The Evolution of Laptops: From Gaming Powerhouses to AI-Powered Ultrabooks

Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x review: Snapdragon power meets AI smarts | Stuff

It might sound like I've swallowed the marketing red pill, but Microsoft's Copilot+ PCs really are the laptop world's biggest shake-up in decades. And not just because of all the waffle about on-device AI. No, it's because they're all powered (at least initially) by Qualcomm chipsets, rather than the traditional Intel/AMD duopoly. The Snapdragon X Elite inside Lenovo's Yoga Slim 7x is based on ARM architecture, which promises better battery life than anything x86 and performance on par with Apple's latest in-house efforts. Gaming isn't off the table either. And let's not forget the neural processing unit, for speeding up all those AI-based tasks Microsoft seems convinced we'll soon be doing. Factor in a retina-soothing OLED display and an especially comfy keyboard, and there's plenty to like here. But an ARM-based operating system throws up a few complications, and it doesn't exactly undercut the closest competition. Does that make this a laptop for the early adopters only? Lenovo hasn't decked the Yoga Slim 7x out in full businesswear like its other copilot laptop, the ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 - but I wouldn't exactly call it a design trendsetter either. It looks pretty generic, with a small bump above the screen to make room for the Windows Hello-ready webcam being the only style flourish. This is still a svelte machine, measuring just 18mm at its thickest point, and the aluminium chassis keeps weight to a minimum. Lenovo also says the Yoga Slim 7x is MIL-STD-810H certified against shocks and drops, so unexpected introductions to hard surfaces shouldn't necessarily spell disaster. There weren't any during my testing. I barely noticed the 1.28kg laptop in my backpack while on a work trip - though leaving the power brick at home was also a factor. A MacBook Air is also thinner and lighter still. The dark blue colour scheme adds a touch more personality than generic black or silver. I wish it did a better job of disguising fingerprint smudges and smears, though. The laptop looked quite greasy after a few days of use, meaning I often had to reach for a cleaning cloth. I think Lenovo has cut back connectivity a little too much, with just three USB-C ports on offer: two on the left, one on the right. They're of the super speedy USB4 variety, at least. But with no USB-A dongle in the box, you're out of luck if you're still using older peripherals. You don't get a 3.5mm port for wired headphones or any sort of card reader; just a switch to disable the webcam (which doesn't seem like the most convenient place for one to live) and a power button. With no fingerprint reader your only password-free login option is facial recognition. A 14.5in display puts the Yoga Slim 7x between the smallest ultraportables and more mainstream 15.6in laptops, though skinny side bezels make it feel more like the former. The 16:10 aspect ratio is par for the course on a 2024 laptop, with plenty of space for side-by-side working. It's an OLED, of course - Lenovo was quick to adopt the panel tech, while other firms are only just getting on board this year. Expect colours that are wonderfully vivid and contrast that's simply outstanding, helped in part by the glossy screen finish. The 2994×1840 resolution guarantees crisp text and detailed images, and the touch layer is wonderfully responsive to taps and swipes. OK, the 90Hz refresh rate means motion isn't going to be as butter-smooth as Asus' Vivobook S 15, but it's still a step up from the latest MacBook Air's 60Hz panel. This isn't the brightest laptop around, either, but only falls a little short of its closest rivals. I was still able to work in a brightly lit office without any trouble. Light reflections were the biggest pitfall, even with the brightness slider fully cranked. Maybe draw the curtains before settling in for a House of the Dragon boxset binge. It might be a slender machine, but Lenovo has found room inside the Yoga Slim 7x for a quad speaker setup - two 2w woofers and two 2w tweeters, in an up/down configuration. The grilles that flank the keyboard help deliver clean vocal performances, but are much more limited on bass. There's a decent amount of volume on tap, if not enough to fill a room for some shared Netflix viewing. The Yoga Slim 7x's shield-like keys will feel instantly familiar to anyone that's used a Lenovo laptop lately. The island-style keyboard has a near-perfect blend of size, spacing, key travel and tactile response. A powder coating gives each key a little more grip than I'm used to from my laptops. The white LED backlighting is even, with minimal leakage around the sides of each key, and gets very bright too. I had no complaints about the touchpad, either. It's plenty big enough, without getting in the way of my wrists while typing, and the smooth texture is great for low-friction swiping. All the usual multi-touch gestures worked perfectly, and the physical click was more satisfying than some of the weak haptic touchpads I've seen on rival laptops recently. It didn't ever get hot to the touch, either - even after hours of use. As it's still early days for