The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10 is one of the rare Chromebooks that I actually think is a great little device. Most Chromebooks are disappointing enough that not even the low price tag is enough to save them from ending up as a mediocre compromise.

Not only is the Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 a fantastic bargain with a low price of just $439, it’s also got Lenovo’s premium build quality and industry-leading keyboard, along with performance that’s reliable enough for your average ChromeOS user, and has access to all the web apps you could need, from the Google suite to TikTok and the GeForce Now app.

The only things holding the Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 back from pure perfection is its disappointing battery life and dim display. But how does it compare to the best Chromebooks?

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10: Cheat sheet

• What is it?: The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 (2026) is a ChromeOS laptop with a 2-in-1 convertible chassis that can switch between laptop, tablet, and tent modes to meet a range of uses.
• Who is it for?: Students, employees, and individuals who need a laptop to access web applications like the Google suite, email, and social media sites.
• What does it cost?: The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 (2026) has a starting price of just $439.
• What do we like?: The luxurious build quality and sturdy convertible hinge, the fantastic keyboard, reliable performance, and incredible value.
• What don’t we like?: The battery life and display could be better, also, the Chromebook Plus label could do with a stronger identity.

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10: Specs

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10: The ups

While I may not be the target audience for a Chromebook, there’s plenty to appreciate in this particular 2-in-1, from a fully aluminum chassis with a sturdy convertible hinge, to a fantastic keyboard, and reliable computing power.

This chassis might just be too premium for a Chromebook

Oftentimes, Chromebooks offer low prices to offset mediocre specs and build quality. While the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1’s Intel Core 3 N355 processor isn’t winning any benchmark races, it’s definitely got enough power in it to run all the apps you need, and the Chromebook’s chassis is fully aluminum, with a keyboard that feels like it belongs on a more premium laptop.

Not only does the Chromebook Plus 2-in-1’s chassis look like it belongs to a Lenovo Yoga laptop with its full aluminum paneling and camera hub bump along the top edge, it’s also got a ribbed pattern on the bottom panel that offers some nice detail on what is otherwise a standard Lenovo chassis. The Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 comes in the standard Luna Gray, but it’s also got a stunning Cosmic Blue color option which really helps set it apart from other, lackluster Chromebooks.

Lenovo used its sturdy convertible hinges on the Chromebook Plus, so opening and folding the laptop into tablet or tent modes feels smooth and secure. The inside of the hinge has some nice detailing on the vents which adds visual interest while also keeping the Chromebook operating at cool temps, and the bezels are nice and slim so the Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10 looks and feels like a premium laptop.

As for the keyboard deck, there’s nothing to complain about at all. Between the top-firing speakers along the edges of the keyboard, nicely spaced keys with a crisp activation and comfy key travel, to a touchpad that’s just on the right side of large.

If you told me Lenovo simply re-used a Yoga chassis for this Chromebook generation, I’d believe you without question. It’s honestly way too good for a $400 Chromebook.

Dependable performance

Chromebooks aren’t exactly known for setting performance records, and that’s okay. ChromeOS laptops and tablets are intended to be budget devices that run web apps well, but some Chromebooks handle large workloads better than others.

Thanks to its Intel Core 3 N355 processor, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 (Gen 10) is one of the more responsive laptops in its class. While it isn’t going to be doing much heavy video editing, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10 is more than capable of streaming video, managing your emails, and keeping a good 10 research tabs open without major slowdowns. Anything past that is just asking for trouble with how memory-hungry Chrome tends to be.

As for the numbers side of things, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 fares well when compared to similar Chromebooks like the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 (2025), Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus, and Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 (2025). The Lenovo 2-in-1 Gen 10 underperformed on our Geekbench 6 benchmark on both single and multithreaded workloads, and its JetStream 2 and WebXPRT 4 scores were also behind its competition. However, Chromebooks don’t often need to leverage that much multicore performance given their app-bound usage.

So while the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 underperforms on benchmarks, its actual usability is not in question. While you can get more horsepower from any of the other three, that doesn’t equate to a huge difference in actual use. The 2-in-1 is powerful enough for what it is, without needing to be the most powerful Chromebook on the market.

And if you want to game on the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1, it runs the Nvidia GeForce Now app just fine. Thanks to Nvidia’s recent upgrades to the GeForce server rigs, the base tier of Geforce Now gets access to RTX 3050 GPUs, allowing you to play games like Baldur’s Gate III on High to Ultra settings without stuttering or drastic frame drops.

Incredible value

Google’s Chromebook Plus tier is intended to be a more powerful, more premium product and that usually means Chromebook Plus models retail for about $600 or more. The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus was $699 at launch, and is now selling for $799 at most retailers. The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 (2025) was originally $649 and the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 (2025) was $699 at launch, though both are often on sale for as low as $389 now that the newer generations are available.

But the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10, despite having the Chromebook Plus label, has a base price of just $439. That’s regular Chromebook territory in terms of cost. And yet the 2-in-1 has some serious premium chops thanks to its elevated build quality, crisp keyboard, and solid performance.

Finding a laptop of any kind for under $800 these days often feels like an impossibility, and yet here’s a Chromebook Plus for just about half that price. $439 would be an absolute bargain on a good day, when compared to the rest of the laptop market that’s suffering due to the RAM shortage, it’s practically a miracle of value.

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10: The downs

Just about any laptop is going to have some downsides. It’s just part of the process in cramming as many features and performance into a constrained chassis. But some downsides are better or worse than others. And the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10 does have some proper faults.

Chromebook battery life isn’t what it used to be

Chromebooks used to be the best option for folks who wanted a laptop with at least 8-hours of battery life. However, standard Windows laptops have gotten significantly better than they used to be, often averaging well over 10-hours of battery life for a 14-inch laptop.

Chromebooks, meanwhile, have stayed the same. And the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10 is no different. The 2-in-1 lasted 8 hours and 32 minutes on our web surfing battery test. Which is disappointing but not particularly below the Chromebook average.

However, there are some Chromebooks that break the 9-hour threshold. Last year’s Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 lasted over 13 hours on the same battery test while the Acer Chromebook Plus 514 Spin got over 14 hours, and even the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus lasted over 11 hours.

While 8.5 hours of web surfing battery life looks like it’ll get you through a work or school day, chances are you’ll be doing more than just surfing the web in a single tab all day. Which means your actual battery mileage may be closer to 6.5 hours like mine was.

The display appears better than it is

In the right setting, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10’s display looks brighter and more vibrant than it actually is. It’s only once you take it near a window or out in the sunlight that it becomes obvious the display barely breaks the 200-nit threshold.

With a glossy IPS LCD panel, the Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 will catch a glare from any stray sunbeams or hanging pendant lamps, which isn’t ideal for a Netflix streaming binge.

The Lenovo 2-in-1 display is also a bit flat in color, covering just 65% of the sRGB gamut. So if you want to do any photo editing on your Chromebook, you’d be better off with the Galaxy Chromebook Plus, which has a far superior display.

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10: Verdict

Lenovo’s Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10 combines Lenovo’s fantastic keyboard, premium build quality, with dependable performance and fantastic value for a Chromebook that finally feels properly premium.

If anything, the 2-in-1 is such a good value, Google now has an identity crisis on its hands with the Chromebook Plus branding since the 2-in-1 is a good $150 cheaper than most other laptops in the Chromebook Plus bracket.

I’ve tested Nvidia’s RTX Spark laptop chip (spoiler alert: it’s mindblowing), and now I’ve gone hands-on with every single laptop launching in just a few months time to set up a ranked list.

Eight premium notebooks are launching — each with their own unique features and quirks that I’m keen to share, so that when the launch date arrives, you know which one is best for you. Of course, this is personal preference, and certain systems I put in a lower grade may be better suited for you!

These are all incredible-feeling laptops, but grading them allowed me to get brutally honest with where I’d put them. So without further ado, let’s get into it.

While the Microsoft Surface Laptop was used in the demos, other models were turned off. This was something Nvidia required to ensure journalists (like me) don’t sneakily benchmark the laptops! That being said, these notebooks are basically pre-existing laptops but with RTX Spark inside and some tweaked cooling, so I can use past experience to fill in some gaps.

Nvidia RTX Spark laptops: Tier list

S-Tier: Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra and Asus ProArt P14

I’ve already shared my experience with the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra — it’s a spectacular-feeling laptop in terms of a premium build quality, fantastic mini LED screen, tactile keyboard and a utilitarian aesthetic.

But the big showcase feature here (that no other Spark system has) is that breakthrough touchpad, which is able to communicate back to you with haptics across the UI. It’s a unique sensation like when snapping apps to the sides of the screen.

That being said, it is a 16-inch beast of a system, and the reason why I love my 14-inch MacBook Pro is the power paired with portability. Enter the Asus ProArt P14, and when I say Apple’s pro notebook is in trouble, this is the most direct competition to it in terms of premium build, fantastic ergonomics, port array and that RTX Spark chip.

Throw in an OLED display, and you’ve got a phenomenal ultraportable that I’d be willing to trade off a little bit of battery life to get — but hopefully Nvidia’s “all-day battery life” comes true to make this less of a fear.

A-Tier: MSI Prestige Flip N16 AI+, Asus ProArt P16 and HP Omnibook X 14

Kicking off with the Prestige Flip N16 AI+, I’ve already gone hands-on with the Intel version of this system back at CES 2026, and I’m a huge fan of it. This is the only 2-in-1 in the lineup, and that flippable hinge has a smooth glide and strong staying power at all angles.

On top of that, the touchscreen OLED panel on the pre-existing model is gorgeous; the keyboard is nicely tactile; and the touchpad is absolutely massive. Plus, there’s a stylus stowed in the bottom of the shell magnetically.

Then there’s the ProArt P16 from Asus, which is the same as that P14, but only bigger. If 16 inches is more than your speed, this is a fantastic option. But I’ll always opt for something more portable.

And finally in the A-tier is the HP Omnibook X 14, which immediately tickled my inner love for 14-inch laptops. Premium build quality, good I/O and a top notch OLED panel up top — so why the lower grade? Well, it comes down to that keyboard.

Whenever I’m typing on laptop boards, I’m more of a fan of a subtle dish that my fingers can fall into, whereas the keys on here are much more pronounced. It definitely has its fans, but I’m a little more mixed towards them.

B-Tier: HP Omnibook 16 Ultra, Lenovo Yoga Pro 9N and Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition

Now for the B-tier. Again, not any real slight, and this is my way-too-early impressions based on holding the systems. But personal taste made this an easy decision.

The HP Omnibook 16 Ultra felt like the heaviest laptop of the bunch, and while it has all those same winning specs as other options like an OLED display and a ton of I/O, that keyboard has those odd raised keys again and the edges can feel a bit sharp on the wrists when leaning on this to type.

Next, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9N. From my time going hands-on with the Yoga Pro 9i (the same laptop shell), it’s a real prosumer piece of hardware with a nice aluminum build and those classic Lenovo ergonomics (a phenomenal keyboard for example).

But amongst a bunch of laptops that have some real unique elements that make these devices shine, it’s a rather unremarkable option. Not to say that’s a bad thing — I’m all for laptops that nail the fundamentals, but some just reinvent those fundamentals.

And then, there’s the Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition. In many ways, this is very much a Surface Laptop Ultra alternative, and another chapter in the book of Dell’s XPS apology tour for ditching the brand for a weird year back in 2024. The screen’s great, the touchpad is massive, and the I/O is plentiful.

My only main gripe is the keyboard — chiclet keys with no gaps between them. In my time testing XPS 16s of old, it took me a while to get used to a board like this, and I found myself often losing my place and making a couple of spelling errors.

Outlook

Of course, there's a lot more we need to find out first — not just actually testing these systems, but the big question of price. In a Q&A session, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang did say this is the top-tier chip as part of a whole family.

That does mean we could get cheaper, lower-end models too. But looking at what we tested, we can get a somewhat decent guess of the price based on the fact its essentially the same silicon (and RAM) as the DGX Spark mini AI PC — a device that costs $5,000.

So if you want the top-tier model, this could get real pricey! But all I can say is I hope there are more reasonably priced RTX Spark laptops, which in the midst of RAMageddon may be tricky.

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• I just tested the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ — it leaves ROG Xbox Ally in the dust with breakthrough Intel Arc G3 power

Lenovo’s Yoga Pro series brings high-performance components into the slim form factor to create an ideal laptop for content creators and creative professionals alike. We did enjoy the previous model for good reason. Lenovo makes incredibly reliable laptops, and the Yoga Pro always promises a great balance of performance, stunning displays, and high-fidelity audio and this year’s Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 Aura Edition doesn’t disappoint in any of those categories.

The real hamstrings for the Yoga Pro 7i are its price point and its sub-par battery life. The newest Yoga Pro 7i is significantly more expensive for its base configuration compared to the previous generation, and it’s hard to justify a price hike of over $600 even with the current hardware shortages and US foreign manufacturing tariffs.

Between that steep entry-level price tag with just under 7 hours of web surfing battery life, can the Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 Aura Edition still make the cut for our best laptops page?

Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 Aura Edition: Cheat sheet

• What is it?: The Yoga Pro 7i is a thin and lightweight laptop with a discrete GPU.
• Who is it for?: Creative professionals and content creators who want a powerful, thin Windows laptop.
• What does it cost?: The base configuration of the Yoga Pro 7i Aura Edition starts at a staggering $2,149, while our review configuration with upgraded CPU and GPU costs just $250 extra.
• What do we like?: The Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 boasts powerful performance designed to handle creative workloads, a gorgeous OLED touchscreen, Lenovo’s industry-leading keyboard, robust audio system, and reliable build quality.
• What don’t we like?: The base configuration is rather expensive for an Intel Core Ultra 7 and RTX 5050 combination, and the battery life could be a bit better.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 Aura Edition: Specs

Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 Aura Edition: The Ups

There’s a reason why Lenovo laptops often make it onto our guides, especially the more premium tier laptops like the Yoga and Yoga Pro series. The Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 is no slouch, offering a minimalist design, satisfying keyboard experience, sturdy build quality, stunning display, robust audio, smooth content creation performance, and even a quality gaming experience.

Minimalist design and a user-forward experience

Lenovo’s streamlined design for its Yoga and IdeaPad laptops may not have a ton of visual interest, but the clean lines, embossed Lenovo logo, and camera hub on the lid are ideal for a more professional environment which fits the Yoga Pro well.

The streamlined design follows through with a clean keyboard deck with front-facing speakers on either side of the lattice keyboard and oversized touchpad. Add in the etched Yoga logo on the right-hand palm rest and you’ve got Lenovo’s answer to the MacBook layout.

But the real highlights of the Yoga Pro’s design are the keyboard and camera and mic hub on the top of the display. Due to that extra bump on the top lid, the Yoga Pro’s webcam and mic array don’t need a display notch, nor do they add a lot of overall bulk to the Yoga’s display bezels, which offers a much better fullscreen experience than the notorious MacBook notch.

The Yoga’s webcam is a 5MP IR camera with a built-in privacy shutter, and thus nothing particularly spectacular to write home about. However, it’s more than enough for any virtual meetings and calls you might need to handle.

As for the keyboard, Lenovo’s been making some of the best laptop keyboards for years and the Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 Aura Edition is no different. The keyboard switches have plenty of key travel for a comfortable typing experience, combined with a crisp click for a more mechanical, bouncy feel.

Stunning display and powerful audio

Since the Yoga Pro is a creator laptop, it needs a vivid, color accurate display. Lenovo rates the Yoga Pro 7i’s OLED touchscreen at 100% accuracy on the sRGB, DCI-P3, and Adobe RGB color spaces, with a maximum peak brightness of 1100 nits.

Our testing indicated that the Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 covered 199% of the sRGB and 141% of the DCI-P3 color spaces, making it one of the more accurate displays we’ve tested. As for the brightness, our HDR testing did peak at 999-nits, while the overall average SDR brightness of the Yoga’s OLED panel was 448-nits.

This makes the Yoga Pro an ideal laptop option for photo color correcting, digital design, and video color grading. So it’s an all-around fantastic choice for creative professionals who need color-accurate displays. Paired with a powerful, front-facing 4-speaker audio system with Dolby Atmos tuning, the Yoga Pro 7i is a fantastic choice for video editors and content creators.

Strong creative performance chops

When it comes to general and content creation specific performance, the Yoga Pro 7i’s Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor and discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 graphics card provide respectable amounts of processing power across a variety of multithreaded uses from video and photo editing to overall productivity.

Compared to last year’s Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Gen 10, the 11th Gen Yoga Pro 7i packs a more powerful punch on our Geekbench and Handbrake video encoding benchmarks, with multithreaded performance gains of 43%.

The Yoga Pro 7i is also a bit more potent than our favorite 2-in-1 laptop, the Asus Zenbook Duo (2026) on both Geekbench and Handbrake. As for the MacBook Pro 14 M5, the Mac still holds a bit of an edge on Geekbench 6 multicore performance, though the Yoga Pro 7i outpaces the Mac by just a few seconds on our Handbrake benchmark. On the PugetBench Photoshop benchmark, the MacBook Pro M5 still holds down a steady lead, but the Yoga Pro 7i isn’t too far behind.

So if you’re looking for a Windows alternative to the MacBook Pro, the Yoga Pro does put up quite a good fight on the raw performance benchmarks. And that comes through even outside of the synthetic benchmark zone. I blazed through some photo editing and graphic design tasks on the Yoga Pro in Adobe Photoshop, with no major processing bottlenecks even when breaking out the more intensive tools like smart object selection.

Respectable gaming performance

While the Yoga Pro 7i is designed for content creation, it does have an Nvidia gaming graphics card on board. Sure, the Yoga Pro’s RTX 5060 may come with studio drivers installed, but you can swap those out for Nvidia’s gaming drivers if you’d like. And the Yoga is an absolute treat for gaming thanks to its highly accurate OLED display.

Of course, the Yoga Pro 7i will fall a bit behind in comparison to a more dedicated gaming laptop like the MSI Stealth 16 AI+ (2026) I reviewed recently, mostly because the Yoga’s thermal management isn’t designed for sustained, high-intensity gaming. But even then, the Yoga is just a few fps off from the Stealth even on more intense benchmarks like Black Myth: Wukong, Doom: The Dark Ages, and Cyberpunk 2077.

While both RTX 5060 laptops struggled with hitting the 60 fps mark on these benchmarks, particularly at 1600p resolution, the Stealth was about 5ps faster on average than the Yoga.

But if you only plan to play more casual games on the Yoga, or if you don’t mind gaming at lower graphics presets, the Yoga is more than sufficient for some quality gaming. I booted up Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail, and averaged about 100 fps at 1600p on Laptop (High) settings even in high-traffic areas or during large-scale raids.

And if you plan to use the Yoga for gaming content creation, it’ll do well enough for some game capture footage all on its own, particularly if you’re looking at running games at 1080p rather than the Yoga’s max 1600p resolution.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 Aura Edition: The Downs

The Yoga Pro 7i’s pitfalls are, unfortunately, difficult to overcome. While all tech hardware has gotten more expensive, the Yoga Pro 7i’s starting configuration comes at a steep price considering how affordable the upgrades are in comparison. Combined with sub-par battery life, it becomes hard to justify the Yoga Pro 7i’s high starting price.

The RAM shortage strikes again

Unfortunately, the Yoga Pro has gotten much more expensive this generation thanks to the AI industry’s stranglehold on the RAM supply chain, which has increased memory and GPU prices across the board. Last year’s Yoga Pro 7i Gen 10 pricing started at $1,400, while this generation’s entry level configuration starts at $2,149. That’s a price increase of almost $750. Granted, the Yoga Pro 7i Gen 10’s starting configuration had just an integrated GPU rather than a discrete Nvidia RTX GPU.

The Yoga Pro 9i Gen 10, which did feature a discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050, started at $1,949. Which was still a pretty hefty retail price, but isn’t as far off from the Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11’s starting price. However, the Yoga Pro 9i did come with an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H processor, which helps justify that steep starting price. The Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11, meanwhile, starts at $2,149 for an Intel Core Ultra 7 356H. It’s hard to completely quantify the CPU cost differential since mobile CPUs are never sold separately from systems and the Yoga Pro 9i Gen 10 didn’t feature an Intel Core Ultra 7 option. But it’s probably closer to a $300 price difference between the two generations when you consider the CPU difference. Not the worst price hike we’ve seen with the RAM shortage, but it is a hard pill to swallow, particularly on the entry-level spec.

However, our review configuration did feature upgrades to the CPU and GPU, bringing the price up to $2,399. Which is just $250 more to upgrade to a 16-core CPU and more powerful RTX 5060 GPU. And that feels far less egregious than the Yoga Pro 7i’s starting configuration price tag.

But if you’re looking for a great content creator laptop and you don’t mind switching between Windows and macOS, the Apple MacBook Pro 14 M5 starts at just $1,699. Granted, Apple’s upgrades do get expensive so if you want to upgrade your RAM, storage, CPU, or GPU configuration it comes at a much higher price than Lenovo’s upgrade cost.

Sub-par battery life

Which leaves battery life as the Yoga’s most major hangup. On our web surfing battery test, the Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 lasted just 6 hours and 56 minutes on average. My own anecdotal testing got me about 6 hours of web surfing, writing, and photo editing before I needed to find an outlet for the Yoga.

While laptops with discrete GPUs often take a hit to battery life, the Yoga Pro combines an RTX 5060 with an OLED display leaving it with two major issues when it comes to battery efficiency. If you plan to always use the Yoga near a power outlet, or just need it for quick short bursts of inspiration, its battery life isn’t too abysmal.

But if you need a great creator laptop that can last a long time on a single charge, you may just be better off with the MacBook Pro or even the Asus Zenbook Duo.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 Aura Edition: Verdict

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 Aura Edition is nearly a complete package as far as content creator laptops go. It’s got powerful CPU and GPU performance, a stunning OLED touchscreen, sturdy build quality, an industry-leading keyboard, and powerful built-in audio. If you’re looking for a Windows alternative to the MacBook Pro, the Yoga Pro is a solid competitor. And unlike the MacBook, it can run any game in your Steam library.

But if you need a cheaper entry level configuration, or if you need a laptop that lasts for over a full work day on a single charge, the MacBook Pro, Asus Zenbook Duo, or even the previous generation Yoga Pro 9i would be a better choice.

Yes, the MacBook Neo has leapt into a lot of hearts and minds as the best budget laptop you can get. And yes, other laptop makers are out here calling it a tablet — completely missing the point of it. But that doesn’t mean the competition isn’t responding. In fact, it’s happening quietly beneath the radar with companies dropping prices.

But this isn’t just dropping prices on random laptops to look like they’re offering something to compete with the Neo. These are three laptops that I’ve personally tested and love for their bang for buck, which are sure to make those laptop engineers at Cupertino nervous.

So if you’re feeling the value notebook vibes and want to see what else is out there beyond Apple’s offering to make a well-thought out decision, here are my personal picks from months of daily driving that I believe are every bit a match for the Neo’s prowess.

Asus Zenbook A14

I first went hands-on with the Asus Zenbook A14 at CES last year and fell in love with it. Then when the pricing was revealed for my final review, that love affair fell away slightly, as the initial plan to compete with the MacBook Air fell apart by making this at least $100 more. Fast forward a year, and you can now get this for $699.

So if we were in the business of re-reviewing laptops, this would be an easy 4.5 stars for that insanely good value for money. Thin dimensions and a featherweight construction from ceraluminum (the surface feels like paper, it’s so cool) give way to:

• A gorgeous 2K OLED panel
• Snapdragon X Plus performance that steps up to the A18 Pro in the Neo with faster multi-core speeds, zippier graphics and faster data transfer speeds (it’s an actual laptop chip after all)
• And an 18+ hour battery life in my testing.

Throw in nice ergonomics with a generous touchpad and great keyboard, and you’re onto an ultraportable winner with a low price tag.

Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514

The idea of a Chromebook Plus laptop has been through a bit of a spirit journey of sorts, as nobody could figure out how to make a premium Google laptop. Making the build and specs uber premium at a sky high price tag didn’t work, and neither did throwing in 12 months of free Google AI Pro.

But Acer stumbled on the answer with the Chromebook Plus Spin 514: focus on the fundamentals and throw the MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 chipset in for a peak pairing of performance and power efficiency. This Arm chip has been the bang-for-buck comeback of ChromeOS, and in my time daily driving it, you can feel that in the serious zippiness of app opening and multitasking.

Add in an unmistakably premium build quality, another gorgeous OLED display (always surprising you can get this at such low prices) and a 15-hour battery life, and you’re onto a winner. But one catch: this is ChromeOS. You’re not going to get the vast amount of apps to choose from that you’d get on the MacBook Neo or a Windows laptop.

However, for the casual productivity purposes you’d pick up a Neo for, Google’s OS offers more than enough of the essentials to get through your day-to-day.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x

Back at MWC last year, Lenovo brought a whole lot of awesome ultra-expensive prototypes and laptops to the party. But out of everything there, the often-forgotten budget system in the corner caught my eye the most.

The IdeaPad Slim 3X brings that Lenovo experience in the finite attention to ergonomics (a beautiful-feeling keyboard), zippy performance with Snapdragon X and a super long 16-hour battery life.

That’s not to say it’s all the way there in terms of competing with the MacBook Neo — the display is rather underwhelming and you can feel some of that cheapness in the build quality.

But on balance, this is a stellar budget machine that is at an impressively low price of entry.

More from Tom's Guide

• I ditched the MacBook Air for a MacBook Neo for 48 hours — and I'm shocked
• 'I am completely blown away by it,' Ex-Windows Chief calls MacBook Neo ‘paradigm-shifting'
• Apple's $599 MacBook Neo can actually play Cyberpunk 2077, new tests show

The hits keep coming for PC and laptop makers as RAMaggeddon, and now the U.S.-Iran war, disrupts everything from supply chains to component costs. Apple and the MacBook Neo may be the beneficiaries, thanks to a disappearing market of budget-friendly computers.

Nikkei Asia is reporting that many of the major PC makers like Asus, HP and Lenovo are being forced to raise prices thanks to astronomical memory prices. Plus, the unwarranted U.S. attacks on Iran are actively affecting the oil industry which will cause shipping and manufacturing prices to increase as well.

"There is only so much PC companies can do to absorb the costs and we have to pass on the surging costs to consumers,” an unnamed gaming PC executive told Nikkei Asia.

Yep, AI is the problem

I’m getting tired of saying the same thing over and over, so I’ll just cut to the chase. The demand for AI compute is getting out of hand — with DRAM demand accounting for 50% of the globe’s memory consumption in 2025.

That has left PC and smartphone makers scrambling for supply, and that demand is driving the prices up to lofty numbers. Acer’s Chairman Jason Chen has said the cost of memory and storage chips had risen “between 50 to 100%,” and companies would have to “reflect” this in their prices to us.

And over the course of this year so far, we’ve had:

• A roughly 20% increase in Asus prices
• Dell jumping by around 20-25%
• Lenovo warning that prices will start to go up this month
• HP confirming its prices will rise
• And Acer flagging price increases of 10-20%

And we’re only in March?! I’m tired, boss, and so are the companies. “I am very pessimistic about the PC industry this year,” a gaming PC company executive told Nikkei Asia. “January was my final call for friends to buy PCs this year before facing more expensive price tags."

Ditching the budget end

Most interestingly in this report, the writers spoke to an executive at ELAN Microelectronics — a company that makes the controller chips for touchpads across laptops from brands like Lenovo and Dell. Basically, a critical part of the manufacturing process that can be the eyes and ears of what’s happening on the ground.

“We are seeing laptop builders shift to prioritize…higher-end commercial notebooks rather than entry-level products to boost revenue and make better use of the limited memory supply,” the executive commented. “Overall shipment volumes are still declining but the value per unit is increasing.”

You see, companies started stockpiling memory chips in the third quarter of last year, which has quickly started to run out.

Advantage, Apple MacBook Neo

Apple recently announced the new $599 MacBook Neo, an attempt by the Cupertino company to directly compete with budget-friendly Chromebooks and low-end Windows notebooks. Whether Apple read the tea leaves or is launching at the most opportune time, the company is going to benefit massively.

As Nikkei reports, many PC manufacturers are turning away from their cheapest offerings in favor of premium laptops and PCs to make the most of the RAM they have available. It’s a matter of survival as the companies attempt to recoup more profit from higher-priced laptops over reducing specs and memory in cheap sets.

Even Apple has been forced to raise prices on its higher-end MacBooks. The just-announced MacBook Pro M5 Pro starts at $200 more than the previous generation. Additionally, Apple just discontinued the six-month-old 512GB MacBook Pro M5 in favor of a starting model with 1TB of storage.

It’s so dire that one PC maker declined to even make an estimate for 2026 due to the memory shortage and rising prices.

Meanwhile, Apple locked the Neo to 8GB of RAM and 256 or 512GB storage. These aren’t spectacular numbers, but they are more than adequate for the target audience.

More from Tom's Guide

• The RAM crisis is out of control: Here's the most alarming tech products affected (so far)
• Your computer is slow because the RAM is full — 7 ways to free it up
• I edit video for a living — and this is how much RAM you need in 2026

Mobile World Congress (MWC) used to just be about phones! But just like CES back in January, it’s basically now also a computing show where you can see a whole lot of new laptops in action.

And a few of the biggest companies on the planet have gone all out to win the hearts and minds of general users, pros and gamers alike with their contributions to the year of the laptop.

Just because the MacBook Neo is hogging the spotlight doesn't mean there aren't any blockbuster announcements happening here. From Lenovo’s zany concepts to machines you can buy today, here are my 5 favorite machines coming out of Barcelona and onto my desk soon.

