The idea behind convertible, or 2-in-1 PCs, has remained the same over the last decade: Why buy a tablet when your laptop can fold a full 360 degrees, allowing you to use it as a large slate, or a screen propped up without a keyboard in the way? Most PC makers have moved on from the concept entirely, but HP remains one of the holdouts. While Windows never became the tablet-friendly platform Microsoft envisioned, there's still plenty of value in having a machine that can transform to suit your needs.

That was my takeaway two years ago when I tested HP's 16-inch Spectre x360, and now the company has returned with a smaller model, the Spectre x360 14. It features Intel's latest CPUs with AI-accelerating NPUs (neural processing units), faster Intel Arc graphics and a beautiful 2.8K OLED display. And best of all, it's still usable as a tablet, unlike its larger sibling.

Even if you never plan to twist its screen around, though, the HP Spectre x360 14 is still an attractive premium laptop. For some, it may also serve as a more traditional alternative to Dell's new XPS 14, which has an invisible trackpad and a capacitive function row. While that computer looks great, getting used to its less conventional features takes some time. The Spectre x360 14, on the other hand, is both attractive and familiar to anyone who's ever used a laptop. (Its rotating screen takes just 10 seconds to figure out for the first time, while Dell's invisible trackpad still tripped me up hours after I started testing it.)

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Design and hardware

That familiarity could also be seen as a shortcoming of HP's. The Spectre x360 14 has everything you expect to see in a premium laptop today: A sleek metal case, a gorgeous screen with ultra-thin bezels and a luxuriously large trackpad with haptic feedback. But really, it doesn't look that much different from the 13-inch Spectre x360 I reviewed in 2019. It would be nice to see HP take a few major design leaps, but on the other hand, I can't blame the company for sticking with a winning design.

With the Spectre x360 14, HP focused on minor updates. It has a wide 14-inch screen with a 16:10 aspect ratio, compared to the previous model's 13.5-inch display that was a squarish 3:2. Its trackpad offers configurable haptic feedback and is 19 percent larger than before, so much so that it completely dominates the palm area. HP stuck with its wonderfully responsive keyboard, but its key caps are 12 percent larger, making them easier to hit. And to simplify functionality a bit, HP unified the power button and fingerprint sensor (the laptop also supports Windows Hello facial biometrics).

The port situation hasn't changed. There are two USB-C connections along the right rear (including one on its unique chopped corner), as well as a drop-down USB Type-A port on the left and a headphone jack on the corner. As usual, it would have been nice to see some sort of card reader built in, especially for a machine aimed at creative professionals.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

The Spectre x360 14 may look very similar to its siblings, but HP says it's been tweaked significantly under the hood. It now supports 28-watt Intel Core Ultra CPUs, instead of the previous 14-watt options, and offers 10 percent more airflow than before. The company also managed to engineer those improvements without increasing the machine's 17 millimeter height. At 3.2 pounds, it's a bit more portable than the 3.5-pound MacBook Pro 14-inch.

The Spectre's 9-megapixel webcam is also a major upgrade from the previous 5MP option. The new sensor offers hardware-enabled low light adjustment thanks to quad-binning, the process of taking data from four pixels and combining them into one. That allows cameras with smaller pixels to let in more light, resulting in a brighter overall picture. During Google Meet and Zoom calls, the webcam delivered a sharp picture with bright and bold colors. It looked almost like a mirrorless camera once I enabled Windows Studio Effects background blur, though the picture occasionally looked overexposed in direct sunlight.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Video chats also sounded great through the laptop's quad-speaker array, which consists of two upward firing tweeters along the keyboard and two woofers along the front. There's not much low-end (especially compared to Apple's MacBook Pro speakers), but voices and music sound surprisingly clear. The speakers can also get pretty loud without distortion, which is impressive for such a thin system.

While the laptop has an NPU-equipped processor, which powers features in Paint, ClipChamp and Windows Studio Effects, the Spectre x360 14 isn't technically an "AI PC" under Intel and Microsoft's definition. The reason? It doesn't have a dedicated button for Windows Copilot. Personally, though, I haven't found that key to be very useful on the XPS 14 and 16. Triggering Copilot from the taskbar or Windows sidebar isn't very difficult, and it's certainly not onerous enough to warrant giving up a spot on the keyboard.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

In use

The HP Spectre x360 14 I reviewed performed similarly to other machines we've tested with Intel's Core Ultra 7 155H chip. It’s fast and relatively efficient, especially compared to systems from two years ago. My review unit, which came with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD, was 30 percent faster in the PCMark 10 benchmark compared to the Spectre x360 16 from 2022 (6,493 points, up from 4,785 points). This year’s Spectre also scored 78 percent higher in the Cinebench R23 multi-core benchmark, a testament to the improvements Intel has made since its 11th-gen CPUs.

The most noticeable upgrade for the Spectre x360 isn't AI smarts; it's Intel's Arc graphics, which are dramatically faster than Intel's older integrated graphics. In 3DMark's TimeSpy Extreme benchmark, it almost kept up with NVIDIA's RTX 3050 in the x360 16 (1,435 points compared to 1,730). That's impressive for a machine that's far slimmer and lighter. Sure, it's no gaming rig, but I was still able to play Halo Infinite in 1080p at around 30 fps. I'm sure it would handle smaller indie titles just fine.

