
|
GPU: |
Intel UHD Graphics (EU 16) |
|
RAM: |
16GB DDR4 (most) |
|
Storage: |
512GB SATA M.2 2280 |
|
Display: |
IPS 15.6-inch, FHD (1920 x 1080) |
|
Ports |
1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Kind-C energy supply |
|
Networking: |
WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.0 |
|
Digicam: |
720p HD (no Home windows Hey) |
|
OS: |
Home windows 11 Professional (pre-installed) |
|
Biometrics: |
None |
|
PSU: |
Kind-C 19V/2.1A |
|
Dimensions: |
350 x 220 x 16 mm (13.78″ x 8.66″ x 0.63″) |
|
TPD Restrict: |
15W |
|
Battery: |
38WHrs, 3-cell Li-ion |
|
Weight |
1.68kg (3.7lbs) |
Acemagic AX15: Design
- Steel pores and skin
- Giant keyboard
- No 10Gbps USB ports
Selecting up the X15 for the primary time, this seems to be a slim and chic laptop computer that may include a hefty price ticket. It options a big keyboard with a numeric pad, a big 130mm extensive touchpad, and a thin-bordered 15.6-inch IPS display screen.
The outer pores and skin is steel, giving a barely chilly feeling that most individuals would affiliate with costly {hardware} when touched.
In keeping with Acemagic, the hinge is 180 levels, however that’s a slight oversell as ours wouldn’t lay completely flat. It’s shut, however the viewing angles on the IPS panel aren’t sufficient to make utilizing it nearly flat helpful.
All of the exterior ports are on the edges, with 4 positioned on every edge.
The appropriate has two USB-A ports, one every of USB 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 2.0, a MicroSD card slot and a 3.5mm audio jack. The left has one other USB 3.2 Gen 1 Kind-A, a HDMI 1.4 output and two USB-C ports. One of many Kind-C ports is USB 3.2 Gen 1 specification, and the opposite is solely allotted for charging.
That the charging port doesn’t function as USB is disappointing. And the one that can switch information doesn’t help DisplayPort over USB. All laptops ought to have no less than one USB-C port that’s rated for 10Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 2), and this laptop computer has no ports that fast.
We must also point out that it doesn’t have a Kensington lock or comparable, which makes it probably unsuitable for academic use.
Even with a couple of issues lacking and a barely odd keyboard format that relegated Prt Scr to a operate and f-key mixture, that is nonetheless a chic and comfortable-to-carry laptop computer with sufficient ports to fulfill an peculiar consumer.
However the place this machine begins to go barely off the crushed path is with a less-than-optimal computing platform. Being blighted by the restrictions of Intel’s twelfth Technology cellular platform on the decrease efficiency spectrum.
Acemagic AX15: Options
- Intel N95
- Solely 9 PCIe lanes
- No biometrics
The Intel N95 is an entry-level cellular chip that appeared in early 2023. It’s from the Alder Lake-N sequence utilizing the Gracemont structure.
We’ve seen it used on low-cost Mini PCs and Notepads, however nothing as grand because the X15.
The place different processors additional up Intel’s meals chain have a mixture of efficiency and effectivity cores, the N95 dumps the efficiency aspect of that equation. It presents solely 4 effectivity cores, all with out hyperthreading.
The very best clock pace it may possibly obtain is 3.4GHz, leaving it slower than the N200 and with fewer clocks than the i3-N300.
To additional dampen its potential, the processor is restricted to a baseline of 12W and a TDP of 15W. That’s not a lot energy, and together with a reminiscence implementation that’s single-channel DDR4-2666, this technique wasn’t made for pace. This lacklustre CPU is paired with the equally restricted UHD Graphics GPU, a graphical sub-system clocked at solely 1200MHz and sporting 16 execution items.
Low clock speeds and slender reminiscence bandwidth don’t assist the N95, however what undermines it in different methods is that it solely helps 9 PCIe lanes. 4 of these lanes are taken up by the M.2 PCIe 3.0 slot, forcing the remainder of the system to scrabble for what’s left.
The results of this inside bandwidth hunger is that there aren’t any USB 10Gbps ports, the wi-fi networking is WiFi 5, no Ethernet port, no biometrics, and the streaming digital camera is just 720p (USB 2.0).
This method represents Intel’s route with cellular merchandise via an absence of constant growth, culminating in a really lumpy expertise transition from its 14nm to 10nm node.
