Dell’s sweeping rebrand went a step too far when it dissolved the XPS line into its generic Premium series. But consumers spoke up, and Dell listened – XPS is back. We’ve already reviewed the XPS 14, and now the flagship XPS 16 steps into the spotlight — and the competition to be one of the best laptops. Starting at $1,749 and tested at $2,349, it’s nowhere near budget territory, but it never pretends to be. From its refined metal chassis to its dazzling tandem OLED display, this machine broadcasts its premium underpinnings at every turn.

Design of the Dell XPS 16 (2026)

At 13.88 x 9.35 x 0.58 inches, the redesigned XPS is noticeably sleeker than the outgoing 16 Premium (14.1 x 9.4 x 0.75 inches) and, at 3.65 pounds, a full pound lighter. One reason Dell was able to manage this was by eliminating a discrete GPU option – the new XPS 16 comes only with integrated Intel fare.

Its footprint is marginally smaller albeit slightly heavier than Acer’s Aspire 16 AI (13.99 x 9.66 x 0.59 inches, 3.42 pounds), though it remains understandably larger than Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air (11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches, 2.7 pounds). (See our review of the 13-inch MacBook Air.)

Build quality is where Dell makes its statement. The aluminum chassis and Gorilla glass palm rest feel premium, and the OLED-equipped model has a glass screen as well. The display hinge doesn’t fold flat, stopping about 45 degrees past vertical, but it feels sturdy and supports one-handed opening. Overall, the XPS’ spotless build quality, precise edges, and nearly borderless display all impart that this is a premium-tier laptop.

The design focus unfortunately takes away from the XPS’ practicality by limiting port selection to just three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports and a headphone jack, following Apple's lead on the Mac. Acer’s Swift 16 AI and Asus’ Zenbook A16 deliver a more practical mix, including USB-A. If you rely on wired peripherals and haven’t fully transitioned to USB-C, this design choice will force you to use some dongles. Internally, the laptop offers the expected Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity.

Dell XPS 16 (2026) Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Dell XPS 16 (2026)

Our XPS 16 review unit is built around a Core Ultra X7 358H processor, 32GB of LPDDR5X-9600 memory, Arc B390 integrated graphics, and a 1TB SSD.

For benchmark comparison, we included the Acer Swift 16 AI (Core Ultra X7 358H, $1,799), Apple’s MacBook Air (13-inch, 10-core M5; $1,299), and Asus’ Zenbook A16 (Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, $1,699). We also included a pair of Dell XPS 14 laptops, one featuring a Core Ultra 7 355 ($1,699) and the other a Core Ultra X7 358H ($2,199). Acer is the main competitor, featuring identical components, while Apple and Asus rely on ARM-based processors. The XPS 14 duo is here to show how the Ultra 7 355 (also available in the XPS 16) performs and if there’s any performance advantage to the larger XPS 16 with the Core Ultra X7.

In Geekbench 6, the XPS 16 scored 2,839 points in single-core, matching the rest of the x86 field – that is, all but the Apple (4,168) and Asus (3,807), which dominated. The XPS 16 proved more competitive in multi-core, scoring 16,975 to practically tie its XPS 14 sibling with the same CPU (16,927) and outperforming the Acer (15,926), though it was slightly behind Apple (17,067) and couldn’t touch Asus (22,733). Meanwhile, the Core Ultra 7-equipped XPS 14 trailed far behind (7,964).

In our 25GB file transfer test, the XPS 16 averaged 1,782 MBps, marginally ahead of the Acer, Asus, and Core Ultra 7-equipped XPS 14, though ahead of the Core Ultra X7-equipped XPS 14 (1,420 MBps). Apple took the leading spot, with 1,925 MBps.

Finally, the XPS 16 finished our 4K-to-1080p Handbrake video transcoding test in 4 minutes and 1 second, the leading time after the overachieving Asus (2:08). The Acer was just behind (4:25) while the Core Ultra 7-equipped XPS 14 trailed (6:45).

Overall, the XPS 16’s Core Ultra X7 358H is a strong choice for demanding productivity and creative workflows. Despite being housed in a larger chassis, it showed nearly identical performance relative to the smaller XPS 14 equipped with the same CPU. It did, however, outperform the Aspire 16 AI also equipped with the same CPU, suggesting Dell’s thermal management is superior. Against the ARM-based Apple and Asus, however, the XPS 16 didn’t fare quite as well, especially against the Asus’ Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme.

Those that don’t need as much CPU performance can get the XPS 16 equipped with the Core Ultra 7 355, but as shown in the XPS 14 equipped with that chip, it’s a steep step down. That CPU also loses out on the stronger Arc B390 integrated GPU.

To stress test productivity laptops, we run 10 loops of Cinebench 2024. The XPS 16 started at 895 points before dipping to 800 points for the second loop, then stabilizing between 933 and 961 points for the remaining loops, suggesting relatively stable thermal performance. During the test, the Core Ultra X7 358H’s P-cores averaged 3.09 GHz, the E-cores 2.64 GHz, and the LPE-cores 2.4 GHz.

Display on the Dell XPS 16 (2026)

Dell equipped our review model with the top-tier OLED touch display, which uses tandem light-emitting layers for superior brightness. Its 3200 x 2000 resolution falls short of 4K, but it still looks razor-sharp in practice. Individual pixels are invisible to the eye, and there’s ample working space for spreadsheeting and content creation, such as Photoshop.

The OLED panel makes Star Wars: The Mandalorian look spectacular. Starfields look crisp against inky black backgrounds, with no haloing or light bleed, and the outstanding color coverage adds depth and richness to any scene. The 120 Hz refresh rate also benefits fast action and scrolling, which looks much smoother than on a typical 60 Hz display.

This OLED panel is a $150 upgrade from the standard 1920 x 1200 IPS panel, which boasts a variable 1-120 Hz refresh rate to maximize battery life. That 1 Hz panel doesn’t support touch or feature a glass surface.

The XPS 16 offers full sRGB and DCI-P3 color coverage, matching the Acer Swift 16 AI and besting the MacBook Air, which achieved only 83% DCI-P3. For context, the XPS 14’s IPS panel only covered 71% DCI-P3, so expect a similar loss of color if the XPS 16 is optioned with IPS.

On brightness, the XPS 16’s 364-nit peak isn’t impressive, but OLED panels don’t require as many nits to appear as luminant as an IPS panel (which adorn the MacBook Air, Zenbook A16, and the Core Ultra 7 355-equipped XPS 14).

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Dell XPS 16 (2026)

Dell has pushed the design envelopes with its premium-tier keyboards, and sometimes with disastrous results. Last year’s Dell 16 Premium left out a physical function row in favor of a touch strip, which proved counterintuitive since you couldn’t tell what you were pressing without looking down.

Dell reversed course with the new XPS, restoring the physical Function row to its rightful place. Tactile feel has also improved, with switches that produce a more direct, less plastic-like feel and a pleasant tactile sound. The zero-lattice layout with no spacing between the keys remains an aesthetic choice and has a slight learning curve. I was occasionally hitting two keys at once, but my fingers quickly learned to respect the subtle boundaries between keys. After about an hour of using the keyboard, I was hitting my usual typing speed in MonkeyType, about 112 words per minute with 99% accuracy.

The XPS 16 also gets practicality points for its dark keyboard and white backlighting, which contrast nicely, something that wasn’t true of the white keyboard on the 16 Premium. (There is currently no light color on the XPS 16.)

That said, the layout hasn’t quite been perfected. While dedicated Home, End, and Delete keys now exist along the top row, the mismatched sizes of the arrow keys make them difficult to use by feel.

This XPS redesign also restored the border around the massive touchpad. The line is subtle but tactile and provides confidence that you’re clicking in the right spot. The Gorilla Glass touchpad feels rock solid and provides responsive haptic feedback, which can be adjusted in Windows’ Settings app.

Audio on the Dell XPS 16 (2026)

The XPS 16’s speakers make a respectable entertainment platform. Loud and clear despite being recessed in the chassis, they deliver full-bodied sound that projects well if the laptop is sitting on a solid surface. Bass is also above average for a laptop – watching Star Wars: The Mandalorian, I could feel the footsteps of an imperial walker and the impact of grenades and blaster bolts.

Oddly, Dell doesn’t preinstall the Dolby Access app, which provides access to Atmos equalizers to further tighten the bass and improve clarity and projection. I found the app in the Windows Store and installed it without a problem.

Upgradeability of the Dell XPS 16 (2026)

Upgrading the XPS 16 is quite different from other laptops. You start by removing the four Torx screws on the underside. The bottom panel doesn’t just come off – instead, you’ll need a thin plastic tool to press upward through the rear screw holes, which pops off the top of the chassis. Lacking specialized tools for that, I used a plastic toothpick and moderate force, which worked fine – I was able to then work my way along the edges of the chassis to pop the remaining clips.

With the top half of the chassis removed, you’ll have access to the 70 Wh battery and single M.2 drive slot. Nothing else can be upgraded, with soldered memory and wireless cards across all XPS 16 configurations.

Battery Life on the Dell XPS 16 (2026)

Our battery test consists of web browsing, running OpenGL tests, and streaming videos with the screen at 150 nits while connected to Wi-Fi.

For a 16-inch OLED-screened laptop, the XPS 16 lasted an impressive 13 hours and 3 minutes in our battery rundown. That’s almost an hour longer than the Acer (12:12) and comfortably ahead of the Asus (10:26). The MacBook Air lasted considerably longer (15:28), though it’s important to note that we tested the 13-inch model. If the runtime of the IPS-screened XPS 14 is any indication (20:41), buyers prioritizing battery life might consider the IPS panel on the XPS 16 with a refresh late as low as 1 Hz – what it lacks in color, it should make up for in endurance, though you'd also have a lower resolution stretched across a larger screen.

Heat on the Dell XPS 16 (2026)

We measure peak surface temperatures while running 10 loops of Cinebench 2024 multi-core. During the test, temperatures on the XPS 16 reached 93 degrees F between the keyboard’s G and H keys, 76 F on the touchpad, and 105 F on the underside towards the rear edge. Internally, the Core Ultra X7 358H averaged 77 degrees Celsius across all cores.

Webcam on the Dell XPS 16 (2026)

Dell’s 1440p webcam sets it apart, boasting a sharp, well-exposed picture with ample color and minimal noise. It’s a clear step up from the 1080p fare found in most laptops. It misses a dedicated privacy shutter, but it does include an IR sensor for facial recognition.

Software and Warranty on the Dell XPS 16 (2026)

Dell includes two major apps on the XPS 16, the first of which is Dell Optimizer. It provides power profiles – Optimized (the default), Cool, Quiet, and Ultra Performance – and a battery charge mode that decides how quickly to charge the battery based on your usage. (How it determines this isn’t explained.) It also has a battery extender feature which, among other things, lowers the screen brightness on the fly to improve efficiency. (Users who want consistency may want to disable this feature, as we did for our battery testing.) The app also includes Dolby Vision display modes – bright, dark, or vivid.

The other included app, SupportAssist, provides core services including support access, diagnostics, and system updates. It also features a tutorial to help you set up your new PC and migrate your settings from another PC.

Dell covers the XPS 16 with a one-year Dell Care Plus warranty, with 1-2 business day onsite repairs after remote diagnosis.

Dell XPS 16 (2026) Configurations

Our XPS 16 review unit is a flagship model, featuring a 3200 x 2000 OLED touch display, Core Ultra X7 358H processor, 32GB of memory, 1TB SSD, and Windows 11 Home. It retails for $2,349.99 from Dell.

Baseline configurations start at $1,749.99 with a 1920 x 1200 IPS non-touch display, Core Ultra 5 325 or Core Ultra 7 355 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. Stepping up to the X-series CPUs automatically upgrades to 32GB of RAM (with 64GB as an option) and the more powerful Arc B390 integrated graphics. The top CPU is the Core Ultra X9 388H. Storage, which scales to 4TB, and the display can be chosen independently of the CPU.

Dell’s pricing places the XPS in the luxury market. Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air starts at $1,299, though with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, it reaches $1,899. Acer’s Swift 16 AI is $1,799.99 and Asus’ Zenbook A16 $1,699, though they aren’t quite as premium as the XPS’ build quality. On the other hand, the XPS 16 is less expensive than the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra, which is $2,799 with only 512GB of storage. Unlike the XPS, the Samsung can be configured with a dedicated Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU, but it commands an eye-watering $3,699 in that guise.

Bottom Line

Dell was wise to bring back the XPS line, and the XPS 16 shows why. Its beautifully engineered chassis, superb OLED display, and strong performance are reminders of why this brand has earned its reputation over the years. Strong battery life, a crisp webcam, and good speakers round out the premium experience.

The compromises are few but meaningful. Relying solely on USB-C may streamline the design, but it limits practicality when many competitors offer a more versatile mix. And with OLED configurations surpassing $2,000, you won’t save any money buying this laptop.

Still, if you can live with the limited ports and premium price, the XPS 16 rewards with one of the most refined Windows laptop experiences you can buy.

Update, June 10, 2026: The display chart in this review has been updated to reflect more accurate numbers. The text remains the same.

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition is back to fight for its space on our list of the best laptops.. It’s been roughly a year and a half since we last tested a Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition, and a lot has happened during that time. For starters, our particular review unit features a 14-inch POLED panel instead of a 15.3-inch screen, and it features Intel’s new Core Ultra 3 Series “Panther Lake” processors.

Intel’s Aura Edition initiative is aimed at fielding laptops that are thin, lightweight, and deliver superior battery life. The Slim 7i impresses on all three fronts, while delivering a crisp display and premium build quality.

Design of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026)

The Yoga Slim 7i made a lasting impression before I even laid eyes on it. The shipping box that contained the review unit was incredibly light; so light, in fact, that I thought maybe the laptop had gone “missing” on its way to my house. However, once I pulled the Slim 7i out of the box, I was taken aback by its featherweight design, weighing just 2.15 pounds. For comparison, the 13.6-inch MacBook Air weighs slightly more at 2.7 pounds.

Part of the reason for the extremely lightweight design is the use of a magnesium alloy in the chassis (which Lenovo says is designed and tested to MIL-SSTD-810H standards), finished in “Seashell,” which is basically off-white. In addition, the laptop is only 0.55 inches thick, which further contributes to the feeling of litheness.

The centerpiece of the Yoga Slim 7i is a 14-inch, 2880 x 1800 POLED touch display with a glossy finish. To protect the precious POLED panel, Lenovo covers it in Gorilla Glass 3.

Unlike the most recent Yoga Slim 7i we tested, the 2026 model drops the HDMI 2.1 port and adds another Thunderbolt 4 in its place. As a result, the Yoga Slim 7i now has three Thunderbolt 4 ports: two on the left side and one on the right. All three ports support up to 65-watt USB Power Delivery and DisplayPort 2.1. Interestingly, the HDMI port isn’t the only casualty with this redesign; the 3.5 mm headphone jack is also missing. It’s a curious omission for the Yoga Slim 7i, and one that will likely garner some backlash from the Yoga faithful. The USB-A port has also been abandoned, which means those reliant on compliant accessories will need to live the “dongle life” that Mac and Dell XPS users have grown accustomed to.

The only other items of note around the chassis are a dedicated power button on the right side (I fumbled around the keyboard deck for the power button for a few seconds at first) and an E-shutter switch for the 5-megapixel webcam.

The Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026) measures 12.31 x 8.42 x 0.55 inches and weighs 2.15 pounds. The Dell XPS 14 measures 12.19 x 8.26 x 0.58 inches and weighs 3 pounds, while the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 measures 12.32 x 8.60 x 0.58 inches and weighs 3.11 pounds. Finally, the 13-inch MacBook Air (M5) measures 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches and weighs 2.7 pounds.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026) Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026)

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026) is powered by Intel's Core Ultra 7 355 processor. The chip features 8 cores (4 performance, 4 efficiency), a base frequency of 2.3 GHz (performance cores), and a Max Turbo Boost frequency of 4.7 GHz (performance cores). Lenovo pairs the processor with 32GB of dual-channel LPDDR5x-7467 memory and a 1TB M.2 2242 PCIe 4.0 SSD.

In the Geekbench 6 CPU benchmark, the Yoga Slim 7i with its Core Ultra 7 355 processor achieved a single-core score of 2,729 and a multi-core score of 11,555. This result compares quite favorably to Dell XPS 14, which uses the same CPU: it mustered 2,685 on the single-core benchmark and just 7,964 on the multi-core benchmark. Among the Intel-based competition, the Omnibook X Flip 14 (AMD Ryzen AI 7 350) upped the ante with single- and multi-core scores of 2,889 and 13,106, respectively. However, Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Air (M5) ran away from the competition, delivering a blistering 4,168 in single-core and 17,067 in multi-core.

The Windows machines were evenly matched on our 25GB file transfer test, with both the Yoga Slim 7i and the OmniBook X Flip 14 getting pretty close to the 1,700 MBps mark. The XPS 14 crossed that line, achieving 1,730.36 MBps. The MacBook Air was faster still, recording 1,924.84 MBps with its 1TB SSD.

Our Handbrake test transcodes a 4K video to 1080p, and here the Yoga Slim 7i completed the task in 5 minutes and 56 seconds, the slowest in the group. Interestingly, the XPS 14, which uses the same processor, was the fastest of all four systems, finishing in just 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

We ran Cinebench 2026 for 10 loops to stress-test the Yoga Slim 7i. The system started in the 2,465 to 2,485 range, before settling in the upper 2,500’s for the remainder of the runs. The internal fans were audible during the stress test to keep the system cool.

The four P-cores on the Core Ultra 355 ran at an average of 3.87 GHz, while the four E-cores clocked in at 3.49 GHz during the Cinebench 2026 stress test.

Graphics on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026)

The Yoga Slim 7i features integrated Intel Graphics, with 4 Xe cores operating at a maximum dynamic frequency of 2.5 GHz. During the 3DMark Steel Nomad benchmark, the Yoga Slim 7i scored just 513, putting it slightly behind the XPS 14.

The MacBook Air was the overachiever in this group, nearly doubling the Yoga Slim 7i’s score at 1,005.

Display on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026)

Lenovo ships the Yoga Slim 7i with a vibrant 14-inch POLED display panel, covered in Gorilla Glass 3 with a glossy finish (like most OLED panels). The display has a WQXGA+ (2880 x 1800) resolution and a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz.

Since we’re looking at an OLED panel here, it should come as no surprise that the colors were lush, while blacks were as deep as you could imagine for a laptop. OLEDs aren’t often known for going over the top with panel brightness, but the Yoga Slim 7i more than held its own, delivering 476 nits, the highest among the assembled laptops (the MacBook Air was in second at 458.8 nits).

That strong showing filtered over to the color gamut coverage, where the Yoga Slim 7i reached 120.6 percent of DCI-P3 and 170.3 percent of sRGB. But figures were second only to the OmniBook X Flip 14.

I used the Yoga Slim 7i’s display to watch the first trailer for Coyote vs. ACME, which deftly combines computer-generated cartoon graphics with real-world settings and human characters. From the light and dark blues of the Roadrunner’s feathers to the red and orange explosions through (this trailer does, after all, feature the silly antics of Wile E. Coyote), the POLED panel handled the presentation with aplomb.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026)

I found the keyboard on the Yoga Slim 7i comfortable to type on, though the key surface felt a bit smoother and slipperier than what I’m used to. I wouldn’t say that it distracted from my typing experience; it just felt different. The one thing that I would be concerned about, however, is the white finish on the keys. I can only imagine how grimy the keys will look after a few months of constant use once the oils from your fingers permeate through the surface.

My only other comment about the keyboard would be that I’m not a fan of the half-height up/down arrows, which are flanked by full-size left and right arrows. I’d prefer all of the directional keys to be full-size, even if it came at the expense of a narrower right Shift key.

Using my go-to keyhero.com typing benchmark, I hit 89 words per minute with 96 percent accuracy, which is about average for me (I’m no fast-typing dynamo).

The keyboard deck and the touchpad, which I found highly responsive, are also covered in the same off-white color. The touchpad measures 4.72 x 2.95 inches and is buttonless; it uses a haptic mechanism for registering clicks (similar to MacBooks). I found that my fingers glided easily over the surface, and responsiveness was “just right” without requiring additional tweaks in Windows 11.

Audio on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026)

The Yoga Slim 7i features a four-speaker sound system comprising two 2-watt woofers and two 2-watt tweeters. The speaker grills flank the keyboard, and are precision-machined into the deck.

Sound quality was surprisingly good and vibrant for such a thin machine. Even more shocking was the amount of bass that the speakers were able to produce without seeming overpowering. I was bopping to the classic, “What a Fool Believes” by the Doobie Brothers, and could feel every bass line and drum hit with clarity. Michael McDonald’s soulful voice shined through, proving this classic is just as impactful nearly 50 years later.

To my delight, as “What a Fool Believes” finished playing, my YouTube Music playlist kicked over to “Fantasy” by Earth, Wind, and Fire, and I was again blown away by this ultraportable system. The rhythm guitars, bass, and staccato horns — it all came together beautifully. You can use the Dolby Settings app to select Dynamic, Game, Movie, and Music profiles to suit your audio tastes.

Upgradeability on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026)

The bottom panel of the Yoga Slim 7i is affixed with two eight screws and friction clips. With a well-placed finger between the panel and the gap in the display hinge, it popped off.

Unfortunately, the LPDDR5x memory is soldered on, so there’s no way to upgrade it. And while the 2242 M.2 SSD is technically replaceable, it is hidden behind the heatpipe system that also covers the CPU and memory. If you want to replace the SSD, do so with caution.

Battery Life on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026)

The Yoga Slim 7i proved to be a winner in our battery life test. The system lasted a healthy 16 hours and 38 minutes during the test, which encompasses web browsing, video streaming, and WebGL tests with the display set at 150 nits of brightness.

Interestingly, the Yoga Slim 7i’s result was over an hour longer than the perennial endurance champ: the MacBook Air.

Heat on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026)

We measured the surface and internal temperatures of the Yoga Slim 7i while running the Cinebench 2026 stress test. Surface temperatures were measured with a laser thermometer, while the process temperature was measured using internal sensors.

The Core Ultra 7 355 processor measured 83.4 degrees Celsius. The keyboard registered 91 C, and the touchpad came in at 76.9 C. The bottom measured 94.2 C at its hottest point, while the hottest overall temperature (106 C) was at the top of the keyboard deck near the display hinge, where hot air exhausts.

Webcam on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026)

Lenovo includes a 5-megapixel webcam on the Yoga Slim 7i, which is mounted above the display. A tiny hump is integrated into the display lid to accommodate the camera hardware (which includes an IR sensor for Windows Hello facial recognition).

I had no issues with the webcam’s performance, as color reproduction, sharpness, and clarity were on point. There were also no issues handling my overabundance of LED-based track lighting in my home office. Skin tones were also quite accurate, which is often an issue with my darker skin tone.

The Yoga Slim 7i includes an E-shutter switch mounted on the right side of the chassis. This can be used to electronically enable or disable the camera.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026)

Our Yoga Slim 7i is an “Aura Edition,” meaning it has several smart features designed to make your life easier. The laptop includes Smart Modes (Working, Gaming, Creating, Entertainment, Meeting, Learning) that can be accessed within the Lenovo Vantage application. Based on the mode you select, the system can automatically configure settings (e.g., attention times, noise cancellation, or VPN access).

The laptop includes Smart Modes (Working, Gaming, Creating, Entertainment, Meeting, Learning) that can be accessed within the Lenovo Vantage application. Based on the mode you select, the system can automatically configure settings (e.g., attention times, noise cancellation, or VPN access).

Aura Smart Care provides real-time access to Lenovo technicians for troubleshooting, while Aura Smart Share lets you easily share media between a PC and a smartphone (including iPhones).

You’ll also find the usual assortment of Lenovo-branded apps, including Vantage, which gives you control over power settings, Smart Modes, and other customization options. Vantage is also where you’ll find controls for presence detection, which I had to disable because it would put the system to sleep if I walked away for more than 30 seconds.

But there's also some bloat: McAfee Security is installed by default, along with Adobe subscription apps, and a 90-day trial to the Dropbox 100GB plan.

The Yoga Slim 7i comes with a one-year warranty.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (2026) Configurations

Our Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 355 processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 2880 x 1800 POLED display, and it retails for $1,629.99.

You can customize the system if you wish: an upgrade to Windows Home Pro costs $50, while going from a 1TB SSD to a 2TB SSD will set you back $190.

Bottom Line

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition is a standout machine, made even more impressive by its ultra-thin chassis that barely weighs over 2 pounds. Lenovo has also delivered on visuals with a gorgeous 14-inch 2.8K OLED touch display and a bangin’ quad-speaker audio system. If that wasn’t enough, the Yoga Slim 7i also delivered over 16 hours of runtime, even besting the mighty MacBook Air.

However, that thin and light frame means that compromises had to be made on performance. The Core Ultra 7 355 came up short in our synthetic CPU test and real-world encoding tests (where it landed in last place). And when the CPU was being worked, the system fans were quite audible. Lenovo has also taken away some legacy ports that many people have come to rely on, including HDMI, USB-A, and even the 3.5mm headphone jack.

With a price tag of just over $1,600, the Yoga Slim 7i is not a cheap ultraportable by any means. However, if you can look past the CPU shortfalls and fully embrace Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, you won’t be disappointed with its portability, display, or endurance.

Editor's note: April 7, 5:30 p.m. ET: We reviewed the laptop at a promised price of $1,599.99, but late on launch day, we were informed it is actually priced at $1,699.99. We have updated pricing in the review accordingly. That doesn't change the score, but it does make us less enthusiastic about some of the features, given the higher price.

Qualcomm is back for round two of its attempt to bring Windows on Arm mainstream. This time around, its new top chip, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, is in a tier of its own. One of the first systems with that new processor is the Asus Zenbook A16 ($1,699.99 as tested).

The laptop is supposed to be the showcase for the chip, but it often feels the other way around. While the X2 Elite Extreme is speedy and has a whopping 48GB of memory on the package, the system's chassis feels cheap (especially at this price) and doesn't last as long as competitors on a charge.

You do get a lightweight system, especially at this size, and there are a bunch of ports. But while Windows on Arm has gotten a lot better with more native apps and improved emulation, there are still some hiccups.

Design of the Asus Zenbook A16

The Asus Zenbook A16 is plain. Very plain. You might associate beige computers with the 1980's, but Asus is bringing that color back here – the laptop looks a lot more “brown” under normal office lighting than it does under the bright lights of our photography setup. I'm not a fan of the hue, but some of my colleagues were thrilled to see something that wasn't gray.

The system is made largely of what Asus calls "Ceraluminum," a mix of aluminum and ceramic. But this time around, Asus has introduced magnesium into the mix, and it has a significant cheapening effect. On the one hand, it helps a 16-inch laptop weigh in at 2.87 pounds. On the other hand, the system feels far more like plastic than aluminum, including on the lid (which otherwise has a nice, sandblasted effect) and on the keyboard deck. I've seen Asus use the regular ceraluminum to marvelous effect on systems like the ZenBook Duo earlier this year. But this shouldn't be considered the same material.

In fact, the Zenbook's ceraluminum chassis is very prone to flexing. The lid pushes in with little force, and the entire keyboard deck bows in when you click above the halfway mark on the touchpad. The Zenbook is a premium-priced product, but it sure doesn't feel premium. Even the $599 MacBook Neo doesn't flex.

Other than the "Asus Zenbook" wordmark on the lid, the only other instance of branding is a small Zenbook logo above the keyboard. Otherwise, the design is Spartan. There's a thin bezel around the display, which isn't distracting.

The Zenbook has ports on each side of the system. The majority are on the left side, where you'll find an HDMI port, two USB4 Type-C ports, and a headphone jack. On the right, there's a single USB-A port and an SD card slot.

The Zenbook A16 measures 13.92 x 9.54 x 0.65 inches, making it thicker than the MacBook Air (0.5 inches thick), Acer Swift 16 AI (0.59 inches) and Dell XPS 14 (0.60 inches).

Asus Zenbook A16 Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Asus Zenbook A16

The Zenbook A16 is serving as our first look at Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme system-on-a-chip. Specifically, this version, X2E-94-100, has 12 "prime" cores and 6 "performance cores, and can run up to 4.7 GHz in either single or dual-core compute. Multi-core performance tops out at 4.4 GHz.

The chip also offers 53 MB of cache and has a memory bandwidth of up to 228 GB/s. If you're the type of person who cares about NPUs, this version goes up to 80 TOPS, though a different version of the chip, the X2E-90-100, hits 85 TOPS and goes up to 5 GHz single or dual-core but offers less bandwidth.

On Geekbench 6, the Zenbook A16 notched a single-core score of 3,807, beating Intel Core Ultra Series 3-based rivals, but falling to the M5 in the MacBook Air (4,168 in a fanless design). But the Zenbook cleaned up on multi-core, with a score of 22,733. Part of that is because the X2 Elite Extreme has 18 cores. (Apple's M5 Max technically beats it at 29,430 with its own 18 cores, but given the cheapest laptop that system is in is $3,749, it's hard to actually put them next to each other, given the Zenbook is less than half of that price.)

On our file transfer test, the Zenbook A16 put in a fair showing, copying 25GB of files at a rate of 1,744 MBps. The Swift 16 AI was just barely faster (1,745.13 MBps), while the MacBook Air led the field (1,924.84 MBps).

On Handbrake, the Zenbook won decisively, transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in 2 minutes and 8 seconds. The next fastest, the Swift 16, took 4:25, while the XPS 14 lagged behind at 6:45.

To stress test the chip and the system, we put it through 10 runs of Cinebench 2026. The system started at a score of 6,309.72 before dropping to 5,996.52, and then hovering just over 6,000 for the rest of the test.

During the Cinebench test, the Prime cores ran at an average of 4.28 GHz, while the performance cores ran at 3.49 GHz.

Gaming and Graphics on the Asus Zenbook A16

On paper, the Adreno graphics integrated into the X2 Elite Extreme are impressive.

On 3DMark Steel Nomad, the Zenbook achieved a score of 1,262, falling only to Intel's top-end graphics offering with 12 Xe cores, in the Ultra X7 358H.

In reality, it's tougher. While the system ran through some benchmarks without issue, when I booted up Resident Evil Requiem, the game crashed when I changed settings. On a second try, I got into the game, and it played smoothly at low settings, but the walls kept disappearing. I chalk this up to issues with Microsoft's Prism emulation.

If your game works, Qualcomm has a decent integrated GPU here. Teh company is promising far more updates than customers received for graphics with the original Snapdragon X processors, so hopefully those create a more stable gaming environment.

How's Windows on Arm these days?

We are at a point where if your workload is largely browser-based or uses tools like Word, Excel, and an email client, then Windows on Arm is probably good enough for you.

There are more native apps than ever before, including all of the major browsers, VLC, Spotify, Slack, Microsoft Office, LibreOffice, Blender, Davinci Resolve, Dropbox, Visual Studio, Zoom, and more.

Most of Adobe's software, including After Effects, Photoshop, Lightroom, and Premiere, are Arm native. But InDesign, Illustrator, and Lightroom Classic are still running via emulation, so they may not be as speedy or stable.

Windows 11 includes an emulator, Prism, that runs apps built for x86 processors and converts the instructions, which does take care of a lot of the rest. But some advanced professional tools, like AutoCAD, aren't considered officially supported, though emulation may still work.

The other issue — which will probably never be totally cleared up — is for those who are using legacy peripherals that require drivers. The same goes for old software that is no longer updated.

For basic needs, this should be more than enough now. But some creatives and gamers may still see issues.

Display on the Asus Zenbook A16

Asus has a lovely 16-inch, 2880 x 1800 OLED display on the Zenbook A16. It supports frame rates up to 120 Hz and the DisplayHDR 1000 True Black standard.

The OLED screen really helped with pops of color in the trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. In a scene where the wall-crawler fights Tarantula, his red and blue costume stood out on a metal boat with an enemy in a subdued maroon outfit. A few shots later, the same effect occurred in a dark, dreary prison. I've definitely seen brighter, more vivid OLED screens. This gets the job done, but it's nothing to write home about.

The screen covers 119.5% of sRGB color volume and 84.6% DCI-P3, in range of the LCD panel on the MacBook Air, but better than what Dell offers on the XPS 14. The OLED screen on the Swift 16 AI was dimmer than the rest of the field, but offered the best color volume.

Asus's panel measured 429.4 nits on our light meter. That's dimmer than the MacBook Air (458.8 nits) and XPS 14 (466 nits).

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Asus Zenbook A16

Asus' island-style keyboard offers 1.3 mm of key travel. On the Monkeytype typing test, I hit 120 words per minute at 97% accuracy, but it wasn't the most comfortable. I found the keys to be stiff, both pressing the key in but also with a forceful rebound. I did, however, like the smoothness of the keys themselves.

The touchpad is enormous, but it's just OK. It's smooth enough, and it's responsive to Windows 11 gestures, but you can only comfortably click on the bottom half of it. For a premium machine, I wouldn't mind seeing a haptic touchpad here. You can click a bit above the halfway point, but it requires way more force and also causes the entire palm rest and keyboard to noticeable buckle.

There are also touch strips on the sides of the touchpad. Swiping on the left side adjusts volume, while the right side adjusts screen brightness. Unless you use it constantly, you might not know it's there. I preferred to use the dedicated function row.

Audio on the Asus Zenbook A16

The Zenbook A16's speakers are perfectly tolerable, but nothing incredibly special. They're loud enough to fill a room. But when I played Metric's "Victim of Luck," I thought the sound was a bit flat. It ends up that the Dolby Atmos EQ was set to off. Moving to "detailed" helped separate the track's individual components, including the vocals, guitars, synths, and drums.

The drums, however, weren't terribly snappy, and like many thin laptops, there wasn't much bass at all.

Upgradeability of the Asus Zenbook A16

Ten Torx T4 screws hold the bottom of the Zenbook A16 onto the chassis. After removing them (the two closest to the hinges are longer), you'll need to carefully pry the base off.

There's not a ton to upgrade in here, especially with the RAM on the chip package. But the SSD is upgradeable, should you need more space down the line (though it's not exactly easy to get a new install of Windows on Arm). The battery is held in with screws, so you could replace that down the line, too.

The ports on the right side are attached to a daughterboard, separate from the mainboard. It's also notable that there's a fair bit of empty space around the battery. I would've preferred a bit more longevity over the savings in weight. Filling the space may also have reduced some of the flexing we saw on the case.

Battery Life on the Asus Zenbook A16

The Arm architecture is known for being efficient, so I was disappointed to see the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, now on a 3-nanometer process, last only 10 hours and 26 minutes on average in our battery test. Our rundown has the screen set at 150 nits while the system browses the web, streams videos, and runs light OpenGL tests.

That's significantly less than the winner of this batch, the Dell XPS 14 with a Core Ultra 7 355, which went over 20 hours. Granted, that system's LCD screen also goes down to 1 Hz when idle. The MacBook Air, an Arm-based competitor, ran for 15 hours and 28 minutes in the newest M5-based model.

The Acer Swift 16 AI, with Intel's more powerful graphics in a Core Ultra X7 358H and its own OLED screen, lasted 12:12.

The Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme is powerful; powerful enough that Asus decided to ship this laptop with a 130W charger for fast charging. That got us up to 52% charge in half an hour. But for many, the point of these laptops has been that they last long on a charge. This system could use improvement on that front. It's usable, but in context, you see other laptop vendors and chipmakers have gotten more out of systems. It's unclear from a sample of only one laptop just how much of this is specific to power draw from the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme SoC.

Heat on the Asus Zenbook A16

We measured the Zenbook A16 for skin temperatures while running our Cinebench 2026 gauntlet, illustrating how warm this machine could potentially get under a heavy workload. It gets toasty.

The keyboard reached 104 degrees Fahrenheit between the G and H keys, while the hottest point on the bottom of the system measured 109 F. That's not terrible for the bottom, but the keyboard was noticeably warm. The touchpad remained cool at 81 F.

Usually, we also mention chip temperatures. However, HWInfo, the tool we use to measure, was not yet fully updated for the new Qualcomm chips, leaving us with broad temperature zones but no indication of what was being measured, specifically.

Webcam on the Asus Zenbook A16

The 1080p webcam on the Zenbook A16 generally impresses. Given that there are higher resolution webcams out there, we have to imagine some of this is simply Qualcomm's image signal processing. It has a lot of experience doing that for phones.

And video calls and photos on the Zenbook were sharp and remarkably clear. In our officeI, I could make out details like chipped paint in our industrial-style ceiling, and there were no issues with overhead lights blowing out the image. The only ding was that the colors were a bit oversaturated.For example, my skin had far more red tones than you see in real life.

Software and Warranty on the Asus Zenbook A16

Asus has a tendency to overfill its laptops with preinstalled software. Unfortunately, that's still the case here.

If you use one Asus app, make it MyAsus, which has options for fan profiles, screen adjustments to reduce OLED issues, and provides access to customer support services.

But Asus also packs on GlideX (a screen sharing and extending service), ScreenXpert (designed to help manage apps on external monitors or dual screen laptops), Virtual Assistant (a dancing gaming mascot that talks like it's in an early 2000's Budweiser commercial), and StoryCube (a multimedia management app that uses facial recognition to group photos and videos). All of this should opt-in rather than coming pre-installed.

On top of that, you get Adobe and Dropbox promotions included in the Start menu, and a link to McAfee LiveSafe in the Edge browser. For a premium laptop and a premium chip, this really feels unacceptable. It cheapens the whole experience. If Asus wants its Zenbooks to feel premium, it should cut down on bloat – from itself and its partners – dramatically.

Asus sells the Zenbook A16 with a one-year warranty.

Asus Zenbook A16 Configurations

We tested the Asus Zenbook A16 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-94-100) SoC, including 48GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD, a touch screen with a glass cover, as well as Windows 11 Home. This system is $1,699.99 and is sold exclusively at Best Buy in the U.S. I honestly have no idea how Asus and Qualcomm are maintaining that price with 48GB of RAM during a component shortage, but it's impressive.

A second model exists , with the ever-so-slightly faster X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100), a non-touch screen, and Windows 11 Pro, but is otherwise basically the same as the one we tested. Without the glass, however, this model is lighter at 2.56 pounds. It sells on Asus' website for $1,999.99.

Bottom Line

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite Extreme is fast, powerful, and power hungry. If the applications you need run well on Windows on Arm, this chip is impressive, especially at the Zenbook Asus Zenbook A16's $1,699 price, including the 48GB of RAM on package. But the laptop isn't the company's best work. It may be light for a 16-inch system, but it feels flimsy. It's also overly filled with software, some of which originated on gaming or dual-screen systems. The OLED screen is just fine, and despite Asus's claims of up to 21 hours on a charge (for offline video playback, though just 12 hours of web browsing), the battery life trailed competitive systems with Intel's and Apple's processors.

Flagship chips should be in flagship systems. This doesn't feel like one. That being said, it's one of the very few ways right now to use the Snapdragon X Elite Extreme. If you want the latest in Windows on Arm, you'll get a decent machine, but also one rife with compromises. And don’t expect the same level of battery life we’ve mostly seen with lesser Snapdragon laptops.

Budget portable PCs specialist Chuwi has released an official apology to customers who received devices that didn’t match up to expected specifications. Despite offering a full refund to any affected parties, some will think the apology doesn’t go far enough given the waste of time/effort in receiving a wrongly specced (downgraded) device. Moreover, Chuwi maintains that the issue was due to a “production error,” which stretches credulity because of the firmware-level adjustments that cloaked the processor swap ‘scam.’

Putting the Chuwi apology in context, earlier this month, we reported on the emerging scandal of CoreBook X laptops being discovered packing older Ryzen 5 5500U (Zen 2) processors, instead of the advertised Ryzen 5 7430U (Zen 3). We highlighted that this couldn’t just be a simple parts mix-up, as Chuwi also seemed to use firmware-level modifications to fake the processor's identity to mirror the newer part.

A casual user could see the Zen 2 Lucienne chip described as a Zen 3 Barcelo-R chip inside system status tools in Windows controls, as well as in popular apps like CPU-Z and HWiNFO64. Subtle differences in reported cache quotas and clock speeds first raised suspicions, though. News and reviews site NotebookCheck lived up to its name by tearing down a CoreBook X sample, revealing the engraved processor OPN on the Ryzen, and thereby confirming the actual downgrade.

At the time, Chuwi vaguely blamed different production batches and leftover stock. Its latest announcement on the matter isn’t much better in that respect, but at least we see an apology and a seemingly simple process to get a full refund is offered.

With the typical performance delta between Ryzen 5 5500U and Ryzen 5 7430U at around 10%, but up to 20% on this laptop, a part-refund/compensation scheme may have been a more fitting response to affected customers.

Acer’s Swift 16 AI (starting at $1,549, $1,799 as tested) arrives with the air of a flagship laptop: a premium metal chassis, Intel’s new “Panther Lake” platform, and what Acer calls the world’s largest haptic touchpad. It also includes an essential at this price point: a stunning OLED display. On paper, it has all the makings of a top ultrabook, but the real question is whether it stands apart from the heavy hitters in this segment, particularly the 15-inch Apple MacBook Air.

Design of the Acer Swift 16 AI

First off, note that the preproduction model Acer sent for review has a lighter color scheme than production models, which will be a darker gray and feature gold highlights on the lid, with the Acer logo on the left. It offers a modern vibe either way, with thin display bezels and a sleek aluminum chassis that looks and feels premium.

The sleek chassis suffers from some lateral flex – picking up this laptop by a corner wouldn’t be a good idea – but the lid is impressively rigid. Acer says the laptop does pass MIL-STD-810 testing for temperatures, humidity, vibration, and moderate drops, suggesting it’s more durable than it seems. The lid folds open 180 degrees, a feature I always appreciate, and it can also be opened one-handed.

At 13.99 x 9.66 x 0.59 inches, the Swift’s footprint is similar to the Dell 16 Premium (14.1 x 9.4 x 0.75 inches) but is larger than the 15.3-inch Apple MacBook Air (13.4 x 9.35 x 0.45 inches). Acer kept the weight down to 3.42 pounds, undercutting the 4.65-pound Dell and being marginally heavier than the 3.3-pound MacBook.

Port selection includes two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C), USB-A (5 Gbps), and HDMI 2.1 on the left and another USB-A (10 Gbps), a 3.5 mm audio jack, and a microSD card reader on the right. It’s a solid variety; having two USB-A ports is a luxury on a premium laptop, which often only sport USB-C (the MacBook Air and Dell’s XPS line come to mind). For wireless, it supports the latest Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 standards from a Killer BE1775s card.

Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Acer Swift 16 AI

Our review sample features a Core Ultra X7 358H CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. The “Panther Lake” CPU features 16 cores (four Performance, eight Efficient, and four Low-Power Efficient) and Arc B390 integrated graphics, the latter being a key selling point for the X7/X9 chips over the standard H-class, which rely on Intel Graphics.

The laptops we’re using for comparison are listed below. This mix represents mid-to-upper-end productivity laptops with strong CPUs. The Zenbook’s Core Ultra X9 is similar to the X7 in our Acer, but it’s clocked slightly higher.

In the Geekbench CPU test, the Acer posted middling scores, delivering 2,789 points in the single-core portion, to practically tie the Dell but trailing the Zenbook (3,031) and particularly the MacBook (3,780). Its 15,926-point multi-core showing slotted towards the bottom of the group, surprisingly ahead of the MacBook (14,924) but trailing the Zenbook and Dell by a sizable margin.

In our 25GB file transfer test, Acer rebounded with a leading score of 1,745 MBps, outdoing the Dell (1,531 MBps) and leaving the Apple and last-place Asus well behind.

Finally, the Acer demonstrated middling performance in our 4K-to-1080p Handbrake transcoding test, completing the render in 4 minutes and 25 seconds. The Zenbook was within seconds (4:22) while the Dell proved the quickest (3:50) and the Macbook was the slowest (4:52).

We stress test ultrabooks by running Cinebench 2024 ten times sequentially to simulate extended CPU load. The Swift 16 started with 948 points, dipped to 762 points on the second run, but then stabilized around the 900-point mark for the remaining runs, suggesting no obvious performance throttling once the fans spin up.

Display on the Acer Swift 16 AI

OLED screens rarely fail to impress and this one certainly doesn’t, showing off the rich colors and inky contrast the technology is renowned for. The glossy surface is more reflective than I’d hoped, but the 120 Hz refresh rate makes for smooth scrolling. The refresh rate automatically switches to 60 Hz on battery to conserve power. Note that while the surface supports touch, it does not support the included stylus, which only works on the touchpad.

Watching Silo on Apple TV is a treat on this Acer. While the show’s overall drab tones rarely gave the OLED display a chance to show off its color, it produced immaculate detail in the shadowy and dimly-lit scenes that dominate the show, adding extra depth and an immersion factor to scenes that can’t be experienced without a top-tier display.

Acer’s screen showed remarkable color coverage, with full coverage of DCI-P3, next to the Zenbook’s 87.2% and the MacBook’s 83.5%. It also showed good if not exceptional brightness for an OLED panel, averaging 364 nits, nearly tying the Dell’s 367 nits but trailing the Zenbook’s 476 nits.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Acer Swift 16 AI

This Acer’s full-size keyboard is a joy to type on, with soft but precise feedback and ample up-and-down travel. Bold white backlighting is easily visible in all lighting conditions. The number pad is small, and the arrow keys aren’t all the same size, but the rest of the layout poses no surprises. I nearly reached my top typing speed in MonkeyType, about 114 words per minute with perfect accuracy, on the first try.

Acer calls this the world’s largest haptic touchpad, measuring 6.9 by 4.3 inches. To put that in perspective, it’s only marginally smaller than an Apple iPad mini. For daily use, I found the size unnecessary as my fingers favored the center of the pad, rarely venturing towards the edges except when I used multi-finger sweeping gestures, which felt downright luxurious because of all the space. The haptic feedback accurately simulates a physical click mechanism and can be adjusted for intensity in the Windows Touchpad settings app.

The real reason this touchpad is so large is because it supports MPP styli, and Acer includes one in the box. The idea is this could be used as a drawing pad. The touchpad has the same 16:10 aspect ratio as the screen to make this as intuitive as possible.

In practice, I didn’t find the stylus useful. It’s designed well enough – it’s about the size of a real pen, supports tilt, features two buttons, and is powered by a AAAA battery – but writing and doodling on the pad is awkward. Palm rejection didn’t always register, so I ended up not wanting to rest my palm on the surface while writing, which felt unnatural. I had a hard time writing legibly or getting the brush strokes I wanted in Photoshop either way. Overall, the experience felt imprecise and limiting. It could be handy for signing the occasional digital document, but artists would be much better off with a USB drawing pad or simply buying a tablet or 2-in-1 convertible laptop to begin with. Think of thwe stylus as more of a bonus than a feature you’d depend on for real work.

Audio on the Acer Swift 16 AI

Acer puts on a solid audio performance from the dual downward-firing speakers under the palm rest. Listening to the acoustic “Too Late for Love” by Deep Chills, I heard clear instrument separation and noticeable bass in drum hits. The vocals sounded a bit strained at upper volume levels, but the DTS: X Ultra app equalizers mitigated that most of the time. The equalizers are essential for bass; the sound is nearly flat with them disabled. The music preset sounded best to my ears, with the Movie preset a bit too distant. I tried making a custom preset, but the Music preset always seemed to be what I went back to – it’s balanced just right.

The sound also did Silo justice, with detailed vocals and convincing virtual surround-sound effects. The volume seems to top out around 75 to 80%, though. My ears couldn’t tell whether the sound actually got louder beyond that.

Upgradeability of the Acer Swift 16 AI

Eight Torx screws secure the Swift 16 AI’s bottom cover. Once removed, the only place to find purchase is along the display hinge, where I was able to wedge a plastic trim tool and pop the retainer clips. This took a lot more effort than I expected. I then worked up each edge until all the clips released, taking my time as to not break the clips.

