Introduction

Laptop computers have always been the portable workhorses of every business professional on the go, whether working on complex files or making a presentation. But when the pandemic hit several years ago and forced many people to work remotely from home, laptop computers became indispensable for communicating and conducting business. Thanks to their portability, the built-in camera, microphones and speakers, laptops were being increasingly used to hold group conferences and individual meetings, as well as to socialize with friends from any room in the house or apartment and from anywhere in the world. 

It also quickly became apparent that not all laptops’ audio-visual performances were the same in the newly important area of videoconferencing. Even some laptops with the best cameras, displays and audio equipment were facing performance challenges. 

In 2023, our engineers developed a protocol that incorporates three areas of DXOMARK’s testing expertise—camera, display, and audio. Based on DXOMARK’s renowned rigorous protocols that combine laboratory testing with daily-life testing, this initial Laptop protocol focuses on the device’s performance during a video call and when listening to music or watching video. 

The numerous uses and specifications for a laptop can make choosing the right one for your needs confusing and overwhelming. There is a lot to consider when buying a laptop. In addition to the operating system, processor, and storage, DXOMARK believes that performance in video calling and multimedia should be a priority consideration. 

Learn more about our Use Cases

Camera

DXOMARK evaluates the video quality of the built-in camera during video calls, including professional calls in an office or meeting room environment and personal calls in a home environment. 

Face exposure evaluation is the main aspect assessing the ability of the built-in camera to clearly render human faces during a video call (within static as well as dynamic conditions during changing lighting environments). 

Other intrinsic image quality attributes are also evaluated:

Color

Does the camera reproduce color accurately? A particular focus is on the skin-tone rendering of the subject. Various skin-tone types are evaluated. 

Texture

Does the camera preserve small and fine details in the image, particularly on the subject’s facial features, such as visible freckles or a beard, and the background?

Noise

How much noise is present in the video, particularly in scarce lighting conditions, where the amount of noise can rapidly increase?

Artifacts

Are there any undesirable and unnatural effects appearing on the image, such as distortion?

We also evaluate a feature specific to video calls: full duplex/double-talk capabilities. This is linked to the laptop’s ability to handle bi-directional audio signals, such as when two people speak at the same time during a video call.

Audio

DXOMARK evaluates the audio quality of the laptop in multiple use cases: doing video calls, watching videos, or listening to music, along 3 main aspects: Playback, Capture & Duplex. 

When looking at video calls, it particularly focuses on the assessment of voice intelligibility. Voice intelligibility, in capture and playback, is one of the main aspects that we evaluate in the audio experience of video calls. We assess whether the voices in the call from either one person or several people are clearly captured by the laptop’s microphones and then clearly played back via the laptop’s speakers. Noise reduction in capture is another important aspect that is evaluated to see whether the subject’s voice has been isolated and whether background noise has been removed. 

When watching videos or listening to music, in our evaluations, we focus on the fidelity of the sound to the movie’s content, and on the audio quality of music playback through the laptop speakers. 

Other intrinsic audio quality attributes are evaluated for both capture and playback.

Timbre

In video calls, it looks for good midrange and treble rendition to ensure faithful rendering of voice timbre.

While watching videos or listening to music, we evaluate the ability to render the correct frequency response. A good tonal balance will bring an even distribution between bass, mid and high frequencies.

Dynamics

In video calls, it looks for a good signal-to-noise ratio in the capture part, as well as sharp voice plosives in playback and capture. 

While watching videos or listening to music, we evaluate the ability to render sharpness of impacts and to convey punch. 

Spatial

In video calls, it looks for good perceived distance and localizability, which contributes to good intelligibility when multiple people are on the call. 

While watching videos or listening to music, we evaluate the ability to render the multichannel scene in an immersive yet realistic way. 

Volume

In video calls, we evaluate the device’s capability to capture and play sound at a satisfying volume. 

While watching videos or listening to music, we evaluate the perceived loudness in playback. 

Artifacts

In video calls, we evaluate whether capture, duplex, and playback are free of artifacts, such as gating or voice distortions, which would impair the intelligibility of speech.

While watching videos or listening to music, we evaluate the presence of accidental or unwanted sounds (like distortion or pumping) resulting from a device’s design or tuning. 

We also evaluate a feature specific to video calls: full duplex/double-talk capabilities. This is linked to the laptop’s ability to handle bi-directional audio signals, such as when two people speak at the same time during a video call. 

Display

We evaluate the display rendering quality in 2 use cases: video calls or watching videos along 3 main aspects: HDR, SDR as well as Readability. 

Readability

Screen readability is one of the main aspects that we evaluate in the laptop display experience, no matter the lighting conditions. We assess the ease and comfort of viewing the displayed images during a video call indoors, or while watching a movie with the focus on: 

  • Screen brightness and contrast: we measure the screen’s minimum and maximum brightness levels in an indoor environment; 
  • Reflectance: we measure how much of the surrounding light is reflected by the device, therefore affecting the viewing experience.
    SDR video performance 

SDR video performance

We evaluate the display’s brightness, contrast, as well as the tone mapping, which assesses the rendering of the details from dark tones to highlights, which should be as close as possible to the original subject. 

HDR video performance

HDR video performance HDR is tested when the laptop is compatible. We pay particular attention to the display rendering and verify whether it respects the original artistic intent of the filmmaker. 

We measure: 

  • Brightness and contrast, particularly in indoor and low-light environments 
  • Gamma and EOTF, which evaluates the laptop’s capability to render details in dark areas as well as highlights 
  • Screen color range, which evaluates the color rendering for HDR video contents. 

What we also Test

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