The 10 best laptops at CES 2026
CES is a big show for PC makers and laptops. Most major Windows PC brands—aside from Microsoft—use it as the launchpad for their yearly refreshes. This remained true at CES 2026, though the tone of the show was notably more humble than in the past.
While many new laptop designs included Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors, the new AMD Ryzen AI 400 and Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 chips seemed less popular with PC makers. Rapidly rising memory prices have also struck fear in PC makers, and several brands (including Acer, Asus, and MSI) said that retail pricing won’t be announced until their respective laptops are closer to release.
On the plus side, Intel’s new Core Ultra Series 3 CPUs seem to have PC makers excited. It was a popular choice in new designs, many of which are thin-and-light with promises of good battery life. OLED displays also continue to improve while pricing falls. As a result, the bulk of laptops announced at CES 2026 had OLED displays, and many quoted peak HDR brightness at 1,000 nits or more.
I got to see it all on the show floor and there were some clear winners among them. Here are the best laptops at CES 2026.
Acer Swift 16 AI: The world’s largest haptic touchpad
Matthew Smith / Foundry
The Acer Swift 16 AI is the company’s new flagship and, to back that up, it’s packing the world’s largest haptic touchpad. It measures nearly 7 inches across and about 4.25 inches deep, a size that easily surpasses most laptops in its class. And while haptic touchpads aren’t uncommon at higher price points, many of Acer’s competitors don’t offer them. It’s a shame because haptic touchpads are freakin’ awesome.
The touchpad also supports stylus input (and a stylus is included), which means you can use it to jot notes, sketch, animate, or do anything else normally supported by a digital drawing surface. Corning Gorilla Glass is used to provide extra protection for the touchpad and deliver a smooth surface.
Touchpad aside, the Acer Swift 16 AI has the features you’d expect from a flagship laptop. It serves up Intel Core Ultra X9 388H processors with Intel Arc integrated graphics and has a 16-inch 3K OLED touchscreen with a refresh rate up to 120Hz. Connectivity includes dual Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, USB-A, and a microSD card slot.
Acer says the Swift 16 AI will arrive in Q1 2026. Pricing to be announced.
Asus Zenbook Duo: The redesign we didn’t know we needed
Matt Smith / Foundry
The second-generation Zenbook Duo was already the best dual-screen laptop on the market, yet Asus found several ways to improve on it with the latest Zenbook Duo (model number UX8407AA).
The newest Duo switches from an aluminum chassis to Asus’ unique ceraluminum. It also has a redesigned hinge that reduces the gap separating the two displays, and a new kickstand that looks more elegant and operates a hair more smoothly than its predecessor.
These improvements aren’t so dramatic that last-gen Zenbook Duo users will feel a need to upgrade, but they’re noticeable when the two are side by side. The reduced gap between displays is particularly nice.
The redesigned chassis accommodates impressive hardware. The new Duo equips Intel Core Ultra X9 Series 3 processors with Intel Arc integrated graphics. It also has dual 14-inch 3K OLED touchscreens with up to a 144Hz refresh rate. The battery is larger, too, expanding from 75 watt-hours to 99 watt-hours.
Pricing and availability were not announced.
Asus ExpertBook Ultra: A low-key ultraportable hero
Matt Smith / Foundry
Asus’ ExpertBook Ultra probably won’t attract much attention, as the Asus ExpertBook line isn’t as well-known as competitors like Lenovo’s ThinkPad—which is a shame because the ExpertBook Ultra was arguably the most impressive ultraportable laptop at CES 2026.
The ExpertBook Ultra weighs less than a kilogram (or roughly 2.2 pounds) and measures under half an inch thick. The result is a featherlight laptop that’s easier to pick up and handle than most notebooks. Yet despite its low weight, the ExpertBook Ultra didn’t strike me as flimsy. It felt light yet slate-like in my hand.
I also love the display. It’s a 14-inch 3K tandem OLED touchscreen that can hit a maximum HDR brightness of 1,400 nits and provides a refresh rate up to 120Hz. The display also has an unusual low-gloss coat that’s extremely effective at reducing glare. The CES show floor included plenty of bright overhead lights, yet the ExpertBook Ultra’s display was easy to use and suffered very little glare.
