• A video showing the Neo's apparent strengths versus Windows laptops went viral on X
• It wasn't a fair comparison, as pointed out in Microsoft's response — but the reaction of the computing public is even more telling
• A rumor is also circulating that Microsoft has ditched a couple of more affordable Surface devices

It's a tricky old time for laptops, what with the RAM crisis pushing up prices, and Microsoft has taken the opportunity to launch a counterattack on the MacBook Neo, following Apple's recent price hikes — not that the Surface lineup isn't suffering itself, with rumors of more misery inbound in the form of cancelled models.

Windows Latest spotted the controversy around Windows laptops and the MacBook Neo, which wasn't started by Microsoft, but rather by a video that went viral on X. The clip, which was aired by @Ahmadansari2233 and has racked up 5.4 million views, shows how the MacBook Neo is superior to an 'others brand laptop' (meaning a Windows 11 model).

As Windows Latest notes, the video actually uses an HP Victus gaming laptop, and this is hardly a fair comparison. Why would you compare a budget gaming notebook to the Neo? Furthermore, some of the points made — like the level of flex in the lid of the HP model — are obviously cherry-picked to show the worst of Windows 11 devices versus Apple's budget creation (with flex being a known issue for the HP notebook).

Clearly, we'd have a very different video if we looked at the MacBook Neo's gaming prowess versus the HP Victus. (No, it wouldn't make any sense to do that either, but this just underlines the ridiculous idea of comparing a Windows 11 gaming notebook to Apple's portable.)

At any rate, the success of the video prompted Microsoft to respond, with the official Windows account on X showing the Dell XPS 13 being put through its paces (including a laptop lid and base showing little flex, unlike the HP notebook).

The post from Microsoft goes over some of the XPS 13's benefits — including that it packs a touchscreen — and highlights the price of $699 in the US, just after Apple has bumped the MacBook Neo price up to that level (increasing it by $100, and the regional equivalent elsewhere). Dell weighs in to back up Microsoft here.

And it's fair enough that Microsoft should defend itself, given that the original video is skewed against the Windows 11 side of the laptop world. (Not that Microsoft is above employing these sorts of tactics itself, mind.)

But there are problems raised nonetheless, firstly by the recent happenings with the Surface lineup, and secondly, in the painful reaction to Microsoft jabbing back at this bit of MacBook Neo promotion.

Surface issues — and a bigger problem of entrenched perceptions

If we're going to talk about pricing, an obvious stumble from Microsoft of late is that it has applied eye-watering cost hikes for the Surface range. These were truly hefty increases, even if Apple has just actioned its own hikes for the Neo and other MacBooks. (And yes, it's true enough that while the Neo cost bump was relatively mild, it has certainly diminished its appeal versus budget Windows 11 laptops).

What's more worrying, though, is the rumor that Microsoft is ditching models at the more affordable end of its laptop range. Windows Central reports that the Surface Go 4 and Surface Laptop Go 3 have gone out of stock with most retailers, and seemingly Microsoft doesn't plan to make any more of these devices. Neither are next-gen replacements for these cheaper Surface laptops coming, either, if Zac Bowden's sources are correct.

In fairness, the Surface Laptop Go 3 has effectively been replaced by the Surface Laptop, although the latter still starts from a higher price point, about 20% pricier in fact (and that's with the new cheaper 8GB model of the latter). And the Surface Go 4 will certainly be missed as a budget option, even if it was a business-targeted device. As Bowden notes, it appears that the Go 4 was a popular device in the enterprise sphere with a palatable price tag, even if our review didn't agree with that sentiment.

However, pricing and Surface rumors aside, the most notable concern for Microsoft here must be the reaction to its riposte against the MacBook Neo on X. As noted, I think it's a fair enough response, but the majority of Reddit doesn't seem to agree – or at least, many Redditors do agree that there's a key problem with any Windows 11 laptop.

As one poster puts it succinctly: "The problem with Windows machines is that they have Windows on them."

Others in that Reddit thread echo the same sentiment, if not a more barbed and pronounced take on it – and it's the same story in the replies to Microsoft's response on X. One poster says: "But it's Windows. You run the risk that any or every monthly update will break something. Sticking with my iMac and Mac Neo."

What's this illustrates is that despite the obvious improvements in modern Windows 11 laptops – of which the Dell XPS 13 is a good example – and Microsoft's big campaign to fix Windows 11, there are a lot of hardcore doubters still out there. Okay, so those detractors may be noisier than those in the happier-with-Windows camp, but there's still a good deal of negative feeling to overcome for Microsoft – which is made quite clear when the company tries to blow its own trumpet in this way.

In truth, I think Microsoft has done very well with the improvements made to Windows 11 thus far this year, and I hope that progress will continue throughout the rest of 2026. Frankly, that'll be necessary to really start to turn around some of the more entrenched perceptions about Microsoft's desktop OS, and all that's still going to be an uphill struggle as this episode aptly illustrates.

Microsoft has revealed plans to axe its low-cost Surface Go devices, marking the end of one of the more interesting (yet personally frustrating) parts of its hardware journey.

A report from Windows Central claims both the Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go devices are no longer being manufactured, with no successors or updates currently planned.

This makes them the latest Surface device to be sent for an early bath - but I for one won't be too sad, having been forced to use the Surface Laptop Go for some time.

Why I'm glad the Surface Laptop Go is gone

At its launch, the budget-friendly devices were pitched by Microsoft as ideal for large-scale deployments, such as schools or universities. But for larger businesses, they were also ideal for bulk handouts to workers, especially those on the go who might appreciate a light and compact device.

Here at TechRadar, we were intrigued when our parent company announced we would be getting a Surface Laptop Go as a personal work device - surely this portable and powerful machine would be ideal for us.

As a journalist and editor, I'm often dashing around the city heading to meetings, events, interviews and briefings, so I guess this sort of device might have been perfect for me - however it had a number of issues which made it anything but.

Chief among these was the battery life, which was advertised as being set up for a full working day, but was anything but. After around an hour's usage, the battery would inevitably always be draining fast - not ideal if you're reporting on a conference keynote, or running around a show floor looking to grab interviews.

The power of the device was another major hassle - it really struggled with anything more than a few browser windows, which obviously isn't ideal for someone like me who often has a whole host of tabs open for multiple sources of information, or social media feeds.

Opening up any more than a few programs would cause a frankly alarming amount of heat to start issuing from the vents on the back of the device, with the cooling fans emitting a sound similar to a jet engine taking off.

The low-resolution display was also a bit of a let-down, often failing to show any kind of brightness even on the highest setting, another major issue when juggling multiple programs or windows.

Finally, the lack of a back-lit keyboard was a real frustration - this might not obviously be the case for everyone, but have you ever tried to type in a dark theatre while reporting on a keynote or speech? It is...not ideal.

Microsoft hasn't finished its Surface line-up by any means - in fact, the company recently unveiled its latest Surface Laptop Pro devices a few weeks ago, and I've been road-testing one for the last few weeks, enjoying a device which actually performs and lasts a whole day.

So thanks for the memories, Surface Laptop Go (and Surface Go, I guess) - I won't miss you, but I appreciate your push to motivate me to always go for the higher-cost devices when it's something I rely upon every day.

Getting ready to head off to college later this year? A decent laptop is essential if you want a reliable, stress-free tool to help you study. Thankfully, many retailers have already started their big 'back to school' sales this week, so there are plenty of options on the market currently.

As TechRadar's retail editor, I've been scanning well-known retailers like Best Buy, Dell, and Amazon today to find the best picks for prospective students. Just below, you can see 9 options for all budgets, including some gaming laptops if you also want something that can double up as a machine for gaming.

Highlights include this excellent value Dell 14 Laptop for $699 (was $1,229) at the official Dell Store, which is one of the best bang-for-the-buck Windows 11 options I've seen in recent weeks. If you're feeling flush, there's also the Dell XPS 13 for $999 (was $1,499), which is a fantastic (albeit expensive) option if you want something a little more portable.

Best Buy's 4th of July sale also includes some great options for cheap Chromebooks right now if you're really on a budget. While these lightweight laptops aren't intended for gaming or intensive applications, they're good if you just want to browse, type out work, or answer emails. For the basics, they're a great value for sure.

Back to School laptop sales - quick links

• Amazon: cheap laptops from $269
• Best Buy: up to $650 off laptops and Chromebooks
• Dell: up to $900 off on back to school deals
• Lenovo: up to 42% off cheap laptops
• HP: up to 71% off Chromebooks and laptops

9 best laptop deals this week

EOFY is a good time to check gaming laptop deals, even if the laptop isn’t going to be used for work. Gaming laptops can be quite expensive, so a legitimate discount can make a bigger difference than it does on a basic everyday laptop.

That said, a gaming laptop can also be a powerful workstation if your work does need extra grunt. A fast CPU, dedicated GPU and plenty of RAM can help with video editing, 3D work, coding, running AI tools, creative apps or just keeping a lot of browser tabs and programs open at once.

It’s also worth checking our main EOFY laptop deals hub even after June 30, because in previous years we’ve seen some great laptop deals hang around or pop up in early July as retailers clear leftover stock.

For gaming laptops, we have deals from lower-cost RTX 5060 machines with generous RAM, through to much more expensive RTX 5090 desktop replacements.

The Acer Nitro V 16S is a good option for a buyer who wants current-gen gaming performance without paying big money. You still get an RTX 5060, 32GB RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 180Hz display for AU$1,777, which is a lot of hardware for the price.

The RTX 5060 is a lower-end current-gen GPU, but that’s still a good fit for 1080p or 1200p gaming, especially if you’re happy to use DLSS or turn down a few settings in the most demanding games. With RAM prices rising, 32GB of RAM is harder to take for granted at this price, so it’s good to see Acer include it rather than cutting back to 16GB.

The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is at the other end of the scale. Our Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review described it as “perfect for a desktop replacement, just okay as a portable”, and that’s exactly how I’d frame this deal.

You’re not buying it because it’s cheap or easy to carry everywhere. You’re buying it because you want a very powerful 16-inch gaming laptop with an RTX 5090, 32GB RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 240Hz OLED screen.

Our review gave the Legion Pro 7i 4 stars and called out its excellent gaming performance, gorgeous OLED screen and useful port selection. That makes it a good fit if you want one machine for demanding games, an external monitor setup and heavier work like editing, rendering or development.

The big caveat is battery life, which our review said “is not great”, but that’s the trade-off with this kind of desktop-replacement gaming laptop.

If neither of these gaming laptop deals is quite right, our main EOFY laptop deals hub has more options across cheaper Windows laptops, MacBooks, 2-in-1s and higher-end gaming machines.

JB Hi-Fi is one of the first places I check for EOFY laptop deals because it stocks a wide range of brands and makes it easy to buy online, get delivery or pick up in store with Click & Collect.

That’s especially useful for EOFY, where you need to actually take delivery of a laptop by the end of June 30 to be able to claim it on tax. It’s also a handy option day to day, like if your current machine is dying, or you need something before the new semester or a work trip, being able to check local stock and pick it up from a nearby store helps solve the issue right away.

JB Hi-Fi is also a good option after EOFY, as last year we saw further discounts in early July as they cleared out remaining stock on some excellent laptops.

For those who are yet to snag an EOFY upgrade, the Asus Zenbook A14 is a good option to consider if you want a very light laptop that still feels a little premium. It’s down to AU$1,399 from AU$1,999, which is an AU$600 saving on a slim 14-inch OLED laptop with decent specs.

• Check out all JB Hi-Fi EOFY laptop deals here

The deal fixes the biggest issue we had with the Zenbook A14: price. Our reviewer was a fan of the laptop, but found it too expensive at full price. Discounted to AU$1,399, it’s much easier to recommend if you want something light, long-lasting and nicer to use than a basic Windows machine.

Our Asus Zenbook A14 review gave it 4 stars, and the reasons are exactly why you’d expect: great battery life, low weight and an above-average OLED screen. If you travel a lot or need a laptop for your commute to work, the lightweight design is a major drawcard. In fact, our review says it was “so light that I forgot it was in my bag”, which is exactly what you want from a laptop you’ll carry every day.

The OLED screen is the other big selling point. You don’t need to care about display specs to appreciate a better quality screen: text looks crisp, video has better contrast and the whole machine feels nicer to use than a basic laptop with dull colours or low resolution.

Battery life is another important practical reason to consider the Zenbook A14. Asus claims up to 32 hours of video playback, and in our own tests, it managed 17 hours and 16 minutes in PCMark 10 and 22 hours and 25 minutes in the TechRadar movie test. In other words, this is the kind of laptop you can use through a full workday and still use on the couch in the evening without looking for a charger.

Of course, it’s not perfect. This isn’t the laptop I’d buy for gaming, 4K video rendering or pro-level creative work, but we found it handled everyday multitasking well, including Photoshop while on a Teams call. The port selection is also limited, so consider a USB hub if you regularly plug in an external monitor, mouse, SD card reader or other desk accessories.

All in all, the appeal of the Zenbook A14 is pretty simple. It’s thin, very light, has a lovely OLED screen and doesn’t need to live close to a charger. At the original AU$1,999 price, it was just too expensive for what you got. But at AU$1,399, it makes much more sense as a daily laptop for study, work, travel or general use.

If you want to check more EOFY laptop discounts before deciding, our main EOFY laptop deals hub has more options across MacBooks, Dell, Windows laptops, 2-in-1s and gaming laptops. JB Hi-Fi is a good place to start, but it’s not the only retailer with laptop deals worth checking.

Best EOFY laptop retailers in Australia

• Lenovo: big discounts on laptops
• HP: deals on laptops, 2-in-1s, AIOs and more
• Kogan: deals on everyday and gaming laptops
• The Good Guys: deals on Acer, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft and more
• Amazon: laptop deals with fast delivery
• Dell: XPS, Alienware and other laptop offers
• eBay: laptop discounts from major sellers
• JB Hi-Fi: discounts on mainstream laptops
• Mwave: deals on Asus, HP, Lenovo and more
• JW Computers: deals on a range of laptop models

Dell's EOFY laptop discounts can be a little less obvious than a normal retailer sale, because there’s no before price shown after a drop. Fortunately, I track Dell pricing, so I can spot when an easily missed price drop is actually worth paying attention to.

That's why the Dell 14 Plus caught my eye: it's a compact 14-inch Windows laptop with a pretty grunty Ryzen AI 7 350 processor, 16GB RAM and a roomy 1TB SSD. Just as importantly, there’s a TechRadar coupon code available that brings the price down to just AU$1,139.05.

Our review said the Dell 14 Plus "delivers pretty much exactly what you need to get the job done" for everyday use, school work and general productivity.

What more could you want?

One of the reasons I like this little laptop is that for the price, it doesn’t shortchange you on memory or storage space. And it might not feel as important now, but that 1TB SSD means you can store loads of photos and files without worrying about running out of space.

Our review gave the Dell 14 Plus 4.1 stars, and the scorecard sums it up neatly: "a solid general-use and productivity notebook that's great for work or school". The value score is a top-notch 5 out of 5, while performance and battery life each score 4 out of 5.

There are some caveats, of course. The display is only 300 nits, so it's better suited to an office, home desk or lecture room than bright outdoor use. Our review also noted the keyboard, trackpad and speakers could be better, so I wouldn't buy this expecting a premium MacBook Air feel.

But considering the price, those trade-offs make perfect sense if you mainly need a portable Windows laptop that handles everyday work without any fuss.

There's also a related Dell deal that may suit some readers better: the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 with a Ryzen AI 7 350 processor, 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD is AU$1,299.10 with the same FUTUREAU5% code, down from the early June price of AU$1,799.

The 2-in-1 makes more sense if you like using a touchscreen. Personally, I find that being able to fold the display back into tablet or tent mode is super handy for things like handwritten notes, reading on the couch, marking up documents or watching movies on a plane.

If you want to check out more laptop options before deciding, our main EOFY laptop deals hub is chock full of laptop deals. It covers everything from more Dell deals to MacBooks, Windows laptops, 2-in-1s and gaming laptops, so it has something for everyone.

For even more Dell discounts, check out our TechRadar Dell coupons page, or try one of the codes below.

• FUTURE13% — Save 13% off selected XPS and Alienware laptops and desktops
• FUTURE11% — Take 11% off select monitors and displays
• FUTUREAU5% — Enjoy 5% off a wide range of laptops and desktops

• Apple has raised prices across multiple categories in Australia
• The MacBook Neo has lost some of its entry-level appeal
• The move follows rising RAM and storage costs

Australian shoppers looking for after EOFY offers, or waiting for early Amazon Prime Day tech deals, now have another price shift to factor in. Apple has raised local prices across several major product categories, including the new MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, iPad range, Apple TV 4K, HomePod mini and more.

The timing is awkward, but it also hasn't come from nowhere. Apple has usually been better than most tech companies at absorbing supply chain pressure before it reaches shoppers, though the current RAM and component crunch has been dragging on for long enough to change that calculation.

The warning signs came last month, when Tim Cook flagged "significantly higher memory costs" on an earnings call, then said RAM prices would "drive an increasing impact" on Apple products from this month.

Australian buyers will feel this

One of the clearest examples is the new MacBook Neo, Apple's lower-cost MacBook model and the machine most likely to appeal to students, or anyone trying to get a new Apple laptop for less than MacBook Air money. In Australia it launched with a price from AU$899. It now starts at AU$1,049, so it has lost some of its entry-level appeal.

Sure, it’s still Apple's cheapest laptop, but the higher starting price makes it less competitive against Windows laptops that have been fighting to compete with the Neo. The 512GB model with Touch ID has also gone from AU$1,099 to AU$1,249.

The MacBook Air has lost some of its competitive edge, and the 13-inch model with the M5 chip (check out our MacBook Air 13-inch M5 review) has jumped from AU$1,799 to AU$2,099 to start.

The 15-inch model is up by the same AU$300 amount, from AU$2,199 to AU$2,499. For a laptop that often sits in the middle of Apple's consumer Mac range, that is a significant hit to its value proposition.

The MacBook Pro increases are especially notable in some configurations. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 now starts at AU$3,199, up from AU$2,699, and the higher-end M5 Max models have also moved up by several hundred dollars. Buyers looking at extra memory or storage were already dealing with expensive upgrades, so the higher base prices only make that decision harder.

The Mac mini is another notable hit. It has gone from AU$999 to AU$1,299, which is a 30% increase on a machine that has often been one of the easier Apple desktops to justify on price.

The iPad range is up, which matters for students, families and anyone who was looking at a new tablet for work, study, travel or general use. The 11-inch iPad Air now starts at AU$1,249, up from AU$999, while the standard iPad, iPad mini and iPad Pro models have also increased.

The rises are not limited to Macs and iPads. HomePod mini has gone from AU$149 to AU$199, HomePod is up from AU$479 to AU$549, and Apple TV 4K has jumped from AU$219 to AU$299. Vision Pro was already a niche product at AU$5,999, and the new AU$6,299 starting price certainly does not broaden its appeal.

Apple's iPhone lineup, Apple Watch and AirPods appear to have avoided this round of increases at least. That helps limit the pain for some buyers, but it doesn’t change the issue for anyone who was waiting to buy a Mac, iPad or other Apple device.

Aussie price changes

Of course, Apple is not the only company dealing with higher memory and storage costs, but the scale of these changes is still pretty notable. Price rises across one or two products are easy enough to explain. Price rises across most of Apple’s range are not something that’s easily avoided.

An Apple spokesperson said: “The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly. We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products, including today’s increases for iPad and Mac. We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions.”

The main question is whether the Australian prices come back down if the RAM shortage eases, or whether these higher starting points become normal. We are hopeful, but Apple hasn’t promised a reversal.

For now, local retailers may be worth checking more closely, especially if older stock or short-term deal pricing remains available during EOFY and early Prime Day sales periods.

Other Apple deals

These products haven't gone up in price, but they're still great deals. Note, the prices were last checked on July 1, 2026.

Apple can be its own worst enemy sometimes. After shaking up the industry with both the MacBook Air M5 (slim, light and great value for money) and the MacBook Neo (which redefined what we should expect from an affordable laptop), it spurred its laptop-making rivals, such as Dell and Acer, to up their game and compete.

The result is a reinvigorated laptop market with huge amounts of choice, with Apple continuing to lead the pack due to price and quality.

However, Apple has just announced some pretty major price hikes for a variety of its products, including the MacBook Neo ($699 / £699 / AU$1,049, up from $599 / £599 / AU$899), MacBook Air M5 ($1,299 / £1,299 / AU$2,099, up from $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,799) and the 14-inch MacBook Pro M5 ($1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,199, up from $1,699 / £1,699 / AU$2,699).

Those increases, especially for the MacBook Air, are brutal, and make it a lot harder to justify. The MacBook Neo also becomes less of a no-brainer.

The problem for Apple is that these price hikes come at a time when its Windows 11 competitors are steadily bringing out brilliant alternatives - and it means they are now better value propositions in many cases, especially during Amazon Prime Day.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

The reason behind Apple's price rises is the global memory shortage, but that means many Windows 11 laptops could see price rises as well (and some have risen in price already).

However, because of the huge variety of Windows laptops that are made by a range of manufacturers, there's a lot more choice for consumers to shop around for — and now Apple no longer has a lead when it comes to price, performance or design, those Windows laptops suddenly become a whole lot more tempting, as the current Prime Day sales prove.

Below, I've picked out some great US and UK deals for MacBook Neo, Air, and Pro alternatives. Fair warning: they do run Windows 11, so you'll need to put up with that, but to be fair, Microsoft's operating system is getting a steady stream of fixes and new features these days.

If you want to stick with Apple, then check out our collection of Apple Prime Day deals that can help you avoid the price rise.

Today's best MacBook Neo alternative deals in the US

Today's best MacBook Air alternative deals in the US

Today's best MacBook Pro alternative deals in the US

Today's best MacBook Neo alternative deals in the UK

Today's best MacBook Air alternative deals in the UK

Today's best MacBook Pro alternative deals in the UK

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

More Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99
• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple Watch
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja & Tefal
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from £5
• Fans: from £20
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Gaming: £90 off PlayStation 5
• Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & Sony
• Laptops: from £149
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £79.99
• Toys: up to 25% off Lego and Tonies
• TVs: from £129.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & Roborock
• Wearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura

Yes, the news that Apple fans have been fearing is here — Apple isn't immune to the RAM crisis and has just raised prices across Macs, iPads and the HomePod mini.

Those price hikes are global and are now live in its online store. An Apple spokesperson told Bloomberg "we know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions".

The headline news is that the MacBook Neo, praised for its excellent value, has seen its starting rise from $599 / £599 to a slightly less palatable $699 / £699. There have also been price hikes for the iPad Air, iPad Pro, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini and some Mac Studio models.

What should you do if you were looking to buy one of those Apple products? You've can follow all the latest reaction and deals here in this liveblog...

Welcome to our Apple support group

Hello, and welcome to this liveblog for our reaction to Apple's bombshell news today that it'll be raising prices across Macs, iPads and more.

I'd call it a 'shock' but if you've been following the news lately, it sadly isn't. The RAM crisis news continues to worsen, and Tim Cook recently dropped an unsubtle hint that "price increases are unavoidable".

So what should you do if, like me, you've been looking at upgrading your Apple kit recently? I'll be rounding up all of the latest advice and reaction from TechRadar's experts here — along with the best Prime day deals that could be your savior.

Why is Apple raising prices so much?

The RAM crisis is actually more of a PC component crisis — and unsurprisingly, Apple has said that it's this that's forced it to make unprecedented price hikes today.

An Apple spokesperson told Bloomberg that “the rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage”. They added that the company has “never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”

It's very unusual for Apple make statements like this, which shows how bad the crisis has become. Apple also added it has “shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products including today’s increases for iPad and Mac.”

So what are the price hikes?

Here's a list of the most notable price hikes today for Apple products in the US and UK.

This isn't an exhaustive list — there are various spec configurations for Macs, for example, that will also be hit, particularly if you want to add more RAM.

But it's a handy overview if you want a quick look at the damage for your chosen product. No price hikes are welcome, but those MacBook and Mac mini ones are particularly painful considering the decent value they previously offered.

Deals to the rescue

If there is a small crumb of comfort from today's news, it's that there are some good deals around at Apple's old prices — which could net you some big savings.

I'll be running through some of the best of them now in this liveblog, for both the US and UK. And I have a personal stake in this too, having mulled over buying a MacBook Pro M5 just a few days ago (yes, it hurts).

So without further ago, let's get deals hunting...

iPad deals

The iPad deals below just got a whole lot better in light of today's Apple price hikes.

The iPad A16, for example, is now effectively $150 off, rather than just $50 in the US. Similarly, the iPad Pro's sale price of $899 is now a massive $300 less than Apple's new price, rather than the still-decent $100 saving you got previously.

For those in the UK, there aren't quite as many Prime Day deals right now, but there is a good one on the older iPad Air 11-inch (M3).

