In the pre-AI era, buying a Windows laptop or Windows desktop used to be pretty simple.

You looked at the processor, checked how much RAM and storage it had, considered a few screen size options, and tried to work out whether the battery claim sounded even vaguely realistic.

Fast forward to 2026, however, and most PC spec sheets look much busier and lot more focused on AI.

Alongside the usual phalanx of numbers and brand names, you’ll now find labels such as AI PC, Copilot+ PC, Snapdragon X Elite or X2, AMD Ryzen AI, NPU, and TOPS, among many others.

Some of these terms are definitely useful and relatively easy to understand, others are easy to misread, and a few sound more important than they are.

The good news is that the fundamentals have not disappeared.

The best laptop still depends on your apps, workload, budget, and the parts of the machine you’ll notice every day, such as CPU speed, memory, battery life, screen quality, ports, and weight.

The newer AI specs can help, especially if you want the latest on-device Windows features, but they are only one part of the picture.

To help demystify the laptop buying process, let's take a look at how to read a laptop spec sheet in 2026 – from AI PC to TOPS – and what actually deserves your attention before you buy.

AI PC vs Copilot+ PC: what’s the difference?

“AI PC” is the broadest label on the spec sheet. In most cases, it means the laptop has some form of dedicated AI hardware, usually a neural processing unit, or NPU, built into the chip.

While AI PC can be a useful shorthand, especially if you’re comparing newer laptops against older models, it is still a flexible term; different manufacturers use it in slightly different ways.

“Copilot+ PC” is Microsoft’s own branding category for Windows laptops that meet a defined hardware standard.

In 2026, that means a compatible processor or system-on-chip with an NPU capable of at least 40 TOPS, 16GB of DDR5 or LPDDR5 RAM, and at least 256GB of SSD storage. (Basically, a powerful set of specs.)

A Copilot+ PC should be ready for Microsoft’s latest on-device AI features, like smarter search and Live Captions, but it does not automatically tell you whether the laptop has enough storage or enough graphics heft.

NPU and TOPS: the new numbers in town

The NPU is the new spec most likely to trip people up. Short for neural processing unit, it is a dedicated part of the chip designed to handle AI tasks more efficiently than the CPU alone.

TOPS is the number usually attached to the NPU, and it stands for "trillions of operations per second", giving you a rough sense of how much AI work an NPU can handle.

For a Copilot+ PC, the important number is 40 TOPS or higher. Once a laptop clears that bar, it should be able to run Microsoft’s current on-device AI features.

A higher TOPS number may help with some local AI features, especially as software catches up, but it does not tell you how fast the laptop will feel when you open a big Photoshop file or fill Chrome with tabs.

For most people, NPU performance is worth checking, but it shouldn't take precedence over the specs you’ll feel every day, like battery life or screen size.

Snapdragon X, Intel Core Ultra, and AMD Ryzen AI explained

Processor (or CPU) names have quietly become one of the easiest parts of the spec sheet to misread.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips brought Windows on Arm laptops into the mainstream, focusing on battery life and thin-and-light designs, which had often been Apple's main advantage.

Newer Snapdragon X2 laptops push that further with more powerful NPUs and improved graphics, but the basic buying question remains the same: will your apps run properly on Arm?

For most everyday tools, the answer is now likely to be yes.

Browsers, Microsoft 365, video calls, media apps, and many creative tools either run natively or work well through Windows’ translation layer. The areas to check are usually more specific, like older Windows software or specialist work apps.

Intel Core Ultra and AMD Ryzen AI laptops take a more familiar x86 route, while still adding NPUs for newer AI features.

One thing to note: the exact model wording is important. A laptop with “Core Ultra” on the box is not automatically a Copilot+ PC, and the same goes for older Ryzen laptops without the right AI hardware.

RAM still matters more than most AI labels

RAM is likely to be one of the specs most familiar to many Windows laptop buyers, and with good reason: it's still one of the clearest signs of how a laptop will feel in daily use.

For a mainstream laptop in 2026, 16GB should be treated as the baseline – especially if the machine is being sold as an AI PC or Copilot+ PC – giving you enough headroom for normal work, video calls, web apps, and so on.

Anyone buying for heavier work like photo editing or coding should look at 32GB if the budget allows. As the AI boom takes hold, though, RAM is getting extremely expensive, so make sure you do really need it.

One benefit of buying a laptop with more RAM is that, in general, it will make the laptop eel useful for longer, especially on machines where the RAM is soldered and cannot be upgraded later.

Storage: 256GB is the minimum in 2026

Storage is another spec where the minimum and the sensible choice are not the same thing. A Copilot+ PC only needs 256GB of storage to meet Microsoft’s hardware requirements, but that can start to feel tight in everyday use.

For most people, 512GB is the better starting point, and leaves more breathing room over the lifetime of the laptop.

A 1TB drive is worth considering if you work with large files or want more local storage for games, video, or AI tools. However, as mentioned in the RAM section, AI companies are rapidly driving up prices for higher-storage SSDs.

External drives and cloud storage can help, but they are not a complete substitute for having enough fast storage inside the laptop you use every day.

Battery life: look for real-world testing

Battery life is one of the biggest promises behind the latest AI PCs, especially newer Arm-based Windows laptops.

More efficient chips and dedicated NPUs can help away from the charger, but battery life is still one of the easiest specs to oversell. A claim such as “up to 20 hours” may be based on video playback or controlled test conditions, rather than a normal day of usage.

Reviews are much more useful here, and TechRadar puts every laptop through a series of real-world battery tests to really dig into the real endurance.

Look for tested battery life that reflects mixed use, rather than assuming the biggest number on the box will match your working day.

The boring specs still matter

While AI labels are useful, they obviously don't make the rest of the laptop disappear. The screen, keyboard, trackpad, ports, weight, heat, and fan noise will shape your experience far more often than a fancy Copilot+ badge.

The best way to read a laptop spec sheet in 2026 is to start with your own needs: enough RAM, enough storage, tested battery life, and a screen and keyboard you’ll be happy to use for hours at a time.

After that, the NPU and TOPS figure can help you understand how ready the machine is for newer on-device AI features.

Windows laptop spec sheets have not become meaningless, just easier to misread. The best laptop is still the one that gets the fundamentals right first, then uses its AI hardware to add something useful on top.

In 2026, buying a new laptop, whether that's the best Windows laptop or the best MacBook, is still a fairly involved process that requires balancing an ever-expanding array of features and specs with your everyday requirements.

With the proliferation of AI, as both a new set of features and a branding exercise (think Microsoft's Copilot+ PC, for example), the list is only getting longer.

However, one universally essential feature everyone needs is above-average battery life.

A common mistake when assessing your options might be to simply rely on the manufacturer's “up to X hours” claim or watt-hour rating. Both of these are useful signals, but they don't tell the full story.

While a bigger battery can definitely help, going on pure numbers alone does not guarantee better battery life. Two laptops with similar battery sizes can actually last very different lengths of time.

A more useful frame of comparison is looking at how efficiently a laptop uses its available battery capacity, including whether its CPU and GPU are tuned to maximise battery life over raw power.

In recent years, Apple has been an expert in this domain, eking out longer and longer video playback and everyday usage times by optimising its M-series of chips specifically to use as little power as possible.

Why battery capacity still matters

Of course, we're not saying that battery capacity doesn't matter – a larger battery should offer longer times between charges in most cases, in the same way that a car with a bigger fuel tank can travel further between stops.

The rub is that laptops are rarely equal, and while a bigger machine might have more space for a larger battery, it almost certainly pairs that with a bigger display, a faster CPU and GPU, more cooling demand, and so on.

Every component of a laptop needs power, and these can eat into any advantage gained from having a purely larger battery capacity.

Physics applies its own limits, too. A bigger battery is naturally thicker and heavier, often defeating the point of modern ultraportables like the MacBook Neo that prioritise being thin and light.

There's also a practical ceiling: many laptop batteries sit below the 100Wh limit used for regular air travel, so manufacturers cannot simply scale capacity forever.

Checking the watt-hour rating and manufacturer claims of "all-day usage" is still worthwhile, but these tell you more about how much energy your laptop's battery can store, not what it looks like in practical day-to-day use.

The display is the biggest everyday drain

Any consideration of battery life has to start with the display, which can often be the easiest thing to overlook, despite being the feature you use the most.

The main factor at play is brightness. To state the obvious, a laptop used at 100% brightness – especially when working outside or under bright lights – is going to drain its battery a lot faster than on a lower setting.

On top of that, resolution, panel type, and refresh rate (especially for newer variable displays that go up to 120Hz or 144Hz) can all dramatically increase energy usage.

3K and 4K displays look absolutely fantastic, especially for creative work or watching films, but they will kill your battery life fast. OLED displays are in a similar category, offering incredibly deep blacks due to local pixel-dimming while consuming lots of power to show bright webpages and documents.

Refresh rates have become more of a factor in battery usage in recent years, too. A fixed 120Hz or 144Hz panel can naturally make scrolling and animations feel smoother, but it also refreshes the screen more often, requiring more power.

Taken together, you should at least consider the type of display and its impact on battery life when choosing a new laptop – a top-end 120Hz OLED panel sounds awesome right up until you try to work all day away from a plug.

Efficient chips change what “all-day” means

As the success of Apple's M-series chips shows, the chip inside your laptop plays a huge part. Gone are the days when processors were simply about speed; the better question is how much computation you can get for your battery draw.

Apple Silicon, found in both Macs and iPhones, is designed specifically for Apple’s hardware and software, so macOS and iOS can make very efficient use of the available power, especially during everyday tasks.

In recent times, Windows laptops have also made big strides.

Intel’s Core Ultra chips, AMD’s Ryzen AI processors, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips, utilising Arm-based designs, are all part of the same wider shift towards prioritizing performance per watt.

Modern chips optimize for extended battery life in several clever ways. For example, low-power cores can handle lighter jobs, integrated graphics can take care of basic visual tasks, and dedicated media engines can play video more efficiently than if the main processor has to do all the work itself.

Taken together, these innovations mean that newer laptops with similarly sized batteries can dramatically outlast older generations.

Windows, macOS, and apps all affect the final number

Hardware only gets you so far. A laptop can have an efficient chip, sensible display, and decent battery capacity, but the operating system and apps still decide how often those components are being pushed.

Apple has the clearest advantage thanks to its end-to-end hardware and software designs. macOS only has to run on a handful of Mac laptops and desktops, all of which are built around Apple Silicon chips, displays, and power management – everything is tightly controlled.

On the other hand, Windows has to work with a near-infinite combination of hardware and software from thousands of OEMs around the world. It must run across Intel, AMD, and Arm-based laptops, with different screens, drivers, utilities, and manufacturer settings.

This situation doesn't stop Windows laptops from having great battery life – as our extensive testing of the best laptops has found – but it is a real barrier, and there is a wider variation between makes and models.

Beyond the OS, apps matter just as much: having tens or hundreds of Chrome tabs open is very likely to nuke your battery life. Arm-based laptops also face the potential issue of running apps through compatibility layers, increasing the power demands and reducing battery life.

GPUs, AI features, and heavy workloads are the hidden traps

How you actually use your laptop makes a big difference and the rise of AI workloads – alongside traditional heavy hitters like 3D rendering, compiling code, and video editing – are surefire ways to go from 100% to 30% in no time.

Dedicated graphics are a big part of this. A powerful GPU can be brilliant if you need it, but it is also one of the most power-hungry components in a laptop.

Lots of modern machines now use hybrid graphics, switching between integrated graphics for lighter tasks and a dedicated GPU when more performance is needed.

New laptop chips increasingly include Neural Processing Units (NPUs), which are designed to handle certain AI tasks more efficiently than a CPU or GPU. That can help when software is built to use them properly, but heavier local AI workloads can still drain the battery quickly, especially if they lean on the CPU or GPU.”

Read manufacturer claims and lab tests carefully

Manufacturers understandably want to present their laptops in the best light and so make some... optimistic claims about real-world battery performance. None of these claims are untrue per se, but they do rely on lab conditions.

Video playback is a good example. Looping a film at controlled brightness with few background tasks can produce a very different result from a normal workday full of browser tabs, emails, calls, and everything else.

Brightness, volume, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, keyboard backlighting, refresh rate, and background apps can all shift the result. Even the browser you use or the number of tabs you keep open has an effect.

Treat such claims as a baseline – an ideal, if you will – and go from there. For a clearer picture, reviewers like ours at TechRadar actually put laptops through their paces and have tests that simulate messy real-world usage.

If a hypothetical laptop maker says its laptop can deliver "all-day battery life", but a review finds that the device lasts for just a few hours under heavy usage, that's grounds for being a bit cautious.

What laptop buyers should actually look for

So what should you actually look for when buying your next laptop?

Firstly, capacity is still worth checking, if only to get a sense of how big your laptop's battery is and roughly what you can expect as a baseline.

But there are lots of specs to check alongside raw watt-hours. Display type, resolution, refresh rate, chip generation, graphics hardware, and software support can all be just as important once you start using the laptop properly.

A good review is likely more useful than a manufacturer’s headline claim. Look for tests that reflect the way you actually work, which can often be in sub-optimal conditions. A laptop with slightly lower quoted battery life may still be the better choice if it performs well in ordinary day-to-day use.

Analysing your own habits can also be useful. If you are a heavy Chrome user that likes to keep 200 tabs open at once (because you never know when you might need that recipe from two years ago!), adjust accordingly.

Similarly, if you edit video, play games, or use demanding creative tools, you should expect shorter runtimes and pay closer attention to charging speed.

Battery life is more than one number and results from dozens of design and hardware choices working together, and the best laptop for you is the one that uses its battery well for the things you actually do.

MSI Raider 16 Max HX: Two-minute review

MSI has something of a mixed history with gaming laptops. I've reviewed quite a few products from the Taiwanese computer hardware brand, and in the past, I've championed MSI for its ability to provide high-performance products with very competitive price tags.

Unfortunately, it seems that the ongoing RAM crisis has caused MSI's latest high-end gaming laptop, the Raider 16 Max HX, to take a hit in this department. Needless to say, this laptop is very far from cheap, with my review configuration clocking in at a steep $4,299 / £3,999 (around AU$6,235).

I'll dig more into the pricing details further down in this review, but the days of wallet-friendly gaming laptops are truly over. That's not a pure criticism of MSI, but I'll admit I balk a bit less at a sky-high price tag on something like Razer's Blade 18; at least Razer gear has always cost a premium, while MSI has frequently offered comparable specs at more reasonable prices.

Setting aside the price tag for a moment, though: is this a good gaming laptop? Well, for the most part, I'd say yes. Performance is strong across the board, with an Intel Core Ultra processor and Nvidia RTX 5000 GPU combined with 32GB of RAM to deliver high framerates in games and power through creative workloads. It's well-equipped for AI-focused workloads too, if you're looking for a device that can pull double duty for both work and play.

The VESA-validated QHD+ screen is bright and colorful, with optional OLED models available in some regions. The chassis is pretty chunky – I certainly wouldn't recommend the Raider 16 Max HX to anyone looking for a laptop they can easily take on the go – but it makes good use of that size, with a full-scale keyboard that doesn't feel cramped in use and a great selection of ports for physical connectivity.

Pricing aside, my main criticism of the MSI Raider 16 Max HX is the overall build quality. The plastic outer casing and screen hinge feel sturdy enough, but the keyboard housing has far too much flex on firm keypresses, and the touchpad is frankly abysmal, feeling like it might break if I pressed down too hard.

I'll delve more into these issues in the design section of this review, but I will say this here: they're not absolute dealbreakers. For starters, you should really be using one of the best gaming mice with any gaming laptop anyway, so the weak touchpad shouldn't actually be a huge problem for actual gaming. Overall, I did quite like the Raider 16 Max HX – it's simply difficult to recommend such a high-end laptop in the current hardware climate.

MSI Raider 16 Max HX review: Price & availability

• Starts from $2,999 / £2,249 (around AU$4,350)
• Available now in the US and UK
• Higher-end configurations get expensive fast

Even the base configuration of the MSI Raider 16 Max HX isn't cheap, starting out at $2,999 / £2,249 (around AU$4,350) for a version with the Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti graphics card, 16GB of RAM, and a less powerful Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU.

The review unit I received from MSI is a high-spec model, packing an RTX 5090 and Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor along with 32GB of RAM. This configuration will set you back a rather eye-watering $4,299 / £3,999 (around AU$6,235). There's also a middle-ground model, which uses the RTX 5080, and a few interstitial configurations that swap out the CPU, RAM, or display for slightly different components (including the aforementioned optional OLED display).

In short, it ain't cheap. Sure, you can find more expensive laptops out there, but not many of them. I can't comment on it with absolute confidence since I was sent an RTX 5090 version, but my past experiences with laptop RTX 5070 Ti GPUs lead me to suspect that the lower-end models might actually provide slightly more bang for your buck than the top-spec configurations.

MSI Raider 16 Max HX review: Specs

MSI Raider 16 Max HX review: Design

• Large, bulky 'gamer' design
• Bright, colorful display
• Plenty of ports and good cooling

Make no mistake, this is a gaming laptop through and through. From the translucent WASD keys to the patterned lid and RGB lightbar across the front of the chassis, the MSI Raider 16 Max HX absolutely screams 'gaming aesthetics' – so it might not be the laptop for you if you want something you can take into a serious office environment as well as gaming at home.

This advice goes double, in fact, because the Raider 16 Max HX is a bit of a chunky device, which hurts its portability. Weighing more than two and a half kilos and measuring over an inch thick with the lid closed, it's far from a lightweight laptop.

That being said, I won't knock the score down for the bulky chassis. MSI has made good use of the extra size, squeezing in a full-size RGB-backlit keyboard with a numpad, yet the main key spread doesn't feel cramped – I found it pretty good for typing, with decent spacing and a reasonable amount of travel. Unfortunately, the aforementioned flex in the keyboard housing gives a slightly spongy feel on firm presses, which may turn some users off.

The large chassis has some other bonuses, too; you get a rich selection of physical ports here, which I'm always pleased to see. In addition to multiple USB-A and USB-C (Thunderbolt 4) ports, you also get HDMI for connecting a second display and an SD card reader – potentially excellent for digital photographers or filmmakers who want to use their laptop both for gaming and editing work.

A bulkier design also allows for superior cooling. I'll dig into this more in the performance section, but long story short: this Raider has a pretty solid cooling solution, utilizing a triple-fan design with five large exhaust vents that help keep the laptop from getting too warm even during lengthy gaming binges. Considering that some gaming laptops can get pretty toasty when running graphically demanding titles, this is a good inclusion.

There's also a degree of upgrade flexibility here, with a removable underside panel that lets you swap in a new SSD (with an empty slot) or upgrade the RAM should you so desire. This isn't an uncommon sight in modern gaming laptops, but I always appreciate the option to boost my system a little.

Moving over to the display, it certainly feels like it belongs on a high-end laptop, delivering good maximum brightness and color reproduction even on the default IPS panel in my review unit (certain high-spec configurations swap this out for an even more vivid OLED panel instead). The QHD+ (1600p) resolution and 240Hz refresh rate are ideal for gaming – especially if you're into fast-paced esports games that demand a high framerate, like Counter-Strike or Valorant.

Above the display sits a 1080p webcam, which also includes a physical privacy shutter. In my opinion, physical shutters or camera killswitches should be mandatory in laptops, so I'm glad to see one included here.

I really do need to address the touchpad. This might be one of the worst-feeling touchpads I've ever seen on a 'premium' laptop; in fact, I've legitimately seen better pads on budget-friendly Chromebooks. Clicks feel wobbly and unsatisfying, the whole housing flexes far too much even on less forceful presses, and right-clicks sometimes fail to register unless your finger is in the extreme bottom-right corner of the pad.

It's just... bad. I acknowledge that in practice, this won't be a massive issue since all but the most unhinged PC gamers will always use a mouse over a touchpad, but considering that my review model costs in excess of four thousand US dollars, it feels egregiously poor quality.

