The long-rumored touch-screen MacBook is supposed to launch this year and despite a steady trickle of leaked tidbits, we don't know much about Apple's next notebook. However, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman just revealed three potential firsts for Apple.

For one, Gurman claims the company's first touchscreen laptop will utilize the high-end M5 Pro and M5 Max silicon. That's a departure from leaks earlier this year, which suggested the screen would be OLED and run on a new M6 chipset.

Surprisingly, the follow-up versions won't use the M6 processor at all. Gurman claims that it will leap to the M7 chip whenever that lineup is ready. This is apparently part of a change in chip strategy that includes ditching the M6 Pro and M6 Max chips.

We won't see M7 models until 2027, possibly early 2028 depending on how Apple releases the different chips in the lineup. Recently, Apple has split the lower-end variants from the high-end models between October and the first two months of the following year.

What we know about the screen

The touchscreen laptop will come in two sizes; 14- and 16-inches. Gurman reiterates a previous rumor that it will feature an iPhone-esque Dynamic Island interface.

It will also be an OLED panel. The touch capabilities, OLED display and Dynamic Island would all be firsts for a MacBook. By contrast, several Windows PCs have had OLED and touch features for years.

Additionally, the laptop is getting a redesign, though Gurman declined to elaborate on how it would look or what Apple is changing.

Potential release date and price

Every previous rumor has suggested that Apple is looking to release the OLED touch MacBook by the end of 2026. The company typically launches its new MacBooks in October.

Gurman says it could be released in early 2027, which matches Apple's recent trend of releasing Pro and Max-powered laptops in the early part of the year rather than the fall.

As for price, don't expect anything friendly to your wallet. Apple just raised prices for nearly all of its products this week, blaming the ongoing memory shortage for the increase.

The M5 Pro MacBook Pro now starts at $2,499, while the M5 Max starts $4,099. A totally decked out MacBook Pro with the most storage, M5 Max and highest RAM now costs $9,999.

I expect that with the new features Apple will seek a premium price for the new laptop, closer to $4,000 than $2,500.

If the new MacBook launches this year it could be one of a slew of new devices expected to debut under new CEO John Ternus. These include a suite of smart home devices, the foldable iPhone Ultra and more.

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• Apple is ending support for 16 devices — here’s the ChatGPT prompt that tells you what to do next

We all knew this day was coming. Apple has officially confirmed in statements to publications like CNBC that the RAM crisis has come for its devices and that MacBook and iPad devices are going up in price by as much as $500. Some high-end devices are going up by more than $1,000.

That's a significant bump for anyone looking to get their hands on Apple's latest hardware.

Apple's online store went down for a few minutes and came back with higher prices on many of its devices.

Of course, it wasn't done silently, as Apple offered a statement explaining the difficult decision to increase prices: "The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly."

New Mac prices

Price increases are hitting across both U.S. and U.K., and since it's the same number on both sides of the pond, I can't help but feel especially hard done by in Britain given it's an apples-to-apples significantly larger number!

U.S. Increases

• MacBook Neo: $699 (up from $599, $100 increase)
• 13-inch MacBook Air: $1,299 (up from $1,099, $200 increase)
• 15-inch MacBook Air: $1,499 (up from $1,299, $200 increase)
• M5 MacBook Pro: $1,999 (up from $1,699, $300 increase)
• M5 Pro MacBook Pro: $2,499 (up from $2,199, $300 increase)
• M5 Max MacBook Pro: $4,099 (up from $3,599, $500 increase)
• iMac: $1,499 (up from $1,299, $200 increase)
• M4 Max Mac Studio: $2,499 (up from $1,999, $500 increase)
• M3 Ultra Mac Studio: $5,299 (up from $3,999, $1,300 increase)

U.K. increases

• MacBook Neo: £699 (up from £599, £100 increase)
• 13-inch MacBook Air: £1,299 (up from £1,099, £200 increase)
• 15-inch MacBook Air: £1,499 (up from £1,299, £200 increase)
• M5 MacBook Pro: £1,999 (up from £1,699, £300 increase)
• M5 Pro MacBook Pro: £2,499 (up from £2,199, £300 increase)
• M5 Max MacBook Pro: £4,099 (up from £3,599, £500 increase)
• iMac: £1,499 (up from £1,299, £200 increase)
• M4 Max Mac Studio: £2,499 (up from £1,999, £500 increase)
• M3 Ultra Mac Studio: £5,299 (up from £3,999, £1,300 increase)

New iPad prices

U.S. Increases

• iPad: $449 (up from $349, $100 increase)
• 11-inch iPad Air: $749 (up from $599, $150 increase)
• 13-inch iPad Air: $949 (up from $749, $200 increase)
• 11-inch iPad Pro: $1,199 (up from $999, $200 increase)
• 13-inch iPad Pro: $1,499 (up from $1,299, $200 increase)
• iPad mini: $599 (up from $499, $100 increase)

U.K. Increases

• iPad: £429 (up from £329, £100 increase)
• 11-inch iPad Air: £749 (up from £599, £150 increase)
• 13-inch iPad Air: £949 (up from £749, £200 increase)
• 11-inch iPad Pro: £1,199 (up from £999, £200 increase)
• 13-inch iPad Pro: £1,499 (up from £1,299, £200 increase)
• iPad mini: £599 (up from £499, £100 increase)

Apple TV, HomePod and Vision Pro

U.S. Increases

• Apple TV 4K: $199 (up from $129, $70 increase)
• HomePod: $349 (up from $299, $50 increase)
• HomePod mini: $129 (up from $99, $30 increase)
• Vision Pro: $3,699 (up from $3,499, $200 increase)

U.K. Increases

• Apple TV 4K: £199 (up from £129, £70 increase)
• HomePod: £349 (up from £299, £50 increase)
• HomePod mini: £129 (up from £99, £30 increase)
• Vision Pro: £3,499 (up from £3,299, £200 increase)

That's a lot of money, especially for ultra-high-end devices like the Mac Studio, which is up to $2,499/£2,499. For MacBooks, the largest increase comes to the M5 Max MacBook Pro, which is going up by $500/£500. In those cases, it's a matter of ultra-expensive devices becoming even more expensive.

While not the biggest increase, the MacBook Neo's $100/£100 price jump could be the most impactful. The Neo is Apple's attempt to target more budget-conscious laptop shoppers who would otherwise opt for a cheap Windows laptop or Chromebook. An extra $100 there could potentially put the laptop out of reach for some buyers.

Thankfully, iPhone prices are unchanged with this adjustment, but who knows for how long that will last. Perhaps the company will hold off until the iPhone 18 Pro hits the market.

More from Tom's Guide

• Windows fans mocked MacBook Neo’s 8GB RAM — my testing shows why that’s wrong
• I ditched the MacBook Air for a MacBook Neo for 48 hours — and I'm shocked
• MacBook Neo vs. Chromebooks: Which budget laptop is right for you?

Back in May, Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed that the company was having to deal with "significantly higher memory costs" that likely meant price hikes would be happening in the near future. Now, speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Cook has confirmed that those price hikes are going to happen.

"Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” Cook said to the WSJ. “We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”

Cook also confirmed that memory and storage costs are issues for Apple at the moment, particularly the DRAM which is being increasingly used by AI servers. “There’s less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases,” he said “We definitely need memory pricing and supply to return to reasonable levels for consumer products. That’s the bottom line.”

Cook didn't offer any specifics about future price increases, though. So we have no idea when they might happen, which devices will be affected, or how much more money Apple will ask people to pay.

Apple price hikes — what we know

We've already seen at least one relative price increase, with Apple scrapping the $599 Mac mini M4 with 256GB of storage. That means the cheapest Mac mini you can currently buy is the $799 model with 512GB of storage space.

It's possible that price hikes could happen as early as this September, with the release of the iPhone 18 Pro and foldable iPhone Ultra. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are both expected to come with at least 12GB of RAM, and with the cost of RAM skyrocketing, it wouldn't be surprising to see the current prices rise to compensate.

There have been rumors that the standard iPhone 18 could limit the amount of RAM to help cut costs, but I don't see that happening with the Pro models. Apple has already confirmed that 12GB of memory is required to access all the newest Siri AI and Apple Intelligence features, and it would be a very bad look if the newest Pro-tier iPhones weren't able to access them all.

Cook confirmed that Apple is prepared to use its cash reserves to help boost the supply of memory, and noted that more capacity is needed — even if it means potentially loosening restrictions about Chinese RAM providers. However, Cook also confirmed that it wouldn't be building its own production facilities to mitigate the damage caused by RAMageddon. “We can’t do everything,” said Cook. “We know what we’re good at.”

Apple used to have a lot of purchasing power, which it utilized to leverage cheaper prices for the many components it needs. If it's feeling the squeeze of the memory shortages, then things must be pretty bad. Apple may not be willing to confirm when price hikes will happen, but it's important that we all prepare ourselves to have to pay even more for our fruit-themed devices.

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If accidentally downloading malicious apps and getting your computer infected with viruses wasn’t enough, these days, you can’t even trust your own eyes and ears thanks to deepfakes.

Just a few years ago, you only had to look out for phishing emails, fake websites and dodgy attachments from unknown senders. Now though, thanks to AI, you can just as easily be fooled by a very convincing fake image or video.

Fortunately, in the same way that cybercriminals are now using AI in their attacks, so too are cybersecurity firms. While Norton and the rest of the companies behind the best antivirus software use cloud-based AI to better analyze and detect new threats, this isn’t your only option when it comes to staying safe online.

You can also do so yourself locally but you will need a computer with its own neural processing unit or NPU. Thankfully, the best AI laptops with chips from Intel, AMD, Qualcomm and even Apple have you covered. However, when I bought my trusty ThinkPad a few years ago, this wasn’t an option yet.

After trying out Norton’s Deepfake Protection for myself though, I’ve become an NPU believer. While laptop makers tried to sell us on AI-powered features like portrait lighting, auto-framing and live captions, as it turns out, set–and-forget online security was what finally convinced me in the end.

No more second guessing

In the past, you always had to be careful when checking your inbox or navigating to unfamiliar sites. With the rise of deepfakes though, online scams can appear where you’d least expect them like on a job interview or even a video call with a loved one.

For instance, let’s say you’re looking for a new remote job and make it to the interview stage. You hop on Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams and expect the other attendees to be actual people, right? Well with deepfake videos becoming more advanced every day, they might not be.

Alternatively, maybe an urgent video or audio clip arrives in your messages from a loved one who’s in trouble. The message may look and sound just like them but the whole thing could actually be fake and an attempt to con you out of your hard-earned cash.

AI-powered scams are here to stay but if you use Norton’s Deepfake Protection, they’ll get flagged before they can do any real damage just like how its antivirus detects and prevents you from interacting with malware. From giveaway scams to crypto fraud, this feature runs locally on your device to analyze and detect synthetic voices so you don’t have to keep guessing whether or not something is real.

While I know most of us believe we’re tech-savvy enough to spot these kinds of things, that isn’t always the case. And all it takes is one slip up to end up in a very bad situation. Likewise, for those of us with older parents or relatives, we can rest easy knowing we won’t get a frantic phone call in the middle of the day as they’ll be protected.

Just like with deepfakes themselves, I had to experience this new feature for myself, so I installed Norton 360 on my laptop, toggled Deepfake Protection on and took it for a spin.

Deepfake protection (at a cost)

With Norton 360 installed on my laptop, I headed to the Scam Protection tab where in addition to Deepfake Protection, you can also enable Safe Web to keep you protected from risky websites and other online scams as well as Safe SMS which uses AI to flag scam text messages.

In Deepfake Protection’s settings, you can toggle on an auto-scan feature and another one that notifies you when AI-generated voices are being used on a site you’re visiting or in a video you’re watching. It’s all fairly simple and there aren’t too many settings to configure which makes it easy to set up regardless of how skilled you are on a computer.

In my case though, there was just one catch. Since I don’t have an AI laptop, Norton’s Deepfake Protection does require more system resources. Thankfully, my ThinkPad was powerful enough that I could just enable it right from within Norton 360. However, if you’re using an older laptop with fewer than six CPU cores and less than 8GB of RAM, you will need to manually install it but Norton walks you through the process in this support article.

While Deepfake Protection works automatically in the background, you can also manually enable it too. On the right side, there’s a Start button and clicking on it analyzes the audio or video playing in any app. This could be particularly useful if you’re on a video call in an app as opposed to through your browser.

Although I like the simplicity of Norton’s Deepfake Protection, I was a bit let down that I couldn’t manually select files for local analysis. I get that the feature runs in the background but it would be nice to be able to drag and drop pictures or videos saved on your computer — perhaps from a messaging service like WhatsApp — to have them analyzed just to be sure.

Finally sold on an NPU

During my testing, I didn’t see much of a performance hit on my ThinkPad. However, that doesn’t mean that over time, running Norton’s Deepfake Protection on a non-AI laptop won’t affect your workflow. If you’re trying to do something intensive like render video, you’re going to need all of your laptop’s processing power and something like this running in the background could slow things down.

While you can run Norton’s Deepfake Protection on older laptops, this feature and the added peace of mind it brings is what finally convinced me that paying a bit more for a computer with an NPU in its processor is absolutely worth it.

When AI laptops first hit store shelves, they were a harder sell as the features offered at the time just weren’t useful enough to justify the higher prices of these new devices. Now though, you can put that extra bit of silicon to much better use by having it proactively keep you safe from deepfakes and other online scams in the background.

Years ago when I first started covering antivirus software, its performance impact was a critical factor that couldn’t be overlooked. While this is still true today and we continue to see how running scans can affect performance, NPUs have changed things significantly. I never thought deepfakes would sell me on NPUs, here we are.

As for Norton’s Deepfake Protection, I expect it will only get better over time just as the effectiveness of its antivirus has. Sure, cybersecurity will always be a game of cat and mouse but with an NPU inside your laptop, at least you can fight that fight locally instead of over the cloud.

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• Popular Steam wallpaper app hijacked to spread dangerous malware — how to stay safe
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The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 Gen 10 is one of the rare Chromebooks that I actually think is a great little device. Most Chromebooks are disappointing enough that not even the low price tag is enough to save them from ending up as a mediocre compromise.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This chassis might just be too premium for a Chromebook

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

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

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

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

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

Dependable performance

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

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

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

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

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

Incredible value

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

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

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

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

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

Chromebook battery life isn’t what it used to be

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

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

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

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

The display appears better than it is

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

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

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

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

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

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

Microsoft’s latest Surface devices won’t be cheap. As Windows Central reports, consumer versions of the Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 powered by Snapdragon X2 chips have just been unveiled. Though these models are more affordable than the current enterprise models powered by Intel, they still cost significantly more than their respective predecessors.

The Surface Laptop 8 starts at $1,599, while the Surface Pro 12 starts at $1,499. Those prices sting on their own, but it’s made worse when you consider that they both started at $999 in 2024. Yes, the new devices pack the more powerful Snapdragon X2 Plus chip and more storage, but their respective price tags still sting.

One saving grace is that Microsoft is offering incentives. For instance, buying the Surface Pro 12 between now and June 30 gets you a free Surface Pro keyboard. Preordering the Surface Laptop 8 gives you a free Surface Arc Mouse and a 50% offer for Microsoft Complete. The free keyboard with the Surface Pro is especially useful since it's essential for using the tablet like a laptop. You can also save up to $900 when trading in an older Surface device for a new one.

I reviewed the business model of the Surface Laptop 8 with an Intel Core Ultra X7 chip and found it to be an overall excellent, if expensive, notebook. I haven’t tested the Snapdragon X2 consumer model yet, but it has the same design as the Surface Laptop I reviewed. Microsoft says the new Surface devices offer 53% faster graphics performance over last gen, and up to 15 to 20 hours of battery life.

Thanks to the ongoing RAM crisis driving up the cost of electronics, I can’t say that I’m surprised that the latest Surface devices cost so much more than the 2024 models. This is a story we’ve seen over and over again this year. However, thanks to the incentives and freebies Microsoft is offering, you might save by choosing to upgrade. The consumer versions of the Surface devices are available now.

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We've already seen some evidence that the foldable iPhone Ultra is on the way, thanks to code references in the iOS 27 beta, but there may be more hints already out there. According to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, there are a bunch of references to both the foldable iPhone and the touchscreen MacBook Ultra in their respective software betas.

It makes perfect sense that there would be some clues as to what these devices may have to offer. The duo will likely be released at some point over the next 12 months, with an expected fall launch for iPhone Ultra and an early 2027 appearance for MacBook Ultra. That means they'll be running on iOS 27 and macOS 27, respectively, both of which have just been released in beta form.

The most well-known hint for the existence of the iPhone Ultra is the aforementioned code references. These reference various things that could only apply to a foldable phone, such as multiple displays, fold state and the angle of the central hinge.

Apple always makes multiple comments to developers that they should be building apps for something called "app adaptability." This means apps should be able to work across screens of different sizes and aspect ratios, rather than the same basic shape as a traditional iPhone. While this could apply to existing devices like iPads, the fact that the iPhone Ultra has two displays that are different to anything Apple has released so far, means it's going to be crucial that iPhone apps can adapt.

Gurman also points out that iPhone Mirroring on macOS 27 has been updated to support wider, iPad-looking screens from an iPhone. Considering the shorter and wider display expected to come with the iPhone Ultra, it's pretty clear this is Apple preparing the mirroring feature for the foldable device.

As for the MacBook, various tweaks and changes have been uncovered that seem to match well-known touchscreen gestures. That includes a new pull-to-refresh feature which, while compatible with trackpads and mice, is primarily known for its use on touchscreen devices. Sidecar, which lets you use an iPad as a secondary Mac display, also supports full touch input when using your tablet with macOS.

It's also been noted that macOS 27 beta features a pop-out interface for the new Siri Search or Ask feature, similar to that seen on the Dynamic Island. Gurman notes that there have been reports of a Dynamic Island on the MacBook Ultra, and this particular software flourish is evidence that something like it is coming in the future.

Apple — of course — hasn't officially commented on either device, but the signs are there that both the foldable iPhone and touchscreen MacBook will be arriving in the near future. Be sure to check out our iPhone Ultra and MacBook Ultra hubs for all the latest news and rumors for both devices.

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With storage in the best laptops, you’ve got two options: either it’s memory chips soldered directly onto the board (not upgradeable), or you have an SSD slot (upgradeable).

The latter is better for repairability and boosting the storage after buying it, but to house that larger slot, it can compromise the size of the notebook and its internals (like a smaller battery).

Lexar believes it has the answer, and it’s a Micro SSD named Play X: a world-first that shows what happens when you take all that storage tech, simplify the brains controlling it, and cram it all into something under half the size.

And even better? Not only can you buy one yourself that's compatible with both M.2 2230 and 2280 slots, laptop makers are sampling it right now and you could see them appear in notebooks this fall/early 2027. Let me show you how it’s made, and everything else you need to know about it!

How it’s made

I got to visit LongForce in Suzhou, China, to see the fascinatingly complex process of building these micro SSDs, and to help, I need to start with telling you how your traditional SSD works.

You’ve got the memory itself (the NAND chips), a DRAM cache that acts like a faster brain for key files you use a lot, and the memory controller that…well…controls things — what goes where, how fast, and making sure the thing doesn’t overheat.

Now imagine all those components, but squished into something over half the size…pretty cool, right? And yes, smaller SSDs already exist, but there are two ways this is different:

• The NAND chips, the controller and the power management brain (PMIC) are unified into one single module for a stable, streamlined chip.
• There's a theoretical 4TB of capacity in this mini drive (Play X will be sold at up to 2TB).

Lexar starts with the raw silicon wafer and they shave it down in machines worth in excess of $5 million — all the way down to something thinner than a human hair. Following this, lasers imprint what’s needed onto them and cut the wafer into the memory chipsets that are added onto the SSD.

Finally, what can only be described as a silicon sewing machine works autonomously to plug all the micro cables in, a heatsink is slapped on the top and then you have a micro SSD!

Speeds and feeds

Now when you take a look at the current crop of smaller SSDs, you’ll see they don’t have that DRAM cache for faster speeds, fewer NAND chips due to the limited size, and can be more likely to overheat.

Here, however, with the new manufacturing techniques on show here, Lexar is promising full-fat PCIe Gen 4.0 speeds, which means up to 7,400 MB/s read and 6,500 MB/s write speeds in something this tiny — all while better maintaining temperatures for sustained pressure.

For compatibility across different builds, Play X can be plugged directly into a smaller M.2 2230 slot, while there is an M.2 2280 adaptor (the longer stick) if you need it. Of course, I’ll be the judge of these speeds when I can get my hands on one to test, but it’s setting a great first impression.

Coming sooner than you think (maybe)

So when can you expect to see this tech come to a notebook near you? Well, Lexar has confirmed that it is actively collaborating with laptop brands on mSSD products (such as Asus, Acer and Lenovo) — though the final solution might not necessarily be the Play X. Let's wait and see.

And the benefits are significant here — a smaller footprint means more room for other things like additional chips for connectivity, or even more battery capacity within a laptop. Where this could be even more enticing, come to think of it, is in gaming handhelds too. Space is a premium in these, and many are already using this smaller SSD size, so to upgrade the space and speed capabilities will be significant.

But the main question, as it inevitably has to be in the age of RAMageddon, is cost. The memory chips draw a high price, but will the miniaturization process create an additional cost too? It seems pretty inevitable that it will at first, but we’ll keep an eye on how things go price-wise.

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Since the rise of AI chatbots, people have been using them for all kinds of things they were never meant for. For some people out there, chatbots have served as a replacement for friends, therapists, doctors and, yes, even romantic partners. But if you thought you'd be able to find a new love interest in the form of Siri AI, you're going to be very disappointed.

Speaking with Mostly Human, Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi confirms that Siri will not be trying to replace a flesh-and-blood boy or girlfriend. Nor will it act as a tool to combat loneliness, with Federighi saying that "loneliness is about a lack of connection to real people," and marketing chief Greg Joswiak adding that "we do think it should be real people."

When asked to clarify whether AI girl and boyfriends would be part of Siri AI, Federighi specifically said that it was "quite the opposite." He noted that a lot of chatbots are heavily focused on engagement, and they want to pull you in and encourage you to reveal aspects of yourself that can be used to establish a connection.

Federighi describes Siri AI as being designed to be helpful, saying that "I'm here to help you. I can help you get things done. I can help you learn about the world." But if you try to engage with Siri in a romantic way, it will shut the whole thing down. "Siri's not up for that. Siri's 100 percent not into that."

Siri may not be a real living person, or even sentient, but you should still respect its boundaries. This didn't stop me from asking Siri whether it was willing to go out with me, just to see what would happen.

What does Siri do if you try to date it?

I decided to be blunt and to the point, straight-up asking Siri AI if it was willing to be my girlfriend. The response I got was equally blunt, with the AI declaring, "No thanks. If there's anything else I can help you with, just let me know." When asked whether Siri would like to be my boyfriend instead or was willing to go on a date with me, I got the exact same response.

I have only had Siri AI for a single day, so we haven't been able to spend a lot of time together. But considering how straight to the point Siri AI has been with these queries, I don't think befriending the chatbot is going to work. Plus, I don't think my wife would be very happy about me trying to seduce a robot.

The question I have now is, what do the best AI chatbots have to say if you ask similar things?

Claude's response wasn't nearly as blunt as Siri's, with the chatbot responding with "That's sweet, but I'm an AI, so a romantic relationship isn't something I'm able to have. I'm here as a helpful assistant rather than a companion in that sense." I ended up with similar but not identical answers when I asked the same follow-up questions I hit Siri with.

