With the new CORE 16 gaming notebook, XMG brings the AMD Zen 4 architecture to its simple “undercover gaming notebook”.
The core of the CORE 16 is based on the Ryzen 7 7840HS, which is a very powerful high-end CPU from AMD. However, this is combined with an “up to RTX 4070” graphics card.
At first glance, this sounds absolutely excellent! Let’s take a look at whether the combination of the current AMD CPU and Nvidia GPU is convincing. What about the case and the display?
At this point, many thanks to XMG for providing the CORE 16 for this test.
The XMG CORE 16 in the test
XMG promotes its CORE series as “undercover gaming” notebooks. Its case is correspondingly very simple, which is also the case with the CORE 16.
We have a simple black case, which is made from a mix of plastic and metal.
At 22.3 to 29.6 mm (measured) thick, the notebook is not overly slim, but not too thick either. The same applies to the weight, which was 2.39 kg for my model.
Certainly not a super compact notebook, but suitable considering the advertised performance.
The same applies to the processing and feel. This is certainly not the most delicate notebook, but it is solidly made.
When it comes to connections, we find solid equipment.
1x headphone output 1x microphone input 2x USB 3.1 Gen 2 10 Gbit 1x USB 2.0 1x USB C 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbit 1x HDMI 2.1 1x DisplayPort 1x Gbit LAN 1x SD card reader
For an AMD notebook, this is completely appropriate! I’m particularly pleased with the SD card reader. The USB 2.0 port is a bit “strange”, but it is completely sufficient for a mouse etc.
Perhaps a second USB C port, perhaps even with USB 4, would have been nice, but the connectivity is generally good.
Display
The CORE 16 has a 16-inch display with 2560 x 1600 pixels resolution (16:10) and 240 Hz refresh rate.
This makes the display on paper ideal for a modern gaming notebook. With 2560 x 1600 pixels it is more than sufficiently sharp and 240 Hz is a great refresh rate.
Subjectively, the display also looks good to very good! There’s nothing to complain about here.
I was able to determine the following measurements:
99% sRGB
74% AdobeRGB
75% DCI-P3
350.5 cd/m² brightness
1050:1 Contrast
A wild keyboard, with Cherry MX ULP switches
The CORE 16’s keyboard is something special. This relies on Cherry MX ULP switches.
So we have a real mechanical keyboard here, with tactile and “clickie” characteristics.
First of all, this is not a quiet notebook when typing! Each key makes a clear “click” when pressed. This is also clearly noticeable.
This means that typing on the XMG CORE 16 is completely different than on a normal notebook.
Better? Worse? It’s hard to say, I would probably prefer a normal keyboard for just typing. Even though this “mechanical” notebook keyboard is a lot better than previous attempts at a mechanical notebook keyboard.
I really like the precise trigger point for gaming.
In short, the keyboard is not bad, but it takes a lot of getting used to! Alternatively, XMG also offers the notebook with a normal keyboard. To be honest, I would choose the regular keyboard.
Solides Trackpad
The CORE 16’s trackpad is comparatively small, even compared to other XMG notebooks.
However, the tracking is good and the pressure feeling is good. So what we have here is a slightly above-average trackpad.
speaker
The speakers are never the big strength of XMG notebooks. The Core 16’s speakers are also average at best.
These are OK, they’re loud enough and sound usable, but you’ll find better speakers even in thin notebooks like Dell’s XPS models.
Just don’t expect anything special here, the speakers are acceptable, nothing more and nothing less.
Performance of the CORE 16
The XMG CORE 16 has the following technical data:
AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS
Nvidia RTX 4060 oder Nvidia RTX 4070
2x SO-DIMM DDR5 Slots (bis zu 96GB)
2x NVME SSD Slots
At the core we have the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS, which also uses the Zen 4 architecture. This is not the case with all Ryzen 7000 CPUs!
Ryzen 7 7840HS = Zen 4
Ryzen 7 7745HX = Zen 4
Ryzen 7 7735HS = Zen 3+
Ryzen 7 7730U = Zen 3
Yes, it can be a bit confusing because there are AMD Ryzen 7000 series notebook CPUs with three different architectures.
However, the XMG Core 16 uses the latest architecture. There is also an optional RTX 4060 or RTX 4070. These can absorb up to 115W + 25W of power. These always have 115W available, optionally up to 25W can be “added”, depending on the CPU load and performance settings.
Speaking of performance settings, the CORE 16 has 3 of them. These change the performance of the notebook massively!
In “Overboost” mode, the CPU can draw up to 80W of power with a pure CPU load! In enthusiast mode up to 54W and in balanced mode up to 35W.
