Razer is first and foremost a maker of high-end gaming PCs and accessories, but in recent years its laptops have increasingly taken on the status of wolves in sheep's clothing or gaming laptops that look more like high-end creative and enterprise machines than traditional, demonstrative gaming notebooks.

The Blade 16 is thus now more properly considered a direct competitor for the likes of the MacBook Pro 16 or Asus Pro Art 16, workstation powerhouses with potent graphics performance, rather than for the likes of anything with a ROG Strix or Predator badge on it.

The 2025 Blade 16 was a thorough redesign of the 2024 machine and built around AMD's AI 9 Strix Point CPUs and Nvidia Blackwell GPUs. For 2026, the basic design hasn't been tinkered with, but the CPU now comes from Intel's latest Panther Lake stable. As we'll see, that delivers improved performance and battery life. Other changes include faster ports and improved display performance.

As ever, buying Razer is not the most affordable path to tread, with prices starting at £3,499 for the RTX5070Ti model with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD and rising to £5,499 for the RTX5090 machine with 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. In between sits a model built around the RTX5080 GPU.

Of course, context is everything: the most affordable 16in MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro CPU will set you back £2,999 while matching the highest Blade 16-spec with the M5 Max processor will push the price to £5,399. As ever, quality never comes cheap.

Razer Blade 16: Design

The chassis and body for the Blade 16 are made from CNC-milled aluminium, making it a very stiff and solid laptop. Despite that, Razer has managed to keep the weight and thickness down: at 2.14Kg and 17.4mm at the most, it's similar to the 16in MacBook Pro.

The design is rather angular and borders on the industrial-minimalist, but that's something that found favour in the ITPro office. The only nod towards Razer's gaming heritage is the green backlit logo on the lid. The logo looks rather low-rent and out of keeping with the rest of the design, but at least you can turn the backlight off.

There's only one colorway, and that's black. It's very smart, but the matte paint finish is a little susceptible to picking up greasy fingerprints, especially on the lid. Take a look at the side of the new Blade 16, and you'll find a comprehensive range of ports.

On the left side, there are two 10Gbps USB-A ports, a Thunderbolt 5 (120Gbps) port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and the proprietary power jack for the 280W power brick. On the right, there is a third 10Gbps USB-A and a second Thunderbolt 5 port as well as an HDMI 2.1 video output and an SD card reader.

As you'd expect for this sort of money, the WLAN card is right up to date, the Intel BE213 card supporting both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0.

Opening up the Blade 16 is straightforward, and while you can't add more memory, you can add a second M.2 2280 SSD. The Lexar 2TB SSD in our review machine performed well, recording sequential read speeds of 5,512MB/s and write speeds of 4,416MB/s respectively.

Razer Blade 16: Keyboard, touchpad, and webcam

The Blade 16's keyboard is a high-quality and solid chicklet affair. The whole assembly is very well-engineered, and the 1.5mm of key travel feels perfect, as does the crisp and cleanly defined endstop.

The keyboard comes with a full per-key RGB lighting system that you can modify via the Razer Chroma app, so, for example, you can set up the WASD and arrow (only half-height in the case of the up/down) keys to glow a different colour from the rest of the deck.

The speaker grilles that flank the keyboard preclude a numeric keypad, but there is a useful column of five customizable macro keys on the far right below the power button.

The touchpad is large at 150 x 95mm and has a glass surface that offers excellent sliding characteristics. The click-action on the lower part of the pad is as crisp and quiet as one could hope for.

There's no fingerprint scanner, but the webcam does support Windows Hello IR facial recognition.

The 1080p webcam itself rather lets the side down. There's nothing actually wrong with it, but for a laptop this expensive it's a rather run-of-the-mill affair and isn't overly quick in dealing with changes in ambient lighting. We've encountered more capable 1440p webcams on laptops costing less.

There's also nothing in the way of a privacy shutter, either manual or electronic. Given the price, this is something Razer should attend to.

Razer Blade16: Display

The Blade 16's display is still a 2,560 x 1,600 OLED Samsung-made affair with a 240Hz refresh rate and wide-gamut support covering 162% of the sRGB color space and 115% of the DCI-P3 space.

Compared to the 2025 model is display is significantly brighter, peaking at 480cd/m2 in SDR mode (up from 402cd/m2) and 1060cd/m2 in HDR mode (up from 630cd/m2).

It's impressively accurate too, with a Delta E variance of just 0.74 vs the sRGB gamut profile, 0.92 vs DCI-P3, 1.03 vs REC709 and 1.1 vs AdobeRGB, which are the color profiles you can switch between in the Synapse app. That makes the Blade 16 perfect for color-critical work.

With a 0.2ms grey-to-grey response time, a 240Hz refresh rate and the minimal levels of ghosting inherent in OLED technology, the display delivers superb levels of motion fidelity which makes it ideal for animations and 3D modelling.

The Blade 16 also features Nvidia's Advanced Optimus automatic multiplexer switch, which connects the Nvidia GPU directly to the display. This delivers all the benefits of a manual MUX switch without the inconvenience of having to reboot Windows when you want to connect directly to the discrete GPU.

A feature that hasn't been added for 2026 and is still conspicuously absent is a touch interface.

Razer Blade16: Specs and performance

Hauling the coal inside the 2026 Blade 16, you'll find a 16-core, 4.9GHz Intel Core Ultra 9 386H and a 175W TGP Nividia RTX5090 GPU with 24GB of vRAM. That's a potent combination with enough power to chew through even the most demanding of tasks without getting short of breath, let alone breaking into a sweat.

In the broad-spectrum PCMark10 benchmark, the new Blade scored 9,776 while in the Geekbench 6 CPU tests it scored 2,945 single-core and 17,626 multi-core.

One of the most powerful Windows laptops we've tested recently is the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395-powered HP ZBook Ultra G1a, which scored 7,944 in the PCMark10 test and 2,905 and 18,083 in the Geekbench 6 tests. The Intel processor gives a little away in multi-core performance, but the difference is minimal.

For a wider comparison, the 18-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X2-powered Asus Zenbook A16 scored 3,724 and 21,914 in the Geekbench 6 tests while the, again 18-core, M5 Pro-powered MacBook Pro 16 scored 4,268 and 28,101.

All four of those results, from the premier processors from Intel, AMD, Qualcomm and Apple, are amongst the highest scores you can expect from a laptop.

Of course it's in graphics performance that the new Razer really shines: The Blade 16 ran the SPECviewperf 3ds Max 3D modelling benchmark at a blistering 211fps, which is amongst the fastest we've ever seen on a laptop. The 3DMark Time Spy score of 22,064 was similarly impressive.

In the GeekBench 6 OpenCL test, the Blade 16 scored a mighty 226,646. That's 2.5 times the score from either the MacBook Pro or the ZBook Ultra and well and truly redresses their advantages in CPU performance.

Gaming performance is beyond our remit here at ITPro, but in case you're interested in how the Blade 16 handled titles like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Black Myth: Wukong, they both ran like greased lightning with the detail and lighting effects turned up to 11 and looked and sounded superb.

All that performance would count for little if it were delivered in an uncivilised way, but the Blade 16 kept its composure even under heavy demand. Under prolonged stress, both the Intel CPU and Nvidia GPU continued to run at 100% utilisation while drawing an average of 175W between them, though power use did peak as high as 200W.

As you'd expect, this was accompanied by some fan noise (55.2dBA by our measurements), but the noise never became too intrusive and, in terms of temperature, the most the area around the vent in the baseplate ever reached was 52 degrees centigrade (125.6 Fahrenheit), which is more warm than hot in our book.

Battery life has taken a significant step forward, proving that while AMD rather fumbled the ball with Strix Point, Intel is running for the try line with Panther Lake.

Despite using the same 90Wh battery, the 2026 Blade ran for 14 hours and 18 minutes in our standard video rundown test. That compares to 9 hours 30 minutes from the 2025 model, a 50% improvement.

Granted, you'll get at least another 3 hours from a MacBook Pro, but over 14 hours is still rather impressive for such a powerful Windows laptop.

Razer Blade16: Is it worth it?

Few laptops look, feel and perform to the manor born whether it's in a smart enterprise environment, an intensive creative milieu or a hardcore gaming scenario as the new Blade 16. It really does excel at all the tasks that can conceivably be thrown at it with little, if any, compromise.

The 2026 update could have been a little deeper: the option to specify a touchscreen wouldn't have gone amiss, nor would the option to have a higher-resolution, if slower-refreshing, screen, but the much-improved battery life, brighter display and transition to Thunderbolt 5 are all very welcome updates.

For the sort of money that Razer is asking for the new Blade, the 16in MacBook Pro is a very alluring alternative, especially for professional creatives, but for those who want or need Windows and who would prefer a machine that can also run the latest games or need a very potent discrete GPU for modelling work, the 2026 Razer Blade is state of the art.

Razer Blade16 specifications

The Prestige 16 AI+ we reviewed recently was one of the most convincing and appealing laptops to come from MSI in quite some time. A solid, affordable, and well-specified general-purpose machine; the only reason to not buy one would be if you wanted something smaller and lighter.

MSI has now addressed that issue by releasing a 13.3in version, called the Prestige 13 AI+. Built around the same Intel Panther Lake processor as the Prestige 16 AI +, it offers similarly good value for money and can be picked up for between £1,249 and £1,299 depending on where and when you look.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+: Design

In the world of superlight laptops, weight is everything. Or rather, the absence of it is. Here, MSI has hit a solid six with the Prestige 13 AI+, tipping the scales at just 830g, some 69g less than the advertised weight.

That's an impressive achievement when you consider that a 13.6in MacBook Air weighs over 1.2Kg. The new MSI is even a few grams lighter than Asus' feather-light Zenbook A14.

At 299 x 210 x 15.9mm this new Prestige is also usefully small. For comparison, both the 13.3in Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 and 14in Lenovo ThinkPad T14s are both heavier and larger.

Making a laptop as light as a feather is easy if you don't mind sacrificing solidity, but the body of the Prestige 13 AI+ is made from an aluminium-magnesium alloy and is impressively robust and stiff.

The Prestige is also rated MIL-STD-810H/G-resistant to the slings and arrows of outrageous misuse such as extreme vibration and changes in pressure and temperature.

It's a handsome little machine too in its fingerprint-resistant Platinum Grey colorway with MSI's new script logo etched on the lid. The slightly too-thick 11mm plastic bezel above the screen does detract from the looks, but at least the space is used to house a webcam privacy shutter and the IR gubbins for Windows Hello. On the subject of the lid, we like the way it rotates downward at the back when opened, thus adding around 8mm to the height of the deck at the back. That makes for a more agreeable typing angle.

With the likes of Apple and Dell embracing an all-Type-C philosophy when it comes to ports, we're happy to see MSI buck the trend. With two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two 5Gbps USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 video output, a 3.5mm audio jack and a MicroSD card reader, the little MSI is actually better equipped than its big brother, which lacks a card reader. Over-the-air connectivity is provided by an Intel Killer BE1775 WLAN card, which supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth v6.0.

Getting inside is no problem, but once in, all you can do is swap out the 2280 SDD, replace the battery, and blow dust out of the single fan. Everything else is fixed firmly in place, and there's no room for a second SSD,

MSI Prestige 13 AI+: Keyboard, touchpad, and webcam

Squeezing a full-size keyboard into the footprint of a 13.3in laptop is never the recipe for a spacious layout, but MSI has done a decent enough job of putting a pint into a half-pint bottle.

The only part of the keyboard that looks and feels rather cramped is the bottom-right corner, where the half-height arrow keys, half-height page-up and page-down keys, and the half-width Copilot and forward-slash/pipe keys all jostle for space.

On a positive note, by moving the forward-slash key to the right of the space bar, room has been made for a double-width left shift key, which, on balance, we think is a good compromise.

The keyboard deck itself is solid with little flex evident even under hard pressure, and the typing action is nigh on perfect: light, precise and with a well-damped end-stop.

The three-level white backlight shines through the translucent side walls of the keycaps as well as the white graphics on the top, which is a design that always finds favour in the ITPro office.

We're not massive fans of the position of the power/fingerprint scanner button, which sits inboard of the Delete key. Granted, it's recessed, but it's still a little too easy to press it accidentally while aiming for the Delete button.

The 120 x 75mm Mylar touchpad isn't the largest around, but it works reliably, interpreting all the swipes, taps and gestures we threw at it correctly, and the click-action is light, crisp and quiet.

The 1080p webcam is pretty standard fare, but it's bright and colorful and not thrown off its stride by sudden changes in ambient lighting. The physical privacy shutter next to the lens is a welcome feature, as is support for Windows Hello facial recognition as a biometric partner to the fingerprint reader.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+: Display

With a 2,880 x 1,800 matrix squeezed into a 13.3in panel, the Prestige 13 AI+'s OLED screen is as sharp as they come, with a pixel density of 255ppi, better even than the 224ppi of the 13.6-inch MacBook Air.

The Samsung-made panel registered a peak brightness level of 390cd/m2 in SDR mode and 630cd/m2 in HDR and certainly qualifies as wide-gamut with color space volumes of 160% sRGB, 113.8% DCI-P3 and 110.7% Adobe RGB.

The screen has what we'd describe as an anti-reflective but still semi-gloss finish. It does a decent but not perfect job of keeping reflections at bay, but it's not quite good enough, nor is the display quite bright enough, for easy use outdoors in sunlight.

The display is, however, accurate enough for those professionally concerned with such matters, returning sound Delta E color variances of 1.03 against the Display P3 profile and 1.18 vs the sRGB profile. The refresh rate is capped at 60Hz but for a compact productivity laptop that's a minor annoyance rather than a deal breaker.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+: Specs and performance

The Prestige 13 AI+ is built around the same Intel Core Ultra 7 355 CPU as the Prestige 16 AI+. This is a 4.7GHz Panther Lake CPU with 8 cores, 4 of which are deemed Performance and 4 Low Power Efficient. The chipset also features the Intel Graphics iGPU with 4 Xe cores, a 49 TOPS NPU, and 32GB of fixed quad-channel LPDDR5x RAM.

In the Geekbench 6 tests, the baby MSI scored 2,680 in the single-core test, 10,939 in the multi-core test, and 23,498 in the OpenCL GPU test. Those CPU numbers are not too shabby, but the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 has them beaten (3,215 single-core, 11,705 multi-core), as does the M5 MacBook Air (4,199 and 17,213).

The difference isn't something you'll notice in everyday use running basic productivity applications or while jumping between multiple SaaS apps in browser tabs; in those circumstances the Prestige 13 AI+ never feels less than slick and responsive.

Where the Core Ultra 7 355 (and Core Ultra 5 325) chipsets stumble is with graphics performance. That's because they make do with a 4 Xe core iGPU rather than the 10-core Arc B370 or 12-core B390 iGPUs that partner the more powerful Series 3 Core Ultra CPUs.

The difference in graphics performance is shown in stark relief by the Geekbench OpenCL test scores. The M5 MacBook Air scored 47,627, double the MSI machine, while laptops using the Arc B390 iGPU can easily top 55,000.

The little Prestige ran the SPECviewperf 3ds Max modelling benchmark at 18.7fps which is around half the speed you'll get from a B390 GPU.

Even if it's no stump-puller, the chipset at least goes about its business without drama. Even in Performance mode, both the CPU and GPU ran at near full utilisation for extended periods, and the single fan never generated more than a gentle whisper.

You could easily flog this little MSI like the family mule in a quiet library and rest easy knowing that you won't get admonishing stares from the person sitting at the next desk.

In our standard battery test, which involves looping a video in VLC with the display set to 170cd/m2, the 53.8Wh battery inside the MSI kept the lights on for 15hrs and 6mins.

That's within a margin of error the same as the 13.6-inch M5 MacBook Air but a country mile off the very best, such as the 27-odd hours we got from the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11, which runs on a Snapdragon X2 platform.

As little as a year ago a 15-hour runtime from a Windows laptop would have been regarded as top-notch. How times have changed. That said, the Prestige 13 AI+ will still easily get you through a long day at work, or an even longer flight, without the need to recharge.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+: Is it worth it?

MSI's new baby business laptop makes a very strong case for itself. The price is certainly right given that you are getting a high-quality 2.8K OLED screen, 32GB of RAM, and a very good selection of ports into the bargain.

It's also one of the smallest and lightest compact laptops on the market, and it's been made thus without sacrificing an ounce of usability or practicality.

What issues we have with the MSI Prestige 13 AI+ are down to its Intel chipset. At the highest end, we've been impressed by the performance of Panther Lake silicon, but at the lower end it's being shown a clean pair of heels by the latest ARM chipsets from Apple and Qualcomm, with the latter also delivering far superior battery run times.

For general-purpose computing, then this baby MSI can be thoroughly recommended, but if you need rather more in the way of graphics power it might be worth looking at the ARM-powered alternatives from Apple and Lenovo listed above.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+: Specs

The latest version of Acer's Swift Go 16 AI (model number SFG16-A71-R6PQ) joins the fray of big-screen laptops aiming to mix performance and all-day usability with easy portability. Like the MSI Prestige 16 AI+, the Asus Zenbook A16 and Acer's own Swift 16 AI, it packs a 16in display into a laptop under 1.6Kg in weight and 16mm thick.

In terms of style, it's very similar to the existing Swift 16 AI, down to having a larger-than-average trackpad. But if the hardware is familiar, the same can't be said for the internal spec. Where the MSI and the Swift 16 AI are built around Intel's Panther Lake CPUs, with the Zenbook using Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 processors, the new Swift Go 16 AI is a showcase for AMD's newest Ryzen AI 400 series processors.

It's been an interesting year for mobile processor tech. With stronger multi-core and GPU performance than last year's Lunar Lake tech, Panther Lake has been Intel's best mobile chip in years. Meanwhile, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 CPUs have demonstrated the potential of ARM technology on Windows, again with big improvements over the previous generation. AMD has some fantastic mobile processors, but its biggest advantages – multi-core speeds and GPU muscle – are now being matched by the competition. The Ryzen AI 445 in our test Swift Go 16 AI is a mainstream chip rather than a flagship CPU, but it could still do with showing that AMD is maintaining pace.

Acer Swift Go 16 AI (2026): Design

Acer is sticking to a consistent design language for this year's Swifts, and the Swift Go 16 AI doesn't shift from it in any noticeable way. Its 356 x 251mm footprint is slightly larger than the Swift 16 AI's. It's one millimetre thicker and a few grams heavier, but the wedge-shaped profile, and angular bevelled edges are much the same. It has the same laser-etched lid as recent Swift models, with the same geometric patterns, and the same all-aluminium construction. There's some flex in the lid, but the rest feels bulletproof, down to the sturdy hinge which allows the screen to fold right back flat against the desktop.

The MSI is slimmer, but broadly similar in terms of size and weight, while the Asus Zenbook A14's 1.2kg weight almost puts it in a different class. Yet the Swift Go 16 achieves much the same mission, giving you the ergonomic advantages of a 16in laptop without the usual weight and bulk.

Such advantages include a full-sized keyboard, complete with slim numeric pad. The feel is soft and quiet, but not in any way floppy or spongy, and it doesn't take long to adjust and reach a decent typing speed. It's a shame that the Shift, Ctrl, and Fn keys on the left are normal-sized and not wider, but there's not much to complain about the layout otherwise. While the sheer size of the touchpad means there's a much smaller palm rest on the left-hand side than on the right, this doesn't make your typing position feel off-balance, as was the case with the Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro.

The touchpad on the Swift Go 16 was one of its high points; large and sensitive enough to make light work of accurate tracking and selection on the 16:10, 16in screen. The same is mostly true here, with a whopping 150 x 100mm surface, though it isn't completely faultless when it comes to gestures. Every now and then, it missed a tap or a two-fingered scroll.

Connectivity is roughly the same as on the Swift 16 AI, though, being an AMD device, you have two USB 4.0 Type-C ports rather than two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left-hand side. There you'll also find a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port and an HDMI 2.1 output, while there's a second Type-A port, a 3.5mm audio socket and a microSD card slot on the right. This means there's no socket for the USB-C power supply on the right, but otherwise you've got enough for a basic desktop setup, plus Wi-Fi 7 for networking and Bluetooth 5.4 for your peripherals.

Acer Swift Go 16 AI (2026): Display

This is a mid-range rather than a premium laptop, and there's no bigger indication of this than the screen. It's a 16in OLED panel, which is great, but it has a baseline 1920 x 1200 resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate. Even more noticeably, it's not particularly bright.

The resolution doesn't look bad on a 16in screen, but the 2880 x 1800 panels on the Zenbook A16 and Prestige 16 AI+ look substantially sharper. What's more, the 304cd/m2 maximum brightness is fine indoors in most lighting, but pretty much unusable outside on a vaguely sunny day. HDR video content doesn't look as punchy or as vibrant as on brighter screens. It's not all bad news, though. The Swift Go 16 AI's panel still covers 100% of the DCI-P3 colour spectrum as well as 100% of sRGB, and even stretches to 94% of Adobe RGB. Color accuracy isn't quite good enough for color-critical design work, but it's not going to be a problem for presentations, photo-heavy reports or the kind of thing you'd put together in mainstream office productivity apps.

The nicest way to describe the audio is that it's very clear, with a wide stereo output which works well for online meetings. However, it's also very thin, with no real bass and precious little warmth or body, making some headphones a must for background music or video streaming. The 5MP camera captures detailed video with a likable portrait blue if you're using Windows AI-powered Studio effects. However, the exposure seems to creep up and down quite a lot as you move or light levels change, which can be distracting.

Businesses buying the Swift Go 16 AI might want to do a little tidying before their laptops are rolled out. Acer's own utilities are reasonably useful, but the laptop came with links to online games, a Dropbox promotion, and Booking.com on the taskbar, which you could easily do without.

Acer Swift Go 16 AI (2026): Performance

This is a mid-range device with a mid-range Ryzen 7 AI 455 processor, featuring two Zen 5 cores and four Zen 5c cores running 12 threads at a maximum 3.4Ghz to 4.6Ghz. In some respects, this CPU is inferior not just to the previous-generation Ryzen 7 AI 350, with its four Zen 5 and four Zen 5c cores, but even the Ryzen 5 AI 340, with its three Zen 5 and three Zen 5c cores running at higher speeds. The Ryzen 5 AI 340 even has more onboard L2 and L3 cache.

This is a little bewildering, as AMD appears to have rebranded an entry-level to mid-range CPU as a higher-level part. Worse, this is reflected in the performance. Geekbench 6 scores of 2611 (single-core) and 10651 (multi-core) are closer to what we saw from the last-generation Lunar Lake and Snapdragon X tech than this year's Panther Lake and Snapdragon X2 technology. The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x (Gen 11) with its entry-level Snapdragon X2 Plus delivered better results. The MSI Prestige 16 AI+, with a lower-end Core Ultra 7 355, also scored higher for both single-core and multi-core performance, and we didn't exactly rate that model as a powerhouse.

It's a similar story with the Cinebench 2024 3D rendering benchmark, where the Swift Go 16 AI still falls behind the Lenovo and most recent mainstream laptops, with a single-core score of 106 and a multi-core score of 646. The IdeaPad Slim 5x scored 128 and 649. The Swift 16 AI, with its mid-range Core Ultra X7 358H, scored 123 and 943. The Asus ExpertBook P3, with the previous-generation Ryzen AI 7 350, scored 115 and 784.

It's only in 3D graphics benchmarks that the Swift Go 16 AI puts in a competitive performance. With four RDNA 3.5 cores to play with, its integrated Radeon 840M GPU scores 2013 in the 3DMark TimeSpy test and 1635 in Steel Nomad Lite. That's better than the ExpertBook P3 (1894 and 1478) and the Lenovo (1846 and 1596), though still a way behind the Panther Lake and Snapdragon X2 Elite devices we've seen recently. Even the MSI Prestige 16 AI+, with its cut-back four-core Intel Graphics GPU, beats it on 3D performance.

This isn't really Acer's fault. You can buy the Swift Go 16 AI with faster Ryzen AI processors, up to the 10-core Ryzen AI 9 465, and you will get significantly more speed. What's more, we didn't find the Swift Go 16 AI slow or grindy during everyday use running mainstream productivity apps. All the same, there's a sense that AMD is promising next-generation Ryzen 7 levels of performance from what's effectively last year's Ryzen 5 chip. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't work out.

Still, there's a silver lining when it comes to energy efficiency. Running our standard HD video rundown test with the brightness set to 170cd/m2, the Swift Go 16 AI lasted 18 hours and 21 minutes, beating the Zenbook A16, the Prestige 16AI+, and a wide range of other 16in laptops, though not the Swift 16 AI. Qualcomm seems to be pulling ahead on battery life, but this AMD-powered system can still get you through a working day and more without a recharge.

Acer Swift Go 16 AI (2026): Is it worth it?

The Swift Go 16 AI could be described as slightly disappointing. Its processor doesn't live up to AMD's billing, while the screen lacks the brightness and resolution we've seen on Acer's best OLED displays. However, at £1249 inc VAT it's still decent value. The MSI Prestige 16 AI+ is better, with more performance, more RAM, and a higher-resolution screen for the same money, but if you can get a good deal on the Acer, it could make a solid and versatile workhorse laptop with the advantages of a big display.

Acer Swift Go 16 AI Specifications

Geekom's new M16 shares one key feature with the impressive X14 Pro we reviewed earlier this year. Namely, even if you want one, you won't be able to buy one unless you live in or are visiting the USA or Germany, because those are the only two markets where Geekom currently sells its laptop range. That means it's not just a matter of laying hands on one, but having to live with a keyboard tailored to the USA or German market.

We here at ITPro think that's a bit of a shame, because like the X14 Pro, the new M16 offers rather more for the money than you might expect. At the time of writing, the M16 is on sale for $799 or €799, including a $/€100 launch discount.

As usual, Geekom has advised us of a discount code for 8%, which should work on Geekom's US selling page and the US Amazon page. The code (IPGBM168) should be valid until the last day of 2026.

Geekom M16: Design

A smart and solid aluminium alloy affair, the M16 looks and feels like it should cost considerably more than it does. Available only in silver, the M16 is perhaps a rather anonymous design, but the anodised finish is very good at resisting fingerprints, which is more important than aesthetics.

The hinge assembly that joins the lid to the body feels well-engineered, and you can easily open the lid with one finger. That lid is surprisingly stiff despite not having a laminated glass screen glued to it to add rigidity.

At 1.73Kg and 355 x 250 x 13.9mm, the M16 is par for the full-sized 16-inch laptop course. Slipping it into a backpack and carrying it around all day is no hardship. The bundled one-piece 100W USB-C charger is impressively petite.

It's impossible to complain about the M16's I/O port selection. On the left side, you'll find two USB-C ports, one USB-C 4.0 spec and one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 spec (so that's 40Gbps and 10Gbps data speeds respectively).

Both USB-C ports support charging from the bundled 100W charger and DPAltMode video output. Between the two Type-C ports sits an HDMI 2.1 video port. We're fans of Geekom's decision to put a decent gap between the two Type-C ports; it makes accessing the second one when the other is occupied much easier.

On the right side, there are two USB-C ports, both 3.2 Gen 1 or 5Gbps spec, and a 3.5mm audio jack. That's a pretty comprehensive selection, and the USB-C 4.0 port was unlooked for at the price point.

Usefully, Geekom bundles a USB-C dock which adds an RJ-45 Ethernet connector, two USB-A ports and a second HDMI output to the party. Wireless communications are handled by a MediaTek MT7922 card, which supports 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4.

Getting inside the M16 is straightforward, and the base panel comes away easily once you've removed the nine Torx screws that secure it in place. The M16 has two SSD slots, one occupied by a 2280 format drive and one empty and ready for a 2230 drive. The RAM and WLAN are fixed in place.

Geekom M16: Keyboard, touchpad, and webcam

No part of the M16's user interface is going to win an award for innovation, but that's not to say that everything doesn't work well. It does.

The keyboard is well laid out, the keycap graphics are clear, and the four-stage white backlight has you covered no matter what ambient light you find yourself working in.

Deserving of particular plaudits is Geekom's decision to make the keypad and arrow keys the same size as the rest of the keys. Too many laptop makers reduce the size of those keys even when there's clearly room for full-sized alternatives.

We also like the way the power button-cum-fingerprint scanner sits above and separate from the keyboard proper, removed from the likelihood of accidental presses.

The typing action is light but crisp, and the end-stop is well damped. The central part of the keyboard is a little more bouncy than we'd like, though, with a fair amount of flex apparent if you press down hard around the T-H-M diagonal.

At 135 x 90mm, the Mylar touchpad is more than large enough to accommodate multi-fingered gestures, and it reacts reliably and consistently to taps and swipes. The mechanical click-action is precise and not overly loud.

The 1080p webcam is another solid performer. It's not the most colourful when it comes to image capture, but it does well in low-light environments. Thanks to the flacid NPU, you have to do without Microsoft's Studio webcam enhancements. There's no support for Windows Hello facial recognition, but there is a manual privacy shutter above the lens.

Geekom M16: Specs and performance

Inside the M16, you'll find the same Intel Core Ultra 9 185H Meteor Lake CPU that Geekom puts in the X14 Pro. The last word in modernity it is not, having now been superseded both by Intel's second-generation Arrow Lake and third-generation Panther Lake processors.

That's not to say it lacks vim, though. With 16 cores, 6 of which are deemed Performance, and with a boost from Geekom's Dynamic Tuning Technology, which means it can run at a sustained 55W TDP, it's a more than decent performer.

In the GeekBench 6 CPU benchmark test, the CPU scored 2,426 single-core and 12,262 multi-core, while in our 4K multimedia benchmark, which is built around Handbrake, it scored 370 points.

Those numbers indicate a base level of performance way beyond what you'd usually expect from a laptop in this price bracket. The MSI Prestige 16 AI we tested recently scored 238 in the 4K multimedia test, while Lenovo's ThinkPad T14s scored 255.

The integrated Intel Arc GPU is of the older Alchemist type, so despite having 8 Xe cores, it can't match the performance of the 140T Arc iGPU that comes paired with Intel's Arrow Lake CPUs.

The GeekBench 6 OpenGL benchtest score of 30,285 and 25,449 in the 3DMark Nightraid benchmark proves the point: both are quite unremarkable.

That said, it doesn't do badly in the real world, grinding through the SPECviewperf 3dsmax 3D modelling benchmark at 19fps and easily running the 2018 Doom reboot at an average of 50fps at FullHD.

It is worth mentioning that initially, the M16 refused to run several graphics tests and crashed Windows. Downloading Microsoft's 'OpenCL, OpenGL, and Vulkan Compatibility Pack' fixed this problem in a trice.

While the chipset does have a dedicated NPU, it's only rated at 11 TOPS, which limits its ability to run local Windows AI jobs that demand a more potent NPU. This includes Windows Studio webcam filters and effects.

Despite Geekom's fettling, the chipset didn't misbehave under stress, nor did it tax the cooling of the system. After an hour of stress testing, the CPU and GPU settled down to 82% and 100% utilisation, respectively, and while the fans could certainly be heard, the noise wasn't what we could describe as intrusive.

The 512GB Kingston SSD proved usefully sprightly, returning sequential read and write speeds of 4,865MB/s and 3,555MB/s, respectively.

The M16 arrives pre-loaded with Windows 11 Pro, but Geekom boasts of full Linux support. Booting into Ubuntu 26.04 proved that it's no idle brag, with everything working from the get-go.

Geekom M16: Display and speakers

Laptops in this sort of price range often come with screens which only offer 45% NTSC gamut coverage (around 65% sRGB), but the M16's 16in 1,920 x 1,200 IPS panel covers 70% NTSC, or 100% sRGB.

That makes for nicely colorful images that don't look as dreary or washed-out as they do on many budget laptop displays with an even narrower gamut.

Maximum brightness measured at 298cd/m2, which is fine for indoor use but can leave you wanting more when you're outdoors in sunlight.

The contrast ratio of 1,113:1 is more of a product of the rather lowly maximum brightness than the black luminance level, which was a perfectly respectable 0.27cd/m2. Obviously, there's no support for HDR content.

The matte finish on the display does a good job of keeping reflections in check, but it can only do so much. Viewing angles are robust with no sign of chromatic shift at extremes.

Moving away from colourimeter results, we watched a selection of upcoming movie trailers on the M16, and they looked nicely vivid and colorful. Some budget laptops make poor multimedia machines, but watching YouTube and Netflix on the M16 is a pleasant experience.

Color accuracy was reasonable with an average Delta E of 2.9 vs the sRGB profile. Over-saturated blues seemed to be at fault, but that shouldn't be an issue for anyone who's not professionally concerned with color accuracy, and the M16 is not really targeted at such people.

The speaker system, however, is another matter. The sound from the two-speaker setup is most impressive. Not only is there plenty of volume, 78.6 dBA as measured against a pink noise source at a 1m distance, but the soundscape is wide, detailed, distortion-free, and sonorous.

Impressive though the speakers are, battery life is the strongest card in the M16's hand. Given that the 185H is hardly a byword for efficiency by modern standards, we were not expecting much, but thanks to a capacious 99.9Wh battery the M16 ran for 24 hours and 13 minutes in our video loop test.

That means the M16 has the latest MacBook Pro beaten by nearly five hours and the new Snapdragon X2-powered Asus Zenbook A16 by nearly 7 hours. That is no small achievement given how much more expensive both of those machines are.

Geekom M16: Is it worth it?

For the money, the Geekom M16 has a lot going for it. Pride of place goes to the long battery life and tuneful speaker system, though special mention must also be made of the 40Gbps USB-C port and free space for a second SSD.

The CPU may not be the latest thing, but it's more potent than what you generally find in cheaper laptops, and the display is also a step above the bargain-basement components typical at this price level.

Geekom is really missing a trick by not making the M16 more widely available. If it were available in the UK for £800 or less, we'd describe it as the best value 16in laptop in Blighty, and by some margin.

Geekom M16 specifications

The Microsoft Surface Laptop is back with an 8th edition for 2026. It comes with some great features and, due to the ongoing issues with RAM supply, a bigger price tag.

We have the 'For Business' model of the Laptop 8, which can be purchased in 13in, 13.8in, and also 15in. While the 13in is the most compact Surface Laptop yet, our review is focused on the 13.8in model with the Intel Core Ultra X7 368H chip.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8: Design

Much like last year's Surface Laptop 7, the 8th edition is a handsome beast. It keeps the same design as the 15in model ITPro tested last year, with a minimalist look. It has a compact chassis with a sleek black finish and a nice, light aluminium body, which is around 1.35kg. The business model that we have is made with a minimum of 61.9% recycled materials, including 100% recycled aluminium alloy and 100% recycled rare earth metals.

The standard Laptop 8 comes in Platinum, Jade, Dune (a sort of sandy orange), and Black. But this is the for-business version, so we have it in black. You also get a serious but reflective Windows logo on the lid and a notchless design with specific balancing on the lid that allows you to open it with one finger.

On the left-hand side, the Laptop 8 features a headphone jack, a USB-A (3.1), and two Thunderbolt 4 ports for charging and data transfer. On the right, there is just a magnetic Surface Connect port. HDMI and some form of memory card would have been nice, though you do get a MicroSDXC Express card reader on the 15in model.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8: Display

As mentioned, our review unit has the 13.8in display: much like last year, it has a PixelSense HDR LCD panel, with 2304 x 1536 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. It also boasts a ten-point touchscreen, though our 13.8in model has a matte finish – so there is next to no glare.

Visibility won't be an issue for the Surface Laptop 8. Much like Samsung's Galaxy S26, the Laptop 8 comes with a privacy display, which is activated via a button on the function row. Once this is on, no one will be able to see your display from the side – though it is still oddly visible from above.

In our tests, it hit a peak brightness of 444.08 cd/m2, which is actually lower than the Surface Laptop 7 we tested. But it's still very bright and punchy. Similarly, its colors are glorious. It showcased 99.7% for sRGB gamut color coverage (144.5% for volume). It also scored high in Adobe sRGB with 86.6% for coverage and 99.6% for volume -- Those are great scores, and I did find it good for photo editing.

I also did some video editing on the Surface Laptop 8, and while it might not have the biggest display, it is highly capable. The touchscreen element is very useful here, though it can be fiddly when tweaking volume levels with fingers – a job best left to the trackpad.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8: Keyboard and trackpad

The keyboard on the Surface Laptop 8 is smart and professional-looking, color-matched to the rest of the build, and has nice-sized keys. The volume keys are on the left-hand side of the function row, and F1 is for the all-new privacy display.

I found typing really smooth on the keyboard as it has plenty of travel. Unless you type with the brute force of Erling Haaland, you won't hear much noise from the Surface Laptop's keyboard. Just a faint muffled clack. I could hardly hear it over my desk fan, for instance. It's both really good and slightly unsettling.

There are little tweaks on the touchpad that make a big difference to the user. The haptic feedback, for example, has been subtly improved or increased. You just get a little bit more feel for clicking and closing applications – it's very nice.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8: Specs and Performance

There are Snapdragon models of the Surface Laptop 8, though the business variants are Panther Lake affairs. Specifically, the 13.8in model we have is sporting the Intel Core Ultra X7 368H chip and 32GB LPDDR5x RAM.

I can't complain about the performance or really compare it to the Snapdragon models, though it is worth noting that the Laptop 7 did seem to be stronger and smoother with Snapdragon.

In Geekbench 6, our Panther Lake mode hit 2,764 single-core workloads and 14,485 for multi-threaded. Both scores are high, maybe not M5 MacBook Pro high, but high nonetheless. Though it is worth pointing out that the multithreaded score for the 8 was slightly lower than the 15in Laptop 7. But only slightly.

In our looped video test, where we play 20 minutes of Spider-Man 2 with the display set to 170cd/m2, the Surface Laptop 8 lasted 18hrs 43mins. That's over ten minutes more than our Surface Laptop 7 review. In real terms, it never let me down. I took it out into the world for a day and didn't need a charge. It has staying power.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8: Features

The 8 comes with a 1080p Surface Studio camera (Full HD) with support for Windows Studio Effects. So you get automatic eye framing, blurred backgrounds, and facial recognition with Windows Hello. From my own personal use, the webcam is very crisp, and there's a lot of artificial touching up – I've never looked better in work meetings.

Much of this is down to the on-device AI, powered by the Intel AI Boost NPU (48 TOPS). So you have AI shortcuts with the Copilot button, image enhancements, and the now-usual generative AI shortcuts for summarization and text generation. It's all very flashy, but not incredibly useful.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8: Is it worth it?

There's lots to love on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 8; its battery life is great, the keyboard and touchpad are excellent, the display is bright and beautiful, and you get some privacy, provided no one simply looks over the top of the screen. All in all, it's a solid business machine.

Pricing might be its biggest issue (£1,599.99), but given the global state of RAM, that can be said for most premium laptops. So, taking that into account, there is generally some value for money here.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 specifications

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 is hoping to buck a trend. So far, the launch of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 processors has focused on the high-end laptop market. That's not surprising; the flagship Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme is a beast of a chip, combining multi-core performance to match Intel, AMD's, and Apple's best mainstream mobile processors. It's only natural that manufacturers would want to focus on powerful mid-range and high-end laptops built around it.

Yet Qualcomm and its partners had another story to tell with the original Snapdragon X range. There, processors in the Snapdragon X and X Plus lines powered a new wave of affordable thin-and-light devices from the likes of Acer, Asus, HP, Microsoft, and Lenovo, branded under Microsoft's Copilot+ PC initiative. If these laptops didn't always make as big an impact as they deserved to, it had nothing to do with the often great hardware or the underlying tech. Well, now Qualcomm is back for a second try with the Snapdragon X2 Plus, and you couldn't ask for a much better debut for it than the new Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11: Design

Lenovo has developed an appealing habit of making laptops that feel premium even though they have a budget or mid-range price tag, and the IdeaPad Slim 5x (Gen 11) is another great example. It comes in 13in and 15in formats, both with elegant and durable all-aluminium bodies. The 13in model we've had in for testing isn't quite in the ultralight class of the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI or the Asus Zenbook A14, but at 1.41kg it isn't exactly a backbreaker, either. With a compact 339 x 236mm footprint and a thickness of just under 16mm, it's an easy fit in most briefcases, bags, and backpacks.

The design feels very similar to the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 (Gen 10), only without the distinctive rippled underside. The aluminium doesn't feel wafer-thin, the build is free of sharp corners and rough edges, and it all feels good and solid, as backed up by MIL-STD-810H certification for shock and temperature-resistance. A chunky rubber strip, running almost the whole width of the laptop, raises the keyboard deck slightly and keeps the laptop steady during desktop use.