Serviceable components are limited to the M.2 SSD and the battery, with all other components soldered or integrated. Having so little upgradeability isn’t surprising in this class.

Battery Life on the Acer Swift 16 AI

Our battery test consists of web browsing, running OpenGL tests, and streaming videos with the screen at 150 nits while connected to Wi-Fi.

With 12 hours and 12 minutes of runtime, the Acer disappointed, only outlasting the power-hungry Dell (7:15). It fell over two hours short of the dual-screen Asus and three hours shy of the MacBook. While the Acer’s time is hardly unusable, the bar has been raised beyond the time it showed here.

Heat on the Acer Swift 16 AI

The Swift 16 AI’s cooling system uses two fans that exhausts towards the display hinge. These operated quietly for daily tasks. While audible under load, the noise level is unobtrusive and shouldn’t disturb others.

During our Cinebench stress test, we measured peak surface temperatures of 92 degrees F between the keyboard’s G and H keys, 78 degrees on the touchpad, and 95 degrees on the bottom towards the hinge. Meanwhile, the Core Ultra X7 358H CPU ran at an average of 80 degrees C. Overall, this is more than acceptable thermal performance.

Webcam on the Acer Swift 16 AI

Acer’s 1080p webcam delivers an average picture. The 1080p resolution looks sharper than the 720p fare that was common years ago, but still showed soft details. As an example, I know I have some soft lines in my face and they weren’t visible. (Maybe I should be relieved.) Colors and clarity suffer in lower light, but you’ll still be recognizable. The cam offers an IR sensor for facial recognition and a sliding privacy shutter.

Software and Warranty on the Acer Swift 16 AI

Acer Sense is the most important app, launchable with the shortcut key along the top row. The app has diagnostics, software updates, an optimized battery charge mode, a blue light filter, and adaptive brightness settings. You can also set the performance profile – silent, normal (the default), or performance.

Further personalization settings can be found in the Acer User Sensing app, with a proximity sensor enabling auto-lock when stepping away or wake on approach, andoptional screen dimming when you look away, a break reminder, and a screen distance reminder.

Acer preloads a fair number of trial apps, like DropBox, which I uninstalled immediately. There shouldn’t be any bloatware on a premium laptop.

Acer covers the Swift 16 AI with a standard one-year warranty.

Acer Swift 16 AI Configurations

We reviewed the Swift 16 AI in configuration SF16-71T-75XY, which will be available online in the Acer store in mid-March 2026 for $1,799.99. It includes a Core Ultra X7 358H processor, Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. It also has the same 2880 x 1800 OLED touch screen that is standard across all models.

Acer will also offer models priced on either side of our unit, both through Best Buy. A $1,549 model SF16-71T-70PN has the same specifications as our review model except half the RAM (16GB), while a $1899 model SF16-71T-97GV bumps the CPU to a Core Ultra X9 388H.

All models include a carry sleeve, which wasn’t included with our review sample, and a stylus for the touchpad.

Bottom Line

Acer’s Swift 16 AI is an appealing premium ultrabook for buyers willing to spend beyond the basics. Its metal chassis, vivid OLED display, excellent keyboard, and surprisingly capable speakers all contribute to a high-end vibe, and Acer’s practical port selection means most users won’t need adapters.

While the battery life lands in the “good, not great” category – a not unexpected result given the OLED display – it falls short of class leaders. Performance is good, with a meaningful generation-on-generation improvement from the “Panther Lake” chip, and Acer’s thermal management is well-designed.

The “world’s largest” haptic touchpad is the Swift 16 AI’s most unusual flourish, though in practice the sheer size is more of a curiosity than a must-have. The included stylus works, but the overall experience was imprecise and awkward for me, and hard to treat as a headline feature. It’s best considered a bonus than a reason to buy.

So, is the Swift 16 AI worth the asking price? For Windows users who want a sleek, premium 16-inch travel companion, it certainly can be. Its only major misstep is the oversized touchpad and stylus pairing, but that doesn’t seem to carry a significant price premium. Either way, for similar money, Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air remains our top large-screen ultrabook pick for those who can live in macOS. And while we only had the M4 model to compare the Acer to during this review, the new M5 Air is likely to be even more impressive when it comes to performance and longevity. But for die-hard Windows users, Acer’s Swift 16 AI is a polished, capable machine that should leave most buyers satisfied.

Update: March 19, 2026 — Acer dropped the price on the Swift 16 AI by $100 on our review system and by $50 - $100 on other configurations shortly after our review. Prices have been adjusted, but our score and review haven't changed otherwise.

Apple finally took the wraps off its long-rumored budget laptop. In simultaneous events in New York, London, and Shanghai, the company showed off the MacBook Neo, which runs on the Apple A18 Pro processor (2 performance cores, 6 efficiency cores, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine), previously used to run the iPhone 16 Pro.

With this cheaper machine, Apple is taking aim at Chromebook and low-end Windows users, as well as those who may have wanted a MacBook but felt the price was out of reach. This new system, while still made of aluminum, comes in a variety of colors. They’re the most vibrant colors on an Apple laptop since the iBook G3 in 1999.

The MacBook Neo features a 13-inch Liquid Retina display with a 2408 x 1506 resolution (500 nits maximum brightness), side-firing speakers with Dolby Atmos support, a multi-touch trackpad, a 1080p webcam, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. There are two USB-C ports: one supports USB 2.0 (480 Mbps), while the other is USB 3.0 (up to 10 Gbps with DisplayPort support). Only one external monitor is supported.

It's a relatively light device, weighing just 2.7 pounds and measuring 0.5 inches thick. Apple says the MacBook Neo can last up to 16 hours on a single charge thanks to its 36.5 WHr battery.

Apple says that the MacBook Neo will start at $599 for the 256GB version and will be available in silver, indigo, blush, and citrus. The 512GB version will come with Touch ID and be priced at $699. Both versions ship with just 8GB of RAM and support Apple Intelligence, and there are no build-to-order options for additional RAM. So what you see is what you get.

Preorders go live today, and systems will ship on March 11.

We've already had some hands-on time with the MacBook Neo, and we must say, the aluminum chassis feels really nice — especially at this price point. The trackpad is Apple-typical smooth, but there is no haptic feedback like in more expensive MacBook models. In addition, the keyboard is not backlit, which we take for granted on today's laptops (although some features had to be left on the cutting-room floor to reach a starting price $500 below the new M5 MacBook Air).

The MacBook Neo is a surprise during the ongoing RAM shortage, with other laptop makers struggling to keep laptop prices under control. While many Chromebooks start lower than the Neo's $599 starting price point, there have been reports that disappearing margins could drive the cheap Windows laptop market into extinction by 2028.

This laptop could also serve as a gateway into Apple's greater ecosystem, including the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and, most importantly, subscription services like iCloud+ and Apple Creator Studio.

John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering, said at the New York City experience that "life is better with a Mac," and that this computer would put it in the hands of more people. They may also become lifelong customers.

Updated March 4, 10:03 AM with context on the greater PC market and quote from John Ternus.

Lenovo is updating laptops across its enterprise, gaming, and productivity lines at Mobile World Congress. The new machines include ThinkPads in a striking blue colorway, and a Legion laptop using one of the new AMD Ryzen "Strix Halo" chips announced at CES earlier this year.The new ThinkPads are headlined by a new T-series, the ThinkPad T14 and T14s Gen 7, the T14s 2-in-1 Gen 2 and T16 Gen 5.

The T14 and T16 clamshells have a renewed focus on repairability, including a battery that can be removed with just your fingers. Intel-based models will use LPCAMM2 memory. These systems will use Intel Core Ultra 3 with vPro or AMD Ryzen AI Pro 400 processors. The T15s will have options with AMD, Intel, or Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X2 Elite processor.

The T14 and T14s are getting a new "cosmic" blue color option, which is rare for a ThinkPad. (Diehards can rest assured, the TrackPoint is still red.) It's subtle enough that it might appear black in dark rooms, but it is a fetching new addition for offices that might like a bit of color.

Lenovo is also updating the ThinkPad X13 Detachable, which only gets a refresh every few years. This version is also being bumped up to Panther Lake, with an improved keyboard with 1.5 mm of key travel and support to dock a pen in the keyboard. That’s similar to what Microsoft has been doing for the past few years on its Surface.

Gaming and Consumer

There's a single gaming laptop: the Lenovo Legion 7a. It's a 15.3-inch portable using an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 392 processor, similar to the Asus TUF Gaming A14 we saw at CES, along with an OLED screen.

The system weighs 1.65 kg (3.67 pounds), which is lightweight for a gaming rig. But despite the lack of conventional discrete graphics in a gaming laptop, the Legion 7a won't be cheap; it will start at $2,299 when it launches in July.

Lastly, Lenovo's Yoga line is seeing spec bumps in the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition (starting $1,949 in May), Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (starting at $1,449 in April), and Yoga Pro 7a (starting at $2,099 in August), which will also use a Strix Halo processor in the AMD Ryzen AI Max + 388.

Sometimes, laptops aren't designed for budget customers, but rather those willing to pay top dollar for design and performance. Samsung’s Galaxy Book6 Ultra (starts at $2,449.99, with US availability not yet specified) fits in the latter category – this 16-inch creator-focused laptop courts those who might otherwise default to a 16-inch MacBook Pro. Final pricing wasn’t available as of this review, but the hardware configuration – the latest Intel “Panther Lake” Core Ultra H-class CPU and an Nvidia “Blackwell” RTX 5070 GPU – signal a flagship laptop. Complemented by a premium metal build and a superb AMOLED touch display, the Galaxy Book6 Ultra is clearly designed to compete at the top of the market.

Design of the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra

Once glance at the Galaxy Book6 Ultra justifies Samsung’s reputation for quality and style, and also a strong resemblance to Apple’s MacBook Pro. The gunmetal chassis and contrasting black keyboard deck gives the system a clean, ultramodern aesthetic. The all-metal exterior feels unquestionably solid and shows virtually no flex under pressure. I also noted it showed almost no fingerprints after several days of use. There’s refreshingly minimal branding aside from Samsung’s lettering on the back of the lid and under the screen.

Despite housing a 16-inch display and powerful silicon, the Ultra maintains an impressively slim profile. Measuring 14.01 x 9.77 x 0.46 inches (WDH), it’s 0.2 inches thinner than the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (14.01 x 9.77 x 0.66 inches) and over a pound lighter, at 3.5 pounds versus the Apple’s 4.67 pounds. It also undercuts Dell’s 16 Premium (14.1 x 9.4 x 0.75 inches, 4.65 pounds) on both size and weight.

Connectivity is good for a system this thin. On the left edge, you’ll find two Thunderbolt 4 ports and HDMI 2.1, while the right edge offers USB-A, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and a full-size SD card slot, enough variety that most users shouldn’t need dongles. Wireless support is also up-to-date, with support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 from an Intel BE211 networking card.

Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra

Our Galaxy Book6 Ultra review unit features a Core Ultra 7 356H processor, an Nvidia RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. This is a potent configuration for demanding tasks, especially content creation. Though this isn't a gaming laptop, the dedicated Nvidia GPU is also capable of some play.

For performance comparisons, we included the Apple MacBook Pro 16-Inch ($3,649 as tested) running the M4 Pro processor, the Dell 16 Premium ($2,799) featuring a Core Ultra 7 255H, and the Framework Laptop 16 ($2,396) with a Ryzen AI 7 350. These laptops all fit in the same class, though the MacBook ought to have the strongest CPU.

In the cross-platform Geekbench CPU test, the Samsung had the best overall showing among the Windows laptops, with 16,655 points in multi-core to practically tie the Dell (16,850) and lead the Framework (12,399). None challenged the MacBook’s commanding 22,822 points in multi-core, and it also dominated single-core, with 3,910 points to Samsung’s 2,852.

The situation improved for the Samsung in the Handbrake 4K-to-1080p video transcoding test, where it finished in just 3 minutes and 18 seconds, outpacing the Dell by 32 seconds. The MacBook again commanded the lead, with 2 minutes and 38 seconds.

In our 25GB file transfer test, Samsung was at the middle of the pack at a rate of 1,467.5 MBps, ahead of the Dell’s 1,080 MBps but trailing the Framework (1,725 MBps) and the MacBook (2,237.5 MBps).

To stress-test productivity laptops, we run 10 loops of Cinebench 2024. During the test, scores ranged between 1,212 and 1,221 points, an exceptionally tight range suggesting consistent performance for long-running CPU workloads.

Display on the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra

What really makes this system a stunner is its AMOLED screen. With a 2880 x 1800 resolution, touch support, and 120 Hz refresh rate, it’s truly remarkable for any kind of content, particularly colorful media. Watching Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, I felt immersed by the strong contrast in space scenes, bright flashes of lightsabers and blaster bolts, and the vibrancy of Endor’s forests. I even fired up Borderlands II for a little gaming action, admiring the smooth picture courtesy of the high refresh rate. It’s truly a first-rate picture.

Display measurements confirm the Galaxy Book6 Ultra’s visual excellence, with 121.2% of sRGB color and 85.8% coverage of DCI-P3. Framework’s system had higher DCI-P3 coverage, but it wasn’t quite as bright, which is important considering Framework uses IPS while Samsung uses AMOLED, a technology that has historically trailed IPS in peak luminance. The Dell is the only other system using OLED, yet it falls well short in brightness at 367 nits versus Samsung’s 451 nits. The Galaxy Book6 Ultra not only outperforms its OLED peer but raises the bar for this type of panel.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra

Samsung’s black keyboard contrasts nicely against the gunmetal gray palm rest, with three-level white backlighting for a professional look. The typing experience, however, doesn’t live up to the aesthetics. Shallow key travel and the resulting limited tactile feel makes it hard to build confidence while typing. I normally average between 115-120 words per minute and near-perfect accuracy in the MonkeyType typing test, but I only managed 102 wpm and 95% accuracy on this keyboard after several tries. Granted, my muscle memory would probably compensate over time, but it doesn’t compete with my daily-driver ThinkPad for responsiveness or assurance.

At least the keyboard layout is sensible, with arrow keys that are all the same size and no oddball key placements. The absence of dedicated home, end, page up, and page down keys is a downer, but not a dealbreaker since they are available pressing Fn + arrow keys.

Samsung fared better with the touchpad. Its massive size (5.9 x 4.1 inches) and smooth surface feel luxurious, making sweeping multi-figure gestures effortless. I thought the haptic feedback felt too light at first, but it can be adjusted for more intensity in the Windows Settings app > Bluetooth & Devices > Touchpad. It felt more responsive after I switched to Light click force and upped the click intensity.

Audio on the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra

Though the grilles on either side of the Galaxy Book6 Ultra’s keyboard the actual speakers face downward under either side. Provided the laptop is on a solid surface, this setup produces remarkably full sound. Watching the F1 movie, I was taken by the fullness of the voices, convincing surround-sound effects when cars drove by, and the impactful bass. Music was equally impressive, with a wider soundstage than I expected and plenty of volume to entertain a few people sitting around the laptop to watch at once.

The key to the speakers sounding their best is the Dolby Access app, which provides Atmos effects. The usual music, movie, and game presets are present, but Dynamic mode unlocks the best sound and provides much more volume than the other equalizers.

Upgradeability of the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra

User-upgradeable components in the Galaxy Book6 Ultra include the storage and battery, but most other components are soldered. The screw-free bottom suggests there’s no way to get inside, but Philips-head screws are hidden behind the rubber feet. I used a plastic toothpick to get leverage, then popped them off. The feet are secured by threads rather than adhesive, and are easily pressed back in. Note the front feet are shorter than the rear feet.

With the screws removed, I used a plastic trim tool to go in the speaker outlets and pry around the edges of the chassis, popping the clips free with minimal effort. Once I had worked my way to the rear corners, a lip along the rear edge allowed me to pry against the display hinge and pop all the clips there, at which point the entire panel came free.

Inside, the storage slots are below the battery. The main M.2 2280 slot is beneath a heatshield while the other extends to its right. Overall, there’s not a lot of upgradeability here, but it’s not uncommon these days for most components to be soldered.

Battery Life on the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra

In our battery test, which includes web browsing, video streaming over Wi-Fi, and OpenGL workloads at 150 nits, the Galaxy Book6 Ultra lasted a respectable 15 hours and 21 minutes. While that doesn’t come close to matching the MacBook Pro’s 21-plus hours, it more than satisfies for all-day use. The Dell 16 Premium (7:15) and Framework Laptop 16 (8:20) barely managed half the Samsung’s runtime.

Heat on the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra

The Galaxy Book6 Ultra uses a two-fan cooling system with airflow against the display hinge. It’s effective: during our Cinebench stress testing, which lasted almost an hour, surface temperatures peaked at 92 degrees Fahrenheit between the keyboard G and H keys, 83 F on the touchpad, and 103 F on the bottom panel. Internally, the Core Ultra 7 356H averaged 84 degrees C.

The fans operate quietly, with only the sound of air escaping through the vents and no motor noise or whine. While playing Borderlands II, the laptop’s speakers easily overpowered the fans and allowed me to hear small details, like footsteps.

Webcam on the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra

The Galaxy Book6 Ultra’s webcam is properly placed over the center of the display but doesn’t stand out in visual quality. The soft-focus picture doesn’t look that sharp and tends to blow out highlights, with fuzzy details. There’s also noticeable grain in low-light situations. Its 1920 x 1080 resolution is the minimum expected on anything not considered a budget laptop; on one this expensive, a 1440p sensor would have been better. There’s no privacy shutter, but the webcam can be electronically disabled pressing Fn + F11.

There is no IR sensor for the camera for facial recognition, though. There’s a fingerprint reader built into the power button at the keyboard’s top right.

Software and Warranty on the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra

Minimal software is included on the Galaxy Book6 Ultra beyond the usual smattering of Windows 11 default apps. The Galaxy Book Experience app is a generic app for launching other apps, most Samsung-centric. For instance, Multi Control lets you control your Galaxy phone or tablet from your PC, including file sharing. There’s also a nearby device app that lets you find other devices nearby, such as TVs, and share content.

I stumbled through Galaxy Book Experience for a while before finding the Samsung Settings app, which has Galaxy Book6 Ultra-specific settings. Display settings allow you to turn HDR on and off, automatic color temperature control, and a focus mode that darkens areas outside of your current window, a unique setting for OLED displays. There are also preferences, such as automatically starting the laptop when the display is opened or the charger connected, keyboard backlighting timeout, and a battery protection mode to limit charge to 80%. Tinkerers can also experiment with the laptop’s performance mode: Quiet minimizes fan noise at the expense of performance while High Performance results in higher fan noise, with a toggle for maximum fan speed.

Samsung backs the Galaxy Book6 Ultra with a one-year warranty.

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra Configurations

We reviewed the Galaxy Book6 Ultra with a 2880 x 1880 OLED touch display, Core Ultra 7 356H processor, GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD. Availability isn’t certain yet, but this model’s projected price is $3,199.99.

Samsung’s international press release suggests that other models starting at $2,449.99 will be available with other “Panther Lake” CPUs, including the Core Ultra X7 and X9 chips featuring powerful Arc integrated graphics, as well as RTX 5060 models. Memory scales between 16GB and 64GB and storage between 512GB and 2TB. The OLED screen is standard across all models.

Samsung’s pricing comes on the lower side of Apple’s MacBook Pro 16-inch, which starts at $2,499. Adding the nano-texture display, the M4 Max chip with its upgraded GPU cores, and 36GB of RAM brings it to $3,649, and doubling the storage to 2TB brings it to $4,049. While that doesn’t make the Ultra a bargain, it isn’t outlandishly expensive.

Bottom Line

Samsung’s Galaxy Book6 Ultra makes an impressive statement. Premium design, top-tier quality, strong performance, and vibrant visuals coalesce for an elite computing experience. It’s a natural choice for those who gravitate towards a 16-inch MacBook Pro but prefer Windows or use software that only works on Microsoft's operating system. Though we didn’t have pricing when we did this review, it’s safe to say it will be priced to match what it’s offering. We’d like more communicative keyboard feedback the next time around, but otherwise, there’s very little not to love here.

Correction March 13, 2026: This review originally stated in the specs that the laptop had an IR webcam. It does not. The only biometrics are the fingerprint reader. We regret the error.

Intel's most anticipated CPU launch in quite some time is a laptop CPU — Core Ultra Series 3, formerly known as "Panther Lake." The top-end Core Ultra X9 388H packs a powerful iGPU and is made on Intel's 18A process. Our first look at this chip comes through the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407).

This laptop ($2,299.99 as tested) is Asus' latest take on a dual-screen machine, with smaller bezels than before, lovely OLED panels, and surprisingly good battery life. Most of the best ultrabooks are standard clamshell laptops, but Asus is finally starting to refine this dual-screen laptop, even if there are still a few growing pains.

That new processor might not entice you into upgrading based on productivity performance alone (though there are gains), but if you do anything using integrated graphics, you'll likely be impressed.Once you get past the sheer amount of software and bloatware on board, Asus's design and Intel's new processors mostly impress.

Design on the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407)

The Asus Zenbook Duo is 5% smaller than previous models, which may not sound like a lot, but is quite noticeable. Once you open the gray "ceraluminum" lid with the Asus Zenbook wordmark, I noticed that the system is thinner, and that there is far less space between the two screens, which are stacked on top of each other.

The lack of bezels between the screens is noticeable. It still looks like two screens, but the new hinge keeps them more flush, and the design feels more purposeful this time around. The bezel on the top of the top screen, however, is very thick compared to other high-end laptops.

The ceraluminum material is aluminum with a ceramic-like texture. It feels great and I like how it looks. Asus claims that it's "smudge-free" and can withstand light scratches and wear.

There are, however, some quirks unique to this type of design. For one, the keyboard and touchpad are part of a separate piece of hardware that you can use via Bluetooth or place onto the lower screens with magnets and pogo pins for a laptop-style experience (Lenovo's Yoga Book 9i does something similar, but it doesn't use a standard touchpad and requires a mouse, and the smaller keyboard covers less of the screen.)The keyboard fits in between the two screens, but if you choose to travel without it, there will be a small, sandwich-like gap between them, where dust or debris could get in while it’s in your backpack. This is very similar to true foldables we saw a few years ago, like Asus' own ZenBook 17 Fold from 2022.

There is a kickstand built into the bottom of the system, which is kind of awkward and feels very thick when using it as a standard laptop. But it allows you to put the dual screens in portrait or landscape mode without needing a separate stand elsewhere. While the kickstand is very steady with the screens tacked one on top of the other, it can be a bit rocky in side-by-side portrait mode unless angled absolutely perfectly.

The Duo is 12.21 x 8.21 x 0.92 inches and weighs 3.64 pounds with the keyboard (it drops to 2.98 pounds without the accessory). The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is larger but thinner at 12.4 x 8.35 x 0.63 inches, and is 2.69 pounds sans accessories.

Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407) Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407)

This review of the Asus ZenBook Duo is serving as our introduction to Intel's Core Ultra Series 3, the artist formerly known as "Panther Lake." Specifically, Intel loaned us a unit with an Intel Core Ultra X9 388H with 16 cores, a 5.1 GHz max turbo frequency, and, crucially, an integrated Arc B390 GPU with 12 Xe cores.

We're using more competitors than usual. Here's a handy table listing them:

This list gets us a comparison to last-gen Intel Core H-series, a high-end Snapdragon X processor, the latest from Apple, and a last-gen Ryzen processor. (AMD's Ryzen AI 400 series should arrive in our labs soon, with a launch planned for Q1 2026.)

On Geekbench, Intel handily beat AMD, Qualcomm, and its last gen CPU, as the ZenBook Duo notched a single-core score of 3,031 and a multi-core score of 17,283. Only Apple did better, with its M5 scoring 4,288 on single-core and 17,926 on multi-core.On our 25GB file transfer test, the ZenBook Duo copied the files at a rate of 1,531.30 MBPs, beating the Yoga Book and XPS but falling behind the OmniBook and the class leader, the MacBook Pro.

The ZenBook Duo transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 4 minutes and 22 seconds using HandBrake. That's faster than last-gen and the Snapdragon-based XPS, but the MacBook Pro (3:31) and OmniBook Ultra (4:18) beat it.

In our ten-run Cinebench stress test (our first time using the new 2026 edition), the laptop started with a score of 3,871.93, before falling for a run until the thermals settled in. Throughout most of the rest of the test, the system was in the mid 3,800's, with no obvious signs of throttling affecting performance.

During the test, the performance cores ran at an average of 2.86 GHz, while the efficiency cores ran at 2.7 GHz, and the low-power efficient cores reached 2.45 GHz.

Graphics Performance on the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407)

Panther Lake also brings with it Intel's newest integrated graphics technology, Arc B390. Different configurations will have different GPUs, including some without the Arc branding. But the Core Ultra X9 388H has the most powerful option. Graphics testing hasn't been a huge part of of our ultraportable testing to date, but that may have to change.

Here are the GPUs the competition are using:

Because we don't have a ton of historical game data, we're going with 3DMark tests, but look out for more games in the future. Keep in mind that on the XPS 13 with Adreno, 3DMark was being emulated.

I was surprised to see the Panther Lake system handle Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, even on the low-end graphics settings at 1920 x 1200p. I took off around a suburban New Jersey airport and flew around the surrounding area with the system running the game between 44 and 52 frames per second.

On 3DMark Fire Strike, the ZenBook Duo easily surpassed its rivals with a score of 13,581. The next highest was the AMD-based OmniBook Ultra at 8,557. The Mac wasn't included here, as Fire Strike isn't compatible.3DMark Steel Nomad is a more recent test, and the Arc B390 won comfortably here, too, with a score of 1,483. The MacBook Pro with M5 came in second at 1,122, so there was less of a gap on this test. Both of those had a sizable lead over other Windows-based ultrabooks.

Displays on the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407)

The two, count 'em, two screens on the ZenBook Duo are each 14 inches, with 2880 x 1800 Lumina Pro OLED panels. They're not the brightest or most vivid that we've seen, but they're still quite good.

The dual-panel design really shines for productivity, letting you easily organize multiple windows either one on top of the other or side-by-side.

But they also are solid screens, generally. Using the top screen in laptop mode, I watched the trailer for The Odyssey, and was particularly impressed by one scene in which Odysseus (Matt Damon), leads his men on a boat through deep blue water and a dark blue sky. The amount of detail I could make out was impressive, despite how dim the scene was. In another, bright orange flames lit a cave as the men discovered the cyclops.

The top screen covered 123.1% of the sRGB gamut by volume and 87.2% of the DCI-3 gamut. The bottom screen reached 118% and 83.6%, which is close enough that I couldn't tell the difference. That was the same pattern for brightness, where the top screen measured 435.2 nits on average while the bottom reached 455.6 nits.

These weren't as bright or as vivid as Lenovo's screens (the MacBook Pro's Mini LED was the brightest option), but proved superior to the HP OMniBook ultra and the comparatively dull LCD in the XPS 13 (9345).

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407)

The keyboard and touchpad on the ZenBook Duo are on a small slate that is separate from the dual-screened laptop. You can attach it over the bottom screen with pogo pins and magnets for a classic laptop experience, or use it separately with Bluetooth (my preferred way at a desk) to get two screens.

Asus says that the detachable keyboard's keys have 1.7 mm of key travel. The keys, however, feel a bit mushy, and I wish they would pop up a bit faster.

Typing with the keyboard on the laptop, I did great on the monkeytype test, hitting 102 words per minute with 99% accuracy. I've been faster, but that's hard to complain about. But with the keyboard on a desk, my fingers weren't hitting keys, which were far lower than most desktop keyboards, and so I dropped to 79 wpm with 93% accuracy. If I were using this at my desk all the time, I would pick a different Bluetooth keyboard. As a portable machine, though, I want the standard keyboard to work great in every position.

The touchpad is 5 inches wide and more than 3 inches tall. It isn't the most premium-feeling touchpad, but it does the job even with its stiff click. Asus has packed the touchpad with sensors — you can swipe your finger on the left side to adjust the volume or the right side to dial in the brightness. Swiping along the top scans through media. This is fine, but I tended to just use the keyboard function row, because those are labeled and I didn't have to remember them.

While Asus bundles a stylus with the ZenBook Duo in the United States, it didn't come with our review unit.

Audio on the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407)

Asus's six-speaker sound system (four woofers and two tweeters) gets quite loud. Listening in a small room in our office, the sounds of the Beaches' cover of "I Ran (So Far Away) easily filled the entire room.

The speakers made that song and others very vocals-forward. I usually prefer that, but it was so much the case that it sometimes drowned other parts of the song out. The thumping drums and even a tiny bit of bass were noticeable, but overwhelmed, while the guitars were lost in the mix.

I was surprised to find that there is no preset equalizer in the Dolby Atmos software. I found that both the "detailed" and "balanced" presets did a better job toning down the vocals to highlight the low end, though balanced made the whole song a bit too soft.

Upgradeability on the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407)

Asus has made it extremely simple to replace the single easily repairable part on the ZenBook Duo: the SSD.Beneath the kickstand, there's a plate held in by two Torx T5 screws. Unscrew those, and the plate comes right out, giving you access to the drive if you need to repair or upgrade it. You can also access some of the main cables here. One is definitely for the battery, and the other appears to be a ribbon cable, likely to the displays.

We've seen easy-access SSD doors before, primarily on some of Microsoft's Surface devices, but Asus is using a full-size M.2 2280 SSD, while Microsoft uses smaller drives. But it's a good idea, and I hope Asus puts it on even more of its laptops.

There are eight Torx T5 screws of two different lengths lining the bottom of the laptop. While we got those out, pry tools didn't give us a way into the machine. An Asus representative told Tom's Hardware that "opening and putting the device back together is not an easy task and not something we would recommend the average user to do," but added that inside the laptop, the Wi-Fi card is technically replaceable.

Battery Life on the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407)

I thought it was folly that Intel loaned us a dual-screen OLED laptop for the debut Panther Lake review. Surely, that wouldn't be a good show of efficiency.

I was wrong. The ZenBook Duo and the Core Ultra X9 388H were impressive on our battery test, especially given the fact that there are two screens. Our battery test runs at 150 nits with the device connected to Wi-Fi, browsing the web, running OpenGL tests, and streaming videos. With one display on and the other covered by the keyboard, the laptop lasted for 14 hours and 23 minutes. With both screens mirrored, the system ran for 11 hours and 5 minutes.

Both of those trials were far longer than the Yoga Book 9i (6:49) and isn't far off the HP OmniBook Ultra X, but the Dell XPS 13 with Snapdragon X Elite lasted the longest at 19:31, though Dell sent that review unit with a dim, comparatively low-resolution 1920 x 1080 display.

The ZenBook's successes here can't be attributed solely to the Core Ultra chip, though. It is also packing a massive 99 WHr battery, which we usually only find in the most powerful gaming laptops. The previous version, the UX8406, had a 75 WHr battery, so the larger power source is definitely helping.

Heat on the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407)

We measured skin temperatures on the ZenBook Duo while running an intensive stress test.

The hottest points on the system were on the back of the lower screen — the "bottom" of a normal laptop, where the internals are held. The top screen was cool to the touch, and the keyboard and touchpad are separate from the main unit.The laptop measured 104 degrees Fahrenheit at its hottest point, but that was under the kickstand, meaning if it were in laptop mode, it would be covered. At several points around the kickstand, the laptop hit 100 F, which isn't alarming.

During that same test, we also measured the CPU package, which averaged 74.29 degrees Celsius.

Webcam on the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407)

Asus is using a 1080p webcam on the ZenBook Duo. I'd love to see Asus start upping the resolution on its top-tier laptops, but this will do for most people.

Still, in some test photos, the images were a bit soft or blurry, with my beard and hair looking especially lifeless. On a video call, things fared better, but I won't tell you the image stood out from the competition in any way. The IR camera supports Windows Hello, and I logged in quickly and easily with my face.

You won't want to use the webcam with the screens in portrait mode, as the camera will be on the left side, and, I found, doesn't automatically rotate. You'll want to switch to landscape for any and all chatting, unless you use an external camera.

Software and Warranty on the Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407)

Like many other Asus laptops in recent memory, no matter how premium, the ZenBook Duo comes with quite a bit of preinstalled software.

Some of it, like ScreenXpert, is necessary. That app does all of the background work to make a dual-screen experience on Windows 11 smooth, including providing a shortcut to bring up the virtual keyboard, adjust brightness across different screens, and add gestures to make windows span both screens and flick windows between the screens.

But Asus has a ton of its own software. There's MyAsus, which lets you check your warranty service, battery condition, and contact customer support, which can be useful. But then GlideX is there to share the screens between your phone and your laptop (do you need more screen with this device?)m and includes in-app purchases, though this laptop comes with a "Device Edition" that supports two devices. Another app, Asus Dial & Control panel, was designed for a previous version of the ZenBook Duo (and features that design in the app).

There's also a bunch of promotional apps, including Adobe Offers to find "discounts" from the company, and 500GB of Dropbox storage for free for six months. Asus also links to McAfee LiveSafe in the Edge browser's bookmarks. This is a lot of ads for a machine that is over $2,000.

Asus sells the ZenBook Duo (UX8407) with a one-year warranty.

Asus ZenBook Duo (UX8407) Configurations

Our ZenBook Duo review unit came packed with an Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD. When pre-orders open on Amazon, that will cost $2,299.99

A second model with a Core Ultra 9 386H and standard Intel graphics will cost $2,099.99.

Pre-orders were originally supposed to go live in mid-February, but Asus has changed that to a more vague Q1 plan, so it's possible that prices may change after this review has been published.

Bottom Line

The Asus ZenBook Duo impresses with a premium design, a nice set of dual screens, solid battery life, and powerful integrated graphics. This targets a very specific person: someone who works a lot on the go, has a lot of open windows, and possibly plays some games or does light video editing.

The battery life is impressive, and hopefully is a sign of other efficient Core Ultra Series 3-based laptops. The fact that it pulled double-digit hours with two screens was surprising, until we noticed the very large 99 WHr battery..The GPU gains are more interesting than the CPU gains here. That's the real reason to upgrade to a system like this. If you're happy with a last-gen Duo and it meets your performance needs, this won't add a significant jump.But if you're looking for a premium workhorse that will be reliable, if sometimes a bit awkward on the go, you can carry two screens around and get decent performance and battery life. It finally seems viable.

With CES 2026 well underway, it’s no secret that laptop manufacturers are busily working behind the scenes to equip their systems with the latest and greatest hardware. MSI is no exception: The company is refreshing the internal hardware for its Prestige line of ultra-thin laptops and convertibles, including the Prestige 13 AI, 14 AI, 14 Flip AI, 16 AI, and 16 Flip AI.

As you might expect, the Prestige 13 AI is the smallest member of the family, with a magnesium-aluminum chassis finished in platinum gray, weighing just 899 grams (1.98 pounds) and measuring only 15.9mm thick. Your primary interaction will be via the 13.3-inch OLED display, which features a 2880 x 1800 resolution at 60 Hz (no option to upgrade to 120 Hz).

Given the current pricing volatility in the memory market, MSI isn’t providing details on base RAM or SSD configurations. However, it states that the Prestige 13 AI supports up to 64GB of LPDDR5x-8533 memory and up to 2TB PCIe Gen4x4 SSDs. More importantly, it’s running Intel’s Series 3 Core Ultra processors (although MSI didn’t specify which ones). Other features include Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 support, a 1080p IR webcam, dual 2-watt speakers, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a microSD reader. Power is supplied by a 75 Whr battery, which is recharged via a 65-watt adapter.

Stepping up to the Prestige 14 AI gets you a larger 14-inch OLED panel, while the Prestige 16 AI features a 16-inch OLED panel (2880 x 1800) with a 120 Hz variable refresh rate. Both the Prestige 14 AI and 16 AI come with more powerful Series 3 Core Ultra X9, Core Ultra 9, and Core Ultra 7 processors, and up to Intel Arc B390 graphics. Other features shared by the two systems include a fingerprint reader integrated into the power button, quad speakers, and an 81 Whr battery.

The Prestige 14 Flip AI and 16 Flip AI are largely similar to their non-Flip counterparts but feature Core Ultra 9 (Series 3) processors, touchscreens, and a 2-in-1 convertible form factor. The Flip models also support MSI’s Nano Pen stylus.

At this time, there is no pricing information or launch date for these new Prestige models.

LG just announced that it’s launching the world’s lightest 17-inch laptop with a discrete RTX GPU, ahead of CES 2026.

The LG gram Pro 17 17Z90UR will pack a 17-inch 2560 x 1600 display that’s matched with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 discrete graphics cards into a form factor that’s typically used by 16-inch laptops. This flagship device will only be available in North America, though. LG also said that this is the first time that it will use "Aerominum" material in the gram line-up, which reduces weight while still maintaining the structural strength that thin-and-light laptops need to withstand everyday use.

LG says that the gram Pro 17 is built for productivity and immersive viewing, with the company claiming that the 8GB of GDDR7 memory found in the RTX 5050 discrete GPU provides “ample performance for graphics-intensive tasks, content creation, and gaming.” However, this is likely not enough for most hardcore gamers — at best, it’s good for entry-level or mid-range gaming at 1080p. That means it probably would have some trouble running games at its native resolution, unless you lower some graphics settings to smooth out the frame rate.

The company is also launching a 16-inch model with a 2880 x 1800 OLED screen alongside the larger 17-inch laptop, but it seems that it doesn’t have a discrete GPU offering. Nevertheless, LG says that it’s introducing a “dual-AI” functionality in the LG gram Pro 16 alongside other select models. This combines Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC functionality, which often requires an internet connection, with LG’s own homegrown on-device AI chat called EXAONE 3.5 sLLM. This small language model runs locally on the laptop, allowing users to enjoy AI features even without an internet connection.

We did not get any more information from LG regarding these devices, except that they are “powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra processors.” These are likely the upcoming Intel Core Ultra 3 chips, code-named Panther Lake.

We expect the company to announce more details on this line-up at CES 2026, including how much memory these laptops will have, pricing, and availability. Nevertheless, it seems that this new line of thin-and-light devices would be a great option for those who need a portable device for work while retaining some gaming capability for the end of the day.

Things aren't looking too rosy for Snapdragon X Elite PCs. Although they made an initial splash in the market, combining excellent battery life with mid- to high-end performance, the machines' popularity suffered due to software support issues. As an example, Phoronix ran Linux performance tests on the SoC, and there have been significant regressions in just a few months.

Phoronix's software setup is arguably a best-case scenario for the chip as of this writing. The site used the latest Ubuntu 25.10 "Questing Quokka" release, with the X1E Concept packages added. The distro offers about as fresh a stable kernel as you can get, while the X1E packages add Snapdragon-specific enhancements, most of them courtesy of the Linaro consortium.

Given that progress on Arm64 support on Linux has been improving at a fairly nice clip, as evidenced by the now-present nested virtualization support and Guarded Control Stack (GCS), you'd expect the fresh version to be an upgrade. Alas, compared to testing done in September, Phoronix saw rather significant regressions in performance and thermal behavior — quite the odd double-whammy.

The regressions are so bad that in many benchmarks, the test machine actually performed worse than when it was first tested, still under Ubuntu 24.10 without as many enhancements. The situation is currently so dire that the reviewer concluded that performance is back to the level of now-aging Intel Tiger Lake and Ryzen 7 Pro machines. Needless to say, Phoronix advises Linux users to shop for a conventional laptop rather than invest their cash in a Snapdragon machine, at least for the time being.

Things look much rosier on the Windows side of the fence, with 2025 seeing the introduction of an Arm-native Google Drive client, and Adobe launching Arm versions of both Adobe Premiere and After Effects. Likewise, Microsoft's x86-to-Arm emulation layer called Prism saw some fixes and added AVX/AVX2 support.

It's worth noting that the thermal-induced crashes and/or throttling can be caused by simple bad luck with the tester machine, an Acer Swift 14 AI laptop. Although Snapdragon X machines have been known to experience BSOD issues in Windows land due to firmware bugs, the laptops themselves are generally considered high quality and run cool and quiet.

Apple is back with another hardware refresh of the 14-inch MacBook Pro, this time with its new M5 system-on-a-chip. The M5 provides a healthy boost in CPU performance over the M4 found in last year’s base 14-inch MacBook Pro and a significant uplift in SSD performance.

Our review unit came equipped with a 1TB SSD and 32GB of RAM, but those are both pricey upgrade options for what is the entry point into the MacBook Pro family. With an as-tested price of $2,349, it’s an expensive purchase for a MacBook without a “Pro” or “Max” in its CPU name.

Design of the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That seems to be Apple’s mantra regarding the current design of the MacBook Pro. Apple has been using this same chassis for multiple generations, save for some changes to the available colors (like Space Black replacing Space Gray).

The aluminum chassis is still attractive. Our review unit came cloaked in Space Black, which is a fingerprint magnet. The chassis is solid, with none of the flex that you’ll find in systems that use plastic or a combination of plastic and aluminum. The one niggle that I have with the design is the cutout in the keyboard deck that allows your finger to slide in and lift the lid. The corners on either side of the cutout are sharp and can poke your fingers/hand if you’re not careful.

With that said, you get quite a few ports on this laptop, including three Thunderbolt 4 ports, a full-size SDXC, HDMI 2.1, 3.5 mm audio jack and a MagSafe 3 connector. I’ve always been a fan of MagSafe and was happy to see it return when the current chassis design debuted back with the M1 Pro and Max chips.

Many people complain about the notch at the top-center of the display, which houses the Center Stage camera. It’s somewhat of an eyesore, but I’ve become used to it over time. The way it’s positioned, it sits in the space that is usually occupied by the Menu bar for apps, so I don’t feel like I’m being robbed of any additional screen real estate. Do I wish that Apple found a better way to integrate the webcam? Yes. Does the current iteration really encroach on the daily usability of the laptop for me? No.

The other item of note with our MacBook Pro review unit is that it has the nano-texture display option, which costs an additional $150. The screen coating reduces glare and helps to minimize reflections, which can be beneficial outdoors, or in indoor areas with bright light sources.

Our 14-inch MacBook review unit measures 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches and weighs 3.4 pounds, which is identical to last year’s model with the M4.

Apple MacBook Pro Specifications (M5, 14-inch)

Productivity and Graphics Performance on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

Our review unit is equipped with Apple’s newly released M5 processor, which is also found (for now) in the iPad Pro and Vision Pro. When used in the MacBook Pro, the M5 features 10 CPU cores (4 performance cores, 6 efficiency cores),10 GPU cores, and a 16-core NPU.

The new MacBook Pro had no trouble outdistancing the other assembled competition — 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4), Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition (Core Ultra 7 258V), Dell 16 Premium (Core Ultra 7 255H) — in every performance benchmark.

Apple consistently delivers anywhere from 10- to 20-percent improvements over the prior generation when it comes to CPU performance, and the M5 is no exception. Using the Geekbench 6 synthetic CPU benchmark, our system achieved a single-core score of 4,288, roughly a 10% boost over the preceding MacBook Pro with the M4 chip. The multi-core score saw an uplifting to 17,926 versus 15,114 on the M4 (just over an 18% uplift).

However, the CPU isn’t the only area that Apple decided to address when it comes to hardware upgrades. When Apple announced the M5 MacBook Pro, it boasted a 2x improvement in SSD speeds over the previous generation. In our file transfer test, which copies 25GB of data, we saw 1,917.35 MBps compared to 1,167.29 MBps for the M4 MacBook Pro (also with a 1TB SSD). It wasn’t quite a 2x improvement, but is still a remarkable year-over-year leap.

We also saw a significant improvement in our Handbrake test, where we transcode a 4K video file to 1080p. Last year’s 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4) completed the job in four minutes and 57 seconds. However, the new M5-equipped model finished nearly a minute and a half quicker, taking just three minutes and 31 seconds.

We use Cinebench 2024 to stress test laptops, and the benchmark estimates a single-core clock of 4.6 GHz and a multi-core clock of 3.5 GHz. During our 10-run test, the system started at 1,042 and then settled in the 1,100 to 1,128 range for the duration.

The M5 includes a 10-core GPU, which provides up a 4x improvement in peak GPU compute compared to the M4 thanks to the inclusion of a dedicated Neural Accelerator baked into each core. Overall graphicps performance is said to increase by up to 30 percent over the GPU in the M4.

In the real world, we saw 57 frames per second (FPS) at 1200p and 28 FPS at native resolution in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. For comparison last year’s M4-equipped system recorded 36 FPS and 18 FPS, respectively. In addition, our review unit managed 44 fps at 1200p and 31 fps at native resolution in Cyberpunk 2077 using the “For this Mac” setting.

Display on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

Apple’s MacBook Pro family uses an IPS display with Mini LED backlighting. This is a noticeable upgrade from the entry-level MacBook Air, with its more traditional LED-backlit IPS display. The “Liquid Retina” display has a 3,024 x 1,964 resolution and a “ProMotion” refresh rate that maxes out at 120 Hz.

Although this Mini LED can’t quite touch the black level performance of competing OLED panels, it still a great looking display. The nano-texture display option, as configured on our review unit, is a great addition. My personal laptop is an older 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3) with the glossy screen finish. It’s incredible to see the two side by side to highlight the difference in reflection reduction.

I’m not a musical kind of guy by any means, but I went to the theater last year with my wife and thoroughly enjoyed Wicked. Naturally, I’m excited to see the sequel, so I watched the final trailer for Wicked: For Good. Pinks and green are prominent in the trailer and looked wonderful on the display, and the Mini LED panel performed well in the more dimly-lit scenes featuring the Wicked Witch and her flying monkeys.

Among the assembled group, our 14-inch MacBook Pro proved to be the brightest, as measured by our light meter. It pegged 558 nits, just barely edging out last year’s model (556.6 nits). This performance placed it well ahead of the Yoga 9i’s OLED panel (421 nits) and the Dell 16 Premium (367 nits).

Color performance was virtually unchanged compared to M4 MacBook Pro, which shows that Apple is likely using the same panels year-over-year. We measured 81.7 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 115.4 percent of the sRGB color space. However, the Yoga 9i had more saturated colors, thanks to its OLED panel.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

One of the great things about Apple being conservative with redesigns for the MacBook Pro is that the excellent keyboard remains intact. Among laptop keyboards, Apple and Lenovo remain my far and away favorites, and the scissor switches on the MacBook Pro are a delight to use. They’re clicky with just enough travel to satisfy my fingers, and are far superior to problematic butterfly switches that Apple thankfully banished.

Apple employs single-zone white LED backlighting, which turns on automatically in low-light conditions. If you want to manually control the keyboard backlighting, you can do so by navigating to System Settings --> Keyboard.

Using the keyhero.com test, I leisurely strolled to 91 words per minute with 95 percent accuracy, which was in the same ballpark as my performance last year with the 16-inch MacBook Pro (M4 Pro).

Another feature that I like on MacBooks is the large haptic trackpad, which simulates a physical “click.” The benefit of this design over traditional top-hinged trackpads that you find in Windows laptops is that the surface will register a click no matter where you press. The glass surface also is smooth to the touch, allowing my finger to easily glide when navigating through macOS Tahoe.

Audio on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

The sound system on our review unit hasn’t changed compared to last year, which is a good thing. The six-speaker setup is one of the best you’ll find on any laptop regardless of price, and includes support for Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital Plus and Apple Spatial Audio.

It’s not often that I can comment on noticeable bass effects in a laptop sound system, but the is most definitely the case with the 14-inch MacBook Pro. I played Rainey Haynes’ “I’m Old Enough to Rock and Roll,” which is a jamming track from one of my favorite 80’s movies: Iron Eagle. The steady drum line, synths and Tina Turner-esque vocals soar on the sound system. Even with the volume dialed up to near max levels, I could barely discern distortion.

