HP Pavilion x2 review

REVIEW

The Pavilion x2 10t is a great option for kids or parents who want a cheap device to use at home and on the road. It can be an immersive media tablet, and it's a more-than-capable Web-surfing machine for when you want to do some shopping, check Facebook, or look up a recipe before cooking dinner. Starting at just $250 ($350 as reviewed), HP's affordable 2-in-1 comes in a trio of colors with a solid plastic body, more than 9 hours of battery life, and Bang & Olufsen speakers  The one area in which this hybrid struggles is as a primary writing/typing machine, because of its undersized keyboard. Overall, though, the Pavilion x2 10t feels like a device punching above its weight class.

Design

In white, the HP Pavilion x2 10t looks especially clean and frosty and features a sturdy plastic body, which aside from a little flex on its back, defies its budget price tag. However, if you're not down with the matte white plastic, you can choose from a more traditional turbo silver or bright sunset red for an extra $10. All of the Pavilion x2's controls are located in the top right corner and include buttons for Windows and power, along with volume rocker.

In order to transform the Pavilion x2 from laptop to tablet, all you need to do is grip the display while holding the keyboard in place, and simply lift away. The resistance of the magnets keeping the two halves together is spot on. In laptop mode, I was never concerned about either component randomly separating, but when trying to take them apart, there was no need to really tug or yank. Stability is aided by the addition of two black plastic tabs that slot into grooves on either side of the tablet, which prevents the wobble and rattle you sometimes get on detachable budget 2-in-1s.

Measuring 10.39 x 6.81 x 0.78 inches and weighing 2.62 pounds in laptop mode, the Pavilion x2 is thinner and lighter than competing detachable notebooks such as the Acer Aspire Switch 10E (10.31 x 7.09 x 1.01 inches and 2.82 pounds).

Keyboard and Touchpad

In order to fit a keyboard on the diminutive Pavilion x2's lower half, HP compromised on the size of its keys. I'm generally OK with the half-sized function row on top, but the 11 x 10mm keys are about 25 percent smaller than what you'd get on a typical keyboard with standard 12 x 12mm keys. Even with the relatively standard 1.47 mm key travel and 55 gram actuation weight, typing quickly was a challenge. On 10fastfingers.com's typing test, I managed just 69 words per minute (far short of my typical 70 to 80 wpm average) with an unusually high six typos.

At 3.75 x 1.75 inches, what the touchpad lacks in height, it makes up for in width. Using two-fingers to scroll felt smooth, but I often found that my fingers scrolled right off the touchpad when moving down websites. But when navigating Windows 10, the wide touchpad area gave me more than enough room to move from side to side.

Display

The Pavilion x2 10t's 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 touch screen features wide viewing angles, but looks just average even among its budget competition. That's not to say the Pavilion x2's mediocre color range would stop you from enjoying a movie, but when I watched a trailer for the upcoming DC universe mashup, the deep reds and blues of Superman's iconic costume weren't as bright or vivid as on the pricier Dell Inspiron 11 3000 ($349).

When measured with a light meter, we found that the Pavilion x2 produced 264 nits of brightness. This showing is about equal to the Aspire Switch 10E and visibly brighter than the dim Transformer Book Flip TP200SA (243 nits). The Inspiron 11 3000 hit a brighter 308 nits.

The x2's color range topped out 68 percent of the sRGB spectrum, which is good for a budget machine. The Transformer Book Flip TP 200SA and Aspire Switch 10E were in the same neighborhood, at 69 and 70 percent, although the Inspiron 11 3000 was a good deal more colorful at 81 percent. 

The Pavilion x2 turned in an impressive color accuracy rating of 0.43 (closer to zero is best). The Transformer Book Flip TP 200SA was just a bit better with a rating of 0.3, while the Aspire Switch 10E was pretty much the same at 0.4.

Audio

I really appreciate that HP included Bang & Olufsen tuned speakers on this budget system. The stereo speakers are front-facing, which means the sound gets projected at your face instead of into a desk or bed. This makes for a great listening experience. When I tuned intoBreakbot's "Get Lost," I was instantly grooving to the rich synth-heavy bass and crisp, funky French disco-styled vocals.

Heat

On the Laptop Mag Heat Test, the Pavilion x2 kept cool in every location except one: below and to the left of the HP logo on its back. Most spots reached just 84 degrees after streaming 15 minutes of HD video, but that one hotspot reached 109 degrees, which is a good deal above our traditional 95-degree comfort threshold. It's not a deal breaker, but if you're used to holding devices in your right hand, don't be surprised when it gets a little sweaty. 