Lastly, the speakers and microphone are decent but unspectacular. You could find a gaming laptop with superior audio features, but I won't mark the Raider 16 Max HX down for that, because much like the touchpad situation, any sensible PC gamer will be using a gaming headset anyway.

MSI Raider 16 Max HX review: Performance

• Powerful AAA gaming performance
• Also good for creative and AI workloads
• Fans do get noisy

Shocking nobody, my RTX 5090-toting review unit of the MSI Raider 16 Max HX blasted through our benchmarking tests with aplomb, delivering top-notch performance throughout.

Naturally, that meant excellent framerates in a range of triple-A games; in addition to the ones visible in that boxout, I also tested Marathon, Elden Ring, Warframe, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, and they all looked fantastic on the QHD+ display.

It was even able to average exactly 60 frames per second in Cyberpunk 2077 with the Ray Tracing Overdrive preset at the Raider's native 1600p resolution, using only Balanced DLSS upscaling with no frame generation – a notoriously demanding benchmark that batters many of the best gaming laptops.

So, both synthetic and real-world gaming tests went smoothly – but what about creative workloads? Well, the Raider 16 Max HX delivers on that front too, handily matching (and even exceeding, in some tests) the scores achieved by Razer's most recent Blade 18 with the same GPU. 3D rendering, video editing, statistical modelling, LLM training... you name it, the Raider can handle it.

The Intel Core Ultra 290HX Plus in my review unit is also a beast, delivering solid performance across both single- and multi-core workloads. For anyone looking to play CPU-bound games like large-scale management sims, strategy, and 4X titles, this ensures you won't encounter CPU bottlenecks that hamper performance.

I would note that during intensive workloads (predominantly games and creative software), the fans do get fairly loud. They're not the noisiest I've ever heard in a gaming laptop, but it's something potential buyers may want to bear in mind if they're planning to use the Raider in shared spaces, because they do have quite a noticeable whine that almost completely drowned out the fans of my nearby desktop PC during benchmarking. A good headset should insulate your ears from this noise, at least.

It also offers pleasingly fast SSD read and write speeds – which, in fairness, is something I would fully expect from a laptop in this price range, but is good to see nonetheless. Creative professionals who regularly work with large file sizes will appreciate how quickly you can transfer your files around.

Since this is an Nvidia RTX 5000 laptop, regardless of which configuration you purchase, you're also getting the full suite of performance-boosting software tools inside the newly redesigned (and hugely improved) Nvidia App. That naturally includes DLSS resolution upscaling, but also up to 4x frame generation – though I'd personally recommend sticking to 2x for now, for better visual fidelity – as well as features like Nvidia Reflex, in-depth system monitoring, and AI-powered filters like RTX HDR.

Unfortunately, it seems MSI couldn't resist cramming in a load of their own software as well, and to be brutally honest, this is mostly bloatware. The default MSI Center tool is... fine, I guess, letting you customize the RGB lighting as well as tweak system performance presets, but it's hardly groundbreaking stuff. Add in Norton 360 antivirus, Nahimic audio, the Intel Killer network tool, SteelSeries GG, MSI True Color, MSI App Player, and all the Windows Store nonsense Microsoft insists on pre-installing with Windows 11, and it all becomes quite annoying.

Mercifully, you can uninstall the majority of this garbage, or simply do a clean Windows install when you first set it up. But I'm never going to stop being mildly irritated by laptop manufacturers cramming as much software as possible into their devices – especially when some of them are literally mirrored by base functionality within Windows itself.

MSI Raider 16 Max HX review: Battery life

• Great for a gaming laptop
• Good at auto-switching to the iGPU
• Can be charged via USB-C or bundled adapter

MSI has evidently pulled some funky witchcraft with the Raider 16 Max HX, because it cleared the 8-hour mark in our video playback test – an exceedingly rare sight for a gaming laptop.

Okay, there aren't actually any magic spells involved here; the trick is in the new Intel Core Ultra chip that powers this Raider, which offers stellar power efficiency compared to older CPUs from the likes of Intel and AMD. Of course, the GPU will guzzle power when you're gaming (in my online gaming test playing Marathon on the Raider 16 Max HX, it drained from full charge to 10% in just over two hours, which is still decent), but the laptop will automatically switch to the Intel chip's integrated graphics when not running graphically-intensive software in order to conserve battery life.

I also found that it held charge very well, still packing more than 50% after sitting on my desk for several days following my initial unboxing and photography. You can charge it via the (very chunky) bundled adapter, or use any appropriate USB-C charger for slower but more portable charging if you ever opt to take it out of its usual desktop-replacement environment.

Should I buy the MSI Raider 16 Max HX?

Razer Blade 18 (2026): Scorecard

Buy the MSI Raider 16 Max HX if…

Don't buy it if…

MSI Raider 16 Max HX review: Also consider

How I tested the MSI Raider 16 Max HX

• Replaced my usual system for 10 days
• Used for gaming and other tasks
• 8+ years of experience reviewing dozens of laptops

As usual for my laptop review process, I used the MSI Raider 16 Max HX as a replacement for my usual laptop and desktop PC, putting it through its paces in everything from gaming to my everyday work at TechRadar.

Naturally, I also ran the Raider through our synthetic and gaming benchmark testing suite as seen in the Performance section of this review, as well as playing several other games (just for fun!) which included Marathon, Warframe, Elden Ring, and my long-running obsession Slay the Spire 2 – though of course, that last one is hardly a hardware stress test, since it can literally run on my phone.

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: July 2026
• Read more about how we test

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Surface issues — and a bigger problem of entrenched perceptions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Analysis: A Neo approach some are questioning

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• 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.

• 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.

• 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).

• 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.

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.

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

• 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."

For years, Apple occupied a strange middle ground in enterprise IT.

It’s long been the platform of choice for executives, developers, and creative teams while often considered too premium for broader use. That perception is starting to change across enterprises big and small.

From the release of MacBook Neo to the rising costs of components and growing fatigue around Windows 11, several converging factors are now making it easier to justify Apple at scale.

Meanwhile, with work increasingly living in the cloud, many roles no longer require a heavyweight PC. As a result, secure and reliable devices with predictable lifecycle costs are king.

In this context, Apple makes a clear case for itself across fleets rather than just in the C-suite.

MacBook Neo: Affordable but not ‘cheap’

In March, Apple launched its new budget laptop at $599.

It’s the company’s most affordable laptop ever but far from “cheap” – counting a 13-inch Liquid Retina display and an A18 Pro chip. Strip away the consumer marketing (largely focused on students) and there’s a clear enterprise use case.

Why? Because for a growing share of employees, the workday lives in a browser, an online collaboration suite, or a virtual desktop. Rather than a heavy workstation, these users need a secure machine that lasts all day and doesn’t create support drag.

By comparison, the rest of the PC market is facing headwinds. In October, Windows 10 support officially ended. Extended security updates bought some more time but, for enterprise users, the move is inevitable.

The forced transition to Windows 11 isn’t helped by the first set of mandatory updates earlier this year breaking sleep mode and other core functions on some machines.

Further, Gartner expects combined DRAM and SSD prices to surge by 130% by the end of the year, pushing PC prices up by 17%. That’s bad news for vendors fighting in the low-margin Windows laptop segment.

On the other hand, while Apple isn’t immune to supply chain pressure, a vendor that designs its own silicon, controls its own OS, and uses the same chip family across mobile and desktop has more room to maneuver than vendors stitching together x86 roadmaps, Windows licensing, and thin hardware margins.

Device management dictates adoption

Hardware is only half the battle in enterprise onboarding. The other half, and what the company hasn’t always had, is an equally compelling “day-two” story for admins regarding enrollment and support.

Here, too, Apple is showing an appetite to bridge the management gap with the announcement of Apple Business. The platform went global in April offering built-in device management as a free service, Blueprints for zero-touch setup, Managed Apple Accounts via identity providers such as Google Workspace and Microsoft Entra ID, and custom roles, along with an Admin API for larger deployments.

Apple is also fixing the plumbing inside its latest macOS. Tahoe adds device management service migration, enrollment deadlines, declarative app deployment, and Platform SSO during Setup Assistant. Taken together, these updates smooth out the deployment edges and ensure that rollout and compliance don’t become a side project for the help desk.

It’s also worth repeating that Apple (unlike many competitors) spans mobile and desktop with the same ecosystem logic. In procurement terms, that’s another win because a company deeply invested in iPhones or iPads then has fewer reasons to treat Macs as outliers.

Apple’s enterprise play here isn’t about arguing that it’s “better” but about being easy to adopt and integrate without breaking the budget.

Apple makes its case across fleets

This isn’t just another round of “Apple hype”. The momentum is real and admins looking to make the switch should be encouraged to experiment with onboarding. However, remember to pilot on a small scale where the job is already cloud-first, build policy around identity and data, and judge devices on lifecycle cost and support burden.

And despite Apple’s native improvements, don’t forego third-party device management. Rollout success still hinges on cross-platform insight, identity, compliance, and patch management.

During this evolution, expect to see more mixed fleets rather than a complete replacement of Windows. After all, legacy applications, industry-specific workflows, and procurement habits won’t change overnight.

Slowly but surely, however, Apple’s improving on what admins care about (the trifecta of price, performance, and management) while also benefiting at the macro level (supply chain math that favors vertical integration).

The goal isn’t to win everywhere and everyone but to stop being treated like a special case that’s only for business leaders and heavy-duty workflows.

It’s telling that nearly all CIOs in a recent survey consider Apple infrastructure important to their IT strategy and that AI workloads are driving new use cases across roles. Time and cost ultimately dictate enterprise onboarding and, for Apple, these considerations are moving in the right direction.

We've rated the best mobile device management (MDM) software.

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• 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.

• 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.

• 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..."

LG Gram Book: Two-minute review

Sometimes, even the best laptops can be a bit... boring. That doesn't have to be a bad thing, though; forgo some of the fancy features and the over-designed chassis, and you'll often find yourself with a solid, minimal-frills laptop that comes with a sensible asking price.

That's the case with the new LG Gram Book. It's a new entry to LG's iconic Gram laptop series, but designed to fill a hitherto non-existent position within the Gram ecosystem: a midrange laptop.

See, the LG Gram series makes for some pretty decent laptops, but they're also rather expensive, typically sitting comfortably above the $1,000 / £1,000 / AU$1,500 mark. For that high price, you're getting a premium-feeling laptop that LG has tried as hard as possible to keep at the 1kg weight point - hence the name. But what if LG stopped worrying so much about the weight, and just focused on making a good midrange laptop?

Enter the Gram Book. It weighs in at 1.65kg, which arguably means LG should've tried to find a different name for it, but to be fair, I do own some actual paper books that are heavier than this. Rather than going for ultra-premium hardware, this laptop sits more in the budget-to-midrange space, with a 1080p display and 13th-gen Intel Core i5 processor.

It's not much to look at, but I actually think that's fine: this isn't a laptop for people who care too much about appearances. It feels quite sturdily built despite an outer casing made of matte plastic, and features a full-scale keyboard with a numpad.

Unfortunately, the price-to-performance ratio simply isn't there; this laptop is fundamentally underpowered and offers seriously lackluster battery life for the asking price.

The Gram Book is clearly aimed at office workers and students who need a straightforward laptop for work or studying, and I had hoped it might qualify for a position on our ranking of the best student laptops. In some areas, it does deliver in that regard. There are a few nice additions here, which I'll get to further down in this review, but for the most part, it's just a deeply unexciting laptop.

LG Gram Book: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? Starts at $799 / £699 / AU$1,199
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

With a price tag of $799 / £699 / AU$1,199, the LG Gram Book isn't exactly what I'd call a budget laptop. In fact, considering the specs on offer, I'd argue it's a little overpriced; you could spend a similar amount on one of Acer's excellent Aspire laptops and get slightly more bang for your buck.

It's certainly not terribly expensive, especially since the LG Gram line has historically come with some uncomfortably steep asking prices. It's just unfortunate that you could definitely do better without needing to pony up more cash. There's currently only one configuration of the Gram Book available, listed below.

Outside of Windows laptops, the obvious competitor here is the new MacBook Neo. While it doesn't offer the same amount of oomph as the mainstream MacBook Air and Pro models with M-series chips, Apple's first 'budget MacBook' is indisputibly a better choice. It offers better performance, a full metal chassis, and a nicer display - and it's actually a bit cheaper than the Gram Book, costing just $599 / £599 / AU$899.

• Price score: 2/5

LG Gram Book: Specs

LG Gram Book: Design

• Display is merely okay
• Lots of ports
• Touchpad feels a bit cheap

At first glance, the LG Gram Book isn't much to look at. The outer chassis is plain gray, with a subtle Gram logo emblazoned on the lid. Opening it up, you're met with the same no-nonsense color scheme - bar the retro red power button, which is immediately reminiscent of the infamous red 'laptop nipple' navigation nub found on Lenovo's ThinkPad series.

I actually quite like it. It's befitting the design ethos of this laptop, not trying to draw your attention with fancy aesthetic design choices or LED keyboard backlighting. The Gram Book looks like a laptop belonging to the type of person who shows up, gets the job done quickly and efficiently, and goes home.

On the topic of the keyboard, it's fine but unspectacular; there's not quite as much travel as I'd like, and the keys feel a little spongy on firm presses. This is a full-layout laptop keyboard, featuring a numpad and function key row, but I will admit that it never felt cramped to type on in my testing; if anything, I'd say the key size and spacing are good.

Sadly, I can't say anything nice about the touchpad, which feels cheap and plasticky, with far too much flex in the chassis when I pressed down firmly. Clicks are muted and responsive, which is something, but this is definitely a case where I'd recommend connecting a mouse. For the asking price, it smacks of bargain basement hardware.

Speaking of connections: the Gram Book has plenty of physical ports, which is always nice to see. We've got two USB-A and two USB-C ports (sadly, the latter don't support Thunderbolt 4) along with an HDMI port and a headphone jack. The only thing missing here is an SD or microSD card reader, but this isn't really a laptop for photo/videography specialists, so it's an understandable omission. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, which again, is perfectly acceptable if not on the cutting edge.

The display is a bog-standard 1080p 60Hz IPS panel, which performed reasonably well in brightly-lit environments but isn't particularly impressive. The webcam is also a fairly pedestrian 720p camera, although it does include a physical privacy shutter - something I personally think should be mandatory on laptops.

• Design score: 3/5

LG Gram Book: Performance

• Decent but hardly exciting performance
• Handles everyday tasks fine
• Not for gaming

I won't beat around the bush here: the Intel Core i5-1334U chip powering the LG Gram Book isn't exactly brimming with power. You can expect to get reasonably good everyday performance from this laptop, but it's not going to be running triple-A games or resource-intensive creative software anytime soon. Even lightweight titles like Civilization VI struggled a bit.

Frankly, the benchmark results don't paint a very impressive picture, with absolutely feeble graphical performance and decidedly average scores in productivity and AI tests. But synthetic benchmarks don't always tell the full story.

In real-world testing, I actually found the Gram Book to be quite responsive, having no difficulty opening numerous Chrome tabs or watching a YouTube video while working in another window. Considering that most of my work involves typing, emailing, and surfing the web, it was a sufficient replacement for my usual workhorse - the 2019 model of the venerable HP Spectre x360, which is starting to show its age a little. Then again, it's not exactly flattering to compare this laptop to a device from six years ago.

If you want to do anything more demanding than that, though, the cracks start to show. I was able to use GIMP 2.0 to do some light image editing without things getting too sluggish, but that's about the extent of this laptop's creative prowess. The Gram Book's rendering and video editing capabilities simply aren't up to snuff, and while I was able to play Stardew Valley just fine, attempting to run modern titles with 3D graphics felt like a fool's errand.

Interestingly, the LG Gram Book also has a dedicated Copilot button, and is marketed with support for Microsoft's handy AI assistant as a key selling point. I found this a little strange initially, as the Intel Core i5 chip doesn't actually have a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for handling local AI tasks - something that Microsoft has previously mandated for laptops to receive the new 'Copilot+ PC' designation.

However, it seems that LG has decided to go ahead with including a Copilot button regardless, which is great for power users who want to make the most of AI in Windows - though it's important to note here that the Gram Book is not a true Copilot+ system, meaning that you don't get access to a handful of specific features that do require an NPU, such as the controversial Recall functionality. It also means it's unable to process AI tasks locally - instead, you'll need to be connected to the internet, with all the associated risks to privacy that using cloud-based AI tools entail.

Still, the Copilot button works mostly as advertised, letting you summon Microsoft's chatbot at the press of a button. It was even able to helpfully explain the difference between using Copilot with and without an NPU for me - but don't worry, I made sure to double-check its information.

• Performance score: 3/5

LG Gram Book: Battery

I'm going to keep this section short: the battery life on the LG Gram Book is unimpressive, perhaps even bordering on dismal. In our video playback test, with the laptop set to the power-efficiency preset in Windows, volume at zero, and brightness at 50%, the Gram Book didn't even make it past the seven-hour mark. In practical testing during my regular workday, it perished before I reached six hours of continuous use.

Considering how much this laptop costs, it's frankly disappointing that it couldn't even survive through a full eight-hour workday without needing to be plugged in. Crank up the brightness, turn on the speakers, or start running multiple programs at once, and you'll get even less time between charges.

It doesn't even charge particularly fast, since the USB-C ports used for charging don't support Thunderbolt 4's improved power delivery capabilities. In my tests, it took about two hours to charge to full (from 5% battery) while not in use.

• Battery score: 2/5

Should you buy the LG Gram Book?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also Consider

How I tested the LG Gram Book

• Replaced my regular laptop with LG Gram Book for two weeks
• Used the laptop both for day-to-day work and personal projects
• Ran our usual selection of benchmarking software

For this review, I took the usual steps: in addition to our standard testing routine, the LG Gram Book replaced my daily driver for work and personal projects, so I could better get a feel for its performance in real-world settings. This is mostly low-level tasks like writing in Google Docs and doing research online, with a bit of image editing via GIMP 2.0 sprinkled in there. I also used it outside in my yard to see how well the screen performed in bright sunlight.

Each software test in our benchmarking selection is run three times and averaged to avoid outlier results. I tested the laptop while it was plugged in and set to Windows 11's performance power preset (with the exception of the battery life test, naturally, which uses the best efficiency preset).

Read more about how we test

First reviewed April 2025

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro: Two-minute review

The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro is a laptop in the ultrabook class, featuring a sublime design that keeps bulk to a minimum.

I was immediately struck by the svelteness of the unit. The clean lines and rounded corners only add to its minimalist chic, as does the steely grey colorway.

It looks and feels every bit as premium as any of our current best laptops. All materials are smooth to the touch, while the metal base is solid. The metal lid isn’t quite as stable as those on some other laptops I've tested, but it’s perfectly sufficient for normal use, and the hinge operates very well.

The price you pay for such solidity, though, is that the Galaxy Book6 Pro isn’t exactly light. I tested the 16-inch model, so I wasn’t expecting a featherweight unit, but it’s worth mentioning all the same. At least its thin profile makes it more portable than it otherwise would be.

The Book6 Pro's all-round performance is excellent. It can handle all kinds of tasks without missing a beat, and I was also amazed by its gaming performance, despite the lack of dedicated GPU. It was able to run AAA titles at respectable graphical settings in perfectly playable states.

Note that you can feel some heat on the keyboard, with fan noise apparent, even when the laptop is under moderate stress. Thankfully, the noise is relatively hushed, and not likely to cause much disruption.

However, it was the 16-inch 3K AMOLED display of my review unit that really caught the eye. It’s as bright, sharp, and rich as you could wish for, while touchscreen functionality is also great. Unlike the majority of laptops screens, the rounded corners of the frame here add to the display's appeal, while the super-thin bezel ensures that none of the copious real estate goes to waste.

The keys on the Galaxy Book6 Pro are a little heavier than you might expect, which can lead to presses failing to register, at least in my experience. The layout is also a little cramped — and it’s a shame that on a laptop of this size, Samsung has chosen to omit a number pad and most navigation keys.

