This post was temporarily removed and reposted to correct an error in attribution. Comments attributed to Jack Huynh, SVP of Computing and Graphics, were actually made by David McAfee, Corporate VP and General Manager of Client. We sincerely apologize for the error.

Intel Arc G3 is leaving AMD’s handheld gaming silicon in the dust with 42% better performance than the Ryzen Z2 Extreme, and similar frame rates to the ROG Xbox Ally X20 at half the power.

This has left everyone thinking how AMD will respond? And after announcing FSR 4.1 coming to older RDNA 3 desktop GPUs like the Radeon RX 7900 (the same graphics architecture as what you see on the company’s handheld chip), we all thought this would be the answer.

And then…the internet exploded. HardwareLuxx reported that in a conversation with David McAfee, Corporate VP and General Manager of AMD’s Client Division, he said that FSR 4.1 is “not currently planned” for RDNA 3.5, but “nothing is set in stone yet” — meaning it’s still being considered.

Following that, other publications picked up and reported on the decision “leaning towards “no.”” Then head of AMD’s Client and Graphics Marketing Frank Azor said “no such decision” has been made.

So to get to the bottom of this, we put the question ourselves to David McAfee, Corporate VP and General Manager of Client, and his answer was an interesting one.

‘Quality of service’

David started by sharing the company’s “philosophy around FSR 4 on non-RDNA 4 products” — talking about how the company is focused on making sure it’s right before releasing.

“We want to make sure the experience and the quality is right, and so having a sufficient amount of compute within that product, whether it's a GPU or an APU or whatever, to ensure that you know the performance benefit.” McAfee commented.

To go into the specifics here, AMD-based handhelds are currently locked to FSR 3.1, which is basically an AI-free version of resolution scaling and frame generation — opting to do it purely through math and code. It’s obviously more complicated than that, but for brevity, that’s the barebones explanation.

Now, FSR 4.1 is actual AI-based upscaling and frame generation (similar to the XeSS 3 that unlocks Intel Arc G3’s superpowers), which is now available on every chip from Core 100 all the way up to Core 300. So what gives with AMD?

“I guess you'd call it quality of service, so that you're always delivering frames within an appropriate frame time. All of those boxes have to be checked, so that we're delivering a quality experience that Gamers are going to be happy with and advancing the experience that they get through the use of that product.”

“The team are reading the comments and reviews about what we announced, and there is a lot of interest in taking [FSR 4.1] to other parts of the market. These first steps in our roadmap were very important, as we brought it to other architectures.”

Not a yes…but not a no either

This is probably the more critical part of this question, as we then followed up after this statement with a simple “can I take your answer as “it’s coming” then?”

His answer: “I did not say it’s coming. I said there is a high-quality bar that we care about a great deal. And as we look at other places to apply our FSR technology, the critical factor is ensuring that the quality and gaming experience is uncompromised.”

So it’s not a no, but it’s not a yes as well. It all lines up with the “decision has not been made” comment Azor made, but my personal take is that it’s only a matter of time. Architecturally, the underlying logic to bring FSR 4.1 to the table on this chip is totally possible — that’s been proven by bringing it to RDNA 3 cards.

The challenge is going to come with running a heavy, AI-driven spatial and temporal upscaler on those precious compute units on the chip. But again, given how underpowered Intel’s past two generations have been in comparison to AMD silicon, the fact these run XeSS shows that it’s doable.

AMD needs to respond, fast

But however you view it’s clear that AMD needs to respond quickly to this, as with a regular annual roadmap of upgrading its hardware and software tech for gaming, Intel’s now in a position to drink Team Red’s milkshake in the PC handheld gaming space.

Maybe it’s a quick switch to FSR 4.1, maybe it’s something that’s cooked up from its work with Sony on PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution — don’t forget the PS5 Pro chip is running on a Frankenstein creation of RDNA 2 and 3 cores, and yet that can do AI acceleration.

But whatever it is, the reasons to go AMD over Intel have almost all gone. Team Blue has a clear integrated GPU plan heading into the future (as well as a team-up with Nvidia for its RTX graphics in a couple years time).

More from Tom's Guide

• Best of Computex 2026: The 17 greatest gadgets from the world’s largest computing show
• I just sat on my dream gaming chair, and now I’m fighting the urge to take a nap to tell you about the Cougar Arker
• I’ve gone hands-on with every Nvidia RTX Spark laptop coming this fall — here’s my brutal tier list of the best options

We've reached day 2 of Computex 2026, and from holding every Nvidia RTX Spark laptop to comparing all the new budget systems competing with the MacBook Neo, I have so much to update you on!

Beyond that, I got to talk to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about Spark, properly tested the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip in the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ (spoiler alert: AMD gaming handhelds are cooked), and went on a mission to find every budget laptop that competes with the MacBook Neo.

But that's not all, as my team is out here too — running around the exhibition center and finding all the best (and weirdest) tech of Computex. So follow along with us for all the latest.

Read the latest from Computex

• I just tested Nvidia RTX Spark laptops for video editing, gaming and AI — and the MacBook Pro is in trouble
• I held the MacBook Neo in one hand and the new XPS 13 in the other — and Dell’s affordable laptop is surprisingly lighter
• I just tested Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra — Nvidia RTX Spark brings life to one of the best laptops I’ve ever tried
• I spoke to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about RTX Spark — he is ‘willing to work’ on an RTX gaming handheld, N2X and N3X are already planned and the chip is 'more like R2D2’ than a laptop CPU
• I just tested the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ — Intel Arc G3 is a breakthrough for handheld gaming, but at what cost?
• I thought Asus' massive 32-inch OLED would be my favorite Computex 2026 monitor — but I found one that was even better
• I tested the Acer Predator Atlas 8, and played a game Intel told me not to — the numbers are staggering

LIVE UPDATES

Computex is still going strong

Hey, all! Our Computex 2026 coverage is going strong as we're on the ground in Taipei checking out the latest and greatest from the computing world. Keep it locked here four all of our live updates and hands-on impressions.

RTX Spark put to the test

We've had the opportunity to put Nvidia's RTX Spark to the test for video editing, gaming, and AI, and the results are... impressive. Now, the obvious caveat is that we don't know what these machines will cost once they arrive — but it should make Apple and its MacBook Pro a little more than nervous.

Here's what my colleague Jason had to say after he'd spent some time with Nvidia's new chip: "With Microsoft in tow, working in lockstep to rebuild Windows 11 for Nvidia's agentic vision for the future of computing, these are going to be some truly mighty notebooks that may very well revolutionize the Windows laptop and truly stand on their own as the future of computing."

• Read the full story: I just tested Nvidia RTX Spark laptops for video editing, gaming and AI — and the MacBook Pro is in trouble

MSI debuts 'Triple Mode' monitor

This right here is the MSI MPG OLED 322URDX36. It's the first 31.5-inch, 4K 360Hz gaming monitor on the market to feature the 'Triple Mode' configuration technology.

It lets gamers switch freely between 4K 360Hz, 2K 520Hz, and FHD 680Hz based on their preferences — meeting the specific performance demands of various game genres.

The monitor rocks a peak HDR brightness of 1,500 nits and integrates an AI Care Sensor that "leverages accurate human detection to provide real-time OLED panel protection without compromising user privacy." Whatever that means.

Could Microsoft be building the most exciting RTX Spark laptop?

Microsoft will be facing down the MacBook Pro with the Surface Laptop Ultra later this year, it's one of the first eight laptops to arrive with Nvidia's RTX Spark on board and it could be seriously impressive.

Microsoft claims this will be most powerful Surface it's ever built and there are a few specs we are already pretty confident about. For starters, it has a 15-inch mini-LED PixelSense Ultra display that can reportedly reach 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness. There's also a full set of ports, including HDMI, USB-C, USB-A, an SD card reader, and a headphone jack.

The Surface Laptop Ultra will also reportedly have “all-day” battery life and you can expect it to come in Platinum and Nightfall finishes.

• Read more: Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra packs an Nvidia Spark chip — and it could be a MacBook Pro killer

Intel Arc G3 steps up against AMD

Intel Arc G3 and G3 Extreme are really bringing the heat with a monstrous integrated GPU and XeSS 3, seemingly delivering some of the best handheld gaming experiences you can get.

We've checked out the Acer Predator Atlas 8 and the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ here at Computex already, and both have impressed us with their smooth performance.

This is a huge win for Intel, which has, up until now, played second fiddle to AMD and its near-dominance over the handheld space.

MacBook Neo has competition from Dell

We just got to go hands-on with Dell's new XPS laptop line but one device in particular stood out: the new Dell XPS 13. Thin, light and affordable, you know where this is going. We have another MacBook Neo competitor in our midst.

The Dell XPS 13 does have a few nice extras you don't get on the Neo, like a backlit keyboard, a touchscreen and two full-featured USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 ports with one on each side. Stay tuned for our full hands-on but so far, I'm quite impressed.

A mesmerizing laptop

Laptops tend to look similar, which is why the Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Vincent van Gogh Edition stands out. Adorned with the troubled artist's work on the lid, it’s certainly a conversation starter. The fact that it’s built around a Prestige 14 Flip AI+ means you’re getting quite the workhorse here, too.

But what about the price? It’s the one question nobody can really answer, given how RAMageddon has put the whole computing market in flux.

To hazard a guess, given that the current Prestige sells for $1,299 and this is a more powerful special-edition machine, we bet it could be around $2,499. Of course, we'll have to wait and see what the actual price is.

8 laptops confirmed to launch in the fall with RTX Spark

Nvidia's RTX Spark chip is already slated to appear in a bunch of laptops arriving this fall, including a new Surface Laptop from Microsoft. Following on from the laptops, expect to see it appearing in mini PCs and small form-factor from the likes of Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, MSI, Acer and Gigabyte.

Powered by the new chip, these laptops are poised to deliver a thin-and-light form factor coupled with elite battery life and enough power for desktop-class AI development and heavy video editing. They'll also be pretty good when it comes to gaming, too.

The only question is what will the pricing be for these new machines?

• Read more: All 8 laptops launching with Nvidia RTX Spark this fall — and what they can do

The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ leaves the ROG Xbox Ally in the dust

Intel Arc G3 handhelds are the talk of the town here at Computex 2026, and I just got an early hands-on with the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+. In short, believe the hype — this is the next generation of gaming on the go, unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Of course, a lot of this comes from that new silicon, which copies a lot of Panther Lake’s homework, including that monster integrated GPU with XeSS 3 support to deliver some blistering frame rates (more on those later) while being much more power efficient than any AMD-filled handheld I’ve tested.

But the secret sauce here is MSI’s DNA — learning from previous Claws and dramatically upgrading the design, vastly improving airflow to keep it cool, bringing a gorgeous new display, tweaking the ergonomics and tactility of the vibration, and making it even easier to upgrade.

The Asus Xbox Ally X20 isn’t just another special edition handheld

We’ve already seen a ton of new handheld gaming PCs here at Computex 2026. Instead of going that route, Asus has decided to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its Republic of Gamers (ROG) subbrand with a special edition of the ROG Xbox Ally X.

Dubbed the ROG Xbox Ally X20, this new device uses (mostly) the same hardware as last year’s Xbox-themed handheld. You still get the powerful performance of AMD’s Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme chip, 24GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

While not technically a new device, Asus has made some fundamental changes under the hood and has also given the handheld a regal makeover, with hints of gold throughout its design.

The best of Computex 2026

Our best of Computex 2026 round-up is live! There, we detail the 17 products that impressed us the most during our time at the convention.

From Nvidia’s biggest chip release in the last 20 years, Intel revolutionizing handheld gaming, mind-blowing monitors, and actual value-for-money laptops to take on the MacBook Neo, we’ve fallen in love with so much tech here in Taipei!

Computex 2026 is fully underway, and besides asking Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about RTX Spark, I just tested the laptops of the future from Team Green!

But that's not all, as Intel's having a ball dunking on AMD with its Arc G3 gaming handheld chip in the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, we've been going hands-on with every Windows laptop that's facing off with the MacBook Neo (including the new Dell Xps 13), and much more.

Follow along with us for live updates from the ground, and keep us bookmarked throughout the week. You're going to want to see what we're up to!

Read the latest from Computex

• Nvidia RTX Spark is here, and it's going to 'reinvent the pc' — here's everything you need to know about this all-new laptop chip
• I spoke to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about RTX Spark — he is ‘willing to work’ on an RTX gaming handheld, N2X and N3X are already planned and the chip is 'more like R2D2’ than a laptop CPU
• All 8 laptops launching with Nvidia RTX Spark this fall — and what they can do
• I just tested the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ — Intel Arc G3 is a breakthrough for handheld gaming, but at what cost?
• I gamed for 250 hours on AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE — it’s a $549 nightmare for Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti
• I thought Asus' massive 32-inch OLED would be my favorite Computex 2026 monitor — but I found one that was even better
• I just held the most beautiful laptop, but I’m not sure Vincent van Gogh would be happy with his name connected to AI
• I tested the Acer Predator Atlas 8, and played a game Intel told me not to — the numbers are staggering

LIVE UPDATES

Our first in-person look at RTX Spark

The big news of the conference so far is, of course, the RTX Spark and we've just got our first look at actual devices running Nvidia's chips from MSI.

They look even better in person than they did during Jensen's keynote yesterday. Hopefully, we'll be able to go hands-on with laptops, desktops and mini PCs running Nvidia RTX Spark chips soon.

• Read more: Nvidia RTX Spark is here, and it's going to 'reinvent the pc' — here's everything you need to know about this all-new laptop chip

8 laptops confirmed to launch in the fall with RTX Spark

Nvidia's RTX Spark chip is already slated to appear in a bunch of laptops arriving this fall, including a new Surface Laptop from Microsoft. Following on from the laptops, expect to see it appearing in mini PCs and small form-factor from the likes of Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, MSI, Acer and Gigabyte.

Powered by the new chip, these laptops are poised to deliver a thin-and-light form factor coupled with elite battery life and enough power for desktop-class AI development and heavy video editing. They'll also be pretty good when it comes to gaming, too.

The only question is what will the pricing be for these new machines?

• Read more: All 8 laptops launching with Nvidia RTX Spark this fall — and what they can do

Reporting from the show floor!

Computex is the biggest computing industry event of the year, and in among the flagship keynotes it's always fun to roam the halls and see what's on offer.

So far this year, we've spied a holographic PC that uses AI to answer your questions, a custom-built GTA VI PC that could be outdated before the game itself actually arrives and the forthcoming Wireless Touchpad Keyboard from sustainable laptop company Framework.

Intel Arc G3 steps up against AMD

Intel Arc G3 and G3 Extreme are really bringing the heat with a monstrous integrated GPU and XeSS 3, seemingly delivering some of the best handheld gaming experiences you can get.

We've checked out the Acer Predator Atlas 8 and the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ here at Computex already, and both have impressed us with their smooth performance.

This is a huge win for Intel, which has, up until now, played second fiddle to AMD and its near-dominance over the handheld space.

MacBook Neo has competition from Dell

We just got to go hands-on with Dell's new XPS laptop line but one device in particular stood out: the new Dell XPS 13. Thin, light and affordable, you know where this is going. We have another MacBook Neo competitor in our midst.

The Dell XPS 13 does have a few nice extras you don't get on the Neo, like a backlit keyboard, a touchscreen and two full-featured USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 ports with one on each side. Stay tuned for our full hands-on but so far, I'm quite impressed.

A mesmerizing laptop

Laptops tend to look similar, which is why the Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Vincent van Gogh Edition stands out. Adorned with the troubled artist's work on the lid, it’s certainly a conversation starter. The fact that it’s built around a Prestige 14 Flip AI+ means you’re getting quite the workhorse here, too.

But what about the price? It’s the one question nobody can really answer, given how RAMageddon has put the whole computing market in flux.

To hazard a guess, given that the current Prestige sells for $1,299 and this is a more powerful special-edition machine, we bet it could be around $2,499. Of course, we'll have to wait and see what the actual price is.

Could Microsoft be building the most exciting RTX Spark laptop?

Microsoft will be facing down the MacBook Pro with the Surface Laptop Ultra later this year, it's one of the first eight laptops to arrive with Nvidia's RTX Spark on board and it could be seriously impressive.

Microsoft claims this will be most powerful Surface it's ever built and there are a few specs we are already pretty confident about. For starters, it has a 15-inch mini-LED PixelSense Ultra display that can reportedly reach 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness. There's also a full set of ports, including HDMI, USB-C, USB-A, an SD card reader, and a headphone jack.

The Surface Laptop Ultra will also reportedly have “all-day” battery life and you can expect it to come in Platinum and Nightfall finishes.

• Read more: Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra packs an Nvidia Spark chip — and it could be a MacBook Pro killer

Asus' new laptops could include a MacBook Neo rival

Asus has revealed its new laptop family at Computex and while we already know about the RTX Spark-equipped ProArt machines, but another device has caught my eye.

Asus is launching the new Zenbook 14 with base-level specs that include a Snapdragon X1-26-100 processor with 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage. Depending on the ongoing RAM crisis, Asus may be able to price this laptop to compete with the MacBook Neo.

For those that want a bit more power, the Zenbook 14 will also come with AMD and Intel configurations too.

MSI debuts 'Triple Mode' monitor

This right here is the MSI MPG OLED 322URDX36. It's the first 31.5-inch, 4K 360Hz gaming monitor on the market to feature the 'Triple Mode' configuration technology.

It lets gamers switch freely between 4K 360Hz, 2K 520Hz, and FHD 680Hz based on their preferences — meeting the specific performance demands of various game genres.

The monitor rocks a peak HDR brightness of 1,500 nits and integrates an AI Care Sensor that "leverages accurate human detection to provide real-time OLED panel protection without compromising user privacy." Whatever that means.

RTX Spark put to the test

We've had an opportunity to put Nvidia's RTX Spark to the test when it comes to video editing, gaming and AI and the results are...impressive. Now, the obvious caveat here is that we don't know what these machines are going to cost once they do arrive — but it should serve to make Apple and its MacBook Pro a little more than nervous.

Here's what my colleague Jason had to say after he'd spent some time with Nvidia's new chip: "With Microsoft in tow, working in lockstep to rebuild Windows 11 for Nvidia's agentic vision for the future of computing, these are going to be some truly mighty notebooks that may very well revolutionize the Windows laptop and truly stand on their own as the future of computing."

• Read the full story: I just tested Nvidia RTX Spark laptops for video editing, gaming and AI — and the MacBook Pro is in trouble

Windows gaming handhelds got a shot in the arm with Intel Arc G3 silicon, and I got to test the Acer Predator Atlas 8 sporting this chip. It’s a solid piece of kit (and I’ll go into it more later), but what surprised me most is what I got to play on it.

As you probably already know, I got to test the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ behind closed doors here at Computex 2026. With a lot of events like this, you get shown demos in controlled environments with specific games to make the handheld look good.

Well, over with Acer, the one game MSI told us not to play was on show: my favorite of the year so far in Forza Horizon 6.

And after playing it, I’m honestly baffled why MSI's handlers didn’t let us get into it, because it’s a real showcase of how much of a breakthrough the Arc G3 really is.

By the numbers

On the face of it, I can see why MSI may not have wanted us to play Horizon 6 — it supports XeSS 2.1 rather than the full-blown third-generation version with multi-frame generation. But even with that, I managed to squeeze a surprising amount of graphical prowess out of this system.

At 1200p resolution with no ray tracing, the game can run at 66 FPS on the charger and 45 FPS when you reduce the wattage from the plug socket. I played for about 20 minutes off the charger and saw the total battery capacity drop by 5% during that time, which shows impressive power efficiency.

Then I decided to go a bit wild with it, turn the graphics settings up to ultra, turn on ray tracing, and XeSS (because I’m not a madman). Even with this, I was getting 42 FPS, and with the 8-inch display squishing this game down, there was no visible ghosting, and in gameplay, I felt no latency.

A (mostly) great handheld

Acer’s always been on the periphery of the handheld space, usually dominated by Asus, MSI, and Lenovo.

But with the Atlas 8, this feels like a real coming-to-power moment for them because it is a sturdy system with decent ergonomics, a nice, bright screen, adjustable triggers that can be either one-press or full analog, and good cooling with that world-first metal fan in a portable like this.

That being said, I do give the edge to the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ for snappier buttons (Acer’s D-pad and face buttons feel a bit mushy) and ergonomics, as the Claw has better-defined handgrips that fit the hand better and have a grippy texture.

All this aside, though, the Predator Atlas 8 will have its audience as another great handheld to get. The adjustable triggers do make this a versatile handheld that can be adjusted to any particular play style.

Throw in the Arc G3, and you’re onto a surefire winner. The question now, of course, is price. Acer (just like MSI) is a little hesitant to talk about cost, given the whole RAMageddon thing happening right now. But I’m hoping that, given Acer has always been the value-for-money brand, they can do something good here.

More from Tom's Guide

• Nvidia RTX Spark is here, and it's going to 'reinvent the PC' — here's everything you need to know about this all-new laptop chip
• I just held the most beautiful laptop, but I’m not sure Vincent van Gogh would be happy with his name connected to AI
• Does Google's Intelligent Eyewear have what it takes to beat Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses? Here's what we know

Intel Arc G3 handhelds are the talk of the town here at Computex 2026, and I just got an early hands-on with the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+. In short, believe the hype — this is the next generation of gaming on-the-go unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Of course, a lot of this comes from that new silicon, which copies a lot of Panther Lake’s homework including that monster integrated GPU with XeSS 3 support to deliver some blistering frame rates (more on those later) while being much more power efficient than any AMD-filled handheld I’ve tested.

But the secret sauce here is MSI’s DNA — learning from previous Claws and dramatically upgrading the design, vastly improving airflow to keep it cool, bringing a gorgeous new display, tweaking the ergonomics and tactility of the vibration, and making it even easier to upgrade.

What’s the price? I asked MSI and the answer was “stop asking about it,” which does make me nervous in the current state of RAMageddon, but I can’t deny this is utter brilliance.

MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ specs

Raiders of the lost Arc

The key ingredient is that shiny new Panther Lake chip: Intel Arc G3 Extreme. This is tailored more to a gaming-centric workload with a reduced amount of CPU cores while maintaining that same Arc B390 integrated GPU with the 12 Xe3 cores.

This GPU ticks off a lot of the boxes of what I wanted to see come to the handheld space: a wide versatility of power settings from the 17W endurance mode all the way up to 45W, native ray tracing support and all the XeSS 3 AI trickery goodness.

And the results are…well if you’ve been used to seeing AMD handhelds getting good frame rates, you ain’t seen nothing yet. I can’t give you specifics with benchmarks, but here’s what I got from the 3 games I was allowed to test.

And this is kept cool by MSI’s new Cooler Boost HyperFlow tech — based on two fans and two pipes to deliver five watts higher cooling and 25% higher pressure for the fans. That keeps those temperatures nice and well maintained in the various scenarios, including two that are often overlooked but significant.

First, I’m talking about the Switch’s bread and butter in docked mode. You already saw a bit of this with Panther Lake laptops being able to offer a fantastic experience on a massive screen. XeSS 3 is the key to that fluid big screen gameplay with minimal ghosting, and you’re getting the exact same thing here. F1 25 at 4K with XeSS 3 set to performance mode (so upscaled from 1080p) ran at a silky smooth 90 FPS in my time testing.

Throw in the better cooling too, and you can pump a massive 45 watts of power through this tiny shell, which gets you some speedy, smooth gameplay on the big screen when plugged in.

And the second scenario is one of the main reasons why I love my gaming PC: being able to play but also get stuff done. With the dual Thunderbolt 4, you’re able to have your own mini PC setup that can multitask effectively between pretty intense apps like Photoshop and many Chrome tabs.

Of course, these technically are possible on AMD handhelds, but nowhere near at the levels of performance and power efficiency you’re seeing on-board here.

Feeling great in your hands

I could go on about the chip inside, but there’s a whole handheld built around it, and it’s looking gorgeous in this Void Purple finish. And as you can tell, there are some significant changes being made here to the

One of the most noticeable upgrades you’ll feel is in the ergonomics. Whereas previous claws had a slightly flatter, more blocky appearance, the grips have much more definition and curvature to them to fit nicely into your hands.

MSI set on a mission to achieve the same level of ergonomics as the Xbox controller, and it shows with that dot texture eliminating any slip, the flared design of the grips and huge button upgrades.

Triggers and analog sticks are hall effect now, and now the D-Pad + ABXY buttons feel a lot snappier without any spongeyness like previous Claws thanks to being based on a metal dome.

But the biggest change you’ll feel is in the haptics. There’s a new 6-axis IMU vibration motor running on a new software algorithm to deliver what is called HD Haptics — allowing them to simulate much finer details like different textures of surfaces you walk on.

It’s hard to explain, but MSI’s basically done for gaming handhelds what PS5 DualSense did for controllers. It feels truly phenomenal.

Not forgetting the fundamentals

But of course, a PC handheld like this has more to nail than just performance and design. MSI's ticking off these boxes nicely here with a vivid, bright, smooth screen, surprisingly beefy speakers and quiet operation.

That 8-inch 1200p touchscreen may be IPS (so no OLED color waterfalls here), but it's still decently colorful. And with a variable refresh rate from 48 all the way up to 120Hz, gameplay feels more reactive here.

Dual speakers on here have a surprising amount of bass and don't distort at all at max volume, and alongside this, the cooling system doesn't get loud at all!

A pricey upgrade?

I can’t deny that this is a fantastic handheld — one of the best I’ve ever tried. Intel Arc G3 is the key to unlocking some stellar performance, with XeSS 3 being almost like a cheat code to frame rates unlike anything you’ve seen in a portable device like this.

Throw in a gorgeous screen and a real attention to the ergonomics, then you’re onto a winner here. But just like a lot of companies here at Computex, price is the terrifying question, as the entire market is fluid based on RAM prices.

Speaking to MSI, they are targeting $1,500 for this machine (less than the $2,000 rumor that panicked us all). But Intel and MSI's confidence is well-placed here, as this is an incredible piece of hardware.

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• Best graphics cards in 2026: I've tested every GPU to find the best bang for your buck
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In all my time testing Panther Lake, it’s been clear that Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chips are huge for gaming — packing a beasty internal GPU with all that XeSS 3 AI trickery to boost frame rates to unseen levels in anything outside of a dedicated Nvidia RTX 50-series gaming laptop.

Team Blue knew they were onto something, and confirmed a different version of this chip with that same GPU will be coming to gaming handhelds. And now at Computex 2026, it’s finally happening. Meet the Intel Arc G3 and Arc G3 Extreme processors — you can expect full testing and a deep dive from me soon, but for now, here’s everything you need to know.

Intel Arc G3: Specs comparison

The deep dive

A lot more details (and hands-on time) will be shared at Computex, and you'll see these handhelds start to roll out in June, with broader availability "throughout the year."

Translation: expect to see Arc G3 and Arc G3 Extreme handhelds launch sometime in August.

These chips take that breakthrough integrated GPU from the Core Ultra X series chips — the 10-core Arc B370 for the G3, and the 12-core Arc B390 for the G3 Extreme — and stuff them into a handheld with a lower wattage.

The result? I predict shockingly good gameplay on the go with power efficiency at its heart (thanks to that improved power management and the new efficiency cores being able to take on more of the load).

But the advantages over AMD keep coming. Intel is able to precompile in-game shaders using cloud servers (no more waiting ages for your cloud shaders).

Oh, and XeSS 3 is the big thing here, with AI-based resolution scaling, multi-frame generation up to 4X, and low-latency tech to ensure those AI frames don't bog down your gameplay responsiveness.

What handhelds will pack Arc G3?

At the moment, we know of three.

Acer Predator Atlas 8

As the name suggests, it’s an 8-inch handheld that sports this new silicon to support ray tracing alongside all that XeSS 3 AI-powered goodness. To keep it cool, there’s the Predator AeroBlace thermal management with the first metal fan in a handheld for up to 10% better airflow.

“Handheld gamers want PC-class performance without being tied to a desktop or charger,” Jim Johnson, SVP and General Manager of Client Computing at Intel, commented.

“With Intel Arc G-Series processors and Acer’s Predator Atlas 8, we deliver smooth, high-fidelity gameplay with exceptional battery life in a form factor you can take anywhere.”

Speaking of not being tied to a charger, the Atlas 8 sports an 80Wh battery (for the G3 Extreme — the G3 gets a 60Wh cell), and games are sure to look pretty on that 1920 x 1200 panel with 120Hz refresh rate and a variable refresh rate.

As for the ergonomics, you've got full-size analog sticks, and (what looks like) well-placed buttons directly alongside them, as well as Hall Effect triggers for all your pressure variations in racing games (plus a micro-switch mode to make them instant clicks for shooters).

The others

However, when Intel made the announcement on stage at CES 2026, other brands were connected to it, and Team Blue has confirmed the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ and OneXPlayer will be launching too.

So all eyes are on Computex as more are inevitably revealed in Taipei! I’ll update this piece when we know more.

Intel Arc G3 vs AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme

On paper, if you were to look at the specs table, the numbers on that GPU are bigger on AMD’s silicon. But as I found out testing Panther Lake, it’s not about what you have, it’s about how you use it.

XeSS 3 has already blown my mind in a laptop, to the point that I begged Intel way back in October to bring this tech to the handheld space. The secret sauce is that resolution scaling and 4x multi-frame generation that extracts so much more performance-per-watt out of these machines. I tested it (in a laptop) against Nvidia’s DLSS 4, and my mind was blown.

At 1080p, there’s definitely a gap in frame rates, but nowhere near the kind of gap you’d expect in integrated vs dedicated graphics. To get something akin to this on something as small as a handheld is going to be a truly generational shift.

Throw in the fact that you’re only getting 44ms of latency on Intel vs Nvidia in-game, and you start to see just how earth-shaking this could be.

Now, what about AMD? Well, the Ryzen Z2 Extreme was a minor uplift over the Ryzen Z1 Extreme — it uses an RDNA 3.5 architecture, and at the moment, its own FSR resolution scaling and frame generation doesn’t hold a candle to XeSS.