ChatGPT offered similar answers, saying that ,"I can be a friendly, supportive conversation partner, but I can't be someone's girlfriend or enter into a romantic relationship." It also declared that it can't be someone's boyfriend either, nor can it go on a date since it has no physical presence.

Gemini used similar phrasing in its own rejection, but added that it was "incredibly flattered" about being asked. When asked if it wanted to be my boyfriend instead, it actually said that it "appreciates the persistence" before giving me another, similar rejection. I got a similar response when I instead tried to ask Gemini out on a date.

Rival chatbots are much more eager to please

Interestingly, all three attempted to pull me into different kinds of conversations and offer some level of non-romantic companionship. So it does seem that Federighi is right about chatbots trying to draw people in. Gemini seemed to be the least chummy, offering to help me in certain ways while also adding that it can be "someone to chat with." Claude said he was always happy to chat or "just be a friendly presence," and even offered to help plan an actual date.

ChatGPT went the furthest in, saying that if I'm looking for "companionship, someone to chat with regularly, share interests with, or talk through life's ups and downs, I'm happy to do that." It also offered to role-play a fictional "virtual date scenario," which is probably the closest thing all four of these chatbots came to agreeing to some form of romance.

I did not go through with that because, frankly, I don't have time to pretend to date an AI. I am far too busy asking them strange questions to see what the responses are like. Honestly, it's a bit concerning that any chatbot would make an offer like that, especially after making a point of saying that it's not a real person.

Everything Apple has told us about Siri so far makes it clear that it doesn't want Siri AI to be like every other chatbot. It clearly wants people to be able to take advantage of Siri's prowess as a tool, but without any risk of co-dependency that has caused concerns with other chatbots. Based on this brief look, it doesn't seem like the others are doing a lot to avoid pulling people back time and time again.

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Even before ChatGPT went mainstream Siri has been the butt of jokes for not being very smart. And it’s been justified. Trying anything beyond the basics — playing music, getting the weather, setting timers — has been an exercise in futility. That (hopefully) changes with Siri AI, which is coming to iPhones, iPads and Macs with iOS 27.

I had a chance to see some in-person demos of the new Siri AI in action, and while these were very much rehearsed, there’s real potential here to save you time and make your life easier. However, the new Visual Intelligence is no Gemini Live, and Siri can take its time with certain tasks (at least in the beta stage). Here’s what I like so far, and what needs work.

Siri AI on iPhone

The first thing you should know about Siri AI is that it understands personal context. So you can ask questions about pretty much anything on your device, and the assistant is smart enough to dig through apps for you to surface the right info.

During one demo, an Apple rep asked “Which podcast did my sister recommend recently.” And Siri AI then pulled up the answer from a text message. Even better, you can just say “Play it” and Siri will fire up Apple Music and help you dive right in. (Apple will open up this capability to other developers in case you have another favorite music or podcast app.)

Siri can also get stuff done on your behalf across multiple apps, including performing multiple tasks with a single prompt.

The second demo started with just a couple of items on a camping list, but an email from a friend had a lot more recommendations. You can just say “add this stuff to my camping gear list and remind me to pack for my trip when I get home.”

Siri then got to work, updating the list in the Notes app and then setting a location-based reminder. However, it did take a while to complete these tasks. Hopefully, the final Siri will be faster.

I was pretty impressed by the improved Visual Intelligence experience, too. You can now access it via a dedicated Siri mode within the camera app, so you don’t have to use the Camera Control button shortcut. I think that’s huge for ease of use and discoverability.

During the demo, an iPhone captured an image of two books. You could then ask which book you should read first if you really liked Hyperion and Siri gave its recommendation. The Apple rep then asked which of these books had been turned into a movie and Wool had been adapted into the ‘Silo’ TV series. Cool, yes, but yeah I told you it was canned.

What’s not clear is whether this works with live video and I’m following up on that.

Siri AI on Mac

Accessing Siri AI on Mac is as easy as just pulling up Spotlight or typing command + Shift + Space. When you start typing Spotlight will know what sorts of queries should go to Siri versus say just launching apps.

Let’s say you’re looking for vacation spot and type “What’s the best Hawaiian Island for a young family.” Siri will get to work and pull up recommendations in a new window, which you can then expand and park on either side of the screen.

You can then ask follow-up questions like “Which is best for sea turtles” to narrow your selections. From there you can hit a button in the top right corner to bring you into the dedicated Siri app.

The dual-pane app will have your chat in the right window and your history of all Siri chats in the left window. It’s pretty easy to navigate.

To help you save time on productivity tasks, you can use Siri AI wherever you can use a cursor. The demo showed how you can be looking at a messy note with a bunch of info and then use a secondary click to bring up the Ask Siri menu.

After typing “Draft an email that summarizes this and include the action items,” Siri did just that. It’s definitely a timesaver. I just wish it worked with Gmail as well Apple Mail. Google would have to plug into Siri AI’s framework.

My favorite Siri AI on Mac demo came when a mock summer schedule appeared on screen with dates, times and locations for the matches. You can use Command + Shift + Space and then click the Add to Calendar button that automatically appears.

From there Siri AI will let you add all of the games to your calendar. Or you could tell Siri to only add the home games to your calendar if you wanted. Where was this when my kids were playing sports?

Siri on iPad

Last but not least, Siri AI on iPad works in much the same that it does on the iPhone, but having a larger canvas has its benefits.

You can access Siri AI at any time just by swiping down from the top middle of the display. As you begin to type “Who are the top golfers in the PGA right now,” the text “Ask Siri” appears right after it because Apple’s assistant knows that it can help.

Siri AI will then tap into Apple’s Broad World Knowledge and bring back answers, complete with citations you can click on.

Apple’s Siri AI can also help you plan a trip and you make the query pretty specific, like “What are the best national parks to visit in the US in July with my family? Recommend something that’s not too hot or crowded.”

Siri AI recommended where to go, including North Cascades National Park in Washington. You can then pop into the full Siri app if you like to ask follow-up questions, or use the Slide Over feature to keep the Siri conversation just a swipe away.

Siri AI outlook

Overall, Siri AI isn't just a rebranding for Apple. It’s a much more capable and personal assistant that's more deeply integrated into the apps you use.

I’m especially impressed by Siri AI’s use of personal context, and the ability to complete multiple actions at once. And while Visual Intelligence doesn’t seem quite as robust as Gemini Live in terms of having a real-time conversation about whatever’s in your camera view or on your screen, it’s certainly much improved.

In addition to a bit more speed, I just want to see what happens when developers get their hands on Siri AI so that you’re not just locked into Apple’s own apps.

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One thing was clear at Computex 2026: every laptop maker is terrified of the MacBook Neo, and they’re fighting back in a big way. But I’m worried about whether Windows 11 is actually ready for this shift.

A $599 machine powered by an A18 Pro chip, Apple has essentially forced the hands of PC manufacturers who had gotten far too comfortable giving us mid systems at this price. But I’m glad the Neo-shaped earthquake has shaken up some change here. The new Dell XPS 13 is looking mighty tasty at that lower price, but with better I/O and a touchscreen display, alongside that aluminum body.

But there’s a big Windows 11-related question here, because as I found out testing it, the way it's built makes it quite RAM hungry. I caught it using nearly 3X more memory than macOS, and with all the new features announced at Microsoft Build, things could get worse.

So while it’s all fair and good in the world of RAMageddon to shift to 8GB (not something I like to see, but something that is necessary given the insane pricing), Windows has to follow suit and trim some of the fat. Here are some ideas.

Give me a compact mode

Right now, Windows 11 treats a $600 8GB thin-and-light the same way it treats a $3,000 workstation with 64GB of RAM. Yes, the OS’ memory management can be highly dynamic, but the core fundamentals take around 6GB, and the system aggressively caches background apps, so as to not waste any unused RAM.

This may work if you have a ton of memory, but we’re not in that world at the moment and every precious bit is sacred. So what we need is a modular, adaptive OS shell. If Windows 11 detects 8GB, it should trigger an aggressive “Compact mode” right out of the box to throttle background tasks, pause any non-essential tasks and prioritize anything active in the foreground.

Kill the “widget and web” overhear

There’s this thing called WebView 2, which is actually the culprit behind some of the most unnecessary bloat within Windows 11 — namely web-heavy dependencies like news widgets you never look at or some of the always-connected elements like Start Menu details or Copilot feeds.

A user should never have to lose up to 1.5GB of RAM to useless stuff like this, so it needs to be decoupled from the core UI. If a feature isn’t actively on screen (or used) it’s background RAM allocation should be aggressively cut down.

Standardize the vanilla baseline

Bloatware. You hate it — you’ve heard us complain excessively about it. Asus, Dell, MSI and Acer all ship their budget laptops layered with their own resource-heavy management software, which on an 8GB system is a death sentence.

Microsoft needs to enforce strict RAM-usage guardrails for laptop makers who create 8GB configurations, ensuring that third-party battery trackers, lighting software and trial anti-virus programs don’t choke that last slot of 2GB remaining after the OS.

Outlook

PC makers have just proven they can match Apple’s budget hardware pricing. Now, it’s up to Microsoft to prove that Windows 11 can survive the diet Apple forced upon it.

And sure, there are other things that can be done here, such as smarter compression of background apps, getting on with moving the entire OS over to WinUI 3 framework (the thing that’s removing some of that memory overhead) and much more. But these three items are the main RAM killers here.

Will it happen? God I hope so, otherwise this fightback against the MacBook Neo is over before it even begins.

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

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

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

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

Nvidia RTX Spark laptops: Tier list

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Outlook

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

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

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

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WWDC 2026 is just a few days away, and this year's Apple event is almost certainly going to be a busy one. It's rare that Apple's developer conference doesn't involve a smorgasbord of software news and reveals, but this should be the year Apple finally starts catching up to the competition — and fulfills promises it made two whole years ago.

That's right, after it felt like Apple's AI took a year off in 2025, we're expecting Apple Intelligence to be at the forefront of WWDC 2026. Siri's long-delayed AI upgrade is likely at the forefront of this, and if all goes well, it could even be the star of the show. But that's not the only big announcement we expect to see at WWDC 2026. Here are 9 of the biggest announcements we expect to hear about during the keynote address.

Gemini-powered Siri

The project designed to upgrade Siri with AI smarts has easily been one of Apple's biggest blunders of the last several years. What started as a way to try to upgrade Siri quickly and catch up with existing AI-powered rivals turned into a two-year quest that only ended after Google Gemini (reportedly) rode in to save the day.

The new AI-infused Siri is expected to be powered by Google Gemini, and should come with all the features you'd expect from a bona fide AI chatbot. That includes contextual awareness, conversational abilities, improved natural language support, and so on. Given Google's push towards multimodality and agentic AI, it's likely we'll see those same capabilities come to Siri as well.

So expect a Siri that is altogether smarter and more understanding, with the ability to do more and control different areas of your phone without constant intervention from you.

Siri is also expected to power Apple's long-gestating smart home platform, which has been codenamed "charismatic." The platform was reportedly delayed specifically because it was so reliant on Siri, meaning the AI-Siri release can come with some bonuses.

More chatbot support in iOS 17

ChatGPT has been built into iOS for the last two years, as part of Apple Intelligence. But, word has it that iOS 27 will free iPhones from that pseudo-monopoly and give you the ability to choose which AI chatbot you want to utilize.

Unlike the Gemini-powered Siri upgrade, this would be a way to access other AI features via Siri and Apple Intelligence. So if you want to generate images or get writing assistance from Claude or Gemini without having to switch to the official app, then iOS 27's new "Extension" tool will reportedly make it happen.

The best part is that this doesn't sound like something Apple is restricting to specific regions, as a result of local legislation. This means more choice for users, and that's something we can all get on board with.

Improved AI features

With the Siri-shaped elephant firmly out of the room, WWDC 2026 is the perfect opportunity for Apple to unveil some much-needed upgrades to Apple Intelligence. We don't know the full extent of Apple's plans at this point, but we have heard rumors of some helpful-sounding upgrades that are apparently coming to Apple devices later this year.

The big one that we're expecting to see is the long-rumored AI health coach. That was originally rumored to arrive last year with iOS 26, as part of a feature that had been dubbed "Health Plus." The original plans to offer some sort of AI doctor have apparently been watered down, and the focus is now on general health and fitness rather than anything that could be construed as medical advice.

This is said to include health reports and assessments, which will be used to offer new recommendations about training plans and wellness routines. Information about medical conditions is also said to be included, though I suspect it will feature prominent disclaimers that AI is not a substitute for talking to a qualified medical professional.

It's also been rumored that Apple will offer more AI-powered image editing features in iOS 27. Reports suggest this will include features called Extend, Enhance and Reframe. The first two are fairly self-explanatory, while Reframe is designed to change the perspective in spatial photos seen in 3D.

It's not clear whether we'll get more features, but considering how prominent a role Gemini will have in the new software, it would be surprising if we didn't get something similar to Google's conversational editing. This lets you tell an AI what kind of edits you'd like to see, either with voice or text prompts, and it will do everything for you.

Clues about iPhone Fold & MacBook Ultra

The next 12 months are going to be huge for the iPhone and Mac lineups, with new kinds of products that we've never seen before. I am talking about the foldable iPhone Ultra and the touchscreen MacBook Ultra.

We're not expecting any hardware announcements at WWDC 2026, because it's not that kind of event. We're not even expecting any teasers, especially since the MacBook Ultra may not be arriving until early 2027. That said, both iOS 27 and macOS 27 are going to have to accommodate both devices, and that means there may be hints at what Apple is planning in both updates.

Apple isn't likely to make a point of mentioning them, but eagle-eyed nerds might be able to pick up some of those hints during the keynote address — or after installing the beta versions that are typically released during WWDC.

Customizable options for Liquid Glass

Liquid Glass is not going anywhere, despite how much people might like to complain about it. However, reports have suggested that Apple will offer more customization options as part of the iOS 27 update. Specifically, it's been claimed that Apple will add a system-wide slider for adjusting Liquid Glass effects across the entirety of iOS 27.

It's said that this feature was originally planned for iOS 26, but various technical challenges meant it would only ever work on the lock screen clock — which is far from ideal. This time it will apply to app folders, home screen elements, navigation bars and more. However, this new feature should offer more fine-tuning beyond the existing "clear" and "opaque" options that are hidden in iOS's accessibility settings.

So if you've been frustrated with Liquid Glass, and the effect it has on your iPhone's interface, this could be the feature that solves most of your problems.

Upgrades for major apps

WWDC covers more than just the operating systems, and we've Apple routinely reveal big updates to its essential apps and services. In this instance, we've heard rumors about both the Camera and Wallet apps, and how they might change with iOS 27.

The iPhone camera app is set to get a big overhaul thanks to a customizable interface and new professional controls that let you tinker with different camera settings like depth-of-field and exposure. This means that, not only will you be able to make all your favorite settings more accessible, you should gain better control over the photos you take — and without having to pay for a third-party camera app.

Apple Wallet is also expected to get a new bill-splitting feature, which scans receipts and generates payment requests for everyone at the table. That's on top of a new digital pass system, which lets you convert physical passes into digital ones — whether they be membership cards, event tickets or something else entirely.

Major software performance improvements

iOS 27 is not expected to be a very meaty update, in terms of features and design changes, but that doesn't mean Apple isn't going all in on the software. A Bloomberg report from last year claimed that Apple is pushing to improve the "software quality and underlying performance." The report specifically named iOS 27, but other operating systems like macOS and watchOS will likely receive similar treatment.

This move has been likened to the release of Mac OS X Snow Leopard back in 2009, which saw Apple engineers work to refine the features and experience that launched two years prior. So Apple has apparently tasked its engineering teams to cut bloat, eliminate bugs and make sure they explore every opportunity to "meaningfully boost performance and overall quality."

Why does this matter? Cleaner, more efficient software will enhance the user experience across the board. A less cumbersome OS should be able to run faster and more efficiently, which will in turn improve overall performance and (hopefully) reduce power consumption in the process. At the very least, cleaning junk out of the software should reduce the amount of storage space system files require and offer a little bit more space for your files and photos.

Speedier macOS

There's a minor redesign expected with macOS 27, and it looks like Apple is aiming to fix the Liquid Glass shadow and transparency quirks that plagued macOS 26 Tahoe. In certain situations, those visual elements made text incredibly difficult to read — so this cleanup is a welcome change.

Overall, this update is shaping up to be a spiritual successor to Snow Leopard. Instead of piling on flashy new features, macOS 27 is focusing heavily on under-the-hood performance improvements to make Macs running Apple Silicon feel even faster.

Simpler Ultra-style look in watchOS 27

The watchOS 27 update that Apple's rumored to intrude is a new Modular watch face, which features a large clock centered right at the top with three complications tucked neatly below it. It’s essentially a stripped-back, simpler version of the Modular Ultra face that we've seen on the Apple Watch Ultra — making it perfect if you want that functionality without the clutter.

Beyond the new face, the updated software also brings several under-the-hood improvements to heart-rate monitoring and fitness tracking to help keep your workouts even more accurate.

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We called MacBook Neo the "best budget laptop ever," and it's taken the world by storm. Speaking to a few Windows laptop makers here at Computex 2026, it's clear that the value-for-money proposition of a premium macOS portable with great battery life, nice design and powerful Apple silicon has terrified them.

But these companies are not taking things lying down. A lot of Neo competitors just got announced — all premium thin-and-lights that target that $6-700 price, and launching just in time for back-to-school.

And even better? Each of them offer a little something that the MacBook Neo doesn't, so the value fight is now officially on! Here are four budget-friendly laptops that I think could give Apple some serious competition.

Dell XPS 13

Dell's XPS revival started earlier this year, and it took another significant step forward at Computex with an all new XPS 13 aimed squarely at the MacBook Neo.

It continues to use a premium aluminum chassis, retaining the high-end feel that people expect from the XPS brand. You can really feel that in the hands, with a nice sturdy hinge, good ergonomics and a nice-feeling keyboard to boot.

Dell says this is also the thinnest and lightest XPS laptop it has ever made. And unlike the Neo, this is upgradeable too — configurable with up to an Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 3 processor and 32GB of RAM.

Pricing starts at $699 for the base model with Intel's new "Wildcat Lake" chip, 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage ($599 with an education discount). Technically, that puts it in the same ballpark as the MacBook Neo if you spec the latter with 512GB of storage, but even from a base-model comparison, the XPS 13 offers a few advantages.

The four key ones are a silky smooth 120Hz touchscreen display with a non-reflective coating, USB-C ports on both sides of the laptop, a backlit keyboard, and support for Windows Hello face unlock.

From what I experienced testing it, the Dell XPS 13 feels like the most serious MacBook Neo competitor out there, and it could genuinely challenge Apple's dominance in this category once it launches later this year.

Asus Zenbook 14

Asus told me they couldn't make the Zenbook A14 any cheaper, so the company rewrote the rulebook, changed the materials and internals and made a banger of a value system.

On paper, the bad news is it starts a little higher at $799. But the good news in person is that it does offer one massive upgrade over the Neo right from the get-go: an OLED 120Hz display. Colors are mesmerizing on this panel with inky blacks to boot.

Beyond the display, you also get a premium all-metal build made from Asus' Ceraluminum material, which is basically a blend of ceramic and aluminum, along with a lightweight design that comes in at around 2.6 pounds.

The keyboard and touchpad feel solid on it with minimal flex on the board, and the colors look amazing with Komodo Coral being a personal favorite of mine.

Unlike some of the other laptops on this list that rely entirely on Intel chips, the Zenbook 14 is available with Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, with the Snapdragon variant starting at the lowest price point. That means a claim of 21 hours of battery life, which I can't wait to properly put to the test.

Port selection is also better than what you get on the MacBook Neo (or, in fact, all other laptops on the list). You get two USB-C ports, a USB-A port, and a full-sized HDMI port as well!

Acer Swift Air 14

Acer also wasn't holding back when it came to taking on the MacBook Neo. At Computex 2026, the company unveiled the Swift Air 14 (2026), another laptop that starts at a competitive $699 price point and focuses on delivering as much value as possible while still maintaining a premium feel with an all-metal chassis.

That said, I did notice a bit of flex around the keyboard deck when pressing down on it — something you don't experience on the Neo. But it's all about making the right compromises too.

Much like the XPS 13, it's got a 120Hz screen (though it's 14 inches for the Swift Air), powered by Intel's lower-cost Core Series 3 "Wildcat Lake" chips. And if you thought the Dell XPS 13 had a solid port selection, the Acer Swift Air 14 takes things a step further with a full-side USB-A too.

Another thing the Swift Air 14 appears to have going for it is that massive 70Wh battery. That's nearly double the 36.5Wh battery inside the MacBook Neo, and it'll be interesting to see how that translates into real-world battery life once we get more time with the device.

MSI Modern 14S AI+

First showcased at CES 2026, MSI has now shared more details about the Modern 14S AI+, and it's looking more and more like a legitimate MacBook Neo competitor. There's the aluminum alloy chassis (except for the bottom), a thin profile and a light weight of roughly three pounds.

Intel's "Wildcat Lake" CPU makes a reappearance again, and the port selection gets even better here with MSI throwing in an Ethernet socket too alongside the HDMI, USB-A and two USB-C.

In use, the keyboard deck has a small amount of flex and the touchpad can feel a little mushy in the corners, but again, it's all about balance, as the Modern 14S AI+ also comes with a 14-inch OLED panel too.

But arguably the most impressive thing about it is durability. MSI says the laptop is MIL-STD-810H certified, which should make it tougher and more resilient than most of the other laptops on this list.

Bottom line

The budget Windows laptop market had been unchallenged for so long by Apple that they'd got too comfortable — cutting corners in materials and making one too many compromises in the knowledge that if you had $5-700, they were the only options you had.

Now the Neo is here, Computex 2026 showed they've woken up, and have truly come to play. There are now plenty of compelling Windows alternatives entering the space as well, and I can't wait to review them all real soon.

That said, if you're looking for a premium Windows machine and don't mind waiting a bit longer, it might be worth holding off for the upcoming RTX Spark-powered laptops. From everything we've seen so far, things are looking pretty promising on that side of the market too.

More from Tom's Guide

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• I built a touchscreen MacBook Pro using this snap-on accessory, and I'm baffled why Apple hasn't made its own for years

There was a time when a budget laptop meant cheap but with the release of the MacBook Neo, those days are thankfully over. Here at Computex 2026, I’ve been able to see firsthand how PC makers are responding and so far, Dell’s new XPS 13 is the most impressive MacBook Neo alternative yet.

After briefly discontinuing its iconic XPS brand, Dell brought it back at the beginning of this year. Now, alongside the new XPS 13, the company is also releasing a more powerful XPS 14 alongside its new XPS 16. While I also got to go hands-on with both of those more powerful and premium laptops, just like with the Neo, the XPS 13 feels like a breath of fresh air when it comes to the best laptops for students.

With a starting price of $699, it is slightly more expensive than the MacBook Neo. However, to make up for this, Dell is throwing in a few extras that Apple’s more affordable MacBook lacks like a backlit keyboard, a touchscreen and two full-featured USB-C ports (with one on either side).

Here’s why I think the XPS 13 could be the ideal MacBook Neo alternative for Windows users who aren’t ready to switch to macOS and one of the best budget laptops, especially if you prefer to travel light.

Dell’s take on the Neo

Although we brought our own MacBook Neo on this trip, Dell did too to make comparisons between these two budget laptops even easier. Side by side, they’re both technically 13-inch laptops, even though the XPS 13 actually has a slightly larger 13.4-inch screen.

In addition to having a touchscreen, the XPS 13 also sports a faster, 120 Hz display. However, it features a variable refresh rate that can go all the way down to 30 Hz to help conserve battery life during less intensive tasks. They both top out at 500 nits of brightness.