I have fewer complaints about the touchpad, though. Its large size and incredibly smooth surface make navigation a cinch. Also, it mostly avoids encroaching on wrist space when typing; only on a few brief occasions did I accidentally trigger cursor movement.

Battery life is adequate, if not spectacular. It lasted 14 hours in our movie playback test, which is under an hour of that achieved by the Asus Zenbook S 16 and the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4), but an hour more than the Dell 16 Plus.

The Galaxy Book6 Pro is certainly a costly proposition, but when you consider all that it offers, its value becomes more apparent. It’s similarly priced to the aforementioned Zenbook, a close rival in many ways, and more expensive than the Dell 16 Plus. Nevertheless, it's difficult for either of these alternatives to surpass the sheer quality and glorious display of Samsung's super-slender machine.

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro review: Specs

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro review: Price & availability

• Starts from $1,899.99 / £1,699
• Available now
• Expensive, but in line with some others

Pricing for the Galaxy Book6 Pro starts from $1,899.99 / £1,699 (about AU$2,740; pricing and availability for Australia is TBC at the time of writing), with the models available now. It can be configured with 16GB or 32GB of RAM, and 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage. There are two Intel Core Ultra CPUs to choose from, the 7 356H and the X7 358H — the latter of which is reserved for the top-tier model. A variant with the Ultra 5 325 is coming soon.

The Galaxy Book6 Pro is an expensive laptop, then — although this isn’t too surprising, given its design and spec. The base model is similarly in price to the Asus Zenbook S 16, which also features a 3K OLED display, but 24GB instead of 16GB of RAM.

However, if you're in the market for a large laptop that still offers plenty of quality for less, there’s the Dell 16 Plus. The base model is significantly cheaper than the Galaxy Book6 Pro’s, but it still arrives with an Intel Core Ultra 7 chip, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. Its resolution is lower, but only slightly.

• Value: 3.5 / 5

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro review: Design

• Incredibly thin
• Solid metal enclosure
• Quite heavy

In line with many of Samsung’s mobile devices, the Galaxy Book6 Pro is a sleek, premium-looking machine. The dark grey colorway is also very fetching and somehow adds more interest than your typical monochromatic designs.

Every contour is completely flat, while the corners, which are more rounded than most, give the design a softer appearance. Even the underside of the laptop is free of the fuss , with just four discreet rubber feet in each corner.

What's more, the Galaxy Book6 Pro's build quality is exceptional. The all-metal chassis is supremely strong, and while the lid isn’t as stable as some other models when open, it stays put under normal usage. The hinge for it is satisfyingly smooth, too. The bezel around the display is incredibly thin, which is always great to see, but the lack of a physical privacy shutter for the webcam, not so much.

The keys are more solidly planted than those of other laptop keyboards, and they also feature backlighting — which, in my opinion, is pretty much an essential feature.

Best of all, though, is just how thin the Galaxy Book6 Pro is. It’s reminiscent of the MacBook Air M1, since it thins out towards the front end. Given my review unit was the 16-inch model, I wasn’t too surprised by its weighty feel, but this does somewhat negate the utility of that slender form when it comes to portability. Still, it certainly makes it easier to slide in and out of a bag.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro review: Performance

• Surprisingly capable graphical performance
• Superb display
• Keys are a little heavy

The general performance of the Galaxy Book6 Pro is very good. It handles basic browsing and productivity tasks, as well as 4K streaming, with ease.

What surprised was just how well it handled games. Despite lacking a dedicated GPU, it managed to run Cyberpunk 2077 with the Ray Tracing: Ultra preset selected, without succumbing to disruptive slowdowns or stuttering. Intel’s XeSS Super Resolution 2.0 (in Auto mode) and Frame Generation were both enabled during my sessions.

Of course, the Galaxy Book6 Pro isn’t going to dethrone the best gaming laptops, and the keyboard layout can feel a little cramped when in the typical WSAD position; but it’s impressive, nonetheless.

Some heat was noticeable all over the keyboard during such intensive tasks, no doubt a corollary of that ultra-thin design — but, thankfully, the temperatures remained well within comfortable bounds. Some fan noise did become apparent, even under moderate workloads, but I didn’t find this too disturbing.

The AMOLED display is every bit as sumptuous as you'd expect it to be. The 3K resolution is satisfyingly crisp, while colors are vibrant and the contrast expectedly deep. The touchscreen functions well, too, responding quickly and accurately to my finger inputs.

I was also fond of the bezel's rounded corners, which soften the frame and make on-screen content appear neater somehow. It’s a small touch that I wish more laptop displays featured; the best MacBooks have it, but only in the top corners, not the bottom as well.

The keys are nicely damped, but still display relatively shallow travel. However, they’re heavier than others, which resulted in some of my presses failing to register, requiring more force than I’m accustomed to producing. This may be an adjustment you’ll need to make as well, if you’re someone with a light touch.

While the layout is comfortably spaced for typing, it’s a shame there’s no number pad and only a few navigation keys (Insert/ Prt Sc and Delete) on the Galaxy Book6 Pro, given the 16-inch real estate of my unit.

The touchpad on the 16-inch model of the Book6 Pro is large, which is great for navigation. Despite this, there's also enough room on the sides for resting your wrists while you type. There were times when the cursor moved as a result of my palms coming into contact with the pad, but this wasn’t frequent or long-lasting enough to cause a problem.

• Performance: 4.5 / 5

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro review: Battery life

• Middling longevity
• Quick to charge

The Galaxy Book6 Pro offers an average battery life. When I ran a movie on a continuous loop, it lasted 14 hours. This is well below Samsung's claimed figure of up to 30 hours. However, it's only an hour less than what the Asus Zenbook S 16 and the Apple MacBook Air 15-inch (M4) managed.

However, it lasted over an hour more than the Dell 16 Plus. It's also quick to charge, taking about two hours to go from empty to full.

• Battery life: 3.5 / 5

Should I buy the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro?

Buy the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro if…

Don't buy it if…

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro review: Also consider

How I tested the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro

• Tested for several days
• Ran our series of benchmarks
• Plentiful laptop reviewing experience

I tested the Galaxy Book6 Pro for several days. I used it for all kinds of tasks, from general browsing and light productivity to 4K streaming and AAA gaming. I also ran our series of benchmark tests, designed to assess every aspect of a laptop’s performance.

I have plenty of experience reviewing computing devices of all kinds. I’ve tested numerous laptops, from budget offerings to top-tier gaming machines. I’ve also reviewed desktops, Chromebooks, and tablets.

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

MSI Prestige 14 AI+: Two-minute review

The MSI Prestige 14 AI+ is a sleek business-focused laptop with a premium design that manages an interesting and useful mix of the features and performance you need, but skips a lot of the bloat.

As the name suggests, it’s a 14-inch laptop, and it’s aimed at users on the go who need a thin and light machine that still offers decent performance and battery life. The Prestige 14 measures in at 31.6 x 22.2 x 1.2 - 1.4cm (12.4 x 8.7 x 0.47 - 0.55 inches) and weighs 1.32kg (2.91 lbs) — an excellent size for portability without being too small. Compared to the non-Windows competition, it’s chunkier than a MacBook Air, but is slimmer and lighter than a MacBook Pro.

The Prestige 14 AI+ D3M configuration I tested uses the Intel Core Ultra 7 355 CPU with 32GB of onboard LPDDR5x memory and a 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD — a popular spec in laptops launched in 2026. You can also get the Prestige 14 AI+ in the same spec but with a 512GB SSD, or with a more powerful Intel Core Ultra X7 358H CPU.

While the Prestige 14 AI+ is a classic clamshell laptop, there’s also a similar 2-in-1 model. If that’s more your style, check out our MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ review.

On the left side, the Prestige 14 AI+ has two USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 ports (both supporting DisplayPort and 100W charging), plus an HDMI 2.1 output. The right side features dual USB-A ports and a 3.5mm headset jack.

The pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports makes it easy to connect the laptop up to a dock or monitor, and if also using HDMI, you can drive 3 external displays. I generally like having one USB-C port on each side, but the dual left ports plus HDMI setup does make it neat on a desk.

The 14-inch OLED display has a resolution of 1920 x 1200 (a pleasing 16:10 aspect ratio) with excellent 100% DCI-P3 color. MSI doesn't quote a specific NIT figure on the local spec sheet, but in use the glossy OLED panel is bright enough to overcome reflections in slightly glary office environments but struggles a little outdoors.

Handily, the screen folds back through a full 180 degrees, which is great for sharing content across a table or using the laptop in a vertical stand. The 1920 x 1200 resolution is perfectly fine at this size but not quite as sharp as I prefer and you will need to look at the larger 16-inch Prestige 16 AI+ if you want a higher res screen, like 2880x1800.

The IR FHD webcam gives decent quality video when well-lit and is still acceptable in tougher lower-light conditions. It supports facial recognition unlocks, plus has a physical shutter for privacy. Speaker quality is better than expected, though as is normal in a thin laptop, the sound gets a little muddy at higher volumes.

The backlit keyboard has deep key travel, very little bounce and no distracting light bleed from under the keys. The large touchpad is nice and accurate and supports gestures, though its non-haptic click mechanism has unusually deep travel, especially on right click, and can feel a little awkward at times.

The new Intel Series 3 Core Ultra 7 355 CPU is a good fit for this kind of thin-and-light machine. In daily use the Prestige 14 AI+ feels very responsive for typical office work, photo editing and even heavier multitasking. This is thanks in part to the snappy CPU, but also due to the 32GB of RAM and fast SSD. The integrated graphics are a step down from Intel Arc iGPUs but performance is plenty for accelerating lighter creative work and even some casual gaming.

The battery has an 81Wh capacity — decently large for this class of machine — and the laptop lasted an excellent 14 hours and 42 minutes unplugged when doing office tasks. Video playback is even better at 16 hours and 21 minutes in testing, meaning the Prestige will happily make it through a day unplugged.

All in all, the combination of snappy everyday performance and excellent battery life in a stylish portable laptop makes the MSI Prestige 14 AI+ easy to recommend.

MSI Prestige 14 AI+: Price & availability

• How much does it cost? $1,699 / £1,449 / AU$2,599
• When is it available? Available now
• Where is it available? Available in the US, UK and Australia

The MSI Prestige 14 AI+ is very new, so at the time of writing availability is not yet widespread and in the US, only the Ultra X7 385H variant is for sale.

The Intel Core Ultra 7 355 variant tested costs around £1,449 in the UK and AU$2,599 in Australia, though some retailers already have it a little cheaper. You can also save a little by opting for the 512GB SSD spec.

The pricing places the MSI Prestige 14 AI+ firmly in premium ultrabook territory rather than the more budget-friendly business-laptop space, but the spec and features do help justify the higher asking price — especially as the latest generation of laptops has experienced noticeable price rises compared to 2025 models. Still, I hope to see the price come down over time to help keep it competitive.

The Intel Ultra X7 358H variant is also sold in Australia and the UK with up to a 2TB SSD and is only slightly more expensive — so it’s well worth checking out if you need more storage or higher performance.

• Value score: 4 / 5

MSI Prestige 14 AI+: Specs

The Prestige 14 AI+ family includes several variants, but the configuration tested here is straightforward: an Intel Core Ultra 7 355, 32GB of onboard LPDDR5x memory, a 1TB SSD and a 14-inch 1920 x 1200 OLED display.

The other common option is a model with a more powerful Intel Core Ultra X7 358H CPU and up to a 2TB SSD.

• Specs score: 4 / 5

MSI Prestige 14 AI+: Design

• 180-degree fold-flat screen
• Dual Thunderbolt 4
• 16:10 OLED display

The Prestige 14 AI+ looks and feels like a proper premium laptop compared to MSI's more budget-friendly office machines, and it has a sleek, understated design that easily rivals the best from other brands.

The Prestige 14 measures in at 31.6 x 22.2 x 1.2–1.4cm (12.4 x 8.7 x 0.47–0.55 inches), and its 1.32kg (2.91 lbs) weight makes it a very manageable laptop to carry around every day. The curved edges of the aluminum alloy design make it feel pleasantly slim in hand (or when slipping it into a bag) but it’s strong enough to use without any undue flexing.

The port fitout and left/right split is pretty standard on laptops these days and has everything needed for most users. It would be nice to see little extras like an SD card reader, or another USB-C port on the right, but that’s increasingly rare.

MSI says the laptop can be equipped with 64GB of RAM, but for now I have only seen 32GB variants for sale. The RAM is soldered so can’t be upgraded, but the SSD uses a M.2 slot so can be swapped out in the future if you need more space.

The keyboard is above average, with comfortable sizing (even for my large hands), deep travel and very little bounce during a vigorous deadline-induced writing session.

The trackpad is large and accurate to use and supports gestures like adjusting volume or brightness, and has a handy shortcut to the calculator and the MSI Center S management software. You do need to turn the gestures on manually and once you get used to them they work pretty well, and they aren't easy to accidentally trigger. You can also set up your own custom actions for gestures, like activating specific hotkeys or launching apps.

Overall I found the trackpad to be above average and my only complaint during my use was that right-clicking in the lower corner felt oddly deep, despite it working just fine.

The 16:10 display gives that little bit of extra screen real estate that you only realize is so helpful if ever going back to a 16:9 laptop. The 1920 x 1200 resolution is lower than I usually like, but considering the 14-inch footprint, it's quite sharp and usable day to day. That’s helped by the OLED panel with an excellent 100% DCI-P3 color rating, and while there’s no listed brightness, it’s good enough even in bright office environments, but the glossy surface shows a lot of reflections if outdoors at a cafe.

If you want a higher resolution display, then look at the larger Prestige 16 AI+ C3MG lineup. The spec is very similar overall, but you get a 16-inch 2880x1800 OLED display and the price is only slightly higher. Or for touchscreen support, the Prestige 14 Flip machines offer a comparable laptop but with a 2-in-1 design.

My favorite feature though is that the screen uses a hinge that allows it to fold back through 180 degrees. That is very useful for using the laptop in a vertical stand next to external monitors — in my testing I had it upright and flat next to dual vertically mounted 4K 27” panels, letting me use the laptop screen as an extra workspace for things like a Slack chat. The fold-back screen also makes it easy to share content across a table, and works well in one-on-one meetings.

The Prestige 14 AI+ includes an IR webcam and fingerprint reader, so secure logins are fast and easy. Many laptops only have one or the other, but having both means you can use whatever method you prefer, or turn off facial logins if needed without resorting to using a pin or password.

• Design score: 4 / 5

MSI Prestige 14 AI+: Performance

• Great everyday performance
• Very quiet in normal use
• Fast 1TB SSD

The MSI Prestige 14 AI+ feels snappy in typical use, with top-notch single-core performance plus fast RAM and storage. The Intel Core Ultra 7 355 is aimed at being an efficient chip for thin and light laptops, so multicore performance is lower than you get with more powerful CPUs.

It’s still plenty for most tasks, but for anyone who runs more demanding apps, the Prestige 14 with the more powerful Intel Core Ultra X7 358H is well worth the slightly higher price. For most users though, the Ultra 7 355 is a good mix of performance and efficiency.

MSI has equipped the Prestige 14 with a very fast SSD that can approach the limits of the PCIe 4.0 interface. In my tests the drive managed 6,961 MB/s read and 6,335 MB/s writes in CrystalDiskMark, which helps ensure the laptop feels fast when launching apps and multitasking.

Of course, decent performance in a thin form factor means some fan noise is expected under heavy load. Like most laptops these days, MSI uses vapor chamber cooling and during normal office work the Prestige 14 AI+ is mostly inaudible, or very quiet when the fans do spool up a little.

It gets that characteristic laptop fan whine under heavy loads, but does ramp down quickly once the CPU isn’t working as hard. The chassis does get noticeably warm if you push the laptop for an extended period, but the keyboard, touchpad and underside never became uncomfortably hot in my testing.

Graphics performance is naturally limited by the integrated GPU, but it is still respectable for a thin business laptop. The Prestige 14 AI+ scored 3,296 in 3DMark Time Spy and 6,502 in Fire Strike, which is a bit less than last gen CPUs like the Intel Ultra 7 258V, but enough for lighter GPU work and some casual play with older or less demanding games.

If you need a laptop that can compete with low-end discrete graphics, then opting for the Prestige 14 with the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H CPU is a good call, as it has a much more powerful Intel Arc B390 iGPU, which offers over 50% higher performance.

The Intel Core Ultra 7 355 includes an NPU with up to 49 TOPs performance, but we are still in that awkward phase where it’s underutilized most of the time. Still, it’s only going to get more useful, and already offers advantages such as efficiently handling webcam backgrounds and video effects in otherwise notorious resource-hogging apps like Teams.

If your workload consists of typical office tasks — writing, handling spreadsheets, multitasking across apps, image editing and other general productivity, the Prestige 14 AI+ has more than enough performance.

If you need to handle more creator-style workloads, then it’s definitely worth looking at other models, such as the MSI Prestige 16 AI+ C3M.

• Performance score: 4 / 5

MSI Prestige 14 AI+: Battery life

• 14 hours and 42 minutes work when unplugged
• 16 hours and 21 minutes of video playback

The Prestige 14 AI+ has an 81Wh battery — decently large considering the light weight and thin design meaning battery life is one of its key strengths. Connected to Wi-Fi, I managed 14 hours and 42 minutes of lighter office-style work (like writing reviews) on battery, which is more than enough to get through a long day.

If you add in some more demanding tasks like a lot of image editing, then battery life slips. But even then the CPU is efficient enough that you need to be working it pretty hard before you can’t make it through a day unplugged.

The Prestige 14 AI+ charges over USB-C using its included 65W adapter (though it supports 100W), and you can quickly add back 50% of charge in about 30 minutes, or be fully topped off in about 1.5 hours. The charger is not too bulky and you can change the AC end of the cable if going overseas.

For less demanding tasks such as video playback, the laptop lasts even longer. With Wi-Fi on and the screen at 50% brightness, it lasted 16 hours and 21 minutes.

Overall the Prestige 14 combines the large battery and efficient CPU well and is a solid choice if you need to get work done when on the go.

• Battery life score: 4 / 5

Should you buy the MSI Prestige 14 AI+?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

MSI Prestige 14 AI+: Also consider

If my MSI Prestige 14 AI+ review has you considering other options, here are three alternatives to consider...

How I tested the MSI Prestige 14 AI+

• I tested the MSI Prestige 14 AI+ for two weeks
• I used it both at a desk and when working on the go
• I tested it with benchmarking tools, battery testing and everyday workloads

I ran the MSI Prestige 14 AI+ through the usual comprehensive array of TechRadar benchmarks, as well as using it for actual day-to-day work.

I used it for office tasks, media playback, multitasking and general productivity work, while also checking battery life, thermals, noise and charging times.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed March 2026

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+: Two-minute review

The MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ is a convertible laptop marketed for business users, and includes a stylus to unlock its full creative potential.

It cuts a sophisticated figure, thanks to its dark grey finish and minimal aesthetic. The ultra thin chassis with its soft, curved edges also help to make this an easy laptop to live with, especially if you’re frequently on the move.

Build quality is also excellent. Every material feels premium, and while the hinges for the lid are a little incongruous, they provide a very smooth pivot, which ranks among the best 2-in-1 laptop actions.

The included Nano Pen is engineered to an equally high standard. Like the laptop itself, it’s very compact, and stows away neatly under the front edge of the base, where it also charges wirelessly. It’s easy enough to remove, but putting it back is a little more awkward, since its integrated magnets encourage it to orient incorrectly.

For a laptop this small, it’s impressive that the Flip AI+ manages to include four USB ports (two type-C and two type-A), an HDMI port, and a headset jack. It’s a small shame, though, that a productivity-focused laptop such as this doesn’t feature an SD card reader of any kind.

The Intel Core Ultra 7 355 in my Flip AI+ review unit handled productivity and entertainment workloads with aplomb, while the 32GB of RAM meant it had no problem multitasking. It even managed to run AAA games in a playable state — surprising given there’s no dedicated GPU on board. However, this absence was felt when the Flip AI+ failed to even complete a benchmark test for Adobe Premiere.

