This Dell-commissioned Showcase by Enterprise Strategy Group cuts through the AI buzz to highlight what truly matters to SMBs: performance, security, and sustainability. It makes a strong case for modernizing PC fleets with Dell devices powered by Intel Core Ultra processors—offering immediate gains in productivity, manageability, and reliability, while laying the groundwork for future AI capabilities. Ideal for sales and marketing teams looking to drive meaningful PC refresh conversations with practical, data-backed insights.

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This handy customer brochure concisely lays out the naming conventions for Dell's new unified portfolio. Useful for customers completely new to Dell, existing customers who need a 101 on our new branding, or as a reference guide for customers well versed in our new unified portfolio. Please note this file was specifically designed for an Intel campaign.

Learn more about Dell Technologies solutions powered by Intel^® Core™ Ultra processors.

This whitepaper explores how upgrading to Windows 11 and adopting Dell AI-powered PCs can transform the modern workplace. It highlights the benefits of enhanced security, streamlined management, and AI-driven productivity while addressing common challenges like budget constraints and skills gaps. Backed by the latest research, it provides data-driven insights to support decision-making and ensure organizations stay ahead in a rapidly evolving technology landscape.

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Technological innovation, increasing cyberthreats, and satisfying workforce requirements are only some of the critical considerations modern businesses must make when choosing the right IT partners and computing solutions.

Dell Technologies recommends Windows 11 Pro for business.

When life closes a door, it tends to find a way to open a window. This week the tech industry may have tried a bit too hard to make that literally the case. Sony slammed the door shut on physical media while Microsoft extended the window of support for Windows 10.

Over the last seven days, we saw the Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go retired, PlayStation announced the end of discs, Sony revoked movies people paid for, and Xbox studios pushed toward a dissatisfying end. We also received new details on a potential disc-to-digital program for Xbox and gained another year of security updates for Windows 10.

A leaked video even gave us a glimpse of Copilot OS, though the door was never open for that AI-centered operating system to ship to consumers.

Biggest News of the Week

In a week full of things ending and rumors of shutdowns, it was refreshing to see that a disc-to-digital program could finally make its way to Xbox. Microsoft laid the foundation for that program with the Xbox One over a decade ago, but the company never rolled it out.

With Sony announcing plans to shut down its production of physical discs, Microsoft went in a different direction. While the next Xbox might not have a disc drive, it may support converting discs to digital licenses.

Microsoft has not made a final decision about the disc-to-digital program. With digital ownership under threat and Sony making such an unpopular decision, it would be a major miss if Xbox fails to take advantage.

Shopping with Sean

I'm happy to share that laptop deals remain strong and plentiful this week. Right now, you can get the Dell XPS 13 at a major discount. Both the Snapdragon X Elite and Intel Core Ultra 7 versions of that PC are on sale.

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 is $650 off despite the laptop launching recently. It's one of the first PCs with the Snapdragon X2 Elite chip and is the prettiest laptop of the year, according to our review from Zac Bowden.

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ASUS' Snapdragon-based Zenbook became immediately iconic when its first A14 iteration was revealed at CES 2025, and it still won us over after an unfortunate $100 price increase when we tested a real-world sample for our Zenbook A14 (2025) review. Well, now it's back again, and it's packing the latest Snapdragon X2 Elite processor in yet another premium (but compact) Windows on ARM laptop. So, is it worth $2,000, or should you stick with the previous generation?

How much does the Zenbook A14 cost?

ASUS lists the Zenbook A14 (UX3407) on its official storefront for $1,999.99, with a Snapdragon X2 Elite (X2E-88-100) processor, 32GB of LPDDR5X-9523 RAM, and a 1TB SSD. The 14-inch non-touch OLED display runs at 1920 x 1200 resolution with a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz, in a 16:10 aspect ratio. Depending on when you buy, it'll come pre-installed with at least Windows 11 26H1, built exclusively for Qualcomm's processors.

Better yet, you can pick up the Zenbook A14 for just $1,349.99 at Best Buy with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, or for $1,799.99 at Best Buy with the same 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD as the ASUS store configuration. Naturally, if you're looking for the best deal, Best Buy currently offers the best value for money and, at the time of writing, better availability. Also consider the $1,699.99 Zenbook A16.

Is the Zenbook A14 a good laptop?

Above all, the most astonishing reaction I had when first unboxing the Zenbook A14 was its weight. ASUS lists the laptop at 2.18 lbs (0.99 kg), and my own scales showed it flicker between that and a perfect kilogram, so its "light as air" marketing tagline is legit, even if it is marginally heavier than last year's Zenbook A14 (2.16 lbs). For comparison, a 13-inch MacBook Air (M5) is 2.7 lbs.

ASUS still uses a "Ceraluminum" (ceramic-aluminum) coating on its Zenbook chassis, and to great effect. There can be some mild flex in the ultra-skinny screen, but the laptop's body is firm and sturdy, keeping the subtle 'Zabriskie Beige' color with a reflective logo on its lid. Its 1200p display maxes out at 60Hz, but the Lumina OLED panel looks as great as ever.

Testing the display with a colorimeter showed a maximum full-screen brightness of 407 nits, while ASUS maintains it'll reach a "peak" brightness of 600 nits in portions of the screen. Color accuracy is superb, covering 100% of the sRGB and P3 gamuts, while Adobe RGB hits 94%, making the Zenbook A14 a great choice for creators concerned with accurate color representation.

Port selection hasn't changed this year, so I still have access to dual Type-C USB4 ports alongside HDMI 2.1 and a 3.5 combo audio jack on the left side, plus a full-size USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port on the right. The keyboard feels serviceable with a 1.3 mm travel distance, just as it did on the Zenbook A16 I tested recently, and it pairs with a satisfyingly smooth glass mechanical touchpad.

Does the Zenbook A14 have any issues?

ASUS still preloads some apps into its Windows 11 image on Zenbook laptops, including advertisements for Adobe and Dropbox that are automatically pinned to your Start menu. Both are easy to remove via the right-click context menu and are largely overshadowed by the useful MyASUS companion app. So, while it isn't totally clean, I can give the Zenbook A14 a passing grade here.

Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X2 Elite processor offers its Hexagon NPU rated at up to 80 TOPS. However, aside from Microsoft's excellent Click To Do and a handful of other Copilot+ PC features, the Zenbook A14 doesn't offer much for stock local AI beyond media management with ASUS StoryCube. If you already use NPU-supported apps, then you'll benefit here. If you don't, then you won't.

However, the webcam is decent, even if it understandably drains the battery faster during video meetings. Windows Studio Effects is one of the few features that uses the NPU, and HPD (Human Presence Detection) can dim the screen when I'm not looking. An IR sensor also lets the camera use Windows Hello for fast, secure face-based logins, and it works quickly when I open the lid.

The speakers in the new Zenbook A14 are decent, but they don't seem to produce as much bass as its larger Zenbook A16 sibling, for obvious reasons. They're still better than many other laptops I've tried, as ASUS keeps winning my general praise for its audio efforts. I wouldn't rely on them for everything, but it's a passable experience for streaming videos.

How fast is the Zenbook A14?

The new Zenbook A14 opts for Qualcomm's impressive Snapdragon X2 Elite (X2E-88-100) processor, and it benefits greatly from it. Burst CPU performance tests in Geekbench 6 show it outperforming Apple's M5 chip in the 14-inch MacBook Pro, and even edging slightly ahead of Lenovo's fantastic Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 11) with the same SoC.

Comparatively, the 2026 model shreds its 2025 Zenbook A14 predecessor and the first-generation Snapdragon X (X1-26-100) it used, and the generational improvement is still evident in the extended Cinebench 2024 CPU stress tests. It even outpaces Intel's Panther Lake chips in the Surface Laptop 8 for Business and holds its own against the gaming-centric ROG Flow Z13.

Battery life

ASUS claims the Zenbook A14 can deliver "over 33 hours of uninterrupted use" (in a 1080p video playback scenario under controlled conditions), but the highest I could reach was 23 hours and 38 minutes in PCMark 10's equivalent test. It still has the same-sized 70Whr battery as last year's model, and after using the 2026 model for a week or so, generating a Windows Battery Report estimates 17 hours of use after a full charge.

Should you buy the Zenbook A14?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You need a lightweight, compact Windows laptop

✅ You rely on CPU-heavy apps and workflows

You should not buy this if ...

❌ You can go bigger — try the Zenbook A16

This 2026 revision builds on everything the Zenbook A14 achieved last year, making the CPU even better and adding Wi-Fi 7 for good measure. Sure, I'd have liked a brighter high-end on its OLED panel, but the cost-saving measures here are meant to keep this 14-inch laptop appealing in a category full of strong competitors — though the sharp generational cost increase still stings.

It's a Windows on ARM laptop with an ARM64 processor, and there is still a (mostly undeserved) stigma around software compatibility. If you're reliant on an old printer or scanner, double-check your drivers before buying; but otherwise, you have nothing to worry about. If you can hold out for a sale, as we recommended for its previous model, the new A14 is a stellar option.

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Acer's Nitro 65 arrives at a time when the PC market is undergoing major stress caused by RAM, storage, and other component shortages.

Nevertheless, the Nitro 65's pricing remains reasonable, its performance is spot on, the case is far better than I expected, and it uses (mostly) regular parts that you can upgrade or replace yourself without much effort.

I've been using the PC for a couple of weeks, and while it's mainly been a positive experience, there are a couple of quirks that you need to know about before buying.

Acer sent Windows Central a review unit on loan for testing. It had no input, nor saw the contents of this review, prior to publication.

How much does the Acer Nitro 65 cost?

The Acer Nitro 65 model I'm reviewing, with Ryzen 9 9900X CPU, RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD, costs $2,304.99 regularly at Best Buy, although it seems to enjoy frequent sales that drop it closer to $2,100 or less.

I'm always curious to see how that compares to building your own system, so I went ahead and put something together using the same (or as similar as possible) components.

I used a $150 HYTE X50 case (because it's awesome), a $120 motherboard, and left about $200 to $300 for a 1TB SSD. That comes out to $350 to $450 on top of the $1,611 cost at PCPartPicker. Add some RGB case fans and other small accessories, and you're looking at a similar cost compared to building your own system.

If you like the look of the PC but don't need quite as much performance, models with an AMD Ryzen 7 8700F CPU and either an NVIDIA RTX 5060 or an AMD Radeon 9060 XT range from $1,100 to $1,600, depending on available discounts.

Here's a closer look at the specs in the unit I'm reviewing.

Is the Acer Nitro 65 built well with good cable management?

Acer is definitely making money on the Nitro 65, but as I laid out above, the margin isn't as big as some might expect. So, where are the corners being cut to make up the difference?

The first thing that stands out to me is the no-name PSU. It's non-modular, making it harder to upgrade, and it's tough to judge what sort of quality it is.

Acer lists it as 850W 80+ Gold, which just means it's fairly energy efficient and has plenty of power for the installed hardware and for future upgrades. Its actual durability remains questionable. If I were buying this PC, I'd definitely replace the PSU with something else before the one-year warranty ran out.

The other off-brand piece is the Nitro-branded CPU air cooler. But as we'll see, it does a decent job of keeping the 9900X cool under load. If you prefer liquid cooling, the 35L case can easily accommodate the extra hardware.

The good news is that the PC is otherwise well put together and uses standard components that you can buy yourself for upgrades and repairs. No wacky motherboard designs. No off-brand GPUs. No sketchy memory.

Acer uses Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-6000 RGB RAM here in a dual-channel config, the RTX 5070 is a standard Gigabyte WindForce option, and the M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD is from Lexar.

Now, there's no guarantee that these exact same components will be used in your model, but I did run some benchmarks to see how the specific parts in my review unit perform. More on that below.

A case for RGB lovers ... with plenty of snazzy glass

Rounded cases seem to be coming into style lately, and the Nitro 65's custom 35L tower is quite attractive. Tempered glass runs from the front to the back along two sides, rounded at the corners. Just below the glass is an embedded RGB strip that diffuses light. It's completely customizable and syncs up with the rest of the lighting.

The other RGB lives in the two main intake fans, the RAM, the CPU cooler fan, and the single exhaust fan. It's more than enough for me, and I appreciate that it can be turned off entirely if not customized to your liking.

Front I/O includes dual USB-A 3.2 (Gen 1) and a single USB-C 3.2 (Gen 1) port, all running at 5Gbps. There's also a 3.5mm audio jack next to the power button. It would be nice to have 10Gbps ports here, but it's not a dealbreaker. The rear I/O is, like a normal PC, dependent on the motherboard and GPU.

Something I love is the inclusion of a magnetic dust cover on the top of the PC. It'd come in most handy with an AiO, but I appreciate it here anyway. The side intake fans have a dual-screen setup — one directly behind the fans and another on the back panel — while the PSU has its own dust cover on the bottom.

These small additions help keep dust out of your PC, and because they're removable, they're much easier to clean than something fixed.

Some pre-built PCs skimp on connectivity, but not here. The Gigabyte motherboard offers Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 for cutting-edge wireless, and there's a 2.5Gb Ethernet port to handle wired connections.

How is the Nitro 65's cable management and assembly?

The Nitro 65 comes packed with expanding foam around the CPU cooler and GPU, with an extra foam insert around the GPU to keep it stable; it otherwise has no additional support.

There are no evident problems with assembly, and because it's packed in so tightly, I made no adjustments before booting the PC for the first time.

Pulling off the back panel reveals rather tidy cable management. Zip ties are used, so you'll likely need to clip and replace those if you decide to make some internal changes, but there are a couple of Velcro strips thrown in around the main channels.

Because the PSU isn't modular, there's some snarl below the internal riser, but it's not visible from the front.

As for the visible cabling, it's all properly installed with no extra slack that could block airflow. The GPU power cable has its own exit in the PSU riser, and plenty of cutouts around the motherboard should make for easy upgrades in the future.

Overall, it's a clean look behind the glass, and the cabling that's hidden is actually a lot better than I was expecting.

The Nitro 65 keeps cool under pressure

The Nitro 65 has some solid performance hardware inside, and I'm happy to report it keeps its cool under load. The two intake fans point toward the side of the case, but the rounded front glass helps curve that air toward the back.

I ran a Speed Way stress test on components first with the side glass panel removed. The CPU was able to remain between about 60.8 and 61.6 degrees Celsius, while the GPU sat at about 68 to 70 degrees. It came out to 99.2% frame stability.

With the glass panel back in place, I reran the same test. CPU temps climbed to roughly 63 to 65 degrees Celsius, while the GPU hit about 70 to 72 degrees. That's an expected rise, and it's not out of the ordinary. Frame stability fell slightly to 98.8%.

One note on the CPU cooler: the single fan gets a bit louder than I'd like when it's under load, but it seems to even off with sustained effort. Still, it'd be better if Acer used an AiO liquid cooler here as the standard.

Does Acer's Nitro 65 perform as expected?

I'm focusing less on performance here since the PC uses standard components. The RTX 5070 and the Ryzen 9 9900X perform just like they should.

Here are some benchmarks so you can see how the hardware compares to other stuff we've recently tested.

Note that I've included two Ryzen 9 9900X scores in one graph. The higher score comes from testing we did on an open test bench using an NZXT Kraken AiO liquid cooler. That could explain some of the multi-core performance difference.

As for the Lexar GPU, it reached 6,052MB/s read and 5,063MB/s write speeds in my testing. These aren't the fastest speeds ever for a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, but they're perfectly acceptable for gaming.

I found this PC to load everything quite quickly, no doubt aided by 32GB of DDR5 RAM. I'm also happy to see that there's a minimum of bloatware on the PC, arriving with a rather clean version of Windows 11 Home.

Should you buy the Acer Nitro 65?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You're in search of a capable mid-size gaming desktop with decent cooling and strong performance.

✅ You're a fan of RGB lighting.

You should not buy this if ...

❌ You'd rather save a bit of money and build your own system.

❌ You'd rather take your games on the go with a laptop or handheld.

Acer's Nitro 65 impressed me in more ways than one. The custom case is gorgeous, especially with that rounded glass front, and it has lots of room inside for future upgrades. The diffused RGB strip around the case adds some flair.

