ASUS' Snapdragon-based Zenbook became immediately iconic when its first A14 iteration was revealed at CES 2025, and it still won us over after an unfortunate $100 price increase when we tested a real-world sample for our Zenbook A14 (2025) review. Well, now it's back again, and it's packing the latest Snapdragon X2 Elite processor in yet another premium (but compact) Windows on ARM laptop. So, is it worth $2,000, or should you stick with the previous generation?

How much does the Zenbook A14 cost?

ASUS lists the Zenbook A14 (UX3407) on its official storefront for $1,999.99, with a Snapdragon X2 Elite (X2E-88-100) processor, 32GB of LPDDR5X-9523 RAM, and a 1TB SSD. The 14-inch non-touch OLED display runs at 1920 x 1200 resolution with a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz, in a 16:10 aspect ratio. Depending on when you buy, it'll come pre-installed with at least Windows 11 26H1, built exclusively for Qualcomm's processors.

Better yet, you can pick up the Zenbook A14 for just $1,349.99 at Best Buy with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, or for $1,799.99 at Best Buy with the same 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD as the ASUS store configuration. Naturally, if you're looking for the best deal, Best Buy currently offers the best value for money and, at the time of writing, better availability. Also consider the $1,699.99 Zenbook A16.

Is the Zenbook A14 a good laptop?

Above all, the most astonishing reaction I had when first unboxing the Zenbook A14 was its weight. ASUS lists the laptop at 2.18 lbs (0.99 kg), and my own scales showed it flicker between that and a perfect kilogram, so its "light as air" marketing tagline is legit, even if it is marginally heavier than last year's Zenbook A14 (2.16 lbs). For comparison, a 13-inch MacBook Air (M5) is 2.7 lbs.

ASUS still uses a "Ceraluminum" (ceramic-aluminum) coating on its Zenbook chassis, and to great effect. There can be some mild flex in the ultra-skinny screen, but the laptop's body is firm and sturdy, keeping the subtle 'Zabriskie Beige' color with a reflective logo on its lid. Its 1200p display maxes out at 60Hz, but the Lumina OLED panel looks as great as ever.

Testing the display with a colorimeter showed a maximum full-screen brightness of 407 nits, while ASUS maintains it'll reach a "peak" brightness of 600 nits in portions of the screen. Color accuracy is superb, covering 100% of the sRGB and P3 gamuts, while Adobe RGB hits 94%, making the Zenbook A14 a great choice for creators concerned with accurate color representation.

Port selection hasn't changed this year, so I still have access to dual Type-C USB4 ports alongside HDMI 2.1 and a 3.5 combo audio jack on the left side, plus a full-size USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port on the right. The keyboard feels serviceable with a 1.3 mm travel distance, just as it did on the Zenbook A16 I tested recently, and it pairs with a satisfyingly smooth glass mechanical touchpad.

Does the Zenbook A14 have any issues?

ASUS still preloads some apps into its Windows 11 image on Zenbook laptops, including advertisements for Adobe and Dropbox that are automatically pinned to your Start menu. Both are easy to remove via the right-click context menu and are largely overshadowed by the useful MyASUS companion app. So, while it isn't totally clean, I can give the Zenbook A14 a passing grade here.

Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X2 Elite processor offers its Hexagon NPU rated at up to 80 TOPS. However, aside from Microsoft's excellent Click To Do and a handful of other Copilot+ PC features, the Zenbook A14 doesn't offer much for stock local AI beyond media management with ASUS StoryCube. If you already use NPU-supported apps, then you'll benefit here. If you don't, then you won't.

However, the webcam is decent, even if it understandably drains the battery faster during video meetings. Windows Studio Effects is one of the few features that uses the NPU, and HPD (Human Presence Detection) can dim the screen when I'm not looking. An IR sensor also lets the camera use Windows Hello for fast, secure face-based logins, and it works quickly when I open the lid.

The speakers in the new Zenbook A14 are decent, but they don't seem to produce as much bass as its larger Zenbook A16 sibling, for obvious reasons. They're still better than many other laptops I've tried, as ASUS keeps winning my general praise for its audio efforts. I wouldn't rely on them for everything, but it's a passable experience for streaming videos.

How fast is the Zenbook A14?

