Alienware is continuing its new trend of breaking into budget markets, something I first saw with the Alienware AW2726DM QD-OLED monitor that launched on April 14.

Whereas the affordable OLED gaming display arrived at a cool $349, the new Alienware 15 gaming laptop makes its debut at a similarly modest $1,299. It's available now at Dell.com, and it's configurable with AMD or Intel processors.

For a gaming laptop bearing the Alienware badge, that's not a bad price at all. The next cheapest option, the Alienware 16 Aurora, starts at $1,639.99. I often see it on sale, sometimes for as little as $1,199, but these opportunities are fleeting.

Assuming Dell will put the new Alienware 15 on sale from time to time, it could be a great way to jump into portable gaming without overspending.

Returning to the $349 AW2726DM QD-OLED gaming monitor for a moment, I'll admit that I was a bit skeptical of its quality. However, now that I'm testing it for an upcoming review, I'm confident Alienware can deliver an enticing gaming laptop in the budget range.

How does the new Alienware 15 compare to the Alienware 16 Aurora?

The Alienware gaming laptop family now consists of the new Alienware 15 as a budget option, Alienware 16 Aurora and 16X Aurora as mid- and upper-mid-range options, and Alienware 16/18 Area-51 as premium options.

Based on how close the prices between the new Alienware 15 and 16 Aurora can be (especially with discounts), I took a close look at how they compare. I hope this can help you make the right choice.

The gallery above shows how the new Alienware 15 has gone with a different chassis design. There's no rear thermal shelf, with the lid's 180-degree hinges instead sitting at the very back of the laptop's base.

Other than that, the keyboard (with number pad) and mechanical touchpad are quite similar. One difference to note is that the Alienware 15's lid and base are made from polycarbonate, while the Aurora 16 swaps polycarbonate for aluminum on the lid.

I put together this spec table to cover most of the other differences.

Performance hardware is practically the same, and I'll wait until independent reviews emerge to see how the new Alienware 15 handles cooling. The Aurora 16 does offer an RTX 5070 GPU option at 115W, whereas the Alienware 15 tops out at an RTX 5060 (80W).

Because it has a larger chassis, the Aurora 16 has larger battery options. It also weighs about a half-pound more.

And as for the display, the Aurora 16's QHD+ option at 120Hz might be the better choice if you're a creator, especially with 100% sRGB coverage. The Alienware 15's display has a lower FHD+ resolution with a pretty dismal 62.5% sRGB coverage.

Alienware 15 vs. Alienware 16 Aurora: Which should you buy?

I'm not making any final statements until we can get our hands on the new Alienware 15, but as I mentioned, the fact that Alienware's new budget QD-OLED monitor is so good instills a lot of confidence that Dell will get this new laptop right.

What I can say is that the Alienware 15 is looking like a better option for those who generally use an external display. It seems like a lot of the price difference might have been made up in that area, alongside the more affordable AMD Ryzen CPU options.

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NVIDIA has quietly expanded its mobile graphics cards by announcing a new RTX 5070 Laptop GPU configuration with 12GB of VRAM.

The original RTX 5070 mobile with 8GB of VRAM doesn't look to be going anywhere. Instead, this is a play by NVIDIA to give its OEM partners more options to work with while the global RAM crisis rages on.

There's no word yet on which laptops will officially receive the new 12GB RTX 5070 mobile variant, but prior leaks (via Videocardz) suggest it'll arrive at some point in ASUS, Lenovo, and MSI models.

How does adding more VRAM to a GPU help solve memory shortages?

How does adding more VRAM to a GPU help when memory is so hard to come by? It's all about the type of memory used in the new 12GB configurations.

The new RTX 5070 mobile with 12GB of VRAM uses 24Gb GDDR7 memory, whereas the 8GB VRAM model uses 16Gb GDDR7 memory.

The manufacturing process for these types of memory is different. 24Gb uses 3GB memory modules, whereas 16Gb uses 2GB modules. The former modules have seen increased production of late by manufacturers like Samsung and Micron.

Spreading out the memory type should help NVIDIA source components for its mobile cards, allowing it to provide more GPUs to its partners.

It doesn't appear that NVIDIA is changing anything else on its RTX 5070 mobile GPU. Core counts remain the same, as does bandwidth and memory bus.

Windows Central's take

Regardless of a lack of other changes to the RTX 5070, with how memory-hungry modern games have become, getting a 50% boost compared to the original isn't a bad thing.

And if it allows NVIDIA to keep the mobile GPUs flowing to its partners, I'm on board.

(via Videocardz)

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ASUS has been a key player in advancing dual-screen laptops with its Zenbook Duo, but many don't know that a gaming-focused Zephyrus Duo actually came first.

No, older models from the early 2020s weren't a "true" dual-screen laptop, with their 1.5 displays and embedded keyboard, but they clearly inspired the new ROG Zephyrus Duo that ASUS unveiled at CES 2026.

I got my hands on the new dual-screen RTX 5090 mobile gaming laptop a few days before its initial launch. Here's what I discovered.

How much does the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo cost?

ASUS offers two ROG Zephyrus Duo (2026) configurations. The more affordable model (GX651AR) costs $4,499.99 and comes with the Intel Core Ultra 9 386H CPU, NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti mobile GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD.

ASUS also has a model with an RTX 5090 mobile GPU and otherwise identical specs for $5,499.99. That's a full $1,000 upcharge for the RTX 5090, as both models have the same displays, ports, cameras, etc.

Here's a deeper look at the specs available in the new ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo.

ASUS supplied Windows Central with a temporary review unit for testing. It had no input on, nor saw the contents of this review prior to publishing.

How does a dual-screen gaming laptop like the ROG Zephyrus Duo work?

The ROG Zephyrus Duo is heavier than the average 16-inch gaming laptop at 6.17 pounds (2.8kg), but it's packing a full dual-screen setup within its CNC-milled aluminum borders. Like the Zenbook Duo, the two displays fold together like a normal notebook, sandwiching the removable keyboard.

Without the keyboard attached, you have two full 16-inch displays to work with. A built-in stand on the bottom of the chassis makes for a sturdy horizontal or vertical setup, and 320-degree hinges allow the PC to fold flat or into a tent mode when sharing or playing local co-op games.

The number of actual PC games that can do this isn't huge, but megahits like Portal 2, Stardew Valley, and It Takes Two might tempt you to try it out. Let me know your favorite local co-op PC game in the comments section.

The real utility of a dual-screen gaming laptop is having a full second screen for guides, podcasts, streams, controls — whatever. If it seems overkill, that's because it is for what's probably a majority of gamers. But it's so, so cool at the same time.

And just like the Zenbook Duo, the ROG Zephyrus Duo doesn't feel like a gimmick when you're using it outside of its standard notebook mode. It's truly useful to have a second display ready to go at all times, and it works just as well if you're holding the PC like a book, standing it up on a desk (vertically or horizontally), or laying it flat on a table.

Are the ROG Zephyrus Duo's features as premium as its design?

Everything about this PC is carefully designed, and I'm impressed with the overall quality. ASUS has truly made huge strides in engineering and presentation in recent years, and it's on full display here.

I'm reminded of this every time I open the lid. ASUS designed the hinges with two levels of torsion; the lid can be opened with one hand to a regular notebook display angle, before it grabs harder for more stability in dual-screen modes.

Without the keyboard attached, the bottom half of the chassis is relatively thin considering the hardware inside. On the left edge is a proprietary charging port, HDMI 2.1, USB-A 3.2 (Gen 2), Thunderbolt 4, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack.

The right edge includes secondary Thunderbolt 4 and USB-A 3.2 (Gen 2) ports, as well as a full-size UHS-II SD card reader. A lack of Ethernet without an adapter will irk some, but Wi-Fi 7 is crazy fast, assuming your router and ISP can keep up.

Audio from six speakers, each with 2W of output, is superb, and Dolby Atmos is included. Two speakers live on the bottom panel of the second display, two live near the center, and a couple are located in the hinge area.

ASUS managed to fit a 1080p webcam with IR for Windows Hello above the main display, and it does a good job if you're occasionally video conferencing.

Is the ROG Zephyrus Duo's detachable keyboard good for gaming?

The keyboard attaches to the bottom display with strong magnets, communicating and charging via POGO pins when "docked." When pulled apart, it immediately switches to Bluetooth.

It's rigid enough that it's no problem to use in my lap, and the larger deck makes it feel like a sort of base station. It's covered in an oil-resistant, soft-touch finish that's quite luxe.

Typing is surprisingly comfortable, owing to deep 1.7mm key travel, ample spacing, and a smooth finish on each keycap. All keys belong to the same RGB zone, compatible with Aura Sync.

I wish the touchpad used haptics, but that's really my only qualm. The mechanical style is nevertheless tactile, and I appreciate the oversized area.

How did ASUS fit an RTX 5090 in the ROG Zephyrus Duo?

ASUS often uses the keyboard as an air intake on its gaming laptops, but with a second screen covering the entire bottom portion of the Zephyrus Duo, that isn't possible.

Instead, it has an oversized intake panel on the bottom of the PC to feed the fans inside. ASUS built a custom vapor chamber here to cover nearly 50% of the motherboard, and it uses a Graphite Nano insulation layer between the board and the OLED display.

Something I've never seen before is an angled exhaust vent that doubles as a raised footing. It's joined by a much larger heatsink exhaust running along the entirety of the bottom half's rear edge.

In Turbo performance mode, the fans can get loud. I measured 61.2 decibels when pushing the system with Red Dead Redemption 2. In performance mode, noise drops by about 5 decibels.

NVIDIA RTX 5090 mobile performance — is it worth it?

I applaud ASUS for fitting an RTX 5090 mobile GPU inside a dual-screen laptop, but I stick by my opinion that it's not worth the upcharge compared to NVIDIA's lower-tier GPUs.

The 5090 mobile, no matter what PC it's in, only delivers about half the performance of its desktop counterpart. Although none of NVIDIA's mobile GPUs match up to the desktop options, the 5090 takes the biggest hit.

Overall, the RTX 5090 model seems more like a flex aimed at big spenders, especially considering ASUS doesn't offer an RTX 5080 model. Outside of gaming, high-end creators might be swayed to the 5090 combined with quality OLED displays. Otherwise, go with the RTX 5070 Ti model.

Benchmarking the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo

ASUS caps the RTX 5090 mobile GPU at 150W in Turbo and Manual modes. It falls back to 135W in Performance mode. I ran all benchmarks in Turbo mode, using the main display's native 2.8K resolution.

• Black Myth: Wukong — DLSS On, Frame Gen On, Ray Tracing Very High, Cinematic, 2.8K: 64 FPS (AVG), 35 FPS (MIN), 80 FPS (MAX)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 — DLSS Auto, Ultra, 2.8K: 75.68 FPS (AVG), 23.19 FPS (MIN), 137.42 FPS (MAX)
• Cyberpunk 2077 — Ray Tracing Overdrive, Path Tracing On, Frame Gen 2x, 2.8K: 75.28 FPS (AVG), 65.63 FPS (MIN), 85.67 FPS (MAX)

I also tested Red Dead Redemption 2 with the second screen enabled and streaming a YouTube video. Under the same settings, the average dropped by 5 FPS. That's not a huge performance hit for a very demanding game, which is great to see.

Does the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo get too hot to handle?

ASUS has clearly done a great job of balancing power within the laptop's limits. It's constantly adjusting power to the CPU and GPU, and AIDA64 showed no throttling in an extended 15-minute stress test. The RTX 5090 hit 76°C during the test, the hottest CPU core 92°C.

Toward the end of the stress test, I also used a FLIR camera to check external temperatures.

The keyboard, attached, reached about 40°C between the keys. With the screen removed, the bottom OLED display hit about 42°C. And on the bottom of the laptop, the exhaust hotspot hit about 54.7°C.

Keep in mind these are extreme measures. Nevertheless, if you want less heat, go with the RTX 5070 Ti GPU instead.

More ROG Zephyrus Duo benchmarks

I ran a series of more general synthetic benchmarks measuring productivity and gaming power. Here's how they compare to other laptops we've recently tested.

Although I don't have graphs for them, the 3DMark Fire Strike score came out to 34,496 and the Port Royal score to 12,230.

I'm still working on measuring battery life, and I plan to write a separate piece with deeper tests. What I can say right now is that the Core Ultra 9 386H "Panther Lake" chip seems very efficient when not gaming, sipping power even with two displays active.

The ROG Zephyrus Duo's dual 2.8K OLED displays are its best assets

ASUS uses two 16-inch OLED touch displays, each with a 16:10 aspect ratio. They have a crisp 2880x1800 (2.8K) resolution, a 120Hz maximum variable refresh rate, and a 0.2ms response time.

Only the main (top) display is equipped with NVIDIA G-Sync tech, which I don't mind since it's the screen that you'll be using most for gaming.

The OLED displays get super bright when HDR is enabled, pushing past 1,000 nits. Without HDR enabled, I tested 483 nits using my colorimeter.

I also tested color accuracy out of the box. The top screen managed 100% sRGB, 94% AdobeRGB, and 98% DCI-P3. The bottom screen hit 100% sRGB, 92% AdobeRGB, and 99% DCI-P3.

These results are suitable for creative work, and they make all games look incredible.

Should you buy the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo (2026)?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You're a gamer who always uses two screens and wants the same setup on the go.

✅ You're a creator who needs an RTX 5090 Laptop GPU and dual OLED screens at any time.

You should not buy this if ...

❌ You want to maximize a mobile RTX 5090's performance.

❌ You won't be using two displays simultaneously most of the time.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo is a one-of-a-kind gaming laptop that I'm sure a small cadre of gaming enthusiasts (and creators) will love.

Are there some drawbacks? Certainly. ASUS performed some engineering magic here to fit everything inside a relatively compact chassis, but the reality is that you can find better thermal capacity in single-screen gaming laptops.

The trade-off, of course, is the convenience of having two high-res OLED displays at your disposal everywhere you go.

I doubt the ROG Zephyrus Duo will ever hit mainstream appeal, especially with its elevated price, but I doubt that was ASUS's goal in the first place.

Like Lenovo, it's not afraid to experiment to push the idea of gaming laptops forward, and that should be applauded.

If you have the budget and this sort of device suits your needs, I can say that you're going to have a ton of fun with the ROG Zephyrus Duo.

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Dell's Alienware gaming laptops are some of the best that we've tested and reviewed here at Windows Central, and the flagship models were recently updated to include Intel's Arrow Lake-HX Refresh processors.

These "Plus" chips, including the Core Ultra 7 270HX Plus and Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus, give the Alienware 18 Area-51, Alienware 16 Area-51, and Alienware 16X Aurora a respectable power boost not only for gaming, but also for creators and professionals who work and play on the same PC.

The refreshed laptops are available to purchase now with the new Plus chips, and some of the older models are currently enjoying sizable discounts at Dell.

Intel clocks the Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus as delivering roughly an 8% gaming boost at 1080p compared to the Core Ultra 9 285HX. If you're coming from an older PC, say with a Core i9-12900HX chip, Intel says you can expect roughly 62% better performance.

These "Plus" chips also bring support for Intel's Binary Optimization Tool (IBOT), which essentially increases performance by reordering unnecessary steps of compiled machine code. Windows Central Senior Editor Ben Wilson has a deeper explanation (and some testing) of IBOT in his Core Ultra 7 270K Plus review.

👉 Best gaming laptops in 2026

It's also well worth noting that the 16X Aurora is now available with an NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU; it was previously locked to the RTX 5060 and RTX 5070 mobile cards.

It's not just performance hardware that got an upgrade, either. Alienware's 16-inch laptops now have the anti-glare OLED display option that was teased at CES 2026.

Windows Central readers and writers are fans of Alienware laptops

The Alienware brand has been around for a long time, and it's a name that many associate directly with PC gaming. We asked if our readers were interested in these new PCs for 2026 when they were announced, and the response was very positive.

Former Windows Central reviewer Zachary Boddy is also a fan of the Alienware 16X Aurora after testing and reviewing the last-gen model. Boddy remarked:

"The Alienware Aurora laptops target the mid-range with great all-around performance and a practical design, and the more powerful 16X makes some smart upgrades to justify its added cost. For the budget-conscious PC gamers that still want a quality device, the Alienware 16X Aurora is absolutely worth consideration — just don't expect perfection in every category, like the keyboard or speakers."

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Razer's Blade 16 is a gaming laptop often considered to sit at the pinnacle of premium features and design, and it's just been refreshed for 2026.

The big news? Razer has made the change from AMD Ryzen AI HX to Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors, bringing super-fast RAM, superior connectivity, and a brighter OLED display in tow. Razer also says the new Blade 16 is significantly more efficient when not gaming compared to the previous generation, with up to 13 hours of battery life for productivity.

The CPU used in all Blade 16 (2026) models is now the Intel Core Ultra 9 386H with 16 cores and a 4.9GHz boost clock speed, which is four more cores than the Ryzen chip used in 2025's model. That boost should show up in both gaming and heavy workloads, plus it has an NPU with 50 TOPS of power for Copilot+ AI tools in Windows 11.

The use of Intel's latest "Panther Lake" chips unlocks faster LPDDR5x-9600MT/s RAM (compared to 8000MT/s RAM in the 2025 model), of which you can configure up to 64GB.

NVIDIA's RTX 50-series mobile GPUs are still the big attraction here for gamers, and Razer lists the RTX 5070 Ti as a starting point with options for the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090.

If you're eager to get your hands on the new gaming laptop, I have some good news. The Blade 16 (2026) is available to buy now directly from Razer.com starting at $3,499.99.

The Blade 16's OLED display gets brighter, connectivity levels up

The switch back to Team Blue processors in the Blade 16 after the previous model's use of an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is a testament to the efficiency and performance improvements Intel achieved with its Panther Lake generation.

This change has also unlocked Thunderbolt connectivity. The Blade 16 sports one Thunderbolt 5 and one Thunderbolt 4 port for the best connectivity possible, especially if you're a fan of the best docking stations.

👉 I tested Razer's new Thunderbolt 5 Dock Chroma — I can no longer live without this extremely convenient feature

The Blade 16 (2026) otherwise offers HDMI 2.1, three USB-A 3.2 (Gen 2), a UHS-II SD card reader, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack for your headset. It's a solid mix of ports that I'm sure will appeal to gamers and creators alike. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 are also as cutting-edge as can be for wireless connectivity.

One last change worth mentioning is a boost to the 16-inch OLED display's brightness. It now hits 1,100 nits in HDR mode, enough to land VESA DisplayHDR TrueBlack 1000 certification. It still has a 2560x1600 (QHD+) resolution with a 240Hz refresh rate and 0.2ms response time, as well as NVIDIA G-Sync and perfect P3 color reproduction.

The Blade 16 for 2026 is still one of the thinnest gaming laptops the company has ever produced at just 14.9mm (0.59 inches) thin, a feat that's achieved by using a CNC-milled aluminum body.

This redesign is one we first saw when we reviewed the 2025 Razer Blade 16, when we called it "a fantastic redesign, once again establishing the Blade 16 as the ultimate luxury gaming laptop."

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For the Hideo Kojima fans out there, I have some good news. The legendary game developer's latest foray into hardware has resulted in one of the most futuristic 2-in-1 laptops I've ever seen. Seriously, it looks like it was torn straight out of the Death Stranding universe, and it's now available to buy.

I'm talking, of course, about the ASUS ROG Limited Special Edition Kojima Productions Flow Z13 2-in-1 gaming PC that originally went up for presale orders last week. If you didn't happen to secure your model with a preorder, you can now purchase it directly from Antonline.

The limited-edition ASUS ROG Flow Z13-KJP was designed in collaboration with legendary artist Yoji Shinkawa, and the results are extraordinary.

While the PC holds onto its Flow Z13 DNA, new carbon fiber accents for the body, a black-and-gold color scheme, and angular cutouts on the CNC-machined aluminum body turn it into a work of art. The detachable keyboard has been revamped, with new colors, a new typeface, and angled edges that play into the sci-fi motif.

Completing the collection is a custom carrying case styled after the Death Stranding world, an exclusive Armoury Crate theme for the PC's onboard software, two months of PC Game Pass, and keys for the upcoming Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Crimson Desert. Both games are expected to launch later this month.

As for performance hardware, you're looking at an AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 CPU, 128GB of RAM, a 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, and a dazzling 2.5K IPS touch display sitting at a 180Hz refresh rate.

Wait, no discrete graphics? That's right; this PC's AMD Ryzen AI chip includes a Radeon 8060S iGPU that can essentially borrow up to 112GB of system memory for VRAM, giving it a massive boost. When we tested the PC, it hit frame rates well above 100 FPD in titles like Forza Horizon 5 and Black Ops 6.

Windows Central's take on the ASUS ROG Flow Z13

My former colleague Zachary Boddy reviewed the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 favorably and gave it a Windows Central Recommended Award thanks to its "surprisingly good execution of the form factor with a comfy keyboard and sturdy kickstand," as well as "excellent mobile performance, with solid efficiency to boot."

Ultimately, Boddy positioned this PC as a great buy for anyone who loves a 2-in-1 but wants gaming power running behind the screen. Here's how Boddy explains it:

"The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 (2025) is weird in the best possible way. It takes a form factor no one associates with gaming or serious, intense workloads, and then packs it with the most ridiculously powerful, overqualified mobile hardware AMD has ever created. It's thick and heavy, not subtle in the slightest, and somehow blends the opposing design ethos of thin-and-light Windows 2-in-1 tablets and big-and-powerful Windows gaming laptops into a single chunky slab."

As I mentioned, you can now buy the ASUS ROG Limited Special Edition Kojima Productions Flow Z13 directly from Antonline. As the name suggests, the PC was manufactured in a limited quantity, so if you're interested, I wouldn't wait too long.

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Hideo Kojima is undeniably one of the most renowned video game figureheads of all time, and the appeal surrounding his body of work transcends the digital format. Although Kojima made a name with Metal Gear and Death Stranding, lately he's been branching out into fashion and hardware.

Last year, we covered a $1,500 Hamilton watch with a Death Stranding 2 theme. Now, as part of his latest crossover partnership, ASUS has cooked up a Special Edition Kojima Productions version of its awesome ROG Flow Z13 2-in-1 gaming PC.

This is a lot more in line with our interests, and the best part? You can now pre-order it from Antonline. This PC is strictly limited edition, so if it's on your shopping list, you won't want to wait too long.

ASUS unveiled its ROG Flow Z13-KJP special edition laptop at CES 2026, complete with Death Stranding stylings designed in collaboration with legendary artist Yoji Shinkawa.

The end result is a 2-in-1 gaming PC that looks like it was pulled straight out of the sci-fi world. The Flow Z13's framework is still evident, but everything on the outside has changed to fit the new motif.

The external panels, now with carbon fiber accents, are styled in a black-and-gold colorway, and the CNC-milled aluminum frame now has angular cutouts. On the detachable keyboard, new colors, a bolder typeface, and angled edges set it apart from the stock PC.

The special edition version of the laptop comes with an AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 CPU, 128GB of RAM, a 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, and a 13.4-inch IPS touch display with 180Hz refresh rate and 2.5K resolution.

Included with each purchase is a custom carrying case to keep your PC safe and a custom (exclusive) Armoury Crate theme for onboard software. Two months of PC Game Pass is included, and you'll also receive keys for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Crimson Desert.

Bottom line? If you're a fan of Kojima's work, this PC and its accessories will be immediately recognizable.

We tested the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 and (mostly) loved it

We got our hands on the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 that originally launched in 2025 for a full round of testing, which eventually resulted in a positive review and a Windows Central Recommended Award.

We noted its "surprisingly good execution of the form factor with a comfy keyboard and sturdy kickstand," as well as its superb mobile performance afforded by its AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 CPU.

The main attraction to this CPU is its ability to use shared system memory located on the System-on-Chip (SoC) itself. That means that its integrated Radeon 8060S GPU can "borrow" up to 112GB to be used as VRAM, significantly boosting its gaming abilities.

In our tests, even Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing enabled was capableof hitting a 65 FPS average. Other, less demanding titles like Forza Horizon 5 and Black Ops 6 landed well above a 100 FPS average.

Pre-orders for the ASUS ROG Limited Special Edition Kojima Productions Flow Z13 are open now, and the PC is expected to launch March 3, 2026.

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HP, the hugely popular PC and laptop manufacturer (alongside monitors and other peripherals), is jumping into the subscription space. It appears to be targeting gamers amid the current RAM and storage crisis, driven in part by AI demand, so if you aren't particularly set on owning your hardware, HP has you covered.

I didn't even know this existed until Linus Tech Tips and our sister site PC Gamer covered it. The HP OMEN Gaming Subscription is essentially a way to rent a gaming laptop at different spec levels and, unsurprisingly, very different price points.

Subscription fatigue feels very real right now. Everything seems to want a monthly fee, and maybe it is working. A friend said to me recently that he cannot wait until he can simply subscribe to a PC in the cloud. That led me into a short rant about why that sounds terrible, but I digress.

HP is offering different laptop tiers and optional gear at a monthly fixed fee, requiring a soft credit check and even a 30-day money-back trial if anyone is genuinely interested.

After that first 30 days, however, you are locked in for a minimum of 12 months before you can walk away without penalty.

The service also appears to be available only in the US for now. Here are all the tiers I can see available, but you check the official HP website yourself:

Of course, that's not all. You can also rent accessories and monitors, ranging from $4.99 a month for a mouse, $7.99 for a headset, $3.99 for a USB-C hub, $5.99 for a monitor, $9.99 for a higher-tier monitor, and $7.99 for a microphone.

It does raise the question of who this is really for. Services like PayPal, Klarna, and other buy now, pay later options already exist, so who genuinely wants to use equipment they will never own?

That said, I wouldn't personally recommend those services either. Waiting, saving, and paying outright still make the most financial sense long term, but obviously, it depends on whether you can manage it.

Alongside the OMEN gaming subscription, HP also lets you upgrade your device every year. That means you could stay on relatively current hardware, and you also get 24/7 customer support included. What you do not get, at any point, is ownership of the device, no matter how long you keep paying.

If you fail to return your laptop or accessories, HP can charge up to $3,299 for its highest-tier laptop. That figure is roughly in line with what you would pay to buy it outright.

Where it becomes more concerning is the cancellation fee. If you do not cancel within the first 30 days, you are locked in, and on the highest-tier laptop, you would face a $1,429.89 cancellation fee in the second month, with that amount gradually decreasing each month thereafter.

For context, the $129.99 RTX 5080 tier would cost roughly the same as buying the laptop outright after around 16 to 18 months at current sale pricing, except in this case, you still have nothing to show for it at the end.

As someone who loves Xbox Game Pass, I feel like renting hardware is just a step too far, and possibly a sign of things to come as more and more companies seem hellbent on you not actually owning anything, with even Jeff Bezos believing you won't own hardware and rather rent it in the future.

Would you ever subscribe to a gaming laptop instead of buying one outright? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

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AMD’s GPU roadmap chatter just took an interesting turn, with early RDNA 3.5 being used up to 2028 and beyond. None of this is locked in — and the details are still foggy at best, but the leaks line up with AMD’s slower, more deliberate cadence in recent years.

Recently, AMD has had a lot of success in the gaming market thanks to the rather wide adoption of its RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture. Laptops, sure, but the gaming handheld sector is where it's really noticeable. From the ROG Xbox Ally to the Legion Go 2 to the MSI Claw A8, an AMD Ryzen CPU and RDNA 3.5 integrated GPU are working behind the scenes to deliver solid performance.

RDNA 3.5 graphics arrived with Strix Point and Strix Halo in 2024, and it's going forward with the upcoming Gorgon Point Ryzen AI 400 series of chips revealed at CES 2026. As with any chip, GPU included, you can usually expect at least plans for an upgrade in the near future.

That might not be the case for AMD if a recent leak turns out to be true, and the AMD laptop or gaming handheld you buy a few years down the line could have the same graphics as one you purchased in 2024.

The rumor stems from known leaker Golden Pig Upgrade and was picked up by @Kepler_L2 on X, who added some extra information. As always, treat this information with caution.

An unofficial, AI-generated chart shows that AMD plans to keep RDNA 3.5 going beyond 2028. In contrast, the chart shows how much progress Intel is making with its Xe integrated graphics, eventually ending in an NVIDIA collaboration that is the result of a partnership announced in 2025 to build x86 CPUs fused with RTX GPUs.

Kepler_L2 adds that AMD plans to divide its APUs into two forks. One fork will continue to use RDNA 3.5 for the next few years in products that don't require high-performance integrated graphics. Think regular consumer laptops where the iGPU isn't doing much more than power a display, or gaming laptops that have a separate and discrete GPU.