That being said, Team Red did recently say that its latest AI-fueled FSR upscaling 4.1 will be coming to RDNA 3 GPUs. In July, this will be limited to just the desktop-class RX 9700 card, but given the cores are the same, this is AMD’s big chance to keep up.

Bottom line

You can expect more hands-on testing from me in the very near future as I head to Computex. But for now, it's fair to say that if you’ve been waiting for an actual next-generation handheld (maybe you’ve been holding onto that Steam Deck for a few years now), it’s happening now.

Intel Arc G3 and G3 Extreme are really bringing the heat in terms of a monstrous integrated GPU and XeSS 3 to deliver what will be one of the best handheld gaming experiences you can get.

One thing we don’t know is price, and given the massive price increase of Steam Deck recently, that makes me nervous. But time will tell on this around whether the price-to-performance is still there.

More from Tom's Guide

• Computex 2026 predictions: I'm hoping for Nvidia N1X, Intel Arc G3 handhelds, a new Asus ROG Ally and the industry's fightback against RAMageddon
• I can finally turn my MacBook Pro into a gaming laptop (sort of) — GameHub just fixed my Mac’s biggest weakness in minutes
• I’ve driven over 10,000 miles in Forza Horizon 6, and can confirm it is a dream game for car lovers

So a lot has happened since I wrote this Computex 2026 preview, and a couple of my predictions have already come true (really should've put a bet on this)!

• Intel has confirmed the Arc G3 gaming handheld chip, which will launch in the Acer Predator Atlas 8, MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ and the OneXPlayer
• The fightback against the MacBook Neo is officially on with the Snapdragon C chip for cheap Windows laptops

We're just days away from the show in Taipei — happening between June 1 and June 5, with an Nvidia keynote kicking off the event, and I will be on the ground covering and testing all the latest and greatest announcements!

And while tow of my predictions have come true, there are other trends that I need to set the stage for. Because not only is this set to be the biggest Computex ever, it’s also going to be the most important. There are some huge challenges ahead for consumer computing, and we’re set to see exactly how the industry will rise to them.

And as Managing Editor of Core Tech, this is my favorite time of the year. So it's time to set the stage and tell you what I predict will be coming out of Taipei.

What to expect

Computex is my team’s Super Bowl — our season finale, setting the stage for the next 12 months (and further ahead). And what’s becoming clear from the event schedule, rumors, and leaks, four potential announcements look set to dominate the event (and the two that are already confirmed).

Nvidia enters the CPU silicon wars of 2026

Yes, I know we’ve spoken about Nvidia N1X for a while now. We predicted it for Computex 2025 and CES 2026, but it didn't happen at either event. But all the stars are aligning rumor-wise, and it’s highly anticipated that Jensen Huang will take the stage at his GTC keynote and announce the new silicon.

For those uninitiated, this is Team Green’s ARM silicon — inspired by its DGX Spark AI supercomputers but squeezed down into something that can power the latest laptops.

And yes, since it's Nvidia, you can expect some big gaming chops here, as certain leakers claim it will be the equivalent of an RTX 4070, all on integrated graphics.

And since it’s ARM, you can expect key power efficiency too, which would be significant for the future of gaming laptops. As for who’s looking to run these chips, Dell, Lenovo, and Alienware look like a lock.

But I want to pose a different prediction… Asus is celebrating the 20th anniversary of ROG, and an integrated-GPU version of the Zephyrus G14 with Intel’s Panther Lake was quietly pulled from CES. Wouldn’t it be quite a return to form if there were an N1X-armed G14? Food for thought for you!

Asus back with a new Ally!?

The rumors are beginning to mount that a new Asus ROG Ally 2 gaming handheld may be announced at Computex! News first broke by YouTuber Steam Dad, in which he spoke about a "next-gen handheld from Asus" coming to the show.

If this is true, what will we see inside? For the years it's been around, the Ally has always been on AMD silicon. That being said, Intel's bringing some gaming handheld heat to the party. Could this be one of the devices rocking Arc G3?

Speaking of...

CONFIRMED: Intel Arc G3 to rock the gaming handheld space

Intel’s been pretty clear that a retooled version of its Panther Lake chips is coming to gaming handhelds, and we’re looking ready to roll at Computex. And Team Blue has now confirmed the Intel Arc G3 and G3 Extreme chipsets are set to launch in three new gaming handhelds.

For context, this all began when we all found out that the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 CPUs had pretty beastly GPUs — paired with strong XeSS 3 scaling and multi-frame generation to deliver seriously impressive fidelity and frame rates.

Don’t expect them to be cheap, but this looks truly set to be the generational leap in handhelds we’ve been waiting for, and it’ll surely make AMD nervous.

CONFIRMED: The fightback against MacBook Neo is on for cheap Windows laptops

Of all the companies that really bring value for money back to computing, I did not expect Apple to be the one to do it. The MacBook Neo has shown that cheap laptops don’t have to be hunks of plastic with bad displays and spongy keyboards. They can actually be great and make you question whether you actually need to spend more (my time facing it off with the MacBook Pro proved that).

And if one thing is clear from asking my sources, it’s that other laptop makers were blindsided by this and rather terrified by the prospect of this premium notebook. So what's the plan to fight back? Qualcomm's shown its hand with Snapdragon C — silicon targeting laptop prices of just $300.

But what about Intel’s new Wildcat Lake chips? We've heard rumblings about this chip bring laptops with much more attention to detail on the design/build quality front in a big way, and we'll be watching closely.

AI everywhere

I mean, it’s obvious at this point, right? Last year’s show was AI-dominated, and reports say that Computex organizers are actively demoting companies that don’t have AI products to show.

From hardware fueling the AI data center explosion to new gadgets running LLMs locally for the people, you can expect this to be the biggest talking point of the show. And while you’ll see a lot of tech that just has “AI” in the name but doesn’t really offer any real benefits from having AI, there will certainly be some useful devices.

Google I/O proved just how much consumer-focused agentic AI is coming down the way, and it’s absolutely no surprise that you’ll hear a lot more about the silicon that will power these experiences. No doubt Nvidia’s GTC conference will shed some more light on this AI automation, too. Speaking of…

The robots are coming!

We’ve heard a lot about robotics and AI over the past few years, but it's all essentially been talk — maybe with some automated production lines for good measure. The idea of having your own personal robot assistant seems a bit pie-in-the-sky.

But more and more over the course of this year, we’ve been hearing about robotics finally getting the AI compute it needs, from things like Nvidia’s Jetson silicon, to make it work. And I think this may be the first moment we get a proper glimpse of what that humanoid future could look like.

Will it be a bit Black Mirror? Probably, but as a tech journalist, I can’t deny it is damn cool.

How Tom’s Guide will cover Computex 2026

So long as the tech checks off one (or more) of these boxes, you’ll be reading about it or seeing it in our coverage! These will be the criteria we use to judge the winners of our Best of Computex awards, too.

We call it “Computing for the rest of us” — our ongoing mission to not write for insiders, but so anyone can feel like the smartest geek in the room. Every year, you’ll read, hear, and see a whole lot of jargon-filled coverage with assumed knowledge coming out of Taiwan. My team and I have challenged that notion and have been rather successful in doing it!

And in our third iteration of Computex, we’re powering on with this mission but also making clear our three key goals of what we’d love to see (and tell you all about):

• Value: It’s no real surprise that this is our top priority — we have a Savings Squad after all! We want to see companies talk less about their data center hardware and more about delivering maximum bang for the buck in consumer products that are well-priced against the backdrop of RAMageddon.
• Actually useful AI: Computex’s theme this year is “AI together,” and if the past couple of years are anything to go by, you can expect these two letters to be said a lot. We don’t want to see AI stuffed into hardware just because — we want to see actually useful, thoughtful implementations.
• Fascination: Not only does the show give us a chance to test the cool stuff you’ll be able to buy, but it also gives us a sneak peek at some truly ludicrous cutting-edge tech that sets the stage for the next five years. Internally, we call it “the cool sh*t,” but a more family-friendly way to put it is that we want to be fascinated.

See y’all in Taipei

Of course, there will be much more — new PC components to talk about, new bleeding-edge silicon, new sim racing gear, new monitors and peripherals. And you best believe we’ll be covering all the best from the show floor as we see it.

So if you’re looking for a human glance at how Computex is carving out the future of computing, keep it locked on Tom’s Guide for all our written and video coverage from Taipei.

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• Xreal’s Android XR glasses are an early glimpse of my dream smart glasses
• I hate that I love Google’s new AI-powered search bar
• I switched my Ray-Ban Metas for L’Atitude 52°N for a month

It's clear that the MacBook Neo has shaken Windows PC makers with its sub-$600 price and high-quality build. Despite Microsoft's claims in a 'value advantage report' released last week, the best budget laptops don't quite offer the same capabilities or build.

Intel may have the solution, with the first Wildcat Lake "Core Series 3" laptops finally hitting retail shelves. There is a catch, though: these laptops are currently only available in China, but it does give us an idea of what could eventually come to the U.S. and elsewhere.

Two different manufacturers have 14-inch Wildcat Lake laptops that promise either double the RAM or more battery life than the MacBook Neo.

Chuwi UniBook

First, Chuwi UniBook, which starts at $449 and features a Core Series 3 and an Intel 18A chipset. Like the Neo, it's targeted at students, travelers and business people.

For comparison, the Neo starts at $599 for the 256GB version. The 512GB with TouchID goes for $699.

Similarly, the UniBook features 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, and WiFI 6 connectivity. However, it does have more ports, including an HDMI 2.0, Ethernet, two USB-C and three USB-A ports. It also has a 53 Wh battery, which Chuwi claims lasts 15 to 20 hours.

In our lab tests, the MacBook Neo lasted 13 hours and 28 minutes.

Honor X14

Spotted by Wccftech, Honor, primarily known for smartphones in the US, has its new Honor X14 laptop. Like the Chuwi, it has a 14-inch LCD display and a Core i5 Wildcat CPU.

Honor's laptops start at around 4,999 yuan, which is about $730 USD. However, we expect it will likely sell closer to $599.

The Honor X14 comes with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, a feat in today's memory-constrained world, and a 512GB SSD. It also has several ports: three USB, HDMI, 3.5mm audio, and a DisplayPort, which puts it well ahead of Apple's one USB-C 3 port, one USB-C 2 port and an audio port.

Again, it comes with a larger 60Wh battery, though the Honor website indicates a battery life of only 13.5 hours, on par with our Neo testing. That indicates it might actually be worse in real life, though I can't say for certain without testing it.

What's missing?

Yes, there are cheaper Intel and Windows laptops available. The value of the MacBook Neo is in its portability and the premium finish.

Unfortunately, neither the UniBook nor the Honor X14 has material specifications in any information sheet we could find. So it's not clear if either laptop features a slick aluminum finish like Apple's device.

Based on the images I've seen, they do appear to have a metal finish, but I can't guarantee that. That said, the higher-end MagicBook X14 does have an aluminum chassis.

Additionally, the Neo weighs just over 2.7 lbs. It's a super-lightweight laptop that doesn't feel cheap.

The Honor X14 weighs over 3 lbs. Chuwi did not provide any dimensions for the UniBook, so it's not clear how much bigger it is than the Neo.

Other Neo alternatives

If you need Windows recommendations, check out these three MacBook Neo rivals. If you need more data, we've benchmarked a number of budget laptops and compared them to the Neo. Don't forget about the Neo versus Chromebooks, the original super-cheap laptop.

And of course, if you like Apple, there's the MacBook Air, which you can get in the M5 version or seek out the less expensive refurbished MacBook Air M4.

The Honor laptop may never be released in the US, but Australia and U.K. buyers will likely get a version. However, the Chuwi one might hit our shores.

More from Tom's Guide

• Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple giving Intel a ‘once-in-a-generation window’ to manufacture iPhone, iPad and Mac chips
• 'Difficult to survive': RAMaggedon hits Intel as new report says it is jacking CPU prices by 10%
• Intel’s Core Ultra 200S desktop CPUs are 2x faster and $100 cheaper — a second chance at Arrow Lake's first bad impression

Intel could debut two handheld chips at Computex 2026. That’s according to VideoCardz, which obtained information about a possible announcement at this year’s big Taipei-based tech conference.

It appears the chips in question will be called Arc G3 and Arc G3 Extreme—with the former presumably being the base model and the latter being the more powerful version. VideoCardz says the chips are tied to a Q2 2026 window and are expected to have a lifecycle through Q2 2027. If that’s accurate, then a Computex 2026 reveal makes sense.

An X leaker named @9550Pro posted what is reportedly a CPU-Z screenshot of what could be the Intel Core G3 Extreme (via Notebookcheck). Earlier leaks claim this chip has 14 CPU cores total, including two P-cores, eight E-cores, and four LPE-cores. That said, another notable insider, Jaykihn, claims the listing is fake and that the Core G3 Extreme will be called the Intel Arc G3 Extreme. Regardless, the chip appears to be a stripped-down version of the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H chip we recently tested in the Kojima Edition of the Asus ROG Flow Z13.

VideoCardz says that the chips have already undergone internal testing and that MSI and OneXPlayer are expected to be the first to use Intel’s handheld chip. MSI certainly makes sense, as the company used Intel chips for its MSI Claw handhelds. Right now, there is no evidence that Asus or Lenovo is joining the Arc G3 party. However, the likes of Acer and Microsoft might, as their respective logos appeared during Intel’s “handhelds unleashed” reveal at this year’s CES.

As always, take this news with a grain of salt as these chips haven’t officially been announced. That said, given how Intel had a dedicated talk about handhelds during CES, it’s a safe bet we’ll hear more soon—whether at Computex or elsewhere.

We’ll keep an eye on this story and hope that any potential handhelds featuring these chips aren’t insanely expensive. Stay tuned!

More from Tom's Guide

• Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop could pack an OLED panel
• Buying a laptop in 2026 is complicated — here's a survival guide
• I just tested this keyboard that’s also a Windows computer

I miss the ultra portability of 13-inch laptops, which is why I was pretty pumped to be one of the first to properly daily drive MSI’s new Prestige 13 AI+ on the planet. While Panther Lake is bringing this tiny form factor back to life in a big way, MSI has listened to some of our gripes about last year’s Prestige 13 AI+ Evo and addressed them head-on.

This £1,299 system is all about stretching its minuscule 1.9-pound stature to its max. It may be uber thin and light, but that 16:10 OLED panel is gorgeous, the stamina is decently long, and the Intel Core Ultra 7 355 processor is more capable than you may think in the day-to-day. It’s a demonstration of how Team Blue’s architecture thinking is on the right track, with this entry-tier model being (mostly) on par with the “hero” chip in the Core Ultra 7 258V in last year’s system.

But on top of being as light as a feather, none of it feels flimsy. The metal frame feels nice and sturdy on the lid, with very minimal bend and no real flex on the keyboard deck. This makes typing feel like a nice, tactile experience along with a decent-sized touchpad.

Am I setting up a prayer circle for a version packing a Snapdragon X2 Elite? You better believe it! I feel this could bring it into MacBook Air-beating territory with better chip power efficiency. And with the battery being smaller here than it is on the previous Prestige, longevity roughly averages out at the same as last year with those re-engineered efficiency cores.

It’s also absolutely worth saying that a good chunk of that money is going towards the super slim and svelte construction. You can get a better price-to-performance ratio at this cost if you don’t mind a little extra junk in the trunk. But for the ultrabook aficionados — for those who want a higher focus on form factor balanced with strong performance and power efficiency, this is a great option.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? It is an uber slim, uber light 13-inch laptop.
• Who is it for? This is for those who don’t mind spending a premium on perfecting their ultraportable setup.
• What does it cost? It’s on sale right now for £1,299, with no plans to bring it to the U.S. or Australia (yet).
• What do we like? The material upgrades give this super-light machine a nice sense of durability. Panther Lake brings some nice general performance upgrades (as well as some surprisingly decent gaming chops if you tune it right), and solid power-efficient multitasking for on-the-go work.
• What don’t we like? It is pricey for the performance package you get, the speakers are a little on the tinny side, and the webcam is serviceable but a little spongy in image quality.

MSI Prestige 13 AI+: Specs

MSI Prestige 13 AI+: The ups

From relieving a lot of weight in my backpack and being a feast for the eyes, to holding a lot more power potential than its size implies, the Prestige 13 AI+ is a solid lightweight all-rounder.

It’s so small and light

Nothing more to say on the dimensions than the headline! I’ll just let the numbers do the talking.

I double-checked over my many years of notes, and can confirm this is the lightest laptop I’ve ever tested — showing up most prominently when I’m commuting for a day in the office down in London. Normally, there’s a little bit of heft in my bag courtesy of either my gaming laptop or my MacBook Pro. To downsize so significantly has been a breath of fresh air for my spine!

But what’s more impressive are the material upgrades on offer here. The keyboard deck feels a lot more rigid than last year’s model, with very minimal flex as you push down on it. That keeps the tactility of that keyboard feeling crisp and intentional with every key press or touchpad click. Meanwhile, up top, there may still be a chunky bezel, but the whole lid itself is much less bendable.

These small but important updates really do reinstill my confidence in just stashing this in my backpack, while looking utilitarian, edgy, and ready to get stuff done.

A mesmerizing OLED screen

Not much has changed here in terms of the OLED screen, but that’s no bad thing. This 13.3-inch panel is a mesmerizing flash flood of color with crispy lines at 2880 x 1800 resolution.

Whether it’s jumping into some dark mode work on my notetaker or Photoshop, or binge-watching to my heart’s content, this screen is a fantastic color-accurate presentation of it all.

Just like any OLED panel I’ve tried, the brightness may not withstand when in direct sunlight, and the glossy screen makes it uber reflective. But do your usual angling, and you’ll get it right in those small circumstances. And for everything else, you won’t face any problems whatsoever.

Strong ultraportable performance

So it’s worth saying from the get-go that no, this is not Intel Core Ultra X-levels of performance. Intel’s pushed hard on the higher-level chips, and these mid-rangers you’d expect to see in most systems are left in the shadows.

But in reality, you’re getting roughly the same as you got with the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V in terms of CPU speeds, which is impressive given that the Lunar Lake chip is more flagship with integrated memory over the Core Ultra 300 series being more equivalent to U-series silicon.

Where it does drop off, however, is in the GPU. Yes, the Arc integrated graphics on the Core Ultra 7 355 are newer, but there are double the cores on the 258V, which leads to higher raw graphical power.

However, that’s when you turn your attention to the cheat codes Intel has made in XeSS 3 and multi-frame generation. Yep, that’s present on this system, and in Cyberpunk (provided you tune the settings right at 1080p medium), you can easily get around 40 FPS. That’s way better than any laptop of this size and stature should get!

MSI Prestige 13 AI+: The downs

It does come with its obstacles, though — victims of its size ambitions mostly, and one desperate plea from me.

The price-to-performance is off, but I get why

When it comes to getting a laptop that focuses on being ultra slim and ultra light, companies prioritize much more of their cost of production on figuring out just how to get so much into its thin frame and keep it cool. That’s what I’ve learned from talking to the likes of MSI over the years, and this does throw that price-to-performance ratio a little bit out of whack.

Of course, this is by design — the Prestige 13 AI+ is aimed squarely at starting with something of this refined stature and seeing what’s capable in its shell. If you’re looking for a better balance at this price, you should be looking at other options like the M5 MacBook Air or the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition (same chip, but slightly sustained performance for its bigger size).

If you’re in the camp of wanting to put your thumb on the scales towards an impossibly light notebook for on-the-go work, then this is the compromise you’ll have to make. However, you still get something pretty zippy day-to-day.

A couple of victims of downsizing

Just a couple of things I noticed while using the Prestige that it’s worth knowing about — all of which I think come down to the sheer size of it.

First, the speakers. They can get loud and have some nice detail in the highs without any distortion, but they do lack bass response. It’s a little tinny for long watches, so bring headphones for that!

And second, the webcam. It’s got some decent 1080p detail, but you do look a little spongy, and challenging lighting conditions do create some fuzziness for sure. It’s definitely good enough for the conference calls, but for anything more, I’d grab one of the best webcams.

Give me Snapdragon!

Not really anything I can demand, as the laptop’s already out in the wild. But if there’s ever a system that I believe would be perfect for a Snapdragon X2 chip, it’s this ultra-thin and light.

With Arm levels of performance and power efficiency, this could be the recipe for a generational leap in this notebook. And given the pricing of X2 Plus laptops, I think it’s something that MSI could fit into its costs and still offer it at this price.

So please, MSI (hi if you’re reading this), give it some consideration. My prayer circle is up and running for it!

MSI Prestige 13 AI+: Verdict

Honestly, I’m feeling a little sorry for the U.S. right now, because you don’t get to have this beast of an ultrabook. The build quality is great, the ergonomics are solid, and the performance and battery life are pretty damn good.

Yes, the price-to-performance will be off-kilter to some of you, and if you’re in that camp, this laptop isn’t for you. Chances are, you don’t mind a little extra size and weight to get what you need.

But if form is just as important to you as function, Intel focusing on the fundamentals to squeeze every last drop out of this chip, and MSI’s focus on the fundamentals makes this a great laptop.

For three years, if you wanted a great desktop CPU for gaming, you bought AMD, period. Specifically, anything with “X3D” on the end of the name. And it’s been that way because Intel’s previous shot at desktop chips (the original Core Ultra Series 2 or “Arrow Lake”) dropped the ball.

There were performance and power issues, an abnormally high latency between the chip and memory, and all of this led to gaming performance that fell behind even Intel’s older CPUs. One thing was clear: Team Blue had to go back to the drawing board.

And they’re back with what seems to be a refresh on paper — the Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus ($199) and Core Ultra 7 270K Plus ($299). Strong pricing, but I was skeptical about what “plus” actually meant.

So I did what any normal person would do: I put them in an insane mismatch scenario against the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Ryzen 7 9800X3D. With more L3 Cache memory (AMD brands it as 3D V-Cache), you can always rely on these for strong, smooth game performance.

But Intel’s found a cheat code. Starting with the fundamentals of speeding up the Die-to-Die frequency (the travel time for data inside the chip), and optimizing it with an all-in-one Intel Platform Performance Package (IPPP) that brings so much more potential out of it, these chips come too close for Team Red’s comfort.

Don’t get me wrong, if gaming is your priority, AMD still takes the win. But only by a whisker, which is a concern because Intel’s chips are so much cheaper — the Core Ultra 5 being $250 less than the 7800X3D, and the Ultra 7 $180 less than the 9800X3D. And that’s before even getting into the data that shows the Core Ultras being fantastic all-rounders. But I digress, let’s get into it.

How Tom’s Guide reviews CPUs

We already test pretty much every CPU that’s announced in many different ways — either packed into one of the best laptops or being the mega brain inside the best gaming PCs.

But this is the first proper CPU review Tom’s Guide has done in its many years of existence. So, as Managing Editor of Computing, I’m gonna be upfront and set the ground rules on what to expect from CPU reviews from us. It all starts with answering the three key questions anybody has before buying one:

• How well does it play my games?
• What work can I get done with it?
• Is the price (short-term and long-term) fair for what I get?

That means taking a whole lot of testing, deciphering the advanced architectural and software processes happening here, and boiling them down to what they mean for you: the user. It won’t be complex, and that’s by design because I want to answer these three questions for everyone. Whether you’re an experienced PC builder, someone getting into making your first PC, or you’re buying a pre-built and making sense of the spec list.

If you’re looking for a super-dense level of detail, this is where I point you: my friends (and old family — used to work on their team) at Tom’s Hardware! This review is for the rest of us.

Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus & 7 270K Plus: Cheat Sheet

• What are these? These are a new line of Intel desktop processors — a refresh from the last gen that addresses a lot of the previous issues.
• Who are they for? Enthusiasts and creators who want a great all-around balance of productivity and gaming.
• What does it cost? Final retail pricing may vary (thanks, RAMageddon), but MSRP at the moment is $199 for the Ultra 5 and $299 for the Ultra 7.
• What do we like? These chips take a massive multi-threaded lead in productivity over AMD’s X3D chips in productivity and content creation, gaming performance has been upgraded nicely, and everything runs surprisingly cool.
• What don’t we like? Intel's use of a complex software stack like this performance package means you’re not getting peak power out of the box (a couple of extra steps to get it), and 1% frame-rate lows don’t match AMD’s hardware-cache-heavy design.

Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus & 7 270K Plus: Specs

Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus & 7 270K Plus: The ups

You could see what Intel was trying to go for with the O.G. Arrow Lake — a balance between work and play, which it didn’t deliver on. This is Team Blue’s comeback moment, and they’ve taken full advantage.

I’ve tested all four in their best possible light — enabling XMP for Intel and Resizable BAR for AMD. More on those in an upcoming piece because you could be leaving a lot of potential performance on the table if you don’t turn them on! This will cause some differences on a motherboard-by-motherboard basis (I used the Asus ROG Maximum Z890 Apex), and RAM speeds will give Intel a slight leg up. But as somebody who drops a lot of cash on your PC, these will be the settings you’ll go to to make the most of what you buy, so it’s only fair to do the same here.

Aiming for the king

So Intel calls this its “fastest gaming processor.” Let’s put that to the test, shall we?

What is fascinating here is that these are actually beginning to trade blows with X3D chips, and you can see that when put into real-world gaming performance, too.

Now you may be looking at the frame-rate gap AMD has over Intel, at Intel’s lead in a couple of 3DMark synthetic benchmarks, and thinking “WTF!?” Well, that’s where we’ve got to go a bit geeky:

• Monolithic vs tiled: AMD’s X3D chips use a single monolithic chip with 8 cores. This means all the cores can immediately communicate with the memory and the GPU with very low latency. Intel uses a “tiled” architecture — basically different cores of the chip do different things, and while that Die-to-Die (D2D) frequency is 900MHz higher, that’s still a longer time for cores to talk to each other, which can lead to lower frame rates (even when the synthetic speeds may be higher).
• The Cache gap: AMD’s chips pack 96MB of L3 cache (known as the 3D V-Cache), which acts as a massive waiting room for game data like physics and NPC logic. The Core Ultra 7 270K only has 36MB, so even though your chip cores are technically faster, it still needs to sort out an overflow waiting room on the system RAM, which is going to be slower.

There are situations where this can be felt most (more on them later), but the big thing here is that Intel is back on the right track in terms of gaming performance, with nice gains over previous-gen Arrow Lake chips and closing the gap on AMD.

Beasty productivity performance

Same as the previous chips, these are productivity monsters. Whether acting alone or as a conductor to the GPU, the performance and efficiency core combo makes better sense of both day-to-day tasks and intense workloads to deliver zippier speeds.

So whether it’s pushing local AI to its limits (currently training a version of myself…it’s getting weird), complex 4K renders or just simple multi-tab web browsing, these won’t let you down.

And it’s also being done while they keep their cool much better, too. At peak stress of a multi-thread render, you can see that the Core Ultras sit far prettier at around 154-degrees fahrenheit, while the thermal density of putting 3D V-cache atop AMD CPUs like a blanket of sorts does spice things up a little.

Solid bang for your buck

But going band-for-band misses the bigger point, which is the lower price here. Yes, AMD is still ahead in terms of gaming, but with that gap narrowed and the price of Intel’s options being kept quite lower, the performance-per-dollar swings to Team Blue’s favor.

And Intel’s able to do this with some key technologies that allow the chip to work smarter, not harder. Before the IPPP, you can imagine the CPU as a chaotic kitchen — getting tons of orders in and not necessarily knowing what order to tackle them in. The salad gets soggy under a heat lamp while the steak is raw, and Gordon Ramsay is kicking off somewhere about it.

But the IPPP pipeline acts as an executive chef standing at the pass and has a set number of steps to go through:

• The Application Optimization layer (APO): The kitchen has been trained on a small number of dishes, so when the chef sees a rush of orders for the “Wukong Special,” they know exactly what to do. So far, APO supports 21 game titles — shame that it’s so small, but only up from here.
• The Binary Optimizer Tool (IBOT): Instead of letting the cooks (the CPU cores) work randomly on different dishes, the Executive Chef intercepts the tickets and tells each cook to work on all of one thing at once. Machine code gets translated and streamlined in real-time to unlock better performance.
• Die-to-Die frequency boost (D2D): By increasing this by +900MHz, the executive chef just installed a faster conveyor belt in the kitchen, so the food moves quickly to the dining room (the GPU and RAM) without any bottleneck.

This is all opt-in, and I highly suggest you do to extract the most bang for your buck.

Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus & 7 270K Plus: The downs

But while Intel has royalty in its sights, there is one crucial place where it does fall down to AMD’s X3D silicon supremacy.

The 1% Low reality check

Testing game performance is much more than just telling you the average frames per second — you’ve got to look at the 1% Lows.

The intensity of graphics can turn on a dime from just looking at a plate on a table to a chaotic multi-person action scene, and while you can see the best FPS on average, measuring the average of the lowest 1% of frame rates shows you whether you’re in for a bit of stuttering in certain games.

For all the software trickery Intel’s done great work with here, it can’t overcome a pure hardware advantage. AMD CPUs have up to 3X the amount of memory cache on the chip, which forms a large hard-wired safety net for smoother gaming by putting essential instructions directly on the chip.

Meanwhile, the Core Ultra 5 and Core Ultra 7 suffer from a roughly 10-15% drop in 1% lows in comparison to AMD, leading to some small stutters that can be a problem in competitive titles.

Intel does have a couple of key things going on here to try to nullify this advantage — a fix to the latency with a 900MHz speed boost of Die-to-Die frequency (the speed at which data is moved around) and that software counter-attack with Intel’s Binary Optimization Tool (streamlining machine code in real-time to reclaim performance). This makes them much better than the Arrow Lake of old.

But Intel’s IBOT has a tiny bit of overhead, and if game logic gets chaotic, the instant response of a boatload of L3 cache is always going to win out. It’s not something that will overtly impact your gaming experience if you’re more of a single-player/cinematic player.

Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus & 7 270K Plus: Verdict

Intel aimed for its all-rounder era before and failed. Now, they’ve only gone and done it! Are they going to take the X3D’s crown for gaming? Not with those reduced 1% lows if you’re feeling competitive online. But for the prices that Team Blue’s charging, does it really matter? Not particularly.