Upgradeability of the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

Upgradeability and MacBooks don't go together. While you can remove four pentalobe screws at the bottom of the chassis to remove the cover, it won't do you any good when it comes other upgrading system components. The M5 SoC is a system-on-a-chip design with our review unit's 32GB included on-die. The 1TB SSD is soldered onto the motherboard, so you're out of luck there as well.

In other words, you'll want to ensure that you have select enough RAM and storage that you'll need for the life of the machine at the time of purchase. Unfortunately, the upgrades are pricey (far more than you would expect in the Windows PC realm), with an upgrade from 16GB to 32GB of RAM costing $400 and boosting the SSD from the base 512GB to 1TB ringing in at $200.

Battery Life on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

Battery life has consistently been a strong point for the MacBook Pro in the Apple Silicon era, and the M5 continues that tradition.

Our 14-inch MacBook Pro unit is equipped with a 72.4 Whr battery, enough to deliver 18 hours and 14 minutes of runtime using our battery test, which involves browsing the web, running OpenGL tests, and streaming video at 150 nits of brightness. However, this result was 20 minutes less than last year’s MacBook Pro with the M4.

Despite the 20-minute shortfall compared to last year, the result easily bested the Dell 16 Premium by 2.5x (7:15) despite its larger 99 WHr battery. The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition was also no match, with a runtime of 12 hours and 47 minutes.

Heat on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

We measured skin temperatures during our Cinebench 2024 stress test on the 14-inch MacBook Pro. As soon as the test began, the system fans spun into high gear to keep the system temperatures in check.

The hottest point measured was near the left exhaust vent at 108 degrees Fahrenheit, while we saw 104 F between the G and H keys. The touchpad was much cooler at 82.8 F. The system overall felt warm, but it was tolerable to sit on my lap while wearing shorts.

During the Cinebench 2024 stress test, we measured temperatures using the TG Pro app. The overall system temperature, which takes an average of several components (i.e., power supply, battery, SSD, logic board, etc.) was 73 degrees Celsius (163 degrees Fahrenheit). The M5 itself registered 87 degrees C (188 F).

Webcam on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

Like last year’s mode, the new M5 uses a 12MP Center Stage camera. Image quality looked impeccable, with good detail in my face (wrinkles, grey hairs in my beard, and everything else), and excellent color representation. I used the camera while sitting on a couch with a brightly lit window behind me, and the picture still looked great without blowing out details or causing halo effects.

The Center Stage feature keeps your face centered in the frame during calls, should you move around in your seat. It’s a neat feature, but I prefer to leave the feature off — sometimes I just want to briefly duck out of frame to sneeze, and not everybody on a call needs to see that.

Software on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

The big change with macOS 26 Tahoe is the addition of the “Liquid Glass” makeover, a design language that it shares with iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. This an overabundant use of translucent menus and icons, which reflect displayed content in real time. Liquid Glass has been controversial since it was first announced at WWDC, and Apple tweaked the effect during the beta period to appease the naysayers. Now that Liquid Glass is in its final form, I’m mostly OK with how it looks, mainly because its reach in macOS Tahoe isn’t as broad as it is in iOS or iPadOS.

Besides the fresh coat of paint for the UI, macOS Tahoe brings features like Live Translation for the Messages app and FaceTime, Live Activities for Mac, a refresh Phone app, Call Screening, more intelligent search Spotlight, and a universal clipboard (with history).

Apple Intelligence was a prominent new feature Apple announced last year for macOS Sequoia, but most of the headlining features involving Siri never materialized. Apple took a lot of flak for overpromising and underdelivering, and expect the previously announced Siri features to debut sometime next year. With that said, Apple stayed relatively mum about Apple Intelligence updates for macOS Tahoe.

With that said, macOS continues to be a well-rounded operating system with a slew of Apple-provided apps out of the box. One of my favorites is iPhone Mirroring, which allows you full access to your iPhone’s screen from your macOS Tahoe desktop. It especially comes in handy when I need to perform two-factor authentication verification with my phone, and my phone is in another room or I’m too lazy to dig it out of my pocket.

Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch) Configurations and Warranty

Apple offers three preconfigured options for the M5 MacBook Pro, all of which feature the M5 chip with a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. The base system features 16GB of unified memory and a 512GB SSD for $1,599. The middle tier includes a 1TB SSD for an additional $200 ($1,799). The top configuration gives you 24GB of unified memory and a 1TB SSD for $1,999.

However, Apple also offers built-to-order configuration that allow you to further tweak the system to your specific needs. Our review unit came with 32GB of unified memory, a 1TB SSD, and the nano-texture display option, which brought the as-tested price to $2,349. That's quite pricey for an entry-level MacBook Pro with Apple's base-level chip.

If you want an M5 MacBook Pro with all the trimmings, opting for 32GB of RAM, a 4TB SSD, the nano-texture display option and the 96W USB-C power adapter balloons the price to $3,369.

Apple's MacBook Pro comes with a one-year warranty. You can opt for Apple's extended warranty, Apple Care Plus, which costs $99.99/year or $9.99/month. The coverage adds unlimited repairs covering accidents, 24/7 priority tech support, and battery replacement.

Bottom Line

Not only did Apple increase CPU performance for the 14-inch MacBook Pro this year with the brawny new M5, but it also delivered a healthy uplift in SSD performance. Despite the performance increases, battery life remains within the margin of error with last year’s model at over 18 hours.

The performance is wrapped in a high-quality chassis with plenty of ports for pro users, although the Space Black finish remains susceptible to fingerprints. Our usual complaints about Apple laptops remain, including the high price of SSD and memory upgrades.

I’ll add one more: the lack of Wi-Fi 7. I find it odd that a laptop starting at $1,599 doesn’t include Wi-Fi 7 as standard equipment, and this is made even more puzzling considering that Apple’s excellent N1 Wi-Fi chip is available already in the iPhone 17/Air/Pro and the new iPad Pro (M5). Both the Dell and Lenovo assembled here include Wi-Fi 7. While we reviewed the Dell 16 Premium and used it as a competitor here, the Dell 14 Premium, which aligns more closely with the 14-inch MacBook Pro in terms of size, includes Wi-Fi 7 standard in its base $1,249 configuration.

Speaking of the Dell 14 Premium, it is a worthy alternative to the 14-inch MacBook Pro. You can spec one out with a Core Ultra 7 255H, 32GB LPDDR5X, a 1TB SSD and a 14.5-inch 3.2K touch OLED for $1,949, undercutting Apple’s offering, as-tested, by $400.

If you already have a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip, I would recommend you sit this one out. However, if you’re coming from a much older M1 or M2 version, the performance gains are hard to ignore.

With that said, at its base price of $1,599 with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, the 14-inch MacBook Pro is a strong productivity workhorse. But once pricing starts cresting the $2,000 mark with hardware upgrades, the value proposition starts to wane.

Dell’s 16 Premium (starting at $1,699) delivers the hallmarks of a high-end laptop: sleek, ultramodern styling, top-tier materials, a gorgeous OLED display option, and performance that rivals desktop replacements. While some design flourishes, like the touch-based function row, undermine usability and the OLED model’s short battery life keeps it from being a truly well-rounded workhorse, this laptop still stands as a Windows-based contender to the Apple MacBook Pro.

Design of the Dell 16 Premium (DA16250)

The Dell 16 Premium inherits its design from the XPS 16 (9640). Although the design has matured a bit, it’s still ultramodern, with radical design cues that position it as a cutting-edge system. Standout features include a seamless glass palm rest, which has no visible touchpad border, and a capacitive touch bar replacing the top keyboard row. (See more about these features will be discussed in the keyboard and touchpad section.) I find the design refreshing, as it looks much more futuristic than the average laptop, though it's divisive among Tom's Hardware's reviewers.

Calling the 16 Premium solid doesn't do it justice. Constructed from aluminum and glass, it delivers impressive strength. OLED-equipped models like our review unit also feature a glass display that compliments the premium feel. Build quality is top-notch, with tight panel gaps and a lid that opens effortlessly with one hand. Our model is white, though Dell also offers a darker graphite finish.

Measuring 14.1 x 9.4 x 0.75 inches (WDH), the 16 Premium shares a nearly identical footprint with the Apple MacBook Pro 16-Inch (14.01 x 9.77 x 0.66 inches), and weighs nearly the same, at 4.65 pounds to the Apple’s 4.67 pounds.

Dell’s port selection is minimal, featuring three Thunderbolt 4 ports (two on the left, one on the right), a microSD card slot, and an audio jack. Although USB Type-C has become mainstream, traditional USB-A remains a need for many users, so investing in adapters may be necessary. For wireless connectivity, the 16 Premium boasts an Intel networking card supporting Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

Dell 16 Premium (DA16250) Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Dell 16 Premium

Our Dell 16 Premium review unit is a high-end configuration, equipped with Intel’s Core Ultra 7 255H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

The GeForce RTX 5070 is a notable bonus for content creators and media generation. While it's capable of gaming, this laptop is not likely to perform better than an entry-level gaming model, as the GPU has a mere 65 W total graphics power.

In our benchmark comparisons, its primary rival is the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch, tested in a $3,649 setup with a 14-core M4 Pro CPU, 20-core GPU, and 48GB of RAM. On the Windows side, we included the HP OmniBook Ultra, which was $1,749 as tested featuring an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 CPU and AMD Radeon 890M integrated graphics. Completing the lineup is Dell’s previous-generation XPS 16 (9640) using older components: a Core Ultra 7 155H and an RTX 4070 GPU.

In Geekbench 6’s synthetic CPU test, the Dell 16 Premium posted a single-core score of 2,784, the second lowest in our group that was only ahead of the XPS 16 (2,373) and trailed the AMD-powered HP OmniBook Ultra (2,847). Its multi-core performance was better, reaching 16,850 points and surpassing the HP’s 14,838. The Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch was in a league of its own, with the M4 Pro producing a score of 3,910 in single-core and a commanding 22,822 in multi-core.

The Dell 16 Premium underperformed in our 25GB file transfer test, averaging just 1,079.96 MBps. In contrast, the HP OmniBook Ultra reached 1,780.23 MBps, while the MacBook Pro 16-inch remained out of reach, delivering 2,237.5 MBps, more than twice the Dell’s throughput.

In our Handbrake test, the Dell 16 Premium completed the 4K-to-1080p transcode in 3 minutes and 50 seconds, decisively ahead of the XPS 16 (4:42) and HP OmniBook Ultra (4:18). Still, it couldn’t touch the MacBook Pro 16-inch, which finished in 2 minutes and 38 seconds.

We stress-tested the 16 Premium with 10 consecutive runs of Cinebench 2024. During the test, scores ranged between 980.7 and 1,011.75 points, indicating stable thermal performance.

Display on the Dell 16 Premium

The base configuration of the 16 Premium features a 16.3-inch non-touch IPS panel with a 1920 x 1200 resolution. Our review unit upgrades to an OLED display, offering a sharper 3840 x 2400 resolution, touch functionality, and a dynamic refresh rate ranging from 48 to 120 Hz.

The picture quality is nothing short of captivating. While watching Planet Earth III, I could discern subtle details in shadowed night scenes and was struck by the HDR brilliance of sunlight piercing through jungle foliage. The 120 Hz refresh rate lends a silky smoothness to everyday interactions, whether dragging windows or scrolling content. Touch responsiveness is excellent, and the hinge provides enough resistance to minimize wobble during use. The only drawback is the glossy glass surface, which tends to attract fingerprints and dust.

These laptops deliver strong color coverage, with the Dell 16 Premium reaching 79.5% of the DCI-P3 gamut and 112.2% of sRGB, putting it within a couple percentage points of its peers. Its peak brightness of 367 nits may seem modest, but that’s typical for OLED panels; by contrast, the MacBook Pro relies on mini-LED technology. In HDR testing, portions of the Dell’s display peaked at 572 nits.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Dell 16 Premium

Dell made some radical design choices with the 16 Premium around input devices. The most divisive is the replacement of the traditional top-row function keys with a capacitive touch bar. Each “key” responds instantly to touch, though it lacks haptic feedback. By default, the bar displays media and system controls, such as volume, brightness, and the like, and supports Fn-Lock via the Fn + Esc shortcut to make F1 through F12 primary. As someone that relies on keyboard shortcuts whenever possible, such as Alt + F4 to close a window, I found this design counterintuitive, as it required me to look down each time I wanted to hit an F key.

Dell’s zero-lattice keyboard design eliminates spacing between keys, which is an aesthetic rather than a functional choice. The keys deliver decent tactile feedback, with an adequate 1 mm of key travel and a gentle cushion at the bottom of each stroke. I clocked 114 words per minute with 99% accuracy on MonkeyType, which is about as quickly as I can go on a laptop. That said, the arrow key cluster’s half-height up and down keys and full-size left and right keys aren’t intuitive. The power button, located adjacent to the backspace key, doubles as a fingerprint reader for biometric login.

The white keyboard paired with white backlighting is a risky design choice. Under bright lighting, the illuminated typeface can become difficult to make out. Having encountered this issue on previous white XPS models, I was curious to see whether Dell had addressed it. Thankfully, they have. The ambient light sensor now intelligently disables the backlighting in well-lit environments, retaining legibility. Conversely, in low-light settings, the backlighting activates appropriately, ensuring the typeface remains clearly visible.

As for the touchpad, it’s centered below the keyboard as expected, even though it has no visible border. Initially, I had reservations, but the absence of defined edges didn’t hinder usability. The haptic motors deliver a satisfying tactile bump with each press, and right-clicking proved consistently accurate.

Audio on the Dell 16 Premium

For a fairly slim laptop, the 16 Premium delivers first-rate audio. Its quad-speaker setup, consisting of two 3 W woofers and two 2 W tweeters, produces rich, full-bodied sound that matches entry-level Bluetooth speakers. Dubstep tracks from Seven Lions came through with crisp vocals and punchy bass drops, while Steve Winwood’s Valerie showcased the system’s clean instrument separation.

The one wrinkle in this setup: Dolby Atmos equalizers aren’t enabled out of the box. I had to manually download the Dolby Access app from the Windows Store, which felt like an oversight. While the preset modes didn’t dramatically alter the sound (I stuck with Balanced), they did further improve the already excellent clarity.

Upgradeability of the Dell 16 Premium

Accessing the 16 Premium’s internals is straightforward: the bottom panel is secured by eight Torx screws, all conveniently uniform in length. After removing them, the perimeter clips need to be gently disengaged. I used a plastic trim tool for this step, carefully working my way around the edges.

Options for upgrades and repairs are minimal. Only the M.2 storage drive and battery can be replaced; all other components are soldered and non-serviceable.

Battery Life on the Dell 16 Premium

In our battery test, which includes web browsing, video streaming over Wi-Fi, and OpenGL workloads at 150 nits, the Dell 16 Premium lasted just 7 hours and 15 minutes. That’s over three hours less than the previous-generation XPS 16 (10:44) and more than five hours behind the HP OmniBook Ultra (12:52). The MacBook Pro 16-inch remained a superstar, clocking an exceptional 21 hours and 1 minute. Clearly, Dell has room to improve its power efficiency.

Some clue as to what’s going on reside in Dell’s own battery estimates. In their internal testing, OLED-equipped models are rated for just 9 hours of Netflix streaming, compared to 27 hours on the non-OLED variant, a threefold difference. While we couldn’t verify those figures, the takeaway is clear: users prioritizing battery life should avoid the OLED panel.

Heat on the Dell 16 Premium

Thermal management on the 16 Premium is handled by two internal fans, which vent heat through rear exhausts lining the display hinge. The system performs well: during our Cinebench stress loop, surface temperatures peaked at just 78 degrees F on the touchpad, 86 F between the G and H keys, and 93 F on the underside near the exhaust vents. Internally, the Core Ultra 7 255H processor operated at an average temperature of 78 C.

Throughout testing, the chassis remained comfortable to the touch, and the fans operated quietly, blending into ambient household noise.

Webcam on the Dell 16 Premium

Dell’s webcam offers impressive picture quality. Despite only having a 1920 x 1080 video resolution, the picture is sharp, clear, and almost free of noise even in slightly darker than optimal environments. It also offers an IR sensor for facial recognition, allowing password-less logins using Windows Hello. Alas, Dell missed adding a sliding privacy shutter or an e-shutter, which competitors like HP and Lenovo often offer.

Software and Warranty on the Dell 16 Premium

Dell preinstalls a few utilities on the 16 Premium, including the My Dell app, which shows system health, warranty info, and access to some settings like Dolby Vision display modes. Users probably won’t need to interact with this app regularly.

The system also comes with one year of Dell Care Plus, which provides onsite repairs following remote diagnostics. It also includes proactive hardware monitoring via the Support Assist app, which can anticipate component failures and, according to Dell, even initiate automatic part replacements.

Dell also includes a years’ subscription of McAfee Premium anti-virus, not a trial.

A one-year warranty is standard, with extended coverage available. Accidental damage coverage is also available via Dell Premium for $89.

Dell 16 Premium (DA16250) Configurations

Dell’s 16 Premium begins at $1,799, equipped with a Core Ultra 7 255H processor, Arc 140T integrated graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. The base configuration features a 1920 x 1200 non-touch display with a variable refresh rate of 30–120 Hz and a peak brightness of 500 nits. Our $2,949 review unit steps up to a 4K OLED touchscreen, discrete Nvidia RTX 5070 graphics, and doubled memory and storage (32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD).

Customizable models offer a Core Ultra 9 285H CPU, up to 64GB of RAM, and storage options reaching 4TB. Graphics upgrades include in-between options of the RTX 5050 and 5060. The laptop is available in Graphite and Platinum finishes.

Our review unit is priced in line with the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch featuring the 14-core M4 Pro, which is $2,499 with 24GB of RAM or $2,899 with 48GB. Opting for 1TB of storage pushes the price to $3,499. On the Windows side, Dell faces limited competition. One notable contender we haven’t yet tested is the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition, listed at $1,899 at the time of writing. It features a Core Ultra 9 285H processor, RTX 5060 GPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and a 3000 × 2000 OLED display.

Bottom Line

Dell’s 16 Premium largely delivers on its high-end ambitions. Its forward-looking design impresses with both quality and style, and it offers excellent entertainment potential with its beautiful OLED screen and quad speakers. Performance is also strong, at least among Windows machines, thanks to an Intel Core H-class CPU and quiet, effective cooling.

However, some design choices detract from usability. The capacitive touch bar, while responsive, lacks the tactile intuitiveness of physical keys, and the absence of USB-A ports limits connectivity. Our most notable complaint is the disappointing battery life of the OLED model.

Despite the Premium rebrand, this laptop still has all of the promise and compromises of the XPS 16. If you want a futuristic rival to the MacBook Pro, it's an option, but you'll have to handle the trade-offs to get the cool design and performance.

Typically, the best ultrabooks don't rock the boat too much. They might have lighter designs than previous years or improve performance with new chips. But the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable is a unique device, with a rolling screen that turns a “short” 14-inch display into a very tall 16-inch diagonal experience.

It's the type of device you would expect to see shown off at a trade show like CES (where it debuted) and then never seen again — except that for $3,299.99, you can actually own it.

It isn't the most performance-focused computer for the money. You can buy powerful gaming laptops for the same price. But no other computer yet offers this functionality, even if there are a few first-generation hiccups. It's surely the most interesting laptop I've used all year, if not longer.

Design of the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

Out of the box, the ThinkBook looks like a pretty standard (if not dull) laptop, with a two-toned silver design. The screen has some odd bezels, wider on the sides than on the top and the bottom. The power button, which also features the fingerprint reader, is on the right side.

The aluminum deck is sturdy and features a backlit keyboard. The left side of the notebook features the laptop’s sole trio of ports: a pair of Thunderbolt 4/USB Type-C ports and a headphone jack. That's not a lot of ports for any laptop, especially one seemingly meant for productivity, but I suppose something had to go in order to make room for the display.

The laptop is 11.95 x 9.08 x 0.78 inches and weighs 3.72 pounds, which is hefty for a 14-inch PC. But this laptop is also a 16-inch PC, thanks to its rollable display, which makes the ThinkBook far more interesting than it looks at first.

The system comes with a 65W GaN charger. It's rare the charger gets a mention in our reviews, but it's great to see the latest charger technology, including a removable USB Type-C cable, in a premium machine. Other laptop vendors should do this more often, and Lenovo should bring it to more of its own machines.

Display on the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

With the ThinkBook's screen rolled up, you get a 14-inch, 2000 x 1600 screen with a 5:4 aspect ratio. Unrolled, you get a far taller display, measuring 16.7 inches diagonally with a resolution of 2000 x 2350 and an 8:9 aspect ratio. The screen is a POLED (plastic OLED) display with a 120 Hz refresh rate.

To let the screen unroll, you push a button on the keyboard. And the first time you try it, it feels absolutely awesome. Unfolding a foldable the first time feels futuristic. Having a motor do it for you feels magical.

The motor isn't terribly loud, but it does take time to roll and unroll — about 9 seconds from button press to full extension or contraction. I'd like to see that cut in half, though I don't know what that would do to durability. When Lenovo announced the laptop at CES, it claimed 30,000 hinge openings and closings and 20,000 screen rolls up and down. That's a lot of rolls and openings, but it's also a number you basically never have to think about with a traditional laptop design.

The plastic OLED screen looks really nice, and performs pretty well, too. The screen measured 150% of DCI-P3 coverage by volume, and 211.7% of SRGB, easily surpassing the Yoga Book 9i Gen 10's impressive dual panels. At 381.4 nits of brightness, however, it falls behind the Yoga Book and the MacBook Pro.

The thing is, though, it's not really great for multimedia. Even at 14-inches, the trailer for Superman had thick black bars on the top and bottom. Those increased to obscene amounts with the taller 16-inch screen unrolled.

What these aspect ratios do allow for is strong multitasking. Having the homepage of New York Magazine or Tom's Hardware showed an almost overwhelming amount of text. But with the screen extended, I could use the top half for a Google Doc while using the bottom of the screen to keep an eye on Slack, or have the Tom's Hardware's morning meeting up at the top of the screen while still getting some work done on the bottom. And there are uses for tall displays; some coders love a desktop display turned vertical to show more text. This does that in a laptop.

I even used it to try playing Ikragua, an old bullet-hell game designed to be played vertically. Unfortunately, in much of my gaming, parts of the game were cut off despite the fact that it should have fit on the screen. This is no gaming device, simply because of that issue. Of course, it also doesn’t have dedicated graphics.

And for all its impressive unfurling, there are limitations to the screen. For one, it's not a touchscreen, despite the many foldables that use similar technology, all featuring touch capabilities. I don't feel that all clamshell laptops inherently need touchscreens, but there's something about a screen this tall that feels like it invites it.

Additionally, the hinge only goes just past a 90-degree angle. This seemingly supports the display and rolling mechanism, ensuring it rolls and unrolls at ideal angles, but it feels quite limiting. It's not good for lying back on the couch with the system in your lap. (The system also can tell if you have the angle below 90 degrees and won't make adjustments.)

You have to be careful with the screen. If you attempt to shut the laptop with the 16-inch display unrolled, you'll be greeted with a faint but annoying alarm until you open the system again.

You also can't change the resolution or screen orientation in Windows 11 on this laptop. While I doubt many people would actually change it, it's surprising to get a pop-up that says "The current model does not support resolution adjustment" as Windows reverts to the native resolution whether you tell it to or not. (You can still change scaling, though Lenovo warns it could cause problems with the ThinkBook Workspace app).

The other issue is that at certain angles, you can see where the screen bends to fit in the laptop. This isn't terribly different from the way you can sometimes see the crease on foldable phones, but it doesn't feel terribly premium.

Besides pushing the button on the keyboard, Lenovo has an opt-in feature that lets you use your hand and the time-of-flight sensor to raise and lower the screen. It sounds like a magic trick, but in practice it's extremely finicky. You need your hand in the perfect spot, then the sensor needs to recognize your hand, and only then do you move it up or down. The keyboard button, on the other hand, is foolproof.

Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

There's only one configuration of the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable. The fancy screen is backed by an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. If you're buying this, it's mostly for the display.

The bump to 32GB of RAM is nice, but otherwise the specs are all pretty similar to what you can get in cheaper ultraportables. This price can get you a big, gaming-ready GPUs. With this laptop, you’re getting ultrabook internals and an innovative screen, and you’ll have to live with integrated graphics.

Here, we're comparing the ThinkBook Plus to Lenovo's own Yoga Book 9i (Intel Core Ultra 7 255H), with dual screens that also lets you work tall, as well as the 14-inch MacBook Pro and HP OmniBook X Flip 14, both of which are more typical laptops with Apple's M4 and AMD's Ryzen AI 7 350, respectively, and cost far less.

On Geekbench 6, the Rollable earned a single-core score of 2,694 and a multi-core score of 10,847 – the lowest of the bunch, including Lenovo's dual-screen foldable, which uses an H-series chip.

The Rollable copied 25GB of files at a rate of 1,075.92 MBps, just about in line with the Yoga Book, though the HP OmniBook was far faster.

It took the Rollable 7 minutes and 13 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p, more than 2 minutes slower than the OmniBook (the M4 won here at 4:27).

We stress-tested the system using Cinebench 2024. The PC was largely stable, with scores settling in the high 490s, without signs of throttling. The CPU's P-cores averaged 2.62 GHz during this test, while the E-cores measured 2.99 GHz.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

The Rollable's scallop-shaped keys are great to type on. While I've seen some snappier keys on some of Lenovo's ThinkPad lineup, this keyboard was comfortable and balanced, letting me hit 110 words per minute on the monkeytype typing test with my standard 2% error rate.

I have no complaints about the haptic touchpad — a computer with a rolling screen doesn't need more moving parts. It's responsive to gestures and to clicks.

Audio on the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

Maybe it's the extra bit of thickness the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 needs to fit a screen, but it also allows for surprisingly powerful speakers in an ultrabook. As I worked, Linkin Park's "Two Faced" screamed through my apartment with clear vocals, clashing drums, strong guitars, and even a hint of bass on the low end. You rarely find that on a business machine.

The song's rapping and yelling were prioritized over sung vocals, but a quick change to the "balanced" mode in Dolby Access helped account for that, though it did lessen the bass.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

Given the complexity of this device, I was shocked that there were any user-replaceable parts.

The base of the notebook is held on with eight Torx screws (a T5 bit fits just right). Removing them, I was able to pull the bottom off from a well-placed space near the chassis’ palm rest.

The inside of the system is packed around the surprisingly wide 66 WHr battery. That cell is removable, though Lenovo recommends disconnecting the Wi-Fi antenna before taking it out, as the cables go right around the top of it (and over the ones that connect the battery to the motherboard). The SSD is also user-replaceable if you want to add more storage. The RAM is soldered.

Be careful while working inside this system, though. You can see some of the springs and rails that power the motorized display. I'd hate to lose a screw in there.

Battery Life on the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

An extra two inches of screen real estate (and the accompanying pixels) affects battery life. Rolled up to 14 inches, the ThinkBook ran for 9 hours and 28 minutes on our battery test, which includes web browsing, light WebGL testing, and video streaming with the screen set to 150 nits. With the screen unrolled out to 16 inches it ran for 8:43.

Both are longer than the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10, with two screens, and the HP OmniBook X Flip 14, a convertible with one display. Apple's M4 and a mini-LED display, however, won out by far at 18 hours and 31 minutes.

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

To measure skin temperatures under load, we took heat readings while running our Cinebench 2024 stress test. The center of the keyboard measured 98 degrees Fahrenheit, while the touchpad was cooler at 92.3 F. The hottest point on the bottom of the notebook was near a vent at 113.5 F.

Internally, the CPU measured an average of 70.01 degrees Celsius during the same test.

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

The webcam on the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6, despite having a 5MP lens, is just OK. In video calls, I saw some grainy artifacts despite the high-resolution image.

But the tall screen on the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable adds a benefit: making it very easy to look at the camera. The angle changes slightly between 14 and 16-inch modes, but with the screen unrolled, you can look right at the camera.

The webcam features a shutter switch directly on top of the camera bump. I'd prefer a button on the keyboard, but this works fine.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable

Lenovo has several pieces of software designed specifically for the rollable, though I'll be frank — I don't think any of them are strictly necessary.

The big one is ThinkBook Workspace, which lets you add mini apps like your reminders, to-do-list, and calendar from your Microsoft account. The app also features a user guide, an awkward secondary virtual display, and access to Smart Copy, a clipboard manager. You can also pin your own apps to Workspace's thick title bar. Personally, I preferred using Windows 11's Snap Layouts to put apps where I wanted them on the screen. One of the first things I did with Workspace was prevent it from launching every single time I extended the screen (there's an easy enough keyboard button for it).

ThinkBook Workspace has a ton of buried settings, many of them turned off by default. If you want a fun animation to play while you extend the screen (which I wouldn't recommend, as it covers your work), or to try enabling the feature to raise the screen with your hand, you'll have to dig.

There's also Lenovo AI Now, a local AI app that lets you feed documents into your "personal knowledge base" to find or easily digest information without using the cloud. Lenovo requires an account for this app, which is a shame, since the point of it is that it uses local computing.

Just like Lenovo's other devices, Vantage is on board for warranty information, easy access to your serial number, battery, and device settings, system updates, and an advertisement for McAfee Secure VPN.

There's also Lenovo Smart Meeting, which makes adjustments to your camera, background, or replaces you with a temporary avatar if you have to leave a meeting. There's also Smart Connect to add Lenovo or Motorola phones and tablets to your PC. Lenovo Now attempts to foist upsells and partner offers on you, and I think for a $3,300 laptop, you shouldn't have to deal with that.

Lenovo sells the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 with a one-year courier or carry-in warranty, which can be increased for a longer duration or to include more services for additional charges.

Bottom Line

When my colleagues and I see futuristic concepts at trade shows like CES, they tend to stay concepts. But Lenovo made the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable real, and it's by far the most interesting laptop I've reviewed in a long time.

It's a good enough performer for typical productivity tasks like writing, spreadsheets, video conferencing, and basic coding. But with the $3,299.99 price tag, you're really paying for that rolling screen and all of the engineering behind it.

In truth, there's nothing like it. Perhaps the closest options – the initial slate of foldable laptops that included the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16 – are either no longer available or are several generations of chips behind. This device also offers a traditional laptop keyboard and touchpad, unlike the more powerful Yoga Book 9i with dual screens.

You could buy any number of traditional laptops with similar specs and add in one of the best portable monitors on top of it for a lot less money. But if you're OK with more moving parts in your laptop and you want more screen when you need it, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable sure is easier to carry. If that’s worth the considerable extra expense (and extra weight) for you, then the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable is worth considering.

Hong Kong-based purveyor of tiny computers, GPD, has launched a refreshed version of its ‘true pocket-sized’ productivity powerhouse on Indiegogo. The new GPD MicroPC 2 brings a multitude of upgrades to the 2019 original (and to the minor update ‘2021Ver’). As well as improved computing power and resources under the hood, the biggest change here is the new pivoting touch screen, capable of transforming this UMPC into a tablet.

Other big changes for the GPD MicroPC 2

Sticking with screen-related details, the new MicroPC 2 features a 7-inch display, boosted from its predecessor’s 6-inch one. It has also got more pixels for your peepers, moving up to 1920 x 1080 (FH) from the 1280 x 720 pixel panel of old.

As noted, screen articulation has been improved. Instead of just tilting back 150 degrees in traditional laptop clamshell fashion, the new model can go flat – 180 degrees – as well as be pivoted around, opening up a tablet mode for users. It has 10-point touch, which is enough for most folks. With its new poke-friendly specs, it is sensible that the screen is coated with 6^th Gen Corning Gorilla Glass plus an anti-fingerprint layer on top. We’d like more stats about the screen’s quality, but the Indiegogo page says it uses LTPS tech, running at 60 Hz, and is capable of pushing out 500 nits.

On the outside of the device is a miniature keyboard deck. Due to its physical size, this is tailored for thumb typing, with wedge-shaped keys. Both a precision touchpad (upper right of keys) and a three-button mouse input device are built into the keyboard deck for flexibility.

Inside the GPD MicroPC 2

Inside the new MicroPC, you will find several welcome updates. Firstly, there’s an Intel Processor N250 4C/4T 15W chip running at up to 3.8 GHz. This is purportedly 3X faster than its predecessor, the Celeron N4100/N4120. Meanwhile, the N250's iGPU, with 32 EUs and 256 shaders, clocking up to 1.25 GHz, is allegedly 5X faster.

Giving the processing power some breathing room, you have 16GB LPDDR5-4800 RAM on board. For storage, there's a 512GB SSD PCIe Gen3 x4 as standard, in M.2 2280 form factor, so that is easy to change or upgrade.

Ports – lots of choice, but not the fastest

GPD is pretty proud of the port selection provided by its new generation MicroPC. There are indeed a good number of physical ports, plus all the wireless connectivity you would expect on a modern laptop, but they aren’t all to the fastest standards. It is probably doing as much, with respect to I/O, as the underlying Intel Twin Lake platform will allow.

The most useful ports on this tiny laptop are its twin full-feature USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C ports. As well as supporting 10 Gbps data, they can be used for power delivery with up to 45W charging, or DisplayPort 1.4 connectivity up to 4K/60 each. On the topic of displays, there’s also a dedicated HDMI 2.1 port, again supporting up to 4K/60.

Regular old USB Type-A ports are also still useful and present here. There are two again, both with 10 Gbps bandwidth, again. A microSD card slot is also handily present, with read/write speeds up to 160 and 120MB/s, respectively.

For networking, this machine has both 2.5G Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6, as well as Bluetooth 5.2 for peripherals, speakers, etc. There's also a side-mounted power button with a fingerprint reader, which works with Windows Hello.

Rounding up some of the important stuff we haven’t mentioned yet, this new MicroPC comes with a 27.5Wh battery, which GPD says can deliver between two and eight hours of usage - depending on what you are doing. GPD says you can also run this device off a suitable powerbank.

Impressive ruggedness (on paper) seems to be another attractive point of GPD's latest pocketable UMPC. It is designed in an ABS housing, and GPD asserts that it is flame retardant, has a Rockwell hardness rating of R109, and can pass a drop test from 5m (over 16ft!).

Crowdfunding success for this $495 portable

The idea of a convertible is one of balance and flexibility. It's could be one of the best ultrabooks, but could also be a tablet; It's powerful, but portable; You can write, or you can type. With the HP OmniBook X Flip 14, ($1,509.99 as tested), the balance falls in the favor of performance.

The AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 processor delivers powerful productivity performance, and its plethora of ports allow for a ton of accessories and external drives.

But there are tradeoffs in battery life and heat, which may affect your decision based on the type of work that you do.

Design of the HP OmniBook X Flip 14

The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 is inoffensive. I don't think anyone will mind the rounded corners and straight edges on the "meteor silver" chassis, but I find that this design lacks all of the personality found on the old HP Spectre x360 premium ultraportables. HP has designed a laptop I would expect to see in an Ikea showroom without a logo on it.

The system feels sturdy with a metal build that doesn't flex (except the hinges, which are supposed to on a convertible!).

What the system lacks in charm, it makes up for in ports. The left side has a USB Type-A port good for 10 Gbps, HDMI 2.1, and a pair of USB Type-C ports (one at 40 Gbps, the other a slower 10 Gbps). On the right side, there's another USB-A 10 Gbps port and a headphone jack.

I needed two hands to open the system (I prefer to be able to just use my thumb). The bezels around the display are reasonable, but what may surprise more people is the lattice-free keyboard, meaning that there are barely any gaps between keys. If this looks familiar to you, it's because Dell went this way a few years ago with the Dell XPS 13, though HP had the sense to keep the function row. I do wish HP had kept the accent colors from the HP OmniBook X on this laptop; That would've given it a bit of spark.

Measuring 12.32 x 8.60 x 0.58 inches and weighing in at 3.11 pounds, this system is easy enough to fit in a backpack. Its chief rival, the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1, is lighter at 2.91 pounds, though it's a thicker 0.65 inches.

Traditional laptops in this price range are similar in size, like the 14-inch MacBook Pro is 3.4 pounds and 0.61 inches, while the 14-inch Lenovo ThinkPad X9 is 2.8 pounds and 0.61 inches.

HP OmniBook X Flip 14 Specifications

Productivity Performance on the HP OmniBook X Flip 14

The AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD are a powerful combination, if not always best in class. They should work well for the majority of office and productivity applications.

On Geekbench 6, the OmniBook achieved a single-core score of 2,889 and a multi-core score of 13,106, beating the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 (Intel Core Ultra 7 258V), and Lenovo ThinkPad X9 (Intel Core Ultra 5 226V). But the MacBook Pro's M4 chip did better with scores of 33,807 and 15,114.

HP's SSD from Kioxia copied 25GB of files at a rate of 1,693.50 MBps, topping the rest of the class.

With Handbrake, we have laptops transcode a 4K video to 1080p. This task took the OmniBook X 5 minutes and 15 seconds, again beating both Intel systems but falling short of the Mac.

To stress test the OmniBook, we ran Cinebench 2024 10 times on a loop. It started at a score of 700.61 before dropping to scores consistently in the 640's. The system ran hot (see heat, below), but at least the cooling kept the chip's performance consistent.

Display on the HP OmniBook X Flip 14

The 14-inch, 2880 x 1800, OLED touchscreen on the OmniBook X Flip 14 is vivid and colorful. It's not the brightest I've used, but in most cases it was usable.

The trailer for the upcoming Superman film showed off the titular character's bright blue suit, though his red cape appeared oversaturated in some scenes. In a quick cut, a Green Lantern's projection-based powers were a perfect emerald.

The OmniBook X Flip 14's screen covered 138.9% of the DCI-P3 color gamut by volume (196.1% sRGB). That's just behind the Yoga 9i 2-in-1, which exceeded the OmniBook slightly on each gamut.

At 370 nits, the OmniBook X, while usable, was the dimmest of the bunch at max brightness. It couldn't touch the MacBook Pro's mini LED screen at 556.6 nits.

Keyboard, Touchpad, and Stylus on the HP OmniBook X Flip 14

HP told me that the OmniBook X Flip's lattice-free keyboard "deliver[s] an even faster, more comfortable typing experience." In practice, the keyboard has a tactile feel, but even my trained touch typist fingers occasionally mashed the wrong key. On the monkeytype typing test, I reached 110 words per minute, which isn't bad but not my fastest. I also ended up wwith a higher-than-average 5% error rate.

I can get used to the keyboard design. It does, however, have a few inherent flaws. Because keys are forced into a grid, the idea of my preferred "inverted T" arrow design goes out the window in favor of half-height up and down keys. It also means that the length of some keys, like Enter, Backspace, Tab, and Shift are dictated in part by the size of the letter keys.

I also think some of the function keys can be rethought. I think HP can do better than F2 being used for emoji and F1 pulling up the project display settings. The programmable F11 key could be nifty, except that you have to choose between two HP apps as opposed to using it for whatever you want. HP has software for this on the Microsoft Store, but it didn't work for me.

The touchpad is a run-of-the-mill mechanical clickpad, though it feels a bit plasticky. It clicks and is good enough at gestures and tracking my finger for my liking. I wish HP would switch to a haptic touchpad, but otherwise this is largely inoffensive.

The stylus that came with our unit, an HP Rechargeable MPP2.0 Tilt Pen, attaches magnetically to the right side of the notebook for storage. It's about the length of a standard pen, with two barrel buttons near the top. There's no top button or eraser, which would be nice to have, but the default pen tip is nice and smooth on the touchscreen. To charge the stylus, you can slide up a side panel to reveal a USB Type-C port.

Audio on the HP OmniBook X Flip 14

HP's audio is pretty decent for a 14-inch laptop.The Indigo Girls' "Closer to Fine" filled my apartment with loud volume, clear harmonies, and balanced acoustic guitars. At the highest volumes, the speakers sounded a bit tinny, so you'll want to keep it somewhere in the middle.

Like many laptops of this size, there's basically no bass to speak of. Daft Punk's Aerodynamic was pretty flat.

My biggest issue with these speakers is that you can feel them at work under the wristrest as you type. The vibrations bothered me, especially at higher volumes. At low volumes, around 35%, it wasn't an issue at all.

Sometimes, convertible 2-in-1s sound best in specific positions. HP has the laptops on a lip under the wrist rest, so even in tablet mode, they're never blocked. For the most part, the sound was fairly consistent no matter how I used the notebook.

Upgradeability of the HP OmniBook X Flip 14

To get into the OmniBook X Flip 14, you'll need to remove three screws and loosen one captive screw. All of them use the same Torx T5 screw head. Keep the screws organized — the two near the palm rest are far shorter than the one that comes out from behind the laptop's right hinge. From there, a pry tool behind the hinges should pop the base clean off.

Inside, there are only a few replaceable parts. First off is the battery, which is held in by four screws and, of course, connected by a cable to the motherboard.

The SSD and Wi-Fi card are also both accessible. There's a protective layer over the CPU and heat pipes (probably for heat shielding) that partially covers these items, but you can peel it back with your fingers.

The SSD heatsink has a sticker on it that reads "REPLACE WITH HP SPARE N77394-001", which happens to be a different number than is listed in the maintenance manual. HP isn't really known for parts pairing, though, so I expect that any M.2 2280 SSD would work.

Battery Life on the HP OmniBook X Flip 14

The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 was the shortest-running laptop in the test pool. On our battery test, which streams video, runs light graphics tests, and browses the web at 150 nits of brightness, the OmniBook lasted just 7 hours and 53 minutes. That's just short of a workday.

Part of me wonders if the OmniBook X Flip would've fared better with the base 1920 x 1200 screen, which at this 14-inch size might be enough for many people.

The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 ran for 12:47, while the MacBook Air bested the rest of the field by far at 18:31.

Heat on the HP OmniBook X Flip 14

The Flip 14 can get toasty under load. During our Cinebench 2024 stress test, the laptop measured 106.8 degrees Fahrenheit at the center of the keyboard, a cooler 91 F on the touchpad (that's still warm for a touchpad), and 117.5 F on the bottom of the notebook.

​​Inside, the processor measured an average of 66.65 degrees Celsius.

The good news is that during regular usage under standard office workloads, the system never got nearly as hot.

Webcam on the HP OmniBook X Flip 14

The 5MP webcam on the OmniBook X Flip is fine. Stills taken at my desk with only window light lost some details in my skin and my beard, but in motion, it's just fine for video conferencing.

There's a privacy cover that you can slide over the webcam with your fingernail to block the camera when you're not using it.

HP also has an IR camera for Windows Hello facial recognition — the only biometric option since there's no fingerprint reader. It works fine, just make sure you don't have the privacy cover closed when logging in.

Software and Warranty on the HP OmniBook X Flip 14

HP has filled the OmniBook X Flip 14 to the brim with software.

MyHP features settings options for audio,video, display, battery, and system control, as well as featuring warranty info. But it also features ads for HP peripherals. The app is slow and clunky, and many of the settings are better changed in Windows.

HP also includes a ton of software, including HP AI Companion (an AI assistant to answer questions about your computer that requires an HP account), HP Smart (to set up printers), HP Enhanced Lighting (a virtual ring light), HP support Assistant, HP System Event Utility, and more. That's just the big ones.

While AMD's CPU includes decent integrated graphics power, HP's Omen Gaming Hub doesn't make a lot of sense on this notebook.

HP continues to include partner software that bloats the start menu and the Edge browser, including links to Booking.com, offers from Adobe, and a Dropbox promotion for a free 100GB of storage for 90 days

HP sells the OmniBook X Flip 14 with a standard one-year warranty.

HP OmniBook X Flip 14 Configurations

We tested the HP OmniBook X Flip 14 in a custom configuration from HP's website. This $1,509 version of the system has an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage, as well as a 2880 x 1800 touchscreen and an upgrade to a Wi-Fi 7 module.

The base model is $1,099 at Best Buy, with the same AMD APU, 24GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 1920 x 1200 touchscreen and Wi-Fi 6E. As of this writing, it's on sale for $749.99. At that price, I'd definitely go for the cheaper option.

Bottom Line

HP's OmniBook X Flip 14 is a great 2-in-1 if your primary focus is on performance. Its AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB as tested delivered strong scores in our benchmarks, particularly when compared to other Windows machines.

The system also has plenty of ports peppering its sides, making it great for those who use a lot of peripherals and external devices.

If you want more of an all-around device, however, you should take a look at Lenovo's excellent Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition, another 14-inch 2-in-1 which has a similarly vivid screen to the OmniBook, but is even brighter. It also boasts longer battery life, and has far better battery life.

But the Yoga's Intel processor wasn't as powerful in our tests. For that, the OmniBook X Flip 14 is the way to go.

Sci-fi filmmakers understand a simple truth: nothing says futuristic tech quite like a keyboard-free design. The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10 ($2,079.99 as tested) embraces that vision, greeting users with two stunning 14-inch glass OLED displays, and no buttons in sight — except for the included peripherals

This premium ultrabook challenges conventional ideas about laptops with excellent software to manage its dual displays and well-designed accessories to make the most of them, including a wireless keyboard, mouse, stand, and pen. If you can live with its brief battery life, the Yoga Book is a compelling option, particularly for users considering a portable monitor.

Design of the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10

The Yoga Book’s dual-display design is undeniably futuristic. This device lives up to its price, delivering exceptional build quality with a rigid, flex-free chassis and lid. Every part of its aluminum shell fits together seamlessly, with Lenovo’s reflective lid logo as its sole embellishment. The webcam notch above the display serves as a convenient grip, enabling effortless one-handed opening in a thoughtful design touch.

The included stand unlocks the Yoga Book’s productivity potential by using both displays. The laptop can be positioned with one screen on top of the other or opened like a book. The keyboard magnetically attaches to the stand in either configuration.

The stand truly highlights the productivity potential of this platform. While portable USB displays exist, this setup stands out with its perfectly matched, high-quality screens and the invaluable ability to use them vertically. I found the vertical orientation especially useful for side-by-side document comparisons. Additionally, this configuration is more compact than carrying both a laptop and an external monitor. I couldn’t be more impressed.

The innovation continues with Lenovo's thoughtful design for easy transport. The stand wraps around the keyboard and magnetically attaches to the top of the Yoga Book, while the pen conveniently fits into a loop on the stand.

The Yoga Book’s last usage mode is as a tablet, accomplished by opening the screen 360 degrees. While still heavy for a tablet, the Yoga Book is much more convincing than a typical 2-in-1 convertible since it doesn’t leave an exposed keyboard under your fingertips.

The Yoga Book is as sleek as any 14-inch ultrabook, measuring 12.4 x 8.35 x 0.63 inches and weighing 2.69 pounds. Its proportions closely match the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (12.35 x 8.51 x 0.59 inches, 2.97 pounds), while it’s slightly larger than the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches, 2.7 pounds). (Check out our review of the 15-inch model.)

Unfortunately, the Yoga’s port selection is minimal – there are just three Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C) ports, one on the left side of the device and two on the right. There is no headphone jack. The power adapter plugs into any of the USB-C ports.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10 Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10

We tested the Yoga Book 9i Gen 10 with an Intel Core Ultra 7 255H processor, Intel Arc 140T integrated graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

Our comparison systems include the Apple MacBook Air (M4, 2025; $1,399.99 as tested), the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (Core Ultra 7 258V; $1,899.99 as tested), and the 2024 version of the Microsoft Surface Pro (Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100; $1,949.97 as tested), representing clamshells, convertible 2-in-1s, and tablets, respectively.

In the Geekbench 6 CPU test, the Yoga Book posted a single-core score of 2,886, trailing the MacBook Air (3,780) but edging out other competitors. In multi-core performance, however, its Core H-class CPU stood out, achieving 15,614 points, surpassing both the M4-powered MacBook Air (14,924 points) and the Snapdragon-powered Surface Pro (14,432 points), while leaving the OmniBook and its Lunar Lake CPU (10,877 points) far behind.