The other fork involves "premium" iGPU products that will get the new RDNA 5 architecture. What exactly those "premium" products entail remains unclear. They could be AMD's rumored Medusa Halo platform expected in 2027, or they could be something else entirely.

Keep in mind that the next Xbox platform is said to be a "premium" experience running Windows, albeit with the feel of a console, thanks to features like Xbox Full Screen Experience. It's hard to imagine the next Xbox not arriving with FSR 4, AMD's upscaling equivalent to NVIDIA DLSS and Intel XeSS, which is so far only available on RDNA 4 hardware but will continue with RDNA 5.

On another note, seeing the word "premium" and thinking "gaming handheld" doesn't really sit right, especially when Intel just blew everyone away with graphics performance in its Panther Lake mobile chips.

As I've suggested in the past, gaming handhelds are quickly going the way of netbooks in that they're climbing in price to the point that you're almost better off buying a gaming laptop instead. If AMD is indeed reserving RDNA 5 for more expensive products, Intel has a major opportunity to nab the handheld market.

It’s still far too early to treat any of this as more than directional noise, but the emerging picture suggests AMD is thinking well beyond its current lineup. The rumors offer a glimpse at how long and complex the GPU development cycle has become. As always, the real story will unfold in the gaps between these leaks — and AMD’s next official roadmap update

(via 128KB)

Do you think these leaks will turn out to be true? If so, how will AMD's decision affect the handheld and laptop markets? Let me know in the comments section!

At CES 2025, Lenovo's ThinkBook Plus Rollable became the world's first AI laptop with a rolling OLED display. Capable of vertically expanding its regular 14-inch screen to hit 16.7 inches, it was the culmination of years of testing and concept designs.

Lenovo's next big rollable concept piece, introduced at CES 2026, brings the technology to the Legion Pro lineup of gaming laptops. But rather than expanding vertically like the ThinkBook Plus, the Legion Pro Rollable's 16-inch screen expands horizontally to create either a 21.5-inch or 24-inch ultrawide picture.

The secret to the laptop's versatility lies in a "dual-motor, tension-based design" that keeps vibration and noise to a minimum. More importantly, Lenovo says it keeps the PureSight OLED panel taut to prevent creasing, glare, and other distractions.

Considering one of my main gripes with the ThinkBook Rollable was the visible crease marks on the lower rolled portion of the screen, I'm hoping that what Lenovo claims is true. The same creased effect on a gaming monitor would have far worse repercussions.

Indeed, Lenovo is marketing its new Legion Pro Rollable concept as ideal for esports pros who often travel and want to practice everywhere they go. Lenovo views the standard 16-inch display setup as a "Focus Mode" that helps refine reflexes. Tactical Mode sits at 21.5 inches, and Lenovo thinks it can aid in "peripheral awareness, rotation drills, and team coordination."

Expanded to its full 24 inches, or "Arena Mode" as Lenovo calls it, it's perfect for training competitively without requiring a separate, full-size monitor.

Because the Legion Pro Rollable is based on the mighty flagship Legion Pro 7i we favorably reviewed and which currently sits at the top of our favorite gaming laptops, you can expect the same ridiculous level of performance and refinement.

Lenovo is offering the latest and most powerful Intel Core Ultra chips paired with up to an NVIDIA RTX 5090 Laptop GPU. Of course, I still stick by my advice to not buy an RTX 5090 mobile GPU when it's so much more expensive than the RTX 5080 while only offering mild performance improvements.

The ThinkBook Plus Rollable remains a niche device for professionals who need extra screen space without any additional bulk. I have a feeling that Lenovo's next Rollable concept will garner a lot more attention, even for those outside of professional esports.

One of my main complaints with gaming laptops — and one of the main reasons why I always end up returning to my desktop PC with an ultrawide monitor — is, well, screen space. I foresee this PC as being popular for anyone who often works away from home or who doesn't necessarily have the space on their desk for a full-time 24-inch display.

Of course, this being a concept product, there's no definitive release date or set price. It could see a full launch one day, just like its ThinkBook Rollable sibling, but we can only wait to see what Lenovo has in store.

Lenovo's rollable display tech keeps getting better, and it seems perfectly suited for use in a gaming laptop. Would you use something similar? Let us know in the comments below!

At CES 2025, Lenovo's ThinkBook Plus Rollable became the world's first AI laptop with a rolling OLED display. Capable of vertically expanding its regular 14-inch screen to hit 16.7 inches, it was the culmination of years of testing and concept designs.

Lenovo's next big rollable concept piece, introduced at CES 2026, brings the technology to the Legion Pro lineup of gaming laptops. But rather than expanding vertically like the ThinkBook Plus, the Legion Pro Rollable's 16-inch screen expands horizontally to create either a 21.5-inch or 24-inch ultrawide picture.

The secret to the laptop's versatility lies in a "dual-motor, tension-based design" that keeps vibration and noise to a minimum. More importantly, Lenovo says it keeps the PureSight OLED panel taut to prevent creasing, glare, and other distractions.

Considering one of my main gripes with the ThinkBook Rollable was the visible crease marks on the lower rolled portion of the screen, I'm hoping that what Lenovo claims is true. The same creased effect on a gaming monitor would have far worse repercussions.

Indeed, Lenovo is marketing its new Legion Pro Rollable concept as ideal for esports pros who often travel and want to practice everywhere they go. Lenovo views the standard 16-inch display setup as a "Focus Mode" that helps refine reflexes. Tactical Mode sits at 21.5 inches, and Lenovo thinks it can aid in "peripheral awareness, rotation drills, and team coordination."

Expanded to its full 24 inches, or "Arena Mode" as Lenovo calls it, it's perfect for training competitively without requiring a separate, full-size monitor.

Because the Legion Pro Rollable is based on the mighty flagship Legion Pro 7i we favorably reviewed and which currently sits at the top of our favorite gaming laptops, you can expect the same ridiculous level of performance and refinement.

Lenovo is offering the latest and most powerful Intel Core Ultra chips paired with up to an NVIDIA RTX 5090 Laptop GPU. Of course, I still stick by my advice to not buy an RTX 5090 mobile GPU when it's so much more expensive than the RTX 5080 while only offering mild performance improvements.

The ThinkBook Plus Rollable remains a niche device for professionals who need extra screen space without any additional bulk. I have a feeling that Lenovo's next Rollable concept will garner a lot more attention, even for those outside of professional esports.

One of my main complaints with gaming laptops — and one of the main reasons why I always end up returning to my desktop PC with an ultrawide monitor — is, well, screen space. I foresee this PC as being popular for anyone who often works away from home or who doesn't necessarily have the space on their desk for a full-time 24-inch display.

Of course, this being a concept product, there's no definitive release date or set price. It could see a full launch one day, just like its ThinkBook Rollable sibling, but we can only wait to see what Lenovo has in store.

Lenovo's rollable display tech keeps getting better, and it seems perfectly suited for use in a gaming laptop. Would you use something similar? Let us know in the comments below!

Seeing new HP OMEN gaming hardware has been a staple of the Consumer Electronics Show experience for years, but that's changed with CES 2026. That's right, you won't see any HP OMEN gaming laptops, desktops, or other devices coming out this year.

This might sound upsetting at first, particularly to people who prefer to use these devices, but this is actually good news.

The reason there aren't any HP OMEN devices at CES 2026 is that HP has moved all of its gaming hardware under the HyperX subbrand name. So, if you love HP OMEN gaming monitors and laptops, you'll now find them named similarly, but under HyperX OMEN.

Here's the official announcement from HP itself:

“Gamers deserve a seamless experience that matches their passion, from the systems that power their worlds to the gear that connects them,” said Josephine Tan, Senior Vice President and Division President of Personal Systems Gaming Solutions at HP Inc. “As we bring OMEN and HyperX together, we’re continuing to push the boundaries of gaming innovation, delivering performance, personalization and experiences that help every player reach their full potential.”

As Tan said, putting all of HP's gaming devices under the same HyperX name makes it easier to find all of the gaming hardware offered by the company. It feels better organized this way.

To kick off this change, HP announced several new OMEN devices under the HyperX name, with a particular emphasis on the HyperX OMEN MAX 16, which HP says is "the world's most powerful gaming laptop with fully internal cooling."

This gaming laptop utilizes Intel Core Ultra 200H processors and AMD Ryzen AI processors, along with up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 L GPU. It also offers a gorgeous 16-inch OLED display that's capable of hitting up to a 240Hz refresh rate. It's an impressive gaming laptop, indeed.

Other new HyperX OMEN devices worth noting are the stunning HyperX OMEN QD-OLED 360Hz 34 curved gaming monitor and HyperX Clutch Tachi (Xbox-license arcade controller).

A rebrand that completely makes sense

In case you didn't already know, HP acquired HyperX in June 2021, and up until now, the HyperX line has traditionally been more like a supplemental gaming subbrand that mainly covers gaming accessories like headsets, keyboards, gaming mice, and such.

Now, with HyperX taking more control of the gaming side of things, the main HP brand can focus more on its consumer and business laptops while HyperX dives deeper into the gaming side of things.

It's a shift that not only makes perfect sense, but gives more credence to the HyperX name as a true gaming hardware brand, not just a peripheral support company.

How do you feel about HP OMEN rebranding to HyperX? Does it feel like a good change? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

The arrival of new Intel and NVIDIA hardware made 2025 a major year for gaming laptops, and many companies took the opportunity to refresh their offerings. That helped the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16 (Gen 10) become one of our top-rated gaming laptops ever in my review, after all.

Now, I'm returning with the Lenovo Legion 7i 16 (Gen 10), the lighter, sleeker, and more reasonable little sibling to the Pro. My first impression when unboxing and setting up this laptop is that the Legion 7i is undoubtedly Lenovo's most beautifully designed gaming laptop yet, and that feeling persisted during my review period.

Of course, that doesn't immediately mean the Legion 7i is my new go-to recommendation. While I do adore this laptop's aesthetics, it may not be the most practical purchase for gamers who prioritize raw performance above all else. It doesn't help that the Legion 7i feels rather pricey, so you're absolutely paying extra for the refined looks.

This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by Lenovo. Lenovo had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

My Lenovo Legion 7i 16 (Gen 10) review

Design ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

Is the Lenovo Legion 7i the thinnest and lightest laptop with a discrete GPU? Absolutely not, but it is at least 4mm thinner and nearly 2lbs lighter than its beefier Legion Pro 7i sibling, and it makes a huge difference here.

To cut straight to the point, this is — by a considerable margin — the best-looking Lenovo Legion laptop I have personally handled. I actually love the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i redesign (apart from one change), but this laptop easily clears its more expensive sibling in the aesthetics department.

The all-white, all-aluminum chassis, the black-bordered OLED display, the brushed metal edges, the iconic Legion rear-facing vents, the clean RGB-lit keyboard — this laptop is simply fun to look at and use, and most gaming laptops simply don't achieve that level of design.

Build quality is also exceptional, even if I would still give the edge to Razer when we're talking about thin-and-light gaming laptops. There's definitely some panel flex in areas, but the Legion 7i feels every bit like the premium laptop it's supposed to be.

You can feel the "form over function" mentality here, but Lenovo didn't entirely forget to be practical. You get two, split USB Type-A ports, a full-fledged Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB Type-C port, an HDMI 2.1 port, and even a full-sized SD card slot. The charging port and HDMI port are also rear-facing, when one of my greatest Legion Pro 7i criticisms was Lenovo moving away from that design.

I could ask for a third USB-A port, for that Thunderbolt port to also be on the rear, or even for an Ethernet port (even if that feels slightly unreasonable for a laptop this thin), but Lenovo honestly did a great job all around here.

Display ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lenovo has been adopting OLED displays for many of its Legion gaming laptops lately, and the Legion 7i also benefits from the upgrade. This 16-inch display comes in 165Hz and 240Hz flavors, but each boasts the same visual characteristics and features.

As expected, it's a gorgeous display with excellent color accuracy, vibrancy, viewing angles, and contrast ratios. Performance is also exemplary with a sub-1ms response time and NVIDIA G-Sync VRR support. For playing games, watching movies, doing work, editing photos, and everything in between, this screen rocks.

It's also slightly brighter than your average laptop OLED display, which is nice, and handles HDR content really well, thanks to its even higher peak brightness and Dolby Vision support.

My one major criticism is that this display is very glossy and prone to reflections and glare. Those sensitive to the PWM dimming common with OLED displays don't have an alternative, either.

Performance ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Lenovo Legion 7i isn't positioned as an insane gaming powerhouse, and that's obvious just by the fact that the most powerful GPU you can put inside this machine is an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (8GB).

Still, this laptop makes great use of what it has, and overall is a strong performer with excellent thermal management. The fans can get noticeably loud, and the keyboard deck can become warm to the touch, but I never noticed any thermal throttling, stutters, or performance hangs during my testing.

The Legion 7i is responsive and stable across the board, and is able to handle even the most demanding PC games (even if it won't be with the highest settings or maximum resolution). This is an expensive laptop, though, so starting with just an RTX 5060 under the hood does sting a little — and it's that model (with an Intel Core Ultra 7 and RTX 5060) that I tested.

• Forza Horizon 5 — 96 FPS (Extreme preset, 1600p resolution, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution/Frame Generation disabled)
• Gears 5 — 85 FPS (Ultra preset, 1600p resolution)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 — 101 FPS (Extreme preset, 1600p resolution, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution set to Quality, NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation disabled)
• Cyberpunk 2077 — 46 FPS (Ray Tracing: Ultra preset, 1600p resolution, refresh rate, v-sync, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution Transformer Model set to Auto, NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation/Ray Reconstruction disabled)

Battery life ⭐⭐⭐½

Lenovo Legion laptops have never been known for their endurance, but I had hopes the Legion 7i might turn the tide somewhat, given its more compact and portable design... and it did, albeit only a little.

That is to say, the Legion 7i boasts slightly above average endurance for a 16-inch gaming laptop, losing just over 20% of its battery after an hour of looping Microsoft Office tasks or an HD video at 50% volume.

As a rule of thumb, I don't disable features or throttle everything to the max to test battery life, so there's absolutely room to squeeze 6-7 hours of actual usage out of the Legion 7i, but it'll never be a comfortable all-day machine. The bigger concern, though, is that standby time simply wasn't great with the Legion 7i, so I couldn't reliably leave it unplugged overnight without needing to plug it back in the following morning.

Keyboard & touchpad ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

No surprises here, the Lenovo Legion 7i rocks the "TrueStrike" keyboard, except now in all-white. I still love this keyboard, with a comfortable and intuitive layout, full-sized arrow keys, beautiful per-key RGB lighting, and a tenkey number pad that doesn't feel unbelievably cramped.

It's a fun, responsive, and reliable keyboard for gaming and typing. The glass touchpad is also decently spacious, with a smooth surface, consistent performance, and Microsoft Precision drivers. It's no haptic touchpad, but I didn't expect one.

Software & AI ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Windows 11 is the operating system of choice for the Legion 7i, and it feels right at home on this expansive OLED screen. I had no issues with performance or stability, and Lenovo hasn't ruined the setup experience with endless bloatware.

Lenovo Vantage and Legion Space also work well for managing your hardware and settings, even if it is annoying having all those settings divided into two separate apps. It's worth mentioning, though, that the Legion 7i is not a Copilot+ PC because of its underpowered NPU, so it's lacking all the best AI features in Windows (if you cared about them).

This laptop does boast Lenovo's AI Engine+, too, but it ultimately doesn't mean much for the end user and is basically just for optimizing hardware performance and settings in the background.

Everything else ⭐⭐⭐½

Finally, let's wrap up the leftovers. The Legion 7i is a premium laptop, but it does lose some marks here for things like the lackluster, bottom-firing dual speaker system, which sounds good enough for what it is — but falls well behind other high-end laptops.

The 5MP front-facing camera is also average at best, but it does at least boast Windows Hello facial recognition (and that did work great for me). There's an electronic privacy shutter on the side, too, which is always appreciated.

Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 are on board for wireless connectivity, and I had zero issues with either.

Legion 7i 16 review: My final thoughts

✅You should buy this if ...

• You want a thinner and lighter 16-inch gaming laptop.
• You absolutely love this all-white, all-aluminum design.
• You love rear-facing ports for power and display output.

❌You should not buy this if ...

• You need a more powerful GPU with more VRAM.
• You want something that's even more compact.

You can get a great gaming laptop from a lot of places, but one of the first companies I'll recommend to anyone is Lenovo. Legion devices are powerful and reliable, after all, but they're usually not the sleekest on the block, especially when compared to something like the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) we reviewed.

The Lenovo Legion 7i 16 (Gen 10) is different, with an incredible all-white design that struck me the moment I unboxed it. This laptop is a stunner, and it doesn't pull its punches as a gaming laptop, either. That being said, it is an expensive machine, and there's no option to configure it with a more powerful GPU.

If you're on a tight budget or care most about straight performance, the Legion 7i may not be the best option for you. For a lot of people, though, this is a fantastic gaming laptop that runs great but looks even better. You can find the Lenovo Legion 7i 16 (Gen 10) from $1,779.99 at Lenovo.com, or get my review configuration for $1,869.99 at BestBuy.com.

RAM prices have completely exited the realm of reality, and trying to piece together a PC build at the end of 2025 is a lot more difficult than normal.

The ongoing RAM crisis — RAMageddon, as I've seen some call it — is not only making PC building and laptop upgrades difficult, but it's also threatening to drive up the prices of practically all tech that uses DRAM (and that's a lot of tech). I recently wrote a more in-depth look at what is causing RAM prices to spike, but the short story is that AI firms are buying all the DRAM they can for use in AI datacenters.

The shortage is driving up prices to unprecedented extremes, forcing many PC builders and gamers out of their favorite hobby. I'm here to offer some workarounds that won't have you spending obscene amounts of money on a DDR5 RAM kit, just in time for Christmas.

Update December 18, 2025: With how quickly the RAM market is changing, I jumped in to give updates in a few key areas. I added a few RAM bundle deals, as well as some new pre-builts that haven't yet been hit by the price spike. — Cale Hunt

Watch out for bundled RAM at a low price

During Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year (as well as the weeks after), some desktop RAM was selling for a very reasonable price. The catch? It was bundled with a motherboard.

Whether you need the motherboard or not, finding a bundled RAM deal is a great way to not overpay. You can always sell or give away the motherboard to a friend.

Unfortunately, these bundles have mostly disappeared, but that doesn't mean there won't be more that pop up in the near future. Your best bet is to keep an eye on Newegg, as it was the retailer offering the cheapest deals.

Update December 18: I found this MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi motherboard bundled with 32GB of DDR5-6400 Corsair Vengeance RGB RAM and a Cooler Master 240 Elite Liquid AiO cooler for $650.98 at Newegg. Considering the board alone costs $500, and the AiO cooler costs $90, you can look at this like you're only paying about $60 for 32GB of DDR5 RAM.

A more affordable bundle includes a similar Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB DDR5-6000 kit and an ASUS ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi motherboard for $459.99 at Newegg.

Make peace with slower, plainer RAM kits

Now is not the time to get fancy with your DDR5 RAM choice. When buying memory for a desktop PC, you generally have a lot of choices. Some RAM kits have RGB lighting and stylized heat spreaders, while others are basically just a PCB with some modules attached. Then there are also timings and speeds to consider, especially in a high-end build.

Although this shouldn't be treated as a rule, I am generally seeing lower prices for those less flashy RAM kits that don't have as high a frequency. Makes sense.

For example, Team Group's Vulcan DDR5-5200 32GB RAM kit without RGB currently costs about $269.99 at Newegg. Corsair's Vengeance 16GB DDR5-5200 kit with RGB lighting drops down to about $219.99, but that's for half as much memory.

Normally, I'd recommend buying faster RAM with tighter timings. But in this current market, I recommend focusing more on capacity than speed.

Find a great deal on a pre-built or laptop

Gaming laptops and pre-built gaming PCs could be the answer to high RAM prices, but only for a limited time. I urge you to check out our picks for best gaming laptops and best pre-built gaming PCs in 2025 to get an idea of what's hot right now.

Once the systems that were put together before the current RAM price spike sell out, prices will almost certainly rise — Lenovo, Dell, and HP have signaled that they will raise PC prices in the near future, as have CyberPowerPC and Maingear — but you might still be able to snag one at a great price.

This option doesn't do much for those who only need some new memory for their PC, but those hoping to put together an entire system could have good luck.

If you're interested in an AMD system, iBuyPower's Slate Mesh pre-built that I reviewed is discounted at Best Buy. It has a Ryzen 7 8700F CPU, RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD, all for just $1,499.99.

Want to spend less? iBuyPower's Slate Mesh with an Intel Core i7-14700F CPU, NVIDIA RTX 5060 GPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD is down to $979.99 at Best Buy for a very limited time (deal ends December 18).

Plan a build using DDR4 RAM instead of DDR5

The current memory squeeze is mainly affecting DDR5 RAM prices; it's the stuff (alongside HBM) that is most coveted for use in AI datacenters.

That leaves older DDR4 RAM prices (for now) at a much more reasonable level. That could change as PC builders gobble it up and cause another new squeeze, but for now, you can reliably get a pretty nice kit of 2x8GB DDR4 RAM for around $100.

Of course, you'll have to ensure that the PC the RAM is going into is compatible with DDR4, and you'll also want to ensure that the PC's owner is comfortable taking a slight performance hit.

DDR5 RAM is indeed an upgrade over DDR4, but at the current DDR5 prices, it should be a lot easier to reconcile with the older standard.

Wait for prices to return to normal

If all else fails, there's really nothing to do but wait for DDR5 RAM prices to return to normal. How long that takes is anyone's guess. The theorized AI bubble could pop, sending RAM prices crashing back down to earth, but then again, it might only ramp up its demands for DRAM.

The three major RAM makers in the world — Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron — could also ramp up DRAM production faster than expected, loosening the squeeze, but that will take years to realize due to the time it takes to get a fabrication plant up and running.

Worsening the situation is the fact that Micron recently announced it's exiting the consumer RAM business with its Crucial products.

MSI's Raider A18 HX joins a fairly exclusive club of 18-inch powerhouse gaming laptops, competing directly with the likes of the Razer Blade 18 and ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18, two laptops we also reviewed this year at Windows Central.

Equipped with up to an NVIDIA RTX 5090 Laptop GPU and an AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU, MSI's Raider hits the upper limits of power available in a gaming laptop. It's not all about power, though, as MSI has included quite a few premium features to keep you happy while you game or work.

Is this the right 18-inch laptop for you? Let's find out.

MSI Raider A18 HX (2025) review

MSI's Raider A18 HX is not an affordable laptop, but that's expected for a device with so much power.

The most affordable price I found while reviewing the PC is $2,799 at B&H (after a $500 discount) for a model with an AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, 2TB SSD, NVIDIA RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, and a UHD+ mini-LED display at 120Hz.

You can also find the same configuration available at Amazon for $3,399, at Newegg for $3,299, or at Walmart for $3,799.

Models with an RTX 5090 are not recommended due to price and meager performance gains over the RTX 5080. The exception is users who plan to use the Raider A18 HX for creative or AI work, in which case a 5090 might be necessary.

👉 NVIDIA's most expensive laptops are a terrible value — Here's what you should buy instead

This review was made possible thanks to a loaned review unit provided by MSI. The company did not see the contents of this review before publishing.

Design ⭐⭐⭐⭐

As with any 18-inch gaming laptop designed to accommodate the latest and greatest mobile performance hardware, there's a decent amount of bulk involved. Models with all the best internals weigh in at about 7.94 pounds (3.6kg) with about 1.26 inches (32mm) of thickness.

A lot of the chassis is plastic, although MSI uses aluminum for some of the larger panels to add strength. The PC feels sturdy and doesn't have much bend.

The back edge has stylized red and black vent covers, with some space at the center for 2.5Gb Ethernet, HDMI 2.1, and a proprietary charging port. This positioning helps improve cable management. The plastic venting extends to the sides to cover additional exhausting.

On the left, you'll find dual USB-A 3.2 (Gen 2) and a UHS-III SD card reader. On the right are dual USB4 ports, a third USB-A 3.2 (Gen 2), and a 3.5mm audio jack.

It's a decent mix of modern and legacy ports, even if it doesn't officially support Intel's branded Thunderbolt tech (as some of MSI's product notes suggest). Wireless is also as modern as can be, with Wi-Fi 7 support and Bluetooth 5.4.

The gem-cut front corners and display bezels add some distinct flair to the PC, and a customizable LED light bar along the front edge is a nice addition that users can choose to disable in more professional settings.

Above the display, there's a 1080p webcam with an IR sensor for Windows Hello facial recognition. A physical shutter adds some privacy. Overall, picture quality is just OK; if you plan to stream your games, a great standalone webcam will do a lot better.

The top-firing speakers remain unmuffled, and they get plenty loud without distorting. The downside is that there's not a whole lot of body to the audio. I do love the manual shutter on the webcam and the fingerprint reader below the keyboard; many gaming laptops ignore these features.

Getting inside the PC requires the removal of 12 screws on the vented bottom panel. Once removed, you have access to RAM, storage, and the Wi-Fi card for quick and easy upgrades/replacements after purchase.

Display ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Raider A18 HX's 18-inch display hits a 3840x2400 (UHD+) resolution, making for an ultra-crisp look whether you're gaming or working. The use of a mini-LED panel provides deeper blacks, brighter whites, and improved contrast when compared to a standard LCD screen. The difference is immediately noticeable.

Compared to OLED, mini-LED is better suited for HDR content thanks to its higher brightness. Indeed, the display here is certified for VESA DisplayHDR 1000, and I tested for 558 nits of brightness without HDR using my colorimeter.

Also tested was color accuracy, for which the Raider A18 HX scored quite well, hitting 100% sRGB, 94% AdobeRGB, and 100% DCI-P3. These results are crucial for creative work.

Combine all of this with a 120Hz refresh rate (quite fast for a 4K display), and you have an impressive screen to work or play with at any time. I also appreciate the matte finish that reduces glare.

Performance ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Running through our standard set of benchmarks, the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU unsurprisingly falls behind Intel's flagship mobile chip for productivity tasks. AMD designed its CPUs to boost gaming performance, and that's evident as soon as you start playing.

Paired with a 3840x2400 (UHD+) display, the performance hardware doesn't have an easy job. However, I clocked a 148.7 FPS average in Cyberpunk 2077 using Multi Frame Gen 4x, high overall settings, and ray tracing lighting set to high.

In Far Cry 6 with Ultra settings and no DLSS, I got back a 100 FPS average. And in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with highest settings and DLSS enabled, I saw a 170 FPS average.

DLSS is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, but that's no different in any other powerhouse gaming laptop. The fact that you can still max out the UHD+ display's 120Hz refresh rate with these demanding titles is mighty impressive.

MSI has also included the fastest M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSD we've ever tested in the new Raider. Thanks to its own heat pipe connected to the full cooling system, I didn't find it overheated.

Thermals & fan noise ⭐⭐⭐

I kicked off performance testing with a full-system stress test. The Raider A18 HX showed no signs of throttling under these conditions, and you should find that working normally at the PC won't create a ton of fan noise or heat.

MSI's included control app allows for intelligent balancing of power using AI, but you can also force it into specific performance categories. The GPU is overclockable, though I'm not sure the added fan noise is worth it.

The laptop's fans are not quiet when under gaming duress. I tested about 52 decibels when pushing the system with Cyberpunk 2077. Less demanding titles don't create nearly as much ruckus, but you'll still hear fan noise practically any time you're at the PC.

Battery life ⭐⭐⭐

MSI's Raider A18 HX was not built to be an efficiency superstar. Sporting the most powerful mobile CPU and GPU combo for gaming in the world, it focuses on raw power rather than long runtimes.

A Windows battery report shows that standby lasting power is excellent (lasting a couple of days), but active power is not the same story. You should not attempt to game on this laptop without it being plugged into an AC adapter unless it's a light title and you have a bunch of the Raider's power settings turned down.

Leaving the laptop at full power and going about regular, non-gaming tasks will get you about two or three hours of life, more if you tune the system down. It's the same story for practically any gaming laptop with this much power inside.

Keyboard & touchpad ⭐⭐⭐½

A colorful keyboard isn't exactly a rare sight in the gaming laptop world, but MSI's option isn't just flashy.

It's a SteelSeries board boasting 99 keys thanks to the full number pad, each with separate and customizable RGB lighting. Key travel is deep enough that I didn't experience any discomfort when typing or gaming, and although it's not a mechanical board, it feels snappy and responsive.

I dislike the translucent keycaps on the WASD and arrow keys, but it's overall a quality keyboard.

