Buying guide ultrabooks: XMG EVO, SCHENKER VIA 14 Pro, SCHENKER KEY 14

Modern ultrabooks combine two key features: The light and slim laptops are not only mobile, but thanks to the latest components and technologies they are also highly powerful. With XMG EVO 14, XMG EVO 15, SCHENKER VIA 14 Pro and SCHENKER KEY 14 models, we currently offer four different ultraportable devices in this area. This article provides an overview of the strengths and ideal use cases for these ultrabooks.

Similarities and differences between our ultrabooks

The ultrabooks of XMG EVO, SCHENKER VIA and SCHENKER KEY series offer numerous similarities and some fundamental differences.

Similarities

• High-quality chassis
• High-resolution displays
• Solid input devices
• Extensive range of I/O ports:
  • 2x USB-C and 2x USB-A
  • Full-size HDMI
  • DisplayPort via USB-C
• Can be charged via USB-C
• Options for SSD upgrades
• Biometric login via Windows Hello
• Powerful cooling systems, quiet at low load
• Potentially long battery life thanks to power-efficient CPU platforms

Differences

• KEY 14 uses a dedicated NVIDIA graphics card and is therefore also VR-compatible. The other three ultrabooks only use the integrated graphics unit inside the CPU – less powerful, but much more efficient.
• The RAM in VIA 14 Pro is faster and more efficient, but cannot be upgraded after purchase. KEY 14 and XMG EVO series support up to 96 GB upgradeable memory.
• VIA 14 Pro offers neither USB4, nor Thunderbolt, nor an Ethernet (LAN) port, but it is the lightest of all four devices when the weight of the charger is taken into account.
• KEY 14 only has a single SSD slot. XMG EVO and VIA 14 Pro have two slots: In VIA 14 Pro these are only single-sided, in XMG EVO they support double-sided SSDs. This affects the maximum SSD upgrade capacity.
• XMG EVO has a slightly higher CPU performance than the other two series. This has some effects on multi-core rendering, e.g. Blender or software-based video encoding.
• The iGPU in the Intel models already supports AV1 encoding in hardware and 8K monitors via DisplayPort 2.1 with DP80.

Other differences include display brightness, opening angle, card reader, the presence of a numeric keypad (only on EVO 15) and, of course, design-based factors such as the colour of the chassis.

Overview

This table provides a complete overview of the four ultrabooks:

Complete spec sheets and configuration options are available on the respective product pages:

• SCHENKER KEY 14
• SCHENKER VIA 14 Pro
• XMG EVO 14
• XMG EVO 15

Performance comparison: iGPU vs. dGPU

A fundamental difference between the KEY 14 and the other ultrabooks is that KEY 14 is equipped with a dedicated graphics card (dGPU). This makes the SCHENKER KEY 14 a particularly compact powerhouse, including compatibility with VR headsets. On the other hand, a dGPU is no longer a “must have” requirement for gaming, content creation, or high-bandwidth display connections. Integrated graphics units (iGPU) in modern CPUs have significantly improved in recent years, offering strong performance in these areas.

Features

• Just like dGPUs, iGPUs can address up to four displays separately.
• The maximum resolution via USB-C or DisplayPort 1.4 is identical between the NVIDIA dGPU and AMD iGPU, while the iGPU from Intel even outperforms NVIDIA by the introduction of DisplayPort 2.1.
• dGPUs have faster memory – but this is limited in capacity. iGPUs can take up to 16 GB from the CPU’s system memory. And that system memory has also become significantly faster since the introduction of two channels per DIMM in DDR5.
• The computing power of current iGPUs is roughly on a par with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 laptop GPU, which in turn is not far off an RTX 3050. However, a system with an iGPU consumes significantly less energy than a system with a dGPU when delivering similar performance.

Performance

Below we show two performance comparisons between different iGPUs and dGPUs. In addition to the usual 3DMark benchmark, we have selected a number of older and newer games to cover as wide a range of scenarios as possible.