Today's best iPad deals in the US

Today's best Apple iPad deals in the UK

What does this mean for iPhone prices?

Fortunately, the iPhone is unaffected by today's price hikes — for now. But there's a good chance we'll see the iPhone 18 Pro get a price bump when it lands in September.

This week, we saw speculation based on JP Morgan research that the iPhone 18 Pro could get a price increase of $50-$100. It true, that would be pretty acceptable compared to the bigger price rises we've seen today.

The Apple Watch and AirPods have both also been spared price increases, though they could also be susceptible later this year (if to a lesser extent than Macs and iPads).

What MacBook deals are there?

If you're looking to buy a MacBook, the Prime Day deals just became a lot more important — maybe even essential, given the unprecedented Apple price hikes we've seen today.

For example, in the US you can buy the MacBook Neo (Apple's most affordable laptop) for $110 less than Apple's new pricing. Earlier today, that discount was only $10.

There are even bigger savings on pricier models like the MacBook Pro. The base 14-inch MacBook Pro M5 model is available for $1549 in the US, a massive $450 under Apple's new official price. How long these deals will last, though, is anyone's guess...

Today's best Apple MacBook deals in the US

Today's best Apple MacBook deals in the UK

We're officially on day three of Prime Day 2026, and Amazon's discounts on MacBooks and iPads couldn't be better timed.

Apple just raised prices across nearly its entire Mac lineup — including MacBooks, iMac, and Mac Studio — alongside the iPad family and home products such as the HomePod and Apple TV 4K.

While Apple's online store is already reflecting the higher prices, Amazon is still offering some of the best discounts we've seen all year on MacBooks and iPads — even without updating the new original prices.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

Those deals look even better now that Apple's higher MSRPs are officially in effect. For instance, Apple now lists the 13-inch MacBook Air with the M5 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage at $1,299.99, but Amazon currently has it for $949. Likewise, the entry-level iPad now starts at $449 from Apple, while Amazon is selling it for just $299.

There's no telling how long these prices will last — though we're hoping they stick around through the remainder of Prime Day's four-day run. For now, keep scrolling for the best live deals on Macs, iPads, and Apple home devices that let you beat Apple's latest price increase.

You can even use the sidebar to jump to specific sections for each device category in the United States and the UK. Furthermore, while Apple hasn't raised prices for the Apple Watch, AirTags, or iPhone, I'm including deals for those as well since it's Prime Day after all.

Today's best iPad deals in the US

Today's best Apple MacBook deals in the US

Today's best Apple AirPods deals in the US

Today's best Apple Watch deals in the US

Today's best Apple AirTag deals in the US

Today's best Apple iPad deals in the UK

Today's best Apple MacBook deals in the UK

Today's best Apple AirPods deals in the UK

Today's best Apple Watch deals in the UK

Today's best Apple AirTag deals in the UK

Today's best Apple iPhone deals in the UK

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

• Apple has raised prices across multiple categories
• The MacBook Neo notably got a sizable hike
• The move comes in response to the RAM crisis

While everyone is busy scooping up Amazon Prime Day deals on all manner of gadgets, Apple just dropped the opposite of deal news: price hikes across most major product categories, including the new MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, Apple TV, HomePod mini, and more.

Look, it's not like we didn't see this coming. Apple's outgoing CEO Tim Cook may be the supply chain maverick, ensuring the tech giant had ample supplies of components to fill tech orders for months, but the RAM and component crisis has dragged on for long enough that even Apple has been dragged in.

Cook warned us last month during an earnings call in which he cited "significantly higher memory costs" and then added that, starting this month, RAM prices would "drive an increasing impact" on Apple's products.

That impact has now translated into higher prices for numerous Apple products, which Apple announced by, well, not really announcing them. Instead, the Apple Store went offline at around 7:30AM ET on Thursday and then returned an hour later with new prices and, basically, no fanfare.

This is gonna hurt

Among the devices seeing a price hike is the exciting and affordable new MacBook Neo, a mobile CPU-powered laptop that was perfectly built for the back-to-school market, and at $599 to start, was Apple's cheapest laptop in memory. It now starts at $699, which also means the Neo with double the storage (512GB) and TouchID is now $799 to start.

There is essentially bad news across multiple categories.

The MacBook Air 13-inch with the M5 chip, a laptop I called "the best ultraportable I've ever used," jumps from $1,099 to start to $1,299. The MacBook Pro jumps a whopping $300 / AU$500 (from $1,699 to $1,999) to start.

Other products getting price hikes include the Apple TV streaming box (now starts at $199) and HomePod Mini(up to $129 from $99).

Perhaps more disturbing for the back-to-school set, the iPad Air base system jumps from $599 to $699.

One of the more shocking price hikes is for a product that, perhaps thankfully, many will not sweat: the Vision Pro. At $3,499 it was already wildly expensive. Now the M5 edition starts at — wait for it — $3,699. That won't help its chances with consumer market penetration.

Shielded from these price hikes is Apple's entire iPhone lineup, Apple Watch, and AirPods. So there's that.

Here are all of the changes Apple has made, for US and UK markets:

It's fairly clear Apple didn't want to do this. In fact, it's hard to remember a time when Apple summarily raised so many prices at once, but its hand was forced. Tech companies across almost every category are responding to these RAM shortages with higher prices.

We've contacted Apple and then sent us this comment: “The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly. We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products, including today’s increases for iPad and Mac. We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions.”

If and when the RAM crisis subsides, will prices return to pre-RAM shortage levels, or is Apple setting a new normal? Only time will tell.

Go find the deals

In the meantime, Prime Day is still live, and there are ample chances to snap up good deals on these gadgets before you're left with nothing but the higher prices (where prices are rising). You'll find the best deals we spotted on iPads, MacBooks, and more below and in this roundup.

Prime Day iPad deals

Prime Day MacBook deals

Prime Day AirPod deals

Prime Day Apple Watch deals

Prime Day AirTag deals

• JP Morgan believes the iPhone 18 Pro price hike could be less severe than other analysts have predicted, at just $50
• Another analyst has flagged chip price increases at TSMC which will affect Apple, and its laptops are in a different situation to iPhones
• The end result could be substantial laptop price increases, while Apple's smartphones get away relatively unscathed

Update: Not long after this story was published, Apple officially announced price hikes on MacBooks (and other products). The MacBook Neo entry-level laptop got a straight $100 hike to start at $699 in the US (£699 in the UK, AU$1,049 in Australia).

The MacBook Air 13-inch with M5 has been hiked $200 to start at $1,299 (£1,299 / AU$2,099). The MacBook Pro has increased even more, by $300, so the baseline model is $1,999 (£1,999 / AU$3,199). In short, these are the painful hikes for Apple's laptops as predicted below, and notably the pricing of the iPhone range hasn't changed.

Original story follows below...

We know Apple's products have price hikes coming — Tim Cook has made that clear in no uncertain terms — but based on the latest spinning from the rumor mill, the iPhone could get away with a relatively mild price bump, with MacBooks potentially hit a good deal harder.

You might be surprised at the possibility that the next iPhone might not be hiked by all that much, because earlier rumors and napkin maths suggested that the incoming iPhone 18 Pro might hit $1,299 in the US, a hefty $200 increase (with a similarly step price hike for other countries). Others have theorized that there could be an even bigger jump than this.

However, as Phone Arena noticed, Max Weinbach, a tech analyst at Creative Strategies, posted on X to flag up JP Morgan's research on what the next-gen iPhone price hike might be.

Contrary to other analysis, JP Morgan thinks it might be more in line with a $50 price bump, as while memory costs will put a lot of pressure on Apple — as a Wccftech report recently underlined, noting that the firm is facing a "sticker shock heading into Q3" — the company seemingly has ways to mitigate those increases elsewhere. One such saving would be made by swapping to Apple's own modem for the new iPhone, as an example.

Another way Apple could theoretically alleviate the pressure on smartphone prices is to recoup some money by charging a premium for the rumored iPhone Ultra foldable, which will be inevitably pricey for those who want the latest and greatest tech (and it looks very much like that foldable is inbound for this year).

As for potential MacBook price hikes, there's not the same space for Apple to maneuver in terms of offsetting other component costs with its laptops. And as Tom's Hardware spotted, analyst (and former Bloomberg reporter) Tim Culpan has just delivered a rumor that TSMC is seemingly increasing chip prices for customers (from 3nm processes down to 7nm and older products) in the order of 5% to 10%.

That hits a bunch of firms who use TSMC to manufacture their chips, but notably AMD, Nvidia, and Apple. For Apple, the more heavyweight MacBook CPUs will be hit harder than mobile silicon, and on top of that, it's yet another unwelcome pressure on the affordably priced MacBook Neo.

As Culpan jokes at the end of his piece: "Maybe those red MacBook Neos will arrive after all." Puzzled as to what that means, exactly? Let's dive into that next.

Analysis: cooking the MacBooks

Arguably, Apple's biggest problem here is keeping the MacBook Neo at its tempting baseline price, in the face of these 'unavoidable' price rises as Tim Cook has called them. Mainly because the price is so low for an Apple laptop, with its popularity and demand meaning that the production of the Neo is rumored to have been massively cranked up.

Culpan has previously floated the theory that Apple will have to either apply price hikes to the MacBook Neo – and perhaps soften that blow with new colors (which is what the 'red Neo' comment refers to) – or just ditch the current entry-level variant, and offer the higher-tier Neo as a baseline instead. The latter is basically a way of applying a price hike of a hundred notes without actually having to increase prices technically, and what makes this seem more likely is that Apple did exactly that as a tactic with the Mac mini recently.

We don't know how this will play out yet, but it's looking increasingly likely that some considerable upward pricing movements will be coming to MacBooks, while the iPhone might perhaps escape the worsts.

A price hike of only $50 for the iPhone would be very much welcomed by many at this point as effectively stable pricing, given all that talk of a couple of hundred dollars or more being stuck on top of the current-gen price tag. And perhaps that's the point — with consumers fearing the worst for the iPhone 18 Pro, they'll eventually be relieved if this is the case.

At any rate — I've been saying this for a while — if you're thinking of buying a new MacBook, the time to move is very likely now, or soon, especially in the case of the Neo (unless you really, really want that red colorway, or whatever striking colors Apple may cook up to distract people from the new price tag).

• Microsoft has cut the price of last year's Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch models
• The freshly introduced entry-level models have 8GB of RAM and provide some relief from recent major price hikes
• This isn't a compromise that some people are happy about, and they're arguing that 8GB isn't enough for a laptop these days

Microsoft has given us some more affordable Surface devices, models that are back under a grand in the US due to price cuts – but there's a catch, and that's the compromise made to achieve this pricing.

Windows Central reports that Microsoft's chosen tactic here is to push out new variants of the Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch from last year with just 8GB of RAM to cut the cost. Previously, the baseline models had 16GB of system memory.

These new 8GB versions are priced at $849 for the Surface Pro and $949 in the case of the Surface Laptop on the Microsoft store in the US.

Note that there aren't fresh 8GB models for the recently introduced new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, which remain with a 16GB loadout at the entry-level.

The new prices for last year's models follow major price hikes for those devices in April 2026. The Surface Pro 12-inch (with 16GB of RAM) was jacked up to $1,049 in the US, whereas previously it started at $799. And the Surface Laptop 13-inch rose to $1,149 versus the original base MSRP of $899.

Analysis: A Neo approach some are questioning

While the new prices are a fair old drop down from the painful hikes that happened a couple of months back, Microsoft has sacrificed half the system RAM to get that reduction. This means these Surface devices are no longer Copilot+ PCs with exclusive AI features, as 16GB of RAM is required for that (although not everyone will miss these AI trimmings).

What else is a bit of a downer here is that the new low prices for half the RAM loadout are still $50 more than the original MSRPs for these Surface products back at launch, when they packed 16GB of RAM.

The other potential aggravation for would-be buyers here is the worry over whether 8GB of RAM is enough these days, a concern that looms ever larger. I've written about this in the recent past, and while yes, you can get by on 8GB for everyday computing duties, I am worried about how future-proofing is going to pan out for Windows 11 laptops (or indeed MacBooks, by which I mean the Neo with 8GB).

Okay, granted, Microsoft is working to make Windows 11 more performant in general, and to ensure the OS is happier with a low allocation of RAM like 8GB — and it is low these days, if you were in any doubt — but what about in five years? I don't know about you, but I expect my laptop to last half a decade, if not longer, and a non-upgradable 8GB is, I fear, going to feel wonky before too long.

Still, I take the point that the option for a more affordable Surface is good to have, and more choice is good — plus that 8GB may remain tenable for longer than you expect if you're sticking to basic computing tasks.

As Windows Central's Zac Bowden points out on X: "Microsoft tells me that it's working behind the scenes to optimize Windows 11 to run better on 8GB RAM, and these devices will be more than capable enough for day-to-day productivity workflows, internet browsing, and media consumption tasks."

Other people are a lot more doubtful, though, as you can see in the replies on that thread, which range from: "8GB of RAM in Windows isn't going to run well regardless of optimizations. You can't stop modern software bloat" to the far more blunt: "8GB RAM in 2026 is a scam."

This week's Prime Day sale at Amazon features hundreds of price cuts on laptops of all shapes and sizes. You would expect that, given it's the biggest sale of the year at the retailer. Between you and me, however, I usually find rival retailer sales to offer just as good discounts.

In fact, having scanned through various sales, I'd say retailers like Dell, Best Buy, and Walmart are really giving Amazon a run for its money during its big day.

Just below, you can see 13 laptop deals that you won't find on Amazon today, with options starting at just $159. That includes Chromebooks, cheap Windows 11 options, and plenty of gaming laptops. Yes, even gaming laptops have relatively good deals today, despite the ongoing RAM crisis.

Highlights include the Dell 14 Plus (one of our favorite mid-range laptops) for $799 (was $1,419), the Dell XPS 13 for $999 (was $1,399), and this RTX 5070-equipped MSI Cyborg gaming laptop for $1,089 (was 1,599) at Walmart.

I'd also highlight the latest MacBook Air 13 for $949 (was $1,099) at Best Buy as another great option because the retailer's trade-in program is really solid. You can see all of these deals, and other 'anti-Prime Day' listings, just down below.

This week's best laptop sales

• Amazon: deals on Apple, Lenovo, Acer, Samsung, and more
• Best Buy: cheap Chromebooks, gaming laptops, and more
• Dell: up to $800 off Plus, XPS, and Alienware laptops
• HP: up to 41% off laptops, Chromebooks, and gaming laptops
• Lenovo: 32% off IdeaPad, Legion, and Chromebooks
• Walmart: super cheap laptops from just $149

Cheap laptops

high-end laptops

Gaming laptops

A ‘digital hire’ won’t replace a skilled employee, but it can help automate many of the time-consuming tasks that eat up their day.

Until recently, AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini answered questions, did research, and made suggestions – offering advice, but not actually taking action. Now, thanks to AI agents like OpenClaw and Hermes, AI can interact with other platforms, allowing it to take action like writing and sending emails, updating your schedule, or scheduling social media posts.

In this guide, we explore everything you need to get started with a 'digital employee'.

Getting started

You’ll need a few things before you can get going with your new ‘digital employee’.

First, you’ll need to pick an AI assistant. There are a few available; OpenClaw is the most popular, closely followed by Hermes. To run your AI agents safely, you’ll likely want to host them on a Virtual Private Server (VPS). Once this is set up, you can then communicate with it via a platform of your choice, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, or Slack.

The VPS is the ‘computer’ doing the heavy lifting, and you can communicate with your AI agent via an app on your phone. So, you don’t really need a powerful computer to run your agents. However, investing in a decent laptop will make it easier to manage workflows, along with the rest of your business, whilst on the go.

Getting AI working for you

Exactly what you have your agent do for you will depend on the nature of your business and your own unique set of skills. Here are a few platforms you may want to explore pairing your agent with, depending on what you want to achieve:

A note on security

Giving AI agents access to sensitive business information, such as financial data, customer data, and emails, carries risks. Using a dedicated VPS goes some way to protecting you.

However, it is important that you take the time to fully understand the risks associated with using AI agents and the steps you can take to mitigate them.

The refreshed lineup of Dell laptops has turned out to be even better than many of us hoped for, including the return of the XPS line — and right now, Dell's 'Days of Deals' sale is offering even better pricing than the Amazon Prime Day laptop deals I've been seeing.

• Shop more Amazon Prime Day deals here

Right off the top, you have the new Dell 16 Laptop for $499.99 (originally $1029.99), which is a better price for a Windows 11 Home laptop than just about any other model on Amazon that doesn't come with junk hardware inside. Instead, you get an eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 250 processor, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD, far better than most sub-$500 laptops on sale for Prime Day.

The Alienware 15 gaming laptop is also just $999.99 for a decently specced sub-$1,000 laptop with updated hardware, something that is very hard to find on Amazon right now.

There's more to explore at Dell.com, and I encourage you to check out their sale if you're in the market for new computer hardware, but I've pulled together my favorite laptop picks and configurations from the sale to help make it easier to find what you're looking for.

Today's best laptop deals at Dell.com

Amazon's Prime Day sale in the US - quick links

• Amazon Devices: 50% off TVs, Ring & Fire Sticks
• Apple: AirPods + iPads from $99
• Back to school: deals from $5.99
• Beauty: 80% off toothbrushes & skincare
• Headphones: $120 off Bose, Apple & Sony
• Health: electric toothbrushes from $24.99
• Kitchen: 54% off Ninja, Nespresso & Keurig
• Laptops: record-low prices from $175
• Tablets: iPads and Samsung from $54.99
• Toys: 40% off Lego, scooters & Toniebox
• TVs: cheap TVs from $59.99
• Vacuums: Shark, Bissell & Dyson from $49.99

I’ll be honest: I’ve yet to be really sold on AI laptops. The problem is, laptop makers like Apple, Samsung, HP, Microsoft, and more have been trying to convince us we need a device capable of local AI tasks by suggesting it can help us write emails (I can do that already) and generate images (a fun distraction initially, but I quickly lose interest – and there’s something about AI-generated images, videos, and music that gives me the ick).

It left me feeling as if even the best AI laptops are more of a gimmick used by companies just trying to get us to buy new devices, rather than something revolutionary.

However, after talking to Dr Liv Grant, a technology influencer, science podcaster, and ‘PhD Queen’, I’m actually excited about the implications of on-device AI in laptops, especially for students.

Dr Liv Grant recently ran a vibe coding workshop with Apple, where she showed students with no coding experience how they can create apps using MacBooks and local LLMs (Large Language Models, the tech that modern AI as we know it is based on) and spoke to me about the laptops she uses and recommends to students.

With the Back to School period approaching and Prime Day sales in full swing, students and their parents will be looking for the best student laptops to see them through college and university, so I was keen to get Dr Liv Grant's recommendation.

“I have a MacBook Neo,” she told me, “that’s great for people who are beginning to code. For someone who is learning online and branching into something less data-heavy, such as web developing, it’s a great choice.”

However, Dr Liv Grant explains, "while you can do extremely light cloud-based AI using the device, if someone is looking for the best Mac to use for on-device AI, my recommendation is the MacBook Pro, and if you’re looking for more of an entry device, it would be the MacBook Air.” She continues, “If you’re curious about coding and you already have a MacBook Neo you can begin your journey there, but you’d ideally need an Air or Pro.” 

The MacBook Neo is Apple’s most affordable MacBook, selling for $599 / £599 / AU$899. If you’re a student, there's an exclusive discount from the Apple Education store, which drops the price to $499 / £499. Despite the low price, it performs very well at day-to-day tasks, and thanks to the Apple A18 Pro chip that powers it, it can also handle on-device AI, though Apple would like to make clear that the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are better suited for coding and on device AI and LLM workflows.

The Apple A18 Pro features an NPU (Neural Processing Unit), which Apple calls the Neural Engine, and is the part of the chip that enables on-device artificial intelligence.

What’s on device AI?

Let’s back up a bit for a minute. You might be wondering what on-device AI means, and what makes it different from online AI chatbots such as ChatGPT.

ChatGPT, Claude and other popular AI chatbots are mainly cloud-based and accessed via the internet. On-device AI means that AI tasks such as image or text generation are performed on the device itself by the NPU using a local LLM.

You don’t need an AI-capable laptop or device to use cloud-based AI tools – all you need is an internet connection. However, devices that can run AI locally offer plenty of benefits, as Dr Liv Grant explained.

“With on-device AI, you don’t need internet connectivity. I’m always working on the go; especially when working at university, I’d work during my commute. The Wi-Fi on public transport can be awful, and it would interrupt my work.”

This is probably the most noticeable benefit for many people. If you’re doing important work that requires AI tools, using those tools locally on the device means that if you lose your internet connection, you can still keep working – and you won’t be in danger of losing your work.

Running those tasks locally has privacy and security benefits as well, as you’re not sharing data, files, or any other information with a remote third party, which is the case with cloud-based AI tools. For extremely sensitive data, or even personal things like using AI to help edit family photos, you should use on-device AI.

To ensure a laptop you’re considering buying is capable of on-device AI, you should check to see if it comes with an NPU (or Neural Engine if you’re looking at MacBooks).

The good news is that most modern chips from Intel, AMD, Qualcomm and Apple feature NPUs. Windows 11 laptops with these chips will most likely be labeled as ‘Copilot+ PCs’ – not the best name, but that’s Microsoft for you. Meanwhile, Apple products will be labeled as being ready for Apple Intelligence.

NPU performance is often measured in TOPS (Trillions of Operations Per Second). The higher the TOPS, the faster the NPU will complete AI tasks. Windows 11 laptops with an NPU of 40 TOPS or more can be labeled as a Copilot+ PC, for example.

This is why Dr Liv Grant suggests the MacBook Neo is best for less-intensive AI tasks, as its NPU is capable of around 35 TOPS, while it's also limited to 8GB of unified memory.

So, the MacBook Neo is fine for beginners, but if you have more ambitious plans that require on-device AI, you’ll want to go for a device with an NPU capable of higher TOPS and offering more RAM.

Light as air

Because of that, Dr Liv Grant uses a MacBook Air for the majority of her coding and AI work. It’s a great alternative due to its thin and light design (ideal for people who work while traveling) and its relatively affordable price (the 13-inch MacBook Air with M5 chip starts at $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,799, and again, there’s a student discount that’ll knock $100/£100/AU$160 off the price if you qualify).

It's also far more capable when it comes to day-to-day tasks and on-device AI, thanks to its M5 chip and 16GB of unified memory to start.

While Apple doesn’t officially disclose the TOPS of its chips, we estimate that it’s around 133 TOPS – which, on paper, makes it around four times faster for AI. Combine that with the larger amount of faster unified memory, and the MacBook Air becomes an excellent mobile AI workstation. At Dr Liv Grant’s vibe coding workshop, the participants all used a MacBook Air.

The final tool in Dr Liv Grant’s MacBook arsenal is a MacBook Pro, which she primarily uses for content creation for her extremely popular Instagram and TikTok accounts.

"My everyday device is my MacBook Pro, because of the heaviness of my workflow. When I’m on the go, I use MacBook Air, which is what we used for the workshop at Apple," she told me.

For students (or anyone, for that matter)looking for a laptop that can handle complex AI tasks as well as demanding creative workloads, a MacBook Pro might be a wise investment, but it is a lot more expensive.

All about the vibe coding

So, what’s the importance of AI for students? While a lot of focus has been on how AI can help students research and study, Dr Liv Grant suggests vibe coding is where it can make the biggest difference, and not necessarily just for programming students.

“Vibe coding is where you use AI or a chatbot tool to help you write code,” explains Dr Liv Grant. “For example, I have an idea for an app to help content creators do a job – a few years ago I’d have had to learn the language, the syntax, the codebase from scratch. With vibe coding you can use AI to help you.”

As Dr Liv Grant is keen to stress, vibe coding isn’t a replacement for traditional coding, and she is familiar with many programming languages. Instead, it’s a tool that can help coders experiment and get creative while still being productive.

Dr Liv Grant’s mention of coding languages is an interesting one, as there’s a huge range of languages used. Web developers, for example, might use JavaScript, while someone making Windows 11 apps would use C#, and someone coding for Macs or iOS apps would likely use Swift. Being experienced with one coding language doesn’t mean you’ll be ‘fluent’ in others, and that’s where vibe coding can really help.

“Even if you know what you’re doing, everyone should use vibe coding,” Dr Liv Grant suggests.

In her workshop, students with no coding background used MacBook Airs to create an app. “We made a pomodoro timer app using LLM studio, picked a vibe coding tool, and gave it three prompts.”

The AI tool would then give examples of code to use in the desired language. “With the first prompt,” explains Dr Liv Grant, “there were some errors, but those were easy to fix.” This is where a basic understanding of coding and syntax comes in, as Dr Grant used her coding experience to correct any mistakes in the AI-generated code.