The new Zenbook A14 opts for Qualcomm's impressive Snapdragon X2 Elite (X2E-88-100) processor, and it benefits greatly from it. Burst CPU performance tests in Geekbench 6 show it outperforming Apple's M5 chip in the 14-inch MacBook Pro, and even edging slightly ahead of Lenovo's fantastic Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (Gen 11) with the same SoC.

Comparatively, the 2026 model shreds its 2025 Zenbook A14 predecessor and the first-generation Snapdragon X (X1-26-100) it used, and the generational improvement is still evident in the extended Cinebench 2024 CPU stress tests. It even outpaces Intel's Panther Lake chips in the Surface Laptop 8 for Business and holds its own against the gaming-centric ROG Flow Z13.

Battery life

ASUS claims the Zenbook A14 can deliver "over 33 hours of uninterrupted use" (in a 1080p video playback scenario under controlled conditions), but the highest I could reach was 23 hours and 38 minutes in PCMark 10's equivalent test. It still has the same-sized 70Whr battery as last year's model, and after using the 2026 model for a week or so, generating a Windows Battery Report estimates 17 hours of use after a full charge.

Should you buy the Zenbook A14?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You need a lightweight, compact Windows laptop

✅ You rely on CPU-heavy apps and workflows

You should not buy this if ...

❌ You can go bigger — try the Zenbook A16

This 2026 revision builds on everything the Zenbook A14 achieved last year, making the CPU even better and adding Wi-Fi 7 for good measure. Sure, I'd have liked a brighter high-end on its OLED panel, but the cost-saving measures here are meant to keep this 14-inch laptop appealing in a category full of strong competitors — though the sharp generational cost increase still stings.

It's a Windows on ARM laptop with an ARM64 processor, and there is still a (mostly undeserved) stigma around software compatibility. If you're reliant on an old printer or scanner, double-check your drivers before buying; but otherwise, you have nothing to worry about. If you can hold out for a sale, as we recommended for its previous model, the new A14 is a stellar option.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

When life closes a door, it tends to find a way to open a window. This week the tech industry may have tried a bit too hard to make that literally the case. Sony slammed the door shut on physical media while Microsoft extended the window of support for Windows 10.

Over the last seven days, we saw the Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go retired, PlayStation announced the end of discs, Sony revoked movies people paid for, and Xbox studios pushed toward a dissatisfying end. We also received new details on a potential disc-to-digital program for Xbox and gained another year of security updates for Windows 10.

A leaked video even gave us a glimpse of Copilot OS, though the door was never open for that AI-centered operating system to ship to consumers.

Biggest News of the Week

In a week full of things ending and rumors of shutdowns, it was refreshing to see that a disc-to-digital program could finally make its way to Xbox. Microsoft laid the foundation for that program with the Xbox One over a decade ago, but the company never rolled it out.

With Sony announcing plans to shut down its production of physical discs, Microsoft went in a different direction. While the next Xbox might not have a disc drive, it may support converting discs to digital licenses.

Microsoft has not made a final decision about the disc-to-digital program. With digital ownership under threat and Sony making such an unpopular decision, it would be a major miss if Xbox fails to take advantage.

Shopping with Sean

I'm happy to share that laptop deals remain strong and plentiful this week. Right now, you can get the Dell XPS 13 at a major discount. Both the Snapdragon X Elite and Intel Core Ultra 7 versions of that PC are on sale.

The HP OmniBook Ultra 14 is $650 off despite the laptop launching recently. It's one of the first PCs with the Snapdragon X2 Elite chip and is the prettiest laptop of the year, according to our review from Zac Bowden.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Acer's Nitro 65 arrives at a time when the PC market is undergoing major stress caused by RAM, storage, and other component shortages.

Nevertheless, the Nitro 65's pricing remains reasonable, its performance is spot on, the case is far better than I expected, and it uses (mostly) regular parts that you can upgrade or replace yourself without much effort.

I've been using the PC for a couple of weeks, and while it's mainly been a positive experience, there are a couple of quirks that you need to know about before buying.

Acer sent Windows Central a review unit on loan for testing. It had no input, nor saw the contents of this review, prior to publication.

How much does the Acer Nitro 65 cost?

