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.”

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.

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. 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 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 such as ChatGPT, Claude, or a local one, 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.

“During WWDC, Red Bull Basement 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

"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.

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.

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.

Jump to

Essential software
Hardware
Business audiobooks
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.

Hardware

The only hardware you really need to get started is a reasonable laptop with an internet connection.

Save investing in a flashy computer for when your business is off the ground and generating a decent profit – you can get started with a reliable laptop for less than $350, or you may already have something you can use.

Our experts voted the Acer Aspire 5 laptop the best budget business laptop. At $335, it is the most expensive item on our list of start-up essentials, but it will be the workhorse for getting your business idea off the ground.

The majority of us will work on our startup when we aren’t focusing on other commitments, such as work and family. This means we have a small amount of time to achieve big things. Using a portable monitor can help you seamlessly multitask, a pomodoro timer can help you maintain focus over prolonged periods, and a decent coffee machine will pay dividends when working late nights and early mornings.

Business books

Personally, I love a physical book (yes, I'm old school), but when you're launching your business, podcasts and audiobooks offer a great way to learn and find inspiration whilst keeping your hands free to work.

I've been a subscriber to Audible for over 7 years now and listen to books whilst working on my side hustle, walking the dog, and cooking. Out of the 90+ audiobooks I've listened to here are my top picks for start-ups.

Round up

• Google unveils Googlebook
• It puts Gemini at the center with an "intelligence system"
• Magic Pointer reinvents the classic pointer with — yes — AI

It's been almost a year since Sameer Samat, Google's Head of Android Experience, let slip that the tech giant was finally ready to do what had long been rumored: combine Android and ChromeOS into a single experience.

The reveal, coming as part of Google's annual Android Show, is a two-pronged affair. First, there's a single platform that somehow combines the best of Android and ChromeOS into one, and second is the unveiling of a new class of laptops: Googlebooks, which Google says are "designed for Gemini Intelligence."

That's right, Google is once again trying to reinvent the laptop. Forget Pixelbooks (though Chromebooks and ChromeOS are supposedly not going anywhere), this is brand new hardware to house a platform built for a new type of desk and laptop computing experience.

And at the heart of it is, well, not Android exactly, but Gemini. Some might describe it as the world's first AI OS or, as Google terms it, "an intelligence system."

While Google has offered scant details on the hardware and platform particulars, it is highlighting how Gemini's premier position will transform the computing experience, and that starts with the pointer.

Welcome the Magic Pointer

Shaking the cursor to get a different experience on a laptop is not a new idea (try wiggling your macOS cursor), but Google's AI-focused approach is novel. On the Googlebook, a shake of the "Magic Pointer" brings up a contextually aware menu that quickly tells you all the things you can do with, say, Gemini, right there.

Choose one of the options, and it launches, naturally, in-situ Gemini, and now you can follow its guides to do more with whatever's on-screen. If, for instance, you see a pair of images in your gallery and want to imagine a mashup, you can wiggle that Magic Pointer, select them, choose an AI action like "visualize together," and then instantly see the result of the generative AI projects in Gemini. Think of this as prompts in the form of a gesture.

Googlebooks will also be a place where you can experience Android's new "Create My Widget" capabilities, which should let you build bespoke desktop widgets for all kinds of personalized information, like upcoming trips and business meetings.

Is this really a new OS?

It's a bit hard to say exactly how ChromeOS is influencing the Googlebook experience, since, aside from all the AI, apps, and other features, it will be running locally (Google promises the system will handle "powerful apps on Google Play"). Perhaps it has something to do with the platform's lightness; maybe it'll run all this on lower-range specs.

The relationship with Android is far clearer. Googlebooks will let you cast most Android apps and experiences on the Googlebook desktop. The benefit is that you never have to leave your Googlebook or pause to pick up your Android 18 smartphone to continue a mobile task. The system's dock will include a persistent phone icon that you can select to virtualize your Android phone on the Googlebook. All of this will only work with "compatible" Android phones, and for now, we don't have that list.

While we already know some of the hardware partners, like Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, and HP, we have zero details on how they might use the new intelligence system. It's not clear, for instance, if all will feature the glowbar, a thin, rainbow LED peeking through the metal frame on the Googlebook cover. Google claims the glowbar will be beautiful and functional, but has yet to explain what it will do. It's probably safe to assume that the lights can, even when the system is closed, alert you to, say, incoming notifications, maybe even turn all red when there's a must-see alert.

More likely, though, is that the Googlebook's integrated Gemini AI will respond to voice prompts even when closed, and the glowbar will, ahem, glow when you talk and the system listens and responds.

Other specs, including screen size, touch screens (yes or no), RAM, CPU, webcam, battery life, overall size, and weight, are similarly missing. However, we would not be surprised to see a Googlebook or two at Google I/O 2026, which kicks off next week in Mountain View, California.

Google deserves credit for being first out of the gate with an "AI OS," (why didn't they call it a "Geminibook?"). But it remains to be seen if Googlebooks will excite or create confusion. After all, this isn't the first time Google has created a premium laptop hardware category to support its own platform ambitions. Pixelbooks flamed out in 2022, though ChromeOS is alive and well across many of the same partners that will now be delivering Googlebooks, and Google confirms that they will continue to support and develop the platform.

How will consumers decide between Chromebooks and these new AI-centric Googlebooks? It may come down to their interest in Gemini (and other AI platforms) and their need to run "powerful apps" locally.

There's no denying, though, that this is a big swing and aligns somewhat with something Google's Sameer Samat told me last year, "...you see the future first on Android.”

• There are multiple reports of a nasty bug affecting Dell laptops
• It's seemingly caused by a recent update to Dell's SupportAssist app
• Affected laptops keep crashing every half an hour or so, but there's a fix in either removing or disabling the offending support services

If you have a Dell laptop running Windows 11 and you've been experiencing it regularly crashing every half an hour or so, you aren't alone by any means — and thankfully there appears to be a solution.

After a tip from a reader, Neowin picked up that there are multiple reports on the Dell community forum complaining that the laptop maker's SupportAssist software is bugged, and causing crashes where the PC completely freezes with a Black Screen of Death (BSOD).

There are a number of reports on Dell's forum, and also on Reddit, noting that the issue is hitting fleets of PCs (in the business world), as well as individual laptops, including Alienware gaming notebooks (there are a couple of cases mentioned, including for example an Alienware M16 R2).

Essentially, any laptop with SupportAssist installed could be prone to this bug, and going by the number of complaints, it's not uncommon — though it isn't clear how widespread the glitch is exactly.

Seemingly this has been caused by a recent update to Dell SupportAssist, and if you've encountered BSOD crashes and reboots happening regularly with your device, there is a solution that seems to have worked for most folks.

How to deal with Dell SupportAssist crashes

There are multiple reports of laptop owners or IT admins who have fixed this issue, and they all come back to the same solution: removing SupportAssist or disabling the service.

If you're reaching the end of your tether due to crashes and want to get rid of SupportAssist, that's as simple as heading into Settings and going to the Apps panel, then into the list of 'Installed apps'. Scroll down to find Dell SupportAssist, click the ellipsis (three-dot icon) on the right, and select 'Uninstall'.

You're not quite done, though, as there's also a Dell SupportAssist Remediation app — at which the finger of blame is actually being pointed by many — so you need to remove that as well. Some folks suggest removing everything pertaining to SupportAssist, which means ditching a third service, Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin, too.

After you're done with those, reboot your PC and hopefully you'll find the crashes are no longer happening. If you only removed the main app, and not all three, and that doesn't cure the issue, it's worth trying ditching them all. Remember that without SupportAssist, you will have to manually search for and apply any laptop firmware updates (from Dell's support website).

You can always reinstall these apps at a later date, once we hear from Dell that SupportAssist is fixed. Of course, remember that we haven't heard anything official from Dell yet, so this problem isn't confirmed — and ditto for the solution. But, going by most reports, removing SupportAssist works (although do note that I've seen the odd comment complaining that a laptop is still crashing even after ditching the app).

Another route suggested by some is to try merely disabling Dell SupportAssist Remediation (rather than engaging in any uninstallation). Do this by typing the following into the search box in the Windows 11 taskbar:

services.msc

Press Enter and this will pop up the services panel showing all local running services, so you'll need to scroll down and find Dell SupportAssist Remediation. Right-click on it, then select 'Properties', and in the panel that appears, in the dropdown menu called 'Startup type', select 'Disabled' (you can reenable it later by changing it back to 'Automatic').

Neowin also observes that this bug has seemingly cropped up before — last year in fact, where a different cure was found to work. This involved opening SupportAssist and running the 'scan hardware' option, and after that process had finished it seemingly did the trick (though it may take a while).

In the meantime, we'll just have to wait to hear from Dell about what might be going on here, but there's an obvious irony about an app that facilitates technical support causing a show-stopping problem on some laptops.

As one Redditor put it: "The irony of SupportAssist being the cause. I'm so glad I'm no longer in IT."

• IJP OLED could be 30% to 35% cheaper than current OLED production
• Challenges remain, especially power consumption and blue OLED lifespan
• Expect to see the tech in premium laptops first, but TVs are on the cards

A new report says that the long-awaiting arrival of inkjet-printed OLED will slash the price of OLED production, making the tech much more cost-effective and the resulting displays much more affordable.

That's good news in the relatively short term for laptops (such as a near-future OLED MacBook Pro), and for smaller displays in devices such as phones and in-car consoles. And in the longer term it's good news for TV buyers too.

The dominant production technology in OLED production is FMM, which is short for Fine Metal Mask. According to display analysts Omdia, FMM costs are getting lower — but inkjet printing will be even cheaper, with a price difference of between 30 to 35% compared to FMM production. Given that OLED is an expensive tech to produce, that could make a big difference.

And price isn't the only benefit. Inkjet printing offers some significant advantages over FMM. However, it's important to note that those lower costs are a prediction for the future, not a measurement of how much IJP OLED costs to produce at the moment.

This is still a very new screen tech, and that means it's still expensive to manufacture because the yields — meaning the amount of panels produced that are good enough to sell — still need to be improved.

We've been told by TCL, the biggest player in the IJP OLED game right now, that it'll be several years before it's affordable in mass-market TVs — but in laptop and even monitor-sized panels, the tech is rolling out.

What's so exciting about inkjet-printed displays?

For manufacturers, the lower cost of inkjet printed displays isn't the only benefit. It's set to be much more efficient once it's working at full quality — Omdia says that for 16.3-inch OLED laptop displays, manufacturers can produce 10% more panels from a single substrate compared to FMM processes — and the machines cost less to buy.

That's the good news. But there are still some challenges for inkjet-printed OLEDs to overcome. One of the key challenges has been the lifespan of blue OLEDs made using the IJP process: according to TCL CSOT, in 2020 the lifespan of its blue pixels was just 40 hours. Power consumption was also a significant issue.

However, by late 2025 TCL CSOT had improved the longevity of its blues by ten times to 400 hours, and it had reduced power consumption by one-third — the technology has continued to develop since then.

This is a very fast-moving sector, and there's big money being spent on developing it: TCL CSOT alone has invested $4 billion in its T8 plant, which will be located in Guangzhou in China. It's intended to produce 22,500 substrates per month.

Those panels will be destined for monitors, notebooks and tablets, but TVs are on the roadmap too: as we reported last year, TCL has been showing off TVs with panels up to 65 inches in size. Mass production of the first panels from the plant is likely to commence in late 2027.

Thinking of buying a new TV?

Try our TV size and model finder! You tell it how far you sit from your TV, we'll tell you what size to buy based on viewing angle advice from image quality experts, and we'll recommend our three top TVs at that size for different prices.

• Apple is rumored to be doubling production of the MacBook Neo
• It will supposedly now ship 10 million units
• Meanwhile, Microsoft commissioned a report to point out the strengths of budget Windows 11 laptops compared to the Neo, and it's been criticized online for its level of bias

Apple's supposedly set to double production of the MacBook Neo to meet demand for the popular budget laptop — although Microsoft is fighting back in the war of affordable notebooks.

Wccftech reports that, according to Tim Culpan, an ex-Bloomberg reporter and one of the more reliable sources of chatter from the grapevine, Apple is boosting production of the first-gen MacBook Neo to 10 million units, up from the initial (rumored) run of 5 to 6 million.

Such a move would make sense, seeing as there's clear evidence that the Neo is selling very well. Indeed, the laptop has been since its launch, with CEO Tim Cook acknowledging recently that demand has been "off the charts" for the Neo, and that Apple could take a while to address supply issues (for this MacBook and the Mac mini).

Wccftech also flagged that Microsoft is directly responding to the popularity of this new MacBook, having commissioned a report from Signal65, which compared wallet-friendly Windows 11 laptops to the Neo, and came out strongly in favor of the former.

Signal65 highlighted a bunch of advantages for the Microsoft-powered devices, as seen in a post on X, which states that Windows 11 notebooks "starting $150 below the MacBook Neo delivered more performance AND up to 56% longer battery life in Procyon Office Productivity testing".

The report from Signal65 also found that Windows 11 laptops, which were at matching (or cheaper) prices to the MacBook Neo, had up to 92% faster CPU performance for multi-threaded tasks (based on Cinebench testing). It also found that the Windows machines were faster in Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft's productivity apps.

Analysis: cherry-picking problems

Okay, so there's an obvious issue with a study commissioned by Microsoft, and that's how the benchmarks and comparisons have been cherry-picked to show Windows 11 devices in the best light against the MacBook Neo (given that Microsoft has paid for this research).