The ease of vibe coding combined with more affordable laptops such as the MacBook Neo “opens up the world of coding to so many people – people in lower socioeconomic groups, students, anyone,” Dr Liv Grant told me. “It’s very exciting; students have so many ideas, and vibe coding helps those students realize those ideas without having to learn entire programming languages.

“Red Bull Basement recently ran a competition for people to pitch their ideas for an AI tool or app. All the entrants were using vibe coding. They didn’t have a background in coding.”

To me, that sounds both exciting and worrying. Exciting because it could mean that new (once-marginalized) voices, ideas, and products come to market. Someone who once might have had a great idea for an app, but never did anything with it as they were unable to code, could now rustle up a prototype with vibe coding.

Similarly, someone without a coding background who needs an app for a specific task could make their own rather than trying to find someone who would do it for them.

However, I’m also worried – could vibe coding mean an influx of slop apps? And what about programmers, will they be out of jobs? Is it even worth becoming a programming student?

“Yes,” says Dr Liv Grant when I ask her if people should still study to become programmers, “but maybe not in the depth we used to learn coding in. Learn basic syntax, how code works,” Dr Grant suggests. Those skills will prove essential to ensuring any vibe-coded project has a base level of quality. As for programming as a career? “It’s going to move more towards how good you are at interacting with AI and how good you are at prompting.”

I left our conversation with a newfound appreciation for how AI can help students, especially when it comes to vibe coding, and how that, combined with more affordable devices like the MacBook Neo (even considering its limitations), could make app developing much more accessible.

It’s certainly an interesting time, and if you or someone you know is considering getting a laptop to vibe code on, I’ve picked some of my top choices below. Make sure you also follow Dr Liv Grant on TikTok and Instagram for more fascinating insights into tech, science and Epigenetics.

If what we talked about here has got you interested in getting a MacBook for vibe coding (and more), then check out these fantastic MacBook Prime Day deals I've hand-picked below.

Prime Day MacBook deals

This HP laptop may be Amazon's best-selling Windows notebook just before Prime Day sales, but I truly cannot recommend it. The HP 250 G10 uses an Intel N100 processor, which is very poor value for money for a laptop that costs just under $500 (and that 37% discount claim seems very dubious).

Yes, it has 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a full HD display but that's simply not good enough to change my opinion of this laptop. (And yes, it uses a trick I despise to attract customers).

The N100 is so underpowered that it will struggle with even mundane tasks. Add the small 41Whr battery and you've got the perfect combination for hours of frustration and lost productivity.

So instead, here are five other laptops I'd personally recommend. For the same outlay (or less), they deliver far, far better value for money without the guaranteed irritation. Head over to our live hub for the latest Prime Day deals on a host of tech.

Quick links

• Shop $500 laptops at Amazon
• Check $500 laptops at Best Buy
• Buy $500 laptops at Walmart
• $500 laptops on sale at Newegg

"You can take the MacBook back. I don’t have the patience to learn a new thing," said my wife as she slid the MacBook Neo back across the kitchen counter.

It was the unceremonious end to a two-week-long experiment in which I encouraged my wife, a decades-long Windows user, to give Apple a try, more specifically, the flavor of Apple found in a lovely, citrus MacBook Neo.

Look, I am no pusher. Ever since I started testing the $599 laptop, my wife had been eyeing it. She was becoming Mac curious. This had a lot to do with her creaky Microsoft Surface Pro 4, a decade-old system that would soon face the dreaded end of Windows 10 security updates (no TPM 2.0 on that old Surface Pro).

As a realtor, she kind of loved the old girl. It ably ran all of her Web-based business software, handled emails, basic art needs for whipping up new listing sheets, and social media materials. She also knew, however, that it was almost time for an upgrade. We both wondered if the affordable and mid-range-powered MacBook Neo could ably step in for the Surface Pro.

My wife even told me that, if she went with the MacBook Neo, Cirtus would not be her choice; the blush looked rather nice. Of course, Citrus is what I had on hand, so that's what she got.

I told her that, while different, macOS would not be completely foreign. Sure, it moved some things around, but my wife was no Luddite; she picked up new tech pretty well.

One thing about her, though, should have been a warning: she hates change.

Taking the macOS plunge

Simply buying her a MacBook Neo — even if there are some nifty Prime Day Deals right now — without knowing if she'd take to it made no sense, and since I'd been testing and using this on-and-off for months, we decided to set her up with it as if she'd bought the system brand new.

I reset the MacBook Neo. It's a $699 model with Touch ID and 512GB of storage, and I told her that this would likely be the one we would buy anyway since I wouldn't want her to run into storage issues.

Next, we sat side-by-side as I walked her through the setup. She took to this part quickly, though I realized that the placement of Touch ID on the power/sleep button was non-obvious. When I told her to register her finger to unlock the laptop, she stared at the system for a few seconds, clearly looking for something with a fingerprint symbol.

You're on your own

For the next couple of weeks, I would watch her slip the laptop into her work bag or use it at the dining room table. I did catch her occasionally trying to tap the screen, which was unsurprising. After all, she'd spent a decade with a touch-screen convertible. I'd ask her how it was going, and she'd give me a slightly less-than-enthusiastic "OK".

At work, she said she struggled to connect to the office printer and finally had a coworker step in and help her.

When she was at home, I showed her how to add her OneDrive account to access work files, a move that seemed to both confound and confuse her. The Windows system automatically integrates the drive. For the Mac, there's an app and then a few steps.

Even the benefits I found in adding a Mac to my Apple ecosystem were lost on her:
"Why do my iPhone notifications keep popping up on the MacBook? That's annoying."

I kept waiting for that moment, the epiphany that triggered, "Why didn't I make this switch years ago?"

It never came.

She found the need to use two fingers to enact right-click functions confusing and didn't seem all that thrilled with the trackpad.

It was clear she appreciated the MacBook Neo design, and yet, she told me, “It’s nice and sleek and all of that, but I could get a new PC that’s nice and sleek and all of that."

As we walked through a Best Buy looking at both MacBook Neo and a bunch of comparable Windows machines from Lenovo, HP, Dell, and Acer, it was clear that the MacBook Neo had not won her over.

After she returned the system, my wife told me that she just couldn't get used to all the differences. Why was the control center at the top? Why did the dock look like that? How could they not have a Start button?

For the average Mac user, like myself, there were all good reasons for these design elements and placements, but, having been a switcher myself, I understood the confusion. Working on a MacBook after 30 years on Windows means you are living in a constant state of "Who moved my cheese?" And when you, as my wife does, have important work to get done, you can't have a system's quirks getting in the way of your productivity.

Getting real

None of this is a commentary on the still excellent MacBook Neo, but it does say something about a certain class of users who, while Apple might try to attract them with the affordable MacBook Neo, are unlikely to make the switch.

The reality is that the best market for the MacBook Neo is still the back-to-school market, where it will likely have an easier time of swaying kids who've used Chromebooks or have only been on iPads.

They'll become Apple's newest customers. As for aging Windows users, getting them to make the switch might be more than Apple can or should hope for — even with the appealing MacBook Neo.

These days, if you're looking at tech news, it won't be long before you come across a mention of the RAM crisis. The dwindling supply of memory chips is proving increasingly problematic, and at this point, it seems that the AI industry hasn't just eaten the consumer's lunch, but also their dinner, pudding, and the little mints that usually arrive with the bill afterwards. And did it tip? Not likely.

I have got a tip for you, though – yeah, I know, smooth segue – or rather five tips as we face the inexorably on-rolling memory shortage, which is crushing all wallets in its path. In this article, I've picked out five pieces of computing hardware that I believe you should buy now, or in the very near future, before the PC component crisis — because it extends beyond mere RAM, of course — renders this hardware a good deal pricier.

Nothing is guaranteed in life, not even my expert predictions (ahem), so consider them with that in mind. But I'm making these recommendations — from MacBooks to SSDs — based on what's happened most recently in terms of said crisis, for good reasons that I'll expand upon when I come to each individual pick.

So here are my five devices or components which I believe you should move sooner rather than later with if they're on your shopping list. Bear in mind that with Amazon Prime Day just around the corner (and discounts on the go already), it could also be worth keeping an eye out for bargain deals at that retail giant.

1. Apple MacBooks — especially the MacBook Neo

Earlier this week, Tim Cook came forth with some information that everyone who's mulling buying a new Mac needs to know about. The Apple CEO told us that its products are going to get substantially more expensive before long, liberally sprinkling around words like "unavoidable" without going into any specifics.

Price hikes, and likely sizable ones, are coming to Apple's major products, then, and that includes MacBooks (as well as iPhones and probably iPads too, and more besides no doubt). What I'm particularly worried about though, as I discussed at the time, is what this could mean for the MacBook Neo.

Long story short: Apple ditched the entry-level Mac mini last month, the product which cost an enticing $599 (£599 / AU$999), making the next-tier-up model, which has twice the storage (512GB instead of 256GB), the cheapest option at $699 (£699 / AU$1,099). Might the same thing happen to the MacBook Neo? I believe there's a chance that Apple could mirror this move, because given the need to address MacBook pricing, when it comes to the Neo, applying a hike this early in the device's lifespan doesn't look good. Especially not when it's built entirely on its value appeal as a budget model.

So, a way of rejigging things without a price hike would be to just ditch the current entry-level Neo, just as happened with the Mac mini, leaving folks to pay a hundred notes more for the baseline model (while getting more storage, granted). Then this could be framed as a configuration adjustment rather than a cost adjustment.

With that in mind, the MacBook Neo at its current entry-level price might be a steal, and that's especially the case if you can get a bargain on the laptop. Indeed, there's already a good early Prime Day deal in the UK (at the time of writing) — and there may be others too.

Of course, there could be deals on other MacBook models, and just as with the Neo, it's likely a smart move to grab a bargain on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, or any Mac you might be considering buying this year. All these PCs may be hit with what'll seemingly be substantial price hikes, and so I think buying now is very much the thing to do.

A MacBook Air M5 at $950 currently (the discounted price in the US on Amazon, again as I write this) might look pretty good compared to the Neo at $700 a little way down the road, potentially.

2. SSDs

My second port of call given recent rumblings with the component crisis is to grab a relatively affordable SSD if you can, though granted, this comes with caveats — it may not be easy to find one.

Still, I think it's worth trying — again, Prime Day might help here — and to pick an example, Samsung's 990 Pro SSD has been at reasonably palatable pricing (for the current climate) of late. Okay, so a current deal on the 1TB model costs about the same as the MSRP of the 2TB flavor before the RAM crisis hit, but still, a bit over $200 in the US is not bad in the overall picture.

And the thing to bear in mind here is that earlier this week, an exec in the SSD supply chain (a VP at Silicon Motion, which makes drive controllers) gave us an alarming soundbite that ran: "The retail SSD market has almost disappeared." With SSDs all being funneled towards data centers and OEMs (PC manufacturers), there's precious little left heading to the shelves where the average consumer can pick them up.

Unlike RAM, where price inflation may not have much further room to maneuver — given that consumers will just stop buying at some point — there is still some space for SSDs to rise. What the Silicon Motion VP said all sounds rather ominous, and points to a picture where the decent deals — relatively speaking — that we can get right now on SSDs may evaporate before too long.

3. External hard drives

This comes right off the heels of the above in the world of storage, as there's evidence pointing to a rise in hard drive prices. While as noted, SSD prices have shot up — especially for larger capacity or high-end models — hard drives hadn't really been affected, at least not until a few months ago.

Based on the findings of 3D Center, which monitors the German retail market, hard drives are becoming increasingly expensive. Last month, they were 34% more expensive than a year ago, and as of June 2026, that ante was upped distinctly to 58% (effectively a price increase of close to 20% in the span of a month).

So, if you need an external hard disk for your backups or NAS — or to provide extra capacity for your Mac with a small SSD — you might want to consider buying it now before price increases shift up another gear, which looks like what's going to happen.

4. Windows 11 laptops

MacBooks aren't all you need to worry about when it comes to price hikes, as naturally the broad upward pricing pressures on components affect all notebooks.

I previously wrote about why it's a good idea to buy a Windows 11 laptop now, following Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, predicting that the RAM crisis might spin onwards until the end of this decade.

The crux of the matter is that affordable notebooks are still very much a thing, especially during sales, but with the additional gloom cast on pricing woes in recent times — particularly by Huang, who is well placed to forecast — I feel there's a distinct danger that it could be harder to buy a cheap laptop before long.

I doubt you'll regret buying a Windows 11 laptop at today's prices, put it this way, particularly with a discount applied.

5. Graphics cards

Finally, if you're pondering a graphics card upgrade at some point going forward, this is another component that I reckon it'd be smart to grab soon.

While price increases for Nvidia GPUs have been more confined to higher-end models — products with more video memory (VRAM), which is where the pricing misery mainly stems from — I think that they'll apply more to mainstream cards as 2026 rolls on.

Why? For starters, I don't think it's a great sign that Nvidia is resurrecting half-decade-old GPUs from the generation before last to help bolster supply levels of its boards. (These RTX 3000 models use GDDR6 VRAM, which is a useful alternative memory vein to tap away from the GDDR7 that's in current-gen graphics cards). We've seen nasty hikes applied to the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB already, and the RTX 5070 price is creeping up too, based on the latest data from our sister site Tom's Hardware.

The RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 8GB can still be had at relatively palatable prices, though, so they may be a solid buy with a bit of a Prime Day discount in the offing perhaps. (Even if they aren't hugely well-liked GPUs, in all fairness, for one reason or another — the scant VRAM allocation being the main bone of contention for many gamers).

Where I'd be more inclined to look, though, is at the AMD RX 9070 XT. That GPU is in a similar position to the RTX 5070 in the US with a relatively mild (roughly) 10% price hike right now, the difference being that it packs 16GB of VRAM and considerably better performance (at least away from ray tracing).

We've seen some decent deals on the 9070 XT recently, and if you can grab one, I think that could be a great move as a GPU upgrade that'll last you. Particularly given that AMD's CEO Lisa Su has forecast pricing misery to come later this year, with Team Red serving up some relatively strong signals for the likelihood of incoming Radeon graphics card price hikes.

• BOE has started mass production at its huge new factory in China
• It's cranking out OLED panels for use in monitors, laptops and other devices
• These OLEDs will be more affordable, and provide competition to drive down pricing with the dominant players, LG and Samsung

In a move that's set to usher in more affordable OLED monitors and laptops, BOE has officially flicked the switch to crank the production lines into action for its Generation 8.6 panels.

The Elec reports that mass production of Generation 8.6 OLEDs began this week at BOE over in China, with the manufacturer holding an event in Chengdu to celebrate the milestone.

This was attended by some notably major laptop and monitor players, including Asus, Lenovo and MSI. As you might guess, big names from the smartphone world were present too, with Honor, Nothing, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and ZTE among them.

Chen Yanshun, chairman of BOE, said: "We will meet the growing demand for premium displays from customers in China and overseas and become a trusted partner through advanced technologies and high-quality products."

The factory is capable of producing 32,000 substrates per month, were are large slabs of glass that are cut into multiple individual OLED panels.

Wondering what the first product off the assembly line was? The Elec informs us that it was a 14-inch OLED for Lenovo notebooks with a 2.8K resolution (as shown above).

Analysis: competition for LG and Samsung

What's the big deal about BOE's new Generation 8.6 panels? This tech allows for the production of much larger substrates than before, and that means a lot more OLED screens can be cut out of that big sheet, with less overall waste (the extraneous bits around the edges). Therefore, production is more economical, and the cost of the OLED panel is decreased, with that saving passed on to the manufacturer and consumer in turn.

The end result is cheaper OLED monitors, and notebooks (or tablets and other devices) with OLED screens, for us all going forward. Especially as this competition from BOE, which is taking a major move forward in the OLED space, will eventually force LG Display and Samsung to be more competitive with their pricing.

Those two companies are the dominant players in OLED displays, so it's good to see them being challenged in this way. And not just by BOE, but also TCL CSOT and inkjet-printed OLEDs – although that tech is still some way off (with mass production not expected to kick off until late in 2027).

BOE's new panels aren't just about cost savings, either, as the facility is producing a tandem OLED (with two layers) boasting a longer lifespan than a single-layer panel, to the tune of three to four times longer, and better power efficiency. (It consumes 20% to 30% less power, which is obviously crucial for laptops and battery life in particular).

• Apple's CEO has warned that "price increases are unavoidable" for its products
• That means more expensive Macs, iPhones and iPads for starters
• Price hikes will likely be substantial, and there are concerns that product lines could be adjusted as seen recently with the Mac mini – is the entry-level MacBook Neo to suffer the same fate?

CEO Tim Cook has warned that Apple is going to substantially hike prices on its products due to the RAM crisis.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal (as spotted by Wccftech), Cook said: "Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable. We're doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we've been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable."

The spiralling costs of both memory and storage (SSDs) means that Apple needs to put up prices, and the hikes will be "substantial" the report suggests (as did Cook's previous comments whereby the CEO said that from June, Apple will be facing "significant" cost increases for memory and this will "drive an increasing impact" on Apple's products).

So, this wasn't unexpected, but now it's crystal clear that these price increases are coming due to the "unsustainable" situation around memory chip supply (which is being eaten by AI and data centers to the detriment of consumer products).

What we don't know is the magnitude of these price increases, or what products they might apply to, as Cook didn't furnish us with any specific info along those lines.

It's a safe enough bet that Apple's core products are going to get pricier, though, meaning the iPhone, iPad and Macs. The WSJ even theorizes that the iPhone Pro 18 might cost from $1,299 in the US based on some rough maths.

Analysis: time to buy a Mac?

How soon these price hikes might happen is another key question, of course, but given Cook's previous comments about June, Mac rises could be imminent, as the WSJ indicates – particularly given that we've already seen the Mac mini get pricier at its baseline level. If you recall, Apple discontinued the most affordable entry-level model with 256GB of storage, effectively making the cheapest Mac mini a third more expensive.

The upshot is that if you're thinking of buying a Mac, now seems to be the time to pull the trigger, before these devices get pricier. Any deals that pop up on MacBooks for Prime Day could well be worth pouncing on, and there's already been a discount applied to the MacBook Neo (in the UK).

Grabbing that deal might be a particularly smart move to make, actually, because if the Mac mini is anything to go by, the current base version of the MacBook Neo may not survive the coming quarter. As one of a few such comments on this Reddit thread puts it: "The $599 MacBook Neo was fun while it lasted."

As to what all this means more broadly for Apple pricing moving forward, another interesting point that Cook brings up in the interview with the WSJ is that he says Apple is willing to use its "balance sheet to help be a part of the solution."

By that, the CEO doesn't mean Apple is about to fund the building of its own chip production facilities, and Cook explicitly states that. What it indicates is that the company is going to invest in this side of the tech industry, but exactly how is up for debate.

Some (like Jukan on X) theorize that what Cook is referring to is Apple prepaying to secure more memory supply – and that'll require a serious amount of upfront cash to compete with the major AI players. Others believe this could mean that Apple might help fund expansion plans for memory chip makers as part of some kind of deal to lock in more favorable longer-term pricing for iPhone, iPad and Mac memory supply.

Meanwhile, Jukan also highlighted a message from President Trump on Truth Social which states that "Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its chips in America", as has been previously rumored as a way of diversifying away from Apple's reliance on TSMC.

Tim Cook said before that Apple is exploring a "range of options" in terms of dealing with the RAM crisis, and it seems there's a lot going on behind the scenes right now. Hopefully we'll learn more about the details soon enough, but for now, I'm nervously watching what happens with the MacBook Neo and other Apple laptops.

• Rumor has it that Intel's CPU with integrated Nvidia RTX GPU is planned to debut early in 2028
• We could see an announcement at CES 2028
• This will be a powerful mobile chip that could be a huge step forward for gaming laptops and handheld devices

Intel processors with integrated Nvidia RTX graphics are coming, we know that, but we now have a rumor of a rough timeframe, namely early 2028.

VideoCardz reports that according to YouTube tech reporter Erdi Ozuag on X, Intel's silicon roadmap currently has its processors featuring built-in Nvidia GPUs as launching in the first quarter of 2028.

In theory, then – assuming this is true, and the planned timeline doesn't slip – we could be looking at a CES 2028 launch for these chips which are codenamed Serpent Lake.

Also regarding the timeline, it aligns with the expectations for the release of Nvidia's next-gen of GeForce RTX GPUs, which is currently forecast to debut in 2028.

Ozuag adds that the prospect of Intel producing Apple silicon continues to advance, and the final quarter of 2027 is apparently the target for Team Blue to be making chips for MacBooks or iPhones (probably lower-end models, the rumor mill has previously suggested). This (theoretically) represents Apple diversifying somewhat away from TSMC for chip production duties.

Analysis: a lot of potential – but some questions too

An Intel processor with Nvidia RTX chiplet on-board to provide graphics muscle should be a huge move for the PC world. Granted, we know very little about the chip as it stands, but packing next-gen RTX graphics is likely to mean this could usher in SoCs which are revolutionary for the performance of thin-and-light gaming laptops. Indeed, these Intel processors should prove excellent for elevating gaming handhelds too.

If this rumor is true, it means these Intel chips are potentially only a year and a half away. Or at least that's when we could first see the silicon announced, although the notebooks packing the chips themselves may take a fair bit longer to arrive on shelves.

Of course, a lot of how this timeline plays out may be heavily dependent on what happens with the current RAM and component crisis, and its impact on the world of laptops in general. (Which could get substantially nastier as time rolls on – as I've discussed elsewhere recently, I think now could be a smart time to buy a laptop based on the indicators we're hearing from various key players in the PC sphere – and indeed phones for that matter).

Other questions remain, such as: where does this leave Intel's own Arc graphics plans? And how will this partnership play out given that Nvidia is now spearheading a fresh thrust to make Arm devices more relevant in the realm of Windows 11 laptops with its RTX Spark chip – a prospect that'll surely worry Intel (despite the brave face in public)?

There are a few unknowns as to how all this will unfold, let's put it that way, but this Intel and Nvidia collaboration still remains an exciting prospect.

• Microsoft has launched new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop devices
• They are built around the Snapdragon X2 processor
• The OLED screen is back for the Surface Pro, but prices are steep, even at the entry-level

Microsoft has revealed new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop devices powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 processor.

There's a new Surface Pro 13-inch, alongside fresh Surface Laptop 13.8-inch and 15-inch models, all of which pack the Arm-based Snapdragon X2, with a choice of the X2 Plus (10-core) and X2 Elite (12-core) CPUs.

These consumer devices follow the launch of versions of the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop targeted at businesses which were unveiled a month ago.

The new Surface Laptop offers what Microsoft claims is up to 58% faster graphics performance than the previous generation of its notebook.

The company also tells us to expect up to 20 hours of battery life with the more compact 13.8-inch model, and up to 19 hours with the 15-inch laptop (with local video playback).

The Surface Laptop is available from today in platinum, black, and dune colorways, with the 13.8-inch offering a new color: jade. The device starts at $1,599 in the US (around £1,190 / AU$2,260) for the 13.8-inch model with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

Pricing elsewhere is yet to be announced — although outside of the US, it's worth noting that the entry-level storage will start at 256GB for the 13.8-inch device.

As for the Surface Pro 13-inch, it's a very similar bump in graphics performance courtesy of the Snapdragon X2 processor, with a claimed 53% leap over its predecessor. You get up to 15.5 hours of battery life here based on Microsoft's internal testing (again for local video playback).

The new Surface Pro 13-inch is available from now in platinum, black, and dune colors, with this hybrid starting at $1,149 / £950 / AU$1,999 for the configuration with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

Other than the major move in upgrading the Snapdragon chips, there's one other notable change to the core specs here, namely that Microsoft has brought back an OLED option for the Surface Pro (so you can choose that as an option, or the basic LCD screen).

The OLED gives you vivid colors and deep blacks, as you'd expect, and a better level of HDR peak luminance, boasting 900 nits of brightness versus 600 nits for the LCD.

Analysis: Snappier but not happier?

While the upgrades to the Snapdragon X2 chips are very welcome in terms of the additional performance for these Surface machines, the price tags are eye-watering — certainly if you compare them to the previous generation of these respective devices. If you recall, the previous Surface Laptop 13-inch started at not far off half the price tag we see here ($900 in the US, versus $1,599 now).

However, we knew this was coming because not so long ago, Microsoft announced some big price increases across the whole Surface range (and rumors insisted these would be applied to these new consumer offerings, which only made sense).

So, there's no surprise in seeing such major increases, but they remain disappointingly hefty compared to the hikes seen elsewhere from other laptop makers.

The Surface Laptop starting at $1,599 / £1,449 / AU$2,799 isn't easy to stomach, frankly, although at least you're getting 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for that money (as opposed to 256GB, although there will be an international version of the laptop that does drop to this level of SSD capacity).

The Surface Pro 13-inch kicking off at $1,499 / £1,399 / AU$2,699 with 256GB of storage is a real wallet worrier, too. There is, however, a sweetener of sorts for the remainder of June in the US, whereby buyers get a free Surface Pro 13-inch Keyboard bundled by Microsoft (or there's a free Surface Arc Mouse with the new Surface Laptops).