Ports and Webcam

The Pavilion x2 embraces both current and next-gen connectivity with one traditional USB 2.0 port and one reversible USB Type-C port. The USB Type-C port also doubles as the power jack, so when the rest of the tech industry gets around to adopting this trend, you can use the included USB C power cord to juice up those devices as well. There's also a mini HDMI port so you can push content to an external display, as well as a combo headphone/mic jack and 1280 x 720 HP TrueVision HD webcam. Aside from the docking connection, there's aren't any additional ports located on the detachable keyboard.

Performance

The Pavilion x2 features a 1.44-GHz Intel Atom x5-Z8300 CPU, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC flash storage. If you opt for extra storage space (like on our review unit), you can double the capacity to 64GB. This combo of budget parts isn't going to set your world on fire, but it felt snappy during typical use cases, such as browsing the Web with five or six tabs open or streaming a high-def video. When you start really multitasking, you may notice a bit of stutter, although that's something I encountered on other machines in this price range as well.

On Geekbench 3, which measures overall system performance, the Pavilion x2 scored 2,289. While that's less than the more expensively configured $449 Dell Inspiron 11 3000 (3,406), it's slightly better than the Aspire Switch 10E and almost double what the Asus Transformer Book Flip TP 2000 delivered (1,315).

The Pavilion x2's 64GB eMMC storage drive registered a solid transfer speed of 42.76 MBps on the Laptop File Transfer Test, which involves copying 4.97GB of mixed media files. Acer's Aspire Switch 10E was close at 41.7 MBps, while the Inspiron 11 3000 and Transformer Book Flip TP 200SA were noticeably slower at 32.4 MBps and 34.14 MBps, respectively.

When we used OpenOffice to match a spreadsheet of 20,000 names and addresses, the Pavilion x2 completed the task in 19 minutes and 12 seconds. That's faster than the Aspire Switch 10E (25:49), but slower than Dell Inspiron 11 3000 (15:28) and the Transformer Book Flip TP200SA (15:32).

Graphics

With its Intel HD Graphics and low-power CPU, it's no surprise that the Pavilion x2 is not a machine for gaming. We couldn't even run our usual benchmarks in World of Warcraft. On 3D Mark's synthetic Ice Storm Unlimited graphics test, the Pavilion x2 managed a score of 15,457, far short of the 38,739 ultraportable average. On the same test, both Inspiron 11 3000 (19,986) and the Transformer Book Flip TP200SA (18,154) did better, though the Aspire Switch 10E (8,557) fared much worse
However, I did get Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft to run, and despite some lag and stuttering, I was able to play a couple matches without too much trouble.

Battery Life

With a runtime of 9 hours and 33 minutes on Laptop Mag's battery test, which involves continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi,  the Pavilion x2's battery life is a solid hour and a half longer than the ultraportable laptop average (8:04).

Asus' Transformer Book TP 200SA fared even better with a time of 10:56, while the Acer Aspire Switch 10E (8:28) and the Dell Inspiron 11 3000 (6:42) lasted significantly less time. 

Configurations

The HP Pavilion x2 starts at $250 in silver for a 1.44-GHz Intel Atom Z8300 CPU 2GB of RAM and 32GB of eMMC flash storage. If you go into HP's online customizer, choosing the white or red color options costs an extra $10, and if you want to double the storage to 64GB, that'll cost you another $120, for a total of $380. The one way to get around that is to select from one of the pre-built systems, although at the time of writing, the $350 64GB model was only available in red.

Software and Warranty

The HP Pavilion x2 10t comes with Windows 10 pre-installed and a standard 1-year limited hardware warranty. Windows 10 helps you take advantage of the Pavilion x2's convertible nature by its ability to automatically switch from laptop to tablet mode whenever you detach the keyboard. Windows 10 also includes handy new features such as Cortana, Microsoft's digital assistant, and Edge, a faster and slicker replacement for Internet Explorer.

HP includes a fair bit of pre-installed bloat, which comes in the form of several apps pinned to the task bar (Dropbox, Amazon and TripAdvisor) with even more hidden in the start menu (Wild Tangent Games, Candy Crush and Priceline). We would prefer that HP let users decide what they want to download.

