Laptops - Page 3

ASUS just unveiled its Snapdragon X2 Elite laptop series to widespread praise, with the verdict on its Zenbook A16 landing as "pretty much unbeatable at $1,599." Qualcomm's newest Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chip proved to be a winner in areas like battery life and GPU-accelerated workloads, paired with a whopping 48GB of RAM amid a RAM shortage and a 1TB SSD, making the A16 a formidable alternative to Apple's MacBook Pro lineup.

However, the Taiwanese firm may have gotten too greedy, as many have noticed shady pricing changes across Snapdragon X2 systems. ASUS was one of the first to list laptops powered by Qualcomm's new chips before the embargo ended. Soon after reviews went live, ASUS and Best Buy appear to have quietly raised prices across parts of the Snapdragon X2 Elite lineup without explanation.

According to Hardware Canucks on X, the Zenbook A16, which offered the best bang for the buck, saw a $100 MSRP bump, going from $1,599 to $1,700. Its less powerful sibling, the A14, took an even bigger hit, with a $350 increase from $1,000 to $1,350. Hardware Canucks said its review was based on pricing communicated before publication, but the numbers changed significantly after going live. That is not a good look for a launch that was built entirely around price and positioning.

Reviews for laptops and Copilot+ PCs featuring Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X2 Elite processor have begun to appear online, and the second-generation Windows on Arm platform is proving to be a winner in areas like battery life and even GPU-accelerated workloads.

However, as the original Snapdragon X Elite struggled to even run games due to the Windows PRISM emulation layer required to play most titles, one of the big questions with this second generation is how gaming performance compares to the latest iGPU offerings from AMD and Intel. Right off the bat, the good news is that game compatibility appears to have dramatically improved.

The review from Hardware Canucks notes that 9 out of 12 games in its benchmark suite run fine on the new Snapdragon X2 Elite processor, with online titles like ARC Raiders, PUBG, and Battlefield 6 failing to load due to anti-cheat technologies. As for performance in games that run, it's mostly positive but also a mixed bag, with inconsistent performance and issues that go beyond FPS numbers.

A new report by industry analyst Tim Culpan confirms what we've previously reported: Apple's affordable new MacBook Neo is a success. So much so that it has apparently surpassed Apple's expectations, and the company now finds itself in a bit of a weird spot about whether to boost production or let it sell out and focus on next year's refresh.

The reason for this comes down to the MacBook Neo's unique design, in that it's powered by the same A18 Pro chip found in the previous generation's iPhone 16 Pro. According to sources close to the MacBook Neo's design, it uses leftover chips from the original A18 Pro production run, including some with defects, which is why it only features a 5-core GPU rather than the 6-core GPU in the iPhone 16 Pro.

And with that, the problem Apple is now facing is that it's going to run out of MacBook Neo laptops long before it can meet demand for the device. Tim Culpan notes that the original plan was to build around 5 to 6 million units, and if Apple wants to make more, it will need to make more A18 Pro chips, which are built on TSMC's 3nm N3E process. And yes, this popular node is basically sold out.

The new Dell XPS 14 for 2026 is now available, and with reviews popping up, one in particular has caught our attention for showcasing seriously impressive battery life. As seen in the review from Hardware Canucks, testing a model with an Intel Core Ultra 7 355 'Panther Lake' processor, measuring battery life with 'simple web browsing' with a peak display brightness of 150 nits, the Dell XPS 14 managed to achieve a seriously impressive runtime of 43 hours and 3 minutes.

This is almost triple the runtime of the MacBook Air 15's 14 hours and 30 minutes running the same test, showcasing that battery life on a Windows-based laptop has come a long way in recent years. However, there is one caveat to the 43 hours: VRR, or Variable Refresh Rate. Although VRR is a common feature in many modern displays, especially those built for gaming, the Dell XPS 14's display takes this one step further by offering a 1 Hz battery-saver mode.

Yes, this means the display refreshes its image only once per second, and it's best suited to mostly static workloads, like working in a spreadsheet. This is why the Dell XPS 14 was able to run for over 43 hours; however, the overall efficiency of the new Intel Core Ultra processors also played a big role.

ASUS UK has revealed pricing for its updated family of ROG Zephyrus G14/G16 laptops with Intel's latest Panther Lake CPUs, as reported by Notebookcheck. If you were looking to get your hands on one of these laptops, be ready to pay a hefty price. ASUS UK has ballooned the price tag of the base G16 model by almost 30% as compared to last year. This is largely because the new base model now sports an RTX 5070, pushing the entry point into a higher price bracket.