For example, what about single-core performance? That isn't mentioned, just multi-core, and performance was tested plugged in, too, not on battery power. Working off the electrical grid favors the Windows 11 devices as the processor has more ability to benefit from the considerable extra power it can then chug (without throttling to balance battery life concerns).

What also isn't mentioned is the screen of the MacBook Neo being a lot brighter, which favors the battery life of the Windows 11-toting Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x (the laptop rated as having 56% better battery life, and the main point of comparison for the Neo as the cheapest Microsoft-powered model). That Lenovo machine has a bigger battery as well, so it was always going to win on that front.

Other factors, such as the quality of the screen and the speakers, aren't touched upon — areas the Lenovo IdeaPad has been criticized for — and pricing-wise, Microsoft's laptops are also compared to the Neo with discounts applied here. The key comparison with the wallet-friendly Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x mentions it starting $150 cheaper than the Neo, but I could only find it on sale in the US at $50 cheaper (at the time of writing).

As one commenter on X put it: "The review skipped all benchmarks where the Neo was better (single core performance, display, sound). You only took what made the PC look better. This is a reminder to have a more neutral review process and this ain't it."

This isn't to rule out the Windows 11 laptops, mind, or to cast aspersions on the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x, as for the money, it does indeed look like a very good notebook. Granted, it has 16GB of RAM versus the 8GB with the MacBook Neo, and I do worry about the future-proofing with 8GB, as I've said in the past. But it's abundantly clear that for today's everyday computing tasks, the Neo runs nicely and slickly — just manage your expectations of this Apple laptop tackling any demanding workloads.

Ultimately, the battle of the MacBook Neo versus Lenovo IdeaPad or other affordable Windows 11 laptops (and it should also be noted that two of the devices Signal65 considers in its report are much pricier than Apple's hardware) comes down to whether you're happy with macOS or Windows. Are you tied into Apple's or Microsoft's ecosystem? Then your choice may already be made for you. (It's also worth remembering that the Lenovo IdeaPad is an ARM-based PC, with some limitations therein compared to AMD or Intel chips — though granted, Microsoft has been fixing some of those issues).

The MacBook Neo's key strength is its relatively high-quality nature — in terms of the build of the notebook, and that screen, speakers, and so on — for the outlay, but that said, it's here where Apple could struggle as time goes on.

Mainly because, as Tim Culpan points out, paying for new CPUs to be manufactured to go in the rumored revised shipping target of 10 million units is going to cost Apple. Buying that production capacity at a time when everyone is trying to grab what they can is going to be expensive, and the worry is: will that be reflected in the Neo's price? Especially considering the ongoing RAM and component crisis.

One of Culpan's theories is that Apple may only offer the higher-tier model of the Neo — the laptop with 512GB storage — later this year, effectively making the starting price $699 in the US (and an equivalent bump elsewhere) without actually implementing a price hike. Or some 256GB entry-level production may be maintained, but not much, and that model will effectively be out of stock most of the time.

Another theory is price hikes softened by new color options, though I'm unconvinced that a jazzy new colorway or two is going to take much out of the blow delivered by a potential pricing increase in the first year of the Neo's existence.

Last month, Google partnered with Back Market to launch an emergency recovery kit for aging PCs: the ChromeOS Flex USB Kit. It's essentially a USB drive with ChromeOS installation files on it, so you can convert just about any old laptop into a Chromebook in the space of a few minutes.

The kit costs just $3 / £3 (and €3 in Europe), and according to Windows Central, has sold out pretty quickly. A fresh batch of USB drives should be available soon, but in the meantime, the popularity of this plug-and-play solution for outdated hardware is vindication of something I've always said about Chromebooks (and ChromeOS).

These lightweight laptops offer all the computing power that most people need these days, and come with advantages over Windows and macOS that maybe don't get talked about enough. I'll make the case below — and explain how you can take advantage of ChromeOS Flex yourself.

What is ChromeOS Flex anyway?

ChromeOS is the operating system running on Chromebooks — essentially just the Google Chrome browser, with a few extras — and ChromeOS Flex is an installation package you can use to turn older computers into Chromebooks. It works with most PCs running Windows or Linux, and with Macs powered by Intel chips.

You don't actually need a USB stick from Back Market to install ChromeOS Flex. If you supply the USB drive, and follow these instructions, you can create your own kit. It's easy to do, and free (aside from the cost of the USB drive), and is a great way of being able to carry on using a laptop that's slowed right down.

Both Windows and macOS laptops will eventually become laggy and sluggish, no matter how speedy they were when you first bought them — and rather than adding to the world's e-waste problem, you can install ChromeOS instead. It's much less demanding in terms of system resources than the Microsoft or Apple operating systems.

Unless you particularly need a desktop app like Photoshop or Excel — both of which now have streamlined web app versions available, by the way — chances are you can do most of your computing inside a web browser these days. From Spotify and Slack, to Gmail and Google Docs, web apps have become the norm, and that's partly why ChromeOS works.

Why ChromeOS (and Chromebooks) work

If you're as old as me, you'll remember Google launching its Chromebooks in 2011. At the time the reaction was rather lukewarm: why buy a laptop that was essentially just a Chrome browser, when Windows and macOS give you the Chrome browser, any other browsers you want, and a whole lot more besides.

Chromebooks and the ChromeOS platform were criticized for being limited, and useless without Wi-Fi. However, I loved the idea from the start, and would explain this to anyone I could find — I would corner people at parties to talk about it. The classic 'less is more' principle applied, and it still does to Chromebooks today.

First of all, Wi-Fi is more or less ubiquitous now — and if you can't find a connection you can use your phone as a hotspot. Secondly, apps like Gmail and Google Docs work offline anyway, so you can stay busy. Third, doesn't the same criticism apply to Windows and macOS laptops? Internet access is essential for most computing tasks nowadays.

A computer that's just Chrome comes with myriad advantages: it's fast, it doesn't slow down (much) over time, everything is instantly backed up, and you don't need to worry about background apps or system bloat. Updates are seamless, as are upgrades to new Chromebooks — which is why I've used ChromeOS consistently since 2011.

The Chromebook present and future

Much as I love Chromebooks, beyond the education market they haven't taken off in any kind of spectacular way as far as sales go — the recent popularity of the ChromeOS Flex USB Kit notwithstanding. That's maybe part of the reason Google seems keen to evolve the platform into something else.

The 'less is more' approach that makes ChromeOS so appealing to me has already been diluted to some extent with support for Android apps on Chromebooks. That can make them more useful, especially if you want to do a little lightweight gaming, but it also means you've got more to worry about in terms of app bloat and updates.

It looks as though Google's Aluminium OS will start to take over from ChromeOS later this year, with more of an emphasis on Android and less focus on Chrome. It's not clear yet exactly how this will be different to what Chromebooks already do, but I'm worried that some of the simplicity of ChromeOS is going to be lost.

That's for the future — and most probably, Google IO 2026. For now, I'd encourage you to take a look at ChromeOS Flex if you need to revamp an old laptop, or consider one of the best Chromebooks if you're after a new model. You may well find the simplicity and ease-of-use a refreshing change from Windows or macOS.

• Apple's incoming laptop with OLED touchscreen is set to be called the MacBook Ultra, according to a source who spoke to Macworld
• Packing M6 silicon, it's expected to sit above the existing MacBook Pro M5
• Macworld notes: "This new MacBook will cost significantly more than the current MacBook Pro and offer an entirely new feature set."

We've heard a bit more about the rumored MacBook Ultra, a possible new model that Apple could have planned for its laptop range – and this Ultra branding could extend further than laptops, too.

Macworld claims it has a source who reckons that the rumored MacBook with an OLED touchscreen won't be a MacBook Pro (as was believed until recently), but that instead Apple will introduce a new category: the MacBook Ultra.

You won't like the reason for this potential name change, mind, which is essentially that the MacBook OLED will be seriously pricey, hence the need to recategorize it as a new even higher-end offering, placed above the MacBook Pro.

As Macworld states: "This new MacBook will cost significantly more than the current MacBook Pro and offer an entirely new feature set than the existing models."

Last month, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg (via MacRumors) also said the new top-end Apple laptop with OLED could be called the MacBook Ultra.

As well as the touchscreen and OLED upgrades, the belief is that this MacBook Ultra will run with M6 Pro and Max chips, and it'll be thinner than the MacBook Pro (which would fit the idea of it being ultra-premium, as it were). The touchscreen in particular would change the MacBook experience considerably, of course, or presumably that's the idea.

The expected launch window for this new MacBook is the first half of 2027, we're told, though Apple has apparently pushed that back from late in 2026 due to the RAM crisis. All of this is rumored, of course, so grab some handfuls of salt.

Analysis: Ultra branding feels like a distinct possibility

It makes sense for Apple to try to clearly differentiate a model that goes above and beyond where the MacBook Pro currently stands by adding an OLED touchscreen. After all, that's going to be a costly upgrade, and the suggestion of a new MacBook Ultra name hints that it might be very pricey indeed. Of course, people won't just be paying for the hardware, but the cachet of owning an 'Ultra' device from Apple.

The branding also fits with Apple's existing scheme of things in terms of its processors, which have base models, then Pro and Max variants, followed by Ultra at the top.

I wouldn't bet against a MacBook Ultra appearing, then, particularly as we've heard a few bits of chatter from the grapevine about such a laptop in recent times. It seems the idea might be to keep the MacBook Pro M5 models in place, with the MacBook Ultra M6 coming in on top, featuring something in the order of a 20% price hike, Gurman has speculated in the past.

As mentioned at the outset, there could be a fair few more products carrying the Ultra name besides this MacBook.

Macworld also believes that Apple is planning an iPhone Ultra, a foldable device that's been rumored elsewhere, and further theorizes about an iPad Ultra, Mac Studio Ultra, and maybe even an AirPods Ultra (with built-in cameras) that could be on the cards for the future. This might well be the case if Apple really wants to push the Ultra branding and give it a presence across a whole swathe of (more expensive) hardware.

• New rumors suggest Apple's MacBook Neo will receive an upgrade in 2027
• Reliable tech columnist Tim Culpan expects the Neo to use the iPhone 17 Pro's A19 Pro chip with 12GB of RAM
• The Neo is also expected to stick with a five-core GPU instead of the A19 Pro's six-core GPU

The MacBook Neo is critically acclaimed as one of the best budget laptops despite the downside of 8GB of unified memory. That might change next year, but the ongoing RAM crisis could make things challenging for Apple.

As reported by MacRumors, Apple's MacBook Neo could be set to receive two upgrades, with an A19 Pro chip and a push up to 12GB of RAM in 2027, according to tech columnist Tim Culpan in the Culpium newsletter. This would see the MacBook Neo utilize the same chip used in iPhone 17 Pro models: the A19 Pro.

The current MacBook Neo became available this March, with both 256GB and 512GB storage models limited to 8GB of memory, so the purported upgrade to 12GB is expected to give the Neo an extra boost for productivity and multitasking.

Culpan also anticipates the rumored upgraded Neo will use a 'binned' (slightly less powerful, but stable) version of the A19 Pro, but a five-core GPU instead of the chip's six-core GPU. That means there won't be much of an upgrade in GPU power, since the A18 Pro already has a five-core GPU.

However, there's an elephant in the room, which is the ongoing RAM crisis impacting several PC hardware manufacturers, and ultimately leading to higher prices for consumers. The likes of Dell, Framework, and several other laptop companies have been hit with supply chain problems in the past four months.

Fortunately, it's widely reported that Apple had its RAM supply chain locked down before the RAM crisis hit, and frankly, Apple's RAM usage on hardware is used efficiently to deliver good performance without needing more memory, unlike other Windows 11-based systems.

We can only hope that by the time the rumored MacBook Neo upgrade arrives, the RAM crisis and its impact will have simmered down, or Apple's supply chain stays strong throughout 2026, leading into next year.

If you’ve read many of my pieces on TechRadar, you’ll know I’ve been threatening to buy a new MacBook for a long while now. In part, this is because my laptop was a MacBook Pro 13-inch 2017 and its performance was getting decidedly dicey during demanding tasks. A far bigger motivation was the professional embarrassment of still using an Intel-based machine almost six years after the brand switched to using its far more powerful Apple silicon chipset.

So when the MacBook Air M5 was announced, I knew I was going to be pulling the trigger. Not only was every MacBook Air M5 review I read glowing, but I knew it was such a substantial step up from my existing machine that I would be getting enormous value out of every dollar I spent.

After much deliberation — by which I mean two weeks solid of full-blown choice gridlock — I finally settled on my chosen spec. Upgrading to 24GB of RAM was a bit of a no-brainer. While the MacBook Air 13-inch’s default 16GB is already double that of my last MacBook Pro, I wanted to make sure I was fully future-proofed for increasing software demands.

And thanks to the enormous size of some music-making tools and audio sample packs that I use regularly, I’ve had issues with SSD space in recent years, requiring regular trawls of my files to find things to delete. In light of this, skipping over the base 512GB drive to the 1TB seemed to make perfect sense

Now that’s not the cheapest spec for one of the best laptops by any means. In fact, it set me back a cool $1,499 / £1,499 / AU$2,399, which is a fair step up from the $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,799 charged for the base edition. But coupled with the M5 chip, that gives me a whole lot of power to play with, especially compared to a model so old that it was still running an Intel-based chipset.

My mind finally made up, I finally ordered my new MacBook Air after more than a year of posturing. And just two days later, my brand-new laptop was tossed over my neighbor’s hedge on my doorstep.