1. Honor MagicBook Pro 14

Honor is back again with the MagicBook Pro 14, and this time it’s outfitted with Intel Core Ultra Series 3. I’ve always been a massive fan of Honor’s laptops for finding an ideal balance between the three P’s — performance, power efficiency and portability.

This does exactly that for another consecutive year, while also adding in some real premium upgrades here like a gorgeously vivid 3120 x 2080-resolution OLED display at 3:2 aspect ratio, a top-notch feeling keyboard and a weight loss over last year’s model (coming in now at 1.39kg).

And all of this is thrown into a sleek aluminum chassis that’s quite the looker from all angles and easy to stow away in the backpack — along with a stupendously long battery life courtesy of that 92Wh cell inside.

2. Lenovo Legion Go foldable prototype

It started life as a quirky gaming handheld with a folding screen, but once fully unfolded, you can attach that 11.6-inch panel to a keyboard deck to return to your netbook era. I know this is just a concept — a prototype you’ll never be able to buy.

But in that brief moment of going back in time, it made me realize just how much I had started to legitimately miss using something so small. The more compact frame does feel far nicer to carry around, while not giving up on the ergonomics of that keyboard. I just hope that 11-inch laptops make a comeback.

3. Lenovo ThinkBook Modular concept

Part two of the Lenovo trio blends a Framework laptop with an Asus Zenbook Duo to make for an impressively modular prototype that I so hope becomes real soon. Welcome to the ThinkBook Modular concept — a pogo pin-driven dream of versatility that lets you use the system in any way you see fit.

Want a dual-screen experience? Just pop the keyboard deck off and replace it with a second display. Want to present something cool, take the display off, connect it via USB-C and attach a stand to it to show things off. Looking for another USB-C port? Slide that HDMI socket off the side and replace it.

Repairability and ease of upgradeability is becoming more and more crucial in 2026, and Lenovo’s concept shows how exciting this could be.

4. Lenovo Yoga Pro 7a

I was a big fan of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition at last year’s show, but one thing became a limiting factor — battery life because of the use of a dedicated RTX 50-series GPU inside.

But as I predicted way back in January last year (and have been so vindicated on), integrated graphics have evolved at such a rapid pace and AMD’s Strix Halo is the crown jewel of an example of this.

So what happens when you take that Yoga Pro lineage and mash it with an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ chipset? Simple, you get the Yoga Pro 7a. This is a mighty MacBook Pro competitor with a massive OLED panel, a touchpad that sports stylus support for doodling, and a way better battery life.

5. Tecno Megabook S14

And finally, a shout out to my ultraportables crowd. Getting something uber thin and light is getting very pricey nowadays, but the Tecno MegaBook S14 would beg to differ. It is officially the world’s lightest 14-inch OLED laptop at just 899 grams.

The aluminum body feels premium to the touch with good keyboard/touchpad ergonomics to boot. Power-wise, there is a bit of a compromise with Intel Core Ultra Series 1 silicon, but still good enough for general office productivity and binge watching the night away.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just went hands-on with Nothing Phone (4a) — this could beat iPhone 17e to be the budget phone of 2026
• I tried Lenovo’s mindblowing modular ThinkBook concept — and now I want this in every laptop
• I went hands-on with Lenovo's wild 3D laptop concept — and it genuinely surprised me

Lenovo has been prolific with its handheld efforts in recent years, releasing devices like the Legion Go 2 and Legion Go S. Not to be outdone, the company has now unveiled a truly unique concept that’s bound to turn heads: the Lenovo Legion Go Fold Concept.

Unveiled at MWC 2026, the Legion Go Fold Concept is a foldable handheld featuring a POLED panel that expands from 7.7 inches when folded to a full 11.6 inches when unfolded. Pair that with its detachable controllers, and the device supports up to four distinct usage modes, something no other handheld currently offers.

Here are my impressions after brief hands-on time with the Legion Go Fold Concept at a pre-MWC event. Could this be the future of handheld design, or is it too niche? Let’s dive in.

Lenovo Legion Go Fold Concept: Design

Design-wise, the Legion Go Fold Concept builds on the original Legion Go’s tablet-like form with attachable controllers, but the big differentiator is the folding display. That single change unlocks four versatile modes for gaming and beyond.

In the handheld configuration, the device feels relatively light. It can get a bit wobbly when fully unfolded to 11.6 inches, but it’s not a deal-breaker. This is something Lenovo would almost certainly refine before any potential release. Being able to fold the screen and detach the controllers also makes it fairly travel-friendly.

As the images hopefully show, none of the best portable gaming handhelds look like this one. However, it still delivers all the core features gamers expect. There’s room for refinement, especially around sturdiness in hand. Overall, it already looks very promising.

Lenovo Legion Go Fold Concept: Controllers

The controllers feel and look very similar to the TrueStrike controllers on the Legion Go (and its successors). They feature a familiar button layout, so you’ll feel right at home, plus shoulder triggers with stops, which are a carryover from the Legion Go family.

The right controller also supports FPS Mode by functioning as a vertical mouse. It includes a small built-in touchscreen that doubles as a touchpad, displays performance metrics and settings, and can be assigned as a customizable hotkey. Having that little screen right next to the face buttons and analog stick feels unusual at first, but it’s genuinely cool.

Attaching and reattaching the controllers along the side rails is straightforward: just press and hold the release button, and they slide off. It’s not quite as seamless as the magnetic system on the Nintendo Switch 2, but it works for a concept and clearly something Lenovo could polish further.

Lenovo Legion Go Fold Concept: Modes and features

As mentioned, the expandable display enables four distinct modes:

Standard Handheld Mode: The traditional experience with the screen folded (7.7 inches). This is probably the most comfortable for extended play sessions when you don’t need (or have space for) the larger screen.

Vertical Split-Screen Mode: Unfold the device and hold it in portrait orientation, like using a large phone or tablet upright. Perfect for gaming in one window while streaming, following a guide, or multitasking on another. Old-school shmup fans will also love it for vertical shooters like Ikaruga.

Horizon Full-Screen Mode: The full 11.6-inch unfolded display with controllers attached for maximum immersion in landscape. It feels the least rigid of the handheld modes, but the device is light enough that it never feels cumbersome. This is the one I’d use the most.

Expanded Desktop Mode: Use the built-in (and surprisingly sturdy) kickstand to prop the unit on a desk without the controllers. It becomes a mini Windows PC by pairing it with the included wireless keyboard and touchpad, or use the right controller as a mouse for productivity.

Lenovo Legion Go Fold Concept: Specs

Since this is a concept device, final specifications aren’t locked in, but Lenovo shared enough details to paint a clear picture of its potential.

The Legion Go Fold Concept is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (Lunar Lake) processor, the same chip found in the MSI Claw 8 AI+. Combined with 32GB of RAM and a 48Wh battery, it should deliver solid gaming and productivity performance, especially at the efficient TDPs this platform supports.

You might wonder why it isn’t using Intel’s newer Core Ultra Series 3 (“Panther Lake”) chips. My educated guess: the Lunar Lake silicon has already proven itself in gaming handhelds, and for a concept that may or may not reach production, Lenovo likely didn’t want to commit newer, unproven silicon.

I wasn’t able to play games during my hands-on, but based on the hardware, I expect the Legion Go Fold Concept (if it materializes) to perform at least on par with the MSI Claw 8 AI+. Real-world lab and battery tests would be needed to see exactly how it stacks up.

Lenovo Legion Go Fold Concept: Outlook

Most gaming handhelds deliver very similar experiences, so it’s refreshing to see Lenovo think outside the box with the Legion Go Fold Concept. With four modes and strong specs, it could expand what a handheld can be.

Of course, it’s impossible to say whether this concept will ever make it to market. I hope it does, even if only to inspire other manufacturers to get more inventive. Either way, the possibilities are exciting.

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According to Lenovo, the Glasses-free display market is set to triple in size between now and 2032… I’m calling “suspicious” on that, but at least it’s giving me a cool concept to try!

This is the Lenovo Yoga Book Pro 3D concept, and it’s the company’s vision of a portable system primed for 3D creativity — using AI to automate the more user-intensive tasks like rendering and editing.

And after testing it for myself, while I’ve been burned by the 3D hype at the cinema before, I can see how this may be genuinely useful.

Seeing double

This isn’t your average laptop — it’s a workstation for creativity across a third dimension. You’ll find nothing but gorgeous dual PureSight Pro Tandem OLED displays, and the top one packs glasses-free 3D thanks to that camera module up top.

You throw an image from the creation app on the bottom screen with a two-finger swipe, and the internals get to work turning it into a 3D object. And you know what? It’s an impressive effect. I may be a little suspicious that 3D displays are still a thing, but the depth effect is good here as elements pop out of the screen.

And in terms of manipulating the image, you have several options. First, there are physical slider pads you can add to the bottom screen. These small plastic elements are independently set to activate certain features like a color slider, perspective changer and a light source mover.

Second, there are hand gestures. You can go all “Minority Report” on this and resize the image/rotate it with simple flicks of the wrist and multi-hand control. It’s rather cool!

But of course, to do all this 3D object manipulation, you need serious horsepower. That is where the Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU and GeForce RTX 5070 GPU come in. You can definitely hear them under pressure with the fans working overtime, but for something this system-intensive, that’s to be expected.

As the name suggests, this is a concept device. But given this is a modded version of a Yoga Pro, it’s not a stretch to imagine this being in people’s hands if this 3D trend were to pick up.

More Yoga

So Lenovo’s got you in the door with its luxury prototype — what can you actually walk out with? Well, there’s plenty of refreshes. The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition is getting a jump to Intel Core Ultra Series 3, and a price hike too, up to $1,949.

The company also snuck in easily one of the best-feeling mechanical keyboards I’ve ever typed on. The AngryMiao Edition of the Yoga Creative Keyboard has sensationally satisfying tactile key presses, along with a giant knob at the top right for moving playheads in editing software easily. You can pick this up in May at $299.

And the final big one here is Lenovo’s big adoption of AMD Strix Halo in two flavors. There’s the creativity-focused Yoga Pro 7a with a beautiful PureSight Pro OLED panel and a touchpad with Wacom technology for stylus compatibility ($2,099 — launching in August).

And for the gamers, you’ve got the Legion 7a with the Ryzen AI+ Max 392 — moving to integrated graphics allowed the company to create an impressively lightweight system at 1.65kg ($2,299 — launching in July).

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• Cheap MacBook leaks reveal what Apple is willing to sacrifice for a lower price
• Lenovo is hiking PC prices again — and the AI frenzy has gone from hype to headache
• It’s been 25 years since Nvidia GeForce 3 — and I think gamers accidentally built the AI era

A laptop being repairable, upgradeable or modular in any way has been a running joke for years now. Sure, Framework is doing the thing, and I’m impressed by it. But that always comes with a price premium and older specs to get there.

However, Lenovo’s picking up the bag and taking it seriously with the ThinkBook Modular AI PC Concept — the result of what happens if an Asus ZenBook Duo got busy in the bedroom with a Framework Laptop.

With detachable displays, keyboards and modular I/O, this unlocks a world of versatility that is rare in portable tech like this, and I got to go hands-on with it.

A Zenbook Duo in Framework clothing

You may take a look at this and think “that looks familiar,” and you’d be right. This is giving the ZenBook Duo vibes with its tower of screens, but the real party trick is in its modularity — a “carry small, use big” mentality in Lenovo’s own words.

This starts as a 14-inch base system, but the way you build on top of it is entirely up to you. There’s the dual screen layout as you see above, or you could go more traditional laptop and use the screen to one side like an external monitor.

It really broadens the appeal to be able to go from both what I call the “working hard/hardly working” orientation of productivity on the bottom and binge watching on the top, all the way to a full vertical side panel for typing this story (like I am right now).

However, the real Framework magic comes in when you see those interchangeable I/O ports — using pogo-pin connectors to all join up is a cinch based on whatever connectors you need for the moment.

Modularity, repairability and upgradeability. In a time like this, when we need to preserve our tech’s lifespan, this kind of thinking is more important than ever.

The ThinkBooks you’ll be able to actually buy

This is Lenovo’s bread and butter — lure you into the dealership with a supercar, and you’ll walk out with the sensible station wagon that can do it all. And this year, the ThinkBook and ThinkPad lineups are getting even more thinkier with internal refreshes to the latest silicon.

The ThinkPad T-series systems are all getting better 5MP webcams with HDR, upgrades to either Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3, Snapdragon X2 Elite or AMD’s new Ryzen AI Pro 400 series chipsets, and serviceability at its core (a simpler internal layout to make them much more repairable by you).

For those who want something uber portable, you’ve got that Surface Pro-esque ThinkPad X13 revival with Intel Core Ultra Series 3. And just like the above, Lenovo wasn’t kidding about its price increase warnings: T-series starting at $1,799 and launching sometime this Spring, and the ThinkPad X13 for $1,999 this summer.

Need to expand that field of view? In the spirit of the ThinkBook Modular, Lenovo is launching a $259 ThinkVision M16 in Spring too — a vivid 16:10 panel with a wide 178-degree viewing angle and a decently sharp 1920 x 1200 resolution.

More from Tom's Guide

• Cheap MacBook leaks reveal what Apple is willing to sacrifice for a lower price
• Lenovo is hiking PC prices again — and the AI frenzy has gone from hype to headache
• It’s been 25 years since Nvidia GeForce 3 — and I think gamers accidentally built the AI era

Lenovo has already been warning that the RAM price crisis will force the company to raise prices of PCs, tablets and Motorola phones. Now, it seems set for March, as CRN reports that the company’s North America channel chief has warned partners to “place orders as soon as possible.”

Wade McFarland, VP of the North America channel at Lenovo, has spoken out about how the ongoing AI data center buildout is causing the company to “continue to adjust” prices, and that there’s “no way around it.” His warning is simple: “place orders as soon as possible,” and the deadline given to distributors is by February 25 to get their orders in.

So from next month, the “AI PC” premium is going to hit again, and I’m tired of this happening over and over again.

The AI tax is a killer

It’s getting diabolical. We’re barely two months into the year and I’ve lost count of how many price increase/stock issue stories I’ve had to write. The AI gold rush is hoovering up all the DRAM and NAND flash chips, and in the end, we’re left picking up the overinflated tab.

From the perspective of someone who just wants cool tech, I really hope this bubble pops. But it’s not just me saying that. “We're waiting for the AI bubble to pop,” an anonymous spokesperson from a small PC manufacturer told Wired.

This is a similar sentiment to what I heard across many companies at CES 2026, and people are getting tired of it — not just from the “AI is making everything more expensive” side of things, but also just getting serious feature fatigue.

In Pew Research Center's late 2025 report, for the first time, a growing majority of Americans are more concerned than excited about AI at 50% (a sharp increase from 37% in 2021). The reason is not about the idea of “Skynet” killer robots anymore; it’s about the erosion of human skills.

53% believe AI will worsen human creativity, and 50% believe it will harm our ability to form meaningful relationships. I mean, you can see that from the subtext of reading stories, like using ChatGPT to help with small talk.

And the rest of the stats that I found continue to paint a worsening picture. The trust gap is huge, with 25% of respondents saying the benefits of AI are “high,” while 57% say the risks to society are “high.”

In fact, there’s almost a mirroring of sorts to the K-shaped economy we find ourselves in — where the rich are getting richer, and the poor get poorer. 54% of low-income respondents to the Edelman Trust Barometer believe they will be “left behind” by generative AI, and 55% of Americans told Ipsos that AI will lead to income inequality and a polarized society (up nine points from 2023).

Can this bubble just burst already?

Put simply, we’re hearing about all of these benefits AI will give us, but not seeing them. We’re feeling the damage to our bank balances, and seeing people like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressing AI’s environmental impact by saying “it also takes a lot of energy to train a human” certainly doesn’t help.

Like I’ve been saying (just so you know I’m not fully a doomer), I don’t believe that AI, in terms of the benefits it could provide in healthcare and society, is a bubble. I believe that this current idea of generative AI is a bubble — generated by outrageous spending commitments that companies will not be able to keep up with. And the burst could very well be a global reset to focus on the priorities of social good.

Because right now, we have something that takes away from human creativity and connection, generates slop like The Rock wrestling a baby (no joke) and is forced down our throats in OS features that have no real reason for being.

And the cost of this bet is significant — possibly up to $1.5 trillion in new debt by 2030 to complete the global AI infrastructure needed. It’s why you’ve seen stocks of the Magnificent 7 cool recently, because investors are looking at this money wall and asking, “wait, do we actually get our money back?”

But to you, the end result is being priced out for consumer tech. We’re paying for this. A rebalancing needs to come. We can’t wait for 2028 (the general prediction of when companies think this could end).

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The RAM crisis shows no sign of stopping, as manufacturers continue to prioritize AI data centers over memory, resulting in an ongoing shortage. And Lenovo believes buyers should act fast before pricing and availability get worse.

With the RAM shortage expected to last until 2028 or beyond, as even manufacturer Micron believes, and with the shortages already making Nvidia put off releasing a gaming GPU for the first time in decades, it's clear the lack of available memory is causing a stir in the industry.

In light of this, Lenovo North America President Ryan McCurdy has spoken up about the supply chain with CRN, stating that buyers will find "the most attractive product pricing" right now.

Buy now, save later

“If the infrastructure is critical in the next three, six, 12 months, and the pricing sensitivity is high, then we get into a scenario where we’re acting quickly because essentially the current stock that is at our distributors and at our partners [has] some of the most attractive product pricing that will exist for the next six to 12 months,” McCurdy states. “So it’s really a bias for action if that infrastructure is critical and if the sensitivity is high.”

With RAM and the parts for products that use memory, whether that be phones, laptops, tablets or gaming consoles, being scooped up by companies large and small, pricing has already been on the rise.

But costs haven't reached their pinnacle point yet, with McCurdy warning it could be as little as six months before prices see an even higher spike. Right now, Lenovo's partners and even consumers are seeing the lowest prices around — but these aren't expected to last.

This backs up Intel's claim that laptop makers are sitting on 'about 9 to 12 months' of stock before price spikes, along with an Asus rep stating when the RAM crisis will affect costs. But it isn't just about pricing, as a Lenovo executive has also noted that availability is going fast.

Availability is getting scarce

According to an anonymous U.S. systems integrator speaking with CRN, despite the urge for company partners and distributors to buy now, supply for products, specifically servers in their case, is running out post-haste.

“If [customers are] ready [and] they know they want it, buy it as soon as you can because the pricing is one thing. The actual availability of the parts is the other. That’s what I’m more worried about,” the integrator states.

As an example, when this U.S. systems integrator tried getting GPU-accelerated servers from Dell, only for the products to be out of stock despite the deal being put in place.

"At the end of the day, they said, ‘Sorry, we’re sold out.’ We couldn’t even get the deal because the product’s not there anymore. It’s that fluid," the integrator explained. This goes to show that while pricing for buyers is at its "most attractive," companies are already grabbing what they can before they disappear, and there's no sign when these products will be back.

It continues to become clear that were into for the long haul when it comes to the memory shortage, and we're still only seeing its effects ignite. If anything, it may even be worth checking out these DDR4 RAM kits to stay on top of the RAM crisis.

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• 'We're not going to create an AI device that plays the game for you': Logitech G on AI taking over tech, 'it needs to make the product better'
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If you know me personally or have been following my journalistic work, you'll know that there are few things I love more than gaming. When I'm not working, you'll usually find me sinking hours into my favorite RPGs. They're like my safe space, and playing single-player games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Baldur's Gate 3 feels therapeutic to me.

My favorite and go-to console is the PS5 Slim. I've logged in thousands of hours on it. When I test the best gaming headsets or the best controllers, I usually play on my PS5. But I also review the best computer speakers and the best gaming keyboards, and I test them by playing games on the Dell Alienware 16X Aurora.

Recently, I've tested some gadgets that make them feel like they would make the ultimate gaming setup. So if you're looking to upgrade your monitor or add a new controller to your collection, let me take you through my must-have peripherals.

A monitor with a rapid refresh rate

The first and most important thing you need to elevate your PC gaming setup is a good, competent monitor. There are so many out there, though, that it can be overwhelming to make a decision. I'm here to make that easier. Get the Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 if you're based in Europe, or get the first-gen R27qe if you're based in the States (as there isn't much of a difference between the two models).

Lenovo's R27qe Gen 2 is an absolute beast for productivity and gaming. You get a QHD panel, and a 200Hz refresh rate and 0.5ms response time which means you don't experience motion blur, choppiness or input lag. The monitor also brings all the dark and light shades to life thanks to impeccable color accuracy and coverage, as shown in our lab testing too — the results of which you can see in my full Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 review.

I love just how bright the R27qe Gen 2 is too, with SDR brightness topping at 321.2 nits and HDR brightness at 222 nits. This is more than enough, as I was able to read and see everything on screen accurately and in great detail. The monitor itself is well-built and its head has a -5° to +22° tilt, 30° left and right swivel, and a -90° to +90° pivot, providing great flexibility.

Speakers that pack meaty bass

I've tested many speakers in my time so believe me when I say that the Edifier QR65 are some of the best-looking speakers money can buy today. Wrapped in textured faux leather that's soft to touch and fitted with customizable LED lighting panels, the QR65 strike a great balance between gaming and bookshelf speakers. One of the reasons why they still haven't left my desk is their design; the "infinity mirror" lighting effect really does turn my frown upside down.

Of course, there's no point in spending any amount of money on speakers if they fail to create immersive soundscapes — and the good news is that the QR65 excel at that. Fitted with two 1.25-inch tweeters and two 2.75-inch mid-low drivers, they cover a frequency response range of 55Hz-40KHz. Sound is reproduced faithfully, and Night City in Cyberpunk 2077 comes to life, while you can hear the quiet hum of dungeons while thoroughly enjoying the power ballads in in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

If you're an FPS player, you'll appreciate just how clearly footsteps sound through the QR65. What I also love is that the speakers create a sort of virtual surround sound where you can hear audio not just around you, but above you too. This makes you feel immersed and you end up feeling like the main character. The QR65 are the perfect computer speakers for those who want aesthetic flair as well as bonkers sound quality.

An ergonomic Hall Effect controller

As a console gamer, I'm more comfortable using a controller than a keyboard and mouse for gaming. Few controllers are better than the GameSir G7 Pro, especially if you're a PC gamer who doesn't mind a wired gamepad. If you game for long periods of time, the G7 Pro should be right up your alley as it's inspired by the Xbox Elite Series 2, so it sports chunky grips that are comfortable to hold.

There's one area where the G7 Pro upstages the Xbox Elite Series 2, and that's performance. Unlike the first-party Xbox gamepad, the G7 Pro is fitted with Hall Effect triggers with adjustable sensitivity, and TMR thumbsticks which register even the most minute adjustments. User-friendly companion software makes customization easy too, and 1,000Hz polling means latency issues are basically non-existent.

The G7 Pro is compatible with an array of consoles and devices too. You get Bluetooth LE and a 2.4GHz dongle to effortlessly and wirelessly connect to PC and Android devices. You can use the controller with your Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S too, by simply plugging it in. This versatility makes the G7 Pro the controller to beat.

A 96% keyboard for work and play

If you're someone who loves gaming but also types for a living, the best keyboard you can get right now is the Keychron Q12 HE. This 96% layout keyboard packs Gateron Double-Rail Hall Effect switches whose sensitivity can be adjusted all the way down to 0.1mm for ultra-responsive gameplay in FPS titles. The 1,000Hz polling rate should suffice most players, and it means that you don't experience any latency issues or input lag.

The Q12 HE is a joy to type on too, with double-shot PBT keycaps which feel soft to touch. Being able to adjust each switch's sensitivity means you can tailor it to your liking. The keyboard also sports a southpaw design, meaning the numpad is on the left-hand side, saving you space to move your mouse around freely, and using the numpad with your left hand feels more natural.

If you want a well-built keyboard that will stand the test of time, I can't think of one better than the Q12 HE. The durable PBT keycaps won't be worn down or get glossy from sweat, and the full CNC-machined case means this deck could probably fell a tree!

A speedy mouse

Any gaming desk setup is incomplete without one of the best gaming mice — after all, you need it to accompany your keyboard, right? For competitive gamers, an 8,000Hz polling rate and 30,000 DPI are non-negotiable. These give you a competitive advantage and enable you to tailor the settings to your gamestyle. Oh, and who can forget angle snapping? The Keychron M3 Mini V2 8K packs all this and more, and it's my top pick for PC gamers.

The M3 Mini V2 8K's 8,000Hz polling means there are no latency issues or input lag, and the DPI button on its body enables you to change it on the fly, so no need to dive into companion software to adjust it. Aside from boasting powerful gaming performance, the M3 Mini V2 8K is built of high-quality plastic and it's lightweight but sturdy. The mouse itself is ergonomically-designed so it's comfortable to use for long periods of time.

What's great about the M3 Mini V2 8K is that it doesn't break the bank, so it's perfect for gamers on a budget. It packs pro-level specs and delivers them at an affordable price, and it's the cheapest 8,000Hz polling mouse I've tested yet.

More from Tom's Guide

• I’ve been testing Lenovo Legion’s 200Hz QHD monitor for a week — and it 'puts most other budget screens to shame'
• ‘I didn’t think a traditionally budget brand could make such good premium speakers’ — here’s why the Edifier QR65 are never leaving my desk
• I’ve tested dozens of gaming keyboards and this Keychron deck is the only one I’m using from now on

In a surprising twist, a new leak regarding Lenovo's next gaming laptops may have come from the company itself. And the leak appears to reveal the first true Windows 11 on ARM gaming laptop based on the upcoming Nvidia N1X chip.

The new laptops were spotted by dataminer Huang514613, who tweeted out a series of product codes for upcoming Lenovo devices.

Here's what we know about Lenovo product codes to help us understand what these actually mean. Typically, the first number you see in the code is the screen size. So for the Legion Pro 7, found on the Lenovo site, the product code is 16IAX10H.

So, that device has a 16-inch display. The first letter in the code refers to its platform: A= AMD, I= Intel, N= Nvidia and Q= Qualcomm. Other information includes the chip number.

On the Lenovo Legion Space support page under the supported devices section, a surprising code makes an appearance; the Legion 7 15N1X11, which means its a 15-inch gaming laptop powered by the Nvidia N1X chipset.

Here are other devices that Huang spotted that will likely be powered by Nvidia N1X and N1 CPUs.

• Ideapad Slim 5 14N1V11
• Ideapad Slim 5 16N1V11
• Legion 7 15N1X11
• Yoga Pro 7 15N1V11
• Yoga Pro 7 15N1X11
• Yoga 9 2-in-1 16N1X11

What makes this leak stand out is that it hasn't yet been revealed when Nvidia's consumer N1-series would actually debut in gaming laptops. It was suspected that we would have to wait at least a year before anything would actually debut.

This means Lenovo will ship a Legion gaming laptop powered by the N1 chip as a direct competitor with AMD and even Qualcomm, which makes ARM systems. However, laptops and mini PCs that use Qualcomm's systems aren't gaming machines.

This could be one of the first true Windows 11 on ARM gaming laptops. However, the dataminer didn't provide more information beyond the code existing.

The question is whether or not Lenovo's Nvidia laptop will debut before Dell's version. Earlier this week, our colleagues at Tom's Hardware reported that a Dell laptop featuring an N1X chip is will debut in the "first quarter of 2026" and will likely be under the company's Alienware brand.

What's so special about the Nvidia N1-series?

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has previously confirmed that the N1-series is based on the company's DGX Spark AI systems and is powered by a GB10 superchip based on N1 silicon.

The GB10 features a 20-core ARM CPU, but is paired with an RTX 5070 GPU. It could have up to 128GB of LPDDR5X memory, though how much it actually ships with may get altered by the ongoing RAM crisis.

Meanwhile, Nvidia may already be developing a second-generation N2 chip that will debut in 2027.

Stay tuned to Tom's Guide for the latest and we can't wait to get one of these new Windows 11 on ARM gaming laptops in to test out for ourselves.

More from Tom's Guide

• Nvidia RTX 50-series GPU production reportedly 'paused,' but insists it will 'continue to ship' all cards
• ‘RTX 5070 is the sweet spot’: Scan CEO reveals what Nvidia GPU PC gamers actually want
• 'Basically a photograph interacting with you at 500 frames per second': Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang shares his vision of the future of PC gaming, and how the company plans to tackle GPU pricing crisis

As someone who has a sedentary job, I spend up to eight hours a day, five days a week, in front of a screen, and I do a lot of photo editing and enjoy gaming in my spare time. This is why I need one of the best monitors. It must be bright, colors must be accurate and it should be able to keep up with demanding games — the Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 does just that.

Succeeding the first-gen model, the R27qe Gen 2 is an excellent monitor for a number of reasons. It’s got a 200Hz refresh rate and 0.5ms response time, making it a great choice for FPS, RPGs and everything in between. Color accuracy and coverage, as well as brightness, don’t give you much to complain about. Plus, the monitor’s height and viewing angles are highly adjustable. But it’s far from perfect, as the lack of built-in speakers and USB ports might prove significant for some.

Should you still buy it? Find out in my full Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 review.

Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A 27-inch QHD gaming monitor with a 200Hz refresh rate and 0.5ms response time
• Who is it for? Gamers who also need a competent monitor for photo editing and work
• How much does it cost? The Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 is available for £199
• What do we like? The bright panel, excellent color accuracy and coverage, 200Hz refresh rate and 0.5ms response time deliver solid gaming performance and height adjustability
• What don’t we like? There aren’t any built-in speakers or USB ports, and the assembly can prove frustrating

Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 review: Specs

Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 review: The ups

From its outstanding color coverage and accuracy to its 200Hz refresh rate and 0.5ms response time that delivers a lag-free gaming experience, the Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 is an all-rounder.

