Adata made the XPG Xenia Xe in a collaboration with Intel. This machine is an ultra-slim gaming laptop with an elegant look, a 15.6-inch screen and it is powered by the 11th Gen core i7, otherwise called Tiger Lake. Its graphics is powered by the latest Iris Xe and it is highly expandable. This gaming laptop has sparked excitement as this is the first time Adata is building an ultra-slim gaming notebook.
Although some other brands have launched ultra-slim gaming PCs with powerful processors, this is Adata’s first entry into this market.
Build and design
The Xenia Xe has an aluminum chassis that is CNC-machine anodized, and it has a Full-HD 15.6 inch IPS display. This ultra-slim notebook spots a gaming touch on the front panel with its light bar. The laptop weighs in at about 3.6 pounds and has an 11 to 14.9 mm thickness. It has touch support and its bezels are ultra-thin at only 4.9 millimeters. This is why the laptop is narrow and slim.
Generally, the design and build of the Xenia Xe are more about simplicity, something you wouldn’t find in many gaming laptops. The all-black color look can only be rivaled by the Blade 15. There only colors looking different from the all-black scheme are the light bar at the front and the backlit keys, and they can both be customized using the software.
Display
The display of the Xenia Xe is good for a gaming laptop. The hardware can reach top frame rates at 1080p. The display is an IPS panel that has a full high definition resolution, and a refresh rate of 144Hz. The Xenia Xe could not attain this level refresh rate when playing AAA games.
Due to the thin bezels on the display, it delivers a sleek look and this contributed to the laptop,s smaller body.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard is quite good and there is hardly an issue about it. It has flat keys and a floating top design, although you might prefer another design this design allows for more travel. The optical actuation allows a satisfying click. According to XPG, this is s mechanical keyboard, although not much like a desktop mechanical keyboard, the keys feel more tactile and clicky than what you will find on most laptops.
Some users might see it as too bouncy and the elevated keytops can be a trap for debris.
The touchpad wasn’t as great as expected during teasing. On some occasions, it was ceasing and hardly responded to touch. You can intentionally disable the touchpad with a double-tap in the top left corner, which will bring a LED indicator and show on screen if it is off or on.
After updating my Windows, the touchpad responded well, and this means it could be a software problem. However, for a laptop in this mold, you do not expect such issues. Apple’s MacBook does much better in this department.
Performance
The Xenia Xe comes with so much power. It begins with Intel’s 2.6GHz Core i7-9750H processor, which is what you will find in most of the top gaming laptops produced within the last year. This is paired with the effective GeForce RTX 2070 GPU from Nvidia to deliver good graphical processing. The storage is 1TB of SSD, and it has 32GB memory. The storage is partitioned, with an 850 GB drive for essential files and a 100GB drive reserved for Windows.
For the price, the value of these parts is pretty decent, especially when you check out the prices of its competitors. For the lesser model from XPG, the major change was the GTX 1660 Ti GPU is used instead of the RTX 2070.
Connectivity
There are enough ports on the Xenia Xe, with some ports being placed at the back, an uncommon occurrence with 15-inch laptops. The single Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port, HDMI connection, an Ethernet jack are all located at the back along with the power jack. The power jack is placed at the back is particularly impressive for situations where you want to place the laptop on your laps – it doesn’t get in the way as much.
The remaining port is a trip of USB 3.1 ports.
Battery life
The battery is quite good as it ran for a considerable number of hours after a full charge. It offers a battery stronger than what you will find in most gaming laptops with such power consuming parts.
Final Verdict
The touchpad issue is one that I will like to confirm on another Xenia Xe laptop to ascertain for sure. Asides from that, it is a good first attempt from XPG and the compactness makes it more appealing. If you’re ready to make the shift you can trade your MacBook for cash with us, and but an Intel machine.
The value it offers is solid and the performance level is as good as expensive gaming machines. We can forgive XPG for the small issues from a first try, but you can get a budget-friendly option in the Zephyrus G14 from Asus that also performs like a high-end gaming laptop.