Starting up

Not gonna lie: unboxing my new MacBook Air genuinely gave me a bit of a buzz. Partly that’s because it’s a gorgeous piece of kit, with the sky blue colorway I opted for looking subtle and metallic while offering just a hint of hue that makes it stand out. But a far bigger factor is I’m in my 40s and this is what passes for excitement at my age.

Getting the MacBook Air set up was as easy as ever with Apple’s hardware. Once I’d set basics like region and language, all I had to do was connect both my machines to the Wi-Fi, fire up Migration Assistant and start transferring all my apps and files over. After just 90 agonizing minutes, I was all good to go on my new machine.

So how does the experience of using the MacBook Air M5 compare to my creaking old Intel-based MacBook Pro? Well, I don’t know whether anyone’s ever hit upon this hot take before but… Apple Silicon seems kinda fast.

Booting it up takes me just 30 seconds — and that includes the 15 or so seconds it takes me to fumble in my password. Everyday apps like Apple Music or Safari open in under a second, meaning my MacBook has usually loaded them faster than my rusty reaction times have had a chance to grind into gear. That’s a pretty big step up from my former MacBook, which definitely needed a bit of a runup to even open fairly undemanding apps.

This speedy performance extends to productivity as well. Don’t get me wrong: my old MacBook was no slouch when it came to web browsing and Google Drive work, but Chrome is not the lightest-weight browser ever conceived, so it can occasionally cause serious CPU constipation. But there’s no hint of this on my new MacBook Air. Even with many windows, each with a dozen tabs open — look, writers aren’t exactly renowned for our orderly workspaces — this kind of everyday usage feels lightning-fast.

Performance art

But these kinds of trifling tasks are a bit of a waste of the M5 chip’s talents — where I really noticed a difference was using apps like Photoshop. Not only does Photoshop boot on my MacBook Air M5 within 10 seconds rather than the minute it used to take, I can sketch on a hi-res artwork with more than 20 layers without any appreciable lag. And while I don’t use generative AI tools on principle, a quick test of generating a hi-res image using the built-in Image Playground tool of macOS took less than five seconds. Given Photoshop used to make my MacBook Pro 2017 wheeze like an emphysemic bellows, this is seriously impressive performance.

However, while I dabble in digital art, the main reason I decided to upgrade is for improved performance while making music. Before upgrading, even with a third of my channels mixed down to audio, many of my tracks would regularly see my CPU usage spike to 120% (macOS has a funny way of displaying CPU usage per core, leading to weird results like that), while their RAM usage sat at around double my physical 8GB RAM allocation. You don’t need to be great at math to see why this might be a problem.

By contrast, the new MacBook Air M5 peaked around 60% CPU usage and at about 130% of my 24GB physical RAM — and that’s with all my midi channels and effects running in real time. That’s a significant improvement and means that I’m no longer red-lining my CPU just to add a little polish to my beats.

Even though I’ve barely scratched the surface of what the M5 chip can do, so far it’s proving significantly speedier than any laptop I’ve owned before. But that new chipset isn’t the only factor that’s making an enormous difference to my productivity — the more expansive MacBook SSD is a huge help as well.

While a few people balked at the increased price when the latest MacBook Air was announced, I’m firmly of the opinion that the little bump in cost was more than justified thanks to the increased 512GB storage capacity. After many years of micromanaging my storage and deleting or offloading every single file I could possibly spare, I’ve been desperate for more space on my laptop. That new 512GB baseline would have taken the pressure off considerably, while my 1TB SSD should mean I don’t have to worry about space again for years to come.

So after less than 24 hours with the MacBook Air M5, I’ve been suitably impressed with what it can do. But what I’m looking forward to most is putting that power to work and really pumping some fuel into my creative engine. From what I’ve seen so far, I have zero regrets about my purchase.

Asus Zenbook A14: Two-minute review

The Asus Zenbook A14 is a light and compact laptop that promises to be the ideal travel companion.

Its soft, minimalist appearance is appealing. There are no unnecessary contours or protrusions on any surface, and the rounded corners make it look less austere than many other laptops, especially in its light beige finish.

That aesthetic is complimented by the extremely light and slender frame, which helps to make the Zenbook A14 one of the best laptops around in terms of portability.

Not only that, but the build quality of the Zenbook A14 is also commendable. The base feels solid, while the materials used feel premium to the touch. The lid has considerably more flex, but this is excused somewhat by its sheer thinness and ease of use. What’s more, it’s as stable as you could wish for once open.

It’s pleasing to see this many ports on such a thin device. There are two USB-C ports, both of which support external monitors and charging. However, they’re both on the left-hand side of the unit, along with all the other ports (barring a single USB-A). This may hamper convenience, depending on your particular setup and preferences.

I have fewer gripes with the performance of the Zenbook A14. It runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite or X2 Elite processor — the latter was what I tested — and it remained composed during every task I threw at it, even handling light gaming well, which is doubly impressive given it has no dedicated GPU. Heat and fan noise are noticeable when such workloads are undertaken, but I didn’t find either of these aspects too disruptive.

The 1200p OLED display is sharp and vibrant, although it’s not quite as impressive as some of the best monitors around. And while it’s bright enough to lay pesky reflections to rest, it’s still wanting in this department.

The keyboard is excellent, facilitating quick typing thanks to the generous spacing and snappy nature of the keys. They also have more travel and dampening than I was expecting, which only adds to the satisfaction of using them. The touchpad feels equally tactile, thanks to its smooth-as-silk surface, although its small size can hamper navigation.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Zenbook A14, though, is its battery life. It lasted over 28 hours in our movie playback test, which is longer than its larger sibling, the A16, managed to achieve. Many other 14-inch laptops failed to beat this time as well.

The Zenbook A14 isn’t exactly a cheap laptop, but it hardly puts a foot wrong. If you want a 14-inch laptop that’s easy to travel, performs well in most areas, and lasts all day, it should be at the top of your list.

Asus Zenbook A14 review: Specs

Asus Zenbook A14 review: Price & availability

• Starting from $1,599.99 / £769.99 / AU$1,999
• Available now
• Higher end of the market

The Asus Zenbook A14 starts from $1,599.99 / £769.99/ AU$1,999 and is available now in two colorways: grey and beige.

This is undeniably an expensive laptop, and many rivals undercut it. The HP Omnibook 7 14-inch is one such example. It’s similarly high-end and handles most tasks well, as well as featuring an excellent battery life, although it’s not quite as enduring as the Zenbook A14, nor is it as light.

For about the same price as the Zenbook A14, you could also get the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14. As the name suggests, this is a convertible laptop, featuring a 360-degree rotating lid and touchscreen display for tablet style use. It even includes a stylus.

Asus Zenbook A14 review: Design

• Very light and thin
• Unique finish and materials
• Sufficient port selection

There are several aspects of the Zenbook A14’s design that set it apart from the crowd. First, its finishes are more interesting, with the grey model featuring a slightly marbled texture and the beige a slightly mottled one, both of which run counter to the sterile nature of many modern laptops.

Its form is minimal in every sense. All sides are flat with no unsightly bulges, and the whole unit is impressively thin and ultra light, making it great for those who need a portable machine.

Despite the lithe construction, build quality doesn’t appear to have been compromised. The Ceraluminium chassis material feels smooth and premium, and there’s little flex to the base.

The Zenbook A14’s display enclosure is a more flimsy affair, but given how incredibly thin it is, this is hardly surprising. The lid is also incredibly easy to open yet still offers plenty of stability, preventing the screen from wobbling during use.

Its keyboard also feels premium, and features bright backlighting. This is always a positive aspect, and one I feel should be mandatory on pretty much any laptop.

There are enough ports on the Zenbook A14 to make it practical. The selection includes two USB-C ports, both of which are capable of supporting external monitor connections and charging.

It’s a shame, however, that both are located on the same side (left), as I typically prefer such ports to be split across both sides, to allow for greater versatility when connecting to power sources and displays.

In fact, every port save for the single USB-A port is located here, which could further impede practicality. At least they’re in a sensible order: the headset jack is the foremost interface, while the HDMI port — an increasingly rare sight on today’s laptops — is at the far end.

Asus Zenbook A14 review: Performance

• Capable all-round performance
• Some heat and noise generated
• Not the brightest display

The overall performance of the Zenbook A14 is admirable indeed for such a compact device, at least with the Snapdragon X2 Elite model that I tested. Browsing and light productivity are processed smoothly, as is streaming in resolutions above 1080p. Since my review unit was packed with 32GB of RAM, it handled multitasking very well, too.

What’s more, I was pleasantly surprised by the gaming chops of the Zenbook A14, considering it has no dedicated GPU. It managed to run Cyberpunk 2077 at the Ray Tracing: Low preset in a playable state. Granted, visuals were rough around the edges, and I experienced the occasional stutter and momentary lockups, but it was still smooth enough for a casual session.

However, such workloads do elicit a fair amount of fan noise from the Zenbook A14 which, while not disruptive, is certainly noticeable. Heat is also generated, but temperatures are modest and localized to the back of the unit, far from where your fingers might stray.

The display in the Zenbook A14 is quite good. The 1920 x 1200 resolution offers enough clarity for the screen’s dimensions, and colors are rendered well enough to enjoy all kinds of content. However, this isn’t the most vibrant OLED display I’ve encountered, nor is it the most radiant; there’s enough brightness to combat reflections effectively, but it doesn’t quite match the sheer luminosity of the best OLED displays I’ve experienced.

I have less gripes with the keyboard in the Zenbook A14, though. The keys are light, snappy, and well-spaced, all of which allows for quick typing. They’re also incredibly satisfying to press, owing to their dampening and long travel relative to their low profile.

However, the layout is compromised somewhat, lacking as it does a number pad and all navigation keys, save for a delete/ insert one. At least there are a number of useful shortcuts on the F row, such as those for screenshotting, opening various utility apps, and disabling the touchpad, microphone, and camera.

The touchpad is gloriously smooth, which makes swipes and gestures easy and enjoyable to perform. The added slider functions on the edges for controlling various parameters, such as volume and brightness, also work well; I never triggered them accidentally during my time with the Zenbook A14, as I have done with other implementations of this feature. However, the surface area of the pad is a little too small for efficient navigation; I often found myself running out of space when dragging and dropping items around the screen, for instance.

Asus Zenbook A14 review: Battery life

• Best in class
• Outlasts larger model

The battery life of the Zenbook A14 is very impressive. When I ran a movie on a continuous loop, the laptop lasted over 28 hours, which puts it at the top of its class.

The larger Zenbook A16 lasted just over 24 hours in the same test. The Zenbook A14 also outlasts other premium 14-inch laptops, such as the HP OmniBook 7, which managed about 26 hours.

Should I buy the Asus Zenbook A14?

Scorecard

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

Asus Zenbook A14 review: Also consider

How I tested the Asus Zenbook A14

• Tested for several days
• Used for various tasks
• Experienced laptop reviewer

I spent several days with the Asus Zenbook A14 and used it for various tasks, from web browsing and light productivity to streaming video and gaming.

I also ran our series of benchmark tests, to comprehensively assess every facet of its performance. This included running a movie on a continuous loop unplugged to test the battery life.

I’ve reviewed a whole host of laptops before, across a broad range of price points, form factors, and use cases, from budget devices to gaming machines. I’ve also used laptops and all kinds of similar computing devices in my personal life for decades.

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

• An Intel reference laptop has been spotted with a Wildcat Lake CPU
• It has a design that's very MacBook-inspired, and it looks like a notebook that'll go after the Neo
• You'll get peppier performance here, though, with a faster CPU and twice the RAM of the Neo

A sighting of a reference laptop from Intel featuring a new Wildcat Lake CPU has been causing quite a stir, as it appears to be squarely taking on Apple's popular new MacBook Neo.

Tom's Hardware highlighted a post on X by Vaidyanathan Subramaniam from Notebookcheck.net, who got a first look at the laptop at an Intel event, with some further info posted on the Notebookcheck.net site itself.

The device is a thin-and-light 14-inch notebook that has an aluminum chassis and sleek MacBook-style lines, with a vibrant green colorway that also follows in the footsteps of the Neo's bright appearance.

The CPU inside is a Wildcat Lake chip, as mentioned, which is a budget offering and effectively a cut-down version of the new Panther Lake silicon. The processor used is apparently the Intel Core 7 360 or Core 7 350, based on the presence of an NPU with 17 TOPS, alongside the CPU, which has two performance cores and four low-power efficiency cores (smaller than the normal efficiency cores, of which this chip has none).

The CPU offers what should be a decent enough level of performance, with a PL1 of 17W (22W maximum) and a PL2 of 35W (which can be hit for very brief bursts). Interestingly, there's also the option of operating at 11W, which allows the notebook to operate in fanless mode, needing no active cooling, so it'll be dead quiet in that case.

There's 16GB of soldered system RAM present alongside the CPU.

Analysis: a newer Neo?

Given that the MacBook Neo operates at lower wattages (generally under 10W), this should be a performant rival – especially given that it packs twice the RAM of Apple's laptop.

Remember, the Neo is restricted to 8GB of system memory, though Apple has done a good job of ensuring that this isn't a hindrance for typical everyday usage.

Future proofing, however, is more of a concern for me with the MacBook Neo due to that RAM loadout. Still, we don't know what price a Wildcat laptop, such as the one shown by Intel, will demand. Apple has, of course, made the Neo very competitive, and that value has been clearly demonstrated by the way it's flown off retail shelves.

I've been talking about the threat the MacBook Neo poses to the dominance of Windows 11 in the notebook world ever since Apple launched its budget portable, while wondering what Microsoft's answer might be. Fixing Windows 11 is one thing, but it looks like Intel could step in to lend its processing forces in the fight against Apple with Wildcat Lake, although there are still a good deal of unknowns to be fathomed out yet.