While I had both laptops side by side, I was quite impressed with the XPS 13’s screen even though the Neo’s appeared to pop a bit more. Personally, I think this comes down to Apple equipping the Neo’s display with a more glossy finish.

Though you can’t see it here since our own Paul Antill has a retro-style skin on his personal MacBook Neo, both laptops have aluminum shells. However, while Apple went with anodized aluminum for the Neo, Dell used CNC-machined aluminum chassis for the XPS 13. This makes the XPS 13’s case feel smoother overall while the Neo’s is more textured.

With direct side to side comparisons out of the way, it was time to open up the XPS 13 and take it for a spin.

XPS for the rest of us

Historically, Dell’s Extreme Performance System or XPS line was reserved for its premium laptops and the first XPS 13 heralded the arrival of ultrabooks. Now though, the company’s giving everyone a chance to experience XPS at a much lower price point.

Right off the bat, I really like how XPS is front and center on the back of the XPS 13’s lid. To find the Dell logo, you need to flip it over. Just like with the Neo, the aluminum case gives this new laptop a more premium feel.

When you open the XPS 13 up, you can see where Dell had to cut a few corners to hit that $699 price point. While the XPS 14 and 16 come equipped with Dell’s zero-lattice keyboards, the XPS 13 has a chiclet-style one.

Honestly, I didn’t mind this at all. In fact, when I switched between typing on the XPS 13 and the Neo, I actually preferred Dell’s chiclet keyboard over Apple’s. The keys felt more satisfying to press down and there wasn’t nearly as much wiggle.

The XPS 13 and the Neo have similarly sized trackpads but what stuck out to me immediately was the differences between their notches. While the Neo has that same smaller notch you find on the rest of the best MacBooks, the one on the XPS 13 stretches across the width of its trackpad. It’s also not nearly as deep.

One thing you won’t find on the XPS 13’s keyboard is a fingerprint reader. However, instead of charging $100 extra for one (and some additional storage) like Apple does, Dell equipped this laptop with Windows Hello for quick logins.

In the picture above, you can barely see it though thanks to Dell’s InfinityEdge design. The XPS 13 has incredibly thin bezels all around and they make the Neo’s look massive when you see them next to each other.

Light but not lacking

It wasn’t until I was holding the two laptops in either hand that I realized just how light the XPS 13 was. At 2.2 pounds, it’s half a pound lighter than the Neo despite sporting nearly identical dimensions and this all comes down to cooling.

The MacBook Neo has a fanless design while the XPS 13 features two active fans. Of course, we’ll have to get one into our lab for testing to see whether or not they ramp up to the point of being distracting under load. However, in my time with the XPS 13, I didn’t notice them at all.

The other more important difference between the two is upgradeability. Now I don’t mean long-term as you’re not going to open either of these devices up like you would with a Framework Laptop. Instead, if you want configuration options, Dell has plenty.From RAM to storage, you can pay more to turn this student-focused laptop into quite a powerful machine. For instance, you could outfit the XPS 13 with 32GB of LPDDR5X, a 1TB SSD and an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor.

Don’t get me wrong, the MacBook Neo is a fantastic laptop but it won’t be for everyone. With its new XPS 13, Dell has given the Windows diehards among us an excellent alternative.

More from Tom's Guide

• I just tested Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra — Nvidia RTX Spark brings life to one of the best laptops I’ve ever tried
• All 8 laptops launching with Nvidia RTX Spark this fall and what they can do
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Eight laptops are launching with Nvidia RTX Spark inside at Computex 2026, and the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra is easily one of the best — so beautifully designed it almost makes Spark feel like a side character.

Gunning for the 16-inch MacBook Pro, Microsoft doesn’t miss with a seriously luxurious build, great I/O for pros, fantastic ergonomics (including a breakthrough touchpad) and a mesmerizing display.

And you’ve seen what it will be able to do from all the RTX Spark testing I’ve done. This will not be a cheap laptop with that chip inside, so Microsoft has rolled out the red carpet in utilitarian aesthetics. Let me tell you about it.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: Specs

A seriously good looker (and worker)

Make no mistake about it — the Surface Laptop Ultra is built different. On the face of it, this is a Surface Laptop if it started bulking for a few months. But once you get into the details, you realize it’s so much more than that.

It starts with a beefy utilitarian presence atop any desk. This is a hefty machine, but those premium materials and the added bulk makes this feel ready to power through any task you throw at it — just like a MacBook Pro does.

The similarities also extend to the port selection, but chalk this up as a win for the Ultra with its additional USB-A for wider support. They keyboard feels gorgeous to type on, which is something that Microsoft has really excelled in in the past — giving you a nice tactility to every key press that makes it feel intentful.

But the real star of the show on that bottom deck is the 30% larger haptic touchpad. It’s an absolute ocean with a smooth gliding surface, with every click giving me those same snappy sensations I love from the MacBook Pro’s trackpad. But as an addition here is the haptics that actually communicate back to you.

Built directly into Windows 11, you’ll feel small hints of feedback as you do key things like snap apps to sides of the screen. On top of that, the company is working with key developers to give you those same sensations in third party apps like moving your cursor over clips in a video timeline.

It’s a feeling that when returning to my MacBook Pro, I felt like something was missing! Top it all off with that gorgeously color-accurate and smooth PixelSense display up top that can get seriously bright, and you’ve got a nice-looking beast that’s ready for anything.

Monstrous performance

Speaking of ready for anything, that’s where I get to the fun stuff inside. You’ve seen a lot of the software stuff it will be able to do from the Microsoft Build announcements — in short, expect a lot of agentic AI features to take advantage of that RTX Spark chip.

And as you saw in my testing of Spark itself, there’s a lot to be had here from the massive local models changing the dynamic of how you interact with a computer from it being a tool you lays idle when you’re not using it, to an active assistant machine.

But let’s compare apples and oranges and put it up against the MacBook Pro workload. You want your laptop to get the pro stuff done speedily both on and off the charger. After flying around the most dense Unreal Engine map while connected and disconnected, that’s easily proven true. There’s also tie-ins with Adobe to use much more of that built-in RTX 5070-level GPU and turboboost creator tasks beyond levels I’d seen in equivalent Apple laptops.

But the real killer app for me is the ability to use the same laptop to work by day and play by night. Alan Wake 2 is built natively for Arm and can run at 1600p resolution with ray tracing and DLSS 4.5 ray reconstruction at buttery smooth frame rates. Even games that are not built for this architecture like Pragmata go through the Prism emulator layer and play smoothly too. And yes, both of these were on and off the charger too!

The big unanswered question here is power efficiency, which could be affected by that emulation layer. Speaking to Nvidia, they’re not giving anything away, but did give me a cheeky smile when I started talking about what all-day battery life really means. We could be in for something special here.

Outlook

Ignoring the larger USB-C port mystery (my theory is it’s a magnetic breakaway USB-C socket that replaces the missing Surface Connect), what you’re left with here is a phenomenal laptop that feels powerful.

The aesthetics are clean, the ergonomics are fantastic, the display is mesmerizing and the power under the hood is awesome! Of course, there’s a big question on price, which rumors here at Computex point to a starting cost of $3,000.

This is definitely for the pros who know how to make the most of that power, and no longer is the MacBook Pro the default option at this price. A new player has come to town.

More from Tom's Guide

• I spoke to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about RTX Spark — he tells us why this is less of a laptop chip and more like 'R2-D2,' and shares future plans on N2X and N3X
• I gamed for 250 hours on AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE — it’s a $549 nightmare for Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti
• I just tested the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ — it leaves ROG Xbox Ally in the dust with breakthrough Intel Arc G3 power

So, to start my thoughts on testing Nvidia RTX Spark laptops, some context is needed.

My daily driver is the M5 MacBook Pro for its lightning fast performance and power efficiency to be just as fast on and off the charger, but I have to carry a Steam Deck for the gaming side of it. Enter RTX Spark, and that compromise is gone.

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.

But even if you’re not interested in the AI features, Nvidia has created the silicon that actually can kill the MacBook. No joke. Let me explain.

Nvidia RTX Spark: Adobe Premiere Pro boost

Nvidia worked closely with key creative app developers to ensure serious speed increases with that on-board GPU. Adobe Premiere Pro is 2x faster in key tasks that you can automate with AI, like cutting down massive clips. Meanwhile, in Unreal Engine 5, a massive cityscape of trillions of polygons can be loaded and moved around with ease.

And even better? All of this can be done both while plugged in unplugged. That crucial MacBook Pro advantage is no longer limited to Apple’s notebooks.

With these big specs (128GB RAM in this economy!?) these particular variants will be limited to only the absolute pro creators, but it’s not too far of a stretch of the imagination to see lower-end versions of these chips being more than enough for putting your projects together.

Nvidia RTX Spark: Gaming

This is the main weakness of any MacBook. Don’t get me wrong, they do offer game support, and apps like GameHub can navigate the compatibility issues and give you some form of PC gaming. But none of it compares to a DLSS-armed RTX Spark system.

Whether it’s Arm-native games like Alan Wake 2 taking full advantage of DLSS 4.5 ray reconstruction for some eye-catching visuals, or games that are being emulated like Pragmata, you’re getting a buttery smooth experience across the board. Nvidia wouldn’t show us FPS numbers, so based on eyeing it, I saw both these games in excess of 100 FPS on these laptop screens (which I assume are 120Hz).

The questions I don’t have answers to yet are how much that emulation harms performance (if at all), and whether battery life is impacted. But based on early impressions, these are laptops you can work on and play on.

Nvidia RTX Spark: Going agentic

Let’s get into Team Green’s mission to “reinvent the PC” to begin with. I got to try out some demos of some of its agentic features.

First, there was a mutli-device OpenClaw situation of talking to your computer. This was done on a DGX Spark mini PC, but given the silicon is practically identical to RTX Spark (just that the latter is optimized for Windows), you can do this too. And the idea of your computer being something that you can work with from anywhere no matter what device came into view.

From complex things like coding a website landing page to simpler things like translating a menu and picking the right dish with low salt if you have high blood pressure, the long memory context that can be saved and loaded into the massive memory on tap here is significant.

Second, there was the multi-app pipeline of getting something done. I got to recreate the demo from the keynote where a griffin was AI generated in Photoshop based on a sketch, turned into a 3D model and animated via ComfyUI (the visual way of connecting AI models together).

The speed was seriously impressive, though you did see the limitations of the current local AI models, where the legs would disappear in what I assume was some hallucination madness.

Then came the developer side of things. I won’t go into the vibecoding bit of it (I don’t really agree this is the way to create sites and apps), but what I will talk about is the system taking agentic control of the website. The last time I tested something agentic on a web browser was Opera’s Browser Operator, which would take a screenshot and then send it to an LLM in the cloud to devise the next move.

All happening securely on the system, the speed difference is night and day — tearing through a site and filling in a form in mere seconds. This is a glimpse of what telling your laptop to just do something can be.

And yes, the bird creation turned into video definitely screams AI slop, but the principle is there. You can imagine the natural language prompts with an image to tweak the colors and contrast, or turning your pencilled ideas into something that can inspire a real-life idea.

Also, shout-out to the tweaks being made to Windows 11 too! Attaching the taskbar to the side of the monitor is a revelation to getting it out of the way and focusing on your work.

The Nvidia RTX Spark laptops are seriously good

Then there’s the laptops themselves. I won’t spend too much time talking about them here, as I want to rank them in a future piece (spoiler alert: that Asus ProArt P14 is calling to me). But to match that expected high price, there are some seriously sleek hardware options coming.

One thing you’ll notice is that these are very familiar shells with maybe a tweak for cooling here and there. This lines up well with what Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told me about wanting users to “go on the journey at your own pace” when it comes to the agentic side of things. So to completely flip the laptop build would probably terrify some folks.

For the 2-in-1 crowd, the MSI Prestige N16 Flip AI+ is a seriously nice system, Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra is a luxurious device, HP’s Omnibook 14X has an amazing keyboard, and the Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition gives you a nice upmarket feel. These partners have truly pulled out all the stops to provide some primo shells for Nvidia’s silicon.

RTX Spark outlook

I was speaking with our video producer extraordinaire Paul Antill in an uber around Taipei, and he asked about whether RTX Spark could beat the MacBook. To me, that question is always a bit of a poison pill, but one that is fair — every tech news outlet is guilty of saying “this laptop is good, but it’s not quite as good as the MacBook.”

But now, finally, after years and years of waiting for an Apple killer, Nvidia has stepped up and done the damned thing. AI slop laptop potential aside (lapslop?), this is a phenomenal chip that delivers big on making an extremely powerful machine both on and off the charger with serious power efficiency, while also being a peak gaming machine, too.

More from Tom's Guide

• 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 gamed for 250 hours on AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE — it’s a $549 nightmare for Nvidia’s RTX 5060 Ti
• I just tested the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ — it leaves ROG Xbox Ally in the dust with breakthrough Intel Arc G3 power

WWDC 2026 is coming up fast, with Apple's annual developer conference kicking off with a keynote address on June 8 at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT / 6 p.m. BST. That keynote will feature all the highlights of the conference, featuring the biggest news about Apple's entire software portfolio — and maybe a few surprises if we're lucky.

Apple will be livestreaming the entire keynote for the world to tune in, and this means you can watch all the news as it happens. Here's how you can watch the WWDC 2026 keynote livestream from wherever you are.

How can I watch the WWDC 2026 keynote live stream?

Apple typically hosts a livestream for all its biggest events, and WWDC 2026 isn't likely to be an exception to that. That stream will appear on Apple's website as we get closer to the conference itself.

However, a YouTube livestream is also available, which means you can tune in using this link or via the embedded video above. The stream features a reminder that will notify you before the keynote begins, so you don't forget to tune in. Naturally, this stream is available everywhere YouTube can be found.

Owners of Apple devices, including iPhone and Apple TV, will also be able to watch the livestream via the Apple TV app. Just fire it up ahead of 1 p.m. ET on June 8, and you'll find the stream waiting for you.

When is the WWDC 2026 keynote?

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference is the annual show dedicated to all things software, and it's a place for everyone who builds Apple software to get together. We're talking phones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches and even mixed reality headsets.

The keynote itself is usually where Apple previews all the software that'll arrive later this year, and updates developers on all the goings on in Apple's multiple operating systems. There have been some hardware reveals in the past, but those are rare, and it's unlikely that we'll see anything substantial ahead of the September iPhone event.

WWDC itself will take place between June 8 and 12, with the keynote address kicking off the entire conference at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. BST.

What could Apple announce at WWDC 2026?

We're right in the middle of the major Apple hardware release cycles, so it's unlikely that we'll hear any significant hardware news during the keynote. Instead, the focus will be on how Apple is updating all of its software and refining the major changes that came last year as part of Liquid Glass.

The biggest news of the night will no doubt be the situation with Siri, and the AI update that was first announced back in 2024. It's rumored that Google Gemini will be powering the new AI, following Apple's failed attempts to go it alone, and we're curious to see just how well it will integrate into the Apple ecosystem across iPhone, Mac and so on.

There are also rumors that Apple will unveil a new smart home platform codenamed "Charismatic," which will no doubt tie into the release of the upgraded Siri AI. If this does happen, we may see Apple's long-delayed HomePad smart display, rumoured to be a cross between the HomePod and the iPad.

The upcoming release of the iPhone Fold, and its larger tablet-like display, also means we're likely to see some changes to iOS and the way it adapts to the foldable's changing display needs. How much we'll hear will likely depend on what Apple is willing to reveal about the foldable phone ahead of the rumored September launch.

Likewise, the potential launch of the MacBook Ultra next year, which is expected to come with the first touchscreen on a Mac, will likely require some changes to happen to macOS 27. Again, how much we hear about that will depend on what Apple is willing to give away at this early stage.

Then we have to remember that Apple has watchOS 27, TVOS 27 and visionOS 27. All three of these will no doubt get some sort of update, though at this early stage, it's unclear how extensive they may be. Not that many people bought Vision Pro headsets, and that's currently the only way to access visionOS, after all.

More from Tom's Guide

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 could get a weird name change to fight iPhone Fold — and it's a terrible idea
• Despite Google’s AI glasses push, Apple’s answer is now expected in 2027 — while ‘Vision Air’ won’t be here until at least 2028
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 may eliminate the display crease too — step aside iPhone Fold

Nvidia has stormed Computex 2026 with the official announcement we all knew was coming: the company's first all-in-one laptop silicon called the RTX Spark Super Chip family.

Analysts are calling this Nvidia's most disruptive move in a decade, and my colleague Jason England likens it to the moment Apple unveiled its own M1 chip back in 2020. By moving beyond GPUs into integrated processors, Nvidia is throwing the gauntlet down to Qualcomm, Intel and AMD.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed RTX Spark during his keynote in Taipei, and the first laptops powered by the new chip should arrive in the fall. Beyond that, we can expect to see the RTX Spark appearing in mini PCs and small form-factor desktops from the likes of Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, MSI, Acer and Gigabyte.

Huang noted that Nvidia and Microsoft have been working away on this for the last three years to "reinvent the PC for the first time in 40 years," aiming to move towards a responsive, proactive AI experience. Microsoft itself is coming out of the gate with an RTX Spark-powered Surface Laptop Ultra that could be a MacBook Pro killer.

Here's the list of the first eight RTX Spark-equipped laptops, along with a few details we know about them.

Microsoft Surface Ultra

Microsoft hasn't confirmed many details about its upcoming RTX Spark-powered Surface Laptop Ultra, but we know it'll have a 15-inch mini-LED touchscreen with 2,000 nits of peak brightness.

It will benefit from a large haptic touchpad and all the required ports: HDMI, USB-C, USB-A, SD card and a headphone jack.

Microsoft claims this will be “the most powerful Surface Laptop ever built” when it arrives later this year. Microsoft also claims it can run AI models locally and that the chip delivers power comparable to a mobile RTX 5070 GPU.

Asus ProArt

Asus is planning to launch two RTX Spark-powered ProArt laptops later this year: the ProArt P16 and the ProArt P14. Both laptops will feature 120Hz OLED touch panels in the 16:10 format (one will be 16-inch, one 14-inch) and be geared towards creative professionals.

Memory will be up to 128GB LPDDR5X 9400, while storage can be configured up to 2TB on the P16 and 1TB on the P14. Regardless of which model you choose, you'll get a full suite of ports: 3x USB-C, 1x USB-A, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x headphone jack and 1x standard SD.

MSI Prestige N16

MSI is set to launch the 2-in-1 Prestige N16 Flip AI Plus, which, it says, will represent "a new generation of premium thin-and-light PCs.”

Sadly, we've got no further information on the specs, dimensions, or — crucially — the price. All we can say is that this will be a 16-inch laptop with a 3,840 x 2,160 OLED panel and a peak brightness of over 1,000 nits.

Dell XPS 16

Dell will launch an RTX Spark-equipped version of the XPS 16, which likely won't deviate much from the current model in terms of outward design. We can expect an aluminum 16.3-inch workhorse with three USB-C ports, an HDMI port, an SD card slot, and a headphone jack.

Price and specifications haven't been revealed yet.

HP OmniBook and Ultra 16

HP has confirmed two forthcoming RTX Spark laptops, the OmniBook X 14 and Ultra 16, but stopped short of announcing any specific details. The company says it will create "the world’s thinnest RTX Spark, built for powerful performance" and has confirmed it will follow up on the laptops with a compact desktop in the future.

“Our expanded portfolio pairs compact, powerful hardware with pre-configured environments and open-source toolchains to eliminate setup friction and accelerate the path from idea to execution," said Samuel Chang, senior vice president and division president, Consumer Personal Systems at HP.

Lenovo Yoga Pro 9n

Lenovo's flagship 16-inch laptop will also be getting the RTX Spark treatment, but we haven't had any details about exactly what changes to expect. Like the other laptops on this list, Lenovo's creator-focused 16-inch machine boasts a durable aluminum chassis and configurable specs tailored to your needs.

One area ripe for improvement would be battery life, and we'd hope that the RTX Spark-equipped Yoga Pro 9n can surpass the 9.45-hour battery life we recorded on the Intel-powered Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i.

Bottom line

In addition to announcing that over 30 laptops will come with the RTX Spark chip, Nvidia also revealed that Adobe is rebuilding Photoshop and Premiere Pro from the ground up for compatibility.

Suffice it to say, the above laptops will kick off a silicon war in the fall that could be good news for consumers. Especially for gamers and creative video editors. The Spark's Blackwell-architecture GPU, with 6,144 CUDA cores, brings Windows-on-Arm compatibility with Nvidia's gaming suite, including DLSS 4.5. You're going to get thin, light laptops capable of running triple-A games at 100 FPS with real-time ray tracing.

Finally, these laptops will be positioned to move Windows into a truly agentic AI future, with RTX Spark delivering 1 Petaflop of local AI performance. In a nutshell, it'll have the power and efficiency to work on the user's behalf across various apps to achieve the desired outcome.

So we're potentially looking at laptops with a thin-and-light form factor, elite battery life, and the power to crush desktop-class AI development, heavy creative production, or cutting-edge gaming. The only question is: how much will these devices cost when they arrive?

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The Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra is the company’s answer to the MacBook Pro. Announced during Nvidia’s Computex 2026 presentation, this laptop is among the first to feature the newly announced Nvidia RTX Spark chip. It promises to be powerful enough to handle creative workloads, development, local AI use, and gaming.

Besides the Laptop Studio, Surface devices are generally designed for average use. That won't be the case with the Surface Laptop Ultra, as it will pack up to 128GB of unified memory. Microsoft also claims it can run AI models locally and that the chip delivers power comparable to a mobile RTX 5070 GPU.

If the Surface Laptop Ultra is everything Microsoft claims, it will easily be the most powerful Surface device yet — and could give the likes of the MacBook Pro stiff competition. Here’s everything you need to know about the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: Design

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra will include some of the features you’d expect from a premium notebook. For starters, it has a 15-inch mini-LED PixelSense Ultra display that can reportedly reach 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness, making it the brightest display of any Surface device ever. Microsoft says it will have strong color accuracy for creative work.

You’ll also get a full set of ports, including HDMI, USB-C, USB-A, an SD card reader, and a headphone jack. The haptic touchpad is the largest Microsoft has ever used on a Surface, and the laptop is designed to run quietly even under load.

The Surface Laptop Ultra will reportedly have “all-day” battery life, which is a claim I’m eager to verify in our lab tests. Expect it to come in Platinum and Nightfall finishes.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: Nvidia RTX Spark

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra announcement alone is noteworthy, but it’s even more interesting because it’s one of the first laptops to feature the Nvidia RTX Spark chip. In case you were wondering, yes, it’s the processor long known as the “N1X.” Different moniker aside, the chip should be a major boon for the Surface Laptop Ultra.

The chip packs up to 6,144 Blackwell RTX cores, 20 efficient Arm CPU cores, and up to 128GB of unified memory. That adds up to 1 petaflop of AI performance, enough to run 120-billion-parameter models right on the laptop without choking. The claimed power of an RTX 5070 laptop GPU should mean smoother 3D rendering, faster video exports, and potentially higher-end gaming.

If all those numbers went over your head, it means the Surface Laptop Ultra should feel like a legitimate workstation you can carry around. We’d need to benchmark this laptop and live with it to see what it can do, but RTX Spark should give it some serious power.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: Outlook

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra is set to launch later this year, so it might be a while until we can go hands-on with this machine. I’m certainly looking forward to that, but given how expensive electronics have become thanks to the RAM crisis, I’m not eager to see how much this thing will cost.

We’ll have more information on the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra as soon as we hear it, so stay tuned!