While these Microsoft devices have generally been very well-received over the past few years, that wasn't quite so much the case for TechRadar when we reviewed both new models last year — and with these prices hikes, the Surface is starting to look a dubious value proposition I'm afraid. Especially in light of Apple launching the MacBook Neo with a surprisingly affordable price tag in this RAM-starved climate.

Razer Blade 18 (2026): Two-minute review

Another year, another Razer Blade laptop lineup. At this point, these reviews have become something of a foregone conclusion for me; if there are three things I can reliably expect from each new Blade release, it's great gaming performance, a sleek and robust design, and a sky-high price tag.

Sure enough, the latest Blade 18 (2026) delivers on all three fronts – but I can't just say 'yep, buy it if you can afford it'. This new Blade is superior to its predecessors in several ways, and it's quite possibly the best large-screen gaming laptop (or portable workstation) you can buy right now.

Having seen the dawn of Nvidia RTX 5000 GPUs in Razer's laptops when I reviewed the Razer Blade 16 (2025) last year, I had some idea of what to expect in terms of performance. The new Blade 18 did not disappoint in this regard, delivering top-notch gaming quality across everything I tested.

Those games look better than ever on the new display as well, since this Blade doesn't eschew 4K display options as the 16-inch model does. That's not all I have to say about the screen, though. This Blade has an ace up its sleeve; a dual-mode display that can be switched between UHD+ 240Hz and FHD+ 440Hz modes.

I'll dig more into the specifics of this later, but it's a feature that will appeal specifically to esports-oriented gamers. In the upper echelons of competitive gaming, resolution takes a back seat to framerate in terms of importance, so being able to nearly double the maximum refresh rate of your screen at the cost of locking your resolution to 1200p becomes a very attractive tradeoff.

Still, even if you're not a hardcore esports gamer, there's little doubt that the Razer Blade 18 is worthy of standing among the best gaming laptops on the market right now. The updated design and premium build quality of the CNC-milled metal chassis, combined with the powerful gaming and creative performance (and great functionality for AI workloads, if you're so inclined), make this an easy winner – just as long as you can afford the steep price of the higher-spec configurations.

Razer Blade 18 (2026) review: Price & availability

• Starts from $3,499.99 / £3,299.99 (around AU$4,870)
• Available now in the US and UK
• No Australian release yet

Yeah, it's pretty bloody expensive. Just the starting configuration of the Razer Blade 18 will set you back a hefty $3,499.99 / £3,299.99 (around AU$4,870), though even the base specs are fairly impressive: an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU, 32GB of RAM (no wonder it's so pricey, with RAM prices spiralling out of control due to AI datacenter demand), and a 1TB SSD.

You can also get RTX 5080 and 5090 models, with my review configuration sporting the latter GPU along with an upgraded Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus CPU and double the SSD storage.

The absolute top-spec model, which also bumps the RAM up to 128GB, will cost you an eye-watering $6,999.99 - and this configuration is only available in the US, with UK models topping out at 64GB and no availability whatsoever in Australia – sorry to our readers on the other side of the globe, but you're stuck with the Blade 14 and 16 unless you want to spend extra to import the 18-inch model.

Razer Blade 18 (2026) review: Specs

Razer Blade 18 (2026) review: Design

• Thin for a large gaming laptop, but heavy
• Premium precision-milled aluminum chassis
• Plenty of ports

Long gone are the days when Razer couldn't resist the urge to cram RGB lighting into every nook and cranny of a product. Like its most recent predecessors, the 2026 Blade 18 is a clean, minimalist piece of hardware, with a pleasingly large keyboard and a chassis crafted from a single block of tempered aluminum.

As you might expect, the large display and all-metal body mean that the Blade 18 is rather heavy, weighing more than 3 kilograms. It's not exactly a device you'd want to regularly take with you on the go, but I will note that it's surprisingly slender for such a powerhouse laptop, measuring barely more than an inch thick with the lid closed.

The wide touchpad and well-spaced, comfortable backlit keyboard are excellent, making longer typing or gaming sessions very comfortable – though of course, I used a USB mouse for gaming. No, I'm not one of those terrifying Valorant players who only use the touchpad.

Speaking of plugging in peripherals, there's a fine selection of physical ports here, with the 18-inch Blade giving you three USB-As and two USB-Cs (one of which is a high-speed Thunderbolt 5 port) as well as an HDMI port, RJ-45 Ethernet, and an SD card reader – great for professional creatives who work with cameras. With regard to wireless connectivity, you get Bluetooth 5.4 and high-speed Wi-Fi 7.

The webcam is also surprisingly decent, capable of capturing 1440p video at 30Hz, which comfortably outdoes any webcam you'll find on the average office laptop. Considering that the webcam is frequently an afterthought on gaming laptops, this was nice to see. It features an IR camera for Windows Hello logins, and a physical privacy shutter (the latter of which should frankly be a feature on every webcam in this day and age).

As is usually the case for modern gaming laptops, there's not much in the way of upgradability here, but you can add in more storage if you're so inclined. There are two PCIe M.2 slots, one of which is occupied by the existing SSD, and the system supports up to 8TB of additonal storage per slot, meaning you can have up to 16TB of storage – assuming you have very deep pockets, given the current price of SSDs.

Now, let's discuss this display. In its default mode, it's a particularly nice 4K (3840 x 2400p) panel with a 240Hz refresh rate, 3ms response time, and an impressive 600 nits of maximum brightness. It's also Calman verified for color accuracy, with a 100% DCI-P3 gamut, meaning that games look bright and vibrant, and pro-level photo or video editing is a very realistic proposition.

But if you swap it into high refresh rate mode, the maximum resolution drops to FHD+ (1920 x 1200p) and the refresh rate leaps to a blindingly fast 440Hz. It's geared towards hardcore esports players who want their framerates to be as high as possible, for games like Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant where every millisecond matters.

Now, I'll be honest here; the beefy gaming performance of my RTX 5090-equipped review unit meant that I was comfortably getting high framerates at native UHD+ resolution, so I never really felt the need to use the 440Hz mode. I accept that I'm not the target audience for a feature like this (yes, I kind of suck at Valorant), but I'm not in a small crowd there. The majority of PC gamers won't really be able to eke any significant benefit from the high refresh rate mode, and switching to it is a bit of a fiddly process too: you have to use Razer's Synapse software to change the display mode, then restart the whole laptop.

This might seem like a bit of an unfair criticism, but I have to assume that including this dual-mode display functionality added to the overall cost of the Razer Blade 18, and considering that most users won't need or use it, it's a bit difficult to justify its presence here. It's certainly a neat feature that isn't offered by Razer's competitors, though, so I can't knock Razer too much for it.

Razer Blade 18 (2026) review: Performance

• Silky-smooth AAA gaming
• Powerful creative performance
• Gets a bit hot under load

Unsurprisingly, the RTX 5090 and Core Ultra 290HX Plus in my Razer Blade 18 review unit absolutely chewed through our selection benchmarking tests, as well as everything else I threw at it.

Razer has long been the brand of 'performance at any cost', and this laptop is no exception to that rule. In 4K gaming benchmarks, it delivered solid performance further boosted by Nvidia's DLSS upscaling, but I didn't need to turn on the still-controversial frame-generation features to ensure a high and stable FPS.

In terms of gaming performance, I was comfortably getting a stable 60+ frames per second at 4K resolution with maximum graphical settings in almost every game I tested, both within our usual suite of benchmarking games and in a handful of other titles I played during my general testing process, which included Marathon and Alan Wake 2. The fans got a little noisy in the process, but I've heard far worse from other gaming laptops, and

The notable exception here was Total War: Warhammer III, which is historically more reliant on the CPU than the GPU; it appears that the 2nd-gen Intel Core Ultra processor inside the Razer Blade 18 still struggled a little with the 4K Ultra preset here, though I would note that it still managed to maintain an average above 60 FPS at maximum graphical settings, and it's also very power efficient (more on that in the next section).

The only other part of my game testing that gave me pause was a relatively low average at 4K Ultra settings in Marvel Rivals. Although the game ran stably, my average FPS sat at a little over 70 in the built-in benchmark – yet in actual matches, I found that the FPS counter very rarely dropped below 100, so I'm a little unclear on what caused this. Driver and OS updates, multiple tweaks to the in-game and display settings, and even running the game via an external 4K monitor did not seem to remedy this. I won't mark the Blade 18 down for this, though, as it appeared to be an anomaly with Rivals rather than the laptop itself.

Turn on Nvidia's frame-gen tech, and you'll see those numbers skyrocket across almost every game I tested. I was getting 40% stable gains on average with 2x mode across four different games, with no noticeable impact on visual fidelity.

3x and 4x modes push the framerate higher, but do start to degrade the visual quality of gameplay; I found that 4x mode was prone to tearing and artifacting in all games tested except Alan Wake 2, to the point where it wasn't worth the trade-off in improved framerate.

Outside of gaming benchmarks, the Blade 18 excelled in virtually every area; 2D and 3D rendering, productivity workloads, transfer speeds, single- and multi-core CPU workloads... you name it, this laptop can power through it. For users who want a gaming laptop that can also pull double duty for high-end professional creative or scientific workloads, this Blade has got the goods.

Razer Blade 18 (2026) review: Battery life

• Fantastic for a gaming laptop
• Outlasts many rivals
• Bundled charger is proprietary, not USB-C

I'll make no bones about this: for a high-powered gaming laptop, the battery life on the Razer Blade 18 is nothing short of phenomenal.

The average gaming laptop tends to peter out before the 6-hour mark in regular use, with powerful internal components that draw a lot of juice; if you're actively gaming on it, you'll usually be lucky to get more than two hours of play time before needing to seek out a wall socket.

But the Blade 18 mustered an impressive amount of longevity in my testing, reaching nearly eight and a half hours of continuous video playback and more than three and a half hours of continuous gaming in Marathon – a distinctly superior showing to the vast majority of gaming laptops we test at TechRadar, and is most likely down to the excellent power efficiency of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor.

The only downside I can possibly pick out here is that you need to use the bundled proprietary adapter for power delivery, and it's a pretty chunky brick that hurts the laptop's portability. But considering that it's already a great big 18-inch slab of machined aluminum, you shouldn't be buying the Blade 18 if you want a super-portable gaming laptop anyway!

Should I buy the Razer Blade 18 (2026)?

Razer Blade 18 (2026): Scorecard

Buy the Razer Blade 18 (2026) if…

Don't buy it if…

Razer Blade 18 (2026) review: Also consider

How I tested the Razer Blade 18 (2026)

• Tested for one work week
• Used for gaming and other tasks
• 8+ years of experience reviewing dozens of laptops

I swapped out my usual desktop workstation rig for the Razer Blade 18 for five days (one work week), during which I used it for all my usual activities. This included day-to-day work in the Google software suite, online research, playing videos, and of course a lot of after-hours gaming.

In terms of the games tested, I ran out entire synthetic and gaming benchmark lineup (listed in the 'performance' section of this review, as well as playing some other games that are in my current rotation: Marathon, Warframe, Alan Wake 2, Borderlands 4, and of course my current addition Slay the Spire 2 (though let's be honest, that last one isn't exactly a performance stress-test).

I've been a PC gamer since my tender pre-teen years, starting out on my dad's boxy beige home office desktop, and I've been a professional tech journalist reviewing all kinds of laptops and PC tech for nearly a decade now, starting out at Maximum PC magazine before making the jump to digital journalism and joining the TechRadar team. I've personally reviewed more than seventy laptops, so you can trust that my knowledge and experience give you reliable insights into the quality of the products I write about.

• First reviewed: June 2026
• Read more about how we test

• AMD has a new marketing campaign criticizing the MacBook Neo
• The main thrust of the argument is that the Neo fails as a gaming laptop
• That's a highly confusing angle to take, seeing as this isn't what MacBooks are about – and especially not the budget-friendly Neo

AMD appears to be getting defensive about its Windows 11 laptops and the threat posed by Apple's MacBook Neo.

Tom's Hardware noticed that AMD has a new marketing campaign that intends to take the Neo down a notch or two, promoting the benefits of Ryzen AI CPUs instead.

AMD insists that: "The competition made compromises. You don't have to." It then adds that: "Everything MacBook Neo leaves out, built in with AMD Ryzen AI processors."

The main thrust of the compromise messaging is that the MacBook Neo isn't up to scratch for gaming. AMD notes that 15 of the top 20 PC games don't run natively on a MacBook Neo, and that you need 'workarounds' (emulation) to play them. The games are picked by Team Red itself, although it's a fair enough selection of esports classics and more modern efforts such as Cyberpunk 2077, Battlefield 6, and Black Ops 7.

It's not just about games, of course, but that's the lead item here. AMD also points out that Windows 11 laptops with its Ryzen AI CPUs can have touchscreens (which the MacBook Neo doesn't), and a better port selection than the MacBook Neo's two USB-C connectors.

AMD then highlights benchmarks of the Ryzen 5 220 against Apple's A18 processor as seen in the Neo, where both laptops have 8GB of RAM, but the Ryzen is up to 57% faster for multitasking, and 38% faster for content creation as measured in Blender and Cinebench, among others.

Analysis: confusion over compromises

This is an odd one, really, because what plenty of confused people on Reddit have been saying – echoing my own first thought – is: "I didn't buy a Mac to play games. That's not really what they're for."

Someone else on that thread agrees: "Ok, but no one is buying a MacBook for gaming, right?"

And a further Redditor observes: "Imagine if 'Macs don't game' is the best you've got, lol. I'd fire my marketing team."

These folks are, of course, quite right. You don't buy a MacBook for gaming, and moreover, you especially don't buy a MacBook Neo for PC games. This isn't just an Apple laptop, but a low-end one with a mobile chip designed entirely around being affordable (for students, mainly) and able to cope with daily computing workloads – and that's all.

Okay, so you might want to do a spot of casual gaming, but the MacBook Neo can cope with that just fine. What you aren't going to be looking to do on a Neo is play the top PC games, not unless you're very misguided, and okay, probably a few people out there do fall into this category.

So why AMD has led with this gaming angle in its Ryzen AI laptop marketing, versus MacBook Neo marketing, really is a head-scratcher. It isn't like the kind of Windows 11 laptops AMD is using as comparisons to the Neo, in a similar price bracket, can run those top PC games all that well, anyway.

Of course, AMD has chosen its 'top games' very carefully, which goes without saying. But still, the Radeon 760M integrated graphics (used in the comparative benchmarking) can't come close to running some of these games with any kind of fluidity, even with low details (at the Full HD resolution in which the testing was conducted).

The same cherry-picking applies to the productivity and creativity benchmarks, and the thing about the MacBook Neo is that, as we've seen at TechRadar, despite only having 8GB of RAM, it runs smoothly and responsively in everyday tasks. That's not something you can always say about a Windows 11 laptop with 8GB of RAM in the same price bracket.

Granted, Microsoft is busy working on making Windows 11 better with lower RAM loadouts, but Apple isn't standing still either, providing quite a performance boost with the recently launched beta of macOS 27.

AMD should've thought more about the positioning of this marketing piece, especially seeing as it's the Neo the company is going after. The truth is that, as far as gaming is concerned, you shouldn't expect much out of any budget-friendly laptop – even if what you get from a Windows 11 machine is obviously a better deal, thanks to the mentioned game compatibility with no need for emulation tricks.

Strolling through the halls of MSI’s 40th anniversary exhibition after a long week of Computex was a real treat; an ode to four decades of powerful hardware, creative designs, and one of the PC gaming industry’s longest-serving titans.

Speaking of Titans, it was the special Dragon Edition Draco Epic Titan 18HX that held my attention the most on the show floor; this beastly beauty packs some serious punch with an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU with 24GB GDDR7 memory.

However, it’s as much a work of art as it is a gaming device. Inspired by the constellation Draco, which represents the mythical dragon defeated by Heracles in Greek mythology, MSI’s 40th anniversary special edition laptop is emblazoned with a gorgeously textured metallic blue-grey dragon surrounded by golden constellations.

It’s not just the backplate of the laptop, which features the Draco-inspired design heavily; the design language carries through the entire device. Is it extra? Absolutely, but if you’re an MSI fan, this tribute to the brand’s dragon mascot feels apt.

Between this maximalist casing, its RGB keypad, and the ample bundled peripherals and accessories, this makes for one of the most dramatic, borderline kitschy designs I’ve ever seen on a laptop, and I’m absolutely obsessed.

How much is that dragon in the window?

Of course, the Dragon Edition Draco Epic Titan 18HX has a lot going for it beyond design and a powerful CPU / GPU combination. I didn’t get the chance to try any games on the device, but by specs alone, it’ll likely offer an exceptional gaming experience.

Its 18-inch UHD+ Mini LED display features a 240Hz refresh rate for smooth and vibrant visuals, and its vapor chamber cooler with a dedicated PCIe Gen5 SSD cooling pipe should keep the clamshell calm and collected even in longer play sessions.

As well as that aforementioned RGB haptic touchpad, there’s also the Cherry mechanical per-key RGB gaming keyboard — featuring a Copilot key if you’re part of the small minority who actually want one of these, let alone on a gaming laptop.

If this all sounds as great to you as it did to me, I regret to inform you that it’s, in all likelihood, out of your price range.

While MSI has yet to confirm pricing, the laptop’s maximalist design alone will likely lead to a significant price hike versus the standard Titan 18HX, which already clocks in at a prohibitive starting price of $4,999.99 / £4,379.98. Add to that the nature of this special edition laptop as well as the included mouse, mouse mat, packaging and collectors coins, and I’d be surprised if it costs any less than $7,500 / £7,000.

If your pockets are deep and you’re as enamoured with this loud and proud laptop as I am, more power to ya. I think I’ll focus on saving for the new MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ in the meantime.

• Check out our Computex 2026 hub for all the latest news out of Taipei.

• Intel has detailed how it's designed Wildcat Lake laptops to be affordable
• This isn't only about the Wildcat Lake processor itself, but the supporting components
• These have been implemented in a cost-friendly way, leveraging phone chips and design elements, helping to further reduce the cost of production

Intel is talking up how laptops based on its new Wildcat Lake mobile chips will be a major step forward in terms of affordable notebooks, underlining the lengths it's gone to in order to keep costs down.

VideoCardz noticed a new video from Intel on YouTube (see below) in which the company claims it "reimagines mainstream laptops with Core Series 3" processors (Wildcat Lake — not to be confused with Core Ultra Series 3, which is Panther Lake).

Wildcat Lake is mobile silicon for more budget-oriented laptops, and the chip itself is built with that affordability, and power-efficiency, firmly in mind. But what Intel details here is the way it has implemented the rest of its reference platform – that laptop makers can pick up and run with to produce their own models — in order to reinforce those cost savings.

It's called the 'Firefly program' and to cut a long story short, Intel has brought in supporting elements from the world of phones as an alternative to what would typically be used in PCs.

That means using phone-class system memory (LPDDR5X), along with the likes of audio chips from the phone world, and much more besides.

Intel explains: "We see two Firefly prototypes, including a 12.9mm metal chassis with redesigned thermals, standardized internal cabling for a separate I/O board, and a new core logic module that combine Intel SoCs with phone-class memory to lower costs and accelerate time-to-market."

With cost reductions in all the supporting chips and hardware, and the likes of internal cabling, and indeed the motherboard itself, being brought in on top of the cheaper CPU, Intel is further reducing the bill of materials (overall cost) for laptop makers.

Analysis: Intel definitely isn't phoning it in…

The core idea is to leverage the smartphone component supply chain to use in laptops, and the design work therein demanded quite some effort from Intel engineers. The end result is a more affordable laptop, a key consideration for Windows 11 notebooks when you consider just how well Apple is now doing in this budget space with the MacBook Neo.

There's another important boast from Intel here, too, and that's the speed with which Firefly laptops can be brought to market. Apparently, this can be done in just a few months using Intel's reference platform, and so the suggestion is that Wildcat Lake laptops won't take long to arrive in force to combat the MacBook Neo – which is already a very popular device.

There's a reason for that popularity, of course, because laptop price hikes have now set in, so an attractively priced MacBook looks doubly tempting. We need more Windows 11 notebook rivals to offer a wider choice in that respect, and from what I've seen of Wildcat Lake thus far, I think it's a great move from Intel — and it'll be interesting to see exactly what kind of price tags are attached to these portables.

The likes of the new Dell XPS 13, which uses Wildcat Lake for the entry-level model, look set to offer a premium-like laptop experience for a palatable outlay ($699 in the US, or $599 for students) in a Neo style. However, I'm hoping there will be a good number of notebooks sat below this kind of pricing.

This would be all good news given the RAM crisis, of course, and could provide some great opportunities to get an affordable new laptop later this year (and I believe buying in 2026 could be a smart move, if you need a new portable).

There is, of course, another competitor that Intel will need to carefully consider – namely Nvidia with its new RTX Spark chip. Now, while that silicon is about as far from a budget effort as you can get, and not a direct rival, it's having a knock-on effect to advance all Arm-based Windows 11 laptops, as I recently discussed. Interesting times indeed, and Qualcomm's Snapdragon C chips are also incoming as a tempting budget option for this year.

• Intel has detailed how it's designed Wildcat Lake laptops to be affordable
• This isn't only about the Wildcat Lake processor itself, but the supporting components
• These have been implemented in a cost-friendly way, leveraging phone chips and design elements, helping to further reduce the cost of production

Intel is talking up how laptops based on its new Wildcat Lake mobile chips will be a major step forward in terms of affordable notebooks, underlining the lengths it's gone to in order to keep costs down.

VideoCardz noticed a new video from Intel on YouTube (see below) in which the company claims it "reimagines mainstream laptops with Core Series 3" processors (Wildcat Lake — not to be confused with Core Ultra Series 3, which is Panther Lake).

Wildcat Lake is mobile silicon for more budget-oriented laptops, and the chip itself is built with that affordability, and power-efficiency, firmly in mind. But what Intel details here is the way it has implemented the rest of its reference platform – that laptop makers can pick up and run with to produce their own models — in order to reinforce those cost savings.

It's called the 'Firefly program' and to cut a long story short, Intel has brought in supporting elements from the world of phones as an alternative to what would typically be used in PCs.

That means using phone-class system memory (LPDDR5X), along with the likes of audio chips from the phone world, and much more besides.

Intel explains: "We see two Firefly prototypes, including a 12.9mm metal chassis with redesigned thermals, standardized internal cabling for a separate I/O board, and a new core logic module that combine Intel SoCs with phone-class memory to lower costs and accelerate time-to-market."

With cost reductions in all the supporting chips and hardware, and the likes of internal cabling, and indeed the motherboard itself, being brought in on top of the cheaper CPU, Intel is further reducing the bill of materials (overall cost) for laptop makers.

Analysis: Intel definitely isn't phoning it in…

The core idea is to leverage the smartphone component supply chain to use in laptops, and the design work therein demanded quite some effort from Intel engineers. The end result is a more affordable laptop, a key consideration for Windows 11 notebooks when you consider just how well Apple is now doing in this budget space with the MacBook Neo.

There's another important boast from Intel here, too, and that's the speed with which Firefly laptops can be brought to market. Apparently, this can be done in just a few months using Intel's reference platform, and so the suggestion is that Wildcat Lake laptops won't take long to arrive in force to combat the MacBook Neo – which is already a very popular device.

There's a reason for that popularity, of course, because laptop price hikes have now set in, so an attractively priced MacBook looks doubly tempting. We need more Windows 11 notebook rivals to offer a wider choice in that respect, and from what I've seen of Wildcat Lake thus far, I think it's a great move from Intel — and it'll be interesting to see exactly what kind of price tags are attached to these portables.

The likes of the new Dell XPS 13, which uses Wildcat Lake for the entry-level model, look set to offer a premium-like laptop experience for a palatable outlay ($699 in the US, or $599 for students) in a Neo style. However, I'm hoping there will be a good number of notebooks sat below this kind of pricing.

This would be all good news given the RAM crisis, of course, and could provide some great opportunities to get an affordable new laptop later this year (and I believe buying in 2026 could be a smart move, if you need a new portable).

There is, of course, another competitor that Intel will need to carefully consider – namely Nvidia with its new RTX Spark chip. Now, while that silicon is about as far from a budget effort as you can get, and not a direct rival, it's having a knock-on effect to advance all Arm-based Windows 11 laptops, as I recently discussed. Interesting times indeed, and Qualcomm's Snapdragon C chips are also incoming as a tempting budget option for this year.

Schrödinger sock. That's how I describe the child's foot apparel that was not visible but brought to photo-realistic life by Apple Intelligence running on iOS 27 Dev Beta. The sock exists in the liminal space between assumption and reality. Only generative AI can make it real, even if the child in the photo was never wearing his other sock. Such is the power of the upcoming update to Apple's iOS and other platforms, and of the up-to-now relatively disappointing Apple Intelligence: Apple takes on Artificial Intelligence so carefully applied that it seemed woefully behind the competition.