The connectivity gives you some indication that this isn't a high-end device. There are two USB-C ports on the left-hand side, but they're both 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 spec rather than USB 4, locking you out of faster USB 4 SSDs and docking stations. Still, this isn't a huge concern right now, given the lack of such products on the market. The two USB Type-A ports on the right are even slower, with both stuck at 5Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 1 speeds.

On the positive side, you get an HDMI 2.1 port for connecting external displays, while both USB-C ports can output a DisplayPort 1.4 signal if you're looking for a multi-screen setup. You also have Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 onboard, along with a proper, old-school headphone jack and a handy micro-SD card reader.

The trackpad is positively luxurious for an affordable device, with a reasonably large 120 x 75mm glass surface that feels smooth to the touch and is perfectly responsive in its tracking. And if the keyboard doesn't hit ThinkPad levels of greatness, the large, flat keys with their curved front edges are generously-sized and well spaced out, with a light, if shallow action that won't slow you down while you work. As with most aspects of the IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11, it doesn't feel compromised to cut costs.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11: Display

Most aspects, but maybe not all. The screen is perfectly good in most respects. It's bright enough for comfortable use in most conditions, with a maximum brightness of 440cd/m2, while it covers the full range of the sRGB colour space, which, if you're not involved in professional creative work, is probably all you need. There's nothing special about a 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution on a 13.3in display, but it looks sharp in everyday use, and there's not too much visible pixelation at a normal viewing distance.

All the same, it's an IPS display, so it can't match the contrast or vibrant colour we've seen from similarly-priced laptops bearing OLED screens. It covers 74.6% of the DCI-P3 colour space, which isn't bad, but colours aren't quite as rich and vivid as they are on the Swift Edge 14 AI, Zenbook A14, or the Chromebook Plus 14 (Gen 10). None of these laptops is hugely expensive, either.

To balance this, the audio is pretty good for a 13in laptop. The sound is clear enough for voice and video calls or meetings, there's a likeable stereo spread, and even music is played with a bit more warmth and detail than we'd expect from an affordable device. Some harshness comes in at higher volumes, but not at the kind of levels you'd use in the office or while working at home. Video captured by the 1080p webcam could be a little cleaner, especially in low-light conditions, but it's fine for everyday meetings, and the IR module and Windows Hello support give you a quick, reliable way to sign in.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11: Specs and performance

The Snapdragon X2 Plus X2P-42-100 sits near the bottom of the Snapdragon X2 line, with just six Oryon v3 cores running six threads at up to 4GHz. If you're expecting staggering speeds, you may want to curb your enthusiasm. However, its single-core performance appears to be very good, with its Geekbench 6 single-core score of 3215 beating not just the Snapdragon X Plus in the Zenbook A14, but also a wide range of laptops with Intel Lunar Lake and Panther Lake processors, including the Acer Swift 16 AI and Asus ExpertBook Ultra.

Multi-core performance isn't quite as strong, and the Slim 5x's Geekbench 6 score – 11704 – is a way behind the 8-core AMD Ryzen AI 7 and Panther Lake competition, where you're looking at scores in the 16000s. Its multi-core scores in Cinebench 2024's rendering benchmarks are nothing to write home about, either with a decent 128 for single-core rendering but just 649 for multi-core. Here, the Swift 16 AI scored 943, with the ExpertBook Ultra at 838.

Still, this is a cheaper device, and the difference in multi-core performance isn't something you'll pick up in everyday use with productivity applications or while working across multiple SaaS apps. The IdeaPad Slim 5x feels nippy and responsive even while balancing a dozen browser tabs or a workspace with multiple apps. What's more, its scores with the six-core Snapdragon X2 Plus are better than the Asus Zenbook A14's scores with the eight-core Snapdragon X Plus, showing that Qualcomm has made some significant performance improvements from the previous generation chips.

Just be warned that 3D graphics really isn't the Snapdragon X2 Plus's thing. The Lenovo is faster than the old Zenbook A14 (2025) in 3DMark's Time Spy and Steel, Nomad (light) tests, but a long way behind any Lunar Lake or Panther Lake machine, not to mention the Zenbook A16 with its Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme CPU. The latter has a much more powerful GPU.

Luckily, there's ample compensation in the X2P-42-100's superb energy efficiency. Despite having a rather average 54.7Whr battery, the IdeaPad Slim 5x produced one of the greatest feats of laptop stamina we've ever seen, not just surviving a full 24 hours of HD video playback from a single charge, but an additional three hours on top. A couple of days of light use without a charger shouldn't be out of the question, provided you don't push the brightness all the way up.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11: Is it worth it?

The IdeaPad Slim 5x has much to offer businesses, particularly smaller businesses where budgets may be tight. It's a stylish, solidly-built, and very usable laptop that doesn't look or feel inexpensive. All the same, it's fallen victim to the same creeping price increases we've seen everywhere this year, and at just over £900, it's not quite as fantastic a value as it would have been for around £800. As it is, it's going up against laptops with stronger specs and OLED screens, including models that came out in 2025 but still perform well today. The IdeaPad Slim 5x (Gen 11) is definitely a strong option, but you might want to wait for the right deal before you make your move.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 Specifications

The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Enterprise Edition is a business-focused update of the Galaxy Book models that debuted at MWC 26. This isn't the premium models, to be clear, the Pro and Ultra are the more powerful devices, but the Enterprise Edition goes in a slightly different direction, with features and capabilities to make laptop deployment easier for IT departments.

It comes in either 16in or 14in, and only one gray color option. And it starts at £2,049 for the lowest configuration (16GM RAM, Intel 5). But, as with all of Samsung's Enterprise Edition devices, the real benefits are in setup and security...

Samsung Galaxy Book6: Design

Although this is an 'Enterprise Edition', the outer design of the Galaxy Book6 is the same as the standard model with two size options (14in and 16in) and just a 0.64 lbs difference between those. The 16in model we have is just 14.6mm when closed, giving it a moderately thin profile.

The laptop comes only in gray – 'Mocha' gray, according to Samsung – which gives it a serious, but unremarkable look. It's squared with little rounded edges and a minimalist Samsung logo on the lid. The result is that the Galaxy Book 6 doesn't really stand out in the crowd – we've seen more striking Windows machines recently, such as the Asus ZenBook 16A, or the HP EliteBook 8, or even the MSI Prestige 16 AI+.

Configurations start at 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD, but can be ramped up, like our machine to 32GB RAM and 1TB of storage. And for the Enterprise Edition, there are three Intel options: either the Core Ultra 5 325, Core Ultra 7 365 vPro or the 355 – like our review unit.

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Enterprise Edition: Display

The Enterprise Edition of the Galaxy Book6 has a 16-in IPS panel with a wide-screen WUXGA (1920 x 1200) resolution by default. At face value, it's not the most impressive screen – certainly not compared to the Pro and Ultra models – and it's clear that the focus here is productivity rather than immersive graphics.

So the Enterprise Edition is slightly duller – its peak brightness is only 350nits, according to Samsung. The Pro model can reach 1,000nits, so there is a gulf in quality. In our own tests, with our colormieter, the Enterprise Edition peaked at 354 cd/m2, which is on the low side; certainly not up to Samsung's lofty standards.

But we have to remind ourselves that a laptop aimed at enterprises doesn't necessarily need to have a fancy display, just a practical one. The 16in screen is nice and big, there's next to no glare, and it does a fairly decent job with colors. Nothing mind blowing, but equality is neither over-saturated nor poor.

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Enterprise Edition: Keyboard and trackpad

One reason to opt for the 16in Galaxy Book6 is the inclusion of a numberpad. That is, of course, if you like/need one. So that's data entry workers and number nerds. For the rest of us, you just get a bigger typing space and more area to rest your palms.

On the business of typing, however, the keys feel quite shallow. There is only 1.33mm travel, and I did feel I was basing the bottom, a lot, at full typing speed. They do look smart and level, and they make a nice clicky sound. However, the space bar has a slight rattle to it.

There is a medium-sized trackpad (approximately 4x3) with a fairly good range and nice click action. The only issue here is its position, just off-center (presumably due to the number pad). I constantly hit the right-click button by accident when not looking down, which caused no end of frustration.

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Enterprise Edition: Specs and performance

Our review unit came with an Intel Core Ultra 7 355 (Panther Lake) chip, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD. As mentioned above, you can opt for a lower Core Ultra 5 325 model or a vPro. Though all three are suitable for most business needs, aside from heavy AI workloads.

In Geekbench 6, the Enterprise Edition came back with a score of 2,671 for single-core workloads and 6,846 for multithreaded, which are both good scores. You're not looking at a MacBook Pro replacement here, but it does hold up well against Windows machines with a similar score to the Asus Zenbook A16.

And, it lasts. Samsung's estimates for battery life say it can run for 24hrs in an office setting. In our looped video test, the Galaxy Book 6 lasted 17hrs, 38mins. Which is short of that expectation, but we have to add that our tests are intentionally intensive. In real use, we found the Galaxy Book6 lasted well into a second day of work.

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Enterprise Edition: Features

The Enterprise Edition, as its name suggests, is about making the setup and management of work machines as seamless as possible, while also keeping security tight. So the Galaxy Book6 can be prepared before deployment with a few customizations, like BIOS settings and asset tagging. There's also Windows Autopilot, which IT admins can set up before the device reaches its user.

These pre-customizations also extend to security, with Samsung's Knox platform deeply embedded in the Galaxy Book6. This includes the standardized configurations that we are all familiar with, like biometric authentication (fingerprint sensor, facial recognition). And also some data protection at the firmware level with a discrete Trusted Platform Module with cryptographic capabilities.

There is a wealth of connections on both sides of the machine. Two USB-C ports, two USB-A, an HDMI slot, one for a microSD card, an RJ45 Ethernet port, a security slot, and a headphone jack.

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Enterprise Edition: Is it worth it?

While it may lack the gloss of rival laptops (or even other Galaxy Book models) the 6 is a solid choice for a business. A quality build with a smart look, a fast processor, and a long battery life. Just what you need for an office of knowledge workers or even entry-level ones.

Price may be a sticking point; there are similar devices for less than £2,000, but the question is, do they also come with Knox-level security, or even the breadth of controls and capabilities for IT departments?

Samsung Galaxy Book6 Enterprise Edition specifications

Dell has announced the launch of the new XPS 13 laptop range as the company targets “accessible” pricing options for customers – and sets the stage for a showdown with the MacBook Neo.

The move builds on a commitment by the tech giant at CES 2026, namely competing “at every price point” in the hardware market.

Indeed, pricing for the XPS 13 comes in at $699, although a student-focused promotional campaign will bring this down to $599 in July - that puts the device on-par with the Neo.

According to Dell, the XPS 13 is the “lightest and most accessible” XPS to date, and it’s also the lightest and thinnest. The laptop measures 12.7mm and weighs only 1kg (2.2lbs).

The company specifically highlighted the fact the device is smaller and half a pound lighter than the MacBook Neo, and also boasts a larger display.

“The lightweight and durable chassis is built to the same standard as every XPS, because a lower price shouldn’t mean a lesser build,” the company said in an announcement.

So what can customers expect with the XPS 13?

Under the hood of the Dell XPS 13

The base version of Dell’s new budget laptop will come equipped with a six-core Intel Core 5 320 “Wildcat Lake” chip.

Dell noted that future versions will also be available with Intel Ultra Core “Panther Lake” chips, although information on the timeline here is yet to be revealed.

The XPS 13 also boasts 512GB of storage, and just 8GB of RAM for the base version, with the option of scaling up to 32GB.

That might seem low, but the MacBook Neo also comes with what some would describe as paltry RAM capabilities.

Elsewhere, the XPS 13 comes equipped with two USB-C ports, but no 3.5mm audio jack.

XPS 13: Design and features

The base version – and future versions – of the XPS 13 will come with a 13.4 inch touchscreen as standard, boasting 2560 x 1600 resolution and 30Hz to 120Hz variable refresh rate for “smooth visuals”.

Dell noted that the device also has a streaming battery life of up to 17 hours, largely due to the fact it automatically adjusts refresh rates based on what’s on the screen.

Other key features include:

• A 2.5K touch display (covering 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut)
• Backlit keyboard
• Faster USB-C (3.2 Gen 2)
• Intel Wi-Fi 7
• Windows Hello
• Quad speakers

A showdown with Apple

Dell is keen to emphasize the XPS 13’s comparison with the MacBook Neo – and distinct advantages. Indeed, the company’s blog post referenced the device four times.

“Apple’s MacBook Neo is a capable machine, and its arrival confirms that there’s real appetite for premium quality at accessible prices,” the company said. “Where Dell differs is what we think premium means at this price point and what we were willing to build to deliver it.”

The MacBook Neo took the industry by storm earlier this year, generating huge interest and marking the company’s first foray into the budget device market. As ITPro noted at the time, the MacBook Neo launch set the stage for the rest of the industry to react on pricing.

Pound for pound, the two shape up fairly similar in terms of storage and RAM options. The XPS 13 entry-level device offers 512GB storage and 8GB of RAM, while the Neo comes equipped with 256GB storage and 8GB of RAM.

It’s worth noting, however, that due to Apple using in-house developed parts - chips, operating systems, and hard drive - the Neo could eke out more performance from just 8GB compared to a comparable Windows device.

From a visual perspective, the situation is much the same. The MacBook Neo is Apple’s smallest laptop to date, boasting a 13in display and coming in at just 12.7mm thick. The XPS 13, meanwhile, is 12.7mm thick with a slightly larger screen.

Who’s this for?

Dell specifically highlighted students as a key demographic for the XPS 13. However, much like the MacBook Neo, the pricing could be tantalizing for smaller businesses aiming to get more bang for their buck.

The launch of the Neo came at the height of the RAM crisis with prices spiralling globally, and lingering concerns about hardware costs mean Dell has an opportunity to capitalize in the budget market.

Essentially, small businesses now have another viable option alongside the Neo – and that's massive news given low budget devices were expected to be among those worst hit by the memory crisis.

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You can always rely on Acer's TravelMate family of enterprise notebooks to offer reliable performance at more affordable prices. While they won't look as flashy as an ultraportable or pack as much punch as a workstation, these machines are a prudent choice for employees who won't need to push a machine to its limits while still taking advantage of basic AI functionality.

The Acer TravelMate X 14 AI is a mid-range enterprise machine that offers all the above at a fairly reasonable price of under $1,500. With that, you'll pick up a lightweight and versatile machine powered by an Intel Core Ultra 5 Series 200 processor, with a 120Hz HD display. But does this machine offer good value for money, and how does it compare with similar machines in this bracket?

Acer TravelMate X 14 AI: Design and display

There's very little surprising or unexpected about the way that Acer has designed this enterprise-facing laptop. Its basic chassis combines plastic and metal with ports on either side slightly indented, and the display is depressed within the casing. The rear features two bars that, while allowing the machine to benefit from more airflow while stood on your desk, feel very uncomfortable when resting it on your lap.

Its gray finish, meanwhile, is pretty bland and doesn't catch the eye in the same way that plenty of Dell or HP laptops might. The inclusion of the Acer branding in a box on the lid does offer contrast in an otherwise uninspired design, but it's a little jarring.

You likely won't be in this for the looks, but the machine's build quality isn't of the highest quality either. Heavy plastic inclusion gives way to a lightweight feel (not in a good way); you'd be forgiven for fearing it's a little flimsy at times – although it's certainly not the case, having passed MIL-STD 810H benchmarks. There are some positive aspects, however. Rubber pads on the bezels on either side of the display means the keyboard won't leave impressions or marks on the screen.

More encouragingly, the machine's 1.27kg weight is on the lighter side, and it's in line with machines like the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 (1.24kg), Lenovo ThinkPad X9 14 Aura Edition (1.24kg), and Acer Swift Go 14 AI (1.32kg). The thickness is also decent (15.9mm) considering the nature of the ports included in this machine, including HDMI and Ethernet.

The 14-inch display doesn't seem appealing at first glance, but it still has plenty of positive points, like a 120Hz refresh rate. It's not incredibly sharp, with a weak 162 pixels-per-inch ratio for its 1,900 x 1,200-pixel aspect ratio. It also feels much dimmer than average to the naked eye, which we confirmed in testing with a display calibrator, registering a maximum luminosity of 267 cd/m2 (much lower than the roughly 330 cd/m2 that we'd consider a decent level). The color accuracy isn't fantastic either, with the display registering a 96.6% coverage of the sRGB gamut. On the other hand, it scored well in terms of coverage of the Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 gamuts with 70.9% and 84.1%, respectively. Also decent is a black level of 0.19 cd/m2 and a 1,376:1 contrast ratio. Finally, color distortion scores of an average of 0.52 and a maximum of 1.58 are very strong. So, overall, the display is fairly mediocre, but we've seen aspects that are much worse in more premium machines – and it's about in line with what we would have expected from a mid-range machine.

Acer TravelMate X 14 AI: Performance and battery life

Given the pricing of this machine, and the components fitted into it, the Acer TravelMate X 14 AI punches above its weight; it nears (but doesn't meet) the standard often seen in higher-end laptops.

The eight-core Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor is the beating heart of this machine, and this is partnered with an Intel Arc Graphics chip and an integrated NPU that can hit 40 TOPS. While not as strong as the roughly 50 TOPS you'll see in the higher-end counterparts, it's plenty of AI firepower and enables core AI functionality. Memory options include 16GB LPDDR5x RAM as well as 512GB SSD.

Benchmarking the machine with Geekbench 6 produced a respectable single-core result of 2,453 – what we'd normally expect across Lunar Lake processors -- and a multi-core score of 9,334 – which is actually just shy of what we've sometimes seen in Intel Core Ultra 7 200 Series chips. For instance, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU scored 10,021 in the Acer TravelMate P6 14 AI. That said, the mid-range Snapdragon X Plus-powered Acer Swift Go 14 AI scored 2,364 and 11,044, respectively, with Qualcomm's processors generally offering more juice.

It's a symptom of the Lunar Lake CPUs, in that the difference between different models, and between this generation and the Meteor Lake chips, is slight. While older processors may offer similar performance levels, they come without the AI or graphics firepower. For instance, the excellent entry-level Intel Arc Graphics chip scored 25,514. While higher-end models hit closer to 30,000, previous-generation Intel machines may score well under 20,000.

We were equally impressed with the machine's battery life, with the Acer TravelMate X 14 AI lasting 14hrs and 37mins in our looped video playback test. Anything below by today's standards would be a little disappointing, considering plenty of machines are capable of reaching more than 20 hours. Again, however, for a mid-range machine, it's a strong result and in line with plenty of higher-end machines. In a similar vein, there's no reason to be displeased with the SSD -- with range-topping reads of 6,706MB/s and writes a little more sluggish at below average speeds of 3,644MB/s.

Acer TravelMate X 14 AI: Features

The TravelMate's keyboard is balanced well and enjoyable to use. Keys have a moderately deep travel distance, and they're well spaced. There's enough snap and bite with each keystroke so that it feels punch while you're using it, but with a mutedness that means you can touch type without feeling you're up against much resistance. There aren't many surprises with the function keys, or complaints more generally. Handily, you can use the Acer MyKey to choose from a selection of frequently used apps to open on command.

The touchpad, meanwhile, is well-sized and perfectly sensitive – but its surface feels slightly uncomfortable if you apply too much pressure while navigating. Both the left-click and right-click buttons are positioned well, although there isn't much feedback, and clicking feels hollow.

The machine offers a great amount of connectivity, with the left-hand side of the laptop featuring an HDMI port, USB-A port, and two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4. On the right, you'll have an Ethernet port, USB-A port, and 3.5mm headphone jack, alongside a security lock slot. The only thing missing, you could argue, is an SD Card slot -- but otherwise it's an impressive complement of physical connectivity options. You'll also benefit from up-to-date wireless standards in Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 – ensuring a degree of future-proofing.

Elsewhere, you can take advantage of several AI-powered features baked into Windows 11, including Cocreator, Recall, and Live Captions. The manufacturer has also developed PurifiedView 2.0 to improve framing and image clarity in video calls, as well as PurifiedVoice 2.0, which uses AI-powered noise reduction and a three-mic setup to make sure you can be heard when you speak up.

Acer also claims the stereo speakers benefit from AI magic to generate 200% more sound output with 70% less vibration. Anecdotal, the sound is clear, and there's plenty of treble but about as much bass as you'd expect from a laptop. In fairness, playing music on full blast was louder than we expected – and while we could experience vibrations, they were within reason.

As for security, the laptop incorporates a webcam shutter for privacy as well as facial recognition with Windows Hello – but there's no fingerprint scanner, unfortunately.

Acer TravelMate X 14 AI: Is it worth it?

For a sub-$1,500 price tag, the Acer TravelMate X 14 AI offers plenty of value, and there are very few reasons to avoid it if you're on a tight budget. If you can look past a bland and generic corporate-feeling design – as well as a screen that won't threaten to dazzle you – you'll be able to enjoy solid and reliable performance alongside great quality-of-life features. The keyboard, for example, is excellent and makes typing very enjoyable. We also found the Acer MyKey hotkey a tiny, but really useful, shortcut.

Performance also reaches heights in a similar ballpark to higher-end Intel-powered counterparts, with very few, if any, compromises when it comes to the AI functionality, thanks to 40 TOPS of power and a decent entry-level graphics output too.

The chassis itself, despite feeling a little tacky at face value, does hold up against the stresses and strains of day-to-day mobile working. It's also compact and light – especially given the excellent array of physical ports you can take advantage of – with a decent battery life. Overall, these qualities make the Acer TravelMate X 14 AI a very strong candidate to be your next mid-range travel companion.

Acer TravelMate X 14 AI review: Specifications

Microsoft has unveiled the next generation of Surface for Business devices, with three models of the Surface Laptop and a new 13in Surface Pro.

Each model will come with Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors, with the option to upgrade to the Intel Core Ultra X7. However, models featuring the Snapdragon X2 will also be available later in the year.

"Whether your teams are in the boardroom, at a customer site, or working from anywhere, these AI PCs are built to perform at the speed of business," Nancie Gaskill, vice president of Microsoft's Surface Business, wrote in a blog post.

The Intel Core Ultra Series 3 architecture promises significant improvements for the new business range. Indeed. Microsoft highlights a "meaningful" leap in graphics performance. Compared to the M5 MacBook Air, Microsoft says it offers up to 35% more graphics performance. It's also more than 90% faster in terms of performance compared to the 2022 Laptop 5. Though that is based on configurations with the Intel Core Ultra X7.

Surface Pro for Business

There is only one model of Surface Pro for Business, a 13in 2-in-1 with all the usual features and accessories. It starts at $1,949.99 and is already available in select markets. There's also a 5G option.

Microsoft's Pro model is for those who want the flexibility of a tablet, while still maintaining laptop-level performance. The downside here is that the various parts of it are sold separately. So the stylus and the adjustable stand and detachable keyboard – which allow users to switch between tablet, laptop, and presentation modes – are an extra cost.

Historically, this has been the most popular model within the Surface range and arguably one of the best business tablets available. Though at face value, there doesn't appear to be a significant change or update beyond more power and further AI capabilities.

"From analyzing complex information to presenting to customers or creating content on the go, the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 GPU enables work to move in real time, delivering the sustained, fluid performance leaders expect from a premium business PC, without compromising mobility, battery life or security," Gaskill wrote in the blog.

Surface Laptop for Business

There does appear to be more upgrades on the Sureface Laptop; Starting with an all-new 13in model, which is the most "portable" it has ever been, according to Microsoft. This is already available in select markets in 16GB and 24GB configurations – starting at $1,499 – though there will be an 8GB model available later in 2026 that's $200 cheaper ($1,2999).

More traditional 13.8in and 15in models are also available, though these are much more expensive, starting at $1,949.99. All models of Surface Laptop for Business will feature haptic touchpads and touchscreens, though there are additional features to opt for, such as an anti-glare display and an integrated privacy screen.

When we reviewed the 2025 MSI Prestige 16 AI, we declared it to be "one of the best business laptops on the market". Reading back over our review, that's an opinion we stand by.

The new 2026 model differs in some important ways. The IPS screen has been replaced by OLED, the AMD chipset has been replaced by one from Intel, the weight and thickness have both dropped, and the price. The quality of the sound system and the battery life have both gone up.

That's the good news. The bad news, such as it is, is that the numeric keypad has disappeared, and performance levels are lower. Does that make the new machine a better buy? If you can't be bothered to read the entire review, the short answer is yes.

MSI Prestige 16 AI+: Design

Compared to the 2025 model, the new Prestige is an altogether more curvaceous affair. Out have gone the flat slab-sides to be replaced by a much more rounded profile. At 1.59Kg and 13.9mm, the new model is considerably lighter and thinner than the 2025 model. Despite that, the new Prestige is still an all-metal build and is still impressively solid with very little flex to be felt in either the body or lid.

The new model is again MIL-STD-801H resistant to various degrees of vibration, temperature change, humidity, dust ingress, and shock. There's still only one colorway, a rather dour affair which MSI calls Platinum Grey, though to our eyes it's more silver. The new cursive logo script etched on the lid is a nice design touch. Whatever the aesthetic qualities of the exterior, it does a good job at keeping greasy fingerprints at bay, which, in our opinion, is more important than a snazzy paint job.

For such a slender machine, there's a solid selection of ports. On the left, there are two Thunderbolt 4 ports and an HDMI 2.1 video output, while on the right, there are two 5Gbps USB-A ports and a 3.5 combo audio jack. Some might argue that the USB-A ports should be faster, but it's hardly a deal-breaker. One thing the 2025 model had that the new one doesn't is a memory card slot, which we think is a shame. The Intel Killer BE1775 modem is bang on the money, though, supporting Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth v6.0.

Getting inside the Prestige is a straightforward operation, but once in, all you can do is swap out the M.2 2280 SSD, remove the battery, and blow dust out of the fans. The RAM and wireless card are all fixed in place, and there's no space for a second SSD. Speaking of SSDs, the 1TB Phison drive in our test machine performed decently enough, recording sequential read and write speeds of 4,761MB/s and 2,808MB/s respectively.

MSI Prestige 16 AI+: Keyboard, touchpad, and webcam

Some users will bemoan that MSI has ditched the numeric keypad, but given that it felt just a little cramped and offset the touchpad, we think MSI has made the right call. Physically, the new keyboard is difficult to criticise. The base is solid, the typing action perfectly weighted, the keycap graphics are models of clarity, and the three-stage white backlight that shines through the translucent walls of the keys is ideal, no matter what level of ambient light you find yourself working in.

Dead centre below the keyboard sits a large 160 x 100mm Mylar touchpad. It's a mechanical affair but none the worse for that. The click-action is light and clean, if just a wee bit on the noisy side.

The touchpad supports what MSI calls Action Functions. So a double-tap in the top right opens the MSI control centre, and one on the top left opens the calculator. Swiping up and down along the left edge adjusts the display brightness, do the same on the right and the volume changes.

Swiping along the top edge fast forwards and rewinds video, doing the same on the bottom flips through pages. You can also set custom actions or app launches when you swipe inwards from centre left, centre right, and centre top. It's a rather handy feature.

There's no want of biometric options with the webcam supporting Windows Hello IR facial recognition and the power button housing a fingerprint scanner. The webcam itself is nothing out of the ordinary, and the best it can do in terms of video is 1080p and 30fps, but it's bright and colorful and reacts well to changes in ambient light. We've seen a lot worse on laptops costing a lot more.

MSI Prestige 16 AI+: Display and speakers

The 2,880 x 1,800 120Hz Samsung-made OLED display may not be the brightest we've encountered, peaking at 385cd/m2 in SDR mode and 635cdm/2 in HDR, but it is very colorful with gamut volumes of 164.9% sRGB, 116.8 DCI-P3, and 113.6% Adobe RGB.

Using the MSI Centre S control panel, you can lock the display to the Display P3, Adobe RGB, and sRGB profiles, and doing so returns very good average Delta E variances of 0.6, 1.3, and 1, respectively.

That's by some margin the best color accuracy we've seen from a laptop with this sort of price sticker. There's also a Movie profile, which maximises color saturation, and two settings designed to reduce eye strain called Anti-Blue and Office.

Is the OLED display in the 2026 model better than the IPS panel in last year's model? The IPS display is faster at 165Hz and brighter, but we think 120Hz is more than adequate, and we prefer the sumptuous colors of an OLED panel and the superior HDR performance (the screen is VESA DisplayHDR True Black 600 certified), so we'd have no hesitation answering "yes".

The screen has a gloss finish that can be a little too reflective in some circumstances, especially when outside in sunlight, but that's a price worth paying for the immersively pellucid images that a glossy OLED display can deliver.

Traditionally, speaker systems have been something of an Achilles' heel for MSI's business machines, but the new Prestige is much improved. The sound system consists of two 2W woofers and two 2W full-range drivers.

Despite being all buried deep inside the casing and firing downwards, they produce a detailed and punchy soundscape with a useful amount of low-end bass. The clarity and volume pay dividends in Zoom and Teams calls, and the overall sound quality makes listening to music a rather enjoyable experience.

MSI Prestige 16 AI+: Specs and performance

Inside the Prestiage 16 AI+, you'll find an Intel Core Ultra 7 355. This sits toward the top of the lower half of the Panther Lake hierarchy and has 8 cores, 4 of which are deemed Performance and 4 Low Power Efficient. The chipset also features the Intel Graphics iGPU with 4 Xe cores, a 49 TOPS NPU, and 32GB of soldered LPDDR5x RAM.

That's a combination that quite clearly is not going to deliver the sort fort of performance we saw from the Core Ultra X7 385H and Arc B390 combo in the Acer Swift 16 AI, which boasts 16 CPU cores and 12 Xe GPU cores.

In our Handbrake-based 4K multimedia benchmark, the MSI scored 238 points to the Acer's 486, the difference mainly attributable to the superior graphics performance of the Arc integrated GPU.

For basic productivity, there's nothing at all wrong with the MSI's performance, it's 4K score is on a par with the likes of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (255) and M4 MacBook Air (247).

However, machines like the new M5 MacBook Air and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2-powered Asus Zenbook A16 (which scored 325 and 375, respectively) have the legs on the new MSI, though both are considerably more expensive if you match the storage and RAM.

In the Geekbench 6 tests, the MSI scored 2,715 in the single-core test, 11,422 in the multi-core test, and 23,606 in the OpenCL GPU test. Again, for comparison, the Acer scored 2,836, 15,936, and 55,780, proving, if proof were needed, that there just ain't no substitute for more cores.

The difference in the graphics performance is underlined by the speed at which MSI ran the SPECviewperf 3dsmax 3D modelling benchmark: 18fps compared to 36fps on the Acer.

It's also worth pointing out here that the 2026 Prestige is less powerful than the 2025 model, with its AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 and Radeon 880M underpinnings. That scored 437 points in the 4K benchtest.

MSI's international website alludes to a 2026 model with the Intel Ultra X9 388H CPU and Arc B390 GPU, which would no doubt at least match the 2025 model, but at the time of writing, we've no details regarding UK availability or price.

In the new MSI machine's favour, it can run flat out without even a hint of thermal throttling, produces very little fan noise, and barely gets warm to the touch even around the vent grille on the underside. You could almost be forgiven for thinking the Prestige 16 AI is passively cooled.

The upside of running a more modest chipset is longer battery life. In our standard battery test, which involves looping a video in VLC with the display set to 170cd/m2, the 81Wh battery inside the MSI kept the lights on for 17 hours and 45 minutes.

That's 2 hours 30 minutes better than the M5 MacBook Air, 2 hours and 15 minutes better than the Acer Aspire, and the same, give or take two minutes, as the Asus Zenbook A16.

MSI Prestige 16 AI+: Is it worth it?

For £1,250, the new MSI Prestige 16 AI is nigh on impossible to criticise. The screen and speaker system are definitely a step forward from the 2025 model, and though you no longer get a MicroSD slot, there's an extra USB-A port to make up for it. The keyboard and touchpad are both top-notch, and the battery life is excellent.

The only area where the new Prestige lacks is in graphics performance when compared to the Radeon 880M-equipped 2025 model and the Arc B390-equipped Panther Lake competition. But of course, the new MSI is quite a bit cheaper than all those alternatives.

Hopefully, MSI will release the Intel Ultra X9 388H / Arc B390 model in the UK to satisfy those who want to run demanding graphics jobs or play a little surreptitious Cyberpunk 2077 at lunchtime, but for everyone else, this model will do very nicely indeed.

MSI Prestige 16 AI+: Specs

Google has teased a new line-up of laptops coming later in the year called Googlebooks.

In what was a brief announcement at the Android Show, Googlebooks appear to be a confirmation of a long-running rumor: a new operating system based on a fusion of ChromeOS and Android, and essentially a Gemini-native successor to Chromebooks.

“We’re bringing together the best of Android, which comes with powerful apps on Google Play and a modern OS that’s designed for Intelligence, and ChromeOS, which comes with the world’s most popular browser,” Google’s senior director for laptops and tablets, Alex Kuscher, wrote in a blog post.

“The result is Googlebook: a new category of laptops built with Gemini’s helpfulness at its core, designed to work seamlessly with the devices in your life and powered by premium hardware. We’re sharing a sneak peek into the Googlebook experience today and will have a lot more to share later this year.”

What to expect with Googlebooks

Googlebooks will be the first laptops designed “from the ground up” for Gemini Intelligence, the company said in its announcement. The first Googlebooks are expected in the fall from the usual vendors such Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo.

Gemini and its AI capabilities will assist you the moment you open a Googlebook laptop, the company said. One of the first new features is the “Magic Pointer” which adds extra functions as you hover the cursor over various apps.

The cursor will also come alive with “just a wiggle”, according to Google. The wiggle brings up quick and contextual suggestions that depend on where it is on the screen.

Pointing at a date in Gmail, for example, will suggest setting up a meeting. Or selecting two images can create a visualization; the presentation showed a couch being placed in a living room.

Many of the features appeared to be more about everyday life, rather than business use cases. Though it isn’t hard to imagine where capabilities like custom widgets or remote mobile access can help at work.

The latter will allow you to access your mobile from the laptop.

The announcement does raise a few questions, particularly for the future of Chromebooks, but we expect more details to come over the summer.

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Conventional enterprise laptops can often feel bland and stuffy, but the HP EliteBook X Flip G1i offers something a little different. The Lunar Lake-powered 2-in-1 hybrid adopts a sleek and stylish design aesthetic while packing plenty of the same enterprise features you would expect from the Elitebook series – namely, it's similar to the clamshell HP EliteBook laptops.

The key difference here, of course, is the 360-degree hinges that can transform your device into a tablet at a moment's notice, whether you want to use it as a touchscreen or a second display in your setup. Helpfully, it's also a little lighter and trimmer, making it a great option for mobile working, especially for those working with sensitive material. Questions remain as to whether its display is strong and vibrant enough to justify being used as a tablet and whether its battery life offers more than the clamshell version, so you can rely on this 2-in-1 when away from the desk.

HP EliteBook X Flip G1i: Design and display

HP's design aesthetic for its EliteBook family is clean and sophisticated, and the manufacturer brings the same minimalist look and feel to the EliteBook X Flip G1i. It's practically indistinguishable from its cousins, including the likes of the EliteBook 8 G1i or the EliteBook X G1i. Although you aren't likely to stand out from the crowd, there's no reason to be disappointed with a clean and elegant overall look. The silver aluminum chassis exudes freshness, while its rounded corners give it a softer and more accessible feel – akin to that you might feel when using a MacBook.

Its dimensions are consistent with what we'd expect from a machine like this, and impressively, it's even thinner than the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition (which doesn't feature an HDMI port). But its weight is on the heavy side at 1.4kg. For instance, Lenovo's 2-in-1 is 1.32kg, and the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is 1.34kg.

Generally, the device is well constructed and robust, which is the least you could ask for. That's the case whether you're using it as a laptop or if you bend the display back and use it in a variety of tablet modes. The one element that's a bit of a letdown is that the display does feel a tad loose when you tap it too firmly. This is still within the bounds of acceptability – and it's certainly an issue in most 2-in-1s – but firming this up would have given the EliteBook that extra edge.

The display itself isn't completely flush against the lid and instead features a plastic outline that protrudes slightly. Although visually unappealing, it's smart in the sense that it prevents the screen from being marked by the keyboard when shutting it – which it does with a firm snap thanks to the magnetics. Another oddity is that the end of the lid and the main body don't fully line up. It's a minor, and mostly visual, complaint, rather than a functional one, but it stood out nonetheless.

Our feelings about the display itself are generally mixed. The review unit we tested featured an entry-level 1,900 x 1,200 IPS screen with HDR and a 60Hz refresh rate – although you can also buy this laptop with a 2.5K (2,560 x 1,600-pixel) panel with a much smoother 120Hz refresh rate. Both are stated to be 400 nits bright (a little above average), but we imagine the user experience differences are stark, with added sharpness and smoothness rendering it a much better proposition.

The version of the display that we tested, however, only reached 316 cd/m2, which is a little below average. Color accuracy had a better showing with an excellent 100% coverage of the sRGB gamut, backed up by an excellent 76.4% and 88.1% coverage of the Adobe and DCI-P3 gamuts, for photo and video editing, respectively (where scores above 70% and 80% indicate adequacy for professional color work). This pairs with an outstanding 0.18 black level and relatively high 1,694:1 contrast ratio (great results in a non-OLED screen). Capping this off is a 0.29 average Delta-E result and a maximum of 1.05, generally in line with the best laptop displays.

HP EliteBook X Flip G1i: Performance and battery life

Powering the HP EliteBook X Flip G1i is an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor and an Intel Arc Graphics chip alongside 32GB LPDDR5X RAM and a 1TB SSD. The integrated NPU can also squeeze out a decent 47 TOPS, which is enough to power most innate AI workloads. Unfortunately for the Lunar Lake generation, power is a little compromised for the sake of efficiency – and that's something we certainly noticed in testing this 2-in-1.

Testing this machine using Geekbench 6 produced a single-threaded result of 2,464 and a multi-core score of 10,239. It's not much of a leap from machines built in 2023 and beyond. For example, the last HP Spectre x360 14 scored 2,110 and 10,480 with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H chip. But this model only offered 11 TOPS of AI power and a comparatively weak GPU. By contrast, the EliteBook X Flip G1i's graphics card scored a solid 28,966 – which is more than usable for visual workloads. Other 2-in-1s that we previously tested hit scores a little higher, including the Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition (30,830) and the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (33,349).

On the other hand, this machine's battery life puts it in a much better light, having lasted 16hrs and 27mins in our looped video playback test. It's a decent score compared with the average machine featuring the same Intel chipset. It's roughly an hour longer than the Yoga 2-in-1, for instance, and an hour shorter than the OmniBook Ultra Flip 14. In today's market, anything above roughly 14-15 hours can be considered a good battery life, although there are a handful of machines out there capable of beating 20-plus hours.

The SSD speeds are slightly below average at 5,152MB/s and 4,505MB/s for reads and writes – which is much lower than we would normally see in HP machines, which usually score close to 7,000MB/s for reads and more than 5,550MB/s for writes.

HP EliteBook X Flip G1i: Features

We generally enjoyed using the HP EliteBook X Flip G1i's keyboard. The travel distance is a little on the shorter side, but not as short as some of the consumer-grade devices, and there's a huge amount of snappy force feedback with each keystroke. There's also the downside of a higher resistance with such heavy feedback, meaning it becomes harder to get into a proper touch typing flow. That said, it's still eminently enjoyable to use. We appreciated the inclusion of a full-sized Enter key, but were disappointed that the PG UP and PG DN keys were crammed just above the Left and Right arrows. There are no surprises otherwise, with the Function keys giving an array of useful toggles – including F2 to activate the screen guard that dims the display and decimates the viewing angle in such a way that prevents shoulder surfing and ensures privacy on the move. There's also a shortcut with F11 that opens the MyHP control dock. The EliteBook touchpads are perfectly sized, well-positioned in the center of the machine, and look far better than most you'll find in laptops. But they suffer from a glassy surface that's far too slippery and doesn't offer enough friction for more precise cursor movements. Left-clicking and right-clicking, however, is perfect with plenty of travel distance and feedback.

You'll also benefit from a full complement of ports – which is hard to pull off in a 14-inch machine. The ports include HDMI 2.1, two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 and 3.5mm headphone jack on the left-hand side of the chassis, another USB-C port and a USB-A port, in addition to a Nano lock slot and a SIM slot for mobile communications on the right-hand side. Wireless options include Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. Other than a lack of an SD card slot, there's pretty much everything you would need in this impressively compact device.

As with HP's EliteBook family of security-centric laptops, you'll get access to the HP Wolf Security suite alongside a one-year subscription, alongside a plethora of apps like HP Sure Start, Sure Run, Sure Recover, Sure Click, and Sure Admin. Thanks to a 5MP AI infrared camera, you can benefit from facial recognition with Windows Hello, onlooker alerts (notifications that warn you when you're being watched), and presence sensing (meaning the machine can sleep or wake depending on your proximity). There's even a fingerprint scanner built into the power button.