I'm not as impressed with the mechanical touchpad. There's a lot of movement on the surface that makes some clicks feel spongy, and it seems like MSI could have used up more space on the deck for wider and taller dimensions.

The plastic pad is smooth and tracks well, and in the end, that's what matters most. You might wish it were a glass touchpad if you were using the built-in pointer full-time, but I suspect most gamers are switching to a controller or an external mouse anyway.

MSI Raider A18 HX (2025): Should you buy it?

✅ You should buy this if ...

• You want one of the most powerful gaming laptops on the market today.
• You love a gaming laptop with customizable RGB lighting.
• You want to experience the very best of what AMD and NVIDIA can deliver.

❌ You should not buy this if ...

• You require long battery life to get you from one AC outlet to the other.
• You want a laptop that's easy to carry around.
• You don't plan on tackling demanding local AI tasks or hardware-intensive games.

MSI's Raider A18 HX should be a top choice for anyone who wants the best mobile gaming CPU in the world and a choice of NVIDIA's latest laptop GPUs, including up to an RTX 5090.

Battery life isn't great, and the fans aren't exactly quiet, but these are downsides found in practically any high-performance gaming laptop.

Considering the Raider A18 HX is competitively priced against similar laptops, there's no reason not to consider it unless you particularly value audio and touchpad quality.

• Back to the top ⤴

Alienware isn't well known for its budget offerings, but with the Alienware 16 Aurora starting at just above $1,000 (and often dropping below with sales), the Dell-owned brand is making an effort in 2025.

I have both the 16 Aurora and the upgraded 16X Aurora in my office, and I've been using them a fair amount. While Alienware hasn't suddenly become the undisputed champion of value-driven gaming laptops, both of these devices more than earn my recommendation for those minding how much they drop on their next machine.

The Alienware 16 and 16X Aurora stellar overall performance wrapped in a classic "Alienware" design, with a range of simple-to-understand prices and configuration options. HP and Lenovo should watch out.

This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by Dell. Dell and Alienware had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

My Alienware 16X Aurora (AC16251) review

Design ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Both Alienware Aurora laptops make use of the brand's "Interstellar Indigo" color, a deep blue hue that I personally love. Both laptops also boast similar, rounded designs with rear- and side-mounted venting and ports, a protruding thermal shelf on the bottom, and Alienware's iridescent logo on the aluminum lid.

At first glance, you may be hard-pressed to tell the difference, and that's a positive for the entry-level Alienware 16 Aurora. The more expensive sibling does transition to a slightly more refined, all-aluminum chassis, though, and features a single-zone RGB-lit keyboard compared to the standard white backlight of the regular 16 Aurora.

While both laptops get two USB Type-A (5GBps) ports, an RJ45 Ethernet port (mounted on the side instead of the rear, for some reason), an HDMI 2.1 port, and a USB Type-C (10GBps) port with DisplayPort 1.4, the Alienware 16X Aurora upgrades the second USB Type-C port for a more powerful Thunderbolt 4 port.

All of these differences make sense. The Alienware 16 Aurora still looks good and enjoys great build quality, but the 16X Aurora is a little better in a variety of ways that make it undeniably more premium. I just wish these laptops were a little less chunky, especially that abnormally thick display lid.

Display ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Just like the design, the Alienware 16 and 16X Aurora share much on the display front — but the 16X enjoys some notable upgrades.

Both laptops are equipped with a 16-inch, 16:10, 1600p IPS LCD panel with great responsiveness and color reproduction, but the 16X Aurora enjoys a faster 240Hz refresh rate (the 16 Aurora is limited to 120Hz), better color accuracy (hitting 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut on top of 100% of sRGB), and a higher max brightness (500 nits compared to just 300).

Both displays look good, but the Alienware 16X Aurora clearly has the upper hand. My only real criticism here is that this display's contrast ratio is barely average, even for an IPS panel, which you may notice when playing video games with a wider dynamic range or lots of dark scenes (like horror titles).

Performance ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

Performance is everything for a gaming laptop, and the Alienware Aurora devices certainly do not disappoint. The configuration I tested the most was the 16X Aurora with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 GPU, which retails for $1,999.99 at Dell.com.

It should come as no surprise that this laptop runs well, but its strengths really lie in CPU performance and thermal management. The Alienware 16X Aurora, especially, can squeeze a lot of power out of its HX-series chips, and does an excellent job preventing throttling over time — even in its overclocked "Overdrive" performance mode.

I will say, those fans can get loud at full throttle, but the Alienware Aurora at least isn't constantly fluctuating the fan speeds. It's a consistent drone... but you may occasionally hear the fans roar to life when the laptop is closed and sleeping, which isn't uncommon for a Windows machine.

• Forza Horizon 5 — 113 FPS (Extreme preset, 1600p resolution, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution/Frame Generation/Reflex Low Latency disabled)
• Gears 5 — 105 FPS (Ultra preset, 1600p resolution)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 — 94 FPS (Extreme preset, 1600p resolution, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution set to Performance, NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation disabled, NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency enabled)
• Cyberpunk 2077 — 57 FPS (Ray Tracing: Ultra preset, 1600p resolution, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution Transformer Model set to Auto, NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation disabled, NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency enabled)

When it comes to gaming, that CPU performance is especially noticeable in games like Gears 5. You don't have to pay this much to get around this level of performance, but the Alienware 16X Aurora is remarkably consistent, and that's a big plus. Its one weakness is that no configuration can be equipped with more than 8GB of VRAM — but that's due to NVIDIA's limitations, not Alienware's.

Battery life ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Gaming laptops rarely impress when it comes to endurance, but the Alienware 16X Aurora actually exceeded my expectations (slightly). I still wouldn't describe this as an all-day machine, but the 16X Aurora can go a little further than a lot of other gaming laptops, draining 16% of its battery after an hour looping a generic Microsoft Office workload and 20% of its battery after an hour looping an HD video with default and balanced settings.

If you enable "Stealth Mode" by pressing the dedicated button in the function row, the Alienware Aurora laptops can go even further by disabling keyboard lighting, silencing fans, and more. It's a simple but clever feature for a gaming laptop, and it's not unreasonable to get a full day's use out of these devices if you're careful about it. Bear in mind that this was with the most power-hungry CPU/GPU combo you can get, so more affordable configurations will likely fare even better.

If you do decide to push this hardware to the max, like with gaming, don't hope for more than an hour or two of playtime, and expect to lose around 25-33% of your performance.

Keyboard & touchpad ⭐⭐⭐½

The Alienware Aurora laptops feature a tenkey number pad, which is somewhat unique in this day and age. Some people will value that addition, but the trade-off is that this keyboard does feel cramped thanks to its smaller keys.

Key travel also feels soft and shallow. I won't go so far as to say this is a bad keyboard, but it's certainly my least favorite of the laptops I've tested in recent memory. It's simply fine. I do like this layout overall, though, especially the inclusion of three customizable macro keys in the function row.

The touchpad is solid. It's smooth and responsive, uses Microsoft Precision drivers for gestures, and doesn't feel cheap. I'm not expecting a haptic touchpad in any gaming laptop, so this is good enough.

Software & AI ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Alienware Aurora laptops come with Windows 11 preinstalled, but don't have the hardware to be full Copilot+ PCs, so they're not on the cutting edge of Microsoft's software (depending on your feelings, that also means like artificial intelligence bloatware).

There are some preloaded Dell programs and unwanted third-party bloat, but for the most part, the Alienware Aurora laptops feel clean and ready to go. Stability was also excellent for me, which I've not been able to say about some older Alienware laptops. A big part of that is the Alienware Command Center software, which has truly come a long way and now feels reliable, intuitive, and feature-packed.

Everything else ⭐⭐⭐½

When it comes to everything else, Alienware didn't make any major mistakes. All Alienware Aurora configurations come with Wi-Fi 7 support, for example, and I never had any issues or complaints with wireless performance or reliability.

The dual, bottom-firing 2W speakers are basic in quality, but they're usable. The base 16 Aurora's 720p front-facing camera gets upgraded to 1080p with the 16X Aurora, but both are just fine for video conferencing. The more expensive sibling does also get Windows Hello facial recognition, though, which the entry-level 16 Aurora lacks.

I do wish the Alienware 16X Aurora, at least, enjoyed an upgraded speaker system, but both laptops hit all the basics for this price range.

Alienware 16X Aurora review: My final thoughts

✅You should buy this if ...

• You want a capable, reliable gaming laptop without breaking the bank.
• You like having a clear upgrade path if you want to spend more.
• You want a powerful gaming laptop with better than average endurance.

❌You should not buy this if ...

• You want the absolute best performance-per-dollar possible.
• You need a great keyboard and don't care about the tenkey number pad.

The Alienware 16 and 16X Aurora laptops are really good lower-to-upper mid-range gaming laptops, but what most impresses me is the clear and reasonable divide between the two.

The Alienware 16X Aurora gives you more premium build quality and better ports, a faster and brighter display, superior CPU performance and greater memory/storage options, and a better camera with Windows Hello facial recognition — straightforward upgrades that pick up right where the standard 16 Aurora's pricing leaves off.

To summarize, I recommend both of these laptops and find the Alienware 16 Aurora to be a worthwhile budget option. If you're willing to spend around $1,600 or more, the 16X Aurora is a fantastic upgrade. Alienware did a great job bringing the fight to the Lenovo Legion 5 16 and HP OMEN 16.

If you're interested, you can find the Alienware 16 Aurora (AC16250) from $1,099.99 at Dell.com and the Alienware 16X Aurora (AC16251) from $1,649.99 at Dell.com. I'd also look out for sales, because I've seen the former drop below $1,000 and the latter drop below $1,500.

If you're looking to buy a new laptop for yourself or someone else, there's a good chance you've considered Dell at least once. As one of the most popular brands for laptops and desktops, Dell's portfolio is stacked with a diverse array of devices.

Even if you know exactly what kind of laptop you need, it can still be difficult to find the Dell that fits the bill for a price you're comfortable paying. You can safely choose from our highest rated Windows laptops, of course, but you might be looking for something more specific, and Dell might offer the solution on its storefront.

So, whether you need the premium design and high-end features of the Dell 16 Premium, the overwhelming power of the Alienware 16 Area-51, the enterprise-grade security of the Dell Pro 14, or anything in between the lines, this is your ultimate guide to picking the absolute best Dell laptop for you.

Dell's complete 2025 PC rebrand explained

Dell's catalog used to be saturated with various sub-brands, including Inspiron, XPS, Latitude, Precision, Vostro, G-Series, and more. During CES 2025, though, Dell announced major rebranding across all of its devices, massively simplifying naming schemes in an effort to reduce customer confusion.

Long running and recognizable consumer brands like Inspiron and XPS are dead, replaced instead by simply "Dell." Business laptops that used to fall under the Latitude umbrella are now "Dell Pro," and powerful enterprise workstations are now "Dell Pro Max." All of Dell's gaming gear has been condensed underneath the Alienware brand, which itself has also simplified product names.

Underneath these wider brands, Dell also uses monikers like "Plus" and "Premium" to notate a device's position within the family, with numbers indicating screen size. For example, the Dell 15 is an entry-level 15-inch laptop, the Dell 14 Plus is a mid-range, 14-inch offering, and the Dell 16 Premium is a high-end, 16-inch flagship. You can apply the same logic to the other families, like: Dell Pro 14, Dell Pro 14 Plus, and Dell Pro 14 Premium.

In fact, Dell now uses this naming scheme across all of its devices, including mini PCs, desktop towers, and monitors, so you can get a Dell Pro Tower desktop or a Dell 32 Plus monitor. You can refer to the table above to visualize how all of this is broken down, because Dell somehow managed to make such a simple naming scheme confusing.

Dell's new branding no longer relies on average people knowing what "Inspiron" or "XPS" mean, but has the adverse side effect of making all of Dell's products blend together. The rebrand announcement was met with no small amount of criticism that Dell had given up any unique identity, and that point is especially valid when you consider HP's 2024 OmniBook and EliteBook rebrand — which is both more distinct and easier to understand at a glance.

Dell's consumer laptops explained

Dell's consumer offerings are largely divided into three categories: Dell, Dell Plus, and Dell Premium, with each family offering better performance, sleeker designs, more features, and higher price tags over the previous. These laptops will be Dell's most popular for regular people.

Dell

First, we have the "Base" family, or just "Dell." This group includes Dell's most affordable offerings, with simple designs and displays, fewer premium features, and budget-conscious price tags.

It starts with the Dell 15 from $399.99 at Dell.com, for those who need a value-driven laptop for casual computing. It's a good fit for those who rarely need a laptop, or for children needing a computer for school.

Then there's the Dell 14 from $699.99 at Dell.com, with a more modern 14-inch design and a more premium experience across the board, like a backlit keyboard. If you need more screen real estate, there's the Dell 16 from $699.99 at Dell.com.

You can find the entire Dell Base family from $399.99 at Dell.com, including Intel and AMD variants of each device, but bear in mind these are low-end devices that frequently go on sale, so I wouldn't recommend picking one up at full retail price.

Dell Plus

Next, we have Dell Plus, the mid-range family — and, statistically speaking, you're most likely to end up with one of these laptops. Here, you'll start getting more premium metal designs, more features like touch and stylus input, and (of course), higher price tags.

That starts with the Dell 14 Plus from 799.99 at Dell.com, which is a Copilot+ PC with all the latest and greatest AI features in Windows 11. I reviewed the Dell 14 Plus (DB14255), and found it to be a reliable mid-range laptop... but with a disappointing screen.

There's also the Dell 14 Plus 2-in-1 from $849.99 at Dell.com, which (as the name implies), is the Dell 14 Plus with a 360-degrees hinge and touch/stylus input.

If you need a larger, nicer screen, you can get the Dell 16 Plus from $849.99 at Dell.com, or get the more premium Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1 from $1,099.99 at Dell.com. You can peruse the entire Dell Plus family from $799.99 at Dell.com, and all of these laptops (apart from the 16 Plus 2-in-1) come in AMD and Intel flavors, with AMD models usually costing less.

Dell Premium

Finally, for those who are willing to shell out the big bucks for one of the most luxurious laptops available on the market, there's the Dell Premium family. These are Dell's flagship laptops, and pretty directly replace the previous Dell XPS brand.

There are two sizes, and both boast futuristic designs with borderless haptic touchpads, capacitive function rows, best-in-class OLED displays, and optional discrete NVIDIA graphics.

There's the Dell 14 Premium from $1,549.99 at Dell.com, and then the beefy Dell 16 Premium from $2,499.99 at Dell.com. Both laptops demand a high price, but they'll tick every box and then some.

My colleague, Rebecca Spear, reviewed the Dell 16 Premium and found it to be powerful and beautiful, but that minimalist design is also controversial. You can check out the Dell Premium family from $1,099.99 at Dell.com, as Dell actually still sells some older XPS devices, too (for those who want a high-end laptop without seriously breaking the bank).

Dell's Alienware gaming laptops explained

Alienware is one of the oldest and most iconic brands in PC gaming, so it makes sense that Dell abandoned its own "G-Series" gaming hardware and went all-in on Alienware. This is a small lineup, making it easy for gamers and creatives to pick the perfect, powerful laptop for them.

Alienware Aurora

First, we have Alienware Aurora. It's rare you can describe Alienware as "budget," but the Aurora family can get close with its pair of laptops.

There's the entry-level Alienware 16 Aurora from $1,099.99 at Dell.com, which more modest specs and a 16-inch, 120Hz display. Those who demand more power can get the higher-end Alienware 16X Aurora from $1,649.99 at Dell.com, which picks up right where the standard 16 Aurora leaves off with superior hardware.

I'm in the process of reviewing the Alienware 16X Aurora (and checking out the 16) right now, and my thoughts are positive so far. You can look at the Alienware Aurora family from $1,099.99 at Dell.com.

Alienware Area-51

Dell has revived the iconic "Area-51" branding for the latest generation of flagship Alienware gaming laptops, which aim to deliver the absolute best high-end PC gaming experience money can buy.

These laptops are chunky and heavy, but are packed with the most powerful Intel and NVIDIA hardware and a full suite of advanced features, including an optional RGB-lit mechanical keyboard. Of course, these laptops are expensive — but you won't find noticeably better mobile performance anywhere else.

There's the Alienware 16 Area-51 from $2,749.99 at Dell.com, for one. My colleague, Rebecca Spear, reviewed the Alienware 16 Area-51 and gave it an Editor's Choice award. Then there's the even more insane Alienware 18 Area-51 from $3,449.99 at Dell.com, which truly turns every dial up to 11.

You can check out the complete Alienware Area-51 family from $2,749.99 at Dell.com.

Dell's Pro and Pro Max business laptops explained

The Dell Pro and Dell Pro Max families are all laptops designed with businesses and professional users in mind. These laptops are rarely super exciting, focusing more on delivering the features, experiences, and security enterprise customers need more than flashy designs or fun additions.

Because of how expansive these families are, I've condensed what would be seven sections into three.

Dell Pro Essential & Dell Pro

At the bottom, we have Dell Pro Essential and simply Dell Pro, which are more affordable PCs tailored for small businesses and professionals on a budget. Like all Dell Pro laptops, they come equipped with Windows 11 Pro, and benefit from Dell's various enterprise-focused security features and more durable designs.

There's the Dell Pro 15 Essential from $449 at Dell.com, for example, as well as the Dell Pro 14 from $669 at Dell.com and the Dell Pro 16 from $779 at Dell.com. These laptops come in Intel and AMD variants, and are often bought in bulk by businesses to equip entire fleets of workers.

If you're looking to pick one up for yourself, be sure you actually need those "Pro" features (most people don't, and are better off saving more with a consumer-focused laptop). The Dell Pro Essential and Dell Pro family starts from $449 at Dell.com.

Dell Pro Plus & Dell Pro Premium

Go up a price bracket, and you'll find yourself looking at Dell Pro Plus laptops. These laptops are often AI PCs, with biometric authentication, improved performance, and more features that could help you work more efficiently.

This includes laptops like the Dell Pro 14 Plus from $1,289 at Dell.com, which also comes in Intel, AMD, and 2-in-1 options, or the Dell Pro 16 Plus from $1,259 at Dell.com, which boasts the tenkey number pad that some still value really highly. Dell even offers the Dell Pro 13 Plus from $1,699 at Dell.com, as smaller 13.3-inch displays are still popular among enterprise customers for work in the field.

Increase your budget again, and you'll be considering Dell Pro Premium devices, Dell's highest-end devices short of a workstation. These sleek laptops are meant for owners and executives that need the absolute best security, performance, and features, all of which you can find in the Dell Pro 14 Premium from $1,819 at Dell.com.

These are solid laptops whether you're an enterprise customer or not, but remember that you are paying extra for hardware, firmware, and software security and remote management features. The entire Dell Pro Plus and Dell Pro Premium family starts from $1,289 at Dell.com.

Dell Pro Max

Last, but certainly not least, we have the Dell Pro Max lineup, which are Dell's enterprise-focused workstations. These laptops are all about performance that can be portable, but these mobile beasts will spend a lot of time plugged in.

The Dell Pro Max family is actually quite large, with Base, Plus, and Premium variants, and plenty of options including Intel and AMD, NVIDIA discrete graphics, Linux instead of Windows, and much more. It starts with something like the Dell Pro Max 14 from $1,279 at Dell.com.

Prices can very quickly rise as you pack in more powerful hardware, like with the Dell Pro Max 16 Plus from $4,079 at Dell.com. For those that need a balance of power and luxury, there are laptops like the Dell Pro Max 16 Premium from $3,610 at Dell.com.

No matter the workstation you choose, none of these laptops are going to feel particularly light in your bag — but few laptops will handle heavy duty tasks like AI workloads and 3D modeling quite as well. You can check out the full Dell Pro Max family from $1,279 at Dell.com.

How to choose the best Dell laptop for you

Dell is a major player when it comes to Windows laptops, and choosing one from among dozens of options can be a daunting task. Fortunately, it is pretty easy to narrow down which Dell laptops are best suited for your life and work, whether you need a PC for home, want to game, go to school, or have specific professional needs.

To help narrow it down, here are some questions you can ask yourself (and the answers, according to our expertise).

What are you planning to do on your laptop?

This is an easier question to answer, and the answer will help inform other questions, such as how much power you need, what features you need, and what should be most important to you.

Most people use their laptops for web browsing, email, Microsoft Office, video conferencing, and entertainment like watching videos, listening to music, and even casual gaming.

All of Dell's laptops can do this, but you may not need to super high-end display of a Dell Premium laptop, or the security features of a Dell Pro laptop. An Alienware laptop might be overkill, and it'll be thicker and heavier (with worse battery life) than a more casual laptop.

If you do want to play video games, though, or know you need extra power for things like photo and video editing, CAD, development, and more, then you'll want a laptop with discrete graphics — like Dell Premium, Alienware, or Dell Pro Max.

For many people, a Dell Plus will be the perfect fit. Those who have a higher budget and want a nicer laptop can look at Dell Premium. Finally, those who need power can find that with Alienware.

How much are you willing to spend on a new laptop?

Once you know what you plan to do with your laptop, you should ask yourself what your budget is. Dell's new branding pretty neatly divides laptop families according to price, so just knowing how much you can spend will massively narrow things down.

Just because you can buy the most expensive Dell laptop doesn't mean you should. Spending more will get you more premium designs, upgraded features like better displays or enhanced audio, and greater performance — but it rarely guarantees better battery life, and luxury designs sometimes put form over function. The less you spend, the more you'll feel the compromises in the build quality and overall experience.

Don't just consider your budget, consider how often you'll use your laptop and how valuable it'll be in your day-to-day life. Will you rely on this laptop for work? It's worth investing in a machine that'll last longer and let you work quicker. Is this a laptop for your child, or something you'll only occasionally use for casual tasks? You can save some cash by getting a more streamlined machine.

When it comes to Dell Pro and Pro Max devices, remember that you're always spending more for those security and remote management features — and most people absolutely don't need to (regular laptops are plenty secure and private).

Do you have specific requirements for a work laptop?

If you're considering a laptop strictly for work, don't immediately assume you need a Dell Pro or Dell Pro Max device. As I mentioned before, those laptops are designed with enterprise customers in mind, and regular consumers are paying a premium for the advanced hardware, firmware, and software features that improve security, privacy, and remote management for IT departments.

These laptops are often bought in bulk by businesses for their employees. Even if an employee is expected or allowed to purchase their own laptop, they'll likely know exactly what security requirements need to be met.

Consider if you can find value in the additional features those laptops offer, such as if you're working with highly sensitive data. Also bear in mind that, because these laptops are designed with enterprise customers in mind, they have different focuses than consumer laptops — so you may find the display isn't great for watching movies, or the speakers aren't great for listening to music, or the GPU isn't the best for gaming, and so on.

Do you need an AI laptop?

This final question may not have an immediate answer. After all, what is an AI PC? Artificial intelligence is everywhere, and basically every modern computer can take advantage of many of these features, like Copilot, in some form or another. So, what sets the best AI laptops apart from a laptop that can use AI?

Mostly, it comes down to two things: Windows 11, and future proofing. For the former, Windows 11 has a "Copilot+ PC" designation for modern laptops with powerful Neural Processing Units (NPUs), which enable a variety of local, highly efficient AI features like enhancing your camera for video conferencing, creating a secure, private timeline of all your activity to quickly return to past documents or tasks, real-time captions and translations, enhanced photo and video editing, image generation, and more.

Most of these features aren't a "must-have" for most people, right now, but the point is that AI PCs have access to a lot of Windows 11 features that older PCs simply don't — and never will. That also plays into the second part: future proofing. AI laptops will continue to get all the latest and greatest software features, and the list is constantly growing.

That's true even outside of Windows' specific features. More and more companies are actively taking advantage of the NPUs inside AI laptops, enabling more features in apps millions of users use, including things like Adobe.

If you're investing in a new laptop and plan to use it for years, it's worth considering an AI laptop. Even if you won't use any of those features now, you'll be ready if a "killer feature" does release in the future. It also helps that AI laptops are available across most of Dell's portfolio, so you don't have to worry about breaking the bank.

What is the best Dell laptop?

If you wanted an immediate, catch-all answer for what the best Dell laptop is, you won't find it here. Laptops come in all shapes and sizes, and what people do with their laptops is complicated and varies from person to person.

I can give you my top three, though, based on what most people will look for in a laptop. That's starting with the Dell 14 Plus from $1,099.99 at Dell.com, which strikes a great balance. It's an all-metal AI laptop, and can be configured with a beautiful Mini LED display.

For those who want the best, there's the Dell 14 Premium from $1,549.99 at Dell.com. This laptop is beautiful no matter how you look at it, and can even be equipped with an NVIDIA GPU for improved performance.

For the gamers, there's the Alienware 16X Aurora from $1,649.99 at Dell.com. I'm still in the middle of testing this laptop, but I can already tell it's a mean performer — and the price feels just right for what you're getting.

You don't need a massively powerful gaming laptop to play League of Legends on, but that hasn't stopped HP. Revealed today, this latest version of the Omen 16 is a limited edition, targeted entirely at the League of Legends community.

And doesn't it look sensational? Nobody can ever convince me that there is a better color scheme on Planet Earth than black and gold.

Initially up for pre-order at $1,999.99 (yeah, it's a pricier laptop) this is essentially the Omen 16 we already know, but significantly jazzed up. If you're a big League of Legends player, talk about the ultimate flex. Apparently, it has some easter eggs to find, too.

"We know how passionate League of Legends fans are about the game and expanded universe, so our sole design goal was to create something that feels like it was plucked straight out of Runeterra. And with a sleek black and gold design, custom keyboard, and plenty of easter eggs to discover, we feel like we did that"

There are two spec options, both of which use the Intel Core i7-14650HX CPU and 32GB DDR5-5600 RAM. There are two accessible RAM slots, too, so you can upgrade as you may desire.

The differences come in which GPU and display you go for. There's a choice of the RTX 5060 or the RTX 5070. Display-wise, you're looking at a 1920 x 1200 165Hz option, or a 2560 x 1600 260Hz panel. Both plenty fast enough to play League of Legends on.

HP has also announced the Omen 25 gaming monitor, the official display of League of Legends and Valorant esports events globally. It'll be available from November at a price of $419.99, and has plenty to offer the keen competitive gamer.

The headline feature is the 360Hz refresh rate paired with a 1ms response time. For competitive games such as those made by Riot, this sounds perfect. It's also packing factory color calibration, and perhaps most important of all, a built-in stand to hang your gaming headset on when you're done for the day.

This isn't the first hardware collaboration we've seen between HP and Riot Games in recent times. We've already seen the equally striking Valorant Omen desktop PC, and who knows what else could be cooking inside HP's design labs.

As has become tradition in recent years, Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days has been out-dealed by a competing retailer. This time it's HP with what I believe is the best gaming laptop deal of the week.

The HP OMEN MAX 16, released in 2025 and sporting NVIDIA's newest RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU, is now down to $1,500 after a massive $600 discount.

I'll give it to you straight — the OMEN MAX 16 for 2025 isn't perfect, but it's a lot closer than many other gaming laptops.

Windows Central laptop expert Zachary Boddy performed in-depth testing on the OMEN MAX 16 for their review, making it easy to see where the laptop excels and where it falters.

Let me get the cons out of the way first. Like most gaming laptops, you'll want to keep it plugged in to avoid throttling the beastly RTX 5070 Ti and the 8-core AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 CPU. Not a huge deal.

👉 Related: We’ve tested plenty of laptops — these Techtober standouts deliver the best mix of performance and value

Boddy also found that the fans can get loud when the system is under load, but they tested a model with NVIDIA's most powerful RTX 5090 card that produces a lot more heat. With the RTX 5070 Ti inside, fan noise should be much less of a problem.

The final nitpick in Boddy's review has to do with the keyboard. The lattice-free design with translucent keycap edges and RGB backlighting might be an acquired taste, but "the layout is solid," and the touchpad is "equally decent" with smooth and precise inputs.

Now, let's get into what the laptop does particularly well. HP designed the OMEN MAX 16 to be as sleek as possible, resulting in a truly premium appearance without a ton of bulk or baggage.

The OMEN Max 16 runs Windows 11, which could solve your Windows 10 End-of-Life issues, and it's loaded with a bunch of HP's custom apps that allow for easy custom or automatic tuning. If you want to overclock your system, you don't have to be an expert.

At stock tuning, the RTX 5070 Ti GPU with 12GB of VRAM and Ryzen AI 7 350 CPU are going to make demanding modern titles look incredible, especially if you enable DLSS 4 features in your favorite games.

