Just about every major laptop manufacturer showed up to CES 2025 on their A-game.
Experimental designs, next-gen components, interesting form factors, and unbridled performance — I’ve seen it all over the past few days in Las Vegas. Here are the best laptops from the show that I can’t wait to get in for full review in the coming months.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i
As I write this on a MacBook Pro, I keep staring annoyingly into the black void of its notch. What an eyesore. It feels even more distracting having just come from seeing the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i in person. We’ve all seen the many failed attempts at reducing bezel size without affecting the webcam over the years, but the Yoga Slim 9i’s approach is certainly novel. The camera is placed right behind the panel, as evidenced by the bump on the lid. Shooting through the screen with its 32-megapixel camera and enhancing the minimal captured light through AI, the Yoga Slim 9i is able to produce a workable camera feed. It’s a marvelous bit of technology, and allows the device to enjoy a groundbreaking 98% screen-to-body ratio.
Beyond that, the Yoga Slim 9i is filled to the brim with unique design elements, including the edge-to-edge keyboard and “cat-eye” lid that refracts light in a way that really has to be seen.
Asus Zenbook A14
Nothing is worse than a laptop that tries to be light while sacrificing rigidity or compromises important features. That’s why the Asus Zenbook A14 feels so notable. At just 2.18 pounds, it’s incredibly light. When I first picked it up, I couldn’t believe how feather-light it felt in my hand. It’s 19% lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Air, an already light device, despite the fact that the Zenbook A14 is thicker and has a larger screen. The key is the Asus-made Ceraluminum material it’s made out of. It keeps the laptop light, while also keeping it fairly robust. The material also gives it a unique texture that feels tactile under your fingers without being distracting.
And somehow, Asus has managed to keep this new device fairly affordable. There’s a $800 configuration that will be available first, starting with 16GB of RAM, earning itself the designation as the lightest Copilot+ PC.
Lenovo ThinkBook Rollable
Leave it to Lenovo to take an experimental technology and make a real product out of it. The company previewed its rollable OLED laptop last year, but now the real thing is here — and I have to admit: It’s surprisingly compelling. With the touch of a key on the keyboard, the device can extend its OLED screen from 14 inches to a much larger 16.7 inches. It takes around eight seconds to transform, which definitely makes for a fun party trick.
But I think this type of device makes a lot more sense than the foldable OLED laptops of the past. First of all, it’s a bit less clunky, with fewer moving parts. More importantly, though, you don’t have that crease or fold to worry about. The 16.7-inch screen looks gorgeous as one tall, 8:9 aspect ratio viewing surface. Does it look a little silly when it’s fully extended? Maybe. You’d definitely get some interested looks if you brought it to a coffee shop. But it sure is innovative — an imaginative exploration of what you can do with rollable OLED technology.
Razer Blade 16
The Razer Blade 16 got a big upgrade this year, working hard to cut back as much thickness in the device as possible. It’s down to 0.59 inches at its thinnest and 0.69 at this thickest, which means that yes, there’s a subtle wedge shape to the design. Razer claims that the thinner body doesn’t hamstring thermals either, thanks to a larger internal vapor chamber and a new “thermal hood” on the bottom to allow for slightly more airflow.
The biggest change, though, is moving from Intel to AMD, a decision Razer says it made to improve thermals and battery life. Of course, it also supports the Nvidia RTX 50-series cards, up to an RTX 5090.
All that adds up to a gaming laptop that is more “hybrid” than ever, and is once again a strong competitor to the ROG Zephyrus G16 in the fight for being one of the best gaming laptops you can buy.
Asus Chromebook CX14
Chromebooks rarely get much attention at CES, but Asus has launched some new Chromebooks that feel like they revitalize the category, especially in the sub-$200 market. Unlike many of the options at that price, the $199 Asus Chromebook CX14 looks like a fairly modern laptop, with a full-size keyboard, large touchpad, 14-inch 1080p screen, and thin chassis. That’s a huge upgrade from the majority of Chromebooks being issued by schools today.
Asus has a larger 15-inch model coming too, as well as a more advanced Chromebook Plus model, which will have faster Core i3 and Core i5 CPU options, as well as 16GB of RAM.
Dell 14 Plus
Dell made waves with its rebranding announcement, effectively saying goodbye to its familiar sub-brands like XPS, Inspiron, and Latitude. That left a lot of people scratching their heads, especially when it comes to the future of XPS. But when it comes to Inspiron replacements, I think the simpler branding is really going to help. We all know Inspiron didn’t represent the highest-end options, so even when Dell launched the Inspiron Plus category a couple of years ago, it just didn’t move the needle.
The Dell 14 Plus is the replacement for the Inspiron 14 Plus, and shows off a thinner, sleeker design. It’s certainly not the thick, plastic Inspirons of the past that might still be in the minds of laptop buyers. It doesn’t have advanced features like OLED (although the 16-inch model includes mini-LED) or discrete graphics, but as a midrange laptops that’s increasingly looking quite premium, I’ve definitely got my eye on the Dell 14 Plus.
Asus ROG Flow Z13
I was a big fan of the previous versions of the ROG Flow Z13. It was an extremely portable 13-inch 2-in-1, that could somehow be paired with up to an RTX 4060. A gaming 2-in-1 sounds ridiculous at first blush, but as it turns out, having the computer be built into the screen rather than under the keyboard makes for quite a cool, comfortable gaming experience. The new model, though, is switching it up in a big way. Yes, there are small improvements like the 1.7mm key travel and larger trackpad, but the big change is in the internal components.
The new model is one of the only to use AMD’s new Strix Halo processor, the Ryzen AI Max Plus 390 or 395. Rather than use a big, discrete GPU, the 2-in-1 now uses AMD’s amped up integrated graphics, only found in the Strix Halo chip. That sounds concerning for a gaming device, obviously, but AMD is making some big claims about its capabilities, saying it beats Apple’s M4 Pro. Apple’s integrated GPU was already competitive with an RTX 4060 in many tasks, so maybe Asus’ bet on this chip has a chance of success.
I’m really hoping Asus didn’t nerf one of my favorite devices in its lineup, but I’m definitely excited to see how this Strix Halo chip performs, especially if it’s able to stay quieter and cooler than using a discrete GPU.