It is important to note that these prices reflect the market in the United Kingdom, which is subject to VAT (Value Added Tax). That said, our comparison is within the same market, so we're likely to see a similar upward trend in the global market as well. The USD pricing provided in this article is estimated by removing the UK's standard VAT from the list price.

The floor for ASUS' 2026 lineup has shifted significantly. The most affordable G14 (GU405AP-SY004W) now starts at £2,899 (~$3,195), packed with an RTX 5070 and the Core Ultra 9 386H. If you want the larger G16 (GU606AP-TB003W) with the same specs, that entry point climbs to £3,199 (~$3,525). For context, last year's G16 with the RTX 5060 is now available for as low as £2,099 ($2,320). Whether you compare it to the base MSRP (a 30% hike) or to current retail prices (a massive 60% jump), there is a clear upward trend in pricing for these newer models.

Razer has lifted the lid on its new ultra-thin 2026 Blade 16 gaming laptop, and this refresh is set to push laptop performance to new heights. In addition to supporting the Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor, which features 33% more cores than the previous Blade 16, it's also set to ship with up to 64GB of LPDDR5-9600 MHz memory, which Razer says is the fastest available memory for a laptop.

The 16-core Intel Core Ultra 9 386H features a max boost frequency of 4.9 GHz, which should make a notable difference to CPU-heavy gaming, creative, and productivity workloads. It also features an integrated NPU with up to 50 TOPS of AI performance for local AI workloads. And when paired with the Razer Laptop Cooling Pad, the 2026 Blade 16 can be overclocked and boosted by up to 175W for even more performance when plugged in.

On the GPU side, the Razer's 2026 Blade 16 will once again leverage NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs, with full support for DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation for high-end cinematic gaming. And although the 16-inch QHD+ (2560 x 1600) OLED panel sports the same 240 Hz refresh rate as last year's model, the 2026 edition does include one notable upgrade.

Apple's MacBook Neo is a raging success and has helped the company bring in a record number of new users into the Apple ecosystem. However, one area where the Neo's designers cut corners is with the cooling solution, which allows the A18 Pro inside to thermal throttle under heavy workloads. YouTuber ETA Prime modded a MacBook Neo with a Peltier-based liquid cooling solution and found the chip performs significantly better without thermal throttling, especially in games.

The YouTuber used multiple cooling mods to make the liquid cooling mod possible. First, he applied a copper cooling mod to the Neo's A18 Pro inside, replacing the stock graphene pad with a copper shim sandwiched between the A18 Pro and thermal paste on the bottom and a thermal pad on top, connecting the copper pad to the bottom cover of the Neo. We will explain why this mod was necessary further below.

The liquid cooling system ETA Prime is using is designed for smartphones and uses a combination of electricity and coolant to cool the temperature of whatever device the system is connected to. The cooler uses a magnetic puck to attach itself to a smartphone and cool the internal components from the device's back cover. In the Neo's case, the YouTuber attached the puck right over the SoC and the copper shim above it. Using the liquid cooler this way likely wouldn't have been possible without the copper shim mod, the MacBook Neo's stock graphene pad doesn't connect to anything but the A18 Pro itself; which is why the chip thermal throttles.

Apple's recent announcement and launch of the new MacBook Neo range made headlines, marking the company's big entry into the affordable laptop market. With prices starting at $599 USD, Apple created one of its most affordable MacBooks to date by leveraging the A18 Pro processor that previously powered the iPhone 16 Pro.

And when you pair that with an impressive 13-inch Liquid Retina display, 8GB of memory, and storage options of 256GB or 512GB, the MacBook Neo instantly became as attractive as it is affordable to a large group of people. And with that, the launch has been a resounding success, because it looks like Apple has successfully appealed to the traditional affordable PC laptop market with a viable alternative.

According to a new post on social media by Apple CEO Tim Cook, "Mac just had its best launch week ever for first-time Mac customers." The takeaway here is "first-time," because it means the MacBook Neo has brought new people into the Apple ecosystem in a way not seen before.

Lenovo has jumped the gun a bit by posting specs and details for upcoming laptops that will reportedly ship with GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPUs featuring 12GB of GDDR7 memory, as opposed to the standard 8GB found on current RTX 5070 laptops. The models in question include the Legion Pro 5, with the listing (via Huang514613 on social media) detailing the new GPU and noting a Boost Clock speed of 2347 MHz and a TGP of 115W.