Assembly and cable management are, I'd say, above average for a pre-built, and Acer using standard parts (other than the PSU) is a definite boon for those who like to keep their PC running as long as possible.

👉 Best Desktop PCs of 2026: Our top-rated pre-builts for gaming, work, and home use

Extra touches like removable dust screens, internal RGB lighting, and magnetic panel clasps don't go unnoticed.

Bottom line? If you'd rather not build your own gaming PC, Acer's Nitro 65 is something I recommend. It won't cost much more than buying the parts yourself, and it arrives ready to go as soon as it's unboxed. Acer even tosses in an RGB keyboard and mouse to get you started.

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Many laptops in the premium category cost thousands of dollars to justify the advanced specs built in, but few feel like they've earned their premium spot like the Dell XPS 13.

With its Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2 CPU (Lunar Lake), 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD, this ultra-thin portable desktop can tackle any productivity task, no matter how small or big it is, and it's currently on sale with a 33% discount for $999.99 at Dell.

Why buy the Dell XPS 13?

Even without this RAM crisis looming over our heads, prices for premium-grade laptops were already extreme, numbering in the thousands.

Yet very few of them have justifiably earned their advanced-tech-per-cost ratio, like the Dell XPS 13 laptop, which has earned near-perfect reviews from our sister sites at TechRadar, Tom's Guide, and LaptopMag for its exceptional performance and quality.

The configuration of the Dell XPS 13 we're spotlighting comes equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2 CPU (Lunar Lake), 16GB RAM, a 1TB SSD, and Copilot+ PC certification. With these specs, this laptop will tear through Microsoft Office assignments, online browsing research, and AI-related tasks like a hot knife through a 4th of July steak dinner.

On top of that, it has a 3K OLED display so you have beautiful visuals to look at while working, a sturdy and lightweight design that makes it easy to store while traveling, and a battery life of nearly 24 hours at minimum power and brightness settings.

So, if you're looking for a dependable laptop that will help keep you on top of your daily workflows for the next several years, provided you're okay with only having two USB-C ports, then the Dell XPS 13 will serve you well.

FAQ

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The RAM Crisis has PC users gripped in fear as they're scrambling to buy as much storage space for their PCs as they can before their costs become too unaffordable for the average person, leaving many stores deprived of SSDs.

However, some SSDs have managed to slip through this shopping rush with their stock untouched, like the WD_Black SN8100 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD.

This internal storage unit, boasting insanely fast read speeds for work and gaming, is currently on sale at Best Buy for $269.99 for its 1TB model (listing price was $528.99), $399.99 for its 2TB model (listing price was $1,057.99), and $999.00 for its 4TB model (listing price was $2,069.99).

Why buy the WD_Black SN8100 SSD?

In an age where files for games, documents, 4K videos, and other pieces of media are taking up hundreds of gigabytes' worth of space, you're going to need a massive SSD to store them in while having high read/write speeds so transferring files won't be slower than snails.

SanDisk's WD_Black SN8100 SSD is one such storage unit, as it comes with 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB models, each one being equipped with high Read Speeds up to 14,900MB/s and Write Speeds up to 11,000MB/s.

This makes the WD_Black SN8100 SSD one of the best SSDs for gaming as these models will have plenty of space to fit your precious games in while cutting down on load times for rendering graphical assets and reducing lag so they feel smoother to play.

These read and write speeds are also good for productivity tasks, as the SSD can help your PC transfer files in mere seconds, which can be handy when you need to send work documents, videos, and other important data from one machine to another.

Just make sure your computer has a heatsink attached to its motherboard before installing the WD_Black SN8100, as it can get extremely hot when taking on heavy-duty workflows.

FAQ

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I've covered Winhanced quite a few times at this point, most recently when it added achievement support to the launcher UI for Steam, Xbox, and even PlayStation games. If you haven't heard of it, Winhanced is a complete replacement for Xbox Mode on Windows handhelds, acting as a unified launcher for your library across various digital stores, all in one easy-to-navigate interface.

Now, its feature set is expanding once again, bringing with it my most requested addition: a built-in store browser. Honestly, it's something I wasn't even sure was possible, but it's now available in testing for users supporting the project.

The store is still very much a work in progress, so don't expect a perfect experience. At the time of writing it only supports certain currencies, although regional currency support is on the way, but even in its current state it's already incredibly useful. You can browse games, compare prices across multiple storefronts, see if a title is included with Game Pass, and purchase it from whichever store offers the best deal.

So yes, if a game is cheaper on Xbox than Steam, you can simply buy it there instead. It is also worth mentioning that when you purchase games, it opens a web browser where you can complete your purchase; Winhanced does not have access to your payment details.

The launcher also personalizes recommendations, generating suggestions based on what you've been playing, and in my case, after spending plenty of time in Forza Horizon 6, it immediately recommended another racing game. If you'd rather browse for yourself, though, you can search for any game you like or explore categories to discover something new.

Winhanced is also bringing several features out of early access, including back paddle support, SteamGridDB artwork browsing, and RGB controls, meaning they're now considered ready for general use rather than experimental additions.

I've been a big fan of Winhanced for quite some time now. It makes my Xbox Ally X feel much more like a proper console than the Xbox app ever has in Xbox Mode, so if you're interested, I'd definitely recommend checking out the project's Discord and supporting it on Patreon if you can.

With that said, do let me know in the comments if this new store feature is finally enough to get you interested in giving Winhanced a try, or what other features you'd still like to see added. As always, be sure to take part in our poll below!

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HP's OmniBook lineup includes a wide range of laptops targeting a wide range of users, and the OmniBook 3 16" is one of the most affordable of the bunch.

Assuming you aren't maxing it out with RAM and storage, you can get a Snapdragon X chip and a large 16-inch screen for around $500, often less with the right discount. Unfortunately, with higher-spec'd models, the display, build quality, and features don't quite measure up to other PCs competing in the same price range.

I've been using HP's OmniBook 3 for a couple of weeks to get to know it inside and out; here's what you need to know before buying.

HP had no input, nor saw the contents of this review, prior to publication.

How much does the HP OmniBook 3 cost?

HP's OmniBook 3 16" starts as low as $699.99 without any discounts; however, HP basically designed this PC to be on sale almost all the time, and you can usually get this baseline model for a lot less.

At the time of writing this review, a model with Snapdragon X (X1-26) System-on-Chip (SoC), 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM, 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, and 2K IPS display costs $399 at Walmart.

The model I'm reviewing represents a significant upgrade in a couple of key areas. It has a 2K OLED display, 32GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and a 1TB SSD. For some reason, HP omits the OLED display as an option in its configurator, so I can only give a price for this same setup with an IPS touch display. It's regularly $1,729.99, but is down to $1,259.99 at the time of writing.

That's not exactly cheap, and as I found, this is sort of a tale of two tiers. On one hand, if you're buying the laptop for around $500, it's a great deal. On the other hand, if you're spending around $1,500, you could do better elsewhere.

Here's a look at the exact specs that are in my OmniBook 3 16" review unit.

Sleek design, but a bit creaky

The OmniBook 3 is a 16-inch laptop that's sized more like a 14-incher, and it's relatively thin at 0.58 inches (1.47cm). Thanks to a mix of aluminum and plastic, it weighs in at about 3.65 pounds (1.65kg), a respectable number for a device this size. Despite its large display, it's actually quite easy to tote around.

There's quite a bit of flex to the body, and when pressed, it creaks loudly. It's a shame, because it's really a sleek laptop. Thankfully, the lid seems to have a lot more rigidity, helping protect the OLED panel.

Port selection benefits multi-monitor setups

The thermal setup is ideal, with cool air pulling in through a large intake on the bottom and exhausting out the back edge, just behind the hinge. There's no hot air blowing on your hands, and because it's a Snapdragon chip inside, the system doesn't get particularly hot. More on that below.

On the left side of the PC is an HDMI 2.1 port for native video support, one USB-A (5Gbps), and dual USB-C 3.2 (Gen 2) ports at 10Gbps each. Of course, I wish these ports were at least USB4 — Thunderbolt 4 is generally reserved for Intel systems — for faster transfers. Still, they support DP 1.4 video if you're looking to run multiple external displays.

The right side of the laptop is home to an additional USB-A (5Gbps) port and a 3.5mm audio jack.

So-so speakers, nice webcam

Dual speakers installed on the underside of the laptop, toward the front, fail to impress. They're not particularly loud or full, and other budget laptops do a way better job of audio.

The 1080p webcam, on the other hand, offers a clear picture that only gets better with Windows Studio Effects powered by the laptop's NPU. An IR sensor allows for facial biometric security via Windows Hello, upping security.

A full keyboard and large touchpad make for easy productivity

The OmniBook 3 has a keyboard that's above average for a laptop that starts at such a low price. Key travel is excellent, the backlight is bright, and the number pad makes for easy productivity.

And although the touchpad isn't haptic, a feature reserved for premium laptops, it has a satisfying click and tracks without issue.

The only thing I'll mention is that HP doesn't offer the backlit version of the keyboard as the default in all models. For some reason, you have to manually select it when configuring. It doesn't add any costs from what I can see, and I don't know why it's not just a default feature.

Colorful OLED display struggles with glare

My review unit features a 16-inch OLED non-touch display with a 1920x1200 (FHD+) resolution. This is the screen I'd recommend everyone get, but unfortunately, it seems like touch and non-touch IPS panels at the same resolution are far more common.

The bezels are fairly thin, although they're of the raised plastic sort rather than a seamless glass covering.

Testing the OLED display with a SpyderX Pro colorimeter, I got back 100% sRGB, 92% AdobeRGB, and 99% DCI-P3 color reproduction, all excellent results, especially for a budget laptop. Color and contrast are indeed superb, and you'll be missing out on it if you're forced into the IPS options.

Brightness could be better, with the OLED screen topping out just higher than 300 nits. That seems to be the limit for the IPS panels as well. Despite an anti-glare finish, the display struggles in bright rooms.

Last-gen Snapdragon still delivers incredible battery life

There's no other way to say it; the OmniBook 3 16's battery life is incredible. Yes, my review unit has the slightly more power-efficient OLED display that seems very hard to find right now, and yes, the PC is using one of Qualcomm's most affordable chips.

Regardless, the larger chassis fits a sizable 68Wh battery, and because the Snapdragon X sips power, I was seeing full — and I mean full — days of mixed use without needing a charge.

For example, I began streaming a YouTube video at noon. That night, it was still going strong, and the battery hadn't yet dipped below 70%. I left it going, and it was still playing the next morning.

The official Windows battery report suggests about 38 hours of life from a charge, but of course, my streaming test skewed that result. I'd put it at around 25-30 hours, and that's being conservative.

Snapdragon X performance is also impressive

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chip is indeed efficient, but it's also now a generation behind the X2 hardware released earlier this year.

For most users, that shouldn't matter. The chip competes quite well with Intel's Core Ultra 7 256V CPU in Geekbench 6, both for single- and multi-core scores. Better yet, I saw almost no performance drop when switching from AC to battery power.

Cinebench also delivered surprising results, with the Snapdragon X again coming out ahead of the Core Ultra 7 256V and Ryzen 7 8840U.

A rather quick M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD rounds out the performance hardware, hitting 7,073MB/s read and 5,705MB/s write speeds in CrystalDiskMark.

The laptop runs cool and quiet no matter what, and I don't actually recall hearing the fans kick on until I was running benchmark software.

Should you buy the HP OmniBook 3?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You can find a great deal for somewhere around $500-$700 (or less).

✅ You need a 16-inch screen and a number pad to better handle multitasking and productivity.

✅ You want a laptop with outstanding battery life.

You should not buy this if ...

❌ You're looking for a PC with a discrete graphics card.

❌ You don't often use a number pad and want a more compact PC that's easier to fit into a bag.

The OmniBook 3 16" is kind of an odd case, and it's not being helped by the ongoing RAM and storage crisis.

On one hand, you can sometimes find models with 16GB of RAM and 512GB storage for as little as $399. Such is the case at Walmart at the time of writing this review. That's an outstanding deal, and at this price, it's an easy recommendation.

On the other hand, if there aren't any discounts available, you might be looking at spending $1,500+ if you spec up the RAM and storage. I know that component prices are high, but I don't think this PC has the build or feature quality to warrant that type of price. I'd suggest looking at alternatives before making a final decision.

The fact that most models now come with an inferior IPS display that's not as bright or colorful — I really hope OLED returns as a common option when configuring — doesn't help.

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Whenever I'm personally looking for a laptop to take with me to continue working while traveling abroad, I'm not interested in too many over-the-top machines with flashy designs, RGB lighting, and various features I'll probably never use.

I just need a laptop that can reliably chip away at mountains of work, research, and other productivity tasks so I can clock out of work (and get back to playing games).

The HP Omnibook X Flip 14" is one such laptop, and it's currently having one of the best laptop deals happening right now for Best Buy's 4th of July sale, as it's on sale for $649.99 (previously $999.99).

Why buy the HP Omnibook X Flip 14"?

The HP Omnibook X Flip 14" isn't the prettiest 2-in-1 laptop in the world, as it sports a rather bland design with a lattice-less keyboard layout and little personality behind.

But the HP Omnibook X Flip 14" isn't built to win beauty competitions; it's here to tackle day-long workloads. Thankfully, it more than delivers on that promise, thanks to its Intel Core Ultra 5 (Lunar Lake) 226V CPU and 16GB of RAM, which help it perform better when running multiple apps, boot up faster from sleep, and more.

This laptop also comes with a 2K touchscreen to provide crisp visuals, a 512GB SSD storage unit that can be upgraded with larger ones to store more data, an NPU of 40 TOPS to help it run local AI tasks, and compatibility with stylus pens so you can take notes or draw art more proficiently while it's in Tablet Mode.

So, if you prefer laptops that focus on substance rather than style, then the HP Omnibook X Flip 14" laptop that's now on sale for $649.99 at Best Buy may be the perfect fit for you.

FAQ

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Trying to get your hands on a full desktop PC that won't force you to take out a loan during this price-hiking RAM crisis is like trying to punch through a brick wall: painful and futile.

In such grim times for tech, mini PCs can provide a much-needed reprieve with their more affordable prices that won't set you back thousands of dollars while providing fast performance for productivity, vast storage space for precious documents, and compact sizes that won't eat up your desk.

One such lineup of high-quality mini PCs is those produced by Geekom, many of which are currently on sale for Best Buy's 4th of July sale, which will last until July 5, 2026.

So, if you've been eyeing up a chance to obtain budget-friendly mini-PCs like the Geekom IT13 (now on sale for $569.99) or a pink-sized performance powerhouse like the Geekom AX8 MAX (now on sale for $629.99), now's a great time to capitalize on it before the RAMaggeddon jacks their prices for good too.

FAQ

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It looks like Microsoft's popular Surface Go and less popular Surface Laptop Go are on the chopping block. According to my sources that are familiar with Microsoft's hardware roadmap, these devices are no longer being manufactured, and no successors are currently planned

Just like the Surface Studio, Surface Laptop Studio, Surface Duo, Surface Hub, Surface Book, Surface Headphones, and Surface Earbuds before them, the Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go are the latest Surface PCs to reach the Microsoft graveyard, and completes the Surface portfolio culling that began in 2023.

Now, the Surface portfolio consists exclusively of Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, with varying screen sizes and power capabilities spread between them. Surface Pro features a 12-inch and 13-inch model, and the Surface Laptop features 13-inch, 13.8-inch, and 15-inch models with a special Ultra model coming this fall.

Sources say that Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go stock may still exist at certain retailers and in certain regions, but once that stock has depleted, it won't be replaced. When asked for comment, a Microsoft representative pointed me to the new Surface website, which notably doesn't include Surface Go or Laptop Go anymore.

Surface Go is a particularly surprising device to be killed off, as I understood that it was very popular with enterprise customers.

In fact, it was so popular with enterprises that Surface Go became a device exclusively for commercial customers with its final generation. Surface Go 1-3 were available for both consumers and commercial customers, but Surface Go 4 only ever saw a release for commercial customers.