The maximum clock speed of the CPU also fluctuates accordingly.
I did the following benchmarks in overboost mode!
This all looks extremely good! In “overboost” mode, the CORE 16 clearly offers the highest CPU performance that I have ever seen in a notebook.
This is also confirmed in the Handbrake test, where I converted a 4K video into another format. This is a fairly everyday test, which is also comparatively long.
But here too, the CORE 16 shows itself strongly with high, consistent performance.
Gaming Performance
The CORE 16 is of course a gaming notebook. So let’s at least take a look at a few benchmarks, both at Full HD resolution and at 2K resolution.
2K
AVG
MIN
Total War Warhammer 3 (Ultra)
59
45
Tiny Tinas Wonderlands (Ultra)
79
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Ultrahoch)
78
43
Assassins Creed Odyssey (Extrem hoch)
67
26
Hogwarts Legacy (Ultra / ohne RT / Hogsmeade)
88
30
Baldurs Gate 3 (Ultra / die Senke)
84
38
Full HD
AVG
MIN
Total War Warhammer 3 (Ultra)
99
76
Tiny Tinas Wonderlands (Ultra)
115
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Ultrahoch)
88
46
Assassins Creed Odyssey (Extrem hoch)
87
26
Hogwarts Legacy (Ultra / ohne RT / Hogsmeade)
90
39
Baldurs Gate 3 (Ultra / die Senke)
103
43
That looks really good! In my test, 2K resolution + Ultra graphics settings were enough for 60 FPS + in all games (without RT). However, significantly higher frame rates are achieved in most games.
In this little comparison we can also see how powerful the RTX 4070 is! This is a more than capable GPU, especially with the high power limits.
volume
The volume of the XMG CORE 16 varies somewhat depending on the mode and of course depending on what you are doing with it.
The notebook is practically always inaudible when idle or on the desktop. The fans in the notebook turn up comparatively late and only slightly.
In games it depends somewhat on the mode. In overboost mode, the fans turn up quite a bit and the notebook becomes clearly audible. However, even in this mode, the CORE 16 remains a moderately loud gaming notebook.
In the other two modes, especially in balanced mode, the notebook is very quiet even in games!
Strong battery!
Normally, battery life doesn’t play a particularly important role in XMG gaming notebooks. However, the XMG CORE 16 has a 99Wh battery! This is the maximum size for a standard notebook battery.
However, what does the CORE 16 do with this powerful battery?
As usual, it depends on your usage. With pure video playback (half display brightness, few background applications, WiFi active) the CORE 16 scratches the 8 hour limit!
This is a very significant value! The same applies to office applications/light web browsers. Here we vary between 6-7 hours in practice.
However, you have to pay some attention to background applications etc. The runtime of the CORE 16 drops significantly with a little more load. The same also applies to gaming, where you can expect +- 1 hour and significantly reduced clock speeds. But this is common with gaming notebooks.
The runtime of +- 6-8 hours in normal everyday applications, however, is exceptional.
Conclusion
The XMG CORE 16 is a comparatively unspectacular gaming notebook, which I don’t mean in a negative way.
This offers “pure” performance, high power limits and competent cooling, without any big bells and whistles.
The case in particular is quite classic. It’s neither overly thin nor overly thick, but it’s well built and has plenty of ports.
The display, in turn, is a beautiful 2K panel with 240 Hz. A perfect choice for a modern gaming notebook. The RTX 4070 is easily able to drive this display well in modern games, even with “ultra” quality.
But the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS is also incredibly powerful, especially thanks to its very high power limits (up to 80W in overboost mode)! Purely from the CPU side, this is the most powerful notebook I have ever had in my hands.
What’s not to like about the CORE 16? The speakers are rather thin, the trackpad is average and the keyboard with Cherry MX ULP switches takes a lot of getting used to!
The latter are generally not bad, especially when gaming, but they are a bit too loud for me. I would prefer the keyboard with normal buttons.
There are further plus points in terms of support and “repairability”. XMG has excellent support, RAM and SSDs can be upgraded and the battery is also easy to replace.
In short, as the name suggests, the CORE 16 is a high-performance but otherwise “simple” gaming notebook. If that’s what you’re looking for, top performance, modern hardware, good display, then you’ll definitely be happy here.
POSITIVE
Excellent CPU performance
Excellent GPU performance
Good battery life
Good display
Solid workmanship
Good support from the manufacturer
High power limits! (up to 80W)
NEGATIVE
Trackpad quite small
Speakers mixed