Bottom Line

The Pavilion x2 10t succeeds at not feeling like a budget device. The body is small, light and sturdy, and available in multiple colors. Then, when you dive down, you find above-average performance for the price, impressive front-facing speakers and more than 9.5 hours of battery life. I just wish the keyboard were roomier, although that's a concession made for this system's 10-inch size; HP also sells an 11-inch convertible in the Pavilion x360 11, which doesn't detach but has a flip-around display.

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Asus Transformer Book T300 Chi review

When ASUS formally unveiled the Transformer Book Chi T300, it did so in the cheekiest way possible: with a cleverly worded swipe at Apple. "Our Chi is thinner than Air," the company proclaimed -- a clear shot at the MacBook Air. ("Chi" means "air" in Mandarin Chinese, by the way, in case the dig wasn't obvious enough.) Indeed, ASUS' newest laptop/tablet hybrid measures a scant 0.3 inch for the tablet (or 0.65 inch when docked), making it slightly thinner than the Air, which comes in at 0.68 inch at its thickest point. The Chi is also more affordable than the Air (not to mention most other thin-and-light laptops), with a starting price of $699. On paper, it's a relatively affordable way to get your hands on a super-skinny machine. In practice, though, you're probably better off spending a little more on something else. Here's why.

Gallery: ASUS Transformer Book Chi T300 review | 26 Photos

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Hardware

Problem number one: While the 12.5-inch Chi is indeed super thin, it isn't what I'd call super light. At 1.59 pounds for the tablet alone and 3.15 pounds with the keyboard dock attached, it's relatively heavy. Certainly, it feels noticeably heavier than the 2.62-pound Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro, which can also be used as a tablet when needed. The Dell XPS 13 is lighter too, at 2.6 pounds, though with its fixed display, you admittedly can't use it as anything other than a touchscreen notebook. Even the 13-inch MacBook Air, the machine ASUS seems to be gunning after, comes in at a lighter 2.96 pounds. All of which is to say: For a device that's being marketed for its portability, the Chi doesn't feel exceptionally light.

That alone isn't necessarily a dealbreaker, but in the case of the Chi, a big portion of those three-plus pounds feels like dead weight. As heavy as the Bluetooth keyboard dock is, it doesn't add much beyond the actual keys. There's no extra battery inside. And there are virtually no extra ports, save for a micro-USB opening on the dock's left edge. By comparison, the Yoga 3 Pro and Dell XPS 13 both offer two full-sized USB 3.0 ports and either a Mini DisplayPort or micro-HDMI connection. Even the 1.76-pound Surface Pro 3 manages to squeeze in a Mini DisplayPort and USB socket. Admittedly, Microsoft's keyboard cover offers nothing in the way of extra connections, but then again, it also barely adds to the tablet's weight or thickness. In any case, this is where I return to the weight issue: What's the point of having a machine this heavy if you're going to get fewer ports than you would on a lighter system?

This means that the dock is left with just one job: to offer a comfortable typing experience. Even then, I'm not a huge fan. It's mostly the touchpad; it's the worst I've seen on any recent Windows laptop. The tracking was so unreliable, so imprecise, that after a while I avoided using the trackpad at all; if it was possible to hit a button on the desktop with my finger, I did so using the touchscreen. On the bright side, I appreciate the generous 1.5mm of key travel; between that and the well-spaced layout, I was generally able to type without making mistakes.

All told, this means the Chi is, in some ways, at its best in tablet mode. Even then, its nearly 13-inch screen makes it a bit unwieldy. (On the bright side, this is the world's thinnest 13-inch tablet, for what that's worth, and at 1.59 pounds it's markedly lighter than the Surface Pro 3.) Even so, I find the SP3 easier to use as a slate, in part because of the less-stretched-out 3:2 aspect ratio. I don't necessarily think the Surface has a more comfortable keyboard or trackpad, but it does work better than the Chi as a tablet -- kind of an important thing on a hybrid device like this. And again, I can forgive the Surface's relatively middling keyboard cover somewhat because it at least doesn't weigh down the rest of the machine.

