1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,440 This laptop from Ace Magic spent over two years buried in our warehouse. Why 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:10,560 are we making a video about it today? Well, because I was digging through our 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:16,440 warehouse looking for interesting stuff and I pulled this out of the sleeve and 4 00:00:12,120 --> 00:00:19,000 I went Woah! That is so cool. How did we 5 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:24,520 never make a video about this? Look at this thing. Double your pleasure, double 6 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:26,320 your fun. The craziest part is it's not 7 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:31,440 even really thicker than a normal laptop. Here's my daily driver. Okay, in 8 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:36,320 fairness, the PX13 is probably about 10 times more powerful, but let's have a 9 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:42,040 look at what comes with the Ace Magic. Ah, yes, cardboard, my favorite. Mmm, 10 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:47,400 second cardboard. Cardboard with treats. That is one thick 11 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:51,360 manual. Decoration. Vent. All right, I'm an expert now. We 12 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:56,120 also get a power adapter, which is really important either because it was sitting in our warehouse for two years 13 00:00:54,680 --> 00:01:00,400 or because it was degraded in the first place, but we're only getting about 50% 14 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:04,360 of what Ace Magic said we should get in terms of battery life. Actually, before 15 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:09,200 we charge it, now seems like a good time to have a look at the IO. We've got a 16 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:13,960 type-C port that is just for charging, type-C port that'll do data as well as 17 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:19,440 display out, and along this side we've got this incredible looking hinge 18 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:22,200 mechanism that probably looks cooler than it ends up being, but we'll get to 19 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:27,920 that in a moment. On the right, we get an HDMI port. This will do HDMI 2.0 as 20 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:33,080 well as a USB 5 gigabit per second port, another speaker, and that's about all 21 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:37,400 you get for IO. As the documentation helpfully pointed out, this is vent and 22 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:42,160 you will need that vent because in its shipping configuration this device was 23 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:47,160 configured to only draw a maximum of 30 watts and a baseline of about 15 watts 24 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:53,040 leading to performance that would be best described as pathetic compared to 25 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:55,680 anything even remotely modern, and while 26 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:59,360 we were able to tune the BIOS to allow the CPU to draw more power, we found 27 00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:04,000 that this area up here, which contains the buttons to configure the secondary 28 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:07,000 display, got so hot that it was painful to the touch. Hey, now that we've got it 29 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:11,400 cracked open, we can take a look at this. We've got a fingerprint sensor 30 00:02:08,759 --> 00:02:17,840 including power button. We've got these buttons right here, which A B glasses 31 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:23,959 and multitask do something with the secondary display. We've got decoration. 32 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:28,120 Stay hungry, stay foolish. Apparently, Steve Jobs said it. Anyway, we've got a 33 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:32,800 little tip sticker here. For faster setup, avoid Wi-Fi or LAN initially. 34 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:38,120 Connecting might trigger long updates delaying desktop access. Okay. 35 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:41,120 That is actually some solid advice. Not normally, normally I mean, Microsoft 36 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:45,760 actually requires you to have an internet connection to set up Windows unless you go through a bunch of hoops. 37 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:50,280 But on this device, even though it's got a 12th gen Core i7, 38 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:54,000 so perfectly cromulent modern processor, we found that in its stock BIOS 39 00:02:52,200 --> 00:03:00,120 configuration, it throttled down as low as 4 100 MHz. So, yeah, it was 40 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:03,640 absolutely painful waiting around for Windows 41 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:08,320 updates. Now, you might think, well, surely Linus then that resulted in 42 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:11,959 really truly excellent battery life. No, not so much. Even if the battery had 43 00:03:10,239 --> 00:03:15,440 operated at 100% capacity, we'd have been looking at about 4 to 5 hours of 44 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:18,880 battery life in our maximum endurance configuration, which is not amazing. So, 45 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:26,400 why am I bothering to make a video about it? Go ahead, give it the zoom. Ah, yes. 46 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:30,360 I feel productive already. You know what's really productive? Telling you 47 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:34,440 about our sponsor. We here at LMG love tax season. It's basically our Christmas 48 00:03:32,519 --> 00:03:39,560 just with more snow. That's why we want to help you help us with some tax 49 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:44,280 write-offs with some great LTT Store deals. Mystery screwdrivers, mystery 50 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:47,519 water bottles, mystery shirts, even things like open-box commuter backpacks. 