Thanks to the wealth of RAM and Intel's Core Ultra chip, my review model tackled everything I threw at it without any noticeable slowdown. During a typical workday, I juggle dozens of browser tabs, photo editing apps, YouTube streams, video chats, Slack and Evernote. The Spectre x360's OLED display also made everything look fantastic, even if I was just staring at words on a news site. It supports a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz, so scrolling through documents and sites was very smooth.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

When I first tested a Spectre x360 five years ago, I immediately fell in love with its keyboard. Typing felt incredibly satisfying, thanks to a healthy amount of key travel and feedback. It was one of those rare designs that almost felt like it was begging me to use it, like a finely tuned piano that's simply urging you to play. Thankfully, HP didn't mess with any of that keyboard magic: The large new key caps are even more comfortable to use, and the actual typing experience is as great as ever.

I have a few complaints about the Spectre x360's new trackpad though. It's smooth and accurate for swiping, and its haptic feedback is indiscernible from a trackpad that physically depresses. But HP's palm rejection software feels sloppy — occasionally, while typing up a storm, my hand would hit the trackpad and push the cursor to select another window. It happened often enough that it became a creativity flow killer. I'm hoping this is something HP can sort out with a software update eventually.

As a convertible notebook, the Spectre x360 14 is far more useful than the 16-inch model. A gentle push on the screen is all it takes to flip it around the keyboard — it becomes a tablet when it’s fully turned around, or you can stop that process halfway and flip the Spectre around for its “tent” mode. The 14-inch x360 is better at being a slate, simply because it's lighter and easier to hold with one hand (though you'll probably want to prop it on your lap for longer sessions).

Rotating the screen was also less cumbersome, since the display was far less wide. I used the tent formation to watch YouTube videos in bed, while on the couch I occasionally folded the keyboard behind the Spectre, so I could use it like a large touchscreen with a stand. I appreciate the versatility of 2-in-1 convertibles more than the flexible OLED screens we're seeing on new machines. It's cheaper to implement, and for my purposes, convertibles are simply more pragmatic.

The Spectre x360's major flaw is battery life: It lasted five hours and ten minutes in the PCMark 10 Modern Office test, whereas the ZenBook 14 OLED pushed through for 12 hours and 43 minutes. There's a cost for keeping its frame so thin, after all. During real-world testing, it would typically need to charge around six hours into my workday. 

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Pricing and the competition

The Spectre x360 14 is a decent deal for a high-end convertible, starting at $1,450 with an intel Core Ultra 5 125H, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. At the time of writing, that configuration has been discounted by $300, which is an even better value. (Credit to HP for not offering a meager 8GB RAM option, which would only lead to headaches for most users.) For $1,900, you can bump up to a Core Ultra 7 155H chip, 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD.

Your options are somewhat limited if you're looking for other upper-tier convertible laptops. Dell's XPS 13 2-in-1 is still running older 12th-gen Intel chips, and you'll have to look to the middle-range Inspiron and Latitude lines for more modern options. We’re also still waiting to see Lenovo’s Yoga lineup get upgraded to newer Intel chips. And we haven’t tested Samsung’s Galaxy Book4 360, but it doesn’t have the style of HP’s design.

Microsoft's Surface Laptop Studio 2 is also technically a convertible (its screen pulls forward, instead of flipping around), but it starts at $1,900. For that price, you're better off going for the x360 14's beefier hardware, instead of the Surface's unique screen.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Wrap-up

It's unclear how much life is left in the convertible PC format, but I wouldn't be surprised if HP ends up being one of the last companies still giving it a shot. The Spectre x360 14 is one of the best laptops you can buy today — the fact that it can also be flipped around in multiple orientations is just icing on the cake.

A team of university security researchers has found a chip-level exploit in Apple Silicon Macs. The group says the flaw can bypass the computer’s encryption and access its security keys, exposing the Mac’s private data to hackers. The silver lining is the exploit would require you to circumvent Apple’s Gatekeeper protections, install a malicious app and then let the software run for as long as 10 hours (along with a host of other complex conditions), which reduces the odds you’ll have to worry about the threat in the real world.

The exploit originates in a part of Apple’s M-series chips called Data Memory-Dependent Prefetchers (DMPs). DMPs make the processors more efficient by preemptively caching data. The DMPs treat data patterns as directions, using them to guess what information they need to access next. This reduces turnarounds and helps lead to reactions like “seriously fast,” often used to describe Apple Silicon.

The researchers discovered that attackers can use the DMP to bypass encryption. “Through new reverse engineering, we find that the DMP activates on behalf of potentially any program, and attempts to dereference any data brought into cache that resembles a pointer,” the researchers wrote. (“Pointers” are addresses or directions signaling where to find specific data.) “This behavior places a significant amount of program data at risk.”

“This paper shows that the security threat from DMPs is significantly worse than previously thought and demonstrates the first end-to-end attacks on security-critical software using the Apple m-series DMP,” the group wrote.