The ExpertBook Ultra also offers up to Intel Core Ultra X9 Series 3 processors with Intel Arc integrated graphics, a 70 watt-hour battery, and dual Thunderbolt 4 ports. Pricing remains to be announced.
Asus Zenbook A16: A Qualcomm-powered beauty of a laptop
Matt Smith / Foundry
The Asus Zenbook A16 is my pick for the most beautiful laptop at CES 2026. It has a chassis coated in Asus’ unique ceraluminum, an aluminum-ceramic material with a unique texture. The ceraluminum used in the Zenbook A16 also contains magnesium-aluminum alloy, a popular super-light material. The laptop weighs in at a hair over 2.6 pounds, which is incredibly light for a 16-inch machine.
That’s not the only reason the Zenbook A16 stands out. It’s also one of just a handful of new laptops to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chip. The X2 Elite Extreme has 18 CPU cores, an 80 TOPs NPU, and improved integrated graphics. Other features include a large touchpad, 16-inch 3K 120Hz OLED display, up to 21 hours of battery life, and a 130-watt USB-C power adapter.
The Zenbook A16’s pricing and availability are still under wraps.
Dell XPS 14 and 16: A return to form
Matthew Smith / Foundry
XPS is back! And it’s not just a change of name. The new XPS 14 and XPS 16 abandon the controversial capacitive touch function row and return to good, old-fashioned physical keys.
The new Dell XPS laptops go all-in on Intel hardware. They use Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors and rely on Intel Arc integrated graphics. There’s a renewed focus on size and portability, as the new models measure under 0.6 inches thick. The XPS 14 comes in at 3 pounds while the XPS 16 tips the scales at 3.6 pounds.
Dell will also offer a tandem OLED panel. If other tandem OLED displays are any guide, the panel will offer a decent boost in brightness and some gain in color performance. However, Dell will also sell an LCD panel, claiming that the laptop will offer best-in-class battery life when equipped with the LCD option—up to 27 hours of battery life in use, or over 40 hours in video playback. (We’ll have to test for ourselves.)
Unlike some other laptops on this list, you don’t have to wait for the Dell XPS 14/16. They’re available now. The XPS 14 starts at $2,049.99 and the XPS 16 starts at $2,199.99. The launch models are higher-end configurations; Dell says less expensive configs are planned for later this year.
Dell also announced it will bring back the XPS 13 and showed an early version at CES, though it didn’t allow photos. That laptop’s exact specifications remain under wraps until later this year.
HyperX Omen Max 16: New name, more power
Matt Smith / Foundry
HP announced its own brand shakeup at CES 2026: The company is moving its gaming laptops under HyperX, the gaming peripheral brand owned by HP. However, HP couldn’t bring itself to part with Omen, another brand it acquired when it bought gaming PC maker Voodoo all the way back in 2006. As a result, HP’s newest high-end gaming laptop is called the HyperX Omen Max 16.
Branding shenanigans aside, it looks impressive. The Omen Max 16 can handle up to 300 watts of total system power, a 50-watt gain over the prior generation. More power generally leads to more performance, and that power is sent up to Nvidia’s RTX 5090 graphics card and Intel’s Core Ultra 200HX processor. This is likely to place the Omen Max 16 among the quickest gaming laptops sold this year, though we’ll have to review the laptop in full to be sure.
Though the Omen Max 16 has the HyperX logo on the lid, it looks rather similar to prior Omen laptops—which isn’t a bad thing. Omen laptops tend towards a simple but refined design with minimalist badging and a good port selection. All of this remains present on the Omen Max 16. The laptop also has a 16-inch 2560×1600 240Hz OLED display.
One thing not present, though, is the price. It’ll be revealed closer to the laptop’s launch in spring of 2026.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Aura Edition: More repairable design
Matt Smith / Foundry
The super-thin Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is now on its 14th generation (and now I feel old since I remember the CES where Lenovo launched the first one). This time around, though, Lenovo is doing more than updating the chassis to accommodate a new generation of silicon—the laptop is completely redesigned with a new Space Frame build for cramming in more hardware while also making it easier to repair.