The Yoga Book didn't stand out in our 25GB file transfer test, achieving 1,063.7 MBps. Only the Surface Pro was slower (1,001.16 MBps), with the MacBook Air (1,220.35 MBps) and the OmniBook (1,702.45 MBps) leading.

The Yoga Book’s strong CPU performance followed into Handbrake, transcoding a 4K video from 4K to 1080p. The laptop finished the task in 4 minutes and 38 seconds. The MacBook Air was the next fastest (4 minutes and 52 seconds) while the OmniBook trailed (6 minutes and 37 seconds). (Note we use the Arm-specific version of Handbrake for Arm computers, namely the MacBook Air and the Surface Pro.)

To measure performance in long-running, intensive apps, we run 10 loops of the Cinebench 2024 CPU benchmark. The straighter the line is in this chart, the more consistent the scores are, indicating more stable thermal performance.

The Yoga Book initially scored 655.2 points, but its performance declined by approximately 100 points over the next two runs before stabilizing with consistent results thereafter.

Displays on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10

The Yoga Book features two 14-inch OLED screens, each sporting a 2880 x 1800 resolution and touch and active pen support. The excellent contrast and vivid colors of this panel technology create a superb picture – everything looks fantastic. Watching Ted Lasso, the lush green soccer fields and colorful uniforms appeared to jump off the screen, and even the office applications I used looked more engaging than usual. The screens are also very bright for OLED panels – I used them at seven or eight-tenths brightness in darker environments.

The measurements above correspond to the Yoga Book’s primary screen, though tests on the secondary display yielded practically identical results. With a 132.9% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut, it delivers the most vibrant colors of any machine here, surpassing the Surface Pro (115.2%) and significantly outshining the non-OLED OmniBook (84.3%) and MacBook Air (83.5%). Its OLED panel also achieves impressive brightness, averaging 470.4 nits. While it falls short of the Surface Pro’s 564 nits, it matches the MacBook Air (475.6 nits) and leaves the OmniBook (359.6 nits) far behind.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10

Despite having two screens, the Yoga Book still accommodates a keyboard. Lenovo provides a physical keyboard that docks with the device as well as a virtual keyboard that appears on the lower screen when you tap eight fingers. This virtual setup includes a “palm rest” and a virtual touchpad for added convenience.

Though it can't fully replace a physical keyboard for extensive typing, the virtual keyboard is well executed. Its large, responsive 'keys,' combined with haptic feedback and sound effects, allowed me to reach 60 words per minute with near-perfect accuracy in the MonkeyType typing test. That’s half my usual speed on a physical keyboard, but I was surprised I could go that quickly without any real keys. The haptic feedback offers three intensity settings, and the sound effects can be turned off. Thoughtful touches enhance usability, such as Function Lock (Fn + Esc), which lets the top row display either F1–F12 keys or their secondary functions, like screen brightness.

Lenovo added an all-important fun factor to this virtual keyboard with multiple color schemes and visual settings, accessible through the virtual settings button. The keyboard’s transparency is adjustable, and you can select a background image. I found myself frequently changing between design schemes.

The virtual touchpad works almost as well as a physical touchpad, located in the same place and being about the same size as a traditional touchpad, including two virtual buttons. The virtual keyboard can be summoned anytime by tapping three fingers and can be repositioned as needed.

Lenovo includes a wireless Bluetooth keyboard with white backlit keys and soft tactile feedback, allowing me to reach my top typing speed of 120 words per minute in MonkeyType. It magnetically attaches to either the top or bottom of the Yoga’s lower screen. When positioned at the top edge, the virtual touchpad and palm rest appear automatically. While the keyboard shifts slightly on the glossy surface during typing, it remains impressively stable and closely mimics the feel of a traditional laptop keyboard.

The 'palm rest' features a virtual notepad on the right, designed for use with the included pen, a clever way to maximize space. The pen charges via USB-C and has configurable top and bottom buttons through the Lenovo Pen app.

Placing the keyboard at the bottom edge frees up the top half of the lower screen for use as an additional display. Since there's no touchpad in this setup, you'll likely want to use the included Bluetooth mouse.

The mouse's low-profile design doesn't conform to the palm like a traditional desktop mouse, but it remains responsive with satisfyingly tactile clicks. It features a rubberized, notched scroll wheel and supports dual connections via a switch on the bottom. It’s powered by one AA battery.

Audio on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10

The Yoga Book delivers impressive sound quality through its rotating sound bar. While not particularly loud, it performs on par with a small Bluetooth speaker for entertainment. Vocals and acoustics in the music I sampled -- Ghostdragon (electronic/pop) and Cole Swindell (country) sounded crisp and well-projected, while the bass was surprisingly deep, enhanced by built-in bass speakers within the chassis. The Mission: Impossible movie trailers I watched were immersive, with a good sense of surround sound. Dolby Atmos equalizers in the Dolby Atmos app enhance the detail and expansiveness but aren’t required for the speakers to sound good.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10

My efforts to find a way inside the Yoga Book were fruitless – the chassis appears sealed. You’ll need to order this laptop the way you want it from the factory. Even if you could get inside, the LPDDR5X memory and the wireless card aren’t upgradeable, leaving the storage drive and battery as the only potential upgradeables.

Battery Life on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10

With a battery life of just 6 hours and 49 minutes, the Yoga Book fell well short in our battery test, which includes web browsing, video streaming, and OpenGL graphics benchmarks at 150 nits of screen brightness. This is barely half the runtime of the OmniBook (12:02) and Surface Pro (12:17) and lags far behind the MacBook Air (15:14). However, some consideration is warranted since the Yoga Book powers two displays and runs a Core H-class CPU, making some battery trade-offs unavoidable.

Heat on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10

We measure laptop surface temperatures by running 10 loops of the Cinebench 2024 CPU stress test. Since this laptop lacks a physical keyboard, we recorded temperatures on the bottom screen of 96 degrees Fahrenheit along the top edge and 85 F at the center while the hottest point on the bottom panel reached 101 F. Despite these readings, the Yoga Book remains entirely touchable, never crossing into uncomfortable heat levels. Its fans, while audible, stay subdued. For lighter tasks, the fans may not even turn on, resulting in silent operation.

Our internal temperature measurement is also taken during Cinebench. The CPU temperature averaged 63 degrees Celsius.

Webcam on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10

The Yoga Book's 5MP (1440p) webcam delivers excellent quality, positioned above the display for optimal framing. It provides a sharp image with minimal noise and effectively manages highlights. For example, during a video call with an overhead light reflecting in the mirror, the camera accurately exposed both my face and the light. While the webcam doesn’t have a physical privacy shutter, there is a dedicated kill switch on the laptop’s right edge.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10

The Yoga Book comes with familiar Lenovo software, including Vantage, which provides system updates, diagnostics, and security checkups. It also houses key system settings, such as battery care mode (allowing users to limit charging for longevity) along with rapid charge and convenience features, like powering on the laptop by opening the lid. Dolby Atmos sound equalizers are accessible in both Vantage and Dolby Access. Additionally, the Lenovo Pen app lets users customize pen button functions and adjust tip and tilt sensitivity.

Some bloatware is included – Lenovo Now is basically a wizard of paid entertainment and service offerings, and Lenovo Subscription Marketplace is a link to an online portal for other software apps, from security to PDF readers. Vantage also has some ads built-in, which you can’t do anything about since that app is required to control essential system functions.

The Yoga Book comes with a one-year warranty.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Gen 10 Configurations

The Yoga Book 9i comes in just a few configurations, all featuring the Core Ultra 7 255H processor and dual 14-inch OLED screens. The base model includes Windows 11 Home, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, while Windows 11 Pro ($65), 32GB of RAM ($65), and a 1TB SSD ($40) are available as upgrade options through custom configuration on Lenovo.com. The hardware can't be upgraded later, so order it as you intend to use it.

Bottom Line

Lenovo’s Yoga Book 9i Gen 10 is a powerful productivity tool for dual-screen users on the go. With its accessories and intuitive software, it offers a more seamless experience than a traditional laptop-and-monitor setup. It also delivers strong system performance, quality audio, and a capable webcam.

However, its drawbacks are worth noting, particularly its limited battery life, which lasts roughly half as long as a typical premium ultrabook, along with its minimal port selection. The price is on the higher side but justifiable given the inclusion of dual OLED displays and essential accessories. Compared to similarly equipped premium ultrabooks, such as the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch and HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14, the cost difference is only a few hundred dollars.

While not suited for every user, the Yoga Book merits consideration as a polished dual-screen productivity solution.

With the Snapdragon X series of processors, Qualcomm has made its biggest leap yet into the Windows PC ecosystem. Windows on ARM is now available on more laptops than ever before, and for Amazon Prime Day and other competing sales events, many of these laptops are on sale.

• Check out Snapdragon laptop sales in Amazon's Prime Day Sale

All of the Snapdragon laptops are Copilot+ PCs, featuring Windows 11's local AI features. But what they're really best for is long battery life due to the efficient ARM architecture.

Microsoft's Surface Laptop and Surface Pro are among the best-known of these Copilot+ devices with Snapdragon chips, but there are options from many companies, including Dell, Lenovo, and Acer. Here are some of the best deals we've found so far:

There are still some drawbacks to Snapdragon laptops. They can't run most games and some applications that are designed specifically for x86 processors (sorry, fans of Windows Fax and Scan). Some apps also run through emulation, which can be slower than native performance.

More and more applications have gone Arm-native, though, including browsers like Edge, Firefox, and Chrome; streaming apps like Disney+ and Netflix; work apps like Slack and Zoom; and photo and video editing software like GIMP, Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve, and Capcut. If your needs aren't extraordinary, you're likely able to get by.

We are working hard to find the best computer hardware deals for you this Amazon Prime Day. We cover the hottest deals in real-time at our Best Amazon Prime Day Deals Live page. If you're looking for more savings, check out our Amazon Prime Day deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, or CPU Deals pages.

Windows 11 is available on all kinds of hardware, but Microsoft makes its own to showcase the popular operating system on its own premium machines.

The company's Surface Pro has become something of an icon, seen on the sidelines of the NFL and on news anchor desks. Its design, a tablet with a kickstand and a detachable keyboard, has been widely duplicated and is extremely portable.

But it's the Surface Laptop that Microsoft has touted as its most popular option, with a familiar clamshell design that is familiar and simple.

In its flagship configurations, Microsoft uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite to power both machines, and you can configure them similarly. So much of which system is better for you comes down purely to the design you like better, how much you use your device on your lap, and especially how much you're willing to spend on accessories.

For most, the Surface Laptop is the option that will be more familiar. But for those who love to write, draw, or reduce weight, the Surface Pro may be enticing.

Note that this guide is mostly covering the premium versions of these devices - the 13-inch Surface Pro and the 13.8 and 15-inch Surface Laptops, which use the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors. Microsoft has recently released new entry-level models using Snapdragon X Plus (8 core) chips with smaller displays and lighter builds, but we haven't gotten our hands on those yet.

Design

Laptop or tablet? It's almost that simple. Almost.

The Surface Laptop is just that — a notebook PC. It's slim and sleek, sure, but it's a laptop. The Surface Pro, however, is a hybrid device. At the Pro's most basic, it's a Windows 11 tablet with a kickstand. Add a keyboard (that comes separate and costs extra), and now you have a full on PC.

The Surface Pro is the lighter device, at 1.97 pounds (before you add the keyboard) and 0.37 inches thick. The 13.8-inch Surface Laptop is 2.96 pounds, while the 15-inch Laptop is 3.67 pounds. It may not seem like a lot, but when you're jamming it in a backpack, the Surface Pro will be easier to fit.

You also get more ports on the laptops. While all of the devices feature two USB 4 Type-C ports and Surface Connect, only the Laptops feature a headphone jack and USB 3.2 Type-A port. The 15-inch Laptop also adds an SD card slot.

The newer, 13-inch Laptop and 12-inch Pro both ditch the Surface Connect port and rely on USB 3.2 Type-C ports for charging. The 13-inch Laptop also gets a headphone jack and USB 3.1 Type-A.

The Surface Pro 13 and Surface Laptop 13.8 each come in sapphire, dune, black, and platinum. The 15-inch Surface Laptop is limited to black and platinum.

Peripherals

The downside to the Surface Pro is that the keyboard doesn't come in the box. And while you might want to use it as a tablet some of the time, let's not pretend Windows 11 is the world's most touch-friendly OS.

How much you spend on that keyboard depends on its features. The most basic keyboard is $169.99, while a keyboard with Surface Slim pen storage is $179.99. A bundle with the Slim Pen bumps the price up to $279.99, while the Flex Keyboard, which works either attached to the Pro or over Bluetooth, is $399.99. (With a Slim Pen, the keyboard jumps to $499.99).

If you just want to buy a stylus on its own, the Surface Slim Pen is $129.99.

You can, at times, find deals on these accessories, especially from sellers like Amazon or Costco, which sometimes put bundles together. But either way, if you want a full Surface Pro setup, you may have to pay several hundred dollars more than the base price.

In some regions, the Surface Pro may not come with the charger. In the US, the 13-inch version comes with a 39 W power supply, though the 12-inch option doesn't, so you'll need to bring your own 27W or higher USB-C power adapter.

Performance

Across the Surface Pro, Surface Laptop 13.8, and Surface Laptop 15, Microsoft is using the same variant of the Snapdragon X Elite - the X1E-80-100. These 12-core processors have integrated Adreno GPUs, a 4.0 GHz boost frequency on two cores, and 3.4 GHz max frequency across the 12 cores.

Both the Surface Pro and the 15-inch Surface Laptop have come through our labs, so we can put them against each other. Both were using 16GB of RAM, though the Surface Pro had 512GB of storage and the Surface Laptop 15 had a 256GB SSD.

In Geekbench 6, the Pro and Laptop came pretty close to each other in both single-core and multi-core scores, so you can expect similar performance from the two of them in basic tasks.

On our file transfer test, the Surface Pro was way faster than the Surface Laptop at copying 25GB of files. Note that they had different size drives — they may also be using different brands or tiers of drive, too.

On Handbrake, the Surface Laptop won. Despite the same chips, it's likely the 15-inch Surface Laptop has superior cooling that helped with graphics performance.

Display

The 13-inch Surface Pro is the only Surface device right now with an OLED display (it's optional, and only on models with a Snapdragon X Elite). That screen gives you improvements in color reproduction and brightness. If OLED matters to you, it's the only way to go.

You still get a high-resolution, 3:2 touchscreen on each model. The Surface Pro has a 2880 x 1920 screen on either the 13-inch OLED or LCD models, offering 267 pixels per inch. The 13.8-inch Surface Laptop has a 2304 x 1536 screen, while the 15-inch Laptop has a 2496 x 1664 — both 201 PPI. All of the screens support dynamic refresh rates up to 120 Hz.

Battery Life

In our battery test, which sets display brightness to 150 nits, browses the web, runs OpenGL tests, and streams videos. The 13-inch Surface Pro ran for 12 hours and 17 minutes, while the Surface Laptop hit 14:47.

There are lots of possible contributing factors. For starters, the Surface Pro has an OLED display. Additionally, the Surface Pro has a 53 WHr battery (48 WHr on LCD models), while the 15-inch Surface Laptop has a larger 66 WHr battery. The Surface Laptop with a 13.8-inch screen has a 54 WHr battery.

Wireless

If you want to work on the go without tethering to your phone, you should opt for the Surface Pro. Certain high-end configurations come with support for both Wi-Fi 7 and 5G networking. As of this writing, the only one on Microsoft's website that works with 5G and is available is a Surface Pro with a Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage, which will run you a pricey $1,799.99.

The Surface Laptops don't support 5G, and can only connect to Wi-Fi.

Pricing

As of this writing, when it comes to the high-end models, the 13-inch Surface Pro starts at $929.99, the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop starts at $1,031.22, and the 15-inch Surface Laptop starts at $1,299.99.

The new cheaper models, the Surface Laptop 13 and Surface Pro 12, start at $899.99 and $799.99, respectively. The existing models had lower-end configurations cut to make room for them.

That $929.99 Surface Pro has a Snapdragon X Plus (10 Core) processor, not the Elite, along with an LCD screen rather than the OLED we tested. To get that price, you have to pick the "dune" color from Microsoft's site, otherwise you're looking at $999.99. The configuration with Snapdragon X Elite and OLED starts at $1,199.99.

The Surface Laptop 13.8's $1,031.22 price point is also seemingly due to sales trying to get rid of the dune colorway. In fact, it makes the Snapdragon X Elite cost less than the X Plus. Otherwise, most colors are going for $1,199.99 with Elite and $1,099.99 with Plus.

The 15-inch Laptop only comes with X Elite, starting at $1,299.99.

The Pro might seem like a deal, until you remember that even if you pick the sale up, you'll still have to buy extras, like the keyboard (see "peripherals," above). The Laptop is cheaper if you don't care about having a tablet but do care about having a keyboard and more ports. But if you need the tablet form factor, you don't really have a choice.

With some sales going on, you can get upgrades in storage for relatively cheap for the laptops (for instance, moving from 256GB to 1TB is currently $100 on the 15-inch Laptop).

Verdict

With performance being roughly similar, whether or not you should opt for a Surface Pro or a Surface Laptop comes down to the design and the display.

Most people are best served by a traditional laptop for work or school. If you really prefer taking notes by hand and want to use your PC for drawing, the Surface Pro makes a lot more sense. There's a reason it's popular for field work. Otherwise, it's also great because of how portable it is.

At the moment, the Surface Pro also has the distinction of being the only Surface device available right now with an OLED display option. While it's a strange choice to tie it to a chip, getting the Snapdragon X Elite with the OLED panel makes for a great performance and viewing experience. The Pro is also lighter and thinner than laptops.

But the Surface Pro is effectively incomplete out of the box, requiring a significant outlay for the keyboard cover, and even more if you also want a pen and, in some countries, a charger. The Surface Laptop has everything you need in the box.

I would love to see a Surface Laptop with an OLED display option. Outside of that, the Surface Laptop just makes more sense for more people. The Surface Pro is more portable, but the Laptop is, for most needs, more practical.

In high-end laptops, thin is always in, but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice connectivity. Acer's new Swift Edge 14 AI, leading its ultraportable lineup ahead of Computex in Taipei, is a sleek notebook that weighs less than 1 kilogram (approximately 2.18 pounds) but still has plenty of ports.

The Swift Edge 14 AI will use Intel's "Lunar Lake" chips, ranging from a Core Ultra 5 226V up to a Core Ultra 9 288V, with up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. That's all in a chassis that's 0.65 inches thick.

It's notable that Acer isn't skimping on ports here. While many 13, 14, and even some 15-inch laptops have dropped to just a pair of USB-C ports, Acer's got two USB Type-C ports (supporting Thunderbolt 4), a pair of USB Type-A ports, HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. That's a lot of connectivity on the go. We saw this with HP's OmniBook 7 Aero, but that much I/O on an ultrabook is still pretty rare these days.

Like many high-end laptops, Acer's chassis is built from a mix of magnesium and aluminum. But unlike those laptops, the company is pushing a "soft-touch" keyboard that the company says has a "unique UV-cured coating that feels like velvet and is wear- and stain-resistant." We didn't get too much time to play with this keyboard, but we're certainly hoping it stays clean in the long term, especially considering this is a white laptop.

Acer is promising up to 21 hours of battery life from the 65 WHr battery, but doesn't say how it got there. If it comes close, that would match the longest-lasting laptop we've ever tested.

Unfortunately, Acer hasn't removed the weird AI indicator light from its touchpad, which glows whenever you use the NPU or use Copilot (which uses the internet and does not run locally). It is, at best, a distraction.

Acer is also using Computex as a launch pad for its Swift Go 14 AI and Swift Go 16 AI, each with OLED displays and media controls built into the touchpad. All of these Swift laptops have 1080p webcams with IR support for Windows Hello.

North American pricing and availability haven't been revealed just yet. Acer said that this information will be announced "closer to market availability." In Europe, the Swift Edge will release in June, while Australia has a more vague "Q2" release date. The Swift Go 16 AI and Swift 14 AI will ship in July and August in Europe, respectively.

For a laptop to stand out among the best ultrabooks, it usually needs a fun color, a wacky new feature, or a great price. With the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition ($1,499.99 as tested), there's a fun color, but also something that's pretty rare: just being a really solid laptop in most respects.

Yes, it's blue, and it looks pretty cool. But once you get past that, you find strong build quality, an excellent OLED display, a high-end webcam, and pretty decent battery life. It even comes with a color-matched stylus.

If you're looking for a convertible 2-in-1, Lenovo's high-end option is well worth a look. There are improvements to be made, including streamlining the software offerings and making it easier to upgrade, but all in all, this system is strong.

Design of the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1

The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 is solidly built, but definitely a little funky looking. There are some ideas that clash, which might make this system a bit divisive.

The system comes in a very cool "cosmic" blue color, which doesn't quite look the same under any two lights. Think if Apple's "midnight" colorway was having a bit more fun.

The lid is a matte navy with a shiny Lenovo logo and flat edges. The bottom of the chassis is the same shade of blue, but it's shiny and has rounded edges. When it's closed, it kind of looks like someone stacked two different tablets on top of each other. It makes more sense open, when the rounded corners sit comfortably against your wrists while you type.

Lenovo's laptop rotates around its hinge, which doubles as a soundbar. This allows you to use it as a standard clamshell, fold it back to a tablet, or place it on your desk like a tent and focus on just the screen.

There are two Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports and a single USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 2 port on the left side, while the laptop's right flank houses a headphone jack, a USB-C port, and the power button.

Lenovo's 2-in-1 measures 12.44 x 8.66 x 0.65 inches and weighs 2.91 pounds. That's slightly larger and heavier than Lenovo's clamshell, the Yoga Slim 9i, at 12.32 x 8.01 x 0.57 inches and 2.76 pounds. But it's lighter than the competing HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14, which is 2.98 pounds, even though it's slightly smaller and slimmer. Apple's 14-inch MacBook Pro is heavier (3.4 pounds) but is slimmer than the Yoga as well.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1

Our Yoga 9i 2-in-1 review unit came packed with an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, a generous 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. For most people, that's plenty for browsing the web, sending emails, writing up documents, and even doing some photo editing.

On Geekbench 6, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall performance, the 9i 2-in-1 achieved a single-core score of 2,751 and a multi-core score of 11,059, putting it just ahead of — but largely on par with — the Yoga Slim 9i with the same CPU. It's also ahead of the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 with the same processor.

But Apple's M4 in the MacBook Pro blew the Yoga 9i away, with a single-core score of 3,807 and a multi-core score of 15,114.

On our file transfer test, the Yoga 9i copied 25GB of files at a rate of 1,447.57 MBps, beating out the clamshell Yoga Slim and the MacBook Pro. Only the OmniBook Ultra Flip was faster at 1,702.45 MBps.

The convertible Yoga lost its advantage in Handbrake, converting a 4K video to 1080p in 6 minutes and 36 seconds, similar to the OmniBook. But the MacBook Pro was far speedier at 4:27.

To stress test laptops, we run Cinebench 2024 ten times, using the stressful rendering test to push the systems to their limits. The Yoga 9i achieved an average score of 599.63, starting slow but peaking at 601.51 and staying largely steady.

During the stress test, the CPU's performance cores ran at an average of 3.24 GHz while the efficiency cores ran at 3.65 GHz. The processor measured 69.65 degrees Celsius.

Display on the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1

Lenovo put a beautiful display on the Yoga 9i 2-in-1. The 14-inch, 2880 x 1800, OLED touch screen is bright and extremely colorful. It offers 120 Hz adaptive refresh, too, which makes writing with the stylus feel snappy in apps that support it.

The trailer for Marvel's Thunderbolts* looked great, with blue misty skies standing out behind the new Black Widow as she falls off a building, and red lasers popping in an otherwise dark scene.

The screen covers 210.6% of the sRGB color gamut by volume, and 149.2% of the more challenging DCI-P3 space. That's a significant margin over the MacBook Pro and the HP OmniBook Flip Ultra.

At 421 nits, the Yoga 9i 2-in-1's panel is also quite bright, but the MacBook Pro's Mini-LED screen was more luminous at an astounding 556.6 nits.

Keyboard, Touchpad, and Stylus on the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1

The keyboard on the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 is surprisingly clicky. It's not a mechanical keyboard, but the feedback is satisfying if you like a little bit of spring in your typing.

What I don't like about the keyboard is the extra column on the right side of the layout, with dedicated keys for adjusting the power mode, switching between different audio presets, and toggling blue light protection on the display. The fourth key in that column is user-programmable, designed to open an application or file, a website, run a shortcut, or type a text macro. Below all of those is the fingerprint reader, which looks like a key, but is not.

My problem with these keys is that having them there shifted my expectation of where the keyboard ends, even though I'm a touch typist who doesn't look down much. It took me a surprisingly long time to get used to it, and I accidentally changed settings several times throughout my review process.

The touchpad is nice, large, and responsive. It still has a physical click, but I think a premium "Aura Edition" PC should move to haptic feedback for a more high-end feel.

I appreciate that the stylus, the Yoga Pen, is color-matched to the laptop. It charges over USB Type-C, so you can use the same adapter that came with the laptop to plug it in. With a flat magnetic side, you can stick it to the laptop's lid when you aren't using it. Lenovo claims up to 4,096 degrees of pressure sensitivity.

The stylus is comfortable enough and sized like a pen. There are two barrel buttons that you can customize in the Lenovo Pen Settings app. I'd like to see an eraser at the end similar to Microsoft's Surface Slim Pen.

Audio on the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1

The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 has four speakers: a pair of 2W tweeters and twin 2W woofers that fire through a rotating sound bar and the bottom of the notebook.

Linkin Park's "Up From the Bottom" sounded pretty good on the system, with the speakers pushing clear vocals and snappy drums. The guitars were a bit lost in the mix, but going into the Dolby Access software and switching the intelligent equalizer to "Detailed" helped a lot there. There's basically no bass, though.

I noticed a little bit of the wrist rest pulsing when I had music loud, but not enough to distract me from work. I've felt far worse.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1

At first glance, it looks like there are four Torx T5 screws holding the bottom of the laptop in place. But if you try to remove those, you won't get very far. That's because an additional two tiny Phillips-head screws are beneath the laptop's rear rubber foot. Because you could break this foot by peeling it off, we consider this unrepairable for most people, though we were able to peel it up enough to get to the screws. You can buy a replacement rubber foot directly from Lenovo, but at $20.87, it’s a pretty expensive strip of rubber.

The battery and SSD are the main user-replaceable parts. The SSD is an M.2 2242 component. While they aren't as common as a standard M.2 2280, there are more options than there were just a few years ago.

Perhaps the biggest issue here is getting the laptop back together. It took a significant amount of time to get this computer's base back on with the screw holes aligned, and I've disassembled an awful lot of laptops. Avoid opening it if you can.

Battery Life on the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1

If you're looking for a long-lasting PC, the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 should last far more than a workday. On our battery test, which has the screen set to 150 nits, laptops browse the web, run light OpenGL tests, and stream video. The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 ran for 12 hours and 47 minutes.

That's an increase of an hour and 44 minutes over the clamshell Yoga Slim 9i (with the same size battery but a higher resolution display), and 45 minutes longer than the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14. The MacBook Pro blew the rest of the group out of the water at 18:31.

Heat on the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1

We took skin temperatures on the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 while running our Cinebench R24 stress test to get an idea of how hot to the touch the system could get under a heavy load.

The center of the keyboard reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit, while the touchpad was a cooler 84.5 F. The hottest point on the bottom of the system measured 100 F flat.

Webcam on the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1

Lenovo's 5MP webcam performed admirably in my testing. In a challenging situation at my desk with a bright foreground near an open window and a dark background behind me, the camera found balance, accurately capturing my green shirt, blue eyes, and details like a small scratch on my face and the seams in my shirt.

I'd have no problem using this webcam both for work meetings and chatting with family or friends.

There's a privacy shutter to cover the webcam. You can also use Windows Hello for facial recognition in addition to the fingerprint scanner on the keyboard. Using the camera makes more sense for this, in case you pick up the system in tablet mode.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1

Lenovo puts a fair amount of software on the Yoga 9i, some of which provides useful features and others that detract from its premium nature.

Vantage is still the most useful application here, serving as a single stop for serial numbers, warranty information, device and power settings, and the ability to contact customer service. There are some pushes in here for third-party services, like Norton Antivirus.

Intel Unison is still here, despite the fact that Intel is shutting it down. The app, which provides some of the "Aura Edition" features, like sharing photos from either an Android smartphone or iPhone, will "retain service" on Lenovo's Aura laptops while it stops working for others in June.

A new app, Smart Connect, requires installation, but it feels like a backup to Unison designed to "effortlessly pair all your devices within your ecosystem" and "connect Motorola and Lenovo phones, tablets, and PCs." Lenovo owns Motorola.

There's also an app to control stylus settings, and Lenovo Now, which pushes subscriptions and partner apps. There's also a link to a "subscription marketplace" in the Start menu.

Lenovo sells the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 with a 1-year warranty.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Configurations

We tested a $1,499.99 version of the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 with an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 2880 x 1800 OLED touchscreen. At the moment, this configuration is only at Best Buy. When we started testing, this laptop was ($1,749.99), but Lenovo reps suggested the lower price should be the standard going forward.

Lenovo's website isn't yet selling the laptop, but its spec sheet options include a 4K display and a lesser Core Ultra 7 256V processor.

Bottom Line

The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 is a well-built 2-in-1 with a gorgeous display, a great webcam, and (for a Windows ultrabook) pretty solid battery life. If you're looking for a convertible notebook that includes a pen, you should seriously consider it.

Lenovo's aesthetics here might be divisive, but I think most people will be able to see past the mishmash of design choices. (Those who can't should take a look at the HP OmniBook Flip 14). My other biggest complaint — how difficult this system is to open and close — won't apply to most people, but those who tinker and repair should be aware.

A $1,499 price tag puts the Yoga 9i firmly in premium territory, but I appreciate that it comes with 32GB of RAM, which should keep this system relevant for a while. The 14-inch MacBook Pro, a great laptop that is not convertible, starts at $1,599 with 16GB of RAM, so this is a bargain, assuming it stays at this price. The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 debuted at $1,749.99.

If you're looking for a premium 2-in-1 that's thin, light, and has a beautiful OLED screen, the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 checks those boxes and then some.

In a sea of laptops that make it hard, if not impossible, to upgrade your system post-purchase, Framework has always believed in giving customers more options. That remains the case with the Framework Laptop 13, which is back for 2025 using the AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series platform.

If this latest system looks familiar, it's because it uses the same chassis as the Intel Core Ultra Series 1 system we reviewed in August. However, our review unit came equipped with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 2880 x 1920 display. You can buy a preconfigured system complete with an operating system already installed, or you can go crazy with custom configurations tailored to your personal preferences, right down to display bezel and expansion port colors.

Our review unit is a DIY Edition, meaning some partial assembly is required to get the system up and running. However, with a price tag approaching $2,000, potential buyers must weigh the ease of customization and repairs against the highly competitive (and cheaper) competition in the ultraportable space.

Design of the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series)

The Framework Laptop 13 chassis has remained consistent over the years to facilitate easy upgrades, which remains the case here. Our review unit even uses the same 13-inch 120Hz 2880 x 1920 IPS panel, and two bezel options were included: black and transparent purple. I opted for the purple because I wanted a system with a bit more visual flair. It attaches to the display panel with friction pins and magnets.

The chassis and lid are aluminum, with a shiny black Framework "gear" logo inlaid into the latter. The power button, located in the top right of the keyboard deck, has an LED light that lines its perimeter. The power button also has a fingerprint reader embedded for use with Windows Hello.

However, one of the most interesting parts of the Framework Laptop 13's design remains its modular expansion card bays. The laptop has two bays on either side, accommodating various ports. For example, our review unit came with USB-C, USB-A, and microSD reader expansion cards. Each card locks into place once you slide it into a free bay. A button on the bottom of the chassis for each pair of bays releases the expansion cards.

I opted to configure the review unit with two USB-C ports (at least one USB-C port is required to charge the laptop), one USB-A port, and the microSD reader. However, you can easily tailor the port allotment to suit your needs. Framework offers HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet, and SD reader options. If that wasn't enough, you can add storage to the system via 250GB and 1TB expansion cards. These cards are available in the standard aluminum finish or from several color options.

Pricing for the expansion cards ranges from $15 for USB-C to $125 for 1TB of storage.

Two of my gripes about our last review unit still haven't been addressed. The expansion cards are still difficult to remove from their respective bays. And the laptop's aluminum chassis doesn't match the aluminum used on the expansion cards. That makes for an unsightly color mismatch, which is unfortunately in such an expensive device.

The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370-powered Laptop 13 measures 11.68 x 9.01 x 0.62 inches and weighs 2.87 pounds, which is identical to the previous model we reviewed with a Core Ultra processor. We also brought along the Dell XPS 13 (9350), measuring 11.62 x 7.84 x 0.58 inches with a weight of 2.7 pounds, and the 2.78-pound Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i at 12.32 x 8.01 x 0.57 inches for comparison.

Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series) Specifications

Upgradeability of the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series)

The claim to fame for Framework’s lineup has always been modularity. The company makes it incredibly easy for the layperson to swap out external ports and most internal components (ranging from the SSD to memory to the battery, to speakers, to the entire motherboard). Even if you get stumped regarding the procedure for upgrading a particular piece of hardware, you can scan the QR code on or beside that component to watch a video guide.

Since we received the DIY Edition of the Laptop 13, I had to assemble numerous components before turning on the device. The laptop ships without the keyboard deck installed, so I first inserted the two 8GB DDR5-5600 SO-DIMMs, and then installed the 1TB SSD. Next, I inserted the ribbon cable from the keyboard deck to the motherboard, and the whole thing magnetically attached to the lower chassis. I next flipped the laptop over and tightened five captive Torx screws.

The next step was to attach the translucent purple bezel to the display and install four expansion ports (two USB-C, one microSD reader, and one USB-A).

If you need to upgrade other components, like the touchpad, motherboard, or display, you can visit the Framework Marketplace to purchase whatever you need. The options are seemingly limitless.

Productivity Performance on the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series)

Our review unit has a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, 16GB of Crucial DDR5-5600 memory, and a 1TB WD_Black SN770 SSD. Since this was the DIY Edition, we had to install Windows 11 onto the test machine.

Beginning with the Geekbench 6 synthetic CPU benchmark, the Laptop 13 with its Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 bested the competition in the single-core (2,894) and multi-core (12,924) tests, including its Intel Core Ultra-powered predecessor, which came in second. The third-place finisher was the Yoga Slim 9i, which managed 2,733 in the single-core benchmark and 11,038 with the multi-core benchmark.

The tables turned, however, when moving to the file transfer test, which involves copying 25GB of mixed media files. The newest Laptop 13 hit 1,546.23 Mbps compared to 1,893.79 Mbps for last year’s model. The Yoga Slim 9i was the laggard in this test, delivering just 1,032.87 Mbps.

Moving on to the Handbrake benchmark, during which we transcode a 4K video file to 1080p resolution, the Laptop 13 with Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 finished the task in 4 minutes and 18 seconds – identical to the XPS 13 (9350). The previous Laptop 13 completed the task in 5 minutes and 48 seconds, while the Yoga Slim 9i took just over 6 minutes.

For stress testing, look to Cinebench 2024, where we perform 10 consecutive runs. The first run had the lowest score, coming in at 814.84. However, additional runs saw the numbers climb and stabilize in the 857 to 865 range.

Display on the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series)

Framework outfitted our test system with its premium 13.5-inch 2880 x 1920 IPS display, which refreshes at 120 Hz. This is the same panel included with the Core Ultra system that we tested last year, and there are some slight variances in the numbers we recorded.

In our color gamut tests, the Laptop 13 performed similarly to last year’s model, covering 83.6 percent of DCI-P3 and 118.1 percent of sRGB (compared to 82.7 percent and 117 percent, respectively). The most significant difference came in brightness, where the new Laptop 13 hit 482.6 nits brightness compared to 451 nits for the previous model.

The Yoga Slim 9i with its OLED panel won the numbers game with 146.5 percent coverage of DCI-P3 and 206.9 percent of sRGB. However, those higher figures tend to make for an overly saturated display, which isn’t always preferable, depending on your needs.

I had no real complaints with the display as I watched the Tron: Ares trailer. The extensive use of red in the trailer provided a nice contrast to the trailer's overall dark, nighttime themes. The blacks and darkened areas in the trailer didn’t look as inky black as you’d get with an OLED panel, but the Laptop 13’s IPS panel performed well here.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series)

For better or worse, the keyboard deck on the Laptop 13 is identical to the one on the Core Ultra version. That means that while it has a similar look, feel, and key travel that I have previously likened positively to Apple’s MacBook products, the half-height up and down arrow keys remain. While I understand that going with undersized keys saves some space, I would prefer if they were the same size as the left and right arrow keys.

Given my familiarity with the keyboard, my typing tests at keyhero.com were nearly identical to my previous go with this keyboard, as I averaged around 90 words per minute with 97 percent accuracy.

I’m not a fan of the top-hinged touchpad, which does a better job of registering clicks within the bottom half of the mousing surface than the top half. A nice haptic touchpad would be a nice addition to a laptop with a nearly $2,000 MSRP.

Audio on the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series)

The 2025 edition of the Laptop 13 continues to use a pair of 2-watt speakers, mounted towards the front of the chassis. The speakers are average at best, but are perfectly suitable for run-of-the-mill productivity tasks that such a laptop will endure daily.

I primarily used the speakers to listen to music via YouTube Premium, ranging from bass and drum-heavy tracks from Kanye West’s Late Registration album to an assortment of woodwinds, brass, and strings in the great Gustav Holst’s The Planets. While the dynamic range and bass output weren’t awe-inspiring, it was perfectly in line with other ultraportables I’ve tested, given the space constraints.

Webcam on the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series)

Framework outfits the Laptop 13 with a 1080p webcam using the same 9.2MP image sensor and 5-element lens as last year’s model. Output from the camera is still a bit of a mixed bag, with an aggressive sharpening algorithm that tends to make facial details overly smooth and unnatural.

The camera is serviceable for videoconferencing duty, but if you need higher-quality hardware for your specific needs, you should consider adding one of the best webcams.

Battery Life on the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series)

Battery life was a sore point with last year’s version of the Laptop 13, and things haven’t improved with this year’s model. In fact, things have gotten worse. Our laptop endurance test involves browsing the web, streaming videos, and running OpenGL tests with the brightness set to 150 nits.

The Laptop 13 lasted just 9 hours and 11 minutes, less than even the 9 hours and 59 minutes we achieved when equipped with an Intel Core Ultra processor. For comparison, the Yoga Slim 9i went on for 11 hours and 3 minutes, while the XPS 13 (9350) was far and away the endurance champion with a runtime of 17 hours and 29 minutes.

Heat on the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series)

The Laptop 13 has a single cooling fan that works overtime to keep the device cool under load. We performed skin temperature tests on the laptop while running the Cinebench 2024 stress test.

We measured 88.5 degrees Fahrenheit on the touchpad, while the measurement between the G and H keys came in at 115 degrees F. The hottest touch point was the underside of the chassis near the rear-central screw, which was a toasty 133 degrees F.

Software and Warranty on the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series)

This section will be short. The Laptop 13 DIY Edition doesn’t have an operating system installed, but Framework provided us with a product key for Windows 11 Home, which we installed for testing. Once installed, there’s only one item that Framework adds to the Start Menu: the Framework Marketplace (which is nothing more than a web link to purchase accessories/components).

Everything else is just the standard installed apps/shortcuts you get with a default Windows 11 install. As for Linux operating systems on the Ryzen AI 300 Series systems, Framework says that Fedora 41, Bazzite, and Project Bluefin are supported out of the box. You can also install Arch Linux, but a few workarounds are needed to get up and running.

The Framework Laptop 13 comes with a one-year warranty.

Configurations on the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series)

The Laptop 13 DIY Edition is priced from $899 with a Ryzen AI 5 340 processor and a 13.5-inch 2256 x 1504 60 Hz display without RAM or an SSD. Stepping up to the Ryzen AI 7 350 brings the total to $1,029, while the Ryzen AI 9 350 increases your initial outlay to $1,659. The 2.8K display is a separate $130 upgrade.

As configured with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, 2.8K display, 16GB RAM, a 1TB SSD, and four expansion cards (2x USB-C, USB-A, and microSD), our review sample is priced at $1,986.

If you go the prebuilt route, the Performance (Ryzen AI 7 350, 2.2K display, 16GB RAM, 512GB RAM, Windows 11 Home. 1-year warranty) costs $1,529, the Extended Productivity (Ryzen AI 5 340, 2.2K display, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Pro, 3-year warranty) costs $1,329, and the Extended Performance option (Ryzen AI 7 350, 2.2K display, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Windows 11 Pro, 3-year warranty) for $1,689. The range-topping Extended Pro with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, 2.2K display, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Windows 11 Pro, and a 3-year warranty costs $2,099.

Bottom Line

Framework continues to be in a class of its own regarding laptop customization options. Sure, some other laptop manufacturers allow you to easily upgrade memory and SSDs, but Framework goes above and beyond by allowing most components to be replaced or upgraded via the Framework Marketplace.

However, that customization and upgrade prowess comes at a price premium compared to other systems. For example, the Dell XPS 13 (9350) offers similar performance, nearly 8 hours of additional runtime per charge, and costs just $1,599 (or $1,899 for a 1600p display). The Lenovo Yoga 9i is also sub-$1,900, comes with twice the memory, a 3840 x 2400 display, and lasts longer per charge.

If all you’re looking for is modularity and ease of upgrades, Framework remains your only option. However, far better options are available for less money if you strictly want a productivity-centered ultraportable with long battery life.

The HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is our first look at how Intel’s Lunar Lake platform performs in HP’s recently formed Omni realm (after it shook off most of its existing PC brands earlier this year). In recent months, we’ve tested the Arm-powered OmniBook X and AMD-equipped OmniBook Ultra from the company’s revamped lineup, both of which were slim and solid laptops.

This time around, we’re looking at a convertible that, while pleasing, doesn’t look or feel all that new. That, plus the ample amount of pre-installed software (most of which wants to track and / or push ads at you), the removal of the still-useful USB-A port, and Microsoft’s continuing delay of Recall (the promised flagship feature of Copilot+) makes the OmniBook Ultra Flip less appealing than its Spectre predecessor.

Design of the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14

As its name implies, the OmniBook Ultra Flip is a convertible, with a fold-over hinge. Its solid-feeling metal shell and pleasing keyboard (complete with a retooled Function row and light-blue power button) give it design cohesion with its other OmniBook counterparts. But its angled rear edges, complete with USB-C ports, echo previous designs.

The OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is clearly a somewhat revamped and rebranded HP Spectre x360 14 with a different exterior finish. And that’s not a bad thing given we mostly liked the Spectre design. But the Flip’s 12.35 x 8.51 x 0.59-inch dimensions and 2.97-pound weight are strikingly similar to the 2024 Spectre x360 (12.35 x 8.68 x 0.67 inches and 3.19 pounds). The Ultra Flip is a little thinner and a little lighter, but to get there, HP has thrown out the handy USB-A port as part of the move to the Omni brand.

You do still get a decent number of ports by 2024 standards, though. On the left edge lives a 10Gbps USB-C port (on the rear corner), alongside an audio jack.  

The right side houses two Thunderbolt 4 ports, again with one on the rear corner and one nearby on the side of the laptop. I do like that HP has included USB Type-C on both sides of the laptop, but only the Thunderbolt ports can be used for charging, so you’ll have to plug your charger in on the right side.  

The angled nature of the rear ports on either side means, unfortunately, you can’t plug anything bulky into them, like one of the best flash drives, at least when using the device as a laptop, because the lid gets in the way.

Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition laptop manages to be slightly slimmer (0.55 inches) while adding both a USB-A and HDMI port. It’s also heavier than the OmniBook Ultra Flip, at 3.37 pounds, but packs in a larger 15.3-inch screen.

HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 Specifications 

Productivity Performance of the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14

We tested the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip against several recent systems, including recent Dell XPS 13 models with both Intel Core Ultra 7 258V and Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite CPUs, the 15-inch M3 Macbook Air, and Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7i, a more affordable ($1,299 as tested) non-convertible laptop with a Core Ultra 7 256V CPU – effectively the same CPU as the 258V in the Ultra Flip, but with 16GB of integrated RAM rather than the 32GB of the 258V. We also included our results from the previous-generation HP Spectre x360 14, which is where the Ultra Flip gets most of its design DNA.

In Geekbench 6, the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 beat the last-gen Spectre x360 and Lenovo’s Yoga in the single-core test and the Yoga in multi-core. But both the Qualcomm-powered XPS 13 and the M3-powered Macbook Air did better in both single- and multi-core results here.

Things looked better for the OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 on our file copy test, where it transferred our 25GB of test files at just over 1,700 MBps. That was faster than every other competing machine – save for the previous-gen HP, which was about 100 MBps faster.

With Handbrake, we have computers transcode a 4K video to 1080p. And we use the Arm-specific versions of Handbrake for the Arm-based laptops and the traditional x86 version of the program for Intel and AMD laptops. Here the OmniBook Ultra Flip’s showing of 6:37 outpaced the Intel-powered XPS 13 (8:35) and the Spectre x360 (7:09). But the other competitors were faster, with the Snapdragon-based XPS 13 easily outpacing everything else, finishing in just 4 minutes and 47 seconds.

To measure long-term performance, we run 10 loops of the Cinebench 2024 CPU test and observe how the scores change, with less change suggesting more stable thermal performance.

The Ultra Flip started at a high of 528.2 before dipping about 100 points for one run, then recovering and hovering between 460 and 470 for the rest of the test. The Intel Core Ultra 7 258V's performance cores ran at an average of 3.1 GHz, while the efficiency cores ran slightly higher at 3.3 GHz. During the stress test, the CPU averaged 76.3 degrees C.

Display on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14

As a premium convertible, the 2800 x 1600 OLED screen is clearly a focus for the OmniBook Ultra Flip, and anecdotally it doesn’t disappoint. I watched the trailer for the second season of “Silo,” and the blue of Rebecca Ferguson’s eyes was striking against the deep OLED black of the background near the beginning, and the flame-like orange of the title screen at the end really popped. Watching on this screen made me more excited for the show’s return next month.

In testing, the Ultra Flip did better than most competitors in terms of color reproduction, delivering 84.3% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and was close enough in all measurements to the Spectre x360 that the two likely share the same panel. That said, the Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition's bigger screen was brighter and also more vivid in our tests. At 359.6 nits, the Ultra Flip was actually the dimmest of our premium competitors, with the MacBook Air being the second-brightest at 482.4 nits. But all of the displays here put out a good amount of light for most use cases. You might like the Yoga or MacBook a bit more if you frequently use your computer in direct sunlight, but the high contrast of OLED helps on that front as well.

Keyboard and touchpad on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14

The keyboard on the Ultra Flip seems predominantly the same as the 2024 Spectre x360, and largely that’s a good thing. The half-height Function row is now a lighter gray than the rest of the keys, and the buttons get reshuffled a bit. A dedicated calculator button replaces the camera privacy button (which is now a physical switch up above the camera), and the power button in the upper right now sets itself apart in a pleasing light blue hue.The large, clean key labels remain, as does the pleasing tactility of the key feedback. The half-size up / down arrow keys also carry over, but they didn’t take much time for me to get used to. I don’t think I’d have major complaints using this keyboard as my daily productivity driver.

The large 6.25-inch diagonal touchpad also carries over from the Spectre, and I found it to work well for basic navigation and multi-touch gestures. That said, much like our reviewer for the previous Spectre x360, I found the default haptic intensity a little stronger than necessary, so I turned it down to 25%.

