Microsoft is feeling the pressure from SteamOS in gaming, and may be pivoting to align its Copilot+ brand more closely with what gamers need. The company’s strategy for 2026 involves downplaying Copilot AI (or “Copilot for Copilot’s sake”) and focusing on improving the OS for its users, executives have said. It will also focus on a specific group of Windows users, one of which is gaming. In a related development, Windows Latest unearthed what may be one of Microsoft’s early signals in that direction — a document from last November titled “How to optimize your gaming PC setup.” The conclusion is somewhat shocking: that Microsoft sees Copilot+ PCs as the evolution of PC gaming. “A great gaming experience is built piece by piece—powerful core hardware, optimized software, accessories that give you an edge, and connectivity that keeps you in the action,” the document says. “Put them together, and you get more than a setup—you get an arena that’s uniquely yours. “But when you want those pieces working at their absolute best, Copilot+ PCs take everything further,” Microsoft adds. “Faster than MacBook Air M4 and up to 5x faster than a 5-year-old Windows device, they’re designed to maximize every Windows gaming feature, from DirectStorage to Auto HDR.” The Asus ROG Xbox Ally X gaming handheld runs a specialized version of Windows.Michael Crider/Foundry As Windows Latest notes, it’s a slightly odd thing to say: Copilot+ PCs were founded on including an NPU in their design, and the earliest models, based on the Snapdragon X Elite processors, were optimized more for productivity and long battery life than gameplay. But Microsoft executives have said for some time that NPUs will simply become a feature that’s integrated into notebooks and eventually desktops, so that all PCs will become Copilot+ PCs. Microsoft expects that Copilot+ PCs will make up about half of all PCs within twelve months, and at that point, the Copilot+ brand can “relax” or just go away. While the 2025 cadre of laptop processors might not have been gaming capable, the 2026 chips have significantly improved. At the top of the stack right now is Intel’s Core Ultra 300 (Panther Lake) with a surprisingly good ability to play games — though not all of the new Core Ultra 300 chips share that ability. AMD’s Ryzen AI 400 processors have traditionally aimed at outperforming even Intel, and a new performance leak of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite processors show that gaming is much more possible on this generation, too. “Double down” on game performance The key, though, appears to be in handheld gaming. Intel plans a Panther Lake derivative aimed at handhelds, reportedly known as the G series, taking on AMD’s Z-series chips. A wafer of Intel Panther Lake chips.Intel But improved performance can come from either silicon or software, and this is where Microsoft sees that it has work to do. This doesn’t mean just the Windows “fullscreen experience” on handhelds, but under-the-hood improvements to speed up the OS. When I’ve spoken with Microsoft executives, they’ve told me that the company plans to “double down” on “native game performance” relative to SteamOS. Taking advantage of DirectX features — DirectStorage and AutoHDR, among them — will be important for Microsoft, I’m told. Part of that optimization could involve the NPU. What Microsoft wants to do with the “intelligence” part of AI within Windows is to understand your intent, so that launching a game could hypothetically switch it into “game mode,” halt notifications, and more. Windows still dominates the handheld gaming market, but the Steam Deck, with its Linux-based OS, represents a viable challenge to handhelds. Enthusiasts can even install SteamOS onto devices like the Lenovo Legion Go. This isn’t totally new. When Microsoft launched the Xbox Ally and Ally X, the company described the “fullscreen experience” as more than just a shift in the UI. “With new modifications that minimize background activity and defer non-essential tasks, more system resources are dedicated specifically to gameplay,” it said. “That means more memory, higher framerates, and a fully immersive experience for players–all made possible by the versatility and freedom of Windows.” Nevertheless, Microsoft may have won the PC, but the handheld feels much more in play. And it’s not surprising that anything Microsoft learns there could ripple back into the PC. So combine “intent” with “performance” and Microsoft’s closing line in its optimizing your PC document makes more sense. “Game smarter. Game faster. Game your way. Start your next adventure on a Copilot+ PC today.” Whether Microsoft’s 2026 strategy will work is an entirely different question, of course. But the direction is welcome. Microsoft is telling me that jamming AI into everything didn’t work, and that performance matters. Those are messages that will resonate in the handheld space, and should ripple back into Windows. Stay tuned. Read...