The largest subject with this machine is that whereas the N95 will be tremendous in an embedded context and even in a Mini PC used as a NAS, it isn’t properly suited to the calls for of Home windows 11.
Acemagic AX15: Efficiency
- Sluggish and staccato
- Pruned Home windows 11 Professional
- Solely a SATA SSD
|
Benchmark |
Take a look at |
Rating |
|---|---|---|
|
3DMark: |
WildLife: |
2639 |
|
Fireplace Strike: |
945 |
|
|
Time Spy: |
345 |
|
| Cinebench R23: |
Single core: |
644 |
|
Multi core: |
2180 |
|
|
Ratio: |
3.39 |
|
|
GeekBench 5: |
Single core: |
945 |
|
Multi core: |
2408 |
|
|
OpenCL: |
3594 |
|
| CrystalDiskM.: |
Sequential Learn: |
562MB/s |
|
Sequential Write: |
514MB/s |
|
|
PC Mark 10: |
Workplace Take a look at: |
3,628 |
|
Battery Take a look at: |
5hr 53m |
|
| WEI: |
Rating: |
6.7 |
We’re well-versed with powering up new laptops after which, after they connect with the community, having to go away them alone whereas Microsoft bombards them with updates and information which have been round for ages however aren’t a part of the OEM distribution.
On most PCs, it’s doable to do some browsing or different minor investigations whereas it will get updated, however not this one. When a obtain is put in, and one other is downloaded, the system turns into so clock-cycle starved that apps cease reacting to the pointer fully.
These preliminary delays will be annoying, however in case you go away the system with an automated obtain and set up set, it may possibly occur anytime whereas making an attempt to work.
One oddity with this technique over what we see from branded makers was that the Home windows 11 Professional put in had no bloatware pre-installed and only a few apps. The idea evidently was to make the consumer expertise higher initially since these apps received’t want an replace, however it made Home windows 11 appear remarkably naked. We want extra makers threw out all of the junk, however Home windows with out apps is a tradition shock.
We weren’t anticipating something dramatic right here, and the efficiency on provide is mostly gradual, nearly regardless of the X15 is tasked with doing.
To quantify how gradual, when immediately in contrast with the ASUS BR1402F we lately reviewed, a machine that makes use of the Intel N305, the AX15 is about half the pace in most exams.
What doesn’t assist it do higher within the generalised benchmarks and CrystalDiskMark is that the machine has a SATA SSD made by CYX, a model we’re unfamiliar with. On the Acemagic web site, it claims that the AX15 has an NVMe SSD. However our {hardware} was not, so we’d make clear that time with the help workers earlier than ordering.
That selection limits drive speeds to round 500MB/s and impacts the PCMark10 and WEI rating. This machine’s unspectacular efficiency may nonetheless work for some if it had prolonged battery life, however the 38Wh battery doesn’t energy this machine via a full working day.
The PCMark battery check ended at 5 hours and 53 minutes, and beginning with a full cost, it may possibly run for about 5 hours when displaying a dwell video stream.
The message of those outcomes and our common expertise of the AX15 is that it’s only meant for gentle use, not extended battery intervals.
Acemagic AX15: Verdict
The consumer expertise of the AX15 isn’t fantastic, and a few of that has to do with the {hardware} and design, however it’s not the entire story. A big a part of the difficulty right here is Home windows 11 and the threads it runs that occupy no less than two cores more often than not. It doesn’t take a lot, like an unannounced patch downloading, to push this technique over the processing edge, and apps cease being reactive.
The identical system would most likely run Home windows 7 or 8 completely tremendous, however Microsoft retains transferring the requirement bar up every new launch like they’re doing {hardware} makers a favour.
The identical {hardware} would most likely additionally run Linux or ChomeOS cleanly with out the efficiency points that Home windows 11 customers will expertise.
In the event you intend to purchase this machine and convert it to run one other OS, then the AX15 is a tremendous candidate, however as a Home windows system, it is on the brink of useability.
Do you have to purchase a Acemagic AX15?
| Worth | A greater-made machine than the worth would infer. | 4 / 5 |
| Design | A metal-skinned chassis and a big keyboard make for a premium really feel | 4 / 5 |
| Options | A four-core CPU with restricted PCI lanes has undermined the port choice on this technique. | 3.5 / 5 |
| Efficiency | Sluggish and vulnerable to ignoring enter | 2.5 / 5 |
| General | Poor efficiency and battery life mixed with an OS that expects extra energy just isn’t the most effective mixtures | 3 / 5 |
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
Additionally take into account
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