51 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:52,920 There's even going to be some third-party goodies for you folks to snag as well. Really, we're just digging 52 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:57,160 into the treasure trove that is the forgotten aisles of the warehouse. So, 53 00:03:55,320 --> 00:04:00,640 grab yourself a water bottle. Shucks, it's giving season. Grab one for your 54 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:04,240 friends, too. Save some money on LTT Store products by helping us write them 55 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:09,640 off at the links below or at lttstore.com. Time to experience this 56 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:13,560 thing. Let's start with a quick notepad. Can't open this app. Uh, 57 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:17,560 that's a new one. Just so you guys know, I don't really detect that flicker with 58 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:22,480 my eyes in person. That doesn't mean it's not there. Okay. Advanced options. 59 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:26,800 Okay. It launched. 60 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:34,360 The keyboard is fine. I love the look of this hinge. It's so cool. I do worry 61 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:37,680 that never mind getting a little bit of dust or moisture in there. You could get 62 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:42,960 like a whole sandwich lodged in that hinge. But, oh, that's a cool potential 63 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:46,760 use case for it. You could have a display on the front and a display on 64 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:50,160 the back. So, they make the argument that you might sit in a coffee shop 65 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:53,360 sharing a presentation with your boss sitting here across from you, for 66 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:57,960 instance. Of course, if we want to do that, we're going to have to get that screen turned on. [music] Sorry, I keep 67 00:04:56,280 --> 00:05:01,720 getting distracted. The keyboard is not amazing. Um, 68 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:05,680 perfectly functional, but boy, is that ever a lot of deck flex. Also, this may 69 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:08,720 be the worst right shift position that I have ever seen. 70 00:05:07,198 --> 00:05:13,840 >> [laughter] >> Across the arrow key. No. Keyboards were 71 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:17,880 invented by people who are much smarter than you. Don't reinvent them. It's 72 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:22,520 quiet. I lied, it's not that quiet. As soon as I launched task manager, this 73 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:25,680 the fan started ramping. Let's play around with the gimmick. 74 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:31,480 B. Why the hell would you ever want that? 75 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:37,360 Okay, I'll bite. Maybe I'm a gamer and I want to sit just ever so slightly closer 76 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:39,880 to my screen. It was a touch screen. 77 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:44,240 Um, yeah. Yeah, if it Wait. Oh, for crying out 78 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:48,760 loud. You can't just like use it as a tablet. A, because it's not a touch 79 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:53,048 screen, and B, because it will just go to sleep even though one of the displays 80 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:56,040 is totally open. Hey Adam, have you ever [clears throat] thought that your laptop 81 00:05:54,800 --> 00:06:00,760 is just you know, 12 in shy of being exciting? 82 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:05,120 No, not really. Oh, right. You have this but not stupid. 83 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:08,760 I guess you're not that jealous. All right. Well, I guess it's time for us to 84 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,200 try the other buttons. Boop. 85 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:17,840 Okay. If I was sitting like this, I 86 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:21,280 wouldn't want this way out flat because if we're being honest, the viewing 87 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:24,880 angles on these screens not amazing. So, you can see it's 88 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:29,560 reasonably bright from the front. We ended up getting anywhere from mid to 89 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:34,000 high 200s to low 300 nits for both of them. They were, in spite of reporting 90 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:38,000 as being the same panel, quite different in terms [music] of their performance 91 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:41,919 for brightness, which was weird. Same color gamut. 92 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:46,960 Horrible. Worst we've seen in years. Like, less than 70% of sRGB. Freaking 93 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:50,840 wild. Uh, but they do this weird thing. See, it's quite bright 94 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:54,280 and then it goes like really dim and then it kind of goes bright again. 