I like Discord as a concept. I don’t always like Discord’s policies—most currently, its upcoming worldwide age verification requirement. The approach sucks. I understand the problem. Unfiltered, the internet is not a safe place for kids. Discord is rightfully attempting to address predators, hazardous content, and other dangers for minors by changing the default user experience to one that’s “teen appropriate.” But Discord will put adults at risk when this policy rolls out in early March. To remove stricter filters, age-gating, and reduced access to Discord features, those of legal age must allow a facial scan or upload government ID. But while Discord assures full data safety and privacy—claiming no video selfies will be stored, nor identity documentation held long-term—it already lost images of 70,000 government IDs in October 2025 to hackers, months after first rolling out this policy to the United Kingdom and Australia in April 2025. Yes, adults can remain on the default teen restrictions to avoid this hazard. Yes, Discord is seemingly already trying to address the concerns, though its media team still had not responded to me by this article’s press time. On Reddit, Discord staff member u/discord_zorkian said “the vast majority of people will never see age verification,” as the system will instead determine adult or teen status through usage patterns—the details of which remain opaque. (Not concerning from a privacy standpoint at all.) If there’s a miscalibration, then an account owner can go through the formal identification process. u/discord_zorkian also says that Discord will use different identification verification partners than the one that had the data breach. For me, this additional information still leaves open many questions—and doubts. Discord’s Family Center settings need to be straightened out.PCWorld Among the biggest: First, we all know any company can suffer data breaches. Larger and larger resources are becoming required to properly secure data, and few businesses have the true scale for that. Second, we don’t know yet if age verification will be necessary to manage a family group—and if family center settings will remain toothless. Currently, a “child” account can terminate the connection to a “parent” account, which also removes account limitations made by the guardian. If you’re managing your kids’ experience on Discord, you may not have a choice about age verification. Third, I’m also not convinced that these changes properly protect minors. Content has stronger default limitations—filtering and age-gating automatically blur or block sensitive messages and channels. Verification of legal age is required for access. However, contact isn’t as locked down. For users likely unknown to a teen account, Discord will route their direct messages to a separate inbox, and badge friend requests with a warning. No other filters have been announced at this time, like age restrictions. Discord has also yet to mention any ability for guardians to fully block such requests on behalf of their children. (And again, if the connection to a parental account can be voluntarily severed by the teen, that doesn’t matter much anyway.) I agree Discord should take measures to better protect kids on its platform—and frankly, should have done it much faster than this timeline. But many holes still seem to exist in this new framework. For example, how will Discord handle adult accounts that shows a consistent habit of initiating private contact with teen accounts? How will Discord balance verification and privacy so that, say, someone doesn’t create a boatload of “adult” accounts and sell them—but the “no data kept” policy is upheld? Safety shouldn’t be a zero-sum game, much less a spectacularly messy one. But that’s what Discord’s first big step here feels like. Protect the adults, expose the children. Partially safeguard those teens, leave their elders vulnerable. This ain’t it. Not yet. Read...

TL;DR: Get a fully functional Android smartphone in a credit-card-sized body for $99.99 (MSRP $199.99) — no gimmicks, just a tiny phone that actually works. Big phones have officially gotten out of hand. They stretch pockets, pull down gym shorts, and demand two hands for the simplest tasks. The NanoPhone Pro flips that script by packing real smartphone features into a device that’s smaller than your wallet — and it does it without cutting corners. Right now, the NanoPhone Pro Advanced Mini 4G Smartphone is priced at $99.99, down from $199.99. Despite its tiny size, this is not a novelty phone. It runs Android with certified Google Play access, so your everyday apps like WhatsApp, Google Maps, YouTube, Instagram, and Gmail work exactly as expected. Calls come through loud and clear on 4G, video chats look sharp on the edge-to-edge display, and Face ID makes unlocking fast and secure. The NanoPhone Pro supports dual SIM cards, making it especially handy for travel or separating work and personal numbers. GPS navigation, WiFi, Bluetooth, expandable storage, and a surprisingly long-lasting battery round out the experience. If you want a phone that travels more easily, weighs less, and still feels like a real smartphone, the NanoPhone Pro is a refreshingly practical choice. Grab the NanoPhone Pro for $99.99 while it’s still marked down from $199.99 for a limited time, and enjoy carrying a phone that finally keeps things simple. NanoPhone Pro – Advanced Mini 4G SmartphoneSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