Highly adjustable

If you want a monitor that provides various viewing angles, there are few better than the Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2. First of all, the monitor sports a minimalist, low-key all-black design with no loud RGB lighting, so if you want to use it for work or in an office, it’ll fit right in. It measures 24.14 x 10.19 x 20.4 inches with the stand and base attached, and it weighs 13lbs, so there’s no need to worry about accidentally knocking it over.

Secondly, it’s highly adjustable. The R27qe Gen 2’s head has a -5° to +22° tilt, 30° left and right swivel, and a -90° to +90° pivot. This means that you don’t need to worry about placing it in a certain position on your desk to get the best viewing angle. For instance, at my office desk, I have another monitor and loads of tech and trinkets lying around. I didn’t have to clear up my desk much to accommodate the R27qe Gen 2, as I was able to simply adjust the head’s angle to my liking.

It’s worth spending on the R27qe Gen 2, especially over its stablemate, the Lenovo L27i-4B ($109), whose height can’t be adjusted at all. With that monitor, you’re limited to a -5~22° angle tilt, and that’s about it.

Vivid colors both on paper and in practice

I love the Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2’s TFT LCD panel, which is bright and displays lovely, vibrant colors. This is a QHD (2560 x 1440) display, and if you’re peeved that it isn’t an OLED panel, know that OLED monitors cost a lot more. For instance, the Alienware AW2725D is almost double the price at $499, and some are even as expensive as the $1,099 MSI MPG 272URX.

As QHD monitors go, though, the R27qe Gen 2 is outstanding when it comes to color accuracy and coverage. In my objective lab testing, the R27qe Gen 2 demonstrated a Delta-E score of 0.16. Delta-E basically shows how accurate or close the color on the screen (monitor) is to the color output from the source (laptop). The closer the score to 0, the better and more color-accurate the images, and 0.16 is a strong score. It’s the exact same score as the BenQ PD3226G’s ($1,099), a dedicated photo and video editing monitor.

As you can see in the table above, the R27qe Gen 2 covers 132.2% of the sRGB color gamut, too, which means it covers the entire color spectrum and then some. This lines up with what I saw on screen during testing: colors appeared bright and true to life, and the different hues and shades looked vibrant. The sRGB coverage is similar to the similarly priced Gigabyte G27FC ($229) and better than the Dell 24 S2421HGF ($250).

The last thing I always test is DCI-P3, which is another common color space with a wider overall gamut than sRGB. It paints us a picture of lifelike color, and the R27qe Gen 2 covers 93.7% of it. Even though it’s a little under 100%, it’s still better than both the aforementioned Gigabyte and the Dell. If you want more DCI-P3 coverage, the Alienware AW2525HM ($249) is a great alternative with 105.2% DCI-P3 coverage as well as 148.5% sRGB coverage.

All of these results go to show that the R27qe Gen 2 is an excellent monitor for both gaming and light productivity — and I will discuss both aspects in detail below.

Excellent gaming performance

The Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 is, first and foremost, a gaming monitor, and what a great gaming monitor it is. Featuring a 0.5ms response time and 200Hz refresh rate, it delivers a smooth and lag-free experience. With plenty of picture modes to choose from, depending on the genre you’re playing, you can truly tailor your experience to your liking.

While it doesn’t reach 4K resolution, visuals still look stunning on its QHD panel, and the 27-inch screen is just the right size to immerse you without taking up too much space on your desk. Colors on paper, as discussed above, are one thing, and they might appear different in practice. Well, not on the R27qe Gen 2. Regardless of the game I played, I was thoroughly impressed — from dark shadows to bright street lights, each frame packed plenty of detail for me to enjoy.

I kicked things off by playing Cyberpunk 2077 and roaming around the dark streets of Dogtown at nighttime. The R27qe Gen 2 had no issues in ensuring I saw enemies lurking in the shadows, making them appear bright but not fake. Similarly, when the bright neon lights came into view once I exited Dogtown, the colors appeared vibrant but not overwhelming — they looked just right.

Thanks to the 200Hz refresh rate and 0.5ms response time, I didn’t experience any choppiness while riding my bike at high speeds or during fast-paced combat; there was no ghosting during the game either. Bear in mind that to make use of the 200Hz refresh rate, you’ll need to use the included DisplayPort cable.

I also hooked up my Nintendo Switch 2 just to gauge how the R27qe Gen 2 performed in an animated game like Sonic x Shadow Generations. Again, the game remained free of any motion blur, even while grinding down rails as the red-haired hedgehog, or using Shadow’s Chaos Control powers. The monitor brought all the dark and light shades to life, and honestly, the game has never looked better. The Switch 2’s refresh rate tops at 120Hz when docked, which meant that the R27qe Gen 2 had no problem handling it.

Great for productivity too

Not only is the Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 awesome for gaming, it’s great for productivity and work, too, making it a near-perfect monitor for most people. As I mentioned above, color coverage and accuracy are superb, so you shouldn’t have any problems with editing photos and videos, or simply watching movies or YouTube videos in your downtime.

I review the best cameras and the best drones here at Tom’s Guide, and to analyze the image and video quality, I spend a lot of time staring at the finer details on my monitor. The R27qe Gen 2 is more than up to the challenge. I edited a few photos to test it out, and it worked very well. Whether I was looking for minute chromatic aberration around a subject’s edges or color grading, the R27qe Gen 2 didn’t let me down.

Color coverage is bolstered by 10-bit depth, which means it is capable of showing 1.07 billion individual hues. This is crucial (for me, at least) as many cameras and drones capture footage in 10-bit depth, and the R27qe Gen 2 enables me to see the colors exactly as they were captured.

So, so bright

The Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 is the brightest monitor I’ve ever had the pleasure of testing or using. As always, I measured SDR and HDR brightness individually in our testing lab, and the results were impressive across the board.

In the table above, I’ve compared the R27qe Gen 2 to other similarly priced monitors (or monitors I have also lab-tested). In the default Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) mode, the R27qe Gen 2 has a brightness of 321.2 nits. That’s very bright — even brighter than the pricier Alienware AW2725D, which tops at 253.8. At brightness turned up to 100% via the monitor’s menu, I could see the screen properly in a well-lit room. No complaints here.

I then measured the High Dynamic Range (HDR) brightness and compared it to the aforementioned monitors. I’ve left the Dell 24 S2421HGF and the Gigabyte G27FC out of the comparison as neither supports HDR. As can be inferred from the table above, the R27qe Gen 2 offers better peak brightness than the Alienware AW2525HM at 10%, 40% and 100%. It pales in comparison to the AW2725D, but that is an OLED display, so it isn’t a fair fight.

Overall, though, the R27qe Gen 2 is an outstanding and bright monitor, and you’ll be able to see everything on screen and read everything without any qualms using it, regardless of the lighting conditions.

Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 review: The downs

The Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 is great but not perfect, as it doesn’t feature built-in speakers or USB ports, and its assembly is frustrating.

Not exactly upgrade-worthy

The Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 isn't exactly a massive upgrade over its predecessor. As its name suggests, it’s the second-gen version of the R27qe. If you already own that monitor and are considering upgrading to the R27qe Gen 2, hold your horses.

The first-gen R27qe has the same 2560 x 1440 resolution, WLED backlighting, 0.5ms response time, 10-bit color depth and similar height adjustability. Is there anything different? The R27qe Gen 2 has a 200Hz refresh rate versus 180Hz on its predecessor, and that isn’t a huge difference. Design-wise, Lenovo has moved the buttons from the side to the bottom of the R27qe Gen 2, and has surprisingly chosen to remove the 3.5mm audio out jack. Oh, and the R27qe Gen 2 is available in Europe only — sorry, Americans.

As the rest of my review has shown, the R27qe Gen 2 is in no way a bad monitor. It’s excellent! But it doesn’t pack enough upgrades to justify replacing your existing R27qe — or feeling bad that it isn’t available in the U.S. On the other hand, if you’re a newbie looking for a QHD monitor or are based in Europe, I can’t recommend the R27qe Gen 2 enough, and you can pick one up for £199.

Annoying assembly

The Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 is a highly capable, competent monitor, but I’m not a big fan of the assembly process. With all other monitors I’ve tested, assembly is straightforward. The stand slots into the head, and that’s it. This isn’t the case with the Legion R27qe Gen 2. Included in the box are four bolts or screws. To attach the stand to the monitor head, you need to line it up with the holes in the back of the monitor and then screw in the four bolts.

Not only is it more time-consuming, but it’s a fairly finicky process. When I first set up the monitor for our studio photography, I locked in the base first before attaching the stand to the head. Because the base itself is angular and large, I couldn’t line up the head’s and stand’s holes, so I had to remove the base and then do it. A long and unnecessary process.

No built-in speakers

Although not a major drawback, it’s worth noting that the Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 doesn’t feature built-in speakers or a 3.5mm jack. This means that you can’t play audio directly through the monitor. The reason I say this isn’t a massive con is because you’ll be using the monitor with a PC, and you can always connect speakers or a headset to your PC for great sound quality.

You are, of course, out of luck if you don’t already own a gaming headset or external speakers. It’ll also be a pain if you want to hook up your console, like a PS5 or a Nintendo Switch 2, to the monitor. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a monitor in this price range not have speakers, as the Alienware AW2525HM doesn’t either.

No USB ports

You should probably consider other monitors if you want an array of onboard I/O ports, as the Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 is pretty stripped-back in this area. It features a power port (naturally), two HDMI 2.1 TMDS and one DisplayPort 1.4 ports. There are no USB-A or USB-C downstream ports for your external peripherals, and it means you’ll need to invest in a separate USB hub if you want more connectivity.

I’d recommend the Alienware AW2525HM or the Gigabyte G27FC if you’d like more connectivity. The former of these has a whopping 320Hz refresh rate, making it the better choice for gaming — although the R27qe Gen 2 is still more than capable with its 200Hz refresh rate.

Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2 review: Verdict

Few budget monitors upstage the Lenovo Legion R27qe Gen 2. This is a terrific monitor for gaming, work, productivity, photo editing and everything in between. With a 0.5ms response time and 200Hz refresh rate, it delivers an immersive, lag-free gaming experience across genres — whether that’s an FPS title, an RPG or a racing game. It boasts excellent color coverage and accuracy, too, and the extensive height and viewing angle adjustment make it a winner.

But few things in life are perfect, and the R27qe Gen 2 isn’t one of them. The assembly is frustrating, while the lack of built-in speakers and USB ports may not be for everyone. It isn’t much different from its predecessor either.

However, if you want a QHD monitor that doesn’t compromise on color rendition and gaming performance, and you’re on a budget, you can’t go wrong with the R27qe Gen 2. It’s bright. It’s colorful. It’s speedy. It’s an all-rounder.

Just like it always does, Lenovo wowed us with futuristic concepts and rollable screens at CES 2026. But behind the hardware was perhaps its most important announcement yet: a cross-device AI tool called Qira.

We’re currently living in an era where every tech giant is shoehorning a new chatbot into every available corner of our digital lives. (I’m looking at you, Microsoft Copilot.) Lenovo’s solution aims to be the antithesis of that "bloated" experience — an ambient intelligence that works quietly in the background, only stepping forward when you actually need it.

The goal? To let you do more with AI without getting lost in it.

Following a brief glimpse of Qira’s potential at Lenovo’s Sphere keynote, I sat down with Ryan McCurdy, SVP and president of Lenovo North America. We discussed how this "AI Twin" approach is designed to break through AI fatigue and why, in his view, the best version of AI is the one that gives you your time back.

An always present AI

While most AI tools these days require you to go out of your way to download or open them, Lenovo is baking Qira directly into the operating system — whether that be Windows or Android. It’s not just another website you have to bookmark; it’s going to be a core part of how your Lenovo laptop and Motorola phone actually work when it rolls out later this year.

Right now, even for someone like me who loves gadgets, using AI can feel like a chore. You’re constantly jumping between a browser for one tool, a desktop app for another, and then maybe grabbing your phone for a third. It’s a total juggling act.

When I spoke with McCurdy, he explained that this “siloed” approach is exactly what’s holding people back. He doesn't think the future of AI is just another app you have to remember to check. Instead, Qira is designed to be “always present" and “aware of what you’re doing.” It’s not just sitting in a sidebar waiting for you to click on it; it’s working across your ThinkPad and Motorola Razr at the same time.

Think of it this way: with Qira, you won’t have to waste time explaining the context every time you open a new chat window. Since it’s already seeing what you’re working on across your devices, Qira already knows. It’s a much more "elegant solution" that actually feels like it's helping you rather than giving you more work to do.

Not just a chatbot but a personal twin

It’s easy to get stuck in the habit of using just one AI tool, especially when it’s already sitting there on your taskbar. But if you only use Microsoft Copilot, you’re missing out on what Gemini does best, and vice versa. You might want Copilot to handle a massive Excel spreadsheet, but you’d probably rather have Gemini do your deep research.

Instead of trying to build a new chatbot to compete with everyone else, Lenovo is making Qira an "orchestrator." It doesn't want to be your only AI tool — it wants to be the one that picks the best tool for whatever you're doing. It’s also not going to be a total data hog; it uses your laptop’s NPU to handle things locally whenever possible to keep your data private.

To make this work, Lenovo has spent the last year buddying up with Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and Microsoft. The goal is to make sure Qira has the "keys" to all the best tech on the market so it can act like a conductor for your digital life. This approach could actually be the cure for AI bloat — instead of you managing ten different AI apps, you just have one "assistant" managing them for you.

This is where the "Personal Twin" comes in. Since Qira is with you on your phone and your laptop, it’s watching how you actually work. Over time, it learns your habits and your tone until it basically becomes a digital clone of your workflow. The idea is that your "Twin" can handle the boring, repetitive stuff across all your different apps and devices, leaving you to focus on the things that actually require a human brain.

More time for what matters

We’ve only just scratched the surface of what Qira can do, but one of the most practical features I saw during Lenovo's Tech World keynote was Catch Me Up. We’ve all been in that position where you step away for a few hours and come back to a mountain of notifications. This tool is designed to summarize everything you missed — from work emails to family group chats — so you don’t have to waste time digging through your inbox or scrolling endlessly through social media.

Even on a normal day, Catch Me Up feels like a massive win for anyone trying to cut down on their screen time. It’s essentially a personalized briefing that gets you up to speed before you even log on for the day.

While McCurdy is busy running Lenovo’s North American business, he’s also a family man with 12 siblings and a big family of his own. When I asked him if he’d be using Qira to keep track of everyone, he didn't give me a "corporate" answer. Instead, he explained that for him, the best version of AI is one that handles the digital legwork so he can actually be present with his friends and family instead of constantly checking his phone.

It’s a bit ironic, but it seems like one of the main goals of Qira is to help you use technology so efficiently that you can finally afford to put it away.

Qira outlook

Unlike Apple Intelligence, which often feels like a "coming soon" teaser, you’ll actually be able to get your hands on Qira sooner than you’d think. Lenovo confirmed that Qira will start shipping on select PCs in the first quarter of this year, with Motorola devices following later this year via over-the-air updates.

If you’re wondering if your current gear — like my trusty ThinkPad — will work with this new tool, the answer is a hopeful “maybe.” While Qira is launching on flagship devices first, Lenovo is planning to release software updates for select older models, like those already using Lenovo AI Now. However, there is a hardware catch: to handle that heavy "local lifting" and keep your data private, you’ll likely need a newer machine equipped with an NPU.

I’m cautiously optimistic. Lenovo’s presentation at the Sphere wowed me in a way that hasn’t happened for a while in the AI space. If Lenovo and Motorola can really make our PCs and smartphones work together as one unified brain, they might just be the ones to put "AI fatigue" to bed for good.

More from Tom's Guide

• I went hands-on with the Lenovo Yoga Mini i and it could be the perfect companion for your desk
• AI is quietly breaking the internet and most people don’t even realize it yet
• I tested Amazon’s new Echo Show 8 with Alexa+ — here’s how it stacks up to its predecessor

Well, it was only a matter of time. Lenovo has pulled back the curtains at CES 2026 on its next handheld gaming PC, and it's the Lenovo Legion Go 2 with a very much welcome upgrade: SteamOS.

It's a tale we've heard before. An all-new gaming handheld arrives on the scene with specs that outshine the Steam Deck, only for it to be hindered by the power-consuming and performance-draining Windows 11. Microsoft's operating system is just ill-suited to handhelds. The Xboxified Windows 11 (the Xbox Full Screen Experience) does alleviate the issue, but only somewhat.

Lenovo understood the woes of Windows 11; its Lenovo Legion Go S was the first official gaming handheld to receive SteamOS outside of the Steam Deck, and we sang its rightful praises.

In fact, when the Windows version of the Legion Go S arrived in our hands, our own Tony Polanco simply said, "I'd wait for the SteamOS version." Well, it appears history is repeating itself now that Lenovo finally revealed a SteamOS-certified Legion Go 2.

As announced, the Lenovo Legion Go 2 powered by SteamOS (a dedicated Steam button included) will be available in June 2026, with prices starting at $1,199. Now, we know the latest gaming handheld is one pricey machine, even compared to the $999 ROG Xbox Ally X, so will it be worth it now that SteamOS is onboard?

Same-same, but different

When the SteamOS-powered Lenovo Legion Go 2 arrives, it will come with the exact same specs that we've seen on the model that's now available. That means an extremely powerful AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, up to 32GB of DDR5X RAM, a 74Wh battery and a dazzling 8.8-inch (1920 x1200) OLED 144Hz touchscreen.

Combined, all of these specs make the best parts of Lenovo's latest handheld. The only real problem holding it back was (you guessed it) Windows 11, and it affects the performance in gaming and battery life of these portable consoles to the point that it shaves off precious frames and a significant amount of time for keeping it turned on.

Don't get us wrong, the Legion Go 2 still impresses with its gaming chops (and beautiful OLED display), but knowing it could be better with a lightweight OS that's specifically built for gaming makes its current state a tad lackluster — especially at its full $1,349 price point.

So what kind of performance jump can we look forward to with SteamOS? Well, if it's anything like the Legion Go S models, it will be quite the improvement. Just check out the differences we benchmarked below.

Of course, we'll need to do some hands-on testing in our labs with the upcoming Legion Go 2 with SteamOS to see if gaming performance is massively improved, but the signs are clear. Even the short time I played The Witcher 3 and Black Myth: Wukong on the all-new SteamOS edition made it clear that Valve's operating system offers plenty of benefits.

It's almost like playing on a Steam Deck 2, what with the Legion Go 2's visually delicious OLED display and ergonomically pleasant detachable controllers. Essentially, it unlocks what the latest Legion Go could actually offer.

So, expected better performance and longer battery life just with a change of OS; no hardware changes needed. That fixes two of our biggest gripes with the current Lenovo Legion Go 2, but that price is still eye-wateringly high.

Still worth the price?

The Lenovo Legion Go 2 is just about the most expensive handheld gaming PC on the market, even compared to the other options like the ROG Xbox Ally X or MSI Claw A8 (all boasting the mighty AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip). But with SteamOS, the price is a little more justified.

Anyone after the pinnacle in portable handheld gaming will find the Lenovo Legion Go 2 is already a treat, thanks to its impressive specs, OLED display, adjustable ergonomics and more. But with SteamOS fixing the issues it has? That just makes this premium machine all the more worth it if you've been saving up for a top-quality gaming experience.

It remains to be seen just how well this upcoming Lenovo Legion Go 2 with SteamOS will fare, especially now that Xbox FSE makes Windows 11 a hugely more tolerable OS on handhelds. But as history details, SteamOS reigns supreme on handhelds, and on one of the strongest portable systems around, that's a good combination to look forward to.

Wondering what's next for on-the-go gaming? Check out what we expect for gaming handhelds in 2026.

More from Tom's Guide

• Best of CES 2026 Awards: The top 27 new gadgets
• I just tested Lenovo’s Legion Pro Rollable concept, and now my gaming laptop feels boring
• The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo is so overkill and I love it — like if a Nintendo DS got freaky with an RTX 5090

Lenovo is no stranger to delivering wild and innovative tech concepts, and it pulled out all the stops at CES 2026. We've seen the Legion Pro Rollable concept bringing ultra-wide gaming to laptops and the Auto-Twist turning heads. Now, I've spotted a keyboard that's switching things up — literally.

Named the Lenovo Adaptable Keyboard Concept, this board already appeals to the eye with its sleek, minimalist design, but it has a secret trick up its sleeve that's all in the name: instant switch-type adjustability. One moment, the key touch will be whisper quiet with tactile switches, the next, I'm getting the satisfying click-clacks of a mechanical keyboard.

That's all at the click of a button; no keycap removal kit needed. That means changing keyboard switches on the fly to suit your situation — whether you need to work silently in an office or want the tactile touch for precise inputs when gaming with plenty of thocks.

After some brief hands-on time with Lenovo's keyboard concept, I could tell this would be an interesting choice for those after the perks of different key switches without having to change them manually each time, key by key. Sure, it may not have the complete accuracy of the real switches found on the best keyboards, but it's a concept that many will appreciate officially coming to the market.

Switching switches

I fully appreciate how spec'd out keyboards have become, offering a selection of switches to choose from to get the exact feel you're after. Enthusiasts will have whole kits to swap out key switches and caps, depending on the activity they're doing, but for others, that can be a slog.

With that in mind, I can also appreciate a board that offers a selection of three switches to, well, switch between instantly. Fittingly named, the Lenovo Adaptable Keyboard Concept offers Red (Linear), Blue (clicky) and Brown (tactile) to choose from.

As explained by a Lenovo representative, it does this through magnetic switches that automatically adjust the response and stroke depths of each key instantly once you press a special key on the top-right corner.

Even better, the RGB backlight will change to the color coordinated with the switch, so you'll know just what switch you're using. Well, Brown isn't exactly an exciting color, so it uses a purple background instead (thankfully).

It was amazing to feel the clear difference between each key switch, and even hearing the louder clicks compared to the near-silent sounds between Red and Blue switches. Whether I'm writing documents or sprinting around in Battlefield 6, making that change is now easy.

Now, compared to the extremely satisfying type feel of my Lemokey P1 HE (which also uses magnetic switches), Lenovo's Adaptive keyboard doesn't feel quite as rewarding. But it's not completely far off, either. All that in an ergonomically pleasing and compact board? That's a welcome leap for keyboards.

This is just a concept, so it's still up in the air if this board will be wireless or wired, despite my seeing that it has a Bluetooth icon at the top of the frame. As stated, there's still more work to be done before a finalized product arrives, and potentially, it could have even more switch-type variations.

Outlook

Again, this is a concept, but Lenovo mentioned that if it were to arrive we could expect to see it on shelves by the end of 2026. And I certainly hope that this comes to fruition.

I'm a fan of the idea of a keyboard that, yes, adapts to your situation, instead of needing to get a specific board for your needs or switching out key switches constantly. And adjusting switches instantly is what really impresses.

Now, I can imagine the Lenovo Adaptive Keyboard Concept would be a pricey piece of kit, one that isn't exactly as affordable as the amazing sub-$100 keyboards we've tested in the past year alone. That remains to be seen, but either way this is one keyboard innovation I'd love to see in 2026.

More from Tom's Guide

• Best of CES 2026 Awards: The top 27 new gadgets
• I just tested Lenovo’s Legion Pro Rollable concept, and now my gaming laptop feels boring
• The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo is so overkill and I love it — like if a Nintendo DS got freaky with an RTX 5090

CES 2026 has been a good one for laptops. So far, it’s been a ton of sleeper hits and insane concepts. Well, Lenovo just added another one onto that first pile, as the Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition is a pretty remarkable feat of engineering — packing impressive Intel Core Ultra Series 3 performance and power efficiency into a premium chassis that is less than 1kg.

And to do all of this without compromising the premium nature of its components, the sound ergonomics of a great-feeling keyboard, a drop-dead gorgeous OLED display and fantastic haptics on the touchpad are impressive in all the right ways.

And since you could spec this all the way up to the X9 388H chipset, you could be in with a gaming monster of a machine to boot.

A true MacBook Air competitor

Whenever anyone thinks about making a MacBook Air killer, they’re quick to think about flash. But ultimately, it’s the ones who dare to just think about the fundamentals that succeed. That’s exactly what Lenovo has done here, and it all starts with that slimline ultra-premium design.

Weighing in at 975g, the amount of lifting force I applied to pick it up almost made me launch this system into the stratosphere, and the feeling of that magnesium alloy shell in the hand feels both sleek to the touch and impressively durable too — hiding fingerprints really well.

Then you open it up and find that 14-inch 2.8k OLED panel running at a buttery smooth 120Hz. That makes content super pretty to look at from all the videos I watched on this thing, and surprisingly, the speakers in here pack plenty of volume and clarity to boot.

Looking further south, that keyboard has the classic Lenovo attention to detail for great tactility on every key press, the glass touchpad feels effortlessly smooth to glide over and all of this (plus three Thunderbolt ports) is achieved in a chassis under 14mm thin.

Beefing up the power

But let’s get into the real reason why I love this thing — and the reason why it felt like a no-brainer to give Intel Core Ultra Series 3 our top best of CES 2026 award. You see, normally with notebooks, you always deal with compromise. The core counts are reduced, and the GPU is cut down. It’s a good system for casual productivity, but not much else.

However, you could spec this up to an Intel Core Ultra X9 388H… Yes, you read that right. That chip with the monstrous built-in GPU, that is surely the future of integrated graphics in gaming.

Of course, I could talk about how this really speeds up content creator workloads (4K edits zip by in a flash), but the real headline of it is seeing your <1kg notebook play Battlefield 6 at nearly 200 FPS. That is crazy.

And you’re getting vastly improved power efficiency for your day-to-day workloads, too. What this all means when combined altogether is that you don’t need to worry about compromise. You don’t need to make a decision to get a gaming laptop that can play games well, but also sort of nail the work on the side.

You can now get an ultralight notebook that’s great for portable productivity, but just so happens to play games really well. You’ll be able to pick one up at some point between April and June of this year at prices starting from $1,499.

More from Tom's Guide

• Best of CES 2026 Awards: The top 27 new gadgets
• The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo is so overkill and I love it — like if a Nintendo DS got freaky with an RTX 5090
• I just tested Lenovo’s Legion Pro Rollable concept, and now my gaming laptop feels boring

Day three of the Consumer Electronics Show 2026 has come to a close, and there have certainly been some incredible reveals. The first day was focused on TVs, and the second showed off some of the innovations coming to the laptop space, but day three has been more of a mix and match of new tech.

For instance, we’ve seen robots that can climb stairs, feature-packed vacuums and even a host of new smartwatches. Of course, it’s not just home-based products, as we also saw new smartwatches, laptops and more. We've seen everything from stair-climbing vacuums to rollable laptop displays and more.

Make sure that you keep an eye on our CES 2026 live blog for all the new releases as we see them. Also, make sure you check out the day 1 roundup of the 10 best new gadgets we saw, as well as the top 11 that we saw on CES day 2.

Samsung flexes the world's brightest OLED TV

If there’s one thing that we love to see, it’s innovations in display technology, and Samsung certainly isn’t disappointing. One of the biggest complaints around OLED TVs is that they just don’t get bright enough. However, Samsung showed off its latest project, a QD-OLED TV that can reach a peak brightness of 4,500 nits.

That’s an insane level of brightness, and Samsung told Tom's Guide it was only possible by combining the maximum brightness of each RGG component to overall effect.

A representative told Tom’s Guide’s Global Editor in Chief Mark Spoonauer the TV can get this bright because of the improved light efficiency of the panel, improved TFT circuitry and a more sophisticated T-Con (timing controller.)

An AI-powered pet companion

If you’re looking for companionship, then a pet can be a great investment; however, looking after a real-life dog or cat requires a lot of attention and sacrifice. Ecovacs may have a new solution for those seeking a fluffy friend, but lacking the time to devote to a flesh-and-blood version: LilMilo.

According to Ecovacs, the robotic dog combines multi-sensory perception with expressive, pet-like behavior, which comes together to introduce a new form of digital companionship.

The model that we saw was made to look like a small, fluffy dog and can use advanced AI and biometrics to learn from its user, recognising habits and voices, and develop its own personality over time.

Razr’s Project Motoko could be the future of AI wearables

My colleague Anthony Spadafora got the chance to try out Razr's new Project Motoko headset during CES 2026 to see what it could offer. This wearable utilizes dual eye-level cameras that allow users to capture images and ask the built-in AI Assistant about them. Of course, this isn’t the only thing that it can do, as you can also have the cameras continuously capture what you see for real-time interaction.

What’s noteworthy is that it actually looks comfortable to wear. Modern smart glasses might give you Clark Kent vibes, but wearing them isn’t the best experience if you don't naturally need glasses. In Razer's case, the extra room inside the headset’s earcups makes it much easier to put a reasonably sized battery inside, massively improving the battery life compared to even the best smart glasses.

A robot vacuum that can climb stairs

Roombas and other robotic vacuums have been around for a while, but they still have one major weakness: stairs. Fear not, the days of watching your robot vacuum bump furtively against the steps in your house could be nearing an end. Roborock has unveiled what it’s calling a world first: the Roborock Saros Rover, a two-wheel-legged robot.

This new design enables the robot vacuum to navigate over steps, high thresholds, and other awkward spaces. While we’ve seen other Robovac models feature things like extendable arms or adapt-lift chassis, this is the first that is designed to mimic human movement for a more sturdy and reliable clean.

The Rolls-Royce of electric scooters

Electric scooters are a familiar sight across most major cities, but the latest release from Navee adds a dash of class with a supercar-inspired design. The Navee UT5 Ultra X electric scooter uses a design based on the Rolls-Royce Phantom supercar and offers a top speed of 43 mph.