Qualcomm-powered laptops, a little explanation is in order. The Snapdragon X Elite X1E78100 chipset inside the Yoga Slim 7x is based on ARM architecture, not the x86 instruction set that's been the basis of pretty much every version of Windows, save for the catastrophe that was Windows RT. You're getting the full-fat version of Windows here, thank goodness. The chip has twelve CPU cores, integrated Adreno graphics and a Hexygon neural processor for speeding up AI-based tasks. The system-on-chip design should also bring battery savings on par with modern MacBooks; more on that later. The X1E78100 isn't the fastest Snapdragon silicon, lacking a little graphics muscle and the dual-core boost mode of top-tier chips, but has more than enough oomph for most desktop duties. Here it's paired with 16GB of RAM, whether you go for the version with 512GB of storage or the pricier 1TB option. In my week of typical use, the Yoga Slim 7x was a peppy performer. My usual work day is mostly spent in a browser with about 30 tabs open, while Photoshop, Slack, Teams, Outlook and Spotify run in the background; at no point did the laptop feel sluggish or unresponsive. Benchmarks suggest this isn't the fastest Copilot laptop out there, with the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 outscoring it in Geekbench, but it trades blows with an M3-powered MacBook Air, and was faster at encoding videos using Handbrake. You won't be editing multiple 4K streams or rendering oscar-worthy visual effects here, but anyone who works with static images should be happy with the power available - as long as their preferred software plays ball with ARM operating systems, anyway. This isn't a gaming machine by any means, and will struggle to play modern titles at anything above low detail settings - and even then smooth performance isn't guaranteed. It could play simpler fare such as Hades perfectly well, though. Indies and 2D titles are your best bet, or esports games with the quality presets lowered. Gaming was also when I noticed the two cooling fans the most; they don't create a huge racket, but are definitely noticeable over any background noise. The biggest benefit to picking Qualcomm over an Intel- or AMD-powered laptop is battery life. I managed to eke out over 15 hours of video playback from the Yoga Slim 7x, which is up there with the absolute best of the Windows world, and not far off what Stuff has seen from the M3-powered Apple MacBook Air 13in. In more real-world tests ten hours was doable, which I feel is enough to leave the power brick at home - though add some more demanding tasks into the mix and that figure does drop off. Copilot is already such an integral part of Windows 11 it has its own keyboard shortcut. You're given the briefest of overviews while first setting up the laptop, but are otherwise left to uncover things like Studio Effects for video calls, the imaging generating Cocreator tool and Live Captions for any audio by yourself. Open Microsoft Paint and Cocreator can transform a basic doodle into something much more artistic, based on a simple text prompt. It's the most visual AI demo going right now, doesn't demand a subscription fee like many online generators, and runs on the laptop's NPU. Just don't get it mixed up with the Image Creator, which uses DALL-E in the cloud rather than the NPU; and once you've spent the 50 credits included for signing in with your Microsoft account, you'll have to buy more to keep using it. Studio Effects are only useful if you spent a lot of time in virtual meetings. The automatic framing and eye contact adjustment is a little creepy at first, but offloading background blur from the onboard graphics to the NPU helps stop the laptop from feeling sluggish. Live captions work system-wide, and can even handle language translations on the fly with decent accuracy. Copilot search is also very slick, showing its sources so you can verify any info it provides. Lenovo has otherwise kept things simple on the software side, with just a few own-brand utilities meant to keep performance ship-shape over time. There's just one thing to keep in mind before downloading or installing your third-party favourites: as an ARM-based machine, not every program will play nicely. Some have native versions, like Photoshop; others will work just fine using Microsoft's Prism emulator; some won't. There's a trial-and-error process here that'll feel alien to many Windows users. Did a lack of longevity put you off a Windows-powered ultraportable before? The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x could change your mind. It has the battery life to challenge a MacBook Air, a chipset powerful enough for most desktop duties, and a gorgeous OLED screen that's equally suited to productivity and play. Connectivity is quick, but limited, and ARM emulation doesn't yet play nicely with every app or program - though that's Microsoft and Qualcomm's jobs to fix. The two firms also talk big about NPUs and on-board AI, right now I don't see them as reason alone to buy a Copilot PC. Intel and AMD haven't been asleep at the wheel either, with new chips that have a clear lead on graphics and gaming. But if you're sold on Snapdragon, and largely stick to web browsing and office jobs, this is an excellent all-purpose machine.