Fascinatingly, I'm told Microsoft had planned to ship a Surface Go 5 at some point in the last couple of years, and it was going to be powered by a low-end Snapdragon chip. Unfortunately, when the company asked its enterprise customers for feedback, it found that most of them weren't interested in an Arm version of the device, and so that plan was scrapped.

Surface Laptop Go was pretty much replaced with the 13-inch Surface Laptop, which addressed the Laptop Go's biggest flaws such as the lack of a backlit keyboard and low-resolution display. Surface Go on the other hand hasn't really seen a replacement, as the 12-inch Surface Pro is significantly more expensive (and much larger) than the Surface Go 4 was at $579.

Of course, Surface Go originally launched at an astonishingly affordable $399 in 2018, albeit with very low-end specs that made the device hard to recommend. The Surface Go 3 and Surface Go 4 were the first versions with enough power to handle daily tasks without any noticeable performance loss, but their prices were much higher as a result.

I'm told that the decision to kill off these devices wasn't influenced by the ongoing RAMpocalypse, as the decision was made many months before memory prices became a problem for the company.

Now, the Surface portfolio is left with just two devices, Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. Many would argue these devices are no longer interesting or innovative from a form factor perspective, serving only to compete with whatever Apple is doing on their side of the fence. With Surface Laptop Ultra coming in the fall as a clear MacBook Pro competitor, this has never been more true.

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If you've missed out on Amazon's June Prime Day sale trying to search for cheaper laptops for work, then Best Buy's 4th of July sale that's happening right now is your next best bet.

For a limited time, this event will allow you to get your hands on several vaunted laptops boasting strong performance speeds for productivity tasks, sturdy designs with responsive keyboards, and long-lasting batteries that will last you for full workdays.

With so many laptops to choose from, we've cherry-picked laptops we at Windows Central, and our colleagues at TechRadar and Tom's Guide, know are great to use but are no longer held back by steep listing prices thanks to this sale for your perusal.

Examples include the Acer Swift Go 16" AI laptop, with its Intel Core Ultra 7 355 CPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD that's now 42% off for $899.99 at Best Buy, and the entry-level Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i with Intel Core i5-1335U CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD that had its $899.99 fee cut down to a more budget-friendly $449.99 at Best Buy.

FAQ

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In my MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ review, I pulled no punches, calling it a generational leap in handheld gaming, with Intel's new Arc G3 Extreme chip blowing AMD out of the water.

But the big story, unfortunately, was not so much how good the (terribly named) Claw 8 EX AI+ was, or how Intel is doing some impressive things these days, but rather the $1,799 price, which is probably about $500 more than planned thanks to the ongoing high demand for RAM and storage.

However, if there is one thing I know about PC gaming after 20 years on this site, it's basically that gaming is "recession-proof," meaning no matter how bad economic conditions may get, gamers don't stop spending. Anyone doing research on this will reach the same conclusion: Gamers will spend, and high price tags are no obstacle.

To wit, in checking in Best Buy, Newegg, Micro Center, and B&H inventory levels this past weekend, I noticed the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ was sold out for shipping and local pickup.

Likewise, checking in on /r/MSIClaw reveals plenty of people sharing photos of their MSI handhelds with early impressions, mini-reviews, and those coveted gaming benchmarks (the tl;dr is near universal praise).

Now, for this story, it is totally fair to point out that each of these stores likely had very limited launch inventory. For all we know, your local Best Buy had one or two units available, so "selling out" here is doing a lot of heavy lifting when you consider availability.

Indeed, MSI (and we suspect Intel) are not the best at stocking MSI Claws. We reviewed last year's model, the Claw 8 AI+, and gave it high praise, but noted how it was impossible to actually buy one. We even launched an MSI Claw inventory tracker, but finally gave up after weeks of no restocks.

This isn't just an MSI issue, either. In December, I noted that Lenovo, literally the world's top PC shipper by a mile, could not keep its Legion Go 2 in stock, either, causing prices to skyrocket even before the RAMpocalypse took full effect on gaming handhelds.

Who knows if we'll even see the SteamOS version, announced at CES earlier this year.

While we think demand is strong for handheld gaming PCs, there are also some hardware shortages at play here.

When will MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ be back in stock?

So, the million-dollar question is whether a new shipment of Claws is en route to your local store?

Probably not.

One Reddit user noted, "I spoke with someone from Best Buy earlier. They said they tried to order more from MSI, but MSI hasn’t told them when they will restock them." That sounds about right for MSI, meaning this could be a weeks-to-months-long wait, and your best bet is to sign up for inventory notifications from whichever store you prefer.

What is likely to happen is that your local Best Buy will get maybe one unit at a time, and whoever gets it first is the winner.

👉I gamed on the new Intel Arc G3 handhelds from Acer and MSI — here's what to expect

As to why this keeps happening, it's like a combo of those high prices, MSI being shy on overproducing what is likely a low-volume product, and Intel likely doing low-yield production on that Arc G3 Extreme chip (currently only MSI, Acer, and some smaller boutique manufacturers like ONEXPLAYER are on board, with some of those devices, like Acer's Predator Atlas 8, coming later this year).

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The PC market is in shambles these days, and it's so bad that you don't have to be an enthusiast builder to feel the effects of RAM and storage shortages. Heck, even my less-tech-savvy parents are asking what's going on.

Last week, I wrote a lengthy analysis about the RAM crisis and when it might end, and I came up with answers that no one wants to hear.

It essentially boils down to the global supply of DRAM being so short and the demand for AI datacenters being so high that it will likely take until 2028 to see any easing at all, while more pessimistic views extend the crisis into the 2030s.

I mentioned that I wasn't explicitly calling out collusion on the part of the three big DRAM producers who control 90% of the world's supply, but I might have been wrong.

Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron are facing a class-action California federal lawsuit alleging that they've been deliberately fixing prices and squeezing supply to drive up costs for regular consumers like you and me.

The lawsuit, reported by Law360 (via VGC), accuses the three memory makers of working together to reduce production of DDR3 and DDR4 memory while at the same time dialing their DDR5 production towards High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) that's used in AI data centers.

Citing the ongoing "RAMpocalypse," the lawsuit alleges that the "DRAM oligopolists" raised prices "with mind-blowing scale and rapidity." The lawsuit has been filed by a "class of individual and business consumers."

The lawsuit's argument is fairly straightforward. A healthy market with actual competition would see increased supply alongside rising prices. If RAM gets more expensive, it makes sense for RAM manufacturers to produce more in order to capture demand and undercut each other.

That isn't currently happening. The lawsuit alleges that the three big DRAM companies all moved in the same direction at the same time, and prices kept rising. Hard to argue with that claim.

The suit also says that "consumer purchasers of conventional DRAM and devices incorporating it have paid supracompetitive prices and have otherwise suffered the impacts of a distorted market crippled by the behavior of DRAM oligopolists." Again, I can't argue with that.

Why this lawsuit matters for regular PC users ... and practically everyone else

The global DRAM crisis isn't just affecting PC builders. Memory prices affect practically every device out there, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to find any shelter from the storm.

For example, Xbox just announced last week that it's raising console prices. Apple announced it's raising MacBook prices. Valve's Steam Machine costs $1,049, whereas it should have probably made its debut somewhere around $700. Surface PC prices went up a few weeks ago. I could go on.

None of these price increases happened just 'cause, and the lawsuit indeed argues that artificially constrained DRAM supply is a significant part of the reason.

Can any new DRAM makers challenge the current oligopoly?

The lawsuit also raises concerns regarding how insulated the three big DRAM producers have become over time. Building even one DRAM fabrication plant costs billions of dollars and takes years, never mind the expertise required to keep one running.

Although Chinese DRAM manufacturers like CXMT and YMTC are slowly picking up Steam, export and supply controls imposed by the US don't help the situation.

The result? It's almost impossible for anyone to step in and compete with the big three manufacturers.

The DRAM oligopoly has been in legal trouble before

As noted in the lawsuit filing, Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron are not strangers to DRAM price fixing.

Samsung and SK hynix were accused by the US Department of Justice of price fixing between 1998 and 2022. Samsung ended up paying a $300 million fine, while SK hynix paid a $185 million fine.

Micron managed to avoid a similar fine after it reported "the conspiracy" and cooperated with officials.

It's well worth pointing out that nothing has been proven in court regarding this new lawsuit. As far as I can see, none of the three companies has offered a public statement, either.

Do you think Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron have indeed been conspiring to keep RAM prices high? Or is it just a lucky coincidence? Let me know what you think in the comments section below!

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Update (06/29/2026, 4:20am EST): The WD_Black C50 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S is no longer in stock at Best Buy. ~ Alexander Cope, Staff Writer

Original article (06/29/2026):

Seagate's Storage Expansion Cards are one of the most popular plug-and-play SSDs for Xbox Series X|S for their increased install space and high read speeds. However, their high listing prices make them somewhat undesirable for the average player, especially during the ongoing memory crisis that has made tech so unaffordable.

Fortunately, Western Digital's WD_Black C50 Expansion Cards offer a cheaper means of adding storage while maintaining similar read speeds, and its 1TB model is now on sale with a 58% discount for $149.99 at Best Buy.

Why buy the WD_Black C50 Storage Expansion Card for Xbox?

The biggest draw for Western Digital's WD_Black C50 Storage Expansion Cards for Xbox, aside from having chunky install spaces (which include 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB models), is that they allow a player to play games directly installed on the card without having to move them into an Xbox's internal SSD, saving them from tedious game file shuffling and deletion.

Of course, being able to play games directly from the card won't mean much if they don't run well. However, with the power of Xbox Velocity Architecture, the WD_Black C50 Storage Expansion Cards can deliver fast and seamless performance rates for games installed inside them while improving load times and input detection speeds using a Superspeed NVMe Core.

Other notable features include Quick Resume Support so it can suspend a game and let you pick up exactly where you left off, and ease-of-use as you only need to plug the card into Xbox Series X|S's dedicated expansion card slot for it to work - no wires needed.

So, if you're hungry for more space for your Xbox, especially as newer games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 require over 161GB (and that's just for the base game alone without DLC add-ons), then the WD_Black C50 1TB Expansion Card will satiate it for a good while.

FAQ

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Two more Surface devices were announced this week, at least technically. The ongoing RAM crisis forced Microsoft to follow in the footsteps of Apple and Acer by making laptops with 8GB of RAM in 2026.

During a week full of deals through Amazon and other retailers, Microsoft took a different approach to make its Surface devices more affordable, at least for certain models. The Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch can now be bought with just 8GB of RAM.

Those versions with less memory start at $849 for the Surface Pro and $949 for the Surface Laptop. I'm happy to see more affordable options, but Microsoft's timing was poor. Raising Surface prices during Prime Day meant better hardware was at or near the same pricing as the cheaper Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. And with other retailers dropping prices to compete with Amazon, the new Surfaces are a bad value.

Dell’s XPS 13 with a Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD is still $999.99, which means better hardware is sitting only $50 above Microsoft’s new “affordable” Surface models.

Deals, discounts, and rising prices were the focus of this week, but we also saw Windows 10 support extended and Bill Gates weigh in on AI. Here are the biggest stories from the week.

Biggest News of the Week

Microsoft is in a no-win situation with pricing. RAM and other components continue to go up in price, so manufacturers have to adjust to match. Even Apple, which was more insulated than most due to stockpiles of components, had to increase the cost of MacBooks, iPads, and other devices.

As a result of shortages, Microsoft has had to raise the price of hardware. Since people still need laptops at somewhat reasonable prices, models with 8GB of RAM can fill that gap.

8GB of RAM is better than many assume on a Windows 11 PC. Our Cale Hunt said using a device with that amount of memory is "Not only viable but quite enjoyable." Since that's the case, more affordable Surface devices are good news.

But announcing a Surface Pro and a Surface Laptop with lower price tags in the same week as one of the biggest shopping events of the year is a strange strategy.

A Surface Laptop with a Snapdragon X Plus, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage costs $949.99 through Microsoft's website. The Dell XPS 13 (9345) with a Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage is on sale for $999.99 through Dell.

Maybe Microsoft should have rolled out its cheaper Surface devices a bit earlier or held off until other sales ended.

Shopping with Sean

The best deal of the week is still up for grabs despite Prime Day ending, and it's the laptop I just highlighted. Dell's discount on the XPS 13 with a Snapdragon X Elite drops that premium laptop to $999.99. That discounted price looks even better after Apple raised the prices of its MacBooks.

If you want something newer, the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 is $650 off. That gorgeous laptop is powered by the Snapdragon X2 Elite. I'm jealous of our Senior Editor Zac Bowden because he got to review it (the OmniBook 14 Ultra earned a perfect score in that review).

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If there ever was a golden age of cheap memory and storage, I'm sorry to tell you that it's over.

The 2TB NVMe SSD you bought early last year? It now costs three times what you paid. The 32GB kit of DDR5 RAM that was $90 last summer? It's now somewhere between $300 and $500, if you can find it for sale at all.

The effects of the RAM crisis are being felt downstream in tech markets everywhere. Xbox just announced this week another console price hike. Apple announced it's raising prices of its MacBooks. Microsoft recently raised the prices of its Surface PCs. The Steam Machine is making its debut at $1,049. I could go on and on.

The worst part of this whole RAMpocalypse? No one really knows when it's going to end.

Why are memory and storages prices still going up?

So what happened? AI happened. The way the world's memory market is set up relies on three major companies to supply everyone else with DRAM for consumer memory and storage.

Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron realized early on in the AI boom that they could make a whole lot more money by moving away from consumer memory and into high-bandwidth memory (HBM) that's used in AI datacenters.

Profit margins are enormous on the other side, and I really don't find it surprising that these massive corporations made the shift, as companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have essentially offered blank checks to buy up as much memory as possible.

The fallout of these moves by the three big memory manufacturers, of course, is a strangulation of the consumer memory market. And this isn't a typical supply crunch like we've seen in the past that can be remedied by a new manufacturing plant coming online.

This time around, the memory crisis is a reallocation of the world's DRAM manufacturing capabilities, and there's no real end in sight.

I don't think RAM and SSD prices will drop anytime soon

I'm not expecting to see tech prices drop anytime soon, and you don't have to take my word for it.

Counterpoint Research confirmed in February that memory prices rose in Q1 2026 by 80% to 90% compared to Q4 2025. Late last year, Kingston noted that it had seen a 246% increase in NAND wafer pricing compared to the start of 2025, the steepest ever in the company's 29-year history.

In February 2026, Gartner released findings suggesting that, by the end of 2026, DRAM and SSD prices could surge by 130% compared to 2025, which could raise PC prices by 17%. I believe we're already seeing that estimation come into play, and this same study predicts that global PC shipments could fall by 10.4% this year.

It gets worse. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra signaled earlier this year that the RAM crisis would continue beyond 2026. This week, Micron announced that most of its DRAM has been bought up via long-term contracts through 2030, and that there's almost certainly no end to the crisis.

SK hynix, another one of the three big DRAM players, stated in 2025 that its HBM, DRAM, and NAND manufacturing capacity is sold out through 2026.

OK, I know that's a lot of numbers, but I'm trying to drive the point home: the RAM and SSD crisis isn't likely to end in 2026. It probably won't end in 2027, either. 2028 could be our lucky year, but that's relatively far into the future and harder to predict.

The problem is compounded by the fact that it takes a very long time to create new fabrication plants, not to mention the billions of dollars required to get the project going.

Micron is building a new fab plant in Idaho, for example, but it's not likely to begin producing anything meaningful until the end of 2027. Keep in mind that this is the same company that axed its entire consumer RAM and SSD portfolio in 2025 to focus on AI clients.

Samsung and SK hynix, meanwhile, are focusing on raising production in their existing plants, as new fabs won't be ready until the late 2020s.

Most of the analyst forecasts I've read rightfully point to some relief coming no earlier than late 2027, and I'm not talking about 2024-era prices. If those prices ever return, it will be at the end of a long, slow decline as the market levels out.

If memory prices drop, will PC prices also fall?

I certainly enjoy entertaining more conspiratorial ideas, and the one question that I don't think enough people are asking is about PC prices after memory and storage markets return to normalcy.