Notes:

• The bar chart shows the relative performance of all GPUs compared to the iGPU in AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS, which represents the base value of “1 X” here. The horizontal axis indicates multiplication factors: “2 X” means a doubling of the FPS compared to the “1 X” base value.
• The results come from the Notebookcheck database (average FPS) and are based on reviews of XMG and SCHENKER systems. For graphics cards for which there are no XMG/SCHENKER reviews (e.g. GeForce MX450 or Radeon 7600M XT), the values correspond to the average of the upper quarter of the results – i.e. from systems with sufficiently high power limits.
• The specifications “High” and “Medium” refer to graphics profiles at Notebookcheck in the resolution 1920×1080 – the scaling of the performance can be transferred to higher resolutions to some extent.
• The selection of games covers a wide range of older and newer titles.
• The settings are selected in such a way that bottlenecks in CPU performance and video memory are largely avoided. Exceptions: Baldur’s Gate 3 on the GeForce MX450 already reaches the VRAM limit in the “Medium” profile. The results of Dota 2 Reborn and Total War Pharaoh on RTX 4060/4070 are most likely CPU-limited – these would scale better at higher resolutions.
• There is no reference value for Total War Pharaoh on the GeForce MX450 in Notebookcheck – therefore the bar is missing there. The RTX 2050 also performed relatively poorly on the RTX 2050 with 4GB of video memory in Total War Pharaoh, based on a single result in Notebookcheck’s database (with i7-1355U). Take this with a grain of salt, as it might be an outlier.
• The values for The Witcher 3 are based on the original version, before the major “Next-Gen Update” (Patch 4.0) of late 2022.
• All the values shown (except for Baldur’s Gate 3 on the MX450) are in the “playable” range with at least 30 FPS on average. Examples: the iGPUs of the Intel Core 7 155H and AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS achieve approx. 30 FPS in Baldur’s Gate 3 (1080p Medium), approx. 50 FPS in The Witcher 3 (1080p High) and over 80 FPS in Dota 2 Reborn (1080p High).
• The relatively poor scaling of the Intel iGPU in GTA V is not an outlier on the XMG EVO – similar values are also recorded on other systems with Intel Core Ultra (Series 1). This shows that the actual performance (apart from standard benchmarks) always depends on the game. However, that value represents about 44 FPS on 1080p High, so it is still within the playable range and can probably be improved with manual adjustments to the graphics settings.

While the available data is sparse for some of the less prominent GPUs, the comparison provides a pretty realistic impression of what performance you can expect with each GPU in standard resolutions and graphics profiles. It also shows that the scaling in 3DMark cannot always be transferred 1:1 to all games.

Overall, the iGPU units in XMG EVO are usually faster than dedicated graphics cards such as the GeForce MX450, GTX 970M or GTX 1050 Ti, and usually only just below a GTX 1650 and RTX 2050. Even newer graphics cards such as the RTX 3050 are almost matched in certain games – for example, the game Total War Pharaoh (1080p High) averages nicely at 60 FPS with both the RTX 3050 and the iGPUs in the XMG EVO.

Granted, up-to-date mid-range GPUs such as the RTX 4060 and RTX 4070 in SCHENKER KEY 14 are still well beyond the capabilities of any iGPU. In comparison, we see a doubling or even quadrupling of the average frame rates in gaming on RTX 4060/4070. However, this increased performance is also accompanied by higher power consumption – this is sometimes disadvantageous in terms of fan noise, battery life and mobility. These factors are explained in more detail in the following paragraph.

Battery life and mobility

Ultrabooks without any dGPU have a number of significant, systemic advantages:

• They carry less weight around with them, thanks to the lack of dGPU components and the correspondingly leaner cooling system.
• They require less powerful AC adapters (chargers), which are therefore also slimmer and lighter.
• They offer stable and usable 3D performance in battery mode and also enable this over longer periods of time, making light gaming on battery an actual practicality.
• There is no loss of performance when using 100 watt AC adapters. This means that the runtimes can be extended even further by using laptop-compatible power banks in high-performance scenarios.
• There is no risk of losing battery life in office or web mode just because some misbehaving software or insufficient driver keeps the dGPU permanently awake (see FAQ article).

The latter in particular is an essential “peace of mind” factor: with a laptop that has no dGPU, there is simply more certainty that battery life will not be undermined by random software issues. Laptops with iGPU therefore need less “micro management” – you don’t have to think about whether you need to switch the MUX switch back to iGPU or configure NVIDIA Optimus when on the move.

The same efficiency advantage also applies to fan control: A system that draws less power in idle or under low to medium load will also expose lower fan speeds while still keeping interiors and surfaces cool.

Summary

XMG EVO 14 and EVO 15 as well as SCHENKER KEY 14 and VIA 14 Pro are versatile ultrabooks with plenty of power. However, they have different focuses and therefore address different user groups. So what are the specific advantages of the individual models?

As a power ultrabook in an elegant aluminium chassis, the XMG EVO series combines the very high CPU performance of either AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS or Intel Core Ultra 7 155H with large batteries, bright, high-resolution and true-colour displays as well as extensive connectivity. This is why both the ultra-compact, lightweight XMG EVO 14 and the slightly larger XMG EVO 15 with its full-size keyboard can be upgraded with additional features such as an eGPU. However, the efficient iGPUs from AMD or Intel already deliver more than enough performance for Content Creation or entry-level gaming. In addition, RAM and M.2 SSDs are socketed instead of soldered, so both laptops can be easily upgraded after purchase.