But that was before.

Today, after its unveiling on Monday at WWDC 2026, we have the new Apple Intelligence and its powerful image-altering and creation tools that are the product of powerful off-device models built in cooperation with Google, or rather, that incorporate Google's generative models but apply them with Apple flair.

In the demo I saw, designed to show off the power of Apple Intelligence's new and enhanced Image Editing tools, we looked at the more powerful clean up that can do something Apple has never tried before in image editing: create something biological out of nothing, or at least infer the existence of something human we clearly cannot see. In this case, a child's socked foot. In the image (which I sadly cannot share here, but there are other examples above), the boy is seated on the floor, with one leg partially obscured by a large stuffed bear.

As before, we can trace over such distractions like a chair and the bear, and then tap Clean Up to remove them. Removal is something Apple Intelligence is already quite good at, but replacing large image parts or creating what should be there was really not part of Apple's generative image editing strategy. Now it is.

Like magic, we could see the rest of the child's leg and his other socked foot. No matter that this small boy might not have been wearing a sock on that foot, it got the same sock. As I said, we'll never know if that sock ever truly existed, but in the mind's eye of Apple Intelligence, it does.

Reframing the story

The other tools similarly stretch the bounds of memory and reality. Spatial reframing is a wild Apple Intelligence tool that applies a sort of 3D model to the image, letting you subtly rotate the subject and background this way and that to better frame your image. You can even grab and shift the subject a little bit. I watched them do this with an image of a woman sitting on the grass. I must admit that the final result did look better, and I guess no one will remember the less perfectly composed photos. At least you can always go back to the original, imperfect image to remember how things truly were.

Perhaps the best and least drastic of these generative image alteration features is the new expansion tool that, like AI tools in, say, Adobe Firefly, lets you basically extend the background in a photo to make it a better fit for a certain frame or wallpaper. It's something I could see myself using quite a bit, especially because it leaves the subjects alone.

Create something new

Yes, friends, we are officially entering uncharted Apple territory. For a company that prides itself on photographic excellence with one of the best cameras, sensors, and image pipelines in the business, it is now fully in bed with photorealistic imagination creation.

In one demo I saw, a young man wanted to create a flyer to promote a, I think, a bake sale for his friend, Phil. As before, Image Playground lets you choose seed photos and subjects from your Photos library, but where the old app would stick to basically comic book renderings of these subjects, the new app, with new Gemini-infused models backing it (they all live on Apple's Private Cloud compute), happily creates photorealistic images.

It's now a powerful tool, and I watched as we selected the subject (Phil) and described him piping a cake and with a bowl of fruit nearby. Soon, our buddy Phil appeared on screen looking very much like a master baker. No matter if the guy ever baked a cake in his life, let alone decorated one. He was doing it here. There's nothing real about this image, and while Apple likes to talk about maintaining the essence of our photos in the Apple Intelligence-powered Photo editing tools, this other land will create full-scale image narratives from whole cloth.

Yes, there is some sonic dissonance here.

Even so, Image Playground is now a vastly more powerful tool. After we gave Phil his fake bakery skills, we decided that the bowl of berries we requested for the image was not the right kind of berries. No matter, we simply used the Apple Pencil to select the berry bowl and then asked the app to switch it to blueberries. We also asked for a cupcake tower because Phil's baker bonifides were not quite strong enough.

The result was photorealistic perfection.

This is what you wanted, right? We all said Apple was behind. Now it's pulling even with the rest of the generative image world. It's progress, though I'm not sure to what end.

What do you get the Dad who has everything for Father's Day? Well, replacing an aging laptop is certainly an option. And, if you're looking to treat your father, then there are actually plenty of options to consider ahead of Father's Day this year.

I've been scanning the top retailers this week to find price cuts on the machines we recommend here at TechRadar. In particular, machines that are perfect for the Dad who works from home, plays games, or simply needs a new laptop for covering the basics.

Just below, you'll find 7 laptops starting from just $219 that are great for all types of dads. Everything's been separated into sections for budget, mid-range, and high-end laptops.

Note that this year's Father's Day falls on Sunday, June 21st, so there are still a few weeks to pick something up. Annoyingly, the big day is just before Amazon Prime Day 2026 (June 23rd), so waiting until Amazon's annual sale isn't an option. With that said, Best Buy, Dell, and Walmart all have great deals to consider right now.

Budget laptops

Mid-range laptops

High-end laptops & gaming

Computex 2026 happened this week, and the computing extravaganza brought with it a raft of interesting hardware revelations, questions and commentary. As well as the shiny new gadgets, some of the speeches or interviews given by key players in the tech industry made us all sit up and take notice — and below we've picked out the five most pertinent quotes that tell us about the future of computing.

From Qualcomm's boss through to Nvidia's leather jacket-toting chief, we heard some weighty utterances, and there was no shortage of talk around one particular subject. AI wasn't the only topic mentioned regarding the future of computing, though — thankfully — as you'll see, but there's no denying it was a very prominent subject indeed.

1. "Resistance is futile" (Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm)

No, the Borg didn't turn up at Computex 2026 this year (though sources tell me there's a mysterious cube-shaped booth booked for 2027), but rather it was Cristiano Amon, the chief executive at Qualcomm, who told us that "resistance is futile".

What should we not waste our energy resisting, then? Well, predictably enough it's the inevitable advance of AI, and more specifically, Amon sees the irresistible force that'll pervade our lives as AI agents.

As The Register reported, the Qualcomm CEO believes that in the future, these agents – fancy AI bots that will automate tasks, do things for us, and organize our lives – will have their tendrils everywhere, in all our devices.

From your phone to your earbuds to your smart glasses (if big tech's campaign to make the latter an acceptable gadget succeeds), all of this hardware will feed data of one kind or another to the AI agent.

Amon explained: "The agent isn't tied to the device, it actually moves with the user. It's there with the user, regardless of the device that you have. Once you understand that change, you understand how the whole mobile industry is going to change."

In short, we're all going to turn into walking sensors and cameras, with 6G connectivity enabling all this to be piped back to AI which will gorge itself on this data – all for our benefit, of course. (Ahem – what could possibly go wrong?)

The 'camera' reference isn't mine, by the way, as Amon explicitly stated: "If you have smart glasses, they see what you see, so the connectivity needs to enable a very fast uplink. 6G is going to make all of us into walking cameras in this world."

Don't want your every waking moment, and probably your sleeping moments too, to be shadowed by AI? Hate this idea with every fiber of your being? Well, tough, because Amon explains that this vision of the future – which is seemingly inevitable, as this is where the "resistance is futile" remark was made – can only work by leveraging the power of all our devices.

These sophisticated agents can't be run only in the data center, and so future devices— with ever-more powerful CPUs, and of course NPUs for local AI acceleration — will take the load off with on-device processing in various degrees. And unsurprisingly, Qualcomm's hardware, in various forms, will figure in this dystopian-sounding future of omnipresent surveillance.

2. "Our goal is to deliver unmetered intelligence to every home and every desk with Windows" (Satya Nadella, Microsoft)

Qualcomm's chief exec wasn't the only CEO to be heavily pushing AI, and to no one's surprise, Satya Nadella got in on the act here. As part of Computex 2026 – or GTC 2026 Taipei therein, strictly speaking – Microsoft and Nvidia got together for the big reveal of Team Green's RTX Spark Arm-based 'superchip' which is set to drive the reinvention of the Windows PC, no less.

I'll come on to Nvidia's big quote on this project next, but Microsoft had two telling soundbites for us, one of which was from Nadella, who observed: "Our goal is to deliver unmetered intelligence to every home and every desk with Windows. RTX Spark marks a real breakthrough towards that vision."

Unmetered intelligence refers to AI, and elsewhere, Microsoft's head of Windows, Pavan Davuluri, talked about a new chapter for Windows PCs, and said: "We are building toward a future where Windows provides a unified foundation for AI, from the device in your hands to the infrastructure behind it."

So, while Microsoft has promised to cut back on AI as part of the big drive to fix Windows 11, that may mean that some Copilot options are pared back from various menus – but it absolutely doesn't mean that Microsoft is minimizing AI within the OS. As we see from these quotes, when it comes to AI agents – with agentic AI being something Microsoft has been pushing in a big way of late – Windows is very much being developed with these firmly in mind.

Much like Qualcomm's Amon, Nadella envisions AI being present in every home — and on every desk — thanks to Windows devices. (And again, are you distinctly not stoked about that idea? Well, don't worry, AI will surely be happy to listen to your feedback).

3. "We're really focused on doing something that is just such a big deal, reinventing the PC after 40 years" (Jensen Huang, Nvidia)

Naturally, Nvidia's boss had some weighty quote material to throw around at Computex 2026, and the highlight for me pertained to the Arm-based RTX Spark CPU (as mentioned above).

Huang said: "We're really focused on doing something that is just such a big deal, reinventing the PC after 40 years."

Of course, this is a collaborative venture between Nvidia and Microsoft, who according to the joint press release for the project, want to "reinvent Windows PCs for the age of personal AI".

It is, of course, a big move for Nvidia to launch a new processor for the PC, the gravity of which is reinforced by the kind of changes Microsoft is making to Windows 11 for this chip. We're talking about specific optimizations in Windows 11 for Nvidia RTX Spark, and not small moves either – sizable changes, some of which advance the cause of all Arm CPUs (like Qualcomm's) considerably with the OS. That includes a drive to support more software with Arm-based Windows 11 devices, and even to improve game compatibility (with some notable anti-cheat stumbling blocks being resolved).

As it happens, Huang's above quote actually came as part of a response to a question about whether a gaming handled might be made with the RTX Spark CPU. As PC Gamer reported, the full quote was: "If somebody wants to do it [a gaming handheld], you know, we'll work with them on it. But right now we're really focused on doing something that is just such a big deal, reinventing the PC after 40 years."

So, the idea of a handheld was brushed aside, as what this is all about, really, is that 'reinvention' of the PC around AI.

As Huang further enthused: "Can we help reinvent the PC? And, boy, if you get a chance to reinvent the single most important instrument, the single most important tool of humanity, what you and I grew up with defined just about everything about our lives, and we have an opportunity after 40 years to go reinvent it for the age of AI. Wow, we're not going to sit around, not let it get done."

When you put this together with Nadella's comment, and Amon's vision of the AI-centric future, there was a clear vibe at Computex 2026: agentic AI is coming, and you might as well accept this now.

Of course, more than most, Huang has a vested interest in promoting this line of thinking. Nvidia's done quite well out of AI so far, I believe.

4. "We know the pressures that are there in building systems aren't going away anytime soon" (David McAfee, AMD)

Not everything about the future of computing at Computex 2026 revolved around AI, of course, and there was some commentary on the dire situation around PC component price hikes — and what might be done about that going forward.

When questioned about why AMD had just released a last-gen 3D V-Cache processor as an alternative budget offering — as a reaction to rising PC build costs — rather than a current-gen Zen 5 model, AMD's VP and general manager of Ryzen CPU and Radeon Graphics, David McAfee, had something pertinent to say.

McAfee teased: "I think as we go through the rest of this year, I mean we're always looking for ways to, you know, create as many options as we can, and that [Zen 5 X3D CPU] may become… maybe something that we look at doing as a runway product later this year, simply because you know we know the pressures that are there in building systems aren't going away anytime soon."

So, we may see a Ryzen 5 9600X3D CPU (or similar) emerge as an affordable engine for a gaming rig later this year.

More broadly, this is a signal that AMD is actively thinking about how to help ease the demands that price hikes on RAM, storage, CPUs and GPUs (and more besides) are exerting on the wallets of consumers. Although it also serves as a depressing acknowledgement that pricing woes aren't going away for quite some time yet.

It was also good to see AMD underline its commitment to the AM5 chipset with support guaranteed through to 2029 at Computex, for those who aren't planning on building a new PC anytime soon. Waiting out the worst of the pricing crisis may well be the best approach, frankly, if that's a viable option in your circumstances.

5. "Longer term, I think something has to give, right? The over-inflation, we will have to keep an eye out" (Nish Neelalojanan, Intel)

Like AMD, Intel also had thoughts on the current PC component pricing nastiness which it shared at Computex 2026.

Specifically, in a chat with Tom's Hardware, Intel's Nish Neelalojanan, who is senior director of product management for client computing, said of the RAM supply crisis and spiking costs: "Longer term, I think something has to give, right? The over-inflation, we will have to keep an eye out."

Neelalojanan elaborated on this, noting that Intel was adapting its strategy to help frustrated consumers in terms of maintaining support for last-gen (DDR4) memory and older (more affordable) CPUs. The exec noted: "We do have products that support DDR4 on both desktop and mobile. Raptor Lake [13th-gen CPUs that first emerged in 2022], we're not end-of-life-ing any of them; they're there. We'll continue to make sure that there are products which can take care of older memory technologies if they're available and cheap."

With laptops, Neelalojanan pointed to Intel's new Wildcat Lake mobile silicon, of which the exec promised "we are validating lower configs", meaning lower-end notebooks starting at 8GB RAM.

Neelalojanan said: "Wildcat Lake is a single-channel product, so there are products which can leverage low memory and give reasonably good performance."

This range of mobile silicon does indeed seem like a promising addition for more affordable laptops, and so it's not all bleak news for the future of PCs in terms of the undoubtedly painful price hikes we've all sadly become accustomed to.

• There's been a resurgence of 8GB laptops around Computex
• This is due to pricing pressures exerted by the component crisis
• Windows 11 laptop makers are following in the MacBook Neo's footsteps – but is that wise?

If you thought 8GB laptops were becoming a thing of the past, think again, because there's now something of a resurgence in notebooks with this RAM loadout — and you can probably guess why.

Yes, this is down to the RAM crisis, with system memory now a lot more costly, meaning that notebook manufacturers looking to keep pricing more affordable are bringing back more 8GB devices at the mid-range level. (Whereas previously in this space, we were effectively seeing 16GB as the bare minimum.)

Tom's Hardware noticed the trend at Computex (with this practice creeping in before the show), pointing out that the new Dell XPS 13 — an impressively specced, affordable notebook — starts at 8GB for the entry-level model (though you can buy it with 16GB, of course).

Other recently revealed notebooks with 8GB of RAM include the Acer Swift Air 14 — which, like the baseline Dell XPS 13, is built around Intel's new Wildcat Lake silicon — and the Chuwi UniBook (notably with a sub-$500 price tag).

Microsoft's Surface Laptop for Business 13-inch, revealed last month, also starts at 8GB, which was a bit of a shock — mainly because it means this entry-level device doesn't qualify as a Copilot+ PC (they need 16GB).

Of course, what set the stage for all this was the MacBook Neo emerging with 8GB of memory at a temptingly affordable price. The Neo has been highly successful, so much so that the rumor mill believes Apple has doubled the production run of its new MacBook for this year (from 5 million to 10 million units — previous speculation that was backed up this week).

Now we're seeing Intel Wildcat Lake chips and 8GB configurations being used to produce more enticingly priced Windows 11 laptops, and this isn't limited to Intel's silicon either. Qualcomm's new Snapdragon C (Arm-based) CPU is going to power affordable Windows 11 notebooks which are likely to run with 8GB of RAM, the Acer Aspire Go 15 being one of those.

Analysis: looking to the future

The return of more 8GB laptops is not a surprise. Indeed, this is exactly what was predicted to happen in 2026. It's getting a lot trickier for laptop makers to keep prices down, what with the cost of a bunch of components rising — most notably storage and RAM — so the easiest way to keep price tags more affordable is to cut back on the latter.

And yes, there is room to cut down to 8GB of system memory. A laptop with this loadout can still work fine, providing you're only doing basic daily tasks (emails, web browsing, watching videos, and light document work).

The MacBook Neo proved it can handle all this with aplomb, while being a surprisingly premium-like device to boot. Windows 11 laptops can do the same — albeit with some more difficult headroom issues caused by the OS, although Microsoft is actively trying to reduce those performance issues with its fix Windows 11 campaign this year.

All in all, I'd say that it is okay to buy a Windows 11 laptop with 8GB of RAM if you're just performing basic computing tasks — for now. And there's the rub for me: worries around future-proofing, as discussed in my piece at the start of the year about whether 8GB is enough for a laptop in 2026.

How long do you want your laptop to last you? I'm betting you'd like to get five years out of the device, or you may hope for even longer. So, while 8GB is enough for basic duties right now — just about — the likelihood is it'll start to feel increasingly ill-suited before too long, especially if AI starts to figure more prominently in the everyday operation of an OS (and all bets indicate it will). And with laptop RAM being soldered to the motherboard (in the vast majority of cases), it's not like you can upgrade the memory.

The other argument is that you don't have to buy an 8GB laptop; you can go for 16GB — but some people want the option of going cheaper, as their notebook budget may require this. And that's fair enough — I'd agree that more choice is good. All I'll say is just bear in mind the future-proofing aspect, and push for a bit more memory with a Windows 11 device if you can.

What'll also be interesting to see is if more 12GB loadouts appear as a middle-ground option, giving more breathing room above an 8GB machine.

I’ve been doing this job long enough to have witnessed several team-ups between laptop makers and luxury car brands – in fact, I’ve still got an Acer Ferrari One netbook (remember those?!) collecting dust somewhere.

I can certainly see the appeal for PC makers, as getting to slap a badge from brands such as Ferrari, Porsche, and others can help associate your device in the minds of consumers with speed, even if, like the Acer Ferrari One, the hardware can only achieve the kinds of speed you’d expect from a particularly lazy tortoise after a large meal. For the car brands, I guess it helps get their name out there and into the hands of people who would usually never be able to afford one of their vehicles.

So, when I was invited to see a new collaboration between HP and Ferrari, I went expecting to see a completely decent, bedecked with fancy car logos; nothing much more than a fancy advert in laptop-form. However, after my time checking out the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari AI PC, I came away happy to be completely wrong.

It’s clear, after talking to representatives from both HP and Ferrari, that this is a much deeper collaboration that’s been a while in the making (two years, no less). The result is a laptop that takes innovations from both companies – but one that you’re probably not going to be able to buy.

Two years in the making

You might think that the combo of HP, primarily known for PCs and printers, and Ferrari, best known for luxury cars and Formula 1, isn’t the most natural of partnerships – I certainly did, but the team-up does actually make some sense.

For a start, HP has been a major sponsor of Ferrari’s Formula 1 team, called Scuderia Ferrari HP, and while that means the HP logo is on the car and driver uniforms, it also involves behind-the-scenes collaboration, with HP providing laptops and other bits of tech.

The fact that Ferrari’s design team spends a lot of time thinking of ways to make products as light, fast, and thermodynamic (keeping key parts of the engine and car as cool as possible) also has obvious parallels with HP’s design team, who do similar when designing laptops.

So, the partnership makes a lot more sense than you might initially think – still, I was concerned that this would be little more than a basic HP laptop with a fancy Ferrari logo on it.

As I was taken through the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari AI PC and the design decisions that were taken, it became increasingly clear that wasn’t the case. A lot of this is due to the attention to detail that both teams brought to the laptop.

Take the color, for example, which is Rosso Magma – the same found on some of Ferrari’s most iconic cars. The deep, rich red is instantly recognisable, and has an almost 3D look to it in places thanks to the CNC-machined anodized aluminum and a zirconium bead-blasted surface. When the laptop is opened, the material of the palm rest beneath the keyboard has a horizontal streak effect which, I was told, is designed to resemble the blur of a fast-moving object, which I think works well.

The glass trackpad used to control the mouse curser is integrated seamlessly into the palm rest, with no visible outline. While this gives the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari AI PC a stylish and minimalist look, I do have some concerns about this design choice.

Like when Dell introduced a similar ‘invisible’ trackpad to its high-end laptops, not being able to see or feel when the trackpad begins and ends isn’t great for accessibility, and means you might find it hard to use without concentrating.

The HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari AI PC mitigates this slightly by having a larger-than-normal trackpad size, and a thin red light runs along the top of the trackpad, indicating where it begins and ends. It certainly helps without compromising the overall design of the laptop, but I do worry that it would still be an issue for visually-impaired users.

The rest of the design of the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari AI PC, however, is impeccable, especially the underside of the laptop (which is often, understandably, neglected as it’s the least visible part of a laptop when being used).

The underside of the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari AI PC is inspired by the engine bays of Ferrari cars, with a Gorilla Glass window that shows off the cooling pipes and components. The glass is lazer-drilled, allowing for essential airflow to the components, and there are some lovely touches such as the coordinates of both the Ferrari and HP headquarters etched onto some of the parts. These little ‘easter eggs’ again highlight the attention to detail put into this laptop by both teams.

While the window is influenced by Ferrari cars, as many gaming PCs with tempered glass panels prove, PC users often like to show off the powerful components that beat at the heart of their devices, so I can see this appealing to both Ferrari fans and PC enthusiasts alike.

The rest of the underside is made of nanocarbon material, again similar to that found on certain performance cars, which keeps the laptop cool and light.

Along the rear hinge, there’s a venting system based on the Ferrari F76, which helps keep the laptop cool by expelling heat generated by the components, and it’s another great example of how the HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari AI PC is a collaboration of both form and function.

High-end specs

The HP Limited Edition Scuderia Ferrari AI PC also features some pretty impressive specs as well. The screen is a 3K Tandem OLED+ touch display, and from what I saw, it looked fantastic with bright, rich colors and excellent contrast.

It comes with the very latest Intel Core Ultra X7 processor, which is a high-end mobile laptop processor, so you can expect mobile workstation-level performance and powerful integrated graphics.

There’s also a hefty 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM, a 1TB SSD, and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. Three USB-C ports (two of which are Thunderbolt 4) and a USB-A port are also included, plus HDMI and an audio jack.

It’s certainly a beast of a laptop, but with a limited number (just 4,999), and a price of $5,599 (around £4,200 / AU$8,000) when it goes on sale on June 12, 2026, this is likely to be out of most people’s budgets, and while I certainly won’t want to buy one (not that I even have the money for it), it’s cool to see what a combination of laptop and car makers can achieve when they work together to make something that’s not just a fancy branding exercise.

I’d also love to see some of the innovations Ferrari brought to this laptop someday make their way to more affordable HP laptops.

I've been stalking the halls of Computex 2026, the huge computing-focused tech event that's currently running in Taipei, Taiwan, in search of the best laptops that will be coming soon to consumers.

While one of the big themes of this year's event is, inevitably, AI, there's a lot of excitement around new laptops running the latest hardware from Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm (Nvidia's new RTX Spark chip, and the laptops that run on it, are coming later this year).

However, arguably the biggest impact on laptops at this year's Computex comes from a company that isn't even there: Apple and its affordable MacBook Neo.

The Neo's shadow looms large over many laptops at this year's event — and that's great news for consumers. With Apple offering a well-built and great-performing laptop for $599, it's pushed Windows 11 laptop makers to make their own affordable laptops that don't feel cheap or underpowered. Read on to see the best laptops I've seen at Computex 2026 — and you can be sure I'll be calling all of these in (plus lots more) for full reviews when they are available.

1. Dell XPS 13 (2026)

Dell's decision to revive its XPS brand, only a year after it killed it off, has been welcome, and the latest Dell XPS 13 model is particularly exciting, as unlike previous models (many of which dominated our best laptops list for years), which were expensive flagship devices, the new Dell XPS 13 is an affordable laptop aimed to directly compete with the MacBook Neo.

In fact, Dell is so confident about the XPS 13's Neo-killing prowess, it had one of Apple's laptops on hand to help us directly compare the two. From what I've seen and heard, Apple will have a real fight on its hands.

Selling for the same $599 price, the XPS 13 (2026) offers a stunning aluminum chassis, a bright and vibrant touch-screen, and it's both thinner and lighter than the Neo.

It comes with two USB-C ports, and unlike the Neo, both offer the same Thunderbolt 4 speeds. The ports are on either side of the XPS 13, which I think is better than the Neo, which has both ports on the left-hand side, and it makes it more convenient when charging.

Another plus it has over the Neo is that the keyboard is backlit. The MacBook Neo's reign as the best budget laptop could soon be over.

2. Acer Swift Air 14 (2026)

The Acer Swift Air 14 (2026) is another MacBook Neo challenger that will launch at the same $599 price. It comes with an all-metal chassis, so again, this is an affordable laptop that looks and feels more expensive than you might expect.

It runs on the latest Intel Core Series 3 processors and should offer around 19 hours of battery life, which is a similar ballpark to the MacBook Neo.

Its 14-inch WUXGA display features a 120 Hz refresh rate and accurate 100 percent sRGB color reproduction — so I have a feeling it could also give the screen of the MacBook Neo a run for its money. The screen can be pushed back 180 degrees as well, which the Neo can't do.

3. Acer Aspire Go 15

The Acer Aspire Go 15 is the first laptop powered by the Snapdragon C chip, which was also announced at Computex 2026, and this could be incredibly exciting, as it's aimed at the entry-level market, so around the $400 range.