Will the laptops, PC components, consoles, tablets, and other affected tech products drop in price once RAM and storage markets return to normal?

If I'm being optimistic, then yes, I do believe that a correction in component costs would also lead to a correction in PC and console pricing. History suggests that this isn't out of the ordinary. There was a glut of memory and storage in 2023 and 2024, and I recall consumer prices did soften a bit.

However, I don't think 2026/2027/2028 is at all the same as years gone by. PC makers are expecting to see a major hit in worldwide PC shipments in 2026. As mentioned, Gartner predicts a 10.4% decline. IDC research points to an 11.3% decline.

The twist is that by raising prices for consumers, the PC market is still expected to grow by hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming years.

This is what I find particularly frightening. If the volume of sales drops but profits keep growing, is there really any financial pressure that will make PC makers drop prices?

I don't think most PC makers will care that entry-level buyers are priced out of the market when enthusiasts and enterprise customers continue to shovel money their way. Why bother with discount laptops at thin margins?

👉 Conspiracy theory or apt prediction? — The AI-fueled hardware shortage will kill local PCs, paving the way for subscription-based cloud computing

Gartner believes the sub-$500 laptop market will completely disappear by 2028, and I'd say we're already well on our way. Will that market recover when RAM and SSD prices return to normal? Hard to say.

I can reference the GPU price spikes from a few years ago during the crypto boom and pandemic shortages. GPU prices went up, the market leveled off, and GPU prices came back down. But they didn't go all the way back down, resetting at a higher baseline than before.

Consumers had become used to paying inflated GPU prices, and there was really no incentive to drop prices back to 2019 levels. I think the same logic applies to the PC market.

The Chinese wildcard could save us all

Competition is likely the only thing that can save us, barring a collapse of the AI boom and a bursting of the market bubble.

Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron currently control about 90% of the world's DRAM production, which makes it painfully easy to coordinate pricing. I'm not saying it's explicit collusion, but it's certainly something.

The best chance of breaking up this oligopoly comes from China. Companies like YMTC and CXMT have been steadily growing their share of the NAND market with newfound production and new fabs.

If these competitors can indeed scale up production and get their products out to international buyers, I don't see how that wouldn't disrupt the oligopoly. It's not exactly smooth sailing for China's manufacturers, though, as issues with exports, access to advanced equipment, and geopolitical concerns are all hurdles they must pass.

What does this mean for you and your next PC?

Gartner expects PC lifetime for regular consumers to increase by 20% by the end of this year. The cheap PC upgrade cycle has all but come to an end.

When new DRAM factories do come online, I expect them to serve AI customers first. Consumers will get the scraps, just like they are currently. Chinese DRAM makers might enter the international market and force prices to fall, but I doubt by enough to make a serious impact.

👉 Best Windows laptop in 2026

If you're waiting for the RAM crisis to be over before you buy your next device, I have some bad news. The most optimistic predictions put easing as early as late 2027 or 2028, while the most pessimistic push the dates into the 2030s.

Should you need a new PC now, I recommend buying one that will last for years to come. What some thought was a brief blip on the PC market's graph has some serious staying power. What it will look like, if it ever returns to normal, is anyone's guess.

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Amazon Prime Day has entered its fourth and final day, and I know that some of you are probably tired of the sheer amount of deals floating around social media and your favorite websites.

I get it. There are countless deals to sift through, and the fatigue is real. However! I figured it was worth throwing together a collection of the deals that our readers here at Windows Central seemed to love the most.

• Shop all Amazon Prime Day deals

At the top of the list, and no surprise in the current console pricing climate, is Seagate's 2TB Storage Expansion Card for the Xbox Series X|S. Although the original Amazon deal expired, you can still save $55 at Newegg.

In second place is Geekom's A7 Max mini PC and its $204 discount available at Best Buy. Third place is unsurprisingly inhabited by a discounted Surface Pro 11; the original deal ran out, but you can still save $300 on a new model at Walmart.

Several other popular sales, including the Xbox Series X, Surface Laptop 7, and Seagate's other capacity expansion cards, are long gone, but the following deals are confirmed to be all in stock as of noon ET on June 26.

Most popular Prime Day deals according to Windows Central readers

More details about the most popular deals at Windows Central

Stop the presses! A laptop maker just announced a price reduction in 2026. Despite the ongoing RAM crisis and component shortage, Framework just dropped the price of the Framework Laptop 13 Pro.

Framework was able to source a new SSD from its partner ADATA that offers better performance and reliability while costing less.

Framework Laptop 13 Pro preorders have not started shipping, so any order that's already been placed has been upgraded to the new SSD and had pricing adjusted.

"This new SSD comes in 1TB and 2TB options, and the 1TB lands at a lower price than the 500GB SSD we had previously qualified, so we will also switch 500GB orders to the 1TB drive at the lower price," explained Framework.

Framework's website did not show the reduced pricing when I drafted this piece, so I can't share the exact costs of the new configurations. I'll update this piece as more information becomes available.

The announcement comes as good news for those shopping for the unique laptop from Framework, but it's a relatively small reprieve from the current financial climate.

Even in Framework's announcement of the price decrease, the PC maker warned that CPU price increases are expected. "We expect that we will need to adjust the overall system price on Framework Laptop 13 Pro in the coming weeks for new orders," said Framework.

Framework dropped its prices on the same day Apple unveiled several price increases, which led to a playful jab. Framework clarified in a follow-up post that the timing of its reductions was coincidental and not in response to Apple.

The unfortunate reality is that many laptop makers have bumped up prices, including Framework. Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and others have all had to raise prices. For a short time, Apple was immune to price hikes due to its stockpile of components, but that is no longer the case.

We shouldn't expect things to improve in the immediate future. When Microsoft announced another wave of price increases to Xbox consoles, the company said it expects another doubling of console storage and memory prices by the fall of 2027. The same factors that contribute to those components doubling in price will affect PC parts.

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If you’ve been waiting for a laptop deal that actually feels like a steal, this is it. The ASUS Vivobook 16 OLED, now just $1,159 (down from $1,599), is one of those rare machines that delivers more than you expect for the price. It’s a 16‑inch notebook with flagship specs, a stunning display, and Intel’s latest Core Ultra 7 processor built for serious performance.

It’s the kind of deal that makes you double‑check the listing to make sure nothing’s missing. Spoiler: nothing is. You get a full‑power H‑series chip, 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and a 3K OLED display in a chassis that’s only 0.55 inches thick and weighs 3.31 pounds.

Why this is a good deal

Laptop prices are heading in the wrong direction. Apple just raised MacBook prices again. Microsoft bumped Xbox console prices literally today. Analysts expect PC hardware costs to keep climbing well into 2027 as AI‑centric chips and premium materials become the new standard.

That’s what makes this Vivobook deal stand out. You’re getting a machine that’s already built for the next generation of computing, complete with Intel’s new Core Ultra 7 processor and a dedicated Copilot key (hey, some people think it's a selling point), at a price that feels normal.

The Core Ultra 7 255H is part of Intel’s new H‑series lineup, designed for high‑performance laptops that can handle creative workloads, gaming, and multitasking without breaking a sweat. Paired with Intel Arc graphics, it’s capable of light gaming, video editing, and productivity tasks that would slow down most midrange systems.

Specs that matter

ASUS didn’t cut corners here. The Vivobook 16 OLED features a 2880×1800 Lumina OLED display that delivers deep blacks, vivid color, and true HDR contrast. It’s the kind of panel that makes everything look better, from spreadsheets to streaming.

Under the hood, you get 32GB of LPDDR5X memory and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, which means instant responsiveness and plenty of space for creative work. The ASUS IceCool Thermal Technology with dual fans and 97 iceblades keeps the system cool even under load, while the 75Wh battery promises up to 16 hours of runtime.

Despite the power, it’s impressively portable. At 0.55 inches thin and 3.31 pounds, it’s lighter than most 16‑inch laptops and built with a reinforced steel frame that feels solid without being bulky.

ASUS also added thoughtful touches: Dolby Atmos audio by Harman Kardon, Wi‑Fi 7 certification, and an RGB ErgoSense keyboard with Windows 11’s new Dynamic Lighting support. It’s a subtle upgrade that makes the laptop feel more premium than its price suggests.

Ready for what’s next

The dedicated Copilot key is a small but telling detail. It’s a sign of where Windows laptops are heading — toward integrated features that help with writing, summarizing, and creative tasks. The Vivobook 16 OLED is ready for that future right out of the box, with Intel’s AI Boost NPU handling on‑device workloads efficiently.

That means faster photo editing, smarter background blur in video calls, and better battery life when using modern Windows features. It’s hardware that will matter as Windows 11 evolves through 2026 and beyond.

The bigger picture

The timing of this deal could not be better. With component costs rising and manufacturers shifting focus to premium laptops, midrange buyers are getting squeezed. The Vivobook 16 OLED breaks that trend by offering flagship performance at a mainstream price.

It’s proof that not every high‑end laptop has to cost two grand. ASUS managed to deliver a machine that feels premium without the markup, and deals like this will only get rarer as the market adjusts to new pricing norms.

Bottom line

If you want a laptop that looks great, runs fast, and feels ready for the next few years, this Vivobook 16 OLED deal is hard to beat. It’s thin, light, powerful, and genuinely premium.

With 32GB of RAM, a 3K OLED display, and Intel’s latest Core Ultra 7 processor, this is the kind of deal that feels like it slipped through the cracks. Grab it before prices catch up.

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It's Prime Day, and that means there are some great Windows laptops on sale not only at Amazon, but also at all major competing retailers. What makes this year's laptop sales more important than others is the fact that all PCs have gone up in price recently due to component shortages.

It's almost unbelievable that I'm seeing up to 54% off laptops using DDR5 RAM, but the proof is in the roundup I've assembled below. These are some of the biggest discounts I've seen in all my 10 years of covering these types of sales.

What makes these deals even sweeter is the fact that Apple just raised the prices of all of its MacBooks this morning. If you want an incredible deal on a new Windows laptop, this is the place to check first.

🔥 Hottest Prime Day Windows laptop deals 🔥

Best Prime Day gaming laptop deals

Best Prime Day laptop accessory deals

Best Prime Day software deals

Did Apple just raise the prices of all of its MacBooks?

Apple just announced on June 25 that it's raising prices across its MacBook lineup.

The MacBook Neo, which took the laptop market by storm, has gone from $599 to $699. That's with 8GB of RAM, no keyboard backlight, and two rather wimpy ports.

MacBook Air models with 512GB of storage have gone up from $1,099 to $1,299, while the MacBook Pro with 1TB of storage has increased from $1,699 to $1,999.

Has there ever been a better time to invest in a discounted Windows laptop with loads of memory and storage?

Amazon Prime Day is taking place as we speak, and other online retails stores are jumping into on the fun with their own sales. HP's online store is one such place, and I've just found an incredible deal on a laptop I just reviewed last week. The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 with Snapdragon is $650 off right now, down to just $1,249 while stocks last!

This is the best HP laptop I've tested in a long while. In fact, I think it's probably the prettiest Windows laptop you can buy right now, complete with a best-in-class display, premium build quality, and much more. For this price, you're getting a great device.

Why is the HP OmniBook Ultra 14 a good laptop?

I've not long published my review of the HP OmniBook Ultra, and I came away very impressed, giving it 5 stars and calling it one of the best Snapdragon laptops this year. Under the hood is Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X2 Plus SoC, which features 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD storage. It's a powerful and efficient chip, easily capable of most day to day productivity tasks, data crunching, and even light video and photo editing.

It features a best-in-class 1080p OLED touchscreen, which features inky deep color contrast and makes images and text pop . It also has an incredible keyboard, and new haptic trackpad that feels great to use.

The device is also super premium. I think it might be the best looking and feeling Windows laptop on the market currently. It's just 2.83lbs in weight, and features a brushed metal finish around the edges that looks simply incredible. The device is also designed in such a way that makes it look incredibly thin when on a desk, which is awesome.

It features three USB-C ports, along with a 3.5mm audio jack. It also has a Windows Hello equipped webcam that shoots good 1080p photo and video. Lastly, the laptop is a power champ, lasting all day on a single charge with ease. For $1,249, you're not getting a better laptop in 2026 than this.

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Buying PC components in 2026 is largely a lesson in frustration. Prices are out of control, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to build new or upgrade your PC. As a fellow PC gamer and build enthusiast, I know how the struggle feels.

While I can't predict when the RAM and SSD crisis will end, I can offer some deals on PC components I found at Amazon Prime Day and Newegg's competing FantasTech sale.

Many of these deals are expected to expire at the end of the day. It is, after all, the last official day of the four-day Prime Day event. My advice? If you're interested in a deal, don't wait much longer!

• All Amazon Prime Day deals
• Laptop deals at Amazon
• Save on PC components at Amazon
• Best Buy "Tech Fest" (Ends June 28)
• Newegg "FantasTech Sale" (Ends June 28)
• Walmart "Deals & More" (Ends June 28)

🔥 Hottest Prime Day PC deals 🔥

Best Prime Day PC bundle deals

Best Prime Day RAM deals

Best Prime Day SSD deals

Best Prime Day CPU deals

Best Prime Day GPU deals

Amazon Prime Day FAQ

Amazon Prime Day is typically the best time to buy new tech during the summer, and it's especially meaningful this year as PC component prices have skyrocketed.

Whether it's summer classes or early prep for a fresh college start in the fall, Amazon Prime Day (and all the other competing sales) is a perfect time to set your student up for success on the cheap.

• Shop all Amazon Prime Day deals

I've combed through the best deals from Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg, and more to come up with this varied list of laptops, monitors, and accessories.

I found quite a list of thin and light PCs starting at just $479 that are perfect for students, and be sure to scroll through to the accessories that complement them!

Update June 25 @ 11:55AM ET: Added a mega $700 discount on a 4TB external SSD! — Cale Hunt

Quick links

• All Amazon Prime Day deals
• Laptop deals at Amazon
• Save on PC components at Amazon
• Best Buy "Tech Fest" (Ends June 28)
• Newegg "FantasTech Sale" (Ends June 28)
• Walmart "Deals & More" (Ends June 28)

Best thin and light laptop deals for students 💻

Best Prime Day accessory deals for students

Prime Day 2026: FAQ

Amazon's Prime Day is an annual event that sees a ton of sales on great tech, but it's certainly not the only event on the go. Competing retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, Newegg, and many more often have better deals on similar products, and I'm always checking the big names for the best prices.

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Amazon Prime Day week is happening right now, which is helping make good Windows 11 PCs more affordable in this current component pricing crisis climate across the entire retail space. With new laptops skyrocketing in price, deals on last-gen products like this Dell XPS 13 with a Snapdragon X Elite for $999 shouldn't be ignored, especially as it comes with 32GB RAM.

With RAM costing so much these days, devices with more than 16GB RAM usually come at a high premium. That makes this deal even more lucrative, as 32GB RAM laptops now often cost north of $1,000, and even more so on flagship devices with premium components and build qualities like the XPS 13.

Is the Dell XPS 13 a flagship laptop?

Powered by the Snapdragon X Elite, with 32GB RAM and 1TB storage, the Dell XPS 13 is an excellent flagship Windows 11 laptop. It has a 13.4-inch OLED display which looks absolutely amazing, and it's paired with Dell's best-in-class haptic trackpad and zero lattice keyboard design which makes the device look very futuristic.

It's a device made out of premium materials that feel great in the hand, including a CNC-machined aluminum chassis. It's one of Dell's thinnest and lightest laptops, coming in at just 2.2lbs and 0.60 inches. It features all day battery life too thanks to efficient Arm SoC that powers things under the hood.

The chip itself is Qualcomm's flagship SoC from 2024, meaning it's perfectly capable for most tasks you'll want to throw at it. It can do light gaming, video and photo editing, and breeze through productivity workflows, heavy multitasking, and more thanks to that added 32GB RAM headroom,

It has two USB4 Type‑C ports supporting DisplayPort and power delivery. Wireless performance is handled by Qualcomm FastConnect 7800, bringing Wi‑Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 for future‑proof networking.