The researchers named the attack GoFetch, and they created an app that can access a Mac’s secure data without even requiring root access. Ars Technica Security Editor Dan Goodin explains, “M-series chips are divided into what are known as clusters. The M1, for example, has two clusters: one containing four efficiency cores and the other four performance cores. As long as the GoFetch app and the targeted cryptography app are running on the same performance cluster—even when on separate cores within that cluster — GoFetch can mine enough secrets to leak a secret key.”

The details are highly technical, but Ars Technica’s write-up is worth a read if you want to venture much further into the weeds.

But there are two key takeaways for the layperson: Apple can’t do much to fix existing chips with software updates (at least without significantly slowing down Apple Silicon’s trademark performance), and as long as you have Apple’s Gatekeeper turned on (the default), you won’t likely install malicious apps in the first place. Gatekeeper only allows apps from the Mac App Store and non-App Store installations from Apple registered developers. (You may want to be extra cautious when manually approving apps from unregistered developers in macOS security settings.) If you don’t install malicious apps outside those confines, the odds appear quite low this will ever affect your M-series Mac. 

Qualcomm is said to have new Arm-based laptops of its own in the pipeline, while consumer versions of the new Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 that run on the Snapdragon X Elite chipset are believed to be on the way. While that in the past would have meant the makers of x86- and x64-based Windows software needing to port their apps, Qualcomm sought to assure game developers that their titles will run just fine out of the box on any unannounced Snapdragon X Elite systems that just happen to be coming up.

At the Game Developers Conference, Qualcomm engineer Issam Khalil told the audience that the computers will use emulation to run many x86 and x64 games at nearly full speed without the need to tweak the code or change any assets. According to The Verge, Khalil explained that games are typically bottlenecked by the graphics processing unit, and emulation doesn't impact GPU performance. As such (save for some CPU cost when a block of code in a game runs through its emulation process for the first time), Qualcomm suggests many titles will perform just fine.

There are some caveats. Certain games simply won't work through emulation, particularly those using kernel-level anti-cheat tech. However, Qualcomm has been testing its emulation with the top games on Steam and appears convinced that its tech should be able to handle most games.

Otherwise, Khalil told developers that they have two other options for running their games on Snapdragon-based Windows machines. They can fully port their titles to native ARM64 for optimal CPU performance and power usage. Alternatively, Qualcomm will support hybrid ARM64EC apps, in which Windows libraries and Qualcomm’s drivers run natively, but the other parts of the software are emulated. This is said to deliver “near-native” performance.

If Qualcomm can actually pull off this emulation trick as promised, it'll be an impressive move, and it could ultimately help Arm-based Windows laptops offer a blend of strong performance and better power efficiency than x86 Intel-based machines. However, the proof is in the pudding. Qualcomm hasn't had a terrific track record of x86/x64 emulation thus far. In fact, senior editor Devindra Hardawar criticized the Arm-based Surface Pro 9 for its poor Windows emulation.

So far, Apple has arguably been the most successful company at emulating x86 software on its Arm-based M-series chips with the help of its Rosetta 2 translation layer. One key point to bear in mind here is that Apple has total control over the entire ecosystem, as PC Gamer notes, including the hardware and operating system. As such, Apple can perhaps better optimize the emulation process than other companies that provide fewer parts of the equation, such as Qualcomm with its GPUs and CPUs.

Two devices conspicuously missing from Microsoft's Surface and AI event last fall are finally here — and they're both what we expected and a bit surprising. Today, Microsoft unveiled the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6, sporting the same designs as the previous models but now with the AI smarts of Intel's new Core Ultra CPUs. You won't be able to buy them at Best Buy, Target or any other retailer selling Surface Devices, though. Both of these computers have the foreboding words "for business" attached to their names, so you'll only be able to buy them from the Microsoft's website or commercial resellers.

If you're a bit baffled by this, you're not alone. It almost seems like Microsoft is gearing up to leave the consumer PC market, but a spokesperson tells us that's not the case. "We absolutely remain committed to consumer devices," they said in a statement. "Building great devices that people love to use aligns closely with our company mission to empower individuals as well as organizations. We are excited to be bringing devices to market that deliver great AI experiences to our customers. This commercial announcement is only the first part of this effort."

Microsoft

It sounds like new consumer hardware is on the way eventually, but keeping two long-awaited devices out of retailers doesn't inspire confidence. Alongside the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Laptop Go 3 last year, Microsoft also quietly revealed the Surface Go 4 for business, aiming that budget tablet towards enterprise and education customers. That wasn't exactly a death sentence for that machine, but it did kill much of the buzz we typically see when new Surface hardware arrives.

So what does all of this mean for the Surface Pro 10 for business and the Surface Laptop 6 for business? For diehard fans of Microsoft's PCs, they offer some notable upgrades alongside those new Intel Core Ultra chips, but they'll be a bit harder to buy than before. The average consumer likely won't even realize they exist, especially since older Surface hardware will still be at Best Buy and other retailers.

Let's dive into what's new: The Surface Pro 10 comes with the Core Ultra 5 135U or Ultra 7 165U CPU, and it can be equipped with up to 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. While its tablet case is the same as before, Microsoft also shoved in a new 1,440p webcam with an incredibly wide 114-degree field of view. Microsoft calls this an AI enhanced camera, but that just means it can tap into Windows Studio effects using the Core Ultra's NPU for AI workloads.

