CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro hands-on review: An affordable laptop for creators

OLED and a discrete GPU at a reasonable price.

(Image: © Future)

Early Verdict

The CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro has strong performance and a 4K OLED display backed behind an affordable price that we can't shy away from.

Pros

  • +

    Light design

  • +

    Bright 4K OLED display

  • +

    Comfortable keyboard

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    Affordable

Cons

  • -

    Bottom bezel webcam

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As CES 2020 is starting to come to a close, CyberPowerPC launched its own laptop targeted toward creators called the Tracer Studio Pro. It sports a sleek, light design paired with beefy specs at an affordable price. It has the potential to be one of the best video editing laptops of 2020.

The CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro is available right now starting at $1,499.

CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro design

The CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro's magnesium alloy lid sports a fresh gray-silver color that gives off a premium vibe. CyberPowerPC managed to cut some costs by making the deck plastic, and while that takes away from the quality of the build, it gives consumers on a budget the ability to buy a high-end PC.

(Image credit: Future)

The interior is more of the same, with a sleek silver deck comboed with an edge-to-edge keyboard and slim bezels all around the display. Unfortunately, the webcam is on the bottom bezel, so you're not going to look your best when you're video calling someone. We recommend picking up one of our best external laptop webcams.

At 3.5 pounds, the CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro felt superlight in my hands when I picked it up. 

CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro ports

The CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro has a decent number of ports to satisfy most users.

(Image credit: Future)

It has two USB 3.1 ports and a microSD card on the right side, while the left features on USB 2.0 port, an RJ45 Ethernet port, a headphone jack, a microphone jack and a security lock slot.

(Image credit: Future)

On top of that, the backside has room for two Mini DisplayPorts, an HDMI port, a USB Type-C port and the power jack.

(Image credit: Future)

If for some reason you need more ports than that, check out our best USB Type-C hubs and best laptop docking stations pages.

CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro display

CyberPowerPC gave the Tracer Studio Pro two 15.6-inch display options: a 144Hz, 1920 x 1080 screen or a 60Hz, 4K OLED display. Obviously, I'm a fan of the latter, but both displays are rated to cover 100% of the sRGB color gamut and emit up to 300 nits of brightness.

I went eyes-on with the 4K OLED screen and it was pleasant. The endless blue sky and mixture of lively white clouds were vibrant on the Tracer Studio Pro's screen. Thanks to the 4K panel, I could spot sharp details in the rock formations in the background of the on-screen image.

If you're a part gamer and creator, I'd suggest bringing for the 144Hz panel, since you'll be able to see those higher frame rates you'll be snagging with the Tracer Studio Pro's powerful specs.

CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro keyboard and touchpad

I tap danced my fingers all across the CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro's keyboard and each key was relatively clicky and smooth to depress. However, I do wish there was slightly more travel to it. At the very least, you'll be getting some sweet four-zone RGB lighting.

(Image credit: Future)

The touchpad was soft and offered a decent click, but it's still not close to using a glass touchpad, as it doesn't simulate that smooth texture or durable click you feel when using one. 

CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro specs

There are a couple of configurations of the CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro.

The starting price is $1,499, and that'll get you an Intel Core i7-9750H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 144-Hz 1080p display. For the price, those specs are solid.

Jumping up to $1,985, you can score the Tracer Studio Pro with the same CPU and RAM, but jump to an RTX 2070 GPU, a 2TB SSD and a 4K OLED panel -- a worthwhile, albeit steep increase.

CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro battery life

CyberPowerPC rated the Tracer Studio Pro to last for roughly 10 hours, which would be impressive, but considering that this machine has a discrete GPU and a 4K OLED panel, it might be closer to 4 to 6 hours of battery life. Obviously, if you spring for the 1080p model, it'll last longer. We won't have accurate numbers until we test this baby in our lab.

Bottom line

The CyberPowerPC Tracer Studio Pro features strong specs, a bright 4K OLED display and a comfortable keyboard packed into a light design all for an affordable price. We're excited to get the Tracer Studio Pro through our lab and see how it does on our benchmarks, so stay tuned to our full review sometime this year.

For coverage on other laptops, tablets and more, check out our CES 2020 hub page.

Rami Tabari
Editor

Rami Tabari is an Editor for Laptop Mag. He reviews every shape and form of a laptop as well as all sorts of cool tech. You can find him sitting at his desk surrounded by a hoarder's dream of laptops, and when he navigates his way out to civilization, you can catch him watching really bad anime or playing some kind of painfully difficult game. He’s the best at every game and he just doesn’t lose. That’s why you’ll occasionally catch his byline attached to the latest Souls-like challenge.