The FHD+ display might irk some gamers who'd rather have QHD+, but at 16 inches, everything is going to look plenty crisp, and you'll have a ton of headroom for high frame rates thanks to the 165Hz variable refresh rate.

This model that's discounted by $600 comes with 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD. If you find that's not enough, you can always upgrade yourself after purchase with relative ease.

FAQ

Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days isn't the only place to shop for discounted tech this week. Best Buy's Techtober sale is also live for the rest of the week, and I'm seeing a ton of deep price cuts on Windows laptops.

👉 Related: 16 hottest new deals at Best Buy's massive Techtober event — Up to $700 off laptops, gaming PCs, monitors, and more

One deal that caught my eye is something for PC gamers who need to upgrade their hardware on the cheap. Lenovo's 15.6-inch LOQ gaming laptop has dropped to just $549.99 at Best Buy after a massive $320 discount.

Why this is a great laptop to get you into PC gaming on the cheap

I'll be blunt: the combination of NVIDIA RTX 4050 Laptop graphics card (GPU) and AMD Ryzen 5 7235HS processor (CPU) isn't going to let you game comfortably at 1440p or 4K resolutions. Where this laptop excels is at 1080p, especially if you're interested in esports titles that don't need a lot of power to run smoothly.

Even so, more demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Elden Ring will surpass the 60 FPS baseline at medium settings, especially when the RTX 4050's DLSS support is enabled.

Essentially, what I'm saying is that the Lenovo LOQ 15.6 is a great gaming laptop for more casual players who don't want to overspend on their hobby.

Lenovo pairs 12GB of DDR5 RAM and a speedy 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD with the CPU and GPU, and you can upgrade both after purchase if you find that the capacities are not enough.

Lenovo uses an ideal 15.6-inch display for the performance hardware here. It has a 1920x1080 resolution, a smooth 144Hz refresh rate, NVIDIA G-Sync compatibility to reduce screen tearing, and about 300 nits of brightness.

With Windows 10's End-of-Life date quickly approaching on October 14, having a brand new gaming laptop with Windows 11 Home pre-installed will remove any worries about lacking security updates and support.

I'm not sure if this deal will last for the entire week at Best Buy's Techtober event; if you're interested, I recommend nabbing the full $320 discount as soon as possible.

FAQ

Windows 10 support ends on October 14, 2025, roughly 10 years after its launch. That means that the operating system (OS) will no longer receive essential security updates, at least unless you take the necessary steps to receive an extra year of support.

👉 Related: How to use Windows 10 ESU to keep getting updates after October 2025

Even if you do enable an extra year of support via the Extended Security Update (ESU) program, your Windows 10 PC will eventually become unsecured due to a lack of necessary security fixes.

That means the time is nigh to update to a new PC running Windows 11, assuming that your PC doesn't support an update to Windows 11 from Windows 10, or assuming that you don't want to attempt a workaround to get Windows 11 working on an unsupported PC.

In any case, you're probably wondering which laptop works best as a replacement for your Windows 10 PC. While you can always check out our list of top-rated Windows laptops for general buying advice, I've put together a more focused guide right here to help you choose.

Keep in mind that Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days and competing promotions from other retailers kick off on October 7 (or earlier), making it a perfect time to save big on a new Windows 11 laptop.

Best Windows 11 laptops for general users

In this section, I'm focusing on Windows users who don't need a discrete GPU for gaming or specialized work, who don't need additional security measures for the business world, and who just want a quality laptop for general productivity, entertainment, streaming, etc.

Lenovo's Yoga 9i (Gen 10) is currently the Windows Central team's top pick when it comes to the best Windows laptops of 2025. The convertible design is flawless, and the two halves are joined by a rotating soundbar hinge with stellar audio quality.

Add a 2.8K or 4K touch display with OLED panel, strong Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) performance, and access to Copilot+ AI tools in Windows 11, and you have a winner.

Windows Central Editor-in-Chief Daniel Rubino remarks:

"It perfectly showcases everything that the ultimate Windows (non-gaming) laptop represents. Amazing audio, display, keyboard, touchpad, design, and a 2-in-1 with pen support. The Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 (Gen 10) does it all."

Prices at Lenovo's website usually start at about $1,599.99, but I'm seeing discounts of up to 23% at the time of my most recent update.

The ASUS Zenbook A14, featuring Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus chipset with Neural Processing Unit (NPU) powerful enough to handle Copilot+ AI tools, is an ultralight 14-inch laptop that I love to recommend.

Battery life is exceptional, it has a generous selection of ports, the keyboard and touchpad are tops, and the best part? It often drops to about $600 at Best Buy with frequent promotions.

Windows Central laptop expert Zachary Boddy reviewed the Zenbook A14, noting:

"It starts with that lovely minimalist design, but not the kind of reductive minimalism that uses aesthetics to justify stripping away features. No, this is the kind of minimalist design that makes full use of absolutely every element of the laptop, and you're not losing out on features or build quality to achieve that super-light design."

This is one of my top recommendations if you'd like to replace your old Windows 10 laptop with a Snapdragon X PC.

Samsung's laptops remain underrated in 2025. The Galaxy Book5 Pro, available in 14- and 16-inch sizes, is a super-thin PC with a gorgeous AMOLED display, strong performance from the Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) chips, and around 17 hours of battery life, as tested, when going about regular tasks.

The keyboard and touchpad are comfy, the design is flawless, and you get a decent selection of ports, including a microSD card reader. In her Galaxy Book5 Pro review, Editor Rebecca Spear says:

"Not only does it have a refined style, but it offers excellent performance to keep up with your daily workloads. The AI Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processor offers better NPU performance than the previous Series 1 processor, and the Intel Arc graphics card is more than capable of handling creative programs and even some gaming. Plus, the gorgeous AMOLED touchscreen really shows off movies and art projects to great effect."

This AI PC is often on sale, and a 14-inch model with a 3K AMOLED display and Core Ultra 7 CPU can usually be found for about $1,349 at Best Buy.

Best Windows 11 laptops for PC gamers

The PC gaming world is all about discrete GPUs, strong processors, capable cooling, and fast displays. These requirements all come together (nearly) perfectly in the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 10).

Its redesigned chassis, bulked up a bit to accommodate the new NVIDIA RTX 5000 Laptop GPUs, is covered in RGB lighting, and it has the cooling capacity to prevent throttling. Its OLED display is bright and accurate, and its QHD+ resolution hits a 240Hz refresh rate with 0.5ms response time.

You can add up to an NVIDIA RTX 5090 Laptop GPU to go along with the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX for extreme gaming performance.

In their Legion Pro 7i (Gen 10) review, Zachary Boddy said:

"The performance is unmatched, the thermals are cool and breezy, the OLED display is among the best I've tested... Pit the Legion Pro 7i against a rampaging truck, and I feel this laptop may emerge from that confrontation the victor with how sturdily it's built."

At the time of my most recent update, prices start at $2,449.99 at Lenovo after a 15% discount.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 for 2025 wasn't exactly a straightforward upgrade over the stellar 2024 version, but the new model remains an easy recommendation for anyone who wants to game on a more compact PC.

Long story short: it hasn't changed much, and that's not a bad thing unless you're particularly concerned about a slightly heavier and thicker body to accommodate the latest performance hardware.

Our laptop expert, Zachary Boddy, had this to say in their ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) review:

"ASUS knows it struck gold, and didn't mess too much with the winning formula of the ROG Zephyrus G14 for 2025. Much of the hardware is identical, but this laptop is now smarter and more powerful... and thicker, heavier, and more expensive. Not everyone will love that added mass, but there's no denying the Zephyrus G14 is still one of the most impressive and premium 14-inch gaming laptops you can buy."

The new model has the latest AMD Ryzen AI and NVIDIA RTX 50-series hardware for the best performance possible. Prices start at about $1,799 at Best Buy, and there are many different configurations available.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is all about balancing portability and power, whereas the Strix G16 is more about opening up the throttle as much as possible.

Zachary Boddy, in their ROG Strix G16 (2025) review, remarked:

"The ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2025, AMD) isn't revolutionary by any means, but it is a really good, well-rounded gaming laptop with an excellent keyboard and fantastic, reliable performance. It's also priced well, and it's sure to go on sale in the coming months, too."

It's available with a 16-inch QHD+ display at 240Hz, and you can configure it with up to an AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D CPU and NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU. It's a great alternative to the Legion Pro 7i, thanks to more affordable pricing.

You can find this awesome laptop starting at about $1,999 at Best Buy.

Best Windows 11 laptops for AI

The Surface Laptop 7 is the best AI laptop on the market with a Snapdragon X chipset inside, mostly thanks to its impressive balance of form, performance, and battery life.

Senior Editor Zac Bowden, in his Surface Laptop 7 review, said:

"It's basically perfect. It's peak clamshell form factor. Of course, some minor areas could still be improved, but those are more subjective changes rather than objective ones. Things like adding an OLED screen is something that sounds like an upgrade on paper, but the IPS panel in here is already excellent and doesn't run the risk of any burn-in."

This is the perfect antidote to something like the MacBook Air for Windows users, delivering a thin and light PC that runs Copilot+ AI tools locally thanks to the NPU.

The Surface Laptop 7 is enjoying major discounts at Best Buy at the time of my most recent update, with prices starting at $869.

Looking for an AI PC that's more versatile than the Surface Laptop 7? HP's OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is a successor to the awesome Spectre x360, and it doubles down on the premium design with a thinner and lighter chassis.

It features a 14-inch OLED touch display with perfect color, the keyboard and touchpad are outstanding, and battery life is quite generous, with more than 9 hours of life during regular use, as tested.

The laptop runs on Intel's Core Ultra (Series 2) chips, complete with an NPU powerful enough to handle Copilot+ AI tools in Windows 11. Our own Zachary Boddy reviewed the OmniBook Ultra Flip 14, stating:

"This device embraces everything I love to see in premium Windows laptops — it looks good, it's incredibly thin and light, the OLED display is bright, colorful, and smooth, it runs great and can even play games, and it lasts all day no matter what I throw at it."

Check out a model with a 3K OLED display and Core Ultra 7 CPU for about $1,599 at Best Buy.

Lenovo's Yoga Slim 9i (Gen 10) is one of my top picks when it comes to the best laptops with bright screens, all thanks to a gorgeous 4K OLED display that hits up to 750 nits brightness.

Its Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU includes an NPU with enough juice for Copilot+ AI tools in Windows 11, and it otherwise delivers strong everyday performance and around 6 hours of real-world battery life. That's not a bad tradeoff for the brightness and display resolution.

Zachary Boddy reviewed the Yoga Slim 9i 14 (Gen 10), saying:

"There were no surprises here, and I mean that in the best way possible. The design is just as premium as it needed to be, the display is every bit as stunning and magnificent as Lenovo claimed it would be, the performance and core experience is exactly what a high-end Windows laptop should deliver."

A model with a 4K OLED display, Core Ultra 7 CPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD costs about $1,999 at Best Buy.

Best Windows 11 laptops for professionals

The EliteBook Ultra 14 (G1i) is a part of HP's massive laptop overhaul, and it's a top contender for any professionals who need extra security and durability in a thin and light design.

HP's Wolf Security suite keeps the PC secure, while its NPU allows access to Copilot+ AI tools. Performance from the Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) chips is more than enough for a standard workflow. The 14-inch display comes with a crisp 2.8K resolution, and the OLED panel delivers perfect contrast and deep color.

Windows Central's Zachary Boddy reviewed the EliteBook Ultra 14 (G1i), remarking:

"This device may not be aimed at regular consumers, but it still has all the fixings you expect from an ultra-premium flagship. The modern and refined design, the smooth and colorful OLED display, and true all-day battery life are all here. You'll also enjoy one of the best keyboard and touchpad combinations on any laptop you can buy right now, and that attention to quality extends to every other hardware feature (and there are a lot of them)."

HP is offering up to 57% off these PCs at the time of my latest update, dropping introductory prices down to just $1,599.

Microsoft perfected its Surface Pro with this latest version, complete with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips with an NPU powerful enough to handle Copilot+ AI tools. It might not be a dedicated business PC like the others in this section, but it will certainly do a great job for any busy professional.

The 2-in-1 form factor means it works as a tablet or as a notebook, and the 13-inch display with OLED panel and 2.8K resolution is a treat. This is the PC to get if you want the best of Windows 11.

Windows Central Editor-in-Chief Daniel Rubino reviewed the Surface Pro 11, stating:

"Having witnessed the evolution of every Surface Pro version and yearning for a device that excels in performance and battery life akin to the best Windows laptops (and even MacBooks), Microsoft has undeniably nailed it with the Surface Pro 11, making it a strong recommendation."

Prices start at just $799 at Best Buy, and there are plenty of models available to check out.

The ThinkPad brand is synonymous with the business lifestyle, and Lenovo's latest ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 (Gen 10) is the best version yet. The convertible PC is sleek, lightweight, and durable; it has an outstanding keyboard, and Lenovo has baked in tons of extra AI and security measures.

Lenovo offers myriad customization options, including 5G connectivity, haptic touchpad, and inking compatibility, all alongside the usual run of Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) CPUs with an NPU powerful enough for Copilot+.

In Zachary Boddy's ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 (Gen 10) review, they noted:

"What this is, though, is a damn good laptop. Boring doesn't always mean bad, and the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 (Gen 10) takes the same versatile, ultra-durable design of yesteryear and pairs it with more powerful and more efficient hardware. The result is a capable convertible Windows laptop that's perfect for working on the go, especially with optional 5G connectivity. It's expensive, but all ThinkPads are — just wait for the inevitable sales from Lenovo, they'll happen."

Lenovo has slashed prices by up to 24% at the time of my latest update, and you can configure your own model starting at $1,437.

Windows 10 End-of-Life FAQ

There's a lot of confusion surrounding Windows 10's End-of-Life transition, and I'm here to help answer common questions.

Walmart has offered some impressive gaming laptop deals already this year, but GeForce Week has arrived in full force with massive discounts on 2024 and 2025 models from all major brands.

GeForce Week is expected to wrap up on Sunday, September 28, but in the meantime, you can save hundreds of dollars on AMD and Intel systems, all sporting NVIDIA's RTX 40- and 50-series laptop GPUs.

I combed through all of the laptop deals now live at Walmart and pulled 7 top options with discounts ranging from $200 all the way up to $550. And with prices starting at just $599, there should be a new gaming laptop for everyone.

NVIDIA GeForce Week at Walmart: Quick Links

• Up to $1,500 off gaming hardware at Walmart's GeForce Week
• HP Victus 15: Was $1,049.99 Now $599 at Walmart
• Acer Nitro V 16 AI: Was $899 Now $699 at Walmart
• HP Omen 16 Slim: Was $1,399 Now $849 at Walmart
• Alienware 16 Aurora: Was $1,249.99 Now $899 at Walmart
• ASUS TUF Gaming A14: Was $1,455 Now $999 at Walmart
• HP Omen 16 Slim: Was $1,599 Now $1,099 at Walmart
• ASUS ROG Strix G18: Was $2,099.99 Now $1,799 at Walmart

Best GeForce Week laptop deals at Walmart

The combination of an AMD processor and an NVIDIA graphics card is currently the best option for PC gamers, and Best Buy is making it easy to shop for new hardware without paying full price.

There's a wide range of AMD-powered laptops and desktop PCs currently on sale, and while there's one model that stands out — the Gigabyte AERO X16 on sale for $1,349 — I highly recommend having a look at my alternative options, especially if you're shopping for a pre-built desktop.

My favorite AMD gaming laptop deal

This AERO X16 model that I'm highlighting is not only great for gaming. The powerful AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 CPU and the NVIDIA RTX 5070 Laptop GPU will do a bang-up job of editing, designing, and any other creative tasks, and with 32GB of upgradeable RAM, you shouldn't run into any memory problems.

Yes, RAM is accessible (an increasingly rare feature in laptops), and so is the 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD. The laptop actually has two M.2 slots for storage, so you can immediately pop in a second drive for bulk storage of your games and files.

The Ryzen CPU has a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) capable of up to 50 TOPS of local AI power. That makes this a Copilot+ PC with full access to all of the AI tools now built into Windows 11.

Turning back to gaming, the laptop's RTX 5070 Laptop GPU will handle even the most demanding titles thanks to DLSS 4 and its Multi Frame Generation magic. You might not be able to max out some in-game settings, but you'll still get a very enjoyable experience.

The PC comes with the right ports to connect to an external display, but the built-in 16-inch QHD+ screen with a 165Hz refresh rate will deliver a great picture on the go.

Although I haven't personally tested Gigabyte's AERO X16, Best Buy's 55 customer reviews have it sitting at a 4.7-star rating. That's not bad at all, and the $300 discount makes it look even better.

If you'd like to spend less, Gigabyte's AERO X16 with similar specs, save for a bump down to an RTX 5060 Laptop GPU, is also $300 off. That drops the price to $1,199 for a limited time.

More great AMD gaming deals live now at Best Buy

If Gigabyte's AERO X16 isn't quite what you're looking for, I've rounded up a couple of additional AMD gaming laptops as well as two AMD-powered gaming desktops that are on sale at Best Buy.

Why shop at Best Buy?

Best Buy is one of the largest electronics retailers around, and like its competitors, it too has a membership program that grants subscribers some nice perks.

While the gaming PCs I've rounded up above do not require any sort of extra membership to receive the discount, signing up for a free My Best Buy plan can get you free standard shipping where it would otherwise not be available.

The My Best Buy Plus plan costs $49.99 per year, but it adds free two-day shipping, exclusive member pricing on select items, exclusive access to certain deals and promos, and an extended 60-day return window.

If you're a real fan of Best Buy, there's also a Total membership that costs $179.99 per year. The Total membership gets you everything from the Plus tier, and it adds additional protection plans, 24/7 tech support, VIP member support, and discounted tech repair prices.

One of the best Windows laptops money can buy is the Razer Blade 14, but it takes a lot of money to add this sleek and sophisticated gaming PC to your desk. The fact of the matter is, most people just don't want to spend that much money on their computer.

Well, the cost of entry just fell by a lot thanks to the steepest sale the Razer Blade 14 (2025) has ever enjoyed, bringing it down a whopping $700 to $1,999.99 at Razer.com. Don't worry, you can also find the same deal at Amazon.com, and wherever you buy the Blade 14, you'll get a copy of Borderlands 4 included.

This is still an ultra-premium laptop, but this stellar discount makes it a much more attractive option for anyone who wants a compact, powerful, and feature-packed 14-inch gaming laptop.

All of a sudden, the Blade 14 is a lot easier to recommend

I praised the Razer Blade 14 (2025) in my review for its incredible unibody design, impressive set of features, and consistent performance, but my greatest criticism was, understandably, the exorbitant price tag.

After all, why would someone consider the Blade 14 when the comparable ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 costs so much less? Razer may have no equal when it comes to design and build quality in gaming laptops, but many would rather save their cash and focus on performance and features instead.

You can get a slightly more powerful Zephyrus G14 for $2,399.99 at BestBuy.com right now, and that's a fantastic laptop. A $700 discount makes the new Blade 14 a strong alternative, though, offering a slimmer and more refined design for $1,999.99 at Razer.com, and it's available in silver on top of Razer's iconic matte black. If you're curious, this configuration is rocking the 10-core AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 (8GB) GPU.

The cherry on the cake is a free copy of Borderlands 4 included with every purchase of the discounted $2,000 Razer Blade 14, as well as the "Gilded Glory Pack." You shouldn't have to worry about any of Borderlands 4's infamous performance issues with this hardware, either.

This laptop now being available at Amazon.com with the same color options and promotions makes it even easier to discover why the Blade 14 is one of our highest-rated laptops.

From the 14-inch, 2.8K, 120Hz OLED display and excellent six-speaker sound system to the reliable performance and all the latest and greatest Windows 11 features (this is a full Copilot+ AI PC), the Blade 14 has a lot going for it. I adore a good 14-inch gaming laptop, and this is inarguably one of the best on the market.

This isn't just for gaming, of course. The Blade 14 is arguably even better for creatives, engineers, and other professionals who need a lot of graphical firepower in a compact package they can slip into a bag and take with them to the office (or wherever else you need to work). Unlike many dedicated gaming laptops, the Blade 14 doesn't cut corners outside of raw performance — all the features you expect of a high-end laptop are here.

The Razer Blade 14 (2025) was a tougher recommendation at an absurd $2,700, but this pricing feels right. If you've been on the fence, this is the time to take that leap. Pick up the Razer Blade 14 (2025) for $1,999.99 at Razer.com (with Borderlands 4) starting today.

Gaming laptops continue to evolve, providing improved cooling, better displays, more powerful performance hardware, and more useful user features.

As laptops change, some interesting models that live outside of general expectations tend to pop up. The latest (via PCWorld) comes from a Kickstarter campaign started by the Shenzen Longgang Manyunke Electronics company, located in Hong Kong.

The Krayzor "dual-screen beast" is certainly something to behold. It's a chunky notebook featuring a main 16-inch display with a 2560x1600 resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate. Krayzor says the screen hits 99% DCI-P3 color reproduction and has a 1ms response time.

The primary display is joined by a secondary 12.3-inch touchscreen with a 1920x720 resolution installed just below the hinges.

Like the dual-screen ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo, which debuted in 2020 and was refreshed up until 2023, the Krayzor laptop's secondary display only takes up half of the base of the laptop, leaving room for a keyboard and touchpad.

The keyboard noticeably makes use of mechanical switches and large keycaps, which are hot-swappable and have customizable RGB lighting underneath. Don't like the switches that come with the laptop? Change them anytime.

The touchpad is quite tiny and located off to the right of the keys, but it includes three dials for brightness and volume control. Everything else is essentially screens and performance hardware.

An upgradeable GPU ... in a laptop?

Speaking of power, Krayzor offers a 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H CPU with 14 cores and an NVIDIA RTX 4060 Laptop GPU with 8GB of VRAM. While the CPU isn't replaceable, Krayzor has designed the laptop with an upgradeable GPU.

Having a laptop GPU that can be swapped out is rare, but the MXM standard Krayzor employs should make for relatively easy swaps, at least as long as you aren't afraid to get inside your PC or know where to source a replacement card.

The performance hardware is kept cool by a three-fan setup, and all hot air is exhausted out the back of the PC. Everything runs on an 80Wh battery, and Krayzor includes a 140W AC adapter for charging.

As for ports, the selection is relatively old, just like the CPU. You get RJ45 LAN (no word on the speed), HDMI, a couple of USB-A 3.0, one USB-A 2.0, one USB-C (again, no details about speed), a microSD card reader, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 are both on board to handle wireless connectivity.

This price is the most shocking part of the Krayzor gaming laptop

While I've had plenty of experience with gaming laptops over the years spent at Windows Central, I've more recently been very interested in the emerging world of dual-screen laptops.

I went so far as to test out the gaming experience on Lenovo's dual-screen Yoga Book 9i, a laptop certainly created for a life outside of PC gaming.

The Yoga Book 9i, which generally starts somewhere around $2,000, did a decent job of handling games thanks to its integrated Intel Arc graphics. However, it came nowhere close to a gaming laptop's abilities.

The ASUS Zenbook Duo, which I actually prefer over the Yoga Book 9i, is a much more affordable option, with models usually starting at about $1,600. While it does offer two full-size 14-inch displays, it lacks a discrete GPU.

Krayzor's dual-screen gaming laptop, then, has both of those non-gaming PCs beat when it comes to pricing. This is where I start to get suspicious. Especially considering the ASUS ROG Zephyrus Duo cost thousands of dollars when it was new.

For just $851 (or HK$ 6,632), you can pick up a model with the 12th Gen Intel Core CPU, dual displays, and NVIDIA RTX 4060 Laptop GPU. This model doesn't immediately come with RAM or storage, but you can add that at checkout.

A kit with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD adds $109 to the total, coming out at $960. That seems like a crazy deal.

Double both memory and storage, and you're looking at $259 on top of the $851 for a total of $1,110. That's still not bad, and you can always avoid the added costs by supplying your own RAM and SSD after purchase.

So far, the Kickstarter campaign has 37 total backers who have pledged approximately $HK 281,408, crushing the Kickstarter goal of $HK 5,000. And that's with roughly two weeks left until the campaign closes.

Will backers actually receive these laptops, expected to ship in December 2025? That remains to be seen. I certainly hope they do, as I'm incredibly interested in what this PC can actually do in the wild.

Gaming laptops keep getting more expensive as performance hardware gets better and builders fight to deal with changing tariffs. That's exactly why I've been paying closer attention to big discounts.

If you're looking for a gaming laptop that can handle even the most demanding games, this is it.

The ASUS ROG Strix G16 features an AMD Ryzen 9 8940HX CPU, NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU with access to all of DLSS 4's latest features (including Multi Frame Gen), and 16GB of DDR5 RAM that can be upgraded after purchase.

Rather than the usual $1,999.99 price tag, it's currently down to $1,599.99 at Best Buy.

ASUS builds gaming laptops for maximum performance

When buying a gaming laptop, you'll often have to choose between size and performance. Whereas 14-inch gaming laptops provide the most portability and 18-inch laptops provide the most performance, a 16-inch device is a sweet spot for most gamers.

With a 16-inch gaming laptop, you get enough cooling capacity to allow your hardware to run without making it too bulky to carry around. The G16 features three fans and plenty of exhaust/intake around the sides and rear edge for airflow.

ASUS provides the NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU with a 140W power envelope, allowing it to run all-out. And considering the GPU brings all of the latest Blackwell architecture improvements and 12GB of VRAM, you should have no issues enjoying even the most demanding games.

DLSS 4's Multi Frame Generation is the killer feature here; I tested it in DOOM: The Dark Ages using the desktop version of the RTX 5070 Ti, and I came away convinced that NVIDIA is using magic to propel frame rates into triple digits.

Supporting the CPU and GPU is 16GB of DDR5-5600 RAM that can be accessed after purchase. 16GB should be enough to get you started, but it's a relatively cheap upgrade if you find you need more.

ASUS also placed a 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD inside, also accessible for upgrades after purchase.

The 16-inch display in the discounted model comes with a 1920x1200 (FHD+) resolution, a 165Hz refresh rate, and a 3ms response time. The 90% screen-to-body ratio means bezels are slim along the top and sides for a modern look.

NVIDIA G-Sync is included to reduce screen tearing, and Dolby Vision makes supporting content look that much better. ASUS pegs the screen as having 100% DCI-P3 color reproduction and Pantone color validation, so you could certainly use the PC for creative work when you're not gaming.

The RGB keyboard has several macro shortcut keys that you can customize, and the 1.9mm key travel keeps your fingers comfy whether you're typing or gaming. The touchpad is big enough to feature ASUS's funky digital number pad should you want to handle some spreadsheets.

Connectivity is modern, with reliable and fast Wi-Fi 6E as well as 1Gb Ethernet. Because this is an AMD system, you don't get Thunderbolt, but you do get dual USB4 (an unbranded version of Thunderbolt 4) with display support.

Other ports include HDMI 2.1, dual USB-A 3.2 (Gen 2), and a 3.5mm audio jack. Not bad at all.

Unless you prefer a built-in display with a higher resolution or you want to push the GPU to the RTX 5080 (which needs a lot more space inside to run all-out), I can easily recommend checking this one out. The $400 discount at Best Buy won't last long.

Today, as the IFA 2025 tech conference is underway, MAINGEAR is turning its gaming hardware sensibilities to the more portable market with its new Super 16 laptop. This new gaming machine claims to deliver high-end, desktop-like performance on the go, packing specs and features that should make its intended rivals pay closer attention.

If you aren't familiar with MAINGEAR, it’s a US-based company better known for building high-end custom gaming desktop PCs. It offers both pre-configured systems and fully custom builds, assembling them for you and shipping directly to your door.

The company has also partnered with big names in the gaming space, including Razer, HP, and popular gaming streamer 'Shroud.' You'll probably also recognize the MAINGEAR name from our previous coverage, as our own PC specialist Cale Hunt has tested the Maingear MG-1 in the past and taken interest in its throwback Retro95 gaming PC.

The MAINGEAR Super 16 is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX (Series 2, Arrow Lake) processor, one of the most powerful mobile chips available from the company, beating out AMD’s flagship Ryzen 9 mobile processor back in February of this year (via Tom's Hardware).

When you pair that with NVIDIA’s beefy RTX 5070 Ti mobile GPU, which runs at a respectable 140W TDP, it’s safe to say you won’t have any performance struggles with this laptop. The RTX 5070 Ti also brings some of NVIDIA's best software tricks to the table. You get features like DLSS 4 and MFG, AI tools that cleverly upscale the game images and boost your frame rates in demanding games for a much smoother experience.