HP EliteBook Ultra G1q Review

Just when we learn the nomenclature of HP's EliteBook business laptops -- rising in features, performance, and price from the 600 through 800 and 1000 series -- comes something new: the EliteBook Ultra G1q ($1,699 as tested). Indeed, "new" seems too mild a word: The 14-inch slimline is not just another Word, Excel, and PowerPoint platform but a Microsoft-anointed Copilot+ PC with an AI-ready Qualcomm Snapdragon Arm processor instead of a familiar Intel or AMD chip inside. The Ultra G1q is a classy and capable corporate laptop, but at least until more AI apps appear, it doesn't bring compelling advantages over HP's (or Lenovo's or Dell's) mainstream x86 systems. Configuration and Design: Corporate and Consumer Cousins Suppose you're a small-office entrepreneur instead of an enterprise IT manager. In that case, you should know that -- except for being a different color and a tenth of an inch thinner -- the EliteBook Ultra G1q is the near-identical twin of the HP OmniBook X 14 reviewed shortly before this but costs $500 more. The surcharge buys you business-class support (a three-year parts and labor warranty, though on-site service is extra) and managerial software led by HP's famed Wolf Security suite. Our $1,699 test unit -- repeatedly discounted to $1,595 on HP.com during this review -- combines Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 processor (with Adreno graphics and the Hexagon neural processing unit), 16GB of memory, a 512GB NVMe solid-state drive, and a 2,240-by-1,400-pixel IPS touch screen. The Windows 11 Pro system has passed MIL-STD 810H torture tests against travel hazards such as shock and vibration; you'll feel almost no flex if you grasp the screen corners, though a bit if you press the keyboard deck. Clad in attractive "Atmosphere Blue" aluminum, the EliteBook Ultra G1q measures 0.44 by 12.3 by 8.8 inches and slips under the ultraportable line at 2.97 pounds. The all-time champion 14-inch business laptop, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, is 0.59 by 12.3 by 8.5 inches and half a pound lighter. Thin bezels surround the 16:10 aspect ratio display, which tilts quite far back, though not 180 degrees to flat. A 5-megapixel webcam with IR face recognition for Windows Hello logins (no fingerprint reader here) and a sliding privacy shutter is centered above the screen. The HP has two USB Type-C ports on its left flank -- a 40Gbps USB4 in front of a 10Gbps USB-C 3.2. A drop-jaw USB 3.2 Type-A port joins a headphone/microphone jack on the right side. The AC adapter is a USB-C connector. With no HDMI port, you'll need a DisplayPort adapter to plug in an external monitor, and you won't find a flash-card slot or LTE or 5G mobile broadband option. Built-in Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 radios handle wireless connectivity. Using the HP EliteBook Ultra G1q: Previews of Coming Attractions While the webcam can capture 2,880-by-1,620-pixel stills, its video calls are limited to 1440p resolution, giving it a leg up on cheap 720p and even most laptops' 1080p cameras. Its images are sharp, reasonably well-lit, and quite colorful, with virtually no noise or static. Windows Camera's Studio Effects are some of the few benefits of AI hardware available to date, doing a noticeably better job of automatic framing or blurring the background (or even making it look like a watercolor painting), and HP bundles a Poly Camera Pro app with even fancier fine-tuning. HP's IPS touch screen doesn't look exceptionally bright in everyday use, though it exceeded its rated 300 nits in our instrument testing below. The screen's colors are rich and well-saturated, its white backgrounds are clean instead of dingy, and its details are clear, with no pixelation visible around the edges of letters. Contrast is high and viewing angles are broad on the display, though the touch glass catches room reflections. Sound from the bottom-mounted speakers is reasonably loud, if not all that loud, and finely crisp, if just a bit hollow. You'll hear just a hint of bass, and it's easy to make out overlapping tracks. The laptop's preinstalled MyHP software includes AI noise reduction for conference calls, though it makes no perceptible difference in music playback. The backlit keyboard automatically loses points for having the typical HP layout, with half-height up and down arrow keys stacked between full-size left and right instead of putting those cursor controls in the correct inverted T. Worse, you must pair those arrows with the Fn key in the absence of real Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys. On the positive side, the keys have a snappy, tappy, albeit shallow typing feel, and the plus-size buttonless touchpad glides smoothly with a comfortable click. The Ultra G1q's implementation of HP Wolf Security isn't as deep as seen on other EliteBooks and ZBooks. Still, it provides deep-learning-enhanced malware detection and credential