New 15-inch XMG laptops take on Lenovo's Legion lineup with modern display options and premium materials

[Redaktion]

XMG has launched its latest Fusion 15 and Core 15 gaming laptops, which boast bright, 240 Hz, 16:10 displays alongside the latest Intel Core i9-14900HX and AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS CPUs and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPUs.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/New-15-inch-XMG-laptops-take-on-Lenovo-s-Legion-lineup-with-modern-display-options-and-premium-materials.813290.0.html

[Ednumero]

Refreshing for 15.X" not to imply 16:9.

Also slick the way they fit such a keyboard in.

[RobertJasiek]

16:10 is a great improvement over 16:9 indeed. (Personally, I would even prefer ca. 4:3.)

Previously, too many XMG models had bad keyboard layout with the 4th numpad column missing, two of four dedicated page navigation keys missing, the numpad +- tiny, the numpad +- above the numpad */, and the numpad + aligned with the numpad /. I have criticised this strongly for years. The pictures show a new German keyboard layout, on which I comment now.

It is good that the 4th numpad column is present, the numpad +- have the same size as the numpad */, there is the traditional desktop numpad layout order +-*/ and the arrow keys have normal size and are reached easily. If I see correctly, it is good that power button is not in the keyboard.

It is understandable that the comparatively small notebook sizes combined with the 4th numpad column result in narrow numpad keys. I would not accept this but choose a larger notebook size, however, it is a reasonable layout for this notebook size. The layout of the arrow keys is similar to the Lenovo Legions. In comparison, there are the advantages of normal size instead of only almost normal size, normal space between Up and Down instead of slightly less space, and no haptic bar aids on any arrow key instead of some slightly annoying haptic bar aids there; there are also the not so nice but tolerable caisson for also the arrow keys and also its not so nice but tolerable boundary with a shape just smooth enough not to hurt the fingers while reaching for the arrow keys.

It is an unfortunate general default for German keyboard layout to set the <>| key right of the left shift key so it is understandable that the layout does so. However, for my almost exclusive use of the left (rather than right) shift key, this is a great disadvantage. In the new layout, the right shift key is even ridiculously wide. It would be much better to place the <>| key left of the right shift key so that left and right shift keys would be similarly wide. The other drawback of the layout is the narrow function key row. I cannot know if it is necessary for this notebook size and internal hardware / cooling layout but, for larger notebook models, I want ordinarily sized numpad keys (in 4 columns) and function row keys with the extra possible advantage that then optionally all(!) keys can be mechanical.

After years of continued usage of bad keyboard layouts, the new layout is a significant improvement in the right direction. Especially, for larger notebook models with 16~18", even further layout improvements could be realised. On German keyboard layouts, the short left shift key remains a problem for almost all such keyboards from all manufacturers.

[Neenyah]

Wild fingerprint magnet (or extremely bad and thin Apple-like ABS plastics on keycaps).