95 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:57,640 I've never seen that before. In all my years of doing this. You see that? 96 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:03,000 Dim. See, it goes bright again at the very extreme. Anyway, the point is I would 97 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:07,080 want it kind of here so that I'm looking straight at it. And the hinge 98 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:10,760 if I wiggle wobble it at all, it's going to just kind of flatten out. The good 99 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:15,240 news for Ace Magic is that they don't seem to actually be responsible for this 100 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:19,360 design. As far as we can tell, they just bought something they found on Alibaba 101 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:22,640 and rebranded it. Okay, that makes them responsible for the product, but it 102 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:28,040 raises a lot of questions for me. Who made this? Who bought it? What does this 103 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:28,040 last button do? 104 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:36,520 Oh, now we're cloning. So, there's your coffee shop use case. All right. Why 105 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:40,800 don't we try playing a game? I'm going to optimistically grab my mouse assuming 106 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:43,920 that I will ever actually be moving across here. And I'm going to grab it 107 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:48,840 from this new colorway of our Commuter Backpack, by the way. 108 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:51,120 Stay tuned on lttstore.com. I wanted to lean it down so you guys 109 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:56,200 could see it in the top-down, but I don't have to. What a great design. That's a small 110 00:07:54,520 --> 00:08:00,400 trackpad for modern year. In all seriousness, if it wasn't for the poor 111 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:04,360 execution, I actually do like the overall idea of having a second screen 112 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:08,080 side by side like this. Is it better than the one Adam brought over that had 113 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:11,910 the detachable keyboard and that you could kind of put into landscape and 114 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:15,600 then spread out that way? >> [sighs] >> Probably not. I daily drove one like 115 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:21,520 that for a little while and it was pretty awesome. But I do think there's people who would prefer something like 116 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:26,120 this, too. This is wild. I'm getting 3 FPS in the menu. I didn't even know that 117 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:29,320 CS 2 pre-compiled shaders. Probably cuz it usually happens so fast I don't 118 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:33,320 notice it, but here it is. You know what? I'm back to blaming Ace Magic for this. 119 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:37,680 They should have known better than to put their brand on it. Or they should have at least found out what it was 120 00:08:36,039 --> 00:08:41,400 before putting their brand on it. On their site, they actually have a guide 121 00:08:39,159 --> 00:08:45,400 to how to replace the RAM. Well, we cracked it open and it turns out that 122 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:49,240 you can only replace the NVMe storage drive. The RAM is soldered. So, they 123 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:54,560 don't even seem to know exactly what it is that they're selling. Yeah, 124 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:55,560 about 7 FPS. I'm going to get a kill. 125 00:08:54,560 --> 00:09:00,960 Oh, whoa, that was a big stutter. 126 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:05,280 Whoa, that was another big one. Going to kill Oh, I got one. 127 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:09,560 I got one. To be clear, these are bots. Whoa, did you see how long that mag took 128 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:14,880 to fall to the ground? That was crazy. The game physics are completely broken. 129 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:17,720 Whoa, that was like a 3-second pause. Not much else to say at this point. 130 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:21,760 Nobody's going to actually buy this laptop, so I don't think we need to get 131 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:23,680 too deep into what generation of Wi-Fi it has. Six. 132 00:09:23,306 --> 00:09:29,240 >> [music] >> Or what Bluetooth it supports. 5.2. If 133 00:09:26,839 --> 00:09:33,600 it was really cheap, maybe it could be justified if all you really need it for 134 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:37,920 is basic office work and you don't mind putting in the work to go modify a BIOS 135 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:41,400 or something like that in order to get decent performance out of it. But even 136 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:46,520 when it was on clearance toward the end, it was over $800, which is more than I'd 137 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:53,320 be willing to pay for this experience. Wait, this just in. Last December, it 138 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:55,520 apparently went down to just over $400. 139 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:58,600 Okay, hold on a second. That promo code is still on the site? 140 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:03,440 >> It's sold out. The whole laptop is sold out now. Oh. Oh, it's sold out. Okay, at 141 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:07,520 that price, yeah, I'd say it might actually be worth it. 400 bucks? Yeah, 142 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:10,320 it's still pretty crappy. But you know what's not crappy? 143 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:13,800 Subscribing to ShortCircuit. You should definitely do that. Oh god. If you are 144 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:17,400 interested in the concept of a very large screen laptop or expanding screen 145 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:22,960 laptop, we've got a video coming on the ASUS ZenBook Duo coming up soon. It's a 146 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:27,520 lot more expensive, but it's a much, much better experience.