Whether it’s in lower-priced pre-builts compared to AMD systems or in planning out your own DIY setup, this is a better balance of capabilities that makes these great CPUs for heavy work and cinematic play.

Windows PC makers are struggling through the ongoing RAM crisis, and a new report indicates it's not going to get better, thanks to an integral PC component getting more expensive.

The Korean outlet, ETNews is reporting that Intel will raise the prices of its CPUs by 10%, largely because of skyrocketing RAM prices due to AI greed. The publication says Intel informed its major clients of the price hike today (March 19) with increases expected to hit "most" of the company's CPU lineup.

It's suggested that the move is being made to secure profitability as the supply of consumer devices (ie gaming PCs, laptops, etc) shrinks due to the ever-growing demand of AI data centers.

Beyond RAM prices, Intel is facing stiffer competition from AMD and Intel. While Intel still dominates the CPU market, holding 60% of market share overall, AMD is catching up. According to charts from CPUbenchmark.net, Intel makes up 73% of Windows laptop share, but was surpassed by AMD last year in desktops at 51%.

This year, Qualcomm announced a new Snapdragon X2 Plus CPU that is supposed to be an "epic" upgrade. At CES 2026, AMD claimed its Ryzen AI CPUs are faster and better than Intel's Panther Lake for both gaming and AI.

Intel may be feeling the heat.

'Difficult to survive'

"There are concerns that if Intel CPU prices also rise, operating profits will shrink significantly, making it difficult to survive," an industry insider told ETNews.

Still, any price hike during RAMaggedon is going to adversely affect PC manufacturers who are struggling in the face of new competition from the $599 MacBook Neo and surging RAM prices.

Outside of the Neo, we may be seeing the end of the era of cheap PCs, with no relief insight until 2028, at the earliest. PC makers are trying different things to survive from seeking out smaller memory producers to focusing on premium PCs over budget offerings.

For now, the RAM crisis just keeps claiming victims. Even major companies like Samsung have put its mobile division into "emergency management" mode despite record pre-orders for the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

More from Tom's Guide

• Intel’s Core Ultra 200S desktop CPUs are 2x faster and $100 cheaper — a second chance at Arrow Lake's first bad impression
• Best graphics cards: I've tested every GPU to find the best bang for your buck
• I tested Intel XeSS 3 vs Nvidia DLSS 4: my laptop tests made me rethink the future of integrated graphics

Intel finally thinks it's done gaming processors correctly, calling the newly-announced Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and 250K Plus its “fastest gaming desktop processors ever.” For gamers who demand only the best from their rigs, these sound like exciting new chips.

One of the leading chip-makers says the 24-core, 5.5GHz turbo Core Ultra 7 270K Plus can beat both the Raptor Lake i9-14900K and the Arrow Lake Ultra 9 285K in gaming performance. That's all well and good, but those chips had significant issues — the real question is whether it can hang with or beat AMD’s Ryzen 7 9700X, which falls in the power range.

With the 270K Plus starting at $300 and the 250K Plus at $200, these are reasonably priced and competitive (which is nice in a RAMmageddon world where PC part prices are going through the roof).

Unfortunately, Intel's graphs don't tell much of a story as the company compares these new gaming chips to the 265K and 245K, which are hardly the highest-performing options. It would have been helpful to compare them to AMD's options, or even to a current Intel gaming chip, to see how much of a boost players can expect.

Fortunately, we have the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and 250K Plus in hand, so we'll be able to share a range of benchmarks and comparisons once we finalize our reviews.

Intel heavily touted its Intel Binary Optimization Tool, which it describes as a "binary translation layer optimization capability that can improve native performance in select games."

That's probably why games like Assassin’s Creed: Shadows only see a 4% increase from the 265K to the 270K Plus, while Shadow of the Tomb Raider increases by as much as 39% in performance.

Here are some of the other notable specs of the new Intel Chips:

Core Ultra 7 270K Plus

• 24 cores (8 P-cores and 12 E-cores)
• 5.5 GHz Max
• DDR5 7200 MT/s support
• Early support for 4-Rank CUDIMM memory

Intel Core Ultra 7 250K Plus

• 18 cores (6 P-cores and 12 E-cores)
• 5.3 GHz Max
• DDR5 7200 MT/s support
• Early support for 4-Rank CUDIMM memory

Both chips are scheduled to hit store shelves on March 26, so you won't need to wait too long to snag one if you're looking to build a new PC. Just be prepared for the rising cost of RAM and other components before you go out and get anything.

More from Tom's Guide

• Forget Nvidia: Integrated graphics could be the future for gaming laptops
• Intel confirms XeSS 3 Multi-frame generation is coming to Arc B580 next month
• I just tried Apple Creator Studio — and I’m never going back to Adobe

Gaming laptop deals are getting harder and harder to come by — probably because of the RAM price crisis we find ourselves in.

But I’ve just found huge savings on my two favorite OLED gaming notebooks that are the perfect high-performance upgrades for any players out there. Right now, you can get the 2025 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 with RTX 5070 Ti for $500 off, and the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI with the same GPU for $350 off at Best Buy.

Make no mistake about it. These are massive savings, and after spending months testing these laptops (and loving them a lot), I can’t recommend them enough for gaming on-the-go.

The ultraportable monster

Every year, the Asus Zephyrus G14 just gets better and better. I almost missed my flight back from Barcelona because I turned my Starbucks table into the ultimate gaming station because of it!

From the outside, you wouldn’t really think this is a gaming laptop — if anything, its premium aluminum body screams “MacBook Pro.” In fact, it’s the only gaming notebook that my fiancée has looked at and said, “Nice laptop.” Every single other model, she rolls her eyes at the blazing RGB.

Asus has also paid real attention to sound ergonomics here, with a top-notch keyboard and massive touchpad. But of course, you’re here for the games, and that RTX 5070 Ti absolutely shines. DLSS 4.5 is the AI trick up the sleeve to bring unmatched smoothness.

Cyberpunk 2077 at full-res ray-tracing ultra with all the DLSS trickery on (ray reconstruction, multi-frame gen) can take full advantage of that mesmerizing OLED panel at a buttery smooth 120 FPS.

And whatever game you’re playing, be it blasting through the colorful streets of Mexico in Forza Horizon 5, or the deep, dark depths of the isolated Romanian village in Resident Evil Village, the stunning color and contrast ratio of this Pantone-validated display shines.

Throw in AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 370, a spacious 32GB of RAM (in this economy!?), and a 1TB SSD, and you’re onto a winner that’s not just good for gaming but a serious workhorse for power user productivity too.

The big one

But what if a small size doesn’t matter to you? What if you want a big-screen gaming experience? That’s where I introduce the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16S AI — another go-to daily driver that I got addicted to fast in the months I tested it.

The S stands for slim, and while this is indeed a bigger laptop, that doesn’t compromise the thinness. This is a slender system in the hands, and with that extra space, Acer’s able to run this at a higher wattage.

That’s super ideal for running DLSS 4.5 and really ramping up that frame rate to make the most of that 240Hz refresh rate (double that of the Zephyrus G14, though the resolution is slightly lower at 2560 x 1600).

And as every frame matters in competitive multiplayer (plus a bigger panel too), I’d recommend this one to anyone who wants to be at their best in online shooters. Aside from the RTX 5070 Ti, you’ll find an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD — pretty similar to Asus’ offering.

If ergonomics are your thing, I’d point you to the G14, as the keyboard does feel better. However, if you can get over the ever-so-slight sponginess of the keys, you get a bigger board with a number pad here, and a far bigger touchpad that comes in clutch for creative work.

Buy now because prices will go up

Yes, both of these have 32GB of RAM. Yes, we are in a RAM price crisis. These deals exist because of the available stock, but once Best Buy sells through them, you can expect these prices to slowly but surely creep up.

The likes of Acer and Asus do have plans to bypass the rising prices by going to smaller RAM manufacturers, as I found out when talking to an Acer exec. But this will take time, and the best advice I can give anyone on the fence about buying a gaming laptop is to buy now before things get worse.

And out of all the deals I’ve seen, these two offer the best bang for your buck.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tested Intel XeSS 3 vs Nvidia DLSS 4: my laptop tests made me rethink the future of integrated graphics
• Nvidia says all RTX 50-series GPUs will 'continue to ship,' but stock and supply tell a different story
• ‘Chaotic’ RAM pricing won’t kill PC gaming, a CEO told me — and history backs him up

We’ve recently been impressed by the performance of the Intel Panther Lake-powered Asus Zenbook Duo (2026) and Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Pro. While these are some of the best Windows laptops we’ve reviewed, we’ve largely been in the dark about their respective pricing. Unfortunately, if a new report is true, it seems these and other Panther Lake laptops could be pretty expensive.

That’s according to YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead, who claims that his sources have told him Panther Lake laptops could cost more than $2,400. While the ongoing “RAMageddon” crisis is certainly a factor, it appears the main culprit is the high cost of manufacturing Intel’s high-end chips. Regardless, it seems our wallets might be in for a rough time.

The high cost of the 18A node

According to "Moore's Law is Dead," the primary reason for the potential price hike is the Intel 18A process node. This is Intel’s most advanced manufacturing process to date, and as is usually the case with brand-new bleeding-edge tech, it’s not cheap to produce.

Intel is essentially betting the farm on 18A to reclaim its performance crown from Apple and AMD. However, the report suggests that Intel is passing those high development and production costs directly to the OEMs (laptop makers), who will inevitably pass them on to us.

Is Intel’s affordability promise dead on arrival?

This leak is frustrating because Intel had previously said that Core Ultra Series 3 laptops would be a "complete reimagining of affordability."

However, we’ve already seen signs that this might not be the case. Samsung recently confirmed that the Galaxy Book 6 Pro could see a 20% price hike. If Moore's Law is Dead is right, we’re looking at a market where "premium" could be the new standard.

The "No GPU" trade-off

One reason Intel might justify a higher price tag for Panther Lake is the sheer power of its integrated graphics. As we’ve seen during our testing of Panther Lake laptops, these machines deliver exceptional performance—especially for gaming, which is astonishing given that Intel’s chip uses integrated graphics.

To that end, Intel’s angle might be that because Panther Lake can handle high-end gaming and AI tasks without needing a dedicated (and expensive) Nvidia or AMD chip, the overall laptop price is "fair." But for users who just want a high-performance productivity machine at a reasonable price, that’s a tough pill to swallow.

The RAMageddon factor

Of course, I can’t ignore the persistent elephant in the room — the global RAM crisis.

Intel previously suggested that laptop makers sitting on 9 to 12 months of stock might be the key to surviving the price spikes. However, Panther Lake, like Lunar Lake before it, uses an "on-package" memory design. This means the RAM is baked directly onto the processor.

While this makes the laptop thinner and more efficient, it also means you can’t buy an entry-level model and upgrade the RAM later. You’re locked into Intel’s pricing for that memory from day one—right in the middle of a global shortage.

Outlook

If these leaks are accurate, 2026 is shaping up to be a year where "budget-friendly" laptops become a rare species.

Between the costs of the 18A node, the integrated memory design, and the general inflation of the hardware market, Panther Lake might be a performance beast, but it’s going to cost us.

More from Tom's Guide

• RAM prices are rough right now, but I found 5 DDR5 kits that beat the crisis
• Asus rep says memory shortage should 'start to normalize' by 2027
• Jeff Bezos believes AI will force you to rent your PC from the cloud

We just tested Intel Panther Lake, and I’m here to tell you it’s the real deal. After years of Intel playing catch-up, this new architecture feels like a significant leap forward, offering the kind of raw performance and longevity we’ve long wanted from a Windows laptop. It's a night-and-day improvement over the already solid Lunar Lake, and shows that Intel isn't just treading water anymore.

Though Panther Lake has made great strides in performance and efficiency for the best Windows laptops, it has a mighty competitor—namely, Apple’s M5 chip. As I noted in my MacBook Pro M5 review, Apple’s silicon delivers stellar performance and phenomenal battery life. That’s not surprising, given how M-series chips have been the gold standard in those areas, but it makes for a formidable opponent for Intel to tackle.

We’ve officially tested the svelte Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro with its Intel Core Ultra X7 chip and the dual-screen Asus Zenbook Duo (2026) with the beefier Core Ultra X9. In this piece, I’m going to compare our lab results for these Windows machines against our Apple M5 benchmarks.

Since we're comparing x86 architecture to ARM, I’ll also dive into what this means for app compatibility and your daily workflow. So, is Panther Lake a true M-series rival? Read on to find out!

Performance benchmarks

Let’s start with the raw numbers. I’m looking at our Geekbench 6 CPU scores and our Handbrake video transcoding results. Geekbench measures a chip’s overall "brain power," while our Handbrake test shows how long it takes to convert a 4K video into 1080p.

As you can see, both Panther Lake chips hold their own against the Apple M5 in the multi-core portion of the test. However, the M5 absolutely crushed Intel’s chips in single-core performance.

So, what does that actually mean? Think of single-core performance as having one world-class chef who can whip up a single complex dish really fast. Conversely, multi-core performance is like having a team of cooks working together to finish a big banquet. For daily tasks like browsing the web or opening Word, that high single-core score on the M5 makes everything feel just a bit snappier. But for heavy-duty multitasking, Intel is in the same league.

As with single-core performance, the M5 chip pulled ahead in the Handbrake test, clocking in almost a minute faster than the Core Ultra X9. In the real world, this is a big deal for anyone who does even light video work. If you're exporting a vlog for YouTube or shrinking a movie file for a long flight, the M5 will save you time.

Graphics benchmarks

Next up, let’s look at one of my favorite things: graphics. I’ve listed the results from 3DMark Steel Nomad and Solar Bay. Steel Nomad measures standard gaming performance at 4K, while Solar Bay focuses specifically on Ray Tracing — the tech that makes lighting and reflections in games look realistic. I chose these newer tests over the older Wild Life Unlimited Extreme ones because, frankly, if you’re buying a 2026 laptop, you want to know how it handles modern tech.

The Apple M5 chip scored the lowest here, though its Solar Bay results are still commendable since that test is notoriously heavy on Ray Tracing. Still, Panther Lake has a clear advantage over the M5 when it comes to gaming performance. That's a huge win for an integrated GPU (iGPU) that doesn't rely on a bulky, dedicated graphics card.

What’s really interesting here is that Intel’s Xe3 architecture is finally delivering on the promise of real gaming on a thin-and-light laptop. While the M5 is great for creative work, Windows still has the edge for gaming compatibility.

Seeing the Asus Zenbook Duo and the Galaxy Book6 Pro consistently pull higher frame rates means you can actually play modern titles at decent settings without things turning into a slideshow. Intel has essentially turned these productivity machines into "stealth" gaming rigs.

Battery life

Here’s where things get really fun: battery life! Please note that this comparison isn’t exactly "apples-to-apples" (pun very much intended) since we’re dealing with different hardware configurations. Also, keep in mind that both Panther Lake laptops we tested feature OLED panels, which are gorgeous but notorious battery hogs.

As you can see, the MacBook Pro M5 outlasted its Panther Lake-powered rivals by over three hours! These results might seem unfair, and I’d agree with you if these were typical Windows laptops that lasted for eight hours at best. However, getting nearly 15 hours of battery life from a Windows machine is insanely impressive. It’s a testament to Panther Lake’s endurance and proof that Intel has finally closed the gap that once made MacBooks the only real choice for all-day use.

Compatibility: x86 vs. ARM

To understand these results, you have to look at the engines under the hood. Intel uses x86 architecture, while Apple uses ARM. For years, ARM (originally designed for phones) had the advantage because it was built for efficiency — it stayed cool and sipped battery. x86 was the gas-guzzler: powerful, but hot and power hungry.

The advantage of x86 is its wide compatibility. Every app, game, and legacy program ever made for Windows runs natively on Panther Lake. The disadvantage has always been the heat and battery drain. However, with Panther Lake, Intel has finally figured out how to make an x86 chip act like an ARM chip, giving you that 15-hour battery life without sacrificing your ability to run any software you want.

ARM, on the other hand, is the king of performance per watt. It’s why the M5 can last 18 hours while still crushing single-core benchmarks. The downside? If an app isn't built specifically for ARM, it has to be "translated" (using software like Rosetta 2), which can occasionally cause a performance hit or compatibility glitches. For the average person, Apple’s ecosystem is seamless, but for those who need niche Windows software, the x86 architecture is still the safest bet.

Bottom line

So, is Panther Lake a true rival to Apple's M-series? Absolutely. For the first time in a long time, buying a Windows laptop doesn't feel like a compromise on battery life.

Intel has managed to pull off something incredible here: they’ve delivered a chip that can go toe-to-toe with Apple’s efficiency while still offering the raw graphics power that Windows users crave. Even though Windows 11 can still feel bloated compared to the streamlined macOS, Panther Lake makes the OS feel faster and more responsive than it would with a less powerful processor.

I’m genuinely impressed with how far Intel has come with its "M1 moment." The Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro and Asus Zenbook Duo are not just awesome Windows laptops; they're great laptops, period. They set a high standard for all the other Panther Lake laptops I’m sure to review in 2026. Color me excited!

That said, Intel isn’t in the clear yet. While Team Blue has shortened the gap with Apple, I’m eager to see how Panther Lake stacks up against the Snapdragon X2 Elite. Qualcomm’s ARM-based Windows chips are the next big rival, and if they can beat Intel on battery while matching them on performance, we might be looking at a three-way silicon war. That’s a story for another day. But for now, Intel is officially back in the game.

More from Tom's Guide

• Forget Nvidia: Integrated graphics could be the future for gaming laptops
• Intel confirms XeSS 3 Multi-frame generation is coming to Arc B580 next month
• I just tried Apple Creator Studio — and I’m never going back to Adobe

The future of handheld gaming is shifting, with the new Intel Panther Lake and its impressive Core Ultra X9 388H CPU leading the charge. For gaming handhelds, this is looking to be a game-changer, and it's already beating AMD where it matters most.

With its next-gen XeSS 3 (Xe Super Sampling) and multi-frame generation tech, Intel has made significant gains for its Arc B390 iGPU — pushing integrated graphics to new highs on laptops. And, after benchmarking the Asus Zenbook Duo with Intel Core Ultra X9, the results are clear.

While seeing Cyberpunk 2077 running at 217 frames per second (FPS) at 1080p with Ultra settings impresses, the TDP (Thermal Design Power) it uses to reach these results will be massively beneficial for the future of gaming handhelds. In fact, it's seeing better performance than AMD's Strix Halo (Ryzen Max AI+) when it comes to low power consumption.

Not only does it outclass the AMD Ryzen Max AI+ in a Framework Desktop in single-core (see the table below), but recent benchmarks from YouTuber The Phawx have shown the Intel Core ultra X9 388H delivers stronger performance at lower TDP.

According to the results, the X9 CPU with its integrated Arc B390 graphics was able to hit 46.6 FPS at just a TDP of 15W in Black Myth: Wukong with 720p resolution at low settings. Compared to the AMD Strix Halo (featuring integrated Radeon 8060S graphics), this reached 39 FPS with the same configuration.

Not only this, but Team Blue's Core Ultra X9 388H even managed to reach 30 FPS at just 10W. Considering the ROG Xbox Ally X with its AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme offers up 16.6 FPS at 35W TDP in Cyberpunk 2077 at 720p and Ultra settings, at 11.9 FPS at 17W, this shows the gains Intel has made with its CPU for handheld gaming.

This supports the benchmarks we've seen in Intel's Core Ultra 3 X9 chip in the Asus Zenbook Duo, with it using 45W as opposed to an Acer Predator Triton 14 AI with RTX 5070 using 140W. Of course, with its discrete GPU, Nvidia's graphics card offers better performance, but with lower TDP, Team Blue's chip still impresses.

That's a promising outlook for upcoming gaming handhelds, and Intel has previously confirmed it will be launching a suite of handheld gaming consoles boasting Intel Core Ultra Series 3 at CES 2026.

"They are the testament of our strategy to bring what the market requires," an Intel spokesperson told Tom's Guide. "A powerful CPU, a powerful GPU, packed with great efficiency within the same solution. With our 12Xe configuration, we deliver performance that approaches discrete GPU levels in thinner, lighter, and more portable devices. This meets the needs of customers and reflects our strategic commitment to rapidly advancing the capabilities of integrated GPUs."

Multi-frame generation is a big win

Aside from improved power efficiency, Intel's XeSS 3 is already knocking it out of the park with its frame generation and resolution scaling.

This would be a major perk for upcoming gaming handhelds, and while Intel confirmed to Tom's Guide that it's coming to the desktop GPU Intel Arc B580 next month (making it the only GPU we'd recommend given the RAM price crisis happening), we asked them about multi-frame generation coming to gaming handhelds.

"Gaming handhelds are an exciting and growing segment where we have more planned, featuring Intel Arc graphics. We’ll share more later this year."

Not much to go on, but considering these chips for gaming handhelds will "feature Intel Arc graphics," in other words, the latest XeSS technology we've seen in the Arc B390, it's looking likely we'll see huge gains in frame generation in gaming handhelds, too.

Combine this with the Core Ultra X9 388H's significant performance and power efficiency gains we've seen, and the future of the best gaming handhelds is looking bright. While AMD claimed its Ryzen AI CPUs beat Intel Panther Lake for gaming and AI, we'll see what Team Red has to offer when it comes to handheld gaming.

More from Tom's Guide

• Forget Nvidia: Integrated graphics could be the future for gaming laptops — here’s why
• I just tested the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro — and Panther Lake is the real deal
• ‘Chaotic’ RAM pricing won’t kill PC gaming, a CEO told me — and history backs him up

Just when I thought Intel Core Ultra Series 3 couldn’t get any better, Team Blue just dropped XeSS 3 multi-frame generation in a new graphics driver. And after testing it on my Asus Zenbook Duo with Intel Core Ultra X9 388H, my mind is blown.

While Nvidia maintains a comfortable lead in terms of performance and fidelity with DLSS 4.5, Intel's adopted the same AI trickery to scale the resolution and fill the space between rendered frames with AI-generated frames. And that leads seriously impressive gaming on ultraportable notebooks.

Of course, raw horsepower-wise, Team Green keeps a commanding lead — it has a dedicated GPU after all. But for most players, what you’re getting here is more than enough, and you get that additional benefit of vastly improved battery life, too!

So rather than rant on, I’ll answer the questions you have about it: how good are the frame rates now? Any latency worries? Any telltale signs of AI at work (like jagged edges and ghosting around objects)?

I decided to do this by putting it in one helluva mismatch of a competition — facing it off against the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI with RTX 5070. And the results? Well, there’s a lot here for Nvidia to get nervous about. Let’s get into it.

What is XeSS 3?

Think DLSS, but Intel’s version. XeSS (Xe Super Sampling) 3 brings frame generation and resolution scaling together to make games run a lot smoother than you could’ve done on just the GPU itself.

Nvidia, AMD and Intel all learned a while ago that instead of stuffing graphics cards with more and more transistors to work harder in rendering computer graphics directly on the card, they could work smarter and introduce AI into the mix to bring more efficient generational performance gains.

In Intel’s case, two things are at play here:

• Multi-frame generation: For every one frame of gameplay rendered by the GPU, AI can generate up to an extra three.
• Super Resolution: Your GPU will render the game at a lower resolution to save power, and then use AI to upscale that image to the resolution you want to play at.

XeSS 3 vs DLSS 4: Features

Intel's worked hard to bring backward compatibility to XeSS 3 with previous XeSS 2-supported games. But the list of supported games is completely dwarfed by Nvidia's DLSS.

On top of that, Team Green's been busy building out the capabilities of DLSS 4/4.5 around that new Transformer-based AI tech — with new features coming down the line like dynamic frame generation.

By the numbers

Running around Night City in Cyberpunk 2077 was already decent enough at our initial results of 67.1 FPS with XeSS 2. To watch that number increase to 217 FPS with one flick of a switch in Intel’s Graphics software is frankly mind-bending.

And don’t get it twisted — this is on an Asus Zenbook Duo running at a total power of 45 watts. There is a “burst” option that can go up to 80 watts for short durations, but for gaming, it stays largely at 45.

For context, the Nvidia gaming laptop I’m running these comparisons against (the Acer Predator Triton 14 AI with Intel Core Ultra 9 288V and RTX 5070) goes up to a combined power of 140W. So with that in mind, here’s what I was getting out-of-the-box with no tweaks to power settings.

Testing conditions and one thing to note: These games were set to the same in-game settings (1080p High), and DLSS/XeSS settings matched on parity. In some situations, this could cause potential CPU bottlenecks (the Intel Core Ultra 9 288V is more limited in performance than the Ultra X9 388H). Once we have Intel Core Ultra Series 3 gaming laptops with RTX 50-series GPUs, then the testing will be more on an even level. Consider these results a frame of reference.

As you can see, the Predator Triton 14 AI takes a clear lead here — turning on multi-frame generation brings the integrated GPU a lot closer to RTX 50-series than I expected. And at these high levels of frames, only the most enthusiastic of esports competitors need to really worry about that higher number.

Of course, I anticipate this gap between an RTX 50-series gaming laptop and an Intel Core Ultra X9 388H system would widen once you start to raise the resolution (think 1440p). In all the gaming tests Team Blue has shown me at CES 2026, they've all been at 1080p. That is for another test in the future, though!

But ultimately, this is the key to jumping ahead of AMD, but that’s an unfair comparison given the Ryzen AI Max silicon is definitely stronger than Intel. That being said, though, this does put AMD way on the back foot, and given the rumors that Team Red could be stuck on RDNA 3.5 iGPU architecture until 2029, it could stay that way for years… Yikes.

Visual impressions

OK, so the frames are good. Let’s pixel peep it (of course, these images are compressed a bit — you've gotta love the internet for that). Let me put some comparisons up with no names:

Now, for a question for my fellow gamers.

Got your answer locked in? You best not have been peeping at the answer!

…answered? OK, click to reveal the truth below.

That’s right — the first of all the images is the Predator Triton 14 AI with RTX 5070, and the second is the Zenbook Duo. Could you tell the difference?

So to my eyes, the answer is “yes.” XeSS 3 is still a step behind DLSS 4. There’s noticeable ghosting around fast-moving objects, small details like chain fences can warp the image behind it a little, and there’s some jagged edges.

But in the midst of gameplay, it doesn’t discount what Intel has done here. For the ultimate fidelity, a gaming laptop packing an Nvidia GPU is still the way to go. But with what Intel's managed to do, it’s clear that integrated graphics have taken a monster leap forward.

What about latency?

Multi-frame generation may be a bit of a breakthrough to many reading this, but it’s not all rosy. Fitting additional AI-generated frames in between rendered frames can introduce latency. And if your GPU is already chugging along at a slow frame rate, you’ll feel that latency more when the gameplay is smoother.

That’s why I’d always recommend tweaking your game’s graphics settings to ensure you’re getting 45-60 FPS before fiddling with multi-frame generation. With this base level, your latency should be low enough that you won’t feel it impact your gameplay — particularly in single player titles. In competitive multiplayer, where every frame counts, I’d keep it turned off.

That being said, though, Nvidia has improved DLSS quite a lot in this area, and Intel’s just rocked up with something mighty impressive. On average, you’re getting about 2ms more latency than you’d find compared to DLSS 4 MFG’s 42ms (4X mode).

So 44ms on average, and at these levels of latency, the vast majority of you are going to have a perfectly fine gaming experience on this system — which I should remind you is INTEGRATED GRAPHICS.

The future

So the present is looking incredibly bright for Intel’s XeSS 3. Without this tech already in there, the Zenbook Duo I’ve been testing has been a marvel for iGPU gaming, while bringing a huge battery life increase over your standard gaming laptop.

And now, this mini breakthrough just made things a whole lot more intriguing. With gaming laptops furnishing those who are chasing the absolute best performance and nothing else, Intel Core Ultra X series chips now pose a better balance for most players.

But where does it go in the future? Well, as Tony Polanco confirmed, Intel has told Tom’s Guide that multi-frame generation is coming to the Intel Arc B580 desktop GPU. And with that, my favorite budget GPU just became the one I’d recommend to everyone, given the RAM price crisis has just made all Nvidia GPUs skyrocket in cost.

Next, if I could make a quick wish, it would be to take a couple of learnings from Nvidia. Dynamic frame generation would be significant not just on-laptop performance, but also plugging into monitors and TVs.

And finally, there’s one area that Team Green has had the lead for years that Intel needs to catch up on — game compatibility. Don’t get me wrong, they’re working on it and all 50+ XeSS 2 titles support XeSS 3. But we need more titles on this list!

More from Tom's Guide

• I’m benchmarking an Intel Core Ultra X9 388H laptop right now — what would you like me to test?
• Samsung just confirmed 20% higher prices for Galaxy Book 6 with Intel Core Ultra Series 3 — here's what this means for you
• ‘Chaotic’ RAM pricing won’t kill PC gaming, a CEO told me — and history backs him up

The year of the laptop has its first big launch, and it’s the Asus Zenbook Duo cooly saying “allow me to reintroduce myself” with a fresh redesign and a monster of an engine lying under the hood.

And for sure, in terms of the laptop itself, there’s a lot to write home about here. The Zenbook Duo has gone through quite a glow up with the ceraluminum finish that feels great to the touch, and the new hinge mechanism that folds into itself and creates a more seamless transition between the two panels (no more lip here).

Speaking of those panels, the two OLED displays here are simply mesmerizing — brighter than last generation and more vivid with color to boot. Throw in better battery distribution between the two parts for a more even weighting, a sturdier kickstand and a keyboard deck with improved ergonomics and you’re well onto something special here.

But the real big feature here is that Intel Core Ultra X9 388H powering the system. In terms of what it can do, think the power of Dodge Charger with the efficiency of a Toyota Prius. In our benchmarking, the CPU side of things is certainly strong — especially in multi-threaded tasks like loading multiple tabs or encoding software.

Then you get to that integrated GPU packing 12 Xe3 cores and the performance while gaming or working on graphics-intensive tasks is a shocking step up over last year. I’m talking Cyberpunk 2077 flowing at nearly 70 FPS in 1080p.

