Verdict
No different gaming laptop computer gives as a lot high quality and efficiency because the Medion Erazer Main X20 for thus little cash. The Intel Core i9 and RTX 4070 mixture supply really spectacular bang-for-buck efficiency. Brief battery life is the X20’s solely fault.
Professionals
- Terribly good worth
- Sturdy gaming and productiveness efficiency
- Wonderful mechanical keyboard
- Vibrant 240Hz WQXGA show
Cons
- Battery life may be very poor
Introduction
As soon as a cut price bucket model solely to be present in supermarkets, Medion is now establishing itself because the purveyor of some very tasty however inexpensive PCs. Our latest evaluation of the Medion Erazer Beast X40 highlighted the progress Medion has made. The X40 now has a smaller 16-inch brother known as the Medion Erazer Main X20.
The brand new 16-inch laptop computer additionally has such high-end options as a mechanical keyboard and Nvidia’s Superior Optimus, together with a strong Intel Core i9 CPU and an Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU. However, it prices lower than £2000.
To place that into context, Acer’s broadly comparable Predator Helios 16 will set you again £2,799 whereas the Asus ROG Scar Strix 16, broadly considered the state of the gaming laptop computer artwork, will value you £3,399. Each rival gadgets include swanky Mini LED shows however, for the additional money, you’d be forgiven for anticipating that they’ve loads of options and ranges of efficiency method past the brand new Medion however, frankly, they don’t.
Design and Keyboard
- Cherry MX mechanical keyboard
- Good collection of ports
- Understated design and high-quality construct
Just like the X40, the X20 relies on a Tongfang barebones model, on this case, the IDX. That’s why, once more, just like the X40, the design is restrained and generic; black, angular and fairly unremarkable. Flip off the LED lights and nobody would ever realize it’s a gaming laptop computer. At 357 x 269 x 33mm and weighing slightly below 2.4kg, it’s completely common for a 16-inch gaming machine.
A solidly-built affair created from a mix of aluminium and rubber-coated plastic, there’s no extreme flex within the lid and no give or creaks in the primary physique. The underside comes away simply and as soon as inside you’ve quick access to the 2 RAM slots, the 2 PCIe 4 SSD bays, the WLAN card, the 2 followers and the battery.
Scattered across the sides and again, you’ll discover a complete collection of I/O with two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, one USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, a Thunderbolt 4/Sort-C port with DP Alt Mode, a 2.5GBps Ethernet port, an HDMI 2.1 video output, an SD card reader and two 3.5mm hacks, one combo, one mic-in.
The video outputs, the Ethernet port and the DC-in jack are all on the again which helps preserve your desk freed from cable entanglements. Wi-fi coms are bang updated with the Intel AX211 wi-fi card supporting the most recent 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E protocol and Bluetooth 5.2.
The 2022 Medion Erazer Main – the X10 – made do with an ordinary chiclet keyboard however for 2023 Medion has swapped that out in favour of a far superior mechanical keyboard. It makes use of high-quality Cherry MX switches which have a 1.8 mm journey and a clearly audible and exact endpoint. Mix that with a inflexible deck and also you get a superb typing really feel and correct suggestions that makes gaming a pleasure.
The format is inconceivable to fault and the full-size numeric keypad is a boon on a 16-inch laptop computer as are the full-size cursor keys. The facility and efficiency stage buttons sit other than the primary physique of the keyboard above the Pause/Del/Finish keys which is an ideal place to keep away from unintentional urgent.
The keys have an RGB backlight with 4 ranges of brightness and you’ll select from over a dozen pre-set results, one stable color or no matter per-key illumination scheme you like. The management panel that controls the lighting results, and certainly every part else on the X20, is a mannequin of simplicity.
The multi-touch touchpad measures 116 x 72mm and its easy floor makes finger gliding straightforward. The clicking-action is gentle however exact with a transparent strain level. A fast double-tap on the LED within the higher left nook turns the complete pad on or off which is a helpful little characteristic.
Show and Sound
- Vibrant, sharp WXQA IPS with 240Hz refresh fee
- Helps Nvidia G-Sync and Superior Optimus
- Audio system are loud and composed
The show is the weakest hyperlink within the X20’s armour however that’s solely as a result of it’s simply plain good somewhat than in any method distinctive for the value. A typical 2,560 x 1,600 IPS affair it has a great most brightness of 411nits and a great distinction ratio of 1,263:1. As you’ll be able to deduce from the decision, this can be a 16:10 show, a squarer format than 16:9 and one higher suited to gaming or working than watching widescreen video, as a result of thicker black bars that perforce fill the house above and beneath the picture.