The Space Frame is so named because it’s meant to free up space. To do that, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Aura Edition (as well as its sibling, the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1) has a new mainboard that’s built to allow component placement on both sides of the PCB. Space Frame is also more modular and allows easier replacement of USB ports, battery, keyboard, speakers, and fans.
Don’t get too excited, though. I asked a Lenovo rep if users will be able to take advantage of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s repairability at home and the answer, for now, is… mostly no. While the Space Frame will make repairs easier, Lenovo has no plans to sell specific components (like USB ports) to end users for home repair. The focus is instead on serviceability for enterprise clients with ThinkPad fleets.
Space Frame aside, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Aura Edition is a high-end laptop with Intel Core Ultra X7 Series 3 processors, Intel Arc integrated graphics, and a 10-megapixel camera.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition will arrive in March 2026 at $1,999. The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 Aura Edition will arrive in March 2026 at $2,149.
Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable: Please, take my money
Matt Smith / Foundry
Last year, Lenovo showed off a rollable OLED laptop concept that could roll out its OLED panel to increase the laptop’s vertical display space. (It’s now available and even won a PCWorld Editors’ Choice award). Now, Lenovo has turned that idea on its side with the Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable. It can expand from a 16-inch widescreen OLED display to a 21-inch or 24-inch ultrawide display.
The basic idea is very similar to Lenovo’s prior rollable OLED endeavors. The Legion Pro Rollable has a flexible OLED panel paired with motors that expand or retract the display. However, instead of expanding upward, the display now expands both left and right.
It’s a great piece of eye candy, to be sure, but also looks extremely functional. Laptops have always been bound by the simple physical reality that a larger display requires a larger chassis, which means big-screen laptops are gigantic. (Acer’s Predator 21X—the only ultrawide laptop ever sold—was 22 inches wide and weighed almost 19 pounds.)
Of course, the Legion Pro Rollable is just a concept for now. I’d wager Lenovo will end up selling it—or something like it—but I also expect it’ll be rather expensive. (The ThinkBook Plus Rollable was $3,299 at MSRP.)
Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition: Firing on all cylinders
Matt Smith / Foundry
Most of the laptops on this list have a particular strength, gimmick, or angle, but the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition takes a different approach. It tries to do everything at once.
This 16-inch machine is packed with high-end hardware, including up to Intel Core Ultra 9 Series 3 processors and up to Nvidia RTX 5070 mobile graphics. That’s paired with a 3.2K tandem OLED display that can deliver up to 1,600 nits of brightness and is VESA HDR True Black 1000 certified. The combo of high-end Intel processors, RTX graphics, and a top-shelf tandem OLED display should make the Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition a powerhouse in both games and creative professional workflows.
But that’s not all. Like the Acer Swift 16 AI, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition has a large touchpad with stylus support that can be used as a drawing surface. It’s compatible with Lenovo’s Yoga Pen Gen 2. The laptop also has a six-speaker sound system (Lenovo’s Yoga Pro laptops often have best-in-class sound quality), Thunderbolt 4, and USB-A ports with 10Gbps data rates.
Lenovo says the Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition will be available in Q2 2026 starting at $1,899.99.
MSI Raider 16 Max HX: Serious gaming performance and high-end HDR
Matthew Smith / Foundry
MSI has a long history of going all-out with its gaming laptops, and the Raider 16 Max HX keeps that reputation alive. Though it’s a 16-inch machine, MSI says it’s the world’s first gaming laptop capable of handling up to 300 watts of total system power. (The aforementioned HyperX Omen Max 16 will also deliver that much power, by the way.) A 400-watt power brick will feed the laptop.
The majority of that power (up to 175 watts) is delivered to the laptop’s Nvidia RTX 5080 or RTX 5090 GPU. The remainder (up to 125 watts) flows to the Intel Core Ultra 200HX processor.
Higher power draw leads to hotter thermals, so MSI says the Max HX has a complicated “Cooler Boost Trinity with Intra Flow” cooling system. It includes three fans, six heat pipes, and five vents. The laptop will also provide easy access to its RAM and storage for upgrades. A 16-inch 2.5K 240Hz OLED display with VESA DisplayHDR True Black certification rounds out the specifications.
MSI says the laptop’s price and availability will be revealed at a later date.