If you’re interested in classic computing, there’s no better expert to talk to than Huxley Dunsay of Retro Roadshow. He brought a perfect example of an oddball 90s machine to the PCWorld studio: the BeBox. This design didn’t revolutionize the industry, but its dual-CPU setup and custom OS had a lot of brand-new features we now take for granted. Will Smith checks it out in our latest video below. Be Inc., BeOS, and the BeBox hardware were a fever dream of two former Apple executives: Jean-Louis Gassée and Steve Sakoman. In the mid-90s, before personal computers were in every home and Microsoft had strong-armed its way into a monopoly position, there was still room for new players in the space. The BeBox was an attempt to create both hardware and software that could handle multiple processors at once. And while it flopped—and flopped hard—it was a precursor to modern multi-core processors and multi-threaded software. The 1995 BeBox itself looked like a pretty standard “tower” PC of the time, albeit with some interesting front fascia. Inside is a mix of custom and standard hardware (in between the AT and ATX times), most notably two PowerPC 603 processors running at a blistering 67 MHz each. (As Will notes, that’s several orders of magnitude less powerful than the processor in an Apple Watch today.) Some of the custom parts of the case include an array of two LED columns visible from the front, which show a visual output of the two separate processor loads. Huxley couldn’t get the visual display on the decades-old machine working… until he replaced the BIOS battery. Foundry The BeBox was positioned as a “multimedia” PC, so the rear connection panel is kind of wild. You get tons of audio and accessory ports, including a Matrox video card and a custom “GeekPort” that was designed to interface with anything both digital and analog. It, uh, didn’t work out. BeOS might be the more interesting and memorable part of this whole thing. The user interface didn’t look that different from the Windows, Mac, and Linux editions of the day. But as an OS built from the ground up to handle multiple processors, it was entirely unique. (Remember, the consumer version of Windows didn’t get that capability until the release of Windows 2000.) Though only 1,800 BeOS machines were originally sold, it enjoyed a small but dedicated user base. Foundry BeOS has an interesting history in and of itself. Be, Inc. discontinued its hardware sales in 1997, and then released a version of the software that could be run on Macintosh-compatible hardware, which used the same PowerPC processors. They then made an x86 version of the software, which could run on the same PCs as Windows. Microsoft leaned on its PC manufacturer partners and barred them from shipping devices that were pre-loaded with both Windows and BeOS, effectively killing the company. The owners of Be, Inc. sued Microsoft, winning an out-of-court settlement for more than $20 million. The BeOS software was eventually sold to Palm (of the Palm Pilot, which didn’t last too much longer) and effectively killed off. But an open-source implementation of BeOS, called Haiku, can still run software originally intended for BeOS and the BeBox. Thanks to Huxley Dunsay for the history lesson and demonstration. Be sure to check out the Retro Roadshow channel for more deep dives. And while you’re over there, subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube and join us for The Full Nerd show (plus other shows!) every week. Read...

Listen to this and tell me it doesn’t excite you: an enormous 50% discount on a blazing-fast 27-inch gaming monitor by LG. You don’t often see deals like this outside of the big annual sales events, which means you should jump on this if you’ve been thinking about upgrading your PC monitor. This LG UltraGear 27-incher is now $226.99 (was $449.99) on Amazon, the lowest it’s ever been by a long shot. View this LG monitor deal The 27-inch LG UltraGear 27G640A-B delivers a crisp 2560×1440 resolution that’s perfectly spacious for work, leisure, and yes, gaming. In fact, 1440p is now considered the “sweet spot” for monitors among gamers because it offers a better experience than yesteryear’s 1080p but doesn’t tax your PC nearly as hard as going up to full-blown 4K. With this monitor, you won’t have to worry about screen tearing and frame rates. With its blazing-fast 300Hz refresh rate, you can enjoy smooth and responsive visuals in all your games, TV shows, and movies. With its 1ms response time, you won’t experience any lag or ghosting. This monitor also supports both AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync, plus vivid contrast thanks to VESA DisplayHDR 400. Connectivity is pretty standard here, with dual HDMI ports, a single DisplayPort, and one USB-C port with 15 watts of power delivery. That’s not enough to power a laptop, so this one’s better suited for PCs. Still, everything else about it is awesome, and that’s a lot of performance for just over $200. Other monitors in this range are half as good. Frankly, you’d be crazy to skip this deal if you’re in the market for a 1440p gaming monitor—it has all the essential features at a phenomenal price. Get this LG UltraGear 27G640A-B for $226.99 while you can! If you miss it, check out our other picks for great gaming monitors. Get LG`s 27-inch 1440p 300Hz monitor at a huge discountBuy this monitor for 50% off Read...