A fair amount of noise is generated even when moderate workloads are undertaken. Some heat can be felt towards the rear as well, reaching the top rows of the keyboard, but thankfully temperatures remained comfortable.

The OLED display of the Flip AI+ is sharp and clear, although it lacks the brightness of the best monitors. Reflections and fingerprints are also visible at times. The touchscreen functions well, though, especially when used with the included Nano Pen; both combine to offer precise and responsive inputs.

MSI Center S is the utility app for the Flip AI+, housing system information and performance tweaks, as well as the ability to enable and customize the Action Touchpad. In the case of the latter, I had to manually update the app for these to work properly, even though I had automatic updates enabled.

The default quick controls for the touchpad are useful and operate smoothly for the most part. However, the brightness slider on the right edge would often trigger unintentionally when I typed, which was frustrating. Another frustration was the momentary freezes and jumps I sometimes experienced when attempting to navigate the cursor.

Fortunately, typing on the Flip AI+ is less fraught. The keys are snappy, although they’re perhaps a little heavier and harsher than I would’ve liked, resulting in the occasional press failing to register. Nonetheless, this is still a board suited to quick typing.

The battery life of the Flip AI+ easily ranks among the best in class. It lasted over 30 hours when I left it to playback a movie on a continuous loop, which is very impressive. It’s also quick to charge, making it a great laptop for those constantly on the move.

The Flip AI+ is undeniably expensive, but considering its premium design, powerful spec, and convertible capabilities, it represents good value. There are certainly cheaper 2-in-1 laptops that offer sufficient everyday performance, but the Flip AI+ is a more complete package. If its touchpad was less frustrating and it had a dedicated GPU, it’d be a hard laptop to beat at this price point.

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ review: Price & availability

• $1,699.99 / £1,349.99 / AU$2,999
• Available now
• Good value for the spec

The MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ costs $1,699.99 / £1,349.99 / AU$$2,999 and is available now. Various Intel Core Ultra processors and SSD capacity are available depending on region.

In Australia, at the time of writing the only variant available uses the powerful Intel Core Ultra 9 386H CPU, teamed up with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD.

If you don't need the 2-in-1 touchscreen and pen, then take a look at our review of the MSI Prestige 14 AI+ — it uses a classic clamshell design.

If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly convertible laptop, the HP Pavilion x360 14 is a solid alternative. It has a weaker spec than the Flip AI+, and you’ll have to provide your own stylus, but it’s a great device for everyday tasking.

If you want to save even more money on a 2-in-1, the Acer Chromebook Spin 312 is one of the best Chromebooks in this class. Of course, you’ll have to forgo Windows, but if you don’t need the versatility of Microsoft’s OS, a Chromebook can be a useful companion for your studies and light entertainment.

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ review: specs

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ review: Design

• Thin and premium design
• Plenty of USB ports
• Discreet Nano Pen storage

Credit where credit’s due, MSI has done an admirable job of making the Flip AI+ a stylish machine. Its steely grey finish and minimal proportions impart an elegance not usually found in brand’s designs. What’s more, it’s impressively thin and free from extraneous bulges, even underneath (save from two full-width feet). All this helps to make it an easy device to travel with.

I also appreciated the rounded edges, which are curved more prominently than most. This makes it comfortable to hold and pick up. The thin bezel around the display is another facet of the laptop’s overall sleekness.

All the materials employed in the construction of the Flip AI+ feel premium, especially those of the keyboard and touchpad. They put me in mind of the best MacBooks, which are pretty much the standard bearers for laptop build quality.

However, the minimalist appearance of the Flip AI+ is somewhat upset by the lid hinges. They look a little cumbersome in relation to the rest of the unit, and create a somewhat unsightly gap between the lid and base. At least they operate smoothly, allowing for easy conversion when you want to use the touchscreen exclusively.

The included Nano Pen is just as compact as the laptop itself. It’s much smaller than many others, but no less upmarket in its design. It charges wirelessly, and the compartment to stow it is discreetly integrated into the underside of the Flip AI+, near the front edge.

This makes it easy to remove, requiring a slight tilt of the base of the Flip AI+ to access. You can even do this one-handed. However, it’s a little more awkward to put back: whenever I tried, the magnets inside the Nano Pen kept trying to flip it around from its correct orientation, requiring more encouragement than I would’ve liked to insert the right way up.

The Flip AI+ features all the essential outboard connections: there are two USB-A ports on the right and two USB-C on the left; the latter support charging of the Flip AI+ as well as external monitor signals. An HDMI port and a 3.5mm combo audio jack are also present, split across either side. Considering how thin and compact the unit is, including this many ports feels generous, although I always lament the omission of an SD card reader on a laptop designed for productivity.

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ review: Performance

• Impressive general performance
• Loud under load
• Action Touchpad misfire issue

The Flip AI+ performed well in most of the tasks I conducted. It handled light productivity and entertainment – including 4K streaming – without issue. It also proved to be a capable multitasker, although this was hardly a surprise given the 32GB of RAM my review unit was crammed with.

Even though the Flip AI+ doesn’t have a dedicated GPU, I was impressed with its gaming prowess. It ran Cyberpunk 2077 on the Ray Tracing: Low preset remarkably well. Granted, the visuals were rough around the edges and frame rates were well short of those delivered by the best gaming laptops, but it was still enjoyable enough for casual play.

Video editors and creators will be more disappointed with the Flip AI+, though. It failed to even complete PugetBench’s Adobe Premiere benchmark, despite repeated attempts, due to a certain GPU effect failing to render.

The Flip AI+ also has a tendency to emit a fair amount of fan noise when undertaking workloads, even those that could be described as moderate. This is usually accompanied by some prominent heat at the rear of the unit and on the top row of the keyboard. Mercifully, the temperatures are far from being intolerable, but you’ll certainly notice them.

As for the display of the Flip AI+, its 1920 x 1200 resolution is clear and sharp, and the OLED technology helps with contrast. It reveals reflections and fingermarks a little too easily, and I wish the maximum brightness setting was higher, but thankfully these grievances aren’t ruinous to the overall visual experience.

Another important aspect of the Flip AI+’s display is its touchscreen functionality. It’s precise and responsive, if a little grabby when used with fingers. However, it handles the included Nano Pen much better. This glides smoothly across the surface, making it ideal for navigation, handwriting, and drawing.

However, the sheer slenderness of the Nano Pen makes using the two side buttons — which are used to erase content, take screenshots, and activate the inbuilt microphone — very awkward when adopting a writing position. Those with daintier digits might have an easier time, but I struggled.

Another standout feature of the Flip AI+ is its Action Touchpad. I found this useful for controlling various parameters, such as volume and screen brightness, quickly. You can also double-tap the left and right corners to open Windows’ Calculator app and the MSI Center S respectively.

However, my initial experience with these functions was beset by various bugs, from the aforementioned quick controls failing to register, to the three custom slots refusing their assignments.

Thankfully, a manual download to update the MSI Center S to its latest version seemed to fix most of these issues. I was disappointed, though, that this update failed to initiate automatically, since I had this option toggled in the app settings.

I was also disappointed that there was still no way to customize the six default quick controls. But a bigger frustration was the frequent accidental triggering of the brightness quick control, caused by the palm of my thumb when typing. To prevent this I would have to disable all quick controls, since you can’t disable them individually.

This issue aside, typing with the Flip AI+ is mostly pleasant. The keyboard features plenty of useful shortcuts on the top row, including those for Bluetooth settings and Windows’ Snipping Tool. However, disappointingly for a productivity-focused machine, there’s no number pad or even a navigation cluster. There is backlighting, though, which is always cause for celebration in a laptop.

In action, the keys are snappy thanks to their short actuation, which makes for quick typing. However, they’re a little heavier than those in your average laptop, which, in my experience, results in the occasional hit failing to register. Dampening is minimal as well, which can make presses feel a little harsh. These are minor grievances, though, and only stand when compared to the best keyboards around.

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ review: Battery life

• Phenomenal endurance
• Quick to charge

The battery life of the Flip AI+ is truly spectacular. MSI quotes a longevity of 30 hours, but according to my testing — which involved playing a movie on a continuous loop — it actually exceeded this already remarkable figure by a couple of hours.

To put this into perspective, the most enduring laptop I ever tested was the HP OmniBook 7 14-inch, but even this fell someway short of the Flip AI+ in the same test, mustering just under 26 hours. The Flip AI+ is also quick to charge, taking about two hours to replenish from total depletion.

Should I buy the MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+?

Scorecard

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ review: Also consider

How I tested the MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+

• Tested for several days
• Ran our series of benchmarks

I tested the MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ for several days, during which time I used it for all manner of tasks, from general browsing and productivity to streaming and gaming.

I also ran our extensive series of benchmarks, designed to assess every facet of a laptop’s performance. I also tested the battery life by running a movie on a continuous loop while the Flip AI+ was unplugged until it died.

I’ve been using laptops for decades and have reviewed a large number of them, from budget affairs and Chromebooks to mid-range productivity machines and high-end gaming models.

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

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra: Two-minute review

The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra is the very latest premium laptop from the South Korean tech giant. While Samsung is better known for its TVs, smartphones, and home appliances, in recent years it’s been steadily releasing some of the best laptops we’ve ever tested through its Galaxy Book lineup, and the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra was launched at CES 2026 alongside the Book6 Pro and more affordable Galaxy Book6.

They all come with Intel’s brand-new Core Ultra Series 3 mobile processors (also known as Panther Lake), which have been seriously impressing us, as well as Samsung’s increasingly sophisticated ecosystem that allows these laptops to interact with other Samsung devices, especially smartphones and tablets, and gives, in my mind, the closest experience to Apple’s slick Mac/iPhone/iPad integration for Windows 11 and Android devices. More on that later.

As a Galaxy product, this is naturally a high-end flagship device, and with a price tag of £2,999 (around $4,000 / AU$6,000) for the base model, this isn't going to be a laptop for everyone.

However, if you can afford it, you should be pretty happy with what you get for your money. The latest hardware from Intel and Nvidia means this is a brilliant performer for basically any task you require, and Samsung has made sure this is a solidly-built laptop with excellent build quality - and comes with one of the best screens you can get.

But that high price and abundance of power mean a lot of people simply won't need the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra, and a more affordable laptop (such as the standard Galaxy Book6) will be a much better choice.

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra: Price & Availability

• Starts at $2,449.99 / £2,999 (around AU$6,000)
• Launch seems to have been delayed

As with Samsung’s other Galaxy products, the Galaxy Book6 series of laptops are premium devices with designs, specs, and price tags to match. The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra, as the name suggests, is the highest-end model, and starts at $2,449.99 / £2,999 (around AU$6,000) for the model that comes with an Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU and 1TB of storage.

That’s expensive for a laptop. Very expensive. It makes the Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M5) from last year seem like a bargain at $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,499, and while you can argue that the Galaxy Book6 Ultra is a much more powerful laptop, mainly thanks to its high-end CPU, discrete GPU and more RAM, if you’re making a product that’s a more expensive rival to an Apple device, you’ll need to justify the extra cash.

Arguably, comparing the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra to the more powerful 16-inch MacBook Pro with either M4 Pro or M4 Max chips (which, despite being last-generation, are more powerful than the M5) is more fair. The MacBook Pro 16-inch with M4 Pro and 24GB of unified memory is $2,499 / £2,499 / AU$3,999, while the model with an M4 Max chip and 36GB of unified memory is $3,499 / £3,499 / AU$5,699.

• Value: 2.5 / 5

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra review: Specs

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra review: Design

• Very smart looking
• Excellent display
• Manages to be slim

As with previous Galaxy Book laptops, the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra is a great-looking product, with a sleek, understated design in silver that is reminiscent of Apple’s Intel-based MacBook Pros (before they underwent noticeable redesigns with the switch to Apple’s own M-series processors). This won’t be the last time I’ll mention the Book6 Ultra’s similarities to a MacBook.

Unlike the Galaxy Book6 Pro and Galaxy Book6, which come in both 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, the Galaxy Book6 Ultra comes in a single 16-inch size. While this might mean that if portability is your biggest concern when buying a new laptop, you might not want a large-screen device like the Book6 Ultra, Samsung has done a good job of keeping this laptop feeling thin and relatively light.

It measures 14.05 x 9.76 x 0.6 inches (356.9 x 248 x 15.4mm) and weighs up to 4.2lbs (1.89kg). This means it’s slightly thinner than the 14-inch MacBook Pro (M5), despite its larger screen and discrete GPU, although because this is a 16-inch laptop, the overall footprint is larger than the M5 MacBook Pro.

Despite the thin design, there’s a decent selection of ports, including two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, a standard USB Type-A port, HDMI 2.1, and an SD card reader. Thankfully, Samsung’s decision to drop the headphone jacks from its smartphones hasn’t made it to its laptop division, as the Galaxy Book6 Ultra comes with a port for plugging in headsets and microphones.

Fans of USB-C formats (come on, there must be some) will note that the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra’s two ports are Thunderbolt 4, rather than the newer (and faster) Thunderbolt 5. While this means the Book6 Ultra isn’t quite packed with the very latest components, it’s worth noting that its main competitor, the MacBook Pro 14-inch (M5, 2025), also comes with Thunderbolt 4 ports.

The keyboard, which again invites comparisons with the MacBook Pro, is decent, and while the keys themselves are rather shallow, they still feel responsive and comfortable to use. As with Apple’s laptops, there’s a dedicated button on the top-right of the keyboard that’s used to scan your fingerprint. This allows you to securely log into Windows 11 with just a touch, and it also means you can use features such as the controversial Recall tool that require advanced biometric security.

The main appeal, design-wise, of the Galaxy Book6 Ultra, however, is its screen. Samsung is known for using excellent screens for its devices, especially TVs and smartphones, and the Galaxy Book6 Ultra continues that tradition.

The 16-inch touchscreen comes with a sharp WQXGA+ (2880 x 1800) resolution, and AMOLED screen technology that results in an incredibly vibrant and detailed image quality. That, combined with a variable refresh rate of up to 120Hz, makes Windows 11, its apps, and pretty much any media you play on the Galaxy Book6 Ultra look absolutely fantastic.

The display is surrounded by a thin, modern bezel, which means Samsung can maximize the screen size without bulking up the rest of the laptop, and there’s no controversial ‘notch’ that modern MacBooks have around the webcam.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra review: Performance

• Excellent Windows 11 performance
• Can even play games
• Gets very hot

Coming with Intel’s latest, and very impressive, Panther Lake processors, and able to be configured with up to an Nvidia RTX 5070 graphics card, the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra offers an exemplary Windows 11 experience, with the operating system and apps all running smoothly.

Whilst testing the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra, I had no problem at all running various apps, and with plenty of RAM, multitasking between apps is smooth and responsive.

The model I reviewed comes with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 laptop GPU, something that’s often found in the best gaming laptops. The inclusion of this high-end GPU doesn’t mean the Galaxy Book6 Ultra is a gaming laptop, however, as it can be used for graphically-intensive workloads, such as ultra-high-definition video editing, 3D animation, and advanced AI tasks. So, this model of the Galaxy Book6 Ultra is a great choice for creative professionals, especially thanks to its gorgeous OLED screen.

The Galaxy Book6 Ultra certainly had no issues while I was editing a 4K movie in Adobe Premiere, with clips loading quickly, and scrubbing through the video’s timeline was instant. This was also while I had numerous apps and websites open at once, and Windows 11 felt incredibly fast and smooth.

Also, while the RTX 5070-toting Galaxy Book6 Ultra is not a gaming laptop, it can still play games, though you’ll want to enable DLSS upscaling where possible. At 1080p with DLSS on and graphics set to ‘High’, I got Cyberpunk 2077 running at a very impressive 111.86fps. Meanwhile, Assassin's Creed Shadows at ‘Medium’ settings with DLSS switched on hit 65fps.

Sure, these aren’t the most mind-blowing numbers, and there will be plenty of PC gamers who turn their noses up at the need to use DLSS, but the fact that such a thin and light laptop can play these games at all, let alone at those kind of frame rates, is really impressive, and again thanks to the OLED screen, they look incredible.

The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra also remains impressively quiet. Even when performing intensive tasks, fan noise was kept to a minimum. The lack of distracting whirring is nice, but it does mean that at some points, primarily just above the keyboard, the laptop can get very hot to the touch. Using it for prolonged periods of heavy workloads (including gaming) could lead to the performance getting throttled to stop the Galaxy Book6 Ultra from overheating, though it didn’t happen during my tests. Packing such powerful components into such a slim chassis does mean that this is a risk, however.

One of the key features of the Galaxy Book6 Ultra is how it can work with other Samsung devices, much like how MacBooks can work with iPhones, iPads, and other Apple devices.

I connected the Galaxy Book6 Ultra to my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and with a bit of tweaking, I was able to easily share documents between the laptop and the smartphone. 'Multicontrol' is a particularly impressive feature, whereby dragging the mouse cursor to the edge of the Galaxy Book6 Ultra’s screen, the cursor will jump to the smartphone, and you can use the Galaxy Book6 Ultra’s trackpad and keyboard to interact with the phone.

I used this to type out some long messages that would have been a pain to write using the phone’s touchscreen. You can also use Samsung’s tablets as a second display for the Galaxy Book6 Ultra, a nice touch if you have invested in Samsung’s ecosystem.

If the Galaxy Book6 Ultra is going to be your first and only Samsung device, then sadly you won’t be able to make use of most of these features, though Windows 11’s Phone Link feature remains a great way to access your phone via your laptop, and it’ll work on the Galaxy Book6 Ultra without the phone needing to be a Samsung model.

You’re missing out on some really useful features, though, many of which make life easier – and Samsung has made it the furthest out of any of its rivals when it comes to providing an Apple-like experience with its ecosystem.

This is all the more impressive as Apple has complete control over its ecosystem: it builds both the hardware (including many components) in its Macs, iPhones, and tablets, as well as the software those devices run on. That means making everything interact with each other is a lot easier (relatively speaking, I mean. I’m certainly not downplaying the hard work and effort that’s still required).

Meanwhile, Samsung’s laptops and smartphones are mainly made of components made by other companies, such as Intel, and the software they run (Windows 11 for laptops, Android for smartphones and tablets) is also made by other companies (Microsoft and Google, respectively).

So, making its various products all work together is an impressive feat, and for the most part works well. It does mean that you need to use Samsung’s own apps for a lot of things, and you need to sign into your Samsung account (on top of your Microsoft account, Google account), so if you’re not a fan of extra apps (sometimes uncharitably called ‘bloatware’) on your laptop or smartphone, then you’ll be frustrated with Samsung’s penchant of preinstalling its own apps.

Also, it’s not quite as slick as Apple’s implementation, and there are a few performance niggles. While using Multcontrol to use the trackpad and keyboard of the Galaxy Book6 Ultra on my Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphone was helpful, it prevented the onscreen keyboard on the phone from appearing when I moved control back over to the laptop. Not the end of the world, but a bit annoying if you forget and then wonder why you can’t type out a message. It’s easy to fix by reenabling the touch keyboard, but it’s an example of how Apple’s ecosystem works so much better.

As well as the excellent OLED screen, which offers beautifully dark blacks, high contrast, and vibrant colors, the Galaxy Book6 Ultra comes with six Dolby Atmos speakers with four force-cancelling woofers and two tweeters, which allows the laptop to handle both deep bases and high details. It can reach loud volumes without the audio distorting, and there are no annoying vibrations thanks to the speaker design.

As a Copilot+ PC, it’s also been designed with on-device AI in mind, but even though both Microsoft and Samsung seem fully committed to AI, I’ve yet to find a compelling case for it in a laptop. Sure, it’s nice to have and means this laptop is certainly future-proof, but it’s the least exciting part of the Galaxy Book6 Ultra.