Tom's Guide's own Dan Bracaglia got a chance to test drive one and, aside from a few near crashes at the start, had a lot to praise about the scooter. The Navee UT5 Ultra X sports not one but two onboard motors with a maximum output of 240W each, allowing it to reach 0-12 mph in under two seconds. Not only that, the motor placement makes it possible to climb gradients of around 46 degrees, which is more than enough for most cities.

Motorola steps up its foldable game

We had heard rumors that Motorola was planning to showcase something interesting at CES 2026, and Tom's Guide got a chance to get a hands-on with the new Motorola Razr Fold. While the Motorola Razr series has been a staple in the foldable market for a couple of years now, this new release stands apart as being the first book-like foldable from the brand.

It features a 6.6-inch display on the outside and a large 8.1-inch 2K LTPO screen on the inside. We don’t know much about most of the hardware when it comes to the new phone, but we do know that it features a 50MP main Sony LYTIA sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide/macro, and a 50MP 3x periscope telephoto.

If you’re a selfie fan, then the phone also has a 32MP external selfie camera and a 20MP internal camera on the main display.

A head turning laptop that turns alongside you

Have you ever worried that your computer was watching you? Well, the new Lenovo Auto Twist actually is, but for a good reason.

The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist has a motorized dual-rotation hinge that automatically tracks your face when you move. However, a laptop is more than just rotation and, thankfully, the Lenovo Auto Twist offers some impressive hardware, especially the vivid 14-inch 2.8K OLED panel. The display comes with a 120Hz refresh rate and can be configured with up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD storage.

The release window for this laptop is set for June 2026, with a starting price of $1,649. And be warned that higher configurations will obviously increase that price.

The future of gaming laptops: a rollable screen

Lenovo also used CES to unveil a new concept for the future of gaming laptops, the Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable. This new design allows you to extend the screen from 16 inches to a massive 24 inches with an ultrawide 24:9 aspect ratio. The actual computer on display is no slouch thanks to the RTX 5090, Intel Core Ultra 9, all the LPDDR5X RAM, and a massive SSD, but really, the point here is that display.

As stated, the screen starts as a 16-inch OLED panel running at 240Hz, but the thick lid is hiding the three-step ultrawide panel that you can adjust to match the requirements of the game you're playing. If you’re worried about the mechanism breaking, Lenovo has you covered, as it’s supposedly been tested for 25,000 expansions and contractions.

IMAX-grade earbuds for theater level audio

Another world first has to be the Zohn-1 from company Breggz, the first earbuds to feature IMAX Enhanced and DTS certifications. That means they're tuned for high-quality audio in films and music, as well as sporting "custom 3D-printed shells" to reduce audio leak without relying on noise cancellation.

The Zohn-1 comes in two different sizes to accommodate a wide variety of ears and boasts balanced armature drivers, an integrated hearing test that lets you fine-tune the sound to your own ears and six pairs of swappable ear tips for optimal fit.

We don’t have a release date for the IMAX-certified earbuds just yet, but hopefully they'll be ready to buy when Avatar: Fire and Ash comes to streaming.

More from Tom's Guide

• Garmin’s top smartwatches are getting a massive free software update — here are the 2 best new features
• You can find your missing iPhone with one text message thanks to Apple Shortcuts — here’s how to set it up
• Watch: The LG CLOiD robot failing to fold laundry is the most mesmerizing thing I’ve seen at CES 2026

The Lenovo Yoga Mini i is an absolutely tiny mini PC in a puck-shaped chassis that still manages to pack a serious performance punch thanks to the inclusion of Intel’s new Core Ultra Series 3 chips. However, it has quite a few tricks up its sleeve that could easily earn it a place amongst the best mini PCs.

Unveiled during CES 2026, this is the second mini PC from Lenovo’s Yoga line, and as such, it sports the same aluminum finish from the company’s premium line of consumer laptops. Despite its small size, Lenovo has outfitted the Yoga Mini i with an excellent selection of rear ports, but there are also a few handy ports on the side.

I briefly went hands-on with the Yoga Mini i at CES, but its unique form factor immediately made it stand out. However, it wasn’t until I learned more about this mini PC that its unique design and built-in AI capabilities truly clicked.

Here are my initial thoughts on the Yoga Mini i and why I think it just might be the perfect desktop companion.

Lenovo Yoga Mini i hands-on review: Specs

Lenovo Yoga Mini i: Price and availability

The Lenovo Yoga Mini i will have a starting price of $699 and is expected to launch in June 2026. However, we’ll likely learn more about other, more powerful configurations of this mini PC and what they’ll cost when we get closer to its release this summer.

Lenovo Yoga Mini i: Design

At 5.12 x 5.12 x 1.91 inches, the Yoga Mini i is slightly larger as well as slightly shorter than Apple’s Mac mini M4 and it also features a case that’s made from aluminum. However, its round form factor instantly sets it apart, especially among other rectangular mini PCs.

On the front, the Yoga logo is visible in the center with two holes for its built-in microphone above, and the Lenovo logo is etched onto the top of its case. Conveniently, on the side of the Yoga Mini i, there’s a Thunderbolt 4 port along with a 3.5mm combo headphone and microphone jack.

Then around back, there’s a single USB-A port, an HDMI 2.1 port, two USB-C ports — one of which is used to power the device with 100W PD-in — a second Thunderbolt 4 port and a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port. This is quite a lot of ports for a device this size, given the limitations that come with using a rounded case instead of a rectangular one.

When you flip the Yoga Mini i over, there’s a small stand on the bottom of the device with a rubber ring that wraps all the way around to keep it firmly planted on your desk. Then above that, there are circular holes all the way around this mini PC, which serve a dual purpose. Not only do they provide ventilation as part of their 360-degree airflow system, but they also provide audio output from the Yoga Mini i’s built-in speaker.

It’s clear a lot of thought went into the design of this mini PC, but as I said before, it has a few more tricks up its sleeve.

Lenovo Yoga Mini i: Qira and Wi-Fi sensing

When I first went hands-on with the Yoga Mini i, Lenovo hadn’t announced its new Qira AI Assistant yet. However, when I went and checked it out again after the announcement, I finally saw the full picture.

At first glance, the Yoga Mini i looks just like one of the best smart speakers and it actually kind of is, in a sense. Although you can bring up Lenovo’s new AI assistant from within Windows, you can also tap on the top of the Yoga Mini i to do so as well. While I haven’t gotten a chance to try this out yet, I can already see how useful this could be when working at your desk.

In addition to opening Qira, you can also tap the top of this mini PC to share files and to turn its RGB underglow light on or off. Speaking of its built-in lighting, you can also have this light sync to music playing from its built-in speaker.

For its final trick, Lenovo has equipped this mini PC with Wi-Fi sensing capabilities. By constantly monitoring how its wireless signals reflect off of walls and furniture, the Yoga Mini i can detect when a large physical object like a person walks in front of it.

By opening the Lenovo AI Turbo Engine app, I was able to customize the color of the Yoga Mini i’s underglow light and pick from several different lighting effects. After setting the light’s color to red and the lighting effect to breathing, I stepped away from the device, and the instant I was back in front of it, it greeted me with a cool little light show.

Now I don’t know how useful this will be on an everyday basis yet, but I’m excited to try this out for myself in my full review later this year. However, I can already imagine using this feature to quickly see if my PC is still on when I come back into the room.

Lenovo Yoga Mini i: Performance and in use

Like I mentioned before, I was only able to briefly go hands-on with the Yoga Mini i, and I won’t know how well it actually performs until we get one into our testing lab. Still, it was quiet, apps opened quickly and it didn’t feel sluggish at all, likely because it’s rocking one of Intel’s new Core Ultra Series 3 chips.

I can already see myself using this device as my next mini PC, with it front and center on my desk. I really like how there’s a fingerprint reader integrated into its power button, as this will let me quickly log into Windows without having to enter a PIN. Likewise, I won’t have to plug in a pair of speakers to listen to music or to watch videos and its built-in microphone will probably work in a pinch for meetings, though it will probably be more useful for using Lenovo’s Qira AI assistant.

Even though the Yoga Mini i is small enough to fit in your pocket, it can actually drive up to four high-resolution displays thanks to its dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI 2.1 port and high-speed USB-C port that supports video out. I’ll have to try this out for myself, but from what I’ve seen so far, the Yoga Mini i already looks like an impressive mini PC.

Lenovo Yoga Mini i hands-on review: Outlook

The Lenovo Yoga Mini i is far from your typical mini PC, for better or worse. You can’t mount it behind a monitor and I doubt you’ll easily be able to open it up to add another SSD or to swap out its RAM. However, if you’re after a smaller device with a unique design and more than a few features you won’t find anywhere else.

I’m looking forward to putting the Yoga Mini i through its paces and using it as my daily driver later this year. Hopefully Qira is as impressive as Lenovo has made it out to be but even if it’s not, this sleek mini PC certainly stands out from the crowd. Either way, stay tuned for my full review.

More from Tom's Guide

• I saw Satechi’s new Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock at CES and it felt like I was holding a Mac mini M4
• The 5 things I'm glad I knew before buying a mini PC
• I paired a pocketable mini PC with a pair of AR glasses and even I was surprised when it became my go-to travel setup

The ThinkPad Rollable XD Concept seems like a laptop that is designed to merely turn heads at CES 2026 and then disappear into the ether.

But Lenovo’s vision with this laptop is to pave a path to a future where you can decide when ordering a ThinkPad if you want a rollable display or not.

We saw a similar concept in the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable last year, but the ThinkPad Rollable XD is different in a few key ways.

Key changes to the formula

For starters, the display doesn’t roll into the base. When the screen grows from 13.3 inches to 16 inches vertically, It rolls up and over the top of the display.

There’s also an external touchscreen (world-facing display) that covers the top third of the lid, complete with interactive widgets for your AI assistant, sticky notes, weather and more.

When fully extended you can actually see the internals of the laptop, including the cables that make this magic all happen. This panel is tough, too, as it’s made of Gorilla Glass Victus 2. I also like that you can activate the rolling just by pressing your finger on the top edge of the display and then gliding it across.

Outlook

So what’s the point of the ThinkPad Rollable XD Concept? You can see a lot more of everything from documents to webpages with the screen fully unfurled, or you can run one app on top and another on the bottom. So you get 50% more real estate without carrying around a huge laptop.

ThinkPad Rollable XD Concept is impressive, but its is considerably heavier than a typical 13-inch laptop. And I don’t know how much I’d be willing to pay for the ability to grow my screen on demand. But overall I like the direction Lenovo is heading.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just tested Lenovo’s Legion Pro Rollable concept, and now my gaming laptop feels boring
• Intel Panther Lake vs Snapdragon X2 Elite vs AMD Gorgon Point — one chip is already pulling ahead in 2026's CPU war
• I tested MSI’s redesigned Prestige laptops and they’re dangerously close to being my default recommendation

My own world of PC gaming feels a little inconsistent. While I have the impressive Lenovo Legion 5 for playing on-the-go, my home setup benefits from a glorious 32:9 ultrawide OLED panel.

Those extra degrees in my field of view really add to the immersion and gameplay — to the point that anything else I play on just feels constrained.

Well, that’s where the Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable concept comes in, which packs a (yep, you guessed it) rollable OLED display that can extend from 16 inches all the way up to 24 with an ultrawide 24:9 aspect ratio.

And after testing it for a while, anytime I return to a traditional gaming laptop, it just feels so constricting. This is a breakthrough that I wish was a real thing I could buy.

Ultrawide wherever you are

Of course I could go into the tech specs here — RTX 5090, Intel Core Ultra 9, all the LPDDR5X RAM and a massive SSD. But the main focus is that display, so let’s talk about it.

It starts as a 16-inch OLED panel running at 240Hz, and the top lid looks pretty damn thick, almost as if its hiding something special here. In particular, a 3-step ultrawide panel that you can adjust to the requirements of the game you’re playing.

So for example, something like a simple card game or titles only, you can keep to that 16:9 aspect ratio. Stage two takes you to 21:9, and then you can go all the way to 24:9 for that uber immersive gameplay.

Say you’ve got a sim racing rig (shout-out to my racers) and you don’t have your tower near you. This is an ideal replacement with that wide screen. Plus, if you really want to establish dominance at a table in a cafe, you can just stretch that panel.

And this is all done with a mechanism that’s been tested for 25,000 expands and contracts to deliver top reliability too.

Outlook

Of course, this is just a concept, but that doesn’t make it any less heart breaking. I want to use this thing in my day-to-day. The gaming and productivity potential is huge for that massive panel.

But alas, it’s only a prototype, and all I can do is sit here and setup a prayer circle that this becomes a real thing. It’s so OP in the best way.

More from Tom's Guide

• The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo is so overkill and I love it — like if a Nintendo DS got freaky with an RTX 5090
• Intel Panther Lake vs Snapdragon X2 Elite vs AMD Gorgon Point — one chip is already pulling ahead in 2026's CPU war
• I think 2026 will be a breakout year for laptops and a brutal one for buyers

The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist lives up to its name by literally introducing a new twist on laptop design. Originally conceived as a concept, the Auto Twist has a motorized dual-rotation hinge that automatically tracks your face when you move. While the mechanic seems gimmicky, it can be useful if, for example, you want to make video presentations more lively.

I briefly went hands-on with the ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist during CES 2026, and it certainly stood out from other laptops due to its rotating hinge. The mechanic is neat, but I was also impressed by the relatively thin profile, generous port selection, and vivid 14-inch 2.8K OLED panel. Even without the twisting mechanic, it’s a slick laptop.

Here are my initial thoughts about the ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist, and whether I think it’s worth considering.

ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist: Specs

ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist hands-on review: Price and availability

Unlike many of the best laptops of CES 2026, the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist has a release window and a starting price.

Expect this laptop to arrive sometime in June of 2026. Price-wise, it’ll cost $1,649 to start, and I imagine said price will increase if you get models with higher-end components.

ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist hands-on review: Design and display

At first glance, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist looks like a normal laptop. However, if you take a closer look, you’ll notice the thicker-than-usual lid and how said lid is connected to the laptop with a single large hinge in the bottom center (most laptops have two hinges on either side). When it’s living up to its namesake, the Auto Twist has a fairly basic design, which is to its benefit since it’s a fairly attractive piece of kit.

You get a decent number of ports, including a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, and a headphone jack. I’m happy to see the Auto Twist following the recent trend of reintroducing USB-A ports, so kudos to Lenovo on that.

One of the most pleasing features is that the Auto Twist has an OLED panel. This 14-inch display also has a sharp 2.8K resolution and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. The contrast between dark and light elements is great, and colors are bold and vibrant to my eyes. We’ll have to get the laptop into our testing lab to see what it can do, but my first impression left me impressed.

ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist hands-on review: Auto Twist mechanic

I remember checking out the Auto Twist back when it was a concept laptop, and I have to say it has come a long way. The hinge’s new electromotor design rotates noticeably faster and makes less noise. Lenovo says this finalized laptop form has enhanced durability to ensure smooth and reliable transitions between notebook, tablet, and sharing modes (when presenting to others).

The laptop did a fantastic job of keeping me in frame when I checked it out. However, it doesn’t work well when there were multiple people in the frame since it was trying to track everyone. If you’re presenting something to others and want the Auto Twist to accurately track you, make sure you’re the only one in front of its webcam.

ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist hands-on review: Specs and performance

I wasn’t able to benchmark the Auto Twist, but I expect it to deliver strong performance when we get it into the Tom’s Guide testing lab. That’s because Lenovo’s laptop packs an Intel Core Ultra 3 “Panther Lake” CPU, which promises to deliver solid performance for everyday work, epic MacBook-like battery life, and even strong gaming performance on integrated graphics.

Beyond the new Intel CPU, the Auto Twist can be configured with up to 32GB of RAM and up to 2TB of SSD storage. That should all make for a fast and long-lasting laptop. But again, we’ll see what this ThinkBook can truly dish out when we run it through our benchmarking tests.

ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist hands-on review: Outlook

The Lenovo ThinkBook Gen 7 Auto Twist isn’t going to appeal to most people. Sure, the auto twist mechanic is neat and (mostly) works as advertised, but this is a machine made for the folks who are specifically looking for a laptop with a screen that follows your movements — not to mention hardcore tech nerds who’d love to own this ThinkBook for its novelty.

I’m looking forward to living with the ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist for a good while to see if perhaps it’s more beneficial than I originally thought. Or maybe I’ll just consider it a cool gimmick. Either way, stay tuned for my full review in the future.

More from Tom's Guide

• Breggz launches the first IMAX Enhanced certified in-ear headphones
• CES 2026 Day 2 — The top 11 new gadgets you need to see
• I just saw the 'world's brightest OLED TV' at CES 2026

This year at CES 2026, Lenovo is taking over the Las Vegas Sphere to show off all its latest products and innovation.

We've already gone hands-on with a lot of what's set to be announced — including the breakthrough Legion Pro Rollable gaming laptop.

Beyond the futuristic concepts, there will be plenty of news too. Motorola is also here too, so we’ll likely see some new foldable phones, smartwatches and other gadgets. Lenovo’s partners like AMD, Intel, Nvidia and Qualcomm will likely be making appearances too and this is the CES event you won’t want to miss.

I’ll be covering every announcement as they happen right here from inside the Sphere, so stay tuned and be sure to check out the rest of our CES 2026 coverage.

Lenovo and Motorola's announcements

• I went hands-on with the Motorola Razr Fold — and the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has real competition
• I just tested Lenovo’s Legion Pro Rollable concept, and now my gaming laptop feels boring
• I just tried Lenovo’s first rollable ThinkPad — and it’s wonderfully weird

And I’m in

After making my way through security, I’m in the lobby of the Sphere making my way up to our suite where Lenovo is hosting Tom’s Guide and other journalists from around the world. I don’t know what I’m more excited about, the announcements or finally being able to experience the Sphere.

In the Sphere

This is my first time at the Sphere and seeing it from the inside is even more impressive than seeing its massive external screen from the Las Vegas Strip.

While you’d normally want a front row seat to a presentation like Lenovo Tech World, in this case, it’s better to be up top. That way, you get a clear view of the stage and can take in the massive 16K x 16K LED screen without having to turn your head too much. Regardless of where you sit within the Sphere though, you’ll be able to hear everything crystal clear thanks to its 160,000 speakers and impressive spatial audio tech.

We’re minutes away now

The Sphere is starting to fill up and we’re just minutes away from the kickoff of Lenovo Tech World 2026. We’ve got plenty of great coverage coming up once the show officially starts, so I’d keep your browser parked here for all the latest updates.

Annnd we're live! Check out some of the hands-on pieces we've already done in the bullet point links just above this post.

...I think he really enjoyed that entrance

Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing is here and talking through the evolution of AI to get to this point.

BTW if you're experiencing stream issues, you're not alone. The comments are alive with the buffering issues and our remote writer is facing them too.

While the stream remains buggy...

Here's our thoughts on the Motorola Razr Fold that you'll hear get announced real soon!

HOW IS THIS STREAM SO LAGGY?

There are only 737 live viewers right now on YouTube...what gives?

I went hands-on with the Legion Pro Rollable concept!

You may have seen this leaked a few weeks ago, but I got to test it myself and, being real, I wish every laptop was like this now. Check out my testing of the Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable concept.

BTW Jensen is here

Just to catch you up on what's happening in the sphere, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has just shown up.

THE STREAM'S BACK!

Time to talk about democratization of AI...whatever that means

I know I'm being facetious. What they actually mean is next-gen AI agents that are accessible across all your devices.

...well this is weird

So an AI cohost is talking/looking down on the crowd like an omnipotent KITT. Pray for the audience.

Time for...yep you guessed it, more AI chat. Where are the devices!?

BREAKING: Introducing Lenovo Qira

A multi-device super AI that can be with you at all times. Whether its on the laptop, or the smart glasses the host is wearing, this follows you throughout.

BREAKING: ...oh god did Lenovo not learn from the Humane AI Pin?

Faster than you can say "Friend Pendant," the leaks of a Lenovo/Motorola AI wearable became true. This is set to record and capture things in your day-to-day to provide additional real world context to Lenovo Qira.

Lip is here!

Big Lip Energy from Intel — so big he crashed the stream for 30 seconds there lol

ok THIS one is a surprise

If you ever wanted to be cringe and get a laptop branded by the sporting brand that gets in the way of the beautiful game, there's a FIFA World Cup-branded Legion pro 7i now!

A new leak has indicated that Motorola could be working on a new foldable design that would put the company in direct competition with Samsung and, potentially, Apple.

Motorola has only ever used a clamshell design for its foldable phones, like the Motorola Razr 2025 series. However, known leaker Evan Blass shared a screenshot on X of what appears to be a slide from an internal Lenovo meeting, which states that the company is working on a new book-style product for release. For reference, Lenovo purchased the Motorola Mobility brand, which includes Moto smartphones, back in 2014.

According to the slide, seen above, Motorola could soon preview the Razr Fold, stating that it’s the company's “first in the fold form factor.” While there are no specific hardware details, it does mention that the phone will include “brilliant displays, Intelligent AI, and an advanced, boundary-breaking camera system.” The slide also explains that more details will be revealed in the coming months, with a planned release later this year.

How can Motorola compete in 2026?

Motorola's potential release of a new book-like foldable phone is certainly interesting news, but the company will face some big challenges in 2026.

For one thing, Samsung is reportedly aiming to release the Galaxy Z Fold 8 this year. While we don’t have any solid information about the next Samsung foldable, there are rumors that the company will use a new drilling technology to remove the crease on the main screen and increase the battery capacity at long last to improve on the already excellent Galaxy Z Fold 7.

That alone would be a challenge for a new foldable to compete against, but there is one other predicted shakeup in the foldable market in 2026: the iPhone Fold. While Apple is still keeping even the existence of the phone under wraps, we have seen rumors that the phone will not feature a crease at all on its 7.8-inch main display, as well as a 24MP under-display camera and potentially Apple’s first 2nm chip, the A20 Pro.

So the big question is: what can Motorola do to separate itself from the competition when it comes to the best foldables of 2026? One potential avenue that Motorola could exploit is the price, especially considering the extortionate £2,399 price rumored for the iPhone Fold, However, gauging the price of any new phone is difficult at the moment due to the RAM shortage that is causing turmoil in the market.

In our review of the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025, we praised Motorola’s custom UI that helped to integrate Moto AI and other AI assistants into a streamlined experience, which is unique among other flip foldables. The leaked slide mentions improved AI, but that could mean a lot of different things for the Razr Fold's capabilities.

A slide from an internal presentation does not guarantee an upcoming launch, as there are a lot of things that could change in the coming months. However, CES 2026 is currently underway, so we might hear more sooner rather than later.

More from Tom's Guide

• Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra leak just revealed secret weapon against the iPhone
• Samsung tipped to delay Galaxy S26 launch — but there could be good news
• Clicks thinks you want a $499 second phone just for communicating

2025 was a banner year for the best handheld gaming consoles. We saw new and updated systems from Asus, MSI and Lenovo. And these weren’t just spec bumps, as SteamOS finally left Valve’s ecosystem, and we finally got a more handheld-friendly version of Windows. There were several handhelds to choose from, but one stood out above the rest.

And which handheld was that? If you’ve read my articles or have seen our handheld videos on the Tom’s Guide YouTube channel, then you know it’s the Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS. This machine has exactly what I’ve wanted from a handheld, namely, it runs on SteamOS and packs the still-powerful AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip. That one-two punch helps it compete with the more powerful Legion Go 2 and ROG Xbox Ally X.

Here’s why the Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS is my favorite gaming handheld of 2025.

SteamOS is the magic sauce

SteamOS is the most handheld-friendly operating system since it is specifically designed to work for such systems. Because of that, it’s easy to navigate through menus and jump straight into your games. If you’re familiar with the Steam Deck OLED or Steam Big Picture mode on desktop, you’ll feel right at home.

Unlike with Windows 11 handhelds such as the original Asus ROG Ally, you won’t spend an inordinate amount of time setting up the Legion Go S. Like the Steam Deck, you can start playing games in less than ten minutes. This is impossible on a Windows 11 handheld. This alone makes the Legion Go S more palatable to the average person.

The Legion Go S might not be the most powerful handheld available, but the fact that it runs on SteamOS gives it a huge advantage over machines that run stock Windows. It’s the first third-party manufacturer to utilize SteamOS on a handheld, but I suspect it won’t be the last. In that sense, we can view the Legion Go S as a pioneer.

Strong handheld performance

I reviewed the high-end SteamOS Legion Go S, which packs an AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip and 32GB of RAM. You might not get the best performance out of the box; however, with the right settings, you can enjoy extremely smooth gameplay for a handheld.

For instance, at 1200p resolution, medium graphical settings and FSR disabled, Doom: The Dark Ages runs at a pretty poor 25 frames per second. The frame rate can hit 35 fps with the frame-boosting FSR enabled, and between 56 to 61 fps if you drop the resolution to 800p. Games don’t look as sharp at that lower resolution, but they also don’t look terrible.

While the Legion Go S with SteamOS doesn’t deliver mind-blowing performance, it’s still a very capable machine if you’re willing to spend some time fiddling with a game’s settings. Seeing this kind of performance on a handheld is quite impressive.

Comfortable design

The Legion Go S ditches the removable controllers of the Legion Go (and Legion Go 2) and instead has a uniform design that’s similar to the Asus ROG Ally X or MSI Claw A8. While detachable controllers are cool, I prefer this kind of handheld design. Not only is this design classy, but it also helps the Legion Go S feel more comfortable to hold.

I’m a fan of the asymmetrical Hall Effect thumbsticks, which accurately respond to even the most subtle movements. I also can’t forget about the rounded D-pad, which is pretty darn good for fighting games. The big face buttons and easy-to-reach shoulder buttons are also great.

Though the Steam Deck is still more comfortable to hold since it’s thinner and lighter, the Legion Go S is still one of the most ergonomic handhelds available.

Bottom line

The Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS was tailor-made for me since it features my favorite handheld OS on a device with strong performance and an ergonomic design. It’s a great system on its own, but it also promises a brighter future for handhelds since we’re no longer shackled to Windows on non-Valve machines.

Though it’s admittedly pricy, the SteamOS version of the Legion Go S is worth the money if you want something more powerful than the Steam Deck that offers the same user-friendly interface. It’s not the Steam Deck 2, but it’s close enough for me.

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• 5 tips for buying a gaming handheld
• These are the 3 gaming handhelds I would buy with my own money
• PlayStation 6 handheld could take inspiration from the Switch

After the Asus TUF Gaming A14 broke my heart, I’ve been left floundering — looking for a new favorite gaming laptop. Well, that time has now come, and after testing the OLED-laden value for money greatness of the Lenovo Legion 5i, I’ve found my new favorite gaming laptop.

If I were told that for $1,249/£1,151, you can get an RTX 5060 gaming laptop with an OLED display, impressive all-round performance, zippy frame rates and a properly good utilitarian build, I’d have thought you were mental. But here we are, at a time when gaming laptop affordability is becoming a bit of a running joke, with something that offers pure value for money.

And of course, it’s Lenovo, so you’re not just getting a good gaming experience. The strong thermal (sometimes to its own detriment with loud fans) and stellar keyboard ergonomics make this laptop a great workhorse too.

That’s not to say it’s completely without fault. The battery life is…well…there isn’t really battery life. Off the charger, you can get an hour of gaming. For general productivity, you do get better endurance for sure, but it kind of feels like if I ever looked at the laptop funny, it would go to zero. But in the world of gaming laptops, you already know the key rule: always be plugged in.

And through that lens, and for what you get for the money, this is a problem that quickly fades away. This is one of the best gaming laptops you can buy to extract maximum bang for your buck.

Lenovo Legion 5i: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? This is a mid-range gaming laptop.
• Who is it for? It’s for those who want a good quality gaming experience, but also care about value for money and a well-rounded system.
• What does it cost? You can pick one up for $1,249/£1,151.
• What do we like? For the price you pay, this system overdelivers with stronger RTX 5060 performance than its competitors, a gorgeous OLED display, stellar ergonomics and a nice amount of I/O for play and productivity.
• What don’t we like? But battery life is a letdown, and the fans can sound a bit like a jet engine under pressure.

Lenovo Legion 5i: Specs

Lenovo Legion 5i: The ups

Over the past few months of reviewing gaming laptops, I’m normally left thinking “wait, they expect me to spend HOW much for it!?” For the Legion 5i, it's the same situation, but the opposite intonation.

Real attention to detail

When you go for cheaper gaming laptops, there’s always a baked-in expectation of some serious compromises here and there — normally the build quality, the display and ergonomics. Turns out Lenovo didn’t get that memo with the Legion 5i, because this is a sleek system from all angles.

Sure, it does have some junk in the trunk (that lip proves as much), but with an aluminum lid and a durable plastic casing, this is a refined, utilitarian aesthetic that doesn’t give off gaming laptop vibes. It works well as both a system for play and a productivity powerhouse, too.

Then, you open it up, and you’re greeted by a mesmerizing 15.1-inch OLED display, which turns any game or content you’re looking at into a flash flood of color. It gets impressively bright at up to 500 nits, keeps it crispy with a WQXGA resolution, and buttery smooth at 165Hz.

Whether it’s blasting through the vivid streets of Mexico on Forza Horizon 5, or plunging to the dark depths to really see that HDR in action in Silksong, this is a gorgeous screen, and a real value driver of this system.

But then, there’s the other laptop-y things that a lot of budget systems forget. The keyboard deck itself is strong with minimal flex, and the typing ergonomics are finely balanced — every key press has a nice tactile thump with a comfortable landing. And that touchpad has none of that weird softness that can come with other lower-cost systems. It’s nice and snappy with every click.