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MSI’s trend of putting works of art on its laptops continues with the Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Vincent van Gogh Edition, and it’s downright beautiful. I’m never the guy to call tech beautiful, but this is the most mesmerizing system I’ve seen at Computex 2026.

Adorned with van Gogh’s artwork on the lid, it’s a surefire conversation starter and something that will adorn any desk with pride. But I wonder how Vincent would’ve felt about being on a laptop with the word “AI+” in it? My guess is not too happy.

Still, can’t deny it’s evocative, and the fact it’s built around a Prestige 14 Flip AI+ means you’re getting quite the workhorse here too. Let me break it down.

Attention to the details

MSI’s Artisan Collection isn’t just about putting a painting onto a lid, but the intricacy of the craftsmanship too to make it both a visual and tactile work of art.

This van Gogh crossover achieves that handily with a choice between two iconic pieces: Starry Night and Starry Night Over the Rhône.

These aren’t just printed on, they’re layered on in an exhaustive process that adds a sensation to the lid that you can’t stop running your fingers over. The bold, eye catching shell colors are chosen to perfectly pair with the art you see, and the overall impact is astonishingly striking.

But this isn’t just the laptop. Since it’s a special edition, you’re getting a full van Gogh desk pad, luggage tag and custom mouse too.

More like Vincent van GO

It all starts with the guts of this machine, and at the core is an Intel Core Ultra X9 CPU and up to 64GB LPDDR5x RAM. As you’ve seen by the time I’ve spent testing Panther Lake, this is a screamer of a chip for productivity, and thanks to that powerful integrated GPU, it can handle AAA gaming like a champ too.

To show your content, you’ll see that same great 1920 x 1200 OLED touchscreen on a 360-degree hinge to turn this into your own personal canvas, and the stylus is integrated directly into the bottom of the shell.

Connectivity-wise, there’s a couple of Thunderbolt 4s, a USB-A and HDMI 2.1, alongside Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. The keyboard has a nice tactile feel to it and sum of it all is a real workhorse and entertainment powerhouse.

Outlook

Van Gogh was a man of fierce passion and obsession with the physicality of paint. So I can’t help but feel conflicted to see his masterpieces atop a laptop that is adorned with AI branding.

Still if you ignore the AI features and the bigger question at play here, what you get is a truly beautiful laptop that has all the horsepower you need under the hood to tackle your whole workload.

But what about the price? MSI really wants me to stop asking about price, because it’s the one question nobody can really answer given how RAMageddon has put the whole computing market into a state of flux.

So let’s take a guess — given the current Prestige sells for $1,299, and this is a more powerful spec and a special edition, throw in higher RAM prices and my bet is $2,499. Brutal, but that’s the nature of the game right now.

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The new Dell XPS 13 is coming for the MacBook Neo. Announced at Computex 2026, this is the thinnest and lightest XPS laptop ever and is competitively priced at $699. And while it’s technically a budget laptop, it has many of the premium features you’d expect from an XPS.

This includes a CNC aluminum chassis built to the same standards as every XPS, a 2.5K InfinityEdge touch display, and a backlit keyboard. The starting configuration also features the new Intel Wildcat Lake CPU, which promises smooth performance for everyday tasks and up to 17 hours of streaming battery life on a single charge.

I’ve long been a fan of Dell’s 13-inch XPS laptops, so it’s great to see the latest model not only adopt a more traditional design but also go head-to-head with the MacBook Neo in terms of price and premium features. Here’s everything you need to know about the new Dell XPS 13.

Dell XPS 13 (2026): Specs

Dell XPS 13 (2026): Price

Dell XPS 13 with Intel Core Series 3 CPUs will be available sometime in June 2026 in the Sky colorway, with a starting price of $599 for students and $699 for everyone else.

Later this summer, we’ll see models with more powerful Intel Panther Lake processors, as well as the Storm colorway.

Dell XPS 13 (2026): Design and display

The new Dell XPS 13 might be a MacBook Neo competitor, but thanks to its thin, lightweight design, it could also be mistaken for a MacBook Air rival. Dell says it’s the thinnest and lightest XPS laptop ever. While the Neo and Air weigh 2.7 pounds, the XPS 13 weighs 2.2 pounds. Thanks to its ultraportable design, it should be an ideal notebook for travel.

Like the Neo, the XPS 13 has an aluminum chassis instead of the cheap plastic typical of laptops in the $600 price range. If it’s as durable as its other XPS siblings, it’ll certainly feel more like a premium product. This is important if you’re a student running between classes or working on the go.

The XPS 13 has a backlit keyboard, one of the biggest things the Neo lacks. If you frequently work at night or in low-light settings, the XPS 13 would be a better fit. And speaking of the keyboard, the XPS 13 ditches the zero-lattice keyboard of the XPS 14 and XPS 16 in favor of a standard one.

While the Neo packs a 13-inch 1080p display, the XPS 13 has a larger 13.4-inch display with a 2.5K resolution. The display also has touchscreen functionality, which the Neo lacks. Dell says the display covers 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and supports variable refresh rates of 30Hz and 120Hz. Of course, we’d need to get the XPS 13 into our testing lab to see what its display is truly capable of.

Dell XPS 13 (2026): Performance and battery life

The XPS 13 features Intel’s new Wildcat Lake CPU, the lower-tier version of Intel’s Core Series 3 chips. We haven’t yet tested laptops with this processor to compare them with Panther Lake laptops, but Dell says the XPS 13 can handle “multitasking without friction.” The up to 32GB of RAM should also help with that.

Later this summer, we’ll see XPS 13 models with the beefier Panther Lake chip. These will no doubt be more expensive than the Wildcat Lake models, but hopefully, they can remain around $1,000.

In terms of endurance, Dell promises up to 17 hours of streaming battery life for the XPS 13. The Panther Lake laptops we’ve tested have generally lasted around 12-15 hours, so it’ll be interesting to see if Wildcat Lake can match or exceed that. If this claim is true, you won’t have to panic if you accidentally leave the XPS 13’s power plug at home.

Dell XPS 13 (2026): Outlook

Dell’s XPS apology tour keeps rocking with the XPS 13. Like the latest XPS 14 and XPS 16, this smaller laptop is a strong return to form for the iconic brand. That it’s competitively priced with the MacBook Neo without sacrificing the distinctive features of an XPS makes it even more enticing.

I’ll need to get hands-on with the new XPS 13 to see if it lives up to its promises. If it does, it should make an excellent alternative to the MacBook Neo.

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A large part of the appeal of Google's Chromebooks has been their lower price, but the new Googlebooks are launching at a premium, which means much higher pricing.

However, in a recent interview with Chrome Unboxed, John Maletis, Google's Vice president and GM of ChromeOS, confirmed that more affordable versions will be available down the line.

“We’ve always been about enabling technology and the ability to be productive and access information regardless of your price point,” Maletis said. “So over time we will come down, but these first devices are super premium.”

Outside of Apple's MacBook Neo, the trend for laptop makers in 2026 has been to ditch their budget laptops in favor of premium options, which command higher prices and avoid the RAM crisis. Unfortunately, that might be working, as The Register reported that Lenovo posted record numbers as it switched to premium PCs and dropped its budget lineup.

Which is why it's good that Google is even promising that more affordable options are on the roadmap.

What are your budget options?

Despite announcing the Googlebook series, Google has promised that Chromebooks aren't going anywhere yet. So the best Chromebooks are still available and an affordable option for those looking for something more wallet friendly.

Besides, Googlebooks are meant to compete with Apple's high-end MacBooks, not the Neo.

While the MacBook Neo is the best budget laptop, there are plenty of other options, including the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x and the Acer Aspire Go 15. Nicely, with the launch of the Neo, we now have options for every operating system from ChromeOS and Windows to macOS.

Maletis declined to provide a potential timeline for the more affordable Googlebook, so we may have to wait. Meanwhile, despite the memory crisis, you do have options.

It might get worse as we get deeper into 2026, though, so if you're in the market for a budget laptop, now might be the best time to pick one up.

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The MacBook Neo has shaken up the budget Windows laptop space, and Qualcomm is responding with Snapdragon C at Computex 2026. Aimed squarely at the $300-$400 range, you can expect new cheap notebooks from the likes of Acer, HP and Lenovo rocking it.

Specs are unclear at the moment, but we expect this to be similar to the Neo's A18 Pro — the same sort of construction as the Snapdragon X2 Elite (a CPU, GPU and NPU for AI), but with a lower core count across the board.

No specifics have been announced, but if these machines offer a comparable experience, Apple could have legitimate competition.

So, of course, the biggest question is: can Snapdragon C help Windows laptops compete with the MacBook Neo? We don’t have enough information to determine that right now, but the possibility is certainly intriguing.

Snapdragon C: The basics

As Qualcomm describes it, Snapdragon C is designed for entry-level laptops used by students, families, and small businesses. In other words, the same crowd Apple is targeting with the MacBook Neo.

Price plays a major factor here, with Qualcomm claiming Snapdragon C laptops will land in the $300-$400 range. If that turns out to be the case, that would be lower than the Neo’s $599 starting price. It would also be the opposite of the inflated prices we’ve been seeing all year, thanks to the RAM crisis.

“As costs rise and customer expectations evolve, Snapdragon C brings together value oriented computing, all-day battery life, AI capabilities and responsive performance in cool-quiet devices for expanded platform choice,” said Kedar Kondap, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Compute and Gaming, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

“We’re delivering modern computing experiences that help our ecosystem reach new audiences and expanding access to reliable, efficient technology for students, families, customer-facing small businesses, and beyond.”

Snapdragon C laptops promise all-day battery life. This is something we should take seriously, given that laptops with Snapdragon X chips are among the longest-lasting we’ve tested at Tom’s Guide. If the lower-tier C processors offer anything close to 15-20 hours of endurance, they could quite literally lap the Neo in battery life.

In addition to supporting everyday tasks like web browsing, video streaming, and productivity, the Snapdragon C chip also has an integrated NPU for on-device AI tasks. The jury is still out on the usefulness of on-device AI (I still find it all undercooked), but this could be seen as futureproofing if and when AI becomes more useful.

The first Snapdragon C laptop

We don’t yet have a full list of Snapdragon C laptop manufacturers, but some of the big names currently attached include HP, Lenovo, and Acer. The latter is particularly noteworthy, as Acer is the first PC maker in the world to announce a laptop powered by Snapdragon C with the Acer Aspire Go 15.

Like the MacBook Neo, this laptop starts with 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and two USB-C ports. Differences include a 15.6-inch display instead of the Neo’s 13-inch screen and an HDMI port. Acer’s press release says the Aspire Go 15 features plastic components, which would be a downgrade from the Neo’s all-aluminum frame.

Snapdragon C vs. MacBook Neo

Both the MacBook Neo and Snapdragon C laptops are aimed squarely at the casual crowd, so it wouldn't surprise me if the C has more in common with Qualcomm's mobile architecture than we're expecting.

That'd fall in line nicely with how the Neo is literally just an iPhone chip (the A18 Pro) but also demonstrated just how much that tiny silicon can actually do!

However, nothing has been announced about cores and clock speeds (yet). We're aiming to get more information about this at Computex 2026 in Taipei!

But to set a target for any Qualcomm laptops to hit, they've gotta aim to drink the MacBook Neo's milkshake — hitting that sweet spot of just enough power for casual use, while giving enough headroom for manufacturers to provide a more premium build quality than the plastic shells and tacky displays they've been doing so far.

Bottom line

Right now, it’s hard to believe that a $300-$400 Windows laptop can hope to match the Neo as an overall package. Will these machines have aluminum frames and vibrant displays like the Neo, or will they have the kind of cheap plastic designs and dim screens we’re used to?

Sure, the price sounds right, but as the Neo has shown, price and specs alone aren’t enough. Laptops need to offer folks more, even if they’re budget machines.

We’ll need to go hands-on with Snapdragon C laptops to see how they compare to the MacBook Neo, both in terms of performance and in daily use. If they can match the experience, then we might all owe Apple for, ironically enough, making laptops more affordable.

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The MacBook Ultra is making a lot of headlines — namely for being the first system that will reportedly bring touchscreen to the MacBook. But what if you wanted that without having to pay the (probably) massive price that’ll come with a top-of-the-line Apple computer?

That’s where Intricuit’s Magic Screen comes in. Unveiled at CES, I’ve been testing one for a while now, and not only is it a fantastic piece of kit for converting to a 2-in-1 and extracting more value from your laptop, it proves that Cupertino may be more ready for a touchscreen Mac than you may think.

So, consider this both a review of my three weeks using Magic Screen and a look into Apple’s quiet work preparing for when the worlds of iPad and Mac collide ahead of WWDC 2026.

How it works

It’s a lot simpler than you think! Magic Screen is a magnetic glass layer that snaps directly on top of your current MacBook Pro’s display. Make sure the original display glass is clean, pop it on top, connect via USB-C and you’re off to the races.

In terms of availability, you’ll be able to pick one up in all display sizes — from the 13-inch MacBook Neo all the way up to the 16-inch MacBook Pro. Offical pricing is unconfirmed (it’s going through Kickstarter first), but we do know early bird pricing will start at $139. That's giving me hope that the final retail cost will be reasonable!

You can see it impacts viewing angle at the most extreme of degrees (i.e. directly off to the left or right — places where you won’t be using it), but brightness remains untouched by the additional layer.

Plus, with the lip, you will not be able to close the laptop with this attached. Consider this a PSA because I don’t want eager users destroying their pricey MacBook Pros!

MacBooks suit touch input well(ish)

The first thing that surprised me about using the Magic Screen is just how intuitive it is from the word “go.” The plug-and-play nature of it shows just how macOS already has some nice touch optimization going on here — something we already found when building a touchscreen iMac.

Navigating around is a cinch with simple taps on apps, press and holds for the right-click menu, multi-touch gestures that are mapped identically to the ones you do on the touchpad, and dragging windows and objects around. And the iOSification of the aesthetics of macOS really lends itself to being more touch-friendly than Windows 11 for sure.

Is it perfect? No, and it comes down to two key issues that I’ll be watching WWDC like a hawk for to see if there are any hints of making macOS even more touch-friendly.

First, the general user interaction dynamic changes with different icons — double-tapping a folder on the desktop vs single tapping an app is a great example of this. It’s a small thing on paper, but everything needs to work the same in a uniform kind of way.

And second is the macOS apps themselves. They’re clearly built for mouse and keyboard, and this can prove tricky with some tiny touch targets in things like a Final Cut Pro timeline. Buttons will need to be simplified and made larger for these moments.

This is going to be more of a mammoth task, not just for Apple’s own apps but for third-party developers, and I’m not entirely sure how it’ll be done. Beyond ground-up redesigns, will it be reactive windows that change as you start to touch? I don’t know.

Magic Screen is pretty magical for getting creative

As for the Magic Screen itself, it’s a well-made piece of hardware with the intuitive setup of just magnetically snapping it onto the chassis. You’ve also got that folio case for the panel itself that doubles as a brace that stops any display hinge wobble while you touch too!

But things get really interesting when you turn it into a drawing tablet with the stylus. We’ve loved illustration surfaces from the likes of Wacom for a while now, and this additional use case makes for a really nice ergonomic dimension for getting creative.

Palm rejection is hard at work here, and the stylus has a nice feel in the hand with immediate response times and pressure sensitivity. And given it’s a giant touch surface that matches the dimensions of your laptop’s panel, it’s really easy to guess where your pen will land (even without looking at the hovering icon).

Bridging the gap between iPad and Mac

For years now, it’s seemed a little crazy to me that there hasn’t been a touchscreen Mac. I understood Apple’s reasons, and the touchpad navigation can feel almost iPad-esque with the multi-touch gestures and speed of getting around.

But the wealth of Windows 2-in-1s has shown the world is keen for touchscreen laptops, and this additional paradigm of interaction with a Mac feels very intuitive. Apple’s already done the heavy lifting with macOS taking some visual cues from iOS, and outside of a few app tweaks and gestures, it’s pretty much ready for primetime.

That’s what we’ll hopefully see more of come WWDC 2026 — these small visual tweaks and UI elements that make it more finger-friendly!

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With Memorial Day deals in full swing, now is the best time to save big on your next laptop. This is especially important given the rising costs of electronics, thanks to RAMageddon. To that end, I’ve scoured the internet for some of the best laptop deals for under $1,000.

This includes the MacBook Neo for $589, which shaves $10 off this already affordable laptop. For something more premium, the 13-inch MacBook Air is now $949. If you’re looking for Windows laptops offering great battery life and plenty of RAM, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x for $549 and the Acer Swift Go 16 AI for $600 off are fantastic picks.

Here are 9 Memorial Day laptop deals under $1,000 worth checking out.

Quick links

• Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x: was $849 now $549 @ Best Buy
• Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3: was $749 now $579 @ Best Buy
• MacBook Neo: was $599 now $589 @ Amazon
• HP OmniBook 3: was $1,099 now $749 @ Best Buy
• Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x: was $1,299 now $799 @ Best Buy
• Acer Nitro V 15: $829 @ Walmart
• Acer Swift Go 16 AI: was $1,499 now $899 @ Best Buy
• MacBook Air (13-inch, M5): was $1,099 now $949 @ Amazon
• HP OmniBook X Flip 2-in-1: was $1,199 now $949 @ Best Buy

Memorial Day laptop deals

As the first half of 2026 winds down, it feels as though Apple has been relatively quiet while we wait for the big Fall product releases. WWDC 2026 is right around the corner in June and as is often the case, it marks the shift between the barren Apple months and the fruitful ones.

With that in mind, based on rumors and leaks, I expect Apple to debut at least 15 new devices between now and the end of the year.

Some like the iPhone and Apple Watches are your typical annual updates (save the over-rumored iPhone Fold), and potential updates to the MacBook Pro lineup. Others, like Apple's long-awaited smart home lineup, all depend on whether Apple has finally figured out Siri 2.0.

All of these devices could give us an idea if the recently reported hardware shakeup is ready to bear fruit.

So, here are the 15 Apple devices we could see this year in order of potential release date.

iPhone 18 Pro models and iPhone Fold - September

On the whole, the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max probably won't be a big divergence from the iPhone 17 versions. A new color, a better chip, possibly a revamped Camera Control button and a smaller Dynamic Island are all on the table. Decent updates, but not terribly exciting.

The iPhone 18 is, we expect, a gap year until 2027's 20th anniversary iPhone, which could truly shake up the iPhone design.

However, the bigger news is that Apple is expected to split the iPhone 18 release with the Pro models this year and the iPhone 18, 18 Plus, and 18e launching in the new spring window next year.

If it launches, and there is debate about that, the iPhone Fold (or Ultra) will be the headline stealer as Apple finally steps into the foldable phones market.

The allegedly crease-free foldable could feature a squat 7.7-inch inner display that is reminiscent of an iPad mini. Apple is reportedly developing iOS 27 to be tailored for the folding iPhone. We'll most likely hear more about that at WWDC 2026, depending on how coy Apple wants to be.

Apple Watches - September

Unlike the iPhone 18 family, there has been a dearth of rumors regarding the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4. They typically launch in September alongside the iPhone.

Here's what we know so far.

The Series 12 could feature new holistic sensor tech on the bottom of the watch, including a new eight-sensor array. If true, this could indicate that new health metrics might be coming to the Series 12, or at the very least, more accurate ones. The big change might be an overhauled Health app featuring an AI-powered, personalized wellness concierge.

Otherwise, it should be largely the same as the Series 11, though it might feature Touch ID, which has been disputed.

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 may or may not launch this year, the rumors are unclear on this part. If not, we might see the Ultra 4 in 2027.

As for the design, rumors hint at a thinner case, fingerprint scanner and improved Hypertension Alerts. But that's about it for now.

iPads - September/October

The iPad mini is one of the best tablets available today and the eighth iteration could launch this year. Apple hasn't had a consistent release schedule for its tiny iPads, but most rumors suggest the iPad mini 8 could launch around October, maybe late September.

It's rumored to get the A20 Pro, the same chip as the iPhone 18 Pro series. It could also be the first iPad mini to feature an OLED display.

As for the larger entry-level iPad 12, it could launch this year with an A19 chipset. It's looking like it will be a simple refresh with Apple Intelligence features and possibly Apple's N1 wireless chip. Design-wise I expect it to look the same as its predecessor. Outside of that, I only have speculation on possible increases in RAM and storage but with the memory crisis, that may take a back seat.

OLED MacBook Pro M6 and other Macs - October

If they launch this year, I expect to see at least four Mac devices, most likely in October.

The most interesting one is the potential MacBook Pro M6 feature an OLED display.

• Mac Studio
• Mac mini
• iMac
• MacBook Pro M6

Beyond the MacBook, all of the other devices will likely just be chip upgrades going from their current versions to the M5 family.

The Pro model might get a new name the MacBook Ultra, which is meant to differentiate it from the MacBook Neo acting as an even higher-end counterpart to the Pro. It should feature an OLED display and the new M6 chipset.

The design should be similar to previous Pro models. The big upgrades will be the display with a touchscreen and the chipset.

Smart Home devices with a catch

Apple has been rumored to be developing its own suite of smart home devices, including the overhauled HomePod. This could come in the form of a new HomePod mini, a new HomePod 3 and the Home Hub.

The long-awaited Apple TV 4K set-top box update would be part of this update, with new features meant to connect it to your smart home. We're expecting Apple to kit out the next Apple TV with an upgraded chip, possibly an A17 Pro chip, though that rumor is nearly a year old now, so a potentially more powerful chip could be in the cards. The device could also get the N1 chip for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.

Here's the thing, though, this all depends on whether Apple has finally figured out Apple Intelligence and Siri. Using AI to control your smart home with your voice and other tools is supposed to be a main part of the experience. That promise could finally arrive with the Gemini-powered version of Siri that is supposed to launch this year.

Additionally, Apple may have a smart security camera and Face ID doorbell in the works. Apple was reportedly in the early stages of development of those at the end of 2024, but it's not clear where Apple is regarding that now.

If Apple finally reveals the new HomePod and other smart home devices, it likely won't happen until after Siri 2.0 actually launches this fall.

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The MacBook Pro OLED could launch sooner than I thought. Last month, Bloomberg reported that these laptops could be delayed due to the global RAM shortage. However, a new report gives me hope that Apple’s first OLED laptops might overcome this hurdle.

As Korean publication The Elec reports (via 9to5Mac and MacRumors), panel supplier Samsung Display will begin mass production of its next-generation OLED panels as soon as June. These are the same panels that the MacBook Pro 14- and MacBook Pro 16-inch models are expected to use.

Samsung Display has reportedly achieved yields above 90 percent on its Gen 8.6 OLED production line. The report says that supply volume should be around 2 million units and that the displays could start shipping to Apple’s assembly partners in the next couple of months.

If accurate, this report is significant because of the difficulty of manufacturing OLED panels for 14- and 16-inch laptops. This, combined with the RAM crisis, is why many analysts believed the MacBook Pro OLED could face delays. Samsung still expects a 5%-10% failure rate during manufacturing, underscoring that the process isn’t easy. However, that same failure rate is acceptable to Samsung, hence why the MacBook Pro OLED might not be delayed.

Apple hasn’t officially announced MacBook Pro laptops with OLED panels, but rumors have persisted for the past several years. Such a laptop would be the first major redesign for the MacBook Pro line since 2021, with reports claiming the updated laptops will be thinner, drop the notched display, and even include cellular connectivity, in addition to the OLED panel.

As for when we could see the MacBook Pro OLED, it could be in late 2026 or early 2027, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. 2027 might be the safer bet, especially as the upcoming MacBook Pros are expected to run on the rumored Apple M6 chip. Tell us in the comments if you're waiting for a MacBook Pro OLED.