And Intel did say this was the performance of Arrow Lake meeting the power efficiency of Lunar Lake…I think they undersold that as the battery life takes a massive leap here up to 14 hours in our testing. I called this chip Team Blue’s fightback moment — turns out they took it seriously.

It’s just a shame about that price. Not the biggest surprise it’s gone up, Asus did warn about this days before CES 2026, but at $2,299 ($500 over the price of the top-spec model last year) that’s quite a sting to the wallet that I can only guess is due to the RAM price crisis fallout.

Asus Zenbook Duo (2026): Cheat Sheet

• Who is it for? The Zenbook Duo is for those who don’t want to compromise too much on their multi-monitor setup when they’re out and about.
• What does it cost? You can pick one up for $2,299/£2,099. Pre-orders go live some time in Q1.
• What do we like? The design overhaul is a real sharpening up of the looks and feels here — looking a whole lot better and ergonomically feeling better to get stuff done on. The upgraded OLED displays are a joy and Intel Core Ultra X9 388H is the key that unlocks some shocking performance and power efficiency gains from Team Blue.
• What don’t we like? Shame about the big price increase — $500 more for this than the Zenbook Duo launched last year.

Asus Zenbook Duo (2026): Specs

Asus Zenbook Duo (2026): The ups

So let’s get into it. This is not just an important next-gen device for Asus, but it’s a big moment for Intel too. And as you can guess by the score I’ve given this device, the Zenbook Duo nails it by finding just the right balance.

Intel’s got its swagger back

Now, to the headline here. Intel Core Ultra Series 3 (codenamed Panther Lake) is Team Blue’s comeback moment, and based on what I’ve seen testing the Zenbook Duo, they nailed it. However, it’s worth putting this into context, as it can be easy to get wrapped up in the hype of it all.

The Core Ultra X9 388H has been quickly marketed in comparison to AMD’s Gorgon Point chipsets, which unsurprisingly, it beats handily. But its closest kin, performance and price-wise, is actually that Ryzen AI Max monster of a chip you find in the Asus ROG Flow Z13 (codenamed Strix Halo).

Through that lens, you can see these chips trading blows — especially on CPU speeds. But it’s clear that AMD’s setup is a little stronger on a silicon level. While we don’t have Snapdragon X2 Elite laptops yet, I do have my benchmarks from the testing event last year and added the M5 MacBook Pro in here to show how Arm manages to take a lead on single- and multi-threaded tasks.

Then we turn our attention to the GPU. Arm chips don’t really stand up to what x86 silicon is capable of, and while compatibility is being worked on for gaming on Snapdragon, Intel and AMD still have the lead. And Core Ultra X9 388H is a step behind Strix Halo, but well ahead of AMD’s mid-range.

Plus there’s XeSS tech courtesy of those 12 Xe3 cores on the integrated GPU. That unlocks some impressive AI trickery, and while we’re waiting for the new drivers to provide multi-frame generation to supported titles, the current model tears through AAA games with ease.

So impressive gains, but AMD is still ahead. That’s only half the story, though. Where it really comes into its own is how it’s able to do all of this with power efficiency unlike anything I’ve seen in x86 laptops — making this dual-screen laptop stretch out much further by being much more economical with the wattage than a single-screen AMD system.

On the sliding scale between performance and power efficiency, the ROG Flow Z13’s Strix Halo chip showed what happens when you start to move that dial back towards efficiency, but it’s still a hungry chip for the battery juice. You can see that in the thermals, as the Flow reaches 95 degrees under some pressure, and the Zenbook Duo is a whole 10 degrees less.

Intel’s Core Ultra X9 388H makes the choice to further move that dial, compromise a little on raw performance, and make up for some of those gaming performance losses with AI. And to me daily-driving these laptops, that’s a better balance — still matching something like an RTX 4050 gaming laptop, while offering more worry-free stamina and just enough horsepower under the hood.

Redesign brings dual-screen to the mainstream(ish)

Over the past couple of years, the Asus Zenbook Duo has been one redesign away from being something that really takes the idea of a dual-screen laptop into the mainstream. And low and behold, it’s happened!

The new ceraluminum finish feels premium to the touch and is impressively finger-print resistant, but the main win here comes with that new hideaway hinge design.

On Zenbook Duos of old, the upper display would fold down behind the other screen, which made it a little wobbly and created an awkward-looking chin.

Now, the hinge folds back on itself and stows away to make the fully extended form a fully flat panel. Pair it with a sturdier hinge and you’ve got a far more seamless experience with much thinner bezels around that gorgeous display too (more on that later).

Of course, a dual screen laptop is always going to add extra thickness to the whole thing, but this is still easily stashed into a backpack.

And finally, that keyboard deck feels a lot better under the fingers. The touchpad is larger and smoother with edge gestures to control brightness, volume and scrub videos, while the keys themselves have a much nicer tactile depth (and the Bluetooth connection lasts much longer on the battery).

Though it is worth noting that dual screen laptops are still quite an unknown thing in small towns like mine. I’m sure in big cities with more tech-savvy people you’d go unnoticed, but you will get some odd looks pulling this out in the local pub.

A feast for the eyes (and surprisingly, the ears)

Now onto the star (well…stars) of the show. Those OLED displays are bright, vibrant and commanding of your attention. Flowing at a buttery smooth 120Hz and touting solid color accuracy for getting the creative pro work done, while also having a nice immersive HDR-ey depth for gaming.

But low key, the most surprising upgrade for me has to be the speakers. In past generations, the speaker system was just…there. Perfectly fine for Windows dings and some casual watching of YouTube clips, but really light on bass.

And while these aren’t MacBook Pro levels of loud and bassy, Asus has made some significant strides forward here with some nicer levels of warmth alongside good definition of the highs and mids.

Asus Zenbook Duo (2026): The downs

Asus has fixed just about all of my previous gripes with the Zenbook Duo, but with that comes quite the price tag.

RAMageddon comes for us all

In my time talking to Intel, it seemed clear that most laptop makers were sitting on “around 9-12 months of inventory.” That made me pretty optimistic that maybe (at least for the next chunk of the year) laptops won’t be hit as significantly by the RAM price crisis.

However, Asus did say price increases were coming. I just didn’t expect the price rise to be so sharp. In the tech reviewing space, companies always want to put their best foot forward with the best spec. This spec is $500 more than last year’s top spec… Do you feel the $500 more?

That Intel Core Ultra X9 is a bit of a breakthrough for Team Blue and for Asus, but if you’re already on a model from last year, I’d want to make sure you don’t waste your money. The improvements here are great, but not worth paying the additional uplift in getting in.

As for everybody else reading this, that comes down to whether you’ve dragged out the life cycle of your laptop and are in the market for an upgrade. Looking for that balance between performance and power efficiency after years on the same notebook? This could be the dark horse choice for you.

Asus Zenbook Duo (2026): Verdict

I don’t want the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H to overshadow that this is a great dual-screen notebook that brings the idea of two panels on the go much more into the mainstream.

The Zenbook Duo has gone through a thoughtful glow up, given two glorious OLED panels and ergonomic uplifts that make it a thoroughbred of a productivity machine.

But Panther Lake is the key that brings all of this together nicely with a chip that provides both the horsepower and stamina to bring this back in line with what you’d expect from single-screen systems. Price aside, this is a belter.

This is the year of the laptop, and Intel Core Ultra Series 3 looked set to be at the center of this revolution.

But after Intel told me that “a lot” of laptop partners could be isolated from the RAM price crisis by sitting on “9 to 12 months of inventory,” Samsung just confirmed that its Galaxy Book 6 Pro and Book 6 Ultra will be around 20% more expensive than last-gen.

While laptop makers may be somewhat isolated, it's looking like we'll still see some price increases.

What are we going to be paying?

So it’s worth noting that we have some specific options here — floating around the upper mid-range level of Intel’s chip offerings. And this is Samsung’s own Korean launch pricing, which may not be fully representative of what the actual price will be (taxes and all that). But it gives us a rough idea.

Compared to the Galaxy Book 5 Pro, that’s a roughly 20% uplift; same goes for comparing to the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra.

A “perfect combination” of issues

Here’s where it gets interesting, though. Samsung is in a long line of companies who will also probably raise prices. Asus sounded the alarm just before CES 2026, and after speaking to all the laptop makers on the showfloor, it’s clear that cost was the last thing anybody wanted to talk about.

But also there’s what Intel said, which does stand at odds with what the price sheets are telling us. “A lot of our OEM partners have about 9 to 12 months inventory…when it comes to laptops, there is a long lead time of memory securing,” Nish Neelalojanan, Intel’s Senior Director of Product Management, told Tom’s Guide.

Talking further about what may be causing this, Nish highlighted three key areas: component shortages, a significant increase in demand (given how good the Core Ultra Series 3 chips are) and the ramp curve — basically the ramp up of production as Intel transitions from making its first chips to full-scale production at high volume.

“We are ramping up as expected to a ramp curve, and there is a significant amount of demand given how great these chips are performing,” Neelalojanan commented. “So a perfect combination of industry-level component shortages, significantly increased demand, and also the ramp curve…you’re getting mixed signals depending on where the different partners are.”

Outlook

So, put simply, there may be some isolation from the huge price increases seen in RAM components with this inventory. But there will still be some price increases across the board for the premium options.

Of course, we’ll have to see what these affordable Core Series 3 options in Intel’s lineup will be asking for pricewise, and whether they are the “complete reimagining” it’s been touted as. Keep it locked to Tom’s Guide for all the reviews as they drop over the year.

More from Tom's Guide

• I’ve got an Intel Core Ultra X9 388H laptop in front of me, and I’m taking your requests LIVE on what to test
• Asus rep says memory shortage should 'start to normalize' by 2027, but 'nobody wants to be the first one to lower prices'
• 'That's not going to last': Jeff Bezos believes AI will force you to rent your PC from the cloud, and the RAM crisis is accelerating it

Intel Core Ultra Series 3 made such a strong debut that we gave it top honors in our CES 2026 awards. Now, I'm allowed to talk about the Asus Zenbook Duo sporting the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H chip (spoiler alert: Intel's got it's swagger back), and I want to help you with your buying decisions by running the tests that you want to see.

For Tom’s Guide’s first-ever live Q&A, I have one simple question: what benchmarks/tests do you want me to run? Whether you’re looking for benchmark numbers, something more finite or general use impressions, I’m here to give you as much information as possible.

Based on how many people are reading up on the leaked benchmarks in the CPU wars of 2026, I know a lot of you are keen to see how good this chip is outside of the tests you’ve seen so far. So, to help with the key decision on whether to buy one, get your requests in, and I will be sharing the results soon.

How to ask questions

All you have to do is jump to the comments section at the bottom and ask away. From there, I’ll run through as many of them as I can in chronological order and share results/impressions with you.

I will only be answering questions about this Intel Core Ultra X9 388H laptop, and I want this to be a safe space for anyone to know anything about it. Please treat everyone (including yours truly) with respect and avoid any nasty language.

What is Intel Core Ultra X9 388H?

To catch you up, Intel announced these chips under the codename of Panther Lake back in September 2025, and from the word "go," I was blown away by the performance and power efficiency of this top-of-the-range chip.

That comes down to three key things. First, the new generation of chip architecture (named Intel 18A) makes small but crucial changes to the way transistors are made to ensure every drip of power is committed towards the chip's tasks and not wasted.

Second, the new low power cores are packed with memory that allows them to do more of the general day-to-day tasks at a super lower wattage. And third, that integrated GPU is a bit of a breakthrough — packing 12 beasty Xe3 cores alongside Intel's own AI trickery in XeSS resolution scaling and multi-frame generation to deliver some crazy good performance.

I will be doing so many tests of this myself, and I'm looking forward to running it through the gauntlet of all your test questions too!

At the beginning of this year, I told you this is going to be the year of the laptop — with price being the thing that could crash the party, which as you know is the biggest fear surrounding the RAM pricing crisis.

And while there have been some warning signs, such as Asus warning prices could go up just before CES 2026, laptops have remained somewhat steady (give or take a few laptops).

Well, I think I have the reason for that. Speaking with Nish Neelalojanan, Intel’s Senior Director of Product Management, he confirmed to Tom’s Guide that most laptop-making partners (known as OEMs) that Intel works with have “about 9 to 12 months of inventory.”

There are other things at play here, too, which I’ll talk about later. But it’s this bit in particular that should provide a window of relief in which to upgrade.

Surviving RAMageddon by planning ahead

“If anyone could predict the memory market, they would be rich by now,” Neelalojanen joked, as we started to talk about this situation. “That said, a lot of our OEM partners have about 9 to 12 months inventory…when it comes to laptops, there is a long lead time of memory securing.”

This comes down a lot to how this business works. While we’ve seen what this year’s slate of laptops look like, I’ve no doubt that the likes of Asus and MSI already have their eyes on the next couple of years (at least). It pays to plan far ahead and start to stock up for future releases, and that seems to be what has happened here.

I did fear for the Dell XPS 14 — coming in at $2,050 over last year’s $1,699. But as a Dell rep confirmed, the one shown at CES isn’t an entry-level configuration, and that cheaper systems that are similar to last year’s costs will be coming in February.

Working smarter, not harder

There are also some tweaks made to the architecture of Intel Core Ultra Series 3, and work that Team Blue is doing in the background that could combat this.

First, the L3 cache on the chip has been significantly increased, and the E-cores have access to it. This is a level of shared memory that acts almost as a gate bridge between the CPU and the RAM, which can take some work on.

And with up to 18MB that can be utilized when the laptop’s relying on those power efficiency cores, in Nish’s own words, “all of that caching is definitely going to help with not relying too much on system memory.”

Second, more control over how much system memory is used. I saw a demo of a software memory slider, which gives you instant control over how much memory is accessible to the chip. This is being made available to what Microsoft calls the ISVS (Independent Software Vendors), so they can have better control over how system memory is utilized for their apps.

“So there is a whole bunch of opening up system, adding more cache, opening up system memory more accessible to software beyond windows, and also more tools and tips so that memory allocation is done more effectively,” Neelalojanen added.

Outlook

While this isn’t a silver bullet against RAMageddon (AI is going to consume the majority of the planet’s DRAM chips after all), it’s encouraging to see two key things happening here.

First, most laptop makers have planned ahead. This should hopefully insulate new systems from price increases for at least the next few months. And second, it’s forcing companies like Microsoft to look into their software and make it more efficient.

For too long, the likes of Windows 11 have set their sights squarely on packing in new features without really thinking about their efficiency, and for good reason, because RAM prices weren’t being impacted. Now that they are, it’s time to work on the plumbing rather than give us new Copilot features for the sake of it.

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• I tested MSI’s Prestige redesign and now my usual laptop recommendations are in trouble
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Intel's Panther Lake chipsets are expected to be a generational leap for handheld gaming consoles. It's something AMD, which powers machines like the MSI Claw A8 and the rumored PlayStation 6 handheld, should potentially be worried about.

Surprisingly, a new leak from regular gaming tipster Kepler_L2 shared a comparison of the Panther Lake and the rumored AMD codenamed 'Canis' custom chip.

Rumors have asserted that Canis will come with 4 Zen 6C cores based on 15W power. According to Kepler, Panther Lake will hit 30W.

The PS6 handheld is supposed to be capable of running PS5 games natively, with a slightly lower fidelity. Kepler claims that Panther Lake will offer similar performance to the Canis chip, but with double the power consumption.

He also said that the AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme is too slow, while the Strix Halo is too fast. Panther Lake, meanwhile, would hit the middle ground between those poles.

Panther Lake won't be a slouch

On one level, Panther Lake offering similar peformance as Canis with double the power consumption sounds bad. However, AMD gets to optimize its chip for Sony's proprietary PlayStation OS.

Panther Lake handhelds will handle a bigger range of games, programs and beefier operating systems, so a higher power consumption makes sense. Plus, a report from VideoCardz leaked a new Intel Core G3 chip based on Panther Lake that will be made exclusively for handheld consoles. Those will likely be more optimized with lower power draw.

Panther Lake based handhelds will likely launch before the end of 2026, so we'll see how they truly perform before the year is out. Our initial testing at CES 2026, shows these chips will be powerful.

Meanwhile, the earliest we expect to see the PS6 handheld and the main PS6 console is in the fall of 2027, possibly early 2028, which would mark the traditional seven-year cycle Sony has stuck to for its previous consoles.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tried gaming on an Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chip — and it kicks off a new era of PC gaming
• Intel at CES 2026: How to watch the Core Ultra Series 3 keynote and what to expect
• Apple’s M-series chip 5 years later: How ditching Intel revolutionized computing — and what’s next

Asus pulled out all the stops with its lineup of next-gen gaming laptops at CES 2026, with its bonkers dual-screen Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo and a Death Stranding-inspired ROG Flow Z13. But one key device surprisingly didn't make an appearance: the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 with Panther Lake.

In many ways, this is Asus' flagship machine that's one of the best laptops around, and while there were updated machines with RTX 50-series, the leaked integrated model was canned. Well, sort of, as we got a chance to see the ROG Zephyrus G14 with an Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chip during a hands-on demo in December, and there was no discrete GPU in sight.

Sporting an Intel Core Ultra X9 388H with integrated Intel Arc B390 graphics, this would be the first Zephyrus G14 without a GPU. As with the current Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025), these laptops usually come with graphics cards now up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080. However, with the power to game on an Intel Panther Lake chip, Asus was looking to shift gears.

For now, though, this wasn't meant to be. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 with an Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chip mysteriously vanished despite an upcoming reveal, but we now have some insight behind its apparent cancellation.

What happened?

During the lead-up to CES 2026, we got a preview of the ROG Zephyrus G14 with Intel Arc B390 power during an Asus hands-on event in December. Because of this, we were anticipating its big reveal during the CES showcase.

However, at the last-minute, Asus pulled the laptop from the show. It was briefly seen at Intel's demo booth, but was reportedly later removed from the area and wasn't seen again (as told by French outlet Les Numériques).

Many believe the ROG Zephyrus G14 was cancelled or at least postponed due to supply chain issues, with Asus later confirming a "change in strategy" for the laptop. Due to this, it is now looking to be cancelled.

After hearing about the Intel Core Ultra X9 G14's cancellation, we started asking around and found other companies confirming a struggle to nail down supply. So our own Jason England put the question to Intel themselves in an interview that will be published soon.

"A perfect combination of industry-level component shortages, significantly increased demand because of how good the chips are and also ramping up production, you're getting mixed signals depending on where the different partners are," Nish Neelalojanan, Senior Director of Product Management at Intel, commented.

"Good news is there are plenty of X9 designs available. So as a gamer, you will be able to go buy an X9 system from your favorite retailers. There will be availability."

While we will see laptops equipped with an Intel Core Ultra X9 chip for integrated graphics gaming performance, it won't be from the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 right now. But perhaps this wouldn't have been the best fit after all.

Not the right fit?

During an interview with Asus, I asked whether we'd see integrated graphics on laptops, with Asus' Director of Technical Marketing Sascha Krohn stating: "I would say we're definitely getting into the territory where that becomes a possibility." However, the timing may not be right for the ROG Zephyrus G14.

It's clear that gaming on an Intel Core Ultra Series X9 or X7 processor has seen significant improvements in integrated graphics, being able to play the likes of Battlefield 6 at over 140 FPS at max settings without a discrete GPU. However, it still doesn't reach the heights of an RTX 50-series GPU, and the ROG Zephyrus G14 is known for its top-level performance in a compact design.

Asus may have changed plans to make sure its flagship gaming laptop still offered plenty of power to run the latest PC games at a high level of settings, but as Intel states, demand for the chip would mean a very limited supply for the G14, too.

However, this doesn't take away from the perks of an Intel Panther Lake chip being used in a laptop that isn't just made for gaming, but also for productivity, too. After testing Intel Panther Lake, we've seen major gains in power efficiency, and this should result in machines with gaming performance that have a much longer battery life.

At the very least, we will be seeing an Asus TUF Gaming A14 with an AMD Strix Halo chip, giving us powerful integrated graphics in the company's more budget lineup of laptops.

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Intel showed off how it raised the bar on integrated graphics in laptops at CES 2026, thanks to the arrival of its Intel Core Ultra Series 3 CPUs. Now, after seeing the latest PC games like Battlefield 6 pushing well past 120 frames per second (FPS) at max settings on a laptop not built for gaming, I'm blown away by the results.

No discrete GPU here, just a chip using Intel Arc B390 graphics (a.k.a. 12 Xᵉ cores) that features everything you'd expect from the latest graphics cards. That includes what Intel calls "Modern Rendering," with XeSS 3 tech featuring ray tracing, AI-based upscaling and multi-frame generation up to x4. If anything, it puts Nvidia's lower-end RTX 50-series GPUs on notice.

With Intel Core Ultra X9 and X7 processors, we're getting a 77% bump in faster graphics and 53% increase in faster AI compared to the previous Lunar Lake chips. That's a significant jump, and the end result is thin and light laptops being able to play the latest big-budget PC games without needing a dedicated graphics card — and at a high level.

I got a chance to try out many of the latest titles during a hands-on demo, and I'm already impressed by the high-level performance and smooth frame rates Intel's next-gen Core Ultra Series 3 chips bring to laptops. One thing's for sure: your next gaming laptop may not need a dedicated GPU after all.

A major leap for integrated graphics

As Intel boldly claimed during its big keynote, the Arc B390 in Core Ultra X9 and X7 chips will see Battlefield 6 at Overkill settings (the highest visual settings) and Super Resolution running at 59 FPS. Turn on its multi-frame generation tech, though, and this can be upscaled to a super-smooth 145 FPS.

That was fully on show during a brief demo I tried. Now, Battlefield 6 was already a well-optimized game when I tested it on an RTX 5070 gaming PC, where I was getting over 200 FPS at 4K with DLSS 4 switched on. However, this doesn't take away from how well a laptop sporting a Core Ultra Series 3 chip can handle it, as I was seeing detailed visuals and buttery-smooth framerates as explosions and gunfire went off all around me.

But there was more on show. I also got to try Dying Light: The Beast, where I saw framerates reaching 196 FPS at what appeared to be high settings. As expected, it was stunning running around, dropkicking zombies with beautiful visuals thanks to ray tracing.

Also on show was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Marvel Rivals and Painkiller, and while I couldn't see their frame rates or settings, Intel has confirmed that we can expect over 100 FPS with 1080p at high settings using XᵉSS Super Resolution.

Not only does it make playing competitive shooters on an Intel Core Ultra X9/X7-based laptop a breeze, but these new chips can also offer upscaled visuals in demanding PC titles — and that x4 multi-frame gen tech certainly helps.

Outlook

If there's one laptop I'm keeping an eye out for in 2026, it's one boasting an Intel Core Ultra X9 or X7 processor. Team Blue has pushed integrated graphics on its next-gen chip even further with Intel Arc B390, and from the games I've played, it's looking to kick off a new era of PC gaming on thin and light laptops.

Of course, we'll have to put these Intel-based machines through their paces in our testing labs once we get our hands on them, but it's looking like we could see these laptops creep into our list of the best gaming laptops — especially for gamers on the move (and if the price is right, no less).

Speaking of, with Intel also announcing an entire handheld gaming platform with Panther Lake chips, gamers will have a lot to look forward to this year.

More from Tom's Guide

• Dell XPS is back! I went hands-on with the new XPS 14 — and it's the best kind of apology
• I just saw Alienware's new ultra-slim gaming laptop at CES 2026 — and it's nearly as thin as a MacBook Air
• Qualcomm announces Snapdragon X2 Plus CPUs at CES 2026 — and it promises an ‘epic’ upgrade

Update: See our top 9 gadgets of CES 2026 from day 3!

We've wrapped day two at the Consumer Electronics Show 2026. And, after day one dazzled us with some truly spectacular new TVs, it's now all about the laptops. We saw new machines from MSI and Acer alongside the very nice-looking XPS 14 from Dell.

But it wasn't just laptops stealing our attention in Las Vegas. For the first time ever, Lego held a CES keynote. The reason? The iconic toy brand wanted to show off its first "smart brick" — a standard Lego brick with a tiny computer packed inside that can work with NFC-enabled smart tags. Cool!

Of course, it wouldn't be CES without some head-turning weird tech that may — or may not — actually make it on sale in 2026. Like the Ascentiz H1 Pro exoskeleton that our senior fitness writer Dan used to assist him in walking around the vast exhibition halls.

Make sure you check out our ongoing CES 2026 live blog for the very latest from the show, and here's our day 1 round-up of the 10 best new gadgets we saw.

Dell XPS 14

After abandoning the XPS line, Dell has admitted its mistake and brought these premium laptops back in a big way. The XPS 14 and 16 were both on show in Las Vegas and our Global Editor in Chief Mark Spoonauer spent some quality time with the CNC-machined aluminum XPS 14 that's just 14.6mm thin — in between the MacBook Air M4 (11.3mm) and MacBook Pro M5 (15.5mm).

There's a mesmerizing 2.8K OLED display with a variable refresh rate going all the way down to 1Hz to conserve battery life. The XPS 14 is powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors and built-in Arc graphics, so you should expect smooth performance. There's a range of CPU options, including a Core Ultra 5, Core Ultra 7, X7 and X9. And the RAM options go from 16GB to 32GB and a max of 64GB.

The only catch is that, with the price of RAM skyrocketing due to AI-driven demand, the price is going to be tough to hear. According to Dell, prices start at $2,049.

Intel Panther Lake

Intel's keynote took place during our second day of CES and the brand stepped up to show off its new Intel Core Ultra Series 3 laptop chips. Codenamed Panther Lake, they were first revealed back in October, but CES has given us our first look at them in action.

The big change is that Panther Lake is built on the new Intel 18A node and employs a "System of Chips" design featuring up to 16 cores and fabricated out of smaller "tiles," which can be moved and swapped to fine-tune performance and efficiency.

In addition, the GPU built into these new Core Ultra 3 chips introduces a new, more efficient Xᵉ3 graphics architecture and scales up to 12 Xᵉ cores and 12 Ray Tracing Units, delivering better performance and featuring an increased 16 MB L2 Cache in the high-end configuration.

There's also better multi-thread performance and a number of other tricks that my colleague Alex Wawro has detailed right here.

Strutt ev1 personal mobility vehicle

Let's get fun for a second. My colleague Mike Prospero took this "personal mobility vehicle" for a spin around the show floor and called it a cross between Professor X's wheelchair and a Tesla. I'll share the bad news up front: You can pre-order it for $5,299, but its regular price will run you $7,499. Ouch.

But here's what you get for your money, the Strutt's four motors power it at speeds of up to 7 mph (11.3 km/h), and it can carry a maximum payload of 350 lbs (160 kg). It'll glide up hills as steep as 13-degrees, and ride over curbs up to 2 inches in height. Finally, the 18.5Ah/592Wh removable battery is good for about 20 miles of range.

The cherry on top is that it's voice-controlled with built-in navigation. So you can sit there and just tell it where you want to go. If you want to know more, read Mike's hands-on with the Strutt ev1 here.

Hisense UR8 RGB Mini-LED TV

Day one of CES 2026 was dominated by LG and Samsung's new TV smarts but Hisense has also arrived at the party. This Chinese brand has constantly impressed us with its value for money and this year we got a good look at how it's embracing Mini-LED technology.

Hisense has upgraded its RGB Mini-LED architecture to include a fourth primary color. The addition of cyan — or sky blue, as Hisense calls it — is said to improve the color fidelity, and there are several models to choose from this year.

The Hisense UR9 and the Hisense UR8 are the brand’s first attempt to scale the tech down to smaller screen sizes. It was previously limited to a 116-inch display in the Hisense 116UX but these new sets will be available in sizes ranging from 55 to 100 inches.

Lego Smart Brick

This was a bit of a left-field reveal at CES, but we are totally here for it. The European toy brand Lego revealed its first-ever "smart brick" at a dedicated keynote that included a demo of how it'll work.

The company has fitted a tiny computer into a standard 2x4 Lego brick that's capable of detecting NFC-enabled tags inside new Lego tiles and minifigures. When the block detects one of these (or another smart brick) it will react dynamically.

Lego says it will make sets come to life with features like sound effects, lighting or movement.

Ascentiz H1 Pro exoskeleton

Exoskeletons aren't as strange a sight these days as you might expect. We saw one at last year's CES and they're back again for 2026. This year, senior fitness writer Dan Bracaglia strapped on the Ascentiz H1 Pro and called it the most comfortable exoskeleton he's tested.

Like other exoskeletons, the Ascentiz relies on AI to analyze a user’s stride, ensuring natural movement assistance. While Dan says it wasn't as powerful as exoskeletons from Hypershell and Arc'teryx, the range of movement was more comfortable.

Weighing just 4.4 pounds (sans battery), the H1 Pro is surprisingly unburdensome to wear. It also folds down into a neat little package that can easily be stored in a gym bag. So whether you're hiking around a massive trade show or want some help at the squat rack, this looks like a winner.

Ascentiz has a few different models in development, and you can find more information over at its fully-backed active Kickstarter campaign.

MSI Pro Max QD-OLED monitor

MSI always shows up in full force at CES with new laptops, graphics cards and gaming PCs, but this year, my colleague Anthony Spadafora said he was interested in the company's new Pro Max 271UPXW12G monitor.

This all-white QD-OLED display isn’t just another gaming or business monitor. Instead, it’s designed to work perfectly with your Mac; it features M-Color Mode for seamless color synchronization and even allows you to adjust brightness and volume directly from your MacBook shortcut keys.

So, if you're looking for an alternative to the $1,599 Apple Studio Display, this could well be it. Especially as Anthony thinks this could arrive with a sub $1,000 price point. You can read all his thoughts on it right here.

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo

Asus has stepped up to CES 2026 with the world’s first dual-screen 16-inch gaming laptop. It's an OLED waterfall that seems like overkill in all the right ways.

Computing Editor Jason England took a look at the two 16-inch 3K OLED displays and proclaimed them: "drop-dead gorgeous, running at a buttery smooth 120Hz and sporting HDR support."

Both displays are attached onto a hinge that can bend back a full 320-degrees too and since this is a Zephyrus machine, the specs list is crazy good. There's an Intel Core Ultra Series 3 CPU, up to RTX 5090 laptop GPU, 64GB LPDDR5X RAM and a 2TB SSD — pumping 135W through that GPU. You also get plenty of I/O including Thunderbolt 4, and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity to boot.