It also includes NVIDIA’s Reflex 2, a feature that's all about reducing input lag, making your games feel that much more responsive, which is a huge plus for those who play competitive games like Valorant or Counter-Strike 2.

MAINGEAR claims the mobile GPU delivers up to 23% faster performance over the standard RTX 5070, and you'll also get the flexibility to switch between a "discrete GPU" mode for maximum power and a "hybrid mode" when you need to save on battery life, something that NVIDIA Optimus has offered for a while.

A 300Hz G-SYNC display for competitive esports

The standout feature of the Super 16 is arguably its display. It's a 16-inch screen offering up to a 2560x1600 resolution, a much sharper image than 1080p, alongside a 300Hz refresh rate, resulting in exceptionally smooth motion. And yes, you can definitely tell the difference between 120Hz and 300Hz in person, at least in my personal experience.

Alongside that high refresh rate, the display also supports NVIDIA's G-Sync technology, synchronizing the screen to the graphics card itself to prevent any ugly screen tearing. MAINGEAR also highlights the laptop's sub-8ms response time, complementing the display tech to keep fast-moving action looking clear and sharp.

So, what is the killer feature that most rivals are missing? According to MAINGEAR, it all comes down to the laptop's networking capabilities. The Super 16 is one of the earliest laptops to feature Intel's Killer Wi-Fi 7, the latest (and fastest) wireless standard. It also includes a 2.5Gbps Ethernet port, more than double the speed of a typical Gigabit port.

But the real magic happens when you combine them using Intel's latest Killer DoubleShot Pro feature. It essentially allows the laptop to use both Wi-Fi and Ethernet at the same time, intelligently sending your time-sensitive game traffic over the fastest connection.

Meanwhile, it routes less important background traffic, like system updates, over the other connection. So, in practice, your competitive match could be using the stable wired connection while Windows is doing one of its pesky updates over Wi-Fi, all without causing any lag (hopefully). The end result is that your game or stream is always prioritized, ensuring a smooth, lag-free experience even on a busy network.

Wallace Santos, MAINGEAR’s CEO, claims that “despite the laptops thin-chasis, it's packed with high-performance specs, delivering a fantastic gaming and entertainment experience in today's most popular gaming laptop size.” It’s also worth properly mentioning that it wouldn't be a true gaming laptop without some RGB, and the Super 16 delivers on the front.

As seen in the provided pictures, it features a customizable backlit keyboard and a rear light bar that projects a glow from the back of the chassis. After all, nothing lets people know you have a serious gaming laptop quite like a healthy dose of RGB.

Super 16: Specifications

• CPU: Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 275HX (24 Cores, 24 Threads, 5.4GHz Max. Turbo Boost) (10-150W)
• GPU: NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 5070 Ti Mobile (140W, Max-Q)
• Display: 16.0" 2560×1600 (1600p), 300Hz, G-SYNC, <8ms, 500 nits, 100% sRGB
• Memory: Up to 96GB DDR5 (2×48GB @ 4800MT/s)
• Storage: Up to 3× M.2 SSDs (1× Gen5 + 2× Gen4)
• Cooling: Vapor Chamber with rear exhaust (195W thermal capacity)
• Networking: Intel® Killer™ Wi-Fi 7 + 2.5Gb LAN with Killer DoubleShot Pro
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.4
• Camera: 5MP IR Windows Hello with privacy shutter and wake-on-approach
• RGB Lighting: 4-zone RGB keyboard + rear-facing RGB light bar
• Audio: Stereo downward-firing speakers powered by Creative Sound Blaster Studio Pro 2
• Battery: 80Wh + 230W AC adapter with 100W USB-C PD-in
• Ports: 2× Thunderbolt 4/USB-C, 2× USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI, Audio Combo, DC In, microSD card reader

The MAINGEAR Super 16 is available to order starting today from its own store, with pricing beginning at $2,399. For that, the base model comes well-equipped with 32GB of DDR5 RAM and a fast 2TB SSD. Customers can also customize the laptop with more memory and storage when ordering.

Plus, every machine includes MAINGEAR's lifetime support, which is a great perk for a premium device. It's clear MAINGEAR is making a genuine play for the high-end laptop market with this entry. While it's certainly a pricey machine, it offers a compelling package for the money, and there are more just like this appearing in this space.

I recently got my hands on the latest iteration of Razer's Blade 18 (2025) for review, and, much like its similarly ludicrous 18-inch gaming laptops, it was an adventure in the absurd as it shredded through my usual benchmarks with fervor. It's no real surprise given that the maxed-out NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 laptop GPU paired with Intel's almost-max "Arrow Lake" Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, so it was always going to score high.

Then again, nothing much is perfect, and this is Razer, a brand known for its premium tastes, so the prices usually start on the higher end and only go up from there. However, a decent discount brought the configurable Blade 18 down to a more "reasonable" starting cost of $2,999.99 at Razer.com for a 5070 Ti model instead.

Again, my sample was far from modest, and it felt like a trivial exercise to run the RTX 5090 with my collection of PC games only to remark something along the lines of "Wow, look at that, it runs well" — because of course it does, it's one of the most powerful gaming laptops in the world. Nevertheless, I did skimp on some significant insights into thermals and noise levels, so I'm fixing that today.

First up, people want to know how hot these dominant gaming laptops get. It's understandable, especially when they carry components that match the naming convention of their desktop counterparts. Sure, it's called an RTX 5090, but the 175W laptop equivalent is dwarfed by its monstrous 575W desktop RTX 5090 that I tested in January. Even so, it's still the top-level GPU option, so the thermals must rise in response to the extraordinary performance, right?

For a baseline test, I ran the Blade 18 (2025) on AC power via the 400W GaN charger with the 'Balanced' profile activated in Razer Synapse. The CPU temperature sensor reported around 57 - 62°C while watching a YouTube video on Microsoft Edge, keeping the idle GPU closer to a middling 52°C, which gives a hint at the ambient temperature inside the chassis. Sitting completely idle on an empty Windows 11 desktop didn't drop the CPU thermals by much either, still bottoming out at 57°C.

Externally, my 'FLIR ONE Gen 3' thermal camera detects the lower chassis at around 33.9°C during this kind of almost-idle state, with a comfortable placement for your wrists flanking either side of the gigantic touchpad. The middle of the keyboard jumps a little to around 37.8°C while the hinge-mounted vent exhausts recycled air measuring 44.1°C.

You can feel the vapor chamber working without a real need for a thermal camera, as it pushes cool air directly into mirrored spots that you can feel above the 'Esc' key and the higher end of the number pad, measuring around 27.3°C and highlighted as purple-to-black spots in most thermal imaging cameras.

Kicking the RTX 5090 L into gear with a looping 'Steel Nomad' stress test via 3DMark while keeping the 'Balanced' profile active in Synapse shows the internal GPU sensor report around 72°C as the Intel CPU reaches 69°C and the fans ramp up closer to 2900 RPM — all quite normal for high-end PC gaming.

Using the 'Performance' profile in Synapse keeps the CPU and GPU at the same temperatures for this synthetic benchmark while the fans rise to a noisy 3300 RPM instead, but I wanted to revisit my 3840 x 2400 benchmark in Cyberpunk 2077 with DLSS 4 upscaling and frame generation for more of a real-world test. I originally set NVIDIA's 'Transformer' model to 'Ultra Performance' in an effort to chase extra frames, but I'll leave it on 'Auto' this time.

As the in-game benchmark plays out, averaging 149 FPS, the GPU sensor hits 74°C while the CPU reads around 84°C, and the fans max out at a slightly lower 3000 RPM. Externally, that translates to the "wrist rest" areas of the chassis measuring slightly higher at 39.3°C while the center of the keyboard moves to 43.3°C, and the hinge throws out hot air, hitting 59.7°C — an average external increase of about 9°C from its idle state.

As I mentioned, the 3-fan internal vapor cooling chamber is in place to tackle these kinds of raised temperatures, but it comes at an audible cost. I called the fan noise "loud — tornado loud", and I stand by it, even if it felt quite similar to the Razer Blade 18 (2024) sample I tested last year. It is borderline unbearable at full blast, which contributes in part to the review score's missing half-star, because I'd never subject my family to this wooshing commotion.

In its idle state, or while watching a (muted) YouTube video, the Blade 18 (2025) fans reach about 36.3 dBA while running at 1600 RPM. Moving to 3000 RPM sees that number jump to 52.1 dBA, and benchmarking 3DMark pushes the fans to 3300 RPM, increasing noise slightly to 54.2 dBA. Just for fun, I can manually set the fans to their maximum at 4600 RPM in Razer Synapse, which peaks at around 66.1 dBA, practically mimicking a vacuum cleaner.

So, yes, it's loud, but it's because the fans are keeping the internal temperatures at a reasonable level. You can't have maxed-out graphics in one of the best gaming laptops without introducing CPU and GPU heat, which is where the Blade 18's vapor chamber comes in. I still think you'd have a better gaming experience if you used a headset, like Razer's refined BlackShark V3 Pro, because the fan noise is hard to ignore, but there's a reason those blasting sounds are audible in the first place.

I'm not done with the Razer Blade 18, either. This comment on my review made a fair complaint about Razer skipping on Mini LED or even OLED options this year. It's not that the IPS panel is dim; it reaches around 590 nits at 100% brightness, but the contrast doesn't touch Mini LED. I'll reach out to Razer itself to see if there's a reason behind the move to this dual-mode IPS option, possibly relating to the massive 400Hz refresh rate on offer in 2025 — and whether that's worth the trade-off. Stay tuned.

Intel Gamer Days is live, and this year, it's a free copy of Battlefield 6 that's drawing a lot of attention. At Walmart, several gaming laptops are enjoying deep discounts, and you can get a free copy of the upcoming first-person shooter from DICE with your purchase.

There are two MSI Thin 15 models currently on sale that I'd like to highlight, as well as an HP OMEN 16.

The most affordable features an Intel Core i5-13420H CPU, NVIDIA RTX 3050, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. It's down to $499 at Walmart from the regular $799.99, which is about a $301 discount.

Walmart has also dropped the price on an MSI Thin 15 with the same Core i5-13420H CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, and 15.6-inch FHD IPS display with 144Hz refresh rate; however, this model makes the jump to an NVIDIA RTX 4050 Laptop GPU.

Rather than paying the full $899.99 price, Walmart has it discounted to $549. That's about a $351 savings. And although Walmart hasn't made it explicitly clear on the product page, this laptop is included in the Intel Gamer Days promo that lands you a free copy of Battlefield 6.

Last but not least is an HP OMEN 16 Slim with an Intel Core Ultra 5 225H CPU, NVIDIA RTX 5050 Laptop GPU, 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch 2K display at 165Hz.

This is, by far, the most modern choice, capable of delivering the best performance out of the three laptops I've highlighted here.

It regularly costs about $1,399, but it's now down to $849 at Walmart. That's a savings of $550, and it comes with a free copy of Battlefield 6.

Battlefield 6 is free, but will it run on these laptops?

Battlefield 6's minimum PC requirements aren't technically that demanding, although, as with any game, the better hardware you have, the better the game will look and perform.

Unfortunately, the RTX 3050 Laptop GPU in the most affordable MSI Thin 15 I highlighted doesn't make the cut, coming in behind the RTX 2060. You'll be able to play the game, but it won't likely perform that well.

Moving up to the discounted $549 model with an RTX 4050 Laptop card, this model surpasses the minimum CPU and GPU requirements, if only just.

As you likely already know, bumping the GPU up to an RTX 5050 Laptop will only improve your experience in Battlefield 6, especially with DLSS 4 ready to go. The HP OMEN 16 is easily the most powerful laptop of the bunch, and at $550 off the regular price, it's also the best deal.

How to redeem your free copy of Battlefield 6 via Intel Gamer Days

Once you've purchased an eligible gaming laptop from Walmart — these three are confirmed to be on the list — you should receive some form of purchase proof from the retailer.

With this in hand, just head to Intel's software offer promo page and sign in or create a new account. Once verified, you'll then be able to follow the redemption instructions that you received when you purchased the PC.

Be sure to redeem this offer before October 31, 2025! That's plenty of time to act; Battlefield 6 is set to launch on October 10.

In the US, Walmart is far from the only retailer in on Intel's promotion; Amazon, Antonline, Best Buy, B&H, Micro Center, and plenty of individual PC storefronts are also selling eligible products.

Razer's Blade 18 has never been marketed as a humble or even sensible gaming laptop; it's an extravagant powerhouse that claims to deliver "true desktop-level performance" in a chunky chassis. I should know, I've tested iterations of it throughout the past few years, where I've seen it shred through high-end benchmarks and leave almost nothing to the imagination.

Well, it's that time again, because the latest Razer Blade 18 (2025) upgraded itself with NVIDIA's RTX 50 Series graphics and Intel's monstrous Core Ultra 9 275HX (Arrow Lake) mobile processor, alongside options for either a lot of RAM or too much RAM. It's one of the most entertaining laptops to test, just because of its ridiculously powerful nature, but there's still value in showing what you'd actually get for your money.

This review was made possible thanks to a review unit provided by Razer. The company did not see the contents of this review before publishing.

Razer Blade 18 (2025): Price and availability

Razer sells the Blade 18 (2025) with selections for its GPU, storage, and RAM, normally starting at $3,499.99 at Razer.com with an RTX 5070 Ti. However, as of writing this review, a temporary 14% discount brings it down to $2,999.99 at Razer.com instead.

Upgrading the graphics card (GPU) makes the biggest difference to performance, and it'll cost you $500 to move up to an RTX 5080 L (laptop) variant at $4,099.99 MSRP, or $3,499.99 on sale.

Choosing the top-end RTX 5090 L GPU that matches my sample forces you to a 2TB SSD for extra storage, but RAM remains flexible at 32GB or 64GB. The former would cost you $4,899.99 at MSRP or $4,199.99 with the current discount.

Otherwise, an all-out maximum spec Blade 18 in 2025 would cost you $5,199.99 MSRP or $4,599.99 on sale, with 64GB of RAM, and 4TB of storage over two 2TB SSDs.

While it's often a middle-spec option that makes the most sense, the "entry-level" Blade 18 is still an extremely capable gaming laptop, and anything above the RTX 5070 Ti will have diminishing returns unless you're planning to utilize local AI on the extra GDDR7 VRAM or have a definitive need for the top-end RTX 50 Series GPUs.

My recommended configuration:

Razer Blade 18 (2025): Design and features

For the most part, the Razer Blade 18 retains the outward design of its predecessors, with the only "obvious" change found on its underbelly: a transparent panel lined with RGB lighting that casts a slight underglow on certain surfaces — yeah, you really have to look for it. Otherwise, the familiar three-headed serpent logo still glows with animated colors on the lid, and green USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports line the sides.

However, there are improvements to the per-key RGB keyboard that I can feel when I'm typing or gaming, and they wouldn't be so noticeable at a glance. For this 2025 model, each key on the Blade 18 has a 1.5 mm travel distance, an improvement over the shallow feeling of its earlier variants, but I'd still ask for even more depth. The number pad also benefits from this change, though its inclusion still feels like an excuse to include macro keys rather than to placate numpad fans.

My favorite aspects are still present on the keyboard, like holding the function (Fn) key to exclusively highlight the shortcuts on each key, and the colors all change to fit the theme of certain games like Cyberpunk 2077, with WASD keys standing out alongside common game actions. All of this is customizable via the Razer Synapse and Chroma apps, but the default setup is great — I'll just never care about numpads on gaming laptops. Give me uniform arrow keys instead.

For something more exciting, the Blade 18 is still one of the only laptops with a functional Thunderbolt 5 USB-C port. It's the latest standard, offering the fastest speeds and broadest compatibility with the best docking stations and everything that connects to them, like certified monitors. Razer even makes its own, the highly praised Thunderbolt 5 Dock Chroma, but this port is still (so far) one of the more underdeveloped technologies on offer here.

On the other side, you still get a Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port and an HDMI 2.1 output to connect more traditional gaming monitors, if you'd rather hook up something bigger than the 18-inch panel.

Then again, you'll probably get the most enjoyable experience with the dual-mode 240-440Hz IPS screen that's built into the Blade 18, even if it's now missing the mini-LED configuration, but external monitors make sense for a 'desktop replacement' laptop.

2.5Gb Ethernet is here too, as it well should be on any gaming laptop, ready for wired networking to avoid any Wi-Fi latency. Well, that's the concept anyway, but Razer has Wi-Fi 7 built into the Blade 18, which is similarly cutting-edge and likely wouldn't cause you any lag issues unless you were in a house full of running microwaves or other wireless-nerfing nuisances.

Otherwise, an audio jack sticks around in 2025 for wired headphones and gaming headsets, alongside a proprietary port for the monstrous 400W GaN power brick. There's also an SD card reader — huzzah (are gamers using these?)

Mercifully, the gigantic touchpad is center-aligned and performs serviceably. Serious gamers won't use it for much more than navigating Windows 11 before switching to an external mouse or joypad to actually play their games, but it's still a gorgeous example. There aren't any invisible edges or ham-fisted holograms; it just sticks to being a great precision glass touchpad.

At this point, Razer has refined its laptop chassis to near perfection, and tweaks to the 3-fan internal vapor cooling chamber are an absolute necessity as it pairs this year's Blade 18 with outrageous mobile NVIDIA GPUs like the 175W RTX 5090 L with Intel's 105W Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU — components that run hot, but are ultimately the selling point of this ultra-premium laptop.

Not to disregard the 6-way THX-certified speaker setup, as it sounds great when I crank it loud enough to offset the fans when they're under stress, and other niceties like a physical webcam shutter over the 5MP IR webcam with its Windows Hello support are totally welcome — I just doubt you're here to hear about those, so let's dig into some performance insights.

Razer Blade 18 (2025): Performance and benchmarks

Generationally, the Intel Core i9-14900HX from the Blade 18 (2024) was around 2.39% faster in Geekbench 6's multi-threaded CPU testing than the Core i9-13950HX from the Blade 18 (2023). This time, the Core Ultra 9 275HX in the Blade 18 (2025) is around 20% faster than last year's sample, so the processor offers a significant step-up in raw performance.

On the GPU side, the Blade 18 (2025) scored around 13.37% better with NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 L than last year's Blade 18 (2024) with a RTX 4090 L, though itself was outranked by its own Blade 18 (2023) predecessor by around 2.56% — it's not quite the same leap as the CPU side, as I'd half expected after hearing some rumors of underwhelming RTX 5090 L performance in laptops, but it's still the world's best consumer mobile GPU.

So, to keep it simple: this year's Blade 18 comes with around a 20% increase in CPU performance and 13% on the GPU. However, this is the highest graphical option of all, and the RTX 5090 L will remain a pipedream for many. Do I think you'd be missing out if you 'downgraded' to an RTX 5080 or 5070 Ti model? Absolutely not — this is the upper echelon of graphics that borders on placebo.

It would be strange to test a gaming laptop without mentioning the games themselves, but I don't want to insult your intelligence. This is the world's most powerful mobile hardware, so the question will never be "Can the Blade 18 run [insert game name here]?" — the answer is always yes, of course it can. The more interesting question is whether you can utilize that UHD+ (3840 x 2400) screen at 4K+ in modern titles.

So, NVIDIA's RTX 50 Series GPUs come with DLSS 4 and MFG, which translate to 'Deep Learning Super Sampling' and 'Multi-Frame Generation', a pair of image upscaling and framerate-boosting techniques. The GeForce RTX 5090 L inside this Blade 18 (2025) sample is the most powerful card in its category, and it'll run most games on max settings around 1080p without assistance, but 4K+ needs a little help.

I had Cyberpunk 2077's built-in benchmark running at an average of 227 FPS with ray tracing enabled, set to 2400p with the DLSS 4 'Transformer' model on 'Ultra Performance' and MFG at 4x. Yes, this is using "fake frames" to get close to the Blade 18's native resolution, and running the benchmark without DLSS or MFG results in a brute-forced average of 22 FPS (up to 26 FPS maximum).

You can switch the display to FHD+ (1920 x 1200) at 440Hz instead, but I still only managed a 70 FPS average in Cyberpunk 2077 without any upscaling or frame generation assists — switching to DLSS 4 (Quality) and MFG 4x hits 319 FPS average on Ray Tracing Ultra at 1200p, which is nice, but I preferred the results of the first test. 440Hz really does feel excessive, but it's a rising refresh rate trend that won't stop.

The RTX 5090 L inside the Blade 18 (2025) is exactly that: a laptop GPU. It won't stand up to the same outrageous performance as the desktop RTX 5090, and performs at about 68% as well as a desktop RTX 4090 from the previous GeForce generation. So, while this is the highest-end consumer GPU you can get in a laptop, there will always be a disparity between desktops and laptops, as many PC gamers already know, but it's worth clarifying.

Again, even the 175W 5090 L is still a drop in the ocean compared to the 450W desktop RTX 4090 and 575W RTX 5090 — but this is the best you can currently get in a gaming laptop, and that's on AC power with a 440W adapter. On its battery, the Blade 18 (2025) lasts around 1 hour and 25 minutes in gaming, but I wouldn't recommend playing anything away from a dedicated power source.

Just be ready to put on a headset or a pair of headphones if you're playing anything demanding, because the trio of fans inside the vapor chamber gets loud, which isn't new for the Blade 18. Otherwise, the performance matches the similarly overpowered specs all over this beast of a gaming laptop, with color-accurate display profiles and luxuries like upgradeable SODIMM RAM lurking inside a heavy (3.10 kg / 7.06 lbs​) slab.

Razer Blade 18 (2025): Should you buy it?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You want the best gaming laptop available.

✅ You're planning to do your gaming at home, near AC power.

✅ You want the biggest portable screen with high refresh rates.

You shouldn't buy this if ...

❌ You want a lightweight gaming laptop.

❌ You'll play demanding games without headphones.

❌ You want to do all of your gaming on battery power.

For the most part, the Razer Blade 18 in 2025 is the same as it ever was: a heavy beast with options for the best mobile GPU in the world. However, that comes with some of the same downsides, like 'fingerprint-resistant' coating still proving a bit ineffective.

Nevertheless, there's very little on the market that could ever touch it, and Razer has refined its companion apps to make Synapse and Chroma worth running in the background.

Yes, it's still the best gaming laptop in my eyes, purely because it's balls-to-the-wall insanity. How could it not rank so highly with such high-end hardware? It was inevitable, really.

In the same vein, the RTX 5090 variant remains a choice that goes beyond premium and into the realms of silliness, but the more affordable configurations with sensible NVIDIA GPUs will stand as hearty recommendations to anyone who wants a full-size gaming laptop to replace a desktop PC — stick with the RTX 5070 Ti, or push for the 5080 as its top-end if you must.

Ditching the Mini-LED screen option was a shame, but it's not like the dual-mode IPS of this year's model is dim. I still think 2400p at 240Hz is a better experience than 1200p at 440Hz, because fidelity is more exciting than framerates, but it's nice to have an option for the esports crowd. The Blade 18 remains a champion in 2025, like a mad king on a throne made of high-end graphics cards.

• Back to the top ⤴

In terms of portable gaming laptops, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 has been our favorite for a few years running. In 2024, it received a massive overhaul that ushered in a new design, new performance hardware, and a competitive price that made it too good to ignore.

ASUS is back at it for 2025, adding the latest NVIDIA and AMD components and a slightly larger frame to handle the newfound power. With these changes came a price bump, but that's easily negated (and more) by a great limited-time deal.

The ROG Zephyrus G14 with AMD Ryzen 9 270 CPU, NVIDIA RTX 5060 Laptop GPU, and 2.8K OLED display is now down to $1,349.99 at Best Buy. That's a $450 discount on one of the best gaming laptops you can buy today.

Why I can so easily recommend the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025)

The 2024 ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 was a massive hit, earning a spot in our best gaming laptop rankings. As Windows Central laptop expert Zachary Boddy mentioned in their ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) review, "So much of what made this laptop so amazing last year is still here, only now it's smarter and more powerful."

Some of that extra power has a tradeoff; the 2025 model is slightly thicker and heavier than its predecessor. Don't get me wrong — this is still one of the most portable gaming laptops out there, weighing in at 3.31 pounds (1.5kg) and measuring 0.64 inches at its thickest point.

As Boddy points out, "This is still one of the best Windows laptops of the year, especially if you want a sleek 14-inch machine with some monstrous power under the hood."

The discounted model I'm highlighting here features an AMD Ryzen 9 270 processor with 8 cores and a boost clock up to 5.2GHz. It's not as powerful as the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 available in pricier models, but it'll still handle any modern games.

👉 Related: ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) vs. Razer Blade 14 (2025)

The CPU is paired up with an NVIDIA RTX 5060 Laptop GPU, granting access to NVIDIA's latest DLSS 4 features, including Multi Frame Generation. ASUS designed the G14 to handle up to 110W of GPU power, providing more than enough thermal space for the 5060 to hit its potential.

The G14's display is arguably its best feature. It measures 14 inches with a crisp 2880x1800 (2.8K) resolution, and its 120Hz refresh rate is an excellent pairing for the RTX 5060. Better yet, it uses an OLED panel with deep color and perfect contrast.

As Boddy explains, "it's vibrant, responsive, color accurate, and supports Dolby Vision HDR — perfect for working, creating, playing, and watching."

Testing a model with a more power-hungry RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU and Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, Boddy saw, on average, about 5-6 hours of real-world battery life. That should only improve with the hardware in the discounted G14.

If you'd like something with a more powerful GPU and a larger 16-inch OLED display, Best Buy has also discounted the ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025). A model with an RTX 5070 Laptop GPU and Intel Core Ultra 9 285H CPU is now down to $1,699.99 from the regular $2,149.99.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been using the ASUS ROG Zephrus G16 (GU605C, 2025) as my main work and gaming laptop.

Where the ROG Strix line of gaming laptops focuses on raw gaming power, the ROG Zephrus line offers more of a balance between performance and portability. As such, it's designed more for people who want to use a laptop for regular school, office, or personal use as well as gaming.

From my testing and my time spent with the ROG Zephyrus G16 (GU605C), I can say it mostly hits its goals of offering portable yet solid gaming performance, but there are a few ways it can definitely still be improved upon in future iterations.

Let's discuss how its strengths and improvement areas impact day-to-day usage, based on my own experiences with this gaming laptop.

This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by ASUS ROG. The company had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

My ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025) review

The ROG Zephyrus G16 GU605C has a starting price of $2,799.99 at Best Buy, but at the time of writing, there are multiple configurations available that can put the laptop as high as $4,599.99 at ASUS.

If you don't need as big of a screen, you might want to check out our ROG Zephrus G14 (2025) review. This 14-inch laptop has a starting price of $2,099.99 at Best Buy.

DESIGN ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

One of the things I appreciate most about the Zephyrus G16 design is that this 16-inch laptop doesn't look like a gaming laptop. While I'm set up at a cafe, its more elegant design allows me to blend into a crowd without any flashy RGB lighting needing to be toggled off.

In fact, the Slash Lighting going diagonally across the lid only glows white and looks rather chic when static or even turned off. That said, I do think most of the other Slash Lighting effects available are a bit too frantic and even put me in mind of how destroyed tech looks in films, with blinking lights everywhere. But you can decide for yourself how you feel about these lighting effects.

Meanwhile, the white coloring on the chassis and keyboard not only looks classy, but also prevents fingerprint smudges from showing up, unlike some other ASUS laptops.

Port-wise, the Zephyrus G16 offers a healthy range of connections so you can use your various accessories or additional monitors as you wish.

DISPLAY ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I expect a lot from OLED displays, and the Zephyrus G16's 16-inch OLED didn't disappoint when it comes to color, contrast, and motion clarity.

In a color gamut test, it produced a fantastic 100% of sRGB, 96% of AdobeRGB, and 100% of P3. My colorimeter also registered its minimum brightness at 21 nits and its max brightness above 400 nits, which is pretty typical for an OLED panel.

Motion clarity also proved fantastic in my gaming sessions, which is no surprise given that the display supports up to 2.5K resolution with a speedy-fast 240Hz refresh rate and quick 0.2ms response time.

It should be noted that by default, this laptop is set up to change its resolution or even change its screen, sleep, and hibernate timeouts, even if you set them to something specific in Windows settings. You can change this by going into ASUS' Armoury Crate program and adjusting some settings there.

PERFORMANCE ⭐⭐⭐⭐

During my time with the Zephyrus G16, it worked smoothly whether I was attending video calls, writing up assignments, streaming shows, or gaming. The scores and results it earned through benchmark testing further proved that it's a solid device.