Audio on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14

The speakers on the Ultra Flip sound solid, with a nice amount of volume and more lower-mids than I would expect from a PC this slim. I listened to Urban Heat’s album, “The Tower,” and the laptop’s speakers nicely showcased Jonathan Horstmann’s baritone crooning. As is usually the case with slim PCs, there isn’t a massive amount of true low-end here, but the speakers deliver a warm sound with quite a bit of volume and no audible distortion.

The MyHP app does have presets for movies, music, and voice, as well as an equalizer, but I was pretty happy with the sound profile of the speakers at their default setting.

Upgradeability of the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14

Getting inside the Ultra Flip is fairly easy, so long as you have a screwdriver with a tiny Torx or star bit. The bottom is held on by just four screws, two short ones up front and a pair of longer ones in the back. With those out, you’ll need some kind of prying device to begin loosening the clips. After I worked my way around a few sides, the bottom popped off easily.

Inside though, the only major component you’ll be able to upgrade is the SSD, which is housed under a metal cover that’s screwed down on both sides and doubles as a heat dissipator. The battery looks like it would be fairly easy to replace if you need to do that. But the wireless card is soldered down and the RAM is, of course, now integrated into the Intel CPU.

Battery Life on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14

At 12 hours and 2 minutes, the OmniBook Ultra Flip lasted an hour and change longer than the previous-gen Spectre x360 on our battery test, which consists of web browsing, video streaming, and OpenGL graphics tests at 150 nits of screen brightness.

The UItra Flip outlasted the Spectre x360 from earlier this year, but everything else here lasted longer. The MacBook Air (15:05) was helped by its larger chassis and Arm CPU, while the two XPS 13s (17:29 Intel and 19:31 Qualcomm) were both aided by smaller displays and lower resolutions. The high pixel count and OLED tech of the Ultra Flip don’t do its longevity any favors, but 12 hours and 2 minutes of run time is still a decent showing.

Heat on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14

We measure a laptop’s surface temperature while running 20 loops of Cinebench 2024, which stresses the system for a couple of hours. During our testing, the Ultra Flip’s keyboard topped out at 100 degrees Fahrenheit, although that was between the 7 and 8 keys, while the letter keys where your fingers are going to be spending most of their time remained a cooler 93 degrees F or below. This is lower than plenty of other slip portables.

The touchpad topped out at 78.5 F in the upper-right corner. And the underside of the laptop didn’t get that much warmer than the top, peaking at 104 degrees Fahrenheit in the middle rear, near the hottest spot on the keyboard. I wouldn’t exactly say Flip Ultra runs cool, but it doesn’t get particularly hot. And while the fans were audible in my quiet home office while running Cinebench, they were more like a persistent whisper than anything approaching noisy or whiny.

Webcam on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14

The 9MP webcam and IR camera are also likely carryovers from the Spectre x360, and are quite good – especially if you’re coming from the 1080p or even 720p webcams that have been typical on most laptops for years. Colors were accurate and there was a fair amount of detail visible in my sun-lit home office. And perhaps most impressively, the webcam dealt with the light from my two windows about as well as my dedicated Anker webcam. You can still get better detail and contrast from one of the best webcams, but the camera here is more than good enough for meetings, family chats, and the occasional photo.

Software and Warranty on the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14

HP includes a fair amount of its own software as well as some third-party programs on the Ultra Flip. There’s Poly Camera Pro, which lets you adjust things like brightness and saturation on the webcam, as well as adding various filters and watermarks, as well as adjusting framing.

HP Smart is an app that oddly focuses heavily on printing from its front page – which isn’t so odd once you remember that printers are still a big part of HP Inc.’s business.

The HP Omen gaming app is also here, which feels strange for a decidedly non-gaming PC, though Intel’s integrated graphics have decidedly improved, and as the app handily suggests, you can always use Nvidia’s GeForce Now to offload your game rendering to the cloud. In case this didn’t already feel enough like an ad, when you launch the app for the first time, it asks permission to push ads to you.

McAfee LiveSafe security and VPN software is also installed. And I thought perhaps HP had at least included a very generous trial. Because when I launched the program it said "Trial ends in 1,342 days -- Buy now." But, looking at HP’s product page, this is supposed to be just a 30-day trial. So there seems to be some kind of error with the installation on our review unit.

Then of course there’s Copilot+, a feature package that’s supposed to lean on the Intel NPU for locally computed AI tasks. The feature was first supposed to roll out with laptops based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors earlier this year. But the flagship Recall feature, which takes and serves up screenshots of nearly everything you do on your PC, was first… recalled in June over security and privacy issues. Then Microsoft said the feature wasn’t going to be optional when it eventually did roll out, but soon backpedaled. Then, amazingly as I was wrapping up this review, the company delayed the feature yet again – with a new promise that it will be available for preview in December to those running Windows Insider builds.

In all, HP includes a plethora of extra software here for a premium PC. And one of its key promised features – whether you want it or not – keeps getting pushed back. I generally wouldn’t buy any laptop for its included software, but Microsoft (and by extension HP and other Copilot+ PC makers) keeps trying to convince consumers (and the tech press) that localized AI software is the next big thing – while failing again and again to deliver its flagship feature in Windows 11 nearly six months after it was first announced.

I’m still fairly convinced that the best premium software feature for a PC is no extra software at all, save for your OS of choice. For better or worse, what HP delivers with the OmniBook Ultra Flip feels like the opposite of that, with the added bonus of some software features I probably don’t want coming at some point in the near future.

HP sells the Ultra Flip with a one-year warranty.

HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 Configurations

Our review configuration of the Ultra Flip, with an Intel Core Ultra 258V (which includes 32GB of RAM), a 2TB SSD, and a 2880 x 1800 OLED touchscreen has an MSRP of $1,899. But when we wrote this it was currently on sale for a more reasonable $1,499. HP also says this configuration will be available in mid-January at Best Buy for $1,899, though I’d hope the fact that HP is already selling it at a steep discount indicates the Best Buy price will be significantly lower as well.

All configurations of the Ultra Flip sport the same OLED display. But if you can live with two fewer CPU cores, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, the Ultra Flip starts as low as $1,049.

Bottom Line

In terms of hardware, the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is mostly very good, with a great screen and keyboard for a light convertible, and more ports than most (even if there’s no USB-A and the angled ports on the corners aren’t always convenient). The upgrade to Arrow Lake is also mostly a positive one, delivering an hour extra of battery life in our testing and better single-core (though generally worse multi-core) performance. The high-resolution webcam is also arguably better than almost anyone needs for keeping up with colleagues and family while at home or on the go.

The primary letdown comes from the device’s software – both preinstalled and promised but delayed. HP includes several of its own apps, some of which are pleasingly functional (the Poly camera app in particular is nice), but many of which ask you for permission to track your use, push ads, or both. Then there’s McAfee and Adobe trials, Google Play Games Beta, and Dropbox. It all just feels like a lot for a device with a $1,899 MSRP as configured (though it was $400 off when I wrote this at HP).

There’s also the whole Copilot+ aspect, which Microsoft and its partners keep pushing with new premium devices, despite a repeated inability to actually ship the primary feature: Recall. As of this writing, Microsoft says Recall will be available in December – but only to those running its Insider Windows build. That’s not HP’s fault, though, and I don’t want to single one company out for the failings of its software partner, which of course affects every other Copilot+ PC, at least for now.

But without Recall or some other game-changing feature, the Ultra Flip feels like a slightly retooled Spectre x360 with a lot of unneeded and nagging software, somewhat better battery life, and performance that’s better in some ways but worse in others.

If you can find a last-gen Spectre x360 at a reduced price, you might want to consider that. If you like the idea of Copilot+, current-gen CPUs, and you want a convertible, the Ultra Flip seems to be the only option right now.

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We've tested many gaming laptops under $1,000, and while some meet performance expectations and include essential features, others fall short. Acer’s Nitro V 15 checks most of the important boxes, offering an Intel Core i7 CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics for $869.99. It’s reasonably well-built with good connectivity and upgradeability. However, loud fans and a subpar screen mean that you still have to make some sacrifices.

Design of the Acer Nitro V 15

The Nitro V 15 looks appealing for a budget gaming laptop. It has an understated design except for flashy graphics on the lid and a reflective Nitro logo. The rest of the all-black chassis is unassuming.

Although this Acer is made entirely from plastic, which is expected in this price range, it feels sturdy. The chassis and lid are highly resistant to flexing. The plastic is reasonably thick and doesn’t rattle or sound cheap when tapped with my fingers.

Measuring 14.3 x 9.4 x 1.06 inches, the Nitro is similar in size to the MSI Cyborg 15 and the Lenovo LOQ 15ARP9. The Dell G16 7630 is slightly larger due to its 16-inch 16:10 screen. The Nitro weighs 4.66 pounds compared to the MSI’s 4.37 pounds, while the Lenovo at 5.12 pounds and particularly the Dell, at 6.3 pounds, are heavier.

Most of the Nitro’s ports are located on the left edge, including Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.1 video output, and one 10 Gbps USB Type-C and two 5 Gbps USB Type-A ports. The Type-C port also supports DisplayPort out with an adapter. The AC power barrel connector also resides here.

Meanwhile, the right edge includes a 3.5 mm audio jack and another 5 Gbps USB Type-A port, along with a Kensington lock slot. Internally, a MediaTek wireless card provides Wi-Fi 6 (not the newer 6E standard) and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity.

Acer Nitro V 15 Specifications

Gaming and Graphics on the Acer Nitro V 15

Our Nitro V 15 review model features an Intel Core i7-13620H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics (75W maximum graphics power), and 16GB of DDR5-5200 RAM. It’s entry-level, but capable of playing modern games.

I saw about 144 frames per second (fps) average while playing F1 24 at Medium settings with DLSS enabled. The gameplay was fluid and never stuttered.

The systems we’re using for comparison include the Dell G16 7630 (Core i5-13650HX, RTX 4060 140W, $999.99 as tested), MSI Cyborg 15 (Core i7-13620H, RTX 4050 45W, $899.99), and Lenovo LOQ ARP9 (AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS, RTX 4060 115W, $999.99). The Dell and Lenovo offer much more powerful RTX 4060 graphics cards for $100 to $150 more.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Highest detail preset), the Nitro averaged 70 fps, noticeably outperforming the MSI Cyborg’s 64 fps. However, it couldn’t match the Lenovo’s 96 fps or Dell’s 98 fps thanks to the RTX 4060s.

In Cyberpunk 2077 (Very High preset), the Nitro was 10% faster than the MSI, achieving 22 fps compared to 20 fps, but it couldn’t catch the Dell’s 33 fps. (We don’t have data for the Lenovo in this game.)

Next, the Nitro produced 63 fps in Far Cry 6 (Ultra preset), tying the MSI but falling short of the Lenovo’s 79 fps and the Dell’s 85 fps.

In Red Dead Redemption 2 (Medium preset), the Nitro averaged 48 fps, outperforming the MSI’s 44 fps. As expected, the Dell and Lenovo both continued performing significantly better.

Finally, in Borderlands 3 (at the game’s “badass” preset), the Nitro once again outperformed the MSI, producing 62 fps to the MSI’s 56 fps. The gap between these, the Dell and Lenovo remained acute.

Overall, the Nitro delivers solid 1080p gaming performance. Its 75W RTX 4050 outperformed the 45W version in the MSI Cyborg 15. However, the Dell and Lenovo clearly show that the RTX 4060 with 100W or more of maximum graphics power is a significantly superior performer.

We stress-test gaming laptops by running the Metro Exodus benchmark 15 times at RTX settings, simulating half an hour of gaming. During the test, the Nitro V averaged 53.56 fps with only minimal variance between runs, indicating consistent cooling performance.

The Core i7-13620H averaged 2.34 GHz and 62 degrees C on the P-cores and 1.89 GHz and 62 C on the E-cores. The GeForce RTX 4050 averaged 2.2 GHz and 64 C.

Productivity Performance on the Acer Nitro V 15

Our Nitro review unit is equipped with a Core i7-13620H CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. It handles everyday apps and light content creation with ease.

In the cross-platform Geekbench 6 CPU benchmark, the Nitro was in contention for the top spot, scoring 2,571 points compared to the MSI’s 2,580 points. It produced the highest score of 13,373 points in the multi-core test, with the MSI coming in second at 12,427 points. The Lenovo LOQ lagged significantly in both tests.

The Acer was the second-best performer in our 25GB file transfer test, achieving an average transfer rate of 1,456.74 MBps compared to the Dell’s 1,718.8 MBps. Both the MSI and the Lenovo had sub-1,000 MBps transfer rates.

In our Handbrake video transcoding test, the Nitro outperformed the MSI, converting a 4K video to 1080pin 5 minutes and 25 seconds compared to the MSI’s 5:49. It was only slightly behind the Lenovo’s 5:17, but it couldn’t match the Dell at 4:21.

Display on the Acer Nitro V 15

The Nitro uses a classic 16:9 screen with a  1920 x 1080 resolution. Highlights include an anti-glare surface to minimize reflections, IPS technology for wide viewing angles, and a 144 Hz refresh rate.

The picture quality is average at best, with adequate brightness but washed-out colors. Watching the 2016 sci-fi Arrival, the stark contrast of the spaceship scenes lacked impact, and the more vibrant scenes appeared dull. Likewise, the colorful race cars in F1 24 also failed to stand out.

The Nitro’s subpar color coverage is evident from our display measurements, where it covers just 44.9% of DCI-P3 and 63.3% of sRGB, which is even lower than the MSI Cyborg. In contrast, the Dell’s screen offers markedly superior color and higher brightness.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Acer Nitro V 15

The Nitro’s keyboard doesn’t resemble a typical gaming laptop keyboard, sticking with a standard font and white-only backlighting similar to Acer’s Aspire laptops. While Acer missed a chance to add some flair here, at least it avoided the cliché red backlighting often found on many other budget gaming laptops.

The shallow key travel limits tactile feedback. However, it is easy to type quickly; I had no trouble reaching my personal best typing speed of 120 words per minute in the MonkeyType online typing test.

Acer would have been better off leaving out the awkward three-column number pad, and it would have been preferable had all the arrow keys been the same size. The Nitro key in the top row is the keyboard’s only special feature; pressing it launches the Nitro Sense app. 

Meanwhile, the Nitro’s large touchpad is a pleasure to use, offering an anti-glare surface and quiet, satisfying tactile clicks.

Audio on the Acer Nitro V 15

The Nitro’s built-in speakers leave much to be desired. While they provide enough volume for personal entertainment, the sound quality is tinny and nearly devoid of bass. Listening to Yes’s “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” the drum hits and guitar sounded strained, and the vocals were hollow.

The DTS:X Ultra app provides a graphic equalizer and several audio presets, including Music (the default), Voice, and Movie, as well as an Auto option. Music was the most well-balanced preset to my ears. The sound quality significantly degraded without this app’s help.

Upgradeability of the Acer Nitro V 15

The Nitro offers good upgradeability, with two DDR5 SODIMM slots, two M.2 2280 SSD slots, an M.2 2230 wireless card slot, and a replaceable battery. These components are accessible under the bottom panel, which is secured by 11 Philips-head screws. All the screws are the same length.

Popping the plastic clips that secure the panel requires a plastic trim tool; I had to use some force to create a gap at one of the rear corners and carefully work across the rear edge. The clips around the other edges released once I had the rear edge loosened.

The thermal cooling solution is visible here. The relatively small size of the fans may be a reason why they are so noisy.

Battery Life on the Acer Nitro V 15

Our battery life test involves simulated web browsing, streaming video over Wi-Fi, and running OpenGL tests, all with the screen brightness set to 150 nits. The Nitro V outperformed the other units by a significant margin, lasting for 5 hours and 41 minutes compared to the Dell G16’s 5 hours and 3 minutes and the Lenovo LOQ’s 3 hours and 24 minutes. Though it’s no ultraportable, the Nitro lasts a respectably long time off the plug.

Heat on the Acer Nitro V 15

During our 15-loop Metro Exodus stress test, we measured maximum surface temperatures on the Nitro of 68 degrees Fahrenheit on the touchpad, 93 F between the keyboard G and H keys, and 104 F on the underside. No part of the laptop felt more than lukewarm to the touch.

There was regrettably nothing quiet about the Nitro’s cooling fans, which were plainly audible across my living room. They have a distinctive whine. Using closed headphones while gaming is a must. (Consider the best gaming headsets.) The fans also proved overreactive for everyday use, often spooling up whenever I visited a webpage or did anything that would briefly stress the CPU.

Webcam on the Acer Nitro V 15

Acer equips the Nitro V with a 720p webcam over its display. The picture has a soft focus and suffers from grain in low light, typical of a small-sensor camera. While budget gaming laptops rarely offer better, I still wish for the sharper picture of a more modern 1080p sensor. A privacy shutter would have also been a welcome addition, though it would be a surprise under $1,000.

The webcam lacks an infrared sensor to enable Windows Hello facial recognition. This laptop doesn’t have a fingerprint reader, either, so you’ll need to type passwords.

Software and Warranty on the Acer Nitro V 15

Acer includes several apps on the Nitro, with the main one being NitroSense. This app offers power profiles, system status (including CPU and GPU temperatures and frequencies), and fan curve control. Other settings include a battery charge limiter, a bluelight shield, and a keyboard backlight timeout. Additionally, you can customize the system boot logo with your own image. The power profile and fan curve can be saved in a profile, and the app center section allows you to bind a profile to an app so the profile is automatically activated when the app is launched.

Another included app, Acer Care Center, provides health checks for most components, system updates, access to Support, recovery management, and a tuneup feature to delete junk files. I especially like that the recovery management section allows backup of LAN and wireless drivers, which can be difficult to find for less popular networking cards like the one in this Nitro if you reinstall the OS.

The DTS apps mentioned in the audio section are important for the overall sound quality. There are several unwanted trial apps on the Nitro, including McAfee LiveSafe, Dropbox, ExpressVPN, and Forge of Empires.

Acer covers the Nitro with a one-year warranty.

Acer Nitro V 15 Configurations

We reviewed the Nitro V 15 equipped with an Intel Core i7-13620H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 144 Hz screen. It was discounted to $869.99 on Newegg at the time of this review with a 1TB SSD.

Configurations start at $699.99 with a Core i5-13420H, an RTX 3050, and 8GB of RAM. Newegg also had a $999.99 model with a Core i9-13900H, an RTX 4060, and 16GB of RAM. The Nitro V is also available with AMD processors; a $779.99 model includes a Ryzen 5 7535HS and an RTX 4050 while a $929.99 model upgrades to a Ryzen 7 7735HS and an RTX 4060.

Among laptops with the RTX 4050, the MSI Cyborg 15 was discounted to $849.99 on Newegg with the same basic specifications as our Nitro, though as mentioned, it uses a lower-wattage RTX 4050 and lacks a 10 Gbps USB port. The Lenovo LOQ 15ARP9 was $879.99 from Lenovo with an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS and a 1TB SSD.

Though the Nitro is competitively priced, laptops with a GeForce RTX 4060 are available for around $100 more; the Dell G16 7630 was $949.99 with a Core i5-13650HX CPU, an RTX 4060, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch 2560 x 1600, 240 Hz display.

Bottom Line

Acer’s Nitro V 15 is a solid choice for budget-conscious gamers, albeit with a few drawbacks. On the plus side, its Core i7 CPU and RTX 4050 GPU produce satisfactory 1080p framerates, it offers a flashy yet tasteful design, and we also noted its good connectivity, upgradeability, and battery life.

The Nitro’s main holdbacks are loud cooling fans and a screen with subpar color, both of which make this laptop less well-rounded than it should be. Although the fan noise can be mitigated with closed headphones, the screen is below average even for a budget laptop. We also wish for a better webcam and fuller-sounding speakers.

While we rate this Nitro higher than the MSI Cyborg 15 due to its superior performance, connectivity, and battery life, you can get the Dell G16 7630 for around $100 more, which offers significantly better performance and a much superior screen. If your budget is tight, though, the Nitro V 15 is still a decent choice.

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Apple’s yearly updates for its MacBook Pro family are becoming predictable. Each year brings another generation of processors that deliver performance benefits while improvements to chip efficiency extend battery life. We also sometimes see new colors to spruce things up a bit.

This year is no different, as the new M4 generation of chips brings a healthy year-over-year performance uplift compared to the M3 generation. In addition, Apple has added a new $150 Nano-texture option for the display, which is also available on the Pro Display XDR, iPad Pro, and iMac.

These upgrades are enough to keep the MacBook Pro at the top of its game and an easy inclusion among the best ultrabooks and premium laptops.

Design of the MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4 Pro)

Apple last revamped the design of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro in late 2021. Although a lot has changed on the performance front since then, there are no visual changes to the chassis to note this time around. Our 16-inch Space Black review unit looks nearly identical to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Max I tested almost a year ago.

The superlatives I lavished on that laptop remain here: the black finish with its anodization seal does its best to minimize (but not completely disguise) fingerprints, and the build quality is impeccable, as we expect from Apple’s laptops. There is a large keyboard and a massive haptic touchpad directly below it. Because Apple does not seem intent on putting number pads on its laptops, there is ample space in this 16-inch chassis to incorporate speakers on either side of the keyboard.

The only visual change, which I’ll discuss more in the Display section, is the new availability of a matte screen finish for the MacBook Pro family. All previous MacBooks in recent memory have included a glossy screen finish, which is excellent for sharp contrast and punchy colors but is highly reflective. The new nano-textured finish option on the MacBook Pro retains nearly all the “punch” of the traditional glossy display with the added distraction of reflections.

For better or worse, the notch for the ambient light sensor and 1080p webcam remains at the top-center of the display. I have gotten used to this design quirk found on Apple’s MacBook family of laptops, but not everyone is enamored with this design crutch.

There is a full assortment of ports on the MacBook Pro, which is what professionals want in a notebook. While previous MacBook Pros featured Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, MacBook Pros equipped with an M4 Pro or M4 Max processor feature Thunderbolt 5 support. The 16-inch MacBook Pro includes one Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) port, an SDXC slot, and an HDMI 2.1 port on the right-hand side. Moving to the left, you’ll find two additional Thunderbolt 5 ports, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a MagSafe 3 connector for power.

A 140W USB-C power adapter with a USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable for charging is included in the box. However, you can also use the included power adapter with a USB-C to USB-C cable to charge the MacBook Pro from any of the Thunderbolt 5 ports.

Our 16-inch MacBook Pro review unit measures 14.01 x 9.77 x 0.66 inches and weighs 4.67 pounds. The 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4) is 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches and weighs 3.4 pounds. Finally, the Dell XPS 16 (9640) has dimensions of 14.01 x 9.77 x 0.67 inches and weighs 4.8 pounds.

MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4 Pro) Specifications

Productivity Performance of the MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4 Pro)

The 2024 iPad Pro was the first device to gain access to Apple's new M4 family of processors. Now, Apple expanded its availability to the iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro. Our review unit features an M4 Pro processor with a 14-core CPU (10 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores) and a 20-core GPU. According to Apple, the M4 Pro offers a 75 percent uplift in memory bandwidth (273 GB/sec) over the preceding M3 Pro. Also of note is that the M4 Pro includes a 16-core Neural Engine along with dedicated hardware media engines for handling H.264, HVEC and ProRes/ProRes RAW content.

Our review unit also has 48GB of LPDDR5X unified memory and a 2TB SSD. The CPU, memory, and SSD cannot be upgraded after purchase. So be sure to select the configuration that will suit your needs for the years to come when making your purchase.

The competitors include the 14-inch MacBook Pro (Late 2024, M4), 16-inch MacBook Pro (Late 2023, M3 Max), and the Dell XPS 16 (9640), which includes a Core Ultra 7 155H processor.

Starting with the Geekbench 6.1 synthetic CPU benchmark, the M4 Pro in the MacBook Pro put up some incredible performance on the single-core benchmark. The benchmark indicated that the chip was operating at 4.5 GHz. The laptop scores 3,910 on the single-core benchmark, far ahead of last year’s flagship 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Max processor (2,330).

Things got more interesting on the multi-core benchmark, with the M4 Pro scored 22,822. This was within striking distance of the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max processor (which has two additional performance cores), which scored 23,163. The Dell XPS 16 (9640) was well behind in both benchmarks, scoring 2,373 in the single-core benchmark and 13,384 in the multi-core benchmark. The 14-inch MacBook Pro, with its base M4 processor was almost as strong as the M4 Pro in the single-core metric (3,807), but was well short in multi-core performance (15,114).

Shifting gears to our file transfer test, during which we copy 25GB of mixed-media files, the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro blazed through at 2,237.5 Mbps. This wasn’t enough to topple last year’s laptop with the M3 Max processor (2,461.25 Mbps), but it was a few hundred Mbps ahead of the XPS 16.

On our Handbrake test, where we transcode a 4K video to 1080p, the M4 Pro completed the task in 2 minutes and 38 seconds, putting it just two seconds behind the M3 Max (2:36). The XPS 16 took 4 minutes and 42 seconds. The 14-inch MacBook Pro completed the task in 4 minutes and 27 seconds.

We use the Xcode benchmark to simulate compiling a large codebase with Macs. Our MacBook Pro review unit with M4 Pro accomplished the task in 92 seconds, just 7 seconds behind the M3 Max we tested in last year's 16-inch MacBook Pro. The Mac Studio with the M2 Max remained the fastest of all Macs we've tested, finishing in 58 seconds.

Cinebench 2024 estimates that the M4 Pro has a single-core clock of 4.5 GHz and a multi-core benchmark of 3.5 GHz. During our stress test, we ran the benchmark 10 times back-to-back and recorded scores and average CPU temperature. The 16-inch MacBook Pro was highly consistent, starting the stress test at 1,747 and finishing the test at 1,755. The score consistently hovered between those two endpoints with little variation.

We use TG Pro to measure the CPU temperature on Macs, but the current version (2.92) doesn’t fully identify the M4 Pro and its internal sensors. As a result, I could only obtain one consistent reading of 82 degrees Celsius from the CPU.

Gaming and Graphics on the MacBook Pro (Late 2024)

This M4 Pro isn’t the most performant member of the M4 family — that distinction lies with the M4 Max, for now. With that said, the processor features a 20-core GPU which should be adept at handling your creative needs or gaming, should you decide to use the MacBook Pro for that purpose.

While Macs aren’t exactly known as gaming powerhouses, I tried the system out with Resident Evil Village, which just so happens to be a game native to Apple Silicon and leverages the Metal 3 API. The GPU is overkill for this game, as I was locked in at 60 fps at 3,456 x 2,234 resolution with the Max graphics preset and MetalFX upscaling set to Quality. The 60 fps figure was measured by enabling the FPS HUD overlay using the macOS Terminal.

When you start a game in full-screen mode with macOS Sequoia, Game Mode is automatically enabled. Game Mode automatically gives your game priority access to the CPU and GPU for optimum performance. It also doubles the Bluetooth sampling rate to lower latency with connected peripherals (i.e., Bluetooth mouse, keyboard, Xbox/PlayStation controllers, and headsets).

Display on the MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4 Pro)

The 16-inch display on our MacBook Pro review unit is the largest available in Apple’s laptop family. It’s an IPS display with a 3,456 x 2,234 resolution and a maximum 120 Hz refresh rate. While all previous MacBook Pros have a mandatory glossy display, the new M4-equipped MacBook Pros are available with the Nano-texture option (our review unit is equipped with the option).

This isn’t a coating or film applied to the glass. Instead, the actual glass is etched with the Nano-texture, meaning it won’t wear off and is highly durable. The $150 option mostly eliminates reflections from overhead lights or windows, allowing for a more enjoyable viewing experience. It’s impossible to dismiss all reflections, but the Nano-texture option was just as good if not better than the matte options available on comparable Windows laptops.

The difference between the previous glossy display and the new Nano-texture option was readily apparent with my personal 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3 Pro) side-by-side with this review unit. While my MacBook Pro seemed to catch every stray reflection in my office and downstairs living room, the 16-inch MacBook Pro with Nano-texture fended off the reflections with aplomb.

Even better, the Nano-texture resulted in no serious degradation in picture quality. My eyes could perceive a slight dip in vibrancy compared to the glossy display, but it is still a brilliant display. We could exceed 1,500 nits in HDR mode (Apple claims a maximum of 1,600 nits).

Our instrumented tests showed a maximum brightness of 565 nits in SDR mode. Colors tests showed 81.4 percent coverage of DCI-P3 and 115 percent coverage of sRGB. All three numbers were within a percentage point of last year’s 16-inch MacBook Pro (M3 Max) with its glossy display. While the MacBook Pro easily eclipsed the 371 nits maximum of the XPS 15, it was no match for that laptop’s OLED panel in color performance.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4 Pro)

Apple’s familiar keyboard is back on this laptop. If you’re a fan of Apple keyboards, there’s nothing new to report on this front. The keyboard is still backlit, the keys are still responsive, and they actuate with a satisfying click. Finally, there’s a Touch ID biometric sensor integrated into the power button. Touch ID can be used to log in to your laptop, apps and websites or authenticate Apple Pay purchases (among other uses).

Keyhero.com is my go-to for typing tests online, and I managed 89 words per minute (wpm) with 94.68 percent accuracy. My results on last year’s model were 90 wpm and 95.67 percent accuracy.

As always, there’s a gigantic trackpad below the keyboard, one of the largest in the segment. It measures 6.3 x 3.9 inches and features haptic feedback to simulate a physical “click.” I’m used to the smaller touchpad on my 14-inch MacBook Pro, so moving up to the 16-inch counterpart opens an even greater area of freedom for my thumb to mouse around.

Audio on the MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4 Pro)

Apple hasn’t upgraded the audio subsystem on the new MacBook Pro, which shouldn’t be a problem for most people. The speakers on the MacBook Pro have always been excellent, and the six onboard speakers have no trouble belting out distortion-free audio at high volume levels.

For some tunes, I went back nearly 40 years to the 80s ballad, “Glory of Love”, by Peter Cetera. I’ve loved this song since I first heard it in The Karate Kid Part II. All I can say is that Apple knows how to tune its speakers because there was adequate bass from the drum beats, and the vocals were crisp, clear, and vibrant. The keyboard intro and electric guitar riffs near the end of the song sounded magnificent, even with the volume cranked up to around 90%.

Apple says the MacBook Pro supports Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Atmos. Apple’s Spatial Audio format is also supported for use in its family of AirPods wireless headphones. In addition, the 3.5 mm headphone jack includes support for high-impedance headphones.

Upgradeability on the MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4 Pro)

It should come as no surprise that the MacBook Pro is not upgradeable by any means by the end-user. What you see is what you get regarding the processor, memory, and storage, which is a bummer for those used to even limited upgrades on the Windows PC laptop side of things.

The system memory is on-package with the CPU and GPU, making upgrades impossible. Likewise, the NAND for the SSD is soldered onto the motherboard, marking another roadblock for upgrades. The MacBook Pro comes with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 onboard, but you can’t replace the modules if you wish to upgrade to Wi-Fi 7 in the future (like you can with PC laptops).

If you have a component that fails on your MacBook Pro, you can access the inside by removing eight pentalobe screws. However, we highly suggest you consult Apple’s official repair manual if you decide to go that route. Most people will probably opt for the Genius Bar.

Battery Life on the MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4 Pro)

MacBooks have always been battery life champs; our review unit is no exception. Our battery life test suite consists of browsing the web, running OpenGL tests, and streaming video connected to Wi-Fi with the screen brightness set to 150 nits. Under this scenario, the MacBook Pro lasted 21 hours and 1 minute, which is a fantastic result for a laptop this powerful. For reference, last year’s 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Max lasted 18 hours and 5 minutes under the same test conditions.

The MacBook Pro uses a 100 WHr battery, which is replenished using a 140W USB-C power adapter with a MagSafe 3 connection on the laptop side.

Heat on the MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4 Pro)

Heat tests on the MacBook Pro were performed while the laptop was running the Cinebench 2024 stress test. This workout was enough to get the CPU nice and hot, and it also caused the dual internal fans to audibly spin up (3,500 rpm).

The keyboard reached 36.7 degrees Celsius (98.06 degrees Fahrenheit) between the G and H keys, and the trackpad measured a cool 26.1 C (78.98 F). While the aluminum chassis noticeably warmed during the stress test, it was not uncomfortably hot.

The hottest point on the MacBook Pro was at the bottom rear near the hinge, which hit 37.2 C (98.96 F).

Webcam on the MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4 Pro)

The MacBook Pro comes standard with a new 12MP Center Stage camera, which can automatically keep you centered in the frame, even as you move your body within a given space. However, the MacBook Pro’s webcam sits within a notch cut out from the top of the display. This takes away from your viewable display area and is a bit of an eyesore to some people. As someone who uses an iPhone and a 14-inch MacBook Pro with a notch daily, I’ve gotten used to the design quirk.

From a performance standpoint, it’s hard to find fault with the MacBook Pro’s webcam. The colors looked natural, with no overly saturated colors or inaccurate hues. Instead, I was presented with realistic-looking imagery in adequate and inadequate lighting conditions. My skin tones were accurately reproduced, and fine details (facial hair, moles) were clearly visible.

The new Center Stage camera also supports Desk View, which allows you to display an overhead view of your desk. This feature was previously only available on Macs using a supported iPhone.

macOS Sequoia and Software

The MacBook Pro comes preloaded with macOS Sequoia 15.1, which is the latest version of Apple’s consumer operating system. macOS Sequoia marks the debut of Apple Intelligence, which the company claims “helps you simplify and accelerate tasks big and small.” Siri is Apple’s long-serving and oft-maligned personal assistant, and Apple Intelligence in macOS Sequoia 15.1 allows it to have a better understanding of the questions you ask and uses personal context to obtain more relevant results. This also means that you will receive fewer “Here’s what I found on the web” responses from Siri when it gets confused.

One of the most useful new features I use often is the expansion of Continuity to allow direct access to your iPhone from your Mac. With iPhone Mirroring, you get a direct representation of your iPhone that you can control within macOS. What you would typically see on your iPhone screen displays on your Mac, and you can answer emails, check your Facebook feed, or interact with apps that aren’t available on your Mac. Using iPhone Mirroring, you can even drag and drop files between your Mac and iPhone.

Given that Apple controls its entire stack, you won’t find third-party bloatware on new Macs. Instead, you’ll get a whole suite of Apple apps, including Safari, Maps, FaceTime, Notes, GarageBand, Apple TV, and Apple Music (among others). Apple’s longstanding productivity suite is still alive and well, with Pages, Numbers, and Keynote being analogous to Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

MacBook Pro (16-inch, M4 Pro) Configurations and Warranty

The base 16-inch MacBook Pro is priced at $2,499 and comes with a 14-core M4 Pro CPU, 20-core GPU, 24GB of unified memory, and a 512GB SSD. The next step up on the preconfigured ladder is the same configuration with 48GB of unified memory for $2,899. Stepping up to a 14-core M4 Max CPU, 32-core GPU, 36GB of unified memory, and a 1TB SSD takes the price to $3,499.

Our review unit is configured with a 14-core M4 Pro CPU, 20-core GPU, 48GB of unified memory, and the Nano-texture option for the display. That takes the total price for the configuration to $3,649. Upgrading from 48GB of memory to 64GB costs $200, while moving from 48GB to 128GB is $1,000. Likewise, SSD pricing is heart-attack-inducing, with a 2TB upgrade ringing in at $600. If you want 8TB of storage, that’s a $2,400 option.

If cost is no object, you can option the MacBook Pro with 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, 128GB of unified memory, 8TB SSD, and the Nano-texture option for $7,349. That’s a princely sum for a laptop, but that’s the downside of not being able to add your own memory or SSD after the initial purchase.

Apple’s MacBook Pros come with a one-year warranty. You can opt for AppleCare Plus, which extends your warranty coverage for up to three years for an additional $399.

Bottom Line

Apple hasn’t rocked the boat with its latest MacBook Pro revamp. The chassis remains the same, which isn’t really an issue because Apple addressed most customer complaints with the current chassis design. You get three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI 2.1 connectivity, and an integrated SDXC slot for photographers. The speakers remain best in class, the MagSafe 3 connector is a novelty with benefits in the real world, and the keyboard and trackpad are still a joy to use.

This year’s update brings considerable performance improvements thanks to the M4 Pro processor. In our productivity benchmarks, it was comparable in performance to last year’s range-topping M3 Max processor. We have yet to test a MacBook Pro with an M4 Max chip, but we imagine it will be a multitasking monster. For those who are annoyed by glossy displays, the $150 Nano-texture option is a worthy upgrade to consider when configuring your system.

However, the usual caveats of MacBook Pro ownership remain, namely the high price of entry and the lack of user-upgradeable components. The second point is exacerbated by the high price of memory and SSD upgrades at the time of purchase. It’s also disappointing that there’s no Wi-Fi 7 here, even though it’s available on the iPhone 16 family of smartphones.

But for people firmly planted in the ecosystem, you know and accept the caveats, so this isn’t news. And it doesn’t distract from the fact that the 16-inch MacBook Pro is one of the best premium laptops on the market. If you already have an M3 Pro or M3 Max-based MacBook Pro, upgrading to the new M4 versions probably won’t make much sense. However, if you’re rocking an M1-based system or an even older Intel-based MacBook Pro, now’s the time to look at what these new models have to offer.

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The current MacBook Pro design is a few years old, but Apple isn't done pushing it. Along with a refresh to the M4 system on a chip, Apple has made a bunch of small changes to the base MacBook Pro ($1,599 to start, $1,949 as tested), that make one of the best ultrabooks better than ever.

I fell in love with the nano-texture display, an optional matte display upgrade that looks incredible when you use it in an office or in sunlight.

A bump to 16GB of base RAM (the M3 models started at 8GB) was long necessary, but now makes the Pro feel like a better value (at least, if you disregard the extremely expensive upgrade prices otherwise). An extra Thunderbolt 4 port on the left side adds parity to the M4 Pro chassis. And a bump to a 12MP webcam with Desk View, and there's plenty of new tricks for the entry MacBook Pro.

Design of the MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4)

If you've gotten used to the MacBook Pro over the last few years, with rounded corners, a boxy base, and Apple's minimalist design, the M4 model won't surprise you. The big difference this year is that you can get the 14-inch base model in Apple's space black color.

I quite like the black, but I have simple tastes. It's definitely nicer than the space gray Pro that I carry around as one of my personal devices.

There is one major functional difference between this year’s model and last year’s: An extra Thunderbolt 4 port on the right side, between the full-size SD card reader and the HDMI port. The left side still features the same two Thunderbolt ports, MagSafe, and 3.5 mm headphone jack. 

The extra USB-C/Thunderbolt port puts the base MacBook Pro on par with the M4 Pro-based version, which already had three of them, though this year, that's bumped up to Thunderbolt 5. The fact that the extra port is on the right side means you can charge this laptop from either side, which is a nice bonus, though MagSafe hasn't moved.

The display is still interrupted by a notch for the webcam. While I thought I would get past the oddity of it after all these years of Apple using it, I still find it mildly annoying. Still, it's not actually getting rid of any functional screen space, and I know many people who aren't bothered at all.

At 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches and 3.4 pounds, the Pro is just slightly heavier than the  3.3-pound 15-inch MacBook Air, which is 0.45 inches thick.

MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4) Specifications 

Productivity Performance on the MacBook Pro (14-inch M4)

The 14-inch MacBook Pro is the first laptop we're testing with Apple's M4 chip. M4 actually debuted on the iPad Pro earlier this year, but it's finally made its way to the Mac. It's a 10-core CPU with four performance cores and six efficiency cores, as well as a 10-core GPU and 16-core neural engine (or, as you may hear others say it, NPU). We also tested the laptop with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage.

M4 showed strong performance on benchmarks, easily competing with the Dell XPS 13 (Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100), Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (Intel Core Ultra 256V) and Apple's own M3 in the 15-inch MacBook Air.

On Geekbench, the new Mac achieved a single-core score of 3,807 and a multi-core score of 15,114. For single-core performance, the next best competitor was Apple's own M3 processor (3,093 points), and that was without air cooling.

In multi-core, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite put up a strong second-place showing of 14,635, and that has two more cores than M4. Intel's Lunar Lake was last in both tests.

On our file transfer tests, the MacBook Pro copied roughly 25GB of files at a rate of 1,167.29 MBps, matching the M3 MacBook Air. Here, both the Yoga and XPS were faster.

The MacBook Pro took the crown in Handbrake, which we used to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. It took 4 minutes and 27 seconds, which is 20 seconds faster than the Snapdragon-based XPS. In comparison, Lunar Lake seemed slow, coming in closer to last year's M3 without air.

On Macs, we run the Xcode benchmark to simulate compiling a large codebase. The MacBook Pro with M4 completed the test in 141 seconds. That's a 6.2% improvement over the M3 in the 15-inch Air (150 seconds), but the Pro and Max chips, even from previous generations, completed the task faster with more cores.

We stress test laptops by running Cinebench 2024 over 10 runs, which usually takes a couple of hours. Results were fairly consistent; the highest run earned 1,001 points (run 2), but the system quickly settled into scores between 988 and 992. While we use TG Pro to log Mac temperatures (Apple doesn't reveal core speeds), it appears it wasn't ready for M4. It did, however, log overall system temperature, which reached 50.33 Celsius internally with an average across the power supply, power management dies, battery, and other components.

While many people don't see the Mac as a gaming machine, there's no doubt that M4 has some gaming chops. The 10-core GPU let me explore in No Man's Sky at 2560 x 1600 on the ultra preset between 60 and 70 fps.

An increasing number of games, like Control: Ultimate Edition, Death Stranding: Director's Cut, Baldur's Gate 3, the Resident Evil 4 remake, and more have been coming to Mac, running natively using Metal, but not at the same rate as these games come to Windows PCs. Next year, Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to the Mac (including Path Tracing!) which should be a big test of the Mac's prowess, even if the game is several years old at this point.

macOS Sequoia and Apple Intelligence

The M4 MacBook Pro ships with macOS Sequoia, which launched in October. In general, macOS doesn't contain much bloat. There are preinstalled apps including Safari, Mail, Messages, Weather, Notes, Maps, and FaceTime, as well as basic productivity software in Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. There's also Apple's subscription services, including Podcasts, Apple Music, Apple News, and Apple TV, which way too many people sleep on.

Apple still includes Rosetta 2, its translator for code designed for older Macs with Intel CPUs, though at this point I'm hard-pressed to find something that requires it. Most of the apps that I use have moved over to native Arm versions or are using universal binaries. Valve's Steam launcher, which some Mac gamers may use, is still using Rosetta, though the games that work are optimized for Apple Silicon.

macOS Sequoia is filled with a bunch of great features. I'm a fan of iPhone Mirroring, which lets you use most of the features on your iPhone without needing to pick up the device, as well as the ability to get my iPhone notifications in macOS. The new Window tiling is nice, though there's still some changes to be made to catch up to Windows there. There are also updates to Messages, including text formatting and emoji tapbacks, as well as new math logic implemented throughout, from Calculator to Notes.

But the big change that Apple is pushing is Apple Intelligence, which made its debut on the Mac with macOS Sequoia 15.1, days before this MacBook Pro was announced. But Sequoia only brings a few of the promised AI features, so it's a small start. My favorite changes so far are to Siri. Being able to hit Command twice to  launch the assistant and type my queries is sometimes more appropriate than speaking, especially on a laptop, and I found myself using it more often. The fact that Siri can now tell me about my Mac and has access to user guides is also a helpful addition.

I also like notification summaries, which can put multiple emails, texts, or even news headlines into one simple notification to read. In general, it works well, though it does occasionally make mistakes, including about who said what in emails.

Clean Up in photos lets you erase background distractions. This makes it easier than ever to do, but Apple is catching up to Google and Adobe here.

Apple's Writing Tools let you proofread, summarize, or re-write text in different tones. As someone who writes for a living, I find this all kind of impersonal, though I could see the summarization option can be useful for very long emails. Still, the AI can miss things, so you'll ultimately want to read that email.

But most of the most hyped Apple Intelligence tools aren't here yet, with more coming in macOS 15.2 and 15.3. MacOS 15.2 is expected to bring ChatGPT integration to Siri and the writing tools, while Image Playground will let you create images of yourself in a cartoon style. Even later, we may see further upgrades to Siri that can answer questions based on your email and calendar, what's on screen, and take actions for you in apps. But none of these features are here just yet (though some are available in developer betas). That means that as of this writing, Apple Intelligence is a pretty minor set of features.

While Apple is pushing Apple Intelligence on its lineup of M4 Macs (so much so that they're all starting with 16GB of base RAM now. About time!), you can use these features on any Mac with an M-series chip.

Display on the MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4)

I'll get to all of the specs on Apple's 14.2-inch display. But what really got me on the unit Apple loaned us is the nano-texture screen. This won't be in any of the preconfigured versions (the ones most people will buy at Apple Stores, Best Buy, or Amazon), so if you want it, you'll have to order from Apple.

While the $150 upcharge for the nano-texture display is a lot of money, I really enjoyed it. My desk is right next to a window. Any laptop I use — as well as my desktop monitor, are prone to some glare, and I end up constantly adjusting the window shade. But the nano-texture display, which reduces glare and reflections, eliminated that problem. (At least, on the MacBook Pro. It couldn't help my ageing 4K monitor). It's a simple change, but it was kind of a game changer for me. If you use your Mac outside, you should absolutely consider it.

The 14.2-inch screen has a "Liquid Retina" resolution of  3024 x 1964 with a refresh rate that goes up to 120 Hz with ProMotion. The Mini-LED backlighting isn't quite OLED, but it looks pretty great.  It also comes with TrueTone enabled, which adjusts the image on your screen to the ambient lighting. I generally use it, except for photo editing when I want colors to be exact. 

When I watched the trailer for Ryan Coogler's upcoming vampire thriller, Sinners, I appreciated the deep blacks, especially when contrasted with fiery lanterns lighting some of the characters' faces.

The 14-inch Mac was the brightest of the test pool at 556.6 nits, easily surpassing the Yoga Slim 7i, XPS 13, and the LED-lit MacBook Air. Apple's display covered 80.2% of the DCI-P3 gamut and 113.3 % of the sRGB color space.

Lenovo rought the most colorful screen with the Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition, covering 108.5% of the DCI-P3 space and 153.2% sRGB. In my eyes, the brightness helps balance things out, but Lenovo brought the more vivid screen on paper. The Dell XPS 13's 1920 x 1080 LCD screen was great for battery life (see Battery Life, below) but nowhere near as bright or vivid as what the MacBook Pro or Yoga brought to the table. 

Apple includes a polishing cloth with the nano-texture laptop screens. It's been awhile since every Mac came with one, and I wish Apple would expand this. This screen can get smudgy if you touch it, so it's nice to have one in the box.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4) 

Apple's Mac keyboards continue to be reliable and comfortable. The layout, including full-sized function keys and arrow keys in an inverted T, works great. I particularly appreciate the full set of media keys on the function row, though I don't think I need a shortcut just for Focus modes. 

While some Windows competitors beat the Mac on key travel, I don't have any complaints on comfort. The Mac's only biometric login option, Touch ID, is built into the power button. (There's a whole notch, I'm waiting for Face ID to hit the Mac already).

On the Monkeytype typing test, I reached 124 words per minute and 98% accuracy. I rarely do better than that.

The haptic touchpads on Macs are still some of my favorites you can find on a laptop. It's a good size (though frankly, Apple does have a little extra room on the sides), the feedback feels natural, and the gestures always just work. I still tend to turn off the "natural" scroll direction, though I did give it the old college try out of the box with the MacBook Pro despite my preferences and eventually got used to it. I still won't say it's better.

Audio on the MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4)

The six-speaker sound system on the 14-inch MacBook Pro continues to be one of the best in the industry (bested only, in my experience, by the 16-inch MacBook Pro). If you want to jam without headphones, these speakers do a tremendous job.