The Acer Nitro 65 model I'm reviewing, with Ryzen 9 9900X CPU, RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD, costs $2,304.99 regularly at Best Buy, although it seems to enjoy frequent sales that drop it closer to $2,100 or less.

I'm always curious to see how that compares to building your own system, so I went ahead and put something together using the same (or as similar as possible) components.

I used a $150 HYTE X50 case (because it's awesome), a $120 motherboard, and left about $200 to $300 for a 1TB SSD. That comes out to $350 to $450 on top of the $1,611 cost at PCPartPicker. Add some RGB case fans and other small accessories, and you're looking at a similar cost compared to building your own system.

If you like the look of the PC but don't need quite as much performance, models with an AMD Ryzen 7 8700F CPU and either an NVIDIA RTX 5060 or an AMD Radeon 9060 XT range from $1,100 to $1,600, depending on available discounts.

Here's a closer look at the specs in the unit I'm reviewing.

Is the Acer Nitro 65 built well with good cable management?

Acer is definitely making money on the Nitro 65, but as I laid out above, the margin isn't as big as some might expect. So, where are the corners being cut to make up the difference?

The first thing that stands out to me is the no-name PSU. It's non-modular, making it harder to upgrade, and it's tough to judge what sort of quality it is.

Acer lists it as 850W 80+ Gold, which just means it's fairly energy efficient and has plenty of power for the installed hardware and for future upgrades. Its actual durability remains questionable. If I were buying this PC, I'd definitely replace the PSU with something else before the one-year warranty ran out.

The other off-brand piece is the Nitro-branded CPU air cooler. But as we'll see, it does a decent job of keeping the 9900X cool under load. If you prefer liquid cooling, the 35L case can easily accommodate the extra hardware.

The good news is that the PC is otherwise well put together and uses standard components that you can buy yourself for upgrades and repairs. No wacky motherboard designs. No off-brand GPUs. No sketchy memory.

Acer uses Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-6000 RGB RAM here in a dual-channel config, the RTX 5070 is a standard Gigabyte WindForce option, and the M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD is from Lexar.

Now, there's no guarantee that these exact same components will be used in your model, but I did run some benchmarks to see how the specific parts in my review unit perform. More on that below.

A case for RGB lovers ... with plenty of snazzy glass

Rounded cases seem to be coming into style lately, and the Nitro 65's custom 35L tower is quite attractive. Tempered glass runs from the front to the back along two sides, rounded at the corners. Just below the glass is an embedded RGB strip that diffuses light. It's completely customizable and syncs up with the rest of the lighting.

The other RGB lives in the two main intake fans, the RAM, the CPU cooler fan, and the single exhaust fan. It's more than enough for me, and I appreciate that it can be turned off entirely if not customized to your liking.

Front I/O includes dual USB-A 3.2 (Gen 1) and a single USB-C 3.2 (Gen 1) port, all running at 5Gbps. There's also a 3.5mm audio jack next to the power button. It would be nice to have 10Gbps ports here, but it's not a dealbreaker. The rear I/O is, like a normal PC, dependent on the motherboard and GPU.

Something I love is the inclusion of a magnetic dust cover on the top of the PC. It'd come in most handy with an AiO, but I appreciate it here anyway. The side intake fans have a dual-screen setup — one directly behind the fans and another on the back panel — while the PSU has its own dust cover on the bottom.

These small additions help keep dust out of your PC, and because they're removable, they're much easier to clean than something fixed.

Some pre-built PCs skimp on connectivity, but not here. The Gigabyte motherboard offers Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 for cutting-edge wireless, and there's a 2.5Gb Ethernet port to handle wired connections.

How is the Nitro 65's cable management and assembly?

The Nitro 65 comes packed with expanding foam around the CPU cooler and GPU, with an extra foam insert around the GPU to keep it stable; it otherwise has no additional support.

There are no evident problems with assembly, and because it's packed in so tightly, I made no adjustments before booting the PC for the first time.

Pulling off the back panel reveals rather tidy cable management. Zip ties are used, so you'll likely need to clip and replace those if you decide to make some internal changes, but there are a couple of Velcro strips thrown in around the main channels.

Because the PSU isn't modular, there's some snarl below the internal riser, but it's not visible from the front.

As for the visible cabling, it's all properly installed with no extra slack that could block airflow. The GPU power cable has its own exit in the PSU riser, and plenty of cutouts around the motherboard should make for easy upgrades in the future.