Impressive performance across the board

Let’s tear it open. Of course, I’m testing a UK-only model here with the Intel Core i7-13650HX. But given that in the U.S., you’re getting Intel Core Ultra 7 255HX, expect the numbers to either be practically the same or slightly better on this newer chip.

Even for the older silicon I had, paired with the RTX 5060 and 16GB DDR5 RAM, you’re getting a solid mid-range workhorse for the price.

This completes the picture of being able to use this system for productivity, too. But the party’s just beginning for gaming, as the patented Coldfront cooling allows for upwards of 100W to be pushed through that GPU — making for some tasty performance.

Applying it to the games themselves, you’re getting solid 1080p 60+ FPS across the board of games that you play on this machine. Then, of course, you’ve got DLSS 4 to ramp things up even further with AI trickery. Latency is low with frame gen, and there’s practically zero ghosting around any fast-moving objects.

So what you’re left with at the end of the day is a decently powerful system for all purposes. Top job for something at this price.

Real value for money

I never thought I’d see the day in 2025 when I’d find a new gaming laptop that was fully worth the money you pay for it. There’s normally a sting of an upcharge here and there, but no. This package is worth every cent of that $1,249.

For context, the Asus TUF Gaming A14 with RTX 5060 is $1,699, and the RTX 5050-armed Alienware Aurora 16 is $1,199.

It’s one of the cheapest OLED gaming laptops you can buy, and one of the cheapest RTX 5060 systems, while continuing to take care of those ergonomic details and ensuring the configuration gets enough wattage through effective thermal management to be one of the fastest 5060 laptops you can snag.

Lenovo Legion 5i: The downs

But while the Legion 5i avoids some of the budget laptop stereotypes, there are two it does stumble on.

Bit of a jet engine

It all started when I fired up Cyberpunk 2077 for a play session, and the fans kicked up an absolute storm. I don’t have a microphone to give you exact numbers here, but for context, it’s about twice as loud as the TUF Gaming A14.

That’s surprising given that both of these systems have about the same total graphics power pumping through their veins, which to me indicates a cheaper cooling solution on Lenovo’s system. Just make sure that if you’re AAA gaming, you pick up the best gaming headset to counteract it.

Battery life = lol

Yes, I know that battery life is probably one of your lowest concerns when buying a gaming laptop. Horsepower is the critical element to the price you pay, but it’s still worth noting that in the PCMark10 gaming performance test, this didn’t do so great.

It’s gaming laptop 101 to always plug in a charger. And given the budget build, a low life on battery isn’t the most surprising thing to see from my tests. For general productivity, that goes up to about 3-4 hours. But if you do go down this route, just keep in mind that you are going to be spending long amounts of time away from an outlet.

Lenovo Legion 5i: Verdict

Finding an affordable gaming laptop is like clearing a Soulsborne boss on your first try — which can be nearly impossible. But then, by gum, Lenovo pulled it off with a real value package that goes the extra mile in paying attention to the details.

The Legion 5i is a phenomenally well-rounded package that gives you mesmerizing OLED gaming, a sleek system with plenty of I/O, solid mid-range performance and a real focus on good ergonomics.

And these override the cracks in fan noise and battery life to make this my new favorite — and a tough one to beat at that.

Prepare for ultra-wide screen gaming on laptops, as Lenovo is now confirmed to debut a Legion Pro rollable gaming laptop as early as 2026 — and yes, it's OLED.

As revealed by Windows Latest, Lenovo is set to release a Legion Pro Rollable gaming laptop with a flexible OLED panel that expands to a 21:9 aspect ratio. It's expected to come equipped with an Intel Panther Lake CPU and an Nvidia RTX 50-series GPU, and we could see it as soon as CES 2026.

Lenovo is no stranger to rollable laptops, introducing the first rollable laptop at CES 2025. With the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable, the laptop’s display rolls vertically, extending its 120Hz OLED panel from 14 to 16.7 inches. With the Legion Pro Rollable, however, this would extend vertically instead.

A rollable device uses a flexible display that allows the screen to be extended or retracted by rolling it in and out of a housing, usually through a motorized mechanism. The Lenovo Legion Pro "Rollable" is expected to act in the same way, but there are currently no details on the size of the expandable display.

As with the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable, the laptop is rumored to come with at least a 120Hz refresh rate, with a possible 14-inch screen size that rolls out to a 16-inch ultra-wide display. To put that into perspective, the ThinkBook features a 14-inch display at standard with a 2000 x 1600 resolution and a 5:4 aspect ratio. In extended mode, the screen is 16.7 inches with a 2000 x 2350 resolution with an 8:9 aspect ratio.

Otherwise, its design is similar to other laptops in the Legion lineup, such as the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i. Since the Legion Pro "Rollable" also features a number pad, we could see the same 16-inch (2560 x 1600) OLED panel as the Legion Pro 7i.

Is rollable the future?

Lenovo has a solid track record of releasing out-of-the-box laptop concepts, including the 18-inch ThinkBook Flip foldable OLED laptop and its solar-powered laptop. However, we're now seeing a continuation of its now-released rollable concept, and this time it's all for gaming.

Gaining a portable ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio on a gaming laptop is exciting, considering that this is usually reserved for the best gaming monitors. We'll have to go hands-on with the laptop to see how it works, but considering the Legion Pro series delivers some of the best gaming laptops, this rollable version is already looking enticing.

Of course, pricing is still up in the air, and it's not looking to come cheap, considering the ThinkBook Rollable costs over $3,000. That's not even mentioning the rising prices of laptops, thanks to the RAM crisis. If rollable gaming laptops take off, I expect these devices to cost a premium.

Since the first Intel Panther Lake laptops are set to be unveiled during CES 2026, it's likely we'll see the latest Intel Core Ultra 3 series chip set inside the Legion Pro "Rollable." According to leaked benchmarks, this will make for one powerful machine.

The new rollable gaming laptop is tipped to launch in early 2026, according to the report, meaning it's possible we'll see it debut during CES 2026. We'll be on the ground to check it out if it does appear.

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Lenovo has been aura farming with its latest laptops. Did I feel the cringe typing that sentence? Yes, but in my defence, just look at the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition. It’s a beauty!

The build quality exudes a premium nature, while staying thin and lightweight and looking delicious in that navy blue finish. The OLED display is simply mesmerizing (and on a 360-degree hinge for all your binge watching needs). And those top tier Lenovo ergonomics are fully intact, as the company continues to produce the best laptop keyboards you can get.

Throw in am Intel Core Ultra 200-series (Lunar Lake) processor for decent performance and mightily impressive battery life, and you’ve got a system that can keep up with your needs all day long.

That’s not to say it's for everyone, though. With that Lunar Lake chip, performance does take a bit of a backseat in place of a focus on power efficiency (the GPU is a different story, but more on that later).

On top of that, the AI gimmicks are back and should be turned off, and at $1,549/£1,599, it’s definitely on the pricier side — to the point you could get something with more power for less money.

But the focus of this 2-in-1 fits the bill for most folks, and it definitely nails that as one of the best laptops you can buy right now.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? This is a premium 2-in-1 notebook.
• Who is it for? The 9i is gunning for those who are looking for both form and function — an upmarket system for productivity and casual play.
• What does it cost? You can pick one up for $1,549/£1,599.
• What do we like? This is one helluva looker with a gorgeously premium build quality and a great aesthetic — made even better with that amazing OLED touchscreen panel. Throw in decent performance and power efficiency from that Lunar Lake chip, along with a great-feeling keyboard and touchpad, and this is a lovely little 2-in-1.
• What don’t we like? $1,549 is a tall order when you take into account the configuration you get for this price (you can get more horsepower for your money elsewhere), and since its an Aura Edition, be ready to turn off AI features.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition: Specs

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition: The ups

There’s a lot to love here, and I found that out first hand by ditching my daily driver and using the Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition for two weeks.

A visual stunner

There’s no better way to say this — this is a gorgeous laptop. The CNC-milled aluminum body with chromed, rounded edges has a real stand-out premium aesthetic to it that feels both utilitarian and unmistakably sleek in nature too.

Topping it off is a phenomenal dark blue finish that I just can’t get over. Granted, those edges may be a fingerprint magnet, and you don’t get the eye-catching angularity of the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14. But in a sea of MacBooks and other laptops trying to look like MacBooks, this is an elegant standout.

OLED has real aura

And those good looks just keep on going with that tasty 14-inch 2.8K OLED touchscreen on a 360-degree hinge. Touch responsiveness is near-instantaneous with no latency, and pen support ensures you can get creative with it too.

But let’s be honest, most of you are looking at this and positively salivating at the flash flood of color and HDR depth that comes with an OLED display. And I don’t judge you — I spent long enough with this 2-in-1 to form a parasocial relationship with it.

Be it tucking into Stranger Things Season 5 and really feeling the atmospheric color and darker tones melt off the screen, or heading into the bright and colorful surroundings of Forza Horizon 5, or looking to rely on color accuracy in Photoshop, this screen truly keeps up with all of it.

Not forgetting the essentials

I can wax lyrical about the design and display, but let’s get into the fundamentals here. The Intel Core Ultra 7 258V is enough for most of your productivity needs, and even some prosumer tasks too.

And as you already know, the integrated graphics on this system are truly impressive. And a few driver updates later, you can comfortably play several AAA titles at lower settings, and get a solid 60 FPS out of the deal.

But Lunar Lake’s real superpower comes in its battery life — managing to slow sip that 75Wh cell and give you all-day usage. Outside of our lab testing below, I was able to comfortably get through an 8-hour workday of many Chrome tabs and Spotify playing in the background with around 30% remaining.

Then comes those “just good laptop” things. For me, personally, Lenovo sits atop the pile as the company with the best laptop keyboards right now, and the team’s delivered again with an impressively tactile board alongside a responsive, snappy touchpad.

And for those who find themselves in a lot of Google Meets (same), that 5MP webcam has impressive detail and definition, while also coming armed with IR for Windows Hello capabilities.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition: The downs

But it’s not all a fine walk in the park. The Yoga 9i Aura Edition does fall down in two areas — one can be easily turned off, and the other is…well, you better have some deep pockets.

Pricey for what you get

That attention to design must’ve jacked up the price quite a bit, because there’s a bit of a disconnect between the internal spec sheet and the price of the Yoga 9i Aura Edition.

I mean at $1,549, that’s M5 MacBook Pro money. Of course, one is a 2-in-1 and the other is just a straightforward laptop. But when you put what you get for the money into that context, you can see just how much more additional performance and power efficiency you can get for your money.

Granted, this isn’t as bad as the asking price of other premium 2-in-1s like the HP Omnibook Ultra Flip 14, but it’s still on the higher side.

Chill out on the AI!

Let me be clear — a couple of the gimmicks are cool. Being able to tap my phone on the side of my laptop to drag and drop photos from it is awesome, if a little weird in practice.

By this, I don’t just mean the Copilot+ features (of which I used officially once then never used again), but rather the Smart Modes Lenovo’s packed in here. These are AI-driven options that are supposed to adapt the 9i to what you need — be it “Shield Mode” for better privacy, “Collaboration Mode” that improves the webcam’s lighting and microphone, or “Eco Mode” to (yep, you guessed it) increase the battery life.

But…I’m pretty sure the laptop is supposed to just do all this anyway. And given it does (for example, the webcam brightens up automatically anyway even if you don’t have Collaboration Mode on), this just feels unnecessary.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition: Verdict

And that’s the story of the aura-farming 2-in-1, which just so happens to be one of the best 2-in-1 laptops that most of you can buy right now — provided you’re OK with its lofty cost.

This is a gorgeous premium laptop with great ergonomics, a stunning display and decent power under the hood. If form and function matter to you, this is a solid way to go.

We have reached the seemingly sudden arrival of the RAMageddon tidal wave.

As AI companies gobbled up DRAM and hard drives for expanding and new data centers, it slowly became apparent that a shortage was brewing with a downstream effect that would hit manufacturers and consumers in the pocketbook.

It started earlier this week with the closure of Crucial, a Micron company that sold consumer memory. And now a report from TrendForce suggests Dell, HP, and Lenovo will raise prices heading into 2026.

Dell could raise prices as soon as mid-December

Just before Thanksgiving, Dell COO Jeff Clarke called the memory shortage “unprecedented” during an earnings call with investors.

“We’re in a very unique time. It’s unprecedented. We have not seen costs move at the rate that we’ve seen,” said Clarke, according to CRN. “And by the way, it’s not unique to DRAM, it’s NAND. It is hard drives, leading edge nodes across the semiconductor network.”

Clarke went on to say the last cycle like this was in 2016 and 2017. At the time, Dell prioritized getting parts. Dell is now going to do everything it can to “minimize the impact”, according to Clarke, but cost will go up across all its products.

Sure enough, Trendforce’s industry sources claim Dell is now expected to raise prices between 15-20% as soon as mid-December.

Lenovo is reportedly also warning customers (presumably retailers and enterprise clients) that “all current quotations and prices” will expire on January 1, 2026. The company is blaming the memory shortage and rapid growth of AI tech for the forthcoming price hike.

Product roadmaps derailed by shortage

As the Korean publication Chosun Biz reports, the shock of the memory shortage is causing multiple companies (from Lenovo and Dell to Samsung and LG) to rethink their entire 2026 product roadmaps, including whether to launch new AI-focused PCs and tablets.

"PC companies have no choice but to respond by postponing releases or redesigning products rather than lowering margins,” a Korean PC company rep told Chosun Biz.

During HP’s earnings call at the end of November, HP CEO Enrique Lores expressed similar sentiments. Though Lores did say that the first half of 2026 should be okay for HP since the company currently has a memory stockpile. Bloomberg reported that Lenovo has also begun stockpiling PC memory to get through at least 2026.

Starting in May, though, Lores claimed the shortage will start eating into HP’s product margins. Lores explained that the cost of memory alone now accounts for 15-18% of the cost of producing a typical PC, which is double what it was last year.

Not alone

CyberPowerPC announced last week that it would raise prices starting December 7. Maingear has been telling customers to buy PCs and components now to avoid the coming rate hikes.

PC makers are the canary at this point, but we expect this shortage to hit every tech market. Right now, phone makers are also bracing for hikes. Chinese companies like Xiaomi and Redmi have already told clients that increases between 20% and 30% are coming next year.

And internal divisions at Samsung surrounding memory pricing between the company’s Electronics Device Solutions (DS) and Mobile eXperience (MX) wings could impact the pricing of next year’s Galaxy S26 series. And there is no end in sight. PC Gamer reports that the blooming DRAM prices could run past 2028.

Don’t expect cheaper tech any time soon. Between PC manufacturers hoarding memory and the insatiable appetite of AI companies, it may actually be cheaper to buy a pre-built PC than building one yourself.

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Finding the best Windows laptop in 2026 is no simple task: What size is best? Should I get a touchscreen? Intel or Snapdragon CPUs? Nvidia or AMD GPUs? Dual screen? There's a lot of deciding to do, but it's this wide variety that also makes picking a machine all the more exciting.

To help you along with your buying journey, my team of computing experts and I have tested and reviewed hundreds of laptops to pinpoint the machines worth your money. And, if you've made peace with the state of Windows 11 right now (it's getting better), it's important to give yourself an upgrade, seeing as Windows 10 officially ended last year. With no crucial security updates, it's time to move on to Microsoft's latest operating system.

For the best Windows has to offer right now, we here at Tom's Guide highly recommend the Dell XPS 14 (2026). Our own in-house lab testing proves it, but there are many other choices we've picked to cater to different needs — whether that be for work, creativity or purely gaming. For our top recommendations worth your money, follow this guide to find the right Windows laptop for you.

The best Windows laptops you can buy right now

Best Windows laptop overall

I have an easy time recommending the Dell XPS 14 as the best Windows laptop for most folks because it sports a new design that ditches many of the controversial parts of prior models. It also packs a serious punch thanks to its Intel Core Ultra 3 Panther Lake chip.

It's no coincidence that this XPS takes design cues from MacBooks, with the chassis featuring softer, rounded corners and the machine clocking in at a light 3 pounds. We also get the return of physical function keys and a haptic touchpad with clearly identifiable boundaries.

Then there's the gorgeous 2880 x 1800 InfinityEdge tandem OLED touch panel. Thanks to it, you get incredible contrasts, vivid colors, and vibrant HDR that makes other panels look dull in comparison.

Performance is just as impressive thanks to Intel’s Panther Lake architecture. Built on the 18A node, this chip delivers strong performance for everyday work and even gaming. The latter is especially noteworthy for a laptop featuring an integrated graphics card. You get the best of both worlds here.

For all these reasons and more, this is the Windows laptop we recommend most often to those in the market for a new notebook for work, school or play. Now, if you're after an even bigger display to get more out of Dell's marvelous OLED, the Dell XPS 16 (2026) is well worth your time.

• Read our full Dell XPS 14 (2026) review

Best value Windows laptop

It's outstanding what Lenovo has done for well under $1,000, and these days, finding value in a Windows laptop is incredibly important. At $749 (and down to as little as $499 during sales seasons), the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x is our top choice when it comes to making the most of what Windows has to offer.

Yes, there are sacrifices made here, including a 15.3-inch 60Hz IPS touch display with low brightness and weak speakers, but for the price, the pros far outweigh the cons. Namely, its long battery life of over 16 hours. That's up there with some of the longest-lasting laptops! So for work or school, this will easily last you throughout the day.

That's thanks to the star of the show: the Snapdragon X chip. Made for budget-friendly laptops, this CPU offers up decent performance for multitasking and even light photo and video editing. It's by no means good for gaming, but if that's not what you're here for, then you'll be pleased with everything else.

What's more, even at this price range, its thin, lightweight design comes with an excellent, snappy keyboard for plenty of comfortable typing. And for those who require quick access to numbers, you'll be happy to know this comes with a number pad.

We have a lot of love for the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x, so if an affordable, reliable machine is what you're after, this will have you covered.

• Read our full Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x review

Best premium Windows laptop

The Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra stands out for its dazzling 16-inch AMOLED display, top-tier Intel Panther Laker processor and optional RTX 50-series GPU, which easily puts it in the upper echelon of premium Windows laptops. That said, it also has the price to match.

In typical Samsung fashion, the gorgeous anti-reflective (2880 x 1800) OLED touchscreen delivers deep blacks, intense colors and makes every on-screen detail pop. Even better, it's made for gaming, too, with a variable refresh rate scaling between 30Hz and 120Hz.

Sporting an Intel Core Ultra 7 356H CPU (up to a mighty Intel Core Ultra X7 358H), you can expect desktop-class speed on even the most demanding creative or professional workloads, something that even puts the MacBook Pro on notice. Even when we stress-tested RAM performance by loading up 45 Chrome tabs and running heavy photo edits, the system never stuttered. It's an ideal pick for multitaskers and power users who can't afford slowdowns, and that 15 hours of battery life is the cherry on top.

Beyond sheer performance, the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra's chassis impresses with its minimalist, slim profile and premium materials that feel satisfying to type away on, even if it's a tad on the heavier side at over 4 pounds (but still lightweight for a 16-inch laptop). The speakers surprised us: audio is full and punchy, with crisp highs and enough bass to make music and calls genuinely enjoyable. That's a rarity in Windows ultrabooks, and a highlight if you care about sound quality.

The biggest trade-off here is the preinstalled Samsung bloatware. While it doesn't cripple performance, the extra apps and utilities clutter the otherwise clean Windows experience, and you'll likely spend time uninstalling or disabling what you don't need. But that's just one blemish on an otherwise polished premium package.

This is one pricey machine, but if you're after one of the finest Windows laptops that will last you for years to come, the Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra is well worth the investment.

• Read our full Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra

Best Windows gaming laptop

This one is still hard to top. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) doesn't need another yearly update, even if we were expecting it, as it already boasts some of the strongest specs you'll find in a gaming laptop of this size and price.

To get its problem out of the way, battery life isn't this laptop's strong point, with under two hours when gaming, and around six hours for general use. But really, that can be said for all Windows gaming laptops. Other than that? It's a triumph.

From its beautiful 14-inch (2880 x 1800) OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and speedy 0.2ms response time to its mighty Nvidia RTX 50-series performance (all the way up to an RTX 5080), this laptop will conquer the visuals, speeds and demands of the most demanding PC games on the market. That's also backed by its AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU, up to 64GB of RAM and 2TB for previous storage.

From Cyberpunk 2077 to Black Myth: Wukong at their highest settings, you can expect to reach 50 frames per second (FPS). Oh, but that's with Nvidia's DLSS turned off. Really, expect frame rates to reach 150 FPS and higher, depending on the games you play and the settings you tweak.

It's also a beauty to look at, with its CNC-milled aluminum chassis, glass-topped trackpad and chiclet keyboard. Its design isn't screaming that it's a gaming laptop, either, and it's nicely compact to take with you wherever you go.

For gamers after a reliable, portable gaming machine, the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 continues to be our champion that doesn't disappoint.

• Read our full Asus ROG Zephryus G14 review

Best 2-in-1 Windows laptop

We're at a point where dual-screen laptops have become mainstream, and the Asus Zenbook Duo (2026) is the best of its class. This really puts the "two" in 2-in-1 laptops, as this gorgeous machine gives you a variety of ways to use it. Even better, thanks to its mighty Intel Core Ultra X9 388H CPU, it can be used for just about anything.

This one is pricey at $2,099, but what you get in return is a premium-built, powerful laptop boasting dual 14-inch 3K OLED touch displays with a 120Hz refresh rate. As you can imagine, the display is a feast for the eyes (as our reviewer rightfully puts it), with impressive brightness and color coverage for those rich, deep visuals.

Its premium-feeling form factor (although on the thicker side, understandably) can be easily utilized to swap between a normal clamshell laptop and an amazing dual-screen setup, with a movable keyboard deck that feels great to type on. So, that makes it ideal for productivity, but it's also a fine machine for creative work and gaming.

Think playing Cyberpunk 2077 at over 60 frames per second (with Intel's integrated XeSS 3 tech), and breezing through multiple apps and tabs. Despite its dual screens, this laptop also comes with a long 14 hours of battery life, too.

If you've got the money to spend, the Asus Zenbook Duo (2026) aims to last you for years to come. Plus, you won't need to hand over an extra bit of cash for a second monitor, and this one comes with you on the move.

• Read our full Asus Zenbook Duo (2026) review

Best Windows laptop for creators

I mean, if you're partnering up to make a GoPro-ified version of a laptop made for creators, it better hit the mark. Thankfully, that's exactly what the Asus ProArt GoPro Edition (PX13) does, so much so that our reviewer even states that it's the "true Windows MacBook Pro."

Now, that also means it has the price to match, at $2,999. What do you get in return? An absolute powerhouse with an uber premium, sharp-looking design boasting a 13-inch 3K OLED touchscreen. That's an important factor for creative work on the move, as the screen here offers up high visual details and accurate colors, with zero latency on touch response.

Powering it all is the mighty AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 CPU, delivering strong performance for 4K photo and video edits. Thanks to the integrated Radeon 8060S graphics, this will shine bright for 3D creative work (and plenty of demanding gaming), so rest assured, this ProArt has the chops to take on all manner of multitasking. And that 128GB of DDR5X RAM? Insane.

Plus, it has ample battery life for what it offers, coming in at over 11 hours, which means getting creative on the move. It's a shame there's no full-size SD card, but at least there's a microSD card slot for those who do have a GoPro. And really, don't bother with the Asus-exclusive AI apps.

If you thought MacBooks were the only reliable laptops for creators, the Asus ProArt GoPro Edition (PX13) has now proved us wrong.

• Read our full Asus ProArt GoPro Edition (PX13)

Best Windows business laptop

Laptops made for work need to be powerful enough to breeze through workflows, lightweight and compact to carry around with ease and set up in a coffee shop, and at least last a full workday. Lo and behold, the Lenovo Slim 7x ticks all these boxes and goes the extra mile with its premium features at a fair price.

Starting at $1,199 (but now under $1,000 these days), the Slim 7x delivers fittingly snappy Snapdragon X Elite performance, handling multitasking, plentiful tabs and packed spreadsheets like a champ, and even keeps fairly cool under pressure. That also goes for photo and video editing, making this one for creative work if need be.

Lenovo could have stopped there, but it decided to be generous and offer up a gorgeous 14.5-inch (2,944 x 1,840) OLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, with rich colors, deep blacks and plenty of brightness. Throw in a battery life that lasts over 14 hours, as tested, and this laptop will take you through a day of work and leave enough juice for entertainment.

Take note: Since this is an Arm-based chip, certain apps and games won't work due to compatibility, so make sure everything you need for work is supported. Otherwise, aside from a lack of a headphone jack, the Slim 7x shines.

All this packed in an ultraportable, sleek design? That's what makes the Lenovo Slim 7x thrive. If you're in need of a reliable digital business companion, you'll be happy with this workhorse.

• Read our full Lenovo Slim 7x review

Also tested

We test and review dozens of Windows laptops every year, and they can't all be the best — but just because they don't all make this list doesn't mean they aren't good machines.

Below, I've gathered all the great laptops we've tested that don't quite make this list, but are still good alternatives well worth considering if they meet your unique needs, or if you can't find your first choice on sale.

Performance test results

CPU speed isn't everything, but putting a number on it can go a long way towards helping you understand exactly how fast a laptop is in relation to the rest of the options available to you.

We test every laptop we review in a number of areas, including CPU performance, so I've taken the liberty of putting together a quick chart here of all the performance scores from the laptops on this list so you can compare them at a glance.

We use Geekbench for these tests, as it assigns each laptop a score for its performance in single-core workloads and multi-core workloads. The single-core score is often a little more meaningful because not all apps are optimized for multi-core performance, but many are, so it's good to consider multi-core performance as well.

And I know, Windows 11 isn't in the best spot right now, especially when it comes to bringing performance down (thanks to Copilot AI). However, it is getting better, so it's only up from here (fingers crossed).

Battery benchmarks

Battery life is one of the key things you should look at when deciding which laptop to buy, which is why we run every laptop we review through a series of battery tests to see how long it lasts on a full charge.

These tests do not reflect real-world use patterns since we have to set every laptop to the same settings in order to do fair comparisons. Thus, while the times listed here are accurate and useful as a comparison point, your own experience with a laptop's battery life will likely vary.

This is because when we run our battery test, we set the laptop's display to 150 nits of brightness and have it endlessly browse the web via Wi-Fi until it dies. So while I stand by our testing and the battery life results we compare in the chart below, I want to be clear that your own experience will vary!

How we test the best Windows laptops

To determine which laptops deserve to be counted among the best Windows laptops, we run every machine we review through a rigorous suite of benchmarks and real-world tests to gauge how it will perform during everyday use.

These tests cover the speed and capabilities of the laptop, as well as its display capabilities. We carefully measure the average brightness and color quality of each laptop's display using our in-house Klein K10-A light meter and colorimeter.

To evaluate overall performance, we then run our machines through tests that include Geekbench 6 (CPU performance), as well as various AI-focused tests and some 3DMark tests to measure graphics capabilities. We also run our own custom file transfer test to measure how fast a machine's hard drive is, and a custom battery test that has the machine browse the internet over Wi-Fi until it runs out of juice.

When testing all laptops, we benchmark gaming performance running Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. For testing dedicated gaming laptops, we also run benchmarks for a number of other popular games, such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2.

All of these lab tests are complemented by our hands-on review process, in which reviewers spend time putting each laptop through its paces while working, watching movies, listening to music, and playing games.

For more information on our testing process, check out our guide to how we test products at Tom's Guide.

FAQs

How to choose the best laptop for you

Performance: If performance isn't important to you, say because you only need a laptop for browsing the web, you can save a lot of money by choosing a cheap Windows laptop with an Intel Core i3 processor or Snapdragon X, like the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x. But if speed and performance are important to you, pick a laptop with starting specs such as a better CPU, 16-32GB of RAM and at least a 1TB SSD, like the Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra.

Size: Consider how mobile you want your Windows machine to be. Notebooks like the Dell XPS 14 are incredibly light and slim, while gaming-focused laptops like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 have real heft to them but offer real power in exchange.

Flexibility: The 2-in-1 category of Windows laptops is an exciting market of devices with hinges capable of rotating all the way around to lay the screen flat on the back of the laptop, turning it into a Windows tablet. If the idea of having a laptop that doubles as a tablet is exciting to you, Windows notebooks like the Asus Zenbook Duo are a great choice.

Graphics and gaming: Most Windows laptops feature integrated graphics as part of the CPU, which means they can handle games like Minecraft or World of Warcraft. But with Intel and AMD's latest offerings, these are now able to play AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077 at high settings! And yes, that means these are now good for more video editing and creative work. For more power, though, you'll want a laptop with a discrete graphics card, like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14.

If I had this slick Lenovo Yoga AIO (starts at $1,229) in college, I wouldn’t just be popular – I’d be legendary.

“Just set your phone there,” I’d say, pointing at the base of the 27-inch monitor. The built-in wireless charging pad would instantly juice it up. My roommate would whisper, “You might actually be the coolest person I know.” Yes, you read that right. The Yoga’s pedestal doubles as a phone charger.

Unfortunately Lenovo launched this polished all-in-one PC 15 years too late for me to be a dorm-room celebrity. My window has closed, but yours hasn’t. Whether you’re college bound or upgrading your home office, this desktop is one of the best all-in-one PCs I’ve tested.

And as much as it pains me to say it, especially as a recent Windows-to-Mac convert, the Lenovo Yoga AIO outperforms one of the most popular all-in-ones on the market: Apple’s M4 iMac. But we’ll get to that.