• Cinebench R24: 1,067 multicore score, 126 single-core score
• Geekbench 6: 16,183 multicore score, 2,885 single-core score
• CrystalDiskMark: Read 6,336 MB/s, Write 5,861 MB/s
• 3DMark Time Spy: 4,667
• CrossMark: 2,058
• Handbrake: 1,756

Gaming benchmarks

• Ashes of the Singularity — 97 FPS (Normal preset, 1080p resolution, 240Hz refresh rate, V-sync enabled)
• Ashes of the Singularity — 63.6 FPS (Heavy preset, 1080p resolution, 240Hz refresh rate, V-sync enabled)
• Cyberpunk 2077 — 73.23 FPS (Ray Tracing: Low preset, Path Tracing and Ray Reconstruction disabled, 1600p resolution, 240Hz, V-sync disabled, Intel Xe Super Sampling 1.3 set to "Auto," frame generation disabled)
• Cyberpunk 2077 — 31.89 FPS (Ray Tracing: Overdrive preset, Path Tracing and Ray Reconstruction enabled, 1600p resolution, 240Hz, V-sync disabled, Intel Xe Super Sampling 1.3 set to "Auto," frame generation disabled)
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider — 147FPS (High preset, 1080p resolution, V-sync enabled)
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider — 142 FPS (Highest preset, 1080p resolution, V-sync enabled)

THERMALS & FAN NOISE ⭐⭐⭐

As far as thermals and the cooling system go, the area above the keyboard gets incredibly hot and is uncomfortable to touch due to the heat it radiates. After running a 20-minute CPU stress test, my thermal camera showed that the laptop peaks at 125°F (~51.7 °C) above the keyboard and at its back vents.

Of course, these are areas you don't typically rest your hands when using the laptop, but it's good to be aware of.

The G16's noise peaked at 47.8dB when I held my decibel meter near my ear as I sat in front of the laptop, but peaked at 61.8dB when held next to the back vents. The fans are slightly whiny, especially when playing more demanding programs, which can be frustrating to hear for long periods.

BATTERY LIFE ⭐⭐⭐⭐

When I did typical office workflows like attending video meetings, writing up articles, and browsing the internet with the screen at around 200 nits brightness, the laptop only tended to last about seven hours and 37 minutes, which is not even a full work day, and also shorter than the Razer Blade 16 (2025)'s battery life.

Meanwhile, playing more graphically demanding games reduced battery life to around only an hour and 28 minutes, which is within an expected range for a gaming laptop.

KEYBOARD & TOUCHPAD ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The G16's 2025 model has the same chassis and keyboard design as last year's, which means the keys still press in nicely, are responsive, and feel great to type on. What's more, the customizable backlighting looks great.

I appreciate that this laptop not only offers helpful Function keys but also makes it easy to access the volume and mute controls above the main keyboard.

Meanwhile, the large touchpad makes it very easy to navigate around the screen without having to do any unnecessary extra swiping.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (GU605C): Should you get it?

✅ You should buy this if ...

• You want a laptop that's good for everyday use and gaming
  
  With its simple-chic design, you don't immediately recognize the G16 as a gaming laptop, but it still offers solid performance for everything from homework and office use to AAA gaming.

❌ You should not buy this if ...

• You really don't like the sound of whining fans
  
  While the Zephyrus G16 offers fantastic GPU performance, the fans kick off pretty loudly and create a noise that can be offputting.

All in all, the 2025 version of the ROG Zephyrus G16 is a solid option for work and play. I love how sleek it looks, with a design that doesn't immediately scream "I'm a gamer" like some of the best gaming laptops.

What's more, it offered steady performance whether I was working in Photoshop, writing articles, or playing Baldur's Gate 3.

This base configuration is definitely costly, but it will easily serve most people's needs without requiring you to purchase one of the pricier Zephyrus G16 configurations.

The biggest downside is the whiny fans, which can be relatively distracting, especially if you're averse to that kind of sound. Of course, if you have headphones in or the speakers are playing something, you might not hear it.

• Back to the top ⤴

ASUS and Razer each updated their most portable gaming laptops for 2025, adding NVIDIA's latest RTX 5000 Laptop GPUs and powerful AMD Ryzen AI 300 CPUs. Both laptops are sleek and powerful, but you only want one.

Now that we've reviewed both PCs here at Windows Central, I can offer some in-depth buying advice for those who can't decide between the two models.

I've taken into account everything from pricing, design, and display quality to performance and battery life to help you make the right decision between the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) and the Razer Blade 14 (2025).

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) vs. Razer Blade 14 (2025): Specs and availability

Before I get into a cost analysis, it's worth taking a look at the specs available in each laptop.

Razer's Blade 14 (2025) typically starts at $2,299.99 for a model with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 processor, NVIDIA RTX 5060 Laptop GPU, 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and a 2.8K OLED display at 120Hz.

Upgrading to an RTX 5070 Laptop GPU also kicks the RAM up to 32GB automatically. With otherwise similar specs, you're looking at paying about $2,699.99 at Razer.

Razer offers Black and Mercury color finishes. For the latter, Razer adds another $300 to the total, at least unless you opt for the RTX 5070 Laptop GPU. At the time of writing, Razer is offering 14% off the prices I listed here, making them seem not quite so steep.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) typically starts at about $1,799.99 for a model with an AMD Ryzen 9 270 CPU, NVIDIA RTX 5060 Laptop GPU, 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and a 2.8K OLED display at 120Hz.

Barring any sales, that's considerably cheaper than the entry-level Blade 14, although the G14's Ryzen 9 270 CPU has two fewer cores, a higher default TDP, and a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) with 16 TOPS (compared to 50 TOPS from Ryzen AI 300 chips).

Nevertheless, you can get the same GPU, display, storage, and memory in the G14 for about $500 less than the Blade 14. Even better, at the time of writing, the introductory Zephyrus G14 is $450 off at Best Buy, dropping the price to just $1,349.99. These sales are rather common.

Looking at a Zephyrus G14 with Ryzen 9 270 CPU and RTX 5070 Laptop GPU, it costs about $600 less than the Razer Blade 14 with the same GPU.

G14 models with an RTX 5070 Ti and an upgraded AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU typically cost about $2,399.99, which is still more affordable than a Blade 14 with RTX 5070 (non-Ti) and a less powerful CPU.

Zephyrus G14 models with an RTX 5080 jump to about $3,169.99; the Blade 14 tops out at an RTX 5070. It's clear that the Blade 14 costs a lot more than the Zephyrus G14, so is it worth all that extra dough?

Both gaming laptops are built to maximize portability

The Razer Blade 14 and ROG Zephyrus G14 have nearly identical dimensions, with the former having just a slightly larger footprint and a bit of extra weight.

The Blade 14 has been refined to be about 11% smaller than the 2024 model, improving aesthetics without nerfing performance. The G14, on the other hand, is thicker and heavier than its direct predecessor. Regardless, these are both some of the most portable gaming laptops on the market.

Diving into the important areas of design, the Blade 14 boasts six speakers with THX Spatial tuning. The G14 isn't to be outdone. As Windows Central laptop expert Zachary Boddy stated in their ROG Zephyrus G14 review, "the fantastic six-speaker system (with Dolby Atmos spatial audio) that blows most other laptops out of the water — including the Razer Blade 14's new six-speaker sound system."

Both laptops feature the latest Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 standards for easy and fast, reliable connectivity, and both laptops have a front-facing 1080p webcam with an IR sensor for Windows Hello. Neither laptop has a proximity sensor for human presence detection.

Razer's Blade 14 keyboard isn't as comfortable as the one in the G14. It has shallow key travel, but its two-stage RGB lighting for each key looks great. The mechanical touchpad is massive and responsive.

ASUS didn't mess with the keyboard in the 2025 G14, and that's a good thing, according to our reviewer. As Boddy says, "The layout is comfortable and spacious, the keys are clicky and responsive, you get extra macro keys and per-key RGB lighting — it's a nice keyboard."

There's no haptic touchpad here either, with input relying on traditional mechanical means.

As for the laptop's exterior, Razer uses its usual anodization and electrochemical bonding process with a matte Black or Mercury aluminum finish. A Razer logo is planted in the middle of the lid.

The Zephyrus G14's aluminum chassis is also available in light and dark colorways, and it has the ASUS slash lighting effect across the lid. It's certainly more noticeable than the Blade 14, but you can always disable everything for a more professional look.

As for ports, ASUS offers just one USB4 port, while the Blade 14 offers two. ASUS partly makes up for it by adding a USB-C 3.2 (Gen 2) port. Each laptop also has two USB-A 3.2 (Gen 2), HDMI 2.1, a UHS-II microSD card reader, and a 3.5mm audio combo jack.

OLED displays are standard in both laptops

A gaming laptop's display is a crucial part of its design and of your final decision. Both laptops feature a 14-inch screen with a 2880x1800 (2.8K) resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate.

They both use an OLED panel with awesome color and perfect contrast; both hit 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and both reach about 400 nits of brightness. Because the laptops use NVIDIA GPUs, the displays come with G-Sync and Advanced Optimus support, together reducing screen tearing and improving battery life.

Where the Zephyrus G14 pulls ahead, however, is with its support of Dolby Vision. Razer didn't license its screens to have the HDR technology, and whether or not the image optimizations are crucial in your buying decision is up to you.

Both screens use Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) for dimming, so if you're sensitive to flickering, you might want to avoid both laptops completely.

The ROG Zephyrus G14 has more performance hardware options

ASUS decided to offer nearly the full range of NVIDIA's Blackwell laptop GPUs in the 2025 Zephyrus G14. The RTX 5060 is the most affordable option, through to the most expensive RTX 5080 option. Razer sticks with the RTX 5060 and the RTX 5070 Laptop GPUs in the Blade 14.

The same goes for the CPU. The G14 comes with either a Ryzen 9 270 or Ryzen AI 9 HX 370. The latter chip is more powerful than the Ryzen AI 9 365 CPU available in the Blade 14, as you can see in the benchmark charts below.

Having tested both gaming laptops first-hand, my colleague Zachary Boddy came to the conclusion that the performance difference is negligible between the RTX 5070 in the Blade 14 and the RTX 5070 Ti in the G14.

They tested four games and saw similar frame rates with in-game settings maxed out and Frame Generation disabled. However, with Frame Gen enabled, the G14 and its 5070 Ti pulled well ahead. As Boddy explains:

Basically, the Zephyrus G14 with its 5070 Ti is much better suited to handling NVIDIA's latest performance boosts. It also comes with an RTX 5080, but I recommend against trying to squeeze that much power from such a slim laptop.

With both laptops capable of handling GPU power beyond 100W (110W Max TGP on the G14 and 115W on the Blade 14), and with both laptops offering a similar battery capacity, DC runtimes aren't too different.

You can expect an average of about six hours of life from either laptop, but that drops if you're into heavy gaming. You can also expect a larger performance throttling from the Razer laptop. As Boddy explains in their Blade 14 (2025) review:

"On battery power, expect to lose around 30% and 37% of your CPU and GPU performance, respectively — that's a sizeable bump down, but it's again better than a lot of larger gaming laptops."

So while the Blade 14 can deliver slightly longer battery life, the G14 will throttle a lot less when it's unplugged.

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) vs. Razer Blade 14 (2025): Which should you buy?

Your final decision between the ROG Zephyrus G14 and the Blade 14 will likely come down to pricing. Razer's laptops are never affordable, and the ROG Zephyrus G14 really highlights the difference.

Considering you can buy the ROG Zephyrus G14 with a more powerful Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU and RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU for less than a Blade 14 with an RTX 5070 (non-Ti), you'll have to decide if the Blade 14's strengths are really worth the extra money.

Yes, Razer's hardware continues to represent the pinnacle of premium gaming laptop design, but ASUS has made great progress in recent years. The 2025 Zephyrus G14 might not be quite as impressive from an aesthetic standpoint, but it beats the Blade 14 where it matters most: performance and pricing.

If you're interested in how the older models compare, check out my Zephyrus G14 (2024) vs. Razer Blade 14 (2024) analysis. Hint: I come to the same general conclusion as with the newer models.

Many gamers may not be fully aware, but HP isn’t just making printers and productivity-focused PCs — the company also maintains a significant presence in the gaming industry.

HP’s OMEN and HyperX brands have continued to grow in scale and ambition, and have also increasingly separated themselves from HP’s more mundane consumer efforts. Case in point, the dedicated event at which HP announced a slew of new gaming hardware and accessories.

I was invited to attend this unique event by HP, and arrived early to go hands-on with the brand-new HP OMEN PCs and HyperX audio gear. I came away impressed and intrigued, especially by the beastly OMEN MAX 45L gaming desktop that pulls out all the stops.

Gaming to the MAX with a new flagship desktop

The HP OMEN 45L is dead; long live the HP OMEN MAX 45L, the most absurdly powerful pre-built desktop PC to ever come out of HP’s laboratories.

On the inside, you’ll find some insane hardware… but not entirely unfamiliar. The OMEN MAX 45L is powered by the latest from AMD and NVIDIA, up to the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and GeForce RTX 5090, to be exact. You can also get crazy amounts of RAM and plenty of PCIe Gen5 SSD storage, but none of that is what makes the OMEN MAX 45L special.

Much of that you can also find in the refreshed HP OMEN 35L (which I’ll talk more about later), but this desktop’s overwhelming presence is due to its unique cooling solution. HP’s “CRYO CHAMBER” brand has returned, but you haven’t seen it like this, yet.

I’ll admit, the OMEN MAX 45L does look odd in person. It’s like a normal gaming desktop wearing a hat, but it’s all for a purpose. Different paths for airflow and improved use of ambient air result in substantially improved thermals, and in turn allow users to truly max out this PC’s hardware.

HP has already impressed me with the depth and granularity of its overclocking and power management features with recent OMEN hardware, but the OMEN MAX 45L goes a step further by letting you overclock the memory, CPU, and GPU — and HP was very excited to tell me there are no artificial limitations here. You can really push this hardware to the max.

It’s this promise of truly “extreme” performance thanks to the OMEN MAX 45L’s overclocking capabilities that presumably justifies its position at the top, but I’ll have to test it for myself to see if it really earns that distinction.

Leaving behind the RGB and flying under the radar

The biggest surprise of HP’s event, though, was how much I really loved the new “Stealth Edition” OMEN 35L. The OMEN 35L hasn’t changed much since I reviewed it, apart from a spec bump to the latest AMD and NVIDIA internals, but this version takes the same hardware and slots it into a sleek, nondescript, matte black case devoid of RGB lighting and bold glass.

I was a fan when I covered the product’s announcement, but this desktop looks even better in person. It’s clean, and it makes a lot of sense why Riot Games chose this specific computer as the standard for its VALORANT esports league.

I love RGB lighting as much as the next gamer, but there’s also a depressing lack of “sleeper” hardware that HP is filling here — and the positive reception has apparently already been immense.

I don’t expect this OMEN 35L to be a drastic departure from last year (apart from slightly improved performance and hopefully more stable software), but I am very interested to check out the Stealth Edition.

A different approach to AMD and Intel laptops?

One of the more interesting things I learned during this HP event is how the company is approaching AMD and Intel SKUs for its OMEN gaming laptops. I recently reviewed the flagship HP OMEN MAX 16 (2025) and liked it well enough, and now it's getting an AMD variant — with a twist.

The original OMEN MAX 16 is powered by Intel Core Ultra HX-series CPUs, Intel's most powerful mobile chipsets. The downside is that the integrated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) isn't powerful enough to enable full Copilot+ PC status, making them lesser AI PCs in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Instead of using the AMD equivalent, like what's found in the ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2025) I reviewed, the new OMEN MAX 16 is actually powered by AMD Ryzen AI chipsets. That means less raw power, but far greater efficiency and a whole lot more smarts for artificial intelligence features.

HP told me it's because it found people want that choice, and many value battery life enough to trade some CPU performance for it. I'd certainly make that choice, so I'm all for HP's slightly more unique approach here. The standard, mid-range HP OMEN 16 is getting the same AMD/Intel treatment, too.

Leveling up your audio with new HyperX accessories

HyperX joined the fun during this Level Reforge event, too, showing off two new wireless gaming headsets and two new microphones. I got to check them all out to varying degrees, and I think this is an exciting lineup for a few reasons.

Possibly the most interesting of the bunch to me personally is the HyperX Cloud Flight 2, a new multi-platform, mid-range headset. It's ultra-light and made of plastic, so it's not the most premium feeling, but HyperX is doing some interesting things here.

All the basics are covered — angled 50mm drivers, Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless connectivity, an Xbox-specific version with added features (like a built-in chat mixer), up to 125 hours of battery life, an upgraded 10mm boom microphone, and more.

On top of that, though, HyperX designed the headband cushion, earcup cushions, and magnetic faceplates to all be easily removable and replaceable. More than that, the headset's RGB lighting actually covers the entire area underneath those faceplates, allowing light to shine in through cutouts; that opens a lot of possibilities for customizing your headset, and HyperX is looking into expanding those options for consumers.

There's even an internal microphone so that you can continue to do voice calls without the awkward boom microphone attached, which a lot of headsets that claim to double up as wireless headphones lack.

I also tried out HyperX's new flagship Alpha 2 wireless headset, which immediately feels extremely polished and premium with its understated, RGB-less, metal-infused design. It's sleek and comfy, the audio sounded excellent in my limited testing, and HyperX is promising a ridiculous 250-hour battery life.

That headset will be going up against the Razer BlackShark V3 Pro I reviewed, though, so the performance will have to be top-notch to justify its higher price tag of $299.99 at HP.com.

I did check out both of the new HyperX microphones, too, although I wasn't really able to test them. The premium FlipCast for $229.99 at HP.com could be a fantastic option for those who want to get into content creation of any kind but aren't quite ready to invest in a full (often expensive) XLR-based setup; the FlipCast also boasts USB input for casual plug-and-play, as well as a smart and attractive design with a dynamic LED meter.

I actually have the HyperX FlipCast in to review, so you can expect my in-depth thoughts on it in the coming weeks. I don't have the SoloCast 2 yet, but I am excited to eventually check it out. This is HyperX's most affordable USB microphone, and it looks like it'll be a direct competitor to the AVerMedia VERSATI go (AM310G2) I reviewed and loved.

It'll be interesting to see if the SoloCast 2, which costs $59.99 at HP.com, can offer the same level of quality and features as that microphone.

A fun and creative way to show off new products

I do want to spare a moment to talk about the event itself, because this wasn't your normal tech briefing. HP got a bunch of well-known Twitch streamers and content creators together in a game-show format, with the goal being to "reforge" a broken blade by excelling at a variety of mini-games.

Beyond the awkward, forced jokes of the beginning, this event was actually really enjoyable to watch. The games were fun, and the synergy between teams and the excellent hosts led to some hilarious moments.

In between event beats, HP announced its new products with flashy commercials and casual interviews between obviously passionate (and often nervous) nerds, which made the products feel like they were truly made for gamers, by gamers.

HP seemed very pleased about the reception to the event, too, as this was the first time the company has ever attempted something like this. I and many others had plenty of feedback to give for future iterations, and it does seem like we can expect Level Reforge to return next year.

I always appreciate engaging with a company that actively seeks out criticism, too, and I chatted with various HP OMEN and HyperX leads and engineers on new and existing hardware.

For example, one of the demo areas used the HP OMEN Transcend 32 OLED monitor I reviewed, but had been afflicted with a dreaded forced pixel refresh. I had an open and shockingly productive conversation with a member of that team about my review and all my criticisms for what is genuinely a great monitor, and it reassured me that future HP OMEN monitors will actually be better because of feedback from actual users.

Thank you, HP, for inviting me out to Level Reforge. I had more fun than I honestly expected I would. As for what comes next, stay tuned to Windows Central for my reviews of the new HP OMEN and HyperX gear!

The gaming handheld market currently stands at an intersection. In one direction, I see affordable hardware that attempts to emulate the original goal set forth by Valve when it launched the $399 Steam Deck in 2022.

In the other direction, I see high-end hardware that continues to creep closer to what a gaming laptop can offer, with prices inflating to match the improved performance and features.

Sure, the intersection could remain open in both directions forever, with high-end and budget handhelds both being offered to cater to a wider range of customers. However, I can't help but notice some parallels to netbooks, which had their big moment for about six years before being phased out completely.

Netbooks had a good run, but there's a reason you can't buy them anymore

I remember first hearing about netbooks in 2008, but it was the 2007 ASUS Eee PC that really kicked things off. It ran Windows and Linux, it had a tiny touchpad and keyboard, and it measured just 9.1 x 6.7 inches and weighed about 2 pounds.

Compared to the average laptop of 2007, this thing was tiny. It was also a lot more affordable. It didn't take long for other companies, including Acer, Lenovo, Dell, Samsung, Toshiba, and HP, to see the growing popularity of the netbook, and the market was soon flooded with options.

Netbooks became so popular at one point that they began stealing significant market share from standard laptops, but that didn't last long.

In an effort to compete in the netbook market, companies began adding features and improved performance hardware, which caused netbooks to grow in size and price.

It was really Windows 7's launch in 2009 that saw the beginning of the end for netbooks. Windows 7 arrived with some hefty system requirements, and netbooks running the new OS were pushed into a portion of the market that was dangerously close to standard laptops.

The rising popularity of smartphones and tablets was ultimately the final death blow to netbooks. Sales fell dramatically in 2011 and 2012, and netbooks were quickly forgotten.

There were a few attempts in the following years to revive the netbook when PC makers saw the popularity of Chromebooks, but nothing really caught on.

Modern gaming handhelds draw a lot of parallels to netbooks

Gaming handhelds exploded into mainstream appeal roughly three years ago, largely due to the release of Valve's Steam Deck. It launched at a modest $399 (with a $649 model also available), undercutting gaming laptops without sacrificing too much performance.

The portability factor is what really sold the Steam Deck, at least for me. Despite having a beefy desktop PC, the Steam Deck was something I knew I'd get a lot of use out of as soon as I saw it.

It was perfect for travel, for hot summer months when I don't want to run a full PC, and for gaming anywhere but an office chair. Besides, it wasn't that expensive, at least for the base model, and it would run the vast majority of my favorite PC games in my Steam library.

Recognizing the appeal of the Steam Deck, other PC makers, including Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, and MSI, were quick to introduce their own gaming handheld models.

As I mentioned above, the handheld market is at an intersection, similar to what netbooks experienced in the early 2010s. No other company has been able to topple the Steam Deck's value, and it seems like most competing products are more concerned with outdoing each other rather than offering another budget-friendly option.

The ASUS ROG Ally sells for about $649.99, the ROG Ally X starts at $899.99, and the MSI Claw 8 AI+ comes in at $999.99. Even the Lenovo Legion Go retails for $749.99. Then there's the massive Acer Nitro Blaze 11 that looks almost hilariously huge with its 11-inch display and overall 14.3 x 6.7-inch footprint.

Yes, these pricier gaming handhelds certainly serve a purpose, adding stronger performance, better displays, and more comfortable designs compared to the Steam Deck. But considering you can often buy an RTX 4060 gaming laptop for as much or less than the high-end handhelds, at what point do people turn back to laptops?

As my colleague Rebecca Spear remarked in her coverage of AYANEO's upcoming KONKR line of budget gaming handhelds, "I really hope ASUS, Lenovo, Acer, MSI, and more learn from AYANEO's new budget line of handheld gaming devices. We need more affordable portable gaming machines on the market."

All that I can see missing from another netbook scenario is the launch of some new piece of tech that transforms the market like the Surface Pro and iPad. Whether that's cloud gaming, some form of VR or AR, or something entirely different, I don't know.

For now, I'll continue enjoying my Steam Deck.

It took far too long for me to get my hands on the brand-new ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025), but I'm finally here.

My excitement was palpable when I initially went hands-on with the new Zephyrus G14, but you could also feel my apprehension at the apparent shift in focus.

So much of what made this laptop so amazing last year is still here, only now it's smarter and more powerful — so, what's the deal? It's that ASUS is seemingly walking back some of the decisions it made with last year's laptop, for better or worse.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) brings AMD Ryzen AI and NVIDIA GeForce 50-series hardware under its wing, and it succeeds at surpassing the current Razer Blade 14 at every turn performance-wise. The trade-off is more weight, thickness, and price, however, and I'm conflicted on whether ASUS made the right decision or not.

No matter my feelings, though, this is still one of the best Windows laptops of the year, especially if you want a sleek 14-inch machine with some monstrous power under the hood.

My ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) review

Design ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 hasn't changed much for 2025, with the same sleek aluminum chassis. This time around, however, its redesigned thermal shelf makes the rear two-thirds thicker (18.3mm versus 16.3mm) and the laptop overall heavier (1.57kg versus 1.5kg).

We do get the same port selection, though, with 1 USB4 (40GBps, DisplayPort, 100W Power Delivery), 1 USB Type-C (10GBPs, DisplayPort, 100W Power Delivery), 2 USB Type-A (10GBps), 1 HDMI 2.1, 1 microSD card reader (UHS-II), and 1 3.5mm audio jack.

I would've preferred both USB Type-C ports be USB4 with Thunderbolt 4 compatibility, and I'm still not entirely convinced ASUS made the right decision in making the Zephyrus G14 thicker and heavier — but it's attractive (and now comes in dark and light colorways), built extremely well, and every bit as premium-feeling as a ~$2,000 laptop should be.

Display ⭐⭐⭐⭐

ASUS also didn't change the display with the new Zephyrus G14, so we're still getting the same "Lumina" flavor of the 14-inch, 2.8K, 120Hz OLED screen we've seen in so many premium laptops.

It's vibrant, responsive, color accurate (at least 100% of sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts), and supports Dolby Vision HDR — perfect for working, creating, playing, and watching. This display's strengths are well known at this point, but so are its weaknesses.

It's not the brightest at around 400 nits, but it's good enough. It does use Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) for dimming, so people who are sensitive to flickering will have to avoid it. ASUS also took away software options for customizing the display and OLED care features, which helped its displays stand out.

Performance ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the ROG Zephyrus G14 is a strong performer, thanks to the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080. Yes, 5080, because that's necessary in a 14-inch gaming laptop (no it's not, don't waste your money on that configuration).

You also get up to 64GB of soldered LPDDR5X RAM at 8,000MHz and 2TB of PCIe Gen4 SSD storage. This laptop is responsive no matter what you throw at it, and has more than enough firepower to play all the latest games or handle intensive workloads.

ASUS' triple-fan cooling system is also remarkably adept at keeping this laptop running in top form. I ran it through 3DMark's Time Spy benchmark 25 times, and it maintained a 99.3% framerate stability (for reference, the Razer Blade 14 scored 99.1%, and both those scores are excellent).

• Forza Horizon 5 — 109 FPS (Extreme preset, 1600p resolution, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution/Frame Generation/Reflex Low Latency disabled) | 120 FPS (Max settings, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution set to Auto, NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation/Reflex Low Latency enabled)
• Gears 5 — 81 FPS (Ultra preset, 1600p resolution)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 — 91 FPS (Extreme preset, 1600p resolution, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution set to Performance, NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation disabled, NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency enabled)
• Cyberpunk 2077 — 50 FPS (Ray Tracing: Ultra preset, 1600p resolution, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution Transformer Model set to Auto, NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation disabled, NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency enabled) | 112 FPS (Ray Tracing: Overdrive preset, NVIDIA DLSS Multi-Frame Generation set to 4x, NVIDIA DLSS Ray Reconstruction enabled)

My review configuration is equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, and on paper the ROG Zephyrus G14 surpasses the Blade 14 in every single test. When gaming, though, the differences are negligible — until you take advantage of NVIDIA DLSS4 features or need more VRAM.

The Razer Blade 14 caps out at 8GB of VRAM and noticeably struggles with features like Multi-Frame Generation. The Zephyrus G14's 5070 Ti (by the way, that's the configuration I recommend) boasts 50% more VRAM, and it makes a big difference.

The Zephyrus G14 also performs better on battery power with less throttling, at least on the CPU side of things.

Battery life ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Another area that hasn't changed much year-over-year is endurance, which is to say the Zephyrus G14's battery life is good... for a gaming laptop. You get a beefy 73Whr battery and more efficient hardware, so it's very reasonable to get 5-6 hours of screen-on time without disabling features or turning the display brightness all the way down.

The Razer Blade 14 lasts ever so slightly longer, but the G14 also throttles way less on battery power.

Keyboard & touchpad ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

I adored the keyboard on last year's Zephyrus G14, so I'm glad ASUS didn't mess around with it too much. The layout is comfortable and spacious, the keys are clicky and responsive, you get extra macro keys and per-key RGB lighting — it's a nice keyboard.

The touchpad is also pretty great. It's coated with smooth glass, uses Microsoft Precision drivers, and feels both consistent and precise. It's no haptic touchpad, but those are still uncommon (and ASUS as a brand focuses a lot on value).