It's worth noting that the Intel laptop looks good in the photos taken and shared, but according to Subramaniam, its appearance is even more impressive in real life. Watch this space, as they say.

• Rumor has it the next-gen Surface devices have been delayed by a month
• A further suggestion is that "prices are probably going to be so bad" that nobody will be able to afford them
• Big price hikes on existing Surface devices have already raised concerns that the new hardware will be really expensive

Ever since the recent leak about Microsoft's next-gen Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, there have been concerns that the devices will be too pricey, and a fresh rumor will be precious little comfort to those laboring under that fear.

It should be made clear that the hardware itself is still a rumor, but another well-known leaker believes these refreshes are inbound, but they've apparently been slightly delayed, and might be very pricey.

Notebookcheck.net spotted Roland Quandt posting on Bluesky that: "So it looks like Surface got pushed out by about a month. Wonder why that is. Shouldn't matter as the prices are probably going to be so bad, noone will be able to afford the things anyways..."

As per the most recent rumor on these Surface devices, the hardware with Intel CPUs inside was expected to arrive in the spring in the US, followed by the Snapdragon (Arm) models in the summer (from June). So, given that May is the last month of spring and what looks like the targeted launch month at this point, the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop are now coming in June instead. And that would align with a reveal at Microsoft Build 2026, early in that month.

All of this is in theory, of course, as is the info on pricing, so sprinkle seasoning liberally.

Analysis: increasingly ominous

A reply to Quandt's post on Bluesky questions whether this means Microsoft is set to launch the Arm and Intel variants of these devices at the same time now. That might be the case, and Quandt acknowledges it, though he doesn't know.

Whatever he's heard then is presumably vaguer whispers on the release schedule, and nothing concrete on how the timing between the Arm and Intel-powered versions might fall.

That prices are expected to be "so bad" that no one can afford the new Surface Laptop or Pro sounds ominous to say the least. Unfortunately, expensive next-gen devices make sense given what's happened with current-gen models recently.

Microsoft just hiked the prices of the existing Surface range significantly, with some versions getting jacked up to the tune of $500 in the US. And while I wouldn't trust early pricing from retailers – because these are placeholder guesswork, as a rule – the hints we've caught from European websites suggest price tags will be weighty indeed.

If true, that'll be a shame, as Surface products themselves tend to be good, but pricing could very much spoil the appeal if they end up being very costly. Especially if price tags are pushed to extremes, whereby MacBooks end up seeming relatively affordable.

These rumors – and the very real price hikes on existing Surface products – underscore how Microsoft is struggling with the RAM crisis and, what I can only assume, weakness in its hardware supply chain. The rumored delay in launching the new Surface Laptop and Pro would make sense in that light, too.

Apple looks much more robust in this respect, especially considering it has managed to launch a successful new budget laptop in this climate, the MacBook Neo.

It's no secret that Apple has more hardware clout than Microsoft, but the extent to which the latter seems to now be flailing is perhaps worrying. Microsoft may argue that its software is way more important than the hardware anyway – and of course, it is, and the focus is naturally that big drive to fix Windows 11 – but it's not a good look if the firm's laptop range is starting to come apart at the seams, which seems to be the suggestion from the rumor mill.

In the early 2000s, the architects of the internet faced a familiar-sounding modern problem: How do you build a system that handles massive, unpredictable demand without it breaking when any single part of it fails?

Their answer was to build a system of peer-to-peer networking. Rather than routing everything through central servers, P2P systems distributed load across thousands of individual nodes with no single point of failure, intelligence closer to the user, and resilience baked into the architecture rather than bolted on top.

It was a successful solution. P2P networks proved faster, more resilient, and more scalable than anything centralized IT infrastructure could match for distributed workloads.

Then, as the cloud computing era took hold, the hyperscale model became the dominant infrastructure logic of the last fifteen years. Its premise — aggregate everything into the largest possible data centers, optimize for unit cost, centralize without limit — made sense for many workloads.

But AI inference, the phase of AI that is now exploding in enterprise environments, operates on exactly the same principles that made P2P compelling in the first place.

Understanding why

Understanding why requires separating two phases of AI that are often conflated. Training a large model is a one-time, compute-intensive process. It runs well on centralized, aggregated infrastructure, and the hyperscale logic holds there. Inference is different.

Inference is every time the model is actually used: a fraud detection system flagging a transaction, a predictive maintenance system identifying a fault on the factory floor, a logistics platform recalculating routes in real time. These decisions happen continuously, in milliseconds, at the point where operations actually run.

Routing inference workloads to a distant hyperscale facility introduces latency that is simply incompatible with many of these use cases. A surgical assistance system cannot wait for a round trip to a data center in another region. Neither can an industrial safety system, an autonomous inspection drone, or a real-time customer service agent running on retail floor infrastructure.

McKinsey projects that global data center demand will more than triple by 2030, driven overwhelmingly by inference rather than training, and the infrastructure serving that demand needs to be built around what inference actually requires, which is compute close to where the decision happens.

P2P systems’ answer was to stop treating distribution as a problem and start treating it as the architecture. BitTorrent did not try to solve file transfer by building faster central servers, but it distributed the problem across thousands of nodes: each one close to a user, each one handling local demand locally.

When individual nodes dropped off, the system degraded at the margin. No central server going down took the whole network with it. The architecture assumed failure and built around it, outperforming centralized alternatives on speed, resilience, and scale simultaneously.

Edge computing

Edge computing applies the same logic to AI infrastructure. Smaller, modular compute facilities positioned close to where data is generated and consumed distribute the inference workload the way P2P distributed file transfer. Each site handles local decisions locally. The network as a whole becomes more resilient because no single facility carries the entire load.

Running that inference centrally also carries a cost that compounds with scale: Every time data moves out of a hyperscale cloud provider's network, organizations pay egress fees.

For AI workloads that require continuous data transfer between a central facility and distributed operational environments, those charges accumulate in ways that are easy to underestimate at the planning stage. Processing data locally at the edge — close to where it is generated — reduces the volume crossing the network in the first place.

A hardware shift is also changing the feasibility calculation at the device level. Neural processing units (NPUs) designed specifically for AI inference tasks are now embedded in smartphones, laptops, and industrial edge devices.

The compute required to run capable inference workloads has been falling steadily, and hardware that would have required a server rack a few years ago now fits in a handheld device.

As inference-capable hardware becomes cheaper and more physically compact, the assumption that every workload needs to route back to a centralized facility becomes harder to sustain.

Data sovereignty

As data sovereignty regulation is tightening across the EU, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and beyond, centralizing inference in a small number of facilities creates legal exposure.

For organizations operating across multiple jurisdictions, edge infrastructure resolves this by design: data is processed locally, within the relevant jurisdiction, without requiring complex legal and technical workarounds after the fact.

Finally, another important element is that power availability — not price — is becoming the binding constraint on data center capacity. In Northern Virginia, the world's densest cloud hub, utilities have projected connection timelines for large projects stretching up to seven years due to grid congestion.

Ireland's data centers now consume more than 20% of national electricity. These problems are the predictable result of concentrating enormous compute into a small number of locations, but the megawatt problem is more tractable when it does not need solving in one place.

Edge deployments, by distributing workloads across many smaller sites, spread the energy demand in a way that aligns better with available grid capacity.

None of this means hyperscale infrastructure is going away. Training workloads, large-scale data processing, and many enterprise applications will continue to run efficiently in centralized cloud environments.

The case for edge is not a case against cloud, but rather for matching infrastructure architecture to what workloads actually need.

The engineers who built P2P networks understood that distributing intelligence across the network made it stronger, not weaker.

As inference pushes AI out of the data center and into the places where businesses actually operate, that lesson is becoming increasingly relevant again.

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• Framework's new Laptop 13 Pro is up for pre-order
• It's designed as a MacBook Pro that runs Linux, with a premium on power-efficiency
• There are some strong upgrades, including a new touchscreen, and those are made to be backwards compatible with existing Framework notebooks

Framework has a new laptop targeted at power users, which it's designed to be the equivalent of a MacBook Pro that runs Linux.

This is the Framework Laptop 13 Pro, and it's built around the company's typical sustainability-based principles, while also being defined by a firm focus on power efficiency (and better battery life therein).

In a blog post introducing the laptop, Framework founder and CEO Nirav Patel said: "Our internal prompt when we kicked off this product was to build the 'MacBook Pro for Linux users.' We wanted to prove that you can have a computer that is refined, robust, and high performance, that still respects your rights through repairability, upgradeability, and the power to choose the software you want to run on it."

There's a choice of Intel Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake) processors under the hood, which are a big leap in terms of efficiency for Team Blue, going all the way up to the Core Ultra X9 388H, although you can also plump for a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 as this notebook's engine.

There's a completely fresh take on a power-optimized display, along with a haptic touchpad and aluminum chassis.

Framework has gone with LPCAMM2 for the RAM in the laptop, a new standard that allows for power-efficient LPDDR5X memory to be used here in a upgradeable form. (So you can switch in new RAM later on, which is obviously important if you intend to buy more memory down the line, a distinct possibility given the RAM crisis).

As well as the CPU and memory, another piece of the power-efficiency puzzle here is that display.

This is a custom-built 13.5-inch touchscreen, Framework notes, though it keeps the 2880 x 1920 resolution (3:2) that's great for coding and text. However, it's been upgraded with better color calibration, a 1,800:1 contrast ratio, up to 700 nits of brightness, plus an anti-glare matte polarizer (for better readability in brighter conditions).

Moreover, an LTPS backplane for the LCD means improved power efficiency, and power consumption will also be kept down by the variable refresh rate tech, which can drop to 30Hz when appropriate (with static on-screen content — the maximum refresh rate is 120Hz).

A larger 74Wh battery, which is 22% beefier than the one in the last-gen model (and features a higher level of energy density), also sits inside the Framework Laptop 13 Pro. This provides a claimed over 20 hours of battery life for Netflix streaming in 4K. Framework boasts that this is "not only 12 hours longer than we got on the previous-generation Framework Laptop 13, but it's actually slightly longer than a 14-inch MacBook Pro M5!"

The Framework Laptop 13 Pro is available to pre-order now (to ship in June in the US, or from July elsewhere), and you can have a prebuilt portable with Ubuntu preinstalled as a fully certified and supported OS (or you can have Windows 11 if you prefer).

There's also the DIY edition of the notebook, where you build it yourself and provide your own OS. These start from $1,199 in the US, £1,199 in the UK, or AU$1979 and €1349 in Australia and Europe respectively. Prebuilts start from $1,499 / £2,099 / AU$2479 / €2369.

Analysis: upgradeability and power-efficiency in spades

It's great to see a new laptop from Framework which advances further in terms of its eco-friendliness, not just with the upgradable nature of the device, and the ease of making repairs — to keep the device going for a longer lifespan — but also the push for a more refined level of power consumption. It's clear that a lot of thought has gone into the design in this respect, particularly with the screen, which has been built from scratch by Framework, it's worth noting.

The lengthy battery life that this newfound level of efficiency delivers is clearly a benefit to any laptop owner who needs to spend a lengthy period of time away from a power socket, although we need to season longevity claims, naturally.

Framework acknowledges this, stating in its blog post: "We know battery life claims from device makers are often bogus, so we'll be publishing full-length videos and setup descriptions of each of our battery life test cases to the Framework YouTube channel over the next few months."

There's a level of confidence in these battery longevity assertions, then, which is good to hear.

Commendably, the thought processes around the design of the Framework Laptop 13 Pro extend back to existing devices. The laptop maker says the new mainboard and display kit for this notebook are built in the same form-factor, and with the same interface, as the previous generations of laptops, so you can drop these in as upgrades (and pre-order them as standalone products). So, if you want the touchscreen on your current Framework portable, you can have it (and by all accounts, this is going to be a popular upgrade).

A bottom-cover upgrade kit is also in the works packing the new battery, as well as an input cover kit that delivers the haptic touchpad to an existing Framework laptop. All of this gets a big thumbs-up, as does the new option for consumers in the US to avail themselves of a three-year warranty should they wish.

Reaction on Reddit has been favorable, and some people are very impressed with how well Framework is supporting upgrade options. For example, this Redditor enthused: "I cannot express how excited and proud I am to be supporting this company. I've loved my 11th-gen 13 for years now and I'm ecstatic that I can yet again pick and choose what I want to upgrade.

"I'm happy with the OG screen, my top shell is COVERED in stickers, and I've upgraded the mainboard to AMD, yet now I can get a bigger battery, a better lower case, and a better touchpad while keeping everything else. This is SO AWESOME."

Another Redditor says: "The 13 Pro looks genuinely stellar in every way. Everything I could want out of a Framework chassis on paper, will have to see if it holds up in independent reviews."

The main concern is that the new laptop seems pricey to some, particularly if the spec is pushed upwards, but that is, of course, a lot to do with the RAM crisis.

• Leaker Mark Gurman believes Apple has pushed back the MacBook Pro with touchscreen (and the Mac Studio)
• The next-gen laptop is likely not arriving until early 2027, with the chances of a launch this year rapidly vanishing
• More than anything, reaction to the news has made it clear that some Apple laptop fans really don't want a touchscreen on their MacBook

Apple's rumored MacBook Pro with a touchscreen (and OLED) is supposedly now pushed out to next year for launch, and we're told that the Mac Studio's release has been postponed as well.

MacRumors picked up that in Mark Gurman's latest newsletter for Bloomberg, the noted Apple-watcher said it was possible that both these Macs could experience a 'slight' delay, and — surprise, surprise — it's due to the RAM crisis.