protection that fights phishing attacks. It's a valuable plus, though I'm not quite sure it's "$500 valuable." Testing the HP EliteBook Ultra G1q: Crossing the Line Four Abreast Benchmarking for Windows on Arm is still an inexact science, but we've pitted the Ultra G1q against three other Snapdragon systems and one x86 dark horse in the form of the latest Acer Swift Go 14. The HP OmniBook X 14 has identical hardware to the EliteBook, while two 13-inch entries from Microsoft -- the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro tablet -- flaunt a slightly faster (at least theoretically) Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 processor. Productivity Tests As we've explained in other Snapdragon X Elite reviews, many of our usual performance tests -- led by UL's office productivity rating PCMark 10 -- are not currently Arm-compatible, so we're relying primarily on processing scores. Maxon's Cinebench R23 uses that company's Cinema 4D engine to render a complex scene, while Geekbench 5.4 Pro by Primate Labs simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning. We also run the newer, Arm-optimized versions Cinebench 2024 and Geekbench 6.3, and we use HandBrake 1.8 (instead of our usual x86-only release 1.4) to convert a 12-minute video clip from 4K to 1080p resolution. Except for trailing in Cinebench 2024, the EliteBook Ultra landed in the middle of the pack. We're not sure we'd choose any of these systems for intensive, workstation-class video editing or 3D rendering, but they're all ready for everyday office apps and light multimedia content creation. AI Tests Benchmarks for artificial intelligence applications are barely teething, but UL's Procyon AI Computer Vision test leverages several AI inference engines executing machine-vision tasks using popular neural networks. It's best used to compare Arm systems with one another since it runs differently (testing the CPU, GPU, and NPU separately) on x86 machines. Another Geekbench test simulates real-world machine learning tasks to gauge overall AI performance. We run two of its inference back-end subtests, which stress the GPU (via DirectML) and CPU, respectively. As expected, with AI testing in its infancy, our results were inconclusive. The Microsoft portables' Snapdragon X1 Elite X1E-80-100 chip has zero AI advantage over the HP twins' X1E-78-100, while the Swift Go laptop's AMD Ryzen CPU proved especially competitive in the Geekbench tests. (The Geekbench AI test is not optimized for Snapdragon X Elite.) Graphics Tests We usually run a pair of x86 gaming simulations from UL's 3DMark, but here, we use two versions apiece of two different Arm-compatible benchmarks from that graphics test suite. Wild Life Unlimited (1440p) and Unlimited Extreme (4K) use the Vulkan graphics API to measure GPU speeds. 3DMark Steel Nomad's regular and Lite subtests focus on APIs more commonly used for game development, like Metal and DirectX 12, to assess gaming geometry and particle effects. We didn't see much that's definitive here except for varying results in the more and less demanding versions of each subtest. We've game-tested Qualcomm's Adreno GPU elsewhere, finding it quite decent for casual play if nowhere near a match for the discrete GPUs of high-end gaming laptops. These business- and productivity-oriented portables aren't meant for hard-core gaming or workstation graphics tasks but will display what you need to get work done. Battery and Display Tests We test each laptop and tablet's battery life by playing a locally stored 720p video file (the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel) with display brightness at 50% and audio volume at 100%. We make sure the battery is fully charged before the test, with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting turned off. To gauge display performance, we also use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and its Windows software to measure a laptop screen's color saturation -- what percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can show -- and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per square meter). Even trailing its sibling by an hour and a quarter, the EliteBook showed remarkable battery life: You'll have absolutely no worries about getting through a full day of work or school plus an evening's streaming entertainment. Its display isn't as dazzlingly bright as the Surface systems' screens but provides excellent brightness and color for everyday use. Verdict: A Promising Debut for Snapdragon X in the Office The scarce few benefits of Copilot+ PCs to date, such as clever webcam effects, whet our appetite for future goodies. While we wait, we can't honor the HP EliteBook Ultra G1q an Editors' Choice award because it doesn't stand out from the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, the HP Dragonfly G4, and other business slimlines with more ports and available mobile broadband. However, we're keeping an eye on this one.

