Asus NovaGo (TP370QL) Review - Review 2022

The Asus NovaGo ($699) feels sturdy and looks stylish, with a generous helping of silver accents, though there'due south trivial to distinguish it on the outside from other notebooks and convertibles from the Taiwanese manufacturer. The but giveaway that this two-in-1 convertible laptop could usher in a revolution in mobile computing is a small sticker below the keyboard that reads "Qualcomm Snapdragon." This is one of the beginning traditional computers to enter PC Labs powered by a Snapdragon 835, the same processor that you lot might find in a modernistic smartphone, which means information technology has first-class battery life and always-on LTE connectivity. Unfortunately, all of that is overshadowed by a significant hurdle: Developers take to make new versions of their apps that are compatible with ARM architecture, upon which the Snapdragon processors are built. If they don't, their apps volition run slowly or not at all, a problem that we experienced over several days of testing the NovaGo. Bottom line: This revolution needs more fourth dimension to foment.

Choose Your Apps Wisely

Microsoft and Qualcomm engineers have taken great pains to make the procedure as seamless equally possible, even making attempts to optimize the Firefox web browser, one of the primary rivals to Edge, for Snapdragon. But the experience nonetheless leaves a lot to be desired. From powering on to launching apps to navigating through resources-intensive simply essential websites like Google Maps, the NovaGo feels slightly sluggish, almost as if you're using an former PC that has accumulated years of fragmentation and bloatware.

To understand why, we need to become technical. About modern Windows apps are built to run on 64-scrap versions of Windows x on Intel processors, which has largely supplanted the x86 (32-bit) architecture of previous operating systems and chip architectures. 64-bit apps won't run on the NovaGo. 32-bit apps volition run, but they require an emulation layer to interpret their instructions into something the ARM architecture understands. This translation procedure makes the apps experience sluggish. Finally, Windows and many default apps that come with it (like the Edge browser) have been redesigned to run natively on the ARM architecture, so those will run the fastest.

The problem is that fifty-fifty these native apps are more sluggish than you might expect. Apps like Border and Photos loaded images and websites at a glacial pace compared with how they run on a automobile with an equivalent Intel processor. Edge even froze completely a handful of times, although it recovered without having to resort to killing it in Chore Manager or restarting the PC.

To quantify the sluggishness, we ran the JetStream browser benchmark using Edge and Firefox on the NovaGo and on two machines with comparable Intel processors: the Core m3-powered Apple MacBook ($934.00 at Amazon) , and a Core i3-powered Dell Latitude 3390. The Asus rang up a score of 22 on Firefox and seventy on Edge; the Apple scored 145 on Firefox; and the Dell achieved 115 on Firefox and 177 on Edge. (Higher scores are better.)

Qualcomm'due south ain testing corroborates this slowdown. The visitor estimates delays of anywhere from a few tenths of a 2d using Border to an amazing 15 seconds or more than when installing apps similar VLC, Skype ($2.99 at Software Advice) , and Adobe Reader.

To compound the NovaGo'south software limitations, it comes with Windows 10 S, which limits you to installing apps only from the Microsoft Store. The good news is that the shop volition tell you if an app is compatible with the NovaGo and which architectures it supports. If you lot switch to Windows 10 Pro (a free, irreversible upgrade for NovaGo owners) to install non-Microsoft Store apps, you'll need to bank check with the programmer to meet if an app is uniform.

The silver lining is that Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Asus are working on improving the software experience, and their efforts appear to be paying off. When I first tried a NovaGo in March 2022, it was borderline unusable. Now, following several firmware and OS updates, the experience is significantly improved. Built-in apps like the Border browser, Microsoft Maps, and Windows Explorer windows at present load well-nigh instantly, and you can even play basic games similar Historic period of Empires with no stuttering. Multitasking and app switching is also smoother, with few instances of spinning loading icons or cursory system freezes, ii annoyances that were initially mutual.

Ever On...Sometimes

Despite the sofware issues, the NovaGo is still a promising laptop that offers three key features, two of which (LTE and bombardment life) work remarkably well, and I'll go to those below. The third, always-on connectivity, is intriguing just a scrap rough effectually the edges.

The idea behind the always-on concept is that as shortly as you lot open the lid and log in to your Windows account, every electronic communication y'all received while you were away (messages, emails, notifications, and the like) are all displayed instantly, without having to wait for the computer to connect to a network and pull them in.

This does work, but it'south not equally seamless equally a smartphone or tablet in i primal manner: There's no like shooting fish in a barrel style to go important notifications when the display is off or the chapeau is closed. I couldn't hear the ringing of video calls fabricated via Facebook Messenger or Skype when the NovaGo was in tablet mode with the screen off, or in laptop style with the lid closed. Yous'll virtually certainly carry both a NovaGo and a smartphone with you, and then this is not too much of a trouble, but it'due south something to be enlightened of if you're a frequent Skype user.

