How we test
Laptops and PCs
We run a selection of benchmarks on all the PCs and laptops we test. Where possible, we use a cross-platform test so we can compare Windows and macOS machines, which is where both Geekbench and Cinebench R come into play. Both push the CPU to its limit, exposing how well cooled a system is.
We run extra tests for Windows systems. We use our own benchmarks to test photoediting, video-encoding and multitasking speeds. We then switch to PCMark to benchmark systems in office tasks, content creation and basic tasks such as web browsing and video calls. We also run DMark Time Spy and a selection of benchmarks in games such as Metro Exodus and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
For laptops, we test battery life with Wi-Fi on and the screen brightness set to cd/m. We fully charge the laptops and drain them until they reach %. For Windows laptops, we will use a mix of PCMark ’s light-use and video-based tests, or a web surfing benchmark where a laptop automatically visits sites until the battery dies. We also use this test for MacBooks.
Screen quality
In each laptop, phone, tablet and monitor review, you’ll see our conclusions about the screen quality. Some of this will be subjective, but we also test each screen using a Display i colorimeter. We measure maximum brightness, colour accuracy and (for monitors) consistency – there may be a difference in, say, brightness from the middle and the edges of the panel.
We also measure Delta E, which is a guide to how accurately panels display colours. Anything under is excellent and likely to be difficult for the human eye to distinguish; between one and two is still strong; above this suggests a panel that you shouldn’t trust for colour-accurate photo editing.
Phones and tablets
We run a selection of publicly available benchmarks on all the phones and tablets we review. First, we run Geekbench and . These are a good test of the processor and memory in particular, and include both a test for single-core and multicore performance. See below for a selection of scores to provide a reference of what’s good... and what’s not so good.
We also run DMark Wild Life test to give a measure of gaming performance. As with laptops, we test phone and tablet battery life by playing a fullscreen video until the battery runs out with the device. To simplify the test, we use Airplane mode. We set the brightness to as close to cd/m as we can get in the device’s settings.