The 10 Hottest PCs At CES 2025
At CES 2025, PC makers rolled out products with features and capabilities they believe will ignite the long-awaited PC refresh, including one with an oyster shell-based chassis and another with a rollable display, and trillions and trillions of operations per second.
Computer makers are showing off their best devices hoping to entice users and enterprises to trade-up for better screens, higher performance, longer battery life and built-in AI – as the market leaders bet that 2025 will be the year the long-expected PC refresh finally arrives
At CES 2025, Lenovo, HP, Dell, Asus, and Acer showed off PCs that were showered with awards for innovations in power, displays and AI performance.
The ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable, for example, has a screen that expands from 14 to 16.7 inches to provide users with close to 50 percent more viewing space without adding bulk. That was recognized as a top device by dozens of analysts. But it was Lenovo’s ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid and ThinkPad X1 Carbon that took home CES Innovation Awards for laptops while the ThinkCentre Neo Ultra won for desktop device.
[RELATED: Lenovo, HP And Dell Are Betting Big On A PC Refresh In 2025 (So Is The Channel)]
HP was recognized as a CES 2025 Honoree for its OminBook Ultra Flip 14 AI PC, a 2-in-1 laptop with 21 hours of battery life and a 3K OLED display all packed into a half-inch thick chassis.
One of Dell’s soon-to-be-released PCs, the Dell Pro 14 Premium, won a CES Innovation Award for its ability to balance AI workloads and battery life with a cutting-edge NPU and dedicated Windows Copilot key.
The Asus ProArt16, meanwhile, won two awards from the show as a CES 2025 Honoree for sustainability and power, and for Best of Innovation in Computer Hardware & Components.
Acer’s Aspire Vero 16 has a chassis made from a blend of 70-percent post-consumer recycled plastics and “bio-based” oyster shell. That and the company’s Swift Edge 14 AI scooped up CES 2025 Honoree designations.
Here are 10 laptops designed to convince users to upgrade in 2025.
Asus ProArt P16
This machine emerged from CES 2025 with two awards: an honoree for sustainability, and a best of innovation designation.
The ProArt P16 is a lightweight, high-performance laptop with a 4K OLED touchscreen. It features an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU which delivers up to 321 TOPS of AI performance, Asus said. Meanwhile the CPU is powered by a 12 core-AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series processor.
It comes with a 16-inc 4k OLED touch screen with stylus support and adaptive illumination levels that adjust to prevent eye strain. The screen is made from Corning Gorilla Glass for six times the durability of standard laptop screens, Asus said.
Asus said it’s tri-fan cooling technology and an ASUS-exclusive thermal solution “ensure silent performance.”
Asus ExpertCenter B900
Asus said this is their first desktop AI PC for commercial customers and it comes ready to deliver power to the enterprise with up to 128GB of DDR5 memory and up to 6TB of combined HDD And SSD storage, all in a tool-free chassis that simplifies the removal of components and routine maintenance.
The ExpertCenter B900 can be outfitted with an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor and professional grade Nvidia graphics in a device that is 10 percent smaller than previous generations.
It features two-way noise canceling technology to filter noise inside and near the device.
Acer Aspire Vero 16
An oyster-shell chassis with pearls of powerful capabilities inside, the Acer Aspire Vero is billed as a no-compromise laptop for those serious about computing and ecology.
Acer took the standard laptop ‘clam-shell’ form a step further by introducing the worlds-first laptop designed with an oyster shell chassis, the company said. It is made from a blend of 70-percent post-consumer recycled plastics and “bio-based” oyster shell.
Inside it has an Intel Core Ultra 7 (Series 2) processor with Intel Arc graphics that can drive 99 TOPS of AI performance, 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. This Vero incorporates 2.3 times the post-consumer recycled plastic than the version released in 2021 and is described as a carbon-neutral PC.
It is an honoree for the CES Innovation Awards in computer and hardware.
Acer Swift Go 14
Light and sleek, Acer said this CES 2025 honoree features a 14-inch 3K OLED display, with a 90 Hz refresh rate, and low-blue light to reduce eye strain. It has Intel’s newest Core Ultra processors and 50 percent faster Intel Arc graphics inside. The device weighs 2.9 pounds and boasts a 27.5-hour battery life.
The machine’s NPU provides up to 48 TOPS of power for AI intensive workloads.
Dell Pro 14 Premium
The Dell Pro 14 Premium is among the first PCs released by the Round Rock, Texas-based company under its new simplified naming convention. The Dell Pro line is the middle of the pack, but can be upgraded from Base, to Plus, to Premium.
The Dell Pro 14 Premium machine took home a CES 2025 Honoree in Artificial Intelligence for its ability to integrate into an AI business environment with a mix of silicon from Intel, AMD and Qualcomm.