Overall, it's a clean look behind the glass, and the cabling that's hidden is actually a lot better than I was expecting.

The Nitro 65 keeps cool under pressure

The Nitro 65 has some solid performance hardware inside, and I'm happy to report it keeps its cool under load. The two intake fans point toward the side of the case, but the rounded front glass helps curve that air toward the back.

I ran a Speed Way stress test on components first with the side glass panel removed. The CPU was able to remain between about 60.8 and 61.6 degrees Celsius, while the GPU sat at about 68 to 70 degrees. It came out to 99.2% frame stability.

With the glass panel back in place, I reran the same test. CPU temps climbed to roughly 63 to 65 degrees Celsius, while the GPU hit about 70 to 72 degrees. That's an expected rise, and it's not out of the ordinary. Frame stability fell slightly to 98.8%.

One note on the CPU cooler: the single fan gets a bit louder than I'd like when it's under load, but it seems to even off with sustained effort. Still, it'd be better if Acer used an AiO liquid cooler here as the standard.

Does Acer's Nitro 65 perform as expected?

I'm focusing less on performance here since the PC uses standard components. The RTX 5070 and the Ryzen 9 9900X perform just like they should.

Here are some benchmarks so you can see how the hardware compares to other stuff we've recently tested.

Note that I've included two Ryzen 9 9900X scores in one graph. The higher score comes from testing we did on an open test bench using an NZXT Kraken AiO liquid cooler. That could explain some of the multi-core performance difference.

As for the Lexar GPU, it reached 6,052MB/s read and 5,063MB/s write speeds in my testing. These aren't the fastest speeds ever for a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, but they're perfectly acceptable for gaming.

I found this PC to load everything quite quickly, no doubt aided by 32GB of DDR5 RAM. I'm also happy to see that there's a minimum of bloatware on the PC, arriving with a rather clean version of Windows 11 Home.

Should you buy the Acer Nitro 65?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You're in search of a capable mid-size gaming desktop with decent cooling and strong performance.

✅ You're a fan of RGB lighting.

You should not buy this if ...

❌ You'd rather save a bit of money and build your own system.

❌ You'd rather take your games on the go with a laptop or handheld.

Acer's Nitro 65 impressed me in more ways than one. The custom case is gorgeous, especially with that rounded glass front, and it has lots of room inside for future upgrades. The diffused RGB strip around the case adds some flair.

Assembly and cable management are, I'd say, above average for a pre-built, and Acer using standard parts (other than the PSU) is a definite boon for those who like to keep their PC running as long as possible.

👉 Best Desktop PCs of 2026: Our top-rated pre-builts for gaming, work, and home use

Extra touches like removable dust screens, internal RGB lighting, and magnetic panel clasps don't go unnoticed.

Bottom line? If you'd rather not build your own gaming PC, Acer's Nitro 65 is something I recommend. It won't cost much more than buying the parts yourself, and it arrives ready to go as soon as it's unboxed. Acer even tosses in an RGB keyboard and mouse to get you started.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Many laptops in the premium category cost thousands of dollars to justify the advanced specs built in, but few feel like they've earned their premium spot like the Dell XPS 13.

With its Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2 CPU (Lunar Lake), 16GB RAM, and 1TB SSD, this ultra-thin portable desktop can tackle any productivity task, no matter how small or big it is, and it's currently on sale with a 33% discount for $999.99 at Dell.

Why buy the Dell XPS 13?

Even without this RAM crisis looming over our heads, prices for premium-grade laptops were already extreme, numbering in the thousands.

Yet very few of them have justifiably earned their advanced-tech-per-cost ratio, like the Dell XPS 13 laptop, which has earned near-perfect reviews from our sister sites at TechRadar, Tom's Guide, and LaptopMag for its exceptional performance and quality.

The configuration of the Dell XPS 13 we're spotlighting comes equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 Series 2 CPU (Lunar Lake), 16GB RAM, a 1TB SSD, and Copilot+ PC certification. With these specs, this laptop will tear through Microsoft Office assignments, online browsing research, and AI-related tasks like a hot knife through a 4th of July steak dinner.