HP also claims that the firmware is protected against quantum computing hacks thanks to the HP Endpoint Security Controller – an isolated, dedicated microprocessor that protects the BIOS. Chances are you aren't going to face those in the wild for a good few years. But it's better to be safe than sorry.

HP EliteBook X Flip G1i: Is it worth it?

You're going to be drawn to a machine like this if you're a professional who needs to work on the move and finds value in the configurable form factor – whether you're presenting, viewing content, using it as a secondary display, or just want the option. Although a little on the weighty side, it's a compact and sufficiently stylish device with an excellent build quality and premium feel. Thankfully, if you're working in sensitive areas in particular, the mobility that this machine encourages is also met with a raft of protective and safeguarding features that tries to give you the freedom and peace of mind to work confidently and capably while on the move, without looking over your shoulder; indeed, there's a feature for that.

The display that we tested (a basic 1,900 x 1,200-pixel panel) punched above its weight, so we'd expect good things if you wanted to upgrade to the higher-quality version. The hardware, however, is a little bit of a letdown. That's common with mobile Lunar Lake processors, but the trade-off is better power efficiency with a battery life that will last a full working day, and then some. Overall, there's nothing particularly standout – but nothing particularly worrisome about this solid and sophisticated enterprise laptop that will put even the most paranoid professional's mind at ease.

HP ZBook X G1i review: Specifications

Framework has announced a host of new products at its NextGen event in San Francisco, including an all-new modular Laptop, the 13 Pro, that might well be the answer to those tired of Windows and its non-negotiable deployment of Copilot.

The Framework Laptop 13 Pro comes with either no operating system or Windows 11 – so there is an option to add Linux yourself. There is also a cheaper version of the device that has Ubuntu (a Linux distro) pre-installed, removing the hassle of installing the open source software yourself. Avoiding Copilot altogether.

"On Linux, as always, we've designed for excellent support from the start," founder and CEO Nirav Patel, wrote in a blog post.

"That means component selection for Linux compatibility, support for firmware updates through LVFS, and contributing patches upstream where needed. We've also seeded pre-release systems to a range of distro partners.

"This is also our first ever Ubuntu Certified system, and we're offering pre-built configurations with Ubuntu pre-loaded. That means you get compatibility and guaranteed support right out of the box."

In addition to the Ubuntu pre-builts, the Framework Laptop 13 Pro will have Windows 11 options and a DIY Edition where customers can bring their own memory, storage, and operating systems. The laptop can also be purchased with the AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series, which adds different features and functionality, according to Patel.

"This is an ask we regularly get from Framework for Business customers, and we're making it available across all configurations," Patel wrote.

The community is key to Framework, and their feedback has largely shaped the design of the Laptop 13 Pro. It has an aluminium chassis, a touch screen display, and a haptic touchpad. Inside the laptop is an Intel Core Ultra Series 3 Processor, a 74Wh battery, and LPCAMM2 memory.

Pre-orders are already open for the Laptop 13 Pro, which starts at £1199 for the DIY edition and $1499 for the pre-built options, with first shipments set for June.

HP is putting security front and center in the EliteBook 8 G1a 16 – a stylish and compact 16in business laptop that caters to enterprise users who could specifically benefit from tight security measures as well as top-of-the-line hardware.

Powered by an impressive AMD chipset, you would expect performance and battery life to match the best machines on the market – especially at a premium £2,277.50 retail price – alongside plenty of AI power to run native workloads. But the most appealing part of this machine is the security-centric software and hardware protections that come with it.

Given its relatively sleek dimensions and lightweight frame, this machine is also in with a shout of being one of the best 16in machines to work with on the move. Question marks remain over a fairly basic IPS display and a processor that might not live up to the highs of some of its counterparts.

HP EliteBook 8 G1a 16: Design and display

The EliteBook fits the mould of a modern business-centric notebook to a tee; it's designed to feel fresh and compact, thanks to its sharp silver finish, while remaining minimalist enough in nature to avoid drawing too much attention in a busy office environment. The lightweight chassis, made from a combination of aluminum and magnesium, is sturdy and well constructed – it feels comfortable when you're resting your palms against it and feels incredibly robust, especially when manipulating the lid.

It's also among the lightest 16in business machines out there, weighing 1.69kg, which is just as light as the Dynabook Tecra A65-M while exuding a much more premium feel. It's also on the thinner side, with a height of just 15.5mm. The Dell 16 Premium, by contrast, weighs 2.11kg and has a height of 16.7mm, while the Dynabook is much bulker at 19.9mm. Overall, this is as small and compact of a 16in laptop as you'll find.

One of the downsides comes in the way the display is slightly recessed and encased with plastic bezels. While they're fairly narrow bezels, the overall look spoils the otherwise sleek design aesthetic. Our disappointment with the display extends to the quality of the screen overall.

Although HP fits some of its higher-end machines with outstanding displays, including those with OLED technology, the HP EliteBook 8 G1a 16 features a fairly uninspiring panel that lacks the flair you'd expect to pay for at this price point. The 1,900 x 1,200 IPS screen is the same used in the HP ZBook Power G11 – and it's limited to a basic 60Hz refresh rate and poor 140.45 pixels-per-inch sharpness. It's also on the dimmer side; we measured a peak luminescence of 319 nits using a display calibrator (less than the roughly 350 to 400 nits average); anything less than 300 nits would be a noticeable problem, so thankfully, this model falls just on the right side of the line.

If you can put up with a display that isn't the brightest available, you'll find that its colors are at least accurate for professional usage, boasting a solid 99% coverage of the sRGB spectrum, as well as 74.7% coverage of the Adobe RGB spectrum and 81.4% coverage of the DCI-P3 spectrum (above the 70% and 80% that we're looking for). The screen also boasts an impressive 0.16cd/m2 black level (excellent for an IPS screen), corresponding to a 1,960:1 contrast ratio. The downside is a horrible maximum delta-E figure of 15.21 (where under 6 is considered a decent result) – translating to a heavy propensity for color distortion against the norm. We'd say this rules out any prospect for using this machine for accurate visual-based work, despite a good set of color accuracy results.

HP EliteBook 8 G1a 16: Performance and battery life

For a more-than-£2,000 machine, you should expect high-end performance – but the HP EliteBook 8 G1a 16 sadly doesn't quite hit the mark. Our review unit was configured with an AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 350 (8 cores) processor and AMD Radeon 860M graphics card, alongside an impressive 1TB SSD and 64GB RAM. The processor also includes an integrated NPU with 50 TOPS of AI power to make the most of the features available natively on AI PCs.

For a configuration like this, our benchmarking results were a letdown. When testing the machine with Geekbench 6, we registered a single-threaded score of 1,639 and a multi-core result of 9,659 – which are collectively well below average compared with the current generation of laptops. We would expect single-threaded performance of above 2,000 at a minimum – while multi-core performance of under 10,000 puts this alongside processors from at least one or two generations ago. The same processor fitted into the Asus ExpertBook P3 scored 2,659 and 11,004, while the Intel Core Ultra 7 255H in the Dell 16 Premium, by contrast, scored a huge 2,803 and 16,016. Overall, the EliteBook isn't as convincing for users who want to take advantage of maximum power.

The machine's capacity for graphics power is respectable, on the other hand, with a 20,855 score in the OpenCL test. That makes it good enough for basic-to-mid-level graphics-based workloads, but it's a little weaker than the Intel Arc Graphics GPU, as well as the same AMD Radeon 860M Graphics chip we tested in the HP ZBook 8 G1ak 14, which scored 22,153.

It's worth noting, however, that HP tends to fit its devices with faster-than-average SSDs, and that's certainly true for the EliteBook, with the 1TB SSD hitting read and write speeds of 7,041MB/s and 5,841MB/s respectively – comfortably above average.

Where the hardware comes to the rescue is the machine's battery life, with a lifespan of 14hrs and 29mins a very good result for a 16in machine, thanks to the chipset's efficiency. Many 16in laptops, by comparison, can't last beyond 12hrs in the same test – with the exception of the HP ZBook Power G11, which lasted more than 17hrs.

HP EliteBook 8 G1a 16: Features

The full-sized keyboard in the HP EliteBook 8 G1a 16 is a mixed bag, but pleasant overall. The keys are incredibly firm to the touch and snappy – perhaps giving too much bite with each keystroke – but satisfying while touch typing, given the deep travel distance and audible snap with each push. Our only major issue was the lamentable inclusion of PG UP and PG DN keys above the Left and Right arrow keys -- meaning it's a recipe for jaunty button taps. There's also, bizarrely, a shortcut to open the Calculator app. While useful to some extent, it would have been much better to turn this into a configurable hotkey that opens an app of the user's choosing. The touchpad, meanwhile, is almost perfect if it weren't for the slight lack of friction that might see your fingers slipping a tad too much if you are trying to be precise. Otherwise, it's large enough, and there's a healthy amount of force feedback with each click.

The connectivity options in this machine are satisfying – with the variety, modernity, and distribution of ports exactly what you would expect. On the left-hand side, you'll find two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbs), an HDMI 2.1 port, and 3.5mm headphone jack. On the right, you'll find another USB-C port (10Gbps), a USB-A port (5Gbps with power delivery), and a security lock slot. You'll also get access to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, futureproofing this machine. Unfortunately, there's no room for an SD card slot, but it's otherwise a decent array.

One of the biggest selling points of this machine is its security features. The most noticeable is a display that guards against shoulder-surfing. The viewing angle, however, is incredibly restricted – meaning you'll need to look at the screen from a specific angle to see visuals at their brightest and most color-accurate, but it's a price worth paying for safety while working on the move. Otherwise, this laptop ships with the HP Wolf Security suite and a one-year subscription, alongside a host of additional features including HP Sure Start, Sure Run, Sure Recover, Sure Click, and Sure Admin. With 50 TOPS of AI power at your disposal, you can also tap into a collection of HP-developed and Windows 11-based AI tools. Among the most useful ones are meeting-based tools like Poly Camera Pro (compatible with the 5MP IR AI camera) that improves your backgrounds and focus during video calls, as well as a color tuning feature that adjusts your image based on the ambient light. Alongside facial recognition, there's also a fingerprint scanner built into the power button.

HP EliteBook 8 G1a 16: Is it worth it?

There's plenty of positives to find in this machine – but we can't help but feel its hardware and screen lets it down. The build quality is fantastic, with its weight and size lending it well to working with on the move – underlined by an impressive battery life for a 16-inch machine. The sturdy and robust chassis also exudes freshness thanks to its sharp silver finish. The security features included in this machine, meanwhile, make it ideal for anybody working with sensitive material – or anybody advised to take as many precautions as possible against information security threats and cyber attacks.

We can't help but feel let down by the hardware, however, with middling performance levels that don't hit the mark we'd expect from high-ticket items. We also wanted more from the screen, with a basic IPS display lacking sharpness and brightness, while also registering an outrageously high maximum Delta-E score, suggesting it's not fundamentally reliable for visual workloads despite otherwise strong color accuracy results that we gleaned in testing.

Whether we'd recommend this machine comes down to pricing. Our configuration with 64GB RAM is heavily overpriced, but you can sometimes find the same machine with 32GB RAM available at a discounted rate of £1,600, which would make it a solid pick for deployment in the enterprise.

HP ZBook X G1i review specifications

Microsoft’s incessant efforts to push users onto Windows 11 may have taken a major blow thanks to Google’s new ChromeOS Flex launch – and it could be the perfect remedy for cost conscious businesses dithering over upgrading.

The tech giant has teamed up with electronics refurbishing company, Back Market, to let Mac and Windows users install the operating system on their ageing devices by simply inserting a USB and converting the device OS.

It’s something of a masterstroke by Google and comes at a critical time in the enterprise and consumer hardware markets. With Windows 10 support ending in October last year, millions of users worldwide are facing a ticking timebomb with upgrades.

Microsoft has been pestering users to make the shift for years at this point, even though upwards of 500 million device owners have a PC that’s too old to even upgrade.

Of course, you can continue using Windows 10 through the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, but as ITPro previously reported, that could prove costly.

Research from Nexthink in September last year projected that costs for maintaining the ageing operating system would exceed $7.3 billion globally. Those staggering numbers paint a grim picture for those hoping to stick with the highly popular OS.

Combine the Windows 11 conundrum with the fact that hardware prices are expected to skyrocket this year, and the situation is even worse for enterprises and consumers alike.

Neither appear too keen on upgrading while RAM prices are astronomical, recent research shows. Given that confluence of issues, Google could be onto a winner with ChromeOS Flex.

What to expect with ChromeOS Flex

ChromeOS Flex is free to use for anyone, but it’s primarily aimed at use among academic institutions and businesses.

The tech giant has an enterprise-grade option, which will undoubtedly be a viable choice for smaller businesses looking to eke out device lifecycles – a tactic that will become more common amid price hikes.

The benefits here are tantalizing for IT admins, many of whom will be rubbing their hands at the prospect of managing an operating system, devices, and apps all within one ecosystem. If you’re a Google Workspace shop, it’s the perfect choice.

To get your hands on it, Back Market USB kits are available for as little as $3 (although they appear to be sold out as of 9 April). Alternatively, you can download ChromeOS Flex for free online.

If you’ve got an ageing device that’s struggling, the cloud-based operating system could be the one for you. A quick browse through the company’s sprawling list of certified models underlines the scope of the scheme. A total of 640 devices ranging back well over a decade are covered by the scheme.

Diving into the list, I found some of ITPro’s old archived reviews, including the Dell Latitude 3440 (2014) edition and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 devices are certified. If you’re somehow still clinging onto ancient tech, the benefits here are huge.

Sustainability gains

The Windows 11 push isn’t just a financial burden for enterprises and consumers, research shows it has a serious environmental impact. Research last year, for example, warned of a looming torrent of e-waste due to the changeover.

Many older devices which can’t run Windows 11 have ended up on the scrapheap. It’s a waste of perfectly good hardware and a slap in the face for consumers and businesses that are conscious of, or legally obligated to, improving sustainability.

Figures from businesswaste.co.uk found the Windows 10 end of life transition will generate around 12,805,100 kg of metals – equivalent to more than 8,000 cars.

Google’s own figures suggested that an estimated 61.3 metric tons of e-waste will be thrown away in 2026 alone. For perspective, that’s the equivalent of around 168 Empire State Buildings.

ChromeOS Flex could go a long way to help cutting down those eye-watering figures, providing there’s uptake, of course. Google claims converting around 10,000 devices to the operating system could prevent 50,000 pounds of e-waste from ending up on the scrapheap.

A tough time for Microsoft

This isn’t a direct dig at Microsoft. Indeed, Google is keen to emphasize that some older Apple devices can also be converted to ChromeOS Flex.

It undoubtedly comes at a difficult time for the tech giant though. Microsoft has bent over backwards to push users to its newer operating system, I begrudgingly upgraded my personal device some time ago.

All things considered, Microsoft hasn’t done a very good job of encouraging users to make the shift. Upwards of one billion devices worldwide were still running Windows 10 as of December 2025.

Admittedly, we can’t all cling onto the operating system we love. If that was the case then I’m sure a few of us would still be working on Windows XP. The back and forth between consumers and the tech giant has made it irritating, however.

Deadlines were set, then pushed back. Confusion over the prospect of continued support was rampant, and with the exorbitant costs associated with sticking to Windows 10, the company was clearly strong-arming businesses into making the shift.

Microsoft has also faced pushback from consumers over its incessant shoehorning of AI features within Windows – an issue it’s vowed to address in recent weeks.

The launch of the MacBook Neo adds insult to injury on this front as well. With the launch of the price-conscious laptop series, even the most ardent Windows users may be wooed, and I rank myself in this demographic.

Microsoft has tinkered with Windows 11 too much and forced us all to make hard choices with our beloved hardware and operating systems. Google is offering us a lifeline.

The Asus Zenbook A14 was one of last year's finest laptops; slim and impossibly light, highly capable and surprisingly affordable. The new Zenbook A16 takes it to another level. It shares aspects of its smaller sibling's elegant design and lightweight construction, its Copilot+ PC AI skills and branding, and its use of a Qualcomm Snapdragon arm processor. But this time, Asus has addressed one criticism of the A14 – its limited processing power – by basing the A16 and a revamped A14 on Qualcomm's cutting-edge Snapdragon X2 architecture, and the top-of-the-range X2 Elite Extreme.

Paired with up to 48GB of RAM, this makes for a laptop that's incredibly powerful for something that almost anyone could heft around single-handed. It's also made it rather less affordable, but then that's a bit of a 2026 theme. Even if it might be too expensive for some budgets, the Zenbook A16 is a low-weight, big-screen laptop to be reckoned with.

Asus Zenbook A16: Design

In most respects, the Zenbook A16 looks like a scaled-up version of the 2025 A14, down to its attractive but durable Ceraluminium chassis. The matte, stain-resistant finish comes in two tones, Zabriskie Beige and Iceland Grey, and while there's some flex in the lid, the actual shell feels solid and robust.

Even with ultra-slim bezels left and right, this is a noticeably larger laptop, with a 353.5 x 242mm desktop footprint, and rising from 13.8mm to 16.5mm thick in profile, where the old model was just over 13mm. However, it's still only 1.2Kg in weight, which isn't much for a 16in device. Even the similar-looking Acer Swift 16 AI SF16-71T came in at 1.55Kg. There's only just enough weight in the body to hold it down when you open up the lid, though you can still do so one-handed.

The deck is dominated by the keyboard, but also by the unusually large trackpad, measuring 150 x 98mm. It's not quite as big as the 175mm-wide trackpad on the Acer, but this gives you a little more space to rest your wrists while typing, and it's still very smooth and sensitive. With the pointer speed ramped up in Windows from the default, it's relatively easy to navigate complex interfaces or make accurate selections without reaching for a mouse.

As for the keyboard, it's another solid job from Asus. There's plenty of travel, the feel is consistent across the deck, and the layout is sensible and spacious. A full-sized return key without the tilde and hashtag split-key would have been welcome, as would larger Ctrl and Shift keys on the left, but at least Asus hasn't stuck the Power button in the top row where you'd normally expect the Delete key, or tried to cram in a numeric pad. There's nothing cramped about this design, yet it's not too spaced out for comfort, either.

Connectivity is also well considered, with the exception that both USB 4.0 ports are on the left-hand side. You'll need one periodically for charging, and having one on either side gives you a little more flexibility. Beyond these, you have an HDMI 2.1 port and a headphone socket on the left and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port and a full-sized SD card slot on the right. That's enough to cover most needs without a separate dock, and you have Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 to cover networking and wireless peripherals.

Asus Zenbook A16: Display

Big-screen usability and entertainment is the name of the game here, with a stunning 16in OLED display with a 2880 x 1800 QHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. To our mind, this is the sweet spot for laptop screens if you're working all day long, giving you more space for complex apps and multi-tasking, great clarity and definition, but not a massive desktop footprint. It's bright, reaching 504.8cd/m2 with standard SDR content, and boosting up to nearly 1100cd/m2 peak brightness for HDR. It even has the TrueBlack 1000 DisplayHDR certification to prove it.

As always with OLED, you get deep blacks, subtle, darker shades, and heaps of contrast, plus extremely vivid color. In tests, the Asus's screen covers 100% of the sRGB color space with a 165% gamut volume, plus 93% of Adobe RGB and 99.9% of DCI-P3. There's a sense that a display this brilliant is wasted on Word, Excel, and Google Workspace, but it's perfect for image-editing, streaming video, or other apps where it gets a chance to shine. 4K movies and trailers look fantastic. They also sound more than decent, thanks to a six-speaker Dolby Atmos audio system, which can dish out a clear, beefy, and surprisingly immersive sound at low to medium volumes, though the output can sound harsh at higher levels.

The 1080p webcam is a little basic for a laptop at this price point, capturing good, well-exposed footage in daylight and artificial light, but struggling slightly with noise in gloomier conditions. Still, it's fine for video calls and meetings, where the built-in mic does a decent job of capturing your voice without picking up unwanted sounds or music in the background.

Asus Zenbook A16: Performance

The Zenbook A16 is a debut for the Snapdragon X2 family, specifically the high-end X2 Elite Extreme (surely the one hyperbolic suffix would have done the job). The variant here is the X2E-94-100, featuring 18 of Qualcomm's new Gen 3 Oryon 3nm cores running at 4.45GHz with a boost to 4.7GHz, with an eight-core Adreno X2 GPU running at up to 1.85GHz. The Qualcomm Hexagon NPU has also been upgraded, providing 80 TOPS of AI processing instead of 45.

The X2 Elite Extreme is paired with 48GB of RAM, installed within the same chip package. This means there's no scope for upgrades, but that's not much of an issue when there's so much bandwidth (228GB/sec) and when 48GB is enough to cover anything from video editing to running local LLMs.

The Snapdragon X Elite was the first ARM64 processor for Windows that could go toe-to-toe with Intel and AMD's best chips, but the X2 Elite Extreme is an even more fearsome contender. In Geekbench 6, we recorded a single-core score of 3724 and a multi-core score of 21914, making mincemeat of the 2900 and 16920 delivered by the Intel Core Ultra X9 in the Asus Zenbook Duo (2026), and beating the mighty HP ZBook Ultra G1A with its 16-core Ryzen Max+ 395 on multi-core performance. The HP scored 2905 and 18083 in the same tests. This is a thin and light, energy-efficient laptop pushing ahead of a workstation-class device. It's extremely impressive.

We still can't run PCMark10 on ARM64 laptops, but we can run Cinebench 2024 in order to test their compute-heavy 3D rendering performance. Here, the Zenbook A16 scores 149 for single-core performance and 1433 for multi-core. The Zenbook Duo scored 127 and 929 in the same tests, and even the Asus ProArt P16 creator laptop, with its 12-core Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 could only hit 117 and 1156.

There's stiffer competition from the M5 MacBook Pro, which scored an incredible 4248 for single-core performance, but the Qualcomm CPU still pulls ahead on multi-core, as the M5 tops out at 15234. It's a similar tale in Cinebench 2024, where the M5 wins on single core with a score of 201, only to fall behind on multi-core, with 1179.

This is a phenomenal result for Qualcomm and the A16, but the good news doesn't stop there. If the last-gen Snapdragon X processors had a failing, it was that GPU performance lagged behind AMD and Intel's latest integrated GPUs. The Adreno X2 is a big improvement. The Zenbook A16 scores 5351 in 3DMark's Steel Nomad (Lite) test and 1022 in the tougher Steel Nomad. That's not far behind the 5498 and 1343 scored by the Zenbook Duo with its Core Ultra X9 388H, and you'd really have to look to AMD's Ryzen Max+ 395 to see significantly faster integrated graphics.

It's also worth noting that these performance figures are with pre-release firmware and drivers. Qualcomm has claimed that launch drivers and firmware (unavailable at the time of writing) will boost benchmark figures even further. What's more, the A16 still runs quietly. We noticed some fan noise while running Cinebench 2024 or 3D games, but it's close to silent when running mainstream business apps.

Of course, performance was a moot point in the days when ARM64 CPUs struggled with compatibility issues and relied mostly on emulation to get Windows apps to run, but the situation has changed dramatically since the Snapdragon X series launched. There are native ARM64 versions of most of the big hitters, including Microsoft and Adobe's key apps, and the only real caveat is that some app versions lag behind the Windows and MacOS versions, causing trouble if, say, you're working on Adobe InDesign files across a team running different hardware. Meanwhile, Microsoft's PRISM emulation layer does a solid job of covering where there's no native app.

You'll still find some peripherals without working ARM64 drivers, but as someone who uses a Snapdragon X Elite laptop as a daily driver, we'd say that it's not a massive issue. Even games are running these days. You might find problems with some recent releases, such as Doom: The Dark Ages or Crimson Desert, but we had Resident Evil: Village and A Plague Tale: Requiem up and running on the Zenbook A16, and they were perfectly playable on low to medium graphics settings, and still looked great.

Energy efficiency has been another key focus for Qualcomm, and while we couldn't match the 21 hours plus of use on a single charge that Asus claims in its marketing, we still got 17 hours and 43 minutes of HD video playback with the brightness set to 170 nits. That's in line with what we've seen from recent 16in laptops, though a little short of the 20 hours and 6 minutes we had from the Acer Swift 16 AI and the nearly 21 hours we saw from Asus's ExpertBook Ultra. Both of these used Intel's Panther Lake chips.

If the battery life is more solid than outstanding, the Zenbook A16 is no slouch when it comes to charging. Plugged into its 130W charger, the Zenbook A16 can recover 52% of its battery in 30 minutes.

Asus Zenbook A16: Is it worth it?

Yes. With the Acer Swift 16 AI, we were impressed with how a 16-in laptop could deliver great performance and big-screen usability in such a slim and light package. Asus's new rival gives you even more power on tap in an even slimmer, lighter body. The screen is incredible and the sound impressive, and there's little reason for business users to avoid the Snapdragon architecture these days unless they're running legacy software or specific hardware that needs an x86 processor to run. Games may be a different story, but for professional purposes, the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme does an outstanding job.

In fact, the only reason to hold back is the price. £2099 is reasonable for a laptop with these capabilities and this performance, not to mention the generous 48GB of RAM, but that price point moves the Zenbook A16 out of the more affordable market segment of the original A14. Next to the Acer Swift 16 AI, it might look pricey. Given the performance and all-around quality, the A16 justifies the extra, and this is the top-of-the-range spec. Less expensive versions should be coming down the line.

Asus Zenbook A14 Specifications

Acer's TravelMate line of enterprise-forward devices are generally more affordable than some of the most premium machines from OEMs like Dell or HP, while offering comparable performance and – most importantly – reliability and versatility.

The Acer TravelMate P6 14 AI, released in 2025, offers sufficient power thanks to the latest high-end business hardware – underlined by an Intel Core Ultra 200 Series CPU and an Intel Arc Graphics GPU – in a package that weighs just under 1kg. With plenty of features and connectivity options, we expect this AI-powered laptop to fuel the day-to-day needs of most professionals.

Acer TravelMate P6 14 AI review: Design and display

Aesthetically, the Acer TravelMate P6 14 AI ticks every box you'd expect from an enterprise notebook. Its black matted chassis gives off professional albeit bland business-focused vibes, paradoxically straddling the midpoint between being sophisticated and undistinguished. This may sound harsh – but we mean quite the opposite; at the sight of many enterprise notebooks that try too hard to transcend beyond their lane, this inoffensive and minimalist look is something users may relish.

Looks aside, there's plenty of praise to lavish on its multi-textured MIL-STD 810H certified chassis. The magnesium-aluminum alloy surface isn't particularly smooth or overtly 'metallic' as you commonly associate with high-end machines, but the near-rubbery texture actually feels more comfortable when you're resting your palms on its surface. The temperature, too, is just right during usage.

The top cover is made from carbon fiber which also serves to get the overall weight right down to 0.96kg. That's just as light as the Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N and a little lighter too than the Lenovo ThinkPad X9 14 Aura Edition (1.24kg). Its dimensions are comparable to both machines, although it's slightly thicker at 16.7mm than the Lenovo's 13mm – despite both machines including HDMI ports. The Dynabook, on the other hand, is a much thicker 18.7mm.

The 82% screen-to-body ratio is much smaller than the Lenovo's 90.9% – but thanks to the black chassis, the moderately-sized bezels aren't obstructive or visually distracting. The 14-inch screen itself is good enough that it doesn't really matter an awful lot. We were impressed with the sharpness of the 2,880 x 1,800-pixel (translating to an excellent 237.76 pixels per inch) alongside its 120Hz refresh rate, making scrolling and navigation very smooth.

Its 339cd/m2 brightness is fine for day-to-day usage – falling below the approximate 400cd/m2 average for notebooks but still above the 300cd/m2 floor for acceptable usage. That said, it's not as bright as the ThinkPad's dazzling 470cd/m2 OLED screen. Otherwise, its credentials are certainly more than good enough – with a 99.9% coverage of the sRGB gamut. Combine this with 78.6% coverage of the Adobe RGB spectrum and 87% of the DCI P3 spectrum, and you have a machine accurate enough for professional photo and video-based work. This is compounded with an excellent 0.52 average Delta-E score (with a maximum of 1.15), alongside a brilliant 0.25cd/m2 black level and 1,301:1 contrast ratio – simply outstanding for an IPS HDR display.

Acer TravelMate P6 14 AI review: Performance and battery life

Fitted into the TravelMate P6 14 AI is an eight-core Intel Core Ultra 7 258V mobile processor, alongside an Intel Arc Graphics card (with a 48 TOPS integrated NPU), 32GB LPDDR5X RAM, and a 1TB SSD – making for an overall package that's typical for most portable 14-inch enterprise notebooks. While you get a decent jolt of power, it's a little less than if you found an ultrabook fitted with the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V CPU – and the machine also suffers from a generally lower battery lifespan too. Nonetheless, it's the same hardware that also featured in the aforementioned Dynabook and Lenovo ThinkPad machines.

Performance testing with Geekbench 6 rendered a single-threaded score of 2,483 and a multi-core result of 10,021. While trouncing the same chipset in the Dynabook, it fell short of the Lenovo's scores of 2,718 and 10,684. Another machine, the hybrid Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition, registered 2,656 and 10,984. By way of comparison, the higher-end Intel Core Ultra 200 Series chips hit a multi-core score between 13,000 and 16,000 – as do Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite CPUs.

That said, its GPU scored much better in our OpenCL benchmark – with a range-topping score of 29,309 versus the Dynabook's 26,960 and the ThinkPad's 23,033. This nearly hits the 30,830 highs of the Yoga 2-in-1 – the highest score we've registered for the Intel Arc Graphics chip. It's slightly less powerful than dedicated GPUs from the previous generation – meaning it's a decent budget-friendly alternative for creatives and visual or small-scale AI workloads.

As we previously mentioned, this particular chipset lends itself to a less-than-ideal lifespan. The TravelMate lasted 11hrs and 57mins in our looped video playback test, which is marginally longer than the ThinkPad's 11hrs and 51mins. Although objectively fine – plenty of Windows laptops can last longer than 15hrs these days. We note the Dynabook Portege Z40L-N's 18hrs and 55mins lifespan, but you can even find machines that last more than 25hrs – including the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6, which lasted 26hrs and 9mins. Also disappointing were very poor SSD speeds – a decent speed of 4,369MB/s for reads and a paltry 2,584MB/s for writes – putting you at a slight disadvantage if you frequently need to move around tonnes of files between storage systems.

Acer TravelMate P6 14 AI review: Features

The keyboard and touchpad are both fantastic – delivering exactly what you would want without any fuss. Each keystroke is firm, springy, and snappy, giving you a fairly deep travel distance combined with tangible force feedback that makes rapid touch typing a pleasure. There are no spacing or placement issues. We also appreciate the full-sized Enter key and directional arrow keys. There's also an Acer key that, if you tap it, opens the TravelMateSense dashboard. This is an app that helps you manage system information like RAM usage, component temperature, performance modes and charging rate – while also letting you tap into some AI features like image generation.

The touchpad is completely flawless; it's perfectly sized, well-positioned, feels great to navigate with, and the left-click and right-click functions both give you a decent amount of feedback. This machine, like many Acer notebooks, also features the gimmicky light-up activity indicator when you're using AI features. We honestly can't see the point, unless you're in the office and need to performatively demonstrate to your colleagues and/or managers that you're tapping into AI in some capacity – and you can turn this off anytime.

The machine offers plenty of physical connectivity options, including an HDMI 2.1 port, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports (one on each side), two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a Kensington lock slot. On the right-hand side of the chassis, there are also two LED indicators – one to show if the laptop is on/off and the other to show it's charging. There's no SD Card reader or Ethernet port, and we much prefer there to be a USB-C port on both sides of the chassis, but the machine offers almost everything you would otherwise expect. With Wi-Fi 7 support and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, the machine also offers everything you'd need with some future-proofing too.

The security features include facial recognition via the 5.2MP webcam (alongside a physical privacy shutter) and a fingerprint scanner folded into the power button. Beyond the in-built AI features accessible through the TravelMateSense app, including Acer PurifiedVoice 2.0, you also benefit from the full range of Windows 11 features, including Studio Effects and Windows Copilot.

Acer TravelMate P6 14 AI review: Is it worth it?

The Acer TravelMate P6 14 AI ticks plenty of boxes for us – and its manufacturer has special attention to not just nailing the basics but allowing these areas to contribute to substantial quality-of-life benefits that make this a compelling proposition.

Firstly, it's optimized to be portable, reliable, and versatile thanks to its excellent build quality using lightweight materials and a plethora of physical and wireless connectivity options. The keyboard and touchpad are outstanding, and the IPS display is incredibly strong – with fantastic sharpness and smoothness, not to mention professional-grade color accuracy for creative work – despite a brightness level that doesn't quite hit the mark that most others do.

Its graphics performance is great for a basic GPU, and its CPU performance is good enough for the vast majority of workloads. The near-12-hour battery life is also reasonable, but not as high as some competitors that can last more than 15 hours and longer. All that to say, there are few genuine areas of weakness. Priced at £1,699 RRP (but discounted to £1,399 at the time of writing), it's also about what you'd expect – if not slightly more affordable than many alternatives.

The Acer TravelMate P6 14 AI may not be suitable for power users who either need the best-in-class in any or all aspects (whether that be performance, display or battery life). But if you manage to pick up this laptop at a reasonable price – which seems eminently doable – there are few business-forward machines we'd recommend above it for the vast majority of regular users who lack especially intensive requirements, or those who just need a reliable travel companion.

Dynabook Tecra A65-M review: Specifications

The ThinkPad T14s 2-in-1 heralds the arrival of a convertible-form-factor laptop in Lenovo's productivity T-series lineup. Granted, there have been touchscreen T-series machines before, but never one that lets you fold the screen back 360 degrees to use as a tablet.

The benefits of such a design are obvious if you want to use a pen to scribble or draw on your laptop screen, or if you want to place your laptop in a confined space like the seat back tray of an airliner, when putting it in a tent or A-frame mode means you haven't got a keyboard sticking out towards you.

Versatile the new T14s may be, but cheap it's not. Prices start at £1,830 inc VAT, though Lenovo is currently offering an 18% discount, but that's for a pauper spec machine. The model most users will want will set you back closer to £2,000, but you can easily pay much more if you want the maximum amount of memory and storage.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s: Design

ThinkPads have to be black and angular; it's the law at Lenovo. So it came as no shock to us that the new T14s were black and angular. Made from a combination of aluminium and magnesium, it's a very solid bit of kit wholly resistant to our efforts to twist or bend it.

It's not all mouth and no trousers either. The MIL-STD-810H military test pass should ensure it can shrug off excess vibration, temperature changes, particle ingress, and work on top of a 10,000ft tall mountain. At 1.4Kg the T14s isn't the lightest 14in laptop around, nor at 314 x 223 x 21.6mm is it the smallest, but carrying it around all day in a backpack really isn't a chore.

There's little design frippery in evidence other than the red LED that forms the dot over the i in ThinkPad on the lid, but that's as it should be. The matte paint finish on the palmrest and lid does show fingerprints, but it's also warm and pleasant to the touch, so that's a trade-off we're happy with.

The 360-degree hinges that link the screen and the base are very well engineered. There's just a little too much resistance to let you open the lid without holding the base down, but the hinges are strong enough to keep whatever angle you set them at, which is vital when using it in tent or A-frame mode.

On the left side of the T14s you'll find two Thunderbolt 4-spec USB-C ports along with a 3.5mm audio jack, HDMI 2.1 video output and the SIM card tray if you've opted for a cellular modem. On the right are two 5Gpbs USB-A ports and a Kensington security lock.

If we were being picky, and we are, a better layout would have been one USB-C on either side, so you can pick which side to connect the 65W rat-and-tail USB-C charger to, and one 10Gpbs USB-A on either side. Lenovo is having a laugh by fitting USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports to a machine costing this much.

At least you get the latest in wireless communications with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, both supported by the Intel BE201 card. Given that the RAM is fixed in place and there's only one 2280 M.2 slot inside, taking the base off is something you'll only need to do if you want to upgrade the SSD, but it's a very straightforward operation.

Incidentally, the Kioxia PCIe 4 512GB SSD in our review machine proved a solid performer, recording average sequential read and write speeds of 4,159MB/s and 3,871MB/s respectively.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s: Keyboard, touchpad, and webcam

There may be some strange parallel universe in which Carol Voderman is Pope, and you can download hummus where there's such a thing as a bad ThinkPad keyboard, but this is not it. In this reality, Lenovo can be relied upon to deliver an excellent keyboard, no matter what the form factor of the laptop it's bolted to, and the ThinkPad 14s is no exception.

The keyboard deck is solid; the soft-finish keys, with their trademark convex bottoms, are pleasant to the touch and have a perfectly calibrated 1.5mm of travel and a smooth end-stop. Typing on the T14s is something of a joy.

The layout is impossible to fault, but mention needs to be made in dispatches of the full-sized arrow keys and the power button-cum-fingerprint scanner, which sits above and apart from the keyboard proper in the top right corner.

All in all, the ThinkBook's keyboard looks and behaves much like that fitted to the ThinkPad X1, and that's quite an accolade. And there's a two-stage white backlight.

This being a ThinkPad, there's naturally a red TrackPoint nestling between the G, H, and B keys and dedicated mouse buttons at the top of the 115 x 60mm Mylar TrackPad. If you've ever had to use a laptop in a confined space, you'll know what a benefit these features are.

To make the TrackPoint even more useful, a quick double-tap opens a menu that lets you adjust the sound and microphone settings, launch Microsoft's Speech Services, and adjust some battery settings.

The 1440p webcam is excellent. Crisp, colorful, and very natural looking, it's one of the best laptop webcams around. It also comes with a manual privacy slider and supports Windows Hello facial recognition.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s: Display and speakers

The T14s can be specified with two types of screen. Both are 14in, 1,920 x 1,200 multitouch IPS displays, and both refresh at 60Hz. The differences are in gamut width, brightness, and finish so that you can choose 45% NTSC and 400cd/m2, or 100% sRGB and 500cd/m2, with an anti-glare (matte) or an anti-reflection and anti-smudge (gloss) finish.

Our review machine came fitted with a gloss-finish 400cd/m2 panel. It's a bright enough panel, hitting 426cdm/2, but it's severely lacking in colour. Under our colorimeter, it registered just 56% of the sRGB colour space.

The high brightness level and a black luminance level of 0.36cd/m2 result in a strong contrast ratio of 1183:1, while the anti-reflection finish does a good job of keeping reflections, in door and out, in check. It is also impressively resistant to fingerprints, thanks no doubt to an oleophobic coating of some sort.

That all combines to make a display that's good enough for basic productivity but lacks the color to make watching video or looking at images anything other than a lacklustre experience. With so little color space coverage, any talk of color accuracy is superfluous. The alternative screen is a £70 option and offers 100% sRGB coverage, which is hardly stellar for a laptop with such a high price tag, but certainly a step in the right direction.

Despite it only being a FullHD panel, there's no visible pixelation, but that didn't silence the little voice in our head that said that for this sort of money, 2.5K or 2.8K really should be the least you expect.

Before we leave matters display-related, it's worth clarifying that Lenovo doesn't bundle a pen or stylus with the ThinkPad 14s, merely offering one as a £20 option at the point of purchase, which again seems rather parsimonious.

The upward-firing Dolby Atmos-certified 2 x 2W speaker system is altogether more impressive than the display. The sound they make is tight, punchy, and has a decent amount of low-end bass. There's plenty of volume too, our sound meter registering 77.8dBA from a pink noise source at a distance of 1 meter.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s: Specs and performance

Lenovo's international product information for the T14s 2-in-1 lists 6 processor options, all Core Ultra S2 Arrow Lake chips. The complete list includes the Core Ultra 5 225U and 235U, the Core Ultra 7 255U and 265U, and the Core Ultra 255H and 265H.

At the moment, the U-series chips are the only ones available through Lenovo UK. That's really only an issue from a graphics perspective because only the H-series models have the Intel 140T GPU. All the U-series models make do with the comparatively flaccid Intel Graphics solution.

You can also choose from Windows 11 Home or Pro, Ubuntu, or no operating system, a 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD, and up to 64GB of fixed RAM, though that last is CPU-specific, so for instance, if you pick the entry-level 225U CPU, you can't opt for more than 16GB of RAM.

Our review machine came fitted with the 12-core Core Ultra 7 255U processor, 32GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and Windows 11 Pro, and as noted above, the cheapest display. Buy the same machine, and you'll be out of pocket to the tune of £1,892 inc. VAT, though that is posted by Lenovo as a 19% saving on the regular price of £2,240.