Apparently, the MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch with touchscreen are now expected to arrive in early 2027. Note that this isn't necessarily a delay as such, because previously Gurman said these laptops were due to arrive in a timeframe from late 2026 to early 2027.

So, that hasn't changed, but we're now being told that these devices won't be launched until the latter part of that window, and that this is due to the ongoing memory crisis.

Seemingly the Mac Studio has been pushed back to October 2026, whereas this PC was previously rumored to be launching in the middle of this year, according to Gurman. We've already seen this month that some Macs are getting thinner on the ground for stock, of course, including the Mac Studio.

Analysis: a touchy subject

Clearly, it's believable enough that Apple may have to rejig some of its launch plans due to the RAM crisis. After all, the situation around memory — which includes storage, the SSDs inside PCs, as well as system RAM itself — has not gotten any better of late. (Although we have seen minor glints of optimism, they are just that — very slight in nature).

Okay, so it's a relatively minor (and obviously theoretical) delay; but part of what's been interesting here is the reaction to Gurman's most recent report around the next-gen MacBook Pro (M6) with touchscreen.

Notably, there's been quite a lot of negative or doubtful feedback around the need for a touchscreen on a MacBook. As one Redditor put it: "Touch on a Mac feels like solving a problem that doesn't really exist. Trackpad and keyboard are already near perfect for what macOS is built for."

Another in the same thread observed: "The touchscreen PC fad never really went anywhere. Not sure why Apple would try it out now."

And another denizen of Reddit simply said that: "MacBook Pro with touchscreen is a bad idea anyway."

Indeed, there's a fair outpouring of skepticism in that Reddit thread (all those comments are from the same one) about what Apple is hoping to achieve with this rumored move to a touchscreen (which will come alongside the much-awaited switch to OLED, or so we're told).

The main concern is that this is going to lead to changes in macOS to support touch functionality that'll be detrimental to the experience on existing (and indeed future) non-touch Macs.

However, if Apple did this – assuming the touchscreen MacBook is indeed coming – it would presumably have to respect the lines already drawn with macOS in terms of its interface. In other words, whatever touch aspects were added to the operating system would be overlaid on top as useful extras and shortcuts – an additional bonus that doesn't affect the existing platform.

As the original Redditor I quoted further notes: "Trackpad already covers most of what people want from touch without breaking workflow. Touch on a Mac feels more like a nice-to-have than something necessary."

And I think this nails it as far as the route Apple would likely take here: 'nice' additions that don't mess with existing workflows in macOS, because disrupting the latter would be foolish (in a world where most Macs still won't have touchscreen capabilities, of course). And this pretty much aligns with what we've heard Gurman say in the past — namely that Apple is going to make macOS adapt to the input method you're using, whether that's trackpad and keyboard, or touch.

Other than that, for the anti-touchscreen crowd, or the more undecided skeptics, I guess the broader fear is that this is about where Apple might be heading for the future. And also that a touchscreen (and OLED tech) will make the MacBook Pro potentially a good deal pricier — and in this climate of sky-high RAM costs we don't need any further pressures making already pricey MacBooks even more expensive.

Slight delays aside, it's clear enough that Apple is going to need to tread carefully with how it implements a touchscreen for the MacBook, if this is the course it has set sail on.

• Rumors have emerged about next-gen Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models
• They will be relatively minor upgrades, although notably an OLED option should be added to the Surface Laptop
• Intel CPUs could be deployed across both ranges, even in baseline models – but there are worries about the price tags here

Microsoft has apparently refreshed Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models due this year, some of which should be arriving soon – although a new rumor suggests any changes will be mostly minor, and there's a lot of concern around the possible price tags.

Windows Central grabbed the scoop here, with sources spilling a whole bunch of info on the new Surface portables, which will come in two flavors: one powered by Intel Core Ultra 3 (Panther Lake) processors and the other will be Arm-based, built on Qualcomm's chips.

The latter with be Snapdragon X2 Plus and X2 Elite CPUs, we're told, but there won't be a model packing the flagship Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme. Similarly, Intel's Panther Lake chips won't extend to Core Ultra 9 processors – the new Surface products will be built on Core Ultra 5 and 7 silicon.

Unusually, we're told that the Surface devices with Intel chips will come first, launching in spring in the US – which effectively means they're about to debut, possibly within the next month or so – followed by the Snapdragon models in the summer (from June to August).

As noted, don't expect major changes from Microsoft, with the design of both the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop remaining much the same as the current incarnations (although we'll get some new colors).

The most notable change will be the introduction of an OLED version for the higher-end Surface Laptop configurations, complete with a bumped-up screen resolution (and the Surface Pro will again offer OLED).

For the lower-end models of these Surface devices, seemingly the biggest move will be that Microsoft is set to offer a choice of Intel CPUs as well as Snapdragon chips, rather than reserving Intel silicon for (pricier) business-targeted models. Note that the current-gen Surface Pro and Surface Laptop for consumers exclusively run on Snapdragon CPUs (the latter is our top-rated Windows 11 laptop, incidentally).

Early retailer listings have already given us a glimpse of the memory and storage specs for these devices, which are rumored to start at 16GB and 256GB respectively, rising to 64GB and 2TB at the top-end – which sounds perfectly plausible.

Remember, add seasoning with all of this, as it's just chatter from the grapevine, albeit from a reliable source for all things Microsoft.

Analysis: pricing is an obvious concern

The upgrades on offer aren't particularly compelling, then, although it's common practice that some generations of hardware will be more of a lowkey affair (usually a new CPU and trimmings). The only sizeable move is the addition of an OLED option to the Surface Laptop range (matching the Surface Pro in that regard).

I say that, but the processor changes are important, too, and actually, the apparent decision to use Intel chips once again in consumer models is a big switch for Microsoft.

With the current generation of these Surface devices, Microsoft has championed Arm silicon for the consumer because of the huge battery life benefits from Snapdragon chips. Something recently changed on the Intel front, though, namely that Panther Lake has proven to offer eye-opening battery stamina too – and so maybe this plays into the decision here.

Perhaps more to the point, Windows Central notes that the supply of Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips is supposedly looking shaky, and that could be the reason why Microsoft is launching Intel versions of the Surface devices first, then Arm models. And that'd make sense as to why Intel silicon needs to be used across the whole range, perhaps.

There is, of course, likely to be another major difference with the next-gen Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, and that's the price. While there's no rumored price tag as such, Microsoft has just hiked the pricing across its Surface line-up in a big way, and that must surely reflect on how much the new models will cost.

With the Surface Laptop 13-inch getting a price increase of $300 on the Microsoft Store, and other models getting up to $500 jumps in their price tags – nasty indeed – the stage is fully set for more expensive hardware with the next-gen range in 2026.

There's no two ways about that really, and in the online reaction to Microsoft's move, people are already taking this as read. One Redditor's comment on the rumored incoming Surface models was: "What a boring release. And disappointed they aren't offering the high spec'd Snapdragon. For their new crazy price point, it should have been included."

That 'crazy' price point is just theoretical, of course – although we're all suitably prepared for a shock. And as noted in the replies, the likelihood is that the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (the mentioned 'high spec'd Snapdragon') won't be a good fit for these Surface devices due to thermals and space issues within these slim pieces of hardware.

At any rate, there's a general air of gloom around the Surface range right now, and how with the freshly hiked pricing, it's failing to compete with Apple's MacBooks – which are hardly regarded as value champion laptops themselves. Except for the new MacBook Neo, mind, and it's also notable that Microsoft doesn't intend to push out a Surface to fight the Neo on wallet-friendlier turf (yet).

That said, Microsoft hasn't had much time to react to the early popularity of the MacBook Neo, although it seems to have added some urgency to the campaign that's underway to make Windows 11 better.

Asus Zenbook A16: Two-minute review

The Asus Zenbook A16 is a large laptop that aims to shoehorn premium performance into a portable package. It certainly achieves the latter; I was impressed by just how light and thin the unit really is, especially when you consider its 16-inch diagonal. It’s much easier to carry around than many of its rivals.

What’s more, it looks good. The beige colorway of my review unit was a refreshing change to the dour shades of many laptops, while the mottled pattern on the lid adds further interest, making it one of the best laptop choices if you’re after a unique design.

The Ceraluminium material might have a ridiculous name, but its build is anything but. While it’s incredibly light, it’s also quite solid. Meanwhile, the lid offers plenty of stability while still being easy to open and close. The bezel around the display isn’t quite so premium, but thankfully it’s very minimal, which helps to maximize screen space as much as possible.

Another impressive aspect of the Zenbook A16’s design is the variety of physical connectivity options. Despite that slender chassis, you get three USB ports (two Type-C and one Type-A), an HDMI port, a combo audio jack, and a full-size SD card reader.

This generous selection puts other similarly thin laptops to shame, although I was mildly disappointed to see nearly every port loaded on one side. Not splitting the USB-C ports across both sides is an especially aggravating decision, considering both can be used for charging and connecting to external monitors.

The Zenbook A16 is a capable general-purpose machine. It makes light work of basic productivity and entertainment tasks, including 4K streaming. However, it falls down somewhat when gaming. It can’t handle AAA titles all that well, performing worse than other laptops with similar integrated graphics.

Some heat can be felt towards the back and left side of the base, but this is far from troubling. The fans also produce a noticeable sound, but mercifully this isn’t as disruptive as some other examples.

The display is the highlight of the Zenbook A16, though. The crystal-clear 3K resolution is ideal for screen size, while the OLED technology ensures a deep contrast and a vibrant color palette. It also has plenty of brightness, which helps to prevent pesky reflections from ruining the viewing experience.

Thanks to the light actuation and spacing of the keys, the keyboard is easy to use. There’s also a little more travel and dampening to presses than is typical for a laptop keyboard, which only adds to the tactility and feedback. It’s a shame, though, that there’s no number pad and few navigation keys.

On the other hand, the touchpad of the Zenbook A16 is more practical. Its large surface area makes navigation easier, while the useful side gestures are convenient and functional. There were only a few occasions when I accidentally triggered them (and cursor movement) when typing, which is a much better hit rate than I’ve experienced with other large touchpads.

Battery life is impressive, too. The Zenbook A16 lasted a full 24 hours in our movie playback test, which is considerably longer than comparable models. For perspective, the 16-inch Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro I tested only managed 14 hours in the same test.

However, it can’t match the Samsung for performance and sheer design quality, despite being about the same price. This means that unless you prize portability above all else, the Zenbook A16 mightn’t offer the best value compared to some stellar rivals.

Asus Zenbook A16 review: Specs

Asus Zenbook A16 review: Price & availability

• $1,699.99 / £2,099.99 for top model
• TBC in Australia
• Some rivals offer better value

The Asus Zenbook A16 is available from April 7th in two guises: both get Snapdragon CPUs, but one is the X1-26-100 with 8 cores and the other the X2E-94-100 with 18 cores. The models also have different RAM sizes (32GB and 48GB) and display resolutions (2880 x 1800 at 120Hz and 1920 x 1200 at 60Hz). Both come in two colorways: gray and beige.

The top model costs $1,699.99 (and £2,099.99 in the UK), while the pricing for the base model is yet to be confirmed. This is also the case for the pricing and availability of both models in Australia.

This is undeniably an expensive laptop. It’s similarly priced to the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro, which is about as premium as they come. Graphical performance is also superior to that of the Zenbook A16, handling AAA games much better. It’s nowhere near as light, though.

If you need even more graphical power but want to keep that 16-inch form factor, the Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 10 is a better alternative. Granted, its performance doesn’t match up to the very best gaming laptops, but the mere fact that it has a dedicated GPU — and a powerful one at that — means it can handle demanding titles, as well as video editing and other creative duties, far better than any machine without one.

Asus Zenbook A16 review: Design

• Very light and thin
• Interesting Ceraluminum construction
• Generous port selection

There are a few aspects of the Asus Zenbook A16’s design that made me sit up and take notice. The first was my review unit’s beige finish, which is a breath of fresh air in a world of monochromes (although it should be said that a gray model is also available).

The second is the Ceraluminum construction, which looks and feels softer and more inviting than the hard and sterile materials of other laptops. I also appreciated the mottled finish of the lid, which looks more like paper and adds an interesting aesthetic element.

However, the standout aspect of the Zenbook A16 is its incredible lightness. When coupled with its ultra-thin chassis, this must be one of the most portable 16-inch devices out there. The soft, rounded sides of the base make it more comfortable to pick up and hold, too.

Despite its featherweight construction, build quality is also good. The base feels reasonably solid, while the hinge for the lid provides smooth and easy adjustments, as well as sufficient stability once set in place. The screen bezel is a little disappointing: although it’s very thin, the material quality is a step down. It isn’t flush or integrated into the screen, either, as it is on the best MacBooks, but this is a minor quibble.

There’s an admirable number of ports on the Zenbook A16. There are two USB-C ports, both of which employ the USB 4 standard, supporting both charging and external monitor connections. It’s a shame that they’re both on the left; it would’ve been more practical if they were split across both sides, to improve amenability for varying setups.

Also on the left are the combo audio jack and an HDMI jack, which means this side is somewhat overcrowded; by contrast, the right only gets a single USB-A port and an SD card reader. Still, it’s hard to complain when there’s this much variety at all; similarly large and thin laptops can’t compete.

Asus Zenbook A16 review: Performance

• Great general performance
• Lacks graphical pedigree
• Sharp and bright display

The general performance of the Zenbook A16 is respectable. The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chip in my review unit handled typical everyday workloads well, such as light productivity and entertainment. It also streamed 4K content without issue, and the copious 48GB of RAM certainly helped with multitasking, too.