On top of that, it has a 3K OLED display so you have beautiful visuals to look at while working, a sturdy and lightweight design that makes it easy to store while traveling, and a battery life of nearly 24 hours at minimum power and brightness settings.

So, if you're looking for a dependable laptop that will help keep you on top of your daily workflows for the next several years, provided you're okay with only having two USB-C ports, then the Dell XPS 13 will serve you well.

FAQ

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

The RAM Crisis has PC users gripped in fear as they're scrambling to buy as much storage space for their PCs as they can before their costs become too unaffordable for the average person, leaving many stores deprived of SSDs.

However, some SSDs have managed to slip through this shopping rush with their stock untouched, like the WD_Black SN8100 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD.

This internal storage unit, boasting insanely fast read speeds for work and gaming, is currently on sale at Best Buy for $269.99 for its 1TB model (listing price was $528.99), $399.99 for its 2TB model (listing price was $1,057.99), and $999.00 for its 4TB model (listing price was $2,069.99).

Why buy the WD_Black SN8100 SSD?

In an age where files for games, documents, 4K videos, and other pieces of media are taking up hundreds of gigabytes' worth of space, you're going to need a massive SSD to store them in while having high read/write speeds so transferring files won't be slower than snails.

SanDisk's WD_Black SN8100 SSD is one such storage unit, as it comes with 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB models, each one being equipped with high Read Speeds up to 14,900MB/s and Write Speeds up to 11,000MB/s.

This makes the WD_Black SN8100 SSD one of the best SSDs for gaming as these models will have plenty of space to fit your precious games in while cutting down on load times for rendering graphical assets and reducing lag so they feel smoother to play.

These read and write speeds are also good for productivity tasks, as the SSD can help your PC transfer files in mere seconds, which can be handy when you need to send work documents, videos, and other important data from one machine to another.

Just make sure your computer has a heatsink attached to its motherboard before installing the WD_Black SN8100, as it can get extremely hot when taking on heavy-duty workflows.

FAQ

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

I've covered Winhanced quite a few times at this point, most recently when it added achievement support to the launcher UI for Steam, Xbox, and even PlayStation games. If you haven't heard of it, Winhanced is a complete replacement for Xbox Mode on Windows handhelds, acting as a unified launcher for your library across various digital stores, all in one easy-to-navigate interface.

Now, its feature set is expanding once again, bringing with it my most requested addition: a built-in store browser. Honestly, it's something I wasn't even sure was possible, but it's now available in testing for users supporting the project.

The store is still very much a work in progress, so don't expect a perfect experience. At the time of writing it only supports certain currencies, although regional currency support is on the way, but even in its current state it's already incredibly useful. You can browse games, compare prices across multiple storefronts, see if a title is included with Game Pass, and purchase it from whichever store offers the best deal.

So yes, if a game is cheaper on Xbox than Steam, you can simply buy it there instead. It is also worth mentioning that when you purchase games, it opens a web browser where you can complete your purchase; Winhanced does not have access to your payment details.

The launcher also personalizes recommendations, generating suggestions based on what you've been playing, and in my case, after spending plenty of time in Forza Horizon 6, it immediately recommended another racing game. If you'd rather browse for yourself, though, you can search for any game you like or explore categories to discover something new.

Winhanced is also bringing several features out of early access, including back paddle support, SteamGridDB artwork browsing, and RGB controls, meaning they're now considered ready for general use rather than experimental additions.

I've been a big fan of Winhanced for quite some time now. It makes my Xbox Ally X feel much more like a proper console than the Xbox app ever has in Xbox Mode, so if you're interested, I'd definitely recommend checking out the project's Discord and supporting it on Patreon if you can.

With that said, do let me know in the comments if this new store feature is finally enough to get you interested in giving Winhanced a try, or what other features you'd still like to see added. As always, be sure to take part in our poll below!

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

HP's OmniBook lineup includes a wide range of laptops targeting a wide range of users, and the OmniBook 3 16" is one of the most affordable of the bunch.

Assuming you aren't maxing it out with RAM and storage, you can get a Snapdragon X chip and a large 16-inch screen for around $500, often less with the right discount. Unfortunately, with higher-spec'd models, the display, build quality, and features don't quite measure up to other PCs competing in the same price range.