• Performance: 4.5 / 5

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra review: Battery Life

• Over 15 hours
• Gaming drains it in 2 hours

Despite what many companies, including Microsoft, insist, AI is not the most interesting or exciting feature of this new generation of Copilot+ PC laptops (ugh, I hate that name) – but rather, it's the battery life.

The processors powering these laptops are getting ever more efficient, which means they can offer excellent performance as well as longer times between charging, and the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra is an excellent example of this, managing over 15 hours in our benchmark tests. That’s not the longest we’ve seen, and the MacBook Pro comfortably beats it by about five hours in the same test. It’s still very good for a laptop that offers this kind of performance.

I was able to use it for multiple workdays without needing to plug it in, and when I did, the battery charged quickly. I used the included power adaptor, but any USB-C charger should do the trick – and it’s worth noting that in the UK and EU, the Galaxy Book6 Ultra does not come with a power adaptor, similar to the MacBook. This is supposed to help reduce e-waste, and while that’s an admirable goal, it does add to the expense if you’ve not got a spare charger already.

• Battery Life: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra?

Buy the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra if...

Don't buy it if...

How I tested the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra

• Tested for several weeks
• Used for various tasks
• Connected it to my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphone

I tested the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra over the course of several weeks, using it for work and writing the bulk of this review on it. I also played a few games on it to see how the dedicated GPU copes.

I also edited a 4K video using Adobe Premiere Pro and streamed several movies and listened to music. I've been reviewing laptops for nearly 20 years, and I've used my extensive experience to rate this device.

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

HP Laptop 14: Two-minute review

The HP Laptop 14 is a budget laptop that aims to combine a compact form factor with just enough performance for everyday use. Its appearance won’t exactly set the world alight, especially when it’s finished in the anodyne gray colorway. However, it looks smart enough, with the clean lines and unsullied contours lending a subtle elegance.

These aspects are complemented by a thin and light chassis, which makes the HP Laptop 14 easy to ferry around. However, the price paid for this lithesome build is the cheap-feeling construction, which falls short of the best laptop builds.

Having said that, I was pleased to find the lid hinge operated smoothly and provided plenty of stability. It also allows the display to recline quite far, but stops short of 180 degrees.

The HP Laptop 14 has a sparse selection of ports. The two USB-A ports are welcome, but there’s only one USB-C interface, and it doesn’t support power or display signals (there’s an HDMI port for the latter, at least).

My unit was equipped with an Intel Core i5, which provided adequate performance. It could handle light browsing and productivity, as well as high-quality video streaming — but not much more. With 8GB of RAM on board, the HP Laptop 14 struggled to cope with multiple tabs open, especially when the content involved media, as I experienced frequent stutters and momentary freezes in such instances.

Given the lack of a dedicated GPU, it’s also no surprise that the HP Laptop 14 doesn’t handle games well, either. Cyberpunk 2077 was virtually unplayable, even on the lowest preset. Fortunately, there isn’t much heat or noise when heavy workloads such as this are conducted.

The 1080p display is just about sharp enough for UI elements and the like to appear crisp, but in truth the resolution is starting to feel its age on laptops. Worse, however, is the tendency for shadows or reflections to obscure the visuals if the viewing angle isn’t perfect, which is frustrating.

I was much less frustrated with the keyboard in the HP Laptop 14. The comfortable spacing and light actuation of the keys makes them ideal for quick typing, and although there’s less dampening than I would’ve liked, the resultant harshness wasn’t too detrimental.

The touchpad is also effective, providing a smooth surface and precise inputs. It’s not particularly large, which might hamper navigation somewhat, but for basic use it suffices.

Less effective is the battery life of the HP Laptop 14. It managed just under eight hours in our movie playback test, which puts it on the lower end of the spectrum for laptops of this class. There are many mid-range offerings capable of enduring for a full day and beyond.

The starting price of the HP Laptop 14 might seem very reasonable, but the base spec would struggle with even rudimentary tasks by modern standards. And the more powerful models are still too weak to truly compete with others in the mid-range, which leaves the HP Laptop 14 lagging behind the times.

HP Laptop 14 review: Price & Availability

• Starts from $539.99 / £299 (about AU$585)
• Base spec is cheap
• Expensive higher-spec models

The HP Laptop 14 starts from $539.99 / £299 (about AU$585) and is available now. Interestingly, in the UK, it seems to be marketed under a different name — the HP Pavilion SE — and there doesn’t appear to be an equivalent model in Australia.

The base spec is undeniably cheap for a Windows laptop, especially in the UK, but the Intel Core i3 it’s equipped with is unlikely to offer smooth sailing for modern workloads. The spec I tested isn’t particularly cheap, either, dashing its hopes of being one of the best budget laptops around.

• Value: 3 / 5

HP Laptop 14 review: Specs

HP Laptop 14 review: Design

• Minimal looks and weight
• No keyboard backlighting
• Limited USB-C functionality

The HP Laptop 14 has a sensible yet sleek style. It doesn’t inspire much excitement, with the dull gray colorway of my unit hardly helping matters, but the subtle elegance of the body becomes apparent the deeper you look. The clean lines and angles, coupled with the absence of any unnecessary contours, all help to elevate it beyond the utilitarian fare often found in this sector.

In keeping with its minimal appearance is the compact form factor. The base and lid are pleasingly thin, and the overall unit is quite light. The materials don’t feel particularly premium though; the plastics are smooth enough, but they lack solidity. Despite trying to look like some of the best MacBooks, the HP Laptop 14 fails to match their formidable construction.

That said, the hinge for the lid offers reassuring stability, preventing the display from wobbling when hammering away on the keyboard and touchpad. The recline angle is quite generous as well, although unfortunately, it doesn’t extend all the way to 180 degrees.

The keycaps feature prominently embossed lettering, so you really feel them under your fingertips. I’m not sure whether this is an intended design choice or merely unrefined design; regardless, I like their tactility, even if they don’t feel particularly premium. However, I was decidedly less impressed with the lack of backlighting, which is an egregious omission for any laptop keyboard in my view.

Despite the truncated layout, you get navigation keys on the right, which helps with productivity tasks. But the lack of a number pad, coupled with the shortened up and down arrow keys, are a hindrance for such work.

There aren’t many ports on the HP Laptop 14, but the essential ones are present. There are two USB-A ports, one either side, which is something I welcome. However, there’s only type-C, and it can’t deliver enough power to charge the HP Laptop 14, or support external monitor connections. At least you get an HDMI port for the latter purpose; it’s an interface that’s an increasingly rare sight on modern laptops.

• Design: 3.5 / 5

HP Laptop 14 review: Performance

• Shoddy multitasking abilities
• Non-existent gaming capability
• Poor display viewing angles

The HP Laptop 14 was a mediocre performer during much of my testing. It can handle light workloads, such as word processing and streaming video. However, it’s prone to slowdowns and momentary freezes when multiple browser tabs are open, so this isn’t the best machine for those seeking multitasking capabilities.

As expected given the modest spec of my unit, high-end gaming is out of the question for the HP Laptop 14. Even with the lowest graphical preset selected, it failed to run Cyberpunk 2077 in any sort of playable state, blighted by copious amounts of stutter and horrendous frame rates as it was. Suffice to say, it’s not going to trouble the best gaming laptop models, but at least there’s little heat or noise generated in the process.

What’s more, the 1080p resolution feels a little outdated on a laptop display this size. The UI elements are crisp enough, and I certainly wouldn’t say it was unpleasant to look at, but when you consider many mid-range laptops now have 2K resolutions and above, the HP Laptop 14 falls behind the competition. The worst aspect of the display, though, is its very limited viewing angles. If it’s not set perfectly, on-screen content will darken to the point of obscurity, or reveal prominent reflections.

On a more positive note, the keyboard of the HP Laptop 14 is largely pleasant to use. The keys have a very light actuation and react quickly, while at the same time having a generous amount of travel. Altogether, these aspects make for easy and snappy typing. The spacing of the keys is comfortable, too. There’s just about enough dampening to reduce harsh feedback, although I did feel the keyboard enclosure compressing inwards as I typed away – a constant reminder of the HP Laptop 14’s subpar construction. Fortunately, this didn’t negatively affect the typing experience.

The touchpad is sufficient, offering smooth and precise inputs for the most part. There were, however, occasions where stuttering seemed to occur, as the inputs of my swipes failed to register properly, which was mildly frustrating. It’s also a little on the small side, but I didn’t find this compromised basic navigation. And while my right thumb palm frequently made contact with the touchpad while typing, such instances didn’t result in any misplaced taps or cursor swipes.

• Performance: 3 / 5

HP Laptop 14 review: Battery Life

• Middling battery life
• Not very quick to charge

The battery life of the HP Laptop 14 is mediocre for this class of laptop. It lasted just under eight hours in our movie playback test – a score many of its rivals can beat. This includes other HP models, such as the OmniBook 7 14-inch, which achieved an astonishing 26 hours in the same test, showing just how high the bar is for modern laptop longevity – though, of course, that's a much more expensive laptop.

Charging isn’t as fast as other laptops, either. It took over three hours to fully recharge from empty; many of its rivals can achieve the same at least an hour quicker.

• Battery Life: 3 / 5

Should I buy the HP Laptop 14?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

HP Laptop 14 review: Also consider

How I tested the HP Laptop 14

• Tested for several days
• Used for a variety of tasks
• Ran numerous benchmarks

I tested the HP Laptop 14 for several days, during which time I used it for general browsing, light productivity, and streaming videos.

I also put it through TechRadar’s series of benchmark tests, designed to assess every aspect of a laptop’s performance. I tested the battery life by running a movie on a continuous loop until it shut down.

I have reviewed a large number of laptops across a wide range, from small budget-friendly models to large gaming-oriented behemoths. I’ve also reviewed other computing devices, including tablets, Chromebooks, and desktop PCs.

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

HP OmniBook 7 14-inch: Two-minute review

The HP OmniBook 7 14-inch AI Laptop, to give it its full name, is an everyday workhorse with an elegant and upmarket design, setting it apart from much of the competition.

Its minimalist appearance is certainly fetching. The absence of any superfluous details makes it better-looking than your average workaday laptop, as does the light gray body, which contrasts well with the darker keycaps.

Not only does the OmniBook 7 look good, but it also feels good. The finish of both the entire unit and the keys is super smooth, and contributes to the laptop rivalling some of the best laptops out there.

Build quality is also impressive: both the base and the lid are sturdier than those on many other laptops I’ve tested. This feat is all the more impressive given just how light and thin the OmniBook 7 is — although it's a little thicker underneath than its slender sides might lead you to believe.

Most of the essential ports are present and correct. There are two USB-A and two USB-C ports. The latter are used for charging the OmniBook 7, and they also support external monitor connections. An HDMI port is also available for this purpose, and is an increasingly rare sight on modern laptops. However, I wasn’t thrilled with the ordering of many of the OmniBook 7’s ports, with the locations of the USB and HDMI ports being particularly inconvenient.

The general performance of the OmniBook 7 is impressive. It can handle light productivity and multi-tab browsing with ease, and can stream ultra-HD content without stuttering or buffering. I did notice a few minor slowdowns when performing certain media actions, but these were negligible.

For a laptop with no dedicated GPU, the OmniBook 7 surprised me with just how competent it is at gaming. You certainly won’t be getting high frame rates in AAA titles, even at modest settings, but Cyberpunk 2077 ran in a passable state that allowed for some casual playtime. I’ve certainly experienced my fair share laptops with similar integrated graphics that fail to reach even this low bar.

Some fan noise was apparent at times, even when moderate loads were undertaken. However, I didn’t find it loud to the point of distraction, and temperatures never exceeded lukewarm.

The display is also excellent. Its 1920 x 1200 resolution complements the 14-inch canvas very well, with the interface being clear and sharp. Colors are vibrantly rendered, too, and the deep contrast was very welcoming. I noticed some reflections on screen, but they didn’t obscure content prohibitively.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the OmniBook 7, though, is its battery life. It lasted an incredible 26 hours during our movie playback test, a time that ranks among the very best in the sector. It was also quick to fully recharge, taking just over two hours.

The starting price of the OmniBook 7 is high, in some territories more than others, but we’ve seen it on sale for significantly less (in UK markets, at least). And considering how it just about gets everything right, even exceeding expectations in some areas, the OmniBook 7 is one the best mid-range laptops around right now.

HP OmniBook 7 14-inch review: Price & Availability

• Starts from $949 / £699 / AU$2,499
• Prices vary according to region
• Expensive compared to some rivals

The HP OmniBook 7 14-inch starts from $949 / £699 / AU$2,499 and is available now. Configurability varies across regions, with the US seemingly only getting one model, which features an Intel Core Ultra 5, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage.

This certainly isn’t cheap; however, we’ve seen sizable reductions on variants in the UK and Australia which make them much better value. It’s more expensive than the HP OmniBook 5, but that model is significantly down on power compared to the 7.

It’s also cheaper, at least in some regions, than the Dell 16 Plus. This is another fine laptop, featuring a similarly lightweight yet sturdy design, as well as great performance and a high-quality display. It’s a larger device with a full-size keyboard, so it might be a better choice for those looking for more productivity pedigree. Like the OmniBook 7, though, it has integrated graphics, which means weak gaming and creative performance compared to laptops with dedicated GPUs.

• Value: 4 / 5

HP OmniBook 7 14-inch (2025) review: Specs

HP OmniBook 7 14-inch review: Design

• Premium, elegant design
• Strong build quality
• Impractical port locations

In line with many of HP’s modern laptops, the design of the OmniBook 7 is best described as minimalist. The light silver colorway is sensible but less austere than other monochromatic rivals, while the darker keyboard shade provides a pleasing contrast. And like a great deal of Windows laptops in general, the OmniBook 7 emulates the pristine appeal of the best Macbooks — and I have to say, it’s largely successful on this front.

Complimenting its light colorway are its thin dimensions. This is especially evident on the sides of the unit, which help to disguise the somewhat thicker underside. Ultimately, though, the OmniBook 7 is still thinner and lighter than many other 14-inch laptops.

Strange as it is to say, I also admired the corners of the OmniBook 7, which are rounder than most. The same is true of the keycaps, and together these elements help to soften the OmniBook 7’s appearance even further.

Build quality is commendable, too. Despite the lightweight construction, both the body and the lid are remarkably sturdy. The hinge of the latter operates smoothly, and I experienced next to no wobbling when open. However, I wish it reclined a little further; the somewhat limited angle might be a problem for those wishing to place the OmniBook 7 on a stand.

While the materials used in the OmniBook 7 aren’t as premium as those employed in high-end laptops, they don’t feel cheap; the body has a silky smooth finish, while the keycaps have a slightly grainy texture that enhances their tactility. They’re also backlit, which I pretty much consider an essential feature in a laptop keyboard.

You’ll find the usual connectivity options on the OmniBook 7. There’s a USB-A port on each side and two USB-C ports on the right. Also on the right is an HDMI port, while on the left you’ll find a 3.5mm combo audio jack as well.

The ordering of these ports is somewhat inconvenient. The USB-C ports are close to the middle of the unit — not an ideal place for the power cable to extend from. Also, the HDMI port is placed ahead of the USB-A port, which could result in crossing cables if both are occupied simultaneously.

It’s also a shame that the OmniBook 7 misses out on extra ports, such as an SD card reader, but given the compact nature of the unit, this is somewhat forgivable.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

HP OmniBook 7 14-inch review: Performance

• Excellent general performance
• Surprisingly capable for light gaming
• Vivid, high-contrast display

The OmniBook 7 is a very capable all-round performer. It can handle the kinds of tasks you’d typically demand from a mid-range laptop. Light productivity is dispatched with aplomb, while the 16GB of RAM helps to facilitate browsing with multiple tabs open.

It streamed video at high resolutions with little buffering, although I did experience a small amount of lag when performing common actions, such as playing and pausing content, or when toggling full screen mode. However, such instances were too minor to cause frustration.

What surprised me most of all about the OmniBook 7 was its gaming performance. Despite lacking a dedicated GPU, it managed to run demanding titles, such as Cyberpunk 2077. Granted, it was far from the smoothest experience, hitting less than 30fps on average at the High preset with Ray Tracing disabled. But it sufficed for a quick and casual session. What’s more, it remained admirably cool and quiet throughout.

More impressive was the WUXGA display. It might fall short of many other laptops with sharper resolutions, but given the 14 inches of real estate on offer, is beautifully crisp and clear. Brightness and color reproduction are also excellent, as is the deep contrast. I did notice some reflections, but these were never prominent enough to disrupt the viewing experience.

The keyboard in the OmniBook 7 is mostly competent. The spacing between the keys is generous, while the short travel and light actuation allow for quick, snappy typing. However, while I found them satisfying to hit, they lack the dampening of some of the best keyboards around. Also, the lack of extra keys, such as a navigation cluster and a number pad, might hamper those looking for serious productivity pedigree.

I found no such drawbacks with the touchpad in the OmniBook 7. It feels superb and translates inputs precisely. I also found it to be the perfect size: small enough to avoid encroaching on wrist space when typing, yet large enough to make navigation and gesturing easy.

• Performance: 4.5 / 5

HP OmniBook 7 14-inch review: Battery Life

• Best-in-class battery life
• Quick to charge

The battery life of the OmniBook 7 is remarkable. When I ran a movie on a continuous loop unplugged, it lasted just shy of 26 hours. This is one of the best scores we’ve seen, and eclipses other laptops known for their longevity.

The charging time is also impressive, taking just over two hours to go from empty to full.

• Battery Life: 5 / 5

Should I buy the HP OmniBook 7 14-inch?

Buy the HP OmniBook 7 14-inch if...

Don't buy it if...

HP OmniBook 7 14-inch (2025) review: Also Consider

How I tested the HP OmniBook 7 14-inch (2025)

• Tested for several days
• Used for productivity, entertainment, browsing
• Plentiful laptop reviewing experience

I tested the HP OmniBook 7 for several days, during which time I used it for light productivity tasks, streaming content, gaming, and general browsing.

I ran our suite of benchmarks, which test every facet of a laptop's performance. I also ran a movie on a continuous loop to test battery life.

I have reviewed countless laptops in my time, ranging from budget and mid-range efforts to top-tier machines designed for high-end gaming and other intensive workloads. I've also reviewed a plethora of other computing devices, including desktops and tablets.

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

Acer Aspire 16 AI: Two-minute review

The Acer Aspire 16 AI is a large laptop promising powerful AI features in an elegant body. It certainly looks the part, thanks to the premium materials and finish, as well as the impressively thin chassis. It’s also surprisingly light for a laptop of this size, which further improves its portability.

However, the price paid for this litheness is the somewhat flimsy build quality, falling below the standards of the best laptop constructions. There’s a fair amount of flex to the chassis, while the lid hinge doesn’t offer the greatest stability – although it at least managed to stay planted while I typed.

There are a good number of ports on the Aspire 16 AI, including two USB-C and two USB-A ports. However, the former are located closest to you, a choice I usually lament since it means your power adapter has to cross over with any cable you have plugged in to the USB-A port. It’s also a shame that the card reader is only fit for microSDs.

For day-to-day use, the Aspire 16 AI is very capable. It can handle light productivity and 4K streaming without missing a beat. However, the included AI features are disappointing: they’re either too basic in their functionality or fail to work altogether.

Gaming also proved to be a lackluster experience. Its shared memory GPU can just about handle AAA titles on the lowest settings, and even then you won’t exactly be treated to the smoothest frame rates.

Under these kinds of intensive workloads, the Aspire 16 AI can generate a fair amount of heat, but thankfully it’s concentrated underneath, towards the back. Coupled with the hushed fans, the Aspire 16 AI remains comfortable to use in such scenarios.

The display in my review unit, with its OLED technology and 2048 x 1280 resolution, provided a crystal-clear image, rendering colors vividly and delivering high brightness levels. This latter aspect is especially useful for combating reflections, which can be quite prominent.

Thanks to the spacing and satisfying feel of its keys, the keyboard on the Aspire 16 AI is easy to use. However, the number pad keys are too small for my liking, and I wished there was a right Control key, as I find this useful for productivity purposes.