Overall, it's an incredible laptop with lots of power and performance under the hood. And 32GB RAM on a flagship laptop in 2026 for under $1,000 is tough to come by, so I'd snap this deal up while it's still available.

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If you have an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S, you probably need more storage. Having to uninstall a game to install a new game or an update to one of your favorite titles is a hassle.

The Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S is a plug-and-play solution that lets you expand the storage of your console.

Right now, all sizes of the Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S are on sale. The 1TB model costs $189.99 Best Buy (was $249.99), the 2TB version costs $259.99 (was $349.99) at Amazon. Best Buy's deal on the 4TB card drops the price to $549.99 (was $649.99).

Why buy the Seagate Expansion Card?

The Seagate Expansion Card is the simplest way to expand the storage of your console. There's no setup or configuration required to use the card.

Xbox Series X|S games can be massive. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 alone is 161GB, and that's without DLC. The Seagate Expansion Card delivers similar speeds to the native storage of the Xbox Series X|S, so you can store games on the card and play them without having to transfer files around.

The Seagate Expansion Card also supports Quick Resume, which is a feature that lets you pause your game and power down your console and then pick up exactly where you left off when you load the game again.

Considering how big games are and how many great games are available on the Xbox Series X|S and on the way to the consoles, an expansion card of some kind is a must have. The Seagate Expansion Card is the easiest to use, quick enough to play games off, and is a great deal during Prime Day.

Alternative discounts

Prime Day discounts and a deal at Best Buy provide the best prices on the Seagate Expansion Card, but if those deals expire, you can check out these alternatives:

1TB

• $189.99 at Walmart
• $189.99 at Amazon (was $249.99) (appears to be out of stock)

2TB

• $259.99 at Walmart (was $299.99)
• $259.99 at Best Buy (was $349.99)
• $259.99 at Newegg (was $279.99)

FAQ

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Microsoft just announced new versions of its Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch. But rather than a spec bump or a design refresh, the new PCs feature 8GB of RAM.

The ongoing component crisis has led several PC makers to offer laptops with only 8GB of RAM, and that group now includes Microsoft.

While the main focus around the new Surface configurations is pricing, there is a strange side effect to the systems only having 8GB of RAM: neither of them are Copilot+ PCs.

A lighter Windows 11

By having only 8GB of RAM, the new Surface PCs fall short of the Copilot+ PC minimum requirements. As a result, neither PC will ship with or support features like Recall or Click To Do.

I suspect some would view that as a blessing in disguise. Copilot+ PC features take up space on your system that's wasted unless you use the tools.

Here are the exclusive features that ship with Copilot+ PCs, as listed by Microsoft:

• Copilot on Windows
• Recall
• Live Captions with Translations
• Cocreator
• Windows Studio Effects
• Photos

Some of those features are genuinely useful. I recommend trying Windows Studio Effects if your PC supports them.

But some consider Recall and Copilot bloat and would prefer a PC free of those features.

The Copilot+ PC features don't take up that much room. In total, they'll occupy a few hundred MB.

Many Copilot+ PC features are resource intensive, which is why the PCs need more memory. By not including those features, Microsoft almost accidentally made a leaner, more efficient Surface experience.

8GB of RAM on Windows 11

Due to the ongoing memory crisis, PC makers have reintroduced laptops with 8GB of RAM. When Acer announced the Swift Air 14, many were quick to criticize its 8GB of RAM.

It's common to see people claim that a PC with 8GB of RAM is unusable or poor in 2026. Our Cale Hunt tested that claim by stripping down a PC.

Hunt's whole article is worth a read. I'll spoil it for you though: 8GB of RAM was fine.

"That's just not the case. Within reason, running Windows 11 on 8GB of RAM is not only viable but quite enjoyable. Assuming you're not attempting to run some specialized design software or a demanding game, there's quite a bit of memory runway to work with," said Hunt.

The new Surface PCs with 8GB of RAM are not going to handle heavy-duty game or workstation loads, but that's hardly a surprise. Many people could buy and use a Surface Pro or Surface Laptop with 8GB of RAM and never run into any issues.

Shifting away from Copilot+ PC branding

I probably spend more time thinking about Copilot+ PCs than most. The reality is that the brand is net neutral for many. When the ASUS Zenbook A16 earned rave reviews, none of them mentioned that the laptop is a Copilot+ PC.

Microsoft appears to be phasing out the Copilot+ PC brand. When the Surface Laptop Ultra was announced, Microsoft did not mention if it was a Copilot+ PC. The webpage for the Surface Laptop Ultra fails to mention "Copilot+ PC" at all.

The new Surface Pro 12 and Surface Laptop 8 that were announced earlier this month are Copilot+ PCs, but the branding is not featured heavily by Microsoft.

You could take things one step further and say consumers don't care about AI PCs. That's what Dell's head of product suggested earlier this year.

I think most people are neutral toward AI features on their PC, whether those features are connected to the Copilot+ PC brand or not. If tools are out of the way or easy to uninstall, most folks won't mind. Complaints will pop up any time AI is forced onto users.

That being said, it still made me chuckle to see new Surface PCs lack the Copilot+ PC branding. Maybe Microsoft should market them as Copilot - PCs.

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With how high the gaming handheld market's prices are headed lately, I figure that any major deal on any device is worth calling out for my mobile PC gamers.

Standing in stark contrast to the $1,799 MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ that's launching this week is the Lenovo Legion Go S. Regularly priced at $711.13, it's now down to $549.99 (sold out, now $698 at Newegg, or $699 at Walmart) for a limited time during Amazon Prime Day.

This is the lowest price it's ever been, according to CamelCamelCamel, and it's a great opportunity to grab what is likely one of the last affordable gaming handhelds for a while.

• The best hand-picked Amazon Prime Day deals on Windows laptops, PC components, and Xbox gaming hardware chosen by our editors
• See all Prime Day deals at Amazon.com

Our take on the Lenovo Legion Go S

The Legion Go S is available with both Windows 11 and SteamOS operating systems, and we've reviewed both. More on that in a moment.

This model that's on sale for $549.99 (sold out, now $698 at Newegg, or $699 at Walmart) comes with Windows, allowing easy access to features like Xbox Game Pass and third-party launchers, something I sorely miss on my Steam Deck.

It has 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM, 512GB of M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD storage, an 8-inch IPS display with 120Hz variable refresh rate and 1920x1200 resolution, and an AMD Ryzen Z2 Go chip with 4 CPU cores and 12 GPU cores. It is, by all means, a lot of hardware for the asking price.

In both of our reviews, we called out the device's comfortable and polished design, including Hall Effect thumbsticks and overall snappy controls.

We also called out how great the display looks, thanks to its speedy 120Hz refresh rate, 1200p resolution, brightness, and full color.

When we reviewed the Windows 11 version of the Legion Go S in early 2025, we found it hard to justify its relatively high price. That's largely been taken care of with this sale, which drops it to the lowest price I've ever seen.

Battery life also wasn't that spectacular, though Windows has received a lot of attention since our review in terms of improving the handheld experience for performance and efficiency.

And don't think that the OS is permanent. If you're wishing the SteamOS version of the Legion Go S we reviewed were on sale, guess what? You can pick up the more affordable Windows version and replace the OS whenever you want.

Considering just how expensive gaming handhelds have become in recent months — even the most affordable Steam Deck is now sitting at $789 — this is an outstanding deal for anyone who wants to try out mobile PC gaming.

It's not the newest nor the most powerful device on the market, but it's also going to leave a whole lot of budget on the table for buying games.

I have no idea how long the $549.99 price will last (yeah, it sold out, now $698 at Newegg, or $699 at Walmart), so don't wait too long. It does require a Prime membership to cash in, but you can always sign up for a free 30-day trial and cancel before you're charged.

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Anyone who's looked at storage prices recently knows that they're completely out of hand. I've been waiting to add some storage to my gaming PC for about six months now, and it's getting to the point where I'll have to bite at a deal like this one on the Samsung 9100 PRO.

This high-performance M.2 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD comes in 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB configurations, with blazing fast transfer speeds and the regular durability you expect from Samsung.

"Regular" (inflated) prices have been cut by up to 49%, and you can now land a 1TB drive for as low as $206.99. Best part? You don't have to be a Prime subscriber to nab the deal.

• The best hand-picked Amazon Prime Day deals on Windows laptops, PC components, and Xbox gaming hardware chosen by our editors
• See all Prime Day deals at Amazon.com

What makes the Samsung 9100 PRO SSD so good?

The 9100 PRO was Samsung's first shot at a full-fledged PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD, and to say the company nailed the execution is an understatement.

It's theoretically capable of hitting unreal 14,800MB/s read speeds and 13,400MB/s write speeds, and although those numbers may drop a bit in real-world practice, it's still an incredibly fast drive.

Our friends at TechRadar reviewed the 9100 PRO when it launched last year, and it was awarded 4.5 stars and a Recommended Award.

The TL;DR? It's an exceptional drive for professionals who frequently deal with oversized files and who don't want any hiccups in their workflow.

You do, of course, want to pair this drive with a PC that's capable of running a PCIe 5.0 drive to get the most out of it, but it will function at lower speeds in a PCIe 4.0 system. That's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're putting together a new PC piece by piece as sales come and go.

If I do buy one of these drives, I'll most likely go with the 2TB version at $349.99. It's the best value at 49% off, costing less per GB than the 1TB and 4TB versions.

I should also mention that these drives come with a 5-year Samsung warranty to protect your purchase.

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Prime Day has arrived with possibly the quietest fanfare I've ever known since writing for Windows Central, and that's due in no small part to the current state of the tech market. Prices are being hiked left, right, and center, and gaming handhelds have been hit particularly badly by the RAM price hikes. With this in mind, I'm surprised that ASUS is still steaming ahead with this cracking deal on the Xbox ROG Ally, which is down to £379.99 on Amazon. When you compare that to the price of the Steam Deck nowadays, it's a steal for something comparable in performance and with a lot more flexibility.

For playing lower-powered indie games or clearing out your backlog, the two handhelds stand on pretty even footing. The Xbox Ally, however, lets you switch between Steam and Xbox PC natively without requiring hours of tinkering or workarounds. Crucially, it's CHEAPER by a mile.

Why buy the Xbox Ally?

We’re living through unprecedented times for gaming costs, where component shortages and rising demand for AI hardware have driven gaming tech prices to unreachable levels for the average budget gamer. Many of ASUS's competitors have handhelds priced at the same level as a high-end gaming PC (just look at the Lenovo Legion Go 2 prices). Yet with all the price hikes, the standard ASUS ROG Ally has become the single most sensible choice for anyone who just want to play some less demanding games.

To be completely open, I own the ROG Ally X, which is the "beefed-up" premium model, and as someone who mostly plays indie titles and keeps a massive backlog of AA games, I regret spending the extra cash. The standard Ally would have handled everything I threw at it perfectly. Don't make my mistake; save your money for the actual games.

RELATED: Xbox Ally vs Steam Deck which is better?

Sure, this has an entry-level price tag, but for sub-£380, you are getting an AMD Ryzen Z2 A processor,and a really nice 7-inch 1080p screen with 120Hz VRR. Not only that, but while on equal terms with the Steam Deck, the Xbox Ally isn't locked down to the Steam OS, and you can jump between your game libraries. You get a dedicated Xbox button that launches a full-screen, controller-friendly gaming environment, and you can download games natively from Xbox Game Pass, the Epic Games Store, GOG, and EA Play without jumping through hoops.

That being said, there is nothing stopping you from doing a clean install of Steam OS and turning this into a much more ergonomic (and cheaper) Steam Deck. It’s arguably the most comfortable handheld I've ever used.

The Xbox Ally is an outlier right now in the gaming handheld market, and I don't expect the price to stay this low for much longer. With price increases being announced from Lenovo, Valve, and other manufacturers, it does feel like the writing is on the wall with Xbox devices, too. If you want to play your backlog on the settee or on the go without taking out a small loan, the Xbox Ally at £379.99 is the deal to beat this Prime Day.

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Geekom's mini PCs have received some of the highest ratings here at Windows Central and at our sister sites, so I'm always happy to take the opportunity to highlight any available discounts.

Amazon Prime Day has dropped several major deals into my lap this week, with savings ranging from 15% to 33% and prices starting as low as $371. Yes, these are full PCs that only need a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, for only a few hundred dollars.

Whether you're in search of a new PC for home use, a new PC to handle school work, or a new PC to connect to your living room TV for streaming, there's a suitable (and discounted) Geekom mini PC right here.

• See more Geekom Prime Day deals at Amazon US
• See more Geekom Prime Day deals at Amazon UK
• See more Geekom Prime Day deals at Best Buy
• See the best Amazon Prime Day deals as chosen by Windows Central's editors

Which discounted Geekom mini PC should I choose on Prime Day?

The answer to which discounted Geekom mini is right for you depends, of course, on your specific needs.

Those who simply need a capable mini PC to handle general tasks like email, web browsing, streaming, Word, Excel, and the like will be able to get away with spending the least money.

In this case, the Geekom A5 — discounted from $437 to $371 — makes a lot of sense thanks to its AMD Ryzen 5 7430U CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB M.2 SSD. The Geekom A5 Pro or Geekom A6, discounted from $649 to $524, also makes sense if you want a metal chassis, a faster CPU, improved cooling, and USB4 ports.

On the other end of the spectrum is the Geekom A9 Max, featuring a cutting-edge AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and 2TB of M.2 SSD storage. It's comparatively pricey even with a 15% discount, but it's the right choice for gaming and AI workloads.

My personal pick for those shopping during Prime Day is the Geekom A8, sitting near the middle of the pack to balance performance, features, and cost. It's also the mini PC I'd buy a student for use in the dorm room.

Right now, a model with an AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD costs $585 rather than the usual $689. Its memory and storage are both upgradeable after purchase, and the Ryzen chip is rather capable thanks to its 8 cores and 4.9GHz boost clock.

Windows Central's Harish Jonnalagadda reviewed both the Geekom A7 and A8 at the same time, handing them a Best Award and 4.5 stars. He noted,

"Having used the A7 and A8 extensively, the only limitation I can think of is that they have a solitary M.2 slot. There isn't much else that is missing on either model, and they both deliver standout performance in day-to-day productivity tasks as well as demanding image and video editing workflows."

These Geekom deals are expected to run from June 23 until June 26, so don't wait too long if one catches your eye. It's also worth mentioning that deal prices seem to fluctuate depending on stock availability, so early birds might get a better price.

• See more Geekom Prime Day deals at Amazon US
• See more Geekom Prime Day deals at Amazon UK
• See more Geekom Prime Day deals at Best Buy
• See the best Amazon Prime Day deals as chosen by Windows Central's editors

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If you told me a year ago that an Intel‑powered gaming handheld would be sitting on my desk in 2026, absolutely clowning AMD’s best silicon, I’d have told you to lay off the spice. Yet here we are. Computex 2026 teased it, Cale Hunt went hands‑on, and now the retail MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is in front of me.

Let’s be honest: MSI’s first handheld felt like a prototype that slipped out the side door. Instead of giving up, MSI regrouped, teamed up with Intel, and came back with a device that blows past every expectation.

But before we go any deeper, we need to talk about the price. Global supply chain chaos has sent high‑density RAM and NAND costs into orbit, and premium hardware is paying the bill. In a sane market, this machine would likely land around $1,299. Instead, it’s $1,799 at Best Buy—firmly in ultra‑premium territory.

Is it worth the jump? Let’s break it down.

MSI and Intel had no input, nor did they see the contents of this review prior to publication.

Specs and Configuration Options

Under the hood, MSI has radically re-architected its core layout, abandoning general-purpose laptop chips to pivot entirely to handheld-optimized architecture.

Design, Ergonomics, and Upgradeability

The physical layout of the Claw 8 EX AI+ is a massive love letter to Xbox fans. MSI completely reshaped the side chassis into a beautifully sloped, flared grip design that heavily mimics the curvature of an official Xbox controller. It contours perfectly to the natural resting shape of your hands, making extended, multi-hour gaming sessions an absolute breeze.

