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The best laptop deals you can get right nowThe best laptop deals you can get right now
Tech
Tech
Cameron Faulkner and Sheena Vasani
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Stevie Bonifield
Asus’ MacBook competitor is getting a refresh with the new Snapdragon X2 Elite chip.

The 2026 Vivobook S14, S15, and S16, announced today at CES, pair a familiar design with new processors, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite, along with updated Intel Core Ultra Series 2 and AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series options.

According to Asus, the Snapdragon-powered S16 boasts 25 hours of battery life.

The 2026 Asus Vivobook S16 on display on a white table
Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
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Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Acer’s new entry-level 16-inch Nitro V gaming laptop gets AMD’s latest chip.

Acer is announcing a new Nitro V 16 AI entry-level gaming laptop with AMD’s new Gorgon Point chips. Announced at CES with a handful of other Acer laptops, the Nitro is meant to offer a budget-friendly-ish price for AMD’s new chip and Nvidia GPUs — from the RTX 5050 to RTX 5070. It’s expected in Q2, but pricing isn’t finalized.

<em>The Acer Nitro V 16 AI gaming laptop.</em>
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The Acer Nitro V 16 AI gaming laptop.
Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
These are the sleekest MSI laptops I’ve ever seenThese are the sleekest MSI laptops I’ve ever seen
Tech
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Antonio G. Di Benedetto
XPS is back, but Dell Pros are still here to stay.

Dell reversed course on its confusing naming scheme from 2025, but some of it’s intact — with new tweaks. The returning XPS laptops are still joined by entry-level vanilla “Dell” models. Enterprise-focused Dell Pro laptops are now topped by Dell Pro Precision models instead of the Apple-y sounding Pro Max.

Perfect? No. Better? Much.

A graphic showing the tiers of Dell consumer and commercial laptops for 2026.
Dell’s revised laptop tiers for 2026.
Image: Dell
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Jess Weatherbed
HP’s Chromebooks get a minor spec bump.

The upcoming 14-inch HP Chromebook Plus and Chromebook Plus x360 announced at CES have been updated with Intel Core 3 N355 processors and offer up to 512GB of M.2 SSD storage, with the previous 16:9 aspect ratio displays switching to 16:10.

The HP Chromebook 14 Plus (left) and 14 Plus x360 (right).
Aside from the new 16:10 aspect ratio, the most noticeable change on both the Chromebook 14 Plus (left) and 14 Plus x360 (right) is the lack of speaker grills on either side of the keyboard.
Image: HP
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Sean Hollister
Qualcomm, Intel, or AMD? HP’s leaked Elitebook X reportedly lets you pick.

Want a sneak peek at HP’s CES 2026 lineup? Windows Latest claims to have the entire list — my eye is on the HP EliteBook X, which will reportedly let Intel’s Panther Lake, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite, and AMD’s reportedly refreshed Ryzen AI 400 compete head-to-head. Wonder which one is best!

Image via Windows Latest
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Sean Hollister
Leak: Dell is about to bring back XPS.

Remember when Dell made the baffling decision last January to ditch its awesome XPS brand for the utterly milquetoast “Dell Pro” and “Dell Pro Max” instead? After just one year, VideoCardz’ sources report, XPS laptops are coming back. Dell will reportedly announce them at CES 2026 next week.

Windows on Arm had another good yearWindows on Arm had another good year
Gadgets
The Verge’s 2025 in review
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
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Thomas Ricker
A GoPro laptop from ASUS.

The two already announced a collaboration back in October meant to “streamline creator workflows with AI.” Now the relationship is evolving into a dedicated button on new ASUS ProArt GoPro edition laptop that’ll probably also net a free subscription to GoPro Premium Plus for some period of time. All will be revealed at CES on January 6th.

Asus teases a new dedicated GoPro button to immediately go extreme.
Asus teases a new dedicated GoPro button to immediately go extreme.
Image: Asus
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Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Dell COO Jeff Clarke on RAM crunch: ‘our focus is get supply’

I asked Jeff Clarke how Dell is navigating the ongoing memory shortage and he said the company is, “Advocating that we should get the parts we asked for.”

Sure.

What if the three companies that make RAM don’t play ball, or alter their deals? Micron is already abandoning consumers and SK Hynix is sold out into the new year.

The best deals on MacBooks right nowThe best deals on MacBooks right now
Gadgets
Gadgets
Cameron Faulkner, Brandt Ranj and 1 more
RAM is ruining everything

Price hikes related to the memory shortage aren’t just coming for PC gamers; smartphones, laptops, and storage drives could soon get increases, too.

Emma Roth
HP OmniBook 5 14 review: an OLED is almost enough

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Verge Score

A $700 laptop with a great screen and fantastic battery life? What’s the catch?

Antonio G. Di Benedetto
The best laptops you can buyThe best laptops you can buy
Buying Guides
Buying Guides
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Here are 25 great laptop deals you can still grab before Cyber Monday endsHere are 25 great laptop deals you can still grab before Cyber Monday ends
Gadgets
The Verge’s guide to Cyber Monday 2025
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Our favorite laptops from Apple, Razer, HP, and others are over $500 for Cyber MondayOur favorite laptops from Apple, Razer, HP, and others are over $500 for Cyber Monday
Gadgets
The Verge’s guide to Cyber Monday 2025
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
I’m out of reasons to recommend Apple’s M1 MacBook Air, even at $600I’m out of reasons to recommend Apple’s M1 MacBook Air, even at $600
Gadgets
The Verge’s guide to Cyber Monday 2025
Cameron Faulkner
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The Verge
Sean Hollister
Framework fixed my biggest issue with the Laptop 16: using it on a lap.

Antonio says the heat issue is fixed!

The old Ryzen 9 7940HS averaged 58 degrees Celsius and reached a piping hot 93C; the new AMD Ryzen 7 AI 350 CPU averaged an internal temperature of 50C and peaked at 64C.

Unfortunately, it seems the 2nd-gen Laptop 16 still needs work. More in his full review:

Framework’s franken-laptop is back with big chip upgrades and familiar frustrations

6

Verge Score

Slapping an RTX 5070 onto your laptop is a big deal. It’s other parts of the Laptop 16 that falter.

Antonio G. Di Benedetto