I've been using HP's OmniBook 3 for a couple of weeks to get to know it inside and out; here's what you need to know before buying.

HP had no input, nor saw the contents of this review, prior to publication.

How much does the HP OmniBook 3 cost?

HP's OmniBook 3 16" starts as low as $699.99 without any discounts; however, HP basically designed this PC to be on sale almost all the time, and you can usually get this baseline model for a lot less.

At the time of writing this review, a model with Snapdragon X (X1-26) System-on-Chip (SoC), 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM, 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, and 2K IPS display costs $399 at Walmart.

The model I'm reviewing represents a significant upgrade in a couple of key areas. It has a 2K OLED display, 32GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and a 1TB SSD. For some reason, HP omits the OLED display as an option in its configurator, so I can only give a price for this same setup with an IPS touch display. It's regularly $1,729.99, but is down to $1,259.99 at the time of writing.

That's not exactly cheap, and as I found, this is sort of a tale of two tiers. On one hand, if you're buying the laptop for around $500, it's a great deal. On the other hand, if you're spending around $1,500, you could do better elsewhere.

Here's a look at the exact specs that are in my OmniBook 3 16" review unit.

Sleek design, but a bit creaky

The OmniBook 3 is a 16-inch laptop that's sized more like a 14-incher, and it's relatively thin at 0.58 inches (1.47cm). Thanks to a mix of aluminum and plastic, it weighs in at about 3.65 pounds (1.65kg), a respectable number for a device this size. Despite its large display, it's actually quite easy to tote around.

There's quite a bit of flex to the body, and when pressed, it creaks loudly. It's a shame, because it's really a sleek laptop. Thankfully, the lid seems to have a lot more rigidity, helping protect the OLED panel.

Port selection benefits multi-monitor setups

The thermal setup is ideal, with cool air pulling in through a large intake on the bottom and exhausting out the back edge, just behind the hinge. There's no hot air blowing on your hands, and because it's a Snapdragon chip inside, the system doesn't get particularly hot. More on that below.

On the left side of the PC is an HDMI 2.1 port for native video support, one USB-A (5Gbps), and dual USB-C 3.2 (Gen 2) ports at 10Gbps each. Of course, I wish these ports were at least USB4 — Thunderbolt 4 is generally reserved for Intel systems — for faster transfers. Still, they support DP 1.4 video if you're looking to run multiple external displays.

The right side of the laptop is home to an additional USB-A (5Gbps) port and a 3.5mm audio jack.

So-so speakers, nice webcam

Dual speakers installed on the underside of the laptop, toward the front, fail to impress. They're not particularly loud or full, and other budget laptops do a way better job of audio.

The 1080p webcam, on the other hand, offers a clear picture that only gets better with Windows Studio Effects powered by the laptop's NPU. An IR sensor allows for facial biometric security via Windows Hello, upping security.

A full keyboard and large touchpad make for easy productivity

The OmniBook 3 has a keyboard that's above average for a laptop that starts at such a low price. Key travel is excellent, the backlight is bright, and the number pad makes for easy productivity.

And although the touchpad isn't haptic, a feature reserved for premium laptops, it has a satisfying click and tracks without issue.

The only thing I'll mention is that HP doesn't offer the backlit version of the keyboard as the default in all models. For some reason, you have to manually select it when configuring. It doesn't add any costs from what I can see, and I don't know why it's not just a default feature.

Colorful OLED display struggles with glare

My review unit features a 16-inch OLED non-touch display with a 1920x1200 (FHD+) resolution. This is the screen I'd recommend everyone get, but unfortunately, it seems like touch and non-touch IPS panels at the same resolution are far more common.

The bezels are fairly thin, although they're of the raised plastic sort rather than a seamless glass covering.

Testing the OLED display with a SpyderX Pro colorimeter, I got back 100% sRGB, 92% AdobeRGB, and 99% DCI-P3 color reproduction, all excellent results, especially for a budget laptop. Color and contrast are indeed superb, and you'll be missing out on it if you're forced into the IPS options.

Brightness could be better, with the OLED screen topping out just higher than 300 nits. That seems to be the limit for the IPS panels as well. Despite an anti-glare finish, the display struggles in bright rooms.

Last-gen Snapdragon still delivers incredible battery life

There's no other way to say it; the OmniBook 3 16's battery life is incredible. Yes, my review unit has the slightly more power-efficient OLED display that seems very hard to find right now, and yes, the PC is using one of Qualcomm's most affordable chips.

Regardless, the larger chassis fits a sizable 68Wh battery, and because the Snapdragon X sips power, I was seeing full — and I mean full — days of mixed use without needing a charge.

For example, I began streaming a YouTube video at noon. That night, it was still going strong, and the battery hadn't yet dipped below 70%. I left it going, and it was still playing the next morning.

The official Windows battery report suggests about 38 hours of life from a charge, but of course, my streaming test skewed that result. I'd put it at around 25-30 hours, and that's being conservative.

Snapdragon X performance is also impressive

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chip is indeed efficient, but it's also now a generation behind the X2 hardware released earlier this year.

For most users, that shouldn't matter. The chip competes quite well with Intel's Core Ultra 7 256V CPU in Geekbench 6, both for single- and multi-core scores. Better yet, I saw almost no performance drop when switching from AC to battery power.

Cinebench also delivered surprising results, with the Snapdragon X again coming out ahead of the Core Ultra 7 256V and Ryzen 7 8840U.

A rather quick M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD rounds out the performance hardware, hitting 7,073MB/s read and 5,705MB/s write speeds in CrystalDiskMark.

The laptop runs cool and quiet no matter what, and I don't actually recall hearing the fans kick on until I was running benchmark software.

Should you buy the HP OmniBook 3?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You can find a great deal for somewhere around $500-$700 (or less).

✅ You need a 16-inch screen and a number pad to better handle multitasking and productivity.

✅ You want a laptop with outstanding battery life.

You should not buy this if ...

❌ You're looking for a PC with a discrete graphics card.

❌ You don't often use a number pad and want a more compact PC that's easier to fit into a bag.

The OmniBook 3 16" is kind of an odd case, and it's not being helped by the ongoing RAM and storage crisis.

On one hand, you can sometimes find models with 16GB of RAM and 512GB storage for as little as $399. Such is the case at Walmart at the time of writing this review. That's an outstanding deal, and at this price, it's an easy recommendation.

On the other hand, if there aren't any discounts available, you might be looking at spending $1,500+ if you spec up the RAM and storage. I know that component prices are high, but I don't think this PC has the build or feature quality to warrant that type of price. I'd suggest looking at alternatives before making a final decision.

The fact that most models now come with an inferior IPS display that's not as bright or colorful — I really hope OLED returns as a common option when configuring — doesn't help.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Whenever I'm personally looking for a laptop to take with me to continue working while traveling abroad, I'm not interested in too many over-the-top machines with flashy designs, RGB lighting, and various features I'll probably never use.

I just need a laptop that can reliably chip away at mountains of work, research, and other productivity tasks so I can clock out of work (and get back to playing games).

The HP Omnibook X Flip 14" is one such laptop, and it's currently having one of the best laptop deals happening right now for Best Buy's 4th of July sale, as it's on sale for $649.99 (previously $999.99).

Why buy the HP Omnibook X Flip 14"?

The HP Omnibook X Flip 14" isn't the prettiest 2-in-1 laptop in the world, as it sports a rather bland design with a lattice-less keyboard layout and little personality behind.

But the HP Omnibook X Flip 14" isn't built to win beauty competitions; it's here to tackle day-long workloads. Thankfully, it more than delivers on that promise, thanks to its Intel Core Ultra 5 (Lunar Lake) 226V CPU and 16GB of RAM, which help it perform better when running multiple apps, boot up faster from sleep, and more.

This laptop also comes with a 2K touchscreen to provide crisp visuals, a 512GB SSD storage unit that can be upgraded with larger ones to store more data, an NPU of 40 TOPS to help it run local AI tasks, and compatibility with stylus pens so you can take notes or draw art more proficiently while it's in Tablet Mode.

So, if you prefer laptops that focus on substance rather than style, then the HP Omnibook X Flip 14" laptop that's now on sale for $649.99 at Best Buy may be the perfect fit for you.

FAQ

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Trying to get your hands on a full desktop PC that won't force you to take out a loan during this price-hiking RAM crisis is like trying to punch through a brick wall: painful and futile.

In such grim times for tech, mini PCs can provide a much-needed reprieve with their more affordable prices that won't set you back thousands of dollars while providing fast performance for productivity, vast storage space for precious documents, and compact sizes that won't eat up your desk.

One such lineup of high-quality mini PCs is those produced by Geekom, many of which are currently on sale for Best Buy's 4th of July sale, which will last until July 5, 2026.

So, if you've been eyeing up a chance to obtain budget-friendly mini-PCs like the Geekom IT13 (now on sale for $569.99) or a pink-sized performance powerhouse like the Geekom AX8 MAX (now on sale for $629.99), now's a great time to capitalize on it before the RAMaggeddon jacks their prices for good too.

FAQ

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

It looks like Microsoft's popular Surface Go and less popular Surface Laptop Go are on the chopping block. According to my sources that are familiar with Microsoft's hardware roadmap, these devices are no longer being manufactured, and no successors are currently planned

Just like the Surface Studio, Surface Laptop Studio, Surface Duo, Surface Hub, Surface Book, Surface Headphones, and Surface Earbuds before them, the Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go are the latest Surface PCs to reach the Microsoft graveyard, and completes the Surface portfolio culling that began in 2023.

Now, the Surface portfolio consists exclusively of Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, with varying screen sizes and power capabilities spread between them. Surface Pro features a 12-inch and 13-inch model, and the Surface Laptop features 13-inch, 13.8-inch, and 15-inch models with a special Ultra model coming this fall.

Sources say that Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go stock may still exist at certain retailers and in certain regions, but once that stock has depleted, it won't be replaced. When asked for comment, a Microsoft representative pointed me to the new Surface website, which notably doesn't include Surface Go or Laptop Go anymore.

Surface Go is a particularly surprising device to be killed off, as I understood that it was very popular with enterprise customers.

In fact, it was so popular with enterprises that Surface Go became a device exclusively for commercial customers with its final generation. Surface Go 1-3 were available for both consumers and commercial customers, but Surface Go 4 only ever saw a release for commercial customers.

Fascinatingly, I'm told Microsoft had planned to ship a Surface Go 5 at some point in the last couple of years, and it was going to be powered by a low-end Snapdragon chip. Unfortunately, when the company asked its enterprise customers for feedback, it found that most of them weren't interested in an Arm version of the device, and so that plan was scrapped.

Surface Laptop Go was pretty much replaced with the 13-inch Surface Laptop, which addressed the Laptop Go's biggest flaws such as the lack of a backlit keyboard and low-resolution display. Surface Go on the other hand hasn't really seen a replacement, as the 12-inch Surface Pro is significantly more expensive (and much larger) than the Surface Go 4 was at $579.

Of course, Surface Go originally launched at an astonishingly affordable $399 in 2018, albeit with very low-end specs that made the device hard to recommend. The Surface Go 3 and Surface Go 4 were the first versions with enough power to handle daily tasks without any noticeable performance loss, but their prices were much higher as a result.

I'm told that the decision to kill off these devices wasn't influenced by the ongoing RAMpocalypse, as the decision was made many months before memory prices became a problem for the company.

Now, the Surface portfolio is left with just two devices, Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. Many would argue these devices are no longer interesting or innovative from a form factor perspective, serving only to compete with whatever Apple is doing on their side of the fence. With Surface Laptop Ultra coming in the fall as a clear MacBook Pro competitor, this has never been more true.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

If you've missed out on Amazon's June Prime Day sale trying to search for cheaper laptops for work, then Best Buy's 4th of July sale that's happening right now is your next best bet.

For a limited time, this event will allow you to get your hands on several vaunted laptops boasting strong performance speeds for productivity tasks, sturdy designs with responsive keyboards, and long-lasting batteries that will last you for full workdays.

With so many laptops to choose from, we've cherry-picked laptops we at Windows Central, and our colleagues at TechRadar and Tom's Guide, know are great to use but are no longer held back by steep listing prices thanks to this sale for your perusal.

Examples include the Acer Swift Go 16" AI laptop, with its Intel Core Ultra 7 355 CPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD that's now 42% off for $899.99 at Best Buy, and the entry-level Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i with Intel Core i5-1335U CPU, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB SSD that had its $899.99 fee cut down to a more budget-friendly $449.99 at Best Buy.

FAQ

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.