Graphical performance was disappointing, though. It failed to complete Puget Bench’s Adobe Premiere benchmark, due to an effect failing to render in time — an error I’ve experienced with other laptops lacking dedicated graphics, although some such models did complete the test successfully.

Also, it didn’t run Cyberpunk 2077 in a playable state with the Ray Tracing: Low preset selected. This isn’t too surprising given the aforementioned integrated graphics, but I have tested laptops with similar solutions that did manage to run the game at the same settings more smoothly.

Adjusting the allocation of the shared memory to favor graphics tasks helped somewhat, but not by much — and certainly not by enough to justify the considerable increase in heat and fan volume.

I found the sweet spot between performance and visual fidelity was achieved on the Zenbook A16 by switching to the Ultra preset (which disables Ray Tracing), lowering the resolution to 1080p, and enabling Frame Generation.

During such intensive workloads, some heat can be felt at the top of the keyboard and the left-hand side of the base. In fact, this can even occur when the Zenbook A16 is under moderate loads, but fortunately the temperatures are far from worrisome or uncomfortable. Fan noise can be heard in such cases as well, but this is muted to a greater extent than on some other laptops, and is therefore less distracting.

Perhaps the highest-performing aspect of the Zenbook A16 is its display. The 3K resolution is sufficiently sharp for a display this large, while the 120Hz refresh rate provides plenty of smoothness. And since it uses OLED technology, contrast is deep and colors are vibrant. The screen is shinier than many I’ve seen, which does mean reflections can make themselves known, but thankfully the high brightness levels stop them from dominating the image entirely.

I found the keyboard great for typing with. The generous spacing and lightness of the keys makes fast and accurate inputs a cinch, while their extra dampening and travel over those of other laptops imparts more satisfying feedback. I always feel it’s a shame, though, when a 16-inch laptop misses out on a number pad. There aren’t any navigation keys, either, save from a Delete / Insert key.

Thankfully, the touchpad on the Zenbook A16 is more practical. It stretches from almost the very bottom of the base to the bottom of the keyboard, providing a large area that makes for easy navigation. It also has an incredibly smooth surface, which only makes it more enjoyable to use.

And while it’s also wide, it’s narrow enough to prevent the palms of your thumbs from resting on it constantly. Even when mine did, there were only a few occasions when this contact triggered cursor movement or the side controls for volume and brightness — which, incidentally, function very well.

There are other slider controls on the touchpad besides these: gesturing along the top edge allows you to scrub back and forth on video and audio content, while swiping diagonally from the top-right corner launches ScreenXpert, Asus’ tool for managing app windows and multiple displays. Despite the usefulness of these Smart Gestures (as they’re called), it’s a shame that none of them can be customized.

Asus Zenbook A16 review: Battery life

• Outlasts rivals by a wide margin
• Still not the best of the best, though

The battery life of the Zenbook A16 is very impressive. When I ran a movie on a continuous loop, it managed to last just over 24 hours. This makes it much more enduring than other large laptops, such as the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro and MacBook Air 15-inch, both of which lasted half as long in the same test.

However, there are laptops that can do even better: the HP OmniBook 7 14-inch, for instance, managed 26 hours, again in the same test, while the MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ managed over 30 hours. So while the Zenbook A16’s endurance is certainly remarkable, it’s not the absolute best in the broader laptop market.

Should I buy the Asus Zenbook A16?

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

Asus Zenbook A16 review: Also consider

How I tested the Asus Zenbook A16

• Tested for several days
• Used for numerous tasks
• Plenty of laptop reviewing experience

I tested the Asus Zenbook A16 for several days, during which time I used it for general browsing, light productivity, streaming content, and gaming.

I also ran our series of benchmark tests, designed to assess all aspects of performance. I also ran a movie on a continuous loop to test the battery life.

I’ve reviewed a large number of laptops previously, across a broad range of price points, form factors, and use cases.

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

• The RAM crisis has forced Microsoft to put up price tags on Surface laptops
• These hikes are across the board, with increases of up to $500 in the US
• Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets also received some hefty price increases

A fresh round of price hikes on hardware, namely Microsoft's Surface devices alongside Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and tablets, is the latest blow dealt to consumers by the RAM crisis.

Windows Central noticed that prices for Surface laptops have been hiked across the board at the Microsoft Store. Some of the worst price jumps here mean that baseline devices have been increased by an eye-watering $500 in the US.

For example, the Surface Laptop 13.8-inch started at $999 when the device first emerged in 2024, but it's now $1,499 (with 16GB of RAM — the same configuration as all these entry-level models).

If you want the 15-inch model of this notebook, you'll pay $300 more than at launch, with an outlay of $1,599 (which isn't as much of a leap, but still a nasty increase).

Turning to the Surface Pro 13-inch, that's been hiked by $500. The Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch haven't been hit quite as hard, but are still $250 and $300 more expensive, respectively, for the entry-level configuration.

A top spec Surface Pro 13-inch with 64GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD will lighten your wallet to the tune of $3,649.

Expect equivalent hikes in other regions, no doubt, and these new prices will be coming to other retailers selling Surface products, as you might expect.

Microsoft told Windows Central: "Due to recent increases in memory and component costs, Surface is updating pricing on Microsoft.com for its current‑generation hardware portfolio. We remain committed to delivering value to customers and partners while upholding our standards for quality and innovation."

Meanwhile, Phone Arena reports some price hikes on certain models of Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and tablets, which have just quietly come into play in the US.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 variant with 512GB of storage has been upped in price from $1,219.99 to $1,299.99, with the Galaxy S25 Edge (512GB) also getting bumped from $1,219.99 to $1,299.99. Furthermore, the Galaxy S25 FE has had a price hike from $709.99 to $749.9 (in this case for the 256GB model).

As for Samsung's tablets, price increases have been actioned for Galaxy Tab S11, Tab S10, and Tab A11 models in the US. That includes hikes of $100 to $200, or even close to $300 in some cases (the Tab S11 Ultra with 1TB is up from $1,619.99 to $1,899.99).

Analysis: Samsung worries and Apple value

At least the price rises are relatively slight with the Samsung phones, although $80 is still a bit of a sting (the S25 FE at $40 is much more palatable). Compared to what's happened with Samsung's tablets, though, and the Surface range in particular, that's relatively insignificant. Also, Microsoft's increases are across the board, whereas Samsung has only hiked a few phones here (and not the entry-level products, either, crucially).

Still, this does come off the back of other Samsung phones and tablets getting pricier earlier this month (including the Galaxy Z Fold 7). Unfortunately, all of this points to further possible price increases from Samsung down the line.

As for Microsoft, the current-gen Surface line-up is great in many ways — the Surface Laptop 13-inch is still rated as the top Windows 11 device in our best laptop roundup — but these new prices really put a dent in the appeal of the range. Microsoft's devices are now a lot more expensive overall, and they hardly majored in affordability before, either (particularly not with beefier RAM and SSD configurations).

This is particularly bad news for Microsoft right now, because it makes Apple's MacBooks look a lot more tempting in terms of the value proposition versus a Surface purchase. Apple seems to be weathering this PC component storm in a more graceful fashion so far, and with the affordable MacBook Neo already threatening the dominance of Windows laptops, it could be a dangerous time for Satya Nadella's company, both on the hardware and software fronts.

As a Redditor observed in a thread where multiple people are mulling, or have already made, a macOS defection: "Perfect timing for Microslop, a month after Apple announced the Neo. What could they have been thinking? Apple is now the value brand, lol..."

The MacBook Neo might only have a mobile-class A18 Pro chip on the inside, but it offers far more performance than you’d expect from a $599 laptop. At that price point, it’s incredibly impressive, and is going some way to redefining what we can expect from the best budget laptops in 2026.

Yet that doesn’t mean it’s perfect, and there are plenty of tasks that the MacBook Neo struggles with. Still, you don’t have to settle for that — if you want to tune up your Apple laptop and eke more performance out of its chip, you’ve got lots of avenues to explore.

Here, we’ve rounded up some of the best ways you can improve the performance of your MacBook Neo. From freeing up storage space to judiciously adjusting a handful of settings, trying these tips could give you even more bang for your buck than you already get.

1. Manage your storage

It’s a simple fact: the less free space your Mac’s storage drive has, the more sluggish your machine gets. If you’ve found your MacBook Neo has slowed to a crawl, it’s a good idea to check how much storage space you’ve got left by opening the System Settings app and making your way to General > Storage.

If it’s low, there are a few things you can do. The first is to look under the Recommendations section on the Storage page and click Optimize next to Optimize Storage. This will automatically remove things like Apple TV shows you’ve already watched. You can also offload files to iCloud (provided you have enough space), automatically empty the Trash, and more. All of these options cut down on the space used up by files on your Mac.

While you’re doing that, it’s worth shopping around for external storage drives and, once you have one, offloading hefty files onto that. Make sure you get an SSD rather than an HDD (also known as a hard drive), as the speed differences are incredible.

However, there’s one very important point to make here, and that’s on the value of configuring your Mac properly before you buy it. It’s very difficult (if not impossible) to upgrade your Mac’s internal storage, so you should make sure you equip your Mac with enough storage space before you pull the trigger. That way, you don’t need to worry about external SSDs or clearing out space on the regular.

2. Update macOS

Updating your Mac is not just a good way to keep it protected from emerging threats — it also ensures you get the latest speed and performance fixes, too.

Apple makes a big fuss about all the new features it’s been working on when it reveals new macOS versions every year, but an underappreciated aspect of these updates is the way they can speed up your Mac’s performance. Apple regularly tunes its software to ensure it functions optimally, and that’s something you’re missing out on if you stick to older versions.

Before you get started updating your Mac, make sure you’ve backed everything up (perhaps using one of our picks for the best backup software) in case something goes wrong. Then open System Settings and go to General > Software Update, wait for the new version to appear, then click Update Now.

3. Restart your Mac

It can be tempting to forgo shutting down your Mac and simply close its lid when you’re done at the end of the day — indeed, one reason the power button on the Mac mini is so awkward to reach is because Apple knows most people don’t actually shut down their computers. But doing so has notable benefits and can help to improve your Mac’s performance, even if it’s only in a small way.

You see, when you shut down your Mac, macOS clears its memory, deletes unneeded temporary files and caches, restarts demanding processes, and allows some app updates to complete. All of those things benefit your Mac and help to improve its performance by removing elements that could be holding it back. Conversely, the longer you go without shutting down, the worse these problems can get.

If you don’t want to shut down your Mac for a prolonged period of time, even a simple restart will help. That allows all the processes above to work in the same way as shutting down.

There’s also the added bonus that shutting down your Mac means it’s not drawing on your battery. This can have performance benefits of its own, as Apple starts to automatically cut back on performance when your laptop is running out of juice.

4. App improvements

Generally speaking, macOS is an efficient operating system that’s pretty good at managing apps and preventing them from getting out of control. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to write off app-related problems altogether.

One way you can keep a leash on things is by regularly quitting apps you’re not using. We don’t just mean closing the main app window, as the app itself is still running when you do this. Instead, press Command + Q or click the app’s name in the menu bar, then click Quit, which closes the app entirely. By only having in-use apps open, you reduce the strain on your Mac’s resources.

Aside from that, you can make a concerted effort to use more efficient apps. Google Chrome, for example, might be one of the best web browsers, but it’s also notorious for hogging your Mac’s memory and battery life. Switch to an alternative browser, and you will likely feel the performance benefits right away.

5. Use the correct USB port

This might sound like an odd one — after all, the two USB-C ports on the MacBook Neo look identical. Why would there be any difference between them?

Well, in an effort to cut costs, Apple has used a cheaper, slower option for one of the ports. The USB-C slot closest to the trackpad runs at USB 2 speeds, which top out at 480 Mbps. The port closest to the MacBook’s hinge, meanwhile, is USB 3.0, which means it can hit speeds of up to 5Gbps. That’s a big difference.

If you’ve got anything plugged in that relies on fast transfer speeds — one of the external SSDs we mentioned earlier, for instance — you’ll definitely notice something is wrong if you’ve got it plugged in to the front USB-C port. Switch it to the back one, and its performance will increase substantially.

6. Login and background items

Every time you start up your Mac, a plethora of apps and processes fire up alongside macOS itself. These run the gamut from apps you’ve installed to automatic updaters and everything in between. Accumulate too many and your MacBook Neo will feel the strain.

Fortunately, there’s a simple way to fix this. Open the System Settings app and navigate to General > Login Items & Extensions. Under the Open at Login header, you’ll see everything that gets going once you’ve logged in to macOS. If you see something you don’t need anymore, click the minus button (-) at the bottom of the list.

Below this is a section titled App Background Activity. This governs which apps are allowed to launch background processes (such as checking for updates or syncing files to the cloud). Like login items, background activity can gobble up a lot of your Mac’s resources. As before, check through the list and disable anything you don’t need using the toggles on the right-hand side.

There’s also an Extensions section at the bottom of the window. This concerns extra functionality added by apps, and these sometimes run in the background. The impact of disabling these is likely to be minimal, but it’s worth having a look just in case. Click the i button next to each entry to see the relevant extensions and disable them if needed.

And if an app has started misbehaving, or if you’ve noticed macOS slow down for no discernible reason, try opening the Activity Monitor app (you can find it by pressing Command + Space and typing its name into the Spotlight search bar). Activity Monitor lists all open apps and processes and shows how much of your Mac’s resources they’re using, including memory, storage, CPU, and more.