Even better, the actual weight distribution is the sweet spot. Coming in at 785 grams, the Claw 8 EX AI+ feels surprisingly nimble in the hands. When compared directly to the behemoth scale of something like the Lenovo Legion Go 2 at 854g/1.88lbs (it has a kickstand for a reason, folks)—which goes out of its way to adopt a massive, thick, and substantially heavy tablet aesthetic to accommodate its 8.8-inch display.

The MSI variant is vastly easier to slip into a travel bag without feeling like you packed a concrete brick. (Trust me, I've ditched Legion Go 2 for travel multiple times, but it's awesome on the couch).

On the upgrade front, MSI has finally listened to reviewers. The storage slot has graduated to a full-sized M.2 2280 slot, meaning you aren’t locked into paying premium prices for tiny, obscure storage drives. Pop out six standard Phillips head screws on the back shell cover, and you can swap out the internal SSD in less than five minutes.

RAM, however, is integrated, but 32GB should be enough.

Display

The Claw 8 EX AI+’s 8‑inch screen is one of the system’s strongest components. MSI uses a roomy 16:10 panel at a crisp FHD+ (1920x1200), giving you about 38% more usable space than comparable 7‑inch handhelds—huge for readability and UI-heavy games.

The IPS-level touchscreen hits 500 nits and covers 100% of sRGB for vivid, accurate color. Its standout feature, though, is native VRR from 48Hz to 120Hz, letting the display track fluctuating frame rates in real time to eliminate tearing and micro‑stutters for consistently smooth gameplay.

At this price tier, the lack of an OLED panel is the one obvious drawback. If you bounce between this and a Steam Deck OLED, you’ll notice the missing infinite contrast and true blacks in a dark room. But once you’re actually in a game and pushing high, stable refresh rates, the brightness and responsiveness take over. The gray floors fade from your mind, and the experience becomes all about the smooth, fast motion on screen.

Buttons, Joysticks, and Elite Audio

Controls are a premium highlight here. MSI went all-in on specialized Hall-Effect analog sticks and triggers. Because they utilize magnetic positioning instead of physical carbon contacts, the threat of stick drift is permanently eradicated. The action on the triggers feels smooth and progressively weighted, while the face buttons feature beautifully rounded edge boundaries to keep your thumbs from feeling sore after hammering out combos.

The standard directional pad also received a massive overhaul, implementing a tactile metal dome component underneath the casing. It delivers an incredibly clicky, distinct feedback loop that completely wipes away the mushy, missed-input sensations from past generations.

There's no capacitive touchpad for mouse cursor control in Windows or precision aiming. Do I care? No, I turned it off on Legion Go 2, but I get how some people want it, so I'm mentioning it here.

Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, is the acoustic and haptic transformation. Historically, speakers and vibrating feedback have been clear weak points across MSI’s portable portfolio. Not anymore. The dual 2W speaker array outputs genuine, punchy high-res audio that maintains depth even at high volume levels.

Paired with an upgraded Voice Coil Motor (VCM) driving refined HD haptics, the physical immersion matches anything currently on the market.

With Bluetooth Core 6.0 and LE Audio onboard, pairing wireless earbuds like the Galaxy Buds4 delivers low‑latency, battery‑friendly audio with no noticeable delay. The Claw 8 EX AI+ also supports Windows 11 Super Wideband Stereo, so your sound won’t collapse into muddy mono when you’re using a mic for in‑game chat. And with Shared Audio broadcasting, you can stream to multiple compatible earbuds at once with zero hassle.

Performance: Intel Arc G3 Extreme Crowned King

As a nerdy refresher, the Intel Arc G3 Extreme is Intel's very first purpose-built SoC engineered from the ground up specifically for handheld gaming form factors. Rather than simply shoving a generic, power-hungry laptop processor into a portable shell, Intel completely re-architected this silicon to optimize the power-to-performance ratio at typical handheld wattages. It cleverly shifts the hardware balance directly toward graphics throughput by scaling up to 12 Xe-cores on its Xe3-based B390 GPU while dropping the heavy CPU core count down to just two performance cores. This intentional asymmetry leaves massive thermal and electrical headroom for its 96 integrated XMX AI Engines to work their upscaling magic.

Better yet, the chip introduces Intelligent Bias Control (IBC) v3.5. This proprietary firmware engine perfectly optimizes power sharing between the CPU and GPU, and it even utilizes a clever trick called "P-core parking" to turn off the power-hungry performance cores entirely at 14W and under, ensuring your battery juice goes where it matters most: pumping out maximum frame rates.

For the past few years, AMD has comfortably monopolized premium mobile gaming graphics, but Intel’s new XeSS architecture drops an absolute tactical nuke on that narrative.

3DMark Time Spy & Synthesis Testing

Look at our lab-tested benchmarks below:

• MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ (Intel Arc G3 Extreme): 6,726
• ASUS Xbox Ally X (Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme): 4,029
• MSI Claw 8 AI+ (Intel Core Ultra 7 258V): 3,882
• Lenovo Legion Go 2 (Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme): 3,795

A score of 6,726 on a handheld profile is a jaw-dropping result, representing an aggregate jump that flies completely past AMD's flagship Z2 Extreme silicon.

3DMark Fire Strike & Torture Run Results

To push this chip further, I threw the classic Fire Strike benchmark at the Arc B390 GPU. The results speak for themselves:

• Fire Strike Overall Score: 13,340
• Graphics Score: 16,735
• Physics Score: 24,513

The monitoring loop stayed remarkably consistent, and 3DMark’s integrated engine estimates real-world game performance for titles like Battlefield V at a smooth 120+ FPS at 1080p Ultra settings.

Geekbench 6 Compute & General Performance

The AI Engine acts as the device's intelligent, set-and-forget autopilot, leveraging real-time behavioral analysis to dynamically adjust power settings and hardware configurations (defaulting to a flexible 25W ceiling during gaming) to maximize performance on the fly.

In stark contrast, Endurance mode is a highly restricted efficiency preset designed strictly to squeeze out every drop of battery life. While the AI Engine dynamically scales performance upwards to match the game's demands, shifting to Endurance mode clamps the platform down to a rigid 15W target and automatically triggers Intel’s Endurance Gaming profile, enforcing a stable 30 FPS cap on battery to extend your playtime up to 11 hours on lighter titles.

Here's what that looks like in Geekbench:

• MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ (Intel G3 Extreme - AI Engine): Multi-Core: 13,210 / Single-Core: 2,574
• MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ (Intel G3 Extreme - Endurance): Multi-Core: 10,129 / Single-Core: 1,983

Even under a highly restricted energy curve, the restricted multi-core target hits 10,129, keeping processing capability completely clear of bottleneck thresholds.

Turning to the SSD, storage performance is similarly blinding, with CrystalDiskMark validating peak sequential read limits hitting a clean 6,997 MB/s.

Intel XeSS Feature Test & In-Game Frame Rates

The true magic happens when you leverage Intel's hardware-level AI upscaling. Running the native 3DMark Intel XeSS Feature Test (using XeSS 1.3.1 Balanced at a 2.0x scaling factor) shows exactly what the architecture is capable of:

• XeSS Off: 26.82 FPS
• XeSS On: 51.80 FPS
• Performance Explosion: +93.2%

Real-world gaming translates perfectly to these synthetic gains. Launching the graphically punishing 007 First Light with the console dialed directly into its integrated AI Engine mode, I ran natively at full 1920x1200 resolution at High settings and consistently locked down a blisteringly fast 130+ FPS when plugged in.

Even more absurd was the experience playing LEGO Batman: Legacy of The Dark Knight. The game regularly hit 150 FPS with fluid frame pacing.

How is 150 FPS beneficial on a physical 120Hz panel profile? It comes down to Intel's XeSS 3 Multi-Frame Generation (XeSS-MFG) engine. The chip utilizes internal AI matrices to interpolate synthetic smoothing frames directly between every traditionally rendered frame. Because the platform features a hardware-level Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) window extending up to 120Hz, pushing frames above the panel refresh ceiling completely eliminates frame delivery micro-stuttering, ensuring ultra-responsive inputs and perfect pacing.

Of course, results for XeSS will vary based on the game (if it's supported), whether you're plugged in, and what modes (including custom) you have set. I did have some mixed results with DOOM: The Dark Ages, which was running above 60 FPS one night, but fell below 30 on the next level despite XeSS being enabled.

To understand how big a leap Intel’s Arc G3 Extreme really is, look at this custom Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark. On AMD handhelds like the ROG Ally X or Legion Go 2, turning on ray tracing usually drops you into a sub‑30 FPS slideshow even at a soft 720p. Here, the Claw 8 EX AI+ is running at its full 1920×1200 resolution on the Ray Tracing: Low preset with XeSS Super Resolution 2.0 set to Auto, and it still averages 46.6 FPS with a minimum of 38.1 FPS.

See a clip from Cyberpunk 2077 with the above settings on the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ below:

This is where the Arc B390 GPU and its 12 dedicated Ray Tracing Units show their advantage. Instead of choking on ray‑traced shadows and lighting, the G3 Extreme architecture handles the workload with an efficiency AMD’s current mobile silicon cannot match.

Holding a stable, genuinely playable 40+ FPS at 1200p with ray tracing enabled is unheard of for any other handheld today, and it proves Intel did not just build a faster chip. They built a smarter one.

When you stack the Claw up against Valve’s Steam Machine, the hardware contrast becomes even more fascinating. Looking at the benchmark breakdown above, both devices run neck-and-neck in single-core metrics (a 2,574 for the Claw versus a 2,579 for the Steam Machine's Custom APU), but the Intel Arc G3 Extreme leaves Valve in the absolute dust on multi-threaded workloads, flexing an eye-watering multi-core score of 13,210 over the Steam Machine’s 8,680. This doesn't even account for the GPU difference, which will also favor Intel.

Unfortunately, much like the Claw, the Steam Machine (starting at $1,049) is a premium engineering marvel suffering from historically terrible macroeconomic timing—both launched directly into a brutal global supply crunch that bloated retail pricing, making a direct cost comparison a bit of an exercise in wallet masochism. It's a cosmic shame that, through no fault of their own, bad timing and bloated component markets might prevent casual players from seeing just how hard this new Intel portable silicon kicks.

Manual Mode: For the Tinkers (But You Really Don't Need It)

For the hardware purists who insist on micromanaging their silicon, MSI Center M includes a robust Manual mode that unlocks granular sliders for the chip's PL1 and PL2 power levels.

For the uninitiated, PL1 (Power Limit 1) dictates the maximum sustained wattage the processor can draw during long-term gameplay, while PL2 (Power Limit 2) establishes the absolute ceiling for short-term burst power. In Manual mode, you can crank PL1 up to 35W and push PL2 to a blistering 45W to squeeze every single drop of performance out of a heavy title—just make sure PL2 stays at least 2W higher than PL1 so Intel’s power management algorithms don't choke. Alternatively, you can drop them into the single digits to slam the brakes on power consumption for lighter indie titles.

However, a quick note for the average reader: I rarely ever touched Manual mode. I use a gaming handheld to actually play games, not to spend 30 minutes acting like an IT admin configuring power registries before launching a level. Thankfully, you don't have to. The default AI Engine setting is brilliantly "set it and forget it," handling the heavy lifting and power shifting so smoothly on the fly that it renders manual tweaking strictly optional for anyone who values their free time.

But hey, cool on Intel and MSI for making it easy to go all out and tweak the chip!

Thermals and Fan Noise

High performance doesn't mean a melted chassis. Thanks to MSI's custom Cooler Boost HyperFlow architecture (love these names, btw)—which seals internal pathways to draw cold air directly over hotspots while isolating grip boundaries—this device stays remarkably chilly.

Our FLIR thermal array capture maps external chassis heat dissipation flawlessly under extended benchmarking loops:

• Front grip surface area: 96.3°F or 35.7°C (Perfect comfort territory)
• Rear grip chassis boundary: 92°F or 33.3°C (Literally cooler than your own body temperature)
• Display base intersection hotspot: 106.5°F or 41.4°C (Warm to the touch, but completely out of micro-stuttering finger range)
• Recessed exhaust vent interior: 130°F or 54.4°C (Where the actual dragon spirit lives, safely away from your hands)

The physical thermal reading confirms your hands remain entirely cool, completely isolated from internal hotspots. While the localized zone at the very base of the display glass reads at 106.5°F, it remains warm rather than hot, safely out of reach during normal use.

Even measuring directly inside the deep-set cooling channels yields 130°F, yet the felt air volume dissipates cleanly away from you. The internal acoustic profile is equally stellar: the dual fans emit a gentle, low-frequency airflow "whoosh" instead of a whiny, high-pitched jet engine shriek.

Software, Connectivity, and the Mini-PC Hybrid Trick

MSI Center M has matured beautifully, but can still be a bit awkward, and I hope to see some improvements (I may end up adding Winhanced at some point). The software utility integrates seamlessly across massive digital clients including Steam, Xbox, Epic, and Battle.net. It's simple and basic, but the whole Windows 11/launcher/various gaming libraries thing/switching is still a bit underbaked, but making improvements.

Triggering the native full-screen Xbox mode layout overlay brings up a clean, translucent quick-access console dashboard that only handles half the panel layout, avoiding disruptive gameplay pauses. They did a great job here.

From this single overlay window, a user can instantly adjust hardware properties:

• Swap operational profiles on the fly between AI Engine, Endurance, or full user-defined Manual tuning controls.
• Purge non-essential active memory via Free Up Memory sweeps.
• Fire up high-bitrate screen recording capture or toggle ambient Mystic Light RGB analog stick arrays.

The long‑standing Windows Modern Standby curse is finally gone. As far as I can tell, putting the Claw 8 EX AI+ to sleep with the fingerprint/power button triggers a proper hibernate state, or rather, the buttons/triggers/joystick don't wake it. But when I hit that button, it stays off and standby battery drain was minimal, which is a nice change.

The fingerprint reader can be a little picky about angle, but once you get the feel for it, it’s fast and consistent.

Intel's Wi-Fi 7 R2 on here is a beast. I have a Wi-Fi 7 router (TP-Link Tri-Band BE19000), and this thing just sucked down so much data when downloading big games like Cyberpunk 2077 that it even affected my TV streaming. Good stuff.

My only gripe is that, for some reason, my Xbox games are not showing up in MSI Center M, though I can, of course, access them via the Xbox app. I chalk this up to some early bugs, and hopefully some updates will iron those out.

The Ultimate Dual-Use Mini-PC Killer

Because this is an Intel architecture design instead of AMD, you get dual full-bandwidth Thunderbolt 4 ports. This unlocks a highly lucrative dual-use scenario. Dropping the Claw 8 EX AI+ onto a single-cable desk setup completely transforms the handheld experience into a premium desktop workstation environment.

When stacked up against custom high-end discrete desktop boxes like the Geekom A9 Max AI Mini PC (which utilizes mobile AMD Ryzen AI architecture), the Claw 8 EX AI+ matches or exceeds its functional productivity output while preserving complete, uncompromised on-the-go portability. It's a phenomenally versatile desktop replacement machine.

While the A9 Max AI outpaces the Arc G3 Extreme in CPU (see above), I'm confident the reverse will be true for GPU performance and the Intel B390 (we'll try to get some actual comparisons in an update to this).

Battery Life

The massive 80Whr ultra-capacity battery module integrated inside the shell handles power delivery exceptionally well.

Testing the console under heavy loads while running on the custom Endurance Mode setting—which dynamically caps rendering properties and shifts core priority to energy-efficient architecture—and maintaining screen brightness at a very vivid 45% setting (roughly 225 nits of total display output), the platform delivered a solid 3.5 hours of continuous triple-A gameplay. Switching over to casual indie titles or retro emulation easily pushes the operational lifespan past the 5-hour mark.

Final Verdict: Should You Buy It?

Look, if your bank account can handle the entry point and you are looking for absolute top-tier, uncompromised technical performance in a highly ergonomic package, yes, absolutely buy it. Intel and MSI have created a generational performance jump that sets a brand-new benchmark for portable PC gaming. The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is friggin' awesome.

If you're a normal working Joe, then of course not; that'd be financially irresponsible.