Microsoft

The Surface Laptop 6, once again, comes in 13.5-inch and 15-inch models and can be equipped with the Intel Core Ultra 5 135H and Ultra 7 165H CPUs. Those chips are far more powerful than the U-variant options in the Surface Pro 6, so they're better options for more demanding tasks. (The 14-inch Surface Laptop Studio 2 remains the most powerful Microsoft laptop, but its not an AI PC since its 13th-gen Intel CPU doesn't have an NPU.) The Laptop 6 can also be configured with up to 64GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. It offers more graphics options than its tablet sibling: The 8GB RAM model has plain Intel graphics, but if you go for more memory you'll get Intel's more powerful Arc graphics.

Oddly, the Surface Laptop 6 doesn't share the Pro 10's sharp new camera, it's stuck with a 1080p HD option instead. If, for some reason, you need to use smart cards regularly, you can also configure the Laptop 6 with a built-in smart card reader. (But still no SD card slot? Come on, Microsoft.)

Microsoft

Both the Surface Pro 10 and Laptop 6 also come with a new Copilot key, which we've also seen on Dell's new XPS laptops and a few other AI PCs. I haven't found the key particularly useful on other systems, but at this point Microsoft is so committed to putting its Copilot AI everywhere that it would be embarrassing not to have it on new Surface machines.

Microsoft claims the Surface Pro 10 is 53 percent faster than the Pro 9 in the 3DMark TimeSpy benchmark, while the Surface Laptop 6 is twice as fast as the previous model. (That's mostly due to Intel's beefier Arc graphics.) These aren't machines you'd want to rush out to buy if you have a Pro 9 or Laptop 5, but thanks to the AI-powered Intel CPU and refined webcam, the Surface Pro 10 could be a compelling leap forward if you have an older Surface tablet.

While it's unclear if focusing on business users will actually pay off for Microsoft, the Surface Laptop 6 and Pro 10 are a sign that the company is still trying to make a mark in the PC market. If anything, though, we're more intrigued by what Microsoft has cooking next for consumers. By shoving its aging tablet and laptop design towards corporate users, the company may have room to innovate a bit more. Perhaps we'll actually see a Surface foldable PC this year? 

Catch up on all the news from the Microsoft Surface and AI event right here!

Almost every major PC maker has dabbled with the idea of a dual-screen laptop at some point. Way back in 2011, Acer released the Iconia 6120 sporting not one but two 14-inch displays. Then at CES 2017, Razer showed off Project Valerie which bumped the panel count to three before demoing something a bit less extravagant a year later in Project Linda. Fast forward to 2020, when Dell dazzled us with the Concept Duet. Even Apple gave the category a go on the old MacBook Pros with Touch Bars, only to reverse course and ditch them completely a couple of years ago.

Meanwhile, Lenovo has an entire family of devices dating back to the original Yoga Book and culminating most recently in the Yoga Book 9i, with the latter coming extremely close to turning the promise of dual-screen laptops into an actual appealing choice. But now after several generations of its own devices, ASUS has put everything together with the Zenbook Duo. It’s a super sleek machine with two screens that’s barely larger than a similarly sized clamshell. There’s also a detachable keyboard and a built-in kickstand for maximum adaptability. And starting at $1,500, the Zenbook Duo doesn’t command a massive premium for something with a ton of extra utility. So while it’s been quite a journey to get here, ASUS has finally made a dual-screen laptop that proves once and for all that two screens really are better than one.

Design

One of the most impressive things about the Zenbook Duo is that it doesn’t look like some kind of Frankendeivce. It’s just a regular-looking 14-inch laptop. Even after you open it, things still look normal with a physical keyboard and touchpad, not to mention a healthy selection of ports around the outside (two Thunderbolt 4, one USB 3.2 Type-A and a full-size HDMI 2.1 jack). A small part of me wishes ASUS had found room for some kind of SD card reader, but I understand if there just wasn’t space.

It’s only after you remove the keyboard that things get interesting because as soon as you do, the Duo’s second display springs to life. From here, you have a ton of options. Tapping three fingers on the lower panel summons a floating touchpad. Alternatively, eight fingers makes a virtual keyboard appear, which you can follow with a swipe up to reveal a traditional keyboard/trackpad combo. But the cool thing is that because these are all virtual stand-ins, it's easy to swap in a new layout (like for other languages), move the touchpad off to the side or call up a numpad if you need to do some data entry. There’s just so much more flexibility when half of a laptop’s interior isn’t taken up by a rigid set of physical keys.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

But things keep getting better, because on the bottom of the Duo is a flap that folds out into a kickstand. This allows you to prop the system up and use both screens as proper displays, sort of like a portable dual-monitor setup but all in a single self-contained system. And because the detachable keyboard connects wirelessly over Bluetooth, you can place it in front (or wherever you want) just like a desktop. The one small drawback to this design is that if you rotate the Duo’s displays into portrait orientation side by side, the design of the kickstand means there’s no way to adjust how far it tilts. This heavily favors the stacked setup with one display above, which is fine because I think that arrangement is more useful in most situations.