On the CPU tab, for example, you can sort items by CPU usage, then close anything that’s out of control. Be careful here, though, and only close things if you know exactly what they are. Otherwise, you could risk causing an error in macOS.

7. Adjust visual settings

The macOS operating system isn’t overly flashy, but it does rely on a few visual effects (especially with the arrival of the Liquid Glass redesign in macOS 26). While there’s nothing overly taxing, you might want to rein some things in a bit to help your Mac run a little smoother.

One option is to cut down on motion and transparency effects. First, open System Settings and head to Accessibility > Display. There, enable the toggle next to Reduce transparency. This makes operating system elements — like menus and the Dock — opaquer, thereby reducing the load on your Mac’s graphics processor.

Now go back to Accessibility and click Motion, then enable the toggle by Reduce motion. As the name implies, this uses simpler animations and cuts out some motion altogether, such as when you open and close the Notification Center. Not only can this help you with motion sickness, but it also lessens the impact on your Mac’s chip, freeing up resources and helping to improve its output.

Bonus: third-party tools

While all the above tips have focused on what you can do with your Mac itself, you can also level it up with a few third-party accessories. An external SSD is one we’ve already mentioned, and you shouldn’t underestimate how it can help with storage constraints.

Elsewhere, you might want to invest in a laptop cooling pad or similar solution if you’re frequently running things that get your MacBook Neo hot and bothered. Since this laptop doesn’t come with a fan, certain demanding tasks can cause it to overheat, which in turn leads to throttled performance. Granted, most people with a MacBook Neo aren’t likely to be crunching enormous datasets with their laptop, but you might find that keeping it cool leads to better performance from time to time.

Although it’s an extreme example, one YouTuber hooked up a custom water cooling rig to their MacBook Neo and claimed to have doubled its performance.

We’re not suggesting you try anything like that, but it shows what’s possible with a well-cooled machine. A much simpler cooling pad or fan could therefore be a worthwhile investment.

• Framework just announced its next big product event
• The forever-upgradeable PC company's founder has some thoughts about AI and the cloud
• It's still committed to selling systems that you own and can change as needed

Framework, the computer company fixated on letting you define and endlessly update your PC, is now taking a stand against the cloud, AI, and the lack of PC ownership, doing so by invoking a quote from the man who arguably inspired the PC revolution: Steve Jobs.

Perhaps you haven't noticed, but the center of the computer universe has shifted. It happened so quickly, we barely had time to adjust. Whereas we once thought more about local computing power for processing work, answers, images, and play, we're now all fixated on compute delivered to us from the cloud and in the form of AI like ChatGPT and Gemini.

For Framework, which announced its upcoming April 21st product launch event in a new manifesto post by company founder Nirav Patel, this is a call to action.

Patel starts by explaining that the tectonic computing shift has put cloud demands in control, and that, to serve the needs of these services and the AI that runs on them, consumers will inevitably lose.

"We see this in the rapidly rising costs of silicon and all of the devices that depend on it, the shift from ownership to subscription, and the rise of closed black boxes over an open ecosystem. What does this all mean? The industry is asking you to own nothing and be happy."

That lack of ownership is, as Patel sees it, at odds with what Steve Jobs told us decades ago: "the computer is the bicycle of the mind."

Framework contends that's no longer so. Instead of bicycles, computers are now a ‘self-driving car that takes you directly to the destination.’

To understand the gravity of that statement, we need to look back at what Jobs really meant. Here's how he put it in a 1990 interview: "

“We humans are tool builders and we can fashion tools that amplify these inherent abilities that we have to spectacular magnitudes. So, for me, the computer has always been a bicycle of the mind, something that takes us far beyond our inherent capabilities.”

AI is, instead, the self-driving car, and instead of us using computers to expand our abilities, we've taken our hands off the wheel and let the AI do the driving.

It's a depressing thought.

A framework for reality

Framework, however, is not giving up. "As long as there is a person in the world who still wants to own their means of computation, we will be here to build the hardware that enables it," wrote Patel.

That sounds good, but I have to ask. To what end?

Sure, we liked the Framework Laptop 13 DIY Edition when we reviewed it last year, but despite the ability to easily swap out virtually all components, our reviewer noted the complexities of installing Windows. It works fine if you want to run Linux, but that will appeal to a far smaller set of users.

If this is sort of the Vox Populi system, then it has to be something for everybody. DIY is inherently limiting. While I think it's safe to say most consumers want easily repairable systems. They don't want to be the ones to build or repair them. People still like to buy finished products, even if they do lack some choice.

They may not notice slowly losing control of the system, software, and where the answers come from, but I'd wager most don't care. They aren't picky about who answers or, sadly, the quality of those answers. Look at how quickly they adopted ChatGPT, even when it was still hallucinating.

So, yes, I applaud Framework's integrity and know there's a market for their repairable DIY systems, but it's not a big one, and they alone will not stem the tide of AI-powered systems driving us to our next inevitable destination.

I'm not calling Framework's efforts Quixotic, but there's a fairly large chasm between owing nothing and building everything. Our computers, whether delivered complete and more or less non-upgradable or as a collection of endlessly swappable components, are still vehicles for expression and production. They're still the trusty two-wheelers for our minds.

Enterprise IT teams have long treated hardware refresh cycles as a predictable routine. Devices were replaced on schedule, budgets were mapped out years in advance, and procurement teams had a fairly good idea what the next round of devices would cost.

That predictability is gone. HP recently revealed that RAM now accounts for roughly 35% of a PC's build cost, up from around 15–18% just a few months ago.

Analysts have also warned that PC prices could rise by 15–20% during the second half of 2026 if manufacturers continue passing rising component costs driven by demand for AI systems on to buyers.

IT leaders tell us volatility is already hitting planning hard. Refresh quotes are arriving 30–60% higher than anticipated, and suppliers are compressing price validity windows — sometimes to just a few hours.

During this “RAMageddon” period, here are five ways enterprises are adjusting their approach to hardware:

1. Moving from time-based to usage-based refresh decisions

For years, the default rule was simple: replace devices every three to five years. It kept refresh cycles predictable, even if many of those machines were still performing well. Now, instead of focusing purely on purchase dates, organizations are beginning to examine how devices actually behave during normal work.

Making that shift usually requires more than just an IT decision. Refresh policies often sit at the intersection of endpoint teams, procurement, and finance, all of whom have different priorities. Security teams may also have requirements around device age or operating system support.

Moving to a usage-based approach means those groups need to agree on new criteria for when devices should be replaced and when they can safely remain in service.

The starting point is device data, and getting it doesn't have to be complex. Platforms that continuously collect CPU activity, memory demand, and application usage across an entire fleet, provide IT teams with an accurate view of pressure points.

Take one New York bank we worked with. It had been planning to replace roughly 7,000 laptops each year as part of its normal refresh cycle. After analyzing workload patterns and device stress, the number dropped to around 600 machines that genuinely needed replacing.

2. Right-size devices according to real workload requirements

In one enterprise device estate analysis involving 5,000 laptops originally scheduled for refresh, usage data showed around 1,400 users could move to lower-cost machines without affecting their work. Adjusting the hardware mix revealed close to $1 million in potential savings without replacing the entire fleet.

Examples like this tend to surface quickly once organizations begin examining real workload patterns. Device fleets rarely stay balanced for long. Over time, companies accumulate a mix of machines that are either far more powerful than necessary or struggling to keep up.

It is not unusual to find someone answering emails on a high-spec laptop while another employee tries to run demanding software on a much weaker machine. Once IT teams look at actual workload patterns, those imbalances become obvious.

Workload analysis can also reveal that performance problems are sometimes caused by inefficient applications or background processes rather than hardware limitations, while the same visibility often highlights unused or rarely used software that organizations can remove to reduce unnecessary license costs.

3. Extend device lifecycles safely using performance data

When teams start digging into performance data, another pattern often appears. Many laptops continue handling everyday work long after the traditional refresh deadline has passed. The challenge is identifying which machines still have room to spare and which ones are starting to struggle.

Ongoing end-user monitoring helps IT teams make that call with much more confidence. Devices that continue to run comfortably can remain in service, while the smaller group showing signs of strain can be prioritized for replacement.

In many organizations, the same data is also used to understand the wider digital employee experience, highlighting performance issues that may not be obvious from hardware specifications alone.

That visibility also helps IT teams spot small problems before they turn into support tickets, reducing interruptions for employees and limiting the need for reactive troubleshooting.

A Forrester study examining a financial organization with 40,000 devices found annual replacement rates dropping from 25% to 23% by extending the life of roughly 40% of the fleet from four to five years. Over three years that translated into around $2 million in avoided hardware costs.

4. Reduce dependency on high-spec endpoint hardware

Another way organizations are managing hardware pressure is by reconsidering where computing workloads actually take place.

Virtual desktop infrastructure and desktop-as-a-service platforms allow applications to run on centralized infrastructure rather than on the local device. In practical terms, that means organizations do not need to buy powerful laptops for everyone.

Of course, this model does not suit every role. Engineers, designers, and developers often require powerful local machines to run specialized software. However, many office-based employees rely mainly on web applications and productivity tools that run perfectly well in virtual environments.

In one investment management organization, device performance data was analyzed before a virtual desktop rollout to understand which workloads genuinely required local processing power.

The analysis helped identify employees who could move to virtual desktops without affecting productivity, allowing the organization to extend the lifespan of many endpoint devices.

5. Use device intelligence to improve forecasting and procurement stability

Usage data also changes how procurement planning works. Instead of replacing large numbers of devices at the same time, organizations can spread upgrades more gradually and align them with real demand.

That flexibility matters when prices are moving around as much as they are today, because it reduces the risk of committing to large hardware purchases at the worst possible moment.

The same approach is useful when introducing newer technologies such as AI PCs. Not every employee needs the additional processing power or memory. Developers or data specialists may benefit from it, while employees who primarily work with email, collaboration tools, and documents are unlikely to notice much difference.

Many organizations are therefore starting with small pilot groups to understand where those capabilities actually deliver value before committing to a broader rollout.

The nickname “RAMageddon” started as a bit of gallows humor among IT teams, but it captures the mood in many IT departments right now. With memory prices moving this quickly, refresh planning has become far less predictable and requires a much more hands-on approach based on how devices actually perform in everyday use.

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Apple is selling an insane number of MacBook Neos, so much so that it's now trying to adjust production to meet demand. People want the MacBook Neo in ways they have never wanted a MacBook before. It's a near-perfect blend of Apple quality and affordability, and it's opened the floodgates to consumers who thought they could never afford a MacBook. I expect this to be one of Apple's most popular products of the decade, and I hope that it teaches the tech giant a valuable lesson:

Make the iPhone more affordable.

As of this moment, the cheapest iPhone you can buy is the $599 iPhone 17e. Despite being a "budget" phone, we described it in our review thusly: "the 17e feels like a more complete and modern member of the iPhone lineup."

Does that price sound familiar? It should. This budget smartphone costs as much as Apple's most affordable laptop: the aforementioned MacBook Neo. Sure, the iPhone 17e has a slightly better chip (the A19 as opposed to the Neo's A18 Pro), but that performance difference is probably nominal, at best. They do match each other on 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, by the way.

We pay quite a premium for pocketability, but does it make sense for them to be priced the same? Maybe. On the other hand, the MacBook Neo reminds us that the first thing most consumers consider in a purchase decision is price.

Let's bring the iPhone back to that magic price

When the iPhone launched almost 20 years ago, it was priced at $499 for the base 8GB (storage) model. A year later, the iPhone 3G landed for $199. Granted, this price was achieved through carrier subsidies, but it was also what Steve Jobs liked to call the "magic" price point, a term he coined when launching the iPod mini.

Once carriers figured out how to shoulder the full cost of the phone and let you pay off monthly, price became a construct. It was something that only existed as the thing Apple announced on launch, and that was quickly subsumed into years of monthly payments to your carrier.

Basically, we're paying anywhere from $600 to well over $1,000 for the iPhone we want. We do so happily, it seems, because no one is without a smartphone (iPhone or otherwise). But Apple doesn't own the global market.

According to Counterpoint, Apple has roughly 25% of the global smartphone market, which beats Samsung's 18% but falls below "Others" 30%. If you ask me, Apple has a huge opportunity here because that "Others" is probably made up of a bunch of affordable handset makers, companies offering smartphones for $300 or less, and often with features that compare favorably to what Apple's offering in its mid-tier iPhone 17.

Tecno, which does not sell in the US, offers the Tecno Spark 50 5G with a 50MP camera, a 64000mAh battery, and military-grade shock resistance for roughly $200. For around $380, you could get the Tecno Camon 50 Pro, which features a three-camera array, a 6.7-inch display, and...okay, it tops out at 4G coverage. Still, you get the idea. There are many companies like this that sell highly affordable phones to emerging markets.

What the market can bear is changing

It's understandable that Apple (and its competitors like Samsung and Google) charge more in the affluent US market. People know these phones are expensive, but they hide the pain in those monthly payments.

The MacBook Neo, though, is proving that consumers are desperate for a deal, especially one that marries affordability to quality. As experiment after experiment I've run has proven, the MacBook Neo is that mix. Somehow, without cutting visible corners, Apple delivered a tiny, ready-for-work-and-play system that outshines all the rest of the budget competition.

This is a system that's as well-built as something costing hundreds more and is an absolute pleasure to look at and use. And you never have to tell yourself, "It cost a fortune, but then look at how it works, look at the design." Instead, you can boast about how you got more than your money's worth.