While very cheap, the Acer Aspire Go 15 won't be like previous cheap and flimsy laptops, and will feature an 8-core CPU as part of the Qualcomm Snapdragon C chip, a 1080p 15.6-inch display, and two USB-C ports.

4. MSI Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Draco Epic

MSI always makes beautiful, if not always affordable, gaming laptops, and the MSI Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Draco Epic really is a sight to behold, thanks to the stunning artwork that adorns almost every inch of this laptop.

This is a new dragon for MSI (which has an iconic red dragon as its mascot), and is named 'Draco' and is based on the Greek myth about the North Star.

The artwork on the back of the lid is slightly raised and looks gorgeous in person, and it comes with a limited edition coin, mousepad, and gaming mouse, all bundled in a stylish box to celebrate MSI's 40th anniversary.

The hardware inside is no slouch, either — you get an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, Nvidia RTX 5090 laptop GPU, an 18-inch UHD+ MiniLED screen with 240Hz refresh rate, and a whole lot more.

5. Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra

Nvidia's announcement at Computex 2026 of its RTX Spark 'super chip', which is an Arm-based chip with CPU and GPU, has been one of the biggest bits of news to come out of Taipei this year, and while MSI, HP, and Acer all have RTX Spark-powered laptops coming out later this year, the one that really caught my eye was the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra.

For a start, Microsoft's Surface devices have felt a bit neglected recently. Once flagship devices that were aimed at competing with Apple, the past few years have seen them largely relegated to business products.

While the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra likely won't be a mainstream product, as I have a feeling all RTX Spark-powered laptops are going to be pretty pricey, it's great to see a Surface product once again act as a flagship showcase for the latest software and hardware, and both Nvidia and Microsoft have made a big deal of how their partnership with RTX Spark will transform Windows 11 laptops.

Also, while the other RTX Spark laptops were on display at Computex 2026, we weren't allowed to touch them or turn them on. However, the Surface Laptop Ultra was in use in tightly-controlled demos by Nvidia, so I was able to get a closer look and get an idea of the kind of performance we should expect.

AI tasks, which the RTX Spark has been primarily designed for, were shown off, as well as 3D rendering and creative tasks. I also got to play some games on the Surface Laptop Ultra, including Alan Wake 2, which has been ported to ARM. Impressively, even the games that were running via emulation, such as Marvel Rivals, ran great, and Nvidia suggested we should expect the kind of gaming performance the RTX 5070 laptop GPU provides.

We'll find out more about RTX Spark laptops closer to their launch later this year, but I'm pretty impressed so far. An extortionate price, however, could easily ruin things.

• Check out our Computex 2026 hub for all the latest news out of Taipei.

• An Intel exec has said that Nvidia's new CPU is 'a good thing'
• Team Blue apparently welcomes the competition and it 'shows the importance of how critical the PC is'
• There are surely some worried faces at Intel behind the scenes, though, as to how the RTX Spark could drive the wider success of Arm-based laptops

Nvidia's RTX Spark chip, freshly revealed at Computex 2026, has been causing quite some waves, but Intel isn't worried about this new challenger in the CPU market apparently — at least not on the face of it.

The Economic Times reports that Intel's Alex Katouzian, general manager of the client computing and physical AI group, said of the new Arm-based Nvidia CPU: "If you take a look at what they brought to market (Monday), I think it's a good thing."

Katouzian then added: "It shows the importance of how critical the PC is."

These comments were made at a news conference over at Computex, where the Intel exec elaborated: "We welcome the competition, but I think we're going to do really well," noting that Intel has "every segment covered" with a strong roadmap at its back.

Katouzian also noted: "They [Nvidia] want us to grow with them, there's new opportunities on the AI side."

In a nutshell, the Intel executive is arguing that this new Nvidia processor is a positive development because it further establishes the position of PCs as important within the overall tech landscape, and that Team Blue is sufficiently diversified that it'll benefit in other ways (like the AI sphere).

How true is that, really, though — and how much of this is bluster?

Putting on a brave face?

I've got a feeling that while Intel can certainly see opportunities in some respects — and RTX Spark silicon is doubtless an injection of fuel for keeping PCs relevant more broadly, going forward — there's a lot more worrying being done about Nvidia's RTX Spark than Katouzian, or Intel's other top brass, would ever let slip.

The problem is that while this CPU might be driving the relevance of PCs in a good way, it's advancing the Arm side of the equation therein. Intel's x86 chips are dominant in the laptop world — as the traditional desktop silicon, if you will, with Windows PCs — and Arm-based chips represent a threat to that. In the recent past, that has meant Qualcomm Snapdragon X processors, but more recently we have had second-gen Snapdragon X2 silicon on the scene, and now reinforcements in the form of RTX Spark.

Arm-based CPUs offer some notable advantages, including battery life by the bucketful. Indeed, Nvidia has already promised that we should "expect all-day battery life" from laptops with its new processor, which is quite something considering the powerful performance packed by the 20-core N1x CPU and integrated Blackwell GPU.

Remember, regarding the latter, we're looking at the equivalent of an RTX 5070 laptop GPU here, in a thin and sleek notebook form factor, not a chunky workstation. (Of course, to be fair to Intel, I should point out that it has also made very impressive strides with power efficiency and battery life in recent times, with its past couple of generations of mobile silicon).

Microsoft just revealed the Surface Laptop Ultra as an Nvidia-powered laptop and it's catching a great deal of interest at Computex, underlining the threat posed to Intel to some extent — but there's also a potential fly in Arm's ointment that this device highlights. Namely that RTX Spark notebooks are going to be premium pieces of hardware, and potentially very pricey.

As The Economic Times points out in its report, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts have observed that: "This move [Nvidia's RTX Spark launch] may create incremental pressure for Intel and Qualcomm; however, given the complexity and likely premium pricing, we don't expect significant competition with mainstream AI PCs."

Here's the key point, though: the danger to Intel isn't from RTX Spark laptops as such, but the wider effect of this hardware on the balance of power in the Windows processor world.

Optimization and compatibility

The Surface Laptop Ultra is not a consumer-targeted device — it's for professionals, and indeed for local AI usage — and it will surely be eye-wateringly priced. (Especially with those beefier memory configurations and the current cost of RAM, even basic Surface devices are a lot pricier now). But what's important — or worrying for Intel — is what's happening alongside the launch of RTX Spark laptops.

Namely that this is driving further Arm-related optimization in Windows 11, as Microsoft made clear in a recent blog post (as well as moves to optimize performance with unified memory in the desktop OS, which is also part of the equation with Nvidia's new CPU here).

Moreover, RTX Spark is ushering in a drive to make even more apps compatible with Arm architecture. This means more popular pieces of software will be coded natively for Arm PCs running Windows 11, as opposed to having to run traditional x86 apps and rely on emulation. And speaking of the latter, Microsoft's translation layer (Prism) to run x86 apps on Arm systems has been refined considerably over the past year, and it's now been "tuned for the microarchitecture of RTX Spark" Microsoft informs us.

Even gaming, which has always been a stumbling block for Arm laptops due to compatibility issues — particularly those affecting online games due to the use of anti-cheat tools — is taking some big strides forward. The RTX Spark-related announcements Microsoft has made also included the revelation that the likes of League of Legends and Valorant are coming to Arm PCs, as is PUBG: Battlegrounds, with native Arm support for anti-cheat utilities BattlEye and EAC. (The latter is Easy Anti-Cheat, although that compatibility move actually happened last year, with Fortnite coming natively to Arm).

That's huge for gamers, and remember, this renewed drive for software and gaming compatibility doesn't just benefit laptops with RTX Spark inside, but also Qualcomm's Snapdragon silicon. Which means that much cheaper Arm laptops benefit here, particularly as Qualcomm has new Snapdragon C chips in the works, aiming to usher in much more affordable notebooks — we're talking the sub-$500 budget category (and equivalent in other currencies).

Spark of excitement

This is the true excitement around Nvidia's RTX Spark for me — that it might be a literal spark whereby we really see the ignition and take-off of Windows-on-Arm laptops, in the budget space, and all the way up to top-end offerings like the Surface Laptop Ultra. The latter will pack quite some gaming performance, even though I realize that isn't the point of these devices – but it's a nice bonus.

With the launch of RTX Spark, Qualcomm just welcomed Nvidia to the Arm 'family' and that feels like a much more genuine sentiment compared to Intel's equivalent 'welcome the competition' statement here — which feels considerably more political in nature.

Ultimately, Intel wants to keep the balance of power in the laptop world just as it is — with its Core processors as the dominant force — and Nvidia just made Arm a much more threatening presence as a rival in this space.

I very much doubt that Intel welcomes anything about that prospect, even though it does have cards to play in the budget laptop segment itself (namely Wildcat Lake, which is freshly on the scene).

I've just spent the afternoon with Nvidia at Computex 2026, where the company went into more detail about its freshly announced RTX Spark chip, and the upcoming laptops that will be powered by it. One of the most pressing questions I had — as did many of our readers — is what kind of battery life we can expect with an RTX Spark laptop.

I put this question to an Nvidia executive, who said that while they can't provide firm numbers just yet (we'll have to wait until closer to the Fall launch of the first wave of RTX Spark laptops), we should "expect all-day battery life" when using these laptops for regular workloads.

Unplugged power

While this answer is a bit vague, it's good to know that we can expect laptops that you can work on for over an entire work (or school) day without needing to plug them in.

Battery life (and lack of) is one of the biggest pain points for Windows 11 laptops, especially compared to the best Chromebooks and MacBooks. And while the situation has improved — mainly thanks to more efficient chips from Intel and Qualcomm — battery life improvements are always welcome. That's especially true if Nvidia wants to deliver on its promise to reimagine the PC with RTX Spark.

According to the Nvidia employee I spoke to, the longer battery life is thanks to the fact that the RTX Spark chip combines both CPU and GPU, which is far more efficient than having separate chips for those components.

Later on, another Nvidia employee told me that RTX Spark laptops will maintain their performance when running on battery life, so users shouldn't see a dip when they unplug their device.

Again, this has mainly been a concern with Windows 11 laptops. In the past, laptop performance has been throttled to prevent the batteries from draining too fast (less power used by the components means less battery life used), so this is great to hear, especially as Nvidia is pitching the initial wave of RTX Spark laptops as mobile productivity machines.

Nvidia also confirmed to me that we should expect a similar level of performance as the laptop version of the RTX 5070 graphics card. Hopefully as the launch of RTX Spark laptops approaches, we'll get more in-depth details about what to expect from this new breed of PC.

• Check out our Computex 2026 hub for all the latest news out of Taipei.

• Dell's new XPS 13 features a wallet-friendly price tag starting at $599 for the back-to-school season or $699 for everyone else.
• It retains the same premium look and feel of the pricier XPS 13 flagship models, weighing in at only 2.2 lbs, and is claimed to be the thinnest of the generation to date.
• The base configuration has 8GB RAM and a solid Intel Core Series 3 processor. All versions have a sizeable 52Whr battery inside, too.
• It's billed as a direct response to Apple's budget champion, the MacBook Neo.

The mid-range laptop market is becoming more competitive as Dell has pivoted its new XPS 13 as a rival to the popular and affordable Apple MacBook Neo. This new machine starts with an exclusive back-to-school discount of $599 for students; however, for everyone else, it'll be available for $699, dramatically cheaper than previous versions.

Billed as the "most accessible" laptop of its type, the new XPS 13 retains the premium feel, finish, and functionality of its previous-generation models, without the four-digit price tag. It weighs in at just 1 kg / 2.2 lbs, and is claimed to be the "thinnest and lightest XPS laptop ever made".

On the specs front, the new Dell XPS 13 starts with an Intel Core Series 3 CPU, with support for up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 355, a 52Whr battery life, and 8GB LPDDR5x clocked at 7,467 MT/s as standard. Storage options start at 256GB up to 512GB, and 1TB with a Gen 4 PCIe SSD. Connectivity appears paramount here; Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 are onboard, so you'll have ideal functionality for the best mouse, best wireless headphones, and a wireless keyboard, too.

Despite the sub-$700 price tag, the new XPS 13 retains the premium display of other small-form-factor ultrabooks. It has a 13.4-inch 2.5K (2560 x 1600) touchscreen with DisplayHDR 400 and a 500-nit total brightness. While far from a gaming laptop, it has a high enough refresh rate for smooth usage, with 120Hz and VRR, which should ensure solid video playback and smooth web browsing, and productivity tasks without stuttering or screen tearing.

Battery life is one of the most important factors of any productivity laptop, and that's the core of the new Dell XPS 13, and how it could take on the MacBook Neo. The 52Whr battery is 42% larger than the 36.5 Whr battery of Apple's budget machine. On average, that's between four and 10 hours of playback for light to moderate use.

Can the new XPS 13 defeat the MacBook Neo?

The projected price-to-performance from the XPS 13 is certainly encouraging. Available for $599-699, the display is solid, the battery life sounds decent, and there's enough processing power for productivity and work tasks. It sounds like the kind of machine you would take to school or college; small and light enough to fit into a bag, with a durable frame to survive the trip. It's a more premium take on a budget laptop or Chromebook.

When we reviewed the MacBook Neo, we gave it a near-perfect 4.5-star write-up, praising it for the fantastic build quality, the full-fat macOS user experience, and the good keyboard. Unlike the MacBook Air or the MacBook Pro, though, there's some added weight to it; it's an unsubtle 1.23kg / 2.7 lbs, which is an increase of 22% over the New Dell XPS 13. If you want a slimmer and lighter machine, then the Windows option could be preferable here.

We also need to take a step back and assess how the new Dell XPS 13 compares to its flagship alternatives. The two current flagship models of the XPS 13 are powered by the Snapdragon X Elite processor, with 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and a 3K OLED screen.

However, they're priced twice as much as this new student-focused, wallet-friendly model; based on Arm, or a high-end x86 Windows alternative, they cost somewhere in the realm of $1,199 to $1,449 to start with.

Aiming the new Dell XPS 13 at the budget market should ensure it ends up being considerably more popular. It's the age-old debate of Windows vs. macOS, and if you ask most people which laptop they want for school/college, most people would currently opt for a MacBook.

At a time when consumers are more cash-strapped than ever before, releasing a sub-$700 laptop that retains all the functionality of the flagship model is a great pro-consumer move, even if it won't necessarily have enough of a USP to dethrone Apple in 2026.

• Check out our Computex 2026 hub for all the latest news out of Taipei.

• The Chuwi UniBook is an entry-level Windows-based challenger to Apple's successful MacBook Neo
• It offers more connectivity and expansion than the MacBook Neo, but it does compromise on certain fronts
• Its pricing edge over Apple's offering might not be significant for students

The Chuwi UniBook has plenty of feathers in its cap if you're looking for a cheaper alternative to Apple's latest MacBook Neo.

Chuwi's device is one of the first Intel Wildcat Lake-powered laptops on the market, offering a plethora of ports, a lower price tag than its perceived competition, and specs that cater to both students and budget-conscious users who need connectivity and have an affinity for Windows over MacOS.

And at $150 cheaper than Apple's device, it is tempting - so what is the Chuwi UniBook all about?

A MacBook Neo killer?

To call the Chuwi UniBook a MacBook Neo killer might be premature to say the least. It is aggressively priced, filling a void in a market reeling from rising RAM and SSD prices, but Apple's surprise move to target the mainstream entry-level segment earlier this year seems to have caught Microsoft, Intel, and AMD unaware.

With that being said, while the cheaper price point does give one pause, especially given how aggressively Chuwi is positioning its product, it prompts a comparison with Apple's entry-level offering, and the results might not be all that flattering for the former.

Chuwi UniBook vs. the MacBook Neo: similar at a glance?

The Chuwi UniBook and the MacBook Neo seem quite similar at a cursory glance. Both offer all-day battery life (Apple claims 16 hours versus Chuwi's 15-20 hours for mixed use), and both are locked to 8GB of RAM while offering 256GB of SSD storage (Apple does offer a jump to 512GB if you spend an extra $100).

Both have dual USB-C ports and operate in the same weight class (1.3kg on the UniBook vs. 1.23kg on the Neo), and both offer similar screen sizes (14 inches vs. 13 inches, respectively).

The important bits

The differences quickly emerge once one takes a closer look at what the Chuwi UniBook sacrifices versus what it doesn't.

For the segment it competes in, the UniBook offers an excellent array of connectivity: it comes with a dedicated Gigabit Ethernet port, an HDMI 2.0 port, 3 extra USB-A ports, and, interestingly, even a MicroSD card slot, which could make for an inexpensive storage upgrade for those interested. It also throws in a backlit keyboard and touts its display as 100% sRGB IPS while capping it at a 1920x1200 resolution.

Apple's offering is more akin to what we already expect from the MacBook Air to a certain degree. The missing backlit keyboard is something that does stick out, as does the lack of expansion, but Apple's A18 Pro CPU is passively cooled and, based on the limited benchmarks available online for the Core 3 304 CPU, holds its own, often beating the latter. It also packs in better wireless connectivity, offering BT6.0 and WiFi 6E versus the older WiFi 6 and BT5.2 on the UniBook.

The MacBook Neo also sports an inherently superior display, which may be one of the most important distinguishing factors in its weight class versus Windows-based challengers, with an sRGB display that supports a mammoth 2408 x 1506 resolution and a significantly higher PPI (pixels per inch) density of 219.

One can't compare the SSDs head-to-head, given the OS differences and the optimization techniques in play, but both options sport entry-level storage, with Chuwi stating the UniBook comes with a 'PCI-E 3.0 SSD,' and Apple's offering reads and writes slightly below the 2000 MB/s mark.

Afterthoughts: An education discount that upsets the non-Apple cart

The Chuwi UniBook might be out to get a small piece of Apple's highly successful MacBook Neo market share, and it just might succeed, given that it caters to users demanding more connectivity and expansion options, a Windows-based option, and, perhaps most importantly, a backlit keyboard.

The MacBook Neo offers a significant display upgrade over the UniBook, a much more power-efficient CPU that should allow it to hold its own in terms of battery life despite its lower capacity, and, most importantly, it caters to the target audience Apple wants to convert early on: Students.

An $100 discount on the Apple Education store, as well as aggressive financing, bridges the $150 gap between the two options to a mere $50, and at that price point, the Chuwi UniBook is a much harder recommendation, though it does score some important wins.

The MacBook Neo is here to stay, and it does tend to worry both Intel and Microsoft, who previously had unchecked dominance at this price point, even as AMD continues to carve its own path. The Chuwi UniBook indicates that they and their partners now recognize the Neo's aggressive positioning in a segment and are responding in kind.

We're usually accustomed to big retailers like Amazon listing record-low prices over big sales events like Memorial Day, but I've just spotted a surprise post-event discount on one of our favorite laptops here at TechRadar.

Right now, the retailer has the excellent Apple MacBook Pro 13 M5 listed for just $899 (was $1,099) — a price that beats the previous record by a full $50.

While we've seen this latest model regularly drop to $949 in recent months, today's price cut is even better and definitely a surprise considering that the MacBook Air M5 is still relatively new as of writing.

This particular model saw a real price hike at launch thanks to the new chipset and an upgraded 512GB storage configuration, which is significantly better than the 256GB that the old models came with. Today's discount, however, addresses the price hike with a deal that's easily up there with the MacBook Neo when it comes to outright value.

Record-low MacBook Air deal at Amazon

• See more: check out all of today's deals at Amazon

Note, while the price cut on the MacBook Air is the headline deal at Amazon today, the retailer also has good discounts on other models. I've attached a few more options just down below, including the high-end MacBook Pro and the budget-oriented MacBook Neo, which is another fantastic value choice.

Other great MacBook deals to check out today

Although laptops aren't the biggest category during the Memorial Day sales, there are still dozens of deals out there right now if you're shopping for a new device today. I've searched through all the major retailers and manufacturers to find all the best ones for you, so check out my 12 top picks below.

Whether you want to get ahead in back-to-school prep with a cheap Chromebook, find an affordable everyday machine or upgrade to the latest model of a performance powerhouse, I've found an option for you.

If you want a few recommendations, I really like this Lenovo Chromebook Plus at Best Buy for $399 (was $679), as it offers good overall performance for the price — even if the 128GB of storage is a little underwhelming.

If you've got more to spend, I'd go for this Dell 16 Plus at Dell for $899.99 (was $1,429.99). That's a huge saving on a powerful all-around laptop for college, work, and other more demanding needs, thanks to the Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD.

I've summarised all of today's top Memorial Day laptop sales below if you want to have a browse. After that, you can find the deals I'd recommend, based on my many years covering Memorial Day and scouring the web each month for the best laptop deals for TechRadar.

Memorial Day laptop sales — quick links

• Amazon: record-low prices for MacBooks
• Best Buy: HP, Lenovo & Apple from $149
• B&H Photo: up to $200 MacBooks
• Dell: up to $700 off
• Samsung: up to $400 off with trade-in
• Walmart: cheap laptops from $189

My 12 top Memorial Day laptop deals

I own a 14-inch laptop, and I'm often craving more screen real estate. When I'm working on a large document, doing some photo editing, or multitasking, I know a couple of extra inches would make all the difference. That's why I'm tempted by the Dell 16 Plus, which is on sale at Dell for $899.99 (was $1,429.99).

That's a whopping $530 saving on a powerful laptop for college students and business users. This is for the spec with an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. You might be tempted to get an even better deal by reducing the capacity of the SSD, but that will, in fact, increase the price.

So, if you want a solid mid-tier laptop that we rated an impressive four stars in our review, then this deal is worthy of consideration.

Today's best Dell laptop deal

When we reviewed the Dell 16 Plus, we gave it a solid four stars and called it "a trustworthy mid-range [laptop] that’s light, runs well and has fine battery life". This laptop is one of many Dell laptops that we rate highly, as you read about in our 4.5-star rated reviews of the XPS 13, XPS 14, and Dell 14 Plus.

As already mentioned, this Dell 16 Plus boasts an Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU and 16GB of DDR5 RAM. This is more than enough power for most users, even if you find yourself multitasking and using power-hungry applications. You'll also get a large 1TB SSD for storing all your files locally and an impressive battery life of up to 20 hours.

A deal like this doesn't come along every day, but it won't fit the bill for everyone. If that's the case, head over to our best laptops and best cheap laptops guides. It's also worth checking out ourbest laptop deals page for the latest discounts.

As if you needed more of an excuse to buy a shiny MacBook, Amazon has just listed a range of record-low price cuts across all three of the latest models.

That means a great discount on the MacBook Pro M5, the MacBook Air M5, and even the brand new MacBook Neo. Whatever you need, the retailer has a deal for you ahead of this year's Memorial Day.

Starting with the MacBook Neo, you can currently pick up Apple's budget laptop for just $589 (was $600) right now. Not the biggest price cut in the world, but I'd take a $10 saving on a laptop that's already outstanding value.

Where the discounts ramp up is with the latest MacBook Air 13, which is currently $949 (was $1,099) on the baseline 16GB/512GB configuration. This discount addresses our main issue with what's otherwise an amazing laptop — the fact that this iteration is pricier than the last. With this deal, however, you're saving a bundle.

Finally, check out the MacBook Pro for $1,499 (was $1,699) if you need a high-end machine. We've seen this price on one occasion before, but it's another record-low price that's well worth considering. With $200 off, you're cutting down that hefty price significantly here.

Record-low price MacBooks at Amazon

• See more: check out all of today's deals at Amazon

What's the best MacBook to buy right now?

The MacBook Pro is the best MacBook you can buy, but it's likely overkill if you're not going to be doing demanding work on your machine. For daily use, both the MacBook Air and MacBook Neo are fantastic choices for most people.

The Neo features the same chipset as the iPhone 17 Pro, which, on paper, would suggest it's a much weaker performer than the others. In reality, however, even the baseline 8GB RAM / 256GB configuration can provide decent performance if you're just using your machine for the basics like streaming, browsing social media, or writing content.

The MacBook Air is a great compromise if you think you need a little more headroom from your machine. It's powerful enough for creative tasks like photo editing, music production, or coding and provides excellent battery life overall. It's a little thinner and more portable than the Pro, and features silent operation thanks to its fanless design.

The MacBook Pro, with its built-in fans, really unleashes the potential of the latest Apple chipsets, by comparison. As the name suggests, it's the natural choice for 'professional' workloads because you not only get more performance headroom, but more ports, a better display, and better speakers. It's pricier, but again, if you want a laptop that can rival much bigger desktops in terms of power, this is it.

Dell XPS 16 (2026) Two-minute review

Dell's XPS line finally returns at long last. The company may have shifted tack in its naming scheme, but the XPS has returned, and it's back with a bang. The Dell XPS 16 (2026) I have tested here is beyond impressive. With a clean, crisp aesthetic, stylised CNC black aluminum chassis, super-thin bezels, and a keyboard that genuinely makes you question what other laptop manufacturers have been doing for the last 10 years, it's otherworldly in appearance.