Another pleasant surprise is that for a device with two screens, the Zenbook Duo isn’t much bigger or heavier than a typical clamshell. It weighs 3.6 pounds and measures 0.78 inches thick versus the 2.82 pounds and 0.59 inches for a standard Zenbook 14 OLED. And when compared to something like a Dell XPS 14 (3.7 pounds and 0.71 inches thick), both systems are practically the same size.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

My one gripe is that ASUS’ dark gray paint job color doesn’t help the Duo stand out. It’s almost like someone who wears subdued colors to avoid drawing attention. But this design is fantastic and I wish ASUS would give this laptop (and the engineers who designed it) the flowers it deserves.

Displays and software

The centerpiece of the Duo is its pair of 14-inch displays, which are an absolute delight. Not only do the matching OLED panels offer strong brightness (around 500 nits), they also pump out rich and accurate colors (100 percent of DCI-P3). But the real magic is when you use both panels together.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Moving apps from one display to another is as simple as dragging and dropping or using the handy menus that appear at the top of the display. In addition, there’s a floating button in the bottom left for ASUS’ ScreenXpert software, which provides shortcuts for adjusting brightness (separately or as a pair), disabling specific panels or pulling up handy widgets for things like a control panel, a handwriting recognition tool, news and weather and more. If the goal was to get as much value out of the Duo’s two displays, I think ASUS’ software does a pretty good job.

The downside to all this is that despite ASUS’ best efforts, Windows 11 and many apps still aren’t fully optimized for systems like this. For example, when I played a round of Teamfight Tactics and wanted to pull up some game stats on the lower display, I ran into an issue where the virtual touchpad stopped working. It was only after I set the game to borderless window mode, closed the game and relaunched everything that it started working again. Granted, situations like this were rare, but it’s important to remember that when you’re using a cutting-edge device, there may be some bugs or awkward interactions.

Performance

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The Zenbook Duo comes with an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD. While you can upgrade it with double the memory and a faster Ultra 9 chip, I found the base configuration to be plenty fast. On tests like Geekbench 6 and PCMark 10, the Zenbook Duo turned in results that were identical to those from similarly equipped clamshells, including ASUS’ own Zenbook 14 OLED. This is great because it means there’s not a ton of overhead due to the addition of a second screen and even when setup in desktop mode, dragging apps from one display to another felt snappy and responsive. The obvious drawback is that unlike some 14-inch systems such as the XPS 14, there’s no room for a discrete GPU, which makes the Zenbook Duo better suited to general productivity than more demanding tasks like video editing.

Battery life

You might think a system with two screens would be a battery hog, but the Zenbook Duo fared better than expected. With just one screen on, it lasted 13 hours and 12 minutes on our video rundown test, which is pretty much equivalent to (actually a touch longer than) the Zenbook 14 OLED (12:43). And with both screens going, the Duo’s time only dropped to 10:17, which is still more than enough to survive an entire workday.

Wrap-up

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

OK, so the Zenbook Duo delivers on the promises of dual-screen laptops. But one question I get a lot is who are devices like this actually for? The most obvious application is for people who carry a portable monitor around while traveling. But more generally, this thing is aimed at anyone who appreciates multiple monitors and wants a system that can recreate that experience in a more travel-friendly way, which is something the Zenbook Duo does with aplomb. The best part though is that it doesn’t make major sacrifices to do so, because thanks to its detachable keyboard, it can function just like any other clamshell when space is tight (like on an airplane).

When you have room to spread out, it transforms into a portable workstation with plenty of screen space for a project up top and bonus real estate for Slack, email, video calls or anything else you might need down below. It's got ample ports so you don’t need to carry a dongle around and thanks to its gorgeous OLED screens, your work (or play) always looks great. The Zenbook Duo can do everything a traditional laptop can and more. Yes, the software experience could be a bit more polished, though that’s not entirely on ASUS. We still need a new version of Windows to provide better OS support for dual-screen machines. But considering all the struggles and multiple generations it took to get here, the Zenbook Duo is a marvelous torchbearer for a new class of portable PCs.

The M1 MacBook Air has dropped to its lowest price ever, thanks to a sale at Walmart. You can pick one up for just $700, which is $50 cheaper than the previous low and a whopping $300 discount from the original asking price. If you’re looking for an entry-level Apple laptop, this is a mighty fine option.

Now, the M1 Air is over three years old and a full two generations behind the newly-released M3-equipped laptops. Despite getting a bit long in the tooth, the M1 chip is still no slouch, so this MacBook Air is plenty capable. It’s a solid machine that excels with basic everyday computing tasks, like streaming content and surfing the web. It’ll even do fine with light video editing and music production. We called it “faster than most PCs” in our official review back in 2020.

That doesn’t exactly track anymore (the march of progress and all) but the M1 Air features a gorgeous Retina display and no fan noise to speak of, in addition to an excellent keyboard and trackpad. The battery life is great, going for over 16 hours before having to hit the outlet. That’s only an hour or two shorter than the new M3 MacBook Air computers.

Apple Silicon chips are pretty dang impressive, but the M1 will struggle when you go beyond everyday computing tasks and into the worlds of serious video editing and AAA gaming. Also, the M1 laptop still has that wedge-shaped design, whereas the newer models feature a uniformly flat design. Some people actually prefer the wedge, but I’m not one of them.