For a productivity machine, basic performance is good. The CPU turned in GeekBench 6 scores of 2,472 single-core, 10,996 multi-core, and 255 in ITPro's bespoke 4K multi-media test. Compare that to 2,725, 10,937, and 245, respectively, from the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V-powered ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition, and it's clear the T14s has nothing to be ashamed of.

Graphics performance is less impressive. The SPECviewperf 3dsmax modelling benchmark ran at a stately 15fps, compared to an average of 25fps on the Intel Arc 140V iGPU and 35fps on the Intel Arc B390 iGPU you'll find in new Panther Lake machines like the Asus ZenBook Duo.

The 14Ts did, however, prove itself every bit a long-distance runner. Even under maximum stress, the CPU and GPU were both running at 100% after several hours, and the noise from the cooling fan never rose above a whisper. In all but the most funereal of environments, the fan is essentially inaudible.

In our standard run-down battery test, the 56Wh battery lasted 15 hours and 46 minutes, which is a decent enough showing even in this age of Windows laptops like the new Honor MagicBook Pro 14, which ran out of juice just a little shy of 19 hours, and the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7, which can run for over 27 hours on a charge.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s: Is it worth it?

A quick hands-up in the ITPro office proved two points. Firstly, we'd all be quite happy being given a ThinkPad T14s 2-in-1 as a work laptop. Secondly, no way in Hades would we buy one with our own money.

As a practical tool for work, there's nothing much wrong with the T14s, though by 2026 standards. The keyboard is superb, the design and build-quality beyond criticism, the battery life is good enough to get through a full day's graft, and then some, and the webcam is class-leading. Performance is solid, too, and we like the way it runs cool and quiet.

The problem is the cost. Unless you are happy with the pauper specification of 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, Wi-Fi 6E, etc, you will need to spend almost £2,000 and still have to make do with a laptop with a FullHD IPS screen with at best full sRGB gamut coverage.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s: Specs

The secret to great product launches appears to be the same as comedy (Timing). And so the Apple MacBook Neo, the $600 (£600) notebook that was instantly ubiquitous across social media, comes to us at the end of the first quarter of the year. A year likely to be dominated by a looming shortage of RAM and a potential hike in the cost of all hardware.

It's got just 8GB of RAM, uses Apple's excess stock of A18 mobile chips, and comes in a range of appealing colors. This is all to the delight of podcasters and influencers who talk about this type of stuff. Is it underpowered? Is it overpowered? Is this going to fundamentally change our expectations of entry-level laptops? We're going to find out with this review...

Apple MacBook Neo: Design

The MacBook Neo is unmistakably a MacBook; the lid, the logo, the bezels, the keyboard, it's all there. But there are a number of cutbacks, both inside and outside, that make it so cheap (for Apple). There's no backlighting for the keyboard, and you only get two USB-C ports and a headphone jack (all down the left-hand side). Both ports take charge, but only one hooks up to an external monitor.

This is the smallest MacBook available with just a 13in display. It's only 12.7mm thick and 297.5mm wide. Noticeably less than both the M5 models of Air and Pro. The keyboard is still full-sized, with largish keys, though the trackpad is a little on the small side.

A lot is being made of the colors, and there is a huge slice of nostalgia about them. You get four options here: Citrus, Blush, Indigo, and Silver. These are all nice, though some are more professional than others (we have the Silver). Apple devices that go on to be iconic are often bright colors; think iBooks or the orange iPhone 17 Pro.

Apple MacBook Neo: Display and keyboard

For a $600 laptop, the Neo has a surprisingly bright panel. It's a 13in IPS display, rather than OLED, but I recorded its peak brightness at 523cd/m2. Which is more than enough to be readable in most conditions, and I can't say I ever struggled to see the screen or needed to adjust its levels.

Naturally, the lack of an OLED display will lead some to suggest the Neo's display is not up to scratch. But in our tests, the IPS display came back with a strong show of color reproduction. It isn't so great with HDR videos, but its general quality is high enough for most users. I found it perfectly capable for editing images, streaming, and working late at night. In short, this is one of the best budget displays around.

The first thing to say about the keyboard is that it's worth paying extra to have the Touch ID. I know that's $100 (£100) extra, but it's very frustrating to have to type out a password every time you open it or the screen shuts off. And the lack of backlighting might be a problem for first-time laptop users at night, like young students. The rest of us type without looking, so it shouldn't be an issue.

Beyond that, the keyboard is just as good as you get on a Pro or Air; nice punchy keys with plenty of travel. The clack sound it makes is soothing. And you get a full-sized function row.

The trackpad is also just as good, or nearly the same as you get on the premium models, though it is noticeably smaller. Multi-touch gestures make the whole operation so simple – four finger swipes to see your desktop – both a great intro to MacBook but also the same experience users will know and love.

Apple MacBook Neo: Specs and performance

The MacBook Neo is a great example of mobile chips in laptops; it features the A18 Pro processor, which was used in the iPhone 16 Pro. This is a chip purposely built for on-device AI workloads, and with it, a range of nifty optimizations across the device. Having a laptop with all in-house developed parts (chip, hard drive, operating system) allows Apple to get the most out of it. So the 8GB of RAM isn't that big an issue, like it might be on a similarly priced Windows machine.

In Geekbench 6, the Neo came back with 3,287 for single-core workloads – the A18 Pro is able to give one application all it needs (and requires), which makes for a smooth operation. For single-core scores, the Neo is actually much stronger than MacBooks with the M1 and M2 chips. The multi-core score is also good, but 7,804 is far below everything from M2 onwards.

On the question of whether the Neo is either over- or underpowered, in our experience, it's somewhere in the middle. Editing images in Photoshop, for example, was perfectly fine. And, to some degree, editing video was OK. There's buffering. You'll see that little rainbow wheel frequently, but briefly. Sometimes you'll drag a clip, and it will disappear. Once you release the click, it comes back, but it's a little frustrating. I still made a YouTube Short out of 4 minutes-worth of footage. The Neo can do these things, but full professional video editing should be left to the Pro.

In our looped video test, the Neo lasted 13 hours and 18 minutes, which is both good for a £600 laptop and also great for remote workers (or those who spend lots of time away from plug sockets). This little wonder can get you through a day of work – even during our heavy video editing.

Apple MacBook Neo: Is it worth it?

The most disruptive product Apple has released since the iPhone, but it might not be disruptive to Windows machines, as there's too much choice within that bracket. It might, however, make a sizable dent in the Chromebook market.

In the next couple of years, you may go to IT for a temporary machine, or an entry-level one, depending on your role, and you'll likely see that old cupboard of unwanted Chromebooks replaced by Neos.

Apple MacBook Neo specifications

Apple made waves at the start of March with the launch of the MacBook Neo, its first budget laptop.

As RAM prices skyrocket, businesses are under pressure to make device purchases that count and that will future-proof their workers for years to come. Both Apple and manufactures in the Windows ecosystem are vying for enterprise money in the budget and pro segments – even as it becomes more expensive than ever to spec devices to 16GB of memory and beyond.

Where does the latest Apple release fit into the wider business laptop ecosystem?

This week, Rory speaks to Bobby Hellard, ITPro’s reviews editor, to unpack all things MacBook Neo, Windows laptops, and the future of business hardware.

Highlights

"It's just a clever kind of construct. It's got a mobile chip, very low RAM, the display isn't as the best, and it's got some things missing from it that you would find on the MacBook Pro or the MacBook Air. So it's for people that want a MacBook but don't want to have the best of the best, don't want to spend so much money."

"So for single tests and single apps, it's brilliant, and that's part of the reason why they've got that A18 chip in there. It's an AI ready chip, and it can optimize the laptop better than it would with an M1 chip. So you get enough power and specific power to various apps so they work perfectly, no more, no less.

"Well, it felt like a return to form for MWC this year, because there were a lot of handsets, a lot of showcases. There were some foldable phones, folding screen laptops as well – Huawei was one of those it has, which we've reviewed, the MateBook Fold, which is an all-display laptop that folds. That was on display, it's very beautiful. Lenovo had some modular PCs, so they've got a new modular concept, which is an AI PC that you can completely tear down and pull apart, which has loads of use cases, particularly for fixing and sustainability."

Footnotes

• MacBook Neo: everything you need to know about Apple's £599 laptop
• The MacBook Neo is another Apple master stroke, and it couldn’t have come at a better time
• Low-budget devices are the biggest casualty of the RAM crisis
• Give businesses more practical AI services and some return on investment before you go selling 6G
• Lenovo wows at MWC with concepts for a modular ThinkBook and desktop AI-devices
• AMD thinks ‘AI on the PC has crossed an important line’ – the rise of ‘Agent Computers’ will be the next big breakthrough
• Are AI PCs becoming the norm?
• Nobody asked for AI PCs, but they’ve been thrust upon us – at least Dell realizes it’s probably made a mistake

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Dell excels at making high-end and genuinely premium machines, which we've long come to expect throughout the years. Last year's AI PC-driven rebrand raised some eyebrows, but the Dell 16 Premium is probably one of the most familiar of the machines on the roster. It inherits the ultramodernist design of the XPS 16 – the brand that was then killed off and has since been revived – with this spiritual successor offering plenty for creatives and professionals alike.

With an Intel Core Ultra 200 Series CPU as well as a new Nvidia graphics card, this machine offers plenty of power to complement what seems to be, at face value at least, a sharp and vibrant OLED display. Questions remain over the machine's battery life, however, with 16-inch ultraportables usually struggling to match the capacity of smaller 14-inch cousins. Price, also, is a key sticking point, with an estimated $3,400 retail price, meaning that the machine needs to show how truly exceptional it is to beat the competition.

Dell 16 Premium review: Design and display

The Dell 16 Premium adopts an incredibly familiar design – it's identical, in fact, to the Dell XPS 16 9640 (2024) and showcases the same fresh, light, ultramodernist look and feel. This is embodied perfectly in the Platinum coating, which makes it akin to a work of art.

The aluminum chassis includes75% recycled material on the top cover and 25% reduced emissions aluminium in the palmrest, in addition to 21.5% recycled glass in the display and up to 18.5% recycled plastic. The machine's body is relatively sleek too, a little smaller than the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition, for instance, but at the expense of several ports. Its weight, meanwhile, is marginally heavier, weighing 2.11kg versus the 16-inch Lenovo's 1.93kg. The MacBook Pro weighs about the same as this Dell machine, so it's no less portable.

We have mixed feelings about the design itself. It's aesthetically beautiful, and the premium feeling is inescapable each time you look at it, let alone use it. As always, the bezels housing the display are phenomenally narrow, and adjusting the lid has robustness and firmness, with no weakness in the hinges. However, functionality does suffer with the keyboard, touchbar, and the invisible haptic touchpad. From a design perspective, each element looks exceptional, but makes for a slightly fiddly user experience – especially as they take some getting used to.

The 16.3-inch OLED HDR display, meanwhile, looks fantastic when you use it – thanks especially to a 120Hz refresh rate and an incredibly sharp 278 pixels-per-inch ratio, thanks to a monstrous 3,840 x 2,400 maximum resolution. These aspects make the screen a joy to use for all kinds of day-to-day tasks, but the real potential comes in its accurate colors, with our testing using a display calibrator producing excellent results. With a 99.9% accuracy sRGB color gamut, it's about as good a result as you'll find, while creators will be pleased to know it also scores 89.1% coverage of the Adobe RGB spectrum and an outstanding 99.7% coverage of the DCP I3 spectrum. While it's one of the strongest set of results we've recorded, it falls slightly short of the 100%, 94.9%, and 100% the Lenovo Yoga Pro. Brightness is also slightly below average 353 nits, compared with the Lenovo's 868 nits. Anything less than 350 nits is not ideal, and it's bright enough to use in most conditions, but brighter screens do render media playback much more viable.

Dell 16 Premium review: Performance and battery life

We expected plenty from the Dell 16 Premium on the performance front, considering its lofty pricetag, and this laptop certainly delivered. An Intel Core Ultra 7 255H (16 cores) is paired with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 GPU, as well as 32GB DDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD.

Overall, performance is outstanding, with testing via Geekbench 6 producing single-threaded and multi-core scores of 2,803 and 16,016, respectively. This is phenomenal workstation-grade performance that we'd expect in only the most powerful machines. The multi-core performance score is comparable with the HP ZBook X G1i (featuring the Intel Core Ultra 7 265H), which scored 16,103 – and considerably better than the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Gen 10 Aura Edition's 12,057 (which featured an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H CPU). The MacBook Pro (M4) scored 15,116, for comparison.

The Nvidia GPU similarly impresses – with an OpenCL benchmarking score of 92,099. The Dell extracts more punch than the same chip in the Lenovo Yoga Pro, scoring 81,654, and even the Nvidia RTX PRO 2000 Blackwell that featured in the ZBook. Although the integrated AI processing is only capable of 13 TOPS – meaning you miss out on a handful of AI processing efficiencies – you do benefit from a really fast SSD, with average reads of 6,581MB/s and 5,841MB/s respectively.

The one downside is battery life, with the machine lasting 10hrs 20mins in our looped video playback test. While a relatively poor result by the standards we're used to seeing from 14-inch ultraportables, modern 16-inch machines tend to be much more power-hungry. The Lenovo Yoga Pro lasted 8hrs 58mins in the same test, for instance, while the ZBook lasted 12hrs 44mins.

Dell 16 Premium review: Features

No matter how hard we tried, we simply couldn't gel with the Dell 16 Premium's gapless keyboard. The keystrokes aren't so much the issue; although the travel distance is shallow, the feedback is satisfactory and means that touch typing is relatively straightforward and satisfactory – with a catch. We couldn't adapt so easily to the spacing between the keys, and often found ourselves hitting the wrong inputs routinely. Granted, this is something you can wrap your head around if you use it for longer than a few weeks, but it's markedly different from most other machines we're used to. Swapping out the top row of function keys – and the Escape key – for a touchbar feels unnecessary, and there's disappointingly no feedback when you're pressing these digital keys.

Similarly, while the lack of a physical touchpad with hard borders might make your palms feel more comfortable as they're resting on the surface of the machine, it represents a learning curve. Scrolling feels a little slippery, as if the surface of the palm rest is too smooth, while the left-click and right-click functions are hollow compared with some of the punchier physical buttons we're used to.

Physical connectivity is not one of this laptop's strong suits, with only three USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support (two on the left and one on the right), upgradable to Thunderbolt 5, alongside a 3.5mm headphone jack and a MicroSDXC card reader. Wireless standards are completely up-to-date, with Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 7 compatibility at your disposal, however.

The laptop is otherwise light on features, with none of the standard AI PC software utilities like webcam alterations available, nor specialist security features – beyond the standard Windows Hello login and fingerprint sensor baked into the power button. Dell Optimizer lets you adjust your display and battery settings, but it's nothing you couldn't do on Windows anyway.

Dell 16 Premium review: Is it worth it?

When you happen upon a machine as premium as this, unfortunately, it comes down to how much value for money it represents. If money were no object, then we'd recommend a top-end configuration for creative professionals or enterprise power users who want a premium-looking machine that can handle almost anything you could throw at it.

In that respect, the Dell 16 Premium is near-unrivalled when compared with most high-end machines released so far this year, as well as during 2025. There are, however, minor quirks -- including the fiddly keyboard and touchpad – as well as shortcomings, like the lack of physical ports and a middling battery life, that means it's far from perfect.

For more than $3,000, it's often perfection that you're looking for in a high-end machine. We certainly enjoyed using this laptop, but can't help coming away from it feeling that with just a few minor tweaks, it could be much closer to being the truly special machine that it deserves to be.

Dell 16 Premium review: Specifications

Acer has celebrated its 50th birthday in Milan by launching a new line-up of Copilot+ TravelMate P2 and P4 models.

The new line-up includes 14in AI PC P4 and P4 Spin models, and 16in and 14in models for P2. The TravelMate P-series is a core business range for Acer, aimed at SMB and public sector users.

These are the first to feature AI and Copilot+ capabilities and are powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors.

According to Acer, the new line-up offers a combination of performance, productivity, and security, and highlights its continued commitment to the SMB market.

“As IT and operations departments across sectors explore how AI can help their organization, Acer is committed to offering a dedicated product portfolio and leveraging our commercial expertise to accelerate AI transformation in the way that is right for them,” Acer’s EMEA vice president, Massimiliano Rossi, said.

“To accomplish this, Acer’s new TravelMate Copilot+ PCs are purpose-built for AI-powered performance, streamlined productivity, and multi-layered enterprise-grade security.”

A key selling point for the new models is their on-device AI capabilities. These include ‘Acer PurifiedVoice’ and ‘Acer PurifiedView’, which offer AI-powered noise reduction and clearer video on virtual meetings. There’s also ‘TravelMateSense’, which optimizes battery usage.

For security, the new laptops feature a suite of protections, namely Acer’s new Chassis Intrusion Alarm. This is an optional feature that notifies a user if their device casing has been opened without authorization.

Under the hood of the Acer TravelMate P4

The new AI-powered P4 comes in two different builds; one is a standard 14in laptop, and the other (also 14in) is the classic Spin model.

Both are thinner and lighter than the previous generation; featuring a 3K display with 16:10 aspect ratios.

The Spin 14 is convertible, with a hinge that opens up 360 degrees. It has a touchscreen and includes a very thin stylus that’s housed alongside the ports.

The whole device is just 1.19 kg, and both models come with a built-in fingerprint sensor and backlit keyboards.

P2 16 AI and P2 14 AI

The P2 models of TravelMate are notebooks that offer high-performance experiences unique to Copilot+ PCs while maintaining long-lasting battery life.

These come with rapid fast charging tech with up to 80% charge in just an hour, or 50% in 30 minutes, according to Acer.

The TravelMate P2 16 AI is the largest display option and has more appeal for content creators and professionals who need extra screen space for multitasking or handling data-heavy workloads.

All four TravelMate laptops will be available across Europe from June.

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The 2025 version of the Acer Swift 16 AI was a fantastic all-rounder, with all the ergonomic advantages of a massive 16in OLED screen and a spacious keyboard – plus new Copilot+ PC AI features – in a slim-and-light body just over 1.5kg in weight. Frankly, it was a design so good that, for this year's refresh, Acer could have switched processors to Intel's new Panther Lake hardware and called it a day. Instead, Acer's given the new Swift 16 AI an overhaul.

The styling has been updated to reflect the design language of more recent Swifts, while the desktop footprint has been slightly reduced. The weight has gone down by a couple of grams. However, the most noticeable thing isn't any of this, or even the significant improvements in processing power. Nope. The first thing that will hit you when you open up the Swift 16 AI is the haptic touchpad, which at 175 x 100mm is comfortably the biggest that we've ever seen.

This turned out to be the undoing of Samsung's otherwise mighty Galaxy Book 5 Pro, but here Acer has made it one of the central features of a notebook aimed more at creative users, and there's a lot more than that to like about the 2026 Swift 16 AI reboot.

Acer Swift 16 AI SF16-71T: Design

Buying any laptop involves making trade-offs between comfort, usability, and portability. Your average 13in to 14in thin-and-light model scores high on the latter, but you might find it uncomfortable if you're working hard all day from the one desk. Similarly, larger 16in to 18in models might work ergonomically in that scenario, but not so much if you're working between home and office or moving around from client to client during the week.

Here, 16in laptops like the Swift 16 AI and Galaxy Book 5 Pro come into their own. You've got a bigger, higher-resolution screen for comfort and effective multi-tasking, but in a package you can still just about fit in a backpack, that's not going to leave your shoulders aching. With a desktop footprint of 355 x 255mm and a weight of 1.55Kg, the Swift 16 AI is noticeably bigger than the 14in Asus ExpertBook Ultra or HP EliteBook X G2i, but it's still small and light enough to tuck it under your arm when you're heading off to your next meeting.

It's good-looking, too. Acer has replaced the simple, featureless lid and dark metallic finish of the previous version for a lighter grey metallic color plus laser-etched lines and Acer Swift logo on the cover. The hinge now allows the screen to tilt back by a full 180 degrees, and it's touch-sensitive to boot.

You get the basics in terms of physical connectivity, with two USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a pair of USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports. One of these sits on the right-hand side along with a microSD card slot and a headphone socket. However, both USB-C ports sit on the left-hand side, which is mildly annoying when one may spend some of the day connected to the bundled 65W power supply. It's not a huge deal, but having one on either side would have given you a bit more flexibility.

The chiclet keyboard spans nearly the whole width of the deck, and Acer has dedicated most of that space to the main alphanumerics, with the numeric pad squeezed into a narrow section on the right. It's still big enough to be worth using if you're entering data into spreadsheets or calculators, but only just. The rest of the keyboard has a straightforward layout, and while it might have been useful to have larger function keys and Ctrl, Fn, Windows, and Alt keys on the left, this doesn't seem to hamper typing once you've spent an hour or two acclimatising. The action is softer and more silent than clicky and responsive, but the feel is comfortable, consistent, and easy on the fingers.

Our concern was that the touchpad might hamper usability, and in practice, it can make it awkward to find space for your palms or wrists on either side and still reach all the keys you need to in the middle. However, we found it didn't matter much if our palms or wrists rested occasionally on the pad itself, which seems to have been tuned not to react at every accidental actuation.

What's more, the size has its benefits. It's a good match for the larger screen, and you can pull off some tricky manoeuvres, like pixel-perfect selections in an image-editing app. It's also designed to work with an MPP2.5 tilt and pressure-sensitive stylus, meaning you can draw on it or use handwriting recognition and expect accurate results. It's still not big enough to render a conventional graphics tablet obsolete, but it's a solid alternative for graphics professionals when no tablet is available. Sadly, you'll need to buy a compatible pen separately, as Acer doesn't include one in the box.

Acer Swift 16 AI SF16-71T: Display

The Swift's 16in OLED screen is big, bright, and beautiful, with a 2880x 1800 resolution that ensures that text looks smooth and sharp, while images are crisp with abundant detail. It hits brightness levels of 412.5cd/m2 with standard SDR content on the Windows desktop and features VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification, to ensure that you get a true HDR experience with searing highlights and inky blacks.

Frankly, it's a joy to work on. The size, resolution, and 16:10 aspect ratio are perfect for tricky workflows where you're operating across several apps or windows. It's also ideal for handling the complex UIs of design or image-editing apps. HDR video looks spectacular, and everything just pops. Meanwhile, in tests it covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color space with a 117% gamut volume, and 94.3% of Adobe RGB with a 114% gamut volume. The low average Delta E (0.66) shows that color accuracy is more than good enough for color-critical work.

The sound output isn't so delightful. Clarity is good, and there's a nice sense of space, which is a plus for Teams calls or Zoom meetings. However, the low-end is thin and the mid-range congested, giving dialogue or music a harsh or even metallic tone. Keep the volume low and it's not too bad, but keep some headphones handy.

The 1080p camera isn't the best that we've seen recently. It's fine in bright conditions, but dim and grainy in low light on an overcast day or under artificial lighting. Microsoft's AI-powered Windows studio effects can be used to improve exposure, maintain eye contact artificially or add background blur, but you'd ideally want a better image to start with before you worried about that kind of thing.

Acer Swift 16 AI SF16-71T: Performance

The Swift 16 AI we tested had a similar configuration to the Asus Expertbook Ultra we reviewed earlier this month, with a 16-core Intel Core Ultra X7 358H Panther Lake CPU plus 32GB of DDR5 RAM. With 4 P cores, 8 efficient cores and 4 low power efficient cores, this chip gives you all the single-core performance of the old Lunar Lake processors plus significantly better multi-core performance, and it actually fares better here than it did in the ultra-slim Expertbook Ultra, probably because Acer has given it a little more space, more cooling and a higher power thermal and power budget; it's no coincidence that the Swift 16 AI is louder when pushed than the Asus, and gets warmer underneath.

In Geekbench 6, there's little between the two laptops, with the Swift 16 AI scoring 2836 for single-core and 15936 for multi-core against the Asus's 2818 and 16016. However, the Swift 16 AI pushes ahead in the PC Mark 10 Modern Office benchmark, where it scores 7144 to the Asus's 6529, and also in the 3D Mark Steel Nomad, Steel Nomad Lite and Timespy tests, where its scores of 6393, 1254 and 5441 respectively improve on the Expertbook's 6232, 1142 and 5222. The integrated Intel Arc B390 is clearly the strongest built-in GPU you can find inside a mainstream laptop processor. The Swift 16 AI also has the edge in the Cinebench 2024 rendering tests, where its scores of 123 (single-core) and 943 (multi-core) look better than the Asus's 122 and 838.

Neither laptop can quite maintain pace with the Asus ProArt P16 with its Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and RTX 5070, but that's a laptop with a dedicated graphics chip costing £2500 to£2800. It's impressive to see a more affordable, mainstream device with the potential to cross over into more demanding design, graphics or high-performance roles. Throw in speedy storage – we measured sequential read/write speeds of 6395MB/sec and 5680MB/sec – and it's a well-balanced laptop that can handle a wide range of use cases.

On initial tests we were disappointed by the Swift 16 AI's battery life. It survived just under 12 hours of our video rundown test, where other Panther Lake laptops have managed in excess of 20. We considered the bigger screen as a factor, but retests saw the Swift 16 AI trucking along for 20 hours and 6 minutes. That's backed up in general use, where we could barely notice the Windows battery indicator diminishing over several hours of work. What's more, the 70Whr battery charges up quickly, reaching 46% in 30 minutes once plugged back into the mains.

Acer Swift 16 AI SF16-71T: Is it worth it?

If there's one thing we miss about the old Swift 16 AI, it's that it was powerful and blessed with a strong set of specs and features, but also quite accessible and affordable for most businesses. The new SF16-71T is a step up in terms of its screen, design and capabilities, but also more expensive, with prices starting at £1799 for this version. That's quite a big investment, but not unreasonable for a device this powerful with such a fantastic OLED screen. It's up against stiff competition from the year-old Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro and the upcoming Panther Lake-equipped Galaxy Book 6 Pro, but the new Swift 16 AI can take it. It's a great option for creative professionals, and a strong option for anyone wanting a big-screen laptop without the usual weight and bulk.

Acer Swift 16 AI SF16-71T specifications

Apple has unveiled the MacBook Neo, a laptop running on its iPhone chip that comes in hundreds of pounds cheaper than its siblings at $599 (and £599 in the UK) – perhaps opening up the laptop market, in particular in education.

The Apple MacBook Neo is powered by the A18 Pro, an ARM-based system on a chip that's currently seen in the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone Pro Max. Apple claims that MacBook Neo's A18 Pro is 50% faster at web browsing and three times faster at on-device workloads than existing PCs with the latest Intel Core Ultra 5.

There's two storage configurations: the default 256GB, and a 512GB edition for an additional $100/£100. Both versions feature the same 8GB of memory – and there's no RAM upgrade possible. Apple's other MacBooks all start at 16GB.

Asymco analyst Horace Dediu said on social media that the Neo's arrival was a "watershed event".

"First Mac with a mobile processor and the end of the disruptive arc of mobile computing," Dediu wrote. "From Motorola to Intel to Apple silicon M, now personal computing is an accessory to mobile computing. A sharp punctuation point."

MacBook Neo price targets rivals

John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, said in a statement that the laptop had been "built from the ground up to be more affordable for even more people," adding that the MacBook Neo "delivers the magic of the Mac at a breakthrough price."

And it's the price that's raising eyebrows, and that's no surprise given Apple has traditionally positioned its MacBook lineup as a "premium computing product," noted IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo.

"With such a product, Apple is aggressively aiming to grow market share while expanding the ecosystem," Jeronimo said. "Lowering the entry barrier to the Mac means Apple can bring more users into its services and device ecosystem, particularly students and first-time Mac buyers."

Indeed, the price point makes it a compelling option to draw into the Apple ecosystem any Microsoft users tired of Windows as well as a viable alternative to Google Chromebooks in education, helped by an additional $100/£100 discount for schools.

Ernest Wong, the head of research at Baskin Wealth, said on social media: "Every kid is going to want this to replace their Chromebook at school."

The MacBook Neo's price is a big step down compared to Apple's other laptops, though they are much more powerful in terms of performance. Alongside announcing the Neo, Apple also updated its MacBook Pro models. The 14in MacBook Pro with M5 now features 1TB of storage; prices start from $1,699 (£1,699 in the UK). The 14in MacBook Pro M5 Pro starts from $2,199 while the 14in MacBook Pro with M5 Max starts from $3,599.

A closer comparison is the MacBook Air, which now features the M5 in a 13in version with 16GB RAM starting from $1,099 (£1,099 in the UK) – but that's still a step up from the MacBook Neo.

MacBook Neo specs and availability

Beyond the aforementioned A18 chip, 256GB and 512GB storage, and 8GB of RAM, the MacBook Neo claims 16 hours of battery life, and weighs in at 1.2kg.

The MacBook Neo features a 13in Liquid Retina display, 1080p HD camera, and uses Apple's Magic Keyboard, with the multi-touch trackpad available in the 512GB edition that costs an extra £100. The MacBook Neo is available in four colours: blush, indigo, silver and "a fresh new" citrus; translated, those are pink, blue, silver and yellow.

Ternus said: "It features a durable aluminium design in four beautiful colours; a brilliant Liquid Retina display; Apple silicon-powered performance; all-day battery life; a high-quality camera, mics, and speakers; a Magic Keyboard and Multi-Touch trackpad; and the intuitive and powerful features of macOS."

IDC's Jeronimo said the timing is intriguing, given it comes at a time of memory and storage shortages causing price increases across the market – meaning an entry-level laptop featuring less RAM could be a smart move. "By using a chip that has only been used on the iPhone and the iPad, the real question is not whether Apple can sell a MacBook at this price (because it will be one of the most sold Macs ever if they can deliver), but how it balances cost, performance, and brand positioning while maintaining the premium experience that defines the Mac," he added.

MacBook Neo preorders are already open and will be available from next week. Apple also unveiled updates to its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, as well as the iPad Air and introduced the iPhone i17e.

Since being spun out from Huawei a few years ago, Honor has built a solid reputation for smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Here we have the MagicBook 14 Pro, a 14.6in laptop launched at MWC alongside a new MagicPad 4 tablet.

Our review unit has the Intel Core Ultra 5 338H processor, but there are options for the 336H and 388H versions, which can also be configured with either 24GB RAM and 1TB storage or 32GB RAM and 1TB of storage.

Honor MagicBook Pro 14: Design

With its all-white chassis, silver trimmings, and shimmering Honor logo, the MagicBook 14 Pro review unit ITPro received looks like a luxury item. Perhaps too fancy for business, though it does come in other, less glamorous, color options. Add the flashy keyboard backlighting, which makes the numbers and letters light up, and you have a laptop that will certainly turn heads in the office.

Screen to body ration the MagicBook is 91.5%, with its 14.6in display (diagonally), but it has a lot more height than that suggests. And, despite that, it still feels like a dainty notebook that's easy enough to carry from desk to meeting room and back.

The charger we received is European, so we haven't been able to test how quickly it can charge (Honor suggests 68 minutes for a full charge). The charger slot is one of two USB-C slots on the left-hand side. There's also an HDMI port and a headphone jack. On the right-hand side, you have two USB-A ports.

Honor MagicBook Pro 14: Display

The MagicBook 14 Pro comes with a 14.6in OLED touchscreen, featuring Honor's Eye Comfort technology, a 120Hz refresh rate, and 3.2K resolution. The touchscreen element is great, though there's no tent mode or stylus, so no real need for it to be touchscreen.

With our colorimeter, the MagicBook came back with 95% coverage of the sRGB gamut color space, and 132.4% for volume. The coverage score is a little lower than recent reviews, such as the Asus ExpertBook Ultra and the Geekom X14 Pro, though the volume score is comparable. The panel is nice and bright, peaking at 490.95 cd/m2. It isn't, however, good enough for intensive color work or editing images as it only notched 78% for Adobe sRGB.

From our own experience, the MagicBook 14 Pro has a beautiful, crisp screen, and that doesn't appear to be replicated in the tests. Blacks are deep and inky, colors are vivid and seemingly true to life, and it was bright enough to be clear in any outdoor conditions.

Honor MagicBook Pro 14: Keyboard and trackpad

The MagicBook 14 Pro comes with a 1.5mm fully backlit keyboard. When we say 'fully', even the icons on the keys light up – it looks sort of magical? The keys themselves are nice and punchy. Plenty of travel and no real clack sound, just a dull thud, which is great for everyone else in the office. It's easy to get up to a fast typing speed, and there's plenty of room to rest your palms on either side of the trackpad.

Speaking of which, things get strange when you click the 'force-sensing' haptic touchpad, as the haptic settings make it sound like a tiny trampoline. It's loud enough to make you stop and notice. Other than that, the trackpad is a little on the narrow side – 124mm x 80mm – but it's long, so it can still be expansive, and it has useful three and four-finger gesture controls.

Honor MagicBook Pro 14: Specs and performance

There are three spec options for Intel Core Ultra 5 chips with the MagicBook. Our review unit is the 338H, which came with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage.

The Pro performed well in Geekbench 6, with 2,716 for single-core and 13,905 for multi-core. It isn't anything near the MacBook Pro (M4 or M5), or the Asus UltraBook, but it's in a similar performance bracket to the cheaper Geekom X14. So not super fast, but highly capable.

What really impressed, though, was the 18hrs and 52min it lasted in our looped video test. That is right up there with the best of the best. I was able to get through a day and a half of work on one charge, though there wasn't a high volume of intensive work for it to do.

There's nothing really computationally intensive about this job; it is largely Google Docs, email, and Slack on repeat. Every so often, there's video or image editing, which takes a bit more processing power or bandwidth, but the MagicBook 14 Pro got through everything with barely a whimper from its internal fans. No sound, nor much heat.

Honor MagicBook Pro 14: Features

One of the most interesting features on the MagicBook (and other Honor devices) is within its WorkStation suite of controls. You can effortlessly share content and files across operating systems with a simple drag and drop. Android, Windows, and yes, even iOS. The specific iOS Interconnection is great and actually a solid business application.

Another worthy mention is Honor Connect, which shares many similarities with Huawei's multi-device connection platform. It has almost the same planetary vibe and look. But, again, it just makes connecting to other displays and sharing content that little bit easier.

Honor MagicBook Pro 14: Is it worth it?

The design on the MagicBook 14 Pro is a little too ostentatious for your average office. It's too white and sparkly, and you'd be surprised if the IT department handed it to you on the first day. Although it's far better than any Chromebook that's lurking in their stock room.

What is worth your IT manager's attention, though, is how productive it is. A long battery life, a capable processor, and an effortlessly good keyboard, all for a lot less than any of your M-series MacBooks. It might very well be magic.

Honor MagicBook Pro 14 specifications

A rugged laptop for adventurous creatives. That is the Asus ProArt GoPro Edition PX13 in a nutshell. However, I see it as something that is useful for office jobs and businesses.

The GoPro Edition is built for those who take photos and shoot video in the great outdoors. It has innovative controls and hotkeys to speed up workflows, and a super-fast wad of RAM and an AMD processor to power you through those tasks.

The GoPro collaboration includes a rugged case and a one-year GoPro Premium+ subscription included in the price. And on that subject, the whole thing costs $2,400 (£2,999). So yeah, it's expensive.

Asus ProArt GoPro Edition PX13: Design

Rugged laptops have a certain look. They're generally bulky and often look like the boxes a power drill comes in. But the Asus ProArt PX13 GoPro Edition is probably the prettiest 'rugged' laptop I've ever seen. Around its thick metal hinges and chunky chassis is a style that would improve any other 13.3in notebook.

To start with, it's all black metal, which makes it look effortlessly cool. The keyboard has neon blue backlighting. And the lid has horizontal grooves for grip when you're on the go. Then there are the two logos in the top and bottom corners; one is a smaller 'GoPro' logo and the other, a slightly larger 'ProArt' one. Both are indents, so no attention-seeking colors. They just look good in an understated way. Ten out of ten, aesthetically.

Functionally, there's also some good news; the function row is full of useful additions, the trackpad has a nifty dial, and there are plenty of ports on either side USB A, two USB-C, HDMI, a headphone jack, and a DCIN charger port. The on/off button is also on the side (right-hand), next to a microSD card reader, which is always a fantastic extra, but particularly for creative workers.

Asus ProArt GoPro Edition PX13: Display

On paper, the Asus ProArt XP13 display might not seem so impressive, specifically the 60Hz refresh rate. Surely creatives want smooth scrolling? However, the 13.3in, 3K OLED touchscreen is quite beautiful. Designed in collaboration with GoPro, the display aims to provide crisp visuals to show off your action shots and stunning vistas. And to that end, it is a resounding success.

With our colormeter, it showcased 100% for sRGB coverage, 173.6% volume, and an impressive 97% for Adobe sRGB. Blacks look nice and deep, colors pop, and most images, provided they're good, look crystal clear on the display.

The screen, which is built to handle the great outdoors, has no problems in direct sunlight (not that there's much of that in the UK). I recorded its peak brightness (without HDR) at 396.43cd/m2, which doesn't seem to be bright compared to others, but in real-life use, it was more than capable.

Asus ProArt GoPro Edition PX13: Keyboard and trackpad

There is a slightly unusual order to the function keys in that everything isn't necessarily where you would expect. This is partly due to the addition of hotkeys; the volume controls are F1 and F2, which isn't too troubling. There's a GoPro button just off the center at F8. And a ProArt Creator Hub hotkey on F12. F4 is your keyboard backlighting, which is a striking neon blue.

The keys themselves are punchy, with nice travel, and decent-sized caps. I enjoyed typing on them, I got up to decent speeds, and I ended up preferring the function key layout, particularly the hotkeys.

What I really love, however, is the trackpad. Admittedly, it isn't the biggest, but it has a couple of extra controls that really do speed up workflows. The first is the large dial in the top left-hand corner. It needs to be set up in the Creator Hub, where you can add and remove controls and apps. More importantly, there is a smaller circle in the opposite corner of the trackpad. You need to swipe a finger away from it (diagonally) to turn the dial one – it will light up blue when on.

Rotating your finger around the dial controls things like volume, brightness, or, in specific apps like Premiere Pro and sites like YouTube, skims through video timelines. Pressing the central button brings up a small circular interface on the display, where you can see controls and apps.

If you see the GoPro Edition as a little too gimmicky, or something not for the office, I would argue that its hotkeys and the dial offer something for everyone. In a world of AI PCs where the 'AI' part is supposed to speed up workflows, I actually find clever physical controls are more efficient and more suited to my job. The ProArt gave me that little bit more control and precision when editing. And generally made my job easier.

Asus ProArt GoPro Edition PX13: Specs and performance

Inside this rugged beauty is the impressive AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 processor, which wowed us at CES 2026. It features 16 cores, 32 threads, and also includes the AMD XDNA NPU, with up to 50TOPS.

In Geekbench 6, the ProArt PX13 hit 2,818 for single-core, and 16,392 multi-threaded (83,633 for GPU). Both scores are thoroughly good, and an improvement on the 2024 model of PX13 (2,750, single-core, 15,080, multi-threaded).

The 128GB of LPDDR5X memory (8000 MHz) is also a big appeal for the ProArt GoPro Edition. If you build something for adventurous creatives, it needs lightning-fast transfer speeds for those massive workloads. Whether editing high-resolution action footage, batch-processing photos, or running multiple creative apps side by side, the ProArt has the headroom to keep you working.

Battery power has vastly improved across the board for laptops; over the last 12 months, we tested the M4 and M5 MacBook Pro, the HP OmniBook 5, and the Asus ZenBook Duo, and all needed our looped video test to be run twice to fully drain them. So it is somewhat disappointing that the Asus ProArt PX13 only managed 11hrs and 50mins. Especially considering this is a rugged laptop to use in adventure settings.

Asus ProArt GoPro Edition PX13: Features

As it is a collaboration with GoPro, there are a number of features on the ProArt PX13 that suit content creation. It comes with a host of Asus and third-party apps preinstalled. These include StoryCube, MyASUS, the ProArt Creator Hub, ScreenXpert, and GlideX. There's also the Asus MuseTree, which is a sort of multifunction design hub, where you can create with AI or use a pen to illustrate (more on that below). You also get CapCut, though you need a subscription or you have limited tools and access with the free mode.

Having already had hands-on time with the Asus ProArt PX13 at CES, I was still somewhat surprised to find an Asus Pen 3.0 in the bundle. Now I know it is a laptop for 'creatives', but the GoPro tie-in lends itself to video and photography. Particularly the outdoorsy types. A stylus, to me, seems an odd addition, even with such an excellent touch screen.

And then again, it's a fairly good pen; nice and light, glides across the screen really well, it looks good all in black, and you have the space in the carry case. However, it doesn't charge when you magnetically connect to the laptop, as you would find with a tablet or 2-in-1, and it is just a touch too smooth on the screen. There are some cool features in the MuseTree, and you can use the stylus easily, but it isn't like using Sketchbook or Procreate.

