Tag Archives: CrXPRT

Planning for the next CrXPRT

on December 5, 2019

We’re currently planning the next version of CrXPRT, our benchmark that evaluates the performance and battery life of Chromebooks. If you’re unfamiliar with CrXPRT, you can find out more about how it works both here in the blog and at CrXPRT.com. If you’ve used CrXPRT, we’d love to hear any suggestions you may have. What do you like or dislike about CrXPRT? What features do you hope to see in a new version?

When we begin work on a new version of any benchmark, one of our first steps is to determine whether the workloads will provide value during the years ahead. As technology and user behavior evolve, we update test content to be more relevant. One example is when we replace photos with ones that use more contemporary file resolutions and sizes.

Sometimes the changing tech landscape prompts us to remove entire workloads and add new ones. The Photo Collage workload in CrXPRT uses Portable Native Client (PNaCl) technology, for which the Chrome team will soon end support. CrXPRT 2015 has a workaround for this issue, but the best course of action for the next version of CrXPRT will be to remove this workload altogether.

The battery life test will also change. Earlier this year, we started to see unusual battery life estimates and high variance when running tests at CrXPRT’s default battery life test length of 3.5 hours, so we’ve been recommending that users perform full rundowns instead. In the next CrXPRT, the battery life test will require full rundowns.

We’ll also be revamping the CrXPRT UI to improve the look of the benchmark and make it easier to use, as we’ve done with the other recent XPRT releases.

We really do want to hear your ideas, and any feedback you send has a chance to shape the future of the benchmark. Let us know what you think!

Justin

Posted in Battery life, benchmark, Benchmarking, BenchmarkXPRT, Browser-based benchmarks, Chrome OS, Chromebooks, Collaborative benchmark development, CrXPRT, Google Chrome, Performance benchmarking | Also tagged battery life, benchmark, Chrome, Chrome OS, Chromebooks

TouchXPRT: a great tool for evaluating Windows performance

By Justin Greene

on April 4, 2019

From time to time, we remember that some XPRT users have experience with only one or two of the benchmark tools in our portfolio. They might have bookmarked a link to WebXPRT they found in a tech review or copied the HDXPRT installer package from a flash drive in their lab, but are unaware of other members of the XPRT family that could be useful to them. To spread the word on the range of capabilities the XPRTs offer, we occasionally highlight one of the XPRT tools in the blog . Last week, we discussed CrXPRT, a benchmark for evaluating the performance and battery life of Chrome OS devices. Today, we focus on TouchXPRT, our app for evaluating the performance of Windows 10 devices.

While our first benchmark, HDXPRT, is a great tool for assessing how well Windows machines handle media creation tasks using real commercial applications, it’s simply too large to run on most Windows tablets, 2-in-1s, and laptops with limited memory. To test those devices, we developed the latest version of TouchXPRT as a Universal Windows Platform app. As a Windows app, installing TouchXPRT is easy and quick (about 15 minutes). It runs five tests that simulate common photo, video, and music editing tasks; measures how quickly the device completes each of those tasks; and provides an overall score. It takes about 15 minutes to run on most devices. Labs can also automate testing using the command line or a script.

Want to run TouchXPRT?

Download TouchXPRT from the Microsoft Store or from TouchXPRT.com. The TouchXPRT 2016 release notes provide step-by-step instructions. To compare device scores, go to the TouchXPRT 2016 results page, where you’ll find scores from many Windows 10 devices.

Want to dig into the details?

Check out the Exploring TouchXPRT 2016 white paper. In it, we discuss the TouchXPRT development process, its component tests and workloads, and how it calculates individual workload and overall scores. We also provide instructions for automated testing.

BenchmarkXPRT Development Community members also have access to the TouchXPRT source code, so consider joining the community today. There’s no obligation and membership is free for members of any company or organization with an interest in benchmarks.

If you’ve been looking for a Windows performance evaluation tool that’s easy to use and has the flexibility of a UWP app, give TouchXPRT a try and let us know what you think!

Justin

Posted in Battery life, Benchmark metrics, Benchmarking, BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Chrome OS, CrXPRT, HDXPRT, Performance benchmarking, TouchXPRT, TouchXPRT 2016, TouchXPRT release cycle, TouchXPRT results, WebXPRT, Windows 10 | Also tagged 2-in-1, HDXPRT, laptop, PC, Performance, tablet, TouchXPRT, WebXPRT, Windows 10

CrXPRT is more valuable than ever

By Justin Greene

on March 28, 2019

Digital Trends recently published an article discussing various rumors about the future of the Google Pixelbook line. Pixelbooks were some of the first Chromebooks with high-end hardware specs, and they were priced accordingly. Whether or not the rumors discussed in the article turn out to be true, the author points out that the Pixelbook prompted several other vendors, such as HP and Lenovo, to take a chance on high-end Chromebooks. It seems like high-end Chromebooks are here to stay, but given the unique constraints of the Chrome OS environment, buyers are often unsure if it’s worth it to shell out the extra money for a premium model.