That said, the Yoga is far from flawless. A few quirks could make you think twice. The real question is, are they easy to forgive or instant dealbreakers? Let’s find out.

Lenovo Yoga AIO 27 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Lenovo Yoga AIO 27 is a space-saving all-in-one PC with a 27-inch rotating display, built-in JBL speakers, a wireless charging base and an adjustable stand.
• Who is it for? Students, remote workers, and creative workers who want a solid productivity-minded daily driver with minimal desk clutter.
• What does it cost? The reviewed desktop (Intel Core Ultra 7 255H, Intel Arc 140T, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) sells for $1,319 at Best Buy, but you can find a cheaper configuration via Lenovo.
• What’s good about it? It’s a true all-in-one PC that comes with everything you need out of the box, plus the base doubles as a wireless phone charger. Additionally, it comes with a JBL speaker setup and easily accessible ports.
• What’s not so good? The display’s lowest adjustable height is too high, the webcam is unimpressive, the sound is middling, and an annoying pop-up greets you every time the desktop wakes.

Lenovo Yoga AIO 27 review: Specs

Lenovo Yoga AIO 27 review: The ups

The Lenovo Yoga AIO’s built-in charging pad is undeniably cool, and I’ll get into the details later, but this desktop brings a lot more to the table.

Rotating display

If a display can’t turn 90 degrees like the Lenovo Yoga’s glorious 27-inch QHD panel, it’s dead to me.

A quick spin into portrait mode transformed this slick 1440p display into a vertical powerhouse for reading, editing, and browsing. I scrolled through my inbox, spreadsheets, and notes without constantly needing to flick the mouse wheel.

It’s a head-turner, too. How often do you stumble upon a display in portrait mode? Plus, it’s solid and sturdy. Once you find your perfect angle, the rotating 27-inch panel stays locked without budging.

Part of me wishes the Lenovo Yoga AIO featured a touch screen. But honestly, I’ve made peace with its non-touch design; it spares me from living in a smudge-covered nightmare.

Impressive display color accuracy

Whether I was firing up a reality TV show on Peacock or watching a review on Tom’s Guide’s YouTube channel, the Yoga’s 27-inch, 1440p display delivered true-to-life colors and immersive visuals that kept me glued to the screen.

But this isn’t just my personal opinion – the benchmarks back me up.

For context, we measure color accuracy using Delta-E scores: the closer to zero, the better. We recently tested two all-in-one PCs that rival the Lenovo Yoga AIO: the Apple’s M4 iMac and the HP OmniStudio X 32. The Yoga’s score of 0.21 beats both the OmniStudio X 32 (0.33) and the iMac (0.22).

Combine that accuracy with wide color coverage, and you’ve got a display that’s both lifelike and rich in tone. Lenovo claims that the display covers 99% of the sRGB color gamut, which means that the panel should reproduce nearly all standard digital colors, ensuring that web content, images, and designs appear accurate and true to the creator’s intent. In our testing, we discovered that the panel actually achieves 117 % sRGB, so the result is richer colors, making everything pop with extra visual impact.

For comparison, the OmniStudio X 32 covers 145% while the iMac covers 112%.

Looking at DCI-P3 color coverage, the Yoga covers an impressive 83%, beating the iMac’s 79.2%. However, the OmniStudio X 32 reigns supreme with flawless 100% coverage.

Addicting keyboard

Having reviewed countless laptops, I can confidently say that Lenovo — right up there with HP — consistently delivers some of the clickiest, most satisfying keyboards around. This Yoga desktop is no different.

The included dark gray wireless keyboard recharges via USB-A to USB-C, though I keep mine connected full-time to the rear USB-A port. It’s got a dedicated number pad, shield-style keys, and a clean, modern design. Plus, I feel as if my fingers are flying across the keyboard as I type on it. Each press feels crisp and deliberate, with excellent tactile feedback. It’s great for long work sessions without the mushiness you get from lower-quality desktop keyboards.

Decent for light gaming

Don’t laugh, but I’m a woman in my 30s who enjoys playing Roblox, from fast-paced first-person shooter games to laid-back, slow-paced exploration games. Most Roblox experiences require low system demand, so I tested the Yoga AIO with a mix of both ends of the spectrum. It handled everything effortlessly: no lag, no stutters, just smooth gameplay.

One moment, I was soaring through the air, hurling snowballs at other players. The next, I was wandering wide-eyed through the gilded halls of a virtual castle dripping with gold. The Yoga AIO kept up without breaking a sweat, proving it’s more than capable of casual gaming sessions like these.

For what it’s worth, we ran the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm (1080p) benchmark on the Yoga; it averaged 56 frames per second. On the same test, the M4 iMac hit 50 frames per second.

However, push it beyond casual, non-intensive titles and the cracks will begin to show.

Base doubles as a phone charger

This might be my favorite feature on the Lenovo Yoga AIO. Whether it was my iPhone 16 Pro Max or the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (I’m a phone reviewer, so I keep a small fleet of devices), both charged effortlessly on the built-in Qi wireless charging pad at the desktop’s base.

As long as your phone supports the Qi standard, it should work here. You just need to align the back of your device with the charging icon on the pad. When it’s in the sweet spot, you’ll get the familiar “I’m charging!” ding or see the telltale animation light up your screen.

Solid variety of ports

The Lenovo Yoga AIO offers a well-rounded selection of ports that should satisfy most users. On the side, you’ll find a USB-C, a USB-A, and a 3.5mm headphone jack for quick, easy access. Around the back, there’s another USB-C, two more USB-A ports, Ethernet, and both HDMI-in 2.1 and HDMI-out 2.1, plus the power connector.

The HDMI-in is a nice addition, allowing you to use the Yoga’s 27-inch display as a monitor for another device. An extra USB-C port would be ideal, or maybe an SD card reader, but this mix delivers plenty of flexibility for peripherals, external displays, and wired networking.

Lenovo Yoga AIO 27 review: The downs

While the Yoga AIO has a lot of features I applaud, there are some I should warn you about.

Dim compared to rivals

My home office is situated next to a bright window, and the Lenovo Yoga AIO’s display stood up to the challenge. Even with sunlight streaming in, colors remained vibrant, text stayed sharp, and I didn’t find myself squinting or tilting the screen to cut down on glare.

However, compared to rivals, the Yoga AIO is dim. On SDR mode, the desktop averages 353 nits, but can climb to 464 nits on HDR mode. The OmniStudio X 32 and iMac, on the other hand, provide more luminance. On SDR mode, they average 580 nits and 450 nits, respectively. On HDR mode, the HP outputs a whopping 720 nits; the Apple desktop notched 512 nits.

Against the blazing brightness of the HP and iMac, the Yoga AIO sits firmly in the shadows.

Mouse misses the mark

The mouse that ships with the Lenovo Yoga AIO has a lot of great features. It has a polished, slick, dark gray appearance that looks like it would fit in any high-end boardroom with C-suite executives.

It’s highly responsive, too. Cursor movements track with pinpoint precision, clicks register instantly, and there’s no noticeable input lag. The scroll wheel has just the right amount of resistance, making it easy to move quickly without overshooting. It feels tuned for both speed and accuracy.

However, I don’t like that this is a battery-powered mouse that relies on a USB dongle plugged into the Yoga’s base. Yes, Lenovo claims the battery lasts up to 12 months. But in 2025, it feels dated compared to rechargeable options like Apple’s Magic Mouse, which eliminates disposable batteries altogether.You know what? Not even Apple’s Magic Mouse gets a pass here – even rechargeable mice can be a hassle. Call me old school, but maybe it’s time we bring wired peripherals back. A cable-free desk is cool, but never having to think about batteries nor recharging is a luxury we should have never given up.

Height adjustment stops too short

I let my dad try out the new Lenovo Yoga AIO, and within seconds, I saw a flicker of disapproval cross his face.

“Wait a minute,” he said. “The display’s too high — can you lower it?” I tried, but it had already reached its lowest setting and wouldn’t go any further.

In other words, I couldn’t get the screen level with his eyes — and it’s not like he’s particularly short. At 5’8”, he’s average height. Looks like we’ll need office chairs with a little extra lift to meet it halfway.

Webcam is lame

Built-in webcams are notoriously awful across the PC industry, but the 5MP shooter on the Yoga is tragic. It’s grainy, delivers poor color accuracy, and struggles in anything less than perfect lighting. Shadows crush detail and highlights blow out easily. Even under bright daylight, the image looks soft and slightly washed out, making it decent for quick calls, but far from flattering for professional video meetings or content creation.

On the plus side, there’s a physical webcam switch on the right side of the base, letting you shut it off instantly and keep any Peeping Toms at bay.

“Base Mode Input Signal Not Detected”

Each time I power on or wake the system, a “Base Mode Input Signal Not Detected” banner flickers on screen for a split second before the PC proceeds without issue.

My hunch is the AIO briefly scans for all possible inputs at wake (e.g., internal PC, HDMI-in, USB-C). While it’s looking, the screen reports “no signal,” but then a moment later, it finds the right source and everything’s normal.

It appears to be benign and functionally harmless, but it’s definitely annoying. The M4 iMac would never do this to me.

OK speakers

The built-in JBL speakers (two 3W tweeters and two 5W woofers) deliver clean, fairly full sound for a desk setup. Voices are clear, podcasts and Google Meet calls cut through – and there’s enough punch for music and YouTube at moderate volumes.

You won’t get the warm, honeyed tone or wide stereo spread of the M4 iMac’s six-speaker array. The bass is lighter and the soundstage is flatter, but for an all-in-one, it’s convenient. Everything is integrated, so you don’t need to bother trying to secure one of the best computer speakers. Plus, your desk stays tidy.

Lenovo Yoga AIO 27 review : iMac M4 vs. Lenovo Yoga AIO 27

I’ve been comparing the Yoga AIO with other recently reviewed all-in-one PCs, including HP’s OmniStudio X 32. But what really caught my attention is how decisively the Yoga outperformed one of the most popular AIOs on the market: Apple’s iMac. Let’s dive into the performance benchmarks, starting with CPU tests.

CPU performance tests

The iMac with the M4 chip (10 cores) is Apple’s fastest all-in-one PC. However, in some cases, it struggled to keep up with the Intel Core Ultra 7 255H, a CPU with a 16-core setup.

On one hand, after running Geekbench 6 on the iMac, it edged out the Yoga desktop with a single-core score of 3,546, beating the Lenovo AIO’s score of 2,889. This means the iMac is snappier and more responsive in handling lightly threaded tasks, including opening apps, navigating the OS, loading web pages, and more. However, that’s where the victory ends for the Apple device.

The multi-core scores for the iMac and the Yoga were 14,724 and 15,500, respectively, with Lenovo taking the win. This translates to the Yoga being more efficient at handling heavier, multi-threaded tasks (e.g., running multiple apps while taking a call and streaming music in the background).

If you’re wondering how the OmniStudio X 32 fared, it mustered a measly single-core score of 2,133 on Geekbench 6. The HP desktop still struggled to catch up with the iMac and Yoga with a puny multi-core score of 12,128.

Speed tests

We also tested the Yoga AIO and the iMac to see which one edits videos faster using the Handbrake benchmark (it tracks how long a device takes to transcode a 4K video to 1080p).

The Yoga AIO was faster, taking only three minutes and 58 seconds to complete the task. Unfortunately, it took the iMac five minutes and three seconds to do the same, giving the Lenovo machine a clear edge in video transcoding.

The OmniStudio X 32 managed to beat the iMac, but not the Yoga, with a transcoding time of four minutes and 50 seconds.

Now, let’s move on to SSD performance. In the BlackMagic disk speed test, the Yoga AIO posted a write speed of 3,289 MBps, edging out the iMac’s 3,045 MBps. Read speeds told a similar story: the Yoga hit 3,989 MBps, comfortably ahead of the iMac’s 2,895 MBps.

As for HP’s OmniStudio X 32, it lagged behind both, managing just 2,456 MBps for writes and 2,759 MBps for reads. This is a noticeable drop in speed compared to the Lenovo and Apple machines.

Lenovo Yoga AIO 27 review: Verdict

Admittedly, as someone who only recently crossed over to macOS after being a Windows fangirl for far too long, I’m not ready to switch back. I’m too attached to Final Cut Pro, Apple’s Continuity magic, and the instant ease of AirDropping files between my iPhone and Mac.

However, the data doesn’t lie. In most of our performance and speed tests, the Yoga AIO edged out the iMac. And while Apple’s desktop is many things, it’s not doubling as a Qi phone charging station. The Yoga’s built-in wireless charger is a convenience I didn’t know I needed until now.

If you’re brand-agnostic, the choice might come down to features and workflow. Both sit in the same ballpark on price: the Yoga AIO starts at $1,229 (the model tested here is $1,319.99 at Best Buy), while the M4 iMac we compared it against is $1,299. So ask yourself: do you value a built-in phone charger and stronger multi-core performance, or is the seamless interoperability of macOS (e.g., AirDrop, Continuity, and all) the key to your productivity?As for me, I’m sticking with Mac. But if you choose Windows, I won’t judge you. You’ll be getting a seriously capable all-in-one.

One of the things I like about Lenovo is that they’re always willing to try something completely different in the computing space. Case in point, the company just revealed a new concept during IFA 2025 that might appear odd at first, but could be extremely useful for some folks. Here's the “Lenovo ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept.”

I got to check out this ThinkBook concept at a recent pre-IFA event in New York City and found it intriguing, to say the least. The laptop's name (which is not final) might not completely sell you on what it can do, but in short, its display can rotate from horizontal to vertical orientations thanks to its dual track hinge design.

The latter orientation gives you 45% more real estate for scrolling web pages or long message threads. When in vertical mode, there’s space left on the sides, which is covered by a soft Felt material. Said material is there so that the aluminum sides don’t scrape against one another, and help the display rotate smoothly.

Though the ThinkBook VertiFlex Concept is thicker than a MacBook Air M4, it’s still relatively slim at 0.7 inches thick compared to the Air’s 0.4 inches. It’s also pretty light, weighing just 3.06 pounds.

Its thinness and light weight were definitely surprising when I held it since I expected it to be heavier. I’d need to live with this laptop for a bit, but I can see it being a machine I might forget is in my backpack thanks to its ultraportable design.

One of the other cool things about this concept is that in vertical mode, you can place a smartphone on the empty space and then tether it to the laptop through the Lenovo Smart Connect app to transfer files and activate phone mirroring.

Since the Lenovo ThinkBook VertiFlex is a concept, there’s no guarantee it’ll actually hit the market. But as I said, I appreciate Lenovo’s inventiveness with this device. Even if it’s only for a minority of users, I’d love to see it finalized and released.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just got up close with the first Intel Panther Lake laptop
• I just tested the futuristic Rokid Glasses
• I ditched my MacBook for the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514

The Lenovo Legion Go 2 (starting at $1,099) updates the original Legion Go in meaningful ways thanks to its vibrant OLED panel, ergonomic design and new AMD Ryzen Z2 chip. Like before, Lenovo’s device also has Nintendo Switch 2-like detachable controllers and runs on Windows 11. While the Legion Go 2 is certainly impressive, all those updates come at a steep cost.

Getting into specifics, the large 8.8-inch OLED touch display is a marvel to behold, and makes the 7- or 8-inch panels on rival handhelds appear tiny in comparison. It’s hard to properly convey how great the OLED appears in person, but suffice it to say it’s arguably the best-looking screen on a handheld. I can’t undersell the display even if I tried.

As one of the few gaming handhelds to feature the latest AMD Ryzen Z2 or Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, the Legion Go 2 is capable of delivering impressive performance. I say it’s “capable” since you’ll need to tinker with the in-game graphics and display settings—not to mention turn on the frame-boosting FSR in games that support it—to get the best results. While you might not see radically better performance in comparison to other handhelds, the extra 5-10 frames can make a big difference.

The Legion Go 2 is the largest gaming handheld from a major manufacturer. While it’s more comfortable to hold thanks to its rounded edges, it can still get heavy after prolonged use. Thankfully, you can use the built-in kickstand and set the device on a desk while you play. You can also detach the controllers while the handheld is in “tabletop” mode, if you want.

While I like what the Legion Go 2 has to offer, it won't be one of the best handheld gaming consoles for everyone—and not just because of the steep asking price that can climb as high as $1,479. As always, Windows 11 is still clunky to use on a handheld. I also wish the battery life were longer.

Faults aside, the Lenovo Legion Go 2’s amazing OLED display, unique design and strong gaming performance might make the system worth the high asking price for some. I’ll detail all of the handheld’s strengths and weaknesses in my full review.

Lenovo Legion Go 2 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Lenovo Legion Go 2 is a gaming handheld featuring an 8.8-inch OLED panel, the latest AMD Z2 chip, and detachable controllers.
• Who is it for? Folks who want a Windows 11 handheld with a large OLED panel, the latest AMD mobile processor and a unique design.
• What does it cost? The Legion Go 2 starts at $1,099 at Best Buy and features the base AMD Z2 chip, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. Our review unit costs $1,349 and packs the more powerful AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip and 32GB of RAM.
• What do we like? We like the vivid OLED panel, detachable controllers and decent gaming performance.
• What don’t we like? The asking price is high, and Windows 11 still isn’t a great OS for handhelds.

Lenovo Legion Go 2 review: Specs

Lenovo Legion Go 2 review: The ups

The Legion Go 2 stands out thanks to its vibrant 8.8-inch OLED panel and Switch-like detachable controllers. And with some settings tweaks, it can also deliver strong gaming performance.

Vivid OLED panel

Besides its unique design (which I’ll cover shortly), the Legion Go 2 stands out due to its gorgeous 8.8-inch OLED panel. Only a handful (pun intended) of handhelds feature an OLED panel, so this is a huge selling point.

In addition to the contrast the OLED panel provides, the Legion Go 2 supports HDR, which the previous model lacked. When I fired up Cyberpunk 2077, I was impressed by Night City’s bright and vibrant neon lights and holograms. Everything looked equally mesmerizing when I swung around Manhattan in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. The OLED panel is a wonder to behold.

Our lab tests confirm my experience. As you can see above, the Legion Go 2 delivers oversaturated colors (sRGB and DCI-P3) compared to the Legion Go S and Asus ROG Ally X. Lenovo’s latest handheld also has strong color accuracy (Delta-E).

One thing to note is that the Legion Go 2 has a lower 1200p resolution from its predecessor’s 1600p. That might sound bad, but it doesn’t make an appreciable difference when you’re playing—especially when you’re so enthralled by the OLED panel. The buttery smooth 144Hz refresh rate also helps you forget about the lower (but still sharp) resolution.

Strong performance (with FSR)

Our Lenovo Legion Go 2 review unit (valued at $1,349) packs an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. Thanks to those components, I expected big performance gains over handhelds with the now last-gen Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor. While the Legion Go 2 can deliver impressive performance, you’ll have to seriously tinker with the settings to get there.

In our lab tests, we run several games through their respective built-in benchmark tool with graphics set to Ultra at a device’s native resolution. At those maxed-out settings, the Legion Go 2 struggles to deliver satisfying performance.

As you can see in the table above, Cyberpunk 2077 can barely run at 5 frames per second, which is decidedly unplayable. Dirt 5 fares decently at 34 fps, while Far Cry 6 can barely hit 30 frames per second. These results are bad enough, but they’re made worse when you see that the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme-powered machine has marginally better performance than handhelds with the Z1 Extreme chip.

While our in-house testing paints a bleak picture, my own anecdotal testing shows the potential of AMD’s latest handheld APU.

I was initially disappointed when I started playing Cyberpunk 2077 and saw frame rates hover in the mid-30s in the game’s default graphical and display settings. Lowering the resolution to 800p bumped the frame rates into the high 50s/low 60s, though I wasn’t happy losing visual fidelity. Thankfully, enabling AMD’s FSR 3 boosted the framerate to the mid-50s at the native 1200p resolution. I consider that a good compromise of graphical quality and gaming performance.

You can bring up the Legion Go 2’s Quick Settings sidebar to adjust things like performance, display resolution and refresh rate, controller vibration, and more. To get the best performance possible, you can toggle on Radeon Super Resolution (RSR) within the General sub-menu. I didn’t get the best results until I toggled this option, so it’s important to keep that in mind to get smooth gameplay.

If you take the time to adjust system and game settings, the Legion Go 2 can offer impressive gaming performance. If it wasn’t clear already, FSR is the Legion Go 2’s secret weapon for smoother gameplay.

Ergonomic design

Design-wise, the Legion Go 2 is largely similar to its predecessor. With the controllers attached, the handheld measures 11.64 x 5.38 x 1.66 inches and weighs 2.03 pounds. That’s slightly bigger and heavier than the original, but it’s much more comfortable to hold thanks to its rounder controller grips and even weight distribution.

That said, the Legion Go 2 might become heavy to hold for long periods. Thankfully, you can use the kickstand on the back to set up the handheld on a flat surface and play that way. There’s also an optional Switch-like grip for the controllers, though we didn’t receive one with our review unit. If the Legion Go 2 gets too heavy, you can always follow my lead and keep it on a table with the controllers attached.

The detachable controllers aren’t radically different, but they have been redesigned with more ergonomic lines, a smoother feel and a more intuitive button layout. As before, you can use the right controller as a vertical mouse for more natural control in FPS games.

The Hall Effect joysticks are fluid and responsive, with just the right amount of tension when you move them. I also love the larger and rounded D-pad, which is better suited for playing fighting games like Street Fighter 6. And in case you were wondering, the new controllers are backward compatible with the original Legion Go.

Last but not least is the port selection. You get the same number as before, which includes two USB-C/USB 4 ports, one located on the top and the other on the bottom. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot. The power button also has a fingerprint reader, like the original Legion Go.

Lenovo Legion Go 2 review: The downs

There’s a lot to like about the Legion Go 2, but the handheld also has several downsides that could deter you from purchasing this device.

Steep price

Right now, the Legion Go 2 is the most expensive gaming handheld available from a major manufacturer. It certainly has great features, but its price point will no doubt be a deterrent for many potential buyers.

The Legion Go 2 starts at $1,099 for a model with the regular Ryzen Z2 chip and a whopping $1,479 for a fully decked out model with 2TB. In comparison, the Asus ROG Xbox Ally with a Z2 chip starts at $599 for the base model, while the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally X with a Z2 Extreme chip costs $999. That latter price isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s still less expensive than even the base Legion Go 2.

Considering how the original Steam Deck is currently selling for $319 (down from $380), the Legion Go 2’s high price isn’t easy to swallow.

Midling battery life

Like gaming laptops, gaming handhelds don’t have the best battery life. And while the Legion Go 2 boasts great battery life when surfing the web, its gaming battery life won’t win any awards.

In our battery test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits of screen brightness, the Legion Go 2 lasted for 10 hours and 45 minutes. If you want to use the system for basic tasks like web surfing or watching videos, you can do so for a reasonable length of time. That said, if you’re interested in the Legion Go 2’s primary function, i.e., gaming, don’t expect it to endure long.

In the PCMark 10 gaming battery test, the Legion Go 2 lasted for 2 hours and 15 minutes. That’s slightly longer than its predecessor, but an hour less than the ROG Ally X. If you plan to play this system while on the road, don’t forget to bring its included 65W charger.

Windows 11

If you’ve read any of our handheld reviews or opinion pieces, then you know we’re not fond of Windows 11 for handhelds.

While the OS is great for the best gaming laptops and the best gaming PCs, it doesn't work well with a handheld's control scheme. Since you can't navigate through most of Windows (especially the desktop), you're forced to move the mouse cursor with the right analog stick, or otherwise use your finger like you would on one of the best tablets. This can be a chore, even on the large 8.8-inch screen.

Windows 11 also seems to contribute to slowing down gaming performance and battery life, which is something we noted when we installed SteamOS on the original ROG Ally X and saw improved performance and battery life.

Windows 11 might have greater game compatibility and system customization than SteamOS, but Valve’s OS is specifically designed for handhelds, so it’s easy to jump into your favorite games without a hassle. This is evident not only on the Steam Deck, but on Lenovo’s own Legion Go S with SteamOS.

Given the usability of SteamOS and how the ROG Xbox Ally has a lighter version of Windows more suitable for handhelds, a handheld running pure Windows 11 seems even more glaring.

Lenovo Legion Go 2 review: Verdict

The Legion Go 2 just comes up short of being an easy recommendation. Sure, I love the gorgeous OLED display, and you can get pretty good gaming performance with some tinkering. The more ergonomic design and smooth Hall effect joysticks are also huge bonuses.

Unfortunately, the system’s affordability ultimately makes it a hard sell; the fact that it runs on basic Windows only compounds the frustration. However, if and when we’re able to install the leaner version of Windows that’s on the ROG Xbox Ally the Legion Go 2 could be a more enticing gaming handheld—especially if Lenovo cuts the price or runs a big sale.

As things currently stand, you might want to consider a cheaper alternative, such as the Steam Deck OLED ($649) or the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally ($999). However, if you can stomach the price you can have a lot of fun with the Legion Go 2. For what it offers, it’s still a great handheld…just not the best.

With the Lenovo Legion Go 2 now expected to be revealed in just a few days at IFA 2025, a big question is how much the gaming handheld will cost. As feared, it won't come cheap, and the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally X looks to undercut it.

According to Notebookcheck, an anonymous source has reached out to bring price and release details on Lenovo's next-gen gaming handheld. As per the source, Lenovo plans to launch the Legion Go 2 for €999 in Europe, with orders set to go live in early September.

However, in the U.S., Lenovo only looks to start selling the Legion Go 2 in November, with pricing between $1,049 and $1,099. This is a tall ask, and further proves that premium gaming handheld costs are going off the rails.

If accurate, this will make the Legion Go 2 even pricier than its biggest rivals, including the MSI Claw A8 and ROG Xbox Ally X. The former has been spotted in France for €899 (originally €999 in Germany and now £849 in the U.K.), while the latter has been seen for €899, with rumors indicating Microsoft's handheld will start at $899 in the U.S.

Of course, it's a good idea to take this all in with a pinch of salt, as the source doesn't provide information this claim is based on. Moreover, the source states that Lenovo is still working out U.S. pricing, and that's highly likely due to tariffs.

Notebookcheck also provided a YouTube video of the leaked Legion Go 2 from Evan Blass. Check out what to expect below:

It may only be a few days until we see Lenovo's pricing and release plans on its Legion Go 2, but by the looks of it, the next-gen gaming handheld may struggle against it's (possibly) lower-priced competition

The price of handheld power

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Last week, we heard that the Lenovo Legion Go 2 was expected to be revealed at IFA 2025. Now, it appears the rumor was accurate, as a major leak shows the anticipated handheld is set to arrive in just a few days.

Reliable leaker Evan Blass revealed promotion materials to be used at Lenovo's event at IFA 2025, showcasing the Lenovo Legion Go 2. With the event set to kick off on September 5, it may not be long until we see the next-gen gaming handheld be officially announced.

As expected, the promo video shows that the Legion Go 2 will come equipped with an AMD Ryzen Extreme Z2, as with the MSI Claw A8 and ROG Xbox Ally X. It will also come with an 8.8-inch 1600p OLED panel with a 144Hz refresh rate, an upgrade over the original Legion Go, and the usual detachable Legion Truestike controllers — this time with fingerprint resistant "next-gen excimer coasting" and an improved back button layout.

We've seen plenty of leaks of the Legion Go 2, and these now appear to be accurate. We should also expect at least 1TB of SSD storage (going up to 2TB) and 32GB of RAM, along with an upgraded battery capacity of 74Whr.

Pricing is still up in the air, and an official launch date is still uncertain. However, considering this leaked reveal, it's likely that pre-orders will kick off in September, with the handheld being shipped in October.

That said, it's believed the Legion Go 2 will be priced at $1,000, and seeing how the Legion Go S with a Ryzen Z1 Extreme costs $829, the upgraded Legion Go 2 is sure to be set at a higher price.

Hopefully, the Legion Go 2 will be able to run SteamOS like its Legion Go S sibling, but it appears to only run on Windows 11. That said, at least a gaming handheld UI for Windows 11 overhaul is on the way.

So, with the Lenovo Legion Go 2 looking to launch very soon, is a Steam Deck 2 still worth the wait? Well, according to a recent rumor, you'll be waiting quite a while.

The wait for Steam Deck 2 will be longer

As noted by known hardware leaker KeplerL2 on a NeoGAF forum, the Steam Deck 2 is now rumored to release in 2028. This was in response to a comment asking if new handheld PC releases from MSI or Valve would outshine the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally set to release on October 16, with KeplerL2 stating, "Steam Deck 2 is 2028."

We've heard rumors of the Steam Deck 2 being in the works, with a leaked AMD "Magnus" Zen 6 APU giving Valve a reason to deliver the significant performance boost it's looking for in its next handheld console. However, this rumored chip (or a form of it) isn't expected to arrive until 2027, so this may line up with KeplerL2's rumor.

If accurate, we'll be waiting a long time until a Steam Deck 2 arrives. We may even see a PlayStation handheld in the meantime, but for now, it's looking like we have a Lenovo Legion Go 2 to look forward to.

And who knows, maybe the Steam Deck 2 may act as a next-gen PlayStation handheld.

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The rumored Lenovo Legion Go 2 may beat the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally to the finish line, as the next-gen gaming handheld is expected to be announced in just a few weeks — just in time for IFA 2025.

Lenovo has announced an event at IFA, which many on Reddit believe will come with news on the Legion Go 2. This is set to take place on September 5, with the website's keywords (via VideoCardz) indicating it will show off upcoming ThinkPad, ThinkBook and Aura Edition laptops, along with "Legion" and "Legion Gaming" products.