You can check out more of Jason's thoughts on this beast of a laptop right here.

Alienware 16 Area-51 (2026)

I told you that day two of CES was going to be all about the laptops. My colleague Tony Polanco is a life-long gamer, so it's only right that he got to check out the new machines from Dell's gaming sub-brand, Alienware.

Later this year, we can expect an Alienware ultra-slim gaming laptop, coming in at just 0.66 inches (17mm) thin, which is cool. But Tony got to grips with the sturdy Alienware 16 Area-51 on the show floor.

It continues everything about last year's laptop that made it a favorite and levels up in one crucial area: the display. There's now a 240Hz OLED panel with lower latency as well as improved cooling. Tony thinks it has a good chance of being one of the best gaming laptops you can buy this year.

Unfortunately, we don’t yet have a concrete release date, but expect it sometime in the first quarter of this year. Alienware says it will share pricing closer to launch.

Nvidia's AI car tech

Nvidia is one of the biggest names in tech at the moment and the company hosted its own keynote at CES on day two. Unfortunately, we didn't get any new GeForce RTX graphics cards as the company was instead focusing on AI and robotics.

Aside from CEO Jensen Huang messing about with some Star Wars droids on stage, the most interesting development was the announcement of Nvidia Alpamay. This is a new open-source AI model for self-driving cars. Instead of being trained on data and driving reactively, this model is able to use reasoning at lightning-quick times to be proactive.

Nvidia showed it in action with a driving demo across San Francisco and it could just be the future of self-driving cars. Huang confirmed the model will be included with the 2025 Mercedes Benz CLA — already rated the world's safest car by the automotive bodies.

This new self-driving motor vehicle is heading to manufacturing and launching in the U.S. in Q1! Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.

 Eli Health Hormometer

Alongside laptops and AI, wellness tech is a big draw at CES and this at-home hormone test shows why. For just $8, you'll be able to test your cortisol levels and, from February, your testosterone and progesterone levels too. Before we go any further, it doesn't replace your doctor but it should give you some extra insight into things like your sleep and energy levels.

Once you've installed the Eli Health app on your phone, you take the saliva collection cartridge out of the sealed package and put it in your mouth for 60 seconds.

From there, you pull on a tab so that the results can start “developing,” similar to a Covid test. You’ll need to wait 20 minutes for this part but once it's done you use the app and your phone’s camera to snap a photo of the saliva stick, at which point the AI will analyze your results and give you a cortisol score.

The tests are $8 a piece, but you can get 8 tests for $99 or a 3-month supply for $225. Find out what my colleague Mark Spoonauer thought when he tried it for himself on the show floor.

Segway Navimow (2026)

It might be the middle of winter right now, but in just a few short months you're going to be looking for ways to keep your lawn looking fresh. And Segway has turned up to CES 2026 with the answer. The company revealed eight new robot lawn mowers covering five different series in the Navimow lineup.

These range in price from $999 to $2,999 for models suitable for home use. The most notable is the Navimow H2 Series, which has an impressive obstacle avoidance system that can detect objects as small as 1 centimeter.

There's also the Navimow i2 AWD series that uses a three-wheel drive system to climb up steeper slopes, along with the Navimo i215 LiDAR that generates detailed maps with its next-generation solid-state LiDAR. If you need to know more, we've got a full breakdown of the new robot mowers and their specs right here.

More from Tom's Guide

• Dell XPS is back! I went hands-on with the new XPS 14 — and it's the best kind of apology
• I saw Samsung’s 2026 flagship OLED and Micro RGB TVs side by side — here's the one I like more
• Nvidia G-Sync Pulsar is fueling the next generation of gaming monitors with a breakthrough 1,000Hz+ of perceived motion clarity — here’s how it works

Monday is always a big day for press conferences at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, and today was no exception. I know because we're on-site at CES 2026 in Las Vegas all week, and we just watched Intel's big keynote shortly after Nvidia's and not long before AMD is set to take the stage.

You can check out our Nvidia CES 2026 keynote coverage for more on that event, which was entirely about AI and robotics. Intel, on the other hand, brought a big box of new Intel Core Ultra Series 3 laptop chips to show off.

Codenamed Panther Lake, these are the same Intel chips we were first introduced to back in October. Back then, we trouped down to Intel to check out the new chips firsthand and test them ourselves, admittedly under the watchful eye of company representatives.

So while we couldn't put these new chips through our full gauntlet of performance tests, we were able to verify that under controlled conditions, these new Core Ultra 3 CPUs are faster and more power-efficient than their predecessors, which should mean better gaming performance and battery life for the best Windows laptops packing these chips.

Since I can't share any independent testing results yet, let's dive into the most notable new features of these chips as well as the specs of the full lineup. Let's dig in!

Intel Core Ultra 3: Biggest upgrades at a glance

• Core Architecture: Panther Lake is built on the new Intel 18A node and employs a "System of Chips" design featuring up to 16 cores and fabricated out of smaller "tiles," which can be moved and swapped to fine-tune performance and efficiency.
• GPU Changes: The GPU built into these new Core Ultra 3 chips introduces a new, more efficient Xᵉ3 graphics architecture and scales up to 12 Xᵉ cores and 12 Ray Tracing Units, delivering better performance and featuring an increased 16 MB L2 Cache in the high-end configuration.
• Multi-Thread Performance: Multi-thread performance is boosted by more than 50% versus Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake (a.k.a. Intel Core Ultra Series 200 and Series 100 chips) when operating at similar power levels.
• Single-Thread Power Efficiency (vs. Arrow Lake): It delivers similar single-thread performance with more than 30% less power compared to Arrow Lake, to boot.
• GPU performance: The new Xe3 architecture reportedly delivers up to 50% more GPU performance compared to Lunar Lake, and achieves 40% higher performance per watt compared to Arrow Lake H. Plus, new XeSS 3 tech introduces multi-frame generation for laptops with integrated graphics — a potential game-changer that could deliver seriously better framerates.

Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chips announced at CES 2026

Outlook

Since we already had a look at the new Panther Lake chips and knew they'd be launched at CES 2026, what I was really hoping to learn today is their specs and how much they'll cost.

So I got half of what I wanted, and for now, that's enough. I expect we'll start to see pre-order prices for laptops packing the new Intel Core Ultra Series 3 going live this week, and since the first laptops are slated to hit store shelves by January 27, we'll have a much clearer view of the pricing by the end of the month.

Given how volatile prices on laptops and components have been over the last year, I don't have high hopes that we'll see low prices on Panther Lake silicon. But I am hopeful that we're going to see some meaningfully better performance across a wide variety of Windows laptops, from dedicated gaming laptops sporting the Intel Core Ultra X9 and X7 chips to ultraportable business laptops that can achieve 20+ hours of battery life in our tests.

Of course, we'll have to wait until we can get a few new Panther Lake laptops into our testing lab — stay tuned!

More from Tom's Guide

• I went hands-on with the redesigned MSI Stealth 16 AI+ — it’s actually stealthy now, and gunning for the MacBook Pro
• Gaming on Snapdragon X Elite laptops just got a whole lot better — I tested the latest update and saw 40% faster gameplay
• Intel Panther Lake vs Snapdragon X2 Elite vs AMD Gorgon Point — one chip is already pulling ahead in 2026's CPU war

MSI’s addressing the subtlety of a premium gaming laptop with the Stealth 16, but what about for those who don’t care about stealthiness? What if you just want the most powerful system on the planet?

That’s where the new MSI Raider 16 Max HX comes in — just announced at CES 2026. I got an early look at the laptop, and yes, it is very “in your face” about its gaming looks, but with a massive 300 watts of total system power pumping through its veins, a tasty display upgrade to OLED, a beefy cooling tune-up and a 10% smaller build, this could very the beefiest system you see in 2026.

MSI Raider 16 Max MX specs

Sleeker than you’d expect

• 10% smaller in size than the previous Raider, while being 25% more power efficient.
• Huge cooling system with triple fans and a five-exhaust heatsink design allows for insane wattage.
• RGB everywhere, increased I/O in all the right places, and fast access to upgrading your SSD and RAM.

The re-engineered Raider 16 Max HX is all about the small details coming together to provide serious speed boosts where it matters. In these tweaks, MSI has been able to make it 10% smaller in size while providing more bang for your buck in the performance and ergonomics department.

For example, there’s much more flare courtesy of a strip of RGB across the bottom lip, and per-key RGB provided by Steelseries on the keyboard, which feels great to use. Throw in a tasty improvement in I/O with an SD card reader, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, all the USB-A you’d need, and HDMI 2.1 placed tactically on the back for better cable management and you’re onto a winner here.

Then there’s what’s happening on the inside. First off, you’ve got super easy upgradeability of RAM and SSD storage (provided the prices aren’t too crazy in the future) with a two-screw door to get to all the slots you need for it.

And second, there’s a monstrous cooling system here — consisting of an all-new Cooler Boost Trinity with Intra Flow thermal system to be specific. Put simply, take the back off and you’ll find three fans, six heat pipes, five exhaust vents and a phase-change thermal compound (safer to use than liquid metal), which allows for much more power to be pumped through the system.

The number? Up to 300 watts of total system power. That is insane for a gaming laptop and ensures this is the most powerful system in the world right now, while also quietening the fans from the jumbo jets you found in the last generation model.

Insane horsepower

• Refreshed Intel Core Ultra 200HX CPU with up to RTX 5090 GPU.
• Gorgeous 240Hz OLED display, up to 128GB DDR5 RAM and 2x NVMe SSD slots.

And with all that power potential, you need the chips that will take full advantage of it. Here, MSI has (obviously) gone for the top of the range RTX 5090 (other options are available) alongside the refreshed Intel Core Ultra 200HX chipset or AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX.

Power efficiency is not the biggest concern here, so focusing on the CPU that has the highest performance potential is critical. No need for Panther Lake's slow sipping of power here.

Alongside that, you can spec it out with up to 128GB of DDR5 RAM and you’ve got two PCIe SSD slots (one Gen 4 and the other Gen 5) for zippy SSD loading speeds.

All of this together will surely lead to monstrous gaming performance that pushes the max 240Hz of that mesmerizing 16-inch QHD+ OLED display (available in the Intel model only).

Outlook

This is part of MSI’s revived efforts in the gaming laptop space — simplifying the product lineup and listening to what customers want here. That involves more I/O, better displays, a slimmer chassis and an improved portable experience all around.

I didn’t even get to mention the loud-yet-clear Nahimic 3-enhanced speakers with surprisingly good bass from the woofers, or the great tactility from that keyboard and touchpad. But as it all came together in my hands, it began to make sense.

Up until this point, every super pricey MSI gaming system like the Titan 18 HX I tested last year always went hard on the performance, but also fell shy on the usability portion of it. Now, the team’s elevating all the elements, and while it will be expensive (the company’s not mentioned a price yet), you’re much more likely to feel that value on the day-to-day.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tested MSI’s redesigned Prestige laptops and they’re dangerously close to being my default recommendation
• I just switched to a 2-in-1 laptop with real aura — here's how the Lenovo Yoga 9i Aura Edition gave my workflow a glow up
• The Framework Laptop 16 is my favorite laptop of the year — here's why

Over the years, I’ve really wanted to love the MSI Stealth 16 — it’s the premium notebook packed with power that doesn't ignore the utilitarian check boxes that make for a good laptop.

Only one problem: it was never really stealthy. It still screamed gaming laptop from afar and never really fit the bill as something you concealed its true performance.

Well, MSI’s gone back to the drawing board and announced a fully redesigned Stealth 16 AI+ at CES 2026. And after going hands-on with the system, well, it looks awfully MacBook Pro-ish.

But it’s a lot more than just a facelift, as it checks off a lot of the things I noted in saying 2026 will be the year of the laptop, and with its impressive horsepower concealed, it has a solid chance of gunning for Apple’s top spot. Let me explain.

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ specs

Fresh looks

• Full aluminum chassis in a deep gray finish that looks (and feels) super premium.
• Great-feeling keyboard, huge touchpad, plenty of well-placed I/O.

So where do you begin in making a laptop stealthy? Well you go for a stealthy construction, which the 16 AI+ delivers on with its full-aluminum chassis that comes in at just 16.6mm thin and weighs just under 4.4 pounds. Yes, that sounds hefty when you think about ultraportables, but this is a fully-featured gaming system — through that lens this is super lightweight.

The dynamic lines on the lid give it a subtle edginess, and the slim, sharp side profile gives a serious professional vibe while only whispering “gamer” with that subtle RGB keyboard. Speaking of the board, those keys feel seriously good here for working with a nice tactility and a comfortable landing for each press.

Then further south, you’ll find that ocean of a touchpad — a properly massive canvas to make huge sweeping multitouch gestures across your work, with a satisfying mechanical click to it too. Then along the sides, you’ll find all the I/O you could ever need for work and play, including Thunderbolt 4, USB-A, HDMI 2.1 and Gigabit Ethernet.

Boosted internals

• Gorgeous 16-inch QHD+ OLED display up top, running at 240Hz refresh rate.
• Specs up to Intel Core Ultra 9 386H CPU and RTX 5090 laptop GPU.
• Up to 128GB RAM and two SSD slots — both easily accessible for upgradeability.
• Massive 90Wh battery and upgraded cooling gives you massive wattage potential.

Then we turn our attention to the horsepower inside. To step up to the MacBook Pro, you need some facemelting speeds, while also providing strong power efficiency. And while I can’t guarantee the latter, there’s definitely going to be that peak prosumer performance with the combination of Intel Core Ultra 9 386H CPU (Panther Lake) and RTX 5090 GPU.

This is a dynamite gaming duo, which will make any titles flow beautifully on that mesmerizing QHD+ OLED panel’s 240Hz refresh rate. Laying my eyes on the screen, I was immediately hypnotized by the flash flood of color.

But what’s also important here is the 100% DCI-P3 color gamut and SGS Eye Care. That means it’s not just a display you can game on, it’s one you can get stuff done on too — like advanced 4K video edits and RAW Photoshop grading.

Now, one common trap a lot of these premium gaming laptops (think Asus ROG Zephyrus G14) fall into is in its mission to keep everything luxurious, thermal management is often demoted and we’re left with powerful components not getting enough watts pumped through them.

Well, flip over the Stealth 16 AI+, there’s a hint that MSI’s not playing around with that huge vent across the back. This is part of the upgraded Cooler Boost with more fans and a multi-directional exhaust design — including these subtle vents above the keyboard. That increases the power pumped through that GPU by 20W to 125W if you have an RTX 5090/5080/5070Ti, or 115W if you have anything lower than that.

Top it off with a 90Wh battery that is sure to give you decent stamina in day-to-day productivity, and you’ve got a mighty system here!

Outlook

MSI came in with one mission with the Stealth 16 AI+ — give us a gaming laptop that doesn’t scream “gaming laptop,” and the team nailed it with this seriously sleek-looking system that feels premium to the touch, great to work on, but just so happens to pack a whole lot of horsepower and a delicious display to boot.

I’m really excited to get this into Tom’s Guide’s testing lab to really put it through its paces, and see whether the promise does live up to the expectations. But from early impressions of my time with it, there’s a lot to be excited about.

More from Tom's Guide

• I tested MSI’s redesigned Prestige laptops and they’re dangerously close to being my default recommendation
• I just switched to a 2-in-1 laptop with real aura — here's how the Lenovo Yoga 9i Aura Edition gave my workflow a glow up
• The Framework Laptop 16 is my favorite laptop of the year — here's why

MSI's Prestige laptops have always been more of a "bridesmaid, never the bride" kind of system lineage — very capable, but not necessarily the attention-grabbing option that captured the hearts and minds of potential laptop shoppers.

But with 2026 being the year of the laptop, the company's gone big at CES with redesigned Prestige and Prestige flip notebooks that dramatically amp up the horsepower inside and bring a fresh, premium look.

This reinvention has me considering these as a go-to recommendation next to the MacBook Air as an all-rounder that has the premium experience, great aesthetics and performance to last you a good long while.

MSI Prestige specs

Prestige 14 and 16 AI+

• Thin and lightweight: just 11.9mm and weighing in from 2.9 pounds
• Upgrade to 1200p OLED with 120Hz refresh rate and impressive increase in I/O
• Packed with up to Intel Core Ultra X9 300H CPU, 64GB LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB of storage

At first, three things immediately jumped out at me about the new MSI Prestige 14 and 16 AI+. First, it’s seriously sleek — the new aluminum chassis feels impressively premium in the hand (with a swish new logo emblazoned across the lid), and at just 11.9mm thin with 20% lighter weight, this is a cinch to just throw in your backpack.

Second came the revived ergonomics of the system. Typing away feels like a joy with the new switches on here, and is a lot less mushy than what I felt on past Prestiges with a nice tactile thump. And the real big thing here (literally) is the ocean of a touchpad that is 53% larger — allowing for grand sweeping interactions with a tactile click, and edge gestures for the likes of volume control and brightness.

And third is a mesmerizing OLED display. MSI’s going nutty with OLED for 2026, and you’ll find it across all of its range — including the 2.8K resolution panel running here at up to 120Hz refresh rate. Combine that with much more I/O including Thunderbolt 4, and you’re onto a winner.

But of course, these are only half the story here, as you need the raw horsepower inside too to make the most of it. And MSI is giving you the choice of Intel’s Core Ultra 300H series chips — including that X9 version that sports the beefy 12-core GPU, alongside up to 64GB LPDDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD.

From my time testing Intel’s Panther Lake chips, that assures impressive performance. Take that GPU into account too, and you find yourself holding a notebook that can just so happen to play games pretty well! On top of that, Team Blue’s been hard at work improving power efficiency too, and MSI claims that on its video playback battery test, the Prestiges were able to hit over 30 hours on that 90 Whr cell.

Prestige 14 and 16 Flip AI+

• 2-in-1 variants of the standard Prestiges — same aluminum body and lightweight, thin and utilitarian aesthetic
• Same internals offered too with Intel Core Ultra 300 series chips, up to 64GB LPDDR5 RAM, and 1TB of storage
• Corning Gorilla Glass on screen, and really helpful implementation of stylus directly in bottom groove of laptop

More of the same as the Prestiges, but only more flippy. Same spec configurations as above, and the keyboard, touchpad and OLED display all look/feel just as good. But given this is a 2-in-1, there are two key changes here.

First, there is Corning Glass across the front to keep that screen better protected when in full tent mode. And second, with stylus support, MSI’s come up with (easily) one of the coolest ways to stash its new Nano Pen.

Normally, laptop makers don’t factor space for a stylus onto its chassis, so you’re left having to use the awkward belt loop of a third-party case (or lose it in your backpack). Here, instead, there’s a holster integrated directly into the bottom groove of the Prestige Flip — just pop the clasp, pull it out, and then you’re ready to write.

Even better? It charges within that container too, and you can get 45 minutes of use with just a 13-second charge. Cool, right!?

Outlook

MSI’s heading in a new direction here with its productivity laptops, and it’s super clear here in the new Prestiges — four seriously impressive systems in my time holding them.

The attention to design and ergonomics is clear throughout, the OLED upgrade brings a flash flood of color to the party, and those speedy internals kept cool with a vapor chamber is a clear boost in performance and power efficiency, while keeping it quiet.

Based on these and the many new systems coming with ground-up overhauls, it’s going to be a good year for MSI.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just discovered a secret productivity hack for my Mac, and it’s transformed how I focus
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• The Framework Laptop 16 is my favorite laptop of the year — here's why

As soon as I was starting to get used to the codename Panther Lake, Intel Core Ultra Series 3 is set to be made official at a CES 2026 keynote on Monday, January 5. After a couple of years of disappointing laptop silicon, this is Team Blue’s fightback moment, and after testing the chips myself, they’re coming in heavy with a big generational leap.

And you can expect to see them in so many laptops announced in Vegas. Here’s how you can watch the announcement live with us, and specific details you can expect Intel to cover.

How to watch Intel at CES 2026

The Intel keynote is set to kick off on Monday, January 5 at 3pm PT / 6pm ET / 11pm GMT. There is a livestream page with a countdown timer over on Intel’s website. But currently beyond that, there’s no YouTube livestream available for this yet. I’ve no doubt that one will be shared on Intel’s YouTube page soon enough

What to expect from Intel at CES 2026

This is the most obvious one to predict, because there’s no prediction whatsoever. As Intel itself says on the event page, Senior VP Jim Johnson is going to talk to us about Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors — codenamed Panther Lake.

I’ve already had the chance to test these quite a lot last year, and to put it simply, you’re in for a treat. These chips pair the raw performance of Arrow Lake with the power efficiency of Lunar Lake, and combines them into one chunk of silicon for quite the generational leap in laptop prowess.

In practice, this leads to a 50% improvement in CPU and GPU performance, a 40% reduction in the power needed to achieve those highs, and NPU improvements that aim to make on-device Agentic AI a real thing this year.

It gets even more tasty when you look at the X-series chips (rumored name) — the top of the range ones I tested that sports that mighty 12-core GPU on the chip die. With Intel’s Xe3 technology driving the latest iteration of Team Blue’s XeSS AI trickery in gaming, I was able to play AAA titles in excess of 120 FPS on integrated graphics.

Outlook

Intel is one of three companies jumping headfirst into the CPU wars of 2026 with a CES keynote — Qualcomm and AMD are also stepping up too. It will be interesting to see how the company’s innovations here from the new 18A architecture to putting transistors on the backside of the chip will help the big I in this war.

Look forward to all the latest announcements as they happen live in our CES 2026 coverage, alongside plenty more hands-on coverage with systems sporting these chips.

More from Tom's Guide

• Intel Panther Lake could power the future of handheld gaming — here's why AMD should be nervous
• 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 world of computing has become a rather busy one over the last few years, growing from minor tech talk to one of the biggest conversation points on the planet. From the explosion in PC building popularity to being the bedrock to the AI boom (or bubble, whichever way you look at it), it all starts with a computer and its components.

And in these past few years of leading my team into this bright future, I’ve become pretty adept at reading the tea leaves on what the next big thing will be. Last year, it was GPUs. This year, it is going to be laptops, and it all starts at CES 2026.

The stars are aligning for some incredible notebooks, with breakthrough chip development, innovations in display tech and maybe a revolution in battery capacity. But there’s also a huge, costly obstacle in the way. So let’s talk about how 2026 will be the year of the laptop — based on the many people I’ve talked to and looking at the state of things going into the new year.

Everything will be OLED

So far, a lot of laptops have made the OLED transition. 2026 looks set to be the year when everyone goes all-in. From the rumored OLED MacBook Pro in the fall to the droves of Windows laptops we expect to see at CES, I’d be more shocked if I didn’t see super vibrant panels all around.

It’s becoming clear that the cost of manufacturing OLED is coming down to the point where it’s no longer a special option you can request on a spec page, but rather the default. The Lenovo Legion 5i I reviewed recently is a testament to that — a solid value for money option that comes with that mesmerizing screen.

In short, OLED is not a new standard anymore. It’s the whole thing.

The new chip wars

I’m already following every beat of the great CPU wars as they happen. But to catch you up, the battleground is set for a huge clash in Vegas: Intel vs AMD vs Qualcomm.

Intel Core Ultra 300 series (codename Panther Lake) looks set to bring the performance of Arrow Lake and power efficiency of Lunar Lake into one chunk of silicon that packs a breakthrough GPU at the same time.

AMD’s coming to Sin City with Gorgon Point (AMD Ryzen AI HX 400 series) and a rumored refresh of Strix Halo. Again, two chips that bring massive GPU power alongside renewed CPU cores and improved power efficiency to boot.

And finally, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite and Elite Extreme will bring a serious Arm-based turboboost. In my own testing, gaming performance is shockingly good, and in benchmarking, it’s faster than Apple M5.

This is going to be a crucial title fight in 2026, and they will be driving a new kind of notebook next year — one that isn’t just great at productivity performance and battery life, but just so happens to also play games rather well.

You can even see that integrated graphics are actually creeping into gaming laptops too, if you look at the leaked Panther Lake ROG Zephyrus G14.

The silicon carbon pivot?

This is more of a tin foil hat prediction rather than something based on rumors and leaks, but something I’ve been envious of seeing my colleagues in the phones team get. Seeing a same-size smartphone like the OnePlus 15 get a ludicrous battery life with a 7,300mAh cell is impressive.

The reason? Silicon-Carbon battery tech — a new kind of cell that uses silicon anodes instead of graphite, which means a 20-30% higher density of energy in the same size. Now, imagine that on a laptop scale...pretty interesting, right?

You could get a full-blown 99Wh battery in something the size of a thin notebook after all! This would tie up nicely with the power efficiency gains of the new CPUs to provide insane multi-day battery life, or even give smaller gaming laptops even more juice.

The real challenge

But there’s a problem, and it’s a big (and expensive) one. If you’ve been anywhere near a computing retailer recently, you’ll have noticed RAM prices are exploding. Talking to several companies, the tension is apparent — pricing is something nobody wants to talk about because they don’t know how bad it’ll become.

This is an ever-developing situation, and said companies are keeping tight-lipped about how much of a DRAM stockpile they’re sitting on. But one thing is becoming increasingly apparent: the cost of a laptop is going to go up slowly but surely in 2026.

DRAM pricing is even changing how companies may approach the specifications of laptops, too. Faster than you can say “it’s 2015 again,” we may see base models of mainstream systems pack only 8GB of RAM to maintain some semblance of affordability.

Now, there’s a world where this isn’t a problem…before you shout at me in the comments, let me explain. The likes of Windows 11 and macOS are impressive, feature-rich OSes, but in a lot of situations, it’s clear they’re not the most well-optimized for memory consumption. On top of that, certain apps can be RAM killers (looking at you, Google Chrome).

If this is the direction the laptop industry is forced to go, software providers need to follow suit and better optimize their work to be even more lightweight in terms of RAM requirements. If not, this could be problematic.

The buying cycle repeats

I’ll finish by giving you a peek behind the curtain. Tech publications like this one absolutely raked in affiliate revenue in 2020. I wasn’t here at the time, but for the sites I wrote for, turns out all that extra time at home gave people itchy trigger fingers to upgrade all their tech — with laptops being a particular bestseller.

Given people spend an average of three to five years using a laptop before upgrading, that makes this the time you’ll see people looking to buy again. And based on what I’m anticipating will happen in the notebook space in 2026, you’ll be spoilt for choice!

More from Tom's Guide

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• I just tested my favorite new gaming laptop, and it’s not from Alienware, Asus or MSI
• RAMageddon is finally coming for your smartphones and laptops according to new report

As CES 2025 approaches, we're preparing for the expected launch of next-gen Intel Panther Lake-equipped laptops. And so are brands like HP and MSI, as the first Core Ultra series 3 machines have now appeared at retailers — including their prices.

The first laptops with Intel Panther Lake CPUs are now listed at multiple stores, including Walmart. As spotted by tipster @momomo_us on X, there's now an HP OmniBook X Flip 16 with an Intel Core Ultra 7 355 CPU, and it's priced at $999.

Since Intel has yet to officially launch its upcoming chips, the laptop isn't available to purchase yet. This is just a placeholder as the retailer prepares a new lineup of next-gen notebooks, but for now, it gives us an idea of the cost we can expect. And, as it turns out, it's not the major price bump we'd expect.

With every new generation of laptops sporting the latest specs, prices are always expected to be set at a premium, especially over last-gen products. Plus, the RAM crisis will only see costs soar higher. According to this listing, though, this Intel Panther Lake laptop is at the same price as the previous-gen model.

You can find the HP OmniBook X Flip 16 with an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V CPU priced at $999 over on the HP Store, even though it's currently reduced to $649 thanks to a sale. Arguably, the latest OmniBook with a Core Ultra 7 processor is the better deal at full price.

Along with its Core Ultra 7 355 CPU, the next-gen model of HP's OmniBook X Flip 16 also comes with Intel integrated graphics, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, 512GB of storage and a 16-inch (1920 x 1200) LED touchscreen (not the 2K the listing mentions).

Since this is a listing that's published before the official launch of the laptop, pricing may change. But it's a good indication of costs to come, especially on machines sporting the upgraded Intel Core Ultra 300 processors.

Gaming laptops with Intel are a little high...

It's not unheard of to see MSI laptops set at premium prices, with the monstrous MSI Titan 18 HX priced from a whopping $5,000. But these new Intel Panther Lake laptops appearing on EU retailer sites (via Wccftech) seem a tad overpriced. Or at least, hopefully.

For example, there's an MSI 16I with an Intel Core Ultra 7 355 (same as the HP OmniBook) priced at €2,611 at French retailer PC21, so around $3,061. Despite it also boasting a 2.8K resolution OLED display and 32GB of DDR5 RAM, that seems awfully expensive.

There's also an MSI 16I with a much stronger Intel Core Ultra X9 388H CPU for €3,006 at PC21, making it around $3,524. There's no GPU in sight here, with this chip coming with Xe3 graphics architecture to deliver onboard graphics performance for gaming, albeit not to the level of a discrete RTX 50-series GPU.

Those prices seem strangely high for these kinds of laptops, even with next-gen Intel CPUs inside. These could be random placeholder numbers for these retailers, as again, these laptops aren't available to purchase yet.

We've seen how Intel Panther Lake has the gaming chops to power the future of handheld gaming, and that's also a good sign for thin, lightweight laptops to play the latest AAA games with just an Intel chip. The question is, how pricey will these machines be? For now, if Walmart's listing price on the HP OmniBook X Flip 16 is accurate, it may not be at such a high price.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just tested my favorite new gaming laptop, and it’s not from Alienware, Asus or MSI
• Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 vs Razer Blade 14: Which gaming laptop should you buy?
• Intel Panther Lake vs Snapdragon X2 Elite vs AMD Gorgon Point — one chip is already pulling ahead in 2026's CPU war

The stage is set for a huge CPU battle in 2026, and it’s already started as Intel and Qualcomm have fired away ahead of Panther Lake and Snapdragon X2 Elite debuting early next year (read: CES 2026).