In the plus column, the Chi's all-aluminum casing feels solid, even if the full package is on the heavy side. I also like how the 12.5-inch screen has the tiniest of bumpers lining the edges; for all intents and purposes, it looks like edge-to-edge glass. Speaking of the sort, though the Chi is available at the lower end with a 1,920 x 1,080 display, I tested it with a higher-end, 2,560 x 1,440 panel, with a pixel density of 235 ppi. Particularly at $899 -- what my particular configuration costs in the real world -- this is a great screen: vibrant and crisp, with wide viewing angles, thanks to the IPS panel. In addition, there's an active digitizer inside, allowing it to recognize 256 levels of pressure sensitivity, whether through pen or finger input. That puts it on par with the Surface Pro 3, with one difference: The stylus pen here is sold separately, for $40. Unfortunately, I didn't get to test it out as part of my review, so I can't vouch for pen performance, except to say that having a pressure-sensitive screen at this price is already a plus.

Compared to the screen (perhaps the Chi's best feature), the sound quality feels a little like an afterthought, although it's still acceptable. The audio is a bit tinny, as is the case on many ultraportable laptops, but the volume is loud enough and I ultimately got used to the sound quality, even if it is a bit lacking in the bass department.

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Mocaheart have its finger on the pulse of heart health

Review: Does the Mocaheart have its finger on the pulse of heart health?

David Szondy  November 17, 2015

16 PICTURES

Mocaheart is designed to track cardiovascular health factors with a simple scan (Credit: David Szondy/Gizmag) View gallery (16 images)

Heart disease and high blood pressure are the world's leading killers and one way to combat them is to track key health indicators, such as blood pressure and heart rate. The problem is that even with the introduction of digital technology, it's often difficult for people to regularly take readings and interpret the results. One alternative to traditional sphygmometers and stethoscopes is Mocacare's Mocaheartcardiovascular health monitor, which we put through its paces.

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While heart-rate apps aren't new, Mocaheart takes things a step further with a pocket-friendly scanning device that combines thumb scans with algorithms to measure blood flow and velocity as a way to assess blood pressure, heart rate, and blood oxygen levels. It then converts these via a smartphone app into a simple 1 to 5 scale called the Moca Index that gives a snapshot of overall cardiovascular health. According to Mocacare, the idea is to provide non-professionals with an easy way to track and interpret health trends over time by means of an interactive system.

Set up

Out of the box, the Mocaheart unit is very simple, consisting of a sleek metal lozenge made of medical-grade stainless steel and a biocompatible plastic back that comes in a choice of colors. At under 1 oz (30 g), it's extremely portable, but also very fragile and not at all water resistant. On the front of the unit is an optical sensor with an infrared and visible light source, and an electrode plate. Between these is an on/off button. Also in the box is a very basic and very short micro USB cable for charging, and a start up guide that provides the basics for operating the device with simple explanations, which are important for the target market of older, less tech-savvy consumers.

Mocaheart is one of those devices that is extremely simple to set up in terms of hardware. It's just a matter of plugging the included USB cable into a computer or wall adapter, then waiting for the unit to charge, which takes about half an hour. In terms of mechanics, using it is also very simple. Placing one's thumbs on the optical scanner and metal electrode pick up allows the Mocaheart to measure heart rate, blood oxygen level, and blood flow in about 30 seconds.

However, the unit can't do any of this on its own. It's really a data collection device for the downloadable Mocaheart app, which controls the scanning process, runs the algorithms, and provides the readouts.

Trying it out

Setting up Mocaheart proved more difficult than expected, needing several tries involving usernames, email addresses, and passwords to set up an account. Part of the reason may be that the Android version is still a work in progress and while we were evaluating it, the app had a major update, which improved functionality.

Once installed and configured, the app connects to the unit via Bluetooth. This is automatic when the unit is turned on, but we found that it has to be within 3 ft (1 m) of the phone or the connection doesn't take.

Taking a reading is designed to be easy, but it does take a bit of practice. To operate, the user opens the Mocaheart app, switches to the "Measure" mode, then turns on the unit. The app confirms the connection and an animation demonstrates how to hold the unit and what a good signal should look like. The user then places one thumb on the optical sensor and the other on the electrode. The app counts down, then starts the reading. During the reading, a graph line shows the readout of the heartbeat taken from the artery in the thumb. The app recognizes when it has a poor reading and either prompts the user or automatically repeats the scan.

Once the reading is taken, the algorithms evaluate the data and convert it into the Moca Index number. This is displayed along with the heart rate, blood oxygen level, a time stamp, and local weather conditions. Based on studies conducted at MIT and Stanford University, the Moca Index uses blood velocity as a measure of blood pressure and combines this with the resting heart rate and blood oxygen level to produce a health assessment rated on a scale of 1 to 5. In this, 2 is normal, 1 is deficient, 3 and 4 are unsatisfactory, and 5 indicates a possible medical problem.