Of course, it isn't certain if this event will give us details on Lenovo's next gaming handheld, as the company has been tight-lipped about the Legion Go 2. That said, there's been plenty of leaks on the console, and signs have been pointing towards a September launch — or at least a reveal.

When will it launch?

According to a leaked prototype video of the Legion Go 2, which showed off an 8.8-inch OLED display and an AMD Ryzen Z2 processor (with the final product likely coming with the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme, as with the MSI Claw A8 and ROG Xbox Ally X), it's been rumored that the Legion Go 2 will launch in September.

However, with Lenovo's event taking place at IFA 2025, there's reason to believe that the gaming handheld will at least be announced for then, with pre-orders kicking off in September. If this is the case, it's likely to go on shelves sometime in October. But it's possible that it will start shipping at the end of September, too.

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OK I’ve got a confession to make — I’ve been a Chromebook hater for years. While I appreciate what they offer, I don't think dirt-cheap Google laptops are worth it. It's better to spend a little more for a Windows laptop or MacBook with more features.

Google’s AI ambitions ushered in the world of Chromebook Plus laptops in late 2023, which I started to warm to, but it's the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 that has finally helped me see the light. I'm the grumpy old man who's been yelling at kids on his lawn for years and finally offers them all ice cream (yes, I look forward to being this person when I retire).

This is easily the best Chromebook you can buy, and I had no problem whatsoever switching from my daily driver MacBook and using this for a week.

So what changed? Well, it comes down to three key things:

• Performance and power efficiency: The battery life on Chromebooks is always pretty good, but that’s due to weakened internals that can’t really handle more than a few Chrome tabs. With a new MediaTek chip in the Chromebook Plus 14, you’re getting both zippy speeds and plenty of stamina.
• Actual usability: Chrome OS is essentially an operating system built around the Chrome browser, but more and more apps and capabilities are here than ever before. Especially with the beefy NPU built into the Kompanio chip inside, you can do quick things like Google’s magic photo edits without an internet connection.
• A fully-fledged AI suite: Whether for your studies, work life or general day-to-day, getting a year of Google AI Pro for free is insanely good value — Gemini Pro has been a huge help for everything from my research to workout plans, and Veo 3 is a crazy good video generation platform.

Plus, it all comes in a seriously good-feeling laptop with a gorgeous OLED display, a fantastically tactile keyboard you’d expect from Lenovo, and a utilitarian aluminum construction that adds a great premium feel to it all.

I know the news broke recently about Android and Chrome OS “combining” into a single platform, and make no mistake about it, the $649 Chromebook Plus 14 should be at the front of the line for this. It’s easily one of the best laptops I’ve used all year, and a fantastic notebook for college students.

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? This is a premium Chromebook.
• Who is it for? This is ideal for those whose workloads revolve around Google’s suite of apps, and who spend a lot of their personal time in Chrome too — whether you’re a student or a professional.
• What does it cost? Right now, you can pick one up for $649 (though it doesn't seem to be in stock anywhere). The price goes up to $749 if you want a touch screen.
• What do we like? Put simply, it’s just a really damn good laptop. The build quality is impressive, the OLED display is mesmerizing (pairing quite well with the crystal clear speakers), ergonomics are sound, and the MediaTek chip provides surprisingly strong power with great battery life.
• What don’t we like? Obviously at $649, this is on the pricier side for a Chromebook Plus laptop. Of course, you’re getting higher quality specs for the cost, but this does put it squarely in a more upmarket category than the cheaper systems that can do essentially the same thing.

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Specs

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: The ups

I fired up the Chromebook Plus 14, put my MacBook on ice (not literally) and daily drove this as my work system for a week. And all it took was seven days to become a full Chrome OS convert.

Shockingly good performance and battery life

Let’s get into what’s most important here. With Chrome OS being a much more simplistic system to run, you see laptop makers compromise on the system specs. Not that you’d overtly feel it — these Chromebooks are usually zippy enough. But under multitasking pressures, they can quickly crumble and the lower-end battery takes a serious hit.

The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is built different — packed with a MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 Arm chipset, 16GB of RAM and a beefy 60Wh battery, you’re getting all that speed of an Arm chip with the stamina to boot.

And aiding that further is the 50 TOPS NPU built onto the chipset too — making this the first Chromebook to have its own AI-focused brain for offline processing for tasks like photo editing. This puts this system into worry-free battery life territory for a whole day’s usage.

Oh, and shoutout to the thermal management here. Much like the M4 MacBook Air, the Chromebook Plus 14 is able to run at an impressive sustained speed without the need for a fan. Whisper-quiet performance is a joy when I want to embrace complete silence while working.

Glorious OLED and immersive speakers

But of course, working by day is one thing. A great laptop has to be just as effective at being an all-in-one entertainment machine by night too (or for background Lo-Fi while you work), and the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 delivers this in spades.

It all starts with a gorgeously vivid 14-inch OLED display up top. Sporting impressive color accuracy and deep, inky blacks, this panel is fantastic for not only getting stuff done on, but for immersing yourself in whatever you’re binge-watching on Netflix.

Topping it all off are the speakers, and I have to be honest here — these give MacBooks a serious run for their money. They’re loud, crystal clear, and have a nice amount of warmth to the lows.

AI smarts out the wazoo

Out the box, you’re getting the Google AI Pro Plan for 12 months — a $200-per year suite of features including higher levels of access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, NotebookLM with higher limits, Gemini across the entire Google suite, access to the AI filmmaking tool Flow (with Google Veo 3), Jules AI coding agent and 2TB of Drive storage.

I’m never one to include the freebies companies include in their laptops into my judgement, but the fact of the matter is that AI brings everything together in the best of ways. Chrome OS is already the better choice when it comes to sneaking AI into your workload — adding it into the right click options contextually rather than overlaying it clumsily on everything.

But NotebookLM has become an incredible thinking partner for me across everything I do (and is a fantastic tool for college studies), Gemini is a top tier brainstormer, and while I’m sure Veo 3 can be utilized for incredible professional video uses, I’m still having so much fun with it.

It’s the glue that brings this collage of one of my favorite laptop of 2025 together.

Just a really well-built laptop

Let’s not forget the fundamentals of being a good laptop. Its utilitarian aesthetic is a premium sight to behold, which is a huge jump forward from the cheap plastic options you find across the Chromebook market.

The slimline, lightweight aluminum construction is nice and durable, while being easy enough to throw into a backpack between classes (or meetings). The 5MP webcam is a seriously sharp shooter with great color.

And of course, the ergonomics have got to be rock solid. With Lenovo behind the wheel, you can expect that and more.

The tactile feel of that keyboard feels spectacular, and is paired with a silky smooth touchpad with great multitouch controls. Plus, if you spring the extra hundred bucks, that touchscreen is super responsive to any input.

This all comes together to become a laptop you’re genuinely happy using — seriously unexpected for a former Chromebook denier like myself.

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: The downs

Honestly? There’s only one downside to this, and it’s something that comes with the territory of Chromebooks always being dirt cheap.

$649 is kind of steep

Don’t get me wrong — you do really get what you pay for here. It’s a premium laptop with great performance and battery life, and the best AI suite for a year. But when Chromebook Plus laptops have typically fit into that $350-$500 space over the past year, this price is definitely on the higher end for a Chromebook.

For example, you could get the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x for a very similar price (or cheaper during sales season), and you get a full version of Windows for a far wider range of apps supported. Of course, you get a way worse display, but it's a trade-off you'd have to think about.

The Chromebook Plus 14 is, indeed, value for money when you see what you get. But this puts it in more direct competition with other laptops, and kind of eliminates that value message.

Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14: Verdict

My days of dunking on Chromebooks are over. The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is one of the best laptops I’ve used all year. Not only is it all really well-put together with a great design, ergonomics, a beautiful OLED display and sharp webcam, but Chrome OS has come along leaps and bounds to be a seriously good AI-fueled system that can help you get things done.

If $649 is in your budget for heading to college or looking for an all-dayer for productivity, this stamina monster is a fantastic buy, and the true realization of the Chromebook vision that has turned me into a fan.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x ($749) makes sacrifices to hit its budget-friendly price, but they're easy to overlook thanks to one huge strength.

Finding a budget laptop that offers good value for your money can be a real challenge, especially if you're not sure what you should and shouldn't compromise on. The IdeaPad Slim 3x is a great example of how budget laptops can hit an affordable price and still offer great performance in key areas.

Despite costing well under $1,000, the IdeaPad Slim 3x impressed me with its outstanding battery life, lasting over 16 hours in our tests. With a snappy keyboard, roomy 15-inch display and relatively low weight, it's a great buy for students and casual users. If you can find it on sale, the IdeaPad Slim 3x is a steal.

Of course, it's not perfect. There are a few drawbacks you should consider before buying, but if you're searching for an affordable laptop that will last all day, the IdeaPad Slim 3x is a great choice. It's one of the best laptops for battery life we've tested this year and one of the best Lenovo laptops you can get on a tight budget.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x review: Cheat sheet

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x review: Specs

• What is it? A budget-friendly 15-inch Windows 11 laptop with entry-level specs that are ideal for web browsing, casual use and basic work tasks.
• Who is it for? Anyone in need of an affordable laptop with great battery life, particularly students.
• What does it cost? The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x is available for purchase at Best Buy for $749.
• What do we like? With over 16 hours of battery life, this is one of the most affordable laptops you can buy offering over a full day of use per charge. Plus, it features a great keyboard and decent overall performance.
• What don't we like? The display and speakers could both be better. This is also definitely not a good pick for gamers due to its underwhelming graphics performance and Arm-based Snapdragon CPU.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x review: The ups

The IdeaPad Slim 3x offers a lot of value for well under $1,000, especially with its outstanding battery life. It also boasts solid performance for the price and a fantastic keyboard.

Over 16 hours of battery life

By far the biggest strength of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x is its incredible battery life. It lasted 16 hours and 29 minutes in our battery life test, which is far more than enough for a full day at work or school. Battery life that long is especially impressive for a budget laptop like this one.

I wasn't surprised the IdeaPad performed so well in this particular area considering Snapdragon-powered laptops tend to be battery life all-stars. Given the price this IdeaPad really punches above its weight class, outlasting much pricier alternatives.

For instance, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, one of my personal favorite laptops, only lasted 14 hours and 14 minutes on our battery life test. Granted, it has a more powerful processor, but if battery life is your top priority, the more affordable IdeaPad Slim 3x could be the better buy.

In contrast, the Acer Aspire Go, which is a similarly budget-friendly laptop, only lasted 10 hours and 15 minutes. It just goes to show, the IdeaPad Slim 3x offers a uniquely long battery life in the sub-$1,000 price range.

Decent performance for the price

The IdeaPad Slim 3x could have scored a bit higher on our performance tests, but it didn't do poorly either—especially considering the price.

With a Geekbench 6 multi-core score of 10,505, the IdeaPad is powerful enough for basic everyday tasks like web browsing and word processing. You could probably get by with some minimal photo and video editing, but expect slow rendering and exporting.

On the other hand, if you're a student or you're looking for an affordable laptop for casual use, the IdeaPad Slim 3x is definitely up to the task. I had a good experience using it for tasks like writing, watching Netflix and replying to emails.

The IdeaPad Slim 3x is in a sweet spot among budget laptops, as well. It's a killer deal if you can find it on sale, but even at the full $749 price it offers better bang for your buck than laptops at the low end of the budget range.

For instance, the Acer Aspire Go 15 costs just under $300, which might sound like a steal—but its Geekbench 6 score is barely half of the IdeaPad Slim 3x's score. There's a much smaller gap between the IdeaPad Slim 3x's performance and that of the pricier Acer Swift 14 AI.

Snappy, satisfying keyboard

I often love the keyboards on Lenovo laptops and the IdeaPad Slim 3x is no exception. This might seem like a little thing, but if you're planning to use your laptop for tasks like writing, replying to emails, or coding, a great keyboard can make or break your experience. The IdeaPad Slim 3x offers a stellar keyboard at a budget-friendly price.

On the Monkeytype typing test I scored 96 words per minute with 97% accuracy, which is a bit above my personal average and just goes to show how swift and snappy this keyboard is. It also includes a full number pad, which can be really convenient for programming or filling spreadsheets. I appreciate that Lenovo didn't slip the power button into the keyboard, too (it's located on the right edge of the keyboard deck).

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x review: The downs

While I had a good overall experience with the IdeaPad Slim 3x, it's not perfect. There are a few drawbacks you should know about before making this your next laptop, including display quality, speaker volume, gaming performance and potential issues with app compatibility.

Underwhelming display quality

The display is one of the biggest drawbacks of the IdeaPad Slim 3x. Unfortunately, that's not uncommon in budget laptops. The display isn't bad, but it isn't outstanding, either. If you need a laptop primarily for tasks like graphic design or photo editing, you may want to choose something with higher display scores, like the Acer Swift 14 AI.

The IdeaPad Slim 3x sports a 15.3-inch 60Hz IPS touch display. It scored 48.4% on our DCI-P3 color gamut test and had an average brightness of just 296 nits. Even for a budget laptop, those scores are pretty low.

I noticed that low brightness while watching Stranger Things, which has a lot of dimly-lit scenes that didn't show up well on the IdeaPad. However, the matte finish on the display at least minimized reflections, which is nice. Text and well-lit content also looks fine, so the lackluster display might be a non-issue for some people.

Weak gaming performance

The IdeaPad Slim 3x is by no means a gaming laptop. If that's what you're looking for, your options will be pretty limited in this price range, but a handheld gaming PC could be a good alternative.

Considering it's running on Qualcomm Adreno integrated graphics, I wasn't surprised by the IdeaPad's disappointing graphics performance. It scored 3,262 on the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark and averaged just 21 frames per second in Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm.

To put that into perspective, the Acer Swift 14 AI, which costs just a few hundred dollars more, scored 5,720 on the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark, but also averaged 21 fps in Civilization VI. The Acer Aspire Go 15 scored far lower, though, with just 1,928 on the 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark and a meager 12.3 fps in Civilization VI.

You're unfortunately just not going to get outstanding gaming performance on a budget laptop. Handheld gaming PCs offer slightly better performance for around the same price as these laptops, but if you're looking for something that can breeze through AAA games, you might want to save your money for a proper gaming laptop.

Speaker volume may be too quiet for some

While it isn't necessarily a deal-breaker, I wish the speakers on the IdeaPad Slim 3x had a higher max volume. I rarely have to crank up the speakers when testing laptops, but I had to turn up the volume to 100% while watching Stranger Things on the IdeaPad. Even then, quieter scenes were a bit hard to hear clearly, especially with background noise like an air conditioner.

The speaker quality is fine, especially considering the price, with a decent balance of mids, highs, and bass. It's just a bit difficult to hear since the volume doesn't go as high as some may prefer, so you might want to keep a pair of headphones handy with this laptop.

Arm-based chip can lead to app compatibility issues

While the IdeaPad Slim 3x can be a great sub-$1,000 laptop, it's worth noting that the Arm-based processor can present issues. This isn't unique to the IdeaPad Slim 3x, but rather a larger concern with Snapdragon-powered laptops.

Since they use a different type of processor architecture than Intel or AMD laptops, some apps aren't compatible with them, such as certain games and Adobe apps. This will likely improve over time as app developers expand support for Snapdragon chips, but it's just something to be aware of before buying.

With that said, if you're looking for a budget-friendly laptop and you're between the IdeaPad Slim 3x and a Chromebook, many of which go for this price or less, you would probably be better off with the IdeaPad since it's compatible with the majority of Windows apps. Chromebooks, in contrast, are limited to mainly apps on the Google Play Store.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x review: Verdict

While it isn't a perfect laptop, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x offers fantastic battery life and solid performance at a price that's tough to beat. If you can find it on sale, it's a serious bargain. This laptop would be an especially good pick for students and casual users, but probably isn't the right choice for power users and gamers.

If you're looking for a sub-$1,000 laptop that will easily last all day on a single charge, the IdeaPad Slim 3x could be perfect for you. Its battery life is impressive enough that it outweighs less significant drawbacks like a lackluster display and quiet speakers. It's hard to find battery life this long at such a low price, so that alone makes the IdeaPad Slim 3x stand out.

With that said, if you're looking for a budget laptop for gaming, you would be better served with a handheld gaming PC since graphics performance is not the IdeaPad's strong suit. Depending on your needs, you may also want to double check that your must-have apps are compatible with Snapdragon-powered laptops.

Those drawbacks might be deal-breakers for some, but if battery life and price are your top concerns, the IdeaPad Slim 3x could be the perfect choice.

We've been waiting a while for the sequel to Lenovo's Legion Go handheld gaming PC, and a new video may have just given us our first look at the second generation console.

The Legion Go 2 is one of our most anticipated gaming handheld releases this year, and leaks about the new console have been sprouting up since at least April of 2024.

Originally, we spotted the latest leaked images of a purported Lenovo Legion Go 2 in the Legion Go subreddit which showed the screen, kickstand, and even a look at the inside of the console.

A Redditor commented that the images were from their video on YouTube, which does appear to match the photos from Reddit.

The video claims the device is a prototype, and may even be out of date. It's a bit of a sketchy leak as this is only the second video ever posted to that channel and the Reddit account, while two years old, has only ever commented on this post.

They allege that they were able to get one of the devices "due to bankruptcy of the contract manufacturer" which apparently lead to a number of prototypes ending up in e-waste recycling.

I don't speak Chinese, so some of what we're going off here is comments made under the video and what the claimed owner of the video said on Reddit.

According to them, the machine in question features an 8.8-inch OLED display reportedly made by Samsung Display. This would be an improvement over its predecessor which features an IPS LCD screen.

The prototype also features a Z2 processor and a 780M graphics card, which is most likely out of date as the Go 2 is expected to feature a more powerful AMD 890M card.

In the video, they do show off the device in action playing a game and some of the system settings. It looks like it has 1TB of SSD storage and 32GB of RAM, double that of the original Legion Go.

It appears like the battery will be better as well. The current Go console has a 49.2Whr battery which barely lasted two hours in our testing. The new battery is clocked at 74Whr, so maybe we'll get up to three hours with the Go 2, but hopefully Lenovo has worked on some power efficiency and optimization as well.

All in all, it does look like an improvement internally. We are curious if Lenovo is working with Microsoft to make an Xbox-version ala the Asus ROG Xbox Ally or with Valve on a SteamOS version like the Legion Go S, which we considered excellent.

Allegedly, the Legion Go 2 will launch in September and the leaker said it would cost $1,000.

Lenovo has been fairly tight-lipped about the Go 2, so we don't have much more to go on, but we do expect the handheld to release later this year.

More from Tom's Guide

• The best Lenovo laptops: our top picks tested and rated
• Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED review: A gorgeous ultra-wide that’s perfect for immersive gaming
• Lenovo's ThinkBook Flip is the strangest laptop I've ever seen with an 18-inch foldable OLED display

With new GPUs, gaming monitors always take an evolutionary step forward — that much was obvious with the launch of Nvidia’s RTX 50-series cards and the adoption of 4K 240Hz panels. But what if I told you that gaming panels are evolving even further beyond this?

I spoke to George Toh, Vice President and GM of the Visuals Business at Lenovo, and while some of these future trends are clear to see (OLED gaming monitors, for example), some surprised me. A simple one being that gamers are done tweaking settings, and that displays should adapt to them with AI.

Now, as a D1 settings tweaker myself, I felt a little personally attacked (sarcasm), but in all seriousness, this makes a world of sense — having a monitor that learns to adapt to you, and not just be the screen you have to work around to get just right.

And then there’s the question of catering to more ways that people play. Gaming handhelds like the Lenovo Legion Go S have exploded in popularity, and as gaming laptops go from strength to strength, the need for versatile portable gaming panels is going to grow stronger looking ahead.

So, what does the future of gaming monitors look like? Well, this is what Lenovo thinks.

OLED, Mini LED, or something else — what display technologies do you see leading the next generation of gaming monitors, and why?

Gamers today demand more than just speed or colors or brightness—they want immersion, precision and a visual experience that keeps pace with the speed of today’s titles.

As we look at the next generation of gaming monitors, both OLED and Mini LED will play critical roles in the evolution of gaming monitors. OLED continues to impress with its incredible contrast ratios, depth of color and fast response times, making it ideal for immersive single-player experiences and content consumption.

Mini LED, on the other hand, offers high peak brightness and excellent HDR performance while mitigating some of the burn-in concerns associated with OLED, which is valuable for long hours of competitive play.

One could make a case for either OLED or Mini LED, but based on industry shipments, we are currently seeing a preference for OLED gaming monitors. I believe we’ll also see hybrid innovations — displays that integrate the strengths of multiple technologies — along with advances in panel control and pixel-level tuning. Whatever the technology is, the end goal is very simple: giving gamers more choice and more control over how they experience their games.

With gaming laptops and handhelds becoming more powerful (like the Legion Go 2 lineup), do you see a future where portable or hybrid gaming monitors become mainstream?

Absolutely. As devices like the Legion Go 2 redefine what’s possible in portable gaming, there’s a growing demand for monitors that can match that flexibility without compromising performance.

We’re already seeing increased interest in lightweight, USB-C-powered displays that deliver high refresh rates and vibrant visuals — and this is just the beginning. I see hybrid and portable gaming monitors becoming a much more mainstream category, especially for gamers who want a secondary screen for on-the-go setups, LAN parties, or even creative work.

We are constantly exploring ways to bring new experiences to life, and portable or hybrid gaming monitors will perfectly complement our broader Legion ecosystem.

How is Lenovo approaching the balance between high refresh rates and high resolution, especially as 4K 240Hz displays enter the market?

Balancing refresh rate and resolution is one of the biggest technical challenges and opportunities in the gaming display space right now. Gamers want the best of both worlds: incredibly sharp visuals and smooth gameplay, but factors such as economics often play a role.

We’re investing heavily in panels that can deliver both, as well as in technologies like VRR (variable refresh rate) and advanced overdrive tuning to ensure the experience lives up to the spec.

We’ve also taken a holistic approach — pairing high-performance displays with GPU and thermal innovations across our Legion devices to make sure the full system can support high frame rates at high resolutions. 4K at 240Hz was novel before, but is no longer a future concept; it’s something we’re actively testing and optimizing for real-world gaming use cases.

How do you see AI and software optimization playing a role in the future of gaming displays — whether it’s latency reduction, adaptive tuning or visual enhancement?

AI and software optimization are rapidly becoming foundational to the future of gaming displays. From dynamic backlight control to real-time upscaling and latency reduction, we’re seeing smarter systems that adapt to the user, the content and even ambient lighting conditions.

I’m particularly excited about how AI can personalize the visual experience — whether it’s through auto-calibration, scene-based color tuning or adaptive refresh management.

These aren’t just enhancements — they’re tools that let gamers focus more on their performance and immersion, and less on manual settings. We're already integrating AI capabilities into our Legion products, and you can expect to see even more intelligent display features in our upcoming lineup.

More from Tom's Guide

• Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED review: A gorgeous ultra-wide that’s perfect for immersive gaming
• I just tested this 45-inch OLED gaming monitor — and it's so good it could be your next TV
• I tested this $159 gaming monitor thinking it was a joke — but it's now my favorite budget display

The Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED gaming monitor is an ultra-wide curved QHD display, designed for serious gamers who need a balance of high-speed performance and widescreen immersion.

With its 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms GTG (I’ll explain this more later), it’s perfectly capable of competitive FPS gaming. Plus, its gorgeous curved OLED panel and ultra-wide aspect ratio could make it one of the best gaming monitors for immersive gaming in RPGs or strategy games.

I’ve tested this premium monitor for a few months now, and aside from a slightly steep (albeit not outrageous) price, I’m struggling to say much against it. Whether it’s gaming, work or production, the Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED had me well and truly covered throughout testing. I’m just sad to be giving it back.

Anyway, for the complete lowdown, keep reading to see my full Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED gaming monitor review.

Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A curved ultra-wide OLED gaming monitor with 1440p (QHD) resolution
• Who is it for? Gamers wanting a premium, immersive OLED display
• What does it cost? The MSRP is $1,199 at Amazon or Lenovo, although you can find it cheaper
• What’s good? The color, contrast, gaming performance and that beautiful ultra-wide curve
• What isn’t? It’s a little pricey versus QD-OLED rivals and its peak brightness isn’t great

Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED review: Specs

Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED review: The ups

A crisp OLED panel, vibrant color, speedy performance and enough real estate to rear cattle, all wrapped up with typical Lenovo build quality — this monitor is a consummate all-rounder.

Stunning visuals

Alrighty, let’s get into the most important stuff first. Paramount (for me at least) when testing any monitor are the subjective visuals. The 34WD-10 features a 1440p ultra-wide OLED panel, and it’s gorgeous to behold.

1440p (or QHD) is the sweet spot in my opinion, at least on 27-34-inch monitors, giving you the perfect blend of resolution and detail without proving too taxing on your system. My rig uses a Radeon RX6900XT graphics card, which is capable of 4K UHD, but I’ve been able to run even intensive games at Ultra settings thanks to the lower QHD res.

That isn’t to say it looks bad at all. At 34 inches, 1440p still looks fantastic, especially when we’re talking about OLED. With OLED displays each pixel can turn itself off, giving super-dark blacks and rich contrast. I played a lot of S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2, a very dark and moody game, complemented superbly by the Lenovo’s heavy blacks.

Colors are also rich and vibrant, even in Standard mode. I played Total War: Rome II and Valheim, both games with highly saturated, warm palettes, and they looked brilliant on the 34WD-10. The neon lights of Cyberpunk 2077, meanwhile, looked particularly fetching in the HDR Game modes, and the Warm sRGB SDR preset.

Lab testing analysis: Color

In addition to our subjective testing, we also run objective tests for color. You can see the results in the Lab Test tables below. We run these tests using our own calibrated color spectrophotometers.

• Delta-E: Lower = Better
• sRGB: Higher = Better
• DCI-P3: Higher = Better

Our Delta-E score tells us how close the color relayed on screen is to the color output from the source (i.e. the computer). The Lenovo’s low score of 0.08 is very good, meaning this monitor is capable of rendering colors extremely accurately on screen. It isn’t quite as accurate as the Alienware AW2725Q or the fantastic Alienware AW3425DW, but still pretty darn good.

The sRGB and DCI-P3 gamuts are two common color spaces. sRGB is a general-purpose SDR space and the most commonly used. At 156.40% coverage, the 34WD-10 has that entire gamut covered and then some, so it’ll provide very accurate and vibrant color rendition for anything using that space — think web browsing, gaming, general media consumption, etc. This backs up my subjective findings in regards to bold colors.

DCI-P3 is a cinematic color space with a wider overall gamut than sRGB, so this color space generally gives a more accurate rendition of lifelike color than sRGB. Many movies and games specified as HDR are rendered in the DCI-P3 color space. Again, the Lenovo covers this whole gamut, plus extra, giving accurate and vivid performance in DCI-P3 / HDR.

In both color spaces, the Lenovo is only beaten in the table above by the Samsung Odyssey G9 and Alienware AW3425DW and AW2725Q — but at well over 100% coverage of both spaces, the 34WD-10 is still doing just fine.

Ports and performance aplenty

The 34WD-10 features two DisplayPort 1.4 slots, although one is a USB-C DP 1.4 port. There are two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which is eARC for hooking up to sound systems.

There’s also a USB-C power cable with 140W pass-through, not to mention Ethernet, USB-C and USB-A charging ports. You can use the monitor as an all-in-one charging dock, like the Dell UltraSharp 40.

DisplayPort 1.4 allows for refresh rates of up to 240Hz at the maximum QHD resolution, which is perfect for fast-paced games and competitive first-person shooters. The 34WD-10 features a 0.03ms GTG response time. That means its pixels can change color in 0.03ms — on par with other high-end gaming monitors like the MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED and Alienware AW2725Q. This reduces ghosting and motion blur, again giving a more responsive experience.

The monitor also features AMD FreeSync Pro and VESA Adaptive Sync, to reduce tearing and artefacts while gaming.

I partook in a few rounds of Counter-Strike 2 at 240Hz and enjoyed the smooth, blur-free experience. The high refresh rate/low response time also benefits less-intense gameplay, delivering buttery smooth action during fight scenes and horse chases in Kingdom Come Deliverance.

Typically, I wasn’t able to achieve more than about 60fps in S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2, so that was a pretty choppy experience, comparatively speaking, but that isn’t the monitor’s fault — it’s just a terribly optimized game (still).

Bags of space

The whole point of ultra-wide monitors is the space they provide. I’ve absolutely loved having the 34-inch 21:9 aspect ratio. I’ve had space for multiple windows on a single screen, which has been awesome for productivity, and stops me needing to drag windows onto my laptop screen. A single ultra-wide monitor is a viable replacement for two smaller monitors.

The wide aspect ratio and curved display are also great for immersion, enveloping you in the game you’re playing. During RPGs like Kingdom Come Deliverance, S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 and Cyberpunk 2077, I found myself totally immersed in the rich, detailed game worlds.

As you’ll see in the Downs section below, brightness and glare reduction aren’t this monitor’s fortés. The curve, however, goes some way to redeeming this. The nature of the physical curve means that less light (and therefore glare) from lateral sources hits the display. My gaming setup is next to my window, and I’ve experienced less glare with the curved monitor than the flat IPS Dell monitor I was using previously, despite the Lenovo’s lower brightness.

Premium build

As one can usually expect from a Lenovo product, the 34WD-10 is built to a decent standard and feels like a premium product. The plastics used for the monitor body feel high quality, and I love the RGB lighting, which emanates a soft, unicorn-puke glow from the base of the monitor onto my desk.