The touchpad is smooth and large, which helps with navigation, but it can get in the way when typing. Also, the one in my review unit felt loose and rattled when clicking, making it awkward to use and suggests signs of poor quality control.

Battery life is somewhat disappointing, and isn’t a patch on that of the smaller 14 AI. In fact, many of its key rivals can outlast it. I only managed to get roughly nine hours from it when playing a movie on a continuous loop.

On the face of it, the Aspire 16 AI might look like good value, but it doesn’t deliver enough to justify its cost. Its slender form and mostly great display aren’t enough to make up for its drawbacks, while other laptops at this price point offer more complete packages.

Acer Aspire 16 AI review: Price & Availability

• $649.99 / £799.99 / AU$1,499
• Available now in various configurations
• Better value rivals exist

The Aspire 16 AI starts from $649.99 / £799.99 / AU$1,499 and is available now. It can be configured with various processors, including Intel and Qualcomm (ARM) chips, with a couple of storage and RAM options to choose from.

Unfortunately, there are better value laptops out there with more power and performance, better suited to heavier workloads. The Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M4) is one such example. Starting prices aren’t as low, but they’re similar to the higher spec models of the Aspire 16 AI. They also have excellent build quality, making them a better value proposition all things considered.

If you want to stick with Windows, the Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition is another alternative. Again, it’s similarly priced to the higher-spec variants of the Aspire 16 AI, but offers much better gaming performance, chiefly thanks to its AMD Radeon RX 7600S GPU. It’s no surprise we think it’s one of the best cheap gaming laptops around right now.

• Value: 3 / 5

Acer Aspire 16 AI review: Specs

Acer Aspire 16 AI review: Design

• Brilliantly thin and light
• Not the sturdiest
• Touchpad issues

Thanks to its minimal design, the Aspire 16 AI has sleek looks. The low-shine metallic lid also adds to its elegance, befitting its premium price tag.

It’s pleasingly light and slender, too, making it more portable than you might expect for a 16-inch laptop. The bezel for the display is minuscule as well, which helps to maximize its full potential.

There’s a satisfying click when you close the lid on the Aspire 16 AI, something I haven’t encountered on any other laptop before. The hinge also allows for the screen to recline all the back by 180 degrees, something I’m always happy to see.

However, lid stability isn’t the best, as it’s prone to wobbling, although, thankfully, it remains stable while typing on the keyboard. The overall construction of the Aspire 16 AI isn’t especially impressive, either, with the chassis having a fair amount of flex.

Worse still, the touchpad in my review unit had a horrible rattle, as if some part was loose at the bottom section. It’s possible this issue is confined to my review unit alone – perhaps it had been passed around several journalists before it got to me – but the issue still doesn’t speak highly of its build quality or Acer's quality control.

There’s a varied selection of ports on the Aspire 16 AI, spread evenly across both sides. On the left are two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, and an HDMI port. However, I found it inconvenient that the USB-C ports are placed nearest to you, since one has to be used for the power adapter; I much prefer the thick cable for this to trail from the back of the laptop, rather than from the middle, as it does with the Aspire 16 AI.

On the right you’ll find another USB-A port, followed by a combo audio jack and a microSD card reader. It’s a shame the latter can’t accommodate standard SD card sizes, but this is a small grievance.

• Design: 3.5 / 5

Acer Aspire 16 AI review: Performance

• Good productivity and streaming performance
• Poor for gaming
• Useless AI features

The Aspire 16 AI offers great general performance. It takes light productivity in its stride, from word processing to spreadsheet creation, and multiple browser tabs didn’t cause a problem for me, thanks to the 16GB of RAM in my review unit. Streaming 4K content is well within its grasp, too. I experienced little buffering or slow down, providing a seamless viewing experience in the main.

However, despite what Acer claims, the gaming performance of the Aspire 16 AI is quite poor. With its shared memory, the AMD Radeon GPU didn’t handle AAA titles very well. When I played Cyberpunk 2077 with the default Ray Tracing: Low preset and resolution scaling set to Performance mode, I was getting 20fps on average – not what you’d call playable.

The best I could achieve with the game was about 38fps, but that was at the lowest possible graphics preset and the resolution dropped to 1080p. This at least made it playable, but if you’re expecting to get even moderately close to the performance of the best gaming laptops, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

During my playtime, the Aspire 16 AI generated a fair amount of heat. Fortunately, this was heavily concentrated underneath and at the back, thus steering clear of any parts you might actually touch. Fan noise is also pleasantly subdued.

As when I tested the 14 AI, the AI features the Aspire 16 AI sports are disappointing. The centerpiece appears to be Acer LiveSense, a photo editing and webcam suite with very basic functionality, not to mention a poor UI and frequent glitches.

For more AI features, you’ll have to download Acer Intelligence Space, the brand’s hub. Contrary to when I tested the 14 AI, I managed to install it successfully. However, it didn’t get off to an auspicious start, as a dialog box warned me that I had insufficient memory resources, explaining that it needed 6.5GB free and a total of at least 16GB to execute smoothly.

I proceeded anyway and was greeted with a clear user interface that revealed the various AI apps I could install. However, a large portion of them seem to be incompatible with the Aspire 16 AI, and those that are were once more very limited in their functionality.

On a more positive note, the 2K OLED display in my review unit was as clear and as vibrant as you might expect. The very shiny coating can cause prominent reflections, but these can be mitigated by the screen’s brightness values (especially if you disable the ‘change brightness based on content’ setting).

The keyboard feels premium, too, thanks to the subtle texture and tight fit of the keys themselves. They’re also light, tactile, and reasonably spaced, although perhaps not to the extent of other laptop keyboards. I didn’t find this aspect to be a problem when typing, but I did while gaming, as it made adopting the WASD more uncomfortable for me.

At least the number pad doesn’t eat into the layout space. However, contrary to many full-sized laptop keyboards I’ve experienced, it’s the number pad itself that feels cramped, with its keys being too narrow to be used easily. Another small but notable gripe I have with the keyboard is the absence of a right Control key, which can be frustrating when performing productivity tasks.

The touchpad performs well enough, with its large and smooth surface making for easy navigation. However, thanks to the aforementioned rattle in its bottom portion, clicks felt unpleasant. It can also get in the way while typing: on occasion, the palm of my thumbs would activate the cursor, although thankfully not clicks or taps.

• Performance: 3.5 / 5

Acer Aspire 16 AI review: Battery Life

• Average battery life
• 14 AI battery life much better
• Other rivals are better, too

The battery life of the Aspire 16 AI isn’t particularly impressive. It lasted just over nine hours in our movie playback test, which is a middling result. This is a far cry from the time achieved by the 14 AI, which lasted over twice as long, making the Aspire 16 AI even more disappointing by comparison.

What’s more, plenty of its rivals can beat this score, including the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch, which managed over 17 hours, and the Asus TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition, which lasted 11 hours.

• Battery Life: 3.5 / 5

Should I buy the Acer Aspire 16 AI?

Buy the Acer Aspire 16 AI if...

Don't buy it if...

Acer Aspire 16 AI review: Also Consider

How I tested the Acer Aspire 16 AI

• Tested for several days
• Used for various tasks
• Plentiful laptop reviewing experience

I tested the Aspire 16 AI for several days, during which time I used it for various tasks, from productivity and browsing to streaming and gaming.

I also ran our series of benchmark tests to assess its all-round performance more concretely, and played a movie on a continuous loop while unplugged to see how long its battery lasted.

I have been using laptops for decades, and have reviewed a large and varied selection of them too, ranging in their form factors, price points, and intended purposes.

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

HP Pavilion x360 14: Two-minute review

The HP Pavilion x360 14 is a compact 2-in-1 laptop that aims to offer both performance and versatility in a single package.

True to most of HP’s lineup, the Pavilion x360 14 has a smart and understated appearance. The light grey colorway and sleek contours imbue it with elegance, while its 14-inch size helps with portability.

However, this latter aspect is undermined somewhat by its relatively thick and heavy construction, so it’s not the best laptop for frequent travelers who want a device with as minimal a footprint as possible.

The upshot of this weight, though, is that it adds some reassuring solidity. Both the base and the display enclosure of the Pavilion x360 14 have very little give, while the materials used all over the unit feel premium. The hinge for the lid is also sturdy, if a little clunky in action when you're pushing the screen beyond 90 degrees, as I often do whenever I use a 2-in-1 laptop.

Despite its small size, there are a good number of ports on the Pavilion x360 14. Along with two USB-A and one USB-C port, there’s also an HDMI port, a microSD slot, and a combo audio jack, all of which I welcome. What’s more, they’re conveniently located.

The general performance of the Pavilion x360 14 is pretty good. It can handle light productivity and stream 4K content with ease. However, it can suffer from micro-stutters when moving quickly from task to task. Also, gaming performance is average-to-poor, owing to the absence of a dedicated GPU. Of course, this isn't a gaming laptop, so you shouldn't really expect impressive game performance.

I noticed that even under moderate loads, a fair amount of heat radiates from the left side of the Pavilion x360 14, as well as the top keyboard rows. Thankfully, temperatures aren’t alarmingly high. The fans generate some noise, but remain pleasingly quiet relative to many other laptops under stress.

The display is pleasingly sharp and vibrant, and although reflections are prominent at times, I usually found the maximum brightness setting could mitigate their presence to an acceptable degree.

Despite the small size of the Pavilion x360 14, its keyboard has a pleasingly spacious layout, which, combined with the snappiness of the keys themselves, makes it satisfying to type on. However, there was no backlighting in my particular review unit – a grave omission given how hard it was to make out the lettering most of the time.

The touchpad is usable, if a little small, and has a smooth surface. It’s also quite solid, although I did notice a slight rattle when tapping and clicking, which can hamper feel and feedback.

The touchscreen on the Pavilion x360 14 is responsive and accurate, however, those keen on illustration might be disappointed with the small – but still noticeable – levels of friction, which can lead to slightly rough swipes, whether a stylus or a finger is used.

The battery life of the Pavilion x360 14 is quite good. It lasted over 11 hours when I ran our movie playback test, which is similar to some of its more expensive rivals. However, it pales in comparison to the highest performing laptops on this front, which can endure twice as long in some cases.

All things considered, though, the Pavilion x360 14 is a strong option in the 2-in-1 sector, thanks to its decent everyday performance and impressive design. It’s a shame that it’s not as portable as other convertible models, and there may be better value alternatives depending on what you require from a laptop, but at the very least the Pavilion x360 14 deserves a place on your shortlist.

HP Pavilion x360 14 review: Price & Availability

• Starts from £699 (about $920 / AU$1,400)
• Available now
• Expensive compared to some rivals

The HP Pavilion x360 14 is available now and starts from £699 (about $920 / AU$1,400). For that, you get an Intel Core i3, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. However, we have seen it on sale for half this price from HP’s own website, which obviously makes it much better value.

The unit I review here is the top-spec model and costs around £1,000. It features an Intel Core i7, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage (although you can upgrade to a 1TB drive instead). Again, we’ve seen a hefty discount on this variant, but its usual price is quite dear.

If you don't need a truly convertible laptop, but still want a touchscreen, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i is a fine alternative. It’s decidedly more expensive, but it’s a truly premium machine, featuring an OLED display and a pleasingly portable design.

However, if your heart is set on a 2-in-1 but you want a more budget-friendly option, the Acer Chromebook Spin 312 is worth considering. Thanks to its compact form factor, great display, and usable touchscreen, it’s one of the best Chromebooks currently around.

• Value: 3.5 / 5

HP Pavilion x360 14 review: Specs

HP Pavilion x360 14 review: Design

• Heavier and bulkier than expected
• Solid construction
• Impressive port selection

The Pavilion x360 14 looks smart, with its pristine light gray finish, rounded edges, and flat surfaces. All these aspects reflect HP’s desire to emulate the best MacBook designs.

Despite initial impressions, though, the Pavilion x360 14 is actually less slender and light than you might expect. Not only does this heft hamper portability, it’s doubly disappointing to see in a convertible laptop, since you’ll likely be picking it up and flipping it upside down frequently to use the touchscreen. The best 2-in-1 laptop options are all lighter than this.

On the plus side, the weight does contribute to the overall sturdiness of the HP Pavilion x360 14, as there’s virtually no flex to any of its panels. The materials employed seem quite premium as well, more akin to metal than plastic.

Also, the lid hinge is stable enough to prevent the display from wobbling under most circumstances. It operates smoothly, too, although I found it took a bit more effort to adjust the display angle compared to other laptops I’ve used.

More irksome, however, was the fact that once it’s reclined beyond 90 degrees, the rear of the base lifts clean off the underlying surface. This is a design choice some other laptops employ, but it’s not one I’m fond of. It always felt awkward adjusting the display to this point, and results in less stability when using the keyboard.

Speaking of which, my review unit had no backlighting for the keyboard. I always lament this omission in any laptop, but it’s especially disappointing in the case of the Pavilion x360 14. The characters are dark and contrast marginally with the finish of the keys themselves, making them hard to see in many instances; at certain angles, they were totally invisible.

Even though the Pavilion x360 14 is a small laptop, it has an admirable selection of interfaces. There are two USB-A ports and one USB-C, the latter of which supports both Power Delivery and DisplayPort 1.4 standards.

Additionally, there’s an HDMI port, a combo audio jack, and a microSD card reader. It’s a small shame the latter isn’t fit for standard SD cards, but I can forgive this omission given the form factor of the Pavilion x360 14.

The ports are spread quite evenly across both sides, which improves convenience. They’re also ordered in a logical way: for instance, the power connector is furthest away from the user, while the microSD reader and combo audio jack are closest.

• Design: 4 / 5

HP Pavilion x360 14 review: Performance

• Reasonable everyday performance
• Heat and noise even under moderate loads
• Responsive but uninspiring touchscreen

The general performance of the Pavilion x360 14 is reasonable, if not spectacular. It can handle light productivity and entertainment tasks well, even streaming 4K content without disruption.

However, despite my review unit having an Intel Core i7 installed, it wasn’t as swift as I was expecting. When switching between browser tabs or loading new web pages, it frequently stuttered. These stutters were momentary, so were minor infractions in the main, but they added up to become more disruptive when I tried to accomplish multiple (but not especially demanding) tasks in quick succession.

Being the top spec model, my review unit also had Intel Iris Xe Graphics. In theory, this offers improved performance over Intel UHD Graphics, but it’s still integrated to the CPU. This means that the Pavilion x360 14 is only capable of very light gaming. I managed to run Cyberpunk 2077 on Medium graphics, but it wasn’t a smooth experience, in terms of frame rate and visual fidelity.

A noticeable amount of heat emanated from the left vent of the Pavilion x360 14, as well as from the top keyboard rows and the section above. This was the case even when I conducted moderate workloads. Thankfully, the temperatures were never uncomfortable or concerning. Fan noise accompanied such moments, but it was pleasingly quiet relative to some other laptops under load.

The 1080p resolution of the Pavilion x360 14 provides plenty of sharpness, which is doubtless helped by the compact 14-inch display. Colors also appear vibrant. It can be quite reflective at times, but thankfully there’s enough brightness to keep them from being distracting.

The touchscreen functions well, responding to inputs made by either a finger or a stylus quickly and accurately. However, the surface isn’t the smoothest, so more intricate usage, such as drawing or handwriting, can result in a dragging sensation. The effect isn’t as egregious as it is on some other touchscreens, but if you’re after one of the best touchscreen laptops, the Pavilion x360 14 might not cut it.

If you’ll mainly be typing, though, you’ll be pleased with the keyboard on the HP Pavilion x360 14. The keys are comfortably spaced despite the compact layout, and there’s a surprising amount of travel to presses, which makes them satisfying to use. They’re still snappy enough to type quickly, though.

The touchpad is less impressive. It operates well enough, but the small size and numb-feeling taps and clicks – in part due to the slight rattle I noticed – result in a less tactile experience.

• Performance: 4 / 5

HP Pavilion x360 14 review: Battery Life

• Respectable by 2-in-1 standards
• Some longer-lasting rivals
• Quick to recharge

The Pavilion x360 14 has a decent battery life. It lasted about 11 hours in our movie playback test, which is close to the same score achieved by the Acer Chromebook Spin 312.

However, it can’t beat the Microsoft Surface Pro 11, another fantastic 2-in-1 laptop, which managed over 14 and a half hours. Also, more conventional laptops can last longer, sometimes up to 20 hours or more. The Pavilion x360 14 is quick to charge, though. It took about two hours to fully replenish.

• Battery Life: 4 / 5

Should I buy the HP Pavilion x360 14?

Buy the HP Pavilion x360 14 if...

Don't buy it if...

HP Pavilion x360 14 review: Also Consider

How I tested the HP Pavilion x360 14

• Tested for a few days
• Used for a variety of tasks
• Laptop testing experience

I tested the HP Pavilion x360 14 for a few days, during which time I used it for multiple tasks, including productivity, streaming, and gaming.

I also ran our series of benchmark tests for laptops, which are designed to assess every facet of performance. I also tested the battery life by running a movie on a continuous loop.

I have plenty of experience both using and reviewing laptops. I have covered many models, ranging in their form factors, use cases, and price points.

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

HP Pavilion 16: Two-minute review

The HP Pavilion 16 is aimed at those looking for a capable everyday machine for a reasonable price.

It’s clear that HP has paid attention to the aesthetics of the Pavilion 16. Not only does the Sky Blue colorway add more interest than the monochromatic tones typical of mid-range laptops, but the materials employed look premium as well.

Its elegance is further emphasized by its sheer slenderness; I don’t recall having seen a thinner 16-inch laptop, making it one of the best laptop designs around. While this aspect helps with portability, the deceptively hefty weight doesn’t.

I can’t complain about the build quality of the Pavilion 16, though. There’s little flex to any part of it, despite its aforementioned lean form, while the parts that are plastic are pleasing to the touch. This is especially true of the keys, which have a slight texture for added tactility.

There are some useful ports on the Pavilion 16, including two USB-A, two USB-C (which support both Power Delivery and DisplayPort standards), and an HDMI port. However, most are loaded on the right-hand side, and the two USB-C ports are placed closest to the user, which can be inconvenient as the power cable has to be plugged into one of them.

The Pavilion 16 handles general tasks rather well, from light productivity to 4K video streaming. However, since it lacks a dedicated GPU, graphics-heavy workloads are handled with less aplomb. Some light gaming is still possible, but you’ll have to dial back the settings and settle for unremarkable frame rates and visuals.

Fan noise is noticeable, even when the Pavilion 16 is running at a moderate intensity, but I would still describe it as being within acceptable bounds. Nearly all of the heat is confined to the very rear of the underside, which I also appreciated.

The 1200p WUGXA display is sufficient for this size of laptop, providing a clear and sharp image. Color reproduction and brightness levels are also commendable, although reflections can be a little too prominent at times.

If you’ll be doing a lot of typing, the Pavilion 16 is likely to meet your needs. The wide spacing of the keys, coupled with their deep travel and dampening, makes them satisfying to use. And if you’ll be dealing with lots of numbers in your work, you’ll be pleased with the inclusion of a numpad, too.

However, the touchpad is less impressive. It’s quite small for this size of laptop, yet at the same time manages to intrude while typing; I would often trigger cursor movement with my thumb palm. In the main, though, it’s still sufficient enough for everyday use.

An area where the Pavilion 16 excels is battery life. It lasted over 20 hours in our movie playback test, and charging times are very fast as well. On this front, it beats most of its similarly-priced rivals.

When you combine this aspect with its other plus points, the Pavilion 16 adds up to an enticing proposition, given its reasonable starting price. There are certainly other great laptops at this end of the market, some of which may have the edge in terms of performance, but the Pavilion 16 remains one to consider if you’re after a mid-range, workaday machine.

HP Pavilion 16 review: Price & Availability

• Starts from $459 / £569 (about AU$700)
• Available now in various configurations
• Reasonable price point

The HP Pavilion 16 starts from $459 / £569 (about AU$700) and is available now. Models with different Intel and AMD processors are available, as are models with touchscreens. RAM configurations also vary from 8GB to 16GB.