There are multiple Lenovo laptops on the way with the new and refreshed GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPUs, including productivity-focused Yoga devices. Although full spec details have yet to be confirmed by NVIDIA and these listings have been taken offline for the most part, the expectation is that these GPUs will feature newer 3GB GDDR7 memory modules, increasing VRAM capacity by 50%.

Huang514613, who spotted multiple listings, notes in his post that the embargo date for the new laptops is "around the end of April," so it could be a few weeks before we get any official confirmation.

In a surprise move this week, Apple announced the MacBook Neo, an affordable, lightweight 13-inch laptop with a Liquid Retina display, all-day battery life, A18 Pro processor, 8GB of memory, and storage options starting from 256GB. The surprise part comes from the $599 USD starting price, making it one of the most affordable hardware launches at a time when prices are increasing dramatically due to the current memory and storage crisis.

What makes the Apple MacBook Neo's release interesting and limiting from a hardware perspective is that it uses the A18 Pro chip, which previously powered the iPhone 16 Pro. Granted, the MacBook Neo is positioned as an affordable laptop for lightweight productivity, basic creator tasks, students, and everyday users who want something primarily for browsing, accessing emails, and streaming media.

One of the main criticisms of the device is its 8GB of RAM; however, it seems this might be the limit, or the only configuration available, based on how the A18 Pro mobile chip works. According to High Yield on social media, the TSMC InFO-PoP packaging features DRAM sitting on top of the SoC in a closed design.

Although Windows on Arm has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years, thanks to the arrival of new Snapdragon chips from Qualcomm and a real effort by Microsoft to improve compatibility and gaming performance on non-X86 hardware running the operating system, there's still a way to go.

However, with NVIDIA's upcoming Arm-based N1 and N1X chips that combine Arm-based CPU cores with GeForce RTX graphics entering the Windows on Arm space with new gaming laptops later this year, it now looks like game developers and publishers like EA are also stepping in to expand support for Windows on Arm gaming. Although the N1X gaming laptops from the likes of Lenovo and other NVIDIA partners still fall under the 'rumor' banner, a new job posting by EA does make it sound like they're coming sooner rather than later.

According to the listing, EA is looking for a new engineer to join its Security team to help "Develop a native ARM driver for EA Javelin Anticheat," which would see Battlefield 6 become playable on current and future Windows on Arm devices. And as we're talking about a fast-paced shooter, odds are this would be for a more capable gaming laptop with GeForce RTX hardware.

As was widely expected, Apple launched its new budget laptop at today's press event, and it's called the MacBook Neo as a leak suggested yesterday.

It's a 13-inch laptop which does indeed run with an iPhone chip, the A18 Pro (again as rumored), but the key bit here is that - despite my paranoia due to the MacBook Air M5 price bump - it's genuinely affordable. The MacBook Neo starts from $599, in fact ($499 with the education discount).

Okay, so as you might guess, the core spec is modest, with 8GB of system RAM and 256GB of storage for that base price.

Apple might have accidentally strayed into some serious faux pas territory by leaking the name of its budget MacBook that's rumored to be launching tomorrow.

Based on a regulatory document spotted by MacRumors, the device will be called the MacBook Neo. That's the name provided in the document, alongside a model number - A3404 - on Apple's website.

Or it was, because as soon as MacRumors published its article highlighting the MacBook Neo reference, it disappeared from the online document. Naturally, that's par for the course with any leak.

Apple has announced a new MacBook Air with the M5 chip running the show inside the laptop.

As well as the M5 here, the other notable move is that the entry-level model costs $100 more than previously - but there's a reason for that. Namely that the amount of base storage has been doubled to 512GB. You still get 16GB of unified RAM on-board.

Another upgrade that stands out is that there's Wi-Fi 7 support here, which is great to see, along with Bluetooth 6 courtesy of Apple's new N1 wireless networking chip.

In addition to the Legion Go Fold, Lenovo has another impressive concept to showcase at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) event in Barcelona. The ThinkBook Modular AI PC Concept is described as a device built for AI-powered business computing, featuring a modular design with multiple displays and a detachable keyboard.

"The concept is centered on the idea of 'carry small, use big,' enabling a single device to support productivity, collaboration, and content consumption across different scenarios," Lenovo explains. With a 14-inch ultrathin ThinkBook laptop serving as the basis for the design, the secondary display is a fully integrated "portable travel monitor" that supports horizontal and vertical orientations.

