Laptop

Acer's gaming laptop doesn't exactly offer an explosion of power but more like Full HD gaming with decent cooling. In return, Nvidia's smallest current graphics chip has been thoughtfully implemented, as impressively demonstrated in our review.

The configuration on sale also features 16 GB of DDR5-5600 RAM, 1 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD storage, dual USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a full-size SD card reader and a 2560 x 1600 165 Hz IPS screen.

The ASUS Zenbook 14X can now be had for 20% off the list price. Featuring a 13th gen Core i7-13700H CPU, 16 GB of LPPDR5 memory, and 512GB of expandable PCIe Gen 4 storage, the notebook is a complete package with solid performance, an awesome display, and long endurance.

The Alienware x16 is thinner than the Blade 16 or Asus Zephyrus M16 and yet it's still larger and heavier because of its wider width and extended rear. Being the thinnest of the bunch evidently has its costs.

The new two-tier branding system initially implied that the Core Ultra and Core 3/5/7 series would only feature Meteor Lake CPUs, but a new set of slides released by Intel China clarifies that the Core 3/5/7 series will feature only Raptor Lake-U Refresh models. Moreover, the Raptor Lake-HX Refresh and the Raptor Lake-S Refresh CPUs will get the Core i3/i5/i7/i9 branding.

The first laptops with up to 96 GB RAM could be right around the corner as 24 GB and 48 GB DDR5-5600 modules have been spotted in China. These appear to feature the new 24 Gb chips produced by SK Hynix, and the prices are surprisingly low on the open market, but don’t expect similar price points from laptop OEMs.

As expected, the EU prices are considerably higher despite the 10% discount offered. US$2,000 may seem a better deal, but we are mostly paying for the innovative design with dual OLED touchscreens. The CPU performance is underwhelming, unfortunately.

The 2022 ASUS ROG Flow X13 with a Ryzen 9 6900HS processor and an RTX 3050 Ti dGPU is now on sale at a considerable discount of US$700. After the price cut, the notebook has become an enticing gaming machine since it performs well, has an excellent portable chassis, and boasts good endurance.

The ASUS ProArt StudioBook 16 with a 16:10 4K OLED panel, Core i7-12700H CPU, and an RTX 3070 Ti GPU is currently discounted by more than US$1,000 on Amazon. With the discount in place, the StudioBook 16 is worth the recommendation thanks in part to an excellent screen and awesome performance.

In the Zenbook Pro 14, Asus presents a powerful multimedia laptop that combines Intel's latest Raptor-Lake CPUs with fast RTX GPUs from Nvidia. It also boasts the first 120 Hz OLED display, which does not completely live up to expectations.

Until OEMs decide to offer laptops featuring AMD's Phoenix 7040 APUs without any dGPU for US$800 or lower, Lenovo's LOQ budget gaming models that are now on sale for a little over US$1,000 seem to be the next best thing.

The Dell Inspiron 16 (5625) is now on sale from Dell for US$649.99, a discount of US$350 on the US$999.99 list price. For the price, the notebook packs a Zen 3 Ryzen 7 5825U CPU, 16 GB of DDR4 memory that can be expanded thanks to two SO-DIMM slots, and an upgradable 1 TB SSD.

Honor is now selling the MagicBook X 16 2023, a 16-inch laptop based around an Intel Core i5-12450H processor. The laptop also comes with a number pad, a 16:10 display and a 60 Wh battery, among other features.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 can now be had for 32% off the list price for the SKU rocking a Ryzen 9 6900HS processor and and RTX 3060 laptop GPU. Enjoying an average rating of 4.4 stars from 397 reviews, the ROG Zephyrus G15 packs good performance, a color accurate display, and long battery life.

The inexpensive Lenovo ThinkPad E14 G4 AMD performs as well as a business laptop in almost all categories: the eight-core processor produces a lot of power, the fan is restrained and the keyboard is even better than in the current ThinkPad T-series. Nevertheless, real innovations are almost completely lacking.

The latest driver package from Nvidia arrives with DLSS 2 and Reflex support for F1 23 and Aliens: Dark Descent. It also adds 8 new G-SYNC compatible gaming monitors to the list of supported hardware while GeForce Experience receives optimal settings for 7 titles, including The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum and Diablo IV.

GeForce NOW has announced that it has added Xbox Game Pass to its list of supported account and platform types. Therefore, users with both services will be able to stream titles from the latter on NVIDIA GPUs over the cloud soon. In the meantime, the platform now supports Age of Empires IV's (AoE IV) Anniversary Edition as well as Dordogne, a new release from Steam.

The discounted configuration also comes with 16 GB of DDR5-4800 RAM, 512 GB NVMe SSD storage, 17.3-inch IPS screen with 1440p resolution and 165 Hz refresh rate, a Thunderbolt 4 connector and a full-size SD card reader.

The Gen 8 Lenovo Slim 7i is now enjoying a massive 34% price cut at Walmart. The laptop features a 12-core Core i5-1340p (4 P-cores + 8 E-cores), 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory running at 5200 MHz, a 1 TB SSD that is upgradeable, and a 14-inch touch-capable IPS panel. Other Lenovo Slim 7i niceties include a backlit keyboard, Wi-Fi 6E, and an FHD webcam with support for Windows Hello facial recognition.

The 17-inch Alienware m17 R5 is now on sale for 40% off the list price. The discounted SKU features starkly mid-range hardware in the Ryzen 7 6800H CPU and the RTX 3060 GPU alongside a bonkers 480 Hz refresh rate display. Furthermore, the laptop can be upgraded thanks to two SO-DIMM and M.2 slots for memory and storage expansion.

The 8 GB RAM / 256 GB SSD version is also discounted to US$549.99. This model impresses with great battery life, excellent processing power for its class, quiet operation and features such as 1080p webcam with IR sensor, fingerprint reader and microSD card reader.

The Blade 14 2023 is Razer's most powerful 14-inch laptop yet, with promised gains of around 20% in modern triple-A titles. The Blade 14 2023 comes packed with AMD's most powerful Ryzen 7040HS APU, plus a choice between 140 W variants of the GeForce RTX 4060 and GeForce RTX 4070. Razer has included various other quality-of-life changes from last year's model too, such as a bigger battery, a larger trackpad and various upgrade options.

AMD has announced three new Zen 4-based Phoenix processors for thin and light laptops. The Ryzen 9 7940HS, Ryzen 7 7840HS, and Ryzen 5 7650HS will power a wide range of products from Asus, Razer, HP and Acer later this year.

The 2023 Lenovo Legion Pro 5 Gen 8 with an 8-core Ryzen 7 7745HX processor, a 140 W RTX 4070 board, and 16 GB of DDR5 5200 MHz memory is now enjoying a generous 27% off at Lenovo’s official store. For the price, the Legion Pro 5 is a stellar option as it has excellent performance, a good display, and upgradeable RAM/storage.

AMD has launched six new processors under the Ryzen Pro 7040 moniker. They include a mix of 28 Watt and 54 Watt parts, some of which come with AMD's new AI chip. They will launch alongside laptops from HP and Lenovo later this year.

Samsung has finally made the Heatsink version of its latest PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD available. It boasts an up to 50% performance boost compared to the previous generation, in a new chassis equipped with adjustable RGB lighting in addition to cooling touted as improved compared to the 'normal' 990 PRO.