This is a reasonable price for a large laptop of this spec. For a similar price, you could also get the Acer Aspire Go 15. I was impressed with its performance when I reviewed it, which is perhaps marginally better than that of Pavilion 16. However, its display is less impressive than the Pavilion 16’s.

If you’re looking for another budget alternative, the HP OmniBook 5 14-inch (2025) could be one to look out for. It features a cutting-edge and vibrant OLED display, and impressively long battery life.

• Value: 4 / 5

HP Pavilion 16 review: Specs

HP Pavilion 16 review: Design

• Exceptionally thin
• Premium feel
• Mixed connectivity options

The Pavilion 16 cuts an elegant figure, thanks to its minimalist design that’s free from fuss and unsightly bulges. The Sky Blue colorway also helps to distinguish it from many others in this sector, endowing the unit with enough interest while maintaining a professional appearance.

More impressive is just how slender the Pavilion 16 is. For a 16-inch laptop, it’s remarkably thin, which certainly helps with transportation. Its weight, on the other hand, is more of a hindrance, since it’s heavier than I expected it to be.

The plastics used in the Pavilion 16 feel premium, especially that of the keys, which are finished with a subtle texture that offers a pleasing amount of traction. They’re also secured firmly in place, without a hint of looseness.

This same level of solidity applies to the overall construction of the Pavilion 16, too. There’s remarkably little flex to the chassis or the lid, despite how thin both are. What’s more, the hinge holds the display in place with impressively little wobble, no matter the angle, while being very easy to adjust at the same time.

There are two USB-A and two USB-C ports on the Pavilion 16, as well as an HDMI port – an increasingly rare sight on modern laptops. There’s no SD card reader, though, which is a small shame.

A bigger point of contention is the placement of the ports. All but two are on the right, which might prove inconvenient for some. And while I was glad to see the USB-A ports split across both sides, the two USB-C ports are both on the right.

What’s more, they’re located in front of all other ports, nearly mid-way along the chassis, which can cause issues when connecting the USB-C power adapter. Personally, I always prefer the power port to be the furthest away, in order to prevent the power cable from trailing over others or being obstructed by things you may have next to your laptop.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

HP Pavilion 16 review: Performance

• Reasonable everyday performance
• Not ideal for gamers or creative pros
• Tactile keyboard

The everyday performance of the Pavilion 16 is commendable. It handles light productivity, browsing, and entertainment tasks well, which is what one would expect from this grade of laptop. More impressively, it can stream ultra-HD video without issue.

Such content is enhanced by the large display, which is allowed to make full use of its space thanks to the thin bezel. There’s enough brightness and vibrancy to make the viewing experience an enjoyable one, and while reflections can reveal themselves at points, for the most part the Pavilion 16 does an admirable job of keeping them at bay.

Even when performing moderately intense workloads, the fans in the Pavilion 16 were audible. However, the noise never rose above a muted whir, so I didn’t find them disruptive. Most of the heat was confined to the rear underside, with commonly-touched surfaces remaining cool.

Since it has no dedicated GPU, the Pavilion 16 isn’t the best choice for gamers or creative types. Cyberpunk 2077 was just about playable on Medium settings, but even here I experienced some stuttering and the occasional slowdown. Naturally, it wasn’t very pleasant to look at, either. You'd be better off checking out our list of the best gaming laptops instead.

Thanks to the wide chassis, the keyboard fits comfortably in the Pavilion 16, even with its number pad. However, while the keys have plenty of space between them, they don’t seem as large as those on other laptops. I had to adapt my typing accordingly, but as the size difference is that great, this didn’t take long.

Better is the considerable amount of travel and dampening they have, especially by laptop standards. This makes them more tactile and engaging to use.

Despite its relatively small size, the touchpad got in the way as I typed. The palm of my right thumb frequently triggered cursor movement; thankfully, no clicks or taps registered, which would’ve been much more disruptive.

Its small size also means navigation isn’t as expansive as it could’ve been. What’s more, it lacks the smoothness of some of the best in class, and I felt a slight rattle whenever I tapped or clicked, which made such actions feel awkward. Having said all this, I’ve certainly experienced more frustrating laptop touchpads, and it’s perfectly usable in the main.

• Performance: 3.5 / 5

HP Pavilion 16 review: Battery Life

• Lasts long
• Beats many rivals
• Quick to charge, too

The battery life of the Pavilion 16 is very impressive. It lasted a mighty 20 hours and 15 minutes during our movie playback test, a score that bests many of its rivals by a large margin. The Acer Aspire Go 15, for example, only managed close to 12 hours.

Equally as impressive is just how quickly the Pavilion 16 can fully recharge, taking about 90 minutes.

• Battery Life: 5 / 5

Should I buy the HP Pavilion 16?

Buy the HP Pavilion 16 if...

Don't buy it if...

HP Pavilion 16 review: Also Consider

How I tested the HP Pavilion 16

• Tested for a few days
• Used for multiple purposes and benchmarked
• Experienced laptop reviewer

I tested the HP Pavilion 16 for a couple of days. I used it for a variety of tasks, from productivity and browsing to streaming video and gaming.

I also ran our series of benchmark tests, designed to comprehensively assess every aspect of a laptop's performance. This included a battery life test, where I ran a movie on a continuous loop until the HP Pavilion 16 shut down.

I am an experienced laptop reviewer, having tested a large number across a broad range of price points, form factors, and specifications.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed November 2025

• Dell hosted a Q&A as part of its pre-briefing for CES 2026
• An exec said of the firm's laptops that "from a consumer perspective … they're not buying based on AI"
• This admission comes just as another Windows 11 AI fail is going viral, which is unfortunate timing for Microsoft

Dell is telling it straight as far as the contemporary world of PCs goes, with the computer maker bluntly explaining that consumers aren't buying laptops based on AI abilities.

PC Gamer reports (as flagged by The Verge) that Dell's execs were refreshingly frank on the topic of AI and the PC in a Q&A session that was part of the company's pre-briefing for CES 2026 this week.

First up, Dell's COO, Jeff Clarke, observed that there was an "expectation of AI driving end user demand" but also an "un-met promise of AI", hinting at some of the disappointment – or confusion – around AI PCs for the average consumer.

Then Dell's head of product, Kevin Terwilliger, went further and noted of the company's fresh product launches (which included the new XPS 14 and 16 laptops): "One thing you'll notice is the message we delivered around our products was not AI-first. So, a bit of a shift from a year ago where we were all about the AI PC."

Terwilliger continued: "We're very focused on delivering upon the AI capabilities of a device – in fact everything that we're announcing has an NPU in it – but what we've learned over the course of this year, especially from a consumer perspective, is they're not buying based on AI. In fact I think AI probably confuses them more than it helps them understand a specific outcome."

Analysis: it might be 'make or break' for AI in Windows 11 this year

In short, Dell is taking its foot off the pedal when it comes to pushing AI in its marketing, simply because it doesn't believe that consumers are that interested – and that it might even be a point of confusion for some.

While you could argue that the latter viewpoint is somewhat patronizing, I think it's a fair enough observation overall. I believe some consumers really don't care about AI, and do not see the benefit of the various abilities for Copilot+ PCs – those exclusive Windows 11 AI features – or how they might use them.

And in truth, there isn't that much to get excited about with these AI features to date, anyway – not beyond image-editing tricks (and let's face it, many folks don't do anything much with their photos) and additional search powers (some of which people may be very suspicious of on the privacy front, particularly the key AI piece of the puzzle here, which is Recall).

Many people probably don't use AI beyond queries posed to ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini or whatever their favorite flavor of AI portal happens to be, using them as a kind of beefed-up Google search (other engines are available, etcetera).

Furthermore, with all the heat that Microsoft is taking over trying to crowbar more AI into Windows 11 – despite consistent cries from detractors who'd rather the software giant fixes what's wrong with its desktop OS, rather than putting in new features that 'no one asked for' at a rate of knots – the reputation of AI features is being tarnished considerably in terms of questioning Microsoft's motives here.

Is all this for show, riding the AI hype train and pushing as hard as possible with such features in Windows 11 in a bid to further impress shareholders and drive market capitalization?

Onlookers to the kinds of online bunfights that have been going on between anti-AI rebels and Microsoft's execs are no doubt absorbing messaging which, let's say, isn't leaving these AI features in the best light.

Especially not when you get videos like the one below on X, recently posted by Ryan Fleury (hat tip to Futurism for spotting this), which highlights an embarrassing fail by the AI agent in Windows 11's Settings app.

That clip has currently amassed well over four million views (at the time of writing), and as you can see, it shows the AI freezing up and failing to offer any reply to a basic query. Not just any basic query, mind, but the very one that Windows 11 suggested the user should try in order to show off the capabilities of the agent – so, you'd expect that it'd work well given that fact.

Okay, so this is a one-off example, but we've seen others. I can't help but recall (pun fully intended) the video from Microsoft's marketing department where the Copilot AI assistant makes rather a mess of trying to help a user change the text size in Windows 11. (That clip was eventually pulled, and I'm not sure how it was published in the first place). These are eye-opening cases of AD – artificial dumbness – a term I coined two minutes ago (one that, unsurprisingly, already exists, so Google – or should I say Gemini which provides the 'AI overview' – tells me).

With sentiment souring around AI in Windows 11 to a greater extent of late, is it any wonder that Dell wants to distance itself from the concept of AI PCs? At least for now, especially as we're moving into a tough sales environment for laptops and desktops (with the spiking costs of RAM, storage, and also GPUs in some cases).

And yes, Dell may remind us that despite its comments here, it's still pushing with AI in a way, as "everything that we're announcing has an NPU in it" – but it's not like there's a choice in that regard, is there? Away from budget laptops, all cutting-edge PC chips that are going to power modern laptops now have beefy NPUs, whether they are AMD, Intel or Qualcomm.

In fairness, the agentic AI functionality that Microsoft is now implementing with Windows 11 may be the piece of the puzzle that finally moves the needle with AI and grabs the attention of consumers more widely – but that remains to be seen. As do the potential security pitfalls or other nastiness that AI agents might bring in tow.

And with one of the major problems with AI being a lack of trust in these features, whether from a security or privacy perspective – or just 'hallucinations' (AI getting stuff plain wrong) – AI agents could possibly be the 'breaking', rather than the 'making', of Copilot and all its associated trappings in Windows 11.

2026 will be a very telling year for AI, I think, but for now, Dell gets credit for being frank about the current state of play with the AI features in Windows 11 PCs. Although arguably, this is the only sensible route to take with marketing PCs right now, given the circumstances as discussed above.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 live news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything we've seen.

You can also ask us a question about the show in our CES 2026 live Q&A and we’ll do our best to answer it.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok for the latest from the CES show floor!

Alienware is running full speed ahead into 2026 as it teases two new laptop classes at CES 2026, which the company hopes to launch later this year, as well as bringing OLED to its 16-inch Area-51 models.

Alienware took 2025 to consolidate many of its various laptop offerings into a single relaunched 'Area-51' brand, with one 18-inch and two 16-inch models. This year, however, the company appears primed to expand that portfolio with a new ultraslim model and a budget-oriented device.

First, Alienware’s ultraslim gaming laptop will almost certainly go toe-to-toe with the Razer Blade, Asus ROG Zephyrus, and other thin and light gaming laptops that have grown in popularity over the past few years. The other is a budget-friendly gaming laptop or laptops, geared more towards entry-level gaming, something Dell lost with the mothballing of the Dell G-series gaming laptops.

Alienware promises a 'covert' ultraslim gaming laptop line this year

For the ultraslim, Alienware says that this new laptop will be about 17mm thick, which is essentially the same thickness as the Razer Blade 14 I reviewed last year, if you’re looking for a more concrete example to ponder.

According to Alienware, the company “set out to build a laptop that delivers features that appeal to gamers first and foremost but also excels for people who need a powerful device for creative projects, productivity, and everything in between.”

This new laptop class, which will feature 14-inch and 16-inch models, appears to be Alienware’s way of softening the edges of its gamer aesthetic somewhat to appeal to professionals who want to use a powerful laptop for work during the day and gaming during off-hours without worrying about bringing an RGB-heavy gaming laptop into important work meetings that might rub the bosses the wrong way.

Alienware to introduce a budget-friendly gaming laptop to fill the whole left by the Dell G-series

Next up, Alienware plans to introduce a budget-oriented gaming laptop with a much lower price point than the typically premium devices that carry the Alienware imprint. To be sure, this won’t be able to include the same premium materials and hardware its beefier siblings possess, but with the unceremonious retirement of the Dell G-series gaming laptops, this is definitely a market segment that Alienware seems well-suited to fill.

There’s very little information on this new product class right now, much less details on specs or the number of models that it will include, but Alienware stresses that it won’t skimp on the essentials, and acknowledges that “this isn't at the level of our flagship Area-51,” but promises that “it's still built to Alienware standards by not cutting corners on the things that matter most, such as build quality, thermals and performance.”

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

As CES 2026 kicks off, right out of the gate, we have one of the biggest surprises of the show as far as laptops go, and that is the return of the Dell XPS 14 and XPS 16.

Last year, Dell underwent a major overhaul of its laptop lines, consolidating them under a kind of grid scheme of Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max laptops, each with a base model, a Plus model, and a Premium version for different sizes.

It was controversial, for sure, and whether that controversy prompted Dell to change course or there was something in the sales performance of the rebranded laptops that gave Dell pause, whatever it was has given us back the iconic Dell XPS laptops, and it’s more than just a return to the old name.

The new Dell XPS lineup has had a solid redesign that at first sight goes a long way towards fixing the complaints I had with the last few generations of XPS laptops. It’s also powered by the new Intel Core Ultra 300 series processors, and by powered by Intel, I mean entirely.

With the new redesign, the XPS laptop is losing a discrete graphics option for the foreseeable future, which is putting a lot of trust in Intel’s new chips to deliver the mix of creative and productivity performance users expect from the XPS brand.

Whether the new Dell XPS 14 and Dell XPS 16 achieve that balance remains to be seen, but for right now, these two laptops are a fantastic return for the beloved laptop line.

Dell XPS 14 & Dell XPS 16: Price & availability

• When is it out? The XPS 14 and XPS 16 go on sale January 6, 2026
• How much is it? Starting at $2,049.99 for the XPS 14 and $2,199.99 for the XPS 16
• Where can you get it? Only available in the US at launch, with global availability to follow

The Dell XPS 14 and Dell XPS 16 will go on sale in the US on January 6, 2026, with a limited number of configurations, starting at $2,049.99 for the XPS 14 and $2,199.99 for the XPS 16. Lower-priced configurations will be launching soon, as will wider availability in the UK and Australia, though no dates or pricing for those regions have been given yet.

Without knowing what the specific specs of the initial configurations are, it’s hard to tell how much the price of the new XPS laptops will vary from earlier models. With RAM prices being what they are, I would not be surprised if they come in somewhat higher, but Dell is also better able to absorb those price hikes or negotiate volume pricing down, thanks to its size, so we’ll just have to keep an eye on it over the next few weeks and months before I can give it a proper value assessment.

Dell XPS 14 & Dell XPS 16: Specs

• Powered by Intel Core Ultra 300 series
• No discrete graphics option

Dell XPS 14 & Dell XPS 16: Design

• New, thinner, and more modern design
• Fixes most of the accessibility issues with previous gen XPS models

The biggest change here for the Dell XPS 14and XPS 16 is the design of the two laptops, which significantly improves things over earlier generations.

First, the laptop feels lighter and sturdier than its predecessors, and it definitely looks more modern. The move from the Dell logo to the XPS logo on the lid also makes the laptop feel less like an office product and more like a proper ultrabook.

From my limited time with the two laptops, the keys had good travel and felt comfortable enough in my testing, but having not typed on them extensively, I can’t say how they’ll feel after a few hours of work.

The three Thunderbolt ports along the sides and the headphone/mic jack are sufficient for most people, and while the lack of USB-A ports might annoy some, at this point, I can’t fault Dell for sticking with the faster, more intuitive USB-C interface.

The webcam is an 8MP 4K HDR webcam, which is what I would expect for a laptop in this class, and the 10W audio is spread out between a number of hidden speakers along both sides of the laptop. Given the noise in the testing area, the audio was audible, but it was also really loud. I’ll reserve judgment on that until I can do more extensive testing with it.

The OLED displays looked great on the two laptops, with the XPS 16-inch feeling much more roomy as you’d expect, but the 14-inch display is also more than enough for most. The lighting in the testing space wasn’t the greatest, so I wouldn’t trust my eyes to judge the color accuracy without a longer look in better conditions, but I honestly can’t think of anything I’d fault them for.

The biggest changes, for me at least, are the return of physical Function keys and a more visible border for the trackpads. The old virtual Function key bar along the previous gen devices and the complete lack of a visibly defined trackpad on a smooth, glassy surface were accessibility headaches that simply weren’t necessary. The trackpad could be better defined, I’ll say, but I’m just happy that you can at least see it more clearly.

Dell XPS 14 & Dell XPS 16: Performance

I didn’t have a chance to benchmark either the XPS 14 or XPS 16, so I can’t tell you how either will perform versus their predecessors. I will say that the lack of discrete graphics will not work in the new XPS models' favor if you are comparing them to a Dell Premium with an Nvidia RTX 4050, like the Dell 14 Premium I tested last year.

That said, I haven’t fully tested the new Intel Panther Lake chips yet, so the new XPS’s performance might end up surprising me. We’ll know soon enough.

Dell XPS 14 & Dell XPS 16: Final thoughts

I personally didn’t lose much sleep over the XPS rebranding last year, the way many of my colleagues did, but I’m sure the XPS’s triumphant return from exile will make plenty of people happy.

What I care far more about, though, is the redesign of these two laptops, particularly the Function keys and the trackpad. Those fixes alone make this the one laptop I’m most excited to test out in the next few weeks, and if Intel Panther Lake can live up to its hype, these two models just might be the laptops to buy in 2026.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

As any savvy online shopper will tell you, it's wise to be a bit selective about your purchases, especially when it comes to tech. It's like choosing a bottle of wine in a restaurant; the absolute cheapest option often isn't really the best value for money.

But with sites like Amazon and AliExpress awash with ultra-cheap laptops, it's hard not to be tempted at times - especially with the current RAM crisis threatening to increase the prices of both desktop and laptop PCs in 2026. Sure, it seems unlikely that these budget machines could threaten any of the best laptops, but they can’t be that bad, right?

This was the question I set out to answer, cheekily procuring a whopping £90 (around $100) of discretionary budget from the TechRadar coffers to waste - sorry, spend - on the cheapest laptop I could find at Amazon UK. The price has gone up since, but the prices, pictures, and even brand names of these Chinese-made laptops can fluctuate on a frequent basis if you track Amazon closely.

Cheaping out

At the time, before the Black Friday sales kicked off in November, the cheapest laptop was the Azeyou 11.6 Inch Laptop. I’m not entirely sure if that’s even the right product name, but that’s all the Amazon listing is giving you - along with a basic spec sheet, AI-generated (or at least badly AI-translated) marketing one-pager, and some very mixed reviews. It’s never a good sign when the majority of reviews are either 5 stars or 1 star.

Before I get into the meat of why this thing is (unsurprisingly) not very good, one quick disclaimer. I was only looking for Windows laptops here, since it’s actually possible to spend very little on a Chromebook and still get reasonably good performance thanks to the resource-light nature of ChromeOS. Windows, on the other hand, is a far more powerful and versatile operating system, but takes a heavier toll on the system running it - which is why super-affordable Windows laptops can be hard to find.

Unboxing my prize when it arrived after a lengthy two-week wait for shipping, I was initially hopeful. Granted, it didn’t look amazing, but the plastic casing and screen hinge felt a bit sturdier than I had been expecting, and the rose-gold finish looked quite nice. Unfortunately, my hopes were short-lived; here are the three main reasons I would strongly advise against spending your own money (or your employer’s) on a laptop like this.