This is the bare-bones standard M1 Air with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The 720p webcam isn't going to win any visual clarity awards, but it’ll get the job done. This isn’t the most future-proof computer around, as Apple recently discontinued it, but it’s also $700. The M3 MacBook Air starts at $1,100 and the M2 starts at $1,000. 

Best Buy has the M1 Air on sale for even cheaper, at $650. This is one heck of a deal but it looks to be tied to specific locations. The retailer's also offering open box models.

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Intel just broke another speed record when it comes to desktop CPUs. The company just introduced the Core i9-14900K CPU, which can reach up to 6.2GHz without overclocking, making it the fastest desktop processor available to consumers. The company did the same thing last year, but that chip maxed out at 6GHz. 

In addition to the record-breaking CPU speed, the i9-14900KS boasts a 24 cores/32 threads architecture and 36 megabytes of Intel’s proprietary Smart Cache technology, which shares the cache memory between the various cores. Intel says this will allow for “powerful performance in gaming and content creation workloads.”

The chip also makes use of Intel’s Thermal Velocity Boost tool, which is a feature in 11th Gen and later Intel Core chips that ups the clock frequency by 100 MHz when the temperature is below a threshold of 70 degrees C, or 158 degrees F. In other words, make sure your cooling system is on point.

As for metrics, the company promises that gamers will experience up to 15 percent better performance and that content creators should enjoy a 73 percent performance uptick when engaging in compute-intensive workflows. The i9-14900KS is compatible with Z790 and Z690 motherboards, but Intel recommends the latest BIOS to ensure the best results.

The Core i9-14900KS is available right now and starts at $700. It’s available at traditional retailers as a boxed product and will be integrated into systems from original equipment manufacturer (OEM) partners in the near future. Intel continues to focus on raw speed, rather than AI, which has been noticeable throughout this year’s product announcements.

Our review of Apple’s new MacBook Airs is out, and our esteemed reviewer Devindra Hardawar gave them both equal scores of 90. That’s a very good score! But I think Devindra’s underselling the 15-inch MacBook Air, which is the best laptop I’ve used in years. It deserves at least an extra point or two, in my humble opinion. For me, it’s a Goldilocks laptop, just right, and I think a lot of people would feel the same way if they managed to realize that a 13-inch laptop isn’t the end-all, be-all form factor that Apple has cast it as over the last decade.

For years now, the 13-inch Air has been Apple’s best laptop for most people, with an undoubtedly excellent combo of power and portability. After a total redesign in 2022, though, there’s not much to differentiate this year’s Air. That’s not bad in and of itself, as it’s a sign of a product that has matured over the years to near-perfection; this year’s model has a new chip to keep performance as fresh as possible.

At some point, due in large part to the MacBook Air’s decade-plus dominance, the 13-inch form factor became the de-facto laptop size for most people. Particularly those who wanted a Mac, because in the last ten years the 16-inch Macbook Pro (and the 15-inch model that preceded it) got way too expensive for most. As such, a large screen became a “pro” feature, not something most people could afford.

Fortunately, Apple addressed that last summer with the 15-inch MacBook Air, a computer that retains everything we like about the 13-inch model in a slightly larger and heavier package. In exchange for a little more cash and a slightly bulkier device, I got a bigger screen that I really appreciated when using the Air as my primary computer without a monitor. To me, 15 inches is the ideal laptop size. If you ever felt the same way but got priced out by Apple, you should definitely check out the 15-inch MacBook Air.

The 13-inch model will almost certainly remain the default option for most people — in part because it’s cheaper. And if you travel a lot, you’ll probably be happier with a smaller and lighter machine. But I believe that a lot of people would be much happier with the larger screen, because the 15-inch Air is still extremely thin and light. Devindra disagrees, noting the bigger laptop is a half-pound heavier, “more unwieldy” and a little “annoying to carry.” That’s fair — I didn’t have the same experience because I never used the 15-inch alongside the 13-inch. Instead, I compared it to Apple’s two MacBook Pro models, and the Air is lighter than both. In fact, it’s more than a pound lighter than the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

While I already believe that most people would be just as happy with the 15-inch Air, if not happier, there are a few use cases worth pointing out to hammer home the point. Devindra said the Air did pretty well playing some of the newer games available for it like Lies of P and Death Stranding. If you’re into games, whether they’re titles like those or more casual options from Apple Arcade, there’s little doubt they’re more fun on a larger display.

The 15-inch MacBook Air is also a great option for older users, or people with visual impairments (or, honestly, anyone who prefers bigger elements on their screen). When I use the 15-inch Air, I enjoy having more pixels to show more of whatever apps I’m using. But, you can just as easily scale up screen elements so you have the same canvas as the 13-inch Air, just on a greater scale. Naturally, the screens on the Air series aren’t as pixel-dense and sharp as the MacBook Pros, but they’re still lovely and won’t look overly pixelated if you decide to scale up the UI.

Forget about specific use cases, though. To put it simply, I’m a fan of the 15-inch Air. It just feels right — much more portable than a computer with a 15-inch display has any right to be. I don’t feel like I’m giving up screen size for something that’s easier to carry around; instead, it’s a computer that I can take anywhere and not feel constrained while using it. Maybe I’m overestimating the appeal — you can just plug the 13-inch Air into a monitor at home to get a bigger screen and then have a smaller computer when you’re on the go. But for someone who likes the idea of a single computer that can work in any context, the 15-inch Air fits my bill.