Why I Want an ARM-Powered Copilot+ PC

Quick LinksSuperior Webcam Quality Solid Everyday Performance Coupled With Quiet Fans Excellent Battery Life Early Access to Copilot+ AI Features ARM-Powered Copilot+ Laptops Still Suffer From Compatibility Issues They're Also Overpriced Compared to Intel and AMD Counterparts Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus laptops are launching an offensive on the Windows laptop market, and I've got to say that they do pack some features I'm interested in. Here are four reasons why I want to get one and two reasons why I I'll probably wait before pulling the trigger. Superior Webcam Quality If there's one area in which Snapdragon laptops easily beat regular Windows laptops, it's the webcam quality, thanks to the Qualcomm Spectra image signal processor (ISP) found in Snapdragon X SoCs. My partner uses the webcam on her laptop on a daily basis, and I'd love to see the look on her face when she first sees the difference in webcam quality compared to her current laptop. I reckon that, once she sees the superior webcam, she will definitely try to trade laptops with me. On the other hand, while I don't use a webcam regularly, I want to get an ARM-powered Windows laptop to test the camera in detail and see for myself just how much better it is than on regular, x86 Windows laptops. Of course, awesome webcam quality isn't the only reason I'm eyeing ARM-powered Windows laptops. Solid Everyday Performance Coupled With Quiet Fans Another thing I very much like about ARM-powered Windows laptops is that they're capable of offering plenty of performance while keeping their fans below the noise floor. Considering my everyday workflow, which includes writing in Google Docs while having a browser window with 50 tabs opened next to the Google Docs window, the laptop's fans would probably forget how to spin during most of my workdays. I'd also like to test the Snapdragon X Elite's gaming prowess, check whether Qualcomm's claims about gaming performance are true or not -- looks like the company was too optimistic with its game compatibility claims -- and see just how many games from my Steam and other game launcher libraries would run without issues on the thing. That would be a very informative -- and fun, at least for me -- experiment since I own something like 600+ games across almost a dozen PC game launchers. Excellent Battery Life While real-life battery life tests show that Qualcomm went a bit overboard with its claims about the impressive battery life Snapdragon X laptops would deliver, the battery life of said laptops is excellent nevertheless; in some cases, even better than what you get with certain Apple Silicon MacBooks. Now, impressive battery life doesn't interest me with regard to my gaming handhelds since I use them almost exclusively while sitting a couple of feet from the nearest power outlet. But when it comes to laptops, I don't like carrying a power brick with me and expect the portable machine to last through the whole workday without needing a charge. Luckily, my workflow doesn't include CPU or GPU-intensive tasks, making these fresh-from-the-oven Snapdragon X laptops a perfect match for someone like me: a PC geek who can work from any spot with Wi-Fi access, isn't fond of macOS, and demands a 10+ hour battery life when visiting coffee places around his town, testing coffee, and trying not to miss deadlines yet again. Early Access to Copilot+ AI Features Despite me still rocking Windows 10 on my main PC and generally not being interested in using Copilot+ AI features on a daily basis, I'm still a huge PC nerd. I'd love to play with said features and check out new ones as soon as they land. Except for Windows Recall, I'd likely pass on that one even on my secondary PC. The fact that Microsoft decided to let Snapdragon X Elite laptops get new Copilot+ features first, means the only way to get early access to newly released AI features is by getting my hands on a Snapdragon X Windows laptop. At the moment, the quantity and quality of Copilot+ tools are not there yet, but if Microsoft keeps a steady cadence of fresh arrivals, I might actually get myself a budget Copilot+ device just for the chance to play around with each new addition to the Copilot+ experience. I do hope we'll get budget ARM Windows laptop options soon! ARM-Powered Copilot+ Laptops Still Suffer From Compatibility Issues While ARM-powered Copilot+ laptops offer some tempting reasons to get one, they also have serious drawbacks, the biggest of which are compatibility issues with apps and games. Luckily, I can do most of the work on my PC in a browser and my two daily drivers, Firefox (personal use) and Chrome (work), both have native ARM versions. Game compatibility is a different story, though. Despite Qualcomm's claims that most Windows games should "just