It’s just slow

As soon as I booted up the Azeyou, we were off to a bad start. The Windows 11 setup process, which should take perhaps 20 minutes on the average modern laptop, took a whopping four hours and ten minutes. Even once I was in, things weren’t loading fast; just opening the Edge browser from the desktop took several seconds, a process that takes place near-instantaneously on my desktop PC.

The problem here, as you might have guessed, is the absolutely abysmal specs on this laptop. The processor, an Intel N4020C, is not only five years old but even when it launched was considered an ultra-budget chip for mass-produced office laptops. With a measly 4GB of RAM backing it up, trying to do more than one task at a time immediately caused system lag and stuttering, almost to the point of rendering the laptop unusable.

Even in the present memory climate, 4GB of RAM for a Chromebook - let alone a laptop running Windows 11 - is a risky investment. Considering that Microsoft itself previously pushed for a new standard of 16GB RAM for laptops, these specs don’t feel future-proof in the slightest. Even worse, the measly 128GB of local storage is an eMMC drive rather than one of the SSDs found in many modern laptops, and it’s quite agonizingly slow. Moving and downloading files takes forever. Interestingly, there is a slot with a removable cover on the underside where you can install a proper SSD, which would probably help matters - but then again, you could just spend that extra money on a better laptop.

Now, I’m tempted to lay the blame for this one with Microsoft, rather than whatever factory in China assembled this atrocity of a laptop. Windows 11 in its current incarnation is pretty horribly optimized for low-end hardware, as well as being rammed with unnecessary bloatware that clogs up your device. But regardless of who should be considered liable, the experience for the end user here is simply bad.

The keyboard feels awful

While the Azeyou admittedly wasn’t the flimsy piece of garbage I was expecting, it certainly didn’t feel great to use. The outer casing is fairly robust, at least. Combined with the low price, that makes me think that maybe this could be a decent first laptop for a child.

A child also probably wouldn’t have the first big problem I had with actually using the Azeyou, which was typing on it. Despite the chunky, ugly bezels around the 11.6-inch screen, the overall size of the chassis is small, and that means a small keyboard. The keys appear well-spaced at first glance, but they’re all scaled down just enough from the usual ultrabook standard to throw off your typing if you’re used to a regular-sized laptop. I was constantly fat-fingering two keys at once - though I’ll admit that as a 6’3” man with large hands, there are likely folks out there with daintier digits who won’t have the same problem.

However, those slender-fingered users will still have to deal with how horribly cheap this keyboard feels to type on. The barest bit of pressure makes the whole housing flex downwards noticeably; there isn’t enough key travel, and every press feels spongy and unsatisfying. I’ve typed on some crap keyboard over the years, but this is a genuine contender for the absolute worst. Notably, several negative reviews on the Amazon listing directly mention keys falling off after extended use.

The screen is just bad

Look, I’m not a monitor person. I have a guy for that (the lovely Jeremy Laird, who I met while working on Maximum PC magazine, and knows far more about computer screens than me). It’s the one area of the computing industry that I freely admit just doesn’t interest me much; I’m quite easy to please when it comes to my screens, and I’m generally not too bothered by a cheap laptop having an unimpressive display.

All that said, I hate the screen on the Azeyou. The resolution is described as ‘Full HD’ on the Amazon listing, but it’s not. To be exact, it’s 1366 x 768, which is sometimes described as ‘HD Ready’ and was pretty popular for budget devices five or ten years back. But these days it’s pretty dated - and it shows. ‘Full HD’ typically refers to 1920 x 1080 resolution or higher, and when I compared the Azeyou to an actual FHD laptop screen, the difference was immediately clear.

The color and contrast are visibly bad, too; everything looks washed-out and a little grainy, and it actually gave me a mild headache after using it for work for a few hours. Granted, it’s possible the headache was stress-induced from how bloody slow everything was, but I’m sure the crappy display wasn’t helping.

Please, do not buy this laptop

In conclusion, I cannot remotely recommend the Azeyou 11.6 Inch Laptop. It’s just not a good product. Even the battery life, sometimes the saving grace of an underpowered system, is poor; my tests saw it fall short of six hours of continuous use, meaning it can’t even make it through a full workday without needing to be plugged in - oh, and the power cable is a weird proprietary one, too. No USB-C here.

Unless you urgently need a Windows laptop and your budget can’t possibly stretch into triple digits, I beg you to save up for a little longer and buy something with a brand name you actually recognise. I can practically guarantee 'Azeyou' will be non-existent as a brand this time next year, replaced by a new jumble of letters stamped on the lid of an identical laptop most likely made by the same Chinese company.

Consider a Chromebook from our list of the best cheap laptops instead, or wait until sales events like Prime Day and Black Friday to scoop up a discounted model. Beg a friend to lend you some money or let you borrow their own laptop. Rob a bank! Okay, maybe not that last one, but seriously - do everything in your power to avoid buying this piece of tech trash.

• Fortnite finally runs on Windows on Arm laptops as the game's anti-cheat tool (EAC) is now compatible with the architecture
• The game runs well on these Snapdragon X chips, too, going by reports
• This move was facilitated by a new Epic Online Services SDK, and other EAC games should work on Arm soon

It's finally happened – you can now play Fortnite on a Windows 11 laptop with an Arm processor.

Windows Latest reports that Epic has made good on its promise to get Fortnite's anti-cheat tool working with Windows on Arm machines, those super-slim Copilot+ laptops with Snapdragon X chips which use a different architecture compared to traditional Windows 11 laptops.

What's the problem with that? Well, the Arm architecture being different to x86 processors (from AMD and Intel) means that emulation (specifically a translation layer called Prism) is required to run apps and games on Snapdragon X laptops, if they aren't natively coded for Arm (and many aren't, of course).

That translation layer exacts a performance overhead, as you might guess, but more problematically certain tech just doesn't work on Arm systems at all, notably anti-cheat tools in the gaming world. Hence online games like Fortnite, Call of Duty, Valorant, Apex Legends and so on won't work on a Snapdragon X device, as they all use some kind of anti-cheat utility.

As of version 38.00 of Fortnite, the shooter now works on Arm PCs as the Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) system is now natively supported, although the change wasn't documented in the release notes, oddly.

The game has been verified as running fine on Snapdragon X laptops, though, by Windows Latest and also other reports on Reddit. All of which agree that Fortnite runs nice and smoothly, even on the lower-end Snapdragon chips.

Analysis: other online games will hopefully follow soon

It's good to see Fortnite finally up and running on Arm devices, and performing well considering that the game is emulated. (There's native support for EAC now, but not for the game itself, which works via Prism – and the translation layer does a good job here by all accounts).

EAC compatibility was provided in the Epic Online Services SDK released back in August, but it's still up to game developers to implement that support in their respective titles – it took Epic a few months to get this in Fortnite itself, of course. Other EAC games include Apex Legends and Elden Ring, so hopefully we might see those running on Snapdragon X laptops before too long.

Outside of EAC, Arm CPU support will be a thornier issue, and cheating prevention systems such as Riot Vanguard (Valorant) and BattlEye (which is part of PUBG's armory of anti-cheat tech, as well as Rainbow Six Siege and many other shooters) will need their own solutions – which may or may not be forthcoming. Given that Arm isn't exactly a pressing issue for many developers, we could be waiting a long while – maybe forever if you're being pessimistic (and the same is true of getting Linux support for these anti-cheat tools, too, for SteamOS and handheld owners).

It's worth noting that Microsoft also applied improvements to Prism recently to ensure more games run on Snapdragon X chips – resolving a problem tied in with AVX and AVX2 extensions – so gaming with Windows on Arm has come on a long way in the past month.

That's good news because these Copilot+ laptops are highly portable devices with impressive battery chops, so to be able to engage in some meaningful gaming while on the go is a definite boon.

Acer Aspire Go 15: Two-minute review

The Acer Aspire Go 15 is an affordable Windows laptop with a spec that should prove capable enough for everyday use.

Considering its 15.6-inch form, it has a sleek and slender body. It’s also quite thin and light, which makes it easier to carry around than expected. The light silver finish and minimal aesthetic also imbue the Aspire Go 15 with some style, although there are a few unsightly angles that mar its appearance somewhat.

It isn’t built to the same high standards as the best laptops, much less many of the best Ultrabooks, either. The materials aren’t premium, and its construction isn’t as reassuringly solid as I would’ve liked. The lid isn’t the most stable, either, and its downward protrusion means it lifts up the rear of the unit when opened beyond 90 degrees, which is a design choice I’m not particularly fond of due to its impractical nature.

On a more positive note, there’s a decent selection of ports, including three for USB-A, one for HDMI cables, and one for Ethernet connections. There’s only one USB-C port, though, and no SD card reader.

The everyday performance of the Aspire Go 15 is very good, handling light productivity and entertainment workloads with speed. However, more intensive tasks such as gaming fare worse, given that it lacks a dedicated GPU. Light gaming is still possible, though, and both fan noise and temperatures are kept to a minimum.

One of the most disappointing aspects of the Aspire Go 15 is its display. Its grainy finish can be distracting, while colors can look a little washed out in some cases. Worse still is the restrictive viewing angle, with images and scenes becoming totally obscured when the display is set even slightly beyond optimal bounds.

The battery life of the Aspire Go 15 is quite good, though, lasting close to 12 hours during our movie playback test. However, there are quite a few rivals that can outlast it, such as the Dell 14 Plus.

Considering its price, the Aspire Go 15 represents a very good value, offering a more affordable alternative to the best Windows laptops that cost a good bit more. There are also better-performing Chromebooks for less money, such as the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch, which also has a better display, but if you can live with its display, the Aspire Go 15 is one of the best budget laptops going and well worth adding to your shortlist.

Acer Aspire Go 15 review: Price & Availability

• Starts from $299.99 / £299.99 (about AU$450)
• Base models have weak specs
• Review model is still well-priced, though

The Aspire Go 15 starts from $299.99 / £299.99 (about AU$450) and is available now. A range of Intel and AMD CPUs are available to choose from, while RAM and storage capacities range from 8GB to 32GB and 128GB to 1TB, respectively.

This is a good starting price for a Windows laptop, but for this outlay, you’ll have to settle for a weak spec. My review model was considerably more powerful than the base model, and priced closer to some strong rivals.

However, it still undercuts other affordable Windows machines, such as the Dell 14 Plus. We found this laptop to be an excellent value, though, thanks to its fast performance and enduring battery life, while its light design even makes it a worthy alternative to some of the best MacBooks.

If you’re willing to look beyond Windows machines, the HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch is another enticing proposition. This is cheaper than the Aspire Go 15, but has a stronger performance and a superior display that doesn’t suffer from the same issues. No wonder we think it’s one of the best Chromebooks around right now.

• Value: 4.5 / 5

Acer Aspire Go 15 review: Specs

A wide selection of spec configurations are available, with both Intel and AMD processors. There is a mix of PCIe 3.0 and 4.0 SSDs depending on the spec, so some drives will run slower than others, and that's not always immediately apparent when looking at retailer specs sheets.

It also doesn't include the latest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth standard, but Wi-Fi 6 is fast enough for most people's needs, while the inclusion of an Ethernet port is welcome.

Overall, for their various price points, these are about the specs one should expect.

• Specs: 3.5 / 5

Acer Aspire Go 15 review: Design

• Reasonably light and thin
• Lacking solidity
• Odd lid design

The Aspire Go 15 is a basic but smart looking laptop, with extraneous details kept to a minimum. The light silver finish of my review unit helped to impart some elegance, too, although a few unsightly juts and angles spoil its otherwise smooth contours. While the Aspire Go 15 is quite wide, it’s relatively light and pleasingly thin, which makes it easier to carry around than you might imagine for a 15.6-inch laptop.

Build quality isn’t exactly the greatest, though, with cheap looking – and feeling – plastics that flex to an inauspicious degree. Thankfully, the keys feel more premium: they’re solidly fitted and have a prominent texture that’s satisfying to touch.

The lid is also better made than the rest of the unit, featuring a solid yet smooth hinge mechanism. I welcomed how thin it was, too, although I was less keen on its bottom protrusion. This causes the rear of the Aspire Go 15 to lift off ground when opened to angles beyond 90 degrees – a deliberate design choice but one that feels unintuitive and can result in loose fabrics and other materials underneath the chassis getting caught, which isn’t ideal.

There was a reasonable selection of ports on my Aspire Go 15 review unit. I welcomed the three USB-A ports, spread across both sides for added convenience. There was also an HDMI port and an ethernet port: increasingly rare sights on modern laptops, and again ones I was glad to see. There’s only one USB-C port, though, and no SD card reader, both of which are mild shames.

• Design: 3.5 / 5

Acer Aspire Go 15 review: Performance

• Great general computing performance
• Some light gaming is possible
• Relatively cool and quiet

For everyday tasks, the Aspire Go 15 is very capable. It can handle light productivity, from word processing to spreadsheet creation, without much if any slowdowns. It also had no problem streaming 4K content. I didn’t experience any midway buffering pauses or stuttering, for example.

However, the viewing experience is marred by the quality of the display. It has a noticeably grainy finish, which can be distracting at times. Colors can also look washed out.

What’s more, the display darkens considerably if the angle isn’t set just right, to the point of near-total blackness sometimes. Thankfully, once you’ve found the optimum position, there are next to no reflections visible on screen.

Since there’s no dedicated GPU installed in the Aspire Go 15, it isn’t particularly great for creative and gaming workloads. Cyberpunk 2077 is playable on the lowest preset, but naturally, you’ll have to make do with some rough visuals and uninspiring frame rates.

The game is even passable on Medium settings and upscaling, but you’ll have to contend with even lower frame rates and more input lag, rendering the experience less than enjoyable.

Mercifully, though, I experienced little fan noise from the Aspire Go 15 during such intensive workloads, never elevating above a faint whir. It also stayed commendably cool, with certain portions of the body reaching lukewarm temperatures only.

Another highlight of the Aspire Go 15 is its keyboard. The aforementioned keycap texture helps them feel more tactile, as does the surprising amount of dampening of the switches, despite their short travel and very low profile.

What’s more, they’re snappy and responsive, which only improves their typing prowess. And despite featuring a number pad, the layout doesn’t feel cramped. Those number pad keys are relatively small, though, but they’re still eminently usable. So overall, if you’re looking for one of the best laptops for writing, the Aspire Go 15 could well be a contender for you.

The touchpad is less pleasant to use, though. While it’s smooth enough for easy gestures and swiping, it’s not as large as those in other 15-inch laptops, which compromises its navigation abilities. Also, clicks and taps lack feedback and even rattle at points, which further hampers their functionality.

• Performance: 4 / 5

Acer Aspire Go 15 review: Battery Life

• Reasonable longevity
• Rivals can far outlast it, though

The battery life of the is quite impressive. It managed to last close to 12 hours when playing a movie on a continuous loop. It’s also quick to charge, taking about two hours to fully top up.

The HP Chromebook Plus 15.6-inch achieved a similar score. However, others in this sector can outlast it by quite some distance, including the Dell 14 Plus, which lasted over 13 hours when we ran a similar test.

• Battery Life: 3.5 / 5

Should I buy the Acer Aspire Go 15?

Buy the Acer Aspire Go 15 if...

Don't buy it if...

Acer Aspire Go 15 review: Also Consider

How I tested the Acer Aspire Go 15

• Tested for several days
• Used for a variety of tasks
• Plentiful laptop reviewing experience

I tested the Acer Aspire Go 15 for several days, using it for working, entertainment, gaming, and general browsing.

I also connected various peripherals to it, and ran our series of benchmark tests to assess its overall performance. I also tested its battery life by playing a movie on a continuous loop until it expired.

I have plenty of experience testing all kinds of laptops, from everyday workhorses to high-end specialist machines. I’ve also reviewed Chromebooks and other computing devices, such as tablets.

• First reviewed: October 2025
• Read more about how we test

Dell 16 Plus: Two-minute review

Dell’s 16-inch laptop lineup has become a staple in the company’s catalog, known for striking a balance between portability and performance. Offering both 14- and 16-inch display options, these devices typically deliver reliable build quality with a design that feels solid yet travel-friendly. Most importantly, the line of laptops usually comes at an aggressively affordable price. The same goes for the latest Dell 16 Plus, one of the best Dell laptops you can buy today.

Starting at $799 / £1,454.23 / $1,598, the 16 Plus features the latest Intel Lunar Lake chips, up to 32GB RAM, and up to 2TB of SSD storage.

Other features include a full QWERTY keyboard and number pad, a 16-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, an FHD webcam with privacy slider, and more. Of course, internal components can be pushed a little higher for additional cost.

For those who are always on the move and need a truly portable device, the Dell 16 Plus delivers with a relatively lightweight build at around four pounds. When closed, it measures under an inch thick, making it easy to slip into most backpacks without adding bulk.

This makes it one of the best student laptops for those who need more screen real estate, or someone who needs a laptop to do occasional web browsing, word processing, number crunching, and some light media needs on the creative or consumption front. The low price comes at the cost of missing features like an SD card reader slot or even a touchscreen display.

Anyone looking to watch the occasional YouTube or Netflix video or listen to music while plugging away, the 16 Plus is a bit of a mixed bag. When it comes to the display, as mentioned earlier, the 120Hz refresh rate display is beautiful to look at despite lacking HDR.

The 2.5K (2560 x 1600) resolution does a fine job in making text and images clear and legible. Meanwhile, eye strain is reduced thanks to ComfortView Plus and TUVRheinland certification. When it comes to audio quality, it might be best to use external speakers or headphones, especially if in a loud room.

Though the lower and mid volume levels allow for some nice sonic nuance, that falls apart at higher volume levels. It doesn’t help that overall bass is on the weaker side of things as well.

Adding to the portability is a solid battery that Dell promises will work up to 20 hours. However, our tests didn’t show that much battery life, the results were still good enough for most people.

Overall, the Dell 16 Plus stands out as a solid mid-range option for users who value portability, respectable performance, and a budget-conscious price point, even rivaling those of the best laptops on the market. While it may fall short for power users or gamers, its sleek build, reliable battery life, and sharp display make it a worthy companion for everyday productivity and media tasks.

Dell 16 Plus: Price & availability

How much does it cost? Starting at $799 / £1,455 / $1,598

When is it available? Available now

Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia from Dell.com and other retailers

Available now, the Dell 16 Plus can be purchased from Dell’s online store alongside other retailers in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. There are also a variety of options at different price points as well.

Starting in the U.S., the 16 Plus can be purchased between $799 and as high as $1,299 with the same GPU and display spread across them. Our review unit sat at the lowest cost while the mid-priced configuration rounded out at around $949.99. That’ll net potential buyers an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU, 32GB RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. At the highest pricepoint comes an Intel Core Ultra 9 288V, 32GB RAM and 2TB SSD storage packed in.

Interested buyers living in the UK have a slew of customization options that’ll range between £1,454.23 and £2,143.61. The lowest-end model comes with an Intel Core Ultra 5 236V, integrated Intel Arc, 16GB and 512GB SSD storage. Interestingly enough, the lowest price point lacks a backlit keyboard and fingerprint scanner. The highest priced configuration comes with an Intel Core Ultra 7 265U, Integrated Intel Graphics, 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD. Also, this tier also allows for a touchscreen as well.

Finally, Australian citizens have a few options, including an AU$1,598 configuration with an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V, 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD. The highest option at AU$2,197 has an Intel Core Ultra9 288V, 32GB RAM, and 2TB SSD. Both of those configurations have the same Integrated Intel Arc Graphics GPU and 16-inch 2560 x 1600 display.

Compared to other ultra-thin laptops, including the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition and MacBook Air, the Dell 16 Plus is the most affordable option at its base level while offering similar performance.

If you want the macOS experience and don’t mind losing about an inch of display real estate, the MacBook Air might be a better option. On the flip side, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition performs nearly the same.

• Value: 4.5 / 5

Dell 16 Plus: Specs

The Dell 16 Plus is available in several configurations and options.