There's no drama, no ostentatious LEDs or illuminated logos, just clean, tidy lines and materials that complement it perfectly. Even the screen (in my review spec, a 3K touch OLED 3,200 x 2,000 @ 120Hz) leaves little to be desired.

But that's not where it ends; it's how it performs that really drives home the point. Thanks to Intel's latest Panther Lake architecture, that Core Ultra X7 358H, combined with Intel's own Arc B390 integrated GPU, delivers buckets of both battery life and performance across the board. You can game on this thing quite comfortably on titles like Total War: Warhammer 3, Cyberpunk, Black Myth Wukong, the works. And it has a battery life that'll run for the entirety of your working day and then some.

Honestly, it's hard to critique this thing. But there are a few blemishes that do need highlighting. You get a grand total of three USB-C ports, and that's it (admittedly Thunderbolt 4), and the price is a little bit higher than what you'd find on the likes of Apple's MacBook Pro 16-inch (M5).

Is that the end of the world, though? No, not really. Dell has absolutely delivered here. The XPS 16 is, by far, the best laptop I've ever tested.

Dell XPS 16 (2026) review: Price & release date

• Available globally
• Premium pricing without the B390
• Non-upgradable RAM, so buy your spec now

Available right now, you can pick up a Dell XPS 16 (2026) starting at around $2,029.99 or $2,769.99 in the US. The UK and Australia also have some slightly more affordable configurations available as well (where you can change the screen, shift the processor, and drop the memory and SSD capacity further, but I wouldn't recommend you go below the above specs. Still, for global availability, it's a clean sweep, no matter where in the world you are.

The base chassis itself is the same across the board, and there is a Dell XPS 14-inch edition too, if you'd like something a little more compact. By design, you can't upgrade the XPS 16's memory as it's utilizing LPDDR5X soldered directly to the motherboard. So do bear in mind, it's better to pick a higher-end spec now than regret it later.

The SSD, however, you can swap out at a later date if you so desire, albeit with a bit of effort.

• Value: 3.5 / 5

Dell XPS 16 (2026) review: Specs

Dell XPS 16 (2026): Design

• Exceptionally premium
• Can't upgrade memory, but you kinda don't need to
• Lack of ports could be a deal breaker

This thing is beautiful. I've said it enough at this point, but the XPS 16 just absolutely oozes class. From a beautifully sophisticated anodized CNC-machined black aluminum chassis, to the super-thin bezels surrounding that high pixel density 3K OLED touch display, to the softly backlit keyboard, and the subtle XPS branding, it is just gorgeous through and through.

Dell's not held back on its design chops here. This is for professionals and minimalists who want something that's clean, pristine, and exceptional, all packaged up in a beautifully weighted 16-inch package. One negative perhaps? It is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, so do keep a microfiber cloth handy before you jump into that board meeting.

The keyboard's gorgeous, too. Low profile. Quiet. Backlit. With keys that don't stand out or shout. The feel of the actuation, too, although obviously nowhere near akin to a mechanical keyboard, is comfortable enough. There's plenty of spacing as well, and although the bottom row is slightly offset compared to a traditional QWERTY design, it doesn't take long to get used to.

The ports are a little sparse, admittedly, to accommodate all of that, but on the flip side, each and every one of them is Thunderbolt 4, meaning you've got power delivery and draw up to 100W, 40Gbps data transfer, PCIe 4.0 tunneling, and DisplayPort 2.0 alt mode as well (meaning basically you can hook up two 4K displays without worry. All built out of the USB-C connection standard). It's phenomenal. There are some laptops out there now debuting with Thunderbolt 5 this year (typically workstation models), but this is by no means poor at any level.

The only other negative (again, if you can call it that) is that you cannot upgrade the RAM. The XPS 16 uses LPDDR5X memory, which is soldered directly to the motherboard.

The advantage of this is that the interconnect isn't the bottleneck, and memory speed is through the roof, with the 32GB in my review unit topping out at staggering 9,600 MT/s. That's nearly 70% faster than the most mainstream kits you get on a high-end desktop.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

Dell XPS 16 (2026) review: Performance

• Surprisingly potent at gaming
• Solid CPU performance too
• SSD could be better

My only reservation with the Dell XPS 16 is the lack of higher-capacity storage at this price. That is more of an issue with the global supply chain right now. SSD pricing is still through the roof due to AI consumption being a little more unwieldy than manufacturers can accommodate.

But still, it does feel a little harsh that this £2,800 model only comes with 1TB of storage (again, all configurable on Dell's shop anyway). And to be fair, even competitors like Asus's ZenBook A14 are similarly priced at that capacity anyway.

The reason that feels harsh, though, is because in-game, the XPS 16 is a monster. That Arc B390 is one of the best discrete graphics cards I've ever seen in a laptop of this form factor. For those not in the know, Intel's own GPU line has quietly been building up momentum and offers some of the best performance per $ that money can buy. It's fantastic to see that architecture becoming more proficient generation on generation, and it shows.

Our benchmarks for laptops like this typically test games at lower resolutions on medium profiles, to accommodate poor GPUs, but I didn't really need to with this. Total War: Warhammer 3, on Ultra at 1200p, managed 58.6 fps. That's near desktop levels of performance on an aggressively CPU-bound title.

CPU performance too was equally impressive, in no doubt thanks to that 16-core Panther Lake chip. It's got low base clock speeds, but that's mostly thanks to some super-efficient low-power economy cores that keep everything ticking at idle without consuming much in the way of juice.

Jump into a high-demand task, and those four performance cores kick into life, delivering an outstanding score of 881 in Cinebench R24 and 124 on the single core. Intel has stepped away from hyper-threading with its Ultra line (based on a new architectural shift from the original Core line), but despite the lack of threads, its performance per thread has shot up considerably.

Here's the thing: this laptop isn't just for execs; it's for designers, and gamers, and developers, and it just ticks box after box with wildly broad performance chops with seemingly little loss anywhere else.

• Performance: 5 / 5

Dell XPS 16 (2026): Battery life

• Rapid fast charging
• A 17-hour battery life

I've long been a fan of Snapdragon-based laptops, purely because the battery life typically ran rings around Intel and AMD's best laptop offerings (The Vivobook S 15 Copilot+, is particularly impressive).

It's the benefits of that ARM architecture over x86 (the latter being typically less efficient and far more power hungry than its RISC-esque competitors).

I don't know how Intel has done this with Panther Lake (I hazard again it's likely because of those low-power, efficient cores), but in our battery benchmark, the XPS 16 scored a phenomenal 17 hours and 16 minutes, before going into standby mode.

• Battery life: 5 / 5

Should I buy the Dell XPS 16 (2026)?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Also consider

How I tested the Dell XPS 16

• Tested at home and in the office
• Benchmarked and used across gaming and productivity tasks
• 11 years of testing laptops, and 4 weeks with the XPS 16

I spent the last month or so living with the XPS 16 as my daily driver, moving over all of my workflow to it for my own agency work, and all of my freelance journalism as well as the odd recreational task, including writing my first novel. I streamed YouTube and Netflix on it, alongside using it for Tidal as well as some light work in Affinity.

I also benchmarked the XPS 16 extensively, utilising a mixture of CPU, gaming and storage-based synthetic and real-world tests, to truly understand exactly how it performed under targeted loads.

It is worth noting that all of this testing was performed in a cooler environment, so your performance may vary depending on where you are in the world.

• Read TechRadar’s reviews guarantee
• First reviewed: May 2026

Dell XPS 14 (2026) Two-minute review

During my time as a tech journalist I’ve seen a lot of big companies make big mistakes, but it’s been rare to see a company acknowledge, let alone reverse, an unpopular decision. So when Dell announced at CES 2026 that it was resurrecting the Dell XPS 14 (and other XPS laptops), a year after it controversially dropped the XPS brand, I was pleasantly surprised.

Now, having spent time using the Dell XPS 14 (2026) as my main laptop, I’m pleased to report that those warm, fuzzy feelings (could this be hope? Joy? In 2026?!?!) have stayed with me. After years of slowly dropping pretty much every Windows 11-powered PC from my life, the Dell XPS 14 (2026) has won me back, proving that you don’t need to shell out for a MacBook if you want a stylish and high-performing laptop.

A lot of that is due to the latest Intel Core Ultra Series 3 (also known as Panther Lake) processors that power this new edition (my review unit came with the high-end Intel Core Ultra X7), and while it means the Dell XPS 14 (2026) can be classed as a ‘Copilot + PC’ and has the ability to run on-device AI tasks, what’s really exciting about the Dell XPS 14 is its power efficiency, which means it can offer fast performance and long battery life, all wrapped up in a stylish thin and light design.

Speaking of the design, this is an extremely stylish laptop, and easily one of the best-looking Windows 11 devices I’ve recently seen. The Dell XPS 14 (2026) has had a redesign from previous models, with a sleek and modern look that easily competes with Apple’s best designs. In fact, it makes the MacBook Pro 14-inch (M5) feel quite bulky in comparison, although in the MacBook Pro's favor it comes with a lot more ports (there’s no HDMI or SD card reader here, just three USB-C ports).

As with many other Dell laptops, there are a lot of configuration options for the Dell XPS 14 (2026), and the model I’m reviewing here has a stunning 14-inch 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED InfinityEdge touch display. The InfinityEdge display means the bezels surrounding the screen are kept as thin as possible, and the OLED screen offers incredibly vibrant image quality, with deep blacks and high contrast. If you go for the option with a touchscreen, you get a display that outperforms anything found on a MacBook.

However, as good as the Dell XPS 14 (2026) is, it won’t be converting any MacBook users, mainly because while it does a lot of things just as well as the MacBook Pro, it doesn’t really do anything better, unless you go for the OLED model with touchscreen. Battery life is also a bit disappointing compared to M5 MacBooks, and even a few Intel Core Series 3 laptops. Sadly, Windows 11 also feels like it’s dragging down the Dell XPS 14 (2026) due to sometimes flaky reliability and a load of AI features that you’ll rarely want to use.

Dell XPS 14 (2026) review: Price and release date

• How much does it cost? $1,699.99 / £1,599 / AU$3,249.40
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

At launch, Dell claimed the new Dell XPS 14 comes with the "most accessible price" of an XPS device, and since its launch the company has introduced lower-specced models that reduce the cost of entry.

With the XPS lineup being Dell’s flagship series of devices, they’re always going to come with a price premium, so while the $1,699.99 / £1,599 / AU$3,249.40 starting price for the XPS 14 (2026) is certainly high, it’s at least not ridiculous, and is quite reasonable when you look at its competitors, and consider the difficult environment we currently face, with high component prices (especially regarding memory) increasing the prices of many gadgets.

For that money you get the entry-level Dell XPS 13 with an 8-core Intel Core Ultra 7 355, 16GB LPDDR5X RAM, 512GB SSD and a 14-inch non-touch 2K screen.

This lines up nicely with the MacBook Pro 14-inch M5 base model, which costs $1,699 / £1,699 / AU$2,699 for a 10-core M5 chip, 16GB of memory and 1TB of SSD storage.

While the XPS 14 (2026) costs slightly less in some regions, the MacBook Pro 14-inch comes with twice the storage space, which is an important consideration for people looking for a laptop to work on and store large files. Because the base model of the XPS 14 also foregoes OLED and touchscreen technology for the screen, the MacBook Pro also has the edge when it comes to display quality.

Dell also offers plenty of different configurations of the XPS 14 (2026), with the highest-specced model, which is the one I’m reviewing, costing $2,309.99 for an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H 16 core CPU, 32GB RAM and 1TB of storage.

Frustratingly, in the UK and Australia, the high-end XPS 14 models come with just 512GB of storage for £2,198.99 / AU$3,770.80. Also, Australian customers miss out on the OLED and touchscreen tech, whereas both the US and UK flagship models come with them.

While it’s good to see Dell offer a wide range of configuration options, these discrepancies do mean that you need to double check the specs carefully before you buy, which complicates things. Also, in some regions, you need to select ‘Customize now’ and manually pick the components from a list to get the configuration that best suits your needs and budgets. Again, this is great for choice, but it does make the whole process of buying and comparing the new Dell XPS 14 models more of an ordeal.

Otherwise, this is a pricey laptop, sure, but the specs and build quality (plus the snazzy new design) does mean you won't be feeling shortchanged.

It’s also fairly priced compared to its main competitor, the MacBook Pro 14-inch, though there are thin and light premium laptops, such as the MacBook Air, which are much more affordable if you don’t need the raw performance.

• Value: 4 / 5

Dell XPS 14 (2026) review: Specs

Dell XPS 14 (2026) review: Design

• Sleek new design
• Touchpad accessibility improvements
• Still lacks ports

The return of the XPS line has offered Dell an excuse to overhaul the design of its premium laptop, and the new-look Dell XPS 14 (2026) is easily one of the best-looking laptops you can currently buy. Its straight edges and rounded corners remind me a little of Apple’s modern MacBook Pro designs, but while there are similarities, the XPS 14 doesn’t feel like a MacBook clone (unlike laptops from some manufacturers *cough* Honor *cough*).

Instead, the Dell XPS 14 (2026) has a very modern, yet still Dell-feeling, design, with impressively thin bezels that surround the screen, and a keyboard with large, easy-to-hit buttons which, despite being flat, still offer a satisfyingly tactile experience when typing.

Below the keyboard is plenty of space to rest your wrists when typing, along with a tweaked touchpad. Dell’s designs for its previous flagship laptops had a touchpad that was completely integrated into the body of the laptop, with no visual clues as to where it was. While this enabled a sleek, minimalist design, it wasn’t great for accessibility, as there was no way of knowing where the touchpad began and where it ended.

This has been partially rectified with the new design, and in a rather elegant way. There are now two thin raised lines on either side of the trackpad, which act as subtle visual and tactile indicators of where the trackpad is, making it easier to use whilst still keeping the clean aesthetics.

Dell has also brought back the physical function keys (F1 – F12) that run across the top of the keyboard, replacing the touch-only bar of previous models which, like the touchpad, looked nice, but presented accessibility issues. It’s good to see Dell once again put functionality over form, and without compromising the slick, premium design of the new XPS 14.

With dimensions of 0.60 x 8.26 x 12.19 inches (15.20 x 209.71 x 309.52mm), the Dell XPS 14 (2026) is slightly thinner and smaller than the MacBook Pro 14-inch with M5, though not by much. Dell claims it is its thinnest laptop ever, at weighing in at around three pounds, it’s lighter than the previous model about around half a pound.

The designs of these two competing laptops are very similar, with both sporting square edges and rounded corners. The Dell XPS 14 (2026) doesn’t offer as many ports, however — just three USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Meanwhile, the MacBook Pro 14 offers those plus a HDMI port and memory card slot.

While those are two additions that not everyone is going to make use of, if you do need them (photographers importing photos from their cameras, for example, or anyone who wants to plug their laptop into a monitor, projector or TV), then their inclusion in the MacBook Pro will be welcome. If you're using the Dell XPS 14 you’ll need to use a USB hub or adaptor for those connections, which isn't a huge issue, but it's a potential additional expense, and an extra thing you need to carry around.

The MacBook Pro is charged via its MagSafe 3 port, while with the Dell XPS 14, as with many modern laptops, you’ll need to use one of the USB-C ports for charging. Again, not a huge inconvenience, but something you might want to consider.

What I do appreciate about the Dell XPS 14’s USB-C ports is that they're modular, which means they should be relatively easy to fix or replace if damaged. While you likely won’t want to do it yourself, it should mean that repairs are more affordable, which should reduce e-waste. Repairability is something Apple still lags behind on.

The new XPS 14's design also incorporates recycled steel, cobalt and copper, which is good to see.

The final change in the Dell XPS 14 (2026)’s design also, in my view, highlights Dell’s new-found commitment to the XPS brand. On the back of the laptop’s lid, where the Dell logo was previously, is now the XPS logo. Not only does this show how Dell is pushing XPS as a brand, it’s also an acknowledgement that the Dell name is often associated with solid, but not exciting, business devices. With its new design, Dell is clearly pitching the XPS 14 (2026) as an aspirational, flagship, product — and it certainly looks the part.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

Dell XPS 14 (2026) review: Performance

• Strong performance across apps
• It can even play games
• Windows 11 did crash when benchmarking

The Dell XPS 14 (2026) is one of the first high-profile laptop releases to use Intel’s new Core Ultra Series 3 (also known as Panther Lake). In recent years, Intel’s dominance of the CPU market has been challenged, especially by Apple’s move to its own M-series chips, which are based on rival Arm CPU architecture.

Panther Lake is Intel’s response, prioritizing power efficiency while maintaining performance, and based on my time with the Dell XPS 14 (2026), I’m very impressed — so much so that I think this could be the beginning of a resurgence, not just in Intel-based laptops, but for Windows 11-powered laptops in general.

Since the launch of the first Arm-based MacBook, the MacBook Air (M1, 2020), I’ve almost lost interest in Windows laptops — something I never thought would happen, having used some form of Windows since 3.1 in the early 1990s. However, the battery life and performance of the rebooted MacBook Air put Windows laptops of around the same price point to shame, and they felt like the future of laptops.

By comparison, Windows laptops, especially Intel-based ones, have felt a bit stuck in the past, with uninspiring performance and poor battery lives. The tendency of many Windows laptops to drain their batteries even when they're not being used has also been a big pain point — you can often be left with a dead device that needs to be plugged in when you pick it up after a week or so of it sitting on a desk.

My growing ambivalence towards Windows laptops wasn’t just about the hardware, mind you. The increasingly-bloated and pushy Windows 11 wasn’t doing them any favors either.

So while the Core Ultra Series 3 chip that's the beating heart of the Dell XPS 14 (2026) fixes a lot of those performance issues (especially when it comes to battery life), on the software side I’m still waiting for Microsoft to realize that we’re not as keen on Copilot AI features as it seems to think we are.

However, I'm glad to report that the Dell XPS 14 (2026) addresses a lot of my complaints about modern Windows 11 laptops. Performance-wise, Windows 11 feels fast and responsive, and various apps I tried, including Adobe Photoshop and Ableton Live 12, loaded and ran quickly. Because the Dell XPS 14 (2026) uses Intel’s common x86-64 architecture, which is a lot more common than Arm’s architecture, pretty much any Windows 11 app can run natively on the Dell XPS 14 (2026) without you needing to either wait for app makers to create an Arm version (a common problem with early Windows on Arm laptops that couldn’t run a lot of popular applications), or use the Prism emulation layer (a tool made by Microsoft that allows x64 apps to run on Arm hardware, which introduces a slight performance hit).

As a *sigh* Copilot+ PC, AI performance is a big selling point of the Dell XPS 14, though I still maintain that those AI tools are the least interesting parts of the laptop. Still, Dell claims the new Dell XPS 14 offers 57% faster AI performance compared to the last model. If you use on-device AI tools, rather than cloud-based ones, then this may be good news, though most people use cloud-based tools (if any), such as ChatGPT, so those numbers won’t really mean much.

I dabbled in a few AI tools, such as Cocreator in Paint (yes, the iconic basic art app now has AI in it), and the XPS 14 performed fine; but let’s be honest, no one is buying a premium laptop like this to turn doodles into AI generated 'art'.

But, like I said, AI is the least interesting aspect of the Dell XPS 14 (2026)’s performance, and I was particularly impressed with its gaming performance. Of course, this isn’t a gaming laptop, but I was able to get 30fps in Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing on, and at the native resolution of 2880 x 1800. That’s a brilliant result for a thin and light laptop that’s not designed for gaming (and which doesn’t have a discrete graphics card). Turning on Xess frame gen (essentially Intel’s version of DLSS Multi Frame Generation, which generates additional frames) bumps that up to an average of 51.67fps.

While you won’t want to buy the Dell XPS 14 (2026) purely for gaming, it does mean you can load up a game when you want to unwind and have a pretty great experience. It also suggests that Intel’s Ultra Series 3 chips are seriously impressive, and while no XPS 14 version comes with a graphics card, if you want to do some graphically-intensive creative work, this is an excellent choice.

The OLED screen on the XPS 14 that Dell sent me further burnishes the laptop’s creative credentials, offering gorgeously vibrant colors and high contrast. Blacks, especially, are excellent, with no light bleed from brighter colors diminishing their effect. Both LCD and OLED versions of the XPS 14 support variable refresh rates up to 120Hz. This means using Windows 11 and browsing websites feels fast and responsive, and when a fast refresh rate isn’t needed, such as when you’re looking at a static web page, the refresh rate can drop to as low as 1Hz, which helps prolong battery life.

While the Dell XPS 14 (2026) generally provided rock-solid performance while I was using Windows 11, and even for a spot of gaming, when I tried to run PC Mark 10 benchmarking software, the laptop kept crashing with a ‘SECURE_PCI_CONFIG_SPACE_ACCESS_VIOLATION’ error message. It only happened when trying to use PC Mark 10, and it appears to be an issue with Windows 11’s Memory Integrity setting. I’m willing to chalk this up as a Microsoft problem, not a Dell one, and it only occurred while benchmarking, so hopefully this won’t be an issue for most people; but it was another reminder of why I’m falling out of love with Windows 11 devices.

• Performance: 4 / 5

Dell XPS 14 (2026) battery life

• Over 12 hours
• Not as long as some competitors

The Dell XPS 14 (2026) runs on Intel’s Panther Lake hardware, which has been developed to be as energy efficient as possible, which means the laptop should be able to run on battery power for longer between charges.

In our battery benchmark tests, the Dell XPS 14 hit 12 hours and 19 minutes before the battery ran out. This was during our tests that replicate moderately intensive workloads, such as web browsing and streaming media. That’s pretty good for an Intel-based Windows 11 laptop, though it’s around six hours less than the latest MacBook Pro 14-inch achieved in similar conditions.

So, while you're not getting the longest battery life in a laptop, the Dell XPS 14 will at least get you through an entire work or school day on a single charge, though that will depend on the tasks you’re performing on it (more intensive workloads, such as 3D modeling or video editing, will deplete the battery faster).

For the performance the Dell XPS 14 (2026) offers, the battery life is certainly welcome, if not mind-blowing. I’d still suggest a MacBook Pro if you want the best combination of performance and battery life, but it’s good to see Windows 11 laptops catching up.

In my day-to-day use of the Dell XPS 14 (2026), I was impressed with how slowly the battery seemed to drain – with a lot of other Windows 11 laptops, I find myself nervously checking the battery life percentage throughout the day as I work. With the Dell XPS 14 (2026), I was happy to unplug the laptop and go to a few meetings, confident that the battery would last.

Another thing I really like is that the battery doesn’t drain while the laptop is off. This is a real pet peeve of mine when it comes to Intel-based Windows laptops: I’ll close the lid while there’s still battery remaining, only to find when I open the laptop up a few days later that the battery is dead.

That’s not a problem with the Dell XPS 14 (2026) — even after not being used for almost a week (hey, us tech journalists need holidays as well), the Dell XPS 14 (2026) still had plenty of juice when I opened it back up. For MacBook and Chromebook users, this might seem like a strange thing to praise, but anyone who's used an older Windows laptop will understand what a big deal this is.

• Battery life: 4 / 5

Should I buy the Dell XPS 14 (2026)?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Also consider

How I tested the Dell XPS 14 (2026)

• I spent several weeks with the Dell XPS 14
• I used it for work, browsing the web and playing games
• I have almost 20 years of laptop-testing experience

I’ve been using the Dell XPS 14 (2026) for several weeks for a variety of tasks, including writing, browsing the web, and photo editing. I also tried out a few games to see how well the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chip handles things, and I was impressed.

I’ve been reviewing laptops for almost 20 years, including multiple Dell XPS devices, as well as MacBooks and Chromebooks, and I've called on that experience to assess the performance of the Dell XPS 14 and make meaningful comparisons with rival laptops.

• Read TechRadar’s reviews guarantee
• First reviewed: May, 2026

It's been a couple of years since I reluctantly walked away from Microsoft's Surface Pro and into the warm embrace of the Apple ecosystem, but recently I took the Windows 11 ferry back to familiar territory in the form of a new 13-inch Microsoft Surface Pro Gen 12 for Business.

The reason? Not to experience some wild flight of design fancy. This Surface Pro convertible system (a tablet computer with an optional keyboard and pen) looks virtually identical to the Gen 11 Surface Pro, and I have run an earlier version of Windows 11 on a Surface Pro, so nothing much new to see there.

No, what drew me back was a promise Intel made in the form of Panther Lake, its first competitive mobile laptop CPU in ages, one that can potentially rival Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (or Plus) chips found in, among other Windows systems, the Surface Pro 11.

It's weird being back, kind of like visiting your childhood bedroom after years away at college or your own apartment. Everything is familiar, but also odd. Windows metaphors are all similar to macOS and also often opposite (see scroll wheel on mouse).

In recent years, it has been almost impossible to compare, say, a MacBook Air to a Surface Pro. After all, Apple's Macs now run its ARM-based Apple Silicon, which means they all enjoy enviable power and battery life. Even their graphic performance is a cut above the average.