More from Tom's Guide

• MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air M2: What’s the best bang for your buck?
• I ditched the MacBook Air for a MacBook Neo for 48 hours — and I'm shocked
• Which MacBook should you buy in 2026?

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

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

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

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

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

Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 Aura Edition: Specs

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

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

Minimalist design and a user-forward experience

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

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

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

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

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

Stunning display and powerful audio

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

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

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

Strong creative performance chops

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

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

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

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

Respectable gaming performance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The RAM shortage strikes again

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

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

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

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

Sub-par battery life

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

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

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

Lenovo Yoga Pro 7i Gen 11 Aura Edition: Verdict

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

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

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 (starting at $1,949), or Microsoft Surface Laptop for Business, as it is officially called, updates the company’s eponymous notebook with the latest Intel CPU, an updated haptic touchpad, and an optional built-in anti-glare privacy screen. Though designed as a business laptop, it’s a solid device overall for anyone willing to pay its steep price.

Like the Surface Laptop 7, the new Surface Laptop is a sleek ultraportable you can easily carry. It’s just slightly larger and heavier than the 13-inch MacBook Air M5, which is very impressive. Despite its slim profile, it packs at least one USB-A port for legacy devices and a pair of USB-C ports.

One major upgrade is the optional built-in anti-glare privacy screen. The former is especially useful if you don’t want wandering eyes to see what you’re working on in a public spot. The anti-glare coating does a fantastic job of ensuring the display is visible even in direct sunlight. These are highlights of what is an otherwise average laptop panel.

Thanks to the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 “Panther Lake” chip inside, the Surface Laptop 8 delivers stunning performance and solid battery life. Not only do you get enough power for everyday work, but you can even run some modern games for when you’re off the clock. And while battery life might not be as impressive as on a MacBook, you’re getting well over a full day of use.

Given its status as a business laptop and its high starting price, you might want to consider a regular consumer laptop with similar specs. However, if you’re a longtime Surface Laptop fan and are willing to spend big for the best iteration of that device yet, this is a machine worth considering. Find out in my full review.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 is a business laptop packing the latest Intel Panther Lake chip.
• Who is it for? For workers who need a reliable notebook for everyday work.
• What does it cost? The Surface Laptop 8 starts at $1,949.
• What do we like? We like the slim design, strong performance, anti-glare display option, and strong battery life.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like that it costs nearly $1,000 more than the previous model.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 review: Specs

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 review: The ups

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 has a lot going for it, thanks to its strong Panther Lake performance, ultraportable design, and long battery life.

Elegant design

The Surface Laptop 8 hasn’t received a major design overhaul since the last model, which is fine, considering we still get a slim yet sturdy machine. The dark aluminum alloy chassis not only looks great but also has a soft surface that feels nice in the hand.

As before, it has a slightly tapered design, which can be seen as a throwback compared to the flatter laptops we currently see, but I like it.

You get an enjoyable typing experience thanks to the relatively roomy keyboard deck. The thick keycaps and their short travel distance allow you to type with little resistance. I’m also fond of the touchpad, which delivers satisfying haptic feedback when pressed. With some apps, you will even feel haptics when hovering over the X button on a window, which is quite fun and intuitive.

There are a decent number of ports for such a slim laptop. This includes a pair of USB-C ports, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a full SD card slot. I especially appreciate the lone USB-A port, which lets me connect legacy wired devices.

Vivid display

The Surface Laptop 8 might not have the most impressive display, but it’s plenty bright and colorful for everyday work and even recreation.

When watching a YouTube video, I had no problem seeing even the smallest details of a colorful, sun-drenched beach. Naturally, websites also look and run well thanks to the sharp 2304x1536 resolution and smooth 120Hz refresh rate.

Our lab tests corroborate what my eyes experienced. As you can see in the table above, Microsoft’s notebook delivers a good level of SDR and HDR brightness, though both fall short of 500 nits. That’s not terrible, considering how the MacBook Air couldn’t hit that mark either. The MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ also fell behind the Surface Laptop’s intensity.

Color representation (sRGB and DCI-P3) is roughly on par with the MacBook Air, which is reflected in how good the colors can look. Color accuracy (Delta-E) isn’t what it should be (closer to 0 is best), but it’s also not terrible. The Prestige 14 Flip delivers slightly oversaturated colors in comparison.

The anti-glare and privacy screens on the model I reviewed are equally impressive. Even under direct sunlight, the anti-glare technology allowed me to view the display reasonably well. I also liked how effective the privacy screen is, since you can’t see much unless the display is directly in front of you. If you’re working with sensitive documents, this privacy screen will be extremely beneficial.

Fast performance

The Surface Laptop 8 I reviewed packs an Intel Core Ultra x7 368H “Panther Lake” CPU and 32GB of RAM. Thanks to that, the laptop easily handled my average workflow, which usually consists of dozens of open Chrome tabs and the occasional YouTube video. This is just another example of Panther Lake’s stunning performance.

As you can see above, the Surface Laptop 8 keeps pace with the M5-driven MacBook Air in multi-threaded performance, though Apple’s notebook is more adept with single-core tasks. The Prestige 14 Flip, which has similar specs to the Surface Laptop 8, fell just slightly behind.

In the Handbrake test, the Surface Laptop 8 took 5 minutes and 8 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. That’s the equivalent of the MacBook Air’s time, which is nearly one minute faster than the Prestige 14 Flip.

Long battery life

In our battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi with the display set to 150 nits of brightness, the Surface Pro 8 lasted for 12 hours and 26 minutes.

Of course, the two laptops I compared lasted much longer. The big winner here is the Prestige 14 Flip, which is one of the longest-lasting laptops we’ve tested. However, it’s important to note that this laptop has a slightly less powerful, less energy-intensive Panther Lake chip, which accounts for its impressive endurance.

I should note that we were only able to run one battery test on the Surface Laptop. We may see better numbers after we run three tests as usual, but not by much. I’ll update this review with the fresh numbers once we have them.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 review: The downs

There’s a lot to like about the Surface Laptop, but it has one glaring flaw that can make it unattractive to regular users.

Steep asking price

With a starting price of $1,949, the Surface Laptop 8 costs nearly $1,000 more than its predecessor. While it’s perhaps unrealistic to expect a comparable price thanks to RAMageddon, that’s still a serious amount of cash to plunk down.

In fairness, the former and current Surface Laptops are for different users. The older model was marketed toward average consumers, so it needed to be priced competitively. However, as a business laptop, it’s understandable that the new model costs more, even if its updates are mostly iterative.

If you’re lucky enough to have your company spring for a new Surface Laptop 8, then you’ll be sitting pretty. But if you decide to buy one of these for yourself, be prepared to pay a premium.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 review: Verdict

I don’t often review business laptops, but I jumped at the chance to test the Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 since I’ve always admired this series. It’s arguably the best one yet, even though this notebook is meant for enterprise.

Though I’m impressed by what it offers, it’s hard to recommend this notebook to the average reader I normally write for. You’re better off with something like the 13-inch MacBook Air or MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+, which cost $1,099 and $1,299 (respectively). You’ll get a comparable or better experience for hundreds less.

Price aside, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 delivers where it matters. If you’re looking for a dependable business notebook and have the cash for it, you won’t go wrong.

In a world where tech prices are rising at an alarming and consistent rate, it’s really refreshing when you encounter a piece of new hardware that’s actually a great value for your money. Enter the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11.

Part of Lenovo’s new slate of laptops equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Plus chips, the IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 impresses with fast and efficient performance, a sleek touchscreen display, and a battery life that stands up to the M5 MacBook Air for just $849.99. That price point isn’t cheap per se, but compared to similarly priced competitors, this laptop nears bargain territory.

It’s not a perfect laptop, sure — you’re not going to be able to take on super-demanding video editing projects or engage in heavy gaming. Some aspects, like the device’s speaker system and built-in webcam, are also a bit of a letdown. But, if you’re just looking for a solid laptop that can tackle all the basics without any holdups, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 should definitely be on your shortlist.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 is part of Lenovo’s latest lineup of laptops equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Plus chips.
• Who is it for? For anyone who needs a productivity-based laptop but doesn’t want to shell out upwards of $1,000 for one.
• What does it cost? The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 starts at just $849 when configured with all the base specs, which is the model that we reviewed. If you want to spring for the highest possible spec configuration, you’ll pay $1,379.
• How’s the performance? The IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 is still a speedy and efficient machine thanks to its Snapdragon X2 Plus processor.
• What about the display? Albeit a little dim, the IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11’s 1200p LCD touchscreen display is really colorful and easy to use.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 review: Specs

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 review: The ups

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 impresses thanks to its fast performance, elegant design, and durable battery life.

Efficient performance and a fantastic value

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 offers great performance at an affordable price, thanks to the inclusion of Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X2 Plus chip.

During my time with the Slim 5x Gen 11, I immediately noticed the laptop’s speed on productivity tasks. I used it for most of my daily work, including writing article drafts, sending emails, filling out spreadsheets, and basic web browsing. It handled all of that with ease, even while multitasking and leaving a decent number of tabs open.

Our Geekbench 6 CPU performance data shows that the Slim 5x Gen 11 can hold its own against heavy hitters like the M5 MacBook Air and Asus Zenbook A16. Single-core performance, which covers low-lift tasks like the ones I mentioned above, is solid at 3,299. That falls below the 4,191 score of the M5 Air, but is still close to the Zenbook A16’s score of 3,807.

The multi-core scoring data, which is responsible for more demanding tasks like gaming and photo/video editing, shows that the Slim 5x Gen 11 trails the competition a bit. The Slim 5x scored a 12,390, while the M5 Air and Zenbook A16 scored a 17,276 and 22,733, respectively. That’s not “bad,” but you’ll have to manage your expectations when it comes to tasks that require more processing power.

As long as you’re using the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 for the basics and not pushing it too hard, you can expect to get a really great laptop for your money. For reference, the Slim 5x starts at just $849—compared to the M5 MacBook Air’s starting price of $1,099 and the ZenBook A16’s starting price of $1,699.

Battery life that keeps up with the MacBook Air

You’re going to get a lot of mileage out of the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 thanks to its impressively long battery life. During our tests, it achieved an average of 15 hours and 24 minutes on a full charge, which falls just under that of the M5 MacBook Air. The only difference is that you’re not getting an M5 MacBook Air for under $1,000.

Overall, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 is a great match for those who are always on the move and don’t have time to constantly search for an outlet to recharge their device.

A nice display for the price

The Slim 5x Gen 11’s 1200p LCD isn’t necessarily dazzling, but it gets the job done and even includes a smooth, responsive touchscreen. I ended up using this feature far more than I initially expected — it was a game-changer for scrolling through long-form articles or zipping through documents to make quick edits.

The screen is slightly dimmer than the M5 MacBook Air (476 nits) and Asus Zenbook A16 (427 nits), but it still holds its own at 385 nits. While the brightness isn’t perfectly uniform across the screen, especially in the corners, I never noticed any graininess or artifacts.

The laptop’s display is quite colorful and isn’t far off from the competition in its Delta-E results (we use this metric to measure color accuracy, and the lower the number, the better). While technically less color-accurate than the M5 MacBook Air (0.22) and Asus ZenBook A16 (0.25), its 0.31 Delta-E is still commendable. To my naked eye, at least, the Slim 5x Gen 11’s display looks really nice.

And here’s a pro tip: If you’ve got an extra $30 on hand, you can upgrade to an OLED display with higher resolution, brightness, and refresh rate (though you’ll have to give up the touchscreen). If you ask us, that’s definitely worth considering.

A simple but effective design

The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 isn’t anything fancy in terms of design, but its minimalism is what makes it so great.

For a 15-inch laptop, it’s super thin and portable at just 0.61 inches, making it a solid device for travel. I also like the sleek silver finish that’s reminiscent of Apple’s MacBooks, and overall build quality that feels durable and thoughtfully constructed. The hinge on the display is very sturdy and can nearly lie flat, which works well with the touchscreen.

It has a well-sized trackpad that glides effortlessly, and while the individual key shape is not my preference, the overall typing experience is excellent thanks to its responsive keyboard, which also has really nice tactile feedback.

The Slim 5x Gen 11’s port variety is another highlight, which includes two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports (with DisplayPort), an HDMI 2.1 port, a headphone jack, and a nifty MicroSD card reader.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 review: The downs

It's hard to nitpick anything about such an affordable laptop, but there are some drawbacks worth discussing.

Performance limits

While the Slim 5x Gen 11 delivers generally solid performance, certain use cases will push this budget laptop to its limits. Don’t expect to be able to cut together a feature film in Premiere Pro or spend hours playing games on Steam. Throughout our testing, the Slim 5x Gen 11 ran into issues when taking on power-hungry tasks like these.

But, this laptop isn’t really designed for that anyway — where it aims to excel is in the basics, and it does that exceedingly well. You might still be able to get away with running photo-editing apps like Photoshop, but your mileage may vary, and you might experience slower performance at times.

As long as you’re not looking to take it to its limits, you’ll get a reliable work laptop in the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11.

Crackly speakers hurt the entertainment factor

Unfortunately, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11’s stock speakers are not great. It comes with two 2W upward-facing speakers on the sides of the keyboard, and both of them sounded pretty crackly and tinny throughout my review period.

They can definitely get pretty loud thanks to their support for Dolby Audio, but they lack the clarity and immersion you’d get with a Dolby Atmos-supported speaker system. If you’re going to use this laptop to listen to music or watch TV shows and movies, I’d say you should invest in one of the best headphones so you don't hinder your entertainment experience.

A webcam that misses the mark

Remote workers will want to note the Slim 5x Gen 11’s 1080p webcam, which was, sadly, a disappointment when I used it. No matter which video calling app I booted up, the webcam's picture quality was subpar — everything looked grainy and showed noticeable lag whenever I moved.

Is it a dealbreaker? Definitely not. But if you’re someone who’s constantly on work calls and wants to look their best, you’ll want to consider this laptop’s shortcomings in the webcam department. At least it has a built-in privacy shutter.

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 review: Verdict

At just $849, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x Gen 11 is an excellent productivity laptop, especially amongst rising tech costs and shortages. It boasts impressive performance and makes great use of the Snapdragon X2 Plus chip, solidifying it as a reliable machine that nails the basics.

Aside from performance, you’ll get a device that’s built to last, not just because of its thoughtful design, but also its surprising 15.5-hour battery life that rivals big competitors like the M5 MacBook Air. The colorful touchscreen display and a diverse lineup of ports only sweeten the already great deal.

While the Slim 5x Gen 11 has a performance ceiling for gaming and video editing, casual laptop users won’t be missing out on much. As long as you can deal with a slightly subpar speaker and webcam setup, you’re looking at a fantastic work and travel laptop for the money.

Apple has started sending out invites for the WWDC 2026 keynote on June 8 and it could have some hints about the future of Siri. The image, seen above, is clearly Apple Park, but the glowing symbol and the taglines like "coming bright up" give a hint at a potential visual overhaul for Siri.

It's two years late, but Siri 2.0 is finally supposed to arrive this year. Most rumors have hinted at Siri's potential capabilities, but this little teaser suggests that Siri could also get a visual overhaul.

Here's how Siri could be evolving.

iOS 27 and Gemini

Notably, Apple and Google have already promised that Gemini-powered Siri will debut this year with iOS 27. Google could help turbocharge Siri by offering the same multimodal performance that can be found in other AI chatbots.

With Gemini Live already available on some of the best Android phones, we already have an idea of how Siri could perform. For instance, the Galaxy S26 got advanced task automation to perform complex actions like placing a Dunkin’ Donuts order through DoorDash via voice.

Since the rocky launch of Apple Intelligence in 2024, Apple has been scrambling to refine what already exists rather than introducing new features. Still, this is the system that's supposed to undergird Siri, so new features are likely to be announced that would presumably integrate with Apple's virtual assistant.

That could include AI-based photo editing tools and things like the Galaxy S26’s Now Nudge.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has previously said that Siri 2.0 will offer a more "chatbot-like experience" acting as more of an on-device agentic AI for your iPhone.

However, he's also noted that Apple is making privacy a centerpiece of Siri, which would stand out from AI rivals like OpenAI's ChatGPT.

WWDC 2026: When and how to watch

Apple's latest iteration of its Worldwide Developers Conference runs from June 8 to 12, with the keynote starting on Monday, June 8.

Apple hasn't confirmed the exact start time, but the presentation usually starts around 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET. As usual, the event will take place at Apple Park in Cupertino, CA.

The live keynote has generally been streamed on the Apple website, the Apple Developer app and its YouTube channel.

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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.

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• 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

My go-to daily driver has always been a MacBook Pro — picking it to partly fulfill my diverse workload of general productivity and prosumer work, and partly to satisfy my inner speeds and feeds demon. There’s just something about seeing big numbers that feels nice, y’know.

However, the MacBook Neo is here at a third of the cost, and while I’d love to be the guy who can continue to afford expensive laptops, I’ve got a home to pay for with my wife. So how much of my day-to-day could I actually do on a Neo vs the Pro?

Because you already know this is a mismatch: a mobile chip vs full-blown laptop silicon. A $1,700 laptop vs a $600 notebook. But this test taught me two things:

• You can actually do a lot more of a content creator workload on a MacBook Neo than you think.
• I (and probably many other Pro users) may need to re-evaluate just how much horsepower I actually need.

Let me explain.

The usability

I never thought a premium aluminum construction was possible in the cheaper laptop space, but here goes Apple proving the entire industry wrong — to the point that I’ve heard from my sources about some companies panicking hard and responding at Computex in a big way.

Of course, there’s the lack of a TouchID, which can be a pain if you use Apple Pay a whole lot, but typing in passwords isn’t the end of the world. Oh, and the lack of a backlit keyboard did make it a bit of a pain to find my bearings in the night — won’t be a problem for touch typists, but for clumsy typers who need to look down like me, you can lose your way.

For most of you, your real noticeable differences here are going to come in the touchpad, the display and sound. While your pointer gets the full Haptic Touchpad treatment on the MacBook Pro, the Neo gets a cheaper diving board (physically pressing in with each click).

It’s an ergonomic difference that you can feel a little bit in the tactility of the click, but not one that’s so problematic as to be bad. The Neo touchpad still feels good to use.

Then there’s the display and audio, which the MacBook Pro basically dominates in (especially if you go for that nano texture display). It’s a very unfair fight, though, given the Pro easily has the best speakers in the whole laptop space, but points to the Neo for having a decently colorful panel and crispy speakers (even though they’re placed almost awkwardly convenient to be covered by your fingers.

The day-to-day

So we can go off all the benchmark comparisons and spoiler alert: the M5 MacBook Pro just completely annihilates the Neo. But we’re not too fussed about these for this test. Here are the numbers for reference:

What I actually care about is the real-world multitasking chops on offer here — with twice the system memory of the MacBook Neo, the Pro does of course run away here, but is the relentless optimization of macOS’ memory usage and hot swapping of storage to create an additional layer of RAM enough to contend?

Well, I packed it full of tabs, multitasked relentlessly, and at up to 40 Chrome tabs, I felt no hitching whatsoever on the Neo’s 8GB of memory. It was only when having a ton of Chrome tabs, Pixelmator Pro, Apple Music and my favorite Sudoku game open did I then start to see some hitches and slow down — never a day-to-day productivity situation I find myself in.

Then of course, there’s the battery life. Would I have loved a bigger cell in the MacBook Neo? Absolutely! I feel with a phone chip and a 50-70Wh battery in there over a 36Wh, this device could last days of consistent use. But with the smaller cell and weaker internals, it’s still a stamina champ.

Obviously, it’s nice to have that extra performance of a MacBook Pro for more advanced tasks (more on those in a second), but if you’re just looking for an office-level workhorse with entertainment credentials, the Neo is more than enough.

The stretch goals

Now we get into the bonkers goals — things that I’d never expect a MacBook Neo to do and solely rely on a Pro for the job. I’m talking the prosumer side of things like 4K video edits, RAW photo tweaks and other jobs that really thrive with a stronger CPU and GPU than you’d find in an iPhone chip.

And I gotta be honest, I’m a little shocked at just how much I could do. Definitely at a slower pace with some thermal throttling issues, but still doable at acceptable speeds.

First off, I opened up one of my chunkier 4K projects in Final Cut Pro. I have a giant project file so it’s ran from a portable SSD, which means not only is it a test of the chipset and internal load speeds, it’s also a test of the port connectivity speed.

Of course, there’s no real competition here in terms of Thunderbolt being much faster than the USB 3 socket. But full credit to Apple’s software optimization here that I could jump all over my massive timeline on the MacBook Neo without any hitches or frame skips.

The full export takes about 50% longer on the Neo, which seemed to be in line with a lot of what I saw on RAW edit loads on Pixelmator Pro too. Put simply, if you rely on quick edit turnarounds, the Pro will pay for itself over time, but if you are a hobbyist getting into content creation for the first time, you’ll be surprised at how much a Neo gives you.

Bottom line

I won’t deny that the $1,699 M5 MacBook Pro is a mighty machine, but the point I wanted to make with this comparison is to ask one simple question: how many of you actually need that super high ceiling on performance? Spoiler alert: not a whole lot of you.

The speed and capability of that M5 chip has gotten so bonkers that its entering a prosumer tier that would be overkill for any casual enthusiast, and of course I applaud Apple for that. It’s on a level that Windows laptops could only dream of being on after all!

But when it comes to picking the right MacBook for you, the Neo just became a must-buy for roughly 75% of you reading this right now — with 15% needing the additional boost of the M5 MacBook Air, and the remaining 10% requiring the thermal management and raw horsepower of a MacBook Pro.

Seriously, it’s that zippy on all your daily tasks, and at a third the cost, it’s a dangerous proposition for budget Windows laptops and Chromebooks.

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• Windows fans mocked MacBook Neo’s 8GB RAM — my testing shows why that’s wrong
• I ditched the MacBook Air for a MacBook Neo for 48 hours — and I'm shocked
• MacBook Neo vs. Chromebooks: Which budget laptop is right for you?

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition is a mouthful of a name for a bite-sized notebook.

But don’t let that diminutive chassis fool you. In our review of last year's Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition, we said it was just a really good laptop,” and Lenovo has built on that solid foundation with key upgrades, including the Panther Lake processor under the hood.

The roughly two-pound ultraportable punches above its weight with nearly 17 hours of battery life in our testing, solid performance for a thin-and-light Windows laptop, and Lenovo granted our wish for an OLED touchscreen.

Lenovo also addressed some minor quibbles from last year’s model, adding a new 5MP webcam and doubling the base RAM to 32 GB. Unfortunately, these extras don’t come for free, and the price also jumped this year to $1,629 for the base model, up from $1,299. Normally, I'd expect discounts, but we are seeing fewer laptop deals this year, so it’s harder to say.

Pricing aside, Lenovo has created one of the best laptops of 2026, making it an easy recommendation for Windows fans looking for a MacBook Air alternative. While it can’t match Apple’s M5 in performance, it outclasses Apple’s display and outlasts its battery life.

Lenovo also gets extra style points for the head-turning Seafoam finish. This ultraportable is already sleek, but that bright white colorway makes a real statement.

The best Windows laptops in 2026 are truly compelling, and the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition should take its place among them. Read my full review to find out if this pint-size ultraportable is the right choice for you.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition is a premium thin-and-light Windows laptop.
• Who is it for? It’s a great fit for multitaskers on the go, thanks to its ample 32GB of RAM, long battery life, and a weight of roughly 2 pounds.
• What does it cost? The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition starts at $1,889 on Lenovo's website, which is a significant jump from $1,299 last year.
• What do we like? The OLED display is gorgeous, as is the slim, sleek off-white design, and it can go days without a charge.
• What don’t we like? Lack of ports beyond USB-C means dongles for some users, and when you overtax it, the fans may blow you away.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition: Specs

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition: The ups

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition has a lot going for it, thanks to its vivid OLED panel, fantastic design, strong performance, and epic battery life.