It's hard to expect much from Apple's new M3-equipped MacBook Airs. The 13-inch M2 model, released in 2022, was the first major redesign for Apple's most popular notebook in over a decade. Last year, Apple finally gave its fanatics a big-screen ultraportable notebook with the 15-inch MacBook Air. This week, we've got the same two computers with slightly faster chips. They didn't even get a real launch event from Apple, just a sleepy Monday morning press release. They look the same and are a bit faster than before — what else is there to say?

Now, I'm not saying these aren't great computers. It's just that we've been a bit spoiled by Apple's laptops over the last few years. The M3 MacBook Air marks the inevitable innovation plateau for the company, following the monumental rise of its mobile chips and a complete refresh of its laptops and desktops. It's like hitting cruising altitude after the excitement of takeoff — things are stable and comfortable for Apple and consumers alike.

M3 MacBook Air vs the M2 MacBook Air

Even though they look exactly the same as before, the M3 MacBook Air models have a few new features under the hood. For one, they support dual external displays, but only when their lids are closed. That was something even the M3-equipped 14-inch MacBook Pro lacked at launch, but Apple says the feature is coming to that device via a future software update. Having dual screen support is particularly useful for office workers who may need to drop their computers onto temporary desks, but it could also be helpful for creatives with multiple monitors at home. (If you absolutely need to have your laptop display on alongside two or more external monitors, you'll have to opt for a MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro or Max chip instead.)

Both new MacBook Air models also support Wi-Fi 6E, an upgrade over the previous Wi-Fi 6 standard with faster speeds and dramatically lower latency. You'll need a Wi-Fi 6E router to actually see those benefits, though. According to Intel, Wi-Fi 6E's ability to tap into seven 160MHz channels helps it avoid congested Wi-Fi 6 spectrum. Basically, you may actually be able to see gigabit speeds more often. (With my AT&T gigabit fiber connection and Wi-Fi 6 gateway, I saw download speeds of around 350 Mbps and uploads ran between 220 Mbps and 320 Mbps on both systems from my basement office. Both upload and download speeds leapt to 700 Mbps when I was on the same floor as the gateway.)

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Design and weight

Two years after the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air debuted, the M3 follow-up is just as sleek and attractive. It seems impossibly thin for a notebook, measuring 0.44 inches thick, and is fairly light at 2.7 pounds. We've seen ultraportables like LG's Gram and the ZenBook S13 OLED that are both lighter and thinner than Apple's hardware, but the MacBook Air still manages to feel like a more premium package. Its unibody aluminum case feels as smooth a river stone yet as sturdy as a boulder. It's a computer I simply love to touch.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

The 15-inch M3 MacBook Air is similarly thin, but clocks in half a pound heavier at 3.2 pounds. It's still relatively light for its size, but the additional bulk makes it feel more unwieldy than the 13-inch model. I can easily slip either MacBook Air model into a tote bag when running out to grab my kids from school, but the larger model’s length makes it more annoying to carry.

For some users, though, that extra heft will be worth it. The bigger MacBook Air sports a 15.3-inch Liquid Retina screen with a sharp 2,880 by 1,864 (224 pixels per inch) resolution, making it better suited for multitasking with multiple windows or working in media editing apps. It's also a better fit for older or visually impaired users, who may have to scale up their displays to make them more readable. (This is something I've noticed while shopping for computers for my parents and other older relatives. 13-inch laptops inevitably become hard to work on, unless you're always wearing bifocals.)

While I'm impressed that Apple finally has a large, consumer-focused laptop in its lineup, I still prefer the 13-inch MacBook Air. I spend most of my day writing, Slacking with colleagues, editing photos and talking with companies over video conferencing apps, all of which are easy to do on a smaller screen. If I was directly editing more episodes of the Engadget Podcast, or chopping up video on my own, though, I'd bump up to the 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip. Even then, I wouldn't have much need for a significantly larger screen.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

It's understandable why Apple wouldn't want to tweak the Air's design too much, given that it was just redone a few years ago. Still, I'd love to see a USB-C port on the right side of the machine, just to make charging easier in every location. But I suppose I should just be happy Apple hasn't removed the headphone jack, something that's happening all too frequently in new 13-inch notebooks, like the XPS 13.

Hardware

For our testing, Apple sent the "midnight" 13-inch MacBook Air (which is almost jet black and features a fingerprint-resistant coating that actually works), as well as the silver 15-inch model. Both computers were powered by an M3 chip with a 10-core GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. While these MacBooks start at $1,099 and $1,299, respectively, the configurations we tested cost $400 more. Keep that in mind if you're paying attention to our benchmarks, as you'll definitely see lower figures on the base models. (The cheapest 13-inch offering only has 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and an 8-core GPU, while the entry-level 15-inch unit has the same RAM and storage, along with a 10-core GPU.)