Case in point: the sounds of Mike Shinoda and K.Flay's "Make It Up As I Go" filled my apartment before I came close to maxing out the volume. When I did, there was almost no distortion. The raps and vocal verses were crisp and clear, as were the synths, guitars, snappy drums, and even some deep bass — the latter of which is exceedingly rare on 14-inch machines. The speakers also support Apple's spatial audio or dolby vision.

Upgradeability of the MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4) 

There's not much for the average person to fix or upgrade on the MacBook Pro. Eight pentalobe screws hold the bottom of the case on, but once you get in there, your options are minimal.

Like previous M-series chips, Apple's M4 is a system on a chip, which includes the memory. In addition, the storage is soldered to the board, rather than using M.2 slots like most of the competition. So you'll have to be judicious with your component choices when you order a MacBook Pro, because you'll be set with them until your next upgrade.

Most people with MacBook Pro repair needs will end up at the Genius Bar at one of Apple's many stores. For experts willing to rent a bunch of tools from Apple, these laptops will probably hit Self Service Repair soon.

Battery Life on the MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4)

Ever since Apple transitioned to Arm-based Apple Silicon, it's been pumping out laptops with long battery life. That hasn't changed here, with the 14-inch MacBook Pro running for 18 hours and 31 minutes on our battery test, which browses the web, runs OpenGL tests, and stream video at 150 nits of brightness.

But while Apple's battery life was once class-leading, another company has become just as competitive when it comes to longevity. Specifically, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chips are extremely competitive here. In fact, the Dell XPS 13 (9345) with the Snapdragon X Elite lasted longer (19:31), though with the caveat that it had a dimmer, lower-resolution display.

Intel hasn't entirely caught up here. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition, with an Intel Core 7 Ultra 256V ran for 14:08. That's not bad for x86, but not exactly Arm numbers.

Heat on the MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4) 

During our Cinebench stress test, the MacBook Pro got warm, but not unusable. The fans kicked into high gear, and were plenty audible at the peak of the test.

The center of the keyboard actually proved to be the hottest touchpoint at 101.8 degrees Fahrenheit. It wasn't unusable, but it's toasty. The touchpad was a far cooler 86.5 F. The hottest point on the bottom of the system measured 99.6 F. That was towards the back of the unit, an inch or so from the vent.

 Webcam on the MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4) 

Apple has bumped its webcam from 1080p to 12MP with its latest Pros. No longer dubbed "FaceTime," Apple is now calling it a Center Stage camera, named after the feature that will focus on your face even as you move around.

In video calls, I looked pretty decent. Partially due to the window pouring natural light onto my desk. In that lighting, the webcam caught the bags under my eyes, the gray hairs creeping onto the side of my head, and the colors of all of the little trinkets on my bookshelf. With the windows behind me, my skin appeared a bit red and my blue eyes were less intense, but blown out windows will do that to most webcams.

This is the first time Apple has built its Desk View functionality directly into the Mac; you no longer need an iPhone for it. When you first launch Desk View, there's a nice tutorial that explains how to adjust the hinge and move your Mac to get optimal positioning, but the slice of your desk isn't very wide. In my testing, I found that the distortion of certain objects, including the function keys on my keyboard and even my fingers, was distracting.

MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4) Configurations 

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 starts at $1,599 with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Our review unit was one step up from that, with a 1TB SSD. That's $1,799, but since our system also came with the nano texture display (a $150 upgrade), it came out to $1,949.

As usual, Apple's upgrade prices for RAM and storage are hefty, if not downright egregious. But since these are all soldered, you have to buy what you'll need at the start, since there aren't any upgrades. Jumping up between 16GB and 24GB of RAM costs $200. Moving from 24GB to 32GB is another $200. For storage, moving from 512GB to 1TB is $200. The jump up to 2TB is $600. 

Apple also has versions of the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 Pro (and, instead of Thunderbolt 4, you get the newer, faster Thunderbolt 5). Those start at $1,999.

Apple sells the MacBook Pro with a one-year warranty. AppleCare Plus can be added for $99.99 per year or $279 for a three-year period, which also includes accidental damage protection for additional fees.

Bottom Line

The M4 MacBook Pro is a powerful, attractive, luxurious laptop. Apple's latest chip is strong, fast, and efficient with excellent battery life (though Qualcomm is very competitive on that front) and strong performance.

At this point in Apple Silicon's lifespan, that may be table stakes. But by beefing up the base RAM to 16GB (as it should've been, even on the base level Pro), adding an additional Thunderbolt port to the non-Pro versions, it also feels like you're getting a more valuable laptop. And if you pay for the nano-texture display, you'll get a beautiful matte screen that is great for working both at your desk or on the go.

If you're updating for Apple Intelligence, you may want to hold off. Some of the features are fun and useful, but many of the most interesting ideas haven't been released yet. And at the moment, those will work on any M-series chip. 

Once you get over the sticker shock of the RAM and SSD pricing, you're left with a strong workhorse that can compete with Windows — both in Arm or x86 — and more than ever feels like it can be your everything machine. 

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It’s an exciting time to be in the market for a new ultraportable laptop. Qualcomm wants to make waves with its Snapdragon X Series of Arm processors, which boast incredible battery life. Intel just launched its new Core Ultra 200 “Lunar Lake” chips, which have a large focus on overall efficiency. And, of course, AMD is pushing its frontline Ryzen AI 300 processors in the laptop space.

The HP OmniBook Ultra review unit we tested comes from the latter series of chips; specifically, it features a Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 processor. That powerful mobile chip is ensconced within an attractive and lightweight aluminum chassis. The design is understated, with the only bold move being a light blue power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader.

The OmniBook Ultra proved to be a swift performer in our benchmark suite, putting it in contention among the best ultrabooks.

Design of the HP OmniBook Ultra

Less is more when it comes to the OmniBook. The laptop doesn’t draw attention to itself, which suits those who like to fly under the radar sans blaring.

The lid is simple and finished in aluminum with the HP logo polished to a mirror finish. Opening the lid reveals a no-nonsense keyboard deck flanked by two rectangular-shaped speaker grilles. The keyboard is dark gray in finish, while the top function row is a lighter shade of gray. The only design embellishment is the power button, which is finished in a pale blue and doubles as a fingerprint reader.

The display is covered in glossy glass, which is a boon for increasing color fidelity, but amplifies reflections. The bezels are minimal along the sides, but are more sizable for the top and bottom (where you’ll find another HP logo).

There are also two Copilot logos on the chassis. One is located at the base of the display lid, and is only visible when the lid is closed. The second is located under the left CTRL key on the keyboard. And if you didn’t already know that this machine was powered by AMD, two stickers are placed on the right palm rest to advertise the Ryzen AI 9 HX processor and Radeon Graphics inside.

Regarding external ports, the OmniBook Ultra doesn’t include many. There are two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the right side of the chassis (a huge rarity for AMD systems, as Intel licenses Thunderbolt 4), while a 3.5 mm combo jack and a USB-A port are on the left side. However, the USB-A port has a fussy, spring-loaded half-cover that mirrors the contour of the laptop. This design is often included with laptops with a built-in Ethernet port, but I’ve never seen it for a USB-A port before. It seems like an unnecessary part that could become easily broken.

The OmniBook Ultra measures 12.41 x 8.96 x 0.65 inches and weighs 3.47 pounds. That is slightly heavier than the larger Asus ZenBook S16, which weighs 3.31 pounds and measures 13.92 x 9.57 x 0.47 inches. The ZenBook S14 has dimensions of 12.22 x 8.45 x 0.51 inches and weighs 2.65 pounds, while the Dell XPS 13 (9345) measures 11.63 x 7.84 x 0.60 inches and weighs 2.62 pounds.

HP OmniBook Ultra Specifications

Productivity Performance on the HP OmniBook Ultra

This is the first laptop we’ve tested using AMD’s new Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, which sits just above the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 we previously reviewed in the Asus ZenBook S16. The processor features four Zen 5 cores and eight Zen 5c cores. The "Strix Point" chip supports a total of 24 threads. The Zen 5 and Zen 5c cores each have a base clock of 2 GHz but boost to a maximum of 5.1 GHz and 3.3 GHz, respectively.

These specs are all identical to the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. The only difference between the two chips is that the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 has a slightly faster XDNA2 NPU, which boosts maximum AI performance from 50 TOPS to 55 TOPS.

Our OmniBook review unit came configured with 32GB of LPDDR5x-7500 RAM and a 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD.

Kicking things off with the synthetic Geekbench 6 benchmark, the OmniBook Ultra flexed its muscles with wins in single-core (2,847) and multi-core (14,838) performance. The XPS 13 (Snapdragon X Elite) was nipping at its heels, scoring 2,797 and 14,635, respectively. Rounding out the slate of competitors was the ZenBook S16 (Ryzen AI 9 HX 370) at 2,765/13,282 and the ZenBook S14 (Core 7 Ultra 258V) at 2,751/11,157.

The OmniBook Ultra had another convincing win in our file transfer test, where it copied 25GB of files at 1,708.23 Mbps. The next-closest competitor was the XPS 13 at 1,342 Mbps, while the ZenBook S16 lagged well behind in last place with 908.45 Mbps.

The dominance of HP’s new OmniBook Ultra extended to our Handbrake test, which transcodes a 4K video file to 1080p. The OmniBook Ultra completed the task in 4:18, putting it nearly 30 seconds ahead of the second-place XPS 13. The ZenBook S14, with its newly launched Lunar Lake-based processor, took almost twice as long as the OmniBook Ultra to complete the Handbrake test (8:28).

To stress test ultrabooks, we rely on Cinebench 2024, which we run through ten loops. The first run was the highest, at 960.85, while subsequent runs meandered through the mid-900s to low-900s. During the stress test, the Zen 5 cores averaged 3.1 GHz, while the Zen 5c cores averaged 2.37 GHz. During the test, the CPU measured an average of 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit).

NPU and AI

The Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 is nearly identical to the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 in key specifications, apart from the NPU. The NPU in the former receives a 10 percent performance uplift, maxing out at 55 TOPS instead of 50 TOPS. To qualify for Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC certification, the PC must be capable of 40 TOPS, which means that the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 easily clears the bar.

Copilot+ PCs will use the NPU for features like Cocreate, an AI tool to augment your drawings, and Windows Studio Effects, which provides real-time effects for your camera. However, the biggest headliner for the NPU will be its use with the controversial Recall feature in Windows 11. Recall takes snapshots of everything you’ve done on your computer, which is then accessible by searching for keywords or browsing through a timeline of your PC’s recorded history. Microsoft now intends for Recall to become available for Copilot+ PCs in October via the Windows Insider program.

Display on the HP OmniBook Ultra

While many ultrabooks opt for OLED panels for deeper blacks and richer colors, HP sticks with tried-and-true IPS technology for the OmniBook Ultra. The 14-inch panel has a 16:10 aspect ratio and a relatively uncommon 2240 x 1400 resolution. Our review unit was equipped with the touch panel option, and the refresh rate clocks in at 60 Hz.

The OmniBook Ultra covers 75.6 percent of DCI-P3 and 107 percent of sRGB, putting it about average in this assembled group of laptops. Maximum brightness measured 359.4 nits, slightly edging out the ZenBook S16 (357 nits) for second place. The XPS 13 took top honors at 456 nits.

Touch screens on laptops aren’t a big draw for me, but HP includes the functionality here for those who like that input method. The touch support worked as expected, but the thought of smearing the glossy screen with my fingerprints just gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the HP OmniBook Ultra

I love the look of the OmniBook Ultra’s keyboard. The laptop's chassis resembles a medium graphite color, while the primary keys are dark gray with white lettering. The function row is a lighter shade of gray.

Key presses are firm but very responsive. Although the keys have plenty of travel for my taste, the key presses are a bit on the loud sound. They remind me of older MacBook keyboards when Apple was in its ill-conceived scissor-switch phase. However, the half-height up and down arrow keys are the biggest faux pas. I prefer full-size keys all-around, but some manufacturers are intent on squeezing in half-height keys to save space.

As always, I use keyhero.com to test my typing speed. The test clocked me at 84.78 words per minute with 96.34%accuracy.

The OmniBook Ultra uses a glass touchpad that measures 4.9 x 4.4 inches and has a satisfying click with each press. The touchpad is top-hinged, meaning the presses from the bottom of the touchpad to about three quarters of the way up register with ease. However, pressing in that last quarter of the touchpad’s surface requires a much harder press to register. The surface was smooth, allowing me to easily glide my finger without dragging.

Audio on the HP OmniBook Ultra

HP advertises the OmniBook Ultra as having “pitch perfect audio by Poly,” but in practice, it’s good, but by no means perfect. It has quad speakers with HP Audio Boost and DTS:X Ultra support.

I first queued up a Throttle House video of the Tuthill 911K vs Alfaholics GTA-R 290. What should have been an aural explosion of mechanical amazingness from the 911K’s engine revving to 11,000 rpm sounded merely pedestrian compared to the 14-inch MacBook Pro that was sitting beside the OmniBook Ultra playing the same video.

However, music sounded a bit better, as I could make out some slight inklings of bass with the drum hits in the Fugee’s “Killing Me Softly.” Lauren Hill’s vocals were sharp and clear, with no distortion when pushing the volume towards 100% (which you must do, because this is such a classic 90s banger).

Upgradeability on the HP OmniBook Ultra

The OmniBook Ultra’s bottom cover is affixed with just four Torx screws, which was a relief – I'm used to laptops having eight or more. After removing the screws, a pried the bottom cover off by starting with the exposed lip at the back near the exhaust vents.

At first glance, there doesn’t appear to be anything user-accessible, save for the battery. However, the M.2 slot for the Wi-Fi 7 card is hidden under a small, thin plastic I/O shield held in place with an adhesive. A larger plastic I/O shield is located just below the left cooling fan and heatpipe. Once removed, you have access to the M.2 SSD.

The LPDDR5x memory is soldered onboard, as is the case with many ultrabooks, so there’s no opportunity to perform upgrades post-purchase.

Battery Life on the HP OmniBook Ultra

The OmniBook Ultra was the leader regarding performance. Despite this, battery life didn’t suffer significantly compared to the x86-based competition at 12:52. The ZenBook S14 lasted an hour longer (13:51), but that laptop lagged in all performance metrics. Likewise, the ZenBook S16’s runtime was over an hour shorter (11:35).

The Arm-powered XPS 13 was the outlier, giving up after an impressive 19-and-a-half hours.

Heat on the HP OmniBook Ultra

We measure heat output during the Cinebench 2024 stress test. Despite its thin frame and high performance (among this competition), the OmniBook Ultra was never uncomfortable to touch.

We measured 104.2 degrees Fahrenheit between the G and H keys, while the touchpad was 79.5 F. The hottest part of the laptop was on the bottom between the two cooling fans. The temperature increased to 116 F in this area.

Webcam on the HP OmniBook Ultra

HP uses a 1080p webcam with IR capabilities on the OmniBook, which means that Windows Hello facial recognition is supported (in addition to the built-in fingerprint reader). The images captured by the webcam were “OK” and didn’t blow me away. Fine detail, like my facial hair and patterns on my shirt, looked slightly blurry. In addition, the images/video looked a bit cool. What should have been deep red on my shirt instead looked a slightly paler facsimile.

Software and Warranty on the HP OmniBook Ultra

HP went overboard with the installed software on the OmniBook Ultra. You’ll find HP AI Companion, HP Enhanced Lighting (lighting controls for the webcam), HP Energy Star (an app that just shows you Energy Star appliances and allows you to search for local rebates), HP PC Hardware Diagnostics, HP Privacy Settings, HP Smart (for setting up HP printers), HP Support Assistant, and HP System Event Utility. Would it have hurt HP to put all of these into a single app?

In addition, there’s the Omen Gaming Hub, even though the OmniBook Ultra isn’t explicitly billed as a gaming system. The other preinstalled software includes DTS Sound Unbound, Poly Camera Pro (which gives you more granular control over the webcam), and a link to Otter.ai and McAfee Antivirus. That’s a lot of bloatware for one system.

The OmniBook Ultra ships with a one-year warranty from HP.

HP OmniBook Ultra Configurations

The AMD flavor of the OmniBook Ultra is available in ready-to-ship or customizable configurations directly from HP. The preconfigured system comes with a Ryzen AI 9 365 processor, 16GB of LPDDR5x, and a 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD for $1,079.99.

Our review unit, however, was customized (starting price of $1,399.99) with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 processor, 32GB of LPDDR5X, and a 2TB SSD for $1,748.99.

Bottom Line

The HP OmniBook Ultra is an all-around good thin and light laptop. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 processor proved a potent motivator, allowing the laptop to take top honors in all the performance benchmarks. Even its storage subsystem performance outshined its rivals.

While you might expect the high-performance chip to impact battery life significantly, the OmniBook Ultra was right in line with its peers in endurance. Only the Dell XPS 13 with the Snapdragon X Elite Arm processor showed a dramatic advantage in battery life.

The display proved to be vibrant, and the speakers were good, but not great. It’s hard to find fault with the hardware other than a keyboard that is a little loud and the unnecessarily fussy USB-A port. The biggest detractor is the sheer amount of bloatware that HP includes with the OmniBook Ultra, but that can luckily be rectified with some time spent in the Installed Apps section of Settings.

At $1,748.99 as-tested, the OmniBook Ultra isn’t cheap, but it’s a high-flying performance powerhouse without a lot of compromises.

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With the release of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X series processors earlier this year, a new crop of laptops have focused on power efficiency and AI features. Lenovo’s ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6 with Snapdragon) is the first ThinkPad powered by the chip and it specifically runs on a 12-core, Snapdragon Elite X1E-78-100 with a powerful NPU with 45 TOPS.

Starting at $1,666 (current street price and the price of our review unit), the ThinkPad T14s is not only one of the best Snapdragon-powered laptops on the market, but one of the best ultraportable laptops you can buy with any processor. It lasted an incredible 21 hours on our battery test – one of the longest marks of any system we’ve ever tested – and yet it offers all the best features you can find on a ThinkPad. It has a world class keyboard, an accurate pointing stick, a bright and colorful screen, good performance and a sturdy, sub-3 pound chassis. So, though it’s not cheap, if you’re willing to commit to an Arm-powered laptop, the T14s is a fantastic system.

Design of the the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

The ThinkPad T14s is thin, light and very consistent with Lenovo’s time-tested ThinkPad aesthetic. Like most other ThinkPads, it has a matte, raven black color with a red pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard, a red status light on the lid and some red accents on the TrackPoint buttons.

The lid and deck have a luxurious soft-touch feel that’s really pleasant, particularly when I put my wrists on the palmrest. Many other ThinkPads, including the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) don’t have a finish that feels quite this soft so it’s a real plus. The lid itself is made of 50 percent recycled carbon-reinforced plastic while the deck is made from 90 percent recycled magnesium alloy.

At 2.72 pounds, the T14s is really light, but some competitors are even svelter. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) is just 2.42 pounds (1.24 kg) and the Dell XPS 13 (9345), which has a 13-inch display, is 2.62 pounds. The T14s is 12.35 x 8.64 x 0.67 inches (313.6 x 219.4 x 16.9 mm), but the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) is just a tad smaller at 12.31 x 8.45 x 0.59 inches and the HP OmniBook X (12.32 x 8.8 x 0.56 inches) and Dell XPS 13 (11.63 x 7.84 x 0.60 inches) are also quite a bit smaller.

The T14s manages to pack in all the ports you’ll need, including two Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C ports, two USB 3.2 Type-A Ports (5 Gbps), a 3.5-inch audio jack and a full-size HDMI 2.1 port.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon) Specs

Performance of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

With its 12-core, Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 CPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD, our review configuration of the ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6) handled everything we threw at it, from simple web surfing to playing videos and running intensive benchmarks for hours at a time.

On Geekbench 6, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall processing performance, the T14s registered a 14,486 multi-core score and a 2,459 single-core score. Those numbers are right in the middle of the pack when compared to other laptops with Qualcomm CPUs. The Dell XPS 13 (9345) (Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100) and Acer Swift 14 AI (Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100) both scored a little higher while the HP OmniBook X (Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100) and ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H) trailed.

The ThinkPad T14s took 5 minutes and 34 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p in Handbrake. That time is faster than the OmniBook X and X1 Carbon, but slower than the XPS 13 and Swift 14 AI.

The 1TB PCIe 4 SSD was reasonably fast, transferring 25GB of files at a rate of 1,069 MBps. That is acceptable, but quite a bit behind most of its competitors including the Acer Swift 14 AI (1,891 MBps) and ThinkPad X1 Carbon (1,512 MBps).

To see how well the T14s performs during long-running, processor-intensive tasks we ran Cinebench 2024 10 times in a row and recorded the scores, processor clock speeds and temperatures. During the run, Lenovo’s laptop averaged a score of 732 with a high of 751 on run number five and a low of 675 on run number two. The CPU ran at an average clock speed of 2,107.6 MHz while the CPU ran at an average temperature of 69.4 degrees Celsius.

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

The T14s is available with a choice of three panels. You either get a 1920 x 1200, with or without touch, or an OLED 2880 x 1800 panel that operates at 120 Hz. Our review unit had the 1920 x 1200 non-touch panel which is likely the best for power consumption as higher resolution panels and those that operate at higher refresh rates tend to use more juice.

When I watched my favorite test video, an HDR movie of animals in the Costa Rican jungle, the greens in a lizard’s skin and the reds in a parrot’s features were pretty colorful but not as vibrant as I’ve seen on the very best laptop screens I’ve tested. Fine details such as the scales on a snake were easy to make out.

According to our colorimeter, the screen can reproduce a solid 70.6% of the DCI-P3 color gamut which is not as good as the HP OmniBook X (80.2%) or ThinkPad X1 Carbon (82.1%), the latter of which had an OLED panel on our test unit. However, the Dell XPS 13 was far worse at 66.9%.

The screen is very bright, hitting an eye popping 452 nits on our light meter. Among its direct competitors, only the Dell XPS 13 (456 nits) did better.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Trackpoint on the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

Like most other ThinkPads, the T14s has a world-class typing experience, complete snappy keys have curved keycaps that make them easier to locate by feel. There are also raised lines on the Enter, Fn, Down Arrow and F + J keys so you find these markers in the dark (or if you’re visually impaired). The F + J keys have had these marks on prior ThinkPads but the others are new additions.

Tapping away on the T14’s keyboard was a pleasure as I managed a strong 100 words-per-minute on the 10 Fast Fingers typing test, along with a 3 percent error rate. Those are both good marks for me on any laptop, and I was able to achieve them because I was comfortable typing.

Using the built-in Lenovo Commercial Vantage control panel software, you can configure the F12 key to launch any program, open a website or enter any text you want. Unfortunately, you can’t use the app to remap F12 into another key such as Print Screen, but you can do that with a third-party utility such as SharpKeys.

For navigation, the T14s has both a TrackPoint pointing stick and a 2.4 x 4.53-inch glass (non-haptic) touchpad. I always prefer the TrackPoint because it gives me the most accurate navigation around the desktop and I don’t have to lift my hands off of the home row and disrupt my typing position to use it. Double-tapping the TrackPoint brings up the TrackPoint Quick Menu, which gives you easy access to Microphone, Audio Playback and Camera settings.

If you don’t like pointing sticks – and really, you should give them a try – the touchpad has a lot to offer. In my tests, it offered smooth navigation with just the right amount of friction. It also responded flawlessly to multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom and three-finger swipe.

Audio on the ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

The ThinkPad T14s’s dual speakers, located on either side of the keyboard, provide sound output that’s loud enough to fill a small conference room and is accurate, though not rich. When I played AC/DC’s "Back in Black," there was some separation of sound between the drums on the right side and the vocals / guitar on the left. And the percussion, while not layered, was mostly free from tinniness.

Using the included Dolby Access app, I was able to choose among different sound output profiles for Music, Movies, Games and Dynamic. I found that Dynamic, which automatically predicts the kind of output you need, to be not only the best but the loudest choice.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

While you can’t upgrade the RAM, which is soldered to the motherboard, you can change out the SSD, but you’ll pay a premium for the replacement. While most computers and laptops use 2280 length SSDs, the T14s requires a 2242 drive, which is less common and costs more. For example, a 2TB WD Black SN770 in 2242 form factor currently goes for $194 while the 2280 size of the same drive is just $118.

To upgrade the laptop, you need to loosen the five captive Philip’s head screws and pry open the rear panel, an easy process that takes just a couple of minutes. The SSD is located underneath a copper heatsink in the upper right corner of the motherboard.

Battery LIfe on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

We need only one word to describe ThinkPad T14s’s battery life: wow.

On our battery test, which involves surfing the web and streaming videos with the screen set at 150 nits of brightness, the T14s endured for 21 hours and 3 minutes. That time is the longest we’ve seen on a laptop. The Dell XPS 13 (9345), which uses the same Snapdragon Elite X CPU, came close to matching this mark, hitting a time of 19 hours and 31 minutes, though that’s with a smaller display.

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

The ThinkPad T14s stayed cool throughout our testing . It never got particularly warm, even when we pushed it to its limits.

When I ran Cinebench 2024 and took the temperatures after 15 minutes, the middle of the keyboard was a mere 92 degrees Fahrenheit and barely felt warm to the touch. The touchpad was a cool 77 F, which is barely room temperature. However, like most laptops under load, the bottom got toasty, hitting 114 F.

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

The 1080p webcam on the ThinkPad T14s captured sharp, colorful images of me in both regular and low light scenarios. In the shots I took, the reds and greens in my shirt were accurate and vibrant. And the hairs in my beard were sharp and detailed.

There’s also an IR camera for Windows Hello facial login. If you’re concerned about privacy, you can always slide the physical privacy shutter over the camera lens.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

The ThinkPad T14s comes blissfully free of unwanted bloatware and has just a bare minimum number of utilities. Lenovo Commercial Vantage is the company’s major control panel software and it allows you to do everything from downloading updated drivers to configuring the power settings from one place. However, for many of the settings – Camera and Display settings for example – Commercial Vantage simply links you to the appropriate part of Windows 11’s Settings app. That’s probably for the best, because in most cases, you don’t need a proprietary settings panel in lieu of the one that’s built into the operating system.

However, Vantage does provide some extra settings such as the ability to configure whether the USB ports can still charge devices even when the computer is asleep or powered off. In addition to Vantage, there’s the Dolby Access app which lets you change sound profiles, choosing among Movie, Music Game or Dynamic settings. On the Start Menu, there’s also User Guide which is nothing more than a link to an online manual for the T14s, located at Lenovo.com.

It almost goes without saying that Microsoft has some Windows 11 preloaded apps on here such as Clipchamp and Spotify.

This is a Copilot+ PC, so Windows comes with a few extra local AI features you can’t get on older PCs, but will soon come to on Ryzen AI-powered and Intel Lunar Lake-powered laptops. These include Cocreate, a feature of Windows Paint that draws AI images locally and Windows Studio Effects, which allow you to get background blur and a few other webcam special effects. There’s also Live captions with real-time translation and, in the near future, Recall, which will allow you to query all your past screen activity to remember things you’ve done.

Because the T14s has an Arm processor, there are a few Windows programs, including Adobe After Effects, Google Drive for Desktop and many games that won’t run on it. And there are many other apps such as Discord and Audacity that will run but only in emulation mode, which makes them slower. A site called windowsonarm.org tracks which apps are and are not compatible with Arm and it’s clear that most of the key productivity programs do work on Arm. So, while it’s possible you could find an app that won’t work, most knowledge workers will find that their most-used apps, including Microsoft Office, Chrome browser and Visual Studio, all run well.

Lenovo backs the ThinkPad T14s with a standard one year warranty. However, you can pay extra to extend the warranty up to five years and add extras such as accidental damage protection.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon) Configurations

When we started this review a few weeks ago, the starting configuration of the T14s was available for less than $1,300 on Lenovo.com, but since then, the prices have gone up. Now, Lenovo.com only has a “build your own” option which starts at a whopping $1,969 and, if you want to spend less, you’ll need to buy from a third-party site such as B&H.

Currently priced at $1,666.56 (when bought via B&H Photo), our review configuration of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon) came with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 1920 x 1200, non-touch display.

On Lenovo.com, there’s only a custom configuration option. The lowest configuration, which goes for $1,969, still has the same Snapdragon CPU, 1920 x 1200 display and 32GB of RAM, but just 256GB of storage.

If you custom configure your system, you can move up to 64GB of RAM, go with a 512GB of 1TB SSD and choose a 2.8K OLED panel that promises to reproduce 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. We recommend sticking with the 1920 x 1200 panel, if you want the best battery life.

Bottom Line

There’s a lot to love about the ThinkPad T14s (Snapdragon, Gen 6). It has incredible battery life, which is useful when you have a 2.72-pound system and want to spend a long time away from power outlets while you get things done. And, with this system, you will get a lot done. It has the awesome ThinkPad keyboard we’ve come to expect from Lenovo, it has all the ports you might want and a screen that’s bright enough to help you work near a window with sunlight streaming in.

The ThinkPad T14s has solid performance and the promise of even more help when local AI workloads become even more useful and pervasive than the gimmicky Copilot+ features Windows has today. Its only serious drawbacks are its relatively high price) and the unlikely possibility that you’ll want to use a program that doesn’t run or run well on Arm processors. If you’re concerned about compatibility, consider waiting for the ThinkPad T14s with AMD Ryzen AI processor that will be out in a few weeks or the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13) that will be out in November. However, if you’re willing to get an Arm-powered laptop, the T14s (Gen 6) is a fantastic choice.

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Not that there haven't been giant leaps in computing in the last few years or anything, but AI has become a bit of a buzzword, even among the best ultrabooks. So it’s no surprise that that's the case with the Acer Swift 14 AI ($1,199.99). The laptop's best features — long battery life, a crystal clear webcam, a fast SSD — are subsumed by AI branding. There's an AI icon on the lid, and an AI "indicator" on the touchpad.

Acer's take on the AI/Copilot Plus/Arm PC is thicker and heavier than some competitors, and doesn't have a ton of personality outside of really wanting AI to be cool. Which is a shame, because the laptop has redeeming factors, like having more ports than its rivals, which have opted to go as thin as possible.

This is a capable PC. If you want to make the jump to Windows on Arm, want lots of ports, and care a lot about the webcam, it will satisfy. But Acer still needs to work on the touchpad, should strip out a ton of bloatware, and focus more on making a great Windows laptop than an AI computer.

Design of the Acer Swift 14 AI

Acer desperately wants you to think about AI when you use its laptop. While the Swift 14 AI is actually quite plain, the company has peppered a few reminders that, yes, the Swift has Copilot and an NPU, and that makes it special. Unfortunately, those reminders also make little sense.

On the sturdy, metal lid, the dark gray material is punctuated only with an rainbow Acer logo and, on the opposite corner, a series of dots and lines. In materials sent to reviewers, this is referred to only as an "AI Icon." Sure, I guess.

With the lid open, the Swift 14 AI appears premium. The dark metal chassis feels solid, and there's not much of a bezel around the display. But on the touchpad, there's an "Activity indicator," a series of lines and dots. This illuminates when you launch Copilot or when you use Acer's AI software. I found this more annoying than anything else (for instance, Acer QuickPanel activates whenever you turn on the camera, illuminating the indicator). 

Fine, I get it, you have AI. On the bright side, if you dig through the AcerSense software, you can disable the lighting. That being said, the setting didn't always stick for me.

There are a fair number of ports on the Swift 14 AI, likely because it's a bit thicker than some competing Snapdragon-based laptops. On the left side, you get a USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1 port and a pair of USB 4 Type-C ports.The right side houses a second USB-A port and the headphone jack. Acer also includes a USB-C to HDMI dongle in the box.

The Swift 14 AI measures 12.7 x 9 x 0.72 inches and weighs 3.2 pounds. That's larger and heavier than the Dell XPS 13 (9345) at 11.63 x 7.84 x 0.6 inches and 2.62 pounds, which also has a Snapdragon X Elite, or the Microsoft Surface Pro which is 1.97 pounds before the keyboard. The Asus Zenbook 14 OLED, an Intel-based machine, is 2.82 pounds.

Acer Swift 14 AI Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Acer Swift 14 AI

The Swift 14 AI is the latest laptop we've tested with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor (specifically, the ever-so-elegantly named Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100). This laptop also comes with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

The chip in the Swift is a slight step below the Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 we tested in the Dell XPS 13 (9345) and the Microsoft Surface Pro. The 78-100 doesn't support dual-core boost and has slower graphics, but still offers 12 cores. We also compared it to the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H and 32GB of RAM.

On Geekbench 6, the Swift 14 AI earned a single-core score of 2,452 and a multi-core score of 14,635. Both the Dell and the Surface outperformed it in single-core, but the three systems were more comparable in multi-core scores. The Swift 14 AI was on par with the Zenbook 14 OLED for single-core, but the Intel-powered machine trailed when it came to using multiple cores.

On our file transfer test, Acer was the fastest of the group, copying 25GB of files at a rate of 1,891.13 MBps. The slowest was the Surface Pro, at 1,001.16 MBps.

The Acer and the Dell came in neck and neck on Handbrake, transcoding 4K video to 1080p. It took the Acer 4 minutes and 46 seconds to complete the task. The Surface came in at 5:21 while the Zenbook took 6:17. 

We stress test laptops by running Cinebench 2024 for ten runs. The Swift started at 714.57 before dipping down into the 690's. By the end, the system had recovered and was running as high as 724.37 before starting to show a dip by the end of the runs. According to HWInfo, (which now supports Snapdragon's Oryon processors in beta), the CPU ran at an average of 3.4 GHz and measured 68.62 degrees Celsius.

Display on the Acer Swift 14 AI

Acer put a 14.5-inch, 2560 x 1600 touch display with a 120 Hz on the Swift 14 AI. The display is colorful enough, and while I found it mostly bright enough in everyday use, competitors get brighter.

The trailer for Captain America: Brave New World looked fine on the screen — it showed off orange explosions and neon electric blue weapons, but the darker scenes didn't stand out as much as they do on some competitive laptops.

The Swift covers 75.6% of the DCI-P3 gamut (107% sRGB), beating the Dell XPS 13's base screen and effectively on par with the Zenbook 14 OLED. But the Swift measured just 367 nits, which was dimmer than the XPS 13 (456 nits), and the Surface Pro's display (564 nits, 115.2% DCI-P3) was the most impressive of the group, though you have to fork out more cash for it.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Acer Swift 14 AI

The backlit keyboard on the Swift 14 AI is serviceable. Considering the Swift is thicker than its competition, I wish the travel were a bit deeper. That being said, the keys are snappy, and I hit 123 words per minute on the monkeytype typing test. Despite the high speeds, I was slightly less accurate than usual at 97%.

The trackpad, however, is abhorrent. Nevermind the AI drawing, which doesn't affect functionality; it just feels bad to click on. The best way I can describe it is that it's crunchy in the center, as if I was hitting something underneath the touchpad (it even made a sound, as if someone in rainboots stepped in a pile of leaves). It's not as bad on the edges, but there it still feels cheap.

Audio on the Acer Swift 14 AI

The speakers get comfortably loud enough to fill a room. Hozier's voice in "Nobody's Soldier" was clear, as were the drums, but the guitar was a bit muddy and the bass was nowhere to be found. In the DTS software on board, I was able to use bass boost to get a better hint of the low-end, as well as make some tweaks to the EQ that improved the sound.

Upgradeability on the Acer Swift 14 AI

There are 10 Torx screws on the outside of the Swift 14 AI. They're all the same length, thankfully. That's the easy part.

Once you take the lid off, you'll see that most of the key components are soldered to the motherboard. This includes the RAM and the Wi-Fi card. The battery can be removed, and you can replace the SSD, though you have to explore to find it. The drive is located underneath a ribbon cable attaching the motherboard to a smaller board on the right side of the notebook for additional ports. You'll have to flip up a holding latch (you can use a fingernail or a small pry tool) and remove a ribbon cable, and then you can get the standard M.2 2280 SSD.

There are oddities in the case design. For instance, there's plastic that looks like it could hold a CMOS battery, though it's among some empty space to the right of the battery. It makes me wonder if Acer could've fit a better battery in here, or if it re-used an older chassis.

Battery Life on the Acer Swift 14 AI

Like many of the other other Copilot Plus PCs running on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X platforms, the Acer Swift 14 AI has impressive battery life. It ran for 17 hours and 32 minutes on our battery test, constantly browsing websites, running OpenGL tests, and streaming video with brightness set at 150 nits. The Dell XPS 13, with a lower-resolution display, went even longer at 19:31.

But the Swift beat out both the Surface Pro (12:17, with an OLED screen) and the Intel-based Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (12:21).

Heat on the Acer Swift 14 AI

During our Cinebench stress test, the Swift 14 AI got toasty, but not unusable. The center of the keyboard climbed to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 C), while the touchpad was cooler at 90 F (32.22 C). The hottest spot on the bottom, near the exhaust, hit 114.6 F (45.88 C).

Webcam on the Acer Swift 14 AI

Acer has a high-resolution 1440p webcam on the Swift 14 AI. When one of Windows' marquee AI features is Windows Studio effects, a high-end camera to show that off makes sense.

And the camera is solid. In a challenging situation next to a window, it balanced out the light as best as it could (one side of my face is brighter than the other, sure, but that's how it was in real life). My red shirt was slightly more vivid than in real life, and I could see plenty of details, like the bags under my eyes after a sleepless night and the titles of books on a shelf behind me.

Acer QuickPanel, with fast access to Windows Studio Effects (it's effectively a huge shortcut), pops up every time you open the camera. It's annoying, and I wish there were more obvious ways to keep it from turning on so often in the first place.

Software and Warranty on the Acer Swift 14 AI

Acer puts way too much software and other bloat on the Swift 14 AI. There's a ton of Acer-branded apps, including Jumpstart, which just links to Acer's website (which seems unnecessary, I can go there if I want); QuickPanel to get access to camera settings; User Sensing, which lets you lock the screen when you walk away or make sure you're at a safe distance; and AcerSense, which has system usage settings and system stats.

But Acer also fills the Start Menu with junk, like small games like Amazing Slots, Solitaire, Elvenar, and Forge of Empires, some of which open in the web browser. There are also links to Booking.com in both the taskbar and the Edge browser bookmarks folder. There's also GT Booster AIFlow, which shows which apps are connecting to the internet and provides statistics about your network.

As of this writing, Microsoft only includes Windows 11's Copilot+ features — such as Windows Studio Effects, Cocreate images, and live captions — with Snapdragon X laptops like the Swift 14 AI. They're set to come to select AMD and Intel laptops soon.

Acer sells the Swift 14 AI with a 1-year warranty.

Bottom Line

The Acer Swift 14 AI is a capable Copilot+ laptop with long battery life; a high-quality, high-resolution webcam; and a fast SSD. It's not as attractive or thin as some competing Snapdragon machines, and the touchpad feels unsatisfying. While AI is still a minimal part of the Windows experience, it's a big part of weird icons peperring this laptop.

Perhaps the best excuse for the Swift's relative chunkiness is that it has both two USB Type-C ports and two USB Type-A ports, letting you attach plenty of peripherals (assuming they all work with Windows on Arm). There are other positives, too, like an excellent webcam for a laptop, and a speedy SSD.

At $1,199.99 for the sole configuration, however, this is a bit pricey. The Intel Core Ultra-based Asus Zenbook 14 OLED with 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 2880 x 1800 touchscreen was $1,299.99 when we reviewed it, and additional configurations have gotten even cheaper. If you're willing to drop storage and screen resolution, the Dell XPS 13 (9345) is starting as low as $999.99 with a more powerful variant of the Snapdragon X Elite.

If you want some bells and whistles, like a 120 Hz display and tons of ports, the Swift 14 may be for you. But if you prefer something sleek and thin, you can find more power and the longevity in laptops that feel a bit more polished.

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When it comes to the best ultrabooks, most of us have resigned ourselves to the reality that the path for future upgrades is minimal. At most, laptop manufacturers allow you to swap out the RAM, SSD, Wi-Fi card, and perhaps the battery (if you can find a replacement part). However, Framework takes a vastly different approach, allowing you to replace just about anything inside (and outside) to your heart's desire. Even the standard port allotment is configurable to your tastes, allowing you to create a laptop that suits your needs.

The latest take on that formula is the Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra Series 1), of which we received the DIY Edition to review. In true do-it-yourself fashion, you’ll need to install the RAM, storage, and operating system. Luckily, Framework makes it a painless process and even provides you with the necessary tools to upgrade your system easily. This time around, Framework has also introduced a new display 2880 x 1920 display option with a 120 Hz refresh rate, which is a big improvement over previously available displays.

The Framework Laptop 13 remains on an island as the most easily repairable and upgradable laptop on the market, but the nearly $2,200 asking price of our review unit might mean it has a very narrow target audience.

Design of the Framework Laptop 13

Given the modular nature of the Framework Laptop 13 and the need to be backward- and forward-compatible with replaceable components, the device's design looks nearly identical to the version we reviewed last year and as far back as 2021. One noticeable difference, however, is with the display (and the bezel that surrounds the display). Our review unit came with a 2880 x 1920 panel (3:2 aspect ratio, 120 Hz), a nice upgrade from the 2256 x 1504 panels included in previous models. However, our sample also includes a red display bezel instead of the standard black, which I found garish and somewhat distracting to my eyes. Granted, it’ll make your laptop stand out in a crowd, but the red is a bit much. Thankfully, you can swap the bezel for a different color – black is the default and comes included, while gray, orange, green, lavender and red will set you back $10 each. (If you buy them after the fact, they cost way more. Get what you want at the time of purchase.) 

 A black Framework “gear” logo adorns the lid, and you’ll notice a square power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader. That’s nothing out of the ordinary. However, the Framework Laptop 13 diverts from the norm with four external bays that accept modular expansion cards. Each expansion card features a male USB-C plug, which fits into the female USB-C port on the laptop. Given the USB-C foundation, they are hot-swappable.

Functionally, the expansion ports are great. You can tailor the port experience to suit your needs at any particular time. Our review unit came with USB-A, HDMI, SD reader, and multiple USB-C expansion cards. Since I don’t really use many USB-A peripherals for laptop duty, I went with two USB-C, an HDMI and the SD reader. You’ll need at least one USB-C expansion card to charge the laptop.

One drawback to the design is that the aluminum expansion cards are a slightly lighter shade than the rest of the laptop’s aluminum chassis. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it, and it’s a visual miscue for an otherwise attractive chassis design. However, if you don’t mind mismatched colors, you’ll love that the USB-C expansion cards are also available in orange, lavender, green, and red (at $9 each). HDMI, DisplayPort, or MicroSD expansion cards cost $19, while the SD expansion card is $25. A 2.5 GbE expansion card runs $39, while a 250GB expansion card adds $45 to your total. The 1TB expansion card is the most expensive, and it sells for $125.

The expansion cards are stubborn to remove. Each pair of expansion cards is unlocked using a single button. You then must use your fingernail to pry the cards out of the modular bay. It takes a lot more force than I feel should be necessary to dislodge. On more than one occasion, I sent an expansion card flying across the room while trying to remove it.

The latest iteration of the Framework Laptop 13 shares the same footprint as its predecessor, meaning that it measures 11.68 x 9.01 x 0.62 inches and weighs 2.87 pounds. For comparison, the Dell XPS 13 (9345) comes in at 11.63 x 7.84 x 0.6 inches and weighs 2.62 pounds, while the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED weighs 2.82 pounds and measures 12.3 x 8.67 x 0.59 inches. 

Framework Laptop 13 (intel Core Ultra) Specifications

Upgradeability of the Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra)

The Framework Laptop 13 has four modular bays, which accept expansion cards for your external connectivity needs. However, that upgrade frenzy continues inside the chassis, where nearly every major component can be replaced or upgraded.

There are five captive Torx screws on the bottom of the chassis, which must be loosened to access the internals. Let me first commend Framework for the use of captive screws, as it prevents the headache of having to keep track of tiny screws that end up rolling around and can easily get lost when performing upgrades. With the Torx screws loosened, you can flip the laptop over and remove the entire top cover, which is held in place with magnets.

The top cover is attached to the motherboard with a ribbon cable. However, for easier access to the components on the main chassis, I removed the ribbon cable from the motherboard, which only requires a firm pull using a pull loop at the base.

All the usual suspects are replaceable, including the memory (via two SO-DIMM slots), the M.2 PCIe SSD, the Wi-Fi module, and the battery. If you need assistance performing these upgrades, Framework provides a handy QR code beside each component, which leads to a video explaining the process.

But the upgrades don’t stop there. You can replace the internal speakers, the touchpad, and even the keyboard (available in multiple colors). Want to replace the motherboard, complete with a CPU upgrade? You can do that; a motherboard, including a Core Ultra 5 125H processor, costs $449 directly from Framework. You can replace the display, display bezel, top cover, bottom cover, and just about any component on the laptop. The Framework Marketplace makes it easy to find the needed parts and provides clear instructions for any necessary upgrades or repairs. 

Productivity Performance on the Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra)

Our Framework Laptop 13 DIY Edition review unit came configured with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory, and a 1TB WD_Black SN850X NVMe SSD. Because we technically had a DIY edition system, that meant we installed the RAM and SSD on our own, and also installed Windows 11.

Starting with the Geekbench 6 synthetic CPU benchmark, the Framework Laptop 13 scored 2,362 and 12,195 in the single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. This put it slightly behind in single-core performance and slightly ahead in multi-core performance compared to the previous generation model with an Intel Core i7-1370P processor. It also fell behind the ZenBook 14 OLED (2,448 / 12,908), which uses the same Core Ultra 7 155H processor. The XPS 13 ran away from the competition, taking first place (2,797 / 14,635) with its Snapdragon X Elite Arm processor. 

Our file transfer test involves transferring 25GB of files on the internal SSD. Our Framework Laptop 13 topped all competitors with its WD_Black SN850X SSD, hitting 1,893.79 MBps during the test. The previous generation Framework came in second at 1,697.07 MBps, with the XPS 13 and ZenBook 14 OLED trailing further behind in the sub-1,400 MBps range.

Shifting our attention to Handbrake, where we transcode a 4K video file to 1080p, the Framework Laptop 13 completed the task in five minutes and 48 seconds, just one second faster than its predecessor. The XPS 13 finished in four minutes and 47 seconds, while the ZenBook 14 OLED took the longest to complete the test (6:17).

We use Cinebench 2024 (running in a loop ten times) to stress test non-gaming laptops. Its first run resulted in the lowest score (917.26), but subsequent runs were higher, averaging between 955.23 and 969.53 throughout the tests. During the Cinebench 2024 stress test, the efficiency cores averaged 1.99 GHz, while the performance cores averaged 2.69 GHz. The CPU package averaged 83.5 degrees Celsius (182.5 degrees Fahrenheit).

Display on the Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra)

Our Framework 13 Laptop came equipped with the optional 13.5-inch 2880 x 1920 display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and a matte finish. This is an improvement over the 2256 x 1504 (60 Hz) panels we’ve tested in previous iterations.

I watched the latest trailer for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on the display, and the colors were nicely saturated, and blacks looked mostly black (or about as good as we can expect from an IPS panel). The green colors when Beetlejuice literally spilled his guts on screen were particularly pungent.

The Framework eked ahead of its rivals in our instrumented tests for color, covering 82.7 percent of DCI-P3 and 117 percent of sRGB. Brightness was also adequate, coming in at 451 nits compared to 465 nits for the previous generation Framework and 456 nits for the XPS 13. Brightness is not a strong point for OLED panels, so the ZenBook 14 OLED trailed the others at 354 nits.

We ran into an issue with the display initially included with our review unit. The backlight did not work, making testing the laptop impossible. We reached out to Framework, which shipped us a new display panel (we encountered a display issue and had a similar resolution when we tested a Framework Laptop with a 12th-generation Intel processor, making this the second time we had to replace the screen on a Framework).

We asked Framework how a customer would deal with this issue. Here is its statement, in full:

"In the case of a broken display, we wouldn't request the original item to be returned.