work" on laptops powered by the company's Snapdragon X Elite SoCs, the situation on the field is less rosy. Now, I don't mind slow performance because I'd use the laptop to test games, especially performance improvements from using Microsoft's Auto SR upscaler, not as my main gaming rig. Still, the fact that many games refuse to work outright is a problem that prevents me from just going to the store and getting a Snapdragon X PC. If I cannot launch most of the games I own to begin with, I probably won't get one until Qualcomm sorts this out. Until the compatibility woes, especially game-related ones, are fixed, I don't think my desire to play on an ARM-powered Windows laptop will get the better of me. They're Also Overpriced Compared to Intel and AMD Counterparts I might have succumbed to the temptation of buying an ARM Windows laptop already if the first wave of ARM Windows laptops were more affordable. The fact of the matter is that Qualcomm Snapdragon X machines are overpriced for what they offer. I might understand the price premium if games and apps worked fine, even with the subpar performance. However, given the teething issues that will likely take more than a few months to be remedied, I don't understand why these machines are so expensive compared to their x86-powered AMD and Intel counterparts. Hop over to Best Buy, and you'll see that the most affordable Snapdragon X devices cost $999 while offering a level of performance in line with, for example, the ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED powered by a Core Ultra 7 155H, which will set you back only $800. That's a too steep "new and shiny" tax, especially when you account for the aforementioned compatibility issues and tepid gaming performance. While I really want to get one, I think I'll exercise patience and skip an ARM Windows laptop for now. At least until I see more affordable devices that can run every, or almost every, Windows game released in the last decade or so. Here's hoping Qualcomm has a more affordable ARM SoC in the pipeline the company will unveil once the initial Copilot+ hype dies down, giving me and other PC hardware geeks a more affordable ticket into the ARM-powered Copilot+ theme park.

HP EliteBook Ultra and OmniBook X first impressions: A leap forward with AI powered innovation

HP recently introduced two groundbreaking laptops, the EliteBook Ultra and OmniBook X, which, the company claims, can revolutionise the landscape of personal computing using Artificial Intelligence (AI). These laptops are HP's first models to feature Copilot+ technology, powered by the cutting-edge Snapdragon X Elite processors. The dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) in these devices can handle an impressive 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS), enabling local execution of advanced AI models. After getting our hands on the laptops at the event, here are our initial impressions. The HP EliteBook Ultra is clearly designed with the modern business professional in mind. With its sleek, thin design, it caters to the needs of on-the-go leaders who require a blend of power, style, and security. One of the standout features is its impressive battery life, boasting up to 26 hours on a single charge. This extended battery life, combined with its lightweight build of just 1.3 kilograms, makes it an ideal companion for frequent travellers and those working in hybrid environments. In terms of security, the EliteBook Ultra doesn't disappoint. It includes enterprise-grade endpoint security measures, crucial for protecting sensitive business data. The integration of Wolf Pro Security Next Gen Antivirus (NGAV) leverages machine learning to safeguard against both known and emerging threats. As a Microsoft Secured-Core PC, the device offers robust protection at the firmware level, ensuring that user credentials and other critical data are well-shielded. Additionally, the laptop's stylish design is complemented by the use of sustainable materials, including 50% recycled aluminium and 100% sustainably sourced packaging. The HP OmniBook X targets a different audience -- retail customers, creators, and freelancers who need a versatile device. This laptop is packed with advanced AI features that are particularly beneficial for tasks like video editing, graphic design, and other creative endeavours. The Snapdragon X Elite processor, coupled with the NPU, provides the necessary horsepower to handle demanding applications and workflows. The OmniBook X also features the HP AI Companion and Copilot+ PC, which enhance productivity and creativity by offering personalised AI-driven assistance. These tools can analyse and assess personal files to provide refined, focused responses, making them invaluable for users juggling multiple projects. Like the EliteBook Ultra, the OmniBook X offers