Configure now: XMG EVO 14 (M24)
Configure now: XMG EVO 15 (M24)

  The SCHENKER VIA 14 Pro, on the other hand, is the first choice when it comes to maximum portability, as the slim ultrabook, including its charger, is even a little lighter than the very compact XMG EVO 14. This is made possible by slightly lower power limits on the AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS with only a minor difference in real-world performance. VIA 14 Pro also integrates a high-resolution, bright and true-colour display and offers two M.2 slots for upgradeable SSDs. However, the RAM is always a fixed 32 GB LPDDR5X-6400 – although this cannot be upgraded, it works faster and more efficiently than conventional SO-DIMM. Designed exclusively for ultraportability, VIA 14 Pro is not compatible with eGPUs, but like the XMG EVO series, it uses a fast, modern iGPU to accelerate Content Creation and video workloads, which is also suitable for entry-level gaming.

Configure now: SCHENKER VIA 14 Pro (M24)

The SCHENKER KEY 14 is by far the most powerful 14-inch ultrabook in our portfolio – it is the only model with a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 or RTX 4060. These fast GPUs score highly when gaming in high quality settings and resolutions, in VR use-cases or in GPU-accelerated, professional content creation scenarios. On the flip side, KEY 14 with Intel Core Ultra 7 155H is naturally somewhat heavier and the chassis is slightly thicker than the iGPU-based models: all of this power requires adequate cooling. Nevertheless, KEY 14 remains a compact and, in relation to its performance, a relatively lightweight ultrabook. Upgradeable RAM, the M.2 SSD slot, many I/O ports and a high-resolution, true-colour display round off its feature set.

Configure now: SCHENKER KEY 14 (M24)

Appendix: Upgradeability via external GPU

If the performance of a modern iGPU is no longer sufficient, an Ultrabook can be further upgraded using an external graphics card (eGPU) – provided the system has a suitable data port. Connecting an eGPU requires a Thunderbolt or USB4 port with at least 40 Gbps bandwidth. XMG EVO series and SCHENKER KEY 14 have such a connection – SCHENKER VIA 14 Pro does not.

eGPUs have their own power supply and cooling system. They usually use a large chassis to accommodate a full-fledged, upgradeable desktop GPU – but some brands have also shown more compact and portable solutions with a permanently installed GPU chip, similar to the dGPU solutions in gaming notebooks.

Even the most compact eGPUs are at least twice as fast as the iGPUs in modern laptop CPUs and the larger eGPU boxes can be significantly faster depending on the graphics card installed. Thanks to the standardisation of USB4 and Thunderbolt, eGPUs are generally compatible with all laptops that support these standards, regardless of the brand. An eGPU can be added or removed without restarting the system; the corresponding GPU driver only needs to be installed once.

The 40 Gigabit/s (via PCIe) of Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 interfaces are considered a bottleneck when connecting an eGPU to a laptop. This is particularly noticeable when gaming in lower resolutions (1080p, 1440p) or at low to medium graphics settings. This performance impact is due to the high number of “draw calls” that have to be communicated between the CPU and eGPU at high FPS rates. However, with high resolutions (thus lower FPS) or professional applications such as CUDA, GPU rendering (3D modelling, architecture) or AI training, the port’s limited bandwidth is less of an obstacle. The use of DLSS 3 with frame generation also reduces the PCIe utilisation per frame, as there is no need to communicate with the CPU for the additionally calculated frames. Depending on the use-case, high-end GPUs up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti can be considered appropriate.

The images rendered on eGPUs can be displayed both on the laptop screen and on an external monitor that is connected directly to the eGPU. The latter is the more efficient method, especially for gaming, as sending the GPU images back to the laptop places an additional load on the limited PCIe bandwidth via USB4 or Thunderbolt: the higher the resolution of the laptop monitor in the game, the higher the load on the PCIe interface. However, in professional applications that utilise the PCIe connection via eGPU to a lesser extent, the display directly on the laptop monitor can still be practical.

We are conducting a current survey on the topic of eGPU:

• eGPU boxes via USB4 and Thunderbolt for iGPU-laptops (2024 survey) [via Google Forms]

We would like to find out how strong the interest in eGPUs currently is among our customers and whether large (upgradeable) or small (portable) solutions are favoured. You can participate in this survey without registration – it only takes a few minutes of your time. We do not ask for any personal data. The survey includes additional explanatory text and sample images of current eGPU solutions. Thank you for your participation!