M3 chip performance

I didn't expect to see a huge performance boost on either MacBook Air, but our benchmarks ended up surprising me. Both laptops scored around 300 points higher in the Cinebench R23 single-core test, compared to the M2 MacBook Air. And when it came to the more strenuous multi-core CPU test, the 13-inch M3 Air was around 1,700 points faster, while the 15-inch model was around 2,400 points faster. (Since both machines are fan-less, there's a good chance the larger case of the 15-inch Air allows for slightly better performance under load.)

There was a more noticeable difference in Geekbench 6, where the M3 models were around 40 percent faster than before. Apple is touting more middling improvements over the M2 chips — 17 percent faster single-core performance, 21 percent speedier multi-core workloads and 15 percent better GPU workloads — but it's nice to see areas where performance is even better. Really, though, these aren't machines meant to replace M2 systems — the better comparisons are how they measure up to nearly four-year-old M1 Macs or even creakier Intel models. Apple claims the M3 chip is up to 60 percent faster than the M1, but in my testing I saw just a 35 percent speed bump in Cinebench's R23 multi-core test.

When it comes to real-world performance, I didn't notice a huge difference between either M3-equipped MacBook Air, compared to the M2 model I've been using for the past few years. Apps load just as quickly, multitasking isn't noticeably faster (thank goodness they have 16GB of RAM), and even photo editing isn't significantly speedier. This is a good time to point out that the M2 MacBook Air is still a fine machine, and it's an even better deal now thanks to a lower $999 starting price. As we've said, the best thing about the existence of the M3 Airs is that they've made the M2 models cheaper. You'll surely find some good deals from stores clearing out older stock and refurbished units, as well as existing owners selling off their M2 machines.

Gaming and productivity work

I'll give the M3 MacBook Airs this: they're noticeably faster for gaming. I was able to run Lies of P in 1080p+ (1,920 by 1,200) with high graphics settings and see a smooth 60fps most of the time. It occasionally dipped into the low-50fps range, but that didn't affect the game's playability much. The director's cut of Death Stranding was also smooth and easy to play at that resolution, so long as I didn't crank up the graphics settings too much. It's nice to have the option for some serious games on Macs for once. And if you want more variety, you can also stream high-end games over Xbox's cloud streaming or NVIDIA's GeForce Now.

In addition to being a bit faster than before, the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Airs are simply nice computers to use. Their 500-nit screens support HDR and are bright to use outdoors in sunlight. While they're not as impressive as the ProMotion MiniLED displays on the MacBook Pros, they'll get the job done for most users. Apple's quad and six-speaker arrays are also best-in-class, and the 1080p webcams on both computers are perfect for video conferencing (especially when paired with Apple's camera tweaks for brightness and background blurring). And I can’t say enough good things about the MacBook Air’s responsive keyboard and smooth trackpad – I wish every laptop used them.

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Battery

Unfortunately, the short turn-around time for this review prevented me from running a complete battery test for these computers. At the moment, though, I can say that both machines only used up 40 percent of battery life while playing a 4K fullscreen video at full brightness for over 10 hours. Apple claims they'll play an Apple TV video for up to 18 hours, as well as browse the web wirelessly for up to 15 hours. My testing shows they'll definitely last far more than a typical workday. (I would often go three days without needing to charge the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air. Based on what I've seen so far, I expect similar performance from the M3 models.)

Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Wrap-up

There aren’t any major surprises with the 13-inch and 15-inch M3 MacBook Air, but after years of continual upgrades, that’s to be expected. They’re great computers with excellent performance, gorgeous screens and incredible battery life. And best of all, their introduction also pushes down the prices of the still-great M2 models, making them an even better deal.

Microsoft will reveal the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 on March 21, according to a report. This isn't likely to just be a matter of a hardware refresh, however. Microsoft is expected to call these systems its first AI PCs, as Windows Central notes.

The devices are set to be equipped with new Intel Core Ultra or Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-based processors that feature the latest neural processing units to boost AI capabilities. They're said to approximately match the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro in terms of efficiency and performance.

The Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 are expected to be among the first machines to support upcoming AI features in Windows 11. Along with on-device Copilot support, these functions are expected to include real-time live captions and translations, upscaling for games, frame rate smoothing, upgraded Windows Studio Effects and something that (at least for the time being) is seemingly called AI Explorer.

Windows Central suggests the latter will be the feature that sets AI PCs apart from regular computers. AI Explorer will apparently work across any app and let you search through documents, web pages, images and chats using natural language. It's believed that the feature will create a history of everything you do on your computer and make it searchable. The tool is said to be capable of understanding context and suggesting tasks based on what's on the screen. AI Explorer is also expected to support text-based image editing. According to the report, these AI features are likely to roll out as part of this fall's 24H2 update for Windows 11.

As for what else to expect from Microsoft's next laptops, both are said to have all-day battery life. The Surface Pro 10 is slated to include an anti-reflective, HDR-capable OLED screen. Rumors suggest it will have a front-facing ultrawide webcam and an NFC reader.

The Surface Laptop 6 is believed to have a more significant redesign compared with its predecessors. Along with thinner bezels and rounded corners, it's expected to have a haptic touchpad, a dedicated key for Copilot and a revamped group of ports. It's also slated to be the first Surface Laptop with an Arm variant. The report suggests that the Intel versions of each system will ship in April, with the Snapdragon variants to follow in June.