The color gamut protection could possibly be higher with 93.9% of the sRGB gamut out there, however solely 68% Adobe RGB and 70.8% DCI-P3. Although, that’s typical of gaming laptops on this value bracket so not a stick with beat the X20 with.
The Medion management panel allows you to fiddle with the show color settings till the cows come house however with the color enhancement characteristic turned off, the panel recorded a Delta-E variance towards the sRGB profile of 1.8 which is comfortably beneath the two at which a educated eye will begin to discover color deviation and nicely beneath 3 at which the untrained eye will spot something amiss.
Movement dealing with is once more good somewhat than excellent. Help for Nvidia’s G-Sync implies that display tearing isn’t a difficulty and the 240Hz refresh fee means the motion strikes alongside very easily. There may be some movement blur to be seen in testing and there’s no overdrive facility to dial it down although I’ve to confess to not noticing it in precise gameplay.
You’ll search in useless for any indication that the X20 is fitted with Superior Optimus, the Nvidia system that acts as an automated multiplexer change however it’s there. Which means you’ll be able to transfer out and in of the discrete GPU mode with out the necessity to reboot Home windows although there may be the standard 2-3 second show freeze because the show system switches between GPUs. For those who want, you’ll be able to put the X20 into everlasting discrete GPU mode by utilizing the MUX change within the Medion management panel.
Medion makes no energy output claims for the speaker system however the X20 is each bit as loud as different laptops on this class, together with some costing far more. The sound high quality is nice with loads of punchy bass and clear element and no distortion even at most quantity ranges.
Efficiency
- Gaming efficiency is excellent for the value
- No thermal throttling and little fan noise
- Productiveness efficiency matches the easiest laptops
You might be unlikely to be upset by any system constructed round an Intel Core i9-13900H CPU, Nvidia RTX 4070 GPU with a TGP of 140W and 8GB of vRAM and 32GB of quad-channel system RAM. As little as 6 months in the past the efficiency the X20 is able to would have been unthinkable in a laptop computer not to mention one with a sub-£2,000 price ticket.
Many individuals, myself included, regard the RTX 4070 because the candy spot within the newest Nvidia GPU lineup. Cheaper than the RTX 4090 and 4080 however with considerably extra cores than the RTX 4060 (4,608 vs 3,072), it’s a completely competent little bit of equipment.
Listed below are the body charges from some Triple-A video games performed at 2,560 x 1,600 on the highest particulars ranges, ray tracing set to the utmost and no upscaling tech engaged: Returnal scored 55fps, Metro: Exodus got here in at 39fps, Cyberpunk 2077 managed 46fps and, lastly, Borderlands 3 at 79fps.
There’s loads of headroom to up the body fee on actually demanding titles; drop the decision to FullHD and change DLSS to balanced and Metro: Exodus jumps to 75fps and Cyberpunk 2077 to 84fps. Laptops operating on Nvidia’s RTX 4080 and 4090 GPUs can do higher however for my part, not by sufficient to justify their additional value.
Turning to the artificial benchmarks you’ll see that the X20 provides nothing away to the Asus ROG Scar Strix 16, a laptop computer costing £1,400 extra.
Within the Cinebench R23 take a look at the X20 really beat the Asus by 25,321 to 25,152 whereas within the PCMark 10 and Geekbench 5 assessments, the Asus solely scraped a victory by 8,609 factors to eight,359 within the former and 19,266 to 19,001 within the latter. In on a regular basis use, the X20 is each bit as quick because the Scar Strix 16 and I can consider no greater accolade.
Medion boasts that the X20 encompasses a “liquid steel thermal compound for processor and graphics card”. No matter that truly entails it definitely works as a result of thermal administration is excellent with little exterior warmth generated, no throttling and fewer fan noise than you’d anticipate from a laptop computer with this stage of efficiency. When the followers run at full gallop the sound they generate is extra of a whoosh than a roar.
My evaluation pattern got here with a 1TB Phison SSD which returned sequential learn speeds of seven.0GB/sec and write speeds of 5.0GB/sec. That’s fairly darned fast for a laptop computer with this price ticket.