Asus ProArt GoPro Edition PX13: Is it worth it?

My only complaint with Asus ProArt PX13 GoPro Edition is that I want a bit more battery life, especially having seen what Apple and HP are getting out of their laptops. That said, I didn't have any issues with it dying during my work, though I didn't really travel that far with it.

And really, the good points far outweigh the bad: the RAM and storage specs are great, the keyboard and trackpad are truly set up to enhance workflows, and it looks, frankly, better than most notebooks, never mind rugged ones. If this is the kind of stuff a GoPro collaboration creates, then please, Asus, I want more.

Asus ProArt GoPro Edition PX13 specifications

The idea for the Geekom A7 Max must come from somewhere deep in the bowels of Geekom's HQ in Shenzhen. We can only assume that there is a room with the sign 'Department of Niche Eradication' on the door. Within that room, a team works whose sole function is to identify and plug gaps in the Geekom Mini PC range.

Its most recent accomplishment was to notice a gap between the A9 Max and the A8 AI, which could easily be filled by a model with the connectivity of the former but the performance and price of the latter. The result is the new A7 Max, a £600, give or take, box with more AI ports than you can shake a stick at, room for more RAM, and running on an AMD Ryzen 9 chipset.

Geekom A7 Max: Design

The Geekom A7 Max and A9 Max share a common external case, internal chassis, and matte silver paint job. At 135 x 132 x 47mm, the A7 Max is the same size as the A9 Max, though it is 20g lighter at 630g.

Neither the A7 Max nor the A9 Max is what you could call big or heavy, and both come with a VESA bracket to mount them out of sight and mind, but they are a full size up from the diminutive A8, which otherwise shares a similar aesthetic.

All the Geekom boxes we've tested have had a reassuringly solid feel to them, and the A7 Max is no exception. The metal exterior shell, in particular, feels very solid and will apparently survive 200Kg being stacked on it.

The A7 Max has ports galore, just like its A9 Max big brother. To kick things off, you get six USB-A ports; four 10Gbps 3.2 Gen 2 spec on the front, another 3.2 Gen 2, and one 2.0 480Mbps on the back. Also on the back, there are two 2.5GbE RJ-45 ports, useful if you want to wire the box up to a network and an NAS box, two USB-C 4.0 ports, which also support DisplayPort video, and two HDMI 2.1 video outputs.

Rounding things out are an SD card reader on the left side, a Kensington security lock on the right, and a 3.5mm audio jack on the front next to the LED power button. The DC jack for the 120W rat-and-tail charger is at the back.

The right-hand USB-C port should be able to power the A7 Max, but, like the A9 Max, it didn't want to play ball with any of the USB-C chargers we had to hand during testing, none of which were rated at exactly 120W. You may have more luck with a different 120W-rated USB charger.

Getting inside the A7 Max is a repeat of the process with the A9 Max, so you have to prise the four rubber feet off and then undo the four screws that hold the plastic base plate in place. Next, you need to remove four more screws that secure a metal internal cover.

Once you're in, you find two SODIMM slots but only one SSD mount. The mount for a second 2230 SSD inside the A9 Max is missing. Annoyingly, the A7 Max suffers from the same design flaw as the A8 and the A9 Max: the Wi-Fi antenna cables that are fixed to the metal plate that covers the internal components are too short.

Removing the metal plate to access the RAM and drive mounts will almost certainly make the cables ping off their pressure mounts on the wireless card, so you need to unscrew the wireless antenna mounts from the base plate before you remove it. It's all a bit of palaver.

The A7 Max uses the same MediaTek MT7922 wireless card as the A8, which supports 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. That's another downgrade on the A9 Max, which features a Mediatek MT7925 card that supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

The A7 Max comes with a fully activated and entirely clean copy of Windows 11 Pro, but everything worked perfectly when running on Ubuntu 24.10, making this a good platform for anyone wanting to use an open-source OS. Sadly, you can't buy the A7 Max barebones or with Linux preinstalled to save some money.

Geekom A7 Max: Specs and Performance

At the heart of the A7 Max, you'll find an 8-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU with Radeon 780M graphics. Technically, it's not a million miles away from the (officially China-only) Ryzen 7 8745HS chip in the A8.

Both are Zen 4 chips with 8 cores, but the Ryzen 9 chip is a little faster with a maximum clock of 5.1GHz vs 4.9GHz, and in this instance, it has a higher TDP of 45W vs. 35W.

The Ryzen 9 7940HS also has a 10 TOPS Ryzen AI NPU, something the Ryzen 7 8745HS in the A8 does not have. Given that a 10 TOPS NPU isn't enough to run the more exotic Windows Copilot AI features, like Recall, it's of questionable benefit.

While the A9 Max and A8 AI also ship with two sticks of 16GB as standard, the A7 Max makes do with one 16GB stick. Geekom's justification for this is that shipping with one stick of RAM keeps the price down and doesn't have a major impact on basic day-to-day office activities.

Given the ludicrous price of aftermarket RAM at the moment, that makes some sense, though we think shipping the A7 Max with 2 x 8GB would have been a better idea, because, as we shall see, the single-channel RAM does limit performance in some areas.

This may be a sign of the new normal, with smaller PC manufacturers facing a stark choice: either increase their prices or reduce the amount of RAM their boxes ship with.

In the ITPro 4K Handbrake-based multi-media benchmark, the A7 Max scored 346 points compared to 356 on the A9 Max (running on an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor) and 363 on the A8 AI. That's a healthy score and proof that the A7 Max can take the vast majority of basic computing tasks in its stride, even with just one stick of RAM.

CPU benchtests showed that, as expected, there's not a vast amount of inherent performance difference between the A7 Max and A8 AI, the former scoring 2,569 and 10,031 in the Geekbench 6 single-core and multi-core tests, to the latter's 2,568 and 12,842 and 106 single-core and 847 multi-core in the Cinebench R24 test, to the latter's 104 and 873.

With an extra 16GB of RAM added, the Geekbench 6 multi-core score increased by over 30% to 13,121, proving that with equal RAM, the A7 Max is faster than the A8 in demanding and RAM-critical productivity jobs.

Out of the box, the A7 Max did rather less well when it comes to graphics performance. The SPECviewperf 3dsmax 3D modelling benchmark ran at 19.6fps compared to the A8 AI's 39.8 on the same GPU and the A9 Max's 42.4fps.

Make no mistake, the single-channel 16GB RAM configuration seriously limits the A7 Max's performance in dedicated graphics jobs; with a second stick of 16GB RAM in play, the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark score jumped from 4,672 to 8,131 while the SPECviewperf 3dsmax 3D modelling benchmark result doubled to 38.9fps.

In another similarity with the A8, running high-demand jobs at no point strained the A7 Max's cooling system. After several hours with the CPU and GPU running at maximum stress, utilisation settled down in the high nineties and 100 per cent, respectively.

Under heavy stress, the noise from the single fan is certainly audible, but not what we'd call intrusive or annoying. As is the case with the A8, the 1TB SSD comes from Chinese maker Wodposit. The performance of the SSD in the A8 was very impressive, but in the A7 Max, it was even more so, returning average sequential read and write speeds of 5,708MB/s and 5,552MB/s, respectively.

Geekom A7 Max: Is it worth it?

At the time of writing, the A7 Max is available for £594 from Amazon and £659 from Geekom UK, which is very close to the price of the A8, but that ships with twice the RAM in dual-channel mode. In a world where a stick of 16GB RAM can cost close to £200, that makes the smaller A8 AI the better choice if graphics performance is high up your list of requirements.

To counter that, the A7 Max offers the same very wide range of ports as the considerably more expensive A9 Max, including two RJ-45 ports and two v4.0 Type-C ports. If wired networking is your primary concern, the A7 Max is the better choice.

We think Geekom has missed a trick by not fitting the A7 Max with a mount for a second SSD, and the overly short Wi-Fi antenna cables continue to be a bit of an irritant, especially as buyers delving inside to add more RAM is a likely occurrence.

Those minor issues aside, the Geekom A7 Max is still very much a five-star product and a useful addition to Geekom's already impressive range of AMD-based Mini PCs.

Geekom A7 Max Specifications

Dynabook's AMD-powered Tecra A65-M aims to offer enterprise users maximum connectivity and reliability at a significant discount compared with the best ultraportables and the manufacturer's own higher-end Portégé line of business laptops. Since it's armed with a mid-range AMD chip and integrated graphics, as well as an underwhelmingly basic 16-inch IPS HDR panel, we aren't expecting fireworks – but we are looking for pure functionality among the compelling security, connectivity, and software-related reasons that you might be tempted to pick it up.

Dynabook Tecra A65-M review: Design and display

Although the chassis boasts a certification for MIL-STD 810H standards – safeguarding it against environmental stress, shocks, vibrations, extreme temperatures and humidity, as well as other conditions – it doesn't feel premium or durable when you pick it up and hold it. That's largely due to the matte polycarbonate material it's constructed from, instead of a metal alloy. In reality, it can withstand quite a lot, as can all Dynabook laptops, and the one benefit is that it's much lighter than a string of other similarly sized machines.

Weighing 1.69kg, it's fairly light for a 16-inch laptop – a fraction heavier than the 15-inch MacBook Air (1.5kg), for example, and certainly lighter than several more premium notebooks, including the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Gen 10 Aura Edition (1.93kg). This makes it much easier to fit into your bag and travel with it, especially if you need a large screen. Unfortunately, it's not the slimmest machine, with a depth of 19.9mm – a little larger than the aforementioned Lenovo (17.9mm), but understandable given the vast array of ports at your disposal.

There are plenty of neat touches to the laptop, including rounded corners that converge with straightened edges along the sides and the panel. The indented keyboard, meanwhile, does carry some character – especially with its textured keycaps. But the touchpad, on the other hand, looks far too skewed to the left.

The screen itself has fairly narrow bezels, with a thicker upper border to account for the webcam. That's where the praise ends, unfortunately, given there's very little else redeeming about it. With a 1,920 x 1,200 pixel resolution, the 16-inch IPS HDR panel lacks sharpness (its pixels per inch ratio is a dismal 141.5), while colors are washed out. Testing further underlined how underwhelming it was.

Testing with a display calibrator produced a below-average brightness of 300 nits, alongside abysmal color accuracy scores. We registered 57.4% coverage of the sRGB color spectrum, which is poor considering it's easy for most laptops to score above 98% these days. The Dynabook Portege Z40L-N, for example, scored 97.9%. Don't even think about using the Tecra for image-based work, with 42% and 45.5% coverage of the Adobe RGB spectrum (for photo editing) and DCI P3 spectrum (for video editing), respectively. If you don't really need much from a laptop screen, then you can feasibly grit your teeth and bear it – but it's otherwise a machine we'd recommend avoiding if the quality of your work depends on the quality of your laptop screen.

Dynabook Tecra A65-M review: Performance and battery life

The Tecra A65-M is pitched at handling demanding tasks in the realms of finance, engineering, data, and creativity. Given where this machine is priced, its components do punch a little above their weight. Powering this machine is an AMD Ryzen 7 250 processor alongside AMD Radeon 780M Graphics and 16GB DDR5 RAM.

In our performance testing with Geekbench 6, we measured a single-threaded score of 2,461 and a multi-core score of 9,193. While objectively unimpressive, they aren't too far away from what you'd expect from the latest Intel Core Ultra 200 Series chips, which are usually found in laptops vastly more expensive. For comparison, the Dynabook Portege Z40L-N registered 1,762 and 8,337, and Lenovo's ThinkPad X9 14 Aura Edition, too, scored 2,718 and 10,684. Both featured the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (8 cores) processor. Last year's HP ZBook 8 G1ak 14 (AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360) also scored 2,797 and 10,809, respectively. For markedly better multi-threaded performance, you should consider a machine with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chip – or Apple's M Series CPUs.

Its graphics performance, too, is comparable to these machines, with a modest score of 20,339 in our OpenCL test. This is perfectly in line with expectations from the Intel Arc Graphics GPU and Qualcomm Adreno GPU you'll find in most high-end machines.

The NPU, however, is slightly underpowered with just 38 TOPS – a shade lighter in punch than the 40 TOPS you'll need to categorize a device as an "AI PC" or "Copilot+ PC" – but, beyond a handful of local AI tasks you might struggle to run, the biggest downside is its effect on efficiency. The more TOPS a machine has, the generally more power efficient it proves to be. Battery life, in that vein, is middling, lasting 11hrs 19mins – a reasonable result for a 16-inch laptop. The SSD, meanwhile, is very zippy, with above-average reads and writes of 7,041MB/s and 5,851MB/s. Reads are about as high as you'll find, and writes are also above average.

Dynabook Tecra A65-M review: Features

We couldn't gel with the keyboard in the Tecra A65-M for a number of reasons. Firstly, although the textured keycaps offer a nice contrast with the chassis, they feel rough to the fingers and inhibit the satisfaction you should expect from smooth and rapid touch-typing. Each keystroke is a little shallow and doesn't offer much feedback, further diminishing this experience. We also struggled with the key spacing – they feel too small and crammed together to make room for a number pad.

The touchpad, on the other hand, is much better in terms of how it feels to use. It's perfectly sized, its surface is smooth without being too slippery, and each click gives you a decent amount of feedback. What we found jarring was its placement to the far left of the palm rest. This makes sense relative to where the main keycaps are placed (off-center), but takes some adjusting to.

Its connectivity options, both wired and wireless, encapsulate almost everything you would ask for from a business-forward laptop. You get two USB-A 3.2 ports (one includes power off and charge support), two USB-C 3.1 ports (with Thunderbolt 4.0 support), a 3.5mm headphone and mic jack, HDMI, an Ethernet port, and a MicroSD Card slot. This comes alongside the latest wireless standards of Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

Although the NPU is underpowered against the best AI PCs, you still benefit from a handful of AI-assisted features like noise reduction technology that eliminates unwanted background noise in calls, while preserving speech clarity, as well as the Realsight AI Function that boosts webcam image clarity. There's also a webcam privacy shutter and an optional fingerprint reader on the security side.

Dynabook Tecra A65-M review: Is it worth it?

Dynabook machines tend to be sturdy, reliable, and business-focused – meaning that while you might not get the flash and appeal of ultrabooks or more premium-looking machines, you will, at least, expect functionality. In that vein, the Tecra A65-M doesn't disappoint.

We found plenty of appeal given its price, especially when you measure how its performance stacks up against more premium rivals, but also found plenty to be wary about. Its display is very poor – about as poor as we've seen in a recent business notebook – and it's not a deal-breaker but something you should consider if you need a machine for any visually-oriented work. If so, however, you always have the option of connecting this machine to an external monitor.

Given you're likely to find this machine at around the $1,000 mark, we'd certainly recommend it if your number one priority is budget, and if you need a light, portable, functional 16-inch Windows machine that does the job effectively. If you can push your budget a little more, however, there's a much better array of options available.

Dynabook Tecra A65-M review: Specifications

Geekom is primarily known for making mini PCs, and rather good ones at that. We've recently looked at such machines as the A8 AI, IT15, and A9 Max and said some very nice things about all of them.

Now Geekom has entered the altogether more challenging laptop market with a brace of slim and light machines called the X14 Pro and the X16 Pro. That betokens a desire to go head-to-head with the likes of Apple and Asus by appealing to people who are in the market for a MacBook Air or Zenbook.

As part of its efforts to persuade the buying public that this is a sign of bravery rather than foolishness, Geekom has sent us a top-of-the-range sample of the X14 Pro for evaluation. Before we go any further, it's worth pointing out that, at the time of writing, the X14 Pro and X16 Pro are only officially available in the USA and Germany.

In the former, it can currently be picked up for $1,049, and in the latter for €1,149, though Geekom has sent us a discount code (ITPROX14) which should deliver at 10% discount, valid until March 5th, from both Geekom and Amazon in the respective markets. Hopefully, other countries, including the UK, will get an official release in due course, but at the time of writing, Geekom is still pondering the matter.

Geekom X14 Pro: Design

We defy anyone not to remark on the physical similarity between the X14 Pro and Apple's MacBook Air. Make no mistake, the X14 Pro looks a lot like Apple's smallest offering. Of course, that's no bad thing given that the MacBook Air is something of a design classic and, more importantly, the X14 Pro gives little away to the Apple machine in terms of build quality.

To keep the weight down (Geekom claims 999g, but by our measurements it's actually 980g), the X14 Pro is made mainly from magnesium alloy. It would be reasonable to assume that something so light (remember, the 13.3in MacBook Air is over 200g heavier) and thin, at just under 13mm, would be a bit fragile.

But not a bit, both the lid and the body of the X14 Pro are impressively solid with very little flex evident when we tried to twist it out of shape. Even the middle of the keyboard deck resists pressure heroically.

If we had to pick a fault with the design, the matte finish silver paint job is just a little too prone to showing fingerprints. We've seen worse, but we did find ourselves idly trying to rub grease marks off the palmwrest during our testing.

On the left side of the X14 Pro, you'll find two 40Gbps USB-C ports, both supporting DisplayPort video output and an HDMI 2.0 video feed. On the right, there's a single 5Gbps USB-A port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a webcam isolator.

That's a perfectly decent selection of ports for a 14in superlight, but that hasn't stopped Geekom from bundling a very handy USB-C dock with one USB-C port for pass-through charging, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, HDMI 2.0, and RJ45 Ethernet.

Wireless communications are handled by a MediaTek MT7922 card, which supports 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4.

Getting inside the X14 was almost a walk in the park. The 9 Torx screws that secure the base plate in place came out cleanly, and the clips around the edge of the base popped up without drama. However, there was something in the middle of the unit attached to the base plate.

We couldn't see if this was something to do with a thermal pad covering the innards or a Wi-Fi antenna cable, but it felt like applying enough force to separate the base from the body would result in something Quite Bad happening, so we didn't force the issue.

Given the high specification of the X14 Pro, we don't imagine many users will feel the need to upgrade the storage or RAM, assuming that's even technically possible. According to Geekom, there is only a single 2280 SSD slot inside the X14 Pro.

Geekom X14 Pro: Keyboard, touchpad, and webcam

The X14 Pro has a wholly standard keyboard with a US (or German) layout. The typing action is light yet positive, though the end-stop could do with being just a little more firmly damped.

The white-on-black keycap graphics are a model of clarity, and there's a four-stage white backlight for use in low-light environments.

The on/off button is a circular affair set in the top right corner of the deck, well away from the keyboard proper, and it contains a fingerprint scanner, which proved to be wholly reliable.

The touchpad is a 120 x 71mm Mylar affair with a pleasantly smooth surface and crisp corner click action, which, if not silent, is certainly not loud enough to scare the horses or annoy those sitting nearby.

The 1080p webcam is also a thoroughly competent piece of kit. Images looked bright and colourful, and things didn't degrade too badly in low light. There's no support for Windows Hello facial recognition, but there is a manual cut switch on the right side of the base.

Geekom X14 Pro: Display and speakers

The Edo-made 2,880 x 1,800 OLED display is one of the X14's principal claims to your attention and money. With a peak brightness level of 420cd/m2 in SDR mode and 650cdm/2 in HDR, it's more than bright enough to use outdoors, and it's very colorful, covering 171.3% of the RGB color space, 121.3% of the DCI-P3, and 118% of the AdobeRGB.

Color accuracy is good too, with a Delta E variance of just 1.3 vs the DCI-P3 standard. Combine that with a fluid 120Hz refresh rate and a glossy but not overly reflective finish, and you have a display that's very easy on the eye.

The 2 x 2W DTS-certified speaker system doesn't let the side down. It delivers ample volume, averaging 77.8dBA against a pink noise source at a 1m distance, without any hint of distortion.

There was plenty of low-end presence with a solid bass output underpinning high levels of detail and an expansive soundscape. We've heard worse sound quality from laptops costing more and boasting a more prestigious heritage.

Geekom X14 Pro: Specs and performance

The X14 Pro is available with two Intel Meteor Lake first-generation Core Ultra CPU options, the Core Ultra 5 125H and the Core Ultra 9 185H, both with 32GB of LPDDR5x RAM, the former with 1TB of storage, the latter with 2TB.

Those processors are now two generations old, with the recent arrival of machines built around Intel's Panther Lake Core Ultra Series 3 chips, which boast superior graphics performance and efficiency.

The Core Ultra 9 185H in the machine we were sent to test is still a potent little number with 16 cores, 6 of which are deemed performance and can run at a maximum speed of 5.1Ghz.

The X14 Pro scored 267 points in ITPro's bespoke 4K multi-media test and 8,102 in the PCMark 10 basic test. For comparison, Lenovo's five-star ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which is built around an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU, again with 32GB of RAM, scored 245 and 6,909 in the same tests.

In the Geekbench 6 CPU test, the X14 Pro scored 2,283 in single-core and 12,365 in multi-core. That's very similar to what you'd expect from a 16-core Arrow Lake Core Ultra 7 255H, as was the OpenCL graphics test score of 31,985.

Of course, the new Panther Lake machines can do rather better: The Asus Zenbook Duo we had in the office recently scored 2,900, 16,920 and 56,817, respectively and delivered graphics performance which, if not quite on a par with the AMD Strix Halo chipset inside the HP ZBook Ultra G1a laptop, was still hugely impressive for a laptop with an integrated rather than discrete GPU.

None of this is to say that the X14 Pro's Arc iGPU can't handle graphics jobs; it ran the SPECviewperf 3dsmax 3D modelling benchmark at 21.2fps, almost twice as fast as the best Intel Iris Xe iGPU can manage.

Under maximum stress, some thermal throttling was in evidence with CPU utilisation dropping to around 70% while the integrated GPU chugged along at 100%. That said, fan noise was never an issue, and the base of the X14 Pro never got more than warm to the touch.

Given that the integrated NPU only boasts 11 TOPS, this is not a CoPilot laptop. It does support features like Windows Live Captions and Studio webcam effects, but not Recall or the full range of generative fill options in Paint.

The Micron 2TB SSD performed well, recording average sequential read and write speeds of 5033 MB/s and 2718 MB/s, respectively. It's also worth mentioning that, unlike some Chinese laptop makers such as Honor, Geekom has not divided the SSD into two partitions, one for the Windows OS and one for data.

In our standard battery video rundown test, the X14 Pro just made it to the nine-hour mark. That's pretty mediocre when the likes of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon can last for over 20 hours, and the new Zenbook Duo can easily clear the 25-hour mark. Granted, the Asus has a 99Whr battery, but the X14 Pro's 72Whr battery is hardly what we'd describe as small.

It is perhaps a little unfair to criticise the X14 Pro too harshly about its battery life and graphics performance compared to the newest Panther Lake laptops, given that they are likely to be rather more expensive for some time, but it's impossible to avoid the conclusion that the use of an Arrow Lake chipset would have been a better choice even if it made the X14 a little more expensive.

One last word here, the X14 Pro is delightfully free of excessive OEM bloatware with only control panels from Geekom, DTS, Realtek and Intel added to the basic Windows 11 Pro install.

Geekom X14 Pro: Is it worth it?

For a first try, the Geekom X14 Pro is a very praiseworthy effort. It looks and feels every inch a premium business laptop; the standard specification is excellent, with a 2TB SSD and 32GB of RAM, while the 2.8K OLED display is as good as anything you'll find on a high-end laptop from the likes of Samsung or Asus. The sound system is pretty decent, too.

Working off the US price, which translates into a UK price of just over £900, it has to be said that the Geekom X14 Pro is a great package for the price and is certainly worthy of consideration.

If Geekom can follow this up with a second-generation machine with Arrow Lake underpinnings and an official UK sales channel, people will likely be queuing up to buy it.

Geekom X14 Pro specifications

Up until now, Asus's ExpertBook series has gone big on usability, performance, security, and connectivity, but not so much style or glamour. It's been a series of hard-working professional laptops, not showstealers. That changes with the new ExpertBook Ultra. This is a gorgeous ultra-thin, ultra-light laptop that still manages to house a killer spec based around Intel's latest Panther Lake processors. It's built for business, but it's going to look good while it's hard at work.

Asus ExpertBook Ultra: Design

In fact, the ExpertBook Ultra has less in common with existing ExpertBook designs than it does with Asus's thin-and-light Zenbook line, and particularly last year's superb, slightly underappreciated Zenbook A14. Both laptops feel ludicrously thin and weigh in at under 1kg, and both come with a lovely ceramic-look finish, though the ExpertBook uses a magnesium alloy shell with a Nano-Ceramic coating rather than the Ceraluminium hybrid material it's used in the past.

If anything, the ExpertBook Ultra looks and feels more refined than the Zenbook A14. The body feels more rigid, yet it's even slimmer at just under 11mm. It's easy to pick up one-handed and sling into a bag, yet it meets MIL-STD-810H certification and uses matte Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on the screen. The top-firing speakers and their grills add a little extra to the deck, and there's a new LED light bar next to the hinge, which glows on startup but doesn't appear to do a whole lot elsewhere. Perhaps most importantly, there's more ventilation underneath the unit, reflecting that, internally, this is a very different beast.

There's just one grumble about the physical design, and it may be limited to our test sample. On ours, the hinge feels slightly looser than we'd normally expect, especially towards the end of the range when tilted backwards. Still, this is a pre-release sample, and we'd be surprised if this were a widespread issue.

You might expect that such a thin-and-light device takes a minimalist approach to connectivity, but the ExpertBook Ultra packs in everything you need to connect to a desktop setup except for an Ethernet port, with two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports (one on either side), two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (ditto), an HDMI 2.1 port and even a 3.5mm headphone socket. With Wi-Fi 7 onboard, there's no desperate need for Ethernet in many circumstances, and you also have Bluetooth 5.4 if you want to connect a wireless mouse or headset.

Keyboards have sometimes been a weakness for Asus laptops, but the last few years have seen some huge improvements, and the brand now has some of the best keyboards you'll find on a Windows device. The ExpertBook Ultra's is a great example. The action is light but pretty firm with a likeable tactile response, and there's zero flex in the deck while you're typing. The keys are flat, and there's not much in the way of any pitch, but the good-sized palmrests on either side of the trackpad provide a decent level of support.

We could quibble about the undersized Ctrl and Tab keys or the way that delete has shifted left to make space for a fingerprint reader/power button, but we'll take the hit because the fingerprint reader is so effective, fast, and useful. It's a keyboard that's ready for some serious workloads.

The touchpad is another hit. It takes up almost the entire vertical space between the bottom of the keyboard and the edge of the deck, and is just under 13cm wide. The surface is glass and perfectly smooth, and it's flawless in its tracking and consistently responsive. In terms of sheer usability, the ExpertBook Ultra is one of the finest thin-and-light PCs we've tested.

Asus ExpertBook Ultra: Display

Asus hasn't skimped in any way on the display. It's a 14in OLED panel with a 16:10 aspect ratio and a 2880 x 1800 resolution, and it delivers the kind of pin-sharp clarity and contrast you'd want when working on spreadsheets, multitasking, or watching 4K video. In fact, while the ExpertBook Ultra isn't pitched as a 'creator' laptop, the screen is more than capable of handling that kind of work.

Unusually, it uses a Tandem OLED setup, stacking light-emitting layers for added brightness, color performance, and overall efficiency. This seems to work; we measured the maximum SDR brightness level at 642.2cd/m2, and it covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut with a 145% gamut volume and 98% of the DCI-P3 color gamut with a 102% volume. Contrast is faultless, and color accuracy is good enough for anything, with a Delta-E of 0.54. This screen is almost wasted running black text on white backgrounds; you need to fire up Netflix or YouTube and watch some 4K HDR video just to see it shine.

Doing so will also give you a chance to appreciate the Dolby Atmos sound, which is surprisingly clear, meaty, and immersive, given the small amount of space the speakers have to work with. It grows slightly harsh at high volumes, and whomping bass is in short supply, but it's well-tuned for voice chats and conference calls and pretty good for streaming video or background music at low to medium volumes.

The front-facing webcam is the one area where the sense of first-rate quality falls slightly. Images are bright and exposure well managed even in less than perfect light conditions – the sort we're all getting now on days when the rain seems endless. However, the picture's also grainy and even blotchy at times, and not particularly sharp. It's still fine for professional calls and meetings, but fine doesn't seem quite good enough on a laptop that excels almost everywhere else.

Asus ExpertBook Ultra: Performance

Any comparisons with the Zenbook A14 end here, because where that was a fairly underpowered, energy-efficient device based on a Snapdragon X Plus processor, this is a far more performant machine based on Intel's latest Panther Lake tech. Our test sample isn't even packing the high-end Core X9 Ultra CPU, which is an available spec.

Instead, it uses the mid-range Core X7 Ultra 385H. This has four P-Cores, 8 E-Cores and another 4 low-power E-Cores running at speeds of between 1.5GHz and 4.8GHz. With the same core count, only 300Mhz separates it from the faster chip. It's also blessed with a 50 TOPS NPU and the same Arc B390 GPU as the Core Ultra X9.

Combined with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD, the Core Ultra X7 385H does a surprisingly good job of keeping up with the Core Ultra X9 388H in the Asus Zenbook Duo. In Geeekbench 6 it scores 2818 in the single-core test and 16015 in the multi-core, against 2900 and 16920 from the Asus with the higher-end chip. In PC Mark 10, it scores 6529 against the Zenbook Duo's 7213.

Only in the Cinebench R24 rendering benchmark is there much clear water between the two, with the ExpertBook scoring 122 (single-threaded) and 838 (multi-threaded) to the Zenbook Duo's 127 and 929. Given that the Zenbook Duo is one of the fastest laptops we've tested that's not pitched as a creative workstation, that's quite an impressive feat. Remember: this is an ultraportable laptop, not a powerhouse, and these scores put it comfortably ahead of AMD Ryzen AI and Qualcomm Snapdragon X-based rivals.

Also keep that in mind while we talk about the 3D performance. The ExpertBook Ultra scores 6232 in the 3DMark TimeSpy benchmark and 1142 in the more demanding Steel Nomad test. That's down from 7140 and 1343 from the Zenbook Duo, but still much faster than anything we've tested running integrated graphics bar the HP ZBook Ultra G1a with its 40 compute unit Radeon 8060S GPU. That's a proper mobile workstation, so it hardly counts as a fair fight.

With non-graphics benchmarks Panther Lake still trails the mighty M4 processor inside the current MacBook Air. However, Panther Lake comes out on top in 3D benchmarks, where the M4 scores in the region of 880-890 in the Steel Nomad benchmark.

As we've seen with the Zenbook Duo, Panther Lake does a fantastic job of balancing performance and energy efficiency. The ExpertBook Ultra confirms it. While having a large 70Wh battery plays its part, this laptop managed to survive 20 hours and 57 minutes of our video rundown test – an exceptional result for a laptop of this type. What's more, it recovers almost half its battery (49%) with a quick 30-minute recharge.

Asus ExpertBook Ultra: Is it worth it?

We've reviewed some good ExpertBook laptops before, but the Ultra takes the line to a whole new level. This laptop's built and specified to compete with the big hitters of the thin-and-light form factor; laptops like the old Dell XPS 13, HP EliteBook X, and MacBook Air. The fact that it can go toe-to-toe with any of them, even beating them in areas, shows exactly how strong this laptop is. It's a premium device with pricing to match, and so out of reach of some businesses and budgets, but if you're in the market for a high-end ultraportable the ExpertBook Ultra is up there with the best.

Asus ExpertBook Ultra specifications

By now, you might have thought Asus's 2024 Zenbook Duo would have inspired a wave of copycats. With Lenovo's slightly earlier Yoga Book 9i, it pioneered a new folding laptop form factor, with dual OLED touchscreens united by a hinge, with a physical keyboard resting on the surface of the lower screen to make it look like a standard clamshell.

Lift the keyboard off, and you reveal a second screen, which could actually be supported on the integral stand to give you two screens, one above the other. Or, if you preferred, you could flatten the screens and use them horizontally to give you a squarer, side-by-side format for productivity and entertainment. It might look like an ordinary 14in laptop, but it had the flexibility and big-screen usability of a larger desktop replacement system.

It's a smart design, and the initial Duo was a great device, slightly hamstrung by a few minor errors and the weaknesses of Intel's Meteor Lake Core Ultra architecture. Last year, Asus fixed those by switching to newer Arrow Lake H chips, and this year, we get further refinements and a shift to the brand, spanking new Panther Lake platform. The result? The Zenbook Duo folding laptop formula is pretty much perfected.

Asus Zenbook Duo (2026): Design

The new Zenbook Duo follows the design principles of the old one, but with some tangible improvements. The casing now uses the same Ceraluminium materials as we've seen on other Zenbooks, giving you a tough aluminium construction with a durable and attractive ceramic-style finish. Even in a dark grey that's more professional than exciting, it looks great.

More importantly, while the dual-screen design still works in the same way, the new Zenbook Duo comes equipped with a re-engineered 'Hideaway Hinge.' Most of the body of the hinge has been cleverly recessed inside the unit, both strengthening the join between the touchscreens and reducing the gap between the screens by 70%. This makes a surprisingly big difference when you have the two screens in the horizontal side-by-side format, as there's just 7.6mm between them rather than 25.3mm. The gap remains visible and a bit annoying if you're watching a video or working in design applications in one window spanning both screens, but it's still much more immersive. As a bonus, it makes the chassis as a whole 5% smaller.

Closed up, with the keyboard in position on the lower screen, the Zenbook Duo can still feel like an oddly chunky 14-incher, over 23mm thick and 1.65Kg in weight. Yet it's still compact and light, and unfolding the screen is still one of the coolest party tricks you've seen a laptop do. You can even use it without the keyboard, using a virtual keyboard on the bottom touchscreen, should you wish to, by tapping a shortcut in Asus's ScreenXpert applet. It's workable this way and makes the Zenbook Duo feel even more like a cutting-edge, sci-fi device, though the lack of tactile feedback takes some getting used to.

If there's a downside of the design, it's the impact on connectivity, with just two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, an HDMI port, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A. One Thunderbolt 4 port and the HDMI on the desk are unusable while the screens are in their horizontal, unfolded position. This is a slight pain if you're charging the laptop, as your only USB port will be occupied. Still, that's not much of a problem with this year's model, as we'll see later. For wireless connectivity, you can rely on Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

Asus has also made some tweaks to the keyboard module. It still sits flat on the lower screen and charges via an unobtrusive pogo pin connection, but the battery life has been boosted to give you between 11 hours and 52 hours, depending on the backlight settings. The keys are fairly flat with only the slightest indent, but the action is nice, solid, and consistent across the keyboard, with a generous 1.7mm of travel that makes it easy to type on, whether on the unit or detached.

When detached, it has a completely flat profile, which might affect your comfort if you're spending hours working, but that's sort of intrinsic to the overall design. Meanwhile, the touchpad is reasonably large, very smooth, and close to perfect in terms of sensitivity. It's also hard not to be impressed at how seamlessly the whole thing switches from a physical connection to a wireless one and back again. It only occurred to me after hours of use that I hadn't even had to think about it; it just works.

Asus Zenbook Duo (2026): Display

Having two screens already gives the Zenbook Duo an advantage. You've got so much more screen real estate than on an ordinary laptop, and both the horizontal and vertical setups are brilliant for serious multitasking. You can have a productivity app on one panel, a browser or another app in the other, and work between the two just as you might on a big desktop screen or a multi-monitor setup.

However, what really makes the difference is that both screens are fantastic. The 2880 x 1800 resolution and 144Hz max refresh rate give you a clear and stable image, aided by the usual perfect contrast of OLED tech. The SDR brightness level maxes out at a superb 489.2cdm2. Colours are wonderfully vibrant, and you can switch between Natural, Vivid, Manual, Eyecare, and E-Reader modes using the MyAsus app. The last mode simulates the muted colors and low-glare style of an e-ink screen, though you need to dim the brightness and tinker with the settings to really see the effect. You can also quickly switch between color gamuts, which is handy if you need to work in a specific color space, such as sRGB or DCI-P3.

If so, you can expect superb coverage; the top screen covers 100% of sRGB with a 162% gamut volume, 90% of Adobe RGB with a 112% volume, and 100% of DCI-P3 with a 114% volume. Color accuracy is excellent, with a Delta-E of just 0.62 in Natural mode with the color space set to sRGB. What's even more impressive is that the bottom screen is so well matched to the top, coming within 1% or 2% of the same figures across our colorimeter tests. This helps sell the impression that you're looking at a single screen.

The sense of big-screen immersion is matched by the sound. The speakers don't go incredibly loud, and there are limits to the bass it can deliver, but at low to medium-high levels, the output is first-rate, with high levels of clarity and some warmth and depth to the tone.

If there's any disappointment, it's that the 1080p Webcam, complete with Windows Hello IR capabilities, isn't quite up to the level of the rest of the device. It's OK in good lighting, but in poor or artificial light, the image can grow fuzzy or even blotchy, with an unfortunate watercolor effect.

Asus Zenbook Duo (2026): Performance

While the external improvements make this year's Zenbook Duo stronger, it's the internal changes that have the most dramatic impact. This is the first laptop we've tested with Intel's new Core Ultra X9 388H: a high-end entry in the Panther Lake family.

With four P-Cores, eight E-Cores, and four Low Power Efficient Cores, it can run 16 threads at speeds of up to 5.1Ghz, and acts as a sort of best-of-both-worlds processor, giving you the energy-efficiency and single-core performance of Lunar Lake with the improved multi-core speeds of Arrow Lake. Crucially, it also packs a 50 TOPS NPU alongside Intel's ARC B390 GPU, packing in 12 Xe3 cores, which are a step up from the Xe2 cores found in Lunar Lake.

In our test configuration, the Core Ultra X9 is backed up by 32GB of DDR5 RAM and one very speedy 2TB Samsung PCIe 5.0 SSD, with sequential read/write speeds of 7044MB/sec and 5891MB/sec. It's a potent combination. In Geekbench 6, the Zenbook Duo is one of the fastest laptops we've tested. Its scores of 2900 (single-core) and 16920 (multi-core) don't quite match those of the HP ZBook Ultra G1a with its 16-core Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (2905 and 18083), but they're impressive given that this isn't a workstation-class laptop. It's slightly ahead in multi-core performance of the Asus ProArt P16, with its 12-core Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and 64GB of RAM (2925 and 15192).

They're also significantly better results than we saw with previous-generation Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake processors. The same applies in the PC Mark 10 Modern Office benchmark, where the Zenbook Duo's score (7213) puts it ahead of any Lunar Lake benchmarks, not to mention most of the Snapdragon X and AMD competition we've seen in the last year, except the ProArt P16.

It's a similar story with more demanding tests. I don't have data for the ZBook Ultra G1a in the Cinebench 94 benchmark, but the Zenbook Duo's scores of 127 (single-core) and 929 (multi-core) are much higher than we saw with Lunar Lake devices, and while the ProArt P16 beats the multi-core performance with 117 and 1156, it's still impressive that the Core Ultra X9 388H can get so close.

It's with the GPU performance, however, that Panther Lake impresses most. Sure, the ZBook Ultra G1a is still unassailable, thanks to the 40-Core Radeon 8060S GPU built into the Ryzen AI Max+ 395. It scores 83,532 in Geekbench 6's OpenCL GPU benchmark, compared to 56817 from the Zenbook Duo. However, the latter still comes in far ahead of previous Lunar Lake laptops, the M4 MacBook Pro, and anything we've tested without a Ryzen AI Max+395 or a dedicated GPU. In the 3DMark TimeSpy and Steel Nomad benchmarks it scores 7140 and 1343 respectively. The Lenovo Yoga 9i, with its Core Ultra 7 258V Lunar Lake CPU, scored 4050 and 818.

And, just in case you're interested, the ARC B390 GPU is capable of running Doom: The Dark Ages at an average 45fps on Medium settings with a 1920 x 1080 resolution, or at 57fps with Intel's XeSS upscaling in Performance mode. That's a fantastic effort for an integrated GPU, even if you need to switch to the laptop's noisy Performance cooling mode in order to get it. Expect a racket, and a lot of hot air from the vents.

Now for the really big surprise. Given how good Lunar Lake was for battery life, we didn't expect much of an improvement from Panther Lake, especially given that it has more cores and a bigger GPU at work. Well, the massive 99Wh battery helps, but the Zenbook Duo survived an incredible 25 hours and 55 minutes of playback in our HD video rundown test with one screen active, though this dropped down to 13 hours and 28 minutes with both screens up and running. Even with two screens, you should comfortably get through most of a working day without a recharge, and the result with a single screen is extraordinary. What's more, you can recharge to 43% in 30 minutes using the 65W charger provided.

Asus Zenbook Duo (2026): Is it worth it?