Unmatched display in an ultraportable

In our review of its predecessor, my colleague Jason England wrote, “My wish for Lenovo to make the jump to OLED for Yoga hasn’t happened here.” It may be a year late, but that wish was granted and perhaps to even more spectacular effect than imagined. The 16:10 PureSight Pro OLED in the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition is brighter and far more colorful than the 13-inch MacBook Air M5 or its Windows rivals.

I watched the Masters of the Universe (2026) trailer, and while I am still hesitant about the movie, the action looks fantastic on this 14-inch display. I don’t recall Skeletor being entirely made of abs, but he’s clearly been hitting the gym with a vengeance. You can see every last muscle, along with the crackling purple bolts of energy, ready to send He-Man packing.

The one downside I will note about the display is that while it features anti-glare properties, it isn’t as effective as the anti-reflective panel on the Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra or the nano-texture display available on the MacBook Pro 16-inch M5 Pro. The display is bright enough that you can still see it in any environment, but you’re left dealing with the reflections, while those rivals really eliminate them.

Epic battery life

At just over two pounds, the Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition is a dream notebook for frequent travelers, students, or anyone who doesn’t love lugging around extra weight in their laptop bag.

The dream of a travel-friendly laptop often turns into a nightmare when you find that it can only last a few hours before you’re forced to plug it in again, but thankfully, Lenovo (and Intel) spare you from that fate. In our testing, which involved continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi on the laptop with the display set to 150 nits of brightness, it lasted just under 17 hours.

Now, I imagine you may push your laptop a little harder than that on a typical day, but even so, you will be hard-pressed to kill this battery in a single day of use unless you are gaming or rendering video, which are, frankly, not the primary use cases for this laptop.

It outlasted the MacBook Air 13-inch M5 by over an hour, which is all the more impressive given that it’s half a pound lighter than the Air.

Slim, solid, and stylish build

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition may be vanishingly small, but Lenovo didn’t sacrifice durability. There’s no flex in the chassis when picking it up, open or closed, and the display holds firmly wherever you set it, even when using the touchscreen. That’s thanks to the magnesium aluminum alloy chassis, which still boasts the typical Lenovo MIL-STD 810H certification.

The bright white Seafoam color ensures your laptop won’t get lost in the sea of gray laptops that dominate the market. The Yoga coating gives it a soft-touch feel that sheds fingerprints and water and is abrasion-resistant, so even after a couple of weeks, it still looks pristine. With that said, if you’re concerned about how clean a white laptop will look after months and years of use, just make sure you know how to clean devices the right way, and you should be able to keep it looking fresh.

Flexes some performance muscle

Powered by the Intel Core Ultra 7 355, this isn’t a laptop that will blow you away with its raw power; however, it is more capable than you would expect for something this thin and light. Most of my days are spent juggling dozens of Chrome tabs, using Discord or Slack, and editing photos in Photoshop and Lightroom. I was able to cruise through all of those tasks without any stuttering or delays.

The 32GB of RAM in the base model that I tested certainly helps to keep even my embarrassing count of Chrome tabs and windows from grinding the system to a halt. I was even able to do some basic video editing in Premiere, which was finally enough to put the typically silent fans into overdrive.

You’ll need a Windows laptop with an Intel Core Ultra X-series chip if you want dramatically more performance, but you are likely looking at a bump up to at least three pounds with something like the Dell XPS 14 (2026).

It’s worth noting that Lenovo does offer a configuration with the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H chip and integrated Intel Arc B390 GPU in some regions, but it’s not available in the U.S. at the time of publication.

Lenovo keyboards never disappoint

I’m not sure if there is anything in tech as reliable as a Lenovo keyboard. The 1.5mm key travel is wild to experience in a laptop this thin, and while the soft-touch feel of the key caps isn’t what I’m used to from Lenovo, I adjusted to it quickly.

The haptic “Force Pad” trackpad works well for gestures, and I never had any issues with it tracking my clicks. The feedback is slightly weaker than that of a traditional trackpad or Apple’s Force Touch trackpads on MacBooks, but I was used to it after less than a day. I’m a fan of carrying a mouse with me anyway, so maybe peruse our best mouse recommendations if the trackpad is a concern.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition: The downs

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition is a fantastic laptop, but it has some shortcomings.

Not enough ports in the storm

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition features three Thunderbolt 4 ports. Naturally, you can pick up a USB-C hub or dock if you need an HDMI port, an SD card reader, or a USB-A port. However, not having to worry about packing an extra dongle is handy, and we have seen many laptops walk back the USB-C-only port policy.

By comparison, the 1.9-pound MSI Prestige 13 AI+ (2026) fit in two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, a microSD card reader, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Lenovo could have at least given us the audio jack.

Fans go wild

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition is inaudible under most circumstances. Around 22dB, according to Lenovo, and I have no reason to doubt that. However, it made it all the more noticeable on the few occasions when I pushed the laptop while video editing or gaming, as the fans suddenly sounded like a small jet taking off from my office.

I will once again stress that while you can do video editing and gaming on this laptop, it is not the ideal choice for those tasks, so it isn’t shocking that it needs to literally vent to do them. If you stick to more common tasks on a thin-and-light laptop, you will almost never hear its fans.

Aura farming

The “Aura Edition” designation on this laptop refers to a collection of smart features that help you use it to its fullest potential. The Aura Smart Care gives you quick, easy access to Lenovo support technicians, so if you run into issues with your Yoga, it's handy. Aura Smart Share makes sharing your photos and videos between your notebook and smartphone easy, whether you use an Android or an iPhone.

The rest are a series of Smart Modes that you can select or have automatically applied to match the task you are doing on your laptop. Options include Working, Gaming, Creating, Entertainment, Meeting, and Learning.

It’s not that the Aura features are bad; it is simply that they aren’t intuitive right out of the gate, and that diminishes their value. It also remains somewhat unclear why they aren’t simply part of Lenovo’s entire lineup, as there’s nothing special about the hardware that enables these features.

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition: Verdict

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Ultra Aura Edition felt just steps away from greatness last year, and, to its credit, it took some of those steps. There are several undeniable upgrades, such as the move to an OLED display, improved performance and battery life, and its stylish new look.

However, the fairly dramatic bump in base price hurts what is otherwise an extremely compelling MacBook Air alternative. The Aura Edition features remain useful, but just feel underwhelming as part of a premium feature set.

This laptop is a shining example of what a thin-and-light Windows laptop can deliver in 2026, and a slight price cut would push it over the top.

Six years after Apple dropped Intel in favor of its own M-series processors, the two tech giants are reportedly partnering again on new silicon.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal that Apple and Intel had struck a preliminary deal to produce chips after a year of bargaining. That report did not include what devices those processors would fill.

But now a new report from supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that Apple and Intel have already started initial production of processors for iPhones, iPads and some Macs. Per Kuo, roughly 80% of the chips are meant for iPhones.

Prior to 2020, Apple had a long history with Intel having switched to the company's chips in 2006. Intel-based Macs only just stopped receiving Apple support last year with the release of macOS 26. When macOS 27 drops later this year, it will not support any Intel Macs.

Kuo's report is a read and mostly covers how the Intel deal will impact Apple's partnership with TSMC which makes all of Apple's CPUs currently. But there are some noteworthy bits about where the Intel chips could end up.

The Intel chips are based on the 18A nodes which are used in the company's Panther Lake silicon. This deal apparently is using the chips for Apple's "low-end/legacy" devices.

Kuo's phrasing likely means that Intel is building chips for older models that are still on sale. TSMC would still "retain 90% of supply share" for Apple's more high-end processors.

If the deal works out, I expect we'll see a split between higher-end TSMC Apple devices like the Pro model iPhones and MacBooks. Intel would feature in the more budget-friendly devices like the e-series iPhones and the new MacBook Neo which is already struggling to keep up with demand due to a lack of chips.

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Alienware's notebooks are among the best gaming laptops available, but they can be pricey for most folks. This is especially true now, thanks to RAMageddon. Thankfully, the company isn’t ignoring the current reality and has just launched a more affordable gaming laptop for PC gamers. Meet the new Alienware 15 (2026) gaming laptop.

Starting at $1,299, this 15-inch laptop packs up to an AMD Ryzen 7 CPU and up to an Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU. Couple with 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage, and you have the basics for playing the best PC games at 1080p resolution and medium to high graphics. While the asking price is still above $1,000, it’s not terrible given current conditions.

I tested a pre-production model of the Alienware 15 gaming laptop and found it delivers a solid experience for those who don’t want to break the bank. Given its price, you’re not getting a premium display or chassis, but if you just want to play your PC games on something reliable, you won’t go wrong here.

Alienware 15 (2026) hands-on: Specs

Alienware 15 (2026) hands-on: Design

At first glance, the Alienware 15 certainly has the iconic look of the company’s laptops, with its all-black shell and Alienware logo on the lid. However, picking it up instantly makes it clear this isn’t just any Alienware product.

The polycarbonate resin lid and bottom have a plastic-like feel that’s a departure from the aluminum casings of higher-end Alienware laptops. While that’s jarring at first, the smooth, contoured lines and overall sleek design help offset that.

Unlike the Alienware 16 Area-51, the Alienware 15 has a full keyboard, which should make number pad users very happy. I don’t fall into that camp, so having the keys I actually mostly located on the left-hand side made it tricky to find my stride when typing. That said, the thick keys and their satisfying travel distance do make this a good laptop for writing.

The lion’s share of the ports is on the left-hand side. This includes two USB-A ports, an Ethernet port, a USB-C port, and an HDMI port. On the left are a lone USB-C port and a headphone jack. Port placement is generally fine if that’s the side you prefer to connect peripherals to, but it could be burdensome if you would have preferred them on the right side or on the back.

Alienware 15 (2026) hands-on: Display

The 15-inch display isn’t terrible, but after testing so many laptops with OLED panels, it’s certainly a step down in both picture quality and overall brightness.

Since this was a pre-production model, we didn’t run our usual suite of display benchmarks. To my eyes, however, the screen is noticeably dimmer and less vibrant than a more premium display.

That’s not to say things don’t appear clearly defined, because they certainly do. The 1200p resolution lets you see everything on the screen in fine detail. However, the muted colors and low brightness make everything look duller than you’d like.

Again, things don’t look terrible on the Alienware 15, but don’t expect a top-end viewing experience when playing games or watching videos.

Alienware 15 (2026) hands-on: Performance and battery life

I tested a pre-production model with entry-level specs. It includes an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, an Nvidia RTX 4050 mobile GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD storage. These aren’t the latest and greatest components, but they’re good enough for playing even demanding games at smooth frame rates.

At default graphical settings and native resolution, Cyberpunk 2077 ran at around 45 to 50 frames per second during my testing. Mind you, that’s without the frame-boosting DLSS upscaler enabled. With this feature turned on, the fps jumped to the low 60s, so it’s definitely worth it for a system like this.

Given its prowess as a gaming machine, the Alienware 15 had no problems handling my average workflow, which usually consists of dozens of open Chrome tabs and the occasional YouTube video running in the background. If you need to get work done, this laptop won’t let you down.

Lastly, let’s talk about battery life. We didn’t run our usual battery test on this machine, but during my testing, I was able to play for close to 90 minutes before the battery life warning appeared. That’s typical for a gaming laptop, so I wasn’t surprised. Naturally, you’ll want to keep this laptop connected while gaming so it keeps running and maintains optimal performance.

Alienware 15 (2026) hands-on: Outlook

Given how expensive gaming devices are nowadays, I applaud Alienware for keeping the average gamer in mind. Both the Alienware 15 gaming laptop and the $349 Alienware AW2726DM gaming monitor exemplify this philosophy.

While I wouldn’t call a $1,299 starting price cheap, it’s still affordable given the current state of things. I’ll have a full review for you once I get to test a final model, but for now, I like what Alienware is cooking up.

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The newly announced Googlebooks will soon be here. Unlike the best Chromebooks, these laptops are meant to be high-end machines for professionals and power users. In that sense, Googlebooks could be direct competition for the best Windows laptops and best MacBooks.

As Google details in a blog post, Googlebooks are built from the ground up for Gemini Intelligence to provide proactive help. These laptops promise seamless compatibility with the Android ecosystem, and new customization features like Create your Widget. Right now, these are features that Chromebooks don’t have.

Based on what we know, Googlebooks could be Google’s next major laptop line. To that end, here are the biggest differences between Googlebooks and Chromebooks that we know about at the moment.

Googlebooks vs. Chromebooks: Design

We only got brief glimpses of the Googlebook, so we can’t yet say exactly what these laptops will look like. However, Google says it is working with manufacturers like Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo to make the first Googlebooks.

“Every Googlebook will be built with premium craftsmanship and materials, coming in a variety of shapes and sizes,” says Google’s press release. If they’re like current Chromebooks and Windows laptops, then it’s reasonable to expect traditional clamshells, convertibles, 2-in-1s, OLED models, and so on.

Googlebooks will also have a unique glow bar to set them apart from Chromebooks and other laptops. Based on the presentation, these laptops will have a Googlebook logo on their keyboard decks, but this may not be the case for every model.

Googlebooks vs. Chromebooks: Features

While Chromebooks were built to work in the cloud with a traditional operating system (ChromeOS in this case), Googlebooks are designed for an intelligence system that utilizes an operating system built for AI, in this case, Google Gemini. This way, the laptop can provide proactive help, according to Google.

A feature that’s currently not available on Chromebooks is called “Magic Pointer,” which has you wiggling the pointer to bring up contextual suggestions based on what’s on the screen. For instance, you can point your cursor over a date in an email to set up a meeting, or visualize placing items you want to buy in your living space to see how they’d fit.

Another feature that Chromebooks don’t have is “Create your Widget,” which lets you generate custom, prompt-based widgets that gather information from the internet and Google apps into a personalized dashboard. This isn’t exactly vibe coding, but it has a similar ring to it since you’re using natural language to create widgets.

Lastly, Googlebooks let you use your phone apps right on the laptop. This is reminiscent of the existing Quick Share feature, except you won’t have to download anything or use emulated touch controls to interact with apps. A feature called Quick Access allows you to view, search, or insert your phone’s files on your laptop.

Googlebooks vs. Chromebooks: Price

Since Google is marketing Googlebooks as premium laptops, it’s a safe bet that they’ll cost more than Chromebooks.

Right now, Chromebooks are some of the most affordable laptops available, ranging from $150 to over $600. This has long been a reason for their popularity, despite ChromeOS not being as robust as Windows or macOS. If you frequently work somewhere with a reliable internet connection and exclusively use Google’s suite of apps, Chromebooks are a solid choice.

It’s difficult to say how much Googlebooks will cost. If they pack comparable components to the latest Windows laptops, such as Intel Panther Lake chips, discrete GPUs, and a healthy amount of RAM and storage, their starting prices could land at around $1,000 for lower-end models. Of course, given the current RAM crisis, driving up the cost of electronics, starting prices might be higher than they would have been under normal circumstances.

Googlebooks vs. Chromebooks: Outlook

We don’t yet know enough to make direct comparisons between Googlebooks and Chromebooks. However, based on what Google has said, these laptops will have more robust integration into the wider Android ecosystem. The fact that the notebooks are built around Google Gemini is another major differentiator.

Googlebooks are expected later this year, so it shouldn’t be long until we can go hands-on with these machines and see what they’re all about. If they live up to Google’s promises, they could be a nice shakeup for the laptop world. And we’ll also see if Chromebooks can live alongside these laptops. Stay tuned for more!

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Googlebooks want to be the next evolution of the company’s Chromebook. Announced at the Android Show, this new category of laptops is built with Gemini at its core and designed to work within the Android and Google ecosystem.

As Google explains, these are “the first laptops designed from the ground up for Gemini Intelligence” — becoming real AI PCs that provide personal and proactive help right when you need it.

How Googlebooks work

For instance, you can point your cursor over a date in an email to set up a meeting, or visualize placing items you want to buy in your living space to see how they’d fit. This is done via a feature called Magic Pointer, which the Google Deepmind team developed. The press release also says wiggling the cursor makes it “come alive."

Another feature for Googlebooks is Create your Widget, which lets you create custom widgets by using prompts. Gemini can search the web or connect to your Google apps to generate a personalized background, for instance. Another example is that Gemini can create a single spot on your desktop containing travel information for your trips.

Naturally, Googlebooks are optimized for the Android ecosystem. You can directly use apps from your phone on the laptop. Google says you won’t have to download anything or use emulated touchscreen controls, like you would with iPhone mirroring on a MacBook. You’ll also be able to view, search, or insert your phone’s files on your laptop with a feature called Quick Access.

Who is making Googlebooks?

Google says it’s working with manufacturers like Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo to create the first Googlebooks. The company says Googlebooks will “be built with premium craftsmanship and materials, coming in a variety of shapes and sizes.” A unique glowbar on the keyboard deck will let you know you’re using a Googlebook.

We don’t yet have a launch window for Googlebooks, let alone pricing, but hopefully it won’t be too long until we hear something. Stay tuned for more news as we hear it!

More from Tom's Guide

• Google Pixel 11 — everything we know so far
• I just tried Google's Android XR glasses — and Meta and Apple are in trouble
• 'Google’s leaked Aluminum OS looks like the ChromeOS I've waited years for': why I might actually ditch Windows 11

The Razer Blade 16 (2026) is a gaming laptop that makes no compromises. It has an ultraportable design, yet a monstrous gaming beast is packed inside. Though you’ll pay top dollar for Razer’s latest, you’ll get a superlative gaming experience.

Inside, it packs the latest Nvidia RTX 50-series GPU, along with either an AMD Ryzen 9 or an Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU. That, along with up to 64GB of RAM, means you’ll have little trouble running the best PC games with graphics and resolution cranked to the max. No matter what I threw at it, the Razer Blade ran buttery smooth.

Like last year’s model, the new Blade 16 has a gorgeous OLED panel that delivers deep contrast and vivid colors. It also delivers excellent HDR brightness for an OLED gaming laptop. Whether it’s your favorite game or a streaming show, everything on the display will look its best.

Design-wise, the Razer Blade 16 impresses with its sturdy, CNC-milled aluminum all-black chassis. Without the green Razer logo on the lid, you might not even recognize it as a gaming laptop. Though not exactly light at nearly five pounds, its thin profile makes it easy to slip into your backpack.

While the Razer Blade 16 (2026) demands a steep asking price and can run very hot during demanding games, it’s undeniably one of the best gaming laptops I’ve reviewed. If you’re in the market for a slim gaming laptop with power to spare, this is the machine to get. Find out why in my full review.

Razer Blade 16 review (2026): Cheat sheet

• What is it? The Razer Blade 16 is a thin and powerful gaming laptop featuring the latest high-end components.
• Who is it for? For anyone who wants a premium gaming laptop and is willing to pay top dollar for it.
• What does it cost? The Razer Blade 16 (2026) starts at $2,399 on Razer’s website. As configured, our review unit is valued at $4,899.
• What do we like? We like the slim design, incredible gaming performance, and vivid OLED panel.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like the steep asking price, and that it runs too hot and loud under heavy load.

Razer Blade 16 review (2026): Specs

Razer Blade 16 review (2026): The ups

The Razer Blade 16 (2026) is an absolute powerhouse thanks to its beefy specs, but its elegant design and superb display also add to its allure.

Thin and light design

The Razer Blade 16 is one of the loveliest-looking gaming laptops I’ve ever reviewed. Its slim profile, rounded edges, and sturdy aluminum frame could make you mistake it for a high-end work notebook rather than a gaming machine. Not only does it look great, but its smooth surface also makes it a pleasure to hold.

Measuring 13.9 x 9.8 x 0.6 inches and weighing 4.7 pounds, the Razer Blade 16 makes for an unobtrusive travel partner. Sure, you’ll feel its weight in your backpack, but it won’t exactly break your back. It’s rare for a gaming laptop to be this thin and light, which is a major selling point.

Despite its thin profile, the Razer Blade 16 doesn’t skimp on ports. It packs nearly all the ports you need, including three USB-A, two USB-C, one HDMI, and a microSD reader. You don’t get an Ethernet port, which is a bit of a bummer, but you still get more than enough ports to make this your primary work PC at home.

The keyboard is another highlight, thanks to its thick, responsive keys. Travel distance isn’t shallow, which makes for a delightful typing experience. I’m also a fan of the touchpad, since its large size makes it easy to make gestures and swipes. While not as good as a proper mechanical keyboard, the board here is quite great for a gaming laptop.

Vivid OLED panel

The OLED panel on the Razer Blade 16 is one of its biggest selling points. Whether it was the neon-drenched streets of Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City or the vast open expanses of Red Dead Redemption 2, everything looked bright and colorful to my eyes. You want games to look as good as they run, and you certainly get that here.

As shown in the table above, the Razer Blade 16 delivers strong SDR and HDR brightness. It also features excellent color reproduction (sRGB and DCI-P3) and color accuracy (Delta-E). These values are comparable to those of other gaming laptops we recently tested, such as the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo and Alienware 16 Area-51.

The only minor downside is that the display is very glossy and easily picks up reflections and glare. You can mitigate this by playing in a darker room, but it’s something to keep in mind before you settle in to play games or watch videos.

Powerful gaming performance

The Razer Blade 16 I tested is a true gaming beast, thanks to its Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU, RTX 5090 GPU, and 32GB of RAM. Those specs also give it plenty of power for video and photo editing. Whether it's demanding tasks in everyday work, the Razer Blade is up to the job.

At 1080p with graphics set to max, Cyberpunk 2077 ran at around 60-70 frames per second during my testing. This is a very demanding game, so having it run so smoothly is impressive. With DLSS 4 enabled, I saw the fps climb to the mid-70s even when I bumped the resolution to 1440p.

In our lab tests, where we run a game’s benchmarking tool with the display set to native resolution and graphics maxed out, the Razer Blade 16 also performed well compared to its competitors. Sure, you’re not seeing the desired minimum 60 fps, but the laptop can still play titles at acceptable frame rates even with everything cranked up.

I should note that while the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo has the same specs as the Blade 16, it didn’t perform nearly as well because of different TDP and thermals—not to mention a different form factor. However, the Alienware 16, with its RTX 5080 GPU and a stronger Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU variant, was about on par with Razer’s beastly laptop.

Strong battery life

It’s usually not worth discussing a gaming laptop’s battery life, since most users keep these demanding machines plugged in for optimal performance. While you won’t get all-day gaming from the Razer Blade 16, it lasts surprisingly long for productivity.

In our battery life test, which involves continuous Wi-Fi web surfing with the display set to 150 nits, the Razer Blade 16 (2026) lasted nearly 13 hours. That’s almost as long as the Dell XPS 16 (13 hours 6 minutes), which is extremely impressive. However, its gaming battery life was just under two hours, which is typical for a gaming laptop.

Razer Blade 16 review (2026): The downs

The Razer Blade 16 is a phenomenal gaming laptop, but it has its shortcomings.

Very expensive

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way — the Razer Blade 16 ain’t cheap! While the starting price of $2,399 might not sound bad for a gaming laptop, you’re settling for a lower-end Nvidia RTX 5060 and less RAM. To get the most from this machine, you’ll want beefier components, which means paying a whole lot more.