Battery life
- The battery may be very small for a gaming laptop computer
- Even with cautious use, 3 hours is the perfect you’ll get
As quickly as I noticed the capability of the X20’s battery my coronary heart sank. 62.3Wh is a pitifully low capability for a gaming laptop computer or, certainly, any laptop computer with such power-hungry parts. The PCMark 10 Workplace take a look at managed to empty the battery in 1 hour 45, which is de facto low. For those who fireplace up a sport, you’ll be able to scale back that determine to lower than half-hour. Flip the show brightness proper down and change off every part non-essential, you’ll be able to nearly eke out 3 hours from a cost however that’s it.
It’s disappointing however this can be a laptop computer with high-end gaming prioritised above all else so, in case you’re spending £2,000 on this gadget, know that it’s made for being plugged into energy nearly the entire time to get the perfect out of its parts.
Newest offers
Do you have to purchase it?
Immense gamer energy at a stunningly affordable value
On the danger of repeating myself, the efficiency that the Medion Erazer Main X20 delivers for the value is excellent. In terms of productiveness, the X20 can match the far dearer Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 and, despite the fact that, the Asus has an edge in gaming prowess, due to its RTX 4080 GPU, I’d argue that the distinction is under no circumstances proportional to the distinction in value.
Poor battery life and a much less well-known model
There are solely two causes to not purchase the X20. Firstly the battery life is poor even for a gaming laptop computer so if you need one thing to make use of away from an influence provide then it’s not the laptop computer for you. The opposite motive is the model. Simply as some individuals won’t ever purchase a Skoda Octavia over a dearer Audi A3 or VW Golf regardless of them being in some ways the identical, some folks will all the time pay a premium for the Alienware or ROG badge.
Remaining Ideas
If anybody got here as much as me and requested me to suggest a high-end gaming laptop computer the Medion Erazer Main X20 is now what I’d recommend. Efficiency is extraordinarily spectacular whatever the value and the keyboard and speaker system can maintain their very own towards the perfect available on the market.
For those who think about different good 16-inch gaming laptops like Acer’s Predator Helios 16 and the Asus ROG Scar Strix 16 they provide efficiency benefits which can be marginal at finest and neither has a keyboard that may contact the Medion. Sure, they’ve Mini LED shows however I’ve but to be satisfied that this can be a must-have characteristic on a gaming laptop computer that instructions a value premium.
As a value-for-money proposition, the Medion Erazer Main X20 has no equal and, battery life apart, no weaknesses or faults price mentioning. If I had £3,000 to spend on a gaming laptop computer, I’d spend £2,000 on the Medion and take a vacation to someplace unique with the change.
How we take a look at
Each laptop computer we evaluation goes by means of a collection of uniform checks designed to gauge key issues together with construct high quality, efficiency, display high quality and battery life.
These embrace formal artificial benchmarks and scripted assessments, plus a collection of real-world checks, equivalent to how nicely it runs in style apps.
We used as our fundamental laptop computer for a minimum of every week.
Examined the efficiency by way of each benchmark assessments and real-world use.
We examined the display with a colorimeter and real-world use.
We examined the battery with a benchmark take a look at and real-world use.
FAQs
It’s now. As soon as upon a time within the UK Medion was recognized for its entry-level laptops that have been typically offered in supermarkets however lately it has began to maneuver away from that bargain-basement market and is now bringing the dearer PCs that it sells in Germany into the UK. The 2023 X20 and X40 fashions are the perfect examples of this variation in market positioning.
Although a German-registered firm Medion is an entirely owned subsidiary of Lenovo, one of many world’s premier PC makers. Lenovo accomplished the takeover of Medion in June 2011 and it was the Chinese language OEM’s largest takeover because it purchased IBM’s PC enterprise 6 years earlier.
PCMark 10
Cinebench R23 – multi core
Cinebench R23 – single core
Geekbench 5 single core
Geekbench 5 multi core
Geekbench 6 single core
Geekbench 6 multi core
3DMark Time Spy
CrystalDiskMark Learn velocity
Brightness (SDR)
Black stage
Distinction
sRGB
Adobe RGB
DCI-P3
PCMark Battery (workplace)
Borderlands 3 body fee (Quad HD)
Borderlands 3 body fee (Full HD)
Horizon Zero Daybreak body fee (Quad HD)
Horizon Zero Daybreak body fee (Full HD)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Quad HD)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Full HD + RT)
Returnal (Quad HD)
Returnal (Full HD)
