XMG Neo 16 E25: Still one of the best gaming laptops but Advanced Optimus/G-Sync is lacking
The XMG Neo 16 is a high-end gaming laptop that has been given several upgrades for 2025. This includes a new internal design with a split motherboard and, in addition to the latest Intel Core Ultra 9 2775HX, the Neo 16 is now also available with AMD's high-end Ryzen 9 9955HX and 9955HX3D chips. There is also a PCIe 5.0 slot for high-performance SSDs.
Thanks to its cooling system, the Neo 16 can fully utilise Nvidia's new Blackwell GPUS and so is one of the fastest notebooks in our synthetic benchmarks, even without the external water cooling. This greatly reduces emissions and fan noise and gives the processor a little more room to breathe, especially under combined CPU/GPU load. However, raw GPU performance remains unchanged, as the Neo 16 utilises the full 175 watts of TGP, even in regular fan mode. Another exciting aspect is that the Ryzen CPUs can also be combined with the fastest graphics cards, which is often not the case with other manufacturers. We will soon be receiving the Neo 16 with the Ryzen 9 9955HX3D and the RTX 5090 laptop GPU, which is likely to deliver even more gaming performance.
The other major innovation is the optional mini LED panel, which performs well in practically all disciplines. The subjective picture quality of the matte panel is excellent: it is extremely bright and playback is very smooth thanks to a 300 Hz refresh rate. Local dimming can also be deactivated, which is useful when editing images. The P3 color space is fully covered and pre-calibrated color profiles for sRGB and P3 are also available, although the two P3 profiles still have slight color deviations. Nevertheless, we were able to improve the profiles significantly using our own calibration (the corresponding color profiles can be downloaded free of charge in our Neo 16 review).
However, the XMG Neo 16 is not completely free of criticism. Neither Wi-Fi 7 nor Thunderbolt 5 are on board. Advanced Optimus graphics switching and G-Sync support for the internal display are lacking, which is problematic in view of the high price. Although a MUX switch is available, deactivating the iGPU requires a system restart. XMG is currently working on a solution together with Nvidia and the manufacturer's transparent communication is certainly praiseworthy, as it reports extensively on the problem on its own website and regularly posts updates. However, there is no guarantee that the two features will be added at a later date.
Overall, the Neo 16 E25 is still one of the best and fastest gaming notebooks currently available. Thanks to the new mini-LED panel, the notebook is now also attractive to content creators, making it even more versatile. All further information about the device can be found in our detailed review.
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