an impressive battery life of up to 26 hours and weighs just 1.3 kilograms. This makes it equally suitable for users who are constantly on the move. The device's aesthetic appeal is enhanced by its Meteor Silver colour and the inclusion of HP's AI Helix Logo, symbolizing the cutting-edge AI technology inside. Also read: Snapdragon X Elite laptops: Comprehensive buying guide to AI powered all day battery champions HP's new laptops are packed with AI features to enhance user experience. The HP AI Companion provides personalised assistance, analysing files to deliver tailored results. Copilot+ further boosts productivity and creativity with advanced AI capabilities. Additionally, the Poly Camera Pro revolutionises virtual meetings with AI-driven features like auto framing and background blur, optimising performance and battery life. HP's new AI-powered laptops set a high bar in the industry. The EliteBook Ultra, priced at Rs. 169,934, offers a premium experience for business professionals, while the OmniBook X, available at Rs. 139,999, provides an attractive option for creators and freelancers. Both models are equipped to meet the evolving needs of their respective user bases, blending cutting-edge technology with practical features. In summary, HP's EliteBook Ultra and OmniBook X are poised to redefine what users can expect from a personal computer, offering a compelling mix of performance, security, and intelligent features. They are a testament to HP's commitment to delivering powerful, innovative solutions that cater to the needs of diverse user groups. Some HP laptops to consider for your next purchase: Best laptops for graphic design: Choose from top 7 models for creativity and performance Best laptops for students in 2024: Top 8 budget to high-performance models, perfect for studying, projects and leisure Laptop buying guide for students: How to find the best laptops for students and our top picks Disclaimer: At Livemint, we help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and products. Mint has an affiliate partnership, so we may get a part of the revenue when you make a purchase. We shall not be liable for any claim under applicable laws, including but not limited to the Consumer Protection Act of 2019, with respect to the products. The products listed in this article are in no particular order of priority. Milestone Alert! Livemint tops charts as the fastest growing news website in the world 🌏 Click here to know more. 3.6 Crore Indians visited in a single day choosing us as India's undisputed platform for General Election Results. Explore the latest updates here!

Why I finally gave up on gaming laptops | Digital Trends

I've gone back and forth on gaming laptops for years. They continue to get faster, thinner, and lighter, and for someone who travels as often as I do, that's all important. Machines like Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 and Lenovo Legion 9i prove just how much gaming laptops have to offer. But something is changing -- at least for me. The fact that so few exciting releases have come out this year doesn't help, but it's more than that. For one, there are new super-efficient Copilot+ PCs that are a delight to travel with. Personally, I've been enjoying the Asus Zenbook S 16, packing a new Ryzen AI 300 chip. Neither of these are known for gaming prowess, and yet, I've increasingly found myself eager to leave my gaming laptop behind. Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming ReSpec Subscribe Check your inbox! Privacy Policy There's something weighing you down In years past, there was a lot weighing you down with a gaming laptop -- quite literally. Gaming laptops were notoriously thick and heavy, and although you can still find desktop replacements like the MSI GT77 Titan that fit in that category, there's been a clear shift toward thinner and lighter gaming laptops. There are devices like the Alienware x16 and Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 that promise full performance in a highly portable form. There are still some extras to keep in mind, namely the large power bricks that come along with gaming laptops. Even that's changing, however. Many gaming laptops like the Razer Blade 14 offer USB-C charging with a high-power GaN charger -- though at a performance loss -- and laptops like the HP Omen Transcend 14 exclusively use USB-C for charging. Physical portability isn't the limiting factor today. It's battery life. There have been a lot of strides to make gaming laptops more efficient, and with a solid gaming laptop, you can get a few hours away from the charger without concern. The chips themselves are more efficient, the software is better tuned to optimize for battery life when the laptop is unplugged, and hybrid graphics with AMD, Nvidia, and Intel allow you to turn off the discrete