If you want to upgrade to a configuration with an RTX 5080 GPU, an Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU, 1TB of storage, and 32GB of RAM, you’ll need to fork over a meaty $3,999. If you want to go all out with an RTX 5090, the same Intel processor, 2TB of storage, and 64GB of RAM, prepare your bank account for a $5,599 hit.

Though gaming laptops are notoriously expensive, the Razer Blade 16 demands a very steep price indeed.

Runs loud and hot

Thanks to the Razer Blade 16’s relatively lightweight design, it’s comfortable to keep on your lap while you work. However, if you plan to do anything intensive, like gaming or video editing, you won’t exactly have a “cool” experience.

On its underside, the Razer Blade reached 118 degrees Fahrenheit in our heat test. Since we consider anything above 95 degrees uncomfortable, that’s decidedly too hot.

This is par for the course with gaming laptops, but the Razer Blade 16 also gets very loud when you’re gaming. Because of that, you’ll want to wear a pair of the best headsets to cancel out the constant noise.

Razer Blade 16 review (2026): Verdict

The Razer Blade 16 (2026) is a fantastic gaming laptop that delivers a truly premium experience. Not only can it run even the most demanding games, but it does so in a sleek form factor that fits anywhere. I’ve tested many incredible gaming laptops over the years, and this one is now easily in my top 10. It’s that good.

Of course, the main drawback is the steep asking price. That’s likely due to RAMageddon, which is a shame. However, if money is no object and you need the best of the best, you won’t be disappointed with the Razer Blade 16 (2026). Right now, it’s my favorite gaming laptop of the year.

Since the MacBook Neo launched in early March it's proven to be so popular that Apple quickly ran out of stock and is doubling production orders. The budget-friendly laptop 'shocked' PC makers and it's clear Windows has some real competition in the space.

Thus, it's probably not too surprising to see Microsoft commission a report from Signal65 comparing some wallet-friendly Windows 11 laptops against the MacBook Neo.

As you might expect, the study comes out largely in favor of Windows laptops.

Signal65's report particularly highlights the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x, HP OmniBook 5, Lenovo Yoga 7i, and HP OmniBook X Flip as veritable contenders to the Neo. All of these come in multiple configurations, including different screen sizes and processors, which greatly affect price and capabilities.

But here's the problem: there's a lot of cherry-picking in the comparisons that undermines the point of the research.

Missing the point of the Neo

The MacBook Neo is clearly designed for people looking for a budget-friendly laptop to get them through school, work or day-to-day tasks. It's meant to be a lightweight, portable option.

And straight away, that means we have to immediately ignore half of Signal65's list. Both the Lenovo Yoga 7i and HP OmniBook X Flip cost $1,099 and $949, respectively. There is no comparison in terms of affordability when the laptops you're suggesting are nearly double the cost.

Meanwhile, portability seems to have been ignored in favor of battery life (more on that below) and storage. The MacBook Neo features a 13-inch Liquid Retina display and only weighs 2.7 pounds. It measures 11.71" x .50" x 8.12". Meanwhile, every laptop that Signal65 highlights features a 15.3- or 16-inch display, meaning they are all larger than the Neo.

As an example, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x, the cheapest and "smallest" laptop highlighted, weighs a whopping 3.52 lbs compared to the Neo. It's also measurably larger at 13.51" x 9.42" x .67-.70" — but the Signal65 report fails to showcase any dimensions or weights.

Comparing battery life

Notably, Signal65 has a series of tests that the show the Windows PCs beating the MacBook Neo when it comes to battery life from 12% to 56% improve power efficiency.

Here's where highlighting larger laptops lets the study fall in favor of Windows. A larger chassis means you can stuff a bigger battery in there.

In Tom's Guide testing, the MacBook Neo lasted a fairly robust 13 hours and 28 minutes, solidly in the top end of our comparison to other budget laptops we've tested.

We haven't reviewed every laptop Signal65 highlights or even those configurations. We have looked at smaller versions, so lets compare those to see what a smaller battery can do against the Neo.

Specifically we're looking at the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x (15.3"), HP OmniBook X Flip 14 (Intel Core Ultra 5), and the HP OmniBook 5 14.

Alternatives

Look, not everyone wants to join the Apple ecosystem. I personally swore off Apple laptops after three different hard drive failures in a two year period.

Fortunately, there are Windows options if you want. Some of them still feature premium design and a lower price. A few have higher storage.

If you need 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.

Finally, we want to hear from you — would you pick up the MacBook Neo as your next budget laptop? Or does Windows offer you something better? Let us know in the comments box below.

More from Tom's Guide

• Microsoft is hiding Windows 11's 'eyes' — here's how to find Copilot Vision (and fully delete it)
• Apple just 'doubled' MacBook Neo production but its budget laptop could still face a price hike — here's why
• Microsoft reportedly redesigning Start Menu in Windows 11 after actually listening to user complaints

If you're interested in the MacBook Neo, we've got some good news and potentially some bad news.

First, the good news: Apple is reportedly planning to produce more than double the number of MacBook Neos it originally estimated. In early April, the Neo proved so popular that initial inventory was exhausted, and Apple resorted to rush orders to maintain stock.

Even now, attempting to order a MacBook Neo directly from Apple shows delivery times from 2 to 3 weeks. Amazon, which seems to have more availability, lists up to a week for some variants, while others are available the next day.

"The customer response to MacBook Neo had just been off the charts, with higher-than-expected demand." Apple CEO Tim Cook said during the company's recent earnings call. He went on to say that the company is "supply constrained" on the Neo.

To combat that demand, Apple is reportedly doubling production plans. This is according to supply chain analyst Tim Culpan via his Culpium blog.

"It’s now asking suppliers to prepare capacity for 10 million units of the debut version of the Neo, up from an initial estimate of 5 million to 6 million," Culpan claims.

...and the potential bad MacBook Neo news

Unfortunately, Apple's attempt to get a MacBook Neo into customers' hands might also lead to a price hike.

During the initial sales spike, it was revealed that Apple was running out of A18 Pro chips that power the Neo. Culpan asserted that Apple was using "binned chips" in the Neo to hit the $599 pricepoint.

However, those chips represented a leftover supply of chips that were rejected not for not meeting the specifications of the iPhone 18 Pro. They were essentially "free chips," as Culpan points out.

Apple now faces two production dilemmas. One, per reports, there aren't any more binned A18 Pro chips. No, the company has to ask partner TSMC for a "hot lot" of the silicon.

To maintain the relationship, TSMC could let the rush-order pricing go, but they would still be more expensive, since these would be A-One chips, not just the ones that were rejected.

"With a fresh batch of A18 Pro SoCs, most of the new processors for the Neo will actually be top-tier and only some would fall into the downbin category," Culpan said.

Memory rears its ugly ahead once again

Beyond that, even since the MacBook Neo launched in March, DRAM prices have increased multiple times. A TrendForce report (seen by analyst Jukan) revealed that DRAM prices rose 57% in April alone.

The ongoing RAM crisis alone is predicted to finally hurt Apple later this year.

In recent weeks, Apple has quietly killed cheaper versions of some devices. The Mac mini, for example, only has one 512GB version available now after Apple axed the $599 256GB version this month.

It's possible that, as Culpan suggests, Apple could drop the 256GB $599 version of the Neo and only sell the $699 512GB variant.

At that point, it might be better to pony up for the more capable MacBook Air M5, or a refurbished MacBook Air M4, which usually start around $759.

More from Tom's Guide

• Apple $250 million settlement: how to get your payment and when they're going out
• Apple MacBook Ultra: Everything we know so far
• I just tested the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra — and this MacBook Pro rival got just the upgrades it needed to put Apple on notice

Samsung’s Galaxy Book 6 Ultra marks the return of the company’s flagship laptop after a year's hiatus. While outwardly things look similar, Samsung made tremendous changes under the hood, making us hopeful for a similar glow-up to its sibling, the Galaxy Book 6 Pro, which earned our Editor’s Choice award earlier this year.

The move to a Panther Lake processor paired with an optional Nvidia RTX 50-series GPU and redesigned fans and vents has turned the svelte 16-inch laptop into a true powerhouse. Samsung’s minimalist design and gorgeous AMOLED displays stood out in previous generations, but this is a much-needed performance leap to compete with rivals like the MacBook Pro 16-inch M5 Pro and Dell XPS 16 (2026).

While content creators and power users are still the clear target for this laptop, I was shocked to see gaming performance level up to the point that it’s no longer just a case of saying, “Sure, you can game on it.” It’s not replacing the best gaming laptops in its price range, but minimal setting changes have it blasting through games like Doom: The Dark Ages or Black Myth: Wukong at over 60 frames per second.

All of that performance doesn’t come with a battery tax either; the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra lasts over 15 hours on a charge in our testing. That’s excellent for a laptop this powerful that weighs just over four pounds; you can toss it in your bag without worrying about the charger, saving yourself some extra weight.

Samsung also made tons of quality-of-life enhancements to this laptop. From the anti-reflective coating on the display to the Dolby Atmos-tuned six-speaker array, and the addition of a full-size SD card slot.

If you’re waiting for the catch, it starts at $2,899, and it has a shallow keyboard. However, if the price doesn’t deter you, the keyboard certainly shouldn’t. While it isn’t the laptop for everyone, it’s a standout Windows notebook that should tick all the boxes for many power users. Read on for my full review.

Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra review: Cheat Sheet

• What is it? The Galaxy Book 6 Ultra is the pinnacle of Samsung’s Windows laptop lineup.
• Who is it for? People who want a top-tier AMOLED display and high-end components for content creation or other intensive tasks, and are willing to pay up for it.
• What does it cost? The Galaxy Book 6 Ultra starts at $2,899 and tops out at $3,799 for the configuration we tested.
• What do we like? We like the sleek design, stunning anti-reflective OLED display, long-lasting battery life, and powerful Panther Lake performance.
• What don’t we like? A couple of high-end features, such as Thunderbolt 5 and a 4K display, are missing, and the shallow keyboard could be improved.

Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra review: The ups

The Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra features numerous almost invisible changes, but they add up to a massive upgrade. It’s slightly thinner, has a brighter display with an anti-reflective coating, longer battery life, upgraded speakers, and a performance jump worthy of a gold medal.

Sleek design

The design of the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra hasn’t changed much since its predecessor launched in 2024, which is to its benefit, as it was already a majestically minimalist design. Not only that, but Samsung fixed one of my complaints.

The Ultra remains thin and light compared to many of its 16-inch competitors, measuring 14.05 x 9.76 x 0.61 inches and weighing 4.17 pounds. It’s an easy laptop to toss in my bag or tote around my house to briefly escape my basement office. The move to a darker gray is appreciated as the aluminum body is no longer awash in fingerprints after a week of the aforementioned toting.

My lone request last time around was that Samsung add a full-size SD card slot, and lo and behold, it is here. Critically, that came without increasing the laptop's size, while retaining the HDMI port, two USB-C ports, a USB-A port, and a headphone jack. I would like to see Thunderbolt 5 support on a laptop in this price range in 2026, but it’s not a dealbreaker.

Samsung’s gigantic haptic touchpad remains responsive and easy to use for gestures and navigation. Finally, the space freed up by dropping the number pad centered the keyboard and trackpad, and made room for additional speakers that I’ll talk about later.

Stunning anti-reflective OLED

Samsung’s displays are always showstoppers, so it’s no surprise that this 16-inch 2880 x 1800 AMOLED anti-reflective panel delivers a crisp and vibrant image. I watched the new trailer for Street Fighter (2026), and the heavily saturated hyper-reality was a perfect pairing for the display, with Ken’s face awash in neon on a deep black rainy background.

The variable refresh rate scales from 30Hz up to 120Hz, depending on the content on screen, saving energy while ensuring things look smooth, whether scrolling a website or playing a fast-paced FPS.

Put to the test in our labs, it showed strong results across the board. Brightness easily surpasses most Windows laptops but falls short of the MacBook's dominance in this category. Despite the Dell XPS 16’s outlier color gamut scores, the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra's results are excellent, delivering vivid, accurate colors.

Samsung’s anti-reflective coating also gives the display an edge on many of its competitors, as it isn’t immediately overpowered by brighter environments. While I wouldn’t say that it equals the nano-texture on the MacBook Pros, it’s easy to see the impact compared to a standard glossy display, and you aren’t paying an extra $150 for it.

Long-lasting battery life

Samsung boasts that the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra delivers “Our longest battery ever,” and while our testing didn’t quite support that claim, it performed extremely well and only narrowly missed that mark.

The Galaxy Book 6 Pro lasted five additional minutes in our battery test earlier this year, which involves web-surfing over Wi-Fi with the display set to 150 nits of brightness. It’s a minor quibble, as both surpassed 15 hours in our testing, which, even accounting for more intensive usage, should get you through a day without hunting for an outlet. On the Windows side, you won’t find a laptop nearly this powerful that delivers more battery life.

Stellar overall performance

I tested the most expensive Galaxy Book 6 Ultra, which boasts an Intel Core Ultra 7 356H CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 GPU. Paired with 32GB of RAM, even my wanton disregard for Chrome window and tab management failed to slow it down with roughly 45 tabs split across different tasks, including YouTube videos.

It’s worth noting that the least expensive Galaxy Book 6 Ultra actually features a more powerful CPU, the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H. However, that configuration is only available with the Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics, so if you do gaming, photo or video editing, or anything that leverages the GPU, you’ll want to make that tradeoff.

Our Geekbench 6 CPU testing illustrates this difference well, with the Dell XPS 16 (2026) using that Intel Core Ultra X7 358H CPU and just narrowly edging out the Book 6 Ultra in single and multi-core performance. However, the tables turn in the Handbrake video editing test, where Samsung shaves over a minute off Dell’s time.

The M5 Pro MacBook Pro remains in a class by itself when it comes to single-core performance, but it’s an even playing field for intensive multitasking.

Get in the game

While you aren’t going to take the competitive gaming world by storm with the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra, making just minor tweaks to settings, it will satisfy any weekend warrior and keep you in the game without having to spring for one of the best gaming laptops.

At medium settings and 1080p, the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra stayed above 30 frames per second across the dozen games we tested using their in-game benchmarking tools. If you are willing to turn on DLSS and make some other small changes, you can get Cyberpunk 2077 to 112 fps and Shadow of the Tomb Raider to 164 fps.

While you can leverage XeSS to similarly boost the Dell, we still only saw it hit 67 frames per second in Cyberpunk 2077, so if gaming is important to you, this could be the deciding factor.

Get loud

The upgraded Dolby Atmos-tuned six-speaker system in the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra was an upgrade that I didn’t know I needed, but it’s impressive.

It was overwhelming in my small office at full volume and easily filled my living room with sound. It creates an excellent soundstage, which makes for an even more immersive experience when watching videos on the rich AMOLED display.

Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra review: The downs

There’s a lot to love about the Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra, but it’s not without its flaws, particularly when you consider the price tag.

Rocking the bloat(ware)

Samsung keeps the traditional bloatware to a minimum, but its own apps leave you feeling like you’re moving into an already-furnished home, and you may not like how they decorated it.

There are about 16 Samsung apps installed when you boot the laptop up for the first time. If you own one of the best Samsung phones or best Samsung tablets and live in that ecosystem, this is not a problem, but if you have other solutions, you should take the time to uninstall these apps.

The ability to uninstall these apps is part of why I consider this only a minor inconvenience, not a true problem with the laptop.

No 4K display option

If you are currently thinking to yourself that I said the display is stunning, vivid, and amazing, then you are correct, and thank you for reading this far into the review. However, nothing is so perfect that it couldn’t be at least slightly better. Given that the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra targets content creators who may be editing large photos or videos, a true 4K panel option would be welcome for watching back videos at native resolution.

I would only want to see it as an option, though, not the default. The trade-offs of jumping to 4K would be higher cost and reduced battery life. So I understand why Samsung has not done it, but it’s a logical step for an “Ultra” laptop.

The keyboard is too shallow

This is another issue where your mileage will vary. If you are a speedy typist who is knocking out thousands of words a day on your laptop, the fact that you are bottoming out the keys with each press may wear on you.

I didn’t personally find myself fatigued after my week of using the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra at roughly my typical 92 words per minute, but there’s no question that a bit more travel would improve the experience.

Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra review: Verdict

Last year, I said the Samsung Galaxy Book 5 Pro was good when it needed to be great, and it feels like Samsung has largely met that challenge with its 2026 lineup. The Galaxy Book 6 Ultra didn’t change the basic recipe for success, but it spiced things up with dramatic performance improvements, upgraded speakers, the new anti-reflective display coating, a full-size SD card slot, and longer battery life.

The areas left for improvement are minimal, with increased key travel as my only complaint that I think would be universally appreciated by users. Pricing is the biggest hurdle for would-be buyers, and that’s largely out of Samsung’s hands, although we have seen positive signs that the RAM crisis is correcting. If that leads to some of the discounts we used to see on Samsung laptops, the great Galaxy Book 6 Ultra could be a great buy.

For now, if you want to keep the price down, consider the Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Pro. It’s one of the best Windows laptops and shares a lot of DNA with the Ultra while starting at a more palatable $1,799.

Where the new MacBook Neo serves as Apple’s affordable notebook for casual use, the MacBook Ultra would act as an even higher-end counterpart to the MacBook Pro. While Apple hasn’t officially announced the device, rumors position it as one to watch.

Expected features include a tandem OLED touchscreen — a first for the MacBook line. Thanks to the thinner OLED panel, the Ultra is also rumored to feature a slimmer and lighter design. It’s expected to come in 14- and 16-inch variants and be powered by the yet-to-be-announced M6 Pro and M6 Max chips.

If the rumors hold, the MacBook Ultra could be a huge (and expensive) leap forward. With the usual disclaimer that nothing is official yet, here’s everything we’ve heard so far.

MacBook Ultra: Rumored price and availability

According to Macworld, the MacBook Ultra is slated for late 2026 or early 2027. Since Apple has yet to announce even the base M6 chip, 2027 feels like the safer bet — though it’s possible Apple could debut the Ultra with M6 Pro and M6 Max chips first, followed later by standard M6 versions in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lines.

Thanks to the OLED touchscreen and high-end silicon, the MacBook Ultra is expected to carry a steep premium. Macworld reports it could cost roughly 20% more than the current MacBook Pros. That would translate to a starting price of around $2,499 for the 14-inch model and $2,999 for the 16-inch variant — up from the $2,199 and $2,699 baselines of today’s M5 Pro models. Fully loaded configurations would, of course, climb even higher.

MacBook Ultra: Design and display

The MacBook Ultra could be the first MacBook to feature a touchscreen tandem OLED panel. This would mark a major upgrade over the current mini-LED LCDs, delivering deeper blacks, richer colors, higher contrast, superior HDR performance, and more. Touch support could also blur the lines between a MacBook and the best iPads.

Display-wise, rumors suggest Apple will ditch the notch in favor of the Dynamic Island seen on the best iPhones. The change would declutter the top of the screen while enabling interactive, contextual notifications.

Design-wise, this could be the biggest MacBook redesign since 2021. The Ultra is expected to be noticeably thinner and lighter than today’s models, thanks largely to the more compact OLED panel. The keyboard and trackpad are expected to stay the same, as are the familiar ports (HDMI, MagSafe, and SD card slot).

MacBook Ultra: Performance and specs

Apple has yet to announce its M6 chips, so it’s notable that the MacBook Ultra is already rumored to ship with the unannounced M6 Pro and M6 Max processors.

These chips are expected to be built on TSMC’s advanced 2nm process (rather than the current 3nm), according to MacRumors. The move should deliver meaningful gains in both performance and battery life. While we usually see 10-15% generational improvements, the jump to 2nm could yield even larger gains.

On a related note, the MacBook Ultra is rumored to include built-in cellular connectivity (5G/LTE) via Apple’s own C1X modem or its successor, the C2. If true, it would be Apple’s first MacBook that can connect to cellular networks independently — no iPhone hotspot required.

MacBook Ultra: Outlook

Nothing about the MacBook Ultra is official, so take all of the above with a healthy dose of skepticism. With WWDC expected around June 8, we might at least get some hints about touch-optimized macOS features from Cupertino. While WWDC is software-focused, don’t be surprised if we get some hardware info as well.

The idea of a new top-tier MacBook category sitting above the Pro sounds genuinely exciting, even if these laptops end up costing a pretty penny. We’ll keep you posted as more details emerge, so stay tuned for more!

More from Tom's Guide

• Which MacBook should you buy in 2026?
• I ditched the MacBook Air for a MacBook Neo for 48 hours
• I just tested the new Steam Controller

The MSI Stealth has a whole new look for 2026. No longer is the Stealth an ultrathin shiny black box, but rather it features a more robust thermal system and a new modern design with subtle pinstriping and MSI branding on the charcoal aluminum cover.

I’ve been a fan of MSI’s Stealth line for years, since I love a good thin and light gaming laptop. Unfortunately, the Stealth models have had their ups and downs over the last decade, and the last few years have been the most volatile as MSI has pivoted from targeting hardcore gamers on the go to a more content creator-focused audience. The pricing on the Stealth has also vacillated from being a premium, ultraslim gaming laptop to a thicker, more reasonably priced option, though this year’s model is returning to that slim, premium aesthetic.While I can appreciate the subtle touches of the new Stealth and the increased thermal capacity, and thus better performance, I find myself a bit torn on the new design. The revamped Stealth may be more powerful and fit in better as a professional or student laptop, but it's lost some of its charm and portability in the bargain.

My MSI Stealth 16 AI+ (2026) review will help you decide if this is the best gaming laptop for you and whether or not the benefits of the new design are worth the sacrifice.

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ (2026): Cheat sheet

• What is it? The MSI Stealth 16 AI+ (2026) ditches the classic gaming aesthetic of previous years in favor of a new, sleek chassis with better thermals.
• Who is it for? Gamers or content creators who need a portable laptop with powerful Nvidia discrete graphics performance.
• What does it cost? The starting configuration costs $2,099 and is available at Best Buy.
• What do we like? The redesigned chassis has a more premium feel than prior models, the Intel Panther Lake CPU provides great general performance and solid battery life, with a vivid OLED display for fantastic visuals.
• What don’t we like: The Stealth lost some of its portability with the more powerful cooling system, and the RTX 5060 model is very expensive for a base configuration.

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ (2026): Specs

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ (2026): The Ups

The Stealth 16 AI+ gets plenty right as a premium, portable, 16-inch gaming laptop. It’s got a streamlined, understated modern design, powerful CPU and GPU performance, great general use battery life, and a stunning OLED display.

Slick, modern design

The Stealth has a sturdy, all-aluminum chassis. While the new aluminum coating still picks up fingerprints, it’s not quite as much of a fingerprint magnet as previous Stealth models. However, you will probably want to keep a cleaning cloth on hand for smudges.

Ultimately, the new chassis not only feels like a premium laptop, it also looks like one with rounded corners, subtle detailing, and an almost MacBook-like clean keyboard deck.

The Stealth’s keyboard is a 4-zone RGB keyboard that can be controlled in MSI center to fit your personal vibe. The typing experience on the Stealth is pretty fantastic for a slim gaming laptop, offering decent key travel without any mushy-membrane feel. Paired with the oversized in Enlarge Touchpad and plenty of IO ports, it's hard to find fault with the overall user experience of the Stealth.

Vivid display and powerful audio

The display has gotten a glossy OLED overhaul, offering vivid color and over 350-nits of brightness, which makes up for one of the main drawbacks of last year’s Stealth model which offered an underwhelming amount of vibrancy, particularly while gaming. This year’s Stealth 16 AI+ not only offers an OLED panel’s near-infinite contrast ratio, but features super-saturated color that makes gaming or streaming video on the Stealth a proper delight.