We’re also seeing leaks related to AMD and will bring to the party with Gorgon Point, and there are a lot of moving parts. So to keep track of everything, I’ll keep this hub updated with everything you need to know about the next generation of laptop and desktop chips.

Meet the competitors

• Intel “Panther Lake” (Core Ultra 300 Series) laptop chips - CONFIRMED
• Intel “Arrow Lake-S” desktop chip refresh - PREDICTED
• Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite - CONFIRMED
• AMD “Gorgon Point” (Ryzen AI 400) laptops, “Strix Halo” (Ryzen AI Max+) laptop refresh and Ryzen desktop CPUs - EXPECTED

Three big players are entering the arena: Intel, Qualcomm and AMD. They are coming in heavy with a huge suite of new chips. Let’s break it down into a battle on two fronts.

Laptops

2026 will be the year of the laptop, and we already know it's going to be a silicon bloodbath. In one corner, you’ve got Intel Panther Lake — built on the company’s 18A platform, which is a new technological foundation that brings the best of Intel’s faster chips and the more power-efficient chips into one piece of silicon.

As we’ve tested, this is looking to provide up to 50% faster CPU performance, a 50% faster GPU, up to 1.2x faster AI performance, and up to 40% higher performance per watt (better power efficiency).

In the other corner is Qualcomm. We’ve got to test the Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme, which follow a lot of the same formula as the original X Elite, bar one difference — memory (RAM) can be embedded directly onto the chip. Taking notes from Intel and AMD, the company’s now adding shared memory between the CPU, GPU and NPU.

This rethink and generational uplift is showing up to 39% faster single-core and 50% faster multi-core speeds, 69% higher memory bandwidth, 78% faster AI performance, and up to 2.3x faster graphics performance.

And in the final corner (shrouded in secrecy because this is based on leaks and rumors at the moment) is AMD. Team Red has the headline keynote slot at CES 2026, so they have to be bringing something! And that much seems true with two new laptop chip lines: Gorgon Point and a Strix Halo refresh.

Given it’s leaked on Geekbench, the AMD Ryzen AI HX 400 series (Gorgon Point) looks set to take the current core configurations you see in AMD laptops today, but give them a turboboost — specifically 15-20% higher than the previous generation. Not only that, but the leak reported by VideoCardz seemingly confirms a new generation of integrated graphics, too, that will support RDNA 3.5 — specifically the Radeon 890M.

The latter is still a possibility at the moment, but the plan seems to be a Strix Halo refresh that broadens the amount of chips available — to target both mid-range and high-end offerings with that diabolical integrated GPU. WCCF reports that these will also bring faster memory support.

Desktops

Starting with Intel, Team Blue is taking another crack at its Arrow Lake desktop chips with a refreshed range. The original launch was quite the stumble, with problems in power management, performance limitations, and some BIOS bugs, so Intel wants to take another crack at it.

Looking at leaks, it seems the company’s getting its act together with higher clock speeds, more efficiency cores, and better RAM support to overcome memory latency issues. Basically, this is a much more optimized version of the same chips.

Meanwhile, AMD seems to be all in on launching two new CPU lines at CES — the souped-up gaming-centric CPUs in the Ryzen 7 9850X3D and the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2. X3D chips are finely tuned to play super nicely with dedicated GPUs, and it seems to be more of the case here.

Second is a new Ryzen 9000G desktop APU, which is more of an all-in-one approach that updates the architecture for newer graphics standards like RDNA 3.5.

Codename translator: what will they actually be named?

• Intel Panther Lake = Core Ultra 300 Series (according to leaks)
• AMD Gorgon Point = Ryzen AI 400 series/Ryzen AI HX 400 series
• AMD Strix Halo = Ryzen AI Max series

This can get confusing. You're reading me flipping between calling the latest Intel chips "Panther Lake" and "Core Ultra 300 Series." So what will you actually be buying in retail stores in early 2026? AMD is just as guilty of this with calling their chips "Gorgon Point" and "Strix Halo."

Luckily, Qualcomm's much more straightforward with the names "Snapdragon X2 Elite" and "Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme" (even though the latter is getting a little too close to what I'd name an energy drink back in the 90s). But to help you out, let me translate the codenames here.

Intel Panther Lake

We know three levels of Panther Lake chips exist (I've tested them). But here's what the Geekbench leaks point to these being called.

• Intel Core Ultra 300V: This would be the base configuration with 8 CPU cores and 4 GPU cores
• Intel Core Ultra 300H: This name may designate the chip that sports 16 CPU cores, but ditches the GPU (the one you will probably see in gaming laptops)
• Intel Core Ultra X 300H: That X looks set to identify the top-of-the-range model with 16 CPU cores and that full-blown 12-core GPU. Geekbench results just dropped on the Ultra X9 388H.

AMD Gorgon Point

AMD's not messing too much with the formula here, and just upping the number by one. So far, leaks have shown the following chip names.

• AMD Ryzen AI 400 series: Based on the past generation, these will be the base-to-mid-range chipsets.
• AMD Ryzen AI HX 400 series: That HX stands for higher performance, so is reserved for their upper-level chipsets with faster clock speeds, higher TDPs and improved AI performance.
• Strix Halo = Ryzen AI Max+: Given the rumors of more Strix Halo chips coming to CES, it's worth me noting that for the all-in-one chips with crazy good integrated graphics, you're going to want to find the name "AMD Ryzen AI Max" followed by a number.

How they stack up (according to our tests and leaks)

• Snapdragon X2 Elite has established an early lead in CPU speeds
• Intel Panther Lake has overhauled graphics performance and power efficiency
• But AMD leaks show Gorgon Point may crash Intel’s party

To get into this, I need to break something down here — the difference between Arm and x86 computing is significant, because they go about completing tasks very differently.

So this is not just a battle of companies, it’s a battle of principles, and this shows in the performance numbers. Arm usually gets a lead on pure CPU speed and battery life, but x86 gets its advantage in graphics and compatibility.

There are going to be many more chips than what we've tested/seen leaked so far. For example, we don't have benchmarks for the top-of-the-range Panther Lake chip with a 12-core CPU. But these are a good baseline of what to expect.

When we get more benchmarks, I'll update this chart over time!

UPDATE: New leaked Geekbench benchmarks just dropped for some of the mid-range AMD and Intel chips.These numbers are (mostly) based on the leaks we’ve seen. I did get to benchmark the Snapdragon X2 Elite and Elite Extreme myself, so these numbers are accurate based on my own testing. Other numbers came from leaks courtesy of VideoCardz and PC Gamer.

Geekbench CPU benchmark results

So in terms of Geekbench leaks and testing, Qualcomm has the early advantage, but that’s only half the story. Intel’s fully gone in on turboboosting those Xe3 GPU cores, and adding a whole lot of AI-infused trickery to boost gaming. In fact, it’s looking like you could get something similar to a dedicated Nvidia laptop GPU in integrated graphics.

We saw this start to happen throughout the course of this year, and while I was a little too dramatic in saying Nvidia’s days on top were numbered back on New Year’s Day, the crux of the piece is still true — integrated graphics are really taking the fight to dedicated GPUs.

That much was true with AMD Strix Halo, and the company seems to be taking another step forward performance-wise, while also broadening its range of chips available to make them more affordable, too. One step forward with Gorgon Point, while giving you more Strix choices to pick from.

What about Apple?

• M5 is already offering similar performance to what we see in Snapdragon X2 Elite
• M5 Pro architecture rumored to be altered to offer vastly improved performance

This is a big unknown heading into 2026. Apple Silicon runs on an Arm architecture, and one thing we know for sure is that the latest M5 chip in the MacBook Pro is a power-efficient screamer.

But what about the M5 Pro and M5 Max? It’s being rumored that the architecture may be getting a big switch-up from a system on a chip (everything on one die) to a system of chips (separate chiplets for each thing). As we’ve learnt from Intel Panther Lake and AMD’s Ryzen AI Max+, doing so makes for some serious performance upgrades.

We won’t know for sure until they are officially in our hands, which is looking likely to arrive in Spring 2026.

More from Tom's Guide

• RAM prices are exploding — here's why and everything you need to know about surviving RAMageddon
• Lenovo leak confirms first rollable gaming laptop with ultrawide OLED display coming in 2026 — here's what we know
• M5 MacBook Air reportedly coming Spring 2026 — plus the missing MacBook Pros and a new Mac Mini

The GPU price hikes are upon us. The RAM pricing crisis will see costs skyrocket for phones, tablets, laptops and, most importantly for PC gamers, graphics cards. But not just yet, as there's still savings to be made on the latest from Nvidia, AMD and Intel.

To think GPU prices will be higher than what they've already been, with surges on Team Green and Team Red's cards going well past their official pricing, is nearly laughable. But AMD and Nvidia are already signaling price hikes for their GPUs, thanks to RAM and SSDs looking to be a premium, and this could be by at least 10%.

In light of this, I've found the GPU deals that are either at MSRP or lower, all to save you more in the long run before the inevitable price hike affects us all. That includes the incredibly low-cost Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 for just $209 at Amazon right now, along with the impressive AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT for $599 at MSRP.

The more VRAM a GPU has, the more expensive it'll get, so if you've got your eye on one of the best GPUs around, with a jam-packed graphics card like the RTX 5070 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT, you'll want to land one before the holidays.

Quick links

• Nvidia RTX 5050: was $279 now $209 @ Amazon
• Intel Arc B580: was $339 now $229 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5060 (8GB): was $299 now $279 @ Walmart
• AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT (8GB): was $307 now $289 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti (16GB): $429 @ Newegg
• AMD Radeon RX 9070 (16GB): was $635 now $529 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5070: was $549 now $543 @ Newegg
• AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: was $649 now $599 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti: was $819 now $749 @ Newegg

Best GPU deals to ship right now

Just a week or so after Intel’s new flagship Panther Lake chip leaked on Geekbench and had its benchmarks shared for all to see, it appears we’ll be able to get our hands on one as soon as early January.

While we expected a 2026 release for the new chips, Asus may have jumped the gun by kicking off an event with the subtitle “Ubiquitous AI. Incredible Possibilities.” On January 6, just hours after Intel’s event is expected to reveal the chips themselves as part of CES 2026.

Panther Lake, here we come

As Asus explains via its CES site, it “will showcase our latest solutions, including a full lineup of advanced AI PC products and other innovations — all designed to empower everyone, everywhere.”

“See how our vision, "Ubiquitous AI. Incredible Possibilities," drives AI transformation for the workspace, creators, and everyday life!”

As for how the new Core Ultra 9 386H chip will perform, there’s a 2.1 GHz base clock speed, while boosted clock speeds reach 4.724 GHz — lower than the anticipated 4.9Ghz.

It already beats Arrow Lake chips, with 9% faster single-thread speeds and 4% faster multi-thread speeds.

It’s also curious to see Asus touting AI-based laptops while the Core Ultra 9 386H is more of a gaming CPU that won’t pair with integrated graphics. Is Asus about to push further in that direction?

Whatever the answer, we really don’t have long to find out — we’ll be all over the coverage of Intel’s event on January 5, and the Asus one the next day.

A new challenger approaches

Of course, CES isn’t an all-Intel affair, because Snapdragon’s X2 Elite chips are a-coming, too.

Our own Jason England benchmarked Qualcomm’s latest and said the latest revision should have Intel, Apple and AMD sweating.

They’re expected to be a big focus at CES this year, suggesting we could be weeks away from a processor war the likes of which we’ve not seen in a while.

As for the numbers, the Oryon CPU prime core of the Snapdragon chip offers up to 39% speed increases on single core and 50% faster in multi-core than the last generation, while there’s 69% more memory bandwidth since RAM is on the chip itself.

Finally, its AI credentials are the new Hexagon AI engine, which is 78% faster in AI tasks, while the GPU is 2.3 times faster, too. There’s a whole new era of laptops coming, and it won’t be long until we see if they make the cut for the best laptops around.

More from Tom's Guide

• Brace yourself: PCs, laptops and phones may jump in price as early as December thanks to a '500%' RAM/SSD surge
• Intel Panther Lake could power the future of handheld gaming — here's why AMD should be nervous
• I’m shocked at how well Snapdragon X2 Elite can play games with Cyberpunk hitting over 75 FPS in my testing

Cyber Monday is taking over from Black Friday, and that means one thing for PC gamers: the GPU deals are still pouring in. The biggest sales event of the year continues, and it's becoming clear that now is your last chance to grab a graphics card before all the major RAM and memory price surges kick off.

Whether it's an Nvidia RTX 50-series GPU, AMD Radeon or Intel Arc you're looking at, you'll find these graphics cards have hit all-time low prices. And after 18 years of being a PC gamer and testing the best GPUs around, now is the time to grab a massive upgrade for your PC.

There are plenty of GPUs around in all flavors that even beat the performance and price of a PS5, whether that be from Team Green or Team Red. But a personal pick of mine to crank up the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 at max settings without breaking a sweat is the RTX 5070 Ti — and this beast can now be yours for under $800.

I'm tracking all the GPUs with a great discount that will easily power the best gaming PCs and tackle the latest AAA games for years to come. So, if you're after a budget powerhouse or a maxed-out graphics cards, the deals have arrived for Cyber Monday, and I'd jump on these prices right now.

Quick links

US GPU deals

• Nvidia RTX 5050: was $249 now $219 @ Amazon
• Intel Arc B580: was $269 now $249 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5060: was $299 now $279 @ Walmart
• AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): was $370 now $349 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti (16GB): was $439 now $394 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5070: was $549 now $499 @ Newegg
• AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: was $649 now $599 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti: was $819 now $749 @ Newegg

UK GPU deals

• Intel Arc B570: was £269 now £179 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5050: was £239 now £218 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5060: was £274 now £249 @ Scan
• AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): was £329 now £319 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti (16GB): £399 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5070: was £539 now £499 @ Overclockers
• AMD RX 9070 XT: was £578 now £539 @ Amazon
• Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti: was £729 now £698 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5080: was £999 now £979 @ Scan
• Nvidia RTX 5090: was £2,149 @ Scan

Best Cyber Monday GPU deals US

Best Cyber Monday GPU deals UK

Your GPU price snoop is back!

I've tested every single GPU that has launched this year (you can see my results in the best GPUs guide I keep up to date), and I'm also a Black Friday/Cyber Monday veteran with eight years of covering this event under my belt.

And I'm combining those talents and watching every GPU price like a hawk, to see what Cyber Monday deals pop up. At the moment, I'm spotting a lot of lowest prices ever, so keep it locked on here for more as they arrive.

US GPU deals

• Nvidia RTX 5050: was $249 now $219 @ Amazon
• Intel Arc B580: was $269 now $249 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5060: was $299 now $279 @ Walmart
• AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): was $370 now $349 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti (16GB): was $439 now $394 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5070: was $549 now $527 @ B&H
• AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: was $649 now $599 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti: was $819 now $729 @ Newegg

UK GPU deals

• Intel Arc B570: was £269 now £179 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5050: was £239 now £218 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5060: was £274 now £249 @ Scan
• AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): was £329 now £319 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti (16GB): was £399 now £379 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5070: was £539 now £499 @ Overclockers
• AMD RX 9070 XT: was £578 now £539 @ Amazon
• Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti: was £729 now £698 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5080: was £999 now £979 @ Scan
• Nvidia RTX 5090: was £2,149 @ Scan

On a budget? Put this Intel Arc B580 on your shopping list

When I think GPUs, Nvidia and AMD come to mind, but now Intel has come into the mix with its affordable yet quietly mighty Intel Arc B580. Coming with 12GB of GDDR6 VRAM, while it may not be the latest in video memory tech, it can still offer up impressive 1080p and 1440p gaming performance. Oh, and now for under $250? That's some might to get for beyond entry-level gaming.

• ASRock Challenger Intel Arc B580: was $269 now $249 @ Newegg

A whole 16GB VRAM for this much? AMD takes a win with this offer!

If the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is too rich for your tastes, no matter, as the RX 9060 XT that still comes with 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM is at an amazingly affordable price right now. As in, under $350/£320, and it even offers up FSR 4 tech for greater frame rates and details.

• AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): was $370 now $349 @ Newegg
• AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): was £329 now £319 @ Overclockers

For peak performance for the price, don't miss this RTX 5070 Ti deal!

If there's one GPU I'd shell out for right now, it's Nvidia's RTX 5070 Ti. This upper-midrange graphics card will dish out peak performance thanks to its mix of strong 16GB GDDR7 VRAM and DLSS 4 on board, and while it's a pricey one, for far less than $800 right now? It's the GPU that will last you for years to come.

• MSI Ventus RTX 5070 Ti: was $819 now $749 @ Newegg
• Gainward GeForce RTX 5070 Ti: was £729 now £698 @ Overclockers

Help! How do I know which GPU is for me?

If you want to buy a GPU but you're not sure what to look for, don't sweat it. I'm here to help you. We've got a whole guide on how to choose the GPU for you, but for sake of brevity, I'll explain here too.

First, follow GPU experts to tell you when drops are. This can be YouTube channels or us folks here at Tom's Guide. Secondly, figure out what you're going to be using your GPU for. Gaming requires a more advanced GPU, as does 4K video editing. Last, figure out your budget.

Oh, and of course, ensure the GPU is compatible with your PC!

US GPU deals

• Nvidia RTX 5050: was $249 now $219 @ Amazon
• Intel Arc B580: was $269 now $249 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5060: was $299 now $279 @ Walmart
• AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): was $370 now $349 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti (16GB): was $439 now $394 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5070: was $549 now $527 @ B&H
• AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: was $649 now $599 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti: was $819 now $749 @ Newegg

Is the RTX 5070 worth it? Yes, especially at this price

I've got an RTX 5070 packed in my current setup, and it even gave me smooth 4K performance in games like Battlefield 6 with wicked smooth frame rates. Sure, its 12GB GDDR7 VRAM may not seem like much, but now that it's below MSRP, it's worthy for those after more affordable (and strong) mid-range gaming.

• Nvidia RTX 5070: was $549 now $499 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5070: was £539 now £499 @ Overclockers

Any RTX 5090 GPU deals worth it?

Being Nvidia's strongest graphics card, it's the GPU that everyone eyes up. But for over its MSRP? Not a chance. Seeing as you'll find the RTX 5090 for up to a whopping $4,000 right now, and a deal is only taking it down to $2,849 on Newegg right now, the RTX 5090 is still as expensive as ever. And yes, it's supposed to cost $1,999. Even if you've got the extra cash, don't expect good deals on this graphics card

Now under $300? The RTX 5060 is a worthy graphics card for entry-level gaming

So, the RTX 5060 with 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM isn't exactly so tempting, even though it still offers strong 1080p and even 1440p performance with DLSS 4. For its usual price, it's probably better to save and spend a little more on the next step up, but for under MSRP? It's a good shout for beyond entry-level gaming.

• PNY OC Dual Fan RTX 5060: was $299 now $279 @ Walmart
• MSI Ventus 2X OC RTX 5060: was £274 now £249 @ Scan UK

What's going on with this price surge?

This has been a low-key problem all throughout 2026, but now, thanks to the massive AI boom, it’s officially here with a bang. Think about it: to power services like ChatGPT and Gemini, AI companies are buying up tons of silicon for their data centers to handle all our questions and requests. The two essential chips they're hoarding?

That would be DRAM (Dynamic Random-Access Memory) and NAND flash—or as you probably know them: RAM and SSD storage. The moment demand for these chips went totally bananas, two things happened:

• The companies that manufacture these types of chips are seeing demand for cheaper, older memory chips vanish, given their biggest customers (companies behind the AI boom) are throwing handfuls of cash at them for the latest stuff. So these older options are being phased out.
• Smaller NAND flash chips are being deprioritized in favor of the highest bidders looking to pack their AI data centers with tons of memory.

What this means is a drastic silicon shortage for consumer products like GPUs, and companies are already warning prices are going up. That's why I'm urging you to buy a GPU now to get ahead of it.

The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT deserves your attention (with these deals!)

AMD pulled out all the stops with its AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU, which actually achieves even better gaming performance than an RTX 5070 Ti when we tested it. And at a lower price! Well, even lower thanks to Cyber Monday. Sporting impressive 1080p, 1440p and 4K gaming performance, along with FSR 4 for even better details and higher frame rates (when it works), this GPU is hard to miss now that it's dropped in price!

• ASRock Challenger Radeon RX 9070 XT: was $649 now $599 @ Newegg
• Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT: was £599 now £539 @ Amazon

Wait, an RTX 5080 that's actually at MSRP? It's here!

The RTX 5080 is the next step up in graphical power, but it's rarely found at its actual MSRP. In fact, I completely forgot you can get it just under $1,000. And yes, you can now grab a Gigabyte Windforce RTX 5080 for its actual retail price. Because it's rare, it's quite like this is a deal in itself! It's pek power for a 16GB GDDR7 VRAM GPU, and will knock any game out of the park at 1080p, 1440p and 4K.

• Gigabyte Windforce RTX 5080: $999 @ Newegg

GPU price check!

There's been some chopping and changing in GPU pricing during Cyber Monday. So I've investigated and found these same cards at their same low prices at different retailers!

Only one victim during this checkup, which is the £20 saving on RTX 5060 Ti in the UK. That's now gone, but its still available at RRP.

US GPU deals

• Nvidia RTX 5050: was $249 now $219 @ Amazon
• Intel Arc B580: was $269 now $249 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5060: was $299 now $279 @ Walmart
• AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): was $370 now $349 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti (16GB): was $439 now $394 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5070: was $549 now $499 @ Newegg
• AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: was $649 now $599 @ Newegg
• Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti: was $819 now $749 @ Newegg

UK GPU deals

• Intel Arc B570: was £269 now £179 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5050: was £239 now £218 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5060: was £274 now £249 @ Scan
• AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): was £329 now £319 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti (16GB): £399 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5070: was £539 now £499 @ Overclockers
• AMD RX 9070 XT: was £578 now £539 @ Amazon
• Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti: was £729 now £698 @ Overclockers
• Nvidia RTX 5080: was £999 now £979 @ Scan
• Nvidia RTX 5090: was £2,149 @ Scan

For entry-level gamers, Intel's GPU is a steal

• Intel Arc B570 GPU: was £269 now £179 @ Overclockers UK

If all you need is a GPU that covers competitive multiplayer games for high refresh rates, the Intel Arc B570 with 10GB GDDR6 VRAM is worth considering. This will blaze through 1080p gaming with high refresh rates, and it will now only set you back under £200! It may not be the most powerful out there, but if you're not looking to crank up settings to max on a 4K display, then you'll be saving yourself a huge chunk of change.

Don't miss out on a mighty RTX 5080 that's below $1,000!

The RTX 5080 is the next step up in graphical power, but it's rarely found at its actual MSRP. In fact, I completely forgot you can get it just under $1,000. And yes, you can now grab a Gigabyte Windforce RTX 5080 for its actual retail price. Because it's rare, it's quite like this is a deal in itself! It's pek power for a 16GB GDDR7 VRAM GPU, and will knock any game out of the park at 1080p, 1440p and 4K.

• Gigabyte Windforce RTX 5080: $999 @ Newegg

Last chance to grab a 16GB VRAM GPU from AMD for under $350!

AMD has outdone itself with its latest GPU offerings, and the Radeon RX 9060 XT is a fine example. Boasting 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM and now for under $350/£320, this graphics card will take PC gaming to new heights, and there's plenty here for smooth 1440p gameplay. For beyond entry-level gaming, this one's for you.

• AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): was $370 now $349 @ Newegg
• AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): was £329 now £319 @ Overclockers

For entry-level gamers, Intel's GPU is a steal right now

For excellent 1080p and 1440p performance at an extremely low price, the Intel Arc B850 GPU with 12GB of GDDR6 VRAM is the deal you'll want. We called it the best budget GPU you can buy right now for good reason, and at under $250, it's certainly worth grabbing to build an affordable gaming PC.

• ASRock Challenger Intel Arc B580: was $269 now $249 @ Newegg

If you’re looking to pick up the latest and greatest gaming processor, it might be worth holding fire for a little while.

The new Panther Lake processor, the Intel Core Ultra 9 386H, has popped up on Geekbench, packed into an Acer Predator gaming laptop, and is expected to be a flagship chip for Intel’s 2026 lineup.

The chip, which includes 4 Xe3 cores instead of the 12 of the Ultra X9, is focused on gaming, and its appearance here lines up with an expected appearance at CES.

Panther Lake benchmarks are in

There are still some caveats to cover before we get into the raw numbers. For one, this is in-development hardware, so there’s every chance it’s not hitting the numbers it could in a few months.

Then there’s the fact that the Core Ultra 9 386H doesn’t pair with integrated graphics, and we don’t know which GPU it’s attached to in the new Acer Predator model.

With all that said, Videocardz has shared the numbers, and it’s looking mighty impressive already. There’s a 2.1 GHz base clock speed, while boosted reach 4.72 GHz - lower than the anticipated 4.9Ghz.

As the report points out, this processor already eclipses its predecessor, the Arrow Lake-H flagship Core Ultra 9 285H, with 9% faster single-thread speeds and 4% faster multi-thread speeds. While it’s behind the Core Ultra X9 388H, that chip is the uber top of the line offering with 24 cores with its own integrated GPU.

Outlook

While 9 or 4% might not feel like a significant jump, chip development has reached a pretty swift release cadence, and according to Videocardz, we're still getting the same TDP.

That means we're getting additional performance at the same power efficiency, which should mean games on upcoming laptops will be more performative without draining quite as much battery charge as older generations.

Expect the new Panther Lake chips to be shown off at CES, along with the models we'll find them in.

More from Tom's Guide

• Intel Panther Lake could power the future of handheld gaming — here's why AMD should be nervous
• I just tested the new Snapdragon X2 Elite laptop chips — and Apple, Intel and AMD should be worried about 2026
• You can get a Chromebook for just $49 — go check your wallet, we're serious about this deal

When looking at the best Black Friday GPU deals, it seems to be a whole lot of savings that bring prices down to the actual retail price or slightly below. This is the best we’re going to get, and given the impending price hikes coming in 2026, this will be your last chance to get the latest graphics cards at prices this low.

This all comes down to the price of video memory (GDDR) modules surging by 172% year-over-year, which is causing the likes of Nvidia and AMD to seriously rethink what models they offer and the price they’re selling at. Prices are going to go up, so now is the time to buy to avoid disappointment.

GPU deals you need to buy now

U.S. GPU deals

• 🇺🇸 Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti: was $819 now $729 @ Newegg
• 🇺🇸 Nvidia RTX 5070: was $549 now $543 @ Best Buy
• 🇺🇸 Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti (16GB): was $439 now $399 @ Newegg
• 🇺🇸 AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: was $649 now $599 @ Newegg
• 🇺🇸 AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): was $370 now $349 @ Newegg
• 🇺🇸 Intel Arc B580: was $269 now $249 @ Newegg

U.K. GPU deals

• 🇬🇧 Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti: was £729 now £698 @ Overclockers
• 🇬🇧 Nvidia RTX 5070: was £539 now £479 @ Overclockers
• 🇬🇧 Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti (16GB): was £399 now £379 @ Overclockers
• 🇬🇧 AMD RX 9070 XT: was £578 now £549 @ Amazon
• 🇬🇧 AMD RX 9060 XT (16GB): £329 @ Overclockers
• 🇬🇧 Intel Arc B580: was £229 now £199 @ Overclockers

What’s happening?

This all comes off the back of a shocking year-over-year price jump for DRAM — the memory used not only in GPUs, but also in smartphones, consoles and PCs more generally. Reported by TechPowerUp, DRAM costs have surged 172% compared to this time last year.

We first started hearing rumblings of this around the time leaks seemed to confirm that Nvidia cancelled the RTX 50 SUPER series GPUs, which were set to launch in early 2026. The main reason being that the video memory module supply is extremely limited, which in turn makes it way more expensive.

And in turn, given the scarcity, it’s causing a ripple effect across the rest of the GPU market. Asus, MSI and more have hinted at warnings to me about this, but the clearest came from PowerColor on the company’s subreddit. “Buy before the last week of the year before prices kick up,” the post reads.

The ripple effect could kill budget GPUs

While a lot of us dream of an RTX 5090, I don’t want to remortgage my house for the chance of path tracing. So my daily driver is the RTX 5060 Ti connected to the Minisforum DEG-1 GPU dock — you can read all about my mini PC/GPU dock setup.

Well, this range of budget-to-mid-range gaming GPUs may be discontinued given the increasing prices of that essential video memory. This is hitting both AMD and Nvidia hard right now. So I know last time I spoke about this, I said to “think” about buying now.

But with a much clearer view of how things are taking a turn for the worse, I can be a lot more definitive: buy now or pay much more later.

More from Tom's Guide

• Best graphics cards in 2025: I've tested every GPU to find the best bang for your buck
• Steam Machine vs PS5 vs Xbox Series X/S vs Mac mini: How does Valve's new console compare?
• I’m shocked at how well Snapdragon X2 Elite can play games with Cyberpunk hitting over 75 FPS in my testing

The laptop chip war of 2026 is really starting to heat up, and out of all the options I’ve tested like Apple’s M5 and Intel Panther Lake, Snapdragon X2 Elite looks like it could be a real threat.

Qualcomm flew me out to their campus in San Diego and took me properly behind the scenes on how this new generation of notebook silicon has been designed, tested, and gave me a chance to benchmark it.

And I mean really benchmark it. Usually at these events, you get cherry picked demos with vague numbers to really shine a new chip in its best light. However, here, we got three reference design laptops:

• 12-core Snapdragon X2 Elite laptop with 32GB RAM — running at 22W
• 18-core Snapdragon X2 Elite laptop with 32GB RAM — running at 22W
• 18-core Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme laptop with 48GB RAM — running at 45W

So realistic representations of the kinds of laptops you will get sporting these chips next year. Not only that, but the benchmark tests I’ve been able to do are the same ones we use to test laptops here in Tom’s Guide labs. Now we have a clear view of things, and it’s scary fast.

What’s new in X2 Elite?

With the Snapdragon X2 Elite, Qualcomm may be sticking to the same system-on-a-chip design over moving to dedicated chiplets on a system (like Intel Panther Lake). But drastic upgrades have been brought to the table nonetheless.