The incident at least allowed us to test out the repair processor ourselves, as we used the instructions (thanks to the video accessed via QR code) to replace the screen with relative ease. The working display was in the system in under 15 minutes.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra)

I found the keyboard comfortable to type on, with its keys and travel reminding me of what you’d find on MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops. My one big complaint with the keyboard is the half-height up/down arrows; I would have preferred full-size keys here, as used for the left and right arrows.

I use keyhero.com to test my typing speed, and while I’m by no means a fast typer, I achieved 88.95 words per minute with 97 percent accuracy, which aligns with my performance with most laptop keyboards.

The touchpad measures 4.5 x 3 inches and is large enough to mouse around in Windows 11 without issue. Clicking, however, was not the best experience. Only the lower half of the touchpad is immediately responsive to clicks. When attempting to click using the upper half of the touchpad, it requires much more effort to produce a click, which causes the touchpad surface itself to bend inward quite a bit before registering. I much prefer haptic touchpads with even pressure for clicks across their entire surface.

Audio on the Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra)

The Framework uses a pair of 2-watt speakers that are mounted at the front of the chassis, situated right below where your left and right palms rest when typing. To my ears, they sounded OK, but not exceptional. They at least got very loud without distortion.

I played Stevie Wonder’s “Superwoman” via YouTube Music Premium, and the sound was generally pleasant. Even though the bass was lacking (as it often is in laptop speakers), my primary focus was on Stevie’s silky-smooth vocals, which sounded flawless with the volume cranked at 80 percent and filled my home office.

Webcam on the Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra)

Framework uses a new 1080p webcam with the 2024 version of the Laptop 13, and it features a 9.2MP image sensor with a 5-element lens. That said, it’s perfectly fine for videoconferencing duties, where no one is paying too much attention to how you look on camera.

Fine detail was a bit muddy, with the stubble on my face appearing more as a brownish-black blur. I also noticed more noise in the image with darker colors, pointing to an overly aggressive sharpening algorithm.

The camera and microphone can be deactivated using physical switches mounted above the display. And if you for any reason need to replace the camera module (or want to upgrade from an older version), you can do so by purchasing a replacement from the Framework Marketplace.

Battery Life on the Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra)

The Framework Laptop 13 uses a 61 WHr battery, and we put it through our endurance test, which involves web browsing, video streaming, and graphical tests with the screen brightness set to 150 nits.

Our review unit lasted 9:59 during the test, which was the lowest by far in this group. The XPS 13 doubled the Framework Laptop 13’s endurance, lasting 19 hours and 31 minutes. Last year’s Framework also lasted longer at 11:38 with the same 61 WHr battery. However, we can likely attribute much of that difference to the higher resolution of this year’s model (2880 x 1920 versus 2256 x 1504) and the 120 Hz refresh rate (versus 60 Hz).

Heat on the Battery Life on the Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra)

The Framework Laptop 13 can get warm under load. When we ran the Cinebench 2024 stress test, the single fan spun up quickly and was very noticeable throughout the entire test.

At the center of the keyboard, between the G and H keys, we measured 33.3 degrees Celsius (92 degrees Fahrenheit). However, the hottest portion of the laptop was on the bottom of the chassis near the center screw closest to the hinge – we recorded 39.2 C (102.5 F) here. These temperatures were much cooler than what we witnessed with last year’s model, which used a Core i7-1370P processor. 

Software and Warranty on the Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra)

We installed Windows 11 Home on the  Framework Laptop 13 DIY Edition, which comes without an OS preinstalled. Framework says that Fedora 40 and Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS are officially supported. However, other Linux flavors are listed as compatible but not officially supported.

There is little in the way of bloatware installed on the system from Framework. I only noticed a link to the Framework Marketplace on the Start Menu, and that’s it. There’s the usual other Windows 11 cruft like links for LinkedIn and Spotify, but they’re relatively harmless.

Framework laptops sold in the United States come with a 1-year manufacturer warranty.

Configurations on the Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra)

The Framework Laptop is available in a vast array of hardware configurations, which is made even more expansive by the number of colors, types of expansion cards, and other accessories you choose. In addition, you can select from prebuilt or DIY Edition systems, further complicating the mix.

The prebuilt configurations start with a “Base” Intel Core 5 Ultra with 8GB of DDR5, a 256GB SSD, a 13.5-inch 2256 x 1504 display, Windows 11 Home, and a 1-year warranty for $1,099. The standard allotment of expansion cards includes two USB-C, one USB-A, and HDMI. The prebuilt SKUs top out with the “Extended Pro,” which has a Core 7 Ultra 165H, 32GB of DDR5, a 1TB SSD, Windows 11 Pro, and a 3-year extended warranty for $2,099.

If you go the DIY Edition route, the Framework Laptop 13 starts at $899 with a Core Ultra 5 125H processor, 13.5-inch 22 x 1504 display, no memory, no SSD, no expansion cards, and no operating system. Our review unit was configured with a Core Ultra 7 165H, 32GB of DDR5, a 1TB SSD, a 13.5-inch 2880 x 1920 display, red display bezel, and a 60-watt USB-C power adapter. This configuration retails for $2,122 before adding expansion cards with Windows 11 Home (or $1,983 without an operating system).

You purchase directly from Framework’s website, and the company indicates that the next batch of Intel Core Ultra systems will ship in September. 

Bottom Line

The Framework Laptop 13 continues to be a marvel in the laptop world thanks to its modular expansion cards and the ability to upgrade nearly every major component. Nothing is off limits when it comes to upgrades or repairs: you can swap out the motherboard, display, keyboard, touchpad, webcam, memory, Wi-Fi card, and even speakers using easy-to-follow video guides.

Overall productivity performance hasn't changed much compared to last year’s model since shifting to the Core 7 Ultra 165H. The biggest difference is the inclusion of the 2880 x 1920 display panel option with a 120 Hz refresh rate. The increased screen real estate is a boon for increased productivity, but as we saw in the battery numbers, endurance also took a hit.

With our system's $2,122 as-tested price (before adding expansion cards), it’s clearly in premium territory. For comparison, the Dell XPS 13 (9345) with its Snapdragon X Elite slays the Framework in CPU benchmarks and lasts twice as long per charge. And it does it all for just $1,299. Even if we matched the specs for the XPS 13 with 32GB of DDR5, a 1TB SSD, and a 2880 x 1920 OLED display, it would still only cost $1,599.

However, if you’re a person who wants complete control over upgrades in a laptop form factor, Framework is pretty much the only game in town.

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The Dell XPS 13 long sat atop the list of the best ultrabooks, until a recent redesign soured us (and many others on it) Dell is mixing things up with this generation, as the new XPS 13 (9345) doesn't just use its newer design — it also uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite Arm processor instead of the latest Core mobile processors from Intel.

The newfound Snapdragon X Elite power promises even better performance and battery life in Windows 11. However, some of the limitations we griped about in previous iterations of the XPS 13 family are still here, including just two USB 4Type-C ports for expansion and the somewhat annoying capacitive touch bar that replaces the top row of physical function keys.

But with an as-tested price of $1,299, the XPS 13 is a force to be reckoned with.

Design of the Dell XPS 13 (9345)

Dell’s XPS laptops have always presented an air of attractiveness and premium quality, and the XPS 13 is no exception. The aluminum chassis is impeccably chiseled, the keys on the keyboard have a solid feel, the display hinge is solid without a hint of wobble, and the overall footprint makes transporting the laptop a breeze.

Given this robust construction, you won’t have to worry about damaging this laptop, as with other lightweight ultraportables that use plastic in their chassis to meet weight targets. While Dell offers the XPS 13 in platinum, my review unit came in the darker graphite finish, which I vastly prefer despite being a fingerprint magnet.

The new XPS 13 has identical exterior dimensions to the Dell XPS 13 Plus (and the latest Intel Dell XPS 13) at 11.63 x 7.84 x 0.60 inches, but the former weighs slightly less (2.62 pounds versus 2.77 pounds). The MacBook Air (13-inch, M3) measures 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches and weighs 2.7 pounds. Finally, the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED weighs 2.82 pounds and measures 12.3 x 8.67 x 0.59 inches.

If you’re looking for a plethora of external ports, you won’t find them on the XPS 13. All you get are two USB 4 Type-C ports, one of which is used for recharging the laptop via the 60-watt USB-C power adapter. You don’t even get a microSD slot, which is a bummer. If you want more ports, you’ll need to get an XPS 14 or opt for a cheap USB-C hub to carry around with you. Dell doesn’t even include a 3.5 mm headphone jack, which is a somewhat odd omission. In other words, you’ll need a USB-C to 3.5 mm adapter just to plug in your wired headphones, which is annoying. Yes, Dell includes a USB-C to 3.5 mm jack adapter in the box, but how hard would it have been to include the port on-device?

At least when it comes to wireless connectivity, Dell has chosen the latest standards thanks to a Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi 7 module with Bluetooth 5.4.

Dell XPS 13 (9345) Specifications

Productivity Performance of the Dell XPS 13 (9345)

The XPS 13 is trying something new by employing Qualcomm’s latest Arm processor designed for Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs: the Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100). The X1E-80-100 has 12 total CPU cores with a maximum multi-threaded frequency of 3.4 GHz (4.0 GHz dual-core), 42 MB of total cache, a 3.8 TFLOPS Adreno GPU, and a 45 TOPS Hexagon NPU. Our review unit came configured with 16 GB of LPDDR5x memory and a 512 GB SSD.

The XPS 13 came out of the gate swinging in Geekbench 6, delivering a single-core score of 2,797 and a multi-core score of 14,635. The X1E-80-100's single-core performance was just a few hundred points shy of the first-place MacBook Air with its M3 processor (3,082). However, its multi-core performance put it well ahead of all competitors, with the second-best ZenBook 14 OLED with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H nearly 2,000 points behind (12,908).

Our Handbrake test, which involves transcoding a 4K video file to 1080p, was also a strong point for the X1E-80-100 in the XPS 13. The XPS 13 completed the task in just four minutes and 47 seconds, which was a minute and a half ahead of the ZenBook 14 OLED (6:17). The MacBook Air took third place (6:32), while the XPS 13 Plus (Intel Core i7-1360P) pulled up the rear with a time of eight minutes and 14 seconds.

Our file copy test involves 25GB of files, and the XPS 13 completed the task at 1,342.05 MBps, putting it in third place behind the ZenBook 14 OLED (1,358.5 MBps) and the MacBook Air (1,658.63 MBps).

To stress test machines, we use Cinebench 2024. We take scores throughout 10 runs to see how performance changes over time (as heat levels build). The XPS 13's first run was its lowest score, which came in at 917.20. The second run was its highest (969.53), with all subsequent runs stabilizing between 954 and 966.

I'll add in the disclaimer that we usually rely on HWInfo to report processor core frequencies and temperatures. However, the utility hasn't yet been updated with support for the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors.

Display on the Dell XPS 13 (9345)

Our XPS 13 review unit came with the base 1920 x 1200 (FHD+) IPS InfinityEdge display. It features a 30 to 120 Hz variable refresh rate and a matte, anti-glare finish. Upgrading to the 2560 x 1600 (QHD+) IPS touch panel is a $300 option, while the 2880 x 1800 (3K) OLED panel is a $500 option.

Among this grouping of laptops, the XPS 13’s display performance was a bit behind the curve in our lab measurements. The laptop covers 66.9 percent of the DCI-P3 gamut, well behind the third-place MacBook Air (77.8 percent). It covered 94 percent of sRGB, which also ranked it last. However, it rebounded with maximum brightness, coming in second place at 456 nits (the MacBook Air took top honors with 476.4 nits).

I watched the final trailer for Wolverine and Deadpool, which I am eagerly waiting to see. Let’s just get this out of the way first: the image quality isn’t as good as the XPS laptops we’ve recently reviewed, mainly due to using an IPS panel instead of a more expensive OLED. Colors aren’t as rich, blacks skew more toward a dark gray, and the anti-glare coating blunts the “punchiness” we get with glossy OLEDs. For example, the reddish/maroon in Deadpool’s suit and the yellow in Wolverine’s suit looked a little washed out, but it wasn’t objectionable.

Personally, I’d spend the extra $500 and go with the OLED panel because once you go OLED, you can’t go back. But if you’re mainly planning to use the XPS 13 for productivity tasks and occasionally watch movies or TV shows, you’ll be fine with the default FHD+ panel. This lower resolution panel may have also contributed to longer battery life (see below).

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Dell XPS 13 (9345)

Despite the small stature of the XPS 13, I found the keyboard to be comfortable to use. Even with Dell's "Zero Lattice" design, which allows for hardly any spacing between the keys, I typed at 83.86 words per minute via the keyhero typing test with 98.78 percent accuracy.

The keys offer a decent amount of travel and are smooth in operation, emitting very little noise from each key press. My only real problem with the keyboard is with the up and down arrow keys, which are half-height (unlike the full-size right and left arrows). While this allows Dell to condense the physical footprint of the keyboard, it's not as easy to navigate when your fingers are moving quickly.

My other complaint extends to the capacitive touch panel above the keyboard. While its operation is slick, I prefer physical keys. The top panel displays the Esc, Prt Scr, Home, End, Insert, and Delete keys by default. You'll also find controls for keyboard backlighting, Mute, Volume, display brightness, and an on/off switch for the microphone. Pressing the Fn key reveals F1 through F12. However, pressing the Fn + Esc key combo permanently displays the Function row. The issue is that there is no feedback provided from the capacity row of "keys" and even muscle memory wasn't enough for me to accurately press each required touch point.

The keyboard also has a dedicated Copilot button sandwiched between the right Alt key and the left arrow key. However, as we’ve previously reported, the current suite of Copilot+ features isn’t exactly earth-shattering. And the most ballyhooed Copilot feature, Recall, has been indefinitely delayed due to serious privacy concerns that were aired shortly after it was announced.

If you look around the palm rest for the touchpad, you won’t find it. It’s hidden from view to give the XPS 13 a more integrated design aesthetic. Instead, its border is defined by an invisible rectangle that starts roughly 0.25 inches below the space bar, extending to the left edge of the left Alt button and to right edge of the right Alt button. The touchpad incorporates haptic feedback and delivers a satisfying “click” upon actuation. I actually like this design touch by Dell, and I never once had an issue with navigating with my thumb.

Audio on the Dell XPS 13 (9345)

Dell employs a four-speaker (4 x 2W) setup, which sounded good for this class (after a tweak). After all, there’s little space in such a small laptop to cram in a high-powered speaker system. With that said, Röyksopp is one of my favorite musical groups, so I queued up “If You Want Me.” The sound came through crystal clear with no distortion as I stepped up the volume. However, the audio sounded “off,” as if the treble was too high, which skewed Susanne Sundfør’s beautiful vocals.

And as is often the case with many ultraportable laptops, bass was practically non-existent. This was evident when playing Kanye West’s bass-heavy and eclectic “Flashing Lights” from his album, Graduation. However, when Kanye’s voice sounded off, I did some digging. The XPS 13 doesn’t have a third-party audio utility, but I found that switching the Audio Enhancements option under Sound Properties in System Settings from Device Default Effects to Off made the vocals sound more normal. However, flipping the switch did nothing to address the lack of bass.

Webcam on the Dell XPS 13 (9345)

The XPS 13 uses a 1080p webcam mounted dead-center in the tiny bezel above the IPS panel. The webcam does not have a physical shutter, and there is no function key combo to quickly disable it. I would have gladly ditched the screen projection “button” on the capacitive function row to have a shortcut for disabling the webcam.

The image quality is overall pretty good, with good color tones and detail. There’s also very little noise, which is a good thing. This webcam is perfectly suited for videoconferencing and is a notch above the 720p units that we see in more budget-oriented laptops. However, if you want even better image quality, you can always take a look at our list of the best webcams on the market.

Upgradeability of the Dell XPS 13 (9345)

You can remove the bottom panel from the XPS 13, but you are limited in upgrade options. The memory is soldered; the same goes for the Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi 7/Bluetooth 5.4 module.

You can, however, replace the SSD. Dell ships the XPS 13 with a small WD SN750 2230 PCIE 4.0 SSD, but a standard 2280 SSD will also fit. You could potentially replace the battery if you’re feeling lucky, but consider any “real” upgrades for the XPS 13 off limits.

Battery Life on the Dell XPS 13 (9345)

The XPS 13 fully delivers on Qualcomm’s promise of “all-day battery” life for the first round of Copilot+ PCs. Our battery endurance regimen consists of streaming video, browsing the internet, and light graphics work with the screen set to 150 nits.

Under these conditions, the XPS 13 lasted a staggering 19 hours and 31 minutes, which is impressive given its smallish 55 WHr battery. Apple’s ultraportables have always been endurance champions, but even the 13-inch MacBook Air couldn’t touch the XPS 13, as it only lasted 15 hours and 13 minutes. We’d chalk that up as an epic win for the Snapdragon X Elite.

Heat on the Dell XPS 13 (9345)

Even though the XPS 13 uses a power-efficient Arm-based processor, it can still pump out considerable heat under load. Unlike Apple’s MacBook Air family of ultraportables, the XPS 13 has two fans to expel any excess heat from the chassis. This was most noticeable during our marathon Cinebench 2024 stress test. The XPS 13’s chassis hit a high of 120 degrees Fahrenheit at its hottest point (bottom of the chassis, near the hinge).

However, even with the stress test running and the fans spinning audibly, the laptop was never uncomfortable, and I was fine resting it on my lap (even while wearing shorts).

Software and Warranty on the Dell XPS 13 (9345)

The XPS 13 comes with surprisingly few superfluous apps installed from the factory. We’re unsure if this is because Dell just decided to take it easy on customers or if there was a dearth of Arm-native apps that it wanted to include with the system. The only two add-ons were Dell Digital Delivery, where you can install software purchased with your system, and MyDell. The latter software package allows you to access Dolby Vision display settings and power profiles. You’ll also find the laptop user guide here and a link to register the system with Dell.

Dell sells the XPS 13 with a standard one-year warranty.

Dell XPS 13 (9345) Configurations

We received a $1,299 base XPS 13, which comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100) 12-core processor, 16GB of LPDDR5x memory, a 512GB SSD, a 13.4-inch Full HD+ IPS display and Windows 11 Home. The only configuration upgrades revolve around the memory (up to 64GB), storage (up to 2TB), and display (up to 3K OLED), which range from $100 to $500 each.

A fully maxed-out system with 64GB of LPDDR5x, a 2TB SSD, a 13.4-inch 2880 x 1800 60 Hz OLED touch display, and Windows 11 Pro costs $2,559.99. You can choose the platinum or graphite chassis colors with any configuration at no cost.

Bottom Line

The Dell XPS 13 (9345) is a stellar ultraportable that truly stands above the competition. It has good looks, it’s lightweight, and it has a good keyboard (if you can get past the capacitive touch bar). But the Snapdragon X Elite is the real star, as it left its Intel-powered forebears in the dust in the Geekbench and Handbrake tests. The storage performance wasn’t class-leading, but it was still respectable. Likewise, XPS 13’s FHD+ IPS display is also a step or two behind its closest competitors, but there are panel upgrades available for those looking for more punch. The FHD+ IPS screen likely helped contribute to the the XPS's excellent battery life. We suspect it wouldn't have done quite as well with OLED.

But for all the performance potential that the Snapdragon X Elite shows, it delivers on Qualcomm’s “all-day” battery life promise with nearly 20 hours of runtime in our endurance test. Eat your heart out, Apple! And when you consider that this well-rounded machine does achieve all of this with a price tag of $1,299, it’s hard not to give the XPS 13 a well-earned Editor’s Choice award.

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Microsoft is making a decisive statement with its new 2-in-1. The 2024 Surface Pro (dubbed the "11th Edition"), isn't the first Surface to use an Arm processor, but with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chips and more compatible apps than ever, Microsoft is doubling down on a world where there are options for the best premium laptop beyond Intel and AMD's x86.

The new Surface also introduces OLED to the lineup for the first time, though you'll need to upgrade to the Snapdragon X Elite to get it. And while the Arm processors allow for long battery life, Arm compatibility in Windows isn't perfect yet. 

Some apps, especially games, won't work, and certain peripherals that require drivers that aren't built into Windows also aren’t likely to work. But with the addition of popular apps like Google Chrome and Adobe Photoshop, there is more native Arm software than ever.

Add in a new, really cool (but obscenely expensive) keyboard, and you get a Surface that feels fresh and modern. Now Microsoft needs to make sure Windows gets even more features to make it worth it.

Design of the Microsoft Surface Pro (2024)

If you want a tablet running Windows 11, the Surface Pro is still one of the few games in town. It's also perhaps the most svelte and attractive. The general shape of the Surface hasn't changed a ton in the last few years; it's a tablet with a kickstand and an optional (well, sold separately) keyboard. It's extremely portable, at 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches before the keyboard, and light at 1.97 pounds (895 grams).

Our review unit came in a pretty "sapphire" blue, though there are also options in a more traditional platinum, black, as well as a sandy "dune" color.

The kickstand on the rear is adorned with a tone-on-tone reflective Microsoft logo, and the only other distinctive feature is some venting for the fan. Otherwise, it's a plain slate.

The top of the tablet is where you'll find the power button and volume rocker. The ports are scant: the left side features two USB Type-C (USB 4) ports, while the right side has only the Surface Connect port. There is no headphone jack — this is the future, apparently.

On the bottom are magnetic ports to connect to Microsoft's Surface keyboards, which fold up over the display and serve as cover for the screen, similar to a clamshell laptop.

The tablet form factor is smaller than competing clamshells, which are more common. The 13-inch MacBook Air is 2.7 pounds and 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches. HP's OmniBook X (also a Copilot+ PC) is 12.32 x 8.8 x 0.57 inches and 2.97 pounds. The Dell XPS 14 with Intel Core Ultra is 12.6 x 8.5 x 0.71 inches and 3.3 pounds.

Productivity Performance on the Microsoft Surface Pro (2024)

The new Surface Pro is among the first computers we've tested with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processors. It's another stab at bringing Windows on Arm to the masses, and also an attempt to infuse excitement for AI into the brand; the Surface Pro is one of the flagship Copilot+ PCs.

The Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 is the second fastest of Qualcomm's new chips, running 12 cores at a maximum multithreaded frequency of 3.4 GHz and a dual-core boost of 4.0 GHz. As we reviewed the Surface, that chip is paired with 16GB of LPDDR5x memory and a 512GB SSD. The chip performed admirably in our benchmarks, and we used Arm-native applications where available.

On Geekbench 6, the Surface Pro achieved a single-core score of 2,813 and a multi-core score of 14,432. The multi-core core was the highest among competitors, including the MacBook Air M3 (12,087), the Dell XPS 14 (12,701, Intel Core Ultra 7 155H), and HP OmniBook X (13,200, Snapdragon X1E-78-100). But Apple's M3 had the edge in single-core performance, topping the chart with a score of 3,082.

The Surface copied 25GB of files at a rate of 1,001.16 MBps, falling just behind the MacBook Air. It beat the other Snapdragon laptop, the HP OmniBook X (892.54), while the Intel-powered  XPS 14 blew the pack away at 1,843.93 MBps.

On Handbrake, the Surface Pro transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 5 minutes and 21 seconds, the fastest of the bunch. In this instance, the Mac was in the back of the pack at 6:32. (If you're wondering, the Surface Pro took 8 minutes and 12 seconds to complete the same task using the x86 version of the app in emulation. So using native apps really does matter!)

To stress the machine, we ran Cinebench R24 repeatedly for 20 sequences. Typically, this lets us see if a system is throttling when bogged down with intense workloads. In this case, we only got part of the story. The scores dropped from the first (828.28) to the second run (661.63), before leveling out in the mid 700's. Usually, we would run HWInfo in conjunction to measure temperatures and processor speeds, but that program isn't compatible with Qualcomm's Arm chip designs yet. (Though its developer claims that it is coming.)

The state of Windows on Arm, and Emulation

Previous efforts to get Windows software, which is typically written for x86 (Intel and AMD) architectures, running on Arm chips have been hit or miss at best, with many popular apps and programs running in emulation (making them slower while also consuming more battery life), and many other programs refusing to run at all. For an operating system like Windows where people have grown to expect software to mostly just work, that's a pretty big problem.

But with the launch of Snapdragon X Elite and the paired Microsoft Copilot+ push, things are very different this time around, with many mainstream apps and programs getting native Arm versions. These include Spotify, Photoshop, Zoom, Whatsapp, and, crucially, Google Chrome. Basically, everything in my day-to-day workload that I tried running worked fine, with the exception of HWinfo, which we typically use for testing. 

Microsoft still lists certain other limitations for Arm-based PCs, including issues with some third-party antivirus, many games (especially those with anti-cheat), and apps that customize Windows itself. Drivers for hardware and software that have not been designed for Arm will also have issues, so you'll have to rely only on drivers built into Windows 11 or for the manufacturer to make one for Arm.

Games are another story. While there are some games that work, many won't even launch. If you're hoping to game on Qualcomm's GPU, you'll have to wait for more work on the emulation side, or for more Arm native games. Dead Cells worked, but there was a weird strobing effect around the character, which was distracting. Stray wasn't able to install DirectX components and would not launch. The Finals would attempt to launch and then immediately stop, before the executable popped up.

Granted, Microsoft isn't calling the Surface Pro a gaming machine (though it would love you to stream games through Game Pass Ultimate, I'm sure). Gaming on Intel graphics isn't exactly an incredible experience, but the compatibility would be largely improved.

Display on the Microsoft Surface Pro (2024)

The Surface Pro's 13-inch OLED display is a stunner (if you opt for the lower-end Snapdragon X Plus CPU, you'll get a standard LCD screen). It's a high-resolution, 2880 x 1920 panel with a 3:2 aspect ratio and a refresh rate up to 120 Hz.

I used the Surface Pro to watch the teaser trailer for F1; the green grassy patches along an F1 track popped against the cement. All of the close-ups on the cars are feasts for the eyes, and I could make out Brad Pitt's furrowed brow on the screen.

The Surface's display easily outclassed the non-OLED MacBook Air and HP OmniBook X in our measurements, and it also surpassed the OLED screen on the XPS 14. Microsoft's screen covers 163% of the sRGB gamut and 115.2% of the DCI-P3 color space.

Microsoft's screen also proved to be the brightest of the group at 564 nits. The next closest was the MacBook Air at 476.4 nits.

As has been the case for years, Microsoft doesn't include a keyboard in the box with the Surface Pro. That costs extra. A stylus, for those who do a lot of notetaking or drawing, also isn't included. 

Our review unit came with the $450 Surface Pro Flex Keyboard with Slim Pen combo. The Slim Pen 2 isn't new, but the keyboard now works over Bluetooth to control the computer even when it's not directly connected. (You can buy the Flex keyboard without the Slim Pen for $350).

Microsoft still does low-travel typing extremely well. The chiclet keys feel surprisingly deep and crisp. There's a bit of bounce, particularly when the keyboard is tilted up, but it's still comfortable. On the monkeytype test, I hit 122 words per minute with 98% accuracy, which is better than I hit on some traditional laptops.

The Flex keyboard does have some cool tricks. There's a haptic feedback touchpad, which feels premium and is wider than on some other Surface keyboards. And I did appreciate being able to use the keyboard separately from the laptop. It would be great for travel in addition to one of the best portable monitors.

But that price is a huge ask for a keyboard designed to work with the Surface Pro almost exclusively. There are other keyboard options, including a non-Bluetooth keyboard starting at $139.99, with versions with stylus storage or an included pen going up from there.

The Surface Slim Pen 2 hasn't changed here. It still offers a low haptic rumble to simulate the feeling of writing or sketching on paper. It's not game-changing, but some people might like the feel. For me, I just like how well it works with the Surface screen set at 120 Hz, which feels more like seamless writing.

Audio on the Microsoft Surface Pro (2024)

For a sleek tablet, the Surface Pro has decent sound. The twin 2W speakers get nice and loud, with balanced audio. For instance, on Yellowcard's "Lights and Sounds," the drums snapped in balance with the guitars and vocals (I would've preferred the vocals to stand a bit more on their own), while violins fluttered gently in the background.

Other than the drums, there was little on the low end, and I couldn't make out the bass.

When I was playing Dead Cells (despite some flickering — see above), a coworker noted how good the system sounded for its size.

Upgradeability of the Microsoft Surface Pro (2024)

The Surface Pro has a small door on the rear, behind the kickstand, that provides easy access to upgrade or repair the SSD. Removing the door doesn't even require any tools – you simply push down on a small dimple and it pops off.

The SSD is held down by a Torx screw, which you'll need to put back in place with a new SSD. Microsoft uses small 2230 SSDs, like the best SSDs for the Steam Deck, rather than the standard 2280 SSDs 

Despite that ease, Microsoft claims that the Surface Pro isn't designed to be user-serviceable: "This device does not contain user serviceable parts. Hard drive is only removable by an authorized technician following Microsoft provided instructions," the fine print under the company's tech specs reads. 

Despite Microsoft claiming that the Surface Pro is more repairable than ever, it also states that parts that it sells through the Microsoft Store and iFixit are only for out-of-warranty repairs by "by individuals with the knowledge and experience to repair electronic devices following Microsoft’s Service Guide."

That's fair for many repairs, which require removing the display. But the SSD? That's pretty easy in comparison.

Battery Life on the Microsoft Surface Pro (2024) 

It's about time we move on from calling 8 hours "all-day" battery life. The Surface Pro shows some of Arm's power efficiency benefits, pushing to 12 hours and 17 minutes on our test, which involves streaming video, browsing the web, and light graphics work with the screen set to 150 nits.

The Surface easily beat the XPS 14 (8:56), though the MacBook Air (M3) at 15:13 and HP OmniBook X at 16:18 lasted even longer. It's possible that the OLED screen on the Surface was more of a power draw.

Copilot+ PC Features

Of course, as a Copilot+ PC, the Surface Pro also ships with Microsoft's exclusive (at least for now) AI-focused features, such as they are. Cocreator is an addition to Paint that attempts to combine a text prompt and your own attempts at drawing to create the kind of image you're after. Studio Effects add background blur and other effects to your webcam. And Live Captions With Translation extends the existing Live Captions feature (which adds captioning to basically any audio playing on the device) to provide live translations between languages.

How useful the above features will be to you will of course in large part depend on how and why you use your laptop. But we generally haven't found these Copilot+ features all that useful or exciting. And of course, the primary exclusive feature to Windows on Arm, the screen-capturing Recall, has seemingly been indefinitely delayed due to privacy concerns and the resulting backlash.

Heat on the Microsoft Surface Pro (2024)

We measured skin temperatures on the Surface Pro while running a gauntlet of Cinebench 2024 runs. While I don't expect that rendering is the main use case for something so slim, note that if you do push the Pro and Elite X to their limits, the system gets hot. The Surface reached 114.6 degrees Fahrenheit on the hottest part of the back of the device, which is too hot to comfortably hold as a tablet. You'll want to only use the keyboard for input if you're doing intense work.

For more typical usage, like writing, emails, and web browsing, the system stayed cool.

Webcams on the Microsoft Surface Pro (2024)

I'll give Microsoft this — it continues to put great cameras on its tablets. The Surface Pro is an excellent choice if you're on Zoom calls all day. Microsoft lists the front webcam as QHD, while the back has a 10MP shooter.

As a person who works at a desk, I'm far more preoccupied with the front-facing camera. 

Sample shots I took were excellent, catching every detail of my face, (including some eye bags from a few sleepless nights) and caught my burgundy shirt with perfect accuracy. The rear camera was more of a mixed bag, with some photos of fruit coming out a bit overexposed. It should work fine enough for simple fieldwork.

With its Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft has built more studio effects into Windows, like auto framing, filters, and background blur. Outside of auto eye contact, I generally had success with these when I chose to use them, but thankfully they were off by default.

Software and Warranty on the Microsoft Surface Pro (2024)

One of the benefits of Microsoft's Surface line of products is that there's minimal software installed. The only major preinstalled software is the Surface app, which has device information like the serial number, battery charging and pen pressure changes, and more. There's a section filled with partner deals, which feels like bloat.  

The Pro does, however, still have links to apps in the Microsoft Store in the Start menu, including Spotify and LinkedIn.

Microsoft sells the Surface Pro with a 1-year warranty, though you can bump it up to as much as four years with Microsoft Complete for an additional charge.

Configurations of the Microsoft Surface Pro (2024) 

We tested a $1,499.99 configuration of the Surface Pro with a 12-core Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100, 16GB of RAM, an OLED screen, 512GB of storage, and the sapphire blue color. But our unit also came with the new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard with Slim Pen, which runs $449.98. That adds up to a total of $1,949.97 as tested.

The new Surface Pro starts at $999.99, which gets you a less powerful 10-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chip, an LCD display, 16GB of RAM, and a paltry 256GB storage drive. That base model also only comes in platinum.

In between, there are Snapdragon X Plus configurations that bump up to 512GB for $1,199.99. Beyond our option, boosting to Snapdragon X Elite and 1TB of storage is $1,699.99.

If you want the OLED screen, you need to get the Snapdragon X Elite chip. That's not available with the lower-end processor.

All of those prices, however, are without a keyboard or a stylus. Years and years later, Microsoft still isn't including crucial peripherals in the box. A Surface Pro keyboard without storage for a stylus is $139.99, and goes up from there with combos that include the Surface Slim Pen, like the new Flex Keyboard we tried out. Be sure to tack that on when you're budgeting for a system.

Later this year, Microsoft says it will be adding 5G versions of the Surface Pro with a nano SIM card slot.

Bottom Line

In many ways, the Surface Pro (11th Edition) feels like it's nailing Microsoft's original vision: a portable, slim PC that's capable on the go with long battery life and a focus on an incredible screen. In that respect, one could argue that the 2024 Surface Pro is one of the best iterations of the device.

What it's not, at least right now, is some sort of AI game changer. The Copilot+ features are few and far between, and outside of Live Translation, don't feel like big changes to functionality or accessibility. There are some apps that take advantage of the NPU, but most services, including Copilot itself, still run in the cloud.

As a showcase for the Qualcomm Snapdragon X processors, I suspect it will work for most people. More apps than ever are Arm native, though there are still some that don't work at all. I suspect it's professionals with niche uses that will have the most issues. (I suspect this is why the Surface Pro 10 for Business is around with Intel's Core Ultra chips). Anyone with mission-critical software or peripherals for work might want to wait and see if developers add support.

But as a vision for the future, where Arm is considered as important as Intel and AMD's chips to Microsoft, there's something here. The Surface Pro feels as nimble as ever, and the improved screen and longer battery life are welcome additions. Despite the lack of Intel or AMD, this feels like a flagship device. But for AI? Microsoft needs to get more developers on board to finish the job.

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HP just released its OmniBook X powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips, and now it's already got something more powerful: the HP OmniBook Ultra 14. 

The new laptop uses AMD's Ryzen AI 300 processors with 55 TOPS of AI performance (compared to Qualcomm's 45 TOPS NPU). The chips use integrated Radeon 800M graphics. The OmniBook Ultra is also HP's first consumer-grade laptop with an AMD processor and Thunderbolt 4 ports.

In press photos, the laptop looks very similar to the OmniBook X. It has the same, 14-inch display with a 2240 x 1400 resolution, and the chassis looks almost identical down to the powder blue power button. The biggest difference is that the OmniBook Ultra has angled corners in the back, similar to the HP Spectre, which was until recently HP's prestige consumer brand. Size-wise, though the Ultra is heavier than the X at 3.48 pounds, has a larger battery at 68 watt hours, and is slightly thicker, deeper and wider.

The port selection, with two USB Type-C ports, a USB Type-A port, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack is also identical to the Omnibook X, except that HP states that the OmniBook Ultra supports Thunderbolt 4. HP confirmed to Tom's Hardware that this is the company's first consumer notebook to support an AMD chip and Thunderbolt 4, famously overseen by Intel. HP has released EliteBooks with an AMD and Thunderbolt combo before. We're also interested to check out the 9MP webcam, which sounds particularly sharp.

Battery life is an area that we'll want to keep an eye on. HP estimates up to 13 hours on MobileMark, but up to 21 hours on video playback. Other features include Wi-Fi 7 from MediaTek. 

Notably, at launch, the OmniBook Ultra won't be a Copilot+ PC. HP says that it will get a free software update to get those AI features "when available" from Microsoft. That isn't stopping HP from bundling its own AI features, including the HP AI Companion.

HP changed its consumer laptops over to the OmniBook name in May, subsuming Pavilion, Spectre, and other consumer brands. Elite remains the name of the commercial portfolio.

The HP OmniBook Ultra will go on sale at the beginning of August, starting at $1,449.99. A specific day hasn't been announced yet. We're excited to test this against the OmniBook X to see how the two compare.

HP is also announcing new Intel Core Ultra-powered OmniStudio all-in-ones, which will also launch in August and will start at $1,149.99.

Correction: July 15, 2025, 10:26 a.m. ET: This article originally misstated the integrated graphics the Ryzen AI 300 processors use. The chips use integrated Radeon 800M processors. We regret the error.

HP has been busy in recent months, paring down its PC sub-brands to just Omni (consumer), Omen (gaming), Elite, and Pro (business), and launching new laptops based around Qualcomm's Arm-based Snapdragon X Elite platform. In keeping with the new naming scheme, the HP OmniBook X we're looking at here is a high-end consumer laptop for $1,199.

Can this Arm-based OmniBook X knock one of the x86 devices off of our Premium Laptops page? We'll have to benchmark it and try out its AI-focused features to find out. But (spoiler alert) its 16-hour battery life result in our testing is certainly impressive – if not quite the next-level longevity that Qualcomm was promising in the lead-up to the launch of its latest Windows on Arm platform.

Arm Software and App Support

Previous efforts to get Windows software, which is typically written for x86 (Intel and AMD) architectures, running on Arm chips have been hit or miss at best, with many popular apps and programs running in emulation (making them slower while also consuming more battery life), and many other programs refusing to run at all. For an operating system like Windows where people have grown to expect software to mostly just work, that's a pretty big problem.

But with the launch of the Snapdragon X Elite and the Microsoft Copilot+ push, things are very different this time around, with many mainstream apps and programs getting native Arm versions. Personally, nearly everything I attempted to run on the OmniBook X just worked as I would have expected from a typical Intel or AMD laptop, with the exception of HWinfo, which we typically use for testing.

One of my favorite games at the moment, Dome Keeper, was playable (running in emulation, not that the average user would know that) but choppy in scenes with fast motion. This is a pixel art game that's generally not very demanding, so I was a bit surprised that the game felt sluggish.

Of course, HP isn't marketing the OmniBook as a gaming laptop, and I do expect gaming performance to get better as Qualcomm releases additional driver updates. But at least for the foreseeable future, you should expect some programs (and games in particular) to exhibit unpredictable performance – and for some software to occasionally just not work. If that's not something you want to deal with, especially considering the high price of the OmniBook and other Snapdragon X Elite devices, you may want to stick with an Intel or AMD laptop for this cycle and see what Windows on Arm looks like in a year or two.

Design of the HP OmniBook X

The OmniBook X is a new design from HP, but it clearly takes cues from the company's previous high-end Dragonfly laptops, with its simple but refined rounded and tapered edges, above-average keyboard feel, and high-resolution (5MP) webcam with a physical privacy shutter.

The design basics (and the physical laptop itself) all feel solid, and the chassis is svelte at 0.57 inches thick. But at 2.97 pounds, it's not the lightest 14-incher around. Lenovo's X1 Carbon is 2.42 pounds, and my personal AMD-powered Asus Zenbook 14 OLED weighs 2.82 pounds. So while the OmniBook X feels solid and dense, there are lighter ultraportable options out there.

HP delivers a decent selection of ports for an ultraportable laptop, with a 5Gbps USB-A port (under a drop-jaw hinge) on the right edge, alongside a 3.5mm audio jack.

The left edge houses two USB-C ports, one 40Gbps (USB4), and one 10GBps. It would be nice if both ports offered the same bandwidth, but both at least support power delivery, so you don't have to worry about which one you use to charge.

In its marketing materials, HP calls out the laptop's redesigned hinge for its "optimal thermal ventilation." But those who prefer a full 180 degrees will find the hinge sub-optimal, as the screen only tilts back as far as can be seen in the image above. 

The company has done some smart and visually interesting things with the keyboard, adding screen capture, calculator, and a customizable button to the function row, alongside a pale blue power button. But we'll discuss the keyboard and touchpad in more detail shortly. 

Overall, while it does give off MacBook Air vibes in silver (it's also available in white), HP's latest laptop feels like something I'd be comfortable and confident in using as my daily (portable) computing device – even if the commuter in me does wish it were about a half-pound lighter.

HP OmniBook X Specs

Productivity Performance on the HP OmniBook X

We tested the HP OmniBook X against the Surface Laptop 13, also a Snapdragon X-based portable, along with the 13-inch M3 MacBook Air. And to see how these laptops compare to a recent Intel-based portable, we tossed in Asus' Zenbook 14 OLED, outfitted with a Core Ultra 7 155H CPU and a higher-resolution 2880 x 1800 display.

In Geekbench 6, the HP OmniBook X was competitive, but not a top performer. Its single-core score of 2,333 is actually the worst showing here, while its multi-score showing of 13,200 was better than all its competitors, save for the Surface Laptop (also a Snapdragon X device), which managed 14,426.

On our file copy test, the OmniBook X transferred our 25GB of test files at 892.54 MBps. That's not exactly slow, but again it's the slowest result here, with the Asus Zenbook 14 being about a third faster.

With Handbrake, we have computers transcode a 4K video to 1080p. And we use the Arm-specific versions of Handbrake for the Arm-based laptops and the traditional x86 version of the program for Intel and AMD laptops. Here the OmniBook landed in second place, at 5 minutes and 46 seconds, behind the 5:10 showing of Microsoft's Snapdragon-based Surface Laptop. The Intel Core Ultra-based Asus Zenbook wasn't massively behind the HP, though, at 6:17.

To measure long-term performance, we run 20 loops of the Arm version of the Cinebench 2024 CPU test and observe how the scores change, with less change suggesting more stable thermal performance. After taking a big dip after the first run, dropping from 649 to 358, the OmniBook recovered a bit on the third run (551), then stayed in the mid-to-high 600s for the rest of our test runs. Usually, we'd use HWinfo to check speeds and temperatures during this test, but that software isn't working on Arm as of this writing.

Display on the HP OmniBook X

The 14-inch, 2240 x 1400 touch display on the HP OmniBook looks pretty good, helped in some ways by the glass that covers its touch panel. But looking over some photos of a recent trip to Scotland, and comparing them to how they look on my own Asus Zenbook OLED (an AMD-based model), the color and contrast were noticeably better on the Zenbook, beginning out a level of detail that wasn't apparent on the OmniBook, even though it has a higher-resolution screen than my Zenbook (1920 x 1200).

Despite not being OLED, the OmniBook's screen does quite well in terms of its color, reproducing 80.2 percent of the DCI-P3 color space, which is only just bested here by the OLED screen on the Zenbook 14 (81.7 percent). But in terms of measured brightness, at 283.2 nits, it was the dimmest of this bunch. The Surface Laptop was the brightest, at an impressive 567.8 nits, but its color reproduction was also the worst. Both the Zenbook OLED and the MacBook Air arguably provide the best balance of color and brightness of these competing machines.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the HP OmniBook X

While the OmniBook X's key travel is predictably shallow for a thin and light laptop, the keyboard on the laptop is still quite good. The keys feel reasonably snappy, with space between them so you can orient your fingers by feel. And the three levels of backlighting gets bright enough that I could easily see even in our brightly lit office.

The company has also tweaked the top function row to include the usual media controls, along with launch keys for the calculator, snipping tool, and a customizable key. I also like that the power button in the upper-right is blue, breaking up the gray and silver look while making it easier to find. There are also tiny amber indicator lights on the volume and mic keys to let you know when you're muted – a small but genuinely useful design choice.

The roomy touchpad doesn't sport any fancy haptic feedback, instead opting for a physical click that generally worked well for me. The only issue I had with the cursor controls was occasionally when attempting to click and drag one folder into another. It's unclear whether this is a driver issue with Snapdragon laptops or something specifically to do with HP's touchpad – it didn't occur every time. The screen also supports touch input, so if you're so inclined, you can also use the even roomier 14-inch panel to move files around.

Audio on the HP OmniBook X

The OmniBook's downward-firing speakers sit near the front edge of the laptop and deliver a noticeably better audio experience if the laptop is sitting a couple of feet in front of you than if your head is hunched in front of the screen. I know this because as I was using the laptop on my coffee table, looking down at the screen and keyboard, I first thought the speakers sounded a bit mid-heavy and muffled. But as soon as I leaned back to watch the video for IAMX's latest single, "Neurosymphony," my perception of the audio improved dramatically.

All that said, even with the laptop on a desk a couple of feet in front of you, the OmniBook's speakers are good but not great. Both Apple's MacBooks and HP's own Dragonfly G4 that I tested last year get much louder while delivering at least the same quality of sound, if not better.

Battery Life on the HP OmniBook X

Of course, with Quacomm's dramatic claims about unplugged longevity, we were curious to see how the OmniBook and other Snapdragon X laptops would do on our battery life test. Our battery benchmark consists of web browsing, video streaming, and OpenGL graphics tests at 150 nits of screen brightness. And HP's laptop certainly didn't disappoint here, lasting 16 hours and 18 minutes.

That's more than an hour longer than Apple's M3 MacBook Air, and anything else here. Note, though, that the Asus Zenbook we reviewed has a higher-resolution 2880 x 1800 screen, and it's OLED, which tends to use more power. Our colleagues at Laptop Mag tested another model with a 1920 x 1200 screen (and the same Core Ultra 7 CPU as our Zenbook), and it lasted 15 hours and 52 minutes on the same battery test – just 26 minutes shy of the Snapdragon X-powered OmniBook.

So in short, the OmniBook's battery life is very impressive, easily crossing the 16 hour mark on our test. But if you choose the right models, both Apple and Intel can deliver laptops that last almost as long.

Webcam on the HP OmniBook X

One area where the Snapdragon X seems to be undoubtedly better than competing Intel and AMD laptops is in webcam performance. In part, that's because these high-end Arm-based laptops have tended to feature higher-end cameras. But it's also because the Quaclcomm chips have a dedicated image signal processor, while x86 chips do not.

Specifically, our HP OmniBook X sports a 5MP webcam, akin to previous-gen Intel-based HP Dragonfly laptops. But the sensor specs tell only part of the story. In general, thanks to the hardware and Qualcomm's years of expertise powering front-facing phone cameras, colors, detail, and the overall field of view just looks better on HP's laptop than pretty much any Windows-based laptop I've tested previously.

That's all well and good, but considering that many office meeting apps limit the resolution of your window to 1080p or less, it's a question how much this matters for most people, unless you happen to be using your webcam to shoot stills or video for professional or pro-sumer purposes. Personally, as someone who owns a 4K webcam and regularly dials into meetings that I frequently have to run myself, I'm fine with a solid 1080p camera – but that clearly isn't the case for everyone.

This is somewhat anecdotal, but signing in via Windows Hello also seemed faster and more reliable than with many Windows laptops I've used in the past.

Software and warranty on the HP OmniBook X

One thing I don't expect to see in the taskbar of a $1,200 laptop is trialware, and yet the McAfee logo lives on the home screen of the laptop out of the box, hawking its antivirus and firewall trials, while also trying to get you to install other apps. This is something I've grown to expect from sub-$1,000 laptops, but it never feels good when you spend a serious amount of money, only to have a company shovel software at you that you most likely don't need.

HP also includes its own apps. MyHP links you to support, as well as audio and video controls. Most of these settings can of course be managed from within Windows, but HP's Poly suite gives you added features like "AI Noise Removal / Reduction," background blur / removal, auto framing and, so HP says, better handling of multiple cameras. Many of these features will be duplicated in some form in most modern video conferencing apps and through Windows Studio Effects, but for those unlikely to dig into settings before a call, HP at least gives you the option of tweaking things ahead of time, I guess. 