Software & AI ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thanks to the new AMD Ryzen AI CPU, the Zephyrus G14 is now a Copilot+ PC. That still doesn't mean much to most people, but AI PCs are slowly becoming more useful as Windows 11 continues to gain more features.

ASUS does preload the Zephyrus G14 with a few too many apps for my liking, but it's easy to trim the unwanted fat and the apps you do need (like Armoury Crate) work well. As I hinted at when talking about the display, though, it seems like ASUS is giving users less control over the Zephyrus G14, with fewer software options to customize your laptop.

Everything else ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

A lot of gaming laptops tend to skim over the "extras," but the ASUS was thorough with making the Zephyrus G14 a premium laptop throughout. That means keeping the fantastic six-speaker system (with Dolby Atmos spatial audio) that blows most other laptops out of the water — including the Razer Blade 14's new six-speaker sound system.

Wireless connectivity has been upgraded to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, which is always nice. The FHD webcam isn't anything exceptional, but you do get Windows Hello facial recognition for easy login.

Razer went thin to catch up, ASUS went the opposite direction

When I reviewed the Razer Blade 14 (2025), I commented on how it felt like Razer had finally caught up to ASUS in some ways with a thinner, lighter, faster, smarter laptop with more ports and speakers.

I expected ASUS to stick to its guns and fire back with a more affordable alternative, but it changed the game a little — yes, the Zephyrus G14 is still lighter and costs significantly less, but it's also chonkier... and objectively more powerful now.

My review configuration is easily the Zephyrus G14 of the year, and it's now the top choice for the most powerful 14-inch laptop you can buy. It's not lightyears ahead of the Blade 14 by any metric, though, and that extra 2mm in mass does make a difference.

Don't even get me started on the highest-end Zephyrus G14 with a GeForce RTX 5080 inside — because there's no point shoving such a power-hungry GPU into a 14-inch, 200W laptop. It'll cost hundreds more for negligible performance gains, don't bother.

Fortunately, there are actually two different ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) laptops.

PSA: There are actually two different Zephyrus G14 laptops

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (12GB), 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of SSD storage is $2,499.99 at BestBuy.com. That makes it a pricey laptop, but it's still $200 less than the Razer Blade 14 with a Ryzen AI 9 365 and RTX 5070 (8GB) for $2,699.99 at Razer.com.

I do recommend this model for anyone who's willing to accept more laptop for more power, but ASUS actually did preserve the original (and sleeker) 2024 design and refreshed it with some new hardware.

You can get the ROG Zephyrus G14 with an AMD Ryzen 9 270 (that's right, non-AI), a GeForce RTX 5060 (8GB), 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage for $1,799.99 at BestBuy.com. That's $200 more than the equivalent last year, but you are getting more power and better efficiency. For a lot of people, that configuration will be the smarter choice (or you can look for the 2024 version on sale, because it's still awesome).

ROG Zephyrus G14 review: My final thoughts

✅You should buy this if ...

• You want the most powerful premium 14-inch gaming laptop there is.
• You definitely don't want to pay Razer money for it.
• You need more than 8GB of GPU VRAM in a compact laptop.

❌You should not buy this if ...

• You don't need this much power and would rather have a thinner device.
• You'd rather save even more and go for the 2024 version.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is still my favorite 14-inch gaming laptop for 2025, even if it's not a total upgrade across the board. It's premium, feature-packed, more powerful than ever, and it's still a great value compared to the other big player on the field, Razer.

The configuration I reviewed is $2,499.99 at BestBuy.com, and it has been a great gaming and productivity companion for me. That being said, if you prefer the sleeker design of last year, don't care about AI, don't need a ridiculous amount of power, and want to save money, get the trimmed down ROG Zephyrus G14 for $1,799.99 at BestBuy.com instead.

I'm glad ASUS chose to keep both designs around, even if it's a tad confusing for consumers. It'll be interesting to see if ASUS can give us the best of both worlds in the future; in the meantime, this is still one of the best Windows laptops of the year.

Upon receiving the ASUS ROG Strix SCAR 18 (G835L) gaming laptop to review earlier this year, it didn't take me long to discover that the NVIDIA RTX 5090 Laptop GPU inside wasn't performing as expected.

Or, maybe it was expected, depending on whether or not you work for NVIDIA.

In any case, seeing the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU perform so woefully in an 18-inch PC with a massive cooling system and plenty of space inside wasn't pleasant.

How bad was it? A Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 10) with an RTX 5080 Laptop GPU that we had in for testing at the same time was able to offer roughly the same FPS (within 5 - 10 frames) in titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Forza Horizon 5, all for $1,000+ less.

That was with both mobile GPUs running at a 175W maximum TGP. To put it bluntly, the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU is a terrible value for gamers.

Does it really have to be this way? A recent video from Youtuber GizmoSlipTech demonstrates that the mobile RTX 5090 has a whole lot more power available; it's just hidden away behind power allowances.

What does a mobile RTX 5090 look like at 250W compared to 175W?

To push the mobile RTX 5090 beyond its 175W power ceiling, GizmoSlipTech had to "shunt mod" the card. I explain below what this is and why you should probably avoid it unless you have a ton of experience tinkering with PC components.

Nevertheless, with a shunt mod in place, the mobile RTX 5090 in an Eluktronics Hydroc 16 G2 laptop was able to run stably at about 75W more than intended, pushing it up to 250W.

In 3DMark Time Spy, this allowed the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU to hit a 33,056 score. To compare, other RTX 5090 laptops without shunt mods running at 175W were only able to hit a score of about 24,868. That's about a 27% difference in performance.

Moving on to 3DMark Steel Nomad, the difference between the shunt-modded mobile RTX 5090 and the stock 175W 5090 grows to 41%. That's a massive difference that demonstrates just how much power is being left behind due to NVIDIA's restrictions.

GizmoSlipsTech also gets into specific game testing, and the results are more of the same in favor of the overpowered RTX 5090.

In Black Myth: Wukong, there's a 23.3% difference between the 175W RTX 5090 and a 250W RTX 5090 with adjusted clock speeds for the shunt.

In Hogwarts Legacy, the shunted RTX 5090 with optimized clock speeds climbs to 14.2% faster but also gets 16.4% hotter.

Rainbow Six: Siege sees a 20.4% improvement on the shunted RTX 5090, Shadow of the Tomb Raider climbs by a smaller 8.2%, and The Witcher 3 sees a massive 29.7% improvement with a 23.2% increase in heat.

Eluktronics and XMG respond to requests for NVIDIA to raise power limits

GizmoSlipTech wraps up their video with a plea to NVIDIA regarding higher power limits. Why not allow mobile GPUs to run at a higher power draw when the same chips are blowing past 325W in desktop configurations?

Why not make the most of recent advances in laptop cooling? Why not allow individual companies to (safely) configure NVIDIA GPU power draw based on specific supporting hardware?

What is perhaps most surprising about this shunt modding exposé is the responses from both Eluktronics (the maker of the laptop used for testing) and XMG, another brand of laptop referenced in the video.

According to the Eluktronics Youtube account:

"For several years, we have been actively seeking approval from Nvidia to allow manufacturers to define GPU wattage parameters independently. In the past, mobile systems required larger and thicker chassis designs to support GPU wattages exceeding 200 watts. However, this is no longer the case. Advancements in system engineering including thermal interface designs and our liquid cooling solutions have significantly improved power and heat dissipation capabilities in mobile platforms.

"With each new generation of desktop graphics hardware, Nvidia has raised the wattage ceiling to unlock higher levels of performance. Mobile graphics hardware requires the same consideration to fully realize its potential. The limitations are thankfully becoming increasingly apparent, especially with the 50xx series.

"If approval is granted, we are fully prepared and excited to demonstrate what modern mobile GPUs are capable of achieving. This would represent a major step toward closing the performance gap between mobile and desktop graphics solutions. Isn’t it time laptops delivered the kind of performance that truly justifies an upgrade?"

This is a rather damning response from a massive PC maker, and I don't doubt that other big names have also lobbied NVIDIA for more control over GPU power.

NVIDIA doesn't have any competition from AMD or Intel when it comes to the RTX 5090, so it's not like it's being pressured from the outside to raise power levels to keep up with other hardware.

Overall, it's a frustrating situation for buyers. The RTX 5090 is one of the most expensive pieces of hardware you can select in a modern gaming laptop, and the fact that it's potentially missing out on an extra 40% performance due to unecessary restrictions needs to change.

What is shunt modding and why should you NOT do it yourself?

As is explained in the video, the RTX 5090 Laptop GPU doesn't use the same GB202 chip as the desktop version. Instead, it uses the GB203 chip, which is also found in the desktop and laptop versions of the RTX 5080.

The desktop RTX 5080, because of its much higher power allowances, can overclock beyond 400W but usually sits at a 325W base.

These numbers begin to show where the performance disparity comes from, and why adding more power can create so much more performance potential.

So, what is shunt modding? It's a physical change made to a device that allows it to run at higher power levels or a higher clock than normal.

In the case of the mobile RTX 5090, GizmoSlipTech has tricked it into running at a higher wattage by replacing a physical resistor inside the GPU. While the GPU (and monitoring software) think it's still running at 175W, it's actually running at 250W without tripping any alarms or safeguards.

Not only do you need to know which resistor needs to be replaced, you also need to be able to replace it properly. On the software side, you must have the know-how to make the power curve match up to the physical modification.

As I mentioned above, shunt modding isn't something I recommend you try on your own. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Gaming laptops are a convenient way to take your favorite titles with you wherever you go. I love to play on a high-end gaming laptop, but they do come with some downsides.

Gaming laptops often cost more than standard laptops; they're usually heavier and thicker, and they often don't have the right aesthetic to fit into a professional environment.

What if you could take a regular laptop with a Thunderbolt port and connect a full-size desktop graphics card (GPU) with just one cable? That's where Razer's Core X hardware comes into play.

The original Razer Core X and Core X Chroma external GPUs (eGPU) have now received a massive upgrade in the form of the Core X V2, bringing Thunderbolt 5 performance to handle modern cards.

I'm here to shed some light on the upgrades (and downgrades) you can expect, as well as my thoughts on value and who should buy this type of hardware.

Razer Core X V2 vs. Core X V1: Specs and availability

Razer's Core X V1 has become difficult to find seven years after its 2018 launch date, and the Core X Chroma V1 — an updated version with 50W of extra power and RGB lighting — is in the same boat, six years after its launch.

While you can still find some models for sale on eBay, your mileage will vary in regard to condition and pricing. The cheapest price I spotted was about $76, but prices climb to $500 and beyond.

The original model was available in Black and Mercury White color options, as well as with additional RGB lighting in the Chroma model.

Razer's updated Razer Core X V2 was officially announced on July 15, 2025, and it's expected to be "available soon" in a Black finish, according to Razer.

The Razer Core X V2 is set to debut with a $349.99 price tag. That's about $50 more than the Razer Core X V1's original MSRP.

Considering the new Core X V2 doesn't come with a built-in PSU like its predecessor, you'll want to add that cost to your total as well.

Here's a look at the specs that make up these two external GPUs from Razer.

What are the major differences between the Razer Core X V1 and V2?

The biggest difference between the Razer Core X / Core X Chroma V1 and the newer Core X V2 is their means of connectivity.

Whereas the V1 model used Thunderbolt 3 (and later Thunderbolt 4), the Core X V2 uses Thunderbolt 5. Even compared to Thunderbolt 4, the latest Thunderbolt standard doubles the bandwidth.

That means you can expect transfer speeds up to 80Gb/s (or 120Gb/s with TB5's Bandwidth Boost enabled), more than what is required to appease the eGPU's PCIe 4.0 x4 GPU slot that tops out at 64Gb/s.

The Razer Core X V2 also now supports larger GPUs, which is a welcome change in a market rife with monster cards that barely fit into many desktop cases.

Razer says the Core X V2 can handle 4-slot cards at full length, whereas the V1 model topped out at 3-slot cards.

The new Razer Core X V2 weighs a lot less than its predecessor, but that's because it no longer ships with a built-in power supply unit (PSU).

The Core X V1 came with a 650W PSU included, and the Core X V1 Chroma upped that to 700W when it launched shortly after.

Rather than guessing which PSU would best suit your GPU of choice, Razer left the space open in the Core X V2, with support for any standard ATX PSUs.

I don't necessarily mind this change, but the Core X V2 already costs $50 more than its predecessor when it launched. Adding a PSU will bump that price up considerably, at least unless you have an extra unit sitting around idle.

Because the Core X V2 can now deliver up to 140W of power back to the host laptop via the USB-C cable, Razer recommends adding at least 230W of power to the PSU on top of the power that's required to run the graphics card.

In terms of overall design, the new Razer Core X V2 has a much boxier shape that I'd say looks a lot more mature than its predecessor. It does not, however, offer any extra ports aside from the USB-C/Thunderbolt connection.

The Razer Core X Chroma V1 had four USB-A 3.2 ports and a Gigabit Ethernet hookup, which came in super handy for accessories and wired internet on laptops lacking the ports. It's a shame these were removed in the V2 model.

Thunderbolt 5 does have superior daisy-chaining abilities, and for a truly ultimate setup, you could add Razer's new Thunderbolt 5 Dock Chroma I reviewed into the mix.

Aside from a Razer logo on the Core X V2, there is a serious lack of RGB lighting; I wouldn't be surprised to see Razer follow up with a Chroma V2 model just like it did with its predecessor eGPU. Hopefully, it'll also come with some additional ports.

As for compatibility with laptops and GPUs, Razer says the new Core X V2 will work with Thunderbolt 5, Thunderbolt 4, and USB4 laptops and some gaming handhelds.

On the GPU side, NVIDIA and AMD cards are compatible. Razer has a GPU compatibility chart you can check to ensure your hardware will run properly, but it looks like basically everything from the RTX 5090 back to GTX 10-series cards will work.

For AMD, Razer lists Radeon RX 9000, RX 7000, RX 6000, and RX 5000 cards as compatible with the Core X V2.

The older Razer Core X V1 (Chroma) handles a wide range of older NVIDIA and AMD cards, up to RTX 30-series and Radeon RX 5000 series. Because the eGPU has its own PSU with 2x 2+6 power connectors, you need to stay in that arena in terms of GPU power.

Razer's Core X V2 is the logical choice in 2025

Considering the Razer Core X V1 and its Chroma companion are only available on secondhand markets, and considering how much of a performance improvement the Core X V2 brings with Thunderbolt 5, there's only one logical choice in 2025 for most people.

Sure, the Core X V1 will do a decent job if you're using an older NVIDIA or AMD GPU with a Thunderbolt 3/4 laptop, but I strongly recommend setting yourself up much better for the future with the new Core X V2 model.

It does, unfortunately, cost more than its predecessor when looking at MSRP, while lacking a PSU and extra outputs found in the V1 Chroma model.

But its Thunderbolt 5 performance, support for modern GPUs, and additional charging power are certainly perks that modernize the eGPU.

Razer should be giving its Razer Core X V2 the green light to buy for $350 in the near future. At the time of writing, you can sign up for availability notifications at the official Razer site.

And if you do want to take your chances on a used Razer Core X V1, do check out eBay for listings.

All the mega deals weren't exclusive to Amazon Prime Day, er, week, and they're still continuing into the back to school season.

If you're looking for a cheap gaming laptop, then this HP Victus 15-inch is currently reduced at Best Buy to just $499.99, a rare opportunity to snag this type of hardware at this price.

Admittedly, at this price point, you're not getting the latest and greatest. The CPU, for example, is a 13th Gen Intel Core i5-13420H with 8-cores, and the GPU is an older NVIDIA RTX 3050.

So you'll have to keep expectations in check, but that's always the case with budget hardware. But it'll still be able to play many of the latest games, albeit with lower settings, and be perfect for the popular free-to-play competitive titles such as Fortnite, Valorant, and Counter Strike 2.

The high refresh rate 144Hz display also pairs perfectly with these type of games. You get 512GB of storage to get going, though this can easily be upgraded at a later date. SSDs are more affordable than ever, so it usually makes more sense to save now than pay a premium buying more from a laptop manufacturer.

You also get display output via HDMI 2.1, USB-A and USB-C ports, and Wi-Fi 6. All-in, it's a competent package for gaming on a budget, and will certainly outperform any non-gaming laptops you'd be picking up at this price.

GPUs are increasingly useful outside of gaming, too, such as AI tools, and creative work including video editing and rendering. When all this is available at this price point, it's pretty hard to ignore.

There's no telling how long this deal will be live for, so if it's just the thing you've been hunting, act now while you have the chance.

It's been popping up recently, especially through user forums such as Reddit, that Windows 11 is allowing people the opportunity to eject their GPU from their system.

It's curious, possibly alarming, but equally nothing to worry about. That's not to say you should do it, no matter how curious you may be.

We'll start with one of the recent threads, seen here on Reddit, explaining what's happening.

My windows let me eject my graphic card, how can i disable it? from r/Windows11

I think part of the concern, and it's valid, is that this message is appearing in such a way that you would see devices such as USB flash drives and could be accidentally ejected. Seeing an option to eject your GPU from the taskbar could easily be alarming.

A reply on the thread posted above links to a previous thread from four years ago highlighting the same. So it's been around for long enough, but as is often the case, such things will find their way back into the public eye.

It also means that whatever the root cause of this is either hasn't been fixed, or some kind of bug keeps reappearing. One suggested way to prevent it is to disable PCIe hotplug/hotswap in your PCs BIOS, if it's an option.

There also appears to be a registry hack (as is often the case) that can disable this.

It's not something to be too concerned about, though. I don't recommend doing it, especially on a desktop, since in most cases the GPU would be the only display output.

On a laptop, or a desktop with a CPU that has integrated graphics, you have a secondary GPU that can take over. On a desktop, you would have to connect your display to the motherboard's display output, since the GPU would have been ejected from the system.

On a laptop, you wouldn't likely notice anything. Laptops are designed to make use of both integrated and discrete graphics, in part for efficiency. When you're on battery, for example, you don't need a more power hungry NVIDIA GPU just to operate your display.

So, the discrete GPU would be disabled, and could also explain why this option exists. But equally, the PC would do this on its own, you wouldn't be required to do it manually.

Rebooting the PC should re-enable the discrete GPU in any case. But it's still not the best course of action to go around ejecting it, after all, there's no real reason you would need to.

If you're replacing it with a new one, you can just pop it out, you can use a tool like DDU to remove the drivers and then install fresh ones. At no point in that process would you need to forcibly eject the GPU from your system.

So, the short version is, don't worry about it. I see why there may be some concern, especially over doing it accidentally. Perhaps there is a reason this needs to exist, perhaps it's a simple bug that keeps reappearing.

You shouldn't actively go doing this, but if it happens accidentally, things should be OK.

The focus on Amazon Prime Day is, well, Amazon, since it's their event, but often the best deals come from adjacent retailers. HP has swooped in to steal the crown for the most ludicrous deal of the whole event on its OMEN MAX 16 gaming laptop.

Until the end of today you can save an eye watering $920 and get an OMEN MAX 16 with an RTX 5090 for just $2,679.99 when you use the promo code LEVELUP20. With an MSRP of $3,599.99, you see why I'm so excited about it.

• Shop all Amazon Prime Day deals

HP has already knocked the price of this goliath of a gaming laptop down to $2,999.99, but the special sauce is the promo code. Entering LEVELUP20 at checkout takes another huge chunk off the price.

We reviewed a very similar configuration, with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU, NVIDIA RTX 5090 24GB GPU, and 32GB of DDR5-5600 memory.

Considering that at Best Buy, right now, the OMEN MAX 16 with the same CPU but an RTX 5080 GPU is a whopping $3,159.99, you get the scale of this discount.

It's a true door buster.

So what's the short version on how good it is? Well, enthusiasts will be right at home with built-in overclocking options, it's amazingly sleek given the hardware inside, and it even has a good keyboard.

You don't have to worry about your games, because it will crush them. All of them. It might be a laptop GPU, but the 5090 is the king of the hill right now.

Any downsides? Well, the display on the configuration this deal pertains to isn't the best HP has to offer. It's only 1920 x 1200 resolution, but it does have a 165Hz refresh rate, and anti-glare.

You also only get a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD for storage, which will soon fill up with today's gargantuan game sizes. But when you're saving over $1,200 on the laptop, you've plenty of change left to upgrade the SSD.

This deal is truly unbelievable, but it's only around for the remainder of today, Friday, July 11. When the clock ticks over into Saturday, it will be gone. If you've been holding off for the absolute biggest, baddest gaming laptop deal during Prime Day, you've found it right here.

Amazon's Prime Day and the competing sales events from other major retailers are proving to be a great time to pick up a new laptop.

If you're a gamer, one of the best deals I've found so far comes from Alienware. One of its new 16" Aurora models is currently $400 off at Best Buy, beating the price of even Dell's official site.

That drops the price on a model with a Core Ultra 7 240H CPU, NVIDIA RTX 5060 Laptop GPU, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and 120Hz QHD+ display to just $1,099.99. No Amazon Prime membership required, and Best Buy looks like it will ship it promptly.

All of NVIDIA's latest advancements in one affordable gaming laptop

Dell's Alienware brand is synonymous with PC gaming, and the lineup recently underwent an overhaul.

Reintroduced earlier this year was the Aurora 16, a mid-range gaming laptop with strong performance and a sleek design that's a far cry from Aurora models of the past.

Dell wanted to make a 16-inch gaming laptop that could fit more easily into a backpack, and it achieved it with the Aurora 16 that measures just 0.60 inches at its thinnest point.

The PC has dual USB-A 3.2 (Gen 1) ports, dual USB-C 3.2 (Gen 2) ports, HDMI 2.1, a 1GbE LAN port, and a 3.5mm audio jack, plus it has Wi-Fi 7 for fast and reliable internet.

That's especially important for PC gamers who are streaming from the cloud or playing online, but you will need a Wi-Fi 7 router to take full advantage. The cheapest model I could find is currently enjoying a 33% discount; that drops TP-Link's BE3600 Wi-Fi 7 router down to $79.99 at Amazon.

Turning back to the laptop, its performance hardware includes one of Intel's latest mobile chips, the Core Ultra 7 240H. It's a 10-core chip with a Turbo frequency up to 5.2GHz, making it a great match for the GPU.

NVIDIA's RTX 5060 Laptop card is on board, delivering all of NVIDIA's latest DLSS 4 enhancements, including Multi Frame Generation (MFG).

While some gamers still aren't completely sold on the "fake frames" afforded by MFG, I've been having a grand ol' time watching my frame rates go up with hardly any effect on fidelity.

👉 Related: 'Fake' frames? Who cares when a game looks this good — DOOM: The Dark Ages tested with NVIDIA's Multi Frame Gen

While the 8GB of VRAM in the RTX 5060 isn't going to set you up as well for the future as one of the higher-tier NVIDIA cards, there's no way you'll find something with an RTX 5070 Ti for this price.

The laptop also features 32GB of DDR5-5600 RAM that can be upgraded after purchase, but that should hold over well for the future as it is. It also comes with a sizable 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD with plenty of space for your favorite games.

And, finally, the display. It measures 16 inches and has a 2560x1600 resolution to match the taller 16:10 aspect ratio. It comes with a 120Hz refresh rate, and it manages about 300 nits of brightness.

While this is by no means the most powerful gaming laptop out there, it's a whole lot of performance for the discounted asking price. If it's not quite what you're looking for, be sure to have a look at my larger roundup of the best Prime Day laptop deals, including several gaming models.

A lot of laptops have graced my desk in the last few years, and most quietly fade into obscurity as I move on to newer and more interesting machines. There have been a few machines that carved out a place in my brain, though, and the successor to one such laptop is finally here.

When I reviewed the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024), I boldly proclaimed it the "best 14-inch gaming laptop ever," and I stood by that. ASUS has now updated the Zephyrus G14 for 2025 with new AMD and NVIDIA hardware, and made an interesting decision along the way.

I've been waiting for months, and I finally have the brand-new ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) on my desk — but can it hold on to its crown? After all, I recently reviewed the redesigned Razer Blade 14 (2025), and I praised that laptop on almost every front.

Ahead of my full, in-depth review, here are my initial thoughts on the brand-new Zephyrus G14, one of my most anticipated laptops of the year.

What's new with the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14?

ASUS redesigned the Zephyrus G14 in 2024, and as I noted in my original review, the company prioritized a better balance between performance and portability. I wholeheartedly agreed with that decision.

In 2025, ASUS is unsurprisingly keeping to the same design, which I loved last year and still love 12 months later. However, ASUS has taken a unique two-pronged approach to the Zephyrus G14 this year.

ASUS updated the Zephyrus G14 with the latest AMD Ryzen AI and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series hardware, which improves performance, efficiency, and AI smarts in one fell swoop. In fact, the new Zephyrus G14 is a full-blown Copilot+ PC and benefits from all the latest and greatest AI PC features.

That's just for the higher-end configurations, though, which come with their own trade-off. There's a second version of the Zephyrus G14, too, which rocks the same overall design, features, and 2.8K/120Hz OLED display... but it's not quite the same laptop.

If you want the true "2025" upgrade for the Zephyrus G14, you also have to accept a thicker laptop. ASUS adopted a similar thermal hood design as Razer with the new Blade 14/16 laptops, but went the opposite direction — instead of making the Zephyrus G14 thinner, ASUS added support for more powerful (and therefore hotter) discrete GPUs.

Last year's Zephyrus G14 was around 16mm in thickness, and the new 2025 model is around 2mm thicker in some places — but it can handle up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 (which is a little crazy for a 14-inch laptop).

If you want the exact design as last year, you can still do that! The entry-level Zephyrus G14 is not a Copilot+ PC, though, relying on the uncommon AMD Ryzen 9 270 and up to a GeForce RTX 5070 GPU. It's absolutely less powerful and a little less future-proofed, but some will prefer the sleeker design.

It's a unique approach, but now there's a Zephyrus G14 for both sides.

What's it like to unbox the new Zephyrus G14?

Unboxing the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) is a nearly identical experience to last year, in that you'll be greeted with your typical, large ROG box with a much smaller box inside of it (and a third box just for the proprietary 200W charger).

There's still a distinct lack of plastic and few weird obstructions to getting to the laptop, though, so I've no complaints. I will note, however, that I immediately questioned if ASUS had made the Zephyrus G14 thicker — even after not handling last year's version for around six months.

My instincts were correct, as the new Zephyrus G14 is noticeably chunkier to help cool the more intense GPU options. Whether ASUS made the right decision here will have to wait until my full review.

How does the Zephyrus G14 compare to the Razer Blade 14?

When I discussed whether the average person should consider buying the ultra-premium Razer Blade 14 (2025), one of my most prominent counterpoints was the existence of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14.

After all, the Zephyrus G14 is a direct competitor for the Blade 14, but consistently undercuts Razer's offering in pricing while only (at first glance) compromising on sheer build quality.

Now that I've had some time with both 2025 iterations, how does the latest ROG Zephyrus G14 compare to the redesigned Blade 14? It's mostly the same story, but with an interesting twist.

Razer caught up with ASUS in terms of slimness and weight with its latest Blade 14, and it's an impressive (but much more expensive) laptop. On the other hand, ASUS made a thicker (but still lighter) laptop that now offers a higher performance ceiling.

I'll admit that Razer's build quality is still superior, but whether you prefer portability or power, the Zephyrus G14 still has the edge in pricing. I'll need to spend a lot more time with the latest Zephyrus G14 to ascertain if it's still a viable, more affordable alternative to Razer's 14-inch flagship, though.

Should I buy the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025)?

On one hand, most of what I loved about 2024's ROG Zephyrus G14 has carried over into this year's version. On the other hand, you can interpret the lack of change as stagnation, and pair that with the uncertainty surrounding the shift in design principles.

After a few hours with the brand-new Zephyrus G14, I'm feeling very positive overall, but I also feel that slight apprehension around ASUS attempting to shove GPUs typically exclusive to 16/18-inch laptops into a 14-inch chassis. The new Zephyrus G14 is thicker and heavier, and whether that actually translates to better performance is a question dependent on my continued testing.

A full, in-depth review of the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) will be coming in the next few weeks, but in the meantime, I have been loving what I've experienced so far. If you don't mind the loss of AI features and would rather stick to what worked so well last year, the entry-level ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) is available for $1,799.99 at Best Buy.

I'm willing to take the bet on the thicker, smarter, and more powerful Zephyrus G14, though, with my review configuration running for $2,499.99 at Best Buy or $2,499.99 at ASUS. If you're unsure, just wait for my complete thoughts in the coming weeks.