You’ll find more than 31 billion transistors put together on a 3nm process. With all these additional transistors, the company has added some impressive new features here:

• The 3rd generation Oryon CPU prime cores are 39% faster single-core speeds, whereas the performance cores pack up to 50% faster in multi-core.
• Memory (RAM) being embedded directly on the chip allows for 69% more memory bandwidth shared between the CPU, GPU and NPU.
• Speaking of NPU and GPU, the new Hexagon AI engine is up to 78% faster in AI tasks, and the GPU offers up to a whopping 2.3x faster graphics performance.

But alongside these performance uplifts, Qualcomm managed to sneak a couple of extra elements onto this chip. First, a new low-power island handles essential tasks when the laptop is asleep — further reducing the amount of power draw when the lid is closed.

Second, a new sensing hub is essentially a low-power chip within a chip (with its own eNPU) to handle things like enhancing webcam picture, speaker quality and WiFi connectivity.

Then comes the Snapdragon Guardian Technology — a new piece of architecture that allows you to find your laptop anywhere, remotely lock and wipe it. Think of it like Apple’s Find My, but even better because X2 Elite now packs support for 4G and 5G cellular connectivity.

Snapdragon X2 Elite benchmark results

Let’s kick off with the obvious test — Geekbench 6.5. This is an effective way to test both single-core speed (how fast you can navigate the UI and open apps), and multicore (complex tasks like rendering or loading multiple objects).

Geekbench benchmark results

As you can see, the X2 Elite surpasses Intel and AMD in single-core speeds, and even manages to keep up with Apple’s M5. But it's in those multi-core speeds where you’ll really see these chips start to peel ahead.

In fact, I think the Elite Extreme is gunning for the future in the rumored M5 Pro chip coming next year. These are mightily competitive chips.

Then there’s AI performance, and as you can see in Geekbench AI 1.5, the new generation of NPU in the X2 Elite lineage, sporting 80 TOPS of performance, frankly embarrasses the competition.

Geekbench AI benchmark results

Intel’s Panther Lake needs to pull something seriously good out of the bag here to come close to this, as Team Blue did talk about the next-gen chips being built for agentic AI. Qualcomm has the receipts to back up that the X2 silicon is more than ready for this.

Not losing performance when disconnected

Why do people pick MacBooks? I know there are a few reasons, and one of them for me is the same zippy performance both when plugged in and disconnected from the charger. It’s a small thing when I say it out loud, but you can really start to feel some sluggishness from the likes of an Intel laptop that turns the total wattage down to preserve battery life.

The ARM architecture preserves those speeds while slow sipping the juice, and that much was obvious in my own testing too:

Geekbench benchmark plugged in vs battery results

Qualcomm acknowledges that you’ll get around 97-99% of the same performance on battery, which, in my time using these laptops, is barely negligible.

X2 Elite at the front of the pack?

So here’s the ultimate question. Do these numbers indicate a chipset primed to take Windows laptops into the future? The question comes down to your particular use cases for it.

Because there are drawbacks to going ARM over the x86 of Intel and AMD. For those not in the know, Microsoft systems have run on x86 chips for the better part of 30 years, and that is a huge history of ecosystem support that needs to be forced through Prism emulation to work on Arm.

What this means is a degradation in performance that brings certain apps back in line with the speeds you get from Intel and AMD laptops. However, the list of apps that have been rebuilt for Arm is ever-growing.

If compatibility is crucial, there are still some difficulties that may impact you. However, there’s a good chance that many of you won’t see this problem, given how many are on the list. In terms of a strong all-rounder of a chip that can do it all in Windows and take the fight to Apple, Qualcomm looks prime to be in the driving seat.

More from Tom's Guide

• I’m shocked at how well Snapdragon X2 Elite can play games with Cyberpunk hitting over 75 FPS in my testing
• The M5 MacBook Pro just came out and it's already $100 off in this killer Black Friday deal!
• I just tested Mixed Reality Link for Windows 11 with my Meta Quest 3, and it’s shockingly good for a free feature

You're here to find out the best GPU you can buy in 2026. Well, after testing the latest graphics cards from Nvidia, AMD and Intel, from gaming to video editing and AI performance, my team of experts and I are here to cut through the jargon and guide you to the absolute best graphics cards. But right now, more than ever, that's difficult to pin down.

Today's market is more complex than ever, and we have the RAM crisis to thank for that. Prices are jumping to absurd levels, meaning what was once a more budget-friendly graphics card has now been pushed up to mid-range prices — and so on.

It's been rough. So, at a time when GPUs are seeing truly obscene price hikes, there are huge benefits to finding the sweet spot between price and performance. That's why we've named the Intel Arc B580 the GPU for most, but there are other graphics cards that should be on your radar. So, let’s dive in to find the best GPU to power your setup for years to come.

GPU Price index

GPU prices have always fluctuated, but RAMageddon has tipped the scales so far that it isn't about raw horsepower anymore. It isn't as simple as saying "just get an RTX 5090," unless you want to spend close to or over $4,000. In fact, you'll find that an RTX 5070 Ti, which we rate highly, can be $1,000 and beyond, despite its $749 MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price).

It's not all "doomer narrative," though, as we now have Nvidia's DLSS 4.5, AMD's FSR 4.1 and Intel's XeSS 3 for multi-frame generation and resolution scaling, boosting performance while working with less. And now, we're gearing up for Nvidia DLSS 5 in fall 2026. Even better, the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE GPU can actually be found at MSRP (for now)!

Originally, our golden rule was to never buy a card that is over $50/£50 above MSRP, but costs have gone well above this (but not for all!). Regardless, we're here to find the best possible price, and I recommend keeping an eye out during big sale events. Here's a GPU pricing matrix to ensure you get the best possible price.

Best graphics cards: 3DMark test results

3DMark benchmarks are a good way of seeing how much overall gaming performance your GPU has.

I take the average of all of the tests I do, and while this isn't an exact science (some games are better optimized), here's a guide:

• 18,000 and above is capable of 4K gaming
• 11-18,000 is squarely aimed at 1440p
• And 8,000 upwards is more than ideal for 1080p

This guide to 3DMark numbers is not a hard and fast rule, as there are some cheat codes to unlock more performance like Nvidia's DLSS, AMD's FSR and Intel's XeSS. This guide is based on what the raw performance can achieve without any AI trickery. You can find out how they compare below:

3DMark average benchmark test results

Higher is better

3DMark average

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (16GB GDDR7)

20271

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (16GB GDDR6)

19679

AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE (12GB GDDR6)

14115

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti (16GB GDDR7)

11195

Intel Arc B580 (12GB GDDR6)

9692

07,50015,00022,50030,000

3DMark average Data

Product	Value
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (16GB GDDR7)	20271
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT (16GB GDDR6)	19679
AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE (12GB GDDR6)	14115
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti (16GB GDDR7)	11195
Intel Arc B580 (12GB GDDR6)	9692

The best graphics cards you can buy right now

Best GPU overall

This may come as a shock, but ever since bringing Intel XeSS 3 on board, the Intel Arc B580 is now the GPU for most to get. How so? With multi-frame generation and the budget price it continues to (kind of) stick to, you can get a lot out of playing the latest games with Intel's graphics card.

This is a real budget buster of a card that proves you can get more than 8GB of video memory for $250 and a fantastic 1080p/1440p gaming graphics card for a great price. Ray tracing may not be its best friend, but Intel XeSS is improving nicely, and it’s simply the best GPU for many.

Buy it if

👍 You want cheap and cheerful gaming: Tweak the settings to get the optimal levels, and you’re in for a damn good time. At 1440p and maxed out settings, you can comfortably see over 60 FPS. Turn on XeSS, and that goes up to nearly 100 FPS with minimal ghosting around fast-moving in-game objects.

👍 You don’t want to spend a fortune: I mean, it’s $249, and prices haven't skyrocketed — sometimes it's discounted to $239. I’m floored by what it was able to achieve at the price.

👍 XeSS 3 now included: With Intel adding XeSS 3 with multi-frame generation, this GPU scores even more highs with its 12GB of VRAM. Now, it's the value king.

Don’t buy it if

👎 Ray tracing matters: Put simply, just turn off ray tracing here; otherwise, you will have a bad time. No XeSS frame gen can fix the huge fall off in performance you’ll see.

👎 You need it for work too: Whether it’s animation, video editing or an AI workload, the Arc B580 isn’t really built for these, so you won’t see great speeds working with it.

Intel Arc B580 test results

Intel Arc B580 test results

Gaming benchmarks/Productivity and AI benchmarks

< Prev

Frames Per Second (FPS)

Next >

Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra no ray tracing XeSS frame gen)

90

Black Myth: Wukong (1440p Medium no ray tracing XeSS)

77

Forza Horizon 5 (1440p Ultra no ray tracing XeSS)

106

Call of Duty Modern Warfare (1440p High XeSS resolution scaling/no frame gen)

126

Alan Wake 2 (1440p High/Medium no ray tracing XeSS)

44

037.575112.5150

Frames Per Second (FPS) Data

Product	Value
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra no ray tracing XeSS frame gen)	90
Black Myth: Wukong (1440p Medium no ray tracing XeSS)	77
Forza Horizon 5 (1440p Ultra no ray tracing XeSS)	106
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (1440p High XeSS resolution scaling/no frame gen)	126
Alan Wake 2 (1440p High/Medium no ray tracing XeSS)	44
Blender Median score (Animation)	N/A
Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)	N/A
Procyon Llama-3.1-8b (local LLM AI)	N/A

Blender Median score (Animation)

1952

Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)

1614

Procyon Llama-3.1-8b (local LLM AI)

2651

07501,5002,2503,000

Benchmark Data

Product	Value
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra no ray tracing XeSS frame gen)	N/A
Black Myth: Wukong (1440p Medium no ray tracing XeSS)	N/A
Forza Horizon 5 (1440p Ultra no ray tracing XeSS)	N/A
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (1440p High XeSS resolution scaling/no frame gen)	N/A
Alan Wake 2 (1440p High/Medium no ray tracing XeSS)	N/A
Blender Median score (Animation)	1952
Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)	1614
Procyon Llama-3.1-8b (local LLM AI)	2651

1 of 2

Best value GPU

In a very welcome turn of events, AMD has released its all-new Radeon RX 9070 GRE at a price that won't blow a hole in your wallet. That's right, $549/£489, and we're hoping this cost stays that way for the foreseeable future. Even at this price, this GPU still delivers exceptional 1440p gaming performance and even greater ray tracing capabilities than Nvidia's similar RTX 5060 Ti with 16GB.

Throw in improvements to FSR Redstone upscaling, and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE offers up rare value that's harder to find these days. No, it's not as strong as its 9070 XT sibling, and FSR's compatibility and performance in games has its limits compared to Nvidia's DLSS, but for lean, clean gaming prowess, this is pure value.

Buy it if

👍 You want the best bang for your buck: If the RX 9070 GRE stays at $549, it’s the rare mid-range GPU that delivers genuine value in today’s market.

👍 You’re aiming for top-tier 1440p gaming: Performance closely matches Nvidia’s pricier RTX 5070 and beats the 16GB RTX 5060 Ti, making it a 1440p sweet spot.

👍 You need enough VRAM for modern titles: With 12GB of GDDR6 video memory, the RX 9070 GRE has the headroom needed for big new releases and plenty of demanding games to come (with FSR to help out).

Don’t buy it if

👎 You prioritize AI/creator workloads: The RX 9070 GRE lags Nvidia cards for productivity and AI performance—look elsewhere if these are your focus.

👎 You want the most powerful upscaling and features: DLSS still leads FSR Redstone in features and game support, so stick with Nvidia's offerings if you're after bleeding-edge upscaling.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE test results

AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE test results

Gaming benchmarks/Productivity and AI benchmarks

< Prev

Frames Per Second (FPS)

Next >

Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra ray tracing no FSR)

36

Black Myth: Wukong (1440p Cinematic no FSR)

81

Forza Horizon 5 (1440p Ultra no FSR)

142

Call of Duty Modern Warfare (1440p Max no FSR)

136

037.575112.5150

Frames Per Second (FPS) Data

Product	Value
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra ray tracing no FSR)	36
Black Myth: Wukong (1440p Cinematic no FSR)	81
Forza Horizon 5 (1440p Ultra no FSR)	142
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (1440p Max no FSR)	136
Blender combined score	N/A
Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)	N/A

Blender combined score

975

Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)

1516

05001,0001,5002,000

Benchmark Data

Product	Value
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra ray tracing no FSR)	N/A
Black Myth: Wukong (1440p Cinematic no FSR)	N/A
Forza Horizon 5 (1440p Ultra no FSR)	N/A
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (1440p Max no FSR)	N/A
Blender combined score	975
Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)	1516

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Best mid-range GPU

Let me emphasize: GET THE 16GB VERSION! The 8GB version of the RTX 5060 Ti is far too limited on the video memory. But the 16GB version is a banger of a mid-range GPU that sees its value unlocked with DLSS 4.

In raw rasterization, you can get impressive frame rates at 1080p and 1440p for sure, but with Nvidia’s AI magic turned on, you can really enjoy 4K single-player gaming too! Plus, you’ll find decent content creation performance too.

Buy it if

👍 You want solid 1440p gaming performance: Raw game rendering speeds are impressive here, and the 16GB of GDDR7 video memory is more than enough to store all those textures and ensure zero bottlenecking of complex games.

👍 You don’t mind a bit of DLSS 4: When it comes to the debate about DLSS 4 AI trickery, I’m more on the side of supporting it, unlocking more value from cheaper GPUs like this. And it absolutely does with zippy 4K gaming performance with low latency.

Don’t buy it if

👎 You need the absolute best in multiplayer: If you’re a competitive player, latency less than 10ms is essential, and in my testing, I couldn’t achieve this in online shooters.

👎 You have big AI plans: There are only minor gains in AI performance over the RTX 4060 Ti, which doesn’t make this a good value card if you’re looking to run on-device AI tasks.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti test results

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti test results

Gaming benchmarks/Productivity and AI benchmarks

< Prev

Frames Per Second (FPS)

Next >

Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res)

17

Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res DLSS 4 MFG 4x)

132

Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic)

25

Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic DLSS 4)

41

Call of Duty Modern Warfare (1440p Max no frame gen)

80

Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max)

15

Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max DLSS MFG 4x)

102

037.575112.5150

Frames Per Second (FPS) Data

Product	Value
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res)	17
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res DLSS 4 MFG 4x)	132
Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic)	25
Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic DLSS 4)	41
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (1440p Max no frame gen)	80
Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max)	15
Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max DLSS MFG 4x)	102
Blender Median score (Animation)	N/A
Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)	N/A
Procyon Llama-3.1-8b (local LLM AI)	N/A

Blender Median score (Animation)

4312

Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)

1811

Procyon Llama-3.1-8b (local LLM AI)

2642

01,5003,0004,5006,000

Benchmark Data

Product	Value
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res)	N/A
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res DLSS 4 MFG 4x)	N/A
Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic)	N/A
Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic DLSS 4)	N/A
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (1440p Max no frame gen)	N/A
Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max)	N/A
Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max DLSS MFG 4x)	N/A
Blender Median score (Animation)	4312
Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)	1811
Procyon Llama-3.1-8b (local LLM AI)	2642

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Best GPU for gaming

If your main goal is getting awesome gaming performance, AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 XT nails it while being cheaper than the RTX 5070 Ti at the same time. Overall, you’re getting roughly 95% of the performance of Nvidia’s card (sometimes even faster frame rates) at 80% of the cost.

To me, that’s the sweet spot of gaming GPUs. You could, of course, blow thousands of dollars and get the absolute maximum, but is that really the best use of your money when you see what you can actually achieve with this card?

Buy it if

👍 You want maximum gaming bang for your buck: When it comes to solid gaming performance that either comes close to or beats the $150 more expensive RTX 5070 Ti, the Radeon RX 9070 XT has it in the bag.

👍 You don’t want to fiddle around with complicated connectors: After testing Nvidia cards and growing a little frustrated with the 2x6 12VHPWR connector, it’s a breath of fresh air to go back to a card that just requires standard 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

Don't buy it if

👎 You care about ray tracing and wide game support: Yes, Nvidia’s ray tracing cores still have the edge over AMD. And by that last point, I don’t mean this just won’t work with all games — of course it will. What I mean is Nvidia’s DLSS 4 has far more support (over 175 games) vs AMD’s FSR 4 (over 85 games).

👎 You want to get work done with it too: While this is amazing for gaming, it’s not so hot on creator performance or AI. Nvidia clearly has the advantage here.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT test results

AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT test results

Gaming benchmarks/Productivity and AI benchmarks

< Prev

Frames Per Second (FPS)

Next >

Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res)

50

Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res DLSS 4 MFG 4x)

102

Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic)

57

Call of Duty Modern Warfare (4K Max no frame gen)

92

Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max)

92

037.575112.5150

Frames Per Second (FPS) Data

Product	Value
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res)	50
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res DLSS 4 MFG 4x)	102
Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic)	57
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (4K Max no frame gen)	92
Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max)	92
Blender Median score (Animation)	N/A
Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)	N/A
Procyon Llama-3.1-8b (local LLM AI)	N/A

Blender Median score (Animation)

3327

Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)

1797

Procyon Llama-3.1-8b (local LLM AI)

1916

01,0002,0003,0004,000

Benchmark Data

Product	Value
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res)	N/A
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res DLSS 4 MFG 4x)	N/A
Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic)	N/A
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (4K Max no frame gen)	N/A
Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max)	N/A
Blender Median score (Animation)	3327
Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)	1797
Procyon Llama-3.1-8b (local LLM AI)	1916

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Best GPU for performance

Don't get us wrong. The RTX 5070 Ti is still one of the best offerings you can get in a GPU, but prices are outrageous right now. If you can find it closer to its $749 MSRP (fingers crossed), then you'll definitely want to go for it. But for over $1,000? It's a stretch.

Still, the RTX 5070 Ti is the sweet spot of Nvidia’s RTX 50-series — bringing just the right amount of blistering performance and versatility across 1440p gameplay, and a true showcase of DLSS 4 AI trickery at 4K to boot. But it doesn’t forget about productivity and AI either, as those cores are finely tuned to deliver huge GPU performance to your prosumer workloads too.

Buy it if

👍 You’re looking for great gameplay across the board: In all of my tests, the RTX 5070 Ti was a stellar, versatile GPU for gaming — bringing esports-level frame rates at 1080p, silky smoothness at 1440p, and even 60+ FPS in 4K in some circumstances. Throw in DLSS 4 and multi-frame gen, and nothing gets in its way of delivering a buttery gaming experience.

👍 You also need a creative powerhouse: Whether you’re editing multiple layers of 4K video in Davinci Resolve or doing AI neural Photoshop edits locally on-device, the RTX 5070 Ti keeps up with it all. Throw in support for the 4:2:2 color format, and you’ve got flexibility and fidelity in all your prosumer tasks.

Don’t buy it if

👎 You’re worried about power consumption: Yes, I know that if you’re buying a GPU, your electric bills may not be high on your priority list. But it’s worth noting that power usage when idle is a bit higher than I’d expect on a desktop graphics card.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Test results

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti test results

Gaming benchmarks/Productivity and AI benchmarks

< Prev

Frames Per Second (FPS)

Next >

Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res)

51

Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res DLSS 4 MFG 4x)

240

Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic)

73

Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic DLSS 4)

107

Call of Duty Modern Warfare (4K Max no frame gen)

86

Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max)

31

Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max DLSS 4 MFG 4x)

125

075150225300

Frames Per Second (FPS) Data

Product	Value
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res)	51
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res DLSS 4 MFG 4x)	240
Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic)	73
Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic DLSS 4)	107
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (4K Max no frame gen)	86
Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max)	31
Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max DLSS 4 MFG 4x)	125
Blender Median score (Animation)	N/A
Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)	N/A
Procyon Llama-3.1-8b (local LLM AI)	N/A

Blender Median score (Animation)

7621

Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)

3344

Procyon Llama-3.1-8b (local LLM AI)

4330

02,0004,0006,0008,000

Benchmark Data

Product	Value
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res)	N/A
Cyberpunk 2077 (1440p Ultra/Psycho Super Res DLSS 4 MFG 4x)	N/A
Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic)	N/A
Black Myth: Wukong (4K Cinematic DLSS 4)	N/A
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (4K Max no frame gen)	N/A
Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max)	N/A
Alan Wake 2 (1440p Max DLSS 4 MFG 4x)	N/A
Blender Median score (Animation)	7621
Procyon Stable Diffusion XL (AI image gen)	3344
Procyon Llama-3.1-8b (local LLM AI)	4330

1 of 2

What's coming up

Truthfully, I wasn't expecting many big GPU releases this year, but AMD proved me wrong with the launch of its Radeon RX 9070 GRE. With this in mind, stay tuned for more major drops as they happen. Otherwise, there are still big updates and features set to arrive in 2026. Here's a look at what's ahead:

• During Nvidia GTC 2026, Team Green announced DLSS 5. This next-gen graphics tech uses real-time neural rendering that brings photo-realistic lighting and materials to RTX 50-series GPUs, and we got a taste of how it looks. It will be available in fall 2026, but we won't know how good it will be until we properly see it in action. For now, it's leaning towards "uncanny valley," but it's another feature Nvidia's GPUs will have down the line if you choose to buy one.
• There's good news for AMD Radeon RX graphics card owners. AMD is bringing FSR 4.1 upscaling to older GPUs, meaning you won't need to upgrade to the latest Radeon 9000 series cards to get a bump in frame rates and visuals via AI upscaling (like Nvidia's DLSS). FSR 4.1 will be available for Radeon 7000 GPUs with RDNA 3 in July 2026, while Radeon 6000 series with RDNA 2 will see FSR upscaling in early 2027. So, expect FSR 4.1 support for over 300 games on older GPUs for titles that support it!
• Wondering how the latest games look and perform, and the settings you should use on these graphics cards? Check out our thoughts on path tracing in Resident Evil Requiem (it's horrifyingly impressive) and path tracing in Pragmata (it looks glorious).

How do we test graphics cards?

To ensure fair and accurate results across the board, we here at Tom's Guide test all GPUs in the same system that sports an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, 32GB DDR5 RAM and a 2TB PCIe Gen 5 SSD.

We then test for three key purposes through a range of benchmarks and performance analysis: gaming (average frame rates and 1% lows tested across multiple titles), productivity (GPU-intensive tasks like animation rendering), and AI performance (image generation and local LLM processing).

This is done with a range of 3DMark gaming benchmark tests, benchmarks across the top-selling AAA titles on Steam, Procyon generative AI tests and the classic Blender benchmark.

It's hard to imagine some of the best gaming laptops without a discrete GPU like Nvidia's RTX 50-series graphics cards, but the upcoming Intel Panther Lake CPUs sporting integrated graphics may change the playing field.

A next-gen Intel Core Ultra 300 series CPU has shown up in Geekbench, showing benchmark results for an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H processor in an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14. Not only does this reveal that we can expect Panther Lake to show up in one of the most popular gaming laptops we've tested, but it also shows its integrated graphics performance — without a dedicated GPU.

Showing its OpenCL result, which measures a GPU's power, it achieved a score of 52,014. As we've seen when testing Panther Lake, the ROG Zephyrus G14 configuration showed the processors with 4 P-cores (performance) and 12 E-cores (efficiency), along with a hint of the 12 Xe3 graphics cores as suggested by the 96 compute units. Plus, it even noted the integrated Arc GPU delivering 16GB.

Now, there's no telling what this test was really for, and it may not show the true strength of the integrated graphics performance of the CPU, considering Panther Lake is set to make its way to laptops in 2026. However, it tells us two key details:

• We'll likely see Intel Panther Lake power upcoming Asus ROG gaming laptops: With the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H in the Zephyrus G14, that's a good sign that testing is already being done for next year's Asus laptops.
• There may not be a need for a discrete GPU: There's no dedicated Nvidia GPU in sight in this benchmark unit, showing that Asus may be considering laptops without Nvidia's latest graphics cards.

Of course, this may not be the case at all. As per the result, while the 52,014 OpenCL score beats an RTX 3050 laptop GPU's Geekbench score of 50,918, which is an impressive feat for integrated graphics, it still falls behind an RTX 4050's 75,228 benchmark. We're now on entry-level RTX 5050 graphics cards, and even the latest Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 we tested comes with up to an RTX 5080.

We've seen how Intel's upcoming Panther Lake CPUs aim to deliver 50% more GPU performance compared to Lunar Lake, thanks to its advanced Xe3 architecture, and this certainly appears to be the case, according to another recent early benchmark showing 3DMark results for a Core Ultra X9 388H processor.

More integrated, less dedicated

All-in-one chipsets with integrated graphics are having their moment. Not only is Intel Panther Lake gearing up to be a fitting processor for gaming handhelds, but with Intel and Nvidia partnering up to deliver x86 RTX chips and Qualcomm making strides in gaming with its upcoming Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chip for laptops, we may see a new lineup of slim, portable gaming laptops with formidable performance in the next year.

This brings into question whether we'll see less dedicated GPUs like an RTX 50-series in upcoming gaming laptops. Even Apple's recent M5 MacBook Pro saw frame rates up to 55 FPS at 1080p resolution in Resident Evil 4 Remake, and up to 120 FPS with MetalFX enabled.

With AI tech such as Nvidia's DLSS 4 and AMD's FSR 4 offering upscaled visuals and higher frame rates, and this being put into action in Intel's latest Panther Lake chips with XeSS 3 tech introducing multi-frame generation with a 1.5x improvement, there may be less of a need for discrete graphics cards in laptops.

But not just yet. As we've seen time and time again, the latest lineup of GPU units in laptops delivers high-end gaming performance that integrated graphics in a CPU just can't match. Take the Alienware 16X Aurora with an RTX 5060 I tested, reaching over 160 FPS at high settings with DLSS 4 turned on.

Either way, there's a new era of gaming laptops on the horizon, and you may not find a dedicated GPU in them.

More from Tom's Guide

• Intel Panther Lake could power the future of handheld gaming — here's why AMD should be nervous
• I benchmarked the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme — here's how it compares to Apple M4, Intel Core Ultra 9 and more
• I spent 5,000 miles gaming on the ROG Xbox Ally X — it’s incredible, but something doesn’t add up

With Intel’s Panther Lake chip ready to deliver a major uplift in performance to laptops in 2026, we've now seen early graphics performance tests for what this CPU can deliver — and it already looks to crush Lunar Lake.

Benchmarks for Intel's flagship Panther Lake Core Ultra X9 388H processor have been shared by tech site LaptopReview, showcasing a 50% increase in graphics performance compared to Lunar Lake. According to its 3DMark results, it achieved a TimeSpy score of 6,300, with Lunar Lake reaching 4,000, as per the report.

This is a substantial improvement over Intel's Lunar Lake (Core Ultra 200V series) and Arrow Lake (Core Ultra 200H and HX) chips, and is on point with the tests we've seen when going hands-on with Panther Lake. This already shows that the next-gen CPU should deliver massive gains on PCs, but also power the future of gaming handhelds.

As noted in the report, Panther Lake's TimeSpy score even exceeds an RTX 3050 GPU. In our lab tests, we've seen an RTX 3050 Ti achieve a score of 4,637, so this checks out. However, it's still behind the likes of an RTX 4050, with the Acer Nitro V 15 we tested scoring 7,415.

We got a first look at Intel's Panther Lake series, and were impressed with the SoC's GPU onboard offering the new Xe3 graphics architecture and up to 12 Xe cores and 12 Ray Tracing Units. Over its Lunar Lake predecessor, this already aims to deliver big performance gains.

We've already expected 50% more GPU performance compared to Lunar Lake, and 40% higher performance per watt compared to Arrow Lake H series. Plus, its advanced XeSS 3 tech offers multi-frame generation for even higher frame rate potential in games. That's similar to Nvidia's RTX 50-series and DLSS 4, bringing Multi Frame Generation.

AMD may still have the upper hand

Despite the impressive benchmarks, the high-end Panther Lake Core Ultra X9 388H may fall behind its competition in AMD's Strix Halo APU.

We tested AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor in the Framework Desktop, and in the 3DMark TimeSpy benchmark, it scored 11,530. There's clearly a significant gap in graphics performance, but considering this is a desktop, whereas Panther Lake is set to power laptops, this isn't a huge surprise.

It's still early days, and it's worth noting that Intel's Panther Lake runs on 45 watts compared to AMD's Ryzen AI Max+ 300 series chips can run up to 120 watts. There are still more tests to be done, but from the improvements these benchmarks show, Panther Lake is looking to be one powerful chip to give gaming performance a boost in notebooks.

There's plenty more to find out about Team Blue's latest Panther Lake chips, and how Nvidia and Intel's partnership will see these chips see even further leaps in performance.

More from Tom's Guide

• Intel Panther Lake could power the future of handheld gaming — here's why AMD should be nervous
• I benchmarked the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme — here's how it compares to Apple M4, Intel Core Ultra 9 and more
• Wi-Fi 8 just got its first-ever demo — here's what makes it different

So, as you may already know, Intel Panther Lake is officially on the way, and I got to test it for myself. While there’s a lot to get excited about — bringing the efficiency of Lunar Lake and mashing it with the raw performance of Arrow Lake — the one standout feature to a gamer like me is that GPU.

With up to 12 Xe3 cores, better ray tracing capabilities, and some crazy good new AI-driven gaming features that provide improved frame rates, I was blown away by what this chip is capable of.

That’s all well and good for a laptop, but at a time when the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme has only seen minor uplifts in performance over Z1 (read my MSI Claw A8 review for specific numbers on that), Panther Lake could be the true generational leap I’ve been looking for. Let me explain why AMD should be nervous right now.

Seriously strong performance

At the moment, one Intel gaming handheld exists with worldwide availability — the MSI Claw 8 AI+. While AMD continues to take a lead over this chipset for handheld gaming, recent updates have made the Core Ultra 7 258V an impressive alternative.

That being said, its graphics prowess could be better. This is Lunar Lake after all: the notebook chipsets that were really good with power efficiency, but not so great on the performance side of things. And this is where Panther Lake comes into the equation, by taking the speed focus of Arrow Lake and pairing it with this stamina.