Microsoft has begun rolling out a new Windows 11 25H2 update to beta testers in the Windows Insider Program. It’s called Preview Build 26300.7760 (also known as KB5077202) and it adds support for new Unicode emojis and new features for controlling webcams. Microsoft With the launch of Emoji 16.0, Unicode has now added seven new emojis, one in each main emoji category. The new emojis are: a smiley with bags under the eyes, a fingerprint, a radish, a tree without leaves, a harp, a shovel, and a splatter. Microsoft As for the new camera features, the update will allow you to control the pan and tilt of certain supported webcams via the default settings in Windows Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Cameras. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Informative LCD screen Excellent performance Nice mix of USB-A, USB-C ports Charging power easily exceeds smartphone needs Cons Odd mix of powered and unpowered data-only ports Our Verdict Mokin’s 160W GaN All-in-One Station is a 13-in-1 USB-C docking station with charging in mind, featuring a clean, nerdy aesthetic that informs you of what’s going on under the hood. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Mokin 160W GaN All in One Docking Station Retailer Price $79.99 View Deal Mokin $86.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices For those of you who want to know what’s going on under the hood of your USB-C docking station, there is Mokin’s 160W GaN All-in-One Station: a nerdy, compact 10Gbps 13-in-1 USB-C docking station designed to keep your devices charged and you informed — via an informative LCD screen. Mokin’s 160W GaN All-in-One Station appears on Amazon (at press time) as the “MOKiN Docking Station, 13 in 1 USB C Laptop Charging Station” and actually features a pair of entries — one for $99.99, and one for $139.99. From what I can see, they’re identical, so choose the cheaper option if they both appear. The dock measures 7.8 x 7.2 inches and about 3 inches high, not taking as much space on your desk as a full-fledged Thunderbolt dock, but more than one of our recommended USB-C docks or hubs. It will not sit vertically, and it’s really too chunky to consider toting along in a backpack or carry bag. By now, I’m used to docking stations whose ports do dual duty as charging options. This isn’t the case here, and the aesthetic seems to be in the vein of Anker’s popular charging products: include a bright, informative display, lots of charging power, and ports aplenty. That’s true here, though pay attention: Some ports provide data, and some ports provide power, and they don’t really overlap. There’s a new trend towards adding screens to just about everything, however, and that’s in play here, too. Mokin’s 160W GaN All-in-One Station is a rather nerdy approach to a powered USB-C charging dock, but the performance was superb and the aesthetic clean. First, though, there’s the power issue. On the left side of the dock’s front sit two 10Gbps USB-C ports and a 10Gbps USB-A port — the latter highlighted in orange for aesthetics, apparently. These ports provide data, but not power. The other three ports on the dock’s front side, to the right, also include two USB-C ports and a USB-A port, too. But these “dummy” ports only provide power, not data. Until you know what’s going on, it’s easy to think that this dock is defective — and based on a few reviews on Amazon’s site, some customers may not have read the manual closely enough. Mokin’s 160W GaN All-in-One Station pops up a summary of what’s connected when you first turn on your connected PC.Mark Hachman / Foundry On the other hand, if you do plug a device into one of these right-hand “dummy” power plugs, you’ll see a demonstration of the neatest feature this dock offers: a 2.26-inch LDC screen that tells you if a device is plugged in, and how much power is being delivered to it per port. That sort of things tickles my nerd nerves, and USB-C hubs like the DockCase 10-in-1 offer it as well. Is it necessary? Of course not. But it does satisfy the part of you that wants to know what’s going on under the hood. On the rear of Mokin’s dock lies the power input, as well as the USB-C power output to your laptop, which supplies a rated 100W. (The dock reported that it supplied 96W to my test laptop via a shortish 2-foot cord, which matched my USB-C meter’s output as well.) If you need an additional, functional USB-A port, there’s another on the rear. You’ll also find a pair of HDMI ports capable of supplying enough data for two 4K displays at 60Hz. The dock will report the output for those displays, as well. Below the display are ports for the