GPU when you're not using it. All of that is great, but the goal of a gaming laptop runs counter to the goal of long battery life. Discrete GPUs still suck down power, even with features like Nvidia Optimus, and high resolution, high refresh rate displays are a drain on battery. A new device like the aforementioned Zenbook S 16 can last around 12 hours browsing the internet away from the charger. A gaming laptop like the Zephyrus G16? You'd be lucky to get four hours, even with the discrete GPU disabled. Integrated graphics have gotten really good Integrated graphics have come a long way in the past few years, and they really don't get enough credit. A few years ago, with the release of Intel's Tiger Lake, we were talking about running lighter titles like Fortnite (before the Unreal Engine 5 update) and Civilization VI below 60 frames per second (fps) at 1080p with medium settings, and that was impressive at the time. Today, there aren't a ton of games you straight-up can't play on integrated graphics. Of course, the cutting-edge titles of today struggle, from Alan Wake 2 to Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, but you can comfortably play most games on integrated graphics. Even games like Cyberpunk 2077 work with enough graphics tweaks, and lighter esports and indie titles don't even need a second thought. I don't want to pretend integrated graphics are close to the discrete GPUs of today; they're not. But for a few pickup games while you're on the road, you might be surprised. Another big factor that's boosted integrated graphics over the past few years is performance-boosting features like upscaling and frame generation. Not only will you be hard-pressed to find a modern game lacking Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR, both vendors also have driver-level features that work across games. There are also tools like Lossless Scaling, which give you access to upscaling and frame generation in any game. You'll have to play with some compromises, and there might be some titles where you just can't get consistent performance. But the integrated graphics we have today are enough to power an entirely new era of gaming devices like the ROG Ally X and the Steam Deck, and mainstream laptops get those same improvements. I'm heading back from Siggraph in Denver while writing this article, and I carried the ZenBook S 16 with me to the show. I wasn't booting up Alan Wake 2, but I had no issues picking up a bit of time in Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Hollow Knight while I was out. I'm saving my time in games like Ghost of Tsushima for when I get back to my desktop, of course. But for some light gaming on the go, the integrated graphics available today are awfully impressive. The extra bits don't help What about for gamers who aren't on the go? The point of a gaming laptop starts to make a lot less sense. You get a keyboard, trackpad, and display, but short of the screen, you'll probably use an external keyboard and mouse most of the time. And if you have a more permanent setup, you might not even crack the lid, instead connecting to an external display. A small form factor gaming desktop makes a lot more sense if you fall into that camp. You can go about building your own -- some modern SFF cases can even fit up to an RTX 4090 -- but there are also a swath of mini-PCs that come with laptop components. There are high-end devices like Asus ROG NUC 970, as well as a suite of offerings from brands like Geekom and Minisforum, most of which are significantly cheaper than a gaming laptop. It comes down to use case, but if you don't need a PC on the go often, a gaming laptop doesn't make a lot of sense. Even in my situation, where I often need a PC on the go, I find myself reaching for a different, more purpose-built device like the Steam Deck OLED instead. When a gaming laptop makes sense I don't want to discredit gaming laptops entirely here because they serve a purpose. In particular, a gaming laptop is perfect if that's your only device. If you need something that can travel with you, and you don't play games on anything else -- yeah, a gaming laptop will do what you need it to do in a single machine. Every other gaming device you add to the suite turns down how essential a gaming laptop is, though. If you have something like the Steam Deck, a gaming laptop loses its purpose. If you don't need to travel a lot, a desktop is cheaper and more powerful. And if you already have a powerful gaming desktop at home, it might make more sense to prioritize battery life when you need to take a laptop on the go. That last camp is the one I fall into. That doesn't mean it's the right approach for everyone, but if you find yourself choosing between a regular laptop and a gaming laptop, give the former a shot -- I've been loving the change of pace.