I recently reviewed the Razer Blade 14 (2025), the latest iteration (and a complete redesign) of Razer's best-selling and most portable gaming laptop.

I awarded the new Blade 14 a healthy 4.5/5 star rating and generally praised this premium and powerful device, but hovering over every item of praise was the overbearing price tag attached to it.

That begs the question — Razer may have crafted an incredible gaming machine, but what kind of person should actually spend their hard-earned money on it?

Statistically speaking, most of the people reading this article probably don't. Here's what sets the Razer Blade 14 apart from most laptops, and exactly who should consider making it their next companion.

What makes the Razer Blade 14 (2025) so special?

14-inch laptops are a dime a dozen, even if you only consider premium options from companies like HP, Lenovo, Dell, Apple, and many more. So, where does the Razer Blade 14 fall?

Unlike most premium 14-inch devices, the Blade 14 is designed with gaming and creation in mind. That means it packs some of the most powerful hardware you can squeeze into a laptop, despite being around 16mm thick (to put it into perspective, that's actually thinner at points than the Surface Laptop 7 we reviewed).

The Razer Blade 14 has a lot of other things going for it: an attractive and durable body milled out of a single block of high-grade aluminum, a vibrant and responsive 120Hz OLED display, a bolsterious six-speaker system with spatial audio, all the ports you could ask for, and Windows Hello facial recognition to log you in without a password.

Under the hood, though, you're getting one of the best AMD Ryzen AI chipsets and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series GPU, which enables high-performance gaming, content creation, and support for all the best AI features a Copilot+ PC can offer.

That's a whole lot of PC in a small package.

Aren't normal laptops also quite powerful now?

There's simply no debating whether the Razer Blade 14 is one of the most powerful 14-inch laptops ever made — it is. That doesn't mean that all other 14-inch laptops are slow, though; they're simply designed for something else.

Take the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024) I reviewed. This is still one of the best Windows laptops I've ever tested, and it's the laptop I chose to use as my backup whenever I'm not reviewing something else.

It's thinner and lighter than the Blade 14, boasts a versatile 2-in-1 design with touch and stylus input, and true all-day battery life (where the Blade 14 can only make it through a full day if you cut some corners). It's also cheaper than the Blade 14, despite arguably offering more features.

There's no discrete NVIDIA GPU inside, nor is the Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) chipset it relies on as performant as the Ryzen AI at the Blade 14's center, but performance is still buttery smooth for 99% of what 99% of people do on their computers... even gaming.

Obviously the Razer Blade 14 will play games at higher resolutions, higher framerates, and higher settings. Of course it will render video faster. But the OmniBook Ultra Flip can still play most PC games at lower settings just fine, and that's all most people need.

Why should I consider the Razer Blade 14?

If you need a reliable and competent 14-inch Windows laptop and are willing to pay for a premium device with more features, there are plenty of excellent alternatives like the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 — many with more versatile and portable designs, longer-lasting batteries, and even more AI features.

If you need a powerful gaming laptop that will spend most of its time plugged in, there are plenty of excellent alternatives like the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 10) I reviewed — many with far superior performance, greater thermal management, better keyboards, and larger and faster displays.

Even if you need a laptop that carefully straddles the gap — by offering most of the performance of a 16-inch gaming laptop with most of the portability and features of a 14-inch ultrabook — I'd still suggest considering something like the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024) I reviewed.

That laptop targets a similar niche as the Razer Blade 14 (2025), and it always costs a lot less from configuration to configuration. I also love that laptop (so stay tuned for my review of the 2025 update, because I have that in hand right now).

That's a lot of "buts," and I can still happily recommend the Razer Blade 14 (2025). All I'm offering is a word of caution; be sure the Blade 14 is the tool you need to get the job done.

Depending on your needs, you can find better battery life, better performance, or better value in many of the other best Windows laptops.

If what you need, though, is a thin and light luxury laptop with an industry-leading premium design, enough performance for all the greatest PC games and most demanding workloads, and a battery capable of lasting a full day when you need it to, then the Razer Blade 14 is the peak of that specific category.

Just be prepared to pay for it, as the Razer Blade 14 (2025) starts from $2,299.99 at Razer. It's not a question of whether the Blade 14 is worth it, because it does justify that cost — it's a question of whether it's worth it to you.

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5050 Laptop GPU is here, and laptops from major brands with the new card are appearing online.

NVIDIA has so far released laptop versions of its Blackwell GPUs for the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5070, and RTX 5060. The new RTX 5050 Laptop GPU is the least powerful card so far from NVIDIA, but that doesn't mean it won't be popular.

Laptop makers are undoubtedly going to use the new RTX 5050 as often as possible in new gaming laptops, if only for the opportunity to keep gaming PC prices as low as possible.

But how much of a decrease in performance does the RTX 5050 Laptop GPU have compared to the RTX 5060?

There's not a whole lot of info to work with yet, as no one has had a chance to actually test the new laptop GPU, but NVIDIA lists some specs on its website.

The RTX 5050 Laptop GPU has 2,560 CUDA cores, a significant drop compared to the 3,328 CUDA cores in the RTX 5060 Laptop. It does, however, have a higher boost clock.

Just like the 5060, the RTX 5050 Laptop card has 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM, a 128-bit memory bus, and a power draw up to 100W with an additional 15W from Dynamic Boost.

Compared to its RTX 4050 Laptop GPU predecessor, the new 5050 comes with the same number of CUDA cores, a higher maximum boost clock, more (and faster) VRAM, a wider memory bus, and far more AI TOPS.

Being from the Blackwell generation, the RTX 5050 Laptop GPU supports all of NVIDIA's latest features, including DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, the latest ray tracing cores, and the latest Tensor cores. This is a major advantage over the RTX 4050.

X user @realVictor_M shared a screenshot of RTX 5050 Laptop GPU power compared to the RTX 5060 and 5070 mobile cards, pulled from Chinese launch documents.

Using 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme, Time Spy, and Port Royal tests, it appears that the RTX 5050 Laptop GPU is roughly 18% to 22% slower than the mobile RTX 5060, depending on the test.

Performance will differ depending on the specific laptop's cooling capabilities and power allowance, and it'll likely be more crucial than ever to ensure the RTX 5050 in your laptop of choice is capable of hitting its full potential.

The most affordable RTX 5050 gaming laptop I've spotted so far comes from Acer, which just introduced new Nitro V 16 AI, Nitro V 16, and Nitro V 15 models starting at $899.99. They're expected to go on sale later this year, starting late July and August. MSI's Katana 15 with an RTX 5050 mobile GPU is also now listed at Walmart for $999.99.

In a follow-up post on X, user @realVictor_M noted that MECHREVO's RTX 5050 laptops launched at 240 yuan less than the RTX 5060 version; that equates to about $33 USD, so not a big difference.

It'll be interesting to see the average price difference in US markets once all of the new RTX 5050 laptops have launched.

An NVIDIA RTX 5050 for desktop PCs arrives in July

Alongside its new mobile RTX 5050 GPU for laptops, NVIDIA also unveiled a desktop version.

It's set to debut at an attractive $249 price point in the "second-half of July" according to NVIDIA, but rumors from reliable X user @Zed__Wang suggest it could arrive instead as early as July 1.

While the RTX 5050 Laptop GPU had a predecessor in the RTX 4050 Laptop hardware, the new desktop version of the RTX 5050 has nothing comparable from the RTX 40-series generation.

NVIDIA has shared some specs for the desktop RTX 5050, and I've included the RTX 3050's specs to compare.

The new desktop RTX 5050 runs on a single 8-pin power connector, and it includes three DisplayPort and one HDMI output along the back.

There's no news so far regarding a review program for the new desktop RTX 5050, and if rumors are true about a surprise July 1 launch, there will be many buyers going in completely blind.

That won't be the first time NVIDIA has pulled the same stunt, as the RTX 5060 launched in May without any reviews to read.

Last year, I was blown away by the astounding performance of the Alienware m16 R2 gaming laptop (as seen in my Alienware m16 R2 review).

So, when I saw that the gaming laptop line had been rebranded back to its resurrected Area-51 naming convention this year, I knew I had to check the new offerings out. I was certain that the 16-inch would be a good laptop; I just wasn't sure if Alienware was going to be able to improve too much on the previous model.

Boy, was I wrong.

I've spent the last few weeks using the Alienware 16 Area-51 AW30 Gaming Laptop as my main PC gaming station. I was already expecting insanely smooth performance, but the new Cherry MX keyboard with RGB touchpad has elevated this laptop from amazing to incredible.

I don't know how I'll ever go back to a regular keyboard on a gaming laptop after this.

This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by Dell. The company had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

When it comes to premium gaming laptops, there are plenty of brands to choose from, but Alienware is one I highly recommend from the bunch.

In case you didn't know, Alienware is Dell's gaming sub-brand, and it's been making reliable devices for gamers like you and me for 29 years.

The Area-51 16 gaming laptop has several configuration options to choose from and has a starting price of $1,999.99, but can sell for as high as $6,099.99 if you decide you want to go with the Cherry MX mechanical keyboard, the highest-end RTX 5090 L, a whopping 64GB RAM, and enormous 12TB SSD capacity.

Compared to similar premium gaming laptops, this one has a very competitive price. As an example, the starting price is roughly $1,000 cheaper than the Razer Blade 16.

It's easy to obtain an Alienware Area-51 16, either by configuring your own gaming laptop right from Dell's website or buying one of the few pre-configured options at major tech retailers like Best Buy.

If possible, I highly recommend buying the configuration I reviewed, which has the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, NVIDIA RTX 5080 L, 32GB RAM, and 1TB SSD. This configuration sells for $3,399.99 at Dell.

MONEY SAVING TIP: I recommend going with the RTX 5080 L over the RTX 5090 L. Their performance is closer than you might expect, but the 5080 doesn't cost as much.

Alienware 16 Area-51 Gaming Laptop: Why I love it

There's a lot to say about this laptop, so I'll just dive into the part you're probably most interested in: Outstanding performance.

It feels like an understatement when I tell you that the Alienware Area-51 16 is the best gaming laptop I've ever used, but it seriously does offer the smoothest gaming sessions I've ever had.

Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and other PC games have run buttery smooth on this gaming laptop, each hitting at least an average of more than 117 FPS (frames per second), even when graphics settings were pushed to the max.

As an example, even with Cyberpunk 2077 set to its Ray Tracing: Overdrive preset with Path Tracing and Ray Reconstruction turned on, the laptop managed to hit an average of 118 FPS.

I expect nothing less from the follow-up to the m16 R2 gaming laptop.

• Ashes of the Singularity — 157 FPS (Normal preset, 1080p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, V-sync enabled)
• Cyberpunk 2077 — 118 FPS (Ray Tracing: Overdrive preset, Path Tracing and Ray Reconstruction enabled, 1600p resolution, 120Hz, V-sync disabled, Intel Xe Super Sampling 1.3 set to "Auto," frame generation disabled)
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider — 183 FPS (High preset, 1080p resolution, V-sync enabled)

As you'd expect with a gaming laptop, the fans do kick on quickly when running more intensive games. Using my decibel meter, the laptop measured 47.6 dB when held near my ear as I was sitting in front of the laptop. When placed right next to the vent, the decibel meter detected as high as 61.8 dB.

The laptop also does a good job of keeping itself cool and running efficiently. It peaked at 122 degrees F (50 degrees C) above the keyboard and 130 degrees F (54 degrees C) at the back vents. The areas I usually have direct contact with never got hot to the touch.

When I eventually ran a bunch of benchmark tests on this gaming laptop, I was unsurprised to find that it regularly scored higher than many of its competitors (as seen in the following graphs).

What's more, game visuals have looked stunning, with gorgeous motion clarity, crisp details, a high 120Hz refresh rate, and a fast 3ms response time on this IPS display.

In my color testing, it produced 100% of sRGB, 88% of AdobeRGB, and 97% of P3, which isn't the best we've seen, but is still very respectable for an IPS panel.

When it comes to loading and saving times, the SSD offers really fast read and write speeds. As an example, this laptop was able to transcode a 4K version of Tears of Steel in under 19 minutes (1,129 seconds). Some other laptops have taken up to 45 minutes to do the same thing.

As is to be expected with a gaming laptop, this one does not have the best battery life, with it tapping out around four hours and eight minutes when doing typical office tasks.

However, when actually running a graphically intensive game like Cyberpunk 2077 with the screen around 200 nits brightness, it only lasts around an hour and 13 minutes.

But then, you don't usually expect to play unplugged on a premium gaming device like this one.

A beautiful design that doesn't look out of place — Finally, some color on a laptop chassis

One of the things I love about the Alienware Area-51 16 is its "liquid teal" (blue) coloring on the lid and chassis. It's subtle enough that the laptop might look black in certain lighting. I just wish the thermal shelf were the same color rather than being black.

It's nice to see a more saturated color on the lid, other than the overly used (and variously named) shades of grey, black, and white that are so common on other laptops.

The Alienware Area-51 16 is more like a portable desktop than it is a gaming laptop, as is evidenced by the wide range of ports available.

I didn't have any issues finding places to plug in my various accessories or a monitor, thanks to the two Thunderbolt 5 ports, the HDMI 2.1 port, and three USB-A ports. It also has an SD card reader and headphone jack to meet your other needs.

I've fallen in love with the mechanical keyboard, and it's ruined other laptops for me

Finally, to the part of this review I've been dying to write about the most. The Area-51 16's CherryMX mechanical keyboard offers the most satisfying typing experience I've ever had on a laptop.

There's something about the clicky sound and the slight amount of pressure required to press the keys down that keeps me coming back for more. They're also very responsive and great for gaming. I don't know how I'll ever go back to a non-mechanical keyboard laptop after this.

Of course, the RGB lighting on this keyboard (and other parts of the laptop) is fantastic as well.

There are five customizable RGB areas on the Area-51: The keyboard, the two fans, the touchpad, and the thermal shelf behind the display.

I was able to choose the specific effects as well as hues from the color wheel, separately for each of these areas, including each individual key.

This is the first RGB touchpad I've ever seen, and I can honestly tell you that setting it to the "Rainbow Wave" mode made me gasp. It looks incredibly beautiful in person.

One of the things I love about Alienware gaming laptops is that they also include a Stealth mode button, which instantly turns off all distracting RGB and changes the keyboard to white backlighting for when you're in a more formal setting and don't want to draw attention to yourself.

Alienware 16 Area-51 Gaming Laptop: What needs to improve

While I can gush about the Alienware Area-51 16 for hours, there are a couple of things that I hope to see improved in later versions of this laptop.

First off, the Copilot key is much wider than it needs to be for some reason, and makes the spacebar look really small. Everything is perfectly usable as is, but it just doesn't look that great.

Secondly, I was surprised that this premium gaming laptop doesn't provide the option for an OLED display.

Like I've previously said, the IPS panel used is very good, but OLEDs are typical for premium gaming laptops, and an OLED panel could help game visuals pop better. If you're already spending this much for a high-end gaming device, you might as well get all of the best options you can.

✅ You should buy this if ...

• You want one of the very best gaming laptops on the market
  • Anyone who wants to play the latest AAA games to their best advantage will be served well by this laptop line. There are plenty of configurations to choose from to fit your gaming needs and budget. I also cannot stress how satisfying it is to use the CherryMX mechanical keyboard.

❌ You should not buy this if ...

• You specifically want a gaming laptop with an OLED panel
  • While the IPS display on the Area-51 16 offers great color, contrast, and crispness, it's odd that a superior OLED screen isn't a configuration option for this gaming laptop.

I can easily recommend the Alienware Area-51 16 as one of the very best premium gaming laptops on the market right now. It's priced competitively against similar devices, offers insanely smooth gaming performance, has the option for a mechanical keyboard, looks sleek, and has some beautiful RGB zones for you to customize.

It would have been better if there were an OLED panel option instead of just the IPS display. That said, this screen still offers extremely smooth motion clarity, crisp detail, and decent color.

All in all, this is the RTX 50-Series gaming laptop I recommend most.

• Back to the top ⤴

I recently reviewed the Razer Blade 16 (2025) and found it to be a massive improvement over its predecessor, a gaming laptop that felt mismatched with its engorged price tag.

It's Razer's smallest gaming laptop that is its best seller, though, and the Blade 14 received the same treatment for 2025 as the Blade 16 — a thinner and lighter redesigned chassis, and all-new AMD and NVIDIA hardware for better gaming performance and more AI features.

The result? One of the greatest compact gaming laptops you can buy. The Blade 14 is a seriously impressive display of engineering with far more strengths than weaknesses, but the real question most should be asking is: who should actually buy the Razer Blade 14 (2025)?

This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by Razer. Razer had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

Blade 14 review: Pricing and specifications

Like always, the Razer Blade 14 (2025) is a ridiculously pricey laptop, but you are getting the pinnacle of premium design, as well as most of the features you could ask for in a laptop.

The Razer Blade 14 (2025) starts from $2,299.99 at Razer, which is equipped with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 chipset, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage.

My review configuration upgrades to an RTX 5070 GPU and 32GB of RAM for $2,699.99 at Razer. If you want the best of everything, you can upgrade to 64GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD storage for $2,999.99 at Razer.

There's also a "Mercury White" (it's silver) colorway.

In the box, you'll find the Razer Blade 14 (2025) gaming laptop, Razer's proprietary 200W DC charger, and 1 month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Razer also offers its RazerCare extended warranty and colorful Razer skins for the Blade 14.

Blade 14 review: Design and build quality

The Razer Blade design language is iconic at this point, and Razer hasn't dramatically changed its hand with the latest round of redesigns. This is all about refinement, and the finer details do make a sizeable impact.

The new Blade 14 is 11% smaller than the Razer Blade 14 (2024) we reviewed, dropping around 2mm in thickness and a third of a pound in weight. It's still CNC-milled out of a single block of high-grade aluminum, but it's sleeker and more comfortable than before.

Razer didn't make any noticeable changes to its anodization and electrochemical bonding process, though, so the matte black color looks as amazing as always — until you touch it, where it'll greedily hold on to every smudge.

I mentioned in my initial hands-on of the new Razer Blade 14 that it felt like Razer finally closed the gap with the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 I reviewed, and my mind hasn't changed. The Blade 14 always had phenomenal build quality, but the new design is a big improvement in aesthetics.

It's impressive enough to make a 14-inch gaming laptop smarter, faster, thinner, and lighter in one go, but where Razer really surprised me is that it didn't cut any features to make those reductions... In fact, it added more.

You're looking at a very familiar array of ports, with connectivity rivaling much larger laptops thanks to dual USB4 ports with Thunderbolt 4 capabilities (including 100W Power Delivery for when you're on the move and need a quick charge), full bandwidth USB Type-A ports, and HDMI 2.1 display output.

However, Razer actually added a new microSD card slot as well, which will make some people very happy. I'll talk more about them later, but there's also an additional two speakers under the hood, so the Blade 14 rocks the same six-speaker system as both its larger siblings.

Blade 14 review: Display quality

On the display front, last year's Blade 14 rocked an IPS LCD panel with a 240Hz refresh rate. This year, Razer decided to follow in the wake of many other premium, 14-inch laptops with a higher resolution, lower refresh rate OLED display.

You're looking at a 2.8K resolution (1800p instead of 1600p from last year), a 120Hz refresh rate, a blisteringly fast 0.2ms response time, and all the vibrant colors and punchy contrast expected from OLED.

It's a familiar screen, and that comes with the same strengths and weaknesses. On one hand, this display looks gorgeous and offers best-in-class performance for gaming. While the refresh rate has technically been downgraded, 120Hz is perfect for the Blade 14's capabilities, and everything looks crisp and defined.

The new OLED display is also more color accurate than last year's panel, which will make a difference for creators. White balance is very consistent across higher brightnesses, too, so photo and video editors shouldn't have any complaints.

High Dynamic Range (HDR) support is here, although Razer didn't disclose the exact standards to me. Either way, though, this is where the weaknesses come in. This OLED display boasts only average brightness, and it's noticeably lower than last year's IPS LCD screen.

On top of the lowered brightness, you do also need to contend with Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) for dimming. Most people won't be affected, but there are sensitive users who may experience headaches or eye fatigue from the rapid flickering at lower brightnesses, and Razer sadly doesn't offer an alternative display option for the Blade 14.

Blade 14 review: Performance and thermals

It's a given that you'll have to sacrifice some performance with a 14-inch gaming laptop, because that's how physics works. Still, the latest Blade 14 is consistently more performant than its predecessor while being both thinner and lighter, and there are some reasons for that.

Largely, it's due to the completely redesigned thermal hood, which moves the hottest components under the same comprehensive vapor cooling chamber and refined dual-fan system. On the other side, the new AMD Ryzen AI and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series hardware are more efficient than the last generation.

AMD, especially, makes a big difference here. I have a lot of respect for the latest Ryzen AI chipsets, which can't quite compete with Intel and Qualcomm's most efficient mobile hardware, but easily bests both in terms of gaming, creative, and AI performance.

The result is an excellent computing experience. The Blade 14 feels every bit as responsive as it should, considering how much it costs, and is completely quiet the majority of the time.

My only complaint is that AMD still isn't as good as Intel or Qualcomm when it comes to quickly waking from sleep or standby.

There were no surprises when benchmarking the Blade 14. Its AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 is a highly capable 10-core chipset, but it's also far from the most powerful in the Ryzen AI lineup.

The same goes for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, which is a balanced mid-range GPU with 8GB of VRAM, so it's more than enough for all the best PC games right now. In the Blade 14, that 5070 is running at 115W TGP, which is less than Razer's larger laptops but competitive with other 14-inch gaming machines.

Year-over-year, performance gains are minimal (around 12% for CPU and 3% for GPU), but the Blade 14 (2025) possesses one extremely important advantage: much better thermal performance.

The new Blade 14 runs cool and quiet most of the time, but the fans can get loud as they spin up — at least it's a low whir, rather than a high whine. The Blade 14's keyboard deck can also get hot, but never quite hot enough that I couldn't comfortably touch it.

I ran the Blade 14 through 3DMark's Time Spy benchmark 25 times consecutively, and there was a 99.1% similarity between the best and worst loops. For comparison, the Blade 16 scored 98.1%, which is where a lot of modern gaming laptops land.

• Forza Horizon 5 — 106 FPS (Extreme preset, 1600p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, v-sync enabled, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution/Frame Generation/Reflex Low Latency disabled) | 74 FPS (Max settings, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution set to Auto, NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation/Reflex Low Latency enabled)
• Gears 5 — 81 FPS (Ultra preset, 1600p resolution, uncapped framerate, v-sync enabled)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 — 92 FPS (Extreme preset, 1600p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, v-sync enabled, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution set to Performance, NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation disabled, NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency enabled)
• Cyberpunk 2077 — 51 FPS (Ray Tracing: Ultra preset, 1600p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, v-sync enabled, NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution Transformer Model set to Auto, NVIDIA DLSS Frame Generation disabled, NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency enabled) | 51 FPS (Ray Tracing: Overdrive preset, v-sync disabled, NVIDIA DLSS Multi-Frame Generation set to 4x, NVIDIA DLSS Ray Reconstruction enabled)

When gaming, the Razer Blade 14 (2025) is a competent performer for QHD (1600p) gaming at high to ultra settings, and games will still look great on the 14-inch display at a lower 1200p resolution if you'd prefer more frames.

I had zero issues with the Blade 14's performance, but I have two interesting things to note: first, the RTX 5070 may benefit from NVIDIA's DLSS AI upscaling and multi-frame generation, but the improvements aren't nearly as dramatic as the 5070 Ti and up.

Secondly, the Blade 14 sometimes behaves weirdly with NVIDIA Advanced Optimus, where switching to the discrete GPU causes the display to freeze on its static RGB pixel array until you close the laptop and open it again. It only happened twice, but I've never experienced that with any other laptop.

Blade 14 review: Software and AI experience

The Razer Blade 14 follows the Blade 16 as one of Razer's first true AI PCs, thanks to the AMD Ryzen AI silicon inside. This is a full Copilot+ PC, so it's future-proofed to get all the best Windows 11 features as they're released.

Razer isn't really taking advantage on its own, with no real AI features to speak of, but between the 50 TOPS Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and the NVIDIA GPU, the Blade 14 should be able to handle any AI task you throw at it across productivity, creativity, and gaming workloads.

Beyond that, this is a clean build of Windows. You'll find the typical NVIDIA and AMD apps, but basically nothing else beyond Razer's Synapse and Chroma applications for managing your laptop, Razer accessories, and RGB lighting.

Razer Synapse 4 doesn't go crazy with the amount of control it gives you over your Blade 14, but all the basics you need are there, plus a few more.

Blade 14 review: Battery experience

You shouldn't be buying a gaming laptop if you need amazing endurance, but the Blade 14 attempts to strike that balance better than most, with some degree of success.

Running the Blade 14 through an hour-long loop of generic Microsoft Office tasks resulted in a battery drain of 22%, while looping an HD video at 50% volume took off 21% of the battery.

That's already a bit better than most 16-inch laptops, and running a Windows Battery Report showed I was able to get around 6 hours of actual usage out of the Blade 14 without throttling every feature into the ground, which isn't bad.

With some compromise, like disabling the keyboard lighting, reducing performance, and lowering screen brightness, you can get the Blade 14 through a full work day (as long as you're not constantly spinning up that GPU).

On battery power, expect to lose around 30% and 37% of your CPU and GPU performance, respectively — that's a sizeable bump down, but it's again better than a lot of larger gaming laptops.

Blade 14 review: Keyboard and touchpad

The keyboard is one area where the Blade 14 didn't receive the same treatment as its big sibling, as it's still the shallow 1mm keyboard as before. Off the bat, this isn't my favorite keyboard in a 14-inch laptop by any means, but I enjoyed typing and gaming on the Blade 14 more than I expected.

Key action is tactile and responsive, and I do like this layout. Razer also implemented its two-stage RGB lighting for keys with secondary functions, helpfully highlighting them when you press the Fn or Shift keys. It's an amazing detail that all premium laptops should adopt.

As an aside, Razer still has some of the best RGB lighting in the business, so the per-key lighting on the Blade 14 looks fantastic and is easy to customize.

The touchpad is still comically large, which some people will love. It's a mechanical touchpad, rather than a more premium haptic touchpad, but it's at least coated in slick, high-quality glass, employs Microsoft Precision drivers for gesture support, and is responsive and precise to use.

Blade 14 review: Other hardware

The Razer Blade 14 is undoubtedly a premium laptop, so it boasts a lot of luxuries you're not guaranteed elsewhere... But Razer didn't stuff everything and the kitchen sink in here.

The front-facing, FHD webcam and microphone array are decent and more than usable, but nothing exceptional. You at least get an IR sensor for Windows Hello facial recognition, but that feature no longer works in the dark (and you don't get a fingerprint sensor for backup authentication).

There's also no proximity sensor for the Human Presence Detection (HPD) features common with other premium AI laptops, nor an ambient light sensor for automatic brightness or color temperature adjustment. Most people won't miss those features, though.

Wireless connectivity is at least cutting edge with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 on board, although I do wish Razer would bake its proprietary HyperSpeed Wireless technology into its laptops for easy accessory pairing.

One area where the Blade 14 is hands-down at the cutting edge is with audio, as it boasts a mighty impressive six speakers packed into its petite frame, tuned with THX 7.1 surround sound in mind. Physics still plays a part with such a small laptop, but these speakers are really good.

Blade 14 review: Also consider

Blade 14 review: My final thoughts

✅You should buy this if ...

• You want a premium 14-inch laptop with power for high-end gaming.
• You want your laptop to make a statement with its design.
• You want a gaming laptop designed with AI features in mind.

❌You should not buy this if ...

• You only plan to occasionally use the discrete graphics.
• Reliable, all-day battery life is an absolute must.

Razer laptops have never been known to be affordable, and the Blade 14 is no exception. This is a costly machine, and a lot of that is tied up in the intricate way Razer constructs it.

The redesigned Razer Blade 14 (2025) is easily my favorite Razer laptop so far, though, and proves to me why the smallest in the lineup is also the best-selling. This is an excellent gaming companion with enough power for all the latest and greatest games, but a design thin and light enough to carry around with you everywhere.

It's also more capable of surviving a full day of work than most gaming laptops, making it a potent option for those who want a premium device for work, play, creativity, and — increasingly important — artificial intelligence.

The Blade 14 is still overkill for a lot of people, though, and those only planning to casually game or occasionally use those beefy NVIDIA graphics may be better off with one of the shockingly capable Intel or AMD ultrabooks from companies like Lenovo or HP.

Those of you who know what they need, though, can get the Razer Blade 14 (2025) from $2,299.99 at Razer right now. If you want my recommendation, get it in silver.