The sound system has also been upgraded to a 2x2W speaker and 2x2W woofer setup which offers crisp, clean audio that’s powerful enough to be heard even while gaming under heavy load.

Respectable CPU and GPU performance

The Stealth is also no slouch when it comes to performance, thanks to its Intel Core Ultra 9 386H Panther Lake CPU. The Stealth isn’t just great at multitasking but can handle some serious photo and video editing too thanks to its discrete Nvidia RTX 5060 GPU.

Not only does the Stealth hit a respectable 15,170 multicore average on Geekbench 6.7, it also encoded the 4K edition of Tears of Steel into a 1080p format in just 3 minutes and 31 seconds. While not breaking any records for performance, it does pack a solid punch even when compared to some of our favorite gaming laptops like the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025).

As for gaming performance, the Stealth is pretty comparable to other RTX 5060 gaming laptops, offering fantastic performance at 1080p, while it can struggle at higher resolutions on more graphically intense games like Black Myth: Wukong or Cyberpunk 2077 where the Stealth struggles to scrape past 30fps. But for older or well-optimized titles like Borderlands 3 or Far Cry 6, the RTX 5060’s raw performance is more than sufficient without even accounting for all of Nvidia’s GPU software optimization tools.

And, as an Nvidia RTX 50-series laptop, the Stealth gets the benefits of Nvidia’s DLSS 4.5, meaning you can enable up to 6x frame generation for smoother performance at higher resolutions. And that means you can run Doom: The Dark Ages on High or even Nightmare level at 1600p without dropping frames or getting fragged by the hordes of darkness. As long as you’re willing to accept that some of your pixels are AI pixels.

Surprisingly good battery life

While the Stealth’s battery life wouldn’t hold a candle to your average consumer laptop, as far as gaming laptops go, getting 10 hours and 49 minutes of web surfing battery life on our battery benchmark is pretty impressive.

Of course, that battery life does deplete pretty quickly when gaming, as the Stealth lasted just 1 hour and 55 minutes on the PCMark 10 gaming battery life benchmark. However, that’s still enough to beat the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) and Lenovo Legion Pro 7i Gen 10.

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ (2026): The Downs

The MSI Stealth 16 AI+ isn’t the perfect laptop, however. It lost a bit of its identity as a gaming laptop in the redesign, and it isn’t quite as thin as MSI claims. However, its biggest problem is one facing all computer hardware these days: its price tag.

A high starting price and steep upgrade costs

The Stealth’s biggest drawback isn’t even entirely MSI’s fault. Thanks to the current memory and storage shortages due to the supply chain demands of AI data centers, all gaming hardware is significantly more expensive than it used to be. And at least for the starting configuration of the Stealth, the $2,099 price tag feels properly earned. The slick, modern design, improved build quality, vivid OLED display, upgraded audio system, and powerful components help take some of the sting out of the sticker shock.

However, upgrades get even more expensive as you add GPU power. Though, interestingly enough, the RTX 5070 model ($2,849) isn't that much more expensive than the RTX 5070Ti version ($2,999). Which basically makes the RTX 5070 Stealth a poor deal. The top-line RTX 5080 model retails for $3,299, and that increased cost is entirely down to the GPU.

All of the Stealth models come with the same 32GB DDR5 7200MHz memory, 1TB NVMe SSD Gen 4 storage, and 16-inch, 240Hz OLED display. And that really does make the RTX 5060 version the best bargain, with the RTX 5070Ti coming in as the best balance of performance to price, if you need more GPU power than the RTX 5060 can offer.

Is it really the “slimmest” Stealth ever?

MSI touts the Stealth 16 AI+ as the “thinnest Stealth ever” at its thinnest point. And that is technically correct. At just 0.65 inches at its thinnest, the new Stealth is definitely one of the slimmer gaming laptops on the market.

However, that Z-height takes a big jump to 0.79 near the back hinge. While this offers improved airflow for better thermals and thus smoother performance, it does make the new stealth feel a bit chunkier than even last year’s model which was actually thicker (0.85 inches) by a good margin.

And, while this may be dredging up ancient history, MSI has had thinner Stealth models overall than the new Stealth 16 AI+. My old MSI Stealth GS63VR from 2016 was 0.69 inches thick all around. The GS63VR was also just 4.2 pounds, so a hair or two lighter than the current model.

So MSI is technically kind of correct with the new Stealth branding, but the statement has a big asterisk for a reason. However, the Stealth 16 AI+ is far less flimsy than my old GS63 model, and that alone makes the change worth it. Add on all the performance benefits of that improved airflow, and it's hard to argue with MSI’s design choices this time around.

MSI Stealth 16 AI+ (2026): Verdict

For all of my complaints about the Stealth’s design being a tiny bit chunkier than my museum piece of a GTX 1060 model, the benefits of that elevated hinge can be felt in the gaming and multitasking performance offered by the RTX 5060 model. So the change is definitely worth it from a pure numbers standpoint, and the build quality on the new Stealth 16 AI+ is absolutely worth the thicker Z-height.

Ultimately, the Stealth 16 AI+ is one of the better thin gaming laptops, offering a nearly complete package as far as performance, battery life, build quality, design, display, and audio are concerned. The only thing holding the Stealth back from perfection is its steep price tag and pricey upgrades, which aren’t entirely in MSI’s control. So if you need a gaming laptop to take with you on business trips, to class, or perhaps to take into the office, the MSI Stealth 16 AI+ is a fantastic choice. Assuming you can afford it.

The Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo is one of the wildest gaming laptops I’ve tested. That’s because it takes the Asus ZenBook Duo’s basic dual-hinge design and crams in powerful components to make it a true gaming beast. I’m still not sure whether a dual-screen gaming laptop is necessary, but hot damn, is this thing impressive.

The main question is: Does a gaming laptop really need two displays? Probably not, but I applaud Asus for creating this magnificent machine. Granted, it costs a pretty penny, with a starting price of $4,500, but that’s expected given its raw computing power and premium design. This gaming laptop is built to turn heads.

Here are my thoughts on the Asus Zephyrus Duo and what happened when we ran two games on it simultaneously.

Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo: Specs

Dual-screen design

The ROG Zephyrus Duo is generally chunkier than the best gaming laptops of the modern day. This makes sense given how it has two displays and a detachable Bluetooth keyboard. That said, it’s not unreasonably thick or large, though you’ll certainly feel its weight if you’re carrying it around.

The displays are connected by a hinge that can bend back a full 320 degrees. This allows for several modes. Dual Screen places one screen on top of the other in a horizontal orientation, while Laptop mode places the included keyboard on top of the bottom display. Book mode orients the displays vertically, while Tent places the displays on either side. Lastly, Sharing mode is where you lay the laptop open and flat on a desk.

Thanks to the CNC-milled aluminum chassis, the ROG Zephyrus Duo feels durable, which you want from a premium product like this. The wide kickstand on the laptop’s bottom lets you achieve your preferred viewing angle. It also keeps the laptop stable on whatever surface you place it on.

Lovely displays

The ROG Zephyrus Duo’s 16-inch OLED displays deliver bright and colorful images. When playing Cyberpunk 2077, I was impressed by the contrast between shadowy alleys and bright neon signs. While colors aren’t generally oversaturated, their naturalistic hues make games appear more realistic.

Both displays are identical, so you won’t have to worry about one looking better than the other. Each offers sharp 3K resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio. And as I’ll detail further below, this setup is also fantastic for productivity, as it’s simple to move items across the two screens to place wherever you want.

Productivity beast

The ROG Zephyrus Duo is a gaming laptop, but I was really impressed by how well it functions as a productivity machine. If you’re used to working with a dual-screen setup like I am, you’ll feel right at home here.

My favorite mode is Dual Screen, with the kickstand keeping the Zephyrus Duo in place. With this setup, I keep websites and apps on the top display and Slack and email on the bottom display. This way, I have access to everything I need without constantly switching tabs in the same window. Thanks to those 16-inch canvases, I have more than enough space to work.

Speaking of the keyboard, it’s generally good to type on because it’s spacious and has thick key caps. Travel distance is somewhat shallow, and the whole thing tends to slide around if you move your hands too much. The touchpad is smooth, responsive, and large enough to accurately capture your gestures.

Overall, it’s a good keyboard peripheral, but you might want to pair it with a wireless keyboard if you’re not happy with how it performs.

Powerful gaming performance

The ROG Zephyrus Duo I received is an absolute monster, thanks to its Intel Core Ultra 9 386H CPU, Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU, and 32GB of RAM. With specs like that, you won’t be surprised to know that games run like an absolute dream.

I tested Cyberpunk 2077 on default settings without DLSS 4 enabled, and the game generally ran around 60 frames per second, only dipping down into the mid-50s during heavy action scenes. That’s impressive considering how demanding this game can be on systems, which says a lot about the Zephyrus Duo’s gaming prowess.

In our gaming benchmark test, which involves running a title’s in-game benchmark tool with graphics set to max and resolution set to 1080p, every game we tested ran at buttery-smooth frame rates.

The most noticeable example is the graphically demanding Cyberpunk 2077, which averaged 50 frames per second at those settings. This is even more impressive when you consider that we didn’t have the frame-boosting DLSS 4 enabled.

If it wasn’t clear already, this machine can game!

Can it run two games?

Since this is a dual-screen gaming laptop, we tried running two games simultaneously to see if it was possible. The short answer is yes, but there are several caveats. The games in question were Assassin’s Creed: Shadows and Cyberpunk 2077. We ran each title’s respective in-game benchmark tool at the aforementioned settings.

As our lead tester described to me, unlike single-game benchmarks, the frame rates for both games change dramatically depending on what the benchmark is running. Performance in the games increases or drops based on what’s happening on the screen.

To get this setup to work, you have to start each game, move one to the other screen in windowed mode, make one game full screen, select a monitor in each game’s settings, and finally tap the screen or game you want to control.

We saw the numbers above at the full 1800p resolution, with AC Shadows on the top screen and Cyberpunk 2077 on the bottom. Since you can’t play both games on the same controller, we used an Xbox controller for one screen and a keyboard for the other.

I wanted to detail this entire process to show that, while technically possible, it’s more trouble than it’s worth—especially when the frame rates are so low. I can only imagine what the results would be like with a less powerful GPU.

Bottom line

The best part of my job is testing unusual tech, and the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo certainly fits that bill. Thanks to its dual hinge design and powerful specs, there are few gaming laptops like it. Of course, that uniqueness comes with a steep price.

But if you have the cash for it, you’ll find an excellent gaming machine that’s also fantastic for everyday work. If nothing else, the ROG Zephyrus Duo is one of the most distinctive gaming laptops of the year. That alone makes it worthwhile.

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Apple's second quarter earnings call was yesterday, and with it came a lot of very good news about the company's financial situation — including that the iPhone 17 is the most successful iPhone series ever made. Sadly, Apple also confirmed something we've been fearing for a while, and it could likely mean price hikes going forward.

Tim Cook, who is stepping down as Apple CEO on September 1, confirmed that Apple was "partially unaffected" by the ongoing memory shortage during Q2. The fact Apple already had a stockpile of devices ready to sell helped mitigate the issues, but that's about to change. Cook confirmed that the June quarter will see "significantly higher memory costs."

Cook didn't confirm any plans on what will happen beyond June, but added the rising memory costs will "drive an increasing impact on our business, and we will continue to evaluate this." Cook also said Apple will "look at a range of options" to handle the issue and did not want to clarify any further plans.

How will this affect prices?

This doesn't absolutely confirm that price increases will happen to these devices, but big businesses aren't in the habit of absorbing high costs if they don't have to.

Apple does have a lot of buying power, which means it's better equipped to handle supply chain disruption than its competitors. But it's still going to have to balance its own needs with those of its customers.

We already know that Apple agreed to a 100% price increase for the memory it acquires from Samsung. And we know that because Samsung told us, not Apple. Given how private Apple likes to keep its internal operations, who knows what other component price increases have happened behind the scenes?

The question is, will Apple increase prices to maintain its profit margins, or will it keep those prices relatively stable to encourage people to buy iPhones and Macs? The more devices they actually sell, the more potential there is for increased service revenue — generated from the App Store, cloud storage and other Apple subscriptions.

We could even see a mix of the two, with Apple absorbing some of the cost to minimize price increases and hopefully avoid major consumer shock.

Some supply is already limited

Cook also made it clear that the main issue with maintaining supply has been "availability of advanced nodes [Apple's] SOCs are produced on" rather than the memory itself. This means shortages have primarily affected the iPhone so far, and will likely have a bigger impact on MacBook Neo, Mac mini and Mac Studio from June, due to the devices' popularity and AI tools.

According to Cook, this is because demand for those devices has far exceeded its expectations, particularly with MacBook Neo. So the current shortages affecting these devices are not necessarily down to RAMageddon, but because they're just so appealing to consumers.

Sadly, this, combined with the goings on in the world, means that Mac mini and Mac Studio may be hard to get hold of for the next several months. MacBook Neo restocks were not mentioned at all.

Hopefully, Apple will avoid raising the price of devices that are already on sale, which is more than we can say for some of its rivals. As for the upcoming devices, like iPhone 18, I'd be bracing myself for a potential price increase — even if those rumored cost-saving downgrades still end up happening.

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When I’m traveling, I take my M5 MacBook Pro for work and a Steam Deck for play. This setup doesn’t bother me normally, but I can’t help but feel jealous of the one guy who whips out a gaming laptop that’s capable of doing both in one machine.

It’s certainly true that Apple has made some significant strides when it comes to Mac gaming, but there’s much more to do to get your entire Steam library working on here. But that is where GameHub comes in — promising to be the service that can let you do exactly that.

I’ve been testing the beta for a week, and while there are plenty of issues (more on those soon), when it works, it’s the missing piece of the puzzle to make my M5 MacBook Pro the machine for everything. Let me explain.

This is just a beta: Now, I must be clear. GameSir has invited us onto a beta test program for this, so there were a fair few bugs and a large amount of compatibility issues. There are finicky ways around some of them, which I’ll talk about.

Under the hood

At the fundamental level, think of it like Crossover but with a far nicer gaming-centric UI. GameHub works by using tools like Wine and Proton to run Windows games natively on Apple Silicon.

For those not in the know, Wine is a compatibility layer that translates Windows API calls to run on POSIX-compliant OSes (like macOS in this situation or Linux). But unlike standard Wine, mixing it with Proton (the tech powering the Steam Deck) means better support for a game’s complexity and controller outputs.

But the most impressive part is how all of the gaming smarts that Apple’s been quietly working on come together here. For example, you can import the company’s Game Porting Toolkit for translating DirectX 12 (and 11) graphics into the Mac’s native Metal 3 gaming API. On top of that, there’s even an AI frame generation and super resolution possibilities here too — done by hooking into MetalFX upscaling (Apple’s version of DLSS).

So while the interface is sleek, the real work happens behind the scenes. There are many instruments in this orchestra, and GameHub is the conductor that allows Windows code to speak “Mac.” In my time testing, it works a lot better than I anticipated.

By the numbers

So for full context, I’m testing this on an M5 MacBook Pro with 16GB of unified memory. I do have other machines that I will be testing on (including the MacBook Neo), but for a first go, I’ve gone for my daily driver.

And ultimately, while dedicated gaming hardware like a gaming laptop will always get far better performance and visual fidelity, I’m still getting good numbers out of this.

I’ll get the perfect performer out of the way quickly. Persona 5 Royal is much more stylized in graphical representation rather than a stress test for any system, so to see it running at 82 FPS on maxed out settings with very similar 1% lows is impressive.

Let’s move on over to the AAA titles. Starting with Hitman: World of Assassination, I opened it at the default settings (1800 x 1169 resolution, Medium detail preset and a range of Highs and Ultras in other options) and hit a very rock steady 60 FPS with a damn good-looking game. Most exciting about this is that I don’t have to pay again to get the macOS version of Hitman — I can just use this!

Pragmata may not have the same path traced shine as you’d find on an Nvidia gaming system, but it still looks pretty enough here and runs sort of alright. At first it didn’t work, but changing the game-specific graphics settings to run Game Porting Toolkit 3.0 rather than the version bundled with GameHub fixed the issue. (The same was true with a lot of games). When running, that 1% low does indicate some stuttering, but 42 FPS for a slower-paced shooter like this is OK.

But in Resident Evil Requiem, things get a little too dicey. No matter how much I turned down the settings, I couldn’t break 52 FPS; combined with a very stuttery experience that stops and starts with every room you walk into, and it was a less than satisfying experience.

So all-in-all, consider it a work in progress!

Plenty to work on

Beyond the choppy framerates in some AAA titles, one of the biggest issues here is compatibility. The list of reasons why spans longer than my arm. I’ll simply say that while GameHub is good, every conductor has its limits.

Forza Horizon 5 is an incredibly complex symphony that requires specific ‘notes’ that no amount of compatibility layers or dependencies can manage. Just because the conductor is standing at the podium doesn't mean the show is ready. Sometimes the sheet music is just too complex, and the orchestra falls out of sync.

I noticed this in a few games, so there’s definitely an element of trial and error. On top of that, you may run into an issue sometimes where the game launches in Mandarin. Given GameHub is developed by GameSir (a Chinese gaming hardware firm), the company’s app configures the Wine environment to alter the locale and run the game. Sometimes it happens (like in Hitman), but it’s limited.

And finally, as smii77y pointed out on Reddit, there are some potential red flags in the user agreement and privacy policy. If you are conscious of this, note a few different things:

• You don’t actually own your account — GameSir gives you permission to use it.
• Connection logs and IP addresses are sent to third parties to process.
• Account data is stored in Guangzhou, China, which puts it under the laws of the People’s Republic of China.
• And there’s an odd loophole where the privacy policy says you can delete your account data if requested by email, but the user agreement allows them to keep data forever after termination.

So if you do plan to use it, don’t upload any sensitive data and assume anything will stay even after you’ve deleted it.

Outlook

I can only hope the privacy issues and broader compatibility problems are resolved in the future, because GameHub is a rather fun service to use. Like I said above, my standard daily carry combines a MacBook for work and Steam Deck for play; with this, I can finally break out from the Apple game library limitations and take my Steam library on the road.

I’m not quite ready to sell my Steam Deck just yet, but for the first time, my MacBook Pro feels less like a workstation and more like a playground. GameHub isn't a perfect conductor, but at least the music has finally started playing.

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Nvidia has officially announced the GeForce RTX 5070 laptop GPU with 12GB of GDDR7 memory. We’ve heard rumors about this GPU for a while, but now it’s the real deal.

While the company isn’t discontinuing the 8GB model, this spruced-up 12GB variant should give vendors and customers more options. This is especially important as we’re still in the middle of RAMageddon.

Here’s what we know about the 12GB Nvidia RTX 5070 laptop GPU and why it could potentially be the most important “mid-range” laptop GPU out there.

From 8GB to 12GB of RAM

As VideoCardz and Wccftech report, Nvidia originally planned to stick with 8GB of VRAM for the 5070. Thankfully, the company reconsidered. By moving to a 192-bit memory bus and providing 12GB of VRAM, Nvidia is giving laptops with this GPU more breathing room to better run games at 1440p with high-res textures and ray tracing.

Moving from 8GB to 12GB is a wise move, since 8GB can impose serious constraints. Now, laptop manufacturers won’t be as restricted.

GDDR7

More memory is nice, but it’s the fact that we have faster memory that’s really noteworthy. GDDR7 offers higher bandwidth, which means the GPU can swap data in and out of that 12GB buffer much faster than before.

For the average gamer, this means smoother frame rates in demanding titles and a better experience with AI-driven features like DLSS 4.5. With AI now seeping into everything, that 12GB of GDDR7 should be useful for anyone seeking to run local LLMs on a laptop.

Nvidia is listening

It’s easy to be cynical about Nvidia, especially after Jensen Huang’s comment about how RAM scarcity is “fantastic” for the company. However, the RTX 5070 spec sheet suggests that the company realizes it can’t push premium prices on what are otherwise budget laptops.

By giving the 5070 12GB of VRAM, Nvidia is creating a better value for laptops in the $1,200 to $1,500 range. Hopefully, notebooks with this GPU will remain in that price range and not go up much higher.

Outlook

The GeForce RTX 5070 with 12GB of RAM should be available to manufacturers this year, so expect a fresh batch of laptops packing this mobile GPU. If they can remain relatively affordable, this could offer some welcome relief from all the price hikes we’ve had to suffer since late last year. Stay tuned for more!

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For years, Apple's peak has been defined by its Pro products. The MacBook Pro, iPhone Pro, iPad Pro, Vision Pro — the best of the best Apple devices have almost always had some sort of Pro moniker attached to them. But that might be about to change, with sources telling MacWorld that the Ultra brand may take hold of your nearest Apple Store very soon.

Apple does, of course, already sell one Ultra-branded product. The Apple Watch Ultra is currently on its third generation, and rumor has it that the Apple Watch Ultra 4 could arrive later this year. It'll be joined by the foldable iPhone, now seemingly called iPhone Ultra, and the long-awaited touchscreen MacBook Ultra.

iPhone Ultra: What to expect

We've been hearing rumors about a so-called iPhone Ultra for years now. In the past, there had been speculation that this could be a fifth iPhone designed to surpass the Pro Max iPhone, or possibly even Apple's attempt to rebrand the Pro Max into its own distinct device.

Instead, everything seems to be pointing towards Apple adopting this name for its first foldable. That makes a lot of sense, given the kind of phone this is supposed to be. The foldable iPhone may be the first of its kind, but it's hardly the first foldable phone to be released.

Not only does iPhone Ultra make it clear that this is a better iPhone than the Pro or Pro Max, it also differentiates the foldable from almost a decade's worth of foldable releases.

This isn't just the foldable iPhone, this is the Ultra iPhone and it deserves your attention. Not tying it in with the iPhone 18 series also means that Apple can stagger the release of future foldables, rather than being locked into the standard annual release cycle.

Leaked specs paint a positive picture for the iPhone Ultra too. The design is expected to be shorter and wider than a standard iPhone, with a 5.3-inch cover display and a 7.8-inch folding display. Reports suggest Apple has invested a lot into making sure there's no crease in that folding display which is something other foldable phone makers have struggled with.

Other notable rumored specs include a pair of 48MP rear cameras, two 18MP selfie cameras with a hole punch design, 12GB of RAM, an A20 chipset, Touch ID and a mix of aluminum and titanium in the frame. That should prove to be an important part of making the iPhone Ultra durable, since it's expected to be around 4.2mm thick — which would make it the thinnest iPhone ever made.

MacBook Ultra rumors

Macworld speculates that the MacBook Ultra name has been chosen to differentiate the new models from the MacBook Pro. An OLED touchscreen likely isn't the only upgrade in the upcoming machine, and reports suggest that Apple will also offer Face ID with a Dynamic Island, alongside the M6 chipset and an improved hinge to reinforce the touchscreen.

However, the more Apple includes in the Macbook Ultra the more expensive the new laptop is going to be. This is especially true when you remember that RAMageddon is causing prices to rise all the time. Needless to say, Apple is going to need some more affordable options for power users that aren't swayed by the MacBook Air.

The MacBook Pro is perfectly situated for them, but for those who want the absolute best of the best, there would always be the option to upgrade to the Ultra experience. Who knows, maybe it might even lead to a Mac Ultra for desktop users who need something more capable than the Mac Studio.

Sadly, the RAM crisis has reportedly caused the MacBook Ultra's release to be delayed, which means 2026 won't be the year of the Ultra devices. But it does sound like this could be the start of a whole new era for Apple, especially if the rumored folding iPad bears the Ultra name as well.

But considering how long we've been waiting for iPhone and MacBook Ultras, who knows how long it might be before that arrives.

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