power supplied to the laptop and another three USB ports to the right: C1, C2, and the “A” port, in order.Mark Hachman / Foundry Finally, there’s an Ethernet jack, though there’s no official rating in the extremely sparse manual. I suspect that it’s just a standard 1Gbps. The power that this dock delivers varies by port. If you own a USB charger, this should feel familiar: With just one port connected, that port will receive its maximum rated power. (About 100W is always reserved for the laptop.) The other “dummy” ports vary: the first “C1” USB-C port delivers between a rated 100W to 30W, depending on what else is plugged in; the “C2” USB-C port offers between 100W and 15W. The USB-A port provides 12W, always. The two USB-C ports to the left, plus the centered USB-A port, all provide data but aren’t designed to deliver power. The right-hand ports provide power, but no data.Mark Hachman / Foundry (For comparison, an iPhone 17 Pro Max can draw up to 40W while charging, while the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra can pull up to 45W. All other devices generally need less power.) All of this is displayed on the dock’s screen when booted up, though there doesn’t seem to be a way to cycle through the information once connected. (The dock will update the screen if you plug in a new device, however.) Otherwise, Mokin’s dock will always show how much power it’s putting out in aggregate, usually with the bulk going to the laptop. The USB-A port provides data, as do the HDMI ports, obviously.Mark Hachman / Foundry Still, the power output can get a little confusing, especially because there are differences between the two USB-C charging ports and the conditions in which they output power. On the other hand, I can’t think of too many devices that require 60W of power from a charging port. One exception is an external power bank or battery, which I use for testing. For reference, here’s how much power each port can provide, clipped right from the manual. Mark Hachman / Foundry How does the Mokin 160W GaN All-in-One Station perform? Remember, this is a USB-C docking station, so the 10Gbps interface won’t allow for gaming with high refresh-rate displays. But for a traditional Office (Microsoft 365) workload, the dock was perfectly stable. Part of this will depend on your hardware; if your laptop only supports DisplayPort 1.2, expect as little as a single display with 4K30 resolution or a pair of 1080p displays. DP 1.4 supports two 4K60 displays, which first rolled out with the 11th-gen Core chips (Tiger Lake) and the AMD Ryzen 4000. PCWorld’s testing procedures for USB-C hubs haven’t changed: I check thermals and port spacing, then connect multiple displays using a few test laptops. Finally, I measure performance. Mokin’s dock doesn’t get alarmingly hot, though it does get warm. Smartly, Mokin spaced out the USB-A ports, which can get congested with multiple devices plugged in next to one another. The USB-C spacing wasn’t an issue. In general, the power output of the dock matched Mokin’s claims, though I wasn’t able to get the USB-A port to provide more than 7 watts. We mostly live in a USB-C world, however, It’s a little hard to see, but my USB power meter reported 63.63W going into my laptop, which matched what the dock reported.Mark Hachman / Foundry Performance was close to perfect, at least on my newer test laptops. Streaming a 4K video over Ethernet worked perfectly — only two frames were dropped out of over 10,000. My test regimen also connects an SSD to the USB-C port to measure if the dock or hub throttles data, and then repeats the test while again streaming over Ethernet. My tests measured about 113MB/s on both tests, which told me that the dock isn’t throttling data. Should you buy the Mokin’s 160W GaN All-in-One Station? Yes. On one hand, this dock’s LCD screen is a bit of a gimmick. Other docks do just fine without passing on the knowledge of how much power your peripherals are consuming. Still, it’s an interesting way to see how much power your laptop typically consumes, and how it increases or decreases depending upon how much work it’s doing. I also like powerful charging ports, especially because other docks seem to be falling behind the charging needs of today’s most elite smartphones. A basic USB-C dongle will provide similar connectivity for much less, and the DockCase 10-in-1 does offer some of that nerdy detail that this dock provides. Still, it’s not a full-fledged USB-C docking station like Mokin’s offering. Just pay attention to which ports offer data, and which just provide power. Otherwise, you should be happy with Mokin’s charging dock. Read...