With prices starting at £2299.99, the Zenbook Duo is an expensive laptop, and you're not so much paying for the performance as for the dual-screen flexibility. It's a laptop you can still fit in a bag and use as a standard clamshell effort, but that can magically transform into a big-screen productivity or creativity beast when you need one, even when you're away from your desk.

Not everyone needs this, and if you spend most of your time at one desk, then you're probably better served by a more conventional device plugged into a desktop setup with a monitor and mouse. But if you need the ability to work anywhere without compromising on screen space, the Zenbook Duo is in a class of its own. This year's design tweaks and extra processing power make this more true than ever. It's a superb, hugely versatile machine.

Asus Zenbook Duo (2026) specifications

Lenovo has taken another shot at its rollable screen laptop concept, with a highly polished version being unveiled at CES 2026.

Ahead of its keynote presentation inside the Las Vegas Sphere, Lenovo presented its latest rollable screen laptop, the ThinkPad XD, as part of a host of new models being launched at the show.

Unlike its previous concepts, the rolling screen on the ThinkPad XD is more refined, studier, and also a dual display, with a half screen on the lid.

The lid displays notifications and widgets. As the front screen extends up, so too does the display on the lid. The bottom half, however, is transparent, with gears and motors on show, which looks impressive up close but slightly like a screen bleed when viewed from afar.

To activate the screen extension, you must first tap the very top of the display. Then, slowly swipe your finger from the right-hand corner inwards. It takes roughly 30 seconds to reach full height, and the same swipe action takes the screen back down. You can also activate a 'mirror mode' so that you can control the extension from the opposite side of the display.

Unfortunately, the ThinkPad XD is still just a concept with no set plan for a full release. But looking back at the prototype revealed at MWC 2023, you can see that this XD model has greatly improved. The fact that it wraps around onto the lid is a promising sign, which follows the capabilities of foldable phones.

There are also some voice controls on the ThinkPad XD, where you can ask the device to open. These come from another former Lenovo concept that is now being pushed out as a fully formed product: the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist.

Despite being a bit of a wordy name, 'Auto Twist' is near enough the concept in a nutshell. A laptop that works on voice commands with a screen that rotates. The display sits on a dual rotational hinge (first of its kind, according to Lenovo) and features face tracking technology, so the screen follows a face, though you need to lock onto a subject with its touchscreen control.

With its voice control, you can ask it to close the lid, rotate the screen into tablet mode, and also revert it back to its normal laptop form. However, to open the device, you can simply knock on the lid, like you would someone's front door, and it automatically opens the laptop. This was previously a concept, but it is now going into "mass production", according to Lenovo.

The XD concept and the Gen 7 Auto Twist were to most eye-catching of its ThinkBook and ThinkPad announcements. Though worth keeping an eye out for an all-new ThinkPad X9-15p; this is aimed at people new to the brand and features 'Smart Modes' that help with navigation and workflow.

There were also new Yoga Aura Edition models, Think Centre PCs, and an AIO i 32in PC with a transparent bottom bezel.

When it comes to naming devices, hardware vendors generally use either 'Pro' or 'Ultra' to indicate the most premium model. And it's the latter for Asus and its all-new ExpertBook Ultra, unveiled at CES 2026.

As part of a wider refresh of its main brands (Zenbook, VivoBook, ProArt, and ROG), the ExpertBook Ultra replaces the B9 as the top commercial offering from Asus. And as the name suggests, it's a laptop with all the best specs the hardware giant can offer; it's ultra durable, ultra fast, ultra cool, and ultra reliable (according to Asus, that is).

Toughness is one of the main selling points here. The Ultra is made for modern work and the wear and tear of doing your job in different places. The lid and chassis are scratch-resistant, protecting it from the kind of damage you get from repeatedly taking it in and out of a rucksack. The keys have an anti-smudge layer. The screen is protected with Gorilla Glass Victus. One gets the sense that Asus is challenging you to leave a mark on your work machine. Its confidence, no doubt, comes from the extensive US military grade testing the Ultra has been through.

As a notebook, the ExpertBook Ultra is as beautiful, slender, and light as anything we've seen – the keyboard section almost looks like it's a piece of paper. The whole unit weighs under 1kg and is only 11mm thick. Amazingly, it still has room to fit in plenty of connection options; you have a Thunderbolt USB Type-C and USB-A on both sides of the device, plus an HDMI 2.1 and headphone jack.

The screen, which is a Samsung-made panel, is a pretty 3K tandem OLED touchscreen with up to 120Hz refresh rate. The panel can hit 1400 nits of HDR brightness, according to Asus, and has a Corning Gorilla-made Matte finish.

Asus ExpertBook Ultra: Performance

Under the hood, the ExpertBook Ultra houses an Intel Core Ultra X9 388H chip With 50 TOPS AI performance. This can be paired with up to 64GB of RAM (LPDDR5X). The X9 is a 16-core SoC that's part of the Panther Lake family, with the top model supporting Xe3 GPU cores.

With all that power inside its thin chassis, one would expect the Ultra to be both hot and noisy, but Asus has built a laptop that is neither. It uses an 'ExpertCool Pro' system to manage heat dissipation, and the build also manages to reduce noise. According to Asus, it is ultra quiet, with as little as 35 decibels in balance mode and 22 in whisper mode.

The Ultra has a 70Wh battery that can last around 24 hours, according to Asus. That would put it alongside the HP OmniBook 5 and the M5 MacBook Pro, but we won't know exactly how long it lasts until we get a review unit in. Same for the charger, which Asus suggests can go from 0% to 50% within 30 minutes.

The ExpertBook Ultra, launched at CES 2026, will be available later in the year.

Ahead of CES 2026, HP gave ITPro the chance to try out its new EliteBook X G2i notebook. There are three versions of the X G2i notebook: a Flip model and two clamshells with different configurations. Here we have the lightweight configuration of the clamshell, which came in 'Atmospheric Blue'.

This is a prototype and HP has asked that no benchmarks be published. As such, this review will offer an opinion on its design and performance; we will base the latter on our in-house test results without mentioning the specific benchmarks.

HP EliteBook X G2i 14in: Design

The lightweight clamshell model of X G2i is undeniably beautiful. It's a sleek unit, finished in navy, with a few understated logos dotted around – nothing, aside from the HP icon on the lid, pulls focus. Even the extravagant 'EliteBook X' branding is kept in an unobtrusive position, under the keyboard.

Remote and hybrid work has clearly influenced the design, as it weighs just 999g. It can be carried effortlessly in one hand, pulled out of a rucksack with absolutely no resistance, and even opened up with one hand.

What's more, as an HP device you know sustainability is prioritised and the G2i has been made with around 90% recycled magnesium. Recycled plastics have also been used in the bezels and keyboard, which is top-mounted for easy access should it need replacing.

HP EliteBook X G2i 14in: Display, keyboard, and trackpad

The X G2i has a 14in, 3K OLED display, with a 2880 x 1800 resolution and a smooth 120Hz with Anti-Glare technology. The whole device has around a 90.08% screen-to-body ratio, with very thin bezels encasing the display.

There will be some bugs or improvements to come once the production model is released but we have to say that, based on our experience with the prototype, the screen is bang on the money. With our colorimeter, the X G2i showcased some impressive scores, particularly for gamut color coverage and Adobe sRGB – both of which were higher than HP's tests had suggested. The panel is also very bright – HP says it can reach 500 nits, which is close to what our in-house tests reached.

There is a redesigned keyboard with deeper, more comfortable keycaps and, according to HP, enlarged keys "where it matters". To be honest, that description suggests there are massive, unusually sized keys, but that isn't the case. Everything looks as it should, though the keys are over all much larger than one would find on an equivalent MacBook or XPS. We found it to be really great for typing, very comfortable, with punchy keys that have plenty of travel. Similarly, the large haptic trackpad is also a delight: it's smooth, expansive, and has a satisfying click action.

HP EliteBook X G2i 14in: Specs and performance

Inside the HP EliteBook X 14 is an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H chip that clocks at 1.90GHz. Our prototype unit has 32GB of RAM, though the lightweight configuration can have 24GB RAM and up to 1TB of storage.

The G2i is fun to use, great for editing photos, responding to emails, and maintaining a website – by which we mean nothing really pushed its processor too hard and it handled all we could throw at it with barely a hum of distress.

In our looped video test, the X G2i's 56Wh polymer battery lasted fairly well. While we can't specify how long, we can say it doesn't disappoint and in day-to-day use it lasted well beyond the average work day. It isn't in the same league as HP's OmniBook 5 but once again this is a prototype, so that might change on full release.

Feature-wise, the G2i is stocked with some nice capabilities, such as Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. You also have a 5MP webcam with AI Presence Detection and voice enhancement, both of which work really well.

For ports, there is a nice balance, with three USB-C ports (two on the left, one on the right), and one USB-A (on the right). There's also a security lock slot, an HDMI 2.121, and an optional SIM card slot. What more could you want? A headphone/mic combo jack? Well, it has that too.

HP EliteBook X G2i 14in: Is it worth it?

It is both fantastic and frustrating to have the opportunity to use a prototype before its full release and we thank HP for the opportunity. We really need a full set of benchmarks to recommend any device but we can't help but be excited for the G2i.

At face value, it's gorgeous, it's super light, the keyboard is satisfying, and the OLED display is superb. Of all the lightweight notebooks we've seen at CES, this is one of the best and one to keep an eye out for later in the year.

HP EliteBook X G2i 14in specifications

Dell's XPS brand of laptops is back by popular demand, less than a year after the company shelved the name in favour of more AI-focused monikers.

Jeff Clarke, chief operating officer at Dell Technologies, revealed three new models of XPS were coming back, with the brand taking a central position in the company's laptop offerings. As such, the XPS will be restored as a consumer-focused brand, rather than the commercial one it was originally.

As for why, Clarke said that "branding matters" and that the company had "listened" to its customers, essentially, bringing the XPS brand back from the dead by popular demand.

At CES 2025, almost a year to the day, Dell announced it was killing off the XPS brand, along with Latitude, Inspiron, and Precision. In their place came the 'Pro' and 'Pro Max' models – a move that was designed to simplify shopping, giving customers an easier way to differentiate between entry and premium tier laptops.

The all-new XPS will come in 14in, 16in, and 13in – a model that wasn't a thing 90 days prior to the announcement, according to Clarke. Though it does match the 2024 lineup of 13in, 14in, and 17in models.

Both the 14in and 16in models have Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors and built-in Intel Arc graphics with 12 Xe cores. Dell suggests that the XPS 14 and XPS 16 can deliver up to 57% and 78% faster AI performance than previous XPS models.

They include a completely redesigned thermal system to support the claimed performance with fans Dell describes as both its "largest and thinnest yet". As a whole, both the 14in and 16in models are its thinnest, measuring just 14.6mm.

What does this mean for AI PCs?

AI PCs have become ubiquitous over the last two years, fueled by the demand for on-device generative AI tools and the higher spec requirements of Windows 11. CES 2026 has still seen a raft of AI-focused laptops, but there is slightly less emphasis on the AI capabilities.

It isn't the end of AI PCs, as such, but Dell's decision to bring back the XPS is perhaps an admission that the general public is starting to get fed up with the terminology and the naming conventions.

Although it could also be seen as Dell rolling out the greatest hits, especially as it is so very different from what its competitors have launched at CES.

There was no mention of the Pro and Pro Max brands and very little mention of AI in its presentation. HP, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer, however, all came to CES 2026 with AI-named products, such as the HP EliteBoard AI mini PC and the Acer Swift 14 AI.

We don't all need a bright, vibrant display. For many office workers, the job is just about email and spreadsheets. Graphs and analytics. The input of data. That requires a laptop with a decent processor and a long battery life. And that is where HP's ProBook 4 G1a presents itself as a reliable, yet affordable business notebook.

HP has refreshed the ProBook series with both AMD and Intel processors; our review unit came with the AMD Ryzen 7 250 and Radeon 780m graphics and a few new AI capabilities (as all laptops apparently do, nowadays). There are 16in models, but we have the 14in one, which will set you back around $1199 (£948).

HP ProBook 4 G1a: Design

The HP ProBook 4 doesn't push any boundaries with its design. We would describe it as professional and smart, if not particularly flashy or memorable. It isn't for the front-of-house, but it is suitable for your average office desk.

Lots of plastic has been used in the making of this device, but it's HP, so you know that's been sustainably sourced. It feels sturdy around the keyboard and underside, but the lid will flex under the slightest pressure. There is also a slight rattle to the underside when tapped.

It is fair to say the ProBook is better to look at than touch, with a couple of nice signatures, such as the Poly logo by the left-hand ports, and the 'ProBook' label under the left side of the keyboard. The power button and fingerprint sensors are two different buttons on the ProBook, with the latter down below the right-hand side of the keyboard.

At 1.40kg, the ProBook is not particularly heavy, easy enough to carry one-handed from room to room. And the device is just 17mm when closed, which is about standard for a budget work machine, though if we consider ports, this is quite impressive. You have two USB Type-C slots for charging and data transfer. Two USB Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 slot, a headphone jack, an Ethernet port, and an optional Nano SIM card slot, as well as an integrated security lock slot. All in all, it's a very busy set of sides on the chassis, though despite the amount of options, there's no room for Thunderbolt 4 here.

HP ProBook 4 G1a: Display, keyboard, and trackpad

Display benchmarks for the ProBook 4 1Ga are underwhelming, to say the least, but it isn't really for that. This is not a screen for any kind of graphic or color work. This is a 14in WUXGA LCD panel that can barely stream a movie. The touchscreen element is good, but it could have done with a refresh rate higher than 60Hz.

With our colorimeter, it registered a measly 53.8% for sRGB gamut color coverage. And its peak brightness was a rather modest 311.77cd/m2 – though we found it to be adequate under reasonably bright conditions.

With the largely plastic chassis, you have a rubbery feeling keyboard; this is a standard HP keyboard, according to the company. Though it does have a spill-resistant, 'durakey' layer. Overall, typing on the HP ProBook is fine, with decent travel and a nice rattly sound as you type.

The trackpad is not great as it's small and stiff to click. And the cursor oddly goes missing on some applications – like Google Docs, where you have to half-guess where it is. It does have a scroll function, which works well, and some other minor smart functions. But overall, it could be better.

HP ProBook 4 G1a: Specs and performance

Inside our ProBook review unit is an AMD Ryzen 7 250 chip, which is part of AMD's 200 series that uses the Hawk Point refresh core. It features eight cores and sixteen threads. Our model came with the top memory spec of 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, which enables the machine to handle multiple applications and large files easily.

The Ryzen 7 250 is one of the middle-tier chips in the Ryzen 200 series. It offers efficient AI acceleration and good general performance. You only have 16 TOPS with its NPU, which is sufficient for local AI tasks, like image enhancement and your basic translation features. But it sits in a weird category where it is AI-capable but not exactly fully AI-native – it doesn't meet Microsoft's Copilot+ certification threshold, for example.

In Geekbench 6, the ProBook hit 1921 on single-core tasks and 8093 for multi-core, which is pretty good for the price. It also lasted 10hrs, 18mins looped video test, which is OK. The test is purposely intensive, and in real-life use, the ProBook lasts a full workday. Heavy video editing (which you wouldn't really do on this) drains the battery before lunch.

HP ProBook 4 G1a: Is it worth it?

This is a no-frills laptop, with a lot of its appeal tied up in being durable, reliable, and affordable. The AI capabilities are low, the battery is merely OK, and the display is not worth mentioning. But it does look good, runs smoothly, and does offer a decent typing experience.

If you have an office full of people needing affordable machines that don't scratch easily, have all the juice their workloads need, the ProBook 4 is a great option. It's not exactly fun, but it is a serious business machine.

HP ProBook 4 G1a specifications

Where the first Copilot+ PCs were predominantly thin-and-light laptops, we're now seeing Microsoft's AI technology arrive in a wider range of devices. Take the new Asus ExpertBook P3. This is very much your no-fuss business workhorse aimed less at mobile users, more at deskbound workers needing something capable and comfortable to get through the working day. Portability and energy efficiency still matter, but maybe not as much as solid ergonomics and an all-around ability to get things done. And with the potential to handle new AI applications as they roll out across the enterprise.

The ExpertBook P3 has a lot going for it in this scenario. It might not be showy, super-speedy, or in possession of an awesome screen, but it's thoroughly usable in nearly every way, and doesn't come with any serious gotchas.

Asus ExpertBook P3 (PM3606): Design

With its 358 x 254mm footprint and 16in 16:10 aspect ratio screen, the ExpertBook P3 is an imposing presence on your desktop when open. And at up to 1.8cm thick, a bit of a slab when closed. Though the curved edges and wedge-shaped profile help minimise the bulk. Its dark grey metallic shell is best described as businesslike, but in a way that's going to look good – and certainly not cheap – in meeting rooms or on hot desks in the office. At 1.74Kg it's heavy but not painfully so. It's actually quite comfortable and well-balanced if used sitting on your lap, which can't always be said for some thinner, lighter models.

Asus claims that 22% of the laptop is built from sustainable materials, though it doesn't specify exactly what that means. It meets MIL-STD-810H standards for durability and features a spill-resistant keyboard.

The majority of the ports are concentrated on the left-hand edge of the laptop, with two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port, an HDMI 2.1 output, and a headphone socket. You'll need one of the USB-C ports for charging, which makes it a minor nuisance that there isn't one on the right-hand side. Instead, you have a second USB-A port plus a pull-down RJ45 port for a Gigabit Ethernet connection. The latter is becoming rare on laptops, and can make a laptop more convenient and plug-and-play in an office setup, or even a home office setup if you prefer wired connectivity. If you don't, you have Wi-Fi 7 for compatibility with the latest routers, plus Bluetooth 5.4 for wireless mice and headsets. In short, you have all your basic needs well covered.

It's mostly good news with the keyboard. It has a numeric pad and a power button in the top-right corner that doubles as a fingerprint reader. The action would shame many premium laptops; it's firm, with a clear actuation and a quick response when you release the key. However, the layout looks and feels a little busy, with not enough delineation between the main keypad and the numeric pad and navigation keys, and the positioning of the touchpad left of centre takes an hour or two to get used to. At first, you might find yourself leaving typos because you're hitting the wrong key. With time, the layout makes sense, and the hand positions help keep your fingers over the main keypad, where they should be. But there is an adjustment period. It would also be great to see wider Shift and Ctrl keys on the left-hand side.

Size is the big strength of the touchpad. Measuring a massive 150 x 98mm it gives you a huge amount of space for accurate tracking and selections, with a smooth and sensitive surface to help. The downside of such a large touchpad is that you can find yourself activating it inadvertently, but in practice, this didn't seem to happen with the ExpertBook 3. It just worked reliably in every situation.

Asus ExpertBook P3: Display

We often lambast business-focused laptops for having dull or mediocre screens, and the ExpertBook P3 has some of the negative qualities we talk about. It's bright enough for use in most conditions with an anti-reflective matte surface, but hardly eye-popping or punchy with a maximum brightness of 317.9cd/m2. Its 1288.6:1 contrast gives you clear black text on white or light backgrounds, but the screen doesn't look ultra-sharp, probably because the 1920 x 1200 resolution is about as low as you can go on a screen this size. Worst of all, color reproduction is disappointing, with only 66% coverage of the sRGB gamut and 47.1% of DCI-P3. Color accuracy isn't quite where it needs to be for professional design work. The average Delta-E is 0.246.

All the same, color performance isn't such a big deal when you're mostly working in customer management, sales, or productivity applications, and the lack of glare and medium brightness levels make for a comfortable working experience, even when your day extends beyond the usual nine-to-five.

Above the screen sits a 1080p webcam with an IR sensor, giving you Windows Hello face authentication on top of the fingerprint reader in the keyboard. This works quickly and reliably for sign-in, but the camera doesn't have a whole lot going for it elsewhere. It's fine in daylight, but presents muted and even washed-out colours in dimmer artificial light, and the image isn't particularly crisp or clear.

While this is a business laptop, that hasn't stopped Asus fitting a speaker system from high-end audio specialists Dirac. It's reasonably powerful and capable of reaching high volumes, with a wider than average stereo spread. Yet while the output has more weight than most laptop audio, it's not quite as clear or detailed as the sound from some big-screen premium or gaming models. It's better for meetings and streaming than it is for music, though fine for background listening at lower volume settings.

Asus ExpertBook P3: Specs and performance

The ExpertBook P3 comes with a choice of AMD Ryzen AI 5 330 and Ryzen AI 7 350 processors, along with 16GB or 32GB with DDR5 RAM. The Ryzen AI 7 350 on our review sample has eight cores running 16 threads at speeds of up to 5GHz, with an integrated 8-core Radeon 860M GPU and a 50 TOPS NPU. Combined with 32GB of RAM, it's a good, solid platform for mainstream productivity apps or just about anything else, barring high-end 3D rendering or video work.

The ExpertBook's Geekbench 6 scores of 2659 (single-core) and 11004 (multi-core) put it ahead of Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 200-based competitors like the Acer Swift 16 AI. The latter scored 2723 and 10612 in the same tests. However, the Acer Aspire Vero 16 (2025) and Asus Zenbook S16 are faster still, scoring 2767/14800 and 2782/13508, respectively. In PC Mark 10, the ExperBook scores 7120, compared to 6782 from the Swift, 7450 from the Vero, and 7220 from the Zenbook S16. It's fast, but no speed demon.

Much the same story plays out in our more demanding 3D rendering benchmarks, where the ExpertBook scores 115 in Cinebench 2024's single-core test and 784 for multi-core performance. That's slightly ahead of the Aspire Vero 16 (120/770) and leagues ahead of the Swift 16 AI (120/510), but not quite up there with the Zenbook S16 (112/877). All in all, we're talking strong rather than stellar multi-core speeds.

When it comes to GPU performance, the Radeon 860M GPU is a little underpowered. It scores 1875 in the 3D Mark TimeSpy test against 3711 from the Aspire Vero 16 and 4139 from the Swift 16 AI, and 3725 from the Zenbook S16. Still, that's not a problem where you're not running intensive creative applications or trying to power modern console-class games.

Asus has fitted a hefty 70Wh battery inside the ExpertBook P3, and it's enough to keep it running for 16 hours and 27 minutes in our looping video battery rundown test with the screen set to a brightness level of 170cd/m2. That's not as stellar a result as the seventeen hours plus we saw with the Aspire Vero 16, but it's competitive with other 16-inchers like the Swift 16 AI and Zenbook S16. In practice, with the brightness ramped up, the ExpertBook P3 could get me through a working day without a recharge, though you wouldn't want to take it away on a trip without packing the charger.

Asus ExpertBook P3: Is it worth it?

The ExpertBook P3 has its weaknesses, but it's generally a great business all-rounder, highly usable with solid all-day comfort and enough performance for most working scenarios. In some ways, the Acer Vero 16 is stronger, with a brighter screen and better colour reproduction, not to mention a slightly faster CPU. Yet the Asus will be a better option for some buyers, either because they prefer the robust metallic shell to the Acer's more quirky recycled plastics, or because they're looking for a laptop with AI potential, where the 50 TOPS NPU in the Ryzen AI 7 processor has the advantage over the 13 TOPS NPU in the Vero 16's Core Ultra 7 255H.

Either model is a great professional laptop, so it's more a question of budget, requirements, and style, but if you're in the market for a future-ready, big-screen business device, this is one of the best we've seen.

Asus ExpertBook P3 (PM3606) specifications

As the middle child in Dell's Pro Max line-up, the Pro Max 16 Plus marks the point where true workstation performance begins. Intel's Arrow Lake HX processors up the core count, RAM capacity soars up to 128GB, and you can take your pick of Nvidia's RTX Pro GPUs all the way up to the high-end RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell.

But first, it's worth clarifying that there are really only two no-compromise workstations in Dell's new Pro Max line-up: the Pro Max 16 Plus and the Pro Max 18 Plus. And by no-compromise, we mean top-end CPUs matched with high-end discrete GPUs.

For reference, the Pro Max 16 Premium is not an upgraded version of the Plus – it's a slimmer, lighter 16-inch model which uses lower-wattage CPUs and GPUs to match. Just like the smaller Pro Max 14 Premium, it's limited to lower-wattage Arrow Lake-H processors and Nvidia's RTX Pro 2000 chips and below.

If it's ultimate mobile power that you seek, and you have the IT budget to suit, the Pro Max 16 Plus is the model you should be looking at.

Dell Pro Max 16 Plus: Specifications

Dell's marketing for the Pro Max 16 Plus includes the phrase "exceptionally scalable performance", and while it sounds like hyperbole, it's actually spot on. Depending on how much money you can afford to throw at the specification, the Pro Max 16 Plus can be anything from a modestly powerful 16-inch laptop to a money-no-object high-end mobile workstation.

Click the Customise button on Dell's website and, at the time of writing, the base specification costs a mere £1,402.40. That gets you a Core Ultra 5 245HX CPU replete with 14 cores, 16GB of memory on a single DDR5 CSODIMM (one slot left helpfully unoccupied), a 256GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD, and a very basic 1,920 x 1,200 display with ~60% sRGB coverage and 300cd/m2 peak brightness. You don't have to have Windows 11 Pro installed, either. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS will knock £101 off the price.

The appeal, even at this level, however, is upgradability – buy a basic model and you can upgrade the RAM and SSD yourself. You don't even have to settle for a single SSD – you can specify up to three pre-installed PCIe drives, and take your pick from Gen 4 and Gen 5 models. The base models come with dual CSODIMM slots, or if you're dead set on CAMM2, you can shell out £500 for the 64GB CAMM2 upgrade. You can fit your own WWAN card, too, or the Qualcomm Snapdragon X72 5G module is an extra £190.

If a discrete GPU is essential, then there's the choice of five Nvidia RTX Pro variants. The 8GB RTX Pro 1000 (+£434), 8GB RTX Pro 2000 (+£589), 12GB RTX Pro 3000 (+£1,112), 16GB RTX Pro 4000 (+£1,593), or the 24GB RTX Pro 5000 (+£2,668). If you wait patiently until later in the year, Dell will also be offering the option to swap the discrete GPU for Qualcomm's 64GB AI 100 accelerator, which opens the door to even larger AI models.

Once you set your sights on the no-compromise high-end, the price swiftly soars to terrifying levels. Our £7,170 review unit upgraded the base model with a Core 9 Ultra 285HX (+£470), 128GB of LPCAMM2 memory (+£1,456), a 2TB PCIe Gen 5 SSD (+£320), an RTX Pro 5000 (+£2,668), and the 4K OLED touchscreen (+£435). The higher specifications also require an upgraded PSU – going from the standard 165W to the uprated 280W adapter is £27.

Dell Pro Max 16 Plus: Design and connectivity

Readers will be unsurprised to hear that the Pro Max 16 Plus is a chunky lump of a laptop. If you're expecting staff to carry it around on a regular basis, you may want to ensure they have suitable health cover. This isn't a laptop you'll want to transport on a regular commute.

The total weight is over 3.5kg: the laptop weighs 2.88kg, and you'll need to add a further 652g for the 280W AC adapter if you opt for one of the faster CPU/GPU combinations. Dimensions are anything but slimline, too: with the optional quick access bottom door, you're looking at a laptop that's 31mm thick, and has a 36cm by 26cm footprint.

The body is all plastic, but it's tough and stiff in all the right places. It feels like a laptop that's been built to last. The display hinges are taut, and while there's a little flex in the display, there's not much – and in any case, the thickness of the lid and display assembly looks like it could take a few knocks. The base is really solid-feeling. It's only once you really shove on the keyboard deck that you can get it to shift a couple of millimetres up and down.

As you'd hope for a 16-inch laptop, connectivity is superb. The left flank provides drop-jaw 2.5GbE Ethernet, HDMI 2.1, two USB-C Thunderbolt 5 ports, a full-sized SD card slot, and a smart card reader (this is optional). Turn to the right-hand flank and you've got two 5Gbps USB-A ports, a single USB-C Thunderbolt 4 port, a 3.5mm headset port, and a lock slot. Wireless connectivity relies on the Intel BE200 card, which provides both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity. Bluetooth is optional, however.

There's an enthusiastic nod towards upgradability and repairability, too. Opt for the quick access bottom door option (+£13), and removing a single screw and sliding a latch sees the front part of the base slide off. Once inside, you can access the 96Wh battery, the three M.2 2280 PCIe slots, and, for our review unit, the LPCAMM RAM module.

The rear part of the panel is held on by another five screws – three captive, two removable – and this then unclips with a tiny bit of persuasion. That done, you'll gain access to the CPU, GPU, Wi-Fi card, WWAN slot, and mainboard and fan assemblies. Interestingly, Dell has used its proprietary DGFF (Dell Graphics Form Factor) for the GPU, so there is the potential to repair or replace the GPU in the future – as long as Dell maintains supply of the compatible parts, that is.

The webcam could be better. Our review unit had the upgraded 8MP HDR camera with IR sensor, but it's not as good as the similarly rated sensor in the Pro Max 14 Premium. There's dramatically more noise, and color reproduction is muted by comparison. It's acceptable for video calls, but not impressive. Depending on the main display option you choose, however, you may have to settle for the basic 1080P camera – you can't choose the camera assembly separately from the display.

The speakers are mediocre. Although you'd expect the larger chassis to provide enough room for some decent drivers, Dell has skimped here – the smaller Pro Max 14 Premium sounds vastly better. There's very little body to the sound, no lower midrange of bass to speak of, and the result is unpleasantly thin, scratchy-sounding audio. Listening to background music is not a pleasurable experience.

Dell Pro Max 16 Plus: Keyboard and touchpad

It's the Pro Max 16 Plus ergonomics that are likely to be most divisive. The Pro Max 16 Plus model doesn't just swap out the Pro Max 16 Premium model's slim metal chassis for a thick plastic one – it also swaps in a chiclet keyboard with a numeric keypad. Dell describes it as a "spacious" keyboard. Given the opportunity, we suspect some buyers may use stronger language to describe it.

For some people, the numeric keypad will be a huge plus point. Spreadsheet fans and data jockeys rejoice. Typists, however, will be less enamoured as it makes for a markedly more cramped layout.

The right shift, backspace, and Enter keys are narrowed to squeeze in the keypad, and while the wide channels between each key help to minimise typos, you'll have to take a fair bit of time to acclimatise to the abbreviated keys on the right-hand flank. Even after several weeks with the laptop, we still found ourselves bashing the numeric keypad when we meant to hit Enter or Backspace. The left-of-centre positioning is annoying, too, regardless of your political persuasion.

This isn't bad-tempered kvetching: there's no two ways around it. The keycaps are small. The main keyboard is markedly narrower than that of Dell's 13-inch and 14-inch laptops, and the small keys and off-centre position are less than ideal. It may be acceptable for precise typists with average-sized hands – but we suspect it'll be disliked by many users.

The Plus also loses the slick haptic touchpad from the Premium models, but this has a minimal impact by comparison. The large mechanical pad worked fine in our time with the Plus, and the deep expanse of wrist rest on either side gives plenty of space to quite literally rest your wrists, too.

Dell Pro Max 16 Plus: Display

Thankfully, the touchscreen OLED option is a delight. The glossy coating does an outstanding job of controlling glare from bright light sources, and subjectively, it looks stunning from the off. The 16:10 ratio panel provides a crisp, large desktop, and the 3,840 x 2,400 resolution makes for pin-sharp text and image detail. The 120Hz refresh rate does its bit to keep applications feeling slick and silky smooth, too.

Color accuracy is absolutely top-notch. In our tests, the panel reproduced 98% of DCI-P3 and 88% of the Adobe RGB colour gamut. Tested against a Display P3 target, the Dell achieved an average Delta E of 0.5. The report was one of the best we've seen on a laptop in recent memory. Peak brightness in SDR reached 527cd/m2, and both gamma and greyscale tracking were nearly perfect. It's definitely worth the £428 premium over and above the most basic panel.

HDR performance is excellent, too. It easily lives up to its DisplayHDR 1000 True Black certification with peak brightness of well over the 1,000cd/m2 mark. We recorded a peak brightness of 1,088cd/m2 on a 2% window, and impressively, it maintained this brightness all the way up to a 10% window before tailing off steadily.

Dell Pro Max 16 Plus: Performance

It's here where the larger chassis begins to pay dividends. Dell draws attention to the triple fans and vapor chamber cooling for the GPU, and this promises the ability to go some way towards taming the prodigious combined 300W+ TDP of high-end Arrow Lake CPU and Nvidia RTX GPU pairings. Well, almost, as we'll discuss shortly.

With the 24-core Core UItra 9 285HX at the helm, it's no surprise to find that the Pro Max 16 Plus leaves most of the smaller competitors that we've reviewed recently in the dust. Single-core performance is up to 9% ahead of the Core Ultra 7 285H in the Dell Pro Max 14 Premium, and the 285HX's increased core count – 24 to the 285H's 16 – sees it pull 23% in Geekbench 6 and 77% ahead in Cinebench 2024. All fairly predictable given the higher TDP and core count.

The presence of the RTX Pro 5000 pushes GPU performance sky high, too. The huge increases in memory bandwidth and processing power over lesser GPUs are clear to see. In our usual Geekbench 6 Open CL tests, the RTX Pro 5000 was a mere 70% faster than the RTX Pro 1000 in Dell's Pro Max 14 Premium, but 3DMark's various tests saw it stretch its legs and open up a 2.5x to 3x performance increase.

The more interesting question here is whether the Pro Max 16 Plus's thermal design is capable of getting maximum performance from the fastest Intel and Nvidia chips. Going by our testing, that's asking a little too much of a 16-inch laptop. Or at least it is once you start eyeing up the fastest and most power-hungry hardware combinations – such as the top-end CPU and GPU pairing we have here.

Tested in isolation, both the CPU and GPU perform well. Tax the CPU with Cinebench 2024's multi-core test, and it boosts up to between 130W and 155W for about 20 seconds

before dropping back to 110W and steadily dropping the power down to 100W or so to keep temperatures under 105C. Two minutes later you're down to around 92W and temperature settles down to ~90C.

Similarly, if you leave the CPU idle and push the RTX Pro 5000 to 99% usage, then the Dell ramps up the fans. The GPU's maximum TDP reaches 175W on paper, but we saw it topping out at around 150W initially with temperatures hovering around 80C.

Push both CPU and GPU hard together, however, and the Pro Max 16 Plus simply couldn't keep both working to their potential. In instances where the GPU was working flat out, we noted that the CPU had a tendency to throttle itself down to around a 30W to 40W TDP and stay there until the GPU usage dropped.

As is the way of things, two firmware updates arrived during our testing. The second of these seemed to address some of the throttling behaviours we noted with the previous firmware. After this update, however, the RTX Pro 5000 started boosting momentarily as high as 200W, and settled on a steady 160-165W on flat-out GPU-only workloads. The CPU, too, now boosted up to its maximum 160W TDP for a few seconds before settling down to around 90 watts for extended all-core CPU only workloads. Dell is clearly still ironing out the wrinkles, so it'll be interesting to see if any further firmware updates make any major changes before we return the unit.

By the looks of things, Dell is aiming at a sustained 180W TDP for both CPU and GPU. This seems like a sensible decision by Dell to balance performance with usability. Firstly, no matter how hard you push it, the surface temperatures of the laptop remain sensible. Underneath the laptop gets warm towards the rear, but not so much so that you couldn't feasibly have it on your lap, and similarly, the keyboard doesn't get more than slightly warm. As the fans eject most of the hot air up from the vents between the display hinges, it's the bottom bezel of the screen that gets warmest.

It's not even horribly loud, either. Working flat out, the fans spin up to create a very audible whoosh of air. It's not horribly irksome, though, even at full bore. It reaches around 43db from half a metre away, and the only potential annoyance is that there's a very faint high-pitched whine to our ears -- our audio analyser app showed small spikes around 15 and 20khz. Younger ears are more likely to find these intrusive or prominent.

It's no surprise to find that battery life is very poor. The 96Wh battery is probably best thought of as a handy integrated UPS rather than anything else. With screen brightness dimmed down to 170cd/m2 and wireless radios disabled, even our very lightweight video rundown test only lasted for 5 hours and 18 minutes. It's possible that you might be able to squeeze out a little more stamina with some judicious tweaking of settings, but start pushing the CPU and GPU even lightly, and you'll be looking at a couple of hours. And probably a lot less.

Dell Pro Max 16 Plus: Is it worth it?

By this point in the review, you've already decided if you're going to buy this laptop. Most of the negative points are inherent to the 16-inch workstation form factor – size, weight, battery life – and the only real standout issue for many users that remains is the keyboard. If you're the type of user who needs a numeric keypad, then you'll be more forgiving. If you're not, it may be a deal breaker.

It's a shame because there are so many good points to appreciate here. The broad customisability makes for a mobile workstation that can be tailored to suit a wide range of applications, workloads, and IT budgets. It stops frustratingly short of brilliance, but if it ticks the right boxes for your business, the Dell Pro Max 16 Plus may be the semi-portable powerhouse you were looking for.

Dell Pro Max 16 Plus specifications

If one were to posit the perfect combination for a business laptop, there are worse places to start than with a reasonably powerful but very efficient chipset. Take, for example, the 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100. A high-capacity battery with around 84Wh of juice and a price tag between £600 and £700, depending on which options you've ticked.

Happily, that's exactly what Lenovo has delivered in the form of its new ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 16-inch laptop, which is a well-made general-purpose laptop with more than adequate performance for basic tasks, a battery life so long that a full charge will outlast the average mayfly, and a price tag that won't overly lighten your wallet in these straitened times.

Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7: Design

The ThinkBook 16 is made largely from plastic, the only metal in evidence being the back of the lid. Nevertheless, it all feels impressively rigid and solid, with no flex discernible in the main body and very little in the lid.

At just over 1.8Kg the ThinkBook isn't remarkably light, and at 16.7mm, it's not unusually slim either. The design is typical Lenovo ThinkBook: smart and clean, if just a tad generic. The Lenovo and ThinkBook badging on the palmwrest and lid is restrained but still easy to discern.

There's only one colorway, a dark silvery-grey affair that Lenovo calls Luna Grey. The slightly matte paint finish doesn't show fingerprints, which in our opinion is far more important than the underlying aesthetics. The lid can rotate back through 180 degrees, and the lip that houses the webcam assembly means you can easily open it with just one finger of one hand.

The ThinkBook 16 has a decent selection of ports with two 10Gbps Type-C ports on the left and two 5Gbps USB-A ports on the right. Next to the Type-Cs, which both support DisplayPort video output, you'll find an HDMI 2.1 video feed and a 3.5mm audio jack, while next to the brace of Type-As is an SD card reader and Kensington nano lock.

Snapdragon-powered ThinkBook 16s lacks the RJ45 Ethernet jack found on its Intel-powered Gen 7 and Gen 8 brethren, though in fairness, they in turn lack the Snapdragon machine's second USB-A port. Wireless communications are handled by a Qualcomm 7800 modem, which supports 6Ghz Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3.

Getting inside the ThinkBook 16 is easy enough as long as you have a Torx screwdriver to hand, but once in there's little you can do other than blow dust out of the fan housing or replace the 2240-format SSD. Everything else of value or interest is soldered in place.

The SSD in our test machine was a 512GB Western Digital device that recorded solid, if unspectacular, sequential read and write speeds of 4,150MB/s and 3,365MB/s, respectively.

Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7: Keyboard, touchpad and webcam

Lenovo can be relied upon to deliver a decent keyboard, no matter what the price of the laptop it's screwed to, and the ThinkBook 16 is no exception. The keyboard deck is solid, the soft-finish keys with their trademark convex bottoms are very pleasant to the touch, and there's a two-stage white backlight.

The layout is impossible to fault, but special mention needs to be made of the full-sized arrow keys and the power button-cum-fingerprint scanner, which sits above the keyboard proper in the top right corner. All in all, the ThinkBook's keyboard looks and behaves much like that fitted to the considerably more expensive ThinkPad X1, and that's quite an accolade.

The mylar touchpad measures 135 x 80mm and is wholly smooth and instantly reactive. The click-action is very clean and precise, if just a little too noisy for our taste. Use it in a quiet environment like a library, and disapproving glances are not an impossibility.

The 1080p webcam doesn't support Windows Hello IR facial recognition, but other than that, it's a solid performer. Images look bright and colourful, and you get the full suite of Windows Studio special effects. There's also a sliding shutter to keep prying eyes away.

Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7: Display

The standard 16-inch 1,920 x 1,200 display is undoubtedly the Achilles' heel of the ThinkBook 16. Even given the low price, it's barely adequate. Maximum brightness is a mediocre 296cd/m2, the refresh rate is a bog-standard 60Hz, and there's only coverage of 60.3% of the sRGB colour space, or 42.7% of the DCI-P3 space. With such a narrow gamut range, any talk of colour accuracy is superfluous.