According to Mocacare, the Index reading is only half of what the app does. It also displays history and trend views of readings and Index numbers and automatically records factors, such as weather and location. These are shown in visual graphs of daily, weekly, monthly, or annual trends, so users can track their progress and make a note of changes in their health status. In addition, the readings can be shared through the app with friends, family, and healthcare providers, and annotations can be attached to particular readings to record factors such as diet, illness, and physical activity. In addition, the app can send reminders to help keep users on their tracking program.

Calibration

One thing we found to be very important about Mocaheart is that it needs to be calibrated in order to provide reliable readings. In the app's user profile page, users can enter details about their sex, age, weight, height, smoking habits, alcohol use, and any outstanding medical conditions, but the most important is blood pressure.

We found that blood pressure was the key part of the calibration process. Every six months, the user needs to enter a blood pressure reading taken within five minutes. This calibration is essential because without it the Moca Index is unreliable. When we tried to use the Mocaheart without calibration, it provided a reassuring readout of 2, which is the most healthy. Calibrated against a sphygmometer, this shifted to 5, which is probably more accurate for a middle-aged man with high blood pressure who's been neglecting his medicine.

In use, Mocaheart started out as disappointingly unreliable with connections between unit and phone failing with monotonous regularity. However, this was corrected when the app updated itself and the connection became reliable so long as the unit was kept close to the phone. Placing the fingers correctly with the proper pressure took some practice, but this wasn't a major problem. However, we did find that though the battery lasts up to five days on a single charge, it needs to be kept topped up for the unit to operate properly.

Perhaps the biggest drawback for Mocaheart is the Moca Index. True, it does greatly simplify interpreting health data and is probably very easy to understand by the layman, but the Index isn't very granular and, unlike blood pressure readings, it's very hard to have any sense of what is actually happening over time. In a sense it's like a traffic light system without much leeway between "okay" and "uh oh."

Mocacare emphasizes that Mocaheart isn't a substitute for proper medical testing. It isn't intended as a diagnostic tool and won't be marketed as such until it receives FDA clearance to allow the readings for clinical use.

Mocaheart is available for US$149.99 from Mocacare.

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Review: Apple MacBook

A few things have changed, though. You’ll only see one: the new don’t-call-it-pink rose gold color. Personally, I love it. The smooth, matte finish is clean, quiet, and somehow calming. You might hate it. (Lots of people at WIRED hate it.) No worries. You can also get it in gold, silver, and space gray. Pick your favorite.

The big changes happened inside. There’s a new Intel Core M processor, part of the Skylake generation, and faster memory. All told, it’s about 25 percent faster, a bigger difference than I would have thought. My typical workflow is masochistic: 30 tabs open in two windows, one of which I forget about. I also keep Slack, and TweetDeck, and Evernote, and maybe Word running. Last year’s MacBook faltered under the load, but this one does just fine. It’s still too slow to play anything more intensive than Badland (and it could barely handleBadland) or open Photoshop in a reasonable amount of time. But that doesn’t matter to me, and it doesn’t matter to most people.

If you need more power than the MacBook provides, you probably already own an iMac, or the trash can Mac Pro, or a souped-up MacBook Pro. Or a recent Windows machine. Next to those, this laptop is child’s play. But forget about the people using those. Think about the people with 5-year-old PCs or 5-year-old Macs or, god help them, 5-year-old netbooks. What do they do on their laptops? Not much, really. According to one study, they spend 5.6 hours a day online, just shy of half of it on a laptop. The MacBook can run a browser, so that’s good. A different survey, from 2014, listed the top 20 things people do on their devices. Of them, only number 20—“Making/shooting videos,” done by just 5 percent of respondents—is too much for this MacBook. Everything else is no problem: check email, shop, surf Facebook, watch videos. Unless you already know you need more power than the MacBook offers, you probably don’t.

The trickier  question concerns the USB-C port on the left rear corner. It’s the only port that isn’t a headphone jack. If you buy a MacBook, you’ll have to buy an adapter or switch between charging, backing up to your external hard drive, and using your external keyboard / mouse / monitor. This is unquestionably annoying, and a giant white dongle kills the MacBook’s sleek, minimalist vibe. At the same time, though, it’s forced me out of some outdated habits. There was a time when I thought I desperately needed a CD-ROM drive. Then Apple killed it, and I barely noticed. The same happened with the MacBook. I don’t miss all those ports. 

