Incredible bulk
Chillblast has focused on solid specifications and value for money to make this laptop stand out from the crowd. At first glance, it’s a stunning package for £850 – its Core i7-12700H processor, GeForce GTX 1650 graphics and 1TB SSD wipe the floor with other sub-£1,000 laptops, as well as a few that cost more, such as the Acer TravelMate P6 reviewed opposite.
This doesn’t mean the Apollo outperformed its main rivals in all our speed tests, however. We’ve seen the Huawei MateBook 14s (£1,100 from www. snipca.com/44690, reviewed Issue 650) and our current favourite laptop the Acer Swift 3 14in (£999 from www.snipca. com/44367, see Issue 650) produce better results from 12th-generation i7 processors and run Windows faster.
It might have helped had the installed 16GB of memory been split across the two available sockets on the motherboard rather than limited to one. This does, however, make it easy to upgrade to 32GB at a later date if required. There’s also a spare SSD slot if you find that 1TB is not enough for your storage needs.
The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics hardware means the Apollo offers playable frame rates in most games, including Microsoft Flight Simulator. We tested it with the Shadow of the Tomb Raider game at high settings, which – with average frame rates of 50fps and its 144Hz refresh rate – looked genuinely slick.
You can’t expect comprehensive colour coverage at this price, however, and the Apollo’s screen looks pale compared with the very best available, with only 53 per cent coverage of the sRGB standard.
The keyboard is functional rather than enjoyable to use. The keys have an unsatisfying feel, and we found ourselves making numerous typing errors because of its awkward layout. We welcome the inclusion of a number pad, however.
The trackpad is tiny so you may choose to fill one of the two USB 3.0 ports (one on either edge) by connecting a mouse. There’s mixed news regarding the other connections: Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI and a full-size SD card slot are all positives, but the single USB-C port isn’t Thunderbolt 4-compatible.
You’ll need to use the hefty DC power supply to keep this laptop charged, and along with its 2.1kg bulk and hefty design it definitely isn’t designed for life on the move. This is underlined by the battery-life scores, which won’t get you much past four hours of use.
SPECIFICATIONS
Fourteen-core Intel Core i7-12700H processor • 16GB memory • Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 graphics • 15.6in 1920x1080-pixel IPS screen • 1