The company also sticks its beta AI Companion on the taskbar. From the demos I saw of it, it's mostly a front-end for a large language model / chatbot that could be accessed directly on the web. But unfortunately, I wasn't able to get any real-world experience with it, as it forced me to create an account and receive an authorization via email to use the app. But I never got the authorization code to my Gmail account, despite trying multiple accounts and checking my Spam folders.

Copilot+ PC Features

Of course, as a Copilot+ PC, the OmniBook X also ships with Microsoft's exclusive (at least for now) AI-focused features, such as they are. Cocreator is an addition to Paint that attempts to combine a text prompt and your own attempts at drawing to create the kind of image you're after. Studio Effects add background blur and other effects to your webcam. And Live Captions With Translation extends the existing Live Captions feature (which adds captioning to basically any audio playing on the device) to provide live translations between languages.

How useful the above features will be to you will of course in large part depend on how and why you use your laptop. But we generally haven't found these Copilot+ features all that useful or exciting. And of course the primary exclusive feature to the Windows on Arm, the screen-capturing Recall, has seemingly been indefinitely delayed due to privacy concerns and the resulting backlash.

Upgradability of the HP OmniBook X

Getting inside the HP OmniBook X is just a matter of removing four Torx screws (two longer ones on the top edge and two shorter ones on the bottom), and then prying off the clips around the edge of the metal bottom panel. But don't expect to be able to upgrade much, as is typically the case with slim laptops. The 2280 SSD can be swapped out (once you remove a metal shielding cage). And you could, at some point, replace the Wi-Fi card, but the 6E model that's here is good enough for almost anyone, and it's unclear if drivers for other, faster cards will be readily available for this new Arm-based platform.

Configurations of the HP OmniBook X

HP sells the HP OmniBook X in one core configuration, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 CPU, integrated Adreno graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a 2240 x 1400 touch display. Our silver model with 1TB of storage lists at $1,199 (HP was selling it for $1,149 on sale when I wrote this). But if you want the "Ceramic White" color, it costs $10 more. And if you can live with 512GB of storage, that knocks $100 off the price. There is no 2TB option or the ability to get more RAM.

Conclusion

Almost all of my reservations about the OmniBook X have nothing to do with the hardware and everything to do with its underlying platform. In opting into the Snapdragon X Elite ecosystem, particularly this early, you should expect to at least occasionally run into programs that don't work or won't work as well as you might expect. And if you happen to regularly run programs that don't yet have native Arm versions (including most of Adobe's apps, save for Photoshop and Lightroom), you're probably going to experience much shorter battery life than we saw in our browser-based test. And there are traditional x86-based laptops that last nearly as long on a charge as the Omnibook, without the complications and limitations that still exist with Windows on Arm.

As much as I like the Omnibook X's hardware and battery life, I'm not convinced that most people should jump on the Snapdragon X Elite bandwagon just yet. Considering all of that, plus the perhaps interesting but mostly unnecessary exclusive features that ship with these Copilot+ PC devices, you may want to at least hold off to see how AMD's AI 300 and Intel's Lunar Lake have to offer when it comes to battery life and AI-focused features and performance. But purely considering its hardware design and 16-plus-hour battery life in our testing, the HP OmniBook X is an excellent laptop with a good keyboard. It should get you through a workday without having to reach for the charger, and the vast majority of programs I use on a daily basis just work. That's much more than I have been able to say about any previous Arm-based PC.

It wasn't long ago that 15-inch laptops were the most popular size among the best ultrabooks. 16-inch workhorses are slowly taking over their spots. The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i ($1,482 to start, $1,699.99 as tested) fits in as a prosumer notebook, packed with an Intel Core 9 Ultra 185H and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 laptop GPU.

The system is lighter than some competitors (even if it's slightly larger in footprint), and the 5MP webcam and an extra SSD slot for later upgrades are extra pluses. But others in this field compete on fancier displays, longer battery life, and, in some cases, performance.

Design of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i

Lenovo's latest Yoga puts the emphasis on the work. The machine itself isn't particularly crying out for attention. The aluminum lid is a plain gray with the Yoga logo stamped in a reflective coating. A reverse notch, a communications bar with the microphone and camera, juts out to make it easy to lift. From a side perspective, there is a bit of a mishmash happening: the lid is flat, while the bottom has a rounded edge.

Much of the same can be said when you lif the lid. The aluminum chassis has a set of gray chiclet keys. It holds up the 16-inch display, which has a bezel that's thicker than some ultraportables, as well as a spacious touchpad.

The ports are located on the sides. On the left are the power port, HDMI output, two USB Type-C ports (one of which supports Thunderbolt 4), and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The right side is where you'll find the SD card slot and a pair of USB Type-A ports, as well as the camera e-shutter and the power button.

Lenovo wins on weight compared to some of the competition. At 4.64 pounds, it's lighter than both the Dell XPS 16 (9640) and MacBook Pro 16 with M3 Max, both of which are 4.8 pounds.

The Yoga measures 14.28 x 9.99 x 0.70 inches, which is larger in all dimensions than the Mac (14.01 x 9.77 x 0.66 inches) and the XPS (14.01 x 9.77 x 0.67 inches), so you'll have to choose between weight and the footprint in your bag.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i

We tested the Yoga Pro 9i in a configuration with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 laptop graphics, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB PCIe 4 NVMe SSD.

Competitors for this system include the Dell XPS 16 (9640), which uses an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor but is paired with other, higher-spec parts, and the MacBook Pro, using Apple's M3 Max. The latter is very expensive, and was outfitted with 128GB of RAM.

On Geekbench 6, the Yoga achieved a single-core score of 2,561 and a multi-core score of 12,141. That beat the Dell on single-core performance, though the XPS won in multi-core. The MacBook Pro with M3 Max was the top scorer by far.

The Yoga copied 25GB of files at a rate of 2,099.66 MBps, again surpassing the XPS 16 (16,15.08 MBps). The Mac was the fastest here, at 2,461.25 MBps.

On Handbrake, the Yoga Pro 9i transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 3 minutes and 35 seconds, ahead of the XPS 16 (4:42) but behind the MacBook Pro (2:36).

We pushed the system by running Cinebench R23 in succession 20 times. The machine did see some ups and downs in performance, really only coming together at the end with scores in the high 18,000's. During the test, the CPU's P cores ran at an average of 3.71 GHz, the E cores measured 2.86 GHz, and the low-power E cores reached 1.09 GHz. The CPU package ran at an average 79.97 degrees Celsius.

The RTX 4050 will allow for some gaming, too. For instance, we ran the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (highest preset), and the system reached 74 frames per second. However, that 3,200 x 2,000 is a lot for the RTX 4050 for powerful graphics applications, and it only hit 28 fps at its native resolution.

Display on the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i

Lenovo equipped the Yoga Pro 9i with a 16-inch, 3200 x 2000 touchscreen that can run at 165 Hz, which should make for smooth animation or some quick esports on a work break.

When I watched the trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine, Wade Wilson's red suit was particularly vivid, as was Wolverine's trademark yellow costume. I wouldn't have minded if the screen got brighter, but the IPS panel is mostly serviceable.

On our light meter, the Yoga measured 373 nits of brightness, falling behind both the XPS OLED panel (409 nits) and the MacBook Pro's mini-LED screen (560 nits).

But in terms of color, the Legion won out. It covered 149% of the sRGB color gamut and 105.7% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, which is exceptional, and ahead of both of its competitors.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i

A sticker that's applied to the Yoga Pro 9i claims that the keyboard has 1.5mm of key travel, and I can believe it — when I took the Monkeytype typing test, it felt significantly deeper than most laptops I've tested. I hit 110 words per minute at 98% accuracy, which is pretty good for me.

The layout features a number pad for Excel enthusiasts who like the extra buttons. For many, this may be their first time seeing Microsoft's Copilot key, which is between the right alt and arrow keys.

The touchpad is generously proportioned at 5.91 inches wide by 3.75 inches tall. The glass is smooth and responds well to even complex multi-touch gestures. However, you'll want to be sure to click toward the bottom half, as Lenovo isn't using haptics here.

Audio on the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i

The Yoga Pro comes packing a 6-speaker system, including four 2W woofers and a pair of 2W tweeters. They get loud, and the Yoga Pro 9i easily filled our video studio with the sounds of Death Cab for Cutie's "Title and Registration." It highlighted the drums, strings, and guitars, and there was even a bit of bass, which laptops tend to struggle with.

In Dolby Atmos, I was surprised to find the effects turned off. Putting those on the detailed preset was my favorite, and it brought out more of the song's vocals.

The volume can distort a bit at the highest volumes, but luckily you don't really need to keep it there for some solid listening.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i

To open the Yoga Pro 9i, you need to remove eight Torx screws from the bottom of the laptop's casing. The three clips closest to the laptop's hinge are longer, so be sure to keep them separate. You'll need a tool to pry up clips from around the case.

With the bottom off, you'll be able see the battery and an M.2 2280 SSD. Our review unit had a second, empty SSD slot on the left side of the board, which is good for expanding storage later on. The RAM and the networking card are soldered to the motherboard, so no changes or upgrades there.

Battery Life on the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i

While over 9 hours of battery life is pretty solid for a laptop with a discrete GPU, the Yoga Pro 9i didn't last as long as its competition. Lenovo's PC ran on our battery test, with the screen set at 150 nits while streaming video, browsing the web, and running light graphics test, for 9 hours and 51 minutes. The Dell XPS 16 ran for 10:44, while the MacBook Pro lasted more than 18 hours on a charge.

Heat on the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i

We took skin temperature measurements while running the demanding Cinebench R23 workload 20 times in a row.

The keyboard reached 98.1 degrees Fahrenheit between the G and H keys, while the touchpad stayed cooler at 87 F (and got as cool as 84 F further from the keyboard). The bottom of the laptop hit 107.4 F at its hottest point, near the intake fans at the rear of the device.

Webcam on the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i

The Yoga Pro 9i comes with a 5MP webcam. In our still shot testing, that resulted in 1440p photos. On a dim day at our offices, the Yoga had to contend with just overhead office lighting, and it did decently, considering. I could pick out individual hairs on my head and wrinkles on my forehead from a stressful day. Some details, like my beard, however, were muddled. But my green t-shirt was color accurate, as was my face, while other details were yellowed by the lights.

The camera has an IR sensor so you can unlock the computer with facial recognition using Windows Hello.

While there's no physical privacy cover, there's an e-shutter switch on the right side of the laptop that disableds the integrated webcam.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i

Lenovo's biggest software addition to the Pro 9i is Vantage, a one-stop shop for support information, as well as a slew of device details and settings. Lenovo Hotkeys is designed exclusively to show you a few combinations that come included with the PC, but don't actually let you customize or change them. There's also Lenovo Now, which is meant to help set up your device, though you can also tinker with all the settings in Vantage, anyway.

Unfortunately, Lenovo did pass through a bit of bloat. There's a Dropbox promotion for 100GB of space for 6 months, as well as a trial of McAfee LiveSafe.

There is also, of course, the usual bloat in the Windows Start menu with links to the Windows Store. That included Spotify, Luminar Neo, and Grammarly.

Lenovo sells the Yoga Pro 9i with a 1-year warranty, but it can be extended for a fee depending where you buy it.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Configurations

Our Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i review unit, with an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H, 32GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 laptop GPU and a 1TB SSD is $1,699.99 at Best Buy. An otherwise identical model with an RTX 4060 is bumped up to $1,899.99.

On Lenovo's website, the laptop starts at $1,482 with a Core Ultra 7 155H, RTX 4050, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. You still get the 16-inch, 3200 x 2000 display, but it's not a touch screen.

Bottom Line

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i is a lightweight 16-inch workhorse with discrete graphics, a comfortable keyboard and an excellent 5MP webcam. If you need some graphics power alongside a powerful processor, it's worth considering.

The battery life isn’t as long as the Dell XPS 16’s, but in general we prefer other aspects of this laptop, including a better keyboard. (Dell also sells the XPS 16 for a higher price for similar configurations). The MacBook Pro beats them both and is worth considering as well, but that also assumes your workflows (or preferences) don't require Windows. While the display isn't the brightest, it still shows off vivid colors.

We also appreciated that the Yoga Pro 9i has a bit of room for storage expansion. While the RAM is soldered, there's still room to bump up how much space you have later, which is always welcome.

That leads to a graphics-forward laptop that, while it doesn't have the brightest screen, offers strong performance and a comfortable experience as long as you're willing to charge it a bit more often.

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We first saw the all-new Dell XPS 14 and XPS 16 earlier this year, ahead of CES 2024, and now we have both machines in hand for testing. At first glance, the laptops look clean, with a minimalist design language and bright 16:10 OLED displays, characteristics we've seen on some of the best ultrabooks and premium laptops. However, digging deeper reveals some odd design choices, like a capacitive touch function row above the traditional keyboard and an “invisible” haptic touchpad.

The XPS 14 and XPS 16 are also among the first laptops to go all-in with Microsoft’s artificial intelligence push, as they have a dedicated Copilot key in place of a right CTRL key. Under the hood, Dell configured our review units of the new laptops with Core Ultra 7 155H processors and 32GB of DDR5 RAM. The XPS 14 starts at $1,499 ($2,399 as tested), while the XPS 16 starts at $1,899 ($3,399 as tested).

Design of the Dell XPS 14 and XPS 16

The XPS 14 and XPS 16 take some design cues from the smaller XPS 13 Plus. That means that both laptops have a haptic touchpad, but the boundaries are not easily identified by look or touch. Usually, there is an indentation in the palm rest to give you physical awareness of where the touchpad is – even when not looking directly at it. The lack of dedicated function keys is a carryover from the XPS 13 Plus – in their place is a capacitive touch function row.

These two “omissions” give the XPS 14 and XPS 16 – both of which were finished in graphite – a cleaner and more monolithic appearance. The overall design of the two laptops is sleek and attractive. The anodized aluminum chassis is put together with precision, rivaling the build quality that we’ve come to expect from Apple’s MacBook family. However, the graphite finish is a magnet for fingerprints, which is also true with the Space Black MacBook Pros introduced in late 2023. One minor irritation: there is no cutout in the lid to make it easier to open the laptop one-handed. Instead, you must use both hands to pry the screen open due to the stiff hinge.

Speaker grilles (which are larger on the XPS 16) are on either side of the keyboard, and 1080p webcams are mounted above the 16:10 OLED displays. However, you won’t find a physical shutter button or hotkey combo to disable the webcam for privacy.

When you flip the laptop over, you’ll find six intakes (three on each side) for the dual onboard fans and a row of exhaust vents at the rear to expel hot air. Also visible are two long rubber strips (one at the front of the chassis, one at the rear) to keep the laptops from sliding around on your desk.

Dell has equipped both the XPS 14 and XPS 16 with one USB-C port, one 3.5 mm headphone jack, and a microSD slot on the right side of the chassis. Moving to the left side, there are two additional USB-C ports. We should note that XPS 16 laptops equipped with an RTX 4070 only feature two Thunderbolt 4 capable ports – the third port is a regular USB 3.2 Gen 2 port. In an interesting twist, Apple now provides more ports with its MacBook Pros, as its dedicated MagSafe connector means that you don’t lose a USB-C port when charging, and it also provides a full-size SDXC slot and an HDMI 2.1 port. However, Dell does include a USB-C to HDMI adapter in the box for connecting an external display. The adapter also features a single USB-A port for legacy compatibility.

Not surprisingly, the XPS 14 and XPS 16 compare favorably in size and weight to the respective 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros. The 3.8-pound XPS 14 and 4.8-pound XPS 16 measure 12.6 x 8.5 x 0.71 inches (320 x 216 x 18 mm) and 14.1 x 9.5 x 0.74 inches (358 x 240 x 18.7 mm), respectively. For comparison, the 3.6-pound 14-inch and 4.8-pound 16-inch MacBook Pro measures 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches (312 x 212 x 15 mm) and 14.01 x 9.77 x 0.67 inches (355 x 248 x 17 mm), respectively. The older XPS 15 (9530) comes in at 13.68 x 9.06 x 0.71 inches (344.4 x 230.1 x 18.03 mm) and weighs 4.23 pounds.

Dell XPS 16 (9640) and XPS 14 (9440) Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Dell XPS 14 and XPS 16

Our XPS 14 and XPS 16 review samples came configured with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, 32GB LPDDR5x memory, and a 1TB SSD. Regarding graphics, the XPS 15 came with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, while the XPS 16 carried the optional RTX 4070. The older, stalwart XPS 15 uses a Core i7-13700H processor, 32GB DDR5, 1TB SSD, and RTX 4070. Finally, the 16-inch MacBook Pro was configured with an M3 Max processor (16-core CPU, 40-core GPU) and a 1TB SSD.

Although the XPS 16 and XPS 14 use the same CPU/RAM configuration, there were some differences in performance, which is likely due to the extra thermal headroom available in the XPS 16, thanks to its larger dimensions. In the Geekbench 6 synthetic CPU benchmark, the XPS 16 delivered a single-core score of 2,373 and a multi-core score of 13,384 compared to 2,326 and 12,701 for the XPS 14. Last year’s XPS 15 bested the XPS newcomers on the single-core benchmark (2,462) but came up short on the multi-core benchmark (12,171). The 16-inch MacBook Pro with its M3 Max SoC was in a different league, with single- and multi-core scores of 3,158 and 21,182, respectively.

The tables turned in the file transfer test, where we copied 25GB of files. The XPS 16 performed the task at 1,614.08 MBps compared to 1,843.93 MBps for the XPS 14. The XPS 15 slipped into second place at 2,060.98 MBps, while the 16-inch MacBook Pro took top honors at 2,461.25 MBps.

We transcoded a 4K video file to 1080p in our Handbrake benchmark, and again, the MacBook Pro showed its muscle with a finish time of 2:36. The XPS 16 took second place at 4:42, while the XPS 15 came in third place at 5:01 and the XPS 14 was last with a time of 5:52.

In the Cinebench R23 benchmark, the XPS 16 started the test at 14,229.12 and saw its scores dip into the 13,000 range over the subsequent four runs before recovering fully. By the end of the 20 runs, the XPS 16 scored 14,304.77. The more thermally constrained XPS 14 started the Cinebench R23 run at 13,933.37 and saw more ups and downs during its 20 runs, finishing at 10,799.42.

During the Cinebench R23 run, the XPS 16’s low-power efficiency cores clocked in at 2.59 GHz, while the performance cores averaged 3.54 GHz. The CPU package measured 193 degrees Fahrenheit (89.89 degrees Celsius). The XPS 14’s low-power efficiency and performance cores clocked in at 1.86 GHz and 2.59 GHz, respectively. The CPU package measured 182.49 F (83.61 C).

Display on the Dell XPS 16 and XPS 14

Our XPS 16 and XPS 14 review units use OLED Infinity Edge displays with anti-reflective and anti-smudge coatings (covered in Corning Gorilla Glass Victus). However, differences lie in size, maximum resolution, and refresh rate. The XPS 16 features a 16.3-inch panel with a 3840 x 2400 (UHD+) resolution and a 90 Hz refresh rate. On the other hand, the XPS 14 has a 120 Hz 14.5-inch panel with a resolution of 3,200 x 2,000 (3.2K). Each features discrete graphics: a GeForce RTX 4070 on the XPS 16 and an RTX 4050 on the XPS 14.

Interestingly, color performance for the XPS 16 and XPS 14 took a step back compared to last year’s XPS 15. The XPS 15 also uses an OLED panel, which covered 195% of sRGB and 137.9 percent of DCI-P3. The XPS 16 came in at 115 percent and 81.2 percent, respectively (the XPS 14 followed closely behind). Interestingly, the MacBook Pro also performed similarly to the new XPS 16 and XPS 14. The MacBook Pro leads the field in display brightness, hitting 560 nits, compared to 409 nits for the XPS 16 and 378 nits for the XPS 14.

Since I am a huge Marvel fan, I decided to revisit some older films to cleanse my palate of the newer films and TV shows that Disney released. I pulled up Spider-Man: Homecoming, Tom Holland’s second appearance as Spider-Man, and paid particular attention to the scene where Spider-Man interrupts a group of thugs robbing a bank using high-tech weapons infused with Chitauri technology.

While it’s a seemingly little detail, I noticed how colorful and plastic-like the masks appeared on the robbers. The bright yellow of Thor’s “hair” on one of the masks was just as brilliant as the green on the Hulk mask. The bright blue luminescent glow of the anti-gravity grappling gun also looked amazing on both the XPS 16 and the XPS 14. Another scene that highlights the punchy color of the OLED displays on the assembled XPS duo is when Spider-Man is lying on top of a semi-trailer with a yellow jacket worn over his crime-fighting suit. I appreciated how the mustard-like color of the jacket clashed with the familiar red of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man suit.

Aside from watching movies (which looked excellent on both laptops), I also used each extensively with day-to-day productivity tasks. With the 90 Hz and 120 Hz panels, I didn’t see any blurring while fast-scrolling through documents or websites. I also appreciated the extra vertical resolution of these 16:10 displays, particularly with the XPS 16, which has a greater-than-4K resolution of 3840 x 2400. The XPS 16 was my favorite for completing work during the day, thanks to the extra screen real estate, despite its larger dimensions and weight.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Dell XPS and XPS 14

The keyboard and touchpad are likely to be the most controversial design aspect of the new XPS laptops. While I am a fan of the physical keyboard and appreciate its springy keys with adequate travel, I’m sure there will be more than a few people who won’t like the completely flat keys with very little space between them. There’s also a fingerprint reader incorporated into the power button.

Perhaps the most egregious design decision is with the function row, which has been replaced by a haptic feedback panel (covered in Corning Gorilla Glass 3) above the keyboard. Think of it as a low-tech version of Apple’s discontinued (for good reason) MacBook Pro Touch Bar. By default, the function row shows commonly used keys such as ESC, volume up/down, microphone on/off, keyboard brightness, display brightness, and Prt Sc. However, it also incorporates standard keys that we expect, like Home, Insert, and Delete. Luckily, the keys are responsive to touch and are easily visible during the day or at night. 

Accessing the “real” function keys is accomplished by pressing and holding the Fn key and then pressing F1 through F12 on the function row. This is a cumbersome step to access keys that traditionally are readily accessible with a single key press and can be identified by feel. Unlike Apple’s unloved Touch Bar, there’s no way to customize the function row on a per-app basis. If you’re going to go through the hassle of replacing traditional keys, making it user-customizable doesn’t seem like a tall ask.

When it comes to actually typing on the keyboard, I visited keyhero.com on the XPS 14 and achieved 75.71 words per minute with 96.45 percent accuracy. My performance with the XPS 16 was nearly identical.

The only other real keyboard quirk is the inclusion of a dedicated Windows Copilot button. As you might expect, pressing the key brings up the Copilot side panel, which uses artificial intelligence to answer your search query. The dedicated key is a waste, mainly because I find Copilot to be a half-baked search tool masquerading as an AI assistant. Despite being fully integrated into Windows 11, you would think that asking Copilot to “Check for Windows Updates” would do just that. However, it took 10 seconds to provide instructions on how to find Windows Update by first using the Start button. At the end of the results, there was an actual button that took me directly to the Windows Update panel, but the process was far from “intelligent.”

The other hardware quirk is with the touchpad integrated into the palm rest (also covered in Gorilla Glass 3). Looking at the XPS 16 and XPS 14, no apparent outline defines the touchpad area. That’s because there is none – to bring a more minimalist design to the forefront, Dell depends on haptics to define the touchpad area, even if you can’t see it. Luckily for me, my right thumb never had an issue using the touchpad because of how my hands rest on the keyboard. However, people who are vision impaired might want a physical indentation to signify the outline of the touchpad. At the very least, Dell should provide a hotkey allowing LEDs to illuminate the touchpad area.

With that said, the actual operation of the touchpad is among the best I’ve experienced on a Windows laptop and reminds me more of the excellent haptic touchpad that Apple has used for years on its MacBooks.

Audio on the Dell XPS 16 and XPS 14

Both XPS laptops use a quad-speaker setup (with slight differences), which puts them ahead of most Windows 11-based productivity laptops. The XPS 16 uses two 3-watt primary speakers and two 2-watt tweeters, while the XPS 14 uses two 2-watt primary speakers and two 2-watt tweeters. The speakers feature Waves MaxxAudio Pro and Waves Nx 3D audio tuning.

For my audio tests, I selected one pivotal scene from one of my favorite movies: The Hunt for Red October. During this scene, Captain Ramius and the crew of the Red October have their first encounter with the Russian Navy after announcing their decision to defect. The tension in the scene builds, as you can hear the echoes of the sonar pings repeating as a torpedo locks onto the submarine to sink the vessel. The pings get louder and more frequent as the torpedo gets closer, blaring through with astonishing clarity on the XPS 14’s speakers. All the while, the background chorus grows louder, mixing into a cacophony as the torpedo misses (thanks to last-minute maneuvering heroics spearheaded by Captain Ramius), allowing the Red October to escape with minimal damage.

I also played some music, including “Going the Distance” by the Menahan Street Band, a cover of Bill Conti’s song of the same name. Although it’s often difficult to extract much bass from the confines of a laptop chassis, the XPS 14 and XPS 16 did a great job of capturing the essence of the song, including the tight drum beats and iconic horns from anyone familiar with the movie that gave us the song: Rocky.

Despite the XPS 16’s advantage on paper with its speaker setup, I was hard-pressed to find much difference between the two laptops when playing identical content.

Upgradeability of the Dell XPS 16 and XPS 14

Accessing the interior of the two XPS laptops is the same — each feature eight Torx screws on the bottom of the chassis. With the screws removed, the bottom panel lifts off with minimal force. However, the only components that are user-accessible/replaceable are the battery and the M.2 SSD.

Battery life of the Dell XPS 16 and XPS 14

 We measured battery life using a combination of web browsing, video streaming, and OpenGL graphics tests with screen brightness set at 150 nits. Both machines did well, with the XPS 14 lasting 8:56 minutes, less than 20 minutes shorter than the larger XPS 15. The XPS 16 lasted the longest among the Windows 11 laptops (10:44). The MacBook Pro was in a different league, with a runtime of 18:05 despite its benchmark-busting M3 Max SoC.

The XPS 14 uses a 69.5 WHr battery and comes with a 60W USB-C power adapter. The XPS 16 features a much larger 99.5 WHr battery, which is replenished by a 130W USB-C power adapter.

Heat on the Dell XPS 16 and XPS 14

Throughout all my testing, the two XPS laptops remained cool to the touch. What’s remarkable is that Dell incorporated a dual-fan cooling system in both machines that extracts heat without making much of a ruckus. Even when going full-tilt in Cinebench R23, the XPS 14 and XPS 16 fans spun with a muffled whirring sound.

While running the benchmark, the XPS 16 measured 95.9 degrees Fahrenheit (35.5 degrees Celsius) at its hottest point (above the keyboard deck), the touchpad measured 82.2 F (27.88 C), and we saw 89.8 F (32.1 C) between the G and H keys. As for the XPS 14, it was the hottest on its underside at the rear left corner, measuring 96.7 F (35.9 F). The touchpad registered 86.7 F (30.3 C), and we measured 89.4 F (31.8 C) between the G and H keys.

Webcam on the Dell XPS 16 and XPS 14

The webcams on the XPS 16 and XPS 14 are among the best I’ve sampled on premium laptops. It’s a 1080p webcam with an IR sensor for Windows Hello support. Unfortunately, Dell doesn’t provide a physical shutter or a hotkey for quickly disabling the webcam in software.

As for performance, the camera's image quality was very crisp, and color reproduction was spot-on. The camera accurately captured the stubble on my face without converting it to a blurry mess. It also did well with overhead lighting, which failed to overpower the image.

Software and Warranty on the Dell XPS 16 and XPS 14

Dell preinstalls a few of its software applications, including Dell Digital Delivery and Dell Update. The latter checks for and downloads the latest bios, firmware, driver, and software updates for your system. The MyDell app allows you to customize power, audio (speaker, microphone), and presence detection settings (among other things). Another app that will likely get much use is the Killer Intelligence Center which allows you to monitor Wi-Fi traffic, set app-based network prioritization, and monitor other vitals of the onboard Wi-Fi 7 adapter.

You’ll also find the other usual suspects installed by default with Windows 11, including shortcuts for Spotify and WhatsApp.

The XPS 16 and XPS 14 carry a one-year warranty.

Dell XPS 16 and XPS 14 Configurations

Both the XPS 14 and XPS 16 are highly configurable. The XPS 14 in its base form features a Core Ultra 7 155H, 16GB LPDDR5x, Intel Arc graphics, 512GB SSD, and a 14.5-inch 1920 x 1200 InfinityEdge IPS display for $1,499. However, our review unit with a Core Ultra 7 155H, 32GB LPDDR5x, GeForce RTX 4050, 1TB SSD, 14.5-inch 3,200 x 2,000 InfinityEdge OLED display cost $2,399. Splurging for 64GB of LPDDR5x and a 4TB SSD pushes the price to $3,399.

The base XPS 16 has a Core Ultra 7 155H processor, 16GB LPDDR5x, Arc graphics, 512GB SSD, and a 16.3-inch 1920 x 1200 InfinityEdge IPS display for $1,899. Our review unit added an RTX 4070, 32GB of LPDDR5x, 1TB SSD, and the 16.3-inch 3,840 x 2400 InfinityEdge OLED display for $3,399. A fully decked out XPS 16 ($4,549) has a Core Ultra 9 185H processor, 64GB LPDDR5x, and a 4TB SSD.

Bottom Line

The Dell XPS 16 and XPS 14 represent a clean break from the design language that we saw with the XPS 15. However, Dell’s desire to make the laptops appear cleaner visually resulted in some ergonomic pitfalls courtesy of the haptics-based capacitive function row and invisible touchpad.

But once you get past those quirks, both laptops offer class-competitive performance and battery endurance among Windows 11 laptops. The OLED displays are sharp, colorful and bright, and the speakers are loud with excellent clarity. Pricing is competitive with similar machines like the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra.

However, the XPS 14’s $1,499 starting price seems high considering that the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED offers the same processor, Arc graphics, and 32GB of LPDDR5x for $1,299. Dell seems to be really gunning for Apple’s MacBook Pro family with its pricing. The 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro starts at $1,599 and escalates quickly from there for the 14- and 16-inch models with M3 Pro and M3 Max processors.

Dell's new XPS 14 and XPS family are great products, but there are cheaper and better-equipped laptops out there for the money. We’re not certain that the “price it like Apple” strategy will appeal to most customers in the Windows camp.

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The Rolls Royce of productivity laptops, Lenovo’s X1 Carbon combines a lightweight build, an industry-leading keyboard, strong battery life, and all the ports that most people need. The X1 Carbon (Gen 12) makes some noteworthy improvements over its predecessors, shrinking the laptop’s dimensions and peeling about 0.08 pounds off its weight while upgrading to an Intel Core Ultra processor, its first consumer chip to feature a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to help with AI. 

In our tests, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) offered solid performance and the fantastic keyboard experience we expect from Lenovo. And, with Meteor Lake on board, it handled local AI tasks we threw at it with aplomb. Unfortunately, the battery life – at least with the 2880 x 1800 OLED panel on our review unit – was subpar. And the price, which starts at $2,263 for a model with just 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, is really high in comparison to competitive products, including the still-available X1 Carbon (Gen 11). However, if the price drops or you don’t mind paying a high price for the latest and greatest components, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) is a great choice for portable productivity.

Design of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

Designed to compete with the best ultrabooks on the market, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) features the traditional Thinkpad aesthetic, complete with a boxy, raven-black chassis that’s accented by a few drips of bright red in the logo, the status light, and the TrackPoint pointing stick. Some folks find this shape and colorway overly conservative, but for many others, it’s iconic.

The Carbon has long been Lenovo’s flagship ThinkPad, combining sleek aesthetics with a slim, lightweight chassis that still finds room for a generous screen and plenty of ports. With the 12th Gen Carbon, the company has managed to shave a few tenths of an inch off of the laptop’s dimensions, without shrinking the 14-inch screen this line has always had or compromising usability.

The bezel is incredibly thin, but there is a small protrusion above the screen in the form of the Communications bar, which houses the webcam, IR sensor, and privacy shutter. It juts out from the lip of the lid so you can use it to flip open the laptop.

Like its predecessors, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) is made out of a combination of carbon fiber and magnesium with some plastic and a little aluminum under the surface. It’s incredibly lightweight, but also very durable as it passes 12 military-grade certifications (MIL-STD 810H). Stress tests include the ability to survive extreme temperatures, high altitudes, vibrations, mechanical shocks, humidity, sand, and dust, and even exposure to fungus. The X1 Carbon (Gen 12) also uses a lot of recycled materials, including a C cover that’s made from 90 percent recycled magnesium and a D cover that’s made from 55 percent recycled aluminum. 

This model measures 12.31 x 8.45 x 0.59 inches (312.8 x 214.75 x 14.96 mm), which is 0.09 inches narrower and a noticeable 0.35 inches shorter than its predecessor. This notably makes the palm rest just a little shorter, but I found that it was still more than an adequate size to hold my wrists in place. These dimensions are also a bit more compact than the Asus ZenBook 14 OLED  (12.30 x 8.67 x 0.59 inches) and HP Spectre x360 14 (12.35 x 8.68 x 0.67 inches).

At just 2.42 pounds, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) is also 0.06 pounds lighter than its predecessor, 0.4 pounds lighter than the ZenBook 14 OLED, and 0.8 pounds lighter than the HP Spectre x360. Despite its lightweight and narrow dimensions, the X1 Carbon packs two USB Type-A ports, a full-size HDMI port, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports for charging and data. The power button is now on the right side rather than above the keyboard so, if you like to use the laptop docked, you can power it on without opening the lid.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) Specs

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

With its Core Ultra 7 155H CPU, 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD, our configuration of the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) handled everything we threw at it, from simple web surfing to generating music using local AI capabilities. 

On Geekbench 6, a synthetic test that measures overall processing performance, the X1 Carbon achieved a single-core score of 2,285 and a multi-core score of 11,638. That’s a little less than Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (2,448 / 12,908) and the HP Spectre x360 14 (2,353 / 12,370), both of which have the same Core Ultra 7 155H CPU as Lenovo’s laptop. The MacBook Air 15 and its M3 processor had  higher single and multi-core scores of 3,093 and 12,205..

The X1 Carbon took a modest 7 minutes and 25 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p using Handbrake. That time is slightly faster than the HP Spectre x360 (7:30). However, the ZenBook 14 OLED (6:17) was much quicker, despite having the same CPU, and the MacBook Air finished in a quick 6:30. Last year’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11) and its Core i7-1355U processor pulled in last at 9:08.

The X1 Carbon’s 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD completed our file transfer test, in which we copy 25GB of files at a rate of 1,512 MBps. That’s faster than the HP Spectre x360 (1,362 MBps), the MacBook Air 15 (1,167 MBps) and the ZenBook 14 (1,279 MBps). The X1 Carbon (Gen 11) was slightly faster at 1,703 MBps.

To see how the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) performs under stress, we ran Cinebench R23 twenty times. Performance was very consistent, averaging 10,634 and sitting in the high 10,000s and low 11,000s on most runs, except runs 3 and 4 where it dropped a bit.

We also ran a few AI workloads on the X1 Carbon in order to see what you can expect if you want to do local inference. To make sure these numbers were typical, we compared the results to another laptop with the same Core 7 Ultra 155H, the Acer Swift Go 14, which we also had in our lab at the time. The devices were pretty much neck and neck with each beating the other on different tests. 

With Intel’s OpenVINO plugin for Audacity installed, the Swift Go 14 took an average of 45.3 seconds to transcribe a 23-minute audio file using Whisper AI while the X1 Carbon completed the same task in an average of 53.9 seconds. The X1 Carbon came out ahead when we ran noise reduction, completing the task in an average of 783.9 seconds compared to 803.4 seconds on Acer’s laptop. For music generation, the times were a virtual tie at 56.8 seconds for the ThinkPad and 56.6 seconds for the Swift Go 14. 

I should note that, for all of the test numbers above, we set Audacity to use the integrated Intel Ark GPU rather than the NPU to do the processing. Though using the NPU saves power and frees up your other components, the GPU usually provides better performance. For example, the noise suppression test took 783.9 seconds on the GPU but 1031.7 seconds on the NPU. 

We also tested GIMP’s OpenVINO Stable Diffusion image generator on the X1 Carbon and found that it took just 16 seconds to output an image of a cat driving a car. We had difficulty getting the latest GIMP plugin to run on the Acer, but with an earlier version of the plugin, it also took 16 seconds as did the Core 5 Ultra 5 125H-powered IdeaPad Pro 5i, which we tested on this workload in December.

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

Our review configuration of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) came with the highest-end display Lenovo offers: an OLED panel that’s 2880 x 1800 resolution, supports HDR and runs at 120 Hz (double the normal 60 Hz most non-gaming laptop screens offer). As we might expect, this screen offers vibrant, sharp images with great viewing angles, but its features are probably overkill for the productivity users this laptop is aimed at.

When I watched my favorite screen-testing nature video, a 4K Costa Rica jungle montage on YouTube, fine details like the scales on a snake or the leaves on trees were sharp and easy to distinguish. Greens such as the skin of a frog or the moss on the ground were particularly rich, but the red feathers on a parrot didn’t pop as much as I would want. 

However, once I enabled HDR mode and relaunched my browser with the same video, which is available in HDR, the feathers were much more vibrant. However, with HDR on, any non-HDR content, including the Windows desktop, looks dull so I don’t recommend you enable it unless you plan on watching a long HDR video.

The panel surface is glossy but doesn’t reflect back as much light as many other glossy screens I’ve tested. Still, when I held it in front of a window on a sunny day, I could see strong reflections of the room around me.

According to our colorimeter, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s OLED panel can reproduce a solid 82.1%of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 116% of the narrower sRGB gamut. That’s within a few points of its OLED-powered competitors such as the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED and HP Spectre x360, along with the MacBook Air 15-inch M3. Last year’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon and its LED screen managed a lesser, 69.8% of the DCI-P3 gamut and just 99% of sRGB.

The screen reached 389 nits of brightness in our tests, which bests the ZenBook, HP Spectre x360, and last year’s ThinkPad, but falls nearly 100 nits short of the MacBook Air 15.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Trackpoint on Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

Like other ThinkPads, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) has a first-class keyboard with snappy tactile feedback, deep travel (1.5 mm), and gently curved keys. Using this keyboard on the 10fastfingers typing test, I scored a very strong 104 words per minute. near the upper end of my typical range. I could type on this thing all day and still feel comfortable and energized hitting those keys.

Lenovo has made a few changes over prior-generation X1 Carbon keyboards. The company has swapped the positions of the Fn key and the CTRL key so that the CTRL key is in the lower left corner as it is on most PC keyboards, and the Fn is to its right. That’s a quality-of-life improvement since the old way of having the Fn to the far left is confusing when you switch back and forth with an external keyboard (or with other laptops). 

The new X1 Carbon also has elevated, tactile bumps on a few keys: Enter, Fn, down arrow, F2, F3, Insert, F, and G, the last two of which have been common on prior models. These bumps are designed to help people with visual impairments feel their way around, but they can also help touch typists avoid looking down.

Like other ThinkPads, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) has both a TrackPoint pointing stick and a touchpad. Sitting between the G and H keys, the TrackPoint provides the most accurate navigation you can get on a laptop (in my view) and you can use it to move the pointer around without even lifting your hands off of the home row. 

While this little red nub goes back decades, the X1 Carbon adds a new capability to it that previously was only available on the ThinkPad Z Series. If you double tap on the TrackPoint, it brings up the Quick Menu where you can adjust the camera brightness, change microphone settings, enable voice typing, adjust the battery charging threshold, change the audio output device, and more. I’d much rather be able to assign a macro or hotkey to the TrackPoint; hopefully, Lenovo will add more customization options in the future.

If you don’t like the TrackPoint, there’s the 2.9 x 4.9-inch glass touchpad, which feels really smooth but not at all slippery. It’s also a bit larger than the 4.3 x 2.2-inch touchpad on the previous model, though that was plenty large too. As I expected, the touchpad offered smooth, accurate navigation around the desktop and it responded seamlessly to multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom, two-finger scrolling, and three-finger swipes.

Audio on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)’s built-in audio system won’t compete with the best PC speakers, but it provides decent output that’s both loud and distortion-free. When I played AC/DC’s "Back in Black" at full volume, the guitar and drums were not tinny, but were not overly rich and layered either. 

Normally, I like to hear a clear separation of sound where some instruments appear to be coming from one side of the computer and others from the opposite side. In this case, the drums and vocals did seem to be coming from a little bit to the left while the guitars were on the right, but since the speakers are both beneath the keyboard, it seemed like the instruments weren’t that far away from each other.

In the Lenovo Commercial  Vantage software, I was able to choose from several Dolby Access audio profiles: Voice, Music, Movies, Games, and Dynamic. I found that the song was loudest and richest when I enabled Dynamic rather than Music. At maximum volume, the output was able to fill my living room and be heard clearly in the adjacent dining room.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

Like other ThinkPad X1 Carbons, the Gen 12 model allows you to upgrade its M.2 2280 SSD and nothing else. The RAM is soldered to the motherboard and the Wi-Fi card isn’t readily accessible.

To get to the inside of the computer, I loosened the four captive Philip’s head screws and the bottom panel popped off easily. Underneath, the SSD sits under a metal heat shield which is secured with two screws. I didn’t bother taking it out for testing purposes, but it would be easy to unscrew that shield and remove the SSD. Popping the bottom panel back on was a pain as it took several attempts to get all four sides to snap into place so I could tighten the screws again.

Battery Life on Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

Our review configuration of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) lasted a modest 9 hours and 14 minutes on our battery test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi with the screen at 150 nits of brightness. That’s four and a half hours shorter than the prior model, last year’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11), five hours behind the MacBook Air 15 and three hours short of the Asus ZenBook 14 OLED. It even pulls up nearly two hours behind the HP Spectre x360.

It’s quite possible that the 2880 x 1800, 120 Hz OLED panel on our review unit is to blame for the increased power consumption (though we configured it to run at 60 Hz). Lenovo also offers the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) with a 1920 x 1200, 60 Hz LED screen so it’s likely that a configuration with the lower-res panel would last longer on a charge.

When we tested last year’s model, which endured for an impressive 13 hours and 45 minutes, it had both a 1920 x 1200 display and an Intel Core i7 U series processor, which has a 15-watt TDP (lower than the Core Ultra 7 155’s 28-watt TDP). Both models use 57 WHr batteries.

If endurance is a priority to you, definitely buy this laptop with the 1920 x 1200 screen.

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) stayed relatively cool throughout my regular use of the laptop. It never seemed too warm to the touch, which is important for a laptop you’re likely to use on your lap sometimes. 

However, after running our Cinebench R23 stress test for 15 minutes, the middle of the keyboard was a little toasty, registering 114.5 degrees Fahrenheit while the middle bottom clocked in at 118.5 degrees. The touchpad stayed cool at just 86.5 degrees. To be fair, even when I touched the keys during this test, they felt warm but not burning hot.

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon features a 1080p webcam, which provided sharp and relatively colorful images in our testing. Images I took of myself under the harsh, yellowish overhead lighting of my office were sharp and fairly color-accurate, though a little washed out due to the lighting.

However, once I turned on the preloaded Lenovo View software and enabled its Video Enhancement feature, I was able to turn up the light, color, and intensity sliders, making the image much more colorful.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

Like other ThinkPads, the X1 Carbon comes preloaded with Lenovo’s Commercial Vantage application. This utility helps you keep the device drivers and BIOS up-to-date while giving you access to custom settings for the speakers, microphone and webcam. This is also the app where you set whether the USB port stays on for charging when the computer is off, what the F12 key does and whether the computer turns itself on when you open the lid.

The company has also preinstalled Lenovo View, a utility that uses your webcam to perform various functions, some of which use image recognition. The tool has a privacy feature that alerts you if someone is coming up behind you and gives you the chance to blur your screen so they don’t see what you're doing. The Wellness mode is basically a nag that detects if you are slouching by using the camera to see your posture; It also reminds you every so often to give your eyes a break. Lenovo View also has the ability to put your camera image on top of screen share presentations you’re giving and it gives you some color sliders to adjust your camera image.

There are also just a few of the standard pieces of crapware that Microsoft preloads in Windows 11, including icons for Spotify, Grammarly, LinkedIn, and Camo Studio, a freemium camera app with more settings than the standard Windows camera program.

Lenovo backs the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) with a standard one-year warranty on parts and labor. You can also pay extra to extend that timeline up to five years, add premiere support, or even go for accidental damage protection.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) Configurations

From the time it officially went on sale in December until the date of this publication, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) has been available in very limited configurations and with extraordinarily high prices. We have to think that, as the company offloads more of its prior-gen models and ramps up production, the amount of Gen 12 choices will increase and their prices will drop. But, as of now, the choices are limited and very pricey, at least in the U.S.

On Lenovo.com, the main place to buy the laptop in the U.S. there are six configurations that range in price from $2,263 to $3,047. All of them have 1920 x 1200 displays in touch or non-touch varieties, not the OLED, 2880 x 1800 panel on our review configuration. Our configuration, which has the 2880 x 1800 screen, a Core Ultra 7 155U CPU, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, isn’t available right now, but was around $2,800 when it was on sale a couple of months ago. However, we recommend the 1920 x 1200 panel, because it would probably use less power and provide longer battery life.

The least expensive configuration goes for $2,263 and has a Core Ultra 5 125U CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. To get 32GB of RAM and 1TB, which we recommend, you need to buy the $3,039.20 model which has a Core Ultra 7 165U CPU and a 1920 x 1200 touch screen.

Bottom Line

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) has a lot to like: a lightweight yet durable design, an industry-leading typing and navigation experience, a sharp webcam, and plenty of ports. The Intel Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” processor sets you up for a future where more of your AI processing, from background blurs on video conferences to image generation and chatbotting, is processed locally. 

But either because of the processor, which has a higher TDP (28 watts, 20 watts as configured) than the 15-watt U series CPU we tested on the 11th Gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon, or because of the 120 Hz OLED panel, the battery life on the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) was not great in our tests. It’s likely you’d get more endurance with the 1920 x 1200 screen, but we can’t say how much. 

And the price for the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) at this time is really, really high for what you get. Normally, after a few months on the market, the price of new ThinkPads comes down to earth, but you can’t even touch a base model with subpar specs for less than $2,200 or get one with specs I'd want for less than $3,000. 

Meanwhile, last year’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11) is still for sale in a wider variety of configurations with prices starting at just $1,439 and one with 32GB of RAM for $1,710. It’s not as powerful and it’s a few tenths of an inch larger, but the Gen 11 model offers most of what you’d like about the new model for a lot less money.

If you don’t want the durability and first-class typing experience you get with a ThinkPad, the Asus Zenbook OLED 14 or HP Spectre x360 both have longer battery life, cost hundreds or even $1,000 less, and use the same Core Ultra processors. 

However, if you want the very best X1 Carbon performance and design you can get and you’re willing to pay a hefty premium for it, the Gen 12 delivers both now.

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Microsoft is updating its Surface lineup, but only for business customers. During an online event today, the company announced two new devices: the Surface Pro 10 for Business and Surface Laptop 6 for Business. Both are powered by Intel Core Ultra processors, and Microsoft has dubbed them the "first Surface PCs optimized for AI."

The new units reflect Microsoft's vision to bring its Copilot into more businesses. Both the 13.5-inch and 15-inch Laptop 6 will have a dedicated Copilot key, while the Surface Pro 10 will have that key on a new Type Cover.