I'm not calling for all iPhones to be $599 or less. Instead, I'm suggesting that the most affordable new iPhone could start at $199 or, if that's asking too much, $299 (even $399 would be a win).

Can you imagine how many iPhones Apple would sell around the world if the doorway to one of the best smartphone brands on the market opened at under $300? Apple would rocket to the top of the global market share list, eating into "Other" and surely taking a slice or two from Samsung (though Samsung has long had the Galaxy A series, which can, in some cases, start for as little as $199.99).

The MacBook Neo will continue to outsell the budget PC competition and make waves. Let's see what Apple does about them and how it affects the prices of other Apple product lines.

• All flavors of the MacBook Neo are delayed by 2-3 weeks at Apple's online store
• You'll be lucky to pick one up at a bricks-and-mortar Apple store in the US, too, although some outlets do have stock
• The popularity of the laptop seems to have taken Apple by surprise, and rumor has it that supply issues could be a real problem going forward

The MacBook Neo is a victim of its own popularity, it seems, and if you're ordering the notebook online, it won't be delivered for quite some time — and there are rumblings that Apple is going to struggle meeting demand going forward.

First off, 9 to 5 Mac flagged up that no matter which configuration of the MacBook Neo (model or color) you select at Apple's US online store, there's a 2-3 week waiting time before the laptop ships.

Even if you're heading to a bricks-and-mortar Apple store, you most likely won't be able to buy a MacBook Neo there and then. While availability varies as you might imagine, you'll typically be waiting 3-4 weeks for an in-store pickup to be ready. That said, some stores do have on-the-day availability for the Neo, if you get lucky.

Checking in the UK, I can see it's a similar situation for online orders via the Apple website, although you can pick up a MacBook Neo right away in most Apple stores in the country. And in Australia, the official Apple store also indicates a 3-4 week wait time, although some other third-party retailers with physical stores do appear to have some models in stock still.

Here's where this gets really interesting — in a very tricky way for Apple — because as MacRumors spotted, we're hearing from a tech writer in Taiwan (an ex-Bloomberg reporter, Tim Culpan) that the Neo has been way more popular than anticipated. It has apparently "surpassed expectations" in terms of how swiftly the laptop has shifted units, posing a "massive dilemma" for Apple, the writer believes (based on the usual anonymous sources).

The theory is that Apple drafted in A18 Pro chips that couldn't be used in the iPhone 16 Pro due to having a faulty GPU core. Instead of a 6-core GPU as needed in the iPhone, these chips only had 5-cores, but were otherwise good – so with the faulty core disabled, they were put in the MacBook Neo.

This is a common strategy for chips that don't make a certain grade, as it avoids the silicon going to waste. However, it means that Apple only had a certain amount of CPUs based on the shortfall with these iPhone chips. That isn't going to be enough, Culpan informs us, now that sales of the Neo have taken off so strongly, and therefore Apple could be in some hot water here, or so the rumor runs — obviously add plenty of seasoning to this claim.

MacRumors also spotted that Culpan reckons Apple will have a refreshed MacBook Neo next year, built around the A19 Pro CPU (the chip in the current iPhone 17 Pro) and equipped with 12GB of system RAM. That'll be a useful upgrade on the current 8GB loadout, which while enough for everyday computing on the Neo, doesn't look so great in terms of future-proofing.

It's also worth noting that the Mac mini and Mac Studio are now suffering serious delays (months in some cases) when ordered from Apple's online store — although these delays are reportedly due to the ongoing RAM crisis, rather than demand outstripping supply.

Analysis: will Apple need to get creative here?

While these rumors fit together rather neatly, we must be careful about making too many assumptions. Although clearly there is a problem with supply not meeting the demand for the MacBook Neo, as the laptop's already lengthy lead times for delivery show.

The question is whether this is more of a blip in the flow of stock into retail, or whether the rumor about the moorings coming loose in terms of a shortfall of CPUs for the Neo is actually true. We'll only know by keeping an eye on the availability of the MacBook Neo, and seeing whether the current situation continues (or indeed gets even worse).

If Apple is facing a supply issue with its A18 Pro chips as suggested, the company will need to either live with disappointing its customers — not a great idea, especially given how well the Neo has gone down — or crank up production of the CPUs (also with the sixth GPU core disabled, because Apple would have to keep the integrated graphics the same as with existing models).

However, as Culpan points out, the latter is easier said than done, given how much it'll cost to secure production capacity with TSMC at the drop of a hat. That won't be easy to square on Apple's bank balance when you consider that profit margins on the Neo are already thin.

There could be creative ways around that problem, such as a decision to just produce the pricier (512GB) model of the Neo, which has a little more headroom with the profit margins, no doubt. But what Apple doesn't want to do is lose the momentum it has swiftly picked up with the Neo, which is a threat Microsoft apparently recognizes in terms of making macOS a more meaningful force in the Windows-dominated world of laptops.

Again, it all comes back to the MacBook Neo being something of a victim of its own success; and while we can't leap to conclusions, the theories behind what might be unfolding here seem plausible enough. Maybe that second-gen 12GB model of the Neo will be rushed out as quickly as possible…

If I'm being honest, I'm not surprised. I set out to see if the new MacBook Neo, a sub-$600 laptop running a smartphone CPU, could get through one or more of my workdays, and the results were even better than I expected.

When I announced the test on social media last week, I got a lot of feedback. Many were excited to see how Apple's first new MacBook model in more than a decade performed. Others questioned my use of the word "everyday". What kind of work did I mean? Basically, I was talking about my average workday.

If you're reading this, you know I'm a tech editor and much of my day revolves around writing, editing, and researching. I do video calls, I edit photos, I write scripts, work on reports, communicate in Messages, work and play in AI, and stream video content (for research, I swear!).

Put another way, this is not a heavy-duty workday with 4K video editing, Logic Pro music mixing, and Final Cut Pro video production. I'm not a game designer or 3D artist. Of course, the MacBook Neo, which Apple launched in March, is not designed for or aimed at Pro users: they can choose from an array of MacBook Pro and even MacBook Air models (or Mac Minis and Studios).

Apple built the MacBook Neo as an alternative to affordable Windows 11 laptops from HP, Asus, Acer, Lenovo, and others, as well as bargain-basement Chromebooks. Many of these sub-$600 systems are either built with cheaper materials or feature under-performing processors and graphics.

The MacBook Neo instantly stood out with its uncanny mix of attractive materials, excellent craftsmanship, and a big question mark: the use of the A18 Pro CPU last seen in the iPhone 16 Pro.

If you've never used an iPhone or even one of Apple's laptops, you might've considered that a risky move. I knew better. For as long as I've been writing about Apple Silicon on smartphones (and systems), I've said they have headroom to spare. It was usually impossible to push a chip like the A18 Pro to its limits.

Nope, just nope

My confidence aside, I attracted some serious skeptics online.

"Why? Dumb. It's a toy, 8GB RAM and tiny screen with huge bezels. This laptop is for my Grandmother," wrote Bob in MI on X (formerly Twitter).

Bob's right, the MacBook only ships with 8GB of RAM. There is no option for 16GB, and nothing can slow down a system more than a RAM shortage. Even my 512GB test unit (the base model ships with 256GB of storage) has just 8GB. Bob also accurately noted the larger bezels around the smaller screen (13 inches compared to the MacBook Air's 13.6-inch).

But he also exaggerated. The bezels are not huge, and the screen is far from tiny. Also, why pick on his grandmother? I don't know the lady, but I think she might love this Citrus-colored portable.

Amidst the naysayers and curiosity seekers, there were more than a few people reporting they had already been using the MacBook Neo for a few weeks. Not one person who owned one reported any degradation, even when doing image editing, running Spotify, and using Microsoft's Office Suite.

My MacBook Neo diary

What followed were days of normal work and some note-taking about my MacBook Neo experience. My goal was never to push the system to its limits. I just wanted to get my job done without any slowdowns or tech issues.

Turns out I couldn't jump right into work because the MacBook Neo wasn't set up for my typical workday.

I started by opening Chrome (most of my company's software and systems require us to use Google's browser) and logging into my corporate Google account, which gives me access to Gmail, Slack, Google Docs, accounting systems, and more.

I already had Adobe Photoshop 2026 — my go-to image editing software — installed from previous MacBook Neo tests.

As you probably already know, I'm an active social media user and often post directly from my laptop. So I logged into X, BlueSky, and Threads. This also helped me track reactions to my adventure (and my messy workdesk).

As I start working, I keep admiring the color; Citrus is so bright and cheerful. Not everyone is a fan. My wife noticed I had switched to the MacBook Neo for work, and when I asked her about the cute color, she made a face, "Not my favorite." I assured her it came in other fun colors like Blush and Indigo.

Not only do I like the color, which can make a dreary day a bit more cheerful, but I also appreciate how the colors bleed through to the keyboard and software elements. It's a nice touch.

Attack of the tabs

Much of my writing and editing is spent within our company's proprietary publishing system, but I also open up other browser tabs for research. Add those to my Gmail, Slack, Feedly, the TechRadar homepage, and all those social media platforms, and the browser tabs start to add up.

In fact, I usually have a significant tab problem. I constantly open new ones as I research a story, and then I sometimes forget I opened them, or lose track of an entire window of open tabs. This can seriously stress even a Pro-level system, so I adopted a slightly different strategy with the MacBook Neo.

I tried to be far more intentional in my tab use. If I opened one, I'd complete my work with it, copy the data I needed — often in Notes — and then close the tab (even so, I currently have 17 tabs open). Look, I'm no fool; I know 8GB is only going to get me so far.

Things I noticed and things I miss

On the first day, I chose to work with the MacBook Neo connected to power. As I plugged in a USB-C cable, I did, for a moment, miss the MagSafe charge port, but I also quickly forgot about it.

I also used the remaining USB-C port to plug in my Targus port adapter and connect the MacBook Neo to a second HD display.

The MacBook Neo did make me realize how I take the MacBook Air's backlit keyboard for granted. No matter how the light changes at home, at work, or on the train, the MacBook Air keyboard is consistently visible. The MacBook Neo keyboard, by contrast, is at the mercy of external light, and I couldn't help but notice the shadows from my hands, and how, when the light shifts in the room, suddenly half the keyboard looks darker. Again, minor issue.

I spent much of that first morning editing and then writing a post. As is often the case, I needed art. I opened Photoshop, which had been quietly running in the background, downloaded a high-resolution image from Getty, and then edited and exported the photo.

I usually save these images to OneDrive (yes, I still run the Office suite, including Word and Excel), but I decided not to add OneDrive to the MacBook Neo because I knew that mirroring my cloud storage might eat half of the system's 512GB drive. I do worry about people who buy the $599 / £599 / AU$899 base model with just 256GB of storage. That does seem a bit limited for anyone's storage needs.

Streaming history

While I've been running my small and insignificant test on the ground, NASA Artemis II astronauts rocketed into space and are flying toward the moon. Naturally, I had to track every moment of the mission, so I opened YouTube and left the stream running throughout the day (it's running right now).

Later, I used Photoshop on the MacBook Neo to turn one of the astronaut's photos into wallpaper. Doing so required running Firefly, Adobe's cloud-based Generative AI system. It all worked perfectly.

This $699 / £699 / AU$1099 system also ships with TouchID, an upgrade I appreciate for how it makes unlocking the system a fingerprint away and for how I often used it to log in to my personal Gmail with a passkey.

As the day wore on, I started to notice the difference between a Force Touch TrackPad and a Multi-Touch trackpad. One uses haptics to trick your fingers and mind into thinking the platform is moving. The MacBook Neo's highly responsive trackpad actually moves, and that means you need to apply a tiny bit more pressure to use it. It's not like it tired me out, but I did notice the cumulative difference after a day of use.

My new commute buddy

I usually work on my commute home, and I wasn't going to spare the MacBook Neo. I connected the laptop to my iPhone 17 Pro Max's Personal Hotspot and worked for about an hour as the train rolled from the city to my neighborhood. The 2.7-pound laptop felt comfortable on my lap, and I continued editing, writing, and doing some image editing (and tracking the Artemis II mission).

I was surprised to see that at the end of the hour, the Neo's battery had dropped to 59%.

A new day and a new plan

The next day, I decided to run the MacBook Neo on battery power. After recharging the laptop overnight, I unplugged it at 7 AM ET.

As at work, I had the MacBook Neo connected to a port adapter and another HD display to extend the desktop.

I also decided to push the laptop a little harder, leaving a few more browser tabs open than I had the day before. I started noting just a small bit of hesitation. After I got my first spinning pinwheel, I pulled back and closed a few browser tabs. Smooth operation resumed.

By 8:41 AM ET, and with numerous tabs and Photoshop open, battery power had plummeted to 59%.

I continued working, and by 10:05 AM ET, I was down to 22%. It's worth noting that I did not adjust the screen brightness or switch to low-power mode; I just kept working.

I got a warning at 10% battery life, and by 10:54 AM ET, the MacBook Neo ran out of juice and shut down. I plugged it in, and it took about 5 minutes for the laptop to get enough power to wake up.

My work day continued until about 5 PM without issue. A couple of days later, I was back at work and, to be honest, kind of forgot about the test. I mean, I forgot I was working on a MacBook Neo and not my typical MacBook Air.

My point is that this system I'm using right now is more than adequate for everyday work. It's an accomplished system that I would recommend to almost anyone who is not doing Pro-grade content creation.

Yes, I was a little disappointed at the unplugged battery life, but I do think I couldn't have extended my battery performance by hours had I used low-power mode (something I often employ on the MacBook Air).

Once again, the affordable MacBook Air proves itself a fantastic value that I would happily recommend to almost anybody.