The more efficient processor means the battery really does last nine or 10 hours, so there’s no reason to leave the MacBook plugged in. I charge it like I charge my phone: at night, or when it’s dead. Meanwhile I use Google Drive to back up my files, so what do I need a USB hard drive for? And since the keyboard and trackpad are good enough, I threw my accessories in the closet. (I do love my external monitor, though, so that sucks.) Apple’s right to assume that in 2016, we shouldn’t have to walk into work and jack our computers into half a dozen peripherals. We should just open the lid.

Realistically, the MacBook is still a bit ahead of its time. That’s especially true of the price: as long as this thing costs $1,299 or more, it won’t create a revolution in computing. And so much change can feel drastic, especially for people with business needs and policies they can’t control. On the off chance you do need to plug in a flash drive, it’s going to be a pain. But for the most part, the world is ready for a beautiful, thin, light laptop with a great screen, a weird keyboard, and exactly one port. It’s an online world. People work in too many places, in too many ways, to need accessories and outlets and adapters. This may not be the laptop the world is ready for, but the MacBook is the laptop it needs.

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VIZIO S5451W REVIEW

We were pleasantly surprised last year when Vizio, a company best known for its value-packed HDTVs, made a major leap forward in the sphere of supplementary sound with its impressive sound bar lineup. We were particularly taken with the company’s S4251w sound bar surround system, which garnered our coveted ‘editor’s choice’ award for its ability to offer excellent performance on a budget, as well as something we almost never see in the genre: honest-to-goodness 5.1 surround sound.

The very latest addition to the family, the new S5451w, proves Vizio’s audio department is still cooking with gas. The system leapfrogs off its predecessor’s design, but goes big by stretching the sound bar’s length to an extensive 54-inches – suitable for TVs 55-inches and larger. With high expectations, this $500 system pulls its weight, serving up some of the best overall value on the market.

The S5451w arrived at our offices in a suitably gigantic box, and though it weighs only 9.5 pounds, freeing the couch-length beam took a bit of effort. Unsheathing the bar unveiled perhaps the weakest point for Vizio’s series: a rather underwhelming design aesthetic. It’s not an eyesore by any means, but it is a tad boring. Matte plastic around the backside meets a plain-Jane front face with hard angles at the corners and silver accents at the edges. It’s a design with a utilitarian vibe that looks much better mounted on the wall under a matching Vizio TV than it does on its own.



The rest of the system made a similar impression. The system’s small surround satellites remind us a bit of a budget pair of computer speakers, and the wireless sub is similarly unremarkable, cast in a long rectangle of flat black plastic, partially covered in grill cloth, with a large port as its only distinguishing characteristic. With all of that said, the system managed to blend in well with most of the TVs we tested it with and, hey, at $500, we aren’t complaining.

Included with the speaker system is a nice collection of accessories, with everything necessary for set up. That includes RCA connection cables for the satellite speakers, optical, and coaxial digital audio cables, an HDMI cable, power cables, and an RCA cable. Also in the box was a small remote complete with batteries and an LCD display, a quick start guide, and a wall mount template.

FEATURES AND DESIGNS 

Apart from its mammoth width, one of the S5451w’s prime upgrades over the S4251 is the inclusion of a pair of HDMI ports, including an input and an ARC-compliant output which allows for easier connection and integration with ARC-compliant TVs.




Vizio keeps the front of the sound bar clean, with only a small row of pinpoint LEDs at the left corner breaking up an otherwise straight black grill. Rather than clutter up the sound bar with an informational display, Vizio places it on the remote control in the form of an LCD display. It took a while for us to adjust to looking at the remote for input status and volume level indicators, but we soon appreciated how the remote operated as the central command center. The remote covers all the basics, then goes a step further, offering level adjustments for each individual channel, basic EQ, stereo and surround mode switching, and even Bluetooth pairing and playback control from your mobile device.

As for internal components, beneath the S5451’s front screen are a pair each of 3-inch drivers for the left, right, and single 3-inch driver for the center channel, all accented with a 4-inch driver utilized as a “deep bass module.” Vizio doesn’t let all that extra space go to waste, either. Vizio claims the bar’s larger air chambers are utilized to build more bass response, and we’re here to tell you: The bar puts out some heavy hits in the lower register, even when the sub is laying low.

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