Qualcomm's arrival has helped, bringing with it not just within-range power and efficiency, but also AI performance thanks to an on-board NPU (Apple Silicon has those, too).

I struggled to understand how anyone would buy a mobile system like the Pro on anything other than an ARM CPU. Well, there is one obvious reason: unparalleled compatibility for legacy systems. ARM systems still need emulation software to support, for instance, Windows-based Intel X86 code. That situation is improving, but it's still less than perfect, and for business users who have some almost ancient software, they cannot afford to mess around with a mobile chip parading as desktop silicon when they know it won't, for instance, run their old banking software.

For years, Intel promised mobile chips that would rival Qualcomm and Apple Silicon, but it's taken until now for the once great chip company to deliver on those promises.

So, before you read on, it's worth stating up front that the Intel Core Ultra 5 (Series 3) processor is one of the most exciting pieces of silicon Intel has produced for a laptop in years. It's a big deal and the primary reason I'm falling just a little bit again for the iconic Surface Pro.

Inside the Surface Pro for Business 13-inch

As I stated above, this 13-inch Surface Pro ($1,949.99, UK and other prices not available at press time) is, on the outside, identical to the previous model, but that doesn't make it any less appealing. One caveat here: When I talk about the Surface Pro, I'm referring to it with the pricier bundle that includes the Surface Pro 13-inch Keyboard and Slim Pen for Business. It's these two accessories that make this a complete laptop alternative.

The Surface Pro is an attractive and relatively lightweight business portable. With the keyboard and pen (and in the Wi-Fi/Cell model), it weighs roughly 2.68lbs, which is a hair lighter than the MacBook Air.

It has a lovely, crisp 13-inch PixelSense touchscreen and pen-compatible display. While there's an OLED option, my unit shipped with the more affordable LCD display. The 12th Gen display is almost exactly the same as the last model. It's still a 2880x1920, 120Hz screen. The 1M:1 contrast ratio is the same, as is the 3:2 aspect ratio.

There are a couple of small differences: a new anti-reflective coating, which I like, and HDR mode, which should provide deeper blacks, whiter whites, and more details in low-light scenarios.

The screen is surrounded by slightly oversized bezels, especially the one at the top, which houses the 1440p quadHD webcam and the Windows Hello biometric system. There are also a pair of carefully hidden stereo speakers on either side of the touchscreen.

On the left are the two USB-C, Thunderbolt 4 ports, which I used for connecting to an external display and some external storage. On the top edge is the power/sleep button and a volume rocker. On the right side is the charge port or "Surface Connector," Surface's proprietary charge port, which plugs into the included 60W charger.

On the back is the signature kickstand that adjusts smoothly to almost any angle. "Lappability" is still a thing.

The Surface Pro 13-inch Keyboard is just as good as I remembered. It has excellent travel and response, plus it's backlit. A tug away from the magnetized screen reveals the Slim Pen for business, a fantastic markup, annotation, and sketching tool. The draftman style is an acquired taste, but I like it.

The performance is the thing

Before I dug into the Surface Pro 12th Gen 13-inch, I handed it to Future Labs to run some benchmarks, and, perhaps more importantly, a battery rundown test.

I don't know what I was expecting (maybe not much, after all, this is an Intel system), but I was shocked when they told me that the benchmarks were close to what you'd get with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (11th Gen Surface Pro). More surprising was that the battery life is virtually identical. Granted, the Surface Pro Gen 12 13-inch with an Intel Core Ultra Series 3 is rated by Microsoft for 17 hours, but that's basically a video playback rundown.

Our Future Labs' more real-world tests got 12 hours and 15 minutes with the keyboard attached. The 11th Gen Qualcomm model got 12 hours and 10 minutes.

In my anecdotal experience, I cruised through a whole day.

Look, I know these systems have a ton of AI power. Heck, I even have the Copilot key on my Surface keyboard, but for my purposes, I wanted to see how the Surface Pro running Intel's latest mobile CPU handled my typical workday, which doesn't feature much AI content generation at all.

I did use the Copilot button a few times to quickly launch prompt-based queries. I wish it could be a bit more aware of what's on the page. I asked about a document I had opened in Edge, but it gave me a generic answer.

I didn't hold back

I launched Edge and used that for a while because it was always one of my favorite web browsers. However, to work with my office tools, I needed Chrome, so I downloaded that and started opening many, many browser windows.

I also installed Adobe Creative Cloud and Photoshop 2026 and edited a lot of photos. It was also a busy meeting day, so I launched multiple Google video meetings.

The Intel Core Ultra 5 (Series 3) handled it all. I saw maybe one slowdown in a video call, but that was short-lived.

There was, however, the fan. At first, I heard its gentle whirring in the background, but as I piled on more Chrome tabs (and also added a few Edge ones), it got louder and louder. In a quiet room, I would've drawn stares. Fortunately, I was alone. I felt the back of the laptop, and it was hot.

On a MacBook Air running the M5, there is no fan, and while the base can get warm, you never know it's struggling, until it tells you it's out of memory. To its credit, the Intel system never did that; it just ran like it was preparing for liftoff.

While we ran some gaming benchmarks, I did not bother trying to game with this system. All it has is Intel graphics and 128MB of RAM. At 1080, it could manage about 41fps on Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. Suffice to say, this is not a gaming rig.

I wouldn't call this test definitive, but I can say this is a beautiful, versatile system that, while not cheap, should satisfy most business users. It can handle the hard work, creativity, and AI. It's almost enough for me to consider giving Windows another chance. Almost.

Time for a reality check.

AI can't call on years of industry experience to fix a nuanced problem. It can't demonstrate empathy over shared frustrations or build strong human connections. It won't even laugh at your bad jokes unless you tell it to.

Despite the hype, AI can't actually fill a human space.

However, for small business leaders, the choice often isn’t between a human and AI, it’s between doing everything yourself, or not doing it at all – this is where AI can really help.

But what does it actually take to build a digital department that emulates a $50k hire? In this article, I'll line up everything in the tech stack you need to get started.

Jump to: Automation | Marketing | Admin

AI automation

You wouldn’t want to hire someone for $50k, only to have to explain over and over again how to do the same task.

So why would you want to do that with AI?

Automation is often overlooked by those looking to leverage AI. But continuously prompting your AI to do the same tasks chips away at your time.

Platforms like Google Gemini offer built-in automation tools that allow you to create one-off prompts that you can use again and again. For example, you may create a prompt that details your brand voice and preferred blog format, then you can feed a topic in whenever you want and let the AI create a blog post for you.

OpenClaw takes this one step further, allowing you to execute real-world tasks such as file management, browsing the internet, and sending emails. Where AI could previously only answer questions, with OpenClaw, it can execute commands. Although OpenClaw is free to use, you will need to host it, either on your own machine or through a managed hosting service like Hostinger.

A Stream Deck lets you connect automations to physical buttons that sit on your desk, helping you streamline common processes. For example, you may set up one button that automatically collects sales data from the last 30 days, populates it as a PDF, and emails it to you.

AI marketing

Marketing is an essential, yet time-consuming task for any small business. AI can take many of these tasks off your hands, whilst helping you to double down on what works.

By feeding an AI website builder a few prompts, you can get a purpose-built, fully populated website in just a few minutes. Although you will likely need to edit the AI’s output, you will still save considerable time when compared to building a website from scratch.

Canva AI works in a similar way for design. Describe what you want, whether that be an engaging social media post or a high-impact presentation, and let the AI do the work for you. Opus AI can be used to quickly turn long-term video into social media-optimized clips at the click of a button.

Vibe coding platforms like Hostinger Horizons offer a flexible way to build any web app. Small businesses on a budget can use them to create anything from CRMs to digital products.

AI admin

Using AI to take on admin tasks can be a massive time saver for small businesses.

Notion has been a popular workspace platform for small businesses for years, helping them store everything from leads and documents to project management plans and databases. In 2026, it introduced AI agents, that users can ask to do anything from lead vetting to customer outreach.

Zapier offers a range of platforms, ranging from marketing and sales to IT and customer support. Zapier’s AI agents help automate any process within its ecosystem of tools, allowing you to use AI platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini to orchestrate your business.

Note-taking is now a breeze thanks to AI. Investing in a voice or video + voice AI note taker will let you keep records of all meetings without the massive time drain of handwriting notes.

MSI Stealth 16 AI+: Two-minute review

The MSI Stealth 16 AI+ is hard to identify as a red-blooded gaming laptop at first glance. The dark grey finish sets it apart from the mostly jet-black marketplace, while the rounded corners and lack of branding further distinguish it from others in the sector.

Its form factor also follows suit. It’s surprisingly thin and light for a 16-inch gaming machine, making it more portable than many of its rivals.

Despite this lithe form, though, the Stealth 16 AI+ doesn’t feel that flimsy. The materials feel smooth and premium, although there’s some flex to the base, so it’s not as solid as the best gaming laptop models.

Also impressive is the number of ports featured. There are two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports and two USB-A. There’s also an HDMI port and an RJ-45 for wired network connectivity. However, all of these are set further forward than usual, which may prove inconvenient in certain setups.

The gaming performance of the Stealth 16 AI+ is excellent. My review unit handled AAA titles with no issue, offering impressive frame rates even at full resolution. Some heat and noise was generated, but both of these aspects were far from troubling.

Games also looked great thanks to the brilliant display. The 1600p resolution and OLED tech meant content was super sharp and vibrant, without being blighted by reflections. The high 240Hz refresh rate will also please gamers who prize supreme smoothness.

The keyboard is tactile and easy to use, offering easy presses and just enough dampening to be satisfying. The touchpad is large and smooth, which makes for easy navigation, yet it rarely got in the way while I typed.

The Stealth 16 AI+ also has a very respectable battery life. It lasted over 14 hours when I ran a movie on a continuous loop, which surpasses many other gaming laptops. It’s also quite quick to charge, taking over two hours to fully replenish.

As you might expect for all its qualities, the Stealth 16 AI+ doesn’t come cheap. It might be hard justifying paying this much for such a powerful and versatile machine, but if you need a gaming laptop that does it all, there aren’t many better than the Stealth 16 AI+.

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ review: Price & availability

• Starts from $2,099.99 (about £1,540 / AU$2,900)
• Available from mid-to-late May
• Unsurprisingly expensive

The MSI Stealth 16 AI+ starts from $2,099.99 (about £1,540 / AU$2,900) and will be available from mid-to-late May. The base model is loaded with an RTX 5060, whereas the top model has a 5080 and costs $3,299.99 (about £2,420 / AU$4,550).

This is expensive, even for a gaming laptop. But when you consider the top-tier spec, it’s hardly surprising. It’s similarly priced to the A16 AI+, although that machine features 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage across all of its models.

If you’re on a much tighter budget, but still want decent gaming performance, the Asus V16 is an option. It’s just as easy to carry around as the Stealth 16 AI+, but you’ll have to settle for a 40 series RTX rather than a 50 series, and the display is far less impressive. However, if you just want a decent machine for 1200p gaming, it’s worth considering.

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ review: Specs

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ review: Design

• Thin and light for a large gaming laptop
• Smooth materials
• Plenty of ports

For a large gaming laptop, the Stealth 16 AI+ is quite restrained. It has a smart and minimalist body, lacking any odd angles or protrusions, which is always nice to see.

This is complemented by the lack of branding or any other gaming-oriented flourishes. All it features is a small logo and an S pattern on the lid, but both are so discreet and close to the same base color that you’ll barely notice them.

The dark grey colorway is smart and a little more interesting than the total black finishes of many in this class. The tasteful RGB backlighting of the keyboard, along with the rounded corners of the chassis, help to soften its appearance, too.

It also seems quite well made. The main material feels very smooth and premium, although it’s not especially solid. For example, the base can be flexed if you push a little too hard, or hit the keys a little too enthusiastically.

This is the price paid for its lightweight construction. For a large gaming laptop, the Stealth 16 AI+ is remarkably unobtrusive, especially when you consider it’s loaded with an RTX 50 series GPU. This makes it a more realistic option for on-the-go gaming than many of its rivals.

However, this portability is somewhat undermined by the feet underneath, which are quite thick. At least the ventilation area, also underneath, doesn’t have any bulk to it. It’s merely a large but completely flat honeycomb pattern, which also has its own aesthetic qualities.

Oddly, the most solid aspect of the Stealth 16 AI+ is the lid. There’s far less flex here, which is all the more impressive given just how thin it is. What’s more, the hinge provides plenty of stability while gaming, but puts up little resistance when opening up the display.

I was also surprised by the number of ports onboard the Stealth 16 AI+. There are two USB-C connections, both of which utilize the Thunderbolt 4 standard that supports DisplayPort and Power Delivery. There’s also a dedicated DC-in port for powering your laptop using the included adapter.

Two USB-A ports are also featured, which are split across both sides of the unit for added convenience. An HDMI 2.1 port, an RJ-45 port, and a headset jack round out the rest of the interfaces.

All ports on both sides are set further forward than you might expect, no doubt to give room to the GPU at the rear. I found this a little inconvenient, especially when connecting a power cable, since it protruded from near the middle of the unit. This can eat into desk space and lead to tangling if you have other wired connections to make.

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ review: Performance

• Smooth AAA gaming
• Sharp and vibrant display
• Easy and tactile keys

I was impressed by the gaming performance of the Stealth 16 AI+. I got around 50fps when playing Cyberpunk 2077 with the Ray Tracing: Ultra preset selected. This shot up to around 90fps when Frame Generation was enabled on top. I only experienced occasional drops in frame rate during busier scenes, but these weren’t steep enough to adversely affect gameplay.

When I first booted up the game, there was a lot of fan noise. Once I started playing, this quietened down, but it was still noticeable. Heat was noticeable, too, but this remained at the very back of the unit, and temperatures weren’t extreme.

The display in the Stealth 16 AI+ is excellent. The 2.5K resolution is more than sharp enough for a display this large, while the OLED technology provides a vivid color palette. It’s also very bright, which makes all kinds of content shine. I never had any problem with reflections showing up on the screen, either. And for those who value ultra-smooth gameplay, it’s capable of delivering a 240Hz refresh rate, which is more than enough for most gamers.

The keyboard is a joy to use. The keys are light yet offer a pleasing amount of travel, which increases their feedback. They’re more damped than those on your average laptop keyboard, which makes them more satisfying to hit, but they’re still harsher than those on the best gaming keyboards.

I also welcomed the generous spacing between the keys. This made them comfortable to use and made typing easier. However, this spacing comes at the expense of a number pad and navigation keys, which is a shame for a 16-inch laptop.

The touchpad is very large and has a very smooth surface — aspects that make it great for navigation. And although my thumb palms frequently made contact with it while typing, this rarely triggered cursor movement or clicks.

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ review: Battery life

• Excellent for a gaming laptop
• Outlasts many rivals
• Quick to charge

By gaming laptop standards, the battery life of the Stealth 16 AI+ is very impressive. During our movie playback test, it lasted over 14 hours. This means it has better longevity than many of its rivals, including MSI’s other Stealth model, the A16 AI+, which didn’t even make it past five hours.

It also outlasted the Asus V16, which only managed 12 and a half hours. It’s also quite quick to charge, taking about two and a half hours to reach 100% from total depletion.

Should I buy the MSI Stealth 16 AI+?

Scorecard

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ review: Also consider

How I tested the MSI Stealth 16 AI+

• Tested for several days
• Used for gaming and other tasks
• Gaming laptop experience

I tested the Stealth 16 AI+ for several days. As well as gaming with AAA titles, I also used the laptop for general browsing and streaming video.

I also ran our series of benchmark tests for gaming laptops. This included a battery test, where I ran a movie on a continuous loop until it shut down.

I’ve been PC gaming for decades, and have experienced many systems in that time. I’ve also reviewed plenty of gaming laptops before, as well as other gaming hardware.

• First reviewed: May 2026
• Read more about how we test

The Chromebook is dead! Long live the Googlebook! Or not, because actually, the Chromebook isn't dead – although that has been a misconception floating around in places – in fact, it'll continue to exist alongside Google's new more premium laptops, freshly announced at The Android Show 2026. And as for the Googlebook, not everyone is wishing it a long life – indeed, some folks out there are hating on the device already, and we don't even know that much about it.

We know enough, though – and the basics of how the Googlebook will be realized – for people to already be throwing stones, casting aspersions, and generally getting quite worked up about what Google is trying to do with an all-new platform here.

What we're dealing with, in a nutshell, is the long-talked-about desktop OS which combines Android and ChromeOS – yes, it can run Android apps natively – powering laptops which Google notes are specifically designed for AI ('Gemini Intelligence').

Can you guess what one of the main points of hatred revolves around? There has, predictably, been quite a groundswell of negative reaction against the focus on AI with this hardware, but that's not been the only bone of contention, as you'll see. Here's my list of five things which are already causing something of a backlash online following Google's early info drop on the Googlebook.

1. AI is baked into the heart of Googlebook

Google must have been prepared for this one. Revealing hardware that has AI baked right into the heart of the system was never going to go down well in some quarters, obviously. But the Googlebook is built around Gemini – as Google bills it, this is a laptop platform "designed for Gemini Intelligence" – and the company believes that AI is going to offer a lot of advantages with these notebooks, one way or another.

We've been shown how AI is built right into the interface, with the ability to create Gemini-powered custom widgets on the desktop, and a range of help and prompts from AI ready to spark into life at the drop of a hat – or a shake of the cursor (and I'll come back to the Magic Pointer feature shortly).

This heavy focus on AI, and Google throwing around phrases like "moving from an operating system to an intelligence system" with the Googlebook has predictably lit the fuse on some already short tempers out there.

As one Redditor says: "A laptop designed by AI tech bros, for… no one? I'm getting really sick and tired of people shoehorning AI into stuff. It's like finding a problem just to create a solution."

Another in the same thread adds: "A widget creator being the second thing shown just shows how bad of a launch this is. There are so many directions they could have went in with marketing for this launch but went with... a wiggle cursor, widget creator and improved Android cross compatibility ([the] only really good thing)?"

Someone who describes themselves as a Pixel and Chromebook fan complains in another Reddit thread: "But Googlebook? And leading with in-your-face AI features? Please don't Copilot this, Google. Read the room. People are rejecting front-and-center AI. This is super cringey and I fear for the future of Android and ChromeOS."

2. The woeful name

"But Googlebook?" As the last comment in the complaints about the AI-first nature of the laptop touched on (earlier in their criticism they observe that this is "horrible branding"), a surprising amount of folks aren't happy about the name.

I mean, I get it, the name is a bit weird-sounding and on-the-nose – it feels kind of egotistical. A bit like Microsoft making a laptop called the MicrosoftBook. It may even lend the errant impression to some that this is a basic notebook for browsing the web – with the use of 'Google' in the title, which has effectively become a modern-day verb for a web search – which the device most certainly isn't.

There's a lot of displeasure around the chosen name, calling it everything from 'dull' to 'woeful', and as one post on Reddit states: "Noooo man that's an awful name, I like the idea of moving away from the Chromebook brand and launching something new but 'Googlebook' isn't it."

It lacks meaning, too, as another Redditor argues: "GoogleBook tells me nothing about the product, and makes me think of Google Play Books."

Obviously it couldn't be Pixelbook (as that was already done, and these aren't Google-made laptops either, but third-party hardware), and Google seems to have missed out on a clear possible alternative here: Geminibook. Given the strong AI leaning, that seems the obvious path to take.

Or what about Bardbook? See, all you name-haters out there – in an alternative reality, it could've been worse, take that as some consolation…

3. There are already worries that it'll be way too pricey

This one is a simple fear, and I can totally see where it comes from. In the initial reveal of Google's new notebook, it was billed as follows: "The result is Googlebook: a new category of laptops built with Gemini's helpfulness at its core, designed to work seamlessly with the devices in your life and powered by premium hardware."

That mention of 'premium hardware' has been taken to mean one thing. As one of the many comments on Reddit runs: "When Google say 'premium' they mean it'll cost a lot. Not that the performance is going to be good."

Clearly, the use of that word indicates higher-end products – particularly as we're told Chromebooks aren't going anywhere, and will stay as Google's more affordable laptops.

We'll have a two-tier system of laptops, then, and there's a clear concern that Google is going to make these upper-tier machines very pricey. Obviously the RAM crisis, spiking SSD prices, and cost increases with other components besides is going to make life more difficult for Google when it comes to the price tag, too.

4. The not-so-magic interface

We've only caught a brief glimpse of the Googlebook's operating system – which remains unnamed (maybe it'll be Google OS, ahem) although it's previously been referred to by the codename Aluminum OS – but some people aren't happy with what little we've seen.

The most unpopular aspect is the idea of the Magic Pointer, which is the wiggle-the-cursor feature I mentioned before. Shake the pointer briefly and a context-sensitive AI menu appears to let you access tasks via Gemini. The example shown by Google was combining a couple of images which were on the screen into a single JPG.

The haters don't like the idea of an AI-centric menu being at the forefront of the OS in this way, but there are also concerns that it could be annoying in terms of the menu being accidentally summoned. (Others also point out that it could be an accessibility challenge, too). Cursor shaking is not a new concept, but it's usually linked to more fringe aspects of the desktop interface (locating the mouse cursor in macOS is the obvious example) – rather than being a central part of the UI.

Some folks also aren't keen on the layout of the desktop interface in general. For example, this Redditor complains: "The UI eats s**t from the ChromeOS one. Launcher/app drawer icon, quick toggles, notifications, time/date, are literally all in the wrong place."

5. A generally poorly-conceived, ill-fated product?

Finally, there's something of a theme among detractors that the Googlebook is doomed to failure, and this hardware won't be around for long – so buying one would be foolish on that basis.

Of course, part of this sentiment is driven by some of the points already touched on here – questioning the wisdom of building a laptop around AI, and worrying that the price is going to be a serious stumbling block to adoption levels.

But it's more than this. Not only is Googlebook launching into a hardware market dogged by component pricing difficulties, but Apple's just had a big success with its MacBook Neo. Seemingly Apple can't make enough of the Neo to satisfy demand, and production is going to be cranked up in a major way, the rumor mill reckons (and it'd be no surprise if that was true).

The MacBook Neo is making waves and impressing by being a slick piece of hardware that's surprisingly premium-like for its affordable cost, and what is Google doing? Making a pricier laptop that goes all-in on AI in a blinkered manner.

The feeling is the Googlebook will be overshadowed, and that it very much represents a missed opportunity. Part of this is a perception that Google had a chance to go and grab Windows 11 defectors – at a time when that OS is in trouble, albeit Microsoft is making a huge effort to turn things around this year – and instead it decided to simply follow in the footsteps of Microsoft's Copilot+ PCs (aka AI PCs).

Some people find this mystifying. As this Redditor laments: "Aluminum OS could've been a safe space for Windows refugees … but instead, Google looked at Copilot+ PC and went: 'That, that right there is what we need to target.'"

Between predicted pricing woes, a perceived failure to take on Microsoft, and having to compete against the new darling of the laptop scene – Apple's MacBook Neo, which is racking up sales like nobody's business – there are a fair few armchair tech commenters out there saying that, one way or another, Googlebook is going to be DOA.

Some are suggesting that the Googlebook should have its tombstone carved right now, and a plot reserved in the 'Killed by Google: Google Graveyard' website in advance.

A few bottles of decent whisky, a legendary meal out with friends, or a new PS5. In 2026, $650 is the price of an enjoyable weekend. It’s fun, yet it’s fleeting.

But what if you could spend $650 to launch your dream business? What if, for the price of a games console, you could confidently hand in your letter of resignation?

Is it possible? The answer is yes. But only if you know which tools to leverage and which ‘start-up traps’ to skip. Over the last decade, I’ve launched 4 successful businesses. If I had to do it all again with $650 in my pocket, this is exactly how I would spend it.

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Budget breakdown

Essential software

Powerful, affordable software is the cornerstone of every successful startup launching on a budget. The trick here is to cover as many of your business needs as you can with just a handful of affordable subscriptions.

To get your business off the ground, you don’t need expensive tools – these will eat into your budget and often come with a bunch of features that a fledgling business doesn’t need.

Here is what you need to get started:

A website platform like Hostinger. These platforms neatly package a bunch of tools under one roof. You can use Hostinger to build and host your website, buy a domain, execute email marketing campaigns, and even build web apps to help you run your business with its vibe coding platform, Horizons.

A design platform like Canva. Canva is one of the most beginner-friendly platforms for generating graphics for your website, email marketing campaigns, social media, and presentations. Most start-ups can get everything they need on Canva's free plan, although upgrading (from $18/mo) will supercharge your graphics output.

A workspace like Google Workspace. Expensive licenses are a thing of the past. Cash-strapped, agile start-ups can now subscribe to platforms like Google Workspace from $7/mo, unlocking storage, AI assistants, word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation tools.

A payment processor like Stripe. Without the means to get paid, your startup won’t get far. Platforms like Stripe make it easy to accept payments online, charging you a small fee on each transaction.