It's not the sharpest of displays either, a natural and unavoidable side effect of the resolution and size combining to give a rather lacklustre pixel density of 141.5DPI. This, then, is a display better suited for spreadsheets and email than cinematic glories. Indeed, in the opening scenes of Dune 2, it makes Arrakis look more like Skegness on an overcast December day.

If we had to look for good points, we'd mention that the matte finish does a good job of keeping reflections in check and that there's no problem with the viewing angles. Other than that, it's a very basic display, and even at this price, something rather better would have been appreciated.

Thankfully, all is not lost because, assuming you're buying direct from Lenovo, for £60 you can opt for a 120Hz, 2,560 x 1,600 100% sRGB screen, which sounds, and presumably looks, like an altogether better bet.

Mercifully, the speaker system is of rather higher quality than the screen. With a maximum volume level of 77.2dBA as measured against a pink noise source at a 1m distance and good levels of detail, separation, and bass, the speakers make a fine fist of both music playback and voice calls.

Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7: Specs and performance

The ThinkBook 16 features the same 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 CPU as the Microsoft Surface Pro 12-inch, and comes with the same 16GB of RAM. Here again, we found it delivers a very nicely balanced combination of performance and efficiency.

Despite using an 8-core Snapdragon Plus rather than a 12-core Elite chip, the ThinkBook 16 always feels sprightly in day-to-day use. Programmes launch quickly, and the laptop wakes from sleep almost instantaneously.

The ThinkBook's Geekbench 6 scores of 2,367 single-core and 11,138 multi-core were very similar to the Surface Pro's, and like the Microsoft tablet, the ThinkBook proved capable of running under maximum stress without any loss of performance whatsoever. Unlike the Surface Pro, the ThinkBook is actively cooled, but even under maximum stress, the fan is quiet and easy to ignore.

Graphics performance continues to be something of a weak spot with the Snapdragon X chipsets, thanks to the rather lacklustre integrated Adreno GPU. In the Geekbench 6 OpenCL test, the Lenovo scored 10,021, which is around one-third of the score you'll get from an entry-level M4 MacBook Air or anything using Intel's latest Arc 140V iGPU.

The Snapragon chipset also features a 45 TOPS NPU, which means the ThinkBook 16 carries Microsoft's Copilot+ seal of approval. That in turn means you can run all the Windows local AI tools like generative fill in Paint and Recall screen capture.

The ThinkBook's chief claim on your attention is battery life. Lenovo claim 30 hours of video playback from the 84Wh battery, and while the best we got, 27 hours 40 minutes, is a wee bit short of that, the difference is small enough to be accounted for by changes in display brightness and the type of media player.

Even our test results make the ThinkBook 16 the longest-running laptop we've ever tested, and by quite some margin. To put it into context, it's 7 hours more than an M4 MacBook Pro can manage and almost 8 hours longer than the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI, two of the longest-running laptops we've tested in 2025.

Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7: Is it worth it?

There are two versions of the ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 (Snapdragon) on sale, identical but for the amount of RAM and storage you get.

Lenovo is currently selling both with a 19% discount, which makes the 16GB/512GB model £627.98 inc VAT and the 32GB/1TB version £771.98 inc VAT. Given that the 120Hz 2.5K display only costs an extra £60, you'd be quite mad not to tick that box on your way to the checkout.

With or without the improved screen, we'd describe the ThinkBook 16as a genuine bargain and a perfect choice for anyone who wants a full-sized laptop with an excellent keyboard and who anticipates spending long periods away from a mains power supply.

Lenovo ThinkBook 16 Gen 7 specifications

The Dell Pro Max 14 Premium is the first we've seen of the newly redesigned, renamed Precision family. The promise is serious power with a highly portable package. In fact, Dell goes as far as claiming that this is the world's smallest footprint 14-inch mobile workstation.

The Premium tacked to the end of the title reveals that this is the step-up model from Dell's Pro 14 Max. That means you get a more chiselled, burlier metal chassis with upgraded cooling that opens the door to faster CPUs and more powerful discrete GPUs.

You'll also need to open your wallet nice and wide, too, as the starting price for the Pro Max 14 Premium is just shy of the £2,000 mark. The fully-loaded model we have here is £4,240. As ever, Premium means expensive.

Dell Pro Max 14 Premium: Specifications

It's desperately unlikely that prospective buyers will buy the base model here – not least as it makes do with Intel's Arrow Lake integrated graphics. At the time of writing, £1,944.79 buys you a Core Ultra 7 255H processor with 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM, a 256GB SSD, Intel Arc graphics, and a non-touch 1,920 x 1,200 IPS panel with 100% sRGB coverage. Nothing fancy, in other words.

Set your sights on a more suitable workstation specification, however, and you can upgrade the RAM all the way up to 64GB, expand the SSD storage up to 2TB, and you can pick between integrated Intel Arc Graphics or Nvidia's RTX PRO 1000 or RTX PRO 2000 GPUs, both of which come with 8GB of GDDR7 memory.

Our review unit demonstrated the (almost) no-expense-spared high-end. For £3,977, it paired the Intel Core Ultra 9 285H (a £312 extra) with 64GB of RAM (+£469), an Nvidia RTX PRO 2000 8GB GPU (+£547), a 1TB SSD (+£94), and the tandem OLED touchscreen (+£282). It was also necessary to upgrade from the standard 100W AC adapter to the 130W adapter for £15, and Dell threw the £17 USB-C to HDMI and USB-A adapter in, too. The only thing it skimped on was the upgrade to a 2TB SSD, which – at £228 more than the 1TB model – is currently a terrible value upgrade. You'd be better off just buying one and fitting it yourself.

Dell Pro Max 14 Premium: Design & connectivity

First impressions count for a lot, and it's here that Dell's design teams need to give themselves a pat on the back. While the Pro 14 Plus's chassis is generic and underwhelming, it was the classy Pro 14 Premium – the business featherweight of the family – which gave us a glimpse of exactly what Dell's teams are capable of. The Max takes it to a different level again.

The build and design is exemplary. Windows laptops often have to settle for being described as almost as well-built as something with an Apple logo, but here it feels like a comparison between peers. The base and lid are astonishingly solid, and there's only a slight bit of give in the display. The hinges, too, feel smooth and pleasingly taut. In the highly unlikely event that you have to work on a desk that's shaking violently, the display doesn't budge until you get downright abusive.

Looks-wise, it's gorgeously understated. The straight lines and chamfered base elegantly ease into soft, rounded edges. Dell's design team has crafted a design that looks and feels exactly like a high-end laptop should. And if you're worried about robustness, Dell has also put it through the wringer with MIL-STD-810H testing.

The big news here for connectivity is the presence of Thunderbolt 5. You get two Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports on the laptop's left-hand edge, and these offer 80Gbps of bidirectional bandwidth – double that of the two 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports on the other flank. You also get a MicroSD card reader and a 3.5mm headset port. There's no USB-A, nor a physical Ethernet socket – that's only on the 14 Pro Max – but you can spring for the Dell USB/HDMI adapter or buy a third-party Ethernet adapter if it's essential. Wireless connectivity is served by Intel's Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 BE201 card.

Given the thermal requirements of top-end Arrow Lake CPUs and Nvidia's RTX 2000 GPU it's unsurprising that this is not a thin and light laptop. At 1.72kg, it's got a similar amount of heft to Apple's MacBook Pro 14, and with the lid closed, the laptop stands a chunky 25mm tall. In terms of footprint, though, it's noticeably smaller than the Dell 14 Premium, and it's almost slap bang in the middle between the XPS 13 and the 14 Premium.

It is reassuring to see that Dell has prioritised practicality over shaving grams and millimetres. A trio of rubber feet on the laptop's underside raises the laptop's base well off the desk – much more so than the similarly sized Dell 14 Premium – and this prioritises airflow into the large, wide vent along the bottom. Two decent-sized intake fans draw air in from either side of the chassis, and a wide, sensibly unobstructed exhaust vent spans between the sturdy-feeling hinges.

And where Dell Ridle roundly trumps its Apple-branded competitor is that there's some level of intended repairability. Flip the laptop over, and four torx screws hold the panel in place. It doesn't just fall off once they're removed: you'll need a plastic tool to lever the panel off and unclip it completely. Our only complaint is that we'd prefer captive screws – we almost lost one as they're tiny.

One novelty is that the USB-C ports are modular, so can be unscrewed and replaced when they wear out. And if you need to replace the SSD, fans or battery, then this is a laptop that is designed to be user-serviceable. Or at least serviced in-house, if you understandably don't trust your staff enough to let them loose with a torx screwdriver. Sadly, the RAM is soldered with this generation, but we can always hope for a transition to replaceable LPCAMM modules in the future.

The speakers here are much better than average. Twin woofers are matched with a pair of tweeters, and each gets 2.5 watts of amplification apiece. They go very loud and, judged in isolation, there's enough body and clarity to make music moderately listenable. They're a marked step up on the mediocre speakers in the other recent Dell Pro laptops. What they aren't, however, is competitive with the likes of the MacBook Pro – those retain a very considerable lead over any of the competition we've heard in 2025.

The 8MP webcam teams up with an IR sensor for Windows Hello face recognition. It does get quite grainy in low light, but it still performs admirably in a wide range of lighting conditions and provides enough clarity and color accuracy to serve up great looking images for video calls. By far the biggest complaint is that there isn't a privacy shutter – that feels like an oversight for this class of laptop.

Dell Pro Max 14 Premium: Keyboard and touchpad

There's nothing to complain about here at all – Dell has done itself proud. The keyboard here seems to share the same zero lattice keyboard as the Dell Pro 14 Premium. The keycaps are just a tad smaller than that of the recent non-Pro models – which makes all the difference got typing comfort – and the touch-sensitive function row has been replaced with proper physical keys. As ever, the backlit power button also doubles as a fingerprint reader.

The result is a keyboard that we genuinely loved typing on. The super solid chassis means that there's not the slightest hint of bounce, and the key action provides a perfect amount of resistance with a nice muffled thud of feedback as the key gives way. The two-stage backlighting is welcome, too.

Underneath you'll find the really wide haptic touchpad – and it's likely you'll be just as enamoured. The silky smooth finish feels lovely under the finger, and it was accurate and responsive during our testing. Multi-finger gestures all work seamlessly, too.

Dell Pro Max 14 Premium: Display

The tandem OLED 2,880 x 1,800 touchscreen adds around £280 to the overall price. The alternative is a bog-standard, non-touch 1,920 x 1,200 IPS panel with a claimed 100% sRGB coverage, 400cd/m2 brightness panel. In truth, the only reason to choose the IPS panel is that it's vastly more power efficient – as we'll discuss later, the power draw of the tandem OLED screen does have a sizable impact on battery life.

Image quality is excellent, however. In our tests, the OLED panel covered an impressive 100% of the DCI-P3 gamut and 94% of the Adobe RGB gamut. It's accurate, too, with an average Delta E of 1.13 and a 6,325k white point when tested against a Display P3 target.

In SDR mode, peak brightness reaches a respectable 377cd/m2. Switch to HDR mode and full screen brightness remains similar, but a 2% window jumps up to 525cd/m2, which is good if not mind-blowing. By contrast, the Mini-LED screen in the MacBook Pro's delivers full-screen brightness of 1,000cd/m2 and highlights of 1,600cd/m2 – so there is still room for improvement here.

One major misstep here, however, is the decision to use a 60Hz panel. At this price, we'd expect 120Hz as a bare minimum.

Dell Pro Max 14 Premium: Performance

The combination of Intel's fastest Arrow Lake Mobile chip, the Core 9 Ultra 285H, 64GB of RAM and Nvidia's RTX PRO 2000 GPU is pretty potent for a 14-inch laptop.

That said, if you're looking for value for money, then one option is to downgrade to a mid-pack Arrow Lake CPU – the performance benefits of the top-end chips are small. For instance, compared to the Core Ultra 7 255H in the Dell 14 Premium, the faster 285H in the Pro Max 14 Premium scores identically in single-core tests.

Multi-core tests see the 285H's 300Mhz higher boost clocks come into play, however, with it pushing 9% ahead in Geekbench 6 and 15% ahead in Cinebench 2024. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide whether those performance increases are worth £312 – or you can downgrade to the Core Ultra 7 265H and put that money back into your IT budget.

Compared to the M5 chip in Apple's most recent MacBook Pro 14, however, even the top-end Arrow Lake architecture struggles to keep up. In Cinebench 2024, Apple's ARM-based silicon soared 63% ahead in single-core performance, and it still squeezes out an 8% lead for multi-core performance despite only having 10 cores to the 285H's 16.

That might sound like game over for the Dell, but the RTX PRO 2000 tips the scales dramatically in its favour. Here it gets 60W of TDP to play with, and that in itself provides a big step up from the RTX 4050 we saw in Dell's 14 Premium -- that was limited to a much more frugal 30W. As a result, performance in Geekbench 6's OpenCL benchmark was nearly 2.5 times faster than the 30W RTX 4050, and performance across 3DMark's Time Spy and Steel Nomad tests was between 70% and 80% better. That's a big, big jump.

Fan noise does become intrusive when you're pushing the laptop hard, but it's more a loud, prominent whoosh of air than a mind-numbing whine.

This performance potential comes at a cost, though – battery life is poor. Despite a decent-sized 72Wh battery, the combination of powerful CPU, discrete GPU, and a tandem OLED screen is not a recipe for longevity. Even with Windows set to Best Power Efficiency, both wireless radios switched off and the display set to 170cdm2 brightness, the Pro Max 14 Premium only lasted for 10 hours and 18 minutes of very undemanding video playback.

In our time with the laptop, that made for a laptop which never made it through a working day away from the mains – and that's despite our very, very lightweight browser-only usage. Going by Dell's other laptops, which we've seen with tandem OLED panels, you could probably add around 5 hours of light usage by downgrading to the cheaper IPS panel. If wide colour gamut, OLED contrast, and top-notch color accuracy are less important to you, it may be a compromise worth making. Frankly, though, the display's power draw is likely to be the least of your worries if you start pushing the CPU and GPU anywhere near their potential.

But by far the most irritating issue about the Pro Max 14 is that this potentially impressive level of performance was marred by instability during our testing period. When you've spent £4,000 on a laptop, you don't just expect a certain level of performance – you also expect reliability. Given that we found ourselves Googling for fixes to regular intermittent freezes and a handful of blackscreen crashes that could only be remedied by a hard restart, the Pro Max 14 Premium fell short of that ideal.

We dutifully followed the Dell Command software's advice to update various drivers and firmware, but none rectified the issue. Ultimately, the partial fix was for us to manually install the Intel Driver & Support Assistant, which immediately prompted us to update the Intel Arc graphics drivers and the NPU drivers. Something which neither Dell's Command app nor Windows' Update flagged as being an option. That done, the irritating tendency for the laptop to freeze for a couple of seconds was reduced, but not banished entirely.

The best solution we found was to manually end the Intel control panel process – this seemed to be causing the hitches and issues. Opening the control panel did occasionally display graphical glitches, too, so that's where we'd point the finger. We suspect Dell's support might also have pushed us in this direction – but should we have to contact support to make a £4,000+ laptop work acceptably? The answer here is no. The answer is delivering a stable laptop in the first place.

Dell Pro Max 14 Premium: Is it worth it?

Stability quibbles aside, the hardware is spectacular: the Pro Max 14 Premium feels like one of the dependable old-school Precision class workhorses brought bang up to date. Needless to say, that brings it very close to being our perfect everyday Windows laptop. The only laptop that makes it feel a tad underpowered is the latest M5-powered MacBook Pro, and that may not be an option for every business.

By far our biggest concern with the Pro Max 14 Premium is that once you take advantage of all the upgrades, there are still inevitable compromises. The smaller 14-inch chassis drastically curtails its performance potential as a workstation – there's a hard limit to how much power you can pack into this kind of thermal envelope – and the discrete Nvidia GPU and tandem OLED display slash battery life.

Indeed, if you've got to plug it in most of the time, then the question is why you wouldn't suffer the extra weight of the far more capable Pro Max 16 – which, from our testing so far, looks to be a far better bet for mobile workstation duties. We'd counsel staff and IT teams alike to choose carefully.

The reality, however, is that many users simply will not put up with a larger, heavier laptop – and some IT departments may not want to roll out a fleet bearing Apple logos. If the balance of power and portability has to lean towards the latter, then the Dell Pro Max 14 Premium is the best compact workstation on the market right now. As compromises go, it'll be one you're likely to quite happy with.

Dell Pro Max 14 Premium specifications

Apple M5 is here, and surprisingly, unlike the multi-product release of the M4, it comes first in the MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro. And, it is only the 14in MacBook Pro with the M5 chip, as the 16in model uses the M4 Pro or Max. And there is no M5 Pro or Max, as yet.

Now, there is a clear pattern over the last four years for the MacBook Pro, where very little changes in the aesthetic, and the main point of interest is the new silicon. This has roughly translated to a 20% power increase with each chip, more AI capabilities, and an ever-expanding battery life. And this is how the tech giant is pleasing workers, creatives, and Apple-aficionados.

You can have it now, in Silver or Space Black, starting at $1,599 (£1,599), with a dizzying array of configurations to choose from, including up to 4TB of storage. But does that make the M5 MacBook Pro enough of an upgrade?

Apple M5 MacBook Pro 14in review: Design

You'll have to take our word for it that the images in this review are of the M5 MacBook Pro, because it is nearly impossible to distinguish it from the M4 model (or the M3 one, for that matter). And that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's a beautiful machine, made with recycled aluminum, and with the same old Apple logos and design features we know so well. It's a timeless design, and it needs to be, because it has been used time and again.

The 14in model comes with a selection of ports, which can seem like you have decent options, but ultimately that will be down to you and your specific needs. There are three Thunderbolt 4 slots (all of which take charge and connect to monitors), an HDMI 2.1 port, a full-sized SD card reader, and a headphone jack. And, a MagSafe 3 port with a USB-C connector.

The MagSafe charger creates an issue for people in Europe. Namely, you won't get a power brick in the box of your new MacBook Pro; you have to pay £59 extra for that. And the reason is the EU's Common Charger Directive, which will apply to laptops from 28 April 2026. For the last three years, the EU has required manufacturers to use USB-C connectors as standard, but has also decreed that chargers should not be bundled with devices in a bid to reduce e-waste. This has been the case for smartphones and other devices for a while now, but it will now include laptops. In true Apple fashion, its charger is actually a USB-C to MagSafe connection (meeting the EU halfway), but you can, of course, charge the MacBook Pro via one of its other USB-C ports.

Apple M5 MacBook Pro 14in review: Display, keyboard, and trackpad

The 14in MacBook Pro comes with the same display specifications as the 14in M4 model. A Liquid Retina XDR display, a 3024 x 1964 resolution, and up to 120Hz refresh rate with the ProMotion setting. The one noticeable change is that you can now boost the mini LED backlight, making it brighter. Apple notes that the panel can go up to 1,000 nits of brightness for SDR content. You can also pay extra for the Nano texture display, which is basically a layer that stops glare – and it does a pretty good job, in that regard.

Compared to the M4, there is a slight increase in quality. With our colormieter, the M5 MacBook Pro produced some pretty impressive scores for both gamut color coverage and volume – 99.7% and 144.1%, respectively. The M4 managed 96% and 98.9%. Its Adobe scores were also great (85.9%), as was its peak brightness (609.44cd/m2).

When it comes to the keyboard and trackpad, we literally could have copied and pasted from the 14in M4 review, but again, it's not necessarily a bad thing. The keys are nice and punchy, beautifully backlit, and with decent travel. The fingerprint reader in the top right is quick. And the trackpad is nice, big, and smooth. Plus, that haptic feedback is still so satisfying to use.

Apple M5 MacBook Pro 14in review: Specs and performance

With every iteration of the M-series, Apple has managed to provide significant performance increases across the board, taking each MacBook Pro a little bit further away from the competition. However, for the 14in M5 model, there are some quite impressive benchmarks for GPU performance. The reason is down to Neural Accelerators that have been added to each graphics core, a change that uses the technology from the AI-focused Neural Engine. By adding it to each of the 10 GPU cores, Apple has increased both the Pro's AI capabilities and its graphics performance.

In GeekBench 6, the M5 scored 4248 for single-core workloads and 17600 for multi-core ones. Both of which upped the 3899 and 15234 scores of the M4 MacBook Pro. However, what's more impressive is its GPU performance. We also ran the GPU benchmarks in GeekBench 6, and the M5 Pro came back with a whopping 48228. This graphical prowess was backed by its Cinebench 2024 scores, with GPU results for 1179 multithreaded performance and 201 for single.

There might be some question marks over who this new MacBook is for – the average office bod isn't going to be pushing the GPU that hard, and those who do that sort of work would arguably want the M5 Pro chip when it's available. But you're not going to complain about receiving the 14in M5 MacBook Pro for work. It is fast, it is cool, and crucially, it has unbelievably good battery life. In our looped video test, it lasted a whopping 20hrs and 31mins. And, like last year, it lasted longer than our actual looped video. The only laptop tested by ITPro to beat that is the 14in HP OmniBook 5, which recorded 20hrs, 40mins.

Apple M5 MacBook Pro 14in review: Features

As with all new laptops, AI is the word. Much of the M5 Pro's new capabilities stem from that super GPU and Neural Engine, but also the new macOS "Tahoe". The Sequoia operating system will be remembered for introducing Apple Intelligence, but it's Tahoe that looks to be the bigger beneficiary of the AI suite.

There are new on-device features, such as Live Translation in Messages, Phone, and FaceTime. Shortcuts are improved with new features, like automating actions where you can string them together in an automated workflow. And the whole thing just looks slightly different, and, in our opinion, better. The design change to the Liquid Glass improves elements like the menu bar or the app windows, making them more vibrant and appealing. Features like Continuity and Spotlight now offer new ways to work across devices. Apple has really nailed the way you can use both Mac and iPhone in tandem with the new Phone app for Mac.

If there is one feature that isn't changing, it's Wi-Fi 6. Why this is still on the MacBook Pro is strange, and even more so when you consider the M5 iPad Pro, which has Wi-Fi 7.

Apple M5 MacBook Pro 14in review: Is it worth it?

On battery life alone, the MacBook Pro is an office champion. But then, in that regard, so was the M4 model, and the HP OmniBook 5. What we're really looking at here is improvements in graphic performance and more AI capabilities. Which does beg the question, who is this 14in model for? Seems a bit too juiced for the average office bod. What's more, the M4 model of MacBook Air is significantly cheaper.

However, just because it is a bit too similar to the M4 model doesn't make it a bad laptop. It is the opposite, a stupendously great one, with a beautiful, bright display, brilliant graphical performance, and a ridiculously good battery.

Apple M5 MacBook Pro 14in specifications

Lenovo's latest Yoga is pitched as a premium convertible for mobile creatives; the sort of laptop you can lug around to show your work to clients or take out on the road when you need to design or edit away from your desk. As with previous Aura Edition models, it goes big on the quality of its display and its AI horsepower. In this case, we have a rather stunning 14in OLED screen plus an Intel Lunar Lake Core Ultra 7 CPU, giving you a combined 109 TOPs of AI processing to work with once you factor in the CPU, GPU, and NPU.

While Lenovo has a clear target market in mind for the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition, it's a tempting proposition for a wider audience of professionals. The screen is a beauty, the design is flexible and stylish, and the spec is competitive. We're not exactly short of decent options in this laptop class, but the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is a serious contender.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition: Design

Compared to such slimmed-down laptops as the Asus Zenbook A14 or Acer Swift Edge 14 AI, the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition can feel a little hefty. Where those laptops are kept to less than 10mm thick, the Lenovo measures just under 16mm, while its 1.32Kg weight feels significantly heavier in the hands or in your bag.

What it has that those models lack, however, is a flexible 2-in-1 form factor. Push the screen back on its near-360-degree hinge, and it'll work in the classic tent or tablet modes, ideal for using with the bundled Yoga Pen stylus or sharing videos or presentations.

It's also a stylish unit, fashioned out of CNC-machined aluminum in a distinctive Cosmic Blue finish, with the only tangible seams found below decks, between the base plate of the unit and its mirror finish edges. It feels satisfyingly solid with barely any flex, even in the lid, and substantial in a good way. The shiny Lenovo and Yoga logos on the lid and keyboard deck are also a nice touch, even if the casing can be a fingerprint magnet.

Given the extra girth over the Acer and Asus laptops, it's slightly disappointing that physical connectivity is limited to three USB-C/Thunderbold 4 ports and a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, but you could still run a DisplayPort monitor through one of the Thunderbolt 4 ports, and there's one on the right-hand side to give you options when you're charging. What's more, wireless connectivity is another story. With Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 onboard, you can connect to the latest, fastest Wi-Fi networks and use more recent, low-latency wireless speakers or headsets, which may be critical where timing is important.

It's hard not to be impressed with the Yoga's premium keyboard. It doesn't look much different from those on other Yoga and IdeaPad devices I've looked at in the last year, but the feel is better, with a slightly firmer action, consistent actuation, and a speedy, highly tactile response. The layout has some oddities, particularly the column of function keys on the right, which shifts your hand position to the left. Still, it's nothing that you can't get used to in an hour or so of work. The touchpad is also excellent. Smooth and wide, it responds flawlessly to every swipe, tap, and pinching gesture.

As we mentioned, Lenovo supplies the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition with a Yoga Pen stylus bundled in, which is a real bonus for sketching, taking notes, or annotating PDF documents. It's tilt-sensitive with up to 4,096 levels of pressure, and feels weighty and well-balanced in the hand. It will also stick magnetically to the rear edge or the bottom of the laptop when it's not in use, though you will want to take care that it doesn't get knocked off.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition: Display

It's possible to grow blase about laptop OLED panels, but not when the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is around. It's not astoundingly bright with SDR content – we recorded maximum brightness levels of 400.1cdm2 – but contrast and definition are fantastic, and images burst with rich color and sharp detail on the 2880 x 1800 resolution screen.

Not only does the display cover 100% of the sRGB gamut, but 96.9% of Adobe RGB and 99.1% of DCI-P3. Needless to say, it's superb for bingeing video on Netflix, but with an average Delta E of only 0.86, it's more than capable of tackling color-critical image-editing or video work.

Sound from the Yoga is fantastic for a relatively thin and light device. Not only is it clear and spacious, but there's a warmth and depth you don't normally get from many mainstream laptops. It's perfect for video calls and meetings, but also good enough for background music while you work. The only trouble is that it goes loud enough without distorting that it's tempting to push the volume up to levels where your family or co-workers may complain.

The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition has a built-in 1440p webcam, complete with IR sensor for hassle-free Windows Hello sign-ins. It's better at full resolution than at 1080p, where the image loses detail and grows smudgy, but can be prone to constantly changing exposure as the light levels in the room change. Luckily, Windows Studio Effects can help maintain the balance, while giving you AI-enhanced auto-framing and portrait blur, plus the slightly uncanny eye contact effect.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition: Performance

The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition line uses Intel's Lunar Lake Core Ultra 7 processors, with our test model based on the Core Ultra 7 258V and fitted with a generous 32GB of RAM. Like the entire Lunar Lake line its based on four Performance cores and four Low Power Efficiency cores, with the only difference being the clock speeds, smart cache, and the spec of the built-in NPU and GPU. The 258V sits in the middle of the pack, with its P cores running at up to 4.8GHz, a 47 TOPS NPU, and an 8 Xe2 Core GPU running at up to 1.95Ghz.

With just eight cores to play with and no Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) support, the Core Ultra 7 can't compete with the fastest Intel or AMD chips on intensive multi-core workloads. The Yoga scores 10889 in Geekbench 6's multi-core benchmark, where the Asus ProArt P16, with its AMD Ryzen 9 HX 370, scores 15192, and the Acer Aspire Vero 16, with its 16-core Arrow Lake Core Ultra 7 255H scored 14800. However, it's a fairer fight against slim-and-light models like the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI or the Asus Zenbook A14, with the Acer using the same CPU and the Asus an entry-level Snapdragon X Plus processor.

It's a similar story in the demanding Cinebench R24 3D rendering benchmark, where the Yoga scores 120 (single-core) and 574 (multi-core) to 121 and 479 from the Swift Edge 14 AI. The ProArt P16 is significantly faster in multi-core, with scores of 117 and 1156, but it's also a bigger, heavier, and more expensive device.

In general use, running productivity apps, the Yoga never feels anything less than snappy, and even running heavier workloads, working through high-resolution images in Affinity Photo, it was lightning fast. What's more, it's a good all-rounder. It has the NPU performance to handle emerging AI apps that might require one, plus the GPU performance for AI applications, like image generation, that perform better with a GPU in charge. Its scores in 3DMark – 4050 for the TimeSpy test and 3272 for the newer Steel Nomad (Lite) – even indicate solid 3D graphics performance. You won't be running modern AAA titles at a playable frame rate at the display's native 1800p, but stick to low detail levels and 1080p, and you should have more luck.

Credit to Lenovo, too, for not going cheap with the SSD. Not only does the 1TB drive hit sequential read speeds of 6960MB/sec, but sequential write speeds of 6878MB/sec, which is significanty higher than the average.

The big strength of the Lunar Lake architecture has been its energy efficiency, and it's here that the Yoga triumphs, coming slightly ahead of the Swift Edge 14 AI by lasting 19 hours and 8 minutes in our video rundown test. The only Windows laptops to do better have been based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X CPUs, and while these offer slightly higher multi-threaded performance, this comes at the cost of an inferior GPU.

In real-world usage, we've found the Yoga can push effortlessly through a working day even with the screen brightness set high, and if you stick to adaptive brightness settings there will still be enough charge to take you well into the morning of the next day, too. There's precious little need to feel anchored to the mains.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition: Is it worth it?

Lenovo pitches this laptop at mobile creative pros, and it's a great choice for that market. There are faster options with bigger screens out there, like the ProArt P16, but they're neither as affordable nor as light. There's tougher competition from the Acer Swift Edge 14 AI, which is lighter, has a similar spec, and its own impressive OLED screen. Yet while the Acer has the advantage on weight and price, the Yoga is more versatile and wins on the keyboard and the overall feel.

It's not exactly cheap, but put together the specification, the stamina, the superb build quality, and that stunning screen, and it's hard to fault in terms of value. Better still, it's a treat to use.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition specifications

Squeezing genuine desktop performance into a compact laptop is easier said than done; the balance between performance, battery life, size, weight, and thermals is hard to get right, and this is one reason Apple's 14in MacBook Pro has been so successful. It gets the balance absolutely right. The HP ZBook Ultra G1a aims to follow suit.

AMD's Ryzen AI 300 Series processors with their potent integrated GPUs have been threatening to let Windows laptop makers knock the MacBook off its perch since their launch earlier this year. Now we finally have one in for testing: HP's new ZBook Ultra G1a, which is built around the range-topping AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395.

HP ZBook Ultra G1a: Design

The ZBook Ultra shares a strong familial similarity to HP's EliteBook business laptops, but that's no bad thing. It's a solid, smart, and sober affair made from aluminum and is MIL-STD-rated for resistance to shock, temperature change, and particulate ingress.

There's only one colorway, which HP calls Meteor Silver but which we'd describe as grey. The paint finish does a good job of keeping greasy fingerprints at bay, so we'll forgive the rather dowdy color scheme.

At 1.57Kg and 312 x 215 x 18mm, the new HP is very similar in terms of both weight and size to the MacBook Pro, which hardly comes as a surprise given that the smaller MacBook and the ZBook Ultra are targeted at the same customers.

On the left side of the ZBook, you'll find one Thunderbolt 4 and one 10Gbps USB-C port, an HDMI 2.1 video output, and a 3.5mm audio jack. On the opposite side is a second Thunderbolt 4 and a 10Gbps USB-A port, along with a Kensington lock.

We'd have liked to have seen Thunderbolt 5-spec ports and an SD card reader. Both are features of the latest MacBook Pro. Incidentally, the USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port is also capable of pumping out DisplayPort video. The MediaTek MT7925 WLAN card is right up to date, supporting Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4

Getting inside the ZBook Ultra is easy enough, but once in, you'll find no space for a second SSD and no option to add more RAM; what there is is soldered in place, as is the WLAN card. The Samsung-made 1TB SSD in our review machine proved a sprightly performer, recording sequential read and write speeds of 5,209MB/s and 2,930MB/s, respectively.

HP ZBook Ultra G1a: Keyboard, touchpad and webcam

The keyboard has quite a few positives and only one or two negatives. In the former, we must mention the rock-solid deck, the tactile, slightly rubberized keycaps, and the perfectly calibrated key travel and end-stop. There's a handy two-stage white backlight too.

In the negative column, the action of the space bar felt rather looser than the rest of the keyboard, and the cursor buttons are all half-height, with the spaces above the left/right keys occupied by the page up and down keys rather than left open as on the MacBook Pro keyboard. It makes the bottom right corner of the keyboard look and feel a wee bit crowded. We've no complaints at all about the glass touchpad, though, which at 125 x 80mm is nicely sized and has a sharp and quiet click-action.

The 1440p webcam is crisp and bright, but has a slightly over-warm color balance, which can sometimes give images an orange tint. The camera array supports Windows Hello facial recognition and the full range of Windows Studio enhancements. There's also a manual slide-across shutter to prevent unwanted surveillance. If you prefer, you can log into Windows using the fingerprint scanner built into the on/off button in the top-right corner of the keyboard.

HP ZBook Ultra G1a: Display

Our review machine came with the optional Samsung-made 2,880 x 1,800 120Hz OLED touchscreen. We found it to be an impressive display with good maximum brightness levels of 400cd/m2 in SDR mode and 630cd/m2 from a 10% screen area in HDR mode.

Gamut coverage is wide, with 162.6% of the sRGB, 115.2% of the DCI-P3, and 112.1% of the AdobeRGB color volumes accounted for. Out-of-the-box color accuracy was good rather than perfect, with a Delta E reading of 1.9 vs the DCI-P3 profile.

On such a wide gamut display, recalibrating to an even lower figure should not be a challenge if you need to undertake highly color-critical work. Assuming, of course, you have a colorimeter to hand.

Numbers aside, to the naked eye, the ZBook Ultra's screen is a joyously colorful and limpid affair and is super-sharp. Granted, the HP's pixel density isn't quite as high as that of the MacBook Pro at 243 to 254DPI, but you can't tell the difference with the naked eye.

HP ZBook Ultra G1a: Specs and performance

AMD's new AI Max 300-series CPUs impressed us mightily when we encountered them in the form of the 8-core Ryzen AI Max 385 in the Framework Desktop.

The ZBook is built around the 16-core Ryzen AI Max+ 395, which, on paper, is the more powerful of the two, though in the Framework, the wick is turned up higher, so in practice, the ZBook is slower, but only by the smallest of margins.

The chipset in the ZBook Ultra is technically the PRO model, which means it supports more enterprise security features than the consumer-oriented non-PRO version, but otherwise the two are technically the same.

Slower than the Framework Desktop it may be, but the ZBook is still remarkably powerful for a compact laptop. In our Handbrake-based 4K multi-media benchmark, the ZBook scored 489 points to the Framework's 510, while in the PCMark 10 test, it scored 7,944 to the Framework's 8,856.

For context, the 10-core M4 MacBook Pro scored 395 points in the same 4K media test, while the best we've seen from one of Intel's 16-core Core Ultra 9 285H CPUs is 424. Looking more closely at the M4 MacBook Pro comparison, in the Geekbench 6 single- and multi-core workload tests, the ZBook Ultra scored 2,905 and 18,083 while the MacBook scored 3,899 and 15,234.

While there's no doubt that the MacBook Pro feels very fast in almost all circumstances, the ZBook Ultra runs like the very devil himself is chasing after it. But where the AMD chipset really comes into its own is graphics performance.

The 40-core Radeon 8060S graphics chip ran the SPECviewperf 3dsmax 3D modeling benchmark at a blistering 122fps. That's on a par with an Nvidia RTX5060 discrete GPU and more than four times as fast as the best Intel iGPUs can manage.

In the Blender 4.2 benchmark, the new HP posted a median score of 1,264 compared to the M4 MacBook Pro's 1,074. Granted, the most powerful M4 Pro and M4 Max machines can run the test around 2.5 and 5 times faster, respectively, than the base M4, but both cost significantly more.

In the Geekbench 6 OpenCL test, the ZBook Ultra scored 83,532 points, which compares to 38,337 for the M4 MacBook Pro. The best we've seen from a recent Intel chipset with an iGPU is 42,600 from a Core Ultra 9 285H with Arc 140T graphics. That's one heck of an advantage.

Though not a gaming machine, it seemed churlish not to see how the ZBook Ultra could handle a Triple-A title. Running the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark at 1,920 x 1,080, high detail preset with no ray tracing, produced a result of 105fps. Using the ray tracing low detail preset again at FullHD, the score dropped, but only to 75fps.

Granted, both those results benefited from the help of AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution upscaling and frame generation voodoo, but for a small laptop without a discrete GPU, that is still an outstanding level of performance.

The AMD chipset also features a 50 TOPS NPU, giving the ZBook Ultra full Windows Copilot+ accreditation. That means you get Windows AI features like Recall and generative fill in Paint Cocreator, as well as support for whatever new AI features Microsoft may serve up in the short and medium term.

Given those high levels of performance, the ZBook is remarkably civilized even under duress. Under maximum stress, the CPU and GPU utilization levels settled at 85% and 95% respectively, with the fans making surprisingly little noise and very little heat in evidence on the external bodywork.

All that performance does, however, come at a price in terms of battery life. In our standard video-rundown test, the ZBook Ultra lasted for just over 10 hours, which is a mediocre result and no more.

You can expect twice that from a MacBook Pro and at least a couple of hours more from a machine like the Asus TUF Gaming A14, which uses an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 CPU and an Nvidia RTX5060 discrete GPU.

HP ZBook Ultra G1a: Is it worth it?

The ZBook Ultra we were sent to evaluate will set you back £2,111.99 and comes with a 1TB SSD and 64GB of LPDDR5x-8533 RAM. That is £100 less than an entry-level 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro with a matching 1TB SSD but only 32GB of RAM.

Pick the AMD Max Pro 390 CPU with 32GB of RAM, and the price drops to £1,993, which doesn't seem like such great value in comparison. At the other end of the scale, for £2,820, you can have the machine we tested, but with a 2TB SSD and 128GB of RAM.

For comparison, choose a 14in MacBook Pro with the entry-level M4 Pro chipset, a 2TB SSD, and 48GB of RAM, you'll be out of pocket to the tune of £3,199.

If you want a compact 14in Windows laptop with a discrete GPU, there are several alternatives. An RTX5050-equipped HP Omen Transcend currently costs £1,499 (down from £1,799), an RTX5060 Asus TUF Gaming A15, just £1,249 and an RTX5080 ROG Zephyrus G14, £2,999.

Of course, all three of those are primarily gaming laptops with a patina of civilization. The MacBook is the only direct competition.,

Which should you go for? The MacBook certainly delivers the goods when it comes to battery life, but the ZBook Ultra counters with phenomenal levels of graphics performance. Which is the best depends entirely on which feature you place the most emphasis on.

What is beyond any reasonable contestation is that the new ZBook Ultra delivers truly impressive levels of performance for a £2,000 compact laptop and is a genuine game-changer.

HP ZBook Ultra G1a specifications

Whisper it quietly, but the Dell 14 Premium laptop is a rebadged XPS 14. And despite the new moniker, this laptop is not to be confused with Dell's similarly-named business model, the Pro 14 Premium. This is a laptop with a very different set of priorities.

In contrast to the sliver-thin profile of its business-focused cousin, the 14 Premium carries over the XPS 14's chunkier, more eye-catching design and reprises its party trick of combining dedicated Nvidia graphics with increased CPU horsepower.

The result is predictable: genuinely premium-feeling build, mostly good performance, some missed opportunities, and a price that will make you wonder whether you should buy a MacBook Pro instead.

The 14 Premium comes in a choice of light platinum silver or dark graphite grey, and prices start at £1,499. The base model has a capable Ultra 7 255H CPU and integrated graphics courtesy of Intel's Arc 140T Graphics chip. This is matched with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a 14.5in 2K non-touch LCD panel.

As ever, there are plenty of upgrades available if you can afford them. The presence of Intel's Arrow Lake processors opens the door to dedicated GPUs – something Lunar Lake doesn't allow. That means, for the princely sum of £400, you can upgrade to a 6GB Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU.

If you still have more money to spend, then you can double the RAM to 32GB for £100 and double it again to 64GB for another £200. Similarly, you can expand the storage to 1TB for a reasonable £50. The 2TB and 4TB options are pricier self-encrypting SSD drives, so each upgrade adds a further £150 and £250 respectively.