And that's my only real regret with the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+: a vast majority of gamers won't be able to experience it. This device is THE watershed milestone our portable community has spent years waiting for—a true, uncompromised hardware revelation where you can load a visually dense, modern triple-A blockbuster and play it at 100+ FPS in the palm of your hand without a single structural sacrifice.

MSI and Intel have finally delivered the holy grail payload we've been begging for from day one. It is an absolute masterpiece of engineering brilliance, hitting the market at a time when raw component pricing is absolutely screwing it up. If you have the enthusiast means to jump on it, don't hesitate. This is the future, right now.

Microsoft is now selling new configurations of the Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch with 8GB RAM in an attempt to quell the ongoing component pricing crisis that has seen the cost of Surface PCs skyrocket in recent months. These new affordable models will now start at $849 for the Surface Pro and $949 for the Surface Laptop.

Outside of the new RAM configuration, nothing else is new with these devices. These are still the 1st Edition models of the Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch, powered by Qualcomm's now last-gen Snapdragon X Plus, along with 256GB of storage. These devices originally launched with 16GB RAM at $799 and $899, but saw price hikes to over $1,000 earlier this year.

Now that Microsoft has introduced models with less RAM, the company has been able to bring pricing back below $1,000. The company has been working to ensure Windows 11 is better optimized to run on devices with less than 16GB RAM, including disabling things like Widgets and other under the hood optimizations.

Of course, these new configurations also don't have any Copilot+ PC AI capabilities, as one of the requirements for that is a minimum of 16GB RAM. That means Windows 11 will be lighter right out of the gate, as it doesn't have to deal with all the advanced AI features that ship as part of PCs with higher RAM configurations.

Microsoft will continue to sell models with 16GB RAM for those who want to splash out on something a little more capable, but for many who just need a computer for basic tasks and workflows, the 8GB configurations should be fine enough. The good news is if you're not sure if 8GB is enough, the Microsoft Store offers a 60 day return policy, giving you plenty of time to buy the device and try it out before committing.

The new 8GB RAM options only appear to apply to the midrange Surface Laptop 13-inch and Surface Pro 12-inch. The flagship Surface Laptop 8th Generation and Surface Pro 12th Generation are not currently available with 8GB RAM configurations, meaning they still start with 16GB RAM for $1,499.

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Amazon Prime Day hit the ground running with a great deal on the Surface Pro 11. A 13% discount on the 2-in-1 slashes $134.55 off the PC.

For $869.99, you get a Surface Pro 11 with a Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and an OLED display.

Why buy the Surface Pro 11?

The Surface Pro 11 is an incredible 2-in-1 PC that defines the category. It features the traditional design with a kickstand and detachable keyboard that Microsoft pioneered and perfected.

This model runs on a Snapdragon X Elite, which provides all-day battery life and great performance when plugged in or running on battery power.

Usually, you'd have to pay for premium specs across the board to get an OLED display, but this Amazon Exclusive version of the Surface Pro 11 gets you a better screen at a discount.

"Overall, it’s an incredible 13-inch display," said our Editor-in-Chief Daniel Rubino. He added, "OLED delivers those super dark blacks with excellent contrast, and HDR600 makes movies and video games much better."

This Surface Pro 11 runs on a Snapdragon X Elite processor. While Qualcomm has released newer Snapdragon X2 chips, the Snapdragon X Elite is still great in 2026.

Is this a good time to buy the Surface Pro 11?

It's been a tough year for PC shoppers. The base prices of Surface PCs went up significantly back in April, and prices back then were already higher than at launch.

It's not all Microsoft's fault. The ongoing RAM crisis and component shortage has caused price hikes by several PC makers. But the widespread nature of high pricing doesn't make it any easier to afford a PC.

The Prime Day discount stands out for two reasons. First, this is an Amazon Exclusive model due to its combination of 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Second, Amazon slashed the price of the Surface Pro 11 by over $140.

This particular configuration hits the key specs you need without making you overpay. While you can get by with 8GB of RAM on a Windows 11 PC, 16GB will provide a better experience. 256GB of storage is a bit small, but with OneDrive and other cloud storage options, it's okay.

I'd rather have 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage than 8GB of RAM and more storage.

The price of this Surface Pro 11 stands out even more when you look at other "offers." Browsing around online retailers and even checking other configurations at Amazon shows how high PC prices have crept over the years.

FAQ

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It's Amazon Prime Day week, which means computers that have recently become overpriced because of the on-going component pricing crisis are back down to reasonable levels of cost, but only for a limited time. This deal on Beelink's excellent SER9 Pro for $626 caught my attention, after reviewing it last year and calling it an all-round excellent device.

If you're in the market for a new mini PC, now is the perfect time to get one. Mini PCs are great these days, with great performance and good thermals. And you can't go wrong with Beelink!

Should you buy the Beelink SER9 Pro?

The Beelink SER9 Pro is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 H 255, and this deal specifically is configured with 24GB RAM and 500GB storage.

Beelink also sells a seperate dock accessory called the Mate Mini that adds an additional set of ports and two more M.2 SSD slots for $99, and it's designed in a way that lets you sit the dock underneath the device, making it seem more integrated.

The PC itself is compact, premium, and very well built. It has a metal chassis which feels great to touch, and it's roughly the size of a Mac mini M4, though a touch larger at 135 x 135 x 44.7mm.

The device has plenty of ports, including a USB-C port and USB-A port on the front, along with a 3.5mm audio jack. Around the back, there are three additional USB-A ports, another USB-C port, a second 3.5mm audio jack, a 2.5Gb ethernet port, HDMI 2.1, and DisplayPort 1.4. Needless to say, there is plenty of I/O on this mini PC.

It's a great performant mini PC that's good for productivity workflows and some creative professional workflows such as video and photo editing. It can even do some light gaming, but it's not a dedicated gaming machine.

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Amazon Prime Day week is here, which means now is the perfect time to buy a new Windows computer for a reasonable price given the ongoing component pricing crisis which has forced PCs to skyrocket in price over the last few months. Right now, you can grab Microsoft's incredible Surface Laptop 7 for just $834 at Amazon, a saving of $514 over its current not-on-sale price.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is technically a last-gen product now, originally launching in 2024, but that doesn't make it any less good. I called it the laptop form factor perfected when I reviewed mine in 2024, and I stand by that claim even to this day.

Why buy the Surface Laptop 7 in 2026?

Powered by the Snapdragon X Plus, with 16GB RAM and 256GB upgradable storage, the Surface Laptop 7 is perfectly equipped to handle your day to day tasks with ease. It's the perfect productivity laptop, complete with a bright and crisp touchscreen display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a best-in-class keyboard and haptic trackpad, and enough ports to satisfy.

What's most impressive about the Surface Laptop 7 however is its battery life. The Snapdragon X Plus is a very energy efficient chip, which means the laptop sips on power in most workflows. You can get through a workday on a single charge with no problems, and can probably make it into the second day before needing to juice up.

It also features reliable sleep and wake, something not all Windows laptops are good at. Plus, it's a Copilot+ PC, which means it features advanced AI features like Click To Do, on-device live translations, semantic search which makes finding apps, files, and documents easier, and much more.

Although the Surface Laptop 8 is now out with the latest silicon from Qualcomm, it is significantly more expensive, starting at $1,599. I think for that price, the Laptop 8 simply isn't worth it, especially when the Laptop 7 is $834. For significantly less, you're getting pretty much the same device, without burning a hole in your wallet!

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The final part of Amazon Prime Day is here, as the annual shopping event continues. The entire thing ran from June 23 to today, June 26, 2026. We all knew that most brands wouldn't strictly follow those dates anyway, and competing retailers were eager to start discounts a little earlier, and likely stretching them even later, depending on stock availability (and price wars will continue throughout).

I've seen deals on Windows laptops, Microsoft Surface PCs, desktop pre-builds, and everything related to gaming across Xbox (including the Series X console) and cross-compatible devices for years now. My colleagues and I have always separated the real bargains from the price-inflated chaff, and we'll always highlight the genuine best savings on Windows Central.

• Shop all Amazon Prime Day deals

To keep it simple for those in a rush (and frankly, who isn't), I'll hand-pick the absolute best of the best here, in an easy-to-browse list that keeps you up to date. If you've had your eyes on components to build your own computer, or you're ready to replace a long-serving Surface, keep this page bookmarked and check in before committing to any purchase.

Plus, if you don't have an Amazon Prime membership, you might even be eligible for a free 6-month "Prime for Young Adults" trial (exclusive to 18-24 year-olds and students).

Quick links

• All Amazon Prime Day deals
• Laptop deals at Amazon
• Save on PC components at Amazon
• Best Buy "Tech Fest" (Ends June 28)
• Newegg "FantasTech Sale" (Ends June 28)
• Walmart "Deals & More" (Ends June 28)

🔥 Hottest deals 🔥

💻 Windows PC deals 💻

🎮 Xbox deals 🎮

🖥️ PC gaming deals 🖥️

• Back to the top ⤴

Prime Day 2026: Frequently Asked Questions

Amazon Prime Day is a sales event that isn't tied to any federal holiday, and it isn't even restricted to any particular dates. Amazon decides the dates, and brands generally follow suit with discounts that coincide with the multi-day occasion. Naturally, there's no implication of exclusivity, so Amazon isn't always the cheapest place to buy. Its fiercest rivals are practically guaranteed to run suspiciously similar events at the same time, and 2026 is no exception, with Best Buy, Newegg, Walmart, and more joining in.

In a surprise update, Xbox has begun displaying an "Xbox Handheld" logo on some game pages, including Gears of War: E-Day, Halo: Campaign Evolved, and more. To be fair, this isn't all that surprising. Xbox already indicates whether a game is handheld-optimised within the Xbox app, but it's still a neat graphic that makes it immediately clear where a game can be played.

Now, forgive me while I go off on a slightly speculative tangent, one that I also saw VideoCardz explore. Rumors have been swirling for a while about Xbox developing its own in-house handheld, and personally, that's the device I really want to see. While I appreciate features like Xbox Play Anywhere, not being able to access my entire Xbox library on my Xbox Ally X pains my soul every time I turn the thing on.

Honestly, I'll be pretty gutted if that device ends up stuck on the back burner and never sees the light of day, which is entirely possible given the current state of the industry. Memory prices remain stubbornly high, and hardware costs in general are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, something even Xbox CEO, Asha Sharma bluntly admits herself.

Back on topic, though, Xbox being upfront about exactly where its games can be played is a nice touch. Realistically, the Xbox Handheld tag is probably just a reference to devices like the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X, one of which is even showcased beneath the badge itself.

Still, seeing that label gives me some confidence that a game has been optimized well for portable hardware and beyond. It also gives me hope for those out there still rocking a Steam Deck. While Valve's handheld isn't officially listed, the Z2 Go powering the Xbox Ally isn't in a completely different league, and if a game can run well on one handheld, that's usually a good sign for optimization in general.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the new Xbox Handheld badge in the comments below, and be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 this week, but thanks to a confusing naming scheme and the lack of an event or stream, the new PCs have not drawn the attention they deserves.

Those who paid attention and saw the announcements may have experienced sticker shock, since the new Surface devices are at least $500 more expensive than their predecessors. Microsoft will include a free keyboard to ease the pain, but still.

This week marked the third time this year that Microsoft announced new Surface PCs, and I feel cheated. This isn't how Surface week is supposed to feel.

Biggest News of the Week

Microsoft has announced a whopping six Surface devices this year. But information trickled out in a series of press releases. No on-stage event. No live stream. No buzz.

I can understand Microsoft skipping a Surface event when there's little to announce. In a couple of previous years, there's been little to talk about. But in just the first half of 2026, Microsoft unveiled:

• Surface Laptop Ultra powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark
• Surface Pro 12 for Business and Surface Pro 12 for consumers
• Surface Laptop 8 for Business and Surface Laptop 8 for consumers
• Surface RTX Spark Dev Box

Those PCs aren't just spec bumps. They include two new form types of PCs for the Surface family (a true clamshell workstation and a mini PC), and the latest components from Intel, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm.

The Surface Laptop 8 for Business has an innovative privacy screen that should make non-business users jealous. The new consumer Surface hardware runs on the Snapdragon X2 Elite. The Surface Laptop Ultra runs NVIDIA's RTX Spark superchip and Windows on Arm.

Microsoft had the partners, internals, form factors, and unique features to fill a keynote. Instead, inboxes were filled with emails of spec sheets and basic information.

Shopping with Sean

The new Surface Pro 12 and Surface Laptop 8 are beautiful machines, but I think it's hard to justify their price. Instead, I suggest a Dell XPS 13 with a Snapdragon X Elite and 32GB of RAM.

If you do get a Surface Pro, the discounted Surface Pro Flex Keyboard is worth grabbing. It can be used wirelessly or when physically attached and features a large haptic trackpad.

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It feels like PC prices are climbing by the day, so it's refreshing to see a premium laptop like the XPS 13 on sale for $999.99. For that price, you get a Snapdragon X Elite and a whopping 32GB of RAM. At a time when laptop makers are resurrecting options with just 8GB of RAM for only a little bit less, the XPS 13 is quite the bargain.

Why buy the Dell XPS 13 (9345)?

Our Alexander Cope highlighted the best XPS discounts available through Dell right now, but the savings on the XPS 13 stood out. Getting any PC with 32GB of RAM for under $1,000 is rare these days, let alone an excellent laptop.

The XPS 13 easily delivers all-day battery life. It managed over 19.5 hours in a battery test done for our XPS 13 review. Of course, your results will vary depending on your workload. That test ran Microsoft Office on a loop. But even in real-world usage, our Zac Bowden took about 10 hours of constant heavy use to drain the XPS 13 from 100% to 15%.

This XPS 13 has the futuristic design many have come to know and love. That means a zero-lattice keyboard, a haptic trackpad, and extremely thin bezels. It's the pinnacle of this era of XPS computing, packing power and performance into a compact form factor unlike anything else on the market.

I don't want to bore you with a history lesson of the XPS lineup. Instead, I'll just say the new XPS 13 that came out this year is very different and aimed at a different type of customer.

The XPS 13 that's on sale for $999.99 has a Snapdragon X Elite processor, 32GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. It pairs those internals with a lovely 2K, 120Hz display that can reach 500 nits of brightness.

If you want to upgrade, models with other display options are also $400 off. The 3K OLED screen is worth a hard look.

I love this version of the XPS 13. It took Dell years of refinement to get here, and the laptop maker should be proud. For my money, this XPS 13 is worth more than the new XPS 13 or any other laptop at this price.

FAQ

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If you're into portable gaming, there's a chance you might not have heard of the Winhanced launcher yet. It's worth your attention, though, and I've covered it quite extensively in the past. It essentially acts as a full replacement for Steam's "Big Picture Mode" or the still-improving Xbox mode on Windows-based handhelds, like the fantastic Xbox Ally X.

The launcher is still in active development and hasn't quite reached version 1.0 yet. Despite that, the team has continued working hard behind the scenes, delivering a steady stream of impressive features in version 0.9.8.9. Before I get into the latest changes, let me praise what Winhanced actually brings to your Windows handheld.

At its core, Winhanced compiles your entire gaming library into a single interface. It supports Steam, Xbox, Epic Games Store, GOG, and even retro emulators, making it far easier to keep track of everything you own without constantly jumping between different applications.

As impressive as that is, one of the platform's standout features is something called Smart Profiles. These are community-created game configurations designed to help you get the best possible performance from your hardware. At the time of writing, support has already expanded to more than 50 games, including 007 First Light, ARC Raiders, Baldur's Gate 3, and more.

Another feature I particularly like is the ability to view your friend lists across multiple platforms in one place. Winhanced currently supports Steam, Xbox, and Discord, with additional services planned for the future, making it much easier to keep track of who's online regardless of where they play.

Now, I've mentioned features the launcher already does well, but the team hasn't stopped there. More recently, they've updated game cards, adding support for achievements across Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and GOG, all presented through a controller-friendly interface that's easy to navigate.