So far, we know of two GPU options — a base model Panther Lake chip with a 4-core Xe3 GPU, and a top-of-the-line option with 12 cores. Surprisingly, though, while I assumed Intel would tell me that gaming handhelds would go for the lower configuration, the company is so confident in its power management that the 12-core monster could fit in here.

By the numbers

We can put this to the test…sort of. You see, the demo units at the Intel Tech Tour were laptops running with 45 watts of power. In a gaming handheld, that would be insane, as to get decent stamina, you’d be looking at 17 watts. However, let’s go into this with Painkiller, which runs at a rock solid 60 FPS at 1080p Epic settings with Intel’s own XeSS resolution scaling tech.

First off, it’s worth noting that in a chip that you’re probably going to find in slimline notebooks, that’s crazy good. Integrated graphics have been coming along in leaps and bounds recently, and Intel’s taking a giant jump ahead with 1.5x graphics improvement over Lunar Lake (as claimed by the company).

Oh, and let’s not forget those 12 ray tracing units running alongside the GPU cores — really unlocking those more realistic, immersive lighting and reflections. It’s seriously impressive to see in person.

Now let’s apply the logic that we see from AMD gaming handhelds — namely that the difference between its highest wattage and 17 watts is around a 30-40% drop in frames (provided you aren’t optimizing the settings).

Of course, that drop could be bigger for Intel, going from the 45W I saw to 17W. But that performance curve for the 12-core Panther Lake really may not be as stark when turning down the power, as more cores means less work across them all. Using very rough math to paint a picture, I’d say this could be 30-35 FPS.

Intel did say this GPU has been tested across a range of wattages, and even confirmed that at 28W, they were seeing “similar results” to 45W. This could seriously be a breakthrough for handheld gaming, but I haven’t even gotten to the best bit yet.

Multi frame gen makes sense here

Built on Xe3 cores, Intel has been able to do some AI wizardry and bring XeSS multi-frame generation to the party. Essentially, for every two frames the GPU generates, AI fills in three in between for far smoother frame rates.

More from Tom's Guide

• Lenovo Legion Go 2 review — A great handheld hampered by its steep price
• I'm sorry but the ROG Xbox Ally is way too expensive — and it makes the Steam Deck look like a bargain
• Netbooks are back, baby! And that’s not even the weirdest part of this gaming handheld hybrid

This is a pivotal moment for Intel. Lifelines may have come from the U.S. government and Nvidia, but Team Blue needs to be in fight back mode — which is exactly what the company’s done with Panther Lake, the new chip that will eventually (probably) be known as Intel Core Ultra series 3.

And looking back, the timeline has led up to this moment. Arrow Lake (Intel Core Ultra 200H and HX) brought the performance without the battery life, whereas Lunar Lake (Intel Core Ultra 200V) went hard on battery life at the sacrifice of performance.

Panther Lake brings both of these together, while drastically amping up performance by more than 50% in CPU and GPU prowess, while bringing insane graphics tech to the table. Let me tell you about it.

Intel Panther Lake: Quick takes

• Core Architecture: Panther Lake utilizes a modular "System of Chips" design built on the Intel 18A node, featuring up to 16 next-generation Cougar Cove P-cores and Darkmont E-cores, clustered for optimized performance and efficiency.
• GPU Changes: The GPU introduces the new Xᵉ3 graphics architecture and scales up to 12 Xᵉ cores and 12 Ray Tracing Units, delivering big performance and featuring an increased 16 MB L2 Cache in the high-end configuration.
• Multi-Thread Performance: Multi-thread performance is boosted by more than 50% versus Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake when operating at similar power levels.
• Single-Thread Power Efficiency (vs. Arrow Lake): It delivers similar single-thread performance with more than 30% less power compared to Arrow Lake.
• GPU performance: The new Xe3 architecture results in 50% more GPU performance compared to Lunar Lake, and achieves 40% higher performance per watt compared to Arrow Lake H. XeSS 3 tech introduces multi-frame generation, which is huge for integrated graphics — 1.5x improvement.

Intel Panther Lake: Specs

Meet 18A

18A is not just another manufacturing step, it's the most advanced chip-making process currently in production in the United States — positioning Intel for a huge leap in CPU performance and efficiency. This 2-nanometer class node is the technological foundation for upcoming CPUs like Panther Lake, and it relies on two revolutionary changes.

This gets technical. We’re talking about the very fabric of how these process nodes are made, because as I’m about to get into, Panther Lake is really all about the numerous overhauls Team Blue has made to deliver big, but let me get into two key pillars of how it's built.

RibbonFET (The ultimate transistor)

• Transistors on a chip are always in two states: on or off. These are all controlled by gates, and in older Intel chips, these only covered some sides of the transistor — leading to power leakage.
• RibbonFet wraps the gate around all sides. Imagine trying to keep water from leaking out of a pipe by only squeezing the top. It still leaks from the sides. RibbonFET is like completely wrapping the pipe from all sides with the control mechanism. This perfect, "all-around" gate control ensures zero leakage.
• That allows for greater control of transistors, and allows Intel to shrink them even further without losing power — specifically a 15% performance-per-watt increase with a 25% power reduction.

Speaking of power…

PowerVia (Fixing silicon traffic jams)

• Instead of taking the traditional route of chip production, which is putting all the signal and power lines on one side of the chip, Intel is moving power delivery to the backside of the chip.
• Think of a multi-story city where power lines and data cables (signal lines) are all running on the same crowded street (the front side of the chip). This creates traffic jams and bottlenecks. PowerVia moves all the heavy power lines to a separate, dedicated highway underneath (the backside of the wafer).
• By making this move, the signal lines up top are now free to spread out, which dramatically reduces bottlenecks and allows Intel chips to be a lot more dense with cores and engines — bumping the chip density up by 1.3x.

Panther Lake takes full advantage of 18A (as you can see in the specs table), and the synergy of these two pillars translates to massive generational improvements.

Best of both worlds

Panther Lake makes a move from being a system on a chip (all the elements threaded together) to a more modular system of chips. You can see how Nvidia could insert itself into this conversation in future silicon with a GPU chiplet of its own!

But that's way further down the line (more on graphics later). Right now, what we have on the compute side of it is a familiar mix of performance and efficiency cores. The Cougar Cove performance cores have been engineered to drive up single-threaded performance, and deal with the high-demand work like games and content creation.

Meanwhile, the Darkmont efficiency cores are on hand and integrated alongside those performance cores to contribute significantly to multi-threaded performance. And for those low-demand tasks that fall into the casual productivity space, that’s where the low power E-cores come in.

There’s also a lot of software trickery at play here — including what’s called the Intel Thread Director. Basically, your Panther Lake chip has a boss that is really smart at looking at the tasks coming in and assigning cores to it.

And all these things lead to two key things: faster performance both when being strained and in more power-efficient moments. Single-threaded performance is more than 10% faster than Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake at similar power levels, and more than 50% faster multi-threaded.

Agentic AI at its core

While the Snapdragon X2 Elite is aimed at packing more TOPS into its NPU (80 to be specific), Intel is focused more on making better use of the surface area.

The 5th generation NPU here has a 40% improvement in TOPS in the area compared to Lunar Lake — combined with the CPU and GPU, that’s a total of 180 TOPS to help with Agentic AI capabilities coming down the line.

And efficiency is the name of the game, as the NPU consumes 10% less power than Lunar Lake and 40% less than Arrow Lake, while also being optimized for the latest ways AI workloads are conducted, such as Floating Point.

Huge GPU gains

Now for the fun part. The GPU has undergone a huge upgrade here, as it is now built on the Xe3 core architecture — driving both drastic improvements in efficiency and performance. Specifically, we're talking more than 50% faster than Lunar Lake, and 40% better performance-per-watt when compared to Arrow Lake.

These are significant numbers for GPU-intensive workloads like content creation, but the magic really starts to happen when you go gaming with it.

Intel was already on a great track with Lunar Lake (I loved the most recent driver update that unlocked more performance in the MSI Claw 8 AI+). But with Panther Lake, Intel is promising a 1.5x uplift in gaming performance, and that is Intel being “conservative” in their own words.

XeSS tech has also gotten an upgrade, too, and multi-frame generation is coming. If you’re not familiar with this tech since Nvidia launched it with RTX 50 series, the GPU will render one frame and use AI to predict the next three — essentially offering far smoother frame rates.

To have this in integrated graphics is, put simply, a bonkers power-up. On the demo units running at 45 watts, I saw Painkiller running at 220 FPS and Dying Light 2 at 140 FPS. Then, with 12 ray tracing units, these could very well overcome Intel’s old weakness in ray tracing.

It’s worth noting that since there isn’t any competitive testing, we aren’t able to confirm how Intel’s new GPU tech fares against AMD’s Strix Halo platform (the chip you’d find in the Framework Desktop).

In my mind, given the ludicrous specs of the Ryzen AI Max+ 395, Team Blue’s Panther Lake isn’t stretching to compete with this — that’s where the Nvidia partnership will come in. What we have here is more of a value unlocker to give you an improved price to performance.

The nice-to-haves

Then there’s the new image processing unit, which Intel is calling IPU 7.5. Basically, this covers what I call “just laptop things” — the things you don’t even think about, but also massively appreciate when they’re done well.

For example, better webcam support (you've got support for up to 16MP picture quality, and 1080p running at 120 FPS), AI-driven tone mapping for more lifelike color and contrast, and AI noise reduction to smooth that image.

But probably most eye-catching (literally) for me is the enhanced HDR. Processing the signals for that kind of content can take a toll on the chip’s power, but through hardware accelerated staggered HDR, the system can do it far more efficiently at a fraction of the power.

Once again, another series of small changes that make for a big difference.

Made in America

More from Tom's Guide

• I benchmarked the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme — here's how it compares to Apple M4, Intel Core Ultra 9 and more
• M5 MacBook Pro — all the rumors we’ve heard so far
• Nvidia N1X CPU: Everything we know so far

It's official: Nvidia and Intel are partnering up, and is set to bring a fusion of Intel CPUs and Nvidia's RTX GPU power into a new breed of SoC (System on Chip): Intel x86 RTX silicon.

Two rival juggernauts of the industry are now in alliance, with Nvidia throwing $5 billion at Intel to kick-start a new era of chips in PCs. With Team Blue's massive share of laptops in the market and Team Green's dominance as a GPU maker, this is arguably the dream scenario not just for both companies, but for the rest of us, too.

Having an Intel SoC fitted with an Nvidia RTX graphics chip should deliver more thin, lightweight Windows laptops made for productivity and gaming. It truly would be a leap forward for PC gaming, even if it may be putting Intel's own Arc GPUs on thin ice.

But there's one player who may feel the sting of this partnership — AMD. Team Red has been gaining momentum with its latest suite of CPUs and GPUs, showing off incredible performance with its AMD Ryzen AI Max 390 in the Asus ROG Flow Z13, which shows off its integrated graphics prowess.

That's the kind of might Nvidia and Intel appear to be striving towards with their new investment into SoCs, but it isn't just desktops and laptops that are on the line here. With AMD's hand in powering the best gaming handhelds and the latest consoles, including the PS5 and Xbox Series X, we could see a change in the future of gaming consoles, and AMD may have a serious fight on its hands to remain the go-to chip maker.

Gaming laptops and beyond

Despite many of the best gaming laptops today coming equipped with Intel's latest CPUs, they only manage to be top-of-the-line machines thanks to discrete GPUs, whether it be from Nvidia or AMD.

Laptop manufacturers can do their best to make them more portable, with the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 or Razer Blade 14 being fine examples, but they can't match the ultra-lightweight design or power efficiency of, say, a MacBook Pro sporting the latest M-series silicon that, for the most part, acts as a work laptop by day and a gaming machine by night — with a battery that lasts.

And so, having Nvidia and Intel's next venture into a CPU with integrated graphics would potentially solve that problem. But AMD has already been chipping away at this for a while. In fact, AMD put the scare in Intel with its Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, surpassing Team Blue's Lunar Lake chip (the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V) in gaming handhelds.

That's why you'll find AMD's Ryzen Z2 Extreme in the most popular gaming handhelds arriving, including the ROG Xbox Ally X and MSI Claw A8. It simply pulls ahead of its competition, and there's a very good reason behind Sony and Microsoft continuously using a custom AMD chip to power their consoles.

The PS5 Pro managed to become the most powerful console on the market thanks to AMD, and as we learned from lead architect Mark Cerny, it will continue to push ahead with FSR 4 (FidelityFX Super Resolution) and Project Amethyst, the multi-year partnership with Sony and AMD.

But what if Nvidia and Intel's newfound partnership disrupts AMD's current journey into different platforms? Nvidia has an edge in the GPU market, with its GeForce RTX 50-series graphics cards bringing DLSS 4 (Deep Learning Super Sampling) upscaling tech, and it's taken the lead on how games can perform on PCs, whether it be on a desktop or laptop.

Since Nvidia and Intel's x86 RTX silicon should deliver more powerful and efficient performance for gaming and AI on laptops (as tech analyst Avi Greengart told Tom's Guide), if this expands onto other platforms like handheld PCs and consoles, then who's to say tech giants won't make a shift in chip makers?

Now, when this upcoming Nvidia/Intel chip will arrive is anyone's guess, and AMD already appears to have plans in place for its next-gen SoC in the rumored AMD Medusa Ryzen CPUs tipped for 2026. What's more, the long-rumored PS6 is expected to be powered by an AMD chip capable of being 8x faster than the PS5, with 4K at 120 FPS.

But with this shift in the tech industry, the future of gaming on different platforms could see a new name powering these devices, and Team Red may not be the first choice much longer.

Nvidia has its own card to play

During the chat to confirm the deal, Huang made it clear that the partnership has nothing to do with President Trump (as pointed out by The Verge) or Nvidia's own chip plans. If anything, that means Team Green is still pushing ahead on its expected Nvidia N1X chip.

Interestingly, that appears to be another deal Nvidia is striking up with MediaTek, which hints at bringing Arm-based CPUs for desktops and laptops. Again, that means slimmer, more powerful gaming laptops thanks to the might of Nvidia's latest graphics cards. Apparently, this SoC could arrive sometime in 2026, and it's looking to leverage the power of an RTX GPU.

There have been hints that the N1X will come with RTX 5070 desktop GPU power, boasting a 20-core CPU and 6,144 CUDA cores. This is exciting to hear, considering this is just from a single chip. If this is the performance we might expect, then Nvidia is setting itself up to shake up the industry.

Of course, without an official announcement, we won't know what kind of consumer-grade SoC we can expect from Nvidia until it's revealed. The performance of Nvidia's new lineup of silicon is still up in the air, but the implications of the top GPU maker venturing into the CPU world should put AMD and other chip makers on their toes.

The takeaway

It's not like Nvidia hasn't made its own custom chip for consoles before. The Nintendo Switch 2 is powered by a custom Nvidia processor featuring a GPU with dedicated RT Cores and Tensor Cores. But an all-new SoC with Intel by its side could drastically shift the type of chips we see in not just PCs, but handhelds and consoles, too.

Sure, it's not like we haven't seen Arm chips for Windows in action before, with Snapdragon X Elite laptops impressing with their long battery life and fast speeds. That said, we've tested Snapdragon X Elite PCs for gaming, and while impressive, they aren't quite built for demanding titles.

Still, there are other plans from Intel and Nvidia's competitors underway. For one, the AMD Strix Halo APU already delivers close to RTX 4060 desktop GPU power, and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Series chip is set to arrive soon.

In any case, we're sure to see some exciting developments in the CPU market over the next few years, and AMD has now found an even bigger rival in a combined effort between Nvidia and Intel — and I can't wait to play on whatever devices come from this battle.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just tried the upgraded GeForce Now cloud gaming — and I'm seriously impressed
• Nvidia's RTX 50 SUPER GPUs looking to skip 2025 entirely — here's when they could launch
• Here's how to update your Nvidia GPU drivers in 5 easy steps

So chances are you saw the seismic news yesterday that Intel and Nvidia announced a partnership to develop x86 chips together — including a CPU with RTX graphics built-in for PC gaming.

One of the biggest questions coming out from that is simple: does this mean that Arc is cooked? Is Intel’s own GPU efforts on the chopping block. Well, Intel told PCWorld that “the collaboration is complementary to Intel’s roadmap and Intel will continue to have GPU product offerings."

In one way, that’s a big old sigh of relief from me. But also, just because a company says one thing now doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future, and I’m nervous.

Get on the Arc

For those uninitiated, Arc is Intel’s name for the company’s graphics work, and it’s been quite a journey to get to this point. Over years of rather middling GPU tech, we’re now at a point where Intel has been making some serious moves.

First is the big wins in discrete GPUs for desktop. The Intel Arc B580 is easily one of my favorite budget graphics cards — not giving you the feeling of being short-changed on video memory by giving you 12GB of VRAM for $249.

And on top of that, updates are continuing to roll in to improve XeSS: its AI frame generation and resolution scaling tech. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not close to what DLSS 4 is capable of, but it’s still strong.

Second is in handheld gaming. Only one exists at the moment: the MSI Claw 8 AI+, and at first the performance and power efficiency were a little out of whack, but the Arc graphics built into that Intel Core Ultra 7 258V have grown to be mightily impressive — giving AMD a run for its money in my own testing.

Plus, let's not forget these chips are used in laptops too, and the GPU capabilities on AAA games is surprisingly strong.

But this seems too convenient

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Nvidia and Intel have teamed up to build hardware together as Nvidia invests $5 billion in Intel, taking a nearly 5% stake in the company and potentially changing the future of PC gaming.

We're still unpacking what this Nvidia/Intel deal means for the future, and we got some clues this morning when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan conducted a webcast press conference to announce the deal and answer questions.

I sat in on that chat, and while much of the conversation was about AI and data centers there was some intriguing talk about how the two titans will collaborate on new chips that integrate Nvidia RTX graphics tech directly with Intel's CPUs.

That means we can expect a future in which thin-and-light gaming laptops and handheld gaming PCs are running on a new breed of Intel SoCs (System-on-Chip) with an Nvidia RTX graphics chip built right in.

A much-needed shot in the arm for Intel

I'm no business expert, but it's clear that Intel's fortunes have been falling for some time as layoffs rake the company while AMD, Apple, Qualcomm and even Nvidia offer serious competition in multiple markets. The U.S. government invested nearly $9 billion in Intel just last month to take a nearly 10% stake in the company, and now Nvidia has thrown in another $5 billion.

This generally seems like good news for Intel, and indeed the company's stock price climbed siginificantly in the wake of the announcement. However, it remains to be seen if this will ultimately be more to Intel or Nvidia's advantange.

For the rest of us, this could be a huge deal because there's still a lot of room to improve the experience of gaming on thin-and-light Windows laptops and handhelds. It's startling how quickly AMD and Qualcomm have made strides in building smaller, more capable SoCs, but in my experience you still can't expect the same level of performance as you can from a premium CPU paired with a powerful discrete laptop GPU.

And while Intel's consumer-grade CPUs power many of the best gaming laptops, in those cases they're partnered with discrete AMD or Nvidia laptop graphics cards that contribute to those laptops being heavy, power-hungry beasts. If you actually want a Windows laptop that plays games well yet is light enough to comfortably carry all day and capable of lasting longer than 4-5 hours on a full battery, you're going to have a rough time of it.

As much as I prefer Windows over macOS when it comes to gaming, a laptop like the MacBook Pro M4 is actually better for someone who wants a portable PC that can play games well and last through a full day of work or school. Sure, macOS doesn't support as many games as effectively as Windows, but you can play Diablo IV unplugged on your MacBook for a few hours and still count on it getting you through a day of classes. I can't say the same about almost any Windows laptop I've ever tested.

Part of the reason is that Apple silicon is remarkably efficient, which might have something to do with the physical design of its M-series chips. See, Apple employs a unified memory architecture that basically lets both the CPU and GPU on an M-series chip pull from the same unified pool of RAM, in a way that's slightly faster and more efficient than if the RAM was separate.

So when I read Tom's Hardware reporting that the forthcoming Intel x86 RTX SOCs will have a similar design, I got really excited. See, the folks at our sister publication were reportedly told that future consumer-grade Nvidia/Intel SoCs will have uniform memory access (UMA) so that both the CPU and GPU components of the chip will be able to draw from the same shared memory pool.

That could be a revolutionary step forward for Intel that helps secure its shaky place in the market, as well as afford Nvidia a stronger foothold in segments of the PC gaming market that can't afford its high-priced graphics cards. When I reached out to tech analyst and Techsponential founder Avi Greengart for his thoughts, he said something similar.

"The Intel / NVIDIA deal should mean more powerful and efficient silicon, especially for gaming and AI on laptops," said Greengart. "You can already put an Intel CPU and an NVIDIA GPU on the same motherboard, but there should be significant gains by moving to a chiplet architecture within an SoC. Intel insists that this doesn't change anything for its Arc GPU business, but given Intel's cash crunch as it builds out its Foundry business, it's hard to believe that Arc won't be impacted, at least for the discrete cards and higher-end laptop processors where NVIDIA now slots in. "

That makes a lot of sense, and it highlights that this deal isn't going to singlehandedly save Intel—the company still appears to be behind the ball relative to the competition.

But for folks like you and me, it could mean that the state of ultra-light gaming laptops and handhelds is about to get significantly more exciting.

Bottom line

Intel and Nvidia's announcement is still fresh and it's way too early to say definitively what impact their partnership will have on the PC market. However, I can say for sure it will definitely shake things up.

Frankly, that seems like exactly what Intel needs right now. The company has appeared to be in danger of crumpling for about a year now, but recent investments from Softbank, the U.S. government and now Nvidia have helped it survive long enough to lay off lots of people and try some fresh approaches. Hopefully this one pays off.

But really it seems like Nvidia comes out on top here, because it gets to take a stake in Intel, get some new x86 CPU hardware for data centers and new x86 SoCs with Nvidia RTX GPU tech built in. Plus, it comes out looking like a stand-up partner that's supporting a struggling U.S. chipmaker right as the U.S. government is making a lot of noise about buying and building local.

What remains to be seen is how impactful the resulting Intel x86 RTX SoCs will be when they eventually arrive on the scene. I doubt we'll see them anytime before 2026 at the absolute earliest, but I'm going to be counting the days because I want to see what Intel's SoCs can do after they get an injection of Nvidia's RTX graphics tech.

Maybe I'm reading too much into the Tom's Hardware claim that these upcoming chips will have uniform memory access, but I want to believe that Intel and Nvidia can do for portable PC gaming what Apple and Qualcomm have done for productivity laptops: upend expectations and fundamentally raise the bar for what we expect from our tech.

More from Tom's Guide

• Nvidia N1X CPU appears in new benchmark — but it doesn't show its true potential
• I played games for 100 hours on Intel Arc B580 — it proved to me that GPUs are Intel's way back from the brink
• Intel’s in trouble — AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme pulls ahead where it counts for handheld gaming

I always love a “when enemies become friends story,” but Nvidia and Intel striking a deal to work together was not on my bingo card. In a game-changing announcement reported by Tom's Hardware, Team Green and Team Blue will be working together to develop chips.

These include data center CPUs for business and (most interestingly to me) Intel CPUs with Nvidia RTX graphics built into them for consumer PC gaming. On top of that, Nvidia will buy $5 billion in Intel stock, which has caused Intel’s stock price to skyrocket by over 30% today.

During a press conference, both Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Intel's Lip-Bu Tan stated their excitement for the partnership and how it will benefit both companies and the tech industry overall. They steered clear of answering questions about how and where their new SOCs will be manufactured, but we should learn that in due course.

While today's press conference is over, this is still a developing story with a lot of moving parts and big questions to ask: what does this mean for Nvidia’s own N1X CPU project? How will the likes of AMD and Qualcomm respond? So we’re covering every new development live.

What you need to know about the Nvidia-Intel deal

• Nvidia and Intel will work together to jointly develop new generations of x86 products over several years.
• Alongside the enterprise CPUs, this includes “Intel x86 RTX SOCs” — Intel CPUs infused with Nvidia RTX graphics.
• Nvidia will also buy $5 billion in Intel stock at $23.28 per share.
• This partnership is in the very early stages, and any product specifics will be disclosed at a later, unspecified date.

LIVE UPDATES

Welcome to the live blog!

There are a lot of moving parts here, so let's go quickly into how this is big news for you. Besides the business talk and the many different machinations (which I will cover), the big thing here is the Intel x86 RTX SOCs for the PC gaming market.

Up until this point, the integrated graphics in Intel Core Ultra CPUs have been pretty impressive. But it's clear that Nvidia has led the way on GPU performance, so to see a tight integration like this — an Intel CPU with Nvidia RTX chiplet for gaming performance — is mightily exciting.

Merging these into one package could make this a huge rival to AMD's own APUs that sport both compute and graphics in one package.

Press conference at 1pm ET / 10am PT / 6pm BST

The CEOs of Nvidia and Intel will be conducting a webcast press conference later today at 1pm ET. We'll be listening in to what is discussed about this seismic deal and what this means for the future of PC CPUs!

What will Intel and Nvidia make together?

This partnership looks set to be far-reaching through both enterprise and consumer computing, so let's break down what products look set to be made.

First of all, this isn't just a "one and done" situation, the companies will collaborate to "jointly develop multiple generations of custom data center and PC products." That's a multi-year joint venture! In terms of the specifics.

• Data centers: Intel will build Nvidia-custom x86 CPUs to be integrated into its AI infrastructure for enterprise use.
• PC gaming: Most enticing to me is the Intel x86 RTX SOCs. Simply put, rather than Intel's own integrated graphics on its Core Ultra CPUs, these chips will get Nvidia RTX GPU chiplets instead. That could open the door to a huge performance boost!

Let's talk about that Intel x86 RTX SOC

This is the most intriguing bit to me, so let's go into what this could be. Intel's current CPUs pack both the compute power and the company's own Arc GPU tech, and they've been pretty good.

What this Nvidia partnership will do is essentially perform a GPU brain transplant — taking that Arc GPU out and replacing it with an RTX graphics chiplet. This super tight integration brings huge gaming performance into a package on one chip, which could be huge competition for AMD's all-in-one chipsets too.

For PC gaming, this could knock it out of the park with access to DLSS 4, neural rendering technologies and more.

Handheld gaming is about to change

And while I could sit here and talk about the Intel x86 RTX SoC itself (and I will when we get more detail), I want to talk about the doors a partnership like this opens.

Handheld gaming has been largely dominated by AMD's chips like the Ryzen Z2 Extreme in the ROG Xbox Ally X. But the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus has been the one to stick with Intel and see some solid framerates because of it.

Now, with Nvidia DNA, PC handheld gaming could be incredible. DLSS tech has been outstripping AMD's FSR equivalent for a while now, and I'd just love to see this come to handhelds.

A "historic collaboration"

Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been sharing his excitement over this new deal with Intel. “AI is powering a new industrial revolution and reinventing every layer of the computing stack — from silicon to systems to software. At the heart of this reinvention is NVIDIA’s CUDA architecture,” he commented.

“This historic collaboration tightly couples NVIDIA’s AI and accelerated computing stack with Intel’s CPUs and the vast x86 ecosystem — a fusion of two world-class platforms. Together, we will expand our ecosystems and lay the foundation for the next era of computing.”

"Innovating across our portfolio"

Heading over to Team Blue, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has also been sharing his excitement for this partnership with Intel (unsurprising given the stock price has shot up over 30% since the announcement)!

“Intel’s x86 architecture has been foundational to modern computing for decades — and we are innovating across our portfolio to enable the workloads of the future,” he commented.

“Intel’s leading data center and client computing platforms, combined with our process technology, manufacturing and advanced packaging capabilities, will complement NVIDIA’s AI and accelerated computing leadership to enable new breakthroughs for the industry. We appreciate the confidence Jensen and the NVIDIA team have placed in us with their investment and look forward to the work ahead as we innovate for customers and grow our business.”

"Seismic for Intel"

For more thoughts, I've reached out to Paul Alcorn, Editor-in-chief of Tom's Hardware who originally broke the story. This is a pivotal moment and a real lifeline for Intel, and Alcorn agrees.

"The announcement is nothing short of seismic for Intel, which already counts the United Sates of America as its largest shareholder, and now counts the world's largest company, Nvidia, as one of its other largest shareholders."

And in terms of their personal computing aspirations, AMD should be very worried by this announcement.

"Intel's new x86 RTX CPUs will compete directly with AMD's APUs by design. For AMD, that means it faces intensifying competition from a company with the leading market share in notebook CPUs (Intel ships ~79% of laptop chips worldwide) that's now armed with GPU tech from Nvidia, which ships 92% of the world's gaming GPUs."

AMD should be worried

As you know, I've been blown away by the AMD Ryzen AI Max 395+ chip found in the Asus ROG Flow Z13. It's integrated graphics performance is simply mindblowing and can rival a lot of dedicated GPU gaming laptops.

APUs like this have been Team Red's bread and butter, but to have Intel and Nvidia coming together — two titans in note CPUs and gaming GPUs — to build its own SoCs is going to bring a massively intense competition to AMD.

DLSS4 is already quite a ways ahead of any FSR capabilities, and the game support for Nvidia's neural rendering smarts is far larger too. This seems like a slam dunk.

The $5 billion deal

At $23.28 per share, Nvidia is now one of the largest shareholders in Intel behind the U.S. Government. Part of me is a little curious about whether there is another intention to this deal — but that will be all dependent on whether Nvidia goes on a shopping spree and buys more. The agreement is clear in exactly how much right now.

Wait...this sounds familiar

As Paul highlights in his report for Tom's Hardware, this isn't the first time Intel has joined up with another company for its GPU tech. Back in 2017, there was a Kaby Lake-G chip that was fused with an AMD Radeon GPU chiplet.

This is sort of similar in concept to what you'll see between Intel and Nvidia, but there's some significant differences. On paper, it's the same principal — take Intel's CPU and put and AMD GPU on the same die.

But in this upcoming SoC, the RTX GPU will be connected by the vastly faster and more efficient NVLink interface, and there will be uniform memory access — meaning the CPU and GPU will be able to access the same stock of memory intelligently.

What does this mean for Arc graphics?