Needless to say, the costs mount up pretty quickly. Our review unit partnered the Ultra 7 255H CPU with the 6GB RTX 4050, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and the optional OLED touchscreen, and the price ended up at £2,199 inc VAT.

Dell 14 Premium: Design & connectivity

Visually, the 14 Premium is almost identical to the XPS 14. On the lid, the round Dell logo has made way for the new, arguably slightly prettier text-only logo, but that's about it as far as actual changes go.

At 1.72kg, the 14 Premium is more portable than ultraportable, but in all honesty, that's only a few grams heavier than the similarly sized MacBook Pro. And in any case, those grams are put to good use: this is a solid and sturdy lump of a thing. There's very little flex in the display, and the base is bordering on rock solid.

The 18mm-thick profile leaves a decent amount of room for physical connectivity, too. You get two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports on the left-hand edge, and one more on the right alongside a microSD slot and a 3.5mm headset port. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 courtesy of the Intel BE201 network adapter.

The extra chassis space has made room for speakers either side of the keyboard, and these are slightly improved on the most recent XPS 13 models. They're still not objectively good by any measure, though. Voices are a tad warmer, and music sounds a tad more rounded as a result, but the overall sound is still too thin and bland to be enjoyable.

The integrated 1080P webcam is similarly underwhelming. There's no privacy shutter, which seems like a silly omission, and while the color reproduction is fine and images are sensibly exposed, the lack of fine detail gives away the relatively low-resolution sensor.

Dell 14 Premium: Keyboard and touchpad

No, your eyes do not deceive you. Dell has indeed taken the not-especially-popular keyboard and touch-sensitive function row from the XPS 14 and reused them on the 14 Premium. If you weren't a fan of this design on the previous XPS generation, then unfortunately, you'll just have to cross your fingers and hope they don't reprise their role for the 2026 model.

The touch-sensitive function keys remain silly for all the previous reasons – we still much prefer physical keys, such as the ones Dell used on the Pro 14 Premium. Frankly, the decision to make crucial keys such as Escape and Delete keys into touch-sensitive keys – with no haptic feedback – is downright insane. And while it's nice to have a combined power and fingerprint reader, we'd still prefer it if it weren't right next to the backspace key, where an accidental tap sends your laptop to sleep.

Although it's one of our least favorite keyboards in recent years, the physical keys do actually feel quite nice. There's a nice pop of feedback to every keystroke, and while the large keys and zero-lattice design aren't our cup of tea, we've spent enough time on these XPS keyboards to acclimatize ourselves – the typos haven't disappeared completely, but they are just a little less regular. Given a choice between this or the slightly smaller keycaps and physical function row on the Pro 14 Premium, though, we'd go Pro every time.

The haptic touchpad is still hidden under an all-glass wristrest. This works well and looks great. There's a nice, wide, tall touch area which has enough dead space around it to prevent accidental clicks and taps.

Dell 14 Premium: Display

Our review unit came with the fancier 3,200 x 2,000 OLED touchscreen – a £150 premium over the standard IPS panel in the base model – and it's really quite lovely.

Dell quotes a peak brightness of 400nits, and the panel also supports adaptive refresh rates from 48Hz to 120Hz, which is great news for gaming. You even get support for Dolby Vision HDR.

Straight out of the box, it looks great. Lovely deep blacks and richly saturated colors are the order of the day, and – possibly thanks to the presence of an Nvidia GPU – there are none of the overexposed HDR issues we've experienced with other recent laptops with Intel integrated GPUs at the helm. SDR looks great, and HDR looks surprisingly punchy, too.

Putting that performance into numbers pretty swiftly explains why it looks so good. The panel covers 99% of DCI-P3 and a creditable 86% of Adobe RGB, and brightness peaks at 358cd/m2 in SDR and 600cd/m2 in HDR, at least with smaller highlights.

Tested against a Display P3 target, the panel's accuracy is very respectable, too, with an average Delta E of 0.8 and a very slightly too cool white point of 6,692k.

Dell 14 Premium: Performance

The Dell's Intel Arrow Lake CPU trades the stamina of Lunar Lake for much improved multicore performance – and, in far more exciting news, the ability to work alongside a GPU.

Aside from the reduced stamina, however, there is one other downgrade: AI performance takes a big step down. Whereas the 4th-generation NPU in Intel's mid-pack Lunar Lake chips hits the 47 TOPS mark, the 3rd-generation NPU in the Ultra 7 255H only hits 13 TOPS.

For non AI workloads, however, the Dell's Core 7 Ultra 255H CPU provides a pretty good all-round performance. Single-core performance is on a par with the Lunar Lake generation, but multi-core performance is a different matter entirely – doubling Lunar Lake's core count from 8 to 16 sees multi-core performance leap 44% ahead in Geekbench 6 and a massive 87% ahead in Cinebench 2024. It's a big step up.

Compared against rivals from AMD, Qualcomm, and Apple, however, it's a less exciting picture – at least in synthetic benchmarks such as Cinebench 2024 and Geekbench 6. Single-core performance remains neck and neck with AMD and Qualcomm, but here the M4 Pro in Apple's MacBook Pro storms 38% ahead. Multi-core performance doesn't deliver any big upsets for Intel's rivals, but it does lean in its favor. Here, the Dell pulls around 3% ahead of Apple and, on average 15% ahead of AMD and Qualcomm.

It's great to see a dedicated GPU, but it is disappointing that Dell has stuck with a last-generation RTX 4050 – the same chip that was in the XPS 14. That said, it remains substantially more capable than even the best integrated alternatives from Intel and AMD. Even though the 14 Premium's relatively compact chassis limits it to a rather frugal 30W TDP, the RTX4050 storms ahead of integrated AMD and Intel rivals in synthetic benchmarks, pushing anywhere from 20% to 90% ahead.

It's worth noting that in-game performance is still limited, though – and especially if you're planning on using the native resolution of the 3,200 x 2,000 pixel OLED panel. Achieving smooth, playable framerates in resource-hungry titles such as Hogwarts Legacy requires DLSS Performance or Ultra Performance upscaling and – if you can live with the input lag – frame generation also helps to smooth out the experience. This is still not a gaming laptop by any stretch of the imagination.

One bigger issue for day-to-day use is that the Dell's cooling fans can be rather intrusive. Despite the GPU's limited TDP, the combined heat output of the CPU and GPU in the limited confines of the 14 Premium mean that the fans whirr away noisily under gaming loads. So noisily that you'll be reaching for headphones. This is far less of an issue with CPU-only workloads, but you'll still hear the fans spin up – and especially if you happen to be using an external monitor.

Battery life is by far the biggest disappointment here. The combination of a less efficient CPU and dedicated GPU means that the 14 Premium is one of the worst performers we've seen in recent months. With the screen brightness set to 170cd/m2, the Dell's 69.5Wh battery only lasted 11 hours and 23 minutes in our video rundown test – that's 4 or 5 hours less than any comparable laptop we've seen in recent months and around half the runtime of the M4 MacBook Pro 14in M4.

Dell 14 Premium: Is it worth it?

The 14 Premium is a missed opportunity. This was Dell's chance to redefine the standards for its Premium laptop range. Instead, it's the XPS 14 with the name crossed out and a new CPU.

In 2025, that doesn't cut it. Premium rivals such as the MacBook Pro 14in M4 deliver a far more convincing vision of the ultimate 14-inch laptop, and dramatically cheaper Windows rivals deliver a similar performance for much less cash and with fewer compromises.

Dell 14 Premium specifications

The new Snapdragon-powered Microsoft Surface Pro 12in is the smallest, lightest, and cheapest member of the Surface lineup. It doesn't directly replace the Surface Pro 11; that's the job of the new Surface Pro 13in. Indeed, in some ways, the Pro 12in is a step back in terms of specification from the 11 Pro, but then it's a lot cheaper.

The 256GB model costs £799, which is substantially less than the £1,049 Microsoft is currently asking for the entry-level Surface Pro 13in. The 512GB model costs £899, and the 1TB model, £1,049.

The keyboard and stylus are optional extras. The Pro 12 keyboard alone will set you back £149, while the keyboard and pen package is £249. If you want a 65W Surface-branded USB-C charger, that will be another £50.

Unlike the larger Surface Pro 13in, there is no choice of display, and no option to add cellular connectivity. With that new lower starting price, the Surface Pro 12in is now competition for tablets like the iPad Air, as well as more expensive 'professional' tablets like the iPad Pro and Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra. The target market, then, is people who want a tablet for casual use, but also a competent Windows device for more serious undertakings. That may have been what Microsoft wanted all along for its Surface slates, but with the new Surface Pro 12in, it has finally realized the ambition.

Microsoft Surface Pro 12in: Design

In terms of design, the Surface Pro 12in is a conventional and rather anonymous device with rounded edges, a back made from 100% recycled aluminum alloy, and the trademark Surface flush folding built-in kickstand. The platinum finish on our test machine is available with all three storage options, but the violet and ocean (more of a grey in our opinion) options are limited to the 512GB and 1TB models.

The bezel that surrounds the screen is a uniform 9mm, which, while not super-thin, is still narrow enough to lend the Surface Pro 12in a look of modernity alongside any of Apple's iPads. The top left edge is home to the power and volume controls, while on the right side are two 10Gbits/sec USB-C ports, which both support DP AltMode video output. On the bottom edge, there's a row of pogo pin contacts to connect to the keyboard.

We'd have preferred to see USB-C 4-spec ports, but wireless connectivity is up to date with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, both supported.

The eagle-eyed will notice that the Surface Pro 11's magnetic Surface Connect port and the small hatch to access the storage card are both missing. Given that the Surface Pro 11 lacked an audio jack and memory card slot, it came as no shock that the Surface Pro 12in also lacks them.

The tablet part of the Surface Pro 12in weighs 650g, though the keyboard and pen add 340g to the package. Even with the keyboard that makes the Pro 12in one of the lightest Windows 11 machines. By way of comparison, at 580g, the larger iPad Pro is lighter, and at 5.1mm compared to the Surface Pro 13's 7.8mm, it's thinner too. Those differences are borderline inconsequential, though, especially when you remember that the iPad doesn't have a built-in kickstand, which obviously adds to the weight and thickness of the Microsoft device.

The magnets in the base of the tablet that fix the keyboard to the tablet are very strong. Should you wish, you can pick the whole assembly up by the keyboard without the tablet coming adrift.

The kickstand, as is typical of Surface tablets, runs the full width of the tablet and can be adjusted to any position between near-vertical and near-flat. The hinge mechanism is smooth and solid, meaning it stays put until you deliberately change it. When not in use, the stand folds flush, so there are no issues with it flapping about when you are using the Surface Pro 12 as a conventional tablet.

For the Pro 12in, Microsoft has done away with the attractive Alcantra finish of the Surface Pro 13's keyboard, replacing it instead with a smooth, soft-touch rubberized finish. That said, the Pro 12in keyboard is £30 less.

There's a shallow magnetic trough in the back of the tablet to keep the Surface Slim Pen safe and sound, and charged, via inductive charging. This is a preferable layout to that used on the Surface Pro 13, where the pen rests in a trough at the top of the keyboard, because you don't need the keyboard to make use of it.

Microsoft Surface Pro 12in: Keyboard, touchpad, and webcam

The typing action on the detachable keyboard may be rather shallow, but it's crisp and well-damped. There's no option to increase the angle of the deck, but we didn't find hindered our typing speed. The keyboard also has a two-stage backlight.

At 105 x 50mm, the touchpad is on the small side, but it works perfectly, and the smooth surface is pleasant to the touch. Given how thin the keyboard is, the feel of the mechanical click-action is spot on, and it's quiet.

Microsoft's detachable Surface keyboards have long been a byword for excellence, and the new bespoke Surface Pro 12 keyboard is no exception, which, given it's also the cheapest Surface keyboard to date, is good to see.

The webcam is every bit as high-quality as we expected from a Microsoft Surface device. The FullHD video feed is bright and colorful, and you naturally get all of Microsoft's Studio special effects. The camera array also supports Windows Hello facial recognition.

The 10MP rear camera is, by comparison, a workaday affair that can't match the average mid-range smartphone camera. It doesn't even have any sort of flash. It can capture video at 4K and 30fps and 10MP still images, all of which look decent enough if shot in good light, but it still feels like it's been fitted as a box-ticking afterthought.

Microsoft Surface Pro 12in: Display

The Surface Pro 12-inch uses a 12-inch 2,196 x 1,464 IPS display with a pixel density of 220dpi. That can't match the 13-inch iPad Pro's 264dpi, but to the naked eye, the difference is impossible to notice.

Peak brightness registered at a healthy 430cd/m2, and there's coverage of 95% of the sRGB color space. The screen is usefully accurate when measured against the sRGB color standard with a Delta E variance of 1.3. Add the 90Hz refresh rate into the deal, and it's a great display for the price.

Microsoft is vague when it comes to what the screen is actually made of, describing the glass as "strengthened" without giving any brand names. A quick attack on it with a screwdriver had no adverse effects, so it should prove just as robust as a Gorilla Glass-covered phone screen.

Microsoft Surface Pro 12in: Specs and performance

The Surface Pro 12-inch is built around an 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 CPU, the same as used in the Surface 13 Laptop. It delivers a nigh-on perfect combination of performance and efficiency. On paper, the old Surface 11 Pro, which used a 12-core Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor, was more powerful, but the difference isn't something we noticed in everyday use.

In the Geekbench 6 CPU test, the Pro 12-inch scored 2,444 single-core and 10,876 multi-core, which is around 80% of what you'll get if you run the same benchmark on a 2024 M3 MacBook Air. Clearly, then, the Surface Pro 12in has more than enough performance to run everyday tasks tout de suite.

Graphics performance continues to be a bit of a letdown, now that both Intel and AMD have moved the game on with their latest integrated GPUs. That said, you don't buy a £799 Windows tablet to run CAD software or compile 4K video.

To return to our M3 MacBook Air comparison, the Surface Pro-inch scored 9,438 in the Geekbench 6 OpenCL test while the MacBook managed 30,529. Qualcomm needs to take a step forward with its next-generation Windows platform when it comes to raw graphics performance.

The Snapragon chipset also features a 45 TOPS NPU, which means the Surface Pro 12in carries Microsoft's Copilot+ accreditation. That in turn means you can run all the Windows local AI tools like generative fill in Paint and Recall screen capture.

Though the Surface Pro 12 is passively cooled with not a fan in sight, stress-testing revealed no thermal issues; the CPU and GPU ran at 100% utilization for several hours without the device getting more than warm to the touch.

Like the Surface 13 Laptop, the Surface Pro 12-inch uses UFS rather than SSD storage, so read and write speeds are quite slow. Average sequential read and write speeds of 2,300MB/s and 1,400MB/s are adequate, but no more.

Until the arrival of the Surface Pro 11, Windows tablets had always suffered when it came to battery life, but the new Surface Pro 12in has moved the game on. In our battery run-down test, the new Surface ran for 19 hours and 30 minutes, which is a superb performance.

Granted, it still can't match the Surface 13 Laptop's near-24-hour runtime, but that has a 50Wh battery while the Pro 12in makes do with 38Wh. The Pro 12in runs for longer than the basic 2025 iPad and the M4 iPad Pro 13, which is one heck of an accomplishment for a Windows tablet.

Microsoft Surface Pro 12: Is it worth it?

If all you want is something larger than your smartphone for watching Netflix or browsing the web, then an iPad or good Android tablet like the OnePlus Pad 3 still makes more sense because it's cheaper and runs an operating system designed for touch. But if you want a device that can do basic tablet stuff and function as a productivity device, then the new Surface Pro 12-inch is worth serious consideration.

The combination of strong performance, excellent battery life, a superb sound system, and a good display for under £800 (currently a lot under) is a hard combination to ignore. Granted, the price creeps up a bit when you add a keyboard and pen, and charger, but you will then have a tremendously useful, versatile, and compact Windows device.

Microsoft Surface Pro 12in specifications

If maximum performance is on the agenda, HP's line of ZBook workstations should be top of mind. These machines might be much weightier and chunkier than your classic business notebook or slimline ultraportable, but you are guaranteed top performance and a premium build quality – as well as a high-end price tag.

The HP ZBook X G1i is the mid-level version of the current lineup, but that just means it isn't as powerful as the most souped-up version – this laptop still packs way more punch than the average notebook. Fitted within it is the latest Intel hardware as well as an Nvidia RTX Pro 2000 Blackwell graphics card to really underline its performance-first offering. This model is recommended for advanced 3D modeling, rendering, and simulation workflows, as well as conceptual design, video editing, and data analytics, according to HP. But should you go all in, given its weighty price tag?

HP ZBook X G1i review: Design and display

The ZBook series has carved its own design identity – with a robust frame and a classic silver all-aluminum chassis that's as sturdy and reliable as you're going to get in a heavy-duty workstation like this. That's underlined by its MIL-STD testing.

Overall, the design exudes a certain gravitas, which is matched by its weightiness – at 2.04kg (4.5 lbs). This is, however, a touch lighter than the HP ZBook Power G11, which retains the same build and frame as the newer machine. What you aren't going to get is sleightness, with a 22.9mm depth, so we wouldn't recommend this laptop if you plan on taking it out and about.

The machine features a full-size keyboard including a number pad, which retains the same design as all new HP machines, with contrasting keys that make it stand out. There's a fingerprint reader just beneath it, as well as a touchpad that's also plenty spacious. Overall, it's really well laid out in terms of both look and functionality.

Encased in the indented bezels of our review unit was a 2,560 x 1,600 pixel IPS display (a 4K version of this machine is also available). While the brightness is about average, at 369 nits, the screen reproduces colors excellently, with 100% coverage of the sRGB spectrum proving a solid foundation. For photo and video editors, respectively, you'll be delighted with a 98.7% and 99.8% coverage of the Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 spectra, respectively, which are outstanding results. There is perfect color balance between the red, green, and blue values too – albeit the screen does look a little oversaturated to the naked eye. You also benefit from a smooth 120Hz refresh rate.

HP ZBook X G1i review: Performance and battery life

The performance in the HP ZBook X G1i certainly justifies its price tag if this is the most important draw for you. Our review unit was fitted with an Intel Core Ultra 7 265H (16 cores) processor and a huge 64GB RAM. Paired with the CPU was an Nvidia RTX PRO 2000 Blackwell graphics card. We also had a huge 2TB SSD in our model.

The single-threaded performance in the HP was a tad lower than we had expected, with a score of 2,674 versus the 2,701 and 2,828 that we achieved with the Intel Core Ultra 7 256V in the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (16GB RAM) and the Dell Pro 13 Premium (32 GB RAM), respectively. But a multi-threaded score of 16,103 dominates both – with the HP and Dell scoring 10,793 and 11,196. It's an extremely dominant result and makes this laptop faster even than a MacBook Pro, with the M4-powered laptop scoring 15,234 in the same test.

The MacBook Pro's graphics performance of 38,236 in the OpenCL benchmark was trounced by the monstrous 87,860 we achieved with the 16-inch workstation. This laptop is, indeed, primed to handle all kinds of tasks, especially graphics-intensive workloads. It's worth noting, however, that the Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada graphics card fitted into the HP ZBook Power G11 was slightly more powerful, with a score of 88,543, but it's negligible at this point. And you get plenty more juice thanks to the upgraded processor. A worthy mention too must go to the SSD, which is really zippy with read/write speeds of 6,728MB/s and 4,931MB/s. These speeds are above average; something we've noticed when testing HP laptops, especially.

The laptop's battery life was about average, lasting just 12hrs 59mins in our looped video playback test. This is probably about what we expected from a 16-inch machine that draws so much power – and it's certainly not something you'd necessarily be swayed by, given it's not the most portable laptop out there anyway. We will say, however, that the HP ZBook Power G11 lasted 17hrs 48mins in the same test. So it's worth considering this alternative if having a great battery life is a priority.

HP ZBook X G1i review: Features

HP usually makes excellent keyboards, and we thoroughly enjoyed using the expansive version in the HP ZBook X G1i. The keys felt spaced out and large – and there's even enough room for a number pad, should you wish to use one. We do lament the lack of a full-sized Enter key, but it's a minor grumble with what's otherwise really enjoyable to type with. Each key has plenty of resistance (if anything, maybe a tad much) and a deep travel distance, making touch-typing punchy and satisfying. The touchpad, too, is superb for the most part in terms of its sizing and spacing on the chassis. If anything, there's a tiny amount of unwelcome friction, but not enough to put us off using it.

Also featured on this machine is a fingerprint reader on the far right beneath the keyboard, as well as a 5MP webcam with Windows Hello and AI-powered Poly Camera Pro software to adjust your framing and picture during calls, as well as a tiny switch to obscure the lens when not in use. Other software includes HP Smart Sense, to optimize thermal management, as well as HP Power Management software to preserve your battery's conditioning and charging schedules.

Wireless connectivity comes in the form of Wi-FI 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, the latest standards, while there are also plenty of hardware options to use. On the left, you'll find a USB-A port, two USB-C ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, as well as a separate charging port. Yes, it does come with a bit of a weighty power brick – but it's a sacrifice worth making for a 50% fast-charging rate in 30mins. On the right-hand side, you'll find another USB-A port, an Ethernet port, an SD card reader, and a nano security lock slot, as well as a SIM card slot. There really is everything you could ever need.

HP ZBook X G1i review: Is it worth it?

The HP ZBook X G1i really is a wonderful machine – the question should be whether you will maximize its value for your work and your needs. That's because it comes with a weighty near-$4,000 price tag from some vendors (especially if you opt for the 4K resolution version). We would highly recommend this machine if money was no object, and you needed a reliable and powerful machine that can blast through any intensive workloads, from machine learning projects to 3D modeling or CAD. It's really a machine for power users, and a fantastic one at that – but if portability is more of a priority, or a stronger battery life – or you even just need something for more basic tasks – we would consider a cheaper option. That said, for a workstation, you couldn't ask for much more.

HP ZBook X G1i review specifications

HP ZBooks are synonymous with power, which is why ITPro has reviewed a handful of machines in this lineup so favourably – if all guns blazing performance is what you're looking for, you'd be hard-pressed to look any further. That's because these machines look good and feel great to use, too, thanks to the engineering prowess the manufacturer has shown in building this family of workstations.

On the slimmer side of this family is the new HP ZBook 8 G1ak 14, a more portable AMD-powered 14-inch alternative to the typically large and boisterous desktop replacements like the excellent HP ZBook Power G11 or the HP ZBook X G1i models. But does its more slender frame mean it's any less punchy? It's crucial to consider, especially given that ZBooks tend to be fairly expensive.

HP ZBook 8 G1ak 14: Design and display

You can immediately see from the look and feel of this laptop that it means business – ditching the features you'd usually find in an ultraportable for a thicker frame. We are fully on board with the high-end build quality (including MIL-STD testing) and premium feel of its aluminum chassis, which is finished in a sharp Meteor Silver color. It's as if the 16-inch version of the HP ZBook had been miniaturized very elegantly.

If you're mostly looking for something more suited to using on the move, we'd point you elsewhere – but this machine is very portable for what it is. At 3.17lbs (1.44kg) heavy, it's a weightier than average; it's sandwiched between the HP EliteBook Ultra 14 G1q – 2.98 lbs (1.34 kg) – and the HP Elitebook X G1a – 3.51lbs (1.59kg). All three are lighter than the MacBook Pro M4 (14-inch), however, which weighs 3.4lbs (1.55kg). That said, it's good enough to use on the move if you don't mind the extra weight and size; with a thickness of 0.74in (18.9mm), it's chunkier than most, but not by much.

Encased in plastic bezels is a 14-inch IPS HD display that's very sharp (2,560 x 1,600 pixels, translated to a solid pixels-per-inch of 216). We also noticed how bright it was to the naked eye, which we confirmed in our testing with a display calibrator. The machine registered a peak luminescence of 470 nits – about 100 nits brighter than average. You won't find many that can match this unless you turn to a MacBook Pro (516 nits), the Lenovo ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition (also 470 nits), or the Microsoft Surface Laptop (474 nits), among a few other competitors.

We were also impressed with 99.8% coverage of the sRGB spectrum, 81.2% coverage of the Adobe RGB spectrum (for photography), and 98% coverage of the DCI-P3 spectrum (for video editors). All three are good results and, while not the best out there, far better than you'll find in the average notebook. Coupled with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR, it makes for really crisp and clean viewing experience. Of slight concern, however, was a high black level of 0.61 nits, as well as an average and maximum Delta-E score of 1.5 and 4; while falling between 3 and 6 is usually a "good" result, these days most panels hit a maximum close to 1.

HP ZBook 8 G1ak 14: Performance and battery life

This is the first ZBook that's powered with an AMD processor – the AMD Ryzen AI 7 PRO 360 (8 cores) to be precise – and it's paired with an AMD Radeon 860M graphics chip. Our review unit also came with 32GB DDR5 RAM as well as a 512GB SSD. Overall, the performance was a mixed bag, and didn't live up to the levels we expected.

In testing with Geekbench 6, we registered a pretty strong single-threaded score of 2,797 – comfortably beating most other processors apart from the M4 chip in the latest MacBooks. But multi-core performance was sluggish, hitting 10,809. This is on par with the second-generation Intel Ultra 7 processors, and a tad behind the Snapdragon X Elite chips (which tend to hit between 13,000 and 15,000). While the score is not terrible by any means, we'd have certainly expected something closer to a MacBook Pro. By contrast, we registered a score of 11,196 in the Dell Pro 13 Premium, and it's comparable to 10,684 in the Lenovo ThinkPad X9 14 Aura Edition. The SSD, meanwhile, is just as fast as we have come to expect from those fitted into HP machines, with read/write speeds of 7,071MB/s and 5,694MB/s, respectively. This is about as fast as you're likely to get in a laptop.

Graphics performance, however, was disappointing; we registered a paltry 22,153 in our OpenCL benchmark. The new generation of Intel Arc Graphics cards can usually achieve between 25,000 and 30,000, by contrast. And the Nvidia RTX PRO 2000 Blackwell that we tested in the bigger and beefier HP ZBook X G1i scored a mammoth 87,860. Also worth noting that the integrated graphics in Apple's M4 chips usually hit between 36,000 and 39,000, depending on the context and model.

Its battery life is also below average, with the model lasting 12hrs 12mins in our looped video playback test. This is a better score than you'd have expected a few generations ago, but plenty of Windows laptops can reach 15-hours-plus these days.

HP ZBook 8 G1ak 14 review: Features

We loved using the keyboard fitted into the HP ZBook 8 G1ak 14 – it's pretty much identical across all of HP's current line-up of laptops and 2-in-1s, with minor differences, and that's no bad thing at all. In this instance, the keys are incredibly snappy and offer plenty of force feedback – we may suggest it's a bit too much, if there are any criticisms to make, meaning typing for prolonged periods of time may feel quite difficult until you get used to the sheer amount of feedback you get with each keystroke. The trackpad was flawless, on the other hand, and about as useful and fuss-free as we have seen.

One of the highlights when it comes to a machine like this is also the sheer amount of connectivity options you get in a relatively portable body. The 14-inch ZBook includes two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4, a USB-A port, an HDMI 2.1 slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a security lock slot, and an Ethernet port. While you don't get the SD card or SIM slots you would find in the 16-inch ZBooks, this is far more than you'd get compared with most notebooks on the market. Wireless standards are up-to-date too, with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 compatibility.

One thing you'll be guaranteed is a suite of security services courtesy of the HP Wolf Pro Security Edition software, as well as hardware-level protection and biometric login thanks to a fingerprint reader and Windows Hello compatibility via the 5MP webcam. Elsewhere, you'll find all manner of AI-friendly features, powered by the 50 TOPS NPU fitted into the machine, including the Poly Camera Pro app to adjust your framing and picture quality during calls. HP Smart Sense also adjusts your performance to for an optimal PC experience, according to the manufacturer.

HP ZBook 8 G1ak 14 review: Is it worth it?

We weren't blown away by the HP ZBook 8 G1ak 14 – although it's a perfectly capable machine that's enjoyable to use day-in and day-out. It looks every bit the part as a workstation should, with an outstanding build quality and extremely robust chassis, while also looking easy on the eye. However, it unfortunately fails to deliver on the performance levels you would really want from a machine built like this. While the display is also excellent, you can find better displays (with superior technologies like OLED) in ultraportables like the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 – and better performance in plenty of comparable non-workstations too. For that reason, while there is plenty of potential in this machine, it's hard to recommend over alternative devices unless you need the connectivity features, added security extras, and a really bright display.

HP ZBook X G1i review specifications

For £799, the HP OmniBook 5 14in attempts a tricky balancing act. With that relatively limited budget, it seeks to be fast enough to rival Intel and AMD alternatives; light, robust, and long-lasting enough to earn its ultraportable stripes, and stylish enough to distract buyers from similarly priced rivals. It's fair to say that HP is setting a high bar for success.

On the first point, it's the first laptop we've seen with Qualcomm's pared-back Snapdragon X processor. These were announced back in CES 2025, and the expectation is solid Windows on ARM performance backed up by all-day battery life.

On the other points, HP knows the drill: its recent laptop designs consistently fuse style, sensible design, and sturdy build. The OmniBook 5 14in is no exception, but the burning question is whether Qualcomm can deliver on its side of the bargain.

HP OmniBook 5 14in: Design & connectivity

It gets off to a solid start. The design isn't particularly exciting in any way, but the sandblasted matte silver metal frame feels solid from top to toe, and the 1.3kg weight and dainty 13mm thickness make for a portable little package. There is a little flex in the base and lid, but nothing we'd worry about.

Connectivity is minimal but ample. There are two 10Gbps USB-C ports on the left-hand flank, and a drop-jaw 10Gbps USB-A port on the right, alongside a 3.5mm headset connection. You also get Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity.

There's a 1080P webcam, too, replete with a privacy shutter. The image quality is very middle of the road, however. There's no fine detail to speak of, and colors tend to look oversaturated. In our testing, skintones often looked excessively flushed and reddish.

You also get a stereo set of speakers that fire downwards from under the front edge. These go rather loud, but it's a rough and ready noise – there's no delicacy or body to really make music pleasant to listen to.

HP OmniBook 5 14in: Keyboard and touchpad

HP has produced some of my favourite keyboards in recent times, and the OmniBook 5 is no exception. The chiclet keys feel good, with a light, snappy feedback, and the chiclet design makes for a keyboard that feels really spacious and roomy.

The layout is eminently sensible, too. You get nice, wide shift keys, and the only mild disappointment is that you don't get a full height enter key. The up and down cursor keys are also crushed into a single height row, but that's hardly a unique compromise in 2025.

The touchpad is a standard mechanical type, and it's good. Multifingered gestures all work reliably, and there are no usability issues which we encountered in our testing. In fact, the only slight oddity is that the touchpad rattles slightly with the tiniest amount of pressure. This may possibly be intentional, though, as it means that you get an audible and physical bit of feedback with even the lightest taps. It's not a big issue in any case.

HP OmniBook 5 14in: Display

The OLED display is lovely. The 1,920 x 1,200 resolution delivers a claimed 300cd/m2 peak brightness, 95% DCI-P3 coverage, and a near-instantaneous 0.2ms response time. Subjectively, we can't find fault with it. Colors are wonderfully vivid and saturated, and while text looks noticeably softer than on LCD panels, it's still pleasant to use for all-day working.

It's worth noting that OLED screens don't get as bright as LCD-based alternatives, but this is only likely to cause issues if you're using it outside on really sunny days – during our testing, it was more than bright enough for indoor usage at around 80% brightness, even with large Velux sunlights directly above.

In our various image tests, the OmniBook's panel put in a really good performance. Color accuracy is right on the money, with an average Delta E of 1.63 and a white point of 6,356k, which is almost dead on the ideal of 6,500k. Peak brightness measured at 299cd/m2, which matches HP's claims. And when it comes to color coverage, we actually measured the panel as providing 99% of DCI-P3, which exceeds HP's claims by quite a bit.

HP OmniBook 5 14in: Performance

HP has employed the newest entry-level addition to the Snapdragon family, the 8-core X1-26-100. Clockspeeds top out at 2.96GHz, and there's still a healthy 45 TOPS of AI-crunching power thanks to the Hexagon NPU. The biggest downgrade is the GPU: the Adreno X1-45 is dramatically less powerful than the best in the family.

First, the good news. Battery life is stupendous. The Snapdragon chip and a relatively large 65Wh battery mean that the OmniBook 5 lasted 20hrs 40mins in our battery rundown test. And in day-to-day usage, that all-day battery life figure translates into nearly two working days with Wi-Fi enabled and working mostly in the Chrome browser.

Application performance is pretty good overall, too. Compared to the top-end Snapdragon X Elite chip in the Dell XPS 13 9345, the HP was between 25% and 30% behind in Geekbench 6's single – and multi-threaded tests, and around 20% behind in Cinebench 2024's single – and multi-threaded tests.

Raise the stakes with Intel's mid-range Lunar Lake and AMD's Strix Point processors, and the X1-26-100 remains quietly impressive. Single-core performance is only around 20% slower than those rivals, which you'd normally find on markedly pricier laptops, and multi-core performance in Cinebench 2024 is only around 20% behind the 8-core Ryzen AI 7 Pro 360, and – with the native ARM version levelling the playing field somewhat – it's actually 25% faster than an Intel Ultra 7 268V.

The big tradeoff is GPU performance. The Adreno X1-45 was between 45% and 50% slower than the X1-85 GPU in the Snapdragon X Elite chips in our suite of tests, and that's hardly an impressive performer in the first place. Put the X1-45 up against Intel's mid-pack Lunar Lake or AMD's Strix Point chips, and it lags anything from 60% to 80% behind. In practical terms, you'll struggle to get any demanding games running at acceptable framerates.

HP OmniBook 5 14in: Is it worth it?

The OmniBook 5 14in finds itself flanked by a queue of capable challengers. If, for instance, you spend all your time working in a browser, then you could get a similarly refined experience from the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 (Gen 10) – and that's just £549. And if you don't mind shifting to macOS, there's the £849 MacBook Air to catch your eye.

Distractions aside, the OmniBook 5 is a good all-around laptop. If you're looking for a good sub-£1,000 ultraportable, and the software you use runs happily on Windows on ARM systems, then the OmniBook 5's nice OLED display, good ergonomics, and huge battery life may be everything you want. And if, like us, you're easily distracted, the poor GPU performance may actually be something of a productivity boost.

HP OmniBook 5 14in specifications

When you're picking out a machine for work, you'll be looking for how portable it is, whether it can last you at least the full working day, and whether it's powerful enough to get the job done. There are plenty of appealing lightweight laptops to choose from these days, including the LG Gram14 and the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Pro. The Asus Zenbook A14, too, is a fantastic Copilot+ PC that offers a great OLED screen and an all-day battery life.

The Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N, meanwhile, is a premium machine that stays true to its corporate roots while adding some much-welcomed flair. It looks much sharper than previous Dynabook laptops, thanks to its deep blue finish, and it's much lighter than it has any business being. But that's a longstanding trait that the manufacturer has excelled in – having made plenty of lightweight notebooks through the years. With plenty of ports and connectivity options, and the latest hardware under the hood, is this newest edition worth picking out at just over $2,000?

Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N review: Design and display

The most striking change in the Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N is the deep blue finish, which gives the machine much more of an aura. But even this isn't enough to paper over the cracks of a design that's fundamentally dated. From the way the display is recluded within a plastic encasing to the trackpad that has two physical buttons, there are elements we feel that other manufacturers have moved beyond – including in their business notebooks.

Nothing is amiss – and there are no surprises, just not an awful lot of innovation to match the eye-catching finish. In a similar but more positive vein, this laptop's build quality is just as outstanding as you would expect. The magnesium alloy chassis is incredibly robust and has passed rigorous MIL-STD 810H testing – including a drop test, dust test, and examinations for withstanding different humidity levels, extreme temperatures, and shock.

It's also frighteningly light – weighing just 960g – which makes it ideal for working on the move or if you need to travel frequently. This is perhaps this machine's biggest selling point, its dimensions aren't the most compact when you look at the broader market – with a thickness of 18.9mm on the chunkier side. Most machines are usually under 17mm, with plenty in the 15-16mm range.

One thing you shouldn't buy this machine for is its display. We weren't overly impressed with the 14-inch IPS screen; Its relatively low 1,920 x 1,200 pixel resolution renders just 162 pixels per inch (PPI), which is considerably below average. With a 60Hz refresh rate and nothing particularly special otherwise, it's a disappointment considering how much you're paying for it. The brightness is around average (388 nits), while color accuracy is fine – with a 97.9% coverage of the sRGB spectrum, less than the 99% you get in plenty of premium options. The contrast ratio of 1,172:1 and 0.33 nits black level are fairly good, on the other hand. Overall, however, it's an unappealing if not inoffensive panel.

Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N review: Performance and battery life

The Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N includes an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU as well as an integrated Intel Arc Graphics chip, which is complemented with 32GB LPDDR5X RAM and 1 TB SSD. Considering the strength of this configuration, on paper, we were let down with its performance in benchmarking.

In our testing with Geekbench 6, the laptop scored 1,762 and 8,337 for single-threaded and multi-threaded performance, respectively. This is among the lowest set of scores we registered across this generation and the previous generation of laptops. By contrast, the Lenovo ThinkPad X9 14 Aura Edition (fitted with the same Intel processor) clocked in 2,718 and 10,684. The most powerful laptops (excluding MacBooks – which vastly outperform Windows machines) usually score between 2,000 and 3,000 in single-threaded performance and up to 16,000 in the multi-threaded benchmark.

Its graphics performance, on the other hand, was strong – with the machine registering 26,960 in the OpenCL benchmark. You would expect a score like this from the new second-generation Intel chips, with most machines hovering between 25,000 and 29,000. This means it's more than capable of handling tasks with a moderate intensity.

Another benefit of the new Intel chip is the greater efficiency – with the Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N lasting 18hrs 55mins in my looped video playback test. This is much longer than the 11 hrs 51mins of the ThinkPad, and should give you plenty of assurances over using a laptop like this while you're on the move – or working somewhere that lacks a power socket. Importantly, however, the battery can be removed and replaced pretty easily – meaning if it ever degrades, you can easily swap in a new one.

Finally, worth noting is how fast the read and write speeds of the 1TB SSD were – with our tests registering 6,992MB/s and 5,576MB/s, respectively. These are certainly as high as you could expect – with only HP ZBook 8 G1ak 14 registering faster speeds in our tests.

Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N review: Features

While the keyboard is largely inoffensive – with plenty of bite to each keystroke and force feedback – the spacing may present a slight issue considering how small each key is, with rather wide gaps between them. It's not a dealbreaker, however. The keyboard also features an array of useful function keys -- including controls for taking phone calls if you connect your phone to the laptop.

The touchpad, however, is too small and is fiddly to use. The physical buttons are hard to negotiate with if you're used to a much wider buttonless touchpad. The most frustrating thing is instinctively attempting – and failing – to use the left-click function much higher up on the touchpad than the very bottom. It means having to overextend your thumb while typing. The surface of the touchpad itself feels smooth but there's a bit too much friction when you're changing direction quickly -- leading to a dragging feeling you could do without.

One of this machine's biggest advantages is its connectivity options, on the brighter side. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 make up the wireless options. You also have plenty of ports for physical connections, including two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support, two USB-A ports, a 1Gbps LAN port, an HDMI 2.1 port, and even a microSD Card reader. This comes alongside a 3.5mm headphone jack. In short, it's an excellent proposition that should give you everything you need.

There are also plenty of fantastic security features – including a fingerprint reader as well as a 5MP IR camera with facial recognition, which supports Windows Hello and presence detection features. You'll also benefit from a slot for Secure Cable Lack, a webcam shutter slider, Intel Authenticate support, both a user password and supervisor password, and an SSD password on request. This is a comprehensive set of information security tools that should give you some added peace of mind.

Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N review: Is it worth it?

Dynabooks are usually fairly reliable, in that you know exactly what you should expect from them – a sturdy build quality, excellent connectivity options, and security features. These are widely considered to be solid enterprise-grade machines for a reason, but the Portégé Z40L-N left us feeling a little underwhelmed. While the lick of paint is fantastic, we wanted to see more innovation on the design front and to see the manufacturer make some bolder choices to match the of the shell.

Several disappointing notes included the lack of sharpness in the display as well as generally sluggish performances in benchmarking. While the scores were low, it's certainly powerful enough for day-to-day computing and basic workloads – including typing, spreadsheets, and basic graphics work.

What really matters is its long battery life, however. Combined with its great portability and weight, this is an appealing option if you primarily need a business-oriented machine to use on the move. That said, for more than $2,000 you find plenty more for your money, especially when it comes to performance and the quality of the display – so it's about weighing up whether the broad connectivity options, portability and security essentials, which are all excellent, are worth paying a little extra for.

Dynabook Portégé Z40L-N specifications