What makes the ThinkBook Modular AI PC Concept unique is that with the detachable keyboard, the second display can sit in that spot, next to the laptop, or even above the main screen. With a 19-inch viewing area, it's a versatile productivity enhancer.

COLORFUL's new EVOL P15 gaming laptops have been unveiled, with two models set to launch in Q1 2026. The COLORFUL EVOL P15 Carbon Grey with 14th Gen Intel Core i7-14650HX processor and GeForce RTX 5060 graphics, and the COLORFUL EVOL P15 Cloud White with Intel Core i5-13420H processor and GeForce RTX 5050 graphics - two laptop GPUs with 8GB of VRAM.

COLORFUL is positioning both as laptops for gamers and creators, featuring 15.6-inch IPS displays with 100% sRGB color accuracy and performance built for multitasking and high-refresh-rate PC gaming. The flagship EVOL P15 Carbon Grey with a GeForce RTX 5060 GPU sports a 15.6-inch QHD IPS display, with a 2560x1440 resolution and 165Hz refresh rate, while the more affordable EVOL P15 Cloud White with a GeForce RTX 5050 GPU sports a 15.6-inch FHD IPS display, with a 1920x1080 resolution and 144Hz refresh rate.

Both laptops also feature up to 16GB of DDR5 5200MHz memory, 512GB of PCIe Gen3 M.2 SSD storage with an additional M.2 expansion slot, and COLORFUL's custom Ice Cooling System. The more powerful RTX 5060 model includes dual fans and five thermal heatpipes, while the RTX 5050 model's cooling is limited to four.

Apple's new entry-level MacBook release is right around the corner, and while the $799 laptop will only have 8GB of RAM, it'll reportedly account for 25% of all 2025 Mac sales.

In a new post from yeux1122, we're told that the new MacBook will indeed only have 8GB of RAM, with the ongoing DRAM crisis forcing Apple to launch the new low-cost MacBook in just a single memory configuration, saving costs, also the new MacBook is using the A18 Pro processor, which is an iPhone processor.

Apple is expected to sell somewhere between 5.5 million and 7.9 million units of its new entry-level MacBook, with prices of between $699 and $799, up from the $599 of the previous low-cost MacBook. Apple shipped a total of between 24.8 million and 25.6 million Macs in 2025, and while the MacBook Air is cheaper, it's not as cheap as the regular MacBook.

Apple's new entry-level MacBook isn't far away, with a new report suggesting that RAM prices skyrocketing won't affect the company's plans to launch its new cheap MacBook.

In a new post on X from analyst @Jukan, we're hearing that the new report suggests Apple's new entry-level MacBook will be priced between $699 and $799, and it'll feature just 8GB of RAM, and Apple's in-house A18 Pro processor, which is used inside of its iPhones.

Apple is reportedly preparing for annual sales of between 5-8 million units for its upcoming entry-level MacBook, but seeing a new laptop being sold in 2026 with 8GB of RAM is just... peak Apple, really. Considering that previous reports from August 2025 had the new MacBook being priced at as low as $599... the price hike from there, and the fact it only has 8GB of RAM is a really hard pill to swallow.

Lenovo is working on multiple new laptops powered by NVIDIA's new N1X and N1 Arm-based processors, representing the first Windows on Arm gaming laptops from Lenovo.

NVIDIA has been cooking up its new Arm-based N1X and N1 processors for a while now, combining power-efficient Arm-based CPU cores with Blackwell-based GPU cores onto an SoC. The new N1X and N1 processors will be capable of playing new games smoothly on gaming laptops, making them the first "true" Windows on Arm gaming laptops.

In a now-deleted post on X from dataminer @Huang514613, Lenovo has listed some of its upcoming NVIDIA N1X and N1-powered gaming laptops, which will arrive in new Ideapad Slim, Yoga Pro, and Legion 7 gaming laptops that I'm sure will be unveiled at Computex 2026 in a few months' time.

Samsung's Galaxy Book6 Pro is going to have a hefty price hike applied to the laptop, with a 25% increase on its predecessor - at least based on the South Korean market.

Although that won't be much of a surprise to anyone who follows the tech world, given that the RAM price crisis - and also costlier storage - is having a considerable impact on laptops and PCs in general.

VideoCardz spotted that Samsung's imminent laptop, which is built around Intel's new Panther Lake silicon, now has a launch web page for South Korea featuring a countdown timer, which also gives pricing details ahead of the on-sale date of January 27.