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- Impressive processor makes for fast speeds
- Solid keyboard
- Poor battery life
The Fusion Helios 4 is built on a rather bland-looking Clevo chassis but whats inside is anything but generic. The Core i5- 8265U processor is a cut above this months norm, with Turbo speeds up to 3.9GHz, and its supported by a full 16GB of RAM. Thermal throttling kicks in when the workload gets heavy and the Helios 4s overall benchmark score of 81 is strong, rather than exceptional, but for short, focused bursts of activity its a heck of a sprinter. 3D scores are above average for integrated graphics, too.
The final piece of the performance puzzle is a Gigabyte-branded NVMe SSD, with a superb sequential read rate of 1,316MB/sec, and a very creditable 844MB/sec write speed. Uniquely this month, Chillblast has splashed out on a 512GB unit, so you get twice the high-speed storage youll find anywhere else in the Labs.
Chillblast Fusion Helios 4 review: Features
You might expect an off-the-shelf case to come with a mediocre panel, but theres also good news here. The Helios 4s 14in display doesnt support touch, but it pumps out a strident 331cd/m2 with an excellent contrast ratio of 1,334:1. Colour performance is remarkably good too, with 90.6% of the sRGB gamut covered and an excellent average Delta E value of 1.44.
As for connectivity, you get two full-sized USB 3 connectors, and a single USB-C connector at the right, plus a full-sized SD card reader, and both HDMI and mini-DisplayPort outputs. The unused, blocked-off SIM slot cheapens the impression slightly, but its tucked away on the left edge so in everyday use you wont even see it.
Getting work done on the Helios 4 is a pleasure, thanks to a spacious and solid keyboard with a nicely positive action. Sadly, Im less taken by the touchpad: its unnecessarily small, making two-finger vertical scrolling a chore, and the button bar at the bottom has a dead spot in the middle that takes some getting used to.
The one big letdown with this laptop is battery life. It gave me only 4hrs 37mins of video playback, while other systems ran for literally twice as long. Thats a shame because its otherwise a pretty portable machine, weighing only 1.39kg.
Chillblast Fusion Helios 4 review: Verdict
In all, the Helios 4 isnt the most elegant laptop around, but it combines a great screen with more lavish internals than youd expect. If youre more interested in function than fashion and you dont need an all-day battery its an excellent deal.