While game streaming isn't really my thing, the developers have continued to expand support there as well, with the latest update adding 16:10 and 21:9 aspect ratio options for streaming. Outside of that, the team has also added button remapping, improvements to the launcher's visuals, smoother performance, cleaner animations, and a more consistent design language throughout the entire experience.

I could easily spend another few hundred words singing Winhanced's praises, but instead, I'd recommend joining the Winhanced Discord, asking questions, and giving it a try for yourself. If you like what the team is building, you can also support development through Winhanced's Patreon and help fund future updates.

With that said, what do you think of the latest additions? Are these updates enough to convince you to give Winhanced a shot, or are there still features you'd like to see added before making the switch?

Let me know in the comments below, and be sure to take part in our poll below:

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I'm not a naysayer of VR; I've used it plenty over the years and had a lot of enjoyment. But one of the issues I've always had is fatigue, purely from hanging these things off my head for extended periods.

Be it the Meta Quest lineup or the last PC VR headset I owned, the now-defunct Lenovo Explorer (RIP Windows Mixed Reality), the form factor and the weight ultimately turned me off.

At the recent Sim Racing Expo in Charlotte, I had my first chance to try out the Pimax Dream Air, a high-end, PC VR headset that's smaller and lighter than anything I've ever worn before. All while preserving the quality of the image inside the headset, which is easily up there with the best I've ever seen.

It's not cheap. Not at all. If you're looking for budget-friendly VR, you'll still want to look at a Meta Quest 3S.

But for more serious VR players, specifically here looking towards Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 or sim racers in titles such as iRacing, aka experiences where you'll be inside VR for much longer, I think this could be a winner.

Lightness makes a huge difference (to me) for VR

The Pimax Dream Air isn't the lightest headset out there; there's still one from Bigscreen that has it beaten there. But compared to the likes of the well-known kings of the space, like the Meta Quest 3, it's night and day.

The Pimax Dream Air is around 170g for the headset, compared to the 515g of the Meta Quest 3 (and a hair lighter than this for the Meta Quest 3S). You could wear three of the Pimax headsets and still be under the weight of a single Meta Quest 3. That's significant.

Of course, as it's a PC VR headset, it doesn't have all the computer bits inside that a Meta Quest 3 does, which certainly helps. But the form factor combined with this lack of weight means it's extremely comfortable.

The bulk of my previous iRacing career was done using VR, partly for immersion, but more so because I don't have space for massive screens. But with the Lenovo Explorer, which at the time was one of the lightest headsets around, I couldn't race for more than an hour because I just started to feel uncomfortable. This meant I couldn't really take on longer races.

I'm not saying the same wouldn't eventually happen with this VR headset, but given how little it weighs, it'd certainly be longer before it did. That's where I think this could be a killer piece of hardware.

Sim racers and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 pilots will really feel the benefit during those longer sessions.

High-end hardware if you have the budget

There's no getting away from the fact that both the Pimax Dream Air and Dream Air SE are expensive VR headsets. The Dream Air SE drops a huge chunk off the price by 'only' featuring 5K resolution, and it's also the lightest of the two.

The full-fat Dream Air has an 8K resolution, and it's this one I tried out. Simply put, the visuals are mindblowing. It's by far the best VR display I've ever tried, with deep blacks, glorious colors, and razor-sharp images.

Eye tracking and Dynamic Foveated Rendering also helps preserve system performance, rendering only the sharpest images where your eyes are focusing.

With titles such as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 in mind, the resolution available to replicate the detail both in and out of the cockpit would be insane. All from a tiny headset.

The full specs of each version are broken down in the table below.

The Dream Air and Dream Air SE both have the option of SLAM (inside-out tracking) or saving $300 and going with a Lighthouse system.

It's also worth highlighting you don't need a monster rig to run either of them. Pimax says the minimum requirement is an RTX 2070, while the recommendation is an RTX 3080. You can run it off a laptop, too, so long as you have a good enough GPU and its outputs to either a miniDP port or USB-C.

But if you're in the market for a high-end VR headset, you probably already have a PC that's capable of running it.

It's been a while since I've really been impressed with VR, but the Pimax Dream Air certainly ticks that box. The experience is astonishing, and with its small form factor and lack of weight, I could happily lose hours flying or racing in one of these.

The only real issue seems to be when you can actually get one. Both headsets are available to preorder on the Pimax website, but there's no indication of when shipping is expected. Hopefully they start landing soon.

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MSI revealed its new Claw 8 EX AI+ gaming handheld at Computex, and unfortunately, the price has been all that most gamers can focus on.

For good reason. A gamer can buy an Xbox Series X, a PlayStation 5, and a Nintendo Switch 2 for less money than the new MSI Claw 8 EX AI+.

MSI introduced its new handheld with a $1,500 price tag, but that quickly climbed to $1,799 when it was listed on the official MSI website. It's now the same $1,799 price at Best Buy after appearing first at $1,699, and only Newegg is still showing $1,699. I expect Newegg's pricing to catch up any time now.

Here's what I'm really struggling to wrap my head around. For the same $1,799, you can buy an Xbox Series X with 1TB storage and a controller ($649.99), a PlayStation 5 Slim with 1TB storage and a controller ($649.99), and a Nintendo Switch 2 ($449.99).

The trio of modern consoles comes out to $1,750, leaving you $50 to buy a few games for whatever console you set up first. That covers three different rooms in your house (or one mega setup in your gaming room), three different gaming ecosystems, and three exclusive libraries of games.

Giving the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ the kudos it deserves

I want to be as fair as possible towards the new MSI Claw 8 EX AI+. I got to test it out first-hand at Computex, so I have a bit of extra insight.

What I was most impressed with was the performance. Intel's new Arc G-series chips are making their debut in the new Claw 8 EX AI+, and from what I saw, they're going to change gaming handhelds in a major way.

Intel likens these chips to a GPU with an integrated CPU. A GPU with super resolution, ray tracing, multi-frame generation, and newfound efficiency. A GPU that was keeping Hogwarts Legacy and LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight at a smooth 120 FPS while I played.

The Claw 8 EX AI+ made the current offering of gaming handhelds seem outdated, which is exactly what you want from a new device.

From a hardware standpoint, I didn't really have any qualms, either. Its 8-inch touch display with 1920x1200 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate looked great with plenty of brightness, the device was comfortable to hold, and inputs were snappy and responsive. The only odd omission on a device at this price is a lack of an OLED display.

With up to 42% better performance at 1080p compared to the ROG Xbox Ally X with AMD Z2 Extreme, MSI's CLaw 8 EX AI+ is the real deal, at least on paper.

Why is MSI's new Claw 8 EX AI+ so expensive?

I highly doubt that MSI set a $1,799 price for its new gaming handheld just so it could make a few quick bucks off of those who still have a big PC gaming budget. The original MSI Claw 8 AI+ that launched in 2025 had an $899 price tag attached, nearly half that of the new EX AI+ version arriving officially on June 23.

The massive jump in price has a small part to do with upgraded hardware and new performance chips, but it has a massive part to do with RAM and storage costs. AI data centers are eating through the world's supply of these components, and practically all tech costs more than it did just a year ago.

The trio of consoles I mentioned earlier receives generous subsidies from their parent companies in order to keep prices down, but even they have become more expensive in the fallout of the RAM shortage.

MSI doesn't have a closed loop of games it can sell to make back the money it would theoretically spend on subsidies, so consumers are getting the full force of the price increases.

Who is buying the new MSI Claw 8 EX AI+?

A $1,799 gaming handheld is a hard sell anytime, never mind in our current economy. At this price point, it's competing with full gaming laptops with discrete GPUs and, as mentioned, a bundle of consoles.

Yes, the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ is far more portable than anything else with the same level of performance, but I don't doubt that a lot of gamers will be happy to sit at a desk and play after saving hundreds of dollars.

👉 Gaming handhelds are the new netbooks — will they suffer the same tragic fate?

The average gamer is going to have a hard time coming to terms with such a high cost for one device when you can get an Xbox Series X for the living room, a PS5 for the gaming den, and a Switch 2 for portable gaming, all for the same price.

I agree that it's great to be a PC gamer, but whether or not the new flagship mobile device from MSI is worth more than three modern consoles is something you'll have to answer for yourself.

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Through a series of staggered press releases, Microsoft has unveiled six new Surface devices this year. The Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface RTX Spark Dev Box have distinct names and designs that make them easy to identify. But the situation is less clear for the other Surface hardware.

The business and consumer versions of the Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 were announced separately by Microsoft and have key differences. But the average shopper will struggle to find the right PC because of Microsoft's Surface naming scheme.

Let's say you found out about the new Surface hardware because you're an enthusiast. Despite the lack of an event, business devices launching without consumer counterparts at first, and the overall blasé attitude of Microsoft toward Surface, you learned that consumer versions of the Surface Pro and a Surface Laptop are on the way. What are you met with? A confusing naming scheme that basically requires you to already know which device you want.

Microsoft's website doesn't even have a device officially called "Surface Laptop 8." Instead, the company has a "Surface Laptop, 13-inch" and a "Surface Laptop 13.8-inch" available. Considering many companies round screen size within names, I'd forgive you for assuming these are the same device.

Head over to a third-party retailer, and things get worse. Search for "Surface Laptop" on Best Buy's website, and you'll see a mixture of Surface Laptop 13.8-inch (7th Edition), Surface Laptop 13.8-inch (8th Edition but not specified on the search results page), and the Surface Laptop 13.

Normally, I wouldn't criticize a company for keeping the same name across generations. Car shoppers never seem confused about the difference between 2025 and 2026 model of the same car. But things get a bit muddier when there are devices with similar names from different generations of the same line and a PC from a separate line.

The Surface Pro family adds another layer of complexity because it's been around so long that its generation numbers overlap with screen size configurations.

The Surface Pro 12-inch came out after the Surface Pro 11 (officially called the Surface Pro 13-inch (11th Edition)), confusing people and causing some reviews and references to call the smaller device the "Surface Pro 12."

My head hurts writing about this. Just look at this chart covering the last handful of devices:

Maybe Microsoft would argue that its official names are clear, but the company swapped its naming scheme a couple years ago, and that added to the confusion. The first handful of Surface Pros were just Surface Pro followed by a number. Microsoft tested a new naming scheme with what many call the Surface Pro 5, but then reverted for a while to traditional numbering.

But Microsoft doubled back and now uses the "Edition" naming structure except for the confusingly named Surface Pro 12-inch.

Let's be real

I predict people will claim they understand all the Surface names and that I'm an old man yelling at a cloud. But please take a moment to consider folks who aren't tech experts. Shouldn't a Google search for "Surface Pro 12" show one device? Shouldn't searching Microsoft's own website for the same thing provide clarity?

The average shopper doesn't eat, live, and breathe Surface announcements. Microsoft's Surface naming scheme is about as consistent as that of Xbox and Windows.

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I can't believe I'm saying this, but the ongoing global RAM crisis caused by AI has gotten so bad that DDR3 RAM is continuing to make a comeback in June 2026.

According to a new report from market analysts at TrendForce, DDR5 supply constraints that initially began spilling over into DDR4 are continuing to trickle down to DDR3.

This isn't the first time that rising DDR3 prices have been reported. In January 2026, Videocardz covered news from Board Channels regarding a 2-3x jump in DDR3 motherboard sales in China.

Also in January, TrendForce noted that DDR3 RAM was in tight supply, especially high-density 2GB modules. Versalogic confirmed this trend in its April component market update, noting that "overall prices remain at record highs across DDR3/DDR4/DDR5."

The old RAM standard that I used in one of my first major gaming PC rebuilds after finishing college served me well, but it's been quite a while since I thought about it. I imagine most of our readers are in the same boat after moving on to newer memory paired with more modern CPUs, GPUs, and motherboards.

It's important to note that DDR3 RAM prices aren't exactly spiking in the same way as DDR5 and DDR4, but they are nevertheless climbing due to a spillover effect.

Why are DDR3 RAM prices climbing in the age of Windows 11?

Windows 10 officially reached End of Life support on October 14, 2025, and with it went countless PCs running on DDR3 memory.

The Windows 11 and DDR3 situation isn't caused by the new OS having any direct incompatibilities with the memory type. The DDR3 die-off was due to the processors that actually support the old RAM standard not having the requirements for Microsoft's latest OS, including a TPM 2.0 chip.

If I'm not mistaken, Intel's 4th Gen "Haswell" Core chips using the LGA 1150 socket were the last major consumer platform to support DDR3, and they made their debut 13 years ago.

Although there are some workarounds to get Windows 11 past some of its CPU and TPM checks, the vast majority of Windows users quickly found out that their PC was no longer supported and that it was time to upgrade to a new system.

Who is buying DDR3 RAM in 2026?

I totally understand why DDR4 RAM has become so valued in 2026. Plenty of relevant CPUs and motherboards still support the standard, and with DDR5 prices out of reach for most consumers, it's a natural alternative that doesn't feel like as much of a compromise.

Unfortunately, DDR4 RAM has also now become unaffordable for plenty of people due to the demand. The next logical step is DDR3 RAM, but, of course, its supply is even more constrained due to its age and the fact that it's not really being produced in large quantities anymore.

Considering DDR3 RAM doesn't play well with Windows 11 systems, who is gobbling up the limited supply?

Beyond the consumer markets I usually focus on, there's a massive commercial market that continues to live on DDR3. I'm talking about industrial equipment, medical devices, networking systems, and many other examples that don't need to worry about Windows 11 compatibility and are often never connected to the internet.

Without question, these systems need DDR3 RAM to function. And because the older supply chains with reduced production are undoubtedly more sensitive, I can't help but assume that even a relatively small number of global consumers falling back to DDR3 is what's causing prices to climb.

Do you agree or disagree with my analysis on why DDR3 RAM prices are climbing? Have an important piece of info that I missed? Be sure to let me know in the comments section below!

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In case you missed it, Dell just launched its new $599–$699 XPS 13 laptop to target the affordable Windows laptop market and, presumably, to serve as a retort to Apple's $699 MacBook Neo (512GB, Touch ID). It's a move that should be applauded, given the depressing state of modern PC pricing, backed up by the comparatively positive reaction we had to the XPS 13 at Computex.

In a nutshell, the new Dell XPS 13 (DX13260) is lighter than the MacBook Neo (2.2 vs. 2.7 lbs) and includes extra niceties, such as a touchscreen and backlit keyboard. Memory capacity is the same for both, and we already addressed the debate over whether 8GB is "enough" for Windows 11. Overall, it's admirable to see a new laptop launch at the price it was targeting from the start.

However, the jovial celebrations seem limited to the United States, as another dollars-to-pounds miscalculation somewhat dashes the prospects for me and others in the United Kingdom. Worse still, Apple doesn't seem to struggle with this as much, so the XPS 13, starting at £899 (£749.17 without tax), almost immediately strips it of some appeal on this side of the Atlantic.

That $699 MacBook Neo listing for U.S. residents, naturally, excludes tax, which is something we aren't able to do in the U.K. Instead, our regional variant lists the Neo for £699 with 20% VAT included. That means Apple's budget laptop is implied to be worth a mythical, tax-free £582.50. Comparing that to Dell's taxless £749.17 for the XPS 13 has me sighing into my cup of tea.

So, while Apple adds a premium to MacBook Neo sales here, Dell is asking for around an extra £166–£200. Do we even get anything from either brand for that extra cash? Well, yes, our Consumer Rights Act helps protect our purchases, but there's still a glaring discrepancy with the XPS 13. Mercifully, Dell at least offers a student-discounted price of £699, but that's still £100 more than Apple's.

In a year where I already complained that there are too many Windows laptops, this transgression certainly doesn't help me make budget recommendations on Dell's behalf at home. My family asks for my advice on PC purchases every few years, and I've always been able to help them find a reasonably priced option with minimal gripes about our brutal pricing, but it's getting worse over here.

To clarify: the new XPS 13 is still a phenomenal deal for most in the United States, and you should absolutely consider buying one if your PC needs are relatively pedestrian, sticking to daily web browsing and standard productivity apps. For my fellow Brits, aim for the student discount if you can get it. Otherwise, consider holding off for deals — Amazon Prime Day approaches.

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