Dell Pro lines give users the ability to pick a standard clamshell open-and-shut laptop, or a 2-in-1 flip device that can transform into a tablet. The Dell Pro also introduces what the company said is the industry’s first modular USB-C port, meaning the USB-C ports are now secured with screws instead of solder, making them three times more durable.
Dell Pro displays come in 13, 14 and 16 inches, but all are built on the same system BIOS, Dell said, to make ordering simple for device managers and IT departments. On the sustainability front, Dell Pro Plus PCs are made with a mix of 50-percent recycled and low-emissions aluminum, Dell said.
Dell Pro Desktops are available in micro, slim and tower form factors. Dell Pro desktops also feature either Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) or AMD Ryzen processors. Dell said these are the company’s first commercial desktops with NPUs, “bringing the benefits of AI-optimized performance and energy efficiency to PC users, regardless of form factor.”
Dell Pro Max
Dell said this line-up of mobile workstations deliver the goods for GPU-intensive tasks like CAD (computer-aided design), animation, video rendering, even fine-tuning large language models – all while maintaining security and managing costs.
The Dell Pro Max line can be equipped with Intel Core Ultra (Series 2), AMD Ryzen and AMD Threadripper processors, which can be paired with Nvidia’s professional line of graphics chips with options up to Nvidia RTX 2000-class cards.
The new PC portfolio adds 30 percent more performance, generation to generation, in part due to patented thermal designs, Dell said. Additionally, the Pro Max series comes with a newly designed modular mainboard to improve serviceability and reduced e-waste, while extending Dell’s position in the use of sustainable materials like low-emission aluminum, recycled steel, recycled copper and bio-based plastic.
The batteries on Dell Pro Max and Pro lines also use up to 80 percent less cobalt to reduce dependency on critical minerals.
HP OmniBook Ultra Flip
The OmniBook Ultra Flip leverages an Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) processor with a dedicated AI engine, delivering up to 20 hours of battery life. Buyers will get a free upgrade to Windows Copilot Plus and have access to HP’s embedded AI Companion to provide intelligent assistance to discover, analyze and query personal files.
HP’s OmniBook Ultra Flip is a next-gen AI business notebook for tech experts and business consultants. It has 55 TOPS of NPU performance inside a 2-in-1 flip tablet-to-PC design that lets users adapt to working conditions while interacting with a 3K-resolution, touch-screen OLED display.
The PC weighs 2.97 pounds and comes in Atmospheric Blue and Eclipse Gray
HP ZBook Ultra G1a
This PC model cuts more than a pound of plastic and metal to make it lighter than its predecessor, coming in at 3.46 pounds, down 1.22 pounds from the mammoth 4.68-pound earlier model.
HP is calling the ZBook Ultra G1a the “world’s most powerful 14-inch mobile workstation.” It comes in a thinner frame that can push out workflows that were not previously possible in a laptop, HP said.
The new ZBook also has HP Vaporforce Thermals, which provides greater exhaust for heat circulation. It offers up to 14 hours of battery life as well as “onlooker detection,” which blurs the screen if its camera sees someone peeking over the user’s shoulder.
The HP ZBook Ultra G1a is expected to be available on HP.com/z in the spring.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable
Lenovo made this work as a concept two years ago and it is finally hitting shelves this year, equipped with Intel Core Ultra processor and Intel Arc graphics. The rollable display expands vertically from 14 inches to 16.7 inches, giving viewers nearly 50 percent more viewing space.
Users can activate the bigger screen through a dedicated key or with a hand gesture towards the camera, Lenovo said.
The OLED display has a 120 Hz refresh rate and 400 nits of brightness.
Developed in cooperation with Lenovo Research, the company said it is the world’s first rollable AI PC.
The device features Copilot+ and has Lenovo AI Now installed, which allows users to access and inference Meta’s Llama 3.0 locally without an internet connection. It weighs 3.7 pounds and is 0.75 inches thick.
Lenovo ThinkPad X9 Aura Editions
The ThinkPad X9 Aura editions come in 14-inch and 15-inch models that feature Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) processors and an integrated Intel Arc Xe2 GPU for 67 TOPs of NPU capability. This is the laptop that former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said he carried in his backpack on stage at Lenovo Tech World 2024.
The device can be delivered with 32GB of memory and a 2TB SSD hard drive. The 80wh battery supports rapid charging. Its four speakers are powered by Dolby Atmos.
Engineered for professionals, the PC is designed with business collaboration in mind. The ThinkPad X9 includes a communication bar that integrates an 8MP high-definition MIPI camera (mobile industry processor interface) for low light situations. It is capable of delivering images at 4K. Its four speakers are powered by Dolby Atmos and it comes with two noise canceling microphones.
Lenovo said the X9 has an all-day long battery and features covers made with 50 percent recycled aluminum. The 100-percent recycled cobalt cell battery, with a customer-replaceable design, helps extend longevity.