To make sure that the NovaGo isn't disconnecting from LTE as presently as it goes to sleep, you can set it to never disconnect in the Ability & Sleep section of the Windows Settings app. (The other two options for this setting are "Always disconnect," and a rather cryptic "Managed by Windows.")

An Average 2-in-1

The NovaGo is a pretty standard 13.3-inch laptop, 0.half-dozen inch thick with a full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) bear on display and a 3.06-pound weight. Although it'southward certainly toteable and comparable with other 13-inch convertible models like the Lenovo Yoga 920, it'south heavier than conventional laptops like the LG Gram thirteen (2 pounds) and fifty-fifty its stablemate Asus ZenBook UX330 (2.64 pounds).

The isle-style keyboard is comfortable, and keys have enough of throw, but they take a little scrap of wobble around their centre point, and there's no backlighting. The touchpad works well for both single- and multiple-finger gestures, and there'southward a small fingerprint sensor built into the upper right paw corner of the pad.

Since it'southward a convertible, you tin fold the NovaGo into tent way and all the manner back into tablet way, which turns the keyboard off. On the side are two USB 3.1 ports, an HDMI port, and a microSD card slot. There are no USB-C ports, withal, a glaring omission in 2022 when even many sub-$500 laptops take them.

The NovaGo's sole configuration sold in the United States comes with 6GB of RAM and a 128GB solid-country drive (SSD). This is a bit on the skimpy side for the laptop'south $699 retail cost.

LTE and Bombardment Life for Days

The NovaGo has both eSIM and nanoSIM slots to support its gigabit LTE modem. According to Asus reps, information technology volition take gigabit back up for all four major U.S. networks.

I tested it with both Verizon and T-Mobile service over several days in New York City, a congested warren of competing wireless signals, and the results were impressive. While I never got close to the maximum 1GBps speeds that the modem is capable of, I never recorded unusable speeds, either.

The slowest was in a beneath-footing film theater, where the NovaGo managed 22MBps download and less than 1MBps upload on T-Mobile. Above ground, download speeds were consistently college than 100MBps, while uploads hovered effectually 10MBps. Even in PC Labs, a giant room full of hundreds of wireless devices, the NovaGo recorded 50MBps downwardly and 17MBps on the Verizon network. To measure out speeds, I used the Speedtest tool from Ookla (which is owned past PCMag's parent company, Ziff Davis).

Qualcomm says information technology is working on a driver update for the modem to brand gigabit speeds more reliable. Fifty-fifty if that doesn't end up working out, 100MBps downloads are more than than enough for multiple simultaneous video streams, so most users will detect themselves limited not past bandwidth, just past the sluggishness of the software.

Asus and Qualcomm also claim an incredible 22 hours of battery life nether typical usage scenarios, similar web browsing, Skype calling, and streaming YouTube. Indeed, after a weekend of using the NovaGo for two to 3 hours each solar day, split about equally between streaming video and spider web browsing, I arrived back at PC Labs on Monday morning with 47 percent of the battery remaining. I've never experienced annihilation close to that level of free energy efficiency from a laptop. Fifty-fifty when I left the laptop open overnight in the Always connect mode so it could sync notifications and messages, the battery dropped just 12 percent. Conventional Intel- or AMD-powered laptops that I've left overnight in this state with a full charge, even the long-lasting Apple tree MacBook Pro, were dead in the morning.

What'south even better is that the NovaGo is actually more impressive in this existent-globe scenario than it is on our bombardment-life criterion, a relatively piece of cake test that measures how long a laptop tin can play a local video file at 50 percent brightness with its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned off. The NovaGo managed xix hours and 43 minutes on this examination, which is very long just still shorter than the 22 hours that the Lenovo Yoga 920 managed. Ultimately, I wouldn't expect to charge the NovaGo more than once every three days of casual apply.

Considering the Trade-Offs

Is this get-anywhere LTE speed and long-lasting battery sufficient to make upwards for the imperfect software experience, though? That depends on your patience and how fast Microsoft and Qualcomm make software and firmware improvements.

Although they're slightly more expensive, the Lenovo Yoga 920 convertible and the Asus ZenBook UX330 clamshell are far better laptops, and if you need to connect them to LTE, y'all can e'er tether them to your smartphone. If yous actually want a Snapdragon-powered, ever-on laptop, you can count your options on one manus. In addition to the NovaGo, there's the HP Envy x2 and the Lenovo Miix 630. Both of those are detachable tablets, so in fact the NovaGo is actually your only choice if you lot want a total-size laptop with a relatively comfortable keyboard.

Ultimately, the NovaGo is a machine for people who like to live life on the bleeding border of technology, even if that bleeding edge, in some aspects, tin be rather dull. Everyone else should buy a conventional laptop with an Intel or AMD processor.

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Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/netbooks-products/18536/asus-novago-tp370ql-review

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