My monitor came with a few stuck pixels, but that’s relatively normal. At one point, it also developed a white line of hot pixels after a few hours on Kingdom Come Deliverance, but I simply ran an OLED refresh via the monitor’s menu, which took care of the line and the stuck pixels.

Handy features

The Lenovo Legion 34WD-10 also boasts some handy features, which I very much appreciated when using. Firstly, there are the OLED burn-in features I mentioned above. The OLED refresh came in super handy for clearing stuck pixels, and the monitor will prompt you to perform a refresh at 6 hours by default — you can set this to 8 hours or disable it.

There are a range of sRGB modes, too, which is useful if, like me, you edit photos. There’s a neutral mode for a flat tonal profile, to avoid you under- or oversaturating images in the edit. There’s also a DCI-P3 mode to edit video in that color space.

Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED review: The downs

The Lenovo Legion 34WD-10’s flaws are mostly to be expected from an ultra-wide premium OLED display: it’s pricey, bulky and a little dim. I would’ve liked to see an Adobe RGB color mode, though, and there are cheaper (and better) rivals.

Kinda pricey

In the U.S., the Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 costs $1,199 at Amazon or Lenovo. In the U.K., you’re looking at £899. Don’t get me wrong, I know that premium OLEDs cost money, but the 34WD-10 is priced as if it’s a 4K QD-OLED, like the MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED.

The longest nail in the 34WD-10’s coffin, however, is the 34-inch Alienware AW3425DW — our favorite curved monitor — which matches or beats the Lenovo in almost every respect save Delta-E, yet costs just $799. And it’s a QD-OLED, a more advanced OLED technology. There’s really no justification for spending more on the Lenovo over the Alienware.

You can definitely find the 34WD-10 cheaper, and I've seen it sell for under the $1,000 mark, but that's still pricier than the Alienware.

Not the brightest of the bunch

In addition to our color testing, we also lab test monitors to measure peak brightness in SDR and HDR modes (if a monitor supports HDR for the latter).

Lab testing analysis: Brightness

Here are the 34WD-10’s lab testing brightness results against key rivals.

OLED panels just aren’t very bright when compared to IPS panels like the Sony Inzone M9 II, with its mega 936 Nits HDR peak brightness.

As far as OLEDs go, the 34WD-10 didn’t perform badly, per se. In fact, the 34WD’s peak SDR brightness is brighter than all the other OLED panels in the table above. HDR brightness is the lowest of the bunch, though, which is disappointing, and will potentially make this a poor choice for HDR gaming in brighter conditions.

Oh lawd, he comin’

As I touched on above, this isn’t really a strong con, and more of a pre-purchase consideration. At 31.09 x 4.54 x 6.97 inches and 14.1lbs without its stand, the 34WD-10 is a big, heavy monitor. It proved a little irksome in our photo studio, as staff members had trouble moving it around after the shoot.

It wasn’t easy for me to get onto my VESA arm, either, and I needed the help of a second person to do it without risking damage. Once on my arm and running, I also had to shift my desk around to accommodate the huge width of the panel, not to mention the added depth from the curve. That said, as I mentioned earlier, the monitor is wide enough that I no longer needed a second display in testing, so in an odd way, it actually proved space-saving.

Basic production only

This won’t be applicable to everyone, and again, it isn’t a strong con in a gaming monitor. However, if you’re a photo editor, beware that the Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 has no Adobe RGB color space mode.

If you’re only editing casually and/or for online use, including social media, sRGB is fine. However, if you’re doing lots of editing, especially for print, you’ll want a monitor with an Adobe RGB mode, as this will ensure the highest color accuracy for your final printed shots.

Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED review: Verdict

I’ve really enjoyed testing the Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED gaming monitor. It’s a stellar performer for gaming, with some super useful features, including acting as a 140W USB hub.

It put on an excellent performance in our color testing, and an average-for-OLED show in our brightness testing. Gaming at 240Hz was super smooth, and with the vivid colors and high contrast you’d expect from a premium OLED display.

At full price, though, it’s difficult to recommend the 34WD-10 over the awesome Alienware AW3425DW, which is why I can’t award the Lenovo 4.5-stars and our coveted Editor’s Choice award. Does that mean I want to give it back to Lenovo, though? Not at all.

When I took the Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10 OLED gaming monitor to test, I was in dire straits. My trusty 27-inch QHD Dell monitor had given up the ghost a few months back, turning itself off at random intervals.

At around the 35-month mark, although it was still within its 3-year warranty, Dell shipped me a new one, which was also damaged. So they shipped me another, a refurb… with more dead pixels than an e-waste bin.

I desperately needed a new monitor for gaming and productivity. Enter the Lenovo Legion Pro 34WD-10, a 34-inch ultra-wide OLED gaming monitor, which landed (and at 19lbs, with quite the thud) on my testing desk. This is, without doubt, one of the best gaming monitors I have ever used in over 20 years of PC building and gaming.

Unfortunately, there’s one pretty glaring problem that'll stop me from ever buying it. And it's the age-old issue of price.

The perfect balance

Let’s get this out of the way pronto. The Legion Pro 34WD-10 is an epic gaming monitor, and if you're willing to splash exorbitant levels of cash, you won't necessarily be disappointed.

It’s a QHD (1440p) resolution display, which is my go-to for gaming monitors. For me, QHD hits that sweet spot between image quality and performance. My rig is currently running an MSI Gaming Trio Radeon RX 6900XT — it’s a fairly powerful card with 16GB video memory, but 4K is pretty demanding, and I prefer to sacrifice resolution for better performance in heavy games like Stalker 2. Besides, QHD still looks awesome.

The 34WD-10 relays incredibly rich colors and uses an OLED panel for super-dark blacks. Every game I play on this thing just looks incredible, with bags of contrast.

I’m a big grand strategy fan, and I’ve loved using the Lenovo for some nostalgic Total War: Rome II gameplay, where I’m currently undertaking a grand campaign play-through using the DEI overhaul mod. The warm, saturated colors of Rome II look absolutely stunning on this display. I’ll get into the scientific side of color a little later on, though.

As an ultra-wide and curved monitor, the 34WD-10 provides a super immersive experience. Whether it’s viewing the grand strategy map on Rome II, surveying the sweeping vista of medieval Europe in Kingdom Come: Deliverance, or navigating a dank underground passage in Stalker 2, I’ve felt immersion in a way that you just don’t feel with a flat panel. Of course, having a SteelSeries Arena 9 full surround speaker system helps here, too.

No slouch

The 34WD-10 is no slouch, either. Using its DisplayPort 2.1 connection, it maxes out at a 240Hz refresh rate, which is more than fast enough for 99% of gamers.

At the full 240Hz, everything is just buttery smooth, an absolute necessity in fast-paced shooters like Counter Strike 2 or Valorant.

The 34WD-10 has a 0.03ms GTG time. GTG means 'gray to gray', and is a measurement of how quickly a monitor’s pixels can respond to and relay changing colors. 0.03ms is very fast, resulting in no unpleasant ghosting or unwanted motion blur. Indeed, I haven’t noticed either during my gameplay.

If you’re a competitive player, primarily in fast-paced shooter titles, a high-speed monitor like the 34WD-10 is a no-brainer.

Color accuracy

The 34WD-10 is accurate. Oh boy, is it accurate. In our lab testing, the 34WD-10 managed a 0.08 Delta-E score, which shows very low variance in color, meaning high color accuracy.

It also demonstrated 156.40% sRGB coverage and 110.80% DCI P3 volume, which means this monitor has the entire sRGB and DCI P3 color spaces covered, and then some.

sRGB is the primary color space used online, in media and games, so the 34WD-10’s performance in sRGB makes this a great gaming and general-purpose monitor. The DCI-P3 color space is often used for film production, so it’s a fine choice for any video editor grading YouTube content, too.

If you're a photographer, note that the Legion 34WD-10 lacks an Adobe RGB mode, which is significantly wider than sRGB and encompasses colors used by CMYK printers. This makes the monitor ill-suited to those who need highly accurate color rendition for photography and photo editing.

It’s especially problematic for those working with high-bit-depth RAW files (like the 16-bit files I was shooting when testing the Fujifilm GFX100 II), and double-especially for anyone wanting to print their images.

It's important to remember, though, that this is a gaming monitor, not a professional imaging display.

So what's the catch?

Simply put, it's the price. The 34WD-10 costs a huge $1,164 at Amazon, and that's down from Lenovo's list price of $1,199! Now, I know, I know: high-end monitors are always gonna cost ya’. But I'm really not sure the Lenovo justifies twelve hundred dollars.

That's objectively a huge amount to spend on a gaming monitor. And although we've seen other monitors at such premium price points, the 34WD-10 is up against some seriously threatening competition here — competition that I'm not sure can be bested.

The MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED, for example, costs less at $1,099. It has a smaller 27-inch display, sure, but 4K resolution, enhanced QD-OLED (quantum dot OLED), and equally strong refresh rates and response times.

Last year, I tested the Sony Inzone M10S, which I tested at Gamescom last year, with its 460Hz refresh rate. The M10S is an elite esports gaming monitor, and at $1,099, it still costs less than the 34WD-10.

"Those monitors are flat panel", I hear you cry. Well, allow me to raise you the Alienware 34 AW3425DW — our favorite curved monitor — which packs 1440p, 240Hz refresh rate, 0.03ms GTG, similar coverage of sRGB and DCI-P3 and a QD-OLED panel... for $799. Its Delta E is a little higher than the 34WD-10's, but is that worth a $500 gulf? I don't think so.

Meanwhile, the QHD Samsung Odyssey OLED G9, whose MSRP is $1,599, can be found on sale for $1,199 and offers QD-OLED and a wider 32:9 aspect ratio. Go figure.

Money matters

Now, none of what I just said is a criticism of the actual monitor. The Legion Pro 34WD-10 is an excellent performer. The exquisite QHD OLED panel has enhanced every aspect of my gameplay, from immersion to performance. And having the space of the ultra-wide aspect ratio has been incredibly useful for operating multiple windows when working.

The 34WD-10 also put in a stellar performance in our lab testing, with highly accurate color rendition and strong coverage of sRGB and DCI-P3 gamuts.

I'm just not convinced the price is warranted. I'm going to have to. I’ll have a full review of the Legion Pro 34WD-10 out soon, and after that, I'll have to give it back. That's going to be a painful moment for me, and when it happens, I'll need a new monitor.

The question I'll be asking myself at that point is whether I'm prepared to spend $1,199 to get this monitor back, and I'm afraid the answer is no.

More from Tom's Guide

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• I ditched my Beats for these hi-res wireless headphones — and I'm not going back
• I’ve set up hundreds of TVs in my career — here are 6 mistakes people make when setting up a new TV

Looking for a compact and lightweight wireless keyboard that can connect to multiple devices at once? Look no further than the Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard.

It has some caveats compared to the best keyboards, like its lack of backlighting, and the small size of the keys takes a little getting used to. But these are minor and don’t impact the functionality of this low-profile board in any way.

Although less than some of the best wireless keyboards, the keyboard's 60-hour battery life is more than enough to get you through a working week and it slots perfectly into my work bag, making it convenient for me to get some writing done on the train with my iPad.

Is Lenovo's wireless keyboard for you? Find out more in my full Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard review.

Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A compact and lightweight, low-profile keyboard
• Who is it for? For anyone on the go who needs a keyboard to go in their bag
• How much does it cost? The Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard is available for $39/£54
• What do we like? It's affordable, portable and can connect to multiple devices via Bluetooth
• What don’t we like? There is no backlighting and the height is not adjustable

Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard review: Specs

Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard review: The ups

The Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard is the ideal multitasker. Not only can you connect to up to three devices at a time, but it’s comfortable to type on and super compact, making it convenient for writing on the go.

Typing experience

The Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard is super comfortable to type on. The keys are low profile for fast typing, similar to my MacBook Air M2's keyboard. And while the profile may be alike, they feel entirely different. The Lenovo scissor-switch keys are ultra-quiet and cushioned. The keys are made from plastic and have a matte finish.

If you want the most comfortable low-profile typing experience, you’ll need to consider one of the best mechanical keyboards rather than a scissor-switch keyboard. Low-profile mechanical boards like the NuPhy Air75 V2 ($119) and Lofree Flow84 ($159) are super comfortable, although they cost a lot more.

The quiet nature of the keys make it perfect for typing literally anywhere, like on the train or in a café, without fear of disturbing anyone around you. I actually found my MacBook keyboard super annoying and loud after testing Lenovo's board.

I took a typing test on 10fastfingers.com and wasn’t shocked to see that it gave a similar result to that of my MacBook, since the profile of the keys is similar. However, I was more comfortable using the Lenovo Multi Switch board despite having used MacBook keyboards almost everyday for 8 years.

Connectivity

The keyboard can be used with a USB-C connection or wirelessly using Bluetooth. The keyboard, as suggested by the name, can be connected to multiple devices at once and has three Bluetooth channels. These channels are activated by pressing function keys 1, 2 and 3.

This is similar to the Bluetooth controls on Logitech keyboards, like the Logitech MX Keys S ($109) and MX Keys Mini ($99), where the connection buttons also cover F1-F12. This is annoying, as it removes default macOS commands such as App Exposé.

I was able to connect to both my laptop and iPad and easily toggle between the two, giving myself a dual monitor setup on the go. The keyboard was able to flip between the two with just a click of a button and didn’t lag at all when switching.

Portability

The Lenovo keyboard is very compact and shorter than the board on my MacBook. It's only 10 inches in width and 0.22 inches deep, so it slips easily into my bag alongside my iPad and laptop.

It also doesn’t add any noticeable weight since it’s a feather-light 6.3 ounces. This board is even thinner and lighter than the super compact Logitech MX Keys Mini ($99), which is 0.86 inches deep, and a comparatively weighty 17.6 ounces.

Decent battery life

The keyboard offers up to 60 hours of battery life with a single charge. The battery diminished by only 5% after every 8-hour working day during testing, so the rated battery life seems accurate.

If it did die at your desk, however, it can still be used via the USB-C connection while charging.

Affordable

At $39 / £54, the Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard is an affordable option with exceptional functionality. It is more affordable than the Logitech MX Keys Mini, although that offers 5 months of battery life with backlighting turned off. That said, it’s also a lot cheaper than the Logitech MX Mechanical Mini ($149), which lasts a huge 10 months without backlighting.

The Keychron B1 Pro is also priced at $39, and has a whopping 1,200 hours of battery life. But Lenovo's keyboard certainly looks better, and given most of the other functions are the same, I’d personally choose styling over battery life — but that’s a decision you need to make yourself.

Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard review: The downs

Despite offering a comfortable typing experience, seamless connectivity and fair battery life, the Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard still has its downsides. If you're in need of backlighting or a bigger size, you'll want to look elsewhere.

No backlighting

The Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard has no backlighting, but that’s probably best given the 60-hour battery life (as I mentioned earlier, some of the rivals can last up to 10 months). If you need to use the keyboard in a dimly lit setting or even in the dark, it would be nearly impossible.

But if you do like your keys to be backlit, you have that option with the Logitech MX Keys Mini.

Compact size takes getting used to

As you may tell from its size, this is a pretty small keyboard. While this makes it the perfect commuting companion to the iPad, it does mean that key size has been sacrificed.

I had to adjust how I type slightly, as the keys themselves are slightly narrower than on my MacBook Air, so for the first half hour, I was slipping over keys. However, once I got used to it, I had no issues. So, be sure to factor in some time to adjust.

Non-adjustable height

The height of the keyboard is slightly raised, providing a really comfortable angle to type at. However, this isn’t adjustable, so while I found the angle nice to work on, it won’t suit everyone. The NuPhy Air75 V2 is an option to look at if you like to alter the height of your keyboard.

While the keyboard is super thin, the bar that supports the keyboard sticks out. This could have been foldable and adjustable, making for an even more compact design with some customization.

Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard review: Verdict

There are some drawbacks to the Lenovo Multi Device Keyboard. The lack of backlighting and 60-hour battery could be a deal breaker for some, and the height of the keyboard is fixed — I would prefer an adjustment to make it more comfortable for different users, not to mention more compact.

Once I got used to the smaller size of the keys, though, I realized there’s a lot about this Lenovo keyboard to love. It’s very portable, fitting perfectly in my bag along with my laptop and iPad, and the ability to switch between the devices with the multi-point connection made my workflow so much easier.

Best of all, the keyboard is affordable. If you don’t want to spend much but need a solution for your on-the-go work setup, the Lenovo Multi Device keyboard will do the job.

The 2025 edition of the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i ($2,849 to start) takes this 16-inch gaming laptop to new heights thanks to the power of Nvidia's RTX 50-series laptop GPUs.

Though it's not cheap, I think this 10th edition of the Legion Pro 7i justifies its high price with a one-two punch of killer performance and a gorgeous 16-inch 240Hz OLED display.

Factor in the sleek, eye-catching design and plentiful port array and you start to see why I think this is one of the best gaming laptops I've reviewed in years. It's also my first opportunity to really put Nvidia's RTX 50-series GPUs to the test in daily use, and I gotta tell you — this is also the most fun I've had reviewing a laptop in years.

To explain why, let me walk you through what I love (and don't) about this beastly machine in my Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review.

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The 2025 edition of Lenovo's premier 16-inch gaming laptop, now with the latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series laptop GPUs onboard.
• Who is it for? Those who want a 16-inch OLED gaming laptop with enough power to match most gaming desktops, and are willing to pay for the privilege.
• What does it cost? The 2025 Lenovo Legion 5i starts at around $2,849, but the model I review here can be purchased directly from B&H for $3,499.
• What's good about it? The luscious 1600p 240Hz OLED display and incredible gaming power make this a great gaming laptop, and the elegant design makes it easy on the eyes and a joy to work on.
• What's not so good? The price and weight are a little too high for comfort, while the battery life is a little too low for my tastes. But then, that's par for the course with these kinds of laptops.

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review: Specs

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review: The ups

This is the most attractive and performant gaming laptop I've ever reviewed, and there are some specific strengths I want to call out if you're on the fence about buying one.

Gorgeous (and color-accurate) OLED display

I love the 16-inch OLED display on our Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review unit.

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a mark for OLED displays because I love the bright whites, inky blacks and sharp contrasts that seem to pop off an OLED panel. Having one really does make everything you do on it look better, and when gaming with HDR enabled and Dolby Vision in effect I really love how good everything looks on the Legion Pro 7i.

While I spent much of my time with this laptop hooking it up to an OLED TV for 4K gaming, every time I switched back to the built-in display I was impressed by how bright and colorful it gets.

Heck, I cracked the lid of this laptop open just a smidge early this morning to finish this review, and the light spilling out from the screen at even half brightness filled my dark living room and then some. It was like I was opening the briefcase in Pulp Fiction, except I knew what awaited me inside—gorgeous graphics.

When we got our review unit into the testing lab, I was even more impressed at how well it performed. As you can see from the chart of results above, this thing gets pretty bright, with an average brightness of 464.4 nits that can climb all the way up to 1,000+ nits when viewing HDR content.

But what really surprises me is that this screen manages to cover over 100% of both the sRGB and the more demanding DCI-P3 color gamuts.

I've been reviewing high-end laptops here at Tom's Guide for years and I almost never see a laptop with a screen capable of achieving 100% of both of these color gamuts, so it's amazing to see that not only does this Lenovo Legion Pro 7i achieve that, so too does another 16-inch OLED-equipped gaming laptop we're currently testing—the 2025 HP Omen Max 16.

Of course, our Lenovo Legion Pro 7i gets brighter than the HP Omen Max 16 and appears to be more color-accurate, since it has a slightly lower Delta-E score.

These aren't the first laptops to have a screen this colorful, but it's pretty rare and is typically limited to high-end creator laptops which are intended for serious photo/video/animation work.

Admittedly, you probably won't notice a practical benefit to this performance unless you're doing that kind of work where color accuracy is key, but it's still amazing to see on a Lenovo gaming laptop and I wanted to shout it out.

Next-gen gaming performance

As you might expect from the spec list, the Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 laptop GPU give this portable PC more than enough horsepower to run even the best PC games at 60+ frames per second at native resolution—if you're using Nvidia's DLSS upscaling tech.

Even without DLSS you can still get good performance in many games at native resolution on our Legion Pro 7i review unit, but for top-tier framerates in demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 you're going to want to turn on DLSS and fine-tune the settings.

Since it has a GeForce RTX 50-series GPU on board, this laptop supports all the latest features of DLSS 4, including multi-frame generation.

I was initially skeptical of this feature (which inserts up to 3 AI-generated frames between "real" frames of gameplay to boost framerate) when I saw it during press demos, but now that I've had a chance to try it myself in a few games I have to admit it works well and didn't cause me any noticeable graphical issues or input latency.

As you can see from our chart of test results above, the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is no slouch when it comes to gaming performance in our testing lab.

These FPS scores are all recorded in 1080p with no upscaling tech (like DLSS) enabled so we can compare them across different laptops, so don't take these as gospel for what you'll get when gaming on your own. Thanks to DLSS 4 I've had this thing running Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K on maximum graphical settings reliably hitting 70+ FPS all week, and I've yet to see it stutter.

Now since we're just reviewing our first wave of RTX 50-series gaming laptops I don't have a ton of machines to compare it against yet, so I've stacked the Legion Pro 7i's performance up against two recently-tested 16-inch RTX 5090 machines: the HP Omen Max and the Asus ROG Strix 16.

And while both outpace our Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review unit in raw performance, that's to be expected given they both come with a more powerful RTX 5090 laptop GPU onboard. Otherwise these laptops are awfully similar (16-inch 1600p gaming laptops with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU and 32GB of RAM), which can help you understand the difference going with RTX 5080 over RTX 5090.

In fact, this is the first gaming laptop I've ever reviewed that feels like it could be a bona fide desktop gaming PC replacement.

I've had it on my coffee table hooked up to my LG C2 OLED for some 4K gaming on the couch all week, and even at 4K this beast makes almost zero noise kicking out 60+ frames per second in games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Star Wars Outlaws—again, as long as you have DLSS enabled!

Elegant, sleek design

Our Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review unit is a hefty beast at nearly six pounds, but it doesn't look like it. Every time I picked up this machine I was surprised something that looks so sleek and elegant could feel so heavy, which tells me Lenovo is doing something right with this design.

Other things I love about this laptop's design include the easy-open lip on the top lid of the laptop, the smart and intuitive function keys (I love the way you can hit the Fn key and see all the relevant key combos light up on the keyboard), the 1.8mm key travel on the TrueStrike keyboard and the side-mounted privacy shutter switch that disables the webcam when you want privacy.

For all these reasons and more, I think the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is an elegant, well-designed machine that circumvents a lot of the stumbling blocks (like garish emblems and way-too-edgy designs) that tend to trip up other gaming laptops.

Plenty of ports

Look, port arrays aren't as exciting as gaming performance or gorgeous visuals, but they're critical to making full use of a good gaming laptop.

Happily, I'm here to report the 2025 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i has all the ports you could need for serious PC gaming. On the right side you get a pair of USB-A ports, the headphone jack, a webcam privacy switch and an RJ-45 Ethernet jack for wired gaming.

Meanwhile, on the left side you get a Thunderbolt 4 port, a USB-C port, another USB-A port, the HDMI 2.1 out and the power jack. You can also charge the laptop with a 65W-100W USB-C charger via the USB-C port if necessary.

These ports are situated a bit closer to you than they are on most laptops, but in practice I didn't feel like this staggered layout made anything harder or trickier to use.

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review: The downs

As much as I've enjoyed my time with our Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review unit, there are some downsides you need to be aware of before you buy one yourself.

This beast is unusually hefty and pricey

Amid all my general excitement over this 16-inch gaming laptop, I wanted to reinforce one big negative: it's a gaming laptop, with all the weaknesses common to that category of computer.

First and foremost, the nearly $3,000 starting price means you're paying as much or more for this laptop as you would for many desktop gaming PCs with more storage and upgradability. The Acer Predator Orion 5000 gaming desktop I reviewed last year, for example, costs half as much yet delivers better framerates in our tests despite having an older RTX 4070 Super Nvidia GPU onboard.

Plus, at nearly six pounds heavy this isn't a fun laptop to lug around in a backpack. While portability is one of its key advantages over a gaming PC, the fact remains that I kept this beast on my coffee table or my lap for the lion's share of my time with it. Every time I picked it up to move it I was impressed at how sturdy and svelte it feels, but I also felt like I wanted to put it down as soon as possible.

Fairly short battery life

Finally, like most gaming laptops, the battery life on the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is low. In our testing it lasted roughly four and a half hours while surfing the web, and just over an hour and a half when running the PCMark10 gaming battery benchmark test to simulate the demands of PC gaming.

That lines up with my anecdotal experience playing games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Total War: Warhammer 3 on this laptop's battery, which barely lasted an hour in either game before the laptop was circling the drain at 10% battery and practically begging me to plug it in.

Now that's a bummer for me, but again it's par for the course with gaming laptops. And you can probably do a little better if you fine-tune the laptop's performance settings using the pre-installed Lenovo Vantage app, which — unlike the bloatware from some laptop vendors — has detailed and actually useful power profile controls, including a performance overclocking button you can only hit when the laptop is plugged in via its primary charger.

Lenovo Legion Pro 7i review: Verdict

Overall, I adore the 2025 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i. If I was shopping for a gaming laptop for myself this would be a strong contender, though the high price would certainly be an issue.

But if you can stomach the price tag and don't mind the disadvantages of owning a gaming laptop, I think this is one of the best of the year so far. I've always loved gaming laptops for their power and portability even as I've bristled at their high price, poor battery life and hefty weights, so it's lovely to see Lenovo pushing the category forward by shipping such elegant, performant machines.

Sure, the 2025 Legion is still be no match for your average MacBook Air when it comes to portability and battery life, but the incredible OLED display and beefy internals of the 10th Gen Lenovo Legion Pro 7i help it appeal to more than just folks who want a good machine for PC gaming on the go.

Shucks, I daresay it might be one of the best laptops for video editing I've tested all year, thanks to its bright, color-accurate OLED display and discrete RTX 5080 GPU—though more RAM and storage would certainly help it stand out on that front.

Here's the bottom line: I've been using the 2025 Lenovo Legion Pro 7i as my de facto living room gaming machine for a week, and I've never been happier. Games run beautifully on this beast; it makes them look gorgeous on my 4K OLED TV; and I hardly hear a whisper of fan noise during even the most intense gaming sessions. In short, if money were no object, this is the gaming laptop I'd buy in 2025.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition ($1,999) tucks a phenomenal typing experience into a thin and deceptively light package, paired with an attractive display.

This particular model costs $1,999, and is powered by an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU paired with the 16GB Intel Arc 140V GPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 512GB NVMe SSD, running on Windows 11 Pro.

I try to avoid debates on price, as one person's bargain is another's ripoff (see: Adobe's subscription models). But when I come across a machine that's running neck and neck with models that are literally half the price, it's time to start thinking about what's that worth.

In short, bullish as I generally am about the ThinkPad pedigree, if you aren't having an employer foot the bill then I'd recommend thinking twice.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition review: Cheat sheet

Who is it for? Office workers looking for an alternative to Apple's wares (though not $1,999, as configured.

What do we like? The ThinkPad pedigree is on display, with a great keyboard and touchpad packed in a light and slim form factor.

What don't we like? Performance is on par with (or worse than) far cheaper machines, making this a poor value proposition.

The Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition is a prime example of the ThinkPad pedigree, but a steep price tag makes this a tough sell.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition review: The ups

A familiar aesthetic

Simple. Utilitarian. Dull. If you've seen one ThinkPad, you've seen them all. That's all true here — and there's nothing wrong with that. There's a sleekness to the ThinkPad aesthetic I've always appreciated, and this iteration of the X1 Carbon line sticks to the mold. It feels decidedly lighter than the two or so pounds you'll read on a scale, and is barely over half an inch thick, disappearing under my arm or into my bag. But it's sturdy, too. A single finger is all it takes to smoothly lift or shut the display, but it's stiff enough to remain locked in place when in use.

I spent the entirety of my time with this machine tapping away on its keyboard in various states of repose, indoors and out, and the display remains perfectly rigid whether on my lap or on a table. The entire frame resists awkward tugs and twits, and while I'm hesitant to chuck someone else's laptop across a room it's MIL-STD-810-certified, which means it can take a beating.

Given its size the paucity of ports is expected, but there's enough here: the two USB-C on the left are joined by a USB-A port, while the HDMI and USB-A ports are joined by the 3.5mm audio jack on the right. As ever I'd prefer to see one USB-C port on either side for charging flexibility; ditch the HDMI out, you'll charge more often than you'll ever lament carrying a single dongle. But that battle is lost. The power button is also on the right side of the machine. I worried that I'd lock the machine accidentally while grabbing it or moving it about. That happened once or twice early on, but then it just... didn't, so I suspect you'd get used to it too.

Of note: the carbon fiber lid and magnesium base contribute greatly to the Gen 13's light weight, but it's also a little over eager to pick up smudges and grease. Keep that in mind if you have a predilection for wings while you work.

Nailing the Fundamentals

This is the part where I extol the virtues of the time-tested keyboard. In true "ain't broke, don't fix it" fashion, the keyboard is near identical to any that you'd find across the ThinkPad line. The keys are wide and evenly spaced, filling out their allotted space on the keyboard tray while leaving enough room to be reached and tapped with precision. Except for the Page Up and Page Down keys, which are smushed around the arrow keys and constantly getting underhand. That leaves plenty of space for the fingerprint reader (which isn't a button and a little confusing, in the tactile sense) and the dedicated Copilot button for summoning AI-assistance, if you're into that.