Well, it had to happen eventually — ChatGPT is now showing ads. “Our goal is for ads to support broader access to more powerful ChatGPT features while maintaining the trust people place in ChatGPT for important and personal tasks,” the company said. Only the Free and Go tiers of ChatGPT will see ads, OpenAI said. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education tiers will not have ads. Ads will not influence the answers ChatGPT provides, and conversations won’t be disclosed to advertisers. When ads do appear, OpenAI says they’ll be clearly labeled as sponsored and visually separated from organic answers. Still, it’s a bum deal for users who don’t want to see ads, or who rely on ad-blocking software to avoid them. The only way out is upgrading to a paid ChatGPT tier (ChatGPT Plus costs $20 per user per month) or settling for “reduced messages.” Unfortunately, that’s been left deliberately vague. OpenAI isn’t saying how many messages you’ll get, whether limits will vary by user or time of day, or how many ads you’ll actually see. The company says ads are necessary to keep providing “broader access to AI.” Just a year ago, OpenAI raised a massive $40 billion funding round. But a paid ad for an enchilada kit is going to keep the lights on? Okay. Read...

Today’s a great day to score a proper gaming laptop that’ll handle almost anything you throw its way, from the newest triple-A 3D titles to your daily work tasks to all those Netflix binging sessions. B&H is currently selling the Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI for just $1,299.99 with a “DealZone Savings” promotion knocking $550 off its original price. That’s crazy good—and there’s “limited supply” at this price. View this gaming laptop deal Powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor with 24 cores, a hefty 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a spacious 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, and a cutting-edge Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card, this laptop can handle pretty much anything and everything. Windows 11 is no problem, plus you get to enjoy all the features of DLSS 4 for an awesome gaming experience. It’s future-proof for years to come, that’s for sure. The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 AI is a gorgeous laptop with a 16-inch IPS display at a 2560×1600 resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate. With up to 500 nits of brightness and an anti-glare coating, it’s easy on the eyes in any environment. It’s also smart with its connections: Thunderbolt 4, USB-C 3.2 with 90 watts of power delivery, dual USB-A 3.2, one USB-A 3.0, a microSD slot, plus HDMI 2.1 for video output, 2.5Gbps Ethernet for stable internet, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Other niceties include a 1080p webcam, a reliable 90-watt-hour battery for comfortable usage between charges, RGB backlit keyboard, and support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4. It’s a little heavy at 5.95 pounds, but that’s to be expected for a gaming laptop of this caliber. Grab this Acer gaming laptop for $1,299.99 while this deal’s still available! Your purchase even comes with a free 6-month subscription to Bitdefender Total Security for 5 devices. If you still want to keep your options open, see our picks for the best gaming laptops. This 16-inch Acer laptop with RTX 5070 is crazy good for the priceBuy this gaming laptop for $550 off Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Enjoyable keyboard with spacious layout Lots of connectivity including Thunderbolt 4, USB-A, Ethernet Can be a good performance value when laptop is on sale Long battery life Cons Boring design Mediocre touchpad Only 512GB of solid state storage Our Verdict The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI is a competent business notebook with good battery life, but it doesn’t offer much to get excited about. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices If you’re looking for a portable business laptop you’re likely to turn first to something like a Lenovo ThinkPad, HP EliteBook, or Dell Pro… but the price could well scare you off, as business laptops tend to carry a substantial price premium. The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI is also expensive on paper, but competitive retail pricing makes it more alluring. Which is good, because the laptop’s design won’t get your pulse racing. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Specs and features as-tested The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI’s basic specifications won’t set your hair on fire. This is a business portable with a focus on battery life and productivity, so it sticks to modest hardware including an Intel Core Ultra 5 processor. It also has 16GB of RAM, a 512GB solid state drive, and a 1200p display. Model number: TMX414-51-579T CPU: Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor 226V Memory: 16GB LPDDR5x-8533 Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 130V NPU: Intel AI Boost (40 TOPS) Display: 14-inch 1920×1200 IPS-LCD 120Hz Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 solid state drive Webcam and microphone: 1080p FHD IR camera with privacy shutter Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C, 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x USB-A 2.0, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x Ethernet, 1x 3.5mm audio jack Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition Battery capacity: 65 watt-hours Dimensions: 12.28 x 8.89 x 0.64 inches Weight: 2.75 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Pro Price: $1,199.99 MSRP, $650 to $850 typical retail The TravelMate X4 14 AI lists an MSRP of $1,199.99, which seems like a lot for a laptop with these specifications. However, the laptop tends to sell for less than that, as I saw pricing down to $687.99 on CDW. It’s also $842.99 on Insight. If you’re curious why it’s not sold on Amazon or Best Buy, that has to do with its business focus. CDW and Insight are retailers that focus on business and enterprise customers. Connectivity is the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI’s greatest strength. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Design and build quality Foundry / Matthew Smith The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI uses a familiar design language which leans on simple silver or gunmetal colorways, angular features, and a mix of metal and plastic construction. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this approach but Acer’s competitors, most notably Lenovo and Asus, are more aggressive on design with more interesting colorways and more unique finishes. This leaves the TravelMate X4 14 AI feeling a bit too familiar. Build quality, meanwhile, is a bit above average for the price point at which this laptop actually sells, which is usually around the $650-$850 range. There’s very little flex in the chassis, even when it’s handled roughly. The same can be said of the display and the large, smooth hinge provides easy actuation so you can open the laptop with one finger with no trouble at all. Unfortunately, I had one serious quality issue. When I removed the plastic film that protects the camera and other sensors from damage in shipping, the permanent plastic inlay beneath it came along for the ride. It was still a bit tacky, so I was able to slip it back into place, but it didn’t leave a good impression. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Keyboard, trackpad Foundry / Matthew Smith I found the keyboard to be one of the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI’s better traits. It is a reasonably spacious keyboard that’s nearly edge-to-edge, with large keys in a standard layout. Key travel is good and keys activate with a crisp, clicky feel. Most modern Windows laptops have at least an acceptable keyboard even in this modest price range, but I’d say the TravelMate X4 14 AI keyboard is above average. The touchpad is less impressive, though still OK. It’s reasonably large, measuring about five inches wide and about three inches deep, which is large enough to handle even the more elaborate Windows multitouch gestures. The surface of the touchpad has a rather plastic texture that didn’t please my fingertips. It does the job, but no more. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Display, audio Foundry / Matthew Smith A typical 14-inch IPS-LCD display with a resolution of 1920×1200 is available on the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI, and aside from the refresh rate of up to 120 Hz, there is not much about the display that is remarkable or stands out from the crowd. It has a maximum brightness of about 350 nits and it does not support HDR, so it is definitely not the easiest display to read and use in bright settings, and it’s not going to be the best choice for games or entertainment. The display is otherwise good enough. It provides vivid color, and while the 1920×1200 resolution is nothing special for a laptop sold in 2026, on a 14-inch display it still results in good sharpness with a pixel density of approximately 162 pixels per inch, which is high enough to look crisp. Audio performance, on the other hand, is a disappointment. The built-in speakers are downward-firing, so they will be muffled by some surfaces depending on what you place the laptop on. The speakers aren’t loud even at their maximum volume, and despite that lack of volume, the speakers still suffer some muddiness and distortion when handling movies and music. You will probably want to have headphones or external speakers handy. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Webcam, microphone, biometrics Like most midrange Windows laptops, the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI has a built-in webcam with 1080p resolution that can record up to 30 frames per second. It offers decent sharpness but can look grainy in a dim room. In general, it’s fine, but not any better than the competition. I can say the same for the dual microphone array, although compared to the webcam, it’s slightly better overall. The microphones picked up clear, crisp audio when I used them to record. They are still clearly laptop microphones with a hollow, distant sound, but they are well suited for video conferences. Biometric login is supported through Windows Hello facial recognition, made possible by the IR camera on the device, and it works about as expected, providing smooth, quick logins. Also like many modern Windows laptops, the TravelMate X4 14 AI supports presence detection to automatically turn off the display or put the laptop to sleep if the webcam sees that you’ve moved away. A fingerprint reader is not available, so if you prefer that over Windows Hello facial recognition, you’re out of luck. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Connectivity Foundry / Matthew Smith Connectivity is the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI’s greatest strength. The laptop has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, which of course also support USB-C, as well as two USB-A ports—one of which is USB 3.2 Gen 1 and the other is USB 2.0. The laptop also has an HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5mm combo audio jack, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The Ethernet port is unusual for a thin and light business laptop, as many such systems no longer provide it, and the overall combination of Thunderbolt 4/USB-C and USB-A ports provides a lot of options. The Thunderbolt 4 ports can also support DisplayPort output and can handle up to 100W of USB Power Delivery, so they can be used to charge the laptop or to connect to an external USB-C monitor or to HDMI or DisplayPort monitors with the proper adapter. Wireless connectivity is also strong, as the laptop supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. A lot of new laptops do support these standards, but I would point out that Wi-Fi 7 is a little less common in laptops that are sold at $1,000 and below, and this laptop indeed does typically sell for quite a bit under $1,000 even though the MSRP is $1,199.99. So it’s good to see Wi-Fi 7 is included. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Performance The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI that I received for review had an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V chip inside. This chip has an eight-core CPU with four performance cores and four efficiency cores, as well as a maximum turbo boost frequency of 4.5 GHz. The Intel chip is paired with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB PCIe 4.0 solid-state drive. As you might’ve heard, Intel’s Panther Lake chips sold under the Intel Core Ultra Series 3 branding are starting to become available, and as you can see in the graphs below, that puts the older Intel Core Ultra Series 2 powered laptops at a disadvantage. Foundry / Matthew Smith Let’s start things off with PCMark 10, a general system benchmark that runs a variety of tests and strains multiple aspects of the laptop.  Here the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI puts in a respectable score of 6,962. Although that’s obviously not the best result included in this graph (the Asus ExpertBook Ultra B9 with new Intel Core Series 3 chip handily beats it), it’s not bad. Indeed, the Acer is competitive with laptops that have Intel chips from a higher performance tier, such as the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 and the MSI Summit 13 AI+ Evo. Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is Cinebench 2024, a heavily multi-threaded CPU benchmark.  This benchmark doesn’t run well on Intel Core Series 2 chips, as shown by their relative performance against the entry-level AMD Ryzen 5 and Qualcomm Snapdragon X.  However, the Acer is once again competitive with laptops that have Intel Core Ultra 7 inside, so this is another decent result for the Acer. Foundry / Matthew Smith Handbrake is another multi-thread CPU benchmark, and one that tends to have a long run duration that stresses a laptop’s cooling system. Here we perhaps see why the Acer performs well, as it increases its advantage over the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 and MSI Summit 13 AI+ Evo. Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is 3DMark. It would be reasonable to expect the Acer to fall behind here because the Intel Core Ultra Series 5 226V only has Intel Arc 130V graphics with seven Xe cores. This is a downgrade from Intel Arc 140V, which has 8 Xe cores. However, the Acer continues to punch above its weight. It nearly matched the Lenovo Yoga 7i 2-in-1 and beat the MSI Summit 13 AI+ Evo, both of which had Intel Arc 140V. Of course, the new Asus Expertbook Ultra B9 with the latest Intel Arc B390 runs away from the pack, but that’s to be expected. On the whole, then, the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI can prove to be a good performance value depending on the price you pay for it. This level of performance is not impressive if the laptop is sold at MSRP. But if you pick it up for closer to $700 or $800, the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI is a good all-rounder. With one unfortunate exception: the solid state drive. Acer equips this laptop with a mere 512GB of solid state storage. Many price competitive laptops will offer 1TB of storage, so the 512GB SSD is a bummer. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Battery life and portability A 65-watt-hour battery is found inside the Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI. This is a typical size of battery for a 14-inch business laptop. However, the combination of an Intel Core Ultra Series 5 chip with an IPS display keeps the power draw fairly low, and so the laptop is able to achieve very respectable battery life. Foundry / Matthew Smith I’ve reviewed laptops that were able to last long on a charge, to be sure, but over 20 hours in our standardized test (which loops a 4K file of the short film Tears of Steel with the display at 200 nits of brightness) is nothing to scoff at. Real-world battery life will be less, as is true for most laptops, but anywhere from 14 to 18 hours seems reasonable if you’re working at modest display brightness and running apps like Microsoft Office, an IDE, or a web browser. Excluding battery run-down tests, I only had to charge it three times in my week with the laptop. Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI: Conclusion The Acer TravelMate X4 14 AI is one of the more generic laptops I can remember testing in the last year. It’s not exciting to look at and doesn’t have a particular design trait or feature that stands out. On the upside, however, the laptop has strong performance for the price and delivers lengthy battery life. This laptop is impossible to recommend at its $1,199.99 MSRP, but if you see it at retail for under $800, it can make sense. The TravelMate X4 14 AI is also inexpensive for a laptop with Windows 11 Pro, which can be important if you need the features that operating system provides. Read...