We developed CrXPRT to help buyers answer these questions. CrXPRT is a benchmark tool that measures the battery life of your Chromebook as well as how fast it handles everyday tasks like playing video games, watching movies, editing pictures, and doing homework. The performance test gives you individual workload scores and an overall score based on the speed of the device. The battery life test produces an estimated battery life time, a separate performance score, and a frames-per-second (FPS) rate for a built-in HTML5 gaming component.

You don’t have to be a tech journalist or even a techie to use CrXPRT. To learn more, check out the links below.

Testing the performance or battery life of your Chromebook

Simply download CrXPRT from the Chrome Web Store. Installation is quick and easy, and the CrXPRT 2015 user manual provides step-by-step instructions. A typical performance test takes about 15 minutes, and a battery life test will take 3.5 hours once the system is charged and configured for testing. If you’d like to see how your score compares to other Chromebooks, visit the CrXPRT results page.

Want to know more?

Read the Exploring CrXPRT 2015 white paper, where we discuss the concepts behind CrXPRT, its development process, and the app’s structure. We also describe the component tests and explain the statistical processes used to calculate expected battery life.

BenchmarkXPRT Development Community members also have access to the CrXPRT source code, so if you’re interested, join today! There’s no obligation and membership is free for members of any company or organization with an interest in benchmarks.

Give CrXPRT a try and let us know what you think!

Justin

Posted in Battery life, Benchmarking, BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Chrome OS, Chromebooks, Google, Google Chrome, What makes a good benchmark? | Also tagged battery life, BenchmarkXPRT, Chrome OS, Chromebook, laptops, Performance, Pixelbook

Principled Technologies and the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community release a preview of AIXPRT, a tool designed to help testers evaluate machine learning performance

By Justin Greene

on March 4, 2019

Durham, NC, March 4 — Principled Technologies and the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community release the AIXPRT Community Preview. AIXPRT is a free tool that makes it easier to evaluate a system’s machine learning inference performance by running several common image-classification workloads.

The AIXPRT Community Preview build includes support for the Intel© OpenVINO™, TensorFlow™, and TensorFlow with NVIDIA© TensorRT™ toolkits to run image-classification workloads with ResNet-50 and SSD-MobileNet v1 networks. The test reports FP32, FP16, and INT8 levels of precision.

“This AIXPRT preview build is the next step towards our goal of making it easier for folks to evaluate how well systems handle machine learning tasks,” said Bill Catchings, co-founder of Principled Technologies, which administers the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community. “We invite all industry experts and interested parties to try out the AIXPRT Community Preview and send us their feedback.”

The AIXPRT Community Preview is available to anyone with a GitHub© account who is interested in participating. To request access, please contact the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community by sending a message to BenchmarkXPRTsupport@PrincipledTechnologies.com.

AIXPRT is part of the BenchmarkXPRT suite of performance evaluation tools, which includes WebXPRT, MobileXPRT, TouchXPRT, CrXPRT, HDXPRT, and BatteryXPRT. The XPRTs help users get the facts before they buy, use, or evaluate tech products such as computers, tablets, and phones.

To learn more about the AIXPRT, go to www.AIXPRT.com. To learn more about the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community, go to www.BenchmarkXPRT.com.

About Principled Technologies, Inc.
Principled Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of technology marketing, as well as learning and development services. It administers the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community.

Principled Technologies, Inc. is located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. For more information, please visit www.PrincipledTechnologies.com.

Company Contact
Justin Greene
BenchmarkXPRT Development Community
Principled Technologies, Inc.
1007 Slater Road, Ste. 300
Durham, NC 27704

BenchmarkXPRTsupport@PrincipledTechnologies.com

Posted in Press Releases | Also tagged AIXPRT, BatteryXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT Development Community, HDXPRT, MobileXPRT, TouchXPRT, WebXPRT

Principled Technologies and the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community release HDXPRT 4, a benchmark designed to show how well Windows devices handle real-world media tasks

By Justin Greene

on February 25, 2019

Durham, NC, February 25 — Principled Technologies and the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community have released HDXPRT 4, a free benchmark that gives objective information about how well Windows 10 devices handle common media-creation tasks. HDXPRT 4 uses real commercial applications, like Photoshop and MediaEspresso, to perform tasks based on three everyday scenarios: photo editing, video conversion, and music editing. After the test is finished, the tool provides an overall measure by generating a single performance score. Anyone can go to HDXPRT.com to compare existing performance results on a variety of devices, or to download the app for themselves.

“When we started working on HDXPRT 4, we knew we wanted to create a benchmark that accurately reflects the kind of work average consumers do when creating content on their PCs,” said Bill Catchings, co-founder of Principled Technologies, which administers the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community. “HDXPRT delivers clear results that make sense to the wide audience of buyers shopping for new Windows systems.”

HDXPRT is part of the BenchmarkXPRT suite of performance evaluation tools, which includes WebXPRT, MobileXPRT, TouchXPRT, CrXPRT, and BatteryXPRT. The XPRTs help users get the facts before they buy, use, or evaluate tech products such as computers, tablets, and phones.

To learn more about the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community, go to www.BenchmarkXPRT.com.

Principled Technologies, Inc. is located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. For more information, please visit www.PrincipledTechnologies.com.

Company Contact
Justin Greene
BenchmarkXPRT Development Community
Principled Technologies, Inc.
1007 Slater Road, Ste. 300
Durham, NC 27704

BenchmarkXPRTsupport@PrincipledTechnologies.com

Posted in Benchmarking, BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Collaborative benchmark development, Future of performance evaluation, HDXPRT, HDXPRT 4, HDXPRT development process, HDXPRT metrics, HDXPRT Press Releases, Performance benchmarking, Press Releases, WebXPRT, Windows 10 | Also tagged BatteryXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT Development Community, HDXPRT, MobileXPRT, TouchXPRT, WebXPRT

Principled Technologies and the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community release MobileXPRT 3, a free performance evaluation app for Android devices

By Justin Greene

on February 1, 2019

Durham, NC, February 1— Principled Technologies and the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community have released MobileXPRT 3, a free app that gives objective information about how well a tablet, smartphone, or any other Android device handles common tasks. Anyone can go to MobileXPRT.com to compare existing performance results on a variety of devices, and to download the app for themselves. MobileXPRT 3 is also available in the Google Play Store.

MobileXPRT 3 is a benchmark that evaluates the capabilities of Android devices by running six performance scenarios (Apply Photo Effects, Create Photo Collages, Create Slideshow, Encrypt Personal Content, Detect Faces to Organize Photos, and Scan Receipts for Spreadsheet). It also provides an overall measure by generating a single performance score. “MobileXPRT is a popular, easy-to-use benchmark run by manufacturers, tech journalists, and consumers all around the world,” said Bill Catchings, co-founder of Principled Technologies, which administers the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community. “We believe that MobileXPRT 3 is a great addition to MobileXPRT’s legacy of providing relevant and reliable performance data for Android devices.”

MobileXPRT is part of the BenchmarkXPRT suite of performance evaluation tools, which includes WebXPRT, TouchXPRT, CrXPRT, BatteryXPRT, and HDXPRT. The XPRTs help users get the facts before they buy, use, or evaluate tech products such as computers, tablets, and phones.

To learn more about the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community, go to www.BenchmarkXPRT.com.

About Principled Technologies, Inc.
Principled Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of technology marketing and learning & development services. It administers the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community.

Principled Technologies, Inc. is located in Durham, North Carolina, USA. For more information, please visit www.PrincipledTechnologies.com.

Company Contact
Justin Greene

BenchmarkXPRT Development Community
Principled Technologies, Inc.
1007 Slater Road, Ste. 300
Durham, NC 27703

BenchmarkXPRTsupport@PrincipledTechnologies.com

Posted in Android, Benchmark metrics, Benchmarking, BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, Collaborative benchmark development, Mobile devices, MobileXPRT, MobileXPRT 3, MobileXPRT Press Releases, Performance benchmarking, Press Releases | Also tagged BatteryXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT Development Community, HDXPRT, MobileXPRT, TouchXPRT, WebXPRT

Tag Archives: CrXPRT

Planning for the next CrXPRT

TouchXPRT: a great tool for evaluating Windows performance

Want to run TouchXPRT?

Want to dig into the details?

CrXPRT is more valuable than ever

Principled Technologies and the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community release a preview of AIXPRT, a tool designed to help testers evaluate machine learning performance

Principled Technologies and the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community release HDXPRT 4, a benchmark designed to show how well Windows devices handle real-world media tasks

Principled Technologies and the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community release MobileXPRT 3, a free performance evaluation app for Android devices

Check out the other XPRTs: