Modular laptop manufacturer Framework has just announced that it's dropping some of its memory pricing for its new Framework Laptop 13 Pro after previously doubling it back in July, including retroactively for orders that have already shipped. Posting on social media and in an update on its blog, the company says that it's been able to source new inventory at a reduced cost.

"We have a positive update today on LPCAMM2 pricing! We were able to source a limited quantity at lower cost, and are retroactively reducing prices for orders that shipped at higher price, as well as offering the lower price to orders through Batch 10" according to the company's recent X post. A further update, posted on the company's blog, goes on to explain that Framework's Supply Chain team "has been working continuously to source additional inventory at better prices."

The lower prices are due to a "limited quantity" of Micron 32GB and 64GB LPCAMM2 memory modules that the company has secured at "lower cost," and that as the company is "committed to passing on savings whenever we can," it is passing the price reductions back to customers. LPCAMM2 memory is available for the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 version of the Framework laptop. Other models, like those shipping with AMD Ryzen AI 300 CPUs, are using SO-DIMMs instead.

The price reductions are being applied to "both already shipped and a subset of pending pre-orders," according to chief executive Nirav Patel. This improves the situation for consumers compared to the last price update on July 22, which saw Framework almost double its prices for 32GB and 64GB LPCAMM2 memory in the Laptop 13 Pro. While these new prices are "still above our original pre-order launch baseline, they are lower than the last cost update that drove our current pricing for new pre-orders," according to the company.

This pricing isn't expected to last for long, however. As Framework notes, only a limited quantity of new modules has been acquired at lower cost. Framework explains on X that these are being made available "first-come, first-serve to customers through Batch 10". If the company is able to source more, then it'll "open it to later batches and then to new pre-orders."

Framework is automatically refunding the difference if your order has already shipped and you paid the higher price. Pending pre-orders through to Batch 10 have also been adjusted to reflect the better pricing. If you're waiting on a pre-order and want to update the RAM capacity you've ordered to take advantage of the lower prices, that option is now available via the order summary page, with instructions in Framework's Help Center if you run into trouble.

Those with a DIY Edition Framework 13 Pro that has already shipped and who want to switch to the 32GB or 64GB LPCAMM2 modules at the lower price can also fill out this contact form to organize a swap.

If you're looking for a laptop that's purely for crushing work without frivolous features eating its precious processing power, few are as simple yet effective as the HP OmniBook X Flip 2-in-1 laptop.

It's not going to win any design contests, but it will help you conquer your daily tasks with superb performance, detailed resolutions, and handy AI features, all of which are now 50% off for $699.99 at Best Buy for a limited time before it returns to its steep $1349.99 listing price on September 7, 2026.

Why buy the HP Omnibook X Flip 14"?

The HP OmniBook X Flip 16" 2-in-1 laptop is equipped with handy components like an AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 (2026) CPU, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD.

While some of these components aren't as powerful as the ones found in the 14-inch version of the HP OmniBook X Flip we reviewed some time ago, they're still more than capable of handling daily workflow tasks, whether it's crunching numbers on spreadsheets, typing up long essays via Microsoft Office, researching info on the internet, and more.

It also features an NPU with 50 TOPS to help the laptop perform local AI tasks more efficiently, a 16-inch 2K OLED touchscreen to display images and videos with crisp detail and vibrant colors, and a long-lasting battery life of 30 hours so you can work for a whole day without worrying about it losing power.

Add on top a comfortable-to-use keyboard, a plethora of USB and HDMI ports, and stylus pen compatibility for easier note-taking or digital art sketching, and you've got a laptop that's worth the price of admission, especially now that it's 50% off for Best Buy's Labor Day Sale.

FAQ

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Nobody can accuse Lenovo of lacking imagination.

Over the last several years, the company has become the PC industry's unofficial concept lab, routinely showing off hardware that seems pulled from science fiction. We've seen rollable displays that grow taller, gaming laptops that transform into ultrawide displays, foldable PCs, attachable screens, rotating displays, and enough unusual form factors to make even the most adventurous laptop enthusiast pause for a moment.

Some of those ideas have remained concepts. Others have eventually become real products. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable (yes, they actually ship some of these!) is perhaps the best example, evolving from an eye-catching prototype into an actual shipping device. But even as Lenovo's concepts have become increasingly impressive from an engineering perspective, I've often found myself wondering how many of them actually solve a problem that regular laptop buyers have. Making a display expand is certainly cool. Convincing people they need it is the harder challenge.

That's why Project Swan immediately stood out to me.

Officially, it's another Lenovo proof-of-concept device, but after spending time with it in person, I came away thinking this may be the company's most practical display concept yet. Not because it's the most ambitious, but because it's arguably the least ambitious.

And that's exactly why it works.

Lenovo finally found a sensible use for a rollable display?

The Lenovo ThinkBook Project Swan begins life as a fairly normal-looking 14-inch laptop.

At 17.9mm thick and weighing 1.6kg (3.5lbs), it isn't trying to break weight records or compete with ultra-premium featherweight notebooks (like Lenovo's new AeroBlade concept). Instead, the focus is on creating a laptop that's comfortable to carry throughout the day while offering something extra when users return to their desk, settle into a hotel room, or need more space for serious work.

That "something extra" is a rollable display that expands horizontally into a 17-inch 16:9 workspace.

Unlike Lenovo's previous rollable designs, which generally expanded vertically, Project Swan widens itself by extending the display out to the sides. It's all done with a touch of a button (see my video below), and it only takes a few seconds.

The result feels much more like using a traditional external monitor than using an experimental form factor. You suddenly have enough room for side-by-side documents, large spreadsheets, dashboards, presentations, browser windows, Teams chats, and everything else that tends to compete for space on a 14-inch screen.

The transformation is dramatic enough to get attention, but conservative enough to feel practical. During my hands-on session, that was the first thing that struck me about the device.

Many of Lenovo's earlier concepts felt designed to answer the question, "Can we do this?"

Project Swan feels far more interested in answering the question, "Would people actually want this?"

That's a subtle distinction, but it's an important one.

This feels like the next step in Lenovo's display experiments

Project Swan didn't emerge in a vacuum. In many ways, it feels like the natural evolution of everything Lenovo has been experimenting with over the last few years.

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable demonstrated that expandable OLED displays could successfully transition from concept to commercial product. Lenovo's Legion rollable gaming laptop concept showed how flexible displays could create an ultrawide experience without requiring users to carry an enormous machine. Other projects explored foldable displays, secondary screens, and entirely new ways of interacting with PCs.

As impressive as many of those concepts were, some occasionally felt like technology showcases first and products second.

Project Swan reverses that equation.

Rather than dramatically changing how people interact with a laptop, it simply gives them more screen real estate when they need it and gets out of the way when they don't. That's a much easier benefit for consumers to understand and, perhaps more importantly, a much easier benefit to justify paying for.

After all, most people already know the dilemma.

A 14-inch laptop is ideal for travel. A larger display is ideal for work.

Project Swan attempts to deliver both.

The idea makes sense. The challenges are obvious.

That isn't to say there aren't trade-offs.

The first thing I noticed when using the expanded display was that the system becomes somewhat top-heavy. That's hardly surprising given the additional display hardware housed in the lid, but it was noticeable enough that I'd expect Lenovo's engineers to still be looking at ways to refine the balance.

Pricing is another obvious concern.

Rollable OLED displays aren't cheap (it's $3,499 for the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable), and if Project Swan ever becomes a commercial product, it's almost certainly going to carry a premium compared to a traditional clamshell laptop. The value proposition may be easier to understand than some other concept devices, but consumers still need to be convinced that expandable screen space is worth the additional cost.

Then there's the question everyone asks whenever a company unveils a rollable or foldable display.

How durable is it?

Flexible OLED technology has improved dramatically over the last few years, but long-term reliability remains an important consideration. How will the mechanism hold up after years of daily use? What happens after thousands of expansion cycles? Will buyers trust a laptop that contains moving display components?

The technology may be ready, but consumer confidence isn't something that can be engineered overnight.

The bigger question is whether people want these new form factors

That's really the challenge facing every laptop manufacturer right now.

The industry has spent years experimenting with alternatives to the traditional clamshell design. Foldable PCs promised tablet-sized displays that fit inside a laptop footprint. Dual-screen systems like the Lenovo Yoga 9i attempted to replace physical keyboards with additional displays. Rollable devices have explored several different directions entirely.

Some enthusiasts love these ideas, but many consumers remain perfectly happy with the laptops they already own.

That's what makes Project Swan so interesting to me. It isn't asking users to learn a new workflow or completely rethink how they use a PC. Instead, it's enhancing something people already understand: bigger screens are often better, but bigger laptops are harder to carry.

Whether that argument ultimately resonates with buyers remains an open question, but it's certainly the clearest pitch Lenovo has made for a rollable display so far.

Lenovo deserves credit for keeping the experimentation alive

Even if Project Swan never reaches store shelves, I appreciate what Lenovo is doing here.

The PC industry can sometimes become obsessed with processor upgrades, AI features, and specification sheets while overlooking more fundamental questions about how people actually use their devices. Lenovo's concepts consistently ask those questions, even when the answers occasionally seem, well, strange.

What's refreshing about Project Swan is that it feels grounded in reality. The company isn't trying to reinvent personal computing or create an entirely new category. Instead, it's exploring a straightforward idea that almost everyone who has worked on a laptop can relate to.

Sometimes you want a compact machine for travel.

Sometimes you wish that same machine had a much larger screen.

Project Swan is the most convincing attempt I've seen yet to bridge that gap.

I still have concerns about durability, balance, pricing, and whether consumers are truly interested in another alternative laptop design. But after trying it for myself, I'm more optimistic about this concept than many of Lenovo's previous experiments.

Ironically, that's because it feels less ambitious. Rather than trying to change how we work, Project Swan simply gives us a little more room to do it.

And that may be exactly what makes it one of Lenovo's most promising concepts yet.

Let me know in the comments what you think about Project Swan. Should Lenovo continue to push this concept of an expanding display, or focus more on other ideas (and if so, which ones)?

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Competition for Apple's MacBook Neo is heating up.

Just days after Dell unveiled a new 14-inch laptop designed to take on Apple's latest mainstream notebook, Lenovo is entering the fight with something considerably more interesting: a laptop that lets you express your personality instead of forcing you to settle for silver, gray, or slightly darker gray.

I recently got to see Lenovo's new IdeaPad Vibe lineup in person in New York City, and while the company talked plenty about AI, processors, and battery life, the thing that immediately stood out to me was how different these laptops look compared to almost everything else on the market.

Most PC makers treat color options as an afterthought. Lenovo is making them the product.

The new IdeaPad Vibe will be available in seven Pantone-developed colors, including Chill Blue, Zen Green, Spicy Gold, Radiant Coral, Dreamy Violet, Lowkey Grey, and Moody Blue. Lenovo says the colors were developed alongside the Pantone Color Institute and are designed to reflect different moods, personalities, and lifestyles.

And that's just the beginning.

As shown in Lenovo's custom configurator (below), users will be able to mix and match chassis colors and keyboard colors to create something uniquely theirs. The company is also offering swappable custom keycaps, adding another layer of personalization that is virtually unheard of in the mainstream laptop space.

The configurator demo I saw almost felt like building a custom character in a video game rather than buying a laptop, and reminded me of the XBOX Design Lab for custom controllers.

In fact, my biggest complaint about the IdeaPad Vibe is that there might be too much choice.

That's obviously a good problem to have, but after looking through the various color combinations, shell finishes, and processor options, I could already imagine spending far too much time trying to decide which configuration to order (I know because I tried).

That's not a sentence I ever expected to write about a Windows laptop.

Of course, a laptop can't survive on colors alone, and thankfully Lenovo seems to have put together a genuinely compelling package underneath all that personality.

The IdeaPad Vibe comes in both 14-inch and 15-inch sizes and starts at just 1.3kg (2.87 pounds) for the smaller model. OLED display options are available with up to 100% DCI-P3 color coverage, while IPS models can offer refresh rates up to 120Hz.

Lenovo is also packing in practical features including dual SSD slots, Wi-Fi 7, USB-A and USB-C ports, HDMI, a MicroSD card reader, and a 5MP IR webcam with a privacy shutter.

AMD, Qualcomm or Intel (eventually)

Then there's the processor selection.

For launch, buyers can choose between AMD Ryzen AI 400 series configurations and Qualcomm Snapdragon X models (we're not clear on exactly which Snapdragon X chip, or even if it's X2), while Intel-based versions will arrive later. AMD models support up to 32GB of upgradeable memory and up to 1TB of SSD storage, while Snapdragon versions offer up to 24GB of memory and the same dual-slot storage flexibility.

Personally, I'd go Qualcomm.

We've reached a point where Snapdragon X PCs consistently deliver excellent everyday performance while also offering some of the best battery life available in the Windows ecosystem. The combination of a lightweight chassis, Copilot+ PC capabilities on supported configurations, and Qualcomm's efficiency makes the Snapdragon version particularly appealing to me.

That isn't to say AMD isn't tempting. AMD's advantage here is flexibility. The Ryzen AI configurations support memory upgrades up to 32GB and offer optional 50Wh or 65Wh battery configurations, making them attractive for enthusiasts who want more control over their hardware.

What impressed me most during my hands-on time wasn't any single specification. It was how cohesive the overall package felt.

The laptops looked premium, felt solid in the hand, and didn't come across as budget systems despite their surprisingly aggressive pricing. That's important because Lenovo isn't positioning the IdeaPad Vibe as a niche fashion accessory. This is meant to be a mainstream Windows laptop that happens to have far more personality than its competitors.

And right now, that may be enough to help it stand out.

Final thoughts

Apple's MacBook Neo has clearly encouraged PC makers to rethink the mainstream laptop category. Dell has already responded with its own fresh take on the formula with its just-announced Dell 14S, and now Lenovo is bringing something completely different to the table: customization.

Instead of asking buyers which shade of gray they prefer, Lenovo is asking what their "vibe" is.

That's a much more interesting question, even if a bit on the nose and a tad cringey.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Vibe with AMD processors launches in October 2026 starting at $699.99, while Qualcomm Snapdragon X models will follow in November 2026 with the same $699.99 starting price. Intel is only listed as coming later.

And after seeing them in person, I think Lenovo may have stumbled onto something other PC makers have forgotten: technology can be personal, but it can also be fun.

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I've seen a lot of concept PCs over the years.

Most are fascinating engineering exercises that are never destined for store shelves. They're designed to spark conversation, generate headlines, and give us a glimpse into what might be possible someday. Some do come to market, like rollable display PCs.

Lenovo's new Project AeroBlade concept feels different.

Officially, it's one of the company's latest proof-of-concept devices, unveiled as part of its annual wave of experimental hardware at IFA 2026. Unofficially? I think there's a very good chance we're looking at Lenovo's next big premium laptop platform.

After getting hands-on with AeroBlade, I walked away convinced this isn't some far-future moonshot. If you told me a shipping version appears within the next year, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

And it can't happen soon enough.

Project AeroBlade is a 14-inch laptop that measures under 10 mm thin and weighs less than 830 grams (1.8lbs). That's lighter than many tablets with keyboard covers attached, yet Lenovo claims performance remains comparable to today's ThinkPad X1 Carbon class of Intel-powered laptops. According to Lenovo, the system achieves this through a completely reimagined thermal design built around its Active Flow cooling architecture developed alongside Frore Systems.

Those numbers don't really hit you until you pick it up.

The first thing that struck me wasn't the thickness. It was the weight. Or rather, the lack of it.

The AeroBlade almost feels unfinished when you lift it because your brain expects more mass. Premium laptops have gotten thinner over the last decade, but reducing weight has become increasingly difficult without introducing compromises. AeroBlade somehow manages to feel substantial and premium while remaining almost shockingly light.

Lenovo says the chassis uses a magnesium-aluminum construction paired with a high screen-to-body OLED display, Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, and Wi-Fi 7. On paper, it sounds like a modern flagship ultrabook. In person, it feels like somebody accidentally removed half the laptop. That's a compliment.

What makes AeroBlade truly interesting, however, isn't how thin it is; it's how Lenovo got there.

The fan is dead. Long live AirJet.

For decades, laptop cooling has largely followed the same formula.

A processor generates heat. Heat pipes move that heat toward a heatsink. One or more fans blow air through the system and out of vents.

The design has evolved, but the fundamentals haven't changed much.

Frore Systems wants to change that.

AirJet is a solid-state active cooling solution that replaces traditional laptop fans with tiny cooling chips that use vibrating membranes to generate airflow. Instead of spinning fan blades, AirJet creates high-velocity pulsating air jets that remove heat while operating at extremely low noise levels. Frore describes it as the world's first solid-state active cooling chip.

One AirJet Mini Slim module is only 2.65mm thick, consumes up to 1 watt of power, removes up to 5.25 watts of heat, and generates significantly higher back pressure than traditional fans. The technology was specifically designed for ultra-thin devices where conventional cooling becomes difficult or impossible.

The clever part is that these modules don't need the large internal spaces required by traditional fans.

Instead of designing a laptop around cooling hardware, manufacturers can distribute AirJet modules throughout the chassis in different locations.

That flexibility is both the technology's greatest strength and its biggest challenge.

During conversations at the event, it became clear why we've seen AirJet demonstrations for a few years but haven't yet seen a flood of mainstream laptops using it.

This isn't a simple parts swap.

OEMs have spent decades designing motherboards, thermal layouts, and internal structures around conventional fans. AirJet requires engineers to rethink much of that architecture. The cooling solution may be smaller, but integrating it properly involves substantial redesign work throughout the entire system.

That's a lot of engineering investment.

But judging by AeroBlade, the payoff might be worth it.

A laptop with almost no compromises

The most impressive thing about AeroBlade is that Lenovo doesn't appear to be treating fanless computing as a compromise.

Traditionally, when manufacturers build ultra-thin fanless systems, performance becomes the sacrifice. The device is quiet and portable, but sustained workloads eventually cause thermal throttling.

Lenovo's pitch is essentially the opposite.

The company believes Active Flow can deliver sustained AI and productivity performance without the compromises typically associated with fanless PCs. The only noise I noticed during my brief hands-on came under heavier workloads, where there was a faint whooshing sound from moving air. It was subtle enough that I had to actively listen for it.

What I didn't notice were intake vents covering the bottom of the chassis. Hooray!

That's because the cooling system works differently than traditional laptop designs. Air management has largely been pushed toward the rear of the system, creating a cleaner and more minimalist design.

The result is a device that feels almost impossibly refined, and that's why I think AeroBlade is a big deal.

Most laptop innovation over the last few years has focused on AI accelerators, NPUs, display tech, and silicon improvements. Those things are important, but they're largely invisible to users (well, maybe not displays, but still).

Cooling isn't.

Cooling defines thickness, weight, acoustics, sustained performance, battery behavior, and overall design flexibility.

In many ways, cooling technology determines what kind of laptop manufacturers can build.

Lenovo could make impossibly thin and light (compared to what we are used to), or use that extra space for a larger battery for absurd laptop longevity. It opens a bunch of engineering doors and options.

The concept that doesn't feel like a concept

Lenovo loves showing proof-of-concept devices, and many never become products.

But the company's track record also shows that some of its most interesting concepts eventually make the jump to production after enough refinement (I'm hoping Lenovo's Legion handheld foldable concept is one of those).

AeroBlade feels like one of those projects. Indeed, this was my first question to Lenovo, as proof-of-concept is often wacky designs, rolling displays, dual displays ... things that look weird but could be useful.

Super thin and light laptop with no vents? Who wouldn't want this? I don't think we really need a focus group to see if it's a good idea!

The hardware already looks polished. The underlying technology exists. The user benefits are immediately obvious. And perhaps most importantly, the industry is constantly searching for ways to make laptops thinner, lighter, quieter, and more efficient.

AirJet checks every one of those boxes.

Will this technology replace fans in gaming laptops with RTX-class graphics anytime soon? Probably not.

But for premium ultraportables, enterprise notebooks, all-in-one desktops, handheld gaming PCs, and productivity-focused systems, I think we're looking at one of the most significant advances in PC design we've seen in years. (We've already openly wondered about Aerojet in a Steam Deck 2).

So, yeah, ironically, the biggest innovation at Lenovo's event wasn't AI.

It was airflow.

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Dell just announced a new laptop to take on Apple's MacBook Neo. The Dell 14S is a colorful laptop designed for college students and young adults, which helps the PC compete with the MacBook Neo's colorful range.

The Dell 14S should be a budget-friendly PC, though Dell has not released pricing for the laptop yet. The laptop has an aluminum body and a nice selection of ports, including two USB 3.2 Type-C ports, an HDMI port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Dell 14S and the Dell XPS 13 released earlier this year both compete with the MacBook Neo, but they do so in different ways. The XPS 13 has a better display, Wi-Fi 7, a backlit keyboard, and is a more premium device.

The Dell 14S promises all-day battery life, is available in several colors, and has a 16:10 display.

People who were intrigued by the low price of the MacBook Neo but want the look of a premium laptop running Windows 11 will likely prefer the newest XPS 13. Those who like the colorful tone of the MacBook Neo but want a lightweight and affordable device running Windows 11 will probably lean toward the Dell 14S.

Dell's confusing naming scheme

Dell is still struggling with naming its products. The company abandoned the XPS lineup and got rid of its entire consumer-focused strategy but has since backtracked and brought back XPS. But the company seems confused on what XPS means to customers.

If you head over to Dell's webpage about the New Dell 14S, you'll see a comparison chart that includes the New Dell 14, New Dell 14S, and Dell 14S. Incredibly, they are quite different from each other.

Listing two laptops side-by-side and having one labeled as "new" is fine. It's somewhat similar to how car companies handle naming, though the automotive industry often just attaches a year within parentheses.

Sticking with that analogy, if you look at a 2025 Honda Civic and a 2026 Honda Civic, they should be somewhat similar vehicles. Barring a complete overhaul, a new version of a model should resemble its predecessor.

If there is an overhaul, it's usually a linear progression, such as when Dell shifted from the old-old XPS to the once-new-but-now-old XPS.

If you did not already know which of the below PCs were XPS laptops, could you easily guess which are in that family of devices?

What is an XPS device in 2026? The new XPS 14 is a premium device featuring an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor or more powerful processor. The not-so-new but still great XPS 14 shares a similar design and also has an Intel Core Ultra 7 chip, albeit an older one.

So, XPS laptops are premium machines with high-end processors and a design resembling the XPS laptops from recent years, correct? Nope. The XPS 13 from this year is a budget-focused PC with options powered by an Intel Core Ultra 3 chip.

Other differences stand out, such as the latest XPS 13 having options with 8GB of RAM compared to the 16GB minimum of the new XPS 14.

Please understand, I think the latest XPS 13 and XPS 14 are excellent laptops. I predict the Dell 14S will also be a solid PC. But I don't understand what Dell is doing with its XPS brand. The company seems to have remembered that consumers value the XPS brand and has chosen to etch the XPS logo onto things willy-nilly.

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We all know that prices of memory, storage, and graphics cards have all shot up in price this year due to the insane AI-boom sucking up all the production resources, and the outlook for PC component upgrades is pretty grim, but luckily there are still a few ways to nab a gaming computer without emptying your bank account. Gigabyte's Aero X16 gaming laptop is down to $ 1,099.99 at Walmart, a $600 discount off the $1,699.99 list price. A gaming laptop or a pre-built gaming desktop is turning out to be the best value-for-money way to keep playing in the current climate.

● Check out this deal at Walmart

The Gigabyte Aero X16 features an AMD Ryzen AI 7 350, an 8-core, 16-thread processor that can boost up to 5 GHz, paired with an Nvidia RTX 5060 with 8GB of VRAM, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4.0 SSD for storage.

The Aero X16 laptop sports a 16-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, offering 100% sRGB color gamut coverage and up to 400 nits of brightness. The IPS panel supports a refresh rate of 165Hz with a 3ms gray-to-gray response time for a smooth gaming experience.

There's no unified soldered RAM or storage in this laptop either. There are dual memory and M.2 slots for upgrades, so that when the prices of RAM or SSDs hopefully subside a little, you can add some more capacity.

Other features of the Aero X16 include a single-zone RGB-backlit keyboard, a 1080p webcam with Windows Hello support, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.2. For connectivity to peripherals and external displays, there are two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type A ports, a USB 4.0 Type-C port, a USB 2.0 Type-A port, and a 3.5mm headphone and mic combo jack, plus a network Ethernet port.

If you're looking for more savings, check out our Best PC Hardware deals for a range of products, or dive deeper into our specialized SSD and Storage Deals, Hard Drive Deals, Gaming Monitor Deals, Graphics Card Deals, Gaming Chair, Best Wi-Fi Routers, Best Motherboard, or CPU Deals pages.

We’re so used to testing cutting-edge, top-end laptops with high price tags that a decently equipped portable that isn’t priced around $2,000 can feel refreshing. And with price increases happening seemingly everywhere, the average laptop buyer probably feels the same.

Enter Acer’s Swift Go 16 AI, a 16-inch portable with an IPS touchscreen, a premium-ish metal shell, AMD Ryzen AI 7 445 processor, and 16GB of RAM paired with 1TB of storage, plus a 7-inch (diagonal) touchpad. It won’t break any performance ground, but it was a solid deal when it was on sale for $799. At its current MSRP price of $1,149, it’s a lot harder to argue for – especially when the silver-shelled Intel-based model (which halves the storage to 512GB but ups the screen tech to OLED) was on sale for just $699 at Best Buy when I wrote this.

Design of the Acer Swift Go 16 AI (Gorgon Point)

The design of Acer’s Swift Go 16 AI packs more positives than negatives, but it is still a mixed bag. Perhaps due to its size, it feels lighter than its 3.53-pound weight, and its aluminum shell (black with zig-zagging slim lines on the lid) puts it head and shoulders above budget offerings. It’s also fairly svelte for a big-screen laptop, at 14 x 9.9 x 0.63 inches.

Port selection is also good, with a pair of USB-C ports, a USB-A port, and HDMI on the left edge.

The right edge houses a Kensington lock slot, another USB-A port, a headset jack, and a microSD card slot.

Also here is the charging indicator light, which is an odd choice since the charging ports are on the other side of the laptop. After plugging the laptop into the charger on my test bench, I had to lean across the laptop just to see if it was charging.

The hinge also lets the screen recline all the way down to 180 degrees, although doing this makes viewing angle issues pretty apparent, as you lose most of the visible brightness.

The metal shell also has more than a little flex, both on the lid and the keyboard, though I noticed it more on the lid every time I closed the laptop. The lid also developed smudges that I couldn’t wipe away, even with a damp cloth and some elbow grease, during my time with it – and for a good chunk of that time it was just sitting untouched on my coffee table. Note, though, that the smudges are a lot less visible when the laptop isn’t sitting under photography lights.

Acer Swift Go 16 AI (the SFG16-A71T-R5UY) Specifications

A warning about magnetic watch bands

Before jumping into the test results, a quick note about a unique (at least to me) issue I had when using the laptop: About half the time when I moved my hands toward the keyboard to type or launch a program, the screen would briefly dim, and then I would be kicked out to the Windows 11 login screen. This eventually happened so frequently that I thought the laptop had some sort of electrical defect, and asked Acer about the problem.

However, as I was demonstrating the issue to a colleague in the office, he wondered aloud whether my watch band might be causing it. I hadn’t thought of that, as I’ve been testing laptops for well over a decade, much of that time while wearing a watch, and have never experienced this issue before. I’ve also had the current band for my Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 for about 14 months, during which time I’ve used countless laptops to a greater or lesser degree. But the band does have a magnetic clasp on the bottom, and sure enough, as soon as I took the band off, or even put it on my left wrist instead of my right, the issue where the screen went black and kicked me out to the login screen went away.

I tried replicating the issue with my watch band and several other laptops, but could not. So the Acer Swift Go 16 AI’s lid sensor does seem particularly sensitive to magnets (I was also able to replicate the issue on the Acer using other magnets and the magnetic band from someone else’s Apple Watch). But it’s a quirk that will mostly plague left-handed people who have magnetic watch clasps – or the odd people like me who wear their watch also on their right wrist.

Productivity Performance on the Acer Swift Go 16 AI

We tested Acer’s Swift Go 16 AI in its sole AMD-based Best Buy configuration, sporting a Ryzen AI 7 445 (Gorgon Point) CPU and integrated Radeon 840M graphics, as well as 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a 1TB SSD.

The Ryzen AI 7 445 is a mid-range chip in AMD’s refreshed lineup, with six cores, 12 threads, and an NPU capable of 50 TOPS for all your Copilot+ and other local AI needs.

Most of the systems we’ve looked at this year are pricier than the Acer, which could make the laptop look bad in our charts. But our comparison systems also cost more. There’s Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Air ($1,299) using a 10-core M5, followed by two 14-inch laptops: Dell’s XPS 14 ($2,199) leverages a Core Ultra X7 358H while Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition ($1,629) uses a Core Ultra 7 355.

On Geekbench 6, the Swift 16 AI was able to hang with Dell’s XPS 14, falling a bit behind in single-core, but landing ahead on the multi-core portion of the test. But the Arm-based laptops from Apple and Lenovo both easily outpaced the x86 competition.

Things looked worse for the Acer laptop in our 25GB file transfer test. Despite the company calling the laptop’s storage out as being PCIe 4, the tested speed of 847.88 MBps is less than half that of the drives in the competing laptops. Still, the Acer drive is fast enough that you won’t likely notice the difference in most common tasks.

On Handbrake, the Acer managed to best the XPS 14 once again (thanks largely to its extra threads). But again, the Arm-based competition, and particularly Lenovo’s Qualcomm-based Yoga Slim 7x, destroys the Acer, converting our 4K video to 1080p in roughly a third of the time it took the Swift Go 16 AI.

The Swift Go 16 AI’s average transfer speed in our 25GB file transfer test was a slow (ish) 847.88 MBps. That’s less than half the speed of any of its laptop competition here, but these are also all pricier laptops. Faster would certainly be better, but the drive in the Acer is plenty fast enough for typical mainstream tasks.

To stress test the CPU in laptops, we run 10 loops of Cinebench 2026. The system started with a score of 2,315, ramped as high as 2487 by the fourth run, and held fairly steady, dropping back to 2468 on the penultimate run, before recovering and finishing at 2,480. During the test, the laptop’s Ryzen AI 7 445 CPU ran at an average frequency of 3.47 GHz.

Graphics on the Acer Swift Go 16 AI

The laptop’s 840M graphics are integrated. But thanks to being paired with an X86 CPU, they can certainly run more games than the Arm-based Apple and Lenovo laptop competition. But on paper, the competition has a clear edge.

In 3DMark Steel Nomad, the Acer Swift Go 16 AI turned in a score of 234, which is slightly less than half that of the Dell XPS 14 (with its four Xe3 cores) more than doubled that, while both the MacBook Air and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x quadrupled the Swift Go’s showing. Again, though, keep in mind that the Acer, while not as powerful on the graphics front, will run more PC games than either the MacBook or Qualcomm-powered Lenovo.

Display on the Acer Swift Go 16 AI

Acer sells the Swift Go 16 AI with a single panel in the AMD-based configuration, a 1,920 x 1,200-resolution IPS panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate. The Intel-based version ups the ante with an OLED display, which sounds like an upgrade, but Best Buy lists that screen at just 250 nits. The IPS screen on our AMD model at least gets brighter than that.

When I watched the story trailer for Marvel’s Wolverine for the PS5, the dress Jean Gray wore in one scene was a vivid green, while the aura of her telekinesis popped in a hue somewhere between magenta and purple, while the often gore-speckled yellow of Logan’s suit looked a bit subdued. In general, colors looked good, and brightness was sufficient. But I did miss the inky blacks of the OLED screens on my Lenovo X9 laptop and my LG TV. That said, if this laptop panel was what I used for work every day, I don’t think I would have any serious complaints. It looks great unless you have something better to compare it to side-by-side.

Our display testing pegged the Acer’s screen at 336 nits, which edged out the Lenovo, but both the XPS 14 and Apple were significantly brighter. Still, the IPS Acer screen delivered more colors than the Dell or Apple laptops, with 121.8% of the sRGB gamut and 86.3% of the larger DCI-P3. In short, this is quite a good screen for a laptop that isn’t a flagship machine. It’s not the brightest of panels, and I did keep it mostly at 100% brightness while using it, it never once felt dimmer than I would have liked.

Keyboard and touchpad on the Acer Swift Go 16 AI

I found typing on the Acer Swift Go 16 AI to be largely fine, with no major complaints. The flat keys don’t offer the best feel or the most generous key travel. And the left and right arrow keys look comically large compared to their up / down counterparts.

The real oddity here is the inclusion of a squished number pad. There clearly isn’t room for anything larger, and I am sure those who find a number pad a necessity would rather have narrow numbers on the right side rather than no numbers. But the layout here makes the keyboard look and – to some extent – feel cramped. Considering this is a pretty large, 16-inch laptop, that’s a somewhat impressive design achievement.

The large, 7-inch touchpad is one of the Swift Go 16 AI’s stand-out features, and while nothing particularly ground-breaking, there are more features to cover than are typical in a laptop.

The touchpad isn’t haptic, but it is covered in Corning Gorilla Glass, and feels fairly premium. It worked well for basic and multi-finger gesture tasks during my time with it. And for tasks like media control and meetings, there are backlit touch buttons that appear when you, say, go to YouTube or launch Teams, letting you control media, volume, and switch to full-screen playback.

We’ve seen similar ideas from Acer and others. I’m not generally a fan of the general idea, but the touch features worked well enough to serve as controls while I watched YouTube. And Acer makes the buttons appear and disappear when you open compatible apps and websites, so it’s not something you have to think about much. You can also turn it off by hitting the X on the bottom-right corner of the touchpad when the lighting appears.

Audio on the Acer Swift Go 16 AI

The pair of downward-firing speakers on the Swift Go 16 AI are fine for meetings and casually watching video or listening to music at a desk, but don’t expect much in the way of bass or impressive volume. When I listened to my favorite test track, Buck-Tick’s “Muma - The Nightmare,” cranking the volume to 100% filled my home office space, but the sound was a little harsh at that volume. Dropping down to 80% or below resulted in better sound, but of course less volume.

If you’re the type that likes to fiddle with audio details, the DTS:X Ultra software is included. It lets you adjust the EQ and select from seven presets, but the Music setting was already enabled by default, so at least for listening, the Swift Go 16 AI’s speakers sound about as good as they can out of the box.

In short, the speakers are OK for basic audio tasks, and are easily loud enough for watching video clips. But if you want to enjoy your audio, especially at higher volumes, consider pairing a decent Bluetooth speaker.

Upgradability of the Acer Swift Go 16 AI

Getting inside Swift Go 16 AI isn’t difficult, provided you have a Torx screwdriver set. Remove ten screws (the ones on the front edge are shorter, so be sure to keep them separate), and you should be able to pry off the bottom. I found a small plastic spudger helpful for getting started, but once I worked a few clips free, the metal bottom lifted right off.

There’s little to do while you’re in there, though. You could swap the standard 2280 M.2 boot drive, or replace the MediaTek wireless card. But as is standard for anything that isn’t a gaming laptop / workstation or a Framework these days, the RAM is soldered down.

Battery life on the Acer Swift Go 16 AI

Unplugged longevity isn’t exactly a strong suit of this Acer, but it still manages a respectable 9.5 hours in our battery test, which consists of web browsing, running OpenGL tests, and streaming videos with the screen at 150 nits while connected to Wi-Fi. That was enough to beat the more powerful Lenovo by 46 minutes, but the Dell and Apple laptops did significantly better. Keep in mind, though, that the Acer has a larger, 16-inch screen than the competition here, which are 13- and 14-inchers, and there’s not much to complain about. Battery life is solid, just like many aspects of the Swift Go 16 AI.

Heat on the Acer Swift Go 16 AI

During our 10-loop Cinebench 2026 stress test, the Swift Go 16 AI’s surface temperatures remained relatively tepid for a slim laptop. We measured a peak of 87 degrees Celsius on the touchpad, 100.5 between the G and H keys, and 114 C on the underside, near the back center. Internally, the Ryzen AI 7 445’s average temperature was 66.9 C across all cores.

Webcam on the Acer Swift Go 16 AI

The webcam on the Swift Go AI is a step above mainstream options, at least on paper. It has an IR sensor for Windows Hello login, and Acer says the sensor supports IR and is capable of recording video up to 1800p at 30 FPS. The Camera app limited me to 2560 x 1600, which is still good for a mainstream laptop. Colors were generally accurate, and I did notice more detail in my beard than most 1080p models. But the camera still struggles with blown-out light from nearby windows.

Acer claims there is Temporal Noise Reduction at play here to keep pixels from looking grainy. Generally, I didn’t see any graininess, but the process also results in images and video that look soft when viewed at full size. In all, webcam performance feels like more than an afterthought, but isn’t the best I’ve seen. At this price, that’s perfectly fine.

Software on the Acer Swift Go 16 AI

There is a significant amount of adware and software bloat pre-baked into this Acer’s operating system. On the taskbar alone, you’ll find pins for Forge of Empires, Dropbox, and Booking.com. The start menu includes a couple more games: Elvenar and Amazing Block Blast, as well as WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and AcerSense. I also found ExpressVPN in the installed apps folder.

Oddly, AcerSense, the company’s own app for checking the status and health of the laptop’s various components, and changing power modes, wasn’t actually installed. When I clicked on it, a launcher started downloading. I would just delete it, like most of the cruft here. If you’re an absolute novice at recent versions of Windows, it might be a little helpful, but most of what it does and shows you is also available within Windows itself.

While I wouldn’t quite call this a serious excess of unnecessary and unhelpful software (in other words, I have seen worse), there is quite a lot here. When the laptop is on sale for hundreds off its MSRP, it feels like a necessary evil in these days of higher prices. But if you’re paying close to the $1,149 MSRP, you shouldn’t have to deal with this much bloat.

Acer Swift Go 16 AI Configurations

Acer sells AMD and Intel versions of the Swift Go 16 AI at Best Buy. Our black AMD-based model ships with a Ryzen AI 7 445 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. Its price ranged significantly from $799 to the $1,149 MSRP while I worked on this review. A higher-end AMD model ups the RAM to 32GB, the CPU to a Ryzen 9 465, for $1,499.

On the Intel side, there’s an Intel Core Ultra 5 version that halves the storage (512GB) but opts for an OLED screen with the same 1,920 x 1,200 resolution. That was selling for an enticing $699 ($300 off) as I wrote this. If you can get it at that price, this model is the clear bargain of the bunch. But a beefier Intel option with a Core Ultra 7 355 and 32GB of RAM at $1,169 ($1,549 MSRP) also isn’t bad if you need more power and memory.

Bottom Line

If you’re after a larger-screen laptop that doesn’t feel like a budget machine, there’s a lot to like with the Swift Go 16 AI – especially when it’s on sale. The AMD-based model we tested delivered solid performance and a good IPS screen. The SSD is slower than its pricier competition, but it wasn’t so slow that you’re likely to notice during typical tasks.

There is also more bloatware than is typical in laptops around the $1,000 price point, but it’s easy enough to uninstall. Just keep an eye on the pricing, which swung significantly between $799, $999, and $1,049 in the weeks when I was working on this review. And don’t discount the silver Intel Core Ultra 5 322-based model, which drops the storage down to 512GB, but includes an OLED screen. That model dipped as low as $699 in recent weeks, but has now jumped back up to $999. Either model is worth considering, and both are great values when priced below $800.

Razer's gaming keyboards rank among the best on the market, whether you're looking to crush the competition in games or type up school reports. However, if you've ever shopped around, you've probably noticed how many are on the higher end of the affordability scale.

• Crush the new semester with Razer keyboards

Fortunately, one of Razer's top-rated wired gaming keyboards, the Huntsman V3 Pro 60%, has managed to evade lofty pricing for a limited time, thanks to a 28% discount bringing it to $129.99 at Best Buy, giving you a chance to get a leg up on multiplayer and get a head start on your studies for less.

What buy the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro Mini 60%?

For starters, this keyboard features Razer's Analog Optical Gen-2 switches, which grant it extremely precise and responsive input detection speeds, which can be enhanced further with a Rapid Trigger mode and adjustable actuation that ranges between 0.1 mm and 4.0 mm.

The Huntsman V3 Pro 60% also features textured double-shot PBT keycaps with a keystroke lifespan of 100-million clicks to help it endure many years of intense button mashing.

Other notable features include a sleek and compact 60% form factor that makes it very portable-friendly while saving tons of vital desk space, buttons that double as arrow keys, and a Razer Snap Tap feature, which prioritizes the latest input between two selected keys without letting go of the previous one for near-instant directional movements in action games.

The only noticeable drawbacks of this keyboard are the somewhat noisy switches with no sound dampening (as noted in GamesRadar's review), the lack of wireless connectivity, and its usually steep listing price of $179.99.

So, it's a blessing to see its high price taken down to somewhat more affordable levels thanks to Best Buy's 28% discount, especially during this general RAM crisis where almost everything else in tech has become so insanely expensive.

If you're looking for a high-quality wired gaming keyboard that doubles as a high-speed workhorse keyboard for helping you ace exams or assignments, you can't go wrong with the Razer Huntsman V3 Pro 60%.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Before Microsoft acquired Nokia, the company was heavily rumoured to be working on its own in-house Windows Phone device that was expected to ship in 2014 under the Surface moniker alongside its Surface Pro device. Unfortunately for Windows Phone fans, such a device never saw the light of day, but newly published images of a mysterious prototype might have just given us our first and only look at what Microsoft was exploring internally.

Possibly codenamed Raven, there isn't much information available about this prototype, other than the fact that it’s from the 2013-2014 time frame and is running an early pre-release build of Windows Phone 8.1. It’s powered by an unknown Qualcomm chip, has a 720p screen, features a Microsoft logo on the back, and a silver metal frame that matches the colour of the Surface 2 that released that same year.

We can see in the photos that it has dedicated hardware keys for navigation, which are also coated in the same silver color as the chassis. The build of Windows Phone that it’s running appears to be from September 2013, and is from an internal development branch building towards what eventually became Windows Phone 8.1.

While not viewable in the images, I understand the device features individual up and down volume buttons and a camera button on the right-hand side of the device, and a power button on the top of the device. It also features a micro-USB port and headphone jack on the bottom side, and a SIM card slot on the left side.

This is likely one of dozens of prototype designs that Microsoft’s hardware teams cooked up during this era, but it’s certainly a fascinating look at what could have been, and it does look so clean. Development on this device was likely paused once Microsoft moved to acquire Nokia in 2014.

Back in 2013, I remember hearing from sources that Microsoft was experimenting with the concept of a "Skype Phone," a Windows Phone device with mobile data that utilized Skype for calls and messaging instead of traditional carrier networks. Perhaps this device was going to be that? Who knows.

The Surface Phone we eventually got arrived as the Surface Duo, which started development in 2016 and launched to the public in 2020. In that time, Microsoft shipped Nokia designs in the form of the Lumia 640, 650, 950, and 550 running Windows Phone, before abandoning the platform in 2017.

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Dell's latest XPS 13 (DX13260) was unveiled at Computex 2026 and launched in June, starting at $599 for students and $699 for everyone else.

Not to be outdone, Acer also unveiled a new budget $699 Windows 11 laptop at Computex; the Acer Swift Air 14 is expected to launch in North America in August ... basically any day now.

Considering how closely matched these two PCs are in price, I thought it was best to put together a comparison to help you make the right decision.

Dell XPS 13 vs. Acer Swift Air 14: Specifications

Here's a breakdown of the specs that go into each of these laptops to give you a better idea of what you're buying.

TL;DR? Acer's Swift Air 14 is a larger laptop with a much larger battery capacity, and both PCs run on the same Intel Wildcat Lake chips. I break down the differences in some detail below this table.

These budget laptops feel like they should cost a lot more than $699

One major feature that sets these budget laptops apart from other PCs in the same price range is their aluminum frames. These are laptops with a truly premium feel despite their budget pricing.

Windows Central Senior Editor Zac Bowden went hands-on with the new Acer Swift Air 14 at Computex, remarking:

Dell offers two colors — Storm or Sky — for its XPS 13, while Acer offers Sage Green, Frost Blue, Blossom Pink, and Lilac Purple colors for a bit of extra expression.

The Swift Air 14 is the larger of the two laptops due to its 14-inch screen. It's still only about 12.36 inches wide (basically the size that 13-inch laptops used to be), and it weighs in at just 2.75 pounds (1.25kg).

The XPS 13 has a width of 11.69 inches and weighs in at 2.2 pounds (1kg), which is considerably lighter. I'd say that both of these laptops are extremely portable, and there's a difference of just 0.1 inches when it comes to thickness.

The laptops feel premium, and that's really what matters with such affordable devices. Bowden, too, went hands-on with the new XPS 13, stating:

TL;DR: Both laptops have a premium design and build quality, and they're both relatively thin and light. Stick with the XPS 13 if you want to be as mobile as possible, though the Swift Air 14 isn't far behind.

Touchpads and keyboards don't suffer from budget pricing

As I mentioned, these laptops don't feel like they cost $699. Zac Bowden and I tested them both while we were at Computex, and it's clear that both brands put a lot of work into their keyboards and touchpads.

Dell skipped its lattice-free keyboard design on the new XPS 13 for a more traditional feel, and its mechanical touchpad (no haptics, unfortunately) is large and has a satisfying click.

In the same vein, the Swift Air 14's keyboard has decent travel and a comfy feel. The touchpad, again without haptics, is large and tracks well. You'll ultimately have to decide for yourself which setup you like more, but I can say that neither laptop skimps on the backlit keyboard and mechanical touchpad.

TL;DR: Your final decision will likely come down to personal preference, but I can say after testing both laptops that neither is likely to disappoint in terms of touchpad and keyboard.

Port selection might be the weak spot for some users

The XPS 13 with Intel's Wildcat Lake chips features dual USB-C 3.2 (Gen 2) ports. If you spend more on a model with an Intel Panther Lake CPU, you'll get two Thunderbolt 4 ports instead.

The Swift Air 14 is a lot better on ports, with dual Thunderbolt 4, one USB-A 3.2, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

As for wireless connectivity, the XPS 13 has more modern Wi-Fi 7 connectivity paired with Bluetooth 6.0. The Acer Swift Air 14 falls back to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. Is this a difference an average user will notice in day-to-day computing? Absolutely not.

TL;DR: Dell's most affordable XPS 13 models don't come with Thunderbolt 4, and there's no 3.5mm audio jack. Acer's Swift Air 14 comes with dual Thunderbolt 4 by default, plus it adds USB-A and an audio jack.

Both PCs have IR cameras for Windows Hello

Something you don't see very often in budget laptops is an IR camera for Windows Hello. This additional hardware built into the above-display cameras unlocks facial recognition for Windows 11, adding an invaluable layer of security for any type of user.

Both laptops have a regular 1080p camera for video conferencing and stills. We had limited time to test cameras during our hands-on, but each seemed to do a good job of handling varying lighting conditions.

TL;DR: There's not much difference here between the 1080p webcams with IR sensors for Windows Hello facial recognition.

Dell's XPS 13 has a superior display compared to the Swift Air 14

Measuring 13.4 inches with a 2560x1600 (2.5K) resolution, the XPS 13's display doesn't fail to impress. It's crisp, it has plenty of brightness at a 500-nit maximum, and an anti-glare finish makes it easier to see in bright conditions.

It features Dolby Vision certification for HDR content, it has a 30Hz to 120Hz variable refresh rate, and Dell clocks it at 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage.

The only aspect I can see Acer winning with the Swift Air 14's display is sizing. It measures 14 inches, giving some users a much-needed boost for multitasking. It also hits 100% sRGB color.

It does, however, have a lower 1920x1200 resolution and less brightness at 350 nits. It's unclear if the Swift Air 14's display has a variable refresh rate: it's listed as 120Hz only. That's a nice smooth picture, though the variable aspect can help conserve battery life.

TL;DR: The XPS 13's higher resolution, variable refresh rate, and Dolby Vision certification make it an attractive option, though some users will prefer a full 14 inches from the Swift Air 14 for easier multitasking.

Intel Wildcat Lake CPUs help keep prices down

Dell's Wildcat Lake Core Series 3 processors are driving both of these $699 laptops, so I don't expect there to be much difference in performance. However, there is some nuance.

The XPS 13 is currently only available with a Core 5 320 chip; a Core Ultra 7 355 chip from the more powerful Panther Lake series is expected to arrive at some point in the future. If you want the most power possible and don't mind spending more, this is the configuration I'd hold out for.

I'm expecting the Swift Air 14 to launch with the same Core 5 320 CPU in its $699 model, but Acer also lists a Core 7 350 for those with a bit more to spend. Both laptops come with 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and only Dell plans to release a 32GB config for its upcoming Intel Core Ultra model.

TL;DR: The use of Intel Wildcat Lake CPUs in both laptops means performance should be close. If you want more power, only the XPS 13 is expected to offer an Intel Panther Lake alternative.

Acer's Swift Air 14 has a much larger battery capacity, but Dell has a secret weapon

The Intel Wildcat Lake chips used in these laptops are geared to offer exceptional battery life.

Dell says its XPS 13 with a 52Wh battery can go for up to 17 hours when streaming video, and that's boosted by the use of 800ED battery cells that hold more power while taking up less physical space.

Acer's Swift Air 14 has a larger 70Wh battery, though it doesn't have Dell's extra-dense cells. This results in an estimated 19 hours of video playback, or 16 hours of web browsing, according to Acer.

We'll have to perform our own tests on these laptops to discover the true battery life, but I can say that both PCs should be able to get through a day of work or study without needing a charge.

TL;DR: The Swift Air 14's larger battery capacity is offset by Dell's use of denser battery cells. Both PCs should be able to go for most of a day without needing a charge.

Dell XPS 13 vs. Acer Swift Air 14: Which should you buy?

Acer's Swift Air 14 is expected to launch sometime in August, starting at $699. When it does, Dell's XPS 13 — which is available now — will have some new competition in the budget-but-premium space.

Which laptop you ultimately choose should come down to several personal preferences. Want a larger display even with a lower resolution? Acer's laptop is the way to go. Want a larger battery capacity? The same goes.

But Dell's XPS 13 drops its price to $599 if you're a student, which makes it a particularly spectacular deal. Combine that with a higher-res 2.5K display, snappy performance, and long battery life, and you have a PC that's tough to beat.

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One of the best laptop deals of the year is live, though I'm worried stock won't last. The Dell XPS 14 (2025) is up to $1,350 off.

I highlighted Dell's discount on the XPS 14 recently, and the deal has since gotten even better. I didn't think I'd see a laptop with these specs at this price in 2026. 32GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and 3.2K OLED touch display for $1,549.99 is, quite frankly, ludicrous.

My only concern is that the laptop dropping in price quickly suggests Dell is almost out of stock and wants to clear out 2025 models to push the newer XPS 14 laptops from this year.

Why buy the Dell XPS 14?

The XPS 14 is a pretty laptop built for productivity. At one time, there were a bunch of variations for this PC, but the options have been trimmed down as stock dips. The 3.2K OLED touch display in this model stands out, especially at this price.

The XPS 14 has a zero-lattice keyboard that packs large keys into a relatively small laptop body. The haptic touchpad of the XPS 14 is invisible, creating a clean look when the laptop is open.

That touchpad can take some time to get used to, but it was praised by Tom's Guide in their review:

"The keys have good travel distance and just the right amount of resistance when pressed. Once you get used to how tightly packed they are, typing is a breeze. And now that I’m used to it, the invisible touchpad doesn’t bother me. As before, I like the haptic feedback the touchpad produces, which also helps me know its location."

As a reminder, the Dell XPS 14 (2025) was originally called the Dell 14 Premium. Dell abandoned that naming scheme and resurrected the XPS brand earlier this year and retroactively renamed older models.

While I love the design of the XPS 14, it has battery life that's just OK. Our colleagues at Tom's Guide got 8 hours and 16 minutes in their testing. For context, 10 hours of battery life is considered "pretty good" in that same test.

The discounted XPS 14 model I highlighted retails for $2,899.99, but it is from last year. Many laptops from this year with 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage cost well over $2,000. The new XPS 14 with those specs is $2,119.99 right now, and that's after a $630 discount. That version also has a 2K non-touch screen rather than the 3.2K OLED touch screen seen in the XPS 14 (2025) highlighted here.

FAQ

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Razer's gaming keyboards have consistently ranked as some of the best you could buy, and, of course, they double up as generally excellent options for work and studies. Because let's be honest, if a keyboard doesn't feel good for actual typing, then is it even doing its job?

• Crush the new semester with Razer keyboards

We already praised the Huntsman V3 Pro as "the world's most advanced gaming keyboard", and for now, the downside of its high price has been solved as the tenkeyless (TKL) model drops to $124.99 at Best Buy. Compared to its original MSRP of $219.99, it's instantly a much more tempting pick.

That $95 price drop stands alongside a discount on the full-size variant that we tested, bringing that to $180.74 with a much more specific $69.25 discount. Either way, you'll gain access to Snap Tap, Razer's solution for perfect counter-strafing in FPS games that prioritizes the most recently pressed button.

What makes the Huntsman V3 Pro so good?

Adjustable actuation is one of those phrases that crops up around keyboards, and it's a feature that shines when you have the time to dig into it. Essentially, you can change the depth at which the optical switches underneath the keys detect a valid press, usually opting for shallow pushes during gaming and more deliberate, deeper pushes for typing.

If you're into tweaking and personalization, you'll get a lot out of it by fine-tuning the actuation and saving it to one of the on-board memory profile slots. That, paired with its brushed aluminum chassis and double-shot PBT textured keys for more durable lettering, makes for a comfortable typing experience.

On the flip side, we noted in our (full-size) Razer Huntsman V3 Pro review that the leatherette wrist rest isn't perfect, but it is magnetic, so if you'd rather use it only for typing and remove it for a night of gaming, it's easy to detach. I'd recommend giving it a fair try, as it's generally better to use something to support your wrists than nothing at all, but your mileage may vary.

Overall, this discount makes the Huntsman V3 Pro, whether TKL or full-size, an absolute bargain. Even if you don't make use of all the extra dials at first, diving into customization would help you assign them to your most-used features soon after. It's a quality wired keyboard that works just as hard for daily typing, so you could probably argue it's a back-to-school expense if you tried.

Frequently Asked Questions

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In an age where the best laptops are being price-gauged for everything they're worth thanks to AI eating all our RAM and memory, sometimes laptops we never took a shine to can end up being smarter financial alternatives, provided they have redeeming qualities and discounts to back them up.

One such flawed but capable laptop is the 16-inch, 2-in-1 Lenovo Yoga 7i, a laptop that doesn't quite get the "2-in-1" part right but makes up for it with all-day battery life, a strong SSD for fast boot-up times and decent storage space, and more enticing features that are now 20% off for $799.99 at Best Buy (was $999.99).

Why buy the Lenovo Yoga 2-in-1 laptop?

Now, the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 16-inch isn't the greatest laptop in the world. When our laptop expert, Ben Wilson reviewed it, he remarked that its "sub-par IPS panel prevents its tablet mode from appealing to creatives who demand accurate color reproduction."

Plus, no bundled-in stylus pen combined with a stiff screen hinge makes the laptop's tablet mode not as useful or enjoyable compared to its competition.

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However, that doesn't mean the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 is worthless, as it has plenty of redeeming qualities.

It features above-average performance rates for crushing productivity tasks thanks to its Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor (2024) and 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD to help store vital data files and boot its systems quickly, a 70Wh battery that will last over thirteen hours, and solid Wi-Fi 7 connectivity to ensure you never lose connection with the internet and never wait forever for web pages to load.

It's also got a built-in fingerprint scanner that acts as a secondary security measure for your precious work files, a 2K touchscreen with 60Hz refresh rates and 1080p resolution so you can view documents and spreadsheets with clear clarity, and competent performance rates for tackling AI-related tasks thanks to its integrated Copilot+ feature and a Neural Processing Unit capable of 40 TOPS.

So if you're looking for a reliable mid-range laptop that won't cost you over $1,000 to tackle work reports or school exams while travelling, the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 that's now 20% off at Best could be the best unlikely weapon you didn't know you needed for slaying productivity backlogs.

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Back to school season is upon us again, and if you're in the market for a new laptop, there are plenty of student-friendly Chromebooks worth considering in 2026. We test these devices every year to ensure that they still meet Android Central's rigorous standards, and I was pleased to see that my personal favorite for students on a budget, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3, is currently chilling with an impressive $220 discount at Best Buy.

The class-ready Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 just scored an epic discount at Best Buy

Whether you're studying, drawing, or streaming your favorite series after class, the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 is one of the best Chromebooks for students because of its overall versatility and bang for the buck. 

Straight out of the box, you get a vibrant 14-inch 1080p display with a touchscreen and a durable enough build that you can easily throw the laptop into a backpack or briefcase. The Chromebook will also last up to 18 hours on a single charge, so you don't have to worry about juicing up mid-class or during those long study sessions. 

The IdeaPad Slim 3's MediaTek Kompanio 520 processor with 4GB of RAM is capable enough for studying, streaming, and browsing the web, plus you get plenty of ports (including a microSD card slot) for all of your devices and storage needs. 

So what's the catch? Well, as the saying goes: you get what you pay for. The IdeaPad Slim 3 is a basic laptop that's built for basic tasks, and as it's a 2023 device, you shouldn't expect the latest software features as soon as you boot it up. 

If you want a cheap laptop that's reliable and durable enough to bring with you wherever you go, the Slim 3 is a great pick. But if you want something with a bit more power and innovation under the hood (and